Trials of a VRMMO Healer

Chapter 5 - Devlin and Kiira

The next day I logged on after work. In the several in-game days since the battle with the scorpions, Ourth had more-or-less cleaned up the town square and begun clearing out the road to Illium. In the clamor of the night of the battle, I had managed to make it to my inn room more or less undetected, but now as I came down the stairs, I heard cheers from the common room.

"Here's the woman of the hour!" shouted a voice I immediately recognized as Bill.

"Hear, hear!"

I could recognize a few of the men and women as the regular crafters who spent their evenings in the common room, but there were far more today, even children. Apparently word had gotten around that I'd returned and they were here to see me off.

"I don't know how to thank you enough, but maybe when you get to Illium, let the Guild know about what ya did," Bill told me.

"Oh, uh, it's fine, honestly this is kind of embarrassing."

It really was. Was this going to happen every time I finished a quest? Geez. After I'd made the rounds chatting with the villagers Bill pressed a coin pouch into my hand.

"Take it. It'd be great if there were more we could do, honestly."

"Well... Can you make something out of this?" I asked, and showed him the item I'd gotten from killing Zzixis, called a [Exquisite Scorpid Carapace].

"Hm, I'm afraid not, these beasties definitely need someone more knowledgeable than me to handle them. But per'aps in Illium you'll find someone."

"Gotcha. I guess I should be off before it gets too late. I'll try to visit when I can!"

It took a while, but eventually I managed to extricate myself from the inn and head out of town. I made my way down the road and to the pass, where townsfolk were working diligently to clear the rockslide I had caused. The body of the scorpid queen had disappeared, as all monsters did, but the rocks had stuck around. It struck me that I probably could've left by going through the woods a lot earlier, once I was able to kill the scorpions reliably. But then Ourth would still be cut off and starved of trade and supplies. Maybe eventually the scorpions would've run out of prey and attacked the town. They were NPCs, sure, but they still had their own lives.

Ourth's wooded hills gave way to a gentle slope in the road. Off in the distance, I could see what must be Illium. It was in the middle of a wide valley, where two rivers met and had high walls that I could easily make out even from this distance. Farms surrounded it, and I could see a few roads that seemed to lead to other towns or villages. On the far side of the valley were mountains, massive and jagged, nothing like the gentle hills of Ourth. They were peaked with snow and ominous clouds seem to linger over them. I was certainly impressed by the scale of EO, and I hadn't even met another player.

That soon changed as I spotted two people on the road. They had a distinct look to them that made me immediately identify them as fellow players. The man was a human, dressed in well-made robes of green and gold. He had dark skin, closely cropped and seemed on the tall side, though everyone seemed tall with an avatar this height. Between the robes and the crook that he carried, I guessed he must be some kind of mage. The woman, a girl, really, was a wharrin with cat (or maybe fox?) ears and a massive greatsword strapped to her back and light leather armor. The two of them shared similar features, so they looked like they were related. Father and daughter, perhaps, but given that your avatar didn't have to look anything like you, they could just as easily be a married couple or entirely unrelated. I nodded to them as we passed and smiled, but as I did so, the man called out to me.

"Uh, excuse me, did you just come from the town down the road?"

"Er, yes, I did. It's a nice little place. They're busy clearing out the pass now, so it should start getting more visitors."