Moving downstream.

A few minutes later finds the pair of us sat close to the campfire, slowly nursing cups of coffee as I described the encounter with the harpy. “She just waved back? And why was she watching us in the first place?” I shrug helplessly, “I know just as much as you do at this point, we didn’t have time to chat before she flew off.”

A rustling from one tent catches our intention, and we both turn in time to see Lisa emerge from the other tent, squinting in the early dawn light. She sees me watching, and smiles serenely at me, a smile that freezes somewhat as she notices Ash sat beside me. She watches the exchange, a single eyebrow raised. I breathe a small sigh of relief when my twin keeps quiet, merely watching the two of us with a small smile.

The three of us sit for a time, making stilted small-talk whilst we wait for the rest of the family to join us. It didn’t take long, and soon the five of us were sitting around the fire, Emily idly stirring a pot of porridge. I stood then, calling for everyone’s attention. “Right, there’s a lot I need to cover with you guys. It was a rather eventful night and there’s a bunch of things that everyone needs to know.”

The reaction I receive is surprising, but in hindsight, should have been expected, considering my phrasing. Half my audience, Ash and Mum to be exact, reacts about how I would expect, both looking up at me with curiosity, and maybe a hint of concern. Emily and Lisa, however… I look between the pair, confused. Both are looking at me with expressions of abject horror, their eyes silently pleading. ‘What are they…? Oh, errrrr… whoops…’

Hastily, I continue, “I crossed the ten-point mark last night in all of my Attributes, then this happened.” With a thought, I share the notification I had received after my change into a ‘Common Ranked Being’. The curious expressions (and two rather relived ones) shift into incredulity as they read through the prompt.

Silence descends on the camp for a time, only broken in typical Ash fashion. “Hoooooooolyyy fuuuck.” I snort at the response, then say, “new group goal, we are getting everyone above this threshold. In fact, I’ve already received a quest to do just that.”

0----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0

You have received a new group Quest!

Quest available: Strong apart, unstoppable together!

Description: You have stumbled upon a path with the potential to grant you substantial power. Personal power is all well and good, but to thrive in this new world, your allies will need to be just as powerful as you are. You’re the group leader, and you already know what they need to do! Best get to it!

Objectives:

• Each member of your party must cross the first threshold (0/4 passed the threshold).

Rewards:

• +2 to every Attribute.
• 50,000Exp to distribute amongst party members, as the party leader sees fit.

Penalties for failing or rejecting this quest:

• You will be ill prepared for the trials ahead.

0----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0

I share the quest too, then observe their reactions. I had taken a peek at it as I waited for everyone to join us, and had been a little concerned about everyone’s reactions when they discovered that I suddenly controlled who got Exp. To my surprise however, my family begins to discuss how far each of them were away from this new goal, completely ignoring the Exp issue entirely.

Apparently, my older sister and my twin had been taking a balanced approach to distributing points, and so only needed to boost one or two Attributes. Mum sheepishly admits that she had invested a little heavily in her physical Attributes, so would need a couple of levels, whilst Em is extremely grumpy, having min-maxed into Intelligence and Wisdom from the very beginning.

Despite no one’s overt reaction, I still want to address the issue of Exp before it became a problem. Tentatively, I ask, “So no one’s bothered about the whole Exp thing?” Conversation around the camp stops, and my family shares amused glances before turning to me. Emily snorts at my look of worry and confusion, then says, “Please, we all know that you’d give it away so we can catch up. Hell, I doubt you were planning on giving any to yourself.”

I snap my mouth shut on my instinctual reply, only managing to look sheepish. That, in fact, had been exactly what I’d been planning. My reaction is all the confirmation anyone needs. I ignore their smirks as I move on to the next point on my agenda, describing my conversation with the two System Custodians, before retrieving the two spell books from my inventory.

“So, long story short, you guys can use these to gain new affinities. I have some thoughts on who should get these, but I want your input too.” After a quick debate, it’s quickly decided that Ash would gain Water Magic, whilst Lisa would gain Life Magic.

Lisa tries to refuse, stating that it was unfair on the others as she'd already received two Skill primers from me. It's Em who shuts that down, calling an impromptu vote on who Herbology and Alchemy were best suited for, a vote that Lisa wins in a landslide, surprising exactly no one (apart from maybe Lisa herself). Soon enough, the two girls each have a new school of magic, and after some hasty copying, I have two new spells.

After that, we discuss our early morning visitor. Other than generally keeping an eye out, there wasn’t much we could really do about it, at least for the moment. As uneasy as the prospect of being watched made us, we all shared a general fascination about the girl. We would remain weary, but as long as she didn’t make any hostile moves, we would try to talk to her if she ever came back.

By the time we’ve finished talking, all of us are fed and ready for the day ahead of us. I thank Emily for breakfast, and she nods, but avoids looking directly at me. I sigh, and take a quick look around the fire, a little worried that a certain scarily perceptive twin would notice the exchange. To my relief, Ash had wandered off to give her new clean spell a whirl. Instead, I noticed with some amusement that Lisa was peeking between the pair of us, nibbling on her lower lip.

Shrugging, I then glance at Mum, debating if now is a good time for our much-needed conversation. In the end, I decide to put it off until after the march. Mum has never been a morning person, and I have a feeling that things would go smoother if we talked later on. Spotting that breakfast seems to be winding down, I begin organising everyone for today's march.

Ten minutes later, and the tents are packed, sandwiches have been prepared, and we are ready to continue our march into the unknown. We pick up from where we left off yesterday, following the small waterway further downstream. The mood is considerably better than yesterday, with everyone being in brighter spirits. The looming threat of disease no longer hung over our heads, and we were free for the first time since we arrived to really feel excited about our new lives.

At the front of our little column, Lisa and mum talked in quiet, exited voices. Now and then, Lisa would dash ahead slightly, eagerly harvesting some plant of fungus highlighted by her new Herbalism Skill. She would then excitedly bring her new acquisition back to Mum, at which point Lisa would share what she knew about the plant, as well as its potential alchemical uses, to a clearly fascinated Mum.

A little further back, Ash, Em, and I walk in companionable silence. The walk has started out slightly awkward. Neither Em nor I were really sure how to react to the others' presence after last night, but that quickly changed after some rather pointed comments, and a small, worryingly knowing smile from Ash. Not long into the walk, and the pair of us had put aside our differences as we fended off seemingly innocent questions such as, “Sooooo, you guys were chatting for a while last night. What were you talking about, hmmmm?”

The early morning progressed mostly uneventfully, but we had a minor scare mid-morning when a screamer beast we'd somehow missed attacked from practically right on top of us. It was the wake-up call we desperately needed. We weren’t on a jolly in the woods back home. This was real, uncharted wilderness. From then on, we all kept silent, monitoring our surroundings for any potential dangers.

This was not a moment too soon, as less than ten minutes later Lisa stopped us with a raised fist, before hovering a finger over her mouth in the universal signal for silence and gesturing for us to crouch down. We drop low, then look at her questioningly, suddenly on edge. Seeing that she had everyone’s attention, she points across the stream, then retrieves her bow from her inventory.

I follow suite, summoning my shortbow from my inventory and knocking an arrow whilst scanning the forest. ‘There!’ About ten metres deep into the forest on the other side of the stream, and about thirty metres further downstream, I see movement. I squint, trying to make sense of the shapes I see through the trees, and my eyes widen when I finally make out the creatures, who apparently had yet to spot us.

They are humanoid, and about a metre at the tallest. At first glance there seem to be 6 of the little buggers, each wrapped in the poorest excuse for armour I’d ever seen (admittedly I was no judge) and carrying various weapons, each so rusted or corroded that they were practically falling apart. I didn’t even need my Analyse skill to know what these creatures are, goblins. Still, more information couldn’t hurt. I fired off the Skill, then read over the results.

‘Ok, so ash goblins, a goblin subrace, maybe? Now’s not the time for questions, these buggers are apparently almost guaranteed to be hostile.’ It was already too late to avoid a confrontation. If we tried it back off, we’d be seen. ‘We need to wait until they’re a little closer. Then Lisa and I have a better chance of hitting them. After we start things off, Emily and Lisa should pepper them at range whilst Ash, Mum, and I use the stream as a natural barrier and keep them busy in melee.’

I return my attention to my party, seeing that they have their eyes on me. ‘If only we could silently communicate,’ I wished desperately, as I mimed my plan to the group. I breathe a sigh of relief as I receive nods of acknowledgement all round. Lisa and I draw back our bowstrings, preparing to fire, whilst Ash, Em, and Mum prepare their ranged spells. Soon, our little ambush is set, ready to be triggered at a moment’s notice.

As my heart pounded in my ears and time seemed to slow, I watched as the goblins draw closer. In my hyper alert state, I couldn’t help but notice subtle differences from my preconceived notions of goblins. Instead of the snot-green skin so common in stories, these creatures seemed to be greyer in hue, looking a lot like the ash of their namesake.

What really caught my attention, however, was how goddamn ugly these things were. I had been expecting this to be the case, but not to this degree. Honestly? They were terrifying, we're talking deep-sea fish levels of nightmare fuel, all dark, soulless eyes and far too many spiny teeth. These fuckers had not only fallen face first from the ugly tree, but they’d also apparently climbed up again for another go.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the group of goblins draws closer still, seemingly still oblivious to our presence. 30 metres downstream, 25, 20. The first goblin in the formation suddenly stops, then begins sniffing the air. It's now or never. I take in a breath, let it out slowly, then fire.