Yarn kept a careful eye on Bennin as they entered the forest. She had never spent much time with the knight, or any of the other players in general, and while the man was nice, she didn’t know nearly enough to trust him. And she had seen the quest through the system, but she still didn’t believe that Zero had spoken to him.

Zero was just a cat. Slightly magical, but a cat nonetheless. He couldn’t speak. His magical powers were limited only to directly transmitting thoughts, and to her only.

“Yarn?” The handsome young knight asked, and Yarn glanced up, meeting his intensely blue eyes.

“Yes?”

“Are you feeling okay? You’ve been turning paler as we walked. Have you eaten recently? Or gotten enough sleep in reality?”

“I ‘ave,” Yarn muttered, staring at her feet. “Just sinkin’ in I’m adventurin’ again.”

“Does it scare you?”

His voice was kind, and Yarn nodded.

“Can’t ‘elp it.”

“Well… would you maybe feel more confident if you got to practice some of your skills or weaponry? Maybe seeing how powerful you are will make you feel better.”

“I’m not ‘ery strong,” she whispered in reply, and shook her head. “Wish I Was.

“Prove it!” Bennin told her firmly. “I’ve seen your vines at work, several times inside the tavern itself, and several times outside in the front yard. They’re extremely powerful.”

She stopped walking when he did, and Bennin gestured to a tree about twenty feet away.

“Go ahead and hit it.”

Yarn thought to herself that if Bennin believed she could, maybe she could after all, so she turned back to prepare her pipe. She tapped the bowl, resettling its contents, then willed a flame to form on her finger, using it to ignite the substance. When she pulled her finger away, she blew gently on the smoking leaves, making sure all the leaves caught, and then slid the mouthpiece between her lips, taking a drag before blowing it out. As she did, she carefully focused on what she wanted her plants to do.

In response to her wishes, blackberry vines burst out of the ground and zoomed across the grass, the thorns working as feet. And by the time they reached the tree Bennin had selected, they had gathered enough momentum that when they hit, there was a loud slam and the entire tree rocked.

Bennin whistled.

“That’s quite the firepower… or, er, plant power. Do you have other plant types you can control? Those are what… blackberry vines?”

“They are. I ‘ave trumpet vines, climbin’ roses, greenbrier, and a few others. Most climbin’ plants, but I got some stationary, too.”

“Hm… is the blackberry the one with the highest power?”

“Power? As ‘n momentum?”

“No. Just explosive power.”

She hesitated and he frowned.

“Yarn?”

“They don’t.”

“What?”

“None of them do.”

“Do what? Are you talking about power?”

“Yes. They move by my will, but… they ‘ave no power of their own.”

“That can’t be true!” Bennin protested. “I saw them just now! They played with your laces, and attacked the tree!”

“The laces… they do ‘ave some sentience, like when ‘ey played with my laces, but move by my will. So…”

“So they have no power of their own?”

“Correct.”

Bennin glanced around. They hadn’t quite left the forest entrance yet - if you squinted between the trees, it was possible to see the fence that surrounded the forest, and they hadn’t entered the ‘true walls’ of the forest, a thick briar twenty feet tall that protected the village from any potential danger hiding in the forest. Where they were standing was arguably the safest area in the village aside from the tavern. No one ever went there unless they were preparing to enter the Haunted Forest, and even then, that was rare. It was the perfect place to finish testing Yarn to see just how difficult the co-quest was going to be.

“Do you carry a knife?”

“I do…”

“Good. Get it out.”

She hesitated, but then pulled out a long hunting knife. It shone with a blue-green sheen as she unsheathed it, and Bennin saw elven runes on the hilt and base of the blade.

Elven runes. They were rare, and very few people knew how to read them, even among elf NPCs. For Yarn to be carrying around a knife with elven runes smelted onto the blade and seared into the hilt…

“Done starin’?” Yarn growled, and Bennin jumped. 

“Ah, yes! My apologies.”

“Ya’d think ya never seen elven runes, from how ya reacted.”

“I haven’t,” Bennin admitted, and when Yarn’s eyes narrowed, sighed.

“Sorry, sorry. Anyway, can you show me your knife skills? If your vines don’t have any power, we need to find another attack method for you.” 

Yarn sighed, but turned to a new tree and lunged forward, slashing her knife across the bark. But it didn’t leave much of a dent, and Bennin frowned. He was starting to become concerned.

He had every reason to be. Every following move seemed equally weak or ineffective. 

“Yarn…” He said, finally. “You said adventuring didn’t pay well every time I talked to you about it. Could it be that… you didn’t complete many quests or practice much? You’re pretty -”

“Weak?” Yarn finished, with another sigh. “I’m aware. I’m a bartend’r for a reas’n, Ben.”

Bennin wanted to bury his face in his hands but resisted the urge. It wasn’t Yarn’s fault.

“Okay, maybe we should -”

He was interrupted yet again, but this time by someone shouting.

“That’s the one! The guy who got a quest and the bartender who killed Seris!”

Bennin whirled. Five players were advancing towards them - three men and two women - and all had their weapons at the ready.

“Player killers?” He whispered. “What are they doing here?”

“ ‘ere for us, obviously,” Yarn grumbled. “Ya deaf or somethin’? They mention’d a quest and brought up me killin’ that bastard from the tav’rn. What’d ya expect?”

Bennin sighed in his turn and reached for his sword. But as he did he saw something concerning in one of the player killer’s hands. A streaming camera.

“Shit!” He grabbed Yarn’s hand. “Run!”

“What? Why?” Yarn yelled as he dragged her towards the gates of the deep side of the forest.

“They’ve got a camera!” Bennin gasped. “They have to be the ‘Soula’ team that’s all over social media! If they find out we have a co-op quest, we’re dead! Run!”

She did, and within two minutes, they were in front of the gate. 

“Are ya sure ‘bout this?” Yarn demanded, and Bennin nodded.

“Let’s get this shit over with!”

He pressed his hand to the gate and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain that came with teleportation.

This is going to suck.