“Bennin!”

Bennin glanced up as a blue light flashed, and Yarn logged in.

“Hi,” he said, tiredly, and she cocked her head to the side.

“Why do ya sound more tired than me?”

“It’s this quest!” Bennin grumbled. “It doesn’t make any sense! I was reading it more carefully, and… well, just see for yourself.”

She frowned, waving her hand in front of her to pull up the screen, and squinted.

“Why’d they hav’ta make the font so damn small?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

He wandered the clearing briefly while she read it, and when she waved him down, walked back over.

“What do you think?” He asked, quietly, and she frowned.

“Think we’re in trouble, that’s what. One, my level’s only twenty, and levelin’ up, ‘cially in the Haunted Forest, is difficult. Then there’s survivin’ in here for fifteen in-game days… I’m sure that means without dyin’, which means you can’t die and I can’t either, or it’s game over. Plus what ‘er this secret’s ‘bout.”

“I was worried you’d say that,” Bennin sighed, and rolled his shoulders. “But no use crying about it. We need to work on your skills and abilities so you can fight the monsters in here.”

She immediately perked up.

“ ‘Bout that, I spent some time earlier practicin’, so ’ll be okay to hunt lower-level monsters now.”

Bennin raised his eyebrows, but said nothing, and the barkeep pulled out her pipe as if intent on proving it. She then reached into a small pouch at her belt, pulling out a tiny black velvet bag, and poured a small amount of grey powder into the bowl of her pipe before tucking the bag away again and flicking her fingers. A small flame lit on her index finger again, and when she dipped it into the bowl, the powder started to smoke.

The half-elf then flashed a smile at Bennin before taking a long drag of the pipe and blowing it out. He watched in curiosity. He’d seen her plants at work in the bar and at the outer edge of the forest, but something felt different now. Yarn’s eyes were slitted, her green eyes almost glowing, and the air around grew darker, the grey smoke from her pipe almost white against the gathering gloom.

“ᚺᛖᛖᛞ ᛗᛖ, ᛟᚨᚲ ᚱᛟᛟᛏᛊ. ᛒᛖᚲᛟᛗᛖ ᛗᛁ ᚹᛖᛈᛟᚾ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛗᛁ ᚠᛚᚨᛗᛖ.”

The smoke sank into the ground, and a second later, the ground rumbled, thick tree roots splitting the ground and surging up, twisting and writhing. They shot into the gloom, and then Bennin heard it. Low growling. Monsters. But no matter how he twisted and turned, he couldn’t see them.

“What is -”

CRACK.

A horrible, sickening sound rang through the air, so loud Bennin had to cover his ears. 

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” He yelled. There was ringing and his head was spinning. 

Yarn just stared at him, and slowly, the ringing faded. When it did, Bennin lifted his head, and saw through the smoke that there was now a massive pile of oak roots about twenty feet away, and in between the roots, bones stuck out.

“Chimera,” Yarn muttered. “So, what’d ya think? Strong ‘ough now?”

Bennin whistled.

“Yeah, no kidding!”

Silence, and then Bennin cleared his throat. 

“Chimeras, huh? How long have you been able to do that? You said you practiced earlier, but I was here this entire time and didn’t see you.”

She stared down at the ground, tracing a small circle in the wet grass with the tip of her boot, staining the soft leather a light green.

“Secret.” She muttered and then glanced up. “But now what? ‘ve proven myself strong ‘nough to adventure with ya, but where do we go from ‘ere?”

“We head deeper in, I guess. And I have something to show you…”

He flicked his hand to pull up the image of the item’s description that MelMel had shown him, and showed it to her. But as she saw it, she frowned.

“You were… askin’ others ‘bout OUR quest? Are ya insane?”

“I wish I was,” Bennin sighed. “But I have no choice. We’re in over our heads here, Yarn. WAY over. We need help.”

“Bennin, the fuck?” She screamed. “Ya know what ‘appens to the idiots who reveal ‘eir quests online!”

It was a well-known fact that when people revealed they had certain quests (and their conditions) online, they became a target with a high bounty on their heads. There was nobody in the gaming world who wouldn’t want a free quest, especially if they knew all the details beforehand?

Bennin tried quickly to pacify her.

“But look! It paid off, didn’t it? My guildmate was able to help! That’s a hint we didn’t have before!”

There was a look in his eyes that told him she didn’t care, however, and she turned away, snapping her fingers before vanishing into thin air.

Bennin cursed, glancing at his friend’s list. Yarn’s username was grey - she’d logged out.

“Fucking damn it…” he grumbled. “Whatever… she already knows, so all in we go.”

He logged out as well, and went searching online until he found the unofficial fan forum page for Alphine, and scrolled to the ‘quest help’ page. Not many used it, but he was getting desperate, and now that Yarn had already blown up at him, he might as well figure out more things before she stopped him.

The difficulty, however, was asking questions without revealing the quest itself.

Question: Does anyone have details about the Haunted Forest?

Bennin189 (Author): it’s exactly as it sounds. I have some stuff I have to do in the Haunted Forest, and I’ve never really been in there before… does anyone have info they can share with me? 

Ilio (Member): oh you 100% have a quest in there don’t you.

Jipp (Guest): holy shit that’s possible? I thought quests don’t spawn in the haunted forest.

Bennin189 (Author): I thought the same, but yeah… I ended up with having to do something in there… not a quest but important to me.

There was no good way to go about collecting information without a few little white lies.

MiloMiloMeo (Memeber): OH you have that shield thing, don’t you? The one that needs that weird rare plant?

Bennin189 (Author): That’s the one. Any ideas? I’ve heard there are monsters and stuff, and I’m pretty low level…

Jipp (Guest): Wait, what shield thing?

MiloMiloMeo (Member): It’s a huge pain in the ass, that’s what. It doesn’t generate a quest, but it might as well do so because the only guy who can fix your shield makes you go get this weird plant for him for the repair that only grows in the Haunted Forest. To answer your question, #Bennin189, yeah, there are monsters. Level 15 through 50, depending how deep you go. You should only need to get just inside the wall… so level 15. If you’re TOO low level, go to the Magician’s Tower. There’s usually some players there short on coin who are willing to carry lower level players, and I’m sure there are one or two who will take you.

Bennin189 (Author): Perfect! Thanks!

“It’s actually pretty useless, but whatever,” Bennin muttered, as he logged off and leaned back in his chair. Something was nagging at him, telling him something was wrong, but he wasn’t sure what it was or what to do with the strange feeling. 

The strange feeling continued to follow him throughout his day, and finally, just as he was falling asleep that night, he realized what it was. 

An animal, not even classified as an NPC, had spoken to him. Which could only mean one thing.

There was a glitch.