Chapter 8

**Skippy Strikes Back**

During their walk from Exton to Fallows, Jason learned a lot of surprises about Vanna. The lesser of the surprises was that she was already level six. She had suggested they swap their stats sheets and Jason had no reason to refuse. He was curious to see how his stats compared to others’.

Name: Vanna

Level: 6

Class: Sell Sword

Tribe: Braccian

Hit Points: 75

Armor: 10

Stamina: 70

Affinities:

Earth: 75

Air: 10

Water: 15

Fire: 66

Light: 33

Dark: 57

Attributes:

Constitution: 15

Dexterity: 10

Strength: 14

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 7

Charisma: 7

Luck: 8

She definitely had a more physical build than Jason, but it was interesting to see that even though her level was much higher than his own some of his non-physical traits could compete with Vanna. It seemed the game tried to balance gameplay so that low leveled players still had an advantage in their own class to those not in their class.

“Woah, you seem kind of strong,” Jason remarked, “at least compared to me.”

“I’m still pretty squishy,” Vanna replied. “In the army I learned that most NPC soldiers are around the low teens but there are obviously those with really high levels too. So comparatively I’m weak if we’re talking about putting me against anyone with a fighter class.”

“Oh,” Jason said. “It there any rhyme to the stat points?”

Vanna perked up, “yeah its actually quite simple if you know a little math. I found this out from an army trainer. So you take the logarithm to the base of ten for a stat, multiply that by 100 and you have your percentage better or worse than the average human ability in that trait. So you are the same as the average human at stat level 10 but you need to make it all the way to stat level 100 to be double the average. I reasoned it was to slow the progression of players to be more realistic. It would be a little weird if every time you leveled up your muscles doubled in size. But in say a month, you’ll have notice that you’re a little stronger or you can think a little clearer.”

“That makes sense,” Jason said. But that means I’m still weaker than the average human. I need to find a way to improve my strength and constitution at least a tiny amount.

“And stat levels are also important for ranking up skills and classes. You probably haven’t seen this since I doubt any of your skills are higher than beginner, but once you move on to the next rank, Trainee, each level has requirements, typically certain stats, but it could be anything. That’s another way the game seems to balance players so that they specialize in their specific classes and don’t try to do everything, but still while allowing people to do whatever they want as long as they put the work in.”

“So I can learn some combat skills, it’s just that my progression will be much slower than yours?” Jason asked.

“Exactly,” Vanna said, “and likewise I would have trouble with,” she waved her hand in the air. “What one of your trading skills?”

“Bartering,” Jason offered.

“Bartering,” Vanna exclaimed. “It would be difficult for me to level that up because my class is groomed to gain strength and constitution points faster.”

“How did you learn so much about all this stuff Vanna? I’ve been actively looking for this type of information since I started playing but the system seems to cherry pick what its wanted to let me know.”

“Like I said Honey,” She pulled out her water flask and drank from it then offered some to Jason who gladly took it, “I learned a lot in the army from the trainers and I got a little bit of inside information from a family member.”

“So um, do you mind if I ask about who you were back in the real world?” Jason asked as he handed back the flask.

“Jason,” Vanna said seriously, “you have to remember that the world you are in now is just as real as the other one; it just looks a little different and plays by a couple different rules. But to some people,” she paused, “to a lot of people, this is their real world.”

“Yeah right, I’m sorry Vanna. You’re right, this is a game but I should be treating it a more seriously than other’s I’ve played before. I guess that’s why I’ve had such a rough start, I’m not in the right perspective, “Jason said apologetically. “But um, who were you on the other side,” Jason asked unsure of how to refer to what he still considered reality.

“Oh I’m sorry sugar, I’m being too serious with you. The reason I’m all in a ball is well, over there I’ve got terminal cancer. My kids threw me in here so that I wouldn’t have to live through the cancer treatment and I could enjoy my last days.”

Jason stopped in his tracks, “wait what? I’m sorry, that’s awful to hear and I completely understand why you think this is the real world. Vanna,” Jason asked slowly, “how old are you?”

“Honey, you know you aren’t supposed to ask a lady her age,” she said bashfully. “I turned 91 two months ago. Real months,” she clarified.

“Wowww.”

“Yep,” she said with a fake smile, “So if I drop dead on you, you’ll know it’s because I died on the other side.”

“That’s awful,” Jason said aloud but wished he hadn’t.

“Oh don’t worry sugar, I’ve lived a long good life. But I want to let you in on a little secret. My grandson, William, he’s the one who works at the game company and told me everything. Well he’s a sweet boy and was the one to tell his parents about this place when I went to the hospital. Well he told me secretly that the developers were close to testing a new technology that could upload people’s consciousness to the game servers, permanently.”

“Oh my god,” Jason gasped. “So this might actually become your real world?”

“Yes sir,” she said slowly, “but like I said, I’ve lived a long time already honey and I miss my husband, God rest his soul. So I’m not one of those who dreams of living forever. I just want to be able to talk to my family a little longer.”

“That’s incredible Vanna, I hope that you’ll have that option soon.”

Vanna nodded her head, “mmhmm thank you honey, now you let me talk too much, tell me about you.”

Jason wasn’t planning on telling anyone he met the full story of his life, but Vanna had been so forth coming to him, he felt she deserved the same. He told her about selling his company and buying the stasis pod to dissociate for a while.

“I’m a Tennessee girl Honey, I’ve never her of your restaurant but it sounds like you made yourself a pretty penny.”

“Yeah, all the things I could be doing, but instead I decided to be here,” Jason said sarcastically.

“If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have met me honey,” Vanna replied.

“True,” Jason laughed, “Oh I can see the bridge over there,” he pointed in the direction of the bridge. After a few more minutes they could see the tops of a few of the houses as well.

“Ah,” Vanna exhaled, “I love it here, reminds me of home. The hills, the trees, the rivers, I’d think I was in the Tennessee.”

Jason had never been to Tennessee but he took her word for it.

“A little colder though,” Vanna commented with a weak frown.

“Hey it looks like there are a few more travelers behind us lets slow down so that we pass through near them,” Jason said after he turned around to look at the road. “Oh shoot, my clothes,” he said when he realized any villagers that had already seen him would recognize his vibrantly colored clothes.

“Hmm, your right, those are an eyesore,” she looked back at the approaching travelers. “Give me one moment honey,” Vanna said then turned and walked towards the travelers. Some of them showed obvious signs of worry when the armed and armored Vanna approached them but the proximity to the village must have abated their fears enough to not run.

Jason watched as the two parties stopped in the road and started to talk. After a few minutes, involving Vanna pointing at Jason and waving her arms, Vanna handed one of the travelers a few coins in exchange for a cloak.

“Here put this on,” she said when she returned. “You owe me two coppers by the way,” she added as Jason threw the cloak around his shoulders and pulled up the hood. It wasn’t a warm day so it wouldn’t be strange for a traveler to be wearing their hood up.

“What did you say to them?” Jason asked as they continued their walk towards the town.

“I told them you lost a bet here a while ago and needed a disguise. You’ll have to give it back when we’re on the other side of town though.”

“No problem, I’ve already got a cloak with Skippy, and I’ll repay you the money,” Jason promised. Vanna smiled but he could tell she wasn’t worried about the money.

The cloak worked, they were able to walk through the town without anyone paying too much attention to them. Jason also didn’t see any of the villagers he encountered the day before which was reassuring.

Once out of sight of Fallows, Jason returned the cloak then he and Vanna headed off the highway. At the base of the pasture hill there was a small forest that Jason and Vanna followed the outskirts of until they could get a clear view of the brother’s home.

It appeared Jeb and Poop Boots took turns watching the sheep in the field, always leaving one of the brothers back at the compound. Jason also saw a woman and a few children that he hadn’t seen the day before, but they mostly stayed in the main house not the barn. Jason guessed Skippy and his things were stored in there.

By the time they were in their lookout spot it was still only the early afternoon. Vanna let out a big yawn, “I think I’m going to rest for a while, you should do the same.” She sat down against a tree and closed her eyes, “you’ll need your energy for tonight.”

She’s right, Jason thought. The idea of having to fight the brothers worried him. The more he spoke with Vanna the more he was beginning to see the game as a real world. The ideas of morality, often disassociated with games, were starting to fill Jason’s thoughts. He laid against his own tree and closed his eyes, but it was a long time before he could drift off into sleep.

*****

Jason felt his side shaken and quickly opened his eyes. It was dark, but he could see Vanna knelt next to him. “Good, you’re awake,” she said. “I’ve been watching them for the last hour. It looks like they just went into the house for dinner, now is the time both of them are going to be away from the barn. Are you ready?”

Jason shook his head to wake himself up then nodded, “yeah lets go.” He picked himself up cautious of not making too much noise in the brush.

They crept around the outskirts of the trees until they were about fifty yards away from the back of the barn. From their position they couldn’t be seen from the house. “Alright,” Vanna said as she unsheathed her sword, the metal briefly reflect in the halfmoon’s light. “I’ll watch the door while you sneak in and grab your stuff, remember be fast. We don’t know how long they’re going to be in the house and its already been a few minutes.” After she finished speaking, Vanna silently broke through the trees and started to shorten the distance towards the barn, Jason followed after her.

Vanna stopped at the corner of the barn so she could stay hidden while still having a decent view of both the doors to the house and barn. Jason made sure he didn’t see anyone coming then slipped inside the barn.

The interior was larger than he had expected. In the center there were a few tools for what looked like shearing the sheep, but most of the building was taken up by rafters for storing the raw wool. Except most of the shelves were empty, only about a tenth of the building was full. Jason heard an animal whine and turned his head. “Skippy!” he whispered excitedly.

The animal neighed happily back. He was tied to a beam and started to paw at the dirt floor. “Just a second boy, I need to find our things then I’ll get you out of here,” Jason told the donkey.

After a few moment of searching Jason was able to find Skippy’s harness bag, but it was missing all of Jason’s money and his dagger. He swore realizing he wouldn’t be able to get it back without encountering the brothers. He untied skippy and as he was strapping the donkey’s harness on, Jason heard footsteps from outside the barn. There was a surprised yell then Jason could hear a skirmish breakout. Jason quickly finished strapping on the harness then ran towards the barndoor to help Vanna, but ran into one of the brothers.

“What!” Jeb exclaimed then got a look of Jason, “Oh it’s you, I thought we killed you back there boy. Well guess we gonna have to finish the job tonight.” Jeb pulled a blade from his waist and Jason recognized it as his own. Then the man charged Jason.

He was able to dodge the first lunge, but Jason could tell Jeb was faster them him, his only hope was Vanna would finish off Poop Boots and rescue him. Jason got another dodge in but it only brought him to a wall.

“I’m gonna enjoy guttin you boy,” Jeb said as he slowly walked towards the cornered Jason. A smile slowly grew on the herder’s face as he approahced, but all of a sudden a lightning fast blur punched Jeb’s face bringing the man to the ground. Jason’s dagger fell to the ground beside him.

Jason looked for the source of the attack and saw it was Skippy. The donkey had turned around and kicked Jeb with it’s hind legs. Skippy let out a defiant snort.

“Yes boy, I’ll give you all the prunes you want, now let’s get out of here,” Jason said but then saw that Jeb was slowly trying to get to his feet. Jason’s world slowed as he realized he had only one option. He dropped to his knees and grabbed his dagger. Jeb had manage to get to his knees and reached out to grapple Jason, but before the man could wrestle Jason the knife was plunged into Jeb’s chest. Jeb croaked and let out one large gasp of air then slumped to the floor. Jason hands were shaking violently, but he was able to pull the dagger from Jeb’s chest, he saw a leather purse attached to his belt and took that too.

At that moment Vanna entered the barn and shouted, “Come on, we’re running out of time.”

“Grab two of those bags of wool,” Jason said pointing at the shelves then quickly guided Skippy out of the barn. He found Poop Boots bleeding out on the ground with a slash across his stomach. The man’s eyes bloomed wide with rage when he saw Jason. He tried to move but was only able to cry out in pain. Once he resigned to his fate he spit bloody phlegm at Jason, but the trader was already moving towards the trees. Skippy made sure to give the man a kick as he passed by.

Once Jason was in the woods her heard panting then turned to see Vanna carrying the bags of wools. They turned to look back at the house and saw a woman carrying a baby run out. She stopped at the body of Poop Boots and screamed. Jason’s throat contracted but he was able to turn to Vanna and whisper, “come on, let’s go before anyone else arrives.”

They pushed through the trees and brush, all the while giving up speed for silence, until they were a safe distance from Fallows. Up until then, Vanna had been carrying the wool bags, but now that they were safe they loaded the bags onto Skippy who easily took the load.

“Where to now?” Vanna asked.

“Let’s continue walking through the trees, but by the highway. I think I remember seeing a town a couple miles east of Fallows on the map in Exton. We cut through the trees so it seems like we came in from the north there.”

Vanna nodded agreement then they pushed on through the brush in silence with only the moonlight and the memory of bloodshed to accompany them.