“Okay, we get it,” Alf had to shout to be heard over the din of everyone talking at once. “Your opinions have been duly noted.” He backed away from Old Man Macdonald who was standing uncomfortably close. “Stay safe, everybody. Do whatever the guards say, and we’ll try to keep the soldiers busy on our end.” Who was he fooling? Nobody was listening. He turned and headed for the exit, keeping an eye on the minimap.

“For what it’s worth,” Blix’s lips brushed his ear, sending shivers down his spine. “I thought it was a great idea.”

“I shouldn’t have—” Four orange dots approached Alf from behind. He stopped and pivoted, drawing his sword as he swung around.

Old Macdonald and three rough-looking guys skidded on the straw, one of them falling on the ground and scrambling back onto his feet.

“Give us the sword, and we’ll let you go in peace,” Macdonald said. “You can’t leave us without any way to protect ourselves. It ain’t right.”

Alf’s heart pounded against his ribs. Everything about the man, his body language, his demeaning tone, the condescending sneer on his face, it all screamed bully. These were native NPCs. Fellow humans. Part of him wanted to capitulate just to keep the peace. But another part of him, the part holding a sword, wanted to beat the bully out of him. He was a level ten player. He could probably do it.

“Let go!” A petite girl standing at the back of the room shrieked as she was pulled back onto the ground.

A volcano erupted in Alf’s chest, spewing superheated adrenaline into his brain. Sheathing his sword, he pushed past the four bullies.

Old Macdonald lunged for the sword, but Alf slammed a fist down on the man’s collar bone with a flesh-muffled crack. It was a nonlethal strike he’d learned in faire du canne, but apparently it worked with dust-enhanced fists as well. Pushing the cursing man to the ground, he strode back to the group.

“Have these men been bullying you?” He searched the group for nods. “I don’t care what’s happening out there. That is not okay. That’s never okay.” His eyes were burning. He blinked furiously, disgusted at how weak he was.

“Alf! Behind—”

He swung around. The sword hadn’t cleared its sheath before its pommel smashed into the first attacker’s head. The second attacker grabbed Blix’s harness and pulled them off balance, but Alf snapped the sword around and embedded its blade in the meat of the man’s shoulder.

Curses and screams filled the room as Alf staggered to the right to regain his balance. He managed to get his feet under him and turned to face the third guy, but he was already halfway to the door.

The first guy wasn’t moving. Alf crouched beside him and checked his pulse. He would probably be fine, but just in case, he cast minor healing on him, keeping his eye on the orange dot behind him in case it got any ideas. When he finished with the first guy, he got up and walked over to the second. He was sprawled on the ground, hand pressed to his shoulder. Keeping the blade between him and his patient, he pressed a hand to the wound as healed him as well.

“What the… Ah!” The man gasped and sputtered like he was freaking out, but he didn’t move a muscle.

“Magic,” he explained when he was finished, and turned to face the now silent crowd. “As I was just about to say… If you’ve been mistreated here and want to go with us, it will be dangerous, but I guarantee you won’t be bullied.”

“Alf’s telling the truth,” Blix said. “We’ll come back and check on you later. If these guys harass you, if anyone harasses you, Alf’s too nice, but I’ll kill them myself. I don’t care whether it’s a guard, a nobleman, or King Alexander himself. Everybody got that?”

Silence filled the room. Alf turned to each of his four attackers and got a nod, before sheathing his sword and heading for the door.

“What if—” The soft voice was drowned out by a burst of hushed voices.

Alf turned and located the petite girl at the back of the room. The guy next to her had a hand wrapped around her upper arm. A tear ran down her cheek.

“Let. Her. Go.” Blix called out.

Alf pushed through the crowd. By the time he reached the girl, she was by herself at the center of a ten-foot clearing. He was so mad, he was shaking. He blinked the tears from his eyes, no longer caring who saw.

“Did you have a question?” Blix’s gentle voice.

“Do tabletop games count?” The girl’s voice was so soft Alf barely made it out. He’d assumed earlier that she was twelve or thirteen, but up close she looked like she might be even older than him.

“Do they count?” Blix sounded just as confused as he was.

“Tabletop RPGs.” Her voice was louder now. “As opposed to video games.”

“What systems have you played?”

“Modified GURPS and a little D&D?”

“What’s your name?” Alf glanced back to make sure everyone was behaving themselves. He felt like a kindergarten teacher. “Maybe we could take this discussion outside?”

“Mausumi Raman.” The girl looked questioningly at Blix and then shrugged. “Or just Mouse if Mausumi is too hard.”

“Mausumi, if you want to come with us—”

“Mouse is so cute!” Blix squealed. She sounded like an entirely different person. “GURPS is pretty close to the system the aliens are using. I think you’ll feel right at home.”

“I’m just a player, not a GM…”

“That’s fine. Do you want to come with us?” Blix was still using her girl-talk voice—which was so cute it almost hurt.

Mouse glanced across the room. Alf followed her gaze to a heavyset guy with squinty eyes and greasy black hair. “Don’t let him pressure you. You do what you want.”

“It’s not like that,” she said quickly. “Matt plays too. At least he used to.”

“Matt can come too, if he wants.” Blix looked expectantly at the fidgeting guy.

“Can I play a ranger?” His voice was deeper than expected. He sounded like an old-fashioned radio host. Every word was over-enunciated and melodramatic.

“Of course.”

“We know an amazing GM in the village,” Mouse piped up. “Maddie Townsend. Have you heard of her? Maddie’s Minions? The Gaensward Campaign?” The more she talked, the more animated she got. Alf let the three of them talk shop while he saw to Old Macdonald’s collar bone and did some crowd control. By the time they were ready to leave, three more woman had decided to join them. They weren’t gamers, but judging by the fearful glances they cast about the room, they were eager to be well away from Old Macdonald and his farm animals.

Checking his minimap, Alf led his group toward the line of windbreak trees.

“If we’re going to get Maddie, it would be easier to take a vegetable cart,” Matt suggested. “The guards never bother with us. As long as we look like we’re working. They don’t have a clue what we’re doing, and I’d bet money they can’t tell us apart. They can’t even tell males from females.” He flushed as the non-gamer girls laughed, obviously at his expense.

“They might not be able to recognize faces,” Blix said, “but they’ll notice this.” She held up the stump of her left arm.

“You can sit in the back with me,” Mouse suggested. “A few carefully place pumpkins, and we’ll be fine.”

Alf and Blix helped the five “farmers” load a wagon with produce and drove it towards the village. Halfway there, they passed a pair of mounted guards.

Alf surreptitiously reached a hand towards his sword, but the guards didn’t look twice at him or the overloaded wagon.

“Is it normal to have this many people riding on the wagon?” Blix asked as soon as the guards were out of earshot.

“Define narmal, m’lady,” Matt said in a ridiculous British accent. “The guards wouldn’t know narmal if it bit them on the arses. We define narmal by what we does everyday. This morning’s narmal is four peasants and a highborn nobleman in disguise, but this afternoon’s narmal may be six or seven.”

“This is almost too easy.” Alf turned to look at Blix. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“It depends,” Blix shot back. “How many wagon loads are you thinking about?”

“Exactly.”

* * *

Name: Jane

Level: 6

Class: Paladin

Health: 225/225

Stamina: 194/195

Mana: 769/784

Exp: 591/2800

Attr Points: 3

Skill Points: 3

ST: 13

DX: 14

CN: 15

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 7: (Effective Skill: 9.45, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 28.4%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1.33, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 4%)

Swordsmanship 2: (Effective Skill: 2.73, Basis: 2DX+ST, Enhancement: 8.2%)

Archery 1: (Effective Skill: 1.37, Basis: 2DX+ST, Enhancement: 4.1%)

Non-Combat Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 2.1, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 6.3%)

Lock Picking 1: (Effective Level: 1.3, Basis: DX, Enhancement: 3.9%)

Spells: (Basis IQ)

Minor Healing 5: (EL: 14, Cost: 25, Freq: unlimited, Effect: 42 points)

Major Healing 2: (EL: 5.6, Cost: 35, Freq: 1/hr, Effect: 200cc tissue regen)

Taunt 1: (EL: 1.6, Cost: 5, Freq: 1/min, Effect: 4.8%)