Having enough exp from grinding dark elves, Isaiah decided to go back to Lathander’s temple to advance his classes. He went west through the shadowlord forest and waited at the decaying docks for the ferry to arrive. After the ferry arrived he paid the 5 gold transport fee and sat around until it got back to Shadow dock. He -slowly- walked through the desert so as not to pass out and quickly rushed through Shadow city from the east gate to the west gate to avoid running into any thieves or killers who might be lurking in the shadows. After that, Isaiah walked through the quest forest road and arrived at Lathander’s temple. Like Silvanus’s temple, no one was hanging out in the gold and white themed temple. It was a little sad, the temples seemed a bit cold and empty without players there to interact with.

Isaiah’s player typed followed by .

You advance mage. Mage is now level 9.

You advance fighter. Fighter is now level 8.

HP: 70/70

Isaiah was now a level 8/9 fighter/mage. He used the command to see what he would need for the next level.

Wizard exp to next was 135,000 experience points and fighter was 125,000 experience points. He had a little over 90,000 experience points at the moment. He’d had setbacks but his level was higher now than it had ever been. Most importantly though Isaiah could now cast 1 level 5 spell. On a bittersweet note, the only level 5 spell in his spellbook was animate dead. Isaiah memorized it just to see how long it would take. A level 5 spell took a few seconds to memorize, not a huge amount of extra time compared to level 4, maybe a second more. He’d likely go back to deku island later on and farm some more dark elves. If he grinded them for several hours without dying then double digit levels would be possible.

The who list was still filled with a bunch of nameless one line descriptions of characters. This remained disconcerting. Isaiah needed to go socialize and exchange names with other players. Isaiah’s player had enough grinding for the day. He could force himself to grind more exp but just wasn’t feeling it.

His mind was made up for him when a notification appeared.

Ram usage limit exceeded reboot in 10 minutes.

Kain [OOC] Darn, not good timing game, I guess I better hurry up and get out of here.

Reboot in 9 minutes.

Reboot in 8 minutes.

Reboot in 7 minutes.

Reboot in 6 minutes.

Reboot in 5 minutes.

Reboot in 4 minutes.

Isaiah just stood there in Lathander’s temple watching the impending reboot.

Reboot in 3 minutes. (Log out now!)

Reboot in 2 minutes.

You have left the adventure.

Come back soon!

Isaiah’s player spent the rest of the day doing real life stuff. He made a big pot of coffee and drank it in several cups while making a small meal for himself. Next he did his homework, fed the cats, and cleaned out their litter boxes. He had a part time job where he would work a few hours a couple days a week as well. It wasn’t until later on the next day that he got time to log back in when real life stuff was finished.

When Isaiah popped back into existence in the temple of Lathander he wasn’t alone. A female half-elf with long blonde hair and a green eyed, dark haired elf were there.

Also a notice scrawled across the screen the moment he logged in.

High mortal position has been changed to align with the game as a role play mud. The position can be bestowed on characters who demonstrate good role play. Avatars and other immortals will take advice on candidates from other high mortals who notice good roleplay and think they have earned it. High mortal position is required to advance to level 20.

A female half-elf with long blonde hair says: “Hello.”

A green eyed, dark-haired elf says: “Would you be willing to officiate the wedding Light?”

A green eyed, dark-haired elf says: “Also hello cousin. I’m Kaarell.”

Isaiah's player typed which recognized Isaiah as kaarell so he had to try again with .

A female half-elf with long blonde hair says: “My name is Light. Pleasure to meet you if we haven’t met before.”

After a bit of fumbling around both of them were recognized with the correct names.

Isaiah says: “I’m Isaiah.”

Light says: “Oh, welcome back to the temple of Lathander Isaiah how have you been?”

Isaiah says: “Well enough, I had some struggles but am still kicking.”

Light says: “What happened?”

Isaiah says: “I made a mistake, I ran into who I thought was an elven maiden and moved to defend her honor from a half-elf named Marlykan who claimed to own her. It turned into a big mess.”

Kaarell says: “Ah, that former ranger.”

Isaiah says: “Former ranger?”

Kaarell says: “Yes, she used to be a ranger of Mielikki but her goddess did not approve of her nightly. . . activities. She no longer serves the lady of the wilds.”

Isaiah gasps.

Isaiah says: “That can happen?”

Kaarell nods.

Kaarell says: “Yes, I talked to her once about repenting and going back to Mielikki or even Lathander but she has no interest. She went on about how being alone in the woods with only trees to make out with was frustrating.”

Isaiah frowns.

Isaiah says: “I see, I hope that she can find redemption one day.”

Light says: “I hope so too.”

Kaarell says: “You should steer clear of her Isaiah. She is an elf in name only. Shacking up with the high priest of Malar for a room in his castle is a betrayal of all things fair folk are supposed to stand for.”

Isaiah says: “Who is that?”

Kaarell says: “Melic, he is a very powerful warrior priest. He likes hunting. People are his favorite prey.”

Kaarell looks you over.

Kaarell starts casting a spell.

Kaarell begins detecting magic.

Kaarell says: “It looks like you found some better gear congrats.”

Isaiah says: “Thanks, I’ve been killing drow on deku.”

Kaarell says: “Good, our dark cousins they are viscous murderers.”

Kaarell hmms.

Kaarell says: “Isaiah, when was the last time you backed up your spell book?”

Isaiah says: “You can do that?”

Kaarell nods.

Kaarell says: “Wizbert in shadow can back up your spell book. It takes a little while but I’d suggest you get it started right away. If things didn’t go well when you got into a fight with Marlykan you might have been having to start a new spellbook from scratch right now.”

Isaiah frowns.

Kaarell says: “Also, in the mage tower there are cubbies available to stash spell components. Those bags have a bad habit of just vanishing when you are in town. It would be prudent to not carry every component you own on you.”

Isaiah says: “Yes, I just got stoneskin and animate dead.”

Kaarell eyes you.

Kaarell says: “Animate dead? What did you do with that scroll?”

Isaiah blushes.

Isaiah says: “I transcribed it, but just for research purposes. I don’t plan on becoming a necromancer.”

Kaarell rubs his temples.

Kaarell says: “You sound like a priest of Mystra right now. Not every magic is worth knowing about.”

Isaiah says: “Sorry, I am always faithful to Lathander.”

Kaarell says: “Good.”

Isaiah says: “You and Light were talking about a wedding?”

Kaarell says: “I guess you walked in on us while we were discussing that.”

Isaiah listens.

Kaarell says: “Schatten and I are handfasting. I asked her to marry me and she said yes.”

Kaarell smiles proudly.

Isaiah says: “Congratulations!”

(Isaiah player was bummed out about this though. He liked Schatten. He needed Isaiah to play the roll as a supportive friend. That was the right thing to do when someone who has helped gets engaged.)

Light smiles.

Light says: “It will be a wonderful wedding ceremony. Kaarell asked me to officiate it.”

Isaiah says: “Well, I’ll be off and get this spell backup going. Thank you for the help.”

Isaiah left the temple and headed east then south to the mage tower.