I could hear the water lapping on the side of the docks, an NPC was docking his barge to take on some goods before heading out again. A couple of doves were cooing on the ground nearby and I could make out the sounds of the marketplace merchants trying to get players to buy their goods. All the regular sounds of the day came to me as they always did.

But to me everything seemed perfectly still. I wasn't listening to any of it; I was too caught up with the conversation that had just transpired. The whole situation was so twisted that I couldn't quite grasp what all of it meant. Two thoughts pulled me in different directions and both had sense and made no sense at the same time.

On the one hand I was offered the freedom to explore a new path with the blessing of the only person who had any reason to object to it. On the other the offer was attractive and ripe for the picking but I was unsure of the fruit that hung from that tree. Both offers seemed to join on at a single point, and going in any other direction would probably prevent me from getting any peace of mind. I gave up trying to fight it, picked a spot by the river, and sat down. "I think the path will find it's way to me." I murmured.

"Wolf?" a soft hesitant voice spoke my name. I couldn't help but grin, I was almost surprised at not being wrong. I turned to see a young spear wielding girl, that ironically had trouble with wolves. Maybe it was just my ego making an unannounced appearance but I admit that I was happy to see Opal standing there.

I smiled kindly and invited Opal to sit next to me. "I want to apologize for earlier. It wasn't cool of me to run off. I just had to clear my head." I said. I looked out over the water. Opal was fiddling with her fingers and biting her lip, to keep herself from saying anything. I continued "I don't quite know what to make of you yet. But I'm willing to spend my time with you for a bit. I propose we go hunting together if that's agreeable with you." I offered.

Opal flashed a broad smile "Ok, I can go with that. Does that mean we ..." Opal started. I gave her a stern look that cut her off. She did not push her luck any further. "I have all the supplies I need, so I can go anytime. If you need anything we can go to the stores before we head out." Opal said. "I'm good with what I've got. Let's see how much we can take on before the evening." I said.

This time we headed down the river along a road that followed it. Very few mobs would spawn on the river side of the road. On the other side it was another story. The forest started just off the road and was home to all kinds of creature that laid in wait for players who strayed into it. Of course this was precisely what we were doing. We were, after all, out here to hunt.

"Get your weapon out and protect yourself with it. The creatures here will try to surprise us, by either pouncing from their hiding places, or by dropping from the trees." Opal explained as she held her spear in front of her. I took out my battle axe and took a fighting stance. We only took a few steps into the woods before we heard a cry of attack.

Four large trolls came out behind the trees and charged. I felt my chest tighten with fear. The surprise attempt was having it's desired effect. It took all my courage to hold back my desire to turn around and run, that would have been a huge mistake as they would have been able to cut us to pieces with very little resistance. I had to face them, keep my guard up and block them as best as I could. One of them tried to bowl me over by slamming his club on my head. But thanks to Opal's information I was able to withstand the blow and twist the battle axe to push him to the side under the force of it's own attack.

The second troll hit me hard on the waist causing me to wince in pain. As it pulled back to get a second swing at me I brought the battle axe in an upward arc, sending the troll flying. I didn't even wait to see how hurt he was, I turned back to the first troll. It took a swing and missed, I spun round two turns slicing the axe across it's chest. I went back and fourth between the trolls, slamming the axe down hard one moment then swinging it upwards the next. Glancing at my hp bar and I hadn't taken much damage. I chuckled, these trolls wouldn't stand a chance.

As for Opal, she had managed to thrust her spear into one of the trolls causing a critical hit and it burst almost instantly. A move like that didn't come for free, and the other troll was able to get in a solid attack throwing her on her back. The troll raised it's club and came down hard. In a split second Opal rolled away, and the club hit dirt.

The troll looked down to see if it had hit Opal but she had moved away sufficiently for the troll to lose focus. Opal managed to get up and prepare an attack of her own. She took two steps then leaped up, her spear held with both hands over her head. She stabbed the troll before it was knew what hit it. Then she pushed off pulling the spear out of the troll causing even more damage. She back flipped and landed a few steps away from it. The troll got it's bearings and lunged. Opal anchored her spear into the ground and brought up the tip to the trolls waist. The troll let out a gurgling scream and stopped. A second later it blew up into hundreds of blue-green shards of light.

Opal stood immobile for a second her eyes focused on where the troll was a minute ago. Satisfied of her success, she lifted her spear and twirled it once before turning to me to see how I had fared. Her little show made me smile. "What's that smile for?" She asked as her cheeks turned a little pink. "Nice touch." I said as I turned my battle axe in a similar motion.

"Oh stop you're embarrassing me." Opal said to conceal her appreciation of the compliment. "Are we just going to hang around here or are you ready to do some more?" she asked. I pointed to the road with my battle axe to have her lead the way. After that first encounter I had a feel for how to handle the mobs in the area. We did have to take breaks often to let our natural healing do it's thing, but other than the toughness of the creatures, the day went by without a hitch.

"Got any plans for the evening?" Opal asked. I looked at her inquisitively. Opal continued "I hate to have to eat alone. I do it way too often anyways. We could get something to eat together, if you'd like. There a nice place with outdoor tables near the smith shop. I could meet you there around seven o'clock. What do you think?" Opal proposed. I nodded in agreement. "Good! I going to get ... I mean, I've got a few things to do before so I'll meet you there." she said. She waved with her fingers and headed deeper into town.

I let her go without another word and headed to the marketplace to look for a shop. I opened my menu and took a look at my inventory: "I've got to sell some stuff." I concluded. My inventory was full of the regular drops: low level equipment, crafting materials and useless junk. I saw a guy wearing a leather apron and I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"What can I do for you?" he asked. "I want to sell my stuff." I responded. "Ok, but I only take ores and hides. The rest is useless to me, you're better off selling it to a shop." the guy said. I looked at him quizzically, "Wait, you're not an NPC, you're a player?" I blurted out. He burst out laughing "Oh man! I knew this crafting gear was going to confuse people. So what have you got that you want to sell?" He asked

I opened a trade window and dropped all the stuff I had to sell so that he could take a look. "I'll take the hides and the bear claws. So you were hunting near the village in the forest. You have to be in that area to get bears." He asked as he counted what he wanted. "Yeah, not too many players go there because there's only one room to rent in the village." I said. "You didn't stay at the inn? It has a dozen rooms available. They're small but as a temporary stop it's not bad. Hey, you ok? You don't look well." He said frowning.

I caught myself and shook my head, We completed the transactions and he went on his way. I sold the rest of the stuff at an NPC shop. I had a little time before supper so I went to see what was happening on the river. Not that I wanted to look at the river itself, it just gave me somewhere to look so that I wasn't staring into empty space. I pondered what the guy had said about the rooms available at the inn.

"Did Opal simply not know?"