Kungen cleared his throat and walked out into the light. The sun greeted him from the edge of the horizon, forcing the warrior to put one hand in front of his face. He was standing on the top deck of the ship. As it was stilll docked the tall vessel overlooked the entirety of Docktowns harbor. Through his obscured vision Kungen could only see a blur that respresetned the swath of players that gathered. He squinted. Jesus, there must be at least a hundred of them. The harbor was quiet, they all stared at the high level warrior. Kungen turned around.

"How are we going to fit all of them on here?" He whispered. Uloveme gave him a blank expression.

"I don't know? You're the one who told them all to come here, remember?"

"Yeah but I didn't think there'd be this many!"

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Kungen paused for a moment, briefly shooting a glance at that hundred-strong mesh of bodies behind him. They were still staring. He looked back at Uloveme. "Okay you might be right. But I definitely can't fit them all on just this ship."

"Well….can you do multiple trips?"

Kungen paused for a moment. "Yeah that might-"

"Hey what's the hold up?" A player shouted from the back of the crowd, another followed.

"Yeah aren't we supposed to go fight Oceanus now? You said we would leave at sun down!" The player pointed towards the fading glow on the horizon. "Well, the sun has set!" Kungen pinched the bridge of his nose and turned around. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Well I'm afraid there's a bit of a problem. It seems there's too many of you to fit on the ship. So…" Kungen looked at Uloveme for the reassuring nod, "…so it looks like we'll have to do more than one trip." The players stared at him blankly. Kungen scratched the back of his head. " Uh you know, kind of like when you're unloading groceries from the car but can't hold all of them, so you have to go back and forth a few times until you get it all. You guys get what I'm saying?"

There was a pause, a brief stall in both movement and sound in the crowd. Kungen didn't know what to say, and by the look of it the players didn't either. It felt like a years before someone spoke up.

"Well I want to be on the first trip."

"What? Screw you man I don't want to miss the kill of the first world boss."

Kungen sighed.

"Yeah I traveled too far to just be reinforcements!"

"I want to go first!"

"No me!"

"All of you, shut up!" Once again, the crowd quieted, faster than Kungen expected. One hundred eyes all rested back on him at once, he cleared his throat loudly. "I'm the one who did the quest, so I'll decide who gets to go on. Period." The players looked at each other.

"Yeah but I'm-"

"No, shut up!" Kungen shouted over the player. "Stop complaining! No one's going to miss out on the fight, and no one's going to miss out on the rewards. I promise." Kungen turned around and nodded at one of the NPC sailors. A wooden set of steps fell to the stone dock with a smack. "Everyone line up, single damn file. Whoever misses out will get picked up on the next go around. Sound like a plan?"

It took several minutes but the players complied. Kungen took a seat on the steps leading up to the top deck, rubbing his temples. Overhead the pinkish-yellow that enveloped the sky began to fade to twilight.

"It'll work out, don't stress too much." Uloveme assured him, as she stood and watched the players slowly walk up the deck. Kungen groaned.

"I hate being a leader..."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"I sell only the finest wares in all of Albion, that I promise."

Maia stared at the merchant. The fat, grinning, purple-vested merchant. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you do Mr…." She squinted. "Aladdin?" The man nodded as if to confirm it. "But I'm just looking for a good, steel long sword. Do you sell that?"

The merchant shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"So that isn't one of the finest wares?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Ugh."

Maia turned around and went to look for the next stall vendor. There has to a weapons master around here, one with a half-way decent blade at least. She glanced back at Aladdin, the NPCs belly hanging out like it held an oncoming baby. And one that isn't super weird. Maia could only imagine the quest that would be behind Aladdin's character.

The gypsy camp of Gallinero was entirely new to her. It was a nestled hamlet just off the coast of Bowerlake, far from its sister camp of Vadoma in both distance and appearance. And unlike the former, Gallinero seemed to be full of up and coming players. Maia counted at least a dozen from when her and Quill first entered the camp. Must be because of that Global Quest.

Maia tied her blonde hair back behind her head as she walked, having it flow free and blow in her face with every gust of wind proved to be more annoying than stylish. She approached the center of the camp, merely a dozen caravans circled around a large bonfire. Only when her hair was done did she stop, right beside the fire and right beside her companion of the past few days.

"Couldn't find anything?" Quillian asked, the warrior staring into the feint trickle of flame. The sun had already set, and twilight wasn't long for the region. The flames had grown brighter as the minutes passed.

"No, nothing good at least." Maia finished her hair and unsheathed the rusted iron great sword she found on their way to the camp. "You'd think they'd have a blacksmith here."

Quill ran a hand though his hair. The bright blonde streaks hanging free and touching his shoulders, going nearly as far down as Maias own hair. "Their gypsies Maia, lore-wise that isn't really there thing."

"Eh, never really got into the Fable lore." Maia admitted.

"It's worth a go, would probably be really useful knowing all the inspirations they took from the early games for this one."

Maia often wondered about the earlier Fable games. Didn't Bowerstone get destroyed in the fourth one? Or was that when Reaver got killed? Maia shrugged. "If we ever come across a library or book store you can be sure those will be the first I look up."

Quill grinned briefly and turned around, yawning. "It's getting late, I'm gonna head to my caravan."

"Already?" Maia was incredulous. "It's barely even dark yet. We could probably get another good quest in."

"There's barely anymore left." Quill said, continuing to walk. "Plus all the players have started to oversaturate the area."

"Then why don't we just go to Docktown? We should still be able to catch a ride to Bower Island."

Quillian stopped, and turned around. "For that Global Quest? They're going to get slaughtered."

"Maybe, or maybe they'll win. It's worth a shot."

"Another time." Quill shook his head and waved her off.

Maia clenched her fists. "We can't just hide in here forever Quill! That mans always going to be out there, we can't just hide away in fear forever!"

Quill didn't say another word as he approached his caravan. The only response Maia was sure she got was the slam of the little wooden door and the echo it created across the whole camp. She sighed and looked back at the fire. Tomorrow.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Way-hay, up she rises! Way-hay, up she rises! Way-haaayyy-"

"Shut up!" A player, Shade'OLight, said, smacking down his dark skinned companion Polomaine9 back to the table. Ellie smiled as she watched the scene from across the room.

Her and Ryuu had been close enough to enter the ship on the first round pick, totaling up to just under fifty players. The ship was large, yet still noticeably filled from end to end. The brightly green tinted glow that covered each player name in the raid party making the vessel seem even more crowded. They had gone below deck to try to escape the masses. Yet her cousin had gotten distracted and wondered back upstairs, saying he wanted to have a look around. Knowing him he probably got lost somehow. Ellie yawned and leaned back in her hammock, she rested her hands behind her head and watched the scene unfold.

Polomaine rubbed the back of his head. "Aye man you can't be doing that it's racist."

Shade'Olight looked at his companion very calmly, his long curly brown hair covering part of his eyes. "Too. Loud."

Polomaine grinned and rose, standing taller than Ellie has previously guessed. "I'll show you too loud."

"Guys, can we just not make a scene?" A short, blonde headed player said from the side, MichaelMyersG. He looked to be even younger than Ellie. His bright blue eyes and bleach white skin reminding her of Dough-boy.

Polomaine scoffed. "You're just mad cause I'm gonna get that final blow on Oceanus, right?"

Shade played with his beard. "Yup, definitely." Ellie could see Michael shake his head and sigh, trying to go in between the two.

Ryuu would've sang too. She thought. The room started to quiet then, other than her and the three players there were only a handful of others in the cabin. Everyone must be talking outside. Ryuu too. Ellie sat up. It's been a while, probably should go find him. She walked up stairs.

The deck of the ship was illuminated with several lanterns, lightly outlining the swath of players across the deck. In the thirty minutes since they had departed night had fallen fast, Ellie noticed. She looked around. All big groups. Some talked in large circles while others watched the waves of Bower Lake roll by on the boats edge. Kungen must be up top. She thought, as she looked up at the raised part of the deck, by the steering wheel. Though it was too dark for her to make out any of the people standing there.

I wonder if FistOmen and Herman made it? Ellie wondered. Neither her nor Ryuu had spotted them at the harbor, or seen them since they boarded. Are they still on that quest out of town?

Something hit Ellie in the shoulder.

"Watch where you're standing, sheesh." A red haired woman said, not stopping or even looking at Ellie as she spoke. T? Ellie thought, bewildered, as she read the other womans name tag. Beast had several men follow her as she went to the top level of the deck, none paying Ellie any attention like Beast. Probably best to stay away from her. She took another look around, spotting a familiar face surrounded by several other players at the edge of the wooden rails. The man also recognized her.

"Hey didn't I meet you earlier?" Pureyoo asked with a smile, his entire group of players turned and looked at Ellie.

"Uhh..." Ellie imagined Ryuu scratching the back of his head in the same situation. "…yeah you were all at the pub in Docktown right?"

"Haha yeah that was us, guess now would be a good time to introduce you guys right?" Pureyoo suddenly examined the area around Ellie. "Wait, where's Ryuu?"

Ellie shrugged. "Was actually just looking for him now. He said he wanted to explore the ship. Have you guys seen him?"

Pureyoo shook his head looked at the two men beside him, both shaking their heads as well. "No but we'll keep an eye out."

Ellie smiled and went to turn around. "Sweet thanks."

"Well whatever the case, this guy to my left is Elvis…." He pointed to the man at his left with a thick mane of black hair and a white dyed mages outfit. Ellie found herself stopped in place.

Elvis gave her a nod. "How do you do?"

Ellie stared at him blankly. He even sounds like Elvis.

"And this is Prince." Pureyoo motioned to the man on his right. Sporting a balding red hairstyle the man had a plain, brown adventures outfit and a large crossbow strapped on his back. Does he know he doesn't have to be bald in-game?

"Nice to meet yah." He said a thick, unexpected irish accent.

"…Likewise." Ellie managed to get out. A small silence followed. Someone coughed. Out of the corner of her eye Ellie saw the form of a dark haired boy come down from the top deck and circle right around into the cabin.

Pureyoo took a step to the side and pulled man standing behind him. "And then behind me we have…"

Ellie interjected. "Hey um I think I just found my cousin." She ran towards the door. "I'll be back in a sec, sorry!"

She maneuvered past and push through several people, muttering apologizes under her breath as she went. Knew I should have gone on the top deck. Ellie thought, mentally scolding herself. Suddenly she collided with the wooden frame of the door as it shot out in her direction.

"I'm telling you it's always waffles over pancakes don't be-"the voice paused. "Damn it Michael!"

Ellie recoiled, instinctively holding her nose in what would have been pain in the real world. She looked up. "Doughboy?" Ellie said aloud, covering her mouth when she heard her own words.

MichaelMyersG had his hands up, his eyes wide. "Oh crap, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Another player pushed past him.

"This is what happens when you walk in front Mike." Polomaine9 said before looking at Ellie. "Sorry about that, and did you just call him dough-boy?" He looked down at Michael, his smile growing exponentially. Another player pushed through.

"Ignore them." Shade'OLight pushed both players aside, making room by the door. "Sorry about that." He nodded at Ellie, and the girl regained her composure. Quickly moving past the three and into the main cabin. Later. I'll deal with it all later.

She stopped in the middle of the makeshift pub, looking around curiously. Over by the bar, leaning over the counter and talking to the NPC bartender was the boy she saw. Ellie didn't even need to confirm the name tag as she moved towards him.

"Hey I've been looking all over for you. Did you find some sort of buried treasure or something?" She asked, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Well?"

He turned around, speaking in a different voice, tone and accent then what she expected. "What?" Ellie read his nametag, DarkRiser. Her face reddened. Only then did she notice that the man was wearing a different outfit as well. She shrieked, taking several steps back.

DarkRiser stared at her blankly. "I'm sorry I don't understand?"

Ellie used her hand as a fan, calming herself as she shook her head and looked at the floor. "Sorry, sorry I thought you were…uh….my cousin Ryuu."

"Oh you mean the Ranger?" Ellies eyes widened and beamed up.

"Yeah, yeah if his names Ryuu, have you seen him?"

DarkRiser smiled and pointed behind his back with his thumb. "Yeah we talked for a bit outside. Seems like a pretty cool guy. I think he said something about going to explore below deck, he should still be there."

Ellie smiled brightly in return, and gave a small bow. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She went towards the wooden staircase, quickly shuffling her feet down the creaky steps.

"No problem." She heard Dark Risers voice echo from upstairs, but by then she was already near the floor.

It was large, almost as big as the upper deck. But dark as well, with only a scant amount of lanterns illuminating the area compared to above. Dusty as well. She thought, as she ran her fingers along one of the support beams, leaving grey residue on her finger. Nice touch, developers. She looked around, from the back she heard a speaking.

"Well to be honest I didn't know at first. But as I continued on in the game I eventually got used to it and found my bearings. It's rather difficult to get into the stride of, like most things, but anyone can do it. Why, you look pretty good yourself young sir." Ellie traced the sound to her right, from behind a thin wooden wall. She followed it.

Ryuu laughed, Ellie picked up her speed. "But I just feel like I'm nothing compared to you though, old man. You seem way strong. It must be because the whole age equals wisdom thing that got you this far right?"

"Nonsense, we're all young in this games world."

"Ryuu!" Ellie called as she reared around the corner, finding her cousin sitting at a small wooden table. In front of him was an old man with shoulder length bleach white hair and steady beard to match.

"Ellie!" He stood up, gesturing at the man with his arms. "You'll never believe the new friend I just made!"

"Wait, what?"

Ellie looked at Ryuu and then back at the man. He seemed to be dressed in normal clothing, save for the large blade attached to his characters back. Only when she read his name, green in text like all the others, did she remember.

Defil3d smiled at Ellie. "Ryuu has spoken much about you young lady. All praises, I promise." He smiled, gesturing to the seat next to Ryuu. "Please, join us."