Chapter 9: Helmstad

xxxx

Yes, this chapter is a bit late. I've had other stuff to do, and I hit some writer's block. Nothing a bit of brainstorming couldn't fix. As always, tell me what you think I'm doing right or wrong, and give me suggestions on how to improve current chapters, the existence of plot holes, and so on. This chapter is pretty short, but bear with me.

Random Noname, Thanks for your review. You're right, I completely got caught up in tunnel vision and really forgot to focus on more of the side details by trying to focus on a coherent plot. I'm not above going back into older chapters and editing them for continuity's sake or for better character development, so I'll take your review to heart.

xxxx

Veritas and crew trudged on, having traveled for the past ten days. Now that they were approaching the Briton Confederacy's borders, they had to be careful. As residents of Rosenheim Kingdom, a nation with neutral relations with the Confederacy, they'd be able to pass unmolested. If they got involved in an altercation though, they might be barred entrance. So far, the trip had been peaceful. The main road running between the two nations was regularly patrolled by soldiers, so it was mostly free of monsters and Player Killers.

It would be directly before the border on either side, where the soldiers were pulled to man the guard posts, that it would become dangerous. This was especially so because the particular road they were on ran through a massive prairie.

Still, with Veritas at the ready, neither Gunter nor Kirhi feared what would come. There was always the off chance that a high level rogue might ambush them, but they generally kept away from lower leveled players who wouldn't have as much plunder to offer.

Veritas whistled a tune as they went. He was mostly unused to traveling so slowly, but taking in the scenery while doing so was a surprisingly nice change of pace. All the things he'd always been too busy to notice, the landscape, the plants, flowers, trees, animals, the beautiful blue sky, now that he could take his time, it was a wonderful sight to behold.

It really makes me feel bad that I never took the time to do this before. Well, as the saying goes, if you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything.

As he traveled with his party, he'd tried probing for their lives in reality with an innocent question here or an offhand remark there. Merely out of curiosity. Strangely, the two of them were unusually tight-lipped about the matter.

Well, so am I, so I can't really blame them.

In the distance, Veritas noticed a merchant caravan heading their way through the prairie. When several figures rose from the tall prairie grasses, the merchants flinched and recoiled. For a moment, he thought they might've been debt collectors – they always had a way of appearing when you least wanted them to – but when the first fireball was thrown, that idea was dashed against the rocks.

"Hey!" cried Gunter, noticing as well, "Those people are under attack by player killers!"

"Let's go, Gunter!"

Veritas shrugged, before following them. If this were in reality, he'd have pinned the assailant before any harm could come to the victim. This was virtual reality though, and all the merchants would lose would be a few levels and their money. Now, if it was in his ability to help, he would do so. Helping the weak was part of his nindo. But the lesson he learned from fighting Madara had been that you couldn't save everyone. You could try, and in most cases save most of the people, save all of them in some, and none in others.

In a world where a player's fear of death only extended to a loss of monetary and tangible strength, he felt it would be unnecessary to risk himself in every fight that threatened someone's life. One might say he was a hypocrite after risking so much for the Ahrah wood elves, but he'd stand by that NPCs only had one life.

Between immortals and mortals, it was obvious whose death would be more serious.

Then again, maybe this business of reviving after you die is helping to desensitize players to death, which is probably a bad thing. Sure, the players wouldn't spurt blood or die grotesque deaths, but a death is a death no matter how you die.

He passed Gunter and Kirhi, both of whom were bombarding the bandits with long-range attacks. There'd be no need for his sword this time, since humanoids almost always had less defense than monsters. He deftly dodged a fireball and ice bolt launched by the two bandit Wizards. The magical attacks were slower and weaker than normal because they were simultaneously casting Barrier spells to block his party's attacks. Without the use of both hands, neither spell could operate at peak efficiency. Dual-wielding Wizards tended to sacrifice that speed and power for versatility.

To Veritas, these spells might as well be traveling at a snail's pace compared to his superior senses and reflexes. Brandishing his fists, Veritas leapt into the melee, crossing paths with two enemy Rogues, one hooded and the other masked.

Both of them had red diamond marks on their foreheads and their red-colored names hovered over them. This was the sign of a player killer, setting them apart from normal players, who could pose as NPCs if they wished. Player killers did not have that luxury. On the other hand, players who killed PKers received benefits in the form of increased reputation, the occasional monetary compensation, and an increased drop rate of the PKer's rare items upon death.

These two PKers looked a little surprised that a heavily armored player – obviously not a monk – was closing in with just his fists and dodging all the spells, but remained calm and collected.

The hooded rogue lashed out with his dagger, which Veritas promptly avoided by palm striking the fist clenching the weapon. Like in his fight with Ji-hoon, Veritas used the temporary opening he created to step in with the knee to side punch combo. Moments after completing the combo, he grabbed the wrist of the masked rogue, who had taken the opportunity to get behind him. In a feat of strength, given his relatively low Strength stat compared to typical Warriors, Veritas threw the bandit into the air and swept from a half-twirl – to build up momentum – into an attack, striking with both his fist and elbow at precisely the same time and point, stepping forward as he did so to further increase the damage through momentum.

Unlike with Ji-hoon, both of the Rogues got back up on their feet. This time, they kept their distance, wary of the unusually fast Warrior and obviously experienced martial artist. The two bandits began to circle him in opposite directions. It was an obvious delaying tactic, meant to keep him from reaching the convoy proper. Because they couldn't expect support from the Wizards, who were now embattled with Veritas' two party mates, they were splitting his attention and preventing him from making any rash moves, lest he be attacked from all sides at once.

I don't have time to wait around like this, though, and they know it. There's only so much Kirhi and Gunter can do from that range, and if these guys decide to use the merchants as human shields, there wouldn't be anything they could do. So... I guess it's all up to me again. Well, fighting alone does have its advantages, like not having to worry about the people around you. So, let's get to it.

Veritas dashed at the expectant hooded rogue. Noting that these enemies were particularly sharp-witted and adapted well to changing conditions, he started off his attack with a flying ax kick. When the bandit raised his dagger up in defense, hoping to take his leg, he retracted it and fell into a sprinting start position. Veritas barreled into the rogue's abdomen at close to his top speed, sending the man rolling headlong into the caravan's carts.

He then quickly side-flipped away from the masked bandit's slash, jumping up immediately after landing to gain the height advantage. Veritas whipped up six of his throwing knives and threw them, the deadly wave of metal providing yet another surprise for the player killers. He closed in quickly, even as he heard the a disbelieving remark about a Warrior using throwing knives, unsheathing his sword.

The masked rogue tried to retreat, his dagger at a range disadvantage to a sword. Under normal circumstances, he'd have put confidence in his superior agility to outmaneuver a sword wielder, but this one, though a Warrior, fought very much like a top-class Rogue. Unfortunately, he was just a step too slow, and before he could fall back, Veritas ran him through.

Even as the bandit's skin began to turn gray, Veritas pulled out the sword, tossed it into the air, and threw the spinning weapon at the other rogue. The bandit, just having gotten to his feet, looked up to see death bearing in on him. The sword impaled the hooded player to the cart, leaving his graying body dangling. Soon, both dead players disappeared in a flash of gray, leaving behind a pile of some of their items.

The bandit Wizards, seeing both Rogues down, followed by the death cry of another bandit on the other side of the convoy, decided to run away with all due speed. Deciding it wasn't worth the effort, Veritas stooped down to pick up the fallen items of the dead.

These guys didn't have much on them, did they? Maybe they were robbing these guys out of desperation or something.

"Thanks for the timely help." A merchant turned the corner, bloodied from what must've been his battle with the other bandit. "Thank god you took care of the guys over here. I had my hands full just dealing with that Warrior, even with my significant level advantage... The difference between the combat and craftsman classes in battle really are as vast as they say."

"It wasn't a problem, really. To be honest, I wasn't sure about what to do, but my party decided to help so I came too."

"Yes, we Merchants know best to not make unprofitable plays. I wouldn't' have blamed you if didn't help us, three against four or five enemies aren't favorable odds at all. Oh." He held out a hand. "The name's Bart."

"Veritas." He shook hands with the Merchant. "And they're Kirhi, and Gunter," he introduced as they approached.

"Really, thanks so much. We took a few losses, but the majority of us got away with our lives intact. As long as we didn't lose that and the merchandise, we'll be able to make up the loss of levels of our fallen when we rendezvous at our destination."

"Not a problem, Bart-ssi," Gunter assured. "We just couldn't simply sit by while you were all in danger."

"Listen, have you guys heard about what happened up ahead?" The three shook their heads. "Well, since I'm the boss of this group, I've had to keep my eyes and ears peeled. Word is that the checkpoint ahead is closed temporarily to those without authorization. Something about Rosenheim Kingdom's military performing drills near the border." At the party's look of displeasure at the news, he waved for their attention. "Looks like they might be worried about spies, but merchants are impartial and only look towards the profits. If you stick with us, we can get you through."

"Really? That'd be really swell." Kirhi smiled brightly.

"Yeah, you can pose as caravan guards, a lot of caravans have them nowadays."

"Then why didn't you have any?" asked Veritas.

"Couldn't afford it, sadly. The pay isn't much, but over long distances and periods of time, the figure really starts to add up. This is our caravan's first expedition, meant to give us the profits we need to pay for more secure trips and work our way up to expand the venture."

"In the end, it's always money," Gunter muttered bitterly.

"Indeed it is." Bart nodded knowingly. "Still, when it comes to money, there's no better friend than a merchant. So, will you accept this as a token of our thanks?"

Gunter, Kirhi, and Veritas all looked at each other, knowing the answer.

"Of course."

Traveling became much more pleasant when sitting in the horse-drawn carts now that they didn't have to walk. With new conversational partners, the two groups shared what stories they could, enjoying their short time together. At sundown, the caravan reached the checkpoint, and after a cursory inspection to make sure they weren't smuggling illegal goods or spies, they were allowed to pass.

"They bought the guard excuse, hook, line, and sinker," Veritas whispered to Kirhi gleefully.

"Well think of it this way, what kind of caravan wouldn't go without a guard? Us being here totally makes sense." Kirhi shot a grateful look at Bart, who was leading the horse of the front-most cart with the reins. "His plan was really ingenious."

"Yeah, I wouldn't have thought of doing that in a thousand years." he chuckled. "Anyways, Gunter really knocked out pretty fast once we got past that checkpoint, didn't he?"

"He always gets sleepy in vehicles. The reason he managed to stay awake until now was probably out of nervousness that we might get caught."

"So, how long are we gonna ride with the merchants?"

"The nearest settlement would be a border village two days south-southwest from here," Bart answered, consulting a map of the region. "But it's small and subsequently unprofitable. Where we're heading is a town six days northwest from here. We'll stop there, sell some of our merchandise, then head for the capital, where we'll get rid of everything else and stock up on new merchandise."

"Why do you do that?" asked Veritas.

"Easy. Different regions possess plentiful amounts of certain resources and are lacking in others. The point of trade is to give what you have a lot of to a nation that doesn't, buying low in one country and selling it high in another. Then you repeat it the other way. Both countries get the resources they want, and the merchants make money. Supply and demand."

"Huh..."

"Speaking on the topic of supply and demand, craftsman classes have it really tough right now, with weak combat ability and low progress rates of the craft skills. But, as players reach a higher level and hit the limit to what they can obtain through NPC stores, the demand for high-quality or made-to-order weapons will rise and we noncombat classes will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel."

"Limit?"

"That's right, Veritas-nim, limit. NPC stores in Royal Road aren't like other MMORPGs. They also are run by the laws of supply and demand, and they can run out of stock just like any other player-run shop. The stock of equipment are supplied by NPC blacksmiths and the kingdom's monster-clearing patrols. Because the drop rate for the best equipment is obscenely low, this type of equipment will be reserved exclusively for the country's use. The kind of weapons and armor you'll find in stores will be common or uncommon, but never rare or unique. Like this, it wouldn't be hard to hit the upper limit of geometrically increasing attack and defense that equipment can offer when the strength of monsters increases exponentially as their levels increase."

"Geometric? Exponential?"

"Hmm, let's put it this way. Two times four is eight, while two to the fourth is two times two times two times two is sixteen. Basically, exponential increases rises much, much faster than geometric increases."

"Ah, I see."

"Anyways, if I could ask Kirhi-him and Veritas-nim to keep watch until we stop for the day, that'd be much appreciated."

"Sure."

"No problem. I'm used to taking the watch."

Kirhi raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

He just grinned mischievously. "That's a secret."

xxxx

"Ugh... That bastard, what was he?" grumbled the hooded rogue in Ledern Kingdom's capital, Grisamoor. He'd respawned in an alleyway with his partner after four days and were now heading back to their base of operations.

"The guild's gonna be pissed, especially Hanzou," the masked rogue murmured. "That was supposed to be an easy mark, but now we've got squat to show for it."

"Man... Hayden, you think if we explain everything, he won't chew us out?"

Hayden shook his head. "He'd probably tell us it was still our fault because we weren't skilled enough to deal with them. Anyways, I'll go in first, Marcus."

The two rogues entered through a doorway and disappeared, no one else the wiser. This kingdom, Ledern, which lined the southwest border of the Briton Confederacy, had a greater black market presence than most. On the other hand, knight nations like Briton, Keurion and Kallamore, and militant nations like Rosenheim, Brent, Prain, and Aytern, with their strict enforcement, had very weak underground presences.

As for their guild, they could've based at a tavern, where the costs would be limited to just the drinks, but one too many outbursts from them had had them thrown out and threatened with certain death if they returned. Their group had therefore been forced to occupy an abandoned house, and although the government itself didn't know they were staying there, they had to pay membership dues to the Thieves' Guild. These dues mostly went to not being ratted out to the government.

Inside, they met up with the other Warrior that Bart had felled. When players first started playing Royal Road, their respawn point would be set to the city they'd chosen to start in, but this point could be changed for a small price. All the players set these respawn points often, so that they wouldn't have to travel as far if they happened to die. Respawn points were limited to settlements and could also be set at fortifications.

They entered the meeting room and reported their loss to the guild leader and their fellows. It was a small guild to be sure, just twelve members, but that did not mean they were any less ruthless than the various other black guilds in Royal Road.

"So you lost the caravan?" demanded another member.

"And to only three people, no less," a second condemned. "You had five people. That's pretty pathetic."

"Calm down, Vice, Mattrick." The guild leader, Hanzou, looked at them. "Hayden, Marcus, Jett, let's hear it from you three, since Vanne and Murlin aren't back yet. You five are hardly weak, so how did you manage to die?"

"One of the merchants was Bart. He's well known for being one of the strongest Merchants in combat, and his level is around the mid 90s, last I heard," Jett explained. "He used his large level advantage to pretty much match me blow for blow, but I made a misstep and paid for it."

Marcus stepped forward next. "I uploaded the footage of my and Hayden's fight. I believe that seeing will be believing."

Hanzou contemplated Marcus' resolute expression, expressing confidence that he'd be exonerated. "Go on then. We'll take a recess to watch the video."

Marcus sent the link to the video to everyone in the room, the others then logging out to watch it. After several minutes, they began to log back on, one by one. Finally, when everyone finished logging back in, they began discussing with one another in earnest.

"That Ranger and Wizard were nothing special, but that Warrior was a work of art!"

"What kind of Warrior pumps stats into Agility over Strength? Unbelievable..."

"That kind of martial arts skill is way beyond any basic or intermediate level. Possibly a master..."

"Those throwing knives did some amazing damage to Marcus. Where the hell did he get ones that strong?"

"Mine would only do a fourth of what he did..."

"Well, from what I'm hearing and the video I saw, it couldn't be helped, could it?" Hanzou twiddled his fingers idly. "Still, this guy killed two of our guild. Hands up, who thinks we should let this guy go after doing that?"

No one raised their hands, to no one's surprise.

"So, I assume we don't have a name for this bastard."

"No, we don't, but it can't be too hard to find the name of a player with this level of fighting skill."

"Hanzou, do you have any ideas?"

Hanzou remained silent for a while, thinking about something. Out of respect for the man that'd supported them as newbies, they waited silently for him to speak. "Marcus and Hayden, what are your levels right now?"

"Uh, I'm level 80." Marcus looked at Hayden.

"And I'm level 78."

"..."

"What's the problem, Hanzou?"

"I'm not too sure, but... I'm pretty sure I've seen that armor before, it was level 51 armor."

"Maybe he's just being economical and saving money by not buying new armor," Jett suggested. "Hell, I do that all the time."

"Maybe." Hanzou sounded doubtful, even though he himself didn't know why. "Regardless, though we've decided to revenge ourselves upon him, we shouldn't let it interfere with our regular duties. Once we figure out who he is and where he's at, we'll make him wish he never messed with us. Until then, we should go about our own business. So, this meeting is now adjourned."

And so, unbeknownst to our hero, his first enemies swore to end his life.

xxxx

"Eurgh, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting really tired of this stale rye bread."

It was ten more days later, six since Bart dropped them off at the town of Vilian. From there, the three of them had traveled northwest, following a worn animal trail. Bart had warned them that the trip north would be dangerous. While this path was supposed to lead to the barbarian city of Helmstad, from the Confederacy's borders onwards, it would be wilderness.

That meant there were to be no pitstops, since the route from Vilian to Helmstad had no towns in between. The monsters gained several levels immediately upon crossing the border and, although the chill of the wilderness was only a fraction of that of the wastelands, remaining unprotected from the elements could cause detrimental status effects to appear.

The barbarians were hardier and stronger and more cold-resistant than most races on the continent, with higher Strength and Stamina stats. Also, one could only obtain the whispered Berserker class from them in Helmstad.

As it were, Helmstad, their largest city, was located close to the Briton Confederacy's border, as the true north was extremely dangerous on top of the frigid cold, even for those above level 200. The true north was almost completely uncharted and filled with dangerous beasts, even the undead.

The north was repulsively cold, causing people to catch colds within minutes and freeze them to death within hours. Even wearing the best leathers did not prevent the arctic cold from seeping into the bones. Frequent blizzards quickly put out even the liveliest flames and buried in snow those who survived the freeze.

Veritas silently thanked whatever deity there was that they wouldn't have to go that far. But, at the same time, he cursed it for the endless meals of dry, hard bread.

Even Kirhi and Gunter were fed up with it, as they didn't offer their usual consolations.

I wonder how they have so much free time though, since it's been six, almost seven days in real-time since we left Rosenheim. I don't have a job – not that I can get one anyway – and I don't need to go to school... But what do they do? Though, it's not really my business, is it.

It became chillier as they walked further north, the forests becoming so sparse that they became reduced to clumps of trees seen every once in a while. They were now in a tundra, the air dry and cold, the land bare of all but the heartiest brush.

"How much farther?" Gunter whined.

"Oh, suck it up Gunter, it's not that cold."

"But Kirhiiii..."

"Hey guys, isn't it strange we haven't seen any monsters yet?" Veritas was becoming more and more wary as they went. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him. Bad memories of Ahrah Forest bubbled to the forefront.

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that. I know this is supposed to be the safest route to Helmstad, but we saw more danger on the way to the Confederacy's borders."

"M-Maybe we should head back?"

"Oh be quiet, Gunter."

On a whim, Veritas checked the elven compass, which pointed west-northwest.

I'm surprised any elves live up here where it's colder and there are so few trees.

Weirdly enough, by the time Helmstad came into view over on the horizon, they still hadn't encountered any monsters. It was as they got closer that the reason why was revealed to them.

Masses of players ran through the tundras around the city, slaughtering every living thing. The concentration of players here was far beyond what any of them had experienced before. For every square mile, there had to have been at least sixty or so players competing for monster spawns. Intrepid users went off in groups to hunt away from the city, explaining why they hadn't encountered any monsters on the way here. They were being killed off.

The monsters of the wilderness between the two nations weren't so strong as to cow travelers from coming to the Barbarian cities. What they lacked in the strength typified by the far north, they made up for in numbers. But when the amount of players rose to such a critical level, even that strength became for naught.

"Wow," Kirhi breathed, "just look at them all. What do you think they're all doing here?"

Veritas shrugged. "Maybe this is the only effective place to increase their levels? Since the monsters get a lot tougher north."

"Maybe it's got something to do with the Berserker class." Gunter closed his eyes, trying to remember something. "I think that one of the requirements to class change was something like, 'kill x monsters within x time' or something like that. I heard that the class change quest isn't affected by parties like with other kill quests, which might be why all these guys are fighting solo and competing with one another."

"Damn, sounds tough. Berserker sounds like a cool name, and dual-wielding sounds pretty awesome. I guess I can understand why these guys are all desperate to become one."

It was just as packed inside the city, filled with people trying to buy and sell the items related to various quests.

It took them some time to get through the crowds and buy what they needed. Food and medical supplies, mainly. Veritas cried a few tears of grateful joy as he chewed on some jerky, the local specialty. While they sold rye bread as well, the jerky came close to being just as cheap and provided a welcome change to the party's palate.

They also spent some time browsing through weapons and armor. What they discovered was that Helmstad had no Smithy or Craftsman's Guild, and therefore no craftsmen. Instead, the drop rate for common and uncommon weapons in the tundra around the city were increased and large numbers of the average weapons sold cheaply to compensate.

Veritas looked through the wares, but found nothing that caught his fancy. It did occur to him that with no Smithy, that could mean that he was the only one in Helmstad with the Repair skill, which could very well work out in his favor.

I wonder if I could do business charging people to repair their best, favorite weapons. I probably could. Making money and increasing my Repair skill at the same time, mmmm...

They then entered the crowded square, jostling through the mass for an open spot. It was a bit tough, since the tall height of the countless barbarians filling the square often blocked their line of sight.

Veritas squeezed between two particularly space-ignorant barbarians. "Geez, this is pretty annoying."

"You said it. Come on Gunter, keep up. Don't blame me if you lose sight of us and get lost."

"I'm c-coming."

Nearby, a loud voice began droning.

"Come one, come all! Gather 'round, for we have missions of the utmost importance! Fair citizens of this city, rise and serve a nobler cause! Offer your strength and body to help your home prosper!"

Veritas and co. exchanged puzzled looks even as groans filled the air.

"Not this guy again."

"My entire party got wiped trying to do the last one."

"None of us are even at the level needed to finish this guy's quests. Give us something related to our level!"

The NPC, a grizzled barbarian, caught a glimpse of them and came in like a guided missile.

"You there! You're not from here," he declared, singling the three of them out. "No fool in his right mind would travel north unless he was supremely confident in his own abilities! You three must be very strong foreigners, am I right?"

"No, we're not," Kirhi denied. "We came here on a whim."

"Nonsense! No need to be so humble, we barbarians thrive on being prideful of our accomplishments!"

"Like I said..."

"Brave adventurers, the elves to our northwest have been driving back our fair city's efforts at expansion! For this city's sake, I beseech thee, take care of the elves and secure our prosperity!"

::::

Snow Elf Subjugation

For centuries, the barbarians of the Versaille continent have always just scraped by, but under the leadership of the new chieftain, they have begun to have pride not just as warriors, but as a people. Now they seek to enrich themselves on the numerous untouched resources around them.

But the snow elves near Helmstad have furiously and violently opposed any and all efforts by the city to expand and prosper. Defeating the elves will remove the final obstacle for the city to become a true capital for the barbarians.

Quest Difficulty: D

Rewards: Barbaros' Mithril Battleaxe

Quest Restrictions: Complete before winter.

::::

The players around them began to offer advice.

"Be careful, this guy's notorious for handing out difficult quests."

"Yeah, several of us already tried to complete this quest, but we couldn't even get close to the forest. Those snow elves are ridiculously strong."

"They have to be at least level 100."

"That D-Rank difficulty is really deceptive."

"If you really want, accept the quest and try to beat it, but my tip is to not be afraid to quit quests when it's obvious you can't finish it."

"I don't think you should accept, because "winter" in this game is only a month away. Even if you wanted to take your time and hopefully take out one elf at a time, you won't have the time for that."

Gunter, still shivering slightly, agreed, "We shouldn't accept this quest. We might've completed the Basic Training Course, but even adding that we're still too weak to fight anything that's level 100 or higher."

"You know, Gunter, right now I might be regretting just a little that we had Veritas-nim be the party leader."

"W-why?"

"Look at his face. That disgusting look of confidence. He's going to accept it. I can't believe he's going to accept it."

"I'll help your city with the elves," Veritas declared to confirm Kirhi's suspicions.

::::

You have accepted the quest.

::::

"Splendid!" The barbarian shook hands with him roughly and firmly. "My name is Barbaros, and I am our city's Chief of War. If not at the Chieftain's Hall, you'll find me here in the square. I await good news, brave adventurers!"

"Veritas-nim..."

"V-Veritas-nim, w-whyyyyy?"

"Ha! Don't worry guys, I have a pretty good idea about how to get in the forest." Veritas pointed dramatically towards the northwest, striking an exaggerated pose. "Onward!"

xxxx