Heroes of Veritas: Crafting Bonus (Book 1)

Chapter Three: Lucky

“Thank you,” Elise said, then walked away before she became flustered by the minor praise.

Elise opened the bags as she walked from the training ground, noting that he had given her a small amount of coin and some smoked jerky. As she headed to the city gate closest to the white wood, she wondered if Rob made the jerky himself. Smoky voice, smoky pipe, smoked jerky…she could definitely sense a theme here.

Elise strode past the guards, who straightened up a bit as she passed, and crossed the drawbridge out of the city. She felt a renewed sense of wonder as the cobbles passed beneath her boots and the White Wood came into view. It was not snow covered, but white because of the trees – pale, thin, birch-like trees that had silvery white leaves. She’d heard in passing from some of the city's children NPCs that everything living in the wood was white too, but past experience showed Elise that most creatures living in the White Wood were actually shades of gray. White was a very stark color; gray prey animals could blend in better under the shaded canopy of the White Wood than their albino counterparts.

But, Elise wasn’t here for the White Wood – at least not yet. She slowed as she came to a series of fields in between the Veritasia City’s defensive mote and the rippling, uneven edge of the wood. The fields were planted with neat rows of grains and vegetables, had large central stone watering towers that rotated and sprayed water. At present, the watering towers were still; there was most likely an event coming up soon to help repair them.

Elise watched the fields for a few minutes before she spotted her first jackalope. Its antlers stuck up precariously from behind a large cabbage, followed by its head as it stood on its hind legs. It sniffed at the air, perhaps sensing her presence. Elise had moved quickly, loosing an arrow at it as soon as its head came into view. The arrow took the jackalope in the neck, and it kicked, squeaking piteously as she approached. Elise felt her heart strings tug as she gazed down at the poor creature; she had been aiming for its eye, hoping that it would die quickly - but she pushed that twinge back as she kneeled beside it and drew her hunting knife.

In the game, she would just hit the loot key and the jackalope’s hide, and maybe its antlers, would appear in her inventory – but there was no such prompt here as she looked down at the jackalope. She knelt down, took hold of the jackalope’s horns to steady it, and slit its throat in a deft, single pull of her knife, ending its painful squeals. She set about skinning the creature, storing its hide in a roll of waxed paper when she was done. She was debating whether or not to try for the antlers and meat as well, when she was struck from behind by several sharp objects.

“YOWCH!” Elise shouted as she topped forward, scraping her chin as she skidded across the dirty between two rows of cabbage. Growling, she turned over and got into a crouching position, holding her knife out – ready to strike. She wasn’t particularly proficient in knife combat, being a ranger and not a rogue, but the knife was already in her hand.

She was now face to face with a large, pale grey jackalope with patches of mossy green in its glossy coat. Sitting, it was almost as large as she was. The jackalope snorted at her, its solid black eyes narrowing with what Elise could only assume was rage. The jackalope tensed, crouching down, preparing to charge her again. Its branching antlers flashed gold as it leapt, but Elise was prepared this time. She threw her knife at the jackalope, which missed, but gave her the seconds she needed to dodge roll through the nearby cabbage patch. She came back to her feet in a flourish of cabbage leaves, bow out and arrow drawn back to her chin. As the jackalope spun around to face her again, she took her shot – which sadly deflected off the beast’s horns and struck a crow that had been investigating what was left of Elise’s first kill.

As the jackalope mini boss prepared to charge a third time, Elise took two more shots in a flurry of speed, landing solid hits. The beast cried shrilly, calling a swarm of jackalopes who emerged from the ground, shaking dirt out of their coats before leaping at Elise. Elise dodge rolled again, then started circle kiting the boss while picking off the smaller jackalopes.

An hour or so later, Elise stood in the middle of the trampled, blood stained field, panting, covered in purple and green stains, and smelling strongly of cabbage - tired but victorious. Being such a low level, she had to carefully strafe the boss – who could probably down her in just a few hits. This prolonged the fight, since she could only deal damage to the boss a little at a time, and she ended up facing several waves of jackalopes. It was a close fight, but she had the benefit of experience. She might be low level, but she knew how to position and time her skills.

Several of her earlier kills had already become meals for the crows, but from those remaining she managed to collect a dozen low quality pelts, rabbit meat, several sets of antlers, and a rare set of faintly glowing antlers from the mini boss – who, after inspecting, she learned was named Lucky.

As she collected her loot, Elise worked her way through some troubling thoughts. She had experienced considerable pain after being attacked by Lucky. Real pain. Her back was still sore from where the points of its horns had impacted her, and she had quite a few scratches and bruises from the swarm. Shouldn’t she have woken up by now? Elise swallowed as she tucked Lucky’s antlers under her arm. No, this was not a dream, she concluded. She was actually in Veritas.

Her heart swelled with the same excitement she felt when she had woken up this morning, but this feeling was tempered by concern. How did she get here? She vaguely remembered leaning back in her chair, can of cider in hand, a loud crack, then…blackness. Did she die? Was she somehow reborn in this world? Was she in an alternate universe?

Elise shook her head; did any of that really matter? She was in Veritas now, and if this was her real world, and she could experience pain and injuries, then she could probably die here too. Elise knew she was lucky; she had been given a second chance She even had the additional gift of time and knowledge. She knew what was going to happen, and needed to make the most of that gift.

She told herself that she needed to focus on surviving the Second Desolation – a world event where the dragon that had previously attacked Veritasia City, resulting in the death of her father, returned larger and far more powerful than before.

As Elise made her way back to Veritasia City, she gazed out across the fields, the sun casting vivid reds and pinks on the clouds as it sank toward the horizon. She didn’t have the energy to figure out everything right now, sore and smelly as she was, but it had been a beautiful day. She hoped she could make it a beautiful life.