Images of Frodo falling into the Dead Marshes flickered through my mind.
“Daytime it is. I don’t think they based the Cryptic Marshes on Lord of the Rings, but there are plenty of folklore stories to make me think twice,” I said. “Okay, we’ve got a long journey. The moment we reach the marshes, we start looking for the Waypoint. It looks like—according to the map—it’s about four or five miles in. Unfortunately, the marshes themselves stretch over what looks like thirty or forty miles, and the mountains…that’s an entire region.”
“Maybe while we’re in the village shopping for our winter gear, we should think about looking for horses? Or mules? We might need them,” Brynn said.
“We’ve got some time to think about it. We’ve still got a couple weeks until we emerge from the forest. It looks like there’s a little settlement about three days from here. Let’s set that as our first goal. It will help to make smaller goals to keep us from getting overwhelmed,” Thornhold said.
“Okay, then let’s get a move on. We’ve still got several hours of light before nightfall.” We gathered our things and headed out, shivering as a cold wind began to blow through.
CHAPTER 28: LIGHTS IN THE NIGHT
We manageda few more miles before it grew too dark to safely continue. Luckily, we were near a turnout. It looked like the devs had created campsites along the way, even though in a ‘real’ fantasy world, it wouldn’t be realistic. But right now, I was grateful for the thought that went into the gameplay.
“This will work,” I said, stopping at one of the sites. There was a firepit, and relatively flat ground. A stream frothed nearby, about ten feet wide with whitecaps rolling. At least we’d have fresh water. “Reggie, can you spark a fire?”
He nodded. “I need kindling and wood, though.”
Brynn and Ray immediately started looking for wood, while Thornhold and I scouted out the nearby area to make sure we weren’t bedding down near a troll or a bunch of goblins or orcs. The trees were thick, but the undergrowth in this area was sparse, and if there was anybody hiding out, we could see them with a cursory examination.
By the time Brynn and Ray were back with the wood, Thornhold and I had figured out that we were alone—with the exception of a few animals like foxes and timbours—a small feral piglike creature who was created by the devs for the storylines.
As I opened my pack, I found a small square of material, folded into a square about ten inches square. As I took it out, I knew that the Wildings had tucked it in there. The others found the same in their packs. I unfolded it, wondering what it was and was surprised to find that it was a small tent, capable of being set up in minutes. And we quickly found out that we could join them all together, which we promptly did. It seemed safer to sleep in the same tent.
“I can’t believe that Sen-ti didn’t tell us he was giving these to us. It must be a thank you from the Wildlings,” I said.
“I’m grateful, I’ll tell you that,” Thornhold said. “It’s getting colder. These are made of spidersilk. Remember? We had spidersilk tents in the game, though we didn’t use them that often.”
I let out an “Oh!” as I remembered. True enough, our party had carried spider-silk tents throughout a lot of the game, but we seldom set them up. We usually played with the settings set to spring and summer, and we hadn’t reached the mountains yet in the table-top game.
“You’re right. We did have tents. Why didn’t we use them?”
“Because we weren’t actually sitting around in forty-five degree weather, hoping that it wouldn’t rain. Bad weather seems so much more bearable when it’s hypothetical. I feel like we should go back to thank them, but I guess wiping out the forest troll was a big enough thing they felt like we deserved the gift.” I glanced over at Reggie, who had the fire blazing, and he had already filled a kettle at the stream and hung it over the flames.
“Soup?” he asked. “Liesel gave us some dried soup mix.”
“That sounds good,” I said. “Let’s go for it.” I pulled out my aluminum cup. We each had one, along with a foldable aluminum plate, and silverware. “We also should finish up the bread before it goes bad. I’ll toast it lightly.”
I found a stick that would serve as a skewer and stabbed it through the slices of dense bread. Then, holding it over the flames, I kept a close watch until it was just done. I handed around the pieces of bread and sliced off some cheese to go with it, to hold us over till the soup was ready. Luckily, it only took about twenty minutes until the broth was boiling and the veggies and meat rehydrated.
As we sat around the campfire, mugs of soup in hand, the clouds backed off and the stars began to come out. I gazed up, grateful to see them, even though it meant a cold night. The silence of the forest around us—minus the shadowed noises of animals roaming and the wind rustling the leaves—began to lull me into a slightly melancholy, but peaceful mood.
“It really is beautiful,” I said. “The past couple of weeks—however long it’s been since the game broke—have been so stressful and worrisome. But right now, right here, I feel like I could just sit here forever, watching the flames, and letting my worries slough off.”
Thornhold nodded. “I know—it feels as though something shifted today. Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s just that we’ve been here long enough that the world is starting to feel comfortable. Whatever the case, I feel the same way.”
Brynn and Reggie nodded, but said nothing.
Ray shrugged. “I don’t think I’m there yet,” he said.
“I doubt this will last,” I said, smiling over the flames at him. “I have the feeling that, for as long as it takes to get out of here, we’ll have good days and bad days.”
He grunted, staring at the fire. “I suppose you’re right.”
We fell back into a comfortable silence. After we finished all the soup, Brynn and I rinsed the dishes in the stream, while Reggie stoked the fire.
“Shall we take watches?” he asked when Brynn and I returned with the clean mugs.
“I guess that would be a good idea,” I said. “It’s…” I glanced at my watch. “It’s eight-thirty. Shall we sleep till six, and get a good start on the day tomorrow?”
