EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 58: A Sense Of Unease (1)

"We headed in the right direction?" Mark spoke up from the back, jumping over a fallen log as he did so. Reopening his UI, Eric confirmed that they were closing in on the cave.
"Yeah should be there in a minute or so. Have either of you guys ever gotten skill levels from activities other than grinding?"
"I think I have," Griffin replied, appearing deep in thought for a second, an interesting look on an almost six and a half foot tall half-orc charging through the forest, Eric thought privately as he turned to look at him, turning his gaze forward again as he stumbled, nearly tripping over an exposed tree root.
"And?" Eric prompted impatiently after nearly half a minute had gone by like this, this time keeping his eyes forward.
"Uhhh. It would've been when Mark and I handed in a quest for a militia NPC that wasn't Captain Melvin. He showed me a few sword moves. I didn't learn a skill, but my militia swordsmans.h.i.+p gained two levels after he fixed some of my mistakes," Griffin replied.
Hearing this triggered a response from Mark, who piped up from the rear, "Ah yeah I remember that. He didn't know any mace moves so I didn't get any skill levels ups. But I was playing with my mace while Griffin was grabbing a drink irl and I decided to try some baseball swings, using the tips my coach gave me. That gave me a skill level," he added.
"Why do you ask?" said Griffin, directing the question towards Eric.
"Ah well it turns out I actually gained quite a few skill levels from the session with my teacher. I was wondering if that was a one off thing, or something that could be replicated. Could be a useful way to powerlevel skills if we can earn enough coin," Eric explained, bounding over a rock, he landed precariously on a soil incline. Windmilling his arms wildly, he managed to regain his balance, surfing down the dirt into a gra.s.sy clearing.
Moving smartly to the side, a loud cry that was abruptly cut off announced Griffin's face first arrival into the dirt beside him. As Griffin raised his head to stare at Eric resentfully, Mark jumped down agilely, having stopped just short of the drop as he noticed his friends sudden drops.
Flas.h.i.+ng Griffin an apologetic smile, Eric swept his hand grandiosely towards the clearing, "We're here," he announced with a grin.
The clearing was the very same place where Eric and Owin had fought the pack of wolves on their desparate flight south. To the north, Eric could see the brushes where he and Owin had hidden, while to the south lay the cave system that the wolves had used as their den.
Striding forward, Eric heard a thunk sound at his feet. Looking down, he could see a stained, white stick next to his boot, with the end snapped off and small marks along the length of the shaft. Looking closer, he realized that it was a bone, with b.l.o.o.d.y stains marring the normally white sheen. Alert now, Eric examined the clearing, sure enough, there were several more bones scattered across the end of the clearing, many with bloodstains or bits of reddish fur still attached to them.
Approaching a cl.u.s.ter of bones that were scattered near the northern entrance, Eric was startled to see that the bones were what remained of the corpses of the wolves that he and Owin had killed, which were still lying in the clearing, though remarkably worse for the wear than they'd been when he'd left. Although the wolves had been hacked at and looted, their corpses had still been relatively intact, and should have disappeared after a certain amount of time. Had something happened to cause them to stick around? And what had stripped the corpses to the bone? Eric wondered as he bent down over the scattered bones.
"Anything wrong?" Mark asked, approaching the pile of bones.
"Yeah, why'd you stop all of a sudden?" Griffin added, rubbing the dirt off his face as he shot Eric a dirty glare.
"Sorry, I didn't realize there was a drop off there," Eric apologized before pointing to the bones, "Anyways. This is weird. These should be the bones of some wolves that I killed a few days ago."
"Shouldn't those have disappeared?" Griffin asked with interest, the hostility in his tone replaced with curiosity as he came closer to observe the bones.
"They should have, yeah. Which is why I'm wondering what's going on," Eric replied.
"Could just be a fresh kill on some different wolves. Not like you stuck around to watch the corpses disappear right?" Mark asked, prodding a bone with his foot.
"Could be…" Eric said with uncertainty, "But the placement of the bones seems to match up with where the wolves were killed. I dunno, it just feels weird that these wouldn't disappear."
"Perhaps it's a different system that has a random chance of kicking in, simulates nature properly on some kills or something like that," suggested Griffin.
"Maybe…" Eric responded, then shook his head rapidly to dispel the thoughts, "Anyways. We've arrived. That's the cave that I feel should contain something or another. Last time it had four red-maned wolves. Not sure if they've resp.a.w.ned or not, of if there's anything deeper, but it can't hurt to find out right?"
"I mean it could hurt. Significantly. Luckily we have Griffin for that," Mark said with a grin, pus.h.i.+ng their fearless tank forward. Rolling his eyes, Griffin unhooked his s.h.i.+eld and drew his sword before advancing towards the entrance to the cave. Exchanging a look with Mark, Eric drew his sword, holding it in his left hand as he prepared a Wind Dart, following Griffin into the cave.