"There is no charm equal to tenderness of the heart."

  Jane Austen, British Writer

  “Eye of the Manifold Toad – that’s five miles south of the Jungle Spire waypoint,” Milly read off Rain’s list as they left Rain On My Parade. She ignored the frightened whispers from the other players as they passed by. “Firebush thorns. Cobra chicken venom. This one just says coffee beans.”

  “Someone stole the last of her coffee beans while we were away,” Calista chuckled. “They left everything else untouched, except for the damn beans. Even her Dark Introspection tea. That’s what she was most upset about.”

  “Rain’s right to be upset. Her tea is amazing. Some people have no class,” Milly agreed as they arrived at the mission board.

  A slim woman in her mid-thirties, with short-cut blond hair and a black skirt worn thin from use was the only other player there. The woman’s knees trembled as she stared uncomprehendingly at the mission board. She was one of the few players who had yet to leave the tower since their arrival.

  The woman squeaked in terror, her eyes wide, when she finally tore her gaze from the mission board and saw The Witch and The Huntress standing at her side.

  “Good morning,” Calista said chipperly and gave the woman a broad smile.

  “… goodmorningma’am…” the woman replied rapidly after a shocked pause, as if the words had gotten stuck in her throat then shot out all at once.

  Ma’am? That feels weird. She must be twice my age.

  “Your first time outside the Castle?” Milly inquired kindly. “We all went through it. I’m Milly. This is Cally.”

  “M… Minerva…,” the woman replied reluctantly. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I… I know who you are. I’m… I’m not supposed to talk to you…”

  “I know,” Milly answered. “But we’re not as bad as all that.”

  Milly withdrew a handful of goblin loincloths and held them up to the mission board. The stench wafted around them, and Minerva gagged. The loincloths disappeared and a small sack of coins appeared in Milly’s palm. The loincloth mission notification, which Milly had gotten before, appeared in front of them.

  “I started in the prairies on my first day,” Milly told the terrified woman. “My friend and I focused on battling goblins. Cally began on the beach, hunting boar. Well, after she helped take down an ogre.”

  Milly handed the sack of coins to the woman. It dangled from her fingers like a lifeline. “You’ll want to go out there as part of a group, especially in the beginning. Do you have anyone to go with?”

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  “Yes… um… yes, ma’am. My two friends. We’re all from EnergyWave. Clerical staff. We were told to… to get out of the Tower and start leveling up, or they wouldn’t bring us food anymore,” Minerva stuttered. She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively grabbed the sack of coins from Milly’s hand. “I guess… I guess we can’t pretend we’ll be rescued anymore.”

  “No, we can’t,” Calista said with certainty. “We’re stuck here. Will this be your friends’ first time out of the tower too?

  Minerva nodded, the coin sack clutched tightly in her hand.

  Milly opened her inventory and withdrew three Pitiful Grock’s rings, three goblin vests, and three goblin spears and handed them to the woman.

  “Here. You shouldn’t be out there without proper equipment. You can have these to get yourself started. This equipment isn’t great, but it’ll be enough to give you a big advantage against a small goblin pack.”

  Milly withdrew the rest of her goblin loincloths, turned them in, and handed the sacks of gold to Minerva one-by-one. “The Emporia sells Waypoint Crystals. It’s early in the day, so there should be some still available. You still need to wake up early to snag them, until you build up a little stockpile. If you get into trouble out there, use the crystal to come home.”

  “Thank… thank you,” Minerva said in utter disbelief. “I didn’t expect this from you. From… from anyone.”

  “Does Shufflebottom not supply beginner equipment to his people just starting out?” Milly asked, exaggerating her words so it sounded like a surprise.

  Minerva shook her head. “Umm... no. We were mostly ignored until today. Shufflebottom told us this morning that we needed to get out of the tower. We… wouldn’t be allowed to be freeloader anymore.”

  “Huh, that’s odd,” Milly commented. “The Freelancers have a pile of communal equipment for new players, and they always have someone guide to guide new players on their first time out. I think the Farmers do the same.”

  Milly spotted Tyrell, one of Ying’s healer, in the Emporia. “Maybe we can help you out. Hey, Tyrell!” Milly shouted at the healer, waving him over.

  “Oh, hey Milly. How’s Rain holding up?” asked Tyrell in his deep baritone.

  “She’s good. Say, Tyrell, what are you up to this morning?”

  “Just heading out,” the middle-aged man responded, staring curiously at the young woman clutching the goblin vests and spears. “It’s my day off from the clinic, and I want to hit level ten. I’ve got my eye on this optometrist talent, you see. There have been a ton of players whose glasses were destroyed while fighting, so they’re walking around half-blind.”

  “That’s pretty clever, Tyrell,” praised Calista. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “As far as I can tell, no one has,” beamed Tyrell. “I’ve wanted to be an optometrist since I was a little kid. I had the grades, but I was too poor to go to school. Then I had my two kids, and a messy divorce, and before you knew it, that dream had faded away. But now I get a chance to follow it, even if it’s not quite in the way I had expected.”

  “Say, Tyrell,” Milly pondered in a half-whisper. “My friend Minerva here is heading into the wilds for the first time today with two of her coworkers. Do you think you could go with them, at least until they get their first few levels?”

  Minerva squeaked as she looked at the broad-shouldered healer.

  “Sure, I don’t mind,” Tyrell shrugged. “I was planning on grinding out goblins anyways.”

  Milly did not know what ‘grinding out goblins’ meant – it sounded like something Xavier would say – but she got the general idea.

  “Thanks Tyrell,” Milly said gratefully, then turned back to Minerva. “Just start small – lone goblins or groups of two – and work your way up from there. It won’t take too many levels before the goblins don’t pose much of a threat, but don’t push too hard, too fast, okay?”

  “Okay,” Minerva promised. “Thank you, Milly.”

  “You’re welcome,” Milly smiled, as put a finger to her mouth as if to impart a secret to the woman. “Just don’t tell Shufflebottom I helped you, alright? I’m supposed to be this evil, dangerous woman, and I’d hate for him to be disappointed.”

  Calista snorted, failing to hold in her laugh.

  “I won’t,” Minerva promised, as her friends waved her over. Tyrell followed behind. Minerva’s two friends – a gangly young man with thick glasses and a woman in his mid-sixties who leaned heavily on a cane – whispered frantically to her as she arrived. Milly heard a little of their conversation before they all headed into the Emporia.

  “… you already. The witch… dangerous…”

  “She’s nice… gave us this stuff… the stories can’t be true…”

  “Shufflebottom… grouchy old… wouldn’t put it past him…”

  “That was some quality helping, my love,” Calista praised as they headed out the south exit towards the waypoint pillar. “With a lovely dose of CEO undermining to top it off. Couldn’t have done it better myself.”

  “High praise coming from the queen bitch of high school,” laughed Milly. “I don’t know if it will make a difference, but at least we’ve helped those three survive.”

  “Death by a thousand cuts,” Calista smiled. “And you just made the first cut.”