Looting three of the Goblins closest to himself, Lee only received some copper coins. Returning to join the others he checked his status.

Shocked at his massive gain in experience, he asks. “What level was the Hobgoblin? I couldn’t identify it. “It was level nine, Goblins sometimes become Hobgoblins after they level up.” Ruven replies.

“All I looted was some of these coins.” Lee shows the coins to Ruven and Neia. “Goblins don’t have much loot to begin with, you mostly gain coins. You can find something like this though.” Neia says, tossing a small tribal looking necklace over. The necklace has a bird skull as its centerpiece, surrounded on both sides by teeth from some animal he presumes. Lee identifies it.

“Is something like this expensive? Also I hit level 4, halfway to level 5.” Lee says while giving the amulet back. Neia takes the amulet and puts it in her Bag of Holding. “It’s not cheap, but it’s not considered expensive like this Bag of Holding. A low level crafter would probably buy it for a low amount of gold coins.” Neia says. “Let's get moving, this place smells terrible. I also don’t want any more delays.” Lee, Ruven, and Neia, all begin to head back into the forest to continue their journey to Neldam.

Along the way, Lee asks questions to get some more information about this world. “So, these coins. “ showing the copper coins. “What are their denominations? How many different coins are there?” Ruven was the one to reply. “There are copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins. one-hundred copper makes one silver, one-hundred silver makes one gold, and one-thousand gold makes a platinum.”

Now understanding the currency, he needs to know the value. “How much could each of those coins buy? What are wages like?” Neia is the one to answer. “For a single copper you can buy a loaf of bread, for a silver coin you could get a set of normal clothing, and for one gold you could buy a very nice dinner at a nice restaurant, or a nice set of clothing. I don’t know for sure about platinum as I've never had one.”

Continuing with these questions he finally asks one he probably should have asked long ago. “Where are we? Like, where are we in relation to the rest of the world? Also, what is this world even called?”

Neia slows down a bit and looks towards Lee, she glances at Ruven quickly but turns back to Lee. “Let’s start large. The world is called Pallesia. You are on the continent of Mortia. You are on the border of the Kingdom of Thexis and the wilds. Currently in the Shadowgrove Forest heading towards Neldam.” Motioning with her hands, to stop Lee from asking more questions she continues to explain things herself. “There are three known continents. Mortia, Delna, and Erobar.” Looking back to make sure he is listening, she continues her lecture. “On Mortia there is the Kingdom of Thexis and the Kingdom of Bardum. They take roughly forty percent of the landmass, the other sixty percent is wilderness.”

Glancing up to orientate herself while traveling, she says. “To my knowledge the world is composed of mostly Humans. Roughly seventy five percent of people are Human, though that number is falling. Do you have any questions about what I've said so far?”

Trying to absorb all the information, he listens raptly at attention. “No, you may continue.” Before she does, she asks him a question. “Lee, you said you knew a little about Elves, and you seemed to know a little about Goblins, do you know of the races of the world?”

Taken a little by surprise, he just assumed the basics of Elves and Dwarves. “I don’t think so, they might be familiar to me by name but obviously things are different.”

Nodding Neia continues her lecture. “There are of course Elves, there are the Dark Elves like Ruven and I. There are different types of elves as well. You seemed to know of the Wood Elves.” nodding towards him. “There are also the High Elves, but there are very few of them left.”

Lee conjures some water to take a drink while listening to Neia. “There are Humans, Dwarves, Beastkin, and Faekin as well. Though I am afraid I don't know too much about them.” Having been traveling for most of the day, with night approaching, Neia decides to call for camp.

After setting up camp, Ruven goes off to hunt for something to eat. Alone with Neia, he decides to ask some personal questions. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you and Ruven related in some way?” Neia barks out a laugh. “I suppose we do look rather similar to you, but no, we are not related. What made you ask?”

Lee points out the obvious. “Well, you have the same colored hair, eyes, skin color, and you’re both very tall.” Neia now chuckling answers back. “Most of us have this hair, some of us have gray, or white as well. Occasionally you can find someone who dyes their hair. Just coincidence about the eyes, but I'll have you know I am fairly short for a Dark Elf.”

Nodding Lee asks one final question. “I hope this isn’t rude, but how long do elves live and how old are you?” Neia, a little apprehensive about this one replies. “We can live much longer than any other race. That’s what I will tell you.” Ruven appears with dinner, another Jackalope. “Don’t mind me, keep talking.” He jokes as he makes his way over, he hands the corpse to Neia to loot. I guess if it’s not a pressing matter you might as well let the person with the highest luck loot it.

Ruven setting up some skewers says. “We should arrive at midday tomorrow. You can finally get some clothes.'' Once done they all sit around the fire and eat another bland, chewy, gamey bit of Jackalope.

Setting up his furs for sleeping, Lee begins to think about being in civilization again. Seeing the people go about their places of business. Smiling and finally getting out of the forest, he is beginning to feel like he actually has a second chance at life, one he can do some real good with. He will have to get level five sometime, maybe he can ask to join Neia and Ruven on their next outing? He doubts there is much, if any, monster or animal killing in the city. Ready to have a little bit of safety, he falls to sleep.

========

Ruven watching Lee’s chest, seeing the slow up and down breaths, knows he has fallen asleep. Walking over to join Neia, he sits next to her and stares into the fire. “He’s done well out here and he has never lied to us.” Ruven looks from the fire to Neia, she is staring into the fire as well, he can see the reflections of the flame in her glowing green eyes.

She looks away from the fire to him and shows a thoughtful look, she speaks. “I think he is special. He has appeared here in our forest, we just so happen to be nearby and find him when before any monsters did, he has an ability which lets him speak to us, and he is kind to us.” turning her head to look into the fire once more she continues. “I know he does not know the past as we do, but it gives me hope. When he inevitably leaves us he will find out the past. He will be asked about his Glacial element and he will tell them about me, that’s all that needs to happen for him to learn. The impressions we as a people make on him now will be our chance.” She repositions herself to face Ruven fully, she looks at him and sincerely asks. “Do you think I am wrong? Is this wishful thinking about a singular person?”

Ruven, now also thoughtful, trying to show that he is indeed thinking about her words, comes to his conclusion. “His goal is noble, he wants to be a healer, it’s not hard to know why.” Glancing over towards Lee he sees his dirty gaunt form. Looking back at Neia he continues. “I don’t have any doubts about his character any longer. We are the ones who saved him, taught him about the world, and led him on his path towards his goal. There is no doubt in my mind that tells me he won't speak highly of us.” turning his thoughtfulness into a wry smile he asks Neia. “How shocked do you think everybody will be? A Human in Neldam. Walking the streets.”

He watches as Neia begins to chuckle but soon her hopeful laughing face turns to one of worry. “What do you think he will think once he finds out who we were?” Ruven waves her question away like it was a useless question. “He’s not dumb, he is just lost and completely out of his depth. He will know that people can change. He himself has changed in these last few days. It will be fine.”

========

Waking up in the morning, Lee was excited to finally get out of the forest. Neia, watching for threats from the forest, noticed him rising. Ruven is still sleeping by the fire peacefully. He gets up and works his way over to sit near her, using his furs and pillows. “So what is the plan for once we reach Neldam?”

Neia sensed his excitement and let out a smile. “If we skip breakfast we can be there a tad before noon. We can eat once we arrive. After we get you some clothes of course.” chuckling, Neia continues. “There might be some difficulties at the entrance with bringing you in, but it should be little trouble.” Lee was about to chat a little more but she waved him off. “Let's wake Ruven and be on our way.” While Neia wakes Ruven, Lee identifies one of the many purple trees, figuring that he should have done so earlier.

Amethyst Willow (Common) - These trees are plentiful and beautiful. Found exclusively in areas seeping with mana.

Ruven, now awake, was okay with the plan to skip breakfast and arrive earlier for lunch. Neia killed the fire and began leading once more. About an hour later, Neia stops and turns smiling, she motions Lee over. Curious, he joins her and sees her pointing upwards at an angle into the distance. Through the low purple canopy he spots a Garbola tree, one of the largest he’s seen, similar to all the rest but even larger in stature it has red leaves and twisting branches, you can make out the grooves on the bark from here. “Neldam’s at the base of that Garbola. We refer to it as The Sentinel. We should arrive in a few more hours.

Continuing on their journey Neia and Ruven relax more and more, towards the end they are casually walking not bothering to search for any danger. Having never gotten close to a Garbola before, he was shocked to find that there’s roughly a mile wide gap between the base of a Garbola and the many Amethyst Willows.

Seeing the base of the tree, he sees the entrance to Neldam. It was not what we expected at all. Between two of the enormous root offshoots that burrow into the ground is a large giant hole leading into the tree itself. He can see from a distance what seem to be a few people outside. Excitement now fully on display with his smile. He follows Neia and Ruven into the large milewide clearing leading to the hole in the tree.

While walking towards the entrance, Ruven and Neia both chuckle at Lee's awe of the place. Ruven quips “You know, if you're surprised by this what are you gonna think about the actual thing?” Neia shakes her head with a wry smile and says. “Let the boy be surprised, I remember your first time out, don’t make me bring it up.” Ruven instantly settles down.

Lee laughs loudly as they inch closer to the entrance to Neldam, beginning to feel like his second chance is finally here.