The road snaked up into the hills. The road was steep enough that I was starting to feel the burn, and all of us were breathing a little harder than I think we would have appreciated.

  “Realism is kinda shocking…” panted GoldenFist, the sweat was running off him. “Mind if we take a break? My stamina bar is getting a little low.”

  “Aye, me too,” agreed Darksider.

  “Looks like a picnic area just up ahead,” Peachy called from the front.

  We entered the rest stop, which consisted of a car park situated near the top of the hill and an overgrown field, which had a number of picnic tables scattered seemingly randomly poking out of the top of the grass. A small hut was situated between the field and the carpark, and it looked like it was once a small store catering to the people resting here. I looked back over the city, and from here, you have an incredible view of the city, which is probably why it was made here.

  “Looks like someone had the same idea as us,” Jacobs said, indicating one of the picnic tables had trampled down grass around it.

  “Conveniently located rest spot, just as we are getting low in stamina from the hill climb.”

  “I wonder if the water fountain works…” Peachy asked as she looked at the stainless steel fountain next to the hut. She crossed over and pushed the button, but nothing came out.

  “Probably a good thing. Who knows how long any water in those pipes has been sitting?” Jacobs said.

  “Remind me to grab an Explorator set when we get back to town,” Jacobs said as we took seats on the easily accessible table. “Your stamina bar is still half full. Wasn’t there a stamina bonus on some of the kits for travelling?”

  “Yeah, the trousers, for long marches,” I replied, thinking back on what my set did.

  “Nothing like that on the Warden sets,” Peachy said. “My Stalwart Guardian set increases my defences, some bonuses to shield effectiveness… and keeping the focus on me.” I looked over at her, a heavy greatcoat covered her platemail armour, which bulked up my smallest friend, though she was moving in it like it was her gym clothes.

  “The Breacher set has bonuses to charging speed, but nothing for all this marching…” Goldenfist said, other than a set of heavy-looking gloves and bracers, his arms were completely bare. The sleeves of his greatcoat looked like they had been ripped off like a bodybuilder showing off his guns. I could see the halfplate chest piece below, which looked considerably heavier than my own lighter armour set.

  “My Justicar set is more about controlling the battlefield. Bonuses to the Warden skills.” Darksider’s armour somehow looked even more Jedi. A heavy robe, covering what to my untrained eye looked like a set of mail.

  “Yeah, my healer’s set is all about healing efficiency, increasing my heals considerably, but at the sacrifice of my damage output. I considered the Explorator Medic, but… well, we weren’t travelling.” Jacobs was covered in a pure white coat, and I swear, what looked like lightly armoured blue scrubs.

  “That, and it wouldn’t be as big a match to that aesthetic,” laughed GoldenFist. “After he saw another player in that set, he had to go find the store himself to get it.”

  “And that’s when you found that Bisto!” I laughed.

  “Yes…”

  “Right, enough picking on hubby. We should probably discuss battle order,” Peachy declared. “So, you are a pure mage, right? Range DPS?”

  “Mostly. I have some melee skills, but most of my big spells are ranged, though I also have a movement spell now…”

  “OK, then, first few fights, stick with J. See how the three of us synergise.”

  “We’ve gotten quite good at being the hammers to Peachy’s anvil,” Darksider acknowledged.

  “Sure, I can do that. Leave the swarm packs to me. I have some very effective AOEs, but friendly fire is a thing.”

  “That we can do. Swarms were the worst rooms in the towers,” Fist said with a shudder.

  “My Ball Lightning had most of them suiciding into it. Like a large bug zapper. Very cathartic.”

  We set off again after a few minutes of rest, and found the road flattening off as we headed over the hill.

  “Our first POI is coming up. Should be a mansion house down a drive on the left. Delessia.” I said to the group after we crossed over a crossroads.

  “I see the gates,” G announced a few minutes later.

  The road was flanked by high brick walls, crested with metal spikes. Both with a large amount of growth hanging from and over them, making for a rather imposing barrier. Two gates sat opposite each other. The one on the right was half open. Opposite it was the one which sported a sign for Delessia. This gate looked like a solid piece of metal which had been designed to roll behind the walls. Besides the gate was a gatehouse. A small building built into the wall, with a window facing the road, and a door near the far side of it.

  GoldenFist headed over and tried to pull the gate open. “Locked. I guess this is why this one hasn’t been completed yet. Too hard to get in.”

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  “Maybe inside the hut?” Darksider suggested. “Doors locked as well.”

  “Key under the mat?” I asked.

  Darksider looked at me, then down at the mat, then back at me, back at the mat…he then bent over and lifted the door mat… There was nothing there.

  “Nope,” he said, disappointed.

  “Look on top of the jamb.” Goldenfist said, “Being tall, for the win!”

  “Who puts a door key on top of a door jamb?” asked Darksider. His hand came away with a small metal key.

  The inside of the hut was pretty sparse. At some point, nature had made it inside, and despite the artificial material still being pretty solid, there was a layer of dirt on top of everything. There were also relatively recent foot and hand prints revealing we weren’t the first to find that key.

  “Ahh, button to open the gate!” Darksider said and pushed the open button.

  Nothing happened. He tried it again. Still nothing.

  “Broken?” he suggested.

  I tried looking at it using my glasses, and I could see the lines linking it to the gate. I knelt down next to the box and had a look. I was still learning what these glasses showing me meant, but I’m pretty sure it was telling me the box was getting power. I rested my elbow on my knee, with my hand near my waist for balance as I leant in. “Hmmm, pity I don’t have a crosshead screwdriver,” I said as I eyed the screws holding the housing in place. I felt a cylindrical device appear in my hand.

  Moving my hand into sight, I was surprised to find a crosshead screwdriver. Well…huh… maybe this belt isn’t useless. I unscrewed the casing and looked inside. At some point, a small creature, probably a mouse, had gotten in and chewed through the wire, pulling it from the switch… Its skeleton was all that remained.

  Being careful not to touch the exposed parts of the wire, I extricated the skeletal remains and returned it to its socket. Re-secured the housing and pushed the button. Nothing happened for a moment, and then with a grinding groan, the gate started to slowly slide open. I put my hands on my hips and grinned at the others. The screwdriver in my hand disappeared. I looked at my hand and then put it down near my belt. “Screwdriver… crosshead screwdriver…” nothing happened… maybe I’d only get a tool if I needed it?

  “Well done,” Darksider told me as we moved towards the opening gate. The road progressed into the grounds of the mansion, leading from the gate to the building about 100 metres ahead.

  The nearby lawns were overgrown and a mix of dense, bramble-like bushes. Tall grass and large trees dominating the areas they occupied. There was evidence that some of the trees had fallen over the years and were rotting where they fell. The stump of one was in the middle of the road, the tarmac appearing completely flat right up to the side of the stump. The fallen tree took up half the road before disappearing into the foliage. A single branch was growing out of the side of the stump, showing it was still alive and trying to come back from near death.

  Several birds scattered from their perches as we crossed past the tree’s remains.

  “Strange…” muttered Jacobs as we moved from the tarmac to the paving stones around the building. “These stones look like someone has freshly washed them, but the growth between them is like no maintenance has happened…”

  “Look at this window…” Peachy called out. Indicating a large bay window at the front of the house. A large tree had collapsed and gone through the window, and someone had replaced the glass tightly around the tree, which was propped up on the windowsill and extended nearly two metres into the room.

  It was then I saw what must have been a corner of the building in collapsed rubble, but I couldn’t see any damage on the building itself.

  The front door was locked. No key under a door mat or above the jamb to let us in, either.

  “Look around or break in?” asked GoldenFist.

  “Look around. No point in doing property damage when we might not need to,” Peachy declared.

  “I’m not sure we want to trigger what is maintaining this place…” Darksider muttered as he looked closely at the glass around the tree sticking through it.

  “You thinking, this is weird, as well?” Jacobs asked.

  “Yeah. This glass is as tightly around that tree as the tarmac was about that stump…it looks like someone formed the glass with a perfect hole for the tree, but I can’t find any seams in the glass or signs the tree was burnt…”

  “Multi-layered as well… quadruple glazing?” Jacobs joined Darksider in considering the window.

  “I think so.”

  I followed Peachy as she made her way around the side of the building. The side of the building revealed a large conservatory. The large glass windows that made up most of the walls and ceiling showed us a view into the room. A large amount of debris covered the floor, but once again, we could see no sign on the building of what had caused it. Another locked door met us, but this one looked like it would be easier to break through if it came to it.

  Beyond the conservatory, we found a large swimming pool, no discernible water, but it was half-filled with dirt and assorted debris. The others joined us as we headed towards an old poolhouse. The main door was swinging on its hinges, a small block stopping it from completely closing. This has allowed the weather to get in, and the building was covered in a layer of dirt and dust. Windswept leaves had piled up in the corners. It looked like it had once been a seating area, the front wall made of glass panes that could fold to fully open the room to the poolside.

  There was a bar, taking up one corner of the room. A passage led deeper into the small building. The first door turned out to be a changing room with showers, and opposite it a sauna which could easily fit eight people.

  Beyond that was the pool's maintenance room.

  “Ohhh, this is familiar!” Jacobs declared. “Reminds me of that super rich-client of my pool cleaning service. You helped me that one time over summer, second year, Damian.”

  “Jeez, that was a while back. Yeah, they had that olympic-sized pool and needed it fully cleaned every two weeks,” Darksider said, looking around all the machines. “Think we could get this place up and running…for old times’ sake?”

  “We’d need to clean that pool out first…”

  “Not to mention, I wouldn’t be surprised if the water wasn’t running here either,” I commented.

  “Pool party, after, Beach party,” declared Peachy in a tone which meant she wanted no arguments.

  “No power in here either,” I said, looking around with my glasses function and trying the power switch, which was tripping itself back to the off position when I let go. “We’d probably need to find the local pump stations and power plant first…”

  Think it is close?” Jacobs asked.

  “Pool party, AFTER, Beach party!”

  We stepped out of the poolhouse, and I saw movement ripple over the soil in the pool. Peachy reacted quicker, her shield out as she stepped to put herself between us, intercepting the large tentacle which shot out at us.