Haley and the Town of Refuge (Haley and Nana 6)

A Girl, a Town, and a Final Choice

Spring is just around the corner when the town of Refuge is at last asked to confront the Trial's true challenge, an event that kicks off a furor in its population. But for Haley Landry, level 9 Questgiver, the challenge is more personal. After nine months of working with the alien system and overseeing the growth of her tiny town, a questline brings her to a crossroads, not only for herself, but for Refuge as well.

It's the hardest decision Haley has had to make, and no one can make it for her. But her choice will shape the future, inside her heart, and out of it.

Join Haley, Nana, and the residents of Refuge for one final adventure in this cozy LitRPG apocalypse. There's a brownie recipe in the back, because no matter how heavy the material, that's still the kind of series this is.

Genre (setting): gamelit fantasy
Tags: cooking, baking, family, gaming, litrpg, religion, calligraphy, sacrifice, monsters, courage
Rating: G

Excerpt from Haley and the Town of Refuge

“Behold!” said Nana, raising her hand, “a single strand of egg noodle goodness!”

Haley started giggling and even Jennifer, their grumpy teen baker, smiled. A little, anyway. It was the latter who said, “Is that really all you’re going to put in the soup?”

“It is! I have a skill called [Feed the Hungry Masses] that lets me multiply ingredients when I’m cooking.” Nana sniffed. “The aliens wanted to name it [Feeding the Five Thousand] and I said ‘no thank you, very much.’ Only one man has fed five thousand, and anything I’m doing is mere imitation.”

Before Jennifer could erupt, Haley said, “So you just drop it in the soup?”

“I do! And voila, as Mavis would say: noodles for our chicken noodle soup!” Nana released the piece of pasta and all of them watched as it fell into the pot with a plonk. Haley’s grandmother pressed her palms together and murmured what sounded like a prayer, and Haley stirred, waiting for the grand reveal. There were no fireworks, though, and no clouds of smoke or explosions of light. It would have been disappointing, except that it was working: more and more resistance responded to her attempts to move the stirring spoon, and when she lifted it out of the soup, multiple noodles were clinging to it. “Oh, that’s so cool! Can you do it with things other than noodles?”

“I can, yes, but it’s more difficult and then I can’t do it for a while.”

“So… chocolate chips?” Haley asked hopefully.

“Only in batter as you’re making it!”

Jennifer wrinkled her perfect button nose. “I’d think it would be better to multiply something healthier. Like meat. It’s not like Mr. Collins has unlimited chickens.”

“Meat is do-able, but it isn’t as effective and I have to wait longer before I can do it again.”

“Do the aliens want us to eat carbs?” Haley asked, trying not to find that funny.

“If I am reading the description right,” Nana replied, “it has to do with things made by man versus things of nature. So, supposing that’s correct, if we unearth that can of spam from wherever it’s hiding, we could run an experiment….”

“Is spam a meat or a human-made product, a question for the ages!”

Jennifer pressed her hand to her mouth and made a gagging noise.

“I know,” Haley said with a sage nod. “You’re about to say ‘why are the two of you like this’ and we say—”

“WARNING. WARNING. PERIMETER DEFENSES ACTIVATED.”

The kitchen flipped from warm golden sunlight to a dim red glow as abruptly as if someone had thrown a switch. Haley dropped her stirring spoon as the cat raced past her, caterwauling at a volume that would have raised the dead. “What on earth?”

“Did… did the house talk?” Jennifer asked.

The house had talked, and the voice wasn’t anything like what Haley had imagined Ruth sounding like. What had produced it? And what was out the back door? She was scared to look, so… she forced herself to head through the mudroom to the porch, and heard the other two following her.

Outside, a faint golden sparkle hinted at a curved wall along the edge of the yard. Tank, the alligator turtle, was sitting on the lawn facing outward, and Trouble the raccoon was perched on his back, staring fixedly into the woods. Tom joined them, still issuing that eerie yowl. It was ten in the morning, and everything looked fine to Haley, until it didn’t.

Something ghosted through the woods, and it made every hair on her arms stand up. She hadn’t even seen it clearly, and her body was trembling with the need to run. Tom spit a challenge, and the thing flowed back along the tree line, pacing like a trapped panther. Something the size of a car, but sleeker, except it kept changing shape; something never more solid than a shadow and as real as a nightmare; something that had, Haley saw with a sharp gasp, eyes: glowing eyes that knew her.

And as she stood, riveted in place, Nana brushed past, striding toward the golden wall. She put her hands on her hips, looked directly at the monster, and said, “Go from this place, demon, for you have no lawful prey on this earth!”

That Thomascat punctuated this declaration by lunging toward the trees, and Trouble darted after him, followed by the lumbering form of Tank. The monster stopped, staring them all down… and then merged into the forest shadows, dissipating behind the ambient glitter that had barred it from approaching. Could it have forced its way through? Had driving it away required the combined might of… whatever Nana was doing, and the aggression of the inn’s guardians, and the protective sphere?

Was that what was terrorizing the cities?

“I-i-is it gone?” Jennifer squeaked from beside the back door.

“It’s gone.” Nana dusted off her apron. “What an ugly old sinner that was.”

Her grandmother’s no-nonsense attitude restored Haley’s ability to think, which… she was not sure she appreciated, because it made her aware that all her muscles ached from locking in place, and her shirt was sticking to her body because she’d been sweating that much. Fear-sweat smelled gross. She plucked at the collar and tried not to make a face. “I guess that was one of the actual monsters.”

“I would suppose so.”

“Why is it here?” Jennifer’s voice was shrill. “And where did it go? How… how am I going to get home if it’s still out there?”

That… was an excellent question. Feeling more herself with every moment the creature didn’t reappear, Haley pulled down her interface and grasped the pen to issue what might possibly be the most important quests since the apocalypse.

Vermin Control: A Trials monster has been sighted outside the Landry inn. Hunt down the creature, destroy it, and discover if it’s alone.

Suggested party: at least 5 people, level 10+. More is better.

Reward: XP, Enchanted Item

Baker’s Bodyguards: A monster has been seen near the Landry inn. Refuge’s town baker needs an escort home from work.

Suggested party: at least 2 people, level 10+.

Reward: ...

Haley glanced at Jennifer, who had blanched so completely she looked like someone had smeared gray makeup on her skin. Then she wrote:

Reward: Baked goods. Also, Jennifer will probably be grateful.

She tossed the pen, banishing it. “Someone will come by to walk you back, Jennifer.”

“What if they get hurt?”

Haley thought of the dungeon, the trainer, and all the quests she’d been issuing for half a year now.  “We’ve been preparing for this since the aliens showed up. This was the point of all of it. And unlike the cities, we’ve had time to work on our skills. I think we’ll be all right.”

Nana glanced at her at this piece of bravado, but Haley was almost entirely sure she believed it. Almost. “Well,” said her grandmother, “there’s soup to be finished. Storms and tribulations come, but someone has to do the cooking. And you have some bread that’s about done proofing, Jennifer, I think.”