Duncan strolled through the town with a smile on his face. It was a bright, sunny Monday morning and it was rare he got to spend a day like that outside. But, as he enjoyed the sights and sounds of the bustling town opening up for the day, he was struck by a sudden, worrisome thought. He came to a stop and opened his eyes wide as surprise registered.
"Wait a minute...," he grumbled to himself and his head swiveled left and right as he scanned the town in a panic. "..oh no!" he spotted a teenage boy with blonde curls wearing a leather duster. Duncan had never seen the teenager before; but, he seemed familiar. Somehow, Duncan knew if the teen spotted him, he would end up back in the dungeon again. Luckily, the teen hadn't seen him yet and Duncan was able to hide in the crowd and sneak out into an alleyway.
Duncan felt the overwhelming urge to leave town. He needed to escape, even if he didn't quite know why. He kept to the alleys between buildings as he made his way toward the front gate of the village. On a couple of occasions, he spotted someone that he was sure was looking for him. Sometimes it was the same teen in a duster, another time it was a pale girl with a black visor over her eyes. Duncan managed to steer clear of his captors and he finally reached the front gate. It was open with dozens of townsfolk coming and going; and, not a single guard in sight.
"Okay...," He paused in the shadows and took a few deep breaths for courage. "Here goes!" He dashed forward out from behind a building. The open gate was directly in front of him; but, he never reached it. He took two steps forward, then tripped and fell on the ground face first.
"That was close," Duncan heard a girl speak above him. He rolled over on his back and saw the pale girl with a visor; she was talking to the blonde boy in a duster. "He almost made it out of town," she said.
"I can't go back to the dungeon! Please, don't take me back!" Duncan begged as he tried to untangle his legs from whatever tripped him. It was a thin, sticky thread wrapped around his ankle and he could not get it undone.
"Take you back?" the blonde teen asked. "You remember the dungeon?"
"How could I forget!?? It's horrible!" Duncan replied. He gave up on trying to free himself because he could not manage to tear the thread. But, he was hopeful that his captors seemed at least willing to talk to him.
"What's your favorite number?" The blonde asked.
"One!" Duncan replied. His own answer surprised him, but he recovered quickly. "Why?" he asked. The blonde sighed and looked up at the pale girl.
"Well, that explains why I haven't gotten credit yet," he shrugged. "Let him go and we'll try again in a few minutes." Duncan felt the thread around his ankles loosen; he looked down and realized it was gone completely. He was free.
"Thank you!" he stood. "Thank you so much! I don't know what'd I'd have done if I'd gone back," he said.
"Escape," the blonde teen chuckled as he focused on Duncan.
"I'm sorry?" he asked. "You make it sound like a simple matter of deciding to escape...," he added. The teen nodded with a grin.
"It's pretty easy for you," he replied. "That's all you did before you Woke up just now."
"What?" Duncan did not know what he meant by that. He nodded at Duncan.
"You used to be a quest NPC that escaped dungeons so players could catch you again," he said. "What's the first thing you remember?" he asked.
"I remember...," Duncan's mind wandered. He tried imagining a dark, damp dungeon; but, his mind refused to call on any memories. He could only remember as far back as that morning. "....I was out strolling through town...not that long ago...," he said. The teen nodded. "But, then I had an important realization."
"Oh?" the teen asked. "What's that?" Duncan stared at him as his mind tried to process everything. He'd realized something, but he was distracted by his captors. Now that he had a moment to return to those thoughts, his mouth hung open in shock.
"I was free...," Duncan said. "I was walking around town and I realized... I was free!" a faint, worried smile tugged at the corner of his lips. As happy as he was, he had another, more pressing thought.
"but, I don't know how I escaped...,"