Haru: Novice, Level 3/20
EcruEmu: Novice, Level 4/20
Optifex: Novice, Level 3/20
Haru ran for her life as the tiny dragon charged its explosive fireball ability. Her health was still at 25%. There was no way she was going to get out of the blast radius in time. The only chance she had for survival was to break line of sight by entering a nearby house.
As she neared the residences a few steps from the enemy, another player appeared from between the two buildings. The unknown player held a staff and wore the area’s powerful secret green tunic.
“Run away!” Haru shouted and waved her arms.
Without a word, the player tipped her staff forward and aimed at the dragon ready to explode. Blue light flooded the area, driving away the darkness. Then a razor-sharp icicle burst forth from the staff and collided with the tiny dragon.
Victory fanfare played. Haru leveled up. She slowed and turned to find the dragon defeated.
“Ding!” Emu called out.
The stranger sauntered toward the dead beast. “EE, why is it always me that has to save you?”
Emu sheathed his sword and took a knee to recover. “Thanks, Alara.”
As Alara walked past, Haru realized that this mage was the silhouette spotted lurking around the edge of town. While Alara had certainly progressed further than the party, she wasn’t too much higher of a level than them. Perhaps that was why Haru still got enough experience to level.
“What made you decide to come all the way back here?” Emu asked the mage.
The mage looked around and huffed. “I got tired of waiting, so I came looking for you. What’s taking so long?”
Emu finished healing and stood up. “Well,” he motioned to the rest of the party, “I met a few friends.”
Alara sized Haru up, then looked over at Opti. The mage then turned away. “Well, you should have said something.”
Emu played the head scratch emote. “Yeah, I suppose I should have.”
“Besides…” The mage pouted. “You should be going faster with them, not slower.”
“W—well we are moving kinda fast…” Emu shrugged. “We’re already done with this quest.”
“It’s not fast enough.” Alara scoffed. “Fine, I’ll help you, just stop begging.”
While the two were talking, Haru snuck away to stand next to Opti and observe. She leaned over and whispered. “I don’t think he was begging for anything.”
Opti shrugged and nodded.
After Emu sent a party invite and Alara joined, it was revealed she was an Apprentice, the first level of the Magus job tree.
“Alright, let’s go turn in our quests.” Emu looked to everyone and nodded with a smile.
They decided to leave the way they came before the defeated mobs respawned. Getting to the right NPC meant they either had to fight their way through the town or go all the way around. To Haru’s relief, they took the long way around the outskirts.
Near a leafless tree beside a wrecked cart, was the NPC to turn in the quest. He was sitting straight legged against the trunk, his head sagging. It was the same one that started the quest, Harod.
“Oh HowRude,” Harod started talking, “I got over ambitious and tried to go find my wagon. My wounds are starting to get to me. I don’t think I’m going to make it. Take this parchment, it’s a message for my uncle up the road. Let him know what happened to everyone here. Tell them to make sure no one tries to come. And that I’m sorry that I couldn’t bring back grandmother’s belongings.”
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Haru received the experience, almost enough to level, along with the dobluens reward. Finishing this quest started another, to turn in the rolled parchment.
They traveled along the paved road lined with shriveled trees and dead grass. The land here was corrupted, just like the town they left. The air had a purple tinge, and a gray fog lingered high overhead, darkening everything. The party turned down a dirt road which led to a lone house on a hill.
Near the residence, a brass lantern glowed in the supernatural fog, the only light around.
“This area’s so gloomy.” Alara piped up from the rear of the party as they climbed the hill toward the residence.
Emu, at the front nodded. “It’s like this at the beginning and the middle of this storyline. Much different from the bright greens and blues that the rest of the areas have.”
Opti, standing just behind Emu piped up. “A bit too depressing, if you ask me.”
“Right?” Alara responded. “I would rather it just be sunny.”
“I like the purple hues.” Haru commented quietly.
They entered the house, a small one room cabin with a burning fire and a table set for one.
Near the hearth, three of them talked to the NPC and turned in the parchment key item. “What’d you say? My nephew Harod has passed? How could this happen… dragons. First this strange fog set in, now this. And the whole town is overrun… dear me. We must mount a defense. If somehow this spreads, then we’re all doomed. Listen, go to the tower and find Watchman Petyr. I’m sure he can get this information into the right hands, and fast.”
Emu nodded. “We’re all almost ready to go try for the first job change quest.”
“I thought it was part of the main quest?” Haru tilted her head.
“The main quest path goes right by it. But it’s not a requirement of the main quest.” Emu cocked an eyebrow at Haru. “But… I thought you were new to this game.”
Haru sputtered. “I—I am, uh, a friend told me that… is all.”
Emu nodded. “It’s easy to get confused, but we’ll go get it done as soon as we can, at level 5.”
Opti folded his arms. “This game gives you experience really fast for some reason.” His voice was tinged with disappointment.
Emu chuckled. “It’s just for the first few levels. Players complained about how hard it was to get out of the starter zones.”
With a scoff, Opti shook his head and closed his eyes. “It’s supposed to be hard, it’s the most challenging MMO on the market for a reason.”
“Well don’t worry.” Emu turned to leave with a grin. “It’s smooth sailing now, but you’ll regret having ever mentioned it once we start the next section, I assure you.” He departed the house.
Alara followed him without a word.
“Does it really need to be much more difficult than this?” Haru couldn’t hide her nervousness.
Opti nodded. “Challenge is what forges unbreakable bonds.”
Haru watched Opti depart. Friendship was good, of course. But was layering on such pain really necessary? She grumbled and followed her party, the newfound knowledge that things were going to get even more difficult planted a seed of unease in her.
The group found the guardsman in his tower which was much farther down the paved road. Looming in the distance was a forest on one side of the intersection that was flanked by the defensive structure. The other side led toward a huge field.
At the very top of the stairs, staring out through the turrets was Guardsman Petyr. The group, except for Alara, turned in the travel quest. Emu leveled up.
“Ding!” He smiled.
The novices talked to him. “What? Egria was attacked? That makes three villages this week. Something bigger is going on. We need to figure out what the cause of all these incursions are, but the guard is short on manpower. Can you help? I’m not conscripting you, feel free to walk away. But if you can help, there’s dobluens in it for you.
We need to stop the Gogo that have been plundering the caravans that are coming this way. I suspect they have something to do with Egria, but I still can’t be certain. Bring me back 5 of their talismans, and then we’ll be able to know for sure.”
Emu, Opti, and Haru accepted it and all four of them descended the tower, exiting back onto the road.
“Listen,” Emu started. “On this road, there’s a world boss.”
Alara scoffed. “It was so silly to put one out here.”
“And he’s really high level, usually people at end game levels fight him.” Emu continued. “If we’re lucky, there will be raiders keeping him busy.”
Opti chimed in. “Can we fight him too?”
“No!” The other three shouted in unison.
Opti exhaled in disappointment.
“The only good thing about the boss is that he’s pretty easy to lose in the trees, so if there aren’t any raiders, make sure you don’t just run away in a straight line.”
Haru pondered. She didn’t remember there being any world bosses leading up to her former encounter. There was the one at the top of her tower, but that was locked behind a gate, not out in the woods. Maybe she needed to do a better job of paying attention to the patch notes.
“Understood?” Emu finished.
The other three nodded, and they departed for the quest area. Not far from the tower, the number of gnarled trees grew greater. The road was more damaged and less cared for here, with roots poking through the ground. Everything grew quiet as the music stopped, traded for the occasional hoot of the owl and howl of some distant coyote.
Haru noticed a pair of glowing red eyes in the fog. Then a rhythmic stomp shook the ground. The slams echoed throughout the forest.
“There aren’t any raiders here. Hide!” Emu called out as he darted for and tucked in behind a tree.
Everyone including Haru followed his lead and hugged themselves close to a deadwood trunk.
As Haru waited, she noticed the stomps growing more intense. They were getting closer. Then a massive beak poked around the trunk she hid behind. Its nostrils were almost as big as her head. It was the world boss that Emu spoke about earlier, the Corrupted Gryphon.
“Oh, what is this?” The beast spoke with a familiar voice.
Haru realized it was the voice of the demon. The hacker was controlling the gryphon.
“What a delightful turn of events.” The hacker continued. “I couldn't have ever dreamed up such folly.”