Haru: Acolyte, Level 5/20
Optifex: Initiate, Level 5/20
ErcuEmu: Legionnaire, Level 6/20
Alara: Apprentice, Level 7/20
Tacito: Footpad, Level 2/20
Haru froze in panic, watching the horde of waddling goblins flood from between the deadwood trees. She was still far from the Gogo encampment, closer to the T-intersection that led back toward the guard tower in one direction, and the job change obelisk in the other.
Beside the acolyte, Alara was only a few steps away. Opti and Emu stood on the edge of the encampment clearing with Taci fleeing toward the two, towing an uncountable Gogo pack not far behind.
“Run away!” Emu motioned toward Opti and the back line, then turned to wait for Taci to catch up.
Opti held his ground, watching the footpad fall back intently.
Likewise, Alara took a single step back but stopped when no one else moved.
The moment Taci reached Opti and Emu, all three of them fled from the onslaught of goblins. Alara and Haru took the front liner’s lead and fled before the three could catch up.
With that, the party continued down the road, back the way they came. Behind them, a swarm of Gogo tirelessly continued their pursuit.
“Do they ever return to their spawn location?” Taci called out. Frustration filled his voice.
“They do, but I think they’re bugged.” Emu shouted back. “Their chase distance is insane. We need to be careful when pulling them from now on.”
The group continued past the small dirt road that led up to the job change obelisk and through the canyon, still on the paved road. They reached all the way to the end, which then became the mouth of a cave.
Haru immediately recognized this place. It was her dungeon. The one that ended with her encounter.
Emu motioned for everyone to stop just before the opening. “If we have to go much farther, we’re dead either way.”
The five stared down the canyon path in silence. Each stood perfectly still on the precipice of the dungeon, as if they were balancing upon a blade’s edge.
“I don’t see anything.” Alara whispered.
“What if they come over the mountain?” Opti pointed up one side of the canyon, roughly toward the direction of the Gogo camp.
In unison, the party turned their attention upwards, to the top of the berm. Haru shifted, nervous.
After a while, Emu piped up. “I think we’re good. The Gogo weren’t that far behind, so if anything was going to happen, it would have already.” He turned to Taci. “For those, don’t attack them until they’re totally isolated. If you let them line-of-sight agro, their link range is greatly reduced. That’s the trick.”
The footpad nodded in silence.
Turning toward the mouth of the cave, the legionnaire shook his head. “This is the end dungeon for the area. It will be a while before we can try and tackle it. But once we do, we’ll finally be able to go to Fairbank. Then the game will begin for real.”
Haru thought of Oracle’s comment about becoming a ‘real player’ as Emu spoke. Considering she couldn’t de-level without being removed as a surrogate player, she didn’t feel very real. It was strange to her that she had different rules to everyone else. A sense of isolation set in.
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“Well, those Gogo talismans aren’t going to collect themselves.” Opti chimed in.
Alara nodded and pointed to the initiate as he spoke.
Emu laughed. “That they aren’t. Let’s try again.”
The group traveled back down the canyon and through the deadwood forest, back to the edge of the clearing where the goblin camp was located. This time, everyone hugged the tree line and looked around carefully.
“There’s one.” Opti pointed at a lone Gogo patrolling around the bonfire.
Nobody moved. Everyone looked to Taci.
The footpad shifted uncomfortably and mumbled something incoherent.
“You can do it.” Emu nodded. “Just like I said, walk up to him and make him agro you by sight rather than attacking with your bow.”
Taci watched the goblin walk around for a moment. Then he glanced to the rest of the party before relenting and walking toward the Gogo.
The footpad was nearly brushing up against the goblin’s back and it hadn’t agroed him yet. Taci stopped and looked back at Emu, then shrugged.
With an encouraging nod, the legionnaire motioned to keep trying, though he himself was safely standing at the edge of the tree line.
Taci cut off the Gogo and stepped to where it could see him. Immediately it let out a growl and targeted him. The footpad wasted no time and rushed toward the party. Before he could leave melee range, the goblin struck him with its stone dagger. Taci was at 50% health.
Acting quickly, Haru rushed forward and eyeballed maximum casting range as he closed. With just the right distance, she casted Mend on the footpad.
“Stop!” Alara turned to her.
But it was too late. The healing spell finished, and Taci returned to 100% HP. Then the goblin broke away from the footpad and targeted Haru.
She panicked and retreated down the road in the direction from which they arrived.
“Wait, don’t run. Come to me.” Emu beckoned.
Haru tried to listen, but the Gogo already cut her off from the rest of the party. She felt there was no other choice but to continue retreating.
The legionnaire gave chase with everyone else in tow.
Taking a chance, Taci landed a ranged attack on the goblin, dealing damage worth 10% of its maximum HP.
“Just wait there.” Emu continued to call out to Haru. “I got it.”
Haru swallowed hard and stopped moving. The Gogo grew closer. If it chunked 50% HP from the footpad, she was afraid how badly it was going to get her. She closed her eyes and braced. It was almost in melee range.
The sound of a gust of wind rang out. Emu used his Line Breaker ability on the goblin. The stun triggered, halting the creature in its tracks. In the blink of an eye, he closed and began to auto-attack. The enmity shed from Haru, and the Gogo focused entirely on the legionnaire.
Opti closed on the creature and his attacks started immediately.
Taci lined up his shots and began peppering the foe.
Alara took a risk and stayed relatively close to Emu while casting her ice bolts.
After a second round of auto-attacks, and the initiate using Pummel which procced an extra attack, the goblin went down.
Taci leveled up.
“Ding!” Emu smiled.
The Gogo dropped one talisman. The system randomly picked Alara to receive it.
She hummed, satisfied. “One down, 24 more to go…” Her voice was bittersweet.
The party then continued to down goblins, carefully picking them off one by one as they set up a safe zone to organize themselves on the road. It allowed Haru and Alara to keep their distance while making sure the pull could always be intercepted by Emu.
After all of the talismans were collected, Haru leveled up, Opti leveled up, and Taci leveled up again.
“Ding!” Emu smiled. “Let’s go turn this quest in finally.”
They traveled back along the road through the dead wood forest and returned to the guard tower. At the top, they found Guardsman Petyr looking out into the fog. They all turned in the quest.
The guard nodded. “Looks like you did some good work out there with those Gogo. I bet you they’ll think twice before raiding another caravan, especially if they think we’ll come back in force. And I guarantee you, we will if they test us.”
The guardsman continued. “It seems like I can trust you to do some heavy lifting. This time, it’s something even more important. It seems like the Plentiful Glade is at risk. I just received word back from the imperial mages, it seems these infestations are cropping up all around hamlets and villages everywhere. It’s time to go to work.”
Then the next quest started.
Guardsman Petyr spoke once more. “The imperial mages sent back their test results from some samples we acquired from a scouting run. It appears that they need something to compare it to, and I know just the thing. There’s a cave past the farm down the way that I think has been corrupted with the same kind of magic within that town. I need you to collect a sample and bring it back here.”
The reward for completion was experience and dobluens.
Emu leveled up from completing the last quest. “Ding.” He smiled. Then his face grew serious. “This quest is an even bigger pain than the last one.”
The group walked down to the road and stood at the intersection. One path went back to the dead wood forest. Another led to a field, the one mentioned in the quest. The last would bring them back to the dragonling town.
“We’re going to have to fight another mini-boss. But I think he’s way harder than the drake we fought.” The legionnaire pointed toward the field. “He’s got all kinds of status effects and deals a lot of damage.”
Emu sighed. “I’m not sure we’re ready.”