Brad, Blondie and Jessie arrived at the beach where the game map indicated several obelisk towers were located. It was a beautiful place. Crystal blue water lapped gently against the sandy shores. The sun was shining brightly overhead, and the sky was clear and cloudless. The wind was blowing lightly across the ocean, and the waves were rolling in with powerful swells.
“Well, we’re here.” Brad walked around the massive base of the first obelisk, which reminded him of the Washington Monument with a disk shape at the pinnacle. “I wonder where we’re supposed to put these stones?”
Jessie walked up beside them ask asked Blondie, "Do you remember anything about this mission? Did you even read the quest description?"
"No." Blondie admitted. "I didn't really pay attention to any of the quests. I was too busy trying to level up."
"Ah." Jessie apologized. "I guess I just assumed you knew what you were doing."
"Don't worry about it." Blondie waved off his apology. "I understand that you guys are just following my orders."
"That's not entirely true." Jessie said. "We're also fighting for our lives here.”
"Yeah, I guess that’s also true." Blondie said.
Brad and Jessie looked at each other and shrugged.
"Okay, so what do we need to do?" Brad asked as he stared at the towering obelisk before them, “You’d think it’d be self explanatory.”
Brad placed his hand on the tower, and suddenly a prompt appeared in his augmented vision.
Quest Alert!
Obelisk Restoration (Part 1)
Congratulations! You have identified the first of three Obelisks to return the Gamma Stones to.
Part one of three complete.
Suddenly one of the three stones Blondie had been carrying lit up and hovered in the air. It glowed brighter and brighter, and began growing larger as it ascended to the top of the tower. It reached the pinnacle, and perched there on the dish - radiating a beautiful glowing orb.
“Sweet!” Blondie gave Brad a high five, “Good job figuring it out! The rest should be easy.”
The group walked down the beach toward the next obelisk tower. As they approached, they saw hundreds of the squid creatures running around the bases of the next one.
"Oh boy." Brad groaned, "I hope we don't have to fight these things."
"I'm not sure how." Jessie said. "I haven't fought them before."
"We have.” Brad sighed, “You can’t kill them, but you can temporarily subdue them in a puddle of black goo until they respawn a few minutes later.”
"That sounds like a pain." Jessie said.
"Yeah, it is.” Brad agreed. "But it beats being killed by them."
"I don't know about that." Jessie said. "It seems like a lot of work for nothing."
"I don't think it's for nothing." Brad said. "Don’t you want to upgrade your class? I know you’re new here, but come on man. We’re not chickening out now that we’ve finally brought the stones this far.”
Jessie shrugged. "Okay, fine. Let's do this thing."
"Awesome." Brad said. "Let's go."
"Wait." Jessie stopped him. "First, I want to make sure we're doing this right. I don't want to mess this up."
"Relax, dude." Brad said. "We're all experienced players here. We'll get it done."
"I know that." Jessie said. "I'm just saying that I want to be sure we're doing this correctly. I don't want to accidentally screw up and lose our souls."
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Brad rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry." Brad said. "We're going to win. You'll see."
"I hope so." Jessie cringed. "I don't want to die."
"I know, right? Neither do I." Brad laughed, "All right. Let's get this show on the road."
Jessie nodded. "Yes, let's."
They readied theirselves for battle as they approached the Voidspawn standing in their way to reach the next Obelisk.
Brad pulled out his gun and fired multiple rounds at the nearest creature.
[-100 HP]
It squirmed and writhed in pain, trying desperately to escape.
"Come on!" Brad yelled. "Die already!"
Brad fired several more rounds. The Voidspawn shuddered and convulsed in its death throes until its body burst into a puddle of black goo at their feet.
HeadShot: Difficult
Instant Kill
+170 XP
Jessie was a coward, and took off running in the opposite direction.
"Dude!" Brad swore under his breath. "Why did he take off? We need all the manpower we can get to take down these creatures!”
"He's probably afraid." Blondie teased playfully, "Like you."
"Shut up." Brad said. "I'm not afraid of anything."
“Forget him.” She smirked, “Do you realize this is the first time we’ve been alone together since we got trapped in the game? Kinda feels like a date.”
Brad turned and pointed at the hoard of Voidspawn coming at them and laughed, “This is your idea of a date?”
“I think it’s romantic.” Blondie said sarcastically.
Brad laughed again. He didn’t care if it was a joke or not. He was happy to be alive.
“Hey, you know what would be funny?” Blondie asked.
“No, what?" Brad said.
"If we can finally log out after completing this quest.” She stated at him tantalizingly, “Then we could go on a proper date.”
Brad nodded. "Absolutely. If we can make it out of this game, I’ll take you wherever you want. Your choice.”
With that, Brad raised his gun again and attacked the next Voidspawn with a barrage of bullets.
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The duo continued fighting the hordes of Voidspawn as they made their way to the second obelisk tower. They were exhausted from the previous battles, and felt vulnerable. Their strength wasn't nearly as high anymore, and the Voidspawn seemed to be getting stronger.
Brad knew that they needed to defeat the remaining Voidspawn quickly or else their chances of success would diminish considerably. He glanced behind him and saw Jessie duck into the woods.
Brad shook his head, “What an idiot. He’s probably going to get himself trapped in the Lost Zone and killed by Voidspawn or something worse.”
Brad turned back and resumed shooting at the Voidspawn, who were slowly closing the distance between them.
[-100 HP]
As the last few Voidspawn closed in on them, Brad aimed his gun at the closest one and fired, causing it to explode into a puddle of black goo.
HeadShot: Difficult
Instant Kill
+170 XP
“We’d better hurry.” Blondie looked around nervously, “The first set of Voidspawn we subdued will probably start respawning soon.”
Brad nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Let's get this done."
The two of them moved toward the base of the second obelisk tower, which was not unlike the first. There were three more of the squid-like creatures running around the base of the obelisk, but none of them tried to attack the duo right away as they cautiously approached.
Brad was starting to feel confident that their plan might actually work. He thought about how much faster they would be able to move once they had gained a new class. They were close to completing their quest, and they were both feeling good about their chances of defeating the remaining Voidspawn.
They were close enough to the tower now that Brad decided to take a risk and sprint to the base of the tower, placing his palm against it like he had for the first tower.
Quest Alert!
Obelisk Restoration (Part 2)
Congratulations! You have identified the second of three Obelisks to return the Gamma Stones to.
Part two of three complete.
The stone floated out of Blondie’s hand, growing larger and glowing brighter and brighter as it ascended to the pinnacle of the tower and formed a bright glowing orb in the dish at the top.
"Alright, let's go. We need to get these this last stone to the third tower before these Voidspawn arise." Blondie said.
"Yeah, let's do this thing." Brad agreed.
Together, the two adventurers ran toward the base of the third obelisk, determined to finish this quest. They reached the base of the tower and placed their palms against it. This one fortunately wasn’t being swarmed by any creatures.
Quest Alert!
Obelisk Restoration (Part 3)
Congratulations! You have identified the third of three Obelisks to return the Gamma Stones to.
Part three of three complete.
A system prompt appeared, acknowledging their victory.
Congratulations!
Choose your new class:
1) Monster Hunter
2) Warrior
3) Assassin
4) Swordsman
Brad considered his options. After a few minutes of studying each class option, he chose Monster Hunter.
He then turned to Blondie, who appeared to still be choosing. "Hey, Blondie. What's taking you so long?"
"Sorry, hon." Blondie said apologetically. "I've got to choose my class carefully. I don't want to make a mistake."
"Oh, okay." Brad said. "Just pick whatever you want. I'm sure you'll be great at whatever class you select."
"Thanks sweetie." Blondie said, smiling. "I guess I'll go with the Assassin class."
"Cool. I chose Monster Hunter.” Brad said, looking through his inventory. "Are you sure you want to be an assassin? We're about to fight a ton of Voidspawn.”
"That's fine." Blondie said. "I've always wanted to try it. Plus, I haven't had much luck killing Voidspawn, so hopefully it'll help me out."
Brad shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'd rather just have another gun."
"You would." Blondie giggled.
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