It was after his “sabbatical” week taking it slow, things started to get busy.
-Mitras! Come here.
-Hi Petras, what's the problem?
-Before I lose you to Bjarke, I needed to talk to you, more to get some help.
-If it's anything I can do, sure!
-Well… Remember when you helped us with the Rolling Beetles carapace?
-Yeah.
-So, we heard you're in a guild and that guild got a dungeon right?
-Yeah, near Ezca, the name's, right what was it…. Night something.
-Night's Embrace.
-Yeah, you know then.
-You see, we wanted to train our guards a little, make them elite. Our town seems like it's growing and more people, Travellers are trying to buy houses here, we need to keep up the pace with you guys levels.
-That looks like a great idea. So, what do you want from me.
-Can you ask for you guild leader to arrange a time where only we can use the dungeon?
-Of course, I'll ask him. But it is a dungeon level 50, can everybody do it?
-The trainees not, but everyone who finished training can.
Does that mean Bjarke could go? It would be nice, hunting with him.
-Also, if you could do some dungeoninring with the guards it would be amazing. You did it before right?
-Yes!
-So you can teach everyone things they should do and take care of them. How about it? Does it seem like a good idea?
-I love it! And… Hmmm… is… Is him going?
God he must be all red of embarrassment now.
-Bjarke?
Petras had a sly smile on her face.
-Of course he will, I wouldn't want to separate you two.
-O-ok, I'm going then.
The night was as always nice. Bjarke and Mitras talked and he explained what Petras talked to him.
-You and me in a dungeon. I like that.
-R-really?
-Of course, anything to have more time with you.
-Hmmm, actually, what level are you? I've been curious for a while.
-50, all guards stop their training at level 50 and start working, but I want more, I want to be an elite guard, then captain, then, who knows right?
-What do you need for that?
-Level 70 for elite , 90 for captain, but if I can get Mana Manipulation I can get even earlier.
-Sorry, I haven't got it to Expert yet.
-Oh love, don't be like that, I'm in no rush and you shouldn't be either.
-I want to help.
-Just being with you helps me.
----------------------------------------
The next day, Mitras spent the morning talking with his guildmates.
-S-so that's what she said to me.
-We should do it Fayt!
-Yeah, we could get a lot of reputation this way, just imagine.
-I know guys, I'm thinking that too. You should tell Petras we accept. We could give the mornings for the guards.
-O-ok, I'll tell her that.
The talks went very smooth and in less than a week the guards had made a rotation to train in the dungeon.
The first times Mitras went with them, telling the monsters they would confront, the strategies Travellers created to fight them and the things to take care of, like the charm spell from the boss.
It was actually during this time he got a new Skill
Acquired Leadership Untrained 0
Whenever Bjarke had to go he would go too.
Part of him was scared, he knew if something happened to Bjarke it would be final, NPC's didn't resurrect.
He spent up until level 60 training with the guards. In the start most of the guards would do the dungeon, but after a week only 2 parties of guards continued doing. These, Mitras believed, were the ones that actually wanted to become elite guards, or like Bjarke, wanted even more.
Playing with NPC’s was strange, at first it felt like they were NPC’s, they had fixed movements and attacks, but as they levelled up and listened to the tips and tricks, they got more and more fluid, and became more and more lifelike.
Even Bjarke, who already felt so real, got more and more “human” in Mitras’ eyes.
The training took a few weeks in game, and when he finally hit level 60, Fayt and the other guild members called him.
-You’re level 60 right?
-Yes!
-I know we said you should level to 50 to enter the Scrapyard, but we also levelled up, we’re 75, but now, with only 15 levels of difference it should be pretty cool for us to level together, what do you think? We want to stay here til 80.
-I’d love that actually!
-Great, I’ll send you the best way to get here, we can start as soon as you arrive.
-O-ok!
----------------------------------------
The Scrapyard.
It was a place in the southern part of the Andras Kingdom that had a collection of items and trash and high level creatures.
It got created a long time ago by the dumping of broken artifacts, magical bobs and ends and whatever was not working properly.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Such a dense magical aura, because of the amount of items, made some of the objects and parts of it to turn into monsters.
It was the highest levelled land based area that players had found and as such, it was very crowded.
Mitras, following the way Fayt sent him, got to the Scrapyard in just a few in game days.
The place was a mess. Mountains of things Mitras could only imagine to be broken or malfunctioning items were piled on each other.
He could already see players fighting teapots monsters, magical toasters and other “inanimate” objects turned into monsters.
Fayt and the gang were waiting for him by the entrance.
-Mitras here!
–H-hello guys, so what now?
-Now we hunt! This is the place we’ve been farming gold and xp.These monsters, when sent to the adventurers guild to dismantle, give a lot of pieces that have magical power in it, so we get a lot of money. In truth we should be holding these pieces for crafting, especially now that we have crafters, but we need money more.
The farming started right after the conversation and it went very well.
But something was nagging in Mitras head.
With so many players farming here, shouldn't the place be smaller? Or get smaller with time?
He usually wouldn’t really think that, but the goblin miners incident told him that things change when you beat a boss or do a quest. This place should be the same right?
So he started paying attention.
The place was like a labyrinth, where the pathways went between mounds and piles of things.
It did take a long time, another week of farming, but he soon realised that in each pile there was always like a lone object in front of them, almost like a landmark.
Some of these objects repeated themselves, like a specific teapot he found in front of three different piles, or a horse toy he found in front of two piles.
-E-everyone, I think I found something.
He spoke of his finding to the group.
-Oh, actually someone found this out before, we even use it to find ourselves in the map.
Mitras got sad about it, but he still thought there was more to it, so he continued paying attention. On the piles, the items in front of them and even the enemies they fought.
Every item had a corresponding enemy and each enemy had a different area.
-G-guys, can we do something?
So he gave his idea. Follow the enemies order, by entering the pathways that corresponded to the last enemy. As if the enemies were a hint to a path they had to make.
-Hmm, you know what? Sure. Just farming is boring, we could try something out.
So they did, and rounds and rounds around the map they did, never really going the same pathway, but crossing it.
As they were farming and doing it, it took a few days, but soon they found something weird.
A door.
-I swear this has never been here.
-No post on the forums has talked about a door in a pile.
-Are we the first?
-Maybe?
-Do we knock?
-Maybe?
-Oh for gods sake.
Tasha was having none of the precautions. She went to the door and knocked.
The door opened, and inside of it, something fluffy appeared.
-Hello, how can I help you?
The fluffiest doll, round with legs and arms made of some kind of wool asked them.
-Hmmmm, hi?
-Hi! Are you here for the tea party?
-Yes!
Fayt cried.
-Great! Did you bring the teapots?
-Are these the ones?
This time it was Beary, with shining eyes, showing one of the teapots monsters they killed, one that was less destroyed.
-Great! You did! Come in, come in…
The inside the pile was comfy, there was a fireplace, but the fire was made of threads, the chairs and tables were crocheted and there were more inhabitants inside, a woollen dinosaur and a cookie man, made out of knitting.
-Hello.
The two of them said.
It was a bizarre occurrence.
The thread made fire actually had heat, and soon a pot was put over it and tea was made. The dolls used the teapots for tea and the pot for soup. Soon a little party started with the Sunstar Guild and the three dolls.
----------------------------------------
The dolls have lived here in the Scrapyard since the beginning of it. They absorbed magic from the atmosphere and got lives. They met at some point and since then they became friends and live together.
That was their story.
-W-what about the items here in the Scrapyard, how does it never get smaller?
-The professor makes them.
The doll chided.
-Yup, he keeps the place running.
The dinosaur confirmed.
-Who’s the professor?
-He is the one that controls the size of the Scrapyard.
-Can we meet him?
-Ohh no, he is a very angry professor. No one should meet him.
-We’re strong, don’t worry.
-I’m not sure, he is really big and angry and strong.
-I-it’s ok, we don’t need to meet him now anyway, right guys?
-Hmmm..
All of this smelled like a quest or a boss. But the Guild didn’t seem to have the prerequisites to get it.
So they went back to farming, although they would come back for more tea parties every week.
It was when Mitras levelled to 70, almost a month after their first encounter, that something changed.
-You know, the professor is easy to find.
-Yes, he is in the beginning of the Scrapyard, he likes to see who enters and who goes out.
-Really?! But How do we find him? We've never seen him there.
-Oh, just go opposite.
-Yes, opposite
-The opposite.
-The opposite?
-Yes the way you came in, go out, and then he will be there.
It took them a week to understand what the dolls had said.
They came back everyday to ask questions and confirm how to find the professor.
They would change the enemies they followed, they would mark the way they came in, then inverted it and juxtaposed it on the map.
But it was the most obvious answer.
When going out of the dolls house, and going to the entrance to the scrapyard, they followed the same route, but going backwards. They entered following items 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 and went out following 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
The entrance started to tremble, no the ground.
From one of the piles something rose.
It was massive.
It was a boss.
It was a golem.
A massive golem, coming out of one of the first piles in the entrance of the Scrapyard.
Above it a name appeared.
The Professor.
Dmitri Mitras Guild: Sunstar Human Level 71(PW 19) HP: 98 MP: 105 Skills: SP: 10 Health - Trained 18 Mana - Trained 25 Common Language - Untrained 10 Dance - Expert 8 Tame - Trained 19 Charm - Untrained - 10 Handicraft - Trained 13 Stealth - Untrained 10 Drawing - Untrained 10 Scribing - Untrained 10 Throw - Trained 23 Mana Manipulation - Trained 23 Scout - Untrained 10 Balance - Trained 17 Evasion - Trained 11 Spot - Untrained 10 Archeology Kit - Trained 5 Leadership - Untrained 5
Spells Catch'em (5 MP), Cheer (2 MP Sustained), Identify (0 MP), Inventory (10 MP), Cupid Blow (2 MP)
Rolling Beetle Axis Insect Level 71(PW 15) Skills SP: 12 Health: 79 MP: 75 Health - Trained 8 Mana - Trained 0 Carapace - Expert 5 Aerodynamics - Trained 19 Aim - Trained 28 Poison Resistance - Untrained 4