That evening, grandma Ariel went home with boxes full of stuff. She waited for midnight to hit the clock to rennovate the right side of the garden. A few hours later, satisfied with the result, she went to sleep in a wonderful mood.
The next morning, at 7:03 sharp, Mrs. Wattson took her usual place at the soft armchair near the window from which she could see the whole neighborhood. The bowl of peanuts and the earl grey tea were placed, like usual, on the little table on the side.
While sipping the tea, she thought of the suspicious movements she noticed about Ariel Willford, her old neighbor. That old bat had always been a bit crazy, but lately she had been holing herself inside her house more than usual.
And she was hell bent on knowing why. If she was having a fling with a random guy… That for sure would be an exciting news to share at the monthly gathering. Hmph, she’ll catch that bag of bones in the act, and show to the others her true colors!
With binoculars in hand, Mrs. Wattson scanned the whole garden for some lost undergarment. The night before she had clearly heard some suspicious noises, unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything.
Then, she saw it. Hidden behind a bush was a piece of dark clothing. All excited, she rushed to grab her phone to take the incriminating photos. She got closer to the railing to get better footage and…
A stream of water rose from behind the bushes and ‘Habanera’ started playing. Along with two other streaks of water, five butt naked gnomes rose above the bush, slowly rotating in a captivating water dance.
When the music ended, four gnomes were giving her full view of their magnificent buttocks, while the one at the center was giving her the middle finger with a smile. Seeing the rosy butts of the gnomes and the family jewels of the one in the middle, Mrs. Wattson looked like she had swallowed a whole fist of flies.
Curse that damn crone! She’s always playing her for a fool. This is the last time she gets tricked like this! Clutching her phone, she stomped back to her house. Just wait. She was going to get her revenge soon.
While all of this was playing out just outside her house, granny Ariel was sleeping soundly in her bed. It wasn’t before 11 am that she got up to clear up the surprise that she had prepared for her nosy neighbor.
It had been very difficult to set the mechanical part in the dark; but just thinking about the face that Claire Wattson will make when they’ll see each other at the monthly gathering in a couple of days, then it makes it all worth it.
She took everything to the garage, but when it was time to move the flipping gnome, she thought that it was a pity to hid it away so soon. So, she took a big flower pot, put it upside down and placed the gnome on top of it, in the direction of Mrs. Wattson. She gave it a purple skirt for the sake of decency. It already had showed off enough for the day.
Cleaning out the garden kept her busy enough until it was time to get back into the game. Taking that forced break only made her want to play more.
Welcome, to Elysium Online: Worlds of Arcadia.
Logging in…
When she opened her eyes, she found herself back to the ruins of the Shrine of Beginnings. There were less people than when she first entered the game, however as soon as she took a few steps, she froze on her tracks.
Both her and a young man were looking at each other. Then, after a bit the youngster pointed at her with a distorted expression. “The granny NPC!” Tacha Macha forced a smile “Hello dearie” Shit, she wasn’t expecting to see this guy ever again.
“F*@#£! So you were a player after all!” The player took out his beginner sword in a threatening manner “How dare you to treat me like a mule without giving me any compensation!?” Tacha evaded the first swing “You were the one that was expecting something! Besides, you got a beautiful flower picked by yours truly” She only received another swing in response.
The few people present just watched the fight or kept looking at the ruins, disinterested. The youngster got increasely frustrated by the slippering granny. Did she put all of her points in agility? “Stay still, so I can hit you a few times!” “I’m not stupid!” Tacha went through her inventory and took out the first thing she found and threw it at the guy.
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The player raised the sword in defence, but a few chestnuts hit him in the face. “F*ck!” The granny took the opportunity to sprint outside in a random direction. When the player got rid of the spikey chestnuts, Tacha was nowhere to be seen. He screamed and asked around for the direction where the fake NPC fled to, but all of them ignored the guy seeing how aggressive he was towards them, an unrelated party.
Tacha ran for a while, stopping only when she couldn’t see the ruins anymore. She looked back a few times before breathing a sigh of relief. Who knew that the guy that she tricked to take her to the village was still there? Why would he stay there all of the time anyway…
She took the long way back to the village. She was scared of staying the night in the woods thanks to her buddy the giant radish. Another alternative was fighting the guy, but she risked killing him. There wasn’t much on the forums about player killing, but it might affect some NPCs in the long run. It was better not to risk it, even if it was just between players.
The sun had just set when she reached the village. All of the shops had already closed for the night, all aside dear Hans, the owner of the inn.
She didn’t want to see the old scrooge just yet and she hadn’t see the village at night yet. There might be some special event to discover.
Walking in the quiet streets, she was suprised to not see many players wandering around. They might have already left the village for bigger cities. It was very glaring when she saw a suspicious figure entring from the side window of the “Sally’s Trove”. Granny Tacha’s eyes shined brightly. A Thief! She might get a reward if she catches him in the act. So, she quietly got closer to the thief.
ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ
After getting spooked by the general store shopkeeper, Frӧst decided to investigate the village first. However, when he asked around about Layla he got only negative responses. No one knew her.
Could it be that she was living under a false name? Maybe she was indeed Sally, the owner of the general store. But it was weird how she had never mentioned having kids.
Either the kid died in the near future or there was something suspicious about him. But from what he gathered from the villagers, both the kid and the mother settled down together a year ago. On the paper the kid looked clean, but he couldn’t shake off that terrifying feeling that he got from the general store.
Just to be sure, he spent a couple of in-game weeks to observe the villagers and their routines. He learned that the village head would sneak every three nights to the backery to meet with the lady owner, soon followed by the guy living across the street, only for both men to get back to their homes by dawn of the next day.
Hans, the greedy innkeeper, would sneak towards the local herbalist at the far end of the village only on the early morning of fridays. Then he would quickly come back to his inn acting like nothing happened.
As for the shopkeeper kid… He never left the store. Even the daily necessities were brought by some random players that accepted the comissions from the village board.
As for Sally? Never seen even a trace of her.
He knew that there was something strange going on with the general store. The countless years of experience doing quests told him so. That’s why that night he decided to sneak inside the store while the kid was hopefully asleep.
He crafted a tear gas by gathering and mixing the white berries and the purple flowers found in the near woods during the day.
Winterberry
A pure, white berry that when eaten dissolves in a sparkling and refreshing manner.
Grants ‘Cooldown’ effect
Silent Catch
A deep purple flower that often decorates the graves of the fallen.
+50% skill cooldown
You have successfully mixed Winterberry and Silent Catch to create Tear Bomb.
Tear Bomb
A small sphere created by alchemic means. By mixing just the right amount of Winterberries and Silent Catches, you created a simple gas that will make cry even the thoughest of warriors.
Frӧst didn’t dare to go hunt for herbs at night, that’s because in the area, there were plant mobs that came out during the night to hunt. How? By trapping the unkowing wanderers with vines and all kinds of paralizing poisons. They were deadly predators. Maybe weak, but very difficult to see them at night.
He waited for night to come before breaking in the general store by the window that faces on the side alley. Once inside he felt the same suffocating pressure, just lighter. He looked around to see if he had been noticed, but seeing that everything was calm he carried on with his search. Maybe he became more sensible thanks to the mysterious ability.
Frӧst was busy going through the counter when he heard a noise coming from behind him. He turned his head back, only for his face to be greeted by a wrinkly fist.
He staggered back while holding his nose, crashing akwardly into a pile of goods, making a lot of noise in that quiet night. In the dark shop he could barely make out a small figure.
Could it be? Was that the one responsible for the suffocating pressure?