Certain spells that level with the caster can be charged, allowing the caster to save mana by casting a spell at a lower level.
Orleana. Day 04.
Lueur Rose and her girlfriend, Lunette Soleil, stood waiting for the rest of Saiph’s party to arrive by the Caer Fragment in the main lobby.
Saiph took a moment to look over their party, which was really two parties of five. He was their main tank; Quark, Lunette, and the one taking them to Ven Istera, Gimm Easmile, were their supports with mixed healing and utility; Lueur Rose and Orbnus were there ranged damage sources; Will and Kamila were melee; and finally, Nix and Jack O’ Lantern could flex into any role as Summoner and Bard, respectively.
It was a decent spread, if weighted a little too heavily for healing and support. But with them being in a high level zone, a smaller party size than a full raid compliment would hopefully mean less attention from monsters, which would allow them to move faster.
Lueur Rose raised her Caer Fragment, opening a portal to Ven Istera’s guildhall. It was a sprawling woodland courtyard set underneath a red and gold version of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
Everyone stepped through the portal, but Clarke hesitated. Saiph watched her and Will standing on the other side of the shimmering hole in the universe, which looked more like a painting set behind glass than something someone could actually step through.
After a moment, Clarke visibly resolved herself and stepped through the portal with Will.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Will said.
“No, I…” was all Clarke managed before she doubled over and face planted onto the ground.
“Clarke!” Will dropped to his knees and turned Clarke over onto her back and began checking her over.
The only thing that immediately stuck out to Saiph was her empty mana bar.
Quark raised his cane. “I might have a solution.”
The blue crystal ball on the cane began to glow, sending tendrils of mana between Will and Clarke. Will shivered as his mana dropped by a couple thousand points. The glow within the blue tendrils increased before Clarke’s own mana bar began to rise.
Quark flashed Will an apologetic look. “Sorry, I should have warned you I was going to do that.”
Clarke stirred a moment after her mana bar reached full. She scratched at the back of her head, her face flushed with embarrassment and confusion. “That was… unpleasant. What happened?”
Will helped Clarke sit up. “I think we found the reason NPCs can’t use our fast travel. Are you well enough to stand?”
“I think so. As soon as I stepped through the portal, it felt like someone pulled the ground out from under me and then nothing.”
Will turned to Saiph. “You guys find the first safe zone. I’m going to help Clarke track down her uncle. Just don’t get in any fights before I can fast travel to you.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Saiph replied.
***
Four floating islands, each a city in its own right, were shackled to Ven Istera’s central island by skyscraper-sized chains. Rose’s friend, and their link to the city, Gimm, met the party on the western edge of the westernmost island.
The boyish-faced Gimm had a mop of blond hair and large-rimmed glasses with mage robes that gave him a scholarly appearance. He waved almost as largely and with his whole arm as Lunette did when Saiph and Nix first met her.
“Thank you for helping us,” Saiph shook the young Druid’s hand.
“I should be thanking you! Rose says you know where a couple safe zones are.”
“Yeah. There’s two between here and Pallas’ Watch. We should be able to find the first one pretty quickly.”
Safe zones were much like the guardian cities, thought a lot smaller. Each one was a Caer fragment that projected its own barrier that kept monsters away. Players could fast travel to these locations if they attuned themselves to them. There were only a few known, and all of them in the higher level zones where there were few cities.
Saiph studied his map one more time, then pulled out his summoning whistle. Seven roars from his hydra, Pleiades, answered the whistle's call. Everyone else summoned their own flying mounts and off they went.
Pleiades leapt over the edge, taking advantage of the high altitude to pick up speed before climbing higher into the air with the beat of their powerful wings. The wind whooshing around Saiph made him wish his Dragon Form spell was off its cool down so he could experience flying for himself.
Ven Istera’s large skyscrapers, and even larger trees, as well as the wyverns carrying people between the five islands shrank as they put distance between them.
Moving beyond Ven Istera’s barrier of protection invited more of the flying asweyr islands for which the Godsfall Mountains had earned their name. They varied in size from tiny pebbles to city-sized behemoths sporting groves of redwoods larger than any earth had to offer.
The flying mountains became more densely packed together as the vast swath of grassland on the ground beneath gave way to a forest of ferns and other understory plants below.
They were nearing the site of the first safe zone, which was easy enough to miss from the air, so the party dropped to the ground to continue on foot. The shadows from the overhead Godsfall Mountains gave the appearance of dusk, despite not being far past noon.
Kamila closed her parasol after they approached a particularly dark area and let out a deep, contented sigh. “Oh, it’s so nice to finally be out of the sun and into the shadows.”
Orbnus spread her silvery angelic wings and lifted off the ground. Then took out her chainsword and ignited its flame enchantment. “I prefer to be bathed in Solaire’s light, which could cure you of your affliction, Vampire.”
“Solaire’s light might be warm and welcoming, but I am a true child of Nocturne’s shadows.” Kamila gave weight to her roleplay, making use of her Shadow-Stepper subclass. Her entire body became dark and ethereal before she vanished inside the shadow of a nearby tree. She reappeared about ten feet ahead of them, laughing to herself. “Solaire et Nocturne. Light and Shadow. Two halves of the same coin in a way.”
Orbnus flew over to Kamila and the two fist-bumped each other.
Nix rolled his eyes. “Roleplayers.”
Jack O’Lantern was strumming a soft tune on his guitar. The Dullahan stopped and looked at Nix, pumpkin mouth open in a wide grin that showed the two lit candles in his mouth that served as his eyes. “Roleplay is the best part of the game! Look at Orleana, it’s the largest roleplaying city on the continent!”
In his owl form, Quark added, “If you think about it, we’re all playing roles now. We’re less ourselves and more our characters if you think about it.”
“Yeah, but those roleplayers’ll have a hard time exploring anywhere else. Most are only just high enough to use the crafting systems.” Nix replied.
Saiph had to agree with Nix. “Same as all the new players. I remember hearing the game sold an additional million copies when they announced the new update. That’s a lot of newbs.”
Their conversation was cut short when Kamila and Orbnus noticed masses of spider webbing appearing ahead of them with more regularity. Entire bushes and trees were coated so thickly in the stuff, it was hard to even be sure what was underneath.
Orbnus poked at a small, but particularly thick mass with her sword and jumped back when it wriggled. “Oh, gross! I think some of these are alive!”
Saiph shuddered. “Please don’t be egg sacs.”
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Orbnus cut a hole in the cocoon, revealing a humanoid figure bound inside of it.
Name: Goblin
Class: Monster, level 83
Health Points: 3,200/23,900
Mana Points: 0/39,133
Stamina Points: 0/17,911
It, or rather he, Saiph noted, had two puncture marks in his arm that had begun to fester with reddened skin traveling up his pale grey arm.
“I guess this explains why we haven’t run into many monsters yet. The spiders must be dealing with them.”
Nix let out a deep sigh. “Why is it always giant spiders? What is with this world always throwing giant spiders at us? How far is the nearest safe zone?”
Saiph looked at his minimap. Apparently they were right on top of it, but he didn’t see the small clearing with the single standing Caer Fragment indicating they were there.
Saiph frowned. “I know it should be here.”
“Three of us can fly. Why don’t we look for it above the treetops?” Kamila suggested, transforming into a bat.
Nix sat down on a rock. “Good plan. And if you see any giant spiders, we’re circling well wide of them.”
Kamila, Quark, and Orbnus were only gone for a few minutes before Orbnus called out over their party chat. “You guys are gonna wanna check this out.”
Not far from where Orbnus hovered, the entire forest was coated in a wall of webbing so tall and thick, it was impossible to see the other side. Spaced at random intervals in the wall were thick cocoons, the smallest of which were larger than any person.
Saiph inspected one of the cocoons. “No way we’re dealing with only one or two spiders. Will, I think we’re gonna need you for this one.”
“On my way.” There was a brief flash of purple light as a portal opened up and Will stepped through it. The cait sidhe was already drawing his two cutlasses. “You two sure do have a knack for finding all the spider dens.”
“I’m beginning to think it’s our special talent.” Durendal’s edge and his shield, Miasma, appeared in Saiph’s hands.
Nix looked at the web, then to Saiph. “I think I speak for all of us when I say ‘tanks first.’”
Saiph shot Nix a death glare as he stabbed the wall with his sword. The blade sunk into the webbing without really cutting it.
Orbnus handed Saiph her chainsword. “Try this.”
The blade erupted into flames as the chain began spinning on the weapon. The mass of webs fled from the burning blade as Saiph swung with little effort.
No sooner had they made it to the other side of the wall, a man’s distant cry made everyone tense up.
Will’s cat-like ears flicked as he listened. “It came from the northwest.”
Their whole party took off in a sprint, running until they entered a clearing. About a hundred yards ahead of them, a man was swinging a polearm at three man-sized spiders. One had a bone white exoskeleton and the other two were black with purple hourglass markings on their abdomens.
By the look of the man’s ornate weapon, yet lack of armor, Saiph was certain he was another player. Though his feet were coated in sticky webs, the spiders seemed hesitant to move forward and face his blade. Saiph knew that hesitance wouldn’t last forever.
“Over here!” Saiph bellowed as he cast Dragon Charge.
Flames erupted around Saiph’s body as he blasted forward towards the spiders. He connected with the white one and collided into a tree. Saiph brought his shield up to follow up with a bash, but stopped short when Nix called out.
“Saiph! Stop! They’re all players!”
Still holding his shield mid-swing, Saiph studied the crumpled spider, which let out a very human groan.
Name: WickedWeaver
Race: Spiderling, Male
Class: Summoner, Level 89
Subclass: Cleric—School of Entomancy, Level 92
Health Points: 11,210/13,658
Mana Points: 44,850/44,850
Stamina Points: 28,750/28,750
The spiderling’s form shifted to that of a man with eight eyes and four arms. He was wearing white mage robes with a long white and gold cloak.
“Ow, you hit hard.” His voice came out raspy and his stressed syllables caused his words to run into each other. The skin around his face was still very much sheets of chitin that slid along each other in a disturbingly alien manner as he spoke. “We were just playing.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize.” Saiph offered a hand, helping WickedWeaver to his feet.
The two other spiders with the purple hourglass markings, Spidarren and Spiderella, had likewise changed into more humanoid figures. Though, like WickedWeaver, they each had eight eyes and four arms. Upon closer inspection, the man who had been trapped, Thaddeus the Spider, was also a spiderling like his friends.
Spiderlings weren’t a common race. Annwyn Online forced a starting point in Xelle for spiderling players, which made the lower levels nigh impossible to grind through without having high level friends to let you soak experience or escort you back east. Saiph had two spiderling characters as alternates, a Bard named Taika and a Dragoon named Bellatrix.
Saiph pointed back to the mass of webbing behind them. “Did you guys make all that webbing?”
WickedWeaver nodded. “Yes, to keep the night spawns out. We spawned in and the safe zone was gone. We spent two nights fighting off monsters while searching for it.”
“So the safe zone did move! I knew it.” Saiph went through his map and cleared the marker for the nearest safe zone. “Can you take us to it?”
“Yeah, our website’s that way.”
The spiderling’s website consisted of several log houses in a semicircle around the safe zone’s Caer Fragment. There were about forty people around the camp and all had some feature that identified them as a spiderling; four arms, multiple sets of eyes, and in several cases, walking around on multiple legs.
Two big bonfires were lit in the middle of the clearing between homes and the Caer Fragment. Though it was still hours before sunset, the Godsfall mountains overhead had grown densely packed together and cast shadows that left the forest in near nighttime darkness.
Saiph attuned himself and upon returning, joined his friends around one of the bonfires, taking his seat between Nix and WickedWeaver.
“You guys set up shop pretty quickly. Three days to get these houses put up?”
Spiderella answered. “Some of us work for the same contractor. I’m an electrician, Spidarren, my husband, is a carpenter. He drew up the plans and we built them.”
Spidarren nodded. “Not a permanent home. We’ll be going back to our guildhall in Xelle as soon as the rest of our friends get here in a few days.”
Xelle was one of the smaller populated Guardian cities that was a common staging area for raids in Iska, the frozen tundra in the far northwestern portion of the continent. The city was still days or weeks away even with travel by mount.
Saiph looked out in the direction they had come into the safe zone from. The pale grey wall of webbing was still visible even from this distance. If the spiderlings had really faced as many monsters as they claim, it made Saiph wonder if his party of ten was too small.
“We’re heading west, too. To my guild castle, Pallas’ Watch.”
Recognition appeared on WickedWeaver’s face. “You’re with Sonnet’s Little Helpers? That guild helped me and Thaddeus kill Qalupalik in Iska! I still wear the cloak I crafted from the loot we got. If you’re going that way, you should know it isn’t just peryton and goblins you have to watch out for. We saw cockatrices overhead. I’d imagine you’re going to want a larger party to help clear the way...”
Saiph had actually been considering that maybe traveling with such a small group might have been a bad idea given the amount of monsters they’d seen webbed up. Clearly this group had had a lot of action over the last couple days. He smiled at the idea of an army of spiderlings marching with him and his friends across the godsfall mountains. “I’d hoped you’d say that. There’s supposed to be two more safe zones between here and there. Though I’m assuming they’ve moved as well. I hoped we’d make it to Pallas’ Watch by nightfall.”
WickedWeaver nodded. “You can definitely count that out. You won't even make it to the next one by then.”
In the back of his mind, Saiph knew that was true. The distance between Ven Istera and this safe zone was already further than in the game. How that worked, he didn't quite understand. Though it likely worked the same way the guardian cities themselves were larger now as well.
Given the spiderlings had so much trouble finding this one, the others would likely pose as much of a problem. Another slowdown in his quest to get to Riley, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Yeah, you're right.” Saiph resigned himself to the extra travel time. Solaire was low in the sky, though there was still plenty of light, it would be better to call it for now.
“If we’re pausing, I'm going back to Ven Istera, I'm helping Clarke and her uncle with a project that I think will be very helpful later.” Will said.
“Gonna tell us what it is?” Saiph asked with genuine curiosity.
“It's a surprise. And don't try and follow me to spoil it.” Will disappeared through his conjured portal, giving the universal gesture for I’m watching you.
Quark and Kamila returned to Orleana to continue making preparations with their crew for the Avanyu raid while Orbnus and Jack went to Araedi for a couples dinner. Lueur Rose, Lunette Soleil, and Gimm Easemile likewise returned to Orleana. The plan would be to return at day break and continue their way west.
That left Saiph and Nix with their new spiderling friends.
Two spiderlings with black and tan markings passed their group, each dragging a cocoon from the wall to one of the log houses. One of the cocoons was large, with a pair of antlers sticking through them. No doubt that was one of the reindeer-like flying beasts with a venomous bite called peryton. The other one was considerably smaller.
Saiph watched the spiderlings with curiosity and turned to Spiderella. “What are you guys doing with those?”
“Gonna be cooking them up for dinner, of course!” Spiderella answered with a toothy grin.
Nix turned to her, dumbfounded. “Some of those have goblins in them! Don’t tell me you’re seriously eating the monsters you’ve been capturing!”
All the spiderlings around the bonfire gave each other knowing looks and Spiderella giggled. “How else did you think we got enough food to spin all those webs?”
Saiph and Nix looked at each other and gagged.