First off sorry for being so late, got busy last weekend but I spent some time brainstorming. Second, thank you Count Dee for the userbar. Hrmm I should've gone with bard rather than minstrel and blue rather than purple but oh well I only did it on a whim. Third, why do I always feel tempted to write this while pooping?
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An underground city was before them in all its glory, though it was in ruins. Unlike the previous chambers, this one wasn't very well lit up. The normally prevalent bloodstones were only scattered about occasionally giving the city only an eerie silhouette. The depths beneath the city were completely dark making it impossible to see how deep it is. The only path to the city was a land bridge that was so covered in gore that it seemed to be alive and was quite thin. Emperor and the rest of them had no way of knowing whether or not it was sturdy. One of the noobs started walking across the bridge wanting to get the benefits that could be reaped by entering the city. Halfway over a mosquito appeared from underneath the bridge and casually stabbed the noob in the back. It started draining him but stopped before killing him and flew off elsewhere. The noob started stumbling and got dizzy from blood loss then fell off the bridge. The dark depths seemed to swallow him as he set off towards his doom.
Seeing this spectacle it was decided that they needed to cross as a group in order to survive the trip but they still saw the bridge as unreliable. Therefore they split off into groups of 10 and trekked across it one at a time. emperor decided to go first while Stagola decided to go last.
~1 hour later in-game~
About 3/4 of their group had made it over the bridge since they were only going one group at a time and the bridge itself was very long. Most of them got over with only a few minor hitches. Mainly mosquito attacks at various points around the bridge since the bridge concealed what lies underneath them. Plus the lack of proper lighting wasn't helping at all. They had plenty of bloodstones due to the noobs hoarding them and some of the villagers picking them up but dropping them off the bridge yielded nothing. Even the eerie glow of the bloodstones were swallowed up by the depths of the Tartarus-like pit.
At this time a buzzing was heard in the distance coming closer so the remaining people decided to abandon caution for haste. They rushed over the bridge numbering twenty-five. It was mostly cowardly noobs, Stagola, and some villagers while wounds hadn't fully healed yet. In the distance the source of the encroaching noise was seen. It was a mosquito that was as big as a monster truck, small compared to the boss but a monster compared to the other Mosquitos.
Stagola as the fastest in the group could've ran ahead of their group but didn't.
Stagola thought 'Sh*t, I can't run ahead or I'll catch its attention. Why is my fodder so slow?'
Stagola then began to use spiritual healing on his companions to restore their stamina and make them run faster. As a side effect he completely healed the wounded villagers and increased his familiarity with them unknowingly. An act of desperation resulting from extreme selfish-ism mistaken as goodwill may not fool the main AI but it fooled the villagers. AKA the AI rewarded him despite him knowing otherwise because the villagers were mistaken.
The giant mosquito reached the bridge while they were only three-fourths of the way over the bridge. The noobs, overconfident from all the level ups and their armour, forgot what happened at the lake. They charged at the mosquito while the villagers started to slow down. Stagola pushed the villagers and told them to keep going. Once again the villagers mistook what he meant by this.
The villagers interpreted this as "Don't let their noble sacrifice be in vain" and continued running while silently thanking the noobs. In reality Stagola had a darker meaning behind his words. He meant "They're already done for and will respawn later, let's use them as bait so we can cross the bridge."
Obviously Stagola valued the villagers and himself far more then the players that had just started. Turning back while running, Stagola saw the battle between the noobs and the mosquito. The mosquito seeing them as easy prey casually stabbed its mouth into one of them and drained him of blood. While the noob dissipated the other noobs attacked a variety of places including its legs and mouth. The other parts were too far away as one noob quickly found out by falling to his death.
They did minimal damage but it enraged the mosquito. It flew into the air a bit higher which made two of the noobs which were just swinging their weapons at the time slipped from the momentum and fell into the abyss. Next the mosquito brushed one of its legs against the bridge and jerked slightly. The noobs, some of them more acquainted with games and knew what it was going to do while others by reflex, jumped into the air to dodge a leg that didn't come. Right before they landed the mosquito sweeped its leg for real and hit most of the remaining noobs.
Some of them dissipated on contact while others that invested into Endurance survived only to be brushed off the edge to their deaths. Only 2 of the noobs managed to survive this ordeal and started running towards the city. They realized that they were too weak and disadvantaged to fight this mosquito. The mosquito followed them at a leisurely pace, completely forgetting about Stagola and the villagers. Before the noobs could reach the other side they were both stabbed and drained of blood. One of them was even crying before he died leaving only some mystery jerky and some bloodstones to mark his demise.
The group now numbering around 75 from losses throughout the caves, all of them were noobs, fled into the city. The city had many alleyways and buildings to prevent the giant mosquito from entering. They had mixed thoughts about the event that just occured.
Emperor thought 'That mosquito was intelligent, it feinted the noobs to prevent any dodging. It must have experience with guarding that bridge or it's very clever with battle experience to match it.'
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Stagola thought 'That mosquito was a complete sadist. These mosquitos get cruel when they don't feel the need to keep you alive. Thankfully it's easily aggroed and distracted.'
Various thoughts about how horrible the sight was skewed about in the thoughts of the villagers and most of the noobs. A few of the noobs thought the scene was awesome. These few noobs not only enjoyed the show but didn't fear death, not even their own. They boldly walked with the first group crossing and enjoyed gory movies in their free time. They actually were disappointed that they only dissipated rather than getting disemboweled, decapitated, or at least created a drained mummy like corpse left behind.
These thoughts were all interrupted by a few windows popping up. Soon new conflicting thoughts came into play.
Discovered Ruins: City of Sangre de Negro
A ruined city deep in the Sangre Caverns that seems to be the source of the glowing bloodstones and dark magick in the air. It was once inhabited by the reclusive blood sorcerers who were hated by all races except the dwarves, whom they were neutral with since bloodstones make for good lighting in caves. The city has no trace of life and neither the blood sorcerers nor the dwarves that made it are in sight. Mysteries lie abundant in this dormant city of darkness.
Reward for discovery:Ownership if Sangre Caverns is cleared, Blood Sorcerer class, Dark Resistance +1%
A dark miasma covers the city, -10% dark resistance due to non-dark class or lack of class, reduced stamina from heavy atmosphere, -10 all stats
Class Change: Blood Sorcerer
You can now become a Blood Sorcerer, mysterious sorcerers that use dark and blood magicks while lying in the depths.
Benefits: +10 all stats, new skills, +10% dark resistance, immunity to dark miasmas
Neutral: Mana stat removed and replaced with Blood, Mana Reg. removed and replaced with Blood Purity
Disadvantages: -All reputation with everyone except dwarves, dark races, and undead, -1000 reputation with everyone except dwarves, dark races, and undead.
Accept Class change
Yes/No
Emperor and Stagola immediately replied no while others took the time to ponder. Emperor had too much invested into physical stats to become a mage-like class while Stagola would lose his healing magic that he had grinded up to level 5 already. Soon enough the dark miasma surrounded a few of the noobs and some of the villagers. This shocked most of the players since they assumed the option was only available to them.
This shock was lessened as the villagers showed shock too. This indicated that the choosing for whom would class change among the villagers was forced upon them either randomly or by some unknown condition. Soon enough both villagers and noobs were experimenting with newfound skills.
After a little while of resting and experimentation they began to go deeper into the city. The blood sorcerers seemed to be weaker from their skills as it actually uses up their blood instead of mana. But this was countered by the extra stats and immunity to the miasma. So they managed to keep pace with everyone else.
They entered a few buildings and found various books and cursed items. The blood sorcerers were the only ones able to touch them so the NPC Blood Sorcerers picked up a few out of curiosity. While the Champion Blood Sorcerers hoarded these items. One of the most common was Blood Sorcerer robes which the noobs and NPCs alike changed into. The noobs had many adverse effects with their current armour due to their class so they changed into the robes. While the NPCs felt more comfortable in the robes.
The villagers didn't seem to dislike the Blood Sorcerers despite their drop in reputation. This proved that familiarity just like in real life overpowers reputation. The villagers had automatic high familiarity with each other while the noobs slowly acquired familiarity by talking with them, traveling with them, and even just taking on the quest. Though too minuscule to show in a window it built up far enough so they wouldn't be shunned.
A few of the buildings were in too bad of condition to enter or surrounded with strange magic that prevented even the Blood Sorcerers from entering. Once in awhile a smaller mosquito would venture down only to be killed quickly by the BS's before they came within range of anyone. Their magics were quite powerful but came at a price. They gradually weakened until everyone was slowing down their pace for them so they decided to take a rest. All of the players except Stagola and Emperor logged off.
"Today was pretty awesome" said Stagola
-It felt much longer than a day, but yes we're making good progress
'Oh yeah, he's an NPC so to him it has been more than one day' thought Stagola
"Let's kill the boss next time we meet." said Stagola
-Of course, we're going to need that healing skill of yours, see ya later
Emperor then logged off leaving behind Stagola with a blank expression.
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Very long chapter as sorry. Not that long compared to other FFs but long compared to my other chapters. Stagola finally found out that Emperor is a player.
Also I'm gonna keep this userbar rather than changing it. I'll just say I'm Gakupo and he's got some orchestra like songs so minstrel makes sense for him.
As always feedback is nice, and I sta- er check all the comments.
P.S. I made the title a lame pun hehe.
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