[Negative. An Admin Tier of 4 or higher is required to adjust the settings of climber observers. However, privacy settings can be set for clips made through the recorded viewing skill or for personal observers through the observer menu.]
"Thank you, 61-3." James said. Looks like there isn't a guaranteed way to avoid accidentally watching someone's observer while they're indisposed, but at least it looked like the observers deliberately shy away from looking at anything graphic outside of violence.
Having learned all he could on preventing future incidents like the one where he left the climber menu on the observer of someone trying to use the bathroom, James continued switching from one climber to the next by only picking climbers he could see were fully clothed through the observer he was previously looking through. The less I use the list of climbers on the climber menu directly, the less likely I am to accidentally drop in on someone in a private moment. James decided.
James continued switching through the climbers in the village as they gathered together to discuss their plans for today.
"My party and four others will head to the river to refill the buckets, while the priest and his group teach the new climbers what we learned yesterday. Who's coming with me?" The muscular warrior James recognized as Tony Thomas spoke. I think it's too early to tell after only one day, but it's looking like leadership roles are starting to form. People trust the priest, Joseph, with leading communal efforts in the village, and Tony and his party were all participating with guarding the wall during the night. I wonder who else will take a major role in leading the first and other waves both in the village and to the boss of floor three. Speaking of...
"61-3, when will I need to create the third floor, and how frequently will new climbers be entering the tower?" James asked as he watched the first wave climbers decide on which groups would be going to the river and which climbers would be carrying the buckets while the others kept watch. The broadcast should be showing everyone outside the tower when the next group of people will be taken, but it didn't tell ME when that will happen.
[The construction of a new floor must be done by the end of the first night after a climber has reached the highest floor. The new wave of climbers will be chosen at the start of each day until all humans outside of the tower, aged fifteen or older, have completed their tutorial.]
So I have time until the third floor has to be made, but there will be 100 climbers joining the tower every day!? That's... I might have to spend points expanding the village walls before the end of the week. "Is there any way to choose who gets taken or make it so only older people get pulled into the tower?" Fifteen is too young to be going through this hellscape.
[Affirmative. However, an Administrator Tier of 5 or higher is required to adjust Climber Entrant parameters.]
"So it is possible, just not for me. Thanks anyway, 61-3." Damn. Maybe I should pick up that bring a friend modifier after all. If kids are going to be taken, they should at least get the chance to bring a parent or guardian with them. James sighed. That'll further delay things like crafting and special classes, though, but I really don't like the idea of a child being in here without anyone they know to rely on. Regardless, I first have to get to level 6 before I can do anything about that.
James distracted himself by watching as the group sent to refill the buckets reached the river, and found a group of goblins lurking there. James didn't even get the chance to count how many goblins there were before a volley of spells shot out from the mages in the group of climbers, though the observer of one of the climbers at the front of the group showed two surviving goblins running away, a few other spells failing to reach them before the climbers gave up on the chase and focused on what they came to do.
"Sweet! I've killed like, two goblins already!" One mage said, with other spellcasters and rogue with a bow expressing similar excitement. One mage pulled up the goblin killing quest, showing their progress to a party member, who pulled up their own with a frown.
"I got experience from the goblin you killed by being in the same party as you, but my quest doesn't say I've killed any goblins. You think we'll have to each kill 13 on our own?" A rogue responded, and James watched as this revelation was discovered throughout the group.
"How am I supposed to kill a goblin on my own, when all I have is a staff and healing spells!?" A priest exclaimed.
"We could try to get you enough money to buy a mace, we know priests can use them. Or maybe we could just almost kill the goblin, and it'll still count for your quest if you can land the finishing blow?" A warrior with a katana suggested.
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"Huh, I thought the quest would update for each goblin a party member killed, since experience is shared in a party." James said.
[Quests involving the defeat of standard monsters must be issued as a party-participant type quest to allow party members to contribute to the quest.]
"Wait, what? I thought there were only multi-participant and single-participant quest types?"
[Negative. Party-participant quest types exist as a limited alternative to a multi-participant quest type, exclusively applied to quests with an extermination based progression tracker to discourage climbers from swarming enemies through overwhelming numbers. In exchange, party-participant quests allow for greater individual rewards while still accepting cooperation.]
"So I didn't see the option for a party-participant quest type before because none of the quests I created myself involved killing things until just now." And I skipped past that opportunity by testing if I could tell it to copy options from previous quests. My experiment with finding a shortcut backfired. There might be more to learn, however.
"61-3, are you saying that the goblin killing quest we made couldn't have been a multi-participant quest? Only either a party or single participant type?"
[Negative. The quest could have become a multi-participant quest type, however, only a reward or rewards totalling 10 Tower Points or less would have been accepted due to the large number of participants. With few exceptions, such as the inclusion of a raid boss or time limit, multi-participant extermination quests above 10 participants are capped at 10 Tower Points for rewards. For the majority of extermination quests, the party-participant quest type is considered the best in balancing rewards with climber participation.]
"I see. Thank you." So as it stands I accidentally made a quest that'll be difficult for support type classes to complete. Hopefully, as the reward is just a bucket, it won't cause too much tension between those who can complete the quest easily and those who can't. A reward like a lot of gold or a more individually useful item could have created a strong feeling of missing out in those who aren't primarily damage dealers, but the buckets were chosen to replace the ones made by the bathhouse quest. As long as ten of the people who complete this quest don't mind donating their bucket for public use, things should be fine.
James watched the group make their way back to the village. The climbers were halfway there when a wolf jumped out and rushed towards a climber at the edges of the group. Again several spellcasters launched a barrage of attacks, several going wide after two stopped the wolf and quickly ended its life. Three more wolves jumped out shortly after the first was hit, and in the confusion brought about by some climbers thinking the threat had been dealt with, or climbers distracted by the spells flying through the air, the three had nearly reached the same climber the first had been running towards, before two were intercepted by a warrior and a priest wielding a hammer and mace, respectively.
Unfortunately, this left one wolf unchallenged, who jumped on the targeted climber, a rogue whose swing of their dagger was intercepted by the wolf biting down on the climber's arm, and pulled the rogue to the ground.
"Aaah! Help!" The rogue shouted as they swung the fist of their free hand into the side of the wolf's head, but the wolf paid no heed to the attacks, only continuing to pull at the rogue's arm and drag him further away from the group as two more wolves rushed out from the bushes. Another volley of spells, this one much smaller than the previous two, struck the two wolves as any climber with a weapon on the side nearest the rogue helped either the warrior and priest finish off their wolves, or saved the rogue from being dragged off.
"Is everyone alright? Anyone see anything coming at us?" Tony asked from the front of the group, after a group of miscellaneous "no"s they were about to continue moving, when Tony looked back at the sight of the battle.
"Evan, you and another climber use those buckets you're carrying and put out the fire. Anyone with a fireball ability hold off, and try to get something that doesn't affect the environment for your next spell." Tony shouted, watching as two climbers dragging buckets used the water within to put out the few bushes that had been burning before the fire could spread any further. "We'll keep heading to the village, and make a second trip to refill those two buckets after we've talked about our strategy for moving in groups going forward. We can't keep having our mages waste all their magic on the first monster they see." With that, the two carrying now nearly empty buckets made their way to the center of the group as a priest cast a healing spell on the rogue, and the marching resumed.
It's weird that the wolves tried to attack when they were so outnumbered. The way they all dove after the same climber and spaced their attacks out... I don't know enough about wolves to know how they fight their prey, but the fact they fought a group that outnumbered them nearly five to one feels like they were more focused on causing harm than self preservation, and if they're made to care less about their health than normal animals, they might also have changes in how they fight. I need to make sure I don't miss any signs of the monsters here becoming more intelligent or adapting to any strategies people come up with.
To everyone's relief, no further attacks happened during the climber's return, and Tony's group of five parties were met by climbers eager for the water they had brought with them. As the buckets were divided between drinking and cleaning water, and flocked by climbers wanting to use them for their respective purposes, the tall priest Joseph approached Tony.
"We've finished sharing information on the village and system menus, and the new group's been working on forming their own parties or joining with existing groups that don't have five members yet." Joseph explained. "How did things go, did everyone make it back safely?" He then asked, and Tony bobbed his head left and right in a 'so-so' gesture.
"There was trouble. No one died, and the one guy that got injured should have been patched up by one of the healers, but we had to use two buckets to put out a fire one of the mages caused, so we'll need to head out again if we want to complete the quest." Tony said. "I'm going to give them a chance to drink some water, maybe take another bucket or two if they get low enough, and talk to anyone who still wants to go. Can you ask the others if anyone wants to go in case one of my groups decide to stay?" He asked at the end, and Joseph nodded before the two went their separate ways.