A/N: So I’m gonna take a shot at a serious story, since this one was supposed to just be me dicking around with a bunch of friends. Said story is going to be in the zombie/ psychological genre. I’m going to try and balance both until a certain point in THIS story and have you guys vote. So BEWARE!!~~
Link to the other story: The Horde
Also, sorry for the short(er) chapter. I felt it was the right spot to end it.
V1C6 Short Goodbyes
(Thundatwin’s POV)
It was surprisingly hard to find more of the monsters. They wandered around without pattern. Sometimes we would chance upon two of them… Thank God for kiting. Luckily, we haven’t come across three at once.
Spoiler :
Kiting is getting aggro of an enemy and running away while avoiding attacks. It really just buys time. It gives the image of someone flying a kite (enemy).
As I was saying, it took a bit of time to find them. We’d run across several other members of the ecosystem or other hunting parties. We even saw the crazy dude that power slid earlier. Anyway, the ecosystem was quite interesting. First off, nothing in the forest seemed inherently aggressive, letting us hunt in relative peace. Second, the ecosystem was pretty weird. it seemed to be completely void of the animal kingdom. Instead, there were various creatures resembling the treants in that they were roaming plant monster… things. I couldn’t get a good look as we were hunting nonstop. Or trying to. Would ten minute breaks to find the next vict- ahem, target still be considered nonstop?
Another tough part was that StephOFF and I had to rotate tanking. The pain was a good deterrent for volunteering. The non-tank was busy dealing damage or kiting.
There were some good parts though, like the experience gain. In both senses. There were a few level up, including Wubs’ healing skill.
Healing Hands 20 Mana Level 2 (7%)Description:Novice healing spell that restores a small amount of health to one person.Effects:Heals 30 Hp to one targetSpecifications:3 meter range 3.5 cast time 5 second cooldown
On the other hand, Steph was growing more accustomed to tanking. She wasn’t at the level where she could warn others of their high aggro yet. Baby steps first.
We had to stop for more supplies once in the middle of our hunt. We also took it as a chance to take a break. We sold the junk loot and got some dinner with it. The satiety bar dropped pretty fast when hunting. Jokes were flowing one into the next over the meal, and our hearts were light. Even after the meal, we had a steady stream of conversation material. But all good things come to an end, and starting with StephOFF, we started signing out, agreeing to get on in two hours.
***
A lot sooner than the planned time, I logged on. The others still has an hour real time. ‘It's grindin time!’ In the middle of my restocking, I noticed that McIcer was already on. Confused, I set out to find him. We were all still in a party, so I could see him on my map. He was in the forest. I shrugged. He was where I was going anyway.
I unsheathed my sword. This time, I was going to hunt wolves on the way out. I was making good time. I would sneak up on the wolf, my first slash towards its neck. This usually resulted in a fatal blow, one shotting it. The wolves were the starter enemy, so they never appeared in pairs. Sometimes, my slash would miss its mark. This would still result in a sneak attack, with double damage, so two or three attacks finished the mutts off. Well, I was over leveled…
‘I've arrived!... A lot sooner than expected!’ I made it passed the tree line. From here, my targets would switch to the flora found here. There were flower-like minions, the first swarm enemy. They were easy to beat individually, but a little tough to deal with more than three. I set off trying to find more of them, but I still kept my eyes open. There were different plants everywhere. I almost regret not checking out what herbs would make me some extra cash.
A deep scream broke my mental sanctuary. I dashed in the direction it came from. I was still pretty far from him, so it couldn’t be McIcer.
I saw an orc body lying on the ground. The air was thick with something, so I couldn’t get close to him. There was nothing uncanny around the body other than that. I started a sweep of my surroundings. Something caught my eye, and I found myself staring at a patch of mushrooms on a tree. I had yet to see those. I stepped closer but froze, just out of reach. The mushrooms looked real, but the bark around it was missing the groves that the rest of the trees had. I gripped my sword and swung.
My blade connected with one of the mushrooms and sliced through it. Its momentum carried into the bark.
[Sneak attack! 10]
Spores started to cloud the air as a shriek lashed out. I jumped back, cautious of them. Something peeled itself off of the tree. It had a face that was facing the tree moments ago. Its shell hid the body underneath. Complete with arms and legs was a weird little creature. I couldn’t see clearly, but it looked like it had sap on its lips.
Fungal Parasite
Level 6
25/25
It staggered forward, eager to close the distance as it continued to pump spores. I took an equal amount of bigger steps as I put away my blade, replacing it with my bow.
A body dropped a couple of arrows, missed and otherwise, later. Surprisingly, the curtain of spores quickly dispersed, allowing passage to the loot.
***
My hunting went along as such. I ran into only a few more of the fungal parasites unfortunately. Most of my battles were against the treants, the flower minions, and some sort of weak golem. The latter two were too weak to mention the battles.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Trudging through the trees, I moved closer and closer to the creaking that started moments ago. Coming upon the battle, I watched as McIcer fought against the treant.
Mixing casting and kiting, he slowly brought the treant’s health down. The treant was frosted over, the effects of slow. It finally crashed down, Icer getting closer to snag the leaf and firewood left behind. I walked up to him.
“Hey dude. Grinding?” (T)
“Hey man! I’m just trying to catch up to you guys. You level really fast.” (M)
We shared a laugh and started walking. He accepted my invite for company. We walked and talked about a lot of things, only pausing to fight. We steered clear of talking about life, and instead focused the conversation on the game so far. Life was a kinda of taboo, and we had only known each other for half of a day.
Just like that, we hunted for another two hours in wait for our companions.
(Lil’ Wub Wub’s POV)
I logged on at the AGREED TIME. Just like that, we found the only man who ACTUALLY KEEPS HIS WORD in our group.
Anyway, they leveled up a bit when we found them. The left side of me vision looked like this:
Lil' Wub WubLevel 7Hp 110/110Exp 550/700Mp 150/150Sp 100/100
McIcerStephOFFThundatwinLevel 6Level 8Level 8Hp 100/100Hp 150/150Hp 130/130Mp 150/150Mp 100/100Mp 120/120Sp 100/100Sp 120/120Sp 120/120
Anyway, right now we’re hunting our last treant. And it’s about damn time. At this point, we’re so used to fighting it that I don’t even do anything. No one even gets hit. It’s depressing. So instead of twiddling my thumbs, I decided to take up alchemy. My brother gave me some scrap loot to start with. And so far, I’ve made… nothing! It’s pretty fuckin’ annoying. None of the ingredients does anything together. Anyway, while I was fuming, they seemed to have beaten the treant. So we start our journey to Eilis… you know. The town. That you’ve never been told… yeaaaaaah…
We’ve almost run out of things to talk about. Almost. Somehow we got on the topic of food.
“Anything healthy first off.” (M)
“Telling ya, ruebens are the best.” (T)
“And I told you that I’m vegetarian! So find a better food!” (S)
“There is no better food!” (T)
“Oh contraire, dearest brother. There is the reigning champion, Pizza, and all of its glory.” (W)
One subject down. The conversation continued, but they were eerily similar to this in terms of pointlessness.
Course, I didn’t forget to tie a few shoe laces together. Maybe a dick drawn here or there. Nothing big though.
And we finally turned in our first quest! Hurrah!
Quest Completed!
Hard HangoverRewards:300 EXP
20 Fame
Level Up!
Awwwwriiiiight! Level eiiiiiight!
“And you’re fired.” (E)
It got even better! I high fived Thunda as we walked out of the bar.
A new window popped up a couple of minutes later.
Quest Completed!
Treant BountyRewards:4 gold (your share: 1 gold)
100 EXP
We exited the guild in light spirits. The Dee joke moments ago helped.
We found a quiet spot on the road to talk. We got serious.
“So. Plans?” (T)
“Questing here. I’m gonna make my way to some other towns. I hear there’s a duelist trainer out North.” (S)
“That’s the direction the mage’s guild said that I should go. So we’ll probably stick together.” (M)
“Bro?” (W)
“Hmmm… I dunno. You?” (T)
I was about to answer when a window popped up.
New Quest!
Religious Calling
Non-sharableDwyn calls for you assistance in the West! He says that he has a mission for you.Requirements:Head WestMembers:Lil' Wub Wub
UnknownAccept Quest?YesNo
Pressing the yes button, I spoke to my party.
“Looks like I’m being summoned west. Why don’t you head east bro?” (W)
“Sure? Then I’ll see you guys later. I’m gonna go get some new weapons!” (T)
He turned and started walking. The other two stared in space, and then poked some window. A moment later, *Ding!*
McIcer sent you a friend request!Accept Friend Request?YesNo
StephOFF sent you a friend request!Accept Friend Request?YesNo
I smirked and affirmed both windows. With a small goodbye, we parted.
A/N: Sooooo… I’ve got more followers for The Horde in a day than this story in almost a week… how depressing…