Vultressant laughed and said, “I need a manual for this world.” Oeister nodded in agreement. “I had another question. What do you know about the Fate stat?”
“Well,” Oeister began, “I would advise against treating it as a dump stat. A low Fate attribute can lead to unforeseen issues. Fate affects many aspects of life, often working in mysterious ways. There are moments when something truly miraculous occurs, and though you may lack proof, you believe Fate played a role. In all seriousness, I’ve encountered people with abysmally low Fate stats, and they’ve experienced all sorts of random crappy things. One died after falling into a well while retrieving a bucket. Another was blinded by a chicken!”
“A monster chicken?” Vultressant asked.
“No, a regular chicken. He tripped in a field, and a chicken that had been grazing pecked his eyes out.”
“That’s horrible!” Vultressant exclaimed. “Well, mine is at 14, so hopefully that’s enough. I might try putting a point into Fate each level just to be safe.”
“I’ve been slowly building mine up since I was killed by the giants, and it’s now at 31. I haven’t seen anything specific that I can attribute to a high Fate stat, if 31 is even considered high, but for the most part, things have gone well for me here.” Oeister motioned with a hand at the surroundings.
Vultressant nodded. “Yes, you seem to have done well for yourself in the three years that you’ve been here. Okay, one last thing, and I’ll stop bothering you—for today anyway,” he added, smiling. “We’re trying to get a suit of armor made for our tank, but we need more tier two essences to make the armor better. Can you direct us to a place that has some tier two creatures that we can handle?”
“Do you have a skinner in your group?” It seemed to be an odd question, but Vultressant nodded. “Then I can sell you the information.”
“How much silver do you want?” Vultressant asked.
“I’m looking for crystals,” the Sage said.
“We don’t have any crystals,” Vultressant said, frowning at the Sage.
Oeister held up a hand to forestall any other protests. “The creatures that you’ll be killing drop the crystals. I need five, but they have to be of good enough quality or they won’t be of much use to me. They need to be removed carefully, and the skinning skill is almost essential for that.”
A red prompt flashed before Vultressant’s eyes. He quickly opened the notification and absorbed the information. ‘Oeisterdamus has tasked you with bringing him 5 Crystal Devourer crystals of above-average quality or better.’
Curious, he navigated to his quest tab and pulled up the details:
Quest: Crystals for Oeister
Task: Collect 5 Crystal Devourer crystals and deliver them to Oeisterdamus
Reward: 5% experience towards next level; 500 FP towards Oeisterdamus
Time limit: 30 days
Failure Effects: Loss of 1,000 FP towards Oeisterdamus.
Do you accept the quest: Yes or No?
He focused on ‘FP’. “FP... Faction Points?” Vultressant muttered, puzzled. “How can you assign me a quest?” he asked Oeister.
Oeister started to laugh and asked, “You’ve never had a quest before?”
“Sure, from an NPC. How does a player give one?”
“Probably the same way an NPC does,” Oeister said. “I set you a task, and you can either agree to it or not. I’ve only had one quest from a player, and it granted me faction points, which is a reputation system that the world has. Faction points and Charisma have a real effect on other players, even from NPCs; that’s why the best party leader is usually the one with the best Charisma. Also, I’m not convinced that there are any NPCs; they might all be people or creatures from planets other than Earth, or from Earth but with memories of another life.”
“Really?” Vultressant asked. The idea that Charisma could influence the dynamics of the group hadn’t crossed his mind. “Our Ranger has been the party leader since we started, but his Charisma is low. He took the lead because he did so when we gamed together online.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Oeister nodded knowingly. “I see,” he said. “If he lacks the skills or abilities that could make a difference, it might be wise to designate someone with higher Charisma.”
“Our Skirmisher possesses the born leader ability and high Charisma,” Vultressant offered.
“Ah, then he’s your best choice,” Oeister affirmed.
“Actually, she prefers not to take the lead,” Vultressant clarified.
“Apologies for the assumption,” Oeister replied, raising a hand. “I wasn’t aware you had a female with you.”
“Two, in fact. Our healer is also female.”
The Sage rubbed at an eye. “I didn’t think that many girls actually played those online games.”
“Maybe not early on, but a lot of girls started to play when World of Warcraft came out.”
Oeister furrowed his brow in confusion. “I’ve played Warcraft and the sequels, but those were just real-time strategy games. I don’t remember a World of Warcraft.”
It was Vultressant’s turn to be confused. WoW had been out for close to twenty years, and even non-gamers knew what it was. Then he had a thought. “Dude, what year did you come to this world?”
“2004.”
Vultressant thought that WoW had come out by then, and it was certainly announced well prior to launch, but if Oeister had never played it, then he might not know about it. He pondered for a moment as to how to break the news to the Sage. In the end, he went with directness. “Then I may have some bad news for you,” he began. “You’ve been here for more than three years. A lot more.”
“How many?” Oeister asked hesitantly.
“Eighteen.”
Oeister whistled and said, “That would make it a six-to-one ratio. I suppose that it doesn’t really matter. I’ve already given up on finding a way back home.”
“This might not be as well received by my group,” Vultressant said, thinking specifically of Isla. “Of course, the time might be frontloaded from the trip here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Einstein said something about traveling at the speed of light changing how time works. Like if a ship zipped around our solar system, anyone onboard would have barely aged, but the people of Earth would be much older when they returned.” Vultressant couldn’t recall the exact theory, but that was the gist of it.
“I understand what you mean,” Oeister replied. “However, I’m not certain if it applies to our situation. It seems we might have traversed a wormhole, but if this involves magic rather than advanced technology performing feats we’d deem miraculous, it could operate beyond our known physics.”
Everything Vultressant had witnessed so far seemed to adhere to the rules of physics, but there was little point in debating it with the Sage. “Regardless of the cause, our timeline here is evidently different from the one we know on Earth.”
He decided it was time to change the subject. “Regarding this quest, do these Crystal Devourers drop the crystals?” he inquired.
“You’ll need someone with high Dexterity or the skinning skill to extract them,” Oeister explained. “The crystals don’t simply drop like regular items. These creatures consume crystals, and their bodies process them, eventually forming the crystals as additional armor outside their skin. They also develop elongated spikes, which are the ones I need.”
“It would be easier to just bring you the crystals that they eat, but we can do it this way. How tough are the mobs?”
Oeister held up a hand and shook his head. “Something happens to the crystals after the Devourers eat them that gives them a magical property. You’ll see plenty of crystals inside the caves that they live in, but those are of no use to me.”
“What do the crystals do? The special ones, I mean,” Vultressant asked.
“They have an anti-magic property that can be harnessed to turn the crystals into a magic item that will nullify an existing magical effect.”
“And these creatures will drop the emerald essences?”
Oeister nodded. “That’s correct, except for the elite versions of the creatures. They’ll likely drop the sapphire essences. You might want to avoid them unless you encounter one alone, and even then, exercise caution.”
It seemed like an ideal hunting ground for essences. Without accepting, Vultressant wouldn’t receive the location of the creatures, so he mentally clicked ‘Yes,’ committing to the quest.
“Excellent!” Oeister exclaimed after seeingVultressant’s acceptance. “The cave entrance is just over a day’s walk to the west. Could you bring up your map of the area?” Vultressant projected his local map. “Here’s the location,” he indicated, pointing to a spot west and slightly north of Ildul. “The Devourers can cast lightning spells and have the ability to traverse through stone to access better crystals, but otherwise, they’re primarily close combat fighters.”
Vultressant appreciated the advanced knowledge about their opponents, but the thought of dealing with lightning spells and mobs escaping through rock walls terrified him. However, he had already committed to the quest, so he decided to make the most of it. “Thanks for the info. I’ll try to get the quest done soon. Before I leave, could you cast a weak air mana spell at me? I’d like to see if I can learn it that way.”
“I don’t usually get a request to blast someone. I’d be happy to.”
Vultressant cast his personal shield spell and moved to the middle of the room. “I had this shield going when I learned the wind spell from the Gnoll. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll drop it and see what happens.” Oeister waited and watched him. “Ready,” he said, with just a tinge of hesitation in his voice.
“Do you want a safe word or something?” Oeister asked with a hint of a smile on his face.
“How about ‘Stop!’?”
“Not very creative, but I can work with that.” Oeister made a few quick hand gestures and commenced hurling spells at Vultressant.