by Phoenix Grey
Soldier's Cutlass
Attack: +1-14
Type: One-Handed Weapon
Durability: 14/15
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.0 kg
Azure held up the helm, looking at the rent on the side. He doubted a goblin was strong enough to cause it, but did not doubt, however, that whatever had caused it was the reason why it was no longer in the original owner's possession. Slipping it on, he frowned at the weight. The rent in it left jagged bits of bronze poking inward to scratch at his scalp. Azure quickly decide that it just wasn't for him.
Removing the spangenhelm, he asked Lonnell, “Can you store this away to be sold later?”
Lonnell nodded, taking it from him and doing the magic with his bag of holding that Azure found so fascinating.
“I have got to get me one of those,” he muttered, deciding that it was the first thing he would buy once he had some coin.
The leather bracer was more to his liking. He strapped it to his left arm, where he already had some pretty impressive bow string burn going on from a few hasty shots. This should definitely help him avoid injury in the future.
“What are we to do now, brother?” Uden gave Lonnell a serious look.
Drawing his hand up to his forehead in obvious concern, Lonnell said, “Give me a minute to think. This certainly complicates things.”
“Did I miss something?” Azure scanned their surroundings, wondering if there were more goblins nearby.
Uden turned to him. “Ah yes, you can't speak Goblin-tongue yet. The goblins are planning a raid on Cragbell. They sometimes will also raid the farms around the town if they happen to pass by them first.” Redirecting his attention to Lonnell, he said, “I think we should abandon this quest for now and return home. The goblins are moving in a larger group, which means we should be able to make it back before they can reach the farm.”
Lonnell shook his head. “We will lose faith with the sprites if we abandon this quest.”
Anger flared in Uden's eyes. “The sprites will understand. Who are we if we abandon our own people?”
Maybe he does care about them after all, Azure thought. The people that hated and ridiculed him. It was strange to see this side of Uden. His passion for protecting his home.
“Can we take the goblins if we catch up to them?” Azure asked.
“No. There would be more than we could handle,” Lonnell replied.
“It's at least two days back to Cragbell. We could mount a nighttime assault. If we Stealth well enough, we should be able to sneak in unnoticed,” Uden suggested.
“No,” Lonnell said firmly. “This isn't just going to be a group of scouts. They'll have powerful warriors with them. Even the three of us together wouldn't stand a chance.”
“That's why we attack at night, brother.” Uden seemed adamant about carrying out his plan.
Pointing from himself to Azure, Lonnell said, “We are not as stealthy as you, nor do we have the night vision. The odds of success are too slim. It's better to warn our people rather than to try to face this threat on our own.”
“I could kill at least a half a dozen goblins on my own before the others woke up,” Uden grumbled, though he didn't seem to want to argue further.
“We could go back to Baremire and report our findings, then go back to the village,” Azure proposed.
“Findings with no facts behind them wouldn't be well received, I fear.” Lonnell frowned.
“The goblins did not fall ill. That further gives credit to my claim,” Uden pointed out.
“It does,” Lonnell acknowledged, “but that still doesn't prove it without a doubt.”
“I don't know what other proof you want.” The half-imp shook his head in frustration.
“We both know that silver nether aren't native to Crescent Island. Without following the river to the source and seeing for ourselves, I would not dare make such a claim based on speculation alone.”
“How powerful is the silver nether?” Azure asked.
“It depends.” Uden gazed upstream. “The fact that the water is polluted enough to affect the sprites means that there is either one big one or multiple small ones. Silver nether are typically solitary, though, so if I had to guess, it would be the first of the two.
“When they grow to be large, their mobility is limited, but they can spit a nasty acid that dissolves almost everything it touches. Their skin is tough to break through. Coupled with their spitting ability, it makes them a challenging kill.”
“I'm beginning to think that splitting up is the only option.” Lonnell turned to his brother. “You're the fastest and stealthiest of us. You should go back to Cragbell and warn everyone.”
Uden cast a skeptical glance in Azure's direction. “Are you sure that you two can handle the silver nether on your own?”
“If that is what it is, then I think we'll be fine. We'll approach with caution and formulate a plan beforehand,” Lonnell assured him.
“If it is multiple smaller ones, it will be more of a challenge. The small ones have good dodge. They can also jump long distances. One spray of their acid to your face and you're done for,” he warned. “I am also better equipped to fight them than the two of you.”
“It is a conundrum,” Lonnell agreed. “But right now we need your speed more than we need your fighting ability.”
“What do you think we should do?” Uden asked Azure.
“Would the people of Cragbell even believe you if you were the one who went back to warn them?” Both of the brothers seemed to have forgotten that Uden wasn't exactly trusted by the people of Cragbell.
“Do you think I'm an idiot?” The half-imp's head jutted back in offense. “I would tell our father first who would then relay the message as if it had come from Lonnell. They would take his word.”
Azure weighed his options. While he did not understand the urgency to complete the quest for the Tree Queen, he could only assume that it might end up getting canceled and possibly have negative repercussions if they all returned to Cragbell together instead of finishing it. Fighting a goblin hoard did sound a lot more exciting than some small fry monsters upriver, but Azure knew that thinking tactically in this situation was for the best. There were multiple able-bodied people in Cragbell who could defend the village. Azure had seen that when they'd walked into the bar and he'd nearly gotten his ass kicked by some of them because of Uden.
“Sending you back seems like the best idea then,” Azure said. Surely, he and Lonnell could handle whatever lie upriver on their own.
“It is decided then.” Lonnell nodded in approval of their plan.
“I suppose it is,” Uden replied, sounding disappointed. “We shall meet back up at home whenever our quests are complete. Safe travels to you both.” He reached out his arm, clutching Lonnell's wrist-to-wrist before doing the same with Azure in a sign of respect and camaraderie.
“Safe travels,” they both said to him, watching as he took his leave back towards Cragbell.
“Make haste,” Lonnell called to Uden's backside.
“I always do.” With a casual wave, the half-imp disappeared into the forest.
Lonnell sighed, his eyes glued to the trees for several seconds before he finally turned his attention to Azure. “We should get going as well.”
They continued on upstream much more cautiously since running into the goblins, sticking close to the treeline. After what seemed like an endless uphill trek, a final eastward turn revealed the base of the mountain not far up ahead with a cavernous opening that the river spit out from. Both men stopped in their tracks as they spied a massive mound of flesh blocking it. Water flowed around its rotund body, causing unnatural erosion in the riverbanks. If a shark and a frog had a threesome with an elephant, this would be the offspring, Azure thought. He could see where the name silver nether had come from. While the majority of the creature's body outside of the water was a dull gray, where the river rushed around it, it's skin glis
tened the color of polished silver. Mostly round with no real defining neck, two widespread eyes sat atop its head, the lids half closed as it lounged lazily in the water. Its mouth was tiny, unlike the rest of it. Squat legs and arms protruded from its fleshy body with webbed appendages at the ends, though with the obesity of the creature, they seemed mostly useless.
Congratulations! Quest: Quest: Investigate the Polluted Water has been completed.
As Uden suspected, the source of the polluted water is a silver nether. Unfortunately, it's a big one. You have earned 45XP.
TRING!
Congratulations! You are now Level 3! Your base stats have been boosted. You have earned 3 points to assign to your characteristics. Please note that adding points to some characteristics(Vitality, Intelligence, and Strength) will further boost your base stats. You may also advance any 1 skill of your choosing by 1 level.
As soon as Azure dismissed the level up notification, another notice appeared.
Quest: Defeat the Silver Nether
This problem isn't going away on its own. Until the silver nether is eliminated, the water of Fair Rill River will continue to make the sprites and animals sick. Vanquish it to return peace to Baremire and earn the Tree Queen's respect.
Difficulty: Hard
Success: Kill the silver nether
Failure: Die
Reward: The Tree Queen's respect, safe passage through Baremire for the foreseeable future, and coins.
Will you accept this quest: Yes or No?
Money. Finally!
“Let's kill this thing,” he said, making the notice disappear.
Looking at the hedonistic beast, Azure thought that it shouldn't be hard to kill. Uden had warned him that looks could be deceiving, though. They would definitely need to proceed with caution and come up with a well thought out plan.
Lonnell urged him towards a rocky outcrop to escape the silver nether's detection, not like Azure was worried it would get up and attack them. It looked perfectly content where it was, without a care in the world. There was no doubt it would move sluggishly at best, unless it rolled at them. Even then, he doubted it would cover much distance before losing steam.
Azure activated his Stealth skill. Then he Analyzed the silver nether. Orange; hard. Of course. It was massive. Why wouldn't it be difficult to kill. Maybe they should have kept Uden around after all. If he remembered correctly, Uden had said not to go up against an orange foe without at least three party members. But what choice did they have? Azure already knew that Lonnell would not want to travel all the way back to the farm to collect his brother. It had been his decision to split up, so they would just have to make do.
“What does it show up for you when you Analyze it?” Azure asked.
“He's yellow for me.” Lonnell peered around their hiding spot to look at the creature, his expression set in thought.
“What's its attack range?”
“I do not know.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, this is not a creature I've spent much time studying.”
A soft laugh spilled from Azure's lips. He had obviously chosen the wrong brother for this quest. Uden would really be coming in handy right now. It seemed that while Lonnell's desire to stay on the island had kept him ignorant to things in the rest of The Realm, Uden's need to leave it had broadened his education. Knowledge held power in all worlds.
“I should shoot it with my bow. A ranged attack would probably work best,” Azure suggested.
“Ranged attacks won't kill it. Not one that size, at least.” Lonnell kept his gaze on the silver nether as if he expected it to notice them and suddenly become aggressive. “I doubt even your dagger would pierce its skin.”
Admittedly, the skin above the water looked hard and weathered. But the submerged part was likely much softer.
“What if we attacked the submerged part of its body?”
“Well, for one, there are no vital points down there. And secondly, the skin consistency is the same. You cannot see it from here, but silver nethers are covered in dermal denticles,” he said as if that would mean something to Azure.
"You suddenly know a lot about this thing," he said dryly.
"This is common knowledge," Lonnell informed him.
“So what are dermal denticles exactly?” Azure gestured for him to continue.
“They're basically little teeth. Needless to say, you don't want to brush against an adult silver nether. I was hoping we'd be facing babies, if what Uden had said ended up being true. The small ones are faster, but their skin isn't anywhere near as tough, so they're much easier to kill. Being a mostly sedentary creature, evolution has provided silver nether with a great defense.”
“You're really starting to make this sound hopeless,” Azure pointed out, annoyed that they had probably come all this way just to turn back without a fight. “So what do we do now? Go back to the Tree Queen and tell her what we found?”
“No. This needs to be dealt with. Just give me a moment to think.” Lonnell finally pulled his eyes away from the creature, pressing his back against the cool stone with a sigh.
They didn't have a moment. The sun was receding; it would be dark soon. After searching through his bag of holding and taking an assessment of their equipment, Lonnell still came up empty-handed.
“Let's camp for the night,” he suggested. “Perhaps sleep will bring with it some new ideas.”
“Fine,” Azure agreed, though he was still frustrated over the whole situation. Frustrated that there was no easy solution to dealing with the silver nether. Frustrated that Uden had left instead of Lonnell. He was pretty sure that the half-imp would have been able to come up with a plan, and that they'd already been on their way back to the Tree Queen by now with the silver nether having been dispatched.
They moved downriver a ways before setting up camp in a small grove of trees. Azure was exhausted from the long walk. Hopefully, Uden was having better luck with his task...not that it required much on his part.
Azure thought of asking Lonnell what he thought about his younger brother's ambitions, but it appeared that he was equally exhausted. Just as Azure was about to open his mouth to speak, he heard a soft snore coming from the other side of the campfire.
Hopefully, there are no goblins around here. He's not exactly being quiet. It was the last thing Azure thought before his mind gave way, and he joined Lonnell in sleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE REALM – Day 6
By some strange turn of events, Azure woke up first for once. It was a cool, quiet morning, and he was grateful that no danger had befallen them in the middle of the night. His nightmares had been plagued with goblin attacks, so he'd had a fitful sleep, at best. Needless to say, he was utterly exhausted. Just thinking about dealing with the silver nether seemed to make him more tired.
Azure decided to start his day by checking his stats.
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 3, 1% of the way to next level
Health: 130 / 130
Mana: 120 / 120
Stamina: 120 / 120
Vitality: 11
Intelligence: 10
Strength: 10
Agility: 11
Dexterity: 11
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Skills: Archery Lvl 2; 5% of the way to next level
Stealth Lvl 2; 15% of the way to the next level
Analyze Lvl 2; 80% of the way to next level
Cooking Lvl 4; 97% of the way to next level
Alchemy Lvl 1; 0% of the way to next level
One-Handed Weapons Lvl 1; 0% of the way to next level
Languages: Common Tongue, Sprite
It was easy to figure out which skill to level up next. He would need his One-Handed Weapons skill for the upcoming battle. Next, he decided to place a point toward Vitality and one to Strength. The last point was harder to allocate, but he ultimately came to the conclusion that he wanted more speed, so he threw it into Agility. Making himsel
f faster and stronger early on sounded like the best choices for survival.
Pleased with his selections, Azure closed his stats and munched on leftover boar until Lonnell woke up.
“Have you given any more thought to our plan?” he asked once Lonnell had finished his own portion of boar.
“I had thought that we should attack when it's asleep, but I believe that silver nether sleep with their eyes open, so there's no real way of telling when it's sleeping,” he replied with a frown.
“I think I may have come up with something” Azure offered.
“I'm listening.”
“I know that you said we cannot kill it with my bow, but if I were able to shoot out its eyes, then perhaps it would have a more difficult time spraying us with its acid. Then you could come up on one side with your staff and try to bludgeon it while I make the killing strike from the other side with my cutlass.”
Lonnell inhaled deeply through his teeth, causing a hissing sound. “It is risky. There is plenty of room for error with your plan.”
“Do you have anything better?” Azure raised an eyebrow.
Lonnell's shoulders slumped. “No, I do not.”
“Then this is it.”
“I suppose it is.”
Minutes later, Azure was traveling upstream in the protection of the treeline. Approaching the silver nether made his adrenaline pump. It was a truly great beast, reminding him of some giant hedonistic creature he'd seen in an old movie once.
One thing was for certain; it definitely wasn't asleep right now. Its eyes moved every which way, independent of each other. That further led Azure to believe that silver nether were a prey species. This should not be hard if he could just avoid the acid spray.
The closer he got, the more he realized how risky his plan was. It appeared that the silver nether had backed up closer to the mouth of the cave in the middle of the night. Lonnell would have to squeeze around it to reach its side, and he might not have room to swing his staff. Azure briefly wondered if there was any way to coax the creature further out into the open, then ultimately decided it wasn't worth the time or the chance of losing the element of surprise.
