When we hit the bottom, I see a group of five nymphs waiting for us. These must be the group we are supposed to escort, with Elder Sylan’s daughter in it. Best be careful with her then.
“Gentlemen, this is my daughter, Eloise, and her group,” Elder Sylan says, getting off the lift and embracing his daughter.
Her entire group is just shorter than I am, wearing gear similar to the leather stuff that we found in the bottom of the fortress. If their gear is enchanted, then there is a good chance they are quite ahead of the bell curve in terms of stats. Compared to the average NPC around here, of course.
“Greetings, Eloise,” I say politely, with a slight bow of my head.
She responds in kind before introducing herself and her group to us, gesturing to each in turn. “Greetings, Lords and Lady. As my father said, my name is Eloise and I am the druid tank for my group. Doise is an archer. Roghan is a druid like me but focuses on healing. Gene is our mage, and Randall is a thief.”
They each give us a short bow as Eloise says their names. They each have their own distinct look about them. Differing amounts and colours of moss and bark cover their green-tinged skin. I guess they aren’t completely made of sticks and stones.
Very respectful lot though, these nymphs are. Doise and Gene are female while the Roghan and Randall are male. All of them are level 10, even Eloise.
“I like it when we can get straight to business. Pleased to meet you all,” I say with a smile. “How far is it to the kobold village, and what is the average creature level on the way there?”
Eloise answers for the others. “The average creature level increases from level 1, which are found around the base of the tree, up to level 9 when we were at the kobold village. It is a three-hour walk, as we have to take care of the monsters.”
“Well, then it should take us half of that time if we add you to our party and do the killing as you all use your gathering skills. We will use our map of the area to cover as much of the area as we can while still gathering resources,” I tell everyone, beginning to organise how we will structure our group to the most benefit.
“There would be no point in having all the herbalists together to pick a single herb between them, so we will split off into pairs while still staying in line of sight with each other,” I continue. “Use party chat if you get separated or left behind accidentally. Don’t worry about attacking the monsters much, just try to get a single hit in if you have time.”
“Okay.” Eloise nods. “Who is going with whom? I have another question I will ask after as well.”
“If you don’t have Herbalism, you will be with Ezekial or Dosan. Otherwise you will be with one of us three left over,” I reply after a quick thought.
It almost looked like kids picking their team for sport. Good thing we didn’t have an odd one out; poor nymph would have felt so alone.
I end up with Eloise, Kazzrak with Gene, and Ezekial with Randall, which is good, as he may be able to teach him some new tricks. Dosan with Doise, and Ifalna with Roghan.
“What was your other question, Eloise?” I ask after we are all sorted.
“What do you mean by party chat?” she replies with a look that makes me think she actually doesn’t know what that is.
“Hmm, hold on a sec.” I frown as I think for a moment. Not really coming up with anything brilliant, I target her and select raid invite from the drop-down menu. Seeing as how a party can only have five people in it, we will need to utilise a raid, which can usually have a max of forty.
Though that may be different in DSR2.
Looking at Eloise, I don’t see any reaction, and she hasn’t accepted it, so I’m at a loss. “Did you get an invite?”
“An invite to what?” Eloise responds, puzzled.
Still targeting Eloise, I try sending another raid invite.
You have already invited Eloise to the raid. Invite will expire in another four minutes and thirty seconds.
Well, that’s weird. Have I found our first glitch as beta testers? Okay, processing by the power of elimination to see if it actually is a glitch.
“Kazzrak, I’m kicking you from the party so that I can see if the raid invite is working properly,” I state.
“Righto.” Kazzrak shrugs.
Selecting Kazzrak, I remove him from the party and then raid invite him. Immediately his portrait icon is up in the left of my view with the border of the icon in orange, while the rest of the party has a blue border.
Okay, that works.
My frown deepening, I’m thinking that maybe we can’t party with NPCs, then. At least not as a raid. Surely this is a mistake. It wouldn’t make sense not to be able to do it.
“Next trial,” I say. “Ifalna, I’m passing you leader and kicking myself. Invite Eloise and me as raid members and see if it works.”
I leave the party after passing leadership to Ifalna. A window opens immediately with a raid invite right in the middle of my view. I accept, and raid leader is passed back to me.
“Didn’t work with Eloise,” Ifalna says, now also frowning. “It said ‘Eloise has already been invited to the raid by Sybaal. Invite will expire in three minutes.’ What’s with that? Eloise, did you get a popup window that you could select accept with?”
“Window? Like a window in our homes to see outside? I don’t see any of those down here,” says Eloise, looking around her, and her face is starting to get that look where she thinks her leg is being pulled. “Is this some kind of joke?”
Oh! What if she just can’t see the window because of the glitch? That would make sense.
“Okay, not a joke, but I think there is something wrong with your eyes, as there is some magic that you just aren’t seeing but we can,” I say as I try to remember exactly where the button was in my view. “Alright, I’m going to come behind you and look over your shoulder and point your finger in the air. Sounds weird, I know, but just bear with me, okay?”
Eloise gives me this really weird look and then it slides over to her father, who is just standing there with a half-hidden grin. Elder Sylan just shrugs his shoulders and makes a ‘get on with it’ motion to her.
I swear, the moon rotating around the world couldn’t have compared to how much eye-rolling went on in her head as she sighs with acceptance.
“Right, stand absolutely still,” I say. I rest my head on her shoulder so I am at her eye level, and take her arm, pointing her finger into the air just over where I think the button should be.
Pushing her hand forward, I can finally see her portrait in the raid icon next to the rest of the icons. At the same time, I can feel her freeze up completely with a sharp gasp.
/Error/ Congratulations! /Error/
/Error/ Quest: Unique. /Error/
/Error/ Title Acquired. /Error/
/Error/ Beacon Activated. /Error/
“What?” I ask as I move back in front of her. Well, guess it really was an error if that message is anything to go by.
“What magic is this?!” Eloise practically shouts, putting her hands over her eyes and then removing them.
“You are now in our raid group. Have you never seen the menu and all the icons before?” I ask. There have been so many frowns lately I feel like my face is going to be permanently frozen that way.
“We, I—?” Eloise closes her eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath very slowly before she opens them again and looks me right in the eye. She has very nice green eyes. “No, none of us have ever seen the, what did you call it? Menu? We also haven’t seen the icons I can see now. I don’t know what to do or what this means.”
“Well, we can show you what to do, that’s easy,” I say gently. Maybe the glitch was there for so long that DSR didn’t realise it was there. “It’s easier if you just think about pressing on an icon like you did with your hand, just do it with your mind. You can open up all the different settings and such.”
Her eyes start flying around in different directions as she is opening and closing or reading different wi
ndows. “This is incredible. Father, you have to see this. It is simply amazing.”
There is a certain gleam of excitement in Elder Sylan’s eyes as I turn his way. Repeating my actions with him as I did with his daughter, he also freezes up for a moment before the shock fades, and he too begins to play around with the windows.
“You know, I remember there being a tutorial in the old DSR game,” says Dosan with a finger to his chin before smiling with a nod. “Elder Sylan, please select the main menu, then select settings and finally tutorial. That should give you an overview on how you actually can navigate everything. Shouldn’t take you very long either.”
“It’s there!” exclaims Elder Sylan. “It’s like my eyes were half closed my whole life!”
He turns tear-filled eyes towards me, and before I can escape, I’m gripped in a surprisingly strong embrace. Awkwardly I pat his back as he starts sobbing into my shoulder.
To make matters worse, Eloise comes up behind me and embraces me from behind with some sniffling noises as well.
“I could say something here,” says Dosan solemnly. “But I won’t.”
Ifalna just snickers behind her hand.
Sighing, I let them just hug it out before eventually they wind down. It seems we have attracted quite the gathering with our three-way. All around us, the nymphs who were in groups around the place are now looking at me weirdly. It’s almost like they are protective of their elder and his daughter, which makes sense.
The elder finally lets go, and that prompts Eloise to do the same. They gather themselves before Elder Sylan turns to the rest of his gathered kin.
“Nymphs!” he proclaims with quite a loud voice and raised arms. “Lord Sybaal has given us yet another gift! The gift of freedom! You don’t understand right now, I know. Neither did I. Now, however, I do, and it is like the sun has come out from behind the clouds. I will show you how, just like Lord Sybaal showed me! Praise Gaea, our god of nature, for letting this happen!”
Amazingly enough, there is a roar so loud from the gathered nymphs that I wince. Or it could have been the massive thunderclap and the boom that accompanied it, which created a glow that encompassed everyone.
Gaea accepts your praise. Gaea’s Grace buff granted: +100% regeneration speed of health, mana and stamina. Nature resistance increased by 50%. +100% drop rate of gathering materials. Duration: 24 hours.
“Lord Sybaal, how may I grant this gift to the rest of my people?” asks Elder Sylan seriously.
Every head turns to me in sync.
I cough gently, still processing the buff from Gaea, god of nature. This means we need to get moving. “Well, let me show you on Gene here. I’m going to pass you leader of the raid so that you can invite people, okay?”
Doing so, I then explain how to invite others and where he needs to point the finger into the air of the other’s view.
Very shortly, there is a very long line of nymphs waiting to be given the gift of freedom, or so Elder Sylan called it.
Realising we could be here all day and get nothing done, I hold up a hand to the elder. “Elder Sylan, I’m going to take my party and Eloise’s and go and check out the kobolds. We are all going to leave this raid group, and I’ll make a new one. Get everyone to go through the tutorial. If they want to take the rest of the day off to rest, that’s fine, but try not to let them waste the god’s buff. If the raid gets full, just remove yourself from it and make a new one.”
Trying to be concise when I can, I get everyone in our group to promptly remove themselves from the raid that is quickly growing quite large. Then I invite everyone again so we make up the ten-man raid group. I can see that the nymphs are still going through the tutorial, so new plan.
“Well, due to half of us being too distracted, let’s have Kazzrak, Ifalna and myself act as the vanguard,” I say while looking at the nymphs. At least they should be able to move around while they do the tutorial. “We will leave a single piece of loot on the creatures so they can be skinned for you, Ezekial. You and Dosan will be able to also collect all the herbs as we pass them by without interruption. You can have team B stick with you till they are done.”
“Fine by me. I’ve been itching to crush something for a while now,” agrees Ifalna impatiently.
“Let’s get this show on the road!” exclaims Kazzrak while pointing to the forest and moving towards it.
“Uh, Kazzrak?” Ezekial says quietly while pointing in a completely different direction. “The kobold village is that way.”
Without missing a beat, arm still pointing forward, Kazzrak just shifts his direction and tarries forth.
Following, we head through a different section of the forest that we haven’t seen before. There is also an abundance of extremely low-level critters and forest creatures. I’m almost afraid to attack the level 1 bunnies, just in case they end up turning into ravenous flesh-eating monsters that I can never hit.
However, I have nothing to fear, as my level 27 completely compensates against them. Phew.
“I wonder why we are having so many mobs spawn here where before they didn’t spawn at all?” Ezekial wonders as we start making our way through the forest together before we split up.
“There is a path through the forest to the fortress that is barren of creatures because it used to be a safe road many years ago. The forest has just reclaimed it is all,” Eloise responds without paying us any physical attention. At least her ears are sharp just like Ifalna’s. “I just shared the location of the kobold village to your maps.”
“Alright, my mini map sees that and is starting to highlight the herbs for me too,” Dosan says and begins to move off in a slightly different direction. “Time for me to split. You coming, Doise?”
We all spread out a fair bit, but can still see each other on the mini map. Us in the vanguard range slightly ahead as we one-shot everything that comes in front of us. All we are getting are things like fangs, carapaces, various pieces of insect, and some even dropped fur on the rare occasion.
Less for Ezekial to skin, I guess.
Making our way through the forest, the levels gradually increase. Ezekial and the others behind us have to run in short bursts between herbs or downed critters so that we don’t outpace them.
“At least I’m getting some archery practise in,” says Kazzrak, nailing a wolf as he keeps moving.
I make a non-committal noise as I’m taking potshots with Frost Spear so that I don’t light the entire forest on fire accidentally or singe the skins too much.
Ifalna is filling the forest with extra light as she uses Divine Light on whatever she can see. Nothing is getting close enough to touch us, let alone even start to break through the Holy Barrier that Ifalna is keeping on us.
It has kind of become a game of who is quicker off the draw. After an hour, I’m interested to see how the others are doing.
Sybaal: How’s it going back there?
Ezekial: I can only just keep up with you guys. There are just so many to skin. I have plenty of space left, but we have already completed the leather part of the quest. I have over two hundred and that would be helped from the buff. Thankfully the gathering aspect isn’t very hard and is very quick.
Dosan: We decided that he would skin and I would gather herbs. I’m getting multiple per herb, so I’m also above two hundred. This buff is broken. In a good way.
Kazzrak: Damn! We need to find some mines ASAP! I won’t be leaving there till the buff wears off.
Ifalna: We are going to get so much XP for this. :)
Kazzrak: No kidding!
We eventually get to quite a large clearing in front of a rock face. Before we exit the treeline, we stop and evaluate the situation first.
Sybaal: Ezekial, we need you to come and scout for us, buddy. We have found the village. It’s quite bigger than I thought it was.
Ezekial: No worries, be there shortly.
As I’m waiting, I take a closer look at the village. I can see a six-and-a-half-foot-tall wall of upright p
lanks of wood. They even look to be nailed with large iron nails to a backing of some kind. The main gate is open, and inside I can see little hutlike houses.
The surprising part is that half of them are burning, and smoke is billowing into the air.
That’s when I notice a rat the size of a pony come barrelling out of the gate with a kobold’s leg in its mouth—still attached to the rest of the kobold. The little guy, who is basically the same size as the rat’s head, looks like a smaller and less evolved lizard version of Dosan, who is a Saurian.
He is also screaming for help while trying to claw ineffectively against the rat’s hide. I notice he is level 5 versus the rat, which is a level 20 elite boss. That’s not going to end well.
If he is screaming for help, he definitely doesn’t look like he is a menace to anyone right now. Especially since his home and kin look like they are being attacked.
“Damn the stupid quest,” I mutter before I leap out of the forest and towards the struggling kobold, who has been able to grip the rat enough to bite it on the neck, and I send a Frost Spear into the rat’s side.
Casting Spell Sword on both blades, I rush in to get close. I don’t want to accidentally hit the struggling kobold. On my way, I can hear Kazzrak and Ifalna following me.
I have really good friends.
Glowing light surrounds the kobold, who was on his last legs before shooting right up to full health, and a Barrier is placed on him. A Mark of Vengeance also is placed on the rat.
Getting in close, I slash with both weapons into the rat’s side after I pop a Furious Strike. Its health drops by a quarter and I’m momentarily surprised till I realise my stats are so much higher than my level 27.
As Kazzrak gets closer, he shouts a Challenge to the rat, and it finally drops the kobold to the ground and leaps towards Kazzrak.
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 24
