The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive
Page 35
“Outstanding, all of you, well done,” Mayor Simper said, happily taking the head from Rose.
Quest Alert: Cull the
There is a bounty for the elusive
Reward: +1000-Experience, Well Tread Boots, Majesty of the Condor
“I will be back in a moment with your rewards,” the mayor said, quickly turning and rushing into his office.
“Um, why did we get credit for that?” asked Olaf, looking a little confused.
“You got credit too?” asked Rose. “That is totally hax. We do the work and you get the credit. So unfair.”
“It’s not like we were trying to,” defended Micaela, pouting.
“Oh, let it go, Sis, it’s not a bad thing to help out our new friends,” said Baby, always playing the peacemaker.
“I personally hoped you’d both get credit, but I didn’t know if you would. If you hadn’t, we’d just have to go hunt another one down,” I added. I had noticed previously Micaela and Olaf seemed to be able to join me in a quest chain halfway completed. They wouldn’t get the credit or experience for whatever part of the chain I had already completed, but they would be added to my current progress.
Any further conversation halted as the mayor returned with his arms full of equipment.
“First, for Bye-bye, I could not help but notice you were still wearing sandals, I thought you might appreciate these boots,” said the mayor, handing over a pair of black boots.
I gratefully accepted them. The boots would cover my feet and ankles, almost to my knees. There was nothing special about the design, but the stats were the real prize.
Well Tread Boots – Light Leather - +10-Armor, +5-Dexterity, +5-Endurance, +5-Stamina, Durability 20/20
It had more armor than anything else I owned, and those stats were fantastic. I wanted to grab a pair of socks from my bag and put them on, along with the boots right away, but I also wanted to see what everyone else got.
“Miss Micaela, I do believe you will find this scroll useful,” said the mayor, presenting her with a scroll.
Micaela was only too happy to accept. She opened the scroll immediately causing the parchment crumbled a second later.
“What was it?” asked Olaf.
“The Spirit Transfer spell,” she answered, then added, “I can now transfer my spirits to new totems.”
“Olaf, seeing you finally got your hand-cannons and from all the black powder covering you, I thought you might appreciate this,” Mayor Simper, handing the large man a one-eyed goggle. “The last thing anyone firing a ranged weapon needs, is to have their vision obscured.”
He stepped up to Baby next and handed her a little brown charm in the shape of a condor on a brown chain.
“Thank you so much,” Baby said emphatically.
I’d have to ask her about it later, my curiosity never seemed to quit.
“And for you miss Rose, I hope this helps keep you and your friends here safe,” the man said finally, handing her a kite shield.
“Thank you, sir,” she said respectfully.
I half expected her to give him a nickname. So far, nothing about her seemed respectful of others, whether that was just her game persona or who she was I had yet to determine.
“If any of you ever join or start an Order, come back and see me again. That condor is a valuable bit of prestige for any Order to display in their hall,” added Mayor Simper.
I had to guess, that’s what the ‘Majesty of the Condor’ was the ‘Collectable Trophy’ the quest originally offered as part of the reward.
“Any other bounties laying around?” asked Rose, seemingly back to her normal behavior.
“Nothing I can think of at the moment, but I will be sure to let you know if anything comes up,” the mayor answered. I kind of wondered if he would have given a different answer if I had asked given my Charisma and title.
“I think Rose and Baby could use a few book recommendations,” suggested Olaf.
“Ah, an excellent idea, one can never have enough knowledge or skills,” said Homer, walking over to the bookshelf by the job board.
“Skill books?” asked Baby, eyes wide in surprise.
“Not true skill books,” I answered. “But they are books that have skills you can learn if you study them.”
“Bye-bye,” called the mayor. “Have you still got ‘The Trained Eye’, ‘The Greater Outdoors’, ‘Trapology’ and ‘Let NO-Thing Go to Waste’?”
“Yes,” I answered hesitantly.
The mayor sighed. “Honestly, you should have finished at least those first two by now.”
I had read ‘The Trained Eye’, but I had yet to put all the exercises to use. “I’ve been busy,” I answered reluctantly.
“Well, I want at least one of those books returned tomorrow,” he stated firmly.
Apparently, I would be doing some reading tonight.
“What do those books do?” asked Baby.
“The Trained Eye’ is full of exercises for learning eye skills, like night vision,” I answered. “I’m not sure about ‘The Greater Outdoors’, but the description says it’s about survival in the wilderness. ‘Trapology’ is about traps, though I’m not sure if it’s about setting traps or disarming traps, I figure it will be useful either way. And ‘Let NO-Thing go to Waste’ grants a scavenging skill, allowing you to get meat from animals or parts from mechanical enemies.”
“Oh my god, those sound super useful,” cried Baby. “I want them when you’re done.”
The mayor returned then with four books, handing two to each of them. “Babies, ‘World Tree Bestiary’ is one of the books I recommend everyone learn. ‘Hurlig Ridge Plant Primer’ should help you with your Herbalism skill.”
“You’re an herbalist?” asked Olaf, looking at the small fairy.
“All fairies get herbalism by default and can’t get rid of it. After that, they can only choose enchanting or alchemy. I chose alchemy, so the herbs would be useful,” explained Baby. “I haven’t done anything with it yet though. However, with this book, I just might start.”
“And for you Rose, ‘The Warrior’s Voice’ and ‘Blood Works’.”
“Blood Works’?” asked almost everyone.
Homer nodded. “She is a half-vampire is she not? Would it not be good to know what blood gives her what Blessing?”
“Wait, are you saying drinking blood gives her a buff . . . erm, Blessing?” asked Baby.
“Of course,” he replied as if it was common knowledge. “Did you not know?”
“No, I had no idea,” answered Rose. “What kind of ‘Blessing’?”
“I have never read the book myself but as I understand it, a wolf will give you a bonus to the health or maybe strength, something along those lines. Always temporary, but still quite a Blessing,” the mayor explained.
And it was a good buff, all she would have to do is drink a small vial of blood and suddenly she’d get a bonus. That could be even more useful as she continued leveling and acquired more powerful blood samples. If it benefitted me at all, I would probably read the book myself, and I still might later to sate my curiosity, but for now, I had more than enough to read.
“How are you fairing with your reading Olaf and Micaela?” the mayor asked, looking to the pair of ogres next.
“Construction is hard, so much math,” whined Micaela.
“I’m almost done with ‘Urgent Equipment Care’. Have you got any other recommendations?” asked Olaf.
I wish I’d known he was trying to learn the Maintenance skill. I would have told him Giggle-Ana could teach him. Then again, maybe having him ask Giggle-Ana to teach him anything more for a while, wasn’t such a good idea.
“Bye-bye really needs to finish those books. Think you can hold out until tomorrow, whatever he returns, I would suggest you read next,” suggested Mayor Simper.
“Okay, I get it,
I’ll finish a book tonight and return it tomorrow,” I said exasperatedly. I know I’ve been slow about reading my books. In my defense, there is always something else going on in this town. I get a quest that ends up leads to a quest chain. Or I try to help my friends get stronger, find skills, get training or any number of other things.
“Good man,” said Homer, ignoring my plight.
“Anyway, is there anything we can do for you?” I asked Homer.
“Actually, there is, we’ve been having problems with a group of bandits ambushing merchants near the World Tree portal. Would you and your friends mind investigating? I’ll pay you a percentage of whatever goods and money are recovered,” the mayor offered, causing a quest prompt to pop up.
Quest Alert: Bandit Round-up (Recommended Level 4-6)
Mayor Simper has tasked you with eliminating the bandits ambushing local merchants going to and from the World Tree portal and recover any of the stolen goods or money.
Reward: Experience, % of recovered goods
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“Happy to,” Rose answered for us, accepting the quest.
“Excellent, I hope you all have a productive afternoon then,” said the mayor. “And last, lest I forget, Bye-bye, here are the bounty vouchers for those two trolls you captured a while back.” He handed me seven slips of paper, each with an official looking stamp with the letter ‘F’ in the center. “Just turn them into a bounty office in Root City to collect your reward. This is your loot claim,” the mayor added, handing me one more slip of paper. “I can pay you cash for the goods or you can see the sergeant to have the little bit of equipment turned over to you.”
I looked at the paper, the weapons and armor I confiscated, amounted to barely 59-copper in total value. The equipment was all poor quality, so not worth much.
“I’ll take the money,” I answered, happily accepting the copper. Hopefully, the bounties would be worth more, the vouchers didn’t list a value on them.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I have no doubt Margie has been piling paperwork on my desk while we’ve been jabbering,” complained the mayor.
“We’ll let you get back to work, have a good afternoon,” I said to the man.
He nodded to each of us before returning to his office.
“Bye-bye, has anyone ever told you, you’re awesome?” asked Baby.
“Don’t go giving him a big head Sis, one quest does not make someone ‘Awesome’,” argued Rose, refusing to give me even a little credit.
“Three,” said Micaela, coming to my defense. “Three quests. The
“Easily, you’re not awesome,” she stated flatly, but I could tell she was trying not to smile.
Baby rolled her eyes. “Sis, you’re new to this game, so I’ll forgive your ignorance. Do you know how many quests I got in my starting province?”
“No, I don’t think we’ve ever talked about it,” answered Rose.
“Eight, I got a grand total of eight quests in Fairy-Oaks,” replied Baby. “That was over the course of a month. We’ve gotten 3 in two days since hanging around this guy. Clearly, he knows what he’s doing.”
Rose shrugged. I couldn’t tell if she actually didn’t care or if she was just being obstinate.
“Enough, let’s get to the temple,” insisted Olaf, tiring of the bickering. “We’ve got more training to do today, and I want to get this quest done. I can finally leave this town and do some real damage. I’ll be mighty unhappy if I don’t get to shoot something today.”
It was embarrassing being made the center of attention, something I usually avoided, so I was very grateful to Olaf for ending the discussion. I don’t know if he noticed my discomfort, but I made a mental note to thank him for it later.
Olaf and I walked in companionable silence, while Baby and Micaela started gossiping again. Rose looked to be listening to the gossip, but not joining in.
Trinico greeted us out front of the church.
“Are you trying to show up later every day?” the priestess asked me.
“No, we had some business again in townhall today,” I defended.
“Very well, are you going to introduce me to your new friends?” Trinico asked, though it clearly wasn’t a request.
“This is Babies Breath and Rose Thorns. Ladies, this is Priestess Trinico,” I introduced my new companions.
“Please, call me Trini, it is nice to meet you both, Rose, Babies,” she introduced herself to the pair.
“Please just Baby,” the little fairy attempted to correct her.
“It would not be proper, Miss Babies,” said Trinico.
Baby sighed.
“How is it the NPC’s can have nicknames or shortened names, but they can’t call players by a nickname?” grumbled Baby.
“What was that? I could not hear you,” asked Trinico, looking at the fairy.
“Nothing,” said Baby, looking slightly scolded, as if she’d just been caught misbehaving.
“If you insist. Anyway, I know why Olaf and Bye-bye are here, and Miss Micaela is never too far from her husband. But how may I help you, young ladies?”
“I have no idea,” said Baby. “What uh . . . what exactly can you teach me?”
“Depends on you. Might I ask your class?” requested Trinico.
“I’m a sage,” she answered.
“Oh my, I am so happy to make your acquaintance, Great One,” Trinico said, curtseying to the fairy.
“Great One?” four of us asked, while Baby just blushed a deep red.
“Sages are rare,” explained Trinico. “I have only met one in my life. And he was the most powerful healer I have ever encountered.”
Four of us were now staring at Baby in shock.
Rose snapped out her shock first. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I did . . . well . . . I told you I was a sage. I guess I didn’t tell you it was a rare class. And I guess, I didn’t want you to get jealous of me or something,” Baby explained lamely.
“Is that why you spent so much money to get me that vial of blood?” demanded Rose.
“No,” Baby protested immediately. “Well, not entirely. I knew how much you wanted it, I guess I thought it might not make you jealous of me if you had a rare class too.”
“Oh, Sis,” said Rose, softening. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Touching as this is, I’m going to the ‘Puzzle Room’, Mic and I just hit level 5 and I need my 5-points of Intellect and Charisma and hopefully 10-points of wisdom, not that the stat is useful to me.”
“Olaf, you clod, can’t see they were having a sisterly moment,” Micaela chided the man, elbowing him hard in the ribs.
“Olaf, go on, the room is open,” said Trinico. “Bye-bye, wait a moment before you go in today. I need to speak to you first.”
“Sure,” I replied. I wanted to find out if Trinico would be able to help Rose with her class anyway.
“As for you, Great One, I have many holy spells beneficial to you. I know they are not nature spells, but you should still be able to learn them. For any water magic, you may wish to go visit Malcolm, the town Mage’s Guild representative. You should be able to buy any scrolls you need from him. He may even have nature spells for sale,” Trinico offered.
“Actually, what was Olaf saying about raising his stats?” asked Baby.
“Ah, the ‘Puzzle Room’ then. You are of course welcome to use it. If you can catch up to Olaf, he will show you,” Trinico answered.
Baby just nodded. “Oh, and don’t call me Great One. Call me Baby or Breath.”
“As you wish Miss Breath,” said Trinico, curtsying once more as Baby flew after Olaf. “That leaves you, Miss Rose. What can I do for you?”
“I am
a Daywalker. I spoke with Sergeant Butters this morning about becoming a Vampiric Knight and he said I should talk to you,” Rose explained succinctly.
“My David told you correctly. Now, which Vampire God did you wish to receive a blessing from?” the priestess asked seriously.
“I’m afraid I don’t know much about the Vampire Gods. Can you tell me more?” Rose requested.
“Honestly, you are just as bad as Micaela, wanting to become a class without knowing how or why,” chided Trinico.
“Sorry, I thought I had done proper research. I guess I was lied to,” said Rose, a hint of frustration in her voice, her eyes downcast.
“Worry not, child,” said Trinico, placing a comforting hand on Rose’s cheek and lifting her chin slightly. “I am not angry with you or disappointed. Those that gave you false knowledge though . . . they had best pray to whichever god or goddess they worship, I do not find them.”
Rose laughed a little at that, finding it slightly humorous.
“So, the Vampire Gods,” started Trinico, moving on. “There are two. Lilith and Dracula.”
“I thought Dracula was a man?” I interrupted.
“He was once just a man. Then Nosferatu turned him into the first vampire. When Dracula cut Nosferatu’s heart out and ate it, he took his place as a Vampire God,” Trinico answered, adding something to my love lore. It was an interesting backstory for vampire gods.
“Who is Lilith in all of this?” asked Rose.
“Lilith was Nosferatu’s daughter, the first trueborn vampire,” explained Trinico.
“What’s the difference?” Rose asked.
“First, you should know Lilith hates Dracula for killing her father. Second, because of the reason Dracula killed Nosferatu, he by default hates the former god’s daughter, as well. So, whichever you choose, be prepared for the other to declare you an enemy. Also, be aware, if you pray to one to grant you a blessing and are refused, the other will automatically refuse you on principle. No god or goddess would accept being your second choice. Do you understand what I have said so far?” asked Trinico.
“Yeah, they hate each other so I have to choose carefully,” Rose summarized.