“Pwn, shut up,” Olaf snapped. “Look, sir, I don’t know how we can prove to you that we rescued you. If you don’t trust us, maybe you’ll trust the people of Hurligville.”
The old man asked, “Hurligville? Am I in Hurlig Ridge? Awfully dreary. If this is Hurlig Ridge, it has certainly seen better days.”
“Yes, this is Hurlig Ridge. Hurligville is just that way,” Olaf replied, pointing in the direction of the village.
“Hmm, your levels are rather high for such a low-level province,” the old man said thoughtfully. “No, I still do not trust you.”
“Okay, then what will it take to get you to trust us?” Olaf asked.
“Give me your weapons, allow me to bind your hands behind your backs, and then, perhaps, I may be willing to follow you to Hurligville,” the old man said. “But I warn you, any shenanigans and I will thrash you twice over then torture you. I have had almost a hundred years to perfect my technique. I promise, you do not want me to torture you.”
Quest Alert: Escort or be escorted to Hurligville
An old man you recently rescued has offered to make you his prisoners and to escort you back to Hurligville. Alternatively, you could fight him and take him prisoner. Either option has its share of risks.
Reward: Experience, +1 to a random stat
Will you allow the old man to disarm you?
Yes
No
Olaf sighed then answered for the group, “We surrender.”
Pwn immediately protested but it was too late.
“Oh, Sergeant Butters is going to have a field day with this one,” I groused as the ‘Stunned’ debuff finally fell away. We would never hear the end of the teasing.
Chapter 25
“Looks a bit like Hurligville,” the old man said, poking his head around a large tree to look at the town just a short distance away. “Then again, Hurligville never had walls, or the start of walls. Hmm,” he grumbled.
“Paranoid much?” Rose grumbled as she glared at the old man.
“You say paranoid, I say prepared,” the old man retorted. “Besides, it is only paranoia if you are wrong. I am rarely wrong.”
“Says the old man that was captured and possessed by a lich’s servant,” Rose retorted sharply.
“So, you say,” the old man said.
It was really becoming a circular argument. We had all taken our turn trying to argue with him, but no one got anywhere. Not even Heath, with his peak Charisma, got anywhere, not that anyone expected him to. At this point, I was certain the old man had some kind of anti-Charisma skill.
“You know, if we don’t approach, you’ll never know for sure,” Olaf suggested.
The old man scoffed, “You would like that, would you?”
“Yes,” Olaf answered honestly. “I would very much like to get this all sorted out, peacefully.”
The old man frowned. Then he pointed, “You, the one with the wings. You are a healer, correct?”
Arch lifted her bound hands and pointed one finger at herself, questioning if he meant her.
“Do you see anyone else with wings? Yes, you,” the old man said, crooking a finger as if to summon her over to him.
Arch swallowed nervously before walking over, “Yes, sir?”
The old man moved swiftly, brandishing one of the daggers he had procured from Heath. Then in a few quick motions he cut her bindings, freeing her hands and wings. “I will give you one chance. Go into town and return with Sergeant Butters and only Sergeant Butters. If you come out with the entire guard, I will kill your friends. And then, trust me when I say, I will find you and kill you as well.”
Obviously, the old man didn’t know we would just come back at the nearest graveyard. Or maybe he did know and just didn’t care. It made me wonder if NPCs would camp at the graveyard to kill players as they respawned, or even if they could.
Arch nodded and started flapping her wings in preparation to take to the air only to pause and look back to the old man. “Um, what if he asks for a name or something?”
The old man grunted. “Mack, tell him Mack from the Flatland Camp is looking for him.”
“Alright,” Arch nodded. She flapped her downy white wings a few times and flew into the sky.
“Now, we wait,” Mack said, sliding down the tree he was hiding behind. “We will know soon enough if you can be trusted.”
An hour later we heard angry muttering and metal shod feet stomping through the forest. The stomping and grumbling were getting louder as the owner came closer with each passing second. The angry complaints of the Sergeant soon drifted close enough to be heard, “Curse you, Mack, you paranoid old curmudgeon. Who do you think you are? A Wilmarth? I will string you up by your fingernails this time. Or maybe by your toes. Either way, it is going to hurt!”
“Hmm, maybe you were telling the truth,” Mack grumbled with a smirk as he vanished from view.
Sergeant Butters stomped into the small clearing, gnashing his teeth. Ignoring us, the grizzled old soldier barked angrily, “Mack, show yourself, you crotchety old bag of paranoid bones so I can give you a proper beating. If I am forced to find you, I promise, it will hurt more.”
“Oh, shut up, you old half-chewed shoe leather,” Mack said, appearing directly behind Sergeant Butters with a dagger held to the sergeant’s throat. “It would seem, you are not only getting old, but you are also getting rusty. There was a time I could not have snuck up on you like that.”
“No, I am just too busy to play games with you. Now, let the adventurers go and follow me back to town. An attack is imminent, and I do not have time to teach you a proper lesson,” Sergeant Butters stated, rolling his eyes.
Mack lowered the knife but didn’t move to free us. Instead, he asked, “You sure about them? They do not look like much. Let alone like the immortal adventurers of legend.”
“Then you need to get your eyes checked,” Sergeant Butters said, then addressing us, “And you lot. What in the Gods good graces do you think you are doing? Why would you let this old sodding piece of two-bit garbage get the better of you? Let alone capture you? Did you even put up a fight?”
I sighed. I knew this something was coming. It was only slightly better than teasing and making a joke of us. On the other hand, the disappointed look on the old soldier might have been worse.
“I swear by all the Gods and Goddesses, when we get back to Hurligville, I will run you all until you puke. Then I will make sure you are brought up to my standards or so help me-” Sergeant Butters said, letting the threat hang.
Yep, definitely worse.
“And you,” Sergeant Butters snapped, looking harshly toward Heath. “Stop faking and free your friends already!”
Heath sighed. The Jack of All climbed back up to his feet with his standard lazy swagger. Watching the ropes that previously bound his hands fall to the ground, as if they had never been tied at all, was almost expected.
“Could you have done that any time you wanted?” Rose asked, a hint of threat in her voice.
Heath shrugged, moving to free Olaf first, then Micaela. He unwisely skipped Rose to free Pwn. Then again, based on the look of painful death that Rose’s expression promised to deliver, maybe it was wise. Anyway, after he freed me, he asked, “Say, Bye-bye, think you could free your girlfriend?” Then not waiting for an answer, he disappeared into ‘Stealth’.
“I like that one,” Mack said, smiling. “Reminds me of, well, me.”
I withheld commenting, choosing instead to free Rose lest I become the target of her ire.
Once everyone was free, the Sergeant spoke, “Alright, let us get back to town. The undead could attack at any time.”
I was confused for a second before I remembered the quest. While he had defeated the lich servant, we still needed to kill five more undead mountain lions to complete the quest.
Quest Alert: Thinning the Herd (Recommended Level 25-30)
Sergeant Butters has asked for your assistance to reduce the undead population before th
eir next attack on Hurligville. You are tasked with the destruction of 139/100 level 15+ undead wolves, 45/50 level 20+ undead mountain lions, 59/50 level 20+ undead condors, 13/10 level 25+ undead drakelings, 1/1 undead lich servant
Reward: Experience
“Sergeant, please take your friend back to town. We need just five more of those mountain lions and your quest will be done,” Micaela said quickly.
Sergeant Butters nodded once. “Alright,” he said, then added, “But be quick about it.”
“Eagle, go with them,” Olaf added, addressing the Vanguard. “Come get us if the attack begins before we can finish off the lions.”
“You got it, boss,” Eagle said, quickly following the Sergeant.
A couple hours later the quest was done, and we were all breathing a sigh of relief that we wouldn’t need to fight any more of those undead mountain lions. We breathed a deeper sigh of relief when we turned in the completed quest to the Sergeant.
“Not bad,” Sergeant Butters complimented. “Not bad at all,” he added, his nameplate suddenly changed, lowering his level from 42 to 41.
Quest Alert: Thinning the Herd (Recommended Level 25-30) – Completed!
Sergeant Butters has asked for your assistance to reduce the undead population before their next attack on Hurligville. You are tasked with the destruction of 139/100 level 15+ undead wolves, 50/50 level 20+ undead mountain lions, 59/50 level 20+ undead condors, 13/10 level 25+ undead drakelings, 1/1 undead lich servant
Reward: 200,000-Experience
I had heard from Micaela and Olaf how the quests are paid by the citizens own experience. Seeing it was something different.
“Your level,” I said lamely.
“Worth it,” Sergeant Butters insisted. “If it buys us time before the next attack then it was worth it. And now that we have time, I think it is past time we finally strike at the heart of this plague.”
“Could not have said it better myself,” Mack said, clapping the Sergeant on the back as he appeared from ‘Stealth’, causing the Sergeant to start in surprise.
“Mack!” Sergeant Butters yelled, “If I have told you once, I have told you a hundred times. Do not do that!”
Mack grinned and snickered, “And yet, I just cannot seem to help myself.”
The Sergeant took a deep breath and closed his eyes, slowly letting the breath go, then responded, “Ignoring this paranoid idiot, let us go to my office to discuss what comes next.”
Within a few minutes the Sergeant led us inside the barracks and into his office. “As I said, you have bought us some time. I do not know exactly how long it will take the undead to build up their forces again, but we need to strike while there is a break in their lines.”
I noticed Mack leaning against the back wall of the office behind the Sergeant, he had a frown on his face and looked like he did not approve.
“I want you to gather a large force of adventurers and take the fight to that lich,” Sergeant Butters said, then looking back to the old man we recently rescued, he said, “Mack, tell them what you know about the lich.”
I expected there to be a quest prompt, instead, I saw Mack’s lip curl in disgust before snapping, “No, absolutely not. I will not trust adventurers to fix this. It is their fault we are in this predicament in the first place. We need to go to the King. Or the court. I still have a few contacts there that owe me more than a few favors. And even if they cannot help directly, at the very least, they get us an audience with Leopold. I am sure he will help once he hears our case.”
Sergeant Butters face darkened. “You want me to go to the court? You know what will happen. You know what my . . . brother will do,” he spat angrily. “You might have trusted the wrong adventurers. I know these adventurers. I know they can be trusted.”
“And if they fail?” Mack snarled back. “I will tell you what will happen if they fail. They come back to life and find something else to do. Or they decide it is too difficult and just run away. I tried your vaunted adventurers . . . twice. First, when I discovered the cult of Xan, I asked them to exterminate their high priest and the rest of the cult. And they failed. They complained about it being above their levels. Claimed it was impossible. Then they left. I was prepared to go to the King then, but no, another group of adventurers showed up. I let them convince me to give them a chance. I sent them after the high priest again, but more importantly, I needed them to at least interrupt their dark ceremony. And what happened? They failed again. Gave me the same excuses. And you know what happened next? That cult managed to unseal the Phylactery of Xan. Bad enough an undead cult chose my province to unleash their lich in. But those . . . demon spawned necromancers, you know what they did? They chose to do it under Reksoni’s tower. Now, you have undead flooding into the surrounding provinces. Who knows how many civilians are dead? More undead spawning every day. And I would put every last copper I have on it, that lich intends to raise that dragon’s corpse. And you want me to put faith in adventurers?” He paused to catch his breath before loudly adding, “Again!”
“Yes,” Sergeant Butters answered as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
Mack glared at the Sergeant before grinning, “Good enough for me,” he said, flabbergasting all of us. Mack pulled out a large scroll from his inventory and spread it across the Sergeant’s desk. “Alright, pay attention,” Mack began. “Your mission is simple. This here is the tower of Reksoni,” he stopped to point a large round circle in the middle of the province. “It is a natural landmark. The rock spire goes up hundreds of feet, on top of which is a plateau. That is where Reksoni built his roost and where he eventually died. Inside is a maze of pathways and anti-chambers where his supplicants once dwelled and were eventually buried when the dragon was finally defeated. I doubt they will stay buried long if they have not already been raised as undead. So, back to your mission. Fight your way to the tower. Defeat any cultists and undead you need to in order to gain access to the tower. Fight your way through the tower. Hopefully, you will arrive before the Lich Xan has reached the top. Because if she resurrects that dragon as an undead bone dragon, we are all boned. Any questions?”
Only a few million, I thought to myself.
Raid Quest: The Tower of Reksoni (Recommended Level 25-30, Recommended Adventurers 15-25)
The Tower of Reksoni has been invaded by the Lich Xan and the cult of Xan. Due to the presence of the lich, the undead have undoubtedly taken residence in the roost of the Ancient Dragon Reksoni, raised the dragon’s servants and will doubtlessly be trying to raise the dragon himself. Assemble an army, destroy the Lich’s followers and destroy the Lich. The fate of the World Tree depends on it.
Reward: Experience, Mystic Variable Piece of Gear, Collectible Trophy
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“We’ll get it done,” Olaf said, accepting the quest, not that we could have or would have refused it. This was exactly the quest we had been working toward. This was chaos at work and a potentially major victory.
“I’ll start assembling people of the right level,” Micaela volunteered, quickly running out of the office, undoubtedly on her way to the Order Hall.
“I wish you had time to train up a bit more,” Sergeant Butters said, casting a sidelong glance at the old man, reminding us of our recent capture. “You should leave within the next two days. That should give you time to assemble your team, gear up, and prepare whatever other materials you might need.”
“What materials will we need?” Arch asked nervously.
“Potions and food mostly,” Sergeant Butters answered. “Holy water would not hurt either. Holy enchantments on your weapons would be a plus. Basically, anything with Holy magic.”
“Jack and I will make a run to Root City for supplies,” Rose volunteered us. “Maybe our Goddesses will have something to say about this mission. And I need to get Baby back with us. She’s been gone too long already, and I want another trustworthy healer with us.”
Arch blushed red at the compliment and stammered a bit, eventually choosing to hide behind Olaf.
“Sounds good, I’ll work up a list if you can wait an hour,” Olaf said.
Pwn scoffed, “Listen big guy, you’re a good leader. But your logistics are little better than horse dung. I’ll work up the list. I probably know the potions and food stuff better anyway. I have probably spent a lot more time in Root City and the auction house.”
Olaf studied him for a minute before finally nodding, “Alright, Pwn, show me what you’ve got.”
“Rose and I will be ready to go in an hour,” I said, noting the time in my UI. It was already past 2:30 in the afternoon. If we weren’t leaving until three, it would be nearly 5:00 by the time we reached Root City. “We might end up staying the night in the city. We’ll try to be back by noon tomorrow at the latest.”
“Alright,” Olaf said with a nod. “Heath, head for the Order house, see if Mic needs anything from you. Arch, I want you to go pay a visit to Trinico and see what you can do about getting us some more holy water. Learn to make it if you can.”
“Yes, sir,” Arch said, quickly running then flying out of the Sergeant’s office.
Heath gave a lazy wave and moseyed away with a yawn.
“You might want to look into taking a few pack mules,” Mack advised. “The terrain in the flatlands is not very friendly to your average wagon.”
Olaf leaned over the map, studying it. Eventually, he asked, “Where is the closest graveyard?”
“Just here,” Mack said, pointing to an area just south of the tower and right next to a group of houses labeled ‘Flatlands Camp’.
“How long does it take to move from the Camp to the tower?” Olaf asked next.
“Maybe an hour,” Mack answered.
“Bye-bye,” Olaf started, looking up from the map to me. “I think we need to plan for a wipe. Do you think we should plan to meet up at the graveyard or at some kind of basecamp?”
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 43
