Minor Rejuvenation Potion (Common) – Restores a small amount of mana to the imbiber’s pool and improves in-combat and out-of-combat mana regeneration by 1% for 5 minutes.
Moderate Rejuvenation Potion (Common) – Restores a moderate amount of mana to the imbiber’s pool and improves in-combat and out-of-combat mana regeneration by 2% for 5 minutes.
Lesser Antidote (Common) – Counteracts lesser venoms and poisons and provides a small bonus to poison resistance for 5 minutes.
Minor Antidote (Common) – Counteracts minor venoms and poisons and provides a small bonus to poison resistance for 5 minutes.
Moderate Antidote (Common) – Counteracts moderate venoms and poisons and provides a small bonus to poison resistance for 5 minutes.
***
Checking my current finances, I decided to pick up two of each of the minor healing and rejuvenation potions as well as two lesser antidotes.
Handing over three gold and eight silver, I tucked the vials into my belt pouch, using the inventory interface to organize them by type.
“Do you have any enhancement potions currently available, or able to be made?” I asked, and then quickly added, “other than the stamina ones.”
She shook her head sadly and responded, “Unfortunately not, the herbalist who normally supplies me hasn’t come around this week, so I haven’t been able to brew anything other than the basics. It’s pretty strange, she has always brought me what she was able to find, I hope nothing has happened to her.”
Well now, if that didn’t scream QUEST, nothing would.
I decided to give it a go and responded, “Maybe I could look around and see if anyone has seen her? Could you give me a description?”
*** Reputation check (Free People of Tael’va) successful! ***
“That would be very helpful. My normal supplier is a bedjvain woman named Reya. She lives with her family with the Stormbreak tribe on the eastern edge of the city. If you can restore my supply line, I’ll even make you a potion or two at cost.”
***Quest received: Broken supply chains. ***
***The alchemist Sara in the Crimson Vial has tasked you with locating her normal reagent supplier, the bedjvain, Reya, of the Stormbreak tribe. Seek out the Stormbreak tribe. ***
***Reward: xp, Reduced cost on potions from the Crimson Vial. ***
***Accept Y/N? ***
“Alright,” I said, accepting the quest, “I will see if I can locate Reya and send her your way.”
“Let me know either way. I hope Reya is okay but if she is not, or if she has decided to take her business elsewhere, I’ll need to find a new supplier” she responded and then went back to her work.
I headed out, reading through the quest text again and adding it to my mental “to do” list. Sara, huh? She never did tell me her name, but the quest text spilled the beans. It was probably an oversight, but it might have caused some issues if I started addressing her by name when she hadn't introduced herself. Could add a definite creeper vibe to the conversation.
I continued on my way towards the caravansary, mentally dictating a brief bug report about the quest text spoiler as I walked and sent it off for review.
Finally reaching the spot marked “caravansary” on my map, I examined my surroundings. The caravansary was located on the northern edge of the city. Groups of various races whose look just screamed “mercenary” stood in line in front of a series of booths, each manned by a uniformed man with a ledger of some sort.
On the eastern side of the courtyard was a large wooden board with papers nailed to it that immediately pinged my gamer instincts.
Jobs boards were a pretty standard feature in most MMO’s where characters could find small jobs, quests, and the like. In most games they were usually swarming with players, but this one was surprisingly vacant. Only one other person was at the board currently.
*** Perception check successful! ***
*** Unknown Moon Elf, Level 2 ***
*** HP: 100%, SP: 100% ***
Her long black hair hung in an intricate braid down her back and long pointed ears poked their way through on the sides. She was dressed in medium leather armor. Actual armor, with full coverage. Not the typical bikini armor most fantasy games were obsessed with. Score one for realism.
A short bow and quiver were strapped to her back between a set of twin longswords, arranged for an easy draw. I pegged her for a warrior of some sort, possibly a rogue. From what I remembered of the moon elven racials, either could work.
Her avatar had the angular features of an elf, but with a softness as well. A lot of players tended to try and forge their avatars into whatever they viewed as perfect physical beauty, but I could tell this player hadn’t gone down that road. While she was attractive, her look was far too natural to have been engineered.
As I approached, I heard her cursing under her breath as she scanned through the documents tacked to the board. “Damnit, how am I supposed to get out of this damn place if all of the quests are written in chicken scratch?”
Judging by the muttered curses and frustration I figured I was about to meet my first player!
“Didn’t take literacy eh?” I asked as I approached.
She looked up quickly and glared at me. “What kind of game makes you use up your skill points for reading and writing? It’s a game!” she growled.
“Yeah…” I said, shrugging my shoulders in sympathy, “reading and writing is usually a given, but with all the other crazy stuff they’ve shoved into the game to promote realism, I guess it makes sense they would force us to actually learn the languages they spent all this time creating.”
“On the bright side,” I continued, “at least we both speak the same language, right?”
She grinned a little, “I don’t know what I would have done if the first player I met started spouting gibberish at me. It’s bad enough the NPC’s here aren’t too keen on my pointy bits.”
I laughed and said, “Yeah, apparently living in the desert makes one quite… irritable.”
She shook her head and held out her hand, “Kjara Mistwalker, warrior of the Vale of Dreams.”
“Nice to meet you, Kjara. I am Kheph Sa’tep, Priest of the Saa Empire.”
“Decided to go all in on the Egyptian theme, Kheph?” she said.
“Yeah, although there are some things that I’m going to have to pass on. Apparently the Saa as a whole are a bunch of dicks, but I’m working on breaking that mold for myself.”
I scanned the board and saw a standard hunting quest to eliminate a pack of wolves that had been raiding the livestock pens posted with a nice reward.
With a smile I continued, “But luckily, in trying to be a good role player, I did take the literacy skill.”
I plucked the quest posting from the board, reading through it once again and turned to her. “Want to hunt some wolves?”
*** Quest Received: Tender Vittles. ***
*** Eliminate the wolves that have been preying on the caravansary’s livestock pens. ***
*** Reward: 5sp per wolf, increased reputation with the caravansary, xp. ***
*** Accept (Y/N)? ***
She grinned and said, “Let’s get some!”
I accepted the quest as well and noted that the crudely drawn map on the quest posting had transferred to my game map, indicating a likely area where the wolves could be found. At least we didn’t have to do all the legwork ourselves.
*** Kjara has invited you to form a party! Accept? (Y/N) ***
With a grin I hit yes and a new display popped up on the side of my vision showing both of our stats.
*** Party Formed ***
*** Congratulations! You have formed your first party! The party interface will allow for you to keep track of each others' pool levels and overall status. Up to five people can join a party at one time. While in a party, all experience will be shared. ***
Kjara Mistwalker:
HP:[100%]
SP:[100%]
Kheph Sa’tep:
/> HP :[100%]
MP:[100%]
SP: [100%]
We headed out of the caravansary and into the rocky lands to the east of the trade city, walking for roughly a mile before the barren rocky terrain gained a little bit of green.
I checked my map and turned to my companion. “Looks like this is the area” I said, gazing around. I readied my shield and spear while Kjara readied her bow.
We continued forward cautiously, looking around for our prey. A little while later, Kjara reached out and tapped my shoulder and pointed towards a patch of shadow at the foot of a small outcropping. “There’s a cave entrance there in the shadows,” she whispered.
“Good looking out,” I said, peering towards the shadows. “How do you want to do this? Ranged? Melee?”
“Both?” she responded. “I’ve got two ranks in both bow and long swords, so we can whittle them down from a distance and then go in for the kill.”
She looked at my spear and shield and continued, “You said you’re a Priest, right? Can you use those things?”
I nodded, “Rank two in the spear, one in shield, and two in armor as well. Saa priests are more like old school D&D clerics. I’ll buff us a bit before we go in, and I have some ranged firepower as well, but I’ll make sure to save most of my mana for healing unless we get swarmed, in which case it won’t matter anyhow. Have you died yet?”
“Yes…. It was not an experience I want to repeat,” she responded, a haunted look in her eyes.
Not wanting to dredge up bad memories, I changed the subject, “After we kill these wolves, I’ll show you a nice little inn I found and buy you a beer and we can trade stories.”
“Deal!”, she responded.
“Alright, let me see your swords,” I said and knelt down, holding out my hand. She set her bow down and drew her twin blades from her back with a practiced motion and handed them to me.
I took the first sword and focused on the glyph construct for Jackal’s tooth, etching it into the sword and channeling the exact amount of mana the spell required. I had learned that lesson the hard way.
*** You have cast Jackal’s Tooth on Longsword (Bronze). ***
I repeated the process with the second blade and grinned as I received an additional notification.
*** You have cast Jackal’s Tooth on Longsword (Bronze). ***
*** Congratulations! You have gained a better understanding of the Jackal’s Tooth spell! Rank 2 Achieved! ***
“Nice! Skill up!” I said, sharing a congratulatory high five with my companion before handing her swords back.
I took a look at my mana and we waited until it had regenerated a bit before we advanced towards the cave. Jackal’s Tooth had a decent duration, so I wasn’t worried about it running out.
“Okay, now for the roleplay bit” I said and grinned again, composing myself and drawing on some of the Saa Religious lore in my memory database before beginning.
“I call upon Pakhet, goddess of the hunt, to bless us. May our footsteps be silent, our strikes true, and our success bountiful,” I prayed, seeing the image of a lioness headed goddess in my mind’s eye, a crown bearing a sun riding on her brow as her clawed fingers flexed at her side.
A slightly glowing wind swirled around me and Kjara as I completed the prayer, leaving behind a slight glow that then faded.
*** You have invoked the blessing of Pakhet, Goddess of the Hunt, on your party. ***
*** Lesser Blessing of Pakhet: minor bonus to accuracy, critical hit chance, and stealth. Duration: 30 minutes. ***
“Now that’s something. Thanks, Kheph, and thank you Pakhet,” she said, taking her swords and whistling a bit as she examined the opalescent edges. “I’m beginning to think we aren’t about to be mauled to death by a hungry pack of wolves.”
I laughed and replied, “Well at least if we do it will be with flair. Let’s get moving.”
We moved as quietly as we could towards the cave entrance, which is to say that she made almost no sound and I kicked every loose rock and pebble between us and our destination.
As we neared our goal, I started to hear sounds of movement inside. The interior of the cave was too dark for me to see anything, but Kjara didn’t seem to have that issue.
She raised her hand, halting our advance as her eyes scanned the interior. She turned to me and raised three fingers, whispering “Two level two wolves, and two level ones. If we can take down the bigger ones at range, we should be fine.”
I nodded and settled into a defensive stance as she raised her bow and took aim.
*** Would you like to enable party wide combat messaging? This will allow you to see combat messages for your party members. (Y/N)? ***
Debating for a second, I selected yes, curious to see what the messages would reveal.
Kjara released her arrow and I heard a high-pitched yelp followed by angry growling.
*** Kjara critically strikes Desert Wolf with Aimed Shot inflicting a critical wound! ***
She quickly pulled another arrow from her quiver and fired again as I started casting a Sunstrike on the second large wolf.
*** Kjara strikes the Desert wolf with a standard broadhead arrow, inflicting a mortal wound! ***
*** Kjara has killed Desert Wolf! Your party gains 75xp! ***
I thrust my spear towards the second wolf and a line of fire shot from the tip and slammed into its side, singeing its fur and causing it to stumble.
*** You cast Sunstrike on Desert Wolf! Sunstrike burns your target with Holy Fire! ***
By then the other wolves were on the move, quickly closing the distance between us much faster than I was used to mobs moving in MMOs.
Kjara fired off another arrow, grazing the wolf I had injured with my spell and then tossed her bow to the side as she drew her blades.
I raised my shield and drew my spear back, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. One of the smaller wolves charged right towards me, teeth bared in a vicious snarl and I had to fight against all of my instinct to hold my ground... and not piss myself.
The wolf rushed forward and leaped; its jaws open wide. Raising my shield, I thrust my spear right into the wolf’s chest, its own weight combined with my attack driving the spear all the way through its body.
The creature's weight crashed into my shield, and its jaws snapped at my face, inches away before biology took hold and the light drained from the creature’s eyes.
*** You critically strike Desert Wolf with your bronze spear, inflicting a mortal wound! ***
*** Congratulations, you have discovered a special property of the Spear skill. When used to counterattack a charging target, Spear attacks have a bonus to both critical strike chance and damage! ***
*** You have killed a Desert Wolf! Your party gains 50xp! ***
Kjara was much faster on her feet than I, darting in to strike and then evading the second smaller wolf's teeth. Her blade carved several gashes down its flanks before she found a gap in its defenses and buried her blade in its throat.
*** Kjara strikes the Desert wolf with a bronze longsword, inflicting a deep wound! ***
*** Kjara strikes the Desert wolf with a bronze longsword, inflicting a shallow wound! ***
*** Kjara strikes the Desert wolf with a bronze longsword, inflicting a mortal wound! ***
*** Kjara has killed Desert Wolf! Your party gains 50xp! ***
We both turned to see the remaining wolf standing at the entrance to the cave, bleeding and burnt. It snarled at us and then raised its head to the sky and let out a loud howl.
I cursed and cast another Sunstrike which finished it off; but as it fell dead to the ground, I heard an answering chorus of howls coming from the east.
*** You cast Sunstrike on Desert Wolf! Sunstrike burns your target with Holy Fire! ***
*** You have killed Desert Wolf! Your party gains 75xp! ***
“Shit” we cursed in unison, scanning the area for any nearby wolves. “What now?” I asked, as Kjara sheathed her blades and scooped up her
bow from where it had fallen. “Do you think we can outrun them?”
She looked at me and laughed, saying “Fat chance. Even if we were to run, they would be able to catch us easily. I don’t think they have typical aggro ranges either. Best chance is finding a choke point we can defend.”
She gestured towards the cave and continued, “Maybe we can turn their own cave against them?”
“Beats getting caught in the open by a pack of wolves,” I replied, and we headed towards the cave.
Another set of howls echoed in the distance, much closer than the first, and I figured we had minutes at most to set up a defense or we’d likely become the pack’s next meal.
Kjara lead the way into the darkness. Some of the light from outside filtered into the cave, but way too little for my human eyes to make use of.
After my third stubbed toe, I reached out and rested my hand on her shoulder, stumbling again as she jumped away from my touch.
“Sorry” I said, “I should have asked first, I just didn’t want to lose you in the darkness, I’m completely blind here.”
“You startled me is all,” she replied before taking my hand and leading me forward. “There is a narrow tunnel up ahead. I think we might have a better chance if we control how many can get at us at once.”
“Sounds good. Wish I had thought to bring a lantern or some torches, or a light spell of some sort,” I answered. I could feel the wheels in my brain spinning as we moved deeper into the cave and into the narrow tunnel Kjara has spotted earlier.
Crimson Sands Page 11
