by K R Dimmick
You have received: Cress-Rose flower
Quality: Raw
Level: Novice
Uses: Unknown
Without the craft: Gathering.
You have a 25% chance to successfully gather a Novice level plant.
Okay, so it looked like I needed to unlock my Gathering skill if I wanted to be able to pick plants. I’d always loved the idea of picking something up for free from nature, so that was definitely a skill I needed to get unlocked. I carried on picking flowers until I had another nineteen of them and put them in my inventory with a thought. I’d played enough role-playing games (RPGs) to know that quests were repeatable sometimes. Even if those games were just with cards, dice and imagination, I was hoping there might be some overlap with this game. So, rather than trekking all the way out here again, I decided to collect twice the ingredients in one go. Even if it didn’t get repeated, the Herbalist would probably be glad to get extra anyway, and maybe he’d be grateful for that.
I started to stand up and realized that I couldn’t hear any other sounds anymore. It was like all the little forest creatures had suddenly disappeared. It was definitely time to get out of here and back to the village.
Turning around, I came face to face with an enormous bunny rabbit. This one didn’t look at all friendly, though. Instead of cute little buck teeth, it had huge vampire fangs. Its white fur was matted with patches of what looked distinctly like dried blood. To top it all off, it was so tall it was looking down at me with its crazy-looking, red eyes.
I tried to run, only to find my legs had ceased to listen to my brain.
You are frozen in fear.
Duration: 5 seconds.
As I opened my mouth to scream, the vampire bunny pounced. Its weight drove all the breath from my lungs, and I watched in horror as the huge fangs descended toward me.
Pain exploded in my neck. So much for a muted level of pain. The edges of my vision started to flash red.
You have been bitten by a Vampire Bunny.
Damage: -20 HP per second
Duration: Ends when the fangs are removed, or you are dead.
Great. This was so not what I needed right now. With a total of 100 HP, I had five seconds to live. My body had finally decided to respond, so I screamed, kicked and pushed with everything I had. All to no effect.
Frantically, I fumbled around on the ground, looking for a stone or stick. My hands came across a dead tree branch. I grabbed it. With every ounce of Strength I had, I swung it at the rabbit’s head.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Strike.
Strike is part of the Stick Fighting Skills
It is linked to the stats Strength and Dexterity.
Increase your Strength to increase your physical attack damage.
Increase your Dexterity to increase your physical attack speed.
I kept hitting the rabbit, over and over, but each strike was weaker than the last. As my vision started to black out, it dawned on me that I was about to be killed by a bunny rabbit. I really needed to find a decent weapon!
Commiserations! You Are Dead.
You will respawn in 5 minutes at your last spawn location.
All stats remain the same after respawn.
Please note that death penalties are level dependent.
Have a nice day and Rest in Peace.
5
Cursed Bow, Anyone?
“Join up over here,” I heard as the black nothingness cleared from my vision.
Laying on the cobblestone floor back in the village, I looked up to find four people staring at me.
“What happened to you?” asked a blond haired, stocky young man.
I recognized his face but couldn’t remember where I’d seen him before.
“I died. There’s a big vampire beast out there that surprised me.”
“That wouldn’t be the bunny rabbit, would it?” He asked, looking down his nose at me. The others covered their mouths to hide their laughter.
My brain finally connected the dots. These were the other players who’d come through the lottery. Lord Colt Stratford was the one looking at me like I was a piece of dirt. That made the tall, lanky one Baynor Richards and the athletic looking girl with long, dark hair Saris Carter.
Obviously, as a noble, he’d been able to customize the look of his new body, and Colt had decided to give himself blond hair and blue eyes.
I looked down. I still couldn’t believe I’d died to a bunny rabbit. I was sure that, one day, I’d look back on this and laugh, however, today was not that day.
“Well, I guess you won’t be continuing on after the next six days. Not overly surprising, given that you’re an aberth and your own mother literally sold you for some food.”
My face heated up as they all turned back to talk to the fourth person who had to be a village guardsman.
“I definitely want some daggers or a short sword,” said Saris.
Weapons? I had to listen to this. I stood up and walked over to where they all stood. Somehow, even though I’d just come back from the dead, I still had all my gear, inventory and everything I’d had before I’d died. I guess whatever these death penalties were, they weren’t that bad at level one.
“Here you go, Miss,” said the guard, handing Saris two slightly dubious looking daggers.
“I’ll have your best long sword,” demanded Colt.
“Yes Sir, this is the one.” He held out a large, rusty sword, which Colt took, despite the sneer on his face.
“I’ve done a lot of archery before,” Baynor said, “so I’d like some sort of bow, please.”
“Will this work for you?” said the guard, handing him a basic looking bow. “All bows here magically produce arrows, so you don’t need to worry about running out of them.”
“Can I get something too, please?”
The entire group turned to stare at me.
“We’re gearing up the group to go and kill the vampire rabbit, Miss. Are you sure you want to join in?”
“Definitely. I need to even the score with it. I’ll take whatever weapon you have,” I said, looking hopefully at the rather empty crate at the guard’s feet.
“Give me a few minutes, Miss, I’ll see what I can come up with. I’ll meet you all back here in 10 minutes, so we can get rid of this threat to the village.”
With a look designed to kill me on the spot, Colt and the others wandered off to look at the market, as the guard walked away in search of another weapon.
I noticed there was now a mark on my map for the Herbalist’s house, which meant I could hand in the Cress-Rose flowers I’d collected for the quest.
Right at the outer edges of the village was a small house that appeared rather messy. There were glass vials on every possible surface and dried flowers and herbs dangling from the eaves of the roof.
“Hello? Isviar?”
“What do you want?” A wizened old man with colorful stains on his robe walked out of the house. Above his head, in gray writing, was the word Villager.
“I completed your quest for the Cress-Rose flowers,” I said, handing him 10 of the flowers from my bag.
His face broke into a grin, and suddenly, the name Isviar Wyrten - 2 appeared in green writing above his head, replacing the word Villager. That was great since I was dreadful with names.
“Excellent. No one seems to want to do Gathering quests these days, and I didn’t have the time to go out myself. These will make some potions the village sorely needs. So, thank you, my dear.”
As he handed over 1 Florin, I noticed a green line at the bottom left of my vision start to grow as the XP from the quest came in. A quick look told me I was 10% of the way to level 2 and I needed a total of 20,000 XP to get there.
Congratulations! You have completed the quest: Gatherer.
You have received 1,000 XP.
You have received 1 Florin.
“Do you by any chance need another 10 Cress-Rose flowers for more potions?” I crossed my fingers th
at this wasn’t a potion that had a short shelf life. He looked surprised.
“Well, if you have another ten, I’d happily give you another Florin for them. They are used in quite a few potions and Aliz, the Alchemist, is always in need of the tinctures I make from them. I’ll put it into a quest as well, so you get the XP, if you like?”
“That would be great, I could really use the XP and I do have another 10,” I said, grabbing them out of my bag.
You have received a quest: Gatherer
Isviar Wyrten wants 10 Cress-Rose flowers.
Completion of this quest will give you 1,000 XP and 1 Florin.
Do you accept? Yes / No
I thought yes as I handed him the flowers in exchange for the extra Florin. At this rate, I’d get new armor as well as the weapon the guard was hopefully finding for me.
Once again, the little green line at the bottom of my vision increased in length.
Congratulations! You have completed the quest: Gatherer.
You have received 1,000 XP.
You have received 1 Florin.
“I assume that’s all?” He asked, raising his eyebrow.
“Yes. I got attacked by the huge vampire bunny out there before I could pick anymore, I’m afraid.”
“Ah. Yes, I’d heard about that. We’ve lost several animals to it already. I’m hoping the guard will organize a party to go and kill it before it comes into the village itself.”
“He is. He’s just finding me a weapon so I can join the hunting party. I should probably head back there so I don’t make them wait.” Not that they would, I thought. “Before I go, could you tell me where I can unlock the skill of Gathering?”
“That would be right here, my dear,” said Isviar, reaching his hand out toward my head. “Just hold still and I’ll happily unlock it for you.”
Congratulations! You have learned the craft: Gathering.
Collect plants to increase your skill level.
You can collect all Novice level herbs and plants.
“I found another bow, Miss,” the guard said, handing me what looked like a bent stick somehow strung into a bow. “I’m sorry, but it’s the only spare weapon I could find.”
You have received: Cursed Bow
10-30 Physical Attack Damage.
Quality: Basic.
Rarity: Common.
Great, just what I needed, a cursed weapon. Well, hopefully it was better than nothing. I murmured my thanks as a new quest popped up in my vision.
You have received a group quest: Village Terror
The Village of Milgate requests that you hunt and kill the Vampire rabbit that is terrorizing the village.
Advisable level for this quest is Level 3.
Minimum advisable group size is 4.
Accepting this quest will mark possible locations on your map.
Completion of this quest will give you 5,000 XP and 3 Florins.
Do you accept? Yes / No
I thought yes, despite serious misgivings that I was only level 1 and my weapon was cursed. Hopefully, having several of us would make up for the fact that we had little to no gear, and what we did have, we didn’t know how to use.
Well, if worst came to worst, we’d simply end up back in Milgate again. Although I wasn’t sure what would happen to the guard who was an NPC (non-player character). Would he respawn if he died? Or was that it for him?
An older man in dark green robes, carrying a staff, walked up to the group.
“Thank you for coming, Jace. I was starting to think we’d have to do this without a healer.”
“You’re welcome, Havlor, can’t have you dying, now can we?” Jace simply nodded to each of us.
I guess that answered that question. NPCs clearly didn’t respawn. The name Jace Halan appeared in green above the healer’s head, while Havlor Fulcher appeared above the guard’s head.
“Now that you’ve all accepted the quest, we should party up,” said the guard. “All you have to do is think about sending a party request, or think about accepting it, and you’ll be in the party.”
Colt Stratford has sent you a party request.
You will be able to see each other’s health, mana and stamina while in a party.
Do you accept? Yes / No
As I thought yes, the party linking the four of us with the two NPCs popped up on the left side of my vision. There were little red, blue and yellow bars under each of our names, representing health, mana and stamina respectively.
To the right of our names was also a number. Since the four of us all had a little number one, I guessed that must be our levels. Turned out Havlor and Jace were level 3, so at least two of us could theoretically complete this quest.
“I’ve obviously had the most training here,” said Colt, staring down his nose at Havlor. “So I’ll be leading the group. We’ll all go together to the possible location marked on the map, then we’ll split into two groups to find the beast. As soon as you spot it, stay back and let everyone know where it is. Once we start, Havlor and I will tank it and hold its attention. If I can, I’ll turn it around, so you can all hit it from behind. Everyone needs to stay close. If Jace needs to heal one of us, he doesn’t need to wonder where you are.”
“But I’m going to be a lot more effective at range,” Baynor pointed out with his hands on his hips.
“I don’t care. You probably won’t need to do much anyway,” said Colt, “Havlor and I will obviously be doing the most damage. The rest of you simply need to not get in the way.”
“Arrogant much?” muttered Saris.
“Follow me,” Colt ordered as he turned and walked away from the village, completely ignoring Saris.
As we walked through the forest, it struck me again just how peaceful and serene it was. The birds were singing in the trees, and the sunlight produced a gentle, dappled pattern on the dirt path. It was amazing how real everything looked. I could even feel a slight breeze. If we weren’t heading toward the monster that had just killed me, I’d swear we were in the most perfect place in existence.
A gray squirrel ran into the middle of the path ahead of us. Before it noticed us, Baynor drew his bow in one quick movement and released an arrow that hit the squirrel in the chest with a sickening thud. It flew back up the path a short way.
My stomach turned to lead. Somehow, I managed to make it off the path before I started retching. The sneer on Colt’s face was more than enough to tell me what he thought.
Obviously, the others must have been hunting before. This, however, was the first time I’d seen something being killed. Everything was a lot more real than the card games I’d been brought up playing. It had never occurred to me, while I was killing off those imaginary orcs with roles of the dice, that it would feel like this.
“Are you done yet?” sneered Colt. “Because if you can’t handle a little killing, you’re clearly not cut out for this. Let’s go.”
We traipsed on through the forest until, finally, Saris, who’d been scouting ahead, appeared in front of us, holding a finger to her lips.
“I’ve found it,” she whispered. “It’s currently occupied killing a pack of wolves, but I don’t know how long they’ll last. So, we need to get ready.”
“OK everyone, here’s what we’re going to do.” Colt declared. “Havlor and I will get in close. Saris, you try and hit it from behind because you might do more damage that way since you’re focusing on a rogue build. Jace, you stand behind Havlor and I. Baynor, you stand beside Jace, that way you’ll be a little farther away, and you can stop complaining. Just don’t hit me or Havlor.”
“Yeh,” snorted Baynor as Colt glared at him.
“What about me?” I asked.
“Just stay out of the way, aberth.”
Unbelievable. Well, at least he shouldn’t have a problem with me standing back where my bow would be more effective. Hopefully I wouldn’t hit him, but right now, I didn’t think it would bother me as much as it probably should if I did skewer him.
&nbs
p; We quietly entered the clearing and there was the vampire bunny. Next to the words Vampire Bunny written in red above its head, was a small number 4. That must’ve been its level. No wonder I died to it last time.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Inspect.
My heart started to race. I shouldn’t have been this worried. But I was. He’d won the first round. I wanted to win the second.
“For glory!” Colt screamed as he and Havlor charged toward the bunny. I could see its red eyes focus on them. It crouched low, ready to spring at them.
Havlor got the first hit. A line of red appearing on the side of the bunny’s left leg. I could see Saris creeping around to get behind it. Baynor started firing on it as well, from beside Jace.
I, on the other hand, took a step backward, toward the tree line. I knelt down, hoping it would help me shoot more accurately. As I pulled the string back, a black arrow appeared, ready to be shot. With Colt and Havlor dancing in and out, this was going to be harder than I’d thought. I really didn’t want to hit Havlor.
“Focus past the tip of the arrow to the place you want to hit.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. The arrow flew off harmlessly into a nearby tree. I turned around and found myself looking up at the face of a young man kneeling down next to me. He had that look that can only come from spending all day, every day, outdoors.
“I’m Mikael. Now, do you want to kill that thing or not?”
“Yes. So badly!”
“Okay, pull back the string. Look past the arrow tip and focus on the place you want to hit. If you concentrate hard enough, that area will come into focus like it’s zooming toward you.”