With one ruin explored and nothing that could help you pinpoint the ruptured Ley Line, Stanton has now requested for you to take him to the Crater Lake Ruins.
Escort Lord Stanton to the Ancient Transport Hub: 1/1
Escort Lord Stanton to the Crater Lake Ruins: 0/1
Ley Line Sealed: 0/1
Difficulty: Legendary
Reward: Experience & Renown
Penalty for Failure: Aldford and the surrounding region will be destroyed.
Quest Update! Statecraft, Deception and Veracity!
After showing Lord Stanton the Ancient Transport Hub, you’ve noticed that Stanton shares a genuine interest in Nafarrian lore and history. But despite that, you’ve noticed him bearing an abrasive and abrupt attitude towards Lazarus and his other companions.
It is clear that there is more going on under the surface than first glance would suggest.
Collect more information before making a decision!
Evidence supporting the Adventurers’ story: 1/?
Evidence supporting Stanton’s story: 1/?
Difficulty: Very Hard
Reward: Unknown
Penalty for Failure: Unknown
Dismissing the two updates from my vision, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated with the second quest’s update and its relative lack of substance. During our time exploring the ruin, I had hoped that an opportunity would present itself to leave the mages to their own devices and speak with Lazarus or one of his companions privately about obtaining their feed. But no matter what we did, one of the mages always seemed to be within earshot or needed to ask me a vague question I couldn’t possibly answer.
It’s almost as if they’re purposefully trying to keep us apart or monitor our conversations, I thought, shaking my head as I watched Donovan complete the ward around the entrance.
“There, that should do it,” Donovan announced, turning to face me with a weary expression and lowering his voice. “I’ve included a few…tricks in the ward this time around, should someone try to break it. No matter what they do to disenchant the main ward, there are other small wards that will ensure that we are alerted immediately.”
“Good,” I replied, nodding at Donovan before shifting my glance to Stanton and the others who were waiting at the base of the rockslide. “Hopefully, we won’t need them.”
“Hopefully,” Freya echoed as she shifted her spear in her hand and moved to start climbing down the rocks.
Following my familiar’s gaze, I saw the dark clouds on the northern horizon as they passed over a distant pair of mountains, remembering his earlier prediction for the day.
“It looks like there’s a storm on its way,” I told everyone as we reached the base of the incline, focusing my attention on the older noble who was looking in much better shape than he had earlier in the morning. “We need to regroup with the rest of the guild and start heading back before long. The other ruins are back by Crater Lake, and I’d rather not be caught out this far from Aldford in the middle of a storm.”
“Having traveled through more than one thunderstorm on our way up here, I second that,” Ransom said, watching the distant clouds.
“I agree,” Stanton replied, his gaze wandering to the coming storm then back to me. “Your guild will take point once more and we will follow close behind.”
Without another word, the ten of us split into our own groups once more, Freya, Amaranth, Donovan and I taking the lead as we used our Party Sense to navigate our way to the hunting ground that Sierra had picked out, with Stanton and the others following a few dozen paces behind.
“They like to make it clear that we’re not part of their circle,” Freya whispered to me after we’d been travelling for a while. “Close enough to work together, but not close enough to hear what they’re saying.”
“Yeah,” I replied, casting a subtle glance over my shoulder, pretending that I was making sure that everyone was still accounted for. “Allies of convenience, I guess.”
“Those are the only allies a noble like Stanton can ever have,” Donovan said pessimistically, the man having been uncharacteristically quiet all day. “Why do you think I worked so hard not to be affiliated with a House? I’ve seen firsthand what happens when a patron pulls their support from someone they no longer need, and I wanted no part of it.”
“I can imagine,” Freya stated, her demeanor suddenly getting sharper as she scanned the forest to our right. “We have to be getting closer to where they stopped to hunt; I’m starting to see creatures on the tree line.”
“They should be somewhere North East of us,” I said, following Freya’s eyes and spotting a pair of brown furred shapes running about the edge of the forest, a tag briefly appearing in my vision and pointing to the creatures.
[Greenwood Badger] – Level 14
Level fourteen?! My eyes couldn’t help but open wide in surprise as I saw three more badgers bound into view, their heads popping up to look in our direction warily before scampering off out of sight. This area looks to be even more densely packed and higher leveled than the wolverine-filled plains closer to Aldford!
“I wonder how the rest of the guild is doing,” I commented as we gave the badger-filled tree line a wide berth. “I’m a little jealous they had half the day to hunt, while we were busy standing around with Stanton. I feel like I’m behind again in levels.”
“I hear you,” Freya said with a note of amusement in her voice. “But we still do have something to look forward to once we get there.”
“That’s true,” I replied with a smile. “I wonder how Stanton and the others will react.”
“React to what?” Donovan asked, having not been filled in on what we were planning once we rejoined with the rest of the guild. “Is something going on?”
“We’re hoping to put on a show for him and the other Adventurers,” Freya told the man vaguely, sharing the same smile I had on her face. “To see just how far we can trust them in a pinch.”
“A show?” Donovan repeated, a worried look coming over his face. “Lyrian, Freya, what are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry about it, Donovan,” I soothed. “Just be sure to have your wand handy for when it starts.”
“When what starts?” the man asked, doing his best to keep his voice down.
“You’ll know it when you see it,” Freya replied unhelpfully.
“Lyr—” Donovan gasped in exasperation just as I cut him off.
“Oh, I think I see them!” I announced loudly, drowning out Donovan’s growing protests as the forest beside us began to recede, revealing several people sitting around a large rock in the distance.
Moving with renewed purpose, Freya, Amaranth and I practically left Donovan behind as we put on a burst of speed, eager to rejoin the rest of Virtus. Scrambling, Donovan was forced to abandon his line of questioning in order to keep pace with us, but I couldn’t help but notice that he had taken my words to heart and was now holding his wand in his hand, his knuckles clenched white as he glanced around nervously.
“Hey! You guys made it!” Constantine greeted us cheerfully as we approached, both he and Sierra sitting on top of the rock without a care in the world while six bloody, dirty and exhausted looking Adventurers lay in the grass surrounding it. “We were wondering if you guys would ever show up.”
“It took longer than we expected,” I replied with a shrug, seeing that Alistair was among the Adventurers resting, his armor badly scratched and even rent apart in places. “I see you’re all having a productive day getting the new recruits in shape.”
“Ha,” Alistair grunted dryly while sitting up from his prone position after hearing my voice. “You may call having to deal with giant snakes falling from trees right on top of you, and vicious badgers popping out of holes in the ground to bite your ankles,
productive, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d call it hazing.”
“It can be both,” Constantine replied without missing a beat, his gaze shifting past me as Stanton and his group approached. “What level was your Perception skill when we started?”
“Zero,” Alistair answered with resignation.
“And now?”
“Nearly level twelve.”
“If that’s not productive, may the gods strike me down!” Constantine declared mockingly, raising hands to the sky.
“And when you fed us those mushrooms?” Alistair asked as he forced himself up onto his feet, turning to look up at the rogue. “You said they were fine to eat.”
“I said I thought they were fine to eat,” Constantine replied, rolling his eyes. “And I was right, the red ones were.”
“Only after everyone who ate a purple or green one vomited,” Sierra added as she hopped down from the rock and down to our level, holding a fist-sized mushroom in her hand.
“You’re not helping, Sierra,” Constantine grunted as he followed her down from the rock.
“Not trying to help,” she replied with a shrug, before turning her attention towards me and tossing the mushroom in my direction. “The forest here is filled with these red mushrooms, along with a few other types that aren’t edible.”
“That should definitely help with our food problem,” I said with relief, catching the mushroom and bringing up its description. “How many have we found so far?”
Red-Speckled Mushroom
Item Class: Herb
Benefit: Unknown - Herbalism skill too low to identify
Weight: 0.1kg
“At least two hundred in our group so far,” she replied, waving a hand in the direction of the forest while giving me a sharp glance with a single raised eyebrow. “Plus, whatever the others end up bringing back.”
“That’s great!” I said enthusiastically, nodding to Sierra as I spoke. “That’ll solve our food problems in the short term. Hopefully, the other group was just as lucky.”
“They have been out there a while,” Constantine chimed in, just as Sierra dropped from our party, sending our prearranged signal to the other members of our group that were deep in the forest. “Hopefully, they won’t be too much longer.”
“Is our food supply that dear of a concern?” Stanton asked, finally deciding to join the conversation as everyone spread out around us. “I have never seen a land as lush as this region…surely it would be easier to raise crops?”
“One day it might be,” Constantine replied. “But growing our own food takes time. Time that we don’t have after everyone arrived.”
“Hunting is how we survive out here,” I added as I re-invited Sierra to our group and watched the forest’s edge, waiting for the rest of the party to appear. “We’ve made great strides so far, but it’s going to be a while until the farms are up and running, then even longer until we’re able to reliably grow things without a wandering creature threatening the farmers working the field and eating the crops.”
“I see,” Stanton said as if the realities of frontier life were new to him. “I didn’t realize.”
“There’s a big difference between living in the city and out in the wild,” Sierra stated. “We’re truly on our own out here.”
“It doesn’t seem too bad to me,” I heard Sawyer’s voice say from behind me. “It’s peaceful out here compared to the crush of the city. Not as many people around and rushing about.”
“Maybe for you guys,” I said, taking my eyes off the forest for a moment to look at Sawyer. “But from our perspective, our population just tripled. We—”
Amaranth’s sudden mental intrusion coupled with a warning croak caused me to lose my train of thought as I processed what he had said and turned to look at my familiar, seeing that he had pressed himself close to the ground with his ears flat on his head.
“What’s wrong—” Lazarus began to ask, a heartbeat before several thunderclaps of magic echoed from the forest, sending a rush of countless birds fleeing into the sky and out of the forest. “Shit, something must have happened.”
“Looks like it,” I replied slowly, watching the forest worriedly as several balls of magic erupted from underneath the canopy before vanishing into the sky.
Shit! I told them to pull enough creatures to stage a good fight in front of Stanton, not to annoy the entire forest! I felt my heart begin to race as the resting Adventurers all shot to their feet and formed into a group beside me. As Lazarus and his friends moved to surround Stanton, his horse began to whinnie nervously.
“What’s going on?” I heard Samuel shout from behind me.
“It looks like the other group bit off more than they could chew!” Constantine called out as the shouts from the forest finally began to reach out ears.
“W-what are we going to do?” Quincy asked worriedly, his voice breaking as he spoke.
“What else is there to do?!” Freya spat as she fell in on my right-hand side. “Get ready to fight! They’re coming our way for help!”
“They’re coming here?” Quincy gasped as a single Adventurer carrying a bow rushed out from the forest ahead of us, immediately angling his flight towards us. “No—”
“Shut up and draw your weapon, Quincy!” Lazarus’s bark from behind me silenced the mage’s protests.
Springing with long, rapid strides, the Adventurer closed the distance between us, his voice arriving barely seconds ahead of himself.
“Giant Snake incoming!” he managed as he bent himself double, desperately gasping for air to fill his lungs. “We didn’t know…”
“Breathe, Ameron,” Sierra said as the elven Adventurer descended into a coughing fit as he tried to inhale and speak at the same time. “Slow down and breathe. Tell us what happened. There are snakes coming?”
“Big snake,” Ameron managed while sucking in a deep breath, waving a hand in the air. “Really big.”
“How—” I started to ask, just as a flurry of activity from the tree line caught my eye and caused the words to die in my throat.
Bursting from the forest in a panicked mass, I saw the missing members of Virtus sprint out from the foliage, Drace’s massive form leading the way, with both Caius and Halcyon on either side of him and the other Adventurers fanning out, half a step behind. No sooner did the group cover more than ten paces from the forest’s edge, did a massive, twenty-foot-long emerald scaled snake launch itself out from the trees, hissing wildly as it chased the fleeing group of Adventurers.
“Oh fuck!” Sierra swore, moments before Halcyon’s words reached our ears and made everything worse.
“Shit! There are two of them!”
Chapter 18
No sooner did we have a chance to process Halcyon’s words than a second, grey scaled snake, even larger than the first charged out of the forest. The sudden appearance of the creature freezing all of us in place. Hissing with rage, the gargantuan, twenty-foot-long snake rushed after the fleeing Adventurers with blinding speed and charged ahead of them, effectively cutting them off from reaching us. In the span of seconds, a relatively peaceful glade had been filled with two absolutely monstrous sized snakes, both rising up high on their tails as they regarded their now captured prey.
“Ranged attackers, focus on the grey one!” Sierra shouted, recovering from the shock of the second snake first and seeing both snakes begin working in tandem as they corralled Drace and his group into a circle. “Give our guys a chance to regroup!”
With Sierra’s voice snapping them out of their surprise, a ragged volley of arrows and magic sailed through the air and splashed against the grey snake’s scales, causing the creature to recoil in pain and twist its sinuous body in our direction. A massive forked tongue flicked through the air as the snake then pressed itself against the ground and shot forward towards us, leaving its mate behind to deal with Drace’s group.
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“Melee forward!” I called out, Sierra’s shout helping me push through my own initial wave of shock as I stared at the snake charging towards us and began issuing orders while drawing Razor. “Try to keep the snake’s attention on you and buy time for the ranged attackers to wear it down!”
With no better plan for the moment, I decided to lead by example, taking the first step forward towards the oncoming snake, reflexively casting Lesser Shielding on myself as I desperately tried to figure out what I was going to do when the snake came into range. Focusing on the two massive creatures in hopes of getting a better idea of what we were up against, I saw two tags appear in my vision.
[Emerald Moss Snake] – Rare Boss – Level 14
[Grey Moss Snake] – Rare Boss – Level 14
They brought back Two Rare Boss creatures? I couldn’t help but mentally curse at the other group, praying that we would be able to find a way to kill the pair without our whole group being killed, or more importantly, one of the NPCs who wouldn’t come back to life afterward. They were just supposed to pull a dozen or so creatures for us to fight! Not risk a complete wipe!
As we sprinted towards the rapidly approaching grey scaled snake, a risky plan snapped into my mind, one that relied on split-second timing and one that I only had seconds to try and pull off before the opportunity passed.
“Doing something stupid!” I informed Freya at the same moment that I conjured and threw a weak Flare spell at the oncoming snake’s face, immediately going on to cast Jump a heartbeat afterward. Sailing through the air with precision, my tiny fireball splashed against the grey snake’s face, the spell too weak to do anything but get its attention.
Legacy of the Fallen Page 21