“Right,” Olaf said.
“As far as paying the mercenary, I’ll cover the cost, just try to keep it reasonable,” I said.
“I suppose if I leave now, I can make it to Root City before sundown,” Olaf thought aloud, then said, “Alright, I’m going to check in with Mic then I’ll head out. Hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow or the next day.”
“Thanks, Olaf,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Olaf replied, waving me off.
After a few farewells, Rose and I dropped her armor off at the smith’s then returned to Dogson’s to get cleaned up and into a change of clothes.
Given it was just late afternoon, Rose and I decided to pay a visit to Trinico and hopefully catch up with her.
The Temple was sparsely populated, though I did take note of one
“Bye-Bye Jacko,” Trinico said merrily upon seeing me. She glided forward until she was able to greet me properly. “It is so incredibly good to see you back with us. Your timing could not have been better.”
“I’m happy to be able to come help,” I replied.
Moving on, Trinico looked Rose up and down. “And Rose Thorns, so good to see you once more.”
“It’s also nice to see you, Trini,” Rose replied.
“I trust your companions are also around. I saw Micaela yesterday, so I know she’s here,” Trinico said.
“Heath is around somewhere. Olaf is on his way back to Root City looking for help. And Baby is away for training, just for a few days,” I answered.
“That is good. I am glad to hear it,” Trinico said. “So, what brings you back to this humble temple?”
“Mostly just to check in with you,” I said, only to hear a rumble of thunder that neither Rose nor Trinico seemed to hear. I quickly amended, “And I need to speak with my Goddess. She sent me here but didn’t really give me much of an explanation.”
“Then you still serve justice?” Trinico asked.
I smiled reassuringly and nodded, “I do indeed.”
“Good, then I may have a task for you,” Trinico said. “How much have you learned about the problems surrounding the town?”
“The Undead have been invading from the next province over after some adventurers awoke something evil and failed to kill it,” I summarized.
“Yes, it is this evil I need your assistance in uncovering,” Trinico said.
“How can we help?” Rose asked excitedly.
“I need to find the source of the undead taint. There are rites I can perform to trace the undead to their source, but to do that, I need to collect a great deal of that taint,” Trinico replied. “More specifically, I need a little bit of many of the undead, the more the better.”
Quest Alert: Tracing the Undead Taint (Recommended Level 25-30)
Priestess Trinico has asked you to help her trace the undead back to the source. To do this, she has requested you acquire small fragments of the undead from a wide variety of them.
Reward: Experience, Hidden (dependent on fragments collected), Source of the Undead Plague
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“What do you mean a bit?” I asked before Rose could accept the quest without considering the objective.
“Something small is fine so long as it is described as ‘Undead’ in the item description,” Trinico replied.
“So, like a fang or talon?” I asked, pulling a few from my bag to show her.
Undead Wolf Fang – Use caution when handling, this fang carries the Undead Plague – Crafting Material
Undead Condor Talon – Use caution when handling, this talon carries the Undead Plague – Crafting Material
Undead Drakeling Claw – Use caution when handling, this claw carries Strong Undead Plague – Crafting Material
“Yes, those are exactly what I require, but in much greater numbers,” Trinico said, leaning closer to my hand but not reaching out to touch the items.
“How many?” Rose asked.
“The more you bring me, the more easily I will be able to trace the source of the Undead Plague,” Trinico said, refusing to be exact. It basically meant this was an open-ended quest. If we provided too much material, we would likely receive some kind of bonus. Unfortunately, it also meant that we could fail to provide enough undead material, which would also fail the quest.
“We’ll do it,” I said. There was no reason not to try to give her what she requested. We were going to be killing the Undead for the next few days anyway.
“Thank you, Bye-bye, Rose,” Trinico said. “I promise, this will aid us in putting an end to this plague. With a little luck, we might even uncover a way to destroy it.”
I felt an internal ‘ooh’ swell up inside me. If I just heard her correctly, and I like to think I did, if we more than succeed with this quest, then she might be able to give us a weapon or spell of some kind to use against the undead. Then again, who knew how much undead plague material we would need to acquire first.
“We’ll do our best,” Rose promised.
“Good,” Trinico said. “Now, business is out of the way. Let us catch up, shall we?”
Trinico led us to her office where we enjoyed tea and conversation, but no other quests came out of it. That didn’t make it any less enjoyable to catch up with the NPC. She was even nice enough to share a few stories about some of the adventurers who had come through the province. I was always interested in the unique and unusual classes and builds that players came up with. Trinico talked about her apprentice, another adventurer but one that wanted to serve all of the Gods and Goddesses. I kept my mouth shut when Trinico mentioned her apprentice left the province just after the Undead problem began. She talked about the various spellcasters and unique weapon users. The most interesting in my opinion was a bow and arrow wielding Paladin of Apollos that shot arrows of holy light. Most Paladin’s are known for their shining heavy armor and melee weapons.
Before we knew it, an hour passed, and another rumble of thunder suggested my Goddess was getting impatient.
“I’m afraid I’ve made my Goddess wait long enough,” I said, making excuses.
“I do understand,” Trinico said. “It is never wise to make a God or Goddess wait long.”
With the promise to work on the quest and a few farewells, Rose and I moved over to the small alcove that held the shrine to my Goddess.
“Hello Goddess Issara, I’m here,” I said aloud.
“And it is about time,” the voice of the Goddess Issara filled my head.
“You didn’t exactly give me any direction other than to come to the province,” I pointed out.
I heard her huff in my head before saying, “Yeah . . . well . . . I should not need to say anything by now. You should already know I would have expected you to check in immediately.”
I wanted to point out how unreasonable that was but held my tongue. Hopefully, she ignored the thought as well. It was easy to forget she was able to read my thoughts.
“Is she talking to you?” Rose asked.
“Yeah,” I answered, pointing to my head.
Rose nodded then shrugged. “I might as well go pay the Goddess Lilith’s altar a visit while I’m here. Catch up with you in a few?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” I said, sharing a quick kiss with her as she moved toward the stairs into the bowels of the temple and the altars to the darker Gods and Goddesses.
“Now that you are finally here, we can have a proper conversation,” the Goddess Issara said.
“Okay, so what do you want to talk about?” I asked, looking back to the small figure that stood upon the Goddess’s altar. I hoped she would have another large and impressive quest for me. Preferably something that dealt with Chaos, a.k.a. Epic.
“As you have learned by now, there is an Undead Plague wreaking
havoc in Hurlig Ridge and other nearby provinces. You also know it originated from the Hurlig Flatlands. I would love to tell you more about what caused it . . . what specifically caused it, but I cannot. I can tell you that this great evil is working to unleash an even greater evil if it is not stopped soon. And that evil . . . well, let us just say that any nearby provinces, including Hurlig Ridge, will likely be left as nothing more than a wasteland if you don’t prevent it from happening,” the Goddess explained.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“Obviously, I want you to stop it from happening,” the Goddess Issara stated loudly, her altar shaking slightly as a result.
Class Quest Alert: Evil Rising (Recommended Level 27-32)
The Goddess Issara has tasked you with stopping the rise of a great evil. Work your way into the Hurlig Flatlands, once there, find the source of the Undead plague and stop it from causing an even greater tragedy.
Reward: Experience, Hidden, 20-Sigils of the Goddess Issara
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
I winced at seeing I couldn’t refuse the quest, even more so when you tied that with the suggested level. My party and I would really need to level up quickly if we wanted to have a realistic chance of stopping whatever this great evil was.
“Of course, we’ll do it. Is there anything you can offer to help?” I asked.
“Only advise. The Priestess of this Temple has given you a quest that will help you immensely. Completing that with the highest possible reward should be your top priority. In fact, I would even try to purchase as many ‘Undead’ fragments from the other adventurers in the province as you possibly can, something your friend’s Order of Service should be able to assist with,” the Goddess suggested, though I knew it wasn’t really a suggestion.
I was about to say, ‘Thank you’, when the Goddess continued, “Second, your ‘Cartography’ skill will prove invaluable if you can develop it just a little further.”
The Goddess pushed on, “Third, learn more about the Undead. The more you know, the better you will be able to deal with them.”
“And finally, level up as quickly as you can. If you fail to stop the evil from rising, you will need to be stronger than ever if you want to even have a chance at facing what comes next,” the Goddess said, then added “Now, my time is up. Good luck, I will be watching.”
I knew she was gone when the altar lost some of its luster. Aside from improving my ‘Cartography’ skill, the rest was clearly ominous.
Developing ‘Cartography’ could have meant leveling it up or finding another subskill. I would need to talk to Homer to see if he had a book squirrelled away somewhere. Or maybe another shop in town did. Either way, I would figure it out or I’d be making a trip back to Root City and paying Sirac a visit.
As for learning about the Undead. That sounded like something to apply my ‘Lore’ skill. Learning about them might unlock a new subskill that increases the damage I do to them or reduces the damage they deal to me. Which also made me think it might not be a bad idea to learn more about Wolves, Condors, Drakelings, and Liches. If I could get some kind of bonus when fighting them, then all the better. I was especially interested in learning about drakelings. They were small, much smaller than I would have pictured a baby dragon, which also made me think that they might be something different from a dragon.
Then there was Micaela’s Order. The Goddess Issara made it sound like that was going to be invaluable to completing this story line and all the various quests associated with it. Which also meant I was going to need to bite the bullet and join her Order, regardless of whether the name of said order included the word ‘Epic’.
“All done?” Rose asked as I met her at the entrance to the temple.
“All done,” I replied, then asked, “Everything go alright with your Goddess?”
“Yeah, she gave me a class quest, which was nice,” Rose replied.
“So did mine,” I said. “I need to stop the source of the plague before it unleashes something even worse. You?”
“Panther,” Rose answered. “He and I need to work together to make him stronger and help us fight together.”
Thinking on it, Rose didn’t use Panther very much in combat. The snake familiar was always there, hiding within a tattoo on her body, but he was rarely seen outside of her body. I was curious as to how large he must have grown by now. The last time I’d seen him he was almost six feet long and about as thick as my arm. Depending on how Rose grew him, he could be longer and thicker by double or more. Then again, she could have moved toward a more venomous route.
“Got a plan?” I asked.
Rose grinned but didn’t say anything. I supposed that meant it would be a surprise later.
When she did speak, she said lightly, “I’m hungry, let’s eat.”
Chapter 9 – Micaela
Micaela was frustrated with how things had been going while laying the foundation floor. Mostly because the man that should have been the greatest help to her, turned out to be the greatest thorn in her side. Willis Sears had the ‘Construction’ profession, same as she did. His was at a much higher level than hers, which was to be expected given he was responsible for almost all construction projects in Hurligville. This shouldn’t have been a problem. It should have made things extremely easy. And it probably would have if not for one subskill. Willis had the subskill ‘Foreman’. It gave him the ability to improve the speed and quality of a specific number of workers, provided they were following his orders. As this was Micaela’s construction project, you can imagine how well that worked when she and Willis gave contradictory orders.
“Willis, stop!” Micaela finally snapped.
“What is it, Mrs. Crushhammer?” Willis asked, surprised by the sudden outburst.
“I told you, I don’t want to use mortar for the foundation floor or wall stone blocks,” Micaela repeated. “I want to use ‘Fuse Stone’ to make one seamless structure.”
Willis groaned. “I do not have any subspells. I cannot use that. None of my people can either.”
Now it was Micaela’s turn to groan. “Fine, I’ll do all the spell work. Just lay out the foundation floor.”
“First we need to dig a little deeper for support pillars,” Willis countered.
“No, you don’t,” Micaela said. “I’ll be fusing the stones directly to the rock underneath.”
“And what if the stone only goes down another few inches?” Willis asked.
Micaela could admit he had a point there. Or he would have if Mover hadn’t let her know the bedrock went down another twenty-two feet before hitting the aquafer. After Micaela relayed this information, Willis finally seemed to get on board. It still made everything take longer as orders needed to be relayed from Micaela through Willis to the workers.
Then there was Micaela’s own task of using ‘Fuse Stone’ repeatedly. Binding two cubic feet at a time, first under the stone to bind it to the bedrock, then on the side of the stone to bind it to the stone or stones next to it.
At some point, Olaf dropped by to let her know he needed to make a trip back to Root City. Something about needing to get more people to help with their quest, but Micaela was fuzzy on the details.
“Mrs. Crushhammer,” Willis said, having waited patiently for Micaela to finish the most recent stone.
Looking up from the foundation flooring, Micaela smiled tiredly then said, “Willis, is there a problem?”
“Quitting time, ma’am. We finished laying the stone blocks for the foundation floor. They are tightly fit but that is the best we can do without the ‘Fuse Stone’ subspell,” Willis explained. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning, but we will not be able to do much until the foundation floor is finished.”
Micaela nodded in understanding. She popped open the skill description, hoping there was some significant growth.
Skill: Construction
Rank: II
Level: 31
Experien
ce: 87.23%
Description: Construction is the ability to build. You have the ability to build everything from a simple well to an ornate castle.
Subspells:
Fuse Stone:
Subspell Effect (Active): Enables you to fuse stones or bricks together without mortar.
Mana Cost: -100-MP per two cubic feet
Lots of levels but no real improvement in the ‘Fuse Stone’ skill. There was one major upgrade to ‘Construction’ though. One that Micaela didn’t even notice she had gained. At some point during the day, she had gained the Subskill ‘Foreman’.
Subskills:
Foreman:
Enables you to command up to 23 workers, increasing their work speed by 4.62% and their work quality by 2.31%.
Micaela’s skill might not be as high as Willis’s, but it was better than nothing. And as long as Willis didn’t countermand her instructions then everything should be great.
Breaking away from viewing her skill, Micaela said, “I’ll work through the night if I need to, but this foundation floor will be done by the time you come back tomorrow.”
“Then I wish you the best of luck,” Willis said.
“See you in the morning,” Micaela said, gazing back at the stone blocks, she added, “I better get back to it if I’m going to keep my promise.”
“Have a good night,” Willis said, walking back toward the ladder and climbing out of the hole.
Micaela refocused her efforts, two cubic feet at a time.
“3:33,” Micaela said with a yawn as she looked over her finished foundation. She used ‘Blueprint’ one more time to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. When it came back green, she knew she was good. “A few hours of sleep are better than no sleep at all,” she grumbled as she climbed out of the foundation hole.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 14