NOVEL NEXT Chapter 63 - Broadcast
"It sucks." Naiad declared.
"Language." I reminded her, looking at her brother, making sure everyone was okay.
"Yeah, it sucks like a straw when an ice cube clogs it," she stretched her bow string before putting the weapon away. "I wanted to do it and no longer be afraid of being in Fanamel."
"Where did he go?" Triangle was holding on to his sister's cloak as they walked down.
His head twisted around in all directions. The second he got within sprinting distance of me, he booked it over and got behind my shield.
"I promise, you're safe." I assured him. "Michael used a scroll that would teleport him to a random location. Doesn't mean a better one, but it gets him out of a mess fast."
"We're all muddy. I'm going to want a real shower after this." Naiad itched at her skin.
"Your mom pays for a mud bath at the spa. Ladies like it." I said and winked down at Triangle. "Men just like building with it."
"Oh, the bear!" Triangle joined in on the conversation again, no longer worried about his surroundings.
The young boy took off climbing the cliffs and back into the forest. I looked around for the Lizard-folk. Flaco was up on the opposite side of the valley hill waving a fire hand down at me.
"Wait Triangle. I want to talk to them," I pointed up to the hill.
Triangle and Naiad played tag while I climbed the steep hill up to where the Lizard-folk sat around a fire cooking rats. "Care for one?" asked Hans.
"Nope, I'm good." I got straight to the point. "What happened to our agreement about protecting the tree?"
"We did. It's still there." Iris said, cutting a bit of rat meat off the spit.
"Did you watch how I fought a human away from our tree a few minutes ago?"
"That's more of a sapling," stated Iris. "But yes, we figured its vile presence made you attack a comrade. It's why we're over here. Also, we gave him the same request to help befriend the ozo a few days ago. You should work together."
Hans looked down at the kids playing. "We might need to recruit more Revivers if we want this plan to work."
"Hss hsss, we can't have them killing each other," Iris said.
"We'll get your ozo," I promised. "Just please keep any other… people, like us-"
"Revivers," Hans educated me, "those who don't die, but come back."
I nodded, ignoring the growing headache, "Please keep other Revivers away from here. We didn't want anyone to find the tree. The kids have a plan to get this ozo for you."
"Should've said that." Falco shrugged and ate more meat. "How goes the ozo?"
"Working on it."
"Who wants to bet that the tree will grow first before anyone friends this animal?" Iris asked, raising her clawed hand first.
Hans raised his.
Falco kept his claws down. "Doesn't that mean we are voting against ourselves?"
"Shhh" Hans hissed.
"Either way," sighed Iris. "We're only going to make sure no one takes it. You can't expect us to hide a tree in a forest."
I rolled my eyes. "Thanks."
"Take this rat for the kids. They're growing and need it." Iris handed me a fully cooked rat steaming away. I didn't reject the gift, and the kids would probably try it, anyway. I'd let them make that choice.
If we hadn't done this pointless ozo quest, the Pantheon Guild wouldn't have found it. We could've hidden it in a better place. But now everyone in the game knew where the tree was.
[Guild Chat]
[CheezWiz: Hey everyone, is what I heard is true? Your fancy seed is in the Brightstone Woods?]
[Boulder: Yup… Not sure what we can do to stop the world from coming.]
[CheezWiz: How much time do you have left?]
[Boulder: 4 days and 5 hours about.]
[CheezWiz: Crap, we won't get there in time. We are stuck in our own timer. Once our quest finishes though, we need to team up for safety in numbers.]
[Boulder: You're not going to leave the guild and run?]
[CheezWiz: Heck no, quitting is for wimps. We just need to adjust our strategy.]
[Boulder: I think you're on to something. Thanks, man.]
[CheezWiz: Good luck and stay in touch.]
By the time I caught up to Naiad and Triangle near the tree, I had a new plan brewing in my mind. We were going to flip on every strategy we had so far.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"If I tag you, you have to let me get the reward!" Triangle chased after his sister.
"Like you can catch me. I'll get that new class for this quest before anyone else does." Naiad hopped backwards, easily dogging her brother's hand. "Nope. So close. Not fast enough."
I stopped at the stream and filled up the watering can before dumping it onto the demonic sapling. The screaming of merry children stopped and turned into one loud panic cry.
"No! Dad, it hates water!" Triangle ran over to stop me.
But it was too late, I already emptied the pitcher. "It was dry. Look at this soil."
Triangle groaned, "That's the point."
The timer updated again on the seed, speeding up.
>>><<<
[Demonic Seed from Hell, a daughter of the goddess of Leith (count 1). Time Remaining: 4 days, 4 hours, 56 minutes]
>>><<<
"Then why does it keep getting shorter?" I added jazz hands while pointing to the seed for more dramatic flare.
"I don't know, Dad!" Triangle kicked at the ground where the water flowed down. "I'd wish you listened."
That stung. I knew that feeling well, especially as I watched my son kick around the ground more to work off his frustration. I handed him the watering can. "Sorry man, you're right, I haven't been listening. Can I ask you next time for the watering can?"
Triangle pouted and snatched it from my hands, turning away. "Maybe."
That could be a yes later if I earned it. We needed to remove more time and work faster before the Pantheon guild showed up. I asked our plant growing expert. "We still need plant food for the seed, right? I want us to speed up our timer on the seed by a lot."
"Yay!" Triangle said.
"Scat time," Naiad laughed.
"Hold it, you get annoyed about mud, but not that?" I was so confused.
She grumbled about something, but I couldn't hear it and didn't push further on the prickly matter.
"Before it gets cold, Iris wanted to give you this rat meat." I brought the singed meat out of my inventory.
Naiad grabbed it. "This will be perfect to feed the ozo."
"We can put it by our mud bear." Triangle said.
As we walked to the bear through the woods, I filled the kids in on my plan.
"It's not going to work." Naiad said.
"Why?" Triangle beat me to the question.
"Think about how we got the seed, what all the NPC guardians and gods have been talking to us about. The change of balance and all these quests. We can't just tip scale slightly to balance it. We need to smash the scale or bring a whole new one and set the norm. It can't be a pitiful plan with stealth."
"Huh," I said. "That's actually pretty true. There always is a big bad boss to fight in our quests to move it along. Triangle, have any of your herbalist quests been like that?"
"No, I only had to make a new potion right before a timer ended," he informed us.
"Remember our baker friend from the holy street? Kryz?" I asked Naiad. She nodded. "He said he only had to find rare ingredients to create a new flavor and help. Quests in the city keep you there. Outside ones are adventuring, fighting, etc. I think your argument is right. I have a suggestion with your latest input."
"Go on." Her voice got scratchy with annoyance.
"We still need an army for this one. The three of us can't handle it. With your scouting abilities and Triangle's potion making, I bet we can create an army."
"I don't get it. It's only creates a higher chance of us losing the reward." Naiad stopped walking until I was at pace with her, and Triangle led the group.
"But it will give us an actual chance to succeed." I respond. "And as long as one of us gets the quest reward, I'll be happy."
"Well, duh, we better get the reward, or else we get the curses. Do you regret not quitting before we went into hell?" Naiad looked up at me to study my reaction.
"At least we got to blow up part of the city. Boom!" Triangle giggled.
"That's not a good thing." I told him seriously. "That time was a one off to save our lives. I never want you to do that again without permission. About your hell question: I wish I stopped so I could've been part of your quest with Kerry and Triangle's alchemy."
Naiad pursed her lips and nodded. She walked toward a fresh stool sample, fertilizer, from a large animal and moved it to her inventory with a gagging face. "Ew. I think because I've done all the hard work, and this gross work, I should get the class."
"But I want it!" Triangle whined. "I'm the youngest."
Naiad looked at me and pointed at him, to show her the point. "See, he doesn't know what the prize is. I would make a great warrior with the stats."
"What about your bow, then?" I asked her.
"I can change classes. I'm still young."
I smiled at her logic. "That's true. But then his point makes the most sense. He's the youngest, and that's a written rule in a lot of board games."
"Hey! Those are BOARD games, not video games," she pouted.
Triangle ran over to the mud area and pointed down. "Shh, the ozo is sleeping here!"
He said it so loud the birds in a nearby tree took off. And the sleeping ozo in the muddy crater woke up. It's stretched out with a bow, reaching its front paws to the edge of the mud before pulling its head up. Its dark gray fur lacked any of its normal luster. Its black eyes locked onto Triangle, who remained frozen.
"Triangle!" I screamed and rushed over after him. I completely missed the beast lying in the mud.
The ozo's enormous claws landed on the ground right next to the half-gnome. The next second, I knew it would be throwing my son away. I unclipped my shield and prepared to throw it.
Stopping barely in time as an over cooked rat landed on top of the muddy paws.
"My sister says feeding an animal is a good way to make it friends," Triangle educated the monster.
The ozo froze completely with its mouth half open. A drop of drool landed on the ground as the system computed the action and added the extra child charisma charm. It was enough time for me to grab Triangle and yank him back.
>>><<<
[Quest completed: Player Triangle has completed the Befriend the ozo quest. The ozo's eyes aren't how this creature sees. Smells and noise constantly fill the world and it tracks each one. With the constant onslaught of smells, the ozo can only find solace and peace when settled in the mud after a good meal. This ozo will now follow player Triangle.]
>>><<<
"I told you mud worked!" Triangle cheered.
"So did my food." Naiad ran over, sticking her hand out and her rat meal from Iris appeared. "Can I still be friends with you?"
The ozo made a rumble noise, but it wasn't a roar. Naiad smiled at the purr and talked with excitement. "Wow, so the Mark of Valiha was just how it saw… I mean smelled us. The mud on us made us less smell less threatening?"
With a gentle golf clap I said, "Great work, you two. Let's get this ozo back to the lizard-folk. Lead the way, you wise sages."
This quest was simpler than our previous one, and even simpler than the legendary quest. The only major threat we ran into was the Pantheon Guild. My stomach turned at thinking about what was actually supposed to happen with this quest in this higher level zone. The Pantheon guild was here earlier with a big plate of food and drugs to make it calmer. The only thing we did so far was the mud.
None of that mattered. We did it right and had to turn it in.
"Naiad, do you think you can risk the woods and run ahead and warn the lizard-folk to get muddy? They won't get near ozo if they're clean."
"Sure!" She took off with not hesitation.
I bit my tongue to stop helicoptering. She knew how to be safe and watch her surroundings. Kerry would help her too.
I was proud of how she could stand on her own. She figured out a solution for this quest, and even the Carrion of Life, told me about some rough things going on in her life and her latest enjoyments with wanting to go camping. We had a relationship as she was changing and becoming more responsible. I would love to give her this quest reward, the Jaguar of Chiliam, and stay back as the tank to watch her and Triangle flourish in the game.
"Dad, are you happy?" Triangle asked beside me.
He carried a piece of rat meat in one hand. The ozo happily munched away at it.
"Yeah, bud, I am. You?"
"Yep! Do you think I can ride it?"
I laughed, "Let's try it out."