NOVEL NEXT Chapter 67 - Strategy
[Demonic Seed growing (1)
Time Remaining: 2 hour 10 minutes]
[The Root and Seeds of the Problem (Legendary)
Time Remaining: 3 hours, 38 minutes]
The timers popped up right in my face the moment I logged into Seconds-Over. We were still in Fanamel and needed to leave for the Demonic plant now.
A wall of text came at me the moment I logged in. A list minute checklist from a nervous parent.
[System notification: External Message from Beth: Honey, make sure to eat something to power up. That the kids set up far away from the boss. Only if Tristan wants to fight, though! He can stay at the base and craft. But please go with Elaine and keep her safe and help her sneak in close to snipe the quest. She can stay safe by using her range attacks. Don't forget about accessories either!
Blaine: Honey, I've leveled the kids, don't worry about this. They are more than ready for this fight. The whole town is.
Beth: Just please remind Elaine when you can.
Blaine: Will do.]
Beth worried about the jewelry, specifically the ring that Naiad wore. There was a small window between the boss fight spawning and when we would fight. Beth predicted the ring could be removed then, without negative effects. I had hoped Beth could become Leith again for this fight, but she got a stern lecture from the developers about leaving a goddess NPC hopping around in our guild earlier making potions that they wouldn't let her take over the character again.
Before I could say anything, Naiad was the one clapping her hands. "Alright everyone, listen up. We are heading out to fight a big bad boss. We have paladins from heaven fighting with us. War clerics are gearing up with them so us back line fighters, Goldy, Triangle, and I do some actual damage on this boss."
CheezWiz dropped the potions he was working on and shouted, "FREEDOM!!"
He changed his uniform to be blue and white and took off running around. "I need to slay some mobs. Y'all I can't craft. Mad props to you Triangle for sitting and doing this all day. Let's go guys!"
CheezWiz and his ganged high five the kids and I as they left so they could enjoy their own adventure.
"Go Shrimp Guild!" They shouted as they spawned out of the guildhall.
"Wait for me!" Triangle jumped up and ran out.
He didn't bother collecting the last of the greater healing potions. Neither did Naiad, as she chased after him. "I'm the leader!" she shouted.
I grabbed the potions and ran after to catch up to the leaders of the group. That was the last of the supplies we needed for the fight. We didn't do any fighting with monsters or players these last few days, selling potions and restocking Naiad's arrows, spells, and oil for my shield.
"Triangle!" I called out. "Did you pack extra bombs?"
That stopped the child in his tracks as he pivoted around and ran back to the tinker station. "Do I really get to use them?"
Naiad impatiently tapped her fingers by the guildhall entrance. "Yes! We need all the damage we can get. Just keep an eye out for dad and friends."
"I'm grabbing extra," he declared as he cleared every item off his workstation. Small metal containers, powders, triggers, all of it got rolled up into pieces of paper and tied up with leaves before stuffed into his inventory.
"Why are you bringing the tools?" Naiad asked.
"In case I need to build a bomb there! You never know when you need one." Triangle cackled like a goblin.
"I wish we had someone who could scribe scrolls for us," Naiad sighed. "I hate how much money I spend on them after every fight."
I rubbed my head, thinking. "We depend a lot on items to keep us going. The potions are great, but yeah, are we only making it as far as we have because of items? We're too reliant on them."
Naiad shook her head. "Yes, but nothing wrong with using the tools provided."
I nudged her shoulder. "Sage level advice. Either way, we could save more money if we didn't depend on them."
Triangle pointed at himself. "Do I not make enough?"
"You make a lot of money, even when running a sale." I patted his head. "You carry us there."
Naiad copied did the same. "I gather him a bunch of ingredients so he doesn't have to buy them." Then she pointed at me, accusing. "You tank for us so we can get it done. Seems like we're balanced."
With a pretending motion, I stretched and cracked my back. "Well, I better lead this charge out there - to chug more potions while you two do the damage."
"Maybe I can charm it and we don't fight?" Triangle giggled.
"That be different… A big quest with no final boss because you befriend it." I tried to play the scenarios in my head, but couldn't.
"There's going to be a boss," Naiad stated. "It will be Chiliam in some form because he's mad at us, or it will be a boss from the seed, or a portal of hell somehow."
We left the guild hall, entering the guild path of Fanamel. With the quest deadline today, and everyone in the city knowing where our guild was, I wanted to be out front and ready as a shield for my family. Triangle had a hand in his fanny pack, and Naiad hummed peacefully as we left.
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Comically, like she knew something was up and wanted me to know it, too. It put me at ease a bit.
No one was near the guild area. The streets even looked clean. The birds chirping on the roofs were the only noise around, along with Naiad's humming and snickering.
"Alright, what's up? Do we need to watch our backs?" I asked her.
She put a finger to lips, failing to hide a smile as she skipped off ahead.
We walked onto the main road of Fanamel to get to the greeted us. At least fifty people stood out in the middle of the road, clapping the moment they saw Naiad and us. A magic user sent light orbs into the sky of a variety of colors to spell out the words, "Thank you." A marching song played and the chant "Fanamel" filled in the air.
Darrell marched over in a full suit of armor and kneeled down in front of Triangle. I stood behind Triangle, trusting that the man in front of me. His druid companion walked over, signalling the rest of the crowd to stay back.
The druid had a full crown of fresh leaves and flowers weaved around her antlers, bent down to talk to Triangle. "Hi, Triangle. My name is Syriaca, and I wanted to thank you personally. I'm not the best at this game. This is actually my second continent and guild. Thanks to your potions, my friends and I could defeat the nearby raid, plant some seeds and continue our class quests." She pointed to a group of four people near the road. They waved with massive smiles, but kept their distance.
"That quest delayed many people because of the boss and his bleed effect." She pulled from her inventory a collection of tiny jingle bells. "I heard you like to collect these things. So as our thanks for your cheap potions, here."
Triangle looked up at me, and I nodded in approval. He snatched them out of her hand and moved them into his inventory. I leaned on my shield as I watched the exchange. Triangle wasn't afraid, and it was wonderful to see a community gathering around to protect him.
Syriaca stood up. "We also want to thank you, Naiad and Boulder. If you two hadn't figured out about the fake luck buff, the raid fight would've taken us a lot longer. I know I'm not the only one who wants to say thank you for that."
More little magical fire works went up in the sky to create an image of a fried shrimp. People came over to us, grouped up as guilds, thanking us for everything. From freeing the city from Pantheon, even the portals were opening up again soon. Craftsmen would come back soon, but thanks to Triangle, the economy could get going again.
Even though they weren't the wealthiest of players, they offered what they could. They shared their kindness and love for the game. It was only about sixty people in the end who waited here to walk with us to Demonic plant. I got a belt from one group which increase my armor by two points.
It wasn't a full server of players held back, but it was a village. Struggling to make their way out of a starter town. And they could do it with hints and help from us. Darrell stayed by us during the entire exchange. When he finished, Darrell confirmed no one had the mushroom's fake luck buff anymore by blessing them. We needed to be at full strength.
A group of warriors led the charge out of the city while other players stayed behind us. Darrel pushed his horse mount over to be next to me and talked in a low enough voice that the kids wouldn't hear. "Just a heads up, members of the Pantheon Guild are still around here, and players have spotted two of them in the Brightstone Woods."
I waved my hands around at the army surrounding us as we entered Clingeo Grove. "I think this group can take on two players."
Darrel nodded. "Definitely, but it's not just the Pantheon guild. They put a notice out earlier with a bounty on your guild. Sounds like there will be a mix of players trying to steal the reward from you family - or cause you to have the curse."
The surrounding players wore bright colors, carrying symbols of earth and heaven. I recognized the woven plants of the god of Nitia and Chiliam in the crowd. Darrel wore a pin of a glowing sun and sword for his heavenly god. A variety of creatures flew in the sky above us, while even strangers ones slithered or jogged next to their masters.
"We have a decent number of players on our side. How many players have you seen out there?" I asked, trying to not let my hope get crushed.
"About the same number of players we have here. We don't know if they will side with Heaven, Earth, or Hell, or the Pantheon guild during this. We don't want to get jumped."
"No, we don't. That seems to be the signature move of the Pantheon Guild," I replied.
"They're a well-rounded group. Attackers and politicians to take over a city, slow and steady or quick and ready."
"Out there in the forest, there won't be any politicians," I answered with a grin. "Unfortunately."
Darrell chuckled. "Yeah."
"I'll do anything to stop Alcender and his gang from threatening my family ever again. If I save a city with it, that's a win," I told Darrel the truth of where I stood.
"I get it. We'll make sure you and your kids get that legendary reward. It's hilarious how a kid messed with an entire guild's plan to take over the economy of a city. You're raising some good kids, teaching about sharing and that."
"They've taught me a lot the last few days." I noticed Naiad turned around to look at me, and I smiled at her.
She moved her unicorn to ride by us. "Can I give some suggestions on how we should set up for this fight?"
I nodded, happy to let her take the lead.
"We planted the seed down in a valley area. There's a small stream of water, we'll want to avoid the boss being there. If the ground gets too wet, it will slow the warriors."
"But if there's a stream, it's the low spot, making it easy for range fighters," Darrel pointed out. "It's a stream, we can try to keep to one side of the valley."
"Is it better to put the warriors up against a cliff side, or hang out on the hillside?" Naiad asked.
"Tell me about the cliff side? Is it steep or something easy to climb?"
"My brother couldn't climb it, but my dad and I can," Naiad explained. "There's a lot of trees for us to take cover in, compared to the other side of the water with the hills, you have a wide open area."
"Which is great for my bombs!" Triangle trotted over to our group. "Then I won't hit anyone hiding in trees."
"We're going to want to split," I chimed in. "A small force of mixed fighters on the other side of the stream to keep the boss's attention, the rest in the forest. But we need to be careful if the boss is anything like Lady Branchelot and can control the forest. We don't know what plants will come to life or monsters will be on her side."
"I don't think either will. I think this seed wanted to be born in hell, not in Earth," Naiad reminded me.
"Good point. Don't forget what we talked about once we start this fight." I pointed at her ring.
"I know," Naiad bobbed her head.
"I'll take my group on the lowlands," Darrel said. "We have a lot of taunts we can use to draw the boss over the stream if needed. Syriaca has long ranged spells to hit from a distance too."
"My family will go to the cliffs and forest then. If we pin the prize in the corner there, it will make it easier for us to defend it and grab it," I suggested.
"And easier for you to get trapped," Naiad poked at the flaw in my plan.
"A risk I will take. It's going to be okay."
We continued to ride to the hill, splitting the rest of the army into groups on who would be the front lines, in the lowlands, and on the cliffs.
Darrell harrumphed when it was all done and we made our way through the Brightstone Woods. "I still wish we could do more planning. I don't like how we aren't even accounting for the enemy players. This game doesn't let you have structure, always throwing surprises."
I laughed, "You've got to lean into the chaos, go with the flow. My kids taught me you can't plan for everything, and you shouldn't. Takes the fun out."
Naiad straightened her bow on her shoulder. "I'm ready to head out and get set up. I already know what tree I want."
Triangle tapped his fanny pack, a big grin on his face. "Same."
I hopped off my horse and unsummoned it. "Let's get into position, then. We got a boss to slay."
[Demonic Seed growing (1)
Time Remaining: 12 minutes and 34 seconds]
[The Root and Seeds of the Problem (Legendary)
Time Remaining: 1 hours, 40 minutes]