The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Blake

Blake definitely thought of himself as something of a creature of routine. His days were mostly fairly well planned out in advance, and while he didn't necessarily dislike doing things spontaneously, it was rare for him to deviate from his plans.

Mostly because he knew what he liked, and typically had plans that filled his time with those things.

Once the new college semester had begun at Berkeley, Blake's days got even more regular. He hadn't lied to Hibiscus during that first little chat - his sleep schedule had been so messed up over the summer break that he was regularly sleeping between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., give or take a bit on either side. But when most social circles hung out late into the night, his sleeping getting completely screwed over was almost expected.

Now though, solidly into September and the new semester, things were back to what was a socially acceptable schedule. He slept overnight, woke up early to get to his classes, and did normal things in the late afternoons and evenings.

He was regularly hanging out with friends and playing games and the like most nights. They had standing plans on Mondays and Fridays every week. He was part of a tabletop group that played on Sundays, and there was a fair bit of crossover between the two.

But those same friends had bounced off of Mag Mell really quickly when it launched. To be fair, Blake didn't have a lot of MMO playing friends. Some had touched one MMO or another while growing up and decided they weren't worth it.

And to be fair, enjoying MMOs required a certain approach. You had to invest more time before getting the full return, which was a big ask these days when there were plenty of other things to play or do that didn't require nearly as much input, effort, or investment.

Given that, Blake couldn't believe his luck when meeting Caoimhe and the rest of Nettle Tea. While Blake had been hesitant at first for a multitude of reasons, not least his age in comparison to everyone else, he was coming around. His Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights were now solidly booked out for playing with them, and he didn't plan on changing that soon.

Mag Mell was a game that had truly captured Blake's attention. And when the raids were announced, he had been excited but also somewhat disappointed. While he knew now that it wouldn't have been an option, his plan had been to just use the [A-P System] to try to fumble his way through the content. But doing that style of content with random people would never have been the same as with friends.

But given Blake simply didn't have good friends in the game, he'd just have to suck it up and figure out what to do. There was a good chance that he would have ended up looking at recruitment posts for the raids, and ended up taking a shot with one of the larger Clans with a few raid teams. He had joined smaller Clans in the past, usually with bad results. Joining an already established group of friends was usually more awkward than not, and Blake had had one too many bad experiences there.

It left him a little gun shy when it came to joining a small group of friends like that. Better to be lost in the crowd of a bigger Clan.

Stumbling into Caoimhe, and by extension, Nettle Tea was a happy accident. While he certainly did still feel like 'the new guy', even after a bit more than a month, he wasn't the only one. Nyx and Evie were equally new to the group, and that helped even things out a lot. Basically half the group was 'new'.

But more than that, Caoimhe, Bisky, Mello, and Aleister had all been more welcoming than he had expected. Blake wasn't sure if it was an age thing, or what, but not only had they made him, Nyx, and Evie feel welcome, but they had immediately simply acted like they belonged there. Or had always been a part of the group.

With a small smile on his face, Blake shifted his backpack so it sat higher again. He was looking forward to getting back to his house; it was Tuesday, and that meant Mag Mell and some online shenanigans. They hadn't made any solid plans for tonight, but even just meeting up to go try their hand at some world bosses had been a blast.

The walk from the campus wasn't too long, thankfully. And while Blake had rented a place off campus with a few friends, they were often gone during the evening doing various activities. Which meant the house was quiet and mostly empty.

He waved hello to Jon, who was at home in the kitchen, just munching on a sandwich. Jon returned the wave, but had a mouthful of food so he didn't say anything other than a jumbled greeting as Blake headed toward his room.

After dropping his bag next to the bed, he plopped down in his desk chair and spun to face his PC. His room may not be all that big, but it was just big enough to snugly fit his bed, his desk, his chair, and a little bit of storage. Realistically, if Blake was in his room he was either asleep or on his PC, so it was enough for him.

He powered on the PC and got the game started up, and checked the Nettle Tea server. It was just after 3, so no one was on quite yet. But they would be, so he settled in to wait.

"Alright everybody! What's the deal tonight?" Bisky asked, once everyone had arrived. Caoimhe was the last one to show up, as it was evidently his turn to cook dinner for his family. Blake could even hear the whispering of one of the man's daughters coming through on his mic - it also wasn't the first time. He seemed like a good dad.

"We've actively got people working on off Paths now, right?" Evie asked. "I know I've got my off roles geared, but what about everyone else? Maybe we can help someone track down that last bit of gear?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's not a bad idea." Mellody said. "I need to get a few drops for my Omen; specifically my Book needs a better weapon if I ever want to play it."

"I've been slowly gearing up for Astral and Claw." Caoimhe said. "My Astral Dedications are both basically right there, but I haven't put as much effort toward Claw yet. It's fully leveled, but it's still in leveling gear."

"It's Vine for me." Bisky said. "Witch is good to go, but I still need a better weapon and a couple armor pieces for Hunt."

"I'm fully kitted out." Aleister said. "Ravager is my only other path, but both dedications are fully geared. So, no worries on my end." Firo noted to himself that meant [Zerker] and [Plague].

"Same here." Nyx said. "I was picky with my Dedications, but with Edge and Tenebrae fully leveled, I've got Ruin and Athame respectively fully set up."

"I'm also good to go." Blake finally chipped in last. "Obviously, Invoker and Rune are both fully equipped, but I actually have all of the magic-based Paths fully equipped. So, Mage, Vine, Tenebrae, and Astral - and both of their associated Dedications - are all fully kitted out."

Someone whistled, though Blake couldn't tell who.

"Damn, Firo. You put in some work." Nyx said, clearly impressed.

Blake scratched the back of his head awkwardly, not that anyone could see it. "Not really. There's just not much else to do when you're a solo player besides leveling and gearing. So when I played, that's what I did."

Blake didn't feel like it was worth mentioning that as a college student he probably had quite a bit more time. Even if he did work full time during the summer.

Then he added in a much more muttering tone, "I actually have all of the Warrior Paths fully leveled. Just not all geared."

"Well, shit." Aleister said. "We've been playing together for a few weeks now, and it never even occurred to me to look at everyone's other Path levels."

"I think most of us have a whole bunch of paths leveled, just going unused, to be fair." Caoimhe said. "I have all of the Warrior paths except Arrow leveled, for example."

"Nope. I've only got War and Ravager." Aleister said. "It's all I played, so I just never bothered. I don't think Mello does ei -"

"Sorry, sweetie." Mellody said, clearly holding back a chuckle. "All of my Benefactor Paths are fully leveled." He quickly added, "I just didn't mention the others because I didn't want to take anything from Evie. Besides, Muse is far and away my favorite."

There was a bit of silence after Mellody's short outburst.

"...Everyone has most of their stuff leveled?" Aleister asked, finally. She sounded almost resigned.

"'Fraid so." Nyx said. "I'm just missing Mage and Astral."

"Yep. I've got everything except Slayer." Bisky said.

Blake thought it was funny that Caoimhe and Bisky had avoided leveling each other's mains. He knew that they weren't in any kind of relationship or anything, but it was cute.

"If it makes you feel better, I think Fiona only has Plate and Fencer leveled." Caoimhe said.

"Yeah, but that was just to avoid overlapping with Aleister." Mellody said in a hushed voice that clearly everyone would hear. Including his wife, who he seemed to be happy needling.

"Man, fuck me." Aleister sighed. "I guess I should work on the other classes just in case."

"If you're ever around during the day and want to work on stuff, let me know." Blake chimed in happily. "I'm free a lot, and happy to help kill stuff for you."

"Thanks." She muttered. "I'll probably take you up on that if I do actually do any leveling."

"No pressure." Caoimhe said. "Like I said, Fiona has the other tanks covered. I would be surprised if a fight required either both Ravager and War or Plate and Fencer."

"I hear you." Aleister said. "Anyway, what's the plan tonight, then? We don't need to spend the time now worrying about that."

"I'm behind the idea of tracking down gear for whoever needs it." Bisky said. "But it also sounds like most of us are pretty well set up for most things."

"I think it sounded like Mello needed it most?" Evie mentioned. "I think everyone else sounded like they had at least one secondary Path fully geared up, but Mello was short a weapon for Omen?"

"We can do that. I'm not opposed to tracking down a weapon for my Book." Mello said. "But for what it's worth, my Mystic is fully geared. So I do have one secondary Path, there's just some overlap there."

"I think getting your Omen geared up would be good." Nyx said. "It's definitely the best mitigation healer, so having one available to us would probably be good. And while Evie does have a lot of Paths leveled, Omen is not one of them."

"It is not." Evie confirmed. "I'm not a huge fan of the flavor of Book or Seer, so I just never did it. Besides, for the most part, Hallow can cover a lot of the same stuff Omen can, just not as well."

"And that could be a detriment when it comes to raids. Maybe." Blake said, nodding to himself. "It seems unlikely that the game would push specific Paths that hard, given how customizable they are, but Omen does have access to significantly more shielding skills than the other healers. Even taking altered skills into account."

Kieran chuckled. "What you're saying is, ironically, the one Path we're not entirely prepared to run is the one Path that has the single best chance of being 'necessary'."

"I mean…no? But also yes." Blake said, chuckling ruefully. "All of the DPS Paths can pretty easily cover for one another. As for tanks…well, I suppose there is a miniscule chance that War or Ravager become very important due to their magical or hp manipulation mechanics, but that seems very unlikely."

"But the singular healer Path with immense shielding capabilities could be important." Mellody said.

"Possibly." Blake agreed. "Mind you, the other healers should be able to make up for it with their own mitigation skills, but damage reduction and extra HP aren't always the same."

"Right!" Aleister declared. "Then let's just go get this weapon. I wanna play, and we've wasted twenty minutes sitting here waffling back and forth."

"Do you know where to get the weapon you want, Mello?" Nyx asked.

"If we want to fully lean into Omen's shielding abilities when I use it, then yeah. The Shrieking Caverns."