The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Marissa

Once Marissa clicked [Accept], [Lugh of the Long Arm] turned toward her and the fade to black for a cutscene started.

"Oh, here we go." Kieran said.

"Everyone else getting the cutscene, too?" Evie asked, to a resounding "yup," from everyone.

"Well met. How can I help you?" [Lugh] asked.

[I've seen the recruitment notices; I want to help.]

[I'm not sure, I saw the crowd so I came to see what's going on.]

Marissa hadn't seen any recruitment notices around the city, though she had sped her way through [Falias] without looking at very much. She chose the [I'm not sure…] option, hoping to get a little bit of background.

"Ah, I see. You look strong enough though…" [Lugh] replied. "Very well then. We've been preparing for a while now, and the Fomorians have finally made a move. They're attacking [Gorias] en masse, and have the city basically surrounded in a siege. We need all of our available fighters on the field as soon as possible. If you and your team here are prepared, you should set out immediately."

[I understand. We will prepare and set out immediately.]

[I see. We're still unprepared and need more time.]

When the camera turned back to her while she decided, the camera panned around to show her and the entire party. It was very unusual for cutscenes to show the whole party, usually dropping them in favor of showing only the player's character and any relevant NPCs. Seeing her party of friends was a neat little bonus, especially since they were all doing different idle animations.

When Marissa clicked on the first option, [Lugh] nodded. "Very well, then. Go to [Esras] - there's currently a cavalcade of ships coming and going toward the battlefield. Simply tell them you're there to assist with the defense of [Gorias] and they'll get you there."

[Understood.]

Once she clicked that prompt, the cutscene ended and dropped her back in front of [Lugh] in the [Courtyard]. Her party was arrayed around her, some of them still in the cutscene, so she waited quietly. So did everyone else.

Once the last person was out of the cutscene, Nyx was the first to speak up. "So…to Esras?"

"Sounds like a plan." Kieran said. "Who wants to drop the circle?"

"I got it," Firo said, as he went about opening the [Fae Circle] a little bit away from where the party stood. There were remnants of other [Circles] scattered about the area, so they were certainly not the first party to do this.

"Esras was that one port city in the middle of nowhere, wasn't it?" Evie asked.

"Yeah." Evan said. "I always wondered what it would be for. Having such a relatively nice city located in a useless location was always a little weird."

"Using it as a staging ground for getting to other locations makes a lot of sense though." Ash said. "It gives it a purpose, and leaving the island that we fully explored in the base game for later adventures is a logical next step."

"True." Kieran said. "And we're headed to Gorias, which is another major city in Celtic myth. If I was a betting man, I would guess that these raids will see us move to a new land, free Gorias from this Fomorian assault, and then the next major expansion will take place on that island."

"I could see that." Jazz said. "The real question is how expansive this raid is going to be. Maybe they'll surprise us, and the new island we're headed to will just be new content, and not saved for the next major expansion."

"That would be awesome." Marissa said. "Though I think that Caoimhe is right that we won't gain normal access to it until after the raid is canonically dealt with."

"I wonder how they'll handle that in the future. If we 'canonically' repel the siege for the story to continue, how will people get to do the raid afterward?" Nyx wondered aloud.

"My guess would be something like in FFXIV, where the harder versions of the raids are essentially someone retelling the story of the battle." Kieran said. "It's honestly a really smart way to lampshade going back to do things that have already been done."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Suppose we'll see what they do eventually." Firo said, cutting back into the conversation. "Circle's up, by the way."

"In we go."

[Esras] was absolutely crowded. The game had been live since early in the morning, so Clan Nettle Tea was technically several hours late to the party, and that was very obvious here.

The port city had, indeed, turned into a staging ground for the raids. There were people all over looking to form parties for the fights, some already in later stages having cleared the first stage already.

Marissa smiled as their group walked toward the docks while chatting. She wasn't paying too much attention to the conversation, but rather was looking around at how lively the little city was with all these players.

Crafters had set up little deployable shops all the way up and down the main road, and were shouting in chat about selling various foods and crafted equipment. Those pieces may not have been quite as good as the loot drops that their party had, but if anyone needed to swap [Paths] or [Dedications] last minute to fit into a group, buying their way into usable gear was an option.

Marissa was willing to bet that plenty of the crafters here were making plenty of gold right now. And that wasn't even counting the players who had set up little stalls to offer food buffs or buff potions to the players that didn't level their own crafters.

It made Marissa thankful that Ash and Jazz had leveled their crafters to cover most of their bases when it came to food and other raid prep things like the portable camp for rested buffs and things. And even better, now that they had filled out their ranks, Nyx had covered the [Alchemist] position, bringing [Potions] and things with her.

Nyx said she leveled [Alchemist] because she had gotten tired of constantly buying [Poisons] from other players, despite usually having the crafting materials on hand from gathering while playing. But in addition to the [Poisons] she crafted mostly for herself, she had started making various [Potions] for the group at large.

While they weren't items that would get used until they were in a position to actually clear a fight, they could be the difference between success and failure in more difficult content.

Marissa's attention was drawn elsewhere as they arrived at what was functionally the docks. She honestly hadn't remembered the location being so large the last time she was here, but couldn't say with any certainty that it had changed - other than the massive increase in the number of players around.

The singular dock that was highlighted as their quest destination was absolutely overflowing with players lurking around it, making it even easier to pick out.

As always, they could simply follow the crowd.

"There it is." Marissa said. "As if we needed any help finding it."

"Let's go." Jazz said enthusiastically, as Aleister walked straight through the crowd. Watching Aleister simply walk through the huge mass of people made Marissa glad that Mag Mell only had collision during combat.

The game seemed to know when the entire group had made it to the area, because as soon as Fiona - who was bringing up the rear - arrived, Marissa, as the party leader, received a pop-up.

[Large Party Gathered]

[Commence [Scenario]?]

[Begin] [Wait]

"I just got a prompt to begin or wait. Is everyone ready?" She asked.

"We don't really know what to expect, right? Should we do food and rest and stuff before we go in? Just in case we get immediately dropped into combat?" Ash asked.

"Solid plan." Evie said. "We really don't know what we're getting into."

Marissa nodded to herself, then clicked [Wait]. The pop-up didn't actually go away, it simply minimized itself to a small box on the bottom right of her screen. When the party actually shuffled off of the staging area though, the minimized box did vanish.

Thankfully, after playing together for a couple of months, Clan Nettle Tea had their battle prep routine basically down to a science; at least when they were making general preparations, anyway.

The entire party broke off from the throng of players and walked a little bit down an alleyway to a side street that was far less populated. Aleister brought out the mobile campsite and kitchen station, setting up their standard prep area. Mellody went right to work on the food, while everyone else gathered around the campfire for the rested buff.

"By the by, I don't know if anyone needs their gear repaired, but," Evan said, as Fiona produced a portable blacksmith's station. "I can repair and hone gear as necessary."

The portable station visually just amounted to a small anvil, magical torch for heating metals, and a small workbench with tools, but it certainly got the idea of a smithy across. This was one area that the team had been sorely lacking without Fiona around. While they had been going to NPCs that were capable of repairing gear, it cost a small amount of gold each time. Not that any of them were hurting for gold, but the minor drain on their resources still hurt when they knew it could be done for free.

And more than that, only players could [Hone] and [Polish] gear. They weren't particularly important buffs, but they improved the stats on a piece of gear by a whole 1% for two hours. [Hone] and [Polish] were for weapons and worn gear respectively, but ultimately had the same function.

"Right. I'm really glad to have you back, Fiona." Jazz said, as the whole party moved to line up, still within the campfire's area of effect for the [Rested] buff, which also would last two hours. Even more conveniently, the [Honed] and [Polished] buffs didn't start to run their timers until after the party left their camp, so the buff timers would coincide with one another perfectly.

"All the buffs!" Firo cheered. "It really feels like we're actually prepping for raids." He chuckled.

"Um, did anyone want any potions or poisons?" Nyx asked. "I can make some, but I'm not sure if it's worth it to launch the boat with them."

"They're single use items. We should save them for when we're in position to clear the fight." Kieran said. Agreements echoed around the group.

"Oh, good. I would prefer to save them too, but you never know what people want, right?" Nyx said. Marissa could hear the shrug in her voice.

"That's fair. We should conserve limited materials like those, though. Definitely." Ash said. "But the food is ready."

"Whatcha got for us today, Chef Mello?" Evie asked as she moved over to the table.

"Balanced and defensive type buffs. Fried Phoenix, Cornbread, and Applesauce." Ash said, and that added up for Marissa. Typically, fried foods offered [Defense] buffs, carbs were balanced HP and MP buffs, and fruits were [Resistance], or magical defense, buffs.

"I figure while we're trying to pick up mechanics, surviving to see more is better than damage to win." Ash said.

"True and correct." Nyx said, lining up to eat.

All told, with all the preparation buffs going into this, the whole party would have:

[Rested] : +2% All Character Stats

[Satiated] : +3% [Hp], [MP], [Defense], [Resistance]

[Honed] : +1% Weapon Stats

[Polished] : +1% Defensive Stats

For Hibiscus specifically, Marissa called up her character sheet just to take a quick look.

With everything in place, that bonus was nothing to sneeze at. And once everyone had had their turn and received all of the applicable buffs, the party stowed their crafting stations and moved back toward the boat.

[Large Party Gathered]

[Commence [Scenario]?]

[Begin] [Wait]

This time, Marissa clicked [Begin].