The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Marissa

Once Marissa had checked in with [Áine] to confirm her choice in the [Flightstone], she had thought that most of her party would be more or less finished with their own shopping as well.

She had, in fact, been quite wrong.

The only other party member that had already decided was Evan, who was clearly wearing a brand new [Round Shield] that he hadn't gotten to [Glamour] yet. It was an overgrown wooden shield that was covered in vines and flowers, but more importantly - thorns.

"Made your pick?" Marissa asked, curious what the [Shield] did, although she could make an educated guess.

"Yup!" Evan said brightly, "Thorny Rebuke. Whenever I get a perfect block, it does a little bonus damage." To show off a bit, Evan had Fiona draw her weapons. She proudly held her shield in front of her, prepared for battle, and the thorns that covered the shield seemed to glow just slightly with red tips. The effect reminded Marissa of [Áine's] spell effects.

"It's maybe not the best possible shield related invested skill, but it's better than anything else I saw."

"More damage is more damage." Marissa said in agreement. Whether or not she liked the way the game's general play style pushed for players to work for more damage at the cost of more varied builds, it was hard to deny that more damage usually was the best option.

"Agreed. And my last shield just made it mildly easier to get perfect blocks. I don't really think I need the extra bit of grace period though."

"That's fair."

"I may need to change my outfit, though." Evan said.

"Oh?" Marissa prompted, given that Evan usually left Fiona in her classic knight-like armor, and didn't change her typical look very often.

"Yeah. I really like the way the shield looks, but it clashes with my whole theme." Evan said.

"That's true. Going to go full nature-knight?"

"Nah, probably just make the color scheme match. Get some red and green accents in there with the steel."

"That should work too." Marissa said, the image in her head that of a rose-themed chevalier. It would work.

Marissa and Evan continued to chat a bit about some of the other items they had seen while the rest of the party ran around the vault trying to make their decisions. Everyone was running into a bad case of analysis paralysis over the sheer number of options they had before them - and the fact that most of the items available here seemed like they were very rare, if not entirely unique. Knowing that they may not have another chance at these items again made everyone who didn't know exactly what they wanted hesitate at every possible step.

Eventually, the rest of the party slowly wandered their way back to [Áine] with items they had settled on. Nyx had picked up an off-hand [Knife] that added a secondary effect to her [Debilitating Pierce], which could even be altered at a [Dedication Trainer]. By default, it added a DoT effect.

Jazz had settled on a necklace that would completely refill Aleister's MP when it hit zero. The item had an internal cooldown, so it wouldn't happen every time, but when it was available it would allow her to dump all of her MP into her bigger [Ebon] damage spells and skills that required MP.

Ash had picked up a beautiful new carved, wooden [Flute] for Mellody that would give her a second charge of her [Dedication Skill]. While playing [Revel], that meant the chance to use a second [Double Time], which would give her more versatility in choosing when to double the effectiveness of any given [Musick].

Evie had opted for a ring that would allow her to store a casted spell to make it an instant cast at a later point in time. Essentially it was a second use of [Skip Cast], but could be prepared beforehand. There was no doubt that it could have some very creative uses beyond just storing long cast time spells, too.

Kieran had picked up a new [Greatsword] for Caoimhe that looked incredibly dangerous. The handle section looked like they were crafted from the same white marble that [Áine] used for her staff, while the hilt and cross guard looked like the bright red blooming flower that had appeared on the top of [Áine's] staff. The blade was more of the white marble crafted into a blade shape, but covered with red-tipped thorns like Fiona's new shield. Apparently, it added a stacking DoT to Caoimhe's [Punishments].

Firo was the last to decide, returning to [Áine] with a new staff that also matched [Áine's] style. However, instead of thorns surrounding the white marble, the red flower at the top had a purple sphere floating just above the center of it, crackling with energy when the weapon was drawn. Firo said that the staff had a high [Speed] stat and an additional [Invested Effect] that would make his spells cast faster as well. Altogether, it should make his casts quite a bit faster.

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Once they had all confirmed their choices with [Áine], the Queen took another few moments to jot some things down and then nodded firmly. "Alright!" She declared. "We're all squared away now. I do apologize that I forgot to handle this all before you returned last time. But better late than never, right?"

[Áine's] voice lines sounded so peppy and energetic that Marissa had to work not to groan in response just from her physical exhaustion by reflex.

"Now then, we should get you back to [Gorias], yes? Especially if there is already a mess of wyvern headed that way. Which reminds me!" Before they all left the vault, the Queen waved a hand toward the deeper parts of the massive store room. A small trinket suddenly appeared, floating out from the depths of the room at her beckoning.

The small item floated in front of the party for a moment before it automatically disappeared, using the same animation used from something being added to a character's inventory.

"It's an anti-dragon [Rune], designed to be used with large weaponry. It may not help you all directly, but give it to one of the city's commanders. Consider it part of my patronage to the war effort." [Áine] winked and then motioned toward the door. "Now then, let's get you back."

[Áine] floated toward the door and the party followed behind her. They had made it just a bit down the hallway before the Queen stopped and turned back to the party. "Oh, you don't need to follow me. You can make a [Fae Circle] back to the city, can't you?"

As soon as [Áine's] text box disappeared, Marissa saw her quest log update.

[Sub-scenario]

[The Fae Vault]

[Scenario Cleared]

[Taking Flight]

[Scenario Accepted]

[Proceed to the [Gorias Main Square].]

As the massive text informing Marissa that she accepted the next quest appeared on her screen, [Áine] was already turning to leave.

"See you next time, new friends! And good luck - don't die!"

And then [Áine] was gone in a literal flash of her signature silvery-white light.

"I guess that leaves us with just one real option from here, yeah?" Firo asked, already casting the [Fae Circle], right there in the palace hallway.

"Suppose so." Evan said, his voice dripping with faux-sadness. "Oh, my dear Áine, when will I see you again?" he asked, sending Fiona walking a bit down the hallway toward where [Áine] had vanished.

"Well, we get to see Scathach again probably, so I'm cool with this." Nyx said in opposition to Evan's fake sadness.

"You would be, jerk!" Evan sniffed, "You've never supported our star-crossed love -"

"Hey Sam, I just wanted to check in," Kieran began, "I don't know if you pay much attention when your husband is raiding, but I'm beginning to suspect he's having an affair with -"

"Alright, alright." Evan chuckled. "Please don't send that."

"Send what?" Kieran said innocently.

"Come on, guys, let's get moving." Firo sighed, with the [Fae Circle] completed and the portal ready to go. The big window clearly showed the main square of [Gorias] on the other side.

"Oh, right. Hopefully we don't jump right into anything." Ash said.

"Hm?"

"We're teleporting right into the city center. If we just needed to arrive to trigger something, we may be jumping right into the action." He explained.

"Oh, true…" Evie said.

"Should we have our food and apply buffs out here before we go?" Firo asked. "It's not like the portal is going anywhere."

"Yeah, it might be a good idea just in case." Marissa said. And Firo was right - the [Fae Circle] portal would only close after Firo walked a certain distance away from it on either side. It was thankfully easy to use them to transport full parties thanks to the way it worked, even allowing players to ferry friends to places they hadn't been yet.

"You know," Marissa said, "I wonder how the portals to this place look for people without access. Or if players that haven't done this part of the raid can even use it?"

"They've never gated them before." Jazz said, as Aleister produced the workstation for Mellody to start cooking. The rest of the group lined up for Fiona to work on their gear.

"I'd say there's no reason for them to start now either, but I think there actually is. At least lore wise." Kieran said. "On the other hand, while they made a big show of us being allowed to cross between the worlds, there doesn't really appear to be much here that would make it worth the trip?"

"Caoimhe, did you actually open your map?" Nyx asked.

"I don't know, why?" He answered.

"Do it and take a look."

Marissa hadn't really looked much at the map of the palace either, beyond just what they had seen on the minimap as they walked around. Afterall, they had basically been led by an NPC every step of the way here.

"Oh. Oh, I see." Kieran said, and Marissa had to inwardly agree. The map clearly had the normal markings in several places that must have been palace gates that would lead out of the massive castle.

"Yeah. We haven't had any cause to do so yet, but there's clearly some kind of Fae world out there that we might be able to explore." Nyx said.

"I noticed it too," Evie said, "but we don't really have any indication we can leave. I think I had just assumed that there would be NPC guards stationed at the gates to stop us from leaving."

"That is totally possible, but you know what they say about assuming." Ash said. "Also, food's done."

"Sweet." Firo said.

"I suppose we can always worry about it later? Assuming we want to just keep pressing on with the raid quest line." Marissa said.

"I mean, at least we know there are tangible rewards for the raid. Plus, most open world type content is really boring in a group our size." Evan said.

"That's true." Jazz said. "I'm definitely in favor of just moving on. Let's hit that portal."

As more agreements came from everyone else, including Marissa, the group finished their round of buffing and stepped through the [Fae Circle].

When they arrived back in [Gorias], the whole coyote square was packed with players and NPCs going about their business. The place had clearly become the main staging grounds for raid groups, and there were even crafters peddling their items and services all around the market. Several enterprising players had even taken up empty shop stalls that were clearly evacuated by NPCs during the siege and had made themselves something like little shops.

"Damn." Evie breathed. "We haven't been back to the player spot in a bit, huh?"

"No, we've mostly in instanced areas, I guess." Marissa said. "And I barely logged in this weekend to do anything beyond minimal dailies from the instanced area."

"I hear you. Also, Bisky, did you look up?" Kieran asked.

"Hm?" Marissa immediately turned her camera upwards to see the myriad of players flying around the city. There weren't nearly as many as there were on the ground, but there were still a lot of players that clearly had unlocked flight for themselves. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Um, for what it's worth, I got curious and looked it up online." Firo said a little sheepishly.

"Looked up what?" Nyx asked.

"Nothing about the raid, I promise!" Firo added quickly, clearly worried the group would get angry about it. "Just about how easy it is to access flight outside of the raid, or if it's even possible."

"Ah."

"Yeah." Firo continued. "And it's apparently pretty easy. It took a bit before anyone noticed, but a new quest popped up in Esras just after patch day that's given by a deckhand on one of the boats. It apparently starts with him talking about how he thought he saw people flying on his last trip to ferry soldiers to Gorias, and the quest goes from there until the player gets told about the whole 'renounce the Tuatha, join the Daoine' thing."

"Interesting." Ash said.

"Makes sense, though." Evie said.

"Yeah. Flight's a pretty big deal, and I imagine they don't want to lock something like that behind content some players may never see." Jazz said.

"The funny part is that the main game takes you to Esras around level 30 or so, and the quest doesn't have any sort of level requirement. Apparently." Firo added. "So newer players could potentially play most of the game with flight."

"Lucky." Marissa whined. "I wonder if it breaks anything."

"I doubt it. Danu Soft has been really good about everything in the game so far - if flight broke anything I'm sure they would have put a level req. on it." Evie said.

"Not to mention it's not like we have unlimited flight or anything. With it being limited by time, it's probably difficult to fly too far out of bounds or anything like that." Firo said.

"Oh, you sweet summer child." Evan laughed.

"As if you need anything so obvious to break the game." Nyx agreed.

"That's not really what I meant, just that it's probably not going to lead to anything too difficult for the devs to deal with." Firo said, trying to correct his meaning. "I know how easy it is to get out of bounds if you try."

"Thinking about it though, I've never fallen through the terrain in this game. That's something." Kieran said.

"I have." Evie laughed. "It was actually an experience. I just kept falling, and apparently it's actually so rare that the only way to fix it is to get in touch with a GM so they can location-set your character manually."

"Wow."

"Yeah," she continued, "on the plus side, the GMs here seem really helpful and nice."

"They always do until they're not." Nyx cautioned.

"That's just people in general, Nyx." Evie chuckled.

"True. They all suck equally." Nyx said proudly. "But you people are all pretty great."

Marissa just snorted as she hit the [Take Wing] skill on her bar and just wandered around the air space of the central square as the others poked fun at Nyx for being sappy and silly.

"By the way, there was clearly no cutscene for us when we arrived. Where are we supposed to be going?" Firo asked eventually.

"Right here, I'd bet." Marissa said, as she flew toward a sizable mass of players hovering in one spot of air space a little ways off the ground almost dead center in the square. And sure enough, there was a little indicator for her to interact with to mark Hibiscus as having arrived.