~‌ ‌1.18 ‌-‌ A Raid With Candy, Is A Happy Raid ~‌

Noto’s Town Square

3rd Lightday of The Full Moon

Martina, Khorwin, Niseph, and Flea, along with the remaining players still alive, had their backs to The Crystal’s barricades. There were also some townsfolk defending, but most of the town’s citizens were inside the Adventurers’ Guild. Over the past couple of hours, Abominations and the new larger rabbits had broken down the town’s North Gate and spread within the town’s walls.

The two cloaked figures and Lethality members Flea spotted outside The North Gate the night before had not been seen since. The Gnome had been able to find and group up with Martina and Khorwin shortly after the gate’s first planks started coming down. The group had taken out two Abominations before Niseph took a rabbit’s horn to her lower back. The Dryad tried healing herself, but it only caused her more agony before she succumbed.

The players had been pushed back towards the center of town before more players started respawning and joining them in the fight. As their numbers climbed higher, they could dispatch the Abominations and rabbits with ease, only losing a select few players. Niseph respawned an hour later, relieving the trio’s guilt for losing her so quickly.

The group was able to hold off the main horde, with the remaining guards, till the early morning rays of the sun broke over the forest. They found the few remaining Abominations within town starting to flee back towards the mountain in the sunlight.

An hour after sunrise, the Dryads showed up, helping to kill the last of the large horned rabbits. Three hours later, the town finally grew silent. None of the roars and shrieking could be heard from anywhere.

Once it was confirmed the town was safe, Flea and the players got to harvesting the hundreds of bodies that littered the town. Niseph left the trio to speak with her sisters as they started collecting their loot. Flea informed the Elf and Goblin to collect as many scales as possible. He explained Sveny could make a better set of armor that had been unavailable on the island.

Most of the town’s guards and men still lay dead in the streets. Once the players finished looting the corpses, they helped bring the town’s dead back to the square. They were informed most would start to respawn later tonight, but the older ones could take days. Their deaths had kept the town’s Crystal safe, keeping their families together.

The trio, finished with the town’s dead, headed to the Adventurers’ Guild to see what else needed to be done. Upon arriving, they found two Elders that Flea knew of and three others talking around a table near the bar. The group walked up to them to see what was going on.

“They took everything! The entire vault has been cleaned out. I have no idea how they were able to overpower Whoden. He’s one of the most powerful in our group.” The old Dwarf at the table said.

“I believe that was their goal from the start. They knew of the secret passage into the basement and its location. They also knew how to easily subdue Elder Whoden.” Elder Nayana said.

“Would Lieutenant Burnick have had the knowledge of the secret passage’s location, and also how to best fight Whoden?” Flea spoke up over them.

“Yes, to both questions, Gnome. Why would you ask us this?” The Lion Beastkin responded.

“I have a feeling Sil Brunick has been behind most of what’s going on around town. He has repeatedly been trying to gain access into The Tower. I’ve also been told he had left the town shortly after the meeting with Elder Loratoris. He took two squads of his guards with him and hasn’t returned. Since the terrorbear matriarch attack on the town, things with him haven’t sat right with me.”

The Dryad Queen and Niseph entered the hall at this time and walked over to the group. The five at the table got up and bowed to them.

“Welcome, Your Majesty. We thank you for your aid in helping us clean out the town this morning.”

“We have more pressing issues at this time, Elder Jaga. I’ve been informed while we were helping clear the town this morning, Sil and Kel, along with two scores of your guards, joined by Abominations, have assaulted us at The Tower. They have gained entry. We have lost almost all of our sisters who were protecting it. Only the three who fled to warn us have survived.”

Flea could see Niseph had been crying. The Queen seethed with anger, and Flea could feel it radiating off her.

“How is that possible? We were told Kel was lost to the Demon Moon.”

“He should still be there, but decades have passed. Kel could have found a portal back to Mea. Additionally, I’ve been told he has gained some powers since I’ve banished him. How he has returned to Mae and come back to this island without anyone’s knowledge is beyond my understanding,” The Queen responded.

“I think the biggest question everyone should be asking themselves is why are the two brothers so adamantly trying to reach the top of The Tower?” Flea asked them.

“That is what I have been asking myself over and over since The Queen has informed us of the brothers attempt to gain entry into The Tower,” responded Elder Nayana.

“Why did the brothers try and force themselves into the tower all those years ago? Did they say anything to you before you banished Kel to the Demon Moon?” Khorwin asked, looking at The Queen.

The Queen stood there for a minute while she tapped her chin with her fingers.

“The only thing that stands out was Kel saying it was ‘his right’ to destroy The Tower. I’ve always wondered why he would say that. The conclusion I came to was he wished to be promoted to the town guard’s leadership. He wanted to destroy the only source of any conflict this island had ever known. Now I wonder if it was something else?”

“Do we know why the brothers and the rest who came with them to the island became the new guards?” Asked Flea.

“No reason was ever given. They said their group was looking for work. They had responded to our advertisement for new guards rather quickly. We expected to wait a winter before getting a response. They came here within a cycle of the advertisement, ready to work. The brothers took over the task of running the town guard from the first day they arrived. We never had any issues with them, and the group remained close from the start.” Replied Elder Jaga.

“My hunch is that those brothers are connected to The Master of The Tower in some way,” said Flea.

“It doesn’t matter what their reasons are. Our pact has been broken. We have knowingly allowed people into The Tower. If we do not find and kill those who have stepped foot within The Tower, the lives of the Dryads on this island will be forfeit by the laws of the Fae.

“NO!” Screamed Niseph.

“Flea, please, we need to stop them.”

“Can we enter The Tower now to stop whatever the brothers are planning?”

“We will allow the adventurers to enter, but we must kill you after leaving. It’s the only way to keep our pact intact.”

“I’m fine with dying for the greater good. But we should get moving. Elder, can you inform the other players as they spawn of the current situation and have them join us here as soon as they can?” said Martina.

Both Khorwin and Flea agreed with his statement. They called over the other players in the Guild’s Hall and informed them of what was happening. All the players agreed to the terms of death upon clearing The Tower out.

“This is all very forty-seven ronin,” one of the players said.

“Everyone prepare. We will finish this today. Fenix, while we wait for Elder Whoden to respawn, give the adventurers supplies from the Guild’s stock. Adventurers, if you need anything go now and acquire it, we will be leaving at noon. That should give your fellow adventurers time to respawn and get ready. I will be joining you on this assault of The Tower. If we can not stop Sil and Kel, then I will destroy The Tower with everyone inside it,” said Elder Jaga.

“Do you plan on detonating your core, Jaga?!” The other four Elders all yelled at once.

“Yes, I should have destroyed The Tower the first time we found what kind of experiments Elder Nisash was conducting inside its walls. Instead, we allowed him to seal himself off within the top and allowed the Dryads to be the wardens of a prison that should have been destroyed by our hands.”

The players were all handed a bag filled with two common healing potions and ten cotton bandages. Flea put them into his magical bag and handed the bag back to Fenix. He then told the others he would rush over to Sveny’s and get his new armor made. Giving his goodbye to Niseph, he ran to Sveny’s, hoping he was still alive.

Arriving at the shop, he found Sveny kneeling over his assistant’s corpse, placing a sheet over him.

“Sorry about your assistant, Sveny. I’ve brought you those Abomination scales. I’m going to need the new armor as soon as possible. We’re about to head to The Tower and put an end to whatever is happening on this island.”

“Don’t fret over him. He’s young. He’ll be back soon enough. I’ve already got your armor made. I just need the scales to attach them.”

Flea handed over the forty scales to Sveny, sold the other remaining twenty-seven scales, and the forty-three Abomination quills he had from the fight. Sveny didn’t take long to secure the scales over the pieces of the armor. The leather was the matte black Flea liked, with the Abomination scales being a chromatic dark brown that flashed dark green when they moved in the light. Flea removed his Quill set and then soulbound his new Scale set before putting it on.

“Willing to buy back the Quill set?”

“10 silver.”

“That’s a third the price!”

“Sorry, adjusting the armor pieces for a Gnome’s size lowered the resale value. Not many gnomes around these parts.”

“Bah, fine. Do you know anyone who would like these talons?”

“I’m sure Grom or Kniv would like them.”

“Thank you again, Sveny. If you don’t mind, I told two of my friends about your deal with the scales. They may be around soon.”

“Don’t mind at all. The more scales I can get my hands on, the better armor I can create. Make sure you and your friends take care of those who attacked our town.”

Running over to Grom’s smithy, he found Khorwin already there and working on a sword at one of the anvils.

“What are you making Khor?”

“Sword out of those talons we got off the Abominations. Grom says the minerals that make them up are some of the strongest he’s seen around the island. He’s letting me make a sword out of them.”

“You think I can get him to make me two daggers for some of them in return?”

“Can’t hurt to ask.”

Grom and Flea came to an agreement. Flea would give the Dwarf all of his Abomination’s talons, and Grom would make him two daggers out of them. Flea sat down to watch as Grom worked the talons with his skills. The Dwarf took ten of the claws throwing them on top of the forge’s coals. Grabbing five of them with tongs after they started to glow, he placed them on his anvil, and started hammering them together. When Grom merged the five into an ingot’s shape, he threw it back into the fire and then repeated the process with the other five.

The Gnome watched as Grom hammered each ingot into a large fang shaped dagger, with a small tang on the other end. Once finished, Grom glued two blue wood scales onto each side of the dagger’s tangs, then hammered in two rivets on each. The Dwarf then ground down the handles, making them rounded. The blades themselves were then ground down with multiple stone wheels found along one side of his shop. After dunking each dagger into a vat of something, Grom then dried and polished them with a rag. The entire process took the blacksmith maybe an hour at most. Khorwin was just finishing up his sword when Grom presented the daggers to Flea.

“Those talons are as strong as steel; they will do you well. I’ll turn the other talons you’ve given to me into items for the town. If you come across more of them, I’d be very interested in purchasing them from you.”

The Goblin and Gnome duo headed for the Adventurers’ Guild in silence. Upon arriving, they found almost all the players had respawned or logged in to join them.

“Oh, I’m getting me a set made as soon as we are finished with The Tower,” said Martina, seeing Flea’s set.

“He said forty scales, and he’ll make it for free. I told him you two might stop by for sets soon,” Flea responded.

“Sounds like a deal to me,” Khorwin responded.

The trio waited till the Elders and Queen stopped discussing things by the bar. Once they finished, they walked towards the waiting players.

“Elder Jaga and the Dryad Queen will be leading everyone into The Tower. Your goal is to stop the brothers from reviving The Master or what else they have planned. We do not yet know if they can breach the barrier upon the door the Queen placed. We know they can enter The Tower because Khorwin and Flea were able to come out of it, so we fear the barrier may have already been weakened,” said Elder Nyana.

“We have already sent word to the two closest capitals that Abominations are in our mountain and a possible necromancer is being awakened. It will still be days before getting any responses. If I feel that Elder Nisash will be awakened, I will sacrifice my core to destroy both him and his cursed tower. We must not allow him to escape and unleash his creations on this world again.” Elder Jaga said.

“What are the rules of recording this fight to post to a stream or something?”

[Chapter 12, section 11, subsection 1 & 4 of the Terms of Service states no recording within Fantasy is allowed, nor is streaming.]

“Damn, I’m not much of a streamer, but I’m pretty sure this is going to be one of the most epic fights to happen in the game since launch.”

The Elders went over some final details, till Jaga yelled for everyone to get moving. The group had twenty-two players, Niseph and the Queen, and Elder Jaga. They would meet the rest of Niseph’s sisters at the North Gate. The now fifty-plus massive raid passed through the North Gate heading towards The Tower.

Thinking about the candy he still had in his inventory, he started handing out pieces to the players and Dryads. The Dryads were all extremely happy to be given the sweet candy. Some of the players asked where he had gotten the sweets from, and Flea happily told them about Greeny Sue’s bakery. He also gave Niseph her small bag of candy now that she could hold it in her magic bag.

It didn’t take long for the raid to stop in their tracks as the shrieking coming from deeper in the woods started.

“Be ready for combat!” shouted Elder Jaga.

Twelve Abominations came crashing through the trees a few moments later, heading towards the large group. Elder Jaga sprang into action like a whirlwind of fury, dispatching two of the Abominations with ease. The other ten massive monsters pushed forward into the group bringing havoc upon the raid. The Dryads closest to the Abominations were annihilated before any of the players could jump in to defend them.

When the last of the twelve Abominations were put down, they found they had lost eleven Dryads and four players. Regrouping and healing those with injuries, the raid proceeded towards The Tower.

“They can’t have many more of those bloody things, right?” Khorwin asked.

“Don’t jinx us!” Multiple players shouted in return.