~‌‌ ‌‌2.26 ‌‌-‌‌ Very Angry Colorful Frogs ~‌‌

Cavern Underground

4th Moonday of the Full Moon

Flea and Bob reentered the crystal lit cavern just as two of the three Dwarfs came screaming out of the mushroom forest. Seeing the Gnome and cat, they began running towards them. The duo jogged out to meet the adventurers. As they drew closer, Flea saw the terrified looks on the Dwarf’s faces and held Bob up. A moment later, a spear burst through the chest of the Dwarf to his right, dropping him instantly to the moss-covered floor.

“Marsh tribe!” the surviving Dwarf yelled as he ran past the two.

The duo saw a trio of brightly colored humanoid tree frogs coming out of the mushroom forest. Two of them held spears, while a smaller bright blue and black one held a staff. Seeing how easily the Dwarf had just died, the duo turned around and hauled ass back to the cave, passing the Dwarf right before the entrance. They headed down the tunnel towards the Desmox nest, the surviving Dwarf hot on their heels.

“What did you guys do?” asked Flea.

“Found some ruins. Ancient. At least from the third or fourth epoch. The marsh tribe had taken to using them as their home. Didn’t like us too much digging around for loot.”

“Did you find anything?” asked Bob.

The Dwarf grinned ear to ear and pulled out what looked like a modern-day smartphone.

“Found a bunch of stuff like this. The three of us are going to buy out our contracts as soon as we find a buyer.”

“What is it? It looks like something you’d find back on our planet.”

The Dwarf went wide-eyed and stared at Flea. He looked like he wanted to say or ask something but just shook his head instead.

“Please look my brothers and me up once you lose your protection status. I’m D’nin of the Shale Clan from the mountains south of Dustgrove. You’ll understand what I mean when the time comes.”

“Well met. I’m Flea. My furry companion is Bob.”

“I can’t hear them anymore, Flea. I think they turned around.”

The trio slowed to a walk, still looking behind them occasionally. Coming to the Desmox nest, D’nin let out a low whistle.

“What the bloody hell happened here?! Did you rip it in half? Are you guys some kind of monsters?”

“She did it to herself. Bob here was killing her eggs; she didn’t take kindly to the murder of her future brood.”

“You ordered me too!”

Flea turned and shrugged at Bob.

“It’s a good thing you guys came to Dustgrove when you did. If that was a Desmox Queen, they could have infested the entire mountain in a phase or two.”

“Why don’t other adventurers help? I met a few Cobalt ranked just days ago. Wouldn’t they come to help if The Guild put up a quest?” asked Bob.

“They may indeed if they needed the coin badly enough. You’re the first species to join The Games in many, many phases. Most adventurers either run out of lives or travel to the Spire before they hit level 100. Desmox are a death sentence to most low-level adventurers. This nest had been small. If they had not attacked the other miners last week, they would have remained unmolested by you two, I reckon, and really grew their brood.”

“Why do you think they attacked so soon then?”

“A food source. The marsh tribe probably put up one hell of a fight, so they had to look elsewhere.”

“Can you climb up there, Bob?” asked Flea as he pointed up to the lava tube.

“Shouldn’t be an issue.”

Flea handed Bob the end of the rope with the grapple hook. Bob hooked it around his belt and worked his way over the rubble, then up the wall. It took only a few minutes before the cat disappeared into the hole above. When Bob returned to the edge, he cursed and jumped back.

“It’s ok, buddy! Just breath!” Flea yelled.

“What’s up with the little fellow?” asked D’nin.

“Afraid of heights. Some kind of flying eagle picked him up the other night and dropped him to our death. Bob hasn’t done well with heights since.”

“Hah! That’s got to be a first for any Beastkin or the like.”

Flea and the Dwarf each climbed up the rope to the waiting Bob. After removing the grapple and pulling up the rope, Flea placed the items back into his bag. The Gnome, Dwarf, and cat then had to walk the three hours back up to the surface because the cart was on the other side of the collapsed shaft.

Arriving at the surface, they found most of the camp clear of anyone. Uglar and a few others were around the central campfire chatting. Laral the Satyr, having spotted them, shot up and started to wave at them, causing everyone else to turn their heads to see what got the Satyr so excited.

“You guys are alive! Did you clear the mines?” Laral asked.

“The queen is dead, as well as her brood. The quest is complete, Uglar.”

The Beastkin raised his hand and one furry finger to signal for Flea to wait a moment. Uglar mumbled something and looked down at a screen Flea couldn’t see. A moment later, Uglar clapped his hands together.

“It does indeed say the system believes you’ve completed the quest. Give me a moment to collect your reward. Then this riff-raff can get back to fulfilling their contracts.”

Everyone around the campfire collectively groaned. Uglar walked into the barracks and returned a couple of minutes later carrying something in each hand. First, Uglar gave Flea his new pickaxe. The entire tool was almost entirely black, save for the glowing green runes on the shaft and near both heads’ ends. The Beastkin then handed him a bag that jingled a bit when he squeezed it. Opening the sack, Flea found it filled with gold coins.

“That pickaxe will serve you well. It has a rebound enchant on the handle. Each time it strikes, the head will bounce back and strike a second time. The ax will take a bit of time to get used to, but it gives amazing results, almost doubling most miners’ collection rates. The enchants at the tips are the same as those you bought, but a bit stronger. Will cause more of the metal in the stone around your strikes to pull together.”

“Thank you, Uglar. Though I really don’t want to see the insides of a mine for a few months at the least. But I will eventually put this to good use.”

Uglar chuckled.

“Thank you again, Flea. I will be released from my contract on the first Spirtday of the next cycle. If you’re still around Dustgrove, I would like for us to meet again.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I’m not sure what’s in store for us after completing our next goal. We may need to leave as soon as we complete it.”

“I understand. I will send you a message through The Guild then. Once I am able.”

Leaving Uglar and the rest, Flea could see three people he assumed to be Tanuki waiting for them at the camp’s open gate. The duo walked towards them.

“So, are you Tanuki or Tanuka?”

The Satyr and Dwarf went wide-eyed. The Elf just smirked.

“Don’t worry, Bob here has promised Esalune to find a way to rescue her. Or at least find a solution that keeps us together,” said Finch to Glen and Laral.

“Well, that answers the question I wanted to ask,” said Flea.

“If we are part of the baron’s group?” asked Finch.

“Yep. I take it you have a communication book or something?”

“No, we couldn’t afford anything of the sorts,” replied Finch.

The Elf looked around, then vanished, appearing on the other side of the gate.

“How?” asked Flea.

Finch vanished again, reappearing where he had stood.

“[Warp]. It’s a skill that teleports the user a short distance. I’m technically not crossing the Crystal’s field. So I can leave and check in with the others when needed.”

“Where can I get the skill?”

“Far to the northeast in the Plains of Neserbu are flying creatures called Sucklebees. They feed on the nectar of the plants in that region. Very docile creatures, but if attacked, they will swarm and most likely kill you. If you can, try to find and kill the largest of them. They have the best chance of providing you with their Skill Core.”

“Thank you for letting me know. If I find myself in that area, I’ll make sure to get myself that skill. I take it you all know what we are planning?”

“To an extent. I do want to know what your plan b is if your first plan doesn’t work out?”

Flea pulled out his book, as did Bob. Marking three new pages, Flea handed one to each person.

“I don’t understand,” said Finch.

Bob wrote plan B on the sister to the page Finch held in his hand.

“I can’t read what this says, but I understand now. If things go tits up, you’ve given us a way to communicate with one another.”

“That is correct. What do you mean you can’t read it? It says plan B.”

“Much to learn, Flea. You speak in your langue, but I hear it in mine. The system doesn’t always translate new languages that have been written down.”

“But I can read everything at The Guild, the quests, pamphlets, and information sheets.”

“Aye, its special enchanted paper made for that exact purpose. Communication paper has a far more important enchant on them. Items can only have one enchant normally.”

Flea took out his new mining pick to show Finch.

“This has two. How is that possible?”

“The shaft and metal head were both enchanted separately. Then they combined the two into a finished item.”

Flea stared at the pick in thought.

“I need to start asking more questions. So much of the mechanics of this game are still unknown to me. Once I get some downtime, I also want to look into more crafting.”

“Those who run low on lives always turn to a craft,” said Finch.

“I’ll try and start another craft before that happens,” chuckled Flea.

“I wish you luck, and thank you for this,” Finch said as he held up the now-folded paper.

Flea and Bob left the three at the prison gates and headed back to town along the road. Their casual walk back proved to be a peaceful one. The forest had still not recovered from the Night Snatchers eating everything in sight. As they got closer to town, Bob stopped to show Flea the new path through the woods the Dragon Eater carved out during their battle.

“Wow, it had to be huge to cause such a wide path of destruction.”

“It was. I still can’t believe Tenzin was able to fit almost the entire thing inside his bag.”

“He what?!”

“He butchered it and placed almost everything in his bag. Said he would sell it for me.”

“I wonder how much it’s parts are worth. Speaking of which, let’s head to the alchemist first to sell the Desmox parts.”

A half an hour later, they spoke with a very pleased looking alchemist. The Elf paid them 50 silver for each of the venom sacs for a total of 22 gold. When Flea told him they had two Desmox eggs, the alchemist’s normal smile quickly grew wider, then just as quickly turned to a frown.

“Unfortunately, they are worth far more than I could pay or trade. I would seek out an alchemist in Stuglegen or even a beast tamer. Unhatched eggs will fetch a large price by many. I would even say putting them up on the auction house there. They would turn a huge profit. Not many adventurers are willing to travel into a Desmox nest.”

“Can they be cooked for any type of buffs?” Flea asked.

The alchemist went pale.

“Only if you’re looking for a swift death after eating them. They are incredibly toxic. I would have used them to make high-level poisons.”

“Thank you for the information.”

Flea flipped the alchemist back a gold coin.

“For being honest with us, and not buying the eggs on the cheap. Do you know who would pay well for the chitin pieces?”

“That is very kind of you. Have you met the local Araneae hive?”

“Xarrie?”

“Yep, they deal with just about everything. The only trader in town who seems to get new products regularly passed the baron’s men somehow. They buy and sell just about everything at a fair price.”

“Thank you again. We’ll be off.”

Bob and Flea walked back to The Offensive Post. Even knowing what to expect, Flea still shuttered a bit when seeing the massive webbing across the ceiling.

“Hello again, Xarrie. We come to trade.”

“Hello to the onesss called Flea and Bob. What do you ssseek to trade?”

Bob removed a large Desmox chitin from his bag. Flea removed a smaller Desmox chitin and a pincer from his. They held the items out, and the larger spider-centaur-looking Araneae came down on web lines to collect the items.

“The sssmithsss of Ssstuglegen would very much love to have thessse materialsss. Desssmox chitin isss very ssstrong. Thessse sssmaller piecesss would make great armor, while thisss large one would make the bessst of ssshieldsss. The pincersss can be usssed for many typesss of bladesss. Tell usss, how many of each do you possssessss?

“We have a hundred-eighty-eight of the smaller chitin. Seven of the larger, and forty-four of the pinchers.”

“A large bounty. We would very much like to purchassse everything from the two of you, but we do not have the required coin for all, we are afraid.”

“How much is everything worth?”

“We would gladly pay the market value of thessse goodssss. The two-hundred and thirty-nine itemsss are worth 280 gold.”

Damnit, If I had known how much we could have made, I would have made sure to harvest everything. So much gold left on the cave’s floor.

“What do you have to trade that could bring down the coin total so that you can afford everything?”

“We have many itemsss worth more than this amount. What isss it you two ssseek?”

“Knowledge books for myself, and arrows for Bob. Do you have any unique or magic items?”

“We have accessss to many Knowledge Booksss within our web. I will show Bob the arrowsss we currently have in our burrow.”

Boxes began to shuffle around, the smaller Araneae moving them towards the pedestals. After the boxes stopped moving, Flea could see seven crates being opened by the bigger spider-centaurs.

“We have the sssame four you have been ssshown before. On the floor to your left are Light Arrowsss. Upon impact, the ssshaft is enchanted to releassse a sssteady light. The sssecond crate holdsss Fire Arrowsss. The third crate holdsss a limited supply of Gravity Arrowsss. Thessse arrowsss are rare, as the blood reqqquired to enchant them isss hard to acqqquire.”

“What do they do?” asked Bob.

“We are sssorry. Gravity Arrowsss must be activated before ssshot. Once the rune on the head hasss been activated, the weight of the head isss doubled every sssecond until they come in contact with the ground, crussshing the arrowhead. They are hard to ussse, asss the ussser mussst wait for the arrow to gain massss before releasssing.”

“How much for a bundle of the bottom three and a bundle of the Stunning Arrows?

“The Gravity are 1 gold each. We have twenty-two of them. 10 gold for each of the three bundlesss.”

“We will take them all and two bundles of iron arrows. What Knowledge Books do you have in your burrow, was it?”

“We have the following in our burrow. Basssic Tailoring, City Management, And Planning, Creaturesss of Mea, and The Hissstory Of The ????a?a??a?.”

“The History of what?”

“????a?a??a?”

“All I can hear is clicks and a’s?”

“Our apologiesss, Flea. That book is off-limitsss to you for now.

What the hell kind of bug is that? Is it a level requirement issue?

“Alright, what about the Creatures Of Mea. Is it useful?”

“Very much, Flea. It hasss a vassst amount of information on mossst of the well-known creaturesss on Mea, and some of the moonsss. It hasss their weaknessss, and other information adventurersss sssuch as yourssself will find useful. It alssso hasss information on each of the Ssskill Coresss a creature can possssessss.”

“How much for that book?”

“Asss a courtesssy to you, we offer it to you for 50 gold.”

“I’ll take it. With the book and arrows, do you have enough coin for the trade?”

“We do, Flea. Xxxarrie greatly thanksss you for trading with usss.”

Flea pocketed the single Royal and 76 gold and immediately used the purple Knowledge Book by placing a few drops of his blood on the tome. Meanwhile, Bob retrieved his new arrows. They bid Xarrie a good day and then left The Offensive Post. Their next stop was the blacksmith to sell the iron ore and find out how much the gem they found was worth.