Nicole (Quivercess)
Quivercess, whose real name was Nicole, put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. She was with Luds and Wharton, and they were hiding in Healer Gula's store for some unknown reason—for sure, it was something stupid.
"Who are you snooping on, Luds?" She tried to climb out of the store's burrow, but Luds headed her off.
"Snooping?" He looked around and shrugged. "I don't see anyone snooping. Wharton, do you see some snooping action going on?"
Wharton looked at Nic. She glowered at him. He flinched. "Luds, bro. Normally, I'd back you up here. But I don't know the context of your whole bit; I'm not sure what my stance is supposed to be."
"Just the usual agree-with-me stance," Luds said. "Scratch that; we're trying another route." He gave Nic an innocent smile. "How are you doing, Nic? We're just having a grand old, relaxing time here in this shop, staying out of the harsh sun. No one is snooping on anything. Skincare is the goal, protecting ourselves from the dangerous ultraviolet rays and—"
"We're on a mountain of ice," she dryly replied. "It's not hot, like, at all."
"Aha! Got you!" Luds triumphantly said. "I wasn't saying it's hot here. I'm saying that ultraviolet rays are harmful."
“I don't think radiation is a problem for us," said Wharton, raising his arm to examine the charcoal-like skin of Mardukryons.
"The higher the altitude, the harsher the sun's rays because—"
"Okay, whatever you say," Nic interrupted the stream of rubbish coming out of Lud's mouth. "Anyway, was that Megan out there by the Sigil NPC? What is it this time, Luds? You forced us to gather today to practice for the Great Hunt, but then you're going off somewhere else?"
Luds craned his head over the cabinets filled with medicine to check what was going on outside. "Firstly, I didn't force you guys to gather." He held up a finger at Nic but didn't turn around to look at her.
"Yes, you did."
"I just mentioned, repeatedly, that the Great Hunt is coming up, and other teams are already practicing. But what about our party? Now that Jensen's team has quit—oh, there’s still Cheeseman, but his party doesn't count—we have a chance at the ranks to get higher rewards."
"Not 'force' then," Nic said, pushing his finger away. Why does he always get so crazy when it comes to this game? He was several times less insufferable in literally any other situation. "You heavily implied that we should practice. Can also say passive-aggressively hinted that we should practice. Bottom line is we're here because of you."
Luds looked over his shoulder and gave her a grin. "That's not the same as forcing. You were free not to come here. Going to be hard to practice without the complete team though."
"Wait? I could've just not come?" said Wharton. "What the hell? I was supposed to watch Rocketball League today."
"And I thank you for being here. Even Marcus is attending despite being busy with his new baby."
"Man, I'll just watch it later. I'm gonna get pissed if some dickwad spoils the result to me."
Luds held up two fingers. "Secondly—"
"What 'secondly'?" Nic asked.
"The 'firstly' was to clarify that I was simply…encouraging…all of you to log in today," Luds said, gesturing to all of them with arms held wide. "And the 'secondly' is about me not 'going off somewhere else', as you accused me. We have team practice, so I'll be here with you guys."
"I feel like there's a continuation to this."
"You're right, there's more," he said. "We have practice, that's set, that's confirmed. Buuuut, since Marcus told us he needs ten more minutes to put his kids to bed, and Baby and Miko are still in the auction house trying to see if they can win that Relic Shard—"
"The drop from the new boss SD's party found?" Wharton asked. "I saw Chimichangaro heading over there. No way they're going to win it with that whale around."
"—we still have ten minutes of free time," Luds finished.
Nic folded her arms and questioned him, "Ten minutes you'll use snooping on Kezo's party?"
"Not 'snooping' on them. I want to find out what they're up to."
"That's the same thing."
"Semantics, semantics," he said as he climbed out of Healer Gula's store and back on the street outside. "Come, I want to see where wand girl is going."
"Her name is Megan," Nic said as she and Wharton followed Luds down the street. "And she's probably heading to the Chief's Lodge."
She had talked to Megan a few times before, just a short chat whenever they passed each other in the village. She didn't know much about her other than she was nice and friendly.
"Just wait a second here, Luds." Nic halted walking and held out her hand to also stop Wharton. "Are you bothering them?"
"Bothering? Me?" Luds acted with exaggerated shock. "I'm not bothering anyone. The truth of it is that I'm trying to be helpful to others. I saw Kezo's team practice yesterday, and I graciously used my time and expertise to help them."
"I bet seeing Kezo's party practice was why you thought we do the same thing." Nic placed her hands on her hips. "And what is this 'help' that you speak of, hmm?"
"They were trying to fight the Living Statue yesterday," Luds explained. "You know, the giant Mardukryon statue that's the boss of the Silent Plaza? The half-plant thing with vines sticking out of it?" He waved his hands, mimicking the vines as he answered Nic's quizzical look.
She had heard of it but hadn't tried fighting it before. She was usually with her party, and they mostly breezed through the Silent Plaza area, not bothering the boss or mini-bosses there. "And what's the problem with that? Let them do their own thing."
"The problem," he replied, "is that they're too weak to—"
“That’s hardly your problem. Don’t discourage—”
"No, no! Listen, just let me explain. I'm not discouraging them; I don't do that to people. All I do is to—"
"—make them face reality," Nic completed his sentence. This was his usual excuse. “My point stands. It’s hardly your problem.”
"To be fair," Wharton said, "Kezo's party, with that lineup and levels, shouldn't be able to take on the Living Statue."
"Exactly!" Luds pointed at Wharton. "See? He agrees with me." He then explained the hurdles that Kezo's party couldn't overcome, specifically the lack of an actual tank for the boss. "They kept on dying and dying! Just think about it, Nic. You don't want the new guy to quit, right?
"He's probably just going with them because he couldn't find any other party. But what if he died a bunch of times because Kezo insisted on taking on a boss they couldn't handle? He’s going to get discouraged. And I’m preventing that from happening. I’m not the one discouraging them."
Nic was sure Luds meant well...most of the time. It was just how it acts that was out of sync with his intentions—and his default mindset of looking down on anyone doing the ‘wrong thing’ in his eyes. But, after hearing his explanation, she started to believe him.
A new player like Herald shouldn't be facing that boss. He likely hadn’t even completed the quest line to get past the tunnels, yet he was already at the Silent Plaza. He might quit as a Mardukryon if he was overwhelmed or discouraged because of the difficulty.
Relenting, she said to Luds, "So what were you planning to do?"
"We'll check if they're still trying to fight the Living Statue," Luds said. "I've noticed that their party members have kept on spawning in front of the Chief's Lodge. They're continually dying to something they can't beat. And if they're doing something stupid—ehem, unwise—I'll tell them so. That's all. I'm a nice guy, aren't I?"
Megantress
Megan hurriedly said, "Thank you!" to the merchant Mardukryon NPC selling Sigil Totems before running off to the Chief's Lodge.
Oops, I did it again. She instinctively looked over her shoulder. There were no players nearby. If Nitana had heard her saying 'thank you' to an NPC again, she wouldn't hear the end of the teasing.
“I hope they’re still hanging on,” Megan mumbled as she rushed back to the Chief’s Lodge.
Herald instructed them to immediately run back to the Silent Plaza after they resurrected in the village.
Since the Living Statue was an open-world boss, an exclusive instance wasn't generated for their party in contrast to boss raids. The boss wouldn't reset so long as someone was fighting it—they could continue rejoining the battle.
This ‘strategy’ wouldn’t usually work. Megan had tried this a few times using a human character. Given that open-world bosses were 'free-for-all', other parties could just waltz in and join the fight. Several times, her party returned to a boss area to find someone had already finished off the boss they were working hard to whittle down for like half an hour.
Fortunately, there were only a few Mardukryon boss hunters, and they focused on juicier targets. No one really cared for the Living Statue as a farming opportunity.
Megan rounded the Chief’s Lodge and ran to the entrance. Herald might get angry for the delay, but she wanted to check if anyone else had just died so they could warp together.
Kezo mentioned running out of Sigil Totems for the Nixigaunt warp because he forgot to buy more earlier. She also wasn't sure if Nitana had enough Sigil Totems. None of them were expecting to do this, so they weren’t able to stock up.
A player had just appeared in front of the Chief's Lodge. He wore a familiar spiky red armor and carried two big swords.
"Kezo!" Megan said as she trotted up to him. "You died too?" It made her feel a bit better seeing Kezo die—what a morbid thought out of context. She knew that she had the most deaths out of their entire party, including Herald, and she was becoming conscious that others thought she was a burden.
"Yeah," he said. "The boss used a new move. I should've backed off. But I thought I should try to kill it before its next power-up. I'm not sure if we can handle more."
"Do you still have Sigil Totems?"
"A couple. I'm going to buy—"
"I already did." Megan initiated a trade with him to transfer fifteen Sigil Totems to him. "There, I hope that's enough."
There was a flash of light followed by someone yelling, "I fucking died!" It was Nitana who showed up right next to them. "What are you guys still doing here? Herald is all alone back there!" She held up a Sigil Totem and warped them all back to the Nixigaunt warp point before they could say anything.
The moment they materialized in front of the massive tree carved into a Nixigaunt, they all galloped back to the Silent Plaza. Thankfully, the monsters in this area weren't aggressive, so they could run without any distractions.
"I hope he doesn't die," Megan said. They were so close to beating the boss, and they had put in so much effort that she didn't want it to go to waste. I shouldn't have taken my sweet time at the NPC! She should've rushed back so that Herald wouldn't be alone with Kezo and Nitana dying after her.
Explosions and roars reverberated through the trees as they neared the boss area. They couldn't see the boss area yet, but the noises made them feel relieved that the battle was continuing.
No one was talking, but Megan knew they were all thinking the same thing.
Kezo began to cast his buffs as he ran. Megan and Nitana followed suit. The path opened up to the plaza.
"We're here, Herald!" Megan shouted as they all stampeded forward to aid their level twelve teammate who was trying, and inexplicably succeeding, to survive a level fifty-eight boss monster.
Nicole (Quivercess)
Quivercess, whose real name was Nicole, put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. She was with Luds and Wharton, and they were hiding in Healer Gula's store for some unknown reason—for sure, it was something stupid.
"Who are you snooping on, Luds?" She tried to climb out of the store's burrow, but Luds headed her off.
"Snooping?" He looked around and shrugged. "I don't see anyone snooping. Wharton, do you see some snooping action going on?"
Wharton looked at Nic. She glowered at him. He flinched. "Luds, bro. Normally, I'd back you up here. But I don't know the context of your whole bit; I'm not sure what my stance is supposed to be."
"Just the usual agree-with-me stance," Luds said. "Scratch that; we're trying another route." He gave Nic an innocent smile. "How are you doing, Nic? We're just having a grand old, relaxing time here in this shop, staying out of the harsh sun. No one is snooping on anything. Skincare is the goal, protecting ourselves from the dangerous ultraviolet rays and—"
"We're on a mountain of ice," she dryly replied. "It's not hot, like, at all."
"Aha! Got you!" Luds triumphantly said. "I wasn't saying it's hot here. I'm saying that ultraviolet rays are harmful."
“I don't think radiation is a problem for us," said Wharton, raising his arm to examine the charcoal-like skin of Mardukryons.
"The higher the altitude, the harsher the sun's rays because—"
"Okay, whatever you say," Nic interrupted the stream of rubbish coming out of Lud's mouth. "Anyway, was that Megan out there by the Sigil NPC? What is it this time, Luds? You forced us to gather today to practice for the Great Hunt, but then you're going off somewhere else?"
Luds craned his head over the cabinets filled with medicine to check what was going on outside. "Firstly, I didn't force you guys to gather." He held up a finger at Nic but didn't turn around to look at her.
"Yes, you did."
"I just mentioned, repeatedly, that the Great Hunt is coming up, and other teams are already practicing. But what about our party? Now that Jensen's team has quit—oh, there’s still Cheeseman, but his party doesn't count—we have a chance at the ranks to get higher rewards."
"Not 'force' then," Nic said, pushing his finger away. Why does he always get so crazy when it comes to this game? He was several times less insufferable in literally any other situation. "You heavily implied that we should practice. Can also say passive-aggressively hinted that we should practice. Bottom line is we're here because of you."
Luds looked over his shoulder and gave her a grin. "That's not the same as forcing. You were free not to come here. Going to be hard to practice without the complete team though."
"Wait? I could've just not come?" said Wharton. "What the hell? I was supposed to watch Rocketball League today."
"And I thank you for being here. Even Marcus is attending despite being busy with his new baby."
"Man, I'll just watch it later. I'm gonna get pissed if some dickwad spoils the result to me."
Luds held up two fingers. "Secondly—"
"What 'secondly'?" Nic asked.
"The 'firstly' was to clarify that I was simply…encouraging…all of you to log in today," Luds said, gesturing to all of them with arms held wide. "And the 'secondly' is about me not 'going off somewhere else', as you accused me. We have team practice, so I'll be here with you guys."
"I feel like there's a continuation to this."
"You're right, there's more," he said. "We have practice, that's set, that's confirmed. Buuuut, since Marcus told us he needs ten more minutes to put his kids to bed, and Baby and Miko are still in the auction house trying to see if they can win that Relic Shard—"
"The drop from the new boss SD's party found?" Wharton asked. "I saw Chimichangaro heading over there. No way they're going to win it with that whale around."
"—we still have ten minutes of free time," Luds finished.
Nic folded her arms and questioned him, "Ten minutes you'll use snooping on Kezo's party?"
"Not 'snooping' on them. I want to find out what they're up to."
"That's the same thing."
"Semantics, semantics," he said as he climbed out of Healer Gula's store and back on the street outside. "Come, I want to see where wand girl is going."
"Her name is Megan," Nic said as she and Wharton followed Luds down the street. "And she's probably heading to the Chief's Lodge."
She had talked to Megan a few times before, just a short chat whenever they passed each other in the village. She didn't know much about her other than she was nice and friendly.
"Just wait a second here, Luds." Nic halted walking and held out her hand to also stop Wharton. "Are you bothering them?"
"Bothering? Me?" Luds acted with exaggerated shock. "I'm not bothering anyone. The truth of it is that I'm trying to be helpful to others. I saw Kezo's team practice yesterday, and I graciously used my time and expertise to help them."
"I bet seeing Kezo's party practice was why you thought we do the same thing." Nic placed her hands on her hips. "And what is this 'help' that you speak of, hmm?"
"They were trying to fight the Living Statue yesterday," Luds explained. "You know, the giant Mardukryon statue that's the boss of the Silent Plaza? The half-plant thing with vines sticking out of it?" He waved his hands, mimicking the vines as he answered Nic's quizzical look.
She had heard of it but hadn't tried fighting it before. She was usually with her party, and they mostly breezed through the Silent Plaza area, not bothering the boss or mini-bosses there. "And what's the problem with that? Let them do their own thing."
"The problem," he replied, "is that they're too weak to—"
“That’s hardly your problem. Don’t discourage—”
"No, no! Listen, just let me explain. I'm not discouraging them; I don't do that to people. All I do is to—"
"—make them face reality," Nic completed his sentence. This was his usual excuse. “My point stands. It’s hardly your problem.”
"To be fair," Wharton said, "Kezo's party, with that lineup and levels, shouldn't be able to take on the Living Statue."
"Exactly!" Luds pointed at Wharton. "See? He agrees with me." He then explained the hurdles that Kezo's party couldn't overcome, specifically the lack of an actual tank for the boss. "They kept on dying and dying! Just think about it, Nic. You don't want the new guy to quit, right?
"He's probably just going with them because he couldn't find any other party. But what if he died a bunch of times because Kezo insisted on taking on a boss they couldn't handle? He’s going to get discouraged. And I’m preventing that from happening. I’m not the one discouraging them."
Nic was sure Luds meant well...most of the time. It was just how it acts that was out of sync with his intentions—and his default mindset of looking down on anyone doing the ‘wrong thing’ in his eyes. But, after hearing his explanation, she started to believe him.
A new player like Herald shouldn't be facing that boss. He likely hadn’t even completed the quest line to get past the tunnels, yet he was already at the Silent Plaza. He might quit as a Mardukryon if he was overwhelmed or discouraged because of the difficulty.
Relenting, she said to Luds, "So what were you planning to do?"
"We'll check if they're still trying to fight the Living Statue," Luds said. "I've noticed that their party members have kept on spawning in front of the Chief's Lodge. They're continually dying to something they can't beat. And if they're doing something stupid—ehem, unwise—I'll tell them so. That's all. I'm a nice guy, aren't I?"
Megantress
Megan hurriedly said, "Thank you!" to the merchant Mardukryon NPC selling Sigil Totems before running off to the Chief's Lodge.
Oops, I did it again. She instinctively looked over her shoulder. There were no players nearby. If Nitana had heard her saying 'thank you' to an NPC again, she wouldn't hear the end of the teasing.
“I hope they’re still hanging on,” Megan mumbled as she rushed back to the Chief’s Lodge.
Herald instructed them to immediately run back to the Silent Plaza after they resurrected in the village.
Since the Living Statue was an open-world boss, an exclusive instance wasn't generated for their party in contrast to boss raids. The boss wouldn't reset so long as someone was fighting it—they could continue rejoining the battle.
This ‘strategy’ wouldn’t usually work. Megan had tried this a few times using a human character. Given that open-world bosses were 'free-for-all', other parties could just waltz in and join the fight. Several times, her party returned to a boss area to find someone had already finished off the boss they were working hard to whittle down for like half an hour.
Fortunately, there were only a few Mardukryon boss hunters, and they focused on juicier targets. No one really cared for the Living Statue as a farming opportunity.
Megan rounded the Chief’s Lodge and ran to the entrance. Herald might get angry for the delay, but she wanted to check if anyone else had just died so they could warp together.
Kezo mentioned running out of Sigil Totems for the Nixigaunt warp because he forgot to buy more earlier. She also wasn't sure if Nitana had enough Sigil Totems. None of them were expecting to do this, so they weren’t able to stock up.
A player had just appeared in front of the Chief's Lodge. He wore a familiar spiky red armor and carried two big swords.
"Kezo!" Megan said as she trotted up to him. "You died too?" It made her feel a bit better seeing Kezo die—what a morbid thought out of context. She knew that she had the most deaths out of their entire party, including Herald, and she was becoming conscious that others thought she was a burden.
"Yeah," he said. "The boss used a new move. I should've backed off. But I thought I should try to kill it before its next power-up. I'm not sure if we can handle more."
"Do you still have Sigil Totems?"
"A couple. I'm going to buy—"
"I already did." Megan initiated a trade with him to transfer fifteen Sigil Totems to him. "There, I hope that's enough."
There was a flash of light followed by someone yelling, "I fucking died!" It was Nitana who showed up right next to them. "What are you guys still doing here? Herald is all alone back there!" She held up a Sigil Totem and warped them all back to the Nixigaunt warp point before they could say anything.
The moment they materialized in front of the massive tree carved into a Nixigaunt, they all galloped back to the Silent Plaza. Thankfully, the monsters in this area weren't aggressive, so they could run without any distractions.
"I hope he doesn't die," Megan said. They were so close to beating the boss, and they had put in so much effort that she didn't want it to go to waste. I shouldn't have taken my sweet time at the NPC! She should've rushed back so that Herald wouldn't be alone with Kezo and Nitana dying after her.
Explosions and roars reverberated through the trees as they neared the boss area. They couldn't see the boss area yet, but the noises made them feel relieved that the battle was continuing.
No one was talking, but Megan knew they were all thinking the same thing.
Kezo began to cast his buffs as he ran. Megan and Nitana followed suit. The path opened up to the plaza.
"We're here, Herald!" Megan shouted as they all stampeded forward to aid their level twelve teammate who was trying, and inexplicably succeeding, to survive a level fifty-eight boss monster.
