“How are they?” Megan asked as I took my place in our formation. She didn’t let up the streams of fire gushing from her wands. “Will the guards be okay?”
“They’re going to be fine.” I chuckled, amused at her behavior.
Megan was so passionate about NPC welfare that we got delayed at Bawu’s base because she wanted to rescue the mutant experiments. It took a few minutes to convince her it was fruitless. After that, we had to dodge the approaching chimeras, alerted by the ruckus we made. Nitana explained that Megan was too friendly in real life she couldn’t help but act the same to NPCs.
I recalled a few people in Vanguard Gaming who get deeply immersed in computer games, acting bizarrely at times. A virtual world was several times more immersive—I’ve heard of people needing psychiatric help because they couldn’t tell the difference between games and reality.
“We’ll ensure it’s safe before they move,” I added. “So, let’s get to killing these Blighted.” That was the opposite of what the guards wanted, but I figured I could keep the Agung alive for some time while my party farmed. I’d keep my eye on him if he’d start turning into a zombie.
Nitana was delighted by the crowds of Blighted monsters. She aimed to reach another level today. As for me, that meant more [Toxic Goop]. I returned to the village guards a few times to heal Agung. Each time, they’d repeat their dialogues. Each time, I’d tell them to wait just a bit more.
Life-threatening emergency? No rush.
Eventually, I noticed off-colored parts of Agung’s charcoal-like Mardukryon skin. Bubbling brown patches. The molten veins on the black and ashy grey, usually burning bright orange, had tinges of the familiar Blighted green. It was nicely timed—for us, not for Agung. The flow of the Blighted had slowed to a trickle, and we had to move anyway.
“Let’s get you out of the tunnels,” I told the guards.
“Take care!” I waved goodbye. The Mardukryon NPCs headed to the central passage leading out of the underground labyrinth. My party stayed behind. Any further, and we would run into more village guards. Two of our rescuees helped Agung walk while the last trailed behind to express gratitude.
“We’ll never forget your aid, youngling,” he said. “Meet us in the village later. We must report your bravery to the Chief.”
[ Quest Completed: Aiding the Ailing ]
“Sure, I’ll do that… later,” I said. ‘Later’ has a very flexible meaning nowadays. The Essence reward pushed me closer to leveling up—there were Gli and Artas too. Maybe I’d be level twenty by the time I exited the tunnels.
Megan exhaled in relief after the guards were out of sight. “Phew! They didn’t force us to come with them. I was scared they’d ruin Herald’s quest, and it’ll be all my fault. Sorry for acting impulsively.”
“I’m not going to be mad at you if my quest got derailed,” I said with as gentle a smile a Mardukryon face could make. I rarely got angry at people’s shortcomings affecting me—it was expected of others who weren’t Herald Stone to fail at some point. The upper band of my reaction would be extreme irritation at the hassle of fixing other people’s mistakes. If Megan did something stupid, I could dangle that over her head someday… maybe I could unashamedly ask for her items when she’d quit as a Mardukryon?
“We also spent a lot of time helping the guards,” Megan said. “Really, really sorry. Like we walked super far, and the guards were slow turtles, and, and— ”
“We farmed plenty of Toxic Goop while saving them, so it’s all good.” It wasn’t. There was a chance we might run out of time.
“Where to next?” Nitana asked.
Kezo had a floating map in front of him. He scanned it as we galloped back to the depths. “How about here?” He marked a point on the map’s interface.
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ve been there,” Nitana said.
“I think we should kill the Vinereaver first,” I suggested. “We have an hour and twenty minutes on the clock. How many goops do we have now?” The others gave their [Toxic Goop] to me. Our total reached a bit over six hundred. “If we’re only farming goops, we have plenty of time to complete the order. The problem is the Blighted Vinereaver Essence. We don’t know how long it’ll take to kill the boss.”
“Shouldn’t be that long,” Kezo said. “But I agree with you. To be safe, let’s go there first.”
“After we secure the Vinereaver Essence, we’ll return to Toxic Goops. The other areas might’ve respawned Blighted monsters by then.”
Glowing green Glacial Haunts floated outside the cave that housed the Vinereaver—an encouraging sign we were on the right track. More Blighted monsters were inside, a delightful and disgusting sight to behold.
We assumed our usual wedge formation, slicing through the masses of monsters flowing against us. If we were fighting stronger enemies—around Kezo’s level, for example—a tank would be required front and center instead of a DPSer like Kezo, dictating the flow of battle and which enemies to go for. That was what I enjoyed the most being a tank when I played Nornyr Online with my childhood buddies. The more challenging the content, the more tanks were needed, and the more ‘soft power’ a tank had in terms of power dynamics in the party—translation: When the going gets tough, everyone listens to the tank.
“Is the Vinereaver among these guys?” I asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the din of battle.
Kezo glanced over his shoulder, facing front again to parry a ghostly axe. “Not here! It’s huge. Something we can’t miss.”
“This is the right place, isn’t it?” Nitana said.
“I’m positive this is where the reflect mini-boss lives,” Kezo replied.
“Maybe it’ll show up after we kill all zombie thingies?” Megan said. “Like ‘cause it’s the boss?”
Blighted monsters poured from smaller holes. We had to retreat to the cave’s opening to shorten the battlefront. Surface area? Not sure what the correct term was. We were at a disadvantage if the monsters got a wide concave, allowing them to attack us from different directions.
It took us several minutes to clear the alleged Vinereaver cave—I say ‘alleged’ because, after the battle, we were left staring at shimmering Essence and Gli in the air and slime on the ground. No Vinreaver, Blighted or otherwise.
“What? It’s not here?” Kezo clomped around as if it’d show up if he made noise. “I’m sure this is—let me check again.” He opened his map. “This is… this should be the place.”
“It’s probably on vacation,” Nitana muttered.
“Can boss monsters do that?” Megan asked.
“Huh? Of course not, silly. I was just—never mind.” Nitana shook her head. “So, what do we do now?”
“Sorry for the mistake, Herald,” Kezo said. “I thought the mini-boss would be the Vinereaver that Bawu was looking for. But it’s not even here. I can try calling Jensen if he knows something. He should be at work right now, though.”
“Let’s not bother your friend,” I said. “We’ll figure this out ourselves.”
“Sorry for wasting time. My guess turned out to be wrong.”
“I’m sorry for wasting time too!” Megan raised her hand. “I forced us—I guess, that was technically forcing—to rescue the guards. And I also dawdled around in Bawu’s laboratory.”
“Dawdled?” Nitana snorted. “Haven’t heard you use that word before. And don’t say you wasted time. Helping the guards netted us plenty of goop. The saving the experiments thing, though…”
“Super sorry!”
“Visiting the experiments was on me,” I said. “Enough talk about wasting time—that’s also wasting time. We should focus on finding a Blighted Vinereaver Essence.”
“We can try the other mini-bosses in these tunnels,” Kezo said. “One of them might be a secret Vinereaver.”
“How about asking SpartanDonkey?” Megan suggested.
“I second that,” Nitana said. “If anyone should know about a Vinereaver around this dump, it’s going to be him.”
I wasn’t listening to them, scratching my tusks in deep thought while looking around. The smaller tunnels leading into this cave where the Blighted passed… what did an exit hole look like compared to the entrance? What if those holes were originally used to get out of here? I recalled the Blighted Armored Maggroths digging passages for the other infected to use.
“What do you think, Herald?” Kezo said. “SpartanDonkey’s online. Do you want me to message—?”
“You’re not wrong,” I blurted.
“What?”
“You’re not wrong. Our target is the mini-boss you mentioned.”
“But it’s not here.” Kezo extended his arms, gesturing to the emptiness around us.
“Meaning you were right. The mini-boss was somehow affected by the Blighted quests. If it wasn’t, it should just be here, watching us fight the Blighted. Maybe it’d join in. Instead, this place is empty, and there are those tunnels. They don’t look like something burst out of the rock walls. Otherwise, the opening would have ridges flaring out. Similar to the burrows made by the Armored Maggroths. Or like… like…”
“A popped pimple!” Megan chimed in.
“I was thinking of a volcano crater,” I said, “but that works too.”
“You mean to say the mini-boss went somewhere else?” Nitana said.
Megan clapped her hands. “It did go on vacation!”
“Let’s check the tunnels.”
Kezo chose the largest opening because he was the biggest among us. I entered the smallest one—there should be a sexual joke somewhere around—and braved the slime-covered walls in search of the Vinereaver. Fortunately, this passage wasn’t as cramped as the other I had crawled through before, where I was forced to mimic a worm.
I emerged in a smaller cave, not much bigger than a Mardukryon house. Light from my [Greater Pyro Shell] revealed more slime, decaying monster carcasses, and a lone Blighted Borple snacking on them. Wrong place. I shimmied back the way I came. The Blighted Borple chased me, biting my ass as I struggled through the tunnel. I didn’t mind it; retribution took care of it.
“Nothing?” Nitana offered her hand and pulled me up. Kezo stood beside her.
“Nothing,” I repeated. “Where’s Megan?”
“She’s not back yet.”
“Her health’s full. She’s not in danger. It’s probably a long tunnel. We can try the other paths while we wait, though it looks like they’re only big enough for me to pass through.”
“What do we do if they’re the right ones?”
“I don’t know. There might be another—"
“I found it!” shouted an echoey voice from the tunnel to my left. Yellowish light from inside the hole became brighter as the sounds of hooves got louder. Megan ran out, waving her glowing wands. “I found it!”
“Nice work!” said Kezo. “The game made the way big enough for Mardukryon players of all levels to pass.”
“Figures.” I shrugged—all my hard work for nothing. I turned to Megan, who was happily skipping. “By ‘found it,’ you mean the Vinereaver?”
“Uh, nope. But I think it’s somewhere there.” Megan opened her map and waved her hand to show it to us. “Do you have the other Bawu quest you mentioned marked on yours? Like ending the outbreak thingy?”
I overlayed my [Tattered Map] with hers. “Here’s the part of Bawu’s laboratory where the outbreak began. We’ll do that quest later because it’ll end all the Blighted.”
Megan tapped a point on the map near the one I marked. “And here’s where this tunnel goes. These two quests are connected, methinks. Weird vines and stuff are coiling through pipes and machines. The Vinereaver broke into Bawu’s lab.”
“How are they?” Megan asked as I took my place in our formation. She didn’t let up the streams of fire gushing from her wands. “Will the guards be okay?”
“They’re going to be fine.” I chuckled, amused at her behavior.
Megan was so passionate about NPC welfare that we got delayed at Bawu’s base because she wanted to rescue the mutant experiments. It took a few minutes to convince her it was fruitless. After that, we had to dodge the approaching chimeras, alerted by the ruckus we made. Nitana explained that Megan was too friendly in real life she couldn’t help but act the same to NPCs.
I recalled a few people in Vanguard Gaming who get deeply immersed in computer games, acting bizarrely at times. A virtual world was several times more immersive—I’ve heard of people needing psychiatric help because they couldn’t tell the difference between games and reality.
“We’ll ensure it’s safe before they move,” I added. “So, let’s get to killing these Blighted.” That was the opposite of what the guards wanted, but I figured I could keep the Agung alive for some time while my party farmed. I’d keep my eye on him if he’d start turning into a zombie.
Nitana was delighted by the crowds of Blighted monsters. She aimed to reach another level today. As for me, that meant more [Toxic Goop]. I returned to the village guards a few times to heal Agung. Each time, they’d repeat their dialogues. Each time, I’d tell them to wait just a bit more.
Life-threatening emergency? No rush.
Eventually, I noticed off-colored parts of Agung’s charcoal-like Mardukryon skin. Bubbling brown patches. The molten veins on the black and ashy grey, usually burning bright orange, had tinges of the familiar Blighted green. It was nicely timed—for us, not for Agung. The flow of the Blighted had slowed to a trickle, and we had to move anyway.
“Let’s get you out of the tunnels,” I told the guards.
“Take care!” I waved goodbye. The Mardukryon NPCs headed to the central passage leading out of the underground labyrinth. My party stayed behind. Any further, and we would run into more village guards. Two of our rescuees helped Agung walk while the last trailed behind to express gratitude.
“We’ll never forget your aid, youngling,” he said. “Meet us in the village later. We must report your bravery to the Chief.”
[ Quest Completed: Aiding the Ailing ]
“Sure, I’ll do that… later,” I said. ‘Later’ has a very flexible meaning nowadays. The Essence reward pushed me closer to leveling up—there were Gli and Artas too. Maybe I’d be level twenty by the time I exited the tunnels.
Megan exhaled in relief after the guards were out of sight. “Phew! They didn’t force us to come with them. I was scared they’d ruin Herald’s quest, and it’ll be all my fault. Sorry for acting impulsively.”
“I’m not going to be mad at you if my quest got derailed,” I said with as gentle a smile a Mardukryon face could make. I rarely got angry at people’s shortcomings affecting me—it was expected of others who weren’t Herald Stone to fail at some point. The upper band of my reaction would be extreme irritation at the hassle of fixing other people’s mistakes. If Megan did something stupid, I could dangle that over her head someday… maybe I could unashamedly ask for her items when she’d quit as a Mardukryon?
“We also spent a lot of time helping the guards,” Megan said. “Really, really sorry. Like we walked super far, and the guards were slow turtles, and, and— ”
“We farmed plenty of Toxic Goop while saving them, so it’s all good.” It wasn’t. There was a chance we might run out of time.
“Where to next?” Nitana asked.
Kezo had a floating map in front of him. He scanned it as we galloped back to the depths. “How about here?” He marked a point on the map’s interface.
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ve been there,” Nitana said.
“I think we should kill the Vinereaver first,” I suggested. “We have an hour and twenty minutes on the clock. How many goops do we have now?” The others gave their [Toxic Goop] to me. Our total reached a bit over six hundred. “If we’re only farming goops, we have plenty of time to complete the order. The problem is the Blighted Vinereaver Essence. We don’t know how long it’ll take to kill the boss.”
“Shouldn’t be that long,” Kezo said. “But I agree with you. To be safe, let’s go there first.”
“After we secure the Vinereaver Essence, we’ll return to Toxic Goops. The other areas might’ve respawned Blighted monsters by then.”
Glowing green Glacial Haunts floated outside the cave that housed the Vinereaver—an encouraging sign we were on the right track. More Blighted monsters were inside, a delightful and disgusting sight to behold.
We assumed our usual wedge formation, slicing through the masses of monsters flowing against us. If we were fighting stronger enemies—around Kezo’s level, for example—a tank would be required front and center instead of a DPSer like Kezo, dictating the flow of battle and which enemies to go for. That was what I enjoyed the most being a tank when I played Nornyr Online with my childhood buddies. The more challenging the content, the more tanks were needed, and the more ‘soft power’ a tank had in terms of power dynamics in the party—translation: When the going gets tough, everyone listens to the tank.
“Is the Vinereaver among these guys?” I asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the din of battle.
Kezo glanced over his shoulder, facing front again to parry a ghostly axe. “Not here! It’s huge. Something we can’t miss.”
“This is the right place, isn’t it?” Nitana said.
“I’m positive this is where the reflect mini-boss lives,” Kezo replied.
“Maybe it’ll show up after we kill all zombie thingies?” Megan said. “Like ‘cause it’s the boss?”
Blighted monsters poured from smaller holes. We had to retreat to the cave’s opening to shorten the battlefront. Surface area? Not sure what the correct term was. We were at a disadvantage if the monsters got a wide concave, allowing them to attack us from different directions.
It took us several minutes to clear the alleged Vinereaver cave—I say ‘alleged’ because, after the battle, we were left staring at shimmering Essence and Gli in the air and slime on the ground. No Vinreaver, Blighted or otherwise.
“What? It’s not here?” Kezo clomped around as if it’d show up if he made noise. “I’m sure this is—let me check again.” He opened his map. “This is… this should be the place.”
“It’s probably on vacation,” Nitana muttered.
“Can boss monsters do that?” Megan asked.
“Huh? Of course not, silly. I was just—never mind.” Nitana shook her head. “So, what do we do now?”
“Sorry for the mistake, Herald,” Kezo said. “I thought the mini-boss would be the Vinereaver that Bawu was looking for. But it’s not even here. I can try calling Jensen if he knows something. He should be at work right now, though.”
“Let’s not bother your friend,” I said. “We’ll figure this out ourselves.”
“Sorry for wasting time. My guess turned out to be wrong.”
“I’m sorry for wasting time too!” Megan raised her hand. “I forced us—I guess, that was technically forcing—to rescue the guards. And I also dawdled around in Bawu’s laboratory.”
“Dawdled?” Nitana snorted. “Haven’t heard you use that word before. And don’t say you wasted time. Helping the guards netted us plenty of goop. The saving the experiments thing, though…”
“Super sorry!”
“Visiting the experiments was on me,” I said. “Enough talk about wasting time—that’s also wasting time. We should focus on finding a Blighted Vinereaver Essence.”
“We can try the other mini-bosses in these tunnels,” Kezo said. “One of them might be a secret Vinereaver.”
“How about asking SpartanDonkey?” Megan suggested.
“I second that,” Nitana said. “If anyone should know about a Vinereaver around this dump, it’s going to be him.”
I wasn’t listening to them, scratching my tusks in deep thought while looking around. The smaller tunnels leading into this cave where the Blighted passed… what did an exit hole look like compared to the entrance? What if those holes were originally used to get out of here? I recalled the Blighted Armored Maggroths digging passages for the other infected to use.
“What do you think, Herald?” Kezo said. “SpartanDonkey’s online. Do you want me to message—?”
“You’re not wrong,” I blurted.
“What?”
“You’re not wrong. Our target is the mini-boss you mentioned.”
“But it’s not here.” Kezo extended his arms, gesturing to the emptiness around us.
“Meaning you were right. The mini-boss was somehow affected by the Blighted quests. If it wasn’t, it should just be here, watching us fight the Blighted. Maybe it’d join in. Instead, this place is empty, and there are those tunnels. They don’t look like something burst out of the rock walls. Otherwise, the opening would have ridges flaring out. Similar to the burrows made by the Armored Maggroths. Or like… like…”
“A popped pimple!” Megan chimed in.
“I was thinking of a volcano crater,” I said, “but that works too.”
“You mean to say the mini-boss went somewhere else?” Nitana said.
Megan clapped her hands. “It did go on vacation!”
“Let’s check the tunnels.”
Kezo chose the largest opening because he was the biggest among us. I entered the smallest one—there should be a sexual joke somewhere around—and braved the slime-covered walls in search of the Vinereaver. Fortunately, this passage wasn’t as cramped as the other I had crawled through before, where I was forced to mimic a worm.
I emerged in a smaller cave, not much bigger than a Mardukryon house. Light from my [Greater Pyro Shell] revealed more slime, decaying monster carcasses, and a lone Blighted Borple snacking on them. Wrong place. I shimmied back the way I came. The Blighted Borple chased me, biting my ass as I struggled through the tunnel. I didn’t mind it; retribution took care of it.
“Nothing?” Nitana offered her hand and pulled me up. Kezo stood beside her.
“Nothing,” I repeated. “Where’s Megan?”
“She’s not back yet.”
“Her health’s full. She’s not in danger. It’s probably a long tunnel. We can try the other paths while we wait, though it looks like they’re only big enough for me to pass through.”
“What do we do if they’re the right ones?”
“I don’t know. There might be another—"
“I found it!” shouted an echoey voice from the tunnel to my left. Yellowish light from inside the hole became brighter as the sounds of hooves got louder. Megan ran out, waving her glowing wands. “I found it!”
“Nice work!” said Kezo. “The game made the way big enough for Mardukryon players of all levels to pass.”
“Figures.” I shrugged—all my hard work for nothing. I turned to Megan, who was happily skipping. “By ‘found it,’ you mean the Vinereaver?”
“Uh, nope. But I think it’s somewhere there.” Megan opened her map and waved her hand to show it to us. “Do you have the other Bawu quest you mentioned marked on yours? Like ending the outbreak thingy?”
I overlayed my [Tattered Map] with hers. “Here’s the part of Bawu’s laboratory where the outbreak began. We’ll do that quest later because it’ll end all the Blighted.”
Megan tapped a point on the map near the one I marked. “And here’s where this tunnel goes. These two quests are connected, methinks. Weird vines and stuff are coiling through pipes and machines. The Vinereaver broke into Bawu’s lab.”
