mcahogarth
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Gamelit 31 (back to work/fun)
🕑 Added 2024-11-29 12:50:04 +0000 UTCI know it's Black Friday and I should be trying to sell you things, but I think I'll just give you things instead.đ
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It felt like it had been forever since heâd logged on, and the break had done him good. He felt fresh, like he could hit the game with new energy. Or maybe that was the coffee heâd had with Blythe, or the walk theyâd taken afterwards in the park? She was relaxing to be around⊠he didnât feel like he had to try quite so hard with her, but he wanted to be a better person anyway. It was hard to explain.
But it was after dinner, and he wanted to get back to work. âBefore you show me what you did with the village,â Nick said, âwe gotta finish the quest with the stream.â
âSounds good,â his mom said. âIâd like to see what happens.â
Theyâd zoned in, and the AI had zipped over, glowing like a green firefly. It was still apparently invisible to everyone else, which was fine. For now, anyway. Maybe he could talk her into taking a shape? Like a flying pet of some kind? Aloud, he said, âWeâre ready to resume the interrupted scenario.â
The game transported them back to the headwater and cued the cut scene, and it was better than any heâd ever experienced; because he was in it, instead of watching his character animated through it. The floating offerings, the singing, the silence, all of that replayed from before their abrupt logout⊠then the water pooled until it drew upward into a glowing figure. Not one of the Cervinaethi, and not a centaur, but something that combined features of both, with great antlers that framed a rotating sphere of stars. He recognized several of the constellations, and wondered if it would be as easy to learn the ones in the real sky.
âWho comes before me?â the Lord of the Forest intoned in a bass so deep Nick felt his torso vibrate, like he was standing too close to the speaker stack at a concert.
His mom glanced at him, brows lifted, and that inspired him. He straightened his shoulders and said, âA mother and a son. We come on behalf of those who would leave peaceably within these woods.â
âYou? The creation of my sisterâs hubris? Speak for⊠who, precisely?â
Nick felt his cervine ears flip back. âFor the humans and centaurs who live here. And anyone else they will welcome to their town.â He raised his chin. âThat is my duty, as your sisterâs creation. To teach them how to honor the forest, the way my people did in the past when we made our treaty with you.â
One great hoof scraped at the stones, spraying a fan of water upward. âYou speak of duty.â
âOf course,â Nick said. âI am Cervinaethi. We ward the wild places. We teach the younger races of the elders. We are the bridge between mortal and immortal and divine.â He bowed, clasping his hands together. âGive me leave to serve again. I will teach the people of Donnerâs Beck to be good stewards of the forest.â
âSo that these people can burn the glade again?â
âThose were our enemies, Lord of the Forest,â his mom said, stepping forward. âBut it is our duty also to protect the young from those who would destroy them.â
The Lord of the Forest bent toward her, glowing eyes narrowing. âI will not be party to the internecine quarrels of mortals.â
âThis isnât about mortals and immortals,â she answered. âThis is about the eternal cycles and rhythms of nature. The young breed, bear young, and defend those young until they grow to become parents themselves.â
Nice, mom! he thought.
âWe seek no quarrel,â Nick said, and then, inspired, added, âBut we will finish any thrust on us; twice over, if they seek to destroy the forest. Let us be your guardians as well as ours.â
Another scrape of those enormous hooves. âYou claim to speak for the people, though there are no Cervinaethi. Prove it. I will grant you a boonâeach of youâa boon of the forest. You will be judged based on what you choose to do with it. Choose wisely, and I will release the river, and by that you will know the treaty is restored. Choose poorly, and I will release the flood, and there will be no one left to know your failure.â He spread his hands apart and a star from between his antlers spiraled down until it floated over each palm. Then the star shot toward each of them and struck them in the chest. Like being hit by the fizzing sparks from a sparkler, but hard enough to rock Nick on his heels.
The Lord of the Forest vanished, and that was that⊠except for the weight of the boon. Nick pried his collar loose and peeked down it, and as he expected, there was now a sprouting seed tattooed in golden light on his chest.
His mother, though, was prying up one of the stones. He started to say something, but she hefted it up, like she was showing baby Simba to the animals. âLord of the Forest, we take this stone with us into the village of Donnerâs Beck as a reminder of the power of nature, and our promises to the forest.â
A gleam traveled the surface of the rock, just enough to make it clear that something magical had happened.
âWe keep our promises,â she finished, and turned to him. âRight?â
âRight,â he said, grinning. As they clambered onto the bank, he said, âWhat are you going to do with that, anyway?â
âNo idea,â his mom admitted and he started laughing. âMore importantly⊠what are we going to do to defend the town? I thought we needed the water to fill in the moat. Iâm guessing we canât use these boons to get around that.â
âI wouldnât,â Nick said. âThis is obviously supposed to tie in with our developing questline about rebuilding Donnerâs Beck; weâve got to prove that we make good choices, choices that benefit both the forest and the village. But we should be creative about it, you know? Do something epic and magical. If we can do it ourselves with enough sweat and some shovels, that would be a bad candidate.â
She nodded, trotting alongside him. âLike using a sports car to go to the grocery.â She pursed her lips. âOf course, if the only car you have is a sports carâŠ.â
âThen you probably should have made better life decisions,â Nick said. He was still grinning. The game was fun. Playing with his mom was fun. She was chill and silly, and she didnât think his hobby was stupid, after all. She was actually more into it than she thought. âAnyway, Dad had a lot of ideas that had nothing to do with the moat. And we can still dig the trenches for the moat, and fill them with those things they put all over the beaches in World War II.â
âOr magical stuff,â his mom said. âAcid? Fire that never stops burning? No, wait, that might incinerate the wildlife, the way solar panels do to birds. Come to think of it, sharpened posts are awful enough. Will they stop other players though? That fight between Carl and whatâs his name lasted forever. We take a lot of killing. Or at least, older characters like you do. What stops characters like you?â
âHonestly?â Nick stuck his hands in his pockets. âOther players. Or a lot of really, really high level NPCs. Elite city guards. That sort of thing.â
âMaybe I can use my boon to summon a guardian dragon?â
He laughed. âDonât do that. Thereâs no guarantee the dragon would stay on our side.â
âIf I fed it enough cookies?â She dug in her pouch, came up with a double chocolate chip cookie. âOooh, this one says it increases speed but reduces dexterity. âMove fast, break things.â What, is it caffeinated?â
âIâll test it for you.â He took it and tried it and it was gooey and perfect. âSo far, not moving much faster. I think.â
âNope. So⊠what do we do next? We have a few hours before Iâm ready for bed. Do we use the boons?â
No moat, no defenses, a mostly destroyed village, and apparently his opponent knew where they were and what they were up to. Nick finished the cookie and licked his fingers. âI think⊠we shouldnât plan the boons. Cleaning out all the rubble⊠thatâs probably enough to keep us busyââ He stopped. âIs that the guy you told us about?â
âOh, yes! Thatâs Carl. Hi, Carl!â
Carl was a level-capped human cavalier with an impressive loadout⊠that was a full set from the last expansionâs endgame raid, and enchanted with runecarving, which wasnât a minor undertaking for plate armor. Next to him was a human outrider whose ornate and magical bow looked ridic contrasted with his basic gearâthat would be the newb, then, whoâd gotten slaughtered during the raid on Donnerâs Beck. The outrider looked nervy, and he had a glowing arrow nocked and pointed at the ground. But Carl looked a lot like a golden retriever turned into a person. It would have been cringe if the guy so obviously didnât care what anyone thought. That made his derp kind of awesome.
âThoroldaena,â Carl said, bowing. âMy shield is yours.â
Okay, no, he was the right kind of dopey. Lore nerds were always welcome in Nickâs book. Even lore nerds with questionable names. He glanced at the tag hanging above Carlâs head, and said, âTankydoo. For your valiant defense of Donnerâs Beck, you have earned every.. uh⊠consideration.â
âIf only my valiant defense had been more effective,â Carl said ruefully. âBut next time, KillzYourFase wonât find us so easily defeated! Right, Spellz?â When his friend didnât answer, Carl elbowed him. âRight, Spellz?â
âOh, right. Absolutely. Iâm going to murder theâuh.â Spellz choked, staring at Nickâs mom, cleared his throat. âIâm going to murder that guy when he comes next. To death.â
âThatâs usually how you murder someone,â his mom said cheerfully. âWould you like a cookie?â
âI.. what? I guess?â
âEat her food, she makes amazing food,â Carl said. âSo, Thoroldaena. Whatâs the agenda? Are we going with the moat like Wizard guy said?â
Wouldnât his dad love that! He was now âWizard guy.â Nick grinned. âNot until thereâs a trench for it. So letâs get that organized.â He caught the disappointment that Carl tried to hide and couldnât blame him. Someone who played a cavalier and liked the lore hadnât signed up to do townbuilding. âAlso, itâs clear Donnerâs Beck needs a militia. Would you go through the existing villagers and see who might make a good core force for our new guard? Then you can train them.â
âYou want me to train the new Donnerâs Beck guard?â Carl exclaimed. âAw, hell yes! Iâm on it! But what about my man Spellz here? Do you want him to do some scouting for you?â
This idea made Spellz queasy, from his expression. Since thatâs how heâd gotten ambushed, Nick couldnât blame him. âAre you a traps-and-snares kind of outrider, or a fast-travel outrider?â
âI donât know yet,â Spellz said. âI guess⊠now itâs saying my choices will influence my development. What should I choose??â
âWhat do you want to do?â No, wrong question. âWhen you decided to get yourself a magic bow and something like an outriderâs class, what were you imagining yourself doing?â
âI guess⊠something kind of like Aragorn? I just thought he looked really cool in the movie.â
That⊠wasnât much to go on. And wasnât even correct, since Aragorn had been a sword kind of guy. âOkay, youâre on teaching duty with Tanky, then. Train the villagers on ranged weapons. Unless youâd be willing to go to the next town to get help?â
âI donât know where anything is,â Spellz said. âAnd I donât want to get ganked again, so⊠I guess Iâll do the teaching thing.â
As the outrider trudged toward Donnerâs Beck, Carl showed him a fist. âDonât worry. He sounds disappointed, but heâs gonna love it.â
Nick hoped so as he bumped it. He wasnât sure what he could do with someone whose main motivation was to avoid dying. That didnât seem like a recipe for either heroics or adventure. But maybe the trauma of being camped by Killzâs partner would wear off soon. âIf he doesnât, weâll find something else for him to do.â
âSounds great! Iâm off to buff up the defense."
âIsnât he nice?â Mom said.
âI like him,â Nick said, because it was true. It was hard to hate a golden retriever. âWhat are you gonna do?â
âI think Iâll put this stone somewhere. And get to work in the kitchen. A lot of people are going to be hungry.â
âAre you sure you want to cook instead of braining things with a spoon?â Nick teased.
âIâm sure that the process of cooking will involve me telling a lot of people what to do, and when, and weâll end up partially rebuilding the inn,â his mom answered, amused. âYouâll see.â
That left him to his own task, whatever he was going to do, and he wasnât sure until a new dialogue box popped up.
WORLD QUEST: From the Ground Up
After suffering the depredations of marauders, Donnerâs Beck is in need of restoration! Find a novel way to participate in the rebuilding of this starter village to earn unique, one-time rewards.
Current Chapters and Progression:
Seed to Sap: Oversee the growth of the new tree.
Avengers, Assemble: Train up the new NPC town guards.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The town moat is waiting on the restoration of the Donner river.
Heart of the Village: The inn is in shambles. Rebuild it to restore vital village services.
âOh, perfect,â Nick said. âThatâll keep us on track. Plus itâll look exciting for people watching, which I guess is a thing now.â He walked the perimeter of what was left of Donnerâs Beck. KillzYourFase had done a serious number on the rubble, again, but his mom had a point: they hadnât made much progress so the destruction didnât feel like as much of a setback. He stopped in the middle of what would become the plaza, ignoring the centaurs hauling stones toward the inn, and crouched alongside the arrow. Nothing about it suggested it had been cursed or poisoned, but he didnât want to touch it. Would it be better to leave it stuck there, or should he tear it out? The little sprout next to it was shorter in comparison, and more curled in on itself.
The Cervinaethi were known for their nature affinity, but Nick wasnât playing a class with nature or healing magics. The closest thing he had was the herbalism skill. Would that be enough to turn him into a gardener? Or at least, enough of one to help the tree? He held a hand over it, palm down, and concentrated, eyes closing.
You sense a hollow space that could be filled with song.
âReally?â he asked, skeptical.
The AI dipped into view on his right side. âIn 78% of quests relating to Cervinaethi and druidic magics, music is part of the storyline or quest component.â
âWhat about the other 22%?â
âDancing is the next most frequent mention.â
Given the choice between dancing and singing, heâd definitely take singing. âRight. Time for another mandolin moment, I guess. But I think Iâm going to look for some more mundane plant stuff first. Like fertilizer and water. And maybe⊠I donât know. Pollinators? Pesticides?â
Quest update, Seed to Sap
Donnerâs Beckâs newest tree needs orange oak sap to condition the soil. Harvest some from the nearby forest to give it a growth boost.
âBetter,â Nick said. âI wouldnât want it to be all singing, all the time.â
âAre you certain?â the AI asked.
âYes,â Nick said. âI love music, but Iâm not playing to only do music. I want to experience everything. Especially the outside stuff.â He called to Carl, who was already lining up the NPCs, âHey, bro, Iâm off to do a gather quest.â
âSure thing! Need escort?â
âNah. If Iâm not back, though, avenge me.â
Carl saluted him. âYou got it.â
