Sepulture

The land of Mossflower had faced crisis after crisis, but it has always stood strong. It mattered little who threatens it - marauding bands or expanding empires - they all met the same fate. But now, all this was thrown into question. Near every city-state within the Mossflower Alliance, groups of vermin have discovered a method to bring beasts of legend back into the world. Far away to the South, General Kezda Almenard of the Southswarder army is on the prowl. In the shadows, a hidden threat emerges, threatening to trample all in its wake. But all hope is not lost. The Taggerung has returned to this world, and Mossflower now has a savior chosen by the very Fates.

It all began with a mission undertaken by the orders of Eula the Nestene…

"Alright," said Mekai the sable, resident Brightmage of the Nestene Community. "We're going to scout out the Flitchaye."

Seb the otter Paladin was less than impressed with Mekai's orders. He had been playing the game for around two weeks, and he often loved to think that he knew the mechanics quite well. "And by 'we', you mean 'me', right?"

"Correct! Follow me." Mekai took a few steps forward and disappeared into thin air.

"Follow you where? Into the afterlife?" asked Seb, scratching his head.

0000

Of course, things went poorly without Mekai's help. Within mere minutes, Seb lay unconscious on the ground, the Flitchaye's sleeping gases having worked well. Now, the otter was in the vermin's holding cell, awaiting what was to come. At least he had reunited with his teammates… for better or for worse.

"I can't believe we fell for such an obvious set-up!" moaned Seb.

"What do we mean 'we'?" replied a squirrel in blue and black Darkmage gear. Jared wasn't his player's first character, and he was just testing out a new class. "I'm just tagging along to level up a side character. I've seen that cutscene a million times."

"You know, screw this." A black-and-white ferret shook his head in exasperation. "Fret out!" With a woosh, Seb's teammate vanished in a ball of light - the standard animation for non-VIP characters logging out of the game.

"Well, that's just rude." said Seb.

"Ok! Team number 238!" A brown ferret shouted loudly, as if he was a waiter checking in customers. "Do we have a team number 238? Full party?"

"Oh, that's us!" exclaimed the player next to Seb, a white-furred rat. Her party packed up their weapons and armour, and set off to defeat the boss in the trial to come. She turned to Seb. "Hey, good luck to you guys!"

Seb produced a pair of finger guns. "You too!"

It didn't take a long time for Fret to log back in. The ferret looked at all three of his teammates, hoping for some kind of greeting. But the only one to react was the tall otter next to Seb. Kio the Pikebeast only spoke German, but he understood English well enough - he just refused to speak it. But right now, the only thing he did was to roll his eyes and say nothing - a quintessential Teutonic response.

"Ok, I'm bored." The ferret complained, "Is it Sepulture time already?"

"Stop making a mockery of our holding cell!" shouted the Flitchaye ferret.

"Screw you!" retaliate Fret. "It's just a big cave with nothing but you mockeries of proud ferrets inhabiting it! I'm not sure how you even invented fire! Oh, and you don't pay my sub!"

"He's an NPC!" said Seb. "Of course he doesn't."

"Look. You tank as well as a floppy pancake. Do you want help or not?" Fret smirked as Seb silently nodded. "Then all is well."

Half an hour and over a hundred calls later, the Flitchaye came out again. "Ok! Is there a team 423? Team number 423? Light party?"

"Ooh! That's us! That's us!" Seb gestured as his team. Fret and Jared readied their staves and Kio finally finished polishing his spear. The otter looked down at himself. His red armour went well with his silvery shield and sword - he had bought it for quite a bit of ingame currency. The otter donned his helm and nodded at his team. "Come on, guys!"

0000

Sepulture turned out to be quite menacing. The Elemental summon of Earth was built like a boulder, and it was no coincidence that it was made of rocks. "Forsooth, thy frail mortal frame can serve as vessel to the blessing of but One. Yet I smell not the taint of another upon thee… The truth of thine allegiance waxeth clear - thou art of the warrior's blessed number."

"What?" Fret blurted out.

Kio nodded. "Keine Ahnung."

"Yeah, I can understand Kio better than you," added Seb. "Can we get a translator in here?"

Jared, as usual, was less than impressed. "Are you guys serious? That was clear as day!"

"Er… yes?"

It took a long five minutes for the translator to arrive - a foppishly dressed squirrel. "Hmm… he's basically saying he can't brainwash you guys because you've been blessed by a higher being - Martin the Warrior, in this case."

"Ohhhh." Seb sighed in relief.

"That makes sense." the ferret nodded.

"Well duh." Jared replied. "Took you guys long enough."

"I mean, did it matter?" asked the translator. "He still wants to murder you."

As if on cue, the Elemental lifted up a fist, and the entire party was flattened in an instant.

0000

"Ok! We get the opportunity to try again!" said Jared charged a spell. "Seb, draw his fire! Fret, get Protect on us! Kio, do Pikebeast things!"

"Genau!" Kio's eyes lit up as he sprung into the air in a classic Pikebeast Jump - and immediately got himself knocked unconscious by a blow from Sepulture, plummeting into the void below the battlefield.

"This. This is where Pikebeasts get their reputation from!" moaned Fret.

0000

"Ah man, oh no!" exclaimed Mekai, rushing in to see Sepulture fade into dust. "Did I miss the Sepulture fight? Oh no, I so wanted to help…"

"It's OK. It was actually very easy." Jared said in his usual bragging tone. "We beat him without a second DPS. You probably would have hindered us more than Kio did, if anything."

"Well…" the sable twiddled her thumbclaws. "Now we've got to kill those vermin who got magically brainwashed into worshipping Sepulture."

"Waitwaitwait." A horrified expression crept its way up Seb's face. "You can't just fix them, or detain them until a cure is found in a later patch, or something?"

"Nope. They're doomed for life, bud."

"Geez, that's a bit dark." said Fret. "I mean, I'm happy a bunch of non-ferrets are going to die, but some ferrets are going to die, so it's still a bit dark."

"Are you sure we're the good guys?" asked Seb.

Hearing this, Mekai shrugged, her shoulders almost getting taller than her head and her brows curling up into the greatest frown Seb had ever seen.

0000

After that had been dealt with, Seb was quick to return to Nest to ask Eula what his next mission was. "Before you go rendezvous with your home city, you must attend the memorial service Mekai will hold for the victims of the last Southswarder invasion."

"Ok, cool. Let's go, Fret!"

Seb turned to leave when the ferret coughed. "What time do they start?"

Eula smiled. "Literally whenever you want."

"Oh cool! So I can make it 3 AM if I want?"

"If you want to be a jerk about it, then yes."

Fret immediately put on the largest smile a ferret could manage. "I do."

Five hours later, the entirety of Nest gathered in the middle of the town, with Mekai giving a speech that never seemed to end.

"And in conclusion," said the sable, yawning, "Nest is a peaceful place, but will give whoever invades us a," she yawned again, "good kick up the tail. Okay, rest in peace, victim of the invasion nobody remembers. Peace" With that done, Mekai saw fit to immediately collapse.

"Was it worth it, Fret?" asked Seb, only to be greeted by a sleeping ferret. "Oh, come on!"

A/N: We're entering the proper summer days here! To all who are still reading this, have a wonderful month. Oh, and happy birthday, Fortie! Thanks for reading my fics. Oh, and for the art too!