"Wrottzen! Pull Aggro!" Bojohn yelled.
"No problem. May! Could you heal me a bit?"
"Heartbeat Healing!"
The trio of adventurers worked in perfect harmony against the high level Mountain Ogre. Deciding that the direct route to Gotham was too high level for them to handle, Bojohn made the executive decision to travel due east to the city of Hudson before traveling due south to their final destination.
Although Wrottzen grumbled at first about being stuck in his body for even longer, he eventually came to realize it was the best plan. In Elder Tale, monster levels increased as you traveled away from a town and decreased as you grew closer to another, with the exception of NPC villages. Taking the longer route decreased the amount of high level territory that needed to be covered and hedged the group's bets against dying. Even though they could be revived, an adventurer was always revived in the cathedral of the last town he left. This meant that any one death would most likely set the expedition back days.
"Quick Step!" Bojohn yelled, striking a final blow at the beast before it burst into particles.
While this new route was easier to traverse, it was also great for grinding levels. Wrottzen had grown another 3 levels to Lv 51, while May and Bojohn had both grown another level themselves, putting them at levels 59 and 70 respectively.
"Nice job man!" Wrottzen said, "We're gaining a lot of experience from this."
"That may be true but how are our supplies looking?" May asked.
"Not so good considering we're only a few days out from Syr. We've already used up half of our healing items and we still have another week of travel before we reach Hudson."
"Can't you whip up some healing potions with alchemy Wrottzen?"
"I can but those potions don't do nearly enough in the heat of battle. We'll either need to quicken our pace or stop for supplies soon."
"Quickening the pace is out of the question." Bojohn said, "This territory is too high level. We have to go through here slowly to avoid aggro."
"Not to mention an errant shot from any of these monsters could probably one-shot us on horseback." May added.
"It's settled then! We're stopping for supplies! Bojohn, where is the nearest town?"
Pulling out the map, Bojohn replied, "The nearest player town is… Hudson."
"Really?!" May cried in disbelief.
"Yeah, unless you want to back track a few days to Syr and start over from the beginning."
"No we need to keep moving forward. We'll start conserving our high level potions for high level battles. Between fights we'll use the potions I transmute. It might take a toll on my MP after a while but it's our best option."
"I agree with conserving our potions but are there any villages nearby, where People of the Land might live?" May asked.
"There's one a couple days out from here. Nice thinking May!" Bojohn said after consulting the map. "We can stop there and resupply our food and potions!"
"Sounds good! Let's get going then." Wrottzen said, spurring his comrades onward once again.
Traveling by foot greatly decreased the amount of ground they covered. While the trio encountered very few monsters along the way, it took them two days to even get close to the village.
"How much farther?" May asked wearily.
"Another half a day I'd say." Bojohn replied, "Once we make it through this valley, the village should be on the other side of the forest.
"Great. I really need a bath. A week out in the wilderness isn't good for a woman's constitution you know."
"For once I can empathize with you." Wrottzen added, "I have dirt places I didn't even know existed."
"See? I bet you're glad I took you clothes shopping now. At least you have clean undergarments each day."
"Yeah. I'll admit its felt good to change at least those every day."
Bojohn began to fidget nervously after hearing the girls talk. "Keep on your guard. There might be monsters up ahead."
"Looky here Wrottzen." May began, "Looks like the big bad swashbuckler is uncomfortable with us talking about panties."
"I am not!" Bojohn replied, face turning red.
"Wow, you're right!" Wrottzen said, continuing to tease his friend. "You know, if you run out of clean underwear, I can always lend you some of mine."
"Quit it!" Bojohn quickly replied, face turning even redder as he ran in front of the group. "Now focus! I really think there's monsters waiting to ambush us."
"Stop trying to change the subject! I have a pink pair that would be-"
Suddenly, a large monster jumped in front of the group brandishing a large club. A giant compared to the trio of adventurers, his long unkempt hair and scraggly beard were enough to make the three quiver in fear.
"Wh-What is that?" May asked.
"It's a field boss!" Bojohn replied. "Its status screen says he's Timitt the Valley Lord, Level 75."
"Field bosses usually require a full party of people around an equal level to defeat it. We have to sneak past it somehow." Wrottzen declared.
"A monster that powerful won't attack us as long as we don't attack it." Bojohn said. "Let's just walk past him and continue on our way."
As the three walked past, May developed a tickle in her nose.
"Ah… Ah…"
"Don't you dare sneeze!" Wrottzen whispered. "The loud noise will register as aggression toward the boss."
"I'll… try." May responded, holding in the sneeze.
"Just a few more feet and I think we'll be home free." Bojohn said.
"Ahhh. Hey guys, I think my sneeze has- Achoo!"
Like a dog responding to a whistle, Timitt quickly turned his head toward the source of the noise and began to charge.
"Run for it!" Wrottzen yelled.
The trio abandoned any sense of caution and began sprinting away from the giant racing toward them. After about 15 minutes of hard running, Timitt abandoned the chase and turned away but other monsters had been aggroed on their way.
"Guys, we have 3 Skeletal Warriors and 2 Carrion Hawks to deal with." Bojohn said.
"You just had to sneeze didn't you?" Wrottzen said, pulling out his sword.
"I couldn't help it. Forest's Blessing!"
"Thanks for the defense increase. Let's go! Anchor Howl!"
All five enemies rushed at the Guardian who began to take hit after hit on her shield.
"May, you take the Carrion Hawks! I'll take the Skeletal Warriors!"
"Sounds good Bojohn!"
All five of the undead monsters retreated when they saw Bojohn and May charge into the fray. The Warriors retreated backwards while the Hawks turned skyward.
"Oh no you don't!" May cried as she pursued the Hawks. Jumping from tree to tree, she managed to get above the flying creatures before hitting each of them to the ground. Once on the ground, the hawks were an easy target for Wrottzen who sunk his sword into both monsters for the final blow.
"Good work." Wrottzen said as May returned to the ground and cast a healing spell.
"Thanks. The Dancer subclass comes in really handy for times like that."
"Guys! A little help over here?" Bojohn called. While his initial appearance on the battlefield had intimidated the Undead Warriors, Bojohn no found himself taking heavy damage from his adversaries, who were taking turns on the offensive.
"Shield Swing!"
"Double Hit!"
Both Wrottzen and May charged in with skills already activated to help their teammate. Wrottzen's Shield Swing threw two of the skeletons away while May dealt heavy damage to the third with a two hit combo from her Bo staff.
"Can you hold them off a while?" May asked, running to Bojohn. "I'll need some time to bring Bojohn's health back to an acceptable level."
Glancing at his health bar and finding it to be at 50%, Wrottzen replied, "I can hold them off for a minute, maybe two. Will that be enough?"
"It'll have to be. Heartbeat Healing!"
As May began to heal Bojohn, Wrottzen ran across the battlefield before yelling, "Anchor Howl!"
After hearing the skill, the three warriors abruptly turned and began to give chase across the small clearing.
This should be far enough. Wrottzen thought. "Heavy Anchor Stance!" Turning, he waited for the monsters to attack.
Heavy Anchor Stance was a Guardian skill that increased one's defense but drastically lowered speed. Once this skill is active, escaping becomes nearly impossible.
Still under the effects of Anchor Howl, the Skeletal Warriors eventually reached the Guardian's position and began to batter the shield with their swords. Even though he took the occasional swing at the enemies, Wrottzen's health soon began to waver.
"Is he almost set back there?" Wrottzen asked as his health dropped below 15%. "I can't hold these guys off any longer!"
"He's as good as I can get him." May declared. "All my healing spells are on cooldown."
"This'll be plenty." Bojohn said as he unsheathed his sword. "It's time for some payback. Whirlwind Slash!"
Faster than either Wrottzen or May could follow, Bojohn was across the battlefield knocking the undead warriors away from Wrottzen.
As he admired the rush of air going past him, Wrottzen looked down and picked up a small healing potion. When did he have time to drop this?
Pouring on even more speed, Bojohn pursued the enemies further and yelled, "Viper's Thrash!" Although it hit only one enemy, the attack defeated him on contact. Eyeing the last two wearily, he said, "You're done. Blade Opera!"
Moving to an invisible beat, Bojohn began to move swiftly around his foes, viciously slashing them each time they tried to escape from the corner that Bojohn was creating.
Once his skill ended, Bojohn walked over to his two comrades and asked, "Are you guys OK?"
"Yeah but I don't think they're dead yet." May said, pointing to the motionless skeletons.
"Nah, they're dead." Bojohn replied, putting his sword away. As soon as the sword was fully within the scabbard, the remaining Skeletal Warriors collapsed and disintegrated. "What's everyone's status?"
"I'm at 60% health but I'm nearly out of MP." May replied.
"I'm a little under 25% health and my MP's pretty tapped out."
"OK. Well I'm at 55% health thanks to May but I'm also almost out of MP."
"Well maybe you shouldn't have used all those skills." Wrottzen said.
"I'm sorry dude. You were in trouble and those guys triple teamed me earlier." Bojohn explained. "I was running a little hot under the collar."
"It all worked out. Don't worry about it." May replied. "Those were some high level monsters. Anybody level up?"
"Hey yeah! I'm level 71 now!"
"Awesome level 52!"
"I thought you guys might have." May said. "I'm an even level 60."
"Great now let's keep moving." Bojohn said, leading the way through the forest. "We don't want to attract any more monsters."
Not a moment later, he stepped out of the forest and was face to face with a semi-circle of sharpened spears each being held by a Person of the Land.
"I don't think its monsters we need to worry about." Wrottzen replied.
AN: Hey there everyone! This one's a more action based chapter, hopefully its up to par. I was going to go further but this seemed like the perfect stopping point. Next time we'll explore the People of the Land and why they're being so hostile to our crew.
I'm been debating so I'm going to leave it up to you guys. Is three a good number for our main crew or should another(1) character be added? Leave a review with your thoughts.