“The animal taming quest?” Humphrey questioned, raising eyebrows he didn’t have.
“Don’t judge,” she pouted, “the tomb isn’t going anywhere, and the woods are nearby.”
Sally put her hands on her hips in defiance. She might as well get some experience and reward as it’s so close by - and she could even nab herself a cute critter as a pet! Or emergency snack, if we are being honest. Her Inventory pinged a notification.
[Creature Taming Lure (1)]
“Neat. Is it a hundred-percent chance that it works? They only gave me one. Plus, what does it work on? What if I change my mind?”
“Yes.” Humphrey paused just enough time for the frustration to show on Sally’s face before continuing. “Ha-ha. Why don’t you read the item description?”
“I’m mostly just tired already from the vague technobabble I’ve been presented with so far. But, okay.”
She pressed through the menus to bring the item up.
“Alright, so that answered some of what I asked. You know what? Let’s just go do it - this kitchen is getting stuffy, and I am getting hungry.”
“You’re the boss,” the skull agreed diplomatically.
Stepping out into the daylight was an uncomfortable shock. Being directly under the sun made her skin itch like she was wearing a winter coat. It turned out that being unable to sweat was one of the downsides of being undead. Cold in the shade, sweltering in the sunlight.
“Alright, stick to the shade, troopers. No sense arriving at our destination half-cooked.” She shuffled over to the meagre shade offered by the house.
Overall, Hillan was quite beautiful in the light of day - idyllic, even. If it weren’t for the faux-decay of abandonment, this would be a quaint retreat from whatever passed as a city in this world. Maybe everywhere was like this. Sally shrugged to herself; there was just too much world to explore that there was no point thinking about it all at once.
“Humphrey,” she asked, shuffling along the wall to keep to the shadows, “tell me more about stuff.”
“That’s… a really vague-“
“Like, Levels and Classes.”
“Alright”. Humphrey swung out in front of the conga line of walking corpses, trying to shift along to the end of the street where the road left the town. “Players start as Novices, and once a Novice reaches Level Five, then they can choose a Class. Their level is then reset, and they start anew in their designated Class. Every five levels you can-“
“Upgrade to a further Class within your Class’ type?”
“Yes. But your level doesn’t reset at this point, so for example, the Wizard you so easily murdered yesterday was Level Three - he would have been a Level Five Novice before choosing the Wizard class. If he had lived to see Level Five, he may have chosen an advanced class - say, Fire Wizard, but still have been Level Five.”
“Then at Level Ten Fire Wizard, he could advance again?” Sally raised an eyebrow and paused as they reached the corner of the last building on the row. Just the vast expanse of the stone road lay before them now, but the beckoning shade of the woods lay a good thirty feet away.
“Yes. You really are smarter than you look.” The skull rotated around to avoid the narrowed glare of the zombie woman.
“How many advanced classes are there, or what’s the max level?” She took a deep breath and ordered the Party across the road - taking off at a stiff jog herself as they shuffled slowly behind.
“Base classes have differing amounts of advanced classes. I’m not actually sure of the exact amount - but the max level is Fifty.”
The Observer watched in silence as the zombies made it slowly across the road, hovering high above them, not bothered by the sun. As Sally collapsed against the first shaded tree, he bobbed down beside her.
“So there’s between one and ten advanced classes for a base?” She panted and clawed at her face, willing the excess heat to escape her dead flesh.
“Potentially, but the most common is around five, I’d say.”
The Party clamoured into the shade beside them, looking equally disgruntled by the overly warm sunlight. Travelling only at night would be a problem though, totally inconvenient if they were going to be searching out adventuring Parties to… eat. Was that what she wanted to do to them? Things were a little hazy right now.
Sally spread out on the grass, lying down on her front to try and allow the grass to cool her. “Anyone Level Fifty yet - it’s been three weeks or so, right?” Her voice came out muffled from being buried in the greenery.
“Outside my remit, I’m afraid. Just statistically speaking, though, no - I would be surprised if there was any Party over… Level Twenty, maybe.” Humphrey tilted as if trying to parse the mathematics inside his skull.
“Is it most common to adventure in a Party, then?” Sally rolled onto her back to look up at the canopy and watched it shuffle gently in the breeze.
“Yes. Almost required, really. Perhaps the closest to mandated without being the law as possible.” The Observer turned away from the conversation, his purple glow flickering in colour again.
For a few short silent moments, Sally felt peaceful looking up at the branches and leaves above, the occasional reveal of a clear blue sky as the covering leaves shifted. It was cooler here, and the haze inside her head faded. She closed her eyes and briefly felt like this was all a dream.
“This is the West-Hillan Woods,” the skull broke the silence, accompanied by the buzzed notification of her STAR giving her location information.
“Not reading it,” she closed her eyes, “getting knee-deep in a lore excerpt just sounds like the quickest way to getting ganked.”
“It has a list of the animals native to this area of the woods, though, for your Quest.” Humphrey hovered over her and looked down, blocking her view.
“Just tell me the coolest one,” she sat up and waved the skull away, “we both know that I’m going to go for the weirdest thing possible.”
“Well, it depends how you define ‘coolest’, but there are frogs, owls, spiders, dire badgunks-”
“Wait, what’s that last one?”
“It’s a mix between a badger and skunk, with the personality of a raccoon.” If the Observer was capable of slow-blinking, he would have done so.
“I feel as though you are making that up,” Sally folded her arms and scowled at the floating skull.
“I assure you I am not - your Bestiary doesn’t seem to be activated yet, huh? Perhaps encountering one will knock the System straight.”
Sally exhaled and stood up, wiping down her skirt - for all the good that did. Creases were the least of her worries when it was covered in blood, dirt, and remnants of the adventurers that had tried to cross her. Which was mostly still blood, in fairness. She wondered how far the Cleric had gotten in his machinations to come back after her and whether he had a proper Party. Probably not, given the way he treated the Ranger.
“Do I get experience from killing wildlife or other monsters?” She turned to watch the Party, who had seemed to have gotten distracted by a bird and were all staring off into the same tree.
“Monsters can level up through the killing of other Monsters or neutral creatures, but it is usually at a very reduced rate. Killing Players gains a lot more experience, by comparison.” Humphrey looked up to see if he could see the bird too.
“So clearing out Hillan would have gotten me little more than a sore arm and pang of guilt.”
“Yes.”
“Party, group up! Alright, we are heading into the woods proper now,” she beamed as her troupe of corpses turned and acknowledged her, “don’t go running off after the first tasty snack you see - we will have to be clever and quiet if I am going to trap this… Badgunk thing.”
If [Command Dead] got through to them, they made no show of it. As much as Sally adored her undead friends, without them having the necessary brains to at least acknowledge her requests, it would make this whole ordeal tougher than it needed to be. Plus, they couldn’t gain many skills, according to the Observer.
“The Dire Badgunk is especially smelly when warding off larger predators, but otherwise wily and thieving in its bullying behaviour towards smaller animals.”
Humphrey waited for her response before slowly arcing around next to the Party to observe her. The zombie woman looked glum.
“Pets take up a space in your party, too,” he added, unable to read the situation.
“Aww, so unfair,” she whined, “they should call them thieves of joy, am I right, gang?”
The Party did not respond.
“Well, usually the Quest is for Novices before they fully unlock the Party function - other than a few Classes, pets are more of a hindrance once you start to-“
“Hush, Humps.” Sally shook her head. “You are already making this harder than it needs to be. I have to let one of my babies go so soon?”
“Yes?” The Observer rose slightly higher to look down at the collected group of shamblers. Babies would be one of the last words he would use to describe them.
Sally pouted and sighed. No sense belly-aching over it, or was that just her hunger for mortal flesh? Her Party had managed to ward off a small group of Level Three adventurers - with some luck and a horde of zombies to assist. What would happen if they came across a full five-person Party, a group that wouldn’t get caught out by slow corpse-walkers?
“Well, let’s get moving - we aren’t getting any stronger listening to me yap - you’re rubbing off on me, Humphrey.” With a brief smile, she shook her head at the skull and began striding off into the woods, slowly followed by four zombies.
The Observer looked back to Hillan briefly, narrowing his eyes at the smallest moving object in the distance, before turning and floating off back towards the odd zombie woman.
“The animal taming quest?” Humphrey questioned, raising eyebrows he didn’t have.
“Don’t judge,” she pouted, “the tomb isn’t going anywhere, and the woods are nearby.”
Sally put her hands on her hips in defiance. She might as well get some experience and reward as it’s so close by - and she could even nab herself a cute critter as a pet! Or emergency snack, if we are being honest. Her Inventory pinged a notification.
[Creature Taming Lure (1)]
“Neat. Is it a hundred-percent chance that it works? They only gave me one. Plus, what does it work on? What if I change my mind?”
“Yes.” Humphrey paused just enough time for the frustration to show on Sally’s face before continuing. “Ha-ha. Why don’t you read the item description?”
“I’m mostly just tired already from the vague technobabble I’ve been presented with so far. But, okay.”
She pressed through the menus to bring the item up.
“Alright, so that answered some of what I asked. You know what? Let’s just go do it - this kitchen is getting stuffy, and I am getting hungry.”
“You’re the boss,” the skull agreed diplomatically.
Stepping out into the daylight was an uncomfortable shock. Being directly under the sun made her skin itch like she was wearing a winter coat. It turned out that being unable to sweat was one of the downsides of being undead. Cold in the shade, sweltering in the sunlight.
“Alright, stick to the shade, troopers. No sense arriving at our destination half-cooked.” She shuffled over to the meagre shade offered by the house.
Overall, Hillan was quite beautiful in the light of day - idyllic, even. If it weren’t for the faux-decay of abandonment, this would be a quaint retreat from whatever passed as a city in this world. Maybe everywhere was like this. Sally shrugged to herself; there was just too much world to explore that there was no point thinking about it all at once.
“Humphrey,” she asked, shuffling along the wall to keep to the shadows, “tell me more about stuff.”
“That’s… a really vague-“
“Like, Levels and Classes.”
“Alright”. Humphrey swung out in front of the conga line of walking corpses, trying to shift along to the end of the street where the road left the town. “Players start as Novices, and once a Novice reaches Level Five, then they can choose a Class. Their level is then reset, and they start anew in their designated Class. Every five levels you can-“
“Upgrade to a further Class within your Class’ type?”
“Yes. But your level doesn’t reset at this point, so for example, the Wizard you so easily murdered yesterday was Level Three - he would have been a Level Five Novice before choosing the Wizard class. If he had lived to see Level Five, he may have chosen an advanced class - say, Fire Wizard, but still have been Level Five.”
“Then at Level Ten Fire Wizard, he could advance again?” Sally raised an eyebrow and paused as they reached the corner of the last building on the row. Just the vast expanse of the stone road lay before them now, but the beckoning shade of the woods lay a good thirty feet away.
“Yes. You really are smarter than you look.” The skull rotated around to avoid the narrowed glare of the zombie woman.
“How many advanced classes are there, or what’s the max level?” She took a deep breath and ordered the Party across the road - taking off at a stiff jog herself as they shuffled slowly behind.
“Base classes have differing amounts of advanced classes. I’m not actually sure of the exact amount - but the max level is Fifty.”
The Observer watched in silence as the zombies made it slowly across the road, hovering high above them, not bothered by the sun. As Sally collapsed against the first shaded tree, he bobbed down beside her.
“So there’s between one and ten advanced classes for a base?” She panted and clawed at her face, willing the excess heat to escape her dead flesh.
“Potentially, but the most common is around five, I’d say.”
The Party clamoured into the shade beside them, looking equally disgruntled by the overly warm sunlight. Travelling only at night would be a problem though, totally inconvenient if they were going to be searching out adventuring Parties to… eat. Was that what she wanted to do to them? Things were a little hazy right now.
Sally spread out on the grass, lying down on her front to try and allow the grass to cool her. “Anyone Level Fifty yet - it’s been three weeks or so, right?” Her voice came out muffled from being buried in the greenery.
“Outside my remit, I’m afraid. Just statistically speaking, though, no - I would be surprised if there was any Party over… Level Twenty, maybe.” Humphrey tilted as if trying to parse the mathematics inside his skull.
“Is it most common to adventure in a Party, then?” Sally rolled onto her back to look up at the canopy and watched it shuffle gently in the breeze.
“Yes. Almost required, really. Perhaps the closest to mandated without being the law as possible.” The Observer turned away from the conversation, his purple glow flickering in colour again.
For a few short silent moments, Sally felt peaceful looking up at the branches and leaves above, the occasional reveal of a clear blue sky as the covering leaves shifted. It was cooler here, and the haze inside her head faded. She closed her eyes and briefly felt like this was all a dream.
“This is the West-Hillan Woods,” the skull broke the silence, accompanied by the buzzed notification of her STAR giving her location information.
“Not reading it,” she closed her eyes, “getting knee-deep in a lore excerpt just sounds like the quickest way to getting ganked.”
“It has a list of the animals native to this area of the woods, though, for your Quest.” Humphrey hovered over her and looked down, blocking her view.
“Just tell me the coolest one,” she sat up and waved the skull away, “we both know that I’m going to go for the weirdest thing possible.”
“Well, it depends how you define ‘coolest’, but there are frogs, owls, spiders, dire badgunks-”
“Wait, what’s that last one?”
“It’s a mix between a badger and skunk, with the personality of a raccoon.” If the Observer was capable of slow-blinking, he would have done so.
“I feel as though you are making that up,” Sally folded her arms and scowled at the floating skull.
“I assure you I am not - your Bestiary doesn’t seem to be activated yet, huh? Perhaps encountering one will knock the System straight.”
Sally exhaled and stood up, wiping down her skirt - for all the good that did. Creases were the least of her worries when it was covered in blood, dirt, and remnants of the adventurers that had tried to cross her. Which was mostly still blood, in fairness. She wondered how far the Cleric had gotten in his machinations to come back after her and whether he had a proper Party. Probably not, given the way he treated the Ranger.
“Do I get experience from killing wildlife or other monsters?” She turned to watch the Party, who had seemed to have gotten distracted by a bird and were all staring off into the same tree.
“Monsters can level up through the killing of other Monsters or neutral creatures, but it is usually at a very reduced rate. Killing Players gains a lot more experience, by comparison.” Humphrey looked up to see if he could see the bird too.
“So clearing out Hillan would have gotten me little more than a sore arm and pang of guilt.”
“Yes.”
“Party, group up! Alright, we are heading into the woods proper now,” she beamed as her troupe of corpses turned and acknowledged her, “don’t go running off after the first tasty snack you see - we will have to be clever and quiet if I am going to trap this… Badgunk thing.”
If [Command Dead] got through to them, they made no show of it. As much as Sally adored her undead friends, without them having the necessary brains to at least acknowledge her requests, it would make this whole ordeal tougher than it needed to be. Plus, they couldn’t gain many skills, according to the Observer.
“The Dire Badgunk is especially smelly when warding off larger predators, but otherwise wily and thieving in its bullying behaviour towards smaller animals.”
Humphrey waited for her response before slowly arcing around next to the Party to observe her. The zombie woman looked glum.
“Pets take up a space in your party, too,” he added, unable to read the situation.
“Aww, so unfair,” she whined, “they should call them thieves of joy, am I right, gang?”
The Party did not respond.
“Well, usually the Quest is for Novices before they fully unlock the Party function - other than a few Classes, pets are more of a hindrance once you start to-“
“Hush, Humps.” Sally shook her head. “You are already making this harder than it needs to be. I have to let one of my babies go so soon?”
“Yes?” The Observer rose slightly higher to look down at the collected group of shamblers. Babies would be one of the last words he would use to describe them.
Sally pouted and sighed. No sense belly-aching over it, or was that just her hunger for mortal flesh? Her Party had managed to ward off a small group of Level Three adventurers - with some luck and a horde of zombies to assist. What would happen if they came across a full five-person Party, a group that wouldn’t get caught out by slow corpse-walkers?
“Well, let’s get moving - we aren’t getting any stronger listening to me yap - you’re rubbing off on me, Humphrey.” With a brief smile, she shook her head at the skull and began striding off into the woods, slowly followed by four zombies.
The Observer looked back to Hillan briefly, narrowing his eyes at the smallest moving object in the distance, before turning and floating off back towards the odd zombie woman.
