Safe Haven. The cube hotel. Floating with the stars. Fifth night of the Continental Final. The Player Quests Board had more activity. The randomness of the early game fading away. About the same day in every game. Enough time to settle on a build, scout the starting area, find a decent quest line.

Enoch read the ads.

“Looking for the location of a one-legged player, suspecting he went underground somewhere in the Rapthian Mountains.” Reward 200 GC | Contact Quad Nail

Great. At least he now knew the name of the three player killers.

“Found a great mine, looking for a trade partner.” Contact Iron Moles

“Die.” Reward Death | Contact The Bird Spider

Charming.

“Selling a map of the Hiro salt marshes.” Cost 75GC | Contact Gray Ghosts.

“Looking for a map of the Drones’ tunnels.” Reward to be discussed | Contact Art Delvers.

Interesting. And from the top group.

Enoch looked around. Found them easily, drinking ale at their usual table. Unmistakable. Loud.

He looked at the ground. Walked to them slowly. He stopped a couple of feet from the table, waiting to be noticed. Two bonded artifacts did. They looped to him, ended up close to Choo. One dancing blade with a green aura. One golem core with a pink aura.

The pink core said, “Hello, can we help you?”

The green blade said, “State your intention.”

The purple core answered, “Master Enoch would like to offer assistance for the Drones’ tunnels quest.”

“Is that so?” said Turner the warrior. Max Height, minimal Thickness. Black tattoos, straight lines crisscrossing. Blond hair. Famous for his polearm skills.

“Yes,” said Enoch, “I’m in the tunnels right now. I only have a crude map, but I could take Survey next level.”

“How are you surviving?” said Ally the rogue. Dull cuirass. Gray gambeson. Deep set eyes. Wide mouth. She looked at Enoch’s leg, looked at the Player Quest Board. “You’re the one-legged target?”

“Yes,” said Enoch, “I’m doing ok down there. I’m a scout. I have decent items.”

“What did you do to them?” said Tetsuo the mage. Edgy. Tall. Long trench coat and a carved staff. The weapon way too strong for this stage of the game.

“I killed their rogue on the first day while he was trying to ambush me.”

The four of them laughed. Their two artifacts too. Choo too. Enoch gave a nervous chuckle.

“Tell you what,” said Anton the healer. Max Thickness, close to the minimal Height. Black cloak with golden highlights, once again, too strong for the fifth night. “Bring us a decent map tomorrow, and we’ll try to meet you in game.”

“Can’t you just pay me here?”

“We don’t want to pay you,” said Anton, “we want to hire you.”

Enoch stood there, blinking.

Turner laughed again, said “We can use a decent Scout down there, it’s a hard biome.”

“We wouldn’t want to lose a leg,” said Ally and they all chuckled.

Enoch forced a smile, “sure, sounds good.”

He went back to the Player Quest Board, posted a request for scrolls, scroll cases and charcoal pencils. He boosted the reward hoping for a quick resolution.

His hand stayed over the board. His head hesitated, left to right, then right to left. He nodded. Wrote under the player killers’ quest, “Seen on the second level of the Drones’ tunnels on day 5. Close to the Rhaparian mountains.”

The AI acknowledged the answer. Delivered the reward. A white strike appeared over the quest.

200GC for him. 200GC less for them.

Enoch celebrated with an overpriced ale – quite strong – and a magical steak, + 1 Strength for one day.

He moved on to a room, sprawled and teleported to his obsidian moon. The thin atmosphere bit him. A jolly hop took him the Scout 2 node as Choo swirled around him, chanting his own version of, “la, la, la.”

“He needs help.” Tag | Little bro

Enoch backtracked to his initial Endurance path. Took +1 Endurance and Survey. Worth the risk. At worst he could start selling maps, even if Art Delvers didn’t live up to their words. Not a big risk. They had a reputation to protect and millions of peoples watching their stream.

Survey 1 | Skill | Rarity 4

Allow perfect recall of travelled locations for up to 1 day.

Cartographer 1

Endurance 3 | Attribute | Rarity 1

Health +30 | Stamina +30 | Resist 3

Scout 2 | Class | Rarity 2

Scout are renown for their Perception, Mobility and Martial prowess. Often used for exploration and to counter Stealth based class.

Mobility 1 | +2 Perception against Stealth

Martial 1 | Perception 1

Enoch selected Choo’s next node by throwing the core on it. The glyph lit up in purple. Totem Golem 2. It worked well enough. Enoch went back to his bed before the core could complain about the throw.

Totem Golem 2 | Spell | Rarity 7

Summons a Totem Golem | Health 240 | Mana 120 | Damage 4 | Stomp 1 | Heal Aura 2

Duration 1 hour | Refresh 6 hours

Cost 70 Mana