1am, The Thirty-Third Day

“What do you even need these materials for?” I asked. “You still haven’t told us.”

We continued to plod down the forest path, undeterred by the dark. The forest closest to town was a popular location in the day, with many different types of weak spiders and the occasional rare sub-boss, but I couldn’t really tell from where we were now. It looked desolate and forgotten, the only sound the gentle rustling of leaves in a soft wind. We hadn’t even seen any mobs yet either.

The three of us- Me, Svite, and Kyo- walked together in the dark, though Kyo was decidedly more focused on the path ahead. One of the downsides of taking the discovery skill meant that you were expected to pay more attention when the party was traveling.

“I told Cetal.” Svite idly flicked his sword around, apparently bored. Personally I couldn’t see how that was possible, though that was probably a slight fear of the dark talking.

“Doesn’t count if he’s not here.” Kyo absently replied. “Don’t ya think?”

“Yep.” I agreed.

“Well, then it's a surprise.”

Kyo and I scoffed, though I didn’t really mind. After spending so long in the wilds it just didn’t feel right to stay cooped up inside the city for long, so any excuse to get out, no matter how inconvenient for my sleeping schedule, was appreciated.

Svite suddenly pointed to something in front, and Kyo peered ahead.

“A tree?”

I squinted ahead, trying to make any shape out of the fog, but nothing became obvious.

“Not just any tree.” Svite replied. “An ironwood.”

“Is that what ya brought us here for? Manual labour?” Kyo sounded somewhat disappointed.

“Well yeah.” He responded, as if that was obvious. “You can only attack it during the night after all.”

“Wait, attack it?” I cut in. “Not chop?”

We finally walked into view of the thing, and I had to admit it was a truly impressive tree. It stood higher than a building, and glimmered with a dull metallic sheen. Its pine-like branches started higher than head height and were thicker than my arm, ending in normal looking leaves. The whole thing appeared to vaguely resemble a disguised telephone pole back on Earth.

Circular discs of reflected torchlight materialized in the bushes around the clearing, six to a group.

Eyes in the dark.

“You didn’t think it would be undefended, did you?” Svite fished around in his bag and threw a vial of red liquid to each of us. “Antidote, you’ll need it.”

Kyo sighed as the first spindly leg stepped out into the torchlight, furry and black.

“I fuckin hate spiders, ya know that right?”

Svite pulled out an axe in response and nodded towards the tree.

“They won’t stop coming until we leave, so do your best!” He grinned at our pained looks. “I’ll be in your hands.”

…

My [Waterfall] came down right between the eyes of the spider, finally knocking it down to 0 hitpoints. Beside me, Kyo finished her own at roughly the same time, her sword shimmering down to its base dark gray. Almost predictably, we both had a sickly purple tint to our skin, the sign of a poison status effect.

“Alright! I’ve got everything I need!” Svite called from the tree. A massive chunk of it was torn open showing a silvery corewood.

“Finally.”

I waited until Svite had passed me before I followed so as to make sure none of the spiders followed. We’d been fighting for just around half an hour before Svite had finally made the call, and though I wasn’t actually exhausted due to their low damage and how overleveled we were, I definitely had my own fill of spiders for the next month.

They stopped following us after a minute of jogging, and the three of us stopped to catch our breath soon after. Svite himself sat down and summoned the logged wood again to count it again, a tendency he said had become commonplace after missing a material on a quest in town.

“Alright, oh leader, are ya ready to tell us what this was for now?” Kyoura asked. “Because I know ya don’t have any crafting skills equipped.”

“A quest then?” I added

“Come on, why so impatient?” Svite shook his head with a smile. “But I’ll tell you once we have everything.”

My heart dropped as I foresaw more hours of sleep slipping away. Why the hell did I agree to do this?

“Well yeah, we still need the silk of a Silver Spider and a scale from a Mountain Salmon.”

“A Silver Spider…” Kyo started.

“A Mountain Salmon…” I said at the same time.

“You got it.”

“Can we do those during the day at least?” I asked hopefully.

“They only spawn at night though.”

“Figures…” Kyo sighed.

Kyo and I set our shoulders and exchanged looks. Hopefully it would be a fun story to share later, at the very least.

Svite stood up and dusted off his coat. Then, after consulting a map for a worryingly long time, he started walking towards the east, right off the game trail and into the forest proper. Even in the dim light, I could hear the noise of a river running nearby, and the rushing of rapids. When we took longer than a second to climb over the bushes flanking the path, he impatient waved us to hurry on.

“Kyo, this is going to be for something stupid isn’t it.”

“It normally is.” She agreed.

…

From my upside down cocoon, I watched the others fight the spider, bored out of my skull. It probably wasn’t the correct response for my situation, but with a man down, the others had decided to take a mind-numbingly cautious approach to the fight. After watching them kite and poke the mother spider for the last 20 minutes, I had decided to count dew droplets on the web beside me. I got up to 140 before giving up on that, choosing instead to sway the cocoon like a swing as much as I could.

It really wasn’t the worst fight so far tonight though. The demonic Mountain Salmon had been pure hell, as the only way to fight it was to take a swim in the river. That combined with its unnatural size and sizable number of irritating status effect had made me violently ill in the river surrounded by nipping fish. Even Svite, who had brought the necessary swimming gear, had trouble with it, especially with the boss fixating on him as it had.

Fried salmon sandwich? Nah, maybe not. Svite definitely owed me a meal after tonight, but it was difficult to think of what would cost the most. Food prices had definitely risen drastically since the start of the game, a move which made some players privately glad the player population had decreased as it had, but there wasn’t really anything that would cost Svite as much as I wanted it too.

I guess we can just patron Elin’s again…

I was shook from my musing by a screech of indignation from my party, and I wiggled the cocoon around to see a very irritated Kyo soaked in spider viscera, as if the thing had just exploded over her. Svite didn’t look at the top of his game either, but it was obvious he was trying hard to suppress a laugh. I couldn’t help myself, and the movement from my chuckle drew her gaze to my cocoon.

‘Ya havin a laugh over there? This funny to you?”

I shook my gagged head, but she stomped over just the same. Cutting the string holding me up and catching my cocoon in a princess carry, I attempted to struggle free to no avail while trying to wordlessly plead with Svite. My party leader betrayed me, averting his gaze, and Kyo carried me over to the destroyed spider carcass. She gave me a toothless grin.

“Lets see how funny ya find it!”

She threw me into the destroyed carcass just as it started to cubify, and I fell in with a disgusting welching noise. Instantly I was covered with the stuff, with an accompanying minor status effect. Shortly after, the cocoon disintegrated itself, and I sat up with a huff.

“Good job guys!” Svite interrupted before I could lunge at Kyoura. “We got everything! And in a single night no less!”

We both glared at him, before I softened my expression and stood up with a smile.

“You know what? You’re right!” I took a step towards him. “We should be celebrating!”

Svite took a small step back, his grin rapidly disappearing.

“Yeah!” Kyo matched with a devilish smile. “A group hug maybe?”

That was all it took for Svite to turn and run, but we were faster. After a second of chase we both tackled him, spreading the viscera to our dear friend.

…

“Honsol, Kyoura, I’ve been looking all over for you guys! Where's Svite…” Cetal stopped. “What happened?”

We looked at each other and responded together.

“A giant salmon.”

“A giant spider.”

We were sitting at the bar with hot chocolate in hand, still smelling of spider guts and slightly damp while Svite went off to turn in the quest. A tired Regen sat against the wall behind the bar as far away from us as he could, probably due to the smell, but Elin and Pao were nowhere to be seen. Not that I blamed them in any case- it was still pretty early in the morning. A fact that Cetal seemed to routinely disregard.

Damnable early birds.

To his credit, Cetal simply nodded and accepted those answers, and continued.

“We’re gathering up a few parties to discuss something that Ahti’s party found. Do you know where Svite went?”

“Ahti?” I asked.

“He’s the leader of one of the other frontlining parties.” Kyoura explained. She turned to Cetal. “Svite should be back any minute now.”

“Then I guess I’ll wait with you.”

Cetal sat down beside Kyoura without another word, and ordered a drink from Regen.

“So what’d ya hear from Ahti?”

“I’ll tell you when Svite…”

“Come on, Cet, there’s no point in keeping us in suspense.”

A clean Svite walked in with Elin and Pao astride. Under his arms he held 8 long sticks made of the same ironwood we’d spent the night cutting. They were strung with the silk as well, making them an obvious rendition of…

“Are those god-damn fishing poles?” Kyo stood up and looked at me. “I’m gonna kill him.”

I simply nodded in assent, and she took a step towards Svite and put a hand on her scabbard. Cetal stopped her with a hand on the shoulder, drawing a growl, but he gestured towards one of the larger tables instead.

“There’s no time for that. We need to discuss what I heard.”

Kyoura unfortunately backed down with a ‘hmph’ and we all moved to the table. Even with the 6 of us the table still had a couple chairs to spare so it didn’t feel cramped, but rather like we were missing a few people.

“What about Artel?” I asked.

Cetal and Svite exchanged a microsecond long glance. “We can’t dally. You can tell her later.”

I shrugged. She probably wouldn’t care anyway.

“Alright.” Cetal began once everyone had settled. “As some of you might know, Ahti’s party successfully cleared Frostgrave Fringe a few days ago and have returned to Paelgard.”

He waited for a few muted cheers to die down before he continued. “But as rumor would have it, Nathaniel’s didn’t.”

No one spoke for a second. It wasn’t surprising that not everyone made it back of course, the dungeons were exceptionally long and surprisingly dangerous at places. The thought that a group died in one struck home especially hard for me though, as I’d very nearly met the same fate. Although I’d never met Nathan or his party, I bowed my head for a second of respect.

“How do we know they aren’t just stuck?” Elin nodded towards me. “I mean, Hans was. And so was Regen’s family.”

Cetal shook his head gravely. “Romo just got back from checking it himself. He said the place was battletorn up to the boss, but it was still alive.”

“God, right at the final stretch…” Kyo shook her head.

“A shame.” Svite agreed. “They were fine people.”

“Who’s Romo?” I asked. It was strange how they kept mentioning players as if everyone should know them. Though, in retrospect, everyone probably did.

“Crafter and info dealer.” Pao supplied. “Kinda shady, honestly.”

Svite frowned. “He’s not shady, he just hides his sources.”

“That’s called being shady, Svite.” Pao replied.

“Let's get back on track.” Elin interrupted. “So Ahti went to Frostgrave, right?”

“Indeed, and Frostgrave…” Cetal unferralled a map on the plateau on the table. Paelgard was on the western lip surrounded by plains and forest. Cetal pointed to a point farther north near the northern peaks. “...is near the mountain pass.”

“Did they actually see the pass?” I asked. In the beta the pass was blocked off with landslides and overwhelmingly powerful mobs, so no one had traversed it. If it wasn’t still blocked, there was a chance they could connect with other players throughout the server.

“Unfortunately, it’s still blocked.” Cetal confirmed. “Does anyone remember the report of the moderator fleeing towards the pass once he skipped town?”

Head bobs went around the table. I hadn’t been there for the event, but I’d heard from the others about how the moderator had fled the player lynch mobs towards the pass.

“Well according to Ahti’s description, they caught a glimpse of him up there.”

Rumbles went around the table. Didn’t the moderator have the ability to fly? And wasn’t he the size of a small fairy? How could a player team possibly have found him?

“Where?” Svite asked.

Cetal pointed at a point halfway between Frostgrave and Paelgard. “Supposedly they saw him going into another dungeon, Aerhig Castle, on their way there. They weren’t able to investigate due to their haste to get the first dungeon complete…”

“Which we got!” Kyo grinned.

“... but the dungeon was inactive when they came back a day later. On the way back as well, they saw him enter the Icicle Forest to the east of Aerhig.”

Elin looked troubled. “Isn’t Aerhig Castle one of the harder dungeons on the plateau?”

“Supposedly.” Svite said.

“You’re implying that he cleared it though. Does the moderator even have the ability to fight?”

“It's a moderator.” Pao grumbled. “They’re probably in on all this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some op shit to use.”

“Yeah, but if that's the case, why did he fly there instead of the pass?” I interjected. The whole moderator situation had been troubling me for a while now. “Surely if he had ‘op shit’ he’d be able to just get through the pass. If he couldn’t just fly over that is.”

“Maybe he needed something else from the dungeon?” Pao said.

“And that…” Cetal crossed his arms pointedly. “...is why we’re gathered here now.”

“Oh, of course.”

“What do you suggest?” Svite asked. I could see the gears turning in his head. “Are you wanting to go through those dungeons ourselves?”

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.” Cetal said. “I want us to form a raid party and clear them.”

A silence descended over the table for a second. Everyone here but Elin had experienced first hand how dangerous the dungeons could be, and just how big a request Cetal had just put forward. If it was done wrong, as I knew firsthand, everyone could be stuck in there for weeks even if no one died.

“Why?” Elin finally broke the silence.

“Several reasons.” Cetal replied. “First: because Romo seems to think there’s some sort of key to the pass hidden in one of those dungeons. Secondly: I think it’d be a good morale booster for the town. And finally…”

Cetal looked around the table, pausing for effect. “Because Gabrial’s party left town last night in that direction.”

Pao stood up and leaned on the table, a terrible look in her eyes. “Then what are we waiting for? If Gabrial wants it we have to get it first.”

“Not so fast.” Svite put the bundle of poles behind him to lean against the wall. “This isn’t something we can just throw ourselves into. First of all, which of the two dungeons did Gabrial go towards? Didn’t you mention the moderator visiting two?”

“I don’t know.” Cetal shrugged. “They’re both in the same direction.”

“Were they cleared in the beta?” Elin asked. “Maybe if we know what sort of drops they have we can narrow it down.”

Pao and Elin looked at me, the resident beta tester.

I shook my head. “Neither were cleared. It was only a week long after all.”

“Does Romo know?” Kyo asked. “The little asshole seems to know everything.”

“Somehow I don’t think it’s too hard to stay on top of things when there’s only a few dozen players actually leaving the city.” Svite said.

“He didn’t this morning.” Cetal said.

“Then the smartest action would be hitting the closest and then the second.” I looked towards the map. “Castle then forest, I think?”

“That’ll be too late if Gabrial sends his entire party towards one.” Pao disagreed. “He even has the jump on us.”

“What then.” Kyo scoffed. “Ya want to split up and hit both?”

“That's exactly what I’m saying.”

“Woah, woah woah.” Elin interjected. “Do I have to remind you that dungeons are dangerous? And that I have only a single barely leveled combat skill?”

“You’ll have us.” Pao replied. “And you can heal. That's pretty valuable in itself.”

“I actually agree with Pao, for the record. Though probably for a different reason.” Cetal said. “We’ll need to act fast if we want to capitalize on this. If there really is a key at one of these dungeons, I don't want it to be controlled by some hostile party if we can help it.”

I leaned back in my seat and weighed the benefits. If we split up and cleared both, even if there turned out to be nothing there, we’d probably be lauded as champions by the other parties in town. If there was something there though, then getting to it before Gabrial could turn out to be a good idea in the long run, even if only a fraction of what I’d heard about was true. Watching a party such as his flee the plateau before justice could be wrought… it would hurt. And knowing Pao, she’d be a lot more pained than I would.

And really, Pao and I had cleared Shardin Forest by ourselves right? We didn’t need all six of us at one.

“I agree with Pao.” I spoke up. “I’m pretty confident that we’d be able to clear each with three.”

“I guess…” Svite stroked his chin. “Though I’d be happier about it if we could scrounge up a few more people.”

“I know a few people.” Cetal replied. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I might be able to get one more…” Kyoura said.

We all looked at Elin.

“Hmph.” Elin pouted. “If everyone else is alright with it then what can I say? Maybe I can talk Vendric into coming…”

“Then that’s settled.” Cetal said. “Let's meet here tonight with everyone we can, then we’ll split the parties and travel through the night.”

A round of agreement sounded around the table, and everyone got up to leave and purchase supplies. Svite handed out his fishing poles to everyone, though Kyoura and I handled ours with a little more disgust than the others. Then, everyone broke into groups and left, eager to convince a few more people into our little crusade.

Hopefully it wasn’t a mistake.