Iagan finished his rest after my second round of lighting up the cavern with my magic. I was too weak to carry him out through the waterfall on my own so it was easier to wait for him to be able to handle himself. I helped him up to his feet and offered my shoulder as support to slowly walk him to the exit.

Mists trailed around our feet as we slowly shuffled toward the rumbling noise. The rushing water cast strange ripples of light through the mouth of the cave that washed over us as we got closer. I propped Iagan up against the rocky wall and poked my head out under the overhang that protected the entrance to check the leap back onto the ground. Much to my displeasure the ground was much higher than the stone in the lagoon.

“Well, we aren’t jumping to ground.” I shouted over the sound of the water.

“What’s the plan?” Iagan asked looking less than thrilled. He’d started his own undressing maneuver, removing the metal pauldrons from his shoulders and his shoes.

“How’s your otter impression?”

“Terrible.”

“Do you think you can swim?”

“My arms and legs are spent, so probably not very well right now.”

I pulled up another trade menu and offered the minor stamina potion. Iagan gave me a weary glance, his magenta eyes narrowing.

“You gunna scalp me for this one too?”

“This specific potion no. Stamina potions aren’t of much use to me and my class.”

But for [Adventurer]s who’s natural strength levels were already higher to begin with even a minor potion would do wonders. Iagan accepted the trade and downed it. His posture straightened as he looked reinvigorated and ready to run a marathon despite what he’d endured the night before wedged in the ceiling. He let out a breath as the potion bottle evaporated just like the bear’s body did. Now that’s environmentally friendly.

“Cannonball!” He shouted loudly charging at the waterfall. His feet left the ground and his form vanished into the water with no regard for his safety. My eyes darted to the two red health bars in the top center of my HUD, no visible changes. I sighed in relief as nothing happened for another good minute. Finally alone and with some privacy in the cave I could address my wardrobe malfunction. I looked at the tattered remains of poor Beach Bum, I’d had the shirt for only a day and already it was ruined. She hadn’t survived the bear claws and was showing more of my skin than her’s now.

I summoned the Hawaiian shirt from my inventory and it was as awful as I remembered it being. A bright red and blue number with large hibiscus blossoms tacked on in odd places to where if I put it on I’d look more like a parrot than a person. I sent it back with a reminder to myself to use that one if I ever found another patch of bramble I’d have to get through. I chose the one Dapper Crate shirt I hadn’t used yet and I finished my dressing maneuver, swapping the tattered remains of Beach Bum for the black and white block lettering ‘I survived the Rainbow! [Secret Recipe: Rainbow Curry]’ Crate shirt. I tucked this shirt into my Bermuda shorts, allowing the khaki to see the light of day for once.

I sent Beach Bum away into my personal inventory, along with her went my sunglasses, fanny pack, socks and shoes as well. No sense losing those or suffering through wet shoes. A pink notification popped up, startling me.

Mr.BigwIggy whispered to [The Group]:

MykaReviews whispered to [The Group]:

Mr.BigwIggy whispered to [The Group]:

I waved it away with a laugh and scooted back to give myself enough of a running start to carry me out past any other rocks hidden by the waterfall. I jumped my jitters out and took off not letting myself think about the leap into the lagoon. I didn’t have time to worry about my feet slipping on the rock with my feat of athleticism, so when my first step hydroplaned ever so slightly, I leaned into it. The smooth pounded rock gave me little to work with but I found a curve in the edge that I sank the center of my foot to, using what little edge I could to propel myself into the water.

The mist filled my lungs, forcing out the air that I’d neglected to hold. I plunged into the frigid roaring cascade, the force driving me down into an unintended front flip into the water below. I gasped involuntarily, replacing the little air I had left with water as the thundering of the clashing water kept me under. I opened my eyes, expecting it to be clouded and murky, but my HUD allowed me to see through the water as though it wasn’t there.

So when Iagan’s figure popped up in front of me I panicked. He ignored my flailing and calmly grabbed my arm and forced me after him. I kicked my legs as fast as I could muster and the influence of the water lessened. I broke the surface and coughed out several gulps of the lagoon as Iagan did the swimming for the both of us back to the banks. I stumbled into the shallows catching my breath half sunk in the water on my hands and knees.

“Gah!” I coughed. “Thank you.”

“That pays for the Stamina potion.” Iagan said rising to his feet. He offered me a hand and I took it. I summoned my towel from my inventory and started drying off. Iagan looked jealous.“Where’d you get a towel!”

“Came with my [Traveler]s kit. ‘Never leave home without one!’” I quipped citing the flavor text as I took my hair down out of it’s tie and finished drying it. Iagan grumpily took off and wrung out his shirt. I wrapped up in my towel and meandered back up the worn path up to the edge where I’d found the secret entrance. I summoned my camera and snapped a picture of the secret behind the waterfall.

[Floor 1 Secret: 4/10]

Only six more secrets left for this floor, and man what a great secret! A secret cave behind a waterfall is exactly what I’d hope to find as a player so naturally all the best games included them. Looks like Roqor was getting the easy stuff out of the way with early, good. That would mean that there would be even better sights to capture the further I went.

I pulled up my map on my HUD to see how far of a walk it would be back to Green’s Peak to find a bulls-eye mark sitting on top of both of our markers. Plyne had said something about those revealing themselves if we were close enough by. I suppose ‘right-on-top-of’ counted. I opened the notepad and transferred what I remembered Plyne saying down into it.

“Points of interest will reveal themselves on your map if you get within an acceptable range.” -Plyne of The Dapper Crate, Green’s Peak- Floor 1.

I circled around the edge of the waters, and put the picturesque scene into view. A waterfall crashing from high up the mountain into a large lagoon. Ripples from the base kept most of the waters clear and blue, only the calmer shallow shores held more vibrant greens of lily pads, cat tails and other water mosses. Pink pops of lotus blossoms stuck out from the mud where dragonflies skated over the rippling waves.

Ker-chunk.

I looked at the photo, and there was Iagan, still in shot with his eyes closed and face scrunched in a strange blink. He came to peer over my shoulder at it and winced.

“Oh god no, delete that. Now.”

“Aw I thought I captured you perfectly.” I teased, deleting it anyways.

“No thank you. If I’m going to be in the compendium I’d better be doin’ some cool shit. Like that bear one, that’s gotta be the best picture ever.”

“I did level with that one, so thank you.” I said as an idea came to mind. “You have enough strength left to do another cannonball?”

Iagan tried to hide a grin. “I could muster some up. Only one though and you have to let me use your towel after.”

“Alright.” I relented, fluffing my hair one last bit as I formulated how to get the best shot with the one jump he could manage. I waddled into the water among the tall cattails, using them to help give a sense of vastness to the lagoon as a whole while not overcrowding the foreground. Iagan took a ready pose and gave me a thumbs up. I crouched in the water and turned my camera on it’s side, capturing as much of the waterfall as I could manage in the viewfinder. Iagan waited just outside it’s bounds waiting for my go.

One jump Walters. Let’s get that shot.

I shot my arm up in a thumbs up giving him the green light to go, my eyes not leaving the view finder as I focused intensely. Tendrils of mist rose from the roiling undertow caused by the waterfall when I saw a new movement. Iagan’s hand moved into frame followed by the rest of him. He crouched low and I took a steady breath ready for our next moves. He sprung, flinging himself out trusting the air to carry him.

I struck.

Ker-chunk

Ker-chunk

Ker-chunk

Ker-chunk

Ker-chunk

Ker-chunk

Ker-chunk

Seven photos was as fast as I could manage to click it in such a short span of time. Iagan connected with the water and popped up swimming back to the banks with no trouble. He got out of the water and snatched the damp towel and shook his hair out into it like a wet dog.

“Did you get it?” He asked as he approached. I held my camera out of reach slyly.

“Of course I got it: I’m a [Tourist], this is what I do. You sure sound invested in my class: Iggy.” I dropped his nickname included in his username.

“I’ll admit: [Tourist] actually looks like a ton of fun. But NOT to go in blind like how you are, I’ll watch your let’s play first.” Iagan held his hands up conceding. “I still wanna see.”

I clicked through the seven photos I managed. Together they told the story of his flight through the air: the spring out, hitting the apex of the leap, the movement of his arms and legs bending inward, the curling of his body, the plummet, the moment before he hit the water and the exact moment he connected. Each picture featured Iagan with a wild jubilant smile, truly having fun and enjoying himself when you’d never know that two hours ago he was stuck up in the rocky ceiling holding on for dear life.

Zest for life I suppose.

“They’re all great.” He commented. “Which one are you gunna pick?”

“Don’t know. Do you have a favorite?” I asked, holding the camera out for him to choose.

Iagan took it and clicked a few times and handed it back, I was met with the second to last photo right before he connected with the water. The water splashed underneath him, the mist of the waterfall surrounded him like a cloud chair holding him in mid-air. His body broke the straight lines of the mountain face and the edges of the waterfall. The pop of his magenta hair contrasted brightly against the sky blues of the water and the greens of the edges, drawing your eye straight to him like a bulls-eye. “I like this one the best.”

I added it to the compendium.

[Floor 1 Viewpoints found 2/4]

That made for two viewpoints that had secrets right near them. One is good luck, twice is coincidence and three times is a pattern. I’d need to investigate my next viewpoint thoroughly.

“Thanks for helping me with my shot.” I said sending the camera back to my fanny pack since I was soaked again from having crouched in the water to get the picture. I only had the one pair of shorts so I was SOL for the time being. Thankfully I still had my two other Dapper Crate logo shirts that were only mildly torn from the brambles which made them look well adventured. I grumbled as I did not think my shirt situation through before flinging myself into a waterfall.

“I’m gunna change shirts so don’t look!” I said as I distanced myself closer to the mountain wall and the secret entrance. Making sure Iagan wasn’t peeking, I changed into the stupid Hawaiian shirt that’d come with my [Traveler]s kit. Every instant I wore that monstrosity my heart ached for justice for Beach Bum. I would find a way to fix her and get her back. Socks, shoes and sunglasses were next. Now that my shirt was dry I could connect my camera and strap again and wear it around. I tucked it into my shorts, to give my waist a buffer from the wet fabric. I returned to find Iagan dressing himself back in his armor adjusting the belts that strapped across his chest to hold his pauldrons up. His pants were dry.

“You got two pairs of pants in your kit?” I lamented, envious of his dry britches.

“Jealousy, Mica? I thought you loved being a [Tourist]!” Iagan pronounced my actual name, hiding a smirk behind his hand as his eyes fell on my shirt. “Also that shirt is hideous and you wear it well.”

“Thanks, I hate it.” I dropped in a deadpan. “If you’re done making fun, let’s start to head back to town, we both need to rest.”

“I won’t argue with you there.”

So we gathered up the last of our things and set back toward Green’s Peak. I snagged a few more of the mundane things on our trek back. Brambles, a bridge, a sign post. My HUD was pulling up more and more entries for the things around me as I focused on them. I’d taken pictures of a lot of stuff and now it was getting more enjoyable trying to find something new that I HADN’T found yet. I couldn’t wait to head to Seamyst.

Iagan took the lead hacking back the bramble vines. Splintering thorns flew through the air as casualties to his blows, I gathered several hand fulls, slipping them into the fanny pack. Iagan noticed but didn’t choose to comment. My compendium updated the entry for the brambles, pulling up in my lower left of my HUD.

[Compendium Entry: Magical Reagents- Bramble Thorns.]

[Classification: Potion Ingredient]

[Notes: N/A]

The compendium identified it as a potion ingredient and filed it away with my other magical reagents in the proper tab. Iagan held out to the end of the brambles before he needed to lean on my shoulder and we reached the road back into Green’s Peak with no issue.

The trees waved in the wind to the call of bird song. One of the reply calls came from close by. Another of the animals I’d need to find. I pulled off on the side of the road, camera at the ready.

“Why are we stopping?” Iagan asked.

“You’re gunna help me find this damn bird.” I said keeping my voice low as I strained to focus in the branches. Forest silence wasn’t the same kind of silence you’d think it was. Something was always shifting and moving, but nothing sang the way the birds did. Another set of calls sounded from further away, I tensed listening for any movement. Iagan looked around too and the reply song burst out to the left.

“There.” He whispered hoarsely, pointing it out to me. I followed the direction to find the fattest roundest blackbird I’d ever seen. I centered him in the viewfinder and waited for it to perform it’s reply again.

Ker-chunk

The compendium updated.

[Floor 1 Animals 6/25]

The flash activated, illuminating the forest further and driving away the shade from the canopy. The bird shrieked, it’s song choked and cut off abruptly as it shook it’s head trying to rid itself of the stun. It’s flapped it’s wings revealing a shimmering under color to the plumage that wasn’t visible before.

Ker-chunk

I pulled up the picture in the little screen and tapped the one revealing the bright blue underbelly. Clicking to enlarge the picture I could see the differences in the gradient the feathers took to fade to the slick black. The compendium fixed my selection, taking me to the information overview page where a second smaller picture faded into view on the side of the text of the nest of eggs I’d found yesterday.

[Floor 1 Animals- Black Warbler (Male)]

[Notes: More fluff than substance, the plumage in the males is quite the sight to behold. Eggs are edible.]

The black warbler shook itself out of the stun and flapped away noisily squawking in warning to the others.

“Got it.” I breathed. Another one down. Relief is sweet at the end of it all.

“Alright, a bird watching quest!” Iagan chuckled shaking his head. “Bird watching, can you believe it?”

My head shot up, “A bird watching quest? What bird watching quest?” My eyes traced furiously over my HUD looking for my quest to accept. I didn’t have one.

“Can you share that quest with me?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if this was a group quest system where if one party member found a quest then everyone could sign on to it as long as they were in the group at the time of discovery. Iagan tapped his invisible HUD on his arm and shook his head.

“Says you’re already on this one.”

“Read the requirements.”

“[::Bird Watching::

Find all the Birds in Trick Tower.

Reward: New Title]” Iagan read aloud from his arm.

Oh. “Yeah, I guess I am already on that quest for my compendium. Mine doesn’t say I’m getting a title for it though!”

“The title might be a given for you once you get the last bird. Like an unspoken achievement for [Tourists] whereas the rest of us have to go out and actively FIND these things ourselves and only if we’re seriously looking. Being in your group means I’m going to be finding them too so that’s probably why I got the quest for it.” Iagan shrugged as we got going back down the road through the forest.

“I don’t expect you to stay in my group if you don’t want to stay. Once you get me a health potion then we’ll be even.” I told him, recalling his storming out the night before. He winced, remembering it as well.

“I had some time to think things over and in my … free time I read up on your class a bit more.” He tapped his HUD, reading his notes. “‘When in the party leader position [Tourist]s give a Bonus* to Charisma that scales with number of members in your group.’ and I realized that different classes give different bonuses when they’re the leader. Here, pass me lead.”

Thanks to our rest he no longer needed to lean on me, his stamina slowly recovering enough to walk home. I passed the reigns.

[Your Party Leader bonuses are no longer active.]

[New Party Leader Bonus active: Spirit of Adventure- Party members gain one temporary level in Strength and gain temporary ‘Aura of Minor Magic Regeneration’]

“The [Adventurer] bonus ups everyone’s strength and magic regeneration.”

“Useful for fights.” I nodded. That’d be the buff I’d want going into a fight rather than a charisma bonus. Maybe that was an intended mechanic to make players cooperate with each other. An incentive to seek out different classes and explore together. The theory would sound good in the guidebook I still have to ghost write, I’d pushed that particular quest off long enough and made a quick note to revisit that later tonight as we walked.

“The only thing is that mine doesn’t scale depending on how many people are in my party. It’s a flat static amount. Yours on the other hand…” He trailed into an excited grin, “It could be exploited for infinite charisma if you gather enough people. You already have to for that tour guide quest you got yesterday, I’ll bet that’s a scaling quest that’ll tell you to do more of like ten or fifteen people in your group. I wanna see just how broken that turns out.”

“I’m not looking for exploits like you are Iagan, I’m looking for secrets!” I insisted as the dense forests around us opened up leading to the tree culled segments around Green’s Peak.

I took in a breath and a feeling filled my chest as a new sense awoke inside of me. A sense as though it should have always been a part of me and now that I knew, I took to it like a duck on a lake. The sense of of knowing and understanding the subtle clues picked up on over time and how they interwove together washed over me like a wave.

I knew right then, thanks to that sense, that I could make an offer to Iagan that would work in both of our favors. Mine for protection and another set of eyes on the look out for my compendium entries and his for the joy of breaking an unbroken game. This was a chance to haggle.

[Skill Increase: Insight level 1]

“But I’ll tell you what: if you can keep me alive long enough to find all these secrets, I will happily test out the group charisma exploit for you.”

Iagan raised a brow, “And I don’t owe you a Healing Potion anymore.”

Inwardly I groaned but conceded. “Alright.”

He held out a hand and we shook on it. With it came Party Leader as my class bonus reactivated.

[Skill Increase: Haggle level 3]

Try as you might you can’t win every deal every time, and this was small potatoes in the long run. Health potions were something I always bought out the instant I found them and I sat atop my stockpiles of gold in the other MMO auction houses. Those who wanted to pay to level, would pay HANDSOMELY to not have to do the gathering quests I did for fun in my free time. I would do more than make my money back from the loss of a single health potion.

No, this was an investment.

The health potion he’d used had been the one I’d gotten from finding the secrets in Roqor’s tower. I made a note on my watch that I wanted to revisit the tower with Iagan before setting out to Seamyst. Something about the tower had been bugging me and I could almost put my finger on it.

But that would be for future Mica to deal with.