T. A. Star
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3 - A Rocky Start
🕑 Added 2023-11-20 22:00:02 +0000 UTC
The group of Adventurers met the next day for the hardest choice of their budding careers: an official party name.
"It should be something bold yet humble, elegant yet simple, something that people can remember and be representative of who we are as a party," Dazien explained to the group.
"How about 'Eat my Fist'?" Rayna suggested with a punch to her palm for emphasis.
"I think that misses both the humble and elegant requirements," Phoenix pointed out.
"It covers bold, simple, and easy to remember," Uriel added with a slight smile towards her.
"All the things she is but not the party," Dazien retorted.
"What about Monster Hunters Extraordinaire You Find 'em We Fight 'em?" The brash voxen offered up again.
"Way too long," she argued, "We need to keep it short and simple. What if we go with something more casual like Team Cookies? Everyone loves cookies," Phoenix suggested.
"That would be memorable," Dazien admitted though the shake of his head was enough to signal the downvote to her, "It doesn't really represent us though."
"Well, what would you pick?" the Wayfarer asked, "You've been dreaming of this party for years, right? Surely you've already thought of a name for the party you planned to lead."
Uriel surprised her with a small chuckle, "Daze has refused to come up with one before finding all the members."
"What? Why?" She questioned curiously, turning to the gemite.
"I just said why," he replied, rolling his eyes, "It should be a name that represents us. All of us. I couldn't know what that might be without finding and meeting you all first," the warrior said with a grin.
"Our party should be named King's Dream then," Saiya said with a gentle yet firm tone.
Phoenix couldn't hide her grin as she saw Dazien's face flush as he turned to the Healer and said with obvious embarrassment, "Lady Saiya, I might be the party leader on paper but it's not just about me."
"From what I have heard and seen, we wouldn't be a party at all without your determination and vision. I don't believe we're all here simply out of convenience but to support one another and that includes helping make your dream come true."
"I second that," Phoenix chimed in, causing the amethyst gemite's jaw to drop in even more surprise, "Paul tried to scare you off and you never backed down. Plus, I seem to recall Uriel swearing allegiance to you or something like that."
"Where he leads, I follow," the cinderen confirmed.
"I…" Dazien seemed at a loss for words. Emotions warring across his features that she could hardly make out.
Rayna made her jump slightly as the pugilist grabbed the form and pen from in front of their party leader and wrote on the paper without further discussion, "There, we're all agreed. Now let's go turn this in and go fight some monsters!"
Dazien simply nodded and dutifully went to turn in the paperwork while the rest of them went to wait outside to free up space in the abnormally busy AOA building that had seemed like a swarm of activity since the blood moon began.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Dazien asked her once he returned to the group, “We can change it once the blood moon is over but they require one to officially become a party and allow us to take on hunting missions.”
“It’s fine,” she reassured him, then added with a touch of sarcasm, “It’ll just motivate you to make sure our party performance doesn’t turn the king’s dream into a nightmare, oh noble leader,” she teased, then inquired, “So what mission did you manage to get for us?”
“Missions,” he corrected, emphasizing the plural, “We’re going to be out for a while as we get into the swing of things as a party. We’ll basically be going in a line headed south along the main road and we’ll have you portal us back when the list is complete,” the party leader explained.
Dazien held up their first mission that they had been able to get for her to see. Before she even finished reading the piece of paper, her guide book appeared in front of her and she briefly explained it to the curious voxen twins while showing them the new messages.
New Quest: Mission: A Rocky Start
A large crystal monster has been reported to the east of Kristalli village.
Objective: Defeat a Crystalline Elemental.
Reward: Rare Knowledge Tome.
New Quest: Mission: A Pack of Problems
A pack of snolves have been reported to the west of Hallametsa village.
Objective: Defeat twenty Snolves.
Reward: Rare Crystal Caste boots.
New Quest: Mission: Foul Fowl
A flock of flying monsters has been reported south of Tuulinen lake.
Objective: Defeat six Icespitters.
Reward: Rare Crystal Caste sword.
Phoenix raised her eyebrows, “That’s a rather large number of snolves. Even if they are weaker Crystal Caste mobs.”
“Mobs?” Rayna asked, unfamiliar with the term.
“It basically translates to monsters in my culture,” she tried to explain
“Who cares how many monsters there are when you get loot?!” the pugilist exclaimed, pointing at the rewards portion, “I’ve never seen a looting ability quite like this before; usually it’s a touch and convert thing.”
“She has one of those too,” Dazien added churlishly, “It’s tied to her aura and makes the one I grant everyone with my [Tribute] passive a bit moot.”
“Wait, so this is extra loot on top of the regular loot?” the voxen clarified with wide amber eyes and actually squealed when their party leader nodded, “We’re gonna get so rich!”
“Rayna, we don’t really need money,” Saiya pointed out softly.
“Speak for yourself,” the brash twin stated bluntly, “More money means more powerful items that keep us alive and killing more things. It’s practical!”
Phoenix shook her head and tried to move the conversation forward, “Are these in the order we should be encountering them?”
Dazien glanced at the book and nodded, “Yes. We’ll leave in an hour from the west gate in the southern district. So if you need to pick up anything, do so quickly. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
When the large elemental came into sight as they rounded a snow covered hill, Phoenix felt a rush of adrenaline. It was the largest monster she had seen to date. The rocky monster was a good two meters taller than the yeti that snapped her like a twig. The Wayfarer paused and asked Dazien in a hushed whisper, “Are you serious? We’re supposed to fight that?”
The cheeky warrior gave her a grin, “Are you not up to the challenge?”
“I’m not really fond of the idea of all of us dying,” she retorted, staring at the crystal monstrosity.
It had a vaguely humanoid shape composed mostly of a blueish grey stone with the portion that she might have thought of as its face transitioning into a more translucent crystal that softly glowed with an inner blue light. Its arms alone were massive and would easily crush her if they managed to get around her body.
“Do you not trust me?” The party leader asked in mock offense. She gave him a wary look and he chuckled, shaking his head as he tried to reassure her, “If I thought us incapable, I wouldn’t have accepted the mission. You, Uriel and I have been training for over a month and now we have two more very talented members. If we must, I will call for the retreat but have at least a little bit of faith in me.”
He had been going over tactics with the group the entire time they had been traveling to the small deserted village of Kristalli, having chosen to walk the route to scout for more monsters that might not have been reported yet, but talking about tactics versus actually executing them in the field were two very different things.
The young Defender conjured his armor, sword and shield as he nodded towards Uriel, reiterating the general plan, “Open us up then stick to the spells that won’t hinder us.”
Uriel nodded in understanding and made his way up the hill they were partially hiding behind in order to get the higher ground advantage as well as a better line of sight. Then Dazien turned to address Rayna and Phoenix, “You two will skirmish while I keep its attention but I’ll be moving around a bit to avoid any crushing blows or grapples it might attempt.” Lastly, he addressed the Healer, “I’ll leave you to do your job, my lady.”
Saiya smiled serenely as she released Rayna’s hand to step to the side and place herself part way up the hill between Uriel and the rest. Tala seemed to melt into Phoenix’s hair and she began to glow softly, drawing in the power of the closest star that was shining brightly in the clear afternoon sky.
Phoenix and Rayna positioned themselves to flank their tank, both conjuring their own weapons, which in Rayna’s case was a set of crystalline gauntlets that covered her fists up to her elbows and glittering scales shining like gems formed sleeves over the ends of her tails that turned them into additional weapons to strike enemies with.
With a nod towards the cinderen, Dazien gave the signal to begin. That signal also informed everyone to release their auras to encompass and empower the group. She released the reigns of her auras just enough to not disturb the monster too early, causing the party to all gain a small [Starlight Companion] over their shoulder, a glittering [Sun Shell] that quickly became translucent, and their forms became slightly enshrouded by shadows as their mana regeneration also increased.
The Wayfarer felt Rayna and Saiya’s auras unleash as well, giving her increased Agility and resistance to Magical Banes respectively. Saiya’s aura also had the additional effect of calming those within it which Phoenix found helped her stay focused. Meanwhile, Dazien’s aura helped protect them from retribution effects; which Phoenix had learned were a subtype of abilities that acted as counter effects, dealing different types of damage based on how an enemy would trigger them.
Uriel pressed a rune in the center of the Silencer around his neck, causing the bands around his throat and wrists to unclasp and release the magic holding his powers in check; the loose ethereal chains connecting them under his battle robes were now the only thing keeping them from falling to the snowy ground. Then the quiet man spoke into the palms of his hands, "May the seed I sow bloom in beautiful chaos."
Wondering what that spell did, Phoenix was startled to realize her book had appeared to give her the information of the spell that had been cast within her aura by an ally but instead of blinding her, like it had gotten accustomed to doing, it stayed faithfully trailing behind her as it floated through the air. Despite its odd location, she still knew the information it was presenting to her, like the items sitting in her inventory, as the new messages seemed to be transferred directly through her aura.
Ability: Chaos Seeds
Type: Spell (construct, elemental)
Cost: Low mana.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Crystal 8 (19%)
Crystal Effect: Construct a seed that will trigger a random Elemental attack on impact.
The cinderen tossed the large seed high into the air towards the giant elemental then began chanting a follow up attack, "A touch of frost and your death follows."
Ability: Frost Touched
Type: Spell (elemental, ice)
Cost: Low mana.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Crystal 8 (12%)
Crystal Effect: Inflict the target with low Ice damage and an instance of [Chilled] and [Frostbite].
- Chilled (bane, elemental, ice, stacking): Decreased Agility.
- Frostbite (bane, elemental, ice, stacking): Inflicts ongoing Ice damage.
As soon as the seed was in the air, Saiya chanted her own spell, "Be sure of foot and strong of heart."
Ability: Boon of the Balanced
Type: Boon (magical, covenant)
Cost: Moderate mana.
Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Current Caste: Crystal 9 (85%)
Crystal Effect: Bless nearby allies with increased balance and reflexes for a short amount of time, making them less likely to falter, and Magical abilities are less likely to be resisted.
As Phoenix felt the buff take effect on her, Uriel’s [Chaos Seed] struck the monster and exploded with a crash of lightning, lighting up the walking boulder with a myriad of crackling arcs of electricity all over its hulking form. The elemental let out a roar that sounded like the crashing of boulders.
Then Dazien used a spell, shouting to them, “Charge!” and immediately followed it up with a special attack.
Class Ability: Rallying Cry
Type: Spell (magical, covenant)
Cost: Moderate mana.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Current Caste: Crystal 6 (52%)
Crystal Effect: Can cast either [To Arms] or [Charge] to temporarily increase one attribute for nearby allies.
- To Arms (boon, magical, covenant): Increased Strength for a moderate duration.
- Charge (boon, magical, covenant): Increased Agility for a moderate duration.
Ability: Lead the Charge
Type: Special Attack (movement, magical, covenant)
Cost: Low stamina per second.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Crystal 5 (84%)
Crystal Effect: Focus on a target, greatly increasing your speed while moving in the target’s direction and gaining an instance of [Momentum] each second until your next attack.
- Momentum (boon, magical, covenant, stacking): Your next attack will consume all instances of this Boon to inflict additional physical damage. Instances are lost quickly while not moving.
As the warrior quickly began to outpace them, Phoenix had to trigger [Push] against the ground in short bursts to try and keep up but modulated the amount of mana to pace herself behind their leader. Rayna on the other hand was already naturally faster than most Crystal Casters of her level with her Swift Aspect granting her a passive ability that boosted her speed.
The brawler had an interesting combination of Song, Dance, Swift, and Gem resulting in the Shatter Bard class. Phoenix hadn’t been sure initially how that combination would translate into a martial arts fighting style but it turned out that the answer was a symphony of pain. A low rhythmic beat began to rise into the air as Rayna’s own passive ability took effect and the pugilist began singing without words, weaving melodic vowel sounds with her movement and breaths, and activating another ability from the class.
Passive Ability: Stepping Tune
Type: Movement
Current Caste: Crystal 8
Crystal Effect: Create music with your steps, slowly gaining instances of [Tuned].
- Tuned (boon, stacking): Slightly reduces the mana and stamina cost of abilities. Instances are quickly lost while not moving.
Ability: Battle Symphony
Type: Spell (magical, song)
Cost: Low mana per second.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Crystal 7 (67%)
Crystal Effect: While singing, deal increased damage for each Boon on you and inflict [Shaken] on nearby enemies.
- Shaken (bane, magical, song): Inflicts ongoing low Song damage for a moderate duration.
Each step sounded like the beat of a bass drum as the bard ran towards the monster, coming at it from the opposite angle of Phoenix as they both moved into a pincer formation to attack from the sides as Dazien thrust his sword at the elemental, unleashing his built up [Momentum] with a deafening crash of magical blade meeting crystalline rock.
The creature roared again as it moved to swipe at the armored warrior with one of its massive limbs. She made her own attack with her two daggers on its leg but it had little effect on the stone and she scowled at her weapons.
On the other rocky leg, Rayna began performing a song with her fists and twin tails. Each attack sounded like the strike of a timpani as she kept her feet moving, causing the two drums to harmonize with the melody of her voice.
Class Ability: Percussion Strike
Type: Special Attack (magical, song)
Cost: Low mana.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Crystal 7 (22%)
Crystal Effect: Each consecutive strike against the same target inflicts Song damage and an instance of [Brittle].
- Brittle (bane, magical, song, stacking): Reduced Song resistance.
Chunks of rock were punched off the monster and it roared again as Dazien backed out of its reach and it turned to swat at the noisy bug at its side. The bard was much faster than the slow rock elemental, however, and Rayna never stopped moving. Her blunt damage appeared to work well against the monster as the pugilist chipped away at it in a blur of fists and fur.
Phoenix backed off a bit, trying to figure out a way to be useful. She contemplated her illusions but the monster didn’t seem to have eyes, just that weird translucent crystal area near the top of it that was glowing.
She contemplated that for a moment and tried sending her dagger towards it with her [Push] variant. The weapon seemed to be able to chip this part of it as it struck and skittered off and the creature continued rumbling in anger. It wasn’t a reliable tactic though and she couldn’t jump up that high to try attacking the spot directly. Then she got an insane idea but… well, they did have a healer now if it went poorly.
"I challenge your honor!" came Dazien’s voice as he triggered another spell to make the monster refocus its efforts on him.
Ability: Duelist
Type: Spell (taunt, magical, covenant)
Cost: High mana.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Current Caste: Crystal 7 (92%)
Crystal Effect: Challenge a target to single combat, you gain an instance of [Honor] for each attack against the target and inflict [Dishonor] on the target for any attacks they make against others.
- Honor (boon, magical, covenant, stacking): Attacks made with melee weapons deal increased damage and resistance to Spells is increased. Instances are slowly lost over time.
- Dishonor (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Resistances to Magical effects and recovery are reduced. Instances are slowly lost over time.
The hulking mass of stone and crystal turned back towards Dazien and the blue light from within its face area slowly turned to an angry red. Phoenix triggered her crazy plan and focused on the ground beneath her and channeled more of her mana as she triggered [Push] and jumped high.
