Chapter 10: Chapter 10 – Blackmoss Removal III

We needed some good news and we were glad that we got some. As we approached the satellite camp, I was happy to see the dead bodies of the Gnolls from earlier. Flies swarmed their bodies, which were covered in cuts and bullet holes and quills. Lincoln whistled lowly as we passed, clearly impressed by our work. Lincoln had heard about the quest and picked it up himself. He was happy to do some leveling with a group again and was the one most excited to get on the road this morning.

As we moved south, we readied ourselves. Rosco used his hawk form to check ahead. Sure enough, 16 Gnolls inhabited the camp along with a large tent. We presumed that Rackles would be inside of it. As we approached the camp, we divided into three teams of two with Theresa hanging back. Myself and Graham approached a pair of sentries along the West side of the camp. I knew that Cain and Nick, along with Rosco and Lincoln, would be taking the North and East sentries respectively. Graham pulled the two Gnolls into the open.

They charged him with flailing axes, hoping to catch him. Graham expertly dodged and parried the attacks while leading them to me. When they were, hopefully, far enough away so as to not cause too much alarm, I fired. A few bullets along with Graham’s slices and the Gnolls dropped dead. We looted them and moved to the camp. I spotted the other four members of our group at their respective entrances to the camp. Wooden spikes formed a wall that encircled a series of torn tents. With the 6 sentries taken out, only 10 more Gnolls stood between us and Rackles. I gave the order: a bird whistle.

Rosco, in Thorncat form, roared as he charged in. Quills went everywhere whilst Lincoln, Nick, and myself began firing into the camp. Cain, using [Charge], bolted in to confront two of the beasts while Graham used his [Spirit Blade] ability to strike down the Gnolls as he focused on blocking them. The strategy seemed to be working well. The Gnolls were so focused on hitting Graham that they didn't notice the floating ghost sword cut at their hides while a hellfire of fire balls, bullets, and arrows rained down on them. Lincoln sent Shocker in, who tackled and began to wreak havoc on a Gnoll. I used a [Multi-Shot], killing two more. Within seconds, the once lively war camp was cleared. Even though we were a level or two higher than the Gnolls, the fight was surprisingly easy. I wondered if this would continue through the levels. At Level 100, would 16 Level 100 monsters be cannon fodder as well?

The faint growling from the tent echoed along the frost-covered ground. Emerging from inside was what could only be described a Gnoll in name. The beast was ten feet tall and must have weighed nearly a thousand pounds. In each hand, two giant waraxes stood. I read the profile. “Rackles: Level 18 Colossus”. Our luck had apparently run out.

Colossus? What was that?

As he roared, he charged out at our tank. Cain held his shield up, but the massive axe forced him back. As high as Cain’s strength stat was, Rackles’ was higher. I placed my Ranger’s Mark on the beast and realized, with a smirk, that Lincoln would most likely also do 50% bonus damage. I wondered if that could also apply to Shocker.

Nick sent in his flaming phoenix, the bird harassing the monster as we charged in. When Rackles sent his fist into the ground, I realized what was happening just a second too late. A large pillar of stone appeared underneath Rosco and sent the Thorncat flying backwards, hitting one of the wooden spikes. Rosco immediately went to a red profile. Theresa sent waves of healing light into him and Rosco let out a meow of pain before he charged back in, shooting a flurry of quills into the creature.

I fired a [Multi-Shot], several of the bullets landing critical hits. Graham used his spirit blade with his own to strike at the back of Rackles, causing the Gnoll to turn and swing his axe. Graham, hit by a blade, fell bleeding into the snow. Theresa healed him just enough for Graham to roll out of the way of the next strike. Nick sent several fireballs into the face of Rackles, forcing him back a few steps. I fired several shots into Rackles chest, saying words of affirmation to myself as his profile hit yellow. Lincoln had told all of us about what happened to Danny and the group in Moran. We had no interest in repeating the scenario.

Cain rushed into the Gnoll and slammed his shield into its right paw, causing one of the axes to fall with a heavy thud into the grass. Shocker used the opportunity to latch onto Cain's wrist. I shot several bullets into the Gnolls right knee, which didn’t seem to have the intended effect I wanted. The creature screamed and swung his giant axe through the air, striking Cain’s shield and sending him down to the ground, his arm twisting in the Gnoll's grip. With a swift kick, Rackles sent Shocker flying back towards Lincoln, hitting the ranger and sending him reeling. Nick maintained his stream of deadly fire, eventually burning an eye out of the Gnoll. The drop in dexterity was evident as the Gnoll began wildly swinging and missing. His profile went red.

Suddenly, the Gnoll beginning spinning a vast circle, swinging his axe in an arc around him. Myself and Lincoln looked at each other before firing wildly into the spinning monstrosity. “GET OUT OF THERE!” I shouted as Cain, Rosco, and Graham hastily retreated outside the camp. “NICK! RING!”

Nick created a massive [Ring of Fire] around the beast, who hit the flames without hesitation and began to catch fire. Lincoln and I landed several shots on target before I summoned up the last of my energy to fire one more [Multi-Shot]. It was the kill shot.

Rackles shuddered and stopped spinning. His growls echoing through the camp before he took several steps backwards towards his tent and fell down. The thud of the dead Gnoll joining the sound of the crackling remains of the fire before leaving us all in silence. The silence was quickly replaced by loud cheering from the group. We did it.

Nick fired fireballs into the supply stacks and the notification that we had completed the quest came to all of us. Even Lincoln had seemed to get credit despite not being there for the first set of Gnoll kills. Cain went into the tent and I could hear rustling from inside. With a hefty tug, Cain pulled a large chest free from the interior of the tent. I opened the chest’s profile and my eyes widened. “Colossol Chest: Level 15”.

Graham whistled lowly and lit a cigarette as he leaned back against a nearby crate. “How are we gonna split it?”

I shrugged. “Same rules as for everything else?”

Graham nodded. “That works for me.”

I looked as everyone nodded in agreement. Gold would be split 7 ways and items would go to who needed it most. As we opened it up, we were happy to see 1,000 gold emerge from the crate. Additionally, a Level 14U piece of gear dropped. “Legionaire’s Leggings [14U+5 STR, +5 AGI]”. This was a definite improvement for both Graham and Cain who wore Strength and Agility gear. Cain, with his new studded mace from the satellite camp, didn’t push at all for the gear and instead let Graham take it.

For all my worries about infighting, this group seemed remarkably capable of working together. Still, I was starting to think about how having Lincoln here would almost certainly negatively impact me. I was now competing for the exact same gear with another person. Although, I knew our chances of taking down Rackles without a single fatality would have been miniscule without a second ranger to take advantage of my Ranger’s Mark. Pros and cons, I guess.

Rosco looked around, mildly concerned. “Weren’t we supposed to free some guard-rabbits?”

We searched the tents, but couldn’t find them. We looked around for what must have been fifteen minutes before Graham let out a cough. “Hey y’all, I think I found them.”

We returned to the center of the camp where a large firepit had been put out several hours prior. In the ashes, several bones could be made out. They were all conveniently rabbit shaped. I crouched down and looked at the remains. “Damn…I didn’t know that could happen.”

Theresa frowned. “So are all the quests on a timer?”

Nick ran his dirt covered hands through his hair. “I don’t think it’s a timer. I think it’s realistic. We got told to go save rabbits from a war camp of Gnolls. I think the monsters are all autonomous and just decided to eat their hostages.”

That made sense to me. Everything else we’ve learned about this game told us that the creatures in our new world had full agency over their actions. They’d speak, migrate, and kill as they wished. If there were any restrictions, I had not found them yet. I opened my quest log to find the guard-rabbit recovery quest missing. “Well, that’s a shame. We’ll have to be quicker next time.” Theresa, Nick, and Graham seemed sad about the dead rabbits. The rest of us were more or less neutral to the events. Cain was more frustrated at the lost experience and gold than anything else.

With the one quest complete, we journeyed back to Softpaw Village and turned in the quest to the bar-rabbit. As I thought, there were only 5 reward chests available. Graham, who received the gear from the Colossol Chest, didn’t take one. Lincoln shook his head when we offered to roll. “I wasn’t here for the first part of the quest. Y’all take it.”

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With that issue solved, I got my 200 Gold and 600 Experience. When I opened the chest, I was happy to receive yet another 150 gold. With everything put together, I had cleared over 700 gold from this quest alone and was just shy of hitting Level 17. Nick and Lincoln both arrived at Level 15 due to the quest. Nick, in addition to [Summon Phoenix] and [Ring of Fire], learned a third ability called [Pillar of Flame]. He had definitely chosen the fire mage route and I was happy with that. Most things we had encountered took increased damage from fire and it had helped us several times. Lincoln, in addition to [Hawk’s Eye] and [Multi-Shot], smiled as he informed me that he had also acquired [Ranger’s Mark]. We would be doing +50% on top of the original +50% damage. I wasn’t sure if that meant the damage would be doubled or x2.25 due to the stacked abilities, but it was a good thing to have regardless.

Upon hearing of our return, Chief Tappi of Softpaw Village greeted us in teal-colored robes. He was roughly the same size as the other Rabbitfolk, but his ears seemed much longer. They were so long, in fact, they began to droop near the tops. “Hello, travelers! I have good news for you!”

We all looked at each other before back to the chief. Of the seven of us, Cain had the best relationship with the chief. “What’s that, Chief?”

“Ms. Wiggletail has given birth! A litter of 5!”

I raised my eyebrows and looked at Graham. A week ago, we had had a discussion regarding whether or not the rabbits would eventually start breeding on their own. The answer was apparently in the affirmative. Graham gave me a smile as he puffed his cigarette and Cain responded to the chief. “That’s great! So there are 47 rabbits in this village now?”

“Even more! A few rabbits from Clearpond arrived as well. Clearpond was unfortunately destroyed a few days ago, but the survivors made it here. We are now at 56!” The Chief was happy, but obviously slightly confused at our reactions. We were all grinning and opening menus which, to an untrained eye, would look slightly offputting. “Are you all alright?”

Theresa nodded. “We are all just fine, Chief. Thank you for letting us know.”

The Chief smiled. “Of course, traveler. Oh! One more thing. We do have some more information on work available in the town hall if you’d like.”

Theresa looked at us before back to the chief. “You mean the Long House?”

The Chief looked confused. “Well, yes. Aren’t they the same thing?”

I realized immediately what Theresa had caught on to. As I opened my map, I was surprised to see that Softpaw Village was now named simply Softpaw. I leaned over to Graham and Nick, who were sitting near me. “50 is a population level, I think. The village has leveled up into a town.”

Theresa just nodded and waved her hand. “Of course, thank you Chief. We’ll be there shortly.” The Chief smiled, gave a small nod of his head, and headed out the door of the tavern.

We all opened the map and scrolled over to Harehill. There was no title of village. “They must have had some growth too! We can establish the caravan.”

We all headed out the door of the tavern and into the Town Hall. The Long House seemed to be much neater and more organized. Instead of the dark fire pit in the center of the structure, several lanterns hung along the support beams on either side of the room. A few rabbits worked on writing something down as the Chief sat on his small throne. “You came quickly.” He gave us a grin.

Cain stepped forward with a bow. “Chief, we were looking for your trade master.”

The rabbit raised an eyebrow. “Trade master? I’m not sure we have one of those.”

We were all slightly confused. Luckily, Graham stepped forward. “Would you like to establish one?” Graham had a knack for figuring out the NPC systems. I figured it came with experience.

“Establish a trade master? For what reason?”

“To keep track of records for the trade caravans you’ll send to Harehill.”

The Chief tilted his floppy ears to the side. “Trade Caravans? Hm…I hadn’t considered that.”

I spoke up. “Chief, you grow much more food than Harehill, but Harehill crafts more things. It’s only logical to establish steady and safe trade with the other Rabbitfolk in the area.” These NPCs were autonomous, but they could be convinced of ideas rather quickly. I wondered if that was a feature of the system or of the Rabbitfolk or both.

He listened to our arguments for establishing a trade caravan. Within half an hour, we had the Chief convinced and a local Rabbitfolk was established as Softpaw’s trade master. We spoke to the newly appointed trade-rabbit and he said he would get right on the task of establishing a caravan.

We set off for Harehill, ready to do the second part of the requirements to establish trade. Upon arrival, we noticed a large ring of construction around the town. The builder-rabbit informed us that the Chief of Harehill had ordered a wall be built around the town to protect from attackers. Things were moving quickly. The rapid development of things was a big change from the first 3 months I had spent cooped up in Eastland's rec center. I could tell that everyone but Graham was also a little overwhelmed. We headed inside and were delighted to see that whatever game system we triggered was already working. Chief Cassil had already established a Trade Master for Harehill. We informed them of all the same benefits of trading that we told Chief Tappi about, but he required much less convincing. I assumed that our group's higher relationship level with Chief Tappi helped immensely with the process.

By nightfall, a plan for the trade route was established and for future trade caravans between the two to be running back and forth daily. Growth would occur on its own, although it appeared to have been happening on its own already. We couldn’t have been happier with the results. Our moods stayed incredible until a guard-rabbit knocked on my tavern room door early the next morning to inform me that a man in a purple cloak wished to speak to me.

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