Benjamin Bookworm

Ben had been going back to town after another days of searching through the forest, when he spotted another new player in town.  She was standing outside the house where the first beginner quest started, looking hesitant.  Unlike his light set of clothing, she was wearing a large and heavy set of armor for protection and carrying a much heavier weapon.  Still... maybe she could use a hand.

"Hi there!  Um, Miss Novafire?" he asked while taking a look at the name above her icon. "You look a bit hesitant there.  Did you need a hand with this quest?  I've finished it up recently, so I should be able to give you a hand if you're a bit lost.  Oh, I'm Benjamin by the way"  He offered a warm smile along with an extended hand as he approached.

Ben really hoped that he was right about her being new and he wasn't accidentally insulting her.  It was still hard for him to tell whether or not someone was high level or not around here.  Still, it never hurt to offer company to someone.  These quests tended to go a lot quicker with more people than by themselves. 

"Fishing?  That's... dangerous?  I'm glad I never picked up the skill then.  That sounds really tough.  I'm specializing on gathering materials, which is a lot safer and unfortunately a lot slower.  Still, so far it's been a good way to head out with friends.  I've already had a successful group outing in the forest doing this."

"I don't have any recipes like that in my alchemy book, just lots of healing items.  Actually at my level, I only have two recipes I can make, which would be disappointing if healing potions weren't so darn useful.  Or that crafting things ended in failure so many times."  Ben explained.  "Maybe next time we could plan things out as a group to cover these bases.  Heck, once I get more options of what to craft, I can keep a few extra miscellaneous bits around for occasions like this."

"So do you know if the boss will have any special attacks that we have to worry about, or is it just going to be a lot bigger than those minions?"

EN Auto Rec 2/3

"Well, um, yea it is.  It's a common enough name that I can pull it off.  Besides, I wanted something to alliterate with Bookworm since I was going to be a scholar-ish type build here, and I wanted something fun to call myself.  It was more spur of the moment than anything, I really hadn't thought about what to call myself before I logged in." Ben said as he started to catch his breath.  His own energy bar filled up a lot quicker, but just one big sword art could almost completely deplete it if he wasn't careful, so that was something he'd have to be aware of in these larger fights. 

"Um, anyways, if it's a low drop rate for this item, do you have any way to increase our chances?  I haven't gotten any items to increase my loot drops yet - though I have one commissioned.  How about you?"

EN Auto Rec 1/3

Ben follow up Pinball's attack determined to get at least one hit in against these things.  Ben set his footing once again, readying another charge, but this time he wouldn't overshoot his mark.  The Nepent had stopped moving for a few seconds after it's attack, so this was his chance!  His daggers shone brightly in the sun of the floor's natural weather as he once again charged, striking the Nepent in it's middle and landing a critical blow!  The monster blew apart into a pile of pixels, finishing off the last of the mob for good. "Got it!  That was awesome!" he said as he offered Pinball a high 5, beaming with the pride of a job well done.

"So I guess we hit the boss next, right?  Or do you need to catch your breath a bit- those big sword arts must have taken a lot of energy to pull off."

"All you have to do is take a cup of materials,
add it to the mix!
Now you take this weird green liquid,
careful it has a kick!
Mixing these treats is so much fun,
potions made for everyone!"

Daily crafting [placeholder for rolls]

Total: -1 materials [T1], nothing made, +4 exp

Ben smiled as the three of them continued to search.  This was turning out to be a pretty good day after all, and they even found their first bit of material to go with it.  "Glad you're excited Outlander.  It's pretty slow going at this point, but there's going to be a few more materials we can find before the day is out.  I've been eyeing the search and gathering skills to assist me in this, but that'll be way in the future."  he said as his search continued

He listened to Litsy talk about her profession with Outlander, remembering the pain that the job quest was for him.  "Ah, getting a job.  That's a bit of a long quest, but worth it.  Not only do you get to craft things, but I found nearly 10 materials as the quest reward.  You should grab someone to help you with it- though only one player at a time can get the job reward out of it, unfortunately." 

The Nepents rushing out of the forest caught Ben off guard, freezing him with fear for the first few precious seconds.  Pinball's attack managed to snap him out of it as he dashed forward- these things didn't seem to hit very hard, and already used all their attacks on his friend. He was going to smash them up. 
"Feel my sting!" he shouted as he swung at the first baddie at its center and readied his sword arts for once he connected...

and went right by them, getting nothing but air as he flew by without them so much as noticing.  He stumbled onto the other side of the battlefield, luckily not bringing anything else into the fight, before righting himself for another go.  "Ah, sorry Pinball.  That didn't work." he shouted as he tried to catch his breath "but at least you were right about these guys being easy mobs to take on! Let's hit them again!"

Ben accepted the trade from his HUD, switching the new weapon out for his old ones and pulling them out.  They felt lighter than his old ones, and their stats showed they would do significantly more damage.  He barely even glanced at his menu as it updated his stats, even though he knew they went up significantly.  He supposed, even though he started out this journey to find other new players to help, he was inexperienced enough right now to need all the help he could get. 

"Thanks so much!  Of course I'll take care of these.  You can't let a well made weapon go to waste, especially in a game like this where players don't get a second chance.  I'll make sure it's used to keep players safe as long as I'm able to."

"Oh, and I'm ready to go when you are." he said, spinning the daggers in his hands and enjoying the feeling of a new weapon.

<Emerald Shiv> equipped

Stats

Ben had been thinking of another joke to counter when Pinball offered him one of his old daggers.  "Seriously?   I would love that- I grabbed the support package when I started so I don't have any bonuses at all on these ones.  I figured they would work best for me because they take so little energy to use."  He looked out over the area that Pinball had been leading him too, nervous because combat was so close by.  He hadn't seen anything that they had to fight, but readied his weapon just in case.

"So, um, I suppose I will let you lead they way against these guys, and I'll follow up afterwards?  I'll try and focus on the damaged ones so we thin these guys out quicker.  And I'll use some of the potion I have if we get knocked down to half health.  Better safe than dead is how I like to look at it."

Ben hurriedly went through his inventory to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything in haste.  "Yep! Benjamin Bookworm's the name.  I was going to get myself a caterpillar familiar to make a joke with it, but I don't have a spare skill slot yet so I'm waiting on that.  Not the best joke, but, yea."

"I can stay back and try and help thin out the enemy numbers.  I've never taken on a mob yet, so it'll be interesting to see how my sword arts work.  The best one I have at this level is the stunning one, but I don't have anything that can target multiple baddies at once if it comes to that.  Oh, and I'm ready to move when you are.  Just added my first ever crafted healing salve to my inventory as well." he smiled awkwardly, hoping he didn't come off as too energetic as he slipped his daggers into their holsters.  Hopefully they would get some good use this quest. 

Ben had been running back to his shop, trying to get a few more potions done before he headed out when he heard someone calling his name.  "Me? Yea!  I've been looking for a few more players to quest with.  I can tag along if you need a second for it." he replied with a smile.  Finally, someone else to quest with!  Even if he wasn't able to buy his healing skill yet, this was a fantastic start.  He was glad someone else was out asking people to join on quests- after the rejections he had gotten, it was starting to feel like he was the only other player trying to organize a party on this floor.

"I haven't heard about this quest before... what kind of dangers are we facing?  I can grab exactly... um, well I can bring some healing potions.  In the future I can grab exactly what is needed for the quest, but mostly my skills are 'stabbing things' and 'tossing potions'."

Stats

Ben grabbed the order form off of the table, filling it out with what he wanted.

Order Form:

"This... this looks like it.  I'll pay up front, so that I dn't have to worry about keeping that amount of col reserved while I'm getting all the items I need.  Simpler that way."  Ben said, a big smile on his face as he finally felt like he was making headway on getting ready for his quests. 

-1,100 col

Ben decided to double check the treeline he just looked at again.  When he had been gathering up before, he found these materials sometimes dropped in groups.  Maybe he could get lucky with a second drop.  Or maybe he would get really lucky and have all that he needed right here. 

He kept up his search for a few minutes, until he decided he had to move on.  Maybe a bit of walking and looking would work better.  Or maybe it was just completely random and he was finding ways to spend time until he finished. 

Still, it was good to be out again.  He was starting to get used to being outside the safe zones, and not cowering in fear over every sound.  He had even leveled up a couple of times since the last quest!  All he had to do was keep going.

Ben wandered deeper into the forest as he looked for some materials further on.  He wasn't sure if he would have better luck here, but at least it felt like he was doing something.  The forest was really starting to tick him off, and so was this quest.  Who needs 5 materials for a single potion?  He could find one, and finish the darn quest really fast.  He didn't need to repeatedly find more things to learn how to do it!  He... just didn't like failing over and over like this.  Especially for some stupid quest that was basically exactly what he did before. 

As he was stomping around, Ben caught sight of something on the edge of his HUD.  It was some material, finally!  He grabbed it and put it into his inventory, seeing his quest update as he did.

Material found 1/5

OK, one down, four to go. 

This time, Ben looked a lot longer and slower around the patch he was searching.  He had no luck so far, but that was going to change soon.  It had to -  he had already gotten some friend to fight alongside, and was working on setting up his alchemy shop and getting stock.  The longer he stayed here trying to earn SP, the less time he would have for finding ways to help everyone beat the game. 

It's just that he seemed to repeatedly fail at these tasks.  Ben sighed, at least it wasn't combat that he was having this kind of luck in.  That would end his quest in a pretty permanent way.  He took another look around, trying to figure out what he was doing wrong.  Maybe if he headed a bit deeper into the forest or something?  It couldn't hurt.  And it might make up for some of the time he had wasted already here. 

The one thing that Ben was wondering was why it was always herbs that they were looking for in these quests.  It could be mushrooms or leaves or even sap, but all the quests seemed to be about getting herbs.  Maybe because they were easy to see with the naked eye?  Or maybe because they were so familiar to see?  Once he actually got out of this crazy game he'd have to look it up. 

Unfortunately for him, his progress seemed to be blocked by his current inability to ever find any materials.  He would swear that whatever system that spawned these was working against him.  Well, maybe it ws because he was in a rush.  That was probably it.  So, he took a deep breath, relaxed a bit, and moved on.  He would check the next few trees a bit more carefully to be sure he didn't miss anything.

Ben headed out the door and down the road to the forest.  At least it was a quiet day to do the quest on, though all the days down here were basically like this.  Ben never though he would miss rainy days, but was was starting to.  Still, he pressed on.

The forested area that he got too was... nice.  It was a lot brighter than most of the areas in the floor, and very clear.  At least this would be short work.  Ben quickly headed over to the first crop of trees, starting his search for what he needed.  Hopefully he would find everything on the first try and be done with this quest.

Unfortunately, he didn't find anything in the first minute or two.  Still, in the interest of getting this done quickly Ben ran off to the next set of trees, determined to keep going. 

Zackariah then shuffled over to grab a recipe book off the shelf.  It looked exactly like the one that Benjamin had seen in the job quest that he completed previously, probably because all the alchemy books in the game are basically the same.  Maybe this quest would be a little less repetitive if he didn't have alchemy as the job he took as well, but he would have to just deal with it now. 

Zackariah pulled the book down on the table, pointing at the page he needed.  "Here! I just need 5 of these herbs, and I'll have what I need for the potions.  After that, you can come back here and I'll show you the basics of crafting."

Ben took note of what kinds of herbs that he needed, and looked out at where the forest was down the road.  AT least this would be a lot shorter of a quest than the last one. 

"Yep.  That sounds like a plan.  So, I guess I just gather something for you, and that's it right?  Or is there going to be something more?"

The NPC chuckled, giving off the attitude of someone who was busy teaching an unruly student.  Even though Ben had his own shop and didn't actually need to learn most of this, he still needed to get the quest done and reap the rewards. 

"Have patience young one." Zackariah said "I do need you to get me a few herbs outside, but after that I will have plenty of time to teach you the basics of potion making.  I don't have any other students at this time, so I'll be able to give you my full and undivided attention.  Just let me get the list of what I'm seeking, and you can use the forest out back to look.  There aren't any monsters out there, so you'll be safe while you search."

Ben arrived at the front door of the quest giver's abode, pushing it open and taking a look inside.  The decor was similar to the outside and crowded with the many crafts set out along multiple tables.  The NPC he was looking for appeared to be the only other person in the house, and was busy mixing a few vials together when Ben walked in. 

"Hello?  Ah, you're the guy I'm looking for- Zackariah right?  I hard that you were looking for help with some crafting, and I'm here to help." Ben said, getting the NPC's attention.

Zackariah looked up from his work with a worn smile. "Ah, come in.  Come in.  Yes, I am looking for some help, and looking to help you as well.  You see, those of you new to the dangers of this world seem to need a bit of a hand to get started, and I'm here to give it to you.  I just ask that you assist me in some of my crafting while we do.  Does that sound good?"

Benjamin had been unsuccessfully trying to find a partner to work with and complete the beginning quests.  So, he decided to try tackling it by himself.  There didn't sound like there was any combat, so he should be fine.  Besides, he already finished up one quest, so this one should be kind of a cinch. 

And so, Ben found himself walking down the path to find the house of a NPC named Zackariah, who would send his one his first real quest.  Story quest?  He wasn't really sure how the quests were classified quite yet.  The NPC resided in an old wooden alchemy shop near the edge of the Town of Beginnings.  The place was modeled as your classic swords and sorcery place, lots of glass vials in the windows, random things that you could see boiling through the windows, and the markings of the wear of time along the sides of the walls.

Ben nodded.  The idea made sense, though what he wanted wasn't in stock. 

"Well, I am looking for something that would get be some better rolls from the system's loot die.  Preferably a scarf if you can make it like that.  I figure if I ask for a perfect item it might be a while until you finish it, but I'm willing to wait.  And I have... just enough to pay for it- it's 1,100 col right? Would that be a reasonable thing to ask?  I'm hoping this will get me all the equipment I need to start on some of the easier quests, and searching for crafting materials." 

1/6/18
 

Another day of crafting commences.

Ben nodded in agreement, thankful for the advice. 

"That's nice to hear.  I hadn't been planning on trying to jump into a dungeon any time soon, just map them and sell what I find for however much I could- at least until I find a good group to clear the dungeons out with.  I actually meant that I still was looking to earn enough SP to level up my searching skills."

Taking another look at the shelf, and checking his inventory, Ben figured he could grab 3 extra maps and still afford a decent loo die item later- hopefully it would last until he earned so more col. 

-330 col

+3 [T1] Blank Dungeon maps