Midsummer Feast

The two girls were standing in the middle of the forest, back to back, together with a bunch of NPCs. Surrounded by wolves, which were led by a larger one with a slightly red aura. “I think that Alfa wolf is something which came with the update, Merie.” Adu wasn’t wrong, it’d come with the update. Merie had only seen a few posts about it on the forum, as the Alfa state of monsters was rare, and she hadn’t expected that she would be facing it for quite some time. “Don’t think about that, Adu. We rather think about keeping an eye on the wolves.” “If I’ve understood it right, so are the monsters acting better as a group when led by an Alfa, but I don’t think there might be much difference when it comes to wolves.” She’d read the cries about how mean the monsters were when working as a group, but it’d always been the case when it came to wolves. So she suspected it would be the same as before, with the slight difference that one now was stronger than the rest.

“ONE FROM THE SIDE!” The NPCs were clearly terrified, screaming as one attacked. “ADU!” Merie let Adu take it as it was closer to her, still keeping her senses keen for the next attack. Adu blocked the wolf with her spear, forced it to the ground and stabbed it before stomping it to help her pull out her spear. And even if the wolf happened to survive, so was it badly injured by Adu’s crude weapon. The NPCs didn’t notice the next attack, looking too much at Adu. Merie meets the wolf head-on, blocking the bite with one cleaver and swinging down the other at its neck. Watching it turn into particles of light. “KEEP IT UP, MERIE!” “YOU TOO, ADU!” Merie got a feeling that they could make up a good pair when it came to fighting. But she knew that she would find that out for sure when they got the chance to go on an actual hunt together. “IF YOU THINK YOU CAN GET A BUNCH OF THEM WITH A QUICK RUN, SO WILL I PROTECT THEM IN THE MEANWHILE!” Adu would’ve got a positive answer if the situation would be different, but Merie wouldn’t be able to do a quick run now without only being able to target one wolf. “SORRY, WE NEED TO SLOWLY WORK THEM DOWN!” It was the best way for the moment, grinding them down till they could handle the rest without risking sacrificing any NPCs. “IF ALFA ATTACKS, I’LL LET YOU TAKE HIM, AND YOU’RE FREE TO USE A BOMB OR TWO IF YOU’VE!” Adu actually had a good idea, Merie still had a few bombs after the large war in Po-po, but hadn’t thought the slightest if using them until now.

The attacks continued and the number of wolves slowly decreased, giving the girls a tiny space to breathe. Not in the way that it was first now they’d a chance of surviving, but rather an opportunity to breathe without risking the NPCs falling victim to the wolves. “ALFA!” Adu’s warning was just what Merie wanted, finally so was the fucker attacking instead of just keeping its distance. Merie turned and leapt toward it, making sure to dodge the bite, which surely would deplete her health. She rapidly put away one of the cleavers and grabbed one of her small bombs, sidestepping the wolf’s jaws, using the cleaver to keep them open and shoving in the bomb. Forced to jump back as its claws reached out for her.

The explosion was shift, eradicating almost of its health, but leaving it standing with fire burning wildly in its mouth. Giving Merie a chance to move her hand to trigger a snapshot rapidly. Saving the picture she was sure she never would be able to see again. But with that done, so did she attack again, cursing how agile the wolf was, avoiding her attack. But at the same time so was she able to dodge all its attacks. “YOU’VE CREATED A MYTHICAL BEAST, MERIE!” She could see where Adu’s idea was coming from, and wouldn’t be surprised if it could have created a myth once in a time. But with the fire still burning, so didn’t it take long before the Alfa finally died, giving the other wolves a freight and sending them running.

“We’re forever grateful for you saving us, and promise we should do whatever we can do to repay you.” One of the NPCs, with short blond hair, was the first one to thank them, the others soon following suit. “We’re glad we could help.” “And if you really want to repay us, so would I suggest you teach us about finding things in the forest, and maybe also help us get in contact with someone who can help us understand the effect of herbs and other things.” Adu wasn’t modest when it came to asking for rewards, throwing two demands in their faces. Not that Merie could say that it was too much, as they just saved their sorry asses. But still. “If that’s all you ask for, so will we do what we can. We’ll reach you what we can on our way back to the village, and there so will we make sure you meet our promising medicine woman. So can she share the information she knows.” They also seemed to think that they’d asked for a slim price, but if they were fine with it so wouldn’t she even bother with discussing it.

Merie was glad that this all happened inside a game. They’d got “Gathering+” on their way to the village, and when they met the medicine woman so had they got flora, in Merie’s case, so had it levelled up, and also Potion-craft, also a level up in Merie’s case. But if it wouldn’t be a game, so was Merie sure they wouldn’t have got the time to learn what the woman had to teach. As the woman was a walking fossil and probably could drop dead any given day. “So I guess that I can learn to make poison and potions by now.” Adu probably underrated the effort she would need to put into the ability before it turned out well. But Merie honestly didn’t care much about it as her time on the game was running too short. Or rather, so should she already have logged out to start working on some stinking homework. “We might need to talk about that more later on.” “And I’m grateful for your help and hope you did have as much fun as I had, Adu.” Merie couldn’t say she’d thought she would’ve as much fun as she had, when taking a round with Adu, but it’d at least been as fun as if it would be with either Anlie or Opiom. “Sure, see you later. And let’s go for another round another time.” Adu didn’t seem to mind her company either, for the better, and seemed to think about doing it again sometime.

“I hear your cry about starting to hold territories, Adu. But I don’t think we’ll want to put the time necessary to do it.” Anlie rapidly answered Adu’s suggestion in the party chat. Pointing out something Merie hadn’t thought about when Adu first suggested the idea. The time they might need to put into it to protect the territories they took over. “Ops… I didn’t think about that, but doesn’t it still sound like a good idea?” And neither had Adu thought about it, still holding on to that it would be fun. “Indeed so does it sounds like a fun idea, but as I said. The time.” Anlie didn’t deny it either, but still held on to the Main problem. “Indeed, it sounds like tons of fun, and so can just think about how many we can leave cursing us. Not to mention how many we can take with us without PKing. So I would almost suggest that we decide on which places we want to attack, declare we’re going for a raid and leaves them without a chance of raiding us.” Opiom was along with the idea, and even seemed to have an idea of solving the problem. Even though it was unclear what she meant by not giving them a chance to not raid them. As if they would be protected. “Your idea is cute, Opiom. IF, it wouldn’t be that we still can’t fight for territories as long we ain’t a Guild. And Mein Skitie won’t become a guild until we’ve built up a strong enough reputation, which might take a while.” Anlie deserved all respect for taking the more difficult way of becoming a guild, and Merie would support her till that time came. No matter how long time it took, or if that time ever would come. “Is there anyone who will turn me their back if I would decide to create a tribe of my own, and ask for an alliance with Mein Skitie? Because, it’s possible to build alliances between guild and parties, right?” Adu shouldn’t need to sound so worried about that. If someone there would turn her their back, so would they have done it no matter what Adu decided to do. “I won’t turn you my back, but neither will I promise to always stay by your side. It’ll all depend on the situation.” Opiom was probably expressing it best. At least the same was going for Merie, it would all depend on the situation. “Neither will I turn you my back, and I’ll try to help when I can, but I can’t promise that it will be every time it’s necessary.” Merie would love to take part in raiding another Guild, as long she wouldn’t get it shoved up her ass at a later date. “It’s possible to create alliances between Guilds and parties, so that is something I would be able to consider if you stop asking dumb questions like if we’ll turn you our backs. Here so are blood thicker than water, and the only blood drying up here is the blood of our enemies.” Anlie had a good heart, and she was right about the party’s attitude. They wouldn’t abandon each other for their decision to join someone else, or create something themselves. “I feel like I’ve missed something, but from what I understand, so won’t I turn Adu my back and it’s just to tell me if you need to chop down trees or enemies.” Lart was late to the party, but he did seem to understand the more critical parts. “Then I’ll tell you when I create a tribe, and when I might need help to take over some home turf, or decide to raid someone.” Adu seemed to be pleased with the responses she got, and probably for good reasons, as there might probably not be too many that was all this open to how their members thought.

“If you create a tribe and listen to requests when it comes to raids, so would I like to ask you to raid “WERMU” as I feel I might have a bone or two to pick with those assholes.” It was strange to hear that Opiom had something against a guild, but the situation was soon explained by Lart, “Marcus and Cleara might be assholes, but they’re serious, and it would be a bad decision to pick a fight with them until your guild has grown strong, Adu.” If it was their guild, so might Merie also have some bones to pick with them. Not that they’d done something to wrong her, but rather because they were, as Lart said, assholes who deserved a world of pain. “I don’t know who those two is, but I might make a decision about it when I’ve started the tribe and checked them up a little more.” Adu had joined after they left, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that she didn’t know them. “You better pick your own way of how you wish to look at them. We’d some problems with their attitude, but it’s because of how we’re. You should build your own view of them from as you’re, and what your tribe might need.” Once again so did Anlie sound too good to be true. She was really thinking about groups in a good way.

Merie closed the chat and went back to the deed she’d started a while ago. Searching for Pois, sure that the levelling up of Potion-craft would make a difference when talking with her, maybe even resulting in that Merie would get a kind of reward for it. And the next town she visited was in the middle of a desert, as she’d heard it would be a lovely oasis nearby. Which also was a possible location to find Pois, according to the pattern Pois might be following.