As Van tried to get his bearings, Sang suddenly emerged from a tree line, prompting him to yelp in surprise.
“Nice work, Van!” Sang said. Van could see that she was covered in blood and that most of her Heath was gone.
“You, uh, you okay?” Van asked as he realized that she was still slowly taking damage.
“Oh, I’m fine,” Sang said, holding up an arrow. “But I think I was poisoned. Do you know what Manticore King Poison does?”
“Yes, but luckily, we can cure it,” Van replied as he pulled the root out of his inventory. “You’re the one with the alchemy skill, so why don’t you brew the potion while I set up camp for the night?”
Sang nodded as she walked over to the river and began to fill a few canteens with water. “So, I’m looking at our map, and I’m worried we’re a little off track.”
“A little?” Van mumbled as he continued to collect firewood.
“Yes,” Sang replied. “From my observation and this map that I have, we’re in the center of the jungle. Earlier we were close to Verrata, but now we’re looking at having to trudge through at least four to five differing wild zones.”
“Thrilling. Can’t you find some kind of alternate route with your expert Map skills?” Van asked as he dug the firepit.
“Well, there is a quest here,” Sang said, holding up the map for Van to see. He could see there was a quest indicator hovering not too far from them. It read:
Quest: The Stone Troll’s Tunnels.
A band of peaceful Druids have been trying to build their sanctum in the center of the jungle, but recently a band of feisty Stone Trolls has begun tunneling beneath their earth and raiding the Druids’ home. Aiding them will earn a hefty reward, as well as a favor from these peaceful Druids who can assist those who are lost.
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Van grinned as he looked at the quest. Not only was it an easy way to enable fast travel from the Druids, but it would also give them more experience points. Perhaps this needless poisoning side quest had been exactly what they’d needed. This meant, of course, that his decision to open the chest had actually been a good choice on his part.
“Alright, drink up!” Sang said as she thrust a bottle of greenish liquid into Van’s hand. She had her own bottle of the concoction, and they clicked their glasses together before guzzling the potion down.
“Augh,” Van gasped as he shuddered from the sheer horror of the taste. It had been as if he were drinking swamp water, gasoline, and pepper all mixed together.
“Yeah, this is terrible,” Sang agreed. Van glanced up and saw his experience points well over. Quest Complete! said the bar, informing him that he had successfully survived the quest. The summary appeared in front of him.
That was definitely enough points to level up. Van was eager because he was starting to get to the point where he would be able to salvage some of his character options. The next level gave him a cool selection of some new powers and a single magic spell, which might come in handy. He opened up his character sheet and examined what his options were.
Van looked at his options of special abilities. Of all the ones offered, Bardic Will would probably come in handy, as it helped him resist mind control powers better. One of the worst things that could happen in the game was to end up charmed or paralyzed due to some kind of mind control power.
Van nodded at Sang once they were both done playing around with their stats. “You ready to kill some Trolls?” he asked.
Sang shrugged. “Didn’t you call me one of those earlier?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry... I won’t get confused in the heat of battle,” Van said with a grin. “Let’s go!”
Chapter Seventeen
Sang was in awe of the temple they were approaching. It was a beautifully carved stone temple with six pillars holding it high in the air, at home amongst the trees, and she could see on the white marble pillars that there were etchings of some kind of ancient language. Around the massive temple were a few hooded figures walking about. Some were collecting sticks, and others were waving their hands around and mumbling words in an arcane language that she didn’t understand, but the majority of them were gathered in the center, beneath the suspended temple.
“Alright, let’s get the quest and find out where the tunnel entrance is,” Van said as he walked with Sang up to the group of Druids. They were all wearing moss-covered robes and Sang could see that many of them looked identical to one another. In the center of the group of Druids was a woman who was shimmering with a yellow aura, indicating that she had the quest.
“Let me get the quest this time—you always skip,” Sang said as she walked up to the Druid and activated the woman’s quest dialogue.
“Oh, what fortune!” said the moss-robed woman, turning to face the two. She had a deep scar across her right eye that looked fairly fresh. “Travelers! What do you seek?”
A dialogue box popped up in front of Sang.
We are looking for adventure
We are looking to get out of this accursed jungle
We are here to rob and kill you
Sang selected the second box. The Druid nodded. “I see! Well, perhaps we can help each other out then, for we Druids here are wood walkers, able to stride through the jungle without fear of being harmed while we move! But, most ironically, we are weak when here at our temple! The Stone Trolls who tunnel beneath our lands have started to surface and raid us, killing the weak and feasting on their bones! If you can aid us by defeating the Troll Lord, we can provide you with transportation to get out of this place.”
“Can you get us to Verrata?” Sang asked, forgetting that this was nothing more than an AI and that she probably wouldn’t be able to understand such a specific question.
“I can take you to any edge of the jungle,” the Druid replied.
Sang turned to Van, surprised at the Druid’s understanding. “Hey, Van, I thought most AI didn’t have the ability to respond to our questions?”
“Eh, there’s a few questions they understand; you just asked the most predictable one,” Van replied.
Sang nodded and accepted the quest from the Druid. This was perfect—they’d be able to get more experience points, and probably a few items, and escape from the jungle in one fell swoop. She had been a little frustrated with her poor decision to attack those players earlier, but this would make up for it. She hoped that Van wasn’t too agitated with her antics, but he hadn’t seemed that phased since their initial argument. She certainly hadn’t meant to cause that much trouble, but still, as she looked at the items in her inventory, it definitely seemed worth it. Sang promised herself that she would be more careful in the future, but decided not to recant her decision to Van because the last thing she wanted was for him to be able to say “I told you so.”
“Alright, so there’s the tunnel,” Van said, pointing to a massive hole in the ground that wasn’t too far from the Druid camp. “We’re gonna have to drop in there and keep going until we find some Trolls. Now, how much do you know about Trolls?”
“Not a thing, Van,” Sang said.
“Well, in this world, Trolls have highly corrosive blood. It’s like acid, so when you stab or cut them, their blood could potentially spray onto you and kill you.”