The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

"Hey, what happened to the two scouts? Party list says that they died, anyone hear anything?" DicingDevil asked the group as he emerged through a bush leading towards the clearing.

"Der's HP just dropped straight to zero, no idea what happened to him," Grisier replied. "The Geomancer put up a bit of a fight, I heard a small scuffle in the building but he died about ten seconds after. Probably they were killed by the same creature. It must have been something strong."

"Really? We could see into the windows of that place on our journey, it looked empty. But the villagers refused to discuss it, perhaps there is something hidden there."

"Could be some kind of ghost," Gastlem said.

"Spooky. I mean, yes. It could be. Well, let's avoid it for now." DicingDevil laughed.

To his side, Akshel emerged, followed by the NPC named Margaret.

"Thank you," Margaret said, then quickly walked around the area to scan the mink dens. "These dens look spacious, I'm impressed. But it's difficult to see in this light! I'll come back in an hour, and see if the minks have managed to settle in. You will receive further rewards if they have."

Each member of the group received a healthy amount of EXP for the quest. Vladimir surged to level 26, and Konstantin to level 25. Crucis didn't gain a level, but was now 62% of the way to level 59.

"Please leave this area soon, or you will scare the mink away and they won't enter the dens you built," Margaret said, and she smiled and walked North-East on her way back to the village.

"Did anyone else notice anything else about the scouts' disappearance?" DicingDevil asked the group again.

"Nah, that's about it," Starfighter replied with a slight yawn.

"Oi, when did you get tired? You were still energetic when we left, even after digging the holes," Akshel teased.

"I have no idea. Grisier asked me and the kids to fetch a few herbs from the grass scattered around after the dig, but it wasn't that difficult."

"Could the herbs have some sort of sedative or sleep-inducing effect when inhaled? I'm also feeling a bit tired," Crucis said. He felt unnaturally lethargic as he tried to sit up straight.

"Um, some of these herbs are called 'hera aspira,' but I can't identify what they do with my current [Herbalism] skill level. They might be sleep-inducing. I was combing through these herbs, I'll place them in my inventory now," Grisier said sheepishly.

"Me and Akshel picked up some ice-cold water from the village well, so I'll leave a bucket here. All of you guys, throw some water on your face, so you'll be awake now." DicingDevil said, pointing to an iron bucket of cold water on the ground beside him.

"Akshel and I -" Akshel interjected.

"Shut up. Anyway, we also found traces of the group from the North, some quests to the North of the village were currently marked as in progress, and Akshel found fresh footprints on the path North."

"Ahem. Yeah, they seem to have gone North. One of the guys in the village warned us that there was a dangerous level 55 predator up North as well, which was a maneater and had started to hassle the village. It's called the [Injured Albatross Panther], its pelt is white with dark orange stripes, and it's a boss creature. But it's a bit further up than I think they've gone, doesn't mean it couldn't find them."

"It's a weird choice for them to go North, then," Gastlem said. "Did they miss the NPC's warning?"

"Maybe they're rushing to pick up the quests here. Hopefully we can find them before the panther does," DicingDevil said.

The group quickly tossed water onto their faces to recover from Grisier's herbs, then prepared to go North-East towards the village.

"Assassins, prepare to go North first," DicingDevil said. "We can move more quietly, so there's more chance of finding them without being noticed. Climb trees to get a better view. The rest, gather and prepare to attack, if we can find them. We won't cross through the village, we'll head straight for the Northern bridge to its North-West."

The party headed North-East, veering to the West of the village. Through dense bushes, Crucis managed to glimpse part of the village, with a few simplistic wooden huts accompanied by long animal pelts hung on string at the village borders. A few of the villagers seemed to be patrolling the borders as guards, probably to discourage feral animals from attacking. One of the pelts hung by the village border had a deep brown and thick coat of fur, and looked quite valuable. Crucis guessed that this village contained accomplished hunters, beyond its deceptively simple appearance.

Towards the North, there was a short, wooden bridge that led to a large, densely-forested area up North. The grass slowly gave way to a rocky terrain, and plants became less plenteous. Crucis, Akshel, DicingDevil and Gastlem crossed the bridge first and went North, while the rest of the group followed them and waited just North of the bridge.

After three minutes of walking Northwards, they heard the faint sound of swords slashing through creatures from a distance. Gastlem tapped the button on his right hand wristband, and looked across the area.

"They're North-West, near a pool of water," Gastlem whispered confidently, pointing in the exact direction of the sound. "One is a warrior, the other is an archer."

"How did you know?" Crucis whispered back.

"Um, Spy class skill. It's named [Sound Sign]. It gives you an additional option in the menu, named 'Sign,' and that opens an overlay which highlights game sounds and shows you their direction. It only works for sounds programmed into the game, like most sword skill sounds, not for voices. Since the sounds were isolated, it was obvious which weapons they were using."

"Ah. Thanks. I didn't get that skill yet, I wasn't sure what it did and it doesn't have a clear description. I'll make sure to pick it up, it should make this easier. Merci."

"No problem," Gastlem smiled.

Crucis looked through the [Spy] skill tree, and saw a branch which passed through the [Sound Sign] skill. On the way, there were two other skills which were barely described, named [Background Noise] and [Brush Contact], as well as a slightly modest +90 DEX boost.

"What are the Background Noise and Brush Contact skills?" he asked.

"First has a line showing how loud the default background noise of a place is, and indicates if you're making more noise than that," Gastlem said. "Second I haven't tested, I think it lets you pass a small thing like a note to another player next to you, without being seen."

"I see. That's not bad. Anyway, should we split up and approach them from each side?"

"Wait a second." DicingDevil quietly climbed up a tree nearby, and perched on a branch thick with leaves. He scanned the direction which Gastlem had pointed, then quickly descended. "Alright, I see them. I'll mark three positions on the map which will cut off their escape. I'm trying to have us approach them slowly, and stay at a distance so that we can easily adjust and intercept them if they try to escape South. The main challenge will be minimising losses and preventing escape when we attack. Crucis, go to the North-East point, Akshel to North-West and Gastlem to South-East. I'll take the other corner. Find a tree and figure out the landscape."

Crucis saw three dots appear on the map, which DicingDevil had set as waypoints using his authority as party leader.

Crucis activated [Background Noise] and [Quickstep], to help his movements to stay quiet. He tried to time his movements to periods where the wind was blowing and the background noise was high, so that the sound of his movements would be masked. Once he reached the position, he found a tree with low branches and climbed it, being careful to avoid much noise. He leant firmly against the tree in order to muffle any noise, and tested branches carefully before climbing on them. Soon, he caught a view of the two players.

One was a fast-moving, level 46 [Arch-Knight] with a garbled name, wearing a dark green shirt and light armour, while the other was a level 54 archer named [Franciscus] and was hanging nearby shooting at some creatures which were difficult to make out from the tree. Squinting slightly, he saw that the group were wiping out several waves of [Otter Pest] enemies, who were seemingly teeming across the area next to a stagnant pool of water. Loud insects buzzed around this pool, and this might have made it even more difficult for them to hear the approaching DeathGang members. Crucis guessed that there was some sort of quest to cleanse the pests near this pool, so that the village could prepare it for use.

The players were both members of a mid-sized Guild named [MaxNexus], which Crucis hadn't seen much of. From what he had heard, most of its members had started in the cold Northern region, and having players from the Guild near Kruxol was an anomaly. These members were probably quite isolated from the rest, and would be liable to change Guilds if given the chance.

To the West of these two players was a lightly declining path which soon disappeared into thick, tall grass. Checking the party chat, Crucis saw that Akshel had got a closer look at this.

Akshel: careful to their west, the path declines sharply into a pit

Akshel: not sure why, maybe there used to be another pool but it was drained out

DicingDevil: ic. so an atk from that side could be difficult?

Akshel: yea, easy to lose balance and fall in

Crucis: might be easier to corral them to that side, so that they get trapped in the pit

DicingDevil: yes, if we try to surround them then they could still muscle past some of our low lvls

DicingDevil: or try to bolt through the western area and hope for us to get sidetracked by the pit + uneven terrain

DicingDevil: easier to just cut them off from the east, then trap them in the pit

Akshel: yea, we could fight them with higher ground and win easily

Crucis: yes, then it's over for them

Crucis: but they could still thin our numbers if they put up a fight for it

Gastlem: do you c how quickly they kill the otters? maybe are a high-damage build

Gastlem: could be risky

DicingDevil: esp since we don't want to make too much noise, i heard a few roars just north of them

DicingDevil: could be predator

Crucis: what if Grisier put some sleep herbs in the pit first?

DicingDevil: so we could shepherd the players in there, then capture them as they tire?

Crucis: yea

DicingDevil: sounds good

DicingDevil: i'll tell most of the team to circle round the east towards crucis' position, once gris is done with herbalism we'll move in to attack

DicingDevil: akshel and gastlem, make sure to cut off escape and force them towards the pit

Akshel: aye aye

Gastlem: o/

Crucis descended carefully from the tree, using some thick vines to anchor his feet. As he waited for the rest of the group, he could dimly make out Grisier crawling through the tall grass in the West before quickly disappearing into the pit. Grisier had quickly used [Water Buff], which increases the CON and STR of water-based or amphibious creatures slightly, to strengthen the otters emerging from the pool and keep the players distracted. Since this spell had little explicit animation and was rarely used, it was a fairly safe distraction against two non-Mages who would be unlikely to recognise it.

As Grisier finished his preparations, Crucis carefully crept closer to the two targets, as DicingDevil lined up six players near him in a loose semicircle to force the targets to run towards the pit. Since there was a pool on one side, and this was surrounded by dense vegetation, the amount of practical escape routes was limited. Once DicingDevil was satisfied that these were all closed off, the group moved quietly towards the pool, with weapons drawn.