Game 2

Previous Game

Guild Level: 40

"Thank you, heroes! For defeating the Balrog in the Caves of Ordeal, I present you with the Crest of Change!"

A pillar of gold light shined brightly on two figures, and a unseen choir somewhere sang hymns of rejoice. Then the light faded, and Hoteske and ABBY!!! stood proudly at the steps of the cathedral. The two clerics had just finished the class advancement quest for Father Lightsheart and were handed a silver medallion that sparkled like diamonds in the light. The guild members could now choose which new class to branch into; of course, they already knew.

'''Hoteske has advanced to the War Priest class! Congratulations!'''

'''ABBY!!! has advanced to the War Priest class! Congratulations!'''

Their guild chat then exploded in a flurry of congratulations.

ThreeEyedCrow: Congratulations Milty and Abby!

Swaddles: gratz

Kawffi: gratz guys!

Zaffers: gz

Talon: grats

MistaLemur: gratz

Pluffles: gz

Bankai: grats

The other players around them clapped and offered similar praises before returning to their own business.

"Yay we finally hit level 40!" cheered ABBY!!!.

"You wanna go back to the Haunted Woods party quest?" asked Hoteske. "It's the last time we can do that dungeon before we're over the level cap."

"Sure, let's see if anyone else wants to come," said ABBY!!!.

ABBY!!!: ''Who's down to HWPQ with us?? (8''

Kawffi: I'm in!!

Hoteske: k we got Thomas, just need one more.

Talon: ''Sorry. Jesse, Jerry, and I are merching right now.''

Swaddles: Can't right now :( Pvping.

...

In the end, only Kawffi was able to join the newly-promoted War Priests to the Haunted Woods. The party of three made their way through the knotted trees, their footsteps disturbing the mist that hung low to the ground. They turned to the right of a single large tree, a landmark that led players to the party quest. The trees grew to a sinister, dark color as they traveled deeper, becoming almost blue-black. Eventually, they made their way to a small clearing, where a small gathering of people surrounded a lady in stunning white.

When the party got closer to the crowd, they could begin to hear a constant drone of people chatting.

"Need one more party member! Cleric preferred!" shouted a woman in a suit of armor, who stood in front of two others.

"We need more physical DPS! Warriors or monks please!" a mage pleaded, as he was in a party with two other mages.

A few groups, already with a full party, made their way to the NPC lady in white. After talking to her, they vanished, teleported into the party quest area.

"What do we need?" asked Kawffi.

"I guess we'll just need a mage or something. We got two healers already, and we're mostly physical," said Hoteske.

"Mage please! One more!" said ABBY!!!, waving her hand.

It didn't take them long for someone to respond. A mage walked up to the party members and asked for the invite to join.

Firefreak18 has joined the party!

Firefreak18's orange, droopy mage robes made him look small, but he stood taller than Hoteske and Kawffi, albeit lankier than even ABBY!!!.

"Wow sweet," said Firefreak18. His voice was pretty nasally. "Two War Priests! This'll be easy."

Hoteske saw that Firefreak18's level was on the lower end; being 30 was the bare minimum of attempting the dungeon.

"Have you done this party quest before?" asked Hoteske, concerned about potentially having to babysit their new party member.

"Uh yeah! I have higher-leveled accounts," bragged Firefreak18, puffing out his chest.

"Well, alright..." said Hoteske, not entirely convinced.

"Let's CC to 24, I doubt there's anyone there," said Kawffi.

The party opened their menus and selected to change to channel 24, and one by one they disappeared.

Hoteske made it first, standing in the same exact area, but without the crowd of people. The NPC lady in white was still there however, leaning on her staff. Hoteske waited as ABBY!!! appeared next to him, followed shortly by Kawffi. It took a few seconds, but then they saw Firefreak18 finally appear in the correct channel.

The lady perked up, and stood tall to greet them.

"Good evening travelers! I am Ventress, Keeper of the Bramble."

She curtsied to the party, then continued, "For centuries I have watched Bramble, the guardian of the forest. However, and evil force has taken over Bramble, and has corrupted the benevolent spirit. Every time I try to calm her down, she awakens the next day to ravage the woods. I fear it is a matter of time before—"

"Yeah, yeah," said Hoteske. He waved his hand to skip the dialogue. Who really listens to NPC dialogue nowadays?

"—So brave heroes, can I rely on your help?"

Two buttons appeared at Hoteske's hands, labeled "yes" and "no". He reached out and touched the "yes" button, and Ventress nodded in response.

"I wish you luck on your quest," said Ventress. She closed her eyes, and suddenly they opened, pupil-less. Her staff glowed, and then scraggly roots and vines cleared behind her, revealing a path for the party.

They party first made sure they had all their skills on their appropriate hotkeys, and then they entered the clearing.

...

The party finally made it to the end of the dungeon, where their way was blocked by a tall gate made of vines. The boss of the party quest, Bramble, was just on the other side. The party members dropped all of their Rosewood Keys, the party quest item awarded to the members for solving cooperatively the dungeon's puzzles.

Hoteske picked up all of the keys, and they glowed bright green in his hand. The Rosewood Keys moved on its own, and merged into one giant key. It floated in the air, then pointed itself into a keyhole-shaped opening in the gate of vines, then turned. A cracking sound, like a falling tree, filled the air, and the key disappeared. The vines quickly crept back, allowing the party members passage.

As soon as the party members stepped past the threshold, the gate close, sealing the party's exit. They were in a large clearing, with impassable trees surrounding them in a big circle.

Hoteske and ABBY!!! readied their kite shields, and Kawffi got into a fighting stance. The last party member, Firefreak18, cupped a flame spell in his hand.

"Let's do this!" grinned ABBY!!!.

The ground shook, and then the trees across from the party cracked as they started to grow. What appeared to be a wall of trees grew a pair of red eyes, which glared through the darkness. The mass of wood lifted its head and roared an unearthly roar, its gaping mouth wide open.

The thing unearthed itself into the clearing with its tentacle-like vines, and a direct beam of moonlight illuminating the clearing revealed a giant mass of green and bark. It was Bramble!

"Hurry up! Go now!" yelled Firefreak18.

He threw the ball of fire that was cupped into his hand, and it exploded over Bramble's eyes. The monster shrieked, but didn't seem too fazed. She lifted a large root and prepared to slam it right where the mage was standing.

All while this was happening, ABBY!!! was casting a defensive buff over the party, while Hoteske muttered an incantation, further fortifying ABBY!!!'s physical defense. She jumped in front of the mage, shield raised, and took the brunt force of Bramble's attack.

Kawffi was busy pounding away at the monster, each mighty punch knocking off bits of bark and foliage. Hoteske's role was the main healer, constantly casting healing spells if anyone in the party dropped below 70%.

Periodically, Bramble unleashed a spore breath attack from her mouth, filling the air with a green haze. The spores were a nasty debuff, lowering a player's defense so long as they were in the spore cloud. Despite the two War Priest's efforts to dispell the attack, the party members still slightly suffered lower defenses.

All of a sudden, Bramble became still. Wood and leaves became grey stone, but the party could hear a rhythmic thud, like a heartbeat.

"Bramble is healing!" shouted Kawffi. "Physical attacks don't do anything to him in stone form!"

"No shit Sherlock, I know how to HWPQ," said Firefreak18 rudely.

"Your turn Fire!" yelled ABBY!!!.

The mage started to channel a powerful spell, then unleashed a powerful firestorm from his staff. Waves made of flame blanketed the stone monster, and the grey rock glowed redder and redder from the heat. After a few seconds, the rock started to form cracks on its surface. A roar erupted from inside, and Bramble smashed out of its stone shell like a hatching egg, its attempt of regenerating its wounds failing.

Bramble raised all of her branch-tentacles in anger, and slammed the ground with a great thud. The resulting shock wave rushed at the party at terrifying speed. Everyone was knocked flat onto the ground, having took massive physical damage.

Hoteske, ABBY!!!, and Kawffi were in need of healing, but Firefreak18 especially was bleeding badly, being barely able to stand.

Bramble curled a vine back, then began to swing it sideways like a whip. It was going to hit the mage, so ABBY!!! was forced to step into the spore cloud in order to block the hit. She ran, armor clinking, as she stepped in between the vine and the mage just in time to block. The force of the vine slamming against the shield, knocking ABBY!!! off her feet, and she crashed into Firefreak18. The mage, who was busy channeling another spell, was interrupted by the hit.

"OMG you NOOB!" he yelled in frustration after picking himself up from the ground. "Don't step into the spore cloud!"

"You would've been hit anyways!" argued ABBY!!!.

Firefreak18 rolled his eyes, and continued channeling his spells. "Muted," he curtly said.

Hoteske and Kawffi stepped in, pounding away at Bramble's exposed vine with staff and fists before retreating to safety.

The forest monster shook her mass, and small, pink buds grew from its branches. The buds blossomed, covering Bramble in hundreds of pink flowers. Like her Stone Form, Bramble was motionless in her Blossom Form, and a rhythmic thud could be heard again.

"Magic is worthless now!" said Kawffi. He rushed towards Bramble, with ABBY!!! following close behind, and prepared to unleash his close combat now that they had an opening. Meanwhile, Hoteske stayed behind, using a healing spell to mend Firefreak18's wounds.

"OMG YOU SUCK! Why are you healing me?! SWITCH TO DPS YOU STUPID SHIT!" yelled Firefreak18.

"That's it."

Hoteske stopped fighting and accessed his menu. He opened his Party Info screen, and clicked the red "X" next to Firefreak18's name.

Firefreak18 has been kicked from the party!

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" screamed Firefreak18.

Hoteske couldn't hear him, as he currently could only hear the party chat and had everything else muted.

Bramble broke out of its shield of blossoms, pink petals clouding the air, and she roared in anger over not being able to fully regenerate. Bramble's sinister red eyes glowed, and the blossom petals shot out like pink knives, streaking towards everyone.

Both War Priests casted a protective spell, so luckily the attack didn't deal too much damage to the Peng Yous, but as Firefreak18 was no longer in the party, the spells did not reach him. Dozens of petals shredded through him, his robes became tattered and his wounds dripped onto the moonlit grass.

"UNINSTALL!!" were his last words before slumping to the ground.

Bramble lifted all of her tentacle-vines into the air, and then -

...

Bankai has logged on! "About time! TP to us," said ABBY!!!. After a few seconds, the guild members heard a voice in their heads.

Bankai: Where are you guys?

Swaddles: Wrong channel Gordon, we're on channel 4

Bankai appeared at the front door of the Groaning Griffin. He saw the table, then walked over and grabbed an empty seat and plopped down.

"Sup guys?" greeted Bankai.

"Milty was just reminiscing about the HWPQ," said ThreeEyedCrow. He turned back to Hoteske. "Go ahead?"

...

...And then Bramble brought her vines all down with a huge thunderous slam. The shock wave attack knocked the Peng Yous off their feet, but they were still alright. Firefreak18's corpse was knocked around before it despawned. He would respawn in back in front of Ventress, but with less experience points and no loot.

With just the Peng Yous left, Bramble eventually fell from the party's holy magic and physical onslaught. A white light shone onto the Peng Yous like a spotlight, and they warped from the battleground back to the clearing, where Ventress was waiting for them. They opened their inventory screens to see what kinds of rewards they got.

"Sweet! I got a rare scroll!" said Kawffi excitedly.

"Ooh! A new staff!" ABBY!!! pulled it out, examining it.

"Meh. I just got gold," said Hoteske, underwhelmed.

The mage was there, angrily yelling obscenities and death threats, but the Peng Yous ignored him and each pulled out a blue orb from their pockets. They tapped at it, activating its sealed magic, warping back to the nearest town.

...

"So just because I healed him at 70%, he hella raged and told me to stop healing him. So I did," said Hoteske, chuckling at the memory.

"Lol that's why I don't play with pubs," chuckled Pluffles.

The Peng Yous laughed, and managed to flag a barmaid NPC for more drinks and a napkin for Kawffi.

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