NOVEL WEB Chapter 55 - Back to It
Novaris. Quin (May). 905. AGC.
Nodel. Waning Crescent 🌘. Day 25.
A day or two before he was going to transform back into an elf, Tesilim properly learned the wall climbing body enhancement. Needless to say, he spent 30 minutes as a goat on Lili’s ceiling, quietly singing, “Spider-goat, spider-goat, does whatever a spider-goat does, walking on a roof, eating some shoes because he is a spider-goat.”
When he woke back in his human body, Tesilim was static and quickly jumped out of bed.
After doing his morning routine except with his normal body, which would take some time to adjust to, he quickly went to Lili’s shop. There, they waited for Alyx to show up at the usual time before doing a quick celebration for finally having him back. Then, with the party properly together again, they headed to the Adventurers Guild to get another mission.
The Adventurer's Guild was as busy as always, and they quickly went to the second floor, where they all began perusing for a new mission. They wanted Tesilim to do one or two more missions to get back in the groove before they took an appropriately difficult one that would make all three of them work together. That was something they had discussed. If they were going to be proper party members, they needed to have better teamwork, and there was no better way to achieve that than to fight together.
During the one-month time out, they had discussed their possible roles and found out they would probably need to find a healer and a tankier frontliner. The issue was that Tesilim and Lili covered the role of skirmishers rather well, and neither were good at outright facing a monster. Alyx was the main caster, and though he and Tesilim could heal, neither of them were great at it. Still, before they added some new folks to their party, they wanted to get each other's rhythm. Something that was going to be rather easy as, from the little they had discussed, they understood each other fairly well.
Lili was definitely suited to the assassin striker role and was more about dodging and retaliating. Tesilim was like her, but his magic weapons and new overpowered way of casting certain spells could place him in any category. However, if they were honest, Tesilim could excel at any role with his chaos boosting ability, though he leaned toward a glass cannon. Finally, Alyx was the diverse caster and analytics guy. He had a bunch of knowledge and, due to his blessing, could best move the board pieces and cast the right spells to bring them to victory. Though, to be fair, Lili had plenty of experience doing the same, but as the beautiful elf put it, “I just preferred to stab things.” So, that put Alyx as the identify and targeting system, and even then, Tesilim didn’t believe for a second that the gnome didn’t have some secret stuff in reserve.
Returning to the board, they saw a few interesting missions but decided to go with an easy one.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Adventure Goal 🔷
Name: Hunting Howling Stone.
Type: Extermination ⚔️.
Rank: D.
Danger: Low 🟢.
Suggested Number: 2+.
Threat: Earth Realm 🗿✔️.
Goal: Eliminate Stone Wolves. 0/15.
Reward: 100 Gold & 1 Chaos Point.
Description: A rookie summoner lost control of four stone wolves out in the forest. The wolves ran off and need to be hunted down. Although weak, stone wolves can raise more of their own from stone. Each new stone wolf still has a familiar connection with their parents, which causes them to end up with massive wolf packs. However, that connection is also a downside, as the summoner has a tracking stone that can find his original wolves along with their newborns. You must find all stone wolves in the forest and eliminate them.
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Oddly enough, as he read the prompt after accepting it, Tesilim saw the count tick up to 16. So, with much haste, they collected the tracking token and headed out of the city.
The token was a small, round steel disk with a compass-like rune carved into it on both sides. It was a compass with all the proper directions, and it seemed all their targets were north-west, so that was the direction they headed.
Tesilim, of course, rolled his weapon dice and, for once, also assigned six spells to his spell die.
The result of the weapon die got him the katana, which excited him until it disappeared a minute later. So, he decided to roll again later when they got closer to their targets.
For the spell die, he cheated the system by adding four different versions of his magic missile spell, as each was considered different. Then, for the last two slots, he added water slash and identify creature just for the hell of it. In regards to which side was what, well, the magic missiles were 1. Flame, 2. Ice, 3. Force, 4. Lightning, then water slash was five, and identify was six.
With that out of the way, Tesilim just enjoyed the walk to their targets, which took a couple of hours. Still, Tesilim didn’t mind as, just like before, the day was perfect, with the sun shining freely and the forest breathing with a constant breeze. Of course, some monsters still tried to bother them but they scared them off with some presence use.
Tesilim also used some of this walking time to ask Alyx about the Earth Realm and to see if it was similar to the not-so-fantasy one they had made up back on Earth. Turns out they were.
The Earth Realm was pretty much all underground and was filled with dirt swimming creatures, and lots of ores. The place did have other stuff; apparently, it could have whole underground jungles of both the normal and mushroom kinds. Much like the tabletop one, the Earth Realm was very dangerous compared to something like the Air Realm, though it was important to note that the Air Realm could be just as dangerous. It was just that the Air Realm was more beginner-friendly, at least if you found yourself in the right area. Meanwhile, in the Earth Realm, you could pretty much get killed anywhere at any time.
Eventually, they got close enough to the compass dots that Tesilim decided to roll his die again. He got his daggers back. Unfortunately, they only lasted for one minute, and he had to roll again.
Surprisingly, he got the daggers again, and not for one minute, so he looked forward to teleporting with the daggers along with his new teleport power.
Lili decided to scout ahead as she was the stealthiest of the group, and she disappeared from sight, going invisible. She returned a couple of minutes later and shared that the wolves were all hanging around a large dirt cave they seemed to have summoned. Worryingly, Tesilim asked if they should worry about getting stone spikes thrown at them, but Alyx told him not to worry. That stone wolves had a mild ability to shape the earth to create warrens but nothing else, at least these didn’t.
During their walk, the wolf's numbers ticked up to 17, which might be too much for Tesilim to handle, even if Tesilim himself was somewhat confident. Not that they would have originally let him fight 15 wolves by himself. However, now Lili and Alyx had to step in directly, so it was best to go in with an actual plan.
The plan was going to be simple: Lili was going to sneak ahead and throw Tesilim’s spell die, hoping it didn’t land on identify and would thus cause a commotion. If it did land on identify, she would instead blast the cave entrance with some of her magic missiles. That would be the sign for Alyx and Tesilim to strike. Tesilim had asked if he should boost a spell but was quickly shut down as he was informed they didn’t need the power.
Standing around 50 feet from where the wolves were, Tesilim and Alyx waited to hear any commotion.
They heard growls and sparks of lightning as the die went off, shooting lightning missiles that targeted all the wolves. Hearing the noises, Tesilim and Alyx both rushed towards the cave area and found the wolves relatively fine, as lightning didn’t do much to freaking rock. Still, the wolves, which looked like normal wolves but made of stone as if they were statues come to life, were all looking around in confusion, trying to find a target.
Looking at Alyx, who motioned him to do his thing before starting to chant, Tesilim unleashed a barrage of water slashes at the wolves to get them nice and wet. He had heard what the gnome was chanting and wanted to do a combo attack.
"By winter's breath and arctic flow;
Unleash a torrent of ice and snow;
Freeze and swirl, with chilling might;
Encase my foes in frosty night."
The wolves finally having a target by looking at the direction of the water slashes began to move. The water slashes hadn’t done much as Tesilim was going for quantity over quality, causing the ground to mud up. Still, it was too late, and Alyx finished chanting as a large burst of snow and wind flowed outward, striking the wolf pack and hitting every one of them. Naturally, the water and cold combo worked like magic, and many wolves straight up shattered, and those that did not soon did.
Lili, who had been waiting on a nearby tree, jumped upwards, her dress fluttering in the wind but still managing to keep her privates hidden. She slammed down in the middle of the wolves with much more force than what would have been natural, shattering more of them. Then, she began kicking and smacking wolves with the pummel of her daggers.
Looking at the counter, Tesilim saw that they had taken out ten of the wolves and soon after saw the other seven coming out of the cave and rushing towards them. Smiling, Tesilim threw one dagger behind the small pack, who ignored the dagger as it didn’t hit any of them. They also didn’t even bother to register the fact that the elf disappeared soon after, as they still had two targets in front of them. However, now behind them, Tesilim unleashed more water slashes, this time going for power.
Lili waited for the water slashes to strike and cause some confusion before rushing forward and finishing up the last few wolves, causing them to turn to dirt and rock. Of course, as the last wolf fell, Tesilim got his notice.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Congratulations! You have completed the goal: Hunting Howling Stone. You have gained 1 Chaos Point. Speak with the Adventurers Guild for your gold reward.
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“Alright guys! We did it. We got them all. Can we head back, or should we destroy the cave?” Tesilim asked.
“Nah, it's fine. It will probably disperse on its own.” Alyx commented.
It took them a couple of hours to return to the guild, and they turned the quest in to get the 100 gold. Once again, Alyx declined payment, and Tesilim split the gold with Lili.
Before leaving the guild, they accepted another quest so they could head out again in the morning. Thankfully, they confirmed their team during the goat month and were ready to go.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Adventure Goal 🔷
Name: Patrol.
Type: Investigation 🔍 & Extermination ⚔️.
Rank: D.
Danger: Low 🟢.
Suggested Number: 3+.
Threat: N/A.
Goal: Patrol the Woods for 1 Week.
Reward: 100 Gold & 1 Chaos Point.
Description: The city of Wildwood is hiring adventurers to help patrol the furthest edges of the Wildwood Forest and scout for threats that could bring more danger to the city. You are allowed to eliminate any threats that are not scared of your presence. Before leaving, speak with the gate guard and inform them of your departure.
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