Unforeseen path, p.20
Unforeseen Path, page 20
“Did you earn a skill for it?” Norlar asked as he followed along with the story.
“No,” Jodi admitted, “but I think that’s because I already have the Exotic Beast Taming Skill from when Fiona became my Combat Pet.”
“Huh, that’s interesting,” Norlar said thoughtfully, “I have the Beast Taming skill, but not the Exotic subclass that you have.”
“Oh, yeah, I have that too,” Jodi said, quickly pulling up her Character Sheet, “Exotic Beast Taming is a subclass of that.”
“Not to interrupt your Skill talk,” Kei said, after taking a long draw from her mug, “but I’m somewhat confused as to why you wanted all of us to do a hunt together for Elite Battering Rams.”
“Um, sorry about that,” Jodi said, flushing as she realized that they’d been going on for a bit about taming, “I just wanted to understand the process and try something a bit unorthodox.”
“Unorthodox?” everyone chorused at the unfamiliar word.
“Um, sorry,” Jodi said, realizing that was the wrong word to use, “I’d like to try something Elandorr said sounded unconventional to the normal method that Rangers and Tamers are currently using to tame Combat Mounts.” Seeing that she had their attention, she excitedly continued, “Instead of only taming the young monsters from a herd, I want to see if it’s possible to convert an adult Elite Battering Ram as a mount.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Kei asked as the Rangers and Beast Tamer glanced at each other while a disinterested look came to their faces.
“Because, it means we could get access to a number of more mounts in the limited time that we have instead of just training the young that can be captured,” Jodi explained, not understanding why the group didn’t seem more open to her idea, “Look, if it works, then we could capture the entire herd to be used for Combat Mounts.” Seeing the dubious looks on everyone’s faces, she hurriedly continued, “Whether or not you think it’s a waste of time, I’d like to give it a try and see if it’s possible. Elandorr said that we’d have the best chance to try this with all of you giving a hand.”
“I guess Elandorr didn’t explain to you that this has been tried many times before,” Ordan said in an exasperated tone, “While legends say that some newfar managed to accomplish this a few centuries ago, the techniques they used to do it have been lost to time.”
“The main problem,” Norlar said, giving Jodi an apologetic look, “is getting the adult Elite Battering Ram or, any other monster for that matter, to stay still long enough to complete the taming process. If you’ve bound them or if your attack causes any actual damage, the taming process fails. Only by capturing the young are we able to get the taming process to work, and that only works when we’ve killed off the parents or the entire herd.”
“Actually, Jodi and I discussed the problem in depth last night,” Elandorr said as all eyes curiously turned to him, “and after discussing the same exact problems with Jinlura earlier this morning, I worked with Elyskaen and her team of Alchemists to come up with a possible solution for the taming process to be given the time to work.”
“A possible solution?” Kei asked as her face scrunched up at the Rogue’s words.
“Yes, a solution,” Elandorr’s eyes twinkled as he held up a fistful of crystal vials and a bundle of blunt-tipped arrows, “Though, a gel or salve might be a better word for the actual substance.”
“Won’t that cause damage to the monster?” Galvin asked as he plucked one of the blunt-headed arrows out of the Rogue’s hand to inspect the end.
“Actually, there’s a slot at the tip for the crystal vial to sit,” Elandorr explained as the rest of the Rangers and Beast Tamer gathered around to study the odd arrow, “when the arrow impacts, the vial shatters and delivers its contents out onto the target.”
“What kind of poison can take down a level 50 to 55 Elite Battering Ram without causing any damage?” Kei asked, snatching one of the crystal vials from the Rogue’s other hand.
“Depending upon the level, it will cause complete paralysis,” Elandorr said as a broad smile formed on his lips, “I would assume about five minutes of paralysis for a level 50 or three minutes for a level 55,” he shrugged, “We won’t know for sure until we’ve done several live tests.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Kei instantly argued as she turned to look at the Rogue-like he was trying to pull her legs, “I’ve never heard of any poison or salve like that before.”
“Not meaning any disrespect,” Dan politely said, doing his best to keep his voice respectful but failing miserably, “While I’ve heard of such a poison before, I’ve never heard it being used to take down anything over level 10.”
“Trust a Bounty Hunter to know of such a dishonorable poison,” Galvin unhappily grunted at the Human as the rest of the Rangers rolled their eyes.
“Knowing poisons and their counters is essential for any Bounty Hunter going after an intelligent target,” Dan said with an indifferent shrug as the Deadshot Archer all of a sudden perked up, “Ignorance only makes one vulnerable to an enemy’s tricks.”
“Hold up, Dan. You’re talking about the poison Kiss of the Carrion, right?” Kei asked as she gave the Human a grudging nod of respect. Turning back to Elandorr, a dismissive look came to her face as she held out the vial for the Rogue to take back, “Trust me, this whole idea is a complete waste of time. There’s no way something like this would ever work on a level 50 monster.”
The Kitsune kin’s admission that she was familiar with such poison caused the Badger kin to give her a disgusted glare. It somewhat surprised Jodi that the Guardian Ranger was acting so prickly about the use of poisons. Wasn’t that a common technique for Rangers to take down larger monsters in The World? At least, it was in all of the MMOs that she’d ever played, Jodi thought, as she noticed the female fox rolling her almond eyes in annoyance. That’s when it hit her. Maybe she was dealing with a class preference issue.
“Oh, don’t you dare give me that Guardian Ranger shit,” Kei snapped as all of the Rangers except for Galvin tried not to bust out laughing while she read the Badger kin the riot act, “You’re the only idiotic Subclass of Ranger that I know of who refuses to use poisons to enhance their Ranged Attacks. Just because you’re a bunch of uptight pricks about using poisons for honor reasons doesn’t give any of you the right to act all hoity-toity towards the rest of us.”
“I didn’t mean it like that-” Galvin stuttered before his voice died away as the Kitsune kin gave him a deadpan look.
“Of course, you did,” Kei said as her up-tight tone eased somewhat, “but it’s okay.” Her almond eyes swept the group before coming back to meet the Badger kin’s uncomfortable gaze, “We’re all here to work together for the House of Kayden, not be at one another’s throats, right?”
“My apologies,” Galvin said, bowing his head slightly to the Kitsune, before doing the same to the Human, “I’m still getting used to the intricacies of our new House.”
“That’s fine, big guy,” Dan said without showing any hint of being offended as the Kitsune kin nodded in agreement, “All of us are still getting used to this odd situation.”
“That’s for sure,” Kei agreed, before turning back to the Rogue, “No disrespect intended,” she nodded politely to both Elandorr and Jodi, “but my friends and I used to hunt Carrion Scavengers in the sewers while we were growing up. Their poison is level based, so I could drink this entire vial without so much as blinking an eye.”
“Oh, really,” Elandorr said, the amusement in his tone plain as day, “I’d pay five silvers to see that, because that’s an enhanced-” The Rogue’s voice died away as the Kitsune kin rolled her eyes and simply downed the vial instead of handing it back to make her point.
“I already told you,” Kei snarkily said as Elandorr and Jodi’s eyes widened in complete shock, “the rest of us are so used to handling poisons like this, that-”
The rest of the Rangers seemed to jump as the Kitsune kin’s body suddenly locked up stiff as a board. It was even more humorous since she’d had a moment to realize her mistake a split second before the paralysis took effect, leaving her mouth and eyes wide open. While Jodi had never seen the poison before, Elandorr had explained to her the basics of his idea for trying out what she wanted to do and had promised to have something ready for her tonight when she logged in.
“Would one of you guys catch her before she falls?” Elandorr asked, letting out a heavy sigh as he shook his head at the Kitsune kin, “She should only be paralyzed for five minutes since she’s level fifty.”
“I’ve got her,” Jinlura said, caught between being surprised and trying not to laugh. As the Half-Elf caught the Deadshot Archer, the scruffy Wolf kin standing in front of the Kitsune kin plucked the half-full mug of ale from her stiff fingers.
“I’ll take that before you make a mess everywhere,” Ordan happily said, taking a long draw of the ale as he set his empty mug on the bar.
“Damn, that’s some strong stuff,” Dan said, letting out an impressed whistle as he turned to Elandorr curiously, “How did you come up with something like that?”
“What should I do with her?” Jinlura asked as she studied the poison’s curious effect.
“Just lean her back against the bar,” Elandorr said as the rest of the group silently watched the show.
Jinlura dragged the stiff female fox over to the bar. With a shrug, the female Half-Elf propped Kei against the edge at a forty-five-degree angle. Turning back towards the group, she shrugged as if to say that was good enough while the Rogue continued as if nothing had happened.
“We’ve domesticated a number of Carrion Scavengers and have been growing and leveling them up for nearly two weeks now,” Elandorr explained as everyone’s eyes widened at his words, “I think they’re all in the level sixty plus range now.”
“Level sixty plus Carrion Scavengers?” Dan exclaimed as the rest of the group traded disturbed looks at the information.
“What is this domestication?” Ryu asked, repeating the unfamiliar word, “Do you mean like Hernen?”
Hernen? Jodi thought, perking up at the word. Weren’t Hernen the chicken-like monsters that were running around everywhere on the farms and in the smaller villages? They weren’t exactly domesticated but more like mini monsters that people ate regularly.
“More or less,” Elandorr agreed with a nod, “Not that you’d stick your hand into their nests to collect their tentacles as you would with eggs from a Hernen.” The Rogue let out a guffaw at his own joke. “They’d snap your hand right off.”
“How do you collect their tentacles then?” Ordan curiously asked as he drained the last of Kei’s ale.
“We just pull them up from the pit that we keep them in, trim their tentacles short enough to where they can still be used to eat small prey but can be grown back naturally, and then let them be for a few days. If we want to level them up, we capture higher-level monsters and drop them into the pits,” Elandorr explained, “Not saying that it’s not a bit of a challenge whenever we work with them, but it creates a steady flow of these higher-level Kiss of the Carrion poison vials.”
“So, you’re basically farming monsters?” Dan asked in awe.
“Only one monster right now,” Elandorr corrected, but from the satisfied look on his face, it was obvious that he was proud of their work.
“I’ve never heard of anyone doing something like that before,” Dan said as the others in the group nodded enthusiastically, “but it makes more than enough sense when you put it like that.”
“Lord Ironwolf introduced the concept to us first,” Elandorr said, “While we haven’t discovered another monster worth such effort, if we do, then we’ll set up something similar.”
While the group discussed the concept, Jodi was lost in her own thoughts as she contemplated what Elandorr had said. It was a pretty ingenious concept, she had to admit, especially once you realized that the people of The World didn’t keep any kind of domesticated animals. Well, except for these Hernen monsters.
Like most players, Jodi hadn’t thought about the issue one way or another. It had never occurred to her that The World didn’t use domesticated feed animals for their cities. They simply purchased the monster meat that the adventures collected during their quests. It made sense. Why would they need anything more than that especially when the monsters simply respawned back in so quickly?
While none of what he’d done was particularly special, it took a different kind of mindset to notice those differences and take advantage of them. It really wasn’t very different than what Startum Ironwolf had done when he transferred old Earth technology and inventions into The World. Once you thought about it, what he’d done had made perfect sense, especially when it was combined with magic. You couldn’t even say any of it was particularly creative. The man had simply copied ideas that were centuries old. Even so, that was the ingenious part of it all, Jodi realized.
Up until now, no one had come up with the idea to do such a thing like that inside of an MMO. Not that there had been any MMOs prior to this that had such flexible gameplay. That was partly why you mostly only ever saw players bringing real-life tactics and strategies into such games. Though, it was usually hit or miss since most players were armchair generals. Still, Jodi thought with a mental laugh, doing such a thing with the base building was sure to change The World like no other game that she’d ever played before. At least, it would if the V-MMROG admins and developers allowed it.
“Gah!” Kei gasped as her body suddenly slide down to the stone floor like a ragdoll. Obviously, the effect of the Carrion Scavenger poison was starting to wear off.
“Ah, that was an excellent test,” Elandorr happily said, “that level 62 Kiss of the Carrion took you down for about twelve minutes.”
“Hold up,” Kei demanded with her back propped against the wooden bar as she glared up unhappily at the Rogue, “Did you do that on purpose?”
“Not at all,” Elandorr said, still grinning like a fiend, “You seemed so sure of yourself. I didn’t want to assume to know more about your Ranger class than you.”
“Next time, maybe you could explain that it’s an Enhanced version of the poison ahead of time,” Kei unhappily grumbled.
“Well, let’s hope that next time you’ll give me time to finish what I’m saying,” Elandorr said as his toothy grin got even bigger, “I was actually in the process of explaining exactly that fact to you when you decided to show off by swallowing the vial of the poison of your own accord.”
“Upon further consideration,” Kei grumbled, “I have to admit that might not have been the brightest idea that I’ve ever had.” As the Kitsune kin went climbing to her feet, Jinlura offered her a friendly hand and pulled her up. Giving the Half-Elf a nod of thanks, she turned to the grinning Wolf kin as her voice lowered to a growl, “And you had the audacity to steal the last of my ale in my incapacitated state!”
“Steal is such a harsh word. I was more concerned that you would spill such fragrant nectar all over your armor and fur,” Ordan said in an unconcerned tone as he set her empty mug down on the bar and turned back to her crossing his thick muscular arms, “You know as well as I do how that would directly affect our ability to hunt down Elite Battering Rams in the mountains.”
“That didn’t mean you had to drink it all!” Kei exclaimed in outrage.
“Please accept my apology,” Ordan said with a twinkle in his brown eyes, “it’s just a natural reaction when I have a mug of ale in my hands.” As the Kitsune kin’s fingers flexed like she was going to claw his eyes out, the Wolf kin held up his palms in a friendly gesture, “On my word of honor, the first ale upon our return is on me.”
“But the ale here is free!” Kei sputtered in indignation.
“I know,” Ordan chuckled, “Isn’t it great?”
“You flea-bitten mutt,” Kei started to rage.
For a moment, Jodi was sure there was going to be bloodshed. Kei’s black lips had pulled back from her fangs as she aggressively strode up to the grinning Wolf kin with the promise of violence in her eyes. Before anything could happen, the Rogue’s voice cracked like a whip, cutting her off.
“Kei, think of this as a learning experience!” As the Kitsune kin’s head whipped around to stare at Elandorr in surprise, he clapped his hands together and raised his voice to the rest of the group. “Alrighty, people, it’s time to move out.”
Jodi watched the two Beast kins out of the corner of her eye as she followed Elandorr out of the great hall. While nothing had immediately happened between them, it was obvious they were still having a moment. The pair disappeared from sight as she entered the foyer. To Jodi’s surprise, there was a Half-Elf standing by the exit that was handing out pouches and a quiver of blunt arrows to each of them as they exited the keep. Hearing the clinks of glass, she glanced inside to see that the pouch was filled with Kiss of the Carrion poison lead crystal vials.
Strapping the pouch to her waist and looping the quiver over her shoulder, Jodi looked around to see that the area in front of the keep and the main avenue heading back towards the mountain cliff was now free of the mass of people from earlier. As she followed Elandorr towards the exit tunnel of the gatehouse, she glanced back towards the keep to see both Kei and Ordan racing out the double doors to catch up with the rest of them. Curiously enough, neither of the two was bleeding or looked to have even been hurt. As she watched the pair fall in at the rear of the group, it seemed to her like they were actually chatting rather friendly with one another.
