HC:Pacifist | Ch. 28 - Brawny

Badgers had no dungeons to speak of. What they did have was a field boss. Field bosses roamed hunting fields, unlike their dungeon counterparts, making their exact location a constant unknown. They were highly coveted for their rare drops and equipment, mainly by guilds.

The developers had gone out of their way to make every field boss in a game juicy targets to be fought for. When one ran a dungeon, they were out of sight of competitors, but field bosses were different.

Two or three guilds would often get wind of a field boss' location and dispute it. This provoked complex Mexican stand-offs followed by betrayals, backstabbing, and outright shouting contests between the most prominent organizations in the game to see who could get the last hit on the boss and obtain its spoils.

The first field boss of the game was the Brawny Badger. It was slightly larger than the more common badgers that roamed the fields. Other than its size, what made it stand out were its colors. Whereas normal badgers were beige and dark grey, the Brawny Badger had stark black and white fur. The white was so bright and clean that it almost hurt one's eyes to look at it. On top of that, the Brawny Badger had several skills that came along with being a big bad boss.

Its most potent skill was the [Psionic Push]. It was an AoE skill that wreaked havoc when surrounded by players. The developers had put this boss here to let the players understand what a field boss was and how problematic it could be to hunt one. As for its drops, the most coveted one was an item that could grant a bonus to the whole guild as long as it was placed in its headquarters.

Badger's Great Claw (Guild)

Item description: This is one of the claws of the great Brawny Badger. By putting it on display, a guild can gain prestige and grant benefits to its members.

Item effects: +1% damage to all psionic skills of all guild players.

This was one of the most common guild items. A guild could unlock a museum inside its headquarters as it gained levels. By putting these items on display there, all its members gained benefits.

This was the number-one reason why players flocked to guilds. Had it only been sticks and no carrots, hardly anyone would want to subject themselves to a hierarchy. But these benefits added up, and a player who belonged to a guild would outperform those who didn't. There were very few players who chose to go solo in the game.

The museum feature of a guild's headquarters was unlocked right from when a guild was level 1, but it had a limit of only three items for display. As a guild gained levels, it would increase the number of available slots in its museum. Therefore, a starting guild would only grant three buffs at most. The biggest guild in the game was known to give more than twenty buffs if one joined it.

There were many videos online of players who displayed the before and after effects of joining a guild. Some of them gained an increase of up to 10% in stats!

Roth had wondered what quest he would receive if he gained enough familiarity with the badgers. Since this was the first time a race's boss was not in the dungeon, he had wondered whether he would meet with the Brawny Badger or if there was another hidden NPC out there for him to find. He was surprised by the notification he got:

You've been offered a new quest, [Council of Badgers]

Council of Badgers (rare)

Badgers meet every night at midnight in a secret place in the woods. They discuss poetry and have collective discussions about badger matters.

Mission objective: Join the next Council of Badgers.

Rewards: Unknown

Would you like to accept? [Y/N]

Roth had found the quest surprising. It turned out that monarchy wasn't the only form of government among the races of the Woods. The badgers did not seem to have a king or ruler. Perhaps it was a democracy? Whatever the case, when Roth got this notification, he asked the badgers for any clues as to the location.

"Excuse me, furry one," this was a respectable honorific in the language of badgers, "where is the council going to be tonight?"

The badger broke into poetry:

"Where the oak is old

And the flowers don't bloom.

Where the night isn't cold

And where there is no moon."

Roth stared at the badger blankly. Shoot. That was the thing about badgers. They didn't know how to give a straight answer. They had to break into rhyme for everything. No wonder the game had been so generous in letting him know that badgers loved poetry. It took a moron to hear these poetry freaks talk without realizing that everything they said rhymed.

Roth thanked the badger and started to decipher the poem. Where was there no moon? Where was the night not cold? Where did flowers not bloom? It sounded as if it was somewhere indoors. It made sense. Otherwise, one night, players would have bumped into a group of badgers gathered around reciting Shakespeare. That would have raised some suspicions and might even have merited a post on the forums.

The poem also spoke of an old oak. Roth had already spent a few days in these woods and knew that different hunting fields had predominant species of trees. There tended to be more pine trees on the outskirts of the woods. Oaks used to be more concentrated toward the center.

Roth looked up the map and tried to find where the badger's turf intersected with an area rich in oaks. Looking at the time, it was noon inside the game. That meant there was still time to locate the Badger Council's meeting place.

He headed toward the oak he had signaled on the map. While he ran toward it, Roth decided to check his character sheet. It had been a while since the last time he had looked at how his character was developing.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: Pax

Race: Human

Profession(s): [Broker]

Level: 7 (4450/20.000)

Affinity: [Empty]

Alignment: Neutral (60/100)

Relationships: Badgers (313/1000); Foxes (614/1000); Mice (1125/3000); Greenleaf Inc. (100/300)

Titles: [Martyr]; [Marathonist]; [Friend of the Ratans]; [Bilingual]; [Overachiever]; [Revered]; [Art Enthusiast]; [Friend of Foxes]; [Friend of Badgers]

STATS (35 Free Stat Points)

Hp:114

Energy:118

Damage Reduction: 31.6%

Running Speed: 134.2%

Weight: [Light] - (2/44,4kg)

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 18

Intelligence: 18 (+1%)

Wisdom: 13

Endurance: 221

Charisma: 12

EQUIPMENT

Right Hand:[Empty]

Left hand: [Tin Ring]

Shoes: [Crappy Shoes]

Bottom: Moldy Trousers

Top: [Horrible Vest]

Gloves: [Empty]

Head: [Ghastly Headband]

Cape: [Errand Cloak]

Accessories: [Empty]

SKILLS:

Stat Bonuses: [Stone Skin]; [Horse’s Gallop]

Profession Related: [Discount]

Passive: [Empty]

Active: [Healing Ray]; [Shepherd’s Shout]; [Taunting Shout]

It seemed that his charisma was the stat that was gaining more traction. No wonder, since he spent his day currying favor with NPCs. He still had 35 stat points to spend, but he wasn't sure if he should invest them in charisma or something else.

Roth had been happy to find in the forums that he could add the free stat points to the four basic stats and others he unlocked along the way. He would keep them in reserve in case he needed them down the road.

*

After looking at every oak tree he could find in the badger fields, he found one that seemed particularly big and old. It was so large that it would take twenty men to hug its whole circumference. He wasn't sure if there was a hidden passage here, but after wasting an hour looking for one, he decided to give up.

Maybe it would only reveal itself at night. Checking the clock, he saw that it was 3 p.m. He still had nine hours to kill before he would have to come back here. Looking at the map, he saw that he wasn't far from the Raven's Nest dungeon. He still had a couple of [Soothing Scrolls] in his inventory. He might as well start working on the next faction.

The ravens brought together, in a way, the two most challenging things about foxes and badgers. On the one hand, they tended to crowd and had extensive aggro zones, which could escalate a hunt quickly. It was frequent for a flock of ravens to overwhelm a hunting party and wipe them out.

On the other hand, they also had an annoying skill: [Wing Gust]. It not only had a slight pushback effect, but it also packed a punch. Death was expected if one wasn't careful and was hit by three or four [Wind Gusts] in a row.

They also had their weaknesses. Ravens were glass cannons. They were highly squishy. Hunting ravens was a great way to level up if one played their cards right. To add to the allure of hunting them, ravens dropped accessories like rings and necklaces. Even though these were some of the worst accessories in the game, they still gave some stats, and players ran at the opportunity to get their hands on some.

Accessories tended to be the most expensive equipment in the game, not because of the stats they offered but because of their rarity. It wasn't an uncommon sight for level 20 players to still be wearing the outdated accessories they had gained from hunting ravens in the beginner area.

Roth had read that gathering a group of ravens inside the dungeon was much easier than outside. If ravens were similar to foxes, the more he could interact with them simultaneously, the better it would be for him.

Players crowded before the dungeon, hawking their wares, volunteering their services, or finding the missing member they needed for their party.

"Buying [Raven's Feather Earring]! Anyone?"

"Buying [Shiny Glass Ring]. Please PM me, and we can negotiate!"

Roth noticed that most shouts were for players interested in buying accessories. He even spotted one or two players who were evidently over level 10 and had traveled out here after they realized how valuable these beginner accessories were. Perhaps, they hoped to fetch a better price from unsuspecting beginners.

Roth made it through the crowd until he could reach the dungeon's tablet and investigate it.

Welcome to the Raven's Nest. If you don't take care, you will quickly be overwhelmed. Many rewards and treasures await you inside. Would you like to go in? [Y/N]

Roth accepted and was transported to the dungeon. Roth was surprised to see that this dungeon wasn't underground. He assumed it would be since the Rat's Cave and the Fox Tunnels were.

He'd been transported to the canopy of the woods. An intricate pathway of interwoven branches made for quite the sight. Looking up, Roth saw the scant few leaves that separated him from the blue sky, and looking down, he saw the woodland floor through the gaps in the branches.

This dungeon introduced environmental hazards. If one wasn't careful, they could lose their balance during a fight and fall to their deaths below. Since Roth was an experienced AVR gamer, he wasn't scared of this. He had been through much worse as a prodigious player on New Earth.

Not far from where he was, Roth saw a few nests with ravens on them. They were quite large, providing a platform for players to stand on and fight better against the dark birds. The ravens seemed enlarged versions of the animals Roth had sometimes seen on TV. It was time to gather an audience.

Roth started running through the canopy, jumping agilely from branch to branch while spamming his newest skill.

Taunting Shout!

Ch. 27 - Badgers

INDEX

Ch. 29 - Raven's Nest