In these four hours we have killed four Wargs, getting a rare cloak drop and a Night Vision skill rune out of it, which was new even to the others.
It meant that the Warg's loot table was not fully uncovered yet.
As much as I would have loved the rune, our agreement was in place, and all I went for were the crafting materials.
I didn't have a reason to be upset, though. Out of the four hides, I had gotten 2 Exquisite ones, a Fine one and a Normal one. Not to mention, the claws and fangs were also all exclusively Fine quality.
We have also been making quick work of the Shademere Wolves too; killing about sixty to seventy in an hour on average. In a full group they had only given me 160 experience points a piece, but considering our efficiency and speed, this was even faster than leveling up solo.
I hit level 15 just after noon, and after putting my new stat points into Strength I felt just a tiny bit more effective. However, this milestone was incredibly huge for me for another reason. Well, two other reasons to be specific.
It was a shotgun-like skill; massive damage in close quarters, but the further the range, the higher the drop in power. It also had a decently high mana cost, so I had to be mindful of when I needed to use it. The additional knockback was a very nice touch, it meant I had another skill that I could potentially use to get out of a tough situation.
While it was a great skill and a very much needed addition to my repertoire, it wasn't an over exaggeration to say that it paled in comparison to the other skill I had access to now.
My reward for killing the Woe of Riverhear. This skill rune might have cost all my fortune, but it was well worth it. A get out of jail free card, a movement speed boost, an Area of Effect knocback and an AoE damage skill all in one.
Sure, it had some restrictions, like only being able to be used under 50% health, or that the shockwave only triggers after 3 seconds, but all of this was a small trade-off to pay for the insane utility that this skill had given me.
This was going to be the ace up my sleeve for the upcoming PvP event.
We kept farming the Wargs and the Wolves for six more hours, killing 10 elites in total. It was a long, ten hour grind, but at the end the rest of the party had almost reached level 15, while I was really close to hitting 16.
One of the wargs had also dropped a skill rune none of us has seen so far; a Rare Druid skill was stored in it. RagingBuddha was overjoyed.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Change Form – Bear, Cat, Wolf was the level 10 Druid basic skill, where each of the forms gave different bonuses to the user; wolf form gave increased movement speed and attack speed, bear gave more HP and attack power while Cat increased movement speed by a lot.
Warg Form seemed to be an upgraded Wolf Form that also gave lifesteal and had a subskill of it's own; all in all, a pretty sweet pickup.
The party decided to wait for two more spawns in hopes of hitting level 15, so I said my goodbye's and decided to head back to Carpa. I had hundreds of pelts and other ingredients from shademere wargs, whispercave spiders and other mobs. I also spent some time doing some woodcutting inbetween spawns, and had gathered decent materials from that as well. My plan was simple.
I contacted Danzaburou and asked his group to craft me some of the best level 15 equipment they had blueprints for, and I also wanted to sell some materials to them. I had a bit over 6 gold on me, but I needed 5 for the PvP event in two days, and I still owed a coin to Stone.
I almost made it all the way to Carpa in two hours, not stopping for anything, and then decided to log out at 8 pm sharp in order to be able to play first thing in the morning.
I checked the forums, looking for anything that might be of interest to me, and I saw that more and more Field Bosses were getting killed by the hour. Players were selling level 15 rare equipment here and there, expeditions were forming and so on.
One of the posts at the Tidemark sub talked about how you need to be level 16 or above to enter the city of Tidemark; this was incredibly good info to me as I had a quest to be there at 8 am on Monday, in just two days, on one of which I will definitely be occupied with the PvP event. Luckily I was really close to 16 and should have no problem hitting it tomorrow.
However this topic brought up another issue: if I had to be in Tidemark at 8 am on Monday, I had to log out at 8 pm at the latest on Sunday. The PvP event will start at 9 am from what I've read on the forums, and depending on how many players join up, it will definitely last for a while.
Also, Oakenlight was very far from Tidemark. From a bit of research and checking the map before, it should have been about a six hour trip on foot.
That leaves five hours for the event and all of its preparations.
This was a bit worrying, but there wasn't much I could do about it.
As I was browsing through information about Oakenlight and its players however, much to my delight this problem was quickly sorted out.
Someone had posted a visual chart of the Oakenlight Sailing Company's time table, and it turned out that every hour a boat leaves to Dukewood, Twinfire, Maelridge, Twinsong and last stop; Tidemark.
From the chart it looked like it arrives at Tidemark three hours after departure, so even if I miss the boat, I can get there in four hours tops by waiting for the next one.
Knowing this I felt comfortable; the event shouldn't be longer than six-seven hours, so I had a fairly good chance of making it on time.
Who knows, maybe I lose first round and will have plenty of time, I thought sarcastically.
After a bit more browsing I decided to have a good night's sleep and prepare for tomorrow.
My task list was the following:
- Hit level 16, hopefully close to Carpa
- Sell excess loot
- Give the mats to Danzaburou
- Look for some personal quests while waiting for my gear – so far I haven't really accepted quests from NPCs other than the Association's, and the forum was already full of topics about great rewards and interesting stories that had happened due to a villager's or a wanderer's request. Some of them were repeatables by everyone, but there were quite a few unique questlines that only one player could have experienced, and I couldn't help but feel a bit sad knowing that there will always, inevitably be things that I missed out on
- Go to Oakenlight, make myself familiar with the surroundings, scout out some of the players there
- Log out at 8 pm
It was going to be a fun day.
The moment I logged in, the world of Godsrealm returned in full. The clean, ambient sounds of nature, the soft rustle of wind weaving through low trees and dry bush at the barren lands between Carpa and Shadowreach and the orange haze of morning over the hills to my west were making me feel like I had just returned home.
The sun was barely above the horizon. I could see Carpa, although it was nothing more than a distant silhouette ahead of me.
I pulled out my map and checked my vicinity. I was at the Dustfields, a gravel, flat field west of the village.
I haven't read much about this part of the county on the forums, but I saw some posts about its inhabitants. Giant wasps, scorpions and digging wurms were abundant at this part of the world. I haven't seen any of them yet, but I was really close to hitting 16 so I decided to check them out.
I made my way down the worn trail, past the last copses of woodland and into the Dustfields proper. The terrain shifted quickly: from grassy land to copper-colored dirt cracked in long veins and the occasional skeletal tree jutting from the ground like a warning.
The first monster I spotted was stalking near a brittle rock pile.
Sandsting Wasp
Level 15
It was thin and segmented, and as long as my arm. Wings beat fast and low to the ground. I loosed a Piercing Shot before it spotted me, and it shrieked, buzzing toward me.
I followed up with a Burning Arrow, while dodging its stings. It didn't last long. I processed its body, and got Sandsting Venom Glands and Translucent Wings as materials. The wings in particular were interesting; I was wondering if they could be used for arrow crafting.
I moved deeper into the Dustfields and began establishing a circuit: a slow, patient movement between the clusters of mobs, clearing them efficiently.
I finished quite a few Sandsting Wasps, Scorchtail Scorpions and Digwurms before hitting level 16. The burst of light faded quickly but I took a second to let it settle before returning to Carpa.
The trek back was faster this time. I kept to the ridge path, weaving between stones and trees, descending from the Dustfields with a heavy satchel.
As I passed the northern gates, the village had just taken on a distinct morning glow.
As I entered the village outskirts, I passed by festival-goers waving hand fans and playing various games in the square. I'm going to miss this come next week.
Adventurers and locals alike were having a great time.
I however didn't slow down.
Danzaburou's and the others' workstation was right where it always was: tucked just outside the crafting tent in the middle of the festival, under a long awning of woven hides.
The hammering had stopped for the moment as Danza and Kev sat down behind the workbench, arguing softly over a parchment filled with gear schematics. This time there were two other players with them as well.
They looked up as I approached.
"Look who it is, guys!" Kev called.
"Our favourite ranger!" Danzaburou added with a toothy grin. "I was hoping you didn't get eaten by something."
"Not this time," I smiled while already unloading my inventory. "I have some stuff you might be interested in."
They leaned forward, eyes sharpening as I opened the satchel and began laying out the goods. Kev whistled low.
"Good stuff. But how? These are all materials from elites. How many did you kill?" Danzaburou was awed.
"I have been farming a level 15 elite warg for quite a while. Most of its materials are Fine or above. And I had also killed a level 18 Elite spider mob that gave me Exquisite string materials."
"You're insane," Kev stated simply. "This is some of – if not the – best stuff we have seen so far."
"I was hoping you'd say that because I need something for tomorrow."