They exited the shop with no money left but instead Emma wearing cosplay to match Sean's armor. The shopkeeper threw in a nice bright-beige cloak for free, since Emma kept complaining about the robe being too cold for the weather. The simple fabric wasn't magical, but Sean didn't look a gift horse in the mouth… in fact, he would prefer not to look any horse in the mouth ever again.
The local also lit their candles back up – with only his hand, no flint or tinder. Sean figured NPCs must be able to do that to help players… or something like that. And the shopkeeper even promised to arrange for Emma's old clothes to be delivered to her locker room. Sean assumed some kind of magic or teleportation – sensible to aid new players with their gear shopping, very convenient. And Emma's staff was safely attached to her back – since the new robe had suitable loops for it.
"It makes no sense for this flimsy rag to retain any warmth," Emma complained after maybe half a minute of walking toward the quest. She had pocketed her phone, for once, and now mostly kept adjusting the robe and cloak around her waist and shoulders.
"See? I told you it wouldn't be too cold," Sean said with a smirk.
"But it doesn't make sense… and how did you know?" she followed up.
"Because others aren't shivering from the cold in robes – and I guess it's magic!" he answered.
Emma began, "But–"
"Shush! What's going on here…" Sean interrupted and focused on the alley. It branched off the main boulevard and was nowhere near as wide as the Pathway – as the farmer had called it. There was also hardly any traffic on it, only a handful of people moving back and forth. The elaborate shops and townhouses from the market areas turned into cheaper tenements, two-three stories high. And up ahead he saw… a bunch of players, presumably, discussing and arguing with each other in groups, lined up on the right side. Almost like a queue for something.
The candles flamed directly down the alley, and it was wide enough for two large wagons to fit, so they walked past the crowd – except this quickly caused a reaction from the gathered people.
"Hey, where are you going!" said one White guy in a starter robe.
"No cutting the line!" complained another, wearing heavy armor.
"Look at these jerks…" some young Hispanic woman in a robe said and pointed at them. Her player tag read: Gabriela lvl 3 Mystic.
Emma stopped and frowned anxiously, so Sean approached one of the calmer groups and asked, "Hi, what's going on here? Is this related–"
"It's the line to the event quest," an Indian guy in leather armor explained, though his accent was American.
"Find a party and queue up," Gabriela instructed.
"Yeah, and we're full!" another guy from the group added.
Sean looked down the alley and there were at least a dozen gathered groups – parties, he figured. Each consisted of six to eight people… that meant a lot of Gremlins, if each player had to exterminate around sixteen of those. He asked, "But how– Why not just… Wait, are the monsters in that building up ahead?" He pointed.
"There's a ship docked on the other side of the warehouse," explained the Indian. "They spawn on the ship, move into the building, then try to get out through the big doorway. One party camps the exit, and everybody else waits."
Sean glanced down the alley again. There was indeed a big door or gate, with some players standing in front of it. But two hundred meters away, if not more – and everybody in the queue seemed bored. Some guards were walking back and forth. No shops or services, only closed doors. Sean asked, "Why not just camp the ship? Or enter the warehouse to–"
"You wanna get swarmed in the warehouse, for real?" yet another guy cut in, a young Black man in heavy armor: fabrics underneath, but sturdy metal plates on the front and back. Sean recognized Paladin's starter kit – he had seen somebody leaving in one exactly like that after the lecture wrapped up yesterday.
"That's not the worst of it," added the Indian guy. "I heard they captured the warehouse in the morning and tried to storm the ship, but then Gremlins one-shot them with some kind of ballistas mounted on that thing."
"Yes, they're nasty little buggers. Resourceful," another female voice added in a British accent.
Sean didn't see who the last person was. He suggested, "Why not just sit inside the building then? Or all camp the exit? Or even–"
"They won't attack if there's a big crowd," explained the Paladin. "Look man, they tried all kinds of stuff in the morning, and it's the best way to farm this event, okay?"
Sean wanted to learn more, but somebody ahead in the queue clapped and exclaimed, "Woo-hoo! They lost somebody!"
Sean peered at the warehouse entrance and the team was falling back… dragging a cloaked corpse behind them. Human corpse. Others waiting cheered or booed, then returned to their previous conversations. Sean took one last glance down the alley and said to Emma, "Let's go back to the end of the line… this is stupid."
"Oh really, you don't say," she complained – already on her phone.
"I didn't know it was going to be like 'this,' it's– Ugh…" He trailed off. They got to the end of the queue, two parties back, and Sean examined the other direction now – so far, he had mostly paid attention to the crowd further ahead. There was a narrow passageway branching off maybe ten houses back. He whispered, "Okay, but if the warehouse is built alongside the river, then maybe there are other entrances further up and down."
"Uh-huh," Emma muttered while tapping.
"And since the candles lead everybody here, then maybe…" he continued quietly, but paused to watch her for a moment. He added at normal volume, "I thought you were interested in doing the quests today? Or are you just–"
"I was!" she broke in and looked at him all of a sudden. "I mean, I am – but with the queue and everybody–"
"Wanna skip it?" Sean whispered while leaning in, which interrupted her.
Emma glanced down the alley with the crowd, then shrugged and remarked, "Sure, why not…" – then back to texting.
He wanted to ask what on her phone was so important, but found the narrow passageway much more interesting. "Okay, let's go then…" he said and turned back.
She pointed to the warehouse and asked, "But wasn't the quest supposed to be that way? Then why would we–"
Sean shushed her and looked at the crowd. Nobody seemed to have heard Emma's remark, so he whispered, "I only just explained– I thought you were paying attention?"
"I was, but…" She trailed off, glanced down the alley one last time, then shrugged and added, "Whatever, let's go."
They headed back and into the passage. Sean snuck a peek from behind the corner – in case anybody followed or was watching them, but neither seemed to be the case. So they went deeper: Sean examining their surroundings, Emma tapping on her phone. The passage was uneven and took sharp turns. No more than three people could stand across it shoulder to shoulder, maybe four in places. Orderly tenement houses gave way to even cheaper-looking structures, growing more run-down the farther they walked – and with no signs of being occupied recently. There was also a lot of trash piling up: old clothes, rusty tools and weapons, small furniture – it looked messier the deeper they went. He figured the docks area wasn't a very popular place to live in.
Sean kept quiet until he was certain that nobody from the queue could overhear them. Once they got through the second turn, he peered at Emma's phone – both her hands were free, so she typed at a blazing speed. He asked, "What is that, by the way – are you writing a dissertation on that thing or something?"
"Hmm?" she muttered.
"I said, what are you writing on your–"
"It's nothing," she cut in.
"I mean, it's clearly something – you keep typing on that thing," Sean pressed but got no response. Other than the tapping – really hammering it at this point. He leaned over to read the text.
Emma immediately recoiled, locked the screen and turned it away from him, then complained, "H-hey! Do you mind? Privacy?"
"Oh, so it's not nothing," he mocked with a smirk.
She sighed, shook her head, and offered, "It's… some family stuff."
"You mean like… I hope nobody died or anything like that?" Sean asked with a frown.
"What? No, it's… Never mind," she said, then unlocked the phone and resumed typing.
"Must be a very big family," he speculated.
"Uh-huh," she replied.
He started, "I mean come on, you keep writing and scrolling–"
"Shouldn't you be focused on finding some rats to kill?" she broke in.
"Gremlins," he corrected.
"Whatever!"
They walked for a few seconds in silence. Sean heard something up ahead and focused, then grabbed an axe with his right hand.
Emma sighed and began, "It's not that I don't want to–"
Sean raised an arm to block her path and whispered, "Shh! There's someone up ahead… Tread lightly and hold these." He offered her the candles, still lit, and only then noticed they were flaming in different directions: one back where they came from, and the other ahead. He ignored it for now and added, "Also probably get your staff ready."
She stopped, looked around and commented quietly, "But I can't hear–"
"Shush!" he interrupted. She stared at him for a second, then sighed and grabbed the candles. Sean nodded, grabbed his other axe and snuck ahead to take a peek past the next alley turn.
There was someone… something – rummaging through a pile of trash not six steps away from Sean. He saw green-gray skin, no hair, pointed ears… The creature wore crude leather armor with gaps and holes, which overall had a very improvised look – it appeared to be stitched together from mismatched pieces of leather and cloth. The figure was about half his height – maybe slightly taller, since it was bent over to browse some old junk. Could this be a Gremlin? There was a noise from behind Sean: a dropped a piece of wood – he assumed Emma's staff and cringed internally. The monster turned around, alerted by the sound.
The creature stared at Sean with wide-open eyes, and its parted mouth exposed a row of sharp teeth. Sean charged forward out of fear or instinct, the Gremlin groaned or shrieked maybe, then Twin Strike pushed it back – no: it fell onto the pile it had been browsing, oily black blood spurting from the wounds. Another similar figure rose from behind the pile and threw something at Sean with a yelp. He raised his axes way too late to block it – a sharp object had already hit him in the chest, but luckily bounced off his armor. He glanced down, and a crude, rusty dagger clattered on the pavement.
The monster turned around to flee. Sean chased after it, but a magic attack hit it first. He glanced back: Emma was aiming her staff – good, but there was no time for tactics. The creature was still limping away, bleeding from its side – Sean caught up to it and executed it with a well-aimed strike from both sides of the torso. On his way back, he noticed the other Gremlin was trying to stand up, bleeding profusely.
Sean left the stronger Warrior skill for later and focused on Armored Chop . Even the weakest skill broke through the flimsy leather armor – his axe went deep into the torso through the soft space between neck and shoulder, and got stuck there. He held the other with both hands and scanned the area: no more enemies to be found – so he recovered his weapon and turned to Emma. She was staring at the scene, or maybe at Sean's axes – they were dark with thick blood. He breathed through his nose as he tried to calm down and only then noticed that the blood had a surreal, metallic stench.
"Two down," he said. "Good work with the ranged attack there."
"What are these things?" Emma seemed confused.
"Don't you mean 'were' ?" Sean teased with a barely concealed grin. She rolled her eyes, so he answered, "Well, presumably Gremlins, but…" He leaned over the corpse and remarked, "Strangely enough, they kinda look like Goblins or maybe some sort of…" He trailed off.
"How did you even hear them?" she asked after a couple of seconds.
"Must be… the big ears, I suppose?" he bluffed, realizing that Aiden's comments about Ranger having a hearing buff must be accurate. "I should probably wear the helmet, though." He glanced around to make sure it was safe and put the axes down, then pulled the simple metal helm from his back and slid it over his head. He remembered: "But wait, where are the candles?"
She started, "I left them back in the–"
"Hey, they're our quests!" he interjected.
Emma sighed and complained, "There's nobody here, relax. It was either them or the staff."
"Or maybe you could pocket your phone for a while?" Sean suggested. She sneered for a second but stashed it in her robe, then went back. He examined the corpse… the monster wasn't scary-looking: thin limbs – probably muscular for its small size but clearly a lot weaker than his. He wondered why they were level two while the much larger and stronger rats had been level one. Then again, they were using weapons and tactics – plus maybe differences between levels weren't significant? He didn't feel that much stronger after gaining a few himself.
Emma came back with the candles and remarked, "The other one is still moving…" Sean looked over: the Gremlin was wriggling forward – badly injured and clutching its sides to slow the bleeding.
Sean opened his mouth to say something, but another magic projectile from Emma finished the creature off. He turned to her and complained, "I was about to suggest we see where it's going…" He looked at the corpse and added, "Though it was clearly heading for that door."
"Why, do you think it was eager to go back home?" Emma mocked.
"Yes, actually?" he commented with a smirk, then clarified, "Or maybe not home , but what if there's more of them – and the quest needs us to kill a bunch of Gremlins, so…" He paused and frowned at the corpse next to him, then added, "Though fighting these is a lot different than rats."
"Much easier, right?" she suggested.
"No, just– Well, that too, but it was…" Sean trailed off. Rats weren't humanoid. Fighting various orcs, goblins, and other bipedal creatures was definitely less disturbing in video games – in there, monsters' eyes weren't looking at him with fear and hatred like these two.
"Do they work for the quests?" she asked, seemingly unfazed by the scene.
"I think so– Wait, we should make a party," he remarked and held both axes in his left hand to extend the right to her. He offered, "Here, join my party."
Emma already had her phone out to type. The candles and her staff were on the ground. She stared at his hand for a moment. "There's a bunch of goo all over it," she complained.
"Oh, right… sorry…" he said and shook it off to the side, then wiped it on his thigh. Some blood must've splattered on the glove without him noticing. He added, "Do you have to be constantly on your phone?"
"Do you have to be so annoying?" she countered without looking at him this time.
He exhaled tiredly and commented, "We're fighting here – can't you take a break for a–"
"Okay-okay! Just… I just need to finish this, okay?" she insisted and continued typing vigorously.
Sean looked down and wondered if the Gremlins had any loot – beyond the useless armor on them and makeshift weapons. He couldn't see any pockets or pouches. His own armor was slightly torn at the chest, but its deeper layers held. Definitely a good purchase yesterday. He noticed the candles were still flaming in different directions – so he asked, "Hey, is there any reason they're not pointing the same way? Are you sure you took the right quest?"
"Probably because they're stupid!" Emma ridiculed, and he didn't want to argue.