A man wearing a vibrant but dark red armor shaped like a dragonoid walked into the room. "Have you really identified the source of the mist, Near?" The Dragoons' guild leader asked.
The moderately built robe wearing woman nodded. "Yes we have Dragon Lord Heath. According to the books found in Eranoth's Grand Library this mist is caused by a tier 3 or higher monster that is undergoing extremely painful emotions combined with some sort of magic ritual. It is called a grudge mist and it is more often recorded as a tool for evil necromancers but can have some other uses as well. We believe it has stemmed from a one of the tier three fox creatures known as a Pipe Fox."
"You believe?" Heath asked back calmly.
"Yes. Of the entire list of tier three beasts in the vulpine woods, that one is recorded in our monster compendium to have the strongest emotional spectrum and could more easily fall into the right emotions to cause it."
"Then you don't know." Heath strummed the fingers of his dark red gauntlet on the nearby table.
The lady, Near, flinched.
Heath held out his clawed gauntlet with a sigh. "I am sorry, Near; I did not mean to frighten you. In order to understand the situation, fact must be separated from educated guesswork. Please, tell me what you know as fact."
Near took a deep breath and calmed down. "The mist feeds off of life-force. When a creature dies within the mist, the ritual feeds off of the creature and channels the life energy from the victims to power the mist. The more HP a creature had before dying, the further the mist spreads. The more stamina they had, the more the terrain becomes corrupted and warped. Normally with necromancy, the MP a creature had will give additional power to the necromancer. Where holy magic seems ineffective against the mist, we can determine that what is happening isn't necrotic or unholy magic. Currently we have no idea what the MP is doing to the place."
"Continue." Heath commanded as he removed his crimson reptilian shaped helmet to reveal his light brown hair and hazy hazel eyes.
The woman sighed thinking her guild leader wasn't as handsome as Harr. "I guess most importantly, according the books related to grudge mists, it is a type of spiritual poison created by emotions. It stems from heavier emotions like guilt, regret, rage, loneliness, worthlessness, sadness, depression and even the emotion Eranoth's tomes described as nothingness."
Heath let out a light laugh as he knew exactly what the old NPC sage meant by the emotion of nothingness. "So, The Great Sage Eranoth has still not been located."
"Correct, we have not found him as of yet. However I do recommend you visit his library. The amount of information regarding the world in it was amazing."
"Then I will make a special trip later," Heath agreed. "Then do we know how the mist came to be?"
The woman nodded. "As I mentioned briefly before, the mist wasn't caused by the players killing the foxes. It was caused by a single creature who was feeling the emotions I mentioned above. It had a great desire to push their feelings outward and make others feel the same way they did and another entity took advantage of this. These types of creatures were frequently referred to as 'Bringers' in these tomes as they often bring disaster when they show up. These creature possessed rare and powerful abilities."
"I see, so something else took advantage of one of these Bringers to create the mist. Tell me more."
"Depending on the type of 'Bringer' the type of spiritual poison created would change. According to the bestiary a Bringer's skills stem from a lesser skill line originally but experienced a sudden growth through the exposure of intense emotions. Very few creatures or even people have the emotional pain to become one."
Heath frowned. "Then do we know what type of 'Bringer' this source is and how to stop it?"
The woman shook her head. "We only have theories at this point. But as to stopping it, the tomes mentioned that slaying the source won't get rid of the problem as they were only the catalyst. The problem will only be stopped if the land undergoes a cleanse and the things feeding the mist are stopped. Sadly, none of the magic we know is working."
"I see. Tell me what theory you have about this creature's type of Bringer?"
"Based on the types of curses found on the cursed creatures, we have theorized that the creature was experiencing extreme loneliness with a desire to have its friends once more, anger towards mankind and a desire to make them suffer. Among the list of 'Bringers' the ones that makes the most sense is a Rebirth-Bringer or a Change-Bringer. To further this theory, our lifestyle players that we had studying the mist discovered that when covered by a specific liquid that grants resistances to specific status effects and an inhuman mask, the mist will not invade the body. This has allowed us to traverse the place in relative safety. We have determined that the combination protects the soul from the poison." Near took a deep breath. "The mist is filled with creatures which have been recorded as being mostly foxes once again. We haven't done a combat test yet but if these cursed creatures are like the ones we have killed in the past, their deaths will weaken the mist. However, according to the normal players, the creatures in the mist become stronger once they reach low health almost like a boss."
Heath nodded. "How many people know the information you have just told me about the Bringers and the theories?"
"Just me, Lord Harr, Thao, Lednar, Lady Lindsey and you," Near replied.
"Good, keep it that way for now, Near. As Harr told me earlier, there are other guild spies that have infiltrated our ranks in this game. We need to be more careful about who has access to what information. Until we can get them out."
"I understand."
Harr, the other reptilian armored knight wielding a poleax, came forward. "I asked for us to meet with you so I could ask for your permission to start the operation to cleanse the mist. Not discuss our current situation."
Lord Heath shook his head with a frown. "Lord Harr, that request is impatient, especially coming from you. While we have gathered a lot of information, we need more evidence and a good plan before rushing in. What has changed to lead you to ask me this?"
Harr sighed. "I knew you would say that. The EastSeaDrakes are mobilizing to beat us to resolving the crisis with the mist. Our spy has indicated they will be entering the mist within the next seven days. I have the documented evidence. If we don't act now, they will beat us to it again."
Heath started laughed hysterically. He donned his helmet once more to hide his unhappy face. "The EastSeaDrakes are planning to rush in before us?" He paused to confirm.
"Yes, they are."
"Give the order, we are pulling out. Our goal here was to help the players, not stop or fall victim to another guild's stupidity. If they succeed with the 2% probability they have, they can take the glory. When they inevitably fail, even with the information they took from us, we gave the people proper warning. It seems, the choice of whether to let the mist grow or solve it has been made for me. We will have a fantastic hunt in the future!"
"But Lord Heath…" Near voiced.
Heath smiled viciously behind his helmet's face mask. "How much of that liquid that repels the mist do we have?"
"Currently only enough for about 250 people if we plan for 2 hours; the EastSeaDrakes have been making it harder to obtain it."
"I see," He replied. "Near, you can go and remember to keep the knowledge you have a secret for now. I must speak with Harr alone."
"I understand sir." The lady left the room.
"What do you want to discuss?" Harr asked, removing his helmet.
Heath removed his helmet as well and relaxed. "Harr, I want you and my younger brother Lednar to stay behind and keep studying the mist. Please make sure to do it discretely. There must be something simple we are missing."
The man gave a nod.
"Take three fifths of the liquid we have and split it between the two of you. I will store the rest for the future. My little brother's insight should be very helpful to you considering he is an alchemage. I am trusting you to protect my little brother."
Harr continued to frown. "Isn't that too passive? That amount would last us 150 hours each."
Heath shook his head. "You know my first priority is keeping you and him safe in this situation. If you don't calculate the things I have, it looks like I am choosing to err on the side of excessive caution, but I am not.
"Please, enlighten me." Harr smiled as he knew he was in for another calculated conversation with his best friend.
"Think about it, how far did the mist spread when that party of six went in?"
"About 10 meters in all directions; but the mist grows further if the people have higher HP."
Heath nodded. "Right, roughly one and two thirds meters per person for an average group, how far away are the farmlands of Pren from the mist?"
"Less than one fourth of a kilometer."
"Indeed, let us pull a stupid mistake and assume…" He paused and looked around to make sure nobody else was really around. "Let's assume that the EastSeaDrakes only have enough liquid for 150 of their members to go in which, in my opinion is significantly too low of a number given their cockiness. When they fail, the mist will engulf the farmlands and all the people in it. These innocent people would be unable to resist the mist. Because the farmers and low level players fell to it, the mist will then engulf Pren."
Harr nodded slowly as he took in the information.
"Even though Pren is a starting town, it is popular and has roughly 2000 players and over 3000 residents not counting the ones outside of Pren. Within an hour of the other guild's stupid failure, the mist will have spread through the entirety of the forest and hunting grounds.
"That quickly?" Harr asked.
Heath gave a nod. "Assuming you meet the standard amount of hostile enemies, it takes about 7 hours to leave the forest to the north. Taking into consideration the heavy stamina builds prevalent in the area because archery is common, the forest will become much more dangerous and difficult to travel through. That alone could easily extend the time to get out to a full day."
"Heath, that is only 24 hours, you still have 126 extra hours for each of us. Are your calculating abilities failing you?" Harr teased with a like poke.
Heath smiled and stabbed his spear into the floor before pulling out a map of the area. "Right, but we still have not determined the space difference between what is in the mist and what is out of the mist. If the land doubles in size you will be in the mist for just under 50 hours. But what if it is bigger? What if the mist extends beyond the forest? And, on the off chance, what if you are lucky and find people that are able to save themselves from the mist and give us more insight into this problem? What if you find a person or two of value to save?"
Harr thought for a bit. "I understand. I will announce it to the guild. You have got the normal populous covered like normal?"
Heath nodded once more. "I will; thank you Harr for your hard work."
Harr gave a nod. "Don't worry about your brother."
"I know. He is in good claws."
Harr laughed. "You always liked that weird statement, Dragon Lord. Is there anything else?"
"One thing I guess. My brother said he had friends adventuring in the area. If they are still around when the mist strikes and by some miracle you meet them, help them escape."
The green armored man nodded. "Sure, it is unlikely, but if that does happen, I will remember that."
"Thank you for being willing to help me out like this. I know I can be unreasonable sometimes."
Harr laughed. "Yeah, but I know your emotions run far deeper than your logic. You know I will be there to call you out when needed."
Heath smiled. "Always, and don't let my brother try bossing you around. You are the one in charge."
"I'll make sure to record our escape. I know you will want to analyze it later." Harr nodded, put on his helmet and left the room.
Heath stared at the map with a frown. "For Pren's sake, I hope I am wrong."
© J Eranoth