Silver walked out of the inn and stepped onto the street. She had her guard up. It was nighttime and she knew what kinds of people would be looking for victims. Glancing at her notification, she sighed once again.
"Player's thirst has increased. If humanoid blood is not consumed within two days, stats will drop 50%, and blood magic will become ineffective."
She thought to herself. 'Seriously, this kind of debuff is debilitating. How in the world will I do this without directly attacking someone? Ugh. this is such a pain.'
In the real world, Silver didn't have to worry about having blood. While animal blood wouldn't make her as strong as human blood, it would keep her from withering away to nothing. Suddenly, she had an idea. She opened her friends list and messaged Tora.
Silver: "Tora, I have something I need help with. Are you free?"
Tora: "Divine and I were about to head into a dungeon outside of Corvat, meet us here and we'll see what we can do. :D Coordinates: 21.832°N/31.422°W."
Silver smiled and began heading towards his location.
.....
Tora and Divine were outside the dungeon waiting on Silver. Tora was surprised to get a message from her. Divine was ecstatic and giggled like a little girl when Tora explained the situation to her.
After waiting almost twenty minutes, they heard a soft "Yo, sorry I'm late, would've been here sooner, but I got waylaid by some low level trash." Silver walked out of the dark forested area. Most of her clothes already had blood stains. She wondered whether that was a common occurrence for everyone.
Tora spoke up "Ah, so what did you need help with?"
Divine chipped in "Yeah, I never expected you to need help"
Silver smiled and said in a calm manner. "I need someone's blood."
Divine and Tora took a step back, drawing their weapons. Their faces hardened as they prepared for the fight of their lives.
Silver giggled cutely and shook her head. Although the giggle was cute, with her face stained with blood...it was creepy. " I don't need to kill you. I need blood for a quest." She pulled out an empty vial and help it up.
Tora and Divine looked at her with a confused expression, and Silver began explaining. (Well, she was outright lying to them. In fact, Silver had just bought these vials from the auction house.) "The quest was to obtain a small vial of blood for the Element Hall's shadow master. I don't know why he needs it, but I didn't ask."
Tora and Divine were skeptical. They haven't heard of any quest that required someone to gather blood, but at the same time, they weren't shadow casters. Divine used the light element, and Tora used the earth element. Reluctantly, they agreed.
Silver smiled and nodded. "I will help you clear this dungeon as repayment. I appreciate your help with this. Truthfully, you two are the only players I've talked to."
Silver walked up to Tora and handed him the Vial. He made a small cut on his hand using his short sword. He filled it in half a second.
Silver pulled out another small vial and held it out to Divine. "If you wouldn't mind, I would be grateful if you donated some as well." Divine nodded. She filled it and handed it back to her.
Silver smiled and nodded in thanks. Truthfully, she thought about drinking Haran's blood, but she thought better of it because it was werewolf blood, she had no idea what would happen. She spoke to her companions after a slight pause. "Now, what dungeon are we entering? I haven't been in any over here yet." She turned to look at a small hill with a cave like entrance at the base. "Do you guys know anything about it?" They only shook their heads in response. Silver sent them a party request and once everyone was partied up, they entered the small hill.
.....
After entering, they all got a notification, while Silver got two.
Everyone recieved this:
*DING* "Warning. You are entering the tomb of Echidna. Upon death you will be sent to the city of Corvat."
Silver received this as well:
*DING* "World Quest, Return to Dawn has been updated. New information: The tomb of Echidna, Mother of all monsters, is buzzing with monster activity. Clear the area and find out what's happening here."
Silver grimaced and looked at her two new companions. She sighed before speaking up, "Alright, we're in deep now. We should stick together. This isn't a dungeon, it's a Danger zone."
Tora nodded. "I think that's a good idea. we don't know what to expect. We should stay on our toes." Divine nodded and didn't say anything.
Danger zones were far more dangerous than dungeons. Each kingdom only had a few danger zones. The penalty for dying in a danger zone was double that of a dungeon. The rewards were greater, but the risk usually wasn't worth it. They're essentially a trap. Once you enter, you can't exit unless you either die or complete it, but you're almost guaranteed to die.
.....
After walking for a few minutes, everyone was starting to get uncomfortable. It was unnaturally dark, and the air in the tomb was heavy. To make matters worse, the rampant mana in the air made it difficult to sense anything. Although Silver could see pefectly fine in the dark, unnatural darkness was almost impossible to see through without dispelling.
Suddenly, Silver dashed towards Tora, bringing her scythe down. He was terrified and stood stock still.
*CLANG*
Her scythe connected with a bladed weapon of some kind. Silver barely picked up on it because there wasn't a heartbeat. She barely heard the faint footsteps. After that clash, Silver yelled out. "They're undead of some kind. Divine, create a bright flash of light to get rid of the darkness. Tora...Do whatever it is you do." Although Silver had little idea about working with a party, she knew that strategy was important, and Divine and Tora weren't pushovers. Immediately, Tora used a basic warrior skill
"Taunting Battle Cry: The user yells a ferocious battle cry, drawing all nearby monster's agro."
All of the undead immediately turned towards him. Moments later, Divine raised her sword and unleashed a bright flash of light. The darkness dispersed and they could finally see their foe: "Undead Tomb Guardian: HP- 300/300". Six zombies, glowing with a sinister purple energy surrounded them. Each one had two pitch black blades in place of their arms.