Fluffles awoke inside a dreary building, laying on top of a rotting old bench as she raised her head to look around. It was an old church she awoke in and happened to be a terribly maintained respawn point. Broken stained glass shards lay scattered across the floor, and whatever symbol the church used lay in pieces on the ground.
She got up feeling groggy, as some of her exp was lost when she died. All the exp gained during the mission and about half a level's worth as it almost caused her to level down.
Deciding to leave the gloomy building as the map showed the respawn point in the farthest corner of the city's safe zone.
"Fluffles, it seems they got you too," Ashfire's voice rang inside Fluffles' head.
The sudden voice caught Fluffles by surprise as she jumped into the air and landed near a building. Her claws dug into the building as she looked around, trying to find Ashfire.
"Hiss, where are you. I don't enjoy this game you're playing," Fluffles called out as she slowly started to snarl.
"Hey, you there?" Ashfire called again.
"Yes, I'm here!" Fluffles shouted, becoming agitated.
"You seem to have an issue. May I be of assistance?" The system orb asked, appearing beside Fluffles.
Fluffles was glad to see the glowing white ball, "I keep hearing voices, but I can't see anyone."
"Private messaging is a feature that allows friends and party members to contact each other within the game. They have to be online and in the same world. If you want to use it, place two fingers to your ear and say PM then their username," The orb explains.
Fluffles nods her head, "PM Ashfire," after following the instructions, she pauses, wondering what she's supposed to do, "now what?"
"What do you mean, now what, are you okay?" Ashfire asks.
"Oh, it works, you suddenly started talking to me from nowhere, and I was pretty confused. I had to ask the help orb, but I wasn't sure if it was working," Fluffles replies, looking over to the orb. It was waiting patiently for Fluffles to finish, having more to say.
"Oh, I forgot that you wouldn't know how to use this system. I'm sorry," Ashfire apologizes before continuing, "Detrix seemed to of logged out, likely to find out information about the glitch."
"If I understand the map, you guys are at a pub. I'll see you there, and we can talk more." Fluffles removed her fingers from her ear. Before taking another step, the orb moved in front of her.
"There is more I wish to tell you. I automatically reported the glitch you discovered and searched for any relevant information about the situation. A few answers are available. Would you like to hear them now or later?" The orb asked.
"Probably later, once everyone has gathered," Fluffles answered as the orb went away.
Walking through the alleyways, Fluffles made her way to the pub. Once she got close enough, her party members noticed her and waved. "You made it," Ashfire smiled.
Fluffles pulled up a chair and sat down with the others, "you mentioned something about Detrix checking out forums?"
"Yea, she is checking around the forums, among other places. Hopefully, she'll be back soon," Ashfire responded as everyone got a notification that Detrix had come back online.
"That didn't take too long," Doctor0 stated, as everyone noticed Detrix's avatar was still at the church ruins.
As Detrix met up with the party, everyone looked at her expectantly, hoping to receive some answers. "What did you learn?" Cynthes asked once Detrix took a seat.
"Not much, sadly, pages upon pages of useless information, it's not even organized. Looking for glitches led me through lists of problems on different missions in other worlds. The only answer I found was using the flashy area attack on the mob probably caused the lag," Detrix guessed. As she spoke, the system orb suddenly appeared beside Fluffles, seemingly unsatisfied with what it heard.
"I have more relevant information on this problem." The sudden appearance of the orb caught everyone off guard. No one had asked for its help or brought up any mention of it. Was the help system always like this everyone couldn't help but wonder.
"If you have more information, go ahead and share," Detrix stated, with Fluffles giving a nod of approval for the orb to continue.
The orb moved to the center of the table, "The glitch started during the conversation with the commanding officer who gave you the quest." The help orb suddenly turned black as it replayed the conversation, "what news, news, news do you have of the lab?" Once the replay ended, it turned back to white. "Eldritch Call wasn't the cause of the lag, but it added to the problem. The glitch happens because of floor nine as monsters constantly get stuck on top of the spawn point, causing more monsters to get stuck in the same spot. Eventually, it causes the entire mission to lag, and the result is what you've experienced."
Everyone listened intently to the orb. The party has experienced how useless tutorials and help systems are in most games, but this was the first time they were this helpful.
"Should we go to floor nine first and find out what the monsters are getting stuck on?" Fluffles suggested as they'll need to redo the whole quest since they failed.
"Why not ask your orb since it seems eager to help," Doctor0 joked.
"I cannot help with actual progression, only assistance with game features and issues," The orb replied before fading away.
"Even if we fix the glitch, if I can't use Eldritch Call, then I dunno how much use I'll be?" Cynthes lamented.
"I have a couple of mines I could use. Since it's a crafted item, it'll do a lot of damage and hopefully blow up whatever is causing the creatures to get stuck." Ashfire suggested.
"We don't know where the spawner is, so where would we place the mine?" Detrix countered, realizing that each floor might contain more than one spawn point for the monsters.
"The elevator goes straight to the top floor once we clear the basement, and if we try to head down through the stairs, the roof will become overrun with monsters," Doctor0 added.
"What if I use Eldritch Call and Ashfire uses her grenades to destroy the entire floor, so whatever they're getting stuck on will be destroyed," Cynthes suggested.
"It sounds like a good idea, and we can block the elevator doors with something to prevent them from closing. That'll give them one less attack option, and hopefully, it doesn't create more lag," Fluffles stated.
"Only one way to find out," Detrix replied, knowing they couldn't discuss it forever.
The group headed back to the mission location, heading to the ninth floor before the basement. There were a few enemies, but they proved to be no threat. Cynthes cast Eldritch Call as the tentacles shot out from the portal ripping apart the walls and cubicles from the office-looking floor. Ashfire threw some grenades at the parts the spell couldn't reach, and with the shockwave from the spell's ending animation, the area looked like a warzone.
"Somehow, this looks worse. The monsters will get stuck on everything now," Doctor0 pointed out, looking at the mess.
"It's worth a try," Fluffles stated.
Ashfire put down the few mines she created, "this should buy us a little time."
When they headed down to the basement, the mission replayed better than last time as they were expecting the monsters in the dark rooms. Problems began once they reached the roof, the quest may not be glitching anymore, but the mobs could still overrun them.
Putting some of the junk drops from the creatures in the basement, they blocked the elevator door, preventing it from closing. At level twenty, Detrix gained the ability to use a sub-weapon but never found any enjoyment in using a pistol. However, this map required more long-range weapons, so she equipped one earlier and ran to the edge with Ashfire and Cynthes, attacking the enemies below.
Doctor0 and Fluffles were in charge of guarding the stairway. Fluffles weakened them with her claws, slashing out their eyes and neck as Doctor0 went in for the kill with her scalpear.
As for the monsters trying to climb the side of the building, lightning and grenades rained down upon them. They were rushing to the different sides of the building, making sure the monsters weren't near the top. Any stragglers that were, Detrix shot them down with her pistol.
Suddenly one creature with red skin appeared on the ground, jumping halfway up the building and climbing twice as fast as any other monster.
"We have company!" Ashfire shouted.
"I wonder if we didn't see this one before because of the lag or if we're doing too well," Detrix stated as she fired upon the creature, unable to knock it down. As it jumped up, Fluffles pounced at it, having to leave the stairwell to Doctor0.