Searching for clues

With Silver Blade and Watchful Eye returning, the party could continue the quest.

Looking around the beach, Silver Blade found no corpses of ants remaining. However, to her surprise something else had appeared.

"What's up with that treasure chest? It seems to be quite a high grade."

It came out of the large fish those ants dragged onto the shore when we tried to loot it."

"That's a thing?"

"We were surprised as well."

Silver Blade approached the chest, studying its exterior shimmering in a silver light.

"A silver ranked chest? Pity Cyclone is not here…"

Far away in a random human city, Cyclone was happily talking to a few players interested in joining her guild.

Suddenly an extremely uneasy feeling overcame her, and her hands began to twitch.

There is something to loot! Oh no… I'm not there!

The young woman was distracted for a few moments. She snapped out of it when one of the players asked another question.

Get your sh*t together, Cyclone! This is your first big test as a guild leader! You got this!

Silver Blade naturally didn't know what was going on with her bestest friend, asking her party, especially Final Fend and Braag:

"Someone want to give it a try? Maybe one of you has a lot of luck?"

Everyone looked at each other, prompting Fortune to speak up:

"Braag has quite good luck. He looted the ants earlier as well."

"Nono, sorry, that's a misunderstanding. The loot was only slightly above average thanks to my passive."

Fortune looked at him in surprise:

"Your passive again? Can you explain?"

"Sure. There are two components to it. One lets me sacrifice money to buy damage up to a cap of two hundred percent.

The other stacks a special affliction called wealth on enemies. I can either interact with it or kill my enemies. The remaining stacks will then improve the loot slightly, but it mainly affects the gold dropped by enemies."

"What a unique class.", sighed Silver Blade. "But it sounds like you can be our designated looter anyways. At least you won't be any worse than the rest of us."

Braag felt somewhat honored when no one disagreed.

"I will try to life up to your trust."

"Ehm sis…"

Suddenly Final Fend spoke up awkwardly, drawing everyone's attention. Braag understood immediately.

"Fend, if you want to, we can take turns looting."

"Thank you. I won't take those enemies with your stacks, but maybe we can find an agreement when it comes to chests."

"Of course, of course."

Silver Blade was glad the two men found a satisfying solution.

When Final Fend took a step back, Braag understood and reached out for the treasure chest. Everyone waited for the progress bar with bated breath.

Finally, the chest opened, emitting a sharp silver light. A bright smile appeared on Braag's face. He quickly posted the treasures in the party chat.

[Scroll of immediate escape

Category: Uncommon

Effect: The user and his party will be sent back to the last used teleporter.

A powerful item saving countless adventurers.]

[Robe of Natural Attunement

Category: Uncommon

Level requirement: 17

Physical Defense: 13

Source: 4

Effect : If you are damaged or afflicted by elemental effects, increase the corresponding elemental damage by 15%.

Fight in tune with nature to feel the truth of the world.]

Everyone looked at the loot eagerly. After a short discussion the scroll was given to Silver Blade while the robe went to Watchful Eye.

Hearing no complaints, Silver Blade was satisfied. She glanced at her map, finding a marked spot which should be on the beach not far away.

"Let's go, guys."

The party strolled along the sandy coast, enjoying the beautiful scenery. From time to time a few ants would appear but without an elite they were easily dealt with.

Soon they got closer to the target of their quest. They reached an area on the beach littered with rocks and trees. Obviously, the currents were stronger at this part of the ocean, pushing a lot of trash onto the shore.

The party made their way across the beach, stepping carefully between the trees coated in slimy algae.

Fortune held her breath, holding back her obvious disgust. She was more than glad when Silver Blade finally spoke up:

"We almost got it. The marked area is right ahead of us."

With eager steps the party circled one last rock. And found nothing.

Silver Blade smiled wryly as the quest got updated.

[Quest: Find Zeygnar's lost wares]

[Step one: Locate Red'or island]

[Step two: Find the place where the wares have been washed ashore]

[Step three: Investigate the area]

"Sorry guys."

Silver Blade apologized helplessly as she squatted down to take a closer look.

"You mean we have to rummage through this trash here? Sorry, but I can't do that…", said Fortune.

"It's alright. We are so many people anyways."

Luckily the party didn't blame Fortune. She felt relieved, taking a step back and watching as the others searched the ground.

But half a minute later they still hadn't found a clue. Fortune felt awkward, letting her gaze wander around the beach.

Suddenly she noticed something hanging from a tree not far away. She walked over, took a closer look, and carefully picked it up with the tips of her fingers.

"It's a piece of rope!"

Hearing Fortune's exclamation, the others instantly looked over. Watchful Eye noticed something strange, scanning the sand between his position and Fortune.

"There are drag marks."

"So that's it. I was already wondering why the ground here looks so strange.", said Balm.

Silver Blade wore a puzzled face. She naturally suspected these ants of stealing the goods, but something was off.

The drag marks only began a short distance away. This was also the reason why they didn't spot them immediately.

However, her quest updated, telling her to follow the drag marks, which indicated that they found the correct clue.

When Silver Blade informed her party, Fortune quickly dropped the rope in her hand.

"Whatever. We will figure it out later. Let's leave quickly!"

Silver Blade suppressed a chuckle while standing up.

"Alright. Let's follow those drag marks. Looks like it's time to head into the jungle."

Under Silver Blade's lead the party soon left the beach behind. The familiar feeling of grass below their feet returned. A fresh smell entered their noses.

Almost no sounds could be heard within the jungle. If any animals lived on this island, they apparently went into hiding. Only the ferocious ants dominated this piece of land.

And they didn't appreciate intruders at all.

Two additional groups of ants attacked the party as they went deeper into the jungle. The drag marks on the floor got harder to spot, but everyone could guess that they led towards the single hill on the island.

After a few minutes the party reached a small clearing. Balm's eyes lit up, finding some uncommon herbs for her alchemy. She didn't have much time to practice yet but she bought some books in Svebrial containing valuable information.

Thus, the party rested for a while, watching Balm carefully harvest the herbs.

However, Silver Blade suddenly frowned.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hm? What are you talking about, sis?"

Final Fend looked at his sister strangely. He didn't notice anything, talking animatedly with Braag. The oldest and youngest member of the group got along surprisingly well.

Silver Blade looked at Watchful Eye for confirmation. Seeing him nod, she took a deep breath, staring at the sky.

Gradually the others noticed something as well. A buzzing noise could be heard, and it got closer.

Balm noticed the change in the atmosphere. She stopped her work, walking towards the back of the party.

Suddenly a black body appeared from behind the surrounding trees. The four wings on its back flapped at a high frequency. It quickly enlarged in everyone's vision.

"It's another ant!", exclaimed Final Fend in surprise.

"Get ready to fight!"

Silver Blade furrowed her brows, thinking of ways to fight a flying enemy. Meanwhile she quickly used [Inspect].

[Airborne Ferocious Ant Drone

Rank: Elite

Level: 21

HP: 3900/3900]

"Should I start casting?", asked Fortune. A hint of contemplation could be heard in her voice as well.

"Not yet. I need to find a way to secure aggro!", stated Silver Blade.

"Just let me do it, sis!"

"Makes sense. Go ahead!"

Final Fend took half a step forward, his eyes transfixed at the sky. The flying ant quickly came closer, clearly aiming at the group.

Gripping his chainblade tightly Final Fend waited for the opponent to fly into range.

"Now!"

With a courageous shout Final Fend swung his arm, throwing his weapon towards the sky.

But at this moment the ant suddenly changed its trajectory. It didn't dodge deliberately but prepared to use its own skill.

Final Fend watched with horror as his attack missed.

"Oh no! Guys, scatter!"

Silver Blade didn't know what skill the ant had. But scattering appeared to be the most reasonable action.

The party members trusted her judgement. They quickly brought some distance between each other when the airborne ant opened her mouth wide.