Eternum

"I didn't think you'd be able to make a flash bang with this level of tech." Cory assumed most of this place was at best medival times so they wouldn't have been able to produce anything like that.

"It is still a world of magic and odd things so they can cheat a little bit." Kyco said with a shrug.

Cid shakes his head "I mean yeah, but in IRL I'm a chemist that works for a major pharmaceutical company." he says as he goes about mixing his stuff.

Ness nods. He would have to check him out and see if he would like a job at Paragon Corp. Both Ness and Cid knew what they were going to do once they got to the small town, Kyco and Cory would need to figure out what they needed to do once they got there.

Indeed, they were. The other main thing, far as Cory was thinking of was at the moment his skill set in game was pretty straight forward and while his in real life skills could be useful in different ways, there wasn't anything at least at the moment that came to mind that wasn't already covered.

Kyco was thinking maybe they could get something else within the town that was going to be her main focus when they got there, as well as thinking of something else. While she did want to try to get get Cid's attention she thought it more productive to make herself useful first.

After a few hours, they start come up on the village and Ness slows the cart "Look live. We're nearly there." he says "Let's talk with the head of the village and offer our aid to them. If they accept, and let's face it they likely will, we'll start setting up. If not, we'll just say we were passing through and take out the oger and goblins anyway." he says.

Kyco had to agree with that. "Plus, they should know the area far better then we could just getting there. It might give some insight of how to approach things before we get to our targets."

"It be nice, but more something to keep in mind. Eggs one basket and all." That said Cory had a similar thought

Ness looks around the small village from where they were "I'll go and talk to the head of the village. Everyone, get all set up." he says as he starts towards the village, flipping up his hood.

Cid watches Ness head out before looking at Cory and Kyco "Here are your flash bangs..." he says as he hands over some small paper bundles "Throw them at something hard, like a rock or something, but make sure it's close to the target for maximum effect." he says.

He heads back to the cart and pulls out small bottles with red liquid in it and hands them to each of them "Here are some small HP potions. They'll heal you in the event of an emergency. Though, I doubt we'll need them"

Ness comes walking back "Well, that went better than expected. As soon as I walked into the village, I got people asking, begging, for my help." he says "It seem the Oger, has been attacking almost three times a week. Taking their food, grabbing a young woman for his own fun. Killing Anyone who tries to stand against him. No mention of goblins, though." he tells them.

Cid nods "If that's the case, we Might just have gotten lucky and only need to deal with the Oger." he says, sounding optimistically.

Ness nods slowly "Maybe. But we should still prepare for them, just incase he Does have some gobbies." he cautions. He looks to the group "Let's get set up."

Cory knew if they were lucky it just be the ogre, but given how things could be there was also a chance they simply hadn't seen them. It was going to be a coin clip until they got there. "Do you need me and Kyco to do anything while you set up traps?"

Flashbangs and the potions would be incredibly useful but hopefully they wouldn't have to use the later too much.

Ness looks at Cory and Kyco "Scout the area. See if you can find any spots where goblins are likely to hide. Look for dark spots with thick overhead cover that look like the underbrush had been crushed under and watch for traps. Goblins like to set spike pit traps as well as spring traps." he cautions them.

Cory and Kyco did so, but they were being very cautious. Both because of them being basically normal humans and the fact there could be traps in the way. If another version of a fantasy world was made but allowed people to keep their powers then it would have to be adjusted accordingly. A alternate history earth would work well enough for such a setting.

As the two were looking about, there was a rustling in the bushes when a young man about 14 or 15 comes out of the bush "Hold! It's dangerous to be wandering these areas." he cautions. The young msn was wearing leather armor that was clearly too big for him and his sword was in bad shape.

Kyco and Cory had to make notes when a person was a pc or a npc since there wasn't neon glowing lights or any to really say so. Which made some sense since the game was suppose to be immersive as possible.

"We know." Kyco started. "My name is Kyco and this is my friend Cory, we're with two others to help the Ogre problem. Are you here by yourself?"

The kid looks visibly relieved "Oh thank the Goddess!" he says "The brute comes almost three times a fortnight for our food and sometimes our women. Those who go with the creature, are never seen again..." he finishes with a mumble, indicating that he had lost someone to the Oger.

Cory was definitely thinking a NPC with how they talked about things, or they Really were leaning into the roleplay aspect of things already. "Have you seen anything like goblins with them or anything? Any information you can give would help our party a lot."

The young man shakes his head "No. We Use to have a small goblin problem, but when the oger came, he killed all the goblins and any wildlife in the area. That's when he came to my village and started threatening us..." he says as he gets a thousand yard stare "He killed our hunters first, so we had no way to defend ourselves, then he started demanded we give him supplies and one of our women every month to do who knows what with... My older sister, my only family, was one of the first to get taken and there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening..." he mumbles as he looks down in shame.

Kyco did have to remind herself this wasn't real, less her empathic nature would be making her feel a few different emotions for the young man's situation. Still it was credit to who ever had made this but..she did have to wonder if it was going to actually show those darker aspects. His sister might still be alive, at least physically but not really there mentally anymore.

After a slight pause, Cory answered. "Why don't you heard back with us to the rest of the party if you're the only one here? The other two would like to meet you and there's safety in numbers. We could help avenge your sister and the others." While he was pretty sure he and or Kyco could destroy the ogre if they had their normal powers, but this was more them as normal baseline humans.

The young man shakes his head "I'm sorry, but I have to get going back to my village. As one of the only remaining hunters, it's my responsibility to protect my people from the Oger." he says "I truly hope you can stop that beast." he says as he heads back the way he came.

Since it was useful information, Kyco decided it be a good idea to head back and tell the others what they learned. But before he went she needed to ask one more question. "Before you leave, do you have a idea where the Ogre's camp is?"

The young man shakes his head "No. With most of our Hunters gone, we couldn't afford to send anyone else out to look." he says before he starts back the way he came.

That would be too convient, but still it was something. So with that in mind both of them headed to Ness and Cid so they could relay the information they had gotten.

Cid was looking bored, as there was nothing more he could do. But Ness, on the other hand, was looking at a map of the area and seeing where would be the best places to lay his traps.

He looks up at the two, then goes back to his maps "Welcome back. Did you find anything out there?" he asks.

"A little bit, but more so a survivor.." Kyco then proceeded to tell what happened and what they said. "Unfourtnately, since they were the last hunter of their village they couldn't give us things like a exact location but its something."

Ness thinks for a bit "So no goblins, huh? That's either really good or Very bad for us." he mumbles "But until we know for certain, we ready up as if he has a hord of the smelly bastards with him." he tells the others.

"If nothing else, we should assume this Oger is at least five levels stronger than we all are and get ready for a serious fight, just in case." Cid suggests.

That was a good idea. Ness also needed to think about progression balances "That's a good idea. I'll see about making up some splash potions of poison. So we only need to throw them at the Oger to weaken him." he says as he heads back to the wagon.

Cid looks over to the others "I'm level two, so I know how to make small health pots and a few other weaker potions. But making splash potions of poison is at least a level ten skill." he tells Cory and Kyco in a low tone "How did Ness get so strong when the beta trial just started less then a week ago?" he asks.

Cory didn't know that, but he probably would have if he had looked at that particular skill tree more closely. Granted he also wasn't from a class that did a lot of potion stuff. "Not sure. Maybe he find a way to power level. It is beta so it would make sense."

"Or a alpha tester?" Kyco suggested after some thought. "Like someone picked in the very, very earlier builds to look over things. Something like that. We could just ask them if they're willing when they come back about it."

After a little while Ness comes back. It was starting to get dark. He holds out three potions for them all "It has an effective range of about five feet in a circle, so make sure you have a clear shot before you throw it." he says.

Cid frowns, as if something wasn't right "Listen..." he says. It was dead silent in the forest. No animals, no birds, no bugs. Nothing made a sound, not even the wind blew.

Ness also frowns "I think it's safe to assume that the Oger is on it's way." he says "Get ready..." he says as he pulls out a map and points to areas "Here are the locations of my nonlethal traps and over here are my lethal ones. So Only come this way if all else had failed." he tells them.

Cid hefts his spell bag "I slapped these together really quick while I was making things..." they were crude flares "If we get separated, use that, or if you spot the Oger before anyone else." he tells them.

Ness takes the flare and nods "Good thinking. If any one of us sees the Oger light your flare and we swarm it. Lure it into a trap then Try to knock it out. If any one of us sees a chance, take it out." he says as he pulls his short sword out and rubs something on it "Fast acting poison. Rub it on your blades." he says as he hands it over to the others.

Cory did so, as did Kyco which more was a dagger since as Ness said her class had more skill in that naturally then normal swords. She hadn't asked but she did wonder if that meant more then just being good with them or there were perks to it, like in other games.

"Will this poision kill it quick or more slow it down and make it sluggish?" Kyco was asking more so what to expect if their first try was going to be to keep it alive. "Also, maybe it'll leave tracks behind so we can trace it back to its camp after so we can rescue any victims. If they're still alive." It wasn't 'real' world situation and such and they were just NPC's of non saptient AI but her empathic nature still leaned towards helping them, if they could.