Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

larger and more dangerous. Every hour or so, a wave of them erupts from the deepest parts of the jungle, from the ruins which lay crumbling in the dark.”

“Ruins?” I frowned. “What kind of ruins?”

The queen shivered, then licked her fangs. “The taboo kind. None but the Avatar may venture there. It is a ruin of the Fall.”

“The Fall?” Rin piped up. “Do you mean the Drachan?”

“Perhaps. I cannot say. It is taboo.” The queen blinked at us slowly, resting her chin on the backs of her hands. “I cannot send my warriors there, even the males. But humans and Mercurions are not bound by our laws. So that is my first wish: go into the jungle, to this dark and brooding place, and learn what is sending this plague toward us.”

“What are the other two wishes?” I asked. “Hopefully not as dangerous.”

She reached out, and began to toy idly with a tea glass that sat on a small table next to her, ever so slowly pushing it toward the edge. “I think that depends on your perspective of danger, Paragon.”

“Then hopefully not as time-consuming,” Rin said, wincing. “We have to stop Emperor Hyland from… ummm… well, becoming an actual emperor, ruling multiple countries and stuff.”

Nonchalantly, Solai swatted the glass to the ground. None of the Meewfolk reacted as it shattered, or when a comically overdressed servant crawled from around the back of the throne, quickly swept up the broken glass with an ornate dustpan and broom, and set a brand-new glass in its place before scuttling back.

“Your dread emperor can wait three more days,” the Priest-Queen sighed, reaching out with a single claw to toy with the new glass. “I shall formalize my wish as a quest. And then you may go or not, as it pleases you.”

[New Quest Alert: Genie in a Bottle.] New Quest: Genie in a Bottle

The Priest-Queen of the Meewfolk has agreed to humor your request to speak with their sacred Avatar: provided you grant her three wishes of her choosing. Complete your first sub-quests and speak with Queen Solai after completion to receive the other two.

Rewards: 4000 EXP, ??? Renown (Meewhome, Priest-Queen Mawar Solai, Cult of Dera)

 

I accepted the main quest, and as soon as I did, the sub-quest appeared.

  New Sub-Quest: The One Who Abides

A mysterious force emanating from Meewhome’s ancient rainforests is threatening the city of Ru Waat, as well as outlying villages and the nomadic herders who provide the populace with food. Undead monsters and dinosaurs have been pouring out of the deep jungle to assault the walls, escalating in power and frequency as time wears on.

The Priest-Queen of Meewhome has requested that you find the source of the problem and halt the flow of undead abominations. From your prior journey to the Temple of the Maker in the Bashir Desert, you know that the ruins the queen has requested you travel to are in fact the ruins of the Dragon Gate of Devana, the Mother Goddess of Dragonkind.

Difficulty: Hard.

Rewards: EXP 3500, Unknown Treasure, Unknown Special Items.

 

“Wow. The EXP for these are really nice,” Rin breathed, her eyes flicking from side to side. “Do all party members get this much EXP?”

“I am a generous ruler.” Solai yawned, her lips pulling back to reveal twin rows of long, sharp fangs. “And thus I await your victorious return, Triad of the Sixth Age. Until then, I shall give you all my sovereign’s mark. You have free run of my city until you depart—but if you commit any crimes, make sure they are interesting ones. I would not wish to have you all exiled or enslaved for being boring.”

***

We were escorted to the city outside the Priest-Queen’s palace and left to our own devices. Once the gates were closed, we gathered into a circle and considered our next move.

“So, hear me out,” I said. “My vote is that we find an inn and stay here overnight, or even for a couple of days before setting off for Devana’s Dragon Gate.”

“Why?” Suri frowned. “Thought we needed to get back to Myszno in case of a raid?”

“We do,” I said. “But think about it. The Priest-Queen just told us that monsters are attacking the city walls about once every hour, right?”

“So?” Gar scowled.

“Can you think of a single spot in Archemi where you can reliably fight high-yield monsters over and over again?” I waved my hands in the direction of the city walls. “Dude, this is the perfect spot to grind. If we camp here and ride those waves, we could go up three or four levels in twenty-four hours. Even better, there’s no time limit on Solai’s quest. The system always flags quests that have to be completed within a certain timespan. Whatever’s causing these dead dinos and other monsters to attack the city, it’s gonna keep sending them until we fix the cause.

“Mob spawns like this ARE kind of rare,” Rin remarked. “In the beta testing phase—which we’re technically still in—enemy spawn rates were scaled down because of the influx of refugees.”

“If there’s no rush, I’m on board with staying for a while.” Suri rolled her shoulders. “Getting to Level 33 or 34 would be great.”

“Guess I don’t get a say,” Gar muttered.

Suri glowered at him. “No one’s twisting your arm, mate. If you don’t want to grind, go shop for airship parts or something.”

Gar gestured sharply to the city around us. “You see any hangars around here? The stores here aren’t going to stock the parts I need. Hell, they probably don’t HAVE airships here. I don’t even know if they sell ammunition for my weapons.”

Rin tutted. “Stop being a drama queen. There’ll be at least one Tier-A Alchemist store here. They can sell you the metals we need to make ammunition. All you