Chapter 192 - The Marsh (2/2)
As he saw the gathering, he immediately put on the disguise that he had previously used, 'fleet-footed rogue' and he had his stats displayed as a level 15 assassin. Looking at his level, they quickly accepted him. All the strongest players had gone ahead in the first group and there were only two level 16 players supervising this group.
He had quickly volunteered to join in the scouting team of the group. As an assassin, he was one of the most common groups used for scouting. Even though there was a smaller group which made the way ahead, there was always a good chance that some monster was missed by them or creeped into their path later. So, all groups would have a small number to be set aside for scouting.
One of the two level 16 player that were in their group was also an archer who led the scouts. His name was Kiriti. Understanding the nature of such raids, he knew that the scout would have some knowledge of their intentions or at the very least the extent to which they plan to explore the marshlands. So, he decided to contact the man and get close to try and get something out of him.
”Hi Mr. Kiriti, I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about our trip. Everyone are thinking about it,” requested Balthazar as he came close to the guy.
”We are going to get into the place in a minute or so,” said Kiriti in a snarl. He was angry on being disturbed by someone when he was talking to the party that had gone ahead in advance. It was clear to Balthazar that he wasn't in a good mood.
”To be a scout I would need to know a bit more and this place is entirely new to me. There are others like me. I hope you can give us some basic information about the beasts so that we could perform effectively,” he explained as he held his hands in front of him in an attempt to pacify him. ”It would also help you concentrate on the things that are important for you.”
”Fine,” said Kiriti after a second. ”It is best if we inform you about these things now itself. Alma, you go ahead,” he said looking at the other level 16 player who was an elementalist. ”
The marshlands is different from other parts of the forest. We have to main types of beasts. You wont find any of the usual ones similar to mammals like wolves, cats, cattle, deer and the like. There will only be reptiles, amphibians and the aquatic ones in this place with a few occasional tree dwellers,” said Karma. ”Tree dwellers don't usually disturb you unless one attacks them, but the rest will attack, and it is hard to fight them. The only good thing is that the ones don't usually have any form of coordination and one can identify from the distance. Just bombard them with you attacks from a distance.”
”The main problem is for the scouts and physical attack classes. You will be the ones that will be attacked first and any failure from scouts to find and pull out hiding beasts could cause ambushes on the others. We will request you to let us forage all the beasts that have been killed. If we lack enough bag space, we will require you to carry some for us,” added Kiriti. ”We will keep track of the items carried by you for us. If there is a discrepancy, we will need to check after we are finished.”
A minute later, Kiriti started along with the rest of the scouts. On the way, he suggested a few other precautions to take by observing the terrain. A large part of the marshlands was covered by grass which was a few feet tall. There were a lot of trees too. The small beasts could hide anywhere in the grass.
As assassin's they had stealth and they had been forced to move in the grass while checking for any beasts. They had to mark any group of creatures that they found. If they found any isolated beasts, they could kill them and inform the rest. Groups which they can't afford to tackle would be left while they would mark the locations indicating the size of the beasts. They had to move separately in different directions while making constant reports to Kiriti who co-ordinate them.
Balthazar didn't care about any of the beasts. Most of the beasts he found at this stage were snakes and the like which moved around in swampy areas with grass. The first ones that he found were a few marsh snakes which were slightly below level 15, he just killed them and went ahead. Even groups of those didn't bother him with his attributes. He put in a few of their fangs and eyes in his bag as he didn't have them before. He was sure that the others wouldn't notice that a few of the materials were taken by him. With his efficiency, he was sure that the others would be surprised at the amount left by a single level 15 assassin player, but the numbers he left behind would cause doubts to Alma who would come later to check the loot left by the scouts.
Balthazar's main focus was on the resources other than the creatures, he was hardly interested in them. He focused his search more towards any herbs that he could. Glebe watergreens, darkpeat moss, Greybark fruits, etc., which were the specialities of this place were the ones he was concerned with. Even if he couldn't transport large numbers required by secondary profession players, he would have enough to let himself experiment with them and increase his alchemy and herbology proficiency.
Moreover, as he was planning to stay at the place for a few days, he considered focusing on alchemy and this to be a chance to improve his alchemy skill as marshes were always considered a good place to get resources for potions than the metals. Besides, he also had the alchemy notes from the Battlemage Arius Wright which he had to put to good use. It would be a waste if he didn't focus on the alchemy profession and only on forging because he could develop it faster.
They soon went deeper into the place. It was clear that the Valhalla Raiders had interest in something deep in the marshlands than these few beasts. They had reached place where there were stronger beasts that were above level 15. Red-spotted toads, black-tongue lizards, silver scale snakes and the like which were poisonous.
They had to keep a certain distance from these beasts as they could get poisoned easily, but the fangs and the poison glands of these monsters were very useful. Kiriti advised them to not attack and keep distance till the rest of the group came. It was getting harder to get further into the marshlands due to this.
The raiders had been hoping to get a large number of members into the depths to kill a monster. It was a quest for one of the professionals in their competitive team and the guild leader, Tyr Fang decided to spend money to get cannon fodder while simultaneously start with the exploration of the marshlands on which he had an eye for a long time.
A couple of minutes after Kiriti had advised them to keep distance, he received an order from the advance party to speed up the others advance into the place. With no choice, he had to ask the scouts to start attacking any isolated beasts and smaller groups of beasts that they could find, to help speed up the pace of the party into the depths of the marshlands.
These monsters didn't attack the scouts as they kept themselves hidden and didn't agitate any monsters, but the ones behind would surely make a noise and that would gather the beasts towards them. So, he had to make these scouts to kill any beasts that they could, and they would be given twice the compensation from here on as they were relatively vulnerable characters and that wasn't their main job.
With that order, they began to attack actively. Scouts were given more compensation than the others as they had to do a difficult and much dangerous job and had be alone for most of the time. Though they were given better compensation for the trip, no one wouldn't want more money. So, they quickly took the offer and formed smaller groups on advice of kiroto to kill as many as they possible could.
Initially, they took on smaller groups. It was hard but they had to use a couple of potions to kill them. They had generic minor antidotes, but they knew that these wouldn't be effective for a long time. These would only reduce the time for which they would be losing their health due to poisoning. They couldn't completely rely on that. Moreover, there were some varieties against which these antivenoms were negligible.
Soon, a couple of assassins were poisoned and overcome by Red spotted toads which were quickly congregated to form a large group and killed them before the assassins could escape. After that a few more similar incidents took place and the remaining banded together and refused to continue attacking the poisonous species. Though they were being paid, they wouldn't voluntarily go to fight if they considered the payment insufficient. It was also hard to determine how many they killed when species like the Red spotted toads fought in such groups.