[Event/Invite] Where the River meets the Sea

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Zankapfel der Zweite Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 345	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

Maybe Caerbannog should have been a pirate. Why was there no pirate subclass in Elder Tale? Better yet, there could be a Ninja main class and a Pirate subclass, so she could be a Ninja Pirate. The samurai liked drinking and looking for treasure, so she would qualify as a pirate, right? A schoolgirl ninja pirate... with a bunny as her right-hand man. After their ventures into the River Thames a few days back, at first with Kumori and the next one by themselves, the Girl x Rabbit tag team headed for the riverbanks again. But this time, Caer wore her Zankapfel der Zweite instead of Rote, and headed farther downstream than before.

It had been discussed with Hyzenthlay halfway to their destination for the enemic buster had asked why they were not heading for the waters just yet. Caerbannog had heard from the landers in the city that the Isle of Grain was accessible a few times every day, when the tides were low and a land bridge allowed land-walkers to approach it. Within the Isle, there set Grain Village which was a harbor and trading place mostly for landers. While the thought of having a lot of People of the Land around her, for they could boss her around to do their bidding once again, Caer thought of fellow adventuring treasure seekers in that place instead of around the riverbanks.

Unfortunately, upon her arrival, the land bridge had already sunk behind the tides. Hyzenthlay was so disappointed that she threw a hermit crab into the water. What did the crab ever do to her?! Still, Caerbannog tried to make the best of the situation and so she walked up to a very old quest board... at least it seemed like a quest board? Like the ones back in Sarum? And then she pinned a party request on it: “Need a partner for treasure hunt near Isle of Grain. Must not be allergic to rabbit.” Then the girl crossed her arms and waited beside the quest board, as did Hyzenthlay who mimicked her tamer’s posture.

[Reynard]

And he was back here by the riverside, again. Maybe cause it was familiar for him that Reynard decided to try and see if more treasure was here. He had a better idea than before on what to look for but doing the same method wasn’t going to be interesting anymore. So that’s why he decided to walk past the last area he searched for before moving closer to the fabled land bridge that only appeared during times. He wasn’t a fan of time dependent features in online games and it made spending his time online inefficient having to wait. Especially if the time equivalent in the real word was only a few minutes making it easy to miss. But who knows? Maybe Reynard would get lucky this time.


With his sword and wand sheathed, Reynard’s walk brought him to the spot he was told the land bridge would appear but didn’t see anything. Of course it was just his luck that he was at the place at the wrong time. However there was something in the area that did pique his interest. Close to area where the bridge was supposed to be was something out-of-place, unaffected by the elements and withstood the test of time. Oh, an oldie quest board was there as well.


Overlooking the other adventurer for now, Reynard was drawn to the posted party request on the board. The time stamp marked it was very recent and there didn’t seem to be a level requirement, meaning even Reynard’s pitiful state didn’t really matter. Plus he wasn’t allergic to rabbits… as far as he was aware of. He took the post to prevent others from signing up, thereby joining the party prepared by the requester. Reynard should be able to see the name and location of his new party-mate, and found her right beside the board. He had forgotten someone was there. He should probably introduce himself.


“Good day, Miss-” Reynard looked at the name written in the party window. “Ca-er-ban-nog.” He hoped he pronounced it correctly. The name sounded familiar. “Reynard seeking to join your quest.”

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Zankapfel der Zweite Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 515	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

The samurai and her enemic buster thought that they were super lucky that they did not have to wait long, for an adventurer soon appeared and it was a fox tail cleric to boot! Wait, fox tail... cleric... that reminded Hyzenthlay of THAT guy. There was THAT guy who was a miniature fox tail cleric with white hair and a katana, and THAT guy asked Caerbannog for help with his rod and then with his sword. Hyzen did not like THAT guy one bit, mainly because she wasn’t able to finish her fight with him; but Caer did not seem to mind THAT guy back then, and even took her time to help him learn to sword.

Now, the person who approached the pair was also a fox tail adventurer and had the healer class Cleric, but his hair was not a pure white color but a striking reddish one. He wasn’t vertically-challenged either, so the comparison with THAT guy ended with his race and main class. Oh wait, he also had a katana. Did all clerics use katanas? Caerbannog did not know, because she’d only ever seen three clerics. As the adventurer walked closer, Hyzenthlay decided not to bash his face in when Caer seemed to be ready to greet the young man, but she was overlooked. Instead of asking the one person who was waiting by the board, the cleric turned his full attention to the NPC-ish structure and read up the request. Oh well, soon enough the guy ended up in her party, so all Caerbannog did was shoot a look of disapproval at the dude named Reynard.

ಠ_ಠ

“Yoro-ne. Can you sword?” the samurai went straight to the point and nodded at the katana at the cleric’s side, “Can you swim?”

To the latter, if Reynard confirmed that he could then he was probably better at it than the wolf-hair. Since he was Level 1, he would have learned it in the real world. That, or he spent all his time after the Catastrophe just swimming on the Thames. Either way, if he could sword and swim, then the samurai had nothing to worry about. Hyzenthlay though did not like the cleric one bit... then again she never liked anyone aside from Caerbannog. The enemic buster hopped up to Reynard and stopped at his feet, and then she waved her bloodied club at the cleric. Hyzen shot a very rude （￣へ￣） ‘hmf’ look at the fox tail before Caer managed to grab the silver-furred creature and put it on her head like a bunny hat.

“Ah... she doesn’t like people... well, she doesn’t like anyone or anything,” the samurai explained before she headed towards the shallow waters of the river.

Still in her schoolgirl outfit, she could quickly equip her more appropriate armor later after all. Speaking of appropriate armor, she wondered if the Thames had different areas for various levels of aquatic creatures. Since she’d never swam into the waters around the Isle of Grain before, Caerbannog was slightly worried about the chances of engaging anything in the river.

[Reynard]

As he was not kicked form the party, Reynard deduced that he had pronounced Caerbannog’s name passingly. She did ask if “he could sword” which he took to mean if he was proficient with the katana on his hip. Also if he could swim to which he mentally groaned as it probably meant more swimming again. Still he gave a firm “Yes” to both her questions. He had no in-game skills to compliment his sword or swimming but his IRL skills should manage to a point. Judging from her class, a samurai, she was definitely had more advantages at using a katana with her complimentary skills.

While Caerbannog did not have any problems with Reynard, her bunny apparently did. He tried to look unaffected by the threatening visage of the bunny with a bloody club but his ears and tails betrayed him once more by folding down and tucking in respectively. He should really work on those appendages. Sensing his discomfort, Caerbannog grabbed the bunny saving Reynard from a staring contest with the animal. She tried to soothe him further by seeing that it wasn’t a personal hate from the bunny, it hated everything as well.

With that short explanation she started walking towards the river. Reynard followed the schoolgirl outfit wearing wolf hair but at a certain distance as the bloody club hadn’t been put away. He had a feeling the killer rabbit was just waiting for the opportunity if he came within striking range.

Hmmmm….

There was a connection starting to form in Reynard’s head regarding the rabbit but it wasn’t complete yet. He shoved that thought aside to concentrate on their plan… which he realized he had no idea what it was.

“If I may know, what is our strategy for this hunt Miss Caerbannog?”

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 505	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

Hyzenthlay kept her eyes on Reynard and waved her club at him menacingly. That is, until she realized that Caerbannog had already walked into the river. The enemic buster let out a sudden ‘eek!’ and then she scampered down onto her tamer’s shoulder, and promptly jumped off soon after. The silver-furred creature landed on the water and some of it splashed onto her face. Noticeably, it was slightly salty unlike the freshwater that she came across farther upstream. The Isle of Grain was an estuary after all, that place where the river meets the sea; protected from the cruelest of weathers by the land and sea formations around it, though made inaccessible by the whim of the tides.

The silver rabbit hurriedly hopped back towards dry land, but as always she would not leave her tamer unprotected. Hyzenthlay used her skill [Rabbit Repopulation] and summoned two Level 5 brown frenmic rabbits to do her bidding. She mentally ordered them to look after the samurai and to rip Reynard’s head off if he as much made the wolf-hair upset, something that the rabbits would follow to the letter for they were mindless drones of the enemic buster. The good thing about that was that Caer would be protected even if she used the Teacher System to synch her level down to Reynard’s; the bad thing about it was that the fox tail probably would not be able to defend against two murderous rabbits... three if Hyzenthlay was nearby.

“Strategy?” the samurai turned to look at the cleric and noted that Hyzen already summoned her slaves, “Stay alive.”

It was not a leveling party so she would not sync her level down, not unless the fox tail requested it for some odd reason. As far as Caerbannog was concerned, there was just that one thing to always keep in mind. And not that it would matter if they died anyway; they would just respawn at the Abbey. A tad bit inconvenient, but it made things less frightful. With that out of the way, the wolf-hair pulled up her inventory and equipped her armor Röte... if one could call it armor. A red-orange tailored bikini, it had at least twenty levels worth of defense and had been enchanted to increase movement speed.

“Only fishermen can dive to the furthest part... we stay near the riverbanks,” Caerbannog explained, “Unless you are fisherman?”

The samurai did not know exactly for how long she could hold her breath underwater, though last time it was well beyond thirty seconds. After the cleric’s reply to her last question, Caerbannog walked out farther from dry land until eventually, the water was deep enough for her to swim without kicking up a cloud of mud. Every now and then, she looked over her shoulder mostly to make sure that her party mate followed her, and also to make sure that Hyzen’s rabbits were not bullying him. So far, the frenmic bunnies had kept to themselves and swam close to the samurai, so Reynard was not in harm’s way yet.

[Reynard]

While Reynard was all for simplicity, the strategy given may could have used more details on it. It didn’t seem like his partymate was planning to say anything more and he was starting to get the feeling she was a girl of few words. At least the bunny had sort off left as they went into the banks some more. Sort off, because it did abandon ship and swam to shore as they went deeper but could apparently summon some familiars who had no problem swimming in the water. Hopefully being in the same party meant that they could not harm him but the fox-tail wasn’t planning on testing that theory just yet. For now he followed at a decent distance from the group which was just about right for a healer.

He wished he had for funds to get some equips as his partymate was lucky enough to have some bikini-shaped swimming gear. Reynard would refrain on commenting on it as he didn’t have that kind of preference. The bikini meant more water hunting again which meant another dip into the river. At least he had an idea what to look for this time.

“Apologies, I do not have a fisherman sub-class.”

Despite his previous denial, it was still an appreciative sight to follow behind and may have prevented him from actually looking for treasure right away. He did remember to keep a good distance between himself and the killer rabbits and swore he could still feel the glare of the silver rabbit at the shore. It felt like he had a target painted on his back and was just waiting for the proverbial arrow to hit him. For now he had a higher chance of being mauled to death by his “partymates” than from actual wild monsters.

Speaking of monsters, Reynard finally remembered to activate his Battle Perception. He breathed a sigh of relief since the summons names remained party member green. Now back to looking for treasure.

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 375	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

As far as Caerbannog could see, the area surrounding the Isle of Grain was just about the same level as the areas upstream, except for the waterways which ran into the deepest parts of the marshlands. She was soon able to dive beneath the water’s surface, and harmless schools of fish greeted her along with some underwater plant life. The water itself had a different feel to it though and when she ducked beneath the surface, a bit of the liquid got into the girl’s mouth; it was salty and not fresh unlike the water in the area where she last searched for treasure. Consequently, it was difficult to keep her eyes open at first but soon her sight adjusted to the difference and the sting slowly faded away. The frenmic rabbits seemed unaffected though... maybe it was a summon thing, to be able to adapt to almost anything that came their way.

Once she was able to look around her, Caerbannog checked the map on her interface to make sure that Reynard was still nearby. His health bar was also full so the other adventurer did not seem to be in any danger. Up ahead, the riverbed rolled towards deeper areas, places that the samurai knew to avoid for she knew that she could not hold her breath for too long. Instead, the girl headed towards where the land bridge supposedly was. Using telepathic chat for their party, the samurai called for the cleric’s attention.

--Let’s check land bridge,-- she began, --Since it is submerged at times, ships and boats would have been run aground by it.--

The samurai could only see a limited area around her and so the frenmic rabbits kept watch on both sides as they swam towards the submerged bridge. Overhead, two coastal seagulls caught glimpse of a bright red fluffy thing that was heading for the water: Reynard’s full head of hair. Though they knew that it was not edible, the seagulls of Elder Tale were just as annoying as seagulls in the real world. They decided to see who will first be able to grab a bunch of the red strands from the adventurer.

“MINE! MINE!” both seagulls squawked as they aimed and dove towards the cleric’s hair.

[Reynard]

HP: 91%
MP: 97%?

He didn’t have much luck this time, unlike before, in finding treasure without swimming in the river. The water here felt different. During the odd times he got splashed in the face he would notice the salty taste of the water compared to the normal riverbed. This was probably the place where the river met sea. The fox-tail couldn’t remember what it was called as geography wasn’t his best subject. It would be interesting to come back here to swim as this was something you could just go to normally. Speaking of swimming, his party member spent a good while swimming while searching. He had lost track of her while she was underwater.

Seeing as they were party members, Reynard could check her location on the minimap despite being underwater. He opened the map… and was surprised to see it more detailed than before. Place he hadn’t been to before had the “fog” lifted of them. This was due to wolf-hair being more traveled than he was. This would help in the future. When he had finally spotted the icon of his party member, there was a voice in his head that sounded similar to the wolf-hair.

“Let’s check land bridge, Since it is submerged at times, ships and boats would have been run aground by it.:"
This was relayed to him by party telepathy, which made him wonder why she didn’t just call out to him. They didn’t seem that far apart so she probably wanted to make sure she got his attention. Sensing a voiced reply was not required, Reynard followed Caerbannog’s lead towards the mentioned land-bridge. It was a smart place to look for buried treasure although the reasoning why was a bit morbid.

Of course, a treasure hunt wouldn’t be complete without a monster attack which was why there were two seagulls proceeding to dive bomb the Red-headed Fox Tail. Normally, Battle Perception would have allowed Reynard to notice the two but it wouldn’t work if the monsters weren’t in his line of vision and Reynard rarely looked up when searching for buried treasure. Maybe if he still had his mini-map on he would have noticed the approaching monster. Sadly that meant the attack came without warning for Reynard.

Both seagulls had aimed for his head causing him to stumble in the water but his own honed skills in martial arts allowed him to prevent himself from unceremoniously face planting in the water again. Okay he was annoyed now. He could understand the rabbit wanting to protect her master but he hadn’t done anything at all!

“Okay you little-”

Reynard had planned to turn around and rant at the rabbit but two names and health bars were hovering over him. It was not the evil bunny that had attacked him but two seagull monsters around his level. With them in his view and already having been targeted, he could track them properly. Reynard quickly unsheathed his sword with his right hand and while his other hand contained the wand. His opponents were airborne monsters and more annoying to fight as they had more mobility. Checking his HP, Reynard discovered that the preemptive strike had managed to eat a 10th of it, a decent amount.

Since the attack was most likely going to come from the air, Reynard raised his right hand a fist away from his forehead with the blade tilted 45 degrees to left and back while his wand in front of him. His right foot was forward with his left foot ready to propel him forward to attack. It was a high-stance in and would be much more suited to countering the flying targets. While waiting for the next attack, Reynard casted Reactive Heal on himself. It wouldn’t restore his missing HP but at least the next attack could be mitigated. An orange glow manifested on Reynard showing the skill taking effect. The seagulls took this as a sign to attack and proceeded to sky dive him again.

Targeting the first one to attack, Reynard brought his sword down to intercept the attack. He was rewarded with the sword slicing part of the seagull but not killing it right away. The other one he wasn’t able to intercept with an attack but tried to defend with his wand arm. He received damage but his Reactive Heal activating allowing him to cancel the damage and even heal some of the previous damage. This was thanks to his plate armor being one of the higher defense stat armors and his healing stat. The downside was his attack stat wasn’t that great as evidenced by the seagull he managed to hit still having just barely below 50% HP. Proper attacking classes might have killed it with that single hit already.

Knowing his disadvantage, Reynard and called out to direction of his partymate. The rabbits showed were she was and she wasn’t submerged underwater so she might be able to hear him properly.

“I am being attacked by monsters! Require Assistance.”

His Reactive Heal wasn’t finished cooling down yet which would leave him unable to mitigate the next attack.
Some help would be nice.

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 95% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 735	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature | Quick Swap | Samurai's Challenge (C1) | Rapid Shot

One seagull.

Two seagull.

Three.

Four.

FIVE COASTAL SEAGULLS.

This is why you don’t try to retaliate when seagulls attack you. This is why most other creatures, though much higher-leveled than coastal seagulls, avoided the buggers. They had always been horrible bullies that relied on their numbers, and when Reynard hit the first one with his attack, the bloody avian immediately called for reinforcements. Apart from the cleric’s girly scream, Caer’s frenmic rabbits also warned her of impending danger. Not that they cared about whatever happened to the cleric; they merely warned the samurai to keep -her- out of trouble. But oh, the land bridge was so close... go back to help Reynard or swim forward towards the area of the land bridge? The answer was simple: land bridge. Duh.

The samurai looked momentarily at Reynard and his attackers, and then she turned back towards the submerged land bridge. Caer dove beneath the water’s surface again but this time, unlike earlier, she did not immediately rise up to the surface again. Reynard was on his own, apparently. At the riverbanks, there was no way that Hyzen would want to get involved with a fight against gulls, and so she ran away from the Thames and ducked behind some sturdy fallen trees. No sky dives on her, please.

But no, really, Caerbannog merely looked for a high point on the submerged land bridge, something that she could use as a platform to put at least her upper body above the Thames. Hopefully, the cleric was able to hang on until then. Once she found a sufficient foothold, the samurai heaved herself up onto it and rose above the water. She planted her feet firmly on a tall protrusion of the land bridge which put about half of her, up to her waist, above the river’s surface. At that point, she only had her iron chain equipped with her nagamaki kept away and her bow on the quick swap slot. Caerbannog put her left foot forward and was turned slightly to her right side.

--Dive into the river when I flip them off,-- she telepathically said to her party member.

The samurai then pointed her left fist up at the flock of five bullying seagulls.

“SOME GULLS CAME ACROSS A SAMURAI...” Caerbannog yelled at the coastal seagulls which turned their heads to her direction, curious about the adventurer who knew their speech, “...AND THEN THEY DIED.”

The wolf-hair’s eyes flashed to a golden color, and then she flipped her middle finger up at the seagulls whose attention she’d just capture. The girl didn’t just intend for them to look at her, but to attack her and so the irony of flipping the bird to a bird was not merely a pun gone wrong. It was her [Samurai’s Challenge] which drew the seagulls’ ire away from the cleric and towards her instead.

“DIE! DIE!” the coastal seagulls parroted as they flew towards the samurai and prepared to Sky Dive on her.

Without moving her arm down though, Caerbannog swapped out her chain equip for and swapped in her black bow Notthrafn. Its slender body appeared on her outstretched left arm and then with her right hand, she loaded the bow and pulled the string. With the seagulls flying towards her, it was less of a challenge to aim for their faces. She let one arrow fly and shot the first gull out of the air. She let the flock close in a little and then she used [Rapid Shot] to strike two seagulls out. The rest were able to Sky Dive successfully and one even hit Caerbannog squarely on the face, but instead of the girl flinching back from a mere 1HP damage, the coastal seagull broke its neck upon impact and died. The last one tried to swerve away from the formidable opponent, but Caer merely struck it out of the air with her black bow and between the strength of the strike and the sudden break against the river’s surface, she broke the gull’s body in three places.

--Okay, treasure time?-- the samurai asked the cleric as she remained on her spot on the land bridge.

The frenmic rabbits merely stuck their tongues out and tried to lick the sparkly data that the dead seagulls left as their heads bobbed on the river’s surface; the rest of their fluffy bodies still submerged in the water.

[Reynard]

Having to fight two seagulls might be doable for Reynard. It might have been slow but still doable. Five at a time on the other hand, was pushing it. After he had retaliated against the second attack of the two seagulls, the fox-tail groaned as three more health bars popped-up in his field of vision. It had skipped his minds why coastal seagulls were annoying to handle. Like rats on wings, they multiplied quickly and threatened to overwhelm you unless you had high damaging attacks or were over-leveled compared to them; both of which Reynard was not. It was a choice of ignoring the attacks which would mean still losing HP or attack them and fight more spawns. A definite lose-lose situation in the cleric’s book.

With his plead for help seemingly ignored for now, Reynard had to find a way to survive this encounter least he want to try and find out what respawning felt like. Best plan for him right now was to try and regroup with his other partymate. Hopefully the reason she wasn’t responding was because she was still underwater. He had to bring up the mini-map and locate the party member on it before he could start moving. Opening the map wasn’t a free action after all and the seagulls were free to sky dive him once more. The first one managed to clip him on the shoulder even when Reynard tried to dodge. Being low leveled sucked as his skills felt a bit below his normal self. Since dodging might be harder to do, defense was his next best bet.

He brought his sword back down to a neutral stance for easy switching between attacking and defending. The next two attacks were blocked by his sword causing his HP bar to drop some more. The third one he attacked and was able to successfully bring its health down but like the first one, didn’t kill it outright. Using the momentum of his first attack, the fox-tail used a horizontal slash to deal with the last seagull. It was only after the last strike did he finally get some affirmation that his request for help had been heard.

"Dive into the river when I flip them off,"

Flip them off? Is that an attack?

“SOME GULLS CAME ACROSS A SAMURAI...”

Reynard wasted no time and jumped into the river but not before seeing exactly what “flipping them off” really meant.

"...AND THEN THEY DIED.”

Which in truth they did, and Caerbannog made it look so deceptively easy as well. He definitely needed to level up some more.

"Okay, treasure time?"
Ignoring the sight of rabbits trying to feed on the corpses of the seagulls, Reynard could only nod in response and follow the samurai’s lead. He should probably stay closer so that those kinds of attacks wouldn’t happen again. Death by rabbit would be something he’ll just have to risk. At least the submerged land bridge allowed for better wading in the water. Time to search for treasure again.

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 250	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

As the last ones of the attacking gulls vanished forever into the ether, Caerbannog looked over to the party list to check if Reynard was fine. It seemed that his HP bar lost some color, but he’ll live. Once he came into view, the samurai gestured to the cleric to swim over to where she stood. She then swapped her chain and bow leaving the heavy iron Notthoggr around her right arm again. It was a bit cumbersome to swim with when she dove into the river again, but it was a weapon that was easier to manage underwater if compared to a sword or to a bow.

--Watch out for young Sahaugins,-- she warned her adventuring companion as she dove deeper towards the river bed.

The bottom of the land bridge soon came into view, and as expected there was some wreckage in that area. Piles of wood and steel dotted the ground below her feet as she stopped her dive. The frenmic rabbits went over to her side as Caer estimated how long it would take her to swim back up to the water’s surface. By herself she wouldn’t be able to make it if the haul was sufficiently large, but with the rabbits with her and the other adventurer too, maybe they could pull up a large chest or one of those invaluable old urns.

--Mind your distance from the surface,-- the girl warned the cleric, and then she proceeded to dive towards the wreckage.

[Reynard]

This was the first time, in both his lives, Reynard went diving for treasure. First time he bothered diving to look for anything underwater. Despite the inherent weirdness of arriving into this world, the exciting thing about coming here was that he could do things that would normally be impossible to do or would take a lot of money. Off course the possibility of being attacked by monsters and dying was always present here but so was in the other world. It would be a shame if Reynard let that fear hinder him from doing new stuff. Even something as simple as diving a wrecked ship.

The ship they spotted was probably a simple sailing vessel until it got stranded after hitting the submerged land bridge, as his partymate predicted. Wood and steel were scattered along the bank all in various states of decay. Somewhere down there was a treasure chest just waiting to be found. Reynard was a bit optimistic as he was in an archeologist mood, wondering what he might find in an old relic. Hopefully it was an item and not some underground monster they had to fight. He had always hated underwater battling as most games couldn’t make a passable control system for fighting submerged. It was going to be a pain if he had to discover a good method to do it on-the-fly.

Reynard checked his Battle Perception was on as it had a tendency to disappear after encounters. It wouldn’t detect hidden monsters or those not in his field of vision as he learned earlier, but it still his best bet in preventing an ambush. Also he decided to stick as close as possible to the bikini-clad samurai without offending the swimming rabbits, which by the way, he still couldn’t believe he would actually see such a sight.

“Mind your distance from the surface” his partymate warned him before diving down to wreckage.

“I understand.” Reynard answered back whether or not Caer could still hear it or not.

After taking a deep breath, the fox-tail followed the wolf-hair to the wreckage. Thankfully the sun was still out so some sunlight managed to reach the ship allowing the two to see properly. Reynard followed the three swimming figures in front of him staying close to not get lost. The last thing he wanted to do was die due to drowning… it would be bad.

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 295	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

Basically cannon fodder, the frenmic rabbits dove ahead of the samurai Caerbannog. Their priority was to keep her safe and if she was not in any danger, they were to assist her. It was a rather peculiar objective for two Level 5 rabbits since the tamer was way above their levels, but Hyzenthlay’s directives were absolute no matter how ludicrous it sounded. Still, the rabbits were cautious for they were of no use to Caerbannog if they were dead. Just as the frenmic rabbits approached the wreckage, two young Sahaugins emerged from behind some fallen sails; they looked momentarily at the rabbits but thought them harmless enough to be ignored. Caerbannog stopped in place and did not dive further, and also was ignored by the Sahaugins. The mer-like creatures proceeded to chase down a school of fish, perhaps a hunt for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and soon swam away from the wreckage.

Once the young Sahaugins were out of view, Caerbannog looked towards Reynard and motioned for him to dive again. The samurai also went on towards their destination as the frenmic rabbits resumed their dive. The ruined ship, unfortunately, was much too stuck together for adventurers to explore it. The rabbits had no problem squeezing in between the cracks though, and soon one of them motioned urgently at a fallen sail. The samurai swam over to it and with the help of the rabbits, she began to pull the heavy cloth sail off of some piles of wood. It would certainly be done over with faster if the cleric helped them, after which a treasure chest would be revealed to the group. A peculiar thing about the chest though was the fact that bubbles escaped from the lock. Could there be something alive inside... or...

[Reynard]

Searching underwater was a bit harder than looking for treasure at land. Things were murky and there was so much junk everywhere that it would be hard to distinguish anything worthwhile from the litter. Reynard wondered if they would be able to explore the wreck itself, but without any useful diving gear, mechanical or magical, it would be an impossible task. The wreck was still mostly intact and the only way to get in at the moment would be through minor holes not big enough for people to use. They did have the swimming bunnies so maybe they could search the place?

It came to the Reynard’s attention that Caerbannog had stopped swimming and could see why. HP bars popped out of Sahaugins coming out from behind the sails. Warning while his head was underwater was something he hadn’t thought off yet but Caerbannog had noticed the monster already so the forewarning was a bit late this time. Reynard positioned himself with Caerbannog in-between him and the monsters. He tried to stay out-of-sight and out-of-range as much as possible but at least he had the tank between the healer and monsters. After a few seconds, the monster left and the party could continue with their search.

One of the rabbits had spotted something, pointing to a fallen sail. Caerbannog started digging through the wood trusting in her summons. Reynard swam over to help move the sail which was a good idea as there some more wood that needed moving. The two of them made short work of the rubble revealing an oddly familiar treasure chest to the party. Strange was the fact it was continuously emitting bubbles, which had a certain foreboding to it. Reynard gestured with an open palm pointing towards the chest to Caerbannog. It was a: “Go ahead and be the one to open it as I am not touching the suspicious chest” motion.


To be on the safe side, Reynard's hands hovered over his weapons. 

[Deleted]

	HP 98% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 365	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

The samurai and the cleric made short work of the debris that rested over a spot to which the rabbits pointed at. The fuzzy brown creatures did not know any better, never having been into the water until recently. And neither they nor their summoner Hyzenthlay did not know about the creatures that dwelled within the River Thames. The bubbles that the treasure chest emitted should have been a fair warning, and indeed some red flags popped up in Caerbannog’s mind. A chest that blew bubbles or exhibited some sort of strange ‘behaviour’ should not be meddled with, or so the samurai should have thought. But curiosity overcame her mind, and the fact that the treasure chest sat upon two smaller gold-decorated wooden chests did not help. If she could pull the large treasure chest off of the other two, then they would end up with three! -was what the samurai thought.

Caerbannog swam towards the bubbling treasure chest, but as soon as she reached out to grab it, the lid opened up and revealed the unmistakable fangs of a mimic. It was a Level10 one to boot, and would have been able to snap the rabbits in half with one bite. The mimic snapped at Caerbannog’s arm which fortunately had her iron chain Nótthöggr around it. That prevented the creature from digging into her flesh. The samurai swam back with the mimic in tow as it tried to bite her arm off to no avail. She almost yelled out in surprise, but was able to put her left hand over her mouth quickly. As the girl swam away from the harmless, smaller treasure chests, she pointed at it with her free hand.

--Grab it and go!-- was her telepathic call to Reynard.

The frenmic rabbits were hesitant, torn between helping the samurai or grabbing the chests when she pointed at them. But the mimic’s level made them lean towards the latter, knowing that the much higher-leveled samurai could do a better job at keeping the monster busy. And so the rabbits grabbed one of the smaller chests and waited for the cleric to grab the other, and afterwards they could swim towards the river’s surface.

[Reynard]

It looked like his prediction was coming true as the chest did not remain a chest; because that would have been too easy again… Reynard felt he was becoming to cynic now and should start looking at the bright side of things again. Like the fact there were two treasure chests underneath the mimic’s position, which was cool, as it meant less time looking for more treasure. But it with Caerbannog busy with the mimic chewing on her arm, how would Reynard carry both right away? There was a possibility of another surprise as well even if both chests weren’t expelling air.

A telepathic call was received from the samurai telling him to grab a chest and go while she was keeping the monster busy. With the extreme level gap between her and the monster, Reynard doubted he could help effectively even to cast a simple healing spell unless he wanted to inadvertently get the aggro of the monster. The last mimic he encountered was barely half of the level of the current one and it would kill him in one shot if he got its attention. With a bit of regret in not being able to join the fight, the cleric swam toward the treasure chest following the lead of the two rabbits. The chest wasn’t stuck in the ship plus was easier to carry underwater. It was bit difficult to properly propel himself with only one hand free but oxygen-deprivation was a good motivator.

Breaking the surface was a welcome breath of fresh air for Reynard allowing him to take in his surroundings and the status of his party. Caerbannog wasn’t having a hard time with the mimic despite it chewing on her arm for the duration of the trip. With his own arm busy occupied, Reynard could only reach for one his weapons and chose the wand for now.

“I have one of the chests. Ready to swim back to shore.”

Reynard would wait for the Caerbannog’s plans which hopefully involved swimming back to shore instead of trying to deal with the monster while floating in the river. Speaking of which, where did the two bunnies go off to?

[Deleted]

	HP 94% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 300	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

The frenmic rabbits carried their treasure chest up to the river’s surface, and then they looked around for the other treasure carrier, the cleric Reynard. Once they noticed that he was partially out of the depths of the river, the rabbits left him to his own devices and they swam towards the shore. Hyzenthlay had a very worried look on her puffy face, partially wary of the coastal seagulls but more so, she was worried about her tamer who was still underwater. The samurai did not send any more telepathic calls either, and soon the enemic buster paced on the riverside, visibly unnerved by the lack of communication from Caerbannog. Despite that, Hyzen still helped her summons to pull the treasure chest onto land when the rabbits swam close enough to shallow waters. She wasn’t going to touch the cleric even with a meter stick though, and so only her fluffy brown rabbit summons offered to help Reynard when he came close to the riverside.

Beneath the dark waters of the River Thames, Caerbannog struggled with her opponent mostly because she was losing air. She couldn’t really cut or shoot the enemy, and so the girl did what she could do best: the samurai punched the mimic’s face with her left hand. Still, the creature refused to let go of her arm even as a sizable chunk of its HP was taken by the punch. It merely growled and continued its attempt, and soon Caerbannog grew tired of her enemy. She hit the mimic against a solid rock near the wreckage, and so the creature had to let go of the girl’s arm. Afterwards, she swam towards and surface and when she broke through for a gulp of fresh air, Caer yelled towards her companions.

“I’M OKAY!” exclaimed the wolf hair.

[Reynard]

Still no sign of Caerbannog above water and Reynard was getting a bit worried. A level 10 monster vs a level 80+ samurai shouldn’t have a unknown outcome. But weirder things have happened as attested by this world and drowning did not differentiate between levels. Reynard stayed in the water, putting off getting to shore so he could assist faster. He took a deep breath and stuck his head underwater and found his partymate still struggling with the mimic, up until she had enough if it and gave it a good punch taking out a good portion of its HP but was unsuccessful in freeing her arm.

Reynard felt something swimming close to him due to the water’s movement and for a moment feared being attacked by a monster he wasn’t able to watch out for. It was to his… relief(?) that it was just the bunnies of the samurai. He assumed they were rushing off to help their summoner but was surprised when they instead headed to him to help him with his treasure chest. A quick check at their information data reminded him that they were lower level than the mimic which was why they were most likely ordered to help him instead.

“Take this back to shore.”

He wasn’t sure if the summons could understand him or even if they would obey his request but Reynard still handed over the treasure chest to them before turning back to where he last spotted Caerbannog. Finding her again was a lot easier as she popped up right in front of him, gasping for breath and shouted her status for him to hear. He winced at the loudness, being close to her but was relieved she was back above the surface. However, Reynard noticed a hostile enemy bar approaching Caerbannog from behind and was quick to identify it as the mimic, like a Jaws sequel, coming back for vengeance.

“IT IS STILL BEHIND YOU!”

As there was no way Reynard could attack the mimic or be able to pull Caerbannog away from the revenge of the mimic, the only thing he could do was cast a simple Reactive Heal on the samurai hoping it might do some good. It would be a long time before Reynard realized that he had been able to perform this feat of Magic by action, voicing the command only in his head.

[Deleted]

	HP 100% Regen 5HP every 5s MP 100% Regen 3MP every 5s	Caerbannog :: Level 89 :: Samurai :: Aeryn Armor: Röte Main Weapon: Nótthöggr (Night Striker) and Black Star Quick Slot: Nótthrafn (Night Raven) Pet: Hyzenthlay
WC: 300	Tags: Reynard	Skills: Tongue of Nature

Though they were puzzled as to why the cleric did not step out of the river yet, the frenmic rabbits towed the treasure chest over to Hyzenthlay as she commanded. They did not think that the cleric would go back to try and help the wolf-hair, and she did not seem to need any help either. Caerbannog had gone up and broke through the river’s surface so all seemed well, that is until Reynard screamed like a little girl. Unaccustomed to fighting in the water, the samurai was not able to react quickly enough to the impending danger.

The wolf-hair was dragged below the water’s surface again when the mimic caught up to her, latched onto her left leg and pulled her down. How did the thing even swim? By a miracle of Elder Tale, perhaps. Regardless, it pissed Caerbannog off and it did not help that she swallowed a mouthful of the unpleasant, salty liquid that was all over her body already. So instead of kicking the mimic off of her, Caerbannog grabbed the two halves of the creature. Using her strength, she pried the thing apart until it let her leg go, but she did not stop there. The samurai continued to pull the two halves of the mimic apart until it was snapped into two broken parts, and soon was no more. A trickle of exp and gold went to her inventory and to Reynard’s as well, as soon as the creature died and the credit for its kill was given to their party.

“PAH! Annoying!” exclaimed Caerbannog when she broke through the surface and took a few deep breaths.

The samurai then swam towards the riverside and motioned for the cleric to follow. They could wrap up their hunt soon, if Reynard did not need her assistance for anything else.

[Reynard]

While his warning gave enough time for Caerbannog to turn around and spot the mimic’s attack again, dodging was another matter entirely in the water. Even Reynard was too slow as he tried to catch his partymate with his free hand; mostly because he had prioritized casting instead of physically helping the samurai with the mimic. Taking a deep breath, Reynard dove again underwater using the still visible HP bars as a guide. It seemed his help was unnecessary as the samurai had no problems removing the parasite with both hand free this time. In fact, she had gone one step further than prying open the jaws to free her leg and ripped the thing in half, effectively killing it.

Reynard watch as one of the HP bars disappeared along with a shower of pixels, gold and loot. That scene would have been more traumatic if it was done on any other creature but a mimic. Instead it was highly appropriate to kill a fake treasure chest by opening it. With Caerbannog swimming to shore, it was common sense for Reynard to follow. She wasn’t the only one annoyed about staying too long in the water. Getting back on dry land was a god-send but unlike the bikini-clad tank, Reynard was in full gear making him feel heavier with all the water his clothes had absorbed.

Once they reached near the treasures, Reynard opted to stay a bit further from the still hostile rabbit for his own safety. Plus he was planning to remove his outer layer of armor and didn’t want his actions to be misinterpreted. It was amusing that he could remove part of his armor and leave the underclothing which would be impossible in the game. If he did it the old fashioned way he would be left in his underwear.

“Excuse me. Need to rest”

He gave a verbal warning about what he was about to do as it was only polite. Even after removing majority of his outer armor, Reynard realized he still had one more thing to wring out: his tail. It looked smaller wet when the fur wasn’t all bushy and seemed to be able to hold a lot of water when he started wringing it out. He couldn’t get all the water out as squeezing his tale did hurt if he did it too much. After getting all out all the water he could, the cleric decided to sit down to rest from the ordeal. He may not have done a lot compared to the samurai but swimming underwater for treasure was exhausting for a lower level player. Caerbannog might have an easier time with higher stamina and stats.

Checking his partymate’s status screen to confirm her level again, something caught Reynard’s attention: “Aeryn”. If he was reading it properly, “Aeryn” would be the guild Caerbannog was in. Wondering why it was familiar, Reynard opened his friends’ list to see if that could help. Indeed it did as aside from one person, two people were also registered under the Guild: Aeryn. Now meeting different people in the same guild wasn’t surprising but Reynard believed in the saying: once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and three is a pattern. Suddenly Reynard felt very naked without his armor on.