“Will do, sir,” the man snapped a salute before turning his eyes back to the lake.
Once Alburet and Stacia had passed through the gates, the other guard leaned over to the first, “You thinking of trying to join them when your term is up?”
“They got a Royal Charter,” the first one replied. “How many have done that? Rumor is he’s a good guy. Down to earth, not like all them hoity-toity nobles. What’re our choices if we don’t reenlist? Not many, is it?”
The rest of the conversation was lost as they walked into the keep. Alburet’s face was thoughtful as he considered what he’d heard. Stacia glanced at him with a smile, knowing he was thinking about other Alpha Worlders asking to join the guild.
“We should,” Stacia said softly, “iffin they ask. Ya can check with Captain Roberto. Iffin there be no issue, then we should allow them the chance.”
“You’re right,” Alburet agreed with her. “We shall see if anything comes of it. I’ve been noticing, the guards always seem to be five levels above the monsters in the area. Is that the way it goes all the way up to the Dead Lands?”
“Aye. Guards sign up for five years at a go. They serve a year at a time in each fort, then they be shifted to the next one they be the right level for. It can take some time, dependin’ on how restless the monsters in any area be. Most times, guards will reach one of these areas before their first term be up. Then they decide iffen they want ta reenlist.”
Alburet looked at her in surprise, “How do you know all that?”
“Guards be visitin’ the inn from time to time. Some of them like ta talk.” Stacia grinned at Alburet.
The inside of this fort was like all the others they had been in so far. A very large, dark-skinned man with a shaved head sat behind the sergeant’s desk. He looked vaguely familiar to Alburet. When they reached the desk, Alburet came to attention and snapped a salute to the sergeant. “Sergeant, the men outside said you wished to speak with Alpha Company.”
The sergeant sat back in his chair, looking up at Alburet with a broad grin, “Yes, indeed. I was hoping you’d show up out here.” He looked Alburet and Stacia over. “I’m Sergeant John ‘Granite’ Dwayneson, chief Sergeant here at Lang Fort. It is a pleasure to meet you, Alburet Two-souled. I hear that you’ve really been going out of your way to help us out. There’s even a pool going about which area you’d pick next. I’m glad to see you decided that Lang Lake was the choice.”
“Actually, sir,” Alburet interrupted, “we went to the Webbed Wood first and found that the spiders were a bit tough to face with that poison they have, since at this level we have no way to get rid of it. So we decided we should try here, instead.”
The Sergeant grimaced, “Well, hell. That means I lost the pool. How well did you guys do in the Webbed Wood before you pulled out?”
“We killed the Widows and Trappers we were asked to. We didn’t see any of the Mutated and we weren’t going anyway near the Spider Queen at this level.”
“You just scratched the surface of the woods, then. Well. You’ll find the Langistors are mostly clustered into groups along the edge of the lake. Solo Runners move between the groups pretty regularly. Their eyes aren’t great, it’s possible to pick off the Runners between groups. The groups themselves are usually a Brute, two Water Weavers and two Clackers. Out in the middle of the lake in that old fort is where their Queen lives. I got no doubt you and your group will be able to handle yourselves out there. You want the quests now, or wait for the rest of your group?”
“We’ll wait, sir,” Alburet advised the sergeant.
“No need to wait, we’re here,” Gerald called out as he led the others into the main room.
“Very well,” Sergeant Dwayneson, said returning the salutes from the new arrivals. “Go out and kill me thirty Runners, ten Brutes, twenty Water Weavers, and twenty Clackers. I’ll also give you the task of killing off the current Queen at the old fort. We have a portal mage that can send you to the island when you’re ready to tackle that one.”
Quest: Kill ten Langistor Brutes
Reward: Fifty gold and increased reputation with all Stormguard factions
Quest: Kill thirty Langistor Runners
Reward: Fifty gold and increased reputation with all Stormguard factions
Quest: Kill twenty Langistor Water Weavers
Reward: Fifty gold and increased reputation with all Stormguard factions
Quest: Kill twenty Langistor Clackers
Reward: Fifty gold and increased reputation with all Stormguard factions
Quest: Kill the Langistor Queen at the abandoned fort
Reward: One hundred gold, increased reputation with all Stormguard factions and an Item from the Quartermaster
“If you get any Langistor meat, I’ll gladly take it off your hands. I make some mighty good stew with it. I’ll even give you a bowl. Once you smell what Sergeant Granite cooks, you’ll know a good meal.”
Marysue went a little pale while the Sergeant talked about cooking and eating the Langistors. Alburet nodded, though, “We’ll see what we can arrange, sir. If that’s all, we’ll head on out.”
The group gave the sergeant a return salute before they left the fort. “Anyone know what these guys are liable to have as attacks?”
“Brute are the tanks, they have a taunt, an interrupt and a stun,” Fluffball said softly.
“A taunt?” Alburet asked puzzled. “How does that work?”
“Any damage you do to any other mob will only be at 10% effectiveness. It doesn’t make you target them like it does the mobs, but it does make it useless to attack anything else,” Karen replied before Fluff could.
“Huh. Interesting mechanic,” Alburet mumbled.
“The Clackers do bleed damage and can attempt to pin you in place with their claws. If you don’t get free you take increasing damage and the bleed starts stacking. Water Weavers are healers for the others, along with having a damage mitigation buff for their allies,” Fluff finished.
“Okay. Sounds like we should be fine if Stacia can control them with Ally or Daze,” Alburet concluded.
“If not, there’s one more choice for zones at this level,” Gerald added. “It isn’t a favorite due to the cold. The Snowblind Hills have mobs that look like stunted yetis, a lot more humanoid than these guys.”
“Oh, I remember them,” Marysue added as they went by the gate guards. “They looked like white furred dwarves.”
One of the guards snorted at her description, shaking his head as he held back his laughter. “Snowblind Yetis could be described that way,” the guard added in a choked voice.
“Maybe we should swing by in the next few days just to see them and pick up the easy quests for the area.” Alburet paused, “Why haven’t we been jumping zones and getting the easy quests for each of the three zones in our level range, anyway?” He summoned Bob and Tiny, then Copied Stacia as they walked.
“It’s just easier to get into a groove than it is to change up mobs,” Gerald replied. “We can do that if you want, though. If we do, we should drop back down a tier and do the other zones we bypassed as well. Maybe get those dungeons knocked out at the same time.”
“I’m fine with that,” Karen added. “The quest XP is nice, and if we can clear out the dungeons while we’re at it, then that would be a bonus, right?”
“We should do it. The guild has been getting achievements for clearing dungeons with a guild group. The reputation bonus isn’t much from the achievement, but if we do them all then our base reputation should be really nice. It might give us a nice extra perk and be a good recruiting point for later testing phases,” Marysue said.