Chronicles of the True Wizard

About halfway through the forest, Felix had to make a detour of a few kilometers to avoid grabbing the attention of a world boss. He almost ran right into it but luckily he pulled up his map and saw the icon fast enough to divert himself. He stealthily walked by, just close enough to identify it.

[E - Special] Royal Elk (Lvl 86)

Thank System I saw the icon and didn't just run into that thing. Not sure how I'm gonna fight that, it definitely has the advantage in the forest, despite it's size. Maybe I drag it out? Or just burn the whole thing down, that seems kind of evil though.

Felix continued to head north, only slightly diverted by the Elk. The rest of the journey through the forest was an uneventful hour or so. He caught a brief glimpse of the town near the elk, the one that wasn't permitting even visitors. As far as he could tell, the entire town was made up of a single long wooden hut.

Further north, the forest ended abruptly with the trees as thick as ever, creating the semblance of a wall. Almost as if the forest had been cut right in the middle, rather than a natural transition between the biomes. Past the forest lay a desert to the north. To the west, there was a mountain range, similar to the one north of Tri-Peak Valley. Felix suspected they may be one in the same but hadn't revealed enough of his map to confirm one way or the other. Opening his map, which he was doing much more frequently after the Elk incident, Felix spotted another world boss icon he would need to run around.

I am not looking forward to running through the sand.

Running through the desert, Felix didn't need to approach the world boss at all because it was far enough from his path, and decided against doing so. He saw, from a great distance, a massive worm jumping out of the sand to catch a bird flying above it.

If that's not the world boss, then I don't think I can fight anything here.

Felix detoured far away from it, just to be safe, and managed to catch a glimpse of another fort that didn't allow anyone to enter, to the east. It appeared to be built around an oasis though he couldn't tell much else from this distance.

Maybe they have a limited water supply. Although you can just buy water from the marketplace nodes…

Felix ran through the desert and actually encountered some higher level enemies, though not high enough for Felix to bother with. Some human sized scorpions, hyenas, coyotes, snakes, birds and foxes. They were all about level 30, so he mostly just kept running even if they tried to fight him. None of them chased him for very long anyways. He was surprised he was able to see them all so well, considering it was the middle of the night. Through a combination of the perfectly clear night sky, bright full moon and Felix's high perception, he found it only negligibly difficult to see.

Felix finally found to the dungeon, which would have been almost impossible to find without the map icon. It was almost buried in sand, in the middle of the desert, at the bottom of a large dune. Felix waded through the sand and into the hole, placing his hand on the door.

Quest Dungeon B

You have found a dungeon. Would you like to enter?

Yes

No

Another Quest dungeon, bummer. Hopefully I get another gem though. Yes.

Quest Dungeon B

Refugees are struggling for survival in the ancient ruins to the north east.

(1/5) Figure out what happened

Shorter than the last one. Hopefully there's no artificial wait timer on this one. Actually, I probably could have figured out the last one without waiting. It was just easier to wait. I wonder if I was supposed to- or rather if most people wait in that one.

Felix ruminated over alternative ways of solving the last dungeon as he walked. Luckily the ruins were easy to spot, consisting of massive buildings made of limestone and sandstone. They were all constructed in a similar style, with many cylinders all pressed together and intersecting. The buildings were laid out such that each one had ample room between them, as if they were all their own independent buildings rather than a collection of buildings.

Felix approached the nearest one and walked through the empty doorway into a large room with piles of sand against the walls. He walked through the building and followed the hallways, that seemed to ascend and descend at random, into other large rooms. He quickly realized the buildings he saw outside were all connected by the hallways as he had definitely seen more rooms than could be contained in the building he had entered.

The rooms were mostly empty, other than piles of sand, but were laid out such that their function was mostly obvious. There were rooms intended as bedrooms due to their size and layout. There were others intended as large eating or gathering areas, with a handful of now empty basins against the side of the room placed under spouts stuck in the wall.

It was in about the fourth building where Felix saw two javelin wielding guards sitting against the wall exhausted and half asleep.

Struggling for survival is right. There is no way these people last a week if this dungeon takes as long as the last.

[E - Common] Slave of the Sands (Lvl 13)

Felix approached the guards who moved for their weapons and tried to stand, before collapsing and giving up. Felix shrugged and opened the door, an odd sight considering this was the only door he had seen in this entire city thus far and it was made of wood. He entered a room that was completely cleared of sand with a woman in a long flowing dress made of thin materials that did a poor job of being clothes as they didn't really cover anything. Underneath she wore a bright blue bikini or underwear. Felix wasn't sure as the entire outfit looked like something a woman might wear walking along a beach.

She wore gold jewelry on her fingers, wrists, navel, neck and ears. She lay draped over a raised, velvet sofa on her side.

[E - Rare] Queen of the Sands (Lvl 52)

"Guards, who is this peasant and why is he unannounced?"

After a short moment of silence she continued, "Ugh, these slaves are so useless. All they do is complain about not having enough food and not having enough water. I too am struggling here, I barely have enough water for my baths. Honestly, despicable. Who are you and why are you bothering me in the process of rebuilding my empire."

Oh no, please can I just kill her? This is ridiculous, please don't make me help her.

"I apologize for the intrusion, your excellency?"

"Acceptable moniker. I will be merciful and hear you out, despite your inferior sex, continue."

"Thank you. I'm just traveling through and heard about the plight of your people and was just wondering if I might be able to offer my assistance."

"What can you do? Useless miscreant. Unless you can give me back my kingdom, my empire, you are trash, begone."

"Your empire was stolen from you?"

Sigh "Yes, I was queen of the oasis. The only habitable location in the entirety of the desert. I had thousands living graciously under my rule. One day, my dastardly husband stabbed me in the back and sided with the rebels. They violently ousted me from my throne and my land, I barely survived with my life. Brutish, violent, backstabbers, that's all men are. Those loyal to me followed as we traveled to seek refuge, somewhere to be safe. As you can see, we did not in fact find shelter, instead we find ourselves here, in this dump."

"I see, what a tragic tale. If you were to have food and water for your people, would your woes be quelled in the slightest?"

"Food and water? Why? I have more than enough of those things. I want my land back. I want my throne back. I must rule. You men don't understand, but it is I, the chosen of the gods, who must rule the people. If I did not rule, they would be doomed. That is why a man has never been chosen. The only man I thought was worthy of my presence proved once again, that men are truly only fit to be slaves."

"I see. Thank you for your candor. I will leave you be now. If I may ask, where are the rest of your slaves?"

"Down the hall in one of the rooms, I don't know and I don't care as long as they come when I call and do what they are told."

Felix bowed and quickly left the room. He closed the door behind himself and noticed the guards had managed to pull themselves into a sitting position again. He felt bad for them, so he pulled a canteen and some Parroukan out of his inventory and offered it to guards. They both looked wide eyed at the canteen then one of them mustered up the strength to slap his hand away.

"We live only by the mercy of The Queen, we will never betray her. Take your offerings somewhere else, we don't need them."

Felix stowed his offerings in his inventory and walked down the hall. The second room he checked was filled with people lying all over the ground. They seemed to be in a similar state to the guards outside the chamber. He walked around and offered a canteen but not a single one of them accepted it. Spouting similar beliefs to the guards.

Quest Dungeon B

Refugees are struggling for survival in the ancient ruins to the north east.

(1/5) Figure out what happened.

(2/5) Talk to the Queen. [Complete]

(3/5) Travel to the Oasis.

(4/5) Talk to the King and the rebel leaders.

Oh nice I get to see most of the objectives. I guess I go talk to the king and figure out what she lied about in her self righteous tale. Wait, she never told me where the oasis was. Damn.

Felix questioned the people and had to ask almost a dozen of them until someone gave him a single word answer, right after trying to spit on him without managing to produce any saliva.

Felix left the building and headed directly west. He wanted to make it to the oasis before morning as it was still relatively cool and rather pleasant, something he doubted would remain true during the daytime.

Luckily the oasis was only an hour or so travel, for Felix, to the west. He arrived before dawn which meant the journey was relatively pleasant, with only a slight chill and no need for spells to regulate temperature.

The oasis consisted of a series of small interconnected lakes, surrounded by greenery on all sides. It was idyllic and seemed completely out of place for the desert, as if it was ripped out of a fairy tale and dropped here. Built on the oasis, was a large mansion made of gilded white marble. The only other buildings were tents laid out around the back, behind the mansion.

As Felix approached the oasis he began hearing music emanating from the direction of the mansion. As he approached the lonely building, he noticed the flickering of fire light and the sounds of dancing, singing and people generally having a good time.

Alright, this one seems pretty simple, maybe I can speed run it. Those people are suffering and they refuse help, these people are happy and joyous, they're gonna have some other issue they need resolved, I need to fix both at the same time? The issues are gonna seem to contradict each-other initially and I need some compromise or something. The easy way will be through violence and the bonus objectives diplomacy or something. Fingers crossed that's all it is.

Felix continued onwards through the oasis and into the party. What he saw was essentially what he saw at Tiki Kahuna, but with more partying, drugs, alcohol and general delinquency. Felix wormed his way through the people throwing bottles, tearing down tents and running around naked to make his way into the mansion.

This place might be worse than the queen's slaves thirsting themselves. Where is the stupid King.

Felix walked into the mansion which was, unfortunately, the heart of the party. He squeezed through people dancing and brushed off people trying to drag him into the festivities and tried to make it up to the throne room. He managed to make it through the entire building but didn't manage to find anyone resembling a king or a leader of any kind.

I kind of assumed they would be easy to find, since they are the objective of the quest. I really hope they are at least identifiable in some way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .