Avilien: Tutorial islands

mixten sewers

One rung at a time, Luke descended. Nebs on his shoulder and Quinn on his head he couldn't see at first. The further he descended the brighter it seemed to get, and the smell grew more pungent. Luke found it hard not to choke, Quinn didn't mind the smell as being from trash island on Avatar islands. Nebs proved to be too enthusiastic to care.

Praying that his torn and tatty trainers didn't step in watery filth, Luke breathed a gasp of relief when his trainers hit a solid stone at the foot of the ladder. From one look at where they were, Luke was glad he had Nebs. How anyone managed to do the opening alchemy quest beggared belief.

Mixten sewers were a sprawling labyrinth of multiple levels and various moss-covered aqueducts. Ladders, steel bridges, and sluice gates littered the area as Luke moved to the wall made of iron bars and peered out. He could see to the bottom thanks to hundreds of flaming torches illuminating the place. A solitary stone platform appeared to float on sewage and although hard to make out Luke could swear he saw a creature down there. Then again, beasts and monsters were roaming the sprawling corridors.

Slimes, like their name suggested, were giant blobs of moving gunk. They were almost looking like snot with eyeballs and a gooey, stringy mouth. Some of them had different colours as two passed above Luke's head on the ceiling. Moving like slugs they paid Luke, Nebs, and Quinn no attention. Size-wise they were bigger than Luke by a few inches.

Aside from the slimes, there were bats bigger than Luke's head and giant rats of extreme proportions. They could be mistaken for a dog.

"Nothing down here should be aggressive, sir Luke. Slimes, bats, and rats are all docile. Rats even have low health, they offer no experience for deleting them, but they do give rat meat, which can be used for either food or in alchemy," explained Quinn as he shifted from the top of Luke's head to his right shoulder.

"Rat meat sounds vomit-inducing, but if I was desperate enough." Luke put his had to his mouth. "Nebs please tell me you have the scent of this black slime? If you can even sniff it out amongst the smell of sewage." Luke's nose burned with the rancid smells.

"If I couldn't track different scents in the mix of strong scents, then I would be a useless Grenchitty. The slime isn't all that far. From what my nose can pick up this first floor of the sewer system is a treasure trove of alchemy ingredients. In the sewage water plants grow known as Sickle stench and the walls are covered in Glow moss. Fifteen floors down is a Dransnatcher, a mythical beast. Level twenty, so we don't want to fall or grab its attention." Nebs breathed before then resuming. "Delete as many rats as you can for their meat. Bats give us fangs, blood, and wings. In fact. Slay everything we come across! Muahahaha" Nebs cackled as Luke drew his sword. It had been months since he had grinded to farm materials in a game.

Rats proved to be no big hurdle and other than scurrying off when attacked they were slain after two hits. They netted Luke plenty of loot and the first he deleted even gave him a giant rat card. A card he had no idea what to do with, but it looked cool. Gold in colour with a picture of a rabid rat it had health numbers and attack points in the top left corner. Both Nebs and Quinn expressed that Luke put it away for now as Avilien card gaming would take a while to explain and they were on a quest.

Two bats later, over sixty rats and more than two dozen black brick corridors Luke was worn out. Bats provided a good amount of exp. At four exp per one, it was reasonable, but Luke would need to slay hundreds to reach level two. With a little bat blood, a few wings, and four fangs, Luke gave his arms a rest as he followed Nebs' direction.

Passing under a cluster of five sleeping blue slimes as they snoozed on the ceiling, they looked ready to pounce at any given moment. A feeling Luke didn't like, docile or not. He trusted his guides but relying on others was a feeling he wasn't used to and didn't like it that much. Solo gaming was engrained into his core.