Long Island

Chapter 19: Calm before the storm

And Swamy simply sat silent wondering.

"Um... what are you guys talking about?" Swamy asked.

"Uh....video! what else? Didn't you see the video?" Sneha asked bewildered.

"You mean the one about the event quest?" Swamy finally figured it out.

"Duh! Himali sent us a copy before posting it." Sneha replied.

"Oh...wait the video was posted by someone called Caterpy...is that you Himali?"

"Yes. I thought everyone knew that already" Himali replied.

"Apparently I didn't" Swamy smiled sheepishly.

Everyone became quiet at hearing this. Before the mood could get too awkward, Swamy added,

"Well now I know. Thanks. So you participated in the event quest? I think it had two parts....which one did you get?"

"I got the capturing the beastmen one. I and Manish both reached 14 already" Himali replied smiling, maybe thankful that the atmosphere did not get weird.

"Yes yes....and you were telling us the details again. The video was awesome....But I am sure hearing it from the horse's mouth would be even more exciting" Sneha said excitedly, dispelling what little of the awkward atmosphere that still remained.

"Ah...well it started like this........"

And for the next half an hour everyone listened to her, as she relived her encounter with the beastmen. How it started, strategies and the people. How epic the fights of the captains and Lady Altia were. How they thought they would lose everyone but somehow they survived. Manish added a few bits in the beginning she had missed out on. It turned out he died early but it was his team who was initially attacked by the beastmen. They came up from the trees, totally surprising his team, and before they had any time to react the beastmen had killed everyone.

Swamy had not seen the video yet and he was deeply interested. Maybe far more than the others. Ofcourse in his case, when he was listening with all ears, he had this tendency to go super quiet. The others asked questions in between but Swamy concentrated on listening. This was valuable information. He made up his mind to watch the video...even though it will cut into his already meagre game time.

"And at the end, I asked my sergeant how many had been killed. And he said almost 70 people."

"Oh...that's sad. And how many of them were npcs?" Rajan asked.

"Not sure. I didn't have the heart to ask."

And then there was brooding silence while everyone thought about what they heard.

"So there were no healers? And no healing potions either?"

"There were. The soldiers did have a few people who could heal. And most of them could do first aid, like applying bandages and cleaning wounds. Just that there were no separate healers. Makes sense right, as there are no classes in the game, you could have soldiers who also have healing skill" Himali added. "But no healing potions were given. I also didn't ask about it, so I am not sure about it."

"No one had gotten any healing potions. I asked about it to the other players on my team."

"So there are no potions in the game?" Rajan asked.

"Not sure. There could be....the game world is large place" Manish said.

............

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Back home, Swamy quickly opened his laptop and clicked on the video of the event quest. It started slow, what with people talking and walking into the forest. In the beginning people had excited faces...but it soon changed to boredom as time passed. And then to seriousness.