"I-I… I died."
Eden easily picked him up, patting his still bloody armor as he explained, "Yes. And we brought you back."
For some reason, instead of relieved, Wyll appeared to be horrified as he asked, "Do you work with Mizora? What price will come from this resurrection?"
Withers pitched in, "The price has already been paid."
Wyll looked alarmed at Withers' presence, but Eden placed a hand on his shoulder, locking him into place as he said, "None of us do, do not worry. You were saved because the Sword Coast still requires your help."
He briefly gave him the same speech as he did the others, about the Absolute, the party and why he should be part of it. As he was doing so, the others also approached, obviously curious about the son of Duke Ravengard, the 'ruler' of Baldur's Gate.
This triggered one of the tadpole communications, which helped seal the deal as once it was over, Wyll revealed, "I, of course, will help combat the threat of the Absolute. However, I am also hunting a devil going by the name of Karlach."
Eden nodded, "Do not worry, we will most certainly meet her on our travels. For now though, you must rest."
Eden took out anything valuable he had and handed them to Gale, who was the group's carrier because he had the Bag of Holding, and gave short commands, "Before we rest, you guys should try to seek this Nettie, as well as sell what we found and won't use."
Wyll immediately perked up, "I can help with the selling part. I know who to go to."
On the side, Sylfine asked Eden, "You won't be coming with?"
Eden shook his head, "No, I'm afraid I would do more harm than good. The druids may find me… let's say dangerous. I'll scout our surroundings instead."
And so, the group moved on, while Eden separated from them, heading off to a beautiful area where a bunch of waterfalls met to form a small river.
Using Cursed Energy to reinforce his body, Eden leapt across the rocks, blasting some of them with the force of his kicks as he soon reached the back of the Grove.
His target were the Harpies. They were a tricky enemy in the game because of their ability to sing their luring song, which, if not resisted, would put a person in a trance.
Eden did not have to worry about that. As he approached their location, he started hearing the song, and received several checks, but as expected, they were all blocked by his Talent.
The singing led him to a small retreat, where a rising rock formation towered in the water, with four winged creatures spread over it, singing.
[Name: Harpy]
[Title: N/A]
[HP: 120/120]
[MP: 170/170]
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 14]
[Physique: 12]
[Intelligence: 16]
[Wisdom: 10]
All four creatures shared similar stats, with surprisingly high Intelligence, although by now Eden had figured that Intelligence was the attribute used for their spell-casting proficiency, though they did not really use it.
Despite having used multiple spells throughout the day, Gale's and Shadowheart's MP had not been reduced by a single point. This had to be because they followed their own Power System.
So all the numbers probably should not be trusted. Moreover, his companions had obviously 'leveled up' since the start of the day, as they were already able to use 2nd Level spells, yet their attributes had not risen.
In any case, Eden did not waste any time with the four, giving them a swift end, before using Undead Servant on them all.
Eden wanted Evil Spirits, but the Harpies were valuable mobs. Not only were they decent physically, but they were able to fly, and most importantly had their singing ability. It would probably be useless before truly strong foes, but it should still be of help.
Ordering them to take to the skies and watch over as he had done with the Oona, Eden returned to their hastily put together camp. He took this time to look at the loot he got.
From the battle with the goblins he only kept what Isis and Ergon dropped, and he sacrificed Isis' loot, so he was left with Ergon. What he had on him was disappointing, though. His sword and most of his armor were Uncommon. The only things of interest were his boots, and his gun, as they were both rare.
[Boots of Pervenire]
[Rank: Rare]
[Defence: 60]
[Agility: +5]
[Double Jump: Take the air as a foothold. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]
Upon seeing the description of the boots, Eden could not help himself but give Ergon a dirty look. That guy had such a powerful artefact, and he had wasted it. Not a single time had he even tried to use it to his advantage.
[Cobra]
[Rank: Rare]
[Attack: 90]
[Agility: +3]
[Strength: +2]
[Capacity: 12 Rounds]
[Head Hunter: Attack aimed at weak points deal 50% more damage.]
[Pack-a-Punch: Bullets deal magical piercing damage.]
The pistol was a revolver with six chambers, yet it could fire twelve times before reloading. It was made of dark stainless steel, with red runic markings spread all over it.
The pistol was decent enough as well, although it was not as useful to Eden as it might be to someone else. The Head Hunter skill was great, but the Pack-a-Punch one not so much for him.
As far as Eden had heard, resistance or even immunity to physical damage was much more common than to elemental damages. Eden himself had encountered several of them, with the Specters and Mictlantecuhtli's army in Pirates of the Caribbean. This was only bound to increase as well.
That was where magical physical damage came into play. Of course, there also existed resistances to that kind of damage, but it was far more rare.
In any case, this gun was probably very useful to the average Player, but Eden had Cursed Energy, which inherently dealt magical damage.
[Name: Ergon]
[Title: N/A]
[Talent: Sharpshooter]
[Perks: Tier I, Juggernog, Eagle Eye I]
[HP: 520/520]
[MP: 160/160]
[Strength: 28 (34)]
[Agility: 35 (45)]
[Physique: 32]
[Intelligence: 16]
[Wisdom: 20]
[Skills: Analyze (Support), Power Shot (3rd Rank), Bullet Time (3rd Circle)]
[Resistances: Necrotic I]
[Weaknesses: Radiant I]
He had decent stats, and his high HP explained how he had survived so long. In the end, it had only prolonged his suffering, but still.
He was curious about the Perks, but he first looked at the Talent, since he had never actually seen the description of one. His own could not be read by his Status, and he had not kept Osmond long enough to take a look.
[Sharpshooter: You were born with uncanny accuracy. All ranged weapons also deal additional damage.]
That was decently powerful. The first part was only a secondary effect of Eden's own Talent, but it was still quite good. Ergon had been unlucky to face Eden, who pretty much countered it with his danger sense, altered time perception and high Agility, but against anyone else, Ergon was quite fearsome.
His perks were good too.
[Juggernog: Increases HP by 200, reduces all physical damage by 50.]
[Eagle Eyes I: You have tempered your eyes to their limit, giving you better dynamic vision.]
Facing Ergon at range was probably a nightmare, but his Juggernog perk made him not so shabby at close range. At the very least, Ergon had managed to cover his weaknesses.
That Juggernog Perk especially, Eden was a bit jealous of it, to be honest. Its fixed numbers made it less viable for the long term, but long term plans were useless before an early death.
Well, at least he was one of his undeads now.
Eden took the boots, putting them on, while he let Ergon keep the Cobra. It would be best used in his hands.
To wrap things up, Eden opened the two Player Caches. This netted him 6243 Dream Points, 7 Uncommon Throwing Knives, 9 Minor Health Potion, 2 Lesser Health Potions, and a communication crystal.
Eden destroyed that crystal right away as it could only be used to communicate with one other, which Eden guessed belonged to Isis' team leader.
One could go into mission worlds either solo, as Eden always did, or as part of a team. Guilds always sent teams, as this allowed them to put together people who suited each other.
Having processed all of their loot, Eden sat down against a rock, closing his eyes to meditate, while he had Ergon on watch, and he was ready to dodge any attack himself.
Although he had not seen any personally, Eden did not dismiss the possibility of there being Players in the Grove already. He was not really worried about the rest of the party because anyone who joined the Grove would be on the same side as the party by this point.
Besides, killing Eden would net them a lot of Points, but harming the party? Eden doubted so. They were far too easy to kill at the moment.
The rest of the party took a while to return, but as expected, they all did. Everyone went to their own corner, as they were still mostly strangers to one another.
After a while, however, Sylfine approached Eden. She hesitated, seeing him studying a notebook, but she ended up coming anyway. Crouching next to him, she whispered, "How much do you know about me?"
His gaze still fixed on the runes, doing his best to make sense of them, he replied, "A few things. Your lost memories. Who you were. What you did. Your dark urges."
Sylfine paused for a moment, before asking, "You won't tell me about it, will you?"
"I could, but it would not do any good to anyone."
"What about the urges then? Where do they come from? Will they ever disappear?"
Eden looked up from his notes this time, and looking at the Half-Elf, he saw fear in her eyes. Fear that she would have to fight them all her life, that they would never stop.
Eden considered the question for a moment, considering how much he could say, before revealing, "They are caused by a God."
Sylfine's face paled, "A God? Why would a God even want with-" she stopped herself, and instead said, "But you're not going to tell me, are you?"
Eden gave her an apologetic smile, reassuring, "If it's of any comfort, you should discover some elements of your past by yourself in not too long."
The woman retreated into herself, hugging her knees as she lamented softly, "So that's it then? I'm just going to spend the rest of my life haunted by these urges."
"Not necessarily." Eden calmly replied.
Sylfine slowly rose her head from between her knees, leaning it against them instead as she questioned, both him and herself, "Why do I feel like you are going to say something crazy."
Eden grinned, "Me? I'd never. I was just going to say we could just kill him."
[Side Mission (Slay a God): Your companion is beset with dark urges, and you have proposed a seemingly insane solution. Murder Bhaal, God of Murder.]
Sylfine looked at him silently, her eyes shifting between his eyes and the features of his face, and wondered aloud, "You really do believe that, don't you?"
"Why wouldn't I? We you guys reach your full power, and I get a better grasp on my power… Should be doable."
This was not a lie. First off, if Eden really managed to learn Cursed Energy to its utmost and learn Domain Expansion, then killing a quasi-god like Bhaal was not out of the question. Of course, Eden doubted he would be able to learn Domain Expansion, Reverse Cursed technique would be hard enough already, but he would not be alone.
And Eden believed that unlike in the game, his companions would not merely stop at Level 12, but go all the way to Level 20. This was because the game itself was limited by its medium. For example, the Dispel Magic feature had been planned but not been implemented because it would be far too much work for a single spell.
In the same way, a spell like Wish could not possibly be put into the game because it had no clear single effect. Also, Eden's 3rd Circle Spells at full mastery were the equivalent of a 5th Level Spell, while in the game the limit was at 6th Level.
If the level of nearly every being he would encounter was capped at 12, he and all the other Players might as well just go to Baldur's Gate right away and kill everything.
So, a party of at least six Level 20 adventurers and himself… he'd gander they had their chances. Bhaal was the weakest of the Dead Three too.
He was getting excited just thinking about it.