The monks of the Axtan Monastery are alive, and Of Monks & Magic is done. Chat shows the reward, a Monk's Robe and 1 Imperial Coin. The party is the same as last time, johnfal_92 and Dash (dash10138), plus another player, Aurabolt, going by chat. Scoti isn't on the server.
A new job from Captain Tobias
Back in Farr, Captain Tobias is glad the monks are fine, but if the Sons of the Forest are back, the town may be in danger. "Well, more danger than usual." They mostly hide in the forests of the Korbar Highlands, but there's an encampment northeast of town that looks like a forward base. Could Basket sneak in and look for anything suspicious? Basket picks "Of course, they must be stopped."
Aurabolt asks in chat to tag along, since "this questline can be somewhat tough," and says they do this run a lot, mostly for cash.
The long way there
For reasons nobody can explain later, they go by water instead of the road. "Why don't we take the road?" "I guess we figured the water would be safer." On the way they pass a huge hole that turns out to be something a player built. The jungle is full of mobs, creepers most of all, and one of them loses half their armor just getting there. They set a combat bed outside and walk into the Suspicious Village.
Spawners in the trees
The village is labeled hard, "so they didn't undersell us." Spawners sit up in the trees, and the corrupted spiders hit hard with a lot of knockback. A lingering cloud on the ground does real damage, not just nausea, and chat shows johnfal_92 killed by it. Then johnfal_92 is slain by a corrupted spider and blown up by a creeper, with good gear left at the bottom of a ladder. Someone guards the pile so a creeper doesn't blow it up.
With 29 minutes left before the place respawns and the mobs still piling up, they all log out at once and come back in. After that they get the spawners cleared.
The spellbook
Down below there's a spellbook, and the players who have done this before say to walk right up to it. "A powerful surge of magic bursts from the spellbook as you approach! A mysterious spell has seared itself into your mind!" Garbled text fills the screen.
Now the job is to get to Sierhaven, and teleports don't work. The quest compass says only the archmage can lift the spell. Chat keeps repeating: "Assassins of the Howling Wind, emerge from the shadows and slay them before they reach the archmage!" The assassins are skeletons with weakness and slowness arrows, and they don't let up. johnfal_92 falls from a high place and is then shot by the Howling Wind. Somebody makes a chest for johnfal_92's things, and a morphic shield is saved.
Vargos
In Sierhaven, Vargos takes one look. "That's a lot of dark magic. Don't move." It's based on a Hazdremar Anchor, which means Basket is lucky not to have exploded. Vargos pulls the spell away: it was built to summon something and bind it to the caster's will. "A troubling development indeed."
"We attack." The Sons of the Forest can't be allowed to cast it, especially if they have access to a wool. The next step is Highwatch and Commander Haynes, and Vargos warns it will not be easy. Sons of the Forest is complete, with a Silver Knight's Hammer and 1 Imperial Coin as the reward. Basket's inventory is full.
