Tales of Farunasa: Gods and Adventurers

10. Class Tree Unlocked!

 After the initiation of Mortus and Thavin the party watched the initiation with Astaltis, Thawe and Agorim. In the end nothing odd happened and everything went smoothly, so after the last initiation they made their way out of the stadion, where they stopped and Agorim smiled at them all, „I take it that we shall part here?"
 „I'm afraid so, we are to meet Thavin now," replied Virion and pulled out a map, „just out of curiosity, do you know where we should look for the Class Tree quest?"
 „Honestly, I was just asking around and stumbled on it, that is the only way people got it, otherwise nobody would have the Class Tree unlocked," answered Agorim and shrugged, „anyway me and Thawe should go do some grinding."
 „That sounds reasonable, see you around," replied Larrel and as the groups were about to part the players with locked Class Tree (Thawe included) got a pop up notification.

 Congratulations! You unlocked your Class Tree! 
 Now you are able to customise the skills you gain as you level up. 

 „Wait," Thawe exclaimed upon seeing the notification, „am I reading this right? I am just a level five!"
 „At least now there is no need to be asking around for the quest, but I agree that this is weird," said Athel as he closed the notification and checked if he had any spendable points, „why do I have ten spendable points just randomly?"
 That prompted everyone to open their Class Tree and found that the only one without random spendable points is Agorim, „well, see you around."

 The party sat in the Dancing Flame as Revio was asking the innkeeper if he can perform and potentially make a coin or two. Thavin eventually entered and sat with his party, which is when Revio was passing by the table toward the stage. Kelnar caught Revio by his wrist, „wait a moment, we have some explaining to do."
 Revio nodded in surprise and leaned over as Augur spoke in a low voice, „I have to be honest with you, I run Tales of Farunasa."
 „Wait, are you saying," Larrel asked in equally low voice, „that you are the AI Admin? Who is Kelnar then?"
 „I am an Artificial Inteligence made to balance the game," replied Kelnar and faced the desk of their table, „but I didn't always exist as Kelnar, I only took over between Beta and the official release."
 „On the other hand I was always Augur, but back during Beta Augur wasn't who he is now, we can still run the game as Augur and Kelnar," said Augur and flicked his hand, „but please keep this a secret, we believe UnholyElementalist is trying to find me and make me give him special treatment. Just so you know he never played the Beta, unlike you four, the only exception is Revio, but that matters not, and only joined after Agorim started streaming, also choosing to play an Elementalist."
 Kelnar let Revio go, and looked to the door. Party quickly realised something must be going on. Revio pretended that he heard nothing of the kind he actually heard and made his way to the stage, where he put down a wooden bowl and started playing on his instrument. Virion nodded at the two AIs, „we won't tell anyone, now what is that commotion?"
 „Just you wait," replied Augur as he smiled mischievously before snapping back into character, „so after Elemental Forest where are you going?"
 „We have to go to Ablia after Elemental Forest," replied Thavin and looked to the door as well, because there was a loud crash against the door.
 It was then the innkeeper walked up to them, „what can I get for you? And do you know the minstrel on the stage?"
 Virion smiled at the innkeeper, „just a drink for all, we do know him, an ambitious fellow looking to revive the art of Sword Dancers that is journeying with us."
 The innkeeper nodded which was when he noticed Thavin, „what does the Justiciar of Light do here?"
 „I am a traveler first and foremost, not to mention the people at this table are my friends and we have a destination to get to," replied Thavin with a mellow expression as he turned to the innkeeper.
 „I must say the minstrel is talented, but maybe a song with lyrics would show his talent off much better," said the innkeeper and left to fetch them their order.
 Athel was about to ask something, but another crash into the door stopped him, even Revio stopped to look at the door in a nervous manner. The people near the door looked worried. Athel looked at the two AIs, „should we be worried?"
 „No, just be ready if the doors open," replied Kelnar and got up from the table, walking to Revio and speaking casually, „dear, what's wrong? Why don't you sing?"
 „I'm worried, Kelnar," replied Revio but nodded, „do you happen to have a song in mind?"
 „No but," Kelnar smirked and looked over his shoulder at the people, „how about the one you sang at the other inn about the city and its king?"
 „Your wish is my command," smiled Revio and changed songs. Kelnar returned to the table and sat down.
 Athel checked his chatlog and looked at the desk of the table, „my cousin is heading our way, I think I mentioned he made a clan quite recently."
 „I heard that all the good bases are already taken," responded Larrel, „did he snatch a decent place in time?"
 „Of course he didn't, he made it like three days ago, unless he discovers a ruin he and his clan can restore I doubt he'll find anything good for long term stay otherwise," answered Athel and dumped all the unidentified stuff in his inventory on the desk and started to sort it, „what events are new anyway?"
 Virion pulled up the events tab and looked at it, „only Last of Astrals, which sounds cool in my humble opinion."
 „Well it does indeed sound cool," replied Thavin and faced the opening door. A Pure-blooded Fae summoner of decently high level entered the Dancing Flame, making a straight line to where the group sat.
 Once Athel looked at the newcomer his expression went blank, „Astro?"
 „Yeah, that's me," replied the Fae, Astro, and noticed the empty chair at their table, „is the seat taken?"
 „Afraid it is," replied Virion and motioned to Revio, who just sang the end lyrics of the song, only running through the last notes on his harp. Astro looked around and got himself a chair from a nearby table.
 „I see, anyway," Astro sat down to the table, „interested in joining a clan?"
 „Tell us more about it and we might," answered Thavin and decided that if Virion isn't asking he is, „do we even know you?"
 „Yes, but I had a different character, I think it was Elias, the orc artificer back when artificer only required the smithing skill and magic, I guess the requirements are much higher now, since there are none currently," replied Astro and smiled at them. There was a sudden applause and cheer, since Revio finished his song. People started gathering around the stage and showered Revio with a lot of things nobody could tell, as everyone was talking over one another. Revio managed to get to his group unscratched but his bowl for coins and instrument stayed behind, although not for long as the instrument teleported where Revio wears it at his hip.
 „Kelnar, you owe me for this," Revio was hyperventilating and sat next to Kelnar, who nodded and let Revio lean on him to calm down.
 „I know, dear, I know, how about I add to the thirty crown goal you have," suggested Kelnar, „what do you say?"
 „If it'll make us even," replied Revio. It was then that the innkeeper brought them their order, noticing the eight person at the table. Athel scrambling to clear the table from his mess.
 „Were there always eight of you?"
 „No, don't worry about it," replied Augur like it was nothing. Athel stowed the last thing into his inventory.
 The innkeeper left them alone after that. Somebody brought Revio his bowl, full of coins to the brim. Revio decided that now is as good time as any to count the coins with Kelnar's assistance. Astro decided that he should probably just pitch his clan while they are quiet, „so the clan name is Blackglade, we are currently a group of nomadic adventurers, taking odd jobs to help the common folk, at least until we find a place to settle permanently and shift to trade, hoping to still do odd jobs on the side."
 „That's actually a nice elevator pitch, post that in global and see who's interested," replied Athel and took a sip from his tankard.
 „As if I'd risk that," replied Astro and looked around, „ever heard of the Infinity Alliance? They'll try to shut down any and all competition, even after the Admin warned them several times."
 „Just hand over the envelopes already and post the pitch in global," said Thavin and also took a sip from his tankard.
 „Right, right, if you insist," Astro put several envelopes on the table and posted the pitch of his clan in the global chat. It prompted the people in the inn to start whispering about Blackglade clan and if they wanted to join or not among friends. Soon after that Astro was staring at his chatlog turning to the people at the table in panic, „guys, the founder of Infinity Allliance just threatened to kill and rob me once he finds me."
 „I'm sure the Admin's already on it," said Virion before turning to the people in the inn and motioning to Astro as he spoke, „everyone if you are interested in the clan of Blackglade the founder sits over here, so feel free to ask questions."
 Revio reached for a tankard, but Kelnar stopped him. Larrel sighed and also drank from a tankard, not caring what the beverage it is. Astro was swarmed by players interested in his clan and was happily answering and handing out envelopes. Augur used the fact people around weren't paying attention and spoke quietly, „normally I just warn the people in Infinity Alliance, but this is over the line, but if I ban them they'll just claim that it didn't happen and were unjustly banned."
 „Then do something else, like revoke their ability to DM people in the game they aren't friends or otherwise affiliated with," replied Athel and checked the charts, Agorim is of course the top player on their server and Infinity Alliance is at the top of 'Clan, Guild, Alliance and Order Ranking', only being followed by few merchant guilds, smaller player groups are not on the list for some reason, „what's the deal with Infinity Alliance anyway? And where are the Adventurer Guilds, clans, other alliances and orders?"
 „Infinity Alliance has been shutting everything down, only left the traders and forced them to work with them and not support the smaller groups, not even crafters that Infinity Alliance would benefit from having, those that survived the first purge are surviving on life support, it is terrible for the player economy," answered Augur before elaborating, „the first purge happened last month, they are already planning the second one for this month."
 „So if I understand this correctly," started Revio, „Infinity Alliance decided to become the top dogs by crushing the competition last month?"
 „Yes," responded Kelnar and handed Revio a tankard, which Revio accepted.
 „That's messed up," Thavin reached for an envelope, but hesitated, „how does the allegiance system work again?"
 „You have your affiliation with a faction that already exist in the world, you have a clan, guild, alliance and order, you can be member of all four at the same time as well as affiliated with a faction, let's give an example, Thavin you are affiliated and a member of The Legion of Arcane Light, that fills two out of five affiliations you can have, so you can still join a clan, a guild and an alliance if you want," explained Augur and started to pay attention to his drink, „anyway, you should start working on your class trees."
 „Just a thought," Virion piped up, „Revio, how much did you make?"
 „I'm five crowns short of fifty and that's just what I made here, with what I got on the square earlier I have fifty one crowns, that's plenty to pay the elk, I think if we decide to rent horses to Ablia I could pay that too," said Revio before drinking deeply from his tankard.
 Athel was a bit alarmed, „Revio, hold your horses, we can't leave without my things! It would not only screw us over, but also Thawe and the Legion too!"
 „I wasn't suggesting we leave today Athel, in fact I am just as against it as you," said Revio to calm Athel down, which worked.
 „Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," Athel apologised. Thavin took an envelope and joined Blackglade, Larrel and Virion followed as well.
 Astro looked over to them, not being aware of what happened before, „you guys don't have any questions?"
 „Nay, we will pick odd jobs around Elemental Forest until Athel gets his gear back, then we are off to Ablia and doing odd jobs there," said Virion and watched as Revio joined Blackglade too.
 Athel joined too and turned to Astro, „what about resources?"
 „I asked at non official forums that the nearly wiped out community of player groups inhabits, but they all said that if we tried to affiliate it would throw us onto the ranking and Infinity Alliance will be breathing down our necks, which is what we don't want, so we need to figure that out on our own," explained Astro and the group quickly exchanged glances.
 „An alliance is a viable option," said Thavin and opened his allegiance to show to Astro, „you have five affiliation options, a faction, a clan, a guild, an alliance and an order, if all the smaller clans, guilds and orders make an alliance everyone involved will only show as an alliance, not individuals, and if we can get Agorim on board we can get a good PR for everybody."
 „Alright, it sounds cool, but," Astro seemed both on board and hesitant to agree, „are we sure that alliances actually work that way?"
 „Yes, there are several types of alliances, the player alliance, Infinity Alliance is player alliance, from what I understand, the guild alliance, the traders guilds are usually in an aliance with an Adventurers guild, the clan alliance, that is when clans share land and help each other, I think there is also an order alliance, but I don't know much about it as it is a feature introduced in the official launch of ToF," explained Thavin and glanced swiftly at Augur, who was nodding in approval, „there is also an alliance type that allows for clans, guilds and orders to form an alliance to support each other."
 „Ah, alright, I'll ask on the forum if anyone is up for that," Astro pulled up a browser window with the unofficial forum and posted, „anyway, are you guys looking for the Class Tree quest?"
 „We already have the Class Tree unlocked, we just haven't really allocated our points yet," replied Athel and opened his class tree, which everyone else followed.
 „Now I realise I have zero idea what build I want," said Larrel in dismay as he checked the viable builds for lancers.
 Virion was in the process if allocating his points to form the Godspeaking Bow build, Athel was referencing a build open in a separate window and Revio was doing the Sword Dancer build. Thavin sighed, „I think there are several dragoon builds on the forum, if you're interested."
 Larrel pulled up the forum to reference the dragoon builds. Astro stood up, „I'm meeting some of the leaders now, regarding the alliance, I'll update everyone once we reach a conclusion, take care!"
 Astro ran out of the inn, leaving everyone behind. Revio looked up from his sheet, „what will we do until then?"
 „I guess we will level up by doing odd jobs around the city, we need to hit level 15 to enter Ablia and any help is good," replied Virion finishing the start of his build. Athel finished by then too.
 „I guess this will be fun," said Thavin, as the group left payment on the table and left the inn to look for jobs.

 The group separated into three groups, Kelnar and Revio went to the market to pay that elk and look for a job to do at the same time, Augur, Virion and Athel looked for a job in one of squares and Thavin and Larrel searched for some job on the south end of the city. They did what they could to finish their job before meeting Astro and the rest of their clan at a square. Once there Astro looked over the group of about twenty adventurers and started to speak, „after talking with leaders of smaller player groups we agreed on forming an alliance to share land, resources and information, we have several orders on our side negotiating with already existing orders paladins can affiliate with, guilds agreed to establish relations with different guilds around Farunasa and clans are forming a border on our shared land so Infinity Alliance has less reach there. The name of our alliance is Alliance Nirvana, you can open the ranking and find us at the bottom.
 „The job of Blackglade and other wandering clans is to work on relations between Nirvana and the common folk, so please, help where you can, recruit adventurers and soldiers of common folk that share our vision. If Infinity Alliance decides to pick a fight with Alliance Nirvana, let them come, we won't stand their injustice any longer! Go for Nirvana and justice!"
 The crowd listening started to cheer for Astro and their new mission, scaring several people around the square in the process, but gaining their support, „for Nirvana and justice!"
 Augur and Kelnar in the background were just baffled at how easily Astro got people on his side not only by how he pitched his clan, but also by this speech. After everyone in Blackglade sent out friend requests to all members and accepted said requests and some new people joined everyone started going their separate ways to work on the mission. The party stayed with Astro to talk a bit, „so you guys are going to Ablia next, right?"
 „Yep, we will work on the reputation of Nirvana there, we hope Kelnar will help too, since he's from there, he already has some form of reputation," replied Athel with a smile. Kelnar laughed nervously and turned his attention to Revio instead.
 „I see, I hope your travels are safe, and Thavin, congratulations on the initiation, not many people are that lucky," Astro nodded with a smile both cheerful and relieved.
 „Thank you, I am aware," said Thavin in response, bowing his head slightly.
 „So you mentioned Agorim," Astro looked them up and down, „what's the deal with him?"
 „Aside from being the top player he is also a streamer, Nirvana might need more than that, but it'll make Nirvana have better exposure than Infinity, they only have a website and a group on Facebook of all places," Larrel spoke carefully, „if Nirvana has better presence on social media we might have better chance of increasing the number of members of the groups that are involved, ToF has a website for documenting player groups right? It be a good idea to set up an article for Nirvana on there, but that's just an idea, it's on leaders to decide."
 „You are right, I'll see what I can do," Astro nodded and messaged the leaders involved with Nirvana, „I hope you can talk Agorim into joining."