Chapter 173 - Meeting The Clerics

"Alright, sounds good," Merlin said, accepting the quest. "When do I head out?"

"You're quite eager," The archbishop said, "I'll send you out to meet with your team."

The archbishop reached for a small bell, and within seconds of ringing it, a young man quickly entered the room from a side door.

"How may I assist you, archbishop?" The young man asked.

"Take this recruit out to the yard, introduce him with the team scheduled to enter the valley today, and have them set out the moment they're ready." The archbishop ordered.

"Yes sir!" The young man replied.

The young man quickly led Merlin down the stairs and then out of the building before making his way towards the back of the building.

Within the backyard were several groups of armoured individuals, some were sparring while others seemed to just be hanging out and talking.

Upon the arrival of Merlin and the archbishop's errand boy, a couple of the individuals sitting around turned their heads with curiosity.

"Group E, it's time for your mission to begin," The errand boy announced, causing a couple of the individuals sparring to stop what they were doing and quickly approach him.

A couple of other individuals, including some of the people who looked Merlin's way on his arrival, had also stood up and were making their way towards the errand boy more who were sitting around to quickly stand up and join the group that was forming around the errand boy.

"This is the newest recruit, the archbishop has ordered that he will be joining your group for this mission," The errand boy announced before turning to Merlin, "Please, introduce yourself but keep it brief."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Merlin," He said, keeping it brief as he was instructed to do.

"You can go into a little more detail than that," The errand boy said with a sigh. "Oh well, you guys take care of him, set out when you're ready."

The errand boy vanished behind a building, leaving Merlin alone with the group he was suddenly pushed onto.

"Well, that's pretty much it..." He said while scratching the back of his head.

"Usually we include the deities we worship in our introductions," A man with spiky blond hair said as he walked closer to Merlin, he was holding a long spear and was wearing basic leather armour. "Well, I guess if you're a new recruit, you haven't received a blessing yet..."

"That's fine, you don't need a blessing to fight the undead... The name's Thovan. A devout worshipper of Zeus, and master of the spear,"  The man introduced himself. "Good meeting you."

"Alright everyone, introduce yourselves," Thovan turned to the rest of the group and gave them an order. This action led Merlin to assume that this guy was the de facto leader of the group.

"Nice to meet you. You can call me Cam." A tall, bulky man was the first to introduce himself. "I worship Hephaestus, the god of the forge."

Unlike Thovan, who was decked out in leather, Cam was equipped with chain mail and a solid metal breastplate. His weapons of choice were a large vicious looking mace and a sturdy looking heater shield, leading Merlin to assume that his role in the party was clearly as a tank.

"Come on Leo." A woman's voice emerged from behind Cam.

Two individuals appeared from behind Cam, they were rather small in comparison to the giant tank, it was a young man and a woman. The two appeared to be twins, just based on their general appearance.

"Hello." The two said synchronously before the woman spoke up, "I'm Lyonette and this is my younger brother Leonid."

'That's so lazy. What kind of parents would name their kids like that?' Merlin internally sighed.

"We're both followers of Ares," Lyonette said.

The twins had silky-looking black hair and dark green eyes, and although they were twins they clearly had their differences.

It seemed Lyonette, the older sister was more outspoken than her brother. Her weapon of choice seemed to be the massive battle-axe that was currently strapped to her back. While her younger brother, Leonid, was rather soft-spoken and shy. Leonid had two war picks strapped to his belt, so Merlin naturally assumed that was his weapon of choice.

Merlin's gaze turned to one of the remaining two members of the team, someone whose attention seemed to be focused entirely on Merlin's hair this whole time. His facial expression was hard to read, Merlin wasn't sure if he was jealous or just impressed, but perhaps it was a mix of both?

The man in question took Merlin' gaze as a request for him to step forward. His brunette hair was long, and although it was nowhere close to Merlin's level, it still flowed as he walked.

"You may call me Stavros." He announced as he rested his arm on Thovan's shoulder after coming to a stop, his eyes locked onto Merlin as he continued speaking, "I worship the beautiful Aphrodite."

The man had a lute strapped to his back, which originally led Merlin to think that he would have been a worshipper of Apollo instead.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Stavros spoke with a flamboyant tone as he reached his hand out for a handshake.

'Yeah, that makes sense I guess. The goddess of love... A flirty bard...' Merlin thought to himself as he shook the man's hand.

The last member of the team approached him, a young man with short black hair and brown eyes, carrying around what seemed to be a long wooden staff. It seemed this last member was a spellcaster.

"Nice to meet you, Merlin. I'm Bibar, the only worshipper of Hecate at this outpost." The young man said as he approached, he held his hand out for a handshake, which Merlin promptly accepted. 

'Hecate...' That name suddenly appeared again, which led Merlin to think of the message he saw earlier, 'Hecate is hoping for your assistance.'

"I heard that she has started responding to prayers again," Merlin said.

"Yes, she has. Although the connection with her is much weaker than it used to be, I'm glad she has begun responding once more." Bibar said with a soft tone that seemed almost sad.

"Do you have any idea why she vanished in the first place?" Merlin asked while trying to be respectful.

"No... Not a single clue, I'm afraid." The cleric sighed, "I've asked countless times, but she won't answer me."

"Alright, everyone quickly prepare for today's mission," Thovan ordered, "We'll be heading out once we're all ready."

Several members of the group began scattering around, only to return minutes later with packed bags and other equipment.

"Alright, we're all prepared? Let's move out." Thovan ordered.

The group marched through the village of Hysia, attracting strange gazes from the locals as they marched towards the valley that they could see in the distance.

"Why is it called the valley of plenty?" Merlin asked, almost muttering his question.

"I heard from the locals that it was a translation error," Bibar answered Merlin's question, much to the latter's surprise. "It should realistically be called the Abundant Valley, although even that doesn't really translate over well."

"You'll see why it originally earned the name in the first place very shortly," Bibar said as they continued their travels.

"A translation error that stuck around, fair enough." Merlin nodded his head.

"So daggers huh? That's an interesting choice against undead," The party conversed, which seemed to mostly be his seniors trying to give him advice that would honestly be helpful for an unskilled player.

The group came across the entrance of the valley, and although relatively small when compared to half of the crazy rock formations and insane landmasses he had encountered in the thirty-odd years of playing the game, it was still rather impressive.

The valley itself was lush and full of life. Countless trees were flooding the inside of the valley, almost like a forest, a lot of which seemed to bear fruit of some kind. 

There were plenty of animals in the area, feasting on the treasure trove of natural resources this valley held.

"Right, so the valley of plenty part makes sense," Merlin said with an impressed tone.

"Indeed, harvests from the valley make up a large portion of the village's food supply," Cam spoke up this time. "Whether it be fruit, vegetables or even meat from the local wild animals. Not to mention, it doubles down as natural defence against the Necropolis, this valley truly is a godsend."

"Is there not a single poisonous plant in the valley?" Merlin asked while scanning around. From what he could see, even at a glance value, he couldn't find anything poisonous outside of a mild stinging nettle.

"The natives remove any dangerous plants or weeds that they see show up within the valley, at least for several hundred meters into the valley.." Cam explained, "It's likely that plants further in, or near the other side of the valley, are less than safe to eat."