A few minutes later the friends arrived at the Eternal Flame Tribe led by the troll pair. At the centre of the tribe was a massive, furious bonfire which melted the surrounding ice and snow with its heat. The flames turned entire trees to ashes. The tribe itself had no buildings. There were some gigantic benches and tables though. Rough plates and cans looking as if they were directly broken out of a mountain were scattered on the tables. A few dark pots large enough to produce a lake of soup could be seen. There were also some oversized workstations some distance away. Obviously, although trolls could adjust their size, they usually disliked doing so, especially war trolls.
War trolls were usually full of energy, never sitting still. The friends saw a few of them lightly sparring, their casual strikes strong enough to cause the earth to quake. It was rare for them to stay in one place. If it weren't for the eternal flame supposedly handed down by their very first ancestors, the tribe would constantly be moving around.
After scanning the entire tribe, the friends focused on the chief. He was sitting on a throne carved out of the skull of some giant beast. With the orange light of the bonfire coming from his back, highlighting the contours of his figure, the giant war troll looked domineering and invincible. Even when sitting he was almost as tall as the troll mother. His eyes were lightly closed, his head covered in beast scales interwoven with gold, adding a wise touch to his aura.
"So? What now?", asked Cyclone after the mother and son troll walked away. The friends felt somewhat uneasy as the tolls threw them some curious gazes.
"Let's look at the map."
"Oh, right."
In her nervousness Cyclone almost forgot the map. She presented it to her friends, and everyone looked over. To their surprise there were no new symbol. But above the picture representing a bonfire, a single word had appeared. 'Key'.
"Do we need to find a key in this tribe? But where would we get this from?"
"I would say there are two options. Either we have to search for it or, if it is with one of the trolls, my bet would be on the chief."
The others thought Silver Blade made sense. They glanced at the majestic chief, feeling quite intimidated. However, asking the chief was much faster than searching the entire tribe so they decide to start there.
As the friends got closer, the chief opened his eyes and looked down at them.
Everyone felt as if they were staring at a divine being. If they hadn't met Zelgor before, the friends would surely be frozen for multiple seconds. Fortunately, they managed to keep their composure. Silver Blade took a step forward and was just about to start the conversation when a kind laugh came from the chief.
"Haha, adventurers! I thought I had just felt the presence of Old Man Meyhran. So it came from you! It has been such a long time since my good friend Meyhran told me he might send some adventurers here. I almost forgot about it."
The chief's booming voice rang in everyone's ears, sending them into a daze. Silver Blade quickly shook her head to clear it and answered the chief:
"So you are a friend of Old Man Meyhran. It is our pleasure to meet you, chief! We came here following his treasure map. It seems we need to receive a key from your mighty tribe."
"Adventurers, just call me Oraxc! I'm not one of those old, stubborn shamans who are adamant about formalities all the time. 'No, Oraxc, you can't take wood out of the eternal fire, this is a disrespect to our ancestors. No, Oraxc, you can't only eat Frost Elephants, or their population will die out.' Haha, really, it's always the same with them. Sometimes I'm not sure if they are even war trolls. Why can't those old guys be more like Meyhran? The old man is always so carefree, I really envy him…"
The friends craned their necks to look up at the mountainous troll. Their expressions turned increasingly peculiar as Oraxc trailed off to tell multiple stories about shamans, the tribe, even his own youthful adventurers.
Eventually Silver Blade coughed a few times, which was barely enough to catch Oraxc's attention.
"Oh, sorry, I got sidetracked. Haha! Right, what was it that you wanted?"
"No problem, no problem. But we came here for a key. Could you help us out by chance?"
"Yes! I remember. The old man gave me a key back then. But there was something… right, he said not to make it too easy. Let me see…"
There was a large bag hanging next to the throne. Oraxc rummaged around and finally pulled out a piece of leather the size of a human. There were a few squiggly lines of text written on it.
"Haha, found it. I knew I noted down the old man's instructions. Let's see, I am supposed to give you three quests…"
The friends smiled wryly at each other. They originally thought the treasure hunt wouldn't take too much time. But now evening was approaching, and they were supposed to complete three quests. The treasure hunt might as well go on for another day or two.
"The first quest: Kill the rats hurting out vegetable garden. The second quest: Bring a letter to Jeurax. The third quest: Fetch my toothpick from Gardex. If you can do all this, I will hand the key over to you."
"Huh, so easy? This sounds like quests you would get at the beginner village."
Cyclone's voice was tinged with a mix of disbelief and relief. Luckily, the quests weren't difficult. The others shared her emotions. Silver Blade answered Oraxc with a smile:
"Thank you, Oraxc. We will naturally complete your quests. Don't worry, we will be fast."
"Haha, I will be waiting here for you. Oh, and let me give you the letter right away."
Oraxc again rummaged through his bag while the players watched leisurely. A few seconds later his eyes lit up, and he pulled out the letter. It was a piece of paper protected by beast skin the size of an average room.
"Here!"
Suddenly Oraxc dropped the letter. The friends watched in horror as it fell towards them. They quickly scurried away. With a muffled boom the letter crashed onto the floor, producing a small dust cloud. Oraxc appeared slightly confused as he scratched his head.
"Can this also be called a letter?!", exclaimed Cyclone as she returned.
"Whatever, let's put it away and go."
"Yeah…"
Cyclone jumped off her basilisk and reached out to the letter. But even after her hand and the beast skin made contact nothing happened.
"Cyclone?"
"Guys, it says I can't put it into my inventory…"
"Hah, great. Is the game trolling us?"
The friends looked at each other, some amused, others annoyed. But there was nothing they could do. Obviously, the game wanted them to physically carry the letter.
After a short discussion they decided that it would only be fair if they all worked together. Thus, they got off their mounts and approached the letter.
As soon as Liam left Drasky, the fox jumped around playfully, even trying to get on the chief's throne. Liam felt his heart skip a beat. He wasn't quite sure if Oraxc would see it as an insult but he sure as hell didn't want to find out. He hastily called the playfully flying mount back, forbidding Drasky from leaving his side.
Afterwards the friends worked together to lift the oversized letter, carrying it above their heads. Luckily the letter wasn't that heavy. It probably didn't even need all ten people but for the sake of fairness everyone worked together.
Burdened by the letter they naturally finished this quest first. They found the location of Jeurax marked on the map. Trekking over hills and fields – a short distance in the eyes of the giant war trolls – the friends soon reached their target. Jeurax grabbed the letter with two fingers like it weighed nothing and thanked the friends for the delivery.
Although Chief Oraxc made it sound like there were three quests, C had fused everything into a single quest, thus there were no rewards yet. The friends didn't mind and continued. There was a large area marked on the map, which was the tribe's vegetable garden. When the friends arrived, their eyes twitched staring at the sprawling forest ahead.
"Where in the world is that a vegetable garden?!", asked Balm, exasperated.
"The trees are growing in orderly rows. They might really be artificially planted here."
"Whether garden or not does not matter. We have a mission to fulfil."
Just as Radiant Shield was about to take the lead, the friends noticed a commotion in front of them. The ground cracked, a tree fell, and a tall beast came out of a hole. With beady eyes, a thin tail, and white fur it indeed shared similarities with common rats. If it weren't as tall as a five-story building.
"Forest-Ravaging Rat? Level 63 lord tier? Oh great..."