NormanOnline Level3 (Higher Part2)

4 days left before the Rendez-Vous with Rarity.

>Be Norman.

>Log in complete.

>Your consciousness settles itself in the ocean of data and the world of Fatum takes shape.

>The throne room where you fought Alexander is right behind you, while in front stands a stone tablet.

>The checkpoint delimiting the end of the 1st and the start of the 2nd Stratum.

>At the foot of the tablet sits Purple.

>A small bubble over her head indicates that she is organizing her inventory.

>“Ho hi Norm!” greets Brad from behind the monument.

“Good afternoon Brad. Hello Twi’.”

>Your horse obsessed friend mumbles something akin to a hello.

“How was your day bro?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, how about you?”

>“Everyday with Twiley is an adventure, I love it!”

>You share a chuckle with him and chat of various things while waiting for the rest of the group to connect.

>“Bro… Norman, I gotta tell you something,” says Brad after a silence. “I am running out of time. I mean, I didn’t want to add this on your mind with, this entire adventure and sh*t but… I won’t be able to follow you any further, tomorrow, I’ll have to leave… Maybe forever… But you, you’ll have to keep going, I know you can do it, you can save Rarity… Without… Me…”

“Wh-What do you mean Brad?”

>“It’s a long story… I told Twi’ earlier this week cuz’ I couldn’t hide it from her… What I want to say Norm is…”

>He pauses, takes a deep breath and steels his resolve.

>My subscription to the game will run out in three days and I want to save some bucks to fix Bradelina, you know, my guitar. So… I won’t renew it… Sorry. You… aren’t mad at me… Right?”

>You do the only thing a true bro can do in this situation.

“I understand.”

>“Thanks dude, I knew you were the most bradical of bros.”

>You don’t even cringe at the B word.

“No problem Brad.”

>You say this looking him in the eyes, as you put your right arm on Brad’s shoulder and give it a good squeeze of pure friendship.

>While you use your left arm to shoot him in the leg.

>After a short moment of shouting, yelling, a heal from Twi, a second bullet in the other leg, more yelling, a second heal, an apology and a promise of renewing his subscription first thing tomorrow, you help him get on his feet and give your friend a good hug while saying:

“I knew you would understand.”

>“N-No prob’ bro, what are friends for?”

>After your “little chat” with Brad, the others connect and you continue your journey.

>The 2nd Stratum isn’t very different from the 1st, this flying island is mostly covered by plains and small forests, the main variation being the continuous sound of running water, coming from a network rivers spread across the entire level.

> “Alright, today’s objective is the clearing of 2 Dungeons, so let’s not waste any minute.” announces Scott leading your group down some large stairs of white stone towards a small village surrounded by a wall of the same mineral.

>“Two dungeons? In a single afternoon? Ah don’t wanna be pessimistic partner, but Ah don’t think it’s possible.”

>“I know we’re good, but not that good.” Adds RD.

>“Correct, however, there is a catch: we split the team to do both dungeons at once. Before you ask Shy, yes these dungeons are not as dangerous as the 1st Tower, we’ll be fine.”

>“It’s not like in the 1st Stratum where all team members have to finish the 2 Dungeons. Here, to enter this tower, we just need to offer the heads of the boss of each dungeon.”

>“An offering of body parts… Charming concept…”

>“However, before we divide the group, let’s try to find some better items in town. Let’s regroup at the forge in 30 minutes max. Send a group message when you’re done so we can keep going ASAP, any objections?”

>A few moments later, you’re walking around town, sightseeing a bit.

>The village of the 1st Stratum is a lot livelier.

>This one seems almost empty and the clean white streets give the whole thing a curious feeling of loneliness, every other player you meet is a pleasant sight and they seem to know it as they wave at you when you make eye contact.

>You remember old screenshots from before the Lockdown, this city was filled to the brim with so many avatars.

>In fact: you wonder how it is still allowed to create an account for this game at all… The Lockdown caused the coma of a third of the customers and another third left due to the fear of a second Lockdown.

>All forms of development stopped, the entire programming team is still working overtime to find the solution to the bug, but no-one knows if the solution is even in the program.

>Thankfully, the team ends its shopping spree quickly and you meet up with the others to share the spoils from the Tower and upgrade your equipment following Twilight’s directives.

>“With this, the preparations are over. Now listen attentively, this is our team division: I will lead the team going to the WaterSpring Dungeon, I’ll take Brad, AJ, Pinkie and Dash. Twilight you’re in charge of the Ruins with Norman, BlueBlood and Shy. The first team to finish sends a message to the other. That’s all. Good luck and godspeed. ”

>The road to the dungeon is fairly uneventful, Twilight’s calculation for the item optimization worked flawlessly and you team melt every single monster you come across.

>In fact, even the dungeon appears fairly easy with Purple’s carefully prepared strategy.

>“Hahaha! Yes you weaklings! Run before me! HAHAHAHAHA!!... *Ahem* My apologies… I have to admit, I should not be having this much fun…” says BlueBlood scratching his neck, after another short battle with the residents of the dungeon, ending in the hasty retreat of the goblins.

>“I do feel bad for attacking fleeing enemies as small as those. But drops are drops.” admits the team’s archmage, unleashing a torrent of flame on another group of running monsters.

>For a second you wonder if Yellow also pities the bags of data before watching one of her arrows perforating 3 skulls in its flight.

>“Aww, so close from my record of kills with one arrow… Let’s try that again.”

 >She seems to handle this pretty well.

>After a couple more floors, you finally stop before a huge double door with a pretty unique design.

“Is that gate made of bones?”

>“This looks a lot like bones…”

>“I-I don’t feel so sure about going with only us four now…”

>“Their sense of aesthetics is deplorable.”

>A pause to glare at the Blond retard.

>“What? It is obviously just for show! Whatever is behind that door only commends to goblins! It will be easy as pie!” declare BlueBlood, before kicking open the obstacle and only thing preventing the boss from murdering you with great violence.

 

>Be Blueblood.

>The boss room is circular and featureless, but the walls and ceiling are covered in gigantic spider webs.

“Me and my big mouth… I hate giant spiders. Second most loathsome of insects if you ask me.”

>“Spiders aren’t insects BlueBlood, they are-”

>“We have bigger problems FlutterShy.” whispers Purple pointing with her finger a large shadow on the ceiling.

>Said silhouette has an abdomen as big as a buffalo, but the rest doesn’t belong to an arachnid.

>Covered in the same dark fur as its lower half appears a muscular chest gifted with two broad arms tipped ending in sharp curved claws.

>Six shining stars of malevolence indicate the number of eyes on its nightmarish face.

“Is that… a spider-bear?”

>“It’s a… Dryder-Bear…” corrects again the hippie.

>“It’s The Dryder-Bear…” says the book nerd, reading aloud the name tag of the boss.

>“It’s the mother-Dryder-fucking-Bear!!” yells Norman

“What’s your problem?”

>“Ho right… You don’t know about the Dryder-Bear.”

>“Nobody must know about the Dryder Bear!”

>“Well, long story short: there was that day I taught Trixie some magic and she got drunk, played some games online against Norman and lost, he taunted her and she got furious, she went to her room and enchanted a bear plush to become giant and alive and to go…”

>The rest of your team leader’s explanation is a mumbled mess. You glance at Norman who started to stomp around in barely contained rage while your Ranger tries to calm him down.

“You are starting to mimic FlutterShy, speak louder Twilight Sparkle. “

>“She told her enchanted plushie to fuck him in the ass!” yells the socially awkward librarian. “But there was a spider on the stuffed animal and with the alcohol in her blood the spell went… weird and the spider got mixed with the magic and gave birth to-“

>“The Mother-Fucking Dryder-Bear!” yells again Normal.

>“It was… A pretty strange experience to try and fight back the creature from molesting our friend.” recalls Flutters.

>“And last year, Trixie boasted about some Dream Haven contest of monster design she won… I did not think she would recreate that thing… Even in a game…”

>“Alright, listen up, new tactic! I want that piece of shit with as many ailments as possible! Then I finish it with my trigger! Go!” shouts the beanie wearing idiot, foaming at the mouth.

>“Huu… Norm’ your trigger only works on humanoid and… It isn’t humanoid…”

>“Wrong! It works on targets with 2 legs, 2 arms and 2 eyes horizontally aligned! Now, cripple me that fucker so I can cut down all the part I don’t need then send back that horror to the demonic asshole that farted it!”

>You’ll forever remember the day you helped Norman cure is unreasonable hatred towards Dryder-Bears.

>Once more, you had fun in that wretched game.