"Yeah! Can we see it?" Athios seconded.
"Can we? Can we?" Gary asked in a mocking high-pitched voice with both hands under his chin, cradling his bearded face. Everyone burst out in a fit of laughter at the burly man.
"Alright," Garath conceded. "If you guys help me figure out whatever caring for it means, then I'll pull it out. Deal?"
"Deal," said Daisy before Garath even finished proposing the deal.
"Deal," Athios said.
"No deal, eggs aren't my thing. I just want to see it," said Gary honestly and shrugged.
Garath smiled and willed his MENU panels into existence. A holographic, semi-transparent set of panels panned across his vision, split vertically into three sections. In the middle were listed the MENU options.
MENU
Items
Profile
Profession
Skills
Summoned Creatures
BeastScape
Friends
World
He focused on the Items panel and a nearly empty grid-space appeared in the right third of his vision. Beside the useless staff and silly hat that he had acquired for choosing the Necrologist class was the little, silver Egg icon. He mentally expressed his desire to retrieve the Egg, then reached into the fold in space that appeared in response. Garath pulled his hand from the black disk and it disappeared. He dismissed his Menu panels, then looked down at his open palm.
The miniscule silver egg lying in his palm was the last thing he expected. It was only the size of his thumbnail and felt warm to the touch. A faint silvery glow surrounded it and Garath could swear he felt a weak pulse, the world’s tiniest heartbeat. A strong feeling of connection swept over him, like whatever would hatch from the egg was truly meant for him personally - not just any Raid Leader that had accomplished the same feat. No sooner than he started to think of how to care for the egg, a prompt appeared.
You have found a Consecrated Egg. Plant it in nutrient rich soil and water it each morning at sunrise for three consecutive days.
Note: the placement of its planting and the purity of the water provided will affect the creature inside for its entire life, choose well.
Quest: Water for the Egg
It is clear that your Egg is from another world. To integrate successfully to Earth, its inhabitant requires fresh, spring water. Acquire fresh, spring water, plant the egg, and water it each morning at sunrise for three consecutive days.
Success rewards: unknown
Failure penalty: none
Garath just sat in the sand silently with a confused expression, staring down at the little egg. He had expected it to hatch after he walked a certain distance with it, or kept it near his body heat, or ... well, pretty much anything except planting it. Daisy and Athios had moved in and were both leaning over his open palm, looking down at the silver, pulsating egg in wonder.
"Well?" Athios said, shaking the Necrologist from his perplexed silence.
Without an answer from the befuddled Raid leader, Gary spoke up. "Maybe we could make a tiny omelette?"
Garath looked up at him in horror as he gently but protectively closed his hand around the tiny egg and pulled it away from the bearded man.
"I have to plant it," he told them, still eyeing Gary dubiously. "And I got a quest."
"Plant it?" Daisy asked. “An egg? Isn't that weird?"
"Yeah, it is a bit. I'm not sure what to make of it," said Garath.
"So your egg is a seed," Athios deduced. "Is it going to be a plant?"
"Didn't say," Garath told her. "It only referred to what is inside as the 'egg's inhabitant'."
"Hmm," Athios hmm'd. "What's the quest?"
"I haven't got a quest yet, I want a quest..." Daisy pouted, her shoulders sinking.
"Well, the Item description said to plant it in nutrient rich soil and then water it with spring water each morning at sunrise for three days. Then mentioned that higher quality water would yield better rewards. The quest is to get high quality spring water," Garath relayed the information to them, wondering where the closest fresh water spring was.
"You're in luck," said Gary. "The artesian spring in Lynnwood has the best drinking water on Earth, some say."
"Off 164th?" Athios asked.
"That's the one. Free water, but there's always a huge line... Though, I guess probably less now." Gary scratched his beard thoughtfully.
The five boys, now finished hauling in the salmon, rested happily in the sand, letting the last warm rays of golden sun dry the salty water from their skin. Braden tied the four corners of the fish filled blanket together, creating a convenient, albeit heavy, sack to carry the fish back to BOTH HQ before joining his brother and cousins on the beach.
After an hour or so of discussing the egg and G's quest, Athios' Ally Transport Skill aided the group in getting back to HQ in thirty-meter increments - but transporting herself and eight party members drained her Mana significantly faster than it had to transport just herself and the Raid Leader. She did manage to get them within a few blocks of the converted school building before bottoming out. Her head fuzzy and pounding from the fast depletion of Mana, the Dimensionalist sunk to her knees.
"Are you okay?" Garath asked urgently as Athios knelt, dazed, on the asphalt.
"Yeah, just..." she trailed off.
"Mana depletion." He recognized the symptoms and understood. "We can hoof it the rest of the way. Can you walk?"
"You guys go ahead. I’ll be right behind you," said Athios, struggling to clear her head.
Garath looked at her through concerned and glowing eyes. "Just go Cat form, I'll carry you back."
She looked up at him, the twilight hour and the Necrologist's intense appearance - coupled with a mind addled from Mana depletion - made her feel like she was truly living in a game. He could have been a quest-issuing NPC or even the evil wizard awaiting her
