Age of Victoria, page 11
At two percent health, he recovered from the stun and stood up, but was unable to stop us from finally ending him.
The event text flashed, and a vast amount of experience flashed into each of us. By the end, each of us had leveled twice. Our event log showed us with a bonus for the first time finishing ‘Conquer The Arena!’, a bonus for being ‘NPCs,’ a bonus for having a partial group, and another bonus for completing an event that no one had finished before.
I was left staring at the log trying to make sense of the message. How would anyone have had a chance to ‘finish the event before us’? How would anyone be able to finish it again? Mel’tar was dead! None of it made sense. But it didn’t matter. We lived, we were all stressed even if we were not tired in body. I needed a moment to rest and collect myself before we did anything else. Closing my eyes, I started to weep silently. I turned away to keep my pain and stress from spreading to my friends.
Chapter 14
“Vick? You need to see this hun,” Annie called, her voice subdued and gentle.
While rubbing my tears away with my forearms, I chuckled when I noticed that my eyes weren’t puffy and irritated from crying. Even when upset, I was still looking for the oddness in my new world. This change was a welcome one. I never liked how anyone could tell I was upset for hours after a cry. My pale skin and dislike of cosmetics made the red puffy eye bags obvious.
With a pause, I considered, was I getting too comfortable with my new world? It had only been a single day, and yet I was already enjoying the freedom and power of my world. Yes, I had just cried from the release of tension and worry from the recent fight, but I had also enjoyed the battle and the contest of wills. Biting my bottom lip, I shook my head and turned to Annie to see what she was worried about.
“I’m good, what is it?” I asked.
Annie gave me a look that said she wasn’t convinced but that she would let it go if that was what I wanted. With a small smile, I gave her a slight nod, which she returned then turned to point to the throne. I already knew I would have to talk to her about how I felt later, her and Emma both. I felt for Robert being unable to share his feelings, but maybe in this new world, he could talk to Emma?
In front of the throne sat a large chest with golden straps bolted into white polished wood. In the front was a giant keyhole, a keyhole far too expansive to actually be useful in hindering thieves. Lifting the heavy lid, Robert moved the items inside the chest while his eyes lost focus as he tried to read the information for our ‘loot.’
“Oh…this is going to be useful,” Robert said as he passed a large metal shield to me.
Mel’tars Bulwark
Non-Tradeable
Armor Type: Plate
AC: 18
Class: Warrior, Paladin, Cleric, Death Knight
Effect: Once every 2 hours, surround each party member with a mobile shield which will attempt to block physical attacks automatically.
My grin spread across my face as I hoisted my new shield onto my forearm. The front of the shield had a red circle emblem with a yellow lightning bolt crashing through it. It was a large slab of metal, longer even then my sword, and slightly curved along its width. The forearm strap was a simple loop of leather bolted to the metal, but the grip was a handle of metal with a wood and leather wrap. Equipping the shield, I started to shift it around checking to see how it felt. The shield moved almost effortlessly and how to use the protection was floating around inside my mind ready to be used.
While I played with my new shield, Annie was holding up a pair of slippers. They were light blue with tiny sparkles floating around them and had upturned toes, and they reminded me of something out of Edward Lane’s ‘The One Thousand and One Nights.’ Annie flipped through her menu, the vacant far away stare giving it away before her shoes suddenly appeared on her feet. Her new footwear contrasted oddly with her summer style dress, but fashion was the least of our worries now.
“What are they, Annie?” I asked.
With a mischievous look, Annie sent the title of her shoes to party chat.
Annie [Level 5 Wizard] - Slippers of the Sorcerous Concubine
The name had me blushing and giggling, but the information for the item had me confused.
Slippers of the Sorcerous Concubine
Non-Tradeable
Armor Type: Cloth
AC: 5
Class: Wizard
Effect: Reduces cooldown of Spell: Blink by 1 second.
“Blink?” Robert asked.
Annie started to hop around in her new shoes, a level of joy I hadn’t seen from her since father had left for India.
“It’s a new spell I just got,” she said before she barked out a word in a tongue-twisting language.
Once the word snapped out, a white flash appeared and surrounded her. A moment later there was a small popping sound and Annie was gone! Spinning around I noticed Annie standing at the edge of the arena smiling at us and waving!
“Useful, right? It’s quick to cast, and it teleports me in a random direction a short distance while also making everything around my last location slightly less angry with me. It’s expensive on my mana though,” Annie said with a small pout.
I could only shake my head at her display. We needed to let each other know about our new spells and abilities, one of them could be the difference between life and death, just as Emma’s Creeping Shadows spell had almost been.
“I know I earned some skills from leveling. What did each of you gain?” I asked.
Emma stepped closer and shared a slight smile with Robert before speaking up, “I have a spell called Root which ties an enemy to the ground for a time and a spell called Envenomed Bolt. It does a bit of damage at first, and then every few seconds it does a little more damage. It’s really cheap so it should be better than just casting my lifetap spell all the time.”
I nodded at that. I had noticed that Annie was able to cast very damaging spells very quickly, while Emma’s spells didn’t do nearly as much damage. On the other hand, Emma’s spells were able to heal her as it hurt the enemy, a significant benefit.
“Robert?” Annie asked as she turned to face him.
Robert had a strange look on his face before he began to cast a spell. After a few seconds with his hand outstretched in front of him, he clenched his fist and ended his chanting. Around each of us, a transparent white shield appeared then soaked into our skin. In my mind, I could see a new buff protecting each party member. Focusing on the spell's effect, I asked for its description.
Spell: Protection of the Righteous.
Cleric Spell: Level 4
Target: Party
Mana: 35 mana
Effect: Increases AC for each party member by 20, reduces spell damage by 2%.
Edward the Righteous spent many years perfecting his spell of protection. After decades of effort, his spell was finally completed with a whisper of divine power. - Words of Warding.
“That should help, though I don’t know how much. I also gained a group heal spell that is very expensive but fast casting. I probably won’t use it much if I can avoid it,” Robert said.
Nodding, I turned to Annie, “We know about blink, anything else?”
“I also got the root spell,” she said.
I grinned while looking through my log windows to see what I gained.
Level up!
Victoria [Warrior lvl 4] - at level 10 NPC's will no longer be zone locked.
New Skills!
Gained Skill - Block.
Gained Skill - Parry.
Level up!
Victoria [Warrior lvl 5] - at level 10 NPC's will no longer be zone locked.
New Skills!
Gained Skill - Riposte.
“Oh…I know how to Block using my new shield, and I also gained Parry and Riposte…hmm,” I started to hum to myself as I let the information for my new skills float through my head. It was odd how I just suddenly was able to do things that I hadn’t been capable of a moment before. What was stranger was the idea of using my sizeable cleaver-like sword to parry and riposte. But my new skills insisted that it should be possible even if the concept was ludicrous. Given the insanity that was my world, I didn’t doubt that it would work just as the new information in my mind said it would.
“I think we should rest here,” Robert began, “We can slip into one of the earlier side rooms and barricade the door. Emma planned ahead and brought food. We might not need sleep, but after that fight, I’m a bit tense, and some rest would help.”
I was worried about the time we spent resting when we didn’t really need it. If we didn’t get to level ten, then we would be stuck. Everything said the next five levels would be harder than the previous five. Yes, we had made it halfway in a day, but I didn’t want to leave it up to the end. Looking at Annie and Emma, I noticed the weary looks that they had and reluctantly agreed to rest.
Chapter 15
Not needing sleep is not the same thing as not being able to sleep. The difference was apparent when Emma’s screams and tears woke me. Somewhere in the night, I had slipped into slumber while resting on my makeshift bed. Robert had been laying near the barricaded door, and he woke and flopped around before rushing over to hold Emma through her tears. Annie and I had tried to calm Emma down, but in her distress, she had been inconsolable. Only once Robert wrapped her in a hug and shushed her while rocking did she seem to get through her suffering. Over Emma’s head, Robert gave me a haunted look before he closed his eyes and continued to rock her tightly.
The pain was so raw that I had to look away. Annie I noticed, had a look of wistful yearning before her face cleared into her usual polite neutral. But I had seen behind the mask. I knew she didn’t want to marry Robert, but there was something there just the same. The marriage plans had provided a direction for her life, and protection, and the safety of the rigid structure of society. Even if she rejected it, having that support had been a comfort of a sort. Now we were all, literally and figuratively, on our own.
After Robert had calmed Emma, a process involving gentle hugs and whispers -something we all pretended was not happening- we prepared for another day of fighting. We had only rested for a few hours, but it had been a needed respite from the high pressures of constant battles. We may eventually become resistant to the strain of daily fighting and near death, but for now, we had adapted surprisingly well but were still needful of rest.
Gathering the dresses I had used for a pillow, I passed them back to Annie, and she returned them to her inventory. She hadn’t explained why she had stored her entire wardrobe of dresses in her inventory, but our lack of sleeping gear had turned it into a surprising advantage. This outing was showing that even those who had planned and prepared had been underestimating the requirements. Blankets, bedrolls, pillows, tents, food, water, even firewood for when we were in places like this dungeon, would need to go onto our future lists for things to take in our inventory. Luckily, with Annie's pyrotechnic ways, a lighter or matches wouldn’t be required.
Once we had gathered all our wayward supplies, Robert and I moved to the shelf we had used to barricade the door. We had picked a room that had been a few hallways before the arena. The side hall we chose had a six by six meter room that had shelves all around it. After we cleared off the dusty junk from one shelf, we moved it together in front of the door. It wouldn’t have stopped a persistent opponent, but it would have woken us with enough time to equip ourselves and prepare.
One of our initial concerns had been what to do with our waste. An issue that Robert had reluctantly brought up, but it was a serious concern. Father and the Colonel had told more than one story of how failure to properly prepare a campsite had lead to an enemies defeat through disease and disorganization. As we had discussed the logistics, the truth had slowly dawned on us. Just like we no longer sweated, or how our stamina bar determined the difficulty (or lack) of an action, or how our hair always seemed to fall perfectly coifed, so too did we no longer need to use the facilities. It’s amazing how even when something is objectively an improvement, it can still be disconcerting when you no longer are required to do it if you have been doing it all your life. This fundamental law of the universe, what goes in must come out, no longer being iron clad shook me more than seemingly all the other inconsistencies.
With the door free, Robert was about to open it to check and see if the coast was clear. Tapping him on the shoulder, I gestured him to step behind me. I could see the moment of hesitation, but in the end, he stepped back. I was honestly impressed with Roberts adaptability. Few men would be willing to step back in this situation, and I felt a warmth in my heart knowing that he trusted me to do my part in keeping everyone safe.
There were two potential ways to handle the closed door. Either I could slowly open it and peek around the edge checking to see if any enemies were close, or I could whip the door open quickly and prepare to defend with my shield up and blocking the way. Both had benefits, but I decided to go with the second option. I hoped that none of the goblins had moved from further in the dungeon into the areas we had already cleared of enemies. If the goblins acted the way the grey wolves had outside, walking a specific path and only reacting to close enemies or aggression, then there would be no enemies to fight. The fact that we had rested uninterrupted supported this hypothesis. Either way, I would be prepared to use the doorway as a chokepoint against any opponents.
Grabbing the handle, I slowly turned it listening for any disturbance beyond the door. When the handle turned far enough that I could feel the latch slip past, I yanked the door open. I took care not to slam the door into the wall, not being sure if a loud noise would draw in enemies or not, but my efforts to tuck behind my shield was a klutzy mess. The arm holding the shield was also the one used to turn the doorknob. In my effort to keep from slamming the door as well as return my guard to a protective position, I almost slammed the door closed instead of resetting my shield. Luckily there were no enemies to defend against, but I would remember this foible and try and improve in the future. Somehow I thought that opening doors while trying to protect my group was going to be an ongoing issue.
Listening to the empty hallway I signaled Emma that she should summon her new minion. Last night she had had the foresight to capture another goblin soul to have one in reserve in case her pet was killed. When we bedded down for the night, she had not needed to poll the group to know that no one wanted it watching over us. We couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t attack the moment Emma went to sleep. In truth, it had just been unsettling with it standing there, gently bobbing, its joints clicking and its eyes glowing. I had instructed Emma to wait before summoning her skeleton because of the loud and extended period it took for her to create it. This way if the pathway was clear we could watch for approaching enemies, if the sound caught their attention.
Fully buffed with Robert’s new spell and Emma’s new pet following along, we ventured forth. As we moved forward in formation, it became apparent that our first hypothesis had been correct. None of the previous locations with goblins had been re-manned. Even the arena was empty. We had two ways to proceed from the arena, a door to the left or right. After a short discussion, we decided to go through the right door. We were not sure it was the correct way, but we needed to make some progress, and so we used one of the coins we had been collecting to make the final decision.
Through the doorway, we again started to see goblins, though far fewer hunters. At first, we had found it difficult to get into the routine of fighting, our teamwork not as well practiced as it had been the day before. But after three rooms worth of enemies, we had restored our performance. The fourth room though was different. Instead of a pair of goblins guarding the doorway and a third goblin walking through the hallway -the most common arrangement- this room had only one goblin barring the way. There was a goblin standing on the left-hand side of the door, but the right side was without a goblin. We could see a goblin walking a pathway through the door from the middle of this room and into the next, but with only one guard it looked odd and lopsided.
“This doesn’t feel right,” I said, to which the others nodded in agreement.
We had returned to whispering when uncertain, even as none of the goblins seemed to care.
“Should we wait until the patrolling goblin is walking away before we attack this goblin, like usual, or should we grab both of them?” I asked.
Robert hesitated to answer, probably not wanting to look weak, but Annie had no such compunction, “Something is wrong, let's play it safe.”
Emma nodded her agreement, so it was decided. Once the patroling goblin warrior moved out of range into the far hallway, I stepped forward and attacked the goblin guarding the door. My usual routine here was to attack and taunt, then immediately move back so that we could fight the goblins at the doorway we entered. It had taken some practice and Annie resisting the urge to burn everything, to let me pull the duo back without one of the others getting attacked. But with our recent practice, it was almost second nature.
When I had finally positioned the goblin warrior I was just starting into my fighting routine of War Cry - Vigor when I noticed Annie’s life plummet. Spinning around, ignoring the goblin beating on me, I watched Annie fall to her knees as a dagger was ripped from her back. The goblin behind her was short and covered in blackened leather armor. Annie’s life was at fifty percent, and I tried to charge her attacker, but I wasn’t quick enough to stop him from slamming his dagger into her again. Her life only dropped by ten percent this time, but that was little comfort. A particularly nasty attack from the goblin warrior I had been ignoring struck my head and I returned to seeing the world through stars and floating duckies. Snapping out her blink spell, Annie disappeared from her prone position. She reappeared near Robert and the spell that he had been casting during this fight finally completed and healed Annie to full life again. This sudden shift in position, along with the heal, left Robert as the primary target of the second attacker.
