Age of Victoria, page 13
Robert applied a heal to me as my life dropped while Annie and Emma cast spells in an awkward over the shoulder casting pose. Once Robert threw his first heal on me, I taunted the goblin. The crudity of the newest taunt was even more than I was comfortable hearing.
My fresh eye wound should not be referred to in such a way.
I had gotten into the habit of waiting for after Robert’s heal to taunt since these creatures seemed to dislike nothing more than healing. Once I was sure the goblin had shifted his focus to me, I started my Warcry - Vigor. Unfortunately for me, the moment I triggered the skill and began to scream the goblin stepped into my guard and slammed the pommel of his dagger into my throat. My ability deactivated mid-use, and I gained the silenced debuff, though this debuff was only for a few seconds. My skill would take longer to recover before I could use it again, effectively wasting its use.
When the goblin reached the seventy-five percent health mark, he backflipped off my shield and over Emma’s skeleton, then threw down one of his black pellets. From the dark bead, a large cloud of black smoke billowed out and covered the room. My voice was rough from the strike to the throat but still understandable.
“Stay close, don’t break formation,” I shouted in scratchy tones.
From my left, Emma cried out as her life dropped by a few percent. Before I could turn to attack the rogue, Annie next called out. Whipping my head around I was just able to see the goblin fade into the blackness before Robert also grunted in pain and had his life dip a small amount. The pattern was clear, and I was ready, so when the goblin reached for me, he practically had to run up my blade to attack. He still managed to nick me lightly on the arm, but he took a cut to his middle before he could escape.
After his round of attacks, he faded back into the blackness, and the dark cloud faded away. Looking around desperately I failed to find the rogue. Each of us had minor damage. My health was lower than anyone else's, but that was because it had been lower before the cloud had formed. Emma’s suggestion of using her minion as a rogue target showed its merit. The goblin faded into view as it drove both daggers into the skeleton’s spine. The minion's life dipped to less than ten percent in that single blow as he staggered towards me.
To my surprise, Robert had been prepared for this possibility and cast his quick group healing spell the moment the goblin’s daggers drove the skeleton’s life low. This fast casting saved the skeletal minion but gained Robert, the ire of the boss. Luckily, the skeleton was directly between the boss and me, and I was between the boss and Robert. A vigorous finger gesture and the use of my taunt skill which had just recovered had the goblin irate at my rudeness instead.
Either I had become complacent and fallen into a pattern, or the rogue trainer was just that good, but the shield bash I tried to use to meet the goblin’s charge was a failure. Instead of the sweet sound of crunching nose cartilage, the monster slid under the rising outward swing of my shield and popped up under my arm with both daggers driving into my hip and left leg. The lamed debuff wasn’t as severe as the crippled debuff, I could still use the leg, and I wasn’t walking or running so it’s snare portion was of little concern, but the lack of stability in my stance made my damage far less decisive for the next minute.
My injured leg and weak swings left Emma and Annie providing a more significant portion of the damage, which both were more than willing to deliver. I could see a couple of times were my enemy had glanced at my sister or friend in consideration of switching opponents. While they both could probably survive a few blows from the boss, it would still be something to avoid. I tried to increase the anger I generated with a few well-placed strikes, but my excessive movements caused me to suffer a few extra return strikes. I didn’t gain any debuffs in that period, but it was still a drain on Roberts mana.
At fifty percent life, the goblin boss jumped back again as he had before. The pattern was starting to be clear, for some reason bosses had health percentages where they would perform dangerous maneuvers. For this boss, it was seventy-five percent and fifty percent, if the pattern held, we could expect it again at twenty-five percent.
While the goblin held up his little black balls and prepared to produce his cloud, I shouted my conclusion that this would happen again when the goblin was near twenty-five percent life. Annie screamed her agreement but the other two remained focused on the fight, the most the two love-birds did was a grunt in agreement while staring out into the billowing cloud.
Robert was the first to be attacked by the goblin from the smoke. Robert's life dipped slightly from the attack, but less than it had from the first round of smoke. Annie and Emma were next to be assaulted, while I was treated to the goblin climbing over my shield and slicing across my forehead. While the smoke dissipated and I watched for the invisible enemy, I noticed my life dropping from a new poisoned debuff that flashed in my mind.
“Robert, use your group heals, I’ve been poisoned, but I’m going to try and use my ring to save you some mana,” I shouted, and Robert yelled something that sounded like agreement.
With Robert starting his group heal, I mentally triggered my new ring. The spells landed almost in tandem with mine occurring just before Robert's. Robert had been watching the skeleton’s health, and the moment it dipped down he cast his spell. The boss’ attention bounced from the minion to Robert, to me in short order. A more perfect arrangement would be harder to plan.
The second pattern for the fight was the unwelcome discovery of the goblin bosses ability to circumvent any defense and deliver a debuff after leaving its invisibility — this time I was hit with a bleeding debuff from a slice along my sword arm. The regeneration effect from my ring was still pulsing health into me and counteracting both the poison and the bleeding. While the ring’s triggered effect worked to counter the long term damage effects, it didn’t work as well to heal me. In the end, Robert had to use another large heal focused on me. Those were his more efficient heals, but I would have his mana instead be saved for the emergency heal right after the smoke cloud.
This round of combat, Emma tried to use her Clinging Darkness spell as well as the Root spell. Annie’s root spell would cause small clumps of wood to burst out of the ground and grab onto her enemy. Emma’s version had a bone white and gnarled root doing the same. The sudden pause of the goblin as its limbs refused to move was all that I needed to deliver an overhead strike onto the goblins noggin. The stun was surprisingly short-lived, but it left the goblin reeling past his twenty-five percent health trigger. My excitement was short lived since the moment the stun debuff faded the boss jumped backward ripping clear of the wooden root shackles.
“I think this will be the last time. We are doing well, stay focused,” I shouted while lowering my center of gravity.
This time when the goblin flashed his hands up to show his smoke generating balls, some of them were red instead of black. With a sinking sensation, I prepared for the new onslaught.
This time when the smoke billowed out, small puddles of burning liquid splashed onto the ground, one such puddle was just short of Emma’s feet. This time when the rogue trainer attacked, he did so with a glowing green dagger. Each of us suffered from a poison debuff while the timer on mine was renewed. Robert ignored the minion's health this time and only used his group healing spell as our life dropped. I had more difficulty staying the target of the rogue’s aggression this time, but a few well-placed insults about the size of his smoke balls worked wonders.
When the rogue was at five percent life, Emma’s skeleton minion died in a clatter of bones. All of us were at fifty percent life at this point, and our health was fluctuating up and down as the poison, or Robert’s heal, would apply. I was worried that at any moment the goblin would turn to one of my family and strike out and end them, but my worries were unnecessary. When the goblin sliced along my arm in one last act of viciousness, I retaliated with a shield bash and a kick to the knee.
The goblin rogue boss crumpled from my kick and the fight was enough to ensure we all leveled.
After the fight I had to calm the party and convince them that my eye would recover from the injury. The fact that they could check the debuff timer themselves reduced their worries, though Robert did stare at the flesh covered socket for longer than I was confortable with.
Checking my character sheet, I noticed that the battle had almost been enough, with all the bonuses, to bring me to level seven. I was slightly ahead of everyone else in experience, but not by a significant amount. While I had been focusing on my character sheet, Robert was casting his group heal spell repeatedly until the poison debuff faded. Giving me a surly look for my spacing out, and accepting my sheepish grin back, he sat to let his mana recover. Annie squealed in joy when she noticed the gold treasure chest in the center of the room, twin to the one from the previous boss.
“Women and their presents,” Robert said with a small grin and a shake of his head.
I wanted to rebuke him for the comment, but I couldn’t. I was barely resisting the urge to rush to the chest with the other two who had failed to hold themselves back. Giving him a loud sniff, and raising my nose, I turned to see if we gained anything useful for our survival. Survival was my only concern!
Chapter 18
From the chest, Annie pulled out a billowing silk scarf that she proceeded to wrap around her shoulders. The information window for the scarf was in line with her slippers.
Silk Wraps of the Sorcerous Concubine
Non-Tradeable
Armor Type: Cloth
AC: 2
Class: Wizard
Slot: Wrist or Neck
Trigger Effect: Once an hour double the damage and mana cost of a single target spell. Reduces hate from the spell by 80%.
Set Effect (2): 1% less hate from fire spells.
“It says which slots it can be used in, but only if it can be used in two slots?” I questioned in a mutter.
Annie’s excitement from her new scarf turned to disgust when the item resting below was revealed. Her disgusted face and recoil had me leaning over the box to see it for myself. A shiny necklace was lying in the box, but it was the skeletal fist mounted on a wooden handle which had caused her reaction. Emma looked at it with a quirked smile before she reached in and picked the item which was apparently for her. Emma had never been easily grossed out. When we were younger, all of us would gladly tromp through the woods or the city park exploring, but Emma and Robert would take it further and hunt for snails or frogs. I had more fun climbing trees and hopping across logs, which in my imagination were cliffs and chasms. Annie was quieter and spent most of her time reading a book in the shade while watching the rest of us destroy our clothing. Emma’s relaxation around creepy and crawling things held her in good staid as she lifted her find from the chest. I was focusing in on the fist of bone to see its information when the fist opened and then clenched. My surprise unbalanced me and I fell backward while the information screen filled my view.
The Creeping Grasp
Non-Tradeable
One Handed Blunt / Wand
Class: Necromancer
Slot: Primary-Hand
+15 HP
+25 Mana
Effect: The shadows of the spell line of Creeping Shadows gain temporary physicality in the form of skeletal hands which adds a small damage over time effect.
Altog the Shade was never happy with his creation of the Creeping Shadows spell series. He always felt that with the appropriate foci the spell could be enhanced with further effects. After five years of effort, he demonstrated his magnum opus in the form of a wand that added acidic wounds to the shadows grip. Shortly after, many other necromancers created their own version of his foci, it even became a minor fashion trend. - Necromancy, the Masterwork. Volume 1, 3rd Edition.
Emma’s new wand/fist was held at a distance as she turned it around and inspected it. Every few second the hand would relax and then tighten into a fist again. The entire thing was genuinely creepy, but that seemed to be the way Ema’s class worked. Creepy, and dangerous, but as her snare and damage spells showed, useful. I just worried that the unholy nature of her class would corrupt her mind and soul. Annie had shown signs of this, but to be honest, we all had. Annie was just the most extreme of a switch from calm and silent to giggling and throwing fire. How much was just her sudden freedom from expectation and how much was some insidious infection? It was also possible we were all losing our minds from the stress and fights, but as I looked around at the calm of my party members, I doubted that last possibility.
The necklace at the bottom of the chest was passed to Robert and seemed like a bit of a let down from my point of view. He lacked any neck slot item, so it filled a slot he was missing, but it failed to compare to the other things we had gained.
Amulet of the Sun
Non-Tradeable
AC: 5
Class: All
+25 Mana
Effect: +3 mana regen per six seconds while in direct sunlight.
The mana regeneration would be useful for Robert in the future, but the limitation of having to be in direct sunlight meant he wouldn’t gain the effect in these tunnels. Still, a small boost to his mana and AC is better than not having an item in a slot at all.
Emma waited until Robert had looped the necklace over his head before she used her motherly ‘do as you are told’ tone.
“Everyone, use your stat points and look at your new skills,” Emma said.
Ducking my head in remembered shame, I distributed my stats as I had been instructed. When I looked at my log for my new skills, I was confused.
Level up!
Victoria [Warrior lvl 6] - at level 10 NPC's will no longer be zone locked.
New Skills!
Gained Skill - Defensive Stance.
Gained Skill - Offensive Stance.
Gained Skill - Balanced Stance.
Pulling my sword from my inventory, I moved to the center of the room away from my family and triggered my defensive stance skill. Almost without thought my knees bent slightly and my sword raised so that it was held angled across my body. In my head, I could see how this position allowed me to block attacks, riposte, parry, and deflect even ranged attacks. Held as it was, my sword could be used as a poor warriors version of a shield while said shield was locked tight and behind my sword, acting as another line of defense. Even the nick in the blades could be used to disarm enemies with a deft twist of the wrist. Moving forward in small mincing steps I could feel the solidity of the ground beneath me and how to use it for protection. After a few seconds of my new stance, I could feel that I could change into one of the other available stance options.
At random, I decided to try the Offensive Stance next. Unfolding inside my mind were blazing lines of possibilities for death and pain. I could see potential movements which would let me flash out and slice, drive my shield into faces, necks, and even slamming the edge into toes. My shield could be used as a weighted pivot to throw myself around obstacles as well as for damage. My movements were free and flowing, unlike in my Defensive Stance, but I could feel a lack of protection in my movements. My sword, on the other hand, was a blazing web of death spreading out even beyond my direct reach. The tip could be used surgically to slice into blood vessels close to the surface or deep into gushing fountains of death. The pommel of my blade was a hammer that I could use to distract as well as break through defenses. The edge was the queen of destruction: it could slice, cut, or even be used to bludgeon through armor.
My body shuddered at the sudden change in perspective, my thoughts now revolved around the maximum way to deliver death and destruction. Then I switched to my final new stance.
I had been prepared for a new disturbance in my view of the world when I shifted out of my Offensive Stance and into my Balanced Stance, but oddly, I felt normal. I didn’t see the world in terms of defense or offense, and I had no restrictions on my movements. Tilting my head to the side, I moved forward and back, swinging my sword and dodging and blocking an imaginary enemy, but nothing felt different from before. With a shrug, I turned and realized I was the focus of everyone's attention.
“Um,” I said in surprise, “I gained three skills, but it’s actually more like two?” I said, the end coming out a confused question.
At the questioning looks, I explained the different effects of the three skills and how they seemed to come with trade-offs. Balanced was the neutral stance, neither good or bad. Offense Stance helped me deliver death but left me more vulnerable to attacks. Finally, Defensive Stance seemed to be as the name described, all about defense but it came with a reduced movement and hampered attack.
“You will probably use Defensive Stance more than anything,” said Robert though he seemed preoccupied with his character window.
“Annie? What did you get?”
The almost manic smile of my sister was disconcerting. Facing away from us she swished her hand a few times through the air then muttered a command before pointing her finger. From the end of her digit, a large spiral of flames formed then condensed into an incandescent bar of light and heat that flashed across the room and into the wall. Spinning around Annie was almost bouncing and clapping in excitement over her new spell.
“It’s called flame lance. I also got a Cold Burst spell and…well…this.”
At her last word, she cupped her hand and a shimmer formed and a ball of water, resembling a large raindrop, was wobbling in her cupped hands.
“The spell says we can drink it, and it’s safe, but it only lasts for thirty minutes before dissipating if it’s not consumed. Useful though,” Annie said while flicking the ball of water away from herself, leaving it to splash against the ground.
