Age of Victoria, page 14
“Annie, I’m sure we are all thirsty and could do with a bit of cleaning up. Could you make more?” Robert asked.
For a moment, Annie seemed ready to yell at Robert, but then the look passed, and she glanced down and then quickly at Emma. Nodding she proceeded to conjure water bubbles for all of us. After providing each of us a globe of water, my sister moved over to the corner of the room and conjured another. Using her new water source, she wet her face and hands. None of us were dirty -it didn’t even appear we could become dirty any longer- but scrubbing up felt nice, it would also give me a moment to talk to my sister. Annie was focused on her cleaning, but she had noticed my approach since she summoned another globe of water and held it out in invitation.
Rubbing my wet hands together I stared at Annie’s back while I tried to figure out how to phrase my concern. I had never been as capable at the social games, that was always Annie’s arena, so I did what I was good at. I made a frontal charge and hoped I could beat through the problem.
“You need to talk to Robert and Emma. Get it out in the open. It’s going to happen, and if you talk to them first then it might not hurt you as much,” I said, then watched for my sister’s reaction.
I had started rushed and louder than necessary but ended slowly and almost mumbling. Annie nodded silently and returned to summoning water globes.
“I’ll…um…go get Robert so he can get clean also,” I said then quickly retreated.
Pointing Robert to Annie, I turned to Emma who had been watching the interplay the entire time.
Smiling at me, Emma started a different conversation entirely, “I gained a fear-inducing spell, and a buff for my skeleton as well as a spell which increases my AC but it only works on me.”
Taking her cue to avoid the larger subject I asked, “What did Robert get?”
“He said he gained a heal that pulses out over time, a group AC spell, and a spell which increases physical damage output,” she said while her eyes avoided the corner where the whispers were coming from.
“We will get out soon Emma, things will get better, you will see,” I said to which she nodded, but we both knew I was trying to convince myself as much as her.
Chapter 19
About an hour after we had defeated the last boss, we were pushing through a group of goblins in a large room with multiple hallways. We had entered similar large rooms before, most of the corridors just reconnected together further on. Some of the time they only lead to dead ends. As always, the goblins were stationed as guards on either side of the doorways. Our first clue that something was different was when I moved forward to attack the patroling goblin, and I came face-to-snout with a goblin and his wolf. His massive, very upset, foaming at the mouth, wolf.
Hollering in surprise, I tried to return to my team who were just on the other side of the doorway. This was a mistake. From behind me the wolf gave a deep-chested growl and launched itself into my back, it’s jaws biting into the back of my head. Luckily the wolf got more hair than he did neck. Unfortunately, the wolf was followed by the goblin who lead with an ax strike to my legs while the wolf tried to maul me. The impact of a fireball in the goblin’s face pulled his attention away from me, and the tackle of Emma’s skeleton into the wolf left me to recover from my belated retreat.
Rolling over I stumbled as I tried to stand up, still woozy from the sudden attack and limping from the near hamstringing the goblin gave me. The wolf was distracted by the skeletal minion, but the goblin was already on his way to Annie. Before I could taunt the goblin away from Annie, Robert stepped in and took the brunt of the charge. Almost dragging my leg behind me, I limped over to my now closer team and attacked the goblin from behind. My taunt skill pulled the goblin's attention away from Robert, and our healer took the chance to step back. Seeing that neither Annie or Emma were injured, and I was only suffering a few debuffs more than lost health, Robert started the movements for his large heal on himself while I ‘tanked’ the goblin.
I don’t know if it was the surprise of the attack or the unusual circumstances, but I failed to consider what would happen when the wolf finished off the skeleton. I never even thought about it; I had become focused on attacking the goblin. My defensive stance helped me take as little damage as possible, but my movement debuff from the goblin's first strike and the stance skill had me nearly immobilized.
Despite my single-minded focus on the goblin, when Emma shouted in surprise, I responded. Turning to the wolf, I barely clipped it with my sword as it bounded past. My taunt skill recovered and so I used it to gain the last bit of aggression from the wolf I needed to divert it's attention to me. Even as I was spitting out a growl and a bark, apparently a serviceable taunt for wolves, I regarded in horror the fireball that Annie had just released…
…into the goblin.
The first fireball had been to the goblin’s face, sensitive areas like that did more damage and consequently caused more anger. Annie's second fireball had been cast after I had managed to pull the goblin off of Robert. This one landed while I had moved slightly away to intercept the wolf and after I had used my taunt skill.
While the wolf instantly shifted its gaze to me, the goblin turned and lunged for Annie who had crept forward in the heat of combat. Before I could change my tactics, the goblin was out of reach and heading towards my sister! My stance, combined with my debuff, left me shuffling after the goblin even as the wolf tried to rip into me. I barely had the presence of mind to keep my shield between the wolf and me as I watched the goblin charge Annie.
Annie let out a loud ‘Eep!’ as the goblin charged at her. Before I could scream for her to run she used her blink spell. The white light flashed from her stomach and covered her body in a moment, but the spell’s nature was our downfall in this instance. While the spell teleported her a short distance, where it teleported her was random. This time the teleport moved her to within arms reach of the goblin. Grunting while attacking, the goblin kicked Annie in the stomach, the impact causing her to vomit almost on the goblin’s leg.
With a burst of will, I triggered my shield’s effect. Each of us now had a small glowing shield the size of a dinner plate that shifted to be directly between them and the closest attacker. Annie knelt at the goblin's feet while the monster raised his ax high and brought it down in a two-handed chop that was slightly deflected as it passed through her shield. The glowing shield shattered from the force of the ax but it lasted long enough to divert the weapon’s pathway from her head and instead into her shoulder and then into the ground, severing her left arm.
The sound of my sister screaming was heart-wrenching as she fell on her side and clutched at the stump of her shoulder. Robert was grim-faced as he cast fast heal after fast heal as I charged the brute who was winding up for another overhead strike. Instinctually, I switched to my offensive stance, tucked my shield in close to my body, and drew my blade in tight. Before the goblin could bring down the ax on my sister’s head and kill her, I drove the edge of my shield into his armpit and lifted with my entire body. Without Offensive Stance, I would never have gotten the balance right. The shield lifted the goblin off one foot and disrupted his attack causing him to spread his arms out to catch himself from his stagger. Arching his back and throwing his arms out left his neck exposed. Continuing my motion, I drew back my shield and thrust forward with the tip of my blade, driving it through his neck and leaving him to blow bubbles of blood.
Shifting on my feet, I used the weight of my shield to turn and line up for a thrust at the wolf I was sure was chasing me. Instead, I found a wolf covered in shadows and skeletal arms, whimpering as it was dragged to the ground. Emma’s Root and Creeping Shadows spells had torn away from the wolf the last of its life while I had handled the goblin. Dropping my shield, I reached for my sister.
Robert’s heals quickly stopped the bleeding, and my sister's health read as full in the group window, but still, she clutched at the now sealed wound of her shoulder. I grabbed my sister and tried to hold her, but she just continued to scream that ‘it was gone’ as she reached for her now missing arm. Above her head were multiple debuff icons.
Debuff - Amputation - Left Arm
Reduced Dexterity - 50%
Reduced ability to dodge - 5%
Reduced ability to block - 50%
Reduced ability to parry - 70%
Reduced maximum health - 10%
Reduced crafting success chance - 15%
Reduced Charisma - 5
Duration: 36 hours, 14 minutes.
Debuff - Shock
Reduced Intellect - 8
Reduced spell resistance - 80%
Reduced spell power - 40%
Reduced mental focus - 20%
Duration: 5 minutes.
The second debuff was the apparent cause of her hysteria. All I could do was hold her and rock as she cried and clutched at her arm. This was the worst injury any of us had suffered. From the white-faced look of Emma and Robert, they didn’t seem to understood it was a long debuff, but of a temporary nature. Once the shock debuff faded, Annie began to calm down. The sniffles and crying reduced in volume and her screaming stopped entirely.
“Annie, it’s all right. It’s a debuff, in thirty-six hours you can get your arm back. Check your debuff’s, it has a duration,” I said while rocking my sister.
Eventually, she calmed enough to check for herself.
“What if…what if the debuff is gone, but I’m still missing an arm?” she asked, her voice sounding like a little girl instead of the confident woman I knew.
My heart twisted at her question. I couldn’t know for sure that her arm would regrow. Just because my broken arm healed didn’t mean her lost arm would return. There was a distinct difference between a broken arm and a missing one. The evidence of that was the severed limb that was laying beside us, which I was careful to keep my sister facing away from.
“I’m level seven now. The wolf was the last I needed, I gained a cure disease and a cure poison spell, next time I might get a regrow limb spell. Whatever it takes, we will help you get your arm back Annie,” Robert said. His voice was shaky but resolute.
“If we had just stayed in the mansion, we would all be fine. This is all your fault,” Annie said as she pulled away from me.
My guts roiled as Annie staggered to her feet. She was right. If we had stayed in the mansion, we would have been safe. But I didn’t want safe, I wanted adventure and freedom, and it almost cost my sister her life. It still could cost any one of us our life.
While I turned away from Annie, Robert moved in to comfort her. Turning to the goblin, I pulled up his information.
Shan-Dar Clan
Goblin Beast Tamer - Elite
Beast Tamer - Lvl 6
This opponent is beneath you.
Level Six! The dungeon information said it was level three to five!
Feeling betrayed, I checked the wolf’s information next.
Shan-Dar Clan
Worg - Pet - Elite
Warrior - Lvl 6
This opponent is beneath you.
The ‘Worg’ was also level six!
“She is just upset, and in pain, she didn’t mean it,” Emma said as I looted the Worg's corpse.
“Doesn’t matter if she meant it, she’s right,” I said while watching the corpse fade away.
Emma always worked to take care of us, she had tried to take the place of her mother who had been an unofficial mother figure for all of us. This time though, it couldn’t be solved by a hot cup of tea and a good cry over the horrible things the society ladies had said about me. This time my sister’s arm was laying on the ground because I had pulled them into my mess. She was hurt, possibly maimed for life, because I wasn’t paying attention during combat. I had rushed forward without checking where the patrol goblin was, convinced it would only be the one enemy. I was playing with my abilities and left myself unable to move and do my job. I was supposed to protect my family.
We had been in these tunnels for at least a day and a night, and we had seen no hint of an exit. We might end up tromping through these tunnels for the rest of our short lives, all because of me.
Hugging me from behind Emma leaned her head onto my shoulder.
“It will be all right. I think we all wanted freedom, to change our situation, the apocalypse just gave us an excuse. We came to save you, but we did it as much for ourselves as because we are family,” she whispered while holding me.
“If it’s your fault for us being in here, then it’s also your fault when we reach level ten. That Robert will be able to check on his family, and that you two can find your father,” she said as she pulled away and held me at arms length, “now enough of the whining, straighten up and march soldier!” she said trying to imitate my father's favorite instruction. She even put a single finger beneath her nose to simulate the mustache wiggle at the end which forced a chuckle through my tears.
“Good, now you need to stay focused. We are all counting on you,” Emma said before she turned to see how my sister and Robert were doing.
Nodding to Emma’s back, I tried to keep my mind clear and focused on the goal. Three more levels and freedom from the dungeon.
Chapter 20
After the multiple scoldings for failing to assign my stats, I made sure to assign them for this level without being told. The first step to correcting a mistake is being aware of them, and I was well aware of my issues now. Next, I turned to my log file to see what I had gained for this level.
Level up!
Victoria [Warrior lvl 7] - at level 10 NPC's will no longer be zone locked.
That was it?
Seeing that Robert was comforting Annie, something I wouldn’t interrupt for multiple reasons, I asked Emma what she had earned from her level. Glancing into the distance with the vacant look I had come to recognize as checking one of the windows, Emma made a humming noise before her focus returned to me.
“I’ve got two new spells, and I gained the skill ‘dodge,’ but it’s not like how you described it. It’s a bit more bare bones. It only helps with leading an enemies attack and timing. The spells are useful though, here see,” she said while pushing the spell descriptions to group chat.
Spell: Aura of Death
Necromancer Spell: Level 7
Target: Self
Mana: 15 mana
Effect: Surrounds the caster in an aura of the dead. Every six seconds converts 5 health into 3 mana.
Telchor, who later became known as Telchor the Lich, created the first spell in what is now considered the defining spell series of Necromancy. Aura of Death is a rather minor spell with very low efficiency, but its brilliance is in what it does. Slowly infusing death into the necromancer's body allows the conversion of the natural force that all life produces into death aligned mana. - Necromancy, the Masterwork. Volume 2, 3rd Edition.
I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of Emma eating away at her health to regain mana, but the truth was this spell barely did any damage to her and would significantly increase her mana regeneration. With her lifetap spell, she would be able to heal whatever damage was done, and it would allow her to do even more damage then she had been. Between the two of them, Annie was able to do a lot of damage in a very short period, but her mana drained quickly. Emma, on the other hand, was able to create a lot of damage over an extended period very efficiently. Necromancers also seemed to get a large number of utility spells while Annie's class didn’t seem to have as many. Emma’s next spell linked in chat was a good example of this.
Spell: Breath of the Dead
Necromancer Spell: Level 7
Target: Self
Mana: 55 mana
Reagent: 1 Fish Scale (Consumed)
Effect: Removes the necromancer’s need to breathe for 30 minutes.
Not all necromancy spells where created to assist in the destruction of enemies or the conquering of mortality. No. Some were merely created on a whim but were found to be so useful that they became common in almost all necromancy spell books. Such is the case of the spell Breath of the Dead. Rumor has it that this spell was created to allow a young apprentice to catch fish for his master. - Necromancy, the Masterwork. Volume 1, 3rd Edition.
I couldn’t help but giggle at the description of the Breath of the Dead spell.
“What did you get?” asked Emma.
The reminder that I had been denied any benefit from my level up, except for my increased health and damage output, returned the frown to my face.
“Nothing, I’m not sure why,” I said.
Emma looked surprised but then shrugged. Turning back to Robert and Annie, Emma voiced the question I had been wondering but was to afraid to interrupt the comforting of my sister in order to ask. Maybe she thought that reminding Annie that she had power would help her peace of mind?
“Annie, what spells did you get from your level up?” she asked as I strapped on my shield and prepared to defend us from more enemies.
When Annie answered, I found myself hunching at the return of the soft tones I thought my sister had forever abandoned.
“I…um,” Annie started then continued after a delay, “I linked them in chat, they should be useful,” she said.
Spell: Wall of Fire
Wizard Spell: Level 7
Target: Single, Area (Modified)
Mana: 185 mana
Effect: Creates a wall of flame which burns intensely for 30 seconds.
“Burn! Burn! MWAHAHAHA!” - Fredrick Nashe, ‘The Pyromancer’
The description was somewhat disconcerting and given Annie's recent…exuberance…with her fire spells, upsetting. Though, with her injury causing a return to reticence, I would rather see her happy and fire manic again instead of silent.
Spell: Lightning Storm
Wizard Spell: Level 7
Target: Single, Area
Mana: 165 mana
Effect: Produces a storm cloud over a location which continually releases lightning bolts into enemies. Lasts for 1 minute.
The storm is one of nature's most devastating phenomena. Lightning can damage enemies, runic constructs, and even fortifications. Learning to harness the intensity of the storm should be every wizard's goal. - Arch-Wizard Joseph ‘Old Sparky’ Merin.
