Age of Victoria, page 17
Robert mostly agreed, a single major item could have a considerable effect. My ring without the effect, with its stats spread over four items wouldn’t be nearly as effective as just the one item with the effect.
“The same goes with your shield and Emma’s stick thing, the effects matter. It’s like a debuff during a battle, they can turn the tide more than just the damage alone,” Robert said as he paced around.
During our discussion, he had remained standing, and now pacing, even as the rest of us had decided to lounge in a circle to debate. The shift in our behaviors, less aggressive for me and more so for Robert stood out to me at this moment. We weren’t in combat, my class instincts didn’t push me one way or another, and I assumed the same for Robert, leaving him to return to his normal leadership position in our group. The shift was jarring to me only because I had been watching for further mind control effects, and this appeared to be the cessation of one. Our classes didn’t apply to this situation, and so we could do as we liked, no hints and subtle nudges enforced. As such, Robert returned to his normal mode and the rest of us to ours. Robert was by no means overbearing in our group, but by the nature of society, even our lovable and sensitive Robert was more domineering of the group's direction and focus in discussions than any of the ladies.
I straightened from my slight slump and rolled petulant shoulders. I was a part of this group, and if I wanted to argue my position, I could, the world had changed, and I would embrace the parts of it I liked. I wasn’t the only one to hold this view.
Emma dropped her polite smile and looked Robert in the eye as she responded, her voice only wobbling slightly as she spoke, “We should be fair, everyone should get an item, we all did this together.”
Robert opened his mouth to reply as he turned to pace across in the other direction.
“Emma, I think they are right. A single better item really will help more. It might be different with a group random people, but for us, it will help us to have one much stronger item then four weaker ones,” I said.
Robert’s mouth closed, but he had a slightly bewildered look as if he was happy that he had won the argument but not how he had won it. I stifled a grin at his confusion and made sure he saw none of it, but the twinkle in Emma’s eye said she had seen Robert's look.
“Good, so, it’s decided. The single Heroic item then,” Robert said, though not as confidently as he had before.
Emma shrugged and voted in agreement with the majority making it unanimous.
From the chest, we could hear a thump as a new item dropped into the bottom, though there was nowhere from which the item could appear. Another impossibility in a world full of impossibilities. Emma rose gracefully and passed Robert with a hand trailing along his chest and a smile, while Annie and I passed giggling. By Robert’s confused look he had no clue why we were laughing, but he knew we were laughing at him.
When Emma reached into the chest, she pulled free what appeared to be an exact duplicate of my own blade, down to the nicks and scratches, the only difference was that it had a subtle glow and tiny sparks that occasionally drifted along the edge of the blade. With difficulty, she levered up the sword and passed it over to me where I gripped it by my left hand and pulled the blade out of hers. Unequipping my old blade to free up my hands I looked at its apparently improved doppelganger.
Goblin Straight Razor - Heroic
Non-Tradeable
One-Handed Slashing
Dmg: 15-35
Speed: 33
Effect: Has a chance to induce Goblin Straight Razor Bleed effect (Stacking 3) on strike.
Trigger Effect: Once every 15 minutes, all Goblin Straight Razor Bleed effects exchanged for Goblin’s Infected Wound Effect (stack 3).
With a squeal I spun around while holding my new weapon like a doll, cuddling the large blade against my cheek. Both Annie and Emma smiled, but Robert rolled his eyes at my display, though his lip curled just a little as he turned away.
Chapter 24
After I equiped my awarded sword I placed my old weapon into my inventory next to the numerous looted rusty weapons. Turning to the swirling exit portal we stood and watched it pulse. There was an awkward pause as everyone turned to me to lead. I had been leading the charge throughout the dungeon, but mostly because it left me taking the brunt of the damage. By nature I was not much of a leader. An instigator of trouble, as my father would put it, but not much of a leader. Usually Robert would have fulfilled that role, though he was more naturally reticent in social situations, his training normally trumped such concerns. I was too direct and forward for the politicking that leadership required. Politics and subtle social manipulation was more my sister’s arena.
I stepped towards the swirling portal while trying to suppress my apprehension. The unnatural disturbance was silent though it appeared like it should have caused a great roaring of sound. My first passage through the portal to enter the dungeon was taken at a run and without much time to consider the sensation, but in my memory, it had no texture and failed to cling to the skin. If anything, passing through the portal was like moving from a bright sunny day through a door into a darkened room, a moment of darkness and then one was in a new place.
Turning to the party, I said, “I will see you on the other side. We will go to the Colonel and tell him of the quest we received. There is no evidence of a traitor, but he will know what to do about…what to do.”
I received a group of nods, though Robert looked unsure and uncomfortable. How badly had the Colonel broken down after I had left?
A quick breath and I stepped through the portal.
Unlike the last time, where the movement through the portal was instantaneous, this time a swirling tunnel of black and grey appeared to extend into infinity as I flew down the tunnel at an unimaginable speed. I appeared to travel at an incredible rate that is, except that I felt no wind, and I seemed to lack a form. I couldn’t feel my hands, my limbs, and I couldn’t turn or look away. All I could see was a swirling tunnel and a semi-transparent window which appeared in front of me.
Goblin’s Den Completed!
Team members: 4
Bonus XP for completion without a full team!
Bonus XP for completion without a death!
Number of Bosses Defeated: 3
Total Bosses: 3/9
Time to complete: 3 Days, 11 Hours, 12 Minutes, 13 Seconds.
Bonus XP for first completion!
Bonus XP for record completion time!
Heroic Goblin’s Den Unlocked!
The window just floated there with no context as to what to do with it or how to exit the tunnel. I ignored it for now, just staring at the time to complete line in the window. Three days and eleven hours! If I had been pressed to predict the time, I would have guessed a day and a half had passed at worst!
With a sinking feeling, I started to work out what had happened. No natural light, Robert had failed to bring his pocket watch, hunger and thirst only mildly irritating and easy to ignore when fighting, a lack of fatigue, all of it added up to a perfect way to lose sense of the passage of time. Even with a day-night cycle, the lack of physical fatigue would work to disrupt the natural rhythms of a working man.
Counting back I tried to determine how much time was left and how many days we had to reach level ten. First was the initial day. Then entering the goblin den in the late afternoon near dusk -and oh how I should have turned around right then just from the approaching darkness alone- then three more days and eleven hours. It should be near the morning on the fifth day. Five days to reach level ten, more than enough time. We had blasted through level after level within the Goblin’s Den, and we could continue the process in the forest and hills fighting easier monsters.
With my time concerns assuaged I turned my mind to how to exit the tunnel. With a nudge of mental effort, similar to how inspecting a creature worked, I tried to ‘inspect’ the window. Doing so closed it and ended the flying through the tunnel effect, dropping me upright on the grass. With my sword in my hand, I turned around to assess the situation. Where I landed became blindingly apparent in short order. I was at the back side of the giant rock that was the entrance of the Goblin Den dungeon.
A few moments after I emerged, so did the rest of my team: Robert, then Emma, then Annie. Their appearance was like the rest of this world, odd. It was like they were slipping from two sheets hanging on a clothesline. Only this was as if the hanging sheets moved and were made out of the world itself. Silent, fast, and profoundly unnatural, but it left them standing and looking around with no idea how disturbing their arrival appeared.
Carefully I looked around prepared to defend against any attacking goblins. If I had known that my den had an exit in this location, I would hold a defensive position here to ambush any escapees. Despite the fresh air, the gentle sunlight, and the sweet smell of grass and the pond, I was prepared for a slavering group of goblins to attack at any time. The obvious ambush point was left ambush free, and another expectation of reasonableness was abandoned. I wouldn’t always trust that a dungeons exit was safe, but it was looking to be the case. After asking Emma to watch for goblins, I turned to assign the gains from my leveling.
With all the bonus experience, and being so close to leveling, we had skipped right past level eight and on to level nine. My actions had been risky, but it looked like they had been beneficial overall. With a guilty look at Annie’s maimed arm, I thought to myself: mostly.
Level up!
Victoria [Warrior lvl 8] - at level 10 NPC's will no longer be zone locked.
Level up!
Victoria [Warrior lvl 9] - at level 10 NPC's will no longer be zone locked.
Again! I tried not to grit my teeth and throw a tantrum, but the lack of abilities when leveling was becoming frustrating. I could see some of the reason for it, or at least if there was a reason it seemed to be a balance of my abilities versus my survivability. I was getting an AC bonus on level up, and my health was almost five times Robert’s and his was nearly double that of either of the others. During the last few fights I was able to take attacks head on that would have crushed any of the others in short order. All of that was amazing, but it was just not as flashy as being able to throw balls of fire or summon an undead creature of terror to rip into my foes!
While I assigned my stat points, an almost perfunctory step since it was so mindlessly simple, I noticed the experience required for the next level. To go from level nine to level ten we needed the same amount of experience as all of the levels from one to nine combined! With a sinking feeling, I considered that with the lower level enemies, and the amount required, we might have to kill stray forest enemies all day to make it to level ten within the deadline.
Emma interrupted my thoughts to link the spells she gained in to party chat. A cloud of disease spell that affected an area, an area snare, a light globe spell, and the ability to pull from her health and send it to another. The last spell had a description that physically made me ill.
Spell: Empathy from the Dead
Necromancer Spell: Level 9
Target: Single Other
Mana: 25 mana
Effect: Drawing 300 health from the caster, heals the target for 300 health.
No necromancer has admitted to the creation of this unique spell line. What is known is that the spell’s original use was that of healing torture victims. The drawing of health as well as the direct infusion of life allows for the precise application of pain with little to no chance of death from shock. - Necromancy, the Masterwork. Volume 2, 3rd Edition.
That was wrong in so many ways. Emma would never do such a thing, so it was fine for her to use the spell to heal in emergencies, but I would be keeping a careful eye on any other necromancers we find. Having one of the darker classes didn’t necessarily make someone evil, Emma was proof of this, but there were probably many like Rebecca as well.
Emma having linked her spells to chat started the others into sending links to their new spells as well. Robert’s spells were just more of his usual fare: a heal, a new self only shield spell, a maximum health increasing spell, and a heal over time. Annie's spells, on the other hand, were more unique. She gained an ice storm, a chain lightning spell which jumped from monster to monster, and a spell to summon stone spikes which she could fling at enemies. I wasn’t sure exactly why she had so many spells which seemed to do relatively similar amounts of damage but used different elements, but it seemed to be the way wizard spells worked.
When the flurry of links ended, I looked away to watch the forest and avoided the questioning looks. The awkward silence ended when Robert suggested we should head towards the mansion and check in with everyone and let them know we were fine. It would be nice to get a full day of fighting in before retiring, but we couldn’t be so selfish that we failed to inform them of our survival. Letting them know that we were alive and healthy seemed like the minimum we could do.
Skirting around the large rock, we approached the front of the den where the goblin guards were stationed. Leading the charge, I whipped out my new blade, my shield ready for a counter attack. My new blade cutting through the goblin warrior with almost no resistance, the blade slicing through and continuing forward to the second goblin’s attacking arm. The injured goblin fell to Emma’s lifetap spell moments later.
My attention was still on the two corpses when a goblin hunter hit me in the back of the leg, the return of the bleeding and lamed debuffs had me gritting my teeth in anger and recrimination. I should have been keeping my eyes out for additional enemies, but the ease of killing these previously deadly foes had lulled me into fearlessness. This was a valuable lesson. I might have been far more powerful than I was, but debuffs can still cause severe issues, and all it would take is a spot of inattention to turn a moment of dominance into one of danger. I could just imagine a hunter keeping me crippled as I chased him and being peppered with arrows. A recreation of our strategy with the Arena Master -with me on the receiving end- would be a disaster.
While I was unable to charge the hunter, Emma’s pet had no such restriction and reached him while I limped along. I needn’t have bothered. Annie decided to play with her new ice storm spell. Again, overkill perhaps, seeing as there was a single enemy so far below us in level, but it was a chance to experiment with her new abilities. I could see the appeal. I tried not to let my jealousy get the better of me. I may not have acquired a new skill, but every new spell my family had, was a power we would need if we were to make it through this new world.
Turning to the mansion, we started the hike back to our summer home.
Chapter 25
The hike started enjoyably. Annie and Emma allowed me to experiment with the use of my new sword instead of killing the goblins and wolves before I could attack. I admit I took a perverse amount of joy in backhanding a goblin hunter with the flat of my blade so hard that his body essentially pulped. These enemies were so low level in comparison to ourselves that it would take extreme negligence on our part before we would suffer from it. Then again, father always talked about the random slings and arrows of battle and how they could strike anyone, even those who had prepared and were diligent.
So while I enjoyed the chance to experience my new found power, as well as the joy of having Emma and Annie both give me a disapproving look over splitting a goblin in two, it quickly became repetitive and boring. Each of these goblins, and later the wolves, were low level and worth almost nothing in experience. When we reached the beetles, they actually were worth nothing for experience points. This raised my concerns over our future leveling speed. We should be able to kill goblins and level, but would there be enough of them?
My thoughts were interrupted by Robert’s change in pace. At first, I hadn’t noticed that he began to drift in front of us, he had always been the defacto leader of our troop as the only man, but in this new world, his role was to be protected rather than to defend. It wasn’t until I had to slow or walk around him did I realize that we had outpaced him. When I looked up to see what had caused him to slow, I failed to notice an enemy, but I did see Robert’s serious face. Shoulders hunched, bottom lip held by his teeth, brow furrowed. He looked to be a man marching to a court-martial rather than a man returning from a victorious battle.
Watching Robert's hunched form, his stride slowing to almost a shuffle walk as we neared the mansion, I realized that he was still seeing the world as it had been and not as it was.
The old rules were gone! I thought with a giddy smile. I can be anything I want to be and so can you Robert!
My smile was wiped clean when we entered the foyer of the mansion, and the Colonel stormed through. Above his head floated a debuff: Severe mental strain. I had never seen the Colonel as anything but put together and well prepared. The man in front of us now had wild, unkempt hair, his clothing was disheveled, and he looked to have lost five pounds or more in the time we had been gone. The deep puffiness under his eyes underlined his lack of sleep, but despite this, his movements were fast and powerful. Without a word he grabbed Robert by his shoulder and shoved him through the foyer into the tea room, his forceful march was silent, and Robert took the rough treatment as if it was just as he had expected.
Detouring through the tea room Robert and the Colonel finally ended their dragging march at the game room where the Colonel threw open the thick oaken door and shoved Robert through before following after, closing the door without a second look at the rest of us. Beyond the door, I could hear the beginnings of a hollering match between the two men, the subject was that of failing to follow orders and endangering women for his own gain. I would not let that kind of accusation stand, I had instigated the trip to the dungeon, I had stormed ahead of everyone else, I had decided to push forward while everyone else followed the Colonel’s instructions. Me, not Robert.
Robert only did that which any man in this modern day would do, he acted to rescue a young woman in need. The fact that I waouldn’t have needed saving if I had planned and thought ahead was a different issue entirely. I would not let Robert suffer for my mistakes.
