Age of Victoria, page 9
Everyone was now level three, which seemed wrong to me since it had taken so much for me to reach the same level. Emma pointed to the logs which mentioned bonus experience for dungeons and working in a group. That left me conflicted. I worked hard to level as far as I had, but I could have leveled faster with help. But then, I wouldn’t have leveled at all unless I had pushed forward on my own since they would have just listened to the Colonel and hunkered down. Shaking my head, though my long hair barely moved at the motion, I turned to the loot.
Only one of the corpses remained and when I tried to take its rifle my hand passed through it like it was a specter. Looting the body, I found a cloth cap. Focusing brought its information forward.
Raiment of the Dark
Non-Tradeable
Armor Type: Cloth
AC: 4
Class: Necromancer
Effect: 5% more health from the spell Lifetap.
“Emma, I think this is for you,” I said while looking at the black cloth that was mostly a hood with rips and holes in it.
Watching, I waited for the moment that Emma noticed the condition of the cloth hood. I couldn’t contain the giggle when her hand came back holding the ripped item. With her eyes focusing off into the distance, Emma was suddenly wearing the black cloth hood. With a glare at me, she focused into the distance again, and then the hood disappeared.
“Emma, I know it looks ugly, but you should wear it. We need every advantage we can get, and I want you protected,” Robert said.
I was glad Robert was the one to say it. With my obvious joy at the silly apparel, I don’t think she would have taken my suggestion as well.
“I am wearing it. If you look at your character sheet, there is an option to turn off the appearance of helms and hoods, that and cloaks. Nothing else though, I don’t know why,” Emma said with a pout.
This new weird world was equal parts beautiful and horrible. Far more than anything though, it was arbitrary. Rules seemed to exist for no sensible reason, they just were, and we had to adapt.
Forming up in our now familiar arrangement, I approached the closed door. Pulling the wooden door open, we found a small closet of shelves. Only a single curled up piece of paper sat on the shelf. The paper was a soft cream and reasonably new. The inked words on the back were in a sharp and precise hand. The letter detailed the layout of the mansion and the people who protected it. As I read the text, a new quest window appeared in front of me.
New Quest - Defend the Mansion.
The Blythe mansion has been targeted by the Shan-Dar Goblin Clan. Someone within the estate has given the goblins detailed defensive information. Discover evidence of the traitor and inform the Colonel of the coming assault.
Objective:
Find evidence of Traitor 0/1.
Inform the Colonel of the coming Assault 0/1.
Accept?
(Y/N)
Accepting the quest, I looked to each of my friends, and they each had the same grim look as I had. None of this made sense, this goblin dungeon hadn’t existed even a day ago, but now it was apparently preparing to assault the mansion. Someone was supposedly handing over information to the goblins. For what reason?
We discussed it, but none of it made sense. We agreed that no one was able to do such a thing, let alone would have a reason to do it. I had a sinking feeling that I knew who would end up being the traitor in the quest. Despite my dislike of Rebecca, I didn’t think she had been capable of betrayal, the timeline just didn’t make sense. Besides, who would save such a note or even store it in such an accessible and unguarded place near the entrance? This quest had holes all the way through it, but we couldn’t do anything but make our way forward and hope to warn the Colonel when we found an escape.
“One second,” Emma said as we prepared to continue.
Stepping away from the group the new necromancer began a chant. The dark words which bubbled forth from Emma's throat scratched and ripped at the world. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as she spoke. Emma’s spells were not like Annie’s. Annie would just focus, and a fireball would form at her effort and will. Emma had to talk, and her words were ones that man was not meant to know, never mind speak.
After more than a minute of focus and chants, Emma threw forward a sizeable white gem that contained a swirling fog. At her final pronouncement, the gem burst with a silent flash. Replacing the gem was a hunched over creature formed of bone. Recoiling from the beast, I realized that it was a goblin's skeleton. Its bones were shockingly white and unconnected to anything else. No muscles moved its body, but it turned to watch us all the same. Its form stood between Emma and us. Within the eye sockets was a glowing green flame.
“Follow,” Emma said, her voice straining.
The abomination of bone made a ducking bow motion, then stood next to Emma.
With a concerned smile at Emma, we all turned to face the doorway the goblins had guarded.
Chapter 12
Emma’s skeleton minion was useful; I’ll give it that, but creepy. Then again, no more disturbing than the apparent manipulation of our minds. We talked about it, and we all agreed. We had some outside influence pushing us, making us develop in certain ways. I wanted to push forward, and everyone else wanted to hang back. I wanted to lead the charge and sacrifice my body to protect my friends. They wanted to hurt the monsters, all except for Robert. Robert wanted to heal each of us.
So, whatever was manipulating us, was trying to get us to fulfill our new ‘classes.’ It’s useful, just like Emma’s minion, but creepy.
“Oh!”
The sound of Emma’s surprise had me looking around like a startled cat trying to see if monsters had attacked from behind. When she noticed my alarm, she gave me an embarrassed look.
“All right, what surprised you?” I asked, a small smile forming on my face.
“Well,” she said, “I found a little button on my ‘pet’ window. It said ‘first P.o.V.’ and when I selected it…it’s…hmm, hard to explain.”
Waving her arm at the group she began, “I’m here while I’m also-”
Then the goblin skeleton waved its arm and continued her words, its voice hollow and filled with echoes, “-and also here at the same time.”
The group stopped awkwardly and looked between Emma and her skeleton. The voice of the pet had neither been female or male, instead, a strange androgynous mix, but the body language and tone had been entirely Emma.
“Can you see through the skeleton’s eye…um…sockets?” I asked.
“It’s like I’m in both places at once. It’s as if I had another arm…only this arm has eyes and feet and a mouth. It’s weird, but this should help me fight a lot better!”
For someone who had been so conflicted over her spell, she was very chipper and excited to be using it now - more evidence of insidious mental manipulation.
For a while, each room we came to was joined with a hallway, and each doorway was guarded by two goblin warriors. We were surprised the first time that we noticed a goblin hunter inside a hall. I had been concerned that the hunter would run to another room and bring more goblins to kill us, but strangely the hunter just stood and took shots with its rifle at us. Charging to attack, I was joined by Emma’s goblin skeleton. Her minion would swing around behind our enemies, and she would attack ankles and arms or try to knock them around. Being small and only a collection of bone, it was not very effective at knocking the goblins down. Emma eventually just had it climb on the goblin’s back, this distracted them, ruined their attacks, and she managed a few critical hits while biting at their necks.
We moved forward at a plodding pace to let everyone's mana recover before we attacked. It was very odd that these monsters would watch us and let us recover. I tried calling out to them while we waited, hoping to see if one of them would respond. I wanted the experience and to increase my level, but being locked in this ‘dungeon’ was still a scary prospect. Finding the way out was more important; we could always go back to killing beetles and wolves outside if we had to. Despite my best efforts, the most I could get was for a goblin to hiss and bare its sharp teeth at me.
After finishing and resting up, we moved into a wider hallway, this one with graphic depictions of combat on the walls. At the end of the hall was a raised iron portcullis. The room beyond the gate was large, almost a hundred feet around, with two other gates diagonal from the entrance. Around the edge of the room was bench seating, and directly across from our hall sat a large goblin and throne. The throne was made of stone and bone, crude in its formation and wide. It had to be since the goblin which sat on it was huge, it’s body crisscrossed by small white scars. It was slightly larger than the orcs we had fought during the event, but as fat as the young ogre.
Moving into the room, I focused on the seated goblin while it furiously dug a finger into a nostril while staring in disdain at us.
Shan-Dar Clan
Mel’tar, The Arena Master - Boss
Warrior - Lvl 4
This would be a difficult opponent.
A boss was something new, and so far, new was terrible. Though from the casual way he was leaning sideways on his throne while digging, he didn’t seem that dangerous. He was large, and he showed the signs of many battles, but what did that mean in this new world? I had broken bones and didn’t have a scar on me, so how was he so covered in them?
When we finally reached the center of the circular area the portcullis behind us slammed down leaving our retreat blocked. To our horror, the two other gates opened and the room slowly filled with goblins. We huddled together, with Emma’s skeleton standing towards the entrance and me facing the throne. When goblins surrounded the arena, the two gates shut. The room wasn’t filled, but there were more enemies than we could safely handle at once. The standing goblins thumped their chest and then sat, the large goblin slowly lumbered to his feet before addressing the crowd and us.
“Today we have new contestants! Welcome! Your first opponent is Yal’now!” he bellowed before sitting back on his throne.
Each of us received a new quest the moment the large monster planted his backside on his throne.
New Event - Conquer The Arena!
Objective:
Survive Five Waves 0/5.
Defeat Mel’tar 0/1.
From the back of the room, a small, sickly goblin stood. The little goblin's body was pale, almost albino, his arms weak and spindly, his legs nobby kneed and exposed due to his only garment being a loincloth. A more pathetic monster I could hardly imagine. But appearances had been deceiving before, but when I focused on his information, it confirmed my first assessment.
Shan-Dar Clan
Yal’now the Sickly - Elite
Warrior - Lvl 1
This opponent appears to be beneath you.
I was curious how he could be both sickly and an elite, but it didn’t matter, we had to focus on survival. Emma looked to the weak goblin and had her skeleton attack while I watched the surrounding enemies. We had slowly formed into a competent fighting group, the unsaid command being natural after repeated battles. The sound of the skeleton slashing through Yal’now’s chest, was drowned out by his squeal of terror and pain. A few seconds later he was dead. The event counter ticked over to one of five, but none of us shifted positions.
“Good! Good, the weakling is done for. Next, are the Dwar Brothers!” said the grotesque blob of a goblin, his voice being distorted with the finger which was now in his mouth.
Stepping forward were two goblins which resembled the ones from outside — though smaller, and lighter green. Screaming with mindless rage, both of the goblins charged. The first few seconds were a scramble. I managed to taunt one. I almost regretted the use of the skill since the cursing involved a comment on their smell, my genitals, and a fish. Despite the danger, I could hear Annie cackle in laughter as she threw a fireball at my enemy, but I doubt it had anything to do with her usual fire happy behaviors. I was worried when the other goblin charged towards Robert, but he just moved behind me and allowed me to attack his opponent. These monsters were very simplistic, and their minds seemed to forget everything around them the moment they are even slightly distracted. A few wacks to the back of the head are more than enough of a distraction.
When both enemies were down, I breathed a sigh of relief. My life was at fifty percent, having both of them attacking me at once had made dodging and blocking far more difficult. While I tried to calm down, Robert healed me to full life. Most of my contribution came from my war cry and holding their attention. Annie and Emma, along with her pet, did most of the actual damage. While I was breathing deeply to calm myself, Mel’tar was rearranging himself on his throne. Scratching his belly, he kicked both legs over one side of his chair and turned to the side, watching us out of only the corner of his eye. While he lounged, the event wave indicator ticked over again, and my confidence rose that we would be able to succeed here.
“Very good, very good!” Mel’tar began, only to interrupt himself with a horrible belch, “yes, now you fight. Hmm…them!”
Mel’tar’s negligent hand wave pointed to three new enemies. One was wearing a necklace made of bone while covering its face with a large reptile skull. His companions though appeared to be much like the previous brothers. This was starting to be a worry. If I taunted one, and Robert directed the other to me, what would we do about the third enemy?
My concerns were short-lived as the first goblin charged forward with his eyes locked on Emma, while the other was focused instead on Annie. When my first opponent tried to run past me, I swung hard at his neck with my sword. My weapon struck him across the throat, the blow which should have decapitated him only knocking him to the ground. I took the opportunity to stomp on his ankle. The kick skill did more than just provide information about kicks. The skill had wormed knowledge into my brain about tripping ankle blows, knockbacks, even odder sorts of related movements like shin strikes. I took advantage of this information while aiming a stomp for the large round bone on his ankle. The sound of the crack a pleasant counterpoint to his screams.
Glancing around I noticed that Robert was being attacked by one goblin while the bone adorned creature was just standing and watching. Ignoring the watcher, I turned to Robert’s Goblin and used my taunt skill. This time the insult was mild and only involved the goblins supposed heredity and a dung beetle.
Annie began to scream, and her lowering health broke me out of my focused combat. Writhing in pain on the floor, Annie was curled up in a ball as little yellow and black insects swarmed her in a cloud. Every few seconds she would scream as another insect would stink or bite her and her life would dip a bit further. My distraction cost me as the goblin I was fighting slammed the pommel of his weapon into my temple, the swirling ducks and stars telling me what I already knew; I was stunned. I took multiple blows, and my health dropped.
Robert was casting his healing spell on Annie as fast as possible as her health fluctuated up and down repeatedly as the drain of the insect bites did damage every couple seconds. The metronome-like precision of the attacks was yet another oddity given it was creatures doing the damage. Once I killed the goblin that was giving me so much trouble, I turned to check the one on the ground. It was still crippled, but it was crawling its way towards Robert.
“Robert, keep an eye on the crippled one, I’m going after the other!” I shouted as I charged the watcher.
My choice to attack the bone adorned one came from the information window.
Shan-Dar Clan
Gid’gow, Shaman Apprentice - Elite
Shaman - Lvl 3
This would be an even fight.
I wasn’t sure what abilities a shaman had, but the scare stories from the Colonel and father from fighting in Africa suggested this was a caster of spells involving nature. Insects attacking in a swarm seemed just like a shaman.
My first blow was right across the shaman's shoulder. The strike stopped on impact in a rather odd way, a green glow appearing around the shaman. The lack of damage was a concern, but the fact that it caused the shaman to focus on me instead of Annie was a relief. My sister's health quickly returned to normal, so that was even better. The shaman hissing in my face and releasing a gigantic putrid cloud of green gas was a problem though.
Gagging, I stumbled back, the cloud burning my eyes and nose. The green smoke cleared quickly, but the debuffs remained: sight and nose impairment. I didn’t care about not being able to smell things, but not being able to see made hitting things difficult. The world was a blurry swirly mess. I was still able to find the shaman, but it was a hit or miss ordeal, mostly miss. The only good thing was that the debuff was short lived and the crawling goblin was slain when both casters focused on killing him. This left the shaman as the only goblin left to fight.
Each blow on the goblin was stopped by a green glowing aura, but that only lasted for a few attacks. After that, the impacts started to harm him if the flinching and hissing was any indication. The scary part was that this was the first creature we had fought that could heal itself. While we had worked to break through its shield spell, it cast some kind of red swirling mist around itself. The damage that had made it through the shield, almost entirely spell damage, was healing at a visible rate.
Even though it was healing, the damage it was taking was too severe. The shaman would occasionally move back and try to get clear to cast a spell in its rasping language, but I was not letting it. My blows, especially my kicks, kept interrupting its incantation. That meant we didn’t take much damage once we were all focused on the shaman, but Robert was running low on mana from all the healing.
When the shaman finally died, we huddled up and glanced around at each other. Each of us had a similar look.
Fear.
We knew that with those three it had been a close fight and that at any time the goblins even now surrounding us could have ended our lives. It was likely this would get harder and harder until we started to drop.
