Heralds- The Proving Grounds, page 30
Anna shook her head a bit. “Fair enough. But I’m not turning my back on him.”
Probably good advice regardless. Jen nodded.
Anna vanished and Jen was left alone. She made a point of tapping the green dots. Appearing outside visual range and earshot once was enough.
She needed to shade her eyes from the sudden drastic change in lighting. This game seemed to thrive on that… then again they didn’t really expect people to teleport around like this.
The sun was beating down here. Plants soldiered on here and there, but by and large the ground was brown with some patches of darker brown. Very next gen. Nice place.
“Because duh.” Sam stood a few paces away with her arms crossed.
Kail wore a perplexed look on his face. “But you’re fundamentally a dual wielding class. You can’t get that much benefit from a single sword.”
“Hi, have we met? I’m an assassin.” She rolled her eyes. “Everyone is super paranoid about dying right now, so they’re stocking up on defense. More defense means more damage reduction. More damage reduction means each hit loses more damage. More tiny hits become less useful than fewer large hits.”
He shrugged. “That is simply not the experience I have had.”
“That’s because hyena people and other mobs are not changing how they play due to this event. I fight people, idiot.” She glared at him.
Jen winced. If he really was a pawn of Hank, provoking him was probably the dumbest thing they could do. At least they still had strength in numbers…
Not that Sam was know for thinking very far ahead. Unless it involved killing someone. Then she would get out the weather radio, graphing calculator, and protractor. Weirdo.
Fortunately he seemed to be a better poker player than the impatient young woman. He just shrugged his shoulders a bit and shook his head. “As you will.”
Anna chuckled. “It’s nothing personal, Kail. She’s just… like that.”
“Abrasive? I’m beginning to see that, yes.”
Sam stuck her tongue out at him.
“Charming.”
Even Sam couldn’t find fault with Kail’s information. Or if she did, she kept it to herself.
The gnolls wandering the area seemed to be set up as tribal hunters, picking off animals as they went about their business of eating, drinking, and sleeping. The gnolls has grown large and strong.
But not strong enough.
A force of four Heralds was something to behold, even for Jen. She hadn’t seen much of what Kail could do before now. She felt a few pangs of fear as she watched him work. His fists moved fast enough she had trouble seeing them at times, and the forward motion seemed to be his bread and butter making for continuous quick attacks. Yellow trails and bursts followed his hands.
He had horizontal and vertical attacks as well, and he seemed to be something of an expert at weaving them together to form greater attacks for the bigger mobs. It wasn’t uncommon to see a dragon’s face made of golden light that bit into a foe before dissipating like smoke. Or a final blow in a chain landing with a peal of goddamn thunder. The first time that happened Jen propped her headset up to make sure it wasn’t cloudy outside her tiny window.
He also had access to a short teleport, which only seemed to move him to a better vantage point for the following strike. But it might not have really been a teleport, since he always ended up right back where he started. It could have just been a visual effect. Suddenly she wished she had read up on the various classes a bit more. Paladin seemed a touch bland by comparison… but part of that was doubtlessly her fault.
She had her combo attacks and bashes, but at this point it was really starting to look like she was limiting herself by ditching her shield in favor of using Soulshine with both hands. Trying to squeeze damage from a tank wasn’t generally a good idea. It was an option, sure, but it had less things to spec into and she already had most of them. A lot of them were passives. Maybe the PVP people that had worked out how to make a paladin offensive were content with the limited skill set. They had more to worry about in PVP. People were unpredictable, after all.
She could heal too, of course. That was an ability Kail had not shown. She was the only one there that could heal at all. Which meant she was expected to.
Not that it was all that important to the Heralds. She kept them healthy anyway. Didn’t want some random person to happen by and see the four of them all surviving forever on one hit point as they waded through an army of gnolls. It might be a little suspicious.
Of course if that did happen Sam would probably just kill the person. Jen wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
She kept on tossing out heals and tried not to think about it.
The gnolls fought in an odd fashion. By and large, they didn’t care much what happened to each other, unless they were in a group before they were pulled. Then the remaining ones would rage as soon as one died, and each got consecutively stronger until it was the last man, er, hyena standing.
And yet, once there was only one left their survival instincts kicked in and they would try to flee when they dipped below thirty percent health.
All in all they were freaking annoying.
Kail had been leveling in the area by picking off individual mobs below this level range and using stuns and trips to keep them from aggroing a bunch more each time one tried to run. It became his job to keep them in place whenever possible. Given the levels of the things they were fighting, they had a strong tendency to resist his efforts.
It wasn’t always possible anyway. There were a few long fights that became longer fights when one straggler found another group that decided to help. They would not rage when a gnoll from another group died. So at least there was that. And more than once a group had just let a straggler run by without acknowledging them.
Which was worse than them always aggroing. Sure, it might be easier to pick the guy off, but it became a game of watching and waiting rather than simply continuing on.
Annoying.
Less than two hours of feeling more than a little inferior later… Jen hit level 50. The flashing lights and gong noise weren’t exactly her favorite things in the world, but it was kind of odd to think she wasn’t going to be bothered by them again. Not until an expansion was released.
She stood with her sword in hand and a dead gnoll falling to the dirt before her. A little cloud of dust was kicked up as it settled.
“Congratulations.” Kail bowed his head.
“Yay!” Anna clapped.
“Finally.” Sam had her hands on her hips. She had hit level 50 almost half an hour ago. She did a lot more damage. Like, a lot more. And she had been in on every kill where Jen had missed a few here and there due to healing and whatnot.
Jen was the last one to make it to the cap, though she wasn’t very far behind Anna. Only ten minutes or so. No time at all in the grand scheme of things.
“Whew.” Jen stood up straight and put her sword away. “Well that was a thing. I think that’s enough wanton slaughter of hyena people for now.”
“It was enough awhile ago…” Sam muttered.
Anna grabbed Sam’s shoulder and shoved her a few steps away. “Alls well that ends well. We should be ready for whatever craziness crops up at the end of the event now.”
“Mmm.” Kail nodded. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about it. I’ve made some friends to call when the time comes, but all indications are that Tobin’s force has grown strong and only adds sword arms by the day. Potentially by the hour.”
So he was still under the same old impression… or was holding to the act. It didn’t really matter.
Jen nodded. “Yep.” She pointed up at the guild tag she couldn’t see. “All indications to the same.”
Kail nodded and narrowed his eyes at the empty space over her head. “That does beg the question: when the time comes, whose side will you be on?”
“Figure I’ll play it by ear.” She shrugged. She managed to sound disinterested… for which she was very proud of herself. She was terrible at all this subterfuge crap.
The monk just chuckled.
Anna stretched her neck to one side. “Long day, but we should probably see about gear, too. If Tobin and his people are out leveling, there’s no telling how much time we have left.”
Jen frowned a bit. “Afraid my crafting isn’t really up to par. Like… maybe level thirty stuff?”
Anna shrugged. “I found a few places I’ll check out.”
The monk nodded. “I have come across some useful merchants as well.”
Sam glanced around for a moment. “Can I go with you guys, then?” Her voice was just above a whisper, but grew stronger. “The only merchants I know are Seven Eyes, and I don’t think my discount applies anymore.”
Kail chuckled. “Of course.”
Jen opened her menu. “I’ve got a place to check out first. I get guild pricing.”
Anna rubbed at her chin. “Keep an eye out while you’re there. Anything… suspicious they might be up to.”
Jen shrugged. “Sure.” Though she had no earthly idea what that might be.
Waves churned on the beach. The sun and sand wasn’t all that different, but the ocean was a nice change of pace.
“So where we headed?” Sam walked up toward the buildings, not sparing so much as a glance for the water.
“East Carning.” The monk shaded his eyes as he followed her. “They have a thriving market and have kept all attackers at bay so far. We’ll check the other places if we don’t find what we need there.”
Anna glanced aside at Jen and gave a nod. “You be careful out there.” She cut her eyes to the sword at her own hip, and then up to Kail.
All this spy crap was getting silly. Jen understood the message. Sam and Anna were going to keep an eye on Kail and ensure they outnumbered him if he tried anything.
“You too. I’ll be back here before long.”
Anna nodded and started up the hill.
Jen paused a few seconds, just watching the waves…
She was the only one there when she made it up to the map room. The table showed an image of a string of islands. Clever for defensive purposes. Limited avenues of approach and made sure you’d see them coming.
She scrolled the map around. Morblina was a bit of a beehive, blue dots everywhere. She would need to drop out in the woods again. Oh well.
There was some level of commotion all around. Even the wooded area she appeared in wasn’t devoid of people. She waited a few moments, watching to make sure no one was looking toward her before venturing out. One more set of feet on the road wouldn’t be noticed.
She was the odd one out for having a guild tag. A few people pointed at her. She didn’t care for the attention.
The guards waved her in without hesitation. Others got stopped. They had some means of screening people, and the majority were left outside the walls. Maybe it was just the guild tag.
Even with so much for the world set against Tobin Ironblood, strength seemed to be a large selling point to the people outside. They wanted to be on the winning team.
It took some weaving through the crowd to make it to the trade district. Well, it wasn’t a district so much as the east side of the town. The buildings were looking a lot more sturdy now. Stone was replacing all the wooden stuff.
The sound of hammering caught her ear. Metal and metal. Did they have a new blacksmith set up? It might save some time if she could just put in a special order.
She followed the sound to a large building. Wooden doors took up the entire northern end of it. The doors were open a crack, and the hammering was definitely coming from inside. She leaned over to glance in.
A familiar wagon was inside. It was still loaded down with boxes and barrels full of little glass vials. Each full of innocent blood.
Three smiths were at work inside. All of them were using one large forge but each had their own anvil. They were hammering away at black plates.
Huh. That wasn’t how her forge on the island worked. She didn’t have to do much of anything. Was hers special, or run of the mill? Maybe this stuff was special. Or were those NPCs?
“Ahem.”
She turned her eyes up to see a guard standing inches away. His face was hidden inside his helmet.
“Sorry.” She stood up straight. “Looking for the smith. Heard the hammering.”
He pointed to the east. “Try Fifth street. Afraid these are busy.” His other hand grabbed hold of the door and pulled it to. He moved to stand in front of the door and crossed his arms.
“Thank you.” She bowed her head.
Well at least they were using it. It hadn’t been easy to come by or to deliver. She felt a bit of a pang of pride… and a smile crept onto her face while she thought about the Seven Eyes cursing her name.
30
Jen sat on a crate outside the shop she had visited so many times before. There were always crates outside. Like they couldn’t keep up with orders but the stuff moved so fast the shop was resupplied daily.
Or they were for looks. Either way, convenient for her right now.
Most of her gear had been replaced again. It didn’t look very different, though each step up in levels seemed to add some details to the whole shebang. Now there were feather motifs worked onto the plates in places, and a set of useless metal wings attached to the sides of her new helmet. They didn’t mess with what she could see and the helmet didn’t actually weigh anything, so there were no real concerns. It was just… kinda gaudy.
It made her feel like she would need to duck to get through a doorway.
She had a new white cloak, too. They were apparently all the rage here because Tobin was wearing one. She couldn’t find any other color for sale. Maybe white was the default for cloth stuff?
None of it was stealthy. No doubt she’d be kicked out of future missions, too.
At least Soulshine looked less out of place by contrast now. The hilt was only about as shiny are the rest of her gear now. It looked nice.
Bright yellow text covered her eyes for a moment.
“World First! Level 50, Tobin Ironblood!”
“World First! Level 50 Barbarian, Tobin Ironblood!”
“World First! Level 50 Paladin, Celan Doren!”
“World First! Level 50 Cleric, Kelara Kirol!”
“World First! Level 50 Ranger, Amos Yonal!”
“World First! Level 50 Druid, Amallia Puppypaws!”
She blinked at all of it. Huh. They were a bit late to the party… but the Heralds were ineligible. Weird that the other side’s guys were not.
Unless Sam’s crackpot theory was correct and they were not special. Not immortal. Their rogue friend had died and Jesse had commented on it. How had Jen not put two and two together before?
Well, all the more impressive then.
To Amallia: Congrats on the world first.
From Amallia: Hey! Didn’t know you were here. Stupid offline bug. Thanks, by the way. Get to work. You can be level 50 paladin number 2.
Jen chuckled. Jesse always seemed so positive.
To Amallia: Working on it. Try not to let the world first thing go to your head.
From Amallia: The godking of all druids will consider your words, though they carry little weight.
Jen smiled a bit.
The world before her eyes jerked to the right a bit. She turned her head to find a kid tugging at her cloak. Wait, could players even be children?
No. No they couldn’t.
“Umm… hello?”
The same kid she saved from a shopkeep was staring up at her. The little girl had eyes like saucers. “Come with me.”
“Kinda busy.” She tilted her head. Most NPCs didn’t respond to anything but preset words.
The kid tugged harder on the cloak. “Please?”
She must have a decent selection of keywords. Or that was her response to anything she didn’t have a response for.
Jen shrugged and hopped up. She had finished her business here. Heading back to the island could wait a few minutes. “Fine. Lead the way.”
The child nodded and released Jen’s cloak before turning and running through the crowd.
Through the crowd. Like the people weren’t there. Another honor system event.
Jen might not really have time for this sort of thing. She needed to make sure everyone else was prepared. And it wasn’t like she was going to get experience for helping anymore.
Still… she had said she would. She followed the kid. It wasn’t easy. No one else around could see her so Jen had to weave around people and through more than one building to try and keep up.
All the while her mind was arguing with itself. The kid was an NPC. Real actual people had problems she could be helping them with.
It wouldn’t take long. It couldn’t. The last one had only taken a few moments. Besides, what good was a paladin if their word meant nothing?
The child was staying ahead but she could have been moving faster. She stopped more than once to wait for Jen to catch up. It was a small mercy.
The crowds thinned out some as she left the market district. The rest of the town still had people toiling at various tasks, but more and more of them were NPCs. They were working with wood, metal, and carving stone. Construction crews.
The child ducked into a tent set up among a small sea of nearly identical tents. Jen couldn’t see anyone of note around… some NPCs here and there. A few players moving along the street, but no one that had any reason to slow down here.
Jen quickly stepped inside the tent and pulled it shut again behind her.
It was darker inside. The daylight striking the canvas let in some light but it took her eyes a moment to adjust.
The place looked like a storehouse. Crates and barrels were lined up with bolts of cloth and baskets laid out on top along both sides. There was a narrow path up the middle.
The young girl stood at the far end and waved for Jen to come closer.
Jen hesitated a moment. This could be a trap. A confined space away from prying eyes… she found her hand lying on Soulshine’s hilt.
