Heralds- The Proving Grounds, page 34
She had also souped up her healing since the shield bashing and sword attacks could only be upgraded so much and she had plenty of skill points left over. Every third hit she landed healed her for a bit now, and she could probably heal others about as well as a cleric that hadn’t invested points into their healing. Which any cleric would have, of course. It was still pretty good.
While every sword slash and shield bash had been upgraded, the damage didn’t scale so well as it would for someone like Sam. Tanking versus DPSing. On the up side, every attack she landed also counted as a hard taunt now. Not only did it dump twice the damage value into the mob’s aggro table, it actively forced NPCs to attack her for three full seconds. Any enemy player hit would have their target swapped to her, too. They could still change to a different target but for the same three seconds they would do reduced damage to anyone else.
Seemed pretty spiffy.
If one was big on tanking.
Jen had certainly not come into this looking to do anything of the sort… but the idea of being a protector of her friends and those in need had grown on her. She could do this.
Sam was staring at Jen with a distant expression. Inspecting her loadout, no doubt. “Huh. Pretty good, grasshopper. I wouldn’t want you main tanking a raid but it looks like a decent setup.”
“Then why wouldn’t you want me tanking a raid?”
“Experience.” Sam shrugged.
“Every tank has to have a first time.”
“No raid leader will ever agree to that.”
“That makes no goddamn sense.”
Sam shrugged. “Way of the world.”
“Okay!” Poe’s voice was well above.
Jen looked up to see him waving from the roof. “Looks like we’re on.” She started toward the nearest set of large orcs at a jog. They had already taken note of them and were moving to intercept.
Sam kept pace just behind Jen. “Off to save the world… but I can’t shake this feeling we won’t be getting credit.”
“I know. Isn’t a great?”
“Sometimes I really, really hate you.”
Soft chimes played in Jen’s ears as she charged headlong into what might well be the one death her character was going to get here.
At least Soulshine liked her.
She held up her shield and threw her left arm forward. The world went all screwy as it shifted and flew by. Blue light washed out all that she could see after a moment.
Until she stopped. Instantly.
A low pitched yowl of pain was all Jen could hear as the world reformed around her. There was no pressure against her arm. As the blue light faded and she lowered the shield a bit, she could see a large orc was cascading away.
Two more orcs had moved in close, but their heads were turned to watch their fellow collapse. It stopped rolling when it broke a wagon in two. It didn’t get back up.
“Huh.” Jen hefted the shield. “I like that.”
“Jeez.” Footsteps echoed along the stone street ahead of Sam’s voice. “The hell was that?”
“Shield charge.” Jen inclined her head toward the shield. “I like it.”
“Warn me next time.”
“Why?” Jen grinned.
Sam ignored her and looked back over her shoulder. Jen did the same.
Poe was visible on top of the roof. Dark purple fire surrounded him and climbed into the sky as he held his hands out wide.
The base of the building looked like a moving mosaic as countless skulls moved along in a wave. The eyeless grinning faces closing in on them were a bit unsettling. Jen had to remind herself they were on her side.
They broke and moved around the pair, laughing all the while. They piled onto the giant orcs without a moment of hesitation.
The skeletons managed to trip a few, but most were only slowed down a bit as they swung their arms trying to get their bony attackers to let go.
Jen and Sam were ready when the next one barreled into them. Jen raised her shield and expected to suffer some damage absorbing the hit. She didn’t have time to get out of range of its swing. It’s arms were just too long.
She heard the hit land but she didn’t notice it otherwise. There was no camera jostle or anything. She peeked over the top of the shield.
The orc was standing still. It had been recoiling from the blocked hit but stopped dead in its tracks.
Sam was behind it holding one of her dripping green daggers in her left hand. “You might want to hit it a few times before it wakes up.”
Jen was more accustomed to Sam fighting with her sword these days, but that trick had certainly gained her some infamy. It had almost taken down Tobin Ironblood.
And it had apparently inspired Hank. Being on the receiving end of that was not a great deal of fun.
The shining sword made short work of the creature that couldn’t dodge or retaliate. It collapsed backward when its hit points hit zero.
A white blur caught her eye. Jen raised her shield with all the speed she could just before a skeleton bashed against it and crumbled to shards of bone that washed over her. The bits broke into dust when they hit the paving stones beneath her feet.
The next orc wasn’t having any of this skeleton nonsense. It was grabbing them in its giant hands and crushing them to dust or throwing them about. Sam had to dodge out of the way of two of them. She did a much better job than Jen had.
“Over here, ugly.” Jen leaned forward as she shoved her shield arm forward again.
When she stopped there was a giant orc face leaning down over her shield. It was grasping the circle of rusty metal with both of its hands.
There wasn’t much left of its health, but it had managed to absorb the hit just the same. And her shield was caught.
She swung her sword more as a reflex action than with any calculated intent. It was horizontal enough for the game to count it. A light blue trail followed the blade, though most of the blue was lost inside Soulshine’s white light.
The orc recoiled as black blood spewed out of the cut across its face. It fell away screaming.
Jen stood dumbfounded. That had been… messy. And unexpected. There was black blood on Jen’s armor.
Sam made the orc shut up. She stood over the collapsed form with a sword blackened with its blood. “Did we get a little overconfident, hmm? No worries, happens to new tanks all the time. Either they are scared to death, or think they’re untouchable.”
Jen shook her head a bit to clear it. Her health was fine. The hits had given her a few small heals even though nothing had taken enough health for her to worry about so far. Certainly something to be said for being tough, even if it meant you hit like a house fly.
Throaty cries erupted from further up the road. Jen raised an eyebrow as she looked over her shield.
The skeletons had managed to take a few of the orcs down. They were wailing on them with empty fists and tearing at them with broken teeth even as the orcs crushed a few of them to dust or rolled on the pavement to try and get rid of them.
It didn’t exactly make Jen feel camaraderie towards them.
The skeletons came away with black hands and jaws as they stood up from the piles of bits that used to be orcs, already looking for new playmates.
“Ugh.” Sam was holding a hand over her mouth. “I think I might throw up.”
Jen nodded. “At least we’re making progress, right?”
“Oh, yeah. We’re chewing right through this.” Sam rolled her eyes.
From Torallan: Umm, hello?”
Jen blinked at the message. She had no idea who that was and she was incredibly busy. She ignored it.
From Torallan: Hi. Name’s Frank. Anna says to tell you there’s a thing happening at Morblina because we can’t handle it.
Oh. Jen kept her shield high.
To Torallan: Just a moment.
Jen turned to Sam. “How is this looking? Anna says Morblina is getting hit.”
Sam’s ears perked up. “She called you? I haven’t heard a thing.”
“A tell. I think it’s her husband.”
“Oh, Frank? Yeah, he could still be around.” Sam shaded her eyes and glanced back and forth. “I guess we can go. I mean, there’s a few more here but it seems like Poe can handle it.” Sam’s fingers tapped at the open air. She pointed at nothing. “He says he’s got it.”
Jen nodded a few times as she scanned for more enemies. The only ones she could see had skeleton problems.
“Tell him to catch up when he can. We might need the help. And if we don’t, he should get back to the table and look for more trouble spots.”
“Pfft. We don’t need any help. But okay.”
Jen grinned as she opened her menu. Sam had already died a few times but it hadn’t put a damper on her pride. It seemed like she had a little pride in Jen now, too. And Poe.
She tried not to look at Anna and Kail as she bolted up the beach headed for the buildings. She couldn’t care less about Bulorn, but she was still happy he had fallen face down. What the skeletons had done to those orcs… she didn’t want to see what they could do to a normal person.
It didn’t take long to swing the map to Morblina. The thing should just have a favorites list or something. They went there a lot. She should be racking up frequent teleporter miles by now.
Though she was really just glad the thing still worked. It would have been simple for Hank to break it, turn it off, delete it, whatever. With any luck, the raid nonsense would put an end to all of this. She didn’t enjoy the thought of running into Hank again.
Sam wasn’t far behind her. “Am I going this time? Because, you know, attempted assassination of their guy. Twice.”
“You were just following the new trend.”
“Setting the new trend. Do not sell me short.”
“Pretty sure Bulorn tried first.”
Sam narrowed her eyes at Jen. “Say that again.”
“No worries. Tobin isn’t there. But that’s also kind of the problem.”
The table showed Morblina as a mess of blue dots scattered around… amongst a bunch of red ones. Only players showed up on the table. None of that chaos was from mobs. Jen frowned.
“That looks bad.” Sam’s eyes were cast down at the table, her arms crossed. “Maybe we want to sit this one out? We’re not immortal anymore and all of this will wash over anyway.”
Jen shook her head. “We’re playing world police right now. That certainly looks like it applies. Besides, we know some of those people.”
“Oh, gee, like Gorin Stoneshield? The guy that immediately jumped all over you for something I did? Or maybe his cronies that didn’t lift a finger to help you or dare to question him. Everyone worth a damn is in the raid.”
Jen smiled a bit. “You know what I like about being a paladin?”
“Oh, this should be great. What?”
“Simple decision making.” She held her hand over the map. “Someone needs help? I help.” She tapped the surface in the center of the red dots.
34
Soulshine spoke softly in her ears as Jen appeared just outside the doors of the Morblina church. She’d been here before though the whole place looked a bit different given the screwy lighting all the fires were giving off.
She wished she could understand what the sword was supposed to be saying but maybe it was just a way to judge its mood, or approval rating, or whatever. It seemed to be happy with the way things were going.
It must have low standards.
Jen lifted the shining sword as she turned away from the church doors. They shut tight against those outside.
Red names littered the town. Blue ones were in short supply. Most were quite distant. Fleeing. The red names seemed to stop pursuit at the edge of town. They wanted this place. She didn’t know if they planned to keep it or just wipe it off the map.
She had dropped near the largest collection of blue dots in the hopes of helping them. They must be in the church. It was a PVP safe zone. But then most of the town had been.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding.”
Jen raised her shield along with an eyebrow.
Jakon stood at the head of a group of red names facing the church. She hadn’t concerned herself with what popping up out of the blue might look like to a random PK, but this one wasn’t random. He stared at her slack jawed. “You can’t just… what?”
Sam’s voice erupted into a laugh from behind Jen. “Oh, awesome. I’m so glad I came.”
Jakon scowled at them. “I should have known you weren’t players. You have been breaking the rules of engagement from the start. What are you, GMs?”
“Questions, questions… and no answers. Poor Jakon.” Sam’s voice was still bubbly.
His face melted to neutrality. “Fortunately it doesn’t matter. Not when I have this.” His left hand held up what looked to be a lantern. There was… something wriggling inside. It looked like a black flame with a dim red center. He smiled at it. “The little man that gave this to me was clearly a GM. A real one. He told me anything within a hundred yards of this would not be safe no matter where they were.” His eyes cut back to Jen. “That includes you.”
Jen shrugged. She’d already lost her immortality but it did explain how he was attacking players here. Hank had given him a mobile PVP zone. Jerk. Another move to screw up the world. Sow confusion. She’d have to remember to ask Jesse about the thing… right after they made sure Jakon didn’t have it anymore. Taking that lantern into the real game would be bad. Doubly bad in his hands.
Sam scoffed. “What, you can’t win by playing fair? Weakling.”
Jakon just smiled. “About time Troop fourteen was done away with, I think. I grow weary of them.”
Jen rapped Soulshine against her shield. It gave off an echoing chime. “That’s troop seventeen, thank you very much.”
Sam nodded. “We don’t want someone else getting credit for our cookie sales.”
“It would really screw up our fundraiser.”
Jakon rolled his eyes. After a moment he glanced back and forth over his shoulders to the Seven Eyes members and other red names waiting. “Kill them? Now?”
There were low pitched voices bouncing around behind Jakon. They had noticed Soulshine, even if they didn’t know it by name. It was a relic. Fear of its power seemed to be fighting against the desire to take it for themselves.
Jakon sighed. “Do I have to say ‘please?’ ”
The first of the red names charged around Jakon. He held an axe high over his head and roared as he closed the distance. He was a Seven Eyes. No surprise there, though those were in short supply in the crowd. It seemed like they really had hit some hard times. Very tragic.
Jen caught the axe against her shield and shoved her arm forward sending the man tumbling back into the red name crowd. She wasn’t sure how hurt he was, as others were already advancing in his place.
Sam swapped to her daggers as she moved in close to Jen. “Okay. Plan is I make them stop, you and Lightbright make them dead.”
“Soulshine.”
“Whatever. Just give me a distraction.”
“Humph.” Simple enough. Jen took two steps back before throwing her shield arm forward again.
When the blue light cleared from her eyes the first few red names were already falling backward. She hadn’t aimed for anyone in particular but the charge would hit any of them in range.
She still had plenty to deal with. Her shield turned aside axes and swords. The occasional spear. There were half a dozen red names pressing in and trying to circle around her, but she kept her feet moving and bashing those that tried to press the attack.
Sam needed to get her butt in gear.
The shield wasn’t going to last forever.
She batted the stupid spear point away again. It was the most annoying weapon to deal with. The guy was well outside of her reach, and red names were in too close for her to charge. She turned her attention back to the guy that kept trying to sneak by to her right. He was right where she thought he would be. She swung Soulshine to drive him back again.
It hit him in the chest.
The man collapsed onto the dirt.
Sam and her poisons.
Jen didn’t care for hitting people that couldn’t do anything about it but these were not exactly sparing partners. They’d take any advantage they could get to win a fight. Still…
She swung her shield arm in a wide arc. The bash would hit more targets, but without damaging any of them nearly as much. She caught three of them with it. One had been stun locked. He fell backward and landed in the same pose he had been standing. Still as a statue.
Poisons were overpowered. Then again, they probably had diminishing returns and whatnot that weren’t really helping these poor sods.
Even with the help, she was trading more blows than she liked. The shield was great at protecting her and all, but it was also difficult to see around. Especially when she was trying to bash or charge. It was like choosing when to be blind to risks. Probably something someone who had used a shield all along would be used to by now…
The first loud thunk was a surprise.
She lowered her shield for a moment to find an arrow standing out of it. “Oh, shucks.”
More arrows followed. She did her best to keep the shield up, but she needed to use it to keep from being overwhelmed. She didn’t know how many red names were out there, but there always seemed to be another one.
Her health was dropping. She’d lost sight of Sam. Hopefully she was faring better. Every third attack gave Jen some health back but she couldn’t find the time to use the real heal.
It was a small mercy that many of the arrows fired at her were striking red names attacking her. It was telling as to how much loyalty they shared.
Would be nice for Poe to catch up… there must have been more problems at the last spot than they realized. She couldn’t find the time to type anything.
Her screen flashed red for a moment. Her health was getting low. She gritted her teeth and swung Soulshine in wide arcs before her. Bright light arced out. It was a normal duo and trio attack, but it looked more impressive thanks to the sword. It bought her some space.
And a few new arrows. One stood out of her shoulder, another out of her thigh. They didn’t hurt or anything, but they were still disconcerting to see there. They also represented that much more health lost. And it seemed like they were catching on. They kept a few red names in close to bug her, but she had to aim carefully to fight them instead of swinging at the mass. It made for less healing hits.
