Heralds- The Proving Grounds, page 8
She was still a PVE player at heart… but she went with the PVP build for now. Four strength and one wisdom per level, with levels that ended in a five or a zero getting two wisdom instead. The first of those would be the next time she leveled.
She might be immune to dying, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be stunned, mind controlled, frozen, paralyzed, or any number of other nasty things. Wisdom guarded against that by improving her Will save. Those seemed like bigger issues, as if she did get hit with one of those her health would drop to one in a hurry and the veritable jig would be up.
The skill points where a bit easier. She improved her melee damage and picked up the ability to chain a second hit for increased damage. She’d get access to a third hit for even more, but that was a long ways off. Hybrid classes had trouble with things like that. Whatever they got, someone else had gotten it earlier. By the time she unlocked the Trio hit others would be on to four and five… but such was the way of things. Hybrids had versatility to make up for it… in theory.
It didn’t always work out so well in practice.
Sam was waiting when Jen arrived at the fallen gates. “You get it figured out?”
“PVP build.” Jen shrugged. “Can’t die, so… figure hit as hard as I can.”
“Most PVP builds stack survivability, too.”
“I’m a paladin. I get more hit points each level than you could get by dumping all five of your points into stamina.”
“Point taken, and totally unfair.” Sam shrugged. “But that also means you hit like a wet noodle. A wet noodle with tennis elbow.”
Jen pondered that image for a moment before shaking her head. “Which is why I am focusing on that.”
“Sounds good.” Sam nodded. “You asked about loot before. I have good news and bad news.”
“Oh?”
“The good news is, we did find some stuff.” Sam reached behind her back, her hands returned holding some bits of metal armor which she dumped on the ground. She moved her hands twice more, dumping things out each time. “The bad news is… it all looks pretty much how you would expect seeing how it came from super old skeletons.”
Jen picked up a rusted hunk of metal that turned out to be foot armor. “Huh… well, beggars can’t be choosers.” She equipped the boots and dug through the pile. She ended up with a set of heavy gloves and medium chain leg guards. The new items didn’t really compliment her breastplate, so much as make it look new and shiny by comparison.
Eh, still… her armor class had gone up.
Sam frowned at Jen as she pulled on a pair of torn and sun baked heavy leather gloves. “I think I might prefer to be a chooser…”
“Survivability.” Jen nodded. “Besides, I’m sure we can hawk all this junk and buy something less hideous later.”
“Uh, immortal? But I guess keeping up appearances…” Sam sighed. “At least if I’m wearing it its not counting against my encumbrance limit.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“Stop being cheerful. It’s super out of place here.” Sam swept her hand, the gesture taking in the surrounding dead landscape around them.
Jen looked around for a moment. “I guess. What’s up with this place, anyway?”
“Flavor.” Sam shrugged. “Every area sort of has its own thing going on. You’ve got your forests, swamps, plains, oceans, islands, cityscapes, etcetera ad nauseum. This is just another kind of place. Dead.” Sam lifted another old scrap of leather and draped it over her shoulders. It was cracked, stained, and torn in places. “Usually a place like this is meant to imply it was big and amazing in the past, but whatever destroyed the old world wasn’t kind to it. Maybe because this place deserved it.”
Jen frowned. “Hard to imagine what people could do to deserve this.”
“Well, keep in mind whoever swept across the world knocking things down probably wasn’t the nicest group to begin with. Bit skewed in their opinions, to be sure.” She nodded up the hill. “Okay. These will be a bit worse. Stick with me. You smack ‘em and keep that shield up, I’ll make sure they don’t last long enough to question their methods.”
Jen tapped her sword against her shield. “It can’t keep taking abuse forever.”
Sam reached an arm behind her back. The hand returned holding a rusted hunk of metal. “Got a spare.”
A dented metal shield clattered to the ground. Jen picked it up gingerly and put it away in her own inventory. It had more armor, but she might as well let the shield she was using be broken before wasting the durability on the other one. It wouldn’t be long. “Just how much stuff have you looted?”
“Uh, rogue? Duh. I looted everything.”
“I didn’t see you pick up anything.”
“Rogue.”
Jen narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to tell me you stole their loot before they ever hit the ground?”
“Got to work the skill up somehow.” She shrugged. “Fastest way.”
“I trust you intend to share things I can use? Which you can’t use?”
“Well that really depends, doesn’t it? I can always use money, after all.”
Sam wandered up the hill a few steps, not waiting for a response.
Jen reminded herself Sam was a friend… she wouldn’t hold out on her, regardless of what she said.
Or she might. The friend angle was still somewhat theoretical.
Jen didn’t want to have to keep an eye on her… but it seemed necessary for now. Just to make sure it wasn’t necessary, of course.
8
Jen’s feet hurt in a very real way. There was a clock in the main menu… damn. They had been wandering around for a long time now. Including the trip to Morblina, it had been at least three hours.
She was seated on the remnants of a fallen stone wall while Sam dug through her inventory. Her own inventory, not Jen’s. Jen had put the hiatus on that.
“Probably a good idea to talk about dinner. And find some more comfortable shoes for the future.”
Sam tilted her head, though she didn’t look away from her inventory. “Hmm? Yeah, sure. Flip flops are probably not a great idea.”
“Find anything good?”
Sam raised an eyebrow at Jen. “I’ve got some rusty stuff, and some old and busted stuff. I might have a couple old and busted rusty things. Want me to check?”
“Okay, fair. Dumb question.”
“Kinda was. We got enough pizza left?”
“Maybe. Add some other stuff lying around. Ought to fill out a meal.”
“Cool.” Sam hopped up and stretched her arms high over her head. “Be along shortly.” She vanished from sight.
A weak breeze kept dust flying into the air amongst the ruins. They had been fighting stronger undead things for awhile now. They got bigger and stronger the deeper into the ruins they wandered, though these never swarmed quite the way those outside did. She could only figure those served as something like a gear check.
Sam and Jen would still be crushing things, except that their inventories were nearly full. They were both pushing level ten pretty hard, though the quick levels had stopped at six. They had probably been building up the experience reserve for everyone else since. Jen supposed that was fair… they had rode the reservoir until level six. It was their turn to fill it up.
The ruins didn’t seem nearly as terrible anymore. Annoying? Sure. Depressing? Definitely. But she was becoming accustomed the area’s quirks. Everything was in shambles, true, but at least that was reliable. She had a good feeling that if she kept following the road she’d find some more buildings in shambles. It was nice to be able to count on things.
She stood up and opened her own menu. Cold pizza didn’t exactly sound appetizing, but it was available and she had never gotten dressed. Seemed a tad late to bother with it now.
Her finger was hovering over the recall button when a metallic glint caught her eye. Had Sam managed to miss something? That was impressive in itself. She was starting to border on kleptomania. More likely something she had tossed out.
Still… Jen closed her menu and wandered over to a broken section of wall. The glint had come from beyond, though nothing sparkled now. She glanced up to see the sun lost behind swirling dust and brown clouds.
Even the sky sucked here.
It took a few moments of searching once the sun returned before she noticed the weak glint once more. She had overlooked the object a few times.
A metal… thing lay on a stone slab, though it was so old and rusted over that she could barely see it for the stone it lay upon.
It had the shape of a sword but it was certainly in no shape to be used as one. It looked like it would fall away to dust the first time it hit something.
And yet… she was drawn to it just the same. Curious. Why make such a thing in a video game? It must have some purpose. Time was money. Time had been spent on this, therefore it must have value. Right?
She reached out and laid her hand on it. It passed the first test when it moved. She picked it up, bits of dirt and dust falling away.
Weird. It was certainly an item, not just some background art element meant only to be seen.
Loud cries pierced the air all around her.
She swung her head about looking for the threat… and wasn’t disappointed. Four hulking creatures clawed up from the ground, each a collection of smaller skeletons. They had appeared at compass points from her, each maybe fifty yards away. Without a word they charged, the ground shaking with each of their lumbering steps. Countless smaller shapes were moving toward her as well, though they were far behind the hive mind skeleton mechs that had much longer legs.
The ruins about crumbled more, several of the standing walls and pillars finding this to be a super time to give up the fight after lasting this long.
Jen blinked a few times.
Where was Sam when she needed her?
She kept her gaze one one of the charging giants long enough to select it. A Skeletal Behemoth. Its level was hidden, a red skull showing where the numbers should be. That marked it as at least ten levels above her.
And there were four of them.
And they had seen her and were looking pretty hostile.
This was no fight she could hope to win, immortal or not. The notion of being kicked around like a pinball until she found the necessary time to teleport was… unwelcome. And slightly nauseating.
Stupid brain.
She opened her menu, no easy feat with the screen shaking like she was standing on a fault line, and managed to hit the recall button at the top.
The piercing cries of hate grew closer, the screen shaking so much she couldn’t read the interface anymore.
Had she hit the button? She couldn’t even make it out anymore.
The calm beach greeted her a moment later.
A relieved sigh escaped from her lips.
She had not stopped to consider that dying might be preferable in some situations. It might have been better than continuous beatings until she managed to get the VR gear off and Alt F4 out of the program.
She shivered at the thought.
The sound of something solid striking sand caught her attention. She glanced down to see the ruined old sword lying half buried.
Huh. She had managed to hold onto it, then. She’d forgotten all about it when things had gotten… bad back there. Bad was too tame a word, but her brain was still trying to catch its breath.
She snatched up the hunk of junk once more, turning it in the much brighter sunlight the beach offered.
A lot of the rust deposits looked to be standing on top, changing the shape of the sword where rust had built up. Maybe it wasn’t so bad off underneath… she didn’t know much about crafting, but she look into it. She and Sam pair of them had found a lot of junk, but this was the only weapon the trip had produced and Sam had been looking to try out a sword.
And free was free. Well, aside from kicking off the great skeleton wars. Hopefully that was contained…
The sound of something solid thumping against something wooden a few times made Jen tilt her head. She was on a beach, there was sand, and water, and…
Sam was coming over in search of cold pizza.
Right.
She put the sword away in her inventory and wandered a few steps from the teleport location. She didn’t want to reappear later only to get stuck because someone was already standing there. She logged out and removed the gear.
Sam was standing just outside the door, her purple hair tied up in a quick bun over her head. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. She wasn’t sure how to explain the skeleton thing. It was exactly the kind of thing she was sure Sam knew about, and thought Jen might trigger for being less experienced. “Just looking over stats, lost track of time.”
Sam patted Jen on the top of her head. She had to stand on her toes to do it. “I’m so proud. I’ll make a real gamer out of you yet.”
“Urge to punch… rising.”
Jen used swords, too. Maybe Sam didn’t need that one after all.
Fortunately the place Sam had ordered from made pizza that tasted better when it was cold, an unusual trait that made it the favored pizza joint of the dorms.
So, in a roundabout way, Sam had popped for two meals. That wasn’t really fair, so Jen felt obligated to add to it from her own stores. She dug out some of the crackers she kept on hand for when she didn’t feel like going out, and took some cheese out of the fridge.
Carbs on carbs, and cheese on cheese. Not exactly healthy… but food. And she was trying to avoid processed sugars. Bread turned into sugar but at least it didn’t start that way. Sam’s place was sure to have candy. It was one of the main reasons Jen didn’t find her way to the next building over very often. The temptation was just too strong.
That… and Sam had some pictures of her family. It would be rude to mention it, but her own room was already conspicuously clean of all reminders of Kevin. She didn’t need them. He popped into her head often enough anyway.
And she knew where all that stuff was, anyway.
Like the packed bag, just waiting for a reason…
If Sam had noticed, she hadn’t mentioned it.
She could be a pretty okay friend sometimes… even if she was an insufferable ass the rest of the time. It almost evened out.
Sam had returned to the computer chair and Jen sat on the bed, as was tradition at this point. She could invest in a second chair but she really didn’t have space for another one. Especially not with the VR setup taking over what little open space there was and requiring that space stay open.
“We’re doing pretty good.” Sam nodded at the monitor, her words were mushy as they escaped around half chewed pizza. “Pretty much caught up to the level curve, and I plan to head back in after dinner.”
Jen shrugged, but Sam didn’t see it. Of course Sam was going to play. She was probably planning to play every waking minute she could spare. Jen was… less sure. Granted, the recent events had probably increased the amount she intended to spend in the game, and it sounded better than the moping she had planned for the break… but it was hard on her feet. And she needed to go somewhere tomorrow to keep herself sane. She couldn’t live boxed up for long. There had been a few close calls with cabin fever leading up to finals.
Sam had been fine. She could go days at a time without sunlight.
“Hows things beyond us?”
Sam tapped the mouse a few times. “Some more up to date stuff on Tobin Ironblood. Damn, looks like he’s rolling large. Got himself a full raid group taking on events. Even if someone wanted to attack him, that’s a lot of cover. Huh.”
Jen tilted her head. “That doesn’t seem entirely fair to us.”
“Maybe the thing back at the church spooked them?”
“Or maybe they have the same number of Heralds, and the rest are all normies? To throw us off of who is who?”
“Devious.” Sam narrowed her eyes at the screen. “So they’re using human shields. How terrible. I’m certain the Geneva Conventions have things to say about that.”
“You’re just mad you didn’t think of it first.”
“Kinda, yeah.”
Jen shook her head. “Probably not too late to do a recruitment drive.” She had poured sarcasm into her voice…
But Sam only nodded. “Maybe.”
Jen set about finishing her dinner. She could go out for something a bit more nutritious tomorrow. That would be a good excuse to go somewhere. Granted, there were things here she could consume for her daily required caloric intake… but the idea of getting scurvy didn’t appeal to her.
“You want to head to the deli in the morning? Get some fresh fruit? I don’t think the pizza will stretch… because I’ll throw it out if we don’t finish it.”
Sam glanced back at her now. “That sounds wasteful.”
“Well then you can take it home tonight and snack on it. I’m going to need some real food tomorrow.”
“Because this stuff was replicated?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Sam shrugged and turned back to the monitor. “But we only have so much time. With the opposition underway, we don’t have a lot of dawdling time.”
“Dawdling? Really?”
“What, I can’t retain vocabulary assignments?”
Jen blinked a few times. It seemed counter productive to shoot down that argument. “I just don’t hear that one much, I guess.”
“It’s totally superfluous for day to day use.”
“You’re pushing it.”
Sam smiled and spun the chair. “So, we’re fed. We’re clearly ready to start a fight over nothing, we should go hit stuff.”
“I think we probably need to clear our inventories out first though, yeah?”
“Ugh, right.” Sam frowned. “Which means we need to find a town that’s actually functioning to the point of having merchants.”
“Maybe Hank can drop one on the island.”
Sam shook her head. “They have currency limits to keep the economy stable. We can’t just make things because it would destroy the fledgling economy, so I doubt he’d give us an infinite vendor. And we’d most likely cash out any given merchant and still have junk left over. We need a place commerce is actually making a foothold.”
