Chapter 8

Donna played a melody on the flute she was given, it was awesome. It was crazy to be honest, they thought it was silver. She hadn’t gotten the nerve up to tell them they were wrong, it was a Powell platinum flute. She was holding a 45,000 dollar flute and it played beautifly. Looking at the flute again a message popped up.

Powell Platinum Flute of Courage.

When she played the flute it really did give her courage, everything that happened to her faded away. She could still see it but it had less hold on her, and every time she played the flute it was easier and easier for her to put those two days behind her. She wore the k-bar she killed the orc with at her waist, and the katana was on her left side through a silk scarf she was using as an obi (Samurai sword belt). She had been a fan of japanese anime and even took several classes in Kendo. When she saw the sword available to be used she had practically snatched it up and when she checked it she could hardly believe it, a freaking Kiyochika Kanehama, the best swordsmith in Okinawa. She looked at it again.

Kanhama Katana バランス(Balance)

Gritting her teeth she wished she had found it before she had killed the orc with the k-bar, if the scales had ever needed to be balanced.

Mana loss -10

Glancing around she noticed everyone was on edge, looking like they were heading into a fight. But there was nothing to fight, her playing she realized, she calmed herself and soon everyone seemed to relax. Sarah spoke to her from behind, “Save it for the fights Donna, don’t need to get everyone fired up for no reason.” Nodding her head she continued to play.

Joe shook his head, Donna could get into yer head with music, would come in handy long as she keeps it under control. Looking back, Sarah seemed to be keeping an eye on her, so he would leave it to her. They were getting close, Joe called a halt and told everyone what to expect, “Around the next bend there ur a few homes, and a restaurant. It’s also a natural choke point with dense woods on both sides of the roads and fairly steep hills. Ah’m hoping for some sanity, but waur not counting on it. So let’s check our weapons, make sure they ur loose in their sheaths, make sure yer arrows ur loose, and check yer primer. Liz if you could give me a hand with the rifles when yer done checking yer pistols Ah would appreciate it.”

Liz grinned at his accent and nodded, “Sure Joe.”

Joe said, “Thanks Liz. Ur there any questions?” Donna raised her hand. Joe smiled and said, “You can just ask Donna, no need ta raise yer hand.”

Donna nodded and pulled the Katana about six inches from the sheath, “Joe where did you get this?”

Joe said, “Ah purchased in 1982 when Ah was stationed in Okinawa from a swordsmith with part of my signing bonus. Ah think Ah paid 2,000,000 yen or about 5000 dollars back then. Ah admit Ah was young, but the sword was beautiful, and Ah always liked samurai movies. Why do you ask?”

Donna grinned at him, “It’s a rare weapon called Balance, but I am unable to get any more information on it. Everytime I try to get more information I get a Lore skill check failure.”

Joe slowly banged his head on the head of his axe, “Ah need ta sit doon wi' aw ay yea an' gie yer skills.”

Donna stared at him and said, “I didn’t understand the last part Joe, your accent got real thick.”

Blushing Joe carefully enunciated, “I need to sit down with you all and get your skills. All right were moving back to the last house, I want to see if Donna can identify our gear before we get into Bass Lake, it could make a difference.”

Joe was irritated with himself, he needed to get his act together and remember they are not just seniors in highschool anymore. 45 minutes later they were back at the last house they checked. In a bit of a rush Joe decided to use his dogs to check the house this time, looking at his four dogs he thought *Search house. Bark if people or beast.* The dogs looked excited as they all headed in toward the home. “Liz could you let the dogs in? I’m experimenting with using them to search with.” Liz nodded and jogged after the dogs.

Ok Donna I’m going to pull all the weapons and the items we either never closely checked or have question marks on them.

One hour later they had identified the following:

Marine Nco Saber of Discipline. Saber gives a +10 to wisdom for the purposes of resisting fear or terror. Saber Bayonet of Piercing. Bayonet removes an addition 10% from your targets armor bonus. X2 Silver Horse Pistols of Undead Slaying. These Pistols adds 10 to dexterity for the purpose of determining damage against undead. Silver Horseman's Saber of Were Slaying. This Saber adds 20 to strength for the purpose of determining damage against were creatures. Potter Saber of killing. This saber has been in four major wars, and developed a taste for blood. Each time it kills add 1 to the wielders strength up to a maximum of 20. For every day that goes by without killing subtract 5 to the wielders strength to a minimum of 5. Binds at first kill. Helm Cleaver. The axe can cast a cone of sonic damage once a day, doing 60 damage to all targets in its area of effect. Every day the axe’s ability is unused it adds 10 to the damage up to a maximum of 100. Kanhama Katana バランス(Balance). This katana will heal 30 damage on contact with the blade, instead of damaging, after killing a foe. Powell Platinum Flute of courage. The flute will double the effect of all bard or minstrel spells cast through it. As a secondary effect it the player is immune to fear and resistant to terror while playing. High Steel Heavy Mountain Dwarf armor of Knockback resistance. The armor will help keep the wearer from being knocked over. To represent this the wearers weight is considered tripled for purposes of calculating if another can knock you back or move you in combat. High steel chainmail Valkyrie armor of Weight reduction. This armor is reduces the armors penalties from medium armor to light armor. Necklace of life, adds 20 to life of wearer. Warning removing the necklace when your life is under 20 can kill the wearer.

Ring of Sacrifice: Ring allows the user to transfer up to half of their Life to another at a rate of 2 to 1.

Joe stared at all the blue boxes, Donna had leveled up her Lore while Identifying and was able to get some information from everything. He was not expecting his closet weapons to be anything special, but damn. “Ok everyone take back yer gear, glad we came back and checked everything. Sarah hold on tae the silver saber, and the Potters saber. But be careful of that Potters blade, reads like it could be a pain if you don't kill with it fairly often. Liz make sure to take both of those silver horse pistols, won’t do us any good in the wagon if we run into undead.”

Liz made a face as she took the pistols, “Eww undead, at least I can shoot them. What do you want me to do with the two I’m replacing?” She took out the two normal pistols from the bandolier she was using and replaced them with the two longer horse pistols. Between the pistols, the saber bayonet and the cartridge box, she was running out of room.

Joe smiled and said, “If we know we're about to fight, shoot then drop them, or chuck them in the wagon or your inventory. Should work for two pistols in your medium slot. At the start of a fight, shoot, chuck them back into the hole and continue. If you were a caster it would be an issue, but you only need your mana when you’re tinkering.”

Liz smiled, said, “Inventory.” and the glowing circled opened in front of her. She placed the pistols in the hole, and withdrew her hands. Smiling she said “Close.” and the Inventory snapped shut. They had learned that except for the first time you had to want to open your inventory when you said the word or nothing happened. The blue boxes were not popping up all the time either, it was like her personal preferences were determining what screens opened. It was like everything was becoming more polished.

Joe looked at Donna, “Donna take Balance back, the flute and the necklace of life since you have the lowest life. Ah will take Helm Clever, my armor, and the ring of sacrifice. Me and Sarah have the highest health, so after a few fights we’ll change who holds the ring if we need to.

The dogs came running and told Joe *Empty*, he praised them, reached into his own inventory and gave each of them a treat. Ok everyone let's get our gear together and do this again.

Joe addressed Anthony, “What kind of weapons are you proficient with?”

Anthony told Joe, “Blunt weapons.”

Joe nodded and pulled a sledgehammer out of the main wagon, “Well it’s nothing special but I have a five pound sledgehammer you can use.”

Anthony took the sledgehammer from Joe and smiled, “It’s better than nothing, thanks Joe.”

Joe said, “Well if we find something better we’ll upgrade you if you plan on staying with us. Until then try to mostly hang back and heal, the sledgehammer is for emergencies. Liz give me a hand I want to double check the firearms.”

Joe and Liz finished checking the last of the firearms and placed half on each side of the wagon. That gave them three rifles and three pistols on each side of the wagon.

Joe checked to make sure everyone was ready and said, “Ok everyone let’s try that again.” Joe grabbed the larger wagon and led the way with Sarah. Liz walked next to the first wagon, keeping near the firearms. Rachel, Donna and Arnold followed with the 2nd wagon. They would take turns pulling the smaller wagon. Joe broke his dogs into pairs, Charlie and Daisy were in the front leading the way. Milo and Grace brought up the rear.

An hour later they came around the corner about a half mile from Bass Lake and ran into a group heading their way. Six people were walking towards them, they were a mix of races. At least one male orc with a maul, a male dwarf with wood axe, three elven women with bows and a male human with a machete. Joe pulled his dogs back, he would use them to harass the archers if it came to it. They were still about a 50 yards away so they kept walking toward each other until they were about 25 yards from each other and the three men stepped out in front. From that distance he could tell the three in back were elven women, and the fourth a human male. “Hello” shouted the human standing near the front of the group, “Peace?”

Joe nodded, “ Aye, peace. My name is Joe Ironhand, were just passing through, hoping to do some trading in Bass Lake before heading out the other side. Trying to find someplace safer to settle down for a bit.”

The human stared at him, then said, “I’m Tom Kraft, the town is in pretty bad shape. Whatever it was swept through town evening of the 31st, and things went to hell pretty damn fast. Robert here,”He gestured toward the 6 1/2 foot tall Orc. “said it’s real confusing at first and he had a real short temper for a while.”

Robert spoke up with a surprisingly normal voice saying, “It’s a pain in the ass, I wanted to fight anyone who even looked at me funny. Thankfully I was able to keep it together and everything seemed to return pretty much to normal by sunrise. Now it’s just nudges, and easy to ignore. By the time things calmed down, well lets just say there are a lot fewer people now. Where you all from?”

Joe responded “Ah lived about 8 miles from here, and picked up everyone else as Ah went along.” They continued to talk for about an hour, it appeared as if race changes went mostly by family, but a sorority from Fresno had all turned into Sirens. They were the ones who were finally able to calm things down. The group just walked around and anyone who tried to attack them ended up enthralled. While they were talking it turned out the three elves were all high elves and sisters. Sarah went over and quietly talked with the women, a short time later she caught my attention and smiled. Good everything was ok with them. As they were getting ready to part ways Joe decided to help them out. The dwarf Doug had firearms and gunsmithing so he gave them the two .75 caliber muskets, bullet molds for them, primer and some gunpowder. He also told them where they were headed and invited them to come visit.

Once they were out of sight Donna walked up to him and asked Joe, “Why did you give them two of our guns?”

Joe looked at Donna replying, “Those two muskets were not the best we had. Plus they were a group of mixed race and sex who trusted each other. Ah don’t know about you all but Ah want ta help any groups like them we run in ta. The more of those types who make it the better.”

Donna was quiet for a few minutes while she thought over what he said, eventually she nodded and said, “It makes sense, but in the future could you try and check with all of us first if possible? I know a lot of this stuff was yours before we all met, but if it will impact our chances later on we would like to have a say in it.”

Joe looked at Donna then glanced back to the others, he reminded himself they were not in the Marines and he wanted them all to stay. “If Ah can Ah will.”

They were approaching the final turn off into Bass Lake and Joe looked over to liz, “Which way Liz? Straight ahead or to the right?

Liz said, “Straight ahead Joe, we can take this road and bypass allot of the homes on the lake. Joe nodded and kept walking forward, he had to admit it was good to be a Dwarf, he had been walking and pulling this wagon by himself all day and his body just kept chugging along.

It was hungry, it was always hungry, it did not remember much from before it awakened. Now all it knew was hunger, it must eat, voices along the path. Soon it would eat, and then it would be less hungry.

They were approaching a small housing area when Charlie and Daizy started barking at the trees on the side of the road. Joe got the impression of something smelly and large. Joe mentally ordered the two dogs back behind the wagons. He pulled the wagon sideways to keep it from rolling and said, “Something coming from the woods, all Ah get from the dogs is large and smelly.” Before he could say anything more a large humanoid shape burst from the woods, it was green about 10 feet tall and half as wide, its face had a huge pointed nose, large pointed ears, and large weeping sore all over its body.

Sarah shouted, “Troll, level 8!” and drew the Potter saber.

Joe leaned Helm Cleaver against the wagon and pulled out a musket, as he pulled the cock from half to full he shouted, “Liz shoot and then get the gasoline. As soon as it goes doon dump a two liter bottle on it.” and fired

Damage 36(30 x 1.5 dexterity modifier) Armor piercing negates beast hide.

Joe realized he would not get another shot at it, it was too damn close. Snatching up Helm cleaver he charged forward, and swung at the hand trying to grab him.

Damage 50 (Base 30 x 2.1 strength bonus - 20 percent beast hide)

As he tried to turn it away from his friends it struck him with the back of the same hand with roar.

Damage received 20 (Base 25 x 4 strength bonus -80% armor)

Armor Knockback bonus activated.

It was a weird feeling when he was hit, his whole body suddenly felt dense. Instead of knocking him off his feet he just stumbled, but he kept his feet. He reset himself and swung to the back of its knee.

Damage 50 (Base 30 x 2.1 strength bonus -20 percent beast hide) Troll limb disabled, time remaining 10 seconds.

Joe shouted “It heals fast, 10 seconds on its crippled leg.”

The troll spun around faster than anything that size had a right to using one of its long arms to help prop it up. It’s remaining hand again slammed into his side.

Damage received 30 (Base 25 x 4 strength x 1.5 momentum bonus -80% armor)

Armor Knockback bonus activated.

Liz managed to get one shot off before Joe got in the way, dumping the rifle into the back of the wagon she grabbed one of the two liter soda bottles they filled with gas they had salvaged from different homes. Turning back she saw Joe had the troll turned toward him, Sarah was working the trolls flank with her saber, and several arrows stuck out of it. Not sure what to do next she felt Donna music pushing at her to act. She pulled out her saber bayonet and cut a large whole into the top of the bottle. The troll was down on its knees, both legs temporarily crippled. She then ran up to it and threw all two liters of the gas onto the back of the troll. She yelled. “Get clear!” She took two steps back and as everyone pulled away from the troll it started to get back up. Pulling a horse pistol she pulled the cock back and fired.

Damage 34 (Base 20 x 1.7 dexterity bonus) Armor bonus negated.

Target set on fire, target vulnerable to fire x2 20 fire damage per second.

The troll panicked. It started rolling on the ground in an attempt to put the fire out.

Liz dismissed the damage notifications, quickly pulled, and fired everyone of her remaining pistols into flailing body of the troll. As she fired the last pistol she was tackled by Arnold who covered her in a blanket. Before she could decide what to do Arnold told her, “You were on fire!”, ok good reason.

Troll Slain Exp 468(2340/5)

Congratulations! Level Up!

1 attribute point assigned to Dexterity.

You have 4 attribute points left to assign.

With a final swing Joe decapitated the dead troll, and said, “That wulnae be comin' back now.”

Sarah laughed, “I don’t think we would have gotten the experience if it was able to come back.”

Joe grunted, “Aiblins but it makes me feel better.”

Sarah shook her head, “Joe accent.”

Joe said, “Got it, now let’s loot it.”

Joe focused on looting it.

Sword of Flame, Ring of Regeneration

5 gold 25 silver

Joe whistled, “Nice.” as he bent over and picked the items up the trolls body dissolved into the ground. “Ok now it’s dead. Donna need you ta check out a few items.”

Donna walked up to him and placed a hand on the sword. “Half the damage done is considered fire damage.” Taking the ring, “The ring doubles your healing speed and will even regrow limbs, but it will take several weeks.”

Joe accepted the ring back and considered it before handing it to Sarah. “Ok fer now you wear it Sarah, since you’re the other front line fighter and Ah think Ah have more life then you. Also may help with your wing.” Holding up the sword it was what was considered a longsword, 47 inches overall with about a 36 inch blade. “Not sure what ta do with this, inventory for now.” as the glowing circle opened Joe put the blade into one of his empty slots. “We can talk about it tonight. Is anyone still in need of healing?” When no one answered Joe said, “Ok Liz give me a hand with reloading the guns.”

20 minutes later everyone was ready to go, Joe grabbed the long handle on the wagon and started walking down the road. With a thought Joe sent his dogs out again, 75 feet this time, but also telling them to stay in sight. “Let’s find that metal worker.”

Interlude

April 03, 2018 1700 hrs.

Air Force One, 45000 feet, five miles north of the Pentagon exclusion zone.

“Mr. President what are your orders?” President Travis was at a bit of a loss, he thought he knew what he was getting into with the job of president, but alien invasion was not in the job description. Protecting his nation was though. “What were the results of the chinese nuclear strike?”

General Frye said, ”From our satellites we observed fusion, fission, and even a cobalt bomb detonated over the contaminated areas. The only results were an increase in the speed of the spread. Everything was absorbed, the satellites barely show an increase in the background radiation.

The President said, “What about detonating them in front of the spread?”

General Frye responded, “The Russians tried that, and when the contamination reached the area it again sped up. Later satellites show the areas back to normal, healthier even, vegetation, dying animals, all healed. The dead animals were simply gone in most cases.”

The President asked, “Do our scientists have a clue what’s causing this?

General Frye hesitated, “The best guess is some sort of advanced terraforming using nanotechnology. The 36 sites were spread out fairly evenly and it was predicted it would take about 30 days to cover the planet.”

The President was staring at a map showing all the contamination sites, “What were the results of our high altitude reconnaissance flights?”

General Frye said. “We used unmanned drones and were able to determine the top of contamination is approximately 40,000 feet. It appears the areas are being transformed into… what appears to be a lower tech level, and some of the people appear to be changed. With permission from the Chinese we overflew one of the contaminated areas and some steam trains were still operational in fact one loaded with passengers almost managed to leave a contaminated area before the train lost power. The train did get close enough for some excellent photos and we obtained a copy. They show a variety of, well, fantasy races. Mostly western fantasy, with some chinese mixed in. Elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, that sort of thing. The army unit photographing was on a train on the same tracks, and eventually pulled away to stay ahead of the spread. We are not sure what tech level is allowed but fireworks were spotted in use.

General Frye paused and continued. "We have left modern arms on rails near our Pentagon zone and the… contamination attacks them, taking away about 40 percent of the materials they are made of. The rails themselves though appear to be mostly untouched. Then we left civil war rifles, and they appeared to only suffer minor damage to the breach, finally we left flintlocks and matchlocks. They suffered no damage. Apparently we are being knocked back to the early 1800’s. One of our testers was a civil war reinactor, left some minie ball rounds out and they turned into round balls." At the presidents blank look he explained, "Minie balls are shaped more like a modern bullet. They are hollowed out at the bottom so the expanding gas from being fired spreads the base of the bullet out to engage the rifling. It's why muskets went from being accurate at maybe 100 yards to 600. If you add the smoke and stress of battle and 75 to 50 yards was considered optimal range. Someone wants our fighting to be close and personal."

The President sighed, “What kind of casualties are we looking at?”

General Frye said, “None directly, some died when the planes fell out of the sky, that sort of thing. We have been able to get some good views from cameras, our citizens have a tendency to collapse and anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes later get up again. They are however changed, about 90% are turned into same types of fantasy races as in the chinese photo, after is when the casualties start. It also makes no sence. We have had groups of different races get up and move on as if nothing major happened. Others start tearing into each other as soon as they are awake.”

The President had again turned to stare at the map. “The way I see it the last area’s of the United States to be overrun will be northwest Washington State, central Wisconsin, south Maine, and south Florida. I need it verified, then begin to locate weapons that work, match them with our most disciplined men, and as much food as we can. I want combat commanders, veterans, recall them if you need to. None who are married or have kids, no interservice rivalries General. Those four areas are going to be our chance of a United States being here in 60 days, well try other things but get this done General Frye.