Chapter 5

North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom

Oct 25, 2046:06:07 AM EST

The reporter slammed her fist on the table. “You can’t make me sign off! This is my story, and I’ll cover it until the story breaks. Please Pat let me stay on!” Pat, “It’s not my choice. The board wants a more widely known face to cover this from here.” The On – Air light went green cutting the producer off. The reporter smiled broadly; she had delayed long enough for her to stay on at least one more segment. “The markets have just opened and already Siarra Inc. stocks are Surging. In the first twenty seconds of trading the companies, value has nearly doubled. Market analysts are stunned and can only say gamers are mad. All predictions show that with the gamer log out issue being entirely software related and thus Siarra Ink’s fault the stocks would suffer a decline. Instead, gamers the worldwide are taking the news as a sign of the game’s success. Indeed, in the last hour digital sales have seen a 45% rise!” The reporter turned to a different camera, “In related news authorities are becoming concerned. Teams, who were sent in game to tell players to log out until the issue could be fixed, have themselves not logged back out. Our contacts say they believe those teams may be staying in game to assist players. Siarra has continued a complete media blackout on this.”

With Luxus’s help, we made it to the entrance of the mine quickly. Our team was well balanced. I would pull with a spell, and then meet the target head on. Lien would buff, curse, and then step into melee applying heals as needed. Luxus would stay back and fire arrows to devastating effect. He almost equaled the DPS (Damage per Second) of Lien and I combined.

As we entered the mine I looked around, “There is no muster point here.” Lien frowned, “The admins must not intent this to be a dungeon.” “Well unless they changed that too,” Luxus added. A muster point is a safe zone where players could gather avoiding mobs. Regardless there were 9 other players just inside the mine entrance. 3 were doing all they could to keep the rapidly respawning kobolds from overwhelming them. The other 6 all stood whispering in a circle as a group.

Paying the two groups no mind I went for the first kobold I saw. It was a kobold pit boss and the bastard was tough! Twice Luxus pulled threat off me and I had to cast Magic Missile to pull it back, before the thief’s HP got too low. When we finally killed the sucker, Lien was at less than half mana and I was about the same on HP. As we caught our breaths, I became concerned, my HP and other stats were not regenerating as fast as they should of. Looking around for a cause, I noted two debuffs that I had not noticed. At some point in the last few minutes, they had snuck up on me and were now blinking away in the top right of my view. A droplet of water sat alongside an image of a hamburger both highlighted in a red box.

Hungry

You have not eaten in hours. You must eat to keep your strength up. Until you eat, your HP and Stamina will regen 50% slower

Thirsty

You are thirsty! Until you drink, your Mana and stamina will regen 50% slower.

Reading the descriptions, I realized my mouth was really dry and my stomach was grumbling. Before I had not thought much of it, but now it was all I could think about. Pulling out my water skin, I took a big gulp. When the refreshing liquid ran down my throat, my stomach seized letting me know it wanted more. With a sigh, I pulled out a ration and found a place to eat. Lien looked at me expectantly, and then shrugged. She also pulled out her waterskin and a ration. She sat up against the wall next to me and began to eat. Luxus looked around at the relative safety the other players were creating and then did the same. While I stuffed my mouth, I thought about the debuffs. By themselves they would certainly hurt, but together they would restrict all stamina regen. Considering you used 1 point of Stamina for every attack, parry, dodge, and more than one for most spells you would quickly be out of stamina in a fight or two. Then you would be a wheezing sitting duck.

With breakfast over, lien renewed Bless on the three of us and we returned to the adventure. As we moved deeper into the cave the meager light from outside dimmed and then vanished. Ahead of us, we could see torches burning and the sounds of combat echoed down the tunnel. Moving slowly, I tried to watch my footing over the dark uneven floor.

Lien cursed, “Damn it! Okay I’m lighting a torch this is not working. I’ve stubbed my toe twice already.”

“Hold up,” I replied. “Let’s get closer to these guys and then I’ll cast Light. I can renew it when we need and not use expendables.”

I’m not sure if Lien agreed or gave me the finger. She didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t see her, so I moved forward. Nearing the light, I saw the party of six were engaged in a struggle with three kobolds. I’m not sure if they had a bad pull or if the kobolds were just that dense, but they seemed to be having a hard time of it. Either way things did not look to be going well for them. As I watched, their Magician caught agro and was down before anyone else could do more than shout warnings.

Nearing the edge of the light I heard a whisper from the shadow, “Psst, hey you may want to hide. These fools are about… Oh there it is.”

The voice trailed off as a patrol of kobolds three in total came into the light charging the beleaguered group. I moved forward to help when a hand caught me, Lien’s voice whispered harshly, “Not this time. If I die again, my gear is shot and I’m going to make you take me back to town to replace it. No heroes. Let them be to their fate.”

I looked at the group then sighed, moving into the shadows at the edge of the pathway I found what felt like a crevice and pushed myself into it.

A few seconds later, I heard “Run we can’t handle them! Move back toward the entrance.”

Running footsteps echoed louder and the tunnel got bright as two people appeared in the narrow slit the crevice allowed me to see, then they were gone past me. A third came into view then dropped his Tombstone, torch skidding to a halt on the ground. A pack of kobolds shot passed close on the heels of the two fleeing forms.

As feet echoed, the dropped torch sputtered and went out.

Pushing out of my hiding place, I felt around and picked up a stone to cast light on it. Slowly the spell took hold and began to illuminate the area. As the light grew, I saw Luxus staring at me, following his gaze I looked to my hand and bit my lip to stop from shouting in surprise. In my hand was a kobold skull. I had evidently pulled it from a skeleton. The grotesque thing now glowed with a pale blue hue; looking rather possessed. “Cool! That is bad ass!” Luxus was looking at the skull smiling widely. With a shrug I tossed the skull to Lien, “Here I’m in melee too much to hold it. Luxus is using both hands on his bow. So, your torch bearer.” Lien glared at me and looked like she was going to argue. Instead of waiting, I looked into the crevice I had found. On the ground in the back of the shallow niche were a bunch of mushrooms. Their blue skins were blotted with purple pus like nodules. Examining them

Deathcap

Herbalism 15 required.

I smiled. I hadn’t found many plants on the way over, but I had found enough to level my herbalism up to 16. If I recalled correctly, one of the potions I learned needed these mushrooms. Bending over I began to harvest them. Moments later I heard a loud clang, then another. Jerking my head up I saw Lien on the other side of the tunnel. She had a pick in hand and was banging on a Copper vein. Each hit had chunks of copper ore or a jewel falling to the ground among a scattering of rocks. “A miner?” I called. Lien didn’t pause, “You were not the only one to pick up a craft. I thought I’d try out Jewelcraft and I need mining to harvest the gems.” A few moments later I finished in time for Luxus to say, “The Kobold Patrol is coming back.” I pushed my way back into the niche, Lien stuffed the skull in her bag effectively hiding the light and we waited. I heard the footsteps approach, then one of them spoke, “I smell Humans. There is more here.” Without hesitation I yelled they found us! And stepped out. I drew my sword and stabbed in the direction of the voice. My blade bit into flesh.

New Skill” Blind Fighting (Skill Level 1)

I heard a swoosh of air and moved to dodge, but I moved the wrong way. Stepping into the weapon just made the surprising impact seem more painful. I heard grunts as someone else was fighting one of the beasts too. I stabbed again and missed. It had moved. The kobolds had no issue seeing me though, I again got hit. Finally, Lien joined the battle she pulled out the skull illuminating the conflict.

The strange magical light pushed back the darkness, if not brightly enough so that I could see 5 kobolds. 2 soldiers, an Overseer and two miners. Stepping out of hiding against the other wall was three other players. A Warrior, an Acolyte, and a Magician in dull grey robes. One of them must have warned us with the whisper.

I was half facing a Soldier with the 2nd moving to flank me. Luxus was engaged with the Overseer, and the other parties Warrior was trying to keep the two miner’s attention.

Parrying an attack, I quickly assessed the situation. I shouted, “Acolytes heal duty! Magician sleep the extra soldier and then the miners, then the overseer. If one pops sleep, then hit it again. Keep them out of the fight until we are ready for them! Warrior, Luxus pay attention if your target goes to sleep don’t be a fool and wake him, by hitting him. Switch to my target and proceed to kill. Keep them off the casters at all costs!”

The next couple minutes was tense. Even though the other three were not in our group they followed my orders. I watched as my life went from green to yellow, to orange, only to have two heals send shivers up my spine and restore me back to full. Luxus to my surprise made a decent dodge tank. He was able to dodge most of the Overseers attacks, only attacking back when the seer turned to go after a caster. The warrior was the only issue twice she hit a miner after the mage had put it to sleep, but even she redeemed herself when a miner respawned behind us. She ran over and hit it before it could agro anyone. Thus, pulling the threat to herself. When I pulled my blade from the last miner I was starting to wheeze, my heart was beating quickly, and my sword arm felt heavy. But everyone was alive, if almost out of mana.

I began to sit to catch my breath when another miner deeper into the tunnel respawn right behind the exhausted looking Magician. Without thinking I began to cast Magic Missile. The Kobold turned from the tunnel wall in which it had spawned facing, at the easy target and sneered. It drew its pick back and received my spell directly in its chest. Blood and dirt flew from the impact site. The kobold let out a wail and raced toward me with murderous intent. Fortunately, its charge brought it through the combined groups. We all converged on it in a blaze of weapons. I almost felt sorry for it when it collapse to the ground. Almost, if I wasn’t so tired. Half sitting, half falling I hit the ground hard. I swear I felt sweat running down my back beneath my armor. The others seemed just as tired. No one spoke for a full minute then the Acolyte gasped out, “What… the… heck?” A second later I got one, then two group join requests.

Jazmine Oxford Level 4 Warrior wants to join your group.

Accept:

Yes / No

Alexander Stiner Level 4 Magician wants to join your group!

Accept:

Yes / No

Jasmin said, “What? He knows what he is doing. I would never have thought we would need a Raid leader for a bunch of low-level mobs. But they upped the difficulty and gimped the EXP with this expansion.” Alexander piped in, “We need more people anyway. They respawn to fast to do this with just three people” I hit accept to the requests and two messages flared on my log.

New Skill: Apprentice Leadership (Skill Level 1 / 75)

New Skill: Apprentice Tactician (Skill Level: 1 / 75)

“Huh?” I have never heard of these skills before, I glanced at the groups stats and saw they still needed to rest so I took a moment to focus on the names bringing up a prompt.

Leadership: Apprentice Skill Level: 1 / 75

Effect: Grants 2% bonus to Combat, Crafting, Gathering, Interaction, and Rewards. This bonus applies to any organization you are the leader of.

Restriction: This bonus will only be applied once by the greatest leadership you are subject to.

Tactician: Apprentice Skill Level: 1 / 75

Effect: Grants 5% bonus to Combat, Movement, and Drop Rates of a Group or Raid you are part of when following a tactical plan.

Oh nice! Looking at my status I saw the new Leadership Buff. Only a 2% increase, but it was to everything. S I stood and moved forward Lien glared at me. “What, did I do now?” I asked her. “Is this leadership thing something from your uber class?” I shrugged, “it came up as a Skill, but I don’t know if it’s General or Class based.” She shook her head, “We are going to have a talk later. I want to know how to make a Magi toon.” I smiled, accepted the group request of the grumpy looking Acolyte and recast Light on the kobold skull in Lien’s hands. Better to use a little mana now than to run out mid-fight. I got a new Bless, and Mage’s Genius buffs then set off.

The larger group didn’t work together as well, but we made up for it with over-whelming force. Half an hour later we finally came into a large natural looking cavern. I had gotten all the kills I needed for my Warrior quest already. Now I just needed to find the stolen goods. Far back in the cavern there was a small camp set up. Kobolds were gathered around it in force. I counted at least 10 all level 5 or 6. Against the back wall farthest from us were stacks of crates with Images of the Hub Tower painted on it.

“I don’t want to be this person, but I’ve finished my quest. I don’t need to stay down here anymore.” Jazmine said. Lien glared at her, “then leave. Good luck getting out alone.” Luxus snickered, “I could sneak out, but I’m still here.” Jazmine glared at them both, “Well let’s hurry at least.” I actually agreed with her. I couldn’t find an in-game clock but I’m sure it was late, and I was getting tired.

I looked a Luxus, “Can you scout the area? Make sure there isn’t anything hidden between us?” The thief nodded and his shape blurred showing he went into stealth. A few minutes later he came back, “we have two groups. One to the right consisting of an Overseer and 3 miners. Then we have a group to the left near some small tunnel. We can avoid the 2nd group without issue.” Jazmine cut him off, “Good then let’s get this other group and go for those crates.” The thief shrugged, “We could avoid that group, but there is a Named creature in it.” We all paused a named creature would either drop special loot or give some special quests item. “That settles it we clear the room, then get the hell out of here,’ Lien said. Everyone turned to look at Jazmine, she looked like she might argue but then sighed and nodded. “Awesome loots await!” Luxus proclaimed.

The kobold group to the right was easy enough. To Jazmin’s annoyance we took longer gathering mushrooms and Mining out ore veins than killing them. Alexander was a miner too; he was planning on working on his Blacksmithing, so they split the veins. No one else had got a profession yet, so they waited. Before we finished, the Kobold Miner group respawned and we were forced to kill it again.

After the 3rd miner went down the cavern burst with light as Alexander glowed for a moment. “Ding level 5!”

grudgingly we congratulated him. I was still a few hundred EXP from 4. The size of the group was making it faster to kill these guys but the EXP was pretty lousy. I just hoped the Quest EXp would compensate.

When we finally prepared to attack the kobold camp, I again set up plans. The kobolds were all arranged in a circle around the fire. They were mostly all sitting and two seemed to be sleeping. To my dismay most of them looked to be soldiers, and one an officer. If they hadn’t changed it, that officer should be able to do a shout that would stun a player for a few seconds. That was trouble since they already outnumbered us and were higher levels than us too.

Thinking it through, I asked, “Luxus do you have Stun yet?”

“Sorry boss, I won’t get it til 5.”

I nodded. Okay then. Here is the plan.

Alex sleep that officer, keep him slumbering as much as you can. I’ll sleep another one, probably one laying down. If it really is asleep it will automatically fail its save. That should pull them to us. I want Luxus to sneak up as close to them as you can. Wait for them to pass you and then hit from the back. Jazmine you will be with me. We have dual duty of keeping the kobolds off the healers and taking them down. Try to stay on my target. Acolytes. One of you will be on heals, the other is going to help with DPS and support heals. Again, everyone other than Luxus and Alex target my foes. We need to take them down as fast as we can. Luxus after you finish off the first help us. Got it” yeah” “Sure. “Okay.’ “Let’s do it!”

I watched Luxus move forward stealthed, then got just close enough to hit the kobold with my sleep spell. I looked at Alex and he edged forward a bit more then nodded. “Okay folks if shit goes south… well just don’t let it. GO!” I started casting. The instant I did the Tactician buff kicked in. I smiled.

Both Kobolds failed their saves. That left only 8 level 5 kobold soldiers rushing at us. With a grim resolve I moved up to Alex and started to cast again. The Magician was already casting too. When the lead kobold was steps away, we finished. Two sets of flame Waves burst forth from us. Both Alex and I looked amazed at the other one. I assume he didn’t know I could cast that spell, and I was amazed because there was no way we could pull threat from him now. Combined the two waves knocked the lead kobold to half its life and the others slightly further away were not much better. I felt pain as kobold blades cut deep into me.

My plan was crumbling before my eyes. I had 4 kobolds attacking me. Alex had 4 more. Luxus Jazmin, and the other Acolyte were trying to pull a kobold each off Alex. But I could tell it wouldn’t be fast enough. Lien was already falling behind on the heals. There was just no way she could heal both Alex and I. I saw the decision in her face as she stopped healing the two squishy Magician. Moments later Alex died. That left a free kobold that turned to the one who had done the most damage to it, me. With a groan, I turned my attack away from the ¾ dead kobold I was facing. “Work together! Everyone focus on Luxus’s target!”

Everyone except Jazmine turned on the designated target. With 5 kobolds out for my blood I stopped trying to defend myself, instead focusing on killing a kobold. My life was dropping too quickly, Lien was still having to focus on too many people. The other Acolyte stopped attacking and started healing himself. With a kobold still attacking him though it wasn’t going well. With a viscous slash Luxus finished off the soldier. My life was dropping as low as 20% now before I would get healed back to the 40% range. Shaking my head, I turned to assist the healer. This wasn’t looking well, soon the Flame Waved kobolds would go after Lien. Luckily the burn effects had been doing their jobs too. With me hitting the kobold making it turn towards me, Luxus was able to sneak Attack it and its life went red. With no interference the other Acolyte finally finished his heal spell and recovered out of the red himself.

“Fucking heal me!” Jazmine shouted.

Lien was too busy chanting to respond so I did, “She can’t you idiot. If she stops healing me, I go down, then she does. You didn’t follow the plan you suffer!”

“Screw you! Jazmine snarled.

Luxus and I finished the kobold and a split-second later Jazmine died.

“Damn! I was trying to heal her!” the other acolyte said.

As I turned on the now freed kobold, Luxus snarled, “Focus! Heal Azriel or we all die with him!” Jazmine had almost gotten her kobold down. One hit was all it took to drop it as well, then Lien shouted,” Help!” The kobold officer had woken up and was now going for Lien. To make things worse the other 5 turned on her too. Now she could wear better armor than I could, but her HP wasn’t as high. So even though she could take the hits for a moment it wouldn’t do to not let her cast. I pointed at a kobold Luxus moved to it and struck. Meantime I cast Flame Wave again. Each second of the insanely long cast time seemed like forever. The words and motions seemed to take a lifetime each. Finally, I finished and Red orange flame shot out from me in all directions again. That got the kobolds attention as I hoped.

6 kobolds crowded around me blades wet with the mixed blood of my group. We dropped another kobold and turned to the next when a loud scream burst in my ears.

Kobold Officer has struck you with Immobilizing Fear. You passed your Will Save!

Gritting my teeth, I saw Luxus and the other Acolyte had not passed their saves and now stood completely still shaking in virtual terror. Scoring a lucky blow, I dropped a particularly ugly looking kobold soldier and turned to the next. The Flame Waves had reduced the crowd’s HP to about a third of normal. Sadly, I was bouncing into the low teens, before Lien could get a heal off. I was doing my best to work on the next soldier in line when Lien put the stake in my coffin. “I’m out of mana!” With that my heals were gone. As I watched my life disappear like water in a whole ridden cup, Lien joined the melee. Another soldier fell to our combined efforts. A bright light filled the cavern as my life bar ticked to 0. My tombstone dropped to the ground with a thud.