“I’ve got it,” said Duncan, moving to their small fire and spit first.
“Thanks, mate,” said Heath. “Everyone, get hunting, we’ve still got hours until daybreak.”
Gras went with the other players, helping all of them reach into high rank VI and Green into Rank VII. Night passed quickly and about an hour before daybreak they returned to camp to eat.
“Mike, Don, you’re first tonight. Evile and Green, you’ve got the second watch, that puts Duncan and I third and Gras and I fourth,” Heath ordered before ducking into his own tent.
“He’s an odd duck, isn’t he?” Evile asked, staring at Heath’s tent.
“As adventurers go, I would say yes,” Gras volunteered. For as much time as he had spent working with the team Heath assembled, he hadn’t really gotten to know any of them. On the other hand, Gras wasn’t sure he wanted to get to know any of them. They were adventurers, mercenaries hired by Hammerton to fight against his people, even if they were now trying to save his people. When they signed on, they didn’t care about his people. It made him wonder just how trustworthy they really were.
“You don’t say much,” Green commented, plopping down next to Gras.
Gras shrugged, it was natural for him to retreat into the persona of ‘Ash’ when he wasn’t comfortable speaking, something he would need to get better about if he intended to lead his people when this was all over.
“We are ‘Stealth’ users, it is natural for us to be quiet,” Evile defended Gras’s silence.
“Speak for yourself,” said Green. “I’m quiet when it suits me, but I didn’t choose to become a giant green Orc because I didn’t want others to notice me. Still, I admit, I’m having a lot of fun with this adventure.”
“It is . . . surprising,” said Evile. “I have been adventuring for a while now, this is my third month in the World Tree and yet this is the first I have had so much interaction with the citizens. It . . . has unsettled me.”
“Yeah, they are surprisingly intelligent,” said Green.
“Why does our intelligence surprise you?” Gras snapped. This was more of what he had come to expect from the adventurers. “You adventurers are so overconfident. Sure, death means nothing to you. But consider this, many of us are as powerful as you are, and we have never died once.”
“Not what I meant,” said Green. “I have adventured in many worlds. I have never met a citizen capable of holding a conversation beyond them giving me a quest or repeating the same information.”
Gras frowned. “These other worlds you have visited . . . they sound like they are more of an illusion than a real, live, breathing world. It reminds me of the Puzzle Room I have heard some temples boast to possess, like a simulation or a game. I do not believe I would wish to ever visit one of these other worlds, even if they promised me immortality.”
Evile and Green stared wide-eyed at Gras, neither saying a word, barely sharing a glance between them. Evile opened and closed her mouth a few times as if she was looking for the right words to say.
“I should get some rest, my turn on watch will be here before I wish it,” Gras grumbled before either Evile or Green could respond. He crawled into his tent, very much looking forward to some rest.
Sunset the next day came fast. Gras joined Heath for the last turn of watch duty not fully awake. Still, he busied himself cooking some of the bear meat they had left over. He was no chef, but it was at least edible.
“Let’s go unleash a little mischief,” Heath crowed, breaking their camp again and leading the crew across the valley.
“I’m telling you, I smell something,” said a voice loudly, drawing Gras and the adventurers up short, collectively vanishing from sight. They had barely broken camp, it was entirely possible the smell from the meat they cooked had drifted down the mountain.
“And I’m telling you to stop thinking with your stomach,” said another voice, not nearly as loud. “And stop being so loud. You’ll draw unwanted attention. Now, the map General Anvilroch showed us said the Snowy Gulch Sheep Farm is directly north of here. If we can do enough damage, we can completely cripple their food production. That should be worth a promotion alone.”
It was a group of adventures that apparently had the same idea as Heath, to attack Hammerton’s resources under the cover of night. There were four of them that were visible and two more moving around the group in ‘Stealth’. More importantly, they had no idea that Gras or the other adventurers were there.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s just go kill some sheepies,” the first voice complained loudly, footsteps following his complaint meant they were moving again, though they didn’t seem to be in any kind of a rush.
The question was, would Heath order an attack or not. One of the things that had been worked out early on their training as a group against the bears was the basic commands for attack or retreat, something that needed to be communicated without breaking ‘Stealth’ or signaling the enemy that someone was nearby.
Heath was blessed with a number of illusion spells, and a new acquisition, according to the Thief, was a spell that could make sounds. The signal for retreat was the sound of a mouse squeaking and the signal for attack was that of an owl screeching, which had the added bonus of spooking your target and making them look upwards. Especially when you considered just how large owls could grow in the World Tree.
No signal had been given so Gras ventured closer, something Heath and the others did as well. Investigating wasn’t an issue, attacking without orders was. Looking upon the enemy adventurers, Gras was underwhelmed.
An owl screeched above Gras loudly. It seemed Heath thought attacking the adventurers was a good idea, it also caused them to freeze up, their eyes quickly scanning the air, looking for the source of the possible attack.
Gras wasn’t sure if anyone else saw the two ‘Stealth’ adventurers, so he took it upon himself to deal with them, eliminating the weakest first. Gras closed on his target, getting within striking distance then waiting. Once the signal to attack had been made that was the first step, getting in range. After 30-seconds, more than enough time for everyone to get into position, Heath would either repeat the screech to signal the actual attack or produce a mouse squeak telling them to retreat.
An owl screeched again.
Gras struck the weaker player, his ambush bonuses removed almost his entire health bar. Gras struck again, another hit to the head, the
With his target in reach, Gras activated ‘Ambush’ again and ‘Guerilla Assault’ then triggered ‘Assassinate’, his mallet striking so hard and so suddenly, the body of the
Stealth
Level: 100
Experience: N/A
Non-Combat Movement: Speed reduced by 55.00%
Chance of Being Revealed: 50.00%
Skill Stamina Cost: 2 per second
Subskill: Ambush
Critical Strike Chance: 100.00%
Skill Stamina Cost: 120
Subskill: Guerilla Assault
Critical Strike Damage: +200.00% Chance to Remain Hidden: 10.00%
Skill Stamina Cost: 240
Subskill: Assassinate
Damage: +100.00 per Character Level Cooldown: 24-hours
Skill Stamina Cost: 100 x Level
The three combined for a devastating -2,417-HP floating away from the quick to vanish corpse. It was unlikely he would need ‘Assassinate’ again that night and not having it would prevent him from being tempted to use it on those two soldiers, assuming they were the same two from the night before.
“Nice hit, mate,” said Heath, sheathing his dagger, his own opponent vanishing. In fact, the field was clear of enemy adventurers. “But, as fun as that was and as much as I am sure we all appreciate the experience, it is time to get moving. We still have a mission to complete.”
Gras knew where the Anvilton graveyard was, the one the enemy adventurers would respawn in. It would take them at least two or three hours just to get back to this point. The chances of them raiding the farm under the cover of darkness were pretty slim.
Heath didn’t allow them to stand around celebrating long and was quickly ushering everyone along, only giving them a moment to rest once they were back inside the cave that led to the side entrance for the factory.
The door looked to have been rebuilt and a number of chains strewn across it, which were then bolted into the stone around it. Gras and the other made quick work of the chains, being careful to disassemble the chains and not break them. Heath picked the lock again and led the adventurers back inside.
Once again, Gras disassembled the lock, door, and doorframe before joining everyone inside. They were even faster than the day before thanks to the increase in rank to ‘Scavenge’. Not wanting to be left out, Gras quickly joined in.
Heath triggered a noise, halting all activity, causing everyone to hide.
Avit and Bastien were back.
“Damnable rodents,” Bastien complained. “And I thought you told the foreman to make sure the factory floor was clean before we left this morning?”
“I did,” Avit defended himself.
“Then he is as lazy as the rest of them,” grumbled Bastien. “I will need to have a word with his supervisor.”
It took about 10-minutes for the two Shale Dwarves to circuit the factory before returning to their posts. It was another 5-minutes beyond that before Gras and the adventurers returned to disassembling everything they could get their hands on.
Gras moved with Heath to the front of the factory where a perfectly put together cannon sat near the doors, ready to be rolled out and taken to Anvilton for use in the war. Heath was already working on it, his tools working quickly to loosen every piece that could be loosened. Gras followed just behind Heath, making sure the cannon appeared perfect. Rigged, so that with just a touch it would fall to pieces.
Another 20-minutes passed, disassembling anything they could get their hands on. Then Heath triggered another noise from somewhere else in the factory, a simple signal for them all to hide and remain out of sight.
“I swear, if I catch whatever animal is making all this noise, I will skin it alive,” Bastien bellowed angrily, his arms waving exaggeratedly in his anger, his fingers coming ever so close to touching the cannon. And yet he didn’t, instead, he proceeded to start looking around.
“I do not remember there being so many things in pieces last time, do you?” Avit asked, his voice shaking slightly.
“You are seeing things, Avit. Your eyes are just taking in more detail the second time around,” Bastien stated, his eyes darting side to side, his torch moving with them in an attempt to catch anything moving.
Avit swallowed. “I am sure you are right.”
Avit and Bastien were much more cautious this time as they moved through the factory.
“See, nothing here,” said Bastien.
“I do not see anything. That is what worries me,” said Avit. “You heard about what they found in the Bronzies mine, right?”
“Do not even hint at such a thing here,” Bastien snapped, silencing his partner. “If that . . . that were true, it would be both of our heads.”
Avit’s frown deepened in the torchlight but he didn’t say anything more, instead, following Bastien back outside.
Gras looked to Heath for directions after a few minutes of silence passed.
Heath dropped from ‘Stealth’ and motioned everyone toward the exit, the mission for the evening was complete.
Once they were safely away from the Anvilton side of the valley Heath congratulated the entire group on a job well done.
“Now don’t get cocky,” said Heath.
Gras didn’t understand the vernacular ‘cocky’ but guessed it meant something along the line of ‘overconfident’.
“Tomorrow is going to be much more difficult,” said Heath. “Tonight, I need you all to see if you can use ‘Scavenge’ while ‘Stealth’ is active without being taken out of ‘Stealth’. This will be the most difficult part of the mission, so practice hard. We’ve got a few hours until sunrise, so make the most of it.”
Gras nodded. He had used ‘Scavenge’ plenty, but never while ‘Stealth’ was active. It made him wonder if there was a subskill that could be learned from it.
“Work in teams of two or three,” Heath called out, walking toward Gras. “I’m with you Gras. Since you have the highest level ‘Scavenge’ it is more important that you learn it than anyone else.”
“Mind if I join you?” Duncan asked.
“Not at all,” said Heath, welcoming the other Dwarf. “Gras, find us something to skin.”
Gras would have grumbled about always being watched by the Thief, but he supposed he did kind of deserve it. Still, he was more interested in seeing if he could learn a skill or subskill that combined ‘Stealth’ with ‘Scavenge’.
The first bear Gras found died within seconds, the ‘Ambush’ subskill and ‘Guerilla Assault’ subskill gave him a good deal of extra damage with his first hit. Heath and Duncan adding their own ‘Ambush’ and any other subskills to it, meant the bear was not going to make it.
“Okay, Gras, you first, if ‘Stealth’ breaks, Duncan can try next and then me,” Heath said, setting the order.
Gras activated his ‘Stealth’. Then, with a utility knife in hand, Gras put the blade to the bear and made his first cut.
“And we see you,” said Heath, ending Gras’s attempt before it even really started. “Duncan, you’re up.”
Gras stepped back and watched Duncan vanish from view only to have his ‘Stealth’ drop just as fast as Gras’s did.
“Nope,” said Heath, vanishing himself a second later. One cut and Heath was back in view.
Thirty minutes later they made no progress at all except that the bear was a now a patchwork of cuts into the fur.
“Okay, this clearly isn’t working,” said Heath, sighing heavily.
“Unfortunately, ‘Scavenge’ seems to be incompatible with ‘Stealth’,” said Gras, a sigh matching Heath’s escaping his lips.
“Isn’t this more along the lines of sabotage?” Duncan asked. “I mean, you plan to use this skill on equipment and not a living target or previously living target, right? To damage or break equipment they are wearing or using?”
“It’s worth a try,” said Heath. “Duncan, you can put your rifle back together, can’t you?”
“Yes, but why don’t you try with this first?” Duncan asked, holding out a small clock in his hand.
“Gras, after you,” said Heath, motioning toward the clock.
Gras nodded, activating his ‘Stealth’ skill. The clock was small but thankfully, the screw heads on the back were large enough for the screwdrivers Gras had. He touched the screwdriver to the first screw and to his surprise, the ‘Stealth’ didn’t break. Licking his lips once, he turned the screw and his ‘Stealth’ seemed to hold. Another turn and it continued to hold. More turns and the screw popped free, dropping to the ground.
“Aside from being able to see the screw turn, your ‘Stealth’ held up,” said Duncan, looking over the small clock that was now missing a screw. “Now, did you see where the screw went?”
After a few minutes searching for the screw and putting it
back into the clock, Heath attempted the same thing, also succeeding. Then it was Duncan’s turn. As soon as the screwdriver touched the clock, his ‘Stealth’ broke, revealing the Medic. A few more tries from Duncan yielded the same results.
“Okay, so it doesn’t seem to be related to ‘Stealth’ or Duncan would have been able to do it. I guess the question is, what skills do you and I have in common?” Heath asked, looking at Gras appraisingly.
“Not sure, you are a Thief and I am a Guerilla, we both focus on subtlety skills so I would guess the overlap is somewhere in those skills,” Gras said, shrugging. It was the only thing that made sense to him.
“Do you know ‘Pickpocketing’?” Heath asked.
“No,” Gras answered.
“How about ‘Lockpicking’ or ‘Espionage’?” Heath asked.
“I have ‘Espionage’,” Gras replied, checking his skill information.
Espionage III
Level: 14
Experience: 74.11%
Skill Effect: You can store 1,256 images.
Subskill: Eavesdropping
Skill Effect (Active): You have a 99% chance to successfully listen in on private conversations at a distance of 10.00 yards.
Subskill: Codebreaking
Skill Effect (Active): You have a 99% chance to decipher simple coded messages.
But, as far as Gras knew, the skill was mostly worthless despite continuing to level up, unless there was a subskill he wasn’t aware of. Something like ‘Sabotage’. In all of Gras’s years spying on Hammerton, he had never once done something to damage the city infrastructure, no broken gates, no poisoned food supplies, nothing. He did not feel any ill will toward Hammerton, he did not necessarily like them but that did not mean he wanted to harm the people in the city.
“Great, and sabotage is probably a part of ‘Espionage’, a skill I don’t have,” Duncan groused, rubbing his face. “We need to see who else knows that skill and see where their training is at. And then we need to see if there is a subskill for it.”
World Tree Online: The Mountain Valley War: 2nd Dive Concludes Page 37