Dean looked worried. "Can we handle a group of level twelve enemies?"
Nika paused, then nodded. "We should be able to," she said. "We handled these pretty easily." Looking around at the others, she asked, "Did anyone take a lot of damage?" One by one they shook their heads. "Good, then I'd say we're pretty safe."
Their ranger didn't look too convinced. "What about between the first oasis and the second? Are the monsters stronger there? I don't see us leveling up that much in between."
"Normally, I might be concerned about that too," Nika admitted. "But if we can find just a few little Trial critters along the way, you might be surprised just how high we are by then." It had taken them days in the forest area to reach level ten. They had done it with the update in place in just a little over twenty-four hours.
Finally, his frown cleared. "Yeah, that's right," he said. "Okay, everybody keep on the lookout for some little critters. We need to do a little monster collecting."
They picked up the dropped loot from the hyenas, more hides and a couple of potions, and started to remount. Louella was the one once again to spot it first. It blended with the sand just a little too well.
It was a sandy brown colored creature and was definitely not a Gaia monster. Sort of resembling a small dog, with light red stripes running through its coat, the little critter was patiently sitting at the bottom of a nearby sand dune watching them closely.
"The red stripes should mean it's a fire creature," Ash whispered. "I haven't seen that one before, though. They must have added some new critters in among the old."
Louella nodded. "So which of us gets to go after it?"
The other girl sighed. "As badly as I want it, Nika could really use a fire creature in her monster inventory."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," Louella said wistfully.
Neither girl sounded all too happy about it, but Nika was taking the win, anyway. They were right. This creature, if they could get it, would be a good addition to the main party.
It would be nice right about now to be able to see the monster's level, she thought. It wouldn't help them if she threw too powerful of an attack and killed it. Too little of an attack and they might well lose it too.
Finally, she called out the smallest level water monster she had. Flippin Frog, level three, was on the job. A water attack would be especially effective against a creature of fire, but with the much lower level, it shouldn't be enough to kill the little dog.
One hit and the dog-like creature went down about a third of its health bar. Surprisingly, it didn't attack back. Instead, it simply cocked its head and continued to stare at them.
Taking a deep breath, Nika threw a trap and instructed her frog to recruit. The little creature stood and, as the entire party held their breath, walked into the trap without a single try to fight back or run.
They had him. Then Nika looked at her inventory. Well, actually, they had her. According to her screen, the new critter was a SandDog, and yes it was of the fire element. There were two of the creatures available in the game, a male and a female. The male had blue stripes instead of the red ones this one sported. Plus, the male looked as if it was having a somewhat bad hair day. Luckily, once you caught a creature, it gave you all the information about it.
Information was never a bad thing.
Before moving on, they searched the area by eyesight and by the map function, but there were no more SandDogs in the area. A disappointed group remounted and started their trip deeper into the desert.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: First Oasis
The next few miles passed by pretty quickly as Dean had moved over in the ranks of riders to ride side by side with Louella. They struck up an easy conversation, and he had her laughing with his humorous retelling of his childhood escapades. Then he asked her what growing up had been like for her. She was wondering how on earth she was going to answer him when she was saved by another monster sighting.
Gaia monsters. This time it was scorpions. They were off the trail and the team could have easily passed them by without incident, but they really needed all the experience they could get. So they dismounted and left Blake holding the horses. His one virtue in the battles was singing to up their attacks, and he could do that standing still. Ash was pretty strong all on her own. Besides, Nika had a talk with her dwarf lover boy and he seemed to be a roving team member now. Going where he was most needed.
Right now, obviously he had decided that was her. Not a problem because he was a great fighter. Between the two of them, they took down five of the dozen scorpions easily. One more than their fair share. Score one for the little people of the party.
The battle was enough to tip Ash and her partner Blake over to level ten. That made everyone a bit more comfortable going forward. This time when the scorpions turned to their magical dust, two shining beacons appeared among the dropped loot. Two legendaries? How awesome was that?
Louella reached one of them first, and she saw Ash pick up the other. Pulling up her inventory she grinned. It was an accessory that any character class could use. A magic enhancing circlet that increased the player's magic ability by ten percent. Then she frowned. There were two magic users in the party, herself and Ash. Which of them could do the most with the item?
For her, it would mean a much stronger attack. For Ash, it would mean a greater ability to heal them when they needed it, plus the whole attack thing. Louella sighed. Ash was the logical one to get it.
She walked over to the other girl and handed her the item. "I think you could make the best use of this," she said. "You'll need all the magic stat points you can get to keep this bunch in full health."
Ash took a look at it and brightened. "Hey, thanks, this is awesome." She hesitated. "But you could do pretty good with it too, you know."
Louella shrugged. "Yeah, it would up my attack. But it will yours too as we both attack with magic, but with the added healing power it'll give you..."
The other girl nodded. "I see." She stowed it away in her inventory. "I wish the legendary I found could go to you, but it's a sword. Looks like it was meant for Evan or Nika."
"Give it to Evan," Nika said from directly behind them. Both girls jumped as they hadn't heard her approach them. She grinned at them. "Don't let your guard down too much girls," she said. "The sword should go to Evan. It's definitely an upgrade on the one he has, and I'm kind of partial to my Viking Ax." Nika hesitated. "Just out of curiosity, what makes it special enough to be a legendary?"
Ash made the motions to bring the item up and gave a low whistle. "You might change your mind once you hear this," she said. "The sword gives the player auto shield which raises the player's defense by twenty-five percent while in battle." She paused. "And at the same time, it increases the player's attack by ten percent."
Damn. Louella looked at Nika. It wouldn't surprise her if the Amazon changed her mind and kept the sword for herself. She didn't. Instead, she shook her head.
"Those are nice perks," Nika said. "But I like my Berserk ability." She hefted the ax in her right hand and smiled, looking over toward Blake. “Besides, I have a lot of happy memories with this weapon.”
Well, yeah, there was that.
"Hey, Ash," she said as they started preparing to remount. "Do you mind if I ride beside you for a while?" She gave a quick glance over at Dean and saw his crestfallen face. Louella felt guilty about ditching him, but she was afraid he would want to continue with their earlier discussion.
That simply wasn't something she wanted to do for a multitude of reasons. The main one being that it would make her dwell on her situation and bring her out of the enjoyment of the game. As long as she stayed focused on the game play, it was easy to believe that she was still alive and well with a body to return to in the outside world.
With the party about halfway to the oasis, red dots started appearing fairly regularly on their area map. Louella absolutely loved that feature as it gave them the option of chasing down the ones off the trail if they
wanted to level grind a bit. But with Nika leading, it seemed that was no longer on the table. With everyone at level ten now, she seemed hell-bent to make it to the first oasis as soon as possible.
She couldn't blame her. Nika had a whole lot riding on getting out of this game. Of all of them, Louella was the only one that wouldn't be able to leave. At least she hoped so. Yes, it would be nice to have company in the game, but not at the expense of her new friends’ lives. Besides, they could always come visit her here in the game. Provided she didn't reboot and disappear.
By the time the oasis was in sight in the far distance, they had only run into one additional unavoidable battle with a group of desert thieves. The fight was very short lived and, amazingly enough, yielded another legendary item. Those were generally a lot harder to find than that. They'd found three within just two battles.
Then it hit her and she looked over at Ash. "I've been thinking," Louella said. "You know how with the Trial's game, as we gain levels our luck increases and we find more and higher leveled monsters?"
Ash looked over at her blankly, then her eyes lit up. "That's it!" she said. "I've been sitting over here wondering why our luck has suddenly changed for the better and just couldn't put my finger on it." Ash grinned at the girl. "I do believe you've solved that little mystery for me."
"Should we tell Nika?"
"Tell Nika what?" Nika asked, moving her horse up beside Louella's.
On foot, Louella could see the woman being able to sneak up on them but on horseback? She hadn't really thought Amazons were that sneaky. Must be something Nika brought with her into the game.
"That we think the luck the Trial's game is giving us to find monsters is helping us out with item drops," Louella answered after she'd recovered from her surprise at the woman's sudden appearance.
Nika paused, then nodded. "I'd been wondering about that. Not that I was going to question the lucky drops, mind you, but it's a nice thought that they might just continue."
Ash leaned over in her saddle, smiling. "It gets even better," she said. "If we're right, and I think we are, the lucky drops won't just continue. They'll get stronger." She paused, her eyes lighting up. "Can't you just imagine the loot we'll get if we manage to reach level thirty before finding Gaia? We'll have the best equipment in the game by then."
The Amazon returned her grin. "Yet another way Cora's little plan is backfiring on her," she said. "I really hope we make it past Gaia before the woman wises up."
"All the more reason to power through as much as we can," Evan said, running up beside them.
All three of the women jumped, and he grinned at them. "Yeah, Nika isn't the only one that can do that," he said. "But then, I'm a tiger, and they are pretty well known for their stealth."
He had a point. His character class would be good at that.
"With speed in mind, I'm going to keep my part of our earlier bargain. The one where I promised to let you know if there were any secrets to the game that might help us make it through. Remember?" Evan asked.
"Oh, yes," Nika said. "I remember." Back in the forest, she had gotten angry when he had held out on a game play secret that would have helped them immensely. Things had turned out okay, but they had come to an agreement afterward that he would share all those secrets that would help them get through the game faster.
"Well," he said slowly. "Before we get to the first oasis, there is a hidden save point." The girls just looked at him. "Yes, I know save points are generally only found before big bosses. And no, there isn't a big boss at the oasis." He frowned. "Or at least my team back home didn't program one there, anyway."
He lithely jumped over the remains of what appeared to be a desert ram's skull bones. They were liberally sprinkled throughout the desert. A constant reminder of what the sun's heat could do to one unprepared for it. As if the heat by itself wasn't enough.
"So why is there one there?" Nika asked.
"To help out guides with weaker parties," he said. "Once we open the portals into Gaia's Rebirth for other players and travelers, we figured a few extra save points might help those who were struggling with the game play aspect of their visit. We hid them so that only the guides would know about them and could offer them up as needed."
Nika nodded. "Good thinking," she said. "I think this qualifies as one of those times they are needed."
"My thinking too," Evan said. "There should be a sand dune coming up with a small desert cemetery to the side with three smaller wooden crosses in it."
"A cemetery in the desert?" Ash asked. "Really? With the way the sand blows from place to place?"
He shrugged. "It was the best we could do. Besides," he smiled, "most of our players won't be that familiar with what the desert really should be like."
Ash shook her head but seemed a bit disappointed. Louella thought she read a small flash of disappointment on Nika's face too before she quickly hid it. She and her father had been going for as real of an experience as they could possibly create. Louella imagined having something there that didn't belong would be a little upsetting to her. Hiding her smile, she figured the cemetery would be gone with the next pass through. The woman would find some other way to hide the save point. One that blended a bit better with the environment.
When they came across the cemetery about a mile later, Louella had to give the programmers credit. They had done their best to make it believable. There was a small ring of piled stones around the small area. Stones were available out here. Generally, white bleached ones worn smooth by the shifting sands. These were stacked about waist-high around the three grave markers and the sand piled up against them on all sides.
Louella looked at the cemetery closely. She still didn't see any save point. Of course, the hidden ones most likely weren't enormous fountains with big glowing globes in the center.
She looked over at Evan expectantly. Soon all eyes were on Evan.
He seemed to like the attention. Puffing up a bit, he walked over to the small opening between the stacked stones and went to the center cross. Reaching down, he touched it and a quick bright flash of light reached out from the cross to cover his body in its warm glow. Then just as quickly, it was gone.
Saved by the cross. How fitting, Louella thought. She wondered how many gamers would get that reference. The more she thought about it, the more she liked it. And when it was her turn to touch the wooden cross, it was with a touch of reverence and a lot of prayer.
"Okay, so before we go to meet our new friends at the oasis, maybe we should all recap what skills we have available to add to the battle," Nika said. "For my part, I can help the team with my WarCry and Intimidation, and if needed I can use my AllOut to double my attack for a short time. I lost my Armor Smash, but if it hit level eleven during the fight, I should get it back."
Evan nodded. "Basically, I'm fast and really good with a sword. Using one gives me better attack and defense too."
"Well, you all know about my EarthQuake and Clone," Louella said. "At level nine I got a small heal spell which might help out in a pinch. It's not nearly as powerful as Ash's but it could make a difference if you were super low on life. And at level ten, I got the ability to call a Cyclone. That should be a super effective area attack out here in the desert." Which is exactly why she programmed it for herself. Why take chances?
Ash went next. "Besides my healing powers, and fire and lightning spells, at ten I regained my Blizzard attack." She made a sour face. "Won't be nearly as effective out here as it was in the forest. The ice won't stick around for very long at all with this heat."
They all looked at Dean.
He sighed. "Nothing new to speak of," he said sounding a bit disappointed. “My DoubleShot and FlamingArrow have leveled up quite a bit, but other than that, nothing new or exciting."
"I kind of like the idea of your DoubleShot leveling up," Ash said. "That ability has saved my butt a few times."
He grinned at her. "And your heal has saved mine."
Nika looked at
all of them. "Looks like we're ready, folks..."
"What about me?" Blake asked, indignantly. "Doesn't anyone care what I got?"
All eyes turned to him. Finally, Nika asked quietly. "Sure, Blake, what did you get?"
"Nothing," he said. "Not one damn thing. I think they only gave me the singing ability because they had to give the class something and they didn't think you all would let me join with you."
"Now you know how I felt," Evan said. "You were one of the ones who stuck me in here as a tiger, remember? If it hadn't been for our pixie hacker friend, I'd still be walking around on all fours and growling."
Blake backed up a step and shut up.
Louella wanted to feel sorry for the man, but she just couldn't. He was the reason Nika was in this mess to begin with. She didn't care if he ever got out of the game. But that added attack his singing gave him was kind of nice to have in battle. And the only reason he was still with them.
"So, can we go kill some monsters now?" Dean asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Nika laughed so it must have worked.
"Sure, Dean," Nika said. She looked toward the oasis, now only a few yards away.
Louella pulled up the area map and could see no fewer than a dozen red dots within its boundaries. Probably every one of them a Nomad Bandit too. She swallowed. Those were hard to beat, and they'd be outnumbered almost two to one.
She was strong but didn't know if she was that strong. And that save point didn't give her near the confidence it gave her friends. She was wondering if maybe she should tell them all just what they'd meant to her before they reached the little bit of shady heaven.
Then she remembered the note she'd left for Nika. It would have to do. Even if the Amazon knew about her plight now, it was something from Louella's heart.
Nika caught her gaze and smiled at her, coming to stand beside her while the others remounted. "If you wanted to sit this one out, I'd understand," she said.
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