Viridian Gate Online- Vindication
Page 4
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x3 Level Up!
You have (15) undistributed stat points
You have (3) unassigned proficiency points
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I had forgotten this entire world was still a video game. I took a moment to think about my character sheet, and it flew up in front of me. I had some points to distribute, which was good. The bad news was I didn’t know what I really wanted to put those points into. I decided to direct my points toward becoming a wizard. They needed Spirit and Intelligence, right? It made sense to me. I dumped 5 points into Intelligence and 5 into Spirit. I wasn’t sure how much I was going to use any other stats, but I decided a few more HP and some Dexterity couldn’t hurt. I put 3 points into Vitality and 2 into Dexterity, then looked at my new skill notification, which seemed to be beckoning my attention.
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You’ve learned a new skill!
Skill: Large Bladed Weapons
LARGE BLADED WEAPONS, such as battle-axes, halberds, bardiches and greatswords, are large and unwieldy, but can cause devastation on the battlefield. Large bladed weapons not only deal slashing damage, but also have a small portion of their damage augmented as crushing damage due to their great weight. Several weapons within this class double as large blunt weapons if they have a blunt side.
Skill Type/Level: Passive/Level 1
Cost: None
Effect: Increases large bladed weapon damage by 5% + 0.5% of base damage as crushing damage
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Well, I wasn’t planning on using that skill anytime soon. The short amount of time I spent with that stupid woodsman’s axe proved that.
“Stupid useless skills mucking up Vlad’s skill list. What is this, big swords? Is not even useful.” I saw Ina coming back to me with the group of villagers. I had wasted all of that time. “Derr’mo.”
“Did you find anything?” Ina’s voice was painful to hear. It was almost identical to my lost love’s.
“No. Lost time doing, eh, things.” I gestured to the world around me as a whole. It was a lame attempt to avoid the backlash I was expecting.
“Nothing for it then,” she said, almost apologetic. She walked up to me slowly and handed me a sheathed dagger. The sheath was well made, almost meticulously tooled. “You can use this for now, for defense. And here, I found a couple pieces of salvageable armor from the bandits.” She handed me a pair of thick woolen trousers, a large hide coat with a cloak attached that still smelled like the animal it was taken from, and some sturdy-looking leather boots.
“You are certain I can have?” I looked over the items like they might reach out and bite me. She shook her hands in frustration.
“Get dressed, and try to catch up. We’re burning daylight.” She shook her head and walked on, throwing her hand up in the air and whistling. “Come on, guys, let’s get walking!”
“Okay, I will do.” I started putting my armor together, and I noticed something about them I hadn’t thought to look at before. When I focused on an item, details, such as numbers and information, leapt out in my face. Statistics. I remembered hearing my coworkers talking about them. That was not something I had expected. I knew there would be details about items, I just didn’t know how to call them up. Finding out this way was annoying, but I went through each piece as I put it on.
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Hide Gambeson
Armor Type: Light; Simple Hide
Class: Common
Base Defense: 8
Primary Effects:
+1 to Constitution
1% resistance to slashing damage
Water resistant
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Heavy Woolen Trousers
Armor Type: Light; Woven Cloth
Class: Common
Base Defense: 6
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Sturdy Leather Pathfinder’s Boots
Armor Type: Medium; Tanned Leather
Class: Uncommon
Base Defense: 6
Primary Effects:
+5% Movement Speed in rough terrain
+5% reduction in Stamina use while running
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I shifted my shoulders after putting the armor on. It felt natural, like it was made to fit me. But it was also hot. I almost immediately started sweating after putting it on.
“Nothing for it,” I muttered. I looked down at the dagger in my hands and pulled up its stats. It was high quality, for sure.
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Long-Bladed Dagger of Memory
Weapon Type: Dagger
Class: Rare, Light
Base Damage: 9
Some memories are better left unshared. Some things are better left forgotten. And there are some things that are simply better left.
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What was with that flavor text? That felt personalized, almost directed at me. I hooked the dagger to my belt and felt confident in my abilities. I also had unlocked three new skills I needed to look at.
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Skill: Light Armor
Though Light Armor doesn’t offer the same defensive benefits as Medium or Heavy Armor, it is far less bulky and heavy, granting the wearer decent protection while simultaneously offering significantly increased speed, dexterity, and maneuverability. Light Armor is perfect for classes that rely on speed and distance, such as ranged warriors or spellcasters.
Skill Type/Level: Passive/Level 1
Cost: None
Effect: 7% increased base armor rating while wearing Light Armor
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Skill: Medium Armor
Though Medium Armor doesn’t offer the same defensive benefits as Heavy Armor, it is far less bulky and heavy, granting the wearer decent protection while simultaneously offering a greater range of speed, dexterity, and maneuverability. Perfect for classes that rely on speed and brutal surprise, but also aren’t afraid to fight close in—at least for short periods of time.
Skill Type/Level: Passive/Level 1
Cost: None
Effect: 5% increased base armor rating while wearing Medium Armor.
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Skill: Bladed Weapons
Bladed weapons, such as claymores, swords, daggers, and cutlasses, can cause massive damage to foes. Bladed weapons are especially effective against animals and lightly armored opponents. This skill is always in effect and costs no Stamina to use.
Skill Type/Level: Passive/Level 1
Cost: None
Effect: Increases bladed weapon damage by 5%
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Pleased with my progress, I turned to see the line of villagers, led by Ina, nearly out of sight. I ran to catch up with them and found my Stamina was falling as I ran. When it was down to nearly half, I slowed to a jog. I caught up to Ina fairly quickly and moved to walk at her pace.
“Got yourself geared?” Ina’s voice was chipper, but also slightly annoyed.
“Yes, but now is time to march.” I was trying to be stolid, single-minded, focused. It wasn’t working.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t talk about things.” Ina was right, of course. So we talked for a while on our way to Cressfal.
“So, how did you come to be adult?” I asked. I wrinkled my brow and frowned, struggling to find the right words. I knew what I wanted to say, but this idiotic forced English was messing with my vocabulary.
“That’s kind of a funny thing to ask. You mean where did I grow up?” Her rebuttal was patient, but slightly flustered. Funny, Ina on Earth had much the same way with words.
“Yes, that exactly.” I shrugged my shoulders as though I were just clueless.
“Well, I was orphaned when my parents were killed in a raid on their warden’s chapter. A group of bandits had amassed enough wealth to hire a small contingency of sellswords, so the story goes. They wiped the entire chapter out, leaving none alive; except for me, of course.” She gave a pained smile as she continued. “I was hidden in an underground passage that had collapsed years before. The rugs in the main hall cov
ered the entrance well enough to hide the trapdoor.” Her words were coming a bit slower, and there was a deep-seated hurt behind them, so I was reluctant to dig any further.
“That is, how do you say?” I struggled for a moment as the filter forced me into English. “Terrible is word I want to use, but is not fitting here, I think. Disfortunate? Is that word?” Ina laughed at me struggling with my words. It was good to hear her laughing after such a deeply painful story. I moved the conversation along, but I wanted to know more about this woman and her history. I had to know more.
“It was terrible, but not everything that starts out terrible has to end that way. Life isn’t an endless cycle of tragedy, you know?” She smiled at me as she spoke, the sadness starting to fade from her features.
“Is long story then? Tragedy always finds Vlad, but you have hope. Where did go after?”
“I was found by a traveling healer who was making her rounds. I had been subsisting on what was left in the larder—it had been about two weeks. It was a difficult way to live.” She punched one of her fists into the opposite palm. “I spent a long time living within Val’Fore. They raised me, for the most part, to be who I am today. The family that cared for me passed long ago, unfortunately. I was fourteen at the time, and the rest of the village took me in to take care of me after that. It was a hard transition. I had lost two families in such a short time that I didn’t know what the world expected of me.” The face she gave showed me that she wasn’t feeling as confident in her words as she tried to make them.
“I do not know what words to use.” I tilted my head to the side as I gave a sad smile.
“Words aren’t necessary, but thank you. Just knowing that you are listening is enough.” Her eyes sparkled behind the sadness, and it shook my heart.
“What is plan now?” I looked at the horizon to the south as we walked, hoping that we would have more time together.
“I had always wanted to be a Battle Warden, like my parents. So, I took up the sword and trained as hard as I could from childhood. And do you want to know a secret?” There was a mischievous smile stuck to her face like glue.
“Secrets? Yes, I will hear.” I gave her a wry smile myself. I so loved secrets.
“I have a quest to become a Battle Warden, but it’s in Rowanheath. I’ve never wanted to leave Val’Fore, at least not longer than a day or two, but now it seems like it’s fate.”
“That is big deal!” I hadn’t been so excited for someone else’s advancements in years, at least not someone aside from Earth Ina.
“Right? I can definitely go take care of that one day when I’m not pressed for time. But for now, we should focus on getting these people where they belong.” She threw a thumb back toward the crowd following us, who were having conversations of their own. A lot of it was grumbling.
“You have many things in life, but has not been charmed. Is hard to know what to say.”
“My life is what it is, Vlad. But what about you? You haven’t said anything about your life, and I want to know what you did before I met you.” She looked surprisingly interested in what I had to say, which was a shock.
“I worked for large weapons company before arrived in this world, making big... eh... weapons.” I hated using the same word twice in a single sentence, but I didn’t want to get in over my head in this world.
“So, you made swords, crossbows, and ballistae? She looked confused.
“Oh, no, other weapons. Like, eh, things that explode? Like crossbow, but it shoots solid object instead of bolt. It makes big crater in ground.” I made a bunch of noises to go along with it, including boosh, kaboom, and thoom. These sounds also accompanied hand motions. “Vlad made terrible things in past. But am trying to make up for mistakes in life. Many people die because of Vlad’s bombs.” I pulled my mouth to the side in a frown.
“It sounds like wherever you came from was a terrible place.” She shook her head as we walked, her brow furrowed in thought.
“Truly, it was.” I shook my head as well as I walked along beside her.
“You called me Ina before I introduced myself—how did you know me?” There it was, there was the worrying statement. I knew this would come up sooner rather than later, and I wasn’t hoping to discuss it.
“I was once married; before coming to new world.” I looked down before I continued, clenching my fists. I could feel the fingernails digging into my skin. “Her name was Ina; she looked...” I looked at the woman walking next to me, taking in the view of her hair, her face. They were everything I remembered. I saw the anticipatory half smile I had grown to love over so many years, and I was struck with how much I had taken it for granted. I found my strength and continued. “She looked exactly same as you. She died from disease that ate away her body from inside.” That had the exact reaction I had expected. Her smile narrowed to a thin-lipped frown of frustration.
“Oh, I see.” I couldn’t be certain, but I was pretty sure that was a discussion killer. She thought I was making it up, after all we had just shared. Of course, Earth Ina was very much the same way, always skeptical of things she didn’t trust.
“You do not believe.” I rolled my eyes, having dealt with this a million times before.
“No, I just find it hard to believe that there would be a person here who matches your wife from another world, let alone someone who died.” She said it with such conviction, I almost didn’t believe it myself.
“Is true, I swear it.” I almost gave too much anger in my statement; I had nearly fallen back into the bickering that Earth Ina and I had developed over years.
“Okay, say I believe you, how do I look like her?” There was less fire in her voice, more confusion and a little bit of fear.
“Your hair is same. Your voice is same. Your emotions, they are same. The feelings I get when talking to you, they are same. It is, eh, scary.” Her face changed from confusion and anger to concern. I saw her fighting with being upset and being comforting—it roiled over her face like a storm.
“I’m sorry, I can’t imagine how difficult that is.” Her voice was laced with compassion, and it was almost painful to hear it again.
“Is very hard, but has been six months.” I popped the knuckles in my hands by clenching my fists tightly, then released them.
“There is no right time for grieving, Vlad. Everyone grieves in their own time.”
The conversation was cut short as one of the people shouted from behind us. One of the elderly had fallen, and Ina stopped her forced march.
“What happened?” She stepped through the group with the authority of a leader.
“He fell. Tripped, I think. His leg looks bad.” One of the younger men was supporting an elderly gentleman with his shoulder. His leg bent at an odd angle, probably broken.
“Jonsha, Vetra, you two support him. If I remember correctly, we’re nearly to Cressfal. They have a healer and a place for him to rest. Almost there now!” At her word, another young man stepped out of the line of people and picked up the old man on the other side.
Ina came back to where I was standing, whistled a few notes, and started walking again. The crowd followed, without words. It was stunning to watch.
“You lead like champion. Maybe even hero?” I smiled through the words, but Ina just looked at me with a wrinkled brow.
“These people are my family, and family understands when it’s time to listen and when it’s time to bicker.” She nodded a few times to the air in front of us, obviously thinking through something.
“Is good word.” I nodded as well. We continued the rest of the journey without words, as there was not a lot to say. The air didn’t feel pregnant with conversation any longer, which was good.
It was about another hour of walking before we were within eyesight of Cressfal, and we didn’t even lose a single villager. Our pace had slowed considerably since the one villager had fallen, but we still made good time. That was very important, since the sun was setting, and we were starting to hear the howls of wolv
es from the forest beyond the plains.
Best Laid Plans
WE ARRIVED AT THE VILLAGE outskirts, met by a small contingent of men of varying descent carrying bows and axes. Hunters, I assumed, based on their leathers and frocks.
“This here is Cressfal, and that’s a lot of people. What do you want?” One of the men stepped forward, a gleaming sword strapped to his back, running opposite of the recurve bow the other hunters carried.
“We have traveled far south from the village of Val’Fore, which is no longer standing. We seek shelter, and potentially food, for the night. Perhaps longer, if your people permit it.” Ina spoke well before I had a chance to even trip over my own words. She stepped forward and smacked her chest with her right hand closed in a fist.
“That’s a lot to ask for, especially when we don’t know you. Have you anything to trade? Perhaps money? Valuables?” Some of the hunters started wringing their hands together. I recognized the glint of greed in their eyes.
“Grandson, why are you pestering these people?” An old man smacked a large wooden cane against the back of the largest hunter’s head, causing him to jerk.
“Ow! Grandfather, these people se—” He was cut off quite abruptly.
“I heard what they requested, and it is becoming night. You will not harass them any longer.” The hunters started to disperse with sighs and groans. “Forgive my grandson. He is strong at heart, but has a young man’s mind. Come, come, we have room in the inn, even if we must clear the tables and chairs. We have food as well and will be happy to share. It is a shame about Val’Fore, I did so love that village.” The old man shook his head as he turned about, heading into Cressfal. He held up a hand and waved us to follow.
“That went well,” I said to Ina, who turned and gave me a small smile.
“Well, I could use some rest. Shall we?” Ina turned toward the villagers and waved them on. Several people trudged forward, but a few of the children rushed past her and ran into the village proper.