Battle Spire

by Michael R. Miller

  It was clear that Kreeptic enjoyed every moment of it, getting off as much on someone’s fear as when they were actually in pain.

  “Knives,” he continued, “don’t frighten the dead much. They cannot feel. Nor do poisons give them pause, for there is no pulse to carry it to their hearts.”

  “There is a way,” Ellie whispered. “Tell him that Grand Crusader Reginald yet lives.”

  “Erm,” I stuttered. “I believe the, erm, Grand Crusader Reginald is still alive.” I realized then where I’d heard that name before, during the communication Azrael had just sent me. One of the paladins had spoken out and the Emperor had called him Reginald.

  “You’re sure?” Kreeptic asked.

  “Yes,” I said firmly this time. “I saw him in the vision Azrael sent me. Many of the Emperor’s guard is still with him.”

  “Then all is not yet lost.”

  The torturer swept past again in a whirl of his cloak, heading for the nearest apothecary table. Upon it was a huge tome in a language evidently not English and he began flicking through the pages. After a moment, he landed on his desired entry and muttered under his breath.

  “Yes. Yes, there is hope left.” Kreeptic turned, frowning at me. “So long as the Grand Crusader remains alive. And he can be reached. But if that is your task…”

  “I’ll figure out a way,” I said. “I’m quite resourceful. Lived this long.”

  “You’ll have a chance to prove yourself first. This potion requires a number of particularly… exotic ingredients.”

  I looked to the highly exotic ingredients floating in sickly yellow liquid in jars upon the shelves. Eyeballs the size of eggs, eggs the size of fists.

  “I’m guessing you don’t have these items lying around?”

  “If only,” Kreeptic said with a roll of his eyes. “Highcross believed them to be too deadly. He didn’t like the idea of me having the means to take him out over breakfast. His loss, in the end, it would have been less painful. But there has been occasion before to create batches of this venom in secret. Adventurers like you come looking for this reason or that. They help me, and I help them too, so to speak.”

  I sensed where this was going. A quest.

  “So where can I find them?”

  “Generally, I leave it to the adventurer to procure them. But you’re far weaker than those who usually come looking for this concoction, so I’ll give you a few extra tips. Cinderflake can be procured from the nests of dragonlings in the Blood Sands; the creatures’ leavings produce hot and fertile soil. Black moss can be sought from the dread tunnels of the ancient dwarvish realms. Fingleweed is most common in the dusky woods south of the dark elf territories; tread carefully, for werewolves inhabit there. And the soul of a newborn vampire can be acquired by venturing forth into the nightmare plane, though your sanity may not return. The remainder of the list ought to be straightforward.”

  He passed me a short list of neatly scribed herbs and their quantities.

  I took it, utterly dumbfounded. Where to even begin explaining this to him would be impossible. Surely, there had to be a better w—

  Kreeptic began laughing, a cruel titter. “The pained look on your face boy. Quite joyful. Ahhh,” he sighed, wiping at his eye. “I was joking about the vampire soul. Though I shall need those other rare herbs.”

  I laughed as well, though nervously. This was still impossible.

  “Don’t worry,” Ellie said. “I know a way.”

  Relief rushed to fill me from head to toe. “You always do, don’t you?”

  Kreeptic arched an eyebrow. “Talking to yourself. Are you quite sure you’re not mad?”

  “Quite sure.”

  “More is the pity. Well, you have your quest now. Be gone.”

  Kreeptic made a shooing motion and turned his back on me. The official quest text followed.

  Quest Accepted – A Long Road To A Quick Death (Elite)

  Interrogator Kreeptic of the Imperial Spire has agreed to provide the deadly venom you seek. He’ll require many materials, and it might be worth grouping up to fetch them.

  Recommended group size: 5 players

  Objectives:

  Bring the following ingredients to Interrogator Kreeptic.

  Cinderflake 0/1

  Black moss 0/1

  Fingleweed 0/1

  Whitherweed 0/5

  Snappersaw 0/5

  Bile Blossom 0/5

  “Wanna give me a hint here, Ellie?” I whispered as quietly as I could.

  “Sure,” she began, sounding positively cheerful. “This quest is designed to be extremely hard and time-consuming. It’s meant for level fifty rogues, after all, with lots of mini-boss encounters.”

  I placed my face into both my palms, shaking my head.

  “But, what most players don’t have is access to the upper levels of the Spire. Nor would they have free reign if they did, but Azrael’s highest-level players mopped up most of the NPCs again before he recalibrated in the wake of your attack.”

  “Are you saying there is somewhere in the Spire that I can find all of this stuff?”

  “Your conclusion is correct,” Ellie said. “The archmage has guest quarters here on the fifth level, with all the amenities that he’d need if he were in his own lodgings in the Channelers College. Meaning, he has an alchemy garden in the center of his chambers right here in the Spire.”

  I had to refrain myself from cheering, opting instead for a quiet fist pump in the air.

  “I’ve marked it on your map,” Ellie said.

  Pulling my map open, I toggled to the fifth level and found the pulsing green area that was similar to how she’d marked the corridor of doom earlier.

  “Won’t I need herbalism to gather the ingredients? I don’t have access to that profession.”

  “These are quest items, not involved in alchemy. Not everyone who takes this quest can be expected to have herbalism. You can gather them if you have the quest.”

  I nodded but there was still something bothering me about the whole thing.

  “There’s just one thing, I don’t understand,” I said more loudly.

  Kreeptic turned, annoyance blooming across his face. “Are you still here?”

  “Even if I get you these things and you make the poison, what does it matter? If Azrael is undead, it won’t affect him.”

  “One step at a time, boy,” said Kreeptic. He looked me once over again. “That garb you wear is tragic. Of lower quality than even the stable boys here wear.” He scanned his chamber as though for all the world a set of epic leather armor might drop down from the ceiling. “Why don’t you pop up to the armory and pick something up?”

  “Azrael has set guards there,” I said. “But I did scavenge all the corpses from the attack. I’d like to take some time and craft, if you’ll let me remain here where it’s safe.”

  “I thought those bodies looked ransacked,” Kreeptic said with a wry smile. “Good for you. Got to look out for yourself. Go ahead and craft, and while we’re confederates in this scheme to replace the Marshal—”

  “You mean save the Emperor’s life and possibly the whole Empire?”

  “Yes, that. You may come and go, boy.”

  “Thanks,” I said. He didn’t seem like such a sadist when he was acting nicely. “Oh, one more thing. When I craft I often speak to myself. Helps me tease out the solution, y’know?”

  Kreeptic cocked his head. “D’you know, I sometimes do that as well when trying to make a new blood boiling solution. Whatever helps the creative juices to flow.”

  “Yeh, that’s right,” I said, trying not to let nervous laughter seep out of me. “I’ll just be over... over here,” I mumbled, sliding my way over to the farthest corner of the room. Once Kreeptic returned to his routine, I lowered my voice again. “Alright Ellie, time for some much-needed character management.”

  I began by pulling up my stat sheet to assign my new points.

  “Any new threshold on Intelligence I ought to reach fo
r crafting?”

  “Make sure that you have forty-five points in Intelligence as that will unlock another tier of items,” Ellie said. “Otherwise, I’d say put some more points into your health but it’s up to you.”

  Currently, my Intelligence was at 41, helped greatly along by that awesome bonus from the Cunning unlock. I had 9 spare points from my recent leveling, so I assigned 4 into Intelligence straight away to satisfy Ellie’s recommendation, then gave thought to the remaining 5. Given that the mana costs of my crafting spells were now greatly reduced, I wasn’t as worried about regeneration. It was unlikely I’d get enough downtime during a fight to sit tight and regen lots of mana, so Willpower wasn’t a top priority. Desperate shot was hardly the be all and end all and it wasn’t like I’d be spamming it in combat, meaning Might wasn’t as critical either. An occasional crossbow bolt would complement the traps and gadgets I’d be creating, and maybe some more runes if I found some. Intelligence seemed the best bet. The more powerful items I could craft, the better.

  Decided, I placed 3 more points into Intelligence and 2 into Constitution – it felt prudent to give myself some extra health. Stat points assigned, my new table looked like this.

  Character

  Zoran Human Scavenger Level 11

  Attributes

  Constitution 18 (+2) – Intelligence 48 – Reflexes 17 (+3) – Might 17 (+2) – Willpower 24

  Combat

  Health 525 – Mana 805 – Attack Power 51 – Spell Power 94 – Regen 3.0 p/s

  I noted the small brackets beside some of my stats denoted the extra points I received from external sources like other role-playing games I’d played. In this case, the extra points came from the traveler’s worn leather set I was wearing. Overall, I hadn’t advanced much from the ambush. Much of the experience from the NPC guards had been shared with my own enemies and scavenging was still a pretty low-key affair exp wise, more a bonus than anything outrageous. Some new, more powerful equipment should help to offset this.

  “And now for crafting and upgrades. Got bags bursting at the seams here. What’s this Tinkering ability all about?”

  Even as I asked the question, I pulled up my spell book to take a look.

  Tinkering – Rank 1

  True artists are never satisfied with their work, always seeing a way to improve their creation. You’re no artist… not yet! But you can find ways to improve your creations, with a bit of experimentation.

  Upgrade options now available in the Crafting menu.

  Experience gained for associated professions remains the same.

  Cost: 1% of mana

  Seeing the reduced mana cost on Tinkering reaffirmed my faith that I’d picked the right specialization. This would be a lot easier to manage and I savored the small victory. Remembering Ellie had spurred me to create a crossbow specifically because of the upgrades it could gain, I looked to it first to see what could be done.

  As I examined the weapon again, I discovered that the final line of text on the description had changed. Flashing in green, it now read, ‘This item can be upgraded!’ flashing in green. I selected this option and a new window appeared detailing the materials that I’d need.

  Upgrade Crossbow

  Intelligence Required: N/A

  Associated Profession: Engineering

  Wooden plank 0/4

  Steel ore 0/15

  Toughened leather 0/15

  Fine linen 0/15

  Requires tools: Hammer, Saw, Chisel, Blowtorch

  Thankfully, these materials were broadly low-level ones, which made sense given my crossbow was still currently a level 4 item and I am still a mere level 11 character. What it did not allude to was what would happen to the crossbow upon upgrading it.

  “Any clue as to what I’ll get out of this? It’ll be hard to make decisions elsewhere without knowing.”

  “At lower levels, there isn’t much to worry about,” Ellie said. “Upgrading an item will take it from its current level to match your own in one go; hence, why the number of materials seems quite high. This is also why there is no set Intelligence requirement as the item scales to meet your current level.”

  “So, a level fifty scavenger could upgrade a weapon from level one all the way up to max in a single go?”

  “They could do, but I think the list of materials needed for that would become tedious to read. Also, why upgrade something so basic when there would be far better items to hand. It seems unlikely players would take this course although there is nothing stopping them. Go ahead, Zoran, and upgrade your crossbow, you’ll see what you get.”

  “I’ll need to breakdown some of this loot from the ambush first,” I said. I got underway, melting, hacking, chopping and smashing equipment down into core materials via Breakdown.

  It pained me a little to do so. In the process, I lost so much high-level gear, stuff that would have been amazing to equip, but I doubted I’d ever reach the level requirements. The lowest level piece had been a ring, giving plus 6 to Intelligence but requiring the wearer to be at least level twenty-six. It was all a great shame but it led to ample materials.

  I broke down a bow and a couple of shields into the wood I needed, the leather came in abundance from belts and gloves. The ore was trickier, for higher level plate armor broke down first into truesilver, then steel. The cloth was no worry at all for I was virtually drowning in the stuff. Breaking down dream silk into silk and then fine linen was simply a laborious process. Every so often, Kreeptic would throw a glance over his shoulder, but he kept any concerns to himself. Clearly, time was not of the essence so far as he was concerned. Once I had the materials to hand, the option to upgrade the crossbow lit up and I selected it.

  Tinkering worked much the way that Crafting and Breakdown did. My character started to perform motions beyond my control, taking the crossbow in hand and infusing magic with the materials, hammering, chiseling and sawing where needed. This time, I even took out the blowtorch, it’s magical flame wielding the steel into place. Once completed, I held the weapon up to admire it.

  Success! Rickety Shot has been upgraded to Keen Shot level 11

  + 15 Crafting EXP

  + 43 Engineering EXP

  The crossbow was larger than before, thicker and stronger though I could still manage to hold and aim it in one hand if it came to it. Steel strips had been fitted onto the outer frame and to the butt of the handle, making for a sturdier build than before. Leather covered the grip below the trigger and on the underside of the body, making it smoother to hold. But these were just simple aesthetics; more important were the changes to its stats.

  Keen Shot

  Crossbow

  Quality: uncommon

  Item level 11

  Requires level 11 to equip

  Damage: 25-34 piercing

  Durability: 40/40

  Knockback Chance 5% on hit

  This item can be upgraded, but it is Soul Bound to you.

  “Well, it’s certainly better,” I said. “But it’s hardly a game changer.”

  “Upgrade it again,” Ellie said.

  “But it’s already at my level.”

  “It is but it’s of uncommon quality. If you had enough materials, you could bring this all the way up to legendary. That’s why upgrading items you make is better than just making fresh ones, for the most part.”

  “Now that’s cool,” I said. “Every scavenger could be running around with legendary items then. How come I haven’t seen anyone doing this?”

  “Few people are playing your class,” Ellie said, “and why waste resources on low-level equipment. The amount of materials required to improve item quality becomes exponential. People would rather reach level cap first before investing such time on items.”

  “So how far can I take this thing?”

  “Right now, I calculate you can only reach rare item quality, but I shall endeavor to help you find materials you need to improve it further. Upgrading to Keen Shot now should unlock an attachment slot which we can
work with.”

  Rubbing my hands, I checked on my new crossbow, pleased to find the green text indicating that the item was further upgradable. Having broken virtually everything down already, I went straight ahead and upgraded the weapon again. Anticipation flared in me as my character worked away at the crossbow this time. When it was finished, I hastened to check out the improvements.

  Success! Keen Shot has been upgraded to Precise Shot level 15

  +18 Crafting EXP

  +55 Engineering EXP

  Precise Shot

  Crossbow

  Quality: rare

  Item level 15

  Requires level 11 to equip

  Damage: 32-39 piercing

  Durability: 45/45

  Knockback Chance 10% on hit

  Attachment slots 0/1

  This item is upgradable, but soul bound to you.

  Physically, the weapon looked roughly the same, only sleeker. The bump in damage and knockback effect was a welcome one, but I was more excited by the attachment slot.

  “What can I make to attach to it?” I asked eagerly, scrolling through my Crafting window in search of answers. Naturally, Ellie got there first.

  “You can make a bayonet, a scope, a grenade launcher—”

  “A what? Grenade launcher? Sweet. I definitely want that.”

  “Sorry, Zoran. You can’t make it with what you have. You’re missing a key component – a barrel – but we can look for one as we go. In fact, right now, you can only make a bayonet.”

  I considered this. Having a way to inflict some extra melee damage might be useful but it would mean I’d gotten myself cornered, and if that was the case, I was probably dead. My top priority should be staying within range and in the shadows. Thinking back on how easily I’d missed the Emperor before the ambush, any improvement to my chances of hitting the target would be invaluable.