Channeling this spell for extended periods isn’t the most effective use for it, but it sure boosted your rank rather quickly. Keep using this spell in new ways to see what it can accomplish.
The AI was right. Channeling this spell during the harpy fight almost cost them the battle. It sure healed a shit ton of damage, but it obliterated his mana. Tim would make sure that he used this spell more judiciously in the future because he could always switch stances and use his curses to heal the entire party as a backup option.
Skill Increased: Who Needs a Shield
Rank: Apprentice level five
Sometimes taking damage is unavoidable, and for those situations, this is the perfect spell. This curse reduces the target's damage by 11% and increases your entire party’s dodge chance by 2%.
The cooldown on this spell was damn near as long as Behold My Power, but it was easily as useful. Whenever Cassie or someone else was going to take a huge hit this spell always saved their ass. When healing alone wouldn’t cut it, Who Needs a Shield was the difference-maker.
Skill Increased: Curse of Giving
Rank: Apprentice level eight
Taking, taking, taking. You really enjoy taking your enemies’ health and using it to heal your group. There’s a certain kind of person who relishes hurting others to help themselves, just saying.
Curse of Giving now returns 15% of the damage done as health.
That wasn’t very nice.
Tim thought the game might be a little judgy with this one. He was using the mechanics available to his class to heal. It didn’t mean he liked hurting others. Sometimes he got the feeling the game threw one or two of these explanations at him every time to gauge his reaction. Hope the AI liked what it saw.
Skill Increased: Cleanse
Rank: Apprentice level nine
Negative status effects are becoming a thing of the past. The more you use this spell, the stronger it will become and the more effects it can dispel. Keep using Cleanse to find out what it can accomplish for your group.
That was much nicer.
It was funny how many more flies you caught with honey. Being nice to people didn’t have to be a scam. There was something to be said about treating the people you disliked as well as the ones you cared for. It took a special kind of person to pull it off. Tim was trying to be better at that, but sometimes he liked to scream fuck you as loud as the next guy. Not that screaming at anyone resolved a problem faster. In fact, in most cases, it slowed down the eventual resolution a great deal.
Unless it was an order from an officer in the military. Then screaming worked just fine to get things moving double-quick.
Skill Increased: Healing Orb
Rank: Journeyman level six
Splashing people with water must give you a certain amount of satisfaction. This is your favorite spell, and you use it with great effect. There isn’t a lot to be said about good old reliable.
Healing Orb hasn’t increased in potency or effectiveness, but if you achieve the Master ranks there could be a special bonus.
Tim didn’t mind if his favorite spell didn’t get a big boost for the last few levels. He knew it was strong enough, and it helped with his cleansing duties if they fought lower level trash. Healing Orb was the best spell he had by far for healing output versus mana consumption, and he didn’t expect that to change anytime soon.
One thing he hated in games was when developers did a patch and decided now was the time they wanted some other skill to shine, so they nerfed a player’s favorite skill into oblivion. So far, The Etheric Coast had a gentle touch when it came to balancing, and he really appreciated it. No one wanted to wake up after being top of the charts the day before to find out they were struggling to clear basic content with the same rotation.
Tim needed to read faster, or ShadowLily would be pissed at him for taking so long. The bath was nice, but he wanted to go downstairs and have fun and not a fight about why he took longer to get ready than she did.
It didn’t take too long for him to find the plug in the bottom of the tub. Then a quick pitcher of water over the head to make sure he was completely clean, and it was time to get out. Sadly, he didn’t have a spell to dry off instantly so Tim still had to use a towel like everyone else.
While Tim was drying off, he continued reading the rest of his notifications.
Stances
Skill Increased: Way of the River
Rank: Apprentice level four
While stances don’t provide huge incremental increases, they do get nice bonuses at higher levels. Keep using the selected stance at opportune times to continue leveling the skill.
Tim kind of expected as much. His stances were vehicles for his curses. The real power increase would come when he upgraded his class and learned new curses. If he could cast two or three curses on an enemy at once, the heals would flow like a river.
Skill Increased: Way of the Boulder
Rank: Apprentice level seven
You must be happy you're not the one on the other side of all those attacks. Keep using this stance when you have a single target in need of protection. You're doing the right things. You just need more practice.
Messages like this almost made Tim feel like he was about to get hit with some bad news. There was a chance he was a little too pessimistic at times. It felt like too much good news or if he received too many compliments that the other shoe would drop, and something bad would happen. So far the game had never led him astray, and there was no reason to believe it would start setting him up to take the fall now.
Buffs
Skill Increased: Armor of Eternia
Rank: Apprentice level six
Reduces the damage of all dark magic attacks by 6%, and the effect to weakness by the same amount. This effect now lasts for eight hours.
While it was a small increase in potency, the buff received a massive bonus in duration. It would be awesome not having to re-buff between every encounter. While it would pay to take a second and make sure his buffs were still active, he wouldn’t have to waste time recasting them and reminding everyone else to do the same. As far as he was concerned, this was a major quality of life improvement.
Skill Increased: Attacks of the Faithful
Rank: Apprentice level six
This buff converts fifty percent of normal damage into holy damage. Some creatures in the world of Eternia will take increased damage while against others it will have no effect. In the case of fighting a monster with holy attributes, this spell will weaken your attacks so be aware of the creatures you’re fighting.
Thankfully most of Tim’s fights had been against creatures of evil or tainted by evil. He imagined if he ever got the chance to fight Cardinal Jepsom this spell would have been a detriment. Thankfully the Cardinal had been murdered by wraiths, and Tim got to save the day by raining down destruction on his killers with Divine Light. He made a mental note to be more careful about using this buff around creatures that might have a holy influence.
Now that he was dry, Tim re-equipped his clothes and headed downstairs to join the party. The second he hit the stairwell, the sound of music from outside and the smell of food from the dining room hit him all at once. It reminded him of the holidays. Good food, light music, and a whole lot of fun.
JaKobi pressed a glass of beer into his hand the second his feet touched the ground floor. He sipped, savoring the dark flavor. After a long day, nothing took the edge off like a nice cold beer. He sipped again before clapping the fire mage on the back.
“Thank you, I needed that.” Tim took another healthy swallow and wondered which direction he’d have to go for a refill.
JaKobi grinned. “Sure thing, boss. If you need Cassie or me, we’ll be outside. Fire pong is totally catching on.”
“Nice.” Time gave him a high five and moved toward the dining room.
His next surprise was as pleasant as the beer, but it came in the form of pure happiness for another person. It seemed Lorelei had found herself not one farm girl t
o spend the night with but two. He could just make out the three ladies canoodling in the parlor. It wouldn’t be much longer before they disappeared upstairs by the looks of things. When Lorelei looked up and caught his eye, he winked and turned to look at what was for dinner.
It turned out even a mouthful of Zacharias couldn’t tame his belly for long.
When he’d loaded his plate with two pieces of fried chicken, two biscuits, and a mountain of mashed potatoes smothered in a river of gravy, he made his way outside. It was a feast fit for a king, and one Tim greatly looked forward to. So far there was only one thing he was missing to make his night perfect.
Not seeing the woman of his dreams anywhere on the way to the door, Tim continued outside and found an open table under some fairy lights to dig in. A full glass of beer replaced his dwindling one, and he looked up to see ShadowLily smiling down at him. She kissed him on the forehead, avoiding his gravy-soaked mouth, and sat. They watched JaKobi and Cassie play fire pong with the farmers as he finished his meal.
“This is kind of perfect, isn’t it?” ShadowLily looked out over the farm as she nursed her beer.
Tim pushed his plate away, feeling full and hating himself for still wanting desert. He settled for wiping his mouth with a napkin and sipping his beer. He leaned back in his chair, enjoying the moment. “It really is.”
List of Tim’s Current Stats and Skills
“Tim” level sixteen Battlesworn
Primary Stats
Strength: 13
Endurance: 14
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 35
Wisdom: 46
Perception: 6
Vitality: 4
Revitalization: 4
Luck: 7
Notable Gear
Weapons
Simple Dagger of Dexterity, +1 (X2)
Staff of Divine Retribution, +4 Intelligence +5 Wisdom
Armor
Tarnished Circlet of Divine Wisdom, +1 Intelligence +3 Wisdom
Wilbur’s Fur-lined Shoulder Guards, +1 to Perception Vitality, Revitalization, and Luck
Battlesworn Robes of Justice, +4 Intelligence +6 Wisdom
Jerkin of Unmeasurable Delight, +1 to all base stats
Paul’s Gloves of Mending, +4 Wisdom +7 Intelligence
Belt of Wisdom, +2
Pants of Recovery, Increases mana regeneration
Boots of Swift Regeneration, Increase base movement speed and mana regeneration by 1%
Jewelry and Accessories
Leather Wraps of Divergent Health, 10% chance for single target healing spell to jump targets and heal the secondary recipient for 50% of the value.
Wristband of the Goddess, 10% damage reduction to dark based attacks
Ring of Marginal Transcendence, +2 Wisdom
Necklace of Unshakable Will, +3 Wisdom +1 Intelligence
Trinket of the Smiling Monkey, +1 to a random stat
Skills
Appeal to the Goddess: Novice rank one
Disturbance: Novice rank one
Infiltrator: Novice rank three
Quick Feet: Novice rank four
Night Vision: Novice: rank six
Backstab: Novice rank seven
Throwing Knives: Apprentice rank two
Sneak: Apprentice rank three
Behold My Power: Apprentice rank four
Dodge: Apprentice rank five
Flame Burst: Apprentice rank five
Healing Storm: Apprentice rank five
Who Needs a Shield: Apprentice rank five
Small Blades: Apprentice rank seven
Curse of Giving: Apprentice rank eight
Weaken Undead: Apprentice rank eight
Cleanse: Apprentice rank nine
Divine Light: Apprentice rank nine
Healing Orb: Journeyman rank six
Stances
Way of the Boulder: Apprentice rank seven
Way of the River: Apprentice rank four
Buffs
Armor of Eternia: Apprentice rank six
Attacks of the Faithful: Apprentice rank six
Open Quests
The Deserts of Naroosh
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Neema, get to the gates!” Khalid roared as he fired a bow nearly as tall as he was.
No shit.
Wanting to get to the gates and actually getting to them were two different things entirely. A battle raged all around her, and it made going from Point A to Point B a little more difficult than she initially expected. They didn’t bring enough men for a sustained incursion. This was supposed to be an in-and-out type of deal. All their intelligence said the fort should have been nearly empty.
“Yansesh. I’m going to kill that little shit,” Neema grumbled as she dove behind an overturned cart.
The priest's information was about as reliable as the man himself. How the squirmy little weasel got the job masquerading as a priest, she’d never know. It wasn’t like the resistance had a plethora of choices when it came to having sources close enough to Jabari to gain any useful intelligence. So they took what they could get when they could get it.
This little tidbit of information appeared to be a trap that they paid handsomely to be in.
Five years ago, the resistance found the secret oasis and was finally able to establish a foothold in the region. With a base, Khalid made bolstering their numbers his top priority. Today the resistance was bolstered by thousands of fighters and ten times as many supporters. Their numbers were growing, but Jabari and the Pharaoh had resources that made their dwindling supplies look like table scraps left for the dogs.
Every member of the resistance was facing an opponent in better armor with better weapons and twice as many men.
The odds were never in their favor.
This job was supposed to be the score that kept the resistance alive for the next six months. They couldn’t afford to turn back now. Men couldn’t fight when their families were starving. There was food inside the fort, and they were going to get it. Without the supplies here, the resistance wouldn’t make it another month. She’d rather die than see the resistance they fought so hard to create turn to ash on the wind.
“Archers!” Khalid cried from somewhere behind her.
She knew what was coming next, and this would be her only chance to make a run for it. Sometimes being the fastest runner in the resistance sucked, and today was that day. They didn’t have the manpower to throw numbers at problems. The resistance had to come up with innovative solutions. Those solutions didn’t include sending men to storm the fort walls with ladders. The age-old strategy cost too many lives and never won the day against an organized opposition.
So they made a bomb.
The nice thing about the explosive was that it only required one man or woman to use it. That sucked for the person who drew the short straw, but at the end of the day losing one life was better than losing hundreds. Not that Neema planned on dying. The witch had promised them the fuse would last for two minutes, and that was just enough time to get things done if everything went perfectly.
Neema spent the last two days training for this moment, and she still only succeeded on one out of every three attempts. Today she had to get it right on the first attempt because there wouldn’t be a second chance. A few deep breaths to steady herself, and she pulled the flint free from her vest. The call would come soon, and she had to be ready for it.
“Fire!” Khalid screamed with relish as he let his bow sing the song of death.
The archers on the parapet would have to duck for a few seconds to avoid the volley fired by the resistance. That was her window to make it to the gate. Neema had to run now before the men could stand back up and pick off an easy target. The small flint smashed against the stone, and the sparks flew straight to the fuse as if by magic. Sparks bubbled from the end, and Neema started running.
When Neema sprinted across the sands, she was so light on her feet she might as well have been flying. Little puffs of
dust erupted behind her as her legs pumped in a furious rhythm. All she could do now was put every ounce of strength she had into charging the gate. Her legs burned as she drove them for everything they were worth.
Running was normally her happy place, but the energy she felt right now was more frenetic. The fuse snapped and crackled as she ran, reminding her every moment that she held utter destruction in her hand. If she moved any faster, she would have left the earth. Her breath came in ragged gasps from her mouth, and snot flew from her nose. Not the kind of thing that was very attractive, but sometimes living required putting such vanities aside. There was only room for thought now.
Go. Go. Go.
Neema looked up at the gate and realized she wasn’t going to make it, at least not with time to get away. Throwing the package was something the witch told them not even to attempt, but it wasn’t like she could set that shit down in front of the gate with a cocky smile and a wave. While Khalid’s archers might be able to keep the men on the walls occupied, the ones hiding above the gatehouse's fortification wouldn’t be worried about arrows at all.
The men at the gate would be waiting for an idiot dumb enough to get close with hot tar or rocks. So while she swore up and down to Khalid before they started that she wouldn’t dream of throwing their precious little bomb, that was exactly what Neema planned to do.
Arrows snapped past her, and she cursed under her breath. Khalid’s archers better up their game, or throwing the bomb wasn’t going to happen. She’d go splat in a spot between the gatehouse and the desert. What a fucking waste. The arrows did serve as a friendly reminder that slowing down wasn’t an option, so she ran like the very hounds of the underworld were nipping at her heels.
Sliding to a stop ten feet from the gate, Neema lobbed the bomb forward as gently as she could. The dusty container hit the ground just short of the barrier, bounced once, and rolled to a stop against the wooden timbers. The fuse was still shooting off sparks, and that was all she had to see before turning and running back the other way.
“Fire!” Khalid’s voice roared over the chaos.
Deserts Of Naroosh Page 21