Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  Skill Increased: Who Needs a Shield

  Rank: Apprentice level seven

  When the tank goes boom, someone’s gotta be there to help them out. In this case, it’s you. Thankfully this spell also provides a small bonus to your entire party's dodge chance for those extra tricky situations. You’ve used this spell quite well but need to use it more often to take advantage of all its applications.

  Who Needs a Shield saved all their asses on more than one occasion. It was the only panic button spell he had. If everything was turning to shit, this is what Tim used to clean the drain. About to eat a cleave attack, the entire group was taking massive damage, or he needed to recharge some mana? Who Needs a Shield was the only spell he had that would accomplish all three.

  Maybe it was time to find out if he could cast it more than once per fight.

  Skill Increased: Cleanse

  Rank: Journeyman level one

  Look at you, look at you. To think it all started with you curing a hangover, and now you're the big man on campus. Not everyone can remove negative effects from themselves, let alone others.

  Your Cleanse skill has reached the journeyman ranks and can now remove two minor effects or one medium-tier effect per cast. Some effects may still take multiple casts to remove.

  Tim loved using his Cleanse spell.

  When in doubt, cleanse it out, was his motto when it came to casting Cleanse. If it looked bad, it was worth giving Cleanse a shot. The spell worked on everything from poison to curing diarrhea and was one of the handiest tools in a healer’s rotation. If they ever got in a fight with stacking debuffs, being able to remove multiple stacks in one cast would be a huge bonus. This spell kept getting better and better.

  Skill Increased: Curse of Giving

  Rank: Journeyman level one

  Curse, curse, curse, shake your booty.

  Welcome to the Journeyman ranks with your first curse. While this one only provides modest damage, it returns ten percent of that damage to the target or targets of your stance as healing. At this level, Curse of Giving receives a new benefit. All targets affected by the healing effect of this curse also receive a one percent reduction in damage for the duration of the effect.

  Tim had to reread the description to make sure he saw it correctly. This would be a nice benefit for Cassie. What kind of tank wouldn’t be thrilled about taking less damage, even if it was only one percent? Not to mention that if he flipped stances to Way of the River, then everyone would get reduced damage. The future was bright for this spell, and the master ranks would provide another twist.

  He couldn’t wait to see what it was.

  It was so cool how this game provided him with an incentive to keep grinding. If a player liked a particular skill or spell, all they had to do was keep using it to gain increases. They couldn't simply cast the damn thing at a wall for hours, but finding something to fight in The Etheric Coast wasn’t exactly difficult, and he was sure there were plenty of groups recruiting. When all the best content in the game required a group, you could damn sure bet people were looking to recruit and be recruited.

  On the whole, they were pretty damn lucky not to have to worry about searching for new players. They’d locked in their group the second Lorelei showed up. While he missed Gaston’s antics, their time with the assassin had always been borrowed. His replacement ended up being just what they needed at the time and continued to be an amazing fit. The ranger had made herself irreplaceable.

  Skill Increased: Divine Light

  Rank: Journeyman level one

  Look at you. It’s Billy Badass with three skills in the Journeyman ranks. You know it only gets harder from here, right? Wait until you see what it takes to become a Master or a Grandmaster. It’s like climbing up a mountain while carrying a pig, but you better do it quickly or Madam Zaroni will put a curse on you.

  Divine Light does what it’s always done. It burns holes of holy fire in your enemies. While moving to the Apprentice ranks provided a ten percent damage over time effect, moving into the Journeyman ranks provides splash damage from the initial target. Now, all enemies standing within five yards of the initial target will receive one percent of the initial cast’s damage as splash damage. This damage can’t be ignored or dodged.

  Whoa!

  All his skills that reached the Journeyman rank received some great benefits, but this was the one he liked the most. His healing numbers were always going to be awesome, but the more he could contribute on the DPS side of things, the more it eased the burden on the entire party. While casting curses was a hundred percent more cost-effective on Tim’s mana, he only had two of them, and one of those had a ridiculously long cooldown. Now if they had to fight a group of enemies, he could hit more than one.

  Skill Increased: Healing Orb

  Rank: Journeyman level eight

  Good old Healing Orb. This is your number one spell and has been for some time. Normally we’d tweak it just to change things up, but it seems to be working within normal parameters. You’ve obviously found something you enjoy using, and you use it well. Keep it up, and you’ll be a master in no time.

  Well, maybe not no time.

  It was true. Tim used the shit out of this spell. When it was cost-effective, gave a burst heal, and had a heal over time effect, why wouldn’t he use it all the time? Having a Healing Orb on anyone who was taking damage was a creed to live by.

  It seemed crazy that he might make it into the Master ranks soon. That seemed almost too good to be true considering he hadn’t hit level twenty yet. Although each time he leveled this skill, it took a dramatic uptick in usage to make any headway. Moving from where he was now to Master rank one might take him as long as it took to get to Journeyman level eight. If working through Master ranks took him two or three times as long as it did going through Journeyman, he wouldn’t be sniffing Grandmaster status anytime soon.

  Stances

  Skill Increased: Way of the River

  Rank: Apprentice rank six

  When everyone’s in trouble, why not just heal everyone? You use this skill when it’s appropriate but try not to get into the position where everyone in your party needs heals too often. Eventually, they’ll start dying.

  Tim wished he could use this skill more. Where this ability would shine was in a raid situation. If he wasn’t the healer assigned to the tank he could switch into Way of the River and heal large DPS groups to keep them in the fight. He didn’t know if this game had raids at the end, but getting into a twenty-man fight in The Etheric Coast would take some serious planning. Coordinating one group was hard enough. Getting four separate groups on the same page would be a logistical nightmare.

  Skill Increased: Way of The Boulder

  Rank: Apprentice rank nine

  When someone needs to be a rock, you make them a fucking rock. Yes, I can swear, I’m an advanced intelligence system, not a grade-schooler. You know what you’re doing with this stance. When you reach the Journeyman ranks, it may obtain an additional benefit.

  That was pretty straightforward. Tim tried to keep his stance directed at whoever would be taking the most damage. Normally that was only Cassie, but he’d switched to other people in the group a few times to save them from big hits. He would have to pay more attention to try and get the most out of stances as he could.

  Buffs

  Skill Increased: Armor of Eternia

  Rank: Apprentice rank eight

  Divine protection is your shield against the darkness. While this buff might not seem powerful on the surface, a five percent reduction in damage can be the difference between life and death.

  Every single member of their party had come close to dying, and he had died. It wasn’t so bad. Last time he died, Tim got a streaming contract. If it happened again, they might offer him a house in the Hamptons and an actual salary. Okay, nobody would be giving him a mansion or millions of dollars anytime soon, but he felt too good about all these increases not to be overly optimistic about his chances.
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br />   Skill Increased: Attacks of the Faithful

  Rank: Apprentice rank eight

  You hit things, and the people in your group hit things. As long as they aren’t divine in nature, this is exactly the buff you need to use. Eventually, you'll run into some nasties that take additional damage from this skill, so keep using it.

  Tim liked having a buff to his attacks for the group and also not having to worry about his buffs too much. In some games, managing them felt like its own mini-game. He wanted to cast them and forget about them. Which he could pretty much do now they lasted eight hours.

  With all his skills finally updated, Tim dismissed his interface and looked around the room. A trail of tealight candles led from the bathtub to their bed. Waiting in bed was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  How had ShadowLily set this up without him noticing?

  Sure, she could go into stealth, but Tim was pretty sure her ability didn’t extend to candles. Sometimes he was something else. Tim had been so absorbed in his updates that he missed her coming into the room, and now that he knew she was there he was overthinking things.

  What he needed to do was jump out of the tub and rush straight toward the bed. So that was what he did. Tim leapt out of the tub with a flourish, hit the rug, and fell onto his ass with his towel fluttering down over him. He tried to stifle the groan that escaped his lips, but there was no way to hide it.

  From the position he was in there were three things a person could do. Turn and run. That wouldn’t work for him. She was his girlfriend, and there was nowhere to run. Next on the list was to jump to his feet and exclaim loudly, “Nailed it,” and try to pass off the disaster as what any perfectly reasonable person leaping from a tub would have done. The third option was much simpler and exactly what he did.

  Tim laid on his back, kicking his feet in the air like a turtle while he dried himself as quickly as possible. His exit from the tub might not have been as graceful as he would have liked, but the whole point of this was to get in bed with the love of his life, not to worry about who looked the coolest drying off.

  He tossed the towel aside and ran toward the bed, ignoring the fact the towel landed in the tub. Four feet from the bed, Tim launched himself in the air and bounced onto the mattress next to his future.

  “You don’t need fancy lights to get me in bed.” Tim smiled at her.

  She grinned. “I know. They’re for him.” She pointed at the tent flap. “Antonio likes it when a girl sets the mood.

  A giant of a man stepped into the open flap wearing only a loincloth. “I have come for the smoochie-smoochie.”

  Tim felt all the color wash from his face.

  Antonio smiled from ear to ear and looked from Tim to ShadowLily while giving her a big thumbs up. “Did I say it right?”

  She tossed the man a gold coin. “You did, but kind of ruined the effect when you asked how it went.”

  He nodded solemnly and backed out of the tent. “Enjoy your night.”

  Tim looked at the closed tent flap and back at the assassin. She’d totally set him up because he was taking too long in the bath. There was only one thing he could do. “Such a betrayal of trust can only be rectified by one thing.” He jumped on top of her. “Tickles!”

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” ShadowLily screamed between peals of laughter.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Tim awoke to the smell of coffee.

  Just like that, everything was right in the world. Sometimes it really was the little things in life that made all the difference. Some players wanted to own fancy estates or castles. All he cared about was some good coffee and even better company. Maybe a cookie or two if anyone had the time to pick some up.

  Ugh, now all he could think about was cookies. What was it about a night of furious lovemaking that left him feeling so damned hungry in the morning? This was the kind of hunger that couldn’t be fixed by coffee alone. It felt like he hadn’t eaten in days.

  Did he eat last night?

  He couldn’t remember.

  From the second he got out of the bath until the moment he passed out, everything had been a whirlwind. Now it was morning, and there was coffee, so things must have gone reasonably well. No one stormed into their tent demanding help, and if they did, Tim hadn’t noticed them.

  After a quick trip to the chamber pot, Tim equipped his clothes and followed his nose to the sweet, sweet smell of coffee. Sitting at the table with her cup was the woman of his dreams, and luckily enough for him, she was also his girlfriend.

  ShadowLily’s hair looked slightly disheveled, which only made her look cuter. “It awakens.”

  “Here I was, thinking all these lovely thoughts about you, and I get called it.” Tim poured a cup of coffee and sat. “I’ve never been more insulted in all my life.”

  She stared at him over the rim of her cup, her expression impassive. “Aren’t we a bit of a diva this morning.”

  Tim was about to sip his coffee and stopped at the last moment. It was a good thing too because hot coffee coming out of a person's nose feels about as good as you’d think. A little chuckle escaped his lips. She’d called his bluff as usual. “Every morning, until at least three cups of coffee have been consumed.”

  “Try and tighten it up. We have a meeting to attend.” ShadowLily stood and refilled both their cups. “Khalid is waiting for us.”

  Cassie and JaKobi joined them on their way to the command tent. Lorelei was nowhere in sight, but that wasn’t unusual for the ranger. She always turned up on time for the important stuff, and that was all that mattered to him.

  Khalid’s tent might as well have not been touched since their last visit. The only change in the room Tim noticed was that the stack of papers on the man’s desk had grown exponentially. It seemed even in games no one liked doing their paperwork. Tim was sure there was some poor soul in the army who’d dedicated their entire life to making sure the right forms got to the right places. It sounded like being stuck in hell, like that feeling of being trapped in traffic behind two slow-moving cars.

  For eternity.

  The tent flap on the far side of the room rustled, and Neema and Lorelei entered together.

  Khalid turned to look at the two of them, a smile growing on his face before he turned to address the others. “Now that we’re all here, it’s time to get started on Phase Two.”

  He slowly moved his gaze between each person in the room. “I have a task for each of you to carry out independently, and you must accomplish them today. With Jabari’s generals down, this is our chance to take the offensive for once.”

  Tim wasn’t a super big fan of solo quests, not when most of his DPS came from his friends. “Are you sure you need us to split up? We’re more effective together.”

  Khalid nodded as he looked at the giant map before touching five spots. “If we can secure these five locations, we might finally be able to move on Jabari’s palace.”

  The old warrior looked at Neema with tears in his eyes. “If the Pharaoh loses Naroosh, his hold on the kingdom crumbles. We are so close to being able to take the fight straight to him.”

  Neema’s smile said she’d like to introduce the Pharaoh to one of her arrows sooner rather than later. “If the Pharaoh dies, our people will be free.”

  Tim knew what it felt like to be on the verge of something you’ve hungered after for a long time. He’d spent the summer of his junior year of high school working two jobs so he could buy a new gaming console. The feeling when he powered that baby up was incredible.

  He wondered what it would feel like to free a nation.

  “All right, tell us what you need us to do.” Tim probably should have made sure the others were on board before pledging their services, but it was too late now.

  Khalid moved to an old wooden box on his desk. Once the lid was open, he pulled out a stack of sealed envelopes and passed them out. “You each have a job to do. May Eternia’s light shine down upon you.”

  The old warrior left the te
nt without another word. He wasn’t much for goodbyes or sharing, but Khalid had a presence and a sense of honor that were undeniable. All things being said, Tim felt good knowing he was working for the good guys. If Khalid thought they could accomplish these tasks alone, then they should probably be able to.

  Neema took Lorelei's hand and led her from the tent. “Come on. Our horses are ready.”

  A very girlish giggle escaped Lorelei’s mouth before she could stop it. “See you back here tonight?”

  Tim waved her away. “Go, and have fun.”

  The two women left the tent together, and he couldn’t be happier about it. If anyone deserved a few good breaks, it was Lorelei. Tim didn’t know much about her life outside the game, but she’d been worked over pretty hard by the love train since coming into The Etheric Coast. If this was her chance to find a little love, then she should enjoy every moment of it.

  JaKobi extended his arm to Cassie. “Care to grab some lunch before we go?”

  “Don’t mind if I do.” She linked her arm through his, and they left.

  Tim stood and glanced around the tent before looking at ShadowLily. “If they’re going to eat and we leave now, there’s a good chance we’ll be back before everyone else and have this place to ourselves.”

  “After last night, I’m surprised you have the energy.” ShadowLily let out a small yawn.

  A smile quirked the corner of his lips. “It’s cute you thought I was talking about sex. I want to get a nap in before any celebrations start.”

  ShadowLily stood and kissed him. “This is why I love you. We want the same thing.”

  “Can’t help that I’m perfect.” Tim downplayed the comment with a little nonchalance.

  “Just get those buns back here, or I’m going to sleep without you.” ShadowLily disappeared with a pop.

  Tim squawked as she pinched his ass. “That was uncalled for,” he shouted as the tent flap moved apart on its own.