by Jason Cheek
Luckily, Neysa and Helgath never let us go beyond twenty minutes without a fight. If anything, I think the two women purposely ran us into some of the less numerous foes on purpose just to keep everyone on their toes. It was probably for the best. Since, with the higher level area, I wasn’t able to run ahead to target lower level monsters with the weak spell that I wanted to level up, like I’d done on our run from Delonshire to Myathlune. That didn’t mean I solely used Zap as my go to spell. Unless there was a need for me to pump out some heavy damage, I was focused on leveling up Nature magic to get to that group heal I’d seen Krishna using during the battle for Darom.
At the five hour mark, we stopped to eat a late lunch. The kabobs from Mother Mylbim that I passed out were still warm and the flask of beer from the night before still cool as we recovered our stamina and energy from the cross-country run. Yeah, I’d managed to fill a few of the empties during the party the night before. While it wasn’t the White Unicorns brew, it was nice to see that my companions seemed especially happy about having something more to drink than just water. I’m sure the whole water thing was more a newfar trait about being properly hydrated than an issue from the people of The World.
Keeping our voices low, I talked to Sir Hemmet about his earlier run through the forest, surprised that he’d made it as far as he had without any weapons. Everyone got into the discussion, since it was a relatively safe topic. No one really wanted to discuss what had happened in Darom or what we thought might be happening to the people in Telrain. The conclusion from everyone was that the level difference between Sir Hemmet and the region’s monsters was what had saved him during his travels. Being level 42 meant that only the predators around here were of a high enough level to agro him from a distance. Even then, only the Large Cave Bears were of a high enough level to have actively sought him out. Everything else in the area would only attack if he tripped over the top of them, which is probably what happened with the Poisonous Web Slingers.
All in all it was a pleasant discussion. When Sir Hemmet was off his high horse, he was actually a nice guy to talk to. Somewhat surprising, since our only interactions up till now had been when we were basically at each other’s throats. It’s funny how a mutual enemy can bring different people together. That and the whole “almost dying” and “losing all of his friends” thing had taken him down a peg or two. Also, instead of sneering at my non-human companions, he was starting to see the strength of my friends and what they brought to the table instead of simply judging them by their species.
Helgath didn’t talk nor did she eat much. I had to really work on her to eat more meat then the minimum amount she needed. Even though she knew in her mind that her life was now different, parts of her abusive past still clung to her. To help her through those difficult times, I did my best to make sure she ate and drank as she huddled next to me in her cloak. The same raggedy cloak that I’d given her so long ago. My eyes briefly studied her body, happy to see she was starting to fill out some and put some meat on her bones. While that would probably be taken as an insult by most modern women, for here and now it meant exactly what it was supposed to mean. The increased calories she was getting were taking away that starved Auschwitz-like look as her body slowly took on a more healthy glow.
Unlike the break we’d taken for my fellow newfar outside of Myathlune, this one was only a half an hour long. Just enough time to replenish our stamina and to eat up. About fifteen minutes before we planned on moving out, Neysa stopped by to get a bite to eat and take a load off her paws as Fylreh and Brenna took over scouting the area around us. As they headed off, I gave both women a nod of thanks before taking care of our primary scout’s needs. Unwrapping her package from the Gnomeling cook, I pulled out a leg bone covered with thick chunks of meat, which the Silver Dire Wolf greedily snatched from my hands. Plopping down on the ground beside me, she laid the bone on my leg and got to work chomping down her meal as I stroked her bushy head.
I don’t know what it was that made her want to use me as her personal plate, but Neysa definitely took pleasure in eating on top of me. It was probably a pack thing. Similar to the pictures you’d see of puppies sleeping on top of one another or wolves laying together in a den when they slept. It was the same thing for Neysa, Helgath, and me. She accepted me as her pack and treated me like another Silver Dire Wolf, just like I treated her as another person. She wasn’t an “animal” or a “pet” to my way of thinking, but a companion of equal standing.
As if she were listening to my thoughts, Neysa chuffed happily as she stripped the last of the meat. She’d just gotten down to gnawing on the bone itself, when the clock on my HUD ticked down to zero. Pushing the humongous Silver Dire Wolf off my lap, I stood up helping Helgath to her feet, before holding out a hand for the leg bone. Instead of giving it up, Neysa gave me a throaty growl as everyone else in the raid looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
‘You’re not lugging it around while you’re on patrol.’ I mentally thought to her in no uncertain terms. ‘I’ll give it back once we make camp for the night.’ Instead of giving up the bone or telepathically conversing with me, she just hunched over her meal and growled louder, while showing me her fangs. I knew what she wanted and this wasn’t the best time or place to do it. Not that it mattered, because Neysa knew as well as I did that there wouldn’t be any time to play around once we reached Telrain. With a shake of my head, I addressed the raid.
“Just give us five minutes and we’ll be ready to go.”
‘It’s like that, is it?’ Neysa mentally smirked at me as I dropped my gear to the ground. Before she could comment further, I leaped onto her head as we went to town at each other. Everyone evacuated the area as Neysa picked up my entire body by her head and shook me around, while I clung in place with my legs and feet splayed out behind me. The weight of my entire body held in such a position was enough to force her head back down as we began wrestling in earnest.
Neysa looked vicious as she snapped her jaws at me and growled, while I wrestled her to the ground. Chunks of snow and dirt flew everywhere as we rolled around the mini-campsite. Sometimes, I was on top, while other times, she held me down by my throat acting like she was tearing it throat open. If a stranger would have seen us going to town, they’d have thought we were having a pitched life and death battle, especially since she fit my entire head in her jaws a few times.
Just before my five minute time limit was up, we came to a breathless stop with Neysa on her back as I pinned her to the ground with the weight of my entire body. Smiling, I gave her a heavy, thumping pat on her ribcage, before jumping free. Going to my gear pile, I began strapping my equipment back on as the Silver Dire Wolf rolled her feet and happily stood up with her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Ignoring the shocked look from Sir Hemmet, I signaled for Neysa to take the lead with a jerk of my chin towards the woods. In the blink of an eye, Helgath was on her back as both of my soulmates took off, while I glanced back at the rest of raid as if nothing had happened.
“Let’s move on out people!” I shouted, without looking back as I headed off into the trees at a run. Chasing after Neysa’s silvery tail as she headed west, I was joined by the rest of the raid as the zombies smoothly took up a defensive formation around us. Unfortunately, we sounded like a small army trampling through the underbrush as we made our way through the woods. Our scouts kept us safe from the more nasty critters, while the Silver Dire Wolf led us into a new group of mobs like clockwork.
The battles were all almost over before they’d even begun as our zombie pets swarmed over the enemy like gangbusters. Fylreh and Brenna barely had time to swing in close to give us a hand with the fights before they were over. Between the zombies, Sir Hemmet, Neristhana, Ryane, and Ulia, the enemy were being cut down almost before I could get a handful of Zaps off. Keela really took the lead with her Enhanced Shadow Bolts. As soon as the enemy appeared, she began hammering them at range with the instant blasts before anyone else but me could get a hit in. We w
ere just finishing up with a group of seventeen level 35 Fanged Martens that had tried to ambush our group, when a familiar notification brought a smile to my lips.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 35!
Woohoo, I’d gained another level! I happily thought. While surprising, it wasn’t exactly unexpected. I’d been close to getting a new level after the Sea Orc battle, but once we’d made landfall in Darom, I honestly hadn’t expected to earn any actual experience points since this was mainly PVP. If not for Neysa taking the lead, I’d probably have never focused on leveling myself up when I had so many other things to take care of.
Catching Ulia’s eye, I asked if she could guide me while I checked out some stats. With a smile and a wink, the Half-Elf grabbed my arm to guide me through the forest as we ran. I was probably safe for only a minute, but I did my best to make it quick. With a thought, I pulled up my Character sheet to check over my attributes.
Statistics:
Hit Points: 2,552
Mana: 3,700
Endurance: 2,340
Attributes:
Strength: 100 (+86)
Intelligence: 181 (+171)
Spirit: 106 (+71)
Agility: 120 (+30)
Stamina: 150 (+82)
Charisma: 78
16 Unassigned Attribute Points.
With the coming battle it was tempting to dump all of my unassigned Attribute Points into Stamina, but I didn’t dare do anything until I had a better feeling of what we were facing. Besides that, I really wanted to put everything I had into Intelligence to get an additional pet. Not just that, it also gave me more overall mana to use for my spells. Currently, I had three hundred and fifty-two in Intelligence, between my gear and my natural stats. Not enough to get another zombie pet in time for the next PVP fight headed our way, so I just held off on distributing the points for now.
My Combat Mount window was the next thing I opened. My leveling had automatically brought Neysa up to level 35, which was when her next Feat was available. Going through her stats, I was surprised to see that she’d jumped noticeably in all of her stats. Even her damage had more than doubled. I figured it must have something to do with her reaching level 35. Maybe that was the in-game level when she was considered nearly an adult. It made me wonder if there would be another jump once she reached level 40 or 50. Once again, I selected her Feat for increased carrying capacity and looked over her stats, before closing the window.
Combat Mount: Neysa (Silver Dire Wolf)
Level: 35
Strength: 35
Intelligence: 35
Spirit: 35
Agility: 35
Stamina: 35
Charisma: 35
Attack: 70-75
Speed: 1.0
Weight-Carrying Capacity: 150
Special Abilities: Increased carrying capacity 25 lbs x5
(Teen Growth Spurt adds +5 to each ‘Increase Carrying Capacity’)
Shared Experience: 10% (up to a max of 50%)
*Additional Information: Your mount is bound to your soul. Unlike regular mounts, this mount can participate in combat alongside its owner like a summoned creature or tamed pet. At every fifth level, combat mounts can choose additional feats. To access the feats available for your combat mount, open the properties of your pet to choose from the available selection. Should your mount be slain in your service, your mount will lose all of its current level experience and will remain unsummonable for the next twenty-four hours.
Lastly, I looked over the Dark magic spells that had become available, realizing that I’d forgotten to check earlier to see if anything new had opened up. It was hard to remember since all of my other spells required going to a trainer. The last time I’d checked, I was at skill level 15. Now I was rocking skill level 25. Switching over to my Character Sheet once again, I let out a heavy sigh as I looked through the new list of spells that had become available.
Grave Flesh – 5 sec cast - Raises the summoned creature’s armor points by 200 points. Expires automatically after one hour. Requires dark magic skill level 20. Affects all pets within a 10 yard radius.
Leeching Touch I – 5 sec cast - Summoned creature receives 1% of damage dealt back as Hit Points. Expires automatically after one hour. Requires dark magic skill level 25. Affects all pets within a 10 yard radius.
Corpse Explosion (80 Mana) – Instant cast – Any selected corpse explodes causing 600% Spell Power damage. Area of effect is 3 yards. Requires Dark magic skill level 25. Range is 60 yards.
Bone Shield (40 Mana) – instant cast – Forms and orbiting shield around caster that absorbs up to 500 points of damage. Requires Dark magic skill level 20. Can only be cast on self. Expires after 1 hour.
Bone Fangs (50 Mana) – instant cast - Upgrades bone shield to cause 200% Spell Damage to all creatures within a three yard radius around caster. Requires Dark magic skill level 25. Can only be cast on self and when Bone Shield is in effect. Expires after 1 hour.
Sometimes I felt like such an idiot. These new spells could have dramatically changed the outcome of the battle with Apoxsee Neoauspex and the rest of the Dread Pack. Reading through the details of each spell, I mentally berated myself for letting my friends and vassals down. About the only good thing was that no one knows about the new spells. An ace in the hole for the next fight, I thought with a smile. Even so, I somehow needed to keep track of everything that was going on or I was going to miss something really important.
Unfortunately, I knew that thought for the pipe dream that it was. It was hard enough to remember everything going on when you had a normal class, but the weird jack-of-all-trades skill set that I had going on just made that even worse. Besides, that wasn’t even mentioning the whole RTS portion of the game that had me being the Lord Ironwolf over literally thousands of people, while managing my growing empire.
Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get back to BrokenFang Hold. It would be nice to do some crafting and learn some other skills, besides building out my new lands and fortifying their defenses. Once this whole thing with Domenic was over, I could focus on gaming for a change. Well, at least once the whole Hobgoblin invasion was dealt with. Talking about things not to forget! With a mental sigh, I closed all of the system windows before my eyes, reminding myself to take things one step at a time.
Ulia caught me as I stumbled and nearly collided with a tree as I once again focused on the world around me. Giving the swordswoman a nod of thanks, I began running on my own as Neysa’s howl of excitement echoed around us. A second later, we reached the edge of the woods where the Silver Dire Wolf stood proudly above us on a slight rise twenty yards away. As soon as we stepped out of the forest, we crossed another invisible boundary line. The foreboding feeling that had been following us through the forest instantly disappeared as we made our way to Neysa and Helgath.
Climbing up onto the ridge next to my soulmates, I saw that they’d found what could only be called a high road. The cobblestone road was wide enough for three wagons to travel abreast and was built up about ten feet higher than the flatlands to either side. This had to be the main thoroughfare between Darom and Telrain.
Although, that wasn’t what Neysa was carrying on about. Obviously, since she was now almost Fylreh sized with her latest level and Feat. The centauride’s human part was taller than the Silver Dire Wolf, but hindquarter-wise, her body was nearly as dense and muscular. No double she could carry me short distances now if I didn’t wear my armor and weapons. Well, that and my rucksack. As she stood proudly for everyone to see, Sir Hemmet came to a stop behind us.
“Ah, we’ve reached the King’s Road.” The Guardian Knight happily said. Looking towards the west, he studied the landmarks before continuing. “We should be a little more than three hours out from Telrain.”
“Our people have passed by here not more than an hour ago.” Brenna announced from where she knelt studying the road. Fylreh, who came up behind the Ranger, studied the road for a moment before nodding in agreement.
“How are you guys getting that level of detailed information?” I asked, somewhat confused as my eyes studied the scuffed cobblestones seeing nothing like tracks.
“Tracker skill,” both women said as Brenna stood up ready to head out.
“Yeah, maybe next time you can try to help me learn the skill.” I groused, as Neysa took off in the lead with Helgath riding proud. They really looked good together, I mused, before taking off after them.
Instead of traveling the road with the rest of us, Fylreh and Brenna kept to the sides of the road about twenty yards out as they flittered in-between the trees. The surrounding area slowly began to change into rolling hills on the south side of the road, while the north was nothing but forests. Overall, the naturalistic view was breathtaking even if the travel was boring as hell. Seeing me stifling a yawn, Sir Hemmet explained that the roads were normally patrolled to keep the monster population at bay. Also, there were wards built into the stones that helped to offer protection for travels on the roads by driving the monsters away.
Upon further questioning, the Knight’s description of the magic sounded more like spraying OFF to keep mosquitoes at bay. If you’ve ever used the insect spray, you know it’s more of a discouragement than anything truly affective to stop them from landing on your skin and sucking your blood. If the mosquitoes in an area are swarming, you’re basically bug food at that point in time. Still, it was better than nothing at all. Still, I appreciated the explanation. I felt it was important to understand the magic’s limitations. As a casual aside, he said that it only worked against monsters and not demi-Humans or humanoids.