The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Can I get you anything else?” asked Ned.

  I checked my bag one more time. I still had 3 of the tac foodstuffs and I’d refill the stamina water canteen when I trained with the Sergeant. “No, I think that’ll do it. Thank you.”

  “Have a blessed day,” said Ned in his seemingly natural friendly manner.

  “You too,” I said, stashing my new canteen away and heading out of the shop. I spotted Olaf and Micaela still looking through the bags, the poor man looked ready to jump off a cliff. I could only shake my head in pity for the man even as I left the shop, leaving him to his misfortune.

  It was still early, but I had a few things I had to take care of this morning. First things first, I need to see the Sergeant about learning to block.

  I found the Sergeant in the back of the barracks, already hard at work. Jabbing at a practice dummy with a pair of daggers, doing a dozen different strikes, flowing from one to the next effortlessly.

  “Back for more, are you?” asked Sergeant Butters, not breaking his stride as he continued to attack the dummy.

  “Right you are, Sergeant. I found out I need some training in how to block with my shield,” I answered.

  “Alright, I will give you a choice of skills then. First, is what I call aggressive blocking or the ‘Shield Slam’. You hit your target interrupting their attack or spell. If you get good enough with it, you will eventually be able to stun your target. The second skill is a block and counter-skill or ‘Shield-Counter’.”

  “Given my current skill with the spear, which would you recommend?” I asked, hopeful the village weapon master would be willing to impart such wisdom.

  “Either is fine, it just depends on how you fight. Are you defensive or offensive?”

  He had a point. Yesterday I didn’t have a choice but to be aggressive since I didn’t have any defensive skills. But how would I fight in the long term? My class was a warrior priest, but should I fight up close and personal or sit back and cast or did it even matter? How did I want to fight? If I thought back on how I played games before, I played Paladin’s which I guess could be similar to a warrior priest. Which meant I was usually up close and personal. But there I also had heavy plate armor, giving me protection to fight so up close and personal. Here I needed to rethink how I would fight going forward. So, I have magic to do damage from range, but I also had spells able to enhance my ability to fight in close. So, both were viable. Both were viable. I needed to be able to fight both at a distance and in close and switch between the two flawlessly.

  Forgetting where I was and what I was doing, I was brought back to reality by the Sergeant clearing his throat rather loudly. “I’ll need to learn both techniques eventually, but for now I need abilities to help me hunt the local wolf population,” I finally decided.

  “In that case, I would go with the ‘Shield Slam’ to start,” said Sergeant Butters, nodding his approval of my decision. “As I said before, this is aggressive blocking. When you see your opponent about to swing or attack, you have to close the distance and slam your shield into them. If you cannot figure out how to time their attack, you will be in for a long and painful morning. Now, we have got 2 hours before my first training group arrives. Let us get to work.”

  I moved into the stance the Sergeant showed me the day before with practiced ease. Across from me, the Sergeant was now wielding a large wooden club.

  “So, the club is slow, it will help you get used to timing an attack. As you get better we will move to faster weapons, ending with daggers, the fastest weapon I can use effectively. First, you do not want to slam into me at the start of my swing with a slow weapon. Second, you do not want to slam into me at the end of my swing because I will still smack you pretty good. Third, depending on the strength of your opponent versus your own strength you may not be able to slam them effectively if their strength is more than twice your own. Fourth, the only exception to rule three is spell casting, slam always interrupts casting no matter how far into the cast they are. The only thing to keep in mind, if you interrupt too soon they’ll be able to start casting again right away, so the closer you can get to the end of their cast bar the better. Plus, it will really make them angry.” The Sergeant’s grin as he finished his explanation made me feel like the canary before a hungry cat, or maybe a ravenous tiger. “Now, I know I am stronger than you by a large margin, but for the sake of training if you slam me with the right timing I will stop my attack.”

  “Got it, can you show me first?” I asked.

  “Kid, I am of the school, you learn better by doing,” he said seriously. “Let us get started.”

  I focused as hard as I could on watching him start the swing of his club. When the club got about halfway through his swing, I tried to step forward and attempt to interrupt the attack. But it was already too late, the club had full momentum by the time I got to him. It hurt when the club slammed into my side, lifting me from my feet and sending me rolling bodily across the training ring.

  “You need to already be moving when my swing starts. The actual act of slamming the shield into me should occur mid-swing,” coached the Sergeant.

  I nodded painfully and climbed back to my feet. I took a moment to cast a couple of quick ‘Lesser Heal’ spells on myself, restoring my HP from the damage done.

  “Again,” ordered Butters.

  And again, I tried. He slammed me to the ground six more times before I finally got one slam, even if it was pathetically weak. I couldn’t figure out what to do with my spear.

  “Better, you got to me that time, but your spear got in the way. Let me ask you this, what were you planning to do after you slammed me with your shield?”

  What was I going to do? I was going to turn him into a pin cushion. What did he think I was going to do? And there was the answer. My spear needed to be in a position to attack after I used ‘Shield Slam’.

  “Good, seems you figured it out. Again,” ordered Sergeant Butters, starting his wind up.

  This time I moved forward quickly, drawing my spear back as I moved in. My shield slammed into him mid-swing interrupting the attack and without thinking my spear shot forward in an attempt to impale the sergeant.

  The man’s movement shocked me as he effortless dodge my attack. “Well done!” he shouted, grinning from ear to ear. “I think you are the first adventurer I have met with the fortitude to actually attack me.”

  I was about to stutter all manner of apology, but the man was positively beaming with joy. “You keep this up and I will make a soldier out of you yet.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant!”

  “Right then, I think you are ready for a faster weapon, right?” A moment later, the club was replaced with a dulled great-sword. “This baby is blunted so it will not cut you in half, but it is a fair bit faster than the club,” he said, his grin doubling in size.

  I swallowed thickly. The sergeant’s sword thing may well kill me even blunted as it was.

  “Get to it,” said Butters.

  Thankfully the man only slammed me to the ground with the sword twice before I got the timing and managed to ‘Shield Slam’ followed by an attack. Next, he switched to a small two-handed battle ax, which didn’t knock me to the ground. It still hurt when it hit, and I got hit more often than I would have preferred. Learning the timing of the swing was difficult because it was much faster. Eventually, I understood, it didn’t have as much reach, which meant I had to close the distance much faster and shorten up the movement of my ‘Shield Slam’. I had a similar issue with the long sword he used next. By the time we got to the short sword, I was getting used to the timing of faster weapons. I also figured out they didn’t need as much strength to interrupt the attack. Daggers prove to be the easiest to slam despite my earlier worries, having seen him work with them the way he did.

  “Right, so long as your opponent stays in front of you, you are good to go,” said the Sergeant. It was something in the way he said that made me worried.

  “Fights don’t happen i
n a straight line,” I said, followed by a heavy sigh.

  Sergeant Butters just grinned and nodded. “Good, figured it out on your own. Now, on to phase two of your ‘Shield Slam’ training. Shifting and pivoting. Sounds easy right?”

  “But it’s not is it?” I asked, concern in my voice.

  “Actually, it is pretty easy. It will just take some practice to get used to it,” he stated confidently.

  “So, what do I do?” I asked.

  “As a lefty, you should have noticed by now, you need to keep your right leg forward and your left leg back. When you move forward to attack or use your ‘Shield Slam’ you push off your back leg. I have not said anything about it because you were just getting comfortable with the stance, but you should never take a full step forward, or it will cause you balance problems. So, you need to be able to lunge, or more accurately shift forward, keeping both feet close to the ground while covering as much distance as you can. It should never take more than one shift to close on an opponent,” the man explained, showing the footwork as he did so. It was impressive to watch. I found myself even more impressed, just how much effort was put into the weapon skills in the game. “Give it a try,” he ordered.

  The first few times I tried, it definitely came out as more of a hop than a lunge or shift to close distance. It took a good twenty or thirty tries before the Sergeant was satisfied.

  “The same applies to creating distance from an opponent, except you’re pushing back with the front leg. There is such a thing as someone being too close for comfort, you try it.”

  Just as in learning to shift forward, it took a while to learn to shift backward.

  “Last, is pivoting. Take your stance and try to keep me in front of you,” he said then began to circle me. I tried shifting at first, failing completely.

  “Keep your back leg planted and rotate using it as your axis. Your front leg should always be pointed toward your opponent,” explained Butters.

  It took time again before I grasped the concept of pivoting. When he finally had a handle on it a handful of messages popped up.

  You’ve learned the skill ‘Shift’.

  Shift

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Combat Movement Skill

  Range: 1 yard

  Skill Stamina Cost: 5

  You’ve learned ‘Phalanx Shield’ subskill ‘Shield Slam’.

  Phalanx Shield

  Level: 4

  Experience: 32.55%

  Current Defense Modifiers

  Block Chance: +0.20%

  Critical Block Chance: +0.10%

  Subskill: Shield Slam

  Damage: 2-4 Effect: Interrupt

  Skill Stamina Cost: 14

  A new skill and a new subskill in one go. Alright! And according to the exclamation points in my peripheral another parade of stat points.

  Don’t you ever take a day off? You earn +1 Stamina

  Muscles, grrr! You earn +1 Strength

  Can’t touch this. You earn +1 Dexterity

  Pain now, pleasure later. You earn +1 Endurance

  Pain now, pain later. You earn +1 Endurance

  Phalanx Shield has gained a level. Block Chance +0.05%, Critical Block Chance +0.025%

  Seriously? You earn +1 Stamina

  So strong . . . NOT! You earn +1 Strength

  Hit ‘em high. You earn +1 Dexterity

  Masochist. You earn +1 Endurance

  Sadomasochist? You earn +1 Endurance

  Phalanx Shield has gained a level. Block Chance +0.05%, Critical Block Chance +0.025%

  You keep going, and going, and . . . You earn +1 Stamina

  Break on through. You earn +1 Strength

  Hit ‘em low. You earn +1 Dexterity

  You can take it. You earn +1 Endurance

  Phalanx Shield has gained a level. Block Chance +0.05%, Critical Block Chance +0.025%

  And going, and going . . . You earn +1 Stamina

  Keep on trucking. You earn +1 Strength

  Did you miss? You earn +1 Dexterity

  Might not want to take it. You earn +1 Endurance

  Phalanx Shield has gained a subskill Shield Slam. Damage 2-3, Effect: Interrupt, Skill Stamina Cost 5

  “Not bad at all,” said Sergeant Butters. “I think we are out of time for today. Good work.”

  “Thank you very much,” I said as graciously as I could.

  “You are very welcome, come back tomorrow if you want to learn more,” offered Butters again.

  “You can count on it.”

  “Right, off you go then. I’m sure you have other things you need to accomplish today,” said the Sergeant. Without any other formalities, he waved toward the other half-dozen guards, all gathered for their daily drills.

  Class Quest Alert: Novice Warrior Priest of Issara – Your Goddess’ Path Lies Ahead

  You have been charged by the Goddess you now serve to mete out punishment on the murderer you vowed to bring to justice. Time Limit: 5:31:12

  Reward:

  Hidden

  A quick check of my class quest told me I still had about an hour and a half before Pwn Star69 would be able to log in. Then, I’d have just four hours to hunt him down. But it also told me, the midmorning bell would be chiming soon, and I needed to turn in those wolf paws.

  It was barely a five-minute walk to the townhall, where I took up residence on the steps to wait for the Mayor and his wife to arrive. In the meantime, I contented myself with opening the book, ‘The Trained Eye’. I didn’t get to finish reading it the night before due to Gavin’s timely arrival, and the binge drinking that followed. Right now, I was determined to finish reading the book. I would prioritize which techniques to practice later. First, I needed to figure out what those skills might be and how useful they would be in the long term. I only got through about two more chapters before the mayor showed up, though his wife was absent.

  “Morning Mr. Mayor,” I greeted him.

  “Back for more books already?” he asked, a genial smile on his face.

  “I wouldn’t say no to another book. I finished the Bestiary you gave me. It gave a nice skill. I’m sure I will get more than enough use out of it too, so thank you,” I replied.

  “Glad to hear it. Have you given any thoughts to what profession you intend to take up?” he asked as he fiddled with his keys to open the door.

  “I already have Lore as a Half-High Elf and because I’m Half-Human, I can pick up two more professions, but I haven’t given it much thought,” I answered. Truthfully, I lied to the mayor. I had spent copious amounts of time investigating the various professions and what they had to offer. For example, First Aid could evolve into Medicine which was supposedly a prerequisite to getting the class, Doctor, it was even more useful if you were primarily a healer. It was something I considered, given my healing penalty, as it would give me a way to hide my true class. I probably won’t, but it was worth thinking it over. The one I knew, I was going to take was Writing. It offered multi-tier evolutions, including Enchanting and Runes. Both skills would be beneficial to my Lore Profession.

  “You should look into the Drawing and Writing professions, in my opinion, if you intend to keep Lore. There are just too many complimentary skills for you pass up,” suggested Homer as if he’d just read my mind.

  “Do you have any skill books for it?” I asked. As I said, I knew I was going to take writing, but drawing was new to me. I hadn’t read anything useful about it, except you could get map making, which was mostly useless.

  “We’ve got books for the evolutions of the professions but if you want to gain the writing and drawing professions, it starts with buying a blank book and writing and drawing in it. All your adventures, a fantasy novel, whatever you desire, should be written down. The skill can only be gained by actually writing. Drawing pictures of an animal you fought or a pretty flower you saw will help you learn drawing. Now, as far as evolving the professions goes, if you have those two professions, you should take Cartograph
y and Runes, both of which can make you rich if you develop them,” he explained.

  “Why them?” Again, I had done research but maybe he had some insight I did not.

  “First, cartography is very useful. Have you even bought a local map yet?” he asked.

  “Not yet.” I didn’t even know that was an option.

  “Well, if you had, you would know the local maps, you can buy here in town, are not very good. It will point out the town, the road, the portal to the World Tree, a few other points of reference but the detail is poor. If you were to take on cartography, you would be able to note down all manner of things. If you join the cartography guild, your map of Hurlig Ridge could then be mass produced and sold here in town and in Root City for the benefit of everyone in the World Tree . . . if the quality is high enough. Anyway, a good map sells for good money, 2-5 silvers for a map of this province. Maybe 1-2 gold for higher areas. And do not get me started on what you could make if you discover a dungeon or if you get the chance to map a dungeon. Anyway, if that does not explain it nothing will,” he finished.

  He’d given me more information and even added a few details I didn’t know. The fact this province had not been mapped very well yet, and the currently available maps, were probably all low-level maps. Maps no cartographer ever bothered to detail. It is possible no adventurer even bothered to attempt to discover much of the province. However, the mayor still didn’t tell me how it benefited Lore.

  “But how does Lore benefit from cartography?” I asked, hoping for more.

  “Are you really that daft? Lore is all about history and finding lost knowledge. I would think, many of the clues you will find while you are researching might point to landmarks or important details about a province? And would it not be helpful if you had knowledge enough of maps to be able to find those locations?” he explained and asked.