Now the bird seemed to finally be taking damage. Despite being able to stay safely at range to keep casting ‘Holy Smite’, where it wasn’t doing much damage, fighting in melee did a good deal more damage, allowing me to bring the hurt.
“Hey, slow down your DPS, you’re going to pull aggro,” warned the warrior.
Aggro or aggression, also called threat, is a way of saying I was about to pull the enemy away from the tank, the player built to take heavy damage, making it attack me instead of her. She must have had a skill that gave her a sense of the current threat levels. I understood and backed off, stopping my damage per second (DPS) temporarily. It would give her time to build up more threat, so the risk of me getting attacked, instead of her, was significantly reduced. I renewed the ‘Lesser Holy Barrier’ on all three of us, as well as the ‘Lesser Combat Blessing’, which took a few seconds between each cast. By the time I finished that, I felt I should have been good to start attacking again.
The fight ended after what felt like hours, but in reality, it took just over thirty minutes for the three of us to kill the condor. The warrior and I were seriously under-leveled for that fight. If not for the Fairy healing the warrior, I don’t think we’d have been able to beat it. Thank the goddess too, the
“Whew,” I grunted, wiping the sweat from my brow, slumping down against a nearby tree to rest and regain some of my mana and stamina. I took out two canteens, one for mana and one for stamina and took a few drinks before speaking. “Nice work,” I said, the pair quietly talking a few meters away.
“Hey, who do you think you are, jumping in on my kills?” demanded the warrior, rounding on me hotly.
“I didn’t see your name on it,” I snarked right back, feeling my hackles rise at the accusation. I never did take too well to attitudes like that. “Besides, I do believe I just saved both of you from a painful death. If you hadn’t noticed, your fairy friend is basically OOM,” I stated. I looked again at the fairy and her mana pool was refilling quickly now, but by the end of that fight, she was basically out of mana or OOM as we gamers call it. By now I was standing, staring into her glowing red eyes, the only thing visible behind the copper chain mesh that obscured her face, while the chainmail coif covered the rest of it.
“She still had a potion,” defended the warrior. “All you did was steal experience right out of my pocket.”
“She used four potions, I counted. One of those right at the end of the fight. With the global cooldown on all potions used in combat, it would have been at least a minute before she could drink another.” Yeah, maybe I was being . . . less than civil, but she did bring it on herself.
The warrior woman growled at me, then removed her helmet to glare at me. She had blood red hair, that once free of her helmet, cascaded around her face in loose curls. She had silky smooth dark grey skin that suggested she was a dark-elf or maybe a half-dark elf, half-human. Her glowing red eyes seemed to be threatening me with pain and violence, despite their beauty. And then she barred her fangs, yes fangs. She had sharpened and longer than normal canines in her mouth that made her look even more threatening. In spite of that, or maybe because of it, she might have been the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Still, not one to back down, I added, “And I did ask if you minded the help, so when neither of you replied, I took that as the okay to help. On top of that, when I got high on aggro, why did you bother to warn me?” I asked.
“Hey, I may hate having my kills stolen but I wasn’t going to let you die out of spite,” she snapped.
“I wasn’t trying to steel experience from you. But if its experience you’re after, I know of a quest in town for the bird. I’m willing to share it with you both as a peace offering, sound fair?” I offered. It was a peace offering, I didn’t need more enemies even if I was developing a strong dislike of the woman still barring her fangs at me. I had an entire PK order that I’m sure already considered me an enemy. I didn’t need any more than that, despite the inevitability, that I would end up with more enemies in time. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to make some new friends.
“What do you think Baby? Can we trust this guy? You got much more up close and personal with him already, so I’m sure you know him best,” asked the warrior, looking to the fairy who was now blushing atomic red.
“Rosie, don’t say things like that. You know it isn’t true,” protested the fairy, her childlike features and voice were adorable as can be.
“Oh relax, Sis, I’m just teasing,” laughed Rosie. “So, what do you think? Is your new boyfriend trustworthy?”
“Rosie,” whined Baby, stomping her little foot, her blush not relenting.
I’m not one to go gaga over puppies and cuteness but if I was, that would have been the ultimate ‘squee’-worthy moment.
“Alright, alright, enough teasing for now. Gees, aren’t you supposed to be the older sister?” laughed the warrior.
“I am the older sister, you’re the bratty sister as you’re proving so well right now,” said Baby, her six wings fluttering slightly and lifting her off the ground to meet her sister eye to eye. That was probably the coolest thing about being a fairy, you got to fly. Not unlimited flight, but enough to be able to enjoy it.
I tried not to laugh at the pair, but their banter was humorous, to say the least, it reminded me a little of my brother and me.
“Think we’re funny, do you?” asked the warrior, glaring at me again.
“A little yeah,” I replied, a grin that matched, what I imagined a dashing hero would make. “I’m Bye-bye Jacko, friends?” I asked holding out a hand.
“I suppose you might have helped us a little bit,” relented the woman, her own grin forming. “I’m Rose Thorns and this is my older sister Babies Breath. Nice to meet you, Jack.”
“Please, Bye-bye, not Jack,” I quickly corrected her, hoping against odds she wouldn’t continue calling me Jack.
“Whatever you say . . . Jack,” said Rose, grinning more widely.
I could only sigh. Somehow, I knew that was coming.
“Ugh, Rosie, you’re going to be the death of me. Why did I ever convince you to play with me? Why did I shell out all the money for you to play for the matter? What the was I thinking?” Babies Breath whined.
“Free tank?” I asked, rather suggested, getting a grin from the fairy to match my own.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Baby said. “My very own tank slave. Thanks for the reminder Bye-bye.”
“Oi, don’t you go sticking your nose in, Jack,” warned Rosie, she had marched up to me with a finger pointing threateningly. “My sister doesn’t need ideas like that taking root.”
This time both me and Baby laughed.
Rose clicked her tongue in annoyance before she smiled a little. “Anyway, you said something about a quest in town? Did they already rebuild?”
“Rebuild?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah, the town was raided a few days ago. I’m sure those blasted PK’ers burned it to the ground,” explained Rose to my surprise.
“Oh, that. They lost,” I said lightly.
“Say what!” Rose stated clearly not believing me, while Baby sunk to the ground, her bottom jaw slightly agape.
Chapter 18
“So, you’re telling me, the game introduced a new spell for the town priestess, essentially leveling the field for all players and NPC’s?” asked Rose, still not believing me about the successful defeat of the Order of player killers. Player killers who recently tried to burn down Hurligville.
“It’s true, I was there,” I stated. Maybe I obfuscated a little, but it was still true.
“What do you think Sis?” asked Rose, looking to the fairy floating next to he
r.
Baby put a hand to her chin, thinking before she answered, “It’s possible, I’m not too surprised the Devs would have introduced something to stop or at least slow down such things from happening. I can’t imagine any player killer is happy though. I’m sure they just lost a ton of income because of it.”
“I never did understand why anyone would want to raid a village, especially a low-level one,” I replied. I am not much for Player versus Player, so I had done zero research into the benefits of it.
“The player killer Orders get points from it and they collect tokens from each kill they can turn in to a Black-Market dealer for gear or cold hard cash,” explained Babies Breath. “I don’t much care for it myself, seems awfully tasteless.”
“I read about this one guy who already turned in thousands of tokens. Apparently, he’s got some castle he built in a high-level province. Supposedly, he had so much money left over, he built the real thing,” added Rose.
“No way.” I protested. I’d been fortunate to make the money I did, but even I couldn’t afford land, let alone enough land to build a castle on it. “I could see him maybe buying a castle in somewhere in the World Tree, but not in the real world.”
“Probably, but it’s fun to dream about it,” said Rose, a faraway look on her face.
“Nah, not for me,” said Baby. “Give me an awesome tree fort full of magic and wonder, castles are a waste if you ask me.”
“A lake cabin for me,” I added. “Nothing extravagant, just a nice relaxing place to rest after my epic adventures.” That was the dream anyway, but with land in the real world at such a premium it would never happen, even with my fortunate financial state of being.
“So, the Townhall will be closed by the time we get back to town,” I stated, changing the subject to tackle the business end of things. Rose and Baby both agreed to come back to town with me. Rose severed the
“Works for us, we had a room there before the raid, if it’s still standing, we’ll probably check-in again,” said Rose.
I honestly felt relieved, it would be less likely they’d cheat me.
“Mm, hot bath,” groaned Rose in anticipation.
“Mm, yeah,” added Baby, sighing happily.
“We usually camp out around the fireplace, the couch is the only seat big enough for Mic and Olaf to sit.”
“Wait, you don’t mean those two ogres, do you?” asked Rose, sounding surprised but also cautious.
“Yes, they are ogres and they are nice people. More importantly, they are my friends,” I stated, probably more forcefully than I needed to.
“Hey, no offense intended. I just remember seeing a pair of ogres sitting there the last time I was at the inn. As far as I remember, ogres are supposed to be dumb brutes. I was under the impression, they can’t even speak until much later in the game,” said Rose defensively. I couldn’t exactly tell if she was backpedaling from her earlier statement or not, so I chose to take her statement at face value.
“They are neither dumb nor brutes,” I stated, feeling fiercely defensive of the first friends I made in this game . . . first friends not counting the NPC’s.
“I can’t wait to meet them,” interrupted Baby before Rose and I could start an argument or fight over it.
Any further rebuttal was interrupted by our arrival at the main gate and the greeting of a familiar face.
“Bye-bye, welcome back buddy,” shouted Gavin, looking somewhat awake and not hungover for a change, he even looked to be cleanly shaven for once.
“Hey Gavin, you feeling okay, buddy?” I asked him, not used to seeing him so . . . sober.
“I am sober and not hungover at all. How do you think I am doing?” asked the guard.
“So angry and going through withdrawals?” I guessed.
“Pretty much, and do you know who is at fault for it?” Gavin asked, looking at me accusingly.
“Sergeant Butters?” I answered, hoping he would agree and let me off the hook.
“And whose fault is it? Who is responsible for Sergeant Butters being on the training wagon? Who are the guards blaming for this?” Gavin glared at me.
“I’m gonna say Olaf and hope you let me escape,” I joked.
“Hah,” laughed Gavin, not a real laugh, definitely forced. Made even more clear by the way he continued glaring at me.
“Do you think I have any say over what the sergeant does?” I asked innocently.
“Just, do me a favor, finish learning whatever skill he is trying to teach you. Hopefully, he will go back to normal once you do,” said Gavin, looking slightly depressed.
“Tell you what, when I finish learning the skill, drinks are on me. I’ll see if I can get the sergeant and Trini to join us, how’s that sound?” I offered.
“You promise?” Gavin questioned, looking at me rather pathetically.
“I promise,” I said, reassuring him and patting his shoulder.
“Okay, just . . . make it soon, yeah?” Gavin pleaded.
“I should be able to finish tomorrow,” I answered.
“Okay, I think I can hold it together another day. Speaking of holding on, who are the ladies?” Gavin asked, his attention now diverted away from me.
“Huh? Oh, them. Gavin, this Babies Breath and her sister Rose Thorns,” I introduced the two girls. However, when I looked at them, they looked completely stunned, but why, I had no idea.
“Pleasure to meet the both of you lovely ladies,” said Gavin trying to be suave.
My laugh ruined it. His glare at me made me laugh harder.
“Really, Bro?” Gavin whined, his attempted flirtation ruined for the moment.
“Gavin, last I heard, Daisy from Doc B’s was seen in the company of a certain guard, and said guard, was spotted escaping from her bedroom window,” I retorted, earning a blush from the man and good laugh too.
“Anyway, we’d best be going,” I said, I wanted to make a stop into the leatherworker’s and clothier’s, something I had been putting off for far too long.
“Sure, sure, see you later. I might try to sneak a pint with you later,” retorted Gavin.
“Looking forward to it,” I said. I walked into the village with Baby and Rose just behind me in unexpected silence.
“What in the name of Leeroy Jenkins was that?” Baby finally asked, bringing our group to a halt and shocking me slightly as Baby just didn’t seem the type to curse. Then again, maybe it was just because she looked the part of a child, it felt so out of place.
“What?” I asked I had no idea what she was going on about, let alone what brought on the need to invoke the name of LJ. Leeroy Jenkins is still famous, even in this day and age.
“That?” she said, one arm pointing back toward Gavin.
“What? Gavin? He’s not a bad guy, he just drinks too much if you couldn’t tell from our conversation,” I replied.
“Exactly, you had a conversation with an NPC, how did you do that?” asked Baby.
“Um, I talked to him?” I answered, her behavior was worrying me before realization hit. “Wait, are you telling me you’ve never bothered talking to the Citizens?”
“Why would I? Why would anyone? You ask them for a quest and move on if they don’t have one,” replied Baby, which actually confirmed my earlier theory, most players just try to get a quest, and as soon as they have one, they run off.
“Okay, this could be a longer conversation. However, I do need to run a few errands before dinner, so how about this. You two, check-in at the Doghouse Inn, I’ll run my errands, and I’ll explain as much as I can over dinner. It will help to have Micaela and Olaf there too, they can help. Does that work for you two?” I suggested.
“Okay, I suppose so,” said Baby reluctantly.
; “Come on Sis, let’s go get those hot baths, we know where he’s staying, he can’t exactly avoid us,” Rose tried to reassure her sister.
It surprised me, given how standoffish she had been toward me.
“Fine,” Baby finally relented.
“Great, I’ll see you both in about an hour,” I confirmed, escaping before anything else might interfere with my plans.
‘Taylor’s Tailors’ was a small shop in an unassuming flat-faced building. The sign over the door displayed the name, an artistically painted spool of thread between the two words.
There was a tinkling of a bell, as I opened the door and entered. Looking around the sparse shop, I saw a few mannequins displaying some rather gregarious outfits, clearly not my style at all. Otherwise, there was just a long counter with a register, manned by a nonplused teenager sitting behind it. Just behind him was a door to the back room.
“Greetings, welcome to Taylor’s Tailors,” said the very unenthusiastic teenage boy.
“Hello, I need to get a new shirt, pants and maybe socks, if they are good quality,” I said, to the young man, trying to be positive.
“Yeah, whatever, old man,” he replied.
I was mighty tempted to smack him upside the head. I am not old, not even close to old. Lucky for him, a woman came from the back of the shop and beat me to it, giving the teenager a solid rap to the back of his head.
“Angus, behave yourself. This is a customer,” she chided him.
“Sorry mom,” Angus replied, rubbing the back of his head where the woman thumped him. It was clear, the boy didn’t truly care, nor did he seem to be sorry.
“Go . . . go . . . go sort something,” the woman said exasperatedly.
The teen shrugged his shoulders, walking away from the counter and into the backroom.
The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive Page 31