Awaken Online: Catharsis

by Travis Bagwell

  Overseeing the training and the council members had also granted Jason a useful new skill, and he had leveled it rapidly over the last few days:

  New Passive Skill: Leadership

  Extensive micromanaging of both your minions and the residents of the Twilight Throne has given you insight into the role of a leader. Some may call you a nag, but you are undoubtedly effective in training your troops.

  Skill Level: Beginner Level 3

  Effect: Minions and subjects will receive a 2% increase to skill learning speed.

  Apart from the sarcastic language of the prompts, the Leadership skill had helped to greatly increase his minions' and soldiers' skill acquisition and leveling. It helped explain why they had progressed so quickly in just two days.

  Jason had poured over the geography of the area near the Twilight Throne. The spell he had cast in the market had warped and changed much of the wildlife and fauna, but the maps he had found in the city were still mostly correct. His brow furrowed in concern as he reviewed his troop roster and the maps once again. A part of him kept hoping that the numbers would magically change if he checked them just one more time.

  “I don't know how we're going to do this,” he finally said into the silent room.

  Onyx shifted in his lap and looked at him with sleepy eyes.

  “I just don't think we're going to be able to take them in a straight fight or a siege,” Jason continued, looking at Onyx. The cat simply blinked slowly and laid his head back down.

  Cats would make terrible strategists, Jason thought with a chuckle.

  A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts. “Come in,” he called out.

  The door creaked open and Jerry's smiling face popped out from the edge of the door. “Hey there stranger! Are you up here perusing your dusty maps again?”

  Jason could already feel a headache coming on, and he massaged his temple. “Yes I am. I don't know how we're going to win this fight, Jerry. It just doesn't seem possible.”

  Even though the new troops were progressing well, Jason's fledgling army was still less than one-third the size of Alexion's. He knew that the average level of his troops was much lower as well. Even taking into account the home turf advantage and the penalty to “Good” alignment players and NPCs, his troops would be crushed in a straight fight.

  Jerry moved into the room. He pursed his lips and rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. “I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. I personally have never been one for wars and such.”

  He assumed a swaggering pose. “I've always been more of the roguish sort. You know what I mean don't you?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Jason. “We only do things from behind.”

  Almost before the words left Jerry's mouth, Jason’s face was firmly planted into the palm of his hand.

  Then Jerry's words started to sink in.

  Apart from his stupid one-liner, he had a point. Jason didn't need to approach this fight like a typical war. That was probably what Alexion was expecting, but Jason wasn't being forced to follow conventional rules. That certainly wasn't how he had conquered Lux.

  After some consideration, Jason decided that he was going to do what he did best. He was going to sucker punch them. Jason looked back up at Jerry, and a mischievous smile curled his lips. His eyes shone darkly and the almost forgotten chill crept up his spine.

  “You know what? Your terrible joke has given me an idea Jerry.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you have the prettiest eyes when you're contemplating murder,” Jerry said coyly, as he flipped the tip of his floppy hat. Then he broke into a big smile. “I'm glad I could somehow be of assistance.”

  Jerry continued, “By the way, Rex sent over some requests for equipment. I think that the market is finally back up and running and he wanted you to go purchase some equipment for the troops.”

  Jason sighed. “Great, more errands! Let me see the list.” Jerry obliged and handed over a mass of papers.

  Wow. This is ridiculous!

  Rex was asking for a ton of equipment. Jason was going to have to basically clean out the market to purchase all of this stuff. Although now that he thought about it, he still needed to place his items in escrow so that he could sell them on Rogue-Net. He had been prevented from doing so while the market was being rebuilt.

  He slapped his thighs and then dislodged Onyx as he rose. “Well, maybe it’s time for a field trip. Thanks again for your help Jerry.”

  “It is no problem oh Great Dark Lord of Terror!” Jerry said enthusiastically.

  Jason stared at him blankly.

  “What? If you do happen to win this fight, won't you be the new regent?” Jerry asked in a reasonable tone. “You're going to need a suitably fearsome title!”

  Jason opened his mouth, and Jerry waved a hand at him. “No. No. Don't worry, that was just a first try. I have a bunch more!”

  “For example, how about the Bone Lord!” He hesitated briefly, then continued, “Ugh. No. On second thought, I could see how that one could be misinterpreted.”

  Jason sighed and quickly fled the room with Onyx close on his heels. Jerry followed them most of the way out of the inn shouting out different titles. His antics drew confused looks from the inn’s patrons. Jason grimaced as he passed them by. Once Jason and Onyx had made it most of the way down the street, Jerry thankfully gave up.

  Onyx glared at Jason accusingly.

  “What? I didn't get him started with the names.”

  Thirty minutes later, the pair made it to the reconstructed market. Jason wore a hooded cloak and kept his face covered whenever he walked around the city nowadays. He expected he would become a target once the players saw his face. He wanted to avoid this issue for as long as possible.

  The stalls were now all back in place, and the area teemed with activity. Somewhat surprisingly, an undead market looked much like a living one. Undead vendors advertised their wares, as NPCs and players went about their business. Admittedly, the crowd was a bit thinner than Jason remembered. He was probably responsible for that.

  Jason and Onyx made their way to the in-game vendor, and Jason summoned his zombies from around the city. Once his zombies had assembled, Jason ordered his guards to cordon off the area around the vendor. Some of the players saw how many zombies were under Jason's command and smartly backed away. However, a few players decided to pitch a fit.

  With a gesture, Jason's guards permanently silenced the less intelligent players.

  One of the advantages of being the self-appointed, interim leader of an undead city was that you could mete out punishment instantly. Players who were too stupid to take a hint were sent back to the real world for a three-hour cool-off period to reflect on their mistake.

  Onyx gave Jason an approving look. Apparently the cat didn't like stupid people either.

  Upon witnessing the casual murder of several players, the vendor stared at Jason in terror. He was an average-sized, middle-aged zombie with a pot belly. His large, magical loot sack sat beside him and he held a long manuscript in his hand. In some ways, he looked a bit like an undead Santa Claus.

  Jason grinned at the trembling man, only his mouth showing under the hood of his cloak. “We're going to need to purchase some items.”

  “C-certainly sir. Anything you want!”

  Jason began spending gold at a remarkable rate. He was forced to dip heavily into the funds he had found in the administration office to purchase the items on Rex's list. Any leftover gold would be spent rebuilding the infrastructure of the Twilight Throne. Assuming that there was anything left of the city in four days.

  The vendor frantically pulled items out of his bag. At first he set them gently on the ground, but as Jason's spending spree continued unabated, he just started throwing them at the zombie guards as fast as he could. The amount of gear that was being purchased really was spectacular.

  A crowd of players and NPCs had gathered around to watch the spectacle. Onyx stood beside Jason and glanced at the onloo
kers with a taunting expression that said, “Yeah, I'm with this guy.”

  Soon the spending spree slowed and then stopped. Jason managed to purchase most of the items on Rex's list. The other players would likely be upset when they discovered that Jason had cleaned out certain types of items, primarily weapons and armor. Once he was finished, Jason took the opportunity to put his own items in escrow. With all that taken care of, he considered whether or not to buy some equipment for himself.

  Rex had insisted that Jason use some of the funds from the administration office to equip himself. Jason was a bit reluctant to spend the gold when he knew there were innumerable city expenses that needed to be covered, but he conceded that Rex had a point. Jason would probably be in the thick of battle, and he couldn't afford to die. He would need anything that gave him an edge.

  Between the gold he had stolen from the nobles and his allowance from the administration office stash, he had nearly fifty-two gold left. This was a veritable fortune at this stage in the game and he eventually decided to splurge a bit.

  After carefully reviewing his equipment menu, Jason determined that he could wear a total of eight rings and one amulet. He could also wear individual pieces of armor on his head, chest, shoulders, hands, legs, and feet. Alternatively, he could purchase armor in sets like the leather armor he had found on the grave robber. He also had a cloak slot, but it appeared that many cloaks did not provide stat bonuses. Likely, the players had not yet encountered higher quality cloaks at this point in the game.

  After searching through the store, Jason decided to purchase eight rings that added Willpower. These items weren't in high demand since most casters preferred to stack Intelligence to increase their damage. In total, the rings set him back six gold.

  Forceful Ring x8

  An ordinary, but effective ring.

  Quality: C

  Durability: 15/15

  +2 Willpower

  He couldn't find anything that was an upgrade for his amulet, which added +5 Willpower. This was really the only piece of gear he had found that seemed to be high quality and benefited his particular class.

  Moving on to his armor, he was initially a bit uncertain regarding what type to buy. Armor was broken into several different categories: cloth, leather, mail, and plate. However, Jason didn't see any point to wearing mail and plate since he had neither the Strength to carry it nor the Vitality to withstand an attack even with the damage mitigation from the armor. That left cloth and leather.

  Cloth armor tended to provide bonuses to Intelligence and Willpower, but would probably make him stick out as a caster. That could draw unwanted attention from other players. In every MMORPG Jason had played, casters were typically targeted first since they did a large amount of damage and were relatively easy to kill. Most of the robes looked impractical and didn't seem like they would allow him to run and move easily.

  On the other hand, leather armor typically provided bonuses that weren't immediately useful to a Necromancer (primarily Dexterity, Strength, and Endurance), but they would draw less attention and would likely be easier to move in.

  Maybe at some point I can find decent leather armor and have it enchanted with caster stats.

  He ultimately decided leather was the best way to go, and he should focus on items with Dexterity and Endurance. After looking through the various individual pieces of leather armor, he got frustrated trying to mix and match items to get the stats he wanted. Ultimately, he decided to just purchase a decent set of leather armor for twelve gold:

  Night Howl Armor (Full Set)

  Crafted from the skin of the moon wolves known to frequent Western Andara, this armor provides solid protection and improves its owner's speed and endurance.

  Quality: C

  Defense: 50

  Durability: 100/100

  +10 Dexterity

  +10 Endurance

  Finally, Jason moved on to weapons. Again, he was left with a hard decision. There were some staves available that provided bonuses to Willpower and Dark Magic. He didn't have any combat skills with staves though. They also seemed like they would be unwieldy when he was trying to run and maintain stealth. He decided daggers and throwing knives were still the way to go, and he again focused on equipment with Dexterity and Endurance:

  Cruel Dagger x2

  A weapon crafted by a blacksmith with some skill. The blades have been serrated to increase bleeding and they have been enchanted to increase the wearer's Dexterity and Endurance.

  Quality: C

  Damage: 26-38 (Pierce)

  Durability: 35/35

  Increased Bleeding Chance

  +3 Dexterity

  +3 Endurance

  Superior Throwing Knife

  A solid choice when close up fighting must be avoided. Knives may be retrieved once thrown.

  Quality: C

  Damage: 15-23 (Pierce)

  Quantity: 10/10

  The daggers had set him back fifteen gold. Decent weapons seemed to be selling at a premium at this stage of the game. However, Jason decided it was probably worth it. Other players had likely had a chance to undertake a number of quests and run dungeons for loot already. Jason had been too preoccupied first with Morgan's nearly impossible murder quest and then his impromptu rampage around the city to pick up the typical beginner gear. He had found some items, but nothing besides the amulet that was really helpful for his class.

  Lastly, Jason purchased a stack of twenty mana and health potions for two gold. They were expensive, but worth it. He assumed that most players hadn't had a chance to advance their trade skills much since AO's release. There were likely only a handful of players at this stage of the game that could craft items like potions. Yet he knew that the potions would be essential in the upcoming fight.

  After he finished shopping, Jason had spent thirty-five gold on items and had only seventeen pieces remaining. This made him wince, but he was confident that he’d made the right choice. Once he equipped his items, he had to admit that he at least looked pretty cool.

  He was now clothed in dark black leather armor with black fur fringes. His hooded cloak hung around him like a shroud, concealing the daggers and knives hidden about his person. He was probably going to lose this upcoming war, but he certainly wouldn’t lose it in style!

  Jason's then checked his Character Status to see his current stats with the new gear:

  His stats were starting to look respectable. One-on-one fights clearly weren't his strong suit, but Jason had built his character around summoning minions. He had also become quite talented at hiding and running away. He noticed that his infamy had gone up considerably and chalked it up to destroying a city.

  Looking around the market, he noticed a number of angry looking players waiting to use the vendor. The vendor himself also seemed quite anxious and was nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

  Hmm, I must have been staring into space for some time.

  He grinned at the players and motioned for his zombies to follow him. Once they had made their way out of the market and had found a secluded alley nearby, Jason sent the zombies carrying the equipment to Rex at the training ground. Their orders were to hand over the loot and then follow Rex's instructions. He kept two zombies with him for protection.

  Jason's next stop was Morgan's school. He had been overwhelmed the last couple days trying to prepare for the upcoming war, but he wanted to speak with her regarding whether he could learn any new spells now that he had increased both his level and his dark affinity.

  He approached the building that Morgan had appropriated for her school. Jason noted that she had used her status as a council member to take over one of the more luxurious noble houses in the north-side. This actually seemed fitting to Jason since a school of dark magic should have a prominent place in his undead city. If he somehow managed to survive this war, he ought to turn the other estates into public buildings of one sort or another.

  A city library would be useful. Maybe I could
also start some kind of school.

  Jason found Morgan sitting in an office on the second story of the estate. The room was crowded with bookshelves, and her desk was covered in stacks of open books. As he walked in, Morgan didn't look up from the book in front of her. He suspected that she must have investigated the nearby manors and stolen any books on magic she found. That was the only way she could have accumulated the enormous pile he saw before him.

  I'm probably looking at Morgan's treasure trove right now.

  Jason approached the desk and stood there for an awkward moment. Morgan completely ignored him, her attention focused solely on the book. His patience wearing thin, Onyx jumped up on the desk and sat directly on the book Morgan was reading. He seemed to look at her with an expression that said, “What now old woman?”

  “Damned cat,” Morgan muttered.

  She then glanced up and noticed Jason. “Oh. Hello Jason. I didn't notice you there.” She waved at the books on the desk. “I've been a bit preoccupied. You wouldn't believe the books on magic these nobles managed to collect.”

  “I'm certain they must be interesting,” Jason answered diplomatically. “How are your pupils doing?”

  Morgan replied dismissively, “Oh they're fine. They're all generalist dark mages, but they're coming along nicely. They're out slaughtering the wildlife, and then raising the corpses, and then killing them again. It’s great practice.”

  Jason chuckled. “I actually came to see you about my own training. I was wondering if you are able to teach me any new spells.”

  “Ahh, well let's see here.” Morgan seemed to look through him for a moment. “Oh my! You have indeed progressed a great deal. Your level and affinity are sufficient to learn a new set of spells.”