They’re safe. Tethic Bonecall didn’t take their souls. Not yet anyways.
He remembered now that after he and his friends had celebrated their victory over Marty, and had gotten their reward from Lethbridge--a paltry ten percent discount at the village shops--Ibelyn, the owner of the inn and “the” drunken dwarf, had given them two rooms for free. Mack, Alicia and Luke shared one, while Cassie and Christopher bunked together in the other.
When Ibelyn had offered the rooms, Mack had assumed that Alicia would want to sleep in Cassie’s room, because they were both girls, even though Alicia was sporting a male avatar. But Alicia had just stared at Mack with those hard, black eyes before pushing past him into their room.
“Mack,” Cassie had sighed and rolled her eyes.
“What? What am I missing here? She’s a girl. You’re a girl. Normally, girls want to be with other girls in sleeping situations!” Mack had argued.
“She’s a soldier, Mack. She has to sleep around guys all the time. I think the last thing she would want to do is to be seen as different from her squad. Besides, she sees it as her duty to protect Luke, so she’ll sleep in the same room as you guys,” Cassie had explained.
“I don’t think her desire to be around me is for protection, Cass. She’s still more than half convinced that I’m going to join my father and go all dark side on everybody,” Luke had pointed out with a wry smile.
Alicia was convinced that Luke’s ability to see Neverfall’s code was the start of his mind being taken over by the game-breaking bug and that, soon, he would be by his father’s side, believing that the game was real, and that they should be exterminated.
Cassie nodded then. “You’re likely right about that, though once she gets to know you better she’ll see how crazy that is. But still, I don’t think I’m wrong about why she’s anxious to be seen as just one of the guys. She doesn’t want special treatment. She wants to be counted upon equally. It’s likely why she choose a male avatar. To fit in and not have her gender be an issue of any sort.”
“But it doesn’t matter to us if she’s a girl or a guy! I mean… she’s Alicia. She kicks ass and takes names. Right?” Mack’s head had tilted to the side.
Cassie had reached out and patted him with a big smile on her face. “That’s why I love you, Mack, but not every guy thinks like that about girls, even in games. I tried adventuring without you guys in Dragon’s Reign, and it wasn’t any fun. I caught a lot of flack.”
“Until you showed them all up in battles, right?” Luke smiled knowingly back at her.
“True. At least, some of them came around. The smart ones did.” Cassie pursed her lips as she looked down the stairs to where the inn’s patrons still drank, ate, danced, sang, and laughed. “I wonder how things will be here when the game is truly open to people. There’s going to be trolls trying to ruin everyone’s game.”
“Yeah, but I think it might be rarer, or at least, harder here. It’s a lot different being a jerk face-to-face with someone than it is to be one behind a keyboard and monitor,” Luke pointed out.
“You’re right at that. Besides, Neverfall does its damndest to keep you focused on staying alive.” Cassie let out a jaw-cracking yawn. “Okay, guys, let’s plan on meeting bright and early to start playing. I need some sleep.”
With that, Cassie turned, and with Christopher in tow, disappeared upstairs. The rest of them followed quickly after her.
Luke looked over to where Alicia slept. The sky was already lightening, and though the sun was not up yet, he could still see pretty well. The bed was too small for her orc form. Her head was jammed up against the carved, wooden headboard and her calves were hanging over the foot of the bed. She let out little wheezes and growls as if she was fighting in her dreams. She was really asleep now as opposed to when he and Mack had first come into the bedroom last night. She had turned her back to them, and not said a word. He was glad that his nightmare hadn’t woken her.
Because she’d be suspicious about the Dream Weaving. My father can get in my head. Can I blame her?
He glanced over at Mack. Despite the bed being more than long and wide enough to accommodate his compact dwarven form, one of Mack’s feet stuck out off the side. His hairy toes twitched slightly as he snored.
Luke let out a sigh. After that dream there was no way he was going back to sleep. Luke slid the covers off, and put his bare feet on the cold floor. He had on his pants, but the rest of his armor and sword were stacked beside the bed. As silently as he could, he went into the adjoining bathroom where they’d left candles burning as nightlights to guide their way.
For a game that was based on a fantasy world, the plumbing was definitely modern. He supposed that modern gamers would want better privies than what could have been expected in such a world normally. There was a normal toilet, a generous sink, tub and shower. All with running water as one would expect in the current time. He had taken advantage of the shower the night before, letting the hot water run over his tired body. Though he’d been completely healed--or at least, had full hit points--he’d still felt like hell. The shower had helped to restore him, as had the sleep.
He pulled on the pieces of his Dragon’s Blood Armor, and looked at himself in the mirror. The armor was loose when he had first put it on, but it shrank to fit him perfectly after just a minute. He was admiring some of the metal scales on the front when he noticed that there was a slot of some kind that he hadn’t noticed before. He squinted at it. Could the slot hold something? Like a gem or other magical object? Maybe the armor could be upgraded.
I wonder if the blacksmith in town will know. But it’s magical armor. Would a blacksmith in this little village have the knowledge I need?
Luke opened the menu by touching the hologram that appeared on the back of his left hand when he turned it towards himself as one would to look at a watch. The Menu appeared before him as a transparent hologram with tabs at the top. By focusing on the Inventory tab, he looked at his armor and, indeed, he noticed that there were two empty slots beneath each piece of armor. He was intrigued by what that could all mean.
Not to mention the armor says that it’s a quest item that can’t be sold. What quest is it for?
Bonecall had called him “Dragon Prince” in real life and in the Dream Weaving. Was that just because he could call Asharoth to fight for him? Or maybe he had a deeper and more complicated affinity with dragons than he knew? The very fact that his armor and sword had “dragon” in the title seemed to indicate that.
Speaking of my sword...
He checked to see if Dragon’s Claw had any upgrade slots, and sure enough, it appeared that it, too, could be upgraded. He would definitely pursue upgrading both his weapons and equipment. In many games that was the key to getting ahead, and taking down tougher enemies. A trip to the blacksmith that morning was definitely on the to-do list.
Luke checked the Help function and the Chat Box. This was the only way they had been able to communicate with the outside world and the team at Neverfall, who was working to get them and everyone else safely out of the game. Luke had been sending messages highlighting their progress after the plan Dr. Armitage had originally come up with had gone terribly wrong. The first and only message they’d received from the outside was still there with no new communication:
We have received your messages. And we are impressed with your progress despite the difficult circumstances you are facing. While we are still researching ways to remove you and the other Beta players from the game, your best bet of getting out of Neverfall is still for you to defeat the Dark Lord so that the game will reset and we can inject the uncorrupted code We advise you, therefore, to … to play the game. Keep us advised of your progress. Good luck.
It sounded so oddly corporate, which was totally inappropriate considering that they were fighting for their lives because of the mess up on the devs’ side. Luke would have thought Dr. Armitage would have asked if they were all right personally, and assured Luke, specifically, that his m
other was being taken care of. Perhaps they had just stuck to the absolute minimum for fear that his father would discover the communication and shut it down. That had Luke straightening a bit.
What if his father did find these messages? But his father, like the other Beta players, believed he was his character and that Neverfall was real. Yet he might just perceive these messages nonetheless and assume they were “magic” notes. Luke frowned. He should keep his communications with the outside as circumspect about their plans as he could if that was the case.
Even though Father said he wouldn’t send any more Beta players after us, he might be lying or he might just change his mind. Can’t let him know where we are.
Luke hadn’t responded to the chat last night, but he did now. Understood. We are proceeding with that plan. Please advise about risk of game shutdown. Time limit? Luke paused and licked his lips. He wanted to ask about his mother. She was dying from cancer. But she’d been admitted into a drug trial that was her last chance for a reversal of the cancer’s forward course. He wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the game in real time. It could be a whole day like it felt here, or it could be minutes, or it could be far longer. He added, Please let my mother know I am all right, and report to me on her condition. I will keep you updated.
He sent the chat and waited for a few moments to see if there was a response. There wasn’t. He didn’t close out the Menu though. He had actually gained a level from Level 4 to Level 5 prior to fighting Marty, but he hadn’t had the desire to upgrade his stats last night. He should do so now.
He focused on the Statistics tab and the screen came up. It showed that he was an Empirean human. His class was a battle mage. Empireans were skilled at Persuasion and could use magic and martial weapons without penalty. His father’s character, the Dark Lord, apparently made his home in Empirea.
The game was still being generous with Ability points, giving him five more to assign. His current Abilities were as follows:
LEVEL 4
Abilities
------
Strength: 10 (+1)
Charisma: 10
Dexterity: 7 (+5)
Constitution: 16 (+9)
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 1
As a magic user of the battle mage class, his power was based upon his will, which was attached to Charisma. Since the power of his spells was tied to that Ability, one of those precious five points would be placed there.
He used a sword rather than a bow so Strength, instead of Dexterity, was another Ability that he needed to have high. That controlled how powerful his blows were, and how much he could carry. He had not yet seen any weight limit, but perhaps that was something he would simply feel even with the magical bag that expanded to fit whatever he dropped into it, and yet remained the same size. That would get a point for sure.
Constitution was what gave him health and protected him from damage. He was much higher in that because of his Dragon’s Blood Armor so he likely shouldn’t put any more points into Constitution for now. No, he had best up his Intelligence by a few points so that he increased the amount of mana he had. He was tired of running out of mana in the beginning of the fight.
So his final determination was to put one point each in Strength and Charisma while putting the remaining three into Intelligence to get quite the burst of mana. Satisfied with his thought process, he placed the points and his new Abilities were as follows:
LEVEL 5
Abilities
------
Strength: 11 (+1)
Charisma: 11
Dexterity: 7 (+5)
Constitution: 16 (+9)
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 1
He also had a point to put towards his Perks. As an Empirean, he had been started with a point in Persuasion and he had increased that several times. It had allowed him to Persuade guards--well, so long as I’m not asking them to betray my father--and get people to like him. But they were planning on grinding to increase their levels. So he wouldn’t need to convince anyone of anything. His sword and spells would be doing all of the talking.
He had two points in Sorcery, which increased the strength of his spells, and, he was guessing, that it also allowed him to create new spells like Coldfire, which he had figured out using fire and ice together. He’d also already put a point in Athletics to improve his martial abilities. So his Perks currently looked like this:
LEVEL 4
Perks
------
Persuasion: 3
Stealth: 0
Sorcery: 2
Healing: 0
Athletics: 1
Arcane: 0
Language: 0
Perception: 0
Intimidation: 0
Nature: 0
All of the Perks held some kind of valuable gift. Stealth, of course, would help him keep unseen to the last moment, but though he’d had to hide a few times, he didn’t think that was going to be his playstyle going forward.
Besides, Alicia blunders into every fight. The art of stealth is lost when one of your party companions is an orc.
Healing was something he was leaving to Christopher. Considering his friend had chosen to be a high elf cleric, that Perk was made for him. Not to mention Christopher still continued with his pacifist stance, meaning he would heal and defend them, but would never use any attack any of the creatures they faced.
Though Bonecall seemed to think that being a cleric indicated that Christopher could do something with the dead. But that was only in the Dream Weaving, so maybe I misunderstood.
He turned back to the list of Perks. Arcane sounded cool. It likely gave the user information on the history of places and things. But, as interesting as it would be to know the backstory of where they were and the objects they discovered, it wasn’t necessary for survival.
Language, too, had its benefits. He might be able to read ancient scrolls and textbooks. But so far he hadn’t seen anything like that to indicate that it was a necessary skill at this time.
Mack had taken the Perception Perk that allowed him to see all the stats of the monsters they were facing so he wouldn’t duplicate that either. Alicia had the Intimidation Perk down so that was taken care of. Cassie automatically had the Nature Perk as she was a wood elf. It allowed her to track people and beasts, talk to animals, and, she believed, even have an animal companion at some point. He shook his head, smiling, as he remembered the excited giggles she’d made at the thought of it. He hoped it was true.
So what would he choose to upgrade? He decided to resist temptation, and put a point into Athletics. He needed every aid he could get with the battles to come. So now his Perks looked like this:
LEVEL 5
Perks
------
Persuasion: 3
Stealth: 0
Sorcery: 2
Healing: 0
Athletics: 2
Arcane: 0
Language: 0
Perception: 0
Intimidation: 0
Nature: 0
His hit points had been 500, but had risen by 100 points to 600 just from the level increase. With the three points he’d placed in Intelligence, his mana had jumped from 200 to 350. He grinned at that.
But then again I’m going to get better spells, which will take more mana to cast. Let’s see what choices I have there.
Currently, his spells were as follows:
Firestream
------
Level: 3
MANA COST: 40 Mana
DAMAGE: 5 Hit Points Per Second
CASTING TIME: Immediate
RANGE: 25 feet
DURATION: Instantaneous
MODIFIER: +4 Burning for additional 5 Seconds
DESCRIPTION: A stream of fire hits your enemy for 10 seconds. May cause Burning.
Ice Ball
------
Level: 2
Mana Cost: 35 Mana
Damage: 10-12 Hit Points
Casting Time:
Immediate
Range: 150 Feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: Slow for 10 Seconds.
Description: A small ball of ice streaks from your palm to strike a selected enemy. May cause Slow.
Coldfire
------
Level: 3
Mana Cost: 100 Mana
Damage: 150-200 Hit Points
Casting Time: Immediate
Range: 25 Feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: None
Description: Can be cast once a fight and only when the user’s health is below 50%
He hadn’t been all that impressed with Ice Ball, while Firestream had been incredibly useful. Coldfire was very powerful, but he could only use it when he was in danger of losing his life. He didn’t want to risk being that low on health simply to cast a spell, so that one was definitely out. He was just about to upgrade his fire spell again but then he saw the next incarnation of the Ice Ball spell. It was called Ice Daggers and instead of a simple ball of ice hitting an enemy, ice daggers fell from above his targets, causing damage to multiple enemies at a time. He chose it.
Ice Daggers
------
Level: 3
Mana Cost: 50 Mana
Damage: 10-15 Hit Points Per Enemy
Casting Time: Immediate
Range: 25 Feet by 25 Feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: Slow for 10 Seconds.
Description: Daggers of ice fall on enemies within a certain radius causing damage to all within that radius.
His Special Ability, Dragon Call, was no longer blank.
Dragon Call
------
Level: 5
Damage: Unlimited
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: Immune to Damage
Description: Asharoth comes to defend you from any and all enemies if party is dead and you are close to death. Revives all party members to full health and mana.
Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2): A Gamelit Lit RPG Series Page 3