AVARICE ONLINE: KEL'VAN RED HAND

by Titus Nettles

  He then carved out the word CHARACTER next to his own name. Exactly the way it looks on his stat sheet.

  “Belar, when you look at your stat sheet again, look for this…” He pointed to CHARACTER. “The word next to it represents Belar.”

  “I’ve seen this on my sheet!” she exclaimed. She pulled it up and vigorously searched for the word. “Yes, I see it!”

  “Good,” he said as he handed her the rock. “Now I need you to make the symbols exactly the way you see it after the word CHARACTER. You understand?”

  “Yes,” nodded Belar. She then proceeded to sketch her name slowly on the ground. She had to scrub it and do it twice before she got it where she was satisfied with it.

  Belar in scribbly lines was etched in the dirt.

  “Wow…that’s exactly the way it sounds,” Kel’Van mused. “Okay, if this works, you will see a pop-up question that says do you want to party…. push yes”.

  Belar looked confused.

  “Of course, she looked confused. How was she going to know that if she just found out how to spell her own name, dummy?” So Kel’Van began to write the phrase in the dirt and then yes underneath. Then he proceeded to input Bear’s name in the search engine.

  Do you wish to send an invite?

  Kel’Van pushed the yes icon.

  Belar immediately started pointing at her D.S. “It’s blinking, Kel’Van!”

  “That’s good Belar, do the symbols in the dirt match what you are seeing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, push the button that has these symbols,” said Kel’Van as he circled the word yes twice.

  As soon as she selected yes, her icon shrunk, and next to it was a copy of Kel’van’s stat sheet.

  Belar’s mouth was hanging wide open.

  “Those symbols on the other sheet…Those are yours, Kel’Van?”

  “Yes.”

  Kel’Van repeated the same process with Fer’shad, which produced the same results. Now all three were in a party and were clearly able to see each other’s stats and levels. Then he started drawing some of them in the dirt.

  “Fer’shad, you see the symbols I just put on the ground?” Fer’shad nodded yes. “Those are called AP points. You should see them at the bottom of my sheet.

  “Yes, I see them.”

  “For me to level, I have to put them into either Magic, Health, or Stamina. You can see them at the top of my sheet.” He then began to draw them in the dirt, so they knew where to look. “That is why I asked you where you put your points. I can’t level without doing so, but it seems you can.”

  “Hmm,” said Belar listening in. “You think the same will happen to me also, without using these points?”

  “Yes, and I think there is more to it,” said Kel’Van. He began to draw the words strength, agility, and vitality on the ground. Then he drew the numbers next to them that matched Belar’s sheet.

  Agility: 9 (3)

  Strength: 13 (2)

  Vitality: 1

  “These symbols are different parts of your power. Agility indicates how fast your moves are, balance, and dodging.” He underlined the word to emphasize his point. “The symbols next to it is the measure. The higher the number, the faster you are.” He then pointed to the other words and numbers he had written in the dirt.

  “Strength is how strong you are, and these symbols next to it are the measure. Vitality is how fast you recover during a fight or after. The symbols next to it are how good you are at it. Anything you don’t understand yet?”

  They nodded their heads almost in unison. “Great,” thought Kel’Van. Trying to break that down further would have him working till daybreak. He began to underline numbers in parenthesizes.

  “What we are going to find out is if these symbols mean points earned. If it does, it would mean that we can have more control over how fast we are, how strong we are, and other things as well!” exclaimed Kel’Van.

  They both looked at each other and then at Kel’Van as if he was crazy.

  “Trust me,” smiled Kel’Van. “But first, I got to disband us in order to fight you.” Kel’Van’s D.S. lit up and pushed disband party in the social tab. All three D.S. turned off.

  Belar again looked over at Fer’shad then slowly got up. “Alright Kel’Van, let’s see if your right” She then threw two quick jabs in succession, and the fight was on.

  About 20 minutes later, Belar leveled.

  The same light show Fer’shad experienced, Kel’Van and the larger orc got to see themselves.

  “My…. Fer’shad, you were right. It didn’t hurt at all. Truthfully, I feel as if I had the best sleep ever. And I do feel stronger and faster than I did before.”

  “She sure does,” thought Kel’Van. Belar didn’t grow so much in height as Fer’shad did. The most significant difference was in her frame width-wise. Her thighs got actually more massive than before. Her arms were slightly larger but just a tad longer. Her shoulders were not as broad but noticeably larger as well. If Kel’Van had to compare her, it would fair to say she had a stocky, muscular build with legs built for lifting.

  “Okay, let’s look at the stat sheet now and compare it to what we have written in the dirt.”

  Kel’Van re-invited everyone back into a group. Then they observed the changes together. Sure enough, Belar’s stat sheet showed the numbers that were previously in parentheses, were now added to the main number. Although there were numbers left over, it was apparent to Kel’Van why. He began to write the new numbers in the sand in a separate column.

  Agility: 13 (1)

  Strength: 16 (2)

  Vitality: 2

  “These symbols I’m underlining now are the new points she earned while fighting me just now. All the numbers she had before the fight are now part of her power. This is great!” Kel’Van explained.

  Fer’shad smiled but seemed confused. “Are you saying we can control how strong we can get Kel’Van?”

  “Oh, more than that my friend. To make these symbols even easier to understand is this. If you want more strength, you will have to throw and land a lot of punches. If you want to be tougher, you are going to have to take more punches and kicks. You see, we can now control what aspects of our power we want to grow now!”

  Fer’shad just sat there, letting it sink in, with his mouth wide open. Belar was already giddy looking at her stat sheet, already thinking of ways to improve it.

  Shaking his head, Fer’shad looked over his stats. “You would think that the trainers would know this. If for no other reason to increase the power of the younglings.”

  “I think they do, if we would go by what the warriors told us tonight,” said Belar. “They did say by level 5 we would be able to form groups. It makes sense that this is what they were speaking about.”

  Both Fer’shad and Kel’Van nodded their heads in agreement.

  “Listen,” said Kel’Van. Both of the orcs returned their attention toward him. “You must keep this between the three of us. The shamans and the trainers already have a hard time dealing with what I can do already. There is no telling how they will react to what I shared with you now.” Kel’Van leaned closer towards the two orcs, facing them directly. “Do I have your promise to keep my secret?”

  “I believe this knowledge can be of great benefit for younglings orcs Kel’Van, but it is not my secret to tell. I will keep my silence until you are ready to reveal it,” said Fer’shad.

  “You mean the price of getting stronger quicker is to keep this to ourselves?” remarked Belar. She looked over her stats again, and a smile began to illuminate her face in the dark.

  “A cheap price indeed, shaman.”

  CHAPTER 7

  That night in his bed following the training, Kel’Van dumped 1 point into magic and 1 point health before clicking the “yes” icon for his level 2 upgrade.

  Just as usual, the D.S. showed the changes that would be applied before he hit the yes icon for his selected next level upgrade. The main bars he selected,
both Health and Magic, will go up by ten points, while the sub stats that they influenced would go up by +1. In his case, that would be vitality for Health, then intellect and spirit for Magic. Looking at his base stats and his current situation with the Mountain Orcs, the spell sword model fit him best at this point. Going that route back on the Northgate continent would entail a combination of both Sorcery, swords, and enchanted gear. The only class of magic close enough here was that of the Shaman. Some of them did have enchanted weapons and gear on them, but only the higher-tiered orcs. None of the level 5 and 10 shamans possessed such armor, and neither did the lower-tiered orcs.

  “That is a subject for another day,” thought Kel’Van.

  He pushed the “yes” icon, then looked over his stats after adding the points to his attributes.

  It hurt that he had lost all the potential points from his stamina affected stats, but that’s how balance worked in Avarice Online. It was actually a good check and balance system since keeping those points would just make anyone overpowered. After looking at his stats growth, he had to confront another reality of his situation. The fact that he had more control over his character growth than people around him made it very clear that he was among NPCs. Very sophisticated and better programmed NPC’s than he has ever seen, but NPC’s none the less. The future decisions he makes are going to have to bear that in mind.

  Hard ones.

  It was his survival that mattered in the end…not theirs.

  “Are they though?” he thought as he drifted off to sleep

  The coming weeks were constant grinding to reach level 5.

  Kel’Van’s morning started at the crack of dawn in front of the doorway leading to the adept’s hall, where he waited on the benevolence of Shaman Earth speaker to grant him access inside. There he would begin his training by battling an adept in their version of the gauntlet ring. After the match, the adepts were instructed on how to prepare their spirit for bonding elementals. Even though Kel’Van already could command elemental magic, he was obligated to learn as an adept. It didn’t bother him much. If it furthered his chances of becoming a shaman, he was all for it for all intents and purposes. Being a shaman was a combination of mage and pet class on a bigger scale. Always having a magical partner when you fight? No way was he going to demolish a chance at this class if he could help it. After which, he would eat, followed by another fight.

  Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

  By noon he would stop by the tent for a midday meal for some red paste type of oatmeal, with grey meat and water. He really didn’t want to know what the grey meat was.

  Afterward, he would begin weapons training with Fer’shad mainly. The large orc stuck with his original weapon of choice, a long 2 handed hammer with a flat ax-like appendage on the opposite side of the hammer. He was getting rather good with it, and it showed.

  Kel’Van stayed with his short sword. Him being able to cast and alternate between physical blows were not something he was not willing to change. His fights were more about advancing his agility trait by dodging and blocking to up his endurance. His 3-year familiarity with the weapon often made up the difference in his fights, but that was slowly changing. In time Kel’Van wagered that his agility will be the ONLY advantage he has over Fer’shad.

  At times in the afternoon, Meatgrinder would pair him up with other fighters in the group.

  “Nice fight youngling,” Meatgrinder remarked. Kel’Van took a couple of minutes to gather himself near the edge of one of the mini-gauntlet rings inside the war tent. He dusted himself off as he began to stand and greet the Ulgo Orc.

  “Thank you.”

  “I am amazed at how quickly your training with the short sword has come along. It has provided a wealth of growth for Fer’shad as well,” commented Meatgrinder. He was eyeing some of the combatants in other rings as he talked.

  “I have learned a lot from Fer’shad as well, Ulgo Meatgrinder.”

  “This is good that you find value in these fights, youngling Kel’Van,” smiled the taskmaster. Kel’Van eyebrow arched in suspicion. He did not like the way Meatgrinder said that. Not at all.

  “I Think the other younglings would benefit from your… expertise of that weapon.” Meatgrinder then pointed to a lone fighter east of them, looking in their general direction.

  “That is youngling Voresh. I think the both of you will get great value from training with each other today.”

  Youngling Voresh stood there with both his hands on a Long sword. A tall orc, but not as beefy as Fer’shad. Limbs almost as long though. Bald head with a dark beard, with thin tusks escaping the sides of his mouth. His body bulged with corded muscle, framed over with dark green skin. He bowed in the direction of Kel’Van.

  He obviously was told beforehand about his fight with him.

  “You will fight this one in between your bouts with Fer’shad,” said Meatgrinder as he began to walk away.

  “Wait, back to back?” said an exasperated Kel’Van.

  Meatgrinder looked back over his shoulder and smiled.

  “You can heal yourself from injuries, right? You don’t need as much downtime as the rest of your class. You’ll be fine,” waved Meatgrinder. He then left the two of them there.

  “Shall we begin adept Kel’Van?” asked Voresh.

  Kel’Van palmed his face.

  “Aaaww crap.”

  At the end of the day, right after the meal, Kel’Van would train outside of their tent with Fer’shad and Belar.

  “How long do I have to do this, Kel’Van?” Fer’shad asked wearily.

  “Until your tender and can’t take anymore,” Kel’Van chuckled back.

  Belar and Kel’Van were circling the large orc, pounding on Fer’shad relentlessly with punches and kicks, while Fer’shad tried to either block or just absorb the punishment with his body. Both his arms were in a guard position, fists just barely away from his face.

  “Stop your bellyaching already orc,” cried Belar. “We are only doing this because you wanted to increase your health stats.”

  “Trust me,” Kel’Van snickered. “This will increase your endurance and health more directly and quickly than with regular fights. You’ll see when you check out your stats later on tonight.”

  “Hmmm,” mumbled Fer’shad. I hope you feel the same way when I graciously start pummeling you later orc,” he spoke through gritted teeth.

  Shortly afterward, Belar and Kel’Van began their sparring match. She was getting rather good at boxing at the same rate that Fer’shad was with his weapon and his style of fighting. Belar was building up more of her agility and strength, so unarmed combat and dodging blows were beneficial to her for stamina type stats. At the moment, she was using combos. Some she learned watching him, others she made up using Kel’Van as a guinea pig. She was throwing a three-move combo: two jabs then an uppercut when Kel’Van decided to introduce her to kicking. Just as he saw the uppercut coming, he dodged it, then promptly spun and kicked Belar squarely in the gut. It was done sloppily. Chuck Norris he was not, and he didn’t have much training in any type of martial arts, but he had seen enough movies to get the basic concept down of throwing a kick.

  “Ouolof!” breathed Belar. Her whole body was pushed back as her feet tripped over themselves, falling to the ground and landing on her back.

  Kel’Van slowly walked over to her and extended his hand.

  “That Belar, is called a spinning kick.”

  Belar grasped his hand with a grunt. “That…. hurt,” she said as he pulled the orc to her feet.

  “It was supposed to. Especially when you don’t see it coming,” grinned Kel’Van. The two of them spent a couple of rounds learning the particulars of the kick, and how to integrate it while fighting. Shortly after, they returned back to fighting. As the night concluded, both Belar and Fer’shad reached level 3.

  “See, I told ya Fer’shad. That beating you took earlier helped out immensely for endurance, which helped your health as well,” said Kel’Van. They were all
looking at their shared stat sheets and the improvements that were made. Belar leaned farther back against the tent they were sharing.

  So, should I be doing the same thing as Fer’shad?” she asked Kel’van.

  “Are you planning on using the same weapon as Fer’shad? Do you plan on being in the front taking on most of the damage while dishing it out? That’s what Fer’shad is doing with his weapon. It makes sense for him to concentrate on endurance and agility second to help with his build.”

  Belar crossed her arms and looked at the sky, deep in thought.

  “I would rather have both my hands free to attack than be burdened with that massive weapon, she replied. Fer’shad raised an eyebrow and smiled in her direction.

  She quickly looked across the fire at and put one hand in front of her face. “I mean no offense to you, Fer’shad.” He waved his hand dismissively. “None taken, youngling Belar.”

  Kel’Van cast a side glance in Fer’shad’s direction. He in turn gave a knowing look back. They both knew what Belar’s real concern was. By all accounts, she was progressing well. She was faster and more agile than almost everyone in their tent, including Kel’Van. Her relative strength was considerable compared to that of the other younglings. The orcs classes are dependent on weapons proficiency though, and Belar sadly lacked in this department.

  Kel’Van watched Belar with concern. He somewhat blamed himself for her predicament. To him, it wasn’t the stats that was the problem. She was able to dodge and attack faster than her opponent in most engagements. It just didn’t transfer well with the dual blades she used though, and for all purposes, it should have. Kel’Van thought he knew why. She used the swords as if she was boxing someone. Those same stats are what kept her from being demolished in practice with her weapons but woefully inadequate for attacking. She had really taken to unarmed combat after watching his first match with Fer’shad and was by far the best in their tent at it. Kel’Van’s advantage, as it was with Fer’shad, was his experience in fighting that the others lacked that had led to victories against her. Her stats and vigor while fighting was better than his. It just didn’t translate for dual-wielding with the weapon or style she had. If orcs fought with daggers, this would not be a problem, but he did not see a representation of that weapon at practice. So, he could only assume that they did not use them at all. It just may be more experience and time with her blades would help her in the long run.