Forming the Company (Alpha World Book 2)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “The timer starts as soon as we enter the room,” Gerald told them as he got himself ready to lead the charge. “Everyone ready?”

  A moment later Gerald rushed in, going for the right most Warriors with Tiny a step behind him going left. Stacia and her double followed them in, focusing on the Acolytes and singing at them. Alburet, Fluff and Karen followed after Tiny, ready to start in as soon as he had decent aggro. Bob and Marysue came in last, with Marysue moving slightly more towards Gerald as her heals wouldn’t help Tiny.

  Tiny took the two he had been assigned and hit the left one three times in rapid succession, letting Demonic Vengeance build the aggro on the other one for him. As his third hit landed, Karen and Fluff joined in on it followed a moment later by Bob. As the damage started to mount the Warrior they were fighting stunned Tiny with a bash from its shield. While Tiny was stunned, it and the other Warrior delivered critical hits, taking close to a third of his life away. Marysue gasped as she watched the three Warriors on Gerald do the same thing, taking a good quarter of his life away.

  Alburet winced as the other Warrior followed the first stun with one of his own, allowing another round of criticals. Gerald’s life should have dropped below half but he used his damage mitigation ability to stop a good portion of the second round of criticals. As his mitigation wore off, though, the third Gnoll Warrior stunned him again, allowing the three on him to get another round of criticals in, dropping Gerald close to half life.

  Marysue seemed a little worried as she used her instant heal to bring Gerald back up to about three-fourths of his life. “Cooldown used, I hope they can’t stun for a bit,” she told the group.

  Alburet silently agreed with her as they laid into the Warrior they were attacking with more vigor. Thirty seconds later it died, allowing them to switch to the second Warrior. As they did Alburet noted Tiny’s life dropping to almost a quarter, even with Demonic Vitality healing him. The group laid into the second Warrior, killing it a little over twenty seconds later. As a group they charged at the three on Gerald. Alburet refreshed Demonic Vitality on Tiny as they ran across to the other mobs.

  Tiny roared, picking up one of the three Warriors, which the group focused on as Gerald sighed a little bit in relief. A few seconds later the gnolls bashed the tanks again, allowing them land yet another round of criticals. Luckily only one hit Tiny, which allowed him to live through it. The other two hit Gerald, followed by another two as the second Warrior on him followed with another stun. Gerald wheezed slightly as his life dropped to a third of its total while Marysue did her best to keep him alive.

  The third Warrior dropped not long after, allowing Tiny to pull one of the remaining two off Gerald. Less than a minute later the last Warrior fell dead as Marysue chugged a mana potion. Gerald drank one of his health potions as he picked up the first Acolyte.

  The Stacia who wasn’t holding the other Acolyte in a daze came charging in to help deal damage. Having less life and armor than the Warriors, the Acolyte quickly fell to the group.

  “Kill the last Acolyte, we have time and it will stop any issues that might come up,” Gerald said as he attacked it.

  The others joined in, helping quickly kill the last mob before they turned to the blue shield dome around the Head Shaman. Alburet focused on it to see what information he could get. Shield Barrier, 35,000/35,000 health. The health of the barrier began to plummet as the group laid into it with everything they had. They had two minutes to eat through the barrier. Bob had to pause in his casting, having run low of mana before they had the shield down. Marysue was able to heal Gerald completely and drank another mana potion to be ready for the fight to come.

  It took close to a minute and a half to destroy the barrier. Bob had stopped casting to replenish his mana, and as soon as the barrier fell his Fire Blast was the first to hit the Head Shaman, interrupting the spell it had been casting. Gerald quickly taunted it, but in the second between the Fire Blast and the taunt the Shaman was able to cast a DoT onto Bob.

  “Gah, I’ll barely survive this,” Bob yelled, but kept casting his spell.

  The other all jumped in on the Shaman to help kill it. Alburet checked the status on it. Head Gnoll Shaman, level 28, 34,875/35,000 health, just before the damage started to roll in on it. It wasn’t even twenty seconds later when the ground around them erupted with a number of small vines that snagged them, holding them in place as thorns cut into them. The Head Shaman ran from them towards the far end of the cave, healing himself as he went.

  When the thorns wore off the Shaman was fully healed and had started another spell. As the group rushed across the cavern towards, it a black cloud appeared around them. They got through it but all of them began to vomit as they cleared the cloud. Only Bob and Marysue back by the entrance of the cave were unaffected. Marysue used Cleanse Sickness on Gerald first, stopping his sickness and allowing him to reach the Shaman. She then followed up with Alburet, Karen and Fluff in that order. She didn’t Cleanse Stacia or Tiny. She didn’t want to use her mana on them, thinking she would need it for healing and also unsure what effect her spell would have on them.

  Gerald bashed the Shaman with his shield, stunning it for the three seconds and giving Marysue time to cleanse the others. They got there just as the Shaman cast another spell, a green cloud. This one was a poison called Passion’s Embrace that did twenty damage every second with a duration of five minutes. The group laid into the Shaman as they realized that they were now in a damage race against the poison.

  Alburet slapped Demonic Vitality on himself to help counteract half the poison before he went back to damaging the Shaman. The Shaman pulled a sickle from behind its back to slash at Gerald, casting a ball of water with its free hand.

  It threw the water at Gerald. As soon as the water touched Gerald it started to freeze, slowing him. “Slow debuff for the water attack,” Gerald called out as he continued to fight, the ice cracking but staying in place on him. “Twenty second debuff,” he advised.

  Stacia and Tiny got there a moment later, having finally gotten rid of the sickness debuff. With all of them attacking the Shaman its health started to plummet again. A minute or so later the same vines sprang up from the ground, trapping the group in place as the Shaman ran for the far side of the cave. The Shaman had time to cast a couple of heals, bringing its life back up to 20,378/35,000.

  It cast another spell as the group got free and charged across the room. Anticipating the black fog, they scattered as they ran across the room. Each of them drank a healing potion on the way to help Marysue out. Only Gerald and Alburet got caught by the black cloud that appeared before them. Marysue quickly dispelled the Caustic Sickness again with her Cleanse Sickness spell. She had to down her last mana potion at that point. Bob had slowed his casting so he could regen some mana while keeping some damage going.

  The group piled back onto the Shaman just in time to get hit with another wave of Passion’s Embrace, doubling the DoT to forty damage a second.

  “Fuck,” Karen swore as she watched all their life start to tick away faster. “We need more damage.”

  They piled the damage on as the Shaman slashed with its sickle and threw water balls at Gerald. A minute later they were feeling worried as Marysue did her best to keep them alive. Bob started to add his damage back in as the Shaman finally dropped to 5,193/35,000 life.

  The vines sprang up to hold them in place again as the Shaman ran for it. This time Bob targeted the vines holding Gerald and launched two quick Fire Blasts at them. The vines withered, setting Gerald free. He wasted no time charging after the Shaman, who was still running for the far end of the cave.

  “Darkness, it worked!” Bob exclaimed as he then targeted the ones holding Alburet, freeing him as well.

  Alburet took off across the cave giving Bob a thumbs-up as he went, “Good thinking, Bob.”

  Gerald had caught up to the Shaman after only one heal was cast. Alburet was closing the distance as the vines vanished, freeing the others. As they c
rossed the distance towards the Shaman, Tiny hung back slightly and taunted the Shaman.

  The Shaman’s head snapped around to focus on Tiny as the black cloud descended on the destroyer, who backpedaled out of it vomiting as he did. The taunt had given the Shaman a clear target for the cloud, one well away from everyone else. As everyone piled back onto the boss it again exuded a green cloud, giving them a third dose of Passion’s Embrace. Each of them downed another health potion.

  Alburet winced. Even with Demonic Vitality his life was at 600/1,250 and ticking away at 60 a second due to the three stacks of poison. Alburet died ten seconds later as Marysue ran out of mana, as she had spread herself a little thin trying to keep them all up. Two seconds later Karen fell, then Fluffball five seconds after that. Gerald struck the killing blow three seconds before the poison killed him. Marysue, as the only survivor of the group, promptly sat down to rest breathing out a sigh of relief.

  Guild Achievement: Complete Gnoll Cave as a guild group

  Guild Achievement: Complete a dungeon under the rated minimum

  Reward: Gain reputation with all world factions

  Personal Achievement: You’re a special kind of…

  Complete a dungeon below the rated minimum.

  Reward: Gain reputation with all world factions

  Alburet chuckled at the notifications as he and the others ran back. “Special kind of?” He asked out loud.

  “Well honestly, we shouldn’t have been in here,” Gerald replied as they ran. “It really is stupid to take on a dungeon below the minimum. Your pets have been a major help. Along with the fact that you’re overpowered with those gloves, allowing your damage to exceed what others can do at the same level.”

  “Yeah, the extra damage is what did it,” Karen agreed. “You’re on par with two other people. Kind of makes you the exception to the Summoners are weak rule. Right?”

  “Breaking expectations, that’s me alright,” Alburet chuckled.

  “I leveled,” Fluff said as they reached the cavern.

  “Me too,” Karen added.

  “Us as well,” Gerald put in as he hugged Marysue. “Well done with the heals. You kept us up long enough.”

  “You all using potions is what really helped,” Marysue replied. “Level twenty I get another area heal, and twenty-five I think is when I can upgrade it. This would have been much easier at those levels.”

  “Sure,” Alburet agreed, “but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.”

  Marysue touched the boss to trigger the loot, “Let’s see what we have.”

  Marysue got a new staff with ten Intelligence and five Wisdom. Fluffball got a new chain chest piece with ten Strength and five Constitution. Karen picked up a ring with fifteen Agility. Gerald got a new sword with fifteen Constitution. Alburet got gloves with fifteen Wisdom, which he promptly gave to Marysue.

  “Take these, I won’t use them,” he told her.

  Marysue blinked then reached for her money pouch, “Okay. Let me…”

  “Nope,” Alburet shook his head, “no charge. Guild group, guild run, guild improvement.”

  “That is a good idea,” Gerald nodded. “If it helps improve the group or guild, why charge an ally?”

  “It’s a good sentiment, but not everyone who joins us will feel that way,” Karen pointed out.

  “Which is fine,” Alburet waved off the concern. “I feel that way, which is all that matters right now. So, two at eighteen and two at nineteen with me halfway to twenty. Do we want to reset the instance and run it again or just go mellow with the gnolls outside?”

  “I think we take it easy for the rest of today,” Gerald opined. “We can run the dungeon once or twice over the next two days if we want.”

  “I support this idea,” Marysue put in, “besides, we need to resupply potions.”

  “She has a good point,” Fluff added in her usual quiet way.

  “Okay then,” Alburet said as they walked back to the entrance. “Do we want to just go for another couple of hours then call it a day?”

  The other agreed to that plan. As they left the cave, they immediately got into a fight with the two Gnoll Champions that were right outside.

  “Oops, forgot about them,” Alburet laughed as Stacia dazed one so they could focus on just one at a time.

  “So did I,” Gerald growled as he tanked one mob.

  After killing the two gnolls outside the entrance they went back to wandering the trails, going from camp to camp killing all the gnolls on the way.

  As evening closed in they went back to the keep to turn in their quests. Knowing that that was it for the day, Alburet dismissed Tiny and Bob as they exited the forest. “Good work today, guys. Doubly so for you, Bob,” Alburet told them.

  “Tomorrow we kill more?” Tiny asked.

  “That is the plan, Tiny. Go get some rest,” Alburet replied.

  “I’ll have my first wife give me a massage tonight,” Tiny put in just as he vanished.

  “Show off,” Bob grumped as Tiny left before turning to Alburet. “See you tomorrow then, master.”

  Bob vanished a moment later, as did the copy of Stacia. Stacia went back to her human guise as they walked towards the keep. “Tha’ was a fun day,” Stacia said.

  “It was,” Fluffball agreed, along with the others.

  “Do any of ya want to come to the house for food after we turn in the quests?” Stacia asked.

  Fluff shook her head, “I’m off to see your mother again, sorry.”

  “I have a date with Marian,” Karen smirked. “Sorry, but your sister trumps you right now.”

  “We would be happy to,” Marysue put in.

  “Tha’ be good,” Stacia thanked them.

  They walked through the gate, greeting the guards on duty and making their way to the sergeant on duty. As they approached, Alburet stepped out a pace ahead and came to parade rest before the desk.

  “Sergeant, we have quests to turn in to you,” Alburet informed the same blonde sergeant they had gotten the quests from a while ago.

  “You killed the Head Shaman?” She looked at them in parade rest with a smile. “I see. Show me what you have besides that.” Alburet turned out the pieces from the two optional bosses, as did the others. As they did her eyebrows went up and a small whistle escaped her. “My, my. You have been busy. This will get you three items from the quartermaster outside. Let me get the gold for you.”

  Quest Completed: Kill the Head Shaman of the gnolls.

  Receive: Fifty gold and an item from the Quartermaster stores.

  Quest Completed: Bring proof of defeating the optional bosses to the Gnoll Watch Fort.

  Receive: Twenty gold and one item per boss from the Gnoll Watch Fort Quartermaster.

  She handed each of them ninety gold and three chits. “There you go. Hand those to the Quartermaster at the forge outside. Also let me add a thank you, Alpha Company. Though you have to be a little odd to give that cave a go at your level.”

  Alburet chuckled, “Yes ma’am, we know. Thank you and a good day to you and your men.” He snapped a salute. The others followed suit a beat later, then they turned and walked out of the fort.

  “Good stuff. More gear upgrades, and we can replace our potions,” Gerald laughed.

  They grabbed their gear from the quartermaster before splitting up to take care of their various errands. Gerald and Marysue said they would be by after they restocked their potions. Alburet handed off gold so they could pick up some for him and Stacia as well.

  Alburet looked over his new gear with a smile. A new weapon, a two-handed hammer that was just as good as his axe as it also lacked stats. A new leather coif that gave plus ten to Wisdom and finally a new potion belt that also gave ten to Wisdom.

  “Let’s go home,” Alburet said to Stacia, giving her a kiss before they both used their Homestones.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Alburet answered the knock at the door, greeting Gerald and Marysue, “Welcome to our house. Would you l
ike to see the guild side first?”

  “Please,” Gerald answered.

  Alburet led them to the other door across from the one to the house. Unlocking it, he led them inside giving them the quick tour as there wasn’t much to see. “So, there it is currently,” Alburet said he locked up the door before leading them back to the house side.

  “It’s a bit small, but player and guild housing aren’t even in yet, as far as we know,” Gerald said with a single brow raised. “How did you manage it?”

  “Wedding gift from me family,” Stacia answered as she brought over a tray of tea things.