by Rick Scott
Ice Worm is slowed!
Two out of three. Not bad!
The fight gets easier with its slowed attacks and we start making real progress on its HP bar. We hit 30% and the worm suddenly straightens, surrounding itself with a bright white glow.
Uh oh…
Ice Worm uses Star Fall.
“Don’t let it sleep us!” Val Helena cries. “Stun it, quick!”
But it’s too late. Twinkling snowflakes begin to fall.
“It’s going to use the AOE move next!” Becky says. “Run out of ra…”
Her voice trails off as she falls asleep while still standing on her feet.
Oh crap…
Sleep again tugs at my eyes again. I thought my Shadow Copy would protect me, but I was so busy watching Aiko I didn’t recast it!
“Reece, the ring…” Aiko says tiredly as she looks at me. “Put it on!”
Ring? There’s only one ring she could be talking about. But why?
My vision starts to tunnel as I quickly equip the Witch Spider’s Ring from my inventory. Once again the world goes black.
* * *
I awake with a gasp and a sickly shock of pain.
You take -50 poison damage.
You are no longer asleep.
What the heck?
I awake to see the Ice Worm winding up for a huge swing with its body. It’s about to take everyone out!
Crap!
I rush at it with a Charge Strike and pray my Stun lands. My kunai slams into its hide and the huge creature freezes.
You hit the Ice Worm for 451 damage.
Ice Worm is stunned!
Yes!
But now what the heck do I do? I check the party list and see a “ZZZ” debuff next to everyone’s names.
You take -50 poison damage.
I shudder from the sting of the poison, but immediately I get it. The damage woke me up! I burn what precious little Stamina I have left to avoid the Worm’s next attack and run to Becky. I nudge her firmly with my elbow.
You hit Becky for 12 damage.
Becky is no longer asleep.
Her eyes flash open, then focus on me. “Oh thanks!”
“Can you wake up the others?”
She nods and runs off towards Val Helena as I make a bee line for Aiko.
I weave through another slow-moving hit and nudge Aiko awake.
You hit Aiko for 10 damage.
Aiko is no longer asleep.
“Thanks Aiko, that worked!” I say.
She doesn’t even look at me as she reanimates. “Remember to take it off!”
You take -50 poison damage.
Ack… too late.
I pop Active Dodge and phase through the worm’s next attack as I slip the ring off my finger. I check my Stamina again.
27/87 Stamina
I let the next strike hit me, removing my shadow before I recast Shadow Copy again.
It goes for a triple attack. I evade the first two hits but fail the third.
You are too tired to perform that action.
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
Darn it! I’m wide open now. Nothing left to tank with or defend.
I brace for impact as the Ice Worm lunges for me, but it veers off at the last moment as a powerful War Cry rings out.
“On me!”
Val Helena uses War Cry.
Ice Worm attacks Val Helena!
The giant white worm turns and crashes down on top of her. The giantess blocks the hit with her shield and is pushed back ten feet by the tremendous force.
Ice Worm hits Val Helena for 334(1012) damage.
I fall to my knees, no longer able to stand. “Thanks, Val…Good save.”
“Always got your back, Reece.” She grins at me from across the distance, taking a swing at the worm with her massive longsword. “Now let’s kill this thing!”
Gilly replenishes me with a Second Wind and I feel my vitality return. “Up and at ‘em, Reece!”
Maxis and Rembrandt too rejoin the fight after Becky traverses the battlefield to wake them. I marvel a moment at how deftly Becky navigated the arc of safety around the worm, carefully judging its attack range. Her character’s youthful appearance, as well as her low level, had me fooled again. I’ve got to remember Becky has just as much experience as Aiko and Val and could be older than them too. Older than Aiko for sure, at least.
I rejoin the fray, cutting into the Ice Worm with my newly renewed Stamina.
We get it to 25% and Aiko performs another Sneak Attack, dropping it to 15% before buffing with Assassinate. She releases a cry and throws herself at the massive creature, tearing into its body with both blades.
Aiko uses Assassinate!
Aiko successfully Assassinates the Ice Worm!
Ice Worm is defeated!
You gain 157,000 experience points.
Congratulations! You have gained a Veteran Point!
Val Helena has gained a Veteran Point!
Rembrandt has gained a Veteran Point!
Maxis has gained a Veteran Point!
Gilly has gained a Level!
Gilly has gained a Level!
Nice!
Level Up chimes continue to go off, the words spamming above Becky’s head like a machine gun. There are way too many for me to count but when it finally stops I check her stats again.
Becky Level 43 Celestial Mage
HP: 267/267
Stamina: 32/32 (Exhaustion: -75% Max Stamina)
TP: 125/125
Holy crap!
“Whoa! 38 levels?!” Gilly says. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone gain so many levels before! Super gratz, Becky!”
Becky grins, looking nonplussed. “Yeah, thanks. I think I must have a bonus to XP or something.”
“Maybe you don’t need as much XP to regain them,” Rembrandt says, stepping around the fallen corpse of the giant worm. He looks up at it. “Oi, who’s getting rid of this thing?”
“I got it,” Maxis says and lays his palm on the worm’s body to absorb it. The entire thing collapses into nano-dust leaving a gaping five-foot-wide hole in the middle of the courtyard from where it burrowed out of the ground.
Maxis then posts the drops to the party chat:
You find 10 Nano-crystals.
You find a slab of worm meat [10]
You find an Ice Worm hide [5]
You find an Ice Worm tooth [10]
Gilly makes an icky face. “Worm meat? Yuk!”
“Hey, don’t knock it,” Maxis says. “We could be stuck in here eating that stuff if this storm gets bad.”
That makes Gilly pale even more.
“Speaking of that,” Val Helena says. “Try claiming it now, Reece.”
“Right.”
I access my Town Administration screen again and look for the claim option.
[Attempt to Claim Unknown Keep?] [Y/N]
I hit yes again.
You attempt to claim Unknown Keep…
Claim Successful!
You have claimed Unknown Keep.
Please enter a name for Unknown Keep.
>
“Guys, it’s asking me for a name.”
We all go quiet a moment, looking to one another as we try to think of something.
“How about Star Fall?” Aiko says.
Gilly grins. “It’s a pretty cool-sounding name. Even if the ability itself sucked and came from a giant nasty worm.”
That gives us all a laugh.
“I’m for it,” Val Helena says.
Maxis gives a shrug and nod.
“Sounds brilliant to me, mate,” Rembrandt says.
“Star Fall it is then,” I say and enter the name.
The text is accepted and a new Keep Administration screen pops up as a final message appears on my HUD.
Congratulations! You have established a new camp!
You have established: Camp Star Fall
Chapter 25: Camp Star Fall
The reverie of our new accomplishment is short-l
ived as Gilly immediately jumps into administrator mode. She’s the first to open her HUD after I grant everyone access and starts rummaging through the numerous build options, the images reflecting in her deep green eyes.
“This is awesome!” Gilly says. “It’s just like managing a town!”
I check the screen myself and pull up the Keep’s stats.
Name: Camp Star Fall
Level: 1
Population: 7/0
Growth: 0
Food: 0/0
Income: 0 gold per day [no trade routes established]
Morale: -500%
Security: -500%
Production: 7 Labor units/day
Trade Routes: 0
Structures:
(4) Reinforced Stone Wall
North (62%)
South (57%)
East (24%)
West (97%)
(1) Wayfaring Stone: [NULL]
Resources:
Gold: 0 units
Food: 0 units
Wood: 0 units
Stone: 220 units
Iron: 0 units
Actions:
Build
Demolish
Repair
“Not much to work with,” Maxis says, his eyes alight with his own HUD. The image then fades as he looks back to us. “All right, the worm is dead. I got a crap load of nano from it. What’s our next move? This storm is getting worse.”
I look up at the sky which is now a blaring white haze, snow falling like hail. The wind gusts, blowing through the empty courtyard so strong we might as well still be outside.
“We need to close this place in,” I say.
“I’m on it,” Gilly says, still staring at her HUD. “We can use nano to repair the walls, but the area we entered is where the main gate is supposed to be. We need to put one back.”
“A gate?” Rembrandt says. “What materials do we need for that?”
Gilly checks her HUD again. “Wood and iron.”
Maxis groans. “Don’t tell me we need to chop down trees in all this mess.”
“If you don’t want to freeze to death we do,” Gilly says with a chipper smile.
“How much do we need?” Becky asks.
I pull up the info myself.
(1)Wooden Keep Gate: +250% security +100% morale -10% Trade
Labor: 50
Wood: 100
Iron: 10
(2)Reinforced Wooden Keep Gate: +350% security +100% morale
Labor: 50
Wood: 100
Iron: 50
(3)Iron Keep Gate: +550% security +200% morale
Labor: 70
Iron: 150
I focus on the labor cost and below each option there is a force-build icon available showing the equivalent amount needed to build using nano. From the looks of the exchange rate, 1 labor unit is equal to 1 Nano-Fragment, which is 10k nano if I remember correctly.
“Looks like 100 units of wood and 10 iron for a standard door,” I say. “More iron if we want the reinforced version. I won’t even mention the full iron option.”
“Better go for reinforced if we can,” Maxis says. “This storm might slow Braxus down, but he’s still out there and when he comes we need to be ready.”
“Ready for what?” Aiko says sardonically. “To fight an army? Screw that! This place will become a deathtrap if we stay here. We should only build what we need to last out the storm and then ditch this place and head out as soon as we can. We need to find someplace with a bigger population, a city or something.”
“Or maybe we can lose them more easily once we’re rested,” Val Helena says. “We should be able to move through the forest a lot faster than a whole damn army.”
“She’s got a point there,” Rembrandt says.
“Yeah but is this the direction we need to be going?” Gilly asks. “We can’t spend weeks getting back to Brookrun.”
“Yeah,” I say. “And we need to face Braxus at some point. He still has Diana. You heard what he did to her, Aiko. We can’t leave her like that.”
Aiko huffs out a frosted breath. “Hey… all sounds great in theory, but we’re not taking on an army in this broken-down thing. What are we? 7 people? I don’t care how strong you make that door. That guy has mammoths and giants. How long do you think that door would last against them? Reinforced or not?”
We all go silent as the reality of the situation hits home. Maybe we can’t defend this place.
“Plus they’ll know we’re in here right away when they see this place freshly reclaimed,” Aiko adds. “They’ll surround us from all sides. Then we’ll have no way out and it’ll just be a matter of time.”
Becky frowns. “So if we can’t fight, what can we do? Just keep running?”
I see the defeat in everyone’s eyes. We’re all exhausted and we probably aren’t even thinking straight right now. But I can’t let us lose focus.
“No,” I say, drawing everyone’s attention. “We don’t have time for that. We need to check out what I found down in that mine. If Citadel is down there, we need to get to it as soon as possible. We accomplished our mission for Val, now it’s time to save the rest of Citadel. We need to bring that nano home.”
My brother gives me a silent nod and smiles.
Maxis: Well said, Bro.
I PM him back.
Me: And save Mom too, of course.
“So what do you suggest?” Becky asks.
Maxis grimaces as he folds his massive arms across his chest. “We need to go back the way we came. Back through the wild.”
It was my thought too, but I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking it.
“And how will we do that?” Aiko says. “Maybe Reece and I could get past that army using stealth, but what about the rest of us?”
We all go quiet for a moment more.
Finally, Gilly speaks, her eyes squinted contemplatively. “Hey, Aiko, you really sure Braxus would surround us and lay siege to this place?”
“If he sees us in here, yeah,” she says with a shrug. “For sure.”
“Good,” Gilly says with a grin and then steps towards the burrow of the giant worm. “Because I think I just figured out how we can get past that army.”
* * *
Gilly runs us through her plan and it sounds brilliant to me, but it’s not without its problems.
“Burrow underneath them while they lay siege to the keep?” Maxis is already shaking his head. “That’s going from staying in a deathtrap to making a deathtrap.”
“What?” Gilly protests, looking flustered. “It can work. We can do it! The keep has access to a forge. I can switch to Blacksmith and build all kinds of defenses. Catapults. Ballistas—”
“Ballistae,” Rembrandt corrected.
“Ballistae,” Gilly continued without missing a beat. “Even cannons! And with Miner I can make a drilling machine. I’m telling you this can work, you guys.”
Maxis looks to Val Helena, Aiko and Becky. “What do you guys think? You’ve lived out here longer than all of us. Is what she’s saying possible?”
Val Helena wobbles her head a bit, looking unsure.
“I’ve done plenty of town building,” the giantess says. “And yes, it’s possible, but I’m not sure about the time frame. That’s the risk here. And we have no people to run this place. We need bodies to do all this stuff and it’s not like we’re going to attract freelance soldiers in the middle of a blizzard.”
“How many do we need?” Rembrandt says.
“What?” Aiko says.
“Soldiers.”
Val Helena shrugs. “As many as possible?”
Rembrandt flashes with a swirl of nano-dust that slowly climbs his body.
His clothes don’t change much. The trenchcoat remains, but underneath, his hard tactical armor is replaced by a black silk shirt and red tie. The transformation completes, leaving a stylish black fedora on his head.
What the heck kind of class is that…?
I t
ake a look.
Rembrandt Level 85 Negotiator
HP: 663/663
Stamina: 232/232 (Exhaustion: -75% Max Stamina)
TP: 1025/1025
He snaps his fingers, activating an ability.
Rembrandt uses Contract.
A Foot Soldier is summoned via Contract!
Next to him a near-identical clone of himself forms from thin air.
“Whoa!” Gilly says, her eyes wide. “Cool! Is that guy real?”
Rembrandt chuckles, glancing at his mirror image. “I don’t know. I never used this ability outside of the Crystal Shards. They were pretty mindless back there.”
The newcomer doesn’t speak, but stands at ease next to Rembrandt.
Name: Foot Soldier 1
Level: 80
Class: Gunslinger
“They’re more like an extension of me,” Rembrandt says.
“Like multitasking,” Foot Soldier 1 finishes the sentence for him.
That gets a nervous laugh from everyone.
“How many of those can you summon?” Gilly asks.
Rembrandt and his clone shrug in unison. “About twenty. They get weaker the more I make however.”
“So long as they can hold a hammer, I don’t think it matters,” Gilly says, her big green eyes lighting up. “We can so do this now, guys! Twenty more labor units? Plus force-nano building? We can defend this place while we dig. I know we can.”
Aiko shakes her head and opens her mouth to say something, but Becky quickly raises a finger to stop her.
“Okay, let’s not keep arguing out here,” Becky says. “None of it will matter if we freeze to death out here first, right?”
“Fair point,” Aiko concedes, folding her arm. “Okay, we can decide what we need to do later. So what do we need to do now to secure this place?”