Conrad suddenly realizes what the Lucious is planning to do. “Wait! Wesley is still on the bridge!” he yells out, and starts to move towards the mage. Before he can reach Lucious and shake the mage violently to interrupt the spell, Lucious clicks the “Enter” icon and finishes casting the spell.
Crackle! A bolt of lightning crashes from the sky in a brilliant flash of light, and hits the wall of piranhas. BBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM! The thunder bolt dances across the bridge, jumping from one living creature to the next and hitting every creature on the bridge. Ccchhhheeeee! The bolt jumps off the bridge and electrifies the surrounding water.
“Augh!” Wesley yells out in pain as the character is seared by the powerful lightning bolt, and the pain feedback loop hits the player's hands via his virtual reality gloves. The cavalier drops down to his hands and knees on the bridge, vaguely aware of the charred fish surrounding him on the bridge.
Conrad sees his fallen leader, and twirls on the mage with unbridled rage. The barbarian grabs Lucious by his collar and pulls the battle mage off the ground. “Are you crazy!” Conrad yells into the mage's face. If Wesley's character dies from this spell, I’m going to teach this treacherous yellow bastard a lesson!
Lucious stares back into Conrad's eyes defiantly, not at all surprised by the big man’s anger. The old man is like Conrad’s daddy or something, the battle mage smirks and begins to explain his action on the bridge. “Wesley was surrounded on the narrow bridge. There was no way for him to move across while the school of piranhas was still alive. I used a relatively low damage inflicting spell to clear out these critters,” he calmly explains.
“What about Wesley, huh? Is he just collateral damage to you? ” the barbarian spits out. “You don’t purposely hit your teammates in the crossfire!”
The mage shakes his head, and wipes away the spittle on his face with his sleeve. “The Chain Lightning spell won't inflict enough damage to kill him. Give the old man more credit than that,” he smirks.
Diana puts her hand on top of Conrad's. “Just let him go and help Wesley get off the bridge,” she suggests softly.
The barbarian turns his menacing, ogre-like eyes, and stares at her.
The priestess stares back, refusing to yield even an inch.
After a long moment of silence, Conrad's eyes finally soften, and he nods in agreement. Conrad lets go of the errant mage like a piece of filthy trash, and the barbarian jumps back onto the bridge. Half-running across the bridge, he makes his way to Wesley, who is still on his hands and knees. The barbarian takes out his ivory club and knocks the charred fish back into the water, clearing a path towards his fallen comrade.
“That was a dangerous trick you just pulled,” Diana comments frostily as she stands next to Lucious. She could understand the logic behind his spell, and the priestess has no doubt that Wesley would agree with it even. Still the mage needs to communicate his plans with the party, especially a sensitive guy like Conrad.
Lucious looks at Diana, and notes the lack of anger on her face. “There was no other choice,” he replies softly. “Either we abandon Wesley on the bridge, or we clear out the piranhas blocking the path AND deal with whatever else is still in the water. I chose not to abandon him. And with one mid level offensive spell, I took out one hundred piranhas, both on the bridge and in the water. The lightning bolt electrified the moat, and killed off the rest of the piranhas that hadn't joined the party on the bridge. The experience points we just received brought us a lot closer to the next level. I firmly believe I made the right decision,” he crosses his arms across his chest, waiting for her to argue otherwise.
Diana gives him a sour look, and decides to bite back a reply on her lips. She checks her player journal log, and confirms the hundred kills, giving each party member a hefty amount of experience points for this encounter.
Seeing no retort forthcoming, Lucious continues. “If you ask me though, I think the game designers are sick puppies. How the heck are players supposed to hack-and-slash their way across the moat? This encounter with piranhas guarding the moat is impossible to advance without magic. If you try to swim through the water, the piranhas will detect your presence in the water and quickly surround you. If you use the rotted wood to make a bridge, the bridge won't last long enough for all party members to cross. Even if you use a spell like water walking, you still have to contend with the piranhas; once the spell caster is bitten, he will lose his focus and the spell will be dissipated.” The mage rubs the day old whiskers on his chin. “I guess you could try fishing the piranhas out, if you knew they were there in the first place. But it could take a few days to get them all out of the water. And that would put the party far behind the others teams competing to finish the campaign first.” There are player teams that comprise entirely of non-magic users. Lucious can’t see them getting across the moat without, say, an engineer pumping all the water out of the moat and then sweeping all the landlocked fishes aside to clear a path.
“Lucious, Wesley is not getting up. Let's go back on the bridge and see what's going on,” Diana interrupts the mage's monologue. She has been watching the duo on the bridge, and seeing the knight still on his hands and knees is worrisome.
The mage smacks his forehead to bring himself back to the present; he has a bad tendency to day dream at the worst possible moments. “Sorry. Let's go over there.” He hops onto the bridge after the priestess, and starts making his way to the center of the bridge, where the knight is still down on all four. “What's going on?” he asks.
Conrad is kneeling in front of the fallen knight. He looks up at Lucious. “The joints on his armor hardened a bit, and he's stuck in that position right now.” He points at the blackened section of the right shoulder joint in the armor emphasis.
“Gahahah,” the mage guffaws, and quickly covers his mouth. The joints got burned by his lightning bolt and locked in place!
Wesley raises his head, and throws the battle mage a dirty look.
“So what are YOU going to do about it?” Diana asks while shooting daggers at Lucious' back. He put Wesley into this predicament; he will get the knight out of it. Or else.
“Oh, let me see,” the mage ponders aloud nonchalantly. “Ol' tin man here just needs a lil' oil. Let me find some.” He unties the tiny pouch from his belt, and sticks his left arm into the Bag of Holding. The enchanted bag had cost Lucious a ton of money to purchase from the Mage Guild, but it’s a godsend for mages and enchanters who rely on spell components to cast spells. The Bag of Holding allows the player to pull up a special screen on his visor, tap on the desired item, and pull the item quickly from the bag. The only problem with a Bag of Holding is that the user can only pull one type of item at a time, rather than multiple different items. After a moment the battle mage pulls out a lump of butter. “Ta-dah! Anyone got a match?” Lucious asks with a flourish. However, he sees that no one is impressed with his antics.
Conrad reaches inside his left leather boot, and pulls a small box of matches out of a hidden compartment inside his foot wear. Tchik! He expertly strikes a match and lights it.
“Thanks,” Lucious says as he takes the stick of match and puts it near the lump of butter to melt the butter. The heat from the open fire starts to soften the lump. “Once the butter is melted, I will smear it over the joints of the armor. It'll take only a minute.”
“Why would you carry a lump of butter anyway?” Diana asks.
“It's a spell component for the entry level grease spell,” the battle mage replies.
“To make the floor slippery?” the priestess inquires, trying to imagine what else a lump of butter would be go for.
“Yup. Works great on staircases, especially when big, dumb monsters are chasing you up the stairs,” Lucious winks his eye at her as he pantomimes smearing the lump of butter all over the steps.
Diana rolls her eyes.
“It looks soft enough,” Conrad interrupts the banter. He takes the butter roughly out of Lucious' hand, and starts smearing it over the join
ts in Wesley's armor. He wants to free Wesley from his metal cage as soon as possible. Conrad knows that the position is not comfortable, even though the old marine would not voice his complaint over it.
“You're welcome,” the mage mouths the words softly, not willing to argue with the big man over the mage’s rough treatment.
The barbarian hears the softly spoken words, but pointedly ignores the mage.
Diana shakes her head at Lucious. She doesn't want Lucious to antagonize the barbarian any further. She will admit that the lightning strike was necessary to kill off all the piranhas, and she couldn’t offer an alternative to achieve the same goal. However, she could also understand why Conrad is still mad at the mage for pulling this dangerous stunt. In essence, the barbarian is questioning the young mage’s sense of loyalty to his team mates. If Lucious is willing to sacrifice a member of the team so early in the campaign, what will he give up when the success of the mission is on the line? She does not want to find out.
“Can you move your elbow?” Conrad asks.
Creak. The knight pulls his right hand off the ground. “Yeah, it's working,” Wesley says, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. His old body is sore from staying stuck in that position for several minutes.
The barbarian assiduously continues to rub the lump of melted butter over the joints in the armor, all the while trying to maintain an expressionless demeanor.
Wesley speaks up suddenly. “You can laugh if you want.”
Conrad grins, not surprised at all that his leader could see right through Conrad and read his hidden emotional state. “I would if those two kids aren't watching. Someone has to play adult here,” he replies. “Are you angry at Lucious?” he asks, curious as to the military’s take on the young man’s actions.
“Am I angry at Lucious for hitting me with his offensive spell along with the piranhas on the bridge?” Wesley infers.
“Yeah,” the barbarian replies as he continues oiling the joints in the armor.
Wesley raises his head, and looks Conrad in the eyes. “Not really. Back when I was a Marine, countless people made the ultimate sacrifice and I was a beneficiary a number of times. Yeah, I shouldn't be comparing real life to an online game; but the principle is the same.” Wesley turns his head to look over at Lucious. “Our battle mage is a sharp kid. He considered the amount of damage that the spell would inflict if I got caught in the crossfire, and figured that I would survive. However, my equipment is another story,” he smiles wryly. He holds up a hand to stop Conrad from rubbing the almost depleted lump of oil. “I should be good to go now.” Creak, creak, creak. The knight finally gets off the ground. “Thanks, man. Now go wash your hand. You wouldn't want your club to slip from your grasp during combat,” he jokes.
Conrad pictures the scenario in his mind, and makes a face. He walks over to the edge of the water, and sticks his right hand into the foul water. “Here, catch,” a voice calls out from behind. The barbarian turns around, and catches something tossed to him. Holding it in his left hand, he sees that it is a bar of soap. Using the soap, he gets the oil off his hand, and wipes his wet hands on his dark brown short leather trunks.
“Are you alright?” Diana asks as she approaches the knight.
Wesley smiles kindly at her. She means to ask if I need any healing from her. He draws his sword at raises it high above his head. He ignores the squeaky sounds from his joints. “I can still fight. Save you mana.”
“Good,” the mage interrupts the two. “Let's go find the entrance to that castle,” Lucious sticks a thumb in the direction of Castle Eternia.
“Roger that,” Wesley replies as he slides his long sword back in his scabbard.
Chapter 3 – Castle Eternia
“So this is the entrance,” Lucious says while staring at the doorway in front of the party. The double doors are solid metal, and stands approximately twenty feet tall and eight feet wide. The doors curve upwards until the left and right sides meet at a pointed spire. The archway is lined with indecipherable words of a long forgotten language.
“Yup,” Conrad replies. He had circled around the perimeters of the castle to see if there is another way to get inside. Despite the eroding exterior, the scout had found no other doors, or obvious entrance. If there is another way in, it is well hidden by magic.
Wesley pulls on the large door handle with his gauntlet-covered hand, and it would not budge. He looks at the mage expectantly.
“Let me try an Open Lock spell,” Lucious says as he elbows the knight aside. He touches the keyhole under the handle with a fingertip, and uses a command word: “cadabra!” The mage's extended finger starts to glow with magical energy. The purple light radiates with power as the battle mage feeds his mana into the spell. Abruptly the light is extinguished. Sllluuurppp!
The surprised party looks at the battle mage with bewilderment, wondering if this is the proper effect of a spell that they have seen him cast countless times before.
The mage narrows his eyes in frustration and frowns, as a nagging suspicion begins to develop in his mind. Let's try the spell again, he thinks to himself, and casts the Open Lock spell a second time. “Cadabra!” Sllluuurppp. Lucious pulls the hood of his cloak a bit lower over his face as he grinds his molars. “Unbelievable,” he mutters under his breath as he stares at the keyhole.
The party continues to stare at him, awaiting an explanation for the apparent failure of the spell.
Lucious stares at the lock as he rakes his mind for a way to remove the spell absorption effect on the door. His mind a thousand miles away, the mage remains silent and oblivious to the rest of his party.
Seeing no explanation forthcoming, Diana exhales loudly and speaks up. I might as well get this over with, she thinks sourly. The priestess asks Lucious bluntly, “What happened with the lock?”
The battle mage grinds his teeth again, and turns to face her. “The game designers at EDE really went all out with this challenge to us players. They put an anti-magic effect on the door,” he reveals.
“Anti-magic effect?" the priestess echoes him. "Is that the sucking sound we heard?” Diana follows up, beginning to understand her companion's obvious frustration with the door.
“Yes,” the spell caster confirms. “Apparently the designers want us to open the door the old fashioned way. Anyone proficient in picking locks?” the mage looks at the melee fighters hopefully. Perhaps one of these fellas developed a sub-class in thievery, he thinks.
“Knights don't pick locks,” Wesley replies frostily, offended by the notion of a proud knight stooping so low as to learn thievery skills. As a cavalier, he strives to lead by example, and perform feats of bravery and swordsmanship. The game does not provide enough skill points at character level advancement for him to experiment on other skill sets, particularly outside his class professional, and pay double skill points for them.
“Me neither,” Conrad shakes his head in bemusement, as the image of his brawny barbarian character fiddling with tiny lock picks pops inside his head. “So it has to be physical means to open the door?” he asks.
“Yes sir,” Lucious replies sheepishly with a shrug. “We could either pick open the lock on the door, or try to break the door down. But I don't know if even you would have the strength to accomplish that feat,” the mage answers as he eyes the barbarian's muscular physique with envy. "The game designers probably made the door resistant to physical attacks as well," he speculates.
"You never know until you try," Conrad admonishes the young man with a grin.
“I could cast an Enhance Strength prayer on Conrad,” Diana offers. “The spell will raise his player strength attribute by fifty percent for sixty seconds.”
“I'm also wearing a Ring of Giant Strength,” the barbarian adds, while pointing at the earring hanging below his left ear lobe. "I don't know how the game will recalculate my strength attribute, but I am sure the door is not meant to withstand that kind of physical trauma."
“Let's do it,” Wesley n
ods in agreement.
The priestess holds the cross necklace hanging around her neck with her left hand. She reaches with her right hand to touch Conrad's shoulder and closes her eyes in prayer: “Oh most glorious Gods of Eternia, Let your awe inspiring Might flow freely within your Servant, To perform worthy deeds in your names. Amen.” A light starts emanating from her hand. Abruptly the light envelopes Conrad, causing his already muscular body to thicken and increase even further in muscle mass.
“Oh yeah!” the barbarian whoops as he feels the tremendous surge of energy coursing through his veins, demanding release. Pulling out his trusty club, he stands before the great door. Striking his familiar hitter's pose at the plate, he unleashes a powerful swing at the door.
BOOM! The blow reverberates throughout the entire castle, to the very ground the party stands on.
“Great! We just announced ourselves as uninvited house guests,” Lucious quips to no one in particular. He knows The Strangers have no alternative but to smash the door down since no one in the party can pick the locks, but nonetheless he doesn’t have to like it.
“Only because your magic won't work on the door,” Diana replies without missing a beat, relishing the opportunity to pour salt on his wound.
The battle mage scowls at her retort, and says nothing in return.
Ignoring the banter behind his back, the barbarian resets himself for a second strike with his ivory club. BOOM! He pauses for a moment to check his weapon, and confirms that it is undamaged by the contact with the door. I love my club, he grins.
“I see a crack on the door!” Wesley notes. Despite his age, he retains his sharp eyesight, and has been keeping his eyes on the door, particularly the area of the door under assault. “Keep going before the spell runs out!” he urges.
Conrad tightens his grip on his club, and strikes at the imposing door repeatedly. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! With one last exhale of air from his lungs, the barbarian slams the door with all his might. CRASH! The door is finally knocked off its hinges, and strikes the ground with a loud “thud!” Physically exhausted, the barbarian goes down on one knee, holding himself up by leaning on the club. Each attack sucks a portion of his stamina. When the stamina bar is reduced to zero, like now, the melee player gets a biofeedback loop similar to that of the spell caster emptying out his mana pool. Like Lucious when he drained his mana pool to create a bridge across the moat, Conrad is also feeling dizzy as blinding light shines into his eyes.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 3