by Galen Wolf
That’s thirty points. I’m not sure what cobalt and sulphur do, so I check the skill description on my HUD.
And for sulphur:
Sulphur when mixed with a base metal, adds 5 heat resistance to a piece of armour.
Not that I have yet found any cobalt or sulphur but that looks pretty interesting.
That leaves me with seventy skill points. I scan through the skill lists. Bernard says, “The coals are white now.” I can see he’s sweating from the exertion of pumping the bellows, but I’m taken up with my thoughts.
“Just a sec.”
Bernard rolls his eyes.
I’m not sure what I want to spend points on, then I see Haggling. I check the progression and decide to spend fifteen points.
That means I have fifty-five points left so I put them into Dodge. That gives me a Dodge rating of 75 in total.
“Ready yet?”
I smile. “Yeah. Thanks so much.”
I put the copper ore into a bowl and hold it with tongs and then place the bowl into the coals. I pick up my helmet mould and watch as the metal in the ore liquifies and drains into the mould.
Of course it’s much simplified compared with real life, but I get a buzz of satisfaction as I see the 3d mould crack apart and reveal a basic metal helmet shape.
The mould is now gone. Looks like I’ll need a new mould for each casting, though maybe more expensive moulds can be used more times.
Bernard is still pumping. “Any more?”
“Nah, that’s it.”
“That’s it? You got me to do all the work for one casting?”
“I only had one piece of ore. But I’m really grateful. If I can do anything for you, you know I will.”
Bernard stops with the bellows and exhales grumpily. He wipes his forehead with a smoke stained handkerchief.
I use the tongs to place the helmet in a barrel of water that hisses in protest as I dunk the heated metal.
Then I put the helmet on.
It all helps. “Let’s go back.”
The village is still shimmering in dark energy. Even though we drove them off, Alston still lies within the realm of the Evil One. They’ll be back.
At least the protective field around Ninian’s chapel still stands.
We go inside.
Gearhart says, “I like your helmet.”
“Thanks.”
“Where’ve you been?” Adele asks.
Luc smiles. “Looks like Gorrow’s been casting. It’s a good career for many.”
I almost hear the undertone — but not for a knight... Then I think I’m being oversensitive. But I know what I’m doing. I know what I want from the game.
“So what’s the plan?” Bernard asks Luc. He sounds tetchy.
Luc points at one of the monks. “He’s got a quest. Makes sense to do that one while we’re up here.”
“Okay,” I say. We go over to the brown clad friar. We activate the quest interaction speech.
“Alston still lies in great danger,” he says. “The enemies are so close and they still claim the village.”
I’m about to ask a question when Adele puts her finger to her lips. “Sshh.”
I almost blush.
The monk goes on, “If you were to destroy their unholy altar, that would drive back their influence and Alston would be free. Would you accept that quest?”
I look around. We all seem up for it. I nod.
I hit accept before the others do.
“Which direction?” I ask the monk.
“East.”
7
The Quest of the Unholy Altar
The Quest of the Unholy Altar
We march east from Alston through the haze of evil influence and soon we’ve left the village behind and are in a wilderness of rushes and bogland that stretches to the horizon.
“We’re still within the black curtain,” Bernard says. “Any clues where to go?”
Gearhart steps up. He ponders the ground, goes on one knee, even brings two fingers to his nose to sniff the earth.
“Enemy troops have been this way, not too long ago.”
“The ones we fought in the village?” I ask.
Gearhart nods. “That would be my guess. From the tracks, they were in a hurry and not marching in any order. Looks like they were fleeing.”
“You put skill points into tracking I take it?”
Gearhart smiles and stands. “Of course, I’m a ranger!”
Luc’s horse’s bridle jingles. “Let’s get moving.”
Bernard scowls and meets my eyes. I say nothing. I have no axe to grind with Luc. He’s not bad at what he does and he’s loyal to the king as far as I can tell.
We go on another mile. A hen harrier quarters the ground to our right looking for rodents.
Adele sees me looking. “Magnificent aren’t they?”
Gearhart to our right raises his bow.
“Don’t you dare!” Adele yells. I can’t tell whether Gearhart was seriously going to shoot the bird, or whether he was just winding Adele up. We move on.
I see lots of side tracks going off into moorland. Some of them seem to lead to small outcrops of rock but I can’t see clearly from the path. Then we pass a closer one. It looks like a mine adit.
Bernard says, “Alston is famous for its mines. The most lucrative ones are the silver mines, but they mine everything up here. Or they used to.”
I nod. “It looks abandoned.”
Luc turns. “When the dark came, they fled. The mines are up for grabs here now their rightful owners have gone.”
I ponder. “But if we clear out the dark, then someone could claim the mines.”
Bernard laughs. “You put all those skills into mining. I thought they were wasted because most mines are already claimed.”
“But not here.”
I like the idea of being on the eastern outpost of the realm. From what I hear the dark has been sweeping across the country like a tide and doesn’t plant to stop until it’s driven us into the western sea. I imagine setting myself up a tower and becoming a margrave of the realm, holding back the heathens and devil worshippers. But of course, I need money to build the tower with. That’s where the mine comes in. But it’s a pipe dream so far. I have 58 groats only.
We’re going along the bottom of a narrow valley when Luc stops. “There’s something fishy here.”
Then the first dark feathered arrows rain down.
I put the wooden shield above my head.
“Get to cover,” yells Bernard.
Adele points. “They’re up there.” Dark armoured warriors line the tops of the hills on either side on the narrow defile. I run into the cover of some overhanging rocks, but not before getting hit.
My improved armour is reducing my dodge. I sip a Health (30) and am back up to full, though the potion is on cool-down. I wedge myself into the rocks and arrows miss me, but I’m in a predicament because I have no ranged weapon.
“What are Dwemmers?” I yell over to Bernard.
“Goblinoid archers. Meaner than boggarts by a long way.” He pauses to throw a flask of alchemist’s fire which arcs and hits one of the Dwemmers, setting it afire. At least some of us can fight back.
I see Luc has a bow which he is shooting up at the Dwemmers on the top opposite. Adele is firing bolts of light from her hands. I see one of the Dwemmers go down. Why isn’t Gearhart firing? He’s the natural one to fight these guys.
Luc yells, “Gea
rhart, if you wouldn’t mind. We could use your help.”
And then the ranger joins the fight. I’m mainly just shielding myself. I get hit again, but heal up again. Then all the Dwemmers are dead.
I feel slightly embarrassed at getting any xp at all from that fight. Archery is another skill I need to add to my list. We make our way onward.
Gearhart is ahead of us, keeping himself to himself. I’m beside Bernard. The alchemist twists his mouth. “Funny how Gearhart didn’t fight back until he’s told.”
I give the alchemist a look. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You must mean something by that.”
“No.” He pauses. “Just watch your back.”
He won’t say any more so we walk on in silence. We are still surrounded by the evil haze. Then we stop. Luc has seen something. “Over there. There’s a village.”
I look where he’s indicating and see a cluster of buildings. They are crudely built huts daubed with pitch. They don’t look anything like the buildings of Alston or the villages we’ve come through. There is a temple in the middle of the village with a spire and on the spire is an upside down pentagram.
“The sign of Satanus.” Bernard says. “That’s a goblinoid village.”
“Do you know what it’s called?”
Adele turns from watching Luc. “Carrionburg, they’re calling it now. It used to be called Allendale when it was inhabited by humans. The altar will be in there, in the temple.”
“I’m guessing it’ll be guarded.”
“You bet,” Adele says smiling. “Still, I expect that doesn’t put off a brave young warrior like yourself.”
I scratch my neck. “So we attack?”
Adele says, “No point waiting until night. They can see in the dark better than we can. We’ll get close and buff up, then go in.”
She goes to seek Luc’s permission for the plan and I see him nod. She comes back with a grim smile. “You’re bound in Alston?”
I nod.
“The rest of us are bound in Croglin. So if we all die, we’ll be separated. You just wait in St Ninian’s chapel and stay safe until we get back.”
“You’re expecting us to die?”
She hesitates. “No, of course not. But we might. This will be tough.”
“What if they attack the chapel when I’m waiting? We only just held them off last time.”
She puts her hand on my arm. “Don’t worry, Gorrow. We’ll be fine. Have you ever died before?”
I shake my head.
“It’s not so bad.”
From behind us, Luc says, “Let’s move out.”
I watch Gearhart. It’s true, he’s been very quiet recently. Not like his old chatty self. I wonder if there’s something up.
Luc dismounts and leads his horse. There’s a dip before we get to the village. The village itself is built on a hill. In the dead ground, Herbert offers me a sip of his holy potion. I take it and add +5 to my damage.
Adele kneels down in prayer and we join her. Suddenly I get a +5 to hit and +5 holy damage from a buff called Nun’s Blessing (Level 2). I look at my sword — it has the snowflakes from the permanent St Ninian blessing, a white cloudy effect from the holy potion and a scintillating gold from the Nun’s Blessing.
“This will make stealth difficult,” I say.
Luc says, “Hiding and skulking are not the way of the warrior. We leave that to rogues and rangers.” He smiles at Gearhart but Gearhart doesn’t smile back. He’s definitely preoccupied with something.
Luc claps me on the back. “Come, Gorrow. You and I will lead the fight. Adele behind us to heal and Gearhart and Bernard on the flanks.”
Bernard grunts. Gearhart doesn’t say anything. We walk up the slope and are now in clear sight of the village. A shout goes up from the Dwemmer guards.
We walk on. The first arrows whoosh by us, embedding themselves uselessly in the soft boggy ground. Luc jumps up on his saddle, and his horse begins to canter. Adele and I have to jog to keep up.
More arrows. One hits Luc but they all miss me. We’re about twenty yards now from the barricades that sound Carrionburg. Luc yells out his battle cry and spurs his horse into a gallop. I run crying out my own words.
I see an alchemist’s flask full of green acid fly over my head and hit the barricade. Luc is at full gallop. Just when I think he’s about to hit the wooden wall, the horse leaps and he’s over and among them, slashing about him with his holy sword.
Adele has her mace out and I’m breathing hard, sprinting for the wooden wall. It’s only around four feet high. I get to it and hack it down to make it easier for my party to get through.
There are boggarts and boggle sergeants as well as Dwemmers. A Dwemmer fires at me and hits me for 30. Then a boggart engages me and I cut him down. A boggle sergeant lunges from nowhere and hits me.
I counter with a jab.
Four more jabs and he’s dead.
If I meet tougher opponents, they are going to hit me every time. There’s a skillset called Shieldwork which gives a percentage chance to block blows. Then again, I could always invest in Dodge. Or bulk up my armour.
I push my way through into the village. The boggarts are little trouble to me now. I also manage to deal with the boggles. The Dwemmers are tougher and I get hit by their arrows as I follow Luc into the village. I sip potion and at one point Pray for a couple of minutes, behind a wall to regenerate some more health while the potion is on cool down. It’s not much but it helps.
Bernard catches up with me. “Where’s Gearhart?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Dunno. Come on let’s catch up with Luc and Adele.”
We’re into the precinct of the evil chapel now. Luc and Adele are waiting for us but no Gearhart. Luc dismounts. “I hope my horse will be safe, but I can’t ride him into there.”
Dark armoured figures cluster at the chapel door. There are Dwemmers and I see a larger monster. My recticle tells me it’s a Level 9 Hobgoblin Warrior. Beside it is a Level 8 Hobgoblin Warlock. As if to emphasise the point a bolt of dark energy sears over our heads. I look to Luc. “Go?”
He nods. The two of us rush forward side by side. Luc must look the bigger threat because he takes a bolt of warlock energy in his chest. He grunts and pauses then runs on, sipping a potion. Arrows clatter into me, chipping down my health.
“Get the warlock first,” Luc mutters.
Adele is behind us. She fires a bolt of light energy at the warlock and I see she’s blinded him.
I rush the warlock and bring my sword down on him for 15. Then the Hobgoblin Warrior barges me aside. I turn to face him, shield up sword level. I don’t need all the combat scroll so I try a voice command. “Brief” I bark out.
The game understands me.
He smashes me down.
Okay, this could get nasty. I sip potion and am back up to 110.
I can’t sip any more potion because it’s on cool-down. I’m aware of the fight going on around me but I have to concentrate on this fight or I’ll die.
Thank the Lord for that but I don’t think it’ll be enough.
Potion’s off cool-down, so I hurriedly sip it, taking me to 80 then he hits me again and I go down. I’m on my knees in the mud. If he hits me this time I’ll be 0 and go unconscious.
Then I feel a glow of energy.
Very welcome. Me and the hobgoblin go another round, but I’m still losing here. I’m hardly even causing a dent in him. Then Luc thrusts his sword into the hobgoblin from behind, and my opponent falls dead.
Adele hits me with another heal. I see that, pretty much without my help, my friends have broken into the evil chapel. We’re all at the door except Gearhart. I turn and see him at the gate to the chapel precinct. I wave but he doesn’t wave back.
The chapel is made a dark basalt with highlights in black obsidian glass. The red candle flames glint, reflected all around. At the far end is an altar pulsing with evil. It’s made of a huge block of obsidian and inlaid in amethyst are curses in the witches alphabet.
“Let’s go for the altar,” Luc says.
We’re halfway along the nave when a great figure of black emerges in a billow of smoke. It is manlike with a pale face and long white fangs.
“Oh dear,” Adele says. “A vampire.”
I scan it.
I’m level 3! What chance do we have?
Then there’s noise at the door and we turn to see a group of unfamiliar people. They look like players except they’re wearing black armour. Their swords are sheathed in waves of negative energy. I recognise the symbol on their chests. It’s the Fangs of Koth — the evil players guild. We are stuck between the vampire and the Fangs of Koth. Then someone steps forward from the Fangs. It’s Gearhart. But he’s not fighting them.
Adele realises before I do. “You traitor!” she yells.
Gearhart shrugs. “Sorry guys. They made me a better offer.” Then he laughs. “Anyway, I’ve always wanted to be evil. It seems like more fun.”
Behind us Luc is fighting the vampire. Good as he is, it’s obvious he’s outclassed. Adele rushes to help him. That leaves me and Bernard facing the Fangs.