“Do you have anything else for us?” Sola said.
“I can’t see what the others of the Pantheon are doing. I know that they will be working to make their own Weapons of Power, Creatures of Power, and swaying people to be their paladins. The Dwarves and a good amount of the Elves have stopped worshiping them and that is going to lead to quite a few problems. I will help as much as possible but I am trying to look after all of Emerilia. Now is not the time to start fights with your neighbors. You’re going to need one another more than ever. Remind the lords of this.” Bob’s voice was serious for the first time; all of the Dwarves listened to him as it turned cold. “If they don’t listen, then tell them that I will visit them. Do not abuse your power but look out for Emerilia. You have been secluded in your mountains for generations. That separation has created walls, both physical and societal. Send out your people more. Get those smithies working and ready yourselves for war. Meet and greet your allies. Broker peace in readiness of war.”
The room was quiet as the reality of what was coming started to settle in. Here the creature who had created Emerilia was telling them that a war was coming.
I wonder how the hell it’s going to change Emerilia? Dave thought.
Chapter 32: Tools and A Mission
Deia heard someone entering her room. She quickly got out of the shower, grabbing her dagger as she moved to the door and wrapping a towel around her as she went.
“Don’t stab me,” Dave said through the bathroom door.
Deia pulled it open. Dave stood in her room, with a tired smile on his face and all of his gear.
“Dave!” She ran and jumped, colliding with him and wrapping her legs around him. He staggered back; his arms wrapped around her as she kissed him hungrily. She hadn’t seen him in weeks and it had weighed on her heavily. “How did it go?” She pulled away.
Dave grinned and pulled out his necklace. On it there were eight different materials, including Mithril.
“Babe, that’s great!” She kissed him again as he pulled something else out. She looked at it, confused by the badge. “What is it?”
“It’s the sigil of Anvil and Fire, showing that I am a Dwarven Master Smith.” Dave smiled, clearly proud.
“I knew you could do it.” Deia smiled, joining in on his moment, proud and happy for him.
“Now, it doesn’t look like you finished showering.” Dave walked toward the shower, which was still running.
“What are you doing?” She laughed as he dropped his bag of holding and pulled her towel off. She didn’t have time to do anything but pout as he walked straight into the shower, getting soaked in his clothes, still carrying her. She laughed, happy to have him back.
“Do you need to do anything else?” she asked as he pressed her up against the wall of the shower.
“Nope. I am free and clear. We can go and join up with the Stone Raiders whenever we want.” Dave smiled.
“Good. Then we need to make up for lost time.” She kissed him and drew him closer to her. His beard brushed her skin as she pulled his clothes off and her fingers ran over his tattoos and runes.
***
“Suz, catch!”
Suzy looked around at the familiar tone as a black core flew in the air toward her.
“Oof! Dammit, Dave! It’s heavy as hell!” she complained, putting the metal core down.
“Good thing I made three more of them.” Dave walked into the training square. Deia gave him a kiss on the cheek and moved toward Induca and Anna, pulling her new blades out to show them.
Suzy studied the core as Alkao moved over in interest.
“You must be Alkao. Good to meet you.” Dave held out his hand for the Demon Prince.
“You must be the smith,” Alkao said, not moving to shake Dave’s hand.
“Ye-up.” Dave pulled his hand back.
“Do you have my weapons?” Alkao demanded.
Dave frowned as Suzy stood up.
“Alkao, why you being such a prick?” Suzy asked.
“He is no warrior. Smiths just sit in the rear, making weapons so that others can kill one another. They profit from war while others give their lives to defend their people.” Alkao sneered at Dave.
Dave turned to Suzy, as if leaving Alkao out of the conversation. “I do have something for you, bit of a second-hand—”
“I’m talking to you, Smith. You better go in there and make me some weapons or else I will personally start—”
It was Dave’s turn to interrupt Alkao. “Abscondita.” Dave’s armor appeared over his body as he raised his hand toward Alkao.
“You dare to challenge—”
Metal erupted out of the ground and wrapped around Alkao in thick bands before he was able to do anything. Alkao pressed against it but the metal became tighter and thicker as runes appeared on its outside. A band of metal moved around his mouth.
“Is he always this rude?” Dave asked.
“Usually he’s a decent enough sort, crude but honorable. Guess he doesn’t act that way if he thinks anyone is less than him.” Suzy shook her head. “Sorry about that, Dave. Thought that he would want to make allies instead of ostracize his people.”
Dave took out a large shield and a blade from his pack, holding his hand to them before he tossed them at Alkao’s feet.
“I added in runes that if you attack someone first with these, then they will backlash on you. Suzy convinced me to make these items so that you could help your people out. I don’t want to deal with your rudeness. I might be a smith, but a smith is not all I am.” Dave shook his head. “There are always arrogant pricks no matter where you go.”
“Sorry, Dave. I didn’t know that he was without honor. You think someone who strived to be something other than what they were created for wouldn’t just attack someone for their profession—would stain my honor just fighting beside him.” Suzy looked to Alkao. She respected Dave and he had gone to great lengths to make the shield and blade for Alkao.
Alkao looked away, as if trying to get away from the look of disdain in her eyes.
***
They were all sitting in a tavern at a table near the back, having beers and eating food as they planned out what they wanted to do.
“Okay, so there are three main options. One—we meet up with the Stone Raiders again, going full bore training, raiding and improving on our martial skills and such. Two—we go straight to Per’ush or some of the reputable mages colleges to learn from them. Third—we adventure on our own to check out Emerilia.” Deia looked to everyone.
“Well, the mages colleges can wait. With the creatures that are going to be released in a year, I think it would be best if we met up with the Stone Raiders again and get some training in,” Malsour said.
Anna smiled to herself. She had come back to Emerilia with one purpose: to save her friends and her people from an oppression that they didn’t even know. She had started off as an AI that ran Emerilia, but now—now she was a Person of Emerilia and she couldn’t just sit back and see all of these things happen to those that she cared for.
“So, what does everyone say?” Deia looked around.
“I vote option numero uno,” Dave said.
“I agree,” Anna said, excited to use her training. They had been working on different skills for months now. She was eager to get into a big fight. From what she had seen and read, it looked as if the Stone Raiders were magnets for trouble.
“I want to see a plasma cannon in action.” Induca smiled.
Deia rolled her eyes as Malsour sighed.
“I was told to watch out for my little sister, so I guess I agree,” Malsour said. Over the months that they had been together, Malsour had really come out of his shell. Anna could see that he loved his books still and liked to have some peace from the world, though this little group had roped him in and drawn him out of his reclusive ways.
“I agree. Well then, I’ll send a message to Josh and see where they are so we can meet up with them.”
“I hav
e one request,” Dave said.” If we go past the Zolu Mountains in Heval, there is someone I need to meet in order to get Josh’s daggers fixed.”
“And if we go past any places of magical interest that we stop, unless we’re with the rest of the guild.” Dave and Malsour shared a look.
Those two are magical book fiends.
“Fine, I think that is all reasonable,” Deia agreed.
***
“Who the hell is messaging me now?” Josh yelled as he ducked out of the way of a norbu’s spike. “Not going to get me this time!” Josh jumped onto one of the pillars in the room, flipping and pushing off it, out of the way of its Air-slash. He threw daggers as he passed over the norbu.
A group of tanks slammed into the side of the creature, getting its attentions as Josh’s blades hit the lizard’s skin. It looked like a big gecko but its tail was much more mobile and had spikes on it. More than one person had fallen victim to those spikes and the Air blades that they let loose with their attacks. They had a mane that popped up; heavy scales created a shield around their head to make them look larger and ward off predators.
There were twelve knight-classed norbu and one lord-classed. The lord was much larger and had an area attack ability that would throw people off their feet and stun anyone unlucky enough to hit the walls or floor too hard.
Right now, it paced around, trying to get past its knights that were fighting groups of Stone Raiders.
Their plan was a simple one: kill off the norbu knights, and then bring everything to bear on the norbu lord.
Josh landed, taking the battle in. Josh saw his buff timers increase as the support groups kept everyone safe and deadly as possible. With all of these buffs, it’s going to suck afterwards. Unlike other games, buffs were like coffee in Emerilia. You could have some and it would greatly improve your performance, but the more you had for a longer time, you prolonged the crash. But when the crash came, it was a pain in the ass.
A bit of healing sorted this out but still, those who had been buffed were left feeling tired and hungry for all the work their avatars had gone through.
The norbu knight he had been fighting popped its mane up. In the area under its mane, there were a collection of veins and its windpipe. Usually it was protected by the mane’s strong scales.
Josh saw an opportunity and went for it. “Step,” Josh said, disappearing from where he was to a few feet above the back of the norbu.
It started turning as Josh drove his short sword through the soft scales that lay under where the mane rested. The norbu yelled out as Josh twisted and turned his blades, cutting for all he was worth.
“Step!” Josh yelled again as the norbu tried to roll over in order to kill him.
He appeared in front of the norbu as it moved around as if drunk. Blood came down from its neck.
The people who had been working on the norbu knight moved to assist other parties in fighting their opponents. Seven norbu knights were now three.
“’Bout time—took two hours.” Josh looked at the battle and opened his messages quickly.
Private Message: Deia
Deia > Hey Josh, Dave has finished off his training at Benvari. Wondering when and where we can meet up?
Josh let out an excited whoop and pushed the message away.
“Just deal with these norbu here and then get back to them. Be good to have them along. Having Dave around to fix our weapons instead of getting gouged by the damned smithies we go through will be nice.” He moved toward his next target.
“Clear, artillery!” Kim barked.
Josh and the other Stone Raiders turned and ran.
“Fucking hell, Kim! More bloody warning!” he yelled as they rushed away from the norbu that looked at the incoming magical artillery spell, spreading its mane to take it straight on. The spell hit, making the cave system shake as the front half of the norbu knight disappeared.
“And then there were two knights and one lord,” Dwayne said.
“Dwayne, stop trying to make bloody songs up and get that lord pinned down. Lucy, support him. Kim, well, whatever—come on, Stone Raiders! I’m looking forward to some norbu stew tonight!” Josh ran toward the two remaining norbu. One had been flipped over by the blast. It had crushed two Stone Raiders, who were being group healed by Lucy’s supporting group.
Josh’s heavy hitters were like piranhas, jumping in and cutting the norbu’s soft stomach open until its Health points hit zero.
“Party three, four, and seven onto the last knight. Rest of you, take that fucking lord out!” Josh said.
The lord jumped on the ground, letting out his AOE spell. People were thrown in every direction and it even deflected a few spells.
“Rotating tanks!” Dwayne yelled.
Tanks that had been rushing over formed into two groups, one inside and one outside the AOE of the lord. That way, if one force was knocked down, then the second could rush in before the norbu lord started snacking on people or tearing them apart.
Josh moved to the final knight, knowing that Dwayne had a good grip of the norbu lord situation.
The knight was letting out its own AOE spell but it was less than five feet instead of the lord’s twenty feet.
“AOE! AOE!” Everyone jumped out of the way as air rushed away from the norbu knight.
“Get it!” Josh said as soon as the attack wore off. A few had been blown back but the mages were already going to town with their healing spells.
The norbu lashed out, catching a hunter who was moving in behind it. They cried out but three others made it past the norbu’s defenses. The tanks once again moved into position to shield bash and taunt the norbu.
Josh ran in, cutting deep with his short sword and dagger combo, and gained a sneak attack bonus as he came in behind the creature. Combined with his Ignore Armor spell, he took a good ten percent of its Health off before it turned to try to hunt him down. “Step!” He vanished.
People called out all kinds of information, from what the norbu was doing, to the best attacks to hit the creatures with.
Josh didn’t even get in for another hit as the final knight fell. Someone ran up and planted a blade in its eye to make sure it was really dead. There had been a few times when a creature with no HP had enough energy to snap out and kill a few people. With the POE who had joined the Stone Raiders, everyone was taking precautions to keep them alive and active.
“To the lord!” Josh yelled. Everyone shifted from the norbu knight to the lord.
It didn’t seem to like this as it raised its mane, letting out a cone of slashing wind that opened up a space ahead of its large head. Casters, archers, and hunters fired spells in toward the unprotected neck.
The norbu that had been leaning down to chew on two Stone Raiders howled as it tilted back from the pain of the spells.
Rogues, thieves, and fighters ran in, their weapons cutting under the norbu’s neck as its mane came to rest back on its neck.
“Pull back!” Josh said as the norbu shifted and started to twirl.
“Tail AOE!” Kim called out.
Josh felt as if he needed to jump and roll. He had long ago started to follow these instincts, recognizing it for his Dodge skill. He came under the massive tail that slammed through anything in its path.
People called out in pain as they were thrown or the spikes found them.
“Second line!” Dwayne yelled. A number of their tactics had been pulled from the Dwarves now that they were teaching all of their tanks and frontline fighters how to fight.
The second line rushed up and over their friends, most of which had escaped the norbu lord’s tail. Others weren’t so lucky and had their first-line friends pulling them out of danger as they were fed Health potions. Lucy’s support mages and healers rushed over the field, looking after people.
“Come on, you ugly bastard! Right here! Yeah, you want to get all pissed at me and open that mane—I know it!” Esa yelled at the creature. She had become one of Dwayne’s tank commanders.
It turned around with a speed that belied its size, using its Air Affinity to give it a burst of speed as it slammed its head into Esa.
She braced her shield, digging grooves into the floor with her boots.
“Bastard! I just bought these boots!” she yelled. A red aura came around her as she activated her berserker state. She slammed his head away, yelling out her anger to the universe and stabbing her blade into its eye.
It screamed out in pain, trying to get away.
Josh’s group moved in. They might not be the most heavily armored, but they were the people who could get in close and lay the most damage per second into something.
If they were out in a larger area, then he might have used the mages to hammer the creature from multiple directions while he used his high Damage Per Second Agility and taunts to kite the big bastard. That would keep it looking somewhere else as the tanks gave the mages protection from anything the norbu sent at them.
Instead, the tanks were taunting and keeping the attention while the mages buffed them and the DPS fighters got in any attacks they could. But the main damage dealing was left to Josh and his people.
The DPS fighters were some of the riskier and ballsiest mother fuckers out there. They got in close, with little protection to connect their hits. They were also fast and agile, making it hard to land good healing spells on them.
The tanks, taking up Esa’s roar, slammed and bashed the norbu lord. It tried to release its AOE spell but found a war hammer smashing one of its legs out from under it. It activated the spell by flexing and then releasing its stomach violently. As it screeched out in pain, trying everything it could in order to kill those that were around it, everyone who was close started slashing, cutting, and stabbing—lowering the lord’s ridiculous Health pool down.
Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2) Page 30