The Vale of Three Wolves: A LitRPG Adventure (Elements of Wrath Online Book 2)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Okay, so far so good,” I said, surprised a bit by how loud my voice sounded in the utter silence of the valley. “What do you think? We go in?”

  Kayla bit her lip again. I didn’t like that she was so uncertain. She was usually the utterly confident Arena champion, after all. “I can’t make out any real detail at the back of the jaws and if there’s a hidden door or gate, that’s where it would have to be, right?”

  Maybe it was because she couldn’t find the answers ahead of time or that there was barely any information for her to research that led to this indecision. The thought worming through my head was how short of a time I had known Kayla and how shallow our knowledge of each other really was. I could have backed out then, dropped the quest and explained that I simply wasn’t comfortable going down this road at this point.

  But if not now, when? That was the question that settled it for me. The Filter was the blockade that would always stand in the way of any attempt to really forge a relationship beyond the most casual. In a way, the Filter was a comfort. Inside of me, there was a burning kernel of worry that grew with every step we took on the quest, worry that Kayla would turn away in disgust the moment she saw the real me, the guy with no legs bound to a wheelchair for his entire life. But this wasn’t the time to give in to that worry, no matter how real it was. This was the one time in my life to push past the fear, to stop playing careful as I almost always did, to stop calculating and shielding from harm to dive in.

  I cracked a smile and gave her a thumbs-up. “Makes sense to me. Let’s go.”

  She matched my smile and nodded. Together, we stepped carefully around the first of the glowing teeth and entered the jaws. After a few feet in, the sound of crumbling, grinding stone filled our ears and my quest log pulsed with new information.

  Dynamic quest ‘An Answer of Violence’ updated!

  Objective updated: Survive the Trial of the Maw and discover the gate to the Vale!

  There was no time to say a word before the grinding turned into a piercing cracking sound as the jaws slammed shut around us. How the sandstone roof didn’t slam into our heads I can’t say , but the weird twisting in my gut that came on the moment it started to come down made me think that some magic was afoot, twisting the space around us somehow. That hypothesis was backed up by the fact that I couldn’t see the back of the mouth anymore. Even with the lack of sunlight now, the dull glow of those wicked teeth should have lit us a path right back there.

  Now, though, that row of glowing markers barely cut into the darkness and the space from one side of the jaws to the other seemed a heck of a lot further than it had been a split-second before. The sunrise glow coming off the Solar Guardian’s Fragment I held and the sea-green shimmer of Kayla’s orb only off-set the darkness enough to let us see a few paces beyond our feet.

  That all would have been disconcerting enough if not for the echoing sounds of movement in the darkness ahead. The hollow clacking of claws on stone was punctuated by a heavy, omnidirectional breathing, making it even harder to try to track the movements through the gloom.

  I’ll be honest: the idea of a fight after all this searching and deep thought was a relief. Stepping toward the rush of noise, I raised my shield and set myself. “We’ll take them here, while we have a wall to our backs.”

  The blue glow from behind me intensified as Kayla began casting a spell, answering with actions instead of words. There was just enough time for her to finish sending a cascade of frost over my armor and shield that caused thorny icicles to sprout from the surface before the owners of the scraping claws were upon us.

  You are granted the Boon ‘Ice Shield’! You gain a 487 point Damage shield and +25% resistance to Water Damage.

  You are granted the Boon ‘Water Thorns’! Any opponent striking you suffers 180-210 Water Damage.

  Snarling sounds echoed as the barest shimmer played through the air. I could almost feel the palpable heat these … things … let off but their actual forms were practically invisible. There was no way to know how many of them there were and even the targeting UI showed a general haze of red ahead, no distinct outlines and no enemy information.

  A series of question marks was all that even marked their existence to us in terms of the normally trustworthy UI. Even the threat information was non-existent.

  So much for a good old-fashioned fight. Still, I didn’t falter or panic. I was the tank, after all. If I lost it, we would both go down in a heartbeat. Stepping forward, I moved to meet this indistinct clump of monstrosity head-on.

  “For Granholm!” I cried. “For the Ring of Promise!”

  Quote 5

  While combat encounters do form the bulk of the content in Elementalis Online, we do try to add more depth to our more important quests. Even what seems like a traditional fight may not flow in the expected fashion. When you get stuck working through a quest, always try to approach it from a new angle. You might be surprised at your success!

  Reggie Patel, EO's lead quest designer

  5

  Even though I didn’t know what was attacking us, I wanted to make sure they were coming for me directly so Kayla could do her thing. She had more than enough AoE abilities to blow them apart.

  Of course, that meant me keeping our invisible death squad locked on me solely. Before the first anticipated volley of strikes, I planted my banner to punctuate the activation of my Defiant Display Gem. The red pulse of a successful taunt shimmered indistinctly in the air, showing the success of my move but giving absolutely zero clues as to who, what, how many, or where our attackers were.

  Kayla used my cover to start chanting, holding up her swirling orb as she did. “One area clear, coming up!” Despite the glowing, white light the building spell unleashed, it barely made a dent in the suffocating darkness. Undoubtedly, she was going to go for a quick win with a Celestial Comet, the smart and obvious move. I just needed to give her the time to finish casting.

  It was an easier proposition in practice than in theory. The air itself seemed to attack me, burning hot wind lashing out of the darkness and biting into my armor and stony flesh. The wounds felt like the jaws of a beast as opposed to the cut of a sword or the abrasive tears of a sandstorm. All through the flurry of blows, the only indication of our attacker was blowing dust and faint shimmers of heat. If my glowing shield was any impediment to the onslaught, I couldn’t tell.

  Unseen creatures hit you 3 times! You take a total of 270 (-30 resisted) Air Damage and 264 (+24 vulnerability) Fire Damage! HP 3026/3560

  The NSAF pain filter did its job but the mixture of heat and wind still set my teeth on edge. Pure elemental damage tore right through my armor and there was still not a single indication of what we were fighting … assuming we were even meant to fight what was attacking us. I wasn’t even getting any feedback on the double layer of Ice and Light Thorn effects I had going on. It could be five MOBs, a single MOB with a multi-hitting attack, or anything in between, and while I figured I could hold out for a bit, it was impossible to say how long.

  The obvious answer was to extend that time for as long as possible. My grip on my shield’s straps tightened as I held my ground, concentrating on the Elemental Bulwark stone set in the face. “All elemental damage but at least the taunt seemed to work!”

  “Well, if they’re anywhere in thirty paces,” Kayla called back, her voice weirdly echoing as mine did in the distorted space of the jaws, “they’re about to be gone!”

  The elemental energies converged behind me as the darkness seemed to roil as the invisible onslaught surged forward again. Fortunately, my own surge of elemental power cascaded out, a protective dome tinged with red flashing over both of us. With the attached Fire Elemental ruby, the Ward would be especially protective from the burning half of these things’ damage. Anything to buy time for Kayla to cast her spell.

  Boon ‘Elemental Basion – Fire’ gained! +50% Fire Resistance, Total Resistance 40%

  The biting shimmers tore into me again, pulling a pa
inful hiss through my clenched teeth, but the Bastion did its job, pulling the heat out of each strike and leaving only the cutting wind to gouge my armor and rocky hide. It almost didn’t matter; I knew how long Kayla’s spell took to cast and it should go off right about …

  The cascade of light from the starry rift revealed no new insights on our attacker even as a glowing chunk of celestial ice hurtled down into the cavern. I swear that I saw the air blur and glittering dust from the floor kick up right before the comet slammed down, filling much of the gloom with the shockwave and icy shrapnel of the impact. As the chill mist cleared and the rift closed, what should have been a fist pump moment of victory was replaced with the immediate sobering effect of the combat log in my brain.

  Kayla’s Celestial Comet had no effect! No valid targets in the area of effect!

  “Well, rhomboid,” Kayla Filter-cursed, “I guess I deserved that kick in the ego.” Even as she said that, she was already starting to whip up a new spell, this time raising her staff in the motions of some healing magic.

  “Well, don’t take that kick too hard,” I called over my shoulder. If the space between wind bites remained consistent, it would only be seconds before the next hit. I could take that and Kayla would be able to heal up most of the damage I had absorbed so far … but that wouldn’t work forever. Her Elemental Power would be gone soon enough and then we’d fall, first me then her, unless we found a solution here.

  “Maybe we just need to bum-rush to the end of the cave,” came my first thought. “Make a dash for it as soon as your heal lands and I’ll Impose to you!” Whatever was cutting into me didn’t feel tangible, more of a raw elemental force, and it was a good bet that we could push past them. It was better to try that then get cut down here. I sure as heck didn’t want to have to go through this entire day a second time. Time is money, after all, and I wasn’t making any more money to take care of Chrissy stuck in this questline.

  “You got it! Here they come again!”

  Her warning came right when I expected it and after two rounds of this mess, the signs (such as they were) were obvious. I could feel it in the air a second before the burning wind struck and the dim light rippled with the sweltering heat. There wasn’t anything else I could do that I hadn’t already done so I simply braced and got ready to get hurt. Such was the life of a tank, right?

  Yep, it went exactly as expected. Weaving around my shield and finding the gaps in the plates of my armor, the wind’s fangs sunk in again, the Elemental Bastion popping with a cherry red glow as it blunted the heat damage. The same strikes at the same intervals made me think that this might not be a monster or enemy at all. It could be some kind of magical trap. Deciding to keep my eyes open through the wince-inducing pain, I stepped to one side as my Health dipped to right above fifty percent.

  That only lasted for a split second. Reliable, professional Kayla finished her incantation a beat after the wind tore at me, the soft blue light emanating from her staff flaring up. A downpour of soothing water fell on my head and ran down my form, filling every wound and cut with healing rain. After all that time in the desert, it felt refreshing in more ways than one.

  Kayla uses Soothing Waters on you! You heal 882 Health Points! HP 2473/3560

  Before the waters had finished their work, she was already on the move, wasting not a moment to keep our plan going. Heck, the only person I had seen to react faster in the deep dive was yours truly. She was ten paces past me toward the throat of the maw when she passed outside of the small radius of light my shield was casting and then she was into the murky darkness, visible only by her own glowing staff and orb. That’s when I hit her with one of the odd little utility Gems I kept slotted: Spur to Battle.

  Kayla gains Boon ‘Spurred Onward’! +100% Movement Speed for 12 seconds!

  With that little boost, Kayla went from typical jogger to Olympic athlete, moving in long, graceful strides that reminded me of an actual track and field sprinter.

  Maybe it was the aggro from the heal or maybe it was simply part of the mechanics of this thing but whatever it was, the sandy floor was once again disturbed, kicked up as if a dust devil had sprung to life in Kayla’s wake. I couldn’t be sure but my guess was that the burning death wind had decided that the Nix was a more tempting target than yours truly.

  My immediate instinct was to fire off Impose early, letting the Skill Gem propel me toward her while soaking up her threat, hence turning the attention back to me. It was a stupid idea, the rational tanking part of my brain knew, as it would ruin the plan, getting us barely any closer to the throat. Maybe there was something more to the growing ‘whatever’ I had with Kayla after all, something to make me want to do something stupid to save her a little bit of hurt. Considering she’d probably be as pissed as I would be with myself if I tore our plan to pieces on that account, I was glad I caught myself and only raised my gauntlet to follow her movements and keep the Gem primed.

  Suspicion became reality a moment later. Kayla was eating up the ground thanks to a combination of her lighter armor and the Spurred Onward Boon, but she wasn’t going to outsprint the wind itself. I could see the ripple in the faint light the moment before they struck, maybe halfway down the jaws, followed by the red pulse as my Elemental Bastion went off around her.

  Unseen creatures hit Kayla 3 times! She takes a total of 310 (+28 vulnerability) Air Damage and 113 (-169 resisted) Fire Damage! HP 1877/2300

  There wasn’t a cry of pain, not exactly. It was more of a strangled growl as Kayla kept charging. With these things doing pure elemental damage, Kayla’s Arena gear made her almost as durable as I was against them, leaving my fears even more unwarranted. Speaking of Arena fighting, in mid-stride, she thrust her staff forward as she said a single arcane syllable.

  While I didn’t know much about the PvP end of things, anyone who wasn’t a complete noob knew that the Dimension Door Gem was front-and-center in the Arena fighter’s toolkit. Able to be cast with the least of motions and not requiring you to stop to use, D-Door, as it was affectionately called, teleported you a short distance in any direction your heart desired. In this case, Kayla’s desire was ‘away from the death wind.’ There was a flash of light, enough to illuminate the cave for a moment, and when it cleared, the Sorceress had blinked ahead another quarter of the way down the cavern.

  That was the right moment to act. I gave her another few strides and then clenched my gauntleted hand, the Impose Gem on the back of my gauntlet flaring to life. I felt the sudden rush of wind as I was hurled forward at blinding speed, homing in for a straight-line rush towards Kayla. Everything was a blur of darkness and light around me and boom, there I was, occupying the space where Kayla had been just a moment before.

  “Keep going,” I said as I spun to meet the wind head-on. “I’ll start back walking them toward you. You can figure it out, I’m sure!” I could hold out for a few more hits, then pop something big, like Last Stand to buy a little more time, if need be. The winds seemed to twist madly as if upset at me having deprived them of softer prey as they sped toward me.

  The maw was considerably wider this close to the throat, and I only hoped whatever was attacking us would bear down on me so I could lock down the aggro before Impose ended. Behind me, Kayla’s hard-soled boots belted out a rapid beat on the floor.

  “You’re not going to sacrifice yourself like an idiot, Shale,” she called out. “If you die in here, we don’t know if you’ll be able to get back in!” She had to almost be to the throat at that point as I shuffled backward. “We’ll get through this, you’ll see!”

  “Great pep talk, coach.”

  It was just about time for another strike and I got myself ready to feel the pain. Apparently, the doom wind didn’t want to disappoint me, rushing in on me like a hurricane. Well, a little, tiny hurricane made of red-hot buzzsaws, anyway. Instead of simply tearing into me in straight streaks, this time they came at me from all sides and angles. It wasn’t any worse damage-wise than before but this was a mor
e comprehensive full body hurt, cuts appearing all over me.

  “You’ve got about fifteen seconds before things go critical here,” I pointed out as I let loose another Defiant Display. That would keep these things stuck to me while saving enough EP for a defensive ability or two. “Do you see something or do I pop a cooldown?”

  “Do it,” she shot back immediately. “I need some time! This … thing doesn’t have instructions!”

  Well, it was encouraging that there was a thing for her to figure out. Between the rushing and the spinning and the dark, I hadn’t gotten a good look at the back wall myself. I was familiar enough with this killing wind to start to actually track its movements indirectly. Whatever it was, it was a swarm of elemental force, spinning and spiraling. To maximize the ten seconds of invulnerability Last Stand would give me, I waited, eyeing the wind as it hurtled closer. At the very last moment, I tapped the polished stone in my breastplate.

  Boon ‘Last Stand’ gained! You heal 356 Health Points and are invulnerable to all damage and negative status effects for 10 seconds! HP 2351/3560

  Power surged through my body and the pain went away entirely. A white glow suffused my form and made me my own person lamppost. “You now have twenty-two seconds, give or take!”

  It was hard not to want to start swinging my shield or flashing a Solar Shield at the formless wind things. I mean, if you’ve ever been filled with the feeling of utter invincibility that being, uh, utterly invincible gives you, you’d understand. Blowing any more EP now would be stupid. I might get enough natural regeneration to get one more defensive move off if it came to it … but that was a pretty big ‘might’ alongside a possible ‘if’.

  “The light is actually a big help,” Kayla replied, her voice distracted, her focus entirely on whatever it was. “This is some kind of portal and there’s an inscription that …” She let out a cry of inspiration as the winds ripped into me again, this time skidding harmlessly off my nightlight skin. “Stupid Kayla! The amulet, use the amulet!”