Two more hobs and a lieutenant were brought down, and Kilpi was starting to take damage. With a joint effort, my hobs managed to bring down the last two bowmen.
It was now five versus ten.
None of the remaining players were too severely injured to be brought down by a single volley of drilling arrows, and most of my soldiers were below 50 percent health. I cast Heal Followers again, increasing everyone’s health by ten percent.
“Where the hell is their healer?” the woman demanded.
I concentrated on her info stream for a split second, letting the data wash over me. So this is Rikush, I mulled. She was an armored berserker, and at level 25, was the highest-level player in their party. She was also responsible for half of our casualties.
I stepped into the clearing “You’re looking for me?”
Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of my shadowy body. She took out a potion, downed it, and her health filled up to the maximum. Then she lowered her head and charged straight at me, bulling her way through my forces.
That was the wrong move.
With her out of the melee, the last four players found themselves at a disadvantage as they were swarmed by my remaining troops.
I waited, letting Rikush keep charging at me, then raised Mana Shield at the last possible moment. Her trident bounced harmlessly off the shimmering blue dome, taking away another 70 MP with it.
Now just 95 MP remaining.
“Damn, you’re an ugly one,” I told her matter-of-factly. “Couldn’t find anyone to stand your looks, so you came here hoping a monster would be able to tolerate the sight of you?”
Her eyes filled with hot rage and she stabbed with her trident at my shield again, nearly emptying my mana pool.
“You’re dead meat, goblin,” she spat. “I don’t care that you’re a boss, I’ll rip out your black head and piss into your skull.”
I inwardly cringed at the mental image her words invoked but grinned at her. “Bring it on, bitch.”
I then used the last remaining mana points I had to shoot a trio of drilling arrows at her point blank.
Drilling Arrows hit Rikush for 69 damage, [22 +25 + 22]
She screamed in rage as my spell took down 30 percent of her health, then retaliated with another heavy lunge.
Her trident broke through my depleted shield, which flickered away, then tore into my body.
“I’ll kill you! Then I’ll kill your friends, one by one.”
“Are you sure about that? Look behind you.”
She glanced back just in time to see her last remaining companion fall after taking a well-placed arrow to the forehead.
“While you were chasing me, you forgot to look out for yours.” I grinned widely. “You lose.”
My half-torn shadow body was sucking in every point of mana I regenerated, struggling to maintain cohesion. Screaming in rage, Rikush landed another hit. Her magical trident glowed as it hit my body, draining the last of my mana.
I blinked my eyes, finding myself sitting back at the camp, ten kilometers away.
Vicloak flopped down from the branch, assuming his goblin shape. “How did it go?”
I chuckled. “I found them.”
I had no doubt my troops would be able to bring down that raging woman. Kilpi and Yulli could probably handle her well enough on their own.
Then I frowned. Something sticky was dripping down my chin. I wiped away the substance and looked at my hand in horror. It was covered in blood.
Did I overtax myself again? When I entered the players’ zone of time, a small part of me dreaded the repercussion of having my real body in a ‘normal time’ flow. This kind of discrepancy couldn’t be good for my consciousness.
Then a whiff of odor reached my nose. I frowned and sniffed the red liquid. “Berry juice?” I mouthed in astonishment.
“Yeah,” Vic replaced easily. “I had no dye on me, so I had to improvise. I heard it’s popular to apply war paint before combat, and you know me, I’m here to help.”
With a mounting dread, I took out my dagger and looked at my reflection through its sheen.
The bastard had painted my face like William Wallace in Braveheart! “Why you little –”
“No need to thanks me, Boss. Besides, we should hurry before the other players catch up.”
I gritted my teeth, but he was right. Somehow, someday, I’d get him back for that little prank. “Come on, let’s go.”
I wiped my face and mounted Tempest, Vic assuming his favorite perch around my shoulders, then we sprinted away.
***
Tempest ran tirelessly through the forest, weaving from side to side, easily dodging trees as he darted past them.
I no longer felt the presence of the players’ slower time flow. With any luck, I’d find my troops and we would make it back to the clan before the main attack force reached us.
With the enemy 12 players short, our odds of winning just shot through the roof.
While we ran, I busied myself by checking the logs of the fight. It was more good news. All the soldiers had gained at least a level. The ten who survived until the end got four, including the two bosses who were now both at level 21.
Each of them also racked up two kills and like me, would have their boss tier increased on its own once they accumulated 20 kills in total.
Something bothered me though; I had hardly gained any XP from that fight.
I see. Can you show only the progress I made on my character screen?
Yeah.
Title: Dread Totem
Level: 38 (+6)
Attributes: [0 points available]
Mental 42 (+6 gained)
Pools & Resistances:
Hit Points: 826 (+40 gained)
Mana: 1,755 (+161 gained)
Skills:
Lucky Bastard 41 Ⓑ (+1 gained)
Tracking 13 (+1 gained)
War Party Leader 20 (+2 gained)
Spell Skills:
Dark Mana 46 Ⓑ (+4 gained)
Drilling Arrow 26 Ⓑ (+1 gained)
Mana Shield 28 (+1 gained)
Heal Followers 12 (+1 gained)
Shadow Web 21 (+1 gained)
Shadow Hound 24 (+2 gained)
Dark Protection 14 (+8 gained)
It had been a good call to spend my dwindling mana on keeping Dark Protection active. The skill gained an impressive growth, reaching the Apprentice rank. It now offered a plus six percent to armor and physical resistance and gained the ability to remove mobility-hampering debuffs. Not a bad haul. On the downside, its cost was increased to 15 MP per affected individual.
Overall, that was a solid gain for two days.
I now had to make sure my remaining troops made it safely back to the clan.
It took Tempest two hours to get to the scene of the battle. The surviving hobs stood and banged their fists on their chests as I approached. I was relieved to find that all ten had lived through fighting that rageful woman.
“She had absolutely no self-control.” Yulli wrinkled her flat nose in disdain as I mentioned it. “She just lashed out wildly. We simply rotated our injured soldiers until we managed to bring her down.”
“Here, Chief.” Vaelin handed me an item. “She dropped this.”
I looked with surprise at what he’d given me.
It was a pagan-looking headdress that mostly resembled a bundle of feathers. The feathers were red and gray with a gold emblem in the middle. It reminded me of my old Totem’s headdress I had gifted Bek, only less primitive, and it lacked the outlandish skull.
Dread Totem Headdress [Set 1/4] [monster only]
Description: A piece of The Ritualistic set. Complete the set for the full bon
us.
Rank: Magical
Type: Armor [head]
Effect I: +20% mana regeneration
Effect II: Freeze and Dominate cost 10% less mana to activate.
Those bonuses were strangely specific. Not that I was complaining.
The mana cost reduction was a true blessing, as dominating or freezing the most powerful enemies could cost hundreds of MP.
You mean it wasn’t a lucky random drop?
“I don’t mind the system working in my favor for a change,” I said out loud, drawing a few bewildered glances from my soldiers. I put on the headdress. It fit perfectly.
I then realized everyone present was injured. Some of the soldiers had only ten percent health remaining. I silently berated myself for not noticing this sooner and spent a minute casting and recasting Heal Followers, topping everyone off.
This had been a learning experience. I resolved to never leave the valley without a healer in the war party. We were lucky most of the players had counted on their healers and didn’t bother carrying healing potions.
Once everyone was back to maximum health, I remounted Tempest. “Let’s get back home.”
32 – Preemptive Measures
We marched through the walled entrance and into the valley, passing the two hob sentries. Further down the forest path, a lone figure stood waiting for us at the clearing, flanked by two large Shadow-Touched mastiffs.
“Welcome back, my lord.” My mandibled seneschal bowed his head.
“Kaedric?” I asked in surprise, shifting my eyes to the hounds. “What are you doing here? Are you controlling these mastiffs?”
“No, my lord, they were roaming around the valley and for some reason decided to follow me here. I wished to be the first to welcome you back and congratulate you for scoring the first win against the invaders. I also have a few updates I believe you should be made aware of.”
“No one else got murdered, right?” I asked, filled with concern.
“No, my lord. The culprit responsible for the recent calamities has been inactive for a while. Though the missing liquid fire is still not accounted for.”
“What is it then?” I motioned to my troops that they were free to leave.
“There are soldiers awaiting resurrection, my lord. Fourteen of them, to be exact. All are of relatively high standing.”
“I know.” He was referring to their levels. All were at least level 15 when they died. “How much energy is it going to cost to raise them?”
“Exactly 2,150, my lord.”
I winced. That was one downside of having high-level troops. On the upside, the high-level soldiers contributed a huge amount of daily EP. My clan was generating over 1,500 EP a day now.
“Take care of it,” I said shortly.
“Yes, my lord.” He cleared his throat, “The magma foundry has been completed deep inside the cave. I summoned a mill worker and we are producing our own obsidian bricks now. We should have enough to complete your haunt without delay. However, once that is done, the majority of our builders will be left without a job.”
I frowned. “That’s not good.”
“I have already taken steps to address this issue, my lord. I have enacted a two-phase solution. First, I have summoned two new researchers. The amount of time it takes to acquire new blueprints has been holding back our progress, and the research center can accommodate many more researchers. This should expedite our blueprint discovery.”
“And the other thing?”
“It is customary for large hobgoblin settlements to have an underground sewage system that doubles both as a waste disposal system and as a training ground for warriors, as it often attracts various hostile critters. I have spoken with Zuban at length about this. Now that we have grown into a village we have the option to build such a system. It is a time-consuming endeavor, but one that will keep our builders occupied and contributing to the clan in the long term. I believe you ought to speak with Zuban for more details.”
“I’ll do that.”
“I also have some good news.”
I perked up at that; I was always ready to receive good news.
“Our settlement has grown to such a degree that our long-standing penalties for using crude tools and inadequate workplaces have been eliminated. I am pleased to inform you that our clan efficiency has increased by six percent and is currently set at 33.7 percent.”
That was good news. Every little bit helped. The extra few efficiency points meant increased production across the board.
“There’s more,” my seneschal continued. “Yesterday, several of our prominent workers gained significant advancement in their chosen professions, improving the clan’s productivity considerably.”
I felt myself grin. I almost forgot I had added workers to the war party before leaving. I hadn’t disbanded the party after the oxsaurian hunt, meaning they also got a portion of the XP from defeating the players. I reached through the ambient information around me, accessing the clan’s data, and saw to my satisfaction that the lumberjacks and researchers were all between levels 8 and 9, Guba made 11, my Tika 13, and Zuban was now level 14.
“That is good news.” I nodded in approval. “But our priorities have shifted. I overheard some of the travelers mention the main force was several hour– … a few days away. We need to concentrate our efforts on defense.”
I looked around. Vaelin hadn’t left with the rest of the soldiers and was standing nearby. I motioned him to come over. “I promote you. From now on you’ll be Bob’s second.”
He straightened up and puffed out his chest. “Yes, Chief!”
“We have scouts outside the valley watching for enemies. I want them rotated every two hours. Inform me immediately if a replaced soldier is late to return by more than ten minutes.
He banged his fist on his chest. “At once, Chief!”
That should give us plenty of warning against the main attack force.
I was supposed to talk to Zuban about building a sewage system but I suddenly felt … drained. The priority was to make sure my troops were well armed, and I needed to hone my own skills while I still had the time. Settlement sanitation could wait.
“Kaedric, instruct Zuban to work on the sewer when all the other projects are done. If you need me … well, you always know where I am.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I returned to my house, only to find it in the middle of a construction site. Scaffolding and half-finished brick walls extended and overlapped my previously humble abode, which, by the looks of it, was going to become a wing in the bigger haunt.
Luckily, the construction was external to my existing house, so I skipped over a pile of logs and ingots and slipped inside. I still had to finish enchanting the Ogres’ armor and the pile of new items that had grown in my absence.
There were still a few hours until the end of the day. I sat down in my comfy new armchair and got to work.
***
I barely managed to open my eyes the next morning.
Due to the urgency of our situation, I had stayed up late enchanting all the armor and weapons, resorting to a simple strengthened version for most of the equipment. Then, I moved on to the remaining 12 partially Runecrafted Viridium spheres and finalized their enchantment.
A few messages flickered before my eyes, alerting me to my sorry state and the debuffs I gained from lack of sleep. I forced my eyes to open and cast Mana Infusion. Cool, pure magical energy flooded my veins, invigorating me like a strong cup of coffee. The spell’s bonuses somewhat mitigated the debuffs, though not entirely. I couldn’t afford to sleep in; the attack could come at any moment.
Blueprint Research Completed: Obstacle Course [Barracks extension]
I dismissed the message. Zuban and Kaedric knew what to do well enough without my intervention.
I lumbered stiffly to the mess hall. The throng of soldiers and goblins moved aside, letting me pass through as I sat down tiredly at my table.
Gandork soon came by, carrying the usual assortment of dishes. “Good morning, Dread Totem! Or shall I say, good night?” He was in a good mood, whistling as he laid the plates on my table. “We can hold a month-long feast with all the oxsaurian meat the soldiers have brought. The mess hall is finally starting to look like a respectable establishment.”
I glanced around. The log benches were gone, replaced by actual benches. Gandork was right, the place was looking more civilized. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I sort of liked the rustic, outdoorish vibe it had before.
I started eating, though I was too tired to really appreciate the meal. I watched the orderly manner my clanmates were following. All the seats were being used; as soon as one was vacated, another individual took its place and a meal was served to him. It was efficient and time-saving.
My gaze was drawn to something blazing.
A foblin entered the mess hall carrying a large container. A bouquet of flowers came out of it like it was some sort of misshapen vase. Some of the flowers were glittering like they were on fire.
The small critter made its way toward me, his big eyes bright and shiny.
“What do you have there?” I asked, then wrinkled my nose. A putrid smell came from the container he was holding.
A few hobs noticed the smell as well and turned their heads toward the foblin, their eyes open in sudden realization.
Life Reset- EvP Page 55