More and more of the mountain was becoming Green as I progressed. Oddly enough, that very first route I took upon starting my Skill advancement—where the Green turned to Red—was still the same. There wasn’t much Red left on the mountain that I could see from the bottom, but that one was still there.
Several hours later, we had all reached Level 26. I increased my Wisdom again by all five Stat points, bringing it up to a combined total of 28. Not a huge amount, but way more than the 18 I had been previously using as the baseline for learning Skills. Whatever new Rogue Skill I got from Waseem would also likely increase faster because of my Wisdom. At least, I hoped it would.
With nothing else to do, we all rode back to Kich’s Keep to try and get our next quest. There was going to be a lot of pent up rage unleashed if we didn’t get the quest this time around. I reminded the guys about the time we had to grind through even more levels than this when we were in Port Town, but Jason rightly noted that we were able to get the first quest at Level 20. We just waited until Level 23 to start it.
After passing almost a week in the mountains, the population of the Keep had swelled significantly. There were now more players than I could count easily, and I guessed that there were very few groups left in the “newbie” areas.
In order to not gather attention like we had the previous time, we unsummoned our horses far out from the city and walked into town. I put most of my gear away at the entrance gates and stashed away my daggers, so it looked like I was only wearing the most basic of items. Then I approached Sir Arthur by myself while the others hung out on one of the side streets.
The guys didn’t understand why I wanted to do this at first, but when I explained that I was starting to get lots of messages from players asking how to conquer the Trolls, they understood. If I was able to get the new quest, I planned to simply accept the quest immediately, Conceal/Stealth, and high tail it out of there before anyone saw who it was.
Too bad I wasted my time.
*
“This is some total and complete bullshit!”
“You think the quest is broken, maybe?”
“No, Wayne, I don’t think it’s broken. I think that by now there would be lots of other quests that players could fulfill while they are grinding. Only we haven’t really stopped to look for any more quests since we got back from the Monastery and have been just grinding. Those other quests would just be filler.”
Sir Arthur had given me the same song and dance about not being ready yet to undertake the next task, and I had immediately returned to my group to tell them the crappy news. They were taking it much better than I was.
“Do you guys want to make the trip to see the Dwarves now or wait until after we get our next level? We will lose a whole day making the trip.”
“There isn’t any rush to see the Dwarves, as far as I understand it, Alex. We can hit that up after we get our level. Do you want to go somewhere different than the mountains, though? I’m kind of bored with the same mobs over and over again.”
“I’m in agreement with Naugha. I think we should do something different. Maybe the forests that abut the beginning of the mountain range. We haven’t really looked over there,” Jason said. “What do you think, Dan?”
“Whatever will keep us far away from Kaitlin and their group. Wayne says she still hasn’t forgiven me.”
“Give it time, little buddy.”
The woods would still be close enough that I could make it to the mountains and practice my climbing without losing much time. I agreed with the group, and we set off to find our next spot for grinding away.
Since we had spent so much time in the mountain area, we had mapped out where the mobs were and could easily avoid any spawn points. We followed Dan’s lead to where the forest area met the mountains and let Dan go out and search.
Dan was looking for mobs to hunt as well as a place where we could potentially log off without coming back into the game in the middle of an angry bear or the like. It took Dan several minutes to map out the area, but he found both the mobs and a place for us.
There was a nest of Goblins situated amongst a copse of trees not far from where the forest ended. Dan counted ten different mobs, all Blue. These mobs would likely drop items, but I doubted there would be anything good. Before Dan made his first pull, I donned my Blacksuit and did a quick recon to make sure there wasn’t a boss hiding amongst the pack.
It appeared to be your run of the mill Goblin outpost. Jason hit us with buffs, as did Dan, and we got ready for the first pull. A resounding sigh could be heard by all as we got ready to start the grinding yet again.
Dan pulled the full complement of the nest twice before we decided to call it a night. The Goblins were giving decent experience and had dropped a few items that would sell for 5 Gold each.
This was fine by me, as I wanted to keep working on my Climbing and see if there was any difference from increasing my Wisdom yet again. After bidding everyone a farewell, I headed back to the mountains.
The area we were fighting in was farther away from my original climbing routes, so I wasn’t sure what I would find. If the paths were too difficult, or too easy, there were still some options back where I last climbed. It would simply be wasting time to get there.
I was pleased and surprised to find that the area near where I emerged was home to numerous paths of the best kind: ones that had an equal difficulty going up and down. I saw a couple that were White and two that were Blue. There were also smatterings of Yellow and Red as the routes went higher. What I didn’t see, however, was any Green, and that was fine by me.
I sidled up to the first White route, checked where I would want to go as I progressed, and started my climb.
When I first started, I would rush through the motions too quickly and burn way more Vitality in the process than I needed to. It took a while, but I learned a good rhythm that allowed me to make steady progress and keep my Vitality at a comfortable level. This way I could both ascend and descend without too many breaks.
Finding the route and increasing my Wisdom were definitely paying off. In just an hour, I had run the path twice and received five more points to my Skill. By the time I hit the bottom, the route was now all Green, and I moved over to the next one. An hour later and I had added another three points and turned the second route Green as well.
I only had two more hours left on my playing time before I would need to log off. Staying on for twelve hours would automatically send a warning to the player but also an update to AltCon. I didn’t need that happening. I set a timer so I could get back to the log off spot and be out of the game before the witching hour hit.
But I was going to make full use of my time and tackle as much of the mountain as I could. At the rate I was going, I could max out my Climbing skill by the next day.
When the timer went off and I started riding back to the log off point on my summoned horse, my Climbing Skill had reached 93. I was dead tired, but when I looked back at the mountain I had to smile. There wasn’t much of any color I could see but washes and washes of Green. I still had seven more points to go, but I was confident I could get those the next day.
November 2nd, 2043
Those seven points I needed to get me to 100 in Climbing, and any other progression in levels and skills, were going to have to wait. Part of it was because there wasn’t a single place for me to climb. In fact, there wasn’t anything at all to see when I entered Resurgence but an empty room with two benches. I was on the verge of a mini freak out, in fact, thinking AltCon had caught up with what I was doing in the game and had set this room up as some type of interrogation chamber.
Thankfully, those fears disappeared slightly when Dan, Jason, and Wayne also entered the same room. Given that I believed AltCon was responsible for Robert Shoal’s death, however, I still wasn’t 100 percent at ease.
My trepidations finally left when Dan figured out what was going on. “Well this sucks! I hate doing these stupid AltCon quests!”
&
nbsp; With that declaration, I opened my character’s information windows and saw what Dan was talking about. Indeed, there was a blinking notification that I hadn’t realized was there before.
Like I had grown accustomed to by now, I activated the information by focusing my vision on the notification and blinking, an intuitive—albeit initially confusing—method of selecting informational objects in virtual space that AltCon had designed for Resurgence. Doing this, dialogue popped up in front of me:
Welcome, Beta Testers, to the first tournament in Resurgence! As all players have now reached the mark of Level 20, AltCon is pleased to introduce the first Player vs. Player tournament.
You have been transported to the Arena, a specially designed area in Tholtos only accessible during major events. Here you will face off against your fellow Beta Testers in a winner-take-all competition. As part of this event, we request players pay special attention to how their abilities interact with the other participants, as opposed to game generated foes.
We look forward to the coming spectacle and your reports. The tournament will begin at 1100 game time. May the best team win!
“Well that makes sense. AltCon had to wait until all the beta testers were Level 20 before they could start this ‘AltCon quest.’ While we don’t have to wait long for it to start, I would really prefer to not do this one.”
“I’m in agreement with you, Alex” Jason said. “However, I had no desire to try and make a stupid map, either, and we had to trudge through those quests as well.”
Wayne was nodding his head. “I never played PVP in the past, and I have no experience that would help me be good at it. What about you guys? Any advice?”
We all shook our heads. PVP was something we had avoided in our gaming careers. Considering the predominance of PVP in most MMORPGs, this would seem kind of odd if I didn’t know that we had all been selected for our group based off of our introverted personality scores. This kind of direct player interaction just wasn’t part of the games that interested us.
“I imagine we will still do well, though. We’ve better gear than anyone else, and our levels are the highest.”
“No such luck, Dan. When it comes to PVP, levels and gear are good, but they aren’t anywhere close to the deciding factor. Our characters are just not set up to be a ‘PVP group.’ You’ll see what I mean at the start. They’ll go after Jason first and then proceed to take out the damage dealers. If they are smart, they will go after you before me since you have the ability to attack from range and have Snare. Taunt and aggro management skills mean nothing, so our warrior just becomes a guy that takes longer to kill than the rest.”
“You think Jenny’s group will have the same problems, Alex?”
“Yes and no. They will last longer than we do, for sure. If Tim can land a Charm on one of the players, that will effectively turn it into a five on three battle, and they can’t hit their own player or risk killing that guy themselves. Kaitlin also has that Root spell that will make it so they can’t move, which would be perfect against guys like me and Wayne.”
After several more points on why we would suck at PVP, we heard an announcement in our ears:
“Greetings one and all to the first PVP tournament here in Resurgence. As a way to ensure ultimate surprise for each group of players, you will remain in your standby suite until just before your round begins. You will then be transported inside the Arena grounds. Winners of each round will return to their suite, and the losers will be transported to the stands to cheer on the competitors as the fighting continues!
“There is no experience loss within the Arena, and characters will not lose any equipment or money upon death. However, there will be a prize for the winner!”
We had all heard the same message, as the guys confirmed getting the same information. What we did not know was just how long we would have to wait until our first round would commence or how they decided to pair teams against one another. I thought it had to be random if they were going to make it fair.
“Prepare to enter the Arena in 10…” flashed across my screen followed by a countdown timer.
“Here goes nothing! Identify the healer and attack them first, then go after their damage dealers. Do exactly like what someone would do to us.”
The timer hit 0 and we were transported to a large area with 15-foot walls surrounding us. A quick glance told me there were seats surrounding our area, but they were empty with this being the start of the tournament.
The area was a circle, but not large enough that the entirety of our beta players could sit around the outside. I imagined that the circle would get larger and the area for sitting would grow with it as the tournament continued.
As everyone was looking around, I engaged my Conceal. I held no illusions that we would win this competition, but I also didn’t plan on being knocked out in the first round. One thing I was probably not going to be using was my Force Multiplier ring, although I knew I would be tempted the first time I saw us about to be defeated.
“Fuuuuuuuuuck! Seriously? Our first PvP experience and we have to go against the Legends,” the Warrior across from us said. “Wait. Where the fuck is the fourth one? Their Rogue?”
I didn’t wait to give any more instructions to my teammates, and I did not intend to let the other team get past their shock at facing a foe they didn’t believe they could beat.
With the Conceal still on, I struck a blow into the back of what looked like their healer.
“Shit!” was all their healer was able to get out before I struck several more times and Dan landed a critical arrow into his chest.
The shock of the moment wore off, though, and the remaining three went at Jason full tilt. Dan was able to Snare one, and Jason stunned a second for a bit. In the end, though, we couldn’t save our cleric.
With Jason gone, they went after me. We had quickly taken out their healer and then their top damage dealer, but the last two still killed me before the fight ended. My screen went blank. Just before I died, I saw the other team only had one guy at almost full health and the other almost dead. Dan and Wayne were still at full strength.
It was a couple of minutes before I popped back into the suite. It looked like we all arrived at the same time and with full health.
“Score a victory for us! Did anyone see anything that might help us in the next round?” I asked.
“That move you pulled in the beginning was perfect. I’m going to light up their healer from a distance as soon as we get there, so between us we might be able to take them down quickly. Other than that, I’ll try to put a Snare on their damage dealer,” Dan said.
“I’m kind of useless out there, guys,” Wayne said. “I’ll attack whatever Alex or Dan is attacking.”
“It’s like I said earlier, Wayne; we aren’t built for PVP. You hit whatever Dan is hitting and Allister stays as far away from the rest as possible while still being able to heal. Allister, also, when you can, hit them with a Stun as well. I doubt we are likely to actually get any heals off, but try.”
At that point, we got the notification that our next round was about to start
*
“We got to the third round. That’s better than I thought we would do, to be honest. We barely made it past that second round, and the first round I attribute mostly to the shock of those guys having to face us right off the bat.”
I nodded in Jason’s direction but didn’t answer him. Our teammates were down there on the field, and I was focusing on their progress. This was their fifth round, and they weren’t showing any signs of losing.
As far as Tanks went, Jenny had the best build for PvP. She had her Bash that could Stun and a spell that did the same. On top of that, Jenny’s gear added a bonus to her Bash. With her setup, Jenny was highly effective at controlling the secondary damage dealer long enough for the rest of the team to take out the other side’s healer. The primary damage dealer wasn’t a concern, either. Kaitlin would Root the player and hold them in place long enough for Tim to c
ast.
To this point, Tim had not failed on a single attempt to Charm the other side’s top hitter. With Gary and their own damage dealer attacking the other side’s healer, and Kaitlin and Tim throwing in whatever direct damage spells they had, our teammates were kicking ass and taking names.
Around us, the stands continued to fill. I was correct in my earlier assumption, and the stands continued to get larger.
Each round rarely took longer than a few minutes, and it wouldn’t be long before this tournament came to an end. As I continued watching our friends, Gary landed the final blow on the competition’s damage dealer—the only one left of their current opponents—and victory was theirs.
Our arena was not the only grounds used for the tournament. After we first lost and were transported to the stands, I could see multiple areas where teams were playing out the tournament. However, as teams were eliminated, the number of arenas shrank and the stands grew larger around the ones that remained. When it was all done, there would be only one arena and thousands watching as the two final teams went at it.
Our friends had a real shot at being in the final with their make-up being better suited for PVP and with Tim’s ability to Charm being augmented so well by his Enchanter gear. What wasn’t in question is which team would certainly be there in the end.
“I really hate these guys,” I heard from two rows in front of me.
Now that Jenny and our friends had left the arena, two more teams were fighting it out, and it didn’t take much to figure out who the target of that hatred was: the group most known for stealing other people’s kills when they were in the lower levels were now dominating the tournament. They had a Warrior, a Paladin, a Rogue, and a Brawler. Each one was a damage dealer.
This was another way in which the mobs in the game were not like the players. It took some serious damage to disrupt a mob from casting a spell. Not so for the players. This is where the combo of Jenny’s Bash and her Stun spell on the secondary along with Kaitlin’s Root on the primary damage dealer worked so well. It gave Tim the time he needed to cast Charm through the limited damage he was taking.
Restoration: The Rise of Resurgence: Book II Page 24