Restoration: The Rise of Resurgence: Book II

by Joshua W. Nelson

  “There is also this letter that we were asked to deliver.”

  “A letter? From whom?”

  “A monk from the Monastery. I am sorry to say we do not know his name.”

  The Witch took the letter and looked at the wax seal. She took a quick breath before attacking the seal and opening the note.

  As she read the letter, tears flowed down her face. She cycled through looks of happiness, contentment, and then sadness. When she finished the note, the Witch set it down and took the Vivre Stone into her hands.

  “He’s in here? Master Morro sacrificed his life for the stone?”

  “He did. And he called you Della? Am I to take it that is your name?”

  “It was. I mean it is. Again. For years, I was nothing but the Witch. I wanted no one to remind me of a time when I was that woman, so I forgot the name entirely. Made everyone else forget it as well.

  “Morro and I were quite the rabble rousers in our youth. To think, a magic user and a monk cavorting around together and getting up to all kinds of mischief. Though we knew it impossible, secretly we talked of our spirits and how divine it would be for them to be intertwined. That was the only man I ever loved.”

  The atmosphere was quite a bit uncomfortable at that point. What do you say to a woman who finds out that the man she loved centuries before had still been alive all that time, only to die that very day? Even Dan had the presence of mind to keep quiet and not say anything.

  Della finally stood from the ground and approached the group, although this time, her hands were not outstretched for any hugs. We had brought her joy and sadness, all in the span of several minutes, so I understood her mood.

  “You have gone above and beyond what was asked of you. Simply returning with the stone would have fulfilled your oath. Delivering me the letter was a kindness you were not obligated to fulfill. As such, I am in your debt. Ask, and if it is possible, I will grant it. I only remind you, I am still tethered to this land, so I cannot travel for any great distance.”

  I looked over at the guys, and almost as one, they shrugged their shoulders in the universal sign of, “I’ve got no idea.”

  “Is this a debt we must have repaid now?”

  “No. You may collect at any time. The only limiting factor is my ability.”

  “Since we can’t come up with anything at this moment, we will say our goodbyes for now. I have no doubt that a practitioner of magic with your skills will be in need at some point.”

  “Agreed,” she said, still with that look of sadness upon her visage. After a moment, a small smile of warmth crept onto her face as she took us in yet again. “I promise you that on your next visit, I will be in better spirits. You deserve a celebration for the accomplishments you have achieved.”

  “We understand completely and thank you for the offer and the hospitality. Until we meet again.”

  With those words said, Della nodded her head, turned her back on us, and walked back to her cottage.

  You have fulfilled your Oath to Della of the Glade! You are no longer beholden to Della and owe her nothing further.

  “Did you guys just get a message that flashed in front of your eyes?” I asked and read them the message I received. To a man, none of them got the message. So that was another interesting point of note in the game. Dan, Jason, and I could walk away from the portion of Lady Tessa’s quest where we have to bury the bodies of House Lancaster and only Wayne would be affected if he stopped.

  I shared my views with the team, and they thought the same. “It’s old school, Alex. Whoever smelt it, dealt it.”

  I wanted to look at Dan in bewilderment, but that was just too damn funny.

  Once I got through the laughing, along with the other guys, we started heading north toward the road. We had been fairly successful on our trip from the road to Della’s hut, so I hoped we could avoid the mobs on our way back to the major thoroughfare. It’s not that I didn’t want the experience, but we had been online now for many, many hours.

  Dan assured us that with both the patterns he saw the last time we ventured into the swamp and the path laid out by Della on our trip to the island, he could avoid the mobs almost entirely.

  Which is why it shouldn’t have been any shocker to us that after only five minutes of running, we almost literally fell into a pack of Venomous Swamp Snakes. They weren’t difficult to defeat, but they certainly scared the shit out of us when they all came springing out of the ground to latch onto any purchase their dripping fangs could find.

  When the last one was dead, Dan shook his head and apologized, saying, “Ok. Looks like no pattern. I’ll just range a bit out like I did before.”

  With that method, it took us less than an hour and only two mob encounters to get back to the road. And no snakes.

  “Alright, guys, let’s get this over with so we can log off. I’m exhausted, and I am sure the rest of you are as well.”

  Wayne took the lead after my comment and went over to a patch of ground, north of the road to be away from the swamp, and took the bones out of his inventory. If things worked the same way they had before, Wayne would see a pop-up notification, asking him if he wanted to destroy or bury the remains. As I saw the hole begin to form next to the bones, I knew Wayne had made his choice. Soon after the whole process began, I saw the statue that marked the grave, and once again our Gift from Lady Tessa increased by one point for all Stats and one percentage point for all Resistances. This brought them to a total of +7 for Stats and +7 percent for Resistances.

  “Got that one in the bag. All you have to do is crack open that Tome, Wayne, and we can call this a day.”

  “Nah, Alex. I’m going to wait until tomorrow. I want to be fully refreshed when I look at what I’m getting.”

  “You do realize this is going to piss Jenny off to no end when you tell her what you got and then say you didn’t open it?”

  “Indeed, Dan. It will spice things up.”

  Dan leaned over to Jason and said, “Apparently, Wayne thinks getting his ass beat is an acceptable spice.”

  November 11th, 2043

  The next day Wayne looked haggard as we logged in near the grave site of Constantine. He looked so disheveled that none of us wanted to ask him if he wanted to open the Tome now, or wait until later.

  As we went about making sure our stuff was together, Wayne finally spoke. “Apparently I don’t understand the concept of spicing up one’s relationship. I do know, however, that Jenny’s new couch is not nearly as comfortable as the bed.”

  “I told you, Wayne. This wasn’t…”

  “You almost burnt down an apartment complex, Dan. I’ll ask you for advice on a number of things, but relationships are not one of them.”

  Dan looked ready to come back with a reply and then shut his mouth. He turned and headed toward where he had summoned his horse. He walked past me as he went, and I heard him mumble, “Piece of shit General and…”

  I chalked it up to one of Dan’s many idiosyncrasies and looked back at Wayne. “So, book now, or later?”

  “Oh, book now. I have explicit orders,” Wayne said, and we saw the Tome magically appear in his hands. “And a piece of advice for you, Dan, if you ever do get hooked up with Kaitlin: compromise, the hallmark of all good relationships, is understanding from the beginning of the conversation that she’s right, not figuring it out at the end.”

  With that, Wayne placed his hand on the book and it linked the contents.

  For centuries, the Monastery of Might has worked and toiled to discover the secrets of power; taking the smallest movements and producing maximum force. The Book of Might is the collected wisdom of our greatest masters and sages, with all of their discoveries in one tome. In order to ensure that our teachings are never lost, this tome may be used to unlock the secrets within.

  “Damn! What does that put your attack at Wayne?”

  “Let me look.”

  While Wayne was opening his character, I did the same to mine. My Attack was at 810. T
his number is a combination of my base Attack determined by my Strength, the Attack Modifiers on my weapons, and the modifiers from my Skills in Dagger and Dual Wield.

  Wayne’s base Attack was higher than my combined total, as his Strength put him at 1040. With the modifiers and bonus from his War Hammer, Wayne should be sitting at 1340 or so Attack.

  “It’s 1608 Attack,” Wayne said in a bit of a whisper. The twenty percent increase wasn’t to his base, but to the overall total, which was amazing if Wayne could increase his Attack modifiers on his weapons, or started using two swords. Either way, he now had twice the attack that I did. I was ridiculously quicker when it came to attacks, however, which still put me at an advantage.

  I told Wayne that he was now almost twice my attack and I saw him blush a bit. Wayne doesn’t really like being the center of attention, so my going on and on about how awesome he was made him uncomfortable. But screw him, because I still needed to know what Concentration was.

  “According to the Skill in my Character screen, Concentration allows me to fight through Stun attempts. The higher my Concentration, the more likely I will resist a Stun.”

  “What Level is it at now?”

  “One.”

  “And how do you increase it?”

  “Seriously, Alex, I have no idea. It doesn’t say anywhere.”

  Before I could ask, Dan volunteered that he hadn’t read anything about the Skill in the manual, which I concluded meant this skill was one specifically designed by Shoal and taken out by AltCon.

  “Guess we will figure it out as we go along. We got our Level 29 during the raid on the Monastery. Want to go see if our next quest is ready for us?”

  *

  “You aren’t surprised, are you?”

  “No,” I said to Jason, “but I was hopeful. The thought of grinding again leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.”

  “That could be gingivitis, Alex.”

  Of course those words came from Dan. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, man. I read about it the other day. A bitter taste in the mouth can be a sign of gingivitis. And nasal polyps, but your honker doesn’t look swollen.”

  “No, Dan. I meant, ‘Seriously, you actually said those words and thought they made sense?’ Do you remember our discussion about context?”

  “Oh. Right. Sorry, never mind. I’m sure your mouth is fine. Don’t forget to floss, though.”

  I turned back from Dan and addressed the group as a whole. “Now that we have determined that I don’t have any gum issues, let’s talk about what we do next.”

  Brainstorming had worked out well for our group in the past, and I was happy to get everyone’s input. More and more I was being looked at as the leader, with Dan saying as much at the Monastery, but I still didn’t want to take every decision on my shoulders. This was partly because I wanted everyone to feel involved and partly because I didn’t want to take sole blame if something went south.

  To my shock and surprise, the guys wanted to go back to the swamp. Of all the places we could have chosen, I thought that would be the least likely one. Dan, though, explained his rationale for wanting to return, and the other two agreed.

  “I’ve got that map Della made safely tucked away in my noggin. While Alex talked to her, he was able to weasel out what each of the markings meant in her key. The ones I really took note of were those marked with the symbol for ‘Dungeon.’ If it’s anything like the mines where we first liberated the Dwarves, that could be a lot of experience. That is, so long as the levels are high enough. What do you guys think?”

  It was sound, and I had no reason to argue other than not wanting to go back to the swamp. But since it was my suggestion that everyone get involved, I couldn’t rightly overrule the decision. This is where that whole democracy thing just doesn’t work, and I saw the benefits of being a dictator. Well, the benefits to me anyway.

  The distance for us to travel wouldn’t be long, as the first of the dungeons was located closer to where we first entered the swamps a week ago.

  One of the benefits I did see for us staying in the swamp region was that at the end of the day, we would always travel back to the main road in order to log off. A bit north of that road was a forest thick with trees, just asking to be climbed.

  During the next few days, we ventured out into the swamp and found numerous dungeons. There were a couple that we found with Green mobs inside. These we passed over, as they would give us no experience. Twice we found locations where the first mobs we encountered were Red. We high-tailed it out of there and gave those a wide berth.

  The locations themselves varied little in their form, with most being barrows that rose out of the swamps, with a solitary entrance somewhere along the face of the mound. Once we gained entrance, we would descend and fight our way through the denizens of these locations. The boss at the end was never too complex or dangerous. The experience was average, as was the loot, and anything we added to our already existing gear provided only the slightest of upgrades.

  But we were getting the experience we wanted and had gained another level, bringing us up to Level 30. At that Level, Dan and Jason received new spells, so we had to travel back to the Keep. We had also accumulated a sizeable amount of sellable loot that we needed to offload.

  Separately, I was looking forward to climbing something other than a tree. Following our daily forays into the muck, I spent an hour or two improving my Scaling Skill. Routes up trees that were simple for me with only the Climbing Skill became exponentially harder when I tried to use my shadows and Scale the same tree. I learned that mistake quickly on the very first tree I decided to ascend.

  While I was in the city, I had always approached an obstacle with my Scaling Skill already activated. This time, I had traveled deep into the forest to find a tree that would provide some kind of challenge for my Climbing technique. Everywhere I looked, though, all I saw were Green routes going up the trees. After 20 minutes of running into the woods, I finally found what I was looking for.

  There were still no overly difficult routes, but at least a few of these ascents would take me up to my level. Wanting to really challenge myself, I proceeded up to a point just shy of the most difficult locations. Ready to get to work, I gathered the shadows around my body like Waseem had taught me.

  As I looked down below me, to the undergrowth of the forest, I realized something important: I was a top-level Climber, but I still didn’t know shit about Scaling. The bright Red patches below me, and above me, gave every indication of that. Another valuable lesson came as both my hands and feet lost hold of the tree I was on.

  Being up so high might have been the thing that saved my life. It gave me the time I needed to dispel my shadows and focus on the tree through my Climbing Skill. Quickly, I was able to reach out and grab a handhold, arresting my descent. I slipped from there as well, but having stopped for the briefest of times, I only fell a short distance before regaining my perch against the tree.

  I found myself almost back to the road when I finally found a tree that wasn’t red and I could climb to practice my Scaling. After three days, I had increased my Skill from 30 to 54, which made it easier to find routes to traverse with shadows as my hands and feet. The Skill also gave me an increase of +5 to Climbing. I figured it would max out at 100, like all other Skills, and I would receive an overall +10 to my Climbing.

  At the end of that last day, we left the swamps and forests and rode back to the Keep. It was true that Dan and Jason wanted to get their spells, and I desperately needed to sell all this loot, but another event was what had everyone excited.

  The next day would be AltCon’s Player/Family Appreciation Day. As Jason had believed, James was very excited to see what all the hubbub was about and why Jason always wanted to stay just a little bit longer in the game. Gary and Tim were also bringing their wives, as Jenny and Wayne agreed to babysit all the kids. Once Dan heard that Kaitlin planned to attend, despite her being single, he assured us that he had always intended to j
oin as well.

  I had no plans to join the event, and I was looking forward to my day off, where I could simply lounge around my apartment and maybe catch up on a movie or two. I had always been an introvert and found that a solitary life was very much to my liking. The thought reminded me of a t-shirt I had, and refused to give up despite the multiple holes in it, that read: Introverts of the World Unite. Separately.

  I certainly valued the friendships that I had made with my teammates, but my own company was always the most pleasant. I mean, let’s face it, I wasn’t encountering the same conundrums that Wayne was facing.

  Sure, like everyone, I had the desire to find a partner that I could share happy moments with, but it wasn’t something that I “needed” to have in my life. I would never be against the prospect, but anyone could see the simple truth I told myself time and again. I never had a need to compromise, since I always agreed with myself.

  FBI Headquarters

  FBI Director Grissten’s administrative assistant led the General into the Director’s office then closed the door behind him as he left. Director Melanie Grissten had been reviewing the documents she received from Special Agents Bolden and Colvin before the General arrived, and she was preparing to share that information. She didn’t plan on just giving the information away, however.

  The General had been tight lipped about almost everything to do with this operation, and Grissten planned on there being an exchange of information between them. She would not settle for the General simply being ready to receive information; he needed to be ready to transmit as well.

  “I’m going to start, General, by laying out for you what my Agents have found since beginning their investigation. After that, I will let you know what our next steps are for the operation.”

  The General looked at Grissten for a few moments before finally commenting. “That seems very gracious of you, Director. Perhaps, too gracious?” he ended with a small smirk.