The Mountain Valley War

by M. A. Carlson

  “Find . . . a . . . mirror,” Rose gasped out between laughs.

  Baby glared then zipped out of the room, almost running over Gras as he entered.

  “Morning Ash,” said Micaela between laughs, seeing our grumpy looking Shale Dwarf companion.

  Gras looked at Micaela then the rest of us, rolling his eyes, clearly not interested in finding out why we were laughing so hard. He finally shrugged and moved on to the food.

  “Rosie!” Baby cried from another room, getting another round of laughter.

  “Best . . . spell . . . ever!” Rose said, unable to hold back her laughter. My gift to Rose, the spell she got the night before was a simple illusion spell, ‘False Title’. It could be used to give anyone a title of the user’s choice, something that might be useful in some circles. But in this circle, it was the perfect pranking tool.

  As the laughter died down, breakfast turned quiet, or I think it did. I wasn’t paying much attention as Rose and I flirted back and forth as we picked at our food. Laughing together as Baby re-entered the dining room.

  “Rosie, undo it,” Baby demanded.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Rose, trying not to laugh.

  “Rosie, take if off!” Baby insisted.

  “I suppose, if Fairy Overlord Babies Breath has given me an order, then I must comply,” said Rose as straight faced as she was able before a smile cracked on her face and a flood of laughter broke through loudly and joyously.

  Baby pouted. “Meanie!”

  “Oh, relax, Sis, it will fade in another minute,” said Rose, finally giving her sister a break.

  “You know, I never bothered with that illusion before,” said Heath. “I think I might need to rethink my stance on it.”

  Baby turned sharply to glare at Heath.

  “Time to go,” said Olaf, standing from the table and interrupting Baby’s pouting and glaring.

  Rose and I could have continued for quite a while, we were having fun, but it was time to work. I accessed my equipment menu, slotting each piece of freshly cleaned and repaired armor into the appropriate slot. Next to me, I could see Rose doing the same thing with her chainmail armor.

  “Jack, before we go,” Rose called me, halting me before we got out the door.

  “Yes?” I said.

  Rose kissed me. “There, that will have to hold us both for the day. We need to focus today. Last night was amazing and I can’t wait to do it again. But business before pleasure.”

  “Agreed,” I said, taking the initiative and kissing her. “Needed one for the road. Now, let’s go kick a little ass.”

  Rose grinned wolfishly. “Remember, you’re tanking today and I’m casting,” she reminded me of our deal from the night before.

  I equipped the Guard’s Phalanx Shield I was rewarded back in Hurligville. My skill wasn’t very high, but it would be enough, at least I hoped it would.

  Phalanx Shield

  Level: 25

  Experience: 66.55%

  Current Defense Modifiers

  Block Chance: +1.25%

  Critical Block Chance: +0.63%

  Subskill: Shield Slam

  Damage: 10-13 Effect: Interrupt Chance to Stun on Critical Strike: 10.10%

  Skill Stamina Cost: 35

  Subskill: Shield-Counter

  Block Chance: +32.50% Cooldown: 30 seconds

  Skill Stamina Cost: 50

  It wasn’t good, and my ‘One-Handed Polearms’ skill wasn’t much better.

  One-Handed Polearms

  Level: 33

  Experience: 13.21%

  Current Damage Modifiers

  Damage: +16.50

  Critical Strike Chance: +1.55%

  Subskill: Jab

  Damage: +16.50

  Skill Stamina Cost: 43

  Subskill: Rapid Striking

  Damage: -8 Strikes: 13 Cone: 30⁰

  Skill Stamina Cost: 85

  Subskill: Ligament Rip

  Reduce Enemy Movement and Attack Speed: 50% Target Receives Increased Damage: +8.25% Duration: 15 Seconds Bleed Effect: 2 Damage per Second

  Skill Stamina Cost: 56

  Subskill: Impale

  Damage: 16-17 Bleed Effect: 2 Damage per Second Duration: 10 Seconds

  Skill Stamina Cost: 48

  Subskill: Power Thrust

  Damage: +33.00 Chance to Stun: 10%

  Skill Stamina Cost: 85

  “I’m ready, let’s go,” I said, heading out the door with Rose just behind me.

  “You two done necking?” Micaela asked.

  “Time to work,” said Rose, a serious tone to her voice, seeming to communicate that we were done ‘necking’ and ready to go.

  The streets were as empty as I remember from the previous morning. We passed Filina’s bakery, waving to the baker at her counter as she served her Hot Pork Buns, Vision made sure to whine as we passed.

  “Didn’t you have cooking lessons with her this morning?” Baby asked, though I could still feel her glaring at Rose and me as we walked hand in hand.

  “No, I ended up scheduling it for tomorrow morning,” Micaela replied. “I knew we had the mission from the Captain today, so I figured it would be better if I waited a day.”

  “How did your spy hunt go yesterday, Heath?” I asked. Our resident Thief and troublemaker had been awfully quiet.

  “Fine, kind of boring. I haven’t found anything yet, but I did gain several levels to my thieving skills,” Heath answered.

  “Getting closer to your ‘Jack of All’ class?” Rose asked.

  ‘Jack of All’ was some kind of Thief, Mage, and Bard hybrid class that Heath had been working towards. Apparently, he had met all the requirements except some of his Thief skills, which was kind of amusing to me as Thief was his actual class.

  “Couple more days of this and I will,” Heath replied. “Still, I want to see what this Captain will offer before I go back to it, just in case there is something a little more interesting. Micaela said something about sabotage and espionage opportunities.”

  “We’ll see what she will offer,” Olaf responded, motioning ahead of us to where Captain Grandmite was just emerging from the barracks.

  “Ah, good, you are on time,” said the Captain in greeting. “That is a good sign. Now, I trust you are prepared for your mission?”

  “Ma’am,” said Olaf, nodding his greeting and acknowledging us as ready.

  “Far up the north slope is the Hammerpeak Mine,” started the Captain. “Our workers have been reporting issues regarding broken mining equipment, disabled carts, damaged tracks, and several other kinds of apparent sabotage. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the source of the sabotage and put a stop to it.”

  Quest Alert: A Miner Problem (Recommended Level 8-10)

  Captain Grandmite has tasked you with investigating a matter of sabotage at the Hammerpeak Mine and identifying the cause.

  Reward: Experience, increased reputation with Captain Grandmite

  Do you accept this quest?

  Yes

  No

  “Consider it done, ma’am,” said Olaf. “Oh, and if you like. I am an experienced ‘Engineer’, I could probably repair the damage if you like.”

  “That will be acceptable, check in with Foreman Digren, he should be able to give you more specifics,” Captain Grandmite ordered.

  “Consider it done,” said Olaf.

  “Dismissed,” said the Captain, effectively ending the conversation as she moved on to speak with some of her soldiers.

  “Did you just get a professional quest?” Micaela asked.

  “Yes, I did,” said Olaf, grinning a little.

  “Way to go, babe. I take it the WWBBJD method is working for you?” Micaela asked.

  “WWBBJD?” Rose asked.

  “What would Bye-bye Jacko do?” Micaela answered.

  If you hear an audible slap here, it’s just me facepalming. The groaning is also me as I drag my fingers down my face.

 
; “Seriously?” Rose asked.

  “Hey, I also thought it was ridiculous,” said Olaf. “But having just tried it, I can tell you it works.”

  I had a feeling this wasn’t going to go away. The fact that it bothered me as much as it did, promised me it would not be going away any time soon.

  “Please, tell me more,” said Rose, grinning mischievously at me.

  “Let’s go get your wagon and oxen, Ash,” I said, trying desperately to escape.

  Gras just grinned at me and shook his head. He then pointed to his ears and then at Micaela making it clear to everyone that he wanted to hear Micaela’s explanation.

  I found myself plotting as many accidental ways of killing Gras as possible while we were on this mission. They quickly grew more and more creative once Micaela started speaking.

  “Okay, so the WWBBJD method is pretty simple which is why it works so well,” started Micaela. “Step one, listen for key words. In the quest Olaf just got, he picked up on ‘disabled carts’, something an engineer would build and probably fix. From there it was very simple to ask if they needed help fixing them, something Olaf could do as an engineer. Or like yesterday, as soon as Filina said she had a limited number of Hot Pork Buns, I knew it was probably a supply chain problem, meaning she either had someone stopping her supplies from being delivered or the supply itself was limited,” Micaela explained, it was actually pretty thorough.

  I found I was yet again surprised by Micaela. The woman could be an enigma at times. The way she went from a profoundly wise woman to a scatterbrained pixie in the blink of an eye was amazing.

  “Now, I know Bye-bye was having an off day yesterday or he would have picked up on that but for Olaf’s bonus quest today, it was probably only something Olaf could have gotten so I don’t blame Bye-bye for not picking up on it,” Micaela elaborated, poking at me in the process. “I expect, he will do much better today . . . assuming the two of you can keep your hands to yourselves long enough for him to do his job as Cool Stuff Finder, if not, we might demote you to Okay Stuff Finder.”

  Kill me now, respawn would be more merciful.

  “Ash, do you know where the Hammerpeak Mine is?” I asked, trying desperately to change the subject.

  Gras nodded.

  “Bears and rock giants along the way?” I asked.

  Gras nodded again.

  “Anything else up there?” I asked.

  Gras shrugged unhelpfully.

  “So anyway . . .” Micaela started up again, espousing all kinds of techniques and ideas for digging up extra quests. And don’t tell Micaela this . . . I mean, like, not ever . . . never . . . some of her ideas, were things I hadn’t even considered.

  This continued through picking up Gras’s wagon and oxen team, exiting the city and starting our ascent up the mountain.

  Gras went up the same path as the day before so we were able to kill the occasional Bear or rock giant that were close to the path but for the most part we kept going up, eventually the path began to wind back and forth, it looked like it would continue all the way up to the snowcapped mountain top above us.

  “We turn off just up here,” Gras said.

  “Huh, so he really does speak,” said Heath, appearing from stealth. In typical Heath fashion, the Thief was comfortably seated in the back of the wagon while the rest of us walked.

  Gras jumped slightly and swung with his mallet at the unexpected arrival.

  Heath easily ducked the swing. “Nice try, anyway, you were saying about turning off the path?”

  “Out, get out . . . out, out, out,” said Gras, pulling his wagon to a halt.

  Heath rolled his eyes and hopped over the edge of the wagon. “There, I’m out.”

  Gras huffed but got the oxen moving again.

  Heath though just grinned and vanished from sight once again. This time my ‘See Intrigue’ skill spotted him, climbing right back into the back of the wagon and retaking his seat.

  “Sorry Heath, this is going to hurt you more than me,” I said, grinning.

  Heath looked at me wide-eyed.

  “Lesser Holy Shock,” I zapped him, breaking his stealth.

  Gras yanked again on his oxen, halting them. This time, his swing connected, launching Heath from the wagon where he landed roughly on the side of the path, the rocky ground taking a few more points of his health.

  “Traitor,” groaned Heath when my stun wore off.

  “If we walk, you walk,” said Rose. “Also, by my calculation, you have yet to help us kill either rock giants or bears, so I would say, you need to solo, say three bears and a rock giant.”

  “Right, I’ll get right on that,” Heath said, vanishing from view an instant later, though this time I couldn’t see through his ‘Stealth’. It seemed both of our skills were getting stronger.

  “Sometimes, I really hate that guy,” complained Rose.

  Hunting today had not been overly pleasant for me. I am not a tank, something that has been made abundantly clear to me at this point, the bears battered me, the Rock Giants battered me more. Rose’s spell progress was great but slow to do more damage and mine was almost non-existent. If I wasn’t range pulling with multiple ‘Holy Smite’ casts and a stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ there would be none at all. At least my ‘Resist’ skill was gaining a lot of levels.

  Resist

  Level: 57

  Experience: 87.14%

  Skill Effect (Passive): You have suffered greatly, so much so, that you have started to become numb to the pain. Resist -57-HP physical damage received. Resist -57-HP poison damage received. Resist -57-HP elemental damage received.

  Gras resumed the trip, occasionally he would suddenly stop the wagon and take a wild swing with his mallet behind him. I had the feeling Heath was messing with Gras. I kind of wished I could watch and enjoy the show but then I would be obligated to stun him again.

  Gras smacked the side of his cart with his mallet as we turned a bend that opened onto a large flat area that appeared to have been cut out of the side of the mountain. And filling that large flat area was what looked like a mining town. There was a longhouse that was probably a barracks. Next to it was a small store marked by a shoddy sign reading ‘Hammerpeak Wares’, and an office with the image of a mining pick hanging over it. To the left of where we entered was a stable and wagon barn, I could see oxen and riding rams stabled just inside. The last building looked to be a bar, it was as big as the barracks and was packed to the brim with Dwarves coming and going, some of them with small kegs strapped to their backs as they headed into the mine.

  “Ash, me boy,” shouted a Dwarf with a thick brogue I’d come to expect. “What brings you to this mine of mine?” he asked, laughing at his own word play.

  Gras thumbed at us.

  “Ah, customers then. Here to do a bit of mining, are you?” he asked. “Well, I am Foreman Digren, and no one goes into the mine without me permission. Now, as for the mine rules. Due to a little situation, only shaft one is open to the first fork. You can find copper and some tin, might find the rare bit of iron but I would not count on it. So, let us get you all signed in and prepare your next of kin notices. Then you can all get to digging.”

  “Hello, Foreman Digren,” said Olaf, halting the Dwarf before he could lead them to the office. “We’re not actually here to dig.”

  “Oh, then what brings you? Here to do some sightseeing?” Digren asked, laughing at his own joke, making me think this was something he would do regularly.

  “No, Foreman,” said Olaf. “Captain Grandmite sent us. She wants us to investigate the source of the sabo-”

  “Shh,” hissed Digren, looking around nervously. “Do not be saying that. You will make the workers more scared then they already are.”

  “Anyway, we’re here to investigate,” said Olaf. “I am also an Engineer by profession, so I should be able to repair the broken carts and anything else that falls into my wheelhouse.”

  “Fat lot of good that will do us,” Digren huffed. “Yo
u think we have not already had someone come and repair everything? It does not matter. It all just breaks again. I cannot send any of my workers past the first fork anymore either.”

  “Monsters?” Olaf asked.

  “Monsters I could handle. This is something else. The leather holding picks together snap mid-swing, poor Lefty lost his left eye that way, some of the boys have taken to calling him Righty now which just confuses Righty and that just leads to trouble I do not need. Wheels fall off carts at random. It makes no sense. And I check everyone that goes into me mine,” Digren explained.

  “Is there another entrance to the mine?” Olaf asked.

  “Could be someone dug a new entrance from somewhere else on the mountain,” Digren answered, frowning as he considered it. “But there is a lot of mountain, too much to check. So, no. However, I am sure the answer must be inside the mine.”

  “Then we will get to the bottom of it,” said Olaf confidently.

  “Now hold on, I cannot in good conscience let some wet behind the ears adventurers go wandering about me mine and not knowing nothing about mining,” said Digren.

  “My wife and I are both Rank IV Miners,” said Olaf, turning on the title.

  “Well, why did you not say so?” said Digren, changing his tone. “Makes an old miner feel better knowing someone capable will be along. Well, all that remains is to sign the liability wavers. If you will just follow me to my office.”

  “Liability wavers?” I whispered my question to Micaela.

  “In case of collapse, the Miner’s Association won’t be held liable for your death, dismemberment, or the loss of any equipment or ore,” Micaela answered.

  “Does that happen often?” I asked, curious.

  “Olaf and I only had it happen once, totally his fault,” said Micaela, though the way she refused to look me in the eyes suggested it was just the opposite. “Anyway, one death is not the end of the world, but losing a full cart of copper ore hurt.”