The Mountain Valley War

by M. A. Carlson

  “About time you joined us, Jack,” Rose griped, her armor looking quite worse for wear and her shields looking completely battered.

  “I went to get reinforcements,” I retorted, striking at the same shoulder, this time the hit punctured the armor but not very deep. After seeing how effective hitting that gap at the shoulder was against Goradar, I was trying to see if I could duplicate the results.

  “Can you see a health bar?” Rose asked.

  I looked at Thibaut, with most enemies, my ’Perception’ let me see their health bars at the very least, with focus I could see their mana and stamina bars. Right now, this guy wasn’t giving up anything. “Not a thing,” I replied.

  “Great,” said Rose, grunting as her shield bore the brunt of another hit.

  I still kept attacking that same shoulder, trying everything in my arsenal. Then I hit with ‘Ligament Rip’ on a shot that made it between the gap. The arm suddenly went weak, dropping the maul.

  “How dare you!” Thibaut shouted, suddenly standing tall. “I will kill you all. No, better, you will kill each other and yourselves!” He was starting to suck in air, the attack Loic warned me about.

  “When he looks up, hit him in the throat with everything you’ve got!” I shouted for everyone to hear. I started pumping SP into ‘Body Control’, adding as many points of Strength to my arms as I could, every 20-SP spent added almost +2-Strength and each point of Strength was one more point of damage with my spear.

  When Thibaut started lifting his chin, I started moving. By the time he was looking straight up, my spear was driving into his throat, an attack that was joined by a dozen more, each hit deflating his chest as no sound emerged until finally, Thibaut stepped back, falling to one knee, coughing up blood. I was more focused on the new debuff he was sporting, ‘Mana Sick’.

  Mana Sick – Resulting from the forced absorption of mana due to a spell misfire. Paralyzed for 30-Seconds.

  “Unleash everything you’ve got!” Rose cried out. I found it ironic that everyone had just done exactly that to interrupt his skill and she was asking for more.

  And yet, somehow, like sharks tasting blood in the water, the efforts were bolstered. All the players and our new Dwarf allies fought that much harder. It was as if hell had been unleashed point blank on one Dwarf, a large Dwarf, but still just a Dwarf. The few melee fighters and tanks that remained attacked, dozens of weapons striking the body. From above us, spells, arrows, and bullets perforated Thibaut. It was relentless and when the smoke cleared, he stood up again, his maul swinging him into his whirlwind attack.

  “What does it take to kill this guy?” a nearby player complained.

  “More,” I answered, getting ready to attack as soon as the whirlwind ended.

  As soon as he came out of the spin, I leaped in again, aiming for that same shoulder. This time I really struck home. I didn’t sever the arm, but I did leave it ‘Crippled’, at long last some lasting damage had been done. It was even more rewarding when Thibaut struggled to lift his maul. It was worth its weight in gold when the maul hit Rose’s shields and hardly moved her or her HP bar.

  “We got him now, boys and girls,” Rose cheered, then added more seriously. “Now, don’t get cocky.”

  I couldn’t help but grin, Rose was something else.

  After disabling one arm, I focused on the second, something the other players had started to mirror. And after a little time, that arm was also ‘Crippled’. From there it was all but over. We beat away at him until life finally passed and he collapsed forward, unmoving. With his last breath, he breathed out a dark shadow of energy. The black tendrils floated into the air then flew quickly south, directly toward Anvilton.

  Hammerton War Effort: Recapture the Hammered Dwarf Brewery – Completed!

  You have been offered the mission to recapture the Hammered Dwarf Brewery and free the captured workers.

  Reward: +25,000-Experience, Increased reputation with Hammerton Military Structure, See Colonel Grandmite for Bonus

  Happy for the quest completion, I sat down on the hard ground, out of breath and exhausted.

  “That was awesome!” Death Hunter cried out excited. I could see he was also now level 11. It was good to see he survived the encounter.

  Looking around, there were barely a dozen players around me that were still standing . . . sitting. I was glad to see most of the Anvilton Dwarves survived.

  It seemed Sunday also survived and was approaching the body.

  “Hold off on looting, we’ll wait for everyone to get here. We also need to check on the Dwarves inside,” I said.

  Sunday ignored me. Though it didn’t appear he was after loot. His scythe arced out, removing Thibault’s head. “This is the only loot I need. There is a hefty bounty on his head, and I intend to collect.”

  “It’s a bounty we all share in,” I warned him.

  “Yes, but as a Bounty Hunter class, I can get us 15% more,” Sunday said, smiling. Admittedly, I didn’t like that smile. It was . . . fake. But I suppose, as long as we all got our share, I was fine with it.

  Having recovered a little, I stood up and looked around. Rose and Baby were fine. Baby was flying around resurrecting any player that hadn’t vanished yet if they died in the fight, then healing them. Rose was talking with some of the other tanks.

  Olaf had finally made his way down with his completely intact group.

  “Go alright?” I asked.

  “Yeah, not bad,” Olaf replied, also scanning the players. “Bushy didn’t make it?” he asked, looking around

  I was surprised by that. I didn’t even know which group she was with, but to hear she didn’t make it was a little shocking. I expected all my friends to survive. That also made me question when I began thinking of Bushy as a friend and not as a temporary annoyance. I quickly started looking around just to make sure and she was indeed absent.

  I did see Pwn Star69 survived, much to my disappointment, and was now chatting animatedly with Icyhot, both of whom were part of Olaf’s team and were able to fight from the relative safety of the elevated area.

  “I guess not,” I answered.

  “Then I guess we’ll see her at the next attack site,” said Olaf.

  “You know it will be close to dark by the time we arrive,” I said, looking at my game clock.

  “I know, I just don’t see any way around it,” Olaf said. “We need to resolve this sooner rather than later.”

  “Then I suppose you should hurry up with the loot. I’ll head inside and check on the workers,” I said, mentally preparing myself to walk inside and find out if Thibaut killed them all . . . at least I hoped I was prepared for that as a possible outcome.

  It took a bit of work to force the door open and then I immediately ducked as a handful of beer steins and other pieces of junk were thrown at me.

  “Hold your fire, I’m with Hammerton!” I called loudly from the other side of one of the two large barn doors. The flotsam was unlikely to do any real damage to me but that didn’t mean I was just going to let them hit me.

  “Prove it,” someone called back.

  How was I supposed to prove it? Right, I had an armband. I untied it from my arm and held it out to show them. “There, it’s proof that I’m with Hammerton.”

  “You could have stolen it,” the same voice called back.

  “For goodness sake, look at my title,” I shouted, risking showing my face again. While I was sure the mugs wouldn’t kill me, they certainly wouldn’t feel good either.

  “It is true,” said another voice, this one female.

  I stepped fully into view, only one errant mug sailed my way but missed by a large margin. “See, I’m on your side. The Captain is dead, and the brewery is yours again.” My statement was met by a loud cheer from the Dwarven brewers.

  I finally got to look at the inside of the brewery. It must have been two or three hundred yards deep, the front half of which was filled with barrels I assumed were filled with Hammered Dwarf beer. I also noted
the Anvilton Dwarves trussed up to one side, the same defeated look in their eyes as their brethren outside.

  I had channeled mana to my voice before, but I wondered if I hadn’t learned a skill from the previous attempt. A quick check showed me two new skills, the first I kind of expected, though the details were very surprising.

  You’ve learned the Law and Order spell ‘Order: Military Command’

  Order: Military Command

  Level: N/A

  Experience: N/A

  Spell Duration: 30 seconds

  Spell Cast Speed: Instant

  Spell Mana Cost: 100

  Spell Effect (Active): Your voice carries the authority of your position (title dependent) allowing you to give orders to subordinates.

  The second was the real prize as far as I was concerned.

  You’ve learned the skill ‘Hit Them Where It Hurts’

  Hit Them Where It Hurts

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Skill Effect (Passive): Striking the weak spot of an enemy increases damage dealt by 10% and critical strike chance by 10%.

  This was exactly the kind of passive skill I had been looking for. This must be the result of targeting the gaps in Goradar and Thibaut’s armors. I might have done a little celebration of my own if I didn’t need to deal with the outcasted soldiers.

  I approached the dazed soldiers. “On your feet soldiers!” I barked at them, letting ‘Order: Military Command’ do the heavy lifting for me. Just like before, whatever spell they were under was broken and slowly but surely the bound men stood. “Anvilton has cast you out. You now have two choices. Help me put a stop to the mad Duke or run and abandon your friends and families to their fates. The choice is yours.”

  “Promise you will help us free our people and our axes, swords, and shields are yours,” said a Lieutenant from among them.

  “I promise,” I said, it was an easy promise to make. I used my utility knife to cut their bonds, freeing them one by one. “Now, go join your fellows outside. We march on the Flattop Mill soon.”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” they snapped together in a single voice.

  “How can we repay you?” the female Dwarf I heard early asked from behind me.

  I turned to face her. “Just keep brewing your beer. Hammerton could desperately use the morale boost.”

  “Consider it done, I will send some of my boys out with you. Nothing gets a Dwarf fighting as much as Hammered Dwarf Ale does,” she said happily, moving back to the other brewers before I could even say ‘thank you’.

  With the brewery in good shape, it was time to move on. I quickly rejoined Olaf, Rose, and Baby outside.

  “Everyone is ready to go,” Olaf said in greeting, giving me a nod.

  “Great, we got lucky inside, they were all fine. I even converted the Dwarves from Anvilton to our cause. Also, one of the brewers said she would be sending some of her boys with us. I’m assuming to distribute beer for morale,” I said, relaying the information I had.

  “Very nice,” said Olaf. “By the way, how did you convert the outcasts to fight for us?”

  “I picked up a new skill. ‘Order: Military Command’. It allows me to use the authority of my rank or title to issue orders. Probably has something to do with them being unaffiliated now,” I answered.

  “I’ll need to try that later,” said Rose.

  “Why not now?” Olaf asked, pointing to a group of corralled Archers wearing chains around their wrists, the same listless expression on their faces.

  “Ooh, thanks, Olaf,” said Rose, quickly moving toward the prisoners.

  “How did looting go?” I asked, looking to the all but naked corpse of Captain Thibaut.

  “Fine, no riots anyway. Each of the tanks that survived took a piece of the armor. There was a fight for the maul, but no one could lift it, not even me,” Olaf answered, pointing to the maul that still laid on the ground.

  “Yeah, but level up fast enough and build your strength and you can come back for it,” said Baby.

  “And so can anyone else that wants it,” Olaf countered. “Anyway, that’s for later. For now, we should get marching.”

  It was a few minutes more before Rose was unchaining the Archers and they joined with their comrades.

  I quickly fell in line with Olaf and Rose as we made our way toward the Flattop Mill and our next attack. But speaking of levels, I was curious how close I was to leveling up after all the fighting and the War Effort completion.

  Level:

  14

  Experience:

  95.08%

  Class: Initiate Warrior Priest of Issara

  Ninety-five percent! That was incredible. Just a little fighting in this next battle and I would hit level 15, that was amazing. I looked up and around at the other players and saw most of the lower-level players had leveled, but Rose was now level 14, same as Olaf and me.

  “Congrats on the level, Rose,” I said.

  “Now you notice,” Rose teased, the false pout of her lips did nothing to hide the grin she was failing to fight against. “But thank you. That level 22 was worth a lot of experience, I leveled before the boss and I’m already halfway to fifteen.”

  “Congrats again,” I said, stealing a kiss. The catcalls that followed made her and I both blush red.

  Rose clearly didn’t mind too much as she quickly latched on to my arm, a place that had become comfortable to us both as we got closer.

  When we started to hear explosions, Rose and I parted slightly, both setting our equipment for the battle to come.

  “Excuse me, Captain,” said Loic, the Lieutenant from Anvilton that promised to help us.

  “What is it Loic?” I asked.

  “Them explosions, sir. Them are Anvilton big guns. They must be really dug in to have brought them up here,” Loic said.

  “Okay, we still need to take back the mill,” I said.

  “Yes sir, however sir, the first thing any Anvilton commander will order is an emergency evacuation tunnel, not that any commander worth his salt will ever use one. But it is part of Anvilton’s standard operating procedure,” Loic explained.

  “And do you know how to find this entrance?” Olaf asked.

  “Yes, sir, it is why I brought it up,” Loic stated.

  “Can you lead us in without alerting Anvilton?” I asked.

  “I think so, with it under attack like this, there should only be two soldiers guarding the entrance. If you can capture them fast enough it shouldn’t be a problem,” Loic replied.

  “I like this plan,” I said.

  “We’re down a few soldiers,” Olaf replied, rubbing his chin.

  “If we approach from the front and they see us with you, I expect they will probably seal that entrance,” Loic warned, it was giving me the feeling of a quest. Surprise attack or sneak attack. A sneak attack that would not have been an option if I hadn’t talked to the Dwarf in the first place.

  “I vote sneak attack,” Rose said first.

  “I’m with her,” I said. It was the right move, especially if we can capture a few of Anvilton’s bigger cannons. Hopefully, the other players would understand.

  “Much as I don’t want to leave out the adventurers that died, this is the better approach,” Olaf agreed. “Show us the way, Loic.”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” Loic said, snapping to attention before rushing ahead of us to show our front line the way.

  “Do you ever get used to the saluting?” I asked.

  “Not sure, I was always the one saluting others, not the one receiving them,” Olaf said, scratching his head and looking abashed. “It’s a bit awkward, to be honest.”

  I chuckled a little, it was good to know I wasn’t the only one feeling out of place.

  It took a bit longer than expected to reach Loic’s hidden entrance, but it was just as he promised with one exception. There were four soldiers, not two. Still, it was well within our abilities to deal with. Four captured soldiers later and we were filing into the tun
nel until we reached a locked door.

  “Any suggestions?” I asked Olaf.

  “I can disassemble the lock, it should only take a minute,” Olaf replied, kneeling before the door and lock only to stop when a set of keys was dangled in front of him. Loic once again came through for us. “Or you could ruin all my fun,” Olaf complained, taking the keys. “Should we oil the locks?” he asked, looking down at Loic.

  “Could not hurt,” Loic replied. “If anyone has any oil, that is.”

  “You’re just lucky I’m an engineer,” Olaf said, removing an oil can from his bag and returning it inside his bag after liberally oiling the hinges and even the lock itself. With a simple twist of the key, the door opened with just a whisper of sound.

  “Alright, before we go in, remember, we need to get the innocents out first,” Olaf said. “Second, any soldiers in there, we want to capture them. There shouldn’t be any players among them, but they need to die fast once combat actually starts.” Olaf paused and looked at Loic again. “Is there a Captain here we need to worry about?”

  “Last I heard, Captain Mariette was here. She’s a real witch of a Dwarf,” Loic answered.

  “So, spellcaster or just mean?” Olaf asked.

  “Both, she is mean, and she uses magic liberally. She’s an Earth Mage and with so much stone all around she will be dangerous,” Loic answered. “She also has Archers at the top of the windmill, you will want to take them out first.”

  “Okay, I’ve got the Archers. I’ll take my group up top, the extra range will help,” Olaf said. “Rose, that means you lead the charge when it’s time.”

  Rose grinned, her fangs making her look bloodthirsty as always. “Consider it done, just don’t take so long this time.”

  “No promises,” Olaf replied, a matching grin on his face as the pair exchanged a fist bump.