I felt a shadow over me and looked up to see a smirking Rose. Offering me a hand up, she asked, “You going to lay there all day, Jack? Or can we get moving?”
I took the hand but didn’t answer the question.
“So, what have we learned?” Olaf asked, reloading his guns.
“You guys are mean,” I grumbled.
“Other than that?” Olaf corrected.
“A foreman needs to be killed fast,” I said. “It would be best if there are no groups of quarrymen nearby when we fight them. Movement impairing effects would also help.”
Olaf nodded along. “Yes, that might also be correct. I was more referring to you running off on your own to solo a large group without any help.”
“And then we might have ended up with the entire quarry after us,” I said defensively. “Did you pay any attention to the foreman after the pull? He started going to other groups of quarrymen.”
“I understand that,” Olaf said. “Next time ask one of us to help you. Heath, Pwn, and I all could have broken away to help you. But you didn’t ask, you just acted.”
So, I was being taught a lesson? Is that why no one helped me? “I did call out,” I protested, now feeling angry. “You are the group leader here, Olaf. Your job is to tell people where you want them. If you didn’t want me to go after the foreman, you should have said so. As soon as I called out, you could have easily assigned someone to go with me, but you didn’t.”
Olaf looked taken aback by my statement, then turning angry as he prepared to retort.
“Easy now, Olaf,” Heath said, appearing from ‘Stealth’ and trying to calm Olaf. “Bye-bye isn’t exactly wrong. You also should have known that Bye-bye would have gone after the foreman. It was the right move or who knows how many quarrymen would have overwhelmed us. Doing so probably prevented a group wipe.”
Olaf didn’t like what Heath was saying but it seemed to have calmed the man.
“And Bye-bye, you do have a bad habit of running into danger without telling anyone what you’re doing,” Heath said. “Now, Olaf might have been wrong to try to make an issue of it this time. But there have been times in the past where you’ve done similar stunts without telling anyone.”
Okay, so I couldn’t exactly argue with that. I did have a habit of leaping into danger, as I had just done. I just don’t always have the luxury of letting anyone know. Still, I supposed it was something I could work on. I nodded to Heath. It was as much as I was willing to acknowledge for now.
“Now, can we please get on with this?” Heath requested. “I want to see what Mic’s Order House looks like when it’s done.”
“Right,” Olaf said. “Let’s go. Rose, get the next group. Keep an eye out for the foremen.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rose said, moving ahead and not meeting my eye as she did.
Was she upset with me again? Was she really angry that I tried to stop a wipe?
Things were tense as we worked our way down toward the bottom of the quarry. We cleared out the small side tunnels as we went, most of them were empty but a few had a
Finally, the bottom of the pit came into view. There were a few groups of quarrymen spread around the circular cul-de-sac and two foremen. They weren’t much of a concern.
Valentras would groan loudly and a foreman would scurry over to a group of quarrymen where he would groan similarly and cause the quarrymen to start working harder. I wasn’t sure if there was a language being used but clearly the undead were able to understand each other and give orders.
“Rose, group on the left first. As soon as the foreman moves away,” Olaf ordered softly. “We should be able to pull them back to us here.”
Rose nodded, but her eyes were focused ahead of her.
“Let’s rebuff first, just to be safe,” Arch said.
Olaf nodded his agreement.
Without the active ‘Spell Preparation’ my mana pool was full. Instead of refilling my mana three times, I only needed to refill completely twice. It was much faster.
“Everyone ready?” Olaf asked, getting nods in return. “Alright, Rose, pull when ready.”
Rose cast her spell and a group of five quarrymen came running. Like the groups before, these fell rapidly. Sooty got to work ‘Scavenging’ while Rose pulled the next group of quarrymen. A few minutes later, it was just the two foremen and Valentras.
That was also when a little something special happened in the form of a long-awaited system message.
Thundering Lion Charm has become fully charged and shatters. You learn the skill ‘Thundering Strike’.
Skill: Thundering Strike
Rank: I
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Description: A righteous strike with the power of holy thunder
Thunderous Roar of the Lion (Charm Earned): +20-Strength, +20-Stamina
Damage Modifier: +0.50
Cooldown: 30-Seconds
Range: *Weapon Dependent
Skill Effect (Active): Strike the ground to unleash a thunderclap of holy power inflicting holy damage and knocking down targets within range of your weapon. Next spell cast will deal an additional -10-HP damage or +10-HP healing.
Stamina Cost: -50-SP
It was weak . . . very weak when compared to my other skills. But a knockdown was a knockdown and a knockdown that could hit multiple targets . . . nice. Now, I needed to level it up. And before I forgot, I equipped the ‘Divine Charm’ I had waiting in my bag.
Divine Charm (Unique) - +20-Intellect, +20-Wisdom – Equipping will teach you the skill ‘Divine Smite’ 0/100
Olaf’s voice drew me back to the fight ahead, “Suggestions?”
“Burn the foremen down, kill the boss,” Pwn quipped.
“Serious suggestions?” Olaf asked, giving Pwn a small glare.
“Seriously, burn the foremen down then kill the boss,” Pwn said. “Look, we don’t have many choices left to us. The foremen are likely to run to Valentras for help anyway. It was luck the quarrymen didn’t activate the boss.”
“I can try ‘Final Judgment’ on one of them next time it comes close,” I said. “I don’t know if it will one-shot it, but it should get us close enough for one of Pwn’s spells to finish it off.” ‘Final Judgment’ was a spell of last resort. It did a ridiculous amount of damage to anyone hit by it. But there was a cost. All my MP and SP would be drained, which would basically make me worthless until I had a chance to recover. With stat gains from today’s excursion, I had 4,700/4,700 MP and 3,480/3,480 SP to work with. Draining every last drop of both, plus my Strength and Holy Spell damage bonuses, meant I should be able to do almost -18,000-HP damage. Actually, that should be more than enough to kill one. Near as I could tell, each foreman had about 6,000-HP. It made me wish I had thought to use it sooner to deal with them.
Spell: Final Judgment
Level: 3
Experience: 0.00%
Description: Deliver the Final Judgment of the Goddess Issara upon an enemy of the World Tree.
Spell Cast Speed: Instant
Range: 50-yards
Spell Effect (Active): Deals -2-HP damage per point of MP and SP used, plus weapon damage. Ignores armor, cannot be blocked.
Mana Cost: All
Stamina Cost: All
“And if killing one causes the boss to go live?” Olaf asked.
Olaf had a good point. There was only one thing I could think to do in that situation. “Then let me die and the boss reset. Arch should be able to resurrect me, no?”
“I can,” Arch said.
“And if it doesn’t reset the boss?” Olaf asked.
“Then Red picks up the boss, and we wreck the other foreman while Jacko recovers,” Pwn said. “Worst case scenario, we wipe.”
“That doesn’t exactly work for our citizen companions,” Olaf said, motioning to Sooty and the workers Micaela sent with us.
“Then we make them wait near the entrance of the quarry. Worst case, they will need to wait outside of the quarry for us to return,” Pwn said. “Of course, then they risk the undead patrols stumbling on them.”
“Exactly,” Olaf said.
Sooty grumbled. “We will be fine, Olaf. You do whatever is necessary to clear the quarry.”
“See, he agrees,” Pwn said.
Olaf grumbled. “Fine, fine, I suppose we’ve minimized the risk as much as we can. Bye-bye, I guess it’s up to you, if you want to try.”
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t willing,” I said, getting annoyed again.
“Then be my guest,” Olaf snarked back.
I closed my eyes and took a deep calming breath. I didn’t know what was going on with Olaf right now, but it wasn’t the time to argue with him.
I moved down the slope until I was about 50-yards away from the farthest patrol point of the foremen when something unexpected happened. Both of the undead foremen were closing on one location. And suddenly I had a better idea. A better way to deal with them.
I looked back to Olaf, but he and others were too far away to consult. I made the decision myself. The cost didn’t change. It would still burn all my Mana and Stamina. But it gave me a chance to kill both at the same time. As I was thinking about this, the two foremen came together. They stopped and were groaning something to each other. One pat the other on the shoulder and started to move.
It was now or never. I leaped, gaining as much altitude as I could. At the peak of my jump, I activated ‘Holy Meteor’ and fell back to earth.
Spell: Holy Meteor
Level: 3
Experience: 0.00%
Description: Fall from the heavens, pierce and shatter the world with your divine might.
Spell Cast Speed: Instant
Range: 50-yards
Spell Effect (Active): Deal -2-HP damage per point of MP and SP used plus weapon damage. Jumping or falling from height multiplies your damage by 1 per 15-feet. Ignores armor, cannot be blocked. Damage in excess of targets remaining health will explode, spreading any remaining damage equally to all targets within 50-yards of impact.
Mana Cost: All
Stamina Cost: All
I smiled as the tip of my spear glowed white, quickly changing, and forming into a storm of white holy energy. I hit and a wave of energy poured out, engulfing the
Skill: Body Control
Rank: II
Level: 15
Experience: 1.25%
Description: Control of oneself is a necessary skill for any martial skill. Body Control is a step along that path and can be used to boost one's physical attributes.
Skill Effect (Passive): Increases your Strength Experience Gain by 1.50%. Increases your Stamina Experience Gain by 1.50%
Subskills:
Jump
Control the Stamina within the body to increase your maximum jump height by 12.50-feet per boost at the cost of -110-SP per boost.
Recoil
Control the Stamina within your body to reinforce yourself and reduce all physical damage taken by 30.00% for 5-seconds at the cost of -600-SP per boost.
But it was nothing compared to what the two foremen suffered. I watched as -6,570-HP vanished from my target, erasing him from existence. The wave of energy that wiped the other foreman showed damage of -6,260-HP. And then energy kept going. It would seem, I failed to take into account where Valentras was in comparison to where I hit. The wave of energy hit him, a -22,354-HP floated away from him and his HP dropped by almost a third. And suddenly, he only had eyes for me.
“Ah hell,” I said, barely able to stand after all my SP and MP was used up in that one attack. I could only watch as the undead man came running at me with murder in his eyes. I couldn’t help but think Olaf might have had a point about me doing stupid things.
Chapter 14 – Penelope
With a groan of irritation Penelope followed her mother to meet the people she needed to keep protected. If her mother weren’t paying her for her time, she would have refused. Who knew how long this ‘quest’ would take? And time spent doing this was time not leveling up. Granted, her mother didn’t often ask for her help so . . . she supposed helping just this once would be fine. Plus she was getting paid.
“Alright, Penelope, this is Rick and Adrianna, they will be cutting down trees for us. I need you to keep them safe. If possible, help them load the trees into the wagon. By the way, that’s Loral, a good friend, she’ll be driving the wagon,” Micaela instructed.
“I got it, mum,” Penelope replied.
“Just, please keep them safe,” Micaela almost pleaded with her daughter.
“I said, I got it,” Penelope repeated, then waved the waiting Bell over.
“What’s up, Penny?” Bell asked.
“Mum needs our help, she wants us to protect these citizens while they cut down trees,” Penelope answered.
Bell nodded then asked, “Quest?”
“No, but mum is willing to pay us,” Penelope answered with a sigh of discontent.
Butting into the conversation, a Dwarven woman asked, “Want a quest, do you?”
“Penelope, this is Marie Tuesday, another friend,” Micaela introduced.
“So, Micaela, this is your pup then?” Marie asked, looking to Penelope’s mother.
Micaela nodded and smiled, trying to be funny she asked, “Can’t you see the family resemblance?”
Marie let out a bark of laughter and Penelope shook her head. Old people humor, she just didn’t get it. Feeling like she had better stop them before they told more bad jokes that just weren’t funny, Penelope answered Marie’s initial question, “Yes, I want a quest. Mum can’t give us one yet.”
Marie didn’t let her down. “Well, then try this on for size. Keep the construction workers safe long enough for them to collect enough lumber for the Order House construction project to be completed. Do that, and I’ll make you a weapon myself. Happy?”
Quest Alert: Timber! (Recommended Level 2-5)
Marie Tuesday has tasked you with protecting a group of Hurligville Citizens while they cut down trees just outside the village.
Reward: Experience, Crafted Good Quality Weapon
Do you accept this quest?
Yes
No
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Bell shouted with glee, accepting the quest for both herself and Penelope.
“Oh, that was nice of you, Marie,” Micaela said, “You really didn’t need to do that. I was going to pay them.”
“And now they are getting paid by me. You can save your money, put it toward the Order House,” Marie said.
Penelope wanted to protest the lost money, but she supposed the Crafted Weapon would need to suffice. As she had learned in the last couple of days, weapons . . . especially good weapons were not cheap.
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Bell asked. “Let’s go protect some people while they chop down trees. Hurray for deforestation!”
Penelope shook her head. “We’ll be going then,” she said to her mother.
Penelope walked next to the wagon as Bell flew overhead.
The driver of the wagon, Loral, asked, “So, how do you like the World Tree so far?”
“It’s okay,” Penelope answered. “I thought it would be more . . . adventure, less . . . work.”
Loral laughed. “Oh, you dear lass, everything worthwhile needs some work. And the more work you put into it, the more you get out of it.”
Penelope frowned
, “Yeah, well, this is supposed to be my vacation and so far, all I’ve done is kill spiders and the occasional zombie wolf, or train to swing my club better. Where are the giant quests with far reaching consequences? Where is the intrigue that my mum always talked about?”
Loral laughed again. “You think all that interesting stuff just happens? If you get a chance, ask your father if you and your friend can follow them around for an afternoon. Maybe then you will have a better idea of what it is they do and how hard they work for those interesting things you dream of.”
Penelope rolled her eyes. She knew her father well enough that he would never allow it. As far as he was concerned, Penelope was still his little five-year old daughter.
“Although,” Loral said, pausing in thought. “I suppose I might be able to give you and your friend a little nudge. Something to whet your appetite, so to speak.”
“Oh, and what’s that?” Penelope asked, interested.
“I am a leatherworker by trade,” Loral started. “I’m always in search of interesting crafting material. I have heard carapace makes for interesting armor, it is one of the few materials that can be used to make heavy leather armor, something I believe would suit you quite well.”
Penelope was confused by the statement. She was a Paladin. They were known for wearing shining armor, right? Or was there something she was missing? She asked, “It is?” She could equip medium chainmail with her current strength, but it was very costly to purchase. So was leather armor, for that matter. The offer of getting some heavy leather armor was possibly a good one . . . if heavy leather armor actually was good for her. Even better if there was a quest involved.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 23