Extra Credit

by J. Arthur Klein

  I glanced at the party interface and saw that my companions had gained some strength since we last adventured together, each of them reaching level six. They must have had a busy night and morning.

  The tags for the bandits were white for me, which put them in the eight to ten level range. I was a little worried about how my groupmates would hold up, but I’d have to trust them to know their limits.

  As we hunkered down out of site of the enemy and started to plan I got a feel for their group dynamic.

  Leilani was the brains of the operation, keeping an eye on things from the back lines while healing and providing limited crowd control. She had a nifty spell called Mesmerize that could target an enemy and put them into a trance for a little over a minute at her current rank. We couldn’t do any damage to it or it would break the spell, but it effectively took something out of the fight.

  Cedric was their tank. His heavy armor, high defensive stats, and taunt ability to hold the enemies’ attention while Kelikk doled out the damage.

  I’d already seen Cedric’s taunt, which should be able to catch the three melee mobs. I’d send Gimli in with him and Kelikk while Leilani mesmerized one of the archers and I focused on the second with Curley and my own spells.

  Plan made; it was time to put it into action. I arranged my bag so my components were easily accessible, cast Dark Shield on myself, and crept forward.

  [P] Leilani: Ready?

  [P] Kelikk: Ready!

  [P] Cedric: Go Go Go!

  [P] Me: Ready!

  We ran towards toward the bandits, Cedric leading the way. The enemy spotted us as we entered bow range and the two archers started shooting. The arrows clattered off of Cedric’s and Gimli’s shields as they closed with the enemy melee fighters.

  I blasted the archer on the right side of the entrance with a Necromantic Bolt, taking a nice chunk out of his health and disrupting his shot, sending the arrow flying over the heads of our tanks.

  A cloud of glittering dust surrounded the other archer who stood there drooling, bow dangling uselessly at her side.

  Cedric triggered his taunt as the front lines clashed, drawing the enemy to him while Kelikk chopped into the distracted foes’ flanks.

  The non-drooling archer dodged my next bolt and got off a shot, his arrow finding a chink in the armor covering Cedric’s arm.

  The paladin’s sword dropped momentarily, leaving him open to an attack from a sword wielding brigand who capitalized to land a nasty cut into his side.

  Cedric’s hit points dropped below half, but a golden bolt from Leilani healed the worst of his wounds.

  My next Necromantic Bolt slammed into the archer just as Curley reached him. The bandit’s bow was a poor defense against a two-handed swing of a battle axe, and the archer’s futile attempt to block with it resulted in a broken bow and the axe lodged in the poor man’s shoulder.

  The bandit’s health dropped to a sliver, and he made a valiant effort to draw his short sword, but another bolt of necromantic energy took him down before it had cleared its scabbard.

  His target dealt with, Curley pulled his axe free and charged the back of the bandits’ line.

  Kelikk was pretty much untouched, but his former skeleton was a bit the worse for wear. Once Cedric’s taunt had worn off, the brigands had managed to score some solid blows, even past his new shield.

  One of the melee fighters was down, his skull split in half by an axe.

  Kelikk buried his axe into the kidney of another brigand just as Curley arrived, his surprise attack finishing it off just as a slash from Cedric took down another.

  Golden flashes of light healed the remainder of Cedric’s wounds, and then all that was left was the lone, drooling, archer. She didn’t last very long.

  Your party has killed 2x Bandit Archer! You have gained 50xp

  Your party has killed 3x Bandit Rogue! You have gained 60xp

  QUEST UPDATE: Eviction – Clear out the Bandit Lair: 5%

  We looted the bodies, finding a small pile of silver and copper, a short bow, a quiver of fifteen arrows, and some mixed pieces of leather armor.

  We gave the armor and bow to Curley with the understanding that we’d split it up later. But in the meantime, we might as well get some use out of it, and the skeleton was the only one in need of armor.

  Plus, another ranged DPS could be useful. The battle axe hung on his back next to the quiver, ready in case melee was in order.

  “So, five percent cleared,” Cedric said. “And pretty decent loot and XP too! Looks like this dungeon’s going to be awesome.”

  “Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Ced,” Leilani replied. “This was the first encounter. They’ll probably get harder from here on out.”

  While they talked, I went from body to body, searching for anything I could scavenge or dissect.

  None of the corpses had anything scavengable, but I was able to collect the bones and hearts of three of the bodies before it was time to move on.

  Human skeletons were always useful, and the three doses of Heart of a Rogue could be useful for something, eventually.

  As we entered the cavern, Leilani saw me glancing back at the corpses and said, “Sorry, Kab. Can’t wait for you to skin and debone every mob or we’ll never get anywhere.”

  I shrugged. “I get it. Just a shame to see all those future minions slipping away, but I got some bones, so I’ll deal.”

  The tunnel descended into the earth, turning sharply to the left as we went along. Cedric and Gimli led the way, side by side. I guided the skeleton with my will, keeping him in lockstep with the Paladin.

  There were torches every ten feet or so, keeping the tunnel fully illuminated, much to my chagrin.

  We’d gotten about twenty feet down the tunnel entrance when a soft click followed by Cedric’s scream revealed a trap. A series of spikes had emerged from the wall and pierced deeply into the paladin’s side.

  His hit points were at ten percent and falling as the bleeding affect took hold. The spikes slid back into the wall, allowing a bright torrent of blood to pour from the wounds as he fell to the ground writhing in pain.

  A golden flare from Leilani was the only thing that kept him from going to respawn immediately. The bleed effect was pretty serious, but Leilani knew her craft and soon had it under control.

  Judging by the amount of damage that first trap had done, I didn’t think any of us other than Cedric would have survived the hit. We’d made a pretty rookie mistake by forgetting about traps… especially in a bandit’s den.

  I had a potential solution for that once we were all healed up. Good thing I had a bunch of skeletons sitting in my bag.

  Cedric sat up, his wounds finally healed, and grinned at his sister. “Hey, sis. When I said I wanted to be a holy paladin, that wasn’t the holey I was thinking of.”

  The moon elf groaned and patted Cedric on the head. “Really? Any more jokes like that and I might forget to heal you next time,” she said playfully.

  “Any of you guys have any sort of Trap Sense? Or a high enough Perception to detect them?” I asked. “I’ve got an effective five in Perception, and I don’t see anything.”

  The other three shook their heads, and Kelikk answered, “Not a priority stat for any of us, so we’re flying blind. Got to hope that we don’t hit many of those traps or we’re going to get pretty messed up before we even reach the boss.”

  “Ah well,” I said. “So much for all those nice bones. I’ll trigger the traps with some expendable minions.”

  I pulled out two orc skeletons and animated them, having them stand to the side until everyone was ready. “Just let me know when you’re ready to continue,” I said with a toothy smile.

  Kelikk gave me a thumbs up and I sent the minions skipping down the corridor, “Wizard of Oz” style. About twenty feet further down the corridor another set of spikes shot out of the ceiling, shattering the unfortunate minion who’d triggered it.

  Orc Skeleton has triggered a deadly spike trap
! Orc Skeleton has been destroyed.

  A few feet past that the other skeleton triggered a different trap. A cloud of noxious vapors poofed out of a hole in the ceiling… some sort of poison that didn’t bother the skeleton one bit.

  Orc Skeleton has triggered a berserker gas trap! Orc Skeleton is immune to poison.

  We followed behind, avoiding the spots where the traps had been triggered in case they worked more than once and skirted the remnants of the poison gas.

  When we rounded the bend we found my skeleton standing in front of a small wooden door, waiting for further instructions.

  “Ready for the next room?” I asked, and when they nodded, I had the skeleton open the door and go through.

  The door opened towards us, and nothing happened immediately when the door opened, but when the skeleton stepped through a series of darts shot out of the wall and embedded themselves into its skull and rib bones, doing some structural damage but nothing serious, at least not at first.

  Orc Skeleton has triggered an acid dart trap! Orc Skeleton is coated in acid!

  The skeleton’s hit points were slowly draining in my interface and I saw a little icon next to his name that looked like a drop of acid and understood.

  The melting skeleton led the way into the room, providing an interesting sight for the bandits waiting within.

  Cedric moved forward and I directed Gimli to do the same. The room looked like some sort of guard room and was manned by five well-armed brigands.

  Each wore a suite of heavy studded leather and wielded a long sword and a small wooden shield. They drew their blades and formed a line before advancing.

  “I’ll mez the center one!” Leilani yelled, her arms moving through the spell’s complex gestures.

  Cedric stepped forward and activated his taunt ability, grabbing their attention right before the moon elf’s spell took hold.

  My surviving trap detector was slowly dissolving, so I sent him forward to crash into the enemy before they reached us to possibly spread the acid love. He didn’t last long.

  Kelikk moved to our left flank, so I ordered Curley to equip his axe and support the right. I then began the process of casting Rot on each of the non-mesmerized bandits.

  Their hit points began to tic down as Kelikk and Curley got to work, cutting into the bandits focused on getting through Cedric’s defenses.

  Leilani kept the healing flowing at a good pace, making sure both Cedric and Kelikk stayed near full. Kelikk’s target was not long for this world, and Cedric had his well in hand as well, so I focused on the one battling Curley.

  The orcish skeleton was taking a beating, his health bar down to forty percent already when my first Necromantic Bolt slammed into the bandit, staggering him.

  That got his attention. The bandit’s eyes locked onto me and he pushed past Curley, trying to get into our back field.

  Cedric’s situational awareness was on point. He belted out an insult to the bandit’s parentage, and the man lost all interest in me. The power of MMO taunt mechanics at work.

  Curley took full advantage of his shift in focus and buried his axe in the back of the bandit’s skull, dropping him to the ground.

  Kelikk finished his target with a brutal chop and turned to the next when the mesmerized warrior regained his faculties.

  The bandit leapt forward and stabbed the dwarf in the flank with a surprise attack, doing more than half of his hit points in a single shot and sending Kelikk stumbling to the side.

  Leilani acted immediately, closing her husband’s wounds with a quick burst of healing that drained her mana at an alarming rate. “Starting to run low on mana here,” she called.

  I sent Curley to help Cedric with his opponent. The skeleton plowed into the bandit causing an opening the paladin used to put the criminal down.

  By that point my Rot spell had stripped away most of the final bandit’s flesh, and with four opponents fully focused on removing the rest it didn’t last long.

  Your party has killed 5x Bandit Enforcer! You have gained 250xp

  QUEST UPDATE: Eviction – Clear out the Bandit Lair: 10%

  CONGRATULATIONS! You have reached Level 10!

  You have gained 2 Intelligence!

  You have gained 3 Attribute points and 17 Skill points!

  Your Hit Points, Mana, and Endurance pools have increased!

  You have reached a new plateau! See your trainer for additional info!

  You are no longer immune to the penalties imposed due to death. Death will now result in the loss of a percentage of the experience you have gained towards your next level. Some of this experience may be regained by accessing your corpse. Current XP Penalty: 50%.

  My body swelled with light as I leveled, and I could feel myself levitating off the floor. The light filled me with a feeling of bliss as I reached a new tier of power.

  When I finally drifted back down to the ground, my party members were gathered around, cheering me on.

  Cedric sent me stumbling a few steps with a slap to the back. “Congrats, Kab!”

  Leilani and Kelikk each gave me a solid high five and congratulations as well and then started looting while I assigned my points.

  I applied my stat points to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Fortune as per usual and then moved on to upgrading my skills. When I upped Necromancy, a new message appeared.

  You have reached Rank 10 in the Necromancy school of magic!

  A single specialization choice is now available! See your trainer for details!

  “Nice!” I said, earning a questioning look from my companions. “Just ranked my first skill to ten and it said to seek out my trainer to specialize. Can’t wait to get back to town and see what options are available.”

  Leilani looked over and said, “Yeah, a lot of skills have bonus perks every ten levels. The level ten bump is usually pretty good. I think they programmed it that way to emphasize the importance of focusing on your core skills. Take a look at how many skill points you got, too.”

  I did as told and gasped. “Woah! Five extra skill points! Awesome!”

  “Yeah,” she replied. “Another great perk of hitting level ten. Think they are so you dig into the new skills from your spec.”

  Grinning like a kid on Christmas Eve, I raised Dissection, Scavenger, Necromantic Bolt, and Rot to ten as well and read through the updates.

  You have reached Rank 10 in Dissection!

  A single use of the skill can now be performed on the target to obtain all available materials. The chance of obtaining each component remains the same, but the target can now be broken into all of its pieces with a single skill use!

  You have reached Rank 10 in Scavenger!

  You now have a chance to find useful items in the environment and break down crafted items into their base material as if you have the appropriate crafting skill to do so. If you do have the appropriate crafting skill, this skill will increase the chance of success for break down attempts.

  You have reached Rank 10 in the Necromantic Bolt Spell!

  When this spell strikes the killing blow against an enemy, there is a chance that the enemy will arise as an animated minion to serve you for 30 seconds. This minion does not affect your Minion Pool.

  You have reached Rank 10 in the Rot Spell!

  This spell no longer requires Bone Dust to be fully effective. If Bone Dust is used, this spell gains the added debuff “Weakness!”

  “Damn,” I said. “So many new effects! Now I’m even more torn on how to spend the rest of my points.”

  After reading through my skill list a few times, I decided to play it safe and save the rest of my points for when I got back to town. I already knew the trainer has something special in store, so I didn’t want to miss out by jumping the gun on my other skills.

  My companions had finished looting, so I moved to the first corpse and started Dissection, using the brand-new option to take everything. As I activated the skill, the progress bar appeared as normal. The speed was a bit slower, but even
with the added seconds the end result was more than worth the wait.

  You have gained: Human Skeleton x1, Heart of a Warrior x1, Blood of a Warrior x5, Bandit Scalp x1. You have gained 15xp.

  NOTE: You can toggle desired items in the Dissection interface to eliminate any materials you do not want. Reducing the chosen items may affect the necessary time.

  I tucked all of the materials into my bag and then headed to the next corpse, doing the same, but only getting the Skeleton and Blood that time.

  A quick glance showed the party was waiting, so I left the rest of the corpses to rot. At least I’d replenished the bones I’d lost to the traps.

  After fixing up Gimli and Curley I did a cursory scan of the weapon racks in the room. They were half full of weapons, but they were pretty much for decoration as far as players were concerned.

  Any normal attempts to interact with the environmental items resulted in them turning to dust after a few seconds and reappearing in their starting location. NPCs could grab and use them all they wanted, but to players, dust.

  According to my new rank ten Scavenger perk that might no longer be the case, so I put it to the test. I scanned the weapon and armor racks, looking for something out of place.

  The rest of the party was peering through the cracks on the doors leading out of the room and discussing something, but my curiosity was overriding my good sense.

  And it paid off. The telltale sparkling of a salvageable item was barely visible under a stack of rusty weapons. “Oh yeah, come to daddy,” I said and reached out to claim my prize.

  Cedric saw what I was doing and called out, “Don’t bother, Kababala. That stuff is just decorative and will disappear. No matter how pretty it is it’ll just be a disappointment.”

  I flashed him a grin as I touched the sparkly bits.

  Success! You have obtained an Enforcer’s Blade! You have gained 10xp!

  A sturdy iron broadsword appeared in my grip and I nearly fell over, barely able to hold the thing. I gave Cedric a wink and dragged the blade over to the rest of the party, examining it closer.