by Shane Walker
The process went just like the first batch. I was facing another six kobolds caught completely off-guard. Hopping from the cart, I slipped into faux-tank mode by giving each a good slash to get their health low and blocking until Nik could pick them off.
After this second batch of miners was down, we repeated the process from last time except we loaded the cart before we rested since there was more ore to load this time. I had a few notifications this go around, but they were easier to manage thanks to the new settings.
Stealth increased to Level 4!
Short Swords increased to Level 4!
Dual Wielding increased to Level 4!
Block increased to Level 4!
You have received 60 XP!
Nik and I decided there was no reason to change the formula if it worked so well and proceeded to clear out five more spots just like this before we got to the entrance to the second level. Along the way, Block hit level five, so I started working on my Parry. I think we got overconfident at some point and started taking shorter breaks, because I was exhausted by the time we got to the path going deeper into the mine. This seemed like as good a time as any to crumble into a tired heap and examine all the notifications.
Stealth increased to Level 5!
Block increased to Level 5!
Parry increased to Level 4!
Short Swords increased to Level 5!
Dual Wielding increased to Level 5!
Your party has slain Kobolds x 30!
You received 300 XP!
You have reached Level 4!
You are awarded the following:
+3 Agility
+5 Intellect
+1 Endurance
+5 Free Attribute Points
I decided that I’d just dump everything into Agility with this level to get me to a nice even number for awhile. The downside was that it put my damage high enough to one-shot the kobolds, which left Nik in the cold as far as easy skill-ups on his Crossbow skill. He didn’t seem to mind.
“Holy cow, Jack! I’ve gotten my Crossbow skill up to five and I’m a kobold kill away from Level 5! That’s part of the prerequisite for Artificer, The character level I mean. Apparently most Jobs can’t be picked up until at least Level 5.” he said in party chat.
“I haven’t even considered Jobs. Maybe I should ask El when we get back in a couple of days.” I also needed to speak with Alfred when I could. Hopefully, this isn’t something that he is forbidden from explaining.
“Speaking of days,” Nik said. “It’s getting late and I’ve been logged in for awhile. Can we call it a day soon? We can always pick back up tomorrow, if that’s OK with you.”
He was right. It had been awhile since I’d logged on and I had no idea how long he’d been logged on before me.
“That works. Be prepared for some possible patrols tomorrow. I don’t know where the ore goes from here, so I’m not sure if the cart not showing up down there will lead someone to come looking for answers.” I said.
“Oh, Nik!” I called out to him suddenly remembering something I’d wanted to discuss. “How do you want to split the money from this mine? I bet I’d never clear this thing without you.”
Nik laughed and said “Keep it. I don’t need the money in real life and I really don’t want managing a mine to get in the way of my crafting.”
I didn’t trust myself digging into why he didn’t need the money. I was afraid my brain would subconsciously start considering him a “mark.” if I found out he was some wealthy but vulnerable corporate heir.
We made our way back through the mines, gathering up what we could from the groups of kobolds we’d killed along the way. The pickaxes they used were obviously gnome-made, so we decided to take those. Also, the miners apparently received some sort of wage, as we managed to find two gold pieces on each one. We managed to evenly split the gold and then piled the pickaxes up by the campfire along with the rest of the loot.
Nik and I added each other to our friends lists just in case it was necessary. The in-game messaging system was set up so that you could send and receive game messages outside the game, so it was helpful for coordinating things like meeting back up to tackle mines full of kobolds.
After logging out, I just barely managed to make it to my bed before sleep overtook me. I didn’t get very far, but I still considered it a successful day one in-game.
9-Stockholder’s Meeting
One of the upsides of not having a real job anymore was I didn’t have to wait to get off work to log into my new favorite MMO. One of the downsides of not having a real job was that I didn’t exactly have money. The point where those lines intersected left me simultaneously very excited about logging into The Realms and also very hungry.
After logging in and confirming everything was still where we left it, I shot a message to Nik to see when he was going to get online. I was pretty lucky to meet a guy like Nik on the first day. I just hope he’d open up to me a little more eventually.
New Message from Nikolai Nelson!
Jack, I won’t be able to get on for a little while. If you want to scout the next level feel free. I should be on in a couple of hours. Sorry!
Well, so much for backup. Although, being alone would make it easier to sneak through and catch the little bastards unawares. Dumping all of his points into Intellect didn’t exactly keep Nik moving quietly or help him stick to the shadows.
Just in case the kobolds had sent more miners out, I decided to take things slow through the first floor. Thankfully, I was being needlessly cautious. At least, I was until I got to the last mining spot.
This time there were eight miners and two guards watching over them. Four kobolds more than last time and I was on my own. I don’t think this is going to be a good time to practice underused skills. I decided to watch for a bit and see what sort of patterns they had.
After a few minutes, the miners had loaded up their piles and started on new ones. The kobolds guarding the miners must have been trained in tactics wrong as a joke or something because they turned their backs to where I was watching from while the miners loaded the cart. That would guarantee they wouldn’t be able to protect the miners from any real attack while the loading was going. It also guaranteed they were about to be dead. As. Fuck.
It was honestly tough hiding until the right time. I forced myself to wait until the miners were loading and the guards were turned towards them and then all hell broke loose.
You blinded Kobolds x8!
You blinded Kobold Soldiers x2!
You sneak attack Kobold Soldier x2 for 16 damage!
You have slain Kobold Soldier x2!
Ouch, reduced damage was unexpected. Looks like they were wearing leather armor under their cloaks that I couldn’t see in the torch light. Too bad it wasn’t enough to save them from the element of surprise.
You sneak attack Kobold x2 for 18 damage!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You sneak attack Kobold x2 for 18 damage!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You sneak attack Kobold x2 for 18 damage!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You sneak attack Kobold x2 for 18 damage!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You receive 110 XP!
Holy crap. At this rate, I’d beat Nik to Level 5! I thought as I saw my experience climb. I couldn’t exactly do that much more, though. There was no infinite supply of flash bombs to throw. If there were, I could probably solo most of the mines. Also, Nik could probably sell those for a pretty penny to other players. I needed to talk to him about that when we clear whatever we’re clearing today.
Putting ideas of milking other players for money to the side, I slowly started making my way down to the second level of the mine. I wished I could have stuck with yesterday’s plan and kept the cart with me to try keeping up appearances or maybe buy myself some time, but it just wasn’t feasible. Besides, working on my Stealth skill was more fun.
The track for the cart continued do
wn a gentle slope that doubled back to continue underneath the first level. These sloped sections were very poorly lit since there were no mining nodes here. I was unsure at first if it was something to worry about, but the walls in the tunnel going down were nearly polished smooth. It was nothing like the areas where mining nodes actually appeared.
Once I entered the second floor proper, it took every ounce of will power to keep in the “Oh, fuck me.” that instinctively tried to jump out of my mouth. This floor opened into a large chamber easily fifty yards across and half that distance deep. Directly across was what appeared to be another tunnel heading down to the third and final level of the mine.
This level was also filled with kobold miners along with soldiers like the ones above, except these soldiers were riding dog-sized lizards. One of these lizards started sniffing the air as if it had caught a whiff of something unexpected. Instinct told me I was the unexpected thing in question, so I ducked further back into the tunnel as quietly as I could.
Waiting for a moment to make sure it didn’t come to investigate, I closed my eyes and pictured the inside of the cavern to try to remember what I’m up against. If memory served, it was two teams of six miners on either end and six teams along the back wall. I could safely assume that there were another six on the near wall that I couldn’t see since I didn’t step around the corner. On top of that, I saw four of those guards on lizards.
New Skill!
Perception
Level 1
Increases chance of noticing and remembering details by 1% per level.
Just like casing a target for a job right? You go in inconspicuously, take in as many details as possible, plan based on that, then execute. I need to focus on using more of what I know from real life around here for more than just swindling NPCs for a handful of gold. I thought to myself as I briefly reflected on some particularly tricky B&Es from my past. However, since I had never fought kobolds before in the real world, none of those skills or experiences were going to pay off in the current predicament. My gifts from Nik so far might, though.
From my previous fantasy and role-playing experiences, the main danger from kobolds was the fact that they live and work in large numbers and tend to attack en masse. All I needed to do was thin the herd. I knew from my previous encounters that blinded enemies took sneak attack damage as if I’d snuck up on them. With four flash bombs I could theoretically kill enough of them with sneak attacks that the rest should be a manageable number. This was going to be way too close, though.
The most efficient thing to do would be to get whatever kills I can before using a bomb if possible. The crossbow mounted to my arm should be perfect for that. I crept my way back down to the entrance to the chamber and waited for an unaware soldier to get in range.
Kobold Soldier takes 16 Sneak Attack Damage! (Crossbow bolt ignores 3 armor!)
You have slain Kobold Soldier!
The lizard the soldier was riding let out a hiss loud enough to be considered a roar when it saw the source of its rider’s demise. That got the attention of every single creature in the chamber and put all eyes on me-just in time for the first flash bomb.
You have blinded Kobold Soldier x3!
You have blinded Kobold War Komodo x4!
You have blinded Kobold x96!
Ninety-six kobolds? Fuck me I did not do the math on this. Too late now! The clock is ticking on the blind!
Kobold Soldier takes 16 Sneak Attack damage! (Crossbow bolt ignores 3 armor!)
You have slain Kobold Soldier!
I reloaded my weapon and took another shot at another soldier on my way towards the riderless Komodo. The armor piercing was perfect for the little guys in leather.
Kobold War Komodo takes 14 Sneak Attack Damage!
Kobold War Komodo takes 5 damage!
Shit, these things have four armor! I thought to myself as I realized I hadn’t killed it. That made them the toughest creature I’d seen so far. Granted, the only other creatures had been half naked rat/lizard people that barely came up to my waist, but still. To make matters worse, the second hit didn’t deal sneak attack damage. I guess it has to be simultaneous or else the enemy is aware enough of my location for it not to count.
Kobold War Komodo takes 5 damage!
You have slain Kobold War Komodo!
No more single swings on these guys. Double sneak attacks from here on! I thought to myself. The Komodo dragon of the second kobold I shot made the perfect target.
Kobold War Komodo takes 28 Sneak Attack damage!
You have slain Kobold War Komodo!
That’s better! I mentally cheered. Time wasn’t on my side unfortunately. It’s almost half-way through the blind status and I have two more guards to deal with plus their mounts.
I decided to go ahead and deal with both the riders back to back. Sheathing my swords as I moved, I pulled two more bolts out and loaded one as I ran towards the nearest guard.
Kobold Soldier takes 16 Sneak Attack damage! (Crossbow bolt ignores 3 armor!)
You have slain Kobold Soldier!
The bolt sank into the neck of the further soldier and knocked him off his mount. I reloaded and took aim at the nearest one.
Kobold Soldier takes 16 Sneak Attack damage! (Crossbow bolt ignores 3 armor!)
You have slain Kobold Soldier!
That was four soldiers down, but two mounts left and I only had a couple of seconds left on the blind. I drew my swords and thrust both into the flank of the komodo I was already charging.
Kobold War Komodo takes 28 Sneak Attack damage!
You have slain Kobold War Komodo!
I saw the timer was nearly gone so I made a desperate run to the last komodo in the hopes of taking him out with my last sneak attack.
Kobold War Komodo takes 7 damage!
Kobold War Komodo takes 7 damage!
Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Was my ever so eloquent mental response.
Kobold hits you for 7 damage!
Kobold hits you for 12 damage!
OK. Ouch. A swipe of the tail followed by a bite on my leg sent my brain into full on panic mode. I’d never felt pain like this in my life. It was unreal. Well, to be precise it was real. It was entirely too real. I guess day two was cranking it up a notch on the pain perception. I needed to finish this bastard off quickly so I could drop another flash bomb.
Kobold War Komodo takes 7 damage!
You have slain Kobold War Komodo!
As soon as tunnel vision wore off, I realized there were nearly a hundred angry kobolds charging me with pickaxes in their hands. I realized how far out they were previously spaced and decided that it was dangerous, but probably better for them to close in on me. I just wanted them to do it closer to a choke point.
I quickly sheathed my swords once more and ran towards the entrance to the chamber, all the while digging through my bag for a flash bomb. I found one just in time to stop myself from getting swarmed by the forty kobolds between me and the mouth of the tunnel.
You have blinded Kobold x96!
OK, quick math time! Ninety-six kobolds to kill, three flash bombs (counting the one I just threw), forty-five seconds total of blinded enemies, two weapons that can attack roughly once every five seconds, that’s eighteen guaranteed kills. Wait a fucking second! Ninety-six minus eighteen? Seventy-eight.
Fuck me.
First thing’s first: clear a way to the entrance as best as I can. My best option was to cut the little bastards down as I ran. The new swords did enough damage I could easily kill one on each side as I moved my way through.
You have slain Kobold x2!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You have slain Kobold x2!
That didn’t even put a noticeable dent in the total number, but it thinned the herd directly in front of me. I just had to deal with the other eighteen or so between me and the entrance. I just hope I can actually use the choke point to save my ass. I thought to myself grimly.
The key in a situation like that was
avoiding getting surrounded. That meant two things: first, don’t run into the middle of the throng of pissed-off miners ahead of me. Second: Don’t. Stop. Moving. The plan was as simple as taking out one of the teams on the flank to keep the rest of them to one side of me.
You have slain Kobold!
Your attack misses Kobold!
The attack just narrowly missed the miner’s neck and nearly caused me to stumble in sheer surprise. The kobold was apparently as surprised as me because he didn’t take a shot at me like his friends did.
You dodge Kobold’s attack!
You dodge Kobold’s attack!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!