by Shane Walker
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
The pickaxes hurt, but not as bad as I’d expected somehow. I couldn’t stand here and take hits from every single kobold, but I could definitely take some stray hits!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You dodge Kobold’s attack!
You dodge Kobold’s attack!
Two more drop, including my surprised friend from my last attempted assault. This time I’m able to dodge the attacks having paid more attention to how they telegraph the attacks.
You have slain Kobold x2!
I took a small stutter-step to get a chance to attack the lone remaining Kobold on this end. That took care of the last of the team in my way and I nearly breathed a sigh of relief. I backed up and assessed my chances of holding off the swarm. They were able to present an eight-man front which would probably overwhelm me. I dropped another flash bomb and cleared out six more before I added up what I had left to fight.
I’d only killed twelve and still had to deal with eighty-four. It was probably time to accept that I was not a great fighter and that The Realms were about to hand me my first L when Alfred showed up with a miracle.
“Sir, Nik is online now. Shall I send him a message for you?”
YES! Tell him “SECOND FLOOR ENTRANCE! S. O. FUCKING. S!”
10-Emergency Meeting
“Nik, how far out are you?” I frantically yelled into the party chat. I had Alfred notify me the moment he was in range for using it. Lucky me, parties persisted through logouts if they were intact when you logged out in the first place. “Halfway through first. Maybe. All looks the same.” came the labored response. I guess it was hard on a character half the size of a human moving with a fraction of the stamina. At the moment, however, I was having a little trouble feeling bad for the guy.
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
HP 89/120
The first thing keeping me alive during this was that these Kobolds had shit stats and were not fighters. They were miners with pickaxes. Their lower chance to hit meant I was Dodging slightly more than my skill would normally allow. That didn’t change the fact that I was forced to fight eight of them at a time on this ramp and around half their attacks were still connecting.
As quickly as I was able, I stepped forward with a double thrust and ran my twin shortswords- sorry, Gnomish longswords- through the necks of the two center most kobolds. I needed to start thinning them out as quickly as possible.
You have slain Kobold x2!
As the two in the center fell, two more stepped up to take their place. I stepped back to give some space to dodge the counter attacks from the outer six.
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
“I’m almost there, Jack! I completely ran out of SP and collapsed. Sorry! I’ll add some points to Endurance n-next level.” came Nik’s voice in party chat. He sounded sincerely apologetic.
“As soon as you get here, shoot the one farthest to the right and then cover your eyes, ok?” I said, hoping this plan would be the most efficient use of resources.
You have slain Kobold x2!
I most likely only had time to kill the two in the middle again before Nik showed up. As soon as they fell, I started stepping backwards to get the horde around the corner so that Nik could see them sooner. The seconds started to feel like they were stretching on into minutes even though it was mere moments before the next stage in the battle began.
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
Nik has slain Kobold!
The last notification was exactly what I was waiting for.
The second thing keeping me was the fact that my first friend was an Artificer-in-training and was where I got all my wonderful toys. Well, he would be eventually. Right now he only made flash-bombs that were perfect for situations like this. I started stepping to my left as I dropped the flash-bomb at my feet. I had a second or two before the device went off, so I got to the wall and shielded my eyes.
You blind Kobold x79!
As soon as the notification came up, I immediately pulled off another double thrust. I realized earlier that if I could get an attack off at the very beginning of the blind, I should be able to get one more attack in.
You have slain Kobold x2!
“Nik, stick to the ones on the right. I’m going to start working my way through the left-most monsters.” I instructed him. I already knew enough about Nik to know he would do everything he could to follow those instructions and not let me down, so I didn’t even bother waiting for his acknowledgment.
The idea was that he would have clear lines of fire since I was pushed to the opposite side. If he could kill them quickly enough, it would also help keep my flanks safe.
“On it, Jack!” came the reply I knew I’d eventually get.
Nik has slain Kobold!
You have slain Kobold x2!
You have slain Kobold x2!
Looks like the little guy has a little over half my attack speed, but he’s doing heavy damage without a lot in the way of skills and stats for it. I guess it’s from his crossbow he’s always tinkering with. I mused, impressed with his damage output. Well, impressed considering his build, gear, and general disposition. Either way, it was easy enough to rack up ten kills total before the blind wore off.
Nik has slain Kobold!
You have slain Kobold x2!
“Fall back behind me! I’ll try to keep them occupied.” I ordered as I moved towards the center of the new front as the kobolds got their bearings back. I knew Nik would get stabbed pretty much non-stop if he got targeted. Even with the help from Nik, though, we weren’t going to be able to kill all of them before something bad happened.
“Do you have any more of those firebombs?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I thought they were unsafe down here because they would draw attention?” he said in alarm.
In another situation his concerns would be completely founded. “Nik, first, THIS IS UNSAFE ALREADY. Second, we already have their attention! These walls should hold, so don’t worry about that either. I have a feeling this tunnel was reinforced.” I said, completely devoid of any particular opinions on the tunnel’s structural integrity.
“If you’re sure.” Nik responded, clearly concerned that my assessment was not as scientific as the situation warranted.
“It’s our only option, so what’s the worst that could happen? Well, we might have more options but I don’t feel like dodging pickaxes anymore. Throw it and run as soon as I turn around!”
The key to this plan doing something that vaguely resembled working properly was to make sure I turned in between attacks. If I turned my back at the wrong time and caught a pickaxe in the ass-cheek, I’m pretty sure I’d have to start a new character out of pure shame, assuming of course that’s even an option. Nevermind the fact I might not get away from the blast area with a shredded glute.
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
The first one came after me and telegraphed his attack pretty blatantly. Unfortunately, I saw three of the little bastards get awful curious about my gnome friend, so I swung my swords in their direction. I didn’t deal damage but somehow got their attention.
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
Kobold hits you for 2 damage!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You D
odged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
You Dodged Kobold’s attack!
HP 75/120
Thanks to the combat system, it should take a few seconds for them to recover and get a chance to act again. Tactically speaking, that means this is the perfect time to turn and run my ass off.
“NIK! NOW!” I scream into party chat as I spin on a single foot and immediately run. I catch a glimpse of Nik activating the fire bomb and lobbing it into the throng of miners and pulling a quick 180 as well. I also realize I’m gaining on him.
His race’s tiny legs a hindrance once again, I grab him and pull as I speed past. The encumbrance starts draining what I didn’t realize until now was my almost drained SP bar. The nonstop dodging and attacking finally took its toll. And I must have missed the low SP notice in all the commotion. I thought to myself. I almost panic as I realize I may not have enough SP to get both of us out of the tunnel. To hell with it. Either both of us make it out or we both die here.
I could hear the tell-tale click of the firebomb right before it went off. I dug deep and burned through the last couple of points of stamina as I reached the end of the tunnel. Nik realized I’d just run out of gas and managed to throw what little bodyweight he had into pulling me around the corner and out of the path of the fireball that flew out of the mouth of the tunnel with a near-deafening WHOOSH!
After the flame dies down, I’m left sitting on my ass and leaning up against the wall catching my breath as my SP bar slowly fills. Alfred takes the opportunity to inform me that it fills more slowly if it’s been completely empty. I barely have time to grumble about the annoying mechanic before I start seeing notifications pop up for the entire fight.
COMBAT OVERVIEW
Note: When in combat with a very large number of foes, experience earned is shown when all enemies are slain. In addition, a tally of all enemies slain is provided.
ENEMIES SLAIN:
Kobold Soldiers x4
Kobold War Komodos x4
Kobolds x96
Experience Earned: 1100 XP
You have reached Level 5!
You are awarded the following:
+3 Agility
+5 Intellect
+1 Endurance
+5 Free Attribute Points
Achievement Earned:
Spartan: As a group, slay 100 or more enemies in a single encounter!
Reward: 10 Skill Points, 3 bonus points to Party Leader’s Leadership skill
Achievement Earned:
One Man Army: Stand alone against 100 or more enemies and survive!
Reward: 5 Free Attribute Points and Automatic Progress to Next Level
You have reached Level 6!
You are awarded the following:
+3 Agility
+5 Intellect
+1 Endurance
+5 Free Attribute Points
The boosts from the achievements nearly make me choke. I stare at them so intently I nearly miss that I ranked up most of my main skills as well!
Gadgets & Trick Weapons has increased to 4!
Light Armor has increased to 5!
Short Swords has increased to 7!
Dual Wielding has increased to 7!
Dodge has increased to 6!
Stealth has increased to to 6!
Leadership has increased to 4!
Leadership has increased to 7!
New ability: At Leadership 5, you gain the ability to lead a party made of multiple teams!
Perception has increased to 2!
I did the math, something that could have saved me a lot of headache earlier in the day, and realized that single fight, massive though it was, had just net me two levels, fifteen free attribute points, and twenty-nine skill-ups total!
Alfred, is this normal? I know we got the achievements, but holy shit! I thought as I considered trying to power level some stats by hunting down kobold armies.
“No sir, this is not typical. It is what you would call luck that you managed to find so many low level creatures so close together. Also it is luck your friend Nik arrived when he did. Also it is luck that he knew how to make flash grenades. Also it is luck that you fought enemies wielding improvised weapons that reduced their chances to hit. Also it is luck that you got all of them with a single flash grenade the first time. Sir, what I am trying to say, and do forgive the phrase, this was entirely dumb luck and will be very difficult if not impossible to replicate at a later date.
“I would strongly recommend assessing your foes more carefully in the future. As for the skill increases at the end of combat, you went into this fight with an effective Intellect of 60 where skills are concerned. As I said before, this can greatly increase the rate at which skills improve.
“From feedback from players so far, Magic is believed to be too potent for a player to restrict themselves the way you have, sir. Many would not give up the raw power one wields when using magic in exchange for your ability to learn and improve skills -prodigious though it may be.” he concluded.
Please don’t rain on my parade, Alfred. Besides, I don’t care about power. Being some sort of Mage God and leveling dungeons by yourself isn’t the only way to make money. As far as these Skill Points are concerned, do I have to spend them now or can I hold on to them? I asked, hoping I could bank them.
“The Skill Points can be saved as you would Free Attribute Points, but I fail to see why you would, sir.” he responded. It was somewhat comforting that he didn’t know why I wanted to communicate.
I’m not saving all of them, but I do get weapons training when I get back if I complete the bonus conditions of my Rogue quest. I’m holding onto some to quickly improve that skill.
After looking over my list of skills, I decide to spend six Skill Points now and save four for my new weapon skill, which will probably be Daggers. I spend one on Parry to meet the bonus requirements for my quest, four go into Dodge now that the realism dial is getting cranked up on me and those pickaxes hurt, and the last goes into Perception. Maybe now I’ll see when I’m grossly outnumbered…
As for attributes, I dump my five points from the achievement into Endurance, five from one level bonus into Agility, and five from the other level bonus into Intellect. With all that, I manage to get a massive increase in SP, a big boost in damage and Dodge chance, and some breathing room on my Skill Level cap.
I’m fairly certain I would be miserable playing a character that was more limited in how many skill ranks I could have, magic be damned. Although, speaking of magic, I ask Alfred to remind me of how I feel about skill restrictions if I ever see someone fly through the air or call lightning from the sky.
After looking at how my skills were progressing, I realized I’d be miserable playing a character that had to be careful about what Skills he learned and leveled up. Even with Master of None, it felt like I was incredibly limited. Then again, I’d picked up 14 skills and aside from Tracking and Lockpicking, each was coming along quite nicely with several level-ups. With that sort of versatility, who needed to wield unstoppable magical power that could flatten scores of kobolds with fireballs?
Yep, sure not going to miss magic!
11-Bankruptcy
Once I finished up with my character sheet, I decided to check in on Nik. He’d finished up shortly after. Apparently he was sticking with dumping everything into Intellect, except for the five free points he got from the achievement. That went into Agility after he’d seen my dodging and damage output. It wasn’t something he needed to put a lot of points into but those five points would help for now.
He spent his skill points boosting his Engineering skills and Mana Infusion. Including the skill-ups from the fight, he got the base Gnomish Engineering to ten and the sub-skills to five each. Apparently, that was one of the requirements for Artificer. The plan was to claim the mine and then finish his Artificer quest.
First, we had to actually clear the God forsaken place. That was feeling easier said than done after our l
ast fight.
“Nik, can you make some more flashbombs? I only have one left.” I asked, worried we’d need way more than that.
He rummaged through his pack for a bit with a furrowed brow before looking up and saying “I can probably make two more now that I’ve skilled up. Looks like one of the benefits is burning fewer materials to make stuff below my level. I can also dump more mana into each one and probably get a longer blind out of it.” he explained.
“Perfect. We’re probably going to need them. Let’s head downstairs and you can work on making them while I gather our loot.” I suggested. Nik nodded his assent and quickly gathered up his gear and followed me downstairs.
The tunnel was filled with the carnage of our previous battle, but I tuned it out for the time being. I couldn’t let myself get lost in the destruction wrought by a single gadget from a nervous gnome. For a moment, it was terrifying to consider the power and potential he had, until I’m able to convince myself that he couldn’t pull off the same sort of thing against higher level enemies.