Pangea Online 3: Vials and Tribulations

by S. L. Rowland

  If the excitement of running a city isn’t enough, there are now nearly one hundred adventurers, with dozens of branches of magic, running across The Broken Lands. A majority of them have settled in Carolton, but several have spread out to other towns and villages with a few being so bold as to move to the king’s castle.

  The kingdom has been at peace since the goblin attack, though many towns fear that an invasion is imminent. Elves have been spotted more frequently along the edge of the Endless Forest, and dark tidings drip down from Thunder Mountain. Word is that one of the new mages has aligned himself with the goblins and they are gathering more tribes together for another assault on the kingdom.

  I hope this isn’t the case, but if it is, they’d be wise to stay away from Carolton.

  I spot Carter sitting beneath a large tree that shadows over the entire town. He wears a violet tunic with brown trousers. His bushy brown hair is as erratic as always. The trident I enchanted for him leans against the tree. I allow my gaze to drift upward along the trunk, following it to the heavens. It might be the largest tree I have ever seen.

  “How is Florian this morning?” I ask, gesturing at the tree.

  Carter pats the trunk firmly. “He grows stronger by the day. I miss having him follow me around everywhere I go, but the fact that I was able to save him is all that matters. Now, he watches over the town. He communes with trees miles and miles from here and will be able to warn us if we are ever in danger.”

  I still can’t believe it worked. In the goblin battle, Florian was burnt and chopped to pieces. The once-great walking tank of a tree was nothing more than a pile of charred wooden debris once the battle was over.

  Carter refused to accept that his friend was gone forever. He took the remaining pieces of Florian and buried them in the ground in the town’s center. For the next week, he poured all his mana into the earth with one goal in mind: pushing life into the broken timber. The town feared he had gone mad, but on the seventh day, a sprout shot up and has been growing ever since.

  Florian is a tree unlike any I have ever seen. He towers above the town. Each branch contains dozens of needle-like leaves, almost like a pine, but instead of cones, beautiful white flowers blossom from its branches. A soft glow radiates from them at night. Occasionally, a branch shakes or the trunk rumbles, a gentle reminder of the life inside.

  “What’s on the docket for today?” he asks, standing and offering me his hand.

  “A new batch of adventurers should be popping up across the kingdom today. That’s a low priority for now, though. I’ll be taking a team out to try and sort out this whole weevil nonsense before it begins to affect prices at the market. They’ve managed to eat through several of the crops you magically buffed, and the last thing we need are prices going through the roof.”

  Carter nods. “Let me know if I can be of assistance. I’m planning something special for tonight’s show, but I can always make time to help. Speaking of which, I best be getting on my way. My morning relaxation is at its end.” He turns to the behemoth tree and places his hand against the bark. “I’ll see you later, Florian.”

  Several branches shake in response, and pine needles fall on our shoulders.

  “We should be good, but I’ll keep you posted.”

  I’m making my way towards the council room when Neil—a red-headed, freckled, young man—approaches me in the street.

  “Esil, is it true? Are there more adventurers coming today?” he asks, excitement coating his voice.

  Neil wears the blue tunic and gray pants of the city watch. He must be on his way to guard duty. Before the goblin attack, Neil was as green as they come, but he has become a formidable swordsman and one of our most vigilant watchmen.

  “It certainly seems so. I don’t imagine it will be long before some of them show up at our gates.”

  “I heard you are going out into the forest today. Do you mind if I come?” Neil asks, his eyes wide.

  “Aren’t you on duty?” As interested as he is, it wouldn’t be right to take him from his post. Discipline is key for our defenses.

  “I just finished my patrol actually. I was on night duty.” His eyes bore into me with fierce desire.

  Neil is always looking for adventure, but the thing he’s truly after is magic. There’s an awe in his eyes when he watches others use it. He’s spoken to Kindra about it several times over the last few weeks. Questioning how she learned her own. But the system only provides the questline for magic to those it finds worthy and so far, Neil’s name hasn’t come up.

  The kid has spunk, though. A night shift and still wants more, who am I to stop him?

  “Alright then, gear up and meet me by the market in an hour. I’m going to meet with the council and then we’ll be on our way.”

  Neil clenches his fists and takes off running. He disappears around the corner next to the blacksmith.

  I find Kindra and Jacob in the council room deep in conversation, discussing adding members to the city watchmen in order to keep the peace during large events. When I’m logged out, they are the ones who make sure everything is in order. Jacob is the town governor, but being a wise man, he established the council under the idea that more heads would give sounder advice. Currently, the council consists of Jacob, Gertle, Clarence, Terence the town blacksmith, myself, and Kindra.

  Kindra, Carter, and I were all asked to join the council after the goblin battle. Carter declined, choosing to focus his time on the botanical garden and his plant-based defenses.

  “Is it true?” asks Jacob, running his fingers through his gray beard. “Are we getting more adventurers today?”

  “It is. This should be the last group that comes through for a while. Any word on Priscilla?”

  Kindra slides her chair back from the table. “There have been sightings of a woman in white all over the kingdom. She’s never any place for too long, but it’s usually around some new adventurer appearing or a magical occurrence. I don’t know what she’s playing at, but I feel like she’s definitely involved in this somehow.”

  Over a year of game-time has passed since she up and left Carolton without so much as a note or a word. We still have no idea why. It all has to be connected, though. I’m still not sure what she is, but I know she is ancient and powerful. I have my suspicions that she and the AI are connected in some way.

  She was the one who sent Carter and I on the initial quest to unlock our own magic. Over the course of that journey, magic returned to the world for the first time since the Age of Mages, thousands of years ago. Now, magic is everywhere.

  Maybe her part has been played, and now she’s content to watch from the background.

  I lean forward against the table. “I’ll be taking Neil and a couple of others out to try and deal with the weevils. Are you free to come, Kindra? Your abilities are always a welcome addition. You might be able to track down an adventurer or two while we are out.”

  Her mind magic is powerful, and she can often sense the presence of other people if they are within a certain radius, even if they are hidden.

  “Are you good to handle things without me?” she asks Jacob.

  He gives her a proud smile. “I think I can manage. Try to be back by sundown if you can. Carter has something special planned this evening.”

  Neil and Grayson wait for me in the market, along with two of the newer adventurers who have unlocked magic: Margarita and Titus. Neil wears a sword strapped to his side, and Grayson carries a wooden staff.

  The tip of Grayson’s staff holds a magnificent emerald. Since his body here resembles his real-life body and not the sexy, muscled pirate of Pangea, the staff fits with his aging wizard look. After moving out of The Boxes and into Pangea Headquarters, Grayson has let his beard go and it almost resembles the version I remember from the mines.

  Margarita’s olive skin and flaming red hair drapes down her back, accentuating her light blue dress that flows in the breeze. She has the magical ability to control the wind so wherever she walk
s, a gentle breeze always caresses her.

  Titus, on the other hand, is perhaps the palest person I have ever seen. His eyes seem too large for his face. He has short black hair, and two teeth that jut down over his lips like a rat. There is nothing rat-like about his personality, though. In contrast, he is one of the kindest people I have ever met. Meek and unassuming, he has the ability to flash in and out of our plane of existence.

  I’m actually pretty excited to go out with Grayson today. He’s had magic for a while now but has yet to tell me what his affinity is. Maybe I’ll finally see him put it to use.

  Kindra shows up a few minutes later, her hair pulled into a messy bun. Her yellow tunic contrasts with her surly disposition.

  “Alright, let’s get his show on the road,” she says, quickly bypassing us, not waiting for the go-ahead.

  She’s been like that for as long as I’ve known her. Defiant, stubborn, and hard to crack. On the few times I’ve broken down her walls, I’ve discovered there is actually a very caring and kind person underneath.

  Before we start, I take a moment to draw runes on each of our boots with a quill, enchanting them and tripling our walking speed. A recent update by the AI changed how my own magic worked. Instead of channeling mana into my items, I carve runes and then push the mana into them. It’s more limiting since I now have a list of runes to remember, but I can string multiple runes together for new effects.

  My mana pool has grown a great deal over the past year as well, allowing me to have multiple enchantments running at the same time. While I push mana into enchantments I give to others, I’m able to power up some of my own enchantments by pushing more mana into them. It’s been a while since I have run out of mana, but as my pool has grown, so has the power behind some of my attacking enchantments. If a big battle were to occur, I could still conceivably run out.

  Tracking down new adventurers has been no easy task. For the most part, we let them find their own way. Most villagers around the kingdom will usually point them in the direction of Carolton, since we have the largest population of adventurers. Still, some choose to strike a path of their own. I double-check the pack I brought and make sure it’s filled with both food and clothing in case we come upon any.

  When new players spawn, they are as naked as the day they’re born. The experience is a bit overwhelming, showing up in a new world, every sense on high alert and nothing but your own two hands to protect you. Or at least it was for me. I still remember the frying pan that clocked me in the shoulder for trespassing on someone’s farm my first day in the game. When you expect your vision to flash red and instead feel shooting pain, it’s a quick wake-up call.

  Still, we do our best to find the new players when we can. Some of them find their own way or take us up on the offer of clothes and a warm meal before they go off on their own. Others have spawned so far away I’ve never met them.

  Kindra stops long enough for us to catch up. “Alright, where the hell are these damn weevils? And what are we supposed to do when we find them?”

  “Oh, my!” yells Neil. “Is that it?” He points to a nearby cornfield, where two large antennae and a snout protrude above the top of the corn stalks. A loud crunching can be heard from the depths.

  “I don’t know what else it would be,” I say.

  We follow the path through the cornstalks and find a weevil grazing. Two long pincers chop the corn at the base while the long, tuberous snout shovels the stalks into its mouth.

  Giant Weevil. With a tough outer shell, weevils have a greater resistance to magical attacks than most beasts. Their hides often fetch high prices for their usage in armor.

  The creature moves slowly through the field, unaware or uncaring of our presence. It looks like a giant beetle with a luminescent green outer shell and black undershell. It continues to munch, leaving a steaming trail of dung in its wake. At the rate it’s moving, a single weevil could destroy an entire field over the course of a few days.

  “It’s immune to magic, huh?” asks Margarita, hands on her hips. “How do you suppose we tackle this?”

  “Like this!” yells Neil as he pulls his sword and takes off towards the weevil.

  His sword clanks against the hide of the creature, dealing no damage. Neil attacks again, faring no better. The blade bounces off the tough exterior like it’s made of plastic.

  The weevil turns its head to look at Neil and knocks him to the ground with a thrash of its hindquarters. Without so much as a second thought, the weevil returns to its meal.

  “With a tough shell like that, weapons aren’t going to work either.” Titus scratches his chin in thought. “Maybe we could try to guide them somewhere else?”

  “That won’t work.” Grayson’s gruff voice is commanding. “If there was only one, maybe, but from what we’ve heard, there are probably dozens of these creatures. I think we’d be best to find a way to dispose of them. They’re pests, nothing more.”

  Titus frowns at Grayson but says nothing.

  “Besides,” says Margarita, “we can take their hides and make some pretty good armor. Even sell what we don’t need.”

  I can’t really argue with her logic, but that still leaves the question of how in the hell are we going to kill it.

  “Kindra, can you get inside of its mind?” I ask.

  She presses her fingers to her temples, channeling her magic. She winces, and then shakes her head. “It’s not working. It actually hurts when I try to get inside of its mind.”

  Normally, the offending party would go slack, or a vacant look might run across its face. However, the weevil remains unaffected and continues chewing stalk after stalk. Another pile of steaming hot dung falls to the ground.

  Substance. Giant Weevil Dung. This substance has been used in many potions for increased magical defenses.

  Not a bad ingredient if you can get past the smell. I’m sure it would fetch a nice price at the market.

  I pull my sword from its scabbard and focus my mana into the bottom-most rune along the blade. Maybe we just need a little more power.

  Exploding Touch. Your next attack will explode for 500 damage, damaging all within a five-foot radius.

  “Everyone, stand back.”

  Once the others are out of the way, I slash with all my might at the giant weevil. A violent explosion erupts when the blade hits its metallic shell, and flames run up my arm, singeing my tunic and burning the hair from my arm. My health drops, and a burning pain flares along my arms.

  “Oh, that was such a bad idea.” I gingerly press my finger to the burn that is radiating heat.

  The weevil continues as if nothing happened. I take a bite of some of Carter’s enchanted fruit and step back as my health slowly recovers.

  “Maybe we just need to think outside the box.” Neil ponders for a moment. “Everything has a weakness. Even dragons have a soft underbelly.”

  “You know…” Margarita places her thumb and index finger on her chin. “I think I have an idea. Get your weapons ready.”

  Neil and I both pull our swords. Kindra nocks her bow. Grayson and Titus both stand back. Grayson’s staff won’t do much, and Titus prefers not to carry weapons.

  Margarita steps beside us and holds out her hands, palms open, toward the weevil. Air rushes around the weevil, swaying the corn like a summer storm until a miniature tornado springs up from underneath the creature, flipping it on its back.

  Underneath, between the head and the body, a space of unarmored flesh is exposed. Kindra fires an arrow into the soft underbelly, and the weevil’s health drops. Neil follows up with several quick stabs while the creature rocks back and forth, attempting to right itself to no avail. The long, spindly legs reach out at the sky, but there is nothing for it to grab onto. A final strike of Exploding Touch drains the life from the creature, and we collect the loot.

  Item. Giant Weevil Shell X4. Can be used to create magical armor.

  The weevil’s shell, along with the armor, makes this a pretty good trip already a
nd no sooner have we gathered the loot than another weevil appears in the distance.

  It takes a while to track them down without Kindra’s psychic abilities to help locate the weevils, but over the next few hours, we eliminate twelve giant weevils until we are loaded down with so many weevil shells that we could outfit most of the city watch if we wanted.

  Grayson and Titus mostly look on as Margarita flips the weevils, and Neil, Kindra, and I kill them. Grayson still doesn’t show me his magic, so I’m guessing it may be something non-battle related.

  Stacking the new set of weevil shells beside the rest, I’m pretty proud of the day’s work.

  “I think that’s a good starting point for today. A few more days like this and the weevil population should be in check. What do you say we get back in time for Carter’s big show?”

  Chapter Three

  Florian’s white flowers cast a glow against the night sky as I step out of the council room. The council has just finished discussing the new adventurers that arrived in town. Five new beta testers from The Boxes.

  Jacob steps up beside me, his head tilted back as he looks up at Florian. His grey hair has a silver sheen in the moonlight. “It’s something else, isn’t it? In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like this.” He turns toward me. “To be honest, I’ve seen a lot of things in the past year I never thought I’d see.”

  I pat him on the shoulder. I know exactly what he means. Florian’s presence is both comforting and awe-inspiring. “I’m sure you’ll see many more before it’s over. Let’s go watch the show.”

  The candles flicker inside the inns, but they are empty. Even the streets are barren. We are the last to arrive at the botanical garden located in the center of the town, where hundreds of people sit or stand around its edges. Carter’s shows are one of the main attractions of Carolton.

  The garden is shaped like a massive circle, with stone pathways running throughout the many species of plants. There’s a stone stage in the middle. For the moment, all the plants are still. They look almost wilted as they collapse in on themselves, showcasing nothing of their magical power. It’s all part of the show, though. One big spectacle. During the day, the plants are vibrant and alive with movement.