Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4)

by Luke Chmilenko

  “That we are,” Halcyon agreed. “And we appreciate all the work on keeping us outfitted, Lyr. Same to you too, Léandre.”

  “We are happy to do it,” the Tul’Shar replied in a gracious tone while motioning a second time to the waiting equipment. “Now, please, try everything on and let us know how it fits. Should we need any adjustments, we still have time to make them.”

  Not needing a second invitation, the group didn’t hesitate in descending on the awaiting collection of weaponry and armor, excited voices calling out as they read over the item descriptions and familiarized themselves with their new equipment. No doubt feeling nervous about our earlier exchange, Constantine even went as far as to dress in his new equipment, likely not wanting to be caught without an edge should another hide and seek game with Amaranth suddenly start. Watching the group put on their armor, I brought up the description of one the sets to check it one last time, seeing a small box appear in my vision revealing similar stats to what I’d just seen with Amaranth’s armor.

  Iron Raiment Armor Set

  Slots: Arm, Chest, Feet, Hands, Legs, Head, Shoulders

  Item Class: Magical

  Item Quality: Good (+15%)

  Armor: 430

  Set Bonus: (7/7)

  Strength: +18 Agility: +18

  Armor Type: Light

  Weight: 19 kg

  Favored Class: Any Martial

  Level: 24

  “So I know it is likely getting more than a little boring in seeing the same group of attributes on an item and having it increment slowly with each new set,” I started to say to the group once the excitement had died down, dismissing the armor’s description as I spoke, “but Thorne, Léandre, and I have wracked our brains in trying to figure out how to add additional attributes to an item, and so far, we have come up completely empty. Our best guesses at this point are that it’s either locked behind hitting level thirty in a tradeskill—the actual enchanting tradeskill—or some other sort of hidden crafting trait, like the Re-Forging trait.”

  “I was wondering about that,” Halcyon said as he looked up from inspecting his new armor, already having put a pair of gloves on. “But by no means am I complaining either. Higher stats and better armor help in their own way as well.”

  “That it does. Though if it helps, we are far from the only ones that are having this block,” Léandre added, nodding in my direction as he spoke. “In the last week, I’ve scoured dozens of feeds from other high-level crafters and haven’t found any clues to work with. Right now, the common theory is that those ‘essences’ that you all have been finding will somehow be used in the crafting process, but exactly how no one has figured out yet. Well, figure out and share at least.”

  “I hear that,” Drace chimed in. “Even if we’re only able to add a handful of attribute points on an armor set, and just as many more on a weapon as well, that’s a massive boost in its own right.”

  “Absolutely,” I agreed. “I can’t blame anyone who’s figured it out for keeping it close to their chest. I know I would in their shoes.”

  “I’m sure you guys will figure it out,” Constantine said confidently as he stretched his arms over his head, testing the range of motion for the new armor. “But while we’re in the spirit of giving everyone new stuff, I think it’s my turn to show off a few things I’ve been working on.”

  “Wait, you know how to work?” Halcyon asked with a disbelieving tone as we all turned to look towards the rogue. “Since when?”

  “Since I accidentally decided to catch an orc mace with my face and respawned here,” Constantine replied in a dry tone as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a vial with a purple liquid inside it and held it out towards him. “So instead of making the run back to the others on the plains, I figured that I could help Marlin around the lab for a while…and, well, long story short, we came up with this.”

  “Uh…oh wow,” the mage muttered as he glanced down at the vial, going as far as to take it out of Constantine’s hand. “You really made this?”

  “Hell, yeah!” Constantine exclaimed, reaching into a belt pouch and pulling out several more vials. “Along with all these other ones too. Here, take them and pass them around. I made enough for everyone to have a few.”

  With that, we all crowded curiously around Constantine as he began to pull a series of items from his inventory, handing them out to each of us. In short order, I found my hands full with four potions, their descriptions floating in my vision.

  Battle Potion of Agility

  Use: Gain 33 Agility for the next 66 seconds.

  Lesser Healing Potion

  Use: Heal 475 hit points over the next 9 seconds.

  Lesser Mana Potion

  Use: Recover 360 mana over the next 9 seconds.

  Lesser Regeneration Potion

  Use: Increases regeneration rate by 11 hit points every 5 seconds for the next 66 minutes.

  “Damn, these are awesome, Constantine!” I exclaimed, looking up at the rogue with an amazed expression. “You even made a mana potion! How the hell did you manage that?”

  “Yeah, I figured you’d like that one!” Constantine replied with an even wider grin. “And the answer to that is actually æther. Very, very, verrrry small amounts of it diluted into a lot of water, which was then partially boiled off and mixed with…well, a bunch of other stuff you probably don’t want to know about if you’re going to drink it. But the end result is pretty stable and gives you a decent shot of mana when you chug it down.”

  “And you’re sure it’s safe to drink, right?” I asked, looking down at the faintly glowing azure vial in my hands. “Because I really can’t afford to become even more ætherwarped…”

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” Constantine replied confidently. “We had Donovan help with the process. Apparently, potions like these were one of the uses of manufactured æther back in Eberia. Groups of spellcasters would first create the æther in its super-concentrated state, then dilute it down into potions for later use on the battlefield. It just wasn’t exactly common, since æther was so expensive and hard to make. It usually got funneled towards other uses.”

  “But in our case, since we have our own personal fountain of natural æther so to speak…” I said, trailing off as I slowly nodded in understanding.

  “Pretty much,” Constantine agreed before turning his attention back towards everyone else. “So anyway, in addition to all the things that I’ve handed out so far, I also have a night vision potion that’s still brewing in the lab, plus a bunch more of those battle potions for every single attribute.”

  “Damn, man, this has to have been a ton of work to get sorted out,” Drace stated, shaking his head at a pair of potions in his hands. “And hell, when did you learn all this? I never even knew you were an alchemist.”

  “Oh, just here and there,” Constantine replied vaguely, giving the half-giant a shrug as if the question didn’t matter. “Just trying to do what I can to help.”

  “Well, now that we know you can do it, just keep these potions coming and that’ll be plenty of help going forward,” I said, pocketing the vials that I was holding.

  “I think I can do that,” the rogue affirmed confidently before indicating the still-open door. “And speaking of that, I should actually get back to the lab to finish all the stuff I have on the go.”

  “Same here,” Drace added. “I’m due to head out back towards Valor’s Point with another load of ballistae as soon as we’re all sorted here.”

  “Well, hang on a sec,” I said, stopping the pair before they could both run off. “I was hoping for updates from you all before we all went our own ways again. How is it going on the front? I’ve been working here pretty much nonstop, and I’ve only kept up on the broad strokes of what’s going on up there.”

  “Oh, right,” Constantine answered, his head turning towards Drace and Halcyon. “Maybe it’s better if you guys fill him in? I bit it pretty early Friday afternoon. You guys lasted a hell of a lot longer. I’m no
t even really sure how things are going now either.”

  “They go about as well as we could have realistically hoped, all things considered at least,” Drace replied, his large shoulders offering me a shrug as he spoke. “Like Constantine said, we hit the orcs hard on Friday afternoon while they were still getting themselves ready. We took out a couple dozen scouts and at least three of their corrupted dervishes, which while tough, go down much easier than the bigger guardians.

  “From there, we hit their camp hard and tried to leave behind as much destruction as possible,” Drace continued, his head shaking from side to side. “But we didn’t get nearly as much time as we’d hoped. The orcs rallied fast and hit us back hard, forcing us out on our heels.”

  “And me back to Aldford,” Constantine added, miming a swing with a weapon as he spoke. “One minute I was torching supplies, then the next I was caught right in the middle of their counterattack. I lasted just long enough to get a few swings in…then boom. I was here.”

  “You and a bunch of others too,” Drace agreed, his expression hardening as he continued his story. “From there, it was a trick in itself to disengage from the orcs. They made sure to hound us as hard as they possibly could, sending a bunch of their constructs after us. It was only after we took down a handful more of the things that they pulled them back and were satisfied with just skirmishing.

  “After that, things got more difficult once they knew we were out there. They redoubled their screening lines and brought up even more orcs from deeper in the forest that very day. Then by the time Saturday morning hit, they were all starting to march down towards us here at Aldford. And I mean march fast, like they’d forgotten to turn the oven off at home and were rushing to get back. Between yesterday and today, we’ve done what we could to slow them and whittle down their numbers, but with how badly outnumbered we are, there’s only so much we can do. Before Hal and I went down today, they’d managed to push us all the way back to the lake by Shadow’s Fall.”

  “The key words in all of that being ‘badly outnumbered’,” Halcyon chimed in with grimace, his eyes fading out of focus as he recalled a memory. “And since I know what you’re going to ask next, I’d say we’re dealing with anywhere between five and six hundred orcs, a hundred or so of those corrupted constructs, and roughly seventy-ish of the Dread Crew. Though it’s hard to tell with them since they seem to be staying hidden in the center of the orc army on purpose.”

  “Could be worse,” I said in a soft voice, having expected a count around that number based on the few snippets that I had managed to hear. Combined all together, the orcs forces roughly totaled close to three times the number of combatants that we could field if we included all of the combat-capable NPCs in the town.

  Or almost four times our number if we counted only adventurers.

  “I guess it’s a good thing we devoted the time to shoring up our defenses then,” Léandre stated in an optimistic tone. “I imagine that even a force eight hundred strong will hesitate in marching directly into what we’ve prepared for them on the plain’s edge. Unless they are willing to pay a good portion of their number in blood to smash it.”

  “Which could actually help us out if they tried to,” Drace said in a wistful tone. “It would turn the attrition game much more in our favor.”

  “Assuming that they didn’t have any more reinforcements coming,” I pointed out, not entirely disagreeing with the man’s logic. Our biggest advantage that we had to offset the orcs’ numbers were our prepared defenses—both at the plains and the palisade around Aldford itself. If they really wanted to defeat us in detail, they would be forced to fight through the best of what we could throw at them, twice, and hope that they were still standing afterward.

  “There is that,” the half-giant agreed, his expression changing as he gave me a questioning look. “And actually, on that note of reinforcements, what’s the update on ours? Did you have any luck in moving the meeting with the guilds up? And what about Lazarus and the others too? Any news from them?”

  “Yes, on the first question and not yet on the second,” I replied, giving the man a half nod. “After telling them that our opportunity was a bit time-sensitive, I managed to move up the meeting to tomorrow morning with both of the guilds at the same time. Roughly a day and a half earlier than before. Apparently, things are starting to heat up again out by Coldscar, and they’ve all been wrapped up in just trying to stay out of trouble.”

  “Shit,” Halcyon cursed with a scowl. “Heat up how? Was it the Ascendancy?”

  “They’re part of it, but largely no,” I answered, recalling the brief emails that I’d received from the two guilds in question. “The guild wars in the area are starting to escalate, over and above what they have in the past, and unless things calm down, the whole region surrounding Coldscar is set to go off like a powder keg.”

  “Fantastic,” Constantine grumbled, the rogue rather familiar with the political issues the region had. “That’s exactly the sort of complication that we need right now back on the home front.”

  “My thoughts too,” I replied, having shared the same frustration when I’d gotten the news. “But anyway, beyond that particular bit of news, I haven’t heard anything at all from Lazarus and the others since they left on Friday. Based on when they left, they should have made it to Coldscar at some point today depending on how fast they were able to travel, but at the same time, if things are starting to go to hell…”

  “Then they could have possibly run into trouble along the way somewhere,” Constantine finished, a series of grim nods passing across each of our faces.

  “That’s what I’m thinking,” I said with a sigh. “But at the same time, it’s not like they’ve gone and respawned back here either. So they’re still alive at least.”

  “Good point,” Drace agreed, a grin slowly growing across his face. “Plus, the three of them are pretty good scrappers in their own right. Anyone who tries getting in their way is going to regret it and fast.”

  “Without a doubt,” I said, matching the man’s smile with one of my own. “In either case, I’m hoping that they’ll finally give us an update sooner rather than later. I’m starting to feel a little anxious every time I check our chat and find it empty.”

  “Here’s to hoping,” Constantine said as he moved to leave once more. “And speaking of morning, I need to get going if I’m going to finish everything I want to do before midnight. These potions don’t brew themselves after all. Er, well, at least most of them don’t. There are a few that do brew themselves, but they also tend to like to explode and catch fire if they happen to brew too long.”

  “Wait, are you serious?” Drace asked, looking a bit worried at the rogue’s statement. “Can that really happen?”

  “I don’t know,” Constantine replied with a shrug. “Do you want me to hang around here until you hear a loud bang and people start screaming?”

  “Uh, n-no,” the half-giant replied, shooing away the rogue with both hands. “Go do what you need to do.”

  “Can do,” Constantine replied with a mock salute before turning it into a farewell wave as he rushed out of the room at a near run. “Catch you guys later!”

  Watching the man as he sprinted away, the five of us stared in his direction speechlessly for a few seconds before Halcyon finally broke the silence.

  “Is it just me, or did things seem a bit safer when Constantine was lazy?”

  Chapter 21

  Monday, April 15th, 2047 – 6:30 a.m.

  CTI Player Housing Complex

  “Ugh.” I let out a weak and tired groan as a buzzing vibration shooting up my arm pulled me out of my dreams and back into reality. Moving on autopilot, I silenced my watch’s alarm and slid out from under my covers, letting out another groan as my bare feet touched the cold floor. Half-awake, I stumbled out of the bedroom and made my way out into the hall, which automatically illuminated with a soft light.

  “Sterling,” I called out as I walked, speaking the name
of our suite’s ill-used AI assistant. “Please start a pot of coffee and order breakfast for me. Something with a lot of eggs and bacon today.”

  “Of course, sir,” a cheerful British voice answered, echoing out from somewhere above me as I made my way towards the washroom. “I’ll take care of it right away. Would you like to hear the news this morning or possibly some music in the meantime?”

  “No, thank you, Sterling,” I answered with a still sleepy shake of my head, vaguely remembering that it had been Peter who had programmed the AI, setting its personality to one of a butler. “I need a quiet morning today.”

  “Righto, sir,” the voice replied. “I will leave you be and let you know when breakfast is arriving. Please call me if you need anything.”

  With my breakfast and coffee then in motion, I continued with my morning ablutions, my slowly waking mind replaying yesterday’s events. After seeing everyone off last night, I’d returned back to working on getting Amaranth’s armor finalized and properly fitted, the cat more than obliging to stay put during the process. It was only once that was finished that I finally turned my efforts towards my own weapons and armor, having left off upgrading my own gear until I’d taken care of everyone else. Fortunately though, thanks to the experience that I’d gained over the weekend’s crafting marathon, I was able to quickly finish the easier of the two projects, making myself a similar suit of armor as the one I’d given Peter.

  In the case of a weapon, however, that had taken a bit longer since I’d focused my efforts on upgrading Splinter, rather than completely starting from scratch with a new weapon. This was largely in part because I was loath to give up the benefits of wielding an æthertouched weapon, relying on its special properties to not only deliver my touch attacks but to also drain mana. Fortunately, given that Splinter already had that base property, all it took to upgrade it was a bit of modification and a handful of æthertouched iron shards. Working carefully, I cut out a portion of the weathered and chipped blade before hollowing out a portion of its spine. Once that was completed, I sank in a series of the razor-sharp æthertouched iron teeth and fastened them in place, giving the once sleek weapon a vicious and bloodthirsty look.