In the morning, Cinder gave Terry some welcome and surprising news, “I am going to head out to the Iron Bay with you guys.” She met them for breakfast that morning, he was planning to spend this last day with her going to some of their favorite haunts from the past week.
“Oh really?” Morris gave Terry a wink over his eggs and bacon, or the Deck equivalent to those breakfast staples.
Cinder nodded, “Yeah, I have some work to the south really, but It is not too much of an excuse to keep you close.” She nudged Terry with an elbow. “Plus I should get more levels in. I want to do some random tasking there, it gets a bit much with platforming over and over again.” She stretched her back, arching it in a way that Terry could not help but stare at.
Terry smiled as she settled back, “Too bad, I was wondering how distant communication would be on this world.”
Cinder glared, but it was very playful and added, “oh it is nothing compared to the real thing.”
Hurk cut in after swallowing a bite, “well we could try and go a different way back, we didn’t go the scenic route up here, but if we cut into the continent a bit more there are some nice views and landscapes before the season change.”
“Oh and what is the next season like in the Diamondlands?” Terry put in, genuinely curious.
“It is actually called Post-haul, the final of three. Pre-haul, a tame and gentle time good for planting and herd rearing. Haul for the time of crop completion and the warmest weather. Then Post-haul for the coldest months and wettest weather.” Rosa, ever knowledgeable, put it plainly for her person.
“Right,” Hurk continued, “The trees in the lower parts of the forest will have changing leaves and the ground gets soft from the rain. Usually it is not a great idea to travel in Post-haul, but it is more manageable in the early weeks before the weather truly sets in.”
“As if traveling with three men is not going to be bad enough…” Cinder started and was cut off by Hurk putting in.
“Two men and a goblin, thank you.” Putting up two stubby goblin fingers at the statement.
With a laugh around the table Cinder continued, “yes, well two men and a goblin are going to be tough enough to travel with. Rosa, I might need you for girl time away from Terry, just to keep my sanity” She smiled good naturedly.
Rosa replied, “I have no problem switching shoulders from time to time.” for another chuckle around the table.
Terry did ask Hurk and Morris, “How long will the route change take? I thought we wanted to get back sooner.”
Morris replied while Hurk chewed, “oh it is only a day or so more, we should be okay since we sent out a message bird this morning. Hurk sent one to Mother Martin too about the message he got, she knows to trust any information we send and knows who to ask for more information on something so vague, it is the wisdom of age and popularity.”
After that the chat around the breakfast was more idle, Cinder and Terry talking and flirting with each other while Morris and Hurk discussed travel arrangements. Before too long they had finished their meal and started on the road back to the Iron Bay.
-
Tid was nervous, even after several days of working with and escorting the party of celebrity players around the town and to and from the gateway levels. The higher a player's rank, the more time you spend in the levels. It was understandable as the Boss, Mobs and Tasks were more involved and tougher to boot.
Tid and his colleagues had waited two days and nights outside the gate way for the Boss level. The team had been in the task level for eight to twelve hours on three separate journeys, then had waited a day and returned to this attempt at a Hoard level. Tid was on a shifting schedule with other attendants and was camped near the gateways, awaiting the return. This longer battling in levels was common for any player who went up and past Rank thirty or so, and from his avid following of just the Cowboy, Tid knew that his rank was forty-one. He had risen to that in just four years of full time level progression in just the Diamondlands.
The Silverspires gates were called the final Levels; they had all four types of gates on one pedestal, but the main difference was the recording. It was a quirk of the gods, putting their temples near this special set of gateways. Clergy of the King, Queen, Jack and Joker could record and edit the trials in these gateways, often this was turned in to highlight reels and resumes for players looking for professional work or to promote their personal skills without a live demonstration. This is how a Player got renown as impressive highlights and full screenings were often used as entertainment and could even be viewed with payments, it was a prime way for the Player’s Taverns to make money and promote rising stars.
With this sort of marketing came a set of rules and bureaucracy that players were either large proponents of or greatly disliked for the waitlists and bothersome requirements. Since the clergy had to monitor these recordings, and had limited staff to edit and create reels there were strict time tables for when a team could enter a level. This process meant that final level completion could sometimes take longer than even completing the nine levels a player needed to even enter the special gateways. This restriction was not only promoted by the clergy but the gods themselves, much like a tutorial was needed to enter a level at all.
After these levels a Player could expect a massive amount of experience and very special prizes, a player could then return to the other gateways and do any level type they wanted over and over again including the boss and hoard levels. This could give a Player a lot of options and professional players often stayed in the capital to build a name and a reputation for themselves and future family members. There were several Player families that were known for exclusively training and working their young to be the best player while staying in the Silver Spires.
With the size of Tid’s family he had several brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins that lived in the capital, not just as workers and trades people, but as full time players and or athletes in the other entertainment games that were hosted there. In fact more gnomes had family there then even the dwarves who were the main race of the Diamondlands. This was not the case for every gnome family, but there were many many massive gnome families and many of them having gotten tutorials and had gotten some levels at least. Tid learned this from looking over the records with his new job. It was boring at first, but became interesting as he dug deeper and deeper.
Before he could get too lost in thought however, his charges emerged from the gateway levels. The team did not look that worse for wear despite what they probably experienced in the level, the Green Witch seemed to have a never ending closet of form fitting black dress and each of the other members of the team seemed to have a similar capacity for apparel in their own style. They seem to not even be winded, but he knew that along with the levels getting tougher and longer, the locker room areas got more lavish and accommodating to assist with the increase in danger and recuperation after the levels were complete.
They chatted amiably while Tid rushed around to let them into their beast-less carriage, an automobile as it was apparently called. Tid climbed in the spacious front to direct the self-driving apparatus that navigated for the vehicle. He had directed it before, it was as simple as choosing the destination from a list displayed in the front area. The seating was comfortable, the front had a long couch like seat that could easily fit three people and probably four or five gnomes, to Tid’s estimation. The back consisted of two couches facing each other and had ample leg room. As well as single seats that seemed somehow more comfortable on the side near the doors. There had to be some impressive space/room illusion going on to accommodate the height of the tallest of the group as well. The Cowboy’s horns did not even scrap the roof of the automobile.
The high level team spiraled out in each of these places and continued to chat, Tid could not hear them thanks to a divider that kept the front cabin area and back lounge area separated. Tid had learned that this automobile was a prize they had gotten from a rare bonus level the group had found in their second year as a team, and it was almost worth it to Tid to begin being a player again to try and get one of these vehicles.
He sat comfortably in his own section, as the transport turned around and moved back to the Iron Bay on its own. He thought to himself, once I get back they will probably go to finish the another level tomorrow, it might be three or more days till they are done with that and ready to head to the next spot on their tour of levels. Tid was almost sad to see them go, it had been a big task for him to take over and the accolades that came with the touring group were very lucrative, it would be a good while before another group like this could get out here to do this sorta tour again.
-
The first day of travel out of Kimberglade was largely uneventful. The scenic route back to the Iron Bay went along a less traveled trail over the traditional road, almost a game trail into the surrounding wood. It was dense and the trees were just as large as the ones the gnomes had used to build the above ground metropolis. This blocked the sun, except for intense rays that shot down to create pockets of condensed and bright illumination. The sight was so distracting that Terry hardly noticed that he and the other were heading uphill, till the time they stopped and found themselves looking over an awe-inspiring vista.
They emerged onto a jutting rock cliff that raised them above the massive pyramid like trees, in all directions. In front of them it was mainly the tops of these trees for seemingly miles in every direction, except for off to the south. From this view there was a wide expanse of trees that eventually ended into the rolling plains of hills and grass. Hurk pointed out that this was still a few days away, this was the highest point they would reach and would be spending the next few days moving downhill.
As Terry looked around he felt a small hand slip into his and he looked down at Cinder next to him. She was smiling at his face, with a genuine delight. Terry had never known danger quite like he had in this world, but he had never known beauty quite like he had in this world either. The thought turned the slack jaw awe to a smile in seconds and he held his new girlfriend's hand as they looked at the sights around them.
There was no question at all that they would make their camp in the area that night, and Terry could hardly look away from the view as they prepared food and sleeping areas in the dying light. He decided that a walk in the woods would be nice as Hurk prepared a goblin travel stew from the dried provisions that they had gathered before leaving. He left Rosa with Morris, as they were conversing about some historical topic Terry had not been paying attention to. Cinder agreed happily to have some time and they walked off the trail and into the dense growth.
A skill that they both shared was darkvision, for Terry this came from his attribute Dark and for Cinder it was her Sly attribute. Terry saw the forest in a muted colorless monochrome that gave shape to obstacles and terrain, but details for either were almost nonexistent. Cinder’s vision was muted as well but still had color and life to it. She could identify dark spots and shadowed areas in the bases of trees and in the nooks near bushes and shrubs that she might be able to hide in. She described all this to Terry who was interested in how she saw the world at night.
“It is almost outlined in a color and I could use my stealth skill to move from area to area to get from place to place. I have used it in a level and a few instances outside of levels” Cinder explained, what made her most happy in this relationship was how genuine Terry was about learning about this place and her. Past relationships had moved faster, but had burned out quicker as a result her past partners really only had one goal when it came to her.
Terry nodded and replied, “My view can do that when I activate Call Shadows, it shows me the concentrations of darkness and how I can manipulate them. Selina told me as I get more comfortable with the spell I will have more options with how to move and use larger pieces of that darkness”
“I sorta envy that,” Cinder put in “I have heard that higher rankings of Sly can gain that, but my spellcasting comes from another attribute, so I have different spells. It is more of an area of effect than that sort of finesse. Once we do a hoard level together I will have to show you.”
Terry smiled, “I look forward to that, I have been wondering how well you fight. Don’t get me wrong, you're super accurate with that slingshot and you can hide and get away well…”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“How do I contribute during a direct assault or boss battle?” Cinder cut him off with the exact question he was trying to tactfully ask. “I have my way of dealing with pushy Bosses, true it is much more faint and distracting than a bruiser like you or Morris. But I get by and do alright.”
Terry trusted that she was correct, but felt compelled to make an offer, “What sort of weapon proficiency do you have? Maybe we can spare before you go into the levels at the Iron Bay? I don’t have to use my knives.”
“I appreciate that, When fighting I usually keep my distance but some close quarters combat with the right partner might even be nice. As long as you don’t hurt me too badly.” she winked and they continued flirting. After they went a good distance into the trees, the couple found a downed log that was comfortable enough to act as a bench. They sat in companionable silence, with smiling glances as they took in the sights of nature around.
Before Terry could begin conversing with Cinder again, a dreadful yawl split the air and they both became alert, then several things happened at once. Cinder dived forward as a danger sense warned her of the direction of attack, she sprang forward and rolled in front of Terry as something landed right where she had been. Terry heard a voice in his head give a warning and he activated Sparks fire attack as he seamlessly pulled it from the sheath and stabbed into the large body that landed where Cinder had been an instant before. The form was that of a large black panther, but it had some glaring differences. The tail was not a smooth cat tail, it had plated segments that gave it a jointed heavy look and it ended in a bulbous stinger that shot toward where he was sitting. Terry withdrew his knife and thanks to his high speed stat managed to just dodge to the side.
The Tail reared back to position just as fast as it had attacked and the beast reared on it hooved back feet to face Terry’s new position, giving him a better look at the hybrid of panther, goat -legged and scorpion tailed monstrosity in front of him. The yellow feline eyes followed him somewhat warily after his successful attack, Terry drew Flicker in a reverse grip trying to keep the predator’s attention. Then another yawl sounded and his foe was bolstered by the arrival of another identical monster. Cinder was behind them but before she could act on the beast’s flank, a third dropped from the trees and stalked toward her from the left. They were not surrounded, but were clearly cut off from the way they had come, the way back to the camp and help. Cinder doesn’t have a weapon for anything like this, how do we get past these things? Terry thought, keeping his eyes glued on the hooved cat-scorpions. He did hear a response in his Head.
“Your goin’ to have to be aggressive, lad. These things will jump ya’ soon and ya’ won’t have a chance then. Try a spell to separate them and yell so maybe someone will hear ya’. Gotta act quick though. The las might have more up her sleeve then you think, but you gotta get these two before ya’ can ‘elp her.” It was the voice of Koren in his head, helping him focus. After that he went to work.
“GUST!” Terry shouted the command word and swiped his right hand to the side. Instantly the Call the Wind spell activated and threw the predator on the right to the side. In the same movement, Terry brought his other hand back, throwing Flicker at the remaining cat. The throwing knife buried itself to the hilt before appearing back in his hand, the cat lunged forward only slightly phased by the attack. Terry’s speed helped him dodge without rolling and he stabbed both knives into the cat’s side. Terry's eyes glanced to the side to see how Cinder was doing in her own fight, but the gnome was gone and the cat was looking around like it had lost her. After a moment of panic, Terry had no time to worry about his girlfriend as the predator with his knives stabbed into its side reared on it hoved hind-legs and turned to swipe at him. The massive claws on the paw caught his arm before and the force sent him reeling.
He thudded on his back, losing Spark in the side of the predator and only just remembering to call Flicker back to his hand so as to not be caught unarmed by the attack.
Health: 245/350 HP
The attack had almost taken him down a third and in his new position he could see the other beast rising from where he had thrown it with his spell. The pain was intense and he felt a surge of panic at the loss of so much health. He then heard a sound that bolstered his resolve.
“STORM OF HAIL!!!” it was Cinder yelling a command phrase for a spell, and he heard a wailing meow of pain from behind him.
With the knowledge that she was alive, Terry threw Flicker into the same beast, and recalled and threw the knife again. This was a technique that Koren had trained him with, it was like throwing many knives back to back, but with the special ability of the reappearing knife. The trick was bringing the same hand back and commanding the knife to reappear as his throwing motion was achieved. The knife landed and disappeared several times from the chest of the monster.
He put up his empty hand in the direction of the other predator that had shaken off the spell attack, and called out, “Gust!” commanding the spell toward the cat now making its way toward him once it was up. With his focus on Knife however the spell effect was diminished and the monster did not fly back as far as it had before, barely losing its feet and stride. As the monster reached its brother, it leapt toward him in a lunging strike, its massive claws spread in front to rend Terry off his feet and crush him beneath it. Terry’s speed was his savior once again, but this time the cat got a claw in his back as he dived and rolled forward.
Health: 200/350 HP
Stamina: 300/500 SP
This hit had not done as much damage, but he was starting to feel exhaustion from the fast attacks and dodges he was achieving. In the levels he had never needed to worry too much about exhaustion, his stat for the measurement was his highest and he rarely got it down, except maybe in the hoard fight against the goblins.
His fast throwing strikes at the first beast had killed it, so he moved past it and grabbed Spark from its side, completing the set in his hands and facing off once again with the predator. He could see past it to the other fight with Cinder now as well. She was practically invisible except a hand that was extended and shooting many small hail bullets in a constant stream toward her monster.
He had enough to deal with however and he focused on his advisory, he began to get a throwing motion ready but the beast had grown wise to his tactics. It pounced at him again, not allowing him to complete the attack. Terry went to dive forward again when Koren spoke in his head, “Stab up, lad! Get it’s belly!”
Terry stabbed both knives up into the belly of the beast as it soared over him. Blood poured from the wounds onto him and he guided the skewered victim to the ground and gave it a few more quick jabs before turning to where he had seen Cinder and her fight.
She was still battering the cat with hail and it was appearing to recover faster from the barrage of the hail bullets. Terry started the Flicker assault on the cat and it soon went down under the flurry of knife stabs and hail peppering. He rushed over as the beast keeled over and Cinder reappeared bending over in exhaustion, probably from the overuse of mana at the spells she had used in the fight.
Terry put an arm around her and asked her if she was alright, she replied breathlessly, “Maybe I do need some training for something getting that close.” Terry laughed in relief and saw she had no injuries.
“You did alright, I think. Keeping it at bay till I could get there at lea..”
“WHAT HAPPENED HERE!” Morris cut off Terry as he came rushing out of the woods, Rosa on his shoulder and Hurk on his heels. But before Terry could reply, Hurk answered the questions.
“Chimeralings, this is bad, they usually don’t travel too far from the real threat. We gotta move before…” Then a multitude of sounds cut off the goblin before he could finish that statement. A massive form dropped from above a few feet away and Terry and the other were face to faces with a two headed chimera.
It had the head of a panther and the other was a goat with large curled horns. The front legs were from the jungle cat and the back of the farm animal. It still had the scorpion’s stinging tail, but the idea was completed with a set of large pitchers that extended from the beast’s sides. Overall it was a monstrous and awful sight to behold, dread and fear warred in Terry as he saw the towering monster rear up and let out a baaa and roar from both heads reading for attack.
Proving the bravery of the individual not of his kind, Hurk leapt into action smashing forward with his club. He activated the Furious Rush despite the short distance and plowed directly into the fight like a wild animal on raw meat.
Morris only hesitated to place Rosa off his shoulder and onto the ground before heading to the opposite side of the beast calling out spells once his Staff was equipped from his hot bar.
Both of Terry team members were fresh to the fight, but their low level spells and attacks seemed more to distract and irritate rather than actually harm the new tougher foe.
-
Rosa was terrified as the Night-Chimera landed and the others began attacking the beast. She was placed out of harm's way by Morris, but she felt completely out of her league in the fight, so she decided to check the status of Terry and Cinder. The former was cut and torn, but seemed in decent enough health. The latter was haggard and exhausted, but did not seem hurt. Terry rose from his kneeling posture ready to enter the fight and before Rosa could protest he threw his returning knife and jumped into the flank side of the massive monster.
Rosa could tell they were probably not going to be enough and she knew that magic was one of the only ways to fully harm the beast they were fighting. Yelling this out would not be as productive in the situation she was in and she thought rapidly to see how she could help, then it came to her.
“Cinder, I need you and so do the others pick me up and I can help you assist, even in your state of exhaustion!” she ordered not having time to fully explain.
Cinder’s head came up and she seemed to be upset for a moment at the tone in the turtle's voice, but the look quickly faded as she saw the fight in front of her and the possible danger her new partners were in. She swiped up the small form from the ground and held her in both hands up to her face.
“Okay, what do you want me to do?”
-
Terry was nothing more than a distraction and his cuts could barely get past the defenses of the monstrous predator they were fighting. It used its claws as both shields and clubs to batter and throw away Hurk, who seemed to know he was completely ineffective, but there was nothing he could do about it except act as that distraction.
Morris was capitalizing on the distraction with Bolt and Break Spells, but where the former seemed to do barely anything if it broke through at all. The latter seemed entirely ineffective to any part of the claws, body, legs or even the tail.
Terry worked with his throwing knife and the shadows to keep to the beast’s flank and out of the range of the massive claws. He could not get a clear shot on either head thanks to the claws that seemed whole invulnerable. He worked to stay out of the area directly behind the chimera, it was apparently called, fearing the range of the stinging bulb on its tail.
“Concentrated Twister” Terry commanded his most powerful spell on a spot directly beneath the bulky body of the beast and instantly a small twister of air and debris swirled up. It barely had an effect however, causing the predator to rise slightly on its left side paw and hoof. The action did give a clear shot for Morris, who began unloading spells onto the belly hoping to discover a weak area.
Terry felt pride at the action but had to wait to produce another one.
Mana: 30/100 MP
With some testing he could recover Mana at about one every three or so minutes and the twister form of call wind was an expensive forty mana to cast.
He moved a bit off to catch his breath and strategize, he had not seen Cinder join the battle but knew she was probably still tapped of mana from her own fight.
“Hey, eat this.” Terry heard a voice from his side and nearly jumped when he saw it was Cinder at his side holding a disgusting leaf-wrapped something out to him. She had Rosa on her shoulder and he had not even heard her move up, let alone away as he took the leaf wrap and she moved off toward where Hurk was just thrown like a rag doll by one of the claws.
Strongly trusting both of them, Terry cramped the wrap in his mouth and nearly gaged at the taste of vegetation and dirt in his mouth. He suffered through and swallowed and his HUD updated with a plus mark above his Mana bar.
Mana: 100/100 MP
She had given him a recovered item, probably made from moss and vegetation in the surrounding area. She was working with Rosa on support! He smiled, readying another spell, now they had an advantage.
“Concentrated Twister”
After support started and continued from Cinder and Rosa working together to identify vegetation that could assist in mana and health restoration the battle went tediously fast as the team discovered the belly of the beast did not have the protection of the claws and back.
“I have a skill from my Craft attribute that allows me to identify the properties of items and ingredients in my HUD and Rosa saved me time by navigating me to areas around us that could contain the vegetation. After that it was just a matter of mixing and enhancing so that you all would gain from it.” Cinder explained as they all sat around resting after the battle.
Terry had received an equally disgusting health wrap that increased his HP and even helped to heal some of the scratches he had received in the battle. “That was some quick thinking, although I hope next time we can make the wraps or crafted ingredients taste less like dirt.” he joked and the group gave a light and pained chuckle.
Hurk had received the most damage, working as a distraction for the attention of the Night-chimera. Rosa had told them of the specific designation for the predator once she had a chance after the battle. Hurk was resting, but telling Morris what parts of the creator to remove to get them the most money for part trade-ins once they were back home. Morris was giving them to Terry who stored them in his inventory and was glad that the skill blocked the rancid smell of the meat and bone pieces that came off the monster.
“This creature was far beyond any of us. There is a whole other ranking system for outerworld and in-level monsters and this was considered a C5-Level threat. The most you all have seen in a level was the zombie tank, which was a D9-Level threat.” Rosa put in watching Hurk direct Morris. She continued to explain that monsters were given a letter and number ranking to differentiate them from humanoid players, and that she was a reliably low F3-Level based purely on her intellect. Terry was concerned by the sadness in her tone as she explained this and wondered but did not ask if there was a way that could change. It did not seem like the time to ask her that.
There was a lot to learn and everything he had learned was very different in this world. Once they were done packing up the pieces of the monster, they returned to their camp and divided up a watch duty. Sleep was welcome, but with everyone on edge it was not long before they rose early and began the trek home in the twilight hours of the morning.
