Mixing It Up (The World Book 2) Page 12
“Laugh it up all you want. But if I get banned from town because of that, I’m putting you on a leash the next time we enter a city.” Neysa’s only response was to hold her head up proudly as she ran beside me. Almost as if she understood my words and was laughing at me. A second later, my leather pants leg caught her attention as she once again began nipping at my ankles. Unfortunately, the clock on my internal HUD was now displaying 10:05 in the morning as I ran towards the last shop on my to-do list when my chat pinged with a new message.
Sarka Dazd: You’re late!
Startum Ironwolf: I’m never late. I’m on time, every time.
Sarka Dazd: Don’t make me smack you around like I do my husband.
Startum Ironwolf: I’d probably like it if you did.
Sarka Dazd: …
Startum Ironwolf: Chill, I was just joking. I just have one last stop, and I’ll be there.
Sarka Dazd: So what’s that, another 10 minutes?
Startum Ironwolf: 8 minutes tops.
Sarka Dazd: Ugh, I thought Yun told you I hate waiting.
Startum Ironwolf: Seriously, I’ll be right there. I just had a handful of errands to run before we left for the dungeon today.
Sarka Dazd: We’re good, I’m just giving you a hard time. The only person I hate waiting on is my husband. I just wanted to make sure we didn’t scare you off.
Startum Ironwolf: Ha, that’s my line! Oh by the way, do you mind getting me something to eat from the Inn’s kitchens while you wait? Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two?
Sarka Dazd: …
Startum Ironwolf: Okay, see you at 8, later.
I made it back to the Inn right on time. The field in front of the White Unicorn was full of picnic tables, and I found my friends at a large table near the door. As soon as they saw me approaching, they stood up and cheered putting a mead glass in my hand as everyone lifting their mead glasses up in a toast.
“Welcome back, Guild Leader!”
“Thanks, guys,” I said blushing slightly. “The Revenants has been my guild for the last ten years now. We have a group of friends that move from game to game playing and hanging out together. I can’t wait to introduce you guys to everyone.”
Being called Guild Leader always made me feel like I was putting on airs. Well, unless we were in the middle of the action and then it was okay. I’d been playing strategy and first-person shooter games for all my life and usually winning them. The key was to be able to identify the problem and come up with a successful counter in the shortest amount of time possible. It didn’t have to be pretty; it just had to win. That general strategy was what had allowed me to win my ladder matches throughout the years. That and being a sneaky bastard. A title I wore with pride amongst my friends.
Somehow, whenever the shit hit the fan, I always seemed to know what to do. I was the one hiding in that last stretch to your base before taking you out and stealing your flag or sneaking a group of marines into the back of your base that ended the game while you were distracted leading your assault. Being the best is what had made me the de facto leader of our little group. That and possibly my ability to bring different people together. I had more than one of my friends tell me I was the glue that held our gaming group together. My friendship was what had first attracted them to our group, while the other cool people playing and supporting each other in the game was what kept them coming back.
“Unalia and I checked out some of your old videos this morning on Twitch. You got some crazy ass stuff out there.” Tinyr said, shaking his head admirably.
“Are those Syndicate players we saw yesterday the same as that group in Chaos Online?” Unalia asked thoughtfully. “I’d been wondering about that ever since we watched the video of your last Raid.”
“You recognized those asshats that spawned camped us yesterday?” Sarka asked suddenly.
“Hold up, guys,” I said sitting down at the picnic table and grabbing up the thick garlic sausage in a thick chunk of bread that Sarka had picked up for me for a late breakfast. Taking a bite, I savored the sizzling, garlicky meat before replying. “Wow, this is freaking amazing,” I said with my mouth full as I quickly took another bite before answering.
“Listen, I don’t know for sure if those were the same guys or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. The Syndicate was a group of players and employees that were a bunch of asshat, bullying PKers in Chaos Online that enjoyed griefing people for just the fun of it. I didn’t recognize any of those players from yesterday, but that doesn’t mean much.”
“This game just blew the socks off of every other MMORPG in existence, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t from the same group of players. With all of these different players now in just one game, I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more PK groups like The Syndicate once people gain some levels.” I continued woofing down my meal as I jerked my chin at Sarka. “Why, you having second thoughts now?”
“Not at all,” Sarka said rubbing her hands together excitedly glancing at her husband. “Yun and I love to educate asshats.”
“It does sound fun,” Yun said matching his wife’s grin as he happily picked his wife up in a bear hug.
“In the first five minutes we met, you saved our lives, kicked the group of bullies’ asses that had been making our lives miserable and made everyone around Delonshire think twice about playing the player killer card to make extra money,” Tinyr said standing up with a wry smile as he slipped his arm around his wife’s waist. “Hell yea, you can count us both in!”
Taking my last bite of sausage, I stood up and clapped an arm around Tinyr’s, and Yun’s shoulders as the five of us came together in a group hug with a shout. “For The Revenants!” Stepping back, we all toasted each other with our glasses of mead. I was starting to say, “then let’s head on out.” when Tinyr suddenly stumbled away from the table in surprise.
“What the hell is a wolf doing here?”
***
Daylight was burning, but no matter how much I wanted to head back to the dungeon right then and there, it took another hour for me to explain about Neysa to the rest of the team and get her tucked away with some extra food in my room at the Inn. Neysa didn’t need to be able to speak for me to see how pissed off she was at being left alone in the room instead of heading out with me on my next adventure but I wasn’t about to bring a baby wolf into a Goblin infested mine. With a quick admonishment to be good, I secured the door and met up with the rest of the team.
Within short order, we had left the boundary of the town and were on the way back to the mine by the time the clock on my internal HUD clicked 11:30 in the morning. Sarka had socked me lightly in the ribs when she’d realized I didn’t make a fuss about the loot distribution because of my new little, furry companion that I’d picked up during the boss fight, but the new Iron-reinforced Defender I gifted her helped to make everything right. The pop wasn’t in anger so much as just giving me a hard time for not letting her know sooner that the Silver Dire Wolf pup was considered a combat mount.
Even if the general consensus was that I’d gotten my new mount as a reward for releasing the Silver Dire Wolf mother during the Boss fight against the Slave Master, I still got a lot of good-natured ribbing from the rest of the team for ninja looting the pup, which I promptly answered by flipping everyone ‘dual birds’ while laughing. The whole thing was bullshit. Besides, it wasn’t like there’d been a lot of time during or after the escort quest to do anything but fight for our lives and then collapse into bed in exhaustion. At the time, I hadn’t given it a thought as to what a combat mount meant in The World. Not that the quick search I’d done earlier on the forums this morning had given up any further information on the description. There was practically nothing on NPC companions, let alone beast companions or combat mounts. The biggest question on everyone’s mind seemed to be how did the little wolf get to level 10 so quickly? Wait, that wasn’t right. No, the biggest question by everyone was how did they get one of their own Silver Dire Wol
f pups? The general consensus was that we’d knock out the last two bosses and then see if we could knock out the Slave Master again and repeat the Silver Dire Wolf pup quest if it wasn’t a rare drop.
While everyone chatted away on their way back to the dungeon, I was busy going through my system messages and character stats that I’d received from the day before. Bringing up my character sheet, I was surprised to see that it was several pages long now:
Startum Ironwolf – Level 25
Basic Class (Nightmare)
Half-Elf (House of Kayden)
Titles:
First Settler
First Village
Rescuer of the Prisoners from Delonshire mine.
+42 Unassigned Attribute Points.
Statistics:
Hit Points: 1,496
Mana: 1210
Endurance: 1360
Attributes:
Strength: 93
Intelligence: 121
Spirit: 84
Agility: 103
Stamina: 136
Charisma: 78
Racial Ability:
Military Conditioning (Passive) – All defenses increased by 5% and total hit points are increased by 10%.
Darkvision (Passive) - Grants ability to see in day-light conditions up to 100 feet in reduced lighting and the ability to see in dim light conditions up to 60 feet in natural darkness.
Ambitious (Passive) - Receive 5% experience bonus when gaining experience.
Racial Modifiers - +2 to two stats of choice per level.
Abilities:
Frost Magic – Level 20
Light Magic – Level 16
fire Magic – Level 1
Unarmed Combat – Level 14
One-hand edge – Level 20
Two-hand edge – Level 5
Shield Block - Level 19
Shield Bash – Level 18
Riposte – Level 16
Lunge – Level 18
Parry – Level 19
Dodge – Level 19
Archery – Level 7
War Leader:
Level I - Tactician
Spells:
Frost:
Frost Blast (30 Mana) – 2 sec cast – Launches Blast of frost at the enemy. Damage is 200% of Spell Power. Slows target by 50% for 15 seconds. Range 60 yards.
Frost Nova (50 Mana) – Instant cast - Blasts enemies within 10 yards of the caster for 100% Frost damage and freezes them in place for up to 8 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. 30 second cooldown. Requires frost magic skill level 5.
Ice Lance (40 Mana) – Instant cast - Deals 400% Frost damage to an enemy target. Ice Lance damage is doubled against frozen targets. Slows target by 50% for 15 seconds. Requires frost magic skill level 10. Range 40 yards.
Flurry (60 Mana) – Instant cast – Hurls a flurry of ice shards at target that strikes enemy three times for a total of ((400% of spell power) * 3). Each shard slows target by 50% for 5 sec. Requires frost magic skill level 15. Range 40 yards.
Ice Barrier (30 Mana) – Instant cast – Shields caster for 1 minute, absorbing 1400% ranged spell damage. Melee attacks against caster reduces the attacker’s movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds. Armor Class is not increased. Requires frost magic skill level 20. Can only be cast on self. 10 second cooldown. Expires automatically after a half an hour.
Light:
Heal (50 Mana) – 10 sec cast – Ray of golden light that heals the target for 500% Spell Power. Range 60 yards.
Quick Heal (30 Mana) – 5 sec cast – A pulse of golden light that quickly heals the target for 300% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 5. Range 60 yards.
Restore (40 Mana) – 3 sec cast – A flash of golden light that instantly heals the target for (50% of Spell power) and then (300% of Spell power) over 15 sec. Requires healing magic skill level 10. Range 40 yards.
Minor Healing (60 Mana) – 5 sec cast – A ray of golden light that instantly heals the target for 800% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 15. Range 60 yards.
Minor Mend Bones (80 Mana) – 10 sec cast – A healing energy that heals target of minor debilitating debuffs 200% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 15. Range 60 yards.
Minor Dispell (60 Mana) – 5 sec cast – Removes one beneficial magical effect on the enemy target, or removes one negative magical effect on the friendly target. Requires healing magic skill level 15. Range 60 yards
Resurrection (1000 Mana) – 20 sec cast - Brings a dead player back to life with 25% health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. Range 40 yards.
Fire:
Flame Blast (40 Mana) – 2 sec cast – Launches Blast of fire at the enemy. Fire damage is 200% of Spell Power. Burns target for an additional 20 seconds for 5 points of damage every 5 seconds. Range 60 yards.
Skills:
Stealth I
Sneak Attack I
Backstab I
Concentration I
Quick Shot I
Overpower I
Kick Back I
Knockdown I
Gouge I
Dual Wield I
Power Attack I
Execute I
Crafting:
Skinning Level 14
Jury-Rigging Level 2
Lumberjack Level 13
Wood Working Level 7
Construction Level 13
Architecture Level 4
Mining Level 11
Enchanting Level 0
Smithing Level 54
Herbalism Level 5
Alchemy Level 5
Beast Companion:
Silver Dire Wolf, Neysa, Level 10
Reputation:
850
I was feeling quite good about myself. The 42 unassigned attribute points would come in handy if the shit hit the fan. Also, the list of new skills I’d picked up yesterday was incredible. Most of the new abilities I’d acquired seemed to be pretty straightforward. Either I consciously triggered the spell in question or used the special melee attack automatically as I fought. My new attacks of Execute I, Gouge and Quick Shot I were good examples of this:
Execute I – (Passive – Melee Weapon) Powerful attack against dazed opponents that does 200% weapon damage. Can only be used on enemies that have less than 10% health.
Gouge: (Passive – Humanoid only) – Short-term stun that incapacitates a target’s vision. Must be facing the target.
Quick Shot I - (Passive - Requires Bow) Increase shooting speed by 50%.
Other stuff, like the Strategist and War Leader I abilities, weren’t as straightforward. Even after reading the description given, I found myself still somewhat confused. Was the skill a boost for everyone in my raid or was it only for players on my team? Was there a distance this stopped working? How did I build the Leadership Points up?
War Leader I – (Passive) You have shown the ability for careful planning of group tactics before an engagement. Opens up War Leader skill.
Level I - Tactician (Passive) 5% Increase damage multiplier for successful group attacks.
I’d searched the forums and had finally found some additional information on the new abilities as we traveled to the mine. Basically, successful group leaders acquired ‘Leadership Points’ that opened up bonuses like Level I Tactician which increased damage for the entire Team or Raid. Although some skills were only good for my immediate team, most were for the entire raid. As the skill grew, there were a bunch of other bonuses like increased defense, attack power, and spell power bonuses. Pretty interesting stuff. It would definitely be important for a group leader to focus on leveling up their Leadership capabilities. Besides, it was the first time in a game that I’d seen group leaders receive bonuses for their role in leading their group successfully.
The last bit of information I decided to hunt down was Neysa’s mysterious level increase. When I’d looted the silver Dire Wolf whelp, she’d been a level 0 newborn. It took some digging to find the answer. The worst part was that with me being the Raider Le
ader during last night’s prison escape, the amount of damage from each member of the raid was listed. That was 40 people’s worth of log files.
I was about to give up the search when we reached the valley to the entrance of Delonshire Mine, and I noticed a discrepancy in the Experience Points I’d gained from each kill. Every partial and full kill I’d received credit for also had a percentage that went to Neysa which was good and bad. Supposedly level 20 was when leveling began to slow down to a creep, which meant sharing my rewarded Experience Points would slow my leveling progression down that much more. Not that I was complaining about how quickly I’d been leveling up. Still, I was curious to see if that was a constant drain even when Neysa was back at our room, or was the shared Experience Points something that she only received when she was near me. Before I could consider the issue further, Sarka elbowed my ribs with a hiss.