by J D Astra
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“Come inside, I have something for you.” She beckoned to a small stairway leading to a second-floor patio on the back of her shop. Otto waited with the wheelbarrow of eggs as I ascended the rickety staircase with her. I held tightly to the railing, though I was sure it was more likely to send me over the edge if I leaned on it. At the top, I looked back to Otto, who was doing his best to not be concerned.
She opened the burnt wood door and motioned for me to go first. I really wanted whatever the scalable item was, so I ducked under the low doorway and stepped inside. I blinked a few times in the darkness, then cast Fireball.
Naitee closed the door behind her and cast her own Fireball. It was a bedroom. No, it was a laboratory with a bed in it. My eyes roamed the shelves of ingredients: huge jars filled with dark fluid, tiny vials of shimmering lights, glass boxes of swirling sandstorms, and so much more.
“Here.” Naitee moved to the wall and placed her hand against it. Firelight spread through a small clay valley filled with oil that wrapped around the walls of the room at shoulder height like a scene out of an old temple movie. I extinguished my fireball and stepped farther in.
Next to a large work desk covered in books and in-progress concoctions was a pot of bubbling gold liquid. I pointed to it. “Is that the Firebrand potion?”
“No, it’s just the drake shell ingredient, a post-hatching product that does indeed go into the Firebrand potion. I conserve the shell as much as I can, as it’s not every day I get it replenished. Those four shells will last me quite a while...” She snapped her fingers and said, “But that’s not what we’re here for.” She looped her arm in mine, and we walked to a wardrobe next to the bed. Her fingers fiddled with the latch, and she tugged on the handle, pulling the wardrobe open just a hair. The tightness of injustice in my gut had been washed away by excitement. I bounced on my toes, salivating at what could possibly be in there.
The door slammed shut. “Do not squander this lovely gift.” Naitee wagged a finger at me.
“I won’t,” I urged, desperate to know what was behind that door.
She pulled it open all the way, revealing a long, blood red gown with jewels studding the chest and waist. Her gown. My head snapped to Naitee, and I realized she was wearing a black garment adorned at the chest with small gold beads in the pattern of the Firebrand symbol.
My eyes turned back to the red robe in front of me. Why would she give me the clothing off her own back?
“The greatest Sorceress in Eldgard needs the greatest gear.” She answered my silent question and reached for the robe, then held it out to me. “It’s yours.”
Duplicate Scrolls
MY VOICE CAUGHT IN my throat as I took the garment into my hands. It was warm, like it had just come off her body. I rolled it over, inspecting it visually inch by inch. It was beautiful, soft, and radiated power.
“Don’t be such a dolt, put it on.” Naitee snapped me from the trance.
I popped open my inventory screen and was bombarded by a level up pop-up.
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x3 Level Up!
You have (15) undistributed stat points
You have (15) unassigned proficiency points
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There was something else, a red blinking on my messages tab. Hmm, maybe Jack found me first? I’d have to save it for later, I needed to get this robe on!
I popped to my gear and selected to wear [Wildfire]. A negative buzzing rang in my ear and a new pop-up appeared.
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Item Incompatibility: Wildfire! You are not able to wear the item [Wildfire] until you meet the minimum Intelligence requirement!
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I inspected the robes.
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Wildfire
Armor Type: Light, Mixed Cloth/Gold Thread
Class: Ancient Artifact
Base Defense: 50
Primary Effects:
● +30 Intelligence
● +25 Spirit
● +20 Vitality
● +10 Constitution
● +3 Luck
● +22% resistance to Fire damage
● +12% chance of critical hit with Fire spells
● +5% chance to trigger Burning Affliction with all relevant Fire spells
● Increase Spirit regeneration by 5.5 Spirit/sec
● Increase XP gained from monster kills and completed quests by 8%
Item Restrictions: You must have a minimum base Intelligence of 40 and a minimum base Spirit of 30 before you are able to don this item.
Item Boons: This item scales with your level. The Item Restrictions and all stats except Luck will increase by 2.5% with each increased character level. This item has a 2% chance to add a new bonus or stat with each character level earned while wearing it.
The unstoppable destruction and immeasurable beauty of the raging inferno will capture your heart, then burn it alive.
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Dear. Gods. I needed this on me, now. I needed a base Intelligence of 40 and Spirit of 30. I checked my stats and saw I only had 28 base Intelligence, but for base Spirit I was at 32. Getting up to 40 Intelligence would be nearly all of my unused stat points, but so, so worth it.
Without a second thought I dropped 13 points into Intelligence and the remaining 2 into Spirit, just to keep it high enough for my next level. I realized that I’d nearly always have to place my stat points in Spirit and Intelligence to keep the robes on, but with a 2% chance to add a new stat and with all other stats increasing by 2.5% each level I earned with it... That seemed like a steal, honestly.
With my stat situation squared away, I popped back to the item and selected to wear it. Power unlike any other boost I’d felt rushed through my limbs and tickled the back of my neck. My heart pounded in my ears, and my stomach fluttered like being kissed by a crush for the first time. The warmth from the robes stifled the chill that threatened to make me shiver, and then, it was over. I felt stronger than ever before, like nothing could stop me, and that feeling lingered.
I looked like a certified badass, and now the red shoulder pads from Hasan matched! The robe hugged me from chest to hips, then flowed and billowed outward before stopping at the top of my boots. The cloth of the arms was tight, but not restrictive. I closed my character sheet and did a few warm-up stretch movements to test the flexibility of the dress. It was completely unrestrictive!
“Now you’re starting to look like the greatest Sorceress in Eldgard.” Naitee grinned, and I beamed.
I sucked in a breath to say something, but there was nothing to say. I flung my arms around her neck and held her tightly. Naitee wrapped her arms around my back and returned the gesture. A hug! I hadn’t been hugged since Tristen back in the capsule room. Before that, I hadn’t been hugged since I last saw my mother, months and months ago.
My eyes watered, and my throat constricted. It felt good to be hugged, especially by someone who cared enough about me to literally give me the robe off her back. More importantly, it was an ultra-rare item that probably took her years to find!
But... it didn’t take her years. She didn’t exist more than a few months ago. My enthusiasm, which felt so real seconds ago, deflated, and I pulled back from the embrace.
“It’s amazing. I love it. Thank you,” I said, my voice still shaking from the rush of power and the threat of tears.
Naitee wiped at my cheek as a tiny, salty drop escaped my eye. “You’re very welcome, Abby Hollander. Don’t let me down.”
I bit down to stop more tears and nodded once.
“Now, off you get.”
My mind sparked at the next step in my rare quest. I needed to look into that dungeon, but I likely couldn’t do it alone... I needed Jack.
“Naitee, could you copy a scroll for me?”
She tutted. “Of course I could, but will I?”
“I brought you four drakes.” My eyes narrowed on her, our moment of bonding now over.
“Something I didn’t ask for, but yo
u are correct. You brought me quite a lot of crafting materials, and the four precious little babes. Show me the scroll.” She held out her hand, and I fished the Ca_Co_Ca.Scroll from my inventory and passed it to her.
She turned it over and over, then closed her eyes and ran her fingers along the ribbon. She gasped, “This is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Where did you get it?”
“The bottom of a chest when we were collecting the Lumalgae.” I shrugged.
Her eyes moved back and forth behind her lids, like she was reading the parchment in her mind.
“It’s very complex, but yes, I can duplicate this.”
“Great, can you make two copies?”
Naitee’s eyes snapped open, wild and frustrated. “Four drakes is not enough payment for two copies.”
I opened my inventory. I had a few gold chunks from the Hoardling Drake’s den, and eight gold pieces. “Okay, how much?”
She paused, then said softly, “A promise.”
I closed the character screen and looked her dead in the eyes. “What promise?”
“That I may call on you, and you will answer that call, no matter the circumstances.”
My nerves tingled with adrenaline. That was a terrifying request. She could ask anything of me, and I would have to say yes.
She smiled. “Don’t look so worried, child. I’d never ask you to do anything too terrible. Do you want the copies, or not?”
I gritted my teeth. Scrolls were one-time uses, so without the copies, I couldn’t get Jack to come with me, and I couldn’t investigate it beforehand to see what we were up against. One favor for two scrolls.
“Yes.” I swallowed hard, wishing I could take back the word. Why couldn’t she have asked for anything else or told me what she needed? Maybe she didn’t trust me enough, or maybe she didn’t know yet. The gleam in her eyes told me she did know, but it wasn’t time.
“Good!” With a flourish, the scroll in her hand disappeared into her inventory. “It will take me about an hour to complete both scrolls, so run along and be back here just before noon to collect them.”
I turned to the door, then spun on my heel, pointing at Naitee. “Don’t. Lose. That.”
She put her hand to her heart and bowed her head. “I would never. Now get out, I need to focus.” She shooed me to the door, and I left with a smirk.
The sunlight blinded me, and I blinked a few times to adjust. A low whistle brought my attention to Otto. He was standing, hands on his hips, a huge grin on his face.
“Well, don’t you look fancy,” he catcalled.
“I will burn your face off,” I threatened playfully, my palm pointed at his head as I descended the stairs.
He laughed. “I’m starving, and you owe me. Let’s go, Firebrand.”
“So, should we just leave the eggs right here?” I shrugged as I reached the wheelbarrow.
Otto rolled it over to where Naitee had been flame-blasting the large pot and covered them again. “They’ll be fine right there. Everyone knows not to mess with Naitee’s work.”
We carved our way back through the streets to the Boar’s Head, and I went on Otto pilot as I opened my character sheet for a good look at everything that had changed. At some point from the time I turned in the quest to now, the Firebrand and Sorceric Power potions had been forcibly canceled, likely when I accepted the robes to complete the class kit quest. No matter, I was a Firebrand now, no potions necessary!
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MY STATS WERE LOOKING pretty great for level 16, thanks to Wildfire, but my focus now was where to put those ability points! Everything was reset, a clean slate, and I could throw the points where I wanted.
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I KNEW I WANTED TO make my way to Blazing Weapon as fast as possible. On more than one occasion I’d tried being a battlemage and failed miserably because I was so weak. Blazing Weapon would swap my Intelligence and Spirit for my Strength and Stamina temporarily and allow me to wield a weapon of fire. Pretty freaking sweet, but unfortunately, it looked like I needed to be at least level 25 before I could even add a point to it. And the same was true for Leaching Smolder, Rain of Fire, and Phoenix Rising.
If I was going to solo, Blazing Weapon would be great... but I wasn’t. So, I needed to put my points where a group-style Firebrand would put her points. Support. I sighed, and through the semitranslucent skill tree, I saw Otto glance back before shaking his head and returning to face forward.
I dropped 1 point each into Fire Inside and Fireball. Those were essential. I put one more point in Fire Inside, giving me an 8% bonus to fire spell damage and an extension on the active ability of increasing spell damage by 50% from 30 seconds to 60. It increased the duration of my Spirit regeneration debuff, but that was all right.
Burning Affliction didn’t seem that useful because I’d have an increased chance of it proccing on most of my fire spells anyway; however, the more I leveled it up, the greater the damage it would do over more time and the more it would increase the chance of my fire spell critically hitting. It was nice to see the next level of the spell for a preview into what goodies it held. So, Burning Affliction got a point.
Eleven points left. Smokescreen had been great for mob clusters, same as Inferno Blast, so they each got a point. Searing Halo was a no-brainer, so it got a point, too. It was a ten-minute-duration self-cast that would debuff anyone who hit me with Burning Affliction, which stacked up to three times... so hitting me would be a pretty big deterrent!
I hadn’t used Flame of Holding, but saw its potential. More importantly, I couldn’t get to Shell of Molten Ash without putting a point there, so I did. Another point for the shield spell and I was down to 2 points. I definitely wanted Phoenix Rising, so Fire Eater and Residual Heat each got a point. Well, now I had one of everything... and no points left.
I looked over the skill tree, disappointed there hadn’t been just one thing I really wanted, but happy I had quite a few spells to choose from in combat.
The flashing of a new message blinked on the social tab of the menu, and with my points allocated, I figured it was time to see what Jack was up to. I selected the new menu and scrolled to my inbox.
Everything stopped. The sounds of music and chatter became tinny and far off. My limbs froze in place, my heart lurched to a stop, and my gut clenched into a knot as I stared at the message title and sender.
Sandra: I knew I recognized you, Abby.
Exposed
“ABBY, WHAT IS IT?” Otto’s hand on my shoulder jerked me from the menus. I looked down to see I’d conjured a fireball that I was gripping in my tightly clenched fist. I extinguished the flame and shook out my hand.
“It’s nothing.” I smiled as my heart restarted, pumping away at a million miles a second.
Otto cocked his head. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I gave him a gentle punch to the shoulder. “Just thinking about how much food you’re going to eat and how broke I’m about to be. We could probably eat cheaper somewhere else, you know.”
My hands trembled as I thought of the message. What did she know? How could she know it, if she did? What would she do with what she knew? I was terrified to discover the answer to any of these questions.
“Yes, but nowhere else we can have a meal and a quiet conversation without eavesdropping.” He shrugged.
“Fair enough.” I gave him another shaky smile. “Lead on.”
He stepped aside, and I saw the sign for the Boar’s Head. I’d been walking blind a while, then. He pushed through the door and held it open for me. We walked to his seat, and I scooted into the little booth, my feet tapping on the floor.
I looked around the tavern and spotted three people, two Wode men and a dwarf woman, sitting at the far end in a booth similar to ours. They were talking quietly, until the dwarf noticed me looking, at which they all glared my way. I popped my head back into the booth and drummed my fingers on the table.
“Abby,” Otto said, putti
ng his hand on mine to silence the tapping, “what’s going on?”
“Back again, so soon. Delivery go well?” the barmaid asked, a pitcher of something strong smelling and three cups balanced on the wooden tray held at her right shoulder.
“We’ll have what’s hot,” Otto grumbled, pulling his hand away from mine, “and a pitcher of that.” He pointed to the liquid on her tray. She smirked, nodded, and hurried off to the other customers.
When the others had their drinks and the barmaid returned to the back, he stared me down, silent, waiting. I opened my character sheet and panned to the social tab.
“I have a message from Sandra.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat. “The title says, ‘I knew I recognized you, Abby.’”
I closed the menu, not wanting to read on, and looked to Otto. He had a huge frown on his big green face, his tusk-like canines just barely poking out from behind his pursed lips.
“She could’ve seen your name when we were in combat, but your face was unrecognizable with the broken nose and swollen eyes. How do you think she’s come to discover you?” He laced his fingers together on the table.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what she knows, either. She could know everything or nothing, but she does know we were in that bar, and she likely knows we talked to Verin.”
The barmaid returned with two steaming plates of something gamey with a side of tubers, and then set a pitcher with two glasses down at the center. “Shout if ye need anythin’.”
She turned to Otto and held out her hand.
“No, I’ve got this,” I piped up, grabbing some coin from my inventory. Otto had given her five silver the first time and she scoffed, so it must’ve only just been enough. I dropped ten silver in her palm, and she stared for a moment, then gave me a kind smile.
“Remember, just shout for Meredith and I’ll be right over.” She hurried away just as quickly as she came, and I turned my attention to the meal.
“Are you going to read it?” Otto asked, pouring the malted drink. It smelled a bit hoppy, with notes of something citrusy. It must’ve been some kind of beer they started months back when citrus fruit were harvested. No, it was a game. The code called for a citrus beer, and so one was created. I shook my head as I tried to clear the fog. The realism of V.G.O. was starting to get to me.
