The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Maybe, maybe not,” I said, trying to reassure her. “I would bet we can ask Trini and Sergeant Butters tomorrow. They’ve been around the World Tree enough to know things.”

  “Bye-bye is right, we can ask them tomorrow,” added Micaela. “Besides, I need some more female presence on this team.”

  “Okay, so we have a plan. Let’s call it a night here and agree to meet here at 7:00 in the morning,” I said, ready to get some sleep.

  Chapter 19

  I was up the next morning a little after 6:00, no thanks to the rooster, which was thankfully silenced in short order. Unless I was mistaken, the crowing being cut off suddenly suggested I wasn’t the only one tired of the foul fowl. It’s truly amazing how much an extra 30 minutes of sleep can make in your outlook on the day.

  I arrived downstairs with a bit of pep in my step, and a smile on my face. My smile widened a little bit when I saw Rose getting chewed out by Dogson, while her sister tried to play peacemaker.

  I sat down at an empty table and waited patiently for my breakfast. I do love the breakfast here, a pint of whatever beer I had been drinking the night before, sausage, eggs, and toast. I knew I shouldn’t get used to a big breakfast because once I was back in the real world, I wouldn’t be able to maintain this kind of diet, if I wanted to keep my new fit form, the Seedpod was crafting me into.

  “Rotten rooster, you’d think he’d have penned them up or something by now,” groused Rose, sitting down across from me.

  “You also broke a window throwing a chair at it,” chided Baby, getting a laugh from me and Rose both.

  “You really threw a chair at the demon fowl?” I asked.

  “Heck yeah, I did. I wish I’d done it a week ago. I heard some guy actually smote one of them before,” Rose added.

  “Yeah, good times,” I smiled, fondly remembering that morning. “It was totally worth it too.”

  “That was you?” asked Rose.

  “It deserved,” I defended myself.

  “You know Jack, despite being . . . well, you, you may not be a complete waste of space,” Rose complimented, a left-handed compliment as the British would say.

  “Gee, thanks,” I replied sarcastically.

  “Wow, she must like you,” Baby chimed in. “I’ve never heard her say anything even approaching friendly to a guy.”

  I wondered if maybe, she preferred the company of girls.

  “I’ve just yet to meet a guy deserving of more than a few hours of my attention,” Rose defended, answering my unasked question. “Jack here just has potential to prove not to be totally useless.”

  “Anyway, Mic and Olaf should be here soon,” I changed the subject. We continued to chat while we all ate our breakfast.

  “Morning,” greeted Micaela first coming in alone.

  “Morning,” we all replied.

  “Olaf, is waiting outside, didn’t want to deal with the low ceiling this morning,” Micaela explained, her head cocked uncomfortably to the side. “The oaf was restless all last night and all morning. He just can’t wait to get his new weapons.”

  “Let’s go then,” I said to everyone, dropping my napkin on my plate and standing from the table.

  Outside was another round of ‘Good Mornings’ with Olaf.

  “So where first?” I teased, knowing full well exactly where the man wanted to go.

  “Giggle-Ana’s,” said Olaf, ready to burst. I could almost feel the excitement roiling off of him.

  “Is she open this early?” I asked.

  “Kirlan starts smithing at 6:00, so Giggle-Ana opens shop at the same time,” replied Olaf.

  “Lead the way,” I said, grinning for my friend.

  “Welcome,” started Giggle-Ana with a friendly smile, one quick to fall away upon seeing Olaf enter the shop. “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Morning,” said Olaf. “I’m back as promised.”

  “Has he behaved?” she asked, looking around him, at me.

  “Giggle-Ana,” I chided, in as disapproving a manner as I could. “Come on now. Why are you still treating him that way? Didn’t he help defend the town when it was raided? Hasn’t he done everything you asked of him to train him in engineering?”

  Giggle-Ana frowned at me then relented and sighed. “I suppose you have a point. Fine, Olaf, you are welcome in my shop from now on . . . until you screw up and then you are out for good.”

  Olaf could only smile. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.”

  “I suppose you are here to pick up your hand-cannons and ammo?” guessed Giggle-Ana.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Olaf answered, trying his hardest to be humble.

  “Do you have your artillery-pack?” she asked.

  Olaf opened his bag and removed another bag. This one was a large green box-shaped backpack, easily as large as Olaf’s torso.

  Giggle-Ana sighed. “Bye-bye, be a dear and fetch Kirlan. I will need his help with the ammo and hand-cannons, they are bit heavy for me to carry on my own,” she explained.

  It only took a moment to fetch the blacksmith and return. The man complained about the interruption to his wife but didn’t say anything further.

  When the bullets and hand-cannons were set on the counter, I was more than a little intimidated by them. Each hand-cannon was as long as my arm, and three times the circumference. The weapons looked like little cannons mounted onto a very large pistol grip. The grip was molded steel wrapped in supple leather fitting Olaf’s large hand perfectly.

  Each round had a brass jacket with a stone bullet I assumed was packed with gunpowder and wadding. Each round was also more than three times the size of my fist.

  “I would recommend you save the jackets, they can be reloaded a few times each. Be mindful of the firing pins, they need to be replaced regularly, probably every hundred or so rounds. Any questions?” asked Giggle-Ana.

  “No, ma’am,” Olaf replied, opening the back hatch of the cannon, the chamber waiting for a single round to be loaded in.

  “Fine by me,” said Giggle-Ana. “Satisfied?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Olaf, putting the weapons into a holster he had also pulled from his bag. He then put the holster around his waist, tightening the belt in place. He then slung the large pack filled with ammo around his back, slipping an arm through each loop.

  “How’s it feel, babe?” asked Micaela. “Too heavy?”

  “It’s close, with the ammo and guns, I only have 5-lbs of carrying capacity left. I need to get another level soon. I need to get my strength up to compensate for it,” Olaf answered, taking a moment to test his balance and movement with the pack and cannons.

  “We do have a quest today, so there is a good chance you’ll level from it,” I reminded him. There was also the chance, he and Micaela could get credit for the if they were with us when we turn it in, but I wasn’t counting on it.

  “Right you are, so, off to the sergeant?” asked Olaf, eager to start shooting.

  “Yeah, just a sec, I need to talk to Giggle-Ana for a minute, and don’t you want to get Engineering training?” I asked.

  “Right, I almost forgot about it,” said Olaf sheepishly. “So, Giggle-Ana, about training in Engineering?”

  “Come back this afternoon and we’ll get started,” she stated plainly. It wasn’t friendly, but it wasn’t rude either. I personally thought the neutrality was an improvement. “And what can I do for you, Bye-bye?” Now she was smiling sweetly, even giggling again.

  “Mayor Semper gave me this note,” I explained, handing her the note.

  She took a moment to read it. “Sure, come back this afternoon with Olaf and I will have everything ready.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I turned back to my group, including the surprisingly impressed Rose. “Okay, let’s go see the sergeant.”

  The walk was a pleasant walk, Micaela and Baby were happily chatting. Olaf kept practicing his quick draw, then mumbling some line I didn’t recognize. Rose was rather subdued though, which was unusual for the brash woman,
or at least unusual for the short time I had known her.

  “Hey, Jack, how do you do that?” Rose asked, suddenly next to me and speaking somewhat softly.

  “Do what?” I asked.

  “I’ve only just met you, and here you’ve got this entire town wired. How do you do it?” she asked, looking like she was trying to figure something . . . or someone out.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been what you’d call, a very sociable person. I guess it’s because I treat every interaction with the NPC’s, as another game, a game within the game. I ask myself, how do I get this person to like me? How do I get them to help me? Does that make sense?” I asked, not sure if I sounded like an idiot.

  “Sounds manipulative,” she replied.

  “Maybe it is, but I’m also a pretty genuine guy, or at least I think I am. If I offer to help, it’s because I want to help, not just because I think I’ll get something for it,” I explained.

  Rose just nodded and kind of drifted back.

  “Morning Sergeant,” I greeted the old soldier, and former knight cheerfully.

  “Morning Bye-bye, what is this now? Are you bringing me an entire army to train?” the sergeant asked.

  “Sure,” I joked.

  “I might have to start charging you for my services,” Sergeant Butters joked back.

  “You heard him,” I said turning to Olaf. “Pay the man.”

  Olaf was caught by surprise by my instruction and froze, unsure what to do or say.

  His wife came to his rescue. “Do you take I.O.U.’s?”

  Sergeant Butters just chuckled. “I see you finally got your peashooters,” he said motioning to Olaf’s hand-cannons.

  “Yes sir,” said Olaf, perking up excitedly.

  “Good, now who are these two young ladies joining us today?” the sergeant asked.

  “This is Babies Breath and Rose Thorns,” I introduced the sisters.

  “Nice to meet you Miss Babies, Miss Rose,” Sergeant Butters said politely, observing each of them in turn. Then he looked at me. “Okay, Bye-bye, do you mind waiting while I get your friends started on their training?”

  “Not at all, I’m kind of excited to see what you’ll have them doing,” I replied. I was honestly excited to see what they would be doing, I just couldn’t get enough of the variety of skills this world had to offer.

  The sergeant turned to Olaf first. “Olaf, follow me to the target range. We will start with you shooting at stationary targets, just to get used to the recoil and aiming. Depending on how you do today, we might get you on the mobile range.”

  The sergeant led us toward an archery range with the targets set 30-yards downrange from us. He walked right past the firing line until he was just 10-yards from the target.

  “Why so close?” asked Micaela.

  “Hand-cannons, while powerful, have poor range. Most bullets will not go further than 20-yards at which point they are little more than paperweights. Your most effective range is in the 10-yards and under, at least for those starter cannons, your husband has got there. He might be able to get another 5-yards with different ammo. Anyway, just start shooting, one-hand then the other, try to aim each shot. For now, you don’t have to be super accurate, we just want to get you comfortable with the weapons,” the sergeant instructed.

  “Can do, sergeant,” said Olaf, hands reaching for the guns.

  “Let us get clear of the range before you start shooting,” said the man, putting up a hand to halt Olaf from shooting. “I would appreciate being able to hear later, I did not anticipate the need for earplugs today.”

  “I’ll have to remember to get some myself tomorrow,” said Olaf, a slightly worried look crossed his face.

  “Giggle-Ana has a powerful mean streak at times. She did not teach you ‘Muffle’, did she?” asked the sergeant.

  “No, she did not. What is it?” asked Olaf, looking a little annoyed now.

  “A skill, you can bug her about later,” said the sergeant. “Who’s next?”

  “Not me,” said Baby. “I’m a fairy, I don’t get combat skills.”

  “Says who?” asked the sergeant. “You have a wand, right?”

  “Yeah, but it’s just a focus for spell casting, isn’t it?” asked Baby, studying her wand a little closer.

  Sergeant Butters groaned in irritation, rubbing his face tiredly. “Idiot adventurers, all of them. Follow me,” he said, moving back to the 30-yard marker on the range and few targets away from Olaf’s.

  Boom!

  The surprise of the sound made us all jump, drawing our sight to Olaf downrange. He was 5-yards back, from where he started, and flat on his back, but I could see the grin from here.

  “Oh, that’s going to get annoying,” grumbled Micaela.

  “Will not be so bad once he learns ‘Muffle’, it will reduce the noise of his guns to a loud bang as opposed to the ear-shattering boom you all just heard. Back to you Miss Babies, your wand is a weapon. And clearly, you have no idea how to use it. Want to learn?” offered the sergeant.

  “Yes?” she half asked, half stated.

  “Trini will be able to teach you more, but I can at least give you the basics. Take out your wand,” ordered Sergeant Butters.

  Baby equipped her wand, a simple wooden stick, barely 5-inches long.

  “Now, focus your mana into the tip of the wand,” the sergeant instructed.

  The tip of the wand glowed slightly.

  “Now, pull back your arm. Next, do not let go of the wand, I want you to throw your arm forward,” the sergeant continued.

  Baby swung her arm forward and the little ball of blue light at the end of the wand shot off it, making a beeline for the targets downrange. The little light impacted the outer ring of the target two lanes to the left of her intended target, leaving a little scorch mark.

  “Okay, now practice,” said the sergeant, ignoring the astonished look on the fairy’s face and her sister’s. “Who’s next?”

  “Me!” Micaela said excitedly.

  “Okay, follow me.” Sergeant Butters led us back to the practice ring, to one of the more beat up and larger practice dummies, he had. He grabbed a pair of hand axes similar to Micaela’s, but scaled down to his size, he then approached a smaller dummy.

  “Watch and learn,” Sergeant Butters said. He attacked the dummy viciously. The first attack was an overhead strike, hacking into the neck of the dummy. The other ax slashed a clean cut across the dummy’s gut, the blade sliding across the wooden surface instead of cleaving into it. He yanked the ax from the neck free and circled the dummy. He hacked again, burying the ax into the lower back then he slashed with the other ax across the shoulders. “This is the ‘Hack and Slash’ skill. It is not complicated, but it does take practice.”

  “Why not just hack and hack? Wouldn’t that do more damage?” asked Micaela.

  “Not every enemy will react well to just hacking attacks or just slashing attacks. By combining them you can probe your enemy for weaknesses to find out what works best,” Sergeant Butters answered. “Any Questions?”

  “Nope, I got it,” said Micaela eager to get started.

  “Now for Miss Rose. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to train a warrior,” the man nearly gushed.

  “Hey, I’m a warrior too . . . well sort of,” I protested.

  Butters just gave me a look warning me to shut up.

  “Back to what I was saying, happy to be training a warrior class. What skills have you learned so far?” asked the sergeant, eager to begin training her.

  “Sword and Shield and Taunt,” Rose replied.

  “And?” Sergeant Butters prompted.

  “Um, that . . . that’s all,” she answered.

  “Gods and Goddesses above, how are you level 3 and not more skilled? Who trained you?” the sergeant demanded.

  “No one,” she said. I could hear the anger creeping into her voice.

  “In that case . . . well done. But now you are mine. I will have you up to scratch in no tim
e at all,” said the sergeant, grinning eagerly.

  “Before you start, we had a question,” I risked interrupting him.

  “Bye-bye, can you not see I am working here?” Sergeant Butters asked, glaring at me.

  “It’s important, I promise,” I stated.

  “Fine, what is it?” the sergeant asked.

  “Rose, ask him,” I said looking to the young woman.

  “Have you ever heard of a Blood Knight?” she asked, a quaver of worry in her voice.

  “I have heard of the Order of Blooded Knights. Wait, do you mean a class?” Sergeant Butters asked.

  Rose took a deep breath, I could see she was trying to will back tears, so I answered for her.

  “She heard of an advanced warrior class called ‘Blood Knight’, requiring you to be a vampire or half-vampire,” I explained for her.

  “Oh, you must mean a Vampiric Knight,” said Butters, relieving both me and Rose of a serious worry. “Please tell me you are not thinking of becoming one of those bloodsuckers though, it would be an awful waste.”

  “I already am,” Rose said, I could hear a little anger creep back into her voice.

  “Eh? What are you talking about? You are standing in sunlight right now, if you were a vampire, you would have burst into flames already,” stated the sergeant.

  “I’m a half-vampire, half-dark elf,” she clarified.

  “Oh, that is a different story. Daywalkers are not bad at all, you should have just said you were a Daywalker, to begin with. Anyway, Vampiric Knight is an advanced warrior class. A vampire or half vampire is blessed by one of the vampire gods granting the class. It is only available after you’ve become a warrior,” the sergeant explained. As an afterthought, he added, “I think you need to sacrifice a sheep or goat or something too, but Trini would know more than I do, I assume you are going to speak with her next?”

  “I’ve never heard of a Daywalker,” said Rose, she had a small smile on her face, but it was gone in an instant. She was back to scowling and looking tough, a true warrior. “I think I prefer it over half-vampire to be honest. Okay, I can work with that. If I become a Vampiric Knight, can you still train me?”