Trial and Flame

by Kevin Murphy

  The warrior and druid tomes would likely be snatched up by Mina, Melee, and Roth. The paladin book would almost certainly make it to the second round of picks.

  Dakkon submitted his choices along with the others. The boss’s chest vanished, then three fist-sized white orbs appeared on the ground in a triangular formation, just in front of Melee. The orbs began to spin around a fixed center point—slowly at first—then, accelerating as they rose. Similar sets of spherical lights appeared in front of each party member, precisely imitating the orbs in front of Melee, and each deposited the first item that player had won through their bid.

  Before Dakkon sat the Polypoison Dagger. It had been his fourth pick behind the ring, the cloak, and the mobile staircase. Apparently, the AI hadn’t considered his contribution to be as great as the others—which seemed fair once he’d thought about it. Everyone played a crucial role. Melee had decisively decimated the enemy forces, and without Cline they wouldn’t have stood a chance against the anti-magic turrets. Still, Dakkon expected at least two skill books to have been scooped up—increasing his odds to get something that he really wanted. Looking around, Dakkon saw that Melee had received the ring, and Mina the Drift Cloak. Cline smiled as he picked up his new chain-link staircase, and Roth gained a powerful new warrior skill.

  Just then, another set of light orbs appeared before Melee and Cline. Melee received the druid skill book, and Cline the paladin one. The realization dawned on Dakkon that, having been in the top two contributors, Melee had effectively had first dibs on the warrior tome.

  “Why didn’t you choose the warrior skill?” Dakkon asked, surprised by her decision. “It seems powerful.”

  Melee considered her words for a moment before answering. “Honestly Dakkon, before today I didn’t realize just how strong mages could be. You’re still new to it, and yet, you can already incinerate a score of creatures in an instant. After your first big spell, I realized I needed a trump card against casters—and just like that, here it is.”

  Her logic followed his own, so he couldn’t fault her. In her shoes, though, he would have almost certainly taken the book. “Right,” said Dakkon. “Still, I’m surprised. The skill reads as though it’s basically double damage.”

  “Maybe,” said Melee. “Until I lose concentration on it. I’m no caster, Dakkon—and trust me, I get hit a lot. That Civix guy, from the item’s description, sounds like he may have been an ass, but he’s not wrong in that I don’t want to spend all of my time concentrating. I’d rather grimace and hit things. I’m all for doubling my damage, too, but the method needs some work.” After another second, she added, “Plus, this ring counters the warrior ability, too.”

  “It also seems like that ring has some history behind it,” said Mina. “We’ll have to do some research on Civix when we get back to civilization. It could be pretty valuable!”

  Melee looked less than enthused by the suggestion which meant she’d be dragged along to do an indeterminate amount of research, then shrugged before holding out the druid tome that she’d won on the second pass for Mina to grab.

  “Tree form?” said Mina, not overly enthusiastic. “I mean, I’m thankful. It’s a free skill! But… turning into a tree? I can’t move and I regenerate ‘through the magic of photosynthesis?’ It sounds like a joke.”

  “Go on,” said Melee, pushing the book deeper into Mina’s hands. “Make like a tree.”

  “I think I might save testing for the sunlight,” said Mina, hesitantly. “I’m not even sure how long it will take to learn.”

  Cline looked incredibly enthused to have won the Stairs of Stijgen plus another bonus item. Dakkon supposed it made sense that and the cloak would be his first-choice items. Getting stuck as they had could be bad for the average player, but for Cline it might prove fatal. Having the tools to survive a bad situation was invaluable.

  Despite everyone else’s picks, Dakkon suspected that Roth may well have won out over all. The Echostrike skill seemed like a perfect match for the sort of combat he preferred—creating an impenetrable defense through a flurry of blows. Doubling his attacks would make him a powerhouse. Perhaps the real reason Melee hadn’t chosen the tome was that she had come to the same conclusion and forfeited the technique without causing a big stir. Dakkon wouldn’t have put it past her.

  “So, what do you guys want to do with the material components from the boss?” asked Dakkon. “Roll for them?”

  “Now that I know about your high luck stat, I think I’ll have to pass on that option,” said Roth.

  “It’s not like I was trying to hide it,” Dakkon said, defending himself. “When we all rolled for the relic last time, I didn’t even know.”

  “Be that as it may,” said Mina. “With chance plausibly compromised, we’ll have to think of a better way to divide things up.”

  After a moment, Dakkon shrugged. “Fair enough.” Having more than zero in his luck stat meant it was entirely possible that he had an advantage in what should otherwise be random affairs. He made a mental note not to bring the matter up when forming new groups in the future. After all, if it was a race, having stats that made him faster would be fair game—and rolling for loot was a bit like a race for getting items.

  “For now, how about we just hang onto the boss’s bits,” suggested Cline. “When we have a better idea of what they’re for, we’ll figure it out then.”

  “Deal,” Melee said. “Dakkon can carry around that revolting acid sac.”

  “Ooh, good call,” said Roth, striking his open palm with his closed fist. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

  There was a murmur of ascent with the plan, before Melee interrupted. “Hold up—we’ve got a quest to finish.” The warrior began to rummage around the piles of acid-blanched bones. Almost forgetting the bonus quest they’d picked up through the excitement of the battle and new items, the other four searched alongside her.

  The bones were mostly unidentifiable through time and wear, but the majority of skulls didn’t even appear to be human. Dakkon hadn’t even known bones could stay around after death in Chronicle. Player bodies tended to disappear rather quickly, and he had assumed that the bodies of NPCs wouldn’t stick around much longer after that.

  It was frightening to think that shriekers might have been lurking around the surface, popping up out of the ground like some sort of trap-door spider, then pulling man-sized prey down to feed their queen. Maybe the villagers were really onto something by huddling their settlement so closely around the crystal, after all.

  As they searched, Roth discovered that the base of the mound contained little bits of cloth and metal. It was when the party tore into the side of the mound that they found what they’d been asked to retrieve—the sword and clasp of the city’s once-leader, Jacob.

  |Name: Jacob’s Sword

  |Item Type: Sword – Chopping/Slashing

  |Durability: 2/40

  |Damage: 2

  |Description: Worn beyond its time, this unimpressive sword has little value outside of sentiment.

  The sword had seen better days, and its description didn’t pull any punches. Had it not been for the quest, the party wouldn’t have even bothered to pick the item up.

  |Name: Jacob’s Clasp

  |Item Type: Accessory

  |Durability: 40/60

  |Attributes: Appearance +14

  |Description: Shiny despite neglect, this beautiful clasp will dashingly accentuate any cloak it adorns.

  The appearance stat seemed to be one of Chronicle’s vaguest modifiers. Although plus-to-appearance items tended to look quite good when worn, like luck, there was no concrete way to gauge their effectiveness. Still, +14 to anything for something as small as a cloak clasp was substantial. This item wasn’t for them, however, and keeping it wasn’t on the table. It would take considerably more than an increase to appearance before they’d need to wrestle with their consciences over running off with a bereaved old lady’s memento of her late husband.

  Thou
gh they wanted to leave as soon as they could, the path back had been sealed by a cap of ice and a large boulder. Behind where the queen had originally watched them, and where they found the boss, was a cubbyhole which abruptly ended in a wall of semi-soft dirt.

  “Well, if we have to go back into the tunnel, then we may need to fight our way through more bugs,” said Dakkon. “I’d feel safer with half a day or so of downtime so that I can start covering up the holes again.”

  “You don’t think we got them all?” asked Melee, visibly disturbed by the idea.

  “I hope so, but I doubt it,” said Dakkon. “Either way, I’d feel better if we waited.”

  “No need to sell us on it. That’s the right move,” Cline agreed.

  “And I rather like the idea of trying out my new cloak with the comfort of a barrier overhead,” added Mina. “The fizzy lifting drink scene in Willy Wonka gave me nightmares when I was a kid.”

  “Willy Wonka?” asked Roth, who’d already assumed a cross-legged posture to read his new tome.

  “Ah, it’s an old movie from nearly a century ago that my parents considered a ‘must-watch film,’” explained Mina. “Kids get punished for their misdeeds in horrible ways. One gets rocketed through a pipe for being a glutton, another gets dropped down a trash compactor as a result of her greed. In the fizzy lifting drink scene, a boy and his grandfather are nearly sliced to bits by a massive fan because they keep floating higher... Now that I think about it, it was a really strange choice in movies to show to a developing mind. Every character is a bad guy in some way, and the main character is sort of the least bad.”

  “Well, as you didn’t turn out to be a greedy glutton, maybe it worked,” Cline commented with a grin.

  “Hm,” said Mina. “Maybe.”

  “Who says she’s not a greedy glutton?” remarked Melee. “You know she messaged me, asking if I’d third pick the druid tome, despite all of her griping when I gave it to her. I mean I would’ve done it anyway, but sheesh.”

  Mina grimaced a little bit at the revelation.

  Dakkon laughed at her troubled expression. “No shame in getting help from a close friend. But, just so you know, I’d have handed it over.”

  “Me too,” said Cline.

  “Yup,” added Roth. “Obviously.”

  Mina managed to fit a smile onto her guilty face.

  “See there?” said Melee. “No one wants to be a tree quite like you.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Mina said.

  Dakkon took a break to examine his character’s progression after conquering the surprisingly complex dungeon beneath Klith.

  |————

  |Statistics ( ][][ ) ( ][][][ )

  |————

  |Strength: 28 — (25 + 3 Equipped) ( ? )

  |Stamina: 30

  |Agility: 69 — (55 + 14 Equipped)

  |Dexterity: 53 — (50 + 3 Equipped)

  |Intellect: 53 — (50 + 3 Equipped)

  |Luck: 50

  |Free Stat Points: 5

  |Hit Points: 1,070/1,070

  |Endurance: 560/560

  |Mana Points: 1,852/1,852

  |Level: 33

  |EXP Until Next Level: [_____3,628/9,470 ]

  |————

  |Traits ( ][ ) ( ][][][ )

  |————

  |Appearance – 8 (Equipped)

  |Climber – 2— 50% [___________ ]

  |Disciplined – 12— 84% [___________________ ]

  |Heroic – 3— 57% [_____________ ]

  |Hunter – 9— 42% [________ ]

  |Rider – 7— 65% [_______________ ]

  |Steadfast – 3— 13% [__ ]

  |Stealthy – 4— 80% [_________________ ]

  |Thick – 2— 25% [______ ]

  |————

  |Classes

  |————

  |Primary Class: Edgemaster

  |Class Level: Null

  |EXP Until Next Level: [||||||||||||||||||||N||||||||||||||||||||||]

  |Skills:

  |+Mastery – 1— [||||||||||||||||||||N||||||||||||||||||||||]

  |+Edge – 2— [||||||||||||||||||||N||||||||||||||||||||||]

  |Special: Edgemaster is locked as your primary class.

  |Special: Classes may not be changed or removed.

  |

  |Secondary Class: Evoker (Fire) – 80% Power (from multiclassing)

  |Class Level: 11

  |EXP Until Next Level: [____2,788/3,110______ ]

  |Skills:

  |+Flame Lick – 12— 52% [____________ ]

  |+Burning Sigil – 9— 11% [___ ]

  |Passive: Incoming fire damage reduced by 10%.

  |

  |Secondary Class: Thermomancer – 80% Power (from multiclassing)

  |Class Level: 30

  |EXP Until Next Level: [_____2,740/8,160 ]

  |Skills:

  |+Thermoregulate – 30— 12% [___ ]

  |+Heat (Touch) – 26— 16% [___ ]

  |+Chill (Touch) – 27— 40% [________ ]

  |+Hotspot (Area) – 25— 10% [__ ]

  |+Condense – 1— [______________________]

  |+Thermal Sight – 4— 70% [__________________ ]

  |————

  |Combination Skills

  |————

  |Class: Thermomancer + Evoker (Fire)

  |+Afterburner – 1— [______________________]

  Dakkon had made it to level 34 and was beginning to feel a trickle of power. He had gained impressive fire attacks at range and a new dagger for close quarters, but he was surprised to find that it was his utility which really made him feel that he was progressing. Being able to conjure a wall or bridge—a way-marker or a dome of ice—there was strength in creation. Not having that strength now, his group was willing to wait for hours until he had it again.

  His friends, too, were still developing. On the combat front, Dakkon still felt the need to play catch up. For now, it made him weaker, but his edgemaster class skills meant that—given enough time and training—he could flourish beyond the limits of other players. His ‘Mastery’ skill improved the strength of each class he used by 10 percent for every two he’d managed to get to level 15. He’d already met half of the requirement with thermomancer, and now he was nearly there as a fire wizard, too. With just a little more work, soon each of his classes would be at 90 percent power. He still wouldn’t be on par with a character that didn’t choose to multiclass, but he had the advantage of utility and the potential for growth that would leave other players drooling if only they knew.

  Dakkon wondered how many classes he’d need to master before he could take on someone as strong as Lina. His desire to compete ensured he’d spend this downtime training his fire evoker skills while the party waited for his water supply to renew itself.

  Chapter 14: Elsewhere

  Suresh’s company approached the remote town of Derry, where a few hours beforehand, several news outlets had shown a rival group of tournament participants publicly executing a group of players. Unlike most that Brett’s group had hunted down, these eight had developed a track record. While they’d proven to be fairly successful in the tournament so far, they made the mistake of gaining a reputation for their deeds, then they compounded that mistake by staying put in a town where other players were glad to sell them out for attention and quick coin.

  Brett’s team, by contrast, acted quickly then moved on. Luckily, their new quarry hadn’t been too far away.

  Brett’s group had been approaching a small village called Klith when they were informed that a team of eight—each marked with a sigil—had been seen further to the east in Derry. The choice to turn east was an easy one to make. Though Suresh rarely deigned to explain his decisions, Brett had heard that Klith was practically a ghost town. It might be a good place to catch others hiding out during the tournament, or it might not pan out to anything. If there weren’t any players around trying to sell that they knew where to find tournament participants, there was no way to know for s
ure.

  Unlike the eight they moved toward who’d grown renowned for basking in the thrill of their minor fame—Suresh insisted that his people conduct business in private. In cities, Suresh’s henchmen took pains to drag players off to somewhere secluded—into the woods, or to an inn where a small bribe might persuade the keeper for some privacy. It all seemed a bit silly and unnecessary to Brett. When they—several of them with glowing red sigils on their foreheads—came to a town with others in the tournament, those others disappeared. The implication seemed explicit enough to him.

  To Suresh’s credit, they had remained safe through their frequent movement. Brett hated constantly walking toward unknown locations, but the secretive and paranoid Suresh wouldn’t tell anyone where they were headed if it was more than a half-day’s journey. Though, even if he chose to, no one else was likely to have a map detailed enough to list the tiny towns which they bounced between. A man whose combat prowess hinted at the depth of his pockets, Suresh had likely found a way to funnel considerable real-world funds into the game despite the limits imposed by money changers.

  “Head in and surround the tavern,” Suresh commanded from atop his recently commandeered horse. He rode atop the brown beast, giving off an aura of authority. Had the horse ever truly been loyal to another master, it was now fully proselytized.

  Everyone complied with Suresh’s commands. Save for Brett, there didn’t seem to be anyone reluctant to follow orders.

  “That means you too, solider,” Savior said, placing his left hand on Brett’s right shoulder.

  Savior was smiling, as usual. No one else seemed resentful of walking all day, every day, only to follow more orders. Brett briefly wondered if he was the one being unreasonable before he began walking alongside his friend. Before Arden and Savior, Brett had never really gotten along with anyone. Brett wondered if perhaps he was just being hard to deal with for the sake of being difficult.