Travail Online: Resurrection: LitRPG Series (Book 2)

by Brian Simons

  Because Standard Skinweaving could confer “transport” bonuses, she had a feeling she should line up the wyverns’ wings more carefully this time. She pulled the meat away from the skins and stacked those in her inventory bag. This left her with strips of skin with wings in the middle. She cut away the tapered ends of the snake skins and put them aside. Then she lined up the strips she would need for the pants and got to work.

  She ran her needle through over and over, stitching each strip to the next, until she had a full pair of pants. Two pairs of leathery black wings protruded from behind the thigh, and another pair jutted out from the calf. She used the extra bits of skin to fashion belt loops around the waist.

  >> Wyvern Leggings (+). Takes trouser snakes to a whole new level. Defense +8. Durability: 55/55. Each piece of Wyvern Armor (+) grants +12% resistance to Stupor and Confusion debuffs and Flight up to 10 lbs.

  Flight! The initial excitement wore off when Coral realized that even with all six pieces of Wyvern Armor (+), flight was only capable at 60 lbs. or less. She left her clippings of snakeskin and suture thread on the ground and walked until she found Sybil, her smallest friend.

  Sybil was singing something to herself when Coral approached. “Sybil, how much do you weigh in-game?”

  “I’m glad you added in-game,” she said. “I’m 82 pounds without my gear. Why?”

  “I can make flying armor now,” she said, holding up the winged pants, “but it maxes out at 60 lbs.”

  “Keep trying,” Sybil said. “Maybe Advanced Skinweaving armor carries more weight.”

  It would take ages to train enough to find out if that were true.

  Sybil went back to singing. Coral kept walking until she found Sal stooped over a small fire. He was roasting wyvern meat on skewers, the small debuff icon still floating above his head.

  “Sal,” Coral said, “can I have the skins from the wyverns you’re cooking?”

  “Yes, on one condition,” he said.

  “Oh god.”

  “Eat this.” Sal thrust a stick toward Coral with a brown hunk of meat on the end of it. She took the skewer and removed the meat with her thumb and forefinger, testing its heat before popping it into her mouth.

  “Sal, this is delicious,” she said.

  “Thanks! Here’s the skins. I’m not done cooking all of this yet, so hopefully you have enough to sew to keep you busy.”

  Coral sat down to keep sewing pants, since that was the only article she had unlocked so far. “Sal, aren’t you worried you’ll be evicted?”

  “You know, one month last winter, I didn’t even have heat,” he said.

  “That’s awful, what did you do?”

  “I piled on every blanket I had and logged into Travail each day. I always found myself shivering when I logged out. My landlord wouldn’t even reduce my rent, after all that time freezing. And you know what, he had turned the heat off himself. It wasn’t broken. He just wanted to save money, and he knew no one would come after him. He doesn’t deserve my rent money.”

  “And you don’t deserve to be on the street. You should have kept your money.”

  “I have a good feeling about this Coral,” he said. “I’d rather place my money in faith, not my faith in money.”

  Coral had heard that before, from the first player they met in Havenstock who said he had donated to Sagma. He had said the exact same thing. Had Sal picked that phrase up from him? Or was something else behind this, connecting these two unrelated players?

  They sat there cooking and crafting together until Coral ran out of material. She had improved her Skinweaving skill to 11.

  “I’m going to take a break,” she said. Then she logged off.

  She woke up in her own bed, relieved she wouldn’t have to worry about landlords and the monthly possibility of eviction, but still concerned that the property tax bill was due a month out. They were heading to Diardenna on a quest which might result in a gold payout at the end, though that wasn’t promised. They’d just have to hope for some time to gather resources they could actually sell at some point.

  Coral got up to stretch her legs and make a sandwich. When she passed by her parents’ room, she saw Daniel lying on his back, his visor dutifully in place. She walked into the room to watch him. He looked so peaceful, but Coral knew better. Travail could be a harsh place, and that harshness seemed to affect Daniel more deeply than he had let on. She stood there, wondering what she could do to ease some of that burden.

  Then his eyes shot open.

  “Oh!” she said, throwing a hand against her chest. “I thought you were logged in.”

  Daniel just lied there, eyes open, body unmoving. A few seconds later he closed his eyes again.

  “Daniel?” she asked. He didn’t respond.

  Fully creeped out, Coral abandoned the idea of getting a sandwich and fired up her laptop. She went to the Travail Online forums and started scrolling through topics. She clicked on one titled “open eyes while playing.”

  MyNameIsError: I went into my brother’s room, and he opened his eyes while he was logged in. It was creepy AF. Anyone else ever see this? Should I call the company?

  Big_Little_Dwarf: That’s disturbing. I set up a video camera on myself while I was playing to see if it happened to me and it did. Click here for the video.

  Coral hovered her mouse over the link before she saw the next line in the message board.

  OriginalVanilla: Do NOT click! Not a legit link. Big_Little_Dwarf should be banned. Also, don’t bother calling the company. They don’t respond to player inquiries unless you pay to play. They don’t care about F2P players.

  As Coral kept scrolling, she found a few other people who had witnessed players opening their eyes. Maybe it was normal. She decided not to worry about it just yet. She was going to close her laptop when another message caught her eye, titled “Otto – Final Battle Superstars!” She clicked on it.

  There was a video of Coral and Daniel in their last moments before defeating Otto. It must have been taken by another player.

  People left all sorts of laudatory comments, but one stuck with her. “That girl just stared death in the face. She’s my hero!” The message was from a player on Server 312 in Chicago. Even though Otto had only been a problem for Server 215, it seems like the news of their victory had spread well beyond the Philadelphia area. She wasn’t sure whether she felt proud, or just conspicuous.

  She logged back in to wait with Sal for Daniel, Lyla, and Chauncey to return.

  14

  As Daniel walked west, the mud lodges came into view. They were the only landmark for miles. If there really were other orc tribes in the Dour Scrub, he hadn’t seen any evidence of them.

  “Sybil,” Daniel said as he got near.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” she said. “We’re going to the forest now.”

  That’s exactly what he was going to propose. “You’re right,” he said. “We’ve waited around here long enough.” She looked satisfied with his response.

  Together they walked over to Coral and Sal. Sage Natan and Alua were there too. Daniel had been wary of Sage Natan at first, but he was nothing like Sage Tawn. Tawn was vicious and power-hungry. Natan was patient and teacherly.

  “Daniel,” Coral said, “good. We’ve officially run out of things to do here.”

  “On behalf of our small clan, I thank all of you for your visit. I especially thank our newest Garmenter for the generous gift of Wyvern Leggings (+) she has bestowed on us. We hope only to match her skill with our own handiwork in the days that follow.”

  “You just gave it away?” Sybil asked. “We could have sold it.”

  “We can sell the other seven pairs I made,” Coral said. “Besides, no one has bought that Deathskin Armor we put on the market last week. I don’t think there’s much interest in anything Skinwoven. No one even knows it exists.”

  “Where is Chauncey?” Alua asked.

  “We encountered a mutated monster from the forest,” Daniel said. “W
e were able to kill it, but Chauncey lost his life in the battle. He was a brave fighter, much as Ivan had been. Their sacrifices have allowed us to get this far. I won’t forget what they did for us.”

  “They were young and inexperienced,” Alua said, “and at least a little rude and impatient. I hope they return to us more focused and humble such that their deaths were not in vain.” Alua placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “Leading others into a battle is never easy. The most difficult part is failing to lead them home afterward. I’m sorry.”

  “Sage Natan,” Sybil said, “thank you for your gracious hospitality. We must leave now for the forest.”

  “Of course,” he replied.

  Taking his cue from Sybil, Daniel headed north toward Diardenna. Everyone else followed behind.

  “Daniel,” Coral said, “is that a debuff?”

  An icon of a knight’s helm with a crack down the middle lingered over his head. “A Dishonor debuff,” he said, stepping over an exposed root from a large bush.

  “Because Chauncey died? That hardly sounds dishonorable,” Coral said.

  “No, for something else.” Daniel didn’t want to admit that Gallantry was only out of commission because he tried — and failed — to backstab a monster instead of just challenging it head on. He felt like an idiot for not realizing that would be a dishonorable tactic.

  “Oh,” Coral said. She glanced back at Lyla but didn’t press for more details.

  The group continued through the Dour Scrub, passing through denser bushes and higher grasses as they approached the forest. The green canopy of Diardenna was still in the distance, but it felt good to get closer to it.

  “The forest is full of powerful magic,” Sybil said, “so it may be difficult to get into it or through it. It’s supposed to be a beautiful place though. Lush greenery, exotic flowers, pixies and sprites flittering to and fro. They say the trees produce a sheen on their trunks that gives them a glimmering effect.”

  “Sounds amazing,” Sal said.

  “I wouldn’t keep your hopes up,” Lyla said.

  “The monster we fought off,” Daniel said, “was not one of a kind. It was warped by the evil magic that is degrading the forest. It was strong, but there’s a plus side. It provided an unnatural amount of XP. We should plan to fight our way through the forest and level up as much as possible.”

  “Fighting will cause a ruckus,” Sybil said, “and attract the elves. We can’t fend against elves and mutants. Not with Lyla as our only healer. No offense.”

  “You’re right,” Lyla said. “My abilities are limited, and many of the monsters there are stronger than what we just encountered.”

  That was a terrifying thought. Daniel had already lost two hirelings. He didn’t want to lose a third.

  “Blech!” Sal yelled, spitting a wad of green leaves out of his mouth. The leaves stuck to his tongue and lips. He kept trying to spit them out and wipe them off his face. “These plants are definitely not right,” he said. Next to the strange debuff he picked up in the desert, he now also had a Nausea debuff. It looked like a frowning green face.

  “One day he’ll stop eating everything in sight,” Sybil said.

  “Nope,” Sal replied.

  A rustling up ahead caught Daniel’s attention. “Hold on,” he said, squinting into the distance. A large gray shape staggered in a zigzag.

  “Is it a wolf?” Sybil asked.

  >> You have Surveilled a Level 30 Warg: 980 HP (undead) (blighted).

  “Worse. It’s an undead warg,” he reported.

  “Impossible,” Sybil said. “The forest’s magic is of life, not death. There are no undead there.”

  “I Surveilled it,” Daniel said.

  “Surveil it again!” Sybil shouted. She clapped a hand over her mouth. She probably hadn’t meant to yell so loud.

  With a roar, the warg started to charge at them, though its gait still wasn’t straight. Two other undead wargs emerged from the bushes to join in the fight.

  “Their HP bars aren’t full,” Coral said. She was right. These mobs would be a little easier to dispose of than normal. That was a relief, because with his Dishonor debuff, his Gallantry skill was still out of commission.

  Coral led with some arrows while Sal took his place in front of Sybil. She opened her mouth to start singing when Sal doubled over and placed a hand on the ground to steady himself. “You ok?” she asked.

  “I’ve eaten a lot of strange things,” he said, “but those bush leaves were the worst. Ungh…”

  Sybil got out in front of him and readied her spear. It looked like she was ready to soak up damage for him for once.

  The first warg jumped up at Daniel, but he was ready for it. He slashed his sword through the air and sliced into the warg’s side. It started bleeding a dark, thick blood. The undead canine’s blood had started to congeal recently. It wasn’t the black paste Daniel had seen ooze from zombies before.

  >> Warg takes 372 Damage.

  The animal landed on its uninjured side and quickly got back on its feet. It didn’t seem to register any pain from the wound Daniel had inflicted.

  Another warg was on top of Sybil now. She held her spear pole in both hands. The warg’s mouth was clenched on the middle of her weapon. They held each other in a stalemate while Coral shot arrows at the monster. It looked like a porcupine, with arrow quills sticking all over its body. It didn’t flinch or back down.

  The third warg leapt at Alua. She pulled two short blades from her belt and crossed them in front of her in the air, slicing the warg’s head off in one swipe.

  Daniel’s warg jumped up at him again. It landed on his breastplate and pushed him down to the ground. Daniel cringed under the monster’s foul breath. He expected it to drool on him, but the monster’s mouth was bone dry.

  He slid his sword between his face and the warg’s, hoping to block any bites with his weapon. He also brought his leg up and tucked his foot under the mob’s belly. With a quick thrust of his leg, he pushed the monster off of him.

  Lyla jumped onto the warg’s back the second Daniel was free. She rode it while it bucked. She took her scimitar and dug into the monster’s side before she was thrown off. Its HP was getting low.

  Daniel looked down and realized his breastplate had a crack in it. What an idiot he had been, again. He knew the sword the Regent gave him was used because its Durability was only 10/35. He hadn’t checked each piece of the full armor set though. The breastplate must have been on its last leg. That cheap bastard! Couldn’t he spare the few extra gold it would take to buy Daniel a fresh suit of armor?

  The warg spun around and bared its teeth at Daniel. It leapt at him once more, but Daniel stabbed it through the heart.

  >> Warg takes 566 Damage. [CRITICAL]. Warg dies. You receive 7,300 XP.

  Whatever dark magic was at work here, Daniel wasn’t going to complain. The XP was phenomenal.

  >> Congratulations! You have reached Level 19. To apply your 7 skill points now, open your Skills and Attributes screen.

  >> Congratulations! You have improved your Swordfighting combat skill to 5. +8% damage when using a sword.

  He looked over and saw Coral sink the last arrow into a struggling warg as Sal dry heaved, knee-deep in the grass. The three bodies of the slain wargs hadn’t begun to vanish yet.

  “Don’t you want the skins?” Sybil asked.

  “Something tells me,” Coral said, “I’ll have a hard time with those, considering all the congealed rotten blood smeared into the fur.”

  Sybil shrugged. “No one said it would be easy.”

  The group continued north, getting closer to the edge of the forest. The bushes here were denser, but the leaves drooped as if they lost the will to live. No sun shone above the forest. The sky was a solid blanket of light gray clouds.

  “Why do you think those wargs weren’t at full HP?” Daniel asked.

  “Maybe they had been fighting with each other,” Sybil said.

  �
��Or maybe whatever resurrected them didn’t bring them back all the way,” Lyla said.

  “Why bother to resurrect a warg and leave it half dead?” Coral asked.

  “Resurrection is powerful magic, and it requires a lot of MP. The less HP you fill for your creation, the less MP you must spend to finish the spell. It is not ideal for creating a strong undead warrior. It is very effective at raising an army, if you expect your creations to have time to heal up before they are deployed.”

  “But with all the XP I got from killing one,” Daniel said, “it’s not just some necromancer raising wargs. It’s the same evil magic that mangled the dryant we found before.”