Travail Online: Resurrection: LitRPG Series (Book 2)

by Brian Simons

  “Correct,” Lyla said. “Whatever this evil magic is, it wants an army.”

  There was too much at work here for Daniel to figure out on his own. As the group brushed past the first mature trees that formed the outer edge of the forest, Sybil bristled with excitement. “I can feel the forest’s magic,” she said. “I have a +10% to regenerating HP, MP, and Stamina Points while we’re here. But wait! I also have a -10% to Strength and Spirit. What gives?”

  “The forest is dying,” Lyla said. “If your people are connected to the forest, the rot will affect you too.”

  “Why is the forest dying?” Alua asked. “And why can’t I hear Ze yet?”

  An undead warg landed on the ground ten feet in front of them with a splat. Its body burst open, splattering dark red blood on the forest floor.

  “We’re not the only ones who don’t like wargs,” Sybil said, pointing her spear toward the treetops on their left.

  Standing amid the trees was a man 20 feet tall. His face was pale green with eyes that radiated a bright green energy. His head was covered in ivy trailing down to his shoulders.

  With no time to Surveil, Daniel took stock of the man quickly.

  >> Level 22 Leshy.

  Daniel had never encountered a Leshy before. He just hoped this one wasn’t empowered with extra dark magic abilities.

  The fiend pointed at them with a wooden club, which may just have been a small tree. He yelled in a high, stringent voice, “Come, help!”

  “The Leshy are known to lure travelers to their demise,” Alua said. “I suggest we run.”

  “Fine by me!” Daniel said. The group started to run further into the forest as the Leshy pursued them.

  “Wait!” it yelled. “I’m friendly!” It cackled with a squeaky voice and threw its club at them. It landed just ahead of Sybil, who jumped over it as it crashed into the dirt.

  Daniel looked back to make sure they all made it, but Sal had stopped running. He was on his hands and knees.

  “Sicky, sicky,” the Leshy yelled. “You’re green like me!”

  Daniel turned back to help Sal. “Sal needs us!”

  Sybil had run into the forest and was out of sight. Alua held out her ring and cast a protection spell on Sal.

  Sal looked like he would heave again any second, but the Leshy kicked him in the side mercilessly. Sal lurched forward, his face slamming into the dirt.

  Daniel aimed his sword at the giant creature and used Sword of Ploughshares. It cost him 3 MP per second to keep this monster Pacified.

  “Where is Sybil?” Daniel yelled.

  “We ran into some kind of invisible barrier and couldn’t go further into the forest,” Coral responded. “Sybil wasn’t affected. I don’t know if she realizes we’re not following her.”

  Lyla aimed her scimitar at Sal and began to replenish his HP.

  “We have to run,” Daniel said. “Everyone go, I’ll hold him back until I’m out of MP. Lyla, can you carry Sal?”

  Lyla was a small orc, but she was Daniel’s hireling. If she could carry him, she’d do it.

  “Yes,” Lyla said, “with help.”

  Coral put one of Sal’s arms around her neck while Lyla took the other. They walked as quickly as they could along the edge of the forest. Alua stepped up alongside Daniel.

  “Where is Ze?” she called at the pacified Leshy.

  “Losing her religion,” the Leshy said, laughing. “She’s not the woman she used to beeeeee!”

  “What does that mean?” Alua asked.

  “I can’t hold him for much longer,” Daniel said.

  “If the queen is the king and a god is a pawn, are you the bishop and the knight?” the Leshy asked.

  “How is Ze a pawn?”

  “Too many questions ruin riddles.” The Leshy dove at them as Daniel’s MP hit zero.

  Daniel and Alua ran from the monster. Its long legs carried it swiftly across the forest floor, but ducking below branches slowed it down. “This way,” Daniel said, leading Alua through a thicket of denser trees that would slow him down further.

  “No!” the Leshy yelled. “That way is death. I’m sorry I scared you, please come back!”

  The Leshy stopped running after them, but Daniel and Alua kept going until they caught up to the others. “It’s gone,” he said.

  “I wonder why he stopped chasing us,” Lyla said.

  “He seemed afraid of coming this far,” Alua said.

  The group sat to catch their breath. Then an elf burst through the canopy of trees above them and landed on her feet.

  “Sybil!” Coral yelled.

  “Shh!” Sybil said. “We really stepped in it this time. This place is crawling with elves in battle gear. Come on.”

  Sybil led the group through the forest. She took them through a wide arc, skirting the outer rim of Diardenna without bringing them close to the invisible enchanted barrier that kept non-elves out. The whole walk, they heard the chattering of elves in the distance. Their speech came in short, commanding bursts. Daniel couldn’t understand elvish, but he assumed they were planning some kind of military strike. Any minute now their mages could teleport them to Havenstock where they could wreak havoc on the unprepared human kingdom.

  “Alua,” Daniel said.

  “I know,” she replied. “I came here to find out what happened to Ze. She is, indeed, in some kind of trouble. I will return to Havenstock and alert the Regent that the elves are prepared for war.”

  Alua teleported back to Havenstock.

  “Lyla, it’s going to be too dangerous ahead. I won’t risk losing you. You are officially dismissed. Thank you for all of your help.”

  “Thank you, Sir Daniel_of_Manayunk,” she said. She teleported away, likely back to the Dour Scrub.

  To the northeast stood the brown cliffs of Hiber Mountain, inhabited by the dwarves. If they could make it there, they could seek refuge from the dangers of the forest and ask the dwarves if they know what’s going on.

  “I like Alua,” Coral said, “but I’m glad she’s gone. We need to talk about the Regent’s plan to take the dwarves’ mines away. We’re not really going to help with that, right?”

  “I’m his Knight,” Daniel said, “and it’s a quest. It feels wrong, but the Regent must have his reasons, right?”

  “Yeah,” Coral said, “he’s a greedy racist bastard.”

  “Amen to that,” Sybil whispered.

  “That’s a bit harsh,” Daniel said.

  “Did you know he has a dragon trapped under the castle? How inhumane is that?”

  “Seriously?” Daniel asked.

  “Alua told us a little about it,” Coral said, “but she’s so head over heels for the Regent she’d never think of setting it free.”

  As a Knight, Daniel thought he should know a little more about what went on in Havenstock than he did. The Regent, however, didn’t exactly confide in him. “We can’t worry about that right now, we have to focus on getting into the mountain.”

  As Daniel finished his sentence, a war cry sounded throughout the forest, and the party froze in place. They heard the rustling of leaves and snapping of branches as an onslaught of elves ran through the trees. Daniel peered through the leaves as best he could. Eventually he saw clearly. They were heading east, toward the mountain.

  >> Congratulations! You have improved your Surveil ability to 5. Stare at something for 25 seconds to discern additional information.

  “Let’s continue to skirt the forest until we can find a way into the mountain,” Daniel whispered. He could have yelled and it wouldn’t have mattered. The elves were making so much noise now Daniel could barely hear himself think.

  “I don’t understand,” Sybil said. “Why would they attack the dwarves?”

  “They seem to be a popular target these days,” Daniel said. “The Regent wants to steal their mining sites. Maybe their resources are more powerful than we realized.”

  Before long they reached the edge of the tree line. Hiding between a few t
rees at the edge of the forest, they had an unobstructed view of a large cave opening at the westernmost side of Hiber Mountain. The gaping hole in the side of the mountain was hewn smooth and had the start of a rail line at its base. At the moment, it had hundreds of elvish mages, swordsmen, and archers dueling with dwarves. The dwarves were outnumbered. They must have been caught unaware.

  Daniel stayed back. This wasn’t his war. Even if it were, he could too easily be overwhelmed by the elves if they spotted him. Their team was down to its core four members, one of whom was a nauseous ogre.

  Fireballs, ice spikes, and lightning bolts shot through the air alongside arrows. Elvish swords clashed against dwarven hammers and maces. What the dwarves lacked in number, they made up for in dexterity. Each melee fighter wielded weapons in both hands, defending against two elves at a time.

  Then the dwarves brought out the catapults. Stone boulders hurled through the air, landing in the throngs of elves at the edge of the forest. The elves stepped back a few paces from the fray, stepping carefully over their dead and injured as they kept fighting.

  Then Daniel saw him. An unarmed elf perched high in the trees. Daniel looked closer, and closer.

  “Daniel,” Sybil whispered, tapping him on the shoulder from behind. Daniel waved her off. He needed to focus.

  Still he stared.

  “Daniel!” she hissed again. Please just wait! he thought.

  He held his eyes fixed to that figure in the treetops. Finally, it paid off.

  >> You have Surveilled Quinnick: Level 48 Elf Tactician, 2680 HP.

  Then something slammed into him. His armor creaked as he crashed into the ground. The Tactician’s head whipped around and stared right at him before cupping his hands around his mouth.

  Daniel looked up and saw an Elf Archer was on top of him. Instinctively he reached his arms around the person and held his arms down.

  “I tried to warn you!” Sybil said. “This idiot was backing up, away from the fight. You should have listened to me!”

  Quinnick’s voice called out a long high note as the elves retreated into the forest, dragging their dead behind them. The exit was well choreographed. Aside from the boulders and scorch marks on the ground, the area looked untouched. Quinnick the Tactician was gone.

  “Disarm him!” Daniel said, struggling to keep the elf pinned. Sybil and Coral wrestled with the elf to remove his bow and quiver.

  Daniel fought his way to his feet while restraining the elf by his wrists. “We’re taking you in for questioning,” he said. Daniel inspected him.

  >> Level 9 Elf Archer.

  The elf struggled but couldn’t get away. He wasn’t nearly strong enough. With Daniel leading the elf toward the mountain’s entrance, the group headed toward Hiber Mountain.

  Quest Update: Do or Diardenna

  You observed the elf army amass their forces under the guidance of Quinnick, an experienced Tactician.

  Pending report to the Regent:

  (1) Bridges and other infrastructure around Travail may be compromised.

  (2) Disfigured forest creatures with abnormal strength may plague the forest, mutated by Diardenna’s diseased magic.

  (3) The elf army is led by a Level 48 Tactician named Quinnick.

  Reward: Dependent upon quality of information provided.

  15

  Farah rushed home from school. Once she had gotten her first taste of Travail, it was all she could think about. She closed the front door to the house quietly behind her and crept up the stairs to her room. She assumed her older sister was logged into the game, but just in case Sybil was logged out and listening, Farah wanted to avoid drawing attention to herself.

  She wouldn’t be logged in for long, for fear that Sybil would catch her, but she made sure to lock her door anyway. She placed the visor over her face and leaned back onto her bed.

  Hiber Camp came into view. She stood on a small flat patch of rock, right where she had logged off. Up ahead was the camp, and behind her a mountain path sloped downward. There were no guardrails separating her from an expansive view of the forest at the base of the mountain.

  Other dwarves were rushing down the mountain slope with weapons in their hands. Farah was still dressed in her beginner’s clothes, and she rather stuck out in the crowd of battle-ready NPCs. She moved toward the periphery and out of the way.

  What was going on down there at the bottom of the cliff? she wondered. She stepped closer to the edge and tried to peer down, but she couldn’t see through the trees. Maybe if she leaned over a bit more she could see the base of the mountain better. She took another half-step toward the edge.

  The rocks beneath her feet began to crumble. Farah lost her footing and started to tumble toward the edge of the cliff. She knew this was just a game, but the sense of losing her balance was so real, and the panic so strong, that she felt like she would really die if she fell off that mountain.

  A cold hand grasped her upper arm and pulled her upright. Farah’s heart was still racing from her near-death experience. She looked up at the man. He was a dwarf, just like her, with pale skin and dark hair. His face had the first few wrinkles of middle age. His smile is what held her attention though. It looked warm, inviting.

  “That was close,” he said.

  “Yeah, thank you,” Farah replied.

  “I’m TheBanished,” the man said, “but you can call me Jack.”

  “I’m FarahWay,” she said. “Farah for short.”

  “Pleased to meet you Farah,” he said. “I can tell from your clothes that you’re new here. Mind if I show you around?”

  “I can’t stay,” Farah said. “My sister doesn’t want me playing this game. I should log off.”

  “Your sister can’t control you, Farah,” the man said. The smile was gone from his face. “Come with me. I’ll buy you some armor that matches your class. Then you can go. The thought of you running around in those beginners rags just kills me.”

  “Ok,” Farah said, not too sure why this stranger would buy her a gift, but also not wanting to turn down something free. “Thank you,” she said.

  “And if you like, I can take you to a show tomorrow night,” he said. “There’s a concert taking place at the temple. It’s the largest gathering hall in all of Hiber Camp. It’s sort of an annual competition, and everyone watches. You don’t want to miss it.”

  The man put his arm around her shoulder and led her into the camp.

  16

  “I think I’m ok now,” Sal said. That was a relief. If Coral had to lug him around any longer her legs might give out.

  “Equip this,” Sybil said, thrusting a bow into her hands. Coral already felt guilty just holding the quiver she had taken from the Elf Archer they had subdued. She couldn’t see re-arming the elf though, and it was much nicer than the pine short bow she had been using.

  >> Deadwood Bow. You didn’t think it was still alive, did you? Dexterity +4, Spirit +2. Durability: 32/40.

  Daniel led their captured elf toward the entrance to Hiber Mountain. The second the dwarves caught sight of them, they rushed out with their swords and maces drawn.

  The problem was, whatever they were saying was in dwarvish. None of them understood any of it aside from, “Stop,” and “Kill.”

  “We caught one of the attackers,” Daniel said. The dwarves just stared at them. They seemed to understand as much human as Coral’s group understood dwarvish.

  “Good,” Daniel said, pointing to himself, “bad,” he said, pointing to the elf. The dwarves seemed skeptical, but at least it looked like they were listening. They said something to each other and one dwarf disappeared into the mountain.

  Coral and the others stood there for some time waiting, wondering what they were supposed to do next.

  “You!” said a dwarf woman as she left the mountain and approached them. “You killed me!”

  “Wenda,” Daniel said. “I’m so sorry. Otto was going to kill you with the Soulkeeper Axe. You never would have respawned.”
>
  “So it’s a mercy killing now? And where’s my lantern!”

  The group had met Wenda in a cavern last week. She had lent them a lantern, which they left behind in their escape from Otto. Daniel made a tough choice. He drove a sword through Wenda’s heart before Otto could kill her. The upside was allowing her to respawn immediately in Hiber Camp with her fellow dwarves and escape the permadeath inflicted by Otto’s axe. The downside, however, was infuriating the already irascible Wenda.