Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1

by Joshua W. Nelson

  “I arrived here on this day looking to help only myself. I had a need to fulfill and a goal to attain. I didn’t expect to meet brave warriors on this day, but I did. And I didn’t expect to hear of your loss and heart ache, but I did,” Wayne began while looking out at all the Dwarves assembled around him. “I am no great speech maker. That is a skill for men and women who do not lead with their hammer first and ask questions later. I am a Warrior. And the one thing I do understand is the Warrior way.”

  At that moment Wayne produced all of the food and drink and placed them on the table. The Dwarves looked at the feast before them and Tibble began to address Wayne. But before he could, Wayne interrupted. “I will hear nothing of this my friend. I do this not for you. I do this for the Warriors whose souls fly to their rest and the voices that will herald their arrival. Tonight we celebrate their deeds. And when my days on this plain are done, I will hope someone is there to speak of my efforts.”

  To a man, the Dwarves lowered their heads in what looked like a silent prayer. Tibble then looked up and met Wayne’s eyes. And Wayne saw the fire in them that every Warrior knows. With a simple head nod, Tibble said, “It will be done.”

  * * *

  As the celebration was in full swing, Wayne sat back and listened to all the stories being told of the young Dwarves who lost their lives so recently. After each story the Dwarves would yell out an emphatic “Huzzah!” and move on to the next story. It was a wake like none other. And the Dwarves sure could put down the booze.

  Half way through the party, or there a bout, Tibble asked if he could see the mighty war hammer that Wayne carried with him where ever he went. Wayne held out the item so Tibble could inspect it.

  “This is a well done piece of work Naugha. Not quite Dwarven standards, but you know a Dwarf would never toil with such dark magics. It isn’t in our nature. Be aware that there is a darkness within this weapon.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out when I pried it out of the dead hands of a dark being!” Wayne said rather loudly. Wayne had been trying to match the Dwarves drink for drink, and was more than a little inebriated.

  “Tell us the story Naugha!” one of the other Dwarves at the table yelled out.

  Wayne was hesitant at first, but the liquid courage in his system didn’t let that last long. Sitting amongst the Dwarves, while resting the mighty war hammer between his feet, head on the ground and handle in his hands, Wayne told of the fight against the undead at the castle and the defeat of the Undead Regent.

  “Huzzah! Huzzah!” was the response from the Dwarves as Wayne finished the tale. “Naugha the Undead slayer! Huzzah!”

  Tibble had a grand smile on his face, also likely the result of the amount of Brandy he had put down. “Your friends sound like fearsome adventurers, and together I imagine you are a formidable team.”

  Wayne’s inebriated state almost vanished completely. This was the moment. All of his efforts, from helping to mine the ore to setting up the feast, was in the hopes of getting a quest to liberate the mine the Dwarves had fled. “Each is as powerful, if not more so, than I. I would put them up against any foe brave Dwarf.”

  “Bah! Stop with the “brave Dwarf” nonsense. You are amongst friends here Naugha, you should be calling us by name,” Tibble responded.

  “Huzzah!”

  “Thank you Tibble. And as I said, my friends when alone are fearsome, but together we are a force on this land that is rivaled by none. And there is nothing we like more than a chance to prove it.”

  Tibble sat next to Wayne, looking him in the eyes, and thinking long and hard. “You’ve already done so much for this clan Naugha. Ya helped us to replenish our funds with the ore you’ve retrieved. Ya spoke words of praise to the men around you. And ya made it possible to send me brothers to their rest with the reverence they deserved. I be hesitant to ask ya fer more lad.”

  “Tibble, my friend,” Wayne said as he lifted his large hammer and rested it on his shoulders, then looked directly into Tibble’s eyes with what Dan referred to as The Eye of Naugha, “please, ask away.”

  “Ha! Ya wants to go hunt ‘em down already, don’t ya?”

  “Just been waiting for you to ask Tibble. Just been waiting for you to ask.”

  With an even grander twinkle in his eye, Tibble asked Wayne, “How long ya think yer friends need to get here?”

  * * *

  September 16th, 2043

  After hearing Wayne’s story, we were definitely all in. After grouping up the next day, we rode out to the mine where Wayne had met the Dwarves. We could see them from a short distance and it looked like they all had stopped working to come out and greet our group.

  Wayne stepped down from his horse and approached an older Dwarf I was guessing was Tibble. The two clasped forearms together, followed by Wayne turning toward us and saying, “My good friend Tibble, these are my friends. They have heard the tale of what happened to your clan and have agreed to right the wrongs that took place. We are all at your service.”

  “Any friend of Naugha is a friend of the East Range Mountain Dwarf Clan, I tell ya. It is too much that ya’ll are willing to do, but we won’t turn down the offer of four brave adventurers to assist us in our time of need. And a fearsome lot you definitely look. With Naugha leading the way, I don’t see how those beasts…”

  Tibble suddenly stopped speaking and looked past Naugha and further into the woods. I expected Dan to be doing something that would have drawn Tibble’s attention, but when I looked over at Dan he was calmly sitting upon his horse. When I looked closer, I saw Tibble was staring at Jason.

  “Naugha…Naugha, you told me you rode with a healer, but ya didn’t say ya had a great Cleric in your midst.” By this point all of the other Dwarves were staring at Jason as well. It was putting Jason ill at ease. But before any of us could comment, Tibble approached Jason with his hands clasped before him and his eyes down cast.

  “That be the work of Grumblewat, in’it?”

  Realization dawned on me. Of course the Dwarves would revere the works of one of their greatest Blacksmiths. And the Shoulders Jason was wearing were from not one of their greatest, but arguably The Greatest Dwarven Blacksmith. Jason recognized this immediately as well, and nodded his head sagely to Tibble. “When we have time my new friend, I will be honored to have you, and any of your clan, inspect my windfall.”

  “Many thanks. I am honored.” Tibble turned back to Wayne and said, “It ain’t just any healer that can wear something like this Naugha, the wearer must be a great Cleric.”

  “BOOM!” said Dan. “I told you Alli, I straight told you! All my hard work at the Tavern telling everyone how awesome you are as a Cleric has paid off. Even the Dwarves know you are the shit! The Great Cleric Allister! You can totally thank me later!”

  Tibble looked very confused, which means he could easily be any other person in my group when it came to understanding Dan, to include me. I wanted to get in front of any more discussions and approached Tibble myself.

  “We have heard of what happened brave Dwarf, and we would like to help liberate the mine where you and your kinsmen were attacked. Please lead the way and we will see what challenges we face.”

  “Bah! You too with the ‘brave Dwarf’ nonsense! Call me Tibble.”

  “Many thanks Tibble, and please call me Alex. I know you are already well acquainted with our companion Naugha, and the stories of our adventures. So unless you want to hear that one speak more nonsense,” pointing a finger Dan’s way, “I would like to hear about this mine in more detail.”

  Dan crossed his arms over his chest and pouted after my comment. I didn’t know if he was going to get off his horse and join us, but I did hear him say as Jason was passing, “I totally stoked your rep Allister, I expect to be thanked handsomely.”

  “Only thing that would be handsome about you Dan!” Jason said while walking by and laughing. Dan just started pouting more.

  * * *

  Tibble rehashed the story a second time for my
group so we knew exactly what we were going up against. According to Tibble, us adventurers would face Orckin, a bastard off shoot to the surface Orcs that fled to the mountains centuries ago. These beasts dwelled deep under the earth and tended to war primarily with the darker races that rarely saw the light of day. As Tibble explained to Wayne, it was the noise created by the Dwarves that likely led to the Orckin coming out of the ground.

  After Tibble had finished going over the story, we sat around the fire and talked through a strategy for the next day. Wayne was fired up after hearing Tibble tell his story for the second time and was ready to rush in with his hammer swinging. It took Jason, me, and even Dan, to be the voices of reason with him. He finally came around after a time and conceded that scouting out the cave was in everyone’s best interest.

  I planned to make my way throughout the cave complex in my Blacksuit. The way Tibble told the story, I was a bit worried that these mobs may even be above our levels. But there was no way we would back down from this fight. Mostly because we knew Wayne would likely try to do it with or without us.

  After logging out for the night and catching a few winks, my companions and I logged backed on ready to take on the Orckin. We traveled by foot to the cave entrance, as Tibble said he didn’t remember where the exact location was on a map, but could lead us there on foot. It only took us an hour and we all passed the time chatting with the Dwarves and learning the history of their clan.

  We knew the minute we arrived. The entrance to the cave was littered with the goods the Dwarves were forced to leave behind. And while thankfully there were no bodies in front of the cave, there was what appeared to be Dwarven blood on the sides of the cave entrance.

  “I don’t think I need to be tellin’ ya that this be the place. Inside them caves be the bodies of our kin and the beasts that killed them. I don’t rightly feel good about this, but I’m askin’ for yer help. Can ya liberate the cave of dem Orckin?”

  “We thank you for taking us all this way Tibble. You know we probably wouldn’t have found the place without you. But now is the time for my companions and I to do what it is that we do best. We will liberate the cave of the Orckin.”

  The golden glow of a quest surrounded us. My group turned toward the entrance of the cave and began to walk toward the darkness. I planned to stop the group just outside the mouth of the cave and begin my scouting run. As we walked away, I said to Tibble, “Be well my new friend. And know that once this mine is cleared our first stop will be your campsite so you may return in begin again in earnest!”

  I made it three more steps before I heard behind me, “Are you bloody daft boy!?”

  CHAPTER 22

  September 17th, 2043

  “Naugha, what did I tell ya was the three things every Dwarf love to be doing?”

  Wayne looked over at the group, and then back to the Dwarves who were making their way to the entrance of the cave. Wayne then got a huge smile on his face that went from ear to ear. “Blacksmithing. Battle. And Booze. In that order.”

  “And we’ll have time for the Blacksmithing later. We done the boozing already. Today, me and my kin are ready for battle!”

  A message appeared before my eyes as I watched the Dwarves continue toward the mouth of the cave.

  You have begun a Non-Player Character assisted raid. The Non-Player Characters will be under your command and subservient to your orders. The Non-Player Characters will not receive experience as a part of this raid. Please see the manual for raid commands.

  I quickly looked at the quest menu and saw that we indeed had a maximum of 24 players that could take part in this raid. Twenty of them were the Dwarves, and the other four were my group. “Did you guys just get that message?”

  They all nodded that they had.

  “Dan.”

  “On it, reading the manual about raids now.”

  With that covered I turned back to our new companions.

  “I know you are all itching for a fight. I understand that. And I welcome that fire. But this group operates as a single element. So when we do this, I need you to follow my directions. I know little about Blacksmithing and Mining, Tibble. But I know how to best do this. Will your clan be able to follow my instructions?”

  “Aye Alex, that won’t be a problem. We may be weak as fighters, but we’ll back ya up and stomp on these bastards wherever you put us. Just lead the way.”

  “Got it Alex. So it’s a lot like when we first started playing and we wanted to make sure we were all fighting the same mob. You just need to dedicate individuals, or groups, or even one group, and command them to attack. You can easily do it through the verbal commands. Like saying, ‘Tibble, attack target’ and he will attack whatever target you have chosen. You can even make Tibble the representative for a set number of NPCs and when you tell Tibble to attack, the rest of them will too.”

  “Ok. This is going to suck for my scouting if I want to go out and track mob movements. But hopefully with the addition of twenty more blades, well pick axes, we won’t need to do as much scouting. In fact, there may be points where I have to step back from fighting so I can manage the flow of the battle. Especially on boss fights.”

  Tibble and his Dwarves stood by patiently while my group discussed our strategy, but they all had a look of readiness and a fire in their eyes that said they were ready to show the Orckin what it meant by “you reap what you sow.”

  After talking through our strategy for a few more minutes, I decided it was time for me to scout out the interior of the cave. I ordered our new companions to wait by the mouth while I ventured into the cavern. At Level 16, and with my bonuses, I was now moving at 100 percent speed while in my Blacksuit.

  The air inside the cave was damp, which explained the perspiration that was dripping off of the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. There weren’t any stalagmites at the entrance, but I ventured there would be some as we moved farther in. There was also no sign of the Orckin just inside the cave.

  I continued down the only passage available and found the first set of mobs after turning a corner. Due to my Blacksuit they couldn’t see me. Which was good, since both of the Orckin Marauders were Yellow to me. I continued past the two mobs and encountered another set of mobs, this time four at an intersection of the main tunnel and two side passages. I waited for two more minutes before they split off and went down separate passages. They returned after one minute. This was going to be a tough pull and would have to be timed perfectly. First we needed to make sure we pulled the first two when these mobs split so as not to get aggro through proximity and end up pulling six instead of two. Then it looked like we would need to branch off into one of the other passages and kill the mobs in place so as not to pull aggro from the other patrol. Being able to scout while doing this mission would have been key if I wasn’t already babysitting 20 Level 10 Dwarves with a pick to grind.

  I scouted a bit further. There were no other roving patrols that overlapped with the two that went down the side passages. At least in this way we knew we could tackle the two without having to worry about aggro from more wanderers. It would be close, but as long as we could finish the two in the hallway before the other patrol made it back to the intersection we should be able to kill the mobs before the other two aggro’ed. The addition of the extra attack power thanks to the Dwarves would help with this, but it would also increase the range of aggro.

  I returned to the main cavern entrance and told my group what we were in for. Dan listened intently and didn’t much like the situation. He would be able to kite one of the two that we brought to the mouth of the cavern, but after that all bets were off. It would require Wayne to tank both mobs and for Jason to be extra vigilant with his healing. There wasn’t going to be any of our usual banter.

  I explained the situation to Tibble and the Dwarves and received multiple nods of understanding. I went over the hierarchy again, emphasizing the importance of following all orders. It likely wasn’t necessary since they would follow the rules
of the game, and I had placed all of them into, what was essentially, one group. Before beginning our raid, I had an additional thought and called Dan over.

  “You read all of the manual on these NPC assisted raids yeah?”

  Dan nodded his head that he had.

  “Ok. So what happens if I die? I’ll end up respawning in Port Town and won’t be able to help with the raid. Will the Dwarves just follow whoever is the raid leader if I simply switch that job to you?”

  Dan thought about it for a few moments and then determined that would work. For that reason, I set up our own hierarchy. Dan, Jason, and Wayne, in that order, would be responsible for our raid if each of us fell. I didn’t have any plans on dying, but I thought it was prudent to be prepared.

  And with that we were ready to start the raid.

  * * *

  “This sucks. Like, a lot.”

  My group looked over at me with sympathy. They knew I took on the mantle of group leader with reservation, but only did so because of my higher Chance. And it was true that during fights I tended to be the task master at handing out assignments for each member. Even in our larger raids. But again, this was largely a byproduct of the fact that I was the only member who could go idle long enough to look at the entirety of a situation. Wayne was usually Tanking, Jason was healing, and Dan was kiting a mob. Therefore, I was the only guy who could look at things with an overall perspective. And while I was good at the role, I didn’t see myself as the ultimate in leadership.

  That’s why this whole situation with having to manage an additional twenty players was getting on my nerves.

  The movement through the caves was slow going due largely in part to my need to scout out each area in front of us. After that, I had to ensure that our Dwarven friends were actively targeting the right mobs, and that Wayne could maintain aggro on the mobs with no problems. It left me little time to add my damage to the fights. And I might not get all crazy about battle like Wayne did, but I still loved to get in there and attack at will.