Labyrinth to Tartarus: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 3)
Page 32
Hawke checked the straps. Several had come loose, and he couldn’t tighten them all without bending too far down and risking falling off.
“Nah. Take me down, please. I’ll see if we can fix the saddle and harness on the ground.”
Hawke didn’t have to ask where the Drakofox had gotten that bit of dialog. When he and Blaze had imprinted on each other, they had forged a psychic connection as strong as the one between him and Saturnyx. And now that Blaze had become an Ethereal Drakofox, capable of reading minds, Hawke’s brain was an open book to the giant fuzzball. All kinds of trivia had found their way to the white-furred monster. It would be more annoying, or even worrisome, if Blaze wasn’t devoted to him, and vice versa.
Taking care not to toss him off the loose saddle, Blaze descended toward the road where the caravan was making its way to Akila. They were on the third day of the seven-day trip, assuming the weather held out. They had left the Sunset Valley Domain a day ago; the Legion’s Highway they were using was in poor shape that far from town or even friendly villages. Even Roman-style roads began to fall apart if nobody maintained them. As a result, the nine-wagon caravan was moving at little better than a walking pace. Hawke was using the opportunity to practice his dragon-riding skills, just in case he found a dragon he could ride at some point.
“Watch it, furball,” he said with a grin as he walked to rejoin the travelers.
The lead wagon was manned by Korgam Stern, a Dwarven Adventurer who led the local chapter of the Stern Company, a mining and mercenary consortium dominated by an extended family. He handled the two horses pulling the large covered vehicle with the ease of someone who has done a lot of traveling. His red beard was currently divided into two braids dangling from his chin. In combat, he would tie the braids behind his neck, using the thick matted hair as an extra cushion between his neck and his heavy armor.
“Look at ye, coming down from the sky like something out of an epic song,” Korgam told Hawke.
“Yeah, you should have seen me trying not to lose my lunch and crap my pants when I was up there,” he replied, walking alongside the wagon and easily keeping up with it. “Songs don’t mention that part, do they?”
The Dwarf laughed. “The drinking songs do, the ones composed by those who did some of the deeds they sing about.”
“Good to know.”
Korgam’s wagon was full or ingots of iron, copper and silver. There were even a couple of gold ingots, each worth close to two thousand gold denars. Hawke knew the miners had also gathered some mithril, but they were keeping that in ore form, because a high-level Arcane Smith could improve the metal magically during the smelting process. Nobody in Orom was qualified for that sort of work, so the untreated ore was sitting in a strongbox at the bottom of the wagon.
Hawke looked back at the other wagons, strung out in a loose line that stretched over a couple hundred feet from end to end. Tava was riding Luna on the ground, staying off the road and trailing the caravan to keep everyone safe.
The vehicles held local wares for sale in the big city: furs, rare herbs and other alchemical components, barrels of olive oil, which had dozens of uses and were always in demand, honey and beeswax, also valuable, and a few other things. Other than the alchemical components, none of the stuff was worth a lot of money; most of the merchants who had joined the caravan were looking to buy stuff in Akila rather than sell. They were bringing some goods mostly to help defray their costs. Their plan was to come back with tools, barrels of wine, fabrics, and other items that Orom couldn’t produce, at least not in the quantity that the people of the valley – and more recently, the Arachnoid tribes in the surrounding mountains – needed.
One of the wagons held Arachnoid trade goods. The spider people had domesticated a variety of subterranean critters that produced all kinds of exotic stuff. Instead of wood, for example, they used assorted kinds of chitin or resin that one of their equivalents of sheep secreted. The materials were tough, lighter than wood, and nearly waterproof. As soon as trade opened between the two communities, one of the local merchants had realized the potential for the plastic-like components and had enough of them to fill a wagon, to see what prices they could command in the big city. If the investment paid off, the Arachnoids would do very well. They had little use for coin, but their aversion toward mining meant they were always short of metal weapons and tools. Trade would improve everyone’s lives on both sides of the equation. That was the sort of situation that made Hawke glad to be in charge of a Domain.
He frowned at the thought of what was waiting for him in Akila. In the big city, Kaiser Wrecker and his gang of thugs was only looking for ways for make themselves prosper, no matter who suffered for it.
Hawke didn’t know if he was strong enough to stop them, but he intended to try.
Glossary of Game Terms
Adds: Enemy reinforcements that a Boss can call upon when facing a party.
Aggro: Also known as ‘hate’ or ‘threat.’ In games, the amount of attention a player attracts from computer-generated enemies. Player characters who attract (‘draw’) the most aggro will be attacked first.
AOE: Short for ‘area of effect.’ A spell or ability that harms or otherwise affects all targets (or sometimes, only designated enemies) in an area (typically a circle with a fixed radius), as opposed to those that only affect a single target.
Boss: A powerful enemy that must be overcome to advance on a quest or a dungeon crawl. Bosses are tougher than regular NPCs, have special abilities and often can call additional monsters to come to their aid.
Casual: A player who doesn’t devote a great deal of time and energy in a game, playing it occasionally and not putting in the effort and research necessary to progress to the upper limits of the game. They are usually held in contempt by more dedicated gamers.
Class: A profession or specialty for characters in roleplaying games. Classes have specific abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. In most games, selecting a Class defines someone’s Player Character, determining what spells, skills, and equipment they can wield.
DOT: Short for Damage over Time. A spell or ability that inflicts damage spread over time, doing a ‘tick’ of damage every few moments.
DPS: Short for Damage Per Second. The average amount of damage (most games express this numerically) that a character can generate in a second. Also used to refer to character who focus on inflicting damage, usually at the expense of other things like survivability.
Endgame: In MMORPG, the settings and challenges the game offers to player characters that have reached the maximum level allowed by the setting. Endgame often revolves around the accumulation of high-end weapons and other gear, progress in sub-systems that work like levels but tend to be more specialized, or completing certain difficult tasks.
Experience: An in-game reward for performing certain tasks, such as completing Quests, defeating characters in combat, making discoveries, or using skills in the course of a game. Once enough experience is accumulated, the character will gain a new level (see below).
Level: A measure of the power and experience of a character in a roleplaying game. In most games, player characters start at first level and gain new levels by accumulating Experience. Each additional level grants new spells, abilities, and other bonuses.
HOT: Short for Heal over Time. A healing spell or effect that keeps healing the target over a period of time, applying healing ‘ticks’ every few moments until the effect expires.
MMORPG: Massive Multi-User Online Roleplaying Game. A game that requires and
online connection and allows multiple players to interact with each other and the game’s shared environment. Roleplaying games focus on a single character under each player’s control.
Noob (n00b, newb): Newbie. A beginner player.
NPC: Non-player character. A computer-controlled character in a game setting, capable only of whatever actions or responses it is programmed to produce.
Party: A team of player characters that join forces to overcome bigger challenges.
PC: Player Character. In most roleplaying games, each player is in control over one character and uses it to interact with the game world and other Player and Non-player characters.
PVE: Player-versus-environment. Game situations where PCs are in conflict with computer-generated characters or situations rather than with each other.
PVP: Player-versus-player. Combat and conflict involving player characters. Some games restrict player-versus-player fights to certain areas of the game world, or require the consent of all players involved to take effect.
Raid: A large-scale event where multiple players (sometimes dozens of them) join forces to confront very dangerous enemies. Raids typically involve formidable Bosses and reward participants with some of the best prizes in a game.
Respawning: Many games allow player characters that are ‘killed’ to return to the game (respawning). The process may take the revived characters to a ‘respawning point’ or bring him back to the place where they died.
Spawn Camping: A generally disliked practice in some PVP games where enemy players go to a respawning point and kill newly-resurrected PCs as soon as they respawn.
Tank: A character that focuses on survivability through heavy armor, defensive magic, or class abilities, as well as in drawing aggro/hate from computer-generated enemies. Usually does less damage or is less effective for other purposes.
Tanking: Safeguarding other player characters by drawing aggro, resulting in most enemies attacking the ‘tank’ while ignoring more fragile characters.
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