VEIL Online - Book 1

by Cressman, John

  He didn’t have to wait long before two goblins came down the path from the goblin village. They didn’t seem very alert and they walked right past Jace without noticing him. Jace moved silently up behind them and struck down out with his rapier and rat dagger, aiming one weapon at each goblin.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin for 17 damage.

  Firebelly Goblin dies.

  You gain 20 experience.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin for 9 damage.

  The goblin he had struck with his rapier dropped with a sound. The other goblin screeched and spun around, its eyes going to Jace’s bare legs and loincloth. The moment of gawking at Jace cost the goblin.

  Jace used his Vanish ability to disappear. He then stabbed both his weapons into the goblin, dropping it next to its companion.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin for 16 damage.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin for 7 damage.

  Firebelly Goblin dies.

  You gain 20 experience.

  “Watch for more goblins,” he told Luna, who dutifully began to look towards the village and sniff the air.

  Bending over the bodies, Jace quickly looted them. He received four gold, a short sword and helmet. He held up the helmet and looked down at his bare legs and feet. Of course, it would be a helmet. Trying not to think how ridiculous he must look he equipped the crude goblin helmet.

  “Any sign of other goblins?” Jace asked Luna silently.

  “No,” she told him, her nose still sniffing the air.

  Jace dragged the bodies to the pit and threw them in. Using the leafy branch, he obscured any signs of a struggle and wiped away his tracks.

  He took his position in some thick brushes and sent Luna closer to the goblin village to see whether more goblins came to investigate and if so, how many. His mana had completely regenerated by then so he clanged the cups together again and waited.

  “More goblins,” he heard Luna say in his mind. “Two.”

  Jace used the tactic as before, killing both goblins with barely any noise. This time he was slightly luckier and received a pair of boots from one of them.

  He also received a sling but since he didn’t have the Missile Weapons skill, it was useless to him.

  After cleaning up the area, Jace was able to do the same routine again but the third time, there were three goblins and they had their weapons out. One of the goblins was larger than the other and his HUD identified it as a warrior. That one would be the toughest.

  Jace carefully watched them pass him, ready to bolt if he was discovered. Yet despite being alert, they didn’t detect Jace in his hiding spot and as they passed. Jace stepped in behind the large one and stabbed it with both of his weapons.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin Warrior for 17 damage.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin Warrior for 9 damage.

  The goblin cried out in pain but didn’t die. That was not good. He had been counting on taking out the lead goblin with his first strike and then dealing with the other two with his Vanish skill. He grimaced. The best laid plans of mice and men.

  The moment of surprise ended as the goblins turned to confront their attacker. Before they attacked, Jace did some quick calculations in his head. Long hours of playing the game helped him as he quickly formulated a plan.

  Popping his Vanish and savoring the look of surprise on the goblin’s faces, he drove his dagger into the warrior, while simultaneously running through the goblin on his right with his rapier.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin Warrior for 9 damage.

  Firebelly Goblin Warrior dies.

  You gain 30 experience.

  You critically stab Firebelly Goblin for 18 damage.

  Firebelly Goblin dies.

  You gain 20 experience.

  The warrior and the goblin he’d struck both collapsed onto the group but Jace couldn’t avoid the spear of the remaining goblin as it caught him in the chest.

  Firebelly Goblin stabs YOU for 4 damage.

  As if the explosion of pain wasn’t bad enough, the remaining goblin began to scream at the top of his lungs. “Hoo-mons! Hoo-mons! Help! Help!”

  Jace used his remaining mana to activate Vanish again and stabbed the goblin through its black heart. The thing dropped bonelessly to the ground.

  Luna’s frantic voice popped into his head. “More goblins! Many!”

  “Come back to me,” he told the cat and looted the bodies so quickly, he wasn’t even sure what he received. He and Luna retreated to the river and then walked a hundred yards down river and hid in some bushes, watching the area with the pit.

  Within minutes, a group of a dozen goblins appeared and began chattering as soon as they came across the bodies. Among them, one seemed to be giving orders and Jace pegged it as the shaman from its feathered headdress.

  As the goblins spread out searching for him, Jace decided to circle around and head back to the village. Then he paused. He ran the numbers in his head. He’d killed seven goblins and there were about a dozen currently looking for him. How many were there back in the camp? A dozen? It was a big camp for a dozen goblins to guard.

  Changing his mind, he circled back towards the camp. While so many of the goblins were out here searching for him, it was time to get some payback for Aiden and Chastity.

  Jace made a wide arch around and came at the village from the opposite side. He moved as quickly as possible without giving away his position. Creeping up to the wood fencing, Jace made sure there were no goblins within eyeshot and cast a Flame Bolt at the thatch roof of the cabin and then cast another at the hut nearest it. He quickly re-stealthed and crept along the parameter, but towards the gate.

  Behind him, he heard the commotion as goblins realized the buildings were on fire and went to try and extinguish the fire. By then, he’d move fifty yards along the fence and, drawing on Luna’s mana, Jace cast Flame Bolts at two more huts, setting their roofs ablaze too.

  “Poetic justice?” Jace asked Luna.

  The cat considered the growing flames with her feline eyes. “Yes.”

  As more anarchy ensued, Jace crept back to the cover of the forest and then made a wide arc back to the river. He stayed in stealth until he was back on the trail. Once he was a few hundred yards up the trail, he figured it was safe enough to pick up the pace and then jogged the rest of the way to Aiden and Chastity’s farm.

  Looking at the destroyed farmhouse, Jace stopped in his tracks. He’d been so intent on getting some more equipment and getting revenge on the goblins, he hadn’t really thought of the consequences. What if they formed a large war party and came to burn more farms? With a crazy player in charge of the goblins, who could guess what the guy would do?

  He cursed himself for his short-sightedness. His actions may inadvertently cause an even larger attack on the farms, and possibly the village. He looked around and then crept over to the barn where he heard snoring. The two farmers were cuddled up on some blankets in the hay.

  Should he wake them and warn them? He wasn’t even sure whether or not the goblins would come. He should just let them sleep. But that meant he needed to stay and watch over things and make sure he could warn them if the goblins did come.

  He looked up into the sky and checked the position of the moons. He still had a few hours before daylight. He made his way to the tree that Charlena had used when they’d attacked the goblins and climbed up. From his perch in the tree, he would maintain his vigil until the farmers awakened.

  Chapter 32

  Jace waited until daybreak but there was no sign of the goblins. He had lots of time to think during the hours before dawn and he’s considering many possibilities. At one point, a few hours ago, he’d sent Luna to check the other farms in the area. Considering how insane the player was leading the goblins, he thought they might attack farms at random. But no attack had come.

  During the hours, he’d had a chance to go back and take a look at what he’d looted. He’d gotten 7 gol
d, a shortbow, an axe and another goblin jerkin. That was two items he couldn’t use and one he didn’t need. And he would have traded them all for a pair of pants.

  Just after sunrise, Aiden and Chastity had awakened and started to do their farm chores. It hadn’t taken them long to see Jace in the tree.

  Aiden walked over to the tree and called to him. “Son,” he yelled up. “Is there some particular reason you’re half naked up in our tree?”

  Sighing, Jace climbed down. “I was keeping an eye out for more goblins.”

  “You think they might come back?” asked the man, clearly alarmed.

  “Remember when you told me you wanted revenge?” Jace asked.

  The man nodded.

  “Last night, I killed seven more of them and set several of their huts on fire,” he told the man. “Including the goblin leader’s.”

  “Did you now,” the man grinned. “I reckon that’s good revenge. That’ll teach those goblins to kill my poor defenseless Bessy!”

  You have gained a level.

  You are now level 3 in Rogue.

  You gain 8 health.

  You gain 4 mana.

  You have gained a new ability: Backstab I

  “And tell your elf friend that I’d like to thank her too,” he told Jace. “When you see her.”

  Jace hardly heard Aiden. The experience from the quest pushed him to Rogue level 3, giving him 8 more health and 4 more mana. More importantly, he’d also gained the Backstab ability, which would allow him to do triple damage when attacking from behind. At the moment, it wasn’t much more damage than a critical strike, but the higher level he achieved, the more damage it would do.

  “I’ll tell her,” Jace assured the old man. “I need to go into town and um… buy some pants.”

  “I reckon you do,” Aiden agreed and left to help his wife with the chores.

  Jace left their farm and went back into town. He ignored the stares of the villagers and went straight to the apothecary. Once again, he banged on the door until the rotund mayor answered it.

  “Oh,” said the mayor, breaking into a grin. “It’s you! I heard you drove off those goblins but not before they burned down the couple’s home. A pity but at least they're alive!”

  You have completed the quest, “When Goblins Attack”

  You gain 400 experience. Experience to next level 1510.

  You gain +100 faction with Residents of Sinking Springs

  You gain +100 faction with Absalom

  Jace nodded and caught the mayor’s eyes flit down to his bear legs.

  “Ah well,” the Absalom said. “Come in! Come in!”

  Absalom didn’t wait for Jace but turned and hurried to the back of his shop where he disappeared into another room. Jace and Luna were left in the main area, waiting for the mayor to return.

  It took several minutes for him to emerge, but when Absalom finally did, Jace smiled broadly. In the mayor’s arms was a pair of leather leggings. Finally, he’d have some pants again.

  The mayor handed him the pants. “These go with the jerkin. It looks like you could use them.” He then pulled out a pouch of gold and handed it to Jace. Jace received both items and immediately equipped the leather leggings. He felt so much better being fully clothed.

  You receive 100 gold

  You receive leather leggings

  “Thank you again for helping poor Aiden and Chastity,” the mayor told him. “Now, I must be getting back to my…”

  “When is the next caravan,” Jace asked the mayor before the man could usher him out of the apothecary.

  He knew he now had the 150 gold it would cost to hitch a ride on the caravan that would hopefully take him to the capital.

  The mayor stopped and blinked. “The caravan?”

  “Yes,” Jace confirmed. “When does it arrive? I’d like to get a ride to the capital.”

  “Whitecliff?” said the mayor. “That’s a goodly distance. Yes, yes. Let’s see, the caravan.” The man tapped his head. “Oh yes, it was just through here a week ago. So, it will be back in… Uh… A month and three weeks!”

  Jace just stared at the mayor. “A month and three weeks?”

  “Yes. It was last in just before you and the elf arrived. “It takes a month to get back to the Whitecliff and a month to get back here, so that would be … about a month, three weeks and a few days.”

  He felt his shoulders slump. Almost two months? It would be almost two months before he could catch a caravan to the capital? Sinking Springs must be on the outer boundaries of Aldor, the human kingdom. He was more familiar with the Visimar, the vampire nation that Mordred was from but he had been to Aldor for higher level quests. In fact, he’d found one of the pieces of the Kobadera set in the human kingdom.

  He sighed. Travelling at higher levels was much easier. Players could pay a few thousand gold to a high level mage and they could teleport their entire group. There were also mage gates in every capital that allowed travel to any other capital in your faction. Add in ships, horses, flying mounts and special teleportation items and there were many ways mid to high level characters could get around the world easily.

  Unfortunately, he was not a mid or high level character at the moment. He was a low level character with not even two hundred gold. Did he wait two months? Or brave the wild lands? Would Charlena come with him? It would be dangerous. Very dangerous. He’d need to talk to her.

  The mayor cleared his throat. “Milord Dedrurrurth, are you okay?”

  Jace snapped back to where he was and saw that the mayor was staring at him expectantly.

  “I’m sorry,” Jace apologized. “What did you ask?

  “I asked if you were okay,” the mayor said. “You looked quite crestfallen just now.”

  Jace nodded. “Sorry, I had been hoping to get to the capital sooner.”

  Absalom nodded. “Yes, well, it is a long journey and getting goods is sometimes a pain, but we do like our privacy out here on the border.”

  Jace perked up. “This is the border?”

  The mayor nodded. “Oh yes, to the east are the Outlands. Monsters of all sorts call those lands home. But we are a rugged folk here in Sinking Springs.”

  The Outlands. That meant Jace was on the far eastern edge of Kushor, probably the furthest he could be from Whitecliff and still be in the human kingdom. No wonder it took two months for the caravan to get from Sinking Springs to Whitecliff and back.

  “I’m okay,” Jace told the mayor. “I just forgot how far away I was.”

  “Understandable,” Absalom told him and glanced at the door.

  Jace understood the hint. Absalom wanted him to leave so he could get back to, well whatever the man got up to get his apothecary. Looking around, he was suddenly curious exactly what the mayor did in here.

  “Mayor,” he looked at the squat man. “What exactly do you do with all this equipment?”

  The mayor looked surprised but quickly recovered. “I am working on a new alchemical mixture. One that will make me both rich and famous!”

  “What kind of alchemical mixture?” Jace asked, impressed.

  “I am working on a formula which will, when taken, fortify the body, mind and spirit,” the mayor said excitedly. “Permanently.”

  “Permanently?” Jace looked at him quizzically. There were already various potions that could temporarily increase attributes. If Absalom created an alchemical potion that did so permanently, he’d have every player knocking on his door. Of course, that was assuming he could create such a mixture. Could the Game AI create new potions? Or did the developers have to add those to the game? It was an interesting question. One he could have asked the developers if he were still alive.

  He smiled at the mayor. “That sounds incredible. Have you made any progress?”

  Now it was the mayor’s turn to be crestfallen. “Some, but it’s slow. As I just mentioned, the caravans take two months to return so getting rare ingredients has been trying. But I’ll figure it out eventually.”

>   “I really need some Opigon,” the mayor told him. “But it’s such a rare plant and the only known samples have been found in the Outlands.”

  Jace raised an eyebrow. “Is that why you came here?”

  The mayor laughed mirthlessly. “Of course. I thought there would be adventurers coming out here, going into the Outlands all the time.”

  “But no one comes out this way.”.

  “Exactly. Adventurers don’t come out here at all. Well, present company excluded of course. And on the few occasions they did come out, they appear out of thin air, mount their horses and ride off before I even get a chance to talk with them.”

  “What does this…”

  “Opigon,” the mayor supplied helpfully.

  “What does this Opigon look like?” Jace asked. If he ended up sticking around, maybe he could go hunt for some.

  The mayor described it as a seven pointed leaf that sounded to Jace like a cannabis leaf, only it was black with red around the edges and tips. He made a mental note of it and would keep an eye open for it.

  “If you come across any,” the mayor said. “Make sure you handle it with extreme care. They are very fragile. And bring it back to me as soon as possible.”

  Jace agreed and left the mayor’s lab. He went back to the store, where he brought another fishing pole, a frying pan and spatula, as well as another coil of rope to replace the items he’d lost to the goblins.

  Leaving the store, Jace checked the time. He still had a few hours before Charlena would log in and he wanted to do a little recon of the goblin camp before she did. Who knew what that crazy player leading the goblins would do.

  Before he left, he decided to go to the tavern and eat. Jace was starting to feel hungry and he knew it wouldn’t be too long before he’d get the debuff. He started to walk over when he heard his name being called. It was distant and he could barely make it out, but it was definitely someone calling his name. And not his character name, his real name. It sounded like Charlena.