The Mountain Valley War

by M. A. Carlson

Subskill: Analyze Mana

  Skill Effect (Passive): Enables you to see target Mana

  Subskill: Dark Sight

  Skill Effect (Passive): Enables you to see better in darkness

  Subskill: See Injustice

  Skill Effect (Passive): Enables you to see better in criminals

  Subskill: See Intrigue

  Skill Effect (Passive): Enables you to look at a person or item and spot unusual behavior or out of place details.

  Of course, there were several interesting skills that fell under the major category ‘Perception’ and each one had proven useful time and again. Perhaps it was time to train the skill up more if Heath was able to hide from me again.

  Heath shrugged. “I figured it might be a good idea to know where we’re staying. It also occurred to me, I could get lost trying to find my way here or I might get locked out of town.”

  “And you needed to be in ‘Stealth’ to do that?” Rose asked, glaring at the Thief.

  “Training, mates, always need to be training,” Heath retorted, a crooked grin set to his mouth.

  I wanted to question Heath further but that could wait. Barkley looked like he was about to excuse himself.

  “Wait a second, Barkley, how did you get here before us? You were still at the house when we left?” I asked, circling back to my original surprise of seeing him.

  “When you left, I delivered the Mistress’s bonuses to the staff then collected her belongings as well as my own. I left not long after you did,” Barkley answered.

  I suppose that might make sense. We did run a number of errands before stepping through that portal. It was possible he got here before us.

  “Barkley has served me for years,” Mardi offered. “He has been an irreplaceable member of my household. I tend to take him with me everywhere.”

  “Thank you for the kind words ma’am,” Barkley said, bowing slightly. “I have notified the rest of the staff of the end of their vacations. Magda has already resumed her duty in the kitchen and will prepare dinner this evening. Sabine has been dropping by to do basic cleaning while you were away, she was here earlier and changed all the bedding. The rest of the staff will report in the morning.”

  “Excellent work as always, Barkley, thank you for your hard work. I promise, as soon as we have defeated Anvilton, you will get a well-deserved vacation,” said Mardi.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Barkley replied dutifully. “In the meantime, I have prepared refreshments in the sitting room.”

  “You know me too well, Barkley, thank you,” said Mardi, nodding kindly to her butler. “For today, let us get you settled in, I am sure after all the earlier excitement you could stand a drink and some fun, maybe even a little celebrating.”

  “Now you’re speaking my language,” cheered Micaela, overexcited as always. “I can’t wait to try some of your Dwarven ales. I’ve got to see how well they stack up against an English bitter.”

  “Now, hold on just a minute,” said Olaf, sounding rather serious. “We can drink and have fun later. You might have forgotten, but just a couple of hours ago, most of us were killed by Anvilton. It’s a minor miracle Mardi survived long enough to make it home. And if not for Bye-bye and his hax spell, we would have died a lot faster and I can guarantee you the Duchess would be dead.”

  “But I did survive,” said Mardi, protesting Olaf being at all serious. “All of this can wait until morning. Also, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I have an army for a reason, and that army has a very capable and powerful General to lead it. You are adventurers, not soldiers. My military leadership will make the decisions about this war, not the adventurers, not even you.”

  It was a slap in the face. It was true, we weren’t military leaders, we didn’t know how to manage a large battlefield. I tried not to feel affronted by Mardi devaluing us like that, but I also knew just how badly she was underestimating gamers, the player killers and non-player killers alike. We generally assumed we were smarter than any AI controlled monster or NPC. While I may understand and know that is not the case in the World Tree Online, most of the other players didn’t know or just didn’t care.

  “No offense taken, but your General won’t be able to handle the other adventurers. They aren’t going to fight you on the open battlefield, they are going to attack you where you’re vulnerable, like they did today, ambushing us at the portal with overwhelming numbers or overwhelming level advantage,” Olaf challenged her. “You also have a problem with spies. How many people knew you were returning today? How did the adventurers know to be waiting? How did they know to prepare a second assault? You have a lot of problems with your plan to wage war, not to mention, even if you kill all the adventurers that side with Anvilton, they will just come back to life while your people will not. So, I suggest you hear what we have to contribute and use us to help you survive or I can promise you the adventurer mercenaries hired by Anvilton will overwhelm you and leave your city a shelled-out ruin suitable for only ghosts to call home.”

  Mardi glared at Olaf. “I no longer feel like having a drink. I believe, I shall retire for the evening. Barkley, have my meal brought up to my room.” With that, she turned and stormed away.

  “I don’t think she’s going to listen to us, mate,” said Heath, sounding somewhat solemn.

  “When the losses start piling up, she won’t have much of a choice,” said Olaf, confident in what he said but also sounding slightly remorseful. “In the meantime, we need to put together a plan to deal with whatever comes our way.”

  “Might as well make use of the sitting room,” said Micaela. “And, I don’t think a beer would be out of line.”

  Olaf snorted a laugh and shook his head. “Alright, but just one. We need clear heads. There is a lot to go over.”

  The sitting room was as eclectic as the rest of the converted temple. Micaela poured and handed each of us a beer from the keg that had been set out before she took a seat next to Olaf.

  Heath hunkered down in one corner of the room with his guitar in his lap. One hand plucking at the strings one by one while the other was twisting the tuning nuts until they sounded just the way he wanted them to.

  I sat on one of the couches and Rose naturally sat down next to me while Baby sat down next to her.

  “Right, so, anyone have a clue where to start?” Heath asked, setting his guitar aside.

  “I think you’re going to need to shadow the Duchess again,” said Olaf, rubbing his chin. “I think we can all agree the players from Anvilton are going to try to assassinate her. And as much as she will be guarded, I do worry whether they will be able to spot stealthy buggers like you.”

  “I’m pretty sure Mardi said her guards have gotten rather adept at dealing with assassins when the Ardentia Guild was hunting her,” said Heath. “Still, I’ll check out her defenses tomorrow just to be sure. Assuming they are adequate, what are my secondaries?”

  “Reporting to the Captain and seeing what she’s got for us,” said Olaf. “I get the feeling, after Mardi’s little speech there, the Captain is going to feel the same way.”

  “Which means grunt work,” added Micaela, picking up from where her husband finished. “Sadly, when it comes to most military organizations, they are very close-minded, especially when it comes to allowing outsiders to help. Major Daws was the exception to the rule, it was quite the shock when he allowed us to help, but given this is a game, he was probably programed to let us help. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right, military tends to adhere to a strict chain of command. The Duchess assigned us to a Captain of her military, high ranking enough that she’s showing us respect, but low ranking enough to get us out of the way.”

  “Which means we’re going to need to prove ourselves all over again, starting with that Captain,” finished Olaf.

  “And we prove ourselves by doing whatever quests the Captain gives us?” Heath asked.

  “No, we prove ourselves by doing whatever quests the Captain gives us, finding our own quests that help the town or
Captain, and by killing every Anvilton aligned player we come across,” said Olaf.

  “I was listening as Mardi gave us any little tidbits about the townspeople. There are a lot of strings to pull on,” I added. I understood Olaf’s plan well enough. For me, that meant I needed to do everything I could with my downtime to prove myself to the townsfolk and the military personnel, especially the Captain. That also meant, I would need to do everything in my power to learn about the Captain and find out her story.

  “We should also hit whatever makes for a library in this town,” Rose jumped in. “Knowing the history of Hurligville proved to be the key to breaking the curse of Hurlig Ridge. There may be something here as well.”

  “Anvilton’s history as well,” Baby chimed in. “The key might not be only on this side of the valley.”

  “Right, you should also check Anvilton’s history just in case,” said Rose, agreeing with her sister.

  I nodded my agreement. I would help Rose with it. Partly because my ‘Lore II’ profession leveled up through research like this and partly because there was a puzzle to be solved and my compulsion to solve puzzles made it nearly impossible to stay away.

  Lore II

  Level: 17

  Experience: 18.74%

  Professional Skill: Lore is the study of the history of the World Tree and its denizens.

  Subskill: Norse Mysticism III

  Your knowledge of the Ancient Norse language, history, runes and their Mythos has granted you a higher level of mastery. Knowledge of Norse Skills and Spells is greatly improved.

  Subskill: Ancient Vampin

  You have gain knowledge of the ancient language of the Vampires

  Subskill: Dwarven Mysticism III

  Your knowledge of the Ancient Dwarven language, history, runes and their Mythos has granted you a higher level of mastery. Knowledge of Dwarven Skills and Spells is greatly improved.

  Subskill: Greek Mysticism III

  Your knowledge of the Ancient Greek language, history, runes and their Mythos has granted you a higher level of mastery. Knowledge of Greek Skills and Spells is greatly improved.

  Subskill: Provincial Portals I

  Your knowledge of World Tree portals magic, mythos and science has granted you the ability to read the portals for destination information up to recommended levels 1-15. Chance to glean additional information: 11.70%

  I felt like we would probably end up stretched a little thin with everything that needed to be done but I had faith in my friends.

  “Everyone okay with this plan?” Olaf asked, looking around the room.

  “Works for me, mate,” said Heath.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I replied.

  “It’s a good plan, except for one thing,” said Rose.

  “What’s that?” Olaf asked, looking to the half-Vampire.

  “Training,” said Rose. “Honestly, we have all been a bit slack in our training. I know things were hectic in Root City, but now that we’re here. We need to make training a part of our everyday activities.”

  “I don’t know how much time we’ll have for training, Rose,” said Olaf. “Not if we are constantly questing and helping out around the city.”

  “It’s called multitasking,” said Rose. “For example, combat movement. We all know at least one skill for it, but I bet most of us only use it while in combat. That needs to change, we should be using it all the time. Baby, you can cast your ‘Sage’s Ward’ on all of us and every citizen you see, all while using your ‘Aerial Acrobatics’ skill. Jack, same for you and your buff spells. And that is just while traveling through the city.”

  Rose pressed on, seeming fired up. “Any combat quests should be turned into a training opportunity. For Jack, that means casting your spells and only your spells until they hit rank II. Micaela, I know you have a ‘Hack and Slash’ skill that you should be able to pair with Butch and Sundance’s special abilities to level them up at the same time. You also need to find more spirits to inhabit your armor. I saw a bear earlier today. I think a bear spirit for your chest armor and leg armor would be quite the pairing. Olaf, you picked up a maul as a secondary weapon, great, now learn some actual skills for it. Then get it and your Hand-Cannon skills to Rank II. And both of you, Olaf and Micaela, chose to become Minotauri, that came with a few innate skills that you need to level up as well. Heath, I don’t care if you break into every house in the city, you need to get to Rank II for all your main Thief skills, so you can get your advanced class. And while you’re breaking into those houses, you need to be searching for spies.”

  “What about you?” Heath asked, staring Rose down.

  “I just got two new spells for my Vampiric Knight class, thank you Panther,” Rose replied, lightly petting the snake hanging around her neck. “One, ‘Exsanguination’ I can cast almost constantly as it lasts 30-seconds or until the charge for the buff it gives me is used. It’s a kind of drain spell that absorbs HP from anyone that hits me. The other, ‘Vampiric Stare’, I need a willing subject or an enemy to practice on, it’s a crowd control spell,” Rose explained, looking to me with her last statement. “I will be practicing my combat movement as well and I need to rank up my ‘Charge’ skill, so I can get ‘Shield Charge’ and if I can level that up, I’ll be able to get ‘Battering Ram’ but that is a long way off.”

  “Also, I don’t think it would hurt if all of us were to make a stop at the local Mage’s Guild to pick up at least one spell, preferably a buff. You don’t need to be a spellcaster specifically to get a magic spell or a hundred magic spells, you just don’t get the Mage or other spellcaster classes damage bonuses to the magic.” Micaela added. “I don’t have a lot of mana, but buffing is something I can do, maybe even a debuff or damage spell, all of which need to be leveled up, just like Rose is suggesting.”

  “Wow,” said Olaf, looking impressed with both Rose and his wife. “They are both completely correct. We’re in for a couple of rough weeks, we need to make the most of our time here. Any questions?”

  “Did she really just encourage me to break into every house in the town?” Heath asked, grinning madly.

  “Yes, yes she did,” Olaf replied, trying not to laugh.

  After that, the evening devolved into chatting and some light drinking.

  “Jack, it’s still early, want to train a bit?” Rose asked, setting aside her half-empty beer.

  “Sure,” I said, setting aside my own. I hadn’t been in the mood to drink either. I was worried about the rest of the month ahead and drinking didn’t feel like it would help.

  Rose and I exited Mardi’s home, there was plenty of open space for us to practice in the cavern, so we decided to make use of it.

  “You mentioned you needed a volunteer to practice on?” I asked. “For your ‘Vampiric Stare’ spell, is it a crowd control?”

  “Yeah, it dazes the target for 10-seconds or until the effected target takes damage,” Rose said.

  “Alright,” I said, feeling a little nervous as I saw the bloodthirsty grin on her face.

  “I won’t hit you that hard, plus, you need to practice your magic anyway. Think of this as a chance to level up your healing spell,” said Rose, sauntering up close to me. “Now, look into my eyes,” she said, speaking with an accent I would have expected in an old Vampire vid.

  I think I giggled, then I blinked, stumbling backwards, my vision filled with a metal covered shoulder and a drop in my health by -115-HP.

  “Huh? What? What happened?” I asked rapidly, looking around confused.

  Rose just laughed, her armor shaking, the chainmail jingling as she did.

  “Was that your ‘Vampiric Stare’?” I asked.

  Rose nodded through her laughter.

  “It’s not that funny,” I grumbled, casting ‘Lesser Heal’ on myself, restoring my lost HP.

  Lesser Heal

  Level: 28

  Experience: 14.21%

  Spell Heal: 61-80

  Spell Cast Speed: 2.00 seconds

 
Spell Mana Cost: 66

  Spell Effect (Active): Heal a single target.

  When Rose stopped laughing, she asked, “Are you ready?”

  “Are you done laughing at me?” I countered.

  “For now,” Rose said, staring into my eyes, her own flashing a darker red for an instant.

  I blinked again, confused by the retreating shield and the -131-HP I just lost. “Okay, I really don’t like that ability,” I stated firmly, healing myself again.

  “Oh, but I love it,” said Rose, grinning. “Now, once again, look into my eyes,” she said, laughing lightly, more than a little amused by her new spell.

  I wanted to ignore the request just to spite her, but this was for training, so I complied . . . reluctantly. Another flash of red in her eyes and I was blinking back to awareness and a chunk of my health had gone missing.

  After the twentieth or so attack, it seemed to lose its luster for Rose, she wasn’t giggling after every use any more.

  “Level 5 already, let’s keep going,” said Rose, sounding determined.

  I nodded, looking into her eyes. Her red eyes flashed a darker red, signaling the spell went off, but it didn’t daze me. I saw the shield coming at me and ducked instinctively, the blunt surface passing harmlessly over my head.

  “Hey, no fair,” protested Rose. “How did you resist that?”

  “I have no idea,” I stated, standing straight once more. I noticed there were several system messages waiting for me. “Hold on, let me check my system messages.”

  There were a few messages stating I had gained a total of +7-Endurance. And then there was this.

  You’ve learned a new skill ‘Mental Armor’

  Mental Armor

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Skill Effect (Passive): Your mental toughness grants you a 0.05% chance to resist mental effects.

  “Well that’s useful,” I said, relaying the details of the new skill to Rose.