The Mountain Valley War

by M. A. Carlson

  “Okay, start slow,” said Olaf as soon as Rose was in position.

  Getting into position behind it, I attacked first with the subskill ‘Ligament Rip’ adding a bleed effect and increasing the damage it would receive. Then I added ‘Impale’ for a second bleed effect and finally, I hit it with ‘Lesser Holy Fire’. The nice thing about bleed effects and damage over time spells, they could both be cast or used and forgotten until you needed to renew the effect or spell. And while the damage was small, it could add up very quickly. Especially once I got my third stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ and renewed ‘Ligament Rip’ and ‘Impale’, all together, the three damage over time effects were dealing -140-147-HP per second. That was -4,200-4,410-HP per thirty seconds which could add up very quickly provided I maintained the effects.

  Then I struck with ‘Justice Strike’ for -495-HP which had the added effect of increasing the damage or healing of my next spell. ‘Lesser Holy Shock’ hit next for -339-HP and increasing physical damage received for the next 5-seconds, something Olaf seemed to have been waiting for as a double blast of his hand-cannons filled the chasm a second later. I had hoped the stun would buy Rose a little reprieve from the beating she was taking, but nothing happened, not even a pause. Either my spell was resisted, or the Eater was immune, either way, that was bad news.

  Not done yet, I struck with the subskill ‘Power Thrust’, dealing -591-HP damage. A quick check of Yum-Yum’s health showed that even with as much damage as we already dealt, it was barely down 3% of its total health.

  “More damage,” shouted Olaf, encouraging us to start doing more.

  “Adds incoming,” Rock shouted from his spot at the next tunnel.

  “Bye-bye, first AoE,” Olaf ordered first. “Kimmie, use your pride to clean up any that get through.”

  I wanted to point out the fact that he was expecting Rock to hold back a mischief of gremlins all on his own, but I didn’t have time for that.

  “Earthen Wings’,” Rock chanted, touching his shield lightly to the ground. I wished I could take a minute to really appreciate the beauty of the spell as the stone of the cave floor in front of him broke apart and reformed as part of his shield, forming two massive wings, spreading out from either side of the shield then upward, the stone feathers eventually overlapping each other. When the spell finished, Rocks shield was easily three times wider and twice as tall.

  “How long does that last?” I asked.

  “5-minutes,” said Rock, thrusting his shield forward, covering the cave entrance just as the gremlins got there. “I had to improvise a bit, the spell is meant to increase the amount of damage my shield absorbs, the feathers overlapping in front of it. But I needed size, I’m just glad it worked.”

  “Cooldown?” I asked. Even if I didn’t say it, I was impressed that he was able to alter his spell like that on the fly. I wasn’t sure if I could do the same thing.

  “6-minutes,” Rock answered, grunting.

  “Then let’s hope they don’t spawn more than once every six minutes,” I said, waiting until a large pile of gremlins built up on the other side before unleashing ‘Boar Charge’ and obliterating the amassed pests. When the swine cleared, there were no gremlins left.

  “Only about 200 by my count,” said Rock.

  “So, more nuisance than anything,” I said.

  “Better get back to it, I’ll watch the tunnel for the next group,” said Rock, giving me a mock salute.

  Not having time to joke with him, I went back to attacking Yum-Yum. Applying my bleeds and damage over time spell.

  “90% incoming,” Olaf shouted in warning just as Yum-Yum suddenly reared back, snorting heavily then spitting, a bright yellow blob from his mouth, covering Rose in an instant.

  “Hehehehehehe, loogie!” Yum-Yum laughed, pointing down at Rose.

  Rose was not happy. I could honestly say I had never seen Rose so angry. Unfortunately, it was even worse as Yum-Yum seemed to have dropped aggro, turning and attacking Olaf, nearly killing him in one hit.

  “Rock, hurry, take aggro,” Rose shouted, her voice sounding distorted by the yellow goop that covered her. A yellow goop that appeared to be hardening by the second.

  “I’m on it,” said Rock, turning away from his guard point and chucking his club, a brightly glowing club, at the monster. The club flew true, hitting Yum-Yum under the chin and lifting it slightly off its feet.

  “Kill, kill, kill,” Yum-Yum shouted, now focused on Rock.

  “Bye-bye, break Rose free,” Baby shouted, her focus now on healing the other tank.

  I looked back to see Rose completely entrapped within an opaque yellow shell, her HP steadily ticking downwards.

  I hit the shell with my spear, a large crack formed but Rose’s health dipped further.

  “Duncan, can you heal her through this shell?” I called to our other healer.

  “Negative, target is unavailable,” Duncan replied.

  I cursed. It was a risk and I had no choice. Even if I did hurt her breaking her free, if I did nothing she would die anyway and worse, she would be at a bigger risk of death if I waited too long.

  “This is going to hurt, if you can hear me, activate your ‘Exsanguination’ if you can,” I said, but I couldn’t see Rose through the shell to see if she acknowledged me in any way. I hit the shell again, the crack splintering and widening as Rose took more damage, making me wince. I hit again and twice more before the shell completely shattered.

  Suddenly free, Rose dropped to her knees gulping down air she had been deprived of while trapped, her health barely at 6%. While she recovered, I cast ‘Lesser Heal’, trying to top off her health to get her back in the fight.

  “I hate this monster,” Rose stated, standing and bringing her shields to bare.

  “Adds, Rose, if you’re done with your nap, we could use a tank over there,” Olaf ordered, followed by the echoing report of his hand-cannons blasting a chunk out of Yum-Yum’s health, but not nearly enough. “Icyhot, go with her, you’re on add duty until further notice.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Icyhot said, letting another fireball fly at the monstrous gremlin.

  I looked over at the tunnel briefly to see a bomb lobbed into it by Duncan, slowing down the gremlins and killing dozens of them but not doing enough damage to wipe out the group. It did serve to buy Rose the time she needed to get in position, Duncan right behind her, slapping bandages on her, causing her HP to jump up suddenly. A melee healer was so different.

  Back to the grind. I attacked the monster again, stacking spells and bleeds before attacking with my spear and spells as best I could.

  When I heard the laughing again, I had a feeling he was going to spit on Rock.

  “Rose, get ready to taunt,” Olaf called out, clearly thinking the same thing I was.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Rock shouted, starting to run from the monster only to get hit mid-stride and get sent tumbling, spreading the snot across the chasm floor for a few yards.

  “Hehehehehehe, loogie!” Yum-Yum laughed, pointing down at Rock, who like Rose before, was now covered in yellow goop that was quickly hardening.

  It seemed this guy had a pattern of attack.

  “Come get me you ugly, scum sucking, disease-ridden, snot rag of a monster,” Rose taunted, digging deep into her repertoire of insults.

  “Kill, kill, kill!” Yum-Yum shouted, attacking Rose with reckless abandon.

  I freed Rock again, but it took far fewer hits this time. Running away like he did seemed to have spread the goop out, making it thinner. I filed it away, as Rock was freed just in time for another wave of gremlins to attack. And thus, the pattern was set.

  “Rose, when he spits, you need to run, it thins out the shell, makes it easier to crack,” I yelled to her from behind the boss.

  “Got it,” said Rose, “I’m going to try to interrupt it this time.”

  Another 10% down and another snot attack. Rose discovered it couldn’t be interrupted. In fact, we discovered the Eater was immune
to all stun and interrupt effects, it was just too big and too resistant.

  We plowed ahead anyway. Every 10% he spat on the tank then summoned adds not long after that. Once we knew the pattern, Yum-Yum was easy to deal with.

  Then he enraged at 20%, screaming, “Kill, Kill, Kill!” In one hit, he dropped Rose from full HP, and a full ‘Sage’s Ward’ from Baby, down to 50%. The next hit dropped her to 3%, if not for another ‘Sage’s Ward’ from Baby, she would have died.

  “Rock, forget the tunnel, taunt,” Olaf cried out.

  Rock was on it, his light-infused club hitting and drawing the Eater right to him.

  “If you have a heal, start using it, everyone else push as much damage as you can,” Olaf ordered.

  I cast my ‘Lesser Heal’, chaining them together one after another as Rock and Rose continued to trade aggro back and forth. I cast until I was out of mana then I swallowed one of Baby’s MP potions and started casting it again, hoping it would be enough.

  “Brace for impact,” Zid shouted unexpectedly when the boss hit 10%. I looked to the Dwarf who held his hand over his head like something out of an old anime. Naturally, my eyes were drawn upward where I was rewarded with spots in my eyes again. The small fire-based magelight he created, it was bigger, much, much bigger. “Let the sun fall from the sky and burn away and consume all which would stand against it, ‘Solar Drop’,” he incanted, throwing his arms downward.

  With his action, the miniature sun followed suit, falling rapidly from the sky and impacting with Yum-Yum in a flash of light. Then there were more spots, a lot more spots. I actually think I was temporarily blinded considering everything was now dark.

  “Someone turn on the lights,” Rock complained.

  “Flame of Light, keep the darkness at bay, ‘Greater Magelight’,” Zid recast his light spell, a miniature sun relighting the cavern.

  Now that I could see again, I looked around to see everyone alive and healing. But more importantly, there was now a crispy skeleton of a giant gremlin, its HP bar reflecting 0%.

  “Sweet fight,” said Icyhot, breaking the silence and grinning like an idiot.

  “I cannot believe it, we . . . we did it,” said Zid, sitting down heavily. His casting having saved us all in addition to providing the light we needed.

  “That was all you, mate,” said Heath, appearing next to the Dwarf and clapping him on the back.

  “Do not do that, you ruddy menace,” Zid howled, clutching at his chest.

  We did do it, we took on a monster, a boss that was at a much higher level then our party. We were lucky the fight was a tank and spank as it was, or we wouldn’t have been able to beat that thing. We were even luckier that our tanks didn’t die during the last 20%. Unfortunately, the fight was not without casualties. Kimmie lost two of her pride when Rock didn’t taunt quite fast enough during the first 80% of the fight. The Eater had turned after spitting on Rose and struck, two of Kimmie’s cats were the unfortunate targets.

  “Good job, everyone,” said Olaf, sounding relieved. “That was one heck of a fight.”

  “Okay, so I was promised phat loots, what have we got?” said Icyhot, rubbing his hands together greedily and looking around for the reward I had promised him.

  The only problem, there was no reward that I could see. No loot drops from the boss, nothing. It was a great relief when my head was filled with the voice of the God Ivaldi.

  Well done, adventurers! My people are safe. You are to be commended for accomplishing such a feat. Please take these rewards with my blessings!

  “Thank you very much, God Ivaldi,” I said in return, bowing respectfully. Even if the God Ivaldi didn’t show up in person, I felt it was probably prudent to show respect, something my group mirrored. Icyhot’s group, not so much.

  Quest Alert: The Gremlin Eater Must Die! (Recommended Level 12-14, 10 or more Adventurers) – Completed!

  The God Ivaldi has set you a dangerous task, to kill the Gremlin Eater you and your companions foolishly created through your own ignorance.

  Reward: 10,000-Experience, Title: Gremlin’s Bane, Ivaldi’s Sigil

  “Hey, where’s the sigil?” Icyhot asked, digging through his bag.

  “It’s an order reward. If you ever join an Order, it will be there,” Zid answered. “Were . . . were you really rewarded by the Great God Ivaldi?”

  Olaf grinned, pointing at a treasure chest overflowing with coins, and equipment that now sat near the charred skeleton.

  I took a moment to check the title while Olaf and Icyhot sorted out the loot.

  Gremlin's Bane (Increases damage against Gremlin's by 15%)

  I could have cried, where was this title when we first started this endeavor?

  Chapter 11

  “Hey, I got two titles for that,” Icyhot crowed excitedly.

  “Two?” I asked in surprise.

  “Yeah, ‘Gremlin’s Bane’ and ‘Local Hero’,” Icyhot answered. “Didn’t you?”

  “Just ‘Gremlin’s Bane’, we already had ‘Local Hero’,” Olaf answered.

  “Congrats though, that is a really useful title,” Micaela cheered.

  Looking around, it seemed everyone had a bit more life to them now. I don’t think I realized just how physically tired you could feel playing this game. Especially in a long drawn out fight like that one was. It was amazing to see the result of a little rest and recovery.

  “Okay, starting with the coins, 10-Gold, 3-Silver and 73-Copper each,” said Olaf, dividing the coins into fifteen piles for the twelve adventurers and three soldiers that participated.

  “Are we getting a bonus?” Dinger asked, eyes wide as he stared at the small mound of coins that had been set aside for him.

  “Yes,” Olaf said bluntly. “You three risked your lives. The least we can do is share the reward.”

  “Wait, you’re giving the . . . citizens loot?” Icyhot asked, choosing his words carefully. I understood his plight in this, we were probably an odd bunch. There weren’t going to be many players that treated the NPC’s like actual people.

  “No,” said Zid before Olaf could answer. “We will accept the coin as a bonus, but the treasures given by the God Ivaldi, those are for you adventurers alone. You were the ones that heard his voice, you were the ones that accepted the task he set before you. You alone deserve his gifts.”

  Icyhot frowned and was about to speak but Olaf cut him off with a glare.

  “We are grateful for your assistance. We know you do not get to respawn like we do if you die,” said Olaf. “I do hope, in the future, if anything comes up that you need assistance with, you will think of us first. Also, I wouldn’t say no to a good word on our behalf with the higher-ups.”

  “Of course,” said Zid. “And Mr. Jelloshot. Lessons begin tomorrow at mid-morning bell, do not be late.”

  Icyhot’s frown vanished in an instant. “I’ll be there.”

  “Good, it seems whoever trained you was woefully deficient,” Zid added. “Now, I would ask that you distribute your rewards quickly. I want to finish clearing this mine of the gremlin menace as soon as possible. While you do that, I will go collect the rest of our retinue.”

  “Right, let’s get to it,” said Olaf, pulling out the first non-coin item from the treasure chest, a scroll. “Spirit Recall, I do believe this is for our Shaman,” he said, holding out the scroll to Micaela.

  Micaela skipped forward to collect it, the scroll burning up a second later. “Ooh, I got a resurrection spell that works on people and spirits.”

  “Lucky,” Kimmie grumbled.

  Olaf reached back into the chest and produced yet another scroll. “Revive Beast,” he read the description aloud. “If I’m not mistaken, this one is for you, Kimmie.”

  Kimmie looked frozen in place as she stared at the outstretched hand holding the scroll.

  “Well, go on Kimmie, take it,” said Icyhot, nudging his companion.

  Kimmie stepped forward and took the scroll. I was surprised to see a few tears in her eyes
.

  “She’s lost a number of her pets,” said Duncan softly. I was surprised to see him standing next to me. “She puts on a tough front, but it hurts her every time she loses one.”

  “Couldn’t Barnum have taught her the spell?” I asked.

  “As I understand it, that is a very rare spell,” Duncan explained, caring coming through in his voice that betrayed his rough exterior and otherwise gruff manner of speaking. “Anyway, it is a real blessing for that girl, too bad the window to revive her pets is so short, I am sure she would like to have been able to bring back the cats she lost.”

  “Okay, we’ve got a ‘Dwarven True-Shot Scope’, Duncan, I think this is for you,” said Olaf, holding out a rifle scope toward the Dwarf, Duncan.

  Duncan accepted it, stuffing it into his bag.

  “Okay, Bye-bye, this one is yours,” said Olaf, holding a small booklet that looked far too familiar.

  I accepted the blueprint wordlessly, only looking to see if it was exactly what I hoped it was.

  Blueprints: Spear of Gungnir III – Blueprints for the third iteration of the Spear of Gungnir

  I quickly stuffed it in my bag.

  “What was that?” Icyhot asked curiously. “Why did you try to keep it a secret?”

  “It’s for a class quest,” I answered. “The God Ivaldi just made it a lot easier for me to complete.”

  “Oh, congrats then,” Icyhot said, though I wasn’t sure if he believed me.

  I would need to check in with Mardi when we got back to Hammerton, now that I had the next two blueprints, I need to make a shopping list to get the materials.

  “Bolt of ‘Fine Dwarven Silk’, crafting material by the look of it,” Olaf said, holding up the next item.

  “Mine!” Jay shouted, darting forward.

  Olaf looked to Icyhot to confirm. “Oh yeah, definitely his,” Icyhot confirmed.

  Satisfied, Olaf handed it over to the well-dressed Harpy.

  “Leather boots, dexterity and stamina bonuses,” Olaf said holding up the next piece.

  “Me,” said Dawn.