The Mountain Valley War

by M. A. Carlson

  “What took you so long?” Rose asked as I emerged from the forge. She was the first to greet me, seeming to look me over for damages.

  The others were looking at me with a little anticipation, I knew well enough they were all excited to see my newly improved spear of awesome.

  “A couple of things,” I said, grinning, hinting that I was going to drag this out. And I could have made them wait, but I equipped my spear anyway and held it out in front of me, letting it stand tall. The tooth white weapon now had a series of blue veins running throughout the shaft but never touching the surface. I figured the blue veins were pure mana which explained the bonus to my mana regeneration. I smiled as I felt the energy running through the spear just under the surface . . . just under my fingers.

  “Wow,” said Olaf, his own whistle of appreciation followed.

  “Butch says he no longer likes you because your weapon makes him feel insecure . . . oops, you can ignore that, I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud,” said Micaela, smiling sheepishly.

  “I’m with Butch,” said Bushy, glaring at the spear. “That weapon is redonkulous and totally hax. I am so writing to Dawson telling him he needs to turn it into knuckles and give it to me.”

  “Mine,” I stated, pulling the spear back and letting it vanish into my inventory.

  “Not bad,” said Rose, quickly taking one of my now weapon free arms in her own. “But you said a couple of things, what else?”

  “I learned a new skill called ‘Heat Resistance’, it gained a huge amount of experience in there, like dozens of levels worth,” I answered.

  “Wait, you did not know the ‘Heat Resistance’ skill before?” Mardi asked, drawing all eyes to her while she narrowed her own at me.

  “No,” I replied, feeling uncomfortable with her staring at me like that.

  “Then why in the name of my father did you even attempt to make that spear in the first place?” Mardi questioned loudly, scolding me. “You should have died many times over just trying.”

  “How was I supposed to know?” I asked, frowning. How could any of us have known that? Mardi didn’t give us any kind of warning when she made the first iteration of the spear or ask us about the skill.

  “You never asked us either,” Rose chimed in.

  “Wait, do the rest of you not know the skill?” Mardi asked, ignoring Rose’s question. Tearing her eyes away from me then looking at each of my companions, one at a time, looking for answers.

  “You are all insane. That heat could have killed you,” Mardi said. “Should have killed you. How did you even survive the first time while in my father’s forge? I have an immunity but anyone else should have been incinerated in seconds without a maximum ‘Heat Resistance’ skill.”

  The only thing I could figure was that God Ivaldi shielded us somehow and I said as much.

  “That is cheating, dad,” Mardi grumbled, looking at the smaller statue of the God Ivaldi that stood over the door of the lava forge. “Alright, the rest of you, into the forge with you. We will not be able to even attempt the next level without that skill at peak level and now is the best time to get it done.”

  “Speaking of,” I started, pulling the third blueprint from my bag and handing it to her.

  “Where did you get this? When did you get this? Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Mardi demanded, snatching the blueprint from my grip.

  “Your father gave it to me as my reward for helping to kill the Gremlin Eater and I didn’t want to worry about it until we finished the second evolution of the spear,” I answered.

  Mardi didn’t really listen to my explanation, instead she started going over the blueprint, her face steadily turning a darker shade of an angry red with each turn of a page. “My father is a monster, there is no other explanation for what possessed him to make a weapon using such materials.”

  “What’s it need?” I asked, a little afraid.

  “Grootslang,” Mardi answered.

  “Bless you,” Micaela replied with a laugh, getting a laugh from Bushy and even Baby while Olaf, Rose and I rolled our eyes. I was starting to wonder if something was going on with Micaela, she’d been acting out more and more often lately. I kept meaning to bring it up with Olaf, but it never seemed to be the right time.

  Mardi chose to glare at her. “They are not something to be trifled with. The last time one was killed it took a small army. Granted, that was a full-grown grootslang that could have swallowed this city whole, but even an adolescent will take a good number of adventurers to kill.”

  “Okay, we can work on that. Where would we look for a grootslang?”

  “More importantly,” Rose interjected. “What is a grootslang?”

  “Grootslang are massive serpents, they have the body of a snake and the head of an elephant,” Mardi answered.

  “How massive?” Olaf asked.

  “They have been known to eat actual elephants in a single bite. That said, they are known to live in caves, usually near a savannah or plains where the food grows large enough and in sufficient numbers to feed them adequately,” Mardi answered.

  “Okay, and what do we need from the grootslang? And please tell me we don’t need it alive,” I followed up. It would be a while before we even attempted to get our hands on one of them. Not until level 20 at least. That said, I really didn’t want to imagine what it would take to drag a creature large enough to swallow a city to a forge for Mardi to use.

  “The Diamond Heart,” Mardi answered.

  “Diamond you say?” Baby perked up questioningly.

  “Grootslangs eat diamonds. If you ever find yourself alone and facing off with one, you can throw a diamond and run, it will go after the diamond. It is expensive, but it will save your life. As for the Diamond Heart, when they eat the diamonds, their innate magic compresses the precious gems, eventually forming them into a large diamond. One infused with their essence, their strength and limitless energy. We need one,” Mardi explained.

  “Okay, so, next month, we know what kind of province we need to find. If we have some extra time before logging off this month, we can hit the libraries in Root City for information. I’ll even check at the Cartographer’s Guild, maybe we’ll get lucky,” I offered, excited about the prospect of seeing a wildly different terrain from what we’ve experienced so far.

  “Great, that is for next month. This month, you still need to help me save my people from the tyrant across the valley. And right now, all of you need to get back into that room and learn the ‘Heat Resistance’ skill,” Mardi ordered, all but pushing us back toward the forge. And of course, once we were back in the forge, Mardi started cranking up the heat.

  I sighed as the damage started ticking by again. I didn’t even get the chance to ask her about the fourth blueprint. But I suppose that would just need to wait until we were ready to pursue it.

  Chapter 23

  I could admit there were times I was jealous of Olaf and Micaela’s choice of professions. That the two of them could endure the kind of heat the forge kicked out to develop a useful skill in addition to leveling their professions made me a little jealous. At least I was jealous until Rose decided to do something about it. So, while Micaela smelted ore and Olaf hammered out sheets of bronze of varying thicknesses, I was trading magic attacks with Rose. Because apparently, she wasn’t satisfied with her own spell levels yet. And of course, Bushy just had to get in on the action. She sat back, sending waves of chi energy at us, hurting us with one wave then healing us with the next.

  Even after I got ‘Heat Resistance’ to level 100, I was forced to stay and continue the spar until everyone else did . . . once they actually learned the skill that is. The conditions for gaining the skill seemed to be focusing your mind to ignore the heat and the damage you were taking while doing something else. Unfortunately, that meant Baby was the last one to get it as she was constantly fretting over everyone’s health as well as her own.

  “Alright, training done, we’ve still got a couple hours of dayl
ight, where to next?” Bushy asked, excitedly, punching her fists into the air in front of her a few times. I had an inkling she was itching for a fight.

  “Let’s go check out the command center, see if any of the other adventurers have teamed up to capture some of the resource centers,” I suggested. We needed to plan our next action, we wasted too much time already with the training and the spear.

  The command center was much busier than the first time we had been there. General Hammersmith was there along with Colonel Grandmite and a few more officers I hadn’t met. There were also dozens of players milling around and looking rather bored, some in groups, some by themselves. There was only one group that didn’t appear that way and they were with someone I knew pretty well.

  “Heath,” I called to our thieving friend.

  “We’ll go check in with the Colonel,” Rose whispered into my ear, it honestly felt a bit like a library in there. I would have thought the adventurers would have been pursuing missions and fights with the other side, not milling around.

  “Alright, just going to say hello to Heath, I’ll be over in a minute,” I replied, sharing a quick kiss with her before giving Heath my full attention.

  “Bye-bye, long time, mate,” Heath greeted me with a hushed voice as he moved away from his group of players, one of which I now saw was Duncan, the healer from Icyhot’s group. What I didn’t see, was Gras.

  I gave the healer a small wave and got a nod in return before I focused on Heath. “How did your mission go?” I asked, trying to observe the niceties first before grilling him on Gras’s whereabouts. I didn’t even want to consider that Gras might have been killed.

  “Wildly successful, check it out,” Heath replied, motioning to the diorama that dominated most of the room now. He pointed specifically to the Anvilton side of the valley and the spot that held the factory.

  Immovable Factory – Abandoned – Producing at 0% capacity

  Heath didn’t just drop its production. He had managed to shut the whole operation down completely.

  “Did you destroy it?” I asked.

  “Nope, they got a little gremlin infestation and ran away,” Heath replied with a grin.

  Knowing Heath as well as I did, I had a feeling he worked a little of his magic to make the Anvilton folks think there were gremlins. It was a smart way to ensure the factory would be operational again once the war came to an end . . . if it came to an end.

  “Good work, where’s Gras?” I asked.

  “Gras and Green went to visit his little leatherworker friend. He more than earned a little trust from me. Still, I told Green to keep an eye on him,” Heath answered.

  I didn’t know who Green was, but I was glad to hear Heath was on top of things. “Sounds like your little group is coming along nicely,” I said, looking back to his new party. I felt a little jealous of them and maybe afraid that he wouldn’t want to work with us after this month.

  “Yeah, it’s been fun,” said Heath, glancing back at his new friends. “They are good, not as good as you guys, but good.”

  “You thinking of sticking with them?” I asked, nervous of his answer.

  “Not long term, like I said, their good, we’re better,” Heath said, pointing between himself and me.

  That made me feel better. I liked having a Thief in our group. Especially one I had come to trust as I had Heath.

  “For now, lots of ‘Stealth’ operations in the works. We’re going after the Big Boar’ing Farm next, see if we can’t steal away their food source, let them hunt bears like the rest of us,” Heath explained, pointing to the farm on the Anvilton side of the valley.

  Big Boar’ing Farm – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 80% capacity

  If I remembered correctly, the farm was at 100% capacity last time I was here. I wondered what changed.

  “Another group led by Icyhot tried to raid the farm yesterday according to Colonel Grandmite. They did a little damage, scattered the boars across a few miles of mountainside but nothing permanent. We’re going to see if we can’t do better. Plus, given the proximity to the factory . . . well, from what Gras tells me, gremlins are known to spread once frenzied,” Heath finished with a grin.

  “I’m just glad you’re on our side,” I said. And I really was, I wouldn’t want Heath working against us, not with that devious streak of his.

  “And don’t you forget it, mate,” said Heath. “How about you guys? How did your little training adventure go?”

  I grinned and equipped my spear, holding it out for him to inspect.

  “Nice,” said Heath. “You guys already got the rock giant then?”

  “Yeah, that and capping most of our stats,” I answered. “Plus, a lot of spell levels, desperately needed spell levels.”

  “That’s great, mate. Anyway, tell the others I say hello. I best get back to planning our next strike,” Heath said.

  “Good luck and stay in touch. Be sure to let us know if you need any help,” I offered.

  “Will do,” Heath replied, returning to his ‘Stealth’ group.

  I took a minute to review the diorama again, I was interested in seeing what else had changed. I started with the Anvilton side.

  Anvil Cracking Brewery – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 120% capacity

  Anvildeep Mine – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 100% capacity

  Chop and Cut Lumbermill – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 60% capacity

  Big Boar’ing Farm – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 80% capacity

  Immovable Factory – Abandoned – Producing at 0% capacity

  Stoneground Mill – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 100% capacity

  It looked like there had been several attacks on the Anvilton resources that were previously at or above 100% capacity. The only one that appeared to have gone up was the Anvil Cracking Brewery. I also wondered what function the Brewery served. Why was it considered a war resource?

  On the other side of the valley was the Hammerton resources.

  Hammered Dwarf Brewery – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 0% capacity

  Flattop Mill – Enemy Controlled – Producing at 0% capacity – Under Siege

  Unstoppable Factory – Secured – Producing at 150% capacity

  Snowy Gulch Sheep Farm – Secured – Producing at 90% capacity

  Hatchet and Sons Lumbermill – Unsecured – Producing at 60% capacity – Under Siege

  Hammerton’s resources weren’t looking great. The Brewery had been captured. The Mill was Enemy Controlled and Under Siege, I guessed that meant Hammerton was trying to recapture it. And the Lumbermill was also Under Siege, probably by Anvilton, only for its status to change a second later.

  Hatchet and Sons Lumbermill – Secured – Producing at 80% capacity

  It would seem Hammerton successfully repelled the Anvilton attempt to capture the mill. It also looked like the victory bumped production up a good little bit.

  Looking up from the diorama, I saw Olaf waving me over.

  “Finally,” Colonel Grandmite snapped. “Maybe now you adventurers can finally start helping us win this war with more than just food and the occasional captured Anvilton Soldier.”

  I was slightly surprised by her response. There were plenty of adventurers in the room, why wasn’t she sending them out on missions. I was about to ask when she preempted me.

  “As it apparently needs to be repeated. I do not know these adventurers,” the Colonel said, motioning to the bored-looking players. “They have not earned a rank. They are not out trying to earn rank. They sit here, all day, waiting for an adventurer with an officer rank to show up and ask them to join them for one of the better missions.”

  Clearly, I was still missing something. Why wasn’t she giving them missions directly? She gave us a mission to prove ourselves, why not give them the same chance? Or did they just not ask her?

  “Allow me to explain something to you . . . honorary officers. This is a military organization,” Colonel Grandmite stated befor
e I could ask. “I receive objectives from General Hammersmith which I then disseminate assignments to those in my command structure. I am not about to give an unranked, untrustworthy adventurer a mission that may be of vital importance. When the only Major among the adventurers is not to be found, I cannot give out higher ranked mission assignments that might make use of the adventurers.”

  Olaf looked properly chastised as did Micaela but like me, Rose and Baby looked thoroughly confused.

  “I cannot do anything about your dereliction of duty as it was approved by the Duchess. I do not like it, and I do not approve but that is above my pay grade. Now that you are here. There are two pending missions of vital importance,” Colonel Grandmite plowed ahead.

  Hammerton War Effort: Recapture the Hammered Dwarf Brewery

  You have been offered the mission to recapture the Hammered Dwarf Brewery and free the captured workers.

  Reward: Experience, Increased reputation with Hammerton Military Structure, Bonuses Available

  Do you accept this Mission?

  Yes

  No

  And the second.

  Hammerton War Effort: Siege Assistance at the Flattop Mill