Jazzy didn’t seem ready to let him pass. “You should really do something about the way you’re running things here. It’s quite the mess.”
Olaf agreed though he wasn’t going to say that. “We didn’t expect such a large turnout from the players so soon. We’re doing the best we can.”
Jazzy huffed but kept silent at that point.
Finally, Olaf reached his friends. It seemed Heath or one of the citizens had provided four long tables and twenty or so chairs. He saw his friends seated on one side of the table and a possible applicant or two opposite them. On the far right of the room, he saw Rose and Rock interviewing potential tanks. They had less than a dozen people lined up there. Next to them sat Duncan and Arch. The line of healers was only slightly longer than the line of tanks. Then there were Heath, Bye-bye, Pwn, Icyhot, Dawn, and the new member of Icyhot’s group, Dixie. They had by far the longest line. Hundreds of damage dealers, the line stretched outside the door. Hopefully, those who were tanks and healers were able to skip past the damage dealers. On the far-left end, Marie, Loral, Sooty, and Jay sat interviewing what appeared to be crafters. It surprised Olaf just how many crafters there were. It was double, maybe even triple the length of the healer and tank lines. It was a good sign.
As for the office, there was a short line of players waiting outside closed doors, waiting to get in.
Micaela greeted Olaf as soon as he entered the office, completely ignoring the applicant that sat across from her. She teased, “Finally made it?” There as well, a long table had been set up with two chairs on one side and almost a dozen sat opposite, though only the one was occupied by a
“We need more chairs?” Olaf asked, ignoring the teasing and the applicant.
Micaela nodded. She explained, “So, everyone is getting a one on one interview out there. Anyone who came as part of a group will get a chance to sit down with us if all their members make it past the first round. I’ve temporarily given everyone permission to add members as Applicants. That said, I also asked them only to add people they felt really strongly about, except for those who are applying as a group. I still want to interview groups ourselves. Anyway, anyone they aren’t sure about is to be sent to us. And anyone they think is a bad fit is to be asked to leave.”
“I see,” Olaf said, trying to keep up with the whirlwind that was Micaela.
“Right, sorry, Helm. Where were we?” Micaela pressed on, addressing the heavily armored player in front of her.
“I’m a Master-At-Arms,” Helm said, sounding a little exasperated with having to repeat himself.
“And what is that? A tank? Or damage dealer?” Micaela asked.
“Uh . . . neither,” Helm replied. “It’s more of a support class. See, if I can work in a castle or fortress, or Order House as the case may be, I grant bonuses to the structure and players or NPCs defending the structure. So, if you employ me, I make your Order House stronger.”
Olaf looked again at the player,
“That’s not to say I don’t have some personal combat skills, though they are all related to weapons and armor and getting the most out of them. And, once I get to level thirty, I can become a weapon and skill trainer. But I need to have a duty post, like an Order House to do that,” Helm explained without prompting. “So, what do you think? Want to hire me?”
“Hire?” Olaf asked, looking to his wife for help. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the heavily armored player nod vigorously, his helm clanking against his armor with the movement.
“He’s a mercenary class,” Micaela answered as if it would explain everything.
Olaf knew he wouldn’t get more from his wife, so he looked back to Helm and again, and asked, “Hire?”
“I’m a mercenary class. I receive a salary and experience for any time I work at a structure, in exchange I don’t get to participate in quests like normal players,” Helm explained.
“Do all mercenaries work that way?” Olaf asked.
Helm shook his head. “No, only Guardsman, Man-At-Arms, and Sergeant-At-Arms do. I started as a Guardsman. I got the rank up after I helped defend my starting city from a player raid. We lost the city, but I still got promoted. It was too bad really. Anyway, I’ve participated in a few province battles since then and can proudly say, I’ve not lost a city since then.”
“And how much do we need to pay you?” Olaf asked.
“65-Silver or 6-Gold and 5-Silver per week,” Helm answered. “It’s not a bad price really. If I manage to rank up to Sergeant-At-Arms, it will double. I’ve heard rumors there are higher ranks, but I haven’t been able to confirm it.”
“Right, any other requirements?” Olaf asked. The price was actually reasonable if his buffs were worth the cost.
Helm was quick to answer, “Only recommendations. For example, if you have an Armory, my presence increases armor defense and weapon attack when defending the Order House. If you build a Watch Tower on the roof or increase the height of the Order House sufficiently, I can increase the damage of any archers firing from the roof. I also provide a scouting bonus to any lookouts.”
Olaf was sold. He just wanted to know how much the bonuses were. Before he could ask, Micaela beat him to it.
“How much of a bonus?” Micaela asked.
“My ‘Weapon Mastery’ bonus is level 11 and gives a 1.1% bonus to weapon damage. Armor Mastery’ is level 14 and gives a 1.4% bonus to armor defense. When I get to the next rank, I think it starts giving stat bonuses but I’m not entirely sure. My ‘Scouting Mastery’ is only level 3, so it only gives 0.3% range bonus. ‘Range Mastery’ is still level 1, so, you know, just 0.1%. I’m trying to learn ‘Magic Mastery’ . . . but it’s really hard. Not that I’m giving up learning it. It just . . . might take a while,” Helm finished lamely.
“What do you think, Ollie?” Micaela asked.
Olaf hummed seriously. He didn’t want to give away just how excited he was to have Helm as part of the Order. He just had one more question. “Do your abilities apply only to the Order House or to the whole town? We currently have some control over the town such that it is considered part of our territory.”
“I don’t know, sir,” Helm answered honestly, sounding slightly worried.
Olaf hummed again. “Alright, we’ll give you a chance,” he said, sending the invitation to Helm.
The player stood and reached out to shake Olaf’s hand, “Thank you, sir. You won’t regret this. I swear. I’ll be a great member and work hard to increase my levels and skills. I swear I will.”
“Good, you can start by heading over the Temple and asking the Priestess Trinico for permission to use the Puzzle Room. You make it through that, and I’ll consider you a full member,” Olaf instructed. He knew that assigning Helm any of the quests he’d collected would be a waste. It was better if the player was put to work improving himself and proving his dedication. “In addition, I want you to spend some time with Sergeant Butters. He’s the local weapons trainer. I’m sure he can impart some knowledge to you.”
“I’ll go right now, thank you, sir, thank you,” Helm gushed excitedly, backing out of the room, and bowing as he went.
“Bit eager to please, isn’t he?” Micaela asked.
“Just a little,” Olaf said, matching his wife’s grin. “Alright, I’m sure you saw, I was able to get a bunch more quests. We just need people to get to work on them. I want to use them as our initiation tests. I know it won’t help with the higher-level players much, but it’s better than nothing.”
“I saw,” Micaela said, then looking at her husband sidelong, she asked, “So, did you have fun at Doc B’s? Do you need any of that Potion of Disease Cleansing?”
Olaf rolled his eyes as Micaela broke out into a fit of giggles. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he grumbled. Then he yelled toward the door, “Next up!”
Chapter 24
“I really h
ate the undead,” I groused as I stabbed my spear through yet another
“Keep your eyes peeled for another stealthy one,” Olaf warned, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
“We know,” Rose snapped, hyper aware that she would need to use her ‘Shield Charge’ skill at a moment’s notice if another one appeared. Something we learned was a common occurrence with this particular undead. They were rarely alone.
For the last week, my friends and I had been hunting the rotting undead to complete our quest.
Quest Alert: Thinning the Herd (Recommended Level 25-30)
Sergeant Butters has asked for your assistance to reduce the undead population before their next attack on Hurligville. You are tasked with the destruction of 137/100 level 15+ undead wolves, 41/50 level 20+ undead mountain lions, 57/50 level 20+ undead condors, 13/10 level 25+ undead drakelings, 0/1 undead lich servant
Reward: Experience
So far, we had done pretty well. After two days of sorting through the hundreds of applicants applying to the Order and farming up enough requests to hand out to all those we took on, it was back to questing. It took just a day for us to get through the wolves and condors. I will not say we got through them so quickly because of the upgrade to my class, but the increase in my damage certainly didn’t hurt. Our success had more to do with us being a good team. Our troubles really began with the cursed undead mountain lions . . . they were quickly becoming the bane of our existence. We had been hunting them for almost six days now. They did not like being hunted either, generally preferring to do the hunting. And they were quite good at hunting.
“Conta-” Heath cried out and was quickly silenced as a previously hidden
“I say let him die,” Pwn said with a tired sneer. Despite his words, he was already creating a black fireball in one outstretched hand.
Rose quickly knocked the undead monstrosity off our Thieving Bard, her shields still looking rough and in need of significant repair, as did the rest of her armor for that matter. As good as Kirlan was at making and repairing basic equipment, he was not quite up to the task of repairing her armor, neither was Marie for that matter. As we recently learned, Marie specialized in weapon smithing. She could fix, repair, or create just about any weapon made of metal. Armor . . . not so much.
Slowly climbing back to his feet, Heath glared at Pwn and retorted, “Go die in a fire.”
Pwn snarled and threw his fireball at the monster, then snapped, “Don’t steal my line, you bas-”
“Second contact,” I said, leaping toward the newly revealed
The twin booms of Olaf’s hand-cannons were able to dislodge the undead from the Void Mage.
Pwn sat up slowly, rubbing at his neck only to complain, “I hate these things.”
“Cheer up, mate. After these two, we only have seven more to go,” Micaela chided him as she brought both of her axes down on the lion. “We’ve got work to do,” she said excitedly. “The next wave of Undead could attack the city any time now. We need to take out that stupid lich servant.”
Micaela was finally back with us, where she belonged. Once she hired a few people to help with Order administration and finished up a few construction projects in the Order House, she had finally rejoined us for some adventuring of her own.
The new Mayor seemed to be doing a good job, not that I was one to judge. I was generally busy with other things. Things like leveling up my ‘Holy Lance’ skill, which I could proudly say was now level 8. Okay, so, that wasn’t really anything to boast about. The skill leveled up slowly. Even when I meditated on it, I only gained about half a level. It was kind of frustrating.
Skill: Holy Lance
Rank: I
Level: 8
Experience: 16.02%
Description: The ability to wield a lance with one or two hands as if you were born with the weapon in hand. It is now a part of your soul. With every attack, you unleash your holy power upon your enemies.
Damage Modifier: +235 Holy Damage Two-Handed, +118 Holy Damage One-Handed
Critical Strike Modifier: +10.08%
Range: *Weapon Dependent
Standard Attack Cost: -10-SP & -10-MP
On the brighter side of things, I managed to train up a lot of stat points after my sudden level increase.
Level:
28
Experience:
25.11%
Class: Beginner Holy Dragoon of Issara
HP (Health Points):
5,750/5,750
MP (Mana Points):
5,190/5,190
SP (Stamina Points):
3,990/3,990
Base
Total
Strength:
278
358
- Melee Damage Modifier
+278
+358
Dexterity:
309
387
- Melee Critical Strike Chance
30.90%
38.73%
- Hit Chance
75.45%
79.37%
- Dodge Chance
30.90%
38.73%
Endurance:
460
575
Stamina:
279
399
Intellect:
394
519
- Spell Critical Strike Chance
35.00%
35.00%
Wisdom:
277
322
Charisma:
374
393
Health Regeneration per 10-seconds:
288
288
Mana Regeneration per 10-seconds:
161
191
Stamina Regeneration per 10-seconds:
200
230
Holy Spell Damage Bonus:
260
640
Holy Spell Healing Bonus:
260
407
Carrying Capacity in Lbs.:
1790
I had a long way to go to get up to my current level cap for most of the stats, or at least for my primary stats. Strength, Dexterity, and Intellect still needed a lot of work.
When the fight against the two undead mountain lions ended, we decided to take a short break . . . away from the lions’ hunting grounds. I think the way they ambushed my friends and me put us in a state of hypervigilance that was starting to fray our nerves.
The sudden call of a person put us all on edge again, weapons out, spells forming. Thankfully, it was one of the new recruits. A player named
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Olaf asked, holstering his hand-cannons as he recognized Eagle.
Micaela quickly followed up with, “Is it time? Has the attack begun?”
Eagle slid to a halt just a few feet from Olaf and Micaela, looking perfectly fine. Not even a little out of breath. Eagle was a scout class called a Vanguard. Basically, he was part Warrior, part Rogue. He specialized in tracking and mapping. His ‘Cartography’ profession was only slightly below my own. Though his ‘Perception’ . . . he was Rank III already. I had come to believe gaining anything more than the first rank of the skill was restricted by class. Nothing I did let me unlock the second rank, not even getting all my stats over 250 did anything. If that wasn’t enough, his specialized skil
l, ‘Tracking’, gave him the ability to know where any creature was if it was within about a mile. When I interviewed him, I knew he was going to be particularly good for the Order. That he was also handy with daggers and a bow didn’t hurt.
“No, the lich servant, it finally came into range,” Eagle answered.
Olaf grinned. “Alright, lunch is over. Good work, Eagle. Show us the way.”
Eagle was able to guide us with ease, bypassing undead that we would have stumbled into and fought against whether we wanted to or not. And normally, we would have fought them. This time, we were in a hurry and fighting them would slow us down more than the slight detour.
When Eagle slowed and started creeping forward, he whispered, “It’s got a pair of undead wolves with it and a pair of condors in the air.”
“Levels?” Olaf asked in return.
“The wolves are level 28, the condors are level 29, and the lich servant, it’s level 32,” Eagle answered, knocking an arrow in anticipation of the fight. There was no way we weren’t going to include him in the fight after he found the last monster we needed to kill. Well, almost the last monster, we would still need to go back and kill a few more of those feckless felines.
“Condors first, then the wolves,” Olaf ordered softly. “I want them down before we deal with the servant. If it’s a lich servant that means it is probably some kind of necromancer, which means those undead are most likely its weapons.”
It wasn’t anything we didn’t already know. A lich was a kind of super necromancer that had purposely killed itself, bound its soul to a phylactery, and was able to control an undead body up to a certain distance from the phylactery. An undead body that had all the lich’s powers and none of its weaknesses.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 41
