Extra Credit

by J. Arthur Klein

  There weren’t any noticeable differences between the various tunnels, so I decided to let luck decide.

  I took out my dagger and spun it on the ground like a deadly game of spin the bottle. The blade whirled and eventually came to a stop with its blade pointing down one of the mine shafts.

  We have a winner, I thought and sent Tom ahead to scout the way while the rest of team skeleton and I followed a short distance behind.

  As I travelled further into the mine, signs of tin veins appeared on the walls, shining in the rock. The tunnel ended in a dead end with a pile of old, broken equipment sitting off to the side, long forgotten by whoever had started this tunnel.

  I searched through the items and got lucky, finding a bottle of some sort of liquor stashed under an empty crate. I popped the cork and sniffed the contents, pulling away as the potent liquor burned my nostrils.

  Chuckling, I corked the bottle and added it to my growing hoard of random loot.

  Heeding Darr’s warning, I did another sweep of the immediate area to make sure there were no elementals waiting to pounce. Finding none, I took out my prospectors pan and canteen and got started.

  Mining Skill Check (Prospecting) Success! You have gained 10 Mining XP!

  You have reached Mining Rank 9!

  The swirling dirt resolved into a pattern of tin flakes that triggered another skill message and updated my map.

  Mining Skill Check (Mineralogy) Success! Tin Identified!

  With my map open to plan out my mining strategy, I almost missed it when a small form materialized out of the stone at the end of the tunnel.

  I threw myself to the side at the last minute but still caught the brunt of the hit on my left shoulder, the force of the blow blasting through my Dark Shield and sending me rolling with a quarter less hit points.

  I ordered my minions to attack and pulled myself back to my feet.

  My attacker looked like an incomplete sculpture, as if someone had started carving out a dwarf but then never got past the rough shaping stage. It was short, blocky, and its arms ended in large, bulbous rock spheres.

  With slow, powerful movements the elemental fully emerged from the wall. A second heavy blow from its fist cracked the stone floor as I barely dodged aside.

  After a second, its name appeared in yellow.

  < Disturbed Earth Elemental >

  Yuri was the first to reach it, bashing into the earthen creature with his shield and quickly following up with his stone shortsword, taking a small sliver off of the elemental’s health with each blow.

  Grunk arrived next, his battle axe biting in deeper, but still not as effective as I would have hoped.

  Tom leapt over his skeletal allies and landed on top of the elemental, causing it to take a step to the side while the cat tried to sink his teeth and claws into its stone body. One of the panther’s incisors broke as the stone flesh refused to give.

  Blasting the elemental with a Necromantic Bolt was much more effective and did more damage than all the attacks of my minions combined. I started casting a second bolt as the creature landed a crushing blow on Tom’s hind legs, smashing the bones against the wall and crippling the cat.

  Nighthunter Skeleton (Tom) has suffered a critical hit, its rear legs are now disabled.

  Another heavy blow sent Yuri stumbling backwards. His armor absorbed some of the damage but what got through was still enough to drop his health by half.

  My minions continued to hack ineffectively at the elemental as I blasted it with bolt after bolt, draining my mana along with its hit points.

  When it hit twenty-five percent, its entire form began to shake. Cracks started to form all over its body leaking a cool blue light.

  We continued to chip away at its hit points as it shuddered. I was mid-casting when it dawned on me that the elemental had stopped attacking us some time ago, but by then it was too late.

  With a bright flash the elemental exploded in a wave of energy that incinerated my digital self in less than a second.

  Disturbed Earth Elemental uses – Vengeful Strike!

  Orc Skeleton (Yuri) has taken 341 damage!

  Orc Skeleton (Slag) has taken 460 damage!

  Orc Skeleton (Grunk) has taken 442 damage!

  Nighthunter Skeleton (Tom) has taken 641 damage!

  You have been hit for 237 damage!

  Yuri has been destroyed! Your bound mana has been returned.

  Slag has been destroyed! Your bound mana has been returned.

  Tom has been destroyed! Your bound mana has been returned.

  Grunk has been destroyed! Your bound mana has been returned.

  Disturbed Earth Elemental has been killed! You have gained 50xp (Partial kill).

  You have died!

  Respawn time: 45 minutes.

  I think I cursed more in the next five minutes in the black void between spawns than I had in quite a while. How did I not recognize that the thing was going to explode? I felt like such a noob. That’s what I get for letting my gaming skills get so rusty. Argh! Forty-five minutes lost.

  When I finished beating myself up over my rookie mistake, I decided to try and do something productive with my time. I logged out of the game and hopped onto my PC, searching the game forums for information on these elementals.

  I felt a little better when I read others recounting of their first meeting and subsequent splattering. Until the comments of course, where they were ridiculed for their noobishness. At least some of the people commenting tried to be helpful, pointing out some weaknesses of that type of monster.

  Apparently, the common wisdom was that heavy, blunt weapons were the way to go. Someone even suggested a pickaxe. It was logical. What better way to lay the smackdown on a rock monster than with a tool designed to break through rocks? The key was to finish the elementals off before they exploded, which would happen after thirty seconds.

  “Oh hell,” I said, a feeling of panic washing through me as it dawned on me that all of my minions had just been destroyed. What would happen to their gear? Would the items just fall to the ground? Could someone just come along and loot it?

  I did a frantic search and let out a sigh of relief as I found the answer. For minions who could be equipped, when they died their items would only be accessible to the summoner, except in cases of PVP where there was a chance something would drop, but losing gear wouldn’t be a thing ‘til after level ten.

  The timer ticked down and I logged back into the game, appearing in the same cemetery as before, the sound of Sommervale’s night critters echoing in the darkness.

  Knowing that my minions’ gear would be safe from wandering looters, I decided it would be prudent to raise their replacements before trekking out across the nighttime wilderness. My mana pool was full, with nothing locked away for the first time in a while. It almost felt unnatural.

  I cast Dark Shield and then took a look through my skeleton collection. I had ten orc skeletons, one dwarf, and one moon elf.

  The moon elf I disregarded immediately. It was far too frail to hold up in melee or to the rigors of mining so I packed it away for when it was time to try my hand at a caster skeleton.

  I could theoretically use Dark Blessing to assign a minion one of my spells, but it would be using my mana to cast and I didn’t want to stretch my primary resource further.

  It was mining time, and I was dying to see if a dwarf skeleton could do a better job at mining than a human or orc. I finalized my choices: one dwarf and three orcs.

  I raised the dwarf first, binding him and then imbuing him with Mining via Dark Blessing. I handed him one of my less damaged picks and hung the amulet I’d scavenged from his former meat armor around his neck. I smiled as the buff appeared next to his name on my interface, next to another icon I hadn’t noticed before.

  Dark Power – This minion was raised within the borders of a graveyard. Undead created within areas sanctified to the powers of Death are imbued with additional power, increasing their strength and durability.
>
  Duration: While Active.

  I would have to plan all of my undead raising excursions more carefully going forward.

  Awesome, I thought and finished up on minion number one, naming him Gimli after the well-known literary figure.

  The three orcs joined him soon, each getting their own pick and names: Larry, Moe, and Curley.

  Curley got the crap end of the stick. I couldn’t cast Dark Blessing on him yet so he’d have the luxurious position as mine guard and elemental speed bump.

  I could still raise a temporary minion with the two Minion Points left in my pool, which was tempting. It would probably be wise at this point just to have some more watchdogs to warn me of any elementals popping out of the walls, but since I wasn’t interested in their combat prowess, raising them at the graveyard would only mean I’d have to refresh the animation magic sooner.

  That decision made, I lead my troop back to the mines and to the site of my death.

  The area was filled with shattered bones, my former minions now nothing more that scattered shards covering the floor.

  I gathered their melee weapons and stuffed them into my satchel while Gimli equipped the bronze chainmail and leather boots.

  The hauberk covered him down to his shins and was tighter across the shoulders than it had been on its previous, human owner, and the helmet was a tight squeeze too and barely fit over the dwarf’s thicker skull, but armor was armor and the undead didn’t complain.

  Gimli was going to be my tank from now on, and as such would get as many armor pieces as I could put on him.

  Curley got the leather jerkin which at this point was pretty much tatters, but was still better than nothing. I handed him the battle axe as well since he was on sentry duty.

  Ok, time for attempt number two of the evening, I thought as I panned the dirt and identified the nearby tin veins, earning another ten Mining XP.

  I raised another orc skeleton and equipped it with one of the shields and a club. Then I instructed it and Curley to stand back-to-back in the center of where we were mining and attack anything that came into the area that wasn’t one of us.

  I set Gimli, Larry, and Moe on their own nodes, and started to mine.

  The fifth skeleton acted as a good alarm clock, reminding me to pause to gather the ore whenever its timer ran out.

  Taking stock of my progress, I counted ninety-seven ore in my pile, eighty in Gimli’s, and one hundred and twenty-two between the two orcs. A total of two hundred and ninety-nine ore and three Uncut Aquamarines. My Mining XP had reached the cap as well.

  It was an auspicious start, and the next two hours went similarly, with another five hundred and ninety-eight total ore and five uncut gems. I had more than enough to fulfill the quest and still have a lot left over to auction.

  During hour number four, an elemental decided to crash my mining party, putting my sentry system to the test.

  The first warning I had was Curley dashing towards the wall close to where Moe was mining, axe raised.

  I quickly commanded all of my minions to assist, and they started hacking away at the elemental with their pickaxes, taking huge chunks out of the elemental’s rocky body with each hit.

  It lashed out with both fists, knocking Larry through the air to crash against the wall and dropping his health down to thirty percent.

  The constant attacks from the rest of my minions quickly dropped it down to the trigger point of its self- destruct ability.

  Not wanting a repeat of earlier, I pushed them to attack faster and added in some necromantic bolts, burning its health down to zero with close to 5 seconds to spare.

  You have destroyed a Disturbed Earth Elemental. You have gained 150xp!

  I looted the creature and found a nice surprise, a small sphere glowing with the same energy that it used to explode. A quick examination confirmed its identity, an .

  I activated Dissection for the hell of it and was a bit surprised when a pair of options appeared: a chunk of ore and a gemstone. The ore icon was white and the gemstone was orange, so I decided to play it safe and chose the ore option.

  Critical Success! You have obtained Tin Ore x18 (Mining/Dissection Synergy)!

  You have gained 25xp.

  You have gained 0 Mining XP (Cap Reached)

  The rest of the elemental’s remains faded from view, leaving no opportunity to try for the gems. At least the elementals provided rewards that were worth the effort it took to dispatch them, and depending on how much the Earthheart was worth to Darr, it might be a worthy goal to seek them out in the future.

  I repaired Larry and checked the clock. I had just under three hours before I had to call it a night, so with a sigh, I set my minions to task and returned to the grind.

  ***

  27

  The rest of the night was uneventful, and by its end I had gathered a grand total of one thousand seventeen hundred and ninety-one ore and sixteen uncut aquamarines.

  If the going rate of tin stayed the same, it would add up to about five dollars an hour for my work, plus whatever the gems brought in.

  I gathered my minions and was heading to the exit when a glimmer along the wall caught my attention.

  A closer look revealed a small vein of something that looked brighter than the tin I’d been working on all night. Curious, I took out my pan and did a quick scan of the area.

  Bingo. A silver vein! I thought. Sleep can wait.

  I formed the minions around me to guard against any unwanted visitors and dug in.

  The silver vein was pretty small, and the target circles were a bit smaller than those in the tin veins, so it was a challenge, especially since my skill was capped.

  The higher the character’s skill in relation to the target material, the bigger the targets, but since my skill was capped, there was no easing of the difficulty as I went, and no XP gained from the process.

  The vein disappeared after an hour of mining, and while I was pretty good at the mini game, it was mind numbing and I was by no means flawless in my play.

  After collecting the silver ore, of which I got forty-six, and two uncut emeralds, I tucked my pick away and continued my trip towards the exit.

  I’d almost reached the central cavern when I heard a sound ahead. I ordered my minions to remain still and dropped into Stealth, wanting a closer look.

  There was a flickering light coming from the room and two humanoid forms. The first was banging away at a tin vein while the second stood nearby, a large maul resting on his shoulder.

  They’d wedged a torch into a crack in one of the walls, giving them a fifteen foot or so circle of light without interfering with their mining, or ability to defend themselves.

  They were talking, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying from where I was, so I snuck closer, curious as to whom my mining neighbors were.

  More details were visible as my eyes adjusted to the torch light.

  The one standing with the maul was a human warrior of some sort. Bronze chainmail with some of the plate add-ons covered his vulnerable areas, including a bronze helm similar to the one that now adorned Gimli’s head. A few stray wisps of black hair peeked out of the bottom of the helm, and the player must have chosen the palest shade of skin available for his avatar, making him look like a twilight vampire, sans sparkles.

  His companion was another human, this one clad in sweat-soaked workman’s clothes. His blond hair was plastered to his scalp by a sheen of sweat, and he was hacking away at the tin vein with his pick with no effort whatsoever to pace himself.

  “How long is this going to take Gavin?” the crow looking one said, tapping his foot impatiently. “I don’t want to have to fight any more of those stupid elemental things.”

  The blonde, Gavin, looked over at his friend and said, “It’ll take as long as it takes Sev. Longer if you keep interrupting. It’s bad enough I run out of stamina so quickly, let alone the interruptions.”

  He continued to chip away at the ore, glancing ove
r at his pale friend between strikes. “You want more plates? That means more bronze. More bronze requires more tin. More tin requires either buying it. Or mining it.”

  Wiping the sweat off of his brow he glared at Sev. “And since you don’t want to pay the nine silver a bar price, or get your hands dirty mining it yourself, you get to stand guard duty while I mine it.”

  Sev raised his arms in surrender. “Fine, just don’t take too long. We could be out there killing orcs or moving on to trolls!”

  I sensed an opportunity to make a buck or two, so I walked into the light and raised my hand in greeting.

  Sev screeched like a teen girl at her first viewing of a horror movie and pulled his maul forward into a combat stance.

  “Get ready, Gavin! Some sort of lizard rat thing!” he yelled, glancing at his companion who was looking at him like he was an idiot.

  I tilted my head to the side in puzzlement and began to speak when the man leapt at me, swinging his maul in a giant overhead smash that would have probably ended me if it landed. I dodged to the side and hissed at the man.

  Attention: You have been attacked by another player! The initiating player has been flagged for PvP! You may retaliate without penalty. See the PvP FAQ for more information!

  “Woah! Quit it!” I yelled as I stepped back, but the human kept on coming. I dodged again and called to my minions, keeping my distance while he followed me farther from his friend who was yelling at him to stop as well.

  He wound up for another swing but was interrupted as Larry buried his pickaxe in the man’s shoulder, quickly followed by Moe’s, and with that respite I cast Cripple on the man.

  He shrieked in pain as the magic took hold, his arms and legs seizing as he struggled to bring his giant weapon to bear.

  “Back off, Sev!” Gavin shouted, but the other human ignored him, too preoccupied with being picked to death.

  Curley and Gimli arrived soon after, locking in the human’s fate. Sev’s nametag was gray in my interface, so he must have been at least two levels below me, and at the rate my skeletons took him apart he was probably much lower than that.