In the end I had him shift between assisting the other minions, keeping everyone on roughly the same schedule.
At the end of the night, I was satisfied with our progress. My Mining had reached rank eleven and was capped again, and I had gathered a boatload of ore and uncut gems.
As I gathered the last of the load, I calculated the total. Over forty-two hundred ore and sixty uncut aquamarines. It was quite a productive night.
If all the metal sold I’d be earning about ten bucks an hour for my labor. Tin and copper were stepping-stones. To really get things moving I’d need to find an iron mine.
It was almost time for my alarm, so I headed out of the mine and logged off near the smelting hut.
***
38
The next morning, I woke refreshed. I performed my normal morning ritual and then hopped back into the game to get some smelting done and see what I could squeeze out of Darr in trade for the Earthhearts.
After a bit of haggling, I managed to get the upgraded pan, mold, and two more of the Journeyman Picks in return. It was well worth the trade.
Virtually drooling over his new acquisitions, Darr headed off to the mine and left me to my lonesome.
It took me almost two hours to fully smelt all of the ore with the upgraded equipment, yielding four hundred and twenty-nine ingots.
Darr hadn’t returned by the time I finished, so I put out the forge fire and closed the door behind me as I left for the auction house.
There were a few players doing their business when I arrived, but we mostly ignored each other; more interested in business than socialization.
When my turn came, I handed over my receipts and waited with bated breath to see the results.
Not everything had sold, but the sack of gold the clerk handed me was definitely enough to put a smile on my face. One hundred and forty-two gold and nine silver.
I scanned the receipts for the auctions that hadn’t sold and hummed to myself. Most of my gem auctions hadn’t sold.
I guess they must be a bit more niche than metal, I thought. I’ll have to see what they are useful for and reassess.
Doing a quick search at the Merchantrix kiosk for the current market prices, I was glad to see that tin was still a desired commodity. I put the bars up in stacks of twenties, fives, and a few singles, covering the various quantities that seemed to be selling well.
I didn’t add any more gem auctions and let my current stash sit in my bag. Maybe I’d learn whatever skill made jewelry and turn them into something I could sell at some point down the road.
Commerce complete, I had an appointment with a mausoleum and a class quest.
I headed to the graveyard and followed my quest marker to the mausoleum. I summoned all of my minions and was pleasantly surprised that they received the graveyard buff even when I brought them back in from their inert form. They must really want necromancers to play in the graveyard.
I took the time to fully stock my new staff with spells, putting four charges of Create Undead and one of Necromantic Bolt into the slots. I double checked to make sure my minions were fully healed and cast Dark Shield. I was as prepared as I could be.
I stepped into the tomb and looked around. In the center of the mausoleum was a single stone sarcophagus, devoid of any carvings or markings of any kind. Seeing nothing to give me any clues of what to expect, I took out the potion, had my minions form up behind me, and drank it in a single gulp.
A wave of disorientation washed over me and I found myself lying on the floor. My entire body felt cold, and numb. I felt something detach with a pop and feeling came rushing back into my limbs.
I regained my feet and looked around. “What the?” I yelled and leapt away from the body lying on the floor of the mausoleum. My body, well, my avatar, looking up at the ceiling with blank, dead eyes.
I reached out towards my body and noticed I could see through my hand. I was some kind of ghost.
The sound of something tearing filled the crypt and I spun around. Hanging above the sarcophagus was a swirling portal, slowly drawing me towards it.
A pulse of light on the side of the sarcophagus drew my attention to a previously nonexistent inscription. A single word: “Resist.”
My eyes widened and I pulled away from the vortex, exerting everything I had to resist its draw.
Other spectral forms, drawn from somewhere, came flying through the walls of the mausoleum and were sucked into the vortex, each one increasing its power.
I tried grabbing the floor as I started to slide, but my spectral hands couldn’t find purchase. Nothing I was doing any good.
In my mind I heard the memory of the Guildmaster speak once again, “Only the strongest of will have the ability to manipulate the soul.”
I focused on staying still, picturing myself resisting the pull of the vortex with every shred of willpower I had. I felt myself enter a tug of war with the vortex and came to a stop.
Willpower check…. Success!
The vortex started to spin faster and expand and I felt a wave of anger momentarily breaking my concentration. I slid several feet closer to the portal before regaining my focus.
Willpower check…. Success!
The sense of anger turned to rage, and the vortex bulged, reaching towards me, but I was ready for it and bore down with my will.
Willpower check… Success!
The surface of the portal lashed out and grabbed hold of me. A tentacle like extrusion wrapped around my arm and started to draw me in.
I focused my will and pulled back, managing to slow my movement but unable to completely counter the portal’s pull.
Willpower check… Tie!
I clawed at the appendage, but my fingers barely had any effect. The Guildmaster’s warning rang again in my ear and I had an idea.
I split my focus between resisting the pull and striking the portal’s appendage. My progress towards the portal increased but when I clawed at the appendage, a glowing purple light suffused my claws and I severed the tendril and moved away as the portal’s pull lost most of its strength.
Willpower check…. Critical Success!
The portal howled and black ichor spilled into the room as the vortex collapsed in on itself, disappearing with a pop.
With a sharp yank I was thrown back into my body, and my muscles ached as if I’d just finished a marathon.
QUEST UPDATE: Trial of the Soul
You have successfully completed the Trial of the Soul, return to the Harvest Moon for your rewards.
I left the mausoleum, my minions in tow and headed back to the guild, making sure to dismiss my minions before entering town.
As per usual, the Guildmaster was seated at his desk when I arrived in the guildhall, reading a thick book with a title that seemed to squirm on the cover when I attempted to read it. He closed the book and looked down as I arrived.
“Welcome back,” he began as his eyes locked onto my own, seemingly piercing me to the core. “Journeyman Kababala, I am glad to see that you passed the trial.”
QUEST COMPLETE: Trial of the Soul
You have gained 200xp!
He reached under his desk and produced a large book, a small, polished gem, and a folded set of robes. “Here are your rewards,” he said, handing me the book. “This will instruct you in the art of Soul Mastery, an advanced art that will allow you capture the fleeing spiritual essences of your foes upon their death.”
My expression must have conveyed a small portion of my anxiety upon hearing that because he waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t look so worried. The name of the skill is misleading. You’re not actually trapping their immortal souls. The energy harnessed is just the last remnants of their life force. That energy does still retain an imprint of its former owner, which is useful for our purposes.”
He laughed a bit and continued, “If we were really capturing souls the gods of light would have eradicated our order eons ago,” and I sighed in relief.
He handed over the gem
and said, “Read the book and I will explain how to use this.”
I opened the book, confirmed my desire to learn the new sub-skill and watched as a mixed cloud of dark purple and bright green circled me and was absorbed into my body.
You have learned the “Soul Mastery” sub-skill!
Soul Mastery - This sub-skill allows the character to harvest the residual life essence, referred to as the “Soul” of living enemies and trap that essence within specially prepared gemstones. That stored energy can be used to enhance spell casting or provide enhancements to animated minions.
Dissection Skill Updated: The “Soul” option has been added for all beings in possession of such. This option will be available for 30 seconds following death.
Create Undead Spell has been updated to add the new optional material component: Soul Gem.
“Good,” the Guildmaster said. “That gem is suitable to serve as a soul gem of moderate power. You’ll need to obtain others for your own use, eventually. Be mindful of the energy you seek to capture. If the gem is not strong enough… you may lose a hand. Literally.”
“Do you have any more gems I could purchase?” I asked in a rush. “And what do they do when used to create undead?”
The Guildmaster chuckled. “No, I don’t have any gems for sale, but any cut gem will do. As for your second question, it depends on what you want them to do. The most basic enhancement is the addition of a mana pool of their own. The minion will be able to cast spells should you share that skill, without having to utilize your own mana. In addition, the type of soul used can improve the minion’s abilities. The soul of a warrior will make the undead a better fighter, while that of a mage grants a bigger mana pool and faster casting speed, etc.”
“And you can use them to enhance spells?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied with a nod. “You can use the soul energy to boost the power of a spell. The more powerful the soul, the more powerful the enhancement. Each use will drain the entire soul gem, so make sure to keep a good collection on hand if you intend to do that often. I’ll let you discover the various effects on the spells on your own.”
I grinned as the implications of the new skill danced through my mind.
He coughed and snapped me out of my daydream. “One additional thing. Your skill with Necromancy is now solid enough that you may begin to study other schools of magic. Your skill with them will never be able to rise above half your current rank in the Necromancy school, but it may be of use in shoring up some of the spells that our focus lacks. At journeyman rank, you may learn one additional school. Return when you reach your next level and I will have another spell to teach you,” he said and waved me to the door.
“Can you teach me other schools?” I asked.
“Unfortunately not,” he replied. “You will have to find a teacher willing to provide you with that training. I can, however, provide a letter of recommendation that you may present to a master that may assist you in convincing them if you wish.”
“Please,” I said and waited while he wrote out the letter.
He placed the folded letter on top of the robes and handed them over. “These are the robes to mark your station as a Journeyman of the Harvest Moon. Wear them well.”
I smiled and took the offered items, examining the robes as I left the guild.
< Journeyman’s Robes >
The ceremonial robes of a Journeyman of the Necromancer’s guild.
Properties: +3 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, 20% mana cost reduction to animation spells.
The robes were crafted of a deep, purple silk, and blew my current gear out of the water. I immediately equipped the new robes and tucked the old shirt and pants into my pack.
I was dying to get out there and start collecting souls, but first I wanted to unload some of the alchemical items I’d collected on the way.
I headed over to the Proper Potion and sold all of the blood, hearts, and muscles I had gathered, except for the Ogre’s Blood that I could use in my Runecrafting, whenever I got around to it.
All together I was able to exchange the materials for fifteen gold, three mana potions, and three health potions; a decent sum considering otherwise they would likely be sitting in my inventory for quite a while. Although, thinking about it after the fact, I probably should have sold them at the auction house to other players, but at least I’d have a better reputation with the Alchemy trainer once I pursued that craft.
Odds and ends accomplished; it was time to execute the next phase of the plan: iron.
***
39
I headed back to the smelting hut to talk to Darr about where I might be able to find a mine rich with iron. When I arrived, the dwarf was at the forge, smelting some bronze from ingots of tin and copper.
“Good mornin’ to ye, lizard,” he said. “I see ye’ve been keeping busy by the sacks of ore ye’re always in here smeltin’. I shoulda thought ta charge ye rent! Hah!”
I chuckled at that. “Yeah. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the mine, but it’s time for more.”
The dwarf looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Really now? And what, pray tell, do ye intend ta do now, little lizard man?”
“I was hoping you could point me to an area where I could mine some iron,” I said with a smile.
“Hah! An iron mine? At yer level? Good luck with that!” he laughed, singeing his beard in the forge fire before hastily patting it out.
“What do you mean?” I asked, getting a little concerned.
“The closest mine for iron is the Sunken Forge about a day and a ‘alf north o’ here by horse. Or if ye don’t fancy a walk, ye can take the underpassage. But. And I’ll say it loudly so ye don’t misunderstand. But, the place is crawlin’ with enemies that’ll probably make quick work o’ the likes of ye. Ye might have tangled with the orcs o’ the forest and come out on top, but the clans that roam the cave systems near ta the mine be of more hearty stock.”
“Ye might make it in the door. Ye may even find a vein or two before one o’ their patrols comes sniffin’ around, but after that ye’re toast,” he finished, chuckling to himself. “Go up there and some mountain orc’s likely ta ‘ave himself a new pair o’ kobold hide boots.”
It couldn’t be that hard, I thought. I was basically a party of five all by myself. I shook my head at the dwarf and exited the building, heading back to the auction house and blacksmith to get ready for the trip.
I stopped outside of town and stripped my minions of their current gear. With my new minion options, it was time to assign some more specialized roles.
However much I liked having a dwarven tank, I didn’t want to risk Gimli any more on the front line, so I’d need to find a replacement, preferably a zombie. A big, meaty zombie. Then I could keep my star miner tucked away.
I wasn’t going to waste any money on magical gear for my skeletons, but I did want them to be properly equipped to go against a higher-level foe. I sold their old gear and my share of the loot from the bandit dungeon for just over two gold and then spent twenty-eight gold on new gear from the blacksmith, putting a giant smile on the Lupin woman’s face.
I bought a full set of bronze plate, a tower shield, and a wicked looking spiked mace for my future tank. While not the most damaging weapon, a mace was pretty egalitarian when dealing damage, regardless of the enemy nature. Lightly armored opponent? Smash it. Heavily armored opponent? Smash. Undead? Smash. Animal? Smash. Plus, maces usually didn’t require speed to be effective, and I was expecting zombies to be slow.
For my other three minions I picked up a mixed kit so they could serve multiple purposes, acting more like skirmishers. As such they couldn’t be quite as armored as the tank, but I didn’t want to rely on leather alone.
In the end I decided on some light brigandine, and for weapons they each got a small recurve bow, two quivers of arrows, and a two-handed mace for when things got up close and personal, or DPS was needed.
When I eventually got my soul train on, I’d replace o
ne of the skirmishers with my moon elven skeleton for added support or DPS. She’d get my hand-me-downs.
And just in case I picked up a set of new gear for Gimli as well, equipping him with a small crossbow, round shield, and single-handed axe in true stereotypical dwarven fashion.
Once I raised my zombie, Gimli would have to hand over his amulet, but he wouldn’t need it from his position of safety in my bag.
Shopping spree complete, I headed out of town and into the woods to find myself a suitable tank minion, summoning and equipping my mini-legion as soon as we were outside of town.
It wasn’t long until I ran into a roaming patrol of forest orcs. A single raider led two warriors along the forest trail.
All four of my current minions were equipped with ranged weapons and opened fire as soon as the orcs were in range.
My minions turned the raider into a pincushion while I blasted the warriors with Necromantic Bolts, knocking off huge chunks of their health with each hit. The lower-level orcs never even made it to melee before falling to the ground, dead.
You have killed 2x Forest Orc Warrior! You have gained 200xp.
You have killed a Forest Orc Raider! You have gained 150xp.
I rushed over and activated Dissection on the raider, pulling out the gemstone and selecting the Soul option from the menu, ignoring the rest.
Soul Harvest… Successful!
Instead of the normal progress bar and blurring animation, a bright green image of the orc lifted out of its corpse and was sucked into the gemstone, causing it to vibrate and glow with a soft green light.
Not wanting to waste a moment, I cast Create Undead on the raider’s body, selecting the zombie option. I followed the game guides for the updated spell, chanting and drawing the modified diagrams around the corpse.
Extra Credit Page 28
