“She owes me.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t mean she wants to be with you.”
“It’s not fair.”
“You’re right, it’s not.”
“Why does this always happen to me?” Desmond whined.
“See, that is the first good question you’ve asked. If you like a girl, don’t play games and pretend to be her friend, then crawl all over her life like a bug and wait for your chance to pounce. It’s dishonest. Most women will think you are a creep. Because that’s what you are.”
“That’s not true. I respect women.”
“No, you don’t. If you did, you’d be up front and tell them what you want from them.”
“And if they say no?”
“You move on. Rejection hurts, sure, but if you are scared of being hurt, you’ll always end up like this. You’re sending the message you don’t respect yourself, that you don’t think you’re worth their time. And guess what, they won’t respect you, either. And you’ll end up resenting all those female ‘friends.’ All because they aren’t giving you what you were too afraid to ask for up front.”
“You got all the answers, uh? What makes you an expert?”
“I learned a lot from my older brother. He was good at that sort of thing. Married happily now. Some from my sister, before she went crazy in college.”
“But you gamed with us all the time. Gamers don’t get girls.”
“I was only there on weeknights, remember? It was more fun than watching the boob tube. Weekends, I went out. I wasn’t looking for friends. I was trying to get laid. Had some hits, had some misses.”
Hawke realized he’d never been friends with any of his exes, either. Once the relationship was over, he really didn’t’ want them around him. He wasn’t sure if that was healthy or not, but he didn’t much care.
“Think about it, Desmond. Here, nobody cares what you were like back on Earth. They don’t care if you were short, or funny-looking, or poor, or whatever. You can reinvent yourself. Figure out how to work your Class – your classes after you level up enough – and you can get all kinds of money and power. If you aren’t a creep, you’ll have no problem finding someone without playing ‘friend’ games.”
“Is that all it takes, then? Money and power?”
“They don’t hurt, but even without those things, you can do okay. If you had just acted confident and sure of yourself, you would have done better on Earth. That’s how it works. If you strike out, keep trying – with different people, instead of getting hung up on someone who’s not into you. Nadia isn’t interested; don’t waste your time with her.”
Desmond didn’t look convinced. “You just want me out of the way so you can have her.”
“Bro. I just told you. You aren’t in the way. She’s not into you.”
“Whatever. What do you want from me, Hawke?”
“Chill out. Stop obsessing over Nadia. Next time you find someone you like, do better. Until then, worry about the important stuff, like not getting killed, leveling up, and getting good gear. Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Desmond thought about it for a bit. If he started more trouble, Hawke would introduce him to Saturnyx, point first, and the Warrior could figure out the rest of his life when he respawned.
You are arguing against killing someone?
That’s cold.
“Okay,” Desmond finally said. “I’ll try.”
“Good. Let’s catch up with the group.”
Hawke wasn’t sure if he’d gotten through to Desmond, but he didn’t know what else to do.
Hopefully, it won’t come to that. I kill when I have to, not when someone is inconvenient, he told his sword.
Hawke shook his head and hoped Saturnyx was wrong.
* * *
For two more days, things went peacefully enough. Desmond hung out mostly with the Dwarves but did whatever chores were assigned to him and he stopped complaining or acting resentful. Nadia tried to speak with him but he politely declined. They left each other alone after that. Hawke figured that was probably the best they could hope for. Desmond and Nadia weren’t going to be friends, not now and maybe not ever. In many ways they’d never been friends, just two people using each other.
Every night before he went to sleep or on watch, Hawke spent an hour meditating and working on awakening a Chakra. He had tried to push too hard the first time, sending about ten Mana points into the energy nexus. On his second attempt, he tried doing it one Mana point at a time, getting a feel for the resistance at the end of this push. That just made the pain tolerable but didn’t work.
The next time, he tried pulling Mana from the outside instead. He spent some energy on spells and tried to focus his Mana regeneration through the Chakra. It didn’t hurt, and he actually felt the Mana flow into his body through the place he wanted it to, but the Chakra still didn’t open. Maybe breaking through wasn’t what he needed. Maybe he needed to unlock the door rather than kick it open. Saturnyx refused to help in any way, saying that he needed to figure it out on his own.
Nadia and Tava continued to grow closer. The Ranger taught the Eternal about herb lore, and Nadia soon became an Arcane Herbalist, thanks to her Unlimited Potential. The two of them often ran off the road when they spotted some rare plant or flower. And when they weren’t talking about herbs and spices, they would often whisper at each other and stare at Hawke. Life was going to get interesting when they reached civilization.
As it turned out, life got interesting before that, but not in a good way.
By mid-morning on the fourth day, a thick mist came rolling from the west, obscuring the sun and swallowing the road and surrounding forest. The group’s march slowed to a crawl; visibility had gone down to a few dozen feet. Hawke, near the front, could barely see Tava, who had been bringing up the rear.
“This isn’t natural,” Kinto said. “Wrong time of year, wrong weather. Sun was shining bright.”
Before Hawke could reply, a notification opened up.
AN AREA EVENT HAS BEGUN!
RISE OF THE DEAD (LEVEL 7 EVENT)
Many centuries ago, two legions of the Onyx Empire were ambushed by demons and massacred to the last man. Now, an emissary of Undeath has reached the unmarked graves of those valiant soldiers and turned them into merciless monsters, seeking only to slay the living!
For eight hours or until the final Phase is completed, Undead will roam this area while a heavy fog makes traveling nearly impossible. If you survive this ordeal, you will be rewarded. If you overcome the challenges in every Phase of the Event, your rewards will be commensurate with your deeds.
Event Rewards for every Phase Completed: 50 Experience per level of the participant. 1 gold per level of the participant. One Enchanted Quality item of the appropriate class and level. Additional prizes will be awarded based on your contributions.
Phase One Will Begin in Fifteen Minutes.
Best of luck!
“Sumbitch,” Hawke muttered as the mist crept closer.
Fifty-Four
“We need a defensive position,” Hawke told Kinto. “Where’s the nearest one?”
“The hill we just passed,” the Hunter said without hesitation. “Only two paths to the top. We can bring down some of the trees and block them both. Best we can do.”
“Lead the way. Everybody, follow Kinto!”
Hawke hung back until he was sure everyone was staying together and sticking close to the Hunter. The Dwarves were moving in good order, with Desmond following them closely. Tava was bringing Nad
ia along. Good. He brought up the rear, casting his buffs as he moved. The mist was getting thicker but he thought he could hear something in the distance: low moaning echoes. Like the sounds an army of zombies might make, maybe.
I didn’t know there were Area Events! Damn this freaking universe that behaves like a game!
You have been invited by Korgam Stern to form a Joint Party.
If you accept, members from both Parties will be able to see their location and status. Other Party bonuses will not be shared.
Accept? Y/N
Hawke accepted and the Dwarves appeared on his Party Interface, allowing everybody in both groups to see where everyone else was. The only people who didn’t show up were Nadia and Desmond, who were too low level to join. They would need to stay in the center of the group, because if they got separated in that mist, they were screwed.
Fortified with his defensive spells, Hawke reached the hill. It was really more of a hillock, rising maybe thirty feet above the ground. One side was covered in a dense undergrowth that would keep anything man-sized from moving through it; another was too steep to walk on. That left two possible ways to the top, vaguely north and south respectively. If they could throw some barricades to block the two paths, they would have a mini-fort to defend.
Korgam, and Daggon quickly started chopping down a couple of trees near the top of a hill. Hawke, Kinto and Desmond helped move each trunk into position. Meanwhile, Crommen the Battle Bard started singing a battle song and Egg buffed everyone.
Taggan’s Song of the Boar has raised your Health by 50 and your weapon damage by 5.
Egg’s Blessing of Gaon has increased your Health Regeneration by 20 per minute. You have gained +10% resistance to any spells, damage and effects inflicted by Undead, Demons or Beyonders.
Warning! Some bonuses do not stack with your existing spell effects. Only bonuses that do have been listed.
Hawke was happy with the bennies from the two Dwarves’ spells. He noticed that Desmond and Nadia’s Health pools had been more than doubled by the Bard’s song, greatly improving their chances to survive. They were going to need every bit of help they could get to overcome an Event four or five levels higher than theirs.
“Nadia, stay with Tava, and only strike her target. Don’t draw aggro on your own.”
The Sorceress nodded; her primary offensive spell (Ice Dagger) inflicted 1-10 points of Water damage per level. It wasn’t much at level two, but it would help Tava take out any critter she went after without attracting the full attention of a monster. In games, mobs tended to target the weakest member of a party first, especially if the low-level character drew their attention (known as ‘aggro,’ short for ‘aggravation,’ in gaming circles) by attacking them. He didn’t want his fellow Earthlings to suffer that fate.
“Desmond, you’re our tactical reserve. If anything gets through the barricade, keep them off the spellcasters and ranged attackers.”
“Gotcha,” the Warrior said, gripping his axe tightly. “Although I should be on the front line.”
“Maybe next time, after you have a couple of extra levels, man. Seventh level event. One on one, if something gets past us, you should be okay. In the front, you’d get chopped into hamburger.”
Desmond nodded. “Fair enough. Feels a little like old times, doesn’t it?”
Hawke grinned. “Yeah. Just have to survive a few wave attacks and you’ll be hitting level four or five in no time.”
“And maybe get some better gear. This starter stuff is total crap,” Desmond said with a matching smile.
Hawke nodded before turning his attention to the surrounding woods. Maybe the Warrior would be okay after all.
The mist had become thick enough that only the indistinct shapes of the larger trees could be seen beyond the hill. The moaning sounds were getting louder. Working with urgent speed, the group set up two rough barricades of stacked trees, a little higher than waist high. It wouldn’t stop missiles but might slow down a charging enemy. To that, Hawke added Consecrated Ground on both ends; the Life spell would heal friends and damage Undead in its area of effect. He and Kinto took the barrier blocking the narrower slope to the south; the Dwarven fighters stood by the other, with their casters, Desmond, Nadia, and Tava in the middle. All that was left was to wait.
A few minutes went by, long enough to require Hawke to refresh his ongoing effects. A scream of terror echoed in the distance. Several more followed, falling silent one by one. Travelers caught in the event, maybe, or a nearby farmhouse under attack? Or maybe a trap to lure someone foolish enough to go running into the mist? Hawke didn’t know and had no way to find out. He wished those people luck and kept staring into the fog, looking for an enemy,
A new sound emerged: running feet, lots of them, and growing closer. Hawke prepped a Hammer of Light and spotted a Woodling being chased by three taller figures: skeletons with bits and pieces of skin and rotted flesh, wearing the remnants of mail shirts and helmets, and holding spears or swords in their bony hands. Before he could release his spell, one of the skeletons stabbed the Woodling in the back, killing it instantly.
Skeleton Soldier (Human Undead)
Level 4 Legionnaire
Health 60 Mana 40 Stamina n/a
“Eyes front, curse ye!” Korgam was yelling to someone as Hawke hit a skeleton with his spell, destroying it. “Trust the others to watch their side while ye watch yers!”
It was good advice. All around their hill, more shapes ran into view. The skeletons had chased a group of Woodlings towards their position. Most of the little Fae creatures died when they froze at the sight of more enemies and were hit from behind. Hawke wished he could invite them to join his group, but he couldn’t trust them not to turn on his people. A few Woodlings managed to escape, ducking and weaving between the risen legionnaires and disappearing back into the mist. The rest were killed before the Undead army rushed toward the hill.
Spells and arrows flew down and destroyed several skeletons. Hawke kept an eye on the parties’ status; nobody was hurt yet, but their Mana was beginning to dip. The first handful of monsters facing his side of the hill were destroyed before they could reach the barricade. A moment later, a group of ten former Legionnaires came running towards his position, and all he could do was concentrate on staying alive.
He took two down with his Hammer spells before three more Undead reached the barricade. Kinto speared one through the head. Another one thrust at Hawke with a light spear of its own; he caught it with his left sword and shattered its skull with a swing from his right. The third one slashed at him with a rusty short sword, inflicting no damage. Hawke cut its sword arm off and then removed its head with a backswing. The remaining two skeletons – the rest had fallen to Tava’s arrows or Gosto’s spells – stepped forward and were chopped down in short order. One on one, the non-elite monsters were more of a nuisance than a danger to the two high-level defenders.
As the last skeleton fell in four separate pieces, Hawke checked the Party interface again. Everybody remained at full Health. The eleven Adventurers had taken out twenty or thirty skeletons without any trouble. A weird rhythmic sound was echoing loudly through the mist, however, and Hawke suddenly realized that was the noise of hundreds – thousands – of footsteps moving closer.
How many soldiers in a legion? Hawke asked Saturnyx.
“The Onyx Imperial Legions held eighty centuries of eighty men apiece, plus an additional twenty centuries of archers or crossbowmen, along with five attached pike cohorts consisting of…>
Just give me the bottom line, if you don’t mind.
“Yeah, that’s a lot better,” Hawke muttered as the army of Undead came into view. The packed ranks of skeleton soldiers made the trees around them sway side to side as they forced their way through them.
He checked on everyone’s Mana pools; they were still okay, but they were being drained faster than their per-minute regenerations could refill them. Hawke still had an ungodly amount of magical power, thanks to the Battle-Mage armor, but everyone else was slowly getting depleted. Time to step up his game.
Consecrated Ground was his best weapon, hurting undead while healing his people. He told the healers to save their power and kept casting the area spell as soon as its cooldown reset, once every ten seconds, filling the hilltop with Life energy as the Undead came charging up by the dozens. He kept doing so whenever he wasn’t too busy hacking away at the enemy army. Any skeletons that reached the sanctified ground began to burn away: two seconds of exposure were enough to destroy them, and many fell even faster, chopped down by the Saturnyx Twins, Dwarven axes or Kinto’s spear.
Behind the front lines, Tava kept a steady shower of shafts going. Hawke wondered where she was getting all those arrows from – she had fired off well over sixty of them – until he saw Kinto back away from the fighting and produce another sheaf of missiles from his pouch of holding. Nice. Next time, Hawke would make sure to bring along a few hundred arrows for his friends. That reminded him of the crossbows he had taken from his would-be assassins back on Orom; he took a moment to drop the weapons and their eighteen bolts in the center of their formation, in case someone could make use of them.
As the fight moved into its first half-hour, Hawke realized that without the Dwarven Adventurers, he and his friends would have been overrun and killed in a matter of minutes. The experienced Sterns fought with the calm competence of professionals, making sure their Mana regeneration kept up with their spell casting or ability activation, and drinking potions when they needed a boost. Hawke glanced their way when the press of Undead on his side slowed down. He was impressed by what he saw.
Twilight Templar (The Eternal Journey Book 1) Page 32
