Battle Spire Read online

  “Ready to rock?” I asked.

  “You betch’ya,” said Wylder, passing the lantern to me. “You take this, that way I can keep my crossbow out at all times.”

  For trades between players of more substantial quantities of materials or cumbersome items, a full-blown trade window must be open, but for small, easy to process trades such as this, the AI of Hundred Kingdoms could transition items seamlessly, pushing immersion just a little bit further.

  I took the lantern and equipped it in my left-hand slot. Holding it up, I noticed it wasn’t a kobold one. It was far too clean and the glass looked new.

  “Where did you get this?” I asked.

  “Bought it in town before heading off,” Wylder said. “I sent some gold over from my main to give this character a boost. It’s how I dumped that starting bow for this crossbow. Vendor items are generally crap but the knockback effect on crossbows can make them pretty handy and it wasn’t exactly expensive for me.”

  Wylder drew an arrow from his quiver and primed his weapon.

  “Ready?” he said.

  “Ready,” I said, swishing my club through the air. “Let’s kill some kobolds.”

  6

  Hunting down the remaining kobolds through the Rusking Woods was a lot more fun with Wylder. Other than the larger patrols, we took everything on, smashing through the kill requirements for the quest and then some. By the time we had reached the campsite, we’d killed around twenty mobs in total.

  I’d managed to reach level 2 overall, gaining some stat points to distribute, but I’d decided to hold off on that until I had a chance to stop and do it properly. I’d looted just over one silver in total now (one silver is made up of one hundred copper, by the way) and a whole heap of cloth scraps, with even the odd piece of whole linen from the mobs. My weapon skill in one-handed maces had even reached rank 2 and was pushing towards rank 3.

  More importantly, I’d unlocked an actual combat ability called Desperate Strike, although it would be Desperate Shot if I was using a ranged weapon. Its description was as follows:

  Desperate Strike/Shot – Rank 1

  You lash out wildly to drive off an attacker. Weapon base damage is increased by +20 but accuracy is lowered by a third.

  Mana Cost: 20

  Cooldown: 10 seconds

  The mechanics of the ability called into question Wylder’s derision of weapon skill. The higher my weapon skill, the better the chance I had of hitting with that weapon. With a higher weapon skill, I’d suffer less from the accuracy debuff of Desperate Strike. Alas, such theory crafting was best left to later levels and I ought to restrain myself from diving down the rabbit hole on number crunching. I was here to make gold, standing mostly in the markets, crafting and playing the auction house. What need would I have to gain weapon skills and venture into the wider game?

  I checked the clock. It was 9:10pm already and I’d not completed the first quest yet, nor acquired even a fraction of the money I’d need to start buying all the tools that were required for crafting. This annoyed me. I wanted a quicker progression than this; I’d have to kick it into a new gear somehow. Wylder was ahead, scouting out the kobold camp, but he’d been gone for what felt like a long time. My frustration turned to fidgeting and I began tapping my club against a hardened root of the tree I was hiding behind.

  “Hey,” Wylder hissed upon his return, “You’ll give us away.”

  “How bad can it be?” I asked. “We’ve both levelled up. Surely, we can take them?”

  Wylder crouched low. “There are seven mobs in the camp and one of them is level five.”

  “That’ll be the Big Boss they were nattering about earlier,” I said. I ceased my tapping as my mind narrowed in on the problem at hand. “Do we have to be standing inside the camp in order for the quest to update?”

  “Nah, just need to get close enough to get a decent look,” Wylder said. “Although I’m concerned about the aggro range.”

  I peered out from around the trunk. The camp was bordered by a ring of wooden stakes planted into the ground. At its center was a black pot over a fire. It was surrounded by about a dozen patchwork blankets propped up on thick branches that served as makeshift tents. The kobolds congregated near the fire but one of them would wander over to the boundary of the camp every so often.

  “Some of them are starting to move,” I said. “They must have patrol routes. If we wait till one of them is right on the edge, you can – what the—”

  A searing ball of purple-blue energy came soaring out of the night. It had to be a mage attack and it exploded off the back of one of the kobold grunts. The whole camp was in uproar, kobolds charging off in all directions, looking for the assailant. Battle cries came from across the clearing and two players charged out of the darkness. One might have been a paladin from the look of the golden light dancing around his warhammer; the other was a berserker, judging by his speed and dual wielding axes.

  The Big Boss of the kobolds beat his mace upon his shield. He stood a good head and shoulders above the others, had even bushier eyebrows and whiskers, and even wore some mail armor, which hung loosely off this sinewy frame.

  “Bah, hoomins,” he boomed. “Defend our shrooms you lot!”

  I spun around to snatch up the lantern then scrambled to my feet.

  “C’mon,” I said to Wylder. “Let’s go now while they’re distracted.”

  “Zoran, wait. The bigger one is still at the bac—”

  But I was off, already running for the camp, anticipating the notification to say I’d investigated the woods and could now return to the Mayor to hand in the quest. But it didn’t tick. And then I found myself crossing the boundary of the campsite proper, angling my body between two stakes in the ground.

  Quest – Into the Woods

  Investigate Rusking Wood - Complete

  Slay kobolds 15/15

  “Get back, you noobtard,” Wylder called.

  Even as I heard him, I saw my doom descend upon me in slow motion. The Big Boss turned around, and losing interest in the first group of players, was homing in on me.

  “They’s got backup from behind, curses!”

  He ran at me, swerving around the campfire and knocking over blanket tents as he charged. An arrow thrummed into his leg and he slowed down considerably. Wylder must have used an ability to debuff his speed.

  “Run, Zoran.”

  I ignored him. I held my ground, watching as another arrow zipped past into the boss. To call him a boss wasn’t accurate. He was level 5, sure, but not an elite. And yeh, two good hits from him would likely kill me, but I couldn’t just run away. I wouldn’t always have a ranger with me, and I planned on being solo for the most part.

  I let the aggro of the mob be my savior this time. Wylder’s third arrow stuck into the boss’ shield and he decided the ranger was the real threat. The boss changed course, veering away from me at the last second and made a B-line for the trees. I wheeled about and whacked him with my club repeatedly. I was dealing only small amounts of damage through that chainmail, chipping away at his health in chunks of 5 or 10. When the Boss had less than 30 health left he rounded again on me. Wylder didn’t fire more arrows. Maybe he’d taken his own advice and run for it.

  With no hope in hell of escape, I backpedaled, ducking under the Boss’ sweeping arm to end up at his side. I used the aptly named Desperate Strike. My mana bar drained by 20 points and I felt my arm lunge forward with extra power, but it lacked the precision of a fully controlled swing. The blow connected, striking the Boss in the ribs.

  Desperate Strike hits! 36 bludgeoning damage

  Kobold Boss level 5 dies – 35 Assisted EXP

  I’d got lucky with that last hit. Compared to a regular hit, that had actually done some damage to him, but it very nearly hadn’t been enough. Even a little bit of armor ruined my meager damage output. I’d need to think about putting some stat points into making myself more powerful in the future.

  No, Jack, I reminded myself. No,
you won’t. You’re here to do a job remember? To craft goods to sell, not to go about fighting.

  Wylder reappeared on the scene. “You idiot. Why not just let that other party handle it? You got a death wish or something?”

  “Well, it all worked out,” I said, not quite meeting his eye. “You complete the quest?”

  “Yeh, yeh,” Wylder said. “Let’s just loot this guy and go. He drops an item that starts another quest.”

  I frowned at that. “Will those other guys be pissed we took the kill?” I didn’t much like the idea of one of those fireballs frying me until I could be sold as extra crispy.

  “You can start on the chain in other ways,” Wylder said. “Not much they can do about it, anyway. Starter zones are non-PvP.”

  Placated, I looted the Big Boss for a variety of items.

  Linen Mittens

  Gloves

  Quality: Poor

  Item level 2

  +3 Armor

  Copper coins x 15

  Kobold Ear x 1

  Mysterious Note

  This item begins a quest!

  I went on to use Scavenge and found a most intriguing item on the boss kobold.

  Big Boss Key

  The key entered my inventory without Wylder noticing, or at least he made no remark about it. Perhaps using Scavenge operated much like a rogue’s Pickpocket ability, and so other players, even allies, weren’t privy to the items that I scavenged from mobs.

  I equipped the linen mittens – Wylder wore better gloves anyway – and enjoyed kick of excitement even from this minor improvement. As I was admiring them, the other party of players arrived in the camp to achieve that portion of their own quest. Now in closer proximity, I could confirm they did consist of one paladin, one berserker and one mage, all level 2 like us.

  “Kill stealing jerk-offs,” the mage, Xeematron, said.

  The paladin scoffed. “A scavy and a ranger, figures.”

  “Hey, I didn’t mean it,” I said.

  “He really didn’t,” Wylder said. “It’ll respawn soon enough fellas.”

  The berserker player by the name of BoneSplitter kicked at a nearby chest. “What’s in this then? Anything good?”

  “No idea,” Xeematron said. “You’d need a rogue to lockpick it, I reckon.”

  BoneSplitter harrumphed and slammed one of his axes against the padlock. Nothing happened.

  “Worth a shot,” BoneSplitter said.

  “Well, we’ll be on our way,” Xeematron said, giving us a mock bow. “I’m sure these two have other mobs to ninja pull.”

  Their paladin friend raised a crude finger by way of a parting gesture.

  “Seems a bit of an exaggeration,” I muttered.

  Wylder blew out his cheeks in an exhausted sort of manner. “Shall we go then?”

  “Not yet,” I said. I shooshed Wylder with a wave of my hand and waited until the other players were well out of sight. Then I moved to the lockbox and pulled out the key.

  “Where d’you get that?”

  “Scavenged it.”

  The lockbox was a simple wooden chest with a black iron lock. The words ‘treasures safe here’ was written out in childish letters in what I sincerely hoped was raspberry juice. Turning the key in the lock, I was greeted with a loot window.

  Silver coins x 2

  MadCapper Mushroom x 26

  Spotted Toadstool x 16

  Bruised Bloomershroom x 13

  The ‘Gut-Punch’

  Crossbow

  Quality: uncommon

  Item level 8

  Requires level 3 to equip

  Damage: 25-27 piercing

  Durability: 40/40

  Knockback Chance 5% on hit

  “Wow,” I said, my jaw dropping as I saw the crossbow enter my inventory. Being able to loot keys could become a valuable perk of the class; a pretty cool feature now that I thought about it.

  “Ooo!” Wylder exclaimed. I heard him running over. “Nice one, pal.” He slapped me on the back.

  Oh, I thought, it’s pal now, is it? Bet I’m not such a ‘noobtard’ anymore, am I?

  I knew fine well he’d be angling to get a hold of the weapon. It would be a fantastic upgrade for him once he reached level 3, but as a scavenger, I could also use it.

  Wylder was looking at me expectantly. I almost traded the weapon there and then. His derision against ‘scavs’ who took loot that was best given to others was still fresh in my mind, but now it came to it, I wasn’t sure it would be the wisest decision to part with a valuable item so easily. After all, I was here to make money, wasn’t I? And I wouldn’t be able to do that by giving everything away. I hadn’t pulled my guild up by the bootstraps in Myth Online by being a nice guy.

  I folded my arms and said the famous words no player wants to hear. “Make me an offer?”

  Wydler hesitated, then laughed. “Ha, good one.”

  I held my ground.

  “Wait,” Wylder said, his expression darkening. “You’re serious?”

  “Super serious.”

  “What the hell, man. You’d have died and been trudging back through the woods right now if it wasn’t for me.”

  “I’m in the game for business, not pleasure,” I said. Though, even as I said this, a tangled ball of anticipation twisted in my stomach at the thought of what riches I might get from this trade; a sensation quite pleasurable in itself. I knew he wanted this item. He wanted it badly. There was a hunger in his eyes that I recognized all too well. Out in the real world, in the grimy Paradise Hotel, I didn’t have the balls for this. But in here, inside a game behind my avatar, I’d always felt more confident; more in control.

  “Look,” I added, more congenially. “I’m gonna need money for tools and whatnot. Lots of setup with this class. This is your alt and you’ve got coin from your main on it, you’re probably a millionaire compared to an average level 2 player. And I bet this crossbow will last you plenty of levels – really boost you through the early content.”

  Wylder was shaking his head slowly. “Never trust a scav,” he said defeated. “Fine then. I’ll give you forty silver.”

  “Fifty.”

  “Jesus dude,” Wylder balled his hands into fists. “Forty-five.”

  “Done,” I said, presenting a hand for the ranger to shake. He didn’t take it.

  A trade window popped open a second later. On Wylder’s side, forty-five silver coins appeared. I opened my inventory and placed the crossbow onto my side, then hit accept. The Gut-Punch left my bags and forty-five silver entered with a satisfying sound of chinking change.

  A moment later, Wylder disbanded the party. His portrait, health and mana bars vanished from the left side of my UI.

  “Hope your business goes well,” Wylder said. “Because it sure ain’t a lot of pleasure playing with you.”

  And with that, he left.

  All I felt at that moment was burning pride at having gained a huge leg up to my character’s start. With an influx of silver, I’d be able to gather all the tools I’d needed, and maybe even some extra inventory space too.

  I spent some more time picking my way through the campsite and scavenging the six dead kobolds that had been left by the party. My experience bar was now over a third of the way to level 3, and I assumed the quest hand-ins would easily take me over that line.

  Speaking of which, I opened my inventory again and selected the mysterious note. It appeared in my hand as a dirty square of parchment, although the writing on it was far too neat to be from a kobold.

  “For every human caravan you disrupt, you shall receive a bag of mushrooms as agreed. Remember, the Red Eye watches and sees all.”

  Quest – The Red Eye Watches

  While investigating the kobold encampment, you discovered a note of suspicious origins. Evidently, there is some greater force behind the recent kobold risings.

  Objective

  Deliver the Mysterious Note to the Mayor of Rusking

  Two quests to hand into the sa
me NPC. God, I love starting zones.

  I made my way back through the woods towards Rusking. During my run back, I managed to get the jump on two individual level 1 kobolds and used Desperate Strike as often as I could in order to judge how accurate the move really was. It missed about half the time, but then I was at a very low level with a low weapon skill, although it had increased during the last battle.

  One-Handed Maces Increased!

  Rank 3

  How are those shoulders feeling? You may make it as a smith’s apprentice yet.

  +1% Chance to Hit

  I scavenged the kobold corpse and was on my way again. As I ran through the outer portion of the forest, I felt a sense of unease creep over me, like an invisible spider with icy legs crawling slowly up my spine.

  Had that really been me a few minutes ago? Had I really just been such an asshole towards Wylder? I needed coin, sure, but maybe I could have just asked for it. He had helped me out and I’d rewarded him by screwing him over. I hadn’t even hesitated. And now that the heat of the moment was draining from me, I felt uncomfortable thinking about it. Was that the sort of person I really was?

  I shook my head, pushing such thoughts from my mind. I didn’t have time for soul-searching.

  Exiting the woods, the flickering lights of Rusking were a welcome sight through the night. Most visible of all was the flame atop the wooden spire, a true beacon in the dark that acted as a lighthouse to wayward travelers; a clever piece of world building and game design all at once.