The next hour continued with Joe snagging the interest of any goblins that would come up behind them, choosing a different person each time, they all became ever more aware of their surroundings and calling out what was behind each other. They soon began calling out distances and what Joe took to be angles, although he wasn’t certain, and by the time they had done this, Joe was able to reach level thirty and he spent less time fighting his own monsters and more time dancing in and around the other three, offering debilitating distractions but always careful to keep them safe.
By the time all three were exhausted and resting, Joe was smiling with a certain degree of satisfaction. Now, just need to do that every day for a couple months to ingrain it in them!
“Not bad, for three people who died four or five times each,” Joe offered with a grin as the other three looked away in embarrassment.
Joe maintained his grin and called out to them, “Look at me!”
The three looked up to see Joe’s smile and their confidence slowly returned before they offered tentative smiles of their own.
Joe nodded before continuing, “I’m not angry at you. But I’m not going to hide things from you. You each died several times already and you caused other’s deaths a few times as well. I’m not going to hide this from you. You need to know it to learn and grow. So, I’m not angry at you, but I’m going to grind this into you until you know it like your own hand. You must know this to survive; to live!”
“So. I’m not angry, but I’m not that happy either. You guys did horrible.”
The three dropped their heads in shame, red creeping up their cheeks.
“For veterans. For bumbling babies that can barely drink milk… not too bad.”
All three gazes shot up at that and began smiling more freely with one another, Garnedell and Zilnek smacking each other on the shoulder while Kilniara bounced a bit excitedly.
“You still died, though.”
This time, the look was of acceptance without embarrassment and the three nodded.
“Right. Review time. What did you learn.”
Garnedell leapt in first, “Look behind you.”
“That will get you dead!” Joe’s blunt reply stifled Garnedell’s excitement.
Kilniara offered a rebuttal a bit more cautiously, “Know what’s behind you?”
“A good beginning, but much more than that bec…” Joe trailed off as Zilnek interrupted, his response delayed.
“Be aware of what’s all around you!”
“Bingo!” Joe called out while pointing to Zilnek, “You need to know what’s ALL around you at ALL times. Anything else.”
Garnedell tried again, “Help your partners know what’s behind them?”
“Yup. Anything else with that idea?”
All three fell silent at that, saying nothing until Joe offered a hint, pointing at the siblings, “How good’s your sense of smell?”
The two considered a bit before replying, “Quite good, compared to base humans.”
“So what else?”
Kilniara pondered a bit, “Offer advice from your strengths?”
“Excellent, but a bit more specific. Tell each other what you notice, especially if one of you have better senses in one way or another. Anything else?”
“Don’t get distracted,” Garnedell declared flatly.
“Yup. And all three of you did pretty good on that. I was dancing all around you but you made sure to focus on your monster despite me. Good. What about anything else?”
The next thirty minutes went quickly and gave the other three the time they needed to rest, but still allowed Joe to train them, developing their mental skills as they dissected every part of the last few fights. When Joe saw that they were rested, he stood, bringing them to their feet.
“Not bad, apprentices! You’re learning. So, let’s see how you do with the mukfrogs,” Joe said, directing them to the next floor of the dungeon. It would be much more dangerous as it had been a while since they had fought them, but it was important they did not fall into a rut. Doing the exact same thing in combat was a quick road to death.
As they headed into the tunnel between floors, Joe continued offering advice on their actions and hints on how to handle the mukfrogs when they go to the next floor. He engaged them in a more Socratic method, having them throw out ideas and then reacting as the devil’s advocate to help them evaluate their own plans by either refining them or discarding them all together.
Stolen story; please report.
When they reached the next floor, Joe took them straight out into the room as before and had them begin ganging up on the mukfrogs and he began distracting them by interjecting in their fight or bringing in external threats to keep them on their toes. After they’d fought close to a dozen or so, Joe had them pull a mukfrog with a staff, warning them of the dangers of the water englobing spell.
Garnedell settled himself in front once again, but Kilniara had become the de facto monster puller as she had the next highest job and this allowed Garnedell to prepare and always keep his weaponry in hand. Kilniara would pick up some detritus that littered the dungeon floor before flinging it at the nearest mukfrog with a staff. As usual, the mukfrog reacted with anger and turned towards Kilniara but did not charge as normal. The mukfrog turned in its rage and quivered as it began preparing spell before releasing it at Kilniara.
Almost instantly, a globe of water enveloped her head and Joe began counting quietly in his head while Kilniara found herself frozen in fear. She didn’t move but quickly glanced towards Joe. Garnedell and Zilnek still waited, staring at the mukfrog as it refused to move and hadn’t noticed Kilniara’s predicament. Kilniara began to panic, her head shaking wildly to free herself of the water. When that failed, she turned, looking at Joe and Joe pointed her to Garnedell and Zilnek. She didn’t seem to grasp what he was saying so he came forward to her quickly and grasped her by the arm before he pulled her to Garnedell where he rested her palm on his shoulder, tapping firmly.
Garnedell turned, surprised, but then froze in panicked shock as he looked up at Kilniara, with her head surrounded by water. Zilnek soon caught on and turned as well, panicking even worse as he ran forward and tried to brush the water off her face but found his actions futile as the water simply swam around his fingers and kept it’s cohesion around her face. Joe allowed the panic for another five or so seconds before he smacked both the boys on their shoulders and shouting loudly.
“What are you doing? Go hit the mukfrog! It’s the problem!”
Garnedell reacted instantly and surprisingly, Zilnek followed only a split second afterward. Ah, he saw Garnedell run and just followed after. Smart!
As soon as Garnedell reached the mukfrog, his staff swung wildly and crashed against the mukfrog’s staff and the mukfrog stumbled back, still able to defend the strike. Joe tensed when he saw that Garnedell was unable to distract the mukfrog enough to disrupt it’s concentration but then relaxed when Zilnek came up on the other side already swinging his half-staff just as wildly as Garnedell had. Gonna have to talk to the two about that!
This time, Zilnek’s swing proved effective as it slammed into the mukfrog’s undefended shoulder hard enough to snap its shoulder, breaking its version of a clavicle. Joe winced in sympathy when he noticed the strike and knew exactly what had happened as he’d had a similar injury and the pain had left him incapable of action.
Similar to his own injury, the mukfrog proved almost crippled, unable to properly defend itself and soon crumpled under the panicked strikes of the two boys. It was unnecessary as Zilnek’s strike had completely disrupted the mukfrog and the globe of water around Kilniara’s head had splashed to the floor, freeing her. She hadn’t engaged after that, but bent over to her knees, gasping deeply as she hyperventilated. She stayed bent over for a few deep breaths before she stood and glommed onto Joe, wrapping her arms around Joe and clinging to him tightly. Joe wrapped an arm around her in comfort but kept his eyes firmly on the boys to make sure they were fine as they were still wildly swinging without caution.
On the bright side, their wild swings downed the mukfrog in only a few strikes and the two turned in panic to see Kilniara clinging onto Joe, shivering in fear and freedom from the stress of that situation. Their panicked return slowed to a relieved walk but they still returned quickly before crowding around Kilniara to make sure she was alright. Joe released her and stepped back, although she seemed reluctant to do so, but he wanted her to be involved with the other two and continue their training. He allowed them a few moments before he began.
“So. Kilniara’s probably dead now. And even after I gave you a friendly warning about her impending death, you both wildly charged the mukfrog without any caution or thought and likely would be dead as well, if Zilnek had not been very lucky and broken it’s clavicle. So, nice job. You all three just died.”
The three sighed and held their heads down but Joe didn’t allow them to do so, “Heads up. Look at me. You’re not going to learn acting ashamed. Stop. Think. Learn. Now. Tell me what happened and how you could resolve this next time it happens.”
None spoke for a bit as they gathered themselves, Kilniara taking a bit longer than the other two, but Garnedell began, choosing to defend their actions, “What could we do? We had to charge as quickly as possible!”
“Hmm. Why?”
“She was dying!”
“Really?”
“Yes. She could not breathe.”
Joe looked at all three, seeing their breathing calmed and now staring at him, a bit upset and not seeming to agree with Joe’s critique, “Let’s think about that. All three of you, take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can. I’ll count. Zilnek, hold your hand up like this,” Joe held his hand up at that point, “when you’re ready and understand. I’ll do a count down with my fingers. When I hold up my fist after counting down from five, take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can. I’ll begin counting. When you run out of breath, remember what number I was on when I was counting. When you’re ready, hold up your hand, Zilnek.”
The three looked to Zilnek at that point, waiting for his response and only a dozen seconds later or so, Zilnek raised his hand and Joe then looked at the other two, “OK. Ready?”
Holding up a hand with five fingers extended, Joe closed each one about once a second until all five were down and he clenched his fist with an obvious fist pump head nod combination to all three. All three nodded in response as they took a deep breath and held it. Joe then began to count seconds, time passing slowly as each held their breath and they soon passed thirty seconds with ease. By the time they reached close to forty five seconds, they started showing difficulty at the effort and Garnedell ended his run first at just under fifty seconds, while Kilniara and Zilnek lasted to almost a minute and a half, ending at about one minute twenty seconds or so. Joe found his eyebrows rising as they continued to hold their breath, surprise coloring his thoughts. I’m going to have to ask about that!
When they all three were gasping for breath, Joe allowed them their recovery before he began once again, “So, Garnedell made it to about fifty?” Joe looked a question to Garnedell before he nodded. “And Zilnek and Kilniara both lasted to eighty. Now, I have a question. How long was Kilniara in the water?”