Ashley stomped through the mud, muttering angrily to herself.
Boots. I want my decent boots.
It was the next thing the Gnolls were working on. She had checked, and they had enough extra leather. All those dead bodies last night had been a prime source of materials. Her sneakers weren't up to the job in this weather, and her feet were wet and filthy. They had promised to have something made for her as soon as they could. For the time being she squelched along unhappily.
Rebus perched unsteadily across her shoulders, looking drenched and miserable. It definitely wasn't cat weather either.
"Did the Paladin have any parting words?" he said, obviously looking for distraction.
She'd shown Rebus the present Andrew had passed to her before she incorporated it into her UI. It was a strange glass cylinder with silver caps at either end. Appraise had revealed it to be a 150 km message booster.
A quick scan showed only Sam in range now, so at least she knew she didn't have any further surprises incoming from that angle.
She shook her head in reply to Rebus.
"Nothing noteworthy. I expect we'll hear from them again soon enough. I want more monsters before that happens."
She wondered how much the booster would cost in the cities. Probably a lot, but she had no use for gold and no way to sell it in any case. On top of which, his messages last night had made it pretty clear that he wanted her to use it.
Andrew of Highwater Fold[3]: Don't tell Sam about the booster. You should have a few edges that he's in the dark about. He can probably be trusted for now. I wouldn't count on him if things get shaky though.
No kidding.
She'd pondered several replies, but they were all too long and chatty. Finally she settled on one thing that had puzzled her.
Ashley[4]: Thank you. Really appreciate the thought. But what I’m interested in is how the two of you are travelling without adult supervision. Is there a secret to getting away from the NPCs without generating aggro?
Andrew of Highwater Fold[2]: I wish. No, our mounts are sentient. They’re NPCs. Which is another reason Annelyn is pissed. She’d known that one for a long time.
Ashley[3]: Real talk? What am I up against now?
Andrew of Highwater Fold[1]: They’re going to want to kill you quickly. The ruling council I mean. I can probably bring the Company around on accepting you at least provisionally, but the Kingdom is another matter. Even if they say yes you’re not getting to the Fortress of Amiran unmolested. I’ll see what I can do though. You can expect me to come back with at least one high-ranking NPC, can’t be avoided.
Ashley[2]: So my best bet is what? Also, who is the Company actually? How many players? I really wish I could talk to some more people besides Sam. I did meet Silira. She was a strange one.
Andrew of Highwater Fold[0]: The Unburdened are harmless, and they do some good. Believe me there’s worse things for a player to be. You should see the ones in the capitol who get rich and spend all their time amusing themselves. The Company is currently 20 players, we’re a bit selective. Plus about 150 NPCs. Your best bet is to accumulate more followers. Aim for at least 500, probably 2000 would be better. Plus players.
Two thousand followers? My HP would be over 20,000. Now that’s a decent safety buffer.
Ashley[1]: Okay thanks. I will work on it. I really do appreciate being able to talk to someone
Sensible? That was too pedestrian. Nice?
who’s actually helpful.
It would have to do. She wasn’t going to send another message when he couldn’t reply to it.
But stumping through the rain, it seemed like Rebus could sense where her head was at.
"He's an impressive specimen, that one."
“And?"
She wasn't going to take the bait.
"He's got an aura about him, don't you think? Very dashing, very heroic. A bit bigger than life really."
"I'm in no mood to chase men, especially not with the company he keeps."
Rebus did a rapid head-shake, spattering her with water which was quickly lost in the general downpour so she ignored it.
"You need to be quicker on the uptake with things like that," he said. "My point is not about your libido, it's about the Paladin himself. He probably has an artefact equipped."
She stopped dead in her tracks, and was almost rear-ended by a Kobold. The creature jumped to the side at the last moment to avoid colliding with her, and jabbered an apology. She waved it away without looking and started moving again.
"You think so?" she said. "I guess I was distracted by all the violence."
"I'd be surprised if it wasn't true. There's something there that reminds me of you. Like his presence extends out all around him. I bet he has some powerful abilities to go along with it."
Except probably heroic good abilities, instead of the undying devotion of monsters and the damned.
She wished she'd taken the time to really examine his titles. Whatever it was, it might have been in there somewhere.
There wasn't much to be done about it in any case. But she wouldn't mind having a chance to talk to someone else about artefacts. Did it try to influence his thoughts as well?
Or maybe it would be smart not to mention that.
At least she'd had a moment this morning to get a decent lesson from Sam in interface configuration. As it turned out, she could set up to four spells to be bound to finger motions. Which was a lot more convenient than having to announce your cast. The number of bound spells could be increased with levels, of course, but at her present pathetic level eleven she was stuck with four.
Appraise was a given. She was a little embarrassed now to think about how often she'd been bellowing "Appraise!" around people who knew better, but live and learn. Her best shield was a no-brainer for number two, and the bound staff summon as number three. Number four she gave to the White Mage’s Double Health spell. With that she’d be able to sponge a lot of damage before even having to worry about heals.
A trial run with the staff's firepower left her feeling like a serious magic user for the first time.
I wave my ghostly shining magic staff and my enemies are on fire. I like it.
Playing around with her interface at least gave her something to keep her mind off the cold rain that was blattering down relentlessly on her. The robes were only moderately good protection from the weather.
Which leaves us with one more thing.
She'd been too busy to deal with it yesterday and it seemed like it was something that deserved careful thought.
Tier 1 Class Specialization Now Permitted
She padded her way to the entry on her interface and selected it.
Class: Night Queen (Dread Witch, Level 11)
Available Specializations:
1. Forsaken - XP, MP, SP gains doubled at all times
Party size limited to 3; No permanent affiliations
Permanent 5% Magic Attack and Defense Bonus; All Schools; level-scaled
Cap on all Wisdom, Dark Arts, Curse and Boon abilities permanently removed
Defense Magic Bonus Tree Unlock
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
2. Unforgiven - All dark skills points are doubled on acquisition (Permanent)
Permanent 10% level-scaled weakness to light magic and holy weapons
Permanent +5% Trust from all Damned creatures
Permanent 5% Bonus on all Curses
Permanent -15% Trust from all Holy creatures
Curse Bonus Tree Unlock
3. Malevolent - Attack magic casts are at Level+1 Damage (Permanent)
Defensive casts are at Level+1 Effectiveness (Permanent)
Permanent 5% resistance to Holy Dispel (All Summoned Weapons and Creatures)
Permanent 5% level-scaled weakness to all other Light Magic and Holy Weapons
All heal spells 5% reduced effectiveness (Permanent)
Attack Magic Bonus Tree Unlock
Number one was obviously out. There was no way she could lead an army of the damned like that. All of the buffs seemed to be directed at balancing out a solo playstyle, and while she could probably level faster and become more powerful, none of it meant anything if she didn't have her followers with her. It sounded like the start of some kind of wandering murder-hobo witch build.
No use to me. Also what's SP?
It was yet another question she should probably ask Sam about, but she didn't want to be constantly seeking his tutorials in every damned thing.
Unforgiven and Malevolent were both tempting, but Malevolent seemed to have fewer downsides, even though adding more Trust from the Damned was always a good thing. On the other hand it was the only one without some kind of ongoing stats increases, just slightly higher-level cast ability. But it had attack spell bonuses, too.
She did like the look of Malevolent.
Sam was nearly invisible through the rain at the head of the group. She decided to this was one place she could use his advice.
Ashley[4]: Question. I have three class specializations available. Are there any downsides to choosing one? Anything I should know about? Help would be really appreciated here.
She slogged along for a while, but he didn't respond immediately so she closed out the interface. It was probably a long-term strategy question and could wait. She hoped.
It was a long, wet day without a lot of cheer. By the time they made a smoky, sputtering fire for the evening, everyone was quiet and sullen.
"We must be getting near where the battle with the Demon King happened," she said to Gravmok.
He nodded.
"Soon. Mistress will know when we get there. All the trees gone, ground torn up. Not much to see apart from bones now probably."
Gravmok and the other senior Goblins were hunkered down under a leather tarp, eating scraps of meat. They looked like they were resigned to a long, cold night.
"Sam," she said. "Do you have any fire magic? Can you at least give warm us up a bit?"
"Yes, Mistress," he said. "I keep a few pyromancy scrolls handy. We could use one if you think it's worthwhile."
She looked around the muddy camp.
"I do," she said. "My children look miserable. Let's try to give them a break, okay?"
He shrugged.
"As you say. They're used to roughing it though."
"Let's build a big-ass fire, Sam. I want it too."
He didn't look very enthusiastic, but nodded and exercised his new right as Magister Militum to order a few of the Goblins to find some big logs and pull them into the center of the camp . When they were done the pile was as tall as her. Sam produced a piece of parchment from inside his robe.
"Aravasta!" he said, and tore the scroll in half, flinging them at the pile, which instantly blazed up into a roaring fire that shot sparks high into the evening sky.
"Come on, everyone," Ashely said. She waved them towards her. "Get yourselves warmed up. Maybe even heat your food!"
"Mistress," one of the inferior Goblins said as he crept past her. "Thank you, thank you. We were cold and wet."
"The Night Queen takes care of her children, remember," she said. "Every one of them."
The two other low-ranking creatures who were with it gave her deep bows and clustered up together close enough to the fire that their pointy noses were nearly in the flames. One by one the entire group gathered round the fire, Gnolls and Kobolds included, and she felt a bit bad for the four who were still out patrolling the perimeter of the camp. She told Sam to relieve them early.
Naturally the Specter was unaffected by the weather and when it wasn't doing something useful it tended to just disappear for out into the woods doing who knew what. There was no reason it couldn't do an extra long patrol again. She wasn't sure what they did with their time normally, but it probably involved a lot of lurking in any case. Having it act as their main guard was overkill, and she'd issued it careful instructions about not murdering anyone except an attacker without checking with her first. Until she had more followers it was probably their best first line of defense at night.
One other bright side to warming the group up was that the Gnolls were already setting up their tools and some leather flaps that were the start of her new boots.
I need to keep those two alive for sure. They are useful.
She didn't want to look too desperate, but she sidled up to a relatively unoccupied spot near the fire a little farther away from everyone else, and sat down to check her messages again. She noticed that Sam didn't seem to be particularly concerned about getting warm. Who knew what kind of personal protections against the elements he had? Not her, certainly, but she was going to find out eventually.
A Queen can't be shivering in the cold with the peasants after all.
Sam had finally decided to answer her.
Sam of the Red Waste[4]: You get some serious buffs, but they come at a cost which gets steeper the more specialized you get. Most people tend to wait a long time before choosing one for that reason. You're closing off some of your options in order to gain some tightly defined bonuses. It's probably smart to wait until you're clearer on how you want to develop. Counterpoint though, the earlier you start the stronger you get in those directions.
She pondered it.
Ashley[3]: Is this really the only way we can do practical talking and planning? It seems terribly inconvenient.
Though it was a way of talking quietly without other players being able to overhear, of course. She could definitely see the wisdom of keeping her communications range to herself.
Sam's reply came back very quickly.
Sam of the Red Waste[3]: By design I’m certain. Most of the time yes. If we had a group chat things would be a lot easier.
So people chatting back and forth within their parties was the standard way they got up to speed. In her case having started way out in the boondocks made things a lot less smooth. She wished she had more players to talk to. Sam's answers to any question were always careful and guarded.
Kind of suggests he hasn’t been able to trust anyone. Or maybe nobody was willing to trust him.
Ashley[2]: Remember Magic 101? You said there was something like a guild. Is there an evil magic users guild? Some kind of training or at least a peer group?
It took a while for him to respond this time. Ashley pretended to be deep in thought so that the band would leave her alone for now.
Sam of the Red Waste[2]: There is one way of getting some longer time with other players. We use it for special meetings, and sometimes for training. Most of the Light-aligned types don't have the stomach for it. Though I've heard they use it if the need is bad enough.
The idea of being able to spend more than a few moments talking to another living human without role-playing for NPCs sounded amazing.
Ashley[1]: I wish to do this thing. Please tell me how.
Sam gave her a grin from across the camp.
Sam of the Red Waste[1]: Consider this an exercise from your IRL superior. You have nearly all of the pieces to put it together. If it actually comes up I'll tell you, but for the time being there's no practical way to do it here anyway.
She rolled her eyes.
Ashley[0]: Yes, sensei. I will meditate on it.
She had the Goblins set up a rough leather tent for her - like it or not she wasn't going to sleep with rain blattering down on her all night. Rank had to have privileges, after all. Most the crew seemed content to clump up around the fire.
She was about to send for the Specter when one of her patrol Goblins came scampering into the clearing at high speed.
"They here! Many Goblin! And agremach!"
Agremach being the casual term for all other non-Goblin creatures, she'd learned.
Is every damned thing going to happen when I'm planning to go to bed?
She hoisted herself up and flicked a finger to summon her new staff. It hummed into place in her palm, shining with shimmering silver light, but with a garnet flame twinkling at one end - a flame which could suddenly explode into a searing missile. Equipped like this, wearing her new magical robes and carrying her staff, she was definitely starting to feel like she at least looked the role.
Except for my damn level.
That needed to change, regardless of who she had have killed to make it happen.
On top of which her hair felt like an actual rat's nest. A warm shower was a distant fantasy at this point, but she needed to do something with it. Of else just cut it all off. She wondered how they would react to a bald Night Queen.
There wasn't any time to get a proper report from the patrol Goblin . He'd only just barely finished barking at the seniors and Sam when a human warrior strode into the clearing with a look of grim determination on his face, and grasping a huge silver axe with both hands. A cluster of Goblins and some other creatures that was easily bigger than her own group appeared to materialize out of the forest without any warning. Their weapons were ready as well, and they all looked like they were prepared for a fight.
Ashley was taken aback. He most definitely wasn't on her contacts list, and yet here he was striding into her camp looking furious. He had tawny skin and short dark hair, and he absolutely bulged with muscles. He wore nothing but leather pants, and his chest and arms were thick with scars. He oozed brutality, much more so than any player she had seen so far.
He was entirely focused on Sam, and didn't even seem to notice Ashley.
"Sam!" he boomed. "You fucking rat!"
The Necromancer waved his staff and a shimmer of protection magic erupted around him.
"Ravi," he said smoothly. "You made it."
"No thanks to you! I swore I'd take your fucking head the next time I saw it!"
He appeared to mean it. He charged at Sam, heedless of the shield that was obviously swirling around him. Sam made a gesture with his fingers and three shambling... things appeared around him. They were rotted, bedraggled corpses of magic users, staffs at the ready.
Ravi didn't even look at them. He aimed a swing that was clearly intended to cleave the Necromancer in half. The three summoned creatures shrieked and fired their own staffs. All five of them were lost in a blinding flash of magic erupting from Sam's staff.