Level 5: Giant’s Redoubt
Selina Kane had spent the last several years sleeping in her shared dorm bed, which despite being very comfortable, was a smaller bed than she was used to when she left the orphanage and became a foster ward to Mother Martin at the age of 6 with her brother. The woman was more eternal grandmother then actual mother, but that suited the brother and sister just fine. During her first years with the elderly healer and ex-player, it had been determined the course that Selina’s life would lead. She had a natural talent for both singing and healing and so she was always destined to be the Healer/Bard archetype of a Player.
School had started in the fall of her twelfth year and It lasted longer for her, as she found a fire that could not be quenched by the usual six years of learning and training. She took any extra class she was allowed to and had left the school here in the summer of her 21st year, and the school would watch her future with bated breath and expectation that Selina longed to meet and exceed.
This vast amount of learning and training in a secure and disciplined environment had distilled many benefits from lessons of swordplay, tactics, healing, crafting and other non player focused lessons. She had excelled in marketing, art, choir and solo singing lessons. She had an emphasis in spells conducted in voice and gesture, both with and without accompaniment of music. Her electives were leadership, management, teamwork communication and coordination, these were tested with small quick formed random teams and larger chosen teams from three to the max of nine for a Level. This was in both actual level scenarios, through the Gateways near the academy and in mock up magical simulations that were designed and developed to teach and train budding students before and after achieving a tutorial.
On that note, she had received a Queen's tutorial and faced a small horde of undead, perfect for her healing and radiant spells and training. It had been 3 waves of 3 special undeads and she had passed that with a glowing review from the beautiful queen, who had said, “I will watch your future with great anticipation.”
However, all this praise and training and education did nothing to prepare her for the day she had, when she met Terry Owens. Nothing that player did made tactical or barely logical sense to her based on the information she had. When Selina was forced to work with him against the hoard it was the first time she remembered losing it completely on someone, and her tirade continued with his performance in the level. They had made a simple plan and Terry had been off the wall the entire time. He had barely called for aid and didn’t even give her too much of a chance to help in the fight, beside some light crossbow work.
OOTs often got in over their heads in levels and situations, but Selina thought it would be somewhat manageable. Then to top off that night, she had been asked to stay in town and help train the lost cause by the one woman she would never have the heart to turn down and it was backed up by her own brother.
Morris was another mystery altogether, he had changed his mind about going to the capital. He was not sure where he wanted to go. On top of this nonchalance on the idea of his future, he did not seem to get the hint that she wanted him to come to the capital and try to improve his own lot. Morris was never a strong-willed individual, but when she had spent the day with her brother, Selina had started laying out plans and supplies they would need to make the trek to the capital. Morris told her that he would be taking a smithing test in a few weeks and could not leave right away, “I can be a full journeyman after that test, and will not starve for work in any city. With that license I can go anywhere.” he had told her.
She was flustered over a week after that day, even after getting close to Rank 3 from the raceway win she had earned with Terry the other day. That level had been a fun one and Selina had exited with a sweet reward:
Power-up Bangles
—-Epic Item—
Each band holds 1 charge for a single power-up according to the color.
Red: Unleash a projectile fire bolt to home in on a enemy
Yellow: Unleash a bolt of lightning, possible chance of chain lightning 25%
Green: Single use vine whip, unbreakable
Blue: Unleash a jet of water
Selina was actually hoping to learn the spells for each of the bands, then she might get more than 1 charge. There were two bangles so she could really use each spell twice, and she could learn the spell after casting and using them multiple times or enhancing the items if she kept them to pass and used the Stat Value points after the final levels. Once a player completed the thirteen levels and Final Levels, they were able to convert the Stat Values into upgrading an item. This was actually one of the more lucrative and steady jobs that a player could do for enchanters.
An enchanter would give a Player with inventory an item and that item could be enhanced after a level was complete. The enchantment could be made stronger or two similar items could be combined to give a single item with both items' previous effects. Once a player did all the capital gateway levels, they could join a guild that stationed them in areas where they could rerun Boss or Hoard levels for the enchanter pool and do this on a regular basis.
Selina was not looking for a job like that, but in order to make real money with her attributes she would want to be at least Rank 15 and get her first enhanced attributes. She had given Terry a lesson on these before they left for the raceway, “Every 5 ranks you earn, an attribute should enhance, you will gain a more defined title and higher Stat increase and skills.”
“So the god of that level controls the rewards right? So do they control the enhancement?” Terry always thought backwards to Selina’s point of view, but the questions were good.
Selina answered, “They create a focus stat, Like Mother Martin has focus stats in Medicine from her Intelligence attribute. It gives boosts to her stats Medicine and Wisdom, so when it upgraded it gained more boosts and focused her spell-casting and these stats...” She then continued to explain how that affected her job and role in a team. Blah blah blah, just got out of school to start teaching some upstart. I gotta get out of this place, and on my own way. She thought while getting ready that morning.
Today was not a day to think about lessons or teaching, this was a day for action and she was looking forward to the team she would be working with. They had met the night before for an introductory meal and potential strategy session. LFT requests could be made at any Player Tavern, and there were private rooms where prospective interviews or meals could be had in the tavern's basement area. Nearly every building in the Iron Bay had basements since the dwarves that built the town like living in the ground more than above the ground. As Selina got ready that morning, putting on her armor and battle gear in preparation for the boss level that would take her to the next rank, she thought about each member she had met the night before.
The leader of the group was a wood elf archer named Nymina Lindengrove, or Nym as she preferred to be called. She was pretty as all elf races seemed to be, with a slim, angular build and sharp but delicate features to her face. Everything about her seemed to give off a pose and professionalism, till she opened her mouth and you were hit with a thick Heart accent. It was folksy, musical and sounded, to Selina, completely ridiculous, “The Team and I came over across the Straight to the Heart. You know it is a faster trip from the coast to your capital then it is for the coast to the capital of Heart. We were just looking to get the levels down fast and exhausted a couple town’s Gateways back home before we realized we would be stuck traveling for a long ass time before we could do the level we do best at.”
Selina nodded, “So you all are best at combat right?”
“We are.” This was told to her by the Avian bald eagle, one of two that was part of the team. They had introduced themselves as Fearee and Goltener, but told her to call them Hunter and Trapper. Hunter was the bald eagle and Trapper was a golden eagle. Avians were a bird-human hybrid race that had prominent bird heads with long bodies, medium talloned legs and fathered arms that ended in five fingered hands. They bore resemblance to traditional predator birds like eagles, hawks, storks and so on. The race itself was very proud and known for its great prowess as players. These two had come off as pompous at first, but once Selina had won them over with interests in their homeland and focusing her attention on them for some time during the casual chatting portion of the dinner. Their demeanor changed to affable and actually pleasant, she liked each of them very much after that.
The last member had come in late and didn’t even introduce himself when he finally did arrive at the dinner.
Trapper had told her, “The last member of our group is Smash, his nickname is sort of his role in the group. He is resting and healing and the primary reason we would like you to join us in the party.'' As if summoned by the introduction the door opened and in walked the remaining member of the team, and it was not just his nickname that gave away his role in the group. A human, she could tell he was over 8 feet tall and had to hunch to get in the door. Nothing about him was small, he looked more like a moving house than a person as he moved forward and sat at the table without a word. His face was down, but Selina could see, his features were rough but handsome. When you are that tall and big though, she thought, you must have to look down a lot, it almost seemed sad.
“Smash don’t talk much, I have worked with him since level 1 and I barely had a full conversation with him. But he is too good at what he does to let that sorta thing keep him from doing it… if you pick up what I am saying” Nym was almost affectionate in her recognition and all that mound of humanity did was nod and begin eating.
Taken aback by this, and not wanting to be rude by drawing attention to it, Selina instead moved to the tactics talk about the level they would meet up and take on tomorrow, “So how do you guys usually tackle this sort of thing? With an established team like this, I can really just follow the lead and work on your grounds. I have no problem being flexible.”
“That is what I heard,” Nym answered, “Calina Willowstark, have you heard of her?”
Selina nodded and smiled, “yes she was in my dorm for a while and we were part of the same team for mock levels and even the Hoard level at school.” Selina had liked the elf, with a druidic style of herbal healing.
It was Nym who was nodding now, “I know, I picked your name from the LFT lists because she wrote back to the family mentioning you. We share a dad, and I like to fill the team more with people I know. Last couple healers were not really our type. We can’t really have you getting in the mix without being able to watch out for yourself. The way we do a Boss level is Smash here acts as our full fledged tank. He holds the attention, Hunter and I are distance and tactic calling and Trapper, well…”
“I set traps.” he winked a gold and brown bird eye and Selina actually almost laughed.
Selina understood the full reason why they chose her, “So you need someone who can heal and support more from a distance then, I can work with that. Also so you are all aware, I was top 5 on my team for 6 years in a row for fencing and rapier dueling competitions.”
Nym and Trapper looked impressed, Hunter nodded in approval and Smash gave no visual acknowledgement he was even paying attention. Selina’s eyes narrowed, but Nym saw and defended her teammate, “Smash’ll be grateful to hear it. I assure you, we did the Hoard level and he took a lot of damage during the fight. He has a skill to heal quickly when resting, and I will tell you now,” she talked around her hand to Selina. " He is not a morning person after that skill is used, so healing him during the fight is good for all of us.”
Selina saw an opportunity in this, turning to Smash she offered, “I can do a small sampling of my healing power and style now for you. If you still have some wounds to heal?”
Smash’s eyes look at ,and almost through her, at the questions and offers. He rolled up a sleeve showing a bandaged forearm, some blood had soaked it and the wound must have been nasty if it hadn’t fully healed from his skill.
She did not touch it but focused her mind to the healing spell she used most often, her song of healing, and began to sing. It did not matter fully what she sang for this spell it just had to be with purpose and her focus needed to be on the spell. After a simple and slow verse, her final note rang and Smash’s expressionless face changed as the effect finalized and he removed the bandage to show the scar that would pass in a day or two. He did not fully smile, but he was content and nodded to Nym and then Selina, in a gesture that first meant approval and then gave thanks.
Selina liked changing people’s minds and his nod gave her an almost tight feeling in her chest that was more than pride at showing her abilities and being accepted. He still did not speak, but her display had cemented in the team’s minds that they had made the right choice and would see each other again tomorrow.
So now she met them at the gateway with almost awkward waves and then more personally in the locker room before the boss level. Trapper and Hunter were babbling and chatting back and forth, while Smash did some stretching and loosening up. Nym and Selina talked and gathered their equipment, Nym going over this item and that piece of armor while Selina asked what they did while equipping and filling a belt of components for her spells and some ingredients for throwing together potions she learned about in school. It was simple herbs to help her voice, or a salve that might numbed a hurting wound from types of damage her singing did not work on.
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At the 5 min mark they all came together, Smash looming in front of the exit like he was a bouncer outside a late night pub or sports bar. Hunter and Trapper’s bickering conversation ended, right when Nym addressed them all.
“Aright, I am sending Trapper and Hunter forward once we get the prompt. You both scout and find the target, don’t set the area up till we talk over what it might be. Use the talkie, I have the earpiece in now.” Nym pointed to a small device, like the one Terry had used with his pet Rosa during the raceway level. It was sleeker, and fitted for her pointed elf ear and on the Avians a connected Mic was pinned on an open leather vest where they could look down with their short pointed beaks and speak comfortably. Each of the vests looked to be studded leather over neutral colored shirts and short pants.
They nodded and confirmed, “Right” in unison.
She looked up at Smash, “you take point for the group and have your ears and senses active, I don't want us finding this thing first. We will be behind and discussing potentials with the scouts so our focus won’t be there till you see otherwise.” Smash nodded. He wore very little armor, he had large boots, with metal to cover his shins and knees his pants and shirt were almost simple, but Selina knew a Nano-mail undershirt was underneath. She did wonder how someone that big shopped for clothes. Did he have to have everything custom ordered?
Despite all this the most impressive item in all the equipment that the tank wore was the enormous cleaver point sword in a harness on his back. Selina could barely see more than the shape of the sword for the harness and sheath, but it was massive and would surely be impressive. Selina was barely aware of how the warrior would draw the sword where it hung on his back, let alone how he might wield it.
Nym gave her orders last, “You did well last night, Smash was in a better mood this morning then I think I ever saw him in. If you have any opinions let them loose, I can’t reject your ideas if I don’t know what they are… I can’t approve’em either.” Selina liked the forward request and respected the joking way she teased. Her drawl does give her some charisma.
Then they went out the door and the level began.
Levels could have many types of openings, this one would be called two-part as there was a task then the challenge. The task seemed simple enough to understand and was ultimately not up to Selina’s to complete, the scouts were going to find the boss. Once the boss detail randomly spun up and an announcement was given, Trapper moved to the left and Hunter to the right. Both seemed to disappear in the environment before she even noticed them leaving.
The environment was a cliff and sloped incline marked with a faint trail on a ground covered in fluffy white snow. This was apparently a mountain, Selina was not dressed for the occasion, but the level was not truly an environment like in the real world. The wind in the area was much less than it would be on an actual mountain, it still was present but was not cold or anything besides slightly bothersome. They began their trek, following the path before them.
Smash took his place at the head and drew his sword, it came out too easily from the scabbard almost and most definitely because of magic. Selina wondered if the giant would talk enough to give her an explanation. The weapon was beautiful in its own right, a long handle wrapped in brown leather was simple with a heavy looking silver single edged blade that looked more like a cleaver and came to a point after about 5 feet of length and nearly glowing with magic. She figured it must be a legendary blade and resolved to ask, at least Nym, about it after the level.
At the moment, Nym was intensely listening to the device in her ear. She spoke up after a moment, “The symbol was definitely a giant so it is just determining what type before we encounter it.”
Selina answered the unspoken question, “There are 3 types of giant that would dwell in an area like this and one is not fond of snow so it takes out the rock giant. I think we are looking at either a Mountain or Ice Giant. Probably the former with the Rank of each of us here in the level.” Nym looked impressed and passed on the information. Selina was going to hit Rank 3 after this level, but the team she was with had put in their Ranks as 2-4. She found out that the lowest belonged to Smash and the highest to Nym. Trapper and Hunter were in the middle each with Rank 3 and an Ice giant was a very difficult high D to C ranked threat. Level enemies were ranked with letter classifications from F1 at the lowest to A ranks in the highest difficulty levels for high ranked players.
They traveled along for only about 20 or so minutes before Nym was informed that Trapper had found the most likely placement of the boss enemy. “It is a shed of a homestead under a jutting cliff,” Nym repeated the description to them as they turned to travel there more directly. “No movement, but the structure is the only thing around, so it is more of a safe bet than a guess.” She was speaking the description word for word from Trapper, and replied to the scouts, “get in position and dress the area around without calling an alarm or bringing out the giant. We will have Smash bring out the giant when we get there. Any thoughts, Selina?”
Selina thought for a moment, ”I think they should be on the jutting cliff if they are anywhere for the fight. I can’t fly here with the chance of wind picking up or anything like that. But they will have a greater advantage up there than on the ground.” Everyone on the team, except Smash, was more proficient with range over direct combat. She was useful in direct combat, but it would distract from her role as support and healing. She added, “The wind might also make singing difficult so I will need to focus on support.”
“I will keep you safe,” Nym reassured her, tapping a short sword at her side, “you just stay in the area of effect for your healing and any other support you can give.”
Selina nodded and they continued on, Nym mumbling about this and that over the earpiece with the scouts. Selina focused on getting into a mind set for combat, even if she would just be watching it. Combat had not come easy to her, it was tough finding a use for fighting others even in a competitive sense. An instructor had gotten her in the right mindset for it saying, it was training in action. From then on, she had always given it her all.
As they approached the position of the boss' enemy, she saw the shed that Trapper had referred to. It was massive with a tall door and barely a room inside, a giant might just be sitting in there all day rather than actually sleeping or living. This was a level and not an actual world setting, so the idea of day to day life was not represented here.
There was a faint new trail leading up to the door and the three stopped before it. “This is the area outside the engagement zone Trapper and Hunter have set. The trail is the safe space that Smash will move up in and lure the giant out” Nym explained.
Selina nodded and got ready for the fight to begin, expecting Smash to race up and take an aggressive posture and call out a challenge. She was surprised when he simply and almost leisurely followed the trail and just knocked on the door. Selina was equally surprised when the door opened to reveal the enemy, who looked just as befuddled as her. Nym snickered next to her, “yeah Smash don’t talk. But he has his own type of jokes.” and she smiled.
Selina almost expected the giant to greet the massive man, but he just swung out the door with a massive rock hammer. Her guess of the Mountain giant had been correct, It was taller then Smash by chest, shoulder and head. That massive head was obscured by a wild stone gray beard that was specific to this race of giants. It wore furs and hide clothing against its cold home and they were so mixed and matched she could not have counted all the animals they once belonged to. These giants were largely antisocial and were rarely seen outside their home in the real world, here it was just a target.
Smash dodged the first swing and began to bait out the foe deflecting and dodging the horse sized rock hammer. He could use his sword to block and defect, leading the giant out into the area that had been set by Trapper and Hunter. The first of their surprises went off in quick order as a snare shot to snap at the ankle of the giant. It was merely a distraction, but soon the THWACK and TWANG of several traps and snares went off as distractions mounted trying to throw the giant off his raging attack. The foe was in the open now and soon arrows were shooting down from above. Selina could see the two avians, just barely, popping up to fire and retreat out of sight. Nym was calling out orders and encouragement to Smash and the others. Then Selina, not needing direction, began to sing a rejuvenating tune loud so as to bolster her teammates.
The tune of her song took effect and the battle began to turn. Smash worked his sword out of the deflecting and blocking into a more focused and direct assault against the hammer. The control on the massive cleaver had to be tough, but it did not seem to matter as he worked to keep the edge pointed at the enemy. He worked the handle with mostly two but sometimes only one hand in practiced and precise attacks, turning the tide of the fight so that he was the aggressor and the giant a defender.
Selina had seen several different types of large weapon fights in dueling classes and even competitions for her academy, but this was a wholly different style and almost art-form. Smash moved fluently, seeming to not be bothered by the tremendous weight of the sword. It flashed and spun in great arcs around him and he worked to keep the offensive edge in the duel. The Hammer was not clumsy either and was able to deflect more than it allowed a hit from the warrior. She saw bruises form on Smash, but the discoloration faded as her song carried the spell to heal and support her teammate.
Selina felt it at that moment, like a member of the team. She was directly impacting this fight and it would probably have been much worse if she was not here to help. In Mock levels and her first levels she felt a companionship with the teams, but this was very different. She could feel the trust Smash had in her ability even though he had just met her, and could see the effect her information had on the traps that had been set in the battleground. She even heard the encouragement of Nym and added the lines she said to her song, singing the lines of direction out in her projected voice for each member to hear like a beautiful megaphone. Selina felt a sense of belonging in that moment, and she wanted to stay with this group, become a member of this team and go all the way to the top.
This level seemed barely a stepping stone for them at the end, Smash ended up cutting the hammer arm of the giant clean off in a massive upswing. He then ended the battle by ramming his sword through the foe’s stomach and clean out its back before it fell lifeless to the mountainside. This set off a tripwire that PANGed and let loose a stone that from above falling on the giants head as the level cleared and they got their experience.
Selina got to Rank 3 as expected, and received an upgrade to her song called Breath of Convictions. This probably was tied to the fact that she had sung most of the battle and did not allow the wind to drown or overtake the spell during casting. Upgrades to spells like this were very common in the earliest ranks, if she had been more directly involved in the combat she might have gotten a special attack or maybe even an ability. She was excited and after they left the level everyone congratulated each other and Nym made the offer for her to join the team officially.
Selina accepted and they made plans to meet up tomorrow and head to the next gateways on the way toward the capital. The others walked off, but there was a massive member who stayed behind with Selina for a moment. Smash spoke then and his voice was deep and quiet, “Your song was beautiful and kept me going. I look forward to hearing it more in battle.”
Selina was in a good mood and could barely hold back the reply, “Well I might sing for you outside of battle too, if you ask nicely.” Where did that come from? She thought to herself, hoping it did not seem to forward.
But Smash had good manners and only smiled as he said, “of course.” and turned to catch up with the others.
Selina returned to the estate of Mother Martin and went straight to see her, excited to tell her the news and how it all went. She left the elderly ex- Player’s room 15 min later and went to find her brother. Morris was in the training area working with Terry before dinner. She asked him to the side and they left out the back door of the gym to talk in relative privacy.
Morris’ usual passive face was troubled at the news, Selina was too excited to notice. “...and the quiet one actually complimented me at the end, it felt like I had a place there with them. I want you to come with me, you can take your test in any smith with a proper master and we could wait for you and then you could be a smith for the team till we get to the capital…”
Morris cut her off, “I want to take my test here with my own master, he knows my situation and is allowing me to keep what I make rather than sell it for a grade.”
“Does that really matter though, I mean a license is a license whether you get to keep anything or not.” Selina did not see how that was really important.
Morris’ face changed and he spoke in a clipped tone, “It matters to me, if I get to keep my work. Do you even know if this team will let me tag along like this?”
“Well no, but I…” Selina could see the complaint, but surely they would let him come if he just showed his worth to them like she had.
“Also, what am I supposed to do for levels? Do I just pick a random team in each city you all go to or am I going to be even more behind by the time I get to the capital?” Morris did not even hide the venom in his logic this time.
Selina had not thought about that and was stunned that he actually wanted to complete levels now that he had gotten his test time for the smithwork and that career path. He continued on in her silence.
“I suppose, I would just bring my team along and do my own thing behind you and the others. Did you even think about anyone else outside your plan? Terry is learning a lot from you and he is not going to be ready for another level for almost a week. He learns fast, but how would you know that? He likes learning from you, but I can tell you're just putting in the bare minimum in getting him ready like Mother Martin asked of us.” He sneered and the mention of Terry gave her the anger to strike back.
Selina almost laughed, “It is all he is worth. He doesn't have what it takes to make it all the way. I saw him fight and he could barely follow laid out plans…”
Morris cut her off again, “He has Instinct Selina, that is his best plan. He will always do best in a situation where the odds are against him. His will to survive will keep him fighting, or did you forget that because it was not mentioned in your classes”
Selina did not like having her education criticized, not even by her brother, “So you are going to follow around some lost puppy, just because he has some interesting attribute…”
But before she could fully form and put out her point, she saw something in Morris that he had never shown her or anyone, at least to her knowledge, anger. “SHUT IT! He is trying, and you are just following where others tell you to go. That is fine, but don’t put down others who did not have the advantages you were handed!” Morris spoke sharply, breathing out with each exclamation.
“I… what?” Selina had the same look as a deer in the road seeing a car driving towards it.
Morris could not stop himself in the tirade, “I have waited here for you! Tried to be busy and do my own thing, but all I seem to be is an afterthought to your precious ambitions and goals. I was alone for years while you were away and no one was family, no one got even close. I had friends but no one was looking out for me, and no one is now. It made me hide it all and it made me sick. When you came back you didn't even ask about what I had done before, you asked where I would go next. Well I have no clue, but I am tired of my future needing you in it. I don’t need you, I got along fine without you.”
With the last exclamation Morris turned and left cursing and muttering under his breath.