Getting to level 20 in the game was a big deal. Less than 5% of characters ever did. But most of it was status and ego. A level 20 character was not twice as powerful as a level 19. Every fifth level was significant, and the boost you got at 20 was no more important than the ones you got at 10 and 15.
To Jace and Draya, it was different. Jace could now transform into a stone elemental, activating all his stone boons at once, while Draya could become a dragon. It involved a lot of character sheet manipulation, which is why Jace and Gracie had gone over the process in detail while he was unconscious, hoping he would be able to find a way to gain the last few thousand experience points.
Draya was easier. She took a stat boost to Constitution, giving her five extra points to spend, all of which she put into Hitpoints, raising her health from 380 to 520. The rest of her feats followed her normal progression, increasing her Magic Defense, improving the difficulty of her illusions, and, most of all, attaining Dragon Form.
For Jace’s fifth totem, he chose Stone Floor, which, unlike his other totems, he could place on any surface. It allowed the shaman to treat a wide area as if it were covered in stone up to his totem range. The cost to make this useful for a combat specialist who liked to move around was ridiculously high, but now, with the armanacore, he had magic to spare. He chose Stone Footing as his new stone ability, which made it much harder for a character to trip or Grapple him while standing on stone. Combined with the Stone Floor totem, he wouldn’t lose too many more wrestling matches.
Jace took his free ability increase to Constitution, raising that to 22. After all his adjustments, he had 860 HP and a base mana pool of almost 1,000. However, even with all these upgrades, his ability to turn into a 20-foot-tall stone elemental, and Draya’s ability to turn into a dragon, they still had no chance against Karo.
In order to change that, Jace turned to his last level 20 upgrade. Divine Alliance was a rare spell, and almost no one chose it. It wasn’t in any character’s spell book and was only available as a fifth level choice for divine characters. It allowed the player to choose to follow another god for the duration of the spell. Most gods didn’t have it or were aligned with gods possessing opposite skill sets. So if you built your character to match your god’s strengths, likely any god they aligned with wouldn’t help you.
Dexmachi did have it, and, as expected, he had an alliance with Shimbato. This would give Jace temporary benefits and access to the other god’s spell list. Most importantly, it should allow him to take control of the monastery.
Timing was of the essence. As soon as he claimed the stronghold, Vithium would get an alert, and then the gig would be up. The monk would turn around and see Jace had leveled to 20, but he would probably struggle for a few moments trying to figure out precisely what the orc had done.
The Divine Alliance spell was so rare and useless that Vithium couldn’t have guessed Jace had it. And if he did, the shaman would have already activated it. Vithium probably didn’t know Jace was here on a mandatory divine quest. He thought the orc had come for Esther and gave the shaman credit for figuring out where to go. The chance that Jace’s god had this spell and an alliance with Shimbato was so minuscule it probably hadn’t been considered, assuming the player or his operator had planned anything. Likely, Karo had dictated most of this.
Jace cast the spell and selected Shimbato. Two other gods Jace had never heard of were also available, but he ignored them. Jace realized there was a chance that Shimbato wouldn’t be available as he might have already been deleted. If that were the case, Jace figured he would have gotten an alert telling him he had failed his divine quest. Instead, he got a different notification.
[You are in a Shimbato stronghold. There is currently no qualified character in control of this stronghold. Would you like to claim it?]
Jace hesitated and decided to cast the rest of his useful totems first, spreading them around the room. Before him, six characters exchanged words in a heated discussion. It was clear that Vithium’s desire to have a good time and make money contrasted violently with Karo’s desire to rule the realms. Jorl stood with the group, choosing to make himself corporeal for the meeting, though his face remained hidden. Any time the monk disagreed with one of Karo’s plans, the assassin tilted his cowl toward the player, and Vithium shut up. None of them paid Jace any attention, and the crowd behind him wasn’t keen enough to detect discrete spell-casting.
Jace added a few boons on himself, adjusted some settings in the stronghold, and then looked over at Draya. Other than the 20 above her head, no one could tell a dragon now lurked just beneath the surface. Even Draya didn’t know, as she couldn’t access her inventory while Grappled. Her mind was elsewhere. She had recently tried to kill Psycho and had just watched Esther die. Her body convulsed with sobs, still held firmly by the demons behind her.
Taking a deep breath, Jace returned to his settings, pulled the neglected notification back up, and claimed the stronghold.
“What the #$%&!” Jace heard Vithium cry after only a second.
He couldn’t worry about that. He needed to navigate to the stronghold settings and . . .
[Become a Shimbato Champion! Hostile forces have invaded Shimabto’s stronghold. Defeat all enemies and gain . . .]
The notification popped up in Jace’s vision, and he didn’t have time to deal with it. He mentally clicked accept just to dismiss it. “Gracie, what was that? Tell me I didn’t make a mistake by accepting it.”
{No, boss, it’s good. Very good. Assuming you don’t die.}
Jace was only half listening, navigating through the stronghold settings until he found what he was looking for. Through the translucent stronghold screen, he could see Vithium staring at him while conversing fiercely with his operator and Karo. The demon didn’t notice anything different. He just saw Jace standing there placidly. That was about to change. Finding the list of NPCs who had died and were being held hostage, Jace released Esther and Snowy.
Though the rogue had the least impact on Karo’s omnipotence, the shaman couldn’t help but play favorites. The demon suddenly grew to his former size and monstrous appearance, stumbling backward, Dazed by the transformation. Selvecia fell to her knees and clutched at her body as if someone had assaulted her. Even Jorl’s knees buckled, though he kept his balance. Jace feared the assassin most of all, and as Vithium raced toward him, the shaman waited until the last moment before releasing Delly next.
An earthquake shook the cavern, throwing almost everyone to the floor, including Vithium’s party members. The three demon characters lurched about painfully on the ground as their bodies transformed into their weaker, former selves. “Keep releasing the angels one at a time,” Jace instructed Gracie. “I’m about to be busy.”
The sure-footed monk racing toward the shaman hadn’t fallen, but neither had Jace with his new Stone Footing ability. Other than his Armor totem and boons, Jace had no time for a defense. He had his Stone Skin and Stone Flesh activated but was sure the crafty monk had ways around that. So, Jace Stood his Ground.
The player couldn’t do the math fast enough to know if he had a statistical advantage against the monk and didn’t know his adversary’s exact alignment anyway. He didn’t think it would matter. He was right. Expecting a trick from Jace, Vithium used his own unique skill and missed on purpose to enact his Strawman ability. If Jace hadn’t been expecting it, he understood how effective it would have been. Part of the illusion made it look like a loose stone had affected Vithium’s last step, causing him to slip right before his attempted punch. The fist passed inches from Jace’s face, and the orc saw the monk freeze beside him. It would have been so easy to attack the seemingly flat-footed opponent, but he ignored it. Instead, Jace activated his Convict ability.
He had never used this skill against a player and didn’t know what to expect. Jace had three critical successes from the missed attack. One was based on numbers, another because Vithium had “rolled” a 1 on purpose, and the last was a bonus critical from Dexmachi because Jace had made a promise not to lift a hand against Vithium and had kept it. Knowing his god approved of his actions, Jace got creative as he scoured Vithium’s character sheet and changed options he had told himself he would never mess with. Before, he had adjusted things like restrictions, settings, or natures and had steered away from selections that would change who the character was. Vithium didn’t deserve that level of respect.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Six seconds later, the player had changed from a human monk to a halfling sea druid who served a goddess with a hatred of stone and fire. To Jace, it sounded like a fun build to try on an island-hopping adventure, but not so good when you were stuck in a mammoth cave. The shaman dismissed his settings and looked down to see the frozen halfling standing beside him, unable to change expressions to reveal the shock the former monk must be feeling. Jace believed this was now the actual character and not a strawman decoy, as that ability didn’t exist within Vithium’s new character sheet. Based on the severity of the failed attack, he should be frozen for at least another round.
Jace’s ego didn’t require the need to exchange last words with his enemy, knowing that was what usually cost his adversaries when dealing with him, and he had no intention of allowing Vithium to emerge from his paralyzed state. However, he had promised not to lift a hand against the player and didn’t plan on breaking that now. Luckily, a furious red dragon stood behind the halfling, and she had heard everything the vile player had said.
When Jace had released Delly, the ensuing earthquake had thrown Draya and the demons holding her to the ground. As the guards picked themselves up, Draya transformed. A swipe of her new tail had sent her opponents flying back into the mass of minions, and she had been able to stand without fear of attack.
Like Psycho, Jace hadn’t had the opportunity to face off against a dragon in the game yet and didn’t know what to expect. Draya looked small, her head only fifteen feet off the ground. Her body, about the same size, stretched out behind her, balanced by a ten-foot tail. She had dark red scales along her back, with light pink underneath. A streak of black scales ran down her neck to mimic the one in her red hair, brought on by her earlier encounter with demon fire. Her face looked oddly familiar, retaining many characteristics of her human form despite the elongated snout.
“Draya,” Jace said, “open your pretty little mouth and let Vithium inside. He made me promise.”
Draya grinned broadly, revealing a terrifying row of sharp, white teeth. Her head moved faster than a viper, gobbling the halfling up in one bite. Though she was small for a dragon and would never have been able to hold Jace or even Psycho in her mouth, Vithium’s new form was barely an appetizer. She chewed him viciously for a full round before grimacing in disgust and spewing him out toward the back of the cavern in a gout of flame.
The two monks that had held Jace rushed the unarmed orc. They tried the magical step spell to close the distance in a second, but Jace was ready and raised a three-foot-thick wall of stone before them. Their infinite momentum crushed their bodies against the barrier, and then Jace flattened it down on top of them with a simple hand motion. It wasn’t enough to kill them outright, but they wouldn’t be getting up soon.
Jace checked on the remains of Vithium’s party before turning to address the horde of minions behind him. Selvecia had recovered quickly from the loss of Delly’s power, as most of that had gone to Karo and had taken to the air. So Gracie had released Tami next. The wings disappeared from the priestess, and she crashed to the ground. Atrax and Tristan had started to charge against Jace, but when the orc shaman had turned their leader into a halfling and a red dragon had eaten him, they held their attacks in check.
When Gracie released Kai Morte, and Karo’s enhanced scales burst apart all over his body, Jace felt confident enough to turn his back on them for a moment to address the 50 characters behind him. Draya stood beside the orc, eyeing the enemy collection, smoke wafting from her nostrils and death in her eyes. The assorted foes could probably overwhelm the two characters in a few rounds. But it was equally probable that the first dozen or so enemies who tried would be roasted alive or crushed beneath stone.
Jace took advantage of the hesitation and reached up to the ceiling where a dozen massive stalactites still hung. He willed cracks in the giant spears and used half his natural mana to rip them from their moorings. The rain of stone crushed at least twenty different enemies and sent the rest scattering in fear. “Keep them on the run,” Jace said. “I have a demon to kill.” As Draya flapped her wings and took to the air, chasing the minions with streams of fire, Jace turned around.
Gracie had just released Leah, and the bursts of diminished power dissipated out of the demonic trio like the dying throes of a Fourth of July sparkler. Karo picked himself off the ground, still a formidable opponent and a balrog in his own right, but Selvecia and Jorl felt naked by comparison and scattered from the alcove.
“What have you done?” Karo said, his voice no less intimidating. Muscles, spikes, and claws still covered his body as he flexed his arms and stared down Jace, demon fire flashing out of his mouth with each syllable.
“I leveled the playing field,” Jace said, walking toward the monster.
Karo laughed. “What? You level with me? In what realm?”
Jace had been dying to try his new spell and finally initiated it. It took 2,000 mana from his second core, but by the expression on Karo’s face, it was worth it. It looked like a god had reached down and pulled up the stone beneath Jace’s feet, like lifting the center of a round tablecloth. It moved up and through the shaman, his body transforming as the rock flowed through him. The two melded into one, and in the passing of six seconds, a twenty-foot-tall stone elemental stood in Jace’s place.
“In this realm,” Jace answered and rushed the demon.
----------------------------------------
Gromphy had been waiting impatiently. He knew two ogres stood just outside his trunk, their eyes focused on the magical object. At least, that was what the vampire had told them to do before he continued toward the entrance with two other fighters. Gromphy feared if he cracked the lid even a little, their warty, spindly fingers would shove inside, lift the top all the way, and reveal the goblin cowering inside.
So Gromphy waited.
Several tremors shook the box, but the last one had been incredibly violent, throwing the ogres to the ground. Gromphy finally took his chance, opened the lid slightly, and threw Adam’s figurine onto the floor. The resulting pounding only lasted a few rounds, and when it was over, the crafter opened his trunk all the way and found his adamantium golem standing beside two very dead ogres. The smashed bodies reminded Gromphy of one of his tribe's favorite recipes from the old days, but he didn’t have time now. Jace would need his help.
Gromphy climbed out of the trunk and was about to bring the storage device into his inventory when he heard footsteps and heavy breathing coming from his left. Was a vampire returning? Sort of.
Adam and Gromphy both turned to see Esther and Snowy trudging down the hall, trying to run but completely out of breath. Esther wore only the starter tunic. “Art thou mad?” he asked. “What would possess thee to frolic outside?”
“Have . . . to . . . catch . . . my . . . breath,” Esther said, reaching out her arm to lean heavily against the wall.
“Whatever for?” Gromphy asked. “Didst thee climb the steps again?”
Esther shook her head. “No. Jace added a node . . . just outside the front door.” Her arm gave way, and she flipped to her back against the smooth stone. Snowy collapsed on the floor.
“Thou art this tired from only a hundred yards?” Gromphy asked, judging the distance from the entrance. “What didst thee do? Was it . . .” Gromphy looked again at her clothes and figured it out just as Esther told him.
She made a cutting gesture across her neck with her finger. “Cut my head off. . . Woke up in bed. . . Good plan. . . Not fun inside the demon. . . But now . . .” she slumped to the floor.
“Stupid girl!” Gromphy cried. “Resurrection sickness requireth two hours of respite. Running like that might have killed thee.”
“Now . . . you tell me,” she panted, barely able to keep her head up.
Gromphy turned back to his trunk, rummaged around for a few seconds, and returned with a bubbling green concoction. “Here, drink this . . .” he started to offer it to the woman, but Esther had already passed out, lying limp on the floor. The goblin propped her head up on his lap, tilted her mouth open, and carefully poured half its contents down her throat. He then moved over to Snowy, who had better endurance than Esther and was still awake. The wolf lapped up a few drops first and then rolled to her back so Gromphy could pour the rest down her eager mouth.
Within a minute, both characters were awake and chipper. “Wow,” Esther said. “That is amazing! Way better than the gnome's coffee. Where have you been hiding that?”
“I hath not been hiding it,” the goblin said. “Its components are more expensive than thy blades. And if thee shouldst drink it whence thou were not so fatigued, thy heart would explode.”
Esther only focused on one of those words. “My blades. I don’t have them. If I’m to rush in there and save Jace, I need weapons. What else do you have in that chest?”
Gromphy clapped his hands in excitement. Equipping characters was the crafter’s calling in life, and like an artist staring at a blank canvas, Esther had nothing. A minute later, the rogue stood better equipped than almost anyone in the game. The goblin couldn’t reproduce her old blades or armor, but he came close, transforming her into a stealthy, sword-wielding, killing machine. Gromphy even gave Snowy a collar and ankle bracelets to enhance her Magic Defense and speed.
“Wish us luck,” Esther said, racing past the goblin and toward the distant cavern. “And you better follow after us.”
Gromphy intended to and turned to repack his trunk as Adam stood watch. Voices from behind stopped him before he finished, and he spun around to see four characters jogging toward him.
“There are three vampires . . .” Leah gasped, leaning hard against the wall.
“And two frost giants . . .” Delly panted, dropping to her knees.
“Chasing us . . .” Kai said breathlessly, his hands on his knees.
“Please help us . . .” Tami uttered, stumbling forward into the waiting goblin.
Gromphy caught the skinny mermaid and gently set her on the floor. “Adam?” the crafter turned to his companion. The faceless golem nodded, hasted himself, and raced back in the direction the woman had come. As a distant pounding began to echo up the hall, accompanied by the deep bellowing of frost giants, Gromphy turned to his trunk and produced four small green vials. “Here, drink these.”
The exhausted angles didn’t ask questions and gulped the offered potions before they passed out. “Now,” Gromphy said, rubbing his hands with glee. “What type of weapons dost thou prefer?”