Chapter 9: Trials

The party regrouped in front of the door to the trial. Casey only had a few cracked ribs but was otherwise fine. Heather bought the low level healing potion from the store and poured it down Nermit’s throat. The magic of the potion worked almost instantly and his flesh knit itself back together. He still didn’t wake up, but the threat to his life was over.

Heather had managed to attune her Mana Bolt spell during the fight and had leveled up to level 15. Casey reached level 17 and absorbed the spore attack from the Amanita Man. Heather grabbed a Charge ability from the body of the infected bunnies that Riley desperately wanted. His lack of ranged options had become very evident to him and an ability to help close the distance would do a lot to mitigate that weakness. But he still hadn’t unlocked his second ability slot. He didn’t want to lose Leech as it had just saved his life but at least Riley knew there would be more opportunities to grab the Charge ability later.

Feeling as ready as they could the group decided to brave the trial before they were attacked again. There was no telling what was on the other side of that door but they couldn’t fight as they were. Heather had pushed herself too hard using her spell as she had. Casey had her cracked ribs and Riley’s arm was still broken. Scott was the only one in a fighting shape. The group needed time. They were hoping the trial would give them some.

Heather opened the door to see a wall of pitch black darkness. She shot the group a look before stepping inside. The rest of them followed.

As Riley stepped into the doorway he felt himself starting to fall. The whole world was pitch black so he had no frame of reference for the feeling besides his stomach being in his throat. As suddenly as the sensation began it ended and Riley found himself alone.

He was standing on top of a hill, his party no where in sight. Instead there was an army camp laid out in front of him. Across a grassy plain was another army camped out.

Welcome to the Trial of the Commander. Lead your army to victory!

You have been given command of this division of the army. Lead your troops to victory against the vile and evil Republic. You are bound to this hill and cannot leave. If an enemy reaches the base of this hill you lose. Each wave will end when the entire enemy army has been defeated. You will be able to recruit new units and increase the power of your own units at the end of every wave. The longer you survive the better your rewards. Good luck!

Riley’s arm was no longer broken and he could sense his mask resting in his core. He couldn’t summon the mask and could feel its power suppressed. This wasn’t what he had been hoping for from this trial but it wasn’t the worst outcome they could have gotten. This felt a lot like the real-time strategy games he had tried out. They were never his favorite games to play, there were too many things to manage and Riley could never keep track of it all.

Riley examined his army. The entire camp was made up of a single unit. Twenty buff men wearing nothing but a fur loincloth and wielding axes. They identified as Barbarians, but he got no more information from the system than that. Riley could see that the enemy camp was also nothing but barbarians for the moment. Riley tried commanding his army verbally to no effect. He tried,, instead, just wishing his troops to move into a two line formation with ten soldiers on each line and they followed his orders seamlessly.

There wasn’t much else for Riley to explore for the moment so he sent his troops forward. As soon as they left his camp the other army stirred and their barbarians also took to the field. The number between the armies were even, if he did nothing he would have a fifty percent chance of winning the first fight. Riley didn’t like those odds so he experimented a little. He found he could command individual troops if he tried. When the armies clashed health bars appeared above the troops. Riley focused on his injured Barbarians recalling them to the back of the formation when they reached half health. His fresh barbarians tore through the enemy’s front line and Riley spread the injured reserves to attack the flanks of the enemy army. He won the wave handily only losing a few of his barbarians in the assault.

Riley felt pretty pleased with the performance but he knew that that was only the tutorial round. Things would start getting harder from here.

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A system screen appeared as his army was marching back to camp.

Troops refreshed!

New barbarians replaced those Riley had lost in the skirmish. It looked he could recover any loses between the rounds.

Choose your new Squad

+20 Barbarians (+30 Gold)

+10 Archers (+15 Gold)

+5 Battle Mages (+10 Gold)

The gold was new. As Riley focused on it he saw a virtual wallet appear showing that he had apparently won 20 gold for that round.

Riley wasn’t sure why choosing troops would earn him gold, but he wasn’t mad about it. With the barbarians offering the most number of troops as well as the most gold Riley chose that option. His new squad of barbarians appeared, joining his army.

As his new squad got settled in a new menu appeared giving him a chance to spend his gold. There were quite a few options available to him. He could increase the health of his troops, increase their damage, give them better equipment. There was even an option to give his troops access to a weaker version of his Leech ability which was tempting.

But Riley didn’t spend any of his gold for the moment because he also noticed an interesting feature of the shop. He could bet his excess gold on the outcome of the next round. For every 100 gold he bet he would win 10 extra gold for the round, up to a maximum bet of 500 gold. Riley was starting to understand the nature of the Trial. He had to balance the risk versus the reward carefully. If he spent all of his gold every round he would slowly be losing the finance war. But if he bet too much of his money and didn’t invest in his troops enough he could lose anyways.

Riley was going to count on his own ability for these first few rounds while the difficulty was still ramping up. He hoped he could snowball an early money advantage.

The second round started and the enemy army had added a contingent of 10 archers to its forces. Riley marched his 40 barbarians into battle. He split his force sending a squad to circle around the enemy barbarians to hit the archers directly. Riley lost half of his force on the approach but once his barbarians were in range it was a slaughter. The options changed slightly, instead of the mages there was a choice for clerics. Riley chose Barbarians again and had just enough money for the 100 gold bet.

The third round started and the enemy army consisted of 15 mages stepped forward to meet Riley’s 60 barbarians. Wary of the new enemy type Riley sent a force of 5 barbarians to approach and test their defenses.

When the barbarians crossed the halfway point between the armies a single mage cast a spell throwing a ball of fire that bloomed into an inferno killing all 5 barbarians. Riley was glad he hadn’t just marched his entire army into their range. He sent foward a line of fifteen barbarians, each spaced far enough apart that they wouldn’t be hit by a fireball unless it was directed at them. The first wave died immediately and the rest of Riley’s army charged in their wake, spread out as well in a mad dash to get to the vulnerable mages before the rest of army was killed.

Fortunately there was a cooldown for the mage’s casting that allowed Riley’s army time to get in and win the round. He bet the 100 gold again but used the rest of the money to start investing in his army, raising the health of his barbarians.

The rounds continued and Riley increased the health of his barbarians two more times, bought a perk that gave him 5 extra barbarians when he chose that option, and increased his bet up to 300. Other troop options appeared which Riley always ignored, he needed the extra money from the barbarians to max out the betting bonus as soon as possible. He still got to see what each of those troops did as he ended up having to fight all of them. The clerics could heal their own troops and provided a shield that didn’t seem to affect Riley’s army at all. Rogues did a lot of damage quickly, and had a stacking damage over time poison, but they died in a single hit. An actual front line started appearing and Riley’s barbarians now had to smash their way through Defenders, men in armor wielding shields and pikes.

Riley was forced to make a large purchase and give his troops access to his Leech ability. They needed a way to heal themselves and Riley would have to spend several rounds to get enough clerics to resolve the problem.

When Riley got past round 10 an item shop appeared. He spent some time exploring the options before purchasing a standard that gave his army damage refection. It paired perfectly with his high health and high numbers of barbarians.

By round 20 Riley was consistently putting down the max bet and investing the rest of his money into his army. The enemy acquired more advanced troops and the battles were getting harder. Alchemists came out throwing poison gas attacks. Paladins entered the battle healing themselves and their allies and smiting their foes. There were even single trolls added to the enemy army. Their regeneration and strength were powerful enough to justify the lack of numbers.

Still Riley continued investing in his barbarians. He had originally planned to switch to other troops when he reached the max bet but his strategy so far had been too effective for him to abandon. He was drowning the enemy in numbers. Any retaliation led to the enemy army killing themselves and the sea of barbarians healed themselves with every attack. His force was so much greater he could envelop the entire enemy army using his numbers to destroy the cohesion of their army.

Riley had lucked into the winning strategy.