It was some time after the tower had finally gone silent, that James had a revelation.
Alright, I take it back, wanting to have time to panic was a mistake. I keep alternating between worrying about being stuck inside of this soul core forever, worrying about my family, worrying about the people I just threw goblins at, or worst of all, dwelling on how I don't technically have a body anymore. James would have shuddered, or thought about how he couldn't anymore, but steered clear of that train of thought.
You'd think no longer having to deal with hunger, sweating, using the bathroom, or feeling pain would make this a pleasant experience, like floating in a calm pool. Instead, whenever I think too long about myself, things get weird. In only a few minutes, James had experienced shifts of perspective as his vision encompassed everything from every direction all at once. Along with it came the feeling of being stretched out in all directions, and concepts like up or down or forward or back losing all meaning as he perceived every part of the empty room from every angle simultaneously.
I don't want to experience that ever again, or anything else that disturbing. I need something to distract myself.
"Tower, is there anything else we can work on, like the second floor, or a way to see how everyone is handling the goblins?"
[Creation of floor 2 is currently unavailable. You may pull up a list of active and inactive climbers at any time by saying "Climber Menu". Each active climber is accompanied by an observer that may be accessed by any Viewer or Administrator at any time, however, as a Tier 0 Administrator, you only have access to data on climbers and observers within your own Tower.]
So I can see if my choices helped people survive!
"Thank you, Tower. Climber menu!" James said, as a menu appeared before him with a list of names, classes, and levels. It was organized from highest level to lowest, with a few level ones at the top and dozens of level zeroes below. James clicked on the name at the top, a level one warrior by the name of Larry Byars, and another screen appeared. It showed Larry cleaving into an axe wielding goblin with an axe of his own, his iron weapon bigger and more damaging than the goblin's one handed woodcutter axe made of a sharp stone tied to a branch. The axe wielding goblin fell to the ground, joining three others wielding crude melee weapons.
"Are you done yet? Assign your stat points and help me kill these bastards!" Larry shouted. He wore a gambeson with leather boots and gloves, all stained with the green blood of the goblins, and a bit of his own blood as well. He had a few wounds, but none of them were bleeding profusely, and he looked like he could keep fighting for a while longer. Behind him, James could see a woman wearing a white robe and holding a staff that looked more like a carved tree branch than something someone would cast magic with.
What is she doing? James thought, and immediately the screen blurred as it switched to the observer following her. Wait what, who am I following now? Is that the same girl? James hadn't been able to see her clearly before, and while the words 'Jane Martin Level 0 Cleric' floated above her in response to his question, he didn't know if this was the same woman until after she shouted "heal" and a bolt of white light flew away. The observer watching her rotated to track the bolt as it hit a warrior meters away, and the words 'Larry Byars Level 1 Warrior' floated above the man shortly after James wondered who he was.
Okay, so this is the same group then. I wish I had a manual or something for how this thing works, but it's nice to know I can switch perspectives and see people's information with just a thought. I wonder who the others are, but they're still staring at their own screens, so... James thought of switching back to Larry's observer, and within seconds the contents of his screen changed to that of the warrior and the goblins he had slain.
James focused on the four goblins that Larry had killed, and the words 'Goblin Warrior Level 1' appeared over each of them. Larry's observer suddenly took an over the shoulder view, where James noticed a goblin archer of the same level backing away as they readied an arrow. Larry let out a yell as he charged forwards, quickly covering three of the five meters between the goblin archer and himself. Unfortunately, Larry didn't reach the goblin before they managed to release an arrow. James watched as the arrow hit Larry in the chest, only to see four more hit him as other goblin archers released their arrows at the same time.
They used their green skin as camouflage and hid in the bushes!
"Oh, shit! Hea-" Jane's staff began to glow with white light as she tried to cast another healing spell on Larry, but she was cut off as a goblin hunter appeared behind her, only becoming visible in mid leap as they jumped on Jane's back, clinging onto her with their legs and one arm while stabbing her repeatedly with a knife made of bone. James switched to her observer just in time to see her fall to the ground, and the goblin hunter leap from her body to land on the ground next to the other hunters.
"Fuck this shit! Sneak!" Shouted a boy who looked like he could still be in highschool, wearing a cloak and a leather belt with a dagger. At the word sneak he disappeared, leaving the other two, another man with no armor and a stick that looked like a tree branch he had found on the ground, and a middle aged woman in a dark blue robe holding a wand, to fight the hunter on their own.
At least, that's what it looked like would happen. Unfortunately for the boy who ran away, he reappeared only two steps later. James switched to the boy's observer, learning he was Billy Folsom, level 0 Rogue, and that Billy was currently looking at a notification that read 'Sneak Skill deactivated due to excessive movement'. Billy ignored it and kept running, and the observer rotated itself at the goblin hunter as they grinned to themselves before chasing him.
This left the other two, Kathleen Cortez, level 0 Mage, and Oscar Lee, level 0 Fool, to hold off the remaining four goblin archers on their own.
Why would anyone pick a class called 'fool'? Is that why he doesn't have a real weapon, or any armor? Wait, four goblin archers? What happened to the one Larry was chasing? James thought of Larry and waited for his screen to switch to Larry's observer, but nothing happened. As the observer tracking Oscar panned to the goblins, James noticed that Larry was laying on top of the goblin archer he had been looking for. It was hard to make out the green blood against the green grass from this distance, but by the way the goblin didn't make any attempt to move out from under Larry's corpse, James assumed it was dead.
Alright, two on four then, that's still within fair odds, provided Oscar can pull his weight with that stick of his. James watched as Kathleen shouted "Fireball!" and a ball of fire flew out of her wand towards one of the goblins. James watched as the fireball hit the archer on the far left, and promptly burst into flames. As the burning goblin fell to the floor, James switched to Kathleen's observer just in time to see her get a notification.
{You have slain a Level 1 Goblin Archer!
6 Experience Rewarded!}
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She killed a goblin with a single spell! If she can- wait, no! The fireball had not gone unnoticed, and the goblin archers responded to the danger the mage represented with another volley of arrows.
"Get down!" Oscar shouted as he ran in front of her. He's shielding her with his body, is he sacrificing himself because she's the only one who can kill them? I... Doubt I'd have the courage to make such a decision. Contrary to James's belief however, Oscar's body suddenly twisted, his hold on Kathleen moving both of them out of the way in a graceless maneuver. The arrows moved as well, the angle of their trajectory moving centimeters off course, causing the arrows to harmlessly sail past, missing the two by mere inches.
What was that? It's like he tripped in place or something pushed him, and somehow that was enough to dodge the arrows completely? I'm glad he lived, but I don't understand how that- James's thoughts were interrupted as he switched to Oscar's observer, and found a notification in front of him.
{Fool's Luck has been activated. Fool's Luck cannot be activated for the next 12 hours.}
Fool's luck, I guess a one time random event that saves your life is pretty useful. How's he going to fight back though, they're too far away for him to charge at them in time.
James watched as Oscan helped Kathleen regain her balance, then picked a stone up off the ground. "Do you know how many fireballs you can still cast?" Oscar asked, and Kathleen nodded back.
"Three." Kathleen said, and Oscar's head bobbed up and down as he picked up another rock.
"Alright, I'll try to distract them, you go after them starting from the one on your right." Oscar said, not giving Kathleen any time to respond before he ran forward, throwing the two rocks at the center and right most goblins as he charged the one on the left. Neither rock hit a goblin, but it distracted two of them enough that their arrows missed Kathleen. The one Oscar was charging however, simply changed targets and shot Oscar in the stomach.
Five arrows hadn't been enough to stop Larry, and while Oscar lacked the padded gambeson, a single arrow didn't stop him either. James switched between Oscar and Kathleen as he watched the latter shoot another fireball, incinerating the right most goblin just like the one before. The other goblin began to panic, and while they fired off two more arrows before Kathleen shot another fireball, they both went wide and missed.
"Fireball!" Kathleen shouted, but she flinched as the two arrows flew passed her, and her fireball went wide as well. It landed next to the archer, setting fire to the grass and causing the goblin to fall over away from the flames.
"Damn it!" Kathleen cursed, and began marching towards the fallen goblin. The goblin remembered it was still in danger, and hurriedly got back to its feet, but didn't even get to ready another arrow before Kathleen cast her last fireball, and it burned to death like the others.
Kathleen spent a second reading over the kill notification.
{You have slain a Level 1 Goblin Archer!
8 Experience Rewarded!}
Eight experience instead of six? That's odd, what changed? James wondered, but Kathleen dismissed the notification almost as soon as James had read it, looking around for Oscar, and running towards him once she saw him.
Oscar had caught up to the goblin and was wrestling them onto the ground. While Oscar could keep the goblin archer pinned under him, his hands were too busy keeping the goblin from moving its arms, so neither of them were doing damage to the other. Eventually, the goblin gave up on trying to grab an arrow to stab Oscar with, and leaned forward before biting Oscar on the arm. Oscar yelped as he fell backwards and off of the goblin, and the goblin began getting back to its feet with one arm while the other reached for an arrow.
Then Kathleen reached the two of them and kicked the goblin in the face like one would punt a football. It didn't kill the goblin immediately, but the goblin was too dazed to do more than lay there as Kathleen continued stomping on the goblin's head.
{Quest “First Battle” completed!
Quest Reward(s): 50 Experience Points, 1 Low Quality Health Potion.}
{Congratulations! You have reached Level 1!
One Skill Point Rewarded.
Class-related Stat Points (+2 Magic Power, +1 Magic Capacity) Rewarded.
2 Free Stat Points Rewarded for reaching this Level for the first time!}
Kathleen stopped her assault as soon as the notifications of the Goblin's death, as well as the quest's completion and the level up, appeared before her. The number of menus layered in front of her surrounded her vision, and it took a second for her to go through each one.
"We... We did it... We did it!" Kathleen said, at first in disbelief and then excited relief, but any enthusiasm ended when she turned to Oscar.
Oscar had lost consciousness, and the bloodstain leading down his shirt and onto his pants from the arrow wound revealed why.
"Shit! Oscar!" Kathleen rushed over to him and fell to her knees, dropping her wand in her haste as she looked at his wound.
"Shit, shit, didn't the pop up say something about a health-" she stopped as she suddenly began fumbling with a health potion that nearly slipped through her fingers.
Where did that come from? She wasn't holding it a second ago, was she? Maybe it took a second for the reward to be delivered?
Kathleen pulled the cork out the health potion, before pulling the arrow out of Oscar's stomach and forcing his mouth open to pour the potion down his throat.
"Don't die, Oscar. I can't let you die. You saved my life! Please work. Please work." Kathleen spoke, half to Oscar and half to herself, as she emptied the potion.
Is Oscar even still alive? James asked, and tried to switch to Oscar's observer, letting out a sigh of relief when it worked. James waited to see if the potion would save him, and a minute passed before the wound had begun healing enough for James to notice. He's going to make it! James felt a rush of relief, and a bit of pride, as he watched the health potion he had added to the quest reward work to save Oscar's life. The observer watching Oscar briefly moved to show Kathleen's reaction, as she too noticed Oscar was recovering, smiling as she wiped the beginning of tears out of her eyes. Oscar's observer focused on the touching moment for a few seconds, before it pointed away from both Oscar and Kathleen.
James watched as a blur effect surrounded the edges of his screen as the observer zoomed in on the distance, where Billy laid on the ground, the goblin hunter laying on top of them, and both riddled with stab wounds.
So that's what happened to the two of them. James had forgotten them, and felt mixed feelings at seeing the young man's corpse. He abandoned Oscar and Kathleen to die, but being thrust into a life and death situation like this... It would be one thing if he had chosen to be here, to fight the goblins, but no one chose to go through this. James had a hard time feeling sympathetic after watching Billy abandon the others, but he didn't feel any joy at seeing what some might call karma at work.
Two out of five. Even with the equipment and the stat boosts, only two people survived, and one of them needed to use a health potion only earned after they won. Is it all going on like this? Surely some groups are faring better. I need to see them. James tore his attention away from Oscar and Kathleen, and pulled up the climber menu once more. It was time to see how the other groups fared.