It doesn't look like there are all that many that picked a crafting class. James thought to himself, as he rapidly switched from one screen to the next, counting every class that wasn't one of the usual six. There's only... 15 of them... 3 Armorsmiths, 4 Weaponsmiths, 3 Alchemists, 3 Enchanters, and 2 Carpenters. I hope at least one of each survives. I need to see more of what these classes are capable of and what I can do to help them help everyone else. As James looked through the screens, he settled on one party that had two climbers with a crafting class, one a man with blond hair and a short beard wielding an axe, and another a young woman with a sickle. It's easy to tell who's a crafting class and who isn't. All of the crafting classes have an apron, though some of them look more heavily armored than others, and the enchanter's apron looks like it's made out of embroidered cloth than the leather of the other classes.
What's more important is that they all have harvesting tools as weapons! They're sharp enough to kill someone, but none of them are as good as an actual weapon!
"61-3, do any of the crafting classes come with a combat skill?"
[Affirmative. All Crafting Classes have access to non-exclusive combat Skills, with each Class picking up a portion of the Skills given to one of the Standard Classes at their Level.]
James let out a sigh of relief, despite lacking the body to actually do so. "Thank goodness." So they can fight, they're just more disadvantaged than I expected.
As goblins appeared throughout the separate instances of the First Battle, James closed the six screens that showed a party without a crafting class. I can always watch them through recording viewing, but it's easier to find the parts I want to see if I already have an image of it in my mind. I'll focus on the crafting classes this time around, and figure out what to record for the broadcast once it ends.
As battles progressed, James watched as some crafting classes cast offensive or healing spells, with others using the double strike skill he had witnessed warriors and rogues using in the past. Do crafting classes have access to any type of skill that isn't exclusive to a particular class? Kind of like the Fool?
Minutes later, James realized he was mistaken. It took a while to sort out that each crafting class uses a particular harvesting tool, but I think they each mimic a combat class as well. Only the alchemists have used healing or barrier spells, only the enchanters use mage spells like magic arrow or wave of force. I've seen both of the smith classes use double strike, but neither of the two with a carpenter class have done so. Did they just not pick it, or do they not have it?
I don't have a list of what class has what skills, or what skills cross over, so I'll have to keep watching as they level up before I'll know for sure. James had asked 61-3 before about the details of the standard classes, but had only been told that such information required an Administrative Tier of 1 to access. At least spying on their status through an observer is still allowed. I've mostly figured out what each class can start with, and what all of the stats are, even if I don't have a comprehensive list of all of their potential growth.
James paid extra attention to the one party with two crafting classes, consisting of a carpenter, alchemist, merchant, rogue, and fool. When the goblins began rushing towards them from the shrubbery nearby, the merchant immediately fired her crossbow, her weapon disappearing and reappearing loading with another bolt less than a second later, before she fired again. The first bolt just barely missed, the goblin flinching from the breeze it felt by its passing, but the second struck it in the gut. However, there were six goblin warriors still rushing at the party.
The fool stayed near the merchant, as well as the alchemist, leaving the rogue and carpenter to hold the front line. The rogue activated their Sneak skill, vanishing as the goblins approached. The carpenter, meanwhile, swung his axe in an overhead swing that nearly split a goblin's head in two. James mentally willed the screen away from him at the sight, pulling it back a second later as the observer moved away from the corpse to show another one trying to strike the carpenter in the stomach with an axe of their own. The leather apron stopped the sharpened stone from cutting through, but the physical impact still had the carpenter backpedaling, holding the middle of the axe handle and using the bottom end to smack the goblin and ward it away until he had enough space for another proper swing. This time the goblin's head was decapitated instead of split in two.
The merchant meanwhile, focused on quantity over quality, firing as rapidly as possible instead of taking the time to aim. Three more died, but one bolt hit the rogue and forced them out of stealth, the unexpected blow causing them to fall to the ground, bleeding from their back.
Did the merchant forget the rogue was invisible, or did the rogue not tell them what angle they'd be attacking from?
The alchemist and fool ran towards the rogue, when three arrows flew from the bushes, the goblin archers already out of sight as they moved to a new position. The fool's body twisted out of the way as two arrows passed by harmlessly, but the alchemist wasn't nearly so fortunate. An arrow embedded in her neck, and after a few moments where she futilely tried to stop the bleeding, she died.
Meanwhile, the carpenter was dealing with the last goblin warrior, another overhead swing that the goblin dodged before running into range of their own weapon. Instead of attempting to strike the carpenter in the gut like the previous goblin, this one ran around the climber until it could embed it's weapon into the carpenter's side, where he was only protected by his cloth shirt. The carpenter roared as the goblin pulled its axe out of his side, and he tried to shove his weapon towards the goblin circling behind him as he turned to try and put the goblin in front of him, but the goblin easily sidestepped out of the way as it sped around him before driving its axe into the carpenter's back.
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The carpenter roared once more, as he twisted his entire body into a turn, arms swinging the axe in a horizontal swing that moved too fast for the goblin to dodge, embedding itself into the side of the goblin's skull deep enough to nearly split it in half. The carpenter fell, having imbalanced himself in a turn his legs weren't ready for, but he had yet to die from his wounds, and immediately began using his axe to tear into his apron. Trying to get something he can use to stop the bleeding? Smart, but if the merchant bought a health potion…
Unfortunately, the merchant was focused on firing bolts blindly into the bushes, attempting to hit the goblin archers hiding within. At one point, the merchant stored and retrieved her crossbow, only to find it still unloaded. "Shit, I'm out of ammo." She said, as the fool ran up to her and dropped four goblin corpses from his inventory.
"Here, sell these and buy a health potion, as many as you can. Everyone's wounded, or dead, we need to save who we can." They said, eyes flickering to the alchemist and the rogue, before they turned to the carpenter who had just fallen to the ground.
"No point," the merchant shook her head. "They could just shoot us while we're trying to heal them. We need to kill them first." James watched as the merchant immediately sold the corpses and spent it all on more ammo for her crossbow.
"What!? People are dying-"
"And we'll all get a health potion when we win! Stop arguing, and help me find them!" The merchant said, shooting into a bush, and making a tsk of frustration when she realized she hadn't hit anything.
The fool froze for a second, before turning and running at where the arrows had come from. At least they didn't waste any more time arguing, but it's not looking good. Is this going to be a party wipe? James wondered.
The answer came in three more arrows, two of which hit the fool. They staggered for a moment, before continuing to run, neither wound instantly fatal. The Merchant ran to the side, trying to move so she'd be firing at an angle that wouldn't risk her hitting another ally.
The fool swung their walking stick into a bush, shoving the goblin out of its hiding spot and beating it with repeated swings from their walking stick before a bolt finished it off.
"Find the others, hurry!" The merchant said, before two more arrows shot out and hit the fool once more. This time, the fool staggered to the ground. I think one of the arrows hit them in the heart. Damn it.
James forced himself to continue watching. By now the alchemist and rogue were both dead, but the carpenter had managed to wrap the apron around his body, and was walking in a stagger to the bushes. This only made him another target, however. And two arrows sent him falling back to the ground, and James watched the tab on his screen that held the carpenter's name and class turn gray as the man died.
On the plus side, the merchant had seen the direction of the arrows, and fired in kind. A yelp could be heard as the goblin was struck, but James and the merchant both noticed how a notification of the goblin's death hadn't appeared.
"Damn it. Stop hiding and fight me!" The merchant yelled.
The goblins continued to hide.
It was another minute before the battle ended, the merchant firing blindly in either anger or desperation, as one goblin made itself a distraction and the other fired the occasional arrow from the merchant's blind spots. The merchant killed the wounded goblin with another bolt, but the last goblin archer remained untouched before the merchant succumbed to her wounds.
Push aside the guilt and disgust. You couldn't have done anything for them, but you can help others by learning from it. The difference between the combat classes and the crafting classes isn't much at level 0, but neither of the crafters in that group picked up a combat skill. I saw one of the other alchemists use a heal spell, but this one must not have taken it. The carpenter didn't do too bad, but it doesn't matter when your party abandons you to fight on your own. The merchant didn't bother trying to heal anyone, which wouldn't have been an issue if they had a priest in the party, and even then, if they hadn't hit their rogue, the rogue could have helped them find where the archers were hiding. The crafting classes aren't complete liabilities in a fight, but I need to show everyone the importance of picking up a combat skill instead of a crafting skill as their first choice. I also need to show them the consequences of not coordinating better. The fool and alchemist didn't both need to hang back to protect the merchant, and just because you can buy more ammo doesn't mean you can afford to waste it.
{First Battle Results:
Climbers Survived: 71/100
Groups Wiped Out: 1/20}
At least that was the only group that got wiped out, even if the total number of survivors is lower than last time. James went through the list of surviving climbers, counting the number of crafting classes that survived. 12/15 isn't bad, either. Only one carpenter survived, but we have 2 alchemists and enchanters, 3 armorsmiths, and 4 weaponsmiths. I'd have preferred two of every crafting type, but that'll have to wait until I've shown everyone outside of the tower what the crafting classes can do, and how they can best survive the first battle.
{You have earned 96 Tower Points through Viewer acquisition and retention!}
James dismissed the notification after only a glance, and started to bring the screens from the recording and editing menus closer, but paused halfway.
I'll have all day to edit and upload the video of crafting classes to the outside broadcast, but I need to know where the portal to the next floor is before morning. It'd be a good idea to check out the floor menu I just got access to, as well as figure out what repeating and not repeating quests to make first, before I dive back into editing.
Pushing the editing and recording menus back to his side, he focused on pulling up his newest menu.
Floor Menu.