Chapter 19. Hunters and Hunted

Two harpies approached from the east, moving slowly in our direction. Large, black wings flapped behind them, making a chopping sound. White hair tumbled down their shoulders. Yellow, wicked talons sent a shiver down my spine.

Harpy

‎ Level 7

‎ HP 45/45

‎ MP 0/75

‎ Stamina 100/100

“Let’s do this,” Janica said.

“Just as we talked about,” Henry said.

Rowan pulled a shield and an axe from her inventory. She approached the harpies as they came in range. “Come on, you ugly old witches,” she hollered at them. They screeched in anger, then charged her. She ducked down beneath her shield, and they began scratching at her with their claws. Her health bar began to dip. Rowan vaulted up at one, smashing it with her shield, sending it backwards. She turned to the other and swung her shield and axe at once in an arc, sending up a flurry of black feathers.

The harpy screamed.

Cassandra pulled out two daggers and began circling the harpies to get behind them. She moved like a cat, slow and dangerous.

Henry removed a staff, similar to my own, and flanked Rowan, protecting her side but not making any aggressive movements.

“Warren, get in there and stab some harpies with that staff,” Janica said.

“I have a better idea,” I said. I pulled out the drum and began to pound a quick, steady beat.

You activated Tempo.

You granted your party 10% haste.

10 Musician Job Points Awarded.

My stamina bar depleted by five. The effect of the spell was noticeable. Cassandra moved more quickly toward the back of the harpy. She lunged forward with both daggers toward the harpy’s back with speed and precision. The harpy screamed and fell to the ground, dead. Sparkles glittered from its body.

I changed my drumming, slipping into a slow and steady beat.

You activated Rhythm 1.

Stamina will deplete by 1 per second.

The party has 10% increased timing and coordination.

1 Job Point Awarded per second.

“Rowan, watch out!” Janica called.

The other harpy dove at Rowan, its front talons arcing down at her head.

She raised a shield, just in time, ducking under it. Henry swung at the harpy as it clawed at Rowan’s shield. He connected, sending the harpy tumbling backwards. Cassandra descended on the harpy when it stopped rolling, and ended its life with two daggers to the side.

You defeated level 7 Harpy x 2

You receive 21 experience points.

I stopped beating my drum.

“That was awesome!” Cassandra said. “What was that beat? It made me fly.”

“I used Tempo at the beginning,” I said. “It gives us haste. Then I activated a passive that helps us with our timing.”

“We can’t let Rowan take any more damage,” Janica said. “That was good, but we need to do better.”

Cassandra leaned down and looted the first body, then the second. “We got 2 Black Feathers, 40 Silver, and a Sharp Talon.”

“Nice,” said Rowan. “Give some of that to Warren. Let’s rotate loot.”

You received 10 Silver, 1 Black Feather, and a Sharp Talon.

“Thanks,” I said. Ten bucks plus materials for a single kill. I could get used to this.

We moved deeper into the zone. Harpies flew all over the place, mostly in ones and twos. They moved about with each other, chatting and cackling. Their movement made the zone highly dangerous. Like being in an area with random patrols everywhere. We moved this way and that, trying to isolate one harpy at a time. Over the next couple hours, we managed to kill four more harpies and Rowan only took a little damage. When I leveled up, I checked my prompts.

You defeated 4 Harpies.

You received 42 experience points.

Congratulations, you earned a level while Jobed as a Musician.

Stat upgrades: 1 Constitution, 3 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom, 2 Perception

“Janica,” I said. “What do Dexterity, Wisdom, and Perception do for me in combat?”

“Go into your interface options and select ‘show advanced combat statistics’,” she said.

Rowan turned around. “What’s this now?”

“Just try it,” Janica said. “You’ll see the results on your Character Sheets.”

I activated advanced combat statistics, then looked at my character sheet.

Character Sheet

Name: Warren

‎ Mystic: level 2. 30 available Job Points

‎ Musician: level 2. 35 available Job Points

‎ Attributes: Integrator, Perceptive

Core Stats:

● Constitution: 12

● Dexterity: 14

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● Intelligence: 13

● Wisdom: 14

● Strength: 10

● Perception: 14

Core Resources

● Health: 28/28

● Stamina: 35/35

● Mana: 0/33

Advanced Statistics:

● Stamina Regeneration per second: 1.4

● Mana Regeneration per second: -48.6

● Accuracy against same level enemies: 76.4%

● Haste 1.4%

I hovered over my advanced stats, and tooltips appeared next to them.

Stamina Regeneration = Wisdom /10

Mana Regeneration = Wisdom/10 - 50

‎ Accuracy against same level enemies = 75% base + Dexterity / 10

‎ Haste = Perception / 10

I realized a couple of things. First, that haste was difficult to get, and felt really powerful in the last fight. My Tempo skill was unique and godly. I needed to buy it as soon as possible. Second, that my Musician Job was giving me one less stat every level, overall, than my Mystic Job. That was going to add up. The Mystic Job gave me more Wisdom, which translated to better stamina regeneration. One day it would give me better Mana regeneration if the world ever changed and allowed us to regenerate mana. Since most of my skills required stamina, it might be smart to switch to the Mystic Job before I leveled up. I looked at my experience bar and saw that I needed 660 total experience to get to level four overall. I had 297 experience total, which means I wasn’t close yet. I’d keep an eye on that. But if I switched back to Mystic now, I would lose access to my Musician Skills. Another reason to buy Tempo as soon as possible. That way I could switch back to Mystic, keep Tempo in my Loadout, and still be useful in a fight.

“Janica,” I said. “It doesn’t feel like I’m regenerating 1.4 stamina per second. It feels slower than that.”

#x200e “That’s because of me,” she said. “It costs you one stamina per second to keep our connection. So you get a net of .4 stamina per second.”

“I was wondering about that,” Rowan said. “How is it that Janica gets to hang around? No offense, Janica. You’re kind of a badass. But we lost our guides hours ago.”

Henry looked up from his book.

I hesitated, looking from face to face.

“Warren got the Spiritual Connection passive,” Janica said. “So I get to stay!” She beamed.

I shot her a glare.

“What?” she said to me. “This is your team. You can trust them.”

“Janica,” Cassandra said. “How is my accuracy getting higher?”

“From your Dexterity,” she said. “You’re a Squire, so you only get 1 Dexterity per level. If you want to keep stabbing things with those daggers, we need to get you a new Job that adds more Dexterity per level. Accuracy matters. A lot.”

“How do I unlock a new Job?” she asked.

“A couple of different ways,” she started. “First, if you get your Expertise in daggers up to level fifty, a Job will unlock for you. What’s it at right now?”

“Thirty-five. What Job is that?”

“Sorry, can’t tell you specific information like that yet.”

“Okay,” Cassandra said. “That’s exciting. How else can I get new Jobs?”

“The Squire Job splits and unlocks three different options at level five. At that point, you can stay as a Squire or switch into any of the new options.”

“Why would anybody stay as a Squire?” Rowan asked.

“Well,” Janica said. “Maybe you need more Squire Job Points to permanently buy a Skill. Maybe you like the stat growth. I can’t give you details, but some jobs become available by achieving a certain level in multiple jobs.”

“I can help,” Henry cut in. “I discovered a dozen or so options for mid-level jobs in my research. Cassandra, what do you want to become?”

Her eyes flashed in excitement. “Something stealthy, sneaky, that can blow monsters up fast,” she said.

“Okay,” Henry said after a chuckle. “Remember, I don’t know everything. This wasn’t the focus of my reading. But I read about a Blade Dancer that required 100 Expertise in a bladed weapon, level five in the Dancer Job, and level five in the Rogue Job. I also read about a Poisoner. That requires level five in the Apprentice Job, level four in the Chemist Job, level four in the Rogue Job, and an Expertise of eighty in Alchemy.”

“Whoa,” Rowan said. “That’s wild. Give me a couple.”

“Are you going to be a tank?” Henry asked.

“Mmm. Maybe. Depends.”

“On what?” I asked.

She looked at me, her eyes catching mine. Those blue eyes. “On what’s fun. And what we need in the group. And if I get any sweet gear.” She shrugged. “You know, go with the flow.”

My team had lit up at the discussion of stats, Job trees, and possibilities. The way that people get when they’re really excited. Alert, attentive, smiling. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. This stuff excited me too, but I couldn’t get excited about it. I couldn’t dream of power and loadouts. To me, the adventure was temporary; for them, it was the reason they were playing.

“Well,” Henry said. “The Knight Job requires 10 in the Squire Job. Kind of a waste of stat points, if you ask me. A Lancer requires level five in the Squire Job, fifty Expertise in Shields, and fifty Expertise in Spears. Monk requires thirty Dexterity and a Staff Expertise of fifty.”

“Just remember,” Janica said, “that Jobs are powerful for two reasons. Stat growth, obviously, but also the Skills and Passives that you can buy from a Job and take with you into your loadout. There are a couple Jobs that have very weak stat growth, but very powerful Skills that you can buy. And vice-versa.”

“How do we figure out how to plan ahead?” Cassandra asked.

Janica looked at Henry. “He’s right. I’m limited in what I can tell you. But there are codexes located around the world that will show you a full Loadout of a Job including the requirements one needs to unlock the Job. One thing I can do is help nudge you all in the direction of some useful ones. For example, the elite harpy that you’re looking for drops one that might be handy for someone looking for some crowd control abilities.”

Henry perked up at that. “That changes things. I had hoped to steal that sleep spell and run away, but now I think it might be worth it to kill her. Just remember that we cannot kill her until she casts that sleep spell and Warren learns it.”

I would need to channel my Memorize Song spell for the duration of combat. If I missed the beginning of the song, it would mean waiting for the next occurrence. That could likely kill us.

“I think the best course of action,” Henry said, “is for us to kite her around, taking as little damage as possible, until she sings her song.”

“If we all get hit by the Sleep song, how will we survive?” Rowan asked.

Henry looked at Janica. “Can Sleep be broken?”

Janica nodded. “Yeah, if someone takes damage, the CC is broken.”

“I’ll have to stay way back,” I said. “Then try to wake you all up. But when she starts her song, get away from her. Maybe you can outdistance the song.”

“Won’t work,” Janica said. “If you can hear the song, it puts you to sleep. And Warren can’t memorize a song that he can’t hear.”

“Can’t we just plug our ears?” Cassandra suggested.

“Actually,” Henry said, “I came prepared.” He handed each of them a little wad of something.

“Beeswax,” Rowan said. “Good idea.”

“And maybe cover your ears also,” Henry said.

Henry approached me and handed me a little pile of beans.

You re ceived coffee beans.

‎ Coffee Beans

‎ Item Class: Consumable

‎ Item Quality: Common

‎ Effect: Consuming Coffee beans increases your resistance to sleep effects by 90% and increases your haste by 5%. Last s 3 hours.

“Check this out,” Cassandra called to us from twenty yards away. “Have you ever seen a plant this weird?”

“Don’t touch anything,” Rowan called.

The bush stood about as tall as me. Its branches twisted and coalesced into the shape of a person. Creepy. At the top of the branches, spindly yellow and red fibers erupted, making it look like hair on the top of the sculpture’s head.

“Witch Hazel,” Henry said.

“Can you pick it?” I asked.

Janica shook her head. “He needs an Expertise of 75. He’s not even close.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “What’s to stop us from cutting some off the branches anyway?”

“It’ll ruin the Witchhazel,” Henry said.

A high-pitched wail reverberated from the north of us. “Ohh, the witch of the wood comes a fluttering past, her hair is perfect, her beauty unpassed.” The singing got closer.