P-03. Trial By Magic, page 8
part #3 of PrimeVerse Series
“Okay, okay, let me bring it up to the tribe in a meeting, and-”
“Dude, do you really need a meeting for that? You guys have been living with Tim and his zombie for a few weeks by now, it shouldn’t be this big of a deal. How is the zombie stuck in a hole digging away any worse than it just waltzing around town?”
“Well, I just think...” Arnold trailed off, so I interjected.
“Jake, would you be willing to work with the zombie? Maybe that would ease everyone’s mind.”
Jake shrugged. “Fine with me, I just want the job done already.”
Arnold looked between the two of us, relenting. “Fine, go ask Tim.”
Finally, Arnold was seeing the light. I just had to show it to him in ways he understood. Like more power for the tribe- and him. Damn politicians.
Chapter 9
Tim lit up when we asked him if he could help. “Are you serious? After all this time he wants me to use my ability?”
“Well, I think he got a taste of how fun advancement can be, and now wants to go full-tilt. The fact that we may be attacked by a psycho Chaos army probably has something to do with it as well,” I said.
“Well, whatever you said, I am grateful. I know I can help. The only problem is that my zombie is pretty much worthless after our last adventure in the woods. I really need a new one.”
“How does that work anyway? How many zombies can you control?” I asked.
“I can only have one pet zombie, but zombies are dumb, like lemmings. You send one in a direction and the others will follow. Especially if that direction leads to food. That was pretty much how I got all the zombies to attack.”
“So do you get a pet control window then?”
“Yes, it also follows my commands, well, as best as it can understand them. They have to be very simple, but something like ‘dig’ should be easy.” Tim mimed digging.
“Can you give it a command and leave it?” I asked.
“Sure, it will just keep doing whatever I told it to pretty much forever.”
“Perfect! Let’s get your pet set up, then go hunting for another one for you!”
We headed over to the well and looked down into it. Jake was in there, digging away with his stone shovel thing that had been crafted for him.
“Jake!” I shouted, startling him. He looked up, and seeing our three faces, grinned.
“Finally! How will this work?” he asked.
In answer, Tim nudged the zombie into the hole and we watched as it began to dig with its hands.
“It's too stupid to use tools, and it won't do anything about the dirt, so you’ll have to baby sit it a bit, getting the loose dirt out it digs up, but it will just keep on going,” Tim told Jake. “Oh, and we are going to go out and try to find another zombie. When I take another as a pet, it will automatically drop this one. It might, er, will probably attack you if you're close,” Tim said.
Jake looked at the zombie, then Tim, then the zombie again. “Seriously?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “The thing is almost dead anyway, you could probably take it out in a couple good whacks with that shovel thing, and then you'd even get some XP.”
Jake inspected the ragged looking thing, then set his mouth into a firm line and nodded at us. “Yeah, I guess that shouldn’t be a problem. You guys go, I've got this.”
We waved to Jake and set out to see if anyone else wanted to join us on our zombie-hunt. The tribe was mostly empty with the Hunters out hunting and most of the Gatherers out... gathering, having taken Madison with them. The few that were left were sitting with gromlin-Claire, making rope, a gaggle of kids with them, some playing and some also crafting.
Graham, Ryan, and Sarah were sitting with each other, talking, nearby. “Hey guys, we’re going to go try to find some more zombies to enhance our workforce, anyone want to come with us?” I asked.
Ryan immediately jumped up. “I’ll go. Not sure how I feel about collecting zombies, but I’ve been stuck here for too long. I’m itching to get out and learn the area.”
“Arnold finally caved?” Sarah asked.
“Just experimenting,” I said. “Arnold agreed we should use whatever we can to get things done.”
Graham had stayed silent and Sarah looked at him, then tapped his knee with her foot.
“No. I’ll stay here, you know, to protect the kids from outsiders bringing harm to them,” Graham said. Sarah rolled her eyes.
“I’m staying too,” she said. “Still on kid duty.”
We left to find Kai, who was sitting cross legged in the back of the cave with his eyes closed. Wisps of light were floating off of him like steam, and I felt like disturbing him might not be a good idea, so I backed out, slow and quiet.
“It’s just us guys,” I said when I was back out in the light of day. “Let's go find us some zombies!” I formed a party with the three of us and we headed out into the wilds.
I had a secondary purpose besides getting zombies for Tim. I needed to resupply my stock of cores. I was running drastically low, with my two flunky cores, a single wolf core and the bear core I had recently obtained being all I had left. I had played with my magic spells a bit, but I wanted to level my Core Mastery and Core Manipulation skills. And that required cores.
“Okay boss, what’s the plan?” Ryan asked as we were past the tribal grounds.
“I think the first thing we should do is check out the respawn points in the area,” I said.
“That’s a good idea. We’ve pretty much abandoned them since we got the tribal spawn point,” Tim said. “There might be some stragglers around.”
I opened my illusory map to show Ryan our destinations, marking them on the map. He studied it for a long while. “Okay, got it. I’ll lead the way.”
“Just like that?” Tim asked.
“I'm a Scout class. I have a skill that's kind of like that map, only it's just in my head,” he winked and tapped the side of his head.
“That’s impressive,” Tim said. “Just another reason I wish I had taken more care in the tutorial.”
“How did you do the tutorial?” I asked, curious.
“Well, I touched the blue cube right off the bat. It was stupid to leave so quickly. I just thought getting to the actual game and getting ahead of the crowd right away was the way to go. I didn’t stop to think there would be cool, helpful bonuses like class options if I completed it. In hindsight, it was a huge mistake.”
“I haven’t heard much about the tutorial,” Ryan said. “We didn’t have one. As beta testers, we were just uploaded, given our classes, and sent into the world.”
“The way I did it, I was pretty much just sent into the world, too,” Tim added.
I briefed Ryan on what the tutorial island was like, and Tim showed a lot of interest in it, too. It seemed like he literally didn’t even leave the area of the blue cube.
“I sometimes wish I had been spawn camped long enough to reincarnate. This primitive class is terrible. I don't like any of the abilities,” Tim said.
“There are ways to get different classes beyond just reincarnating,” I said. “Like the job classes Arnold passed out. And I got a prestige class after beating the dungeon and finding the node. So it can happen- we just have to be looking out for all the ways to put the game to use.
“And, hey! When we get back, we should teach you some magic. In fact, we should teach everyone magic. It’s pretty awesome, not class specific, and might be just the thing we need to keep the tribe safe from attacks.”
“I agree it's cool, I've been itching to get to mess around with it some more.” Ryan held his hand out, lightning arcing across his fingers. He pointed and a short, intense spark shot out from his hand.
“You have magic too?” Tim asked.
During our walk to the first spawn point, I told Tim all about our adventures on the other side of the woods. He was particularly interested in the dungeon. He commiserated with Ryan about having made the mistake of getting in too deep with Cora. I’d forgotten they had that in common. When I told him about the conversation I had with Minuitt, he became particularly interested.
“I can’t wait to learn magic, I wish I knew some already,” he said. “I want to somehow get into a better class. Maybe even a unique class. All these video games I used to play- I was always in the top ranks, and here, I’m just a nobody.”
“Well, I mean, you did put the whole tribe through hell and back fighting your zombie army. I wouldn’t call you a nobody,” I winked and smacked him on the shoulder. He smiled weakly.
We had gone through the first two spawn points with no luck, but hit the jackpot at the last one, the one closest to the forest filled with spiders. I shuddered thinking about it. Spiders were terrible in general, yes, but the spider princess there was downright terrifying.
As we approached the last spawn point, we immediately noticed a zombie milling about, reaching into the air, its jaw clacking open and closed as if trying to eat the energy of the respawn point itself.
“These things are drawn here like they are to the living. There must be something, some kind of life energy or whatnot, that they want here,” I said.
“Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?” Tim asked, eyeing me.
I coughed. “Well, no. Not really. But they are drawn to the respawn points.”
Ryan chuckled and pointed towards the spider woods. I hoped he wasn’t going to say it. Please don’t say it.
“Can we go check out that forest over there?” He said it.
I sighed. “It’s just a bunch of spiders and a spider boss.”
“A spider boss!? Awesome!” He pulled his bow off his back and put three arrows in his hand. “Let’s go kick its ass!”
I looked at Tim. “You got that zombie ready?”
Tim held his hand up at me, and within moments the zombie stopped grasping at the air and turned towards him.
“Ready,” Tim said.
So, much to my dislike, we entered the spider’s den. It actually turned out to be okay. I took a few moments to center myself, to help with the panic that took over whenever spiders were around, but when they started coming out my two faithful flunkeys were more than a match for any of the smaller ones. I gagged when they started picking them up and eating them enthusiastically, but whatever, it left me free to blast away with my spells.
As expected, the Poison spell didn't do much to the spiders, but fire, fire made me so happy. At the merest flick of my flame, they would make their terrible screeching noise and turn to flee. But my fire was faster, and like dried leaves, they’d burst into flames, crinkling into ashes in seconds. These spiders liked fire about as much as I liked spiders. It was glorious.
Ryan put away his bow after his second arrow was ignited, grumbling about not being able to make more any time soon. Which ended up being a good decision because he was able to light them up with electricity almost as badly as my fire burned them. Tim just watched as we steamrolled through the entire area. I had forgotten about this aspect of gaming; going back to an area you had out leveled and dominating it.
The few spiders that got past us, Tim’s zombie bludgeoned to death, their venom having no effect on it. We made such quick work of them, I never even panicked. It was therapy by immersion. Don’t get me wrong; spiders were disgusting and vile and I had no intentions of spending any more time than necessary around them. But I could manage the gross numbers without running away like a fool.
We got to the center of the woods and found the true treasure of the area. In the canopy high above us were three human-sized cocoons, twitching and moving.
“All right guys, this is where the princess spider lived last time I was through here. It was tough and had some kind of acid attack, but as easily as we made it in, we should have no problem.”
I kept an eye out for where the princess would show up and was thankfully not surprised to see it silently descending from above to land on the ground behind us.
“Tim, send in the zombie to tank. Ryan, think you can hit its eyes?”
Ryan snorted and pulled his bow out, taking aim with one of his precious arrows. I waited for the zombie to attack and gather up the aggro. The princess was most definitely more powerful than the baby spiders we had fought on the way in. Its mandibles crunched down on the zombie, ripping off chunks of flesh.
“Hey!” Tim shouted, “we need that thing!”
Ryan let loose an arrow, sending it directly into the center of one eye, bursting it. While the princess screeched in pain, I ignited both hands and DualCast Flame, keeping the Mana pouring in. Within seconds I had melted its face the same way it had melted Cora’s the last time we fought it. A well-timed lightning blast directly into the creature's mouth as it screamed in agony sent it spasming to the ground.
Congratulations! You have defeated a Spider Princess!
You have gained 5 XP! You gain a party bonus of 2 XP.
The zombie continued to beat on it until Tim called it off. I smiled at how easily we had defeated this thing; it hadn’t even had enough time to launch its web attack. We looted up, and I scored a spider princess core, and we found a set of Spidersilk Gloves as well.
Spidersilk Gloves
Gloves
Armor 10
+2 Agility
After the fight, we cut down the cocoons and carefully sliced them open, revealing three more zombies made from viators that had not had a chance to get an attunement yet. Poor fellas. It reminded me of when we had freed Madison from these very cocoons, and how thankful I was we found her before she’d suffocated and turned into a zombie. I shook my head to clear the vision. I much preferred the living version of Madison with her bright, shiny eyes, super soft skin, silky hair... I already couldn’t wait to see her again.
“How come they don't attack us?” Ryan asked.
“Ah, that’s one of my abilities; it adds an aura around me and anyone within is immune to them,” Tim said.
“So that’s what the Aura attribute does, huh?” Ryan said. I told him about my aura bonus for teaching skills that I had as well as we headed back for the tribe, and our conversation turned to mechanics for the rest of our walk back. We arrived four zombies richer than when we had left.
We stopped outside the village to figure out what to do with our excess zombies. I didn’t know if Arnold had told the tribe to expect us or not, but it probably would be best not to walk into town with a herd of slavering, flesh-eating zombies.
Tim froze up suddenly, “My zombie in town is dead. That will make this easier. You guys just go in; I’ll figure it out. When you’re ready, come get me.”
Ryan shrugged and I gave Tim a fist bump, leaving him with his walking dead.
Chapter 10
Most of the Hunters and Gatherers had also returned by the time we got back to town. I spotted Madison and moved to her, wrapping my arms around her and sniffing her hair.
“I’m so glad you’re not a zombie,” I said. “You’re so soft, and warm, and alive...”
She pushed away from me, scrunching up her face. “You’re so weird,” she said with a laugh, but planted a kiss on my mouth, anyway.
Our sweet reunion was cut short as screaming erupted somewhere close. Redneck screaming if I was hearing right.
“This is why there should be someone else in charge!” I heard Clyde yelling from outside the bounds of the tipis. Many of the tribe's people were gathered by the well, where Sarah was administering first aid to Jake. He held his bloody arm out, a grimace on his face.
“Allowing monsters into our tribe, then using zombies as tools? What were you thinking?!” Clyde yelled. He was getting some nods of agreement from the crowd this time, which was worrying. “Clearly you weren’t. Jake here could’ve been killed because of your stupidity. You need to step down.”
Arnold did a great job of keeping his temper in check as he addressed the large man. “Clyde, if you have a problem you should come speak to me directly. Making a scene like this shows you care more about trying to take my place than the actual problem. Have you even talked to Jake?”
Jake waved. “Nope.”
Arnold nodded at him. “This situation was well in hand, Jake knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Jake isn’t the only one affected by your decisions, Chief,” Clyde said. “We all are.”
“This was my decision,” Arnold said, “and I take responsibility for the... what was it, Jake? Twenty percent of your health?” Jake nodded. “And an injury?” Jake nodded again. “Right, so the twenty percent of your health that was lost and your arm that can be healed.”
“Oh, I got some XP too,” Jake said.
“Right,” Arnold said, “I take responsibility for the XP you gained.”
This got a little chuckle from the crowd.
“Furthermore, speaking of things that are my decision, I have spoken with one of our newest members, Madison, who has agreed to teach us all magic!”
There was some clapping and excited murmurs. Arnold was a good man, but he was a politician first. Using distraction to appease the crowds was straight out of the politician’s rulebook.
“Hey,” I said as I placed my hand on Madison’s lower back, “did he really ask you?”
She grinned and shook her head. “Not in so many words. We had talked about it a little, and I think he knew it was always the plan, but he’s just using it to diffuse this situation.”
“I believe it.”
“Where did you go today, anyway?” she asked. “I missed you when I got back.”
“Tim and Ryan and I also went gathering. Zombie gathering.”
“Gross, I bet that wasn’t nearly as fun.”
I laughed. “Oh I don't know. We got to visit your old friend the princess spider. She had a few zombies for us, hand wrapped with love, only missing a bow.”
“I see. So is that why you’re suddenly so enamored with my alive-ness?”
“You’re onto me.” I winked. “I’m thinking we’ve out leveled most of this area. The only thing that’s given me XP was the boss spider and the bear we fought the other day, and both were on the low end.” I sighed.
