Forge of Eternity: Alpha Testing, page 19
The large locust queen had braced for the impact and remained in place, losing only a couple of inches to the shockwave from the wall. I began my charge, ignoring the flying enemies and focusing my attention on the queen. As the game filtered in details about it to my HUD I almost missed a step. That wasn’t the queen. The tag read “Mountain Locust Knight, Level 4” with the HP bar showing 197/205 and I got a clearer look at it in the glow from its jaws. The creature was the size of a small bear, with thick chitinous plates running the length of its long body in place of the traditional wings. Unlike the spindly appendages and vulnerable heads of the smaller locusts, this one had thick ridges of protection. It was overall more manufactured than natural in appearance.
The knight crouched even lower to the ground, then sprang forward with a speed I had not expected. Time seemed to slow as it closed in. I shifted my feet from the charge and instead rooted myself in place with Weight of the Mountain, taking my sword in both hands and steadying it against my hip. My self-preservation instinct screamed at me to get out of the way, or at least activate my Kinetic Capacitor, but my logical mind overruled both actions. This was going to hurt, and hurt bad, but I doubted this thing would be able to kill me in one shot.
Mountain Locust Knight attacks you with Crushing Jump for 87 points of damage.
Dazed (debuff) - You have been incapacitated due to extreme physical harm. 5 seconds remaining…
You critically attack Mountain Locust Knight for 36 points of damage.
I felt the hard exoskeleton slam against my face, snapping my head back and flattening my nose with a sickening crunch. My hip burned in agony a second later, wrenched painfully to one side by the sword hilt as my upper half folded backward. I impacted the ground hard with my head, then whiplashed forward into a dazed crouch. My feet were still firmly planted in the ground, and every bone and joint screamed with pain. While I had managed to stay standing, there was little else I could manage in this state. I closed my eyes as my head swam, overwhelmed by the extreme damage I’d received. I don’t remember starting to scream, but as I watched the Dazed debuff tick down I felt myself take a gasping breath. When the debuff faded, everything still hurt, but it was no longer paralyzing.
Checking the party’s icons, I was happy to see Phelyya and Gavin were still at full health, Amalie and Goodwin were mostly uninjured, but Uri had also taken a significant hit at some point. I opened my eyes and oriented myself, using both my eyes and tremorsense to take inventory of everybody. Uri was darting in and out of the Locust Knight’s reach a good six feet away, his rapier darting in toward the head but failing to penetrate the thick armor. The creature reared back and its front limbs lashed out, Uri managing to deflect the slash from taking off his head and instead earning a slice across the chest. I could feel Gavin and Phelyya closer to me, with the majority of the locust drones congregating around us. A few had broken off toward Amalie and Goodwin, but I wasn’t worried about them.
Gavin Outbuffs heals you for 8 points of damage.
“Thanks,” I said, the sound odd in my ears thanks to the broken nose. “Could have used that five seconds ago though.”
“Had other pressing concerns,” the small cleric said, stabbing the end of his staff into the mouth of a nearby drone. “These things absolutely hate you.”
I grunted and charged at the mountain locust knight’s exposed back, slicing a deep gash into the exposed back end of the abdomen. The creature jumped forward to escape, Uri only managing to dodge the brunt of the impact due to a well-timed haste spell. He rag-dolled into a wall from the glancing blow, the knight ignoring him as it tried to turn my direction. The steps were slow and awkward, in stark contrast to its earlier lightning speed. A light went off in my brain just as it lined its head in my direction, my gamer instincts finally clicking into place.
“Don’t stand directly in front of it!” I yelled, jumping to the side and attempting to roll. I only managed to throw myself to the ground, a fresh wave of pain washing over me. Ignoring it as best I could, I scrambled to my feet and ran forward, looking over my shoulder to see where the enemy was facing.
It was aimed directly at Amalie and Goodwin, and the creature was crouching down for another jump. Well, this was going swimmingly.
“Scatter! Scatter now!” I shouted, running for an intercept course. “Uri, haste then slow!”
I didn’t look to see if they complied, keeping my eyes fixed on the giant bug. I sprinted with the effort I could muster, noticing my stamina dipping quickly, and jumped as I felt the haste spell take effect. I activated Kinetic Capacitor, the pleasant warmth of the ability replacing the fatigue and ache of the battle. The locust pounced, and I silently thanked the gods of the game for the luck that I would be able to get in front of it in time. I held my sword out, having just enough time to move the point toward the beast’s head. As I got closer, the light from the creature’s maw was dwarfed by another light and I felt an intense pulse of heat impact the back of my head at the exact moment my sword made contact with the locust. There was a blinding flash of orange and white as I was pressed face-down against the floor by an immense weight.
Mountain Locust Knight attacks you with Crushing Jump for 16 (80 minus 64) points of damage.
Kinetic Capacitor stores 64 damage.
Amalie Valeth attacks you with Fire Blast for 22 (109 minus 87) points of damage.
Kinetic Capacitor stores 87 damage.
You critically attack Mountain Locust Knight for 28 points of damage.
That explained why Amalie wasn’t moving when I told her to. Pinned beneath the large beast, I couldn’t manage to get my sword arm free. The fact that I could still take a breath was a nice surprise and I panted for a couple of seconds trying to formulate a plan. Another impact to the knight rocked it against me and I winced, checking both my health and stamina. My health was still holding strong at 109 out of 228, but my stamina had fallen to 42 out of 171 and was draining fast. I didn’t have a lot of actions left in me, even if I didn’t get crushed to death.
Mountain Locust Knight crushes you for 17 (85 minus 68) points of damage
Kinetic Capacitor stores 68 damage
Mountain Locust Knight crushes you for 15 (77 minus 62) points of damage
Kinetic Capacitor stores 62 damage
With only two seconds left on my Kinetic Capacitor, I felt the weight above me shift ever so slightly and I scrambled to get free of the creature. I crawled forward, jumping to my feet and slamming my shoulder into the tunnel wall. Allowing the momentum of the impact to turn me, I saw the mountain locust knight flailing blindly with its forelegs. The creature’s health bar showed 17/205 and I staggered forward to try for the killing blow. On my second step, my stamina failed and I collapsed to a knee, fighting just to keep my eyes on the enemy. I felt around with my tremorsense as I gasped for air, finding that almost the whole party was lined up against the flank of the beast with no other moving enemies. The bear-sized locus fell a moment later, unceremoniously whittled down by everyone’s combined efforts.
You are no longer in combat
You have defeated 16 x Mountain Locust Drone (Level 2) and gained 640 experience (16 x 40 experience)
You have defeated Mountain Locust Knight (Level 4) and gained 200 experience.
Defense increased to level 3!
Sword Proficiency increased to level 3!
Shield Proficiency increased to level 3!
Quest: Pest Control, updated.
I was equal parts elated and disappointed. The inner glory hog in me wanted that killing strike a bit more than it wanted our overall success. I sighed, reminding myself to just be happy to have survived and won. The tank is supposed to be the shield, not the sword. Everyone lived, we killed the thing; I did my job. My stamina had returned enough for me to stand, with some effort. I looked up in time to see the large corpse dissolving in blue light, showing the tired but pleased faces of the rest of the party as it became translucent. All the smaller locust corpses faded a moment later, each leaving behind the most welcomed sight to any adventurer: loot bags.
Deacon - Spelunking
“I see everybody lived,” I said, wincing as I took in a deep breath. “That didn’t go quite how we planned, but good job. Gavin, a little help here?”
“Deacon, you’re an idiot,” Amalie said, laughing despite the admonition. “I thought you getting clear was the signal to attack, then you just barreled into my Fire Blast.”
“To be fair, I was in a lot of pain and I had just realized the creature’s tactics. It would charge anything in front of it for massive damage but was slow to line up the attack. We could have probably circled it and wore it down over time.”
“I’m okay with how things turned out,” Phelyya said with a smile. “The little ones were obsessed with you, so Gavin and I could pick them off without worrying about getting hurt. I’m, like, a hundred points away from the next level.”
“Well, so long as the large beast wasn’t actively trampling through our area,” Gavin chimed in, sending a healing spell in my direction. The feeling of pins and needles replaced the dull aches of battle.
“I’ve gotta say, combat is a lot more brutal than I expected,” Goodwin said, rubbing at his arm. “This is the first real battle I’ve been in where we didn’t completely out-level the enemy. Deacon, you took a hell of a beating. I’ve watched Bruce take a hit before, but he’s covered in armor. Hell, you basically got run over by a car and stood back up while wearing starting gear.”
I gave a weak smile at the compliment with a thumbs up. “I apparently live to take abuse. Knowing that it won’t last makes it more bearable.”
“I’m not sure I could handle that, I can take a hit or two I guess but not getting steamrolled like that.”
“Okay, enough of that topic,” I said. “I try not to dwell on it. On a more positive note, has anyone checked the loot yet?”
A round of head-shaking later and I opened the large loot sack. A menu overlay appeared asking me how I intended to distribute the items. The last time this came up I’d just dismissed it, but I took the time to consider the options with this larger group. We could configure free for all individual looting, a point-buy system, complete random distribution, party bid, or leader decision. I read the options aloud, looking around to see if anyone held a strong opinion. The group decided on using the bid mechanisms, though Gavin lobbied hard for full random assignment.
Loot Distribution Mode: Party Bid
All party members have an opportunity to bid for items that drop from enemies, items are randomly distributed among those who bid. Items that nobody bids on are randomly assigned.
(Bid/Ignore) 5 x Large Metallic Chitin Slab, Level 4, Crafting Component, 5 lbs.
(Bid/Ignore) 2 x Large Fire Gland, Level 4, Crafting Component, 2 lbs.
(Bid/Ignore) 11 x Small Metallic Chitin Slab, Level 2, Crafting Component, 0.5 lbs.
(Bid/Ignore) 6 x Small Fire Gland, Level 2, Crafting Component, 1 lb.
(Bid/Ignore) 7 x Silver Ore, 3 lbs.
“This game has some pretty garbage loot,” I said, seeing similar looks of disappointment from the others. “Do we want to just pool everything and figure out the value later?”
A few shrugs and some grumbled assent left me with a mostly full inventory of random bug parts and partly digested metal. Beautiful. At least the additional sixty or so pounds of equipment was less of a burden than I’d expected. I could feel the pull of the weight on my body, like wearing wet clothing and a heavy backpack. With all the items stowed in my inventory, the awkwardness of balancing the weight was a non-issue. My main point of frustration was how many slots were occupied in my bag.
“I still can’t believe I didn’t level in that last battle,” Phelyya said, crossing her arms. “Two more of the little ones is all I would have needed.”
I checked my logs again before responding. “I’m only getting 40 XP per drone. I feel like it was higher before. Is this from leveling up or rolling with a larger group?”
“Leveling,” Amalie responded, waving a hand dismissively. “You get stronger, enemies are worth less. Don’t want someone to just sit in the forest and kill the same thing forever and get rewarded for it. This quest was probably designed for a group about level three, as we continue it’ll get easier for us.”
“Lady Amalie, I must admit to a certain level of curiosity about your experiences before the battle,” Gavin started, looking unsure how to proceed. “Based on what I gathered, the beam should have had absolutely no effect on you.”
“Thanks to the Arcana ability I can explain a bit, based on some assumptions,” Amalie cleared her throat and continued at a faster pace, “I made the mistake of opening a path to my body’s mana while it was exposed to a high-density stream of element-specific mana. Normally the body’s mana will repel external mana naturally, but I actively bypassed that barrier, and my body’s mana tried to match the invasive mana. Long story short, don’t try to manipulate mana that your body didn’t make.”
“Fascinating, and I do want to know more about that, but I’m more curious about something else,” I started, turning my gaze to the halfling. “Gavin, why did your luck god abandon us?”
“Abandon me? A faithful cleric devoted to upholding my deity’s tenants?” Gavin clutched at his chest in mock horror, then shrugged, “I think that’s inevitable, given time. No luck streak lasts forever and boons are not guaranteed.”
“Right,” I held the word out skeptically, “so either great things happen, or shit goes wrong? Nothing in the middle?”
Gavin pointed a finger at me in acknowledgment and nodded.
“Alright, you’re going first through the hole then,” I started walking back toward the small tunnel, “we still have to find and kill the queen.”
“Uh, did you see the quest update?” Phelyya asked, joining me as the group started moving.
“No, hold on,” I said, pulling up the quest log in a transparent overlay.
Quest: Pest Control
Summary: Foreman Quickhand is unwilling to risk her workers to clear out a plague of Mountain Locusts along a silver vein. Destroy the locusts and their queen and Foreman Quickhand will provide 250 gold in compensation. You may add members to your quest by signing them in with the Foreman. Return the bangle to decline the quest at any time. The threat has grown quicker than expected and additional enemies need to be removed.
Objective:
Sign the book to start the quest 1/1
Kill Mountain Locust Drone 34/40
Kill Mountain Locust Knight 1/?
Kill Mountain Locust Queen 0/1
Clear debris in cavern 1/1
Reward:
250 Gold
Experience
???
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, dismissing the screen with a thought. “Stupid quest is moving the goalposts on us here without adding to the reward.”
“Looks like the game cares more about the spirit of the quest than the letter of it,” Amalie chimed in, sounding surprisingly chipper. “I like it, honestly. Feels more realistic.”
“I’ll take video game reality over actual realism any day,” Phelyya said, and I nodded along with the sentiment.
We reached the entrance to the new, smaller tunnel and I felt along the stone to confirm we didn’t have any obvious enemies lurking within. Everything looked clear and I motioned for Gavin to lead the way. He just stared at me, trying to determine if I was being serious or just continuing a joke. I remained stone-faced, both figuratively and literally.
“I will be honest, I assumed your statement was in jest,” he stepped forward and began peering down the small tunnel suspiciously.
“Originally, yes,” I said, giving a conciliatory shrug. “But practically, you’re actually the best option to go scout this out for us as the only halfling. You won’t have to crouch in the tunnel and can run back to us for safety. Shouldn’t take you longer than five minutes to get in there, look around, and tell us what you see in party chat. We’ll then filter in after you, or you can run back to us if there’s a problem.”
“So you’re sending your healer away to charge alone into danger?” Gavin asked, leaning forward on his staff.
“I’ll go with him,” Amalie said, stepping up behind him. “I’m not halfling-sized, but it won’t be a problem to keep up. I’ll just have to duck a bit, I bet you’re going to have to practically crawl through the tunnel.”
“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to that,” I shuddered. “Uri and Goodwin are in the same boat though, so at least we’ll be miserable together. Enough stalling, let us know if the coast is clear. We need to get through this quest and get out of here before it somehow gets worse.”
Gavin bowed and Amalie stuck her tongue out at me before disappearing into the small tunnel. I tracked their progress passively and opened my character sheet, remembering that I hadn’t allocated my stat points from my earlier level up. I had five unspent points and my two main stats were strength at 18 and constitution at 19, each of which took two stat points to increase. I raised both of them up by one, leaving the single unspent stat point in reserve for the next level. With my constitution at 20, each additional increase was going to require three stat points. My stats were getting a little unbalanced, but that was pretty much the point when specializing. I’d consider evening them out when they start taking more than one level’s worth of points to increase. I saved the changes and felt a current spread through me, leaving behind the incremental enhancements in my body. I looked over the character sheet in full while I had the menu open.
Name: Deacon Stone
