Campaign (Blades VR Book 2) Page 3

  “And don’t forget the magic.”

  “Oh my god!” Fen’s eyes lit up and he laughed. “The magic.”

  “Have you done any adventuring so far?”

  “I should say yes...”

  “But you’ve been exploring.”

  “Experiencing.”

  Sebastian grinned and shook his head. “Well I suppose that’s a good thing. If you had started grouping right away, then you would be too high a level to join us.”

  “There is that.” He took another drink, set the mug down, and wiped his mouth with the back of one arm. “What kind of party do you have?”

  “A young crafter, ranger, druid, and Death Stryker.”

  Fen’s eyes widened. “A Death Stryker? That’s very cool.”

  “You know Xander Vallenhall?”

  “The professional Blades PC player?”

  Sebastian nodded. “That’s our Death Stryker.”

  “Wow.” Fen’s eyebrows raised. “Lucky for us.”

  “I’m not so sure.”

  “Why?”

  “He is very new.”

  “All of us are.”

  “There is that.”

  “He’s a pro. Give him a bit of time and he’ll be great. And what about you? What class did you pick?”

  Sebastian scowled. “Crafter.”

  “You regret the choice?”

  “No, except—” He leaned forward and whispered. “I’ve lost the ability to cast spells.

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah.”

  “How did that happen? A crafter your age should possess considerable skills.”

  Sebastian scowled.

  “Well I’m sure you’ll get the ability back.”

  “I hope so.”

  “And the others in your group? Are they all Travellers?”

  “The young mage is native, but he’s a good kid. The ranger and druid are players who used to play Blades PC together in real life. Names are Shale and Aleron.”

  “So you’ve assembled a well-rounded party of newbs.”

  “I have. Still want to join us?”

  Fen laughed. “I wouldn’t miss this opportunity for the world.”

  6

  Mercy and Sebastian stood against the wall of the Chessboard once more. The rest of the party was positioned as Mercy had instructed, each ready to perform their roles.

  Shale navigated her way through the field, sixty feet or so away from the camp, rock in hand and bow slung over her shoulder. She looked toward her group. They watched her, backs to the wall to ensure that no hostile mobile monster, or mob as they called them, would wander by and attack them from behind. Fen raised his arms in the air and flashed her a double thumbs-up.

  She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay, girl. You can do this. Pull a little skelly and bring it back without attracting any of its friends. Do that and the group will handle the rest.”

  Shale turned to face the nearest skeleton, aimed, and threw her rock. It sailed through the air and bounced off the mob’s breastbone, ricocheting into its empty chest cavity and making a clanking noise. The skeleton jerked and turned its head to focus on Shale. Then it sprang forward, raising both arms in front of its body as it began sprinting towards her.

  These things are fast, Shale thought as she began to move her hands and speak the words to cast a snare spell, grateful for the calmness which her training had instilled. She completed the incantation and flung her hand towards the mob. A greenish brown fog swirled around the skeleton’s legs and continued to revolve around them as it moved. The skeleton’s speed dropped from a run to a slow jog as the snare spell did its job and slowed the creature’s movement. Shale smiled, one kind of stress fading to make way for another.

  When it was only a few feet away, she turned toward camp and jogged away, certain that her pace would keep her ahead of the mob. Her feet tingled from a mix of excitement and the wolven spirit spell that would allow her quick movement, should she need to escape pursuit.

  Halfway back to the group, she heard a popping sound, and a skeleton appeared on a black square of stone to her right. She veered left, correcting her course to give the new mob a wide berth. Getting too close would get its attention and draw aggression, or aggro. If that happened, it would add to her pull, with the other skeleton joining to chase her. That was definitely not what she wanted to happen.

  Shale turned and walked backward, keeping an eye on the snared skeleton and her peripheral vision on the second.

  Once her snared target was safely clear of the second skeleton’s aggro range, she turned and increased her pace, running for a few strides and then stopping to check over her shoulder. She stopped.

  The skeleton had stopped chasing her and stood with arms at its sides in the grass. She shook her head and jogged back toward it. When she got close enough to enter its aggro radius, the skeleton’s head twitched and it began to chase her again. With a laugh, Shale turned toward the camp, looking at the ground every so often to make sure she didn’t trip over a rock. She had done that before, and Mercy had needed to come out to save her. That had been embarrassing.

  Fen raised his hand in the air, laughing as Shale high-fived him and ran past. He shrugged one shoulder to adjust the leather shield straps looped around his forearm and bent to retrieve his mace, resting on the ground. He tapped the mace against the shield, grinning as the skeleton’s attention switched from Shale to him. It slowed and lumbered toward him.

  “That’s right, dummy,” he shouted. “Come get me.”

  The skeleton attacked, clawing at him with bony hands. Fen raised the shield and batted them away. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Xander step forward.

  “Not yet,” Fen grunted as he swung at the mob, missed, and then raised his shield to defend against the skeleton’s attack. “Let me take a couple more swings to make sure that I have a good amount of aggro.”

  Sebastian watched, nodding as the group let Fen get aggro, each attack serving to focus the skeleton’s aggression more on him. The tank turned so that his back was to the open field. When the skeleton’s back was to the rest of the group, Fen yelled for the others to attack, and they closed in. “Perfect so far,” Sebastian said.

  Mercy made a harrumphing sound.

  Sebastian glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before shaking his head and looking back to the action.

  A jagged bolt of darkness flew from Ezref’s fingers and struck the skeleton in the leg, causing the limb to explode and fall to the ground. The mob stumbled but remained upright and swiped at Fen with one hand. A second later, an arrow struck the back of its skull. The arrow flexed and then turned suddenly, ricocheting away from the skeleton and streaking point-first toward Fen. Eyes wide, he ducked and threw his shield up just in time to protect his face. With a loud thwump, the arrow buried itself in the shield. The shield dipped and Fen’s face reappeared, his lips pressed together, head shaking.

  “Yikes,” Sebastian said.

  “The ranger needs to make certain her line is clear of friendly targets before she shoots.” Mercy’s tone was dry.

  “It was clear.”

  “Obviously not.”

  “That was bad luck. An unpredictable bounce.”

  Mercy grunted. “A skilled ranger would have either shot better or recognized the potential danger and not have loosed an arrow at that moment.”

  Sebastian opened his mouth to defend Shale, but pursed his lips and remained silent.

  “Still, you’re right. They are doing fine. I think every ranger worth their salt has almost killed a party member at least once or twice.” Sebastian looked at her out of the corner of his eye and noticed her smile. “This is why they need a party member capable of healing and resurrection.”

  Sebastian nodded and watched as the group finished off the skeleton. When its limbs had stopped moving, Fen raised his mace in the air and let out a loud whoop of triumph. Ezref returned a spell component to his pouch and stepped back. Xander sheathed his blades
, the trace of a smile on his lips. Aleron moved to stand beside Shale, who was shaking her head and looking at the ground. He patted her on the shoulder and said something. She looked up and replied to Fen, who laughed and playfully pushed her away.

  “Come.” Mercy fastened her mace to her belt. “Let’s go praise them on their first kill.”

  “And discuss how they can improve?”

  “Yes. But first the praise.”

  7

  Kara sat quietly, a pleasant smile on her face as the young man exited the room. When the door clicked, she silently counted to ten and then raised her eyebrows as she looked at her boss. “Well?”

  Isaac nodded. “Impressive.”

  “Not how I would have guessed it could be done.”

  “Me neither.”

  “The kid is talented.”

  “Bit scary.” Isaac ran a hand through his hair. “If he’s able to deliver the goods as promised, it could be a mistake to grant him access to the VR system and foundational lines of coding.”

  “Paranoid much?”

  “Every second, during beta testing.” Kara laughed and he raised one eyebrow. “If you could deliver working virtual reality to one of our competitors, your grandchildren wouldn’t need to work. That’s how valuable this tech is.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Like you haven’t thought about it before.”

  “I’m loyal.”

  “I know.”

  “Besides, there are so many fail-safes in place it would be impossible for any single person—even you—to abscond with the details and sell it to someone else.”

  He laughed. “So you have considered it?”

  Kara rolled her eyes. “Duh.”

  “Still. This guy is brilliant.”

  “That’s the world we live in. It’s great that we are leading the current technology race, but that doesn’t mean someone won’t come along in a couple years and pull the rug out from under us. It’s possible that another game creator will bring FIVR to market before we do.”

  Isaac nodded. “My best strategy is likely to hire him.”

  “And his friends. Hire ’em all. Then, keep them so busy with our projects that they have no time to develop something on their own for the competition.” Kara reached for the bottle of whiskey in the middle of the table and removed the cap. “The wonderful world of big business.” She poured a measure into both glasses.

  Isaac accepted one and raised it to his lips. “I agree with your recommendation. Hire him and put him to work.”

  “Me?”

  He nodded and took a sip from his glass.

  “But I’ve got other things to worry about.”

  “This is now your prime focus.”

  She downed the contents of her glass and shrugged. “I guess I can add it to my pile. On one condition.”

  “There’s a shock.”

  “If we develop a way to watch individual players inside Blades VR—”

  “If?” Isaac tsked. “Not even started and already considering the possibility of failure.”

  She laughed. “Fine. When we develop it—”

  “Much better.” He raised his glass again and took another drink.

  “I want permission to locate Xander Vallenhall and learn what he’s been up to.”

  Isaac paused.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “There’s something you’re holding back about him, isn’t there?”

  Isaac remained silent.

  Kara did the same.

  He sighed. “Okay. You get this working and you can put a tag on Xander.”

  “I like that term.”

  “Tag?”

  She nodded.

  “Let’s call it that, then.”

  “Creative without even trying.”

  “It’s what I do.” He winked and drained his glass.

  8

  Shale roamed the field, her eyes scanning the empty squares of stone as she approached her target, stopping a dozen feet away. The tallest of the skeletons, armed with a bone sceptre in one hand and an ebony rod in the other, stood motionless in the middle of a black stone slab.

  Shale smiled. A king piece.

  This was their first pull of the day. Yesterday had been spent learning how to pull and defeat the easier skeleton pieces of the Chessboard: pawns, rooks, and bishops. They had ended the day with a knight. It had been a nasty skeleton armed with a shield, short-sword, and the ability to heal itself. That had been a tough fight, but Mercy had voiced approval of their skills and declared that the group would return the next day for a final session with the tougher mobs. There was a chance—rare, but still a possibility—that the queen and king pieces could drop loot, which might be an upgrade for someone in the party. The items dropped would be random, which meant that each of them would have an opportunity to get a piece of treasure.

  Shale stopped and repeated what was quickly becoming her routine. She made sure her speed spell was up and the words for the snare spell were in her brain. Next, she looked back to camp, waiting until Fen gave a thumbs-up. Then she turned back to face the skeleton king, aimed, and launched a rock at it.

  The stone hit the mob with a solid clunk. The smaller skeletons always startled when Shale hit them, shaking their heads for a moment and looking around until they spied her and gave chase.

  The king reacted differently.

  As soon as the stone hit it, the mob launched forward, turning with surprising agility— considering it was twice as tall as six-foot-two Fen—and streaked toward her.

  Shale wasn’t sure what to do. Her plan had been to let it chase her for a bit and allow it to get closer to their camp. Then she would snare it so that she wouldn’t have a long, boring crawl back. But the skeleton king was so fast that, for the first time since learning to pull, she immediately sprinted away in an attempt to widen the gap between them. After a few seconds she stopped running, skidded to a stop, and turned to face the king. Then her fingers began to move and words sprang from her mouth as she began to craft the snare spell.

  Too close! her mind screamed as the giant skeleton closed the distance between them faster than she had gauged. She hesitated, unsure what to do. If she didn’t snare it now, the run back would probably cause stray mobs to add to the pull.

  Oh god, she thought. If I don’t move now, this thing is gonna take me out right here in the middle of the field, where no one can help me.

  Suddenly, a beam of golden light streaked from her left and struck the skeleton king on the side of its head. The beam hit with such force that the king was knocked from its feet and slid along the ground a few feet before stopping. Shale turned and saw a Paladin of Light, silver and gold armour sparkling, a cocky grin on his face as he winked at her. “Morning, little elf.”

  “Hi.”

  That was all she had time to say. The skeleton king was back on its feet, head whipping to look first at her and then the Paladin. It tapped one gauntleted hand against its chest plate, which clanked loudly.

  “Come on, ya ignorant cuss,” the Paladin said. “Follow me home, or I’ll give ya another shot o’ the Lord’s sunshine.”

  The skeleton began to charge toward him.

  “Hey!” Shale frowned and the Paladin’s grin widened as the skeleton turned and streaked off in the opposite direction from where her party waited.

  Shale stood and watched as the Paladin turned and waved his hands toward the retreating skeleton. A glow of white light wrapped itself around the mob’s feet, slowing it. Not as much as her snare would have, but enough to let it jog without danger of being caught.

  The holy knight then trotted toward another skeleton. He raised his palm and shouted a word, laughing as another beam of light streaked from his hand and hit the new skeleton. It shook its head and gave chase, its pace slowing as white light wrapped around its legs.

  She frowned and looked back at her group. Both of Fen’s arms were raised in the air, the questioning tone of his gesture
obvious. She returned the gesture and shook her head.

  Shale followed, watching with growing frustration as the Paladin pulled every skeleton on the Chessboard. He ran toward them and laughed as he ran around them in a few circles. The skeletons stopped and turned, stutter stepping to keep chasing him, unaware that they were forming a tighter group as they did so. The Paladin circled them once more and then took off running toward the other side of the field, where Shale could see another group waiting.

  Shale started to follow, but a shrill whistle from her camp made her turn back.

  Sebastian stepped forward as Shale got close. “What’s going on out there?”

  She frowned. “A Paladin pulled all the mobs.”

  “Son of a—” Xander glared across the field.

  “Can we go over and watch them wipe?” Aleron sounded excited. Shale flashed him a grin and he smiled back. “There’s no way they can handle all those skeletons.”

  “They won’t wipe.” Mercy watched the party across the field, arms crossed.

  “They pulled twelve mobs.” Shale squinted, able to make out the other party fighting the skeletons. “There’s no way they will be able to drop them all.”

  “The Paladin of Light will protect them.”

  “He’s high level, isn’t he?” Shale asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How are they getting any experience if he pulled them?”

  Mercy pursed her lips before answering. “He did no damage to the skeletons. That light beam of his—”

  “Light lance?” Aleron asked.

  Mercy nodded. “Can be tuned so that it inflicts a lot of damage, or none.”

  “Awesome,” Aleron nodded.

  “We can do the same with darkness,” Mercy said.