World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (38 page)

The miners watching
behind Clarke start giving each other high-fives. It had taken the
prospecting group some four hours to locate a proper vein to mine the
lodestone. Once they return home, the miners will celebrate with a
round at their favorite tavern near the Town Square.

Clarke turns back to
his comrades and frowns at them. “We have no time to rest," he
admonishes the miners. "Let’s dig up more ores and fill up our
wheelbarrow. I want two barrels full of them. Once we accomplish
that, we can leave,” he announces.

Two miners tie ropes
around their waists, and slowly hop down the pit a few meters at a
time. When they reach the bottom of the pit, they start digging out
more stones.

Lucreia reports back to
base. “Success,” she announces. “We found a vein with enough
divine potency. We’re in the process of digging up more material.”

“Great!” Willa
exclaims with excitement. “I will relay your status to the
Expedition Leader.” She turns over to Kassender. “Lucreia just
reported that they found a vein with enough divine potency,” she
says.

The leader nods in
acknowledgment of the message. “Please contact Talnia, and ask
their group to join Clarke’s group at once,” she orders.

Willa executes the
order. “Talnia, can you hear me?” she asks.

“I’m here,”
Talnia replies.

“Clarke’s
prospecting group has located a suitable vein. The expedition leader
has ordered your group to merge with Clarke’s group. I will give
you their location on the map,” Willa replies.

“I will relay the
order,” Talnia says. She disconnects the communication link and
trots over to the pit. "Xavier, the other group has found a
suitable vein. The expedition leader has ordered you to merge your
operation with theirs," she reports.

“Damn that son of a
gun,” Xavier swears silently. He's going to lose credibility in the
guild because Clarke managed to find a suitable vein first. He sighs
and belatedly accepts the order. "Men, we're pulling out and
merging with Clarke's group. Let's retrieve our equipment and head
over ASAP!" he barks at his men.

The miners start to
pack up and reload their mining equipment back into the wagon.

Screech! Xavier looks
up and sees a hail of fireballs raining down on him! "Take
cover!" he yells out, to no avail. There is nowhere to hide,
except back into the pit. He tries to dive into the pit, but a
fireball reaches him first and incinerates his avatar instantly. The
player's screen turns black and he sees a message: "Respawning
in thirty seconds." "Damnit!" the player swears as he
rips the virtual reality headset off his head. There's nothing more
he could do, now that his character is dead.

ROAR! The raging fire
from the sky continuously impacts the ground, pounding on the
helpless prospecting group and turning men, horse, and wagon into
ash. Demons begin to appear and descend on the unlucky survivors.

"Demons!" the
survivors cry out and begin to fight. However, only a third of the
group survived the initial blast of Meteor Swarm, and their number is
now too few to fight the dozens of demons surrounding them.

Talnia sends a
desperate message back to camp. “We are under attack,” she tells
Willa. “More than half the group has already been decimated,” she
adds.

“I'll alert the
expedition leader and ask her to send reinforcements over,” Willa
replies.

“No, the battle has
already been lost,” Talnia rejects the rescue attempt. “We will
attempt to draw as much attention as possible, and pull wandering
demons away from the area. We'll fight here to the last man,” she
decides as the leading representative of the Church on site.

“Very well,” Willa
agrees with sadness. “Your sacrifice for the Church has been
noted.” Willa cuts off the communication link. "Expedition
leader, Xavier's group has been overrun by demons. There are only a
few survivors, including Talnia. She has decided to sacrifice her
group to pull the demons away from us," she reports.

Kassender frowns at the
catastrophic news. Although her heart is pushing her to mount a
rescue attempt, the expedition leader understands Talnia's rationale.
It would be foolish for me to
allow her sacrifice to be in vain
, the Kassender
admonishes herself. She turns to look at the rest of the group, who
is standing attentively awaiting her order. "We will merge with
Clarke's group and provide additional protection until they finish
retrieving the necessary amount of ore. Break camp at once!" she
orders.

The group under her
command rushes to pack up supplies and prepare to move out.

Kassender's group
hurries along the charred landscape, eager to reach the remaining
prospecting group and to ensure that the mission is successful. Each
player is aware of the total loss of the first prospecting group, a
third of the expedition that got wiped out by demons for venturing
too close to Mount Zissley. Group morale is low, but the end of the
tunnel is in sight.

The expedition leader
turns to look at Willa. "Please let Lucreia know that we're
coming to join their group. They are to continue digging up as much
ore as possible. If any demons venture in the vicinity, the group is
not to engage in combat. Flee if necessary," she orders.

Willa nods, and opens a
communication link with Lucreia. “The base camp has packed up and
begun heading to your location,” Willa tells her counterpart. “The
expedition leader has ordered your group to avoid combat with demons
at all costs. If you have to flee and leave your equipment behind,
then you have permission to do so.”

Lucreia is shocked by
this order. “Did something happen to the other prospecting group,”
she asks instinctively.

“Unfortunately,
Xavier's group has been wiped out by demons. They were much too close
to the mountain, and the group was ambushed by a volley of Meteor
Swarms that took out a majority of the group,” Willa replies. “I
understand that Lucious is with your group, and he might have a way
to fend off that spell. But nonetheless, the safest thing to do is to
avoid engaging with the demons, and return to the prospecting site
when the demons are gone from the area.”

“Very well,”
Lucreia agrees reluctantly. “I will relay your order.” She cuts
off the link and looks around. She sees Clarke getting ready to
rappel down the pit again, and grabs the leader’s left arm. "I
just received a message from base camp. They are coming to merge with
us. The other prospector group has been wiped out," she says
calmly.

"What happened?"
Clarke asks tentatively as the other miners stop in their tracks and
listen to the conversation.

"They were
ambushed by Meteor Swarm spells cast by the demons," the diviner
replies.

"Ouch,"
Clarke is saddened by the failure of his leader, and his ensuing loss
of experience points for dying.
It's
going to be an interesting conversation back at guild headquarters.
He looks around and decides to address the rest of the
group under his command. "The success of this mission now rests
on our shoulders. Let's mine the ore as quickly as possible, so that
we can leave this Gods forsaken place before the demons find us,"
he urges.

The miners nod and
resume their work with more vigor and energy.

Lucreia walks over to
Lucious, who is talking quietly to the members of the Magic Guild.
She sees that the fighters and demonologists are vigilantly guarding
the perimeter of the work site.

"How do we counter
Meteor Swarm?" a young looking mage in bright red cloak asks
worriedly.

"Would an
Anti-Magic Barrier work?" another mage with a yellow cape asks.

Lucious smirks at the
suggestion. "Think for a moment. Anti-magic barrier prevents
magic from passing through the barrier. But what does Meteor Swarm
entail?" he pauses for a moment. Seeing no response, he
continues. "It pulls the asteroids in orbit around this planet
down to the ground, in a very precise and pinpoint way. It is a
physical phenomenon, and therefore not subject to restriction from an
anti-magic barrier."

"So how would we
stop that?" the young mage asks impatiently. He had assumed that
the barrier would stop this deadly spell.

"I'll let you
think about that," Lucious grins. "The key to magic is how
to use it, and when it is applicable in a given situation. Consider
this your lesson for today."

"Perhaps a wind
barrier would work," says Loquist the air mage.

"Possibly,"
Lucious nods. "It depends on the strength of the caster in
creating a large enough barrier to cover the entire work site. Also,
even if the air mage is not strong enough to repel all the meteors,
he could repel enough rocks to reduce damage to the target site and
ensure the party’s survival from the spell damage."

Loquist blanches at the
thought of blowing his entire mana bar to do so. He looks at the
perimeter formed by the guards.
I
might not be able to cover the entire space
, he realizes
suddenly.

"Additionally, the
shield will need to last until the pounding from the meteors stop.
Think of the Meteor Swarm as large rain drops. The rain wouldn’t
stop falling suddenly, right? Thus, a master level air mage would be
hard pressed to make his barrier last, given the enormous mana cost
of the barrier. What's your character level again?" Lucious asks
politely.

"Not max,"
the air mage admits sheepishly as his face flushes with
embarrassment. “I’m only level forty.”

The elementalist taps
Loquist lightly on the shoulder. "I'm not putting you on the
spot. You had the right idea," he says encouragingly. Lucious
directs his attention at the other mages, who are also listening
intently to the lesson. "The key is to pull spells from non-fire
elements to counter the Meteor Swarm. The wind barrier may work if
the caster gets an infusion of mana from other spell casters,"
he nods at Lucreia, who nods back. It's obvious that the Succor spell
from a priest would be the source of the additional mana to power the
spell, and Lucreia would be the one to provide it.

"You could also
toss out a Circle of Protection from Fire," Indira chips in.

Lucious looks at the
female mage; she has long, wavy black hair gliding down her back. She
had been silent the entire trip until now.
She's
a water mage
, the elementalist remembers as he eyes her
light blue robes. "It would certainly reduce the damage from
fire, but not entirely eliminate it unless the caster is a Fire Mage.
Unfortunately, we don't have one of those amongst us," he notes
with a shrug. "Also, it takes time to prepare, because you need
to physically draw up a circle on the ground first. It's useful for a
summoning, but not ideal for a combat situation."

"I could draw up
the circle around the work site," Loquist volunteers. "I
have the spell components with me today."

"Please do it,"
Lucious accepts the offer.

The eager young mage
heads north to start drawing the circle, with Indira following along.

Lucious walks over to
stand next to Lucreia. "How long until the other group arrives?"
he asks.

Lucreia takes out a
map, which magically shows the location of both groups. Her current
location is a red dot on the map, while Kassender's group is a green
dot. She estimates based on the distance between the two dots. "I
would say maybe half hour?" she replies.

Lucious glances at the
two wooden barrels. The first is already full of the ore, while the
second is beginning to fill up as well.
Vergil
the enchanter had said we need two full barrels,
he
remembers suddenly. "We should be done by then," he says.

"May the Gods of
Eternia continue to watch over us," the diviner replies.

“Halt!” the caravan
leader yells out suddenly. Maximus turns around and faces Kassender.
“There’s a group of demons dead ahead,” he says.

The expedition leader
brings her mount forward to stand to the right of the veteran
fighter. Kassender sees only a handful of them.
We
could go around them but that would waste valuable time,
she
thinks. And that in turn means a greater risk of mission failure. “We
go through them,” she announces her decision.

Maximus looks at the
warriors. He pulls the large bastard sword from the sheath wrapped
behind his back. Aiming the tip of the sword at the group of demons a
good fifty meters away, he yells out, “Charge!”

The bloodthirsty
warriors from the Fighter Guild and the Church urge their mounts
forward at full speed toward the demons. The sound of hooves striking
hard against the unyielding ground is like an angry, roaring thunder,
a harbinger of the glorious battle to come!

The demons see the dust
stirring a short distance in front of them, and the humans riding on
horseback towards the group. Four of them stand their ground, their
pointy claws twitching in anticipation of ripping soft flesh apart.
However, one of them loses its courage, and starts to flee back
towards the mountain.

Maximus sees the errant
demon breaking away from the group. “We can’t let any of them
escape and warn the rest back in the mountain,” he yells out. A
moment later, his horse chops down on a demon with its front hooves.
While the demon before him is stunned by the horse, the fighter
quickly sweeps his bastard sword from right to left and decapitates
the demon.

Having dispatched with
his prey, Maximus looks around quickly to assess the battle
situation. He sees his fighters working in unison with the spell
casters from the Church and Mage Guild to put down three demons.
However, the last one is moving further and further away.