Unforeseen path, p.49
Unforeseen Path, page 49
“That would explain much of Lord Ironwolf’s decision,” Valith agreed between coughs to clear the phlegm that had built up in his throat from weeping.
“In that case,” Alanah hesitantly said as she gave him an embarrassed grin, “Why not go ahead and join our troupe?” She shrugged at the look of surprise that flashed across his face. “It’s as good of a place to start as any.”
“That it is!” Valith agreed, throwing his head back and laughing to the night’s sky at the thought of joining a traveling demi-human troupe of Bards.
His large hands began to clumsily fumble inside the sack sitting on the deck next to him until he found what he was looking for. With quiet reverence, he pulled out a spiral curved sea shell that was nearly half the size of his head. Holding it up for her to see, the ex-commander’s eyes glinted in the moonlight with unshed tears as he met her gaze.
“If Norrid and Ayda agree,” Valith said with the same seriousness he’d have sworn over his blade, “it would be my honor to join your quest to spread the word of Lord Ironwolf’s accomplishments throughout the Nordic Region.”
“Excellent,” Alanah said, clapping her hands together in excitement when a voice bellowed from behind them.
“It’s about time you decided to choose a course to follow in your new life.”
“Captain Deepwater!” Alanah exclaimed, scrambling to her feet along with the Sea Elf. “My apologies, I didn’t hear you walk up.”
“That’s not a problem,” the proud Trade Master said, waving for them to relax as a twinkle came to her green eyes, “I felt like the two of you needed a moment to come to an agreement.” Her face turned serious once again as she turned to the ex-commander standing behind Alanah, “Now that you have a direction, Valith. How about you get some sleep in your cabin so you’re fresh for the morrow?”
“I was hoping to get some time to freshen up my skills and practice the-” Valith hurriedly began to explain only to be cut off.
“I’ve seen you following the troupe’s songs every day since all of you boarded,” Captain Deepwater loudly said in a tone that overrode his protests, “A few hours of practice before you join them on stage should be more than enough time to knock off the rust.” She brusquely waved towards the deckhouse, “Now, get!” As the Sea Elf began hurrying toward the hatch in confusion, she called to his retreating back, “I’ll make sure to send a sailor to wake you first thing in the morning.”
“Excuse me,” Valith muttered in apology as he nearly collided with Tavon who was just clopping onto the deck.
“Captain Deepwater, Alanah,” Tavon politely greeted the pair as he came to a stop. Glancing over his shoulder where the Sea Elf had disappeared, he lowered his voice as he turned back to the two females, “What’s with him?”
“Valith is getting some sleep so he can be ready to join your troupe in tomorrow’s performance,” Captain Deepwater announced as the Centaur’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Do-does he even play a musical instrument?” Tavon asked in disbelief as he looked back and forth between the two of them.
“A shell horn to be precise,” Alanah said in an amused tone as his eyes widened in shock.
“Have you told Ayda or Norrid-” Tavon began to stammer as Captain Deepwater waved his concerns away.
“I’ll talk to them myself,” Captain Deepwater assured them as she suddenly looked past Alanah toward something ahead of the ship, “after we drop anchor in the bay of Tulduroc.”
“Tulduroc!” Alanah excitedly claimed as she turned around to follow Captain Deepwater’s gaze.
Up ahead in the distance, Alanah saw the massive glowing capital of the Kingdom of Cadarea come into view. It was incredible. Even from this far away, she could tell this city was much larger than Myathlune. It was truly an awe-inspiring sight. One that she’d never imagined seeing, let alone performing in when she was growing up as an orphan back in BrokenFang Hold under the old Dark Lord of Kayden. As the wonder of it all washed over her, Tavon spoke up as he came to stand beside her.
“We’re not docking at a pier?” Tavon asked, curious as to the change from when they stopped at Londshos.
“It’s too late in the evening for the port master to guide us in,” Captain Deepwater began to explain to the intelligent Centaur. “They start pulling the newly arrived ships into the harbor at first light and then everyone can start putting the word out about Dark Star Rising joining the festival this afternoon.”
“If mother could only see me now,” Alanah sadly thought as she half-listened to the conversation going on around her.
*** the story continues in book 12 ***
For Sneak Peeks on book 12, you can check out my Patreon page here:
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=23281087
Appendices and the Post Credit Scene
A note to the reader. The various appendices are put here for those readers who enjoy the technical aspects of Star’s Character Sheet, Equipment, gaming terms, the various people in The Word, and whatever else that people ask me to include because they’re interested in the mechanics. This is not taking away from the story. It is in addition to the story for those people who enjoy such things.
There are some people who want to spam pages of this information throughout their stories instead of placing it within an appendix at the end of the book where it belongs. While that would increase my page count for the monies earned for pages read by Kindle Unlimited and would match how many of the other authors in the genre, GameLit and LitRPG, are adding this information into their stories, I personally will not be doing that. As a reader, I hate such information being needlessly spammed throughout the body of the book. From conversations with my fans, they feel this way too. For myself, such senseless spamming of tables and gear takes me out of the story and is frankly annoying in my personal opinion. How do people on the audiobook even handle that? For my own series, I will add in the base information that has changed and allow the reader to choose if they want to look up the pages and pages of Character Sheet or whatever other information they are interested in at the back of the book.
As to the Post Credit Scene, well, it goes after all the credits and other information like any Post Credit Scene in any Marvel movie you’ve ever enjoyed. It’s a short fun addition to the main story. Sadly, due to its location, I receive no additional remuneration from adding such a scene, since Kindle Unlimited doesn’t count anything after the end of the main story. The Post Credit Scene is simply here because my geeky gamer side loves the idea and so I’ve started adding such scenes into The World series starting with book 5. I hope you enjoy them. At the same time, not reading them doesn’t make you lose any important plot points to the story.
Sincerely,
Jason A. Cheek
Character Sheet
Startum Ironwolf: Level 51
Difficulty: Nightmare Start
Half-Elf: House of Kayden
Class: Empty
Profession Title: Warlock Baron
Titles:
First Settler
First Village
Hero of Delonshire Mine
Leader of House Kayden
Lord of BrokenFang Hold
Wyrm Slayer
Tribal Leader
Mine Boss
Noble Warden
Ship’s Captain
Protector of Auris Shaeras
Orc Bane
Sekolahian Bane
Beastkin Brother
Noble Defender
Scourge of the Dishonorable
Protector of the Kingdom of Kader
Overlord
Champion of the Royal House of Isolde
Scourge of the Dil-Hilth Race
Honorable Noble
Scourge Bringer
Hero of the Gigantic Cheliferidae Risso Infestation
Statistics:
Hit Points: 2,670
Mana: 4,010
Endurance: 2,670
Attributes:
Strength: 114 (+91)
Intelligence: 224 (+186)
Spirit: 138 (+81)
Agility: 141 (+31)
Stamina: 160 (+87)
Charisma: 80
7 Unassigned Attribute Points.
Racial Ability:
Adaptable Survivability (Passive) – All defenses increased by 5% and total hit points are increased 10%.
Darkvision (Passive) - Grants ability to see in dim-lighting conditions up to 100 yards and the ability to see in complete darkness up to 60 yards.
Ambitious (Passive) - Receive 5% experience bonus when gaining experience.
Racial Modifiers - +2 points to any stat of choice per level.
Abilities:
Frost Magic – Level 40
Light Magic – Level 50
Fire Magic – Level 20
Dark Magic – Level 50
Water Shaman – Level 13
Nature Magic – Level 37
Shadow Magic – Level 3
Warrior Monk Jutsu – Level 12
Unarmed Combat – Level 28
One-hand edge – Level 46
Two-hand edge – Level 25
Shield Block - Level 45
Shield Bash – Level 45
Riposte – Level 45
Lunge – Level 46
Parry – Level 47
Dodge – Level 48
Archery – Level 13
Riding – Level 45
Riding Exotic Beasts – Level 45
Spells:
Frost:
Frost Blast (30 Mana) – 2 sec cast – Launches Blast of frost at enemy. Damage is 200% of Spell Power. Slows target by 50% for 15 seconds. Range 60 yards.
Frost Nova (50 Mana) – Instant cast - Blasts enemies within 10 yards of the caster for 100% Spell power and freezes them in place for up to 8 sec. This spell does not affect friendlies within range of the AOE. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. 30 second cool down. Requires frost magic skill level 5.
Ice Lance (40 Mana) – Instant cast - Deals 400% Spell power to an enemy target. Ice Lance damage is doubled against frozen targets. Slows target by 50% for 15 seconds. Requires frost magic skill level 10. Range 40 yards.
Flurry (60 Mana) – Instant cast – Hurls a flurry of ice shards at target that strikes enemy 3 times for a total of ((400% of spell power) * 3). Each shard slows target by 50% for 5 sec. Requires frost magic skill level 15. Range 40 yards.
Ice Barrier (30 Mana) – Instant cast – Shields caster for 1 minute, absorbing 1400% ranged spell damage. Melee attacks against caster reduces the attacker’s movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds. Armor Class is not increased. Requires frost magic skill level 20. 20 second cool down.
Ice Barrage (100 Mana) – 4 sec cast –Releases a storm of ice on targeted area. Spell power is 1600% Spell Power. All targets in area of effect have movement slowed by 50% for duration of cast or an additional 5 seconds if they leave the area of effect. 30 second cool down. Area of effect is 10 yards. Requires frost magic skill level 30. Any direct damage will cancel the cast. Range 100 yards.
*Special Attack – (600 Mana) - Can be continuously channeled for up to 30 seconds for continuous 1600% spell damage every 5 seconds. 30 second cool down.
Light:
Heal (50 Mana) – 10 sec cast – Ray of golden light that heals target for 500% Spell Power. Range 60 yards.
Quick Heal (30 Mana) – 5 sec cast – A pulse of golden light that quickly heals target for 300% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 5. Range 60 yards.
Restore (40 Mana) – 3 sec cast – A flash of golden light that instantly heals target for (50% of Spell power) and then (300% of Spell power) over 15 sec. Requires healing magic skill level 10. Range 40 yards.
Minor Healing (60 Mana) – 5 sec cast – A ray of golden light that instantly heals target for 800% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 15. Range 60 yards.
Minor Mend Bones (80 Mana) – 10 sec cast – A healing energy that heals target of minor debilitating debuffs 200% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 15. Range 60 yards.
Minor Dispel (60 Mana) – 5 sec cast – Removes one beneficial magical effect on enemy target, or removes one negative magical effect on friendly target. Requires healing magic skill level 15. Range 60 yards.
Holy Shield (80 Mana) – 3 sec cast – Absorbs 350 points of damage. Requires healing magic skill level 20. 10 second cool down. Expires automatically after a half an hour. Range 60 yards.
Light’s Blessing (200 Mana) – 120 sec cast – Gives an additional 500 Hit Points to target when cast. Requires healing magic skill level 25. Expires automatically after one hour. Range 10 yards.
Regeneration (100 Mana) – Instant cast – An aura of light that continuously heals target every second for ten seconds at 800% Spell Power. Requires healing magic skill level 30. Range 60 yards.
Minor Cure Disease (80 Mana) – Instant cast – Cures one poison on inflicted target. Requires Light magic skill level 35. Range 60 yards.
Light Word of Censure (150 Mana) – Instant cast – Creates an aura around target in a five yard radius that unleashes the judgement of light for 600% spell power. The affect also stuns the target for five seconds. One minute cool down between casts. Requires Light magic skill level 35. Range 60 yards.
Resurrection (1000 Mana) – 60 sec cast - Brings a dead player back to life with 25% health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. Range 40 yards.
Enhanced Resurrection (3000 Mana) – 30 sec cast - Brings a dead player back to life with 25% health and mana. Spell is able to regenerate internal organs such as eyes, kidneys, and similar internal organs. Cannot regenerate heart, brain, or missing limbs. Three day time limit on resurrecting targets using this spell. Cannot be cast when in combat. Range 20 yards.
Fire:
Flame Blast (40 Mana) – 2 sec cast – Launches Blast of fire at enemy. Fire damage is 200% of Spell Power. Burns target for an additional 20 seconds for 5 points of damage every 5 seconds. Range 60 yards.
Fireball (60 Mana) – 2.5 sec cast – Hurls a fiery ball at enemy. Fire damage is 300% of Spell Power. Burns target for an additional 20 seconds for 10 points of damage every 5 seconds. Area of effect is 5 yards. Requires fire magic skill level 10. Range 40 yards.
Pyroblast (80 Mana) – 3.5 sec cast – Blasts a fiery ball at enemy. Fire damage is 1200% of Spell Power. Burns target for an additional 15 points of damage every 5 seconds. Area of effect is 7 yards. Requires fire magic skill level 15. Range 100 yards.
Dark:
Summoning Tree:
Soul Stone (20 Mana) – Instant cast – Used to capture the soul of a creature upon death. Once activated, the spell is always on for the caster to capture the souls of their vanquished enemies. These soul stones are then used to raise the dead as their undead pets.
Raise Zombie (25 Mana per soul level) – 1 minute cast – Requires a soul stone per cast. Raises captured soul as an undead pet of the same level upon death that will serve the caster until released or dead.
*Number of pets available to caster is determined by caster’s intelligence level. **50 points of intelligence required per raised pet.
Undead Resiliency – Activates upon command – Summoned creature can recover health by consuming the dead. Based on level of corpse in comparison to level of summon creature. Corpse cannot be skinned after this skill has been used. Requires dark magic skill level 5.
Touch of the Grave I (80 Mana) – 10 sec cast – Raises the damage of the summon creature’s natural weapons by 150 points per attack (Aka: slashes and bites). Requires dark magic skill level 10. Expires automatically after one hour. Range 60 yards.
Monstrous Vitality (80 Mana) – 10 sec cast – Raises summon creature’s life by 300 points. Requires dark magic skill level 15. Expires automatically after one hour. Range 10 yards.
Grave Flesh – 5 sec cast - Raises the summoned creature’s armor points by 200 points. Expires automatically after one hour. Requires dark magic skill level 20. Affects all pets within a 10 yard radius.
Leeching Touch I – 5 sec cast - Summoned creature receives 1% of damage dealt back as Hit Points. Expires automatically after one hour. Requires dark magic skill level 25. Affects all pets within a 10 yard radius.
Elemental Resistance – 5 sec cast – Add a 25% elemental resistance to all summoned pets. If summoned undead already has a natural resistance, the spell’s resistance is added to that natural resistance. Expires automatically after one hour. Requires Dark Magic skill level 40. Affects all summoned undead when cast.
Raise Ghoul (50 Mana per soul level) – 1 minute cast – Requires a soul stone per cast. Raises captured soul as an undead pet of the same level upon death that will serve the caster until released or dead. Unlike zombies, Ghouls have 25% of their original intelligence along with being able to utilize the skills, abilities, and spells that they had during life. A Ghoul’s intelligence is more of that of a calculating monster’s that has a ravenous hunger for the essence of the living but has no knowledge or thought as to their previous life. They also have the ability to issue simple commands to allied zombies with the ability to use basic concepts of strategy to complete their objectives. Additionally, their bite and claw attacks deliver a rot-effect in targets that are not killed that can only be removed with a cure disease spell or potion. If not treated within a week, the affected individual will die from the affliction. *Number of pets available to caster is determined by caster’s intelligence level. **50 points of intelligence required per raised pet. Requires Dark magic skill level 50.
