AlterWorld

The goblin’s grim stare bored a hole in me. "It might happen sooner than you think, young clown," he hissed in my face.

He swung round, reached for a heap of old rags and produced a bundle, wrapped in purest white cloth.

"In the name of the Fallen One who demands a sacrifice! Cut her heart out!"

The goblin pulled the fabric away and the cave echoed with a baby’s cry. Tears welled in her bright blue eyes.

I recoiled. Something clanged against the stone. I looked down at a curved dagger now gleaming in my hand.

New quest alert! Demonstrate your loyalty to the Fallen One.

Quest type: general

Execution conditions: may vary

Reward: unknown

They were all raving mad here. Conditions may vary? My knuckles cracked as I squeezed the dagger. "How about a goblin’s heart instead? Will it do for my demonstration of loyalty?"

I stepped forward and stabbed the sickening face. At least I tried to. The air around me thickened and I froze in the awkward pose of a dueling musketeer.

You’ve been immobilized. Spell cast: Chains of Bone.

The goblin sniggered and waved his hand. The baby bundle disappeared. I collapsed in a heap on the floor. The dagger clattered on the stone and skidded away.

You’ve been knocked down. Damage sustained: 12 Life points.

"Cool down, young Elf. It was naught but an illusion. You shouldn’t listen to everything your priests tell you. We need no butchers here. The Fallen One isn’t the dark side. He’s just one of the Pantheon who lost his battle for the right to have his place in the Temple of Heaven."

Quest completion alert: Demonstrate your loyalty to the Fallen One. Quest completed!

Reward: Twilight Blade.

Your relationship with the Dark Alliance has improved!

Your relationship with Grym has improved!

"Arise, Warlock," Grym helped me back to my feet. "And pick up that dagger over there. It’s not an illusion. Don’t be scared: there’s no blood on it. I’m pleased with you. Haven’t been so pleased for a long time. And still you’ll have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk."

New quest alert! Demonstrate your loyalty to the Fallen One II

Quest type: unusual

Execution conditions: may vary

Reward: unknown

I couldn’t believe it. The old fusspot just wouldn’t stop, would he? Should I try my new dagger out on him? Then again, he might come up with something better than the immobilization trick. I reached for the dagger and concentrated.

Twilight Blade. Binds on Pickup. Thrust weapon. One-handed.

Damage 1-8. Speed 1.8. Durability 80/80.

Effects: 7% Tremble Hand debuff probability in attack slowing counterattack 24%.

Not bad for a letter opener. Some newb rogue would pay a nice pile of gold for a sticker like this. A couple of them could have enough DpS to last me through the first ten or fifteen levels. The effect was a dream, stripping your opponent of a quarter of his power. Not that I really needed this sort of gizmo. I didn’t think I’d have to do much tanking, apart from possibly the first few levels when I might have to perform a bit of blade-rattling. After that, casters like myself with no armor and negligible life would come down after just five or six hits from average mobs, so I could forget close combat.

I attached the dagger to my belt and lowered my head in a bow. "I thank you for your lesson and your gift, Sir Grym. What I would like to know is where could I study Warlocks’ magic skills?"

The goblin cocked his head and rubbed his chin in thought. "I could help you as far as my knowledge goes. You do have a gift for magic and I could give you access to it. Come back when you gain some strength. Now go. I am tired."

The goblin turned his back while a mysterious force grabbed my elbows and dragged me along the passage before pushing me out.

"Wait up! I need to ask you about the Guild…" I tried to shove my head back inside but the invisible taut wall pushed me away.

Grym the Hermit is busy. He doesn’t want to see you. Come back when you reach Level 5.

Bastard. I ignored the alert box but another one chimed in its place:

Quest completion alert: Meet Grym the Hermit. Quest completed!

Reward: Magic abilities unlocked.

Skill Tree Available: Blood Magic

Skill Tree Available: Summoning

Skill Tree Available: Death

You have 3 Talent points available!

Much better. I slumped onto the grass and started opening the menu windows.

Main growth options: raising the undead or summoning otherworldly monsters. The former started off as weaker and also called for summoning ingredients, but theoretically, had a higher leveling potential. The summoning line had a choice of skills on higher levels that would increase your raised monsters’ power. It also offered quite a few buffs and bonus items for your raised pets.

Summoned creatures tended to be stronger than the raised ones until at a certain point they hit their limit. Not quickly, but somewhere in the area of level 200 things would come to a complete halt. Beyond the Archdemon there was nothing left to summon. Of course, he had his own buffs and skills but the statistics showed that a top master specializing in summoning showed a 6% higher win rate in combat. Which was nothing to sniff at. For me at least. The bulk of players lived online as they did in real life: I want it all and I want it now, and let tomorrow worry about itself.

I made my choice, minus one Talent point.

Congratulations! You've learned the spell: Summoning the Undead

Cast time: 4.5 sec

Mana expenditure: -30 (+15 for each caster level)

Ingredient: The Soul Stone

Properties: Raises the undead. See Wiki for more details.

I followed the link. Never a bad idea to find out as much as you can about your main weapon. As it turned out, the only way to get hold of a Soul Stone was to have it dropped by a slain opponent. You couldn’t buy or steal it, nor trade it with another player: you could only get it by killing a monster - or have it killed by your group. In the latter case, the chances of the corpse dropping the stone shrank progressively, depending on the number of group members and, most importantly, their level gap.

The power of the raised creature was relative to its level when still alive. Plus item bonuses, buff bonuses, minus a certain quotient depending on the player's class and level. Mana expenditure, too, was related to the char's growth. That was clear enough. The spell itself remained unchanged but what took 30 mana at level 1 demanded 1530 mana at level 100.

Now the Blood Tree. This was where we were soon going to have a variety of DoTs, auras and debuffs.

DoTs were a Necro's second most powerful weapon. Unlike wizards or mages, a Necro couldn't deal a large instant damage. But he could cast a bunch of spells which would reduce the target's life fast enough. And the spells themselves, apart from dealing basic damage, could have some very nasty extras, from slowing life and mana to poisoning or even draining them. Lots of little tactics and combinations made it perfect for anyone clever enough both with his head and his hands.