Book 3 Chapter 23

23. The Battles for North Shire Pt. 2

The fighting was fierce.

The battle was long.

We would be victorious, even if I were to die.

Morale was spiraling back and forth.  It had started at ten thousand for each team, but as the battle progressed and entire teams were wiped out en mass it could fluctuate hundreds of points at a time.

Compared to that, I was but a fly in the wineglass.  I might be worth fifty Morale to the enemies, if they managed to kill me, but that was proving difficult for them.

I had, on a whim, tried casting [Illusion Magic; Disguise], and to my surprise the spell had worked.  I had previously received a message saying that the spell was unavailable during battlegrounds, but I may have interpreted that too broadly.  It might not have been available during the Battle for Mooncrest Manor because I was the target.  I was not the target here.

Neither was I the center of this battleground.  At all.  While I was instanced only with others between levels 35 and 45, it was very clear from the outset that I was not the biggest fish in the school.  One on one, perhaps I could have taken down almost anyone here, but there were teams of Travelers who were practiced at working together who would rip me apart and eat me alive, so to speak.  Probably while trash talking me and scolding me for my build being useless.

After all, that’s what they were doing to everyone else who challenged them.  I was glad that the ones I had latched on to where on my side.  Although they hadn’t seen through my magical disguise yet, they had the sky blue auras of Travelers who had been farming reputation with my faction.  And the icons over their heads indicated that they had selected to fight for House Jeoran, and not selected the mercenary options.  Or perhaps, like me, they had been presented with only one option, which was perhaps even better.

“Hey, wallflower, get over here,” one of the teammates I’d attached myself to said.  Glancing around to make certain they were discussing me, I walked over to them.

“So, look, I know it sucks that you got isolated from your friends, or whatever,” she continued.  “But we don’t want you leeching off of us and contributing nothing.”

I frowned.  “You’re telling me to leave?”

“And contributing nothing,” she repeated with emphasis.  “Look, it’s clear you’re pay to win, and that’s fine.  We’re not.  If you want to hang with us, you need to get some kills or assists to keep up with the rest of us.  That’s all I’m saying.”

“You want me to do my part,” I supplied, understanding blossoming.

“Yeah, that’s right,” she agreed.  “Thing is, I have no idea how to incorporate you into our team.  What are you?  I mean, I see you casting magic, but that’s a goddamn god-blessed rapier at your hip.  So you’re either a mage with the weirdest stat stick as a weapon I’ve eve heard of, or--”

“You’ve probably heard of me,” I supplied.  “I’m wearing a disguise.  I was active in the Recent Past before all of the Battlegrounds started.  That’s what brought you here.”

“Oh,” she said, and she was quiet for a moment.  “What happens if you die here?”

“To the battleground?  Our team loses 50 Morale.  Same as if we kill Tervin Riley, I think,” I supplied.

“And the story?  Do you know how that would play out?” she insisted.  “Battlegrounds are canon events.”

“I have an ability which will prevent me from suffering a true death,” I admitted.  “But it will set me back considerably.  Among other issues, I’ll return to level 1.”

“And North Shire?  What happens if we lose this battleground?” she persisted.

“It’s better that we don’t,” I said.  “I only have four charges left on the item I’ve been using to create them.”

“So we have four chances to get this right?” she asked.

“Not exactly.  I expended five charges to start this particular battleground.  I’m not certain how a four charged version of it would be different,” I explained.  “But it would probably not be good for the history of North Shire to lose this battle repeatedly.  Each battle is canon, in case you forgot.”

She cursed.  In french, I realized.  That was curious.  I was starting to learn the differences between swearing in multiple languages.

“I was hoping that we’d have infinite chances, after the repeat battlegrounds to take down those bandit camps,” she explained.  “But if we have one good go, and one not so good go, then we need to get it in one.”

I nodded.  I was withholding key information from her, such as the fact that it was a relatively simple process for me to create a new [Battle Core].  But I didn’t want to use any more cores than I’d already spent for the purging of the bandits from my lands.

“I was at Mooncrest, you know,” she said.  “Don’t have the title active because I have a better one for PVP, but I was in the team that drove off two of the bandit leaders.  Do you have any information which might help us win?”

I considered for a moment.  “Well, I do have this magic table which shows the locations of my allied forces and my enemies,” I said.  “It was created by Eclipse herself.”

The woman gave me a look like I was an idiot.  “Then where is it?”

“Well, before the battle started it was with me in the Temple of Thedum,” I explained.  “I’m not certain if it’s still there or not.  I was warped to spawn point theta when the battleground started, and I’ve been laying low ever since.  I told you, if the bandits kill me, I get reset to level 1, and I don’t want that to happen.”

“Yeah, and some idiot might turncoat just for the chance of an achievement.  I got it,” the Traveler said.  “I’m Jess.  Give me a second, I need to do some typing with the information you just gave me.  It’s going to win us the battle.”

She stood still and began typing at the invisible terminal that came up when summoned.  I took the opportunity to cast [Mark of Karma] on her and all of the other allies who had been in our group.

That ability, which had long been sitting idle in my spellbook and casting itself automatically, was now under my control.  In fact, it has split into four abilities, and they even came with descriptions.

Mark of Karma (Apply)

Apply Boon [Mark of Karma] to selected target. All stats +5%, +10% exp. Warnings issued before accepting quests which will negatively impact Reputation with Hail Jeoran

Mark of Karma (Rescind)

Remove [Mark of Karma] from a target

Mark of Karmic Balance (Apply)

Apply Boon [Mark of Karmic Balance] to selected target. All stats +5%, +10% exp.   Reputation gain with factions allied with Hail Jeoran set to 50%

Mark of Karmic Balance (Rescind)

Remove [Mark of Karmic balance] from a target

I had been giving out [Mark of Karma] to everyone who had come into the battleground with the tag above their head that indicated they had chosen to fight for me.  The mercenaries would get no such treatment.  Not the ones fighting on either side.  But the Bandit Travelers, the ones who had deliberately selected to play on the side of the Northridge Freelancers, they got [Mark of Karmic Balance].

I wasn’t too worried about it really.  I had the ability to remove the effect now, although I figured that both sides would be affected by my [Summon Karmic Warrior] ability in the future.  More importantly, I was inclined to believe that putting [Mark of Karma] on my allies met in the battleground would help shunt then into the same instance as me when the battleground was over.  If they wanted to seek me out after the fighting was over, the mark would make their way much easier, and I could always use more capable allies.

“I’m curious,” I said after Jess had been typing for a few minutes.  “Why is your team so good?”

“Because low level is where pvp is meta,” she explained.  “You can’t risk it at level 190.  Too much grinding to get back after every loss.  But in the forties, you can get two or three levels in a dungeon.  So you do three dungeons, pvp for a few days until the penalty hits you back to whatever you consider your minimum, and then you rinse and repeat.  The whole reason these last few battlegrounds are so awesome is that the death penalty is reduced to two hours of logout time and the experience penalty is reduced 90%.  Was that your decision?”

“I had to use extra resources for it,” I admitted.  “I could have gotten 50 charges instead of 17.”

She whistled.  “I’d say that you made the right decision for maximum participation.  Lots of casuals held out on the first battleground because they were afraid of the death penalty.  You know I’m not under an NDA, right?  I can share whatever you tell me online if I want to, unlike everyone who that witch Tarisha whips into your circle.”

“Do not insult her,” I said, my tone severe.

Jess paused, and then she nodded at me in apology.  “I’m sorry.  I’ll even apologize to her, if you introduce us.  But I’m not signing an NDA.”

“I fought a duel, recently, in which I almost lost,” I told her.  “I’d never faced anyone with my class before.  We each played it differently, but he was higher level, had just as much gear as I did, and more experience with his methods.”

“If you’re asking me to line up a [Spellblade] training partner for you, I’m not sure I can help you,” she said, still typing.  “I think I heard about it though.  One of those two popups everyone got.  ‘An action in the recent past has resonated’ or whatever.  You fought two duels, lost one, won the other, right?”

“The first one was a draw,” I clarified.

“Yeah, that means you both lost,” she said.

“It’s just that, seeing the way you fight, it’s completely different from what I’ve learned.  But the way you learn to fight that way is by dying and re-leveling repeatedly,” I explained.  “I wish that option was available to me.”

“Isn’t it?” she asked.  “Didn’t you just say that if you get PKed here, you get reset to level 1?  So let that happen and bust your ass back to forty, and I’ll show you all the active pvp arenas where you can git gud.”

“If I die here, I may take you up on that option,” I admitted, and I extended to her a friend invite.  She accepted without hesitation.

“Okay,” she announced to everyone.  “Breaks over.  Strategos is good for project overwatch.  A team near the temple managed to get inside and confirm that the asset Hail describes exists, but it says it requires ‘The Seal of Authority’ in order to update in real time.  Hail, do you have any idea what that means?”

I nodded.  “Either I need to be physically present, or I need to use one of my abilities on it, or both.”

“Alright then, ladies and gents,” she announced.  “We are now on an escort quest to get the good prince to the temple so that he can unlock overwatch for us.  The noob cannot take care of himself in group pvp, so watch his ass until he unlocks overwatch, understood?”

“Yes mom,” a deep voice said.  It came from a deceptively small avatar, but the weapon that Traveler wielded was a two handed battleaxe larger than my chest.

I was encircled, but not enspelled with any additional protections other than the standard group buffs that everyone was enjoying.  The party mounted up, and rode with a purpose from our space near spawn point theta, back towards Ebbyvale, six leagues away.