DAY THREE

  The morning sun finds the young party gathered around the fire pit, talking tactics and strategies for the coming day. Bree and Rhys walk up to the decuplet with enormous grins. “Claire, Tanner did you two have a good chat on your walk?” Bree teases her daughter.

  Claire, giving a wide bright smile, replies, “Yes we did Mother, Uncle. Tanner and I agreed to something essential. Oh and I got my first kiss. I also kissed a boy for the first time. Was there anything else you wanted to know Mother?”

  Bree laughing at her daughter. “You know, your not nearly as fun to tease when you own up.” The two laughing hug each other. The girls all gather around Claire.

  “We need to talk tonight.” Milly says, hugging her.

  Tanner, a little flustered, clears his throat and tells the experienced delvers. “I think we should concentrate on the roaming squads of five until we are all Level ten and have our Classes.”

  Bree sits next to Tanner and looks at him. “Please explain your reasoning.”

  Tanner stands pacing back and forth to organize his thoughts. “First, the goblins are ranging from levels nine to twelve, just slightly higher than we figured. If the levels are going to be higher in the camps also, we are out leveled on average. Second, the goblins are getting better armed and armored. Third, if we have our Classes, my studies show Classes are a force multiplier. With the camps having two times the monsters, at higher levels it just make more sense to have as many advantages as we can. Especially if we are going in out numbered and out leveled. Fourth, the more opponents we have, the smaller our margin for error becomes.”

  “Good thinking, Tanner. Anyone want to add their thoughts for or against?” The group falls silent, contemplating Tanner's words. Finally, nodding heads in agreement.

  “Well thought out Tanner. I agree, Rhys what do you think?” Bree asks turning to the healer.

  “Safer is better, even at Level 10 with a Class they will still be out leveled that means it will still be an uphill battle for them.”

  “Should we just Tier up then too?” Tanner asks.

  “Let’s get you all classed first, then see how things are falling in. We can decide on Tiering up at that time.”

  Tanner turns to face his party. “I want everybody to get Identify, or something like it. I want you all to be looking at anything and everything and attempting to figure it out.” Once again, heads nod in agreement, all knowing what a crucial ability it will be.

  “Okay folks lets look at your status sheets and figure out what to work on today, besides IDENTIFY.” Rhys orders the group.

  “I gained the TAUNT ability, I didn’t have it last night before I went to sleep. How?” Mick questions.

  Rhys answers, “That happens from time to time. No one is sure why. The leading thoughts on this is that you were close to acquiring it, but your body needed to fully recover before it becomes usable. Focus on one monster at a time until you're familiar with their reactions.”

  Bree clears her throat. “This is a critical ability for a bulwark. That it is yours and not a Class Skill is also good. It will not depend on your class to grow, and you may have more flexibility when choosing a Class. you may get offered a powerful non-traditional front line Class.”

  After looking over Milena’s status, “Still no luck on a spell, I see. Have you tried thinking of thunder or lightening when you cast your spell?”

  “No I just think rain.”

  “Think instead what the storm means to you. It gives us lightening, thunder, winds, rain, and cold. It chills us to the bone in winter, things like that. Too much rain harms, too little nothing grows. Try to think in those directions.” Rhys coaches.

  “Connie you and Iris are shaping up rather nicely, now that you can both cast damage spells. You may try to cast some augmentation spells. Haste, Dexterity, for instance. Also try to cast Mana Restore. We have not run into poison so far. You can try to cast Antidote, the chances of learning it are better if you have a poison victim, it will not hurt to try though. Have you given any thought to the other spells you have the potential to learn?” Rhys asks the new healers.

  Iris says, “I’ve been studying the book you gave me. I have some ideas.”

  Connie replies, “I am still learning what my Affinity covers, I just don’t know enough yet.”

  “Jackson, you can start working control and damage now. You need to pay attention, observe the battle make sure your stuns are in place, then do some damage. Okay?” Rhys asks him.

  “Got it, stun them till they fall, damage the primary target. Keep an eye for anything trying to move then stun them again and go back to damage.” Rhys claps him on the back.

  “Karnna I have noticed you have a tendency to plant your feet too solid. You need to be lighter on you feet, your weapon is capable of lighter hacks and slashing, you keep trying for heavy chops” Bree observes.

  “I trained with hammers before. That was all the Anvilhands allowed. I am still getting used to the axe as a weapon.”

  Bree put her arm around Karnna’s shoulders. “Keep at it. You will get there. You have the potential to become an agility warrior. Maybe even an off bulwark position. Lilli is a bit too light for a bulwark. With the way your build is shaping up, are a pretty close match. If you lighten up your fighting style a bit,” she encourages.

  Bree, looking over Claire’s Sheet, “Other than Levels going up everything looks the same as yesterday. I noticed you have been casting more. Are you going to change your fighting style?”

  “I want to try a few things before I lock into any one thing.” Claire answers.

  “Dylan, you have been the most solid team member. Steady progress, backup damage where needed, you watch over everyone. You are doing well.” With a shy smile at the praise, Dylan ducks his head and thanks Bree.

  Bree comes up to Tanner and gives him a hug. “You young man are doing fantastic. Your leadership is very good for your age. You have a grasp of basic dungeon tactics and strategies. Now that you have Identify. Try to spot your opponent's weakness. It is called Analysis. It will be a good one if you can get it.” Hugging her back, Tanner thanks her for the advice.

  “Alright everybody Mick’s new skill changes things a little. We need to try it out and see how we are going to change tactics. Bree can we go back to one goblin at a time? I would like to try Mick on one first to see what happens.”

  “Not a problem.”

  Tanner says, “Then when Mick is okay with how things are working we increase goblins one at a time till, we are back up to five.” Working back up to a full goblin patrol the decuplet soon learn the working mechanics to Mick’s Taunt Skill and combine it with Jackson's control skills. Comfortable with their new tactics, the group fights in earnest.

  “Okay Mick taunt as many as you can hold, Lilli, Karnna back up Mick. Jackson attempt to stun the rest and keep them stunned. Claire I need you to back up Jackson. Stun anything he misses. We just take one target and focus damage for now. I want you all to get a feel for their reactions before we go up to two damage targets. Got it?” Tanner asks, giving a pre-fight briefing. “Connie, keep the front line healed. Iris back up Connie and heal the rest of us as needed please. Remember left to right One, Two, Three, Four, then Five. Dylan take the lead on damage. Everyone follows you. Stay off of Mick’s primary target until the other two goblins are down I will back up anyone that needs help.”

  “Got it.” Everybody acknowledges.

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  Mick finds keeping two goblins aggression focused on him at once, just on the edge of his capabilities. Lilli slows her attacks to half the damage out put from the day before so Mick can keep the attention. After five encounters, the decuplet stop and regroup. Tanner looks at every team member. “What is going wrong? What is going right?”

  Mick hanging his head. “I suck.”

  “Mick what level are you?” Tanner asks with a sigh.

  “I’m level nine just like the rest of you,” he answers.

  “Uh huh, and how many days have you been in actual combat? How many hours have you been level nine? The point I am trying to make here, we are weak for this dungeon. We have been successful, but we are Tier 0 in a Tier 1 dungeon. Remember that. The goblin patrols are two level eights, two level nines, and one level ten. We are out leveled, this means we need to fight smarter. There is no doubt in my mind any two of us could take a Level 10 goblin two on one. It would be a challenge, and it would be a long fight. In the end, we would come out on top. One on one, some of us may win. We would have to fight perfectly if we made a mistake, then we would most likely die. We are just about at their level of skills. Mick, you are trying to fight them as equals. You are not. They out level us. You are not fighting defensively like a Bulwark should. Karnna, Lilli, you are letting him keep their attention. That’s good. It gives us an idea of what damage speed we have to adopt to go at them and keep their attention focused on Mick. It’s also bad we are not at the levels we need to be, to fight them as equals. But you are also trying to fight them both with Mick as if just the three of you are the team. You are blocking our line of sight sometimes. We need to take them down as fast as we can, all of us together as a team. So Mick use Taunt on three of them. Then charge them and use your Shield Bash on all three, just like it was only ten on three. Keep them mad, keep them focused on you. Strike to keep them focused. Keep the focus on you.” Tanner pauses, looking Mick in the eye. “You are not fighting them, you’re holding them in place. You know how to do this. Lilli and Karnna will go in hard on the most injured. Keep aware of where we all are. Use your weapons for light damage. We want to drain their hit points slow and steady. Keep them focused on Mick. Connie, your primary job is to keep Mick healed. Then Karnna and Lilli, do not worry about damaging monsters if anyone need heals, that is what you do. If the fight is going smoothly, hit Dylan’s target. Jackson, you will stun the last two and keep them stunned until we have dropped the first three. Claire will back you up. If any of you run out of MP, call out. Please do the same for HP. That goes for all of us. The sole change is Mick's new Taunt. We have just not been using it correctly. We fight the next group this way. Then recover and discuss. Fix what needs fixed and move on. We can do this.” Tanner looks at his party. “Does anyone have anything to add?” Tanner asks.

  “Maybe Claire should take over control.”

  “Do you no longer want that position?” Tanner asks.

  “I do, I am just not very good at it yet.” Jackson answers.

  “The only way you will get good at the job is to do the job. We have nothing to do but push through it. Does everyone agree?” The rest of the decuplet are nodding their heads in agreement before Tanner has even concluded his talk.

  “Contact front, group of five.” Mick reports.

  “Okay, relax everyone. Mick get ready and set. Remember, just like we talked about. Dylan targets are left to right one, two, three. Damage casters all follow his lead. Jackson behind Mick stun the two goblins left over and keep them down. Claire backs up Jackson and stuns any he misses. I need a ready check. Mick, after all of us are ready, count it down and go on three. Taunt, charge in, Bash. Lilli take a breath then charge in take on the most injured. Karnna will follow Lilli’s lead. Connie, your healing priorities are Mick, then Lilli and Karnna, if I go in for melee, I am fourth priority. I watch over Connie and Iris and target off of Dylan’s lead. Milly work on that spell, pretty sure you are going to break through soon. No weapons just focus on casting. Jackson and Claire keep control of the extra goblins and keep watch so we don’t get attacked by another patrol. If anyone has the time target of off Dylan. Ready.”

  Mick readies himself mentally while listening to the others report ready. Hearing the last report. He counts out loud “One, two, three.” Yelling a wordless battle cry and rushing at the five goblins. Three goblins look towards him and start charging at him in anger. Jackson, coming behind Mick, yells “Freeze.” The remaining two goblins fall, he steps aside for Lilli and Karnna to rush to Mick's side. Mick smashing into the three charging goblins shield first with a loud crashing of metal, wood, and bone.

  Lilli shouts, “Two,” and dances in with a deadly waltz on the reeling number two goblin, her blade flashing with reflected sunlight. Karnna wheels behind number Two, her great-axe a steady blur of motion. Claire, standing by Tanner, sees that Jackson has stunned his targets, starts casting bolts into the number three goblin Dylan has targeted along with Tanner. When the number three goblin falls to all the damage. Still unable to cast Milly shifts from the falling number three goblin to the number two goblin. A blinding flash of lightning connects her hand to the new target, burning a hole through its armor. The smell of ozone and cooked goblin surrounds the close in fighters. With a scream of excitement, Milly casts two more spells before the goblin falls. With the number three goblin fallen so fast, Tanner, who had just started casting another bolt, shifts his target to the last standing goblin. Claire unable to get a line on the last standing target. Steps a few paces back and checks on Jackson. Jackson stuns only one of his goblins this time. Claire casts her spells into the new target. Connie, dividing her attention between her party status and the fight, casts healing spells on Mick. Iris casts healing on her sister, as Connie shifts healing to Karnna. Jackson, standing back on over watch, after seeing Claire take care of his missed goblin, adds a few Psionic Blast spells to the standing goblin’s problems. Goblin number one drops to the party’s combined damage. The party surrounds each unconscious goblin one at a time and delivers simultaneous strikes, killing them.

  “Wow. Amazing job. Almost perfectly executed.” Rhys, walking up claims . Then asks, “What went wrong? What went right? There is always room for improvement.”

  After the discussion, Bree shamefacedly approaches Tanner. “Tanner you have your Martial Skill right?”

  “Yes?”

  With a sigh of exasperation, Bree says, “Use your long knives in the next fights. Then hand to hand in the one after, please. Until you get the skills for each, I can not believe we overlooked this.”

  “Overlooked what?” Tanner asks.

  “It is a surprise,” she smiles at him with a wink, “Trust me.”

  Five fights later during the after fight analysis. Tanner shows his status sheet to the others. “I got a new Skills, EMPTY HANDS, KNIFE FIGHTING, and SHORT SWORDS.” He announces, as he and the others are looking over his sheet. A Party status window opens.

  ***** CONGRATULATIONS. PRINCE TANNER WILSON-ALEXANDER ***** SYNERGIES ACKNOWLEDGED.***** SKILLS: ISLAND FIGHTING, BATONS, SHORT SWORDS, KNIVES, EMPTY HANDS. ALONG WITH THE SKILLS DUAL WELD, CAN USE A WEAPON IN EACH HAND EQUALLY WELL. HAS BECOME A LEVELED ABILITY: THE MENOCTE WAY. AS A STUDENT OF THE MENOCTE FIGHTING ARTS DEVELOPED BY THE OCCUPANTS OF THE MENOCTE ISLANDS.***** TITLE UPGRADE: DISCIPLE OF THE MENOCTE WAY, YOU HAVE BECOME AN OFFICIAL DISCIPLE OF GRAND MASTER CHRISTOPHER RIALTO. ***** MASTER RIALTO IS PLEASED WITH YOUR PROGRESS. ALL ATTACKS DO AN ADDITIONAL + 10 DAMAGE.

  “Well Tanner, you never stop surprising me, I simply expected your skills to combine into Menocte Fighting arts, not all this.”

  Tanner, looking at her wide eyed is amazement, “What does all of this mean?”

  “Your a bad ass?” Jackson pipes up. The rest all laughing chime in with similar comments. After the joking and congratulations clam down.

  Bree answers his question. “Eunice could explain this better, if you have further questions get with her. Essentially it means the Goddess and Her Pantheon has acknowledged your hard work. They also sent an announcement to Master Rialto, and he agreed. You were already a disciple, that was how you got the first Title. Your Status Sheet will change to reflect all of this.”

  “Alright everybody breaks over, we have around seven more hours of daylight left and we are not even close to getting a Class yet.” Several hours later, Bree approaches the decuplet. “Well, this is the last group patrol in the low forest. We will have to head into the foothills and take on the patrols while avoiding the camps after this. So we need to take out this patrol, then make camp for the night. How close is everyone to level 10?”

  Claire speaks up. “I need one more goblin, after this fight.”

  “Two more after this fight for me,” Connie says.

  “Two more for me, Too.” Jackson grins.

  “One, after this,” Mick answers.

  “Two after this” Milly says.

  Lilli and Karnna fist bump Mick and both say, “One after this fight.”

  Dylan and Iris look up from their conversation. The couple say “Two after this fight.”

  Tanner looking thoughtful, “I may level this fight.”

  “Hmm, this could work out well. If you are all staggering your XP like this, one of you can Level at a time. Then we will work more closely with each of you and take our time for your builds. Tanner, you level today before we camp. Then Mick, Lilli, Karnna, Iris, Connie, Dylan, Claire, Jackson you are last. Consider it PUNishment for the two, too remark.” Bree says, laughing at him.

  Jackson smiles back, “Best for last.”

  With a grin at the by-play, Tanner orders, “Keep them all busy, I’ll kill until I Level. Then Mick, kills until he Levels. We may get two classes tonight. Or get Mick damn close, anyway.” The group follows the attack order, they have almost perfected. The last goblin patrol finds themselves on the back foot from the fights start to finish. Mick Taunts his foes into charging him. Lilli and Karnna step up by Mick’s side and pound their weapon skills upon the goblins, slowly keeping the three foes’ attention on Mick but knocking the goblins off balance enough for Mick’s skills to keep up with the more powerful opponents. Tanner focuses Arcane Bolts on the right most goblin facing Mick, quickly taking its life. The remaining two goblins move closer to Mick. Tanner, not having Leveled yet, starts casting on the right most goblin, as the goblin falls dead.

  Tanner quickly orders. “Your kills Mick.” Lilli steps back after tripping the goblin into Mick's path of attack. Mick, with a flurry of Shield Bashes and sword strikes, quickly ends the round of attacks.

  “One up Mick.”

  Mick Taunts his new opponent into battle. With a final sword strike, Mick steps back from his fallen foe. “Your up Lilli, last one is yours.” Lilli runs up to the unconscious goblin chopping into the unfortunate creature's neck. Attacked, the goblin attempts to stand only for Lilli’s next strike to remove its head.

  “Let’s make camp.” Rhys says, grinning at Tanner and Mick.