NOVEL WEB Tutorial 13 – Mistakes were Made!
Liam and the others walked down a path with gravestones spanning out on both sides. Posts with small Yooperlite stones rested on the tips lit the dirt pathway. The light emanating from the stones weren’t as bright as the ones Liam saw in the town.
The small stones gave enough of a glow that he could see the dirt road they walked upon. Outside the path, however, a mild fog surrounded them. Up to seven feet, Liam was able to see the grass, some trees, and gravestones. Beyond that, the fog thickened.
Sounds lightly danced in the air as they pressed forth slowly. Crickets strumming, owls whistled, and other unknown noises mixed together.
Artem and Blair walked in the front with Avery right behind them. Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman walked in a v formation with Liam taking the rear.
Liam was amazed by how this place looked and felt. It was different from the Tutorial Area. A heavy aura could be felt in the air making Liam feel like eyes were on him.
“You know it’s kind of eerie that we haven’t come across any monsters since we’ve entered here,” Roman mentioned, breaking the silence between them.
“This whole place feels eerie,” Ariyana said trying to fight back the fear slowly creeping up her spine.
“Well, it is a graveyard,” Blair stated as she walked a bit more relaxed than the others.
“This fog also doesn’t help,” Mercer added.
“The fog is a bit of a hinderance,” Liam said as he looked to his right.
As he started to turn his head an alluring and singsong voice whispered, “Over here.”
Liam snapped his head back and noticed a shadowed figure run farther into the fog. Was that a person he heard? No one, but he and his group should be in this dungeon floor. But that was a woman’s voice he heard.
“What’s up, Liam? Did you see something?” Mercer asked as he noticed Liam had stopped moving.
The others stopped to look at him.
“I’m not too sure,” Liam responded. “I thought I heard a woman’s voice.”
Mercer gave him a confused look as he said, “That’s impossible. There shouldn’t be anyone else here besides us.”
He placed his goggles over his eyes and tried peering into the fog. Even with the bonus that his goggles gave he wasn’t able to see through it. He gave it some thought as he tried to think about what to do.
His vast knowledge of horror movies and novels screamed that it was stupid to follow the mysterious figure into the dense covered fog. However, his vast curiosity screamed louder wanting to know who that was and how they got here.
After coming to a decision, he announced, “I’m going to go check it out. You guys wait here.”
“We’ll go with you,” Avery suggested.
“No, it should just take a second,” Liam said as he shook his head.
“Rule number one. You don’t split the party,” Blair stated with a bit of sternness.
“I’m perfectly fine with staying here,” Artem voiced.
Blair glared at him and then muttered, “Of course you are.”
“No, it’s alright. I’m only going to go as far as I can to see if there was anything over there,” Liam said. “If there’s any monsters I’ll come back and let you guys know.”
The others stared at him for a while.
Breaking the silence Avery said, “Fine, but if it looks bad come straight back.”
“Yes ma’am,” Liam waved as he walked off the path.
“Another rule is you don’t walk off the beaten path.” Liam could hear Blair mutter.
Liam softly walked pass the gravestones. The ground was a bit softer than the carved path was. He could smell a mildewy scent in the air making him think the ground was softer due to it being a little wet.
He glanced around quickly every few seconds to make sure the coast was clear as he push forward. He stopped when he saw something move again. He focused as hard as he could to make out what had moved. As he focused the goggles began to clear the fog little by little in his line of sight.
“That’s a handy thing,” Liam thought as a chime sound dinged. “Must have leveled up something. I’ll check it out later.”
As he continued to watch the fog lift, he noticed a lone tree standing still amongst the gravestones. One of the low hanging branches swayed a bit. No leaves covered the tree. Multiple branches were spread out above the thick trunk. It gave the appearance that the tree was dead.
Liam let out a quiet groan. “Ah, what the hell. It was just a tree branch.”
As he started to move his eyes away something else caught his attention. He looked back to see small plants around the ground close to the tree outlined in a light green color. Several were green moss-like plants, while others were a violet bell-shaped flower.
He assessed the plants.
“Moss Mint. Rarity - Common. Item type – Crafting component. Can be used to add flavor to consumable items.”
“Shallow Bloom. Rarity – Common. Item type – Crafting component. Can be used to make certain potions.”
Liam stared at the plants. “Hm…I could use those Shallow Blooms for alchemy. I could probably find a use for the Moss Mints too.” He swayed his head back and forth contemplating. After mulling it over he slowly made his way towards the first plant.”
He slowly brought his hand to the plant then stopped. He then thought to himself, “How do I get this without ruining it…I think I have an ability that could help.” He thought about the abilities he had and remember one in particular. He then said as softly as he could, “Harvest.”
A light blue light washed over the plant. As soon as the light got to the stem it snapped and fell on its side.
“Crap did I ruin it,” Liam swore under his breath. He gently grabbed it and saw a message screen appear.
“Would you like to place Shallow Bloom in inventory or Small Leather Satchel?”
Liam was shocked. He quickly regained his bearings and clicked Small Leather Satchel. A smile grew on his face as another message popped up.
“Congratulations. You have received the Gathering Craft Herbalism. Herbalism has reached level 1.”
“Congratulations! Crafter Class skill Harvest has reached level 2.”
“Sweet!” Liam thought as he continued the process with the few plants closest to him.
He continued to gather the plants as he slowly moved closer to the tree.
He was able to gather several amounts of both plants until he felt something ominous looming above him.
“Above you!” A faint voice whispered in his mind.
Liam quickly looked up to see a thick branch begin to swing down on him.
He swiftly dodged out of the way as the branch crashed down.
“What the hell!?” Liam shouted. He stared at the tree creature until a screen appeared as it turned to reveal an ugly wicked scowl and glowing violet eyes.
“Withered Treant. 150/150 HP. 80/80 MP.”
Liam watched as it brought the branch up from the ground and then realized that branch was its arm. A second thick branch moved to its other side forming into another arm. The ends of the two thick branches made a breaking noise as three fingers formed from the broken pieces.
“A Treant?!” Liam yelled. “What the hell! I thought only skeletons and zombies were on this floor?”
He relaxed a little bit as he noticed it was rooted to the ground. “At least its stuck to the ground.”
It let out a husky roar causing Liam to cover his ears. Liam then watched as it pushed down with its makeshift hands. This caused Liam to involuntarily take a step back.
As he did this, he felt something grip his left ankle. He looked down to see a rotted hand holding it. The arm of the hand had emerged from the ground. He grunted as he jerked his ankle free from the hand.
He then looked at the Treant and saw four bulky roots rip out from the soil it was in and formed legs.
A cold shiver ran down Liam’s spine as he softly whispered, “Mistakes were made.” He then saw several boney and rotten hands pop out around the creature. The hands then grabbed the soil and pulled their main bodies out.
“Mistakes were definitely made,” Liam repeated as he turned around and bolted away.
Avery, Mercer and Artem stared at the direction Liam had gone.
“He’s sure taking his time,” Roman said as he picked up a rock and skipped it across the dirt hitting a gravestone.
“Maybe he found a treasure?” Mercer suggested.
“Or maybe he got caught by a pack of monsters,” Roman countered.
A roar suddenly echoed in the air causing them to look at the direction it came from.
Ariyana glared at Roman.
“What?” Roman asked defensively.
“You had to jinx it didn’t you?” Ariyana questioned.
“There he is,” Artem pointed as they saw Liam running towards them.
“What’s going on?” Avery called out.
“Mistakes were made!” Liam yelled back as a small pack of skeletons and zombies were chasing him.
“It’s just skel…,” Roman started to say until a withered evil looking tree emerged from the fog behind the pack.
Ariyana glared at him again.
“What the hell is that?!” Artem shouted.
“Trouble!” Liam replied as he approached them.
“Retreat to the portal!” Avery ordered.
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Artem complied as they started running down the path back towards the portal.
After running as fast as he could and ahead of the group Liam saw the portal appear near the gate. As they got closer, he noticed something weird. The portal started to fizzle out and grow smaller.
“Crap!” Liam started as ran faster. “It’s disappearing. Everyone hurry up!”
He turned to see the others were slowly falling behind. Avery, and Roman were close behind with Ariyana and Mercer behind them. However, Artem and Blair were a few feet behind and losing ground from everyone.
“Artem! Blair! Pick up the pace!” Liam barked.
“Don’t you think we’re trying!” Blair growled as she breathed heavily.
Liam looked forward and saw the portal grow smaller and smaller the closer they got.
Liam tried to calculate their chances of making it. When he realized they weren’t he began to slow down. “Damn it,” Liam thought. “We’re not going to make it!”
“What are you doing!” Avery and Roman shouted.
Before Liam could answer they saw the portal disappear.
They slowed down and came to a stop as the others caught up to them.
Artem, breathing heavily, gulped for air as he slowed down and stopped in front of the group.
“What did you do?” Mercer asked as they ran up to him.
“I harvested plants I found,” Liam answered.
“Harvested plants? Were they that things lovers or something?” Blair asked with a bit of angry sarcasm laced in her voice.
“Great you pissed off a tree because you stole it’s girlfriends,” Roman said as he threw his arms up.
Liam ignored their comments as he looked around. Panic slowly filled his mind as thoughts started to swirl. He knew it was his fault for catching the attention of that creature and luring the undead to him and his group.
The portal disappearing on them didn’t help at all. In fact, it only brought more tension to the group. He knew they just needed to calm down, but the situation they were in wouldn’t help calm his mind.
Liam suddenly had a thought.
He remembered reading in his Calming the Storm book that when your mind is racing during certain situation sometimes you just needed to calm the storm brewing. By Calming the storm of emotions and rampant thoughts you can better assess the situation and could possible form a plan to get you out of a bad one.
“Maybe if I try that it might help,” Liam muttered to himself. “What else do I have to lose.”
Liam closed his eyes and took in a deep breath and thought as he released it, “Calm the Storm.”
The noise around him didn’t disappear. He tried again.
“Calm the storm.”
His thoughts still raced as the arguments of the group were still heard. Liam frowned and took in a deeper breath. He relaxed himself and tried once more as he slowly released the air, he held in.
“Calm the Storm.”
The noise around him faded away as his mind cleared. He and his group appeared in his mind as light blue figures.
Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman were shown firing spells while a version of himself and Avery appeared striking their weapons. Another image showed Artem and Blair smacking their shields and swords against unidentifiable figures. As the scenes ran across his mind a plan started to form.
Liam snapped his eyes open and looked at the still arguing group. He had a plan, but wasn’t sure if they would follow along with it.
No one had claimed leadership and he wasn’t going to assume they would follow, but he also wasn’t going to let them fall apart here at the beginning. With a final decision he readied himself for any resistance.
“Let’s focus,” Liam stated with a firm calm voice.
The others suddenly turned their heads to face him.
Mercer and Avery recognized something in Liam’s voice.
Blair saw a strange calmness in his eyes and stopped any retort she was going to say.
“We can’t leave, and it looks like the information we got was wrong,” Liam started. “We need to take care of the monsters before us before we can leave. Artem! Blair! Have you guys gotten your stamina back up?”
“I’m as good as I can get,” Blair replied as she rolled her shoulders.
“I’m good now,” Artem answered as he walked up next to Blair.
“Ok,” Liam started as he looked at the others. “Ariyana, Mercer, Roman…Launch as many offensive magic abilities you can. Focus on the ones in the front. When they get about ten yards away focus your attacks on the ones behind them. Rinse and repeat. When all the skeletons and zombies have past that ten-yard line focus on the Withered Treant.”
He looked at Avery and said, “Avery, you and I will attack the ones that get pass the ten yard line.”
He glanced at Artem and Blair and instructed, “Artem and Blair, try to aggro the ones Avery and I aren’t attacking. If any get passed us that you don’t have, try and get their attention so they don’t go after Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman.”
Avery nodded.
Blair and Artem looked at each other.
Artem let out a breath as he stated, “This is going to suck, but screw it.”
“I’ll do my best,” Blair replied as she brought her buckler up and gripped her sword.
“Got it,” Ariyana and Mercer replied.
“Wait.” Roman argued as he stared at him. “Why do we have to follow your orders?”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Liam challenged. “If you do, I’m all ears.”
After a moment of not saying anything, Roman clasped his hands together and stretched till they popped. He then bounced a couple of times on his feet while shaking his hands loose. “I don’t. I was just asking.”
Liam nodded. “Use your head on when to use potions. Try to get away when drinking them. You don’t want to get attacked while replenishing your reserves. Let’s do this people. This is a test on our teamwork. Something like this can make or break a group. Let’s prove we can’t be broken.”
“Yeah!” the others shouted as they watched the first group of monsters appear from the fog.
It was four skeletons. Their bones clattered as they slowly ran towards them.
“Avery,” Liam started.
Avery turned to him.
“Use your judgement. If you think you can use any offensive magic attacks then go ahead, but if you’re not in a good spot then don’t. Our goal is to whittle down the small fry before taking down that Withered Treant.”
“Got it,” Avery nodded as she pulled her rapier out of its sheath.
“On my mark! Ready!” Liam shouted as he gauged the skeleton’s distance.
Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman pulled out plain wooden wands and pointed them at the skeletons.
When Liam felt the timing was right, he yelled. “Now!”
“Oh, mystic and wonderous arcana,” Ariyana, Mercer and Roman began to chant as a violet ball the size of billiard ball appeared and swirled in front of the wands. “We employ you to appear before us and shape into a bead of destruction. Fly fast, fly true. Shoot forth, Arcane shot!”
The small spherical masses suddenly shot forth and clashed into three of the skeletons.
“Again! Make sure you each rotate to compensate for that forth skeleton. Mercer, Ariyana, then Roman in that order!” Liam instructed.
“Got it!” the three shouted as they began to chant again.
They were able to shoot the spells three more times before the skeletons arrived at the line. Two zombies and a skeleton suddenly appeared from the fog not too far from the first group.
“Switch it up!” Liam order. “Avery let’s…”
Before Liam could finish Avery was already rushing to the skeleton on the edge of the right side.
“Well then I better get to work too,” Liam muttered to himself as he gripped his crude dagger and ran towards the skeleton on the left.
As he approached the skeleton he struck down and missed.
“God damn checks and balances,” Liam muttered as he continued to strike as many times as he could. After his third strike, he jumped to the right to dodge a slash the skeleton made with its bare hands.
After the skeleton missed, Liam jumped back in and slashed five more times. He landed three successful hits, but still missed twice.
The skeleton swung its left arm in a back hand motion catching Liam off guard across his cheek.
Liam took a step back from the strike, but swiftly regained his balance. He took two more steps back and assessed the skeleton.
“Graveyard Skeleton. 8/75 HP. 0/0 MP.”
“A few more hits should do it,” Liam thought as he rushed behind it and slashed down then back up.
The skeleton stopped moving and then crumpled to the ground.
He turned around to see Artem shoulder chuck a skeleton with his buckler. Blair blocked a slash from another skeleton as Avery appeared behind it. With quick motions she slashed the creature three times.
Liam assessed the two skeletons.
“Graveyard Skeleton. 25/75 HP. 0/0 MP.”
“Graveyard Skeleton. 6/75 HP. 0/0 MP.”
He looked at the two zombies and the skeleton in the second group that was slowly approaching them and assessed them too.
“Rotten Zombie. 30/90 HP. 0/0 MP.”
“Rotten Zombie. 39/90 HP. 0/0 MP.”
“Graveyard Skeleton. 19/75 HP. 0/0 MP.”
Liam peered into the fog behind that group to see that no more skeletons or zombies were coming. After confirming he shouted, “Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman. Focus on the zombie in the middle. After it drops then finish off the skeleton in that group.”
“Roger!” Mercer and Roman called out.
Ariyana nodded.
“Blair, you and Avery finish that skeleton then take care of the other zombie!” Liam relayed.
Blair grunted as she blocked another attack.
“I’m coming Artem,” Liam yelled as he rushed over and swung his crude dagger down.
The trajectory missed as it went to the right and hit air. He tried again but missed again. He tried a third time and missed again.
“Are you going to hit it any time soon?” Artem commented.
“I’m trying to!” Liam replied as two attacks finally landed. The skeleton tried to turn around but stopped as Artem let out a roar causing the creature to focus its attention on him again.
“Was that a taunt?” Liam questioned, confused by what had happened.
“Less talking, more stabbing please,” Artem replied as he blocked a strike with his buckler.
Liam was taken back by Artem’s comment. He quickly regained his focus as he continued to slash at the boned figure before him. After five more successful strikes the skeleton finally crumpled down.
Liam turned to Avery as the zombie she was attacking died.
All the skeletons and zombies were dead.
Everyone was breathing heavily as they looked around.
Nothing stirred. Silence filled the air.
“Is that it?” Roman asked between breathes.
A vile husky screech echoed out towards them as the sound of wood creaking came their way.
A tall shadowy figure appeared revealing the Withered Treant.
Ariyana slowly turned to Roman and said with a mix of irritation and frustration, “After this is done. You and I are gonna have a talk about jinxing things.”
Roman let out a long groan. “You’re right. My bad.”