Seeds of Discordia: New Arrival Mayhem

Liam stared at the Withered Treant as it made itself known. A small feeling of dread prickled his skin. He shook his head to snap out of the negative emotions trying to grasp his mind.

Liam looked around to see if any other monsters were approaching them. After confirming that the only thing making its way to them was the Nasty looking tree, Liam yelled out, “Ariyana, Mercer, Roman drink a mana potion to replenish your lost MP. When that thing gets into your spell range start pelting it.”

“On it,” Mercer said as they pulled out a blue vial and drank it.

The three blanched at the taste of the liquid running down their throats.

Liam then looked at the others. “Artem, Avery, Blair take a Health potion. Artem and Blair, when it gets a respectful distance charge in and take turns drawing its aggro.”

“Aggro?” Blair questioned as Artem pulled out a green vial and drank it.

He too didn’t look like the taste sat well with him.

“Aggression. Get it angry and focused on you. However, try to split the damage you take by rotating that aggro amongst yourselves,”

 “Avery, you and I are going to join the others with the spells. When Artem and Blair have drawn enough of its ire on them we’ll rush in. Albeit, I don’t know what kind of attacks or magic it can use so we’ll have to use our judgement,” Liam instructed.

Avery nodded as she stared at the Withered Treant slowly making its way towards them.

Liam tried to think if he had any knowledge on a Treant from any video games he played in the past. Nothing came to mind. He remembered games that had friendly tree creatures, or that one annoying wiggling one that was, for some reason, a rock type. It made no sense to him either. After confirming he had no knowledge of the creature, he went with what he saw and his intuition.

“It may look slow, but what it lacks in speed it could make up for in power or defense. It’s got a health pool of one hundred and fifty. It also has a mana pool of eighty. If it looks like it’s going to use any magic call it out. Got it?!” Liam ordered.

Mercer, Avery, Blair, and Roman gave him a questionable look before responding with the others, “Got it!”

They watched as the creature stabbed the ground beneath it with the tip of the roots with each step it took. With each stab the ground gave a slight shake. The sound of wood creaking almost to the point of breaking whispered in the air as the roots came back up to move forward.

“Almost,” Liam muttered as he watched the Withered Treant get closer and closer. He readied his crude dagger and pointed at it.

Once when it got close enough, he, Avery, Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman began to chant, “Oh, mystic and wonderous Arcana. We employ you to appear before us and shape into a bead of destruction. Fly fast and fly true. Shoot forth, Arcane shot!”

Four violet colored billiard sized balls shot quickly and slammed against the Treant. One grazed past the side of its right arm and collided against a gravestone.

Damn it! Liam thought. I should have practiced my Arcane Shot a little more. He then assessed the creature.

 

“Withered Treant. 130/150 HP. 80/80 MP.”

 

“Only twenty health was taken away?” Liam thought as annoyance grew inside of him. He shook his head as he instructed, “Again!”

They chanted their spell and shot the attack towards the creature once more. Liam’s spell hit this time while Avery’s missed. His three magical companions struck true once more causing the Treant to give a scowl in their direction. His attention was on one of the three.

The creature pointed a splintered finger in their direction and shot a thin small twig at them. The speed of the attack was too fast for them to react in time causing the objects to puncture a spot on their bodies.

One of the twigs hit Mercer on his right thigh, another hit Aryana’s right bicep, while the last pierced Roman’s right shoulder blade.

“Ah!” Ariyana screamed.

“God damn that hurts!” Roman shouted.

As they pulled the twigs out Mercer yelled out, “That attack caused a debuff to spell damage.”

“Tch,” Liam clicked. “Does it state how long the debuff lasts?”

“It’s a thirty second debuff,” Roman responded.

“That’s not great, but it’s not too bad,” Liam muttered. “Not much we can do right now. Keep firing your spells! Defenders, try to block those attacks if you can see them coming.”

The four complied as they chanted again and shot their spells. This time all five attacks slammed into the creature causing it to stop its progress. It then let out a high pitch shrill causing everyone to place their hands over their ears.

After the sound died down Liam assessed the Treant again.

 

“Withered Treant. 100/150 HP. 50/80 MP.”

 

Liam thought back to his knowledge on video game bosses and mini bosses. They tended to act differently than normal mobs. Usually when something like this happens the creatures did an Area of Effect attack, debuff, or something close it.

“What was that about?” Blair questioned.

“Anyone got a new debuff?” Mercer asked.

“No,” Avery and Artem said.

“Just this annoying Sap Splinter Debuff,” Ariyana stated.

“Maybe it’s just scared and is going to run awa…,” Roman started to say until two skeletons and two zombies began to crawl out of the dirt from a couple of tombstones behind the Treant.

Ariyana gave Roman a withering glare. She was about to belittle him, but Roman beat her to it by shouting out in frustrating, “I get it! I won’t say anything anymore!”

“Crap!” Liam cursed.

He thought over the best plan of attack since new creatures were now added to the mix. There were two defenders, three magical wielders, and two melee damage dealers. The only strategy that came to mind was to split the defenders and the attackers to deal with the monsters while keeping the Treant distracted.

Coming to a decision he ordered, “Ariyana, Mercer, and Roman take cover behind a tree by you and then focus down one of the skeletons then move to the next.”

Liam turned to Avery and said, “Avery, you and I will take on a zombie. Blair, try to get the attention of the ones not being attacked.”

“What am I going to do?” Artem asked with a dreadful feeling starting to rise.

“Get that Treant’s attention for as long as you can,” Liam instructed as the three mages reached a tree and started their spells.

Liam and Avery rushed towards the closest Rotten Zombie.

“Uh, can I switch with Blair?” Artem gulped looking a bit unsure about facing the creature.

“No, we need you to do this. You’re the only one close to it,” Liam responded and as he started attacking the zombie.

Artem hesitated. His body twitched as he tried to figure out what to do. After a few moments he let out an irritated outburst and rushed towards the Treant. When he arrived, he stomped a foot down make a small ripple and let out a battle shout causing the creature to turn its gaze on him.

The Treant lifted one of its arms and hammered down at him.

“Ah crap,” Artem groaned as he brought his buckler up to block the attack.

The force of the impact caused the ground to shift down a bit and pain to rattle in Artem’s arms.

“Good job!” Liam called out as he and Avery took down their target.

They bolted over to the next zombie that went to strike at Blair’s side. As the creature’s hand was about to hit, Avery swung her rapier up to counter the strike.

Blair glanced over and gave a grunt of appreciation as she turned back to the skeleton and watched violet-colored balls destroy the creature.

With all four of the weaker creatures done, they turned they gaze back towards Artem and the Treant.

Liam assessed the situation again. Things looked like they were going well. They were able to bypass a point that usually took teams down. The accursed random mob attacks during boss battles. Many times, in MMORPGs, newly formed teams fall to not being able to handle these situations.   

“The debuff is gone. Our spell damage is back to full power!” Mercer informed.

Liam looked at each of the members and decided it was a good time to replenish their reserves before going back in.

“Down another Mana potion and restart the volley!” Liam shouted. “Take cover when it tries to debuff you again.”

He then looked at Blair and said, “Switch with Artem. When you’ve taken some damage let him know so he can switch back.”

“Got it!” Blair acknowledged as she rushed off.

“Avery, let’s each take a side and try to whittle it down the best we can,” Liam added.

Avery nodded as she ran to the right side of the creature dodging a spell that whizzed by her face.

“Sorry!” Mercer shouted.

Avery shrugged it off, planted her foot down, changed her direction and lunged forward with a flurry of strikes.

Liam ran to the left side, jumped, and slashed down at the side of the trunk. He switched between stabbing and slashing earning him more successful hits than misses.

After volleys of attacks hit the Treant it let out another high pitch shrill causing everyone to stop what they were doing to cover their ears.

Another group of two skeletons and zombies unearthed themselves and started for the group.

“Again?!” Avery shout with disbelief and frustration.

Confident in being able to do what they did before, Liam stated, “Repeat what we did earlier!”

He looked at Artem and Blair and added, “Artem you’re tanking the creatures we’re not attacking this time. Blair, can you handle the Treant for now?”

Blair blanched as she finished drinking a health potion. “Yeah, I got this.”

“Okay let’s go!” Liam shouted as they rushed for the incoming mob.

Like last time, Liam and the group were able to take down the additional monsters with ease.

Liam was impressed with how they were handling the situations being thrown at them. He felt like things were going well. As he thought that he shook his head and muttered to himself, “Don’t relax yet. Usually when things go well something always tends to…”

As Liam was saying this the Treant swung its thick left arm at Blair’s side.

Everyone was slow to react to the attack as it got closer to Blair who didn’t see it coming.

Before Liam could shout, Artem swiftly charged faster than he was moving before, lifted his buckler while lowering his head down, and shoulder chucked the arm.

Blair saw what was going on and got ready to help cushion the blow until a loud cracking sound echoed.

Artem’s buckler exploded into pieces as the thick arm crashed into him causing him to fly backwards, land and slid across the ground on his back.

Blair was able to handle the rest of the arm’s momentum, but it still slid her backwards a bit.

“Artem!” Ariyana shouted.

“I fucking knew it! Me and my god damn mouth,” Liam chastised himself.

The others turned their heads in his direction to see him slowly get back up.

Artem pulled out a green vial, popped it open and grimaced as he took the contents down in a single gulp. He looked at them and said, “I’m fine. Let’s take him down,”

Liam nodded as he said, “Join us in attacking then. Blair! Sorry, but you’re going to be getting hit a lot.”

“Had already planned to,” Blair grunted before letting out a battle cry.

Artem ran behind the creature and began to slash with his sword while the others unleashed attack after attack.

After a few strikes Liam noticed the roots begin to act funny. Trusting his gut he shouted, “Melee back off!”

Artem, Avery, Blair and he jumped back right as the roots spun around in a sweeping motion.

“What’s happening now?” Roman asked.

Before anyone could say anything the Treant lifted its hands up and started shaking while the roots plunged into the dirt. The four roots then surfaced and dug again reaching out farther and farther with every surface and dive.

To Liam it looked like water snakes with a long body. He then saw as one of the roots surfaced in front of a tree close to him. The root wrapped around it and gripped tightly. Liam looked at the root behind the creature and the one on the other side and noticed it was doing the same thing. He assessed the Treant and noticed what was going on.

 

“Withered Treant. 43/150 HP. 35/80 MP.”

“Withered Treant. 44/150 HP. 35/80 MP.”

“Withered Treant. 45/150 HP. 36/80 MP.”

 

“It’s sapping the life out of those trees to heal itself!” Liam shouted.

Ariyana let out a scream causing Liam to see one of the roots slithering its way towards the tree she was behind.

Liam noticed something different. It couldn’t break the ground in that direction. A thought popped up in his mind.

“Attack the roots!” Liam shouted as he rushed to the closest one. “It’s trying to heal itself from the trees. If we cut off its source, it won’t be able to do it!”

The other nodded as they turned their focus and attacks on the closest root to them.

Liam hacked and slashed as fast and hard as he could. He noticed bits and pieces of the root falling off with each successful hit. After several more attempts the root snapped in half.

The other roots did the same shortly after causing the Treant to let one final shriek before slumping over and losing all color in its eyes.

Liam felt all the tension in his body drain as he fell back and sprawled on the ground, panting. He gulped as much air as he could while sweat poured down his head. He pulled his goggles off his head and kept them in his grip.

“What…the…hell,” Artem said as he was hunched over with his hands on his knees.

“I thought…you said…only…skeletons and…zombies,” Blair commented as she rested on her knees with her head facing down and her buckler holding her up.

“That’s what…I was…going to…say,” Avery agreed.

Mercer stood with his back against the tree he took cover at. As he panted, he replied, "That’s what…I got…for info.”

“I think…you need…a refund…back,” Liam stated.

“I agree,” Ariyana said as she fanned herself while sitting on her behind and looked at the others.

Liam felt his heart start to slow down and his breathing evening out. He took one more long breath and released it. As he released it, he let out a chuckle.

The others looked at him with concern.

“We did it!” Liam laughed as he raised a fist to the air. “We overcame that!”

The others looked at each other before letting out a small laugh themselves.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Aryana said.

“Good job guys,” Avery slow clapped as she stood.

“Good job to Artem for the bull rush he did to shield Blair!” Liam shouted. “What skill was that? I didn’t think you could move that fast.”

Artem looked sheepish as he placed a hand behind his head and rubbed it. “It’s actually called Rush. For a certain distance I can build momentum by running a bit faster than usual and rush into enemies.”

“You used a bulldoze move to counter a heavy strike?” Roman questioned. “Damn, that’s some thinking on your part.”

“I didn’t think you had it in you,” Blair commented as she looked at him.

“I wasn’t really thinking. I just…reacted,” Artem replied as he looked down.

“Either way,” Blair started before giving a slight smile. “Thank you.”

“Speaking of thinking,” Mercer began. “Good job with those easy and quick instructions Liam.”

“Yeah, were you a commander or something in your old world?” Blair asked.

“Nah,” Liam said as he stood up.

“Then how were you able to come up with a strategy like that?” Ariyana questioned.

“Video games. Specifically,” Liam placed his hands on his hip in a pose-like stance. “MMORPGs.”

The others stared at him in silence for what felt like a long minute.

“I don’t know what that is,” Avery stated breaking the awkward silence. “I don’t think the others do too.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Liam replied as sounds of a bell chime echoed several times in his mind. “Oh, looks like some things leveled up.”

The others looked like they were staring at something as well when notification messages appeared in front of Liam.

 

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Dexterity Sub-stat Reflex has reached level 6.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Dexterity Sub-stat Speed has reached level 7.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Dexterity Sub-stat Speed has reached level 8.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Dexterity Sub-stat Speed has reached level 9.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Endurance Sub-stat Stamina Endurance has reached level 9.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Strength Sub-stat Power has reached level 9.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Strength Sub-stat Body Strength has reached level 4.”

“Congratulations! Body Attribute Strength Sub-stat Body Strength has reached level 5.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Intelligence Sub-stat Perception has reached level 11.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Intelligence Sub-stat Perception has reached level 12.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Intelligence Sub-stat Perception has reached level 13.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Wisdom Sub-stat Magic Practicality has reached level 6.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Wisdom Sub-stat Magic Practicality has reached level 7.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Wisdom Sub-stat Physical Practicality has reached level 2.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Wisdom Sub-stat Physical Practicality has reached level 3.”

“Congratulations! Mind Attribute Wisdom Sub-stat Physical Practicality has reached level 4.”

“Congratulations! Spirit Attribute Luck Sub-stat Lucky Break has reached level 7.”

“Congratulations! Spirit Attribute Luck Sub-stat Lucky Soul has reached level 9.”

“Congratulations! Spirit Attribute Will Sub-stat Will Power has reached level 10. It is now 2.5% harder to shake your determination when faced with a difficult obstacle.”

“Congratulations! Class Ability Harvest has reached level 4!”

“Congratulations! Class Ability Item Understandance has reached level 2!”

“Congratulations! Class Ability Item Understandance has reached level 3!”

“Congratulations! Class Ability Item Understandance has reached level 4!”

“Congratulations! Gathering Craft Herbalism has reached level 2!”

“Congratulations! Gathering Craft Herbalism has reached level 3!”

“Congratulations! Gathering Craft Herbalism has reached level 4!”

“Congratulations! Weapon skills – Daggers has reached level 3!”

“Congratulations! Weapon skills – Daggers has reached level 4!”

 

Liam let out a short whistle. “Those are some level ups.”

“Sweet! I gained a personal level and a half along with some stat level ups,” Ariyana squealed with excitement. “I got my Magic Practicality and my Knowledge Theory Exordium Arcanum up to level ten. Now I can start on my Field of the Charmed class magic when we get back.”

“Same here,” Mercer said with a smile. “Field of the Bard can now be explored.”

“I can start my Field of the Elements now as well,” Roman chimed in.

“Congrats guys,” Blair said to them as she was looked at her gains.

Liam looked back at his notifications and noticed he didn’t receive a personal level up. He then thought to himself, Why didn’t I get a level in that, but the others did?

He pulled up his personal Character Sheet and tried to find where the experience or progression for the next level, but couldn’t find one.

What the hell? Where is my exp or progression bar? Do I not have one? Liam thought as he started to worry. Is this because of what’s going on with my stuff? I really need to figure out what’s going there.

He walked towards the Withered Treant and said, “Let’s loot these guys before they disappear.”

“Good idea,” Mercer agreed as he rubbed his hands together and touched the pile of bones next to him. After a second, he frowned. He touched the bones again. His frown deepened as he muttered, “Why isn’t it working?”

“What’s not working?” Liam asked as he stopped and looked at him.

“These skeletons can’t be looted,” Mercer replied.