Omega was quickly on the mend and was soon up and moving around and a collective breath the group had been holding released now that he was back to normal. They had several hours to wait before their reinforcements arrived so Mal’s group moved a safe distance away from the cave entrance to get some training done here in the wild.

Alison paired off with Mal and they did some mock duels under the strict gaze of Omega who critiqued both their techniques, in the attempt to improve them. Taliah practiced her spells off to the side and strange root patterns took shape lashing out trying to catch Nena, her pet hog. Nena seemed to enjoy the game of tag and even charged at the root formations from time to time smashing them to bits with her sharp tusks before she could get tangled up in the trap.

Mal found it strange that he was so good with a blade ever since he had gained the skill swordsmanship and leveled it up. He was what? He paused to check…..lvl 7 in the skill now so that put him on par with an Olympic level fencer from back in the real world. Moves that would have taken him years to learn the old fashioned way were imparted to him by the game itself just from a simple instruction by Omega or figuring moves out himself. Improvisation in life or death situations had given Mal a fairly decent grasp of the combat but he didn’t really have a style or definitive plan with his swordsmanship. Many times Mal relied on brute strength and overwhelming his opponent but that would mean nothing if he came up against a stronger enemy who could withstand his attacks. A mentor greater than Omega on this front may be called for he thought in one of their breaks in dueling.

Alison had pointers for him as well but her thin rapier and Mal’s heavy longsword were two totally different instruments of death. Mal’s called for much more strength to land heavy blows where Alison’s was more delicate and required a deft touch. In their duels Alison had a decided advantage because they only tried to tap each other with the flat of their blades so Mal’s main power of strength and the spell Mana Blade were negated. It would be foolish to accidently sever Alison’s slim arm from her body which is a move Mal would definitely attempt against a real foe.

Mal found there was a certain synergy between some skills like Swordsmanship and Blocking going hand in hand. Blending these together caused some of his small victories over Alison and Mal was surprised to learn two new class skills in their couple hours of training.

Congratulations you have learned the skill Shield Bash, A defense is also an offense and a perfectly timed bash can lead to gaining the upper hand

Mal had learned this one again by improvisation when Alison had leaned in close to harry him with her dagger hand of her dual wield. Mal had naturally used his shield bash to gain room for his swordwork. Mal had several small cuts, that may have been prevented it seemed to Mal, for his efforts since Alison did not appreciate the bloody nose. This all led to the next skill Mal learned:

Congratulations you have learned the skill Shield Rush, Like a battering ram you can be adventurer!

Mal had rushed Alison with his shield lowered and he was able to put his strength behind it without fear of harming her too badly. Knocking her on her ass when his shield rush clipped her shoulder put an end to the 1000 papercut death she seemed to be going for with her flurry of blows skill. They took a long break after that particular sequence.

The synergy of his class skills was amazing to Mal, he intuitively knew what to do almost as an instinct. The class skills this was much more apparent than even say Survival, Herbalism, and Hunting skills working together in the wild to show where food could be found. Mal planned to experiment triggering different skills to see which ones would synergize and give him either another a new skill or new insights.

They stopped dueling after that and Omega summoned one of his purple crystal blades showing them both ways to adjust their stances and how they handled certain attacks or counter attacks. Mal then moved into some light spellwork with Omega aiming for sharpening and hardening his Mana Blade and Mana Shield respectively. Omega was also coaching Mal on the spell theory to be able to cast both of those spells on allies within a short distance. Mal found that idea really enticing being able to boost his allies mid battle, if there were any mishaps a well timed shield could save the day. The drawbacks of these moves was it cost more mana to trigger and would probably not be as powerful like when Mal used the spells on himself. But regardless it would be useful to learn.

Alison joined Nena in the game with the roots, practicing dodging the roots from below and the vines from above in the trees reaching out for her. She jumped, dove and finally sliced up any roots or vines that got to close. She also practiced hurling her throwing knives at a target she had picked out on a nearby tree while she was in the midst of the dodging. Soon there was a cluster of throwing blades in the poor tree that was a testament to her split focus and accuracy doing both exercises at once.

Mal raised his voice in encouragement to the Mystic Musician at one point after a particularly good dodge and Alison’s response was to fling a rock right at Mal’s face. Mal reacted instinctively raising his shield and triggering Mana Shield, Mal grunted as the rock pinged away, guess she was still mad about the bloody nose.

Omega even began using some telekinesis and levitated several small rocks and launched them at Alison as a surprise. Mal didn’t like this teaming up on her but he saw the advantage. Stress and pressure was what led to growth and truly reaching new heights for oneself. When you were uncomfortable that’s when the breakthroughs and epiphanies came as with many things in life not just training for combat. If you are always comfortable than you aren’t really testing yourself. It was tough to simulate that in training but by teaming up on Alison she was moving even quicker than before and Mal heard her singing in a low tone boosting herself to meet the challenge.

Mal checked his mini map and saw that Jarl and his group had almost arrived so Mal ended the training and started a small fire. Calling Sylvester over with his large pack carrying their supplies Mal whipped up a quick stew for lunch. Taliah threw in some fresh veggies and herbs at Mal’s urging spicing up the venison meat Mal had used. Elk, rams, and deer were very plentiful here in the valley so there was no shortage of smoked or salted meat for citizens of The Keep in the Vale.

Mal took one of the several water skins Sly had strapped to him and drank deeply of the Fairy Nymph waters refreshing both himself and the timer on his buff. They didn’t have to wait long before they heard Maverick’s loud voice singing a marching tune that sounded a lot like a sea shanty.

“Not much for stealth are they.” Alison commented eliciting smiles from their group.

A few moments later Jarl’s group joined them in the clearing. He had brought his wife Paige, Maverick, Darko, and the 3 miners/prospectors. The miners weren’t really going to be of much use in the fight versus the undead. The 3 stout dwarves had no armor to speak of really and only carried lanterns, head lamps, rope, and mining pickaxes. Mal understood that they were excited to be able to get their hands on the iron mine and see what other veins of minerals or gems may be in there other than iron.

“Hiyo!” Jarl greeted the Mal’s group. “Had some trouble eh?” He said.

“Yes, but no one died so live and learn, how about some venison stew then we’ll make plans.” Ma responded.

Their impromptu campsite/training ground was soon filled with happy chatter as they all enjoyed some stew for lunch. Mal passed out hard tack from Sly’s pack to go with the meal, hardtack wasn’t the finest of delicacies but it lasted a long time and filled the belly. Plus the stew was good so it kinda offset the lack of flavor to the hardtack especially if dipped in the stew to soak up the juices.

Alison and Taliah were recounting their battle with the skeletons guarding the entrance to the mine. Mal chimed in here and there but let the women mainly tell the tale. Maverick slapped Omega on the back complimenting him on pulling through such a grievous injury and Omega redirected the praise to Taliah who had pretty much saved his life. The druid blushed under the attention but stated nature magic was very much a magic of life and healing as much as destroying.

Finishing their meal, the strategic minded Darko got their attention and laid the groundwork for how he thought they should approach the challenge ahead.

“Mal, Jarl, and Maverick should be the frontline to engage the undead with their heavier armor and melee capabilities. Paige, Taliah, and Omega are the backline and provide magic support in healing, buffs and damage. Alison and I will roam in stealth and attempt to inflict critical damage where we can. Sylvester and Nena held in reserve for any surprises and to help protect the back line. Am I making good sense?” Darko said a little bit tentatively and shyly.

“Aye friend! Undead are my speciality as a Paladin, only a holy priest could make them feel fear more than my righteous aura. We’ll carve the nasty things up make no doubt.” Maverick said supporting his friend Darko who smiled at him.

“Yeah, I agree, good plan Darko.” Mal said. “So shall we get started? Well one thing who will be our scout? Alison what’s your stealth skill at? And yours Darko?”

“Mine’s at level 15.” Darko said surprising Mal at having such a high skill level.

“That’s much higher than mine, looks like tag your it Darko.” Alison said cheerfully.

“Let’s go then! Darko go on ahead if you would please.” Mal said taking charge.

Darko trotted off with fast jog and the rest of the newly enlarged group prepared to move out. The miner’s started rolling some dice by the campfire and wished them luck.

The adventuring party soon was standing before the cave entrance and the group got serious in a hurry. Mal distributed extra mana, health, and stamina potions to those who needed them as everyone did a final check on their gear.

They received a message from Darko in party chat: First chamber with enemies 100 feet inside, 2 Melee, 1 Archer, some Skeletons in side chambers may be an issue. Attack when ready.

Omega cast some spells on the group to light the way that floated around them like small wisps of fire as they moved into the dark mines. Maverick blessed his war mace so it gave off a golden glow all of it’s own. The shadows leapt and danced around the adventurers as they headed deeper in but with Darko previously scouting they knew right where they were going.

The first encounter was a piece of cake, they carved up the skeletons because they had such a number advantage over them. Jarl, Maverick, and Mal each engaged one and probably could have solo’d them but the added support quickly overwhelmed the foul undead. With spells raining down and stealthed blades appearing at the right time, it was a slaughter. Even when extra skeletons came from the side chambers they had already dispatched the original 3 and the front line warriors turned and engaged these newcomers.

The spell casters in turn melted the faces off these reinforcement skeletons. Taliah and Omega used their usual tricks with Omega sticking to fire spells for now even though he was a Dynamic Mage and could change on a whim. Fire was typically the most damage especially for undead. Paige used Earth and Water magic, hurling boulders as if it was nothing and causing waves of water to appear knocking skeletons over only to have the water dissipate after the blow.

Water magic also had a healing and restoring component to it so Paige joined in the healing duties with Taliah on any party members who took damage. All in all, even though it was the first time fighting together they were all veterans of many battles and the party all blended together like a well oiled machine of death.

Darko quickly moved ahead to scout the next group while Paige and Alison saw to any loot the Skeletons may have had on them worth taking, stowing it in Sly’s pack. The rest of the group readied their weapons and restored health or stamina or mana waiting for the next engagement.

This became their routine as they mowed through the undead like a buzzsaw.

Mal was super excited with how well it was all going. Between Alison’s songs, Maverick’s blessings or auras, and Jarl’s warcry constantly affecting the group it felt like to Mal he was high on cocaine or something. It was heady stuff with the combination of natural battle lust for Mal.

Adding to this euphoric feeling was the massive amount of XP they were all getting. Mal was already near to level 10 before they started and soon hit that one. Then after roughly 2 hours of clearing out all the undead Mal was surprised to see level 11 hit as well. He minimized all the notifications focusing on the task at hand and he would deal with that later but he did see some strange windows popping up with his level up he hadn’t seen before. Little time for that however when he was hacking undead to smithereens.

After some time Darko reported a problem. The undead were retreating to what Darko guessed was the boss chamber all gathering and congregating there rather than being picked off by the group as they had been for the last couple hours.

They set up a short distance from the large cavern that was the boss chamber and Darko scouted ahead yet again. He was gone for much longer than he usually was scouting this time.

“I sense a great many a da foul beasties ahead.” Taliah said ominously.

Maverick was pacing like a caged animal with his close dear friend in the chamber with so many undead surrounding him. His nervous and violent energy was leaking off him and effecting everyone else. Soon they were all wound up tight as a drum ready to burst.