by Phoenix Grey
Within seconds, she was setting down the tankards and rushing towards them. The dozen or so eyes that had been staring at them turned back to their business, though the joy that had previously occupied the tavern seemed to fade with their presence, loud voices turning to whispers as they undoubtedly talked shit about Uden.
“Well there ye are. I n't think eyed see ya round these parts fer a while,” the woman said to them in an accent somewhere between Irish and something crude. Considering how heavy it was, Azure could only assume she wasn't from 'these parts.'
Lonnell placed his hands on her shoulders, obviously elated to see her. Love shown in his eyes. It reminded Azure of how he used to look at Shiela before everything went to hell. “We came into town to get supplies for a quest we're going on.”
“A quest?” She seemed alarmed by the news.
“Yes. The three of us are going to visit Baremire to see if we can speak to the Tree Queen and find the source of the curse.”
Bronna gasped. “But that's so dangurous.”
“It's necessary.” He rubbed her shoulders before turning to his companions. “Please excuse my rudeness. This is Azure. Azure, this is Bronna.”
“Pleased to meetcha.” She pulled out of Lonnell's grasp and extended a limp hand to him. Azure wasn't sure if he was supposed to kiss it or shake it, but he decided to shake it.
“The pleasure is all mine.” He offered her a soft smile.
“I'm going to the bar to get a drink,” Uden said in irritation, obviously not wanting to show any kindness towards the small woman. “Let's leave these lovebirds alone.” He nodded towards the bar, urging Azure to come along.
Doubting that he'd glean anything useful from the conversation between the odd couple, Azure decided to follow Uden. They pulled up two bar stools, but the bartender paid them no mind despite only having two other customers seated before him. It quickly became apparent that he was more likely to give them trouble than a stiff drink.
“Wow. They really do hate you around here,” Azure noted.
“It's bullshit.” Uden slammed his fist on the table, trying to get the bartender's attention. “Paying customers down here!”
The bartender's neck snapped in their direction. “You're not welcome here!”
Uden rolled his eyes, resting his arm on the bar top. “Oh, come on, Leland.”
The bartender pointed a thin boney finger at him. “Don't you 'Come on, Leland' me, boy. I know what you are. Hiding amongst us all this time just waiting to strike.”
Holy shit! That escalated quickly.
Though annoyance flashed in his eyes, Uden maintained a calm composure. “If I had any plans of striking, don't you think I would have done it years ago?”
“Every nasty little thing you've done in the past has just led up to your grand plan,” the bartender accused. Azure wondered if the man knew what he was up against. Had he seen Uden in action, he might not be so quick to point a finger.
The bartender Analyzed as an even match for Azure, which meant he probably wasn't a fighter. That could have been gleaned just from looking at him. The man wasn't threatening at all with his beanpole physique, cul-de-sac of wispy dark hair, and handlebar mustache that was waxed at the tips. Even if he could fight, he'd likely be no match for the half-imp.
“Are you really going to hold all of that against me?” Uden waved the past away.
“What exactly did you do to him?” Azure leaned over to whisper.
“Well,” his eyes rolled up, and an air of amusement took over his expression, “I may have sneaked into his storeroom one time and emptied his vodka bottles, replacing it all with water. I also may have torn down all of the decorations and hammered the doors to all of the shops shut in the middle of the night before Celebration of Bounties Day last year. And then there was that time that I led the cows into Leland's barley field and let them eat all of his crops.”
Leland slapped his palms on the bar in exasperation. “You did that?!”
With a guiltless smirk, Uden shrugged. “Oops. I guess you didn't know about that one.”
Oh, God. No wonder everyone thought he was the cause of the curse. Uden was nothing but trouble. Now, Azure wasn't even sure. Maybe this quest they were going on was just going to loop back to him being the source in the end.
Pointing at the door, Leland practically shouted, “Get out!”
“Suit yourself.” Uden pushed himself off of the bar stool, pleased that he had riled up the bartender.
Unfortunately, Leland wasn't the only one he'd manage to antagonize. Almost as soon as he began moving toward the door, some of the bar patrons stood to go block them from leaving. Seeing this, Lonnell abandoned his conversation with Bronna to come to the rescue.
“You will undo this curse on our land, or we'll undo you!” one of the men threatened.
They were all older, taller, broader. Most likely other farmers from around the area. Azure suddenly realized that the idea of getting into a bar fight with the men wasn't so exciting after all. With the numbers on the side of the townspeople, the outcome didn't look good for them.
“I didn't curse this wretched land,” Uden insisted, his nostrils flaring. “You people seem to forget that this place is my home just as much as it's yours.”
“That's bullshit,” another of the men said. “We know you're not really Mahnan's son. Some demon dropped you off to plague our land. A clever plan. I'm just surprised none of us saw it until now.”
“Watch your tongue unless you want to lose it.” Uden drew his shiny new dagger.
Should I reach for my bow? I'm not sure how much good I'll be in a close quarters fight like this.
Now more than ever, he wished he had sold his dark sprite wings and used the money to buy a blade. Uden couldn't possibly take on all of these guys on his own, but it looked like he was ready to try. How many would he be able to kill before they took him down?
Acting as a human shield, Lonnell put himself between the men and his brother, holding his arms out. “That's enough! My brother had nothing to do with the curse. In fact, we were just on our way to find the source. All of us,” he emphasized.
“That's more than can be said for any of you.” Uden pushed past him, and to Azure's surprise, all of the men, as he headed for the door. Though before he walked out, he made sure to toss back, “I should just let this place burn.”
Wow. For being a small guy, Uden's got some huge balls.
Azure was admittedly impressed by how brazen the half-imp was in such an unfavorable situation. How he'd managed to escape without at least getting his ass kicked was a miracle.
Lonnell seemed to deflate as soon as his brother was gone. “I apologize for him. He hasn't taken kindly to being falsely accused.”
“Is he being falsely accused?” One of the men gave him an earnest look. Their faces showed a variety of emotions. Guilt. Anger. The ones behind the man grumbled to each other, debating on whether or not to go after Uden, talking about how he had to be the source of the curse because nothing else made sense.
“He is,” Lonnell insisted with all the confidence of a loyal brother. “The imp blood running through his veins has caused him to do a lot of childish things, but he would never purposely try to run us all from our homes. You must remember that we are just as affected by this as all of you. Uden has to deal with the effects of the curse just as much as any of us. He and our new friend here spent all of yesterday afternoon trying to stop the dark sprites from destroying our garden.
"We will figure out what's causing this and we will stop it. I will not rest until my brother's name is cleared.” He began to brush past the angry crowd.
“And if it's not?” the man asked, stopping Lonnell in his tracks. “If it turns out that your brother is the source of all of this?”
A heavy breath passed Lonnell's lips before he said, “Then he will be brought to justice.”
“We will kill him,” another man said unabashedly. “It's the justice he deserves for all of t
he destruction he's caused. The only good imp is a dead imp.”
Tension flowed through every cell in Azure's body. Those were definitely fighting words, threatening to kill someone's brother. He wholly expected Lonnell to have a retort, but he merely paused for a moment before pressing on, leaving the men behind and forcing Azure to follow.
The air was lighter outside of the tavern, but not by much. It took a moment for them to locate Uden standing back over at Ruthren's stall chatting with him. His visage suggested that he was unaffected by what had taken place inside the tavern, but Azure knew it must be weighing on him.
“You just couldn't hold your tongue, could you?” Lonnell chastised his brother as they approached.
“Hey. All I wanted was a drink.” Uden held his hands up. “But this is really all on you, brother,” he said bitterly. “I had told you I didn't want to go in there. You were the one who had insisted everything would be all right.” Uden huffed. “Like they would magically accept me just because you were there. Things don't work that way. You're so naive sometimes.”
“It would have been fine if you hadn't antagonized them,” Lonnell insisted.
Bobbing his head, Uden said, “Ah yes. Forgive me. I forgot that I'm just supposed to stand there and take it when they wrongly accuse me of things.”
“You two squabble like children.” Ruthren rolled his eyes at the pair. “The best thing for Uden to do is leave the island. They won't accuse him if he's not here.”
Uden gestured to Ruthren as if he was the only one making sense. “Perhaps you should tell that to my moron of a father. Obviously, he cares more about his stupid fucking farm than my well-being.”
“Language!” Lonnell spat at him like a nun yelling at a schoolboy.
Nodding toward Azure, Uden said, “He doesn't care.”
“Perhaps not, but I do.”
Shaking his head, Ruthren chuckled. “Two siblings couldn't be more different.”
“Then it's true what they said?” Azure piped in. “You two aren't actually related?”
“Not by blood, but we're still brothers,” Lonnell told him. “We were raised together.”
“Not to them.” Uden cast a disdainful glance in the direction of the tavern. “I was outcast from the community the moment Bronna opened her big fat mouth.”
Turning to him, Lonnell said, “I've apologized for that a million times, but I can't take back the past. Now, all that we can do is prove your innocence.”
Uden sighed, seeming to run out of things to argue about. “Let's finish purchasing what we need and head back. It's a long walk, and I'd like to sharpen my blades before our journey tomorrow.”
The three men went on to visit the various other stalls and merchants, collecting what they needed, though Azure mostly stood in the back watching as the men made purchases. It was interesting yet boring at the same time. Most of what they acquired were mundane items, like herbs that would be more difficult to find out in the field. Nothing that made Azure itch to sell his dark sprite wings, which he was grateful for.
What he did garner from the experience was knowledge of how the money system worked. Ten coppers were worth one silver, and ten silvers one gold coin. It seemed reasonably standard and basic. And based on the pricing scheme, one copper seemed worth about what one U.S. dollar would be.
Once they finished shopping, they headed back toward the farm. This time, Lonnell urged him on when they saw a rabbit hop into the clearing. Azure used his Analyze skill, then sent an arrow sailing straight into the rabbit's side. It let out a high-pitched cry before falling over, its leg twitching once before death settled in.
Critical hit! Defeated Level 1 Rabbit. 5XP rewarded.
An unexpected chiming sound immediately following the kill made Azure jump.
Congratulations! You are now Level 2! Your base stats have been boosted. You have earned 3 points to assign to your characteristics. Please note that adding points to some charactersists(Vitality, Intelligence, and Strength) will further boost your base stats. You may also advance any 1 skill of your choosing by 1 level.
While Azure was elated that he had finally leveled up, it felt a bit lame to have done it on a rabbit.
Concentrating on his stats, the familiar translucent screen popped up into Azure's field of vision.
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 2, 0% of the way to next level
Health: 110 / 110
Mana: 110 / 110
Stamina: 110 / 110
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 10
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 10
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Skills: Archery Lvl 1; 70% of the way to next level
Stealth Lvl 1; 10% of the way to the next level
Analyze Lvl 2; 40% of the way to next level
Languages: Common Tongue
Since it seemed like an easier choice, Azure first decided to focus on which skill to level. It was obvious that he used Archery and Analyze the most frequently, but he had seen from Uden's sneaking around that Stealth was also important. If he could attack his foes unaware, it would be a powerful skill. Not wanting to second guess himself, Azure made the conscious decision to level his Stealth skill and was rewarded with a notification.
Congratulations! The skill: Stealth has reached Level 2. This skill allows you to move silently about your enemies without them noticing. Attacks while in stealth mode will now deal 2% more damage.
Sweet! Another perk.
That helped to validate Azure's decision. He remembered Uden telling him that Analyze wouldn't earn a perk until it reached level 14. It felt like it would take forever to get there, but Azure knew he used that skill most of all. Spending his special leveling up skill upgrading ability on it probably wasn't necessary.
A more difficult choice was deciding where to allocate the three points he had earned. While he had played many games before, and most of the stats were rudimentary, he still wanted a better idea of what each one would increase before allocating his points. Concentrating on the stats individually brought up a new screen defining each one.
Vitality – Your life force. Allocating a point to this stat will increase your Health by 10 points. Affects your resistance to poison and elements. Also affects the rate of natural Health regeneration without the aid of potions.
Intelligence – How smart you are. Allocating a point to this stat will increase your Mana by 10 points. Affects your resistance to spells and magical items. Also affects the rate of natural Mana regeneration without the aid of potions.
Strength – What you're made of. Allocating a point to this stat will increase your Stamina by 10 points. Affects the amount of damage done when wielding all manner of weapons and the amount of weight you are able to carry. Also affects the rate of natural Stamina regeneration without the aid of potions.
Agility – Your ability to move quickly and easily. Affects your movement speed while both stealthed and unstealthed, your speed with weapons, and your ability to dodge attacks.
Dexterity – Hand-eye coordination. Improves your accuracy with weapons.
Charisma – How cunning you are. Affects your ability to strike up conversations with difficult or secretive people. Also increases your powers of manipulation. Depending on your level, will open up quests that would otherwise be unavailable.
Luck – Are you feeling lucky? Helps to favorably turn the tides for you in sticky situations. Depending on your level, will lead to improved loot drop rates and item quality.
That cleared things up quite a bit. Considering that Azure didn't currently have any spells, increasing his Intelligence didn't seem particularly important at the moment. One thing that Azure knew for certain was that he wanted to increase his health, so he decided to stick a point in Vitality. Agility and Dexterity would improve his archery skill, so he decided to allocate his other two points there.
Satisfied with his selecti
ons, Azure closed his stats, continuing on with a smile on his face.
Almost as if it were a bonus, he was able to kill one more rabbit before they made it back to the farm. Azure handed the two dead rabbits over to Meva upon their return, and she promised to give him the pelts once she had skinned and tanned them so that he'd have something to sell at the market next time they went.
They supped on rabbit stew that night. It filled Azure with pride to contribute to the family that had taken him in. Surprisingly, no words were spoken at dinner about what had happened in the tavern.
Once the meal was over, Lonnell followed Azure outside, asking him to wait while he dug into his bag of holding. Extracting the book he had purchased earlier, he promptly offered it to Azure. “Here. Uden and I both already know how to speak Sprite. You'll need this if we're able to get an audience with the Tree Queen.”
Taking the book, Azure gave him a look of appreciation. “Thank you. I will make good use of this.”
A notification popped up.
You have received the following item:
Book: Speaking Sprite for Idiots
Quantity: 1
Durability: 1/1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.1 kg
Uses: Language Skills
The thought of having homework wasn't exactly appealing, but Azure knew it was a necessary evil. Learning languages was a part of almost every virtual reality MMORPG he'd played in the past. Why should this one be any different?
