“Okay, we’ll go to the villa first and check out what loot they’ve got,” said Henk, all businesslike. “Then we’ll launch the attack.”
“We’ll need to just drop into the storehouse to get the grenades,” Argo added. “I nearly forgot.”
“Okay, well, lead the way then, Argo. Oh, and before we forget… here’s your new lute. The party-wide heal from Medley will be hella useful if we end up having to fight our way out.”
Argo brimmed with pleasure as he received the instrument, studying it intently.
Pinewood Lira
A three-stringed instrument that allows its user to play simple songs (limited to novice songs)
Durability 300/300
The simple pinewood instrument was a far cry from the enchanted Lute of Decimar, but it was still handy for a Level 1 Bard like himself. He could at the very least play Medley on it, restoring the party’s HP by 1 every 5 seconds. He set aside his short sword, reserving it as a backup weapon, and carried the instrument in his hands.
He would be playing the simplistic tune if they would ever figure into combat, but he didn’t really care that much at this point.
In all the quests he’d taken part in with the Manticore Crew, he’d never played a prominent role. He’d always been in the background, providing support, even during the Blight Cube quest which had ended in disaster. This role as Spy, however, changed everything. He not only provided useful information that would make this raid possible in the first place, he did so using his acting ability. He walked in the shoes of an orc, and he achieved that feat without rousing suspicion.
It was a good start.
He nodded to Henk, signaling his readiness, and followed the Crew as they made their way along the perimeter of the compound. They had only got a short way when the angry screeching of a buzzard split the air.
Argo turned as Srev, the huge vulture, lunged at him. He raised his hands to protect his face, not quite succeeding.
Srev the Sickly uses Avian Ambush! It deals 3 damage to Argo, knocking him down in the process!
As Argo fell, Henk brought up his broadsword to catch the bird in an upward stroke, but Srev flapped its massive wings to evade the attack. Aaheli nocked an arrow and fired it at the buzzard’s chest, but the projectile missed narrowly as Srev banked sharply to the side and flew up towards the wall. It let out a shriek that echoed around the compound.
“Get up!” the rough guttural voice of Urzug called out. “Get up, you miserable lice! We’re being attacked!”
Alarm has been raised in the Scourgesicker Encampment!
“So much for a quick and quiet looting run,” grumbled Kip the Mage, who eyed Argo with disdain. “Way to go, Argo.”
Argo didn’t even register Kip’s words as he was too busy staring at the huge Orc Reaver running among the slumped figures of his bandits, slapping and kicking them awake. Many of them stayed where they lay, likely knocked out by the combination of alcohol and sleeping drug, but quite a few of them began to stir awake. Urzug grabbed one of the orcs by his tunic and shook him hard.
“Get up! Get up! Kill them!”
The troll that Argo had almost fallen over suddenly sat up and looked over at the Manticore Crew. He realized what was going on and lurched to his feet, struggling with the mace at his belt while struggling with intoxication too. Letting out a bellowing roar, he came lumbering forward, meaning to smash out Henk’s brains with his weapon.
Scourgesicker Troll
Level
04
Health
300
Stamina
01/20
Spotting the threat, Henk fell back as the monster came at him. Brier surged forward and brought up his battle-axe to block the attack. Their two weapons clashed in a shower of sparks and Brier used his great strength to push the troll backwards.
Scourgesicker Troll uses Intimidating Roar!
The monster’s roar unbalanced the Manticore Crew, causing them to take a step back. Argo, with his low stats, was hit the hardest and froze for a second. Henk and Brier, however, recovered quickly—their high Constitution and Willpower levels rallying them up. The troll focused on Brier for payback, but the gnoll Mercenary countered the attack and slashed out with his weapon, burying the axe blade into the troll’s left shoulder and taking 15 points off.
15 down, 285 left to go.
Argo glanced nervously at his teammates, worried about whether they could kill the troll fast enough to avoid getting swarmed by the other orcs in the camp.
The troll howled and punched Brier in the temple, knocking the gnoll to the side and causing him to drop his weapon. Clutching at the battle-axe, the monster pulled it out of its flesh and threw it to the ground.
Then, the troll bore down on Brier, meaning to deliver a killing blow with his mace. But Aaheli fired off a couple of arrows that hit the troll in the chest—buying Brier enough time to get to his feet again. When he did, he snatched up his battle-axe and delivered a flurry of swinging blows in quick succession, chopping at the troll like a lumberjack cutting down a tree.
Brier uses Frenzied Cleaves!
First Cleave lands true, dealing 5 slash damage and 5 blunt damage!
Second Cleave lands true, dealing 5 slash damage and 5 blunt damage!
Third Cleave lands true, dealing 5 slash damage and 5 blunt damage!
Fourth Cleave lands true, dealing 5 slash damage and 5 blunt damage!
Fifth Cleave lands true, dealing 5 slash damage and 5 blunt damage!
All five Cleave hits connect, stunning the Scourgesicker Troll!
With their foe stunned, the rest of the Manticore Crew unleashed with everything they had—aiming at the troll’s exposed neck and head.
Henk slashes with his broadsword… weak point struck! Critical damage registered for a total of 20 damage!
Sonya uses Backstab! The attack strikes a weak point, dealing 80 critical damage!
Kip casts Fireball! The spell lands, dealing 10 fire damage! Scourgesicker Troll’s vulnerability to fire doubles the damage from Fireball, receiving a total of 20 damage!
Aaheli’s arrow strikes the head, a critical weak point, dealing 16 critical damage!
Aaheli’s arrow strikes the head, a critical weak point, dealing 16 critical damage!
The monster hemorrhaged HP as the Crew continued whaling on it, eventually falling dead in a few more seconds. Henk and Brier stepped in at the same time to absorb the 60 XP orb, splitting 30 experience points between the two of them.
Argo breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that the troll had such low stamina from being intoxicated. Slow movement, telegraphed attacks and vulnerability to chain stuns—the battle would have been much harder with the troll in top fighting condition.
They were not out of trouble yet, though. Six more orcs roused by Urzug and not completely wasted by the drugged ale came lumbering forward. Like the troll, their movements were slow and clumsy. Like the troll, they were still as deadly despite their inebriated state.
This made the battle far more difficult for the Manticore Crew, having to deal with six orcs at a time.
Henk bellows out a Challenge! Three Orc Grunts take him up on his offer!
Brier bellows out a Challenge! One Orc Grunt accepts!
Henk pulled out a shield from his ghost pack, switching from a hard-hitting two-handed stance to a much more defensive sword-and-shield position. His class as a Paladin allowed him to pull more threat toward himself, which was why his Challenge attracted three monsters while Brier only managed to catch one.
The fifth orc turned its attention to Sonya, who activated Finesse to greatly increase her evasion rate. She danced this way and that, trash-talking the Orc Grunt to keep its focus on her for as long as possible.
The sixth grunt, however, s
et its sights squarely on Argo. It charged straight at him, meaning to slice open his chest from navel to sternum. The bardic Spy froze in fear, realizing only too late that he had been standing a little too close to the action. He instinctively recoiled in a panic-driven attempt to get away from his attacker. His measly 15 health points might be enough to absorb a glancing blow, but a full-on hit from a drunk, pissed-off orc? One hit might be all it needed!
Aaheli uses Longshot! It strikes true, dealing 8 damage!
Kip casts Fireball! The spell lands, dealing 10 fire damage!
The Orc Grunt growled and bellowed, turning around to face its tormentors. Aaheli stepped forward, lowering her bow and drawing a dagger of her own. Rangers weren’t as evasive as Rogues like Sonya, but her high Dexterity values could at least help her parry and dodge blows better than Kip the Mage.
Argo sighed in relief, nodding his thanks.
“Argo!” shouted Henk, blocking an orcish axe with his shield and following up with a thrust to the monster’s leg. “Those heals would be very nice just about now!” Henk would have wanted to drive the blade in to connect, but the two other orcs piled in on him with wild attacks of their own.
Argo snapped out of his reverie, remembering his role in the Crew. He nodded grimly to himself, pulling back even further away from the fighting. He slung the lute’s strap around his shoulder, pressed the body to his abdomen and pulled the neck to his shoulder. He inhaled once to steady himself, and prepared to play the only song he had access to at his level.
Select Song to play…
Medley
All party members recover 1 HP every 5 seconds
Selected Medley… confirm when ready
Confirmed. Begin playing Medley…
The plucky little melody was simple and straightforward—nothing more than a 16-note canon akin to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Argo didn’t even need to close his eyes to focus, to narrow down his attention to the essence of his song. Which was good, considering that this was an active battle and he needed to keep his wits about him.
First Round—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP
Second Round—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP
Third Round—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP
Song completed—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP… repeating from the First Round…
Argo continued plucking away at his lute, gradually regenerating the health of his party mates as they fought on. It wasn’t much, especially for Henk who was taking a whacking from his three pulls. He didn’t even have enough time to grab a health potion from his belt, chug it down. He could focus solely on defense, blocking strikes with his shield and keeping his opponents unbalanced with feints from his sword.
Argo’s heals, however, were enough to sustain Henk as the others fought against their own opponents. Brier’s gnollish Rage allowed him to deal ridiculous amounts of damage, quickly dispatching his adversary before turning to help Aaheli and Kip with their pull. They made quick work of their orc as they turned to Sonya, who managed to evade all but two strikes from her enemy.
First Round—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP
Second Round—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP
Third Round—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP
Song completed—100% accurate; party Healed 1 HP… repeating from the First Round…
Argo continued plucking along with his song, as the rest of the Manticore Crew turned to back their battered Paladin up. Sonya’s Backstabs, Brier’s Frenzied Cleaves, Aaheli’s Longshots, Kip’s Firebolts and Energy Bolts… they threw everything they had at Henk’s tormentors. Brier even managed to pull threat away from Henk long enough for the Paladin to drink a health potion, let his health points crawl back up before roaring another Challenge.
The Manticore Crew soon dispatched their six Orc Grunt opponents, Sonya felling the final Grunt with a Backstab to the heart. Argo continued strumming away with his Pinewood Lira, helping recover the party’s health points as they absorbed experience orbs.
“Hey Argo, get over here. This one’s all yours—as thanks for keeping me alive back there.”
Henk’s invitation caught Argo by surprise. The others normally sucked up experience orbs like there’s no tomorrow. For them to leave an orb for him like this… he couldn’t help but enjoy the warm, fuzzy feeling welling up from his chest.
So this is what it feels like to be useful, Argo said to himself as he drank in the wide grins of his party mates. Except for Kip; the Mage’s sour expression spoke volumes about what he no doubt thought was wasted experience.
Absorbed 30 experience points (62/100 XP, 38 XP to next level)
Over at the feasting area, the chieftain was busy trying to rouse more orcs from their stupor. Most didn’t really know what was going on and simply staggered around in drunken confusion, holding their weapons up only for show.
This gave time for the Manticore Crew to pull off their little distraction.
“A bit earlier than we wanted,” grumbled Henk, “but we’ve got no choice. Sonya!”
“Aye… way ahead of you, boss-man.”
Sonia produced an oilfire bomb from her ghost pack and lit the fuse. As the fuse crackled brightly, she hurled the bomb at one of the nearby hovels. The shoddy materials it was constructed from were easily flammable, and soon turned into a raging inferno. The fire quickly spread to the hovel next to it and added to the confusion of the whole situation.
Henk slapped Argo on the shoulder. “Come on, Argo. Lead the way to those acid grenades you mentioned earlier.”
They hurried across the compound, Argo darting inside the storehouse to retrieve the crate containing the grenades. When he came out of the building again, the Manticore Crew ended up clashing with a smaller group of four orcs.
The Crew didn’t allow themselves to be caught out in the open this time. Henk, Brier and Sonya pressured their opponents, forcing them to fight with a burning hovel behind their back. Kip hurled a volley of Energy Bolts at the monsters, which did less damage than Fireballs but fired off much faster, with each bolt running a chance for a weak knockback. Aaheli likewise nocked Blunt Arrows, which dealt only half the damage of regular arrows but unbalanced their targets.
The party eventually shoved their enemies into the burning hovel, letting the flames do the killing for them.
“I got the grenades!” Argo shouted breathlessly once the battle was done, waiting for the rest of the Crew to suck up the experience orbs.
“Hold!” Henk commanded, preventing Sonya and Brier from absorbing the XP orbs. “Give the XP to Argo. He only needs 38 more experience to hit level 2, and he could use the extra XP so he can get to level 3 sooner.”
“Whaaat?” whined Brier. Sonya nearly mimicked him but held her tongue when she saw Henk’s firm expression.
“We need more heals from our Bard! Or do you want to keep dying and losing money on gold drops and equipment repairs if you can’t chug down a health potion in time?”
Brier grumbled at that before grudgingly stepping back, narrowing his eyes at Argo.
“Go ahead, Arg,” Henk gestured with a wave. “And hurry up. The bandits are getting more organized with each passing second.”
Argo hesitated for a few more moments, clutching the box of grenades close to his chest, before stepping up.
Absorbed 120 experience points (182/100 XP)
You have enough experience to advance to the next level! Sleep in a safe zone to level up!
“Great!” Aaheli said, glancing nervously at an approaching band of Orc Grunts. “Let’s go!”
They rushed ahead into the stone house while Sonia hurled three more oilfire bombs behind them. More hovels caught fire, their pursuers scattered by the raging blaze. Soon enough, the entire Scourgesicker Encampment was engulfed in dancing flames, with orcs and trolls running around in alarm. Gl
owing smoke stained the night sky, tinting everything in an orange haze.
“I think these bombs are a little bit more powerful than I thought,” Sonia noted as the storehouse was engulfed in flames. “I hope we can get out of here in one piece.”
“All the more reason to get the loot and bail,” Henk exclaimed as they ran toward the stone house.
They reached the house without incident, and found the main doors wide open. They all rushed in now, abandoning the original plan to stealthily creep into the rear kitchen door. Argo relied on his memory to make a beeline straight to Bogo’s laboratory.
Spy: Reborn Page 18
