“A few weeks, I see,” Travis pondered for a moment. “Well, we’re busier than usual, but there are still a few empty rooms. How about a week’s room and board on the house?”
I had already paid for one week’s stay and extending that to a second week might possibly manage to cover my entire time in Laurel. Even if it didn’t, it would provide me ample time to get my finances back in order before I would have to worry about getting kicked out onto the street, so I accepted his offer.
“Good!” Travis exclaimed. “Now go on and have a seat outside. I’ll send you out something special in just a bit.”
I hadn’t been back at my table for long before Annia brought me a large mug of ale and a steaming plate of food. Before she left to tend to the other tables, Annia let me know that Travis’ special stew would be served for tomorrow night’s dinner. But there was no need for me to wait that long for a delicious meal. The food she had brought me smelled absolutely incredible, and I dove into the plate with abandon.
Once I finished wolfing down my meal, I sat back and sipped the ale contentedly. After taking a few swigs, I leaned back in my chair, settled in, and took in the sights and sounds of the crowded dining room.
The gathered crowd was a mixed collection of both locals and travelers. After spending so much time alone, I found the steady hum of their conversation rather comforting. A bout of raucous laughter from a table at the rear of the room let me know that the party of elves and dwarves was once again in residence. Their boisterous laughter echoed through the room and rose above the low din of conversation.
Just as the night before, they were a bit rowdy, but were not disrespectfully so, and while they drank their ale freely, they never appeared to be drunk or out of control. After listening to them for a while, I once again found myself drawn to their friendly camaraderie.
However, after a time, I noticed a difference in their tone from the previous night. While the group laughed and joked just as they had before, I detected a hint of strain in their voices, some of the jests fell short, and their laughter sounded somewhat forced at times. I wondered what might have brought about the change in their demeanor, but was unable to detect the cause from the bits and pieces of the conversation that I was able to overhear.
Eventually, as the night grew late, I finally retired to my room. Although I had much to show for my efforts, it had been another long and exhausting day. I looked forward to Daile teaching me Herbalism the next morning, and hopefully, I could find another quest of sorts.
In the morning I awoke clean and refreshed. Once I was out of bed, I dressed in a hurry and made my way downstairs for a quick breakfast before heading over to Daile’s shop.
As luck would have it, when I arrived, Daile was busy with a customer. Interestingly, it was one of the elves from the group I had been noticing at the inn. I only caught quick bits of their conversation, but it was apparent that the elf was looking for information rather than goods. The frustration on his face told me that he wasn’t getting the answers he wanted, and the elf was clearly unsatisfied when he finally took his leave.
“Another happy customer?” I pried. The mixed party of dwarves and elves had already gotten my attention, and I wanted to see what I could learn about them.
“Oh, him?” Daile replied. “No. He and his friends are on some mission or something. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to provide him with any information that would help them find what they were looking for.”
“Oh? And what might that be?” I asked.
“Now, now,” Daile gently chided. “I never betray a confidence.”
Sufficiently rebuffed, I changed the subject.
“Alright then. Perhaps we can begin our lesson instead?”
Daile simply nodded, and then, for the next hour, he instructed me on the many uses and applications of the herbs I had gathered. Several had more than one beneficial property, and almost all could be used in the making of various potions. By the end of his lecture, my mind was nearly overflowing with new information.
“Here,” Daile added when he was done. “You’ll need this if you’re going to make good use of any of what I’ve told you.”
With that said, he handed me a small wooden box.
I opened the box and found a simple mortar and pestle, along with some basic alchemy supplies. With those tools, I could make much better use of the herbs I had packed away—I could even begin to dabble with creating some very basic potions.
“Thank you, Daile,” I said with genuine appreciation. “This will be very helpful.”
“You’re quite welcome, Dae,” Daile replied, making a point of emphasizing the name I had finally given him last night.
“So, Daile,” I replied, playfully returning his jest. “Have you got any more of those ‘simple’ errands for me today?”
“Ahh, you’re not going to let me forget that are you?”
“No. Not for a while, at least,” I smiled. I thought our playful bit of banter would have been a lot more fun if he could actually see my facial expressions.
“No, I suppose not,” he retorted. “But simple or not, I’ve got nothing for you at the moment. Sorry.”
“Very well then, Daile. I might as well be off then to seek my own adventure. I’ll see you when I return!”
After saying our goodbyes, I headed out of town and into the forests once again. Without a firm destination to head for, I chose a direction at random and began cautiously stalking through the woods.
My hope was to possibly come across another bear or forest cat since the claws and teeth from either one would go a long way towards improving my finances. With any luck, I would be the only one doing the ambushing this time.
I forged ahead as stealthily as possible and repeatedly cast Enhanced Sight on myself. Even though it seemed to have no effect in the clear daylight conditions, it was one of the few proficiencies I could still improve while maintaining my low profile.
I traveled like this for several hours but encountered very little of interest. I did manage to spot a few smaller game animals and even tracked a couple of larger ones for a while, but I eventually managed to lose the trails in the thick brush. I had almost decided to turn back when I heard voices echoing through the trees. When I heard the noise, I crouched down into the brush and advanced cautiously towards the sound.
When I came to a slight rise, I could tell that the voices were coming from just beyond its crest. With the unknown speakers so close, I crept slowly towards the top, and when I gazed down into the bowl of the small dell below, I discovered the source of all the noise.
Two orcs sat around a crude campsite talking loudly in a language I could not understand. Even though I had never seen a full-blooded orc before, I instantly knew without a doubt exactly what they were.
The two were equal to an adult human in height, and their green skin bulged with thick muscle. Their rugged faces were a mask of cruel features, with thick brows and angry eyes that seemed to glare hatefully around while they snorted at each other through their broad, flat noses. Dark brown tusks, stereotypical of their kind, made an appearance when one of the brutes drew back its lips in a grimace. While Georl’s canines had been a bit disconcerting when he bared them, these tusks, combined with the vicious brute baring them, were the stuff of nightmares.
As I was sizing them up, a flicker of movement suddenly caught my eye. When I glanced to see what had caused it, I saw that there was a third orc sitting across from me, on the opposite rim of the dell, apparently keeping watch over the camp. He was so well-concealed that had he not moved, I might not have noticed him until it was too late. I cursed myself silently for presuming the two below were the only enemies present. I was chagrined by my carelessness and carefully surveyed the area several more times, trying to determine if there were any more of them. Only when I was absolutely sure that the three I had seen were the only orcs present did I begin planning my attack.
Each one of them looked to be far stronger than me—there was absol
utely no way that I was going to defeat them in a fair fight. So, my goal was to make this an unfair fight—very unfair, if I could. Ambush had been both my friend and my favorite tactic so far, and I prepared for my assault accordingly. Once I was ready, I set my hasty plan in motion.
I rose up quickly and took aim at the lone sentry before I fired on him with a Swarm arrow. Without waiting to observe the impact, I nocked another arrow and enhanced it with Ignore Armor, before I fired it at one of the orcs below. By the time I was ready to follow up that shot with a Stun arrow, the third orc was already charging at me. I took aim directly at his face as he came at me and fired again. As I released the shaft, I suddenly recalled the bear and its resistance to my Stun arrows and had a brief moment of panic, wondering if the orcs might possess a similar immunity. Fortunately for me, the orc clearly lacked any resistance to the Stun effect, and as the arrow slammed into its face, his body went limp, and his momentum hurtled him forcefully into the dirt. With all three orcs dealt with at least initially, I drew back another shaft and quickly took stock of the situation.
The sentry was still down and unmoving, with two shafts sticking straight up out of his back. When I glanced down at the second orc, I could see he was not yet out of the fight. My arrow had pierced his armor and penetrated deep into his chest, but while the wound was serious, it appeared to have missed hitting anything vital enough to take him out right away. I drew down on him, imparted my arrow with Ignore Armor again, and shot him a second time. Wounded and unmoving as he was, it was an easy shot for me, and the shaft struck him straight through the heart, instantly ending his life.
By that time, the third orc was slowly regaining his senses, so I seized on the opportunity and hit him with another quick Stun arrow before I drew my blades and advanced for the kill. I only realized my mistake when it almost too late—the orc had somehow resisted the effects of the second Stun arrow. As I closed in, he jumped up, whipped out his sword, and took a vicious swing at me
I had only a fraction of a second to jump aside and escape certain death. Had the orc waited only a little longer, his blow would have likely cut me in two. As it was, my clumsy attempt at evasion only allowed me to escape by the barest of margins as the orc’s blade ripped through the air where I had been only a second before. But my hasty dodge had left me off balance, and I stumbled to recover as the orc charged at me.
Close combat was not my strong suit, and had the orc been at full strength, it would have been a quick and bloody fight that would not have ended in my favor. Fortunately, this orc was far from healthy, and my first arrow was still lodged in his face. The shaft had hit him just above the eye, deflected off his thick skull, traveled down through his face, and finally emerged again beneath his jaw. As a result, his one eye was swollen shut, and blood flowed freely from both the exit and entrance wounds my arrow had created.
I had aimed my second arrow at the back of his leg, as that had been the clearest shot from my position. I had only been attempting to re-apply the Stun effect so that I could finish him quickly with my blades—outright damage hadn’t factored into that shot. Still, the shaft in his leg reduced his mobility and further aided me in my desperate defense.
I had only just managed to regain my footing when the orc reached me.
With the element of surprise lost, the orc swung at me wildly, hoping to make any contact. At first, I was able to slip out of the way of his desperate swings, but then he changed his strategy. Just as I dodged one of his furious strikes, the orc bull rushed me and drove me to the ground.
Since he was unable to fully swing at me at such close distance, the orc started pummeling me with the hilt of his weapon. The vicious blows would have rendered me unconscious immediately if not for the scant protection of my Archer’s Circlet. In an act of desperation, I repeatedly plunged both my blades into his flanks, sinking them all the way to their hilts with every blow. The deep wounds instantly sapped the strength from him, and as he ceased raining blows down on me, he fell off of me and into the dirt.
I was dazed, but somehow had the sense to grab one of my red potions and down it. The fight wasn’t over since there was still at least one foe whose death I hadn’t verified yet. I didn’t know if the damage I had taken would heal on its own, and even if it would, I couldn’t afford the wait.
My fogginess cleared almost immediately once I drank the red liquid, and I began to search for the downed sentry. I was relieved when I saw that he still remained sprawled on the ground where he had fallen. Once the last threat had been accounted for, I finally took a moment to recover, and only when I felt that I had healed sufficiently did I stand up and began looting the fallen bodies of the orcs.
The orcs were significantly better equipped than any of the other foes I had defeated. The salvageable gear included several pieces of good leather armor and even a couple of mismatched sections of chain and plate. Their weaponry, while not of great quality, was at least average, and they had a lot of it. Each had a heavy sword and several wicked daggers, and the lone sentry had also wielded a long spear. Unfortunately, their camp gear was mostly junk, and not worth keeping.
While their gear was a boon, the combined total from their three coin purses was a measly 3 Marks, 5 Silver Bits, and 25 Coppers… It was almost pitiful.
With my looting complete, I reviewed my notifications once again.
Experience gained – You have gained 263 XP.
Experience gained – You have gained 263 XP.
Experience gained – You have gained 263 XP.
You have reached 20% proficiency in the Blades sub-skill, Dagger. Proficiency gains slow after achieving 20% proficiency. Note that combat skills cannot be self-trained beyond 20% proficiency. Any proficiency gains beyond 20% can only be obtained via actual combat, through training with a mentor possessing sufficient mastery, or by certain magical means.
You have reached 20% proficiency in the Armor sub-skill, Medium Armor. Proficiency gains slow after achieving 20% proficiency. Note that combat skills cannot be self-trained beyond 20% proficiency. Any proficiency gains beyond 20% can only be obtained via actual combat, through training with a mentor possessing sufficient mastery, or by certain magical means.
I had nearly lost my life for less than 800 XP. I had taken on a grave risk in challenging three serious opponents, and once again, luck had played a major role in my victory. But there was no way that I could keep counting on all the cards to keep falling my way. Sooner or later, the odds were going to catch up with me, and I would have to pay a heavy price when they did. If I was going to survive much longer, something needed to change. I knew that I had to either find a more rewarding source of XP or stop taking such huge risks.
When no solutions immediately came to mind, I decided to take a quick peek at my stat increases before moving on.
Dreya Dae
Human Female
Level - 4
6674/7200
Health 150/150 Aura 330/330 Endurance 150/150
Class – Warden – Wardens gain a 10% bonus to skills associated with nature or which have natural effects
Specialization –
Mastery –
STR - 15
CON - 15
DEX - 16
INT - 15
WIS - 13
CHA - 19(+1)
Abilities
Ignore Armor – Your next arrow will ignore a portion of the target’s armor. Cost – 20 Aura. - 22%
Stun – Your next arrow has a chance to stun its target on hit. Cost – 20 Aura. - 23%
Block – You may attempt to use your bow to parry a single melee attack. Cost – 20 Endurance. - 7%
Swarm – Your next arrow duplicates itself in flight. Cost – 20 Endurance and 20 Aura. – 21%
Flurry – Perform three rapid strikes with a bladed weapon. Cost – 30 Endurance. - 15%
Spells
Enhanced Sight – May be cast on self or ally. Improves visual acuity of the recipient in dark or obscured conditions. Cost
– 20 Aura. - 17%
Skills
Bow – 24%
Critical Hit – 22%
Blades – 21%
Short Sword – 21%
Dagger – 20%
Critical Hit – 15%
Two-Handed – 10%
Armor – 18%
Medium Armor – 20%
Perception – 24%
Environmental – 24%
Identify Enemy – 11%
Identify Person – 3%
Combat Dodge – 9%
Subterfuge – 24%
Stealth – 24%
Find Trap – 5%
Disarm Trap – 4%
Set Trap – 10%
Manipulation – 9%
Persuade – 11%
Barter – 11%
Survival – 21%
Tracking – 21%
Identify Creature (Beasts) – 8%
Skinning – 13%
Field Dress – 12%
Alchemy – 9%
Herbalism – 14%
It wasn’t too bad—nearly every skill I regularly used had already advanced as far as it could outside of combat, and I was closing in on enough XP for my next level. Once I had all the loot packed away, I pulled up my Inventory to check on my Encumbrance before setting off for home.
INVENTORY
Encumbrance 101/165
Glancing at my overall Encumbrance, I realized that I was close to the limit where I would still be able to function in combat. Adding in the combat value of my bow, I only had 10 pounds to spare. It was definitely time to head back, but just as I was about to close the screen, a few of the numbers caught my eye.
The Encumbrance hit from my short sword, and a few of my pieces of armor had decreased, and for a moment, I was confused by the discrepancy. Then I remembered that I had received a similar Encumbrance reduction when my bow skill had hit 20%. The weight reduction must be a benefit of reaching the 20% proficiency mark. It was an exciting revelation, and I was pleased with my discovery.
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