“I assume it was one of you who placed these traps?”
“That would be me,” I replied in answer.
“I appreciate your initiative, Miss,” he said. “You probably saved a lot of lives tonight. The caravan leader is not one to throw coin around, but I can offer you any worthwhile loot these bandits might have as a gesture of thanks.”
“We would be very grateful for that,” I replied, making sure to include my companions in the offer.
When we finished our exchange, the captain turned to regard his prisoners. Only two remained alive, both human—one male and one female—the others having succumbed to their wounds in the meantime. He questioned them briefly regarding their numbers and location of their camp, before turning them over to me.
“I don’t trust a word they’ve said, and if it were up to me, I’d just slit their throats and be done with it,” the captain began.
“But it’s your trap they were caught in, so I’ll leave their fate to you.”
With that, he led his men away, leaving us the bodies to loot and the two live bandits yet to deal with.
“It’s not my place to give orders,” I began, looking to my friends, “but Broda, if you would stay with me, I’d like to ask them a few questions before deciding what to do with them. Perhaps everyone else could check the bodies for loot while we finish this?”
Venna and Stel both set off immediately, beginning the less-than-glamorous task of searching the bodies for any valuable items. Khorim hesitated a moment before Broda shooed him away.
“Go on,” she chastised. “We’ve got work to do here. Make yourself useful and go find some shiny things.”
Broda then turned to face me, already with a full understanding my intended line of questioning.
Over the last few weeks, my friends had allowed me to practice See Truth on them. Not only would I never have presumed to test the Spell on them without their permission, but I also felt they should know I had the ability to detect falsehoods. If I ever needed them to understand just how I knew something to be true or not, a hasty explanation on the fly might not be convincing enough. Stepping forward towards the bound prisoners, I cast the Spell on the female, and she remained unaware of the Spell’s effects as I began to question her.
“Please,” she cried, before I even began. “They forced me to help them. I had no choice!”
Her words sounded convincing, and her strained voice lent credence to her plea. Unfortunately for her, I could not only hear her words, but see them as well.
The words that dripped from her mouth were colored in a sickly green tint, fairly oozing with an ugly, oily sheen of slime. By the color alone, I knew she was lying, the foul-looking slick that dripped off her words only provided a further indication of her intentional deceit. Concealing my disdain, I asked my first question.
“Did they capture other women?”
“Y-yes.”
The single word floated out, tinged with a light shade of blue—truth.
“What happened to them?”
The bandit averted her gaze but remained silent. She now understood the point of my questioning, and although she may have said nothing, her silence provided a sufficient answer in itself.
“Did this one participate in those acts?” I said, indicating the other surviving bandit beside her.
“Yes, he did,” she replied. The words floated free of her mouth, still tinted with the light blue of truth.
“Did you help them? Did you participate in what they did to those women?” I demanded.
“No!” She declared. “I tried to make them stop. I begged them not to do it—to let them go!”
The words flew out of her mouth, only instead of the blue tint that indicated truth, they once more took on the sickly green color of a lie. If anything, the foul slick of deceit that covered them was even more pronounced than before.
“You’re going to kill me anyway, so you might as well know the truth,” the man broke in before I could confront her with her lie.
“Shut up!” She shouted angrily, but Broda’s dagger against her throat quickly silenced her protest.
“We did all manner of things that you’re thinking of,” he confessed. “I’ll not go into the particulars… You know what I mean. Men can be cruel, especially when they know they can get away with it. But her,” he said, dipping his head towards his companion, “she’s fucking crazy.”
“She would have loved to have you for a while,” he continued, looking me in the eye. “She seemed to enjoy working on the pretty ones. Carved them up really bad outside before messing them up inside, if you follow. She liked to see just how long she could keep them alive while she mutilated them.”
As he spoke, I stared at the woman, right into her eyes. She did not flinch, did not react at all. Part of that was due to Broda’s blade pressed against her neck, but I could also see that part of her reveled in hearing the tale of her cruel misdeeds being told.
“There’s a special place in the next world for the likes of you,” Broda growled angrily.
Before I could react, Broda pressed her dagger firmly against the woman’s neck, driving the edge of her blade deep into the soft flesh. With a flick of her arm, she dragged the blade across the woman’s neck, slitting her throat nearly ear to ear. Stepping back casually, Broda simply let the woman fall to the ground where she bled out quickly, without a single sound escaping her dying body.
The man, seeing what had just transpired appeared resigned to his fate. He straightened up and lifted his chin, freely offering his neck to us. There was no doubt that I was going to kill him as well—he deserved no less for his admitted actions. But before ending his life, I spoke to him briefly.
“You have well-earned the death I am about to deliver to you,” I told him. “It is not in my power to forgive you, nor would I, but you have confessed to your crimes and are facing your punishment with some shred of honor. For that, perhaps you will receive some consideration in whatever fate awaits you beyond this world.”
I had walked behind him as I spoke, and when I finished, I grabbed his forehead and held his head firmly in place as I slipped my dagger into his skull, just behind his ear. The blade slid easily into his head and entered his brain, killing him instantly. It was a small mercy, one he perhaps had not deserved, but I felt better having given it.
As I stepped back, Broda looted the last two bandits’ fallen bodies. The others had finished while we’d been questioning the survivors, and the guards had mercifully taken up the task of disposing of the corpses. Retreating back within the confines of the circle of wagons, we rejoined our companions.
Once back in our camp, Broda stepped immediately to Khorim’s side. He put an arm around her, and she buried her head in his chest. Choosing to ignore the obviously emotional moment, I let them have a bit of privacy and turned to Venna and Stel.
“Did you find anything good?” I asked, attempting to stay away from the potentially uncomfortable topic of the last two bandits’ fate.
“No, nothing of particular value,” Stel replied. “A fair bit of coin and a great deal of decent-quality weapons and armor.”
“It’s a bit much to carry, but we can try and sell it off among the merchants tomorrow,” Venna added helpfully.
“Those last two didn’t have anything special either,” Broda added, joining the conversation. She seemed to be completely recovered, showing no trace of the emotion she had briefly displayed just a moment before.
Birt and Wenda had climbed out of their wagon as we spoke. Wenda was clearly flustered by the attack, but the two walked over to us as soon as they reached the ground.
“Those bandits were headed right for our wagon,” Birt exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for you, they would have gotten to us too!”
“Well, that didn’t happen,” Venna said soothingly. “We’re all safe now, and the threat is over.”
“Still,” Wenda added, “you saved us from them. I can’t tell you how grateful we are.”
“Think nothing of it,” Stel replied. “Dealing with this sort of thing is what we do.”
“Perhaps, but we’re still very thankful that you were here with us tonight,” Birt said.
“Well,” Khorim said happily, “if it’s a gesture of appreciation you’re looking to offer, I for one wouldn’t mind another breakfast in the morning like we had today!”
Everyone laughed, and Khorim’s well-timed jest broke Birt and Wenda’s somber mood, as the dwarf had clearly intended.
The guards quickly finished stacking the bandits’ bodies by the side of the road. The pile would be set ablaze when we left in the morning, leaving the burnt corpses as a warning to others who might think to attack the well-protected traveling caravans. With the attack repelled and the guards once more on watch, we returned to our beds to get as much rest as the remaining night would allow.
As I prepared for sleep, I noticed Venna looking over at me. A thin smile was on her lips and she favored me with a quick nod of approval. I understood immediately the source of her gesture and acknowledged her with my own nod in return—she had witnessed my execution of the last bandit and had seen me give him a kinder death than he’d probably deserved. I knew in my heart that it wouldn’t always be that way, that my sense of justice and reprisal and even my own raw anger would compel me to administer harsher punishments at some point. But at least this time I’d allowed some measure of restraint in my vengeance.
Finally lying down in my bedroll, I brought up my UI and checked the notifications that I knew would be lined up for me.
Experience gained – You have gained 495 XP.
. . .
Experience gained – You have gained 495 XP.
You have gained a level! – You have earned sufficient experience to advance to level 11.
You have gained three Attribute points. Two of your points have been automatically assigned to CON and CHA. You may assign the remaining point to any other Attribute as you see fit.
Well, fuck. There it was.
I had been expecting the number of Attribute points gained per level to drop off at some point; otherwise, the stat numbers would quickly rise to the level of ridiculousness. Still, expecting the decrease and actually having to deal with it were two completely different things. With only one point left to play with, I took a moment to carefully consider my options and priorities.
One of my automatically assigned points had been put into Constitution. That was a good thing. The other, like clockwork, had gone to Charisma. Not so much of a good thing. By far my lowest stat was Wisdom, and while I knew I needed to address that at some point, Strength still took precedence for me. With just a little hint of reluctance, I assigned the one point to Strength and moved on.
After making my choice, I was expecting the option to choose a new Ability to follow. When my XP notifications began scrolling by instead, I remembered that I now only gained Abilities every five levels.
Experience gained – You have gained 99 XP.
. . .
Experience gained – You have gained 99 XP.
You have gained a level! – You have earned sufficient experience to advance to level 12.
You have gained three Attribute points. Two of your points have been automatically assigned to WIS and CHA. You may assign the remaining point to any other Attribute as you see fit.
I had been close to reaching level 11 prior to the bandit ambush, and with the sheer number of kills my traps had accounted for, I wasn’t overly surprised to find I had gained a second level from the fight. With Wisdom already accounted for this time, I once again placed my sole Attribute point into Strength and watched as the level-up window closed.
Experience gained – You have gained 12 XP.
. . .
Experience gained – You have gained 12 XP.
Quest completed — You have completed the optional quest Mercy. It is not always easy to show restraint. You have given leniency to a guilty party. For choosing the path of clemency you have been rewarded 210 XP.
I had trouble considering an execution as a form of clemency but wasn’t about to argue with anything that awarded me XP, regardless of the amount. Closing the UI, I opened my character sheet to look over the changes.
Dreya Dae
Human Female
Level - 12
45193/51200
Health 200/200 Aura 460/460 Endurance 200/200
Class – Warden – Wardens gain a 10% bonus to skills associated with nature or which have natural effects
Specialization – Protector
Mastery –
STR - 23
CON - 20
DEX - 22
INT - 20
WIS - 17 (+1)
CHA - 27 (+1)
Abilities
Ignore Armor – Your next arrow will ignore a portion of the target’s armor. Cost – 20 Aura. – 26%
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. – 20%
Swarm – Your next arrow duplicates itself in flight. Cost – 20 Endurance and 20 Aura. – 33%
Flurry – Perform three rapid strikes with a bladed weapon. Cost-30 Endurance. – 21%
Parry – Chance for your blades to block next melee attack targeted at you. Cost – 20 Endurance. – 23%
Hamstring – The next arrow fired has a chance to cripple your opponent. Cost – 20 Aura. – 22%
Hilt Bash – Stun your opponent with a successful hilt strike from your bladed weapon. Cost – 30 Endurance. – 20%
Blood Price – Your arrow inflicts a damage-over-time bleed effect. Cost – 30 Aura. – 24%
Blind – Your next arrow has a chance to inflict blindness on a successful hit. Cost – 30 Aura. – 23%
Achilles Strike – Cripple your target with a slash of your bladed weapon. Cost – 30 Endurance. – 20%
Protector Abilities
See Truth – Once per day, the spoken words of your target become visible to you, allowing you to see the truth held within them. Strength and duration of this effect increase with proficiency. Cost – 60 Aura. Modifier – Wisdom. – 11%
Spells
Enhanced Sight – May be cast on self or ally. Improves visual acuity of the recipient in dark or obscured conditions. Cost – 20 Aura. – 35%
Create Trap – Place a magical trap upon an area. Size, type, and trigger of traps is determined by your proficiency. Cost – 40 Aura. – 27%
Elemental Arrow -Your next arrow is imbued with elemental energy and causes additional elemental damage accordingly. Cost – 30 Aura. – 20%
Bolt – Release a Bolt of pure Lightning at your target(s). Cost – 40 Aura. – 20%
Skills
Bow – 34%
Critical Hit – 30%
Blades – 27%
Long Sword – 25%
Short Sword – 27%
Dagger – 26%
Critical Hit – 21%
Two-Handed – 26%
Pole Arms – 14%
Spear – 23%
Armor – 23%
Medium Armor – 25%
Perception – 30%
Environmental – 32%
Identify Enemy – 26%
Identify Person – 28%
Combat Dodge – 21%
Subterfuge – 26%
Stealth – 27%
Find Trap – 5%
Disarm Trap – 4%
Set Trap – 10%
Manipulation – 14%
Persuade – 16%
Barter – 14%
Survival – 23%
Tracking – 24%
Identify Creature (Beasts) – 10%
Skinning – 13%
Field Dress – 12%
Alchemy – 12%
Herbalism – 21%
Potion Craft – 12%
In addition to my stat gains from levelling up, I had managed to tack a couple of prof
iciency points onto several of my bow Abilities during the fight. See Truth had also advanced, more than I had anticipated, as a matter of fact. Apparently, like all my talents, using it for real was much more beneficial than mere practice. Create Trap had jumped 7%, likely for the same reasons. Most of my other gains were relatively minor, but I noticed that once again my Manipulation and Persuade talents had both crept up a point, despite the fact that I hadn’t intentionally used either of them. Clearly, they were operating without me consciously invoking them. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it made me a bit uneasy regardless.
After checking one additional thing, I discovered something unsettling. I would have to share my discovery with my friends, but decided to wait until morning. My news would probably only serve to disrupt any remaining chance they had to get any sleep for the rest of the night, and telling them now would serve no real purpose. With a sigh, I resigned myself to a sleepless night and settled in to toss and turn until morning finally came.
7
Somehow, despite the turmoil in my mind, I managed to finally fall asleep. When morning came, Broda woke me in time for another sumptuous breakfast, courtesy of Wenda. I kept the previous nights’ discovery to myself as we enjoyed the fresh, hot food and made our preparations for the day’s long walk.
As the caravan departed, a lone guard remained behind. When we were well clear of our former campsite, I watched as the solitary figure of the guard lit a torch and thrust its burning flames into the stack of timbers that had been tossed on top of the mound of bandit corpses. The dry wood caught fire immediately, and with the aid of the flammable oil that the guards had splashed over the bodies, the entire heap of dry wood and dead bandits was soon engulfed in a raging inferno. With his gruesome task complete, the lone guard hurried back to rejoin the safety of the caravan. Following a bend in the road, we soon lost sight of the raging flames we had left behind.
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