by Bruce Sentar
“So you know how he blocked our ranged attacks Sky? I think he was a boss or at least a mini-boss of sorts. That would explain why we couldn’t land any one-hit kills like we have all the little grunts.” Ajax explained.
“I think you are right. They let us have fun with the killing moves on the fodder but that guy wouldn’t let them hit. I imagine some larger creatures wouldn’t even flinch from a tiny arrow in their neck,” Sky said. Natalie grunted her agreement from the doorway. This was likely the first boss they had met in the game.
He hadn’t offered much in the way of good loot besides his cleaver and pan. Nobody in the party was going to fight for those no matter how good their stats were. Ajax thought the pan would make a nice trophy; a reminder of his adventure with the two girls and his first boss in LR.
“The only question now is where is Richard?” Natalie asked the question everyone had on their minds.
CHAPTER 27
Ajax and the girls were surprised that their noisy battle in the kitchen hadn’t alarmed the rest of the bandit camp. They managed to tidy up the loot and pause to restore their health with some of the food.
When they moved back to the campfire, a few people were milling about helping the sick. Some were quite loud in their complaints about handling puking friends. The smell of bile had only gotten stronger while they were in the kitchen, and Ajax wasn’t sure if the smell was starting to do more damage than the poison. He could feel the air growing sticky with the smell, like it would cling to him and never come off.
They quickly moved to the side of the kitchen and paused for what was next. “Natalie, do you know where Richard is staying here?”
She shook out her hair, “No, but we should start with the nicest house. That’s his style. He wants the nicest and most expensive, even if he has to cheat for it.”
Sky wasn’t part of the conversation, but instead seemed to be listening to a conversation around the corner. Ajax followed her lead.
“What’d you think is keep’n Bart so damn long?” Ajax could hear them as the group left.
“We’s all up late last night, I’n sure he just slept late and got started late.” Another voice joined the conversation.
“We got the book that the leader was want’n, not sure what’s got him so excited.” The first voice now sounding younger than the other.
“Tis worth a king’s ransom. Really, the king ‘ll pay big for summoning books now. He dun care where it came from or who brung it.” The second voice spoke with the bravado of false wisdom and reminded Ajax of those middle-aged know-it-alls. However, that was very useful information. Ajax wasn’t sure if the merchants were there to bring the summoning book to the king or sell it to players. Probably the highest bidder.
“Yeah? Why he go’n and doing that? They worth that much?”
“No, he up and destroys the whole lot of them. After the last wave of adventurers left they say their summons stayed behind and made a mess o’ things. He wants them all gone and, now word is spreading adventurers are back, he’s up’n the anti and wants them all gone before they can get their grubby hand on ‘em.”
That was interesting, why would the NPCs be so against summoning in this game? That would make trying to build a strong solo character harder. Ajax just didn’t see the game design reason.
“But didn't we work wit some adventurers to get the book? The creepy guy’s been in boss’s house.”
Ajax and Sky shared a look. Natalie was right. They needed to get to the boss ' house and get Missy out of there.
Looking at the remaining buildings, Ajax noticed a small house tucked behind the dorm, and he immediately knew where the head of the bandit gang was staying. He had a pretty good feeling that if Natalie was at all right about Richard, that’s where he’d be. They could also get that summoning book while they were there too. A king’s ransom wouldn’t hurt. Ajax pointed at the house and took the lead as the three of them kept their heads down and hurried over. It was light out, and they couldn’t really sneak about, but they weren’t expecting people to just wander into camp now, were they?
It was interesting to Ajax just how lax the camp got while recovering from the disaster of goblin poisoned soup. He would have thought that the camp would be in some form of high alert.
They made it across the yard and Ajax looked around before heading to open the door.
“What are you doing! Just walking in?” Natalie hissed from behind him.
“Well, yeah. No one is stopping us.” Ajax replied flatly. There was no one stopping them and there were no guards. Why couldn’t they just walk in? Because it was too easy?
Natalie had no response.
The door wasn’t even locked and swung open. Ajax couldn’t help as a grin crept onto his face.
He stepped through, followed by the two girls. Sky, who’d kept quiet, closed the door behind them. Ajax started looking through the house. Even being the nicest building they could see, it was small- only the main room slash kitchen and three doors down a hall. In the middle of the kitchen table was a heavily chained chest. Too easy right?
“Just take it and go?” Even Ajax was unsure if this was right or not. It was just too easy.
“Not funny, Missy is the priority. We can get the expensive chest later.” Sky spoke up. She was right, and all three of them knew it.
“Yeah, let's see if the leader is here. He’s probably a boss. Kill him while he’s alone then clean up the rest of these guys?” Natalie was ready to fight. She still had so much anger to burn off.
“However Ajax, we have no tank or healer. Think you can keep those arcane shields on me this time?” Ajax nearly facepalmed at Sky’s ask.
How could he have forgotten to use that with the cooking staff? He imagined what that would have done for Natalie against the Chef, it would have blocked those strikes with the pan, making the fight so easy for her. Support skills had a tremendous function and Ajax had completely ignored his.
“Yes, I was stupid not to use it against the chef.” Ajax gave her a guilty smile.
“No problem. I didn’t even think to ask in the heat of the moment. We have been playing this game less than a day… sort of.” Sky smiled back, no negative feelings were lingering behind it either.
“Don’t worry, we will learn to work together. Not like I’m going to ignore you and stop healing if you call for heals. I’m not a child.” Ajax smirked and moved towards the three doors. They eased the first one open but after a few creaking inches they realized it was a bathroom and empty. Leaving it open they moved onto the next door.
If Richard was here he, was behind one of the remaining two doors. Likely the other door held the bandit leader. Unless they were sleeping together… but Ajax found that unlikely.
“So, which door do you want to try next?” Ajax looked to Sky and Natalie; he didn’t want to be entirely responsible for this decision if things went wrong.
Sky shrugged and pointed to one lazily. Natalie, on the other hand, was starting to pant as she worked herself into a frenzy.
Ajax was certain she’d lose her cool the second she saw Richard. He couldn’t count on her for the bandit lord.
He heard groans of the floorboards as people shifted in the room.
Ajax took a deep breath, preparing himself for the potential conflict. Leaning hard on the door so the hinges wouldn’t squeak he eased the door open.
The first thing he saw was a cage in the corner with Missy. She was staring wide-eyed right back at him as he opened the door. She didn’t look any worse for wear. Her clothes were in fine condition, and while she was banged up a bit, Ajax could tell it was no more than just being hurt in a fight. She still had spirit in her eyes showing they hadn’t gone as far as torture in the game.
Ajax held a finger to his lips, but it was unnecessary. She pursed her lips tight as tears started running channels down her face. Vulnerability and relief shone in Missy’s face as the realization took hold. Ajax couldn’t look away. It was a moment he’d never fo
rget and one that would always share.
But the moment was just that, a moment.
Natalie peered over his shoulder and saw Missy, and it was like someone set fire to a powder keg. The next second, she let loose a feral scream and crashed into the room. The world turn upside down in a moment of chaos. Several forms sleeping on the floor woke up startled and fought back.
Natalie was already on the bed, swords out, but the forms managed to tangle themselves up with her and prevent her from killing Richard who was scrambling out of the covers.
Sky and Ajax were quick to get to Missy’s cage. At least Natalie’s outburst had drawn everyone to the bed and cleared a path.
Throwing open the gate was followed by Missy leaping into their arms and wrapping them in a tight hug. It was a tender moment, but Ajax’s body still heated up till his member tried to dig into her stomach.
Missy laughed and stroked it through his pants “I’m happy to see you too” Then leaning into his ear “I think you deserve a special reward.”
“Later, we need to get out of here.” Sky said focused on the situation at hand.
“Yes, lets…” Ajax started but the plans never came to fruition as the wall to the next room exploded and an eye-level hole revealed the bandit lord in the room next door. He didn’t look happy.
The man tore down the wall like it was paper. He grunted as he swung his ax back onto his shoulder. He looked much the role of a bandit lord. Thick muscle banded his naked upper body while he only wore a pair of pants and a rag to hold his dreadlocks back behind him.
He looked at the chaos and something clicked. “You poisoned everyone didn’t you?” It really didn’t seem like a question to Ajax. “I’ll make your skulls into mugs for toasts of honor in his memory.”
“Well, that got dark fast.” Ajax didn’t want to become a personalized mug.
Without fan-fair or battle cry the bandit leader charged through the opening in the wall. Missy reacted first and jumped in his path blocking his first swing.
Ajax didn’t need any reminder this time and quickly threw up an arcane shield that hovered around Missy. After just getting her back, he was feeling a bit protective.
The boss was fast. Even though the ax was a big two-handed variety, he attacked faster than Missy. Worse, when they exchanged blows he would draw his ax back with only one hand, using the other to score punches on Missy.
Sky shot off her first few arrows and while they hit, he seemed to dance as he attacked Missy, avoiding the arrows striking any critical spots. But they did some damage nonetheless.
The shallow wounds continued to add up, but Missy’s Arcane shield only lasted two hits. Ajax renewed it and realized his role in the fight was more of a healer than a damage dealer now. Firing off his Arcane Bullets would become a risk in him running low on mana. Ajax could see that he wasn’t going to be able to intervene in the fight between Missy and the Bandit leader. He wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. For the first time, Ajax noticed a clear divide in what each of them could do depending on how they distributed their stats.
He shot a look at the other part of the room to see Natalie covered in blood, and a few of Richard’s contract slaves on the floor dead. Richard himself was beginning to posture himself and preen his bed head. It wasn’t looking good for Natalie. By the time she finished cutting through the remainder of the contract slaves, Richard would be fresh and ready for a fight. Ajax just hoped he was utterly terrible and would lose a fight completely imbalanced by his gear.
Natalie would need his help if she was going to win that fight one on one.
Ajax was worried about his mana sustainability and couldn’t figure out what to do for the moment. If he helped Natalie, he risked leaving Missy open and vice versa. He settled himself for a moment. Missy was the priority. Having the boss loose was far worse than Richard. He really needed to help finish one of these fights quickly.
He only needed to cast a shield every three seconds or so and it took less than half that time to put the spell together. After a moment of awkward fiddling, he decided to track his mana as the fight went on to see if he could eke out some Arcane Bullets or if they were going to be too much of a drain.
Missy’s shield broke again and Ajax threw up a replacement. He marked where his mana was at when he cast and then watched it refill painfully slowly. When the time came around for another shield, he had only recovered five of the fifteen mana it cost.
Though he’d made huge improvements in his stats he was not going to be able to fight in this combat and keep the shield up on Missy.
“I’ll keep the shield up. Go crazy Missy” Ajax swallowed his pride as a damage dealer and healed like a team player. It was had been setup to be drawn out fight with the bandit captain, but Missy became ferocious after Ajax declared he was focusing on shields. She’d forced the bandit captain into disadvantageous trades where all she lost was a shield and he took heavy wounds.
Sky was timing her arrows better now and timing her shots with Missy’s attacks so the bandit lord was forced to choose which hit he was going to take.
Another scream from Natalie pulled Ajax’s attention. The fight between her and Richard had started. Unfortunately, it was clear in the first exchange that she was completely outclassed. Richard caught her first blade and swung it out of her grasp, clattering to the other side of the room.
Ajax could see the circlet on his head nearly glowing it was so bright. He wondered if that was the item that was granting him such strength. Though the strength had not daunted Natalie who was scrambling onto his back trying to choke him out.
He started pounding her despite the awkward angle, but she ignored the hits. Clenching her arm furiously around his throat, she ripped the circlet off his head and tossed it across the room. Ajax could immediately see that his strength left him. Ajax hoped that would be enough.
Turning back to the Bandit Lord, the girls were making quick work of him and Ajax kept his shields every three seconds through his observing the other fight. Healing was monotonous but necessary work.
The bloody boss gave Ajax hope that they would be able to help Natalie here soon, but looking back, he realized it was going to be too late.
In the time Ajax had turned away the situation had changed. Her arms hung limp at her side like they had been broken while Richard held her pinned to the wall running a sword through her gut. He was scowling in contempt for Natalie. Ajax hoped some of that contempt was for his role in what she’d become, but he knew that Richard had no self-reflection in his soul.
“Ha… Ha… Joke’s on you. I have nothing left bastard. I’m coming for you in the real world.” She spit blood at his face and went slack.
Ajax could see worry flash on Richard’s face, but it was fleeting. His frown reappeared when he looked at the other fight. Ajax followed his gaze and saw the bandit lord on his knees without much time left.
Looking back, Richard was already halfway out the room running for his life. The trio still had their hands full; he’d get at least a thirty-second head start. By the time the boss breathed his last breath, they knew Richard would be already out of the camp and their reach.
Turning back, Ajax focused again on helping the girls finish their fight.
CHAPTER 28
“Shit!” Missy spat when she realized Richard was long gone.
“Yeah he’s gone, but we’ll get him next time” Ajax encouraged her.
“Whew.” Missy found a clean spot on the bed that wasn’t touched by the gore of the fight. “That really takes it out of a girl. Worse than one of those peppy gym classes.”
Ajax cracked a grin, happy that she was making jokes after all that. He wanted to ask her about it all, but at the same time, he was afraid to upset her.
Sky went to nudge the bandit captain to make sure he was dead. The man looked part porcupine with dozens of arrows sticking out of him. It was amazing he lasted that long. Rolling him over, she started looting the house. Ajax joined while Missy took a br
ief reprieve before rejoining them in the front room.
“Well, that was lucrative.” Sky was handing out the gold from what we’d found. The items would be sold when we got back to the merchants and split. They’d earned 38 gold a piece, which so far eclipsed the 10 silver a day they were getting from guarding the caravan.
Ajax had made sure to get the quest chest; the locks were still on it, so he assumed the mysterious summoning book was still there. Though he still had unanswered questions about the whole situation of the king destroying summoning spells. He also offered Missy Richard’s circlet, but she turned her nose up at it and refused to wear it even if it was powerful.
“Where are the rest of the bandits?” Missy asked as they finished picking through the loot.
