Watcher’s Fate: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 3)

by Sean Oswald

  She decided now wasn’t the time for her jealousy and released three spells in rapid succession. First, she cast a charm spell from her staff aimed at the largest of the drey hound warriors lying flat on the ground. Then, she followed with the only tier 3 spell she had in her ring of spell storing, which was placed there by her father before he left. The Thunder Arc spell hit another of the drey hounds in armor on the ground. It shattered his head with its tremendous energy since there was nowhere else for the kinetic force to go, splattering brain matter everywhere.

  Her final spell was a quickened Lesser Shield Breaker. She had only learned the spell the night before, but there was no better time to use it. The bluish, flat, triangular blade of force shot off her hand and burst the bubble of magical shield around the drey hound caster with a satisfying pop.

  At the same time, she heard another shout like a thut-thut as Jaselm, who had stumbled from the blowback of the fireball, placed his foot on an inconspicuous stone in the dungeon floor and was hit by two darts flying through the air. Another four were either blocked by the blind reflexive swing of his shield or failed to penetrate his armor. The two that did hit him, however, had some sort of drug on them which caused him to stumble again. Mira’s mind quickly processed that Jaselm’s high-class poison resistance would probably soon fight off the effects of whatever toxin was on the darts. The question was, could they last long enough for that to happen? Her mom had already shot her biggest attack with the fireball, and it’s cooldown meant it wouldn’t be available again anytime soon enough.

  Tradon was busy trying to free Daichi. No sooner had she thought that than the knight reached the spot right in front of the trapped monk. She saw him step onto another one of those sinking stones. This time though, there was no whistling dart flying through the air at him. Instead, a circular blade leapt out from the wall clearly intended to cut down anything trying to free the metal rack trap. The blade must have been enchanted for it was so sharp and moved with such force that it zoomed from the left side to the right side cutting poor Tradon in half. The knight was dead before his body even recognized it. The final air in his lungs served to form the confused cry, “What …?”

  She expected that she still had her charmed drey hound warrior though she became terrified when the drey hound failed to respond to her commands. She looked at the notifications she had minimized and found the relevant one; a cold chill ran through her.

  Tier 3 creatures are immune to Tier 1 charm spells.

  God above, help her. They were so … what was it her dad used to say when he didn’t think the kids were listening? Oh yeah, ‘FUBAR’D.’ Her powerful mind was making all these observations in nano-seconds, and it was then that she noticed she was back to back with Rak’kar, and he was facing another half dozen drey hounds with swords. The minotaur showed no fear as he moved forward, but then his hoof hit yet another of those floor traps.

  Suddenly, the floor gave out beneath her and rapidly descended fifteen feet. Thankfully, she found herself not in a pit trap with sharpened stakes, but on the lower end of a ramp facing the minotaur. The sudden shift caused the bullman to fall backwards from the top of the ramp and roll towards where she and her mother were collapsed. Thinking about how his massive weight could kill them, Mira called upon her ring of spell storing to trigger another spell that her father had stored. It was the first of two copies of Lesser Repulsion, and the forceful push it made against the minotaur was enough to slow his rolling momentum and allowed him to bring himself under control.

  Things were not looking good though. Three of their allies were down or dead, and the three of them were stuck in this trap with the spell caster drey hound standing above them.

  “Ha! So I see the enemy did not have the courage to return here. Instead he sends his whelp and hmmm ah yes, his mate to us. Well he shall pay and your flesh shall be the tapestry of our revenge.” The creature’s growling, spit flinging form of speech would have normally elicited a sarcastic retort from Mira. In this situation, she wasn’t sure if it was better to be impaled upon spikes at the bottom of the pit. At least that would have been fast, and stakes have more mercy than she could see in the eyes of the drey hounds.

  Chapter Four

  The struggles between the races were only exacerbated by the exile. Instead of drawing them together against a common foe, diplomacy settled into dragon eats dragon situations and trust was soon the rarest of commodities. — Settling Talos: The Early Days by Ying Yue official historian of the Sun Throne.

  Chenhou Forest – David Nelson

  The haze of battle fled, and exhaustion set into Dave’s bones. It was the kind of exhaustion that hits your soul as well as your body. After all the mana he had used and the tension he had felt, it didn’t surprise him. He kept telling himself that this is where heroes are made–not in just slaying the monster, but in helping to pick up the pieces back home. At least that was what his and Emily’s marriage counselor back home had asserted, after pegging Dave as what he called a workaholic with Peter Pan Syndrome. Dave never had really liked that guy.

  Shaking his head as though that would force the exhaustion away and choosing to ignore the numerous notifications he had received, Dave first looked at his companions. Both the ranger and druid were worse for wear but smiling. It is easy to smile, even in pain, when you are the one left alive and your foe is laying at your feet. Dave couldn’t help but wonder how many people on Earth would be capable of smiling with the sort of injuries these two sported.

  “Are you both okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, Consort, we are okay. I must say that you fared better than I anticipated to hardly have a scratch on you after all of that.” Fumihiro’s response was very rigid, almost like he was responding more for the benefit of those around them rather than to answer Dave’s question.

  “Bah, what he means to say is, that was awesome! Six ogres by yourself. One of the darndest things I ever saw. Don’t know what that cloud you cast or that armor you were wearing was, but they must be hella great spells.” Then it must have suddenly occurred to the captain that he was speaking to not only a nobleman but technically a superior officer. “Oh umm … sorry for the overly lax tone, all I was saying was that we sure could have used you on the western front, General Nelson.”

  Dave waved it off and then turned his attention to the elves. All around there were signs of destruction of both property and lives. Those elves who had not been injured were gathering up and carrying the wounded into buildings. Some of the women couldn’t seem to bear being touched by anyone, and one of the most elderly looking female elves Dave had ever seen went around trying to coax those women into going inside or accepting a blanket. It was still early morning, and the rising of the first sun had not done anything to take the chill out of the crisp autumn air.

  Another elderly looking elf came up and rendered a deep bow to Fumihiro. Dave supposed it wasn’t odd that the elves would look to the druid. “Great druid, we are your humble servants. Thank you for saving our village. We do not have much, but whatever we can offer is yours. I am certain that Lord Hia will want to thank you for this personally.”

  Fumihiro returned the bow with a much shallower bow. “It is not I who you must render your thanks to but rather to David Nelson, the Consort to Lady Emiri.” With that, he pointed towards Dave.

  The elf’s eyes grew large, whether because he was worried he had offended Dave by going to the wrong person or because Dave was a human no one could tell. Either way, he caught himself quickly and offered an even lower bow to Dave. Dave couldn’t help but imagine that if Emily had suddenly showed up, the man’s forehead would be hitting the ground.

  Cutting off anything the man might say, Dave said, “It is nothing. You and your village are all part of the same people as my wife. I could no sooner turn my back on you in need than I could on my own children.”

  “Thank you for your kind words Consort. We are honored by your aid.” The old elf seemed unsure how to continue.

&nb
sp; Fortunately, they were all saved from the embarrassment of silence when a large white owl descended up them in ever-tightening circles. It was a massive creature with at least a twelve foot wingspan and a body the size of a child. Raddick looked up and gave a shout of warning, but when he went to draw a weapon Fumihiro said, “Don’t. That creature is a familiar.”

  “How can you know?” Raddick answered.

  “Just like you know your business, trust me that I can tell it is linked with another druid,” Fumihiro responded curtly.

  Without saying any more, the ranger allowed his weapon to slide back into its sheath. Meanwhile Dave said, “It looks like it has something tied to its leg. Is that a message?”

  “Possibly,” the druid answered.

  By that time, the owl had finished its descent and landed on a perch jutting out from the side of the closest ironwood tree, about fifteen feet in the air. Dave took a moment to admire the creature. Though he was never a huge nature lover, it was hard not to admire the dusted white feathers of this creature. They looked like a perfect blending of snow blown against a dark sky. He imagined this bird to be a terrifying predator.

  Fumihiro said, “I only have one low level spell for this, but it is required of all druids so hopefully it works.” He then began to cast a spell which took almost thirty seconds to finish. When it ended, he started speaking to the owl, but the sounds coming out of his mouth were like nothing Dave had ever heard. It sounded like a combination of hoots, clicks, and barks more than anything else. Whatever it was though, the owl answered in kind. He could only watch as the druid and owl went back and forth, but he did note that the expression on the druid became ever grimmer.

  When they finished, the owl dropped with wings extended to the ground and allowed Fumihiro to remove what looked like a scroll fasted to its leg. That accomplished, the bird lifted off into the air and darted into the forest.

  “He is going to hunt but then will probably report back to his master. The news he brings is dire. This attack which we averted here is only a tiny portion of the invading force apparently. Worse, some sort of magic is keeping the invading army cloaked and only eye witness reports are bringing any word in. Seemingly there have been precious few of those,” Fumihiro said.

  “That makes sense if an invading army is staying away from the more occupied portions of the forest and killing anyone they encounter. What doesn't make sense is if they are trying to stay hidden, why they stopped here and were taking the time for their distasteful business,” Raddick said while stroking the sparse beard which had grown to cover his normally clean-shaven face.

  “Not really a difficult question. Goblins and ogres are creatures controlled by their impulses. I have only ever seen one example of a goblin who was concerned about anything beyond eating, crapping, and rutting,” the druid said with such disdain.

  Raddick chuckled in grim amusement. “I guess that’s pretty accurate. Well then, you have seen one more such goblin than I have. I can’t even imagine what would make a goblin think beyond its own needs.”

  “That is because you haven’t met Lady Emiri or her daughter. They are quite unique.” A rapid switch occurred as the druid went from a tone filled with hatred for goblins to one filled with admiration.

  Turning towards Dave, the ranger asked, “What do your wife and daughter have to do with goblins, General?”

  Shaking his head with a wry grin, Dave replied, “My wife is no fan of goblins although she probably is willing to give anyone a chance. It’s who she is and shows why she is a Chosen of Shanelle. Sara, my daughter, on the other hand, has never met a broken bird that she didn’t want to fix, and somehow, she has ended up with a goblin pet. Just don’t let her hear you call Krinnk her pet. She will lecture you as only her mother’s daughter can about how they are friends.”

  Sensing that there was more to the story but that now was not the time for more questions, the captain simply said, “I will keep that in mind, Sir.”

  “Now back to this message. Did the bird tell you anything else?” Dave asked, shaking his head. “Man, I never thought I would ask a question like that.”

  “Don’t the elves speak to animals where you are from, Consort?” Fumihiro asked, his curiosity getting the better of his normally all business demeanor. If there was one thing which crossed the racial divide in Eris’ Rise it was any rumor about where Dave and Emily had come from prior to ending up in the Murkwood.”

  “Only if their name is Doolittle, so not that often. Maybe like on the second reboot now,” Dave said with the slight smile on his lips he made when telling an inside joke.

  Not knowing how to respond, the druid simply moved on. “Nothing more of significance from the familiar other than to say that this parchment is a scroll of a communication spell so that we can report to the Archdruid,” Fumihiro reported.

  “Well then, please use it,” Dave said as the man was unrolling it.

  “Hmmm … I could use it, but it is for a Tier 3 Divination spell and is beyond my ability to learn. If I cast it then it will consume the scroll and be a one use item. Worse, there is a chance that I might fail to complete the spell.” The druid spoke as if apologizing for a mistake.

  “I suppose I could put more points into Divination. If I did so, that should help me with using the scroll, right?” Dave asked.

  “Of course, Consort,” Fumihiro answered.

  “But, I don’t know the archdruid, so how will the magic find someone that I have never met and don’t even know what he looks like?”

  “The archdruid had the forethought to prepare for this and included a lock of hair with the spell scroll. Presumably it is his and so will allow us to lock onto him,” Fumihiro said as if such should have been obvious.

  Dave grunted, but instead of responding to the perceived slight in the answer, simply said, “Give me a minute then.” Then he got that glazed-over look as he went through the notifications he had received during and right after the battle.”

  There were lots of them, and he absently wished for a way to organize them. No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than a new tab appeared on his character sheet entitled Notification Summaries. Clicking on that, there were various subcategories for Outgoing Damage, Incoming Damage, Status, Miscellaneous, and XP notifications. Moving to the last, he saw the most recent entry for Battle in Nakan’na.

  Your party has defeated 44 Tier 1 goblins: No XP gained. (You cannot gain XP from creatures 2 or more Tiers below your own)

  * * *

  Your party has defeated: 3 Tier 2 goblin skirmishers: 252 XP (After applying numerical bonus, Tier penalty and racial bonus)

  * * *

  You party has defeated: 1 Tier 2 goblin shaman: 114 XP (After applying all applicable bonuses and penalties)

  * * *

  Your party has defeated: 5 Tier 2 ogres: 726 XP (More of the same)

  * * *

  Your party has defeated: 1 Tier 3 Ogre Elite: 239 XP (Ditto)

  * * *

  Total XP gained: 1331

  * * *

  Congratulations you have gained levels 22 and 23. You have gained 8 stat points and have 8 total unspent stat points. You have gained 67 character points and have 67 total unspent character points.

  For a moment Dave couldn’t help himself. He was feeling indestructible. He had just gained two levels and defeated a horde of enemies without ever truly being in risk of his life. It made him feel all-powerful. This was the same feeling that he got from playing mmos and beating a particularly tough boss. It was what had been missing in his day to day life on Earth. Yet here the thrill seemed to be on steroids. There was a voice in the back of his head urging him to demand that everyone around him drop to their knees and honor him. Dave was still self-aware enough though to realize that as being out of character.

  After all, Raddick and Fumihiro had helped him. No sooner had he thought that than the same voice from the shadows of his mind, perhaps the Id that he had learned about in his college psychology class, sp
oke up: They just killed a bunch of nothing goblins. Might as well praise them for stomping on ants. Most of them didn’t even give you any XP. You did all the hard work. You are the one that killed six ogres. You are the one who deserves all the glory. Dave was a bit worried about hearing the voice but pushed it down along with his worry. Now was not the time for that.

  That internal battle won or at least pushed off for another day, Dave immediately sunk thirty of his character points into Divination Magic. It killed him to do so since he wouldn’t get any special bonus from it, and there weren’t even extra perks for higher tiers in a magic skill, only the ability to use higher tier spells. It was necessary though, so he sucked up his dissatisfaction before reaching out for the spell scroll to see what it was.

  Perceptive Sending- Divination, Conjuration Tier: 3

  * * *

  The spell is cast in three phases.

  * * *

  First: it locates the intended recipient of the communication.

  * * *

  Second: it creates an image of the caster as they currently are including dress, wounds, and all aspects of personal appearance. No alteration of that image is allowed by this spell. The spell also does not convey any aspect of the background setting around the caster, so there is no indication of where the caster is. The spell does not have any built-in protections against being traced, so if that is needed, the caster must make other arrangements.

  * * *

  Third: the caster’s consciousness occupies the image. The image can move according to the will of the caster but cannot interact with the physical world. It is immune to physical damage. The caster is subject to mental damage with 50% resistance due to this only being an image. The caster is able to see and hear as they normally could as well as speaking with those present.