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

by Sean Oswald

  The drake roared, or attempted to roar in rage. The shadow shackled, holding its jaws shut. War Monster hadn’t done much other casting, but he had been able to effectively defang the beast. Dave yelled out, “One more time!” At the same moment, Tode yelled out, “One last time!” No matter which cry they heard, everyone launched whatever they had left. Dave kept attacking while he cast his Mass Enlarge, and the three tanks all grew massive, turning their already powerful blows into devastating hits.

  The drake tried to fly up. It must have thought to escape the battering, but Gunidar cast a spell which caused a translucent silver hammer to slam down onto its back, and overwhelming the lift, it generated. Smashed back down into weapon range, the drake was able to squirm and avoid Dave’s next sword strike but wasn’t able to avoid the Thunder Arc that flashed from his free hand into the scales where its neck and shoulder met. The force of the blast blew off three more scales and delivered (674) damage.

  Other spells, and even crossbow bolts, all struck that exposed spot, causing a gaping wound. Blood gushed out. In response, the drake spun and swept a wide strike with its tail. Ro’Billo, Steffen, Tabor, and Gunidar were all flung against the wall. Dave watched as Mira’s magical balance allowed her to leap on the tail as it went by. She ran down the tail to the drake’s back, launching magical missiles into it. Even more impressive was how Jackson was able to mimic the timing of Daichi’s jump and soar over the tail strike briefly.

  Dave began casting lightning bolt. This would be his last big spell as he felt his last defensive spell crumble under the impact of the tail sweep. The charge built in his hands and then leapt across the space, hitting the drake. Waves of icy magic, purplish draining magic, and earthen claws all ripped into the creature, which shuddered. The glory of the final blow was Daichi’s as the old monk made the almost too fast to follow charge that Dave had seen before and landed his trademark dragon punch right into the spot where the scales had been knocked free.

  One last shudder shook the beast’s frame, and then she collapsed. An immediate notification popped up for everyone:

  Congratulations! You have completed Bastion of Thralls: Raid Wing.

  This is the first completion and a special reward will be provided: Astral Black Blade

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest: Rescue the Daughter.

  Reward: Safety of Sara Nelson and 10 lbs or refined magicyte crystal.

  A moment later, Sara came crawling out of the tunnel from the tiny core room. Her head turned around. Dave saw her smile when she saw he was okay. He was pleased to see the smiles on Mira and Jackson’s faces when they saw their little sister was safe. Emily went running to pick Sara up, but his daughter first ran to the fallen drake. The girl fell down against the dead beast and started crying. Emily tried to pick her up, but Sara cried out, “Why, why?” Then as though she was hearing a sound that no one else heard, she lifted her head and suddenly smiled again.

  From there, it was only a step for her to be in her mother’s arms, and everyone who had been confused by her reaction to the dead drake was able to relax. Dave saw Emily hug Sara tight. What surprised him was the look of shock on Emily’s face that came mid-hug. He watched as Emily’s hands ran over Sara’s back, patting as if finding something she didn’t expect.

  A few minutes later, he knew exactly what she had been experiencing as he picked up his youngest and embraced her. As his arms encircled her small frame, he felt bony protrusions growing out of her back. The first thought that went through his mind was that she was hurt, but her calm snuggling of her head up against his neck made it clear that she wasn’t feeling any pain. The next thought was that she had been magically altered. Seemingly sensing his uneasiness, she whispered in his ear, “Don’t worry daddy. I’m gonna get wings.”

  At that point, Dave had to consciously will himself not to freak out. It had to be something related to her reaction to the drake. Maybe she had formed one of her monster friendships with the beast. He wanted to panic and insist on figuring this out right now but realized that wouldn’t help anyone, least of all Sara. She had been through a traumatic experience, and he should be reassuring to her and the family.

  After hugs were had all around, Emily insisted on getting the story from Sara. Learning she had evaded the guards on top to sneak down a secret staircase made both Dave and Emily very upset. None of it was more shocking than learning about how Sara had formed a Monster Friendship with the drake, but she assured them that the Drake was still alive. When she described the glowing sphere, Tode filled them in that she must be describing the dungeon core.

  Emily started to lecture Sara, but Dave intervened. “Not now. Please check on any of the wounded. Ro’Billo and boys, grab any coin and loot and bring it to me. Let's get out of this place.”

  Twenty minutes later, they had checked everywhere for loot but at Tode’s behest left the dungeon core room alone. Then they had all loaded onto a teleportation portal that returned them to the front lobby of the dungeon. Dave felt a great relief. The notifications were stacked up for XP and level gains. He minimized them all for now and organized everyone to get them back to town.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  In winter, a body learns how olde truly feels abit them fur snow born winter has dain in many a warrior when a foe's axe ur arraw could Nae. Yet, if ye listen, ye may best hear yer soul's song in these shortest of days. — Abhainn, dwarven master smith to would be apprentices

  Eris’ Rise - Dave and Emily Nelson

  The trip back to Eris’ Rise was done in deathly silence. Everyone was able to read the fury that was coming off of both Dave and Emily. Even those not beholden to them did not want a hostile interaction at this point. Mira and Jackson stayed close and made sure they were within sight the entire time but didn’t try to get too close to their parents. Sara was with them, sitting in front of Emily on her horse.

  Normally, Ro’Billo would have been cracking jokes after a successful dungeon raid with great loot and no loss of life, but the only thing he was overheard saying was, “It’s ill business whin a young bairn acts sae recklessly. Better tae be a criminal in th' stocks than that lassie whin her mither lights intae her.”

  Once they arrived back in town, Dave pulled his horse up very close to Emily’s and said, “I will keep the other two children with me while you take Sara home. I have to check and make sure nothing happened while we were gone and then distribute the loot. Anything else will look like we are holding out on them.”

  Glaring at him, Emily said, “Stupid loot can wait, and the town will be fine for another hour on its own. This takes priority.”

  “I know this is a priority. Trust me, I’m so tied up in knots about it that I didn’t even think about leveling up.” Dave stopped as Emily rolled her eyes. “Fine, maybe not the best way to express it, but take it for what I’m trying to say. I get how important this is. I will be there within twenty minutes.”

  Emily sighed but nodded her head before directing her horse towards their home. Daichi, Rak’kar, and some of the other guards peeled off to follow after her. Sara said, “Wait, Krinnk has to come along with us.”

  “No, Krinnk is going to stay with Rak’kar till I decide what the best thing to do with you is, young lady,” Emily responded.

  “No. That isn’t fair. Krinnk didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with Krinnk. It has to do with you and whether I can trust you.” Emily just shook her head as if in disgust. “No, I blame myself. I should have nipped this in the bud when it first began. Well nothing for it but to fix it now.”

  After that, Dave wasn’t able to hear anything else but could see Sara’s shoulders slumping. It never sat well with him coming down hard on any of his kids, but some things couldn’t be overlooked.

  Looking around then, Dave found Talvenicus. Beside him was Ozakai and Sir Morganthal. As he climbed down from his mount, he signaled for Mira and Jackson to do the same.

  “It would ap
pear that your hunt went well, m’Lord,” the former mayor said.

  “For the most part. One thing went very sideways, but Emily will get that sorted out.” Dave noticed that the man seemed nervous while speaking. “Is something wrong?”

  “Oh nothing, it isn’t my place to say anything Baron, but I can fill you in on what has happened in town today.”

  “Bah, I hate it when you get like this. You know I’m just a normal guy. Spit it out, what is worrying you?”

  Talvenicus glanced at the back of Emily astride the horse briefly and then back at Dave, “Really it isn’t appropriate.”

  “You can’t have it both ways, Talvenicus. Either I’m the nobleman you serve, and I get to decide what is appropriate, or I am your friend, and it is appropriate for you to ask about how my family is doing. So which is it going to be? Are you going to ask, or am I going to order you to ask?” Dave said with a hint of annoyance.

  “Well, I guess as you say. I only was worried about Mistress Sara. Is she okay?”

  “See? That wasn’t so hard. She is safe unless being lectured by her mother counts as harm. She just very much acted like a child and put her life and the lives of others in danger. She may be a child, but she has to learn. Trust me though, no harm will come to her.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise, m’lord. I only was concerned for her. We have all become quite fond of her. There is just something about her. It’s hard to explain but …”

  “You don’t have to say anymore. I know she has a way of getting on everyone’s good side, but parents have to make sure that children learn the right way to live. I know as a parent you understand the challenges and joys of raising a free-spirited daughter. But anyway, are there any problems in town that I need to address right away?”

  “The sacred ash is still growing rapidly, and I suspect that something will have to be done about that at some point, but it can certainly wait until tomorrow. From a city maintenance perspective, we will need to talk about some construction issues but again nothing pressing.” Talvenicus spoke like he was reading down a list. All Dave really focused on was the statement that it could wait until tomorrow.

  “What about you two, are there any military issues I need to address?” Dave asked while looking at his human and elven military commanders.

  Ozakai bowed and said, “Since Lady Emiri is busy, I will give my report to you. The elven scouts have found two goblin scouts, but they were still far to the north at the very edge of the Murkwood, almost fifty miles from here. The goblins are coming, but I don’t think it is anything to worry about. As for our defenses, you may have noticed that the wall has started going up a lot faster. I was able to get the elven tree shapers to work with the wood there. So much like an elven city wall, we have uprooted and planted trees from the forest and are using them as the anchors of the wall.”

  “Hmm, that sounds excellent. I will want to hear more about it tomorrow. I will also be sure to pass on your report to my wife.”

  “Thank you, Consort.” Ozakai bowed a bit deeper when he saw Dave grimace at the use of his elven title.

  Morganthal didn’t seem to have anything to add, so after arranging for a tour of the new construction and defenses as well as meetings with the knights and forest wardens tomorrow afternoon, Dave was able to finally focus on the raid party. Only nine of them were there with Emily, and her two guardians were absent. So, coughing to make sure he had everyone’s attention, Dave said, “So it’s time to split up the loot. I am not taxing anyone for what you got out of this, and tomorrow evening, I will be happy to discuss creating a contract with the Adventurer’s Guild or, specifically, your Dungeon Delvers. But for now, I am going to give everyone a fair share of the loot. If I understood the message correctly, we got extra loot for this being the first time, but I am sure none of you will complain. If there is a specific item that anyone wants, then I will try to accommodate, but there may be more than one person for whom an item works. If that is the case, then I will manage it based upon who the item works the best for as well as considering our contribution and how much you need an upgrade. For the future, we will have to come up with a way for those on raids to be able to earn gear.”

  They all looked at him, and while it was clear that Tode wanted to say something, the Mind Chainer kept his mouth shut. Once he was sure that no one else had anything more to say, Dave said, “First, the easy part. From the coin, everyone except for myself will receive 1 gold piece, 15 silver pieces, and 100 copper pieces. I will only get 12 copper pieces, but I will get the surplus gold and silver in order to pay for the upkeep of this town and the construction of a suitable guard facility to protect the dungeon’s entrance.” Once again, Dave looked around almost challenging anyone to question him. The money was nothing to sneeze at, but it wasn’t life-changing for any of the people on the raid.

  “Next, as to the gear, there are seventeen items. Some of them like the health rings are obviously valuable but would be of little use to many in the raiding party as you already have health rings of similar or better quality. So to avoid problems, I will start with the larger items first.”

  As he paused, everyone held their breath. Dave had given this as much thought as he could while worrying about what to do with Sara. He felt he was being fair in his plan, so he would just have to see what they thought.

  “To War Monster, I give the first item. It would appear to be a perfect fit for you, and other than Emily and Mira, I don’t think any of the others could use it. I haven’t seen you wearing anything around your neck, so hopefully this will be an improvement for you.”

  Necropotent Amulet:

  Quality: Epic

  Weight: 2.0

  Passive Effect: Resist Hostile Essence Magic: +27

  Passive Effect: Increase Negative Essence Magic-

  Potency: +15%

  Efficiency: +20%

  Range: +25%

  Active Effect: 2/moon–ise - Animate Skeleton (Tier 2) creates a skeletal minion from the remains of a dead creature. Range: 100’ Duration: 24 hours or till the ability is used again. Skeleton’s stats are affected by the type of base creature which is animated.

  From the way that the Essence Knight’s eyes gleamed, Dave knew that he had made a good choice. As the quiet man came to receive the item, he went so far as to drop to one knee and say, “Thank you, Baron Murkwood.”

  “Next, for Ro’Billo and Tode, I award you the patterns for the leather and cloth set pieces. It is my hope that, while these items won’t provide you with an immediate upgrade, you will become more closely tied to our area in your attempt to not only find the ingredients for this pattern but for an entire set.”

  The patterns were likely one of the most coveted items, especially for anyone willing to put in the time and work to get them. From what Dave could tell, there were seven pieces to each set, and the value of each set went up the more pieces that you could collect. The problem of course being that no one yet knew where all the pieces could be collected from.

  Leather Pants Pattern

  Quality: N/A

  Weight: 0.2

  This parchment contains the recipe needed to create Sylvan Elemental Pants

  The pants are a Mythic quality item of Tier 4 on their own. Once you have 3 of the set pieces, the items receive a set bonus, pushing the overall set quality to Tier 5. With 5 pieces of the set, it becomes Low Grade Artifacts of Tier 5, and with 7 pieces, the set becomes Low Grade Artifacts of Tier 6 quality.

  That pattern went to Ro’Billo while the Cloth Cloak Pattern went to Tode. It was similar although the item it would create was known as the Erudite Elemental Cloak.

  Dave could see the desire for more of the items in both of their eyes. They wanted immediate boosts, but he also could see the way they stared at the patterns they were now holding. Those items were of tremendous value, and he was sure that Mira would argue with him later about why he should have kept them, but he meant what he said about wanting to tie them closer to the town.
At least Mira had the good sense to keep her complaints to herself.

  “The plate boot pattern will go to Rak’kar. I know that he has some specially fitted boots that work for his hooves. So I can only hope that magical boots will shape themselves to the one who completes that pattern, but if not, I am sure that he will be able to sell them for a good price.”

  Dave stopped thinking about how to handle the next part. “Baron Eikhorn, you have been a loyal friend and a great aid to me as your son has been to mine. As I understand it, frontline fighting is not something you have to do much of anymore, but I still want to give you something of significant value. With that in mind, I would like to offer you the Wind Bracelet. It both has passive defensive value and will provide you with an AoE attack should you need it.” So saying, Dave reached out with the item to offer it to Steffen.

  His fellow baron stepped in close. “This is a fine gift, and I freely accept it. But know that I offer back my aid. Should it be in my power and not inconsistent with my oath to the king and the people of Albia, then know that you have but to ask for my help.”

  Dave didn’t know what swept over him–maybe it was a rush of emotion and perhaps a bit of well-reasoned intuition–but he said back in response, “My oath is to the king of Albia, but know that I consider you the finest example of what a nobleman can be and that if it ever comes to it, I will have your back.”

  Once the two men pulled apart from their whispering embrace, Dave added, “I would also like to offer to your son these twin rings:

  Ring of Fetid Flesh

  Quality: Excellent

  Weight: 0.1