by Sam Ferguson
A sneak attack from above... that could work. Brian crept up to the tree and silently climbed through its limbs as he went up and up. He then stayed on all fours, crawling out toward the centaur slowly. He didn’t want to risk falling and splashing into the shallow creek. As he moved into position above the centaur, the warrior stopped his song and began to pray.
“Oh Terramyr, mother of all natural life that is good, hear the cries of my people, and hear the pleas of thy champion! We have come to win back Bohotes, the capitol of the fairies, and then from there we will launch a mighty campaign to repel the invaders of thy sacred land. I seek thy blessing and thy help. We cannot continue to fight against the humans in the north and the strange monsters that infest the inner parts of the land. We need thy help in ridding the land of the bloodthirsty monsters, or we will never have the strength to—”
Brian dropped down, dagger in hand, and plunged the blade deep into the centaur’s neck as he crashed onto the creature’s equine body. The centaur gasped and then slumped to the ground in a heap, sending Brian tumbling to the side. Success!
Brian looted the centaur to find horse meat and centaur hair. He frowned when he realized the centaur had no gold. But he did go back and retrieve the glaive.
[+1 centaur captain’s silvered steel glaive]
Jackpot!
Brian equipped the glaive.
[Centaur captain’s silvered steel glaive equipped. Slashing damage +18.5]
Dang! It was a two-handed weapon, so it would exhaust him faster than a longsword and would be slightly slower to swing, but that was a large increase in damage.
Stowing the glaive in a specialized holster that had populated on his back as he had equipped the item, he turned and made his way directly back to the city. He remembered that the centaur was to be killed without witnesses, so he didn’t want to risk being caught now. He snuck across the stream, jumping from rock to rock to stay dry. Once he reached the other side, he bolted through the woods as fast as he could.
Racing through the trees, he whipped past a pair of deer that startled and rushed off into the trees. He crashed through bushes, leapt over rocks, and barely managed to sidestep a few small saplings as he careened up and down hills. One particular hill had a large boulder at its top, so he jumped onto it and then leapt out toward a large branch. He barely managed to land right and keep his balance as he raced across the tree branch, swung around the trunk, then ran out along a slightly lower branch. He had intended on jumping to the next tree, but he lost his footing as the branch narrowed and he fell, bouncing off one lower limb—taking a small hit to his stamina and HP—then flopping into a bush that somehow managed to break his fall. He emerged from the bush and bumped into the backside of something furry that stood about half as tall as he did. The soft moonlight illuminated the turquoise fur of a beast that was very similar to a wolverine in shape, though much, much larger.
The creature spun around and didn’t even warn Brian before it slashed at him.
Brian barely managed to jump back out of reach. He pulled out the glaive as the animal arched its back and stepped a couple feet away, snarling and baring its teeth.
Its forelegs were nothing like its hindquarters. Instead of fur, there were rough spikes jutting out along its golden leathery skin. The shoulders and upper spine had some sort of spiked, black carapace covering it, and two small horns grew from just above the beast’s eyes.
The dot above it shone red, but there was nothing Brian could do about that now. He was too close, and this thing was about to strike. Brian leapt in and swung with the glaive. The blade seemed to sing as it sliced through the air and collided with the monster’s thick carapace at the left shoulder. The HP bar went down by a little more than ten percent, but there was no time to celebrate. The creature lunged in, swatting the glaive away and then biting at Brian’s leg—his HP dropped by about fifteen percent.
Brian answered the attack with a power chop. It connected and dropped the beast’s HP by another ten percent.
The monster tucked its head and forelegs so that the spikes faced forward and then it launched itself at Brian, slamming into his chest and dropping his HP by two thirds. His stamina bar went down by a quarter as well.
While Brian’s avatar was still in flight, he drank the minor health potion and restored himself back to half health. A fraction of a second after that, he slammed onto the ground and rolled backward several feet.
The monster raked the dirt with its claws once more and snarled.
Brian saw a tree nearby he could climb, so he decided to try and escape. He jumped up and ran for it as the beast charged him. He was onto the first branch about ten feet up when the monster slashed the base of the tree trunk, ripping bark and shards of wood free as it snarled.
He pulled himself up to the next branch, but the monster was only a few feet behind him. It loped up the tree much more easily than he did, gaining on him quickly.
Crap!
Brian ran out across the limb and leapt to a nearby tree, just catching the branch and dangling precariously. The beast followed along the first branch and looked like it was preparing to leap across to where Brian was hanging from.
“No, no, stay back!” Brian’s command fell upon deaf ears. The monster leapt across, landing nimbly upon the branch he dangled from, and then turned around to swipe at him.
Brian moved his head just out of reach, but felt the wind from the beast’s attempt to claw his eyes out.
Time for a new tactic.
[Centaur captain’s silvered steel glaive unequipped. Slashing damage -18.5]
[Feathersteel dagger equipped. Attack +5 piercing/slashing]
Brian stabbed upward toward the beast. He connected with the thick forelegs, but his dagger failed to penetrate the tough, leathery hide. The beast leaned down and roared at him.
Brian noticed a branch below, so he dropped to it. He started to run toward the tree trunk so he could attempt an escape, but a second later the blue, spiked, wolverine thing dropped right in front of him. The branch shook violently under the weight, but managed to hold them without snapping.
[Feathersteel dagger unequipped. Attack -5 piercing/slashing]
[Centaur captain’s silvered steel glaive equipped. Slashing damage +18.5]
Brian put away his dagger and pulled out his glaive once more. The monster took a step forward and he swung the glaive, this time managing to cleave one of the animal’s horns from its head. The HP bar dropped another ten percent, but the animal appeared to shake off the actual injury as it became enraged.
It rushed forward and took a swipe, but Brian leapt back down to the ground.
The beast jumped over him and landed in front of him once more; it spun and snapped its jaws at him twice before launching two claw swipes. Brian backpedaled fast enough to stay just inches ahead of each attack, and then he spun around to put some extra power behind his glaive attack.
The beast caught the blade in the side of the head. The glaive sank in just enough to get stuck, but the monster wasn’t dead—it still had ten percent of its HP left. The glaive now tethered them together but also allowed Brian to stay out of reach. As the beast snarled and tried to advance, Brian would be pushed back. If the monster tried to flank him, the glaive would push him out of the way. It brought back memories of older bullies in grade school that would use their long arms to hold back smaller kids by placing their hands on the small kid’s forehead while they teased them. Of course, the difference here was this beast would easily rip Brian apart if the glaive came free.
“Ha!” Brian said. “Looks like we got something between us we need to work out.” He smirked, a little sad none of his friends were there to hear his one-liner.
The beast stopped and looked at him, its bloodshot eyes fixed in a deadly glare and its upper body heaving for breath. A moment later it lunged forward, but Brian had expected that. He moved his feet deftly across the dirt and over rocks so he wouldn’t trip.
“I’m not going
down that easily!” he shouted.
The beast then stopped and pulled back on the glaive with such tremendous power that Brian fell face first onto the dirt and the glaive was ripped from his hands.
[-1 centaur captain’s silvered steel glaive]
Ah crap!
The beast roared triumphantly and shook its head, slamming the long shaft against a tree until it popped free of its thick skull. In a fortunate twist of fate, slamming the weapon against the tree and removing it dropped the creature’s HP another little bit.
Leaping to his feet, he pulled out his sword. There wasn’t much else he could do.
[Steel longsword equipped. Slashing damage +15]
The beast ran at him and then moved to tuck its head and forelegs. Brian knew what was coming. He used the half-second he had to leap to the side. The creature flew through the air, but entirely missed since it hadn’t seen Brian get out of its intended path. Rushing in, he hacked at it twice with the sword. The HP bar flashed and dropped to maybe five percent.
The beast spun around, kicking dirt up into Brian’s eyes. A second later a heavy paw slammed into his side, knocking him down to twenty-five percent. A glancing blow from a second claw strike had him down to about five percent as he stumbled to fall on his back.
No more health potions. Can’t see. He listened for the beast as it pawed the ground. He could hear the paws hit the ground with each step. Brian rolled to the side, then held his sword up, hoping to impale the creature if it managed to change directions to follow him. Whack! The sword went flying from his hands just as his vision cleared from the dirt the monster had kicked up.
The sword flew several yards through the air and landed near the glaive.
Brian jumped up and darted behind a tree as the blue wolverine crashed into the trunk. Wood exploded everywhere as Brian launched himself up the trunk and into the branches—the beast followed around and then up.
Pulling himself up onto a sturdy branch, he ran out toward a tree that would get him over his weapons. He could feel the heavy vibrations of the monster running after him along the branch, but he didn’t bother to turn around. He sprinted as fast as he could along the treacherous branch, then jumped across a four-foot gap to land on a thick bough extending from the oak tree where the animal had smacked the glaive loose. He hurried and then leapt downward to his weapons.
The beast snarled above him and then prepared to leap after him as Brian rolled along the ground, taking negligible fall damage as he landed near the weapons.
The animal lunged.
Grabbing the glaive and jamming the spike on its base into the ground, he aimed the blade upward toward the beast’s chest. At the last possible second, Brian rolled away as the beast impaled itself, letting out a shrieking snarl that was quickly followed by a heavy whump!
Brian could feel his heart pounding from the excitement. He turned around and looked at the limp body on the ground.
[+1,100 XP]
Brian didn’t comment on the experience points. He just picked himself up and went to the dead animal. He looted it, and by so doing discovered it was called a turquloid. Brian gathered the two turquloid horns, the turquloid hide, turquloid meat, and two turquloid fangs. The corpse disappeared once it was looted, allowing Brian to retrieve his weapons.
The glaive was surprisingly still intact. He had expected it to break during that last bit, but it didn’t even appear to need repair. He walked the rest of the way back to Bohotes much more carefully, targeting berry bushes and consuming the fruit along the way to restore some of his HP. He was mindful to retrace his steps back through that bandit camp so he could make sure to avoid the steggos as well. There was no need to take any additional chances. Even with the berries, he had only restored about twenty-five percent of his HP by the time he reached the city. Fortunately, the Pink Quill Inn served food any time of day.
“What’ll it be?” the inn keeper asked.
Brian saw venison stew for twenty-five gold which promised to restore twenty HP. He promptly bought one.
He was pulled out of his avatar to watch as the inn keeper shuffled about the kitchen slicing carrots, onions, potatoes, and chunking up venison into cubes to pour into a large pot of boiling broth. The inn keeper then added herbs and a touch of ale. The pot sat over the fire for a few more seconds and then the man ladled out the stew and served it up on the counter along with a small saucer plate with a piece of sliced bread.
“Enjoy!” the inn keeper said.
Brian’s avatar tore into the meal ravenously, taking several spoonsful before grabbing the bowl and lifting it up to his mouth to drink the rest. After he finished, he sopped up the last bits with the bread and then wiped his mouth.
Brian saw his HP bar go up a bit, and then promptly repeated the ordeal three more times to get to full HP. The night was about half over by the time he had finished his meals, but that left plenty of time to save and then return to the lair to cash his first assassin success. Then he’d be free to go for the supersecret assassin mission.
He went to the Morr’Tai lair and found the tall woman down by the job board. When he turned in the completed job to her she wrinkled her nose.
“Well done,” she said.
[QUEST COMPLETED: HORSE RACE]
[+1,000 XP]
[+500 GP]
Dang, the centaur was a lot easier than that turquloid thing. Seems weird that they’re almost the same value. For a moment he considered that perhaps the centaur might usually be harder. Perhaps it was the luck flowers and Freya’s ring which had helped create the scenario where the target went out to pray at a shrine alone and unarmed.
“Have you completed my assignment?”
Brian sighed. He really hated that voice. He’d have to mention to Meredith that the developers had certainly picked the right voice actor. He turned to see the assassin staring at him with a half grin, as if expecting good news.
“Not yet,” Brian said.
The half grin disappeared. “This is most... disorderly.” The assassin let his right hand slowly slide down his tunic to rest on the hilt of a dagger.
“I was just on my way there now,” Brian said. “I just needed to make a stop and rest up first.”
“If you are not strong enough to be my champion, then I can find another,” the assassin said.
The tall woman seemed to perk up at that and pulled her dagger. “I could be the champion.”
Holding up a hand, the master assassin shook his head. “Not yet, let’s give him one more chance.” He smiled. “Move swiftly this time, and do not fail to return with good news, or I will be forced to take action.”
“All right, all right, I’m going.” Brian turned around and exited the lair as quickly as he could. He still couldn’t activate the quest though, so finding the target was going to have to be done the old-fashioned way. He put a marker on the central keep and made his way through the streets. When he arrived at the building shown to him in the cut scene when first arriving at Bohotes, he was impressed with its size. Standing at the gates, the structure was much more impressive than flying by with a camera. Everything about this fortress screamed that it was ready for war, including the town watch standing guard at the gatehouse.
“Hey, where can I find Lord Prin?” Brian asked.
The two guards looked at each other and then pointed to a door in the gatehouse.
“The captain is in the Bohotes dungeon offices.”
Brian nodded and walked through the doorway.
A lot easier than I thought it would be.
Inside the entryway he found a small foyer with two more guards standing watch. Beyond them was a barracks chamber with ten beds on either side of the central walkway. About half of them were filled with sleeping guards. Footlockers at each bed tempted him just a bit and made him wonder if Mike was still out in Bohotes robbing houses. On the other side of the barracks was a door which opened into a small room that appeared to serve primarily as an intersection. A spiral staircase wen
t down on his left, while one to the right went up. Straight ahead was a large mess hall.
Dungeon usually means down, Brian figured. He followed the stairs down until they reached a landing some twenty feet below the main level. A hallway stretched out to the right, with a desk situated at the end just before a large wooden door with iron bands.
Behind the desk sat the satyr, Lord Prin. Gold fur stuck out around the town-watch armor comprised of a chain mail shirt capped with pauldrons. A plumed helmet sat upon the desk next to a large hourglass that was about halfway through its sand. He wasn’t sure the helmet belonged to the satyr though, for it didn’t appear that it could fit over the horns. Brian walked through the hallway, which smelled of damp stone and had some signs of mold growth.
The satyr saw him coming and looked up at him. His nostrils flared a bit and then he reached up to stroke his light gold goatee. “An interesting sight to see one like you down here. You are not from the town watch.” The satyr stood up and circled around the desk to approach Brian. A broadsword hung from each hip, and the satyr wore a set of scale mail greaves that jingled softly with each step. He came very close to Brian and looked at him with green eyes that had a broad, horizontal pupil like a real-life goat.
“I know who you are,” the satyr said. He nodded to the armor Brian was wearing. “An initiate, eh? Well, if you’re here for blood, I can’t allow it on my watch. Come back later. I am usually on patrol during the day.”
Brian gave a nod. “I am not here for any prisoners today, just for information. Can I go and see the cells?”
