My heart rate got up a little after seeing the deformed face, and the moment he began the pipe swing I got a little scared. But it was wasted adrenaline. The metal bar descended really clumsy and not fast at all, as if a child was swinging something too heavy. I merely stepped aside and punched the ghoul in the face.
It was just like hitting someone in the real world. I had done my fair share of street fights in my adolescence and early youth and it was surprising how real the punch felt. Wondering how real the fights could be, I used a kick to try and push the ghoul away.
Success. The ghoul stumbled back to the wall and hit his head with a loud sound. A few more punches later, my hands were covered in the black smelling substance that was the ghoul's version of blood.
2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul
2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul
2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul
The same message appeared over and over again at the bottom left corner of my vision. I wasn't a powerful guy, it seemed.
No reaction came from the ghoul. He couldn't even properly move after I threw him on the floor and began to kick his face; he merely tried to shield himself with his arms and gave out weak cries of pain. Doing such a thing to a defenseless creature was highly repulsive and made me feel a little bad, even if it was just an NPC.
But the bastard had just tried to kill me, and I was not one to forgive and forget. At least he didn't try to beg for mercy. Well, it might have something to do with the strange angle his jaw was twisted, but I was no doctor.
With a last cry, his body became rigid and unmoving. The ghoul was dead.
2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul
HP: 0 / 20 <?>
I took a few seconds to catch my breath. In the real world I wouldn't be even close to tired, but my character body was weaker than the real me for now. Thinking about it, I checked how much stamina I still had. There were three colored bars on the top left edge of my vision, one below the other: red, blue and green.
Red was for hit points, HP; blue was for mana points, MP; and green was for stamina. There were numbers over each one of them.
HP: 95 / 95
MP: 95 / 95
Stamina: 30 / 85
This was part of the beauty of games. In real life, you feel healthy or sick, lively or tired, and that's it. In gaming, you know exactly your limits, which's especially useful for fighting.
Hit Points, or HP, measured my health, and the bar was full. Receiving damage would lower my HP, and if it got to zero, I would die.
Stamina was my physical conditioning. How much I could run, attack and so on.
Mana Points, or MP, was like stamina for magic. I had no abilities that consumed MP for now.
I had used up quite a large amount of stamina in my short fight and would have to recover it. A new exclamation point button had appeared on the right edge of my vision, right under the old one. Both contained an upward pointing arrow, but one had a 'Q' letter and the other an 'A'.
Wondering if the game would force me to check the old one first, I focused on the 'A' and willed it to show its hidden information. A translucent message window appeared floating before me.
Intelligence increased to 1 (+1)
By solving the problem of imprisonment you've proved yourself to have a superior intellect.
» MP: 100 (+5)
Agility increased to 1 (+1)
By not staying put while the enemy tries to kill you, and by repeatedly attacking such enemy with all your speed, you become faster.
Strength increased to 1 (+1)
You know how to hit. Now you do it harder.
Dexterity increased to 1 (+1)
It's not about hitting hard; it's about connecting your hits. You learn how to better direct your attacks.
Constitution increased to 1 (+1)
After putting your body to stress, you learn how to further move without tiring.
» HP: 100 (+5)
» Stamina: 95 (+10)
Strength, agility and so on were attributes. I had eight of those, and each one of them controlled some aspect about me and how well I could interact with the world. Having more strength, for instance, not only would allow me to do more damage to my enemies, but also to carry more weight.
Again, the game provided me with exact numbers for my limits. The way to get more points in an attribute was to do things related to it, like weight lifting or killing people with my fists for strength.
I much preferred the latter, thanks.
Receiving this many points early on was expected, since I had had zero points in all of my attributes – and the less points in an attribute, the easier it was to receive more. Five attribute points was not bad and it quelled my fear of boredom; I was not a huge fan of going to the gym in a game.
The explanation under each received point was a nice touch too. That way the player would know exactly how he had increased his attributes and it would lower the complaints. Supposedly. People always found things to complain about. I for one would love a progress bar showing me how far I was from the next level.
I looked at the corpse before me and took the time to rob him of everything he had, except his underwear; humanoid creatures could only get naked by their living will. Not that I'd be interested in stripping a dude anyway.
Worn Cotton Shirt
» +1 defense
Worn Cotton Pants
» +1 defense
Old Leather Shoes
» +2 defense
Old Leather Belt
» +2 defense
Defense in this game was as simple as it could be: if an attack should've caused five damage but found an armor with a defense value of two on its way, the final damage was three; a direct subtraction.
It seemed leather was better than cotton for defense; who would have thought? The shirt and pants were torn in a few places, but they were still a lot better than the tattered clothes I was wearing.
I didn't check the items' detailed information; checking the color, material and overall condition of these clothes was easy enough to do just by looking at them or by reading their names.
Putting my new clothes on was slightly disgusting; the ghoul's blood was sticky and smelled revolting. After that, I took the pipe.
Corroded Copper Pipe
» 15 (+2 [Strength]) physical damage
Fifteen was the maximum damage the weapon was capable of doing unless it hit a critical spot. Hitting a man in the chest could potentially lower his hit points by all fifteen points, but hitting him in the foot using the same force would do a lot less damage.
The player's strength also played a part on the potential damage, as showcased by the '+2'. I could do a little more than fifteen points of damage on each hit because of my one point in strength.
I put the pipe on a spot for it in my new belt and sat to wait while my lost stamina recovered. Doing nothing made me remember the second exclamation point on my vision edge. I willed it to show me its information.
Quest: Escape the Prison
D rank
You have been imprisoned in the deathlords secret prison.
Find a way to escape it.
Conditions:
» Cannot be refused
» Cannot be dropped
» Must be completed without dying
My very first task, or quest. Compared to the attribute points messages, it lacked information.
For instance, why was I imprisoned? I had chosen the unbound variation of the deathlord species. Doing so gave me a diplomacy bonus, which meant that every species in the world should treat me neutrally, except for the bound deathlords and the vampires, who hated me for unknown reasons.
Also, what would happen if I died without completing it? Would it be game over? Would I receive another quest?
At least I now know I'm in prison. Ya, thanks for the heads up.
The quest difficulty was relative to my current power. It could rank from A+ to E-, a C-rank being the middle ground. I doubted I would have
any trouble with a D-rank quest.
After about five minutes of sitting, my stamina was replenished.
It was time for some prison-breaking.
Crouching as much as I could while still being able to move, I left the cell. I found myself in a long stone corridor with closed metal doors and torch sconces. The torches on each side of my door were the only ones burning, the rest of the corridor being in the dark.
One of the two starting skills, or abilities, I had chosen had been darkvision, which allowed me to see through absolute gloom as if it was the end of twilight. Thanks to that, I would be able to explore the prison without having to take a torch, which would've made me a bright moving target for my enemies.
Happily ignoring the torches, I began to walk. Since I was crouching, it was slow, but I'd rather walk this way and lower my chance of being spotted.
Each side of the corridor had intermittent cells and the doors had white letters and numbers painted on them. Mine was the A-20 cell, the last one in the hallway. At first I had thought the way the cells were placed was a waste of space, but after some consideration I concluded that they were this way so the prisoners wouldn't be able to talk among themselves. This prison was not a pleasant place to be.
The first cell I passed by was empty, the door wide open. In the far end of the corridor I could see the only other light source. The next three cells were also open and empty, but inside A-16 I found a dead skeleton. It was important to assess its death state, even if it was a skeleton; in this world, skeletons could walk and stick a knife in your back.
I almost passed by the door, but a small bag under the corpse caught my attention. I approached the bones slowly and took the brown bag, which I discovered to be a purse. It had a single copper coin inside.
Sweet. It had some strings that I used to tie the purse to my belt. Another 'A' exclamation point had appeared, and I opened it.
Perception increased to 1 (+1)
Noticing small things shows that you are a perceptive person.
Another free attribute point. I wondered how hard it would become to level my attributes after they got to level twenty or so. I went back to the corridor and resumed my crouched walk.
The next six cells were also bare, but A-9 was different: its door was closed. I remembered how loud my cell door had sounded, so I applied only a small force as I knocked.
"Anybody there?" I said quietly, but loud enough for my voice to go through the door.
"Screw you!" A man yelled from inside.
I frowned. What kind of response was that from a game character?
"Calm down, mister politeness incarnate. I'm an escaping prisoner."
"Ha! Get out, ghoul! I will tell you nothing!"
"I'm not a ghoul."
"Right! Go away!"
"I'm telling you, man, I'm not a ghoul. Escaping prisoner coming through."
"Stop the act! I can smell death even through the door, undead. Ghoul, deathlord, vampire or zombie, even if you are an escaping prisoner, you are not my ally. Just go away!"
"I think I know why you are in prison, what with this attitude and all. Do you always spit in every hand that tries to help you?"
"Oh, you are a helper! An innocent boy in the deathlords' prison, trying to help everyone! Come in here, undead, I still have some life magic left. Let me heal you; you will love it."
Life magic would heal living people, but me being undead, I would receive damage instead. This was a confusing situation. Wasn't that a game character waiting to be rescued? What kind of victim made the rescuer beg to allow the rescue to be done?
"Whatever. Just pretend I'm a boy scout who wants to help, what would I need to do?"
"Scout? Who would you even be scouting for in a prison? Go away!"
Ouch, the cultural gap between worlds.
"Man, just tell me how to take you out of the cell. Can you get out by yourself? Can the door be forced?" I tried as I spoke, but the door was firmly set, unlike my own had been. "Do you know who has the key? Just tell me and I'll leave."
This time, the prisoner didn't answer immediately. After a few seconds, he replied with a much lower voice. "A torturer must have the key."
"Was it that hard? I'll be back."
Two exclamation point buttons had appeared, one with the letter 'Q' and the other with the letter 'A'. I opened the quest one first.
Quest: Save the Prisoner from Cell A-9
C+ rank
Help the prisoner from cell A-9 escape the deathlords' prison.
He told you that the key to his cell is with a torturer.
Conditions:
» Must be completed before leaving the prison
» Must be completed without dying
A C+ quest meant that it was slightly above the average difficulty for my current power. A small challenge. I smiled and opened the attribute exclamation point button.
Charisma increased to 1 (+1)
Convincing a prisoner to let you help him is a feat of a true charismatic person!
Is this attribute message being sarcastic?
A few more open doors later I found myself before cell A-2 and was finally able to see what there was in the light ahead. Two ghouls were there, clearly stronger than the one I had killed.
Instead of pipes, they had corroded swords loosely hanging from their belts and small round corroded shields on their left arms. With only a pipe myself, I decided it'd be best not to attack head on.
I had to make them leave their position or become distracted.
How to do that came to me fast: I entered the empty cell nearby and hit the metal door sharply. A loud sound echoed through the corridor.
"Did ya hear that?" One of them spoke.
"No, shudap."
I couldn't hear them move. I hit the door again.
"Hey, ya hear it now?"
"Mus' be a rat. Da pests everywhere."
No movement. I tried again.
"That ain't no rat. Mus' be one of the prisoners."
"Mus' be the elf. High Lady Renno said the other one'll get killed when he wakes. That's why she sent the newbie there. He is an idiot, but I bet even he woul' check the noise."
"A bet? A'right, I bet he asleep. Wha' 'bout a silver coin?"
"Deal. But I check."
"No way. We go together."
It worked. Only one would be better, but life has a way of denying perfection to people. I hid beside the door and waited. As the ghouls neared, I synchronized my breathing with their steps. Light shone outside, probably from a torch one of them was carrying.
As they passed the cell, walking slowly and unworried, an exclamation point button appeared, but I ignored it for now and followed my boys. I took extra care only to step on the floor when one of them stepped too. Soon, I was behind both of them and chose the left one to be the first one to die. He had a torch in his hand and could use it as a weapon faster than the other one could grab his sword. I swung the pipe with all my force at his head.
Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!
34 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul
Sneak attack! That wasn't in the manuals. He screamed, and the other one turned. I attacked the same ghoul again, but this time I didn't receive a sneak attack bonus and missed the head, dealing a lot less damage. Meanwhile, the other one took the sword from its belt. A final pipe hit killed the first ghoul, but the other one swung the sword at me.
23 slash damage received
HP: 77 / 100
I felt the cold sword cutting through my side and it hurt a lot. I gritted my teeth, stepped back, used the pipe to take the ghoul's sword out of the way and then attacked him. He put his shield in the way, but thanks to the bar above his head, I knew he had taken damage.
6 shock damage dealt to Ghoul
HP: 53 / 59 <?>
Wait, the bar above his head?
A red bar had appeared between his head and the floating 'Ghoul' text above his head. It was not entirely red, almost a tenth left to become full. Over it was
the HP numbers I had just seen in the damage message.
Fifty-nine had been the total damage I had inflicted to the first ghoul. So, for killing the first, I now could see this one's hit points. Sweet.
He attacked, faster than the ghoul I had fought in my cell, but still slow. He had been able to hit the previous swing only because I had been too focused on killing the other guy.
I stepped aside to dodge the sword swing and counter-attacked. Again he used the shield to block.
The biggest concern now was the stamina. Each attack, dodge or even hit I received consumed five stamina points.
Five damage, dodge, six damage, dodge, six damage, dodge. He still had twenty-nine HP left.
It was clear that my remaining thirty stamina would not be enough. I had to try something different. I feigned an attack at his body, and as soon as he raised his shield, I lowered the pipe to his legs.
12 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul
HP: 17 / 59 <?>
Great! After that big damage, the fight was decided in two more attacks to the shield, for a total of fifty-three points of damage. The ghoul's total HP was updated on the last hit.
That's what the question mark means, then. The information is only an estimate based on my previous experiences. Or thoughts, in the case of the 'Ghoul' text appearing over their heads.
As the ghoul dropped dead, I suddenly felt shaky. I was panting, and the bloodied pipe weighed heavily on my hand. I let it go. The metal clinked when it hit the stone floor. My body went down next.
Man, I'm tired. A translucent energy left the last ghoul corpse; it was dark grey and flew like an arrow to me. I was too surprised to dodge.
Kill to Survive: 1 HP recovered
Unbound Deathlord: Challenge Page 2
