Reternity Online : Rescue Quest : DIRECTOR'S CUT : a LitRPG Epic
Page 17
I reached up for a low hanging limb.
Layna grabbed my arm. “Wait a second.”
“What?”
“You’ve been wounded in battle. I need to bind your wounds.”
“It’s not that bad.”
She touched my torn up stomach delicately.
I jumped and hissed, “Easy, woman. Can’t you see I’m all cut up?”
She smirked, “Who’re you calling a woman, woman? You sound like a little girl.”
“Sorry I said anything, Katniss,” I said sarcastically.
“Who?”
“Never mind,” I chuckled.
She produced a waterskin and splashed water over my wound and rubbed away some of the pasty yellow fungus. When she finished, she pulled out a long cloth bandage.
“Are you done rubbing already?” I asked. “I mean, you can keep rubbing me all day if you want.” I winked at her.
She slapped the wound on my stomach with the back of her hand.
“Ow, fuck! Why’d you do that?”
“Shut up,” she chuckled, then wrapped the bandage around my ribs and over the wound.
“I hate to break it to you, Dr. McCoy, but this cut’s pretty deep. I think I’m going to need stitches.”
She scowled and pulled out a bamboo tube that was capped on one end with oilcloth and tied shut with twine. “Drink some of this.”
“Hey, uh, where do you keep all your stuff?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your waterskin, the bandages, this tube. I don’t see a backpack, but you’re carrying around a ton of gear.”
She smiled mysteriously, “Stop asking so many questions, woman.” She pulled off the oilcloth from the bamboo tube. “This will quicken your healing and your skin will reknit itself.”
I took the tube and sniffed. It stank. I grimaced. “You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t I need some of Moggor’s golden hand magic for a wound this bad?”
“A man wouldn’t.” She grinned and wiped some of the yellow fungus off my arm. “Maybe you shouldn’t wash off the rest of this fungus.”
“Why not? Does it help healing somehow?”
“No. It’s yellow like your belly and your backbone.” She smirked and looked damn cute when she did.
“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically.
“Drink.”
If it was anybody else, I would’ve told her to stick it where the sun didn’t shine. But I trusted her. And maybe liked her, even if she was fake.
I took a big swallow.
Layna has given you Elixir of the Takatcha Tree. Heal 5x the normal rate until your Health and Stamina recover completely.
I shook my head like I’d pounded something 120 proof and coughed wheezily. I was surprised I didn’t burp out a burst of flame. “Damn, that’s strong stuff,” I whispered. “Thanks. Do you have enough for Ty and Qoorie?”
“Of course.” I’ll bring it to them. Layna scurried up the tree like she was climbing a ladder.
Did I bother to sneak a peak at her ass in those tight leather pants? More like filmed a mental movie. Was I a pervert? If I was, I blamed the harpy’s curse. Nothing I could do about that.
After Layna climbed into the nest, she leaned down, “Are you coming, Logan?”
Not quite, but close. Damn, she was really hot. I waved innocently, “Be up there in a second.”
It took me a bit longer to make it to the top. It was a big tree. And I think Layna took all the handholds with her. I went slow and made sure I always had a hand or a foot on something solid, but I easily could’ve fallen and killed myself at any point. Somehow, I made it all the way. I’d worry about getting down later.
You have unlocked a new skill: Climbing. Level 1. Outsmart gravity and climb to new heights! Increase your Accuracy and/or Endurance to improve your chance of success.
Level 1 seemed generous, but I’d take it.
Up top, the harpy’s nest was huge. Probably 10 feet across and made of all manner of branches and debris woven together. You could easily sleep 15 people up here. Or store 15 corpses. There were bones everywhere, shoved out to the edges or sticking out randomly from the irregular and twisting structure of the walls.
Qoorie was busy taking a swig from Layna’s bamboo booze flask.
Ty held up a skull, “Yo, check this out.”
“What’s that?” I asked. “Is that a dog skull?”
“Doggen. They’s a demi-human race. Half man, half dog.” Ty dropped the skull into the pile. Picked up another one. “This be elven. And them boots are elven too. That be a dwarven helmet over there. Them harpies must a killed a lot a Player Characters in they time. Look at all this here gear. And look at them eggs! They be harpy eggs.” The eggs were the size of basketballs, but egg shaped and a vivid blue. “We can sell them for a clutch a gold.”
“Can we eat them?” I asked. “I’m starving. Maybe they have a giant skillet around here for us to fry them up. Anybody want a harpy omelet?”
“What’s an omelet?” Layna asked.
Was she joking? She didn’t look like it. “Never mind,” I muttered.
Qoorie said, “We should bag everything worth taking and climb back down before we divide it up. In case more harpies come.”
“I agree,” Layna said. “But we should leave the eggs. If there are more harpies, stealing their eggs will drive them into a frenzy. And they’ll be able to track the eggs by scent.”
“What if there aren’t more harpies?” Qoorie asked. “Who’ll take care of the babies?”
“Babies?” Ty spat. “Them harpies tried to kill us!”
My thoughts exactly, but I didn’t went to get in an argument between Ty and Qoorie.
Qoorie frowned, sadness weighing down on her face, fighting against her motherly instincts. “You’re right. Leave the eggs.”
Ty said, “Yo, everybody grab any armor, weapons, or magic gear that we can use. Leave the rest.”
“Does anybody want these?” Layne held up a leather pouch and shook it. It jingled pleasantly.
“Lemme see that,” Ty said, practically tearing the pouch from her hands. Layna didn’t care. Ty reached in, his face glowing with joy. He started to laugh. “Would you look at all this bling?” He pulled out a handful of glimmering gold coins, and let them tinkle back into the pouch. “They gotta be at least three, four hundred gold here.”
“Wow,” I laughed. “That’s a lot of fricking gold.”
“Calm down boys,” Qoorie snickered. “Let’s get everything we can and get out of this nest before we start fighting over money.”
Like Layna, I didn’t really care if Ty kept it all or not. I didn’t care about fake money. But I did want to run my fingers through it, just to feel it. I’d never seen that much gold outside of a jewelry store. And you never got to run your fingers through all the gold you got playing D&D.
We picked through the dirty bones and the dusty branches of the nest, throwing everything into a pile. Much of it was old, rotten, torn, broken, rusted or useless. Pieces of broken armor, broken weapons, shards of clothing, fragments of bags, you name it. We piled all the decent gear together.
Gladiator’s Manica (2) — Weight: 3.5 kg. Durability: 46. Availability: Uncommon. Armor: +30. Minimum Strength: 15 or -3 to Speed. Arm guards of layered iron plates fastened to padded leather sleeves.
Gladiator’s Greaves (2) — Weight: 2.0 kg. Durability: 21. Availability: Common. Armor: +10. Minimum Strength: 13 or -1 to Speed. Shin and knee guards of layered iron plates fastened to padded leather.
Gladiator’s Armored Belt — Weight: 3.0 kg. Durability: 37. Availability: Uncommon. Armor: +10. Minimum Strength: 13 or -2 to Speed. Wide leather belt layered with iron plates.
Gladiator’s War Skirt — Weight: 2.0 kg. Durability: 15. Availability: Uncommon. Armor: +10. Minimum Strength: 12 or -1 to Speed. A skirt of metal-studded leather strips.
Trident — Weight: 3.0 kg. Durability: 32. Availability: Rare. Damage: 12-48. Minimum Streng
th: 14 or -2 to Speed.
Throwing Knives (5) — Weight: 0.35 kg. Durability: 12. Availability: Common. Damage: 1-10.
Elven Mail Shirt — Weight: 1.75 kg. Durability: 77. Availability: Very Rare. Armor: +25. Finely crafted elvish chainmail, the highest quality.
Leather Gauntlets (2) — Weight: 0.5 kg. Durability: 11. Availability: Common. Armor: +5.
Magical Sword & Scabbard — Weight: 1.5 kg. Durability: ??? Availability: Very Rare. Unknown properties.
Magical Bracers (2) — Weight: 1.0 kg. Durability: ??? Availability: Mythic. Unknown properties.
“Mind if I take this here gladiator armor?” Ty asked. “I can tank up for y’all if I have all them fat armor bonuses.”
“Go for it,” I said.
“It’s too big for me,” Qoorie said. “But that Elven Mail would fit me perfectly.” She gave me a look.
“It’s all yours, Q,” I smiled. “Unless Layna wants it?”
She shook her head. “It’ll look good on Qoorie.”
Qoorie smiled and slid it over her tiger head. It didn’t look like it would fit, but it did. Perfectly. More magic at work? I couldn’t tell. Maybe Elven Mail was stretchy.
Ty strapped on the gladiator armor. The plates on the arm guards looked like blades. They weren’t sharp, but they’d still cut a person up good if you slammed them into their face.
“Dude, you look like a beast in that armor.”
He winked at me, “Now I is twice the beast I already was.”
“Absolutely.”
Qoorie said, “Does anybody want these leather gauntlets? Ty and I don’t need them covering up our claws.”
Layna said, “I don’t need them. I have mine. You should wear them, Logan.”
“Don’t you think I’ll look pretty stupid in a loincloth, sandals, and big leather gloves?”
Ty chuckled. “Put ’em on, dawg.”
I slid them on my hands. They were pretty bulky but the fingers moved well and I could easily grip my spear. “What do you think? Stupid, right?”
Ty said, “+5 armor be better than no armor, yo.”
“You got a point. Ty, you want the trident to go with your gladiator look?”
“Nah. It’ll slow me down. My claws is faster. You take it.”
I picked it up and swung it around. “Feels too heavy for me. I’ll stick with my spear.”
“I’ll take it, dawg. Maybe we can sell it.”
“Who gets the magic sword?” I asked.
Qoorie said, “How are the bonuses? Can anybody tell what they are? I can’t.”
“Let me see,” Layna said, taking the sword. “Forked Lightning Saber. Magic Class: Air. +4 to Speed, +6 to Accuracy, +12 electrical damage. And, it can shoot a lightning bolt once per day. Automatic strike, 100 damage to one target, 50 damage to 2 targets, or 25 damage to four.”
Ty nodded appreciatively. “That’s badass, yo. Either a you gotta sword skill?” Ty looked at me and Layna.
“I don’t,” I said. “Do you, Layna?”
She nodded. “But I don’t need the sword. One of you keep it.”
Qoorie asked, “What’s your sword skill, Layna?”
“It’s… I already have my own sword.”
I didn’t see one. “Where?”
“It’s—I told you, I have one. I don’t need another one.”
I pressed, “Is it as good as this one?”
“No.”
“So take it already,” I said.
“We insist,” Qoorie and Ty said.
Layna took it reluctantly. “Logan, you need a weapon. Are you sure you don’t want it?”
“I told you, I don’t have a sword skill.”
“I could teach you,” she said, obviously liking the idea.
As much as I loved the idea of the two of us spending hours and hours getting sweaty together while she taught me the best way to pull out my sword, sheathe it, ahem, and the endless lessons in thrusting and parrying that would follow, I needed something more convenient, like a handgun. And Layna was fake, no matter who she might be in real life. “Maybe some other time.”
“Sure,” she said, hiding her disappointment.
“Ty,” I said, “they got magic guns in this game? After that harpy fight I’m thinking an enchanted gun would be nice to have around.”
“No, dawg. No guns. Try them throwing knives we found. They pretty good.”
“Yeah, but there’s only five. What happened to this place being all magic? Aren’t these games supposed to have tons of big flashy magic that’s better than guns?”
“You know it,” Ty said. “A Reternity Online mage pimped out with enough spells and mana’ll make Rambo, the Terminator, and Triple-X all look like pussies.”
Qoorie smirked, “Logan, did you notice how Ty didn’t mention Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell? Or Lara Croft from Tomb Raider? Or Selene from Underworld? What’s up with that, Ty? Everybody knows women can be gun-totting badasses too.”
Ty chuckled dismissively, “They pussies too, compared to a pimped out RO mage.”
Qoorie slapped Ty’s arm with her tiger paw. “Ty! I had no idea you were that big of a sexist pig!”
“It ain’t no gender thang, bae. Sides, I ain’t no big sexist pig. I a big sexist tiger.” He winked at her. “But that ain’t the only thing about me that’s big.” He broke into deep laughter.
I couldn’t help but join him.
Layna was blushing.
Qoorie rolled her eyes dismissively, “Boys.”
“You love it,” Ty said, nuzzling up against her.
Qoorie immediately started purring loudly.
I smirked, “You guys better not start any slobbery tiger kissing. Don’t wanna see it.”
Ty grinned at me, “We don’t kiss. We bite.”
Layna’s eyes popped, but she tried to hide it.
I said, “That mean you like biting, Layna?” I couldn’t resist toying with her.
She giggled and looked away. But she stole a few glances back in my direction.
“So, anyway,” I said. “What about magic? I want some firepower. What about these bracers? Anybody know what they do?”
Layna picked them up. They were metallic blue bracelets studded with blue gemstones of some kind. She said, “These might do the trick.”
I asked, “Do you know what they do?”
“They’re ice bracers,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“You power them with your own mana. They shoot blasts of ice.”
I chuckled, “Why am I picturing snowballs?”
Ty said, “Naw, not snowballs, dawg. Ice blasts. Like getting hosed in the face with a blast a liquid nitrogen.”
“Oh. That could be useful.”
Layna said, “But the wearer needs a minimum Mana of 200 and a Creativity of 15. Logan, you can’t use them.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
She grinned sheepishly, “Because I examined you. Your Creativity is only 12.”
Ty cackled, “Whoa, dawg! Your lady be saying you don’t measure up. How that make you feel?”
Qoorie rolled her eyes at Ty.
“I can fix that,” I smirked before tapping the roof of my mouth. I accessed my character sheet and added 3 of the attribute points I’d gained when I’d made level 4 to my Creativity, boosting it up to 15. I was about to put the other 3 into Endurance, but I glanced over at Layna for a moment and was again struck by how incredibly gorgeous she was. On a whim, and because I was a dude, and because Ty was yanking my chain, I added my other 3 points to Beauty. He could suck it.
I also took a moment to go over all my stats.
King FarthurT
Human | Male
Level: 4.5
===============
>>> Luck: 0 <<<
===============
Health | Stamina: (190) | (!60)
Mana | Mind: 220 | 230
Attacks per Second: 2
Armor: 39
==========
=====
Fame | Infamy: 2 | -
Good | Evil: 22 | 1 (Cursed)
Law | Chaos: 5 | 4 (Cursed)
===============
-: (13) :- Strength
-: 16 :- Speed
-: 11 :- Accuracy
-: (13) :- Endurance
===============
-: 10 :- Intelligence
-: 15 :- Creativity
-: 11 :- Wisdom
-: 10 :- Willpower
===============
-: 18 :- Beauty
-: 10 :- Charm
-: 10 :- Respect
-: 10 :- Leadership
===============
MAGIC SPELLS
• None
===============
MENTAL POWERS
• None
===============
WILD TALENTS
• None
===============
COMBAT SKILLS
• Disarm: Level 2.2
• Dodge: Level 4.1
• Fight Dirty: Level 2.0
• Grappling: Level 1.9
• Short Spear: Level 3.5
• Stun: Level 2.7
• POWER ATTACK: Deadly Disembowel. Level 1.1
• POWER ATTACK: Snake Strike. Level 1.4
===============
GENERAL SKILLS
• Basic Jungle Survival: Level 1.0
• Climbing: Level 1.0
• Examination: Level 2.0
===============
Too bad I was cursed. My max Health and Stamina were affected by the -2 to Strength and Endurance. That sucked. I wasn’t worried about the slight gains to my Evil and Chaos points, but I didn’t like the idea of being weaker if we had to fight again. Layna was right, it might be a good idea to see someone about getting the curse lifted whenever we got to the village.
I swiped over to my settings menu and turned off the audio on the status updates. Now that the real Layna was here, I didn’t want her voice in my head confusing me. How that happened, I had no idea. Maybe it was a programming glitch.
I Xed out of all my menus and winked at Layna. “Now I’m more than big enough.”
“Wow, Logan,” Qoorie said. “Look at you, you handsome man.”