by Baron Sord
Good | Evil: - | -
Law | Chaos: - | -
===============
I dodged, but so did everyone else in the group. There were so many Cave Diggers it was impossible not to get bowled over by something. I bounced off the rock wall, taking 5% damage.
Unlike last time, Jason went on the attack, hacking the Diggers to pieces with his ultrasound vorpal sword like a white and black whirlwind. Digger chunks went flying in every direction. His soldiers weren’t as successful because their blades bounced off the armored bodies, doing little if any damage. Ty and Qoorie were nearly useless. Their slashing attacks skidded and squeaked off the hardened shells.
My saber was equally useless. I could’ve tried Snake Strike and aimed for their maws, but those chunky mandibles could easily destroy the blade. So I went with mana charging and whacked the shell of the closest one. Lightning crackled across its shell, but it kept going, lunging at me repeatedly with those mandibles. Tough little bugger. I hit it with a bigger charge.
Ka-CRACK!
The Digger is dead! You earned 550 XP!
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Go for the bellies!
Dad had one flipped on its back, the thing’s dozen legs a blur of motion flailing at the air. Just as he was about to bring his double-bladed axe down for the killing blow, the thing flipped itself over.
I lunged for it, my sword already re-charged, and let loose with the lightning.
Ka-CRACK!
The Digger is dead! You earned 450 XP!
Ty and Qoorie flipped one over next. Qoorie held it down while Ty punched powerfully with his fist blades, pulping the underside with numerous strikes. Eventually the thing died, but it took a lot of work.
The soldiers were working in teams now, flipping the Diggers and skewering the underbellies with their swords.
One launched itself at Kill Stealer when he wasn’t looking and knocked him down. The other soldiers were too busy to help, so I rushed over, charging my sword.
KingFarthurT:> Need any help?
JusticeSoldier4:> Would you get this damn thing off me?!
KingFarthurT:> Should I, hmmm, I don’t know, kill it? Or do you just want me to remove it. I can do that. How about I push him off? Then you can kill him yourself. Get all the XP. Better yet, why don’t I watch? I’m kinda enjoying the show.
The Cave Digger skittered up Kill Stealer’s chest and clamped its spiky legs down on the edges of his plate armor while its mandibles clack-clack-clacked away at his visor, denting and tearing the metal to shreds.
JusticeSoldier4:> Would you do something already?! This thing weighs a ton!
Casually, I poked the digger with my lightly mana-charged saber. Blue-white sparks shot out of the leg holes in the shell. SKACK! SKACK!
Some of the lightning charge, which was minimal, sizzled through Kill Stealer.
JusticeSoldier4:> Ow! What the fuck, dick?!
KingFarthurT:> Whoops. My bad.
He had plenty of Health. I wasn’t worried about him.
The digger wasn’t quite dead, but its legs had relaxed enough that I could shove it onto the ground with the heel of my boot.
KingFarthurT:> You can finish it. Wouldn’t wanna take your XP.
JusticeSoldier4:> Thanks for nothing.
KingFarthurT:> Wow. Seriously? That’s all the thanks I get?
The digger was moving again, albeit slowly.
KingFarthurT:> We need to turn it over.
JusticeSoldier4:> I know that.
As a team, we flopped the digger on its back. I kept watch for other diggers while he hacked away at it.
The Digger is dead! You earned 150 XP for helping kill it.
I helped Kill Stealer stun several more and let him have the final kill. I wracked up a mere 500 more XP for my efforts.
KingFarthurT:> We even? Or do I need to kiss your ass for the rest of the day until you stop pouting like a baby?
JusticeSoldier4:> No.
KingFarthurT:> That was a pouty no.
JusticeSoldier4:> I said no, okay?
KingFarthurT:> Still pouty.
JusticeSoldier4:> Ha ha ha ha.
I slapped his shoulder as we surveyed the wreckage.
Nobody had been seriously injured because Jason had made purée out of the diggers. There were broken carcasses and chunks of Digger meat all over the place.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Anybody need any healing?
Tiygar:> I do. Pretty banged up.
Qoorie:> Me too.
Several soldiers chimed in.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Me six.
I was down to 70% Health. I’d taken several more hits wrestling all those diggers and my Stamina was down.
KingFarthurT:> Me 7.
Jason reached into his armor and pulled out a large steel flask. He must’ve had a broom-closet pocket like Layna hidden in his armor. I needed to get me one of those.
KingFarthurT:> Dude. How many shots does that hold? 100?
SigurdDärksvärd:> Something like that. Everybody take a swallow.
We passed it around.
Acquired: Distilled Essence of Order — Your Health and Stamina recover 5x faster and all damage taken from chaos creatures is halved. Duration: 2 hours.
Nice. Tasted like the cleanest water I’d ever drunk.
A white and black bullseye icon appeared in the corner of my vision near my Health bar, which visibly slid toward 100%.
I held the flask out for Kill Stealer.
KingFarthurT:> Let me know how my backwash tastes.
His visor was up and he glared at me.
KingFarthurT:> Fuckin’ with ya.
JusticeSoldier4:> Dick.
He tipped back the big flask with both hands. I grabbed one of his elbows and shook it just enough to distract him but not enough to spill anything.
JusticeSoldier4:> Man, you are a diseased tampon.
KingFarthurT:> Diseased tampon? All dripping and oozing super clap? That’s what’s about to go down the back of your throat. You ever had the clap in your throat? You can totally get it there, ya know.
Without having taken a drink, he lowered the flask and glared at me.
JusticeSoldier4:> Would you knock it off? I’m trying to drink. And you’re what… level 7? I’m level 36, so shut the fuck up.
KingFarthurT:> You’re only level 36 because I let you have all that sweet, sweet XP.
He glared at me.
JusticeSoldier4:> Dude, if your brother wasn’t my boss, I’d kick your ass so hard you’d taste the Cave Digger shit stuck to the toe of my boot.
KingFarthurT:> Ha ha ha ha. Nice.
I slapped his shoulder and let him drink.
When everyone was ready, we made our way deeper into the tunnel. It narrowed and the ceiling sloped down as we went. All of us were crouching except Ty and Q who walked on all fours. Jason was out front with his shield up in case anybody charged us.
We stopped when the tunnel branched off in 3 separate directions.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Which way now?
SigurdDärksvärd:> Your guess is as good as mine. My map stopped back where we fought the diggers.
KingFarthurT:> Can’t you use your marble drone again?
SigurdDärksvärd:> I’ll give it a shot.
He pulled out the cluster of white and black marbles. For a moment, they spun faster and faster, then slowed and dropped back to his palm.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Somebody must’ve warded this place. It’s blocking my probe. We’ll have to try one tunnel at a time.
KingFarthurT:> Anybody have breadcrumbs?
Qoorie:> You mean like Hansel and Gretel?
KingFarthurT:> Exactly.
Nobody had breadcrumbs. One of the soldiers suggested rope, but he only had 100 feet.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> The walls are soft enough I can mark them with the hilt of my dagger.
He demonstrated, gouging an X in the wall of the tunnel we’d come from
.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Every time we hit a new branch, we make a mark. It’ll be easy to track back to here.
We started with the tunnel to the right. After twenty minutes of walking, turning, and marking, we must’ve turned down 20 new tunnels. Then we turned down a tunnel that was already Xed.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Great. We’re back tracking on our own path. Anybody know when that happened?
Lots of shaking heads.
KingFarthurT:> Does anybody have a pencil and paper? We need to map this place or we’re never finding our way through.
Tiygar:> Earthquake! Run, everybody! Run!
Ty and Qoorie both started running, pushing people with them back the way we’d come.
I didn’t hear anything.
But seconds later, the tunnel started to rumble.
The group scattered in two directions as the ceiling caved in. Tons of rocks rained down and dust filled the air.
I pushed Dad ahead of me. He kept going.
I turned and saw Kill Stealer crushed by huge boulders.
I grabbed his hand and pulled as hard as I could.
KingFarthurT:> Come on!
JusticeSoldier4:> …
I pulled harder, but his body was trapped.
Huge rocks fell around me, nearly crushing me. I pulled Kill Stealer’s gauntlet one last time and it came off in my hand. His dusty fingers suddenly fizzled into energy and wafted away.
Fuck.
He was dead.
I turned and ran.
And stumbled into the backs of Ty and Q and several soldiers. Up ahead, Dad was fighting something while trying to avoid its huge pickaxe. The beast was a big humanoid covered in dirt and dust, had leathery arms and legs, tiny black eyes spaced far apart on its rocklike leathery head, and huge clawed hands. It wore some sort of tool belt around its thick waist and a chest piece of layered scale armor.
Moleax Miner
Level: 11
Health | Stamina: 630 | 600
Mana | Mind: 85 | 25
Size: Medium+
Armor: 190
===============
Good | Evil: 15 | 90
Law | Chaos: 35 | 65
===============
The Moleax was very muscular and it attacked with both its pickax and its huge clawed hand at the same time. Dad was overwhelmed, fending off blows with the steel shaft of his double-bladed ax.
The tunnel was too narrow for any of us to help him.
I charged my saber, waiting for an opening.
KingFarthurT:> Dad! Duck!
He dropped and I fired a lightning bolt that lit up the dark tunnel. For a second, everything went white and I couldn’t see. I panicked, convinced I’d hit Dad.
The Moleax died! You earned 1150 XP!
When the white faded to blue and I could see again, the corpse of the Moleax was being dragged away from behind. Probably by more Moleax, based on the huge clawed hands pulling it.
KingFarthurT:> Push forward! We need to hit them while they’re retreating!
I charged my saber with more mana as Dad pushed ahead, followed by Ty and Q. Since our retreat was blocked off by the fallen rocks behind, we needed options, and those lay ahead.
Muscular arms pulled the Moleax body straight up into an overhead tunnel that hadn’t been there before.
I shot another bolt, draining another 1/3 of my mana, but I tagged the Moleax’s arms and the tunnel went bright white, briefly blinding me once again.
You killed another Moleax and gained 1150 XP!
When I could see, I saw that we were trapped. The body of the first Moleax blocked the tunnel. The arm of the second one in the vertical tunnel lay limp on top of the first.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Someone wanna help me push this thing? I can’t move it myself.
Ty tried, but the cramped quarters of the tunnel made it impossible. Dad had to do it himself.
KingFarthurT:> What if you turn into a bear?
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> That might do it.
Dad glowed green and morphed into a grizzly. With a roaring grunt, he leaned his weight into the Moleax on the ground and heaved. It slid a few inches. Dad readied himself to heave again.
Qoorie:> Wait, what about the one above?
KingFarthurT:> Ty, can you catch it?
Tiygar:> You jokin’ right? Thing prolly weighs 10 tons!
KingFarthurT:> Can you hold it up?
Tiygar:> I’ll try.
KingFarthurT:> Dad, push again.
With a grizzly growl, he did. Ty worked himself into position in tandem with Dad, propping up the Moleax above by wedging it against the walls of the vertical shaft. Ty was straining, all his tiger muscles vibrating as he held the Moleax body pinned in the overhead shaft.
Tiygar:> Make it quick, y’all! Thing is damn heavy!
Me and Q squeezed by and Ty let the corpse drop with a heavy thud. Ahead, Dad was busy plowing the other corpse up the tunnel. He finally reached a fork and pushed it aside.
Tiygar:> What the hell we do now?
I looked around for any Xs Dad may have gouged, but didn’t see any.
KingFarthurT:> Start drawing a map? Unless anybody has a better idea? This place is a maze.
Shouts rang out and metal clanged, echoing down the corridor. It was Jason and his men.
KingFarthurT:> Follow the noise.
It didn’t take long for us to regroup. We found them in a large cave area. Nine of Jason’s soldiers were busy battling about 10 Moleax and more outlaws, both human and Orken. But no Jason.
KingFarthurT:> Anybody know where Jason is?
JusticeSoldier11:> We got separated. He’s down another tunnel.
KingFarthurT:> Then we fight these guys.
Since I was low on mana, I concentrated on Snake Strike and went after the human outlaws. Jason’s soldiers worked over the Moleax in no time while Dad went grizzly on the Orken with the help of Ty and Qoorie. I took numerous shots from the outlaws, but with Jason’s potion in my veins, I was healing almost as fast as they did damage.
When the dust settled, I was level 8.
Welcome to level 8!
+10 Health!
+10 Stamina!
You have 6 points to distribute to your ability scores and skills!
Level up! Your Basic Swordplay skill is now level 6.
Level up! Your Disarm skill is now level 4.
Level up! Your Dodge skill is now level 7.
While everybody rested, I checked my character sheet.
Banking on my theory that 25 in any attribute was some kind of bonus threshold, I put all 6 points into Endurance. It only went to 21, but I’d hit it again the next time I leveled. More Stamina meant more Snake Strike.
King FarthurT
Human | Male
Level: 8.1
===============
>>> Luck: 0 <<<
===============
Health | Stamina: 310 | 280
Mana | Mind: 870 | 410
Attacks per Second: 2
Armor: 93
====================
Fame | Infamy: 12 | -
Good | Evil: 23 | 2
Law | Chaos: 25 | 7
====================
-: 15 :- Strength
-: 17 :- Speed
-: 12 :- Accuracy
-: 21 :- Endurance
===============
-: 10 :- Intelligence
-: 28 :- Creativity
-: 11 :- Wisdom
-: 14 :- Willpower
===============
-: 21 :- Beauty
-: 11 :- Charm
-: 10 :- Respect
-: 11 :- Leadership
===============
MAGIC SPELLS
• None
===============
MENTAL POWERS
• Flirtation: Level 1.4
• Resist Charm: Level 1.0
• Suggestion: Level 1.5
• Word of Power
: Level 1.0
===============
WILD TALENTS
• None
===============
COMBAT SKILLS
• Backstab: 1.9
• Basic Swordplay: 6.1
• Disarm: Level 4.0
• Dodge: Level 7.0
• Fight Dirty: Level 4.3
• Grappling: Level 2.2
• Short Spear: Level 3.5
• Stalking: Level 3.2
• Stun: Level 2.7
• Surprise Attack: Level 3.8
• Tactics Level 2.6
• POWER ATTACK: Deadly Disembowel. Level 1.1
• POWER ATTACK: Snake Strike. Level 2.3
===============
GENERAL SKILLS
• Basic Jungle Survival: Level 1.0
• Climbing: Level 1.1
• Examination: Level 3.3
===============
Whenever I hit Level 3 in Snake Strike, I was betting it would use even more Stamina to activate, but it would probably be that much more powerful. As it was, the level 2 Speed bonus boosted my armor rating by 20 whenever I used it, and doubled my attacks per second to 4. Not bad at all.
I was still weak in the Strength department, but I wasn’t too worried about that. I just needed to hang back and shoot lightning or focus on backstabbing and surprise when I engaged. Or be in Snake mode. Speed was becoming key for me.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Don’t you just love this game?
Dad was back to normal, no longer in grizzly form.
KingFarthurT:> Huh?
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> You just leveled, didn’t you?
KingFarthurT:> Yeah, why?
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> And you were assigning points to your stats, right?
KingFarthurT:> Yeah, so?
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> So? I could see smoke coming out of your ears while you did the math.
I smirked at him.
KingFarthurT:> You wish.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> We make quite a team, don’t we? I really let those Moleax have it once I turned into a grizzly bear.
