Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2)

by Stephen Roark

  “Jane,” Kodiak corrected him. I turned and scowled.

  “Right. Jane!” Gehman stammered. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to that.

  I can’t make you a bow, of course, as I’m not a bowyer! But I can make you a short sword or a dagger or something. Do you have any secondary melee skills trained?”

  “I’m not sure,” I replied, pulling up my character sheet. “Let me check.”

  I scrolled down after briefly marveling over my 410 bow skill.

  “Yup!” I said happily. “I’ve got daggers trained.”

  “Copycat.” Kodiak smirked.

  “Perfect!” Gehman said excitedly, grabbing a couple of metal bars from his bench. “Gimme a few minutes and I’ll have a sick set for you!”

  “I’m having a serious case of déjà vu,” I said, shaking my head and heading out the door as Gehman’s hammer began to ring behind us. I walked forward and leaned against the doorframe, standing there a while, gazing out at the ruins of Stoneburg, thinking about everything that had happened. Part of me still expected to see Xavier and Cavey walking over to us, wanting an update on our quest.

  I heard footsteps behind me, and even though I knew they were Kodiak’s, I let myself pretend for a moment that they were Jack’s, and he was coming out to let me know everything was all set and we were ready to go.

  “All stocked up on kits,” he’d say. “You full up on arrows?”

  “Good to go!” I’d tell him, and then I’d lead the way to where we were headed next.

  But Jack wasn’t here. He was lost somewhere in this world and I had absolutely no idea how to find him. I had no equipment and not the slightest clue as to where to start looking either. I didn’t know if he was in Sheol or had been lucky enough to be one of the Unchained, and if so, had he been able to survive, or was he one of the Sunken, like Gehman, wandering aimlessly across the world?

  So many questions, and absolutely no answers.

  “So, he seems nice,” Kodiak said cheerfully from behind me.

  “Yes,” I said, gazing up at the tree line where we’d first met Og. “Too nice. That’s what got him killed.”

  “Did you lose many of your friends?” he asked.

  “All of them,” I replied. “Every last one.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low.

  “Don’t be,” I told him, balling my fists. “I killed The Ripper. Finding them in this place will be a cake walk! I just—need to find some gear.”

  “We could try to the West on the road to Cragrock,” Kodiak suggested. “There’s a bridge over the waterfall there.”

  “Yeah, I remember it. There’s nothing there.”

  “There wasn’t back in Carrethen,” he replied. “But here in the Dark World? Things are a little different.”

  “How so?” I asked, turning to face him.

  “Nasty high level Verasyths—80s and 90s. Good drops. We could farm them a while.”

  “Verasyth,” I repeated. “Aren’t they those wraith things with double scythes?”

  “Yup,” Kodiak nodded. “They also cast nasty Void Magic spells now too.”

  “They drop bows?”

  “Sometimes,” he replied. “It’s a shame I didn’t know you were coming; I would have saved you one. I just threw them away; the general merchant here wouldn’t even buy them off me.”

  I sighed and threw my hands up in the air. “Well, it’s as good a plan as any I guess.”

  “Hey, D—uh, Jane!” Gehman called out behind me. “I got your daggers!”

  I turned around to see him racing up to me, a pair of shining serrated daggers in his hands, but just before he reached me, the ground exploded between us.

  9

  The Ice Patrol

  A crossbow bolt the size of a person tore up the earth between us, spraying shards of rock high into the air. The sheer force of the impact sent me spinning, crashing into Kodiak and knocking him down. I scrambled off of him and looked in the direction of the attack to see a long line of Arugian figures marching into town, their icy-blue skin lighting up with each blast of lightning from the sky above.

  Kodiak got to his feet, tripped over me and fell again before he spotted them.

  “Shit!” he gasped, drawing his dagger. “They must have followed you!”

  “Followed me here!?” I shouted back. “We portaled back here!”

  “You have a better explanation!?” he snapped.

  “It’s the Patrol,” Gehman called out from behind us. The impact of the bolt had torn off half of his health and sent my daggers flying in opposite directions. “They patrol from here to Cragrock and then back up North.”

  I inspected the closest one to us as he raised his enormous crossbow for another shot.

  Arugian Archer—level 110.

  “Gehman, you have to get out of here!” I shouted, leaping to my feet as the archer fired. I raced for the closest dagger to me as the massive bolt streaked through the air towards us like a missile.

  I dove out of the way as the bolt plummeted down from the sky and slammed into the earth just a few feet from me. Twisting into a roll, I landed on my feet beside one of the daggers Gehman had forged for me. I snatched it up and spun around to see more Arugians appear over the crest of the hill. There had to have been at least twenty of them.

  “Jane!” Kodiak shouted. “There’s too many of them!”

  He was right. Maybe if I had my bow I could try to pick some of them off before they reached us, but without any armor and only a single dagger, it was simply a fight we couldn’t win. Gehman didn’t stand a chance.

  “Let’s get out of here!” I shouted as two more of the archers fired bolts in our direction. I ducked around what was left of the mage’s hut as their shots slammed into the ground, then quickly sprinted across the town square to where my second dagger had fallen.

  I snatched it up and circled quickly around Gehman to seek cover from the horde. Seconds later Kodiak was by my side.

  “Like a goddamn firing squad,” I grumbled. “Gehman! Where are you!?”

  “I’m pinned down!” he shouted from somewhere around the other side of the hut. I glanced out around the corner to see the horde coming down into town. Time was running out—they’d be on us in no time.

  “Where!?” I shouted.

  “By the general merchant!”

  There was no time to waste. The horde was almost on him.

  “Come on,” I hissed to Kodiak, leaping out from around the corner and sprinting with everything I had towards Gehman’s location.

  A crossbow bolt slammed into my side and took me off my feet, sending me at least thirty feet out of town. I crashed down with less than a quarter of my health remaining, pain shooting through my entire body.

  “Ah!” I cried out, gasping for the breath that had been driven from my lungs. My body twisted into the fetal position as I writhed in pain. I flipped over onto my back and looked up in time to see another bolt coming straight for me. It was all I could do to wriggle out of the way as it ripped into the ground beside me.

  The impact sent me sprawling, ravaging a huge chunk of what was left of my HP. I was dangerously close to half and looked up as the Arugians fired another volley in my direction.

  “Get up, Jane,” I hissed at myself. “Get up!”

  Summoning all my strength, I hurled myself to my feet and stumbled out of the way as a line of bolts laced the ground behind me. I took off running back towards town, but the Arugian patrol had already reached the town square where Gehman was hiding.

  I raced around the back of the general merchant’s and took cover, taking a moment to use a charge from my Peerless Health Kit, restoring my health to around 75 percent.

  “Gehman!” I shouted. “Where are you!?”

  “Over here!” Kodiak shouted, waving at me from the Bindstone just above town. Somehow the two had managed to loop around the town square, narrowly avoiding the patrol as they came into town. They were out of line of sight for
the moment, but that could change in an instant.

  I glanced around the corner as the patrol continued through Stoneburg’s square, then quickly dashed out from behind my cover and ran as quickly as I could up the hill towards my companions. Behind me, I heard an icy howl.

  “Look out!” Kodiak shouted as another bolt shot in my direction. I ducked out of the way and the bolt narrowly missed me and slammed into the hillside. I leapt onto it and raced up the shaft, slamming my weight down at the end and using it like a diving board. When I jumped, the extra spring launched me into the air. I soared over the Bindstone and cushioned my impact with a roll. I spun around and found myself face to face with Gehman, who was looking at me like with complete and utter shock.

  “Dude, you’re like a ninja!” he gasped.

  “No, I think that’s Kodiak,” I replied, nodding at his armor. “Come on, let’s get the Hell out of here.”

  As I spoke, I heard a cry from the patrol and peeked out from around the Bindstone to see the patrol changing its course, moving towards us like a school of fish.

  “Which way!?” Gehman hissed. “We can’t go through town!”

  “You said they path to Cragrock?” Kodiak asked.

  “All the way,” Gehman nodded.

  “That’s past the Verasyth,” I growled. “We won’t be able to hunt there.”

  The patrol was closing in. We were running out of time and options. The one in the front took aim and fired. All three of us ducked and the bolt streaked harmlessly through the air above us before slamming into the trunk of a tree and completely shattering it.

  So powerful! I thought. An idea flashed into my mind.

  “How good are these daggers, Gehman?” I asked. In all the confusion, I hadn’t even had a chance to inspect them.

  “Pretty good,” he replied. “Not meant for a level 126 though.”

  “Wait a second,” Kodiak interrupted. “You’re not thinking about going in to fight them, are you?”

  “No,” I said, turning to smile at him. “Not exactly. I’m gonna get me one of those bows.”

  10

  The Return of D

  “Jane, wait!” Kodiak hissed as I raced out from behind the cover of the Bindstone.

  “You two get out of here!” I shouted over my shoulder as I ran down the slope towards town, arcing out to the left to attack the Arugian flank.

  “We’re not leaving you!” Gehman shouted back.

  “Kodiak, get him out of here!” I snapped as the lead Arugian fired again. But he wasn’t aiming at me.

  The bolt crashed into the ground just in front of the Bindstone, and I looked back as Gehman and Kodiak were hurled backwards from the force of the shot. Gehman’s health was almost completely gone. There was no time.

  As the Arugian reloaded, I dashed forward with both daggers held high. The Arugian turned towards me as I slid both of them into his side. I pulled back and randomly activated one of my abilities. I hadn’t seen half of them before, which probably meant they were very high level. This one was Mutilate.

  I felt a surge of strength on my right side that naturally spun me around to my left. I brought both daggers together and drove them into the Arugian’s chest, ripping away a good chunk of his health. I raised my arms to strike again, when a crossbow bolt slammed into me.

  The pain was unbelievable, and sent me tumbling backwards. I managed to land on my feet, gasping for air. There was no time to waste, and I leapt to my feet and rushed back at my target, whose health was approaching half.

  He raised his crossbow at me, but I kicked it hard and re-directed his shot towards the sky. The bolt soared upwards like a rocket trying to reach orbit. I activated a skill called Eviscerate and felt a surge of speed in my hands. I unloaded on the archer with everything I had, carving away at his health as fast as I could.

  “Jane, look out!” Kodiak shouted behind me. I glanced to my right and saw the rest of the patrol closing in on me. I only had seconds, and my health was low enough that another bolt would definitely kill me.

  “Shit!” I hissed, ducking as the Arugian swung out at me with a heavy fist. I dodged to the side to avoid his backhand, and quickly glanced at my skills.

  That’s it! I thought as he raised his crossbow again.

  I slid forward, closing the distance between us, and activated Disarm.

  A clash of metal rang out through the air as the game guided my hand up towards his bow. My dagger connected, then twisted to the side. With the sound of a heavy chain snapping, the crossbow flew from the Arugian’s grip and landed on the ground behind me.

  “She did it!” Gehman shouted. I turned around and snatched the crossbow from the ground and took off. It still wasn’t a fight we could win, but I had all I needed. Staying around any longer would surely end badly.

  The patrol roared behind me as I sprinted back to the Bindstone, waving at Kodiak and Gehman.

  “Go, go, go!” I shouted.

  Kodiak hopped up and started running. Gehman quickly followed. I saw they had both healed to full, leaving me, the highest level in the group, ironically the most vulnerable. My lack of armor wasn’t helping the situation either.

  Behind us, the Arugians fired again. There was no time to look back and check the trajectory of their shots. Snatching Gehman by the wrist, I cut hard to the left as a volley crashed down beside us.

  “Holy schnikes!” Gehman shouted as we barreled forward. He was significantly slower than Kodiak and me, being a meager level 24, which meant neither of us could run as fast as our characters would allow us. But it wasn’t too long before we were out of range of the Arugian Archers. I could hear their crossbow bolts plunking down harmlessly into the ground behind us as we raced on towards Cragrock.

  “That was close!” Gehman shouted, smiling over at me as we came down the hill onto the dusty road that led west.

  Still overly nice and naïve, I thought as we slowed our pace to a brisk walk. That’s what got him killed last time.

  “Those were some sick moves back there!” Gehman grinned. “What were those abilities?”

  “You know what?” I chuckled. “I don’t even know. I haven’t even looked at my character sheet that hard. One was Eviscerate and one was Mutilate.”

  “Dagger skills,” Kodiak chimed in. “From the Combat skill tree. I’m spread out between the Stealth and Assassination trees.”

  I opened my character sheet and took a glance at the abilities listed there.

  Eviscerate: Speed 150%. Damage 225%.

  Mutilate: Two Handed Spin Attack. Damage 175%.

  Ambush: Ambush the target, causing 400% damage.

  Eye Gouge: Incapacitate the target for 3 seconds.

  Blade Flurry: For 5 seconds your melee attacks strike all targets within a 3 meter radius.

  Rush: Increase your attack speed by 20% for 5 seconds.

  Disarm: Chance to disarm the enemy’s primary weapon. Chance increases with skill.

  It appeared as though Wintermute had completely maxed out the Combat skill tree for me. Each ability appeared to have four levels, represented by small dots around the edge of the icon. All of mine were glowing.

  “Wow,” I said, taking it all in. “When did all this skill tree stuff happen?”

  “You serious?” Kodiak chuckled. “What level were you before all this happened?”

  “What does that matter?” I asked.

  “Everyone knows you have to choose a skill tree when you hit level 75,” Kodiak replied. “For melee characters anyway.”

  “Well, I was an archer,” I retorted. “Still am.”

  I inspected the crossbow I’d taken off the Arugian Archer:

  Superior Arugian Crossbow—Damage Modifier 95%.

  In Call of Carrethen, bows functioned a bit differently than melee weapons. Instead of having a base damage range, bows had a damage modifier that was part of the calculation that determined your damage. It was complicated, but took into account your Coordination, Bow skill, and the quality of your ar
rows. As far as I knew, the damage modifiers only went up to 113%, but seeing as how this was the Dark World, I doubted that was still true.

  “I hate crossbows, but it’ll do for now,” I said. “As soon as we can find some arrows.”

  “There used to be a bowyer in Cragrock,” Kodiak replied. “If he’s still there, we could pick up some before the Arugians catch up to us.”

  “I’m fresh out of Pareals,” I remarked, staring at my inventory, which was completely empty aside from my three weapons and a Peerless Health Kit.

  “I’ve got some!” Gehman said cheerfully. “Crossbow Bolts aren’t expensive anyway. This is too cool! You’ve got your bow back—it’s like the return of D!”

  “Gehman,” I said slowly. “What is your character? Like, have you put any experience into anything beyond smithing?”

  “Nope!” he replied instantly, still smiling for some reason. “All I ever wanted was to be Carrethen’s best blacksmith.”

  “Okay, that’s great,” I replied. “But now that the whole world has gone to shit and towns don’t even appear to be safe from random monster raids anymore, don’t you think you should start leveling up a combat skill?”

  “Mmmm, that’s a good point,” he said, scratching his chin as he thought to himself. “I could always do maces! Cavey told me once about some legendary hammer that was a reward for a high level quest. He said it was all golden and awesome! If I could get one of those that would be sick!”

  “Yeah, okay,” I said with a sigh.

  This world is going to chew you up and spit you out again, Gehman, I thought as we pressed on towards Cragrock.

  11

  The Lord of the Flame

  We stayed wide at the waterfall to avoid pulling aggro from any of the Verasyth that were pathing around the bridge. They would have been good hunting for the three of us if I’d had any armor or some bolts for my crossbow, but I didn’t want to go up against several level 80-90 monsters wearing starter cloth.