Escape From Litchfield

by Isra Bhuthimethee

  Hesitating for a moment, Sol paused as if considering the gravity of his words. Finally, after a minute, Sol said, "I have noticed one small shortcoming of your runes. I'm hesitant to tell you about a new technique when I'm already worried about your safety."

  Tamara's eyes shone with excitement, but when she spoke, it was calm, collected, and a bit of nonchalance. "Oh. You have a new technique? I may want to try it."

  He simply smiled and said, "I can see how you're using pure logic to create your magic. That is incredibly good. But you should know that magic is a combination of both implementation and art. Lacking one won't stop the spell, but it will likely make the spell less than it could be. I can see you're treating magic as implementation. Just wiggle your fingers and the spell comes out the same, without any effort. But only the most minimal of magic will come of it."

  Furrowing her brows, she replied, "Isn't that what normal magic does? Recite a spell in a certain manner, and perhaps add some gestures? The spellbook even tells the damage and mana costs of the spell."

  "The spellbook lists the minimal mana and spell effect. The figures don't account for the skill, talent, or need of the mage. In this case, when I speak of skill, I am talking about the technical proficiency of casting the spell. The other part that affects the spell is your needs. If you need it greatly, then you will be able to reduce the mana cost or increase the spell effect."

  "And I assume, when you say need, you mean emotionally?"

  "Yes. The need portion can have an effect on your spells. Call it what you want. Feelings. Emotion. Willpower. Interpreted dance. Fate. Will of the Gods. Whatever you like. It has a real and noticeable effect. You would be wise to train this. The next time you have a great need to use magic, try to capture that feeling. With great need, the magic responds with greater force. Anger can heighten the power of damage spells, as can empathy empower healing spells."

  Myst suddenly stood up and growled low while facing the passageway to town.

  Tamara and Sol instantly froze up. Making eye contact with Sol, Tamara nodded her head towards the passageway before fading into shadow. Silently, she padded over to the entrance.

  Tamara gained 1 level in Sneak and now it is 18

  Sol began buffing himself, and just as he finished, a group of adventurers came into sight.

  The lead adventurer was a tank-type with heavy armor and a golden sphinx as his crest. Two leather armored melee-types came after him, followed by two caster types. If this came down to a fight, this was going to be hell.

  The lead adventurer slowed to a stop and waved his crew to get into place, fanning out behind him. He spoke, "Hello, friend. What brings you to this area of the dungeon? Doing some mining?"

  Sol replied, "Friend. I'm just resting, please feel free to pass by."

  The adventurer then replied, "Thank you." Pausing as if he just thought of something, he said, "Say. Have you seen a thin, young half-elf woman pass by?"

  Sol replied evenly, "Sorry, don't think I've seen any half-elves come down this way."

  One of the casters angrily whispered, "Leon, he's lying. That bitch has to be here!"

  The tank angrily looked back at the caster, "Stupid caster! He can hear you! Cursed dark elves with their super hearing!"

  Sol began to back up. He had limited choices. He could run, but eventually, they'd corner him into a dead end. Five on two was never good odds, no matter how good your team was. Even against low-level adventurers, they could be deadly if they had enough health potions and teamwork. Leon's group was actually well respected in this area. Each member of the party was in their 30's, which put them at a serious disadvantage.

  Sol put his arms up pleading, "Look, I don't know who you're talking about. I'm not lying. Let's talk about this!"

  Leon looked back to Sol, and chuckled. "You can't fool spells. We know you're lying. There's five of us and only one of you. Girl's too weak to count for anything. Don't give up your life for a couple nights of love." Despite the ragtag team, the group advanced smoothly with no easy openings, which showed that they had solid teamwork.

  Tamara started the fight by backstabbing the healer, her sword ripping through his mana shield in a cascade of sparks. As the healer turned towards Tamara, Myst backstabbed twice, shattering the healer's shielding, sending his hp to zero. As an afterthought, Myst back-pawed the healer with his claws retracted, knocking him unconscious. Fortunately for the healer, Myst hadn't been targeting the healer's vital areas, he had been striking to wreck his hp, leaving the healer unharmed. Shielding came as hard or soft, depending on the skills and whims of the caster. Most go for hard shielding since it will protect against a larger variety of attacks, while soft shielding tends to slow down and absorb attacks - it's like attacking an intangible foam pad. Soft shielding was the norm for rogues since they rely on agility and reflexes rather than stopping power. This allowed them to take less damage since hard shields took nearly the full damage while soft shielding took damage from the actual contact. The downside was that rogues tended to be weak against another rogue backstabbing.

  The other mage turned towards Tamara, chanting a spell. While the tank and his warrior friends rush forward to Sol.

  The half-elf, on a hunch, glanced behind her towards the town, and a chill went down her spine as she realized a second party of five was running towards them. Shifting her attention back to the last mage of the first group, she sprinted forward. Caught between Tamara and Myst, the caster knew he was toast. As a caster, he had less than half the armor of a tank. His only choice was to flee or make a last stand. He chose to flee, dropping his current spell and attempting to cast the blink spell. Tamara's sword slid off the mage's mana shield, and Myst's claws didn't fare much better, but the shield went down before the man blinked away.

  Glancing at Sol, Tamara could tell he was in trouble, but she had her own troubles with a group of five warriors bearing down on her in a "v" formation. Not to mention the escaped mage that could turn back and rain spells on her. Myst jumped into the shadows, leaving her to tank them, and she was on her own. She needed to take the group of warriors down. There was no backup. She was going to have to try to freeze them to the floor with her sword but first Iceball. Using a combination of mental runes and hand movements, three iceballs launched into the group. One iceball was fairly powerful because it was an area effect spell that had both freezing ice that can stop a foe and a slight chill that slowed people down. Three iceballs launching simultaneously was a wall of ice that would knock down most. The explosions rocked the cave and pushed the warrior group down to their knees.

  Tamara, having sprinted after the iceballs, took advantage of the disorientation of the group. Bob89 created green steps surrounded by a sea of red, to guide Tamara into a flawless roll slash on the lead tank. One warrior slashed and missed, but his friend got a full hit on Tamara's shield. Fortunately, he hit a plate mail but still took her hp down by a third. She could only take a couple more hits before hp was down. The men were trying to crowd her into the wall. She Peek Stepped to the west and succeeded in evading the jaws of the closing trap, but she was getting herded back to another wall by the shifting formation of the group. Warriors loved to pin people down, then pummel them to death. She needed to escape that fate!

  Myst popped in and performed a double backstab on the north-most warrior, which allowed Tamara an opportunity to dive roll through, slash diving again and shredding his hitpoints to zero. A brief flash of red allowed her to escape mostly from a slash to her back as she performed the dive, Bob89 had given her enough forewarning to hurry her maneuver, but her hard shield took the full hit. She could still take one more hit. Desperate to escape another closing noose, she tried running as fast as she could, but then she tripped and her sword flew off to the side. Her leg chains had caught on a small barely noticeable outcropping in the floor. Rolling over, she knew she was in trouble as one of the warriors slashed out and took out her hp and driving her into the floor, sparks flying everywhere. Her hp
ground down to zero and there was nothing but her armor protecting her. She grabbed at the warrior's feet, hoping for a miracle. The warrior savagely impaled her with his sword, driving the point through her shoulder, blood gushed out, her would. Her dive to grab his feet impaled the sword deeper, and somehow she tore his gravity from him and sent him spinning into the air. Realizing what she had done, she dove for the next warrior coming and stole his gravity too, likewise sending him spinning. She was dizzy from pain and blood loss, but the remaining warriors, realizing that something was wrong, backed up, but Tamara dove into them tagging another two, sending them to spin lazily towards the roof. The last one turned around and tried to run, but Myst pounced on him, allowing Tamara to catch up and send him flying. The gravity master turned back to Sol, shouting, "Myst, play ball." The cat gleefully began playing human bouncy ball with masterful strikes. The cast quickly learned to spin the men into the air and smack them around with his leaps. Tamara drank down a mana and a heal potion. The pain and wound immediately receded as she took stock of their situation.

  Tamara ran towards Sol, watching his hp bar fall to critical levels. He wasn't going to make it, but she breathed a bit easier when the elf downed some potions. She brought up her mentalscape, and to her astonishment, the ball of four men's stolen gravity was showing up. She quickly attached her favorite program and launched it at the nearest warrior. The gravity ball flew true and struck the warrior, sending sparks flying everywhere. Usually, a gravity ball would hit and disperse, and it appeared to do so, except it reformed a second later, and launched at the warrior again. Taking multiple hits, the warrior began slashing at the ball, allowing some of the gravity to dissipate. Meanwhile, Tamara began spamming firedarts with the same program at his friends. The darts, unlike the gravity ball cost mana, and with the new program attached, they dissipated and reformed, but this time siphoned massive amounts of mana from Tamara. Some mages would say why bother? The mana being taken is the same as firing multiple firedarts, but what wasn't accounted for was the travel time and the casting time.

  Screams of blood-curling terror followed in Tamara's wake as her firedarts cut through the remaining warrior's shields. After the last warrior attacking Sol was down, Tamara turned back to observe Myst using the adventurers in a game of high speed racquetball.

  Tamara learned a new skill Gravity Theft

  Gravity Theft: Touch an opponent to steal their gravity.

  Tamara gained 3 levels in Gravity Theft and now it is 3

  Tamara gained 2 levels in Rune Magic and now it is 49

  Tamara gained 2 levels in Sword and now it is 24

  Tamara has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 75 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 124 experience was earned!

  ...

  Tamara has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 75 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 124 experience was earned!

  Sol has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 75 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 124 experience was earned!

  ...

  Sol has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 75 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 124 experience was earned!

  Ding! Sol has gained a level. Welcome to level 36!

  Chapter 8

  Hopetown's population was booming. All the hundreds of letters sent out weeks ago were starting to have a response. Families packed up their belongings and set out to Hopetown. The lure of free housing, a place to do business, and being closer to family was a cocktail of incentives that triggered a massive migration of people. As with all migrations, it started with a trickle and grew from there.

  Azdel the gnome was one of the new arrivals. Attired in a carmine hat, carmine robe, and an ornate mage staff, he was clearly a mage of some sort. He was a curious looking fellow with his large nose, wart included, and short stubby legs. As Azdel walked into town, he boldly admired the town architecture. Muttering and whispering notes to himself, observers might think he was out of his mind. But most would notice he was a gnome and be satisfied.

  All gnomes are curious individuals who were absent-minded and constantly talked about their inventions. There were both good and evil gnomes, but they were all curious and fascinated with gadgets and machinery. As a whole, gnomes tended to be too fascinated by machines to be evil in the classical sense. Evil gnomes historically appeared as fantastic inventors that tended to be easily defeated. Usually with a large red button marked with the words, "do not press." What normal person would create a giant red button that would completely dismantle their life's work?

  After satisfying his intellectual conundrum regarding the walls and architecture, Azdel walked up to the townsman and asked, "Where might I find the leader of this fine town?"

  "The leaders are often putting out fires all over the place, but you're more likely to find them either in the market district or close to the castle. Either way, you need to pass through the next set of walls and head towards the castle."

  Nodding to the townsman, Azdel replied, "My thanks, good sir!"

  Muttering a spell, Azdel disappeared and reappeared in the distance. He was chain casting Blink and rapidly made it to the inner wall, only pausing to catalog the stores he passed. Finding a large man giving out orders, he approached. "Good sir, my name is Azdel, would you be one of the leaders of this fine town?"

  Jare paused to nod at the gnome, then held up a finger to indicate he needed a minute. Jare asked the workmen, "Please put all the supplies for the rescue mission in Tamara's workroom." Turning back to the gnome, Jare said, "Sorry about that, sir, mage, I'm about to head out on a rescue mission."

  Azdel shook his head. "No problem at all! If you need more manpower, I'd love to help! I'm a powerful wizard of some renown."

  Jare appraised Azdel and discovered the gnome was at a slightly higher level. "We do seem to be about the same level. I'd love for more help, but I have to warn you that this will be an incredibly dangerous mission."

  The wizard just shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Yes. But life is dangerous. No worries I'll be fine. So where are we heading?"

  "Litchfield. Our friend Tamara was captured and we need to rescue her before her captor gets what she wants."

  Azdel's gaze sharpened. "Litchfield, you say? Did she get abducted by goblins?"

  Jare nodded as his eyes narrowed. "Do you know something about the city?"

  Azdel began stroking his beard. "Yes. I have been to Litchfield a few times. Do you know why they call it that?"

  Jare shook his head.

  "Ahh. Then you should know that there are powerful undead mages known as litches that live there." Putting his hand out to hold the questions, he continued, "Litches are powerful mages that trade life for immortality of sorts. Unfortunately, it has been debated if the undead is still the same person as they were in life. Unusually, even the most generous and kindest of mages turn into killing machines after undeath." Azdel was clearly sizing up Jare. Noting his armor and weapons as he explained the nature of the litch. "As a humble experienced adventurer. I must implore you to not go. You are not ready."

  Bristling and puffing out his chest, Jare asked, "And why do you think that?"

  "Well. As you gain experience, you can judge a man's experience at a glance. And my eyes tell me that you've recently gained a large number of levels. Very impressive, but you haven't really owned those levels yet, so going toe to toe against a similar level would put you at a large disadvantage. I can also tell that you haven't claimed a subclass, despite having the level to do so. This tells me that you jumped from below level 20 to somewhere in the early 30's. Your gear is well made. Custom jobs that were designed to grow as you do. At minimum, you must start a profession and a subclass before you begin your journey to Litchfield. Otherwise, you'd just get slaughtered."

  Deep down, Jare knew the gnome was right, but then again maybe all wizard types were cowards. He knew that he and Auth were fighting the urge to take off without any supplies or help, so he couldn't very well take his rag
e out on Auth, except in the VR room. The only reason they were still in Hopetown was that they were trying to recruit more party members. As a secondary benefit, they were keeping the city running while Tamara was gone. However, having a little gnome know-it-all beat him over the face with it was the last straw. He needed to work out some stress.

  Jare growled, and through clenched teeth said, "Prove it!" Follow me. Jare violently turned around and marched to the public VR room, not even turning back to check to see if the gnome followed. As a city leader, he had a high priority to use the room. He quickly gained a slot and compensated the people waiting.

  The VR room was set to PvP mode, which scanned the players entering the room, allowing them to play themselves without using real ingredients, mana, or items.

  They walked to opposite ends of the room and simulation began with a countdown.

  3

  2

  1

  Jare activated his rush skill, and as he took the first step, the wizard launched an ice attack missing him by a mile. Jare ignored it, thinking, "this is going to be easier than I thought", just as he slipped on the patch of ice Azdel's first attack created. Jare fell to the ground, but his rush was still firing off, so despite falling on his face and rolling, somehow his legs got back into running position, but he was dizzy and barely seeing anything, but he was still sprinting, smashing into an Earthen Wall spell, knocking him out.

  The simulation ended, and Jare was reset back to the other side of the room.

  Shaking it off, he shouted belligerently, "Let's try that again! I'll be ready!"

  Smiling and nodding, the gnome agreed.

  3

  2

  1

  Jare activated his rush skill, as a bolt of lightning hit him, he shrugged it off, his rush skill still guiding him towards the wizard, albeit slower. Three more lightning bolts hit him in succession, knocking him to the ground. Losing muscle control, his arms and legs flailed, meanwhile a slew of fireballs smashed into him, throwing him into the air and smashing him against the wall. He was pinned by a barrage of ice darts. The simulation ended when Azdel walked up and began smacking him with his staff until Jare's hit points reached zero.