Eloria's Beginning: A LitRPG/GameLit Epic (Enter The louVRe Book 1)

by Tom Hansen

Health: 500 Mana: 500 Stamina: 500

  Talents: None

  Items: Worn Bo, Invisibility Potion

  Scarhoof hadn’t set hoof outside of Sunset Cove in nearly twenty years. As he climbed the switchback stairs cut into the sprawling chasms that scarred the Eternal Plains landscape, he had to stop every few steps to rest his throbbing right leg.

  The chasm plunged into near-darkness all day long, and with the recent rains, lichen and moss had begun to grow in abundance in the moist environment, forcing him to take each step carefully. It was a full-day’s journey from one side of the Eternal Plains to Whistling Pass, even at a full Fourhoof gallop. With his hobbled leg, it would probably take two.

  He couldn’t afford to take that long. Despite nursing a lame leg, he had magic on his side, and healing magic at that. He might have to race through the pain, but he could survive it by stopping occasionally to heal.

  Waking up a handful of hours after going to sleep, he hoped to make it to the top of the chasm before the sun came up. Dawn on the Plains was breathtaking, especially being this far west with nothing stopping the view. He wasn’t going to miss it.

  Just before coming out of the crag that hid the staircase to his home, he paused to heal himself.

  He stepped into the heat of the newly-rising sun which was just barely peeking out over the horizon. He stood in stunned silence for a moment as a rush of memories and a flood of emotions swept him along.

  The Plains was flat as far as one could see, except for a gentle slope from the ocean on the west to the ocean on the right. The east coast was at shore-level, while the west coast was a 100 meter drop directly into the ocean.

  The Tau’moor Mountains to the north stood stately in a blue haze, their tops still covered in early-morning clouds. It was the middle of summer, but the white tips reminded him of how varied the weather could be from one region to the next.

  He had made the trek to the tops of the mountains once, when he was a Tau’ri, as part of his initiation rites to become a bull.

  He shuddered from the memory. That was long ago, and he was changed now.

  He stepped away from the chasm, taking his first steps back to a world he hadn’t seen in ages.

  Acacia trees and boulders of all sizes dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. Small sage bushes and assorted shrubs clumped together to protect each other from the scorching heat of the summer sun.

  He frowned as he looked at the earth. Even with the recent rains, it was parched, the reddish clay cracked and broken sporting white salty edges.

  Fearing that his tracks could be traced too easily back to the chasm, he immediately turned south, toward the swamp, despite the fact that Whistling Pass was directly east. It was bad enough that the Nagos had found this place. It wouldn’t do to create a path leading them directly here. Without a contingent of guardsmen, his home was vulnerable.

  His pack secured to his back, Scarhoof bent down toward the earth to begin the change. Living in the Cove for the last twenty years he had only made the change on occasion, to make sure he didn’t lose his ability, but it still hurt.

  As he concentrated on his hands, the skin on his fingers began to web between the digits, until his hand was one large flesh-covered flipper. He bunched up his fingers, nails touching and continued to concentrate. His fingertips grew amazingly fast, fusing into one large mass that churned and twisted, forming a large circular hoof on his hands. Finally, placing both newly-formed hooves on the ground, the bones in his shoulders tipped, his arms shortening, changing their angle to his chest.

  He was a raging four-legged bull now, built for distance, longevity, and efficiency. Before taking off, he tested his new form, stamping his four hooves and snorting. He had the sudden urge to graze but fought it off. He needed to test something.

  He concentrated on his leg, willing the words to him, but unable to do the hand gestures, he wasn’t able to summon Mending Force.

  “Dammit!”

  Fourhoof increased his rage and propensity to showing off. He swore, stamped again, then decided to just get on with it, taking off at a dead sprint south.

  Shifting forms became easier the more you did it, and he found that by reversing Fourhoof just enough to having webbed fingers, he was able to cast Mending Force while maintaining speed.

  He had traveled for a number of hours when in the distance he heard the screams of female Tau’ri. He immediately turned in the direction of the sound.

  Rounding a large boulder, he saw the carnage.

  A large wooden cart lay overturned, smoldering, its contents spewed across the ground. Three female Tau’ri huddled on top of the overturned cart, along with an elderly cow. Below, an aged bull wielded a short sword, waving it frantically in all directions as if unseen enemies surrounded him.

  A dozen meters in front of the cart, a Tau’raj Adventurer fought off three Nagos. The Nagos were smaller, much smaller than the Nagos that had infiltrated the Cove. They must not have been very old or very high level, as they were only chest-high on the Tau’raj.

  Wearing different armor than Grath’gar, mostly leathers and some chain mail. They wore no helmets nor wielded the same razors on their tails. Still, they all had the same broad shoulders, thick scaly arms, finned backs, and gilled necks of all vile Nagos.

  He took it all in, assessing the dangers, then grabbed his new bo off his back and ran at the enemy.

  The younger Tau’raj wielded a large and slow two-handed axe that he swung in exaggerated motions. He was clearly not used to the size and weight of such a weapon and struggled with controlling its precise movements. Despite his ineptitude, the sizable axe kept the three Nagos from swarming him altogether.

  Drawing closer, Scarhoof saw the health of the Tau’raj was low, and falling quickly with all three Nagos attacking him. Instead of engaging with the Nagos, he threw two Mending Forces to fully heal the bull.

  “Thx.” The Tau’raj said.

  Party Invite! Minr Rainwood has invited you to party, do you accept?

  Scarhoof accepted the invite and a quest appeared.

  Quest Available! Refugee Assistance:

  The small band of refugees has been attacked by a band of Nagos. Help defeat them!

  He accepted the quest, which popped up a log for killing five Scout Nagos and one Scout Nagos Leader.

  The Paladin Minr was slow and methodical with his weapon. It required a tremendous amount of effort to attack with the massive two-handed axe, but when it did connect, it was absolutely devastating, dealing nearly 40% damage per hit.

  Scarhoof tossed another heal on Minr, which caused one of the Nagos to turn and engage him. Fast thinking and a quick tongue had the Nagos trapped in Tendrils a couple meters away. Scarhoof followed up with Spirit Shock to the Nagos that was nearly dead and now they only faced two.

  Silently, Minr moved to engage the Nagos in the tendrils.

  “I can keep him rooted, kill the one you have.” Scarhoof grunted, finishing up a Spirit Shock and following up quickly with a heal on Minr.

  The other Nagos moved to attack Minr in the back.

  Minr continued to swipe at the Nagos in the Tendrils, breaking the bind before the spell ran out.

  Scarhoof sighed and rooted the Nagos behind. “Move away Minr. I’ll keep the other one rooted.”

  Either not hearing or caring, Minr continued to swing on the one Nagos while the other wailed at him from behind.

  Tossing heals in between Spirit Shocks, Scarhoof managed to take down the Nagos behind Minr quickly. Despite the utter damage of Minr’s two-handed axe, Scarhoof’s 1-second cast time and devastating stacking debuffs on the Nagos made quicker work of the enemy. They were down to one Nagos, when a blood-curdling shout from around a boulder drew their attention.

  Sporting a plumed helmet, and a large fin down his back, the scout Nagos leader rushed out from behind a boulder, stopped, and surveyed the scene. “You insolent Tau’raj, I shall smite you down where you stand, then I shall force you to show
me to your hidden enclave!”

  With that, the larger Nagos Leader ran at Scarhoof, who tossed Tendrils on the charging enemy to root him in place.

  Minr continued to hack at the smaller scout until he was dead, then turned to face the leader.

  Between swinging, tossing heals, and the occasional Spirit Shock, they made short work of the Nagos Scout Leader, netting some relatively easy XP, but Scarhoof was still two Nagos short of completing the quest.

  He looked around for more Nagos but wasn’t able to find any.

  Minr glanced at him very briefly, only barely making eye contact before breaking off.

  “Thx.” Minr dropped the party and went back to talk to the elderly bull guarding the overturned cart.

  Scarhoof stood there for a while, confused what had just happened.

  He just left?

  It didn’t bother him that Minr wasn’t much of a talker. Not wanting to chitchat especially when there were enemies to defeat was understandable, but it left Scarhoof with a half-finished quest and no Nagos in sight to kill.

  His mana, which was about halfway spent, began to regenerate as he watched Minr finish talking to the old bull at the cart and trot off toward the north. He didn’t even offer to help the caravan right its goods.

  Scarhoof wondered exactly what type of adventurer would just leave a bunch of Tau’raj refugees stranded in the middle of nowhere. Pushing down the irritation that had been welling up inside of him, he walked up to the group.

  “Hail Tau’raj!” The old bull waved at him as he got closer. “We seem to be in a bit of a bind here. We’re trying to get off to Sunset Cove, but we keep getting attacked by Nagos Scouts. They ransacked our caravan. I managed to drive them off, but they said they were going to get their leader and come back to finish us off, can you help?”

  Quest Available! Refugee Assistance:

  The small band of refugees has been attacked by the Nagos, help defeat them!

  Scarhoof tried to accept the quest but got an error message and an accompanying sound.

  Quest Acceptance Failure! Refugee Assistance:

  Quest already accepted.

  “Well, that’s strange.” Scarhoof glanced at his semi-complete quest for a moment when the old bull shouted.

  “Here they come! Hold tight, girls. I’ll protect you!”

  Scarhoof spun around as three Nagos came around the same large boulder and paused to take in the sight.

  “We’re back, and we’re here to take the women prisoner!”

  Scarhoof took a long, deep breath, tightened the grip on his bo, and cast Tendrils, stopping the foremost Nagos. He then repeatedly cast Spirit Shock on the next one, taking off 20% health with each hit. Five hits later, not a meter from where he was, the Nagos died as the Spirit spell finished whittling down his health.

  He was down to one Nagos, and Scarhoof swept his bo close to the ground, trying to topple his enemy, but not having knees meant the Nagos was more difficult to trip.

  The blow took off about 5% of the health, and Scarhoof selected the Nagos in the distance, re-casting Tendrils, and backed up while casting Spirit Shock on the one closest to his face.

  “Get them young bull!” the old-timer shouted, feigning blows with his sword. The female and her children on top of the overturned cart continued to huddle in fear, never moving from their places.

  Very odd.

  She seemed like a stout lass, with thick arms and sturdy horns, she could probably be a threat to the Nagos if she would just get off the wagon and help.

  Five Spirit Shocks later, the other Nagos fell dead right in front of him. Scarhoof topped off his health with a Mending Force and refreshed Tendrils on the other Nagos.

  Quest Update! Refugee Assistance:

  You have killed the 5 Nagos Scouts and the Nagos Scout Leader. Check with Gullne Spiritbender to hand in your quest. (Gained 75 XP!)

  What?

  He stood there, looking at the completed quest. He had only killed two just now, right? He glanced at the bodies on the ground. Just two. He suddenly realized the bodies from the previous Nagos, the ones killed with Minr were gone, vanished!

  What the hell was happening? How could bodies just disappear like that?

  In the distance, he heard shouting, and two more Nagos came around the corner, charging right at him. “The boss is on his way, we will cut you down now!”

  Scarhoof sighed.

  These Nagos never learn.

  Between Tendrils, Spirit Shock, and some time waiting for regeneration, he took out the remaining three Nagos Scouts and waited for the Leader to come around the corner, and sure enough, he did.

  “You insolent Tau’raj, I shall smite you down where you stand, then I shall force you to show me to your hidden enclave!”

  Scarhoof tossed Tendrils on the Nagos and casually walked over to Gullne.

  “I have completed your quest, old-timer.”

  “Oh, thank you, young bull, you have saved us. We are ever so grateful. If you wouldn’t mind, could you help us right the wagon, so we can be on our way to Sunset Cove?”

  Quest Update! Refugee Assistance:

  Gullne has asked you to help clean up the toppled cart so they can be on their way to the Sunset Cove. (Gained 50 XP!)

  He accepted the quest, then turned around to finish off the Nagos leader, but he wasn’t there!

  Scarhoof’s tendrils still poked out of the ground, but there was nothing there for them to grapple.

  “Be right back, I want to make sure those Nagos are truly gone.”

  Scarhoof followed the tracks back around the rock, finding no more evidence of the Nagos. He also went back to his Tendrils and looked for any trace of the Nagos leaving the scene, but still came up empty.

  It was troubling. Bodies didn’t just up and vanish, but while he was handing in the quest to Gullne, the rest of the Nagos he killed had all disappeared.

  The scene reminded him of the Kobold bodies disappearing near the passionflower plant yesterday. Something was off about the situation.

  He looked back toward the upturned caravan. The four females atop the cart had climbed down, with the older female directing the Tau’ri to pick things up off the ground.

  He grimaced again. Disappearing Nagos was unsettling but after scouting around the area, they seemed safe enough. He might as well help them with the wagon before more Nagos showed up.

  He was soon introduced to Imaovi, Gullne’s daughter, and her three young daughters Sannan, Lequorri, and Shulna.

  Between the six of them, righting the wagon and cleaning up the detritus took only a few minutes and soon enough Gullne had hitched himself to the wagon.

  “I may look old, but I got a strong back. Thank you for your assistance, young bull, we are grateful that you happened upon us in our time of need.”

  Quest Complete! Refugee Assistance:

  You have helped clean up and right the toppled cart and have killed the five Nagos Scouts. (Gained 75 XP!)

  The completed quest gave him a nice chunk of XP, getting him more than halfway to level six.

  “Very welcome, Gullne. In fact, before you leave, I would like you to speak to the Eldermother in the Cove when you get in. I have a request I wish you to fulfill.”

  Gullne looked at him with a blank expression for a moment, like he couldn’t process what was just said, but finally, after a long pause, his face relaxed. “Of course! Anything for the Protector of the Cove.”

  Scarhoof eyed the old bull, wondering why he’d gone blank when he asked him for a favor. Maybe he’d taken one too many knocks from a Nagos? And did he call him the Protector of the Cove?

  “I was the last remaining guard from Sunset Cove. There are no able-bodied Tau’raj guarding our sanctuary. Are you willing to take that responsibility to become a guard until I return? Your daughter would also be a welcome help when she’s not tending her young ones.”

  Gullne returned a wicked smile. “And here I thought it would be a strange request.” He clapped S
carhoof on the shoulder, his face taking on a more serious tone. “It would be my honor to serve.”

  Chapter 19

  Whistling Pass was first formed to better accommodate the many tribes of the Tau’raj that came together every Summer Solstice. One rumor told that the Thunderhide Eldermother accidentally left her stool behind one year, and when the Summermane Clan arrived the following year they took it as a claim on the land. No one knows who left the first acacia stool behind, but whether on purpose or on accident, it began a long-running trend that eventually culminated in its rise as the seat of power for the Tau’raj nation.

  Now, it served as the military station for their race, a population that continued to dwindle in size year after year.

  It had been two decades since Scarhoof turned his back on his beloved hometown and much had changed.

  Towering above the center was the Seat of Peace, which still stood, but the gleaming gold-plated roof had been torn down, replaced with timbers and topped with another story, affording a better view into the Eternal Plains for the half dozen guards scanning the area.

  Likewise, the makeshift wall of spiked logs that he had toiled over for nearly two years as a new recruit to the army had been replaced with a much sturdier stone and mason wall. The whole city was shaped as a nonagon, one side for each of the nine tribes of the Tau’raj, despite only seven remaining.

  At each corner, a turret with crenelated walls rose high above the stone and wood barrier. It was an impressive sight from a distance, but it showed its wear and tear as he approached from the west.

  A lot of construction had been done in the time he was gone. It was impressive.

  “Halt!” The guard on top of the closest tower called down to him in a gruff gravelly voice. “State your name and business.”

  Twenty years had clearly made some changes to the standard uniforms. A mixture of hammered bronze chest-plates with thick leather hides and protecting their extremities. Their helmets gleamed in the sunlight, with holes for their horns. Scaled metal plates wove down their sides allowing maximum movement and protection from attacks. In the center of everyone’s chest was the symbol of the Tau’moor, the resting place for the Spiritmother, and the hope that she will one day return to bring peace to her children.