Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “Look at you,” I said in a falsely proud tone, “I swear you get smarter every day.”

  Armelia: Chapter 17

  Once we were out the gates, it wasn’t hard to find a forest that was supposedly completely overrun by bears. I left Shadow-Stal at the edge of the treeline and started toward the nearest landmark I could see, a large cave shaped like a cornucopia about a half-mile into the woods.

  "Do you think the world's flat?" I asked when I some poorly rendered trees in the distance.

  "What?" Gerry laughed, "Course not, we know it's not. You can literally look up satellite images right now."

  I looked at my hunting partner in confusion, then realised what he thought I meant and started laughing. "No, no, no. Heh, I mean Tarthirious. Do you think they rendered a globe?"

  "Oh... Oh that makes more sense. Well, what do you think?"

  I shrugged, “I mean… I think they’d have to, just with flying and whatnot.”

  Gerry nodded and pointed ahead into the cave, “I totally agree, but perhaps this is a conversation to have at another time?”

  Without looking into the cave I drew my bow, “What do you see?”

  “Bears, lots and lots of bears.”

  “Thanks for being so specific.”

  “Well shit, I don’t know,” he sassed as we dropped to a knee a dozen feet from the cave’s entrance, “five, ten? My Creature Sight’s seeing a lot of red.”

  “Hit them with a fireball.” I said with just a twinge of excitement.

  “Sure, if you want to piss them off. They’re not a super high level, but I guarantee if they descend upon us it’ll be a tsunami of pain.”

  “The way I see it is we’re pissing them off either way, so either you send some fire in there or I’m sending in an arrow.”

  He tried to formulate an argument, but decided it was a waste of time and instead built a magnificent ball of magical flame between his hands. It was an absolute marvel to watch him move his hands and create something like that out of nothing, and then suddenly cast it into the cave as easy as someone else would throw a water balloon.

  There was an explosion and light splashed throughout the entire forest, painting the shadows of the roaring bears on the trees around us.

  Grand Gerry the Good has disturbed a sleuth of bears.

  7x Level 20 Bears, HP: 350/350.

  Bear discovered.

  Journal entry made.

  “Well that ain’t so bad, is it?” I asked optimistically.

  Gerry got into a combat position, “Not if you don’t understand the concept of good or bad, no. Otherwise yes. They do 150 damage per hit.”

  “Oh, well…” I trailed off as I nocked an arrow and aimed for the nearest source of cacophonous roaring that was emanating from the cave. “That’s rather problematic.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to have a bit of fun.” Gerry cheeked.

  “That. I. Did.”

  Just like that the first bear came crashing out of the cave and I released my arrow, catching it square in the face for a Critical Hit! that did double damage, which did nothing much more than piss it off and draw its attention to me. I didn’t let that stop me though.

  “I’m going to run and draw this one away, then you hit it with the fireball when it has its back to you.” I said calmly as I started running toward and around the cave.

  Gerry didn’t say anything, and instead just kept launching balls of fire into the cave beside me, but the bears were still inching their way toward the exit.

  I rolled as the bear’s paw swung over my head, and when I came out of it I started climbing up the cave which Gerry was still having trouble keeping the bears in. They weren’t getting directly hit, judging from their HP, they were just being forced to stay in the cave by the flames bursting at the mouth of their home, and if Gerry let up for second I had no doubt that he’d be swarmed.

  “Reckon you could seal it off!?” I yelled over the explosions.

  “That’s what I’m doing!” he snapped back, which was understandable. From what I could see he was losing mana faster than he could regenerate it.

  I shook my head, “Not with fire! Trees and stuff!”

  His face spread into delighted realisation and he let go of the fire and instantly started filling the front of the cave with vines and trees. The bears were attacking it, but every vine they took down Gerry would make two more shoot up in its place.

  I took that as my cue to start really focussing on my friend, who was angrily pawing at the side of the cave as I fired arrow after arrow at it.

  Suddenly a chart popped up and I almost jumped right off the cave.

  +5 Archery Skill.

  Progress: 5/100.

  +50 XP.

  Progress: 2230/2250.

  “You alright?” Gerry called up.

  “Yeah, game just made a sound.” I said as I drew my last standard arrow and let it loose on the bear causing it to finally keel over and die. “Got it! You want to let another one out?” I asked as I descended the cave and started pulling arrows out of the bear, as well as its pelt.

  Acquired:

  Bear Pelt: Weight: 7.5(-7.5), Value: 15.

  14 Steel Arrows: Damage: 7.

  Gerry didn’t respond, instead he made a continuous “Uh…”

  “What is i- oh you fuckwit.” I said as I followed his gaze to the top of the cave and saw what he’d done.

  Somehow, while building up his barrier, the nonce had managed to force all of the bears up into the cave’s ceiling and, when they had nowhere else to go, they’d appeared on top of it.

  “So…” Gerry said, having stopped doing his idiotic magic, “I think we should perhaps run?”

  “You know what? I think you’re absolutely right.” I said as I slowly backed away.

  “On the count of three?”

  “Bye!” I shouted from nearly a hundred feet away, “Try not to die!”

  Armelia: Chapter 18

  “Ohshitohshitohshitohshit.” I rattled off as I desperately bounded through the woods as a half dozen angry bears chased us.

  “You abandoned me!” Gerry whined, having already caught up, “You straight up left me for dead!”

  “It’s not my fault you decided to make a bunch of bears spawn right next to me, is it!?”

  “You’re the one who told me to use environmental magic to trap them!”

  “Yeah! Trap them! Not force them through the roof!”

  As stressful as it all was, I can’t deny that I was having fun. So much so that it didn’t occur to me to summon Shadow-Stal until we were almost already out of the forest.

  I did the whistle and he came to me from off screen and maintained my pace. My first attempt to jump on him was interrupted as a tree zoomed in between us, but I eventually grabbed onto his saddle and pulled myself up.

  Without a second’s hesitation I put my hand out to Gerry, “Come on!”

  He tried to grab at me, but each time his fingers slipped out of mine and he’d fall a few steps behind, “You need to slow down!”

  I shook my head, “If I go any slower they’ll knock me off, just grab my bloody hand!”

  He took a deep breath and, with a roar of effort, grabbed my wrist and I his, before using my momentum to pull him up.

  “Go go go!” we both yelled in unison as we galloped out of the forest, exploding out of the brush in a glorious rain of leaves and dirt.

  We continued to ride hard for another few minutes until we were sure that we’d escaped, before slowing down and laughing exhaustedly.

  End of Conflict Report:

  (Abandoned Conflict Multiplier: x 0.5)

  Grand Gerry the Good: 0 enemies defeated.

  Armelia Fireheart: 1x Level 20 Bear.

  Total experience awarded:

  Grand Gerry the Good: No Experience Points awarded.

  Armelia Fireheart: +300(-150) XP.

  Level 8 Completed!

  Level Up!

  Level 9 Progress: 1
30/2500.

  5 Skill Points awarded.

  “That was fun.” Gerry said once Shadow-Stal had started his auto-trot down the road in the direction of the city.

  “It was, wasn’t it? Wanna go back?” I teased.

  “Gods no! Heh, I think I’m kind of done with hunting for a little while. We could do a bounty hunt though? They don’t tend to scale with level, and we might even find a player on one of the boards.”

  “Don’t 90% of those bounties end up being someone we know?” I asked, remembering the time I hunted down and brought my building’s manager to justice. That week was very awkward.

  Gerry shrugged, “So we be careful, make sure we only go for targets that we know are people we… know. Sorry, I hate using the same word twice. It makes my brain hurt.”

  “I know, makes me feel like some kind of idiot. English needs more words. But sure, the nearest board would be in the city, right?”

  “Yeah, I’d say so, unless the bears put one up for us.” he said with a little laugh.

  The ride back to the city was enjoyable, but not particularly interesting. Nothing against Gerry, but it wasn’t an eye-opening adventure. Getting to one of the city’s most violent tavern on the other hand? That was pretty cool.

  For some reason the tavern owners thought it’d be wise to fill a room with bounty hunters, who were judge killers and highwaymen with a slightly better moral compass because money was involved, and then plaster one-off bounties on the walls. The result was a lot of fighting and brawling that a few years ago would’ve gotten them banned from the bar, but you can’t ban the entire group.

  I pushed through the hulking masses that filled the small, stinking tavern to get to one of the walls and find a bounty for Gerry and I to take up. Most of them were monstrous creatures laying waste to farmer towns on the edge of the King’s land, then there were a few impossibly strong players who, judging from their stats, were clearly hackers, followed finally by the bandits and standard player bounties.

  While I scrolled over the list I faintly heard Gerry calling from across the room, “Armelia! Armelia! Oi! Touch me and die! Armelia! Meet me outside”

  I didn’t want to leave empty handed, so I grabbed the first one I fell on, some NPC bandit who was holed up in a camp just north of the city, went by the name Mathias Reilot and apparently had a decent crew with him.

  Bounty Accepted: Mathias Reilot.

  Objective added: Bring Mathias Reilot to the Stone’s Throw Tavern in Lukithir (+1000 gold) or Bring Proof of Mathias Reilot’s Death to the Stone’s Throw Tavern in Lukithir (+500 gold).

  “What’s up?” I asked once I was finally free of the tavern.

  Gerry gestured to a piece of parchment in his hand, “Someone’s put a bounty on Daemion. Bloody big one too.”

  I gave him a disbelieving look, “Bullshit, show me.” I said, snatching the parchment from his hand.

  Daemion the Dread is wanted dead.

  30,000 gold reward.

  Note:

  Daemion the Dread is an arsehole, he is totally unfair in the Arena and has to be brought down a peg. When he falls I want his body brought to the Stone’s Throw tavern where I’ll meet you. I know he presently spends all of his time in the Arena, but he has to come out sometime. Bide your time and get a group together, he’s going to be a tough one to bring down.

  “30,000 gold!?” I asked as my voice became unnaturally high-pitched, “Who in the bloody Hell wants m- Daemion dead that badly?”

  Gerry shrugged before taking back the bounty, “I have no idea, but I have accepted it.”

  “What!? Why did you go and do that?”

  “Because I could use the gold..? Besides, I’m sure it’s nothing, probably just some sore loser in the Arena who can’t handle the fact that he lost to a bot. You have been botting him, right?”

  I nodded for a second then stopped, remembering the conversation I’d had with Lily, “Give me a second.”

  Kylia: Chapter 19

  I rolled over in my chair and turned on Daemion’s monitor and, as far as I could tell, he was a bot, kicking arse at it, but still running on autopilot. I spun to face Gerald who’d slung his headphones over his neck when he noticed I’d gone AFK, “You reckon maybe people are just being sour?”

  He nodded without taking his eyes off the game, “Yeah. Having versed him before in bot mode I can tell you that he’s pretty damn good at what he does.”

  I turned back to the monitor and watched as Daemion smashed a dwarf into the dirt with Hellish Smite, “Yeah. I suppose he is.”

  Armelia: Chapter 19

  “I think you were right,” I said once I got back, “he’s just got some really good attacks and people can’t handle that.”

  Gerry started off with me toward the city’s northern gate, “He’s a glass cannon, but he’s also got some pretty hard-core dodge skills. Did you see where he was on the leaderboards? Maybe that’s why someone put a hit out on him?”

  I shook my head before calling over Shadow-Stal, “I assume he’s doing alright, you think someone’s literally trying to knock him down a peg on the boards?”

  “Yeah,” Gerry said with a nod before climbing up on the horse behind me, “someone from the States or something who’s been stuck behind him all weekend maybe? Just got sick of it and decided to set someone on him.” A goofy smile spread across his face, “And maybe that person’s me?”

  “Pardon?” I asked with surprise, “What makes you think you can take down Daemion?”

  “Well maybe if you just happened to pull him out of the Arena, and maybe you also just so happened to have to go to the bathroom? Leaving him poor and defenceless, but it’s an honest mistake.”

  I laughed, “There’s absolutely nothing honest about what you’re suggesting. Besides, why would I pull him out of the Arena? If he’s generating that much attention people will start putting bets on him, and suddenly I’m getting a cut of all those spectator’s gold.”

  My riding partner sighed and looked down at the ground, “Alright, I s’pose you can keep Daemion alive… for now.” he said slyly.

  I felt a little bad for holding back his opportunity to get some well-deserved revenge, and a boatload of gold. At the same time though I didn’t think having Daemion’s corpse brought to a group of angry players to get resurrected and beaten down over and over again was very fair.

  I’d seen it happen to other people before and it was a brutal affair, vigilante justice that was either totally unmanageable by the moderators, or deserved in their eyes. Either way, the idea of having Daemion tortured like that made my stomach turn, no matter how much gold was involved.

  However, as I said, I felt bad, but then I had an idea, “Hey,” I said as we left the city gates, “how about instead of that fat bounty, I offer you 15% of all of Daemion’s winnings? That way you’re getting a little bit in terms of reparations, and I’m getting a boyfriend who doesn’t secretly resent me.” I joked.

  He gave me a sweet little smile then shook his head, “I could never resent you. And you don’t have to pay me off, I’m your boyfriend, not a loan shark.”

  “I’m not paying you off, look at it more as I’m… contributing to our relationship.”

  “And just how am I contributing to our relationship?”

  I turned to him and gave him a sexy smile, “Oh, you know.” I said, followed by a wink.

  “Heh, so I’m your whore?”

  I shrugged and gave him a nod, “Yeah, I suppose so. How far is this camp anyway? I feel like we’ve been riding for a while now.”

  “How should I know?” Gerry laughed, “You haven’t let me in on it whatsoever.”

  “Right. Sorry.” I said, pulling out the bounty and handing it back to Gerry. “Actually, you want to swap spots? I’ve got to spend my SPs.”

  “Course.” he said as he read over the bounty before climbing off the horse to let me slide back so he could take the reins.

  Shadow-Stal snorted at the rider change, but he seeme
d to be getting more used to Gerry being around. I certainly hoped they could at least get to some sort of friendship level, otherwise he’d never let Gerry ride him without me there.

  Horses can be so picky.

  HP upgraded!

  HP: 2800/2800.

  Attributes upgraded!

  36 Strength

  36 Dexterity

  36 Intelligence

  35 Wisdom

  I pulled out my bow and gave it a few test draws as we drew nearer to our bounty’s hideout. It was certainly becoming a lot easier to hold, and I could feel my draw strength getting better. I couldn’t wait to finally get a sword in my hand so I could really get into the thick of it.

  That was what I did in every fantasy game I played to take a small break from Tarthirious. No matter how many times I’d say ‘This time I’m going to play warrior or mage’, I’d always build up all my attributes, get my archery up high, then start using swords and magic once I’d already well surpassed level 50.

  It was almost instinctual, and also because it was the best one to start with when you wanted to keep your enemies as far away from you as possible.

  “How do you start your characters?” I asked having finished my own mental conversation.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Style wise. Like, I always roll archer, no matter what. Hel, using Ky-Len’s Heal is probably to most out there thing I’ve done in terms of magic use.”

  Gerry thought for a while, that or he was waiting for me to keep talking, before opening his mouth, “I think I usually run mage. No matter what I make, I beeline for the nearest magical training place and run the questline until I’m a master. After that it’s usually singlehanded weapons and jobs.”

  “Jobs?” I asked confusedly, thinking he meant singlehanded jobs.

  He nodded, “Yeah, like smithing, cooking, mining. That sort of thing. I used to do smithing first because it was the easiest to level with, but then I decided that that was tantamount to cheating and stopped.”

  I looked at the back of his head, waiting for him to cut the bullshit, but when it became clear that he wasn’t going to, I spoke up, “And because they nerfed i-”