Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  I landed painfully on my stomach in front of the spider as it spun to pounce on me. I rolled over quickly, to see a pair of fangs descending at my head! Flinching and twisting wildly I brought up my hand holding my Flare and threw it at the spider’s face just as the fangs grazed my head and shoulder!

  A [Giant Webwood Spider] bites you for 42 points of damage!

  Your [Flare] spell burns a [Giant Webwood Spider] for 15 damage!

  Blinded momentarily by my spell, I had enough time to roll to my feet before the spider attacked again. This time, it struck out with its two front-most legs, which I painfully learned had sharp claws at the end of them, the first claw was poorly aimed and missed me entirely. The second however found a spot in my side and stuck there.

  A [Giant Webwood Spider] critically stabs you for 61 points of damage!

  Wincing at the massive blow, I instinctively slashed out with Razor at the leg embedded in my side. Guided by my desperation, the blade sliced clean through the spider leg, spraying dark spider ichor all over me as the spider pulled a severed stump of a leg back screeching wildly!

  You slash a [Giant Webwood Spider] in a vulnerable location for 76 points of damage!

  “Shit!” I cursed as I pulled the clawed end of the spider leg out of my side out of reflex. Thankfully they lowered the pain threshold this morning! Even then the pain was distracting.

  So far, the spider was winning the bout, I was down about 25% of my health, while the spider was down 11%. The only advantage I could see was that the partial loss of a leg was decreased the reach of the spider. Seizing the initiative, I charged the spider, leading with a Flare to obscure my attack. It was impossible to miss the spider with the spell this close, and the tiny fireball singed the creature as I closed in.

  I leaped over a meaty leg that attempted to skewer me with its sharp claw and landed a vicious kick in what I thought to be the spider’s face, stunning it momentarily. I slashed out with weight behind me the outstretched leg severing it cleanly, much like the first.

  Howling with pain the spider then swatted me away with a vicious swing of a leg, sending me sprawling to the ground once again a short distance away from the spider. I sprung up to my feet once again, barely dodging another attempt at a [Web Grab]. Needing a moment for my stamina to recover after all my sprinting I conjured Flares and peppered the giant spider from afar.

  Not willing to have me scorch it from afar and unable to pull me close, the spider growled then leaped at me! Its six remaining legs were more than enough to launch itself into the air as it pounced at me knocking me off my feet and sending my health below the 50% mark.

  In a panic, I rolled under the creature’s body, slashing somewhat ineffectively with my sword. The spider skittered angrily as I evaded its probing legs and cut deeper into its body, drawing forth a foul smelling black ichor.

  Unable to fish me out with its claws, the spider attempted to crush me with its bulk. Fortunately enough for me, I anticipated the move and managed to roll myself clear from under the arachnid and get my feet under me. When the spider crashed to the ground, I leaped – directly onto its back. Truthfully, it wasn’t graceful enough to be called a leap, more like an extremely awkward lunge.

  Thankfully, I had enough presence of mind to lead with my sword as I leaped. Razor sunk deeply into the spider, and I used it mercilessly, pulling myself up onto the creature as its shrieks reached new levels of volume.

  Tearing my sword out in another spray of gore, I stabbed and sliced everything that I could reach atop the giant spider as it tried to buck me off. Holding onto the spider as tightly as I could with my legs I shifted forward until I was just behind the creature’s eyes - the two stumps I had severed earlier flailed wildly in an attempt to dislodge me, but no longer had the reach.

  “I’ve had enough of your shit!” I grabbed Razor with both my hands and stabbed down with the last reserve of stamina I had.

  You critically [Power Attack] a [Giant Webwood Spider] in a vulnerable location for 224 points of damage!

  You have slain a [Giant Webwood Spider]!

  You gain Experience!

  My vicious swing with Razor bit deep into the spider’s carapace, opening a massive wound that immediately gushed with ichor. I felt the spider go completely slack under me, as it collapsed to the ground in a heap. A few heartbeats later the corpse turned faintly green, and I was sitting on the ground with yet another loot sack waiting for my perusal.

  “Phew! What a fight!” I gasped to myself looking at my status bar.

  Lyrian Rastler – Level 8 Novice

  Human Male (Eberian)

  Statistics:

  HP: 160/517

  Stamina: 22/470

  Mana: 166/572

  Experience to next level: 3132/5400

  I was sure happy that that particular spider didn’t have a poisoned attack, else the fight would have quickly gone the other way. I shrugged and grabbed the loot sack “To the victor… the spoils!”

  [Meaty Giant Spider Legs] x6

  [Wicked Spider Claw] x6

  [Giant Spider Carapace] x1

  [Black Spider Ichor Vial] x1

  [Spider Silk Webbing] x 10

  [Giant Spider Fang] x2

  Not seeing anything that required my immediate attention, I pocketed the loot and took a moment to eat a piece of food to help my regeneration. The webs that had locked me into the clearing now hung tattered and loose, and the copse of trees smoldered slightly, the web having burned clearly away but leaving the trees reasonably intact.

  A few minutes later, with my health recovered enough to feel confident to continue exploring, I made my way to the copse of trees. Inside, I could see the havoc that the fire had wrecked – dozens of egg sacs were burnt and ruptured, there certainly weren’t going to be any spiders hatching from here anymore. Looking past the charred mess, I spotted a burrow large enough to hold the massive spider I had just slain.

  I moved closer and peered into the burrow; I could still see something covered in webs inside.

  “A cocoon?” I slowly slid feet first into the burrow.

  “Probably another half-eaten puma…” I muttered to myself as I gently sliced the cocoon open with the tip of Razor. “Oh!”

  This time, it wasn’t a puma.

  Chapter 10

  I peeled back the web cocoon to reveal an ashen face of a young woman; a tag appeared in bright letters across my vision:

  [Unconscious Huntress – Level 7]

  At the same time my quest log decided to update:

  Quest Update! The quest - A Missing Boot, is now Unique!

  Objective: Rescue the Unconscious Huntress.

  Reward: Experience

  I shook my head to clear the overload of information. Apparently seeing her is enough to trigger the quest! What is this about a Unique quest? I guess someone can’t rescue her if I’m already rescuing her…

  I tore at the web cocoon covering her until I had managed to get the majority of it removed from her body revealing hunting leathers – and of course a missing boot. I attempted to shake her gently. “Hey… wake up! Are you okay?”

  Unfortunately for me, however, whatever was afflicting her kept her firmly unconscious. I sighed. I didn’t have any healing or first aid abilities, and I doubted that force feeding the huntress Hollyleaf would cure her of whatever was keeping her unconscious. That left only one option - get her back to Aldford.

  Getting myself and the huntress out of the burrow wasn’t an easy or graceful process, but thanks to the mighty 32 strength I had, I managed to get the both of us out of the hole. With a moment to catch my breath, I picked the huntress up in a fireman carry position and set off towards Aldford with Razor in my other hand.

  While what I would like to say happened is that I carried her back to Aldford in a full sprint the entire way without any issues, the actual reality of the trek back was comprised of several stops for me to slowly regenerate my stamina and fend off a few opportunistic creatures. Maybe i
n a few levels I wouldn’t have such issues carrying a heavier load, but for the time being, it was slow going.

  The rough map I had made of the area helped me keep on track towards Aldford and by early afternoon I made it back to the village.

  “Lyrian! What happened?!” Shelia was the first to greet me, her white and red robes billowing as she ran towards me, followed closely by a few villagers who had heard the commotion.

  “I found her in the far forest on the other side of the lake; there are giant spiders infesting the forest. She’s been bitten and won’t wake up.” I explained how I had found her half eaten boot in the forest, and the Giant Spider I had killed.

  “Giant Spiders?!” A villager shrilled. “Aren’t goblins enough?!”

  “This place isn’t safe!” another villager shouted. “We should never have settled here!”

  “I’m leaving in the morning!”

  “Don’t do that! You’ll get eaten by the spiders or enslaved by the goblins!”

  “Enough!” Shelia shouted to the growing crowd. “We won’t get eaten, or enslaved! The Dawnfather sent Lyrian here in our darkest hour to protect us from the goblins, have patience and faith!”

  Shelia looked at me with a sharp glance. “There’s no time for this. We need to get her to a bed.”

  Pushing through the growing crowd, Shelia led me to the Town Hall in the center of the village.

  “Put her there.” She pointed to a spare cot in the corner of the room while ordering another female villager to set up blinds for some privacy.

  I set the Huntress gently on the bed to hear a familiar Ding and a number of notices appear in the system prompt.

  A Missing Boot (Unique)

  Quest Completed!

  Objective: Rescue the Unconscious Huntress.

  Reward: Experience

  You have gained experience!

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 9!

  You have 5 Attribute Points Unspent!

  You will not be able to advance to level 10 without receiving training for a Base Class.

  “I need some privacy to tend to her, and to clean the rest of the webs off her.” Shelia began stripping pieces of gear off the huntress and shouted an order for some hot water. “You should tell the Bann about the spiders.”

  “Right. If you need me, I’ll be around here somewhere.” I nodded as I turned and walked around the blinds that had been set up beside the cot.

  I paused long enough to assign my newly gained attribute points to Strength before I continued walking towards the kitchen. The Bann could wait for a few minutes.

  “Ragna?” I called out. “Are you here?”

  “Ho. Where else I be?” I heard a snort from the kitchen as I rounded the corner. “Is useful assistant back with more meats? Or does Ragna need to beat with spoon?”

  I glanced about the kitchen; Ragna had done an admirable job cleaning and re-arranging the kitchen from the disaster it was in the morning, and she was busy with her back turned towards me mixing something.

  “No need for a spoon Ragna! I brought more meat!” I smiled and pulled out an item I made earlier in the day. “I brought gifts too!”

  “Silly Adventurer… why you waste time bringing Ragna gif-“ Ragna stopped when she saw what I was holding in my hand. “Copper Pan!”

  “Not just a pan!” I told Ragna as I pulled out two pots of varying sizes and a number of copper knives, setting them on the table.

  Ragna looked at me for a moment, before wiping an invisible tear away and moving to embrace me.

  “Maybe not so lay about after all…” she said holding the copper pan and testing its weight. “You too nice to Ragna…”

  “But wait! There’s more!” I was in such a hurry to show Ragna the meat I had collected while hunting; I pulled out a [Meaty Giant Spider Leg]. “Oh. Whoops! I also found spider legs. Maybe not best for cooking. I have more me-”

  “Oh! Spider legses?!” Ragna squealed in delight. “They make very tasty treats! This leg so big! You have spider venoms? Yes?”

  Taken aback at the loud noises coming from the matronly half-orc, it was all I could do to nod.

  “Ye-yeah, I have some venom, a lot of it actually!” I handed over my stash of meat, spider legs and venom to Ragna.

  “Ragna make foods! Aldford not be hungry for long while!”

  “I am happy to hear that, Ragna!” My face betrayed concern as I saw her begin slicing the chitin off the giant spider leg I had given her. I decided it was time to beat a hasty exit. “I need to go see the Bann; I will see you later, Ragna.”

  “Bye bye, assistant. You come back and help Ragna cook when yous have time! Ragna will set foods asides for yous.”

  Quest Update! Rebuilding Aldford

  Thanks to your efforts, Aldford will no longer go hungry for the time being!

  Having escaped being pressganged by Ragna, I waved down a villager in the Town Hall to see where the Bann was.

  “Sir, last I saw of him was them gathering the militia and getting set for some drilling in the far yard.”

  I thanked the villager and left in search of the Bann. I didn’t need to go far before I heard shouting and concerned voices. Unfortunately, word of my arrival and rescue of an unknown huntress had traveled fast, and a number of villagers had gone to the Bann in search of answers.

  “Who else is out there?”

  “We were supposed to have the only settlement rights in the area!”

  “What are you going to do about the spiders?!”

  I saw the Bann and Jenkins standing behind a number of the guardsmen trying to address the crowd without success.

  “Lyrian! Lyrian!” The Bann saw my approach and waved at me. “Let him through!”

  The crowd parted around me as I made my way to the Bann, and they began to fall quiet. Whispers of my earlier arrival with the unknown huntress filled the air as I approached the Bann and Jenkins.

  “Lyrian! What is going on?!” The Bann whispered fiercely to me. “The wood is infested with giant spiders?! You found someone too?”

  “Not all the wood…” I paused to give the Bann an outline of my adventures in the Webwood, finishing with the discovery of the Huntress.

  “They are still far enough away then.” The Bann sighed, more to himself than me. “I had no idea there was anyone else nearby… hopefully this, Huntress… will wake and tell us exactly what she was doing in the area.”

  “We’ll have to deal with the spiders eventually,” Jenkins broke into the conversation. “Between me and the militia, we barely have enough people to form a watch to cover the entire day and night. Let alone go hunting for marauding spiders.”

  “What can we do Jenkins?” The Bann held his hands up and shrugged. “If we leave the village uncovered to search for spiders, then we leave it wide open for the goblins to swoop in behind us!”

  “I have friends, other adventurers like myself that should arrive here tomorrow, and countless more behind them as well,” I offered quickly, before Jenkins could reply. “Once they arrive, we can work on thinning the spiders back.”

  The Bann’s eyes shot up at the mention of more Adventurers arriving, but I could see that he was nervous about that fact as well. Adventurers always brought their own sort of trouble with them. “Very well. I’ll leave the spiders in your hands for the moment.”

  “May I have your attention please?” Moving to address the crowd, Bann Aldwin spoke in a loud and clear voice. “The rumors that you have all heard are indeed true! There are giant spiders living in the forest, to the west of Crater Lake in an area now known as the Webwood! However, have no fear! Our goblin slaying hero, Lyrian, has already called on other Adventurers for aid and is expecting them to arrive soon, to help thin the ranks of the arachnid menace! Please go on about your regular business, everything here is well in hand.”

  The crowd listened to the Bann’s short speech, placated by the promise of the coming Adventurers. I overheard some further nervous remarks about the spid
er infested forest, but the crowd began to disperse quickly. At that moment, my quest log chimed with a new quest alert:

  New Quest! Cleansing the Webwood. (Open) (Group)

  The village of Aldford is threatened by the encroaching spiders of the Webwood. Slay as many spiders as possible to relieve the threat against the village.

  Spiders Slain: 0/1000.

  Difficulty: Hard

  Reward: Experience, Reputation, 100 gold pieces. (Reward proportional to percentage contributed)

  I read over the quest log and gaped. What had I just gotten myself into?!

  Chapter 11

  After the villagers had fully dispersed, the Bann thought it was best to return to the Town Hall for a bit of rest and to be on hand if the Huntress awoke, the three of us retreating to the Bann’s study on the upper floor of the hall.