He pulled up the sensory options, noting that they were set to the maximum and grayed out to his touch. Shrugging, he shifted to all the other options and noted a mini-map button. Toggling it on, he saw a translucent small map icon pop up in his upper right vision. It showed a small room with him in it and that was it. “Fog of war, eh?” Alburet mumbled.
As he closed down the menus, he heard a faint scraping sound in the hall. Laying on the floor he looked through the four inch tall gap under the door to see hallway stretching off in both directions. To his left and moving toward him was a set of bone feet dragging a thin chain behind it. As it neared, Alburet was able to make out the skeleton with tatters of cloth on it walking, dragging the chain behind it. Watching as the skeleton drew closer, Alburet was surprised when a small icon of the creature appeared next to his status bars. It had a name and a single red bar next to a picture of the mob, Lost Key Holder.
As the feet moved past his door, just out of reach, Alburet could see a key at the end of the chain, scraping across the floor behind the skeleton. He strained, thrusting his arm as far out under the door as he could but missed the key. Panting, he slid back and looked out again. He could see the dust on the floor disturbed by his arm, he had fallen an inch or two short of where the drag line for the key had been.
Alburet watched the skeleton continue on its way without pausing. Sitting back up, he tried to think of a way to get the key if the skeleton came back. His arm wasn't long enough obviously, and the room didn't contain anything of use. Brooding for a moment, Alburet tried to think of a way to snag an extra inch or two. Shaking his head he wished for items that would make a difference that he obviously didn't have. After all the only thing in the room was the ragged straw pile he had woken on and the tattered robe he was wearing.
Chuckling, Alburet stripped his tattered robe off and fashioned it into a loop as best he could. It gave him a foot of reach and a way to either trip the skeleton or snag the key. Maybe. Smiling, he lay back down and slid the makeshift trap into the hall. After a few attempts he got it into the path of the mob and settled in for the wait.
Time seemed to drag as he lay there waiting, the cold stone floor chilling him slightly as he waited. The demon skin didn't stop him from feeling temperature, sadly. He began to drum his fingers on the floor as he waited impatiently. “Stupid fucking starting place, trapped in a room with only one way out,” he groused to himself.
Eventually he heard the scraping sound coming this time from his right. Grinning, he made sure he was ready to yank the robe back to him. He was going to try for the skeleton as it only had 90 health and would be an easier target to snag then the key. He was still grinning when he could make out in the flickering light the skeleton’s feet approaching him.
Alburet could feel the tingle of anticipation he always felt before a fight as he watched the feet draw closer. When the skeleton stepped into the makeshift noose he tugged with everything he had. He felt the resistance as the skeleton was caught and tumbled to the floor along with the clatter of bones striking stone. He began to reel in the robe quickly, drawing the skeleton’s foot under the door, into the room with him. Grabbing it with one hand, Alburet reached out with his other searching for the chain.
The skeleton kicked at him with its other foot, connecting with his searching arm. Wincing at the impact, Alburet noted two health tick off his bar. Growling, he yanked on the leg he was holding and felt the door rattle at the impact of the skeleton hitting the other side. “Take that, fucker,” he said under his breath as his hand finally found the metal chain.
Just as he began to pull the chain into the room, his hand was grabbed and he felt teeth sink into it. “Fucker,” Alburet yelled as 2 damage ticked off his life bar, but he refused to open the hand holding the chain.
Pulling with his hand holding the chain, Alburet was surprised to see the skeleton head still attached to his hand as he retracted it into the room. Letting go of the robe he lashed out with his left hand at the biting skeleton. He noted a four point dip in the skeleton's health bar as his hand connected with the skull.
The guardian of the key began to grind its jaw on his hand, causing Alburet to cry out in pain as he felt the teeth begin to saw into his hand, breaking the skin and drawing blood. Another 2 damage ticked off his life. Eyes going wide in pain, Alburet grabbed the skull with his left hand and bashed it against the floor as hard as he could, taking another fraction of life from it. The impact caused the skull’s teeth to cut further into his hand, doing another point of damage.
The two of them continued to trade damage as the skeleton refused to release his hand from its teeth as Alburet kept smashing its head into the floor. When the skeleton was down to twenty health left, it released his hand and tried retreat back under the door.
Tears of pain and rage dripping from his eyes, Alburet cursed it, “Not today, fucker.” Releasing the chain, he grabbed its skull in both hands as he braced his feet on the door and shoved off, trying to pull the head off the body. After a moment of resistance he went sliding across the floor with a skull trophy in his hands.
As the head came free, the body stopped moving and collapsed to the floor. Alburet lay there panting and bleeding from his severely lacerated hand. After a moment he sat up, noting his health bar slowly replenishing when he noticed the blinking square again.
You have defeated the Lost Key Holder, gain 100 XP.
Alburet disabled the XP notifications, thinking that would get old fast. He could always check his XP by opening the character tab, if he wanted to. A few seconds later the pain went away and his hand seemed uninjured as his health pool became full again. “Vanishing pain, thank gods,” Alburet muttered as he went back over to the door and pulled the chain to him. He discovered it was wrapped around the skeleton's spine and broke it free. Key in hand, he stood up to unlock the door then opened it and stepped out into the hall.
Quest Completed: Escape the cell.
Receive: One hundred XP.
Smiling at the quest pop-up, he waved it away to check his options for moving forward. A dusty hall went off to the left and right with other doors evenly on both sides in both directions along with flickering torches. “Well, first mission accomplished, now to find my way out,” he muttered before looking down at the bones and grinning. Bending down, he went to rip a femur free only to have the corpse vanish while a small bag appeared. Frowning, he touched the bag and was suddenly holding a Femur Club which made him smile. “Acquired: one makeshift weapon,” he chuckled, “but no chain. Damn, it would have been useful.” Setting the club aside, he picked up his robe and untied it before donning it.
Quest: Escape the Intake Wing.
Reward: Five Hundred XP.
Club in hand and dressed again, he debated which way to go. He finally turned left in honor of his friend David, who always went left in dungeons. Going to the next door he tried the key, which unlocked the door, only to find an empty room. “Viewing slits would have been a good idea, game designers,” he muttered as he went door to door, checking each room in case there was anything worthwhile.
On the fifth door he found a skeleton climbing to its feet. Alburet charged in before it could rise and brought the club down on its skull firmly. He watched ten percent of its life vanish from the hit, causing him to chuckle. “So some of the old inmates are mobile as well. Guess I should be a bit more careful.” He muttered, dodging back as the skeleton swiped at him with its hands. The ID of the mob told him it was an Intake Skeleton level 1, 90/100 health.
The fight was short, with Alburet only taking minimal damage thanks to the Demon Skin spell negating most of the incoming damage and being able to deal out more damage with the femur. He checked the log, noting the first hit to the skeleton's head had been a critical which doubled the damage. He got another Femur Club off the skeleton he had just killed. He also noted a crack in the femur he had been using. He examined it more closely, which prompted another pop-up.
Femur Club
> 4 Damage
4/10 Durability
“So each new kill will net me a new weapon, that's handy,” Alburet mumbled to himself.
He cleared all the rooms down the left hall, only finding one more Intake Skeleton. The hallway turned right and ended in a large door with a vision port in it. Peeking in, he could make out a large room that was mostly shrouded in darkness. Backing away from the door, he decided to go back and check the other way first. Three skeletons and many rooms later he found himself at a dead end. “Well, that answers that question,” he muttered to himself as he retraced his steps and dropped the femur that only had 1 durability left on it. He pulled another one from one of the holes he had torn in his robe to hold more femurs. He waited and watched the in-game clock to see how long it took a dropped item to despawn. Five minutes later he had his answer and was wondering if he could cheat the system by picking up and re-dropping an item to extend the time. Something to test later when he had an expendable item.
Before he made it back to the dark room he pulled a torch from a wall sconce so he could have some light with him. He smirked, thinking back to some of the fucked up things his GM of the old D&D group had run them through. This place would have fit right in.
Stopping at the door, he glanced in seeing straw pallets lined up evenly along the walls which made him think of a very poor barracks. Pushing on the door, it opened with a tortured screech of rusty hinges. It was odd, as no other door he had opened had done that. Pushing the door all the way open, he put the torch before him into the room to get a better view.
Sure enough, looked like a barracks crossed with a living space. The pallets had what looked like bits of tattered cloth over the straw, and just at the edge of the torch light he could make out the shattered remains of what might have been a table. He waited a moment, but didn't see any movement. Still, he didn't trust the situation.
Without stepping into the room, he tossed a torch towards the remains of the table. It spun, making crazy shadows before it landed on the wood, which began to smolder. As the table caught fire, Alburet could see one skeleton rising all the way across the room. He targeted the new mob, a level 3 Decayed Guard, which had tattered pieces of leather armor and carried a wooden club as it started to shamble towards him. “Fuck, two levels above me and equipped,” he muttered, stepping into the room and casting about for anything useful.
Not seeing anything useful ready to hand, Alburet grimaced and swung on the Decayed Guard as it came into range. Trading blows with the Guard taught him something very quickly, that he didn't stand a chance in a straight up fight. Alburet's attacks weren't doing the normal 5 damage, instead only doing 1 while the guard pummeled him for 6 with each hit it landed.
Backing up, Alburet tried to break the combat so he could run only to be pummeled as the mob kept advancing with him. A minute later Alburet was a ghost floating above his corpse and letting out a deep sigh as a two minute clock counted down. He was able to see the guard shamble back across the room and lay back down on its pallet thanks to the small fire from the table. Two minutes later, Alburet found himself back in his cell. A quick inventory showed that he had all of his stuff, including the femur he had been using which was down to one durability.
“Okay, I need a plan,” he muttered as he pulled the combat log up and looked it over. The leather the skeleton was wearing blocked 4 damage from each of his attacks due to the armor rating. He needed a way to get rid of the leather the thing was wearing so he at least had a chance. If he could find a way to disarm it even better, as the high damage it did was an issue.
He brooded for a moment, considering all of his options. What did he have access to that could help him he thought as he chewed his bottom lip. Sitting back, he shifted his seat which slid him slightly. Looking down he found himself sitting on the straw that had been in each room he had checked. A plan formed in his mind causing him to chuckle before he set out to prep his battlefield.
Once he had everything prepared, Alburet picked up two torches from the far side of the wing. He tossed one as far across the room as he could, aiming towards the pallet the guard should be on. The torch spun wildly as it flew, landing on the cloth covered straw pallet the guard lay on. It went up instantly in flame, causing the mob to clamber to its feet. Each second it was in the flame it lost five health.
Grinning, knowing his plan would work, Alburet drew a femur with his free hand and waited as the Decayed Guard crossed the room. As the Decayed Guard came into range, Alburet dropped the torch onto the flammable pile of straw under the mob, taking a half step back as it went up in a blaze.
The mob was down to 320 of 350 health, and the fire was steadily taking its toll on both the creature and its armor. The fire was uncomfortable to be near but wasn't actively hurting Alburet, so he swung on the guard and was parried.
Grimacing, Alburet took a hit to the left arm which did 5 points of damage. Obviously, this one had more Constitution and Strength than the other skeletons he had fought. Alburet focused on trying to parry the attacks while letting the fire damage the guard for him.
By the time the fire had burned out, the guard no longer had leather armor and its club vanished into a puff of ash. The damage the guard was doing to Alburet dropped off to two per hit with the loss of its club. The guard also only had 100/350 health left, while Alburet had 50.
Alburet focused all his attacks on the Decayed Guard’s head. Each blow to the head was a critical, which did 10 damage. The guard mindlessly attacked Alburet’s chest, only doing 2 damage with each swipe. When the Decayed Guard finally collapsed into a heap, Alburet was on the verge of passing out with only 30 health left. As the skeleton hit the floor, Alburet was engulfed in a bright light and a loud DING echoed in his ears. When the sound and light faded he found he was fully healed.
Laughing, Alburet shook his head, “Level two in under an hour after leaving the first room, nice.” He quickly opened his character sheet to find he had five stat points to distribute as well as a new spell. He checked the spell first, while he considered how to divvy up his stat points.
The spell was called Demonic Retribution and did five fire damage, ignoring all armor to anyone who attacked the one buffed with the spell. It cost 15 of his mana, but stayed up for five minutes. Alburet wondered if he could place it on his imp when he got one next level. He checked the casting requirements; slapping his hands together along with speaking the word ‘Retribution’ were the required steps to activate it, then touch the one he wanted to buff. He cast the spell on himself before turning back to his stat points.
Alburet chuckled over the fact he was still basically four levels higher stat wise than he should be. He shrugged and evened out the outliers on his stats for now, bringing Constitution and Charisma up to 10 and 20 respectively.
Once he was done placing his stats points, he checked the loot, gaining a new Femur Club. He snagged a torch before crossing the ashes of the fire that helped him defeat the mob. He entered the room and began to search it for useful items.
The room was fairly large, with over twenty pallets along the walls where he supposed guards would have been if this place was still running, so it took Alburet some time to search. In the end all he found was a Dirty Satchel that had been tucked into a corner. Inside was aged meat, a flask that sloshed slightly as he shook it, and there were eight other spots for things in the grid that appeared when he looked inside the bag as well as ten copper which showed on a counter along the bottom of the grid. Slinging the satchel over his shoulder, he transferred all but two femurs into it, leaving one in easy reach tucked through one of the holes in his robe while he equipped the other into his main hand.
He crossed to the only other exit from the room, a set of double doors. As he neared the doors, he passed the burned out remnants of the pallet and saw a glint from the ashes. Stopping to investigate, he brushed the ashes away, revealing a slightly larger key. After that find, he took the time to shred the other pallets, finding a rusty pitted dag
ger for his trouble along with another ten copper. He examined the dagger, nodding at what he saw.
Rusty Pitted Dagger
8 Damage
25/50 Durability
He reached the door and wasn’t surprised to find it locked. The key hole looked perfect for the key he had just picked up. Inserting the key, he twisted it in the lock and heard a bolt snap open. Chuckling, he pushed the door open.
Quest Completed: Escape the Intake Wing.
Receive: Five Hundred XP.
The doors groaned open as he pushed against them. He found a large hallway easily forty feet wide stretching out before him. There were two five foot wide sections of a different colored stone on the floor, adjacent to the walls. Laughing, he shook his head as it reminded him of the guiding lines in jails and prisons. “You guys are funny, going to this length in this area.” He chuckled as he stepped into the five foot section that prisoners were supposed to walk in. Might as well keep up appearances, he thought, besides the other section of floor might be trapped to trigger if a non-guard walked on it.
Quest: Escape the Forgotten Prison.
Reward: Two Thousand XP.
Alpha World Book One: Gamer for Life Page 5
