"Hey, we could stand to eat something, too," the ogre mumbled. "Since morning, I've had a yellow fork and knife icon flashing in the corner of my screen, and just now, it went red..."
For some reason, everyone turned toward me, as if I was supposed to be carrying food for the group. Where did they think I was hiding it?! My big-eared troglodyte was hungry himself, which I told them immediately.
"I could catch fish. I've got tackle," the naiad offered. "That would take some time, though, and I'd need bait."
"There's a crap-ton of bait by the river!" I answered, slapping yet another a red fly on my face and offering up its little corpse for the common cause. "One fisherman is not enough to feed our whole big team, though. We should go on the hunt and catch something bigger all together. I'll call my wyvern right now. She can look for prey nearby from above."
I hadn't brought VIXEN to Stonetown for obvious reasons — a horde of wolf-riding goblins was sure to attract unhealthy attention from the locals as it was. But then, if our cohort had been traveling with a three-meter flying snake, we surely would have been the object of heated discussion for many days to come, a fact that would certainly not have gone unnoticed by the undying on my trail. At any rate, it took the level-16 Royal Forest Wyvern just one minute to fly in to my call. The snout of the flying snake was smeared with fresh blood.
"What a smart cookie you are! You caught something and ate it all on your own!" I said, stroking the dangerous beast affectionately on the shoulders, at the same time noticing that my pet had leveled up and increased in size.
My forehead pressed to the head of my winged mount, I tried to communicate the mission to her as clearly as possible in vibrant images — find large creatures from the air in the forest nearby. Enough to feed our whole big team. I do not know how well she understood but, after some time, VIXEN flew off, flapping her wings and disappearing into the low rainclouds.
"Amra, what mission did you choose for your mount in the settings: scouting, patrolling territory or hunting?" my sister inquired. I answered honestly that I did not know myself, and told her about my experimental approach to communicating with the wyvern.
The wood nymph shook her head doubtfully.
"I don't think that will work. There's a normal game interface, with popup menu describing all possible options for missions one can give pets and mounts. The option 'search for large game' is not among them, though. You could have tried using a combination of existing commands, but I’m not sure that would work either..."
Valerianna then went silent, though, because VIXEN was already back. Flapping her wide wings, wet from the rain, the green wyvern set down on the grass and crawled in my direction, not so much walking with her legs as slithering like a snake. The emerald green winged beast bowed her head and carefully touched it to mine. Before my eyes, there came a kaleidoscope of pictures, reminiscent of screenshots taken from flight.
Breaks in the clouds. Riverbank visible. Thick brush. In it, a big animal is standing and chewing young shoots contemplatively. It’s a huge Bull Moose. Wide hooves and branching antlers. Powerful back and hump. Thick black beard. Column legs. And a red skull symbol, meaning that the animal surpassed the wyvern in level by more than twenty.
I tried to figure out where these pictures might have been taken. The river was behind me. Higher up the river, it gradually turned to the left. Yep, this was about what it should have looked like from the sky. And as a matter of fact, higher up the river, I could see a hill overgrown with brush in the distance. It seemed that was precisely where we'd find our prey. I loudly announced as much to my friends:
"A half kilometer that way, there's a big moose grazing in the bushes. It's approximately level forty or fifty. I say we go hunt it."
In reply, I got a long silence, then Max Sochnier inquired cautiously:
"Fifty? And what if it decides to come hunt us? I mean, we're non-combat characters. We can't fight like that!"
"Amra, we won't even be able to seriously wound it with such a high difference in levels!" the ogre fortifier exclaimed, supporting his friend's doubts.
I exchanged surprised glances with my sister. The wood nymph didn't understand their unplaced hesitation, either.
"I’m sure we can take down a level-fifty animal as a group without any losses. But no one will force you to run at the hardened creature with your trident and sledge-hammer," I reassured the construction worker and trader. "It's just an NPC animal, even if high level. We can take it down with tricks!"
"That's right!" my sister chimed in, bolstering my point. "We can dig out a pit like the one near the Cursed House. We can stick sharpened stakes in the bottom, put branches over top and draw the moose toward us! It will all be very simple! The main thing is us going far enough away so the animal won't see us or suspect a trap."
"Uncy Amra, I can make a little horn out of bark that will bellow like a moose in spring," Yunna offered. "Shaman Kaiak Badgerleg taught me. It isn't spring now, but a mature moose will race to the call to catch a glimpse of whatever freak dared invade its territory."
And that's what we decided to do. The ogre fortifier was working at the speed of an excavator with a normal shovel, and had already been breaking fresh ground for several minutes. The space was surely big enough for a large moose, now. As he dug, the others had been gathering logs and branches, which we'd use both as stakes and cover for the trap. Taisha and I placed the branches over the pit — we were the two in the group with the highest Agility, which meant we had the lowest chance of falling into the hole.
All that was left was to solve the last problem — how to lure the animal toward the trap and force it to stand on top? Here, my sister came to our aid:
"Give me a few minutes, and I'll make an illusion of an insolent young male moose. But first, I'll need a picture of a moose..."
Valerianna Quickfoot froze motionless, and I figured my sister must have taken off the virtual reality helmet, minimized Boundless Realm and was looking at pictures of moose on her monitor, trying to find the most suitable representation. A minute later, my sister came back to life:
"Found one! Alright, go hide in the woods! And tell Shrekson to blow the horn — he'll be able to make the loudest sound!"
We laid down in a streambed, sending the wolves and wyvern away, so they wouldn't upset our scheme. The deafening bellow that rang out was more reminiscent of a locomotive whistle than an animal's call, but Yunna and Irek assured me it was working exactly as intended. Shrekson ran up to us and also dove into the ditch. Nevertheless, nothing happened.
"Didn't work?" I supposed, but the wood nymph stuck a finger to her lips, calling for silence.
"Quiet! He's coming," Valerianna whispered, barely audible. "I see him on the mini-map. You'll see him soon as well, big-ears."
Not even a minute later, I saw a red skull marker on the map. The moose was slowly approaching, taking long breaks to look or sniff at something. Something here was setting off the animal's sixth sense.
Successful Perception check
Experience received: 16 Exp.
Wind! That’s must have been it! The wind was blowing over the trap. The moose could smell the wolves, goblins, and other creatures. All those smells were bound to be obvious, yet there was no scent from its rival — a self-assured young moose! I wrote my theory in a private message to my sister.
"Well, what can I do with that? I can't create illusory smells."
So, I answered the wood nymph:
"Change the bait. Make it a female moose."
"Tim, this isn't the season. And still, there wouldn't be any smell."
"I've got an idea! What about a young and stupid wolf, who not only won't run away, but also has the gall to bare his teeth at the proud and strong moose! There is a wolf smell, so it might work. The moose will want to teach the impudent wolf a lesson and chase it off his territory."
Valerianna wriggled her lips, conjuring something or just repeating the new mission to herself out loud. It worked! T
he Bull Moose saw the newly-created illusion and started trumpeting out to the whole forest so loud that the sound Leon made earlier now seemed like nothing but a pitiful parody. This bellow was not only deafening, and literally at that, it hit all of us with a whole array of unpleasant effects:
Damage taken: 34 (level-31 Fear spell)
3 second Panic effect
15 second Deaf effect
Successful Perception check
Experience received: 80 Exp.
Successful Constitution check
Experience received: 160 Exp.
Health level: 179/216
I can't really say what two negative effects Amra managed to avoid, but those he'd been unable to stop were bad enough as it was. I got control back over my character but, by that time, the terrified goblin had already started racing off through the forest, not at all caring about finding a path. I collapsed in the grass, hoping sincerely that the bull moose wouldn't pay any mind to a little goblin hopping away in the distance, and would instead be distracted by its intended target. Irek dashed past me, his mouth open, screaming out wordlessly — he had also clearly fallen to panic. Finally, my hearing returned. Behind me, I heard the elated clamoring of my friends. I could make out distinct shouts of joy. Had it worked? The NPC marker on the mini-map changed from yellow to aggressive red, but it wasn't moving and was approximately in the spot where we'd dug the trap pit. Now more confident, I started off toward the trap first at a fast clip, then at a run. Still, though, my friends reached the trap first.
Level-48 Bull Moose
The powerful beast had fallen exactly the way we’d planned but, by some unimaginable luck, it had managed to avoid being seriously wounded by the stakes at the bottom of the pit. A few of the sharpened wooden spears had torn through the animal's hide or scraped along the ribs, leaving abundant bloody lesions. But the moose's life bar hadn't really gone down much and was still in the green. What was more, regeneration was restoring the moose's health faster than the bleeding was bringing it down. A minute later, the life bar of the cornered animal was already back up to maximum.
The moose stood looking at us in silence, though he probably could have given his terrifying bellow another try. It might just get rid of us. The moose slowly turned his head and looked over the weak creatures who'd captured him one after the next. When my turn finally came, I saw the proud beast staring at me. Looking into his teary eyes, intelligent in a seemingly human way, I started feeling unwell. Yes, I understood perfectly that the being before me was nothing but a piece of programming code made to be slaughtered in a virtual game. There was no true moral imperative stopping us from roasting its meat over a fire and simply gorging ourselves but, for some reason, I felt unwell. I didn't know how to explain to my comrades that I'd changed my mind and no longer wanted to kill the handsome moose, but suddenly the ogre fortifier burst out:
"Friends, I'm taking a pass. I can't watch him in torment like this. Split him up, but leave me out of it. I won't touch the moose meat. I'd rather go hungry or make do with mindless plants and fish."
I wasn't expecting such sentimentality from our giant. Although, I was reminded that seeing the torched goblin village of Tysh had also made a very strong impression on Shrekson, giving him a nervous condition and insomnia. Despite his thick-skinned appearance, the former construction worker was quite impressionable and kind-hearted. The ogre turned away and, with a decisive step, started tramping off in the opposite direction of the trap pit.
"This moose would make a great mount. It could support the weight of the ogre..." the wood nymph said thoughtfully.
All at once, everyone suddenly turned toward Shrekson. The ogre stopped sharply, as if he'd hit a stone wall, turned around and... A miracle happened — the red dot of the moose in the trap instantly changed to blue, meaning ally. Over the antlered head of the animal, there appeared a name: "Lil_Timbo."
"Just a name, no worse than Vixen or Pirate," our giant hurried to assure everyone, though no one had really looked surprised or laughed at the strange, fairly inappropriate name for the huge beast.
I didn't go help the moose out of the pit — there were plenty of helpers as it was, and the ogre would also have managed easily on his own. But, taking advantage of the commotion, I took a vial of the forest giant's blood:
Moose Blood (alchemy ingredient)
I walked a bit farther from the others back toward the shelter we'd found, crawled into it under the cover of the twigs and drank the vial down.
Achievement unlocked: Taste tester (14/1000)
My Sating the Thirst bar was practically filled, showing 18/20, so my goblin vampire could go another eighteen hours without the blood of any victims. And also, my desire to sleep was growing ever stronger. I was yawning practically nonstop. A little bit longer, and I would simply collapse from exhaustion.
I crawled out of my hiding spot and froze, drawn to some bizarre sounds. Not far from me, there was a muted combination of growling and whimpering. I entered Stealth Mode and walked toward it. I carefully moved back the bush branches and discovered the whole Gray Pack gathered in a little glade, digging into the earth with abandon. Intrigued, I walked up closer.
The wolves were throwing back the damp loose earth with determination, digging out a shallow pit. It was clear that the dirt was fresh and gave easily. There was something strange buried there. I pushed aside the forest predators, leaned over and pulled out a dirty canvas bag. I stepped back and emptied the contents onto the grass — I saw some rumpled rags, and a pair of battered woman's sandals. I stood up and started sorting through my findings.
Clothing. Village-woman’s clothing. On top was a dirty, very patchy old dress. It was unclear what color it had been originally. Along with it, I found a ripped sleeveless blouse and a pair of short canvas pants, or more likely, boy's shorts. Under that, there was a relatively clean, though also very wrinkled pinafore, a set of dirty work clothes, some cheap glass beads, a pair of well-worn woman's sandals, and a four-colored headband like the ones village girls put in their hair — identical to the one I had in my inventory.
Was that all? I looked carefully at the clothes laid out on the grass.
Successful Perception check
Experience received: 40 Exp.
On the dirty gray dress, I noticed and removed a long black hair stuck to the fabric. It was sixty centimeters long and too coarse to be from a human. I wrapped the strange hair around my fingers, trying to figure out what it belonged to.
Successful Perception check
Experience received: 80 Exp.
Warg tail hair (waste)
The runaways we were searching for had scuttled their boat, hunted and eaten their fill, after which they'd buried their old clothes in the depths of the forest and changed their human appearance for an animal one. It must have been a few days earlier. Now, the warg pack could be anywhere, and the ceaseless rain had made searching for their tracks cursed to failure from the get go...
Cards on the Table
NOW, WE HAD to think about what to do given that the lady we were searching for had managed to get away. My friends suggested we set up a temporary camp and look for tracks in the nearby forests. I didn't see a particular reason for that, but I didn't argue with the collective opinion, either. Not wanting to nod off from exhaustion and be an example of idleness while my friends were hard at work, I exited Boundless Realm. My sister promised that our group wouldn't go far in the next day, so I wasn't especially worried. I knew I could catch up to them when I got back.
Already out of my virtual reality capsule, I spent a few minutes sitting on the stool in my work cabin, coming to my senses. It was quite the tiring and nerve-wracking game session. But my tribulations weren't in vain — my big-eared Amra managed to revive all his dead NPC companions and leveled up a good amount. I opened my stat window:
Name: Amra
Race: Goblin Vampire
Class:Herbalist
Experience, 139777 of 150000
Character level, 27
Hit points,196/216
Endurance points, 185/185
Statistics:
Strength (S)28 (28)
Agility (A) 30 (82.6)
Intelligence (I)5 (15.5)
Constitution (C)29 (35.5)
Perception (P)3 (25.7)
Charisma (Ch)54 (66)
Unused points0
Primary skills (6 of 6 chosen):
Herbalism (P A)10
Trading (Ch I)12
Alchemy (I A)15
Dodging (A P)9
Stealth (A C)13
Exotic Weapons (A P)6
Secondary skills (5 of 6 chosen):
Veil5
Acrobatics8
Athletics8
Foreman5
Riding4
I had yet to choose my last secondary skill, still a bit bewildered at the abundance of options. My sister was strongly in favor of me choosing Animal Control (I Ch), improving the stats of my pets. And there was a certain sense in that — I already had the Royal Forest Wyvern and four Seasoned Wolves, with the perspective of including another two beasts to the Gray Pack as soon as the opportunity presented itself. And yet, I was still hesitating — Diplomacy, Eloquence, or Animal Empathy would also be very useful for my character, letting my goblin freely access human villages or increasing the chance of survival when meeting monsters.
And then, finally, the time came to edit and upload another clip to the video hosting site about the escapades of my green troglodyte. I had plenty of respectable material in the back-log, but my crowning achievement was, of course, VIXEN. There was no longer any sense in hiding the fact that I had a flying mount — the assassin whose pride I'd wounded had probably already blabbed about my flying snake to any and all listeners, so I made the Royal Forest Wyvern the main subject of my clip. I made the secret method of hatching the flying snake egg a separate paid video, which could be downloaded by those who so desired for just ten game coins. I devoted all the remaining time to the process of the half-meter overgrown worm growing up gradually into a beautiful winged serpent.
Stay on the Wing Page 3
