“I swear, if I get eaten by a cow, I am going to quit this miserable mission,” I groaned to myself as I entered the barn. It was dark, with only a few windows that allowed light in. Stables aligned each side, presumably milking stations. I looked around for the cow, but was not able to see any animals, though the rotting stench was almost unbearable.
As I walked further into the barn, I pulled out my daggers and surveyed each of the stalls as I walked past. I neared the middle of the barn and heard a sound of something rustling, as if standing up, coming from the far side.
Immediately activating Stealth, I stopped and crouched. A cow started walking out of the far right stall, however, it was unlike anything I have ever seen before. The cow, if that is what it could be called, looked as if it was decaying on it’s left side, it’s black lungs could be seen pulsing as it breathed. However, it wasn’t this that startled me. The damn cow was standing, but it was standing on it’s back legs, it’s height easily dwarfing me.
The cow looked around and sniffed. As with all wildlife, it had the uncanny sense to detect me, it’s red eyes looking directly at me.
“GROOOOO,” it yelled, as if it was a mix of a mooing sound and a growl. Suddenly, a halberd magically appeared in it’s… hands? Front legs?
“Oh shit,” I thought to myself as it rushed me faster than I ever could have anticipated. The monster’s halberd was raised above it’s head as if it was going to slice me in half. I suppose there was not going to be any attempts at milking it, even if I survived. This was not something I had ever seen before, so I couldn’t even gauge what it’s strengths and weaknesses were.
I deactivate Stealth and leaped backwards to try to put some distance between myself and the cow. There was no sense in having my movement penalized if it was already aggro’d. I could start to feel my sweat beading down my forehead.
As the halberd swung down, now in position to cleave me in half, I managed to hold up my daggers, crossed, above my head. The halberd’s blade crashed into my daggers and was moved towards my side. Activating Riposte, my blades stabbed into the beast’s stomach, it’s rotted black blood gushing over my hands.
“GROOOOO,” the monster yelled, dropping it’s halberd. It turned to me with hateful eyes, and fell over. Dead.
“What the fuck,” I asked out loud. The quest notification window appeared before me with an update, informing me that I had failed the bonus objective by killing the so called, “mighty zombie-cow” instead of milking it.
I stared at the dead cow, baffled at what just happened. This, thing, was the culmination of my fear of being eaten alive? Was this entire quest just out to troll me? I could feel my face getting red with anger. This entire quest was just some bullshit. Yes, I would talk with the mayor, and by talk, I mean scream my lungs out at him.
I walked over to the cow and kneeled beside it, looting it. The only thing that I could loot from the now dead zombie-cow was a “Worthless Halberd,” which was a rare item, but it was only usable by cows that have been turned into zombies.
“… ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME,” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I closed the loot window and stood up, stomping out of the barn. I was done, screw this quest.
I made my way back to the mayor’s manor, still quite upset about this entire farce. The guards looked at me, wary of the way I slammed the door open and stood in the foyer, my hands ready to pull out my daggers.
“EACHARN! GET OUT HERE,” I yelled. The mayor rushed down the stairs.
“What happened? Are you okay,” he asked, obviously distressed.
I glared at him, wondering if he was really this oblivious. “Are you seriously asking me this? First you send me out to take care of an undead lich, which is way above my pay grade. Then I had escort his ex-wife to his crypt at his request. After that, you had me go kill a freaking zombie-cow that wasn’t even worth my damn time!”
He looked at me with amusement, which only made me angrier, before turning around and coughed into his raised fist that he had over his mouth before turning back around to face my wrath.
“Okay, so if I understand correctly, you were able to stop the undead from killing and harassing the farmers, but you failed in the quest to attempt to milk an undead cow. Do I have that right,” he asked.
“Well, yes, I guess,” I replied. When he put it like that, I guess this entire thing did start with me asking for it. The quest completion window appeared in front of me as a soft glow surrounded me. I waved away the window and gave the mayor the evil eye as he chuckled at me. Shaking my head, I told him to go shove it and stormed out of the mansion before I hit him. I just wanted to go to the tavern and get something to drink and wallow in my misery.
I walked into Conall’s and immediately ordered my usual Rennor Jhinrae. As it was being made, I opened my character stats window and allocated the stat points into the four stats I was building on. Accepting the current stats, I closed the window as my drink was pushed towards me. Unfortunately, Conall wasn’t working, so I grabbed the drink and worked my way to my usual bench in the back.
After sitting down, I pulled up my character skills. The good thing about the quest was that it actually gave me three levels, so now I was level 10. At least that troll of a quest was actually worth some damn good experience. With the cow and the quest turn in, it was worth a total of 280 xp. Now, I had 12 skill points to invest in.
I knew that I wanted at least 1 skill point so that I could immediately invest in Shadow Step once I was able to learn it, so that left me with 11 points. I put 2 points into Stealth, 1 point into Eviscerate, and 2 points into Riposte. Now that I was level 10, I was able to access three new skills; Assassin’s Mark, Hilt Strike, and Side Step.
Looking at my options, I decided to put the three skill points into Assassin’s Mark which marks the target increasing all damage to it by 5% per level. It wouldn’t be until level 20 until I started getting positional skills that were more geared towards group play, and so Side Step wasn’t on my list of necessary skills currently. Backstab was okay for a rear positional damage ability, but it didn’t scale as well as some other skills that I would get over time. Assassin’s Mark gives a really great damage boost, so it was one of the signature skills that assassins, no matter if it was solo or in a group.
Hilt Strike was a decent skill, which I might eventually put points into, as it would incapacitate an enemy for 2 seconds, increasing by 5% per level. This would be a required skill for the higher tier enemies and dungeons.
As I sipped on my wine, my eyes caught sight of a human that was dressed in fairly regal clothing. He was sitting with a few other humans that looked to be mercenaries. While players could hire mercenaries from the Mercenary NPC guild, it was not often done since they could be easily classified as weak, comparatively speaking.
“I think I may have found my quest that would lead me to the main city” I thought to myself as I grabbed my beer that the barkeep laid down behind me.
Walking to the humans, beer in hand, I gently sat it down on the table, standing in between the chairs that the two mercenaries currently sat down in. The mercenaries looked up at me and squinted, wondering if I was going to make a move against the well off human that obviously hired them.
“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re not from around here. Might I ask where you’re heading to, and if you’re looking for some additional help?” I asked, attempting to keep my voice neutral, and not wanting to make a scene with the mercenaries.
The human looked up at me and grinned, obviously excited about having a female dark elf travel with him if he could afford it.
“Indeed my lady. I am Trader Bartley, of House Karline. Currently, my companions and I are on our way to the city of Kinderfell to exchange some wares. If you are so inclined, I am sure my compatriots and myself could use the company. It is a long journey, and I am sure that we might come across some bandits on the way. As far as pay, well, I am sure that I could afford 10 gold for the additional help. Wha
t do you say, my lady? Will you join us?”
I looked over the quest details as the window appeared before me. It seemed like a standard escort quest, and the level of the quest was level 10, so I accepted the quest and smiled at the human.
“I agree to your terms Trader. When will we be leaving?” I asked, hoping that the answer wasn’t immediately as I still had to pick up my daggers and cloak from Moire.
“Tomorrow morning as soon as the sun is overhead. We should arrive at Kinderfell by night fall,” he informed me.
As I completely drained my wine, I bid him and the other mercenaries good night, and promised to meet them by the village entrance tomorrow. I walked back to the counter, empty mug in hand, and laid it down near the bartender. When he looked up at me, I looked at him and smiled, giving him slight nod before walking out of the tavern. I was eager to get back to the inn and call it a night. Whatever it would be, it could not be worse than what I had already experienced, nor could it be worse than knowing the truth about myself, both in this virtual world and in the real world. I could not have been more wrong, though I did not know it.
Keeping to the shadows as was my habit, I made my way to the inn. As I neared the village circle near the inn, I overheard a low voice coming from one of the alleys.
“Yes, we’ll be ready for that caravan, you don’t need to doubt us. Whatever that human has, it will be ours by night’s end. I hope you know that this won’t be cheap. Other than that item, everything else is ours, right,” I heard the voice say, obviously a man. I heard another man give a dark laugh as I heard the pair of footsteps leading further into the alley. I cursed my luck since I couldn’t follow them since I didn’t want to risk getting into a fight without having my equipment. Instead, I silently walked to the door of the inn and entered. Tomorrow would bring a new day and now, seemingly, new enemies.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Caravan
I stood leaning with my back on the cold stone entrance of the village, my new dagger in my right hand as I looked at it while waiting for the trader and his caravan to show up. It wasn’t quite noon, but it was getting there, and I was tired of waiting.
The dagger itself had a slight downwards curve to it, both sides deadly sharp. It reminded my of the type of edge you would find on an actual forged tanto instead of one of those cheap knock-offs that were mass produced. The handle itself didn’t look special, nor did the blade. There were no engravings, nor was there an unnatural glow to them. They were simple, with only one function, and I had a feeling I would be using these daggers for that function, more than once, before the day was done.
I slowly started to spin and flip the dagger in my hand. Doing so often calmed me down, and plus, it was something to do. I saw this being done in the real world a few years ago, and I practiced it whenever I was logged in and was doing nothing otherwise. I had a thought that it was much easier to do in the game than it would have been otherwise, and much less risky.
“Ah, there is the beauty I was looking for this morning, are you ready to leave Raven?” I heard a voice from beside me.
So focused in my spinning blade I didn’t realize the caravan arrived. Oops. I looked at him, swiftly grabbing my blade as it was in the air, sheathing it, and nodded that I was ready.
“Everyone, let’s mount up and head towards our future of gold! Onwards to Kinderfell,” he shouted for some reason.
As the caravan started moving, I took my place in the front, with my eyes looking over the dirt road that I’ve become so familiar with over the last few days, even though it seemed like a lifetime ago. For sure, I learned some harsh lessons here, but could only think back to some of the better times. This would be a long walk, but at least it was mostly downhill. Seems Timberdenn was at a fairly high altitude, probably in a mountain range would be my guess.
The walk itself was peaceful so far with no threats that came out to meet us. I did see some movement from wolves, but they didn’t try to attack, nor did the horses that pulled the caravan seem to mind them, but still, I kept my vigilance. I was sure it wouldn’t be long now, and I was right.
In the distance, I saw a sharp bend in the road which, in my mind, was a perfect ambush spot. The bend went around a large hill so that it was impossible to see around it. I slowed my steps and spoke to the trader.
“I think we might have some trouble down there and I want to check it out. Move one of the wagons to the side of the road, and have a few people act like they’re working on it, but don’t be too obvious.”
The trader just looked at me, a question on his face. “Are you expecting trouble,” he asked. I only grunted, and mumbled under my breath that I was always expecting trouble.
As I moved forward and to the side of the road where the path went into the forest, I heard the trader shouting to the caravan to stop as I asked. Reaching to some of the darker shadows that were cast by the trees, I activated Stealth, becoming invisible.
I stalked towards the bend silently, keeping in the shadows to minimize detection. If this was an ambush, the bandits were good, since all I heard was the sounds of the leaves moving through the slight breeze. I climbed up the hill that the bend wrapped around, and spotted a lookout that was facing down the road at the caravan. He was pretty well hidden crouching behind a tree and some bush. I made a mental marker of where he was, and stalked past him to see if I could find any others.
Reaching the top of the hill, I saw five bandits in the road, and could see two archers on the other side of the road, their bows in their hands and an arrow already knocked. Behind the bandits stood their leader, which was obvious from the black chainmail that he wore.
Since he didn’t wear a helmet, his features stood out. He was human, but there was something otherworldly about him. Studying his features, it was clear why he seemed off to me. His eyes were as black as charcoal and there was an old scar that ran down the side of his face. With the amount of bandits, it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to engage them all, even with my current stats.
Instead, I stalked backwards until I could not see them, finally turning around. I could at least take care of the lookout, and get reinforcements from the mercenaries.
I silently stalked towards were I had left the lookout, and a few meters behind him, I made a hand gesture which allowed me to cast the Assassin’s Mark. I crept behind him and when I was in range, I immediately spoke the words, “Assassinate,” as I slid the edge of my dagger across his neck.
His body went slack as the blood poured from his neck onto my daggers and hands. It’s metallic smell assaulting my senses, the feel of the blood on my hands slick. Even though he was an NPC, this was different. He wasn’t a goblin, or some monster. He was human, just like me, and I ended his life like it was nothing. My hands shook as the realization hit me, but I still had a job to do. Pushing my emotions back, I reached into his pockets and pulled out a small coin purse that had 2 silver in it and added it to my inventory.
After that was done, I again activated Stealth, and stalked back towards the caravan to report what I had seen. Getting to the caravan, I saw Trader Bartley looking around nervously. The mercenaries stood on guard, while the trader’s helpers were around one of the caravan wagon’s wheels, as if it was having problems. Deactivating Stealth, one of the mercenaries that was looking in my direction jumped, visibly shaken that I literally appeared from nowhere. His reaction made me smile, which was much needed after what I had just done.
After walking towards the trader, I explained to him what was awaiting the caravan. I had a plan which I explained to him and the captain of the mercenaries.
“Okay, we have five bandits standing in the road, their leader behind them. There are also two archers on the left side of the road standing in the tree-line as well. There is also something off about their leader. What I need your team to do Captain, is to march around the bend to engage the ones in the road. I will take care of the archers and then assist with the bandit’s leader. Keep the leader facing the su
n, and make sure that no one is behind him.”
The mercenary captain nodded to me and walked off to his group calling them to him. The trader looked at me, nervously sweating.
“What do you want us to do? We’re not fighters…” he started.
“That’s not a problem. Just stay here while we take care of the bandits, and one we’re done, we’ll come back and we can get on our way,” I said, giving him a smile which I hoped would alleviate his fear. Once I was satisfied, I again activated Stealth and made my way to where I saw the archers.
I stood semi-crouched behind the archer that was on the left, both of them facing away from me towards the road. Both of my daggers were out as I waited for the mercenaries reach the bend, my elven senses on full alert. As I heard the footsteps from the mercenaries getting closer, I made two rapid motions, performing the Mark of Death on both of the archers. I saw them ready their bows, focused on the road.
Raven- The Beginning Page 11
