The lizard men lowered their weapons and guided him off the road and into the swamp. Jace hadn’t thought it was possible, but the insects became even worse and he felt like he was going out of his mind with all the bites.
“Soft skin no protection against the insects,” said one of the saurians. “You need scales like us.”
“Right now,” Jace told him, swatting another biting insect on his arm. “I agree with you.”
The saurians hissed rhythmically in a way that reminded Jace of laughter.
“Ha,” hissed another one of the lizard men. “Or maybe you just need pointy ears like that one. She no bothered by insects.”
Jace looked at the glassy eyed elf next to him. She wasn’t reacting to anything because there was no one home. In auto-follow mode, she wouldn’t react to anything. The real Charlena was somewhere else.
Once again, Jace found himself worrying about Charlena. Where was she? Why hadn’t she logged back in? He could understand one night. But this was the second night.
Jace wasn’t sure exactly what time it was but it was definitely later than the times she had logged in before.
As Jace worried about Charlena, the lizard men continued to lead him deeper into the swamp. In the dark, with all of the mist, Jace quickly became lost. At this point, he knew he couldn’t find his way back to the road on his own. He was now at their mercy. Not for the first time, he hoped he had made the right decision.
After what seemed like an hour, they came to solid ground. After walking in the fetid water for so long, it was a welcome change. They walked through tall reeds and other large vegetation for several minutes until it suddenly opened in a large clear area full of crude huts. They’d found the saurian village.
The village was very crude and the huts appeared more like wigwams were made of reeds and animal skins, giving them a very distinct Native American appearance. Jace wondered if the similarities had been programmed in by a developer or was it something the game AI had adapted them to do.
Saurians were coming out of their huts to watch the party as it made its way through the village. A few times, saurians reached out and touched his hand or touched Charlena out of curiosity. Very possibly, they were the first non-saurians they had ever seen and Jace found their actions eerily lifelike.
After only a minute or two in the village, the group stopped in front of a large wigwam. The structure was larger than the others and had poles in front of it. On the tops of those poles were what Jace guessed were alligator skulls.
“Elder,” said Kagask, “we have brought someone for you to speak with.”
There was a rustling from inside the hut and the hide that served as a door was thrown aside revealing a thin saurian. The saurian was not only thin, but his scales had faded to a light grey color in most places, though here and there were patches of green. The elder ducked through the door and then stood.
“May the sun shine on your scales, Kagask,” the elder said.
“May the sun shine on your scales, Elder,” Kagask repeated back.
“Why have you brought the soft skins to our village,” the elder asked, looking over Jace and Charlena. “Would it not have been easier to skin them in the swamp? Certainly, less messy.”
There was a hissing from the gathered saurians that Jace guessed was laughter and he began to feel nervous. He’d put his weapons away but he let his hands fall near them, just in case.
“No Elder,” the hunt leader said. “These soft skins are not for eating. They speak the language of the people.”
The elder looked surprised and looked at Kagask for confirmation. “Truly?”
“Yes,” Jace answered for him, willing himself to speak the saurian.
There was a communal gasp from the assembled saurians and then whispered hissing. The elder overcame his shock and walked to stand in front of Jace. The older saurian’s forked tongue tested the air as he tilted his head to the left and right to get a good look at him. Jace couldn’t help but notice the white scaled lizard man’s eyes were cloudy with age.
“How is it you know the tongue of the people?” the elder asked him.
Jace thought about a suitable answer. He couldn’t just say ‘because I used to be a kobold.’ He thought back to what Kagask had called him. “I am a magic man.”
There was another gasp from the lizard men who had come to watch, and more whispered hissing.
This seemed to surprise the elder as well and he looked at Kagask. “You have seen the magic?”
Kagask nodded and motioned to his three hunters. “We all saw him use the magic.”
The other hunters nodded and the elder looked back to Jace. “You speak the tongue of the people and you are a magic man when the need of the village is great. It is a sign.” He then spoke louder so the rest of the village, who had gathered. “It is a sign. The Swamp Mother has sent us a soft skin who will help us.”
A hissing murmur went up from the gathered lizard men.
“Come,” the elder told him and then ducked into his wigwam. “We have much to discuss.”
Chapter 38
Jace followed the elder into the wigwam. Luna padded in behind him and Charlena even ducked and came in, still auto-following him.
“Is your female all right?” the elder asked as he seated himself on some mats and gestured for Jace to do the same.
Sitting, Jace looked up at the glassy-eyed avatar of Charlena. That was the question, wasn’t it? Was Charlena all right? Had something happened to her? Or she suddenly received a ton of schoolwork that kept her busy? Still, she seemed like a girl who would have logged on quickly and told him.
Had he been wrong about her? Was she just using him to get out of Sinking Springs? Was that possible? Was he just a sucker who would get her out of a nasty situation? He’d known girls like that - users. They used guys for money, gifts and other favors. Was that what was happening? He didn’t want to believe that. He really felt like he and Charlena had shared a connection. Had he been fooling himself?
“Are you all right?” asked the elder and Jace realized he had never answered the saurian’s question.
“We’re both all right,” he said. “My companion… hit her head a few days ago and hasn’t been the same since. All she can do is follow me around until she feels better.”
The old saurian nodded as he put a log on the fire, which burned inside a small pit in the middle of the wigwam.
“Head wounds can be serious. You must watch her closely.” The lizard man paused and looked at Jace. “But you are a magic man, you must know these things.”
Jace looked at Charlena. “Yes, I should.”
The elder nodded, prodding the fire with a reed. “In all my days, I have never met a soft skin who spoke our tongue. Why have you come?”
Jace smirked. “You don’t believe the Swamp Mother sent me?”
The old saurian hissed softly. “The Swamp Mother would not send one such as you. I know the soft skins. You come with steel, killing my people.”
“But you told the village the Swamp Mother sent me,” Jace retorted.
The elder made a dismissive gesture. “The village loses hope. The Raagaax killed the chief and our magic man. Now there is no chief now. And only a magic man can anoint the chief with the blessing of the Swamp Mother.”
Jace was seeing where this was going. “And any old magic man will do?”
The elder shrugged. “I do not know. All I know is that without a chief, we will perish. Will you act as our magic man in this?”
Ejoklixl of the Willow Marsh Clan has offered you the quest, “Anoint the Chief”
Reward: +200 faction with Willow March Clan, +50 faction with Ejoklixl, tribal membership.
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
Jace hesitated before he accepted the quest. There were still a lot of unknowns, and what was the tribal membership part of the reward?
He looked over at the old saurian. “And what does anointing him entail?”
“You must kill
an alligator and collect its blood. Then you must infuse the blood with your magic. Only then will you choose one of our braves to be the new chief. Smear the blood on him and it will grant him the strength of the Swamp Mother. Only then can he lead us,” Ejoklixl said.
“Alligator?” Luna asked suddenly.
“Like really big, mean lizards,” he told her. “With lots of sharp teeth.”
“Bad lizard,” she said.
“You speak with the animals too?” asked the elder, switching his gaze between Jace and Luna. The lizard man nodded. “You are magic man.”
“So, I kill an alligator, get its blood, put magic into the blood somehow and then put the blood on one of the saurians… er… the people, and that’s it? That’s all I have to do?” Jace asked.
Ejoklixl nodded and threw another log on the fire.
Jace thought for a moment about the time. He was pressed for time but he needed to get past the dragon and get to Skystead. The fastest way seemed to be to do a quest for the saurians. “I’ll do it.”
The elder gave him an expression that might have been the saurian equivalent of a smile, or the lizard man might have been ready to bite his hand off. When the attack didn’t come, Jace assumed it was the former.
The old saurian gave Jace directions and then he exited the wigwam. Kagask was outside the hut waiting for him.
“You agreed to help my people?” asked the hunter leader.
“Yes,” Jace told him. “I will kill the alligator and choose the next chief.”
The hunter nodded. “It is good then. But know that even if you hadn’t agreed to help, I would still have shown you the way to your sky village.”
Jace nodded and then looked around the village. He turned back to Kagask. “Which way is north?”
“This way,” the saurian hunter pointed to his right. “May the blessing of the Swamp Mother go with you.”
Jace turned and headed north. He was to follow the trail north out of the village until it split. Then he was supposed to take the left fork to a black pond. The alligator he was looking for would be in the pond.
It took Jace a half hour to reach the black pond with Luna and Charlena’s body following him around. It had been as straightforward as the old lizard man had said. Looking at the still, inky waters of the pond, he didn’t see any alligator. Was it underwater? Had it left?
His first instinct was to sneak closer and try to glimpse the gator, but he realized that wouldn’t work with Charlena following him. Jace would need to take the direct approach.
Equipping his weapons, Jace started towards the pool when an enormous alligator rushed out at him. Luna hissed and seemed to jump straight into the air before hitting the dirt and scrambling away. It would have been funny if a huge alligator wasn’t trying to have him for dinner.
Jace Feinted and struck out, landing two solid hits on the creature.
You critically stab Swamp Gator Bull for 13 damage.
You critically stab Swamp Gator Bull for 5 damage.
He noticed his blows did less damage. That meant the alligator had natural armor. Why was nothing ever easy!
The alligator didn’t seem phased by his attacks and snapped its jaws on his leg.
Swamp Gator Bull bites YOU for 9 damage.
Jace couldn’t stop the scream of pain that involuntarily escaped as the rows of razor-sharp teeth dug into his lower leg. It had taken nearly half of his health in one bite. Two more bites like that would kill him!
Jace Feinted again and attacked.
You critically stab Swamp Gator Bull for 12 damage.
You critically stab Swamp Gator Bull for 6 damage.
The attacks seemed to have no more effect on the alligator as the last attacks and Jace prepared to die. It would be a long walk back to the village.
Swamp Gator Bull mauls YOU for 3 damage.
The alligator hadn’t let go of his leg but ground its teeth together, causing more damage to him as well as excruciating pain. Jace once again feinted and attacked. Once again, he damaged the beast, but it didn’t seem to show it.
Swamp Gator Bull mauls YOU for 4 damage.
Jace had one more hit left before he died. He was about to Feint again when he smelled a strangely familiar odor. It was almost like oil or petroleum. He looked down at the gator and realized the creature was covered in the black liquid from the pool. Could that be oil? If so, would it be flammable?
Instead of his Feint, he cast Flame Bolt at the alligator’s head. Fire erupted from where the Flame Bolt had struck and quickly consumed the alligator. The thing released him and began rolling around on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. Unfortunately for it, the ground was soaked in the same liquid and it caught fire too, speeding the creature's demise and forcing Jace to back away.
It took only a minute or two before the thing stopped moving and Jace received new system messages.
Swamp Gator Bull dies.
You gain 400 experience.
It amazed Jace just how much experience he had received from the creature. The alligator must have been a mini-boss or some sort. And he certainly wasn’t going to complain about it.
Luna came out then and walked within a few feet of the dead alligator. She sniffed at it before turning her back on it. “Bad lizard!”
Walking over to the body, he sliced the thing’s throat and collected its blood in his metal frying pan. He turned to leave but froze.
If this was a mini-boss, it had to have treasure. Setting the frying pan down, he began searching around the area until he found a pile of bones. It looked like it had piled up the remains of its victims. Jace sifted through the bones and came across a small leather buckler. It wouldn’t offer much protection, but he could use shields now and every little piece of armor helped. He also found a pouch with some gold coins and tucked that into his inventory.
Jace strapped the buckler onto his left arm and viewed it in his HUD.
Alligator Skin Buckler
Type: Shield
Armor: 3 + 1 (Masterwork) + 1 (Sturdy)
Wt: 1 lb
Special: +1 Defense
Description: This buckler was worn by the famous Alligator Hunter, Zan To’al, who bit off more than he could chew when he came across a Swamp Gator Bull.
Jace whistled as he looked at the description. Not only did the buckler supply 4 points of armor, it also supplied a point of defense, which would absorb a point of damage. It was a very nice item for his level.
After spending a few more minutes picking through the remains, he found nothing else worth taking. He looked around the area to make sure he had missed no loot, but he found no other items.
He retrieved the frying pan full of alligator blood and hurried back to the village. Now Jace just needed to figure out how to put mana in the blood and anoint one of the lizard men as the chief.
Using his Tracking skill, Jace began following his own trail back to the village. As he did, he thought about how to get mana into the blood. Having never played a mage before, he had no idea how to put mana into an object.
He looked down at Luna. “Do you know how to put mana into things?”
Luna kept walking without looking up. “No.”
He hadn’t thought she would, but it was worth a shot. After all, she had known he could pull mana from her.
That made him pause. He had pulled mana from Luna. Once he realized he could do it, doing it was fairly straightforward. Could the same work with pushing mana? He examined the blood in the pan using his HUD.
Bull Alligator Blood
Wt: 1 lb
Description: Blood gathered from a swamp alligator bull.
The blood was an object. That was interesting. Could he just push mana into by doing the opposite of pulling? Tentatively, he focused on the object and then tried drawing his mana into it.
For a moment, nothing happened. Jace felt something leave him and the liquid began to glow.
You have gained a new skill: Enchanting
You h
ave gained a new skill: Alchemy
Jace gawked at the new system messages. Players unlocked those skills by paying vast amounts of gold to trainers. He couldn’t remember any players getting them on their own. Of course, players didn’t always share everything - especially things that gave them an advantage.
Encouraged by his success, Jace tried to push more mana into the blood but it resisted. No matter how hard he tried, he could push no more mana into the blood. After several minutes, he gave up. There must be a limit to how much mana the blood would take.
Feeling better than he had in a long time, Jace made his way back to the saurian village.
Chapter 39
Jace arrived back at the village to a mass of saurians gathered for his return. A collective hiss went up from the crowd of lizard men when he entered the village. He hoped that was their equivalent of a cheer and not them calling for a soft skin four course dinner.
He looked down at Luna, who had moved behind him. She didn’t seem to like the hissing sounds they made.
The crowd parted, giving him a path to the elder’s hut. In front of the hut, Ejoklixl waited for him. As Jace approached, the elder spoke with a loud voice. “The magic man has returned, and he brings the blood of choosing!”
There was another collective hiss, and then everything fell silent. The crowd of reptilian faces looked at him expectantly.
“Now what do we do?” he asked Luna silently but Luna had no reply.
As if reading his mind, Ejoklixl hissed that was his equivalent of a whisper. “You must choose a brave to honor as chief.”
Looking around the crowd, Jace wasn’t even sure he could tell the males from the females. Was he even allowed to pick a female? A sea of reptilian faces stared at him expectantly. How was he supposed to choose? Did he just pick one at random? He started to panic when he remembered he knew one of the saurians - the one who had offered to lead him to Skystead.
VEIL Online - Book 1 Page 25
