by Edward Brody
“Check this out,” Aaron said, holding the sword close to me. On one side of the sheathe, he had inscribed a large “UNITY”, and on the other side, he had carved out, “by the Sizzler.”
I chuckled a little when I saw it. “That looks sick, man.”
“Take it,” Aaron said. “It’s yours.”
“Mine?” I questioned.
Aaron nodded. “You found the schematic.”
I held the baby out again, and as Aaron grabbed the child from me, I took the sword out of his hands.
You’ve received: Bloodthirsty Blade. 36-79 Attack Damage. Requires 25 Strength. Requires 30 Dexterity. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 2.9 k. Immediately Heals you for 5-10% of the damage inflicted on-hit.
“I couldn’t really sleep last night, so I figured I’d finally give that recipe a try,” Aaron explained. “I can’t believe how well it turned out.”
“Damn,” I murmured as I pulled the blade out of the sheathe. It was by far one of the best-looking swords I had seen, and it was just as lightweight as Mythanthar’s Blade, which I had been so fond of when I had first taken up swordfighting. “You outdid yourself this time, dude!”
“It’s my best work so far. That’s for sure,” Aaron gloated.
I shrugged. “A little late, though. You know I’m using staves and increasing my magic.”
“Yeah, I figured,” Aaron said, “but if you don’t need it, sell it! This isn’t an everyday sword, and Gerard told me it’ll fetch at least 5,000 gold.”
“5,000 gold?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Minimum,” Aaron said.
“I hate to sell it, but we sure need the cash.”
“Do what you got to do man.” He turned and looked deeper into the forest where numerous tents were set up. “We’ll be raking in tax money soon enough, and I can always make a better weapon later.”
I sighed as I admired the sharpness of its edge. “I wish I could at least try it out on something first.”
“Well, there’s that thing over there,” Aaron said, pointing behind me.
I turned to see what he was pointing to but saw nothing but blackened forest. “What are you talking about?”
Dong!
I stumbled forward and fell to the ground as something hit my head, nearly impaling myself with the sword. My ears started ringing, and I noticed that 10% of my health was missing, though it felt like I had lost 45% or more.
As I pulled myself up and grabbed the sore spot on the back of my head where I had been hit, I noticed the warped metal Aaron had been working on resting on the ground beside me.
“What the fuck, dude?” I asked as I turned around.
Aaron grinned. “Just helping out… Now you can go test the sword!”
“Helping me by hitting me in the back of the head?” I asked, creasing my brow.
Aaron shrugged. “It’s not going to work when you’re at full health.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “That’s not funny, man. At least give me a warning.”
“No, it’d be wayyyy less funny if I gave you a warning first.”
“Yeah, whatever asshole,” I said with a smirk. I scanned the area from side to side. “What can I test this sword on?”
“Anything!” Aaron replied. He started rubbing his chin as he searched with his eyes. After a few seconds, he dropped his hand and said, “Oh, I know. Over here!” as he started walking away.
I followed Aaron as he trekked a few meters away from our homes and into the unburned portion of the forest. He stopped at a nearby tree and tapped his foot near its base. “There was a real stinker that we moved from here.”
Below the tree was a half dry pool of blood, and there were several tiny flies and ants feasting on the organic matter that remained. It was clearly where someone’s corpse had laid—probably a giga-goblin based on the size of the imprint.
“This?” I questioned.
“Those tiny bugs are alive and have health. It should work.”
“This isn’t really what I was expecting,” I said, “but okay.”
I postured up and swung the blade down at the mess, connecting with at least one fly and a couple of ants. Each of them was immediately killed from the attack, and on impact, I felt a small amount of healing course into me.
You have gained 1 XP!
You have gained 2 XP!
You have gained 1 XP!
When I lifted the sword back up, the blade shimmered red and the guts from the bugs seemed to disappear into the blade as if the sword itself was consuming it. When I checked my stats, I could see that I had healed by several points.
I held the sword out parallel to my body and struck down at the mess of bugs again, this time jamming the tip down first and piercing into the soil. The end connected with a juicy ant, and when I pulled the sword back out, half of a severed worm was wriggling on the end of the blade.
You have gained 1 XP!
The wriggling worm quickly fell to the ground, leaving a streak of blood and guts, but no sooner had it fallen than all the slimy fluid on the sword was absorbed and transferred into another couple percentage points of healing. It wasn’t enough to bring me to full health, but I couldn’t expect full healing from killing bugs.
“That’s pretty damn cool,” I said as I watched the sword doing its work. “I hate to sell it.”
“I know the recipe now, so I can always make another,” Aaron said. “I’ve still got some Bloodmoss left, but I’d need another Heaven’s Shroom.”
I laughed. “That’s not happening anytime soon.” I knew where I could get another Heaven’s Shroom as I had left some growing on the side of Dragon’s Crest, but after dying there twice, it was the last place in Eden’s Gate that I wanted to revisit.
“Just sayin’...” Aaron said with a shrug.
I sighed as I looked to our guards standing around the perimeter, knowing that they were going to cost us 750 gold for the day. “For another 5,000 gold, I don’t think I have much of a choice. I’ll sell it and keep focusing on my magic for a while. Hopefully, you can make me another later on.”
“Yeah, of course,” Aaron assured me. “And don’t forget to look out for schematics. If I can make cool high-value wins like that, we’ll have even more income flowing into the village.”
“What are you two doing over here?” Jax called out as he approached.
“Just testing out a new sword that Aaron made,” I said.
“Looks nice,” Jax said, though he seemed to be paying little attention to the blade. He raised his chin to Aaron and eyed the baby in his hands. “Is everything going okay with that thing?”
Aaron nodded and looked down at the child. “He’s just sleeping like a baby.”
“Like a baby?” Jax questioned. “He is a baby!”
Aaron signed, shook his head, and started to walk away. “Yep, whatever… I’m going back to my house to craft.” It was one of those moments where NPCs seemed a little off—a little more literal than an Earth human—and clearly Aaron wasn’t in the mood.
I just chuckled and smiled at the two.
Jax turned to me. “So, you’re going to go try talking to the orcs today, right?”
“That’s my hope,” I said. “Are you down to join me?”
“Well, actually, I was thinking a lot last night, and maybe there’s another way.”
“You have a better idea now?”
“Maybe,” Jax said with a nod. He tapped me on the back of my shoulder and pointed his chin towards the center of our village. I followed beside him as he started to walk. “Remember when you were killed by the Sparrow in Addenfall and showed up on my doorstep after you came back to life?”
“I’ll never forget it,” I said. “You almost killed me again.”
“I thought you were a shapeshifter,” Jax explained. “There was no other logical explanation of how you were there.”
“But what are you suggesting? That I shapeshift somehow to find the orc’s father?
”
“No, of course not,” Jax said with a grin. “You’re not a shapeshifter, right?”
“Oh, come on…”
Jax chuckled. “But… even if you can’t shapeshift, there are two other possibilities that are similar.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“There’s at least one high-level mentalism spell that allows mages to create the illusion that they’re something else. They don’t actually change in any way, but to everyone else’s eyes, they have.”
“High-level?” I questioned, shaking my head. “My mentalism is far from high-level.”
“You’re part of the Mages Guild, so maybe you could find a master mage who can inscribe one of those golden scrolls for you… What are they called again?”
“Imbued scrolls,” I answered. “But that’ll cost a fortune, and we don’t have the cash. And It’d probably take me longer to find a mage who can both scribe and cast a very specific spell than it would to hack my way through orc after orc in the Wastelands. Actually, from what I’m told, most mages won’t even bother with imbued scrolls for anything but spells like Recall, due to the high material costs.”
“Well, the other option is an advanced disguise kit.”
“Disguise kit?”
“Actually, it may be better than any illusionary spell in this instance, since disguise kits last longer than simple spells. Only problem is you’ll need to find an enchanter who’d be willing to make you one, or… I don’t know. I know there was one person in the Sparrows who had access to them. It’s one of the best ways wanted criminals are able to come and go in towns and cities for short periods without being caught.”
“How’s it work?” I asked.
“You just put a disguise kit on, and it changes your appearance completely. You’ll look like a totally different person, though still a human. An advanced disguise kit, however, is infused with more powerful magic, and allows you to temporarily appear like any humanoid race you want. If you use a kit to disguise yourself as an orc, you can freely roam the Wastelands and maybe find the orc you’re looking for.”
I stopped in my tracks and put my fingers on my chin. “Hmm… that is interesting.”
“But disguise kits only work for a full day’s cycle once you put them on, so you’d need to get in and out. You can’t fool people for an incredibly long time.”
I smiled. “That might be the best idea yet, but it’s also one of the most dangerous. Just as risky as the day I snuck into the Sparrow’s den to steal the Fellblade.”
Jax nodded. “And you’d have to track down an advanced disguise kit. You won’t find something like that on a normal vendor. Most cities have bans on those kinds of goods being sold. My best guess is asking around in Knuckle Bay. There’s surely Sparrows still in the area, so it could be dangerous.”
“Sheeeesh,” I groaned, shaking my head. “I don’t think either of us going to Knuckle Bay is a good idea right now. We could get recognized.”
“We could send someone else,” Jax suggested. “Jeremy wasn’t around during our heist. Give him a bandana, and he’ll blend right in over there.”
I bobbed my head in agreement. “He’s the sneakiest in our guild. We can send Sung along with him, so they can keep an eye on each other.”
“Good idea,” Jax concurred.
“How much do you think it’ll cost?”
Jax shrugged. “Never needed one myself, so your guess is as good as mine. I can’t imagine it would be more than a few thousand.”
I took a deep breath and sighed. “More and more money down the drain.”
Jax chuckled. “You’re the stubborn one who wants to help an orc.”
I turned to the side and pursed my lips. “Yeah, I know. I might regret it in the end.”
“I’m sure you will,” Jax said with a grin. “But you better hurry up and get that thing out of here. If it’s still around when Queen Faranni gets word, I’m not sure how she’ll take it—certainly not well.”
“Alright, let’s wake Jeremy and Sung and see if they’re down to hit up Knuckle Bay for a disguise kit,” I said. “It might take them all day to get there, scour around for a kit and get back, so I still think we should at least try talking to the orcs. That would be our quickest solution.”
Jax shook his head. “You can try, but I really don’t think it’s going to work.”
“Why don’t we bring Trynzen?” I questioned. “The orcs won’t attack a Barbaros, will they?”
“Maybe not,” Jax said with a shrug, “But… it’s Trynzen.”
“True,” I said, nodding, “But let’s at least try. You’ll come, right?”
“I’ll come to bear witness to the madness,” Jax said, “but if you’re still going to try that, we should take Keysia and Rina as well. We have to be prepared for everything to backfire. Nothing goes well when it comes to the Scourge.”
“Sounds good,” I said and raised my hand up and sideways to Jax. He grabbed my hand, and we pulled our shoulders close and bumped them—a gesture he had learned from the others in the guild.
He gave me a light pat on the back, but before we moved off to wake the others, I felt a knot form in my throat. Jax would most likely ride Fenris during our outing, and Rina would certainly travel on the back behind him, but I wasn’t sure how Keysia would feel riding with me on Sora after our rupture a couple days prior. We could take our one horse with us and ride separately, but that might make things feel even more awkward than they already were, and besides, Trynzen needed to ride with someone. Why complicate things?
“Actually, I think Keysia should stay in the village, just in case there’s an attack,” I said. “We’ll be good with just you, me, Rina, and Trynzen.”
“You sure?” Jax said. “Keysia has some pretty useful area-of-effect spells, and I think the guards can handle things without her.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. “Let’s keep the village safe.”
Jax shrugged. “Alright. You’re the guild master.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
2/20/0001
By mid-morning, Jeremy and Sung were already riding off to Knuckle Bay to search for a disguise kit, while Jax, Rina, Trynzen and I were trotting into the Freelands atop Sora and Fenris.
The Highcastle soldiers had made little progress overnight in terms of clearing the quantity of camps in the Freelands, but they seemed to have pushed many of them back further and further from the roads.
“This looks terrible,” Rina commented as Fenris stepped over two dead goblins and a patch of kicked-up dirt.
“It’s numbers,” Jax said. “Highcastle’s soldiers are stronger than most of these lower-level Scourge, but dealing with the sheer quantity of them would be hard for anyone. What worries me most is that this could be just the beginning. Where are the worgs, shamans, and commanders? That’s when things will get ugly.”
“Ow!” Rina cried as she looked down to the orc baby she was carrying. “It bit me!”
The baby started giggling and flailing its limbs around in amusement.
“It’s probably hungry,” I said. “But good thing it seems to like you. It cried nonstop when we were bringing it back from Barbarosia.”
Jax held his hand up and out, causing Sora and Fenris to stop. “Feed it if necessary, but keep it quiet for now. I think this is about as close as we’re going to get without drawing an attack.”
Three or four hundred meters ahead of us was a small teepee style tent made of long crude sticks and faded brown leather. Two orcs were sitting on stones that had been placed in front of the tent while two more were walking in a half circle around them, discussing something. From where we were standing, it was difficult to tell how they were armed, but they seemed to be good targets to approach as their camp was the furthest from all the rest. If things went sour, they were the least likely to aggro the other camps.
“I guess this is it,” I said. “Are you guys ready?”
Jax reached for his bow and held it to his side.
“Let’s get this over with.”
“Trynzen?” I asked, rotating my head so I could look behind me.
“Trynzen!” Trynzen cried.
“You remember the plan, right?” I questioned.
“Yes, yes! Trynzen remember! Trynzen talk with orc!”
I nodded and pointed towards the orcs in the distance. “Those orcs.”
“Those orcs,” Trynzen repeated back to me, pointing one of his claws towards them.
I wrinkled my brow, feeling doubtful that he fully understood. “And what will you say to them?”
“Have baby!” Trynzen said. “Baby go home!”
“Yeah…” I groaned. “Just say we have an orc baby and want to return it to them.”
“Have baby. We burn baby to them.”
“Re-turn the baby to them,” I corrected, then shook my head realizing I needed to simplify things. “Have baby orc. Give baby to orcs.”
“Have baby. Give to orcs,” Trynzen said.
“And we want to talk to them,” I continued, “Just so we can let them know the father’s name and such.”
“Talk to them,” Trynzen said.
Jax snickered, placed his forehead in his palm and shook his head. “If this works, I’ll shit myself.”
“Oh, Jax,” Rina said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Have a little hope.”
“We’ve got to try,” I insisted. “Let’s group up just to be safe.”
I sent group invites to everyone.
Rina Teal has joined your party!
Jax Horn has joined your party!
“Are you going to join us?” I asked when Trynzen was slow to accept the invitation.
“Party group!” Trynzen blurted. “Trynzen not play this game long time.”
