Crimson Sands

by J. Arthur Klein

  I blasted the nearest critter with Sunstrike and the Dire Beetle screeched and turned towards me, knocking aside some covered furniture in its rush to attack. Its companion followed close behind, abandoning its book mining efforts.

  *** Congratulations! You have gained a better understanding of the Sunstrike spell! Rank 3 Achieved! ***

  My second Sunstrike burned into the first Beetle again, dropping its health to less than a quarter.

  The damage also robbed it of some of its forward momentum, allowing its healthier friend to take the lead.

  The healthy beetle gathered itself and leapt at me, pincers open wide.

  I stepped forward and knocked it from the air with my shield, sending it crashing into a covered armoire that was sitting nearby.

  The delay gave me just enough time to line up a Precision Strike on the injured Beetle and put it down with a surgical thrust.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more proficient with Precision Strike! Precision Strike increased to 2! ***

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with your Spear and have reached Rank 5! ***

  I turned back to the other beetle just in time to catch its full weight on my shield, its pincer slipping around the edge to tear into my shoulder.

  I fell back, fighting against the agony of the wound and managed keep my balance. I pushed the bug off of me and lashed out, holding it back with some quick slashes of my spear.

  It leapt towards me again and I met it with an attack of my own. The spear’s innate damage bonus against charging targets came into play, focusing the combined energy of my attack and the momentum of the leaping bug onto a single point.

  The spear tip pierced the beetle’s armor, dropping its health bar to sixty percent.

  The bug flailed on the end of my spear and I barely held on to the weapon as it shook itself free and fell to the floor.

  I leapt forward and drove the spear back into the insect's prone form before it could recover, almost finishing it off.

  The Dire Beetle regained its feet and began to hiss once again, flaring its wings in challenge.

  We struck simultaneously. My spear missed its target by a fraction of an inch, sliding off the beetle’s protective carapace as the added speed of its wings brought it past my thrust and onto me, knocking me over another piece of covered furniture.

  The impact sent my spear flying across the room to clatter against the wall and my shield was pinned under the beetle's weight.

  I barely got my hand up in time to keep its pincers from my throat, deflecting them at the last minute into my shoulder.

  I screamed as my health dropped to under a third and the bleeding icon appeared. I grabbed the bug’s pincer in my right hand, barely holding it at bay as it tried to press in for the kill. I could feel my strength fading and the pincers start to slide deeper into my flesh.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with your Medium Armor and have reached Rank 4! ***

  It was time for a desperate plan. I wrenched my shield arm free of its harness, feeling my flesh tear a little as the beetle’s legs scraped against my torso, dropping my health further. I thrust my shield hand into the beetle’s body, through the opening my spear had created earlier and tried to cast Sunstrike inside of the beetle.

  *** WARNING: Hit Points Critical! ***

  My hit points were deep in the red and falling. My grip slipped and a pincer opened another gash through my breastplate, but I finally found the clarity of thought to finish the spell, adding a little extra mana before cutting it off in a panic, realizing what I had done.

  My hand felt like it had been engulfed in flames and the beetle exploded in a spray of sizzling ichor.

  *** Congratulations you have reached Level 7! ***

  *** You have gained 1 Combat Skill Point. ***

  *** You have gained 1 Divine Skill Point. ***

  *** You have gained 1 General Skill Point. ***

  *** You have gained 15 maximum Hit Points. ***

  *** You have gained 18 maximum Mana. ***

  *** You have gained 7 maximum Stamina. ***

  With the level up my wounds were instantly closed but I still felt exhausted. I lay there for a minute, gathering myself before attempting to loot what was left of the beetles.

  I dragged myself to my feet and retrieved my spear, brushing off as much goo as possible, and then headed over to where the bugs had been digging. Luckily, they hadn’t managed to get through the wall yet, so the optional “Save the Library” objective was still in play.

  I didn’t hear any other beetles in the room, so I moved on and followed the walls around the room further from where I had entered this place. Along the wall, I found a large door constructed of solid iron.

  There were some scratches around the bottom of the door, but the bugs had been unable to chew through the metal. I continued along the same wall and found a second door leading out in the same direction.

  The wooden door itself had been ruined by the invading beetles, and through the frame I could see another wall filled with gigantic glass containers resembling a large aquarium. A large, broken aquarium.

  I cautiously stepped into the room, constantly scanning for threats. One of the glass cases was still intact, and when I examined it more closely, I saw several of the smaller beetles clattering around inside.

  “What the fuck,” I whispered and reexamined the frames of the broken containers. The size of the containers along the walls grew and grew until the remains of the final case seemed to take up the entire southern half of the room.

  There were some other contraptions around the room as well. Containers of some sort of slightly glowing teal liquid were split open and leaking their contents onto the ground where a group of the smaller beetles were scuttling around.

  As I watched, one of the beetles pulsed with the same teal light as the liquid and grew an inch.

  Motherfucker! I thought. There was no external infestation. This bastard was experimenting with some sort of growth serum.

  The room was full of the smaller beetles, several of whom had managed to grow to half the size of the ones I had battled elsewhere in the basement.

  Some of the larger beetles had started tunneling through the walls and into the unworked stone underneath the city and I hoped they hadn’t breached any other tunnel systems or sewers, or we might have an even bigger problem on our hands.

  There was no good way for me to deal with this situation with my spear. There were way too many small beetles. But luckily, I had another solution, and what better solution to deal with a mad scientist laboratory than the classic tactic: Burn it with Fire.

  Biting back an exaggerated maniacal cackle, I targeted the center of the mass of beetles who were still lapping up the goo and cast Flamestrike, launching the flaming javelin and ducking back out of the room to avoid the impending blast.

  *** Congratulations! You have gained a better understanding of the Flamestrike spell! Rank 2 Achieved! ***

  Several seconds later I heard a loud whoosh followed by the high-pitched death screams of hundreds, if not thousands of alchemically mutated beetles.

  After the screams had died down, I cautiously reentered the room.

  The blue potion vats were no more and the bigger beetles were now piles of charred goo, but it seemed the blast hadn’t reached the bugs that had been in the next room.

  With my spear, shield, and boots I smashed my way through them, destroying the remaining mutated bugs until the quest notification popped up.

  *** Quest Update: Exterminate! ***

  *** You have destroyed the alchemically altered beetles that had been plaguing Lady Bakuit! Inform the Lady of your success! ***

  *** Discover the fate of the chamber maid Hepti. [1/1] ***

  *** Prevent damage to Lord Bakuit’s rare book collection. [1/1] ***

  *** Bonus Objective Offered – Inform the lady of the source of the infestation. (optional) [0/1] ***

  I gathered what lo
ot I could from the dead bugs, which ended up being just a couple pieces of meat that had survived the blast and hadn’t been corrupted by whatever the blue goo was.

  Looking around at the wreck I’d made of the place, I was slightly worried the Lady would try and screw me, but I’d solved her bug problem, rescued the servant, and uncovered her dear husband's secret hobby, so maybe not.

  After using some of the fabric in the storeroom to remove the beetle gunk from my gear, I made my way back to the basement entrance.

  I knocked on the door and Hepti opened it for me, glancing behind me to see if any of the bugs had followed and then said, “I am glad you are safe!”

  I slipped through the door and replied, “It would take more than a few giant alchemically modified bugs to put me in the grave. Can you show me the way to Lady Bakuit’s office? Or the butler’s?”

  Hepti led me thorough the mansion to the office of Lady Bakuit. I informed her of the infestation, and its source, and from the look I saw in her eyes I was sure her husband was not going to be a happy man for quite a while.

  She even agreed not to fire Hepti once she learned it was her husband’s fault, and not some lack of cleanliness in the storerooms.

  The quest completed; I was led out of the estate, handed a bag containing sixty gold pieces, and unceremoniously dismissed.

  *** Quest Complete: Exterminate! ***

  *** You have gained reputation with the Nobility of Sehkem! Neutral → Friendly. ***

  *** You have gained reputation with the Free People of Sehkem! Neutral → Friendly. ***

  *** You have lost reputation with the Lord Bakuit of Sehkem! Neutral → Unfriendly. ***

  *** You have gained reputation with the Temple of Heru-et! Neutral → Friendly. ***

  *** You have gained 600xp! ***

  *** Quest Updated: Prove Your Worth 1/3 Complete! ***

  That quest had taken a lot longer than I had anticipated, burning through most of my remaining play time.

  After that I had zero chance of completing the trogs quest before I needed to log out, and I didn’t want to burn my one extension quite yet.

  Sighing, I decided to see what I could do with my remaining time to achieve some other goals and headed back to the Plucky Goose, going over some options in my head.

  Maybe Maeve would let me use her kitchen for a bit, restock my food supply and maybe rank up my cooking. I really needed to start working on my other crafts too, but all that travel time had really cut into my day.

  I arrived back at the Goose and headed into the common room, looking for Maeve.

  I spotted her over by the bar and took a step in that direction when suddenly Lei’ti was at my side, her arm slipping through mine as her body pressed against me. She ran her hand down by cheek and jawline and purred, “Welcome back, handsome.”

  I felt blood rush to my face, and other areas as well and tried to pull away. “Please, stop. You are an amazingly beautiful woman, but I am not interested.”

  She hung on to my arm for a second, leaning in to whisper in my ear, “I can wait,” raising goosebumps down my neck before pulling away.

  Her robes flared out with a practiced flourish, exposing her legs all the way up to the bottom of a very nicely shaped ass, offering a teasing glimpse as she walked away.

  I ripped my eyes away and saw a sly grin on her face as she left the common room.

  Turning my gaze back to the bar and attempting to regain some composure, I saw Maeve taking some coins from another of the establishment’s girls, a blond Karillian who was frowning at me.

  The blond walked away, sidling up to a table where a couple of men were seated playing a game involving both cards and dice and sat beside one of the men to work her charms.

  As I reached the bar Maeve winked and said, “Keep holding off with Lei’ti lad, yer making me a fortune off the other girls.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Sofya there,” she said, nodding towards the Karillian blonde, “bet me a ‘andful o’ gold that ye’d give in to Lei’ti’s charms fer sure this time. Not many a man can resist that lass when she has ‘er mind set on something. And it looks like yer that something right now.”

  Seeing me blush once again, she laughed and continued, “Looking fer anyting in particular, or turnin’ in for the night?”

  “I was wondering if I could use your kitchen for a little while. I’d like to cook some of the meat I’ve gathered before it spoils. I can pay for the time if you want?” I proposed.

  She considered for a moment and nodded. “Sure t’ing. T’is past the rush, so ‘alf the kitchen’s pretty much empty now. Just don’t be getting in Gersha’s way, and don’t be pissin’ ‘er off or its yer own hide. And if ye break me stuff, I’ll ‘ave the price out of yer ‘ide. I’m sure someone would pay fer a night with ye if ye know what I mean.”

  I blushed again and then headed up to my room to drop off my weapons and armor and gather my cooking supplies before making my way to the kitchen. I turned my skill notifications back on so I could keep track of my progress with the crafting skill.

  Rows of pots and pans and other cooking tools hung from racks mounted above a large table in the center of the kitchen next to something I was pretty sure wasn’t a cooking implement: a giant stone maul, complete with a thorough coating of what could only be dried blood.

  A large brick oven fireplace took up most of the far wall, with a small fire still burning within, barely more than embers.

  To either side of the fireplace were smaller firepits with built-in racks and chimney flues hanging above them.

  One of the pits was dark, but the other still had a small fire burning with a large pot of stew being kept warm in case of any late-night requests.

  A low grunt drew my attention to my left and I jumped back a foot in shock.

  Seated in the corner, glaring up at me was a large krek. Her eyes narrowed and her tusked mouth dropped into a frown. “No patrons in kitchen!” she grumbled and pointed back the way I had come.

  Ah, this must be Gersha, I thought. “Gersha? Maeve said I could use the kitchen to do some cooking if that's all right with you?”

  “You don’t like Gersha’s stew?” she asked, seeming even more pissed off by my intrusion into her apparent domain.

  “Oh no, your stew is delicious, but I have all this meat and I don’t want it to spoil,” I said, putting on my best smile.

  *** Presence check successful! ***

  “No, no waste meat. Not want you stink up Goose either. You use that stove, no touch mine,” she said, pointing to the cold side.

  I nodded and smiled. “Thank you Gersha, I would welcome any tips or suggestions you might have, I’m new at this.”

  She grunted and went back to her seat, grabbing a large book which she began to read, ignoring me.

  I gathered my ingredients and started preparing to make some meat skewers.

  Looking at the chunks of beetle meat, I decided to wait until after my beef was used up before venturing into unknown territory... just in case.

  The recipe just said meat, so the beetle stuff should work, but the buffs from the normal skewers were a known commodity that I wanted available for my trog hunt.

  I grabbed some wood from the kitchen’s stores and lit the fire on my side of the kitchen.

  Initiating the crafting interface, I saw the only pieces missing from the setup were the skewers and other food ingredients. Having a full kitchen available was so much better than my setup in the wild.

  I dove into the process, chopping, skewering, cooking, and lost myself in the process with only a single screw up.

  *** Cooking Completed Successfully! Meat Skewer x7 created! ***

  *** You have received 70xp! ***

  My second batch didn’t go quite as well. Things started off on target but when my skill increased in the middle of the recipe, the timing shift through me off my game and I lost two skewers before I was able to adjust.

  *** Congratulations! Y
ou have become more skilled at Cooking and have reached Cooking rank 4! ***

  *** Cooking Completed Successfully! Meat Skewer x6 created! ***

  *** You have received 60xp! ***

  That batch finished off the beef, so it was time to try out some of the beetle flesh.

  I was a little disappointed when the process turned out to be pretty much identical except for some minor variations in the cubing of the meat.

  Each piece of beetle flesh yielded less cubes then the beef as well, maxing out at just enough cubes to make three skewers per batch.

  In my first attempt I messed up the cut and ended up short a few pieces and only had enough cubes for two skewers. On the positive side of things, with only two to keep track of I was able to complete them both successfully.

  *** Cooking Completed Successfully! Beetle Meat Skewer x2 created! ***

  *** You have received 20xp! ***

  I wasnt quite ready to eat one yet, but each skewer was giving me xp so I decided to keep going. I had enough onions, salt and pepper to last a while so if nothing else I could raise my skill.

  In the end I had sixteen beetle meat skewers and was just shy of rank five in cooking. I wrapped the juicy skewers up in some waxed parchment and tucked them into my pouch.

  Next I decided to make another batch of Lentil Stew.

  Halfway through the recipe there was a commotion out in the common room. Maeve stuck her head into the room and gestured urgently to Gersha.

  The krek pulled herself to her feet and grabbed the giant maul from the top of the cooking rack, leaving the kitchen with a giant, eager smile on her face.