《The Wrong Hero》
Chapter 1
During the flight back to college, all Richard could think about was his thesis. He''d been working on his doctorate in physics for 6 years now, but if they didn''t accept his thesis he wasn''t going to be able to finish this year. He stared at the Word file on his laptop, but he was so tired that the words started to blur in front of his eyes. He sighed, and opened up Facebook, looking at a picture of himself with his friends. Tall and thin, with tan skin and light brown hair, he had a goofy smile on his face. Once I get done this thesis I''ll have to make sure to spend more time with my friends, I haven''t seen them in weeks. On that thought he closed his laptop and put it back into his carrying case. He looked out the window to his left for a few minutes but couldn''t see anything but thick gray clouds, so he let his head lean back and his eyes close, falling asleep almost instantly.
He partly woke up as the plane ride got rougher, but didn''t open his eyes. ¡°I''m not going to freak out about some bad weather, I know how statistically safe airplanes are,¡± he thought. But as the jarring uneven motion of the airplane under him got worse, eventually he had to open his eyes.
The plane engines sounded much louder than they had when he fell asleep. The wings seemed to be jerking left and right, almost as if the plane was trying to twist.
¡°This is the captain speaking. All passengers need to be seated and buckled in. We are going to have to make an emergency landing. The storm we are in has turned into hail, and the engines have taken some damage. Please stay calm and be ready to quickly exit the plane once we are on the ground. We will get through this...¡±
HE IS WRONG. A booming voice seemed to explode in Richard''s head. EVERYONE ON YOUR FLYING MACHINE WILL BE DEAD WITHIN A MINUTE.
Richard froze. He could feel the plane swaying unevenly around him. What should I do?
I CAN SAVE YOU, PULL YOU INTO ANOTHER WORLD. YOU WILL BE MY HERO, MY CHOSEN ONE, AND STAND AGAINST THE DARKNESS. IT WILL NOT BE EASY. WILL YOU COME WITH ME?
It ran through Richard''s mind that most people right now would probably doubt their own sanity, but he had read so many stories like this that he wasn''t even surprised.
Richard looked around and saw all the other people on the flight starting to panic as grinding noises were starting to come from the engines of the plane and had a sinking feeling when he realized that if this voice was telling the truth, they would all be dead soon. He had a brief thought of trying to run to the front of the plane and do...something...but he didn''t know how to fly an airplane. There wasn''t anything he could do.
Can we save anyone else? He asked the voice in his head.
THAT IS A NOBLE THOUGHT, FIT FOR A HERO, BUT I FEAR NOT. IT WILL TAKE A VAST AMOUNT OF ENERGY TO PULL JUST YOU INTO THIS WORLD. YOU MUST DECIDE NOW; WILL YOU COME WITH ME, OR NOT?
Much as Richard had always imagined traveling to a fantasy world and becoming a hero, he didn''t really want to leave everything he had behind now. Then again, the sound of the engine on the left side of the airplane start to sputter and die made the decision easy.
Yes. I will be your champion.
THEN COME THROUGH THE PORTAL.
In front of him the air seemed to twist and warp. A strange spiral pattern emerged; he could still see through it, but everything behind it was slightly and distorted, like looking through a thin layer of moving water with ripples in it. It also slightly discolored everything, making everything look more yellowish and purplish, in an oval disk in front of him.
Interesting. If I look through this area, the light seems to be refracted slightly...
MORTAL. MOVE NOW OR I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE YOU.
Right, sorry. I was so caught up in the physics of the effect I forgot to actually do anything. There was a high-pitched whistling and crunching somewhere behind him that his brain identified as pressurized air starting to escape from what must be a hole in the side of the plane.
Richard hesitated, not quite sure how to ¡°pass through a portal¡± that seemed to be in the inches in front of him and behind the next airplane seat. The odd thought good thing I didn''t have my tray table in front of me passed through his head. He unbuckled his safety belt, and threw himself forward, in a way that really should have resulted in him slamming his head directly into the seat in front of him, but somehow it didn''t. As soon as his head and shoulders passed through the spiral pattern in front of him, he was...somewhere else.
A purplish darkness surrounded him, and he felt his body twisting like a corkscrew as he passed through a void. He seemed to be flying or swimming or floating through something, which didn''t quite feel like air or like water. He realized he was holding his breath, and he should keep doing that as long as he could, before he felt a strange rippling sensation across his skin, and suddenly he was in light again.
Richard fell face first out of a hole in the air, into a large room. It somehow felt like a continuation of the same motion he was using when tipping forwards into the portal in the airplane, and he just barely managed to put his hands out to prevent himself from smashing his face into a hard, white marble floor.
WELCOME, MORTAL. The voice seemed to boom from all directions and none, but Richard suspected it was from the massive figure in front of him. YOU ARE IN THE LAND OF THE GODS NOW. VERY FEW MORTALS SEE THIS PLACE.
Richard looked around, trying to orient himself. He was in a huge room, larger than any he had ever seen before, that reminded him of an ancient Greek temple. The floor was white marble, there were columns of white marble, white marble sculptures of nude men and women in heroic poses. The room was brightly lit, and when Richard looked up, it looked like the pillars of marble rose up into what appeared to be a blue sky with a sun above him. There was still a sense of a ceiling, a vast distance up above; it was as if the sky and the sun itself were somehow inside this temple.
Sitting on a marble throne in front of him was a huge being, a man more than twice the size of anyone Richard had ever seen. He had a long white beard, white hair, white robes, and a crown on his head. A gentle white light seemed to emanate from him. To his left, stood an even larger man wearing full plate armor. Richard was about 6 feet tall, but he felt like a child in front of this giant, who was carrying a massive sword larger than Richard¡¯s height. That armored man appeared to be where the voice was coming from. He had the impression that there were others in the room around him, equally impressive, but once the man in the armor started speaking again Richard couldn''t look away from him long enough to take in any other details.
IT IS I WHO INVITED YOU TO THIS PLACE. I AM TORAN THE TRUE. IN OUR WORLD, A TERRIBLE DARKNESS SPREADS ACROSS THE LAND, AND ONLY A GREAT CHAMPION OF LIGHT WILL BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST IT. DO YOU, OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL AND CHOICE, AGREE TO BECOME THAT CHAMPION? WILL YOU LEAD MY ARMIES TO VICTORY?
Richard wanted to shout yes, but a part of him wondered. ¡°Um, with, um, with all due respect, are you certain I am the one to do this? I want to help, but I...don''t know if I am the...leading armies to victory...type...¡±
A roar of laughter came from Toran. HUMILITY BEFORE THE GODS IS A VIRTUE IN A HERO. BUT FEAR NOT, MORTAL, WE KNOW YOUR DEEDS AND YOUR WORKS. WE KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. YOU ARE PERFECTLY SUITED. WILL YOU ACCEPT YOUR DESTINY?
What have I accomplished? Writing a doctorate thesis? But the voice that shook every part of his being didn''t admit any doubt, and Richard decided that the Gods must know what they were doing. ¡°Very well, I accept. I will be your champion.¡±
THANK YOU, MORTAL. I WILL GRANT YOU POWER IN THIS WORLD, MUCH LIKE THAT YOU HELD IN YOUR LAST WORLD. TO MAINTAIN MY FAVOR, YOU NEED ONLY EARN GLORY IN MY DIVINE NAME, ACT WITH HONOR, AND PROTECT THE WEAK. I WISH I HAD MORE TIME TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO YOU, BUT THE MOMENT OF DECISION IS NOW, THE BATTLE THAT MAY BE THE TURNING POINT. IF WE CAN HOLD THIS FIELD, THE DARKNESS MAY FALTER. AND MY FOLLOWERS ARE ASKING FOR MY HELP RIGHT NOW. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Power ¡°much like I held in my last world?¡± What could he mean by that. Richard started to wonder but was suddenly overwhelmed with what he could only think of as game-like notifications popping up in front of his eyes.
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Skill [Weapon proficiency: Sword (10)]
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Skill [Riding(10)]
The notifications flashed in front of his eyes faster and faster. He saw what must have been 30 or 40 skills appear, too fast for him to read most of them, and then he started getting notifications about ¡°classes¡±.
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Class [Defensive Fighter(20)]
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Class [Squire(5)]
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Prestige Class [Knight(20)]
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Divine Class [Champion (20)]
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Ultra-Prestige Class [Paladin(20)]
Richard didn''t know exactly when it happened, but somehow, he was sitting upon a giant white horse, and wearing shining armor. In his hands he held a long spear; and strapped to his back was a great sword. Heavy plate armor covered his whole body, and a heavy helmet covered his head and most of his face. Overall, he looked much like the god Toran, which was probably the intent. And the strangest part was, somehow Richard felt like he knew what to do with the spear, the sword, the armor, and even the horse he was riding on.
GO FORTH, MY CHAMPION. CHARGE INTO BATTLE, AS YOU WERE MEANT TO DO!
The yellow-purple spiral distortion in the air that Richard had come to associate with portals appeared in front of him. With a nudge of his heel against the flank of the horse, he charged forward through the portal.
The 12 priests and clerics of Toran, standing near the front of the army, had sweat pouring down their faces. While they were some of the highest-level clerics of Toran in the land, none of them had ever attempted such difficult divine magic, and they wouldn''t have tried it on that day if not for the divine oracle predicting that this was the day Toran''s Champion would enter the world.
The army they stood in front of was a mix of hardened soldiers and fighters and green recruits who had just recently learned their first skill level of sword proficiency. Normally they wouldn''t have tried to stand in front of an orcish horde like the one that rushed towards them on open ground, they would have retreated to the city walls, but today was different. Even though the orcs were almost twice their number, they knew that Toran was with them on this day, and that his Champion would make the difference.
A spiraling portal appeared in the field front of them, and a knight on a huge white warhorse came charging through it at full speed. A cheer went up among the army, and they started advancing on the orcs. The Champion led the way, fearlessly letting his speed pull him away from the army as if he had no need for support against mere orcs, and the soldiers began thinking about how they would tell their grandchildren about this miracle.
Then something started to go wrong.
You have earned +20 Glory points for your heroic charge towards the enemy
Richard charged forwards, his body somehow knowing how to guide the horse with subtle shifts of his knees. But then a part of his brain wondered: How does this work? Is this that ¡°skill¡± Toran granted me? Are ¡°skills¡± something I can turn on and off? He began consciously thinking about what he was doing, and then everything went wrong.
He felt himself shift off to the right and was suddenly afraid he was going to fall off the horse, so he jerked himself back to the left. This put him even more off balance, so he jerked himself back to the right even harder.
If I could just get back to that state where I was just doing this without thinking about it, I''d be fine! But once you start consciously thinking about what you''re doing, it''s very hard to stop. Richard''s ¡°skill¡± apparently knew how to ride a horse, but his conscious mind didn''t have a clue.
He tried to grab onto the horse with both heels to stop from falling off, but that just made the horse rear up, and Richard fell off the horse to the left. His spear fell to the ground in front of the horse and broke into three pieces. His shoulder slammed into the ground and made a popping sound as pain rushed through him. He tried to grab onto the horse''s reins as he fell, and the horse angrily kicked him, the hoof striking him hard on his helmet, denting it. Only partly conscious, Richard slumped to the ground as his horse galloped away.
After a few seconds, Richard''s head stopped spinning enough for him to look around. In front of him, the orcish horde charged towards him, while behind him, the human army had stopped their advance.
I guess seeing your god''s Champion be thrown off his horse probably isn''t great for morale. Richard pushed his hands against the ground and tried to stand up, struggling in his heavy armor, his injured left shoulder shooting pain through him as he did. He slid in the mud and fell back to the ground the first time he tried, but he eventually managed to plant a chain-mail covered boot under him and push himself up to his feet.
WARNING: The armor you are wearing is much heavier than your current (strength) can support. Dexterity penalty: -5. Stamina point cost of all actions multiplied by 10!
Richard waved the notification away and tried to draw out the massive sword on his back. He was just barely able to pull it out of its sheath.
WARNING: The weapon you are equipping is much heavier than your current (strength) can wield!
Richard tried a practice swing with the sword anyway. He could barely lift it, and certainly couldn''t do any of the moves with it his (skill) tried to suggest. The only way he could swing it at all was to swing his whole upper body around, and when he did that the sword slipped out of his gauntleted hand and flew several feet away from him, sticking into the mud point down.
Richard didn¡¯t have any more time to think before the orcs reached him. He knew he couldn''t run away in this armor, and he didn''t have any weapons left. The orcs all carried spears, weird jagged swords, or daggers, and he was now unarmed. When the first orc stabbed at him with his spear, he managed to grab the spear with his left hand, pull the orc off balance, and punch the orc with his right hand. The orc collapsed as the iron gantlet struck him, blood coming from his nose.
Huh, I wonder how I did that, it must have been another Skill or something, I wonder if... he quickly censored that line of thought before he could forget how to fight the same way he forgot how to ride.
Still, while he could fight, he felt like he was moving too slowly in his armor, and he felt weak against the orcs now surrounding him and rushing past him. He swung a fist at one orc and the orc grabbed onto it. He wasn''t strong enough to pull free or to push the orc away. A second orc grabbed him from behind, and a third one grabbed his other side; very quickly they had pulled him down to the ground and pinned him down and began beating him with hands and stomping on him with their feet. Then they began to stab at him with their spears.
From where Richard was lying on the ground, he could see that the human battle line had already broken, even before the charging orcs reached them. The soldiers were now fleeing in all directions as if their gods had failed them.
Richard struggled, tried to get free. He weakly kicked at the orcs holding him without effect. He tried wrestling moves his Skills showed him but didn''t have the strength or leverage to pull them off, especially against so many opponents.
With all of his divinely granted classes and levels, he did have lots of hit points.
So, it took quite a while for the orcs to beat him to death.
His final message, before everything went black, was
You have lost 938 Glory, and now have a total Glory score of -918. With a negative score in one of the three Divine Virtues of Toran, all divine favors and divine classes have been stripped from you.
Then darkness overtook him.
Chapter 2
Richard woke up lying face down on white marble. He seemed to be back the clothes he was wearing in the airport, jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt, with no sign of his armor or weapons. All the injuries the orcs had given him seemed to be gone, and as he moved his arm, even the shoulder he injured falling off the horse seemed to be suddenly unharmed.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MORTAL GRANTED SO MUCH POWER WHO PROVED TO BE SO WEAK AND INCOMPETENT. The voice echoed through him again, but it was angry this time, filled with both rage and frustration. Fear ran through Richard as he scrambled to his feet.
He was back in that vast marble room again. There were being (gods?) in the room around him, but again, Richard could only actually focus on the two in front of him; Toran, in his armor, and the being wearing a crown sitting on his marble throne behind him. The other beings he could see moving out of the corner of his eyes but somehow his mind couldn¡¯t quite process what it was seeing when he tried to look at them. Toran stood before him.
¡°I...I am sorry...I''ve never ridden a horse before. I guess...I guess I had that ¡°skill¡±, but I started thinking about it, and I wondered if I was doing it right, and then....¡± Richard realized he was babbling.
YOU HAVE NEVER RIDDEN A HORSE BEFORE? The voice seemed surprised.
¡°Not many people in my world do, anymore. Um. I tried to fight the orcs anyway, but the sword was too heavy...¡±
HOW COULD SOMEONE WITH YOUR DEEDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS BE SO WEAK AND UNSKILLED?
¡°Umm. What...what deeds do you mean...specifically...¡±
WHEN I FOUND YOU IN YOUR OWN WORLD, YOU HAD PERSONALLY SLAIN MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND ORCS, BY YOUR OWN HAND, IN JUST THE LAST DECADE. YOU HAVE SLAIN DRAGONS, YOU HAVE FOUGHT DEMONS, YOU HAVE LEAD ARMIES TO VICTORY. ALL THESE ACCMPLISHMENTS WERE ETCHED INTO YOUR SOUL IN YOUR HOME WORLD, CLEAR TO SEE FOR ANY WHO KNEW HOW TO LOOK. THAT WAS WHY I CHOSE YOU AS MY CHAMPION.
Richard has a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. ¡°I...um...none of that was real. I only did those things in games...¡±
A silence stretched out. Richard hesitated, but then nervously started speaking again.
¡°There aren''t really orcs in my world, or dragons, or demons, but we play games on computers where we...uh...pretend to be heroes, heroes that have fight things like that...¡±
The voice spoke again. The hot anger that had been in the voice before had been replaced with something colder and darker. YOU HAVE TRICKED ME, MORTAL. TRICKED ME INTO GIVING YOU POWER THE LIKES THAT FEW MORTALS WILL EVER SEE. I WILL SEND YOU OFF INTO THE HELLS, BUT THAT WILL NOT UNDO THE HARM YOU HAVE DONE TO THIS WORLD. Toran lifted his huge sword.
¡°Wait, this isn''t fair! I didn''t trick you! I didn''t lie to you! I told you I wasn''t the one to do this!¡±
A voice from came behind Toran, from the god who was sitting on his throne.
THE MORTAL SPEAKS TRUTH, MY SON. HE NEVER LIED TO YOU. AND EVEN WHEN YOU PUT HIM IN THE PATH OF AN ORCISH HORDE WITH A SWORD HE COULDN''T LIFT, HE STOOD AND FOUGHT INSTEAD OF FLEEING FOR HIS LIFE.
The king stood, a soft light shining from his skin and his silver crown and put his hand on Toran''s shoulder.
Toran stopped and lowered his sword. YOU ARE RIGHT, FATHER. I AM THE ONE WHO FAILED, THE MORTAL MERELY DID WHAT I ASKED. IT IS NOT THE MORTAL''S FAULT THAT HE IS COMPLETLY WORTHLESS.
Richard flinched at being called ¡°worthless,¡± but didn''t argue the point.
A strange, manic laughter came from behind Richard. ¡°Worthless? How can you call this mortal worthless? That was the funniest thing I have seen in a thousand years. Did you see the looks on the soldiers¡¯ faces when he fell off his horse and into the mud?¡±
Richard looked behind him and saw a strange man in what looked like a jester''s cap and a red and green jester''s outfit standing some distance behind him. Unlike all the other beings in this room, the man was short, no more than 5 feet tall, with a round, pudgy face. The man grinned, and suddenly launched himself forward, flipped upside down, did a handspring, and landed back on his feet just behind Richard.
The king stood, anger on his face now. IKAR, MY SON, THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR JOKES. WE HAVE LOST MUCH STRENGTH TODAY, STRENGTH WE CAN NOT SPARE.
Ikar seemed to ignore his father''s words. ¡°Toran, if you''re done with this mortal, can I have him? I think he could be most entertaining!¡±
The anger in Toran''s voice was plain to hear. BROTHER, IF YOU MOCK ME TODAY, I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR IT. MANY GOOD MEN HAVE FALLEN TODAY, AND THE DARKNESS HAS GAINED GROUND.
¡°No one can see the humor in this? Very well.¡± The jester suddenly changed and looked entirely different a second later. Now he was a tall, thin man, with a narrow face, wearing a long black cloak that covered most of his features. And yet somehow Richard could tell it was still the same man; there was a strange twinkle in the man''s eyes. ¡°Father, I request this mortal to be a champion of mine.¡±
The king hesitated. MY SON, I DO PREFER TO SEE YOU WEARING THIS FACE, BUT I MUST ASK YOU WHY. THIS MORTAL IS NOT THE HERO WE THOUGHT HE WAS.
Ikar spoke in a calm, reasonable voice now, and held up his hand. ¡°We have already spent a vast amount of mana to call him here, from a world much farther away than any we have summoned heroes from in the past. My brother has already withdrawn all those absurd classes and skills, so we have already recovered as much mana as we can from those. And my brother already spent the energy to pull him back to our realm at the brink of death, and heal him, just so he could question him. I don''t intend to be as wasteful of power as my brother was, so the mana to make him my champion and send him back into the world will be far less than the mana we have already spent.¡±
The king sat back down, a more thoughtful look on his face. THAT IS ALL TRUE. BUT WE STILL SHOULD NOT BE CREATING USELESS CHAMPIONS, ESPECIALLY NOT NOW.
¡°Father, examine his mortal traits. He only seemed useless because Toran tried to use him the wrong way, like trying to use a fine sword as a hammer and then being angry when it breaks. He has potential as one of my heroes, a hero of cunning and wits.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Toran''s face filled with anger again, but he remained quiet.
The King looked at Richard in a different way, and Richard had an unsettling feeling, as if someone was looking through him and into soul. I SEE. THE MORTAL IS INTELLIGENT, FOR ONE OF HIS KIND. AND YOU THINK THAT WILL BE ENOUGH?
Ikar shrugged his shoulders and shifted form again. Now was wearing a long trench-coat over what looked like a gray suit and tie, with a black wide-brimmed hat on his head. He had wider face with a long mustache that came to a curved point at each end. His hair was gray now, and his face looked older. ¡°I think the mortal has potential. Otherworldly heroes often surprise even us, and he might just do that. It is a gamble, but we have already pushed so many of our chips into this pot, I believe it is worth playing this hand out.¡±
The King nodded slowly. YOU MAY MAKE THE OFFER.
¡°Richard.¡± Ikar turned to him, now with a serious look on his face. ¡°Will you be my champion?
Richard hesitated.
¡°I understand your reluctance, but I fear we cannot afford to send you back home to your own world, not now. If you do not wish to be my champion, I will set you down in a city or village somewhere, and you may try to live a quiet life for as long as the world allows it. But if you do become my champion, you may be able to do more.¡±
¡°Will I...will I be able to help people?¡± Richard asked.
¡°I hope you will. I will not demand you do anything against your moral code, if that is what you fear.¡±
It seemed like a really bad idea, but saying no seemed like an even worse one. ¡°Then...yes. I accept.¡±
Ikar turned back to the king and made a slight bow. ¡°Alfodr, father, I request your leave, so I may briefly instruct Richard before sending him to the mortal plane.''
The king nodded his head slightly. Ikar reached out his hand to Richard, and Richard took it.
The marble vanished around them, as they were suddenly elsewhere.
Richard and Ikar were standing in a much more modest room. It looked like a study, with wooden floors, a large bookcase on one wall, and several heavy wooden chairs around a table.
Ikar sat down in one of the chairs. ¡°Please, Richard, sit. I''m sure you have many questions.¡±
Richard sat down. The chair seemed to me made of solid oak and felt heavily reinforced and solid; Richard wondered if it was built specifically to hold the full weight of someone like Toran. ¡°Are...are you actually a god?¡±
Ikar laughed, and then stood up and took a bow as if he was on stage. ¡°I knew you would be entertaining! Yes, I am. I am known as Ikar the Many-Faced. I am the god of those who challenge the strong and the powerful with their wits, those who mock the proud with laughter, the gamblers, the wise fools and the geniuses who cross into madness. You have met my father, Alfodr, the king of the gods, and Toran the True, the god of honor, glory, and heroism.¡±
Richard nodded, thoughtful. Of course, a trickster god.
Ikar responded to the thought as if Richard had spoken out loud. ¡°Is that what people would call me on your world?¡±
¡°Yes, many pantheons of gods in Earth''s mythology have some kind of trickster god, a god who breaks the rules and outwits others...¡± Richard cut short when he remembered who he was talking to. ¡°Um. Sorry. How should I be addressing you? Should I be on my knees or something? I was never good with the whole....religion...thing...¡±
Ikar laughed again, and slapped Richard on the shoulder in a friendly manner. ¡°A trickster god, huh? Yes, I like that. And no, you don''t have to grovel before me; some gods enjoy that kind of thing, but I find it boring, and I can''t stand things that are boring. Just address me as Ikar¡±.
¡°Thank you. Um. Ikar. Ok, yes, I have a lot of questions.¡± What do I most need to know. ¡°What was going on with those ¡°skills¡± and ¡°classes¡± messages I keep getting?¡± Richard had a pretty good guess for how those worked, but he would rather hear it directly.
Ikar nodded. ¡°As I suspected, your world didn''t have Classes and Skills. A very long time ago, in our world and many other worlds like it, the First Gods needed to find a way to give mortal beings the power to fight back against monsters and worse, who were spreading across the world. They learned how to grant a single mortal power, as a champion, but that wasn''t enough to turn back the tide. And a mortal suddenly granted power usually does not know how to use it properly or well, a lesson my brother seems to have forgotten. So finally, they took all the power they had and created a System, where mortals could earn the power they needed to survive. The System was designed to encourage and reward mortals who would train and learn, to build, to fight, to grow food and forge weapons and do useful tasks, and to take care of and defend themselves. When they spent the time and effort to be good at one of those things they were awarded Skills, which made them even better at something they were already training at.¡± Ikar looked at Richard and laughed. ¡°That way they would already have some idea how to ride a horse before suddenly being granted a Skill at it.¡±
¡°When a mortal had developed several Skills, they could earn a Class, which would make them stronger and better at it. They could Level Up their classes and improve themselves farther. They could complete Quests to prove their worth. And when a mortal completed worthy deeds, they could be granted Achievements, which could help them in other ways.¡±
¡°The First Gods put every bit of mana and energy they had into this System. Or maybe they became the System. Either way, once their System was completed, the First Gods were no more. The gods in the world now all appeared or arrived later, and none of us have the power of the First Gods. But their sacrifice worked, it allowed mortals to become strong and skilled enough to survive and thrive.¡±
¡°Ok, that all...sort of makes sense. What did Toran mean by a spreading darkness?¡±
Ikar shifted again. He suddenly was younger again, and changed back into the tall, lanky form in the black cloak.
¡°My brother was right about that. Many worlds near this one have fallen to darkness, of one kind of another. They are now worlds where everything is dead, or worlds where only horrors remain, or worlds where demons torture mortal souls, or that have suffered other terrible fates. Such things tend to spread from one world to the next; magical energy tends to seep through from one world to other worlds that are nearby, and some powerful beings can pass between worlds, so as the worlds around ours become darker, more and more darkness tends to leak through into our world. We have helped the mortals of this world hold the line against the darkness so far, but it is not clear we will be able to do so forever.¡± He paused. ¡°That was why my brother summoned you from a world so very many universes away, so different from ours. This is not the first time one of us has summoned an otherworldly hero to be a champion, but this is the first time one of us has reached so far, just because so many worlds near ours are now too dark or corrupted. I would not have had the power to reach as far as your world; my brother has far more followers than I do. Although much of the faith in him has been lost today, which is part of the reason he is so angry with you.¡±
¡°So...ok. So, I''m supposed to save the world?¡±
Ikar laughed again; in this form, his laughter was more of a high-pitched cackle instead of the deep boom it had been in his older form or the manic laughter of his jester form. ¡°I like you, Champion. But no, I don''t expect you to save the world today; I am not as big a fool as my brother, and I wouldn''t be able to just give you power like he did even if I thought it was wise. I do think you do have a massive amount of potential in this world but figuring out how to use it is up to you, and in any case will take much time. To be honest, I don''t know what you''ll be able to do, if anything, but there''s a chance you might make a difference. If nothing else you''re a wild card in the deck, and more wild cards are good when the odds are already against you.¡±
¡°For now, try to learn as much as you can, and try not to die.¡±
You have been given, by Divine Favor, the Divine Class [Champion (1)]
Quest received- Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
¡°Good luck, Champion. I wish we had more time to talk, but it looks like you are being summoned.¡±
Richard saw a strange yellow light coming from under him. The wooden floor he was sitting on seemed to ripple and shimmer in a spiral pattern. Before he could move, Richard and the chair he was sitting on fell through the portal that opened where the floor had been.
Chapter 3
Evelyn stood in the middle of a dirt trade road wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side. There were trees on both sides of the road, but they were too far away to help her. Facing her were three men wearing the armor and uniform of Duke Rudhale. Each man wore some kind of necklace with a charm hanging from it. Two of them held crossbows pointed at her, already cocked and ready to fire, while the third one had his sword drawn. They were about 20 feet in front of her, which was close enough that there was almost no chance that the crossbow bolts would miss if she tried to run.
¡°We know you are on the run from the Magelight Academy for dabbling in forbidden magics.¡± the soldier with the sword said. He seemed to be the leader of the three men. ¡°If you come with us and agree to work for the Duke, he can shield you from them, protect you, and even give you resources to continue your research. He wants a good mage to work for him and isn''t afraid of the Academy''s rules. In fact, he appreciates a mage who is willing to...cross some lines.¡±
From what Evelyn had read about the Duke, the kind of lines he would want a mage to cross are much darker than anything she would be interested in.
¡°If you refuse, then we are to kill you and bring your body to the Academy for a reward. The Duke wouldn''t be as pleased about that outcome, but would still be happy to take the money.¡±
Evelyn lifted her wooden staff, and with her mind, reached for the mana in the world around her. If she struck fast, she might be able to take out both crossbowmen before they had a chance to shoot her. But she hesitated; they should know that, and it was clear that they knew she was a mage. Why weren''t they afraid she would strike them down?
¡°We know that the only form of mana attunement that you have mastered is fire, and we are well protected against that. Please do not try to fight us, or we will kill you.¡± The men didn''t move; the leader seemed calm, but the two crossbowmen seemed very nervous and twitchy, to a degree Evelyn worried that they might shoot her by accident.
Evelyn activated her magic sight, and most of the world went dark. She could clearly see the charms that each soldier was wearing around their necks glowing with mana. A kind of mana she was very familiar with; mana attuned to fire. And with her magic sight she could see that the necklaces were carved with protection symbols. They were probably telling the truth.
They clearly knew a lot about her and were well prepared to capture her. Duke Rudhale must have more need for a mage willing to dabble in forbidden magics than she had thought.
They weren''t quite correct that fire was the only kind of mana attunement she had mastered, though.
Evelyn whispered a prayer under her breath, ¡°Ikar, I ask for the Gambler''s Blessing. Please aid and guide the foolish thing I am about to do.¡± The Gambler''s Blessing was the only divine spell she had yet been granted as an Acolyte of Ikar the Many-Faced. It was said that it had a chance of improving the outcome of a risky action you were about to take. It was said to be most effective when you were about to do something very clever or very foolish or both, but even then, it did not always seem to work, there seemed to be a high random factor.
She called on the mana around her, and instead of channeling it into fire, she channeled it into the other kind of magic she had recently attuned herself to. The truly dangerous one, the one that had been forbidden in every civilized part of the continent.
Wild magic.
It was said that the ancient wild mages, the few who survived long enough to become masters of the art, could channel mana into wild magic and then shape it into any form they wanted to do almost anything with it. But the first use of wild magic that most people mastered, if they were foolish enough to take that path today, was the Wild Surge, an uncontrollable burst of chaos and raw magic that might do nothing or might do almost anything. Wild Surge was also the spell that killed most wild mages, and sometimes everyone near them.
She tried to shape it, like she had the few times she had dared cast it before, but with her mana sight she could ¡°see¡± the threads of magic quickly slip out of her control, and the wild magic snapped into some kind of ball or spherical shape. The most she could do as far as controlling the spell went was to mentally push the growing ball of chaotic energy towards the three soldiers.
This Wild Surge was an incredibly stupid thing to do. The most likely outcome was nothing, or something minor and random that wouldn''t impede them significantly. The crossbowmen were clearly nervous about trying to capture a mage, and at the slightest weirdness were likely to shoot her. Or the Wild Surge itself might just kill her. Or she might blow up half the forest. Or worse.
But Evelyn would rather blow up herself and these soldiers than serve the Duke, if it came to it. So, she fed more and more of her own mana into the Wild Surge, and it got stronger and stronger as the tangle of chaotic energy flew through the air towards the soldiers. Something was going to happen, at least. Something big. She could feel it in her bones.
The Wild Surge came to a stop just above the soldiers, a ball of chaos and energy hovering in the air above them that she hoped only she could see. She hoped it would strike them down with lightning or something, that was a known possible effect of a Wild Surge. But instead, the ball of chaos started to spin, first slowly and then faster and faster. It seemed to spin into a disk, growing thinner and thinner. A strange spiral pattern began in the air above the soldiers, and the disk started to glow with a strange yellow-purplish light.
¡°This is your last chance, Evelyn. Are you going to surrender, or...¡± the soldier started to say.
That was when a heavy wooden chair fell through the portal above the soldiers, followed by a very surprised looking man.
As Richard fell through the portal, he saw the heavy oak chair he had been sitting on fall and strike what appeared to be a soldier, striking his forearms and knocking the crossbow he had been holding out of his hands and onto the ground. Richard fell to the left of the chair, where two more soldiers were standing. Richard flailed as he fell through the air, and his knee struck the head of a surprised looking soldier who was holding a sword, knocking him unconscious.
The second soldier moved quickly, swinging his crossbow up towards the strange man apparently falling from the sky, but somehow a belt loop on Richard''s left hip got caught on the end of the crossbow. With a twang, the crossbow went off, the bolt just missing his left hip by inches, and with his left hip hooked onto the end of the crossbow Richard''s right hip swung down and to the right. A ripping sound went through the air as his pants yanked hard against the crossbow for a second and then tore, and most of Richard''s weight came slamming down into the shoulder and upper back of the soldier, knocking him down with Richard on top of him.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
When Richard finally hit the ground, he was lying on top of one soldier who was struggling to get up, his legs were lying across the back of a second soldier he had accidentally knocked unconscious, and the third soldier who had just had his crossbow knocked out of his hands was looking at Richard and trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The third soldier, the only one still on his feet, blinked for a few seconds before reaching for a dagger on his belt, but before he had gotten it out a woman had come running up the road and struck him across the head with a large wooden staff. She then slammed the stick into his already injured arms, causing him to drop the dagger, and then swept it up behind his legs, knocking him down.
The man under Richard had grabbed him by the shoulder and was trying to push him off without much success, when the woman ran over and struck him in the head with her staff as well. By the time Richard, wincing at the pain in his knee and hips, managed to get up off the ground, all three of the soldiers were unconscious.
3 human soldiers defeated (partial exp): 125 exp granted
Skill earned, Pratfall (2)
For your hilarious pratfall, you have earned +12 Humor points
He blinked, and the notifications went away. The woman looked at him with a concerned expression on her face.
¡°Are you ok? Where did you come from? Did I...uh...I think I may have...uh... accidentally summoned you from...somewhere?¡± She blinked. ¡°I''m so sorry...I...uh...I''m Evelyn...¡±
Richard held his right hand up to stop, with his left hand still resting on his aching left hip, holding his torn jeans together so they didn''t fall off. ¡°It''s ok. I think I was supposed to get summoned, although I didn''t expect it to be quite so, uh, sudden.¡±
¡°You were supposed to get summoned? Who are you? Where did you come from?¡±
Richard winced. She''s probably not going to believe this, but I don''t have time to come up with a convincing lie. ¡°I came from another world. Originally. And as for who I am; apparently, I''m supposed to be the Champion of Ikar, if that phrase means anything to you.¡±
Evelyn''s eyes got wide, and then she quickly shook her head. ¡°Ok. Maybe you are, for all I know. We''ll deal with that later. Right now, it''s very likely there will be more teams of soldiers searching for me, or maybe bounty hunters from the Academy.¡± She hesitated, ¡°If you don''t want any part of my problems, then you can take the road down to town, and just not tell anyone about me or these soldiers, and you''ll probably be fine.¡± She explained, ¡°I am an acolyte of Ikar, which might be part of how you got summoned here. If you really are who you say you are, you can come with me for now, if you want to. I will be able to test and see if you''re lying.¡±
Richard looked at her. Evelyn had red hair, that was very short and cut unevenly. She had a narrow, long face, with strong cheekbones. She was wearing a red loose wool dress, over a white shirt. In her right hand was the wooden staff she had just used on the soldiers.
¡°I don''t really know anything about this world at all. Why were those soldiers after you?¡±
Evelyn sighed. ¡°I might as well tell you, since it seems like everyone else already knows. While I was at the Magelight Academy, I was caught researching forbidden magics. It wasn''t because I wanted to hurt anyone, I just...I just needed to know more about what magic is and how it works, and I wasn''t going to get that with just traditional spell crafting. I know it sounds crazy...¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°No, I get wanting to understand how and why things work the way they do. You could say I''ve spent most of my life trying to do that.¡± He paused and thought. ¡°I could be wrong, but I don''t think you could have summoned me unless it was the will of Ikar, so maybe this is where he wants me to be.¡± He looked down at the unconscious soldiers. ¡°What are we going to do about them?¡±
She paused a moment, ¡°I don''t want to kill them, assuming we haven''t cracked their skulls already, but I don''t want them to wake up and come after us either.¡± After a moment of thought, ¡°I guess let''s at least take their weapons and see what they have.¡±
¡°Looting the enemy, I guess it''s a gaming tradition after all. Alright.¡± She gave him a strange look but didn''t ask any questions.
Both crossbows seemed to be broken, beyond the point where they could easily be repaired. When they decided they couldn''t use them, Evelyn stacked them on top of each other, summoned fire from thin air, and burned them.
Richard looked surprised at that but didn''t say anything.
¡°We can''t fix them, but the Duke''s army would be able to, and I''d rather deny them the weapons.¡±
It was more the summoning fire from thin air that surprised me, but I guess it shouldn''t have. Richard thought.
Other than that, they took a sword and two good daggers from the three soldiers. Evelyn pulled off their necklaces and pocketed them, without saying anything about them. She handed Richard the sword and sheath for it, and they both took a dagger.
Each soldier was carrying a backpack, which had food, flint and steel, some other supplies, rope, and a set of iron manacles.
¡°I guess these were for me.¡± She hesitated. ¡°Each one of them had a pair just in case. They really wanted to make sure I wasn''t getting away after they captured me. We really should kill them, but maybe we could just tie them up and bind them with these.¡±
Richard thought about it. ¡°How long would that hold them for?¡±
¡°This is a pretty well-traveled road. If we leave them by the road, a trader or messenger will probably be by in a day or so and release them,¡± she sighed.
¡°Ok.¡± It seemed like a really bad idea to Richard as well, but he didn''t want to slit their throats while they were unconscious either, not without justification. ¡°Are these soldiers...um...are they bad guys?¡±
She looked at him and blinked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Have they done terrible crimes, or hurt people, or are they serving someone evil and bent on world domination or something?¡±
¡°Not to my knowledge. I mean the Duke has a creepy reputation. There are a lot of bad rumors about him and he apparently really wants to get his hands on a mage willing to do forbidden magic. But most of his soldiers are probably just normal soldiers, who spend most of their time either on guard duty or fighting bandits and monsters.¡± She tilted her head to the left, ¡°Are you trying to ask if there is a moral justification for killing them?¡±
Richard sighed, ¡°I guess I was.¡±
She gave him an emotionless look ¡°How about the fact that if we don''t, we''re probably going to end up regretting it?¡±
He shook his head, ¡°That''s not enough reason to murder someone, just because they might be inconvenient.¡±
She smiled, ¡°Ok. Glad to hear it. Some champions of Ikar that the history has written about have been, well...frighteningly pragmatic. Usually for a good cause, but...¡±
He nodded. As he began to stand up, his jeans ripped further halfway down his left side, revealing his white underwear. She laughed, ¡°Speaking of pragmatism...¡±
They also looted a pair of wool trousers from one of the soldiers that was about Richard''s size, and he quickly put them on. They took two of the guards¡¯ backpacks and most of their supplies, and Richard threw his torn jeans into his backpack. Then they tied the still unconscious guards up in a ditch behind some bushes, out of sight of the road, and chained their wrists up with the manacles.
¡°Ok, where to now?¡± Richard asked.
Evelyn sighed, ¡°I was trying to get away from the Academy as quickly as I could.¡± She pointed down towards the direction of the road she was coming from, ¡°but the Duke''s soldiers came from the town up ahead, Wimborne, which is in his territory. The Academy must have sent out a message about me.¡±
¡°So, we can''t go either direction down this road. What other towns are near here?¡±
She pointed at the woods in front of them, ¡°If we can go straight west, and not get lost, we should be able to find our way through to the Old River Road, and then we can follow that to get to a different town outside of the Duke''s territory. Hopefully without anyone recognizing me.¡±
Together, they walked off into the woods to the west. Behind them, they left three unconscious soldiers who were handcuffed and tied to a tree, and a massive oak chair lying in the middle of the road.
Chapter 4
They walked for a few hours through the forest. Every few minutes, Richard was tripping over tree roots and branches, which Evelyn usually avoided, and twice he stepped in a shallow hole he didn''t notice and jolted his ankle or his sore hip. It was an old-growth forest without a lot of undergrowth and plenty of space to walk between the trees, but still, travel was slow, and Richard tired quickly.
Finally, Richard had to stop and sit down leaning against a tree.
¡°Out of SP already?¡± Evelyn asked.
¡°SP?
She looked at him funny, ¡°Stamina points? Did they call them something different on your world?¡±
¡°We didn''t have a whole...number-based system like you do here.¡±
She looked surprised but nodded, ¡°Fascinating, I did read that that was true of some other worlds. Look at your status and see how many SP you have left.¡±
¡°My status?¡± As soon as he said the word ¡°status¡±, a blue box appeared in front of his eyes.
Name: Richard Fein
Race: Human (1)
Class: None
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 9
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 52 (Max: 54)
SP: 3 (Max 20)
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 12
Cunning: 0
High Stakes: 0
Glory: -918
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is deeply lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Skills:
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
¡°Pampered? Really? I hardly think...¡± he grumbled, and then seeing the way she looked at him, changed the subject.
¡°Do you see the character sheet as a floating blue box the way I do?¡± he asked.
¡°You see it as a floating blue box? Interesting, never heard that one before. No. Everyone sees their status it in a way that matches their expectations. I always see a book that I can flip through and read. Some people hear it as a spoken voice, or even as a song.¡±
She looked up at him, ¡°If you don''t mind, I would like to also look at your status. So that I can confirm you are Champion of Ikar if nothing else.¡±
¡°You can do that?¡±
¡°I have a spell that allows it, yes. If you lower your magic resistance it will be easier to cast.¡±
¡°How do I do that?¡±
¡°Just relax your mind. May I?¡±
He nodded, interested.
She touched his forehead gently, focused, and quietly recited something. It wasn''t in any language he''d heard before, but he understood it anyway. Some of the spellcasting was repeated sounds that didn''t seem to have any meaning as far as he could tell, perhaps as a form of focus or meditation, but he did catch one word she repeated multiple times, which roughly translated to ¡°Insight¡±. It sounded something like ¡°omm lash tah insight om di di om insight om lash tah insight om di di om insight...¡±
He felt a strange sensation where her finger touched his forehead, as if a beam of light or heat was shining from her finger into his brain. He had a sense that he could try to stop it if he chose, but he let it happen.
She pulled back. ¡°Ok. Very interesting.¡± She seemed to be flipping pages in midair as if reading something only she could see. ¡°So, first of all, you are the champion of Ikar, I apologize for doubting you. Secondly...you only have 3 SP left? Why didn''t you tell me you needed a break? You could have collapsed and hurt yourself.¡±
¡°I would have collapsed if I got to 0 SP?¡±
She took out a pen and a blank journal. ¡°Yes. Hold on, this is fascinating, there are so many questions we could answer about our world....¡± He saw her writing down information that he recognized from his character sheet. He noticed she had a type of fountain pen, not one of the kinds where you have to dip it in ink, and briefly tried to remember when those had been invented on Earth. ¡°I''m going to have to write a book about this someday, we have so little hard information about otherworlders and about divine champions. Anyway, yes, if you totally run out of SP you collapse. You''ll probably feel tired before you get to that point, though. So yes. I guess we might as well sit and talk for a while, until you recover. This...don''t take this the wrong way but traveling with you anywhere is going to take forever with such low SP and endurance.¡± She wrote some more. ¡°So, because your world doesn''t have a System, you don''t have any skills or class at all, and you''re still a level 1 human, even at your age?¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
¡°Yes. We don''t have anything like classes or skills where I come from.¡±
¡°Right, right, of course¡±. She wrote some more down. ¡°So, did you just get that ¡°pratfall¡± skill today? What is it, and how did you get it to level 2 already?¡±
¡°It''s...something some people in my world do, a fake fall as part of a comedy routine, it''s supposed to be funny and look real without getting you hurt. I guess, uh, maybe you''d call people like that jesters or something here.¡±
¡°Oh. Ok, that makes sense. There are some priest-jesters of Ikar, and I think I''ve seen jesters do things like that before, so that fits. Still, being at level 2 already on that skill is a surprise.¡± She wrote some more notes down. ¡°Was that the first time you did a comedic fall in a combat situation?¡±
¡°Priest jesters? Wha...¡± he remembered something. ¡°Oh, Ikar looks like a jester sometimes, doesn''t he? Um, as for your question...¡± he felt his face blush red with embarrassment ¡°No, I''ve...uh...fallen down in combat situations before.¡±
¡°Yes, The Jester is one of the Aspects of Ikar. Ok, so next question; you have by far the most unbalanced stats I have ever seen in a human. How is your intelligence so high and almost everything else so low? Did you spend your whole live training your intelligence and nothing else?¡±
Richard paused, and thought about his life to date, ¡°I suppose that''s...accurate, yes.¡±
¡°Interesting. Doing what? Is this where that ¡°legendary education¡± trait comes from?¡±
¡°I''ve been going to school for...I guess my whole life. Since I was 5 I think? I was studying at a university before I came here.¡±
Her eyebrows went up. ¡°You''ve been doing nothing but studying at a school for 20 years? Is that normal? Are you a noble? What have you been studying?¡±
¡°It''s not that uncommon...uh...almost everyone where I come from is in school until they''re 18 or so, and a lot of people go to college for another 4 years. Me, I''ve been studying...¡± he thinks about how to explain theoretical physics to her ¡°...I guess you could say I''ve been trying to learn about the fundamental laws that make up our universe and trying to understand how everything in the universe works. And no, I''m not a noble, almost anyone from where I come from could do the same thing if they really wanted to and were smart enough to handle it.¡±
She looked at him and smiled. ¡°That sounds wonderful. I wish that was an option for people on this world.¡± She wrote more details down. ¡°One more question; do you know why Ikar chose you to be his champion?
Richard sighed. ¡°He said something about me having a lot of potential, if I could stay alive. He...also might have thought I was funny.¡± He paused, and admitted, ¡°And maybe because it pissed his brother Toran off?¡±
¡°He...said? You spoke to Ikar? And you...pissed off...the god Toran the True?¡± She paused, ¡°I saw the...negative glory on your status, but....¡±
¡°...I really don''t want to talk about it.¡±
She shook her head and went back to writing down everything he said. ¡°Never mind. You don''t need to talk about that right now if you don''t want to.¡± She put her pen and paper away. ¡°So. Ok, let''s look at our situation. If it''s ok, I''m going to just say this bluntly, because we don''t really have time to be diplomatic.¡±
He nodded.
¡°You''ve been chosen as the Champion of a god, which means you are now a major piece in the Great Game. You will probably eventually be expected to do something potentially world-changing, and you will certainly be targeted by all kinds of forces who will want to use you or kill you. Also, followers of Toran will probably hate you, and they''re both common and include a lot of the best warriors in the world.¡±
She paused, letting that sink in.
¡°We don''t totally understand how quests work despite lots of research, but the quest you have implies there''s a real chance you won''t be alive in two weeks. So, you have no skills, except falling down, no class, mostly low stats except for intelligence, no real ability to defend yourself. With your low SP you can''t really even run away from danger very well; even just walking quickly away from danger like we''re trying to do right now seems to be a problem.¡± She sighed. ¡°I have a better ability to defend myself, but most of it comes from fire magic, and the people coming after me right now seem to be protected against that.¡±
¡°Ok. Yeah, that all sounds...pretty bad, yes.¡±
She sighed again. ¡°It might be better for us to separate. I could move faster if you weren''t with me, and the solders aren''t looking for you, so you''re probably not in danger by them. Uh, unless the guys you fell on recognize you I guess.¡± She thought for a second. ¡°If we could just teach you some skills, maybe that would help...hmm.¡± She pulled a thick book out of her bag, with the title ¡°System Studies¡± in silver on its heavy cover, and flipped through it, and pointed to something near the end of the book. ¡°We don''t have much information on otherworlders, but according to some sources it sounds like if you had a skill you''ve already trained in extensively in your own world, all you have to do to demonstrate that skill here and you might get it right away at a higher level. We can test this. What was your highest level...right, you didn''t have levels...what skill do you think you spent a lot of time training on your own world?¡±
He thought for a second. ¡°Mathematics.¡±
She tilted her head. ¡°Interesting. Some people study that here, either to keep track of money or to calculate things about the System. Ok, let''s try something with mathematics.¡± She flipped to the front of the book. ¡°This is probably something you need to know anyway. So, your high stat is intelligence, which helps people learn skills faster.¡±
¡°Oh? How long does it take to learn skills?¡±
¡°The rule of thumb is that for a normal person with about 8 intelligence, it takes about 100 hours to learn level 1 of a brand-new skill. It''s...hold on, let me check the numbers.¡± She pointed at a table closer to the front of her ¡°System Studies¡± book. ¡°So, let''s see...yes. There has been a lot of research on how this works. For a normal person, with an average intelligence of 8, it takes about 100 hours to learn a new skill through training, although they can learn it a lot faster if they''re trying to use it in a life-or-death situation like combat. A person with 4 intelligence takes about 165 hours. For a person with 12 intelligence, it takes about 60 hours. For a person with 16 intelligence, it takes 36 hours.¡±
¡°Oh? Interesting. So, is it an exponential rate of decay?¡±
¡°Sorry?¡±
¡°Looks like it''s multiplied by 60% every 4 points of intelligence. Let''s see...¡± He started scribbling some numbers in the dirt with his finger. ¡°So, a person with 18 intelligence should be able to learn a skill in 28 hours, is that right?¡±
She looked at his numbers, interested. ¡°Those don''t look like any numbers I''ve seen before. Is that your language?¡± She looked back at her book. ¡°Yes, that''s about right.¡±
¡°Oh, yes. Your language uses something like...Roman numerals, right?¡± With a bit of thought he writes a number in her language, impressed about how easy it was to use that Divine Favor about languages now that he knew how it worked. Her world''s number system did work in a way similar to Roman numerals, although it used different symbols. ¡°Yeah, it''s much easier to do math with my world''s kind of numbers. Anyway, if that rate continues¡± he scribbled some more numbers in the dirt ¡°a person with 20 intelligence should take about 21.6 hours, a person with 24 intelligence should take a little less than 13 hours....¡±
She tried to follow what he was doing. ¡°I don''t think any of this has been tested. Almost nobody has intelligence that high, except maybe a 20-level mage or something...¡±
¡°And with my intelligence, 7.7 hours or so? Oh, and the 50% bonus...if that''s a bonus to the effectiveness of training, making each hour of education 50% more efficient, let''s see...so about once every 5.2 hours or so?¡±
¡°That doesn''t sound right...¡± she paused ¡°Nobody can learn a skill in 5 hours of normal training, it''s supposed to take weeks...¡±
Skill level confirmed, Mathematics (14).
Level up, human level 2. +1 constitution, +3 additional max hp, +2 max SP. HP and SP restored
¡°Huh.¡± He stood back up, suddenly feeling really good, healthy, and well rested. ¡°It worked, I got the skill. I think we can keep going for a bit now.¡±
She pulled her journal back out. ¡°Can you be specific about what just happened?¡±
¡°I just got 14 levels in the skill ¡°mathematics¡±. And I leveled up to a level 2 human. Restored my SP.¡±
¡°Ok, good, that makes sense...you really weren''t kidding about spending a lot of time training that skill in your old world, were you. And yes, training skills is the safest way to level...¡± After jotting down a few more notes, she shook her head and closed her journal, and quickly started to pack her things back up into her backpack. ¡°We''ll have to continue this later. Right, now that you have SP again, we need to try and put some more distance between ourselves and the road before people start searching the forest here for me.¡± They started walking again. ¡°Next time we stop...what kinds of weapons did you train with in your old world, what kind of magic, what other skills can we help you get back to help you defend yourself?¡±
He looked at her blankly. ¡°There isn''t any magic in my world, that I know of. And I''ve never trained with any weapons.¡±
¡°Ok...it doesn''t have to be formal training. You know how to fight, right? Sword fighting, or staff fighting, or hunting with a bow?¡±
He shook his head.
¡°Even just children practicing with wooden swords sometimes get a level of skill eventually...¡±
¡°Nope, never did that.¡±
¡°Daggers? Slings? Anything.¡±
¡°Sorry¡±.
¡°Ok, so maybe we can just start with just punching and wresting, everyone''s done that before right? We could at least...¡±
He shook his head a fourth time.
She stared at him. ¡°Have you ever been in a fight?¡±
¡°Not really. My part of the world is very peaceful. Some soldiers from my country go off to other parts of the world to fight, but I''ve never done that.¡±
¡°...even when you were a child, you never got into a fist fight?¡±
¡°I mean, I got beat up a couple of times when I was a kid. Never really hit anyone back though, I wasn''t much of a fighter.¡±
She shook her head. ¡°Your world sounds like paradise, compared to this one, but I''m not sure how you''re going to survive in this world.¡±
He didn''t have a good response to that, so they just kept walking west, until he tripped over another root and almost fell down again.
Chapter 5
They had walked for about another half hour when they heard a howling sound in the distance behind them. Evelyn face went pale at the sound.
¡°What is that? Wolves?¡±
¡°Worse. Bloodhounds. I''m being tracked.¡±
¡°Is it the soldiers?¡±
¡°It could be, or it could be bounty hunters.¡± The bloodhounds howled again. ¡°It sounds like they''re still several miles away, but they''re moving faster than we are. Richard...we''re going to have to split up.¡±
His stomach fell at the thought of this, but he had a feeling this was coming.
¡°The dogs are almost certainly tracking my scent. It''s me they''re looking for.¡± Evelyn explained. ¡°They don''t care about you, they won''t be following your path, and even if they find you, there''s no bounty on you. If we separate, I can move a lot faster in the forest than you can, I have a lot more stamina and won''t tire as quickly. We''ve both got a better chance of getting away.¡±
He paused for a beat. ¡°I can help you fight them, if it comes to that.¡±
She shook her head. ¡°No, you can''t. Not yet. If you try to fight trained soldiers right now, you''ll just get yourself killed.¡± She paused. ¡°I need to go, now. You should turn and head south, as quickly as you can. Hopefully you can get out of their way before they come through this area. If you do run into any of them, tell them...well, tell them whatever, but just don''t admit that you know me or have ever seen me, and you''ll probably be ok. I''m going to try to make it to the town of Bromwich, which is northwest of here. I have friends there. Stay low for now, try to get there without being spotted by any soldiers, and if you can get there, try to meet me there. The innkeeper is a friend of mine; just ask her if he''s seen ¡°Red¡± around in town.¡±
Richard nods quickly.
¡°Goodbye, Richard. Like the quest says, try not to die.¡±
He smiled, ¡°You too.¡±
Evelyn quickly started moving much more swiftly, taking long, loping steps across the forest floor that easily avoided any hazards while moving at a crouch that let her quickly pass under branches, and Richard realized just how much he''d been slowing her down. He hesitated for a moment longer, and then turned left and started moving as rapidly as he could towards what he thought was the south.
The sound of the dogs grew closer, and he tried to run, but almost immediately stepped on a loose stone that moved under his foot and he fell. This time he twisted his ankle a little, but with adrenalin pumping through him, he ignored the pain and moved as quickly as he could.
By this point, the late afternoon sun had moved farther to the west. He ran, ducking under branches and jumping across holes in the ground.
Skill earned, Pathfinder (forest) (1)
He wasn''t sure what the skill did exactly, and didn''t have time to check his status screen, but he suddenly had a noticeably easier time moving through the forest. He avoided roots, jumped over logs, and felt a much greater sense of ease at running through the forest. He watched the ground and had a good idea of where his feet should land with every step, even while running.
He was running out of breath and had a feeling that his SP was probably running out, but he could hear the sound of dogs howling farther behind him now, moving past him off to the west. He felt relief for a second, and then was filled with guilt; they weren''t going after him because they were still hot on Evelyn''s trail.
He stopped for a minute to catch his breath and leaned against a tree. I''d better check how much SP I have left.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
¡°Status¡±
Name: Richard Fein
Race: Human (2)
Class: None
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 62 (Max: 64)
SP: 4 (Max 22)
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 12
Cunning: 0
High Stakes: 0
Glory: -918
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Skills:
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (1): You now have a basic level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +10% to movement speed through a forest. -10% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Ok, he was back down to 4 SP. Nothing gained by pushing himself until he collapsed, and it sounded like the dogs weren''t following him. He slowed to a walk.
He could see this was going to be a problem. He couldn''t outrun *anything*, and even just walking from town to town seemed like it was going to be difficult. Maybe skills like that Pathfinder one he just got would help, but mostly he needed to get his SP up, which probably meant improving his endurance. I really must get myself in shape. I wish I''d been going to the gym or keeping up with my jogging more. No time for that now, but maybe it was something he could deal with in the future.
He continued to walk through the forest, and the sound of dogs fell farther and farther behind him. At one point he noticed a thin trail smoke rising up from a spot in the forest behind him. Are soldiers setting up a campfire for the night, or¡is that Evelyn fighting them with her fire magic? Part of him wanted to run back and help her, but he was miles away from the fire, and even if that was Evelyn by the time he got there whatever was going on would be long over anyway, so he kept trudging the direction he had been going in.
He started to limp, as the pain in his ankle came back when the adrenalin passed.
By this time, the sun was setting. I need to find a place to rest for the night, hopefully somewhere I won''t be found by anyone searching the forest.
He managed to walk for a few more miles before finding a thicker grove of trees on ground a little lower than the surroundings, surrounded by thick bush and undergrowth. He pushed his way through the bushes, scratching his arms a little, then swung down his backpack onto the ground and then laid down flat on his back. He was below ground level, which would make him harder to spot in the dark so long as he stayed low, and the grove was surrounded by bushes which also would make him harder to notice. It was probably about as good as he was going to find.
He pulled out a worn blanket that the soldier had had in the backpack and wrapped it around himself. He then pulled out some of the dried food and nibbled on it. It looked like he had taken enough food from the soldier to get by for a few days, at least. He wasn''t sure what he was going to do after that.
Richard laid down, and then further camouflaged himself by scattering some of the fallen leaves over the blanket that he was wrapped in. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to be able to fall asleep after everything I¡¯ve been through today. But he felt exhausted to the bone; he didn¡¯t remember getting any real sleep since he had been on the plane a lifetime ago.
He fell asleep quickly.
Chapter 6
Richard woke up to the sun shining into the low area of the forest that he had been sleeping in. Every part of his body ached, unused to the exercise he had put it through the day before. It took him a minute to remember where he was and what was going on, then he froze as he heard voices in the forest.
He carefully lifted his head up above ground level and looked through the bushes around his sleeping area. He saw a group of men walking past him, about a half mile to the north and moving west. They were wearing chain-mail and walking carelessly through the leaves on the ground, so they were easy to hear. Richard couldn''t make out what they were saying, but one of them was laughing.
It looks like they''re still searching. Richard thought. I hope that means they haven''t found Evelyn. But it could be a problem for me.
Moving slowly, trying not to make any noise, Richard carefully lowered himself back to the ground, and stayed absolutely still until the men had passed out of earshot. Once it was clear, he quickly stowed his blanket back into his backpack and crawled out of his bushes.
Let''s see. The rising sun on my left must be the east. Wait, can I even assume that in this world? I guess I have to. Ok. So, the town Evelyn suggested we meet is northwest of here, but that''s the area all those soldiers are searching in. Maybe if I go south and west, I can circle around, cross that road, and come up to the town from a different direction?
Staying low to the ground and trying not to make much sound, Richard climbed out of the bushes and decided to head south-west for now, to hopefully get farther away from where the groups of soldiers were searching. He stayed low, moving in a crouch, knowing that in this open and flat forest a person standing up could be spotted from some distance away, and avoided stepping on branches or anything that would make a lot of noise. I''m better at this then I should be...that pathfinder skill must be helping.
He traveled that way for a few hours. Walking in a low crouch like that was becoming painful for his back, but he was reminded of why he was doing it when he heard voices again, in the distance behind him. He moved behind a thick tree, standing up and leaning his back against it as to not create much of a profile, and froze, waiting until this group passed by him as well. He resisted the temptation to peek around the tree and look at them, that kind of movement was likely to get him spotted.
Skill earned, Stealth (1)
He stayed there until he couldn''t hear the soldiers anymore, and then waited a while longer, before starting to move again.
He noticed he was doing a much better job of trying to remain quiet as he moved through the forest now. Amazing how these skills work...it just feels to me like I''ve spent a long time practicing moving quietly through a forest, staying low, keeping trees and undergrowth between myself and the area to the north where I expect soldiers to be.
This time though, he didn''t feel that strange disconnect between his Skill and his conscious mind that he had with that Riding skill. Maybe because I''ve been trying to do this myself for real for the past few hours, in a dangerous situation, and trying to learn it for myself. Ikar was right about that.
He didn''t tire quite as quickly as he had yesterday, but he still had to stop and rest every few hours. By evening, he was in rougher terrain now, rockier, and hillier. A low creek cut through a hill at one point, and he decided to follow the creek south for a bit, rather than go up the side of the hill and risk being spotted. The creek cut lower into the earth, with stone and dirt cliffs rising up 20 feet on both sides of the narrow gully he was walking down.
People on Earth get killed in gullies like this if they''re hiking down them when a flood happens, he thought nervously. Then again that''s probably the least of my risks right now.
He stopped to drink some water, cupping it in his hands and bringing it up to his mouth. Running water like this is probably safe to drink, at least on Earth it''s supposed to be safer then stagnant water. He drank several more gulps of water and pulled out a water skin he had had been carrying in his backpack and filled it up.
When he stood back up, he heard a groaning sound behind him. He turned and saw someone staggering down the creek towards him. The person slowly staggering towards him looked normal on the left side of his body, but the right side looked black and twisted. At first Richard thought the man had been badly burned, but that didn''t seem right, it was more like his body was stretched, or warped. The right side of his face looked blackened and hung limp; the right side of his mouth was hanging open, and his right eye seemed to be covered up by blackened flesh hanging down over it from his eyebrow. His right leg didn''t look like a leg at all, instead it was a bizarre blackened shape, curving off to his right with a shape like a hockey stick, which he dragged behind him along the rocks of the creek bed. His right arm was also too long, it was a tube of blackened flesh that dangled almost to his knee and didn''t seem to have any hand or fingers at the end of it, or even an elbow, just a long black tube that came to a hard, black spike where a hand should be. The man had on a tattered long tunic and loose pants that were partly shredded.
¡°Hello?¡± Richard said. ¡°Are...are you ok?¡± The words sounded stupid to him as he said them, but he didn''t know what else to say.
The thing groaned and kept moving towards him. Richard noticed another similarly warped man walking down the creek several feet behind him, this one also looking like he was half human and half...something else. Richard had a very bad feeling about this, and turned to run, only to see several more warped men coming down the creek from the other direction. They seemed to be crawling up out of a small hole or cave Richard hadn''t noticed in the rocky stone wall behind him. Each one was warped in a different way, but they all had major parts of their body distorted into long blackened parts. Some could walk, two of them whose entire lower bodies seemed to be a black elongated mess could only crawl on their hands, dragging their lower bodies behind them. All had the same creepy blank look in whatever was left of their face.
He quickly ran through options in his head. I have a sword, and a dagger, but I have no idea how to use either of them, and there are at least 6 of those things coming towards me. They seem to be slow moving, I could probably outrun them, if I could get to open ground. I don''t think I can get past them, not in this narrow gully. Which only leaves...He quickly ran to the side of the gully and started to climb his way up.
The first few steps weren''t bad, there was a bit of a path that had been worn in the rock by water, but after that the climb got more difficult. Richard had tried wall climbing a few times back on Earth, but he didn''t really have the upper body strength for it. Fortunately, the rocky face was broken up, with a lot of good footholds, and he was able to scramble his way up, one step at a time.
As he got higher, now about ten feet off the ground, the cliff in front of him became steeper. He looked down and saw a few of the warped men climbing up the cliff below him. They were moving slowly, none of them had all of their limbs intact, but they seemed to be managing to inch their way up by wedging the deformed black things they had instead of arms and legs into cracks in the cliff as their human hands and feet got purchase on other spots.
Richard tried to climb more quickly. His right leg found a narrow ledge that jutted about an inch out from the wall, and he managed to put his weight on that while pulling up with his arms. His left foot found a crack in the wall that he could wedge his toes into, and he kept creeping up the wall. At one point, the rock he was holding onto slipped out under his weight and fell bouncing down the side of the cliff, but he managed to hang on with his other hand, his stomach twisting, and then found another handhold.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He was only a few feet from the top when his luck ran out. The last few feet of the cliffside were dirt, not stone, and he couldn''t find any good hand or footholds to move farther up. He started moving to the left, inching along a narrow ledge, holding onto a rock with his right hand and a root growing out of the side of the cliff with his left hand, and was trying to find another way up, when he felt something grab his right shoe. He kicked down wildly at the warped man, and almost fell backwards off the cliff, but held on by hanging onto the root. The warped man held onto the bottom of his shoe tightly, not letting him go. Richard could see that the warped man''s good leg was resting on a ledge below him, and his blackened arm and leg were both wedged into the cliff. Richard wasn''t sure if the thing was trying to pull Richard down from the cliff or if he was trying to use Richard to pull himself up, but either way, Richard didn''t think he could hold on for much longer.
Richard let go with his right hand and reached down quickly. He wasn''t sure if the root he was holding onto with his left hand was going to hold his weight by itself, but he didn''t have much choice, and decided to take a gamble. He tried to pull out the sword sheathed on his left hip, but his left hip was pressed against the rocky cliff and he couldn¡¯t get the sword loose. He reached down to pry the fingers from the bottom of his shoe, but the warped man was too strong for him and he couldn''t budge them. So instead, Richard yanked on the on the end of the shoelace of his right sneaker, untying the shoe. The untied shoe was pulled off of his foot by the weight of the warped man, and the warped man fell backwards off of the cliff, still clutching Richard''s sneaker. The warped man didn''t make any sound as he fell, or even show any emotion on his face. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, twenty feet below, and then he didn''t seem to be moving.
There were still other warped men climbing up after Richard though, so he had to keep moving. He pushed his right foot into the dirt, feeling the moist earth through his sock, and pulled himself up by the root he was still holding in his left hand. He managed to pull himself high enough, so he could reach up with his right hand and grasp the edge of the cliff. The first time he reached up he came away with just a handful of dirt, but the second time he was able to grab onto a thick tuft of grass and was able to use that to help pull himself up to get his left foot up to a small ledge. He finally managed to scramble up over the edge, and lay there for a second, gasping for breath.
I should run he thought but didn''t feel like he had the energy. He quickly checked his status and saw that he only had 3 sp left after that desperate climb. If I try to run now, I won''t get very far before I collapse and then they''ll catch up with me.
He looked down the edge of the cliff. Two more of the warped men were slowly climbing up towards him. A third had tried but had fallen, along with the one he had pushed down, and he saw the other two crawling around the bottom of the gully, both looking too deformed to even try to climb.
Richard was standing on rocky, hilly soil by the edge of the cliff, and he grabbed a rock the size of his fist and threw it down at one of the warped men climbing up after him. The first rock he threw missed completely, but he threw a second one down, and this one struck the warped man on the shoulder. He threw a third rock, and this time, it struck him right in the head, and the warped man fell.
The last warped man paused for a second, looking up at Richard with eyes that seemed almost soulless, and Richard threw another stone down at him. This one struck the thing right in the center of its face, breaking his nose, and a thick blackish blood started to ooze out of it. The warped man didn''t make a sound or show any sign of pain, and just kept slowly climbing up. Richard continued throwing rocks down at the warped man, striking him several more times, and finally he fell as well.
The few warped men still in the gully seemed to realize that they weren''t going to win this and started crawling away. Richard threw a few more rocks after them and screamed at them. ¡°Get out of here! Get away from me, whatever the fuck you are!¡± They crawled away back down the gully, and he saw them crawl back down into the hole he had seen them come out of.
Richard''s heart was racing, and he got to his feet and stumbled away from the cliff. Within a few steps he realized that walking with one shoe wasn''t going to work very well, so he took off his other shoe and put it in his backpack, and then started walking away from the cliff in his socks. He almost threw the other shoe away rather than carry it, but he couldn''t bring himself to do it. It was probably the only Earth sneaker anywhere on this world.
For your risky but effective maneuvers during combat, you have earned +9 High Stakes points and +6 Cunning points.
Level up, human (3). Max SP +3. Max HP +2. Human racial trait: explorer acquired. HP and SP restored.
Thank the gods for that. Richard had felt too bone tired to move, certainly too tired to run, and he did not want to have to stop and rest here until his stamina came back. There were still some of those things left and it seemed likely they could find another way to get up here. But with that level up he suddenly felt refreshed, as if he''d just rested for hours, and so he started moving again.
Hopefully there aren''t any of those soldiers around here. If there are they probably heard that battle and are headed here already. No longer bothering to be quiet, he took off at a jog, heading west towards the setting sun. Even with his skill at traveling through the forest, running without shoes was not fun and he frequently stepped on something hard or jagged that hurt. Twice he had to stop to pull thorns out of his feet. He kept moving though; he didn''t want to deal with any more things like those ¡°abominations¡± tonight.
Skill earned, Pathfinder (forest) (2)
He jogged through the forest until it was too dark to see where he was going. There was a quarter moon tonight, not enough light. He kept walking through the dark, for a little while, wanting to get a little farther away from whatever that was behind him, and then decided it was time to stop for the night before he hurt himself or started going in circles.
Looking for a safe place to sleep, he decided to climb a massive oak tree. He had never been much of a tree climber, not even when he was a child, but he climbed this one surprisingly easily, pulling himself up from one large branch to the next. About 10 feet off the ground, he pulled himself up onto a large branch wider then he was, swung his legs up onto it so he was sitting on the branch with his back to the tree. He took the rope out of the backpack and wrapped it around himself and the branch, tying himself onto the branch so he wouldn''t fall off in his sleep. He also tied his backpack to the branch, so it couldn''t fall off either. He pulled out some more of the dried jerky the soldier had been carrying, pulled the dirty blanket over himself, and ate the jerky while sitting there on the tree branch, looking up at the stars.
The stars were beautiful. You couldn''t see anything like this in the college town he had lived in. Richard had a couple of times dragged his friends out to the middle of nowhere to camp out and stargaze; they probably thought he was crazy driving for hours to get to the mountains just to sit on sleeping bags and look at the stars, but they humored him and they all had a good time. Even there, though, it wasn''t anything like this. He could see more stars here than you could see from anywhere he''d ever been on Earth.
Richard did see familiar constellations in the sky, though. This world might have been totally different than Earth, but the stars looked the same. He could see Leo, and Ursa Major. It looked like the same sky you would see from the northern hemisphere on Earth at this time of year in April, as far as he could tell, so wherever he was now it seemed like it was still the same time of year as it had been on Earth.
Maybe this is some kind of parallel universe, then. Richard thought. He hadn''t had much time to think about the big questions of where he was and what was happening, but he thought about it now. All the obvious theories were in his mind; he could be in another world, of one kind or another, or he could have had his mind uploaded to a of computer simulation. Or I could be crazy he thought, but couldn¡¯t take the thought seriously; everything here seemed too real to be a hallucination or delusion.
While his mind spun with unanswered questions, the physical exertion he had put himself through today was far more than he was used to, and he felt his eyes slowly close, and he drifted off into sleep.
Chapter 7
¡°Goodbye, Richard. Like the quest says, try not to die.¡±
Gods, I hope I didn''t summon Ikar''s Champion to this world only to get him killed the first day he arrives. I don''t know if Ikar would forgive me for that.
Evelyn ran off towards the west. She saw Richard hesitate for a second, before he turned and headed off towards the south like she had asked him to, and she silently breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way she could keep him safe right now if he stayed with her.
She ran, hearing the howl of the hounds a distance behind her. She could run much faster in the woods than Richard could, but the people behind her likely could outpace her in the woods. She had spent much of her childhood in these woods, but that didn''t mean she could outrun someone with a [Hunter] or [Scout] class, at least not over a long distance. She was going to have to do something to throw the dogs off.
She ran for another 10 minutes, making sure she was a good distance away from where she separated from Richard, and then stopped in a clearing in the woods. She saw the plant that she was looking for, piperaceae. Sometimes used by herbalists or potion-makers, it was well known for having a very strong smell and was sometimes purified and used as a spray to blind opponents.
Pulling several piperaceae shrubs out of the ground, she quickly piled them up in the middle of the clearing. Just handling the leaves with her bare hands, she could feel a little bit of the burning of the plant''s oil irritating her skin. I have to remember to not touch my eyes after this.
Once she had a large pile of the plants sitting in the middle of the clearing, she called upon mana, feeling it move into her skin from the surrounding forest, and used her affinity to transform into fire mana. Holding that mana, she cast a spell. The standard flame bolt spell was a set of arcane syllables that after much practice she could now chant in seconds without making a mistake, but this was a variant that she didn''t use very often, and it was more complicated and trickier to get right. Still, she managed to channel the spell, and could feel the energy for the Delayed Firebolt appear in the air above her like a storm about to break. Before it could, she ran off in a different direction than she had entered the clearing from, heading northeast now, hoping to confuse her pursuers.
A few minutes later, she saw a sudden flash of flame behind her, followed by a very different kind of howl from the dogs and yelling from the men. She hoped that meant that the delayed firebolt had stuck the piperaceae just before the dogs got there and had created an unpleasant, stinging cloud of pepper smoke that would prevent the dogs from tracking anyone for hours if they got a face full of it.
I don''t get ¡°notifications¡± like Richard described, but hopefully next time I check my Status books I''ll see that Ikar awarded me with a few points of cunning for that one.
She ran on, changing directions a few times, but after that she no longer heard any dogs behind her.
As she traveled, there were several times that she saw groups of what were clearly the Duke''s soldiers traveling through the woods. They didn''t seem to have any idea where she was though, and it didn''t look like any of them were trained woodsmen, as they made lots of noise as they tromped through the woods talking to each other. They were fairly easy to avoid. I''m guessing they''re following orders to search, but none of them really *want* to be the ones to actually find the hostile mage who is practicing forbidden magic.
After traveling for a few more hours and avoiding several more groups of soldiers, she was able to get to the outskirts of the town of Bromwich by evening. Bromwich was not part of the Duke''s lands, and his men were unlikely to come this far, as that might start a war. The old growth forest she had been walking through became more uneven and broken as she got into areas where some trees had been cut down for firewood or lumber, which slowed her down, but she took an old path she knew through the smaller trees and underbrush and came out of the forest behind a farm. Standing out of sight for a few moments, she observed the farm house. Not spotting anything unusual, she carefully walked around the fields and knocked on the front door of the farmhouse.
A large man came to the door. He was tall with wild, curly black hair, deeply tanned skin, a heavy beard, and was wearing a tunic. ¡°Evelyn? Is that you?¡±
She smiled. ¡°Hi, Harry. It''s I...well, I''ve gotten myself in some trouble, I''m afraid. Can I come in?¡±
He smiled. ¡°Of course, you have.¡± He leaned forward and hugged her tightly for a minute. ¡°Come in, please, Kateryn will be happy to see you.¡±
After Harry led Evelyn into the farmhouse and had sat down by the fireplace, Kateryn came in from the back room, and did not look happy to see her. ¡°Evelyn.¡± She paused. ¡°What have you been up to, exactly? The constable has been all around town asking people if they''ve seen you.¡±
Evelyn sighed. ¡°Something stupid and dangerous.¡± She paused. ¡°Big things are going on here. Bigger than me. Can you please go into town and ask Padre Stevenson to come here and speak with me? I probably shouldn''t be seen in public, and I need to talk to him. It''s...Ikar''s business.¡±
Kateryn shook her head. ¡°Stupid and dangerous, huh? Then of course it''s Ikar''s business.¡± Finally, she stopped and hugged Evelyn. ¡°I am glad to see you, girl. You know,¡± she glared at her husband for a second ¡°my mother always told me I shouldn''t get involved with followers of Ikar, that you guys always get mixed up in things that are stupid and dangerous...¡±
Harry laughed, and kissed Kateryn. ¡°But if you weren''t married to someone like me, just think of how bored you would be...¡± Harry winked, and Kateryn started laughing.
¡°Evelyn, of course you know we''ll help you, no matter what trouble you''ve gotten into. You''ve been like a daughter to Harry and me.¡± She looked at Harry. ¡°I need to go into town anyway to buy a few things. I''ll let your Padre know that Evelyn is here.¡±
¡°Kateryn, do me a favor and also give a message to Alana down at the inn. A young man might come in looking for me, hopefully in the next day or two. Um, he might ask for me by the name ''Red''. About 6 feet tall, thin, probably wearing strange clothes, and he might be acting in a strange or awkward way. If he comes in, have her tell him that I''m safe, get him food, drinks, and ask to get him to stay there and wait. Let him stay in a room if she has one. I''ll pay her back for it.¡±
Kateryn raised an eyebrow ¡°A young man, huh? Is he...hmmm...trouble?¡± She laughed. ¡°Ok, ok, I won''t pry. Harry, stay here with Evelyn. I''ll be back.¡±
Harry nodded. As Kateryn left, he went into the back room of the house and got out his old quarterstaff and his hunting bow and arrows, and sat by the window near the front door.
Evelyn looked over. She wanted to tell Harry he didn''t need to worry and stand guard by the window like that, but she honestly wasn''t sure if that was true. ¡°Thanks, Harry.¡± She walked over and sat next to him.
He shifted over to let her sit. ¡°So, have you been practicing your staff fighting like I taught you? Or, I guess now that you''re a mage you don''t need to worry about that?¡±
She shrugged. ¡°I haven''t had time to practice it much lately, but...it did help me the other day. It might have saved my life.¡±
He smiled and put an arm over her shoulder. ¡°Glad to hear it helped.¡± He turned and looked at her. ¡°You look exhausted. Why don''t you go take a nap? I''ll wake you when Padre gets here.¡± He paused. ¡°If anyone else comes here looking for you, I want you to go down and hide in the root cellar. You remember how to get down there?¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Evelyn nodded. There was a trap door on the floor of the back room that opened up to a small, dark cellar with just an old unstable wooden ladder going down into it. The trap door blended right into the floor and wasn''t obvious unless you knew it was there. When she was younger, right after Harry and Katelyn Hatch let her move in with them, she had been terrified of going down there.
¡°Ok. Go get a little sleep, you look like need it.¡±
She nodded again and went back to the bedroom.The small bed Harry had built for her years ago was still there, along the left wall of the room. She was a little bit too tall for it these days, but she didn''t care; it felt like home. She took her boots off and let herself fall into bed.
It felt like she''d only had her eyes closed for a second, but she must have fallen asleep because it was dark outside when Harry coughed to wake her up. ¡°Evelyn, the Padre is here, and so are some...friends.¡±
Evelyn woke up quickly and walked back out into to the room part of the farmhouse.
Padre Jehan Stevenson, the town''s priest of Ikar, was already sitting in their main room. He was an older man, probably in his 50''s or 60''s now, but still strong and spry; he wasn''t wearing religious vestments right now (he usually didn''t) and was instead wearing a vest, so it was easy to see that despite his age and his holy ordination, he was still had the upper body strength of his other job, blacksmith. There weren''t a lot of followers of Ikar in the town. It also probably didn''t help that the kinds of divine magic a priest of Ikar could call upon, while powerful, were often considered less consistent and reliable than from other kinds of priests, so fewer people were willing to come to him to ask for healing or blessings than one of the other priests in town. So, he spent most of his time working another profession.
Four other people were here as well, sitting on one side of the table, across from Kateryn. A young man who Evelyn remembered had become Jehan''s blacksmithing apprentice, although she couldn''t remember his name. Two other people she recognized as believers from the weekly religious services. She didn''t recognize the fourth man, but he looked like an adventurer passing through town; he was wearing mismatched pieces of armor, many of which looked magical, on different parts of his body, and was carrying two swords, one on each hip. It wasn''t unusual to see an adventurer at one of Ikar''s religious services.
All four of them were carrying swords and looked at her in a suspicious way. Harry stared back at them, holding onto his quarterstaff.
¡°Evelyn, I need you to answer some questions for me, and I will be using a divine blessing to confirm that you are telling the truth.¡± Jehan''s voice had a firm tone of iron in it, one Evelyn hadn''t heard much from him before. ¡°I''m sorry that this is necessary, I would like to trust you, but there are certain things we have to establish as fact before we move on. Do you understand?¡±
Evelyn nodded. She was expecting something like this. ¡°Yes, Jehan.¡±
¡°I am going to ask you questions, and I don''t want you to give clever or equivocal answers or for you to try to get around the truth spell with things that sound like one thing but mean another. Ikar knows how good you are at that. I just want you to answer yes or no. Do you understand?¡±
She licked her dry lips nervously. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Ikar, with the blessing of Cunning, I ask that you grant me the Vizier''s Gift to Detect Untruth.¡± A faint glow appeared in the air around Jehan. ¡°Now, Evelyn, first question; have you been consorting or making bargains with demons?¡±
¡°No.¡±
The glow around him got brighter, slightly. ¡°Truth.¡± He nodded, and a little bit of the tension went out of the room. "Have you been practicing any of the forbidden types of necromancy?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Truth, again.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Have you been using any kind of mind magic to control the minds of other humans against their will?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Truth. Have you been drawing corrupted mana from another world, or summoning creatures from a world fallen into darkness?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Truth. Have you, in fact, been using any forbidden type of magic?¡±
She hesitated. ¡°Yes.¡±
The room went absolutely silent.
¡°Ok. This next question, I want to answer as directly and briefly as possible. What kind of forbidden magic have you been using?¡±
¡°Wild magic.¡±
Everyone else slid their chairs back, inching away from her, even Harry. But Jehan merely nodded and looked relieved. ¡°Have you been practicing any other kind of forbidden magic?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Truth.¡± Jehan looked around the table and nodded. ¡°Ok, it''s not as bad as we feared.¡±
The adventurer blinked. ¡°Not as bad as you feared? The girl is using WILD MAGIC. Padre, with all due respect, are you insane?¡±
¡°The churches of Ikar never agreed with adding wild magic to the list of forbidden magics. It is not an evil magic, not one that corrupts the soul or allows darkness into the world, and for many thousands of years, wild mages were vital in protecting humanity from the monsters.¡±
The adventurer shook his head. ¡°That may be the case, but using it today is fucking stupid! She''s as likely to blow up half the town as she is to do anything useful!¡±
The priest merely nodded. ¡°Yes, it is, as you say, fucking stupid. But Ikar doesn''t have a problem with people taking fucking stupid risks for a worthy cause.¡±
That silenced the adventurer for a moment, and the priest turned back to Evelyn.
¡°Are you still an acolyte of Ikar?¡±
¡°Yes. I could cast gambler''s blessing and prove it, but I already cast it once today; I can do it tomorrow if you want...¡±
The priest shook his head. ¡°No need, I can tell you are telling the truth.¡± He turned back to the adventurer. ¡°Ikar hasn''t turned his back on her, as he would have if she had violated his laws. I will not either. If you don''t want to be a part of this, you may leave; I just ask that you not tell anyone what you have heard here today.¡±
The adventurer shook his head slowly. ¡°Alright, I''ll help.¡± He turned and glared at her. ¡°But no wild magic anywhere close to me, no matter what happens, or I''m out, understand?¡±
She nodded.
The adventurer stuck his hand out. ¡°I¡¯m Bertrand. And I¡¯m glad to hear that you aren¡¯t mixed up in any demon summoning or anything like that. Your Padre here insisted that he believed in you, but Magelight Academy had delivered a magical message to each town around here that you had been found meddling with forbidden magics and offered a reward for you.¡±
Jehan nodded and turned to Evelyn. ¡°The mayor will want to have you arrested and sent back to the Magelight Academy, where you will probably be either executed or stripped of all ability to practice magic. He wants the town to look good politically and won''t listen to me if I try to change his mind. I don''t think many other citizens would speak out in your favor either; people are too afraid of wild magic these days. So, Evelyn, we''re going to quietly send you away from here. We can help you get away to safety, to one of our temples in the large cities. No bounty hunters will be able to find you there. Even if someone did recognize you there, kidnapping an acolyte out of one of the grand temples of Ikar is usually beyond their pay scale. After a few years everything will probably settle down and people will forget about this. You can even continue in your studies of magic in the meantime, or else focus on developing your divine path...¡±
She shook her head. ¡°Jehan, I appreciate it, but we have bigger problems than hiding me from bounty hunters right now. Ikar has summoned an otherworldly hero from a world quite far from here and has made him his Champion.¡±
Jehan stopped talking. ¡°Truth.¡± He paused. ¡°Ikar has a champion in the world again? Now, after all this time? You met Ikar''s Champion?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
Jehan''s eyes got wide. ¡°If it wasn''t for the truth spell, I don''t know if I would be able to believe you. Where is this Champion?¡±
Evelyn sighed. ¡°He is in the woods south of here, somewhere. I hope. We had to separate to lose the men chasing me.¡± She paused. ¡°Ikar apparently told this man that he has great potential. And I believe that, I have a feeling that Richard could be very important someday, but...right now, he has no combat skills, no classes, no levels, no way to defend himself. He comes from a peaceful world and as far as I can tell has never fought a real fight or had a day of hardship in his life. He''s basically as helpless as a child, and the most likely scenario is that he is wandering around lost in a dangerous forest full of hostile soldiers and who knows what else.¡±
Jehan shook his head slowly, trying to wrap his head around the situation. ¡°Why would these soldiers be hostile to this champion? Weren''t they just after you?¡±
¡°They were, but...the champion helped me fight some of them. Um. In a sense. More like he...fell on them.¡± Her face turned red slightly. ¡°He also may have had to, erm, steal a pair of pants from one of the soldiers.¡±
The room went silent again, for a beat, then two. Then Jehan started laughing. Everyone turned at the priest and looked at him strangely.
¡°Friends¡± he said between bouts of laughter ¡°when you''ve been a follower of Ikar for as long as I''ve been, you start to recognize His fingerprints in certain events that He''s orchestrated. And when Ikar makes a good joke, it''s your sacred duty to laugh.¡±
There was another long pause, and then the Harry, the priest, the adventurer, and the other three followers of Ikar in the room all started laughing together, a deep belly laugh that filled the room. The only people not laughing were Evelyn, who just became more and more embarrassed, and Kateryn, who rolled her eyes at the almost predictable lunacy of her husband and the other followers of Ikar.
Chapter 8
Richard woke up to the sun rising over the horizon; he could see the horizon easily over the forest from his position in the branch of the tree he was sitting on. A blue notification box popped up in front of his face as soon as he was awake.
Using physical training, you have improved your endurance. +1 END
I guess I''ve had more exercise over the past two days then I''d had in years.
¡°Status¡±
Name: Richard
Race: Human (3)
Class: None
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 6
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 66 (Max: 66)
SP: 28 (Max 28)
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar
Humor: 12
Cunning: 6
High Stakes: 9
Glory: -918
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience for discovering and exploring new locations.
Skills:
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +20% to movement speed through a forest. -20% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (1): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (1): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +1 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +1 damage.
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
I wonder what it means to ¡°discover¡± or ¡°explore¡± a location? I wonder what counts as a location? Richard wondered. Evelyn would probably know.
He sighed. I hope Evelyn is ok.
It does look like my SP has gone up a little bit with that boost to endurance, and it also went up when I gained levels. Maybe I can move a little more quickly today.
He carefully untied himself and his backpack from the tree, climbed back down to the ground, and took stock of his situation.
He was barefoot, unfortunately. He had one shoe in his bag, and the muddy and damaged remains of his socks. He sat down against the tree, drank the rest of the water he had in his waterskin, and ate some more of the salted and dried food he had taken from the soldier. Not much of that was left either.
He did still have the weapons he and Evelyn had taken from the soldier. The sword, which he carried on the scabbard on his left hip, and the dagger, which he had strapped around his chest in a smaller scabbard under his shirt. Carefully, he drew the sword out, and tried a few slashing motions with it. At least it wasn''t that heavy, nothing like that great sword he''d tried to use his brief time as champion of Toran. It still felt awkward and cumbersome to swing it, and he was well aware he didn''t really know anything about sword fighting beyond what he''d seen in a few Hollywood movies.
I wonder if I would just stand here and wave a sword around like an idiot for a while, would that count as ¡°training¡±? Probably not. He put the sword back away. Although apparently, I have a skill at throwing rocks at people now? He picked up a couple of hand sized rocks and put them in the side pockets of his backpack where he could easily reach them.
Anyway, I don''t have time to mess around right now. I have to get to that town Evelyn was talking about, see if she''s ok. Then maybe I can find out more about this world and make a longer-term plan.
...what would a longer-term plan even look like? All I know is that I want to ¡°try not to die¡±, and I''m apparently a champion of a god. Beyond that, I don''t know anything. Am I supposed to eventually defeat all those orcs? Fight a dark lord? Throw a ring into a volcano?
He shook his head. Worry about that later. For now, I need to keep moving.
Heading to the west, away from the direction of the rising sun, he walked quickly through the forest. He had a much easier time moving then he had the day before and avoided stepping on anything that would hurt his bare feet. By midday he had passed through the forest and reached a road.
You have now partly explored White Deer Wood. +62.5 EXP
You have discovered Old River Road. +12.5 EXP
Old River Road was much narrower than the road he had seen yesterday. It was primarily dirt, but he could see bits of old cobblestone in spots that made him think the road had once been paved.
Richard didn''t see anyone within eyesight on the road, and so he crossed it quickly and ducked into the undergrowth on the other side.
His original thinking was that he would cross the road, travel farther west, and then circle around and come to the town from a different direction. However, as he crossed the road, he realized that but only a few hundred yards past Old River Road was, well, a river. A wide, slow-moving, muddy river, with occasional pieces of wood or leaves drifting down it.
Not sure why I didn''t see that one coming.
Richard walked towards the river and found that alongside of the river was a trail, parallel to the road. It was far enough away from the road so that nobody on the road would likely see him through the underbrush.
I guess I''m less likely to run into anyone while on that trail then on the main road, and I still want to try to avoid those soldiers. He started running up the trail north, alongside the river.
Running along the path was much easier than trying to run through the woods, at least, especially barefoot. He fell into a jog, paying attention to keep his breathing even as he ran. He had done some jogging back on Earth, and always found it relaxing, even if he hadn''t had time to really get out and jog for the past few years.
Skill level confirmed, Jogging (3)
Level up, human level 4. +1 END, +4 additional max HP, +1 max SP. HP and SP restoredThe author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Richard was jogging along the path, making pretty good time, when he heard a strange ¡°shloop¡± sound in the mud to his left. He turned and looked and saw...something...climbing up out of the river towards him, up the muddy bank.
It looked humanoid but didn''t look like any person he''d ever seen before. It had long green hair, and pointed green teeth in its open mouth, and a pig-like nose. Its skin was covered by what looked like fish scales, and it had a long lizard tail between its two legs. It had two short fin-like arms, with claws across the front of them.
It hissed at him and tilted its head sideways. A lizard-like tongue flickered in and out of its mouth, tasting the air.
Richard started backing up quickly. Not wanting to turn his back on that thing, his legs started quickly carrying him backwards down the path. The creature hesitated, and then started to run after him. It was fast.
Richard was now running backwards as fast as he could, still facing the thing. He grabbed one of the rocks out of his back and threw it at the creature, the rock bouncing off the deep blue scales in the center of its chest. The creature hissed again and continued to close on Richard. The second rock Richard threw missed completely, striking the dirt in front of the thing, while the third hit it in the face. It stopped for a second and blinked, then started running towards Richard again.
Richard pulled out his sword and swung it wildly at the creature. The creature stopped and dodged backwards, easily avoiding the blade. Richard slashed at the air in front of him a second and a third time, backing up slowly and waving the sword back and forth in front of him like a baton. He didn''t really think he would be able to hit the creature but hoped he could at least keep it at a distance.
The creature stayed out of reach of the sword but kept advancing on Richard as Richard backed up. It leaned forward slightly and snapped its teeth towards Richard''s face. Richard wildly swung the sword up towards the creature''s head. The creature easily ducked under the sword blow, as if it had been expecting that, and brought both sets of claws up raking across the bottom of Richard''s arms. Richard cried out in pain and dropped the sword.
You have acquired the status condition (Bleeding), -2 HP per minute.
Dammit, I think that damn fish-man-thing just outsmarted me ran through Richard''s head as he wildly backpedaled, his hands empty now, and blood coming from both of his arms. He only had one weapon left, the dagger he''d gotten from the soldier which Richard had been carrying tucked inside his shirt on his chest. He pulled it out and held it up between him and the creature, his hand wavering and unsteady, as he kept backing up. The creature crouched down and rushed towards him, crouched down and charging headfirst like a football linesman, and Richard threw the dagger towards the creature.
The dagger flipped in the air, once, twice, and then as if by a miracle the blade struck directly into the front of the creature''s face as it charged forwards. It sunk several inches deep, and the creature suddenly collapsed, its momentum still carrying it forwards as it slammed into the ground.
1 Merrow-Man defeated, +350 EXP
Skill earned: Thrown weapon (daggers) (1)
Skill earned: Thrown weapon (rocks) (2)
Skill earned: Parting shot (1)
For throwing your last weapon at an enemy you have earned +10 High Stakes points
Fuck. That thing almost killed me. Richard bent forward and gasped for air. Let me get my weapons and get the hell out of here before any more of those things come out of the river.
Richard grabbed his sword and it back in his scabbard. The dagger was a bit harder; the damn thing seemed to actually be stuck in the skull of what the notification window had helpfully called a ¡°merrow-man¡±. He had to wiggle the dagger back and forth a bit to get it out, which (along with the blood loss) gave him kind of a queasy feeling, but he pushed through it. Once he had the dagger out, he left the trail and pushed through the underbrush to get away from the river and back to the road.
When he got back to the road, he was starting to stumble, and was surprised to see a group of men with swords and crossbows ready pointing in his direction. They were standing around a wagon, and most seemed to have the same kind of leather armor.
¡°Hey, kid! Who are you, and what just happened over there?¡± the one man shouted at him.
Richard froze. ¡°I was attacked by a merrow-man. I killed it.¡±
The man looked at the scratches on Richard''s arms, and nodded. ¡°Are there any more of them?¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°Not that I saw, but I got away from the river before any more could come out.¡±
¡°Ok. You two, go check it out.¡± He pointed to two of his men, who nodded. Then he looked at Richard. ¡°Just put your weapon away and relax while we get this sorted out. We''re just here to guard this wagon until we get to town.¡±
Richard nodded, and sat down. He almost collapsed, in fact. Once he sat down, he pulled out a few rags from his backpack and used them to bandage his arms, and then took another rag, and used it to clean the blood from the dagger before putting it back into its sheath.
A few minutes later, the two men came back. ¡°Yeah, it''s as he said. Full grown merrow-man. Looks like he managed to kill the thing with one stab to the center of the face. Very professionally done. I didn''t see signs of any more of them, but I didn''t hang around to see either.¡±
The leader of the guards nodded and looked back at Richard. ¡°So, you an adventurer?¡±
Richard hesitated. ¡°Not...well, not really. Not yet.¡±
The man laughed. ¡°Oh, so looking to get into it, huh? Well, it seems like you can take care of yourself, that''s a good start. You know there''s a bounty on those things?¡± The man paused. ¡°Why don''t you walk with us, and once we get into town, I''ll vouch for you that you killed it, so you can collect? Can''t pay you beyond that, but it''d be nice to have another man with us who can take care of himself. Always better to travel in groups on these roads, especially these days, right?¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Yeah, I''d appreciate the company.¡±
The man smiled and reached his hand out. ¡°The name''s Hadrian.¡±
¡°Richard.¡± Hadrian had a very firm handshake.
Richard joined them and talked with several of the guards along as they walked. They were escorting a merchant to Bromwich to trade. The horse-drawn wagon didn''t travel any faster than they could walk and was more for transporting good than for speed, and the guards walked along the road next to the wagon. The merchant and two assistants of his rode in the wagon, talking quietly to each other.
¡°Yeah, being a merchant guard is a pretty decent job for someone with a couple of levels in a combat class,¡± Hadrian said. The man had been talking almost nonstop since meeting Richard. Richard didn''t mind, it was nice hearing a friendly voice. ¡°Although these roads have been getting more dangerous of late.¡±
I really need to see what those skills I got do. ¡°Status.¡± Richard whispered to himself.
Name: Richard
Race: Human (4)
Class: None
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 44 (Max: 71)
SP: 25 (Max 37)
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 12
Cunning: 6
High Stakes: 19
Glory: -918
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Skills:
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +20% to movement speed through a forest. -20% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather than for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Stealth (1): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers) (1): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers. +1 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +1 damage.
Parting shot (1): You have a basic level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -15% to ranged penalty for using thrown or ranged weapons while running or riding.
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
I guess not a lot of people in this world go jogging just for fun, huh?
¡°Oh, checking your status books, huh? Did you just level up?¡± Hadrian asked
Richard waved the screen away. ¡°Uh, I just got a new skill while fighting that Merrow-Man.¡±
¡°Oh? That''s always nice when that happens in a fight. What skill was that?¡±
¡°Parting shot.¡± Richard didn''t want the man to know just how green he was at fighting, but that seemed like a safe one to share.
¡°Oh, that''s a pretty useful one. I don''t see you carrying a bow, though; do you use a lot of thrown weapons?¡±
¡°I''m...pretty good at throwing daggers.¡± Richard exaggerated. ¡°That''s how I killed that Merrow-Man.¡±
Hadrian nodded. ¡°Ah. Not a lot of soldiers spend the time to train at throwing knives, but I''ve known some adventures who did.¡±
They walked down the road, Hadrian talking his ear off the whole time.
About two hours later, a group of 4 of the Duke''s solders were standing by the side of the road. Richard schooled his face to not show any of the dread he felt at seeing them.
¡°Halt. We''re looking for a fugitive, a Mage who is wanted by the Academy for practicing forbidden magics. She''s a young woman, tall and thin, with red hair and a red dress. Have any of you seen anyone like that?¡±
Hadrian shook his head, ¡°No, haven''t seen anyone like that.¡± All the other guards shook their heads as well, and so did Richard, trying to blend in with them.
¡°We''re going to have to look in your wagons, make sure you''re not hiding her or anything else.¡±
Hadrian looked at the merchant. The merchant gave a small nod, and all the guards relaxed slightly. If the merchant had wanted his guards to refuse the soldiers they might have, maybe fought if necessary. He was the one paying them after all. But none of them wanted that to happen.
The merchant stood up and looked at the soldiers. ¡°You may search, just be careful.¡±
The soldier nodded and gestured for two of his men to climb up into the wagon.
There wasn''t really much room for anyone to be hiding in wagon. The back of the wagon was stacked with textiles, cotton and wool sheets that some tailor could make into clothing, towards the front of the wagon they had books and spices.
¡°Lot of books you''re carrying, huh?¡± the leader of the soldiers said.
The merchant nodded. ¡°Yes, you know how it is; most of the people in the Academy have scribe as a minor class, they want to get experience in it, so they''re willing to do a lot of copying for good prices. You want to buy any of them?¡±
The soldier shook his head. ¡°No, thanks. Alright, you can go.¡± He paused. ¡°If any of you do see her, there''s a reward for her, but I wouldn''t suggest trying to take her on yourselves. Just let us know where she is, and we''ll take her and give you half of the reward.¡±
The group of them walked the rest of the way to town in silence; even Hadrian didn''t feel like speaking much after that.
Chapter 9
When they got to the town gates, all the guards relaxed, and started talking again. The town was surrounded by a low fortification. On the outward facing side was a 10-foot-high stone wall, with a heavy wooden fence across the top along the edge, while on the inside, an earthen ramp rose up to the wall, making it easy for anyone from inside the city to walk up to the edge of the wall. It wasn''t something that could keep out invaders by itself, not like the huge things Richard pictured when he thought of castles or city walls, but he could see how it would give defenders of the town an advantage over anyone trying to attack it. A heavy wooden gate was open in front of them.
Location discovered: Bromwich. +60 EXP
The wagon moved slowly, because the streets of town this close to the gate were quite congested with people. The guards stayed with the merchant''s wagon until he got to a large shop near the center of the town. As a few men unloaded the goods into the merchant''s shop, the merchant counted out coins to pay the guards, with Hadrain getting twice as many coins as any of the other guards. The guards laughed and talked about going to the inn and getting something to drink. Richard started to follow them, thinking of the inn Evelyn had told him about, when Hadrain put his hand on Richard''s shoulder. ¡°Didn''t you want to go collect that bounty?"
I guess the inn can wait a few more minutes. Getting some money in my pocket is probably a good idea anyway, I doubt anyone here takes credit cards. After getting this bounty, maybe Hadrain will come back to me to the inn where I''m supposed to meet up with Evelyn. He seems like a good guy to have on your side in a fight, if things go sideways. Richard nodded, and followed Hadrain. Hadrain led Richard into the center of town, and they reached a large building. There was a sign on the front of the building that Richard could easily read as saying ¡°Adventurers and Mercenaries hall¡±
Hadrain led Richard up to a counter that said ¡°Bounties.¡± It reminded Richard of some of the cages he''d seen in casinos back on Earth; it was a three-sided desk against the wall, with iron bars going from the desk up to the roof on all sides, with a door in the back wall. On the front of a desk was a counter with a small gap in the cage, and a man sitting behind the desk.
¡°This man killed a merrow-man by the river, a few hours walk south of town.¡± Hadrain said. ¡°My men confirmed the kill, I can vouch for it.¡±
The man nodded. ¡°Good to see you, Hadrain. Your word is good enough.¡± The man turned. ¡°So, what''s your name?¡±
¡°Richard.¡±
¡°Are you a registered adventurer?¡±
¡°No. Just got into town.¡± Richard hesitated. ¡°Ah...if I wanted to register as an adventurer, how would I do that?¡±
The clerk pointed to a desk on the left side of the hall. ¡°Just sign up over there, pay the fee, and then when someone''s available they will cast Insight on you and record your class and skills.¡±
And then everyone will know I''m a Champion, and that I''m an otherworlder. And that I''m weak.
¡°Maybe some other time, then. I have someone in town I want to meet up with first.¡±
The clerk merely nodded. ¡°Do you have any other bounties to claim?¡±
¡°I did kill 4, uh, abominations, in White Deer Wood.¡±
The clerk stopped and looked at him. ¡°Abominations? Describe them.¡±
Richard described the strange, warped men he fought.
The clerk shook his head. ¡°Where did you find them, and do you think there are more down there?¡±
¡°It was in a gully, where a creek flowed through a hill, with rock cliffs on both sides. They crawled up out of a hole in the ground and ambushed me from both sides. And yeah, there were at least two more that got away from me.¡± More that I got away from them, but this clerk doesn''t need to know that.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
¡°I think know the place you''re talking about. We''ll have get an adventuring team down there to clear them out, before they start to corrupt the area around them.¡± The clerk leaned forward. "If you were a registered adventure with a solid track record I could pay you a bounty for those 4 as well, just on your word, but as it is we have to get confirmation on those kills as well first. Would you be willing to go back there with a group of adventurers, and show them where the abominations were?¡±
Richard shook his head. Going back there was the last thing he wanted to do. ¡°No, I''d rather not.¡±
¡°Ok. If I can get someone down there, and if they can confirm your kills, then we can pay you half of the bounty on them. Come back in a few days. Until then...¡± the clerk counted out 8 silver pieces to Richard. ¡°This is your bounty for the marrow-man.¡±
Achievement earned: Bounty Hunter(novice)-Earn a bounty for slaying a monster. Bonus earned: +1 DEX
Richard took the coins and nodded. Hadrain clapped him on the shoulder, and said ¡°You killed 4 abominations yourself? Hah, I think you''re more of an adventurer than you said you were!¡±
¡°If you believe him.¡± Richard hadn''t noticed, but a handful of people had gathered behind them and were listening to their conversation. The man speaking was wearing full armor and carrying a large sword. ¡°I have my doubts that this man actually killed 4 abominations. It''s us real adventurers who are going to have to go out and waste our time trying to confirm the story of this lying braggart.¡±
Hadrain turned and eyed the guy up and down. ¡°Do you have a problem?¡±
¡°Yes, I have a problem. Look at this man. I do not care if he carries a sword, he is clearly no warrior or adventurer, he is clearly weak and soft. His story does not make any sense. How did you say you killed these abominations, exactly?¡±
¡°I didn''t say. Maybe I threw my shoes at them.¡± Richard pointed down to his bare feet. ¡°Believe what you want. I''ve been through a lot of shit in the past two days, and I don''t have the energy to deal with your bullshit.¡± He started to leave, and the man grabbed him and pushed him. Richard stumbled and almost fell backwards.
Hadrian stood next to Richard and put his hand on his sword. So did the man who had just pushed Richard, and suddenly the whole room grew tense.
Note to self: in the future, avoid being sarcastic towards angry guys with swords.
A woman standing next to the man in armor put her hand on his shoulder.¡°Teodric, this isn''t like you. Have you met this man before?¡±
Richard noticed the woman had pointed ears. Is she an elf? Are there elves in this world?
The man paused, and hesitated. ¡°No, I don''t think I have.¡±
¡°If you accuse a stranger of lying for no reason, and you''re wrong, you will lose Honor in the eyes of Toran, won''t you.¡±
Yeah. With a sinking feeling, Richard''s suspicions of what was going on were confirmed. Of course he is. I knew that ¡°without glory¡± trait would be a problem sooner or later.
¡°I...yes.¡± Teodric paused and pulled himself together. ¡°This isn''t like me, is it?¡±
¡°No; in all the years I''ve known you as a knight and an acolyte of Toran, I''ve never seen you act like this. Come on, let''s get out of here...¡±
The man took one more look at Richard and frowned again but left when the elf with him gave him a nudge and led him to the door.
¡°I wonder what the hell that was about. Thought that guy was about to draw a weapon on us, right here in the middle of the adventurer''s guild.¡± Hadrain paused and looked at some of the posters offering bounties around the counter. ¡°Hey, that might be that woman those soldiers were asking about!¡±
On the wall, among other assorted bounties on both monsters and criminals, was a poster with a rough but recognizable sketch of Evelyn. ¡°Wanted-mage practicing forbidden magic. 5 gold reward if captured. 2.5 gold reward if killed.¡±
¡°Now there''s a bounty that could set up a young adventurer like you for life.¡± Hadrain said, not noticing the sudden stillness on Richard''s face. ¡°Got to say though, I wouldn''t try to capture her. Trying to capture any mage is usually suicide, let alone someone who''s using forbidden magic. If I saw her somewhere I''d just kill her quick, sword in the back before she even knew I was there. I know it''s ugly, but it''s the safest way to deal with a mage...¡±
Richard coughed, and hoped the hand he brought in front of his face hid his expression. I was going to bring this guy to the inn with me to meet Evelyn... ¡°Thanks...thanks for the help collecting the bounty, Hadrain. I really do need to go meet up with some friends in town, but it was nice traveling with you.¡±
Richard quickly dodged Hadrian''s other questions and headed out. He had a pretty good idea of where the inn was from what the other guards had said, but he was now worried Hadrian or someone might try to follow him, so he spent about an hour wandering around town and going into various shops before he circled back around to the inn.
Chapter 10
¡°Hi. I''m a friend of Red''s.¡± Richard said the phrase to the woman working at the inn as calmly and quietly as he could. ¡°She said she would meet up with me here?¡± If she doesn''t know what I''m talking about, I can always just play dumb.
But it seemed she did. The woman serving drinks suddenly stopped and looked him up and down and nodded slowly. ¡°What''s your name?¡±
¡°Richard.¡±
¡°Ok. Follow me.¡± She led him into an empty small side room of the inn. Unlike the simple wooden tables in the rest of the inn, this table was nicer, and had nicer dishes and fancier silverware set up. She didn''t say anything else until they were alone. ¡°Someone is going to come by in a little while and talk to you. A friend of...Red''s. Do you want something to eat?¡±
Richard nodded. He hadn''t had anything but dried jerky and trail food for the past two days, and precious little of that. ¡°How much?¡± Not that I know how much anything is supposed to cost, but at least I have some coins.
She shook her head. ¡°Don''t worry about it, a friend has you covered.¡±
Richard decided it wasn''t wise to ask for more details, so he just nodded, sat down and waited. She brought out some meat stew and a chunk of plain dark bread, and a mug of ale. The food was not terribly fancy, but it was hot, and it smelled good, and Richard dug right in and started eating.
A few minutes later, a man in his 50''s came into the room. ¡°Hello. My name is Jehan Stevenson. I''m a friend of...Red''s, and a priest of Ikar''s. Please, don''t let me interrupt your meal.¡±
Richard instinctively trusted the man, although he wasn''t sure why. The man just had a kind face. ¡°Is she ok?¡± Richard asked, while continuing to eat the stew.
The man nodded. ¡°She is. If you don''t mind, I''m going to ward this room against eavesdroppers before we discuss this any farther.¡±
Richard nodded, and Jehan walked around the room, tracing a finger lightly along the walls, and whispering under his breath. As soon as he had traced a line all the way around the room, there was a sudden silence; the constant background noise of talking and dishes clanking in the main room of the inn and the street sounds were suddenly gone, and suddenly the only thing Richard could hear was his own chewing.
¡°Ok. No one outside this room should be able to listen in on us here now. So yes, to answer your question, Evelyn is safe. She''s just outside of town now, staying with friends.¡± He paused. ¡°Do you know why it''s dangerous for her to come into town?¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Yes, people are hunting for her, because of the whole wild magic thing.¡±
¡°And what do you think about the...whole wild magic thing?¡± Jehan''s expression was blank, giving no hint of his emotions.
Richard hesitated, unsure of what answer Jehan was looking for, and then told him the truth. ¡°I think that if Ikar had a problem with wild magic, then she wouldn''t have been able to summon me with a wild magic spell, even as an accident.¡±
Jehan nodded slowly. ¡°You, specifically, because you are...¡±
Richard hesitated, wondered if he was telling the man too much, but decided he might as well tell him at this point. ¡°I am the Champion of Ikar.¡±
The man nodded, seeming unsurprised. ¡°That''s a pretty bold claim. There hasn''t been a Champion of Ikar for decades, as far as anyone knows. Would you mind if I cast the Insight spell on you?¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°No, that''s fine.¡±
Jehan put his finger to Richard''s forehead, just like Evelyn had. ¡°Omm lash tah insight om di di om insight om lash tah insight om di di om insight...¡±. It sounded like the exact same chant Evelyn had made; again, the word ¡°insight¡± was in some ancient language, not the language people in this world normally spoke, but Richard understood it perfectly. A warm feeling touched the inside of Richard''s brain.
¡°I see. Yes, you are clearly the Champion of Ikar, just like Evelyn said you were.¡± Jehan stood up and gave Richard a small bow. ¡°I am at your service.¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°Please, don''t do that. I haven''t done anything yet.¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°From what Evelyn told me, you''ve only been in this world for 3 days. She was terrified for you, thought you were helpless and vulnerable; we actually sent an adventurer I know down south into the forest to look for you. And not only did you find your way here on your own, in those 3 days, you''ve managed to acquire 9 skills, including 3 combat skills; by the looks of it you have probably fought in multiple battles, and it looks like you even killed something and collected a bounty on it?¡±
Richard coughed. ¡°I got lucky. And I think two of those skills were ones I already had that this world recognized after I used them.¡±
¡°I think you don''t understand how unusual what you''ve already accomplished is.¡± Jehan said. ¡°Sure, you hear stories about a farm boy whose home gets attacked by orcs and somehow fights them off and after the fight gains a sword skill after 20 or 30 minutes of battle without other training and then goes off to become a hero, but really that kind of thing isn''t all that common. Partly because people without skills who end up in combat usually die, but beyond that, learning skills is challenging, even in combat. I''ve never heard of someone learning 7 in 3 days.¡±
Richard paused, and thought. ¡°Honestly, both times I ended up fighting something, I think I mostly got lucky.¡±
Jehan laughs. ¡°Now that, I can believe. Champions of Ikar often get lucky.¡± He paused. ¡°Do you mind telling me about your adventures after you separated from Evelyn?¡±
Richard told Jehan the story. Several times Jehan asked him to stop and describe things in more detail and seemed quite worried when Richard described the ¡°warped men¡± aberrations he fought by the creek.
¡°We''re going to have to make sure that area gets purified. Aberrations like that carry corruption and can spread it wherever they go. They''re a huge danger.¡±
Richard finished the rest of his story, and Jehan nodded. ¡°Your ability to learn skills is as exceptional as Evelyn said. I''ve never heard of anyone getting 3 different skill levels from a single battle before, certainly not from just throwing a couple of rocks and a dagger.¡±
Richard paused. ¡°So...this might be a strange question, but...what am I supposed to do next?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°What do champions...do? What are they for? I mean, maybe that''s a dumb question...¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°It''s not a dumb question, it''s a very deep question. But it''s not one I can answer.¡± He paused. ¡°If history is any guide, it''s likely that you will figure out for yourself what you should do, or can do, and it may be something no one else would have thought of. Every champion is different, and champions of Ikar are often...especially different.¡± He thought some more. ¡°I will say that Evelyn was partly right; at the moment, you are quite vulnerable, and are probably at your greatest risk. A lot of champions have been killed right after they were named, and that goes double for otherworldly heroes. In fact, if the stories I''ve heard are true, it sounds like that may have happened less than a week ago, when Toran supposedly summoned a hero into the world who was killed almost immediately after the summoning¡±.
Richard coughed, almost choking on the stew he was eating.
¡°So, I think you need to decide on what you need or want to do next. And then I can give you advice and help, if you would like to have it.¡±
Richard nodded, and thought. What should I do next? A lot of half-formed thoughts bounced around his head.
¡°I have one suggestion. I saw in your status that you have an education; I presume you know how to read and write?¡±
Richard nodded.
¡°Reading and writing are skills, in this world; if you can demonstrate that you know how to do them, it should be quick to earn them both. Getting those two skills might give you another level in Human, if they''re high level enough, and those two skills can also give you a class. So, to kill two birds with one stone, how about you start by writing down a list of what it is that you think you need or want to do first? Just write down anything, start thinking.¡± Jehan pulled out a rough piece of parchment, and a pen, and handed them to Richard.
¡°Ok. I can do that.¡± Richard often organized his thoughts by writing down lists, and this seemed like a good way to do it. Ok, what do I need to do. Short term priorities, something to get me started.
My priorities:
1. Learn the skills I need to defend myself and stay alive
More running skills?
Sword fighting?
? I don''t even know what else there is.
2. Get more information
Politics of this area?
Monsters? Where do they come from?
How does this world work? Are there laws of science here at all?
Is there any earth technology I can make here? Do I even know how to make any earth technology? Spend some time thinking about this later.
How can I make money in this world?
Everything and anything really.
3. MagicA case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
MAGIC
No, really, MAGIC
How can magic be a thing
I want to learn how to do magic
I really, really, really want to learn how to do magic
How does magic really work, can I figure out stuff about magic people here wouldn''t have thought of maybe?
4. Class?
How do I get a class? What do I need to do?
What classes are there?
5. Stats
Need to get some of my stats up.
Exercise I guess to raise stats? How else can I gain stats?
6. Make a long-term plan.
Save the world?
Richard paused, and thought for a second, and then wrote down one more thing.
7. Buy some shoes.
Richard handed back the scroll to Jehan, and as soon as he did, a message popped up.
Skill level confirmed: Writing (5)
Jehan read what Richard had written, and by the end of the list was laughing hysterically.
You have earned +3 humor points
Once Jehan stopped laughing, Richard asked ¡°I probably should have written down questions about the divine class too. I just earned 3 humor points; do you get those every time you make a joke or something?¡±
Jehan shook his head, still chuckling. ¡°Not really. At least, not quickly. The quick way to get divine virtue points is to use the divine virtues in a good cause, to advance your goals and the goals of Ikar. Every time you get 100 points in one of the virtues, you get a level in your divine class.¡±
Jehan pulled himself together, finally. ¡°Ok. There''s a couple of things here I can answer quickly. You get a class by meeting certain requirements, usually you have to train 3 or 4 specific skills up to a certain level, or 2 skills for a minor class. Sometimes there''s other things you have to do as well. For example, if you wanted to become a Defensive Fighter, you would train the sword weapon skill up to about level 4, Shield Block up to about level 3, and Armor Proficiency up to level 2. When you get all that, you get the Defensive Fighter class at level 1, or maybe higher if some of those skills are really high. The only thing it costs you is that those skills no longer count towards your human experience, so it''ll take you longer to get your next level in human, but most people would rather get levels in a class anyway.¡±
He thought for a minute. ¡°For most people, if you want to learn a trade, say a blacksmith, you take 6 months to a year working full time as an apprentice blacksmith, training up your skills until you can unlock the class. A lot of people around here also unlock a combat class, so they can better defend themselves, but if you''re training 10 hours a week in the town''s militia practice, it still takes you 2 years to unlock a class like Archer or Spearman. That is, for most people. You could probably do it a great deal faster.¡±
Richard nodded.
¡°Ok. I don''t know what you mean by everything on this list exactly, but the things on here seem like a good place to get started. Looking at this list, what on here do you want to do first? What do you care about the most?¡±
Richard hesitated, but really, he already knew the answer. He pointed to ¡°magic¡±.
Jehan smiled. ¡°I thought you would say that.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Honestly, based on some historical champions of Ikar, I''m mostly just glad your first priority isn''t to learn the skill ''Thrown weapon: pies.''¡±
Richard chuckled, although he wasn''t sure if Jehan was kidding.
¡°Ok. So, magic. Most of the ''magic'' I know are actually divine spells, which are granted by a god to his divine classes. You might get some of those from your champion class eventually, I''m not sure. But I know a few arcane magic spells as well, they''re certainly useful and most people can at least learn a few basic ones if they want.¡±
¡°Like that insight spell?¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°Yes, very good. When using an arcane spell, there''s usually a combination of a formal spell chant or rune or something to help give the spell shape, and the will of the caster to focus the fine details. That''s the basic idea, anyway. You can try it right now, if you want.¡± Richard nodded, and Jehan continued. ¡°You want me to write down what you should chant?¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°No thanks, I''ve heard it twice now and it''s easy enough to remember.¡± Jehan looked surprised by that but nodded. ¡°Can I try it now, do you mind? Is it safe?¡±
¡°Yes, it''s safe, I''ve never heard of anyone managing to injure themselves with an insight spell. Go ahead and give it a try.¡±
Richard gently put a finger to Jehan''s forehead, just like Jehan had done to him a few minutes earlier. Jehan nodded, and Richard started to chant.
¡°Omm lash tah insight om di di om insight om lash tah insight om di di om insight...¡±.
A few minutes later, Richard felt a warm pulse pass through his finger and into Jehan''s head and saw Jehan''s status sheet.
Name: Jehan Stevenson
Race: Human (?)
Classes: Blacksmith(?)
Brawler(?)
Scribe(?)
Age: 54
Strength: ?
Dexterity: ?
Constitution: ?
Endurance: ?
Intelligence: ?
Wisdom: ?
Perception: ?
Charisma: ?
HP: ?
SP: ?
MP: ?
MP Regen: ?
Divine Class: Priest of Ikar (?)
Humor: ?
Cunning: ?
High Stakes: ?
?
Special traits:
?
Skills:
?
Achievements:
?
A minute later, a few more notifications popped up for Richard:
You have learned the spell Insight (1)
By learning an arcane spell, you have revealed the hidden stats MP and MP Regen
¡°So, you''re a brawler, huh?¡±
Jehan laughed. ¡°Yes, I have some levels in that. Folly of my misspent youth. I suppose the spell worked?¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Kind of. I couldn''t see much detail though, just your name and classes.¡±
¡°Still quite impressive that you could learn a spell that quickly. If you want, you can try again, and this time put a little more energy into it, see if you do it better.¡±
¡°Ok. How can I put more energy into a spell?¡±
Jehan looked at him. ¡°Remember what I said before? Part of how most spells go is your will. Focus on what you want, and how you want it. The more of your will you put into it, the more potent the spell will be.¡±
Richard nodded, and thought. What he wanted most of all was really the same thing he always wanted. He wanted to know. He wanted to understand. He understood almost nothing about anything around him, about the universe he was in or how anything in it worked, and he needed to understand. Once he allowed it to, his curiosity burned in his mind. He needed to understand everything, from the smallest particle of matter, to the farthest star, and there were truths here that could change everything he understood about the universe. I mean¡MAGIC.
That intense desire to know, to understand, burned through his brain. Curiosity had always been the strongest urge he felt in his life, often overriding common sense, and he focused on that emotion, and thought about it. I want to see classes, I want to see skills, I want to see levels, I need to understand all of this, I need more hard facts, so I can understand. He started chanting again. ¡°Omm lash tah insight om di di om insight om lash tah insight om di di om insight...¡±. Richard wanted to understand more than anything, and he put all of that energy into the spell.
That was his first mistake.
His second mistake was that he was focusing so hard on his burning curiosity itself, he forgot to focus on Jehan specifically.
Richard could feel the warm energy of the spell flow down his arm and burst out through his hand, and it didn''t just go to Jehan. It went...everywhere.
He could feel everyone in the inn and got a flash of insight from every one of them. Not much, usually just a name or a class, but enough for another blue box to pop up in front of his eyes. Then it was everyone on the street. Then farther. Then father. The energy from the spell spilled out, and dozens, hundreds, all flashing in front of his eyes, and it was more then he could stand. He squeezed his eyes closed, but the flashing continued. It just got faster and more painful.
The last one, he only saw for a second, but this one he remembered.
There was something dark and terrible about the sensation of touching this person''s mind. It felt like Richard was suddenly wading through sewage. Then, worst of all, Richard felt the mind turn its focus on him, and Richard knew that that person could sense him in his mind. There was a snapping sound, like a whip, and Richard was suddenly ejected from that person''s mind. The spell was broken, and everything went dark.
When Richard regained consciousness, he was lying on the floor next to his chair, and Jehan was standing over him. ¡°I''m glad you''re ok. I just did a diagnosis spell on you, and it looks like it was just mana exhaustion and maybe some spell backlash, nothing too serious. You managed to dump something like 140 mp into that insight spell.¡± Jehan chuckled. ¡°You shouldn''t even be able to put anywhere close to that that much mana into an insight spell, I''m not really sure how you managed it...¡±
¡°Jehan. We have a problem. I touched the minds of hundreds of people, everyone in the area probably, and someone near here has the classes ¡°corrupted mage¡± and ¡°corrupted summoner''. I''m guessing that''s bad.¡±
Jehan nodded, his face suddenly serious. ¡°Yes, yes, it is. Did you get their name?¡±
¡°No, just their classes, but whoever it is, I think they felt my intrusion into their mind. I think they know that someone found them.¡± Richard paused. ¡°Would that be enough for someone to find me?¡±
Jehan looked uncertain. ¡°Maybe. I''m not an expert on this kind of magic, but they might at least be able to feel what direction you were in. And I think mages need to have the Magic Sight skill, so if they were paying attention they could have seen your spell, even from miles away. It was...pretty unsubtle. You actually gave me a bit of a headache. If you''re right, and he noticed you, he probably doesn''t know exactly who you are, but might have a good guess about roughly where you are right now.¡±
Richard groaned. ¡°We have to assume that corrupted summoner is going to come here and is going to try to kill anyone who might have found out his class. We need get away from here, right now. How long was I unconscious for?¡±
¡°About ten minutes, but I didn''t hear anything...¡± Jehan suddenly stopped. ¡°...Of course, with that ward running, I wouldn''t hear anything from outside this room, would I...¡±
Jehan carefully opened the door to the main room of the inn, and they saw a horror show. A whole pack of warped men, with long black burned looking limbs stretched out like taffy, were tearing apart the place. It looked like most of the people had managed to flee out through the inn¡¯s exit, but there were a few bodies on the floor between the long wooden tables and benches demonstrating that not everyone had managed to do so.
As one, the pack of abominations stopped and turned, and looked at Jehan and Richard. Eight of them were in the main room of the tavern, and there was no other way out except part them. Slowly they started shambling towards the two of them.
Chapter 11
Richard''s mind snapped into the cold, rational, calculating mindset he always did when things really went to hell, and in a moment, he analyzed the situation in front of him in crystal clear detail.
The inn''s main room had a large rectangular shape, basically a hall, and was about 40 feet long. It had twelve long tables, with three rows of four tables each lined up, and benches next to each table. The door to the small, fancy dining room they were in was on the side of the larger room, roughly in the middle of the main room. The door to enter the inn from the street was ajar, around the middle of the wall to their right, about 20 feet away. Partly eaten meals and half-full mugs of ale were on many of the tables, some of them still steaming hot. People had clearly left in a rush.
Eight of the warped men were scattered around the room, slowly shambling towards them on deformed, blackened legs, most of them having one or more arms or legs replaced with those horrific hardened blackened appendages he had seen on the other warped men. Some of them had arms that came to points like sharpened, blackened spears, while others had bulging deformed clubs for arms. Richard rapidly ran through options in his mind, trying to see the path that would take him through this.
¡°Quick, let''s close and barricade the door shut before they get here.¡± Jehan quietly said.
Richard shook his head. He''d already thought of that, but it wasn''t going to work. The thin wooden door to the side room wouldn''t hold for long, and once they were in that room they''d be cornered. At best it might buy them a few minutes before the things broke in and killed them both. Maybe help would come by then, but maybe not. These things are slow moving and stupid. Better to use their disadvantages against them than to get into an arm-wrestling match with eight of them.
¡°If you have a spell that would speed me up or make me more agile, cast it on me now¡± Richard said.
Jehan didn''t ask any questions, and quietly said a few words, and the notification popped up in front of Richard''s eyes.
You have been blessed with Cat''s Grace. +4 Dex for the next 10 minutes.
¡°Perfect. Ok, do you think you could handle yourself in a one-on-one fight with one of them at a time?¡± Richard asked.
Jehan nodded. ¡°Maybe. Are you planning on taking care of the other seven?¡±
¡°I''ll keep them busy. When I make my move, I want you to start moving right, towards the exit. If you can fight them one on one, great, but don''t let them surround you. If you can get out, do it, I''ll catch up.¡±
¡°You''ll catch up?¡± Jehan asked. ¡°Where will you be?¡±
¡°Don''t worry, I have a plan.¡± Sort of.
Richard drew out his sword and charged right into the center of the room yelling, running passed the first row of tables. He slashed his sword towards the face of a warped man, and while the warped man pulled back, he managed to slice him along the side of the face. The warped man didn''t flinch, or show any sign of pain, but a thin line of black blood started to slowly ooze out of his left cheek.
All over the room, the warped men turned and started moving slowly towards Richard from all directions.
Good, that got their attention. The warped man he had just cut tried to stab him with the hard, pointed black thing he had instead of a left arm. Richard danced out of the way, and then ran to the left, directly away from the exit. ¡°I¡¯m over here, come get me¡± he yelled.
All eight of them continued to slowly move towards Richard, on the most direct routes between the tables. Just like Richard had predicted, this left only one of them on the far side of the room taking the path along the wall, to the right of Jehan.
As soon as Richard started moving, Jehan had cast a second divine spell, and was now surrounded by a brightly glowing white light. He moved to the right and attacked the single warped man. The warped man swung the blackened clublike limb at Jehan, but Jehan ducked under it and slammed the palm of his hand into the warped man''s face. There was a crunching sound that sounded like a broken nose, but perhaps even more important was the way the white glow coming from Jehan''s skin seemed to burn the face of the warped man.
A warped man was now in front of Richard, and three more were slowly closing on him from behind, including the one he had slightly wounded. Richard spun to his left, moving at a slow jog that he could tell was just a little faster than the warped men could move, and ran through the gap between tables back towards the wall where he had started. A warped man was coming at him from the left, and Richard drew out his dagger from under his shirt and hurled it at him, then turned and ran along the wall to the right without waiting to see if the dagger had hit or not.
That''s 5 of them chasing me, and Jehan is fighting one, but where are the other two? Richard glanced around the room and cursed when he realized that the other two had broken off from the group chasing him and were moving towards Jehan''s back, while Jehan was still fighting the other one hand to hand.
Can''t let three of them surround Jehan. Richard put one foot on the wooden bench next to him and jumped up onto the wooden table. ¡°Hey, ugly fuckers! Ignore him, come chase me!¡± Richard grabbed a glass mug of ale that had been sitting on the table and tossed it at the head of the one warped man, and then grabbed a bowl of beef stew and tossed it at the other warped man. Both throws connected, and the two warped men turned away from Jehan''s back and started moving back towards Richard, one now soaked in ale and the other with beef stew running down his blackened face and down his shoulder.
Richard was now standing on the table, and one of the warped men reached out with his more human-looking hand to grab at Richard''s leg. Richard swung his sword down and slammed it into the warped man''s wrist, driving it back. Richard noticed that the warped man he had thrown the dagger at had collapsed and was down with the dagger right in the center of its chest, but the other 4 near him were now standing around the table and grabbing and swinging at him. Richard had a quick flashback to being pinned down by the orcs. Can''t let myself get cornered either. He leaped sideways, jumping onto the table to his left, and then ran down to the end of that table and jumped to the next table, putting some more distance between himself and the warped men.
By this point, the warped man Jehan had been fighting was down, and Jehan was heading towards the exit. There were only two warped men left in front of Richard, the two he had thrown food towards earlier, and they were both on the right side of the room. If I can just get around them, we''ll be in the clear.
Richard leaped to the left of the table he was on, landing on the table on the left side of the room. When he landed, he heard a loud CRACK as one of the table legs snapped. He pinwheeled his arms and moved his feet to try to remain balanced as the table rapidly tilted under him, but completely lost balance as he stepped on a half-eaten potato. His foot slipped out from under him, and he fell hard on his back next to the table. At least it didn''t hurt as much as he expected, although it knocked the wind out of him.
Richard blinked the notification away and saw one of the warped men come lumbering across into the gap in front of him, beef stew still dripping off its shoulders. It brought down its heavy, black, club-like limb towards where Richard was lying on the tavern floor. Richard rolled to the side just in time to avoid it, and it slammed down on the floor with a heavy crunching sound right where his head had been a second earlier. The other four warped men were now catching up, coming up between the tables from behind him. Richard rolled to his right, avoiding another blow, and rolled under the bench and under the table, between the wooden legs. One of the warped men tried to stab at him with his spear-like limb, but Richard rolled quickly enough to avoid it, and rolled out under the other side of the table.
Rather than go around the table, the five warped men simply grabbed the side of the table and lifted it up, almost flipping the heavy table onto Richard. Richard avoided that by continuing to roll, going under another table, and when he got under that table he bounded to his feet. He was now back on the right side of the room, close to where he had started. The sixth warped man was now fighting Jehan by the door, while the other 5 were across the room. Richard sprinted along the side of the room towards the fight, drawing out his sword while he ran, and stabbed the warped man fighting Jehan in the back.
His sword didn''t penetrate very far into the warped man''s back, hitting a rib, but it distracted the warped man for long enough for Jehan to slam both of his glowing fists together into both sided of the warped man''s head at the same time. The warped man went limp and collapsed to the ground with the impact, and Richard and Jehan jumped over the body and ran out the door of the inn, well ahead of the 5 warped men still slowly shuffling towards them.
Once they were outside, Richard grabbed the door and pushed it shut.
Richard spoke quickly, while trying to catch his breath. ¡°Let''s try to keep them inside if we can, at least for a few minutes, so they don''t kill anyone else. If they start to break through this door before help gets here, we can run.¡±
Jehan nodded, and together he and Richard leaned onto the heavy wooden door of the inn. A minute later they could feel one of the abominations trying to push it open from the inside, but it only moved an inch or so before slamming shut again. With both of their weights leaning up against it, and especially Jehan''s muscles, they were able to hold it in place.
When pushing failed, the warped men started trying to break the door, and Richard could hear them slamming into it in the same spot near the top over and over again. They eventually would have broken through, but before they did about twenty members the town''s militia showed up, carrying spears, led by someone in a uniform.
¡°We killed three of them, but there are five still in there.¡± Richard explained.
The man nodded, and the militia quickly gathered around the door with spears ready. ¡°Good work. When I say now, I want the two of you to step away from the door and get out of the way, we can handle it from here. Ready....now!¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
At his word, Richard and Jehan let go of the door, and the door swung open, pushed by the abominations. The militia quickly fell into position with spears ready, and as the first abomination came shambling through the doorway it was met with a wall of spears stabbing at every part of it and was brought down quickly; it never had the chance to attack any of the militia members. The abominations didn''t hesitate or learn from that, and each one came shambling out through the doorway one by one and was killed just as easily.
Once the last warped man fell, Richard got a bunch of after-combat notifications.
3 warped men defeated (partial experience). +234 experience.
For throwing food at an enemy during combat, you have earned +20 Humor points. For tactically outmaneuvering a superior enemy force you have earned +15 Cunning points.
Skill earned: Taunt (1)
Skill earned: Acrobatics (1)
Skill earned: Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1)
Skill earned: Parting shot (2)
The captain of the militia asked them what happened. He clearly already knew Jehan, and Richard mostly stayed quiet and let Jehan do the talking. Jehan mentioned that they had been in the side room of the inn when the attack came but avoided mentioning that the room had been warded against sound, or the failed Insight spell Richard had miscast. He described the battle in some detail, in such a way that made Richard sound quite heroic while minimizing his own role.
¡°...so then, after leading them away from me and leading them on a merry chase around the room while slowly whittling them down, I was able to get to the door, and Richard helped me escape. This young man risked his life, putting himself in danger to make sure I could get out of the room and away from those monsters first.¡±
Your heroism to protect an ally in the face of danger, as recounted in a tale that will spread, has increased your Glory. +7 Glory points.
It''s going to take a lot more than that in order to get rid of my negative glory score. At least it''s good to know that it''s possible though.
¡°Padre¡±, the militia captain continued, ¡°do you have any idea where these monsters could have come from?¡±
Jehan sighed. ¡°These aren''t just monsters, they''re abominations, corruptions. I suspect someone is summoning them from another world. Richard here just reported to the adventurer''s guild that he fought some of these in the forest to the south yesterday, so I suspect this isn''t the first time they''ve summoned them either. My belief is we''re dealing with a corrupted summoner, and whoever they are, they''re probably in town today.¡± He paused again. ¡°You''re going to need to get some priests down here to purify the area and these bodies, and until that happens all of you should try to avoid touching them too much. The corruption could spread and sicken people or curse the ground here if we don''t take precautions. I could help, but I''ve already used most of my divine magic for the day...¡±
The captain shook his head. ¡°We''ll get someone down to take care of it, Padre, you just take care of yourself.¡± He hesitated. ¡°You know that if this really is someone practicing forbidden magic doing this, it''s probably Evelyn, right? I know that you were friendly with her before she went off to train as a mage...¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°I don''t believe she would do this, captain. I know what the Academy said, but...¡±
¡°We don''t know that it was her, of course, but what are the odds of two magic users using forbidden magic in the same area at the same time, Padre?¡± The captain paused. ¡°You have to be careful, Padre. If it was Evelyn who did this, she probably was trying to kill you.¡±
Jehan shook his head again. ¡°I don''t think you''re right about any of this, but I''ll be careful.¡±
¡°Thank you, Padre. We''ll redouble our efforts to find...erm...whoever did this.¡± The captain said, diplomatically.
The militia let Richard know that once they had had the inn and everything in it purified, that he could stop by and reclaim his dagger and backpack he had left in the Inn. After some polite goodbyes, Jehan started walking away, and Richard walked next to him. Once they were out of earshot, Richard turned to Jehan. ¡°Why didn''t you tell him it couldn''t have been Evelyn? You know it wasn''t her.¡±
¡°I do,¡± Jehan said quietly ¡°But the only reason I know for sure is that I cast a Detect Untruth spell on Evelyn yesterday and asked her, so I know for a fact she''s not a corrupted summoner. But I have no way of convincing him that she wasn''t the one who did this without revealing that I know where she is. Even if I just defend her a little too hard, they might come to suspect that I''m protecting her.¡±
Richard didn''t have anything to say to that, and they kept walking.
¡°Do you think the summoner who did this might still be nearby?¡± Jehan asked.
Richard shook his head. ¡°I was worried during that fight that he would show up and start throwing fireballs at us or something, but he didn''t. My guess is that he summoned those warped men and sent them after us to keep busy whoever had detected him, and to give him time to escape. If he''s smart, he''s probably already left town.¡± They walked in silence for another minute. ¡°By the way, thanks for telling that story in a way that made me sound heroic. That might help people take me a little more seriously, which could be helpful."
Jehan turned to him. ¡°I didn''t lie, you know. What you did actually was heroic.¡±
Richard snorted. ¡°I jumped on tables, threw food at monsters, and then I slipped on a potato and fell on my ass.¡±
Jehan smiled and shook his head. ¡°I''m the one with a combat class; Brawler isn''t the best combat class, certainly, but it''s still better than nothing. I also have a lot more hit points than you do, between my different classes; I could take a lot more damage before going down. And you''re the Champion, the important one, the one who had to get out of there alive for everyone''s sake.¡± He paused. ¡°When you asked me to cast an agility spell on you, I thought you were going to ask me to slow the monsters down while you escaped. And I was willing to do that, it made total rational sense, it was what I would have suggested. Instead, you ran away from the door and made sure that all of them were chasing after you instead of me. You put your own neck on the line to protect me. You managed to orchestrate the whole battle, so I was never fighting more than one of them at once. And somehow you never lost control of the battle even for a second, not even when you were lying flat on your back.¡±
Richard shrugged. ¡°It wasn''t anything heroic. I just tried to figure out the best way to get us both out of there in one piece. Anyone would have done the same.¡±
¡°No. Most people would not have done the same. Even if they had wanted to, most people would not have been able to think that many moves ahead and adapt that quickly. Ikar knew what he was doing when he chose you.¡± Once they had moved a few blocks away, Jehan stopped. ¡°Whatever you think you need to do next, Champion, I hope you will let me help you.¡±
Richard paused. What do I need to do next? ¡°Is Evelyn in a safe place?¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°She should be, for now. Maybe we''ll move her farther away from town after this.¡±
¡°Ok, let''s go see her first, and discuss what to do next with her.¡± Richard looked down at himself. ¡°Right after I buy a new shirt and a pair of shoes.¡±
Jehan laughed.
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (4)
Class: None
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 68 (Max: 71)
SP: 11 (Max 37)
MP: 1 (144)
MP regeneration: 3.4%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 40
Cunning: 21
High Stakes: 19
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Skills:
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +20% to movement speed through a forest. -20% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Stealth (1): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +10% chance to hit with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers) (1): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers. +1 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers, +1 damage.
Parting shot (2): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -30% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword)(general): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Achievement: Bounty Hunter(novice)
Chapter 12
Richard managed to pull the hardened leather armor over his head while sitting on a bench in the leatherworking shop. It was made as a single piece with holes for his arms and head, and it was almost completely inflexible; they apparently made these by molding them into shape and then letting the leather harden. Richard could see how it might work to deflect a blow. Jehan helped to tighten the straps on Richard¡¯s back, and Richard stood up to see how it would feel.
WARNING: The armor you are wearing is heavier than your current strength can support. Dexterity penalty: -2. Stamina point cost of all actions multiplied by 3.
Richard shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid this isn¡¯t going to work either. Still getting a weight penalty for wearing this.¡±
The first place they¡¯d gone in town was to the leatherworking shop to get Richard some boots, and Jehan had suggested to Richard that it would be a good idea for him to buy some armor as well, in case he needed it. Richard agreed, but so far wasn¡¯t having much luck.
¡°I¡¯ll talk to the gentlemen to see if he has anything that might suit you better¡± Jehan said.
I¡¯m glad he¡¯s doing the talking for me. I really wasn¡¯t looking forward to the look I would get if I had to ask if they had any armor for someone with less than 3 strength.
The shopkeeper came back, carrying something but shaking his head.
¡°This is the only thing I have that is lighter than that armor and that would give you any protection at all, but I have to tell you, if you¡¯re expecting to go into battle I wouldn¡¯t suggest you rely on just this¡¡±
Jehan put his hand on the man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The young adventurer here is the kind that relies on speed and cunning. It¡¯s all I can do to convince him to wear any armor at all.¡±
Finally, the shopkeeper was convinced to let Richard see what he was holding. It was a brown leather vest with several inches of cotton padding under it.
¡°This might help you if someone tries to punch you in the stomach, and maybe it¡¯ll slow down a hunting arrow or a short knife, but it¡¯s not going to stop a sword.¡±
Richard nodded, and tried the vest on. It was a much more flexible material, with strips of leather quilted together over thick padding, and it buttoned in the front. It was quite warm, was much easier to wear than the hardened leather armor, and when he stood up and walked around in it he didn¡¯t get any warning notifications this time. The shopkeeper went back to trying to convince Richard to wear some heavier armor, but Richard just paid the man 4 silver for the boots and leather vest and left.
Jehan walked Richard around the town, leading him to their next destination. Right after the attack on the inn, most people had fled back to their homes, but within an hour people were back out on the streets. It reminded Richard of the stories he heard about London during the bombings in WWII; as soon as the bombs stopped falling everyone just went back to their routines. Amazing how people can adapt to anything, even monster attacks.
The next place they stopped was a tailor''s shop, and Richard got a green tunic he could wear under the leather vest and a hooded brown cloak for two more silver.
Everywhere they went, people wanted to hear what had happened down at the inn, and every time Jehan happily repeated the story, every time describing Richard''s actions as being heroic. Finally, when they were alone, Richard had to ask him why he was doing this.
¡°There''s a lot of reasons to get you a reputation as a hero, Richard.¡± Jehan said. ¡°There are going to be times you have insights, understand things other people don''t, and it might be really important that they listen to you then.¡± He paused and lowered his voice. ¡°Also, at some point, when you''re ready, it''s likely you''re going to want to go public as being the Champion of Ikar, for one reason or another. When you do, your deeds and the stories about you will help to increase faith in Ikar, just like legends of other champions have.¡±
¡°Is that what this is about? You want to convert more people to worship your god?¡±
Jehan raised an eyebrow. ¡°Where do you think the divine energy comes from, which let me cast those divine spells to protect us earlier, or which grants you gifts as Champion? If people have more faith in the gods, then they can do more to help us, to protect and guide humanity.¡±
Richard thought about this for a minute. ¡°But if you talk about me like I''m this great hero, people are going to expect me to do heroic things. They''re going to count on me to do heroic things. And you know as well as I do that I''m not ready to go fighting orcs or whatever. I''ve learned a few basic skills but I''m pretty sure that any competent opponent would still take me apart.¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°I understand. I remember your list; I know people who can help you train and get ready for the trials you have ahead of you.¡±
Richard let Jehan continue to guide him around town, and the next stop they made was back to the adventurer''s guild. Richard was glad to see that neither Hadrain nor Teodric were in the guild this time, he did not want to deal with either of them. As before, everyone in the guild had some idea that a monster attack had happened in town and wanted to know what was going on, and Jehan repeated his story again, animated and lively, again extolling the heroism of Richard. Richard tried to avoid rolling his eyes. At least some good came out of it, since the person at the bounty hunter''s counter apologized for not believing Richard earlier and paid him both for the 4 abominations he killed down by the creek and for the 3 more he killed in town. (Richard tried to split that with Jehan but Jehan refused to take it.) The bounty on killing 7 of the warped men was worth another 35 silver, which Richard was glad to have since he''d already spent much of the money he''d gotten earlier.
Achievement earned: Bounty Hunter(intermediate)-Earn 5 bounties for slaying monsters. Bonus earned: +1 DEXLove this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
After that, Jehan looked at Richard. ¡°You haven''t even had a chance to rest after that fight, have you. You''re looking tired, and you probably haven''t recovered your SP yet. Want to rest for a few minutes before we leave town?¡±
Richard shrugged. ¡°I suppose. So long as it''s not an inn.¡±
Jehan laughed. ¡°Fair enough. Have you ever seen a temple of Ikar before?¡±
The temple of Ikar was small, located between two houses in a residential part of the town. The building was a fairly narrow, white, rectangular building with a tiled roof that came to a high triangular point at front. There were stained glass windows with strange designs on them.
As soon as Richard walked in, a strange sense of peace descended on him.
You are on holy ground blessed by Ikar. +25% rate to recovery of HP, SP, and MP.
The inside of the temple was in some ways familiar to Richard, but in some ways strange. It had long rows of benches all facing forward, much like temples Richard had seen on Earth, and it was currently empty. Light shone in through large stained glass windows on the side and back of the temple. The first thing that Richard noticed was the three statues in the front of the temple. The statue on the left was a white marble sculpture of a man wearing a jester''s costume, standing on one leg and holding two juggling balls in each hand, and the sculptor had managed to carve him in such a way as to make the marble look surprisingly animated and lifelike. The statue in the middle was a tall, thin man wearing a black cloak that covered his body and a hood that hid most of his thin, angular face; sharp eyes looking out under the hood seemed to see everything. The third statue was a man with broader shoulders, wearing a long trench coat. The trench coat was open, and Richard could see that under it the man was wearing what looked like a suit and tie, and he had a wide-brimmed hat on his head. The statue had a long-curved mustache that extended several inches from the face and came to a point on each end.
¡°Those are...Ikar.¡± Richard said. Pretty accurate too, especially if the sculptor never actually saw Ikar the way I did.
¡°Yes. These are the three Aspects of Ikar The Many Faced.¡± Jehan''s voice was deep and echoed slightly in the small temple. ¡°The Jester, The Vizier, and The Gambler.¡±
He paused. ¡°This is a good place for you to rest. You should recover your stamina more quickly here than elsewhere, and it''s a good place to meditate and think.¡± He paused. ¡°If it''s all right with you, I have a few things to take care of, I''ll be back in a while.¡±
Richard nodded, and Jehan left him to his thoughts.
Richard slowly walked around the outside of the empty temple, looking at the artwork. Every window had an elaborate stained glass pattern, with a stone engraving hanging underneath describing the scene.
The first glass pane had four scenes. In the first scene, a king was shown standing in front of dozens of people who were being hanged. In the second scene, a man was shown standing behind the king, whispering in his ear. In the third scene, the same man was shown pointing a finger at the king and denouncing him in front of the royal court, and in the fourth scene the king was shown on the chopping block, about to have his head cut off by the executioner.
The caption underneath the window read ¡°Champion Wyndell manipulating and bringing down the Red Tyrant.¡±
Seems like a strange subject for religious art. Richard thought.
The next window had a scene of a man leading a group of dark-cloaked raiders appearing from behind some bushes and ambushing an army from behind while the army was trying to cross a river. The third window showed a man with a crazy grin sitting at a table with a general, throwing dice, while a city burned behind him; that one was called ¡°Champion Ivan the Mad gambles for the fate of the Golden City.¡± A fourth one seemed to show someone fighting against several demons, with a flaming sword in one hand and...is that really a pie in his left hand?
Richard realized as he walked around the room, with a sinking feeling, that all of these seemed to show former Champions of Ikar doing deeds which were still spoken of as legends centuries later. They overthrew kings and fought armies and changed history. There''s no way I''m going to be able to live up to that.
He walked over to one of the benches in front of the statues. He didn''t feel like thinking about this anymore, so he just closed his eyes and relaxed, let the peaceful feeling in the temple return to him. He thought about Ikar, thought about what had happened earlier that day, thought about what it meant to be in the temple of a god who he had personally met just a few days earlier. After a few minutes he didn''t think about anything, and just relaxed. He could feel the muscles in his shoulders he didn''t even realize were sore relax, and felt the tension drain out of his body.
Some period of time passed, he wasn''t sure how long. It might have been an hour, it was hard to say. He stayed in that peaceful state of mind until he heard the door open and close behind him, Jehan had returned.
You feel closer to Ikar. +1 to Humor, +1 to Cunning, +1 to High Stakes.
¡°How are you doing?¡± Asked Jehan.
¡°Good.¡± And Richard did feel good, his whole body felt refreshed. ¡°I, um, just got points in the virtues of Ikar.¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°Yes, it is wise to go to a temple when you can, to read religious texts, and meditate on Ikar''s teachings. That''s how most people develop their religious path.¡± He looked around. ¡°While you were meditating in here, I made something for you. Consider it a gift.¡±
Jehan handed Richard five throwing knives. The throwing knives were fairly small, only about 4 inches long each. Each knife was made from a single piece of steel, with a short curved handle on one end and a blade on the other.
¡°You...just made these?¡±
¡°Well, I already had made the knife blanks earlier, so it didn''t take too long. I just figured it''d be better if you had something better weighted than that dagger to throw if you''re going to make a habit of throwing knives at people.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Richard almost offered to pay him for the knives, but decided it would probably be rude, especially if these were supposed to be a gift. He held the knife experimentally, trying to get a feel for the balance of it.
¡°Oh, and speaking of gifts, I also got you something to carry them with.¡± Jehan handed Richard a leather strap that went over his left shoulder and hung down to his right hip and had 5 small leather knife sheaths across his chest, as well as a larger one that would fit his dagger. ¡°You can wear this baldric under that leather vest you got and it shouldn''t be too obvious that you''re carrying the knives.¡±
¡°Thank you again. Did you make this as well?¡±
Jehan chuckled. ¡°No, I asked the leatherworker to make this. I pulled him aside and asked him quietly while you were trying on armor, so that it wouldn''t ruin the surprise.¡±
Richard nodded. He turned and looked back at the stained glass windows. ¡°Is that the kind of thing you expect me to do? Is that why you''re giving me so much help? Because I have to be honest, I think there is a pretty good chance you''re going to be disappointed.¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°I don''t know what I expect you to do. Not everyone who''s a champion of a god ends up doing something big and flashy. Some people become champions in times of peace and never end up in a position where they need to do anything like that. And of the champions who try to do something big, not all of them succeed, either. Some of our stories are about champions who have tragic endings. There aren''t any guarantees.¡± He paused. ¡°But I must be honest, looking at the world today, I don''t think we''re heading into a time of peace.¡±
They stood there for a minute, looking at the stained glass window together.
¡°Anyway, enough of that. Let''s go meet up with Evelyn, I know she''s been worried about you.¡±
With that, they left town through a gate on the north side, opposite the gate Richard came in.
Chapter 13
There were a small number of houses just outside the town walls, but before long the narrow road passed through a series of small farms. The area looked peaceful, with farmers working out in their fields.
Richard and Jehan jogged north on the road out of town for about two miles before Richard had to slow down to a walk. I guess my endurance is starting to get better, but it''s not a good look that after that jog I''m gasping for breath and the 56-year-old priest isn''t even breathing hard.
They slowed to a walk, and Jehan started calmly telling Richard about the people they were going to visit.
¡°Harry Hatch moved into town about 15 years ago, and met his wife Kateryn, whose family owned this farm before her. He''s well known in the area for being a skilled hunter...¡±
Richard noticed that even here, on a narrow grassy road with no other people around for miles, Jehan didn''t mention Evelyn or that they were going to see her, so Richard didn''t mention her either; still, it made him curious.
¡°Is there a reason you always seem to talk as if you''re afraid people are listening in?¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°Yes, I suppose I do. There are a number of reasons. People who have a high Perception score can often listen in on you or read your lips from quite a good distance away, farther than you''d think. There are classes that are good at being stealthy who can follow you around without you ever noticing. And that''s not to mention magical eavesdropping, which can be done in any number of ways. If you don''t want people to overhear you say something, it''s wise to just be in the habit of not saying it out loud.¡±
They walked for a few more miles. Farms became more spread out, with wooded patches between them, and some overgrown stretches where it looked like farms had been abandoned. Finally, after a few more miles, there was a well-maintained farm with a big farmhouse off on the left side of the road, and Jehan led them up to the door.
As they walked up the path towards the door, Richard saw that a large, strong-looking man was watching him through the window, holding a bow. As soon as the man saw them, he opened the door with a smile on his face.
¡°Hello, Jehan. And pardon me, are you Richard?¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°It''s nice to meet you.¡±
The man stuck out his hand, giving Richard a crushing handshake that bruised his hand. ¡°You look just like Evelyn described you. I''m Harry. Evelyn was worried about you, wandering around in the woods, but it looks like you found your way here on your own.¡±
¡°He did more than that.¡± Jehan said. ¡°This young man is going to be a real hero, I think.¡±
Harry smiled. ¡°Is that so. Anyway, come in, come in. Bertrand is already here.¡±
Richard looked at Jehan questioningly, and Jehan responded. ¡°Bertrand is an adventurer who was in the area, and a follower of Ikar. Once Evelyn told us about you being a champion of Ikar and being alone in the forest, Bertrand spent most of the next day searching for you. As soon as Alana in the inn let me know that you''d showed up there, I used a Sending spell to let Bertrand know that you had been found and that he could come back to the farmhouse.¡±
As soon as they were inside, Evelyn ran up and hugged Richard. ¡°I''m glad you''re ok.¡±
¡°I was worried about you too.¡± Richard said. ¡°How did you escape from those dogs?¡±
¡°I''d like to hear the details of that too.¡± The man speaking was covered in pieces of mismatching armor, and had two swords, one on each hip, and Richard assumed this was Bertrand. ¡°The forest around here is absolutely crawling with the Duke''s soldiers, presumably looking for you, or maybe for both of you. I''m surprised either of you were able to get up to town without running into them.¡±
¡°Well, as soon as I thought I was a safe distance away from Richard...¡±
Talking, they moved to the table, and recounted their stories of the past few days. Evelyn told her story first of how she escaped the soldiers, and then Richard and Jehan told the story of their recent adventures.
When Richard got to the point of the story where his insight spell went out of control, Evelyn shook her head. ¡°I was worried about something like this happening if you learned magic.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Richard asked.
¡°If I remember correctly, you have a wisdom of less than 4, right?¡±
Richard nodded.
¡°Intelligence is what gives you your mana pool, what determines how much mana you have. A magic user who has more intelligence can throw around more powerful spells, bigger spells, flashier spells, and can cast more of them before running out of energy. Wisdom is important too, though. You probably have a really low rate of MP regeneration with your wisdom, so if you use all your MP it''ll probably take you a long time to get it back, right?¡± Richard nodded. ¡°Even more important, wisdom is what gives you control over your spells. With a wisdom that low, it''s going to be very hard for you to shape spells properly, to control what the spell is going to be and how it''s going to act, and there''s a big risk of doing what you did and accidentally overloading a spell and maybe getting a backlash. The fact that you have such a large mana pool just makes your lack of control that much more dangerous. It''s lucky you did that with just insight, instead of overloading and losing control of a fireball or something. That could have been...bad.¡±
Richard nodded slowly. ¡°Ok, so what can I do to deal with this? Are there ways to get better at controlling a spell so it''s safer for me to use?¡± No way in hell am I going to just give up on doing magic.
¡°There are things that can help, yes. As you practice more with a spell and get better with it, you have more control over that spell. There are skills you can learn that improve your control with spells.¡± She paused. ¡°Neither of those are likely to be enough, though, not if you want magic to be reliable. There are a lot of different ways to do magic, but the two I know the best are the way a mage uses magic, and the way a wizard does. A wizard uses spells that are very detailed and precise, that lay out exactly what a spell is supposed to do in great detail and that leave no real room for error. The big disadvantage with that is that it takes a long time and a lot of focus to cast a wizard spell, often minutes, so wizards can''t really use magic well while on the front lines of a battle. Mages can.¡±
¡°What a mage does is they become attuned to a specific element or type of magic, spend a lot of time becoming attuned to that one type of magic, and that allows them to cast spells related to that type of magic very quickly, with a spell you can cast in a few seconds. Mages are basically halfway between wizards and the pure elementalists who don''t use spells at all. Most people who go to the MageLight Academy are encouraged to become fire mages, because that''s what most militaries and militias want and that''s what you see most often from adventuring magic users.¡±
She paused. ¡°Mage spells still take a lot of wisdom to use well, though, unless you can become really, really well attuned with an element or type of magic. And getting there would probably be...dangerous.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Richard nodded. ¡°I understand. Can you help teach me?¡±
She pursed her lips ¡°I have a few books you can look at, maybe you can start to learn some of the basics.¡± She chuckled. ¡°I would have to be pretty hypocritical to warn you away from learning magic because it might be dangerous for you, but just try to be careful.¡±
They spent some more time talking about the rest of the events. This time, after Jehan launched into a description of how heroic Richard was in the inn, Richard cut him off and started to tell the story his own way. The two of them went back and forth.
¡°Is Alana ok?¡± Evelyn said quietly.
Richard felt a stab of guilt that he hadn¡¯t even thought about that. How could I have forgotten that Evelyn had a friend who worked at the inn?
Fortunately, Jehan hadn''t. ¡°Don''t worry, Evelyn. I checked on her. She was able to get out of the inn ok. Most of the patrons of the inn did; the abominations were spotted while they were slowly shambling down the street headed for the inn, and most people in the area fled.¡±
Richard paused. ¡°You must have gone and asked around while I was at the temple, right?¡± Jehan nodded. ¡°Were you able to find out anything about the summoner?¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°Not really. He or she must have been only a block or so away from the inn when the abominations were summoned, though. Do you think we should try to investigate and find out who he is, Richard?¡±
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. ¡°Investigate? Really? I would have expected you to want to get Richard away from danger at this point. Gods, I thought you''d want to bundle us both up and hide us somewhere for a year. I know he''s the Champion of Ikar, and I know he''s shown courage, but that doesn''t mean he''s ready to run off and confront a corrupted summoner. Richard doesn''t even have a class yet!¡±
¡°You make good points, Evelyn, but I''m not going to second guess Richard. If he feels there''s something he needs to do, then I''m going to help him do that. He is the Champion, and I am going to follow him wherever he leads. Even if it doesn''t make sense. Maybe especially if it doesn''t make sense.¡±
Richard laughed at that, and after a minute, so did Bertrand. ¡°So, is this the start of one of those legends about the champions of Ikar?¡± Bertrand asked. ¡°I agree with Jehan; if you''re a champion of Ikar, even if you''re young and not trained yet, I will be glad to join you in your adventures. Maybe I''ll end up in one of those legends myself!¡±
¡°No. I am not...like them.¡± Richard shook his head. ¡°I''m going to do what I can, and I''ve got some ideas, but you guys can''t expect me to become one of those people I saw on those stained glass windows. Just treat me like a normal guy, ok?¡±
¡°You don''t need to be like them, or like anyone, Richard. Champions of Ikar are always unique and are usually underestimated by their foes. But Ikar chose you for a reason, and I have faith in that.¡± Jehan said calmly.
¡°No. It wasn''t like that. Choosing me was a mistake, from the start.¡±
Evelyn leaned forward. ¡°How did you get chosen, Richard? You said you were summoned from another world, and you told me you actually met Ikar. What was that like?¡±
Richard sighed. ¡°I didn''t want to talk about this. I think if people find out the story it''s likely to cause problems for me later on. But I think you guys deserve to know, if we''re going to be in this together. I was on my own world, flying on what we call an airplane, which is a kind of non-magical flying device...¡±
Evelyn pulled her notebook back out and started writing down the story as he told it. Other than that, the rest of the room was quiet and listening intently. No one interrupted him until he was finished.
¡°So that''s where you got that negative glory score. That''s a relief, honestly; I was afraid you had done something terrible. But that wasn''t your fault at all.¡± Evelyn said. The rest of them nodded.
¡°The point is that I was never supposed to be chosen. It was a mistake.¡±
¡°Perhaps Toran did make a mistake.¡± Jehan said, softly. ¡°But Ikar knew that and chose you anyway. He could have chosen anyone in the world.¡±
Bertrand shook his head and snorted. ¡°Maybe where you come from, people have conversations with gods all the time, but around here the story you told is already pretty fucking unusual. You said we should treat you like a normal guy, but normal guys don''t usually have sit-down chats with their god. I think you''ll end up being just as weird as any of those other champions of Ikar have been.¡±
Harry nodded. ¡°Whatever you and Evelyn decide what you want to do, I''m going to help you any way I can.¡±
Kateryn, who''d been sitting there quietly through all of this, looked at Harry carefully. ¡°You''re going to go off and do something dangerous to try to get into history books, are you?¡±
¡°You know me better than that. I''m going to do what needs to be done.¡±
She leaned forward and kissed him. ¡°I know. And I know you better then to try to stop you. Just...be careful.¡±
Jehan turned to Richard. ¡°I think we''re all behind you. And as far as I''m concerned, you''re in charge of our little group.¡± He looked around the table, and everyone nodded. ¡°So, what do you think we should do next?¡±
Richard looked around and could tell that everyone meant it. He took a deep breath and nodded. ¡°Ok. I still don''t know enough about this world to make many real decisions yet though. Anyone have any suggestions?¡±
Evelyn spoke up first. ¡°Before I told them about you, Jehan was talking about sneaking me off to a temple of Ikar, to lay low until people stopped hunting for me, and Bertrand and Harry both said they would help get me there. We could both go there. I''m sure they would be glad to welcome the Champion of Ikar, and you could get any kind of training you need there.¡±
Bertrand shook his head. ¡°Maybe in a week or two we could try to leave, but right now the Duke''s soldiers are still searching the area around here. We should wait until they give up before we try to travel.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Ok, then we''ll stay here for a while. I do think we should try to investigate and find out who this summoner is that tried to kill us. Not that I want to fight him myself, I know better than that, but there''s nothing stopping us from locating him and then sending the town guard or something there, right? They''re going to spend all their time looking for Evelyn, so if we don''t look into it they probably won''t find the real summoner.¡± He paused. ¡°And I''m going to need to train. I''ve been in this world for three days and I''ve ended up fighting monsters three times.¡±
Bertrand grinned. ¡°I can help show you how to use that sword, if you like.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°So, before we go any farther into this; what exactly is a corrupted summoner?¡±
The room went quiet for a minute, then Evelyn answer. ¡°Not long ago, there were a fair number of summoners. It was a common kind of magic user, and one that was very well respected. They could create portals to nearby worlds, and either travel back and forth themselves or call allies into our world to fight for them. The world of Eirae was supposed to be a beautiful and mostly wild world, with vast untamed forests and jungles, and summoners called forth all kinds of fantastic beasts from that world. The world of Kristalli on the other hand held a civilization more advanced than ours, billions of people living in massive cities, with wondrous forms of transportation. There were maybe a half dozen other worlds that summoners commonly summoned creatures from or traveled to. Even then, there were summoners who went bad, who forged pacts with demons or who pulled things from dark worlds, but they were rare."
¡°Over time, though, more and more of those worlds have become dangerous, or toxic, or dead, or wrong somehow. Things summoned from those worlds became darker, or twisted versions of themselves, and even the summoners themselves began to go...wrong. And that was happening in more and more worlds.¡±
¡°The last nearby world to go was Kristalli, about twenty years ago. On that world a strange kind of corruption seemed to be spreading. More and more often, when someone tried to summon a monster or open a portal from that world, they were twisted, and tainted. And with the fall of Kristalli, there weren''t any worlds close enough for most summoners to reach that hadn''t fallen in to darkness. Summoners either gave up and stopped summoning, or those who didn''t or couldn¡¯t eventually became corrupted themselves. They became insane, or evil, or monstrous.¡±
¡°Those abominations you fought...those used to be the people of Kristalli. As far as we can tell, all the major cities of that world are now so flooded with corruption that normal people slowly become corrupted and can eventually turn into the mindless monsters that you saw. Everything in that world has become tainted; plants, animals, the water, the air, the mana, the land.¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°So, if enough of those things were summoned to this world...¡±
¡°If that corruption ever gained a real foothold in this world and started to spread, we could be in a great deal of trouble.¡± Jehan said quietly. ¡°Fear of that, or something equally bad, is one of the main reasons the laws against forbidden magics are so strictly enforced.¡±
After that, the room went silent for a few minutes.
¡°Ok. This evening, before it gets dark, maybe I can get in a few hours of training. Tomorrow, I''ll go back into town with Jehan, and we''ll try to quietly ask some questions. Maybe someone spotted something, and maybe we can get a hint as to who the summoner is and where they went. For all we know they may have already left town, but if not, maybe we can find something out.¡±
Chapter 14
¡°Keep a looser grip on the handle of the knife, you don¡¯t need to grip it that tightly. Ok, now move your left foot back a little more. Good, that will let you throw with a little more force. Keep a relaxed stance, and¡throw.¡± Bertrand stood behind and to the left of Richard as he gave him direction.
Richard gave the knife an overhand throw. It rotated three times, and stuck close to the center of the target, which was an old strip of cloth they¡¯d hung in front of a bale of hay.
Bertrand nodded. ¡°Better. Ok, now keep practicing that stance, you want these movements to become a habit.¡±
Richard nodded, and drew the next knife out of the baldric hanging around his chest. This time he didn¡¯t get the timing quite right, and the side of the throwing knife hit the target instead of the point. The third time was another solid hit, though. Richard walked across the field, picked up his knives, and then went back to practice some more.
Bertrand stepped back a little and watched Richard practicing, when he suddenly had a tingling feeling on the back of his neck that warned him someone was suddenly right behind him. He put his right hand on his sword hilt and spun, and had his sword halfway drawn when he realized it was Harry standing behind him.
Bertrand relaxed and slid his sword back down into his scabbard. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t sneak up on a man like that.¡±
Harry grinned. ¡°Sorry, force of habit. Get so used to walking quietly, you don¡¯t even think about it anymore. Wife is always yelling at me for that.¡±
They stood quietly and watched Richard practice for a few minutes.
¡°I was wondering, any specific reason you wanted him to work on throwing knives first? I figured you were going to work on his swordsmanship.¡± Harry asked.
¡°If we can get a few weeks of training in before we have to travel, then we can probably get his knife throwing skill up to level 2, maybe even level 3 if Evelyn is right about how smart this guy is. At that point, he would have least have one skill I¡¯d trust him to use while standing next to me in a fight, and that might help.¡± He paused. ¡°On the other hand, even if he got swordfighting up to level 3¡¡±
Richard had heard the conversation and stopped throwing for a minute, and he walked over. Bertrand went quiet, but Richard gestured him to continue. ¡°It¡¯s ok, keep going, you can be honest with me.¡±
Bertrand looked at him. ¡°Lad, you used your sword against those abominations, but I bet you didn¡¯t actually do much damage to them with it, right?¡±
Richard thought back to the battle. ¡°I guess not.¡±
¡°With your strength, you just won¡¯t do that much damage hitting someone with a melee weapon, not unless you get your skill level really high. Even then, you¡¯ll be at a big disadvantage against any stronger swordsman. You have to be able to block and parry, and it¡¯s pretty hard to win a swordfight against someone who can break through your guard, unless you¡¯re a lot faster than they are.¡± Bertrand paused for a minute. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with you learning how to use the sword, but it should be a last resort for you.¡±
Richard shrugged and nodded. ¡°But what if I got a combat class that increased my strength?¡±
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be enough. Even if you got to a level 10 in a melee class, and even if that gave you another 4 or 5 strength, you¡¯d still be below the average strength of the average farmer¡¯s son with no combat class. Stick to what you¡¯re good at.¡±
¡°Hmm¡ok, thanks for the advice, I¡¯ll think about it.¡± Richard went back to practice some more with the throwing knives.
Bertrand watched him for a few minutes, and then walked back over to him. ¡°Ok, let me show you one more thing to practice. The overhead throw you¡¯re doing is good, it has more force behind it and travels farther, but it is kind of obvious what you¡¯re about to do, gives people a chance to dodge or react. If you want to catch people off guard, this underhand throw is useful.¡± Bertrand pulled out a dagger from his belt. ¡°So, hold it like this; put your middle finger in the center of the handle, and put your thumb on one side and your other two fingers on the other. Lower your hand like this, and lift your arm up and forwards like this, as if you were trying to punch someone with an uppercut.¡± Bertrand demonstrated, and the knife flew up into the center of the target without spinning. ¡°You can do this in the middle of a knife fight and people won¡¯t have time to react.¡±
It took Richard a few tries to get a solid hit with the underhanded throw, but once he got a feel for it he was able to do it more smoothly.
¡°Ok, I¡¯m going to go back inside. Don¡¯t stay out past dark, or you¡¯ll lose your knives.¡±
Richard nodded, and went back to throwing. He fell into a pattern; throw the knives, walk down and get them, find the one or two that missed or overshot the target, and then throw again. It was pretty relaxing, and he spent the next few hours practicing his throw.
Skill earned: Thrown weapon (daggers) (2)
Level up, human level 5. +1 CON, +3 additional max HP, +2 max SP. HP, SP, and MP restored
New major racial trait available! Choose human trait from among those you currently have the prerequisites for:
Hardy: Increased HP, increased HP regeneration, slight increase to damage resistance. (Prerequisites met: More than 80 max HP)
Living Mana Battery: Increased MP, increased MP regeneration. (Prerequisites met: More than 80 max MP)
Curious: Increased ability to learn new skills and spells, bonus to experience if you have 3 or more classes. (Prerequisites met: 10 or more skills, 16+ INT)
Wanderer: Increased movement speed, decreased SP cost. (Prerequisites met: 2 movement related skills, Explorer)
Cripple: Increased effective charisma when begging for money or help, possible morale penalty for anyone attacking you (Prerequisites met: Physical stat less than 3)Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Cripple? Now this is just getting embarrassing.
Hardy and Living Mana Battery both sounded tempting, but Richard knew which one he wanted. I wonder how to make a choice¡let¡¯s see, Evelyn said that the System would interact with me the way I expected it too, so I wonder if I just¡ Richard reached forward, and touched the spot in front of him where the word ¡°curious¡± was floating.
Are you sure? (Y/N)
Damn thing really does act like I would expect a computer interface to. He reached out and touched ¡°Y¡±, and it vanished.
By this point it was starting to get dark out, so he walked out to the target one more time, took the knives out of it, and walked back inside.
¡°So, how did it go?¡±
¡°Oh, I got the throwing knives skill up to level 2. Hopefully I can get it to level 3 tomorrow¡±. Richard said, nonchalantly.
Bertrand¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°You got it to level 2 already?¡±
Richard grinned. ¡°I did use it in battle a few hours ago against the abominations, so maybe that helped, but yeah.¡±
¡°Still¡¡± Bertrand tilted his head in thought. ¡°Hmm, maybe we¡¯ll be able to step up the training tomorrow.¡±
They sat around the table for a while, eating and talking. Evelyn read by the light of a flickering candle-sized flame that hovered in the air about 9 inches over her book. A warm fire burned in the fireplace. Richard mostly sat at the table quietly, most of the conversation passing over him in waves without him really being able to focus on any of it. He felt tired in a deep way, down to his bones; he¡¯d been able to keep going for much longer than normal because the level ups had restored his SP, but some part of him still felt exhausted. After a few minutes, he had dozed off, nodding off in the wooden chair.
A little while later, Jehan gently nudged Richard¡¯s chair, waking him up. ¡°I think it¡¯s probably time for us to get back to town, and get some sleep.¡±
Bertrand shook his head. ¡°Not a good idea, Padre.¡±
¡°Oh?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been in situations like this before, and once the things start going to hell and the monsters start attacking in broad daylight, it¡¯s a bad idea to go and sleep in separate places. If you go back to your place and Richard gets a room in some inn in town, I have a feeling that one of you will wake up to someone or something climbing in your window or clawing at your door.¡± Bertrand turned to Harry. ¡°Do you mind if we sleep on your floor here? I really think we should all stay together, and this seems like the best place.¡±
Harry nodded slowly. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s a good idea. You really think there¡¯s a danger we¡¯ll get attacked if we split up?¡±
Bertrand nodded. ¡°I do. In fact, I think we should keep watch tonight. I¡¯ll take the first watch. Richard and Jehan had a hard fight earlier today it sounds like, so I think we should let them sleep. Harry, you want to take the second watch?¡±
Harry nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be glad to do that.¡±
Evelyn spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ll take the third watch; I usually get up early anyway.¡±
Richard yawned. ¡°I appreciate it, but I probably could¡¡±
Bertrand laughed. ¡°Not tonight. You look like you¡¯d fall asleep on watch. Next time.¡±
Richard couldn¡¯t argue with that, so he nodded.
Kateryn brought them some blankets, and Richard, Bertrand, and Jehan set up spots off in the corner of the room to sleep.
At least this is warmer than trying to sleep in a tree Richard thought, before drifting off to sleep.
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class: None
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 80 (Max: 80)
SP: 38 (Max 38)
MP: 144 (144)
MP regeneration: 3.4%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 41
Cunning: 22
High Stakes: 20
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Skills:
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +20% to movement speed through a forest. -20% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Stealth (1): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +2 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (2): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -30% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Chapter 15
Richard partly woke up. The plane ride was getting rougher. He didn''t open his eyes, but a terrible thought rose in the back of his head; something bad was going to happen.
He moved in his seat, opened his eyes and looked around. The airplane around him looked...wrong, somehow. Warped. The carpet on the floor of the airplane looked worn and faded, the seats looked like they''d lost all color, the air itself looked darker than it should somehow.
A voice came from the intercom. ¡°This is the captain speaking. You are going to die. All passengers need to be seated and buckled in. You are going to die. We are going to make an emergency landing. You are going to die...¡±
Richard reached out and touched the airplane seat in front of him. He heard the wind shrieking past the window, and could feel hail tearing into the airplane¡¯s engines.
I CAN SAVE YOU, PULL YOU INTO ANOTHER WORLD. YOU WILL BE MY HERO...WAIT...NO. YOU ARE NOT THE ONE.
¡°I can help!¡± Richard screamed. ¡°I can...¡±
FORGIVE ME. I CAN NOT HELP YOU. YOU ARE NOT A HERO.
The air in front of Richard shimmered for a second, then returned to normal. Richard could see the airplane starting to crumble around him, massive holes opened up in the floor somehow.
The stewardess calmly walked down the aisle of the airplane, causally walking around the holes in the floor. Richard looked up at her and saw that the right side of her face was blackened and corrupted, her lips pulled back on that side, revealing sharp teeth. She half-smiled with the side of her face that was still covered in skin.
¡°Would you like coffee? Soda? A way out of here?¡±
Richard froze in his seat.
¡°If you stay here, you are going to die. Your gods are not going to help you now. But if you join us, we can still save you.¡± She reached out a thin, boney hand, skin strangely wrinkled and withered, long uncut fingernails were grown out inches past her fingertips and curved into talons.¡°Take my hand. It is the only way.¡±
Richard drew back. ¡°No!¡± He reached forward and slammed the base of fist down onto the back of the seat in front of him where there was supposed to be a portal, a way out...
Richard woke up, sitting bolt upright out of a deep sleep, the word ¡°No¡± still on his lips. It took him a second to orient himself and remember where he was, lying on some blankets on the floor of Harry''s farm house. It was still dark out, and Evelyn was looking down at him from chair where she''d been sitting. He glanced around, and it looked like he at least hadn''t woken up anyone else by talking in his sleep.
He sighed, and decided he wasn''t going to get back to sleep, so he carefully got up and quietly walked over next to Evelyn. She''d moved her chair over by the window to a place where she had a good view of the path coming up towards the house and was clearly taking her turn on the watch.
¡°Bad dreams?¡± she asked quietly.
He nodded and sat down next to her. His heart was still racing from the dream.
They sat there quietly for a while, with Richard just looking out the window and thinking.
¡°I''m going to go and take a quick walk around the outside of the house. Want to come?¡±
Richard nodded, and they walked outside.
As they walked around the house, darkness lit only by dim light of the quarter moon and the dim light coming from the house, Evelyn spoke quietly. ¡°I was afraid that I''d left you to die in the forest.¡±
Richard waited for a minute, not sure how to respond. ¡°Us separating was the right move. We wouldn''t have been able to avoid them if we''d stayed together.¡±
¡°I know, and it sounds like you were fine on your own. But I didn''t know that you would be.¡± She paused. ¡°It felt like I was leaving you to die, lost in the forest on your own, to save my own skin. I felt like a coward.¡±
They walked some more, in the quiet darkness. Finally, Richard said ¡°The dogs were after you, not me. I felt like I was the one being selfish, letting the dogs chase you while I hid. I wanted to go back and protect you, especially when I saw smoke, but I didn''t.¡±
She looked at him, and in the dim light, Richard could see a faint smile on her face. ¡°Maybe we both just need to have more confidence in each other. Tell you what. Next time we get in trouble, trust me to be able to take care of myself, and I''ll trust you to do the same. Deal?¡±
Richard smiled. ¡°Deal¡±. She reached her hand out, and he shook it.
After they finished walking around the house, not seeing anything of note, they went back inside. She went back to her position by the front window, and he sat back down next to her. He felt surprisingly comfortable around Evelyn, for her being someone he had only met a few days before, and they sat there quietly and watched the sun rise.
A few hours later, after everyone else had woken up and Harry had cooked up some oats and eggs for everyone, Richard and Jehan walked back to town to try and investigate to see if they could learn more about the summoner.
As they were approching the town, Jehan turned to Richard. "Do you expect to find the summoner?"
Richard snorted. "Hardly. He may have fled town, or maybe he just found a deep hole to hide in. He certainly wouldn''t be hanging out near the spot of the attack; I''m sure he just sent those things after us to distract us and cover his escape. Maybe we can find a clue though, or talk to someone who saw what happened."
Jehan nodded. "Good. I hoped you were being realistic in your expectations."
As soon as they got into town, the first place they went was the inn. While the guards had left and the bodies were gone, the place was closed and was still a mess. A couple of people were inside cleaning up, and there were still blood stains on the floor.
Alana recognized them immediately. ¡°Jehan! Richard! I was so relieved to hear you two made it out ok. And I heard you helped kill those things that attacked?¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°Yes, and we''re trying to find out more about what happened and where they came from. Did you see what happened here yesterday?¡±
¡°I heard some yelling down the street, someone said that monsters were coming, and everyone started running outside and yelling. Everyone went pouring out of the inn into the street, saw what was there, and turned and ran. I did the same thing.¡± She shook her head. ¡°If I had stayed in the Inn and barred the door, it might have kept those things out, but I wasn''t thinking. I just wanted to see if there was actually something there, and once I did, I just ran.¡± She paused. ¡°Most people got out of the Inn before the monsters got to the door, they weren''t moving that fast. A few people didn''t make it, or just didn''t go when they had the chance.¡±
¡°Did you see where they came from?¡± Richard asked gently.
¡°Yeah. They came from around the corner, from that alley over there.¡± She pointed. ¡°They were moving in a group...I expected them to break apart and start chasing people down, but it seemed like they all just wanted to get inside the Inn for some reason.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Did you see anyone down there? Anyone come out of that alley later?¡±
She shook her head. ¡°I didn''t see anyone coming from that direction but the monsters.¡± She paused. ¡°You know, it was really strange; there were other people in the street screaming and running from the monsters in all directions, but the monsters ignored all of them, and just came straight for the Inn instead of chasing them. I wonder why.¡±
Jehan spoke up. ¡°If anyone else strange comes around the Inn asking about us or anything, please do me a favor and let me know. The city guard think those monsters might have been sent to kill me, personally.¡±
Her eyes grew wide, and she nodded.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Jehan spoke more quietly. ¡°Or if you just want to talk. This was not your fault, Alana. You did the right thing running away from those things.¡±
She nodded again, tears in the corner of her eyes. ¡°Ok. Thank you Jehan.¡±
Richard quickly asked. ¡°Oh, one more thing. That narrow street they came from, do you know what''s down there?¡±
Alana nodded, and started speaking while clearly holding back tears. ¡°It''s (sniff) mostly the back entrances to stores, and a few older homes. Oh, and I think there''s a back entrance to a warehouse down at the end of the alley.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Richard paused. ¡°Our...friend, Red, was relieved to hear you were ok, she was worried about you.¡±
Alana smiled. ¡°Good. The guards were trying to tell me that she was the one who summoned the monsters, but I knew she wouldn''t do that. Right?¡±
Jehan nodded slowly. ¡°I can promise you, she was not the one who did this.¡±
She breathed a soft sign of relief. ¡°Thank you. I''ll tell you if I hear anything else.¡±
After leaving the Inn, they walked down the street towards the alley that the warped men had come out of.
¡°Do you think the guards already checked this area out?¡± asked Richard.
¡°I''m sure they did. Still, maybe we can find someone who saw the attack. Later, after we''ve checked things out ourselves, I''ll talk to the guards and see what they found.¡± Richard nodded, and walked towards the mouth of the alley. Looking down it, he could see that it was quite narrow, only barely wide enough for two people to walk down side by side. The buildings on both sides were made of brick and stone and were pretty unadorned; it was clear that for most of them this was a back entrance, and not one used often. A fair amount of trash was lying on the ground, some of which looked like it had been left there some time ago. At the end of the alley was a larger set of reinforced double doors, likely leading into that warehouse.
Jehan looked down the alley and nodded. ¡°Yes, they must have come through or out of one of those buildings. Maybe we should go walk around the block and go to the front entrances of these stores, ask of any of the shopkeepers on this street saw anything.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°That''s a good idea. I want to walk down the alley and take a look to see if I can spot any signs of where they might have been. Probably won''t see anything, but it might help me to get a better idea.¡± He paused. ¡°If you want to go start talking to those shopkeepers, I''ll catch up in few minutes.¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°That might be a good idea. They might be more willing to talk to me if I was alone anyway, I know most of the people who run these shops. Just be careful, and if you do find any trouble shout for me, all right? I won''t be far.¡±
After they separated, Richard walked slowly down the dirty alley. It was darker back here, with only a little sunlight coming in from above. Richard looked at the doors as he walked past them; most of them looked to be locked and some were chained shut. It looked like most of them had not been used in a long time. He didn''t see any sign of them having been disturbed recently.
As he got towards the end of the alley, he noticed that the double doors going to the warehouse at the end of the alley were open slightly. He walked up to them, cautiously. Feeling nervous, he raised his hand to knock on the door, but the door opened just before he could.
A truly beautiful woman stood in front of him, with several armed men standing around her that looked like merchant guards. Something about her appearance was so stunning his brain stuttered to a halt for a moment. She was tall, with pale skin and black hair, wearing a light blue low-cut shirt that highlighted all of her curves, and a shorter skirt then he''d seen anyone in this world wear, one that showed off much of her legs. For a second, he thought she looked a little older than he was, maybe a woman in her late 30''s or early 40''s, but he blinked and got a closer look at her and she looked younger, more like someone his own age. She looked right at him, stunning green eyes locking with his, smiled, and she whispered something he didn''t hear.
¡°I said, can I help you with something?¡± She repeated, a twinkle in her eyes.
¡°Oh, I, um.¡± Why am I acting so fuzzy-headed? I feel like I''m a teenager meeting an attractive woman, I haven''t been like this for years. ¡°I was investigating the monster attack down at the Inn, and was wondering if anyone here, um, might have, um seen anything?¡±
She smiled again. ¡°Oh, how fortunate. We are also investigating that. We are here with the city guards, trying to investigate the monster attack.¡±
He blinked and looked around. Something is wrong. ¡°Those men around you, they''re not...wearing city guard uniforms.¡±
She laughed softly. He looked back at her, and she seemed to be lazily tracing a pattern in the air with her index fingers. ¡°Yes, they are. Look again.¡±
Richard looked back at the men, and they were wearing the uniforms of the city guard. Of course, they were, they always had been.
Hadn''t they?
She smiled at him again. ¡°Why don''t you come inside, and we can...talk.¡± The word ¡°talk¡± was said in almost a sensual way that seemed to hint at more, and it echoed in a strange way in his head.
Richard walked inside the warehouse and let them close the door behind him. She was standing in front of him, with five or six city guards (city guards? a part of his brain was confused for a moment) standing around her. He was in a warehouse, with oil lamps burning. There was a strange smell in the air, and some kind of...circles drawn on the floor?
¡°Don''t worry about anything you see in this warehouse. We''ve already investigated, and it''s not important, it''s not relevant, it doesn''t matter.¡±
He nodded. ¡°You already investigated, and it doesn''t matter. I understand.¡± They were the city''s investigators, after all, and Richard felt he trusted this woman.
She pulled out a piece of paper and a charcoal pencil and started writing. ¡°So, if you don''t mind, I''m going to ask you some questions about the monster attack.¡±
¡°Of...of course, that''s fine.¡± Richard stuttered a little bit.
¡°So, who are you, and why are you trying to investigate this?¡±
¡°My name is Richard. I was at the Inn when the monsters attacked, and I want to find out who summoned them.¡±
She laughed softly. ¡°Oh, you''re that adventurer who was in the inn with the priest, right? I heard about you, you two were the ones who killed the warped men. Who was the priest you were with again?¡±
¡°Jehan.¡± Why am I telling her all of this?
¡°Jehan, was he the one who cast the spell that found Velithar¡±?
¡°...Velithar?¡±
¡°Oh, you didn''t know his name, did you? The summoner.¡±
¡°Oh.¡± Richard paused. ¡°Oh, no Jehan wasn''t the one who cast the spell, I was.¡±
A man (one of the...guards?) standing behind her said in a harsh voice ¡°Lillian, why are you telling him all of this? We can''t afford to kill him here, it''ll attract more attention.¡±
She laughed. ¡°Don''t worry. We need to know how much this young man knows and who he told, and he won''t remember any of this anyway.¡± She leaned forward and touched Richard on his forehead with her index finger, gently tracing a pattern on it. ¡°Our young friend Richard here feels like he only has, what, maybe 5 Wisdom? Is that right Richard?¡±
¡°I have 4 Wisdom. Well, 3.6 really.¡± He answered her question calmly. A strange warmth was flowing through his head, it was a mix of both desire and a strange fuzzy sensation that reminded him of being drunk, and he was no longer thinking about anything.
She laughed again. ¡°With a wisdom that low I could leave our young friend here charmed for a week without putting any more spells on him than I already have, and he wouldn''t break free of it, and afterwards he would never remember anything except what I wanted him to remember. Which is good, we might need him to help clean up this absurd mess Velithar made. I still cannot believe that Velithar was foolish enough to summon abominations in the middle of the city.¡±
The man shook his head. ¡°Well, you know Velithar. Any excuse he can get to do...his thing. And you know the Duke will never let him do it on a scale like that in our own cities.¡±
She shook her head. ¡°Anyway, not important.¡± She turned back to Richard. ¡°So, you cast the spell that found Velithar, but you didn''t know his name? What did you find out about him?¡±
¡°Only that he was a corrupted mage, and a corrupted summoner.¡±
She nodded. ¡°And how many people have you told about this?¡±
¡°Well, I told...¡± some part of Richard''s brain stumbled, and he tripped over his words. For some reason he didn''t want to tell this nice lady about Evelyn. Why? This wonderful lady was clearly just trying to investigate the monsters like he was, in...this warehouse, wearing that skirt...
SOMETHING IS WRONG! a voice in the back of Richard''s head screamed. The same part of his brain that first noticed that something was wrong with an equation he was working on, that sensed that there was a mistake in his math somewhere, usually long before he could identify what mistake was, was screaming at him that something here was not adding up.
¡°Richard, are you around?¡± a voice called out from down the end of the alley.
¡°Who is that?¡± Lillian asked.
¡°Oh, that''s Jehan, the priest. We''re investigating this together.¡± Richard said.
Lillian frowned. ¡°You''d better go back to him, then. We''ll continue this conversation at another time, love.¡± She leaned towards Richard and kissed him on the lips. Her finger traced a pattern on the back of Richard''s neck as her lips gently pressed against his, and a bright white light blasted through Richard''s brain that erased all thought for a moment. The part of his brain that was already starting to doubt, that had noticed an error and was trying to identify it, was silenced. She pulled back after a moment and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
¡°All you are going to remember is that there were city guards here already investigating the warehouse, and there is nothing interesting here. You will not remember me, but next time I see you, you will happily enter back into my thrall and do what I say. Won''t you, pet?¡±
He smiled. He knew she had just whispered some romantic proposal into his ear, although he couldn''t quite remember what it was she had just said. ¡°Yes¡± he said anyway.
She smiled. ¡°Good. You''d better get back to your priest friend now.¡±
Richard nodded, and turned around and walked back out of the warehouse. They closed the door behind him, and he walked down the alley towards Jehan. Richard was in a really good mood for some reason, although he wasn''t sure quite why.
¡°Anything down there?¡± Jehan asked.
Richard shook his head. ¡°There were already some members of the city guard in there, investigating the warehouse. They didn''t find anything important. There isn''t anything interesting there. There isn''t anything interesting there.¡±
Jehan gave Richard a strange look, and Richard realized he''d just repeated himself. That was strange. I wonder...is something wrong?
No. There is nothing wrong. There were only city guards there, and nothing interesting. A part of his mind responded back to him, like repeating a catechism.
Something about the thought seemed off to him, like it wasn''t quite right somehow, but he couldn''t figure out what. Anyway, it probably didn''t matter, he knew it wasn''t anything interesting or important.
¡°Did...erm, did you find anything out from the store owners?¡± Richard asked Jehan as they walked down the street.
¡°No, none of them seemed to see anything...¡±
As they walked away, part of Richard''s brain kept circling back around, trying to find the part of the equation that didn''t quite add up, but he didn''t pay much attention to it. Whatever it was, it clearly wasn''t important.
Chapter 16
Richard and Jehan spent some more time walking around the area where the attack happened, trying to find more eyewitnesses who might tell them something. Sometimes they walked together, and sometimes they separated to cover more ground. They knocked on doors, talked to people in shops, and to people on the streets. Several people had either seen the warped men attack, or claimed to have seen it, but they didn''t find anyone who had anything new to say. Most of the witnesses they found had not been close and had run away as soon as they had seen something happening or didn''t actually see anything and just ran away because everyone else was running.
After several hours, Richard sighed. ¡°I don''t think we''re going to find anyone else who can tell us more than Alana already did.¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°I have to admit, it never seemed that likely that we would find much. I assume that whomever it was just cast that spell to slow us down or distract us and then either fled town or went and hid somewhere. It was worth trying to see if we could, though.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Yeah, I suppose you''re right. There''s probably nothing interesting to find around here.¡± Something about that phrase echoed in his head for a minute in a strange way, leaving him feeling slightly dizzy, and he closed his eyes and shook his head until the feeling went away. ¡°Whew...I must be tired, probably got up too early.¡±
¡°I can go ask if the guards learned anything new and get our equipment back.¡± Jehan said. ¡°You should head back to the house. Perhaps do some more training? It seemed like you were making good progress last night.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°All right.¡± He sighed. ¡°I have the strangest feeling like I''m missing some clue, like there''s something...I don''t know. Maybe I''ll think of it later. It''s probably nothing important anyway.¡±
Richard went jogging back up through the north gate of the city, his feet finding an easy rhythm on the dirt road. It was a sunny day, and the sun shining on the fields of the farms and trees he jogged past was a relaxing sight. He still had a nagging feeling at the back of his head like he was forgetting something, but every time he tried to pin it down the feeling went away. He sighed and tried not to let it bother him.
When he got back to the house, both Harry and Bertrand were waiting for him, grinning.
¡°We noticed how fast you learned skills earlier, and Bertrand had a good idea for how we can train a couple of your skills at once. We were setting it up while you were in town...¡±
Richard ran through the forest. He''d been doing this over and over again for several hours now, so jumping over this branch and going a little bit to the left to avoid the low hanging leaves that would slow him down became almost automatic. Without breaking stride, he threw a knife at the first target tied to on an elm tree as he ran past it.
Thunk! A solid hit, not directly in the middle of the target, but close. He did a sharp left turn around a massive oak tree, and ran on, easily avoiding a crumbling log that tripped him the first time he ran this course today, and threw a throwing knife into the second target without slowing down.
After spending most of the afternoon running on this course, Richard had already gained a level in his Pathfinder skill, and he could already feel the difference in just how easy it was to move around in the forest. Between that and the practice he''d had running the same course Harry and Bertrand had designed over and over again, most of the movements became automatic, leaving him more time to think. Richard ducked under a tree branch and focused on keeping his breathing steady as he loped through the woods.
What is it I''m missing...I know there''s something. Was it something Alana said.
He took a couple of long steps, avoiding twisting his ankles in holes in the forest ground that had probably been made by a gopher.
She told me that the Warped Men moved as a group, and ignored random people, coming right to the Inn. That seems to prove that someone was controlling them and did send them after the person casting the spell.
He threw a third throwing knife. This time he didn''t quite hit the target solidly, and instead the knife glanced off the side of the tree and fell. He sighed, knowing it would be a pain to find when he came back after this run of the course, but didn''t slow down.
She told me that they came from that alley, but that probably just means that''s where the summoner was hiding when he summoned them; he probably left the alley soon after they did. There wasn''t anything important in that alley.
He frowned; something wasn''t adding up here. He turned to the right, and with one long stride leaped over a narrow creek, his right foot landing in a patch of soft moss on the other side of it, and his momentum carrying him across without needing to break stride.
Something is wrong. There were...there were city guards investigating that warehouse back there. The attack happened yesterday, why were there still guards investigating that area today if there was nothing interesting back there?
There was nothing interesting back there. The thought echoed back to him, and something felt strange about that thought; it seemed like something he was oddly confident, like a fact he had memorized, and didn''t fit with the rest of his train of thought.
Richard took a misstep and his left foot almost slipped on the flat leaf of a fern, but he quickly regained his balance and kept running.
If there was nothing interesting back there, then why would there be guards?
There was nothing interesting back there.
How many guards were there? Five? Or...six? He vaguely remembered five guards, or six, but something seemed wrong. Their uniforms seemed...fuzzy in his memory, like he couldn''t quite remember what they looked like. And...was there a commander there with them, someone in charge?
There was nothing interesting back there.
The repeated refrain came back to him, and it felt like one of those songs that gets stuck in your head and just keeps repeating. It was becoming annoying, and he managed to ignore it and continue his train of thought as he ran through the forest.
The guards wouldn''t just be standing around. If they were there, there should have been someone there in charge of them. Maybe...some kind of sergeant, or some kind of investigator? Do they have those in this world?
Why can''t I remember what I saw? Is something wrong with me?
...nothing important....
I really feel like there was someone else there, but I can''t...
...nothing interesting...
Richard threw his fourth throwing knife, directly into a tree stump they had put the fourth target in. This one he hit dead on in the center, and for a moment imagined he was throwing it at an enemy, maybe a monster like the one he had fought at the river.
...nothing important...
Something does not make sense here. Something is wrong. Something is wrong.
There must have been something about that warehouse worth investigating. Did I see anything when I walked into it? A memory of a memory brushed past Richard''s brain, but he couldn''t quite remember it.
Oddly, though, it felt like a happy memory, like something he should have remembered. Almost like there was someone he knew there, but that can''t be true.
...nothing interesting...
That refrain is getting stranger and stranger. How could this not be interesting? There were 5 or 6 guards there, investigating something. I know they were being led by someone, but I just can''t remember what she looked like.
Wait...she? Was there a woman there? Richard couldn''t remember, but felt a faint tingle on his lips.
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With increasing frustration, Richard went into a full sprint towards the last target, in a way he hadn''t earlier today; he had been pacing himself, so he could train for longer, but something in him burst free and made him put everything into a sprint, and he ran directly for the last target, a thick tree. As he got close he cried out a battle cry and put everything he had into the throw of his last knife. THUNK! The knife struck exactly in the center of the target, and with all of his momentum behind it, it sank deeply into the tree. As soon as he did, several blue boxes popped up in front of his eyes, breaking his train of thought.
Skill earned: Thrown weapon (daggers) (3)
Skill earned: Parting Shot (3)
Prerequisites met: movement skill (3), throwing weapon skill (3), parting shot (3). New combat class available: skirmisher! Would you like to accept this class? (Y/N)
A combat class! Great, that''s what I''ve been waiting for. Not sure what a skirmisher is exactly, but hopefully it will let me defend myself a little better. Richard reached out and touched the ¡°Y¡± on the box floating in front of him.
The following skills are now part of your Skirmisher class:
Jogging (3)
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2)
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3)
Parting shot (3)
Human experience: 5044 --------------> 3944
Skirmisher experience: 0 ---------------->200
You have gained the Skirmisher class trait: Accuracy
You have gained the Skirmisher class trait: Running throw
You have gained the Skirmisher class trait: Rapid retreat
Smiling, Richard went back to get his throwing knives. He''d been doing this all afternoon, and could almost pick them up without thinking about it although it took him a little while to find where the third knife had gone off the tree and into the leaves. He felt refreshed and energized.
It feels good to earn a class, like I accomplished something. This is the best I''ve felt since...since...
A shard of memory was linked to that thought, like a thread attached to something larger but hidden, and he pulled on that thread...
lips touching his
whisper in his ear
¡°All you are going to remember
city guards...investigating...warehouse
there is nothing interesting here.¡±
nothing interesting
nothing interesting
nothing interesting
The memory started to fade again, as quick as it appeared, but this time Richard refused to let that happen.
NO. I NEED TO KNOW.
The memory was still broken, he could only touch parts of it, but it was incredibly vivid, like trying to remember a dream after you wake up in the morning. He could almost hear her voice, soft and sensual.
next time I see you
back into my thrall
do what I say
Won''t you, pet
¡°Yes...¡± he started to whisper out loud, then he shook his head.
¡°No. No, I will not.¡± he said, quietly. Then louder. ¡°No.¡± He yelled across the forest. ¡°NO! NO!¡±
Something shifted in his head, and it was as if a fog lifted. He could suddenly think more clearly, which was odd because he hadn''t really noticed he wasn''t thinking as clearly as usual until it ended.
Skill earned: Rational Introspection (1)
For using rational introspection break out of a charm spell, you have earned +20 Cunning points
A rustling in the bush quickly came from behind him; he turned to see Harry and Bertrand come running up to him through the woods.
¡°We heard you yelling, kid. Is everything all right?¡± Bertrand asked.
Richard shook his head grimly. He still had only bits and pieces of memory and his brain was franticly trying to put together the puzzle out of the pieces he''d acquired, but there were some things that were immediately obvious to him. ¡°No. I think Jehan might be in danger right now. For that matter, we all might be.¡±
Spoiler: Character Sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class: Skirmisher (1)
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 80 (Max: 80)
SP: 38 (Max 38)
MP: 144 (144)
MP regeneration: 3.4%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 41
Cunning: 42
High Stakes: 20
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +1 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.
Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +50% to damage and +25% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.
Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +25% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.
Skills (General):
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (1): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Rational Introspection (1): You have begun to develop the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and possibly break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.
Skills (Skirmisher):
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather than for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Achievement: Bounty Hunter(intermediate)
Chapter 17
A big part of Richard had wanted to go running into town and go looking for Jehan, but Harry and Bertrand had insisted they go back to the farm house and share information and plan first, and Richard knew they were right. They had run back to the farmhouse, and they were in the main room, with Evelyn and Kateryn. Bertrand was quickly gathering up his mismatched pieces of armor, and Harry was loading arrows into his quiver, checking each one as he selected it and putting back the ones that weren''t quite straight. Both of them seemed able to do these activities without thinking about them and were focusing most of their attention on Richard as he told the other four what had happened to him.
¡°Go back. What exactly did she do? Did you hear her cast any spells out loud?¡± Evelyn asked.
Richard thought. ¡°I''m not sure. She might have whispered something under her breath the first time, but most of the time she was just...¡± Richard raised his hand and started tracing shapes in the air.
Evelyn nodded. ¡°Runic magic. Makes sense. It''s hard to do that by tracing patterns in the air, you have to be really precise with how you create your runes and most people draw or carve them, but a real expert can cast runic spells like that.¡±
¡°She also...um. Traced it on my skin, once.¡± Richard blushed slightly. ¡°On the back of my neck.¡±
¡°Can I see?¡± Evelyn walked behind him, and when Richard nodded, she lifted the hair off of his neck. ¡°I just have to activate my magic sight...¡± she closed her eyes for a second, and concentrated. A few moments later she opened them again. ¡°Oh, wow.¡± She leaned over and traced a pattern on the back of his neck. Richard shivered slightly. ¡°She put a hell of lot of magic power into this spell, I can still see it glowing now. And...¡± she stepped back a bit ¡°Yeah, I can see at least 4 different powerful spells were cast on you a few hours ago.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I can see that the spells are broken, shattered, but I''ve never seen a spell shattered quite like this before. How did you break free so quickly?¡±
¡°I...have a new skill. Rational introspection, it''s called. Let¡¯s me resist this kind of magic using my intelligence, and break through charm spells over time.¡±
She shook her head. ¡°I''ve never even heard of that skill.¡± She turned and looked at Harry and Bertrand. ¡°There''s no way she would expect anyone to break free of those spells in a few hours like Richard did. She probably thinks she''ll be safe for a while.¡± They nodded. ¡°Richard...it''s impressive you managed to struggle your way out of those spells so quickly, but the spells aren''t totally banished, just broken. You broke through them, but there''s still pieces of them there that we need to get someone to dispel. Until we do, you''re going to be even more vulnerable to her mental magic than you were before.¡±
Richard sighed, but nodded his head, he knew she was right. He could still feel echoes of the charm spell in his head, and not all of his memories of the warehouse were totally clear.
¡°Anyway...to use runes like that, with that kind of proficiency, she''s probably an Enchanter. And it sounds like the kind who''s seriously into mind magic.¡±
Bertrand nodded slowly. ¡°I guess she''s probably the summoner you guys were looking for then, huh?¡±
¡°No.¡± Richard said. They looked at him, surprised. ¡°I still have gaps in my memory, but I know she said that both her and the corrupted summoner were working for the Duke. She was trying to clean up the mess he made, find and shut down anyone who knew about them. That''s why I think Jehan might be in danger right now.¡±
Evelyn started pacing back and forth. ¡°Damn it, I should have realized. The Duke was trying to recruit me, his men said it was because they knew I was wanted for practicing forbidden magics. It sounds like he''s already recruited other people who are practicing forbidden magics; he has a corrupted summoner and someone who uses enchantments to control people''s minds, and both are highly forbidden.¡±
¡°Gods...what does he want with people like that?¡± Kateryn ask wonderingly, and then suddenly realized who she was talking to. ¡°Erm, no offense Evelyn.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
¡°More importantly¡± asked Harry, quickly cutting in before Evelyn could respond ¡°if the Duke has been trying so hard to recruit people like that, why would he send them here?¡±
¡°Whatever play the Duke is making, we''re not in a position to do anything about it.¡± Bertrand said. He had put a heavy iron pauldron onto his left shoulder that had an eagle carved into it and was currently strapping a slightly lighter and smaller pauldron onto his right shoulder. The two clearly came from different sets of armor, and neither seemed to fit with the chain mail he was now wearing over his chest. ¡°These guys are power hitters, way above any of your levels, and probably above mine as well, and if Duke Rudhale is behind them they might have anything up to a medium sized army backing them up. Let''s go into town, find Jehan, and then let''s all just get out of here.¡±
Harry nodded. ¡°Me and Bertrand can go into town. Richard, Evelyn, and Kateryn, why don''t the three of you stay here.¡±
¡°No, I want to come along.¡± Richard responded.
¡°Lad, we know you''re brave, but you don''t even have a combat class yet...¡± Bertrand responded.
¡°Oh, I do, I just got one.¡±
¡°You...got a combat class? Just like that?¡± Bertrand looked surprised. ¡°What class?¡±
¡°Skirmisher.¡±
¡°Not many of those around here, but I''ve heard of them.¡± Harry responded.
¡°Yeah, some of the kingdoms up north train skirmishers for their armies.¡± Evelyn said, clearly repeating something she''d read in a textbook. ¡°While the main armies are still closing on each other, they run in, throw javelins at the enemy shield wall, and then run away. Usually kill a few enemies, and at least ruin some their shields, weaken the shield wall before the main armies clash. They''re considered cheap and expendable...¡± Evelyn paused, and swallowed. ¡°Um. Yeah.¡±
¡°I''ve known a few skirmishers. Traveled with a halfling skirmisher for a while. Not much use in a head to head fight, but given room and time he could run circles around a monster and pelt it with rocks from his sling until it collapsed.¡± Bertrand shook his head. ¡°But even so, that''s a big accomplishment lad, but you''re still just level 1, you''ll just get yourself killed if we get into any real fights. You should stay here.¡±
¡°It''s not any safer here.¡± Richard said quietly. ¡°They might already have Jehan, and if they do, he''s going to tell them everything he knows, especially who else he''s talked to and where they are. I''m sure he''s got more resistance then I do, but I don''t know if anyone could resist her for long. For all we know they could all already be on their way here.¡±
They went quiet at that. ¡°Wait. We don''t even know where to find Jehan, do we.¡± Evelyn said.
¡°Well, last I spoke to him, he was going to go and talk to the town guard.¡± Richard said.
¡°But you don''t really expect to find him there, do you.¡± She said. Richard didn''t respond.
Evelyn went digging through her backpack. ¡°I doubt the Duke has that many enchanters working for him, and he was equipping all of his soldiers with these when they were trying to capture me...¡± out of her backpack, she pulled three charms out. Each charm was a square of leather on a long string, designed to be worn as a necklace, with runes embroidered into the leather. ¡°These are a cheap, easy enchantment, designed to block fire. Each one would only stop maybe a couple of fire spells before it gave out, but a good enchanter could make dozens of these in a few days. If the enchanter who made these is the same one who''s in the town now...¡± Evelyn closed her eyes and whispered a few words. ¡°Power return to your master, power return to your creator, power return to your master...¡± Richard heard, in a soft repeated chant, in the same ancient language as the other spells he''d heard. The three charms lifted into the air, and all three pointed towards the town, pulling their strings taught, like iron being pulled by a magnet. ¡°I can find her with these. And if she has Jehan, then if we find her, we find him.¡±
¡°Slow down. You want to walk right into the town?¡± Bertrand said. ¡°You do know that all the guards are looking for you, right?¡±
¡°We don''t have to go in through the main gates.¡± Evelyn responded calmly. ¡°There''s a place by the docks where it''s not hard to climb over the wall.¡±
¡°This is a bad idea.¡±
¡°If he''s been captured, do you have any better idea how to find him?¡±
They went quiet for a little while, and then Harry spoke up.
¡°Kateryn, Richard is right; if they have Jehan, this house might not be safe. Maybe...you''d better go stay with your mother for a few days?¡±
Kateryn spoke up. ¡°If they have Jehan, and he tells them that he talked to me, they''ll find me, Richard. If they don''t find me here, they''ll find me at my parent''s house, Jehan knows where that is too. And if they don''t find me there...they''ll find my parents.¡± She shook her head. ¡°No, I''m coming with you guys too.¡±
Bertrand shook his head. ¡°You''re...Kat, you''re a farmer. Do you even have a combat class?¡±
¡°I''m a good frontierswoman, Bertrand. I''ve been putting in my militia training every month. I''m a level 2 Spearman.¡± She walked into her room and came back carrying the same kind of spear Richard had seen the town militia carrying. ¡°And I''m coming with you.¡± Her tone didn''t brook any argument.
¡°Gods preserve us...¡± Bertrand sighed.
Chapter 18
Jehan walked slowly towards the city guard''s headquarters, thinking. Something was bothering him about the morning.
It does not surprise me that we didn''t find anything this morning, I certainly wasn''t expecting too. But something seemed off.
Jehan knew the sergeant who oversaw the evening shift at the guard house, Bennett. Jehan had known him for years in fact and was optimistic he might be able to convince the man to let him see the investigation files the guard was making on the corrupted summoner case. While waiting for evening, Jehan had gone back to his smithy and spent some time hammering out some horseshoes. Doing some physical labor relaxed Jehan, and he had made so many horseshoes over the years he could practically do it in his sleep these days.
Not that there''s likely to be much there, but I agreed to help Richard with this, and I''m going to see what I can find. Stranger things have happened.
Jehan had encouraged Richard to try his idea of ¡°investigating¡± to try to find the corrupted summoner. Not because he thought it was likely it would work; he was pretty sure it wouldn''t. But it was the kind of quest that he would expect a Champion of Ikar to want to get involved in, and the fact that Richard took the lead on the investigation was a good sign.
I have to guide him towards being a true Champion of Ikar, with all that entails, while keeping him safe until he''s ready to face challenges himself. Jehan pondered. I need him to take initiative while guiding him in the right direction. I need Richard to get in the habit of taking crazy Ikarian risks while not actually doing anything too dangerous yet. I need to teach him literally everything about this world without letting him forget whatever traits from his own will make him the unpredictable chaotic factor Ikar probably wants him to be. Later, I''ll need to let Richard do things I may think are impossible without letting him try to do anything that actually is impossible, and without letting him think I''m controlling any of it.
A small smile raised in Jehan''s lips as he considered the impossibility of the task in front of him. Fortunately, Jehan had read many of the Sacred Texts of the Vizier, including the secret ones that those outside the faith were not allowed to see, and a big part of those had been in the delicate art of guiding a leader in the right direction while letting the leader think that everything was his own idea. Jehan had never been the kind of Ikarian priest who personally whispered in the ears of kings while standing in the shadows behind them, he had never been anywhere close to that level and that kind of power had never really interested him, but he at least knew the theory.
Truth is, part of the reason I encouraged Richard in this direction was that I didn''t think he would find anything. Oh, it would be more than nice to eliminate a corrupted summoner before he does any more damage, but more important is just giving Richard time to interact with this world before anything really bad starts to happen.
Still... Jehan''s thoughts come back to where he started. Still, I feel like something was off this morning. Richard seemed distracted or confused about something.
Jehan arrived at the guard headquarters. The guard sitting behind the desk recognized him right away.
¡°Padre! Good to see you again. How are you?¡±
Jehan smiled and shook the man''s hand while patting him on the shoulder. ¡°Excellent, thank you.¡± Jehan wished he remembered the guard''s name; he had certainly seen him around town, but either had never been told or couldn''t remember his name.
¡°I was hoping to get some information about the attack made against me yesterday,¡± Jehan said with a smile on his face.
They wouldn''t normally share information about an ongoing investigation, but sometimes they will give something to the victim of a crime, and sometimes they''ll give information to an adventurer who might help them stop it. I can play either or both cards here if I must but let me try the ¡°victim¡± card first since they think this attack was targeted at me.
¡°Of course. Let me bring you to my sergeant.¡± The young guard left his desk by the door of the guard headquarters and led Jehan back to the main room.
The town guard was both the town''s main defensive force and the only real law enforcement in the town, and they were quite busy on that day. More of them were on duty than usual, in case there was another monster attack in the city, and the atmosphere was tenser than Jehan usually remembered it being. But the sergeant in charge seemed to be in a good mood when he saw him anyway.
¡°Jehan! Good to see you. I heard you helped deal with our little monster problem.¡±
Sergeant Bennett was a large man, and he always had a smile on his face. He wasn''t of the Ikarian faith, but Jehan had known him for many years, and they had gone drinking together more than once.
Jehan smiled. ¡°Oh, I only played a small role. I was hoping to find out what might have been behind it all. Do you guys know who it was yet?¡±
Bennett shook his head. ¡°I heard that you and your adventurer friend were looking into it. We haven''t had any luck, so I hope you do. I really want to find this guy before he summons anything else into my city.¡±
¡°Yes. Well, we haven''t had any luck yet, I''m afraid. Did your guards find anything?¡±
The sergeant shook his head. ¡°Nothing worth mentioning. I can show you the reports the guards wrote up yesterday, if you''d like. Maybe you can find something in there.¡±
Jehan smiled again. ¡°Thank you, I would like to see that.¡±
The sergeant gave a couple of quiet orders to another man working for him, and he walked Jehan into a small room deeper in the guard house, and then brought him the file for the case. ¡°You can''t take anything from this file out of here¡± the man said, sounding somewhat bored. Jehan nodded, and the man left.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
The room had only one door at the front, and one table in the center with benches on both sides. A small window up above let some light in, but the room was still kind of dim, especially this late in the evening. It looked like the kind of room where the guards likely conducted interviews of the people they suspected of crimes. Jehan sat down at the table, lit a candle so that he had enough light to read by, and started flipping through the file. Most of the guards¡¯ reports said similar things; they described what the warped men looked like, talked to different eyewitnesses. Several eyewitnesses said similar things, and more than one said they had seen the warped men coming out of that dark alley.
As Jehan skimmed the guard''s reports, something strange caught his eye. There was some kind of pattern that seemed to be repeating. The report he was currently reading was written by a guard named Peter.
¡°Spoke to witness, Abigail Woods. Interview attached.¡±
¡°Investigated warehouse area. Nothing interesting there.¡±
It seemed a strange choice of words for a formal written report of an investigation, and Jehan flipped back to the other guard''s report, and read a report signed by a guard named ¡°Ronald¡±.
¡°Checked out back alley area in response to witness testimony. Nothing interesting found there. Nothing interesting there.¡±
Jehan flipped to the report of a third guard, Gregory, and skimmed through until he found what he was looking for.
¡°Nothing interesting found at the warehouse. Returned to inn.¡±
A fourth guard, John, a fourth report, and...
¡°Witnesses stated that the monsters came out of alley, but nothing important found back there. Nothing interesting there.¡±
Jehan closed the files for a minute, thinking. The pattern was strange, but there was clearly a pattern.
If the guards hadn''t found anything at the warehouse, then why had Richard said that there were still guards investigating there today?
And when Jehan had asked Richard about the warehouse, he had said...
¡°Nothing interesting. Nothing interesting.¡± Jehan whispered to himself, remembering.
Jehan quickly cast a spell, Divine Messenger. ¡°Harry Hatch, Harry Hatch, hear me,¡± Jehan whispered. ¡°Richard may be under a mind affecting spell. Don''t let Richard know, but tell Bertrand and Evelyn. Keep Richard calm, don''t get him excited, don''t let him know anything is wrong if you can, but whatever you do don''t let him leave the house. Hold him physically if you have to. I will be there as soon as I can.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Some of the city guards might be compromised as well, be careful.¡± The spell expired, and he hoped the message that he had whispered into the wind would travel to its target.
Jehan quickly packed the file up and moved towards the exit. Four guards were standing by the door, waiting for him.
¡°We have...questions for you,¡± one of the guards said, with an almost monotone voice.
Jehan looked down at the file. ¡°Let me guess...you gentlemen would be Peter, Ronald, Gregory, and John?¡± he asked. The men nodded, seeming unsurprised he recognized their names.
¡°We have questions for you.¡± It was a different guard this time, but the tone in his voice was exactly the same. ¡°You need to come with us.¡±
Jehan nodded and started to follow them. As soon as he did, he saw them all relax slightly and start moving down the hallway, and Jehan suddenly turned and sprinted the other way, away from them.
¡°Ikar, please grant me Cat''s Grace,¡± Jehan whispered, and felt himself suddenly running more quickly as the divine spell sped up his movements.
Jehan had no intention of trying to run through the main area of the guard headquarters while fleeing from four guards, and he didn''t think it was a good idea to try to talk his way out of this until he knew who was and wasn''t under the influence of mind control, so instead he ran the other way down the hallway. He ran past several small rooms, towards a door, while the four guardsmen chased him. They were being oddly quiet; he would have expected them to usually yell ¡°stop thief¡± or something similar, but perhaps they were trying to avoid attention.
That doesn''t bode well. Jehan thought but kept running.
Jehan ran past the armory where the guard had weapons stored, and past the barracks where a few of the guard members sometimes slept (although these days most of them just stayed in town except in emergencies). By the barracks was a door, and Jehan ran out into the evening, the guards only a few steps behind him.
As soon as he got out the door, there were a group of merchant guards standing by it, seemingly waiting for him. Many of them had black spots or marks on their face, noticeable signs of the beginnings of mild corruption.
The guards wanted me to run this way. This was a trap. I should have known.
Fortunately, the guards weren''t standing directly in front of the door, which probably would have been too obviously suspicious, instead they were lurking in the shadows to the right of the door. The guard closest to the door tried to reach out and grab Jehan, but he managed to dodge around the awkward grab and run to his left. Which unfortunately led down a dark, narrow street that Jehan knew didn''t lead anywhere much.
Jehan ran down the street, now being chased by both the city guards and the merchant guards. He sped up, breaking into a sprint as he ran around a corner and down a narrow alley, hoping to put a little distance between him and his pursuers before he tired out.
Instead, in that alley, Jehan almost ran directly into a wall of Warped Men, led by a very unusual looking woman, and he had to stop short. The woman in front of him a full foot taller than any of the men, he could feel that she practically oozed corruption, dark waves pouring off her skin through her leather outfit, but she wasn''t mindless like the warped men. She smiled, and he could see that behind her back she seemed to have grown a full set of leathery bat-like wings that didn''t quite match each other. Her arms seemed longer than they should be as well, and in addition she had two long fleshy tubes under her arms that looked more like the tentacles of a sea monster than like anything else.
¡°Welcome, Jehan. I''m glad you could join us here tonight,¡± the woman said, with a predatory grin. Jehan had come to a stop, and the guardsmen and merchant guards had filled in the alley behind him. He had nowhere else to go. ¡°My employer has some questions for you.¡±
"Ikar''s Blessing,¡± Jehan whispered, and his skin started to glow, a purifying light that Jehan knew could drive back corruption and that seemed to hurt the twisted men he was fighting yesterday. The woman flinched back away from him and hissed, and he saw that it looked like not only were her teeth much sharper than a person''s normally would be, but she seemed to have several rows of them.
¡°Guards, hold him.¡± The soldiers willingly complied, and they grabbed Jehan''s arms from behind, holding him still. The light didn''t seem to hurt them. Jehan could have struggled, but there didn''t seem to be much point, and he would rather wait for a better chance than make a meaningless show of defiance. ¡°Take this and wrap it around his forehead. Let''s hope that bitch made something that worked this time.¡± With the long tentacle under her left arm, she reached forwards and handed what looked like a leather belt to one of the guards, careful to not get too close to Jehan''s still glowing skin. The guard took the belt, which Jehan could see was covered with arcane runes, and wrapped it around Jehan''s forehead.
The corrupted woman smiled. ¡°Sleep now,¡± she said, and Jehan could tell the belt wrapped around his forehead started to glow. An intense tiredness suddenly overwhelmed Jehan; he resisted it for a few seconds before slumping to the ground.
Chapter 19
They were halfway to town when Harry got Jehan''s message. He could just barely hear it, a whisper in the wind. It was as quiet a sound as if someone was whispering directly in his ear, but it sounded like it was coming from far away.
¡°Richard may be under a mind affecting spell. Don''t let Richard know...Some of the city guards might be compromised as well...¡±
Harry repeated the message to the rest of the group, including Richard, since he had already broken the spell.
¡°At least we know he''s still alive.¡± Evelyn said. She had borrowed a long brown cloak from Harry, and even though Evelyn was taller than most women she knew, Harry was a full head taller than she was, and the cloak was obviously too large for her. She had to hold it up at her waist with her left hand to stop it from dragging on the ground, and the wooden staff in her right hand kept getting tangled in the long sleeves which went down almost to her fingertips. It would be quite a hindrance if she had to wear it in a fight, to be sure. But for now, the important part was the too-large hood covered up her face quite well, the front of the hood hanging down low in front of her face and hiding everything above her mouth, making it less likely anyone would recognize her from the bounty posters.
¡°He was going to the guardhouse to look for clues. Now, we get a message from him he found something that helped him realize that I was under a charm spell, and a message that the guards may be compromised.¡± Richard said grimly. ¡°He clearly found something, and it sounds like he knows he''s in danger now.¡±
¡°So, what''s the plan?¡± asked Henry.
¡°We can either go to the guardhouse and try to find out what happened there, or we can try to track down Lillian using that spell Evelyn knows.¡±
¡°So, either we walk into the guardhouse knowing that the town guards are probably compromised, or we try to track down a powerful enchantress who may or may not know where Jehan is,¡± Bertrand said skeptically. ¡°You realize we don''t even know if Jehan is actually in danger, he might have walked right out of that guardhouse as soon as he realized something was wrong.¡±
Richard nodded, thinking. ¡°If he did, then based on what he knows, he should be coming straight to the farmhouse, so he can try to break the spell on me, right?¡±
Bertrand nodded.
¡°Ok. Let''s stop by the side of the road here, wait about half an hour. If he''s coming up to the farmhouse he''ll walk right past us. Probably smarter to wait until it''s dark out before trying to sneak into the city anyway.¡±
This stretch of road was quiet, with woods on one side of the road and an open meadow on the other side. They walked off a short distance into the woods, close enough to easily see the road, and sat down. Richard was too restless to sit still for long, and quickly stood up and started practicing his knife throwing some more.
As Richard practiced throwing his knives into a tree, he asked out loud, ¡°What can you guys tell me about this Duke?¡±
Bertrand, leaning against a tree nearby and watching the road, answered. ¡°Duke Walter De Rudhale is one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom. He always has been, but lately, he''s been involved in fighting and winning a number of small battles with some of the other nobles in the kingdom and has been expanding his fiefdom.¡±
Richards eyebrows go up. He throws his fifth knife, and then walks over to the tree to retrieve them. ¡°So, different nobles in the same kingdom fight little wars over territory? Does the King do anything to stop this?¡±
Harry shook his head, ¡°Maybe it''s different in your country, but here, the King doesn''t really have the ability to order the nobles around. He has his own royal lands and his own knights and royal guards, but when there''s a big war most of the kingdom''s army comes from the nobles.¡±
Richard nodded, ¡°So, sort of a feudal political system. That makes sense. So, any guesses about what the Duke might be doing sending his people here? It can''t be just to recruit Evelyn.¡± He paused and threw the knife back into the tree again, ¡°Is he trying to take this town, Bromwich, from whatever noble controls it now?¡±
¡°No nobles control Bromwich right now,¡± said Evelyn, reading from one of her books as she sat on the ground with her back to a tree. ¡°The town has a royal charter; so long as we pay our taxes to the King every year, and obey royal decrees, no noble can tell us what to do. We have our own town council and Mayor.¡±
¡°The King gets a lot of taxes from our town, too,¡± Harry added. ¡°Every ship that''s coming up the river for trading stops at our harbor.¡±
¡°Hmm.¡± Richard thought about this. ¡°So, if the Duke attacks the town, he could end up at war with the King?¡±
Kateryn spoke up, after having been quiet since they''d left the house. She was leaning against a tree, her spear held lightly in her left hand, ¡°If the Duke wanted to start a rebellion against the King, he''d be trying to rally the other nobles against him, not attacking a town. Right?¡±
¡°Does it matter?¡± Bertrand said. ¡°Look kid, whatever the Duke and his pet monsters are trying to do here, we''re not the ones who are going to be able to stop it. Not today, at least. I''m coming along because I like Jehan, but the minute we get him safe, we need to get out of this town.¡±
¡°Do we...¡± Kateryn paused. ¡°What are we going to do if that enchantress mind controls us again? Do we have a way to resist that? Or am I in the middle of one of those Ikarian plans where the basic idea is ''let''s do something really stupid and just hope nothing goes wrong?''¡±
There was a silence.
¡°I...do have a way to disrupt a spell another magic user is casting or has cast,¡± Evelyn said nervously.
Bertrand looked at her with a flat stare, ¡°Wild magic?¡±
¡°It''s...it''s not a full wild surge. Just...I read in one of the forbidden texts that a wild mage can put a little bit of wild energy into a different spell as someone else is casting, and, uh, it might blow up in their face. It''s called a ''wild disruption''.¡±
¡°Might blow up in their face. Or might do anything else, right?¡± Bertrand asked. Evelyn nodded. ¡°And I''m guessing from the way you worded that that you''ve never tried this before, right?¡±
¡°Oh, no, it''s not something I could just test out in normal conditions, it''s much too dangerous for that...¡± Evelyn paused, realizing she may not be helping her case.
Bertrand sighed again, ¡°Or maybe even if you do manage to do that, there''s still a chance that if we''re not so lucky it might make the spell do something completely unexpected, maybe many times stronger than it would have been, and make the effects of their spell random. Stop me if I''m wrong about this.¡±
She shook her head and sighed.
¡°If you have to do it, then do it,¡± Richard said. Evelyn looked up at him, surprised. ¡°I''m not letting that woman control me again. If it comes down to it and the only way to stop that is to try something that might blow us all up, then I guess that''s what we have to do.¡±
¡°Ok, I was wrong before. NOW this sounds like an Ikarian plan.¡± Kateryn said.
Harry sighed. ¡°Honey...¡±
¡°You know, you don''t have to be here,¡± Richard said to her quietly. She spun and looked at him angrily, but he just calmly continued, ¡°I mean it. Maybe you should go find your parents instead, get them out of town for a few days. Don''t tell us where you''re going, in case she gets a chance to ask us questions.¡±
Kateryn calmed down, and slowly shook her head, ¡°I appreciate it, but I said I wanted to come along, and I meant it. The best way to keep my parents safe is to save Jehan and get him out of here before they get a chance to ask him questions, right?¡± Richard gave a small nod. ¡°And I want to help. Look, I know I''m only a level 2 Spearman, but I''m also level 15 Farmer, so I''ve got a good number of hp, and Farmer levels usually gives you strength.¡±
Bertrand raises an eyebrow. ¡°Level 15?¡±
¡°Yes. I''m not going to go down easily, and if I do manage to hit someone with this¡± she said, waving her spear, ¡°they''re going to stay down.¡±
Henry smiled, ¡°We''ve made some money at taverns over the years, getting big strong guys to place bets on if they could beat her in an arm-wrestling contest. Turns out 22 Strength beats bulk almost every time.¡±
¡°So, thanks for trying to keep me safe, Richard, but don''t worry about me. I''ve been married to this guy,¡± she said, gesturing at Harry, ¡°for 20 years now, and this is hardly the first Ikarian plan I''ve been in the middle of. Besides...I like Jehan.¡± She smiled, ¡°Even if he''s a bad influence.¡±
They waited for a while longer, hoping to see Jehan come walking up the road, but he didn''t. With the sun starting to set on their left side, they quietly walked the rest of the way to town.
When they got close to town, they left the main road, and headed down a narrow dirt path off to the right that went in the direction of the river. Evelyn led the way, and the rest of the group followed.
The path wove its way around several small farms, eventually reaching the river, where it met with a sandy path that ran along the side of the river. They could see the town walls from here but didn''t see anyone. Everything was quiet, except for the sound of crickets chirping and the sound of the river water lapping up over smooth rocks.
¡°We''re not likely to run into anyone back here,¡± said Evelyn. ¡°Almost nobody comes down by the river here if they can avoid it, because sometimes merrow-men come up out of the river and grab people walking past it.¡±
¡°You don''t say,¡± Richard muttered.
When they got to the town, the town wall came down almost to the edge of the river. The wall was about 10 feet high and made of stone, built into a raised earthen ramp that rose from the town up to the inside of the wall, and it was topped by a wooden fence. It probably could have been climbed by someone determined to do so almost anywhere; the surface of the wall wasn''t completely smooth, and there were small gaps between the rocks where a person could get a fingerhold. But it looked especially easy to climb in the spot Evelyn had brought them to.
The wall had a corner here as it turned close to the river, and the side facing the river sloped outward more and had a gentler slope than the rest of the wall. That probably made it less vulnerable to river floods, but it also meant it was easier to climb.
¡°Come on,¡± Evelyn said quietly, leading the way. ¡°There are almost never any guards down here, this spot isn''t visible from the gates, and there''s probably not anyone back in this part of the town late at night.¡±
¡°Maybe I shouldn''t ask this, but do I even want to know what you might have been doing, when you were a teenager and living under our roof, that made you figure out where you could quietly sneak in and out of town without any guards seeing you?¡± Kateryn gave Evelyn a stern look, and Evelyn started to blush, before Harry chuckled, breaking the brief tension. Kateryn laughed as well.
¡°If we''re going to do this, then let''s go now. Quietly,¡± Bertrand said. Evelyn led the way, climbing up the wall quickly and then climbing over the fence at the top. Harry followed, and then Richard.
Richard didn''t have much trouble getting up the wall; he wasn''t sure if it was the Climbing skill or if it was just an easy climb, but either way he had no trouble finding footholds and handholds as he climbed the wall. He had a little more difficult with the wooden fence on top but was eventually able to pull himself up and over it.
Once they were over the fence, there was a gently sloping earthen ramp down to the ground, making it easy to walk down the other side of the ramp. From the top of the wall Richard could see down into significant areas of the town and could see some lights. Above the streets in different parts of town were glass spheres that either contained a flickering flame that reminded Richard of that candlelight spell he had seen Evelyn cast, or a flickering ball of white light. They weren''t as bright as THE modern streetlights Richard was used to, but at least they were something.
By this point, the sun had set, and the sky was quickly getting darker. They climbed down off the wall into a very quiet part of town.
¡°Almost nobody is going to be out here in the evening,¡± said Evelyn. ¡°Everything around here is warehouses close to the docks and some workshops.¡±
The roads back here were dark, and most of them were fairly narrow. They were cobblestone like most of the roads in the city, but most of these had clearly not been maintained in some time and the cobblestones were broken and damaged. The wider roads were crossed with narrow alleys going between larger buildings.
¡°So, should we head for the guard headquarters, or should we try to track down the sorceress?¡± Evelyn asked.
Richard thought for a second. ¡°I don''t think walking into the guard headquarters would be a good idea. Let''s see if we can figure out where the sorceress is.¡±
Evelyn nodded, and pulled out the three necklaces with the leather charms on them, casting her spell. ¡°Power return to your master, power return to your master...¡± The charms floated up and all pointed in the same direction, in front of them and to the right a little bit.
¡°Hmm.¡± Richard thought for a second. ¡°Can do you that spell while reaching your arms out to the left and right?¡± Evelyn stretched her arms out, keeping two of the charms in her right hand and one in her left. Richard leaned close to her and nodded. ¡°She''s pretty close to us here.¡±
¡°How can you tell?¡± Evelyn asked.
Richard put his hands on her shoulder and turned her slightly to the right, facing her body in the direction her charms were pulling. ¡°Look, the two in your right hand and the one in your left hand aren''t going the exact same direction, see? They''re pointing at slightly different angles. That means that they''re pointing at something relatively close to you here, or we wouldn''t be able to notice the difference with just a few feet between your hands.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°Hmm. Why would they be back here? Is the warehouse you ran into her before back in this part of town, Richard?¡± Harry asked.
¡°No, that was close to the Inn near the center of town.¡±
Following Evelyn''s lead, they walked in the direction the charm necklaces pointed at. Down a block, then a left turn and down a block, and then a right turn and down a dark, narrow alley between two buildings. Trash and waste had been left in this alley for who knows how long, and Richard saw a rat run away from them as they walked.
¡°She''s in there, I think,¡± Evelyn said quietly.
The charms were pointing up at an angle now, towards the second floor of the warehouse in front of them. They could see two guards standing by the front door of the warehouse. Richard quickly pulled one of his throwing knives out and was holding it carefully behind his hand, where it was covered up by the sleeve of his cloak and hopefully wouldn''t be noticed.
¡°Something isn''t right,¡± Bertrand said. ¡°Look at those guards.¡±
Richard looked. They were wearing chain mail, had swords on their hips, and were standing by the sides of door at attention, with their backs straight.
¡°It''s not unusual to have a few merchant guards protecting a warehouse, but those guys don''t look like merchant guards, they look like soldiers, following military discipline. No merchant guard would be standing at attention while guarding some warehouse in the middle of nowhere, and nobody would expect them to. I bet those guys are soldiers trying to look like merchant guards. Probably the Duke''s soldiers.¡±
The one guard turned and looked in their direction.
¡°Standing still here in the alley is just going to make us look more suspicious. Let''s just calmly walk past them. Try to act normal,¡± Bertrand said, and started walking out of the alley. The rest of the group joined him.
They strolled down the street, trying to look as nonchalant as they could, which wasn''t very. The first guard called out to them, ¡°What are you people doing out here tonight?¡±
¡°Nothing, we were just going for a walk and got ourselves turned around,¡± Richard said. ¡°I''m new to town, and these streets don''t make any sense to me. Tell me, do you know where the Inn is?¡±
The first guard started to answer, but the second guard reached out and stopped the first guard, putting a hand on his chest, ¡°Hey, do I know you from somewhere?¡±
Richard looked at the second guard, and the man''s face did look familiar, like he''d seen him somewhere before. Which was strange, where could he have...
Richard realized who the man was at the same minute the man realized who Richard was.
¡°Hey! You''re the asshole that stole my pants!¡± the guard yelled and reached for his sword.
Richard flicked his arm forward in an uppercut motion and threw the throwing knife at the guard using the underhand throw Bertrand had shown him. The knife flew true and struck the man directly in the throat. The man''s yell became a gurgle, and he dropped his sword, and reached up with both hands, touching the knife in his throat as if he couldn''t believe it was there. He sank to his knees.
Within a second, Henry had drawn his bow and fired an arrow at the uninjured guard in one smooth movement. The arrow struck the center of the man''s chest, and it looked like it just barely penetrated the man''s chain mail, hurting him only slightly. The man drew his sword and started to run forward, but a moment later a bolt of fire from Evelyn''s hand struck him in the center of his chest, and this time he went down.
2 human soldiers killed (partial exp): 250 Skirmisher EXP granted
Skilled earned: Surprise attack
Achievement earned: One shot-Kill an enemy with a single critical hit. Bonus earned: +5% chance of all critical hits
You have earned +10 High Stakes points
The fight was over in less than five seconds. The men hadn''t even had a chance to cry out, and nobody in the warehouse had heard them. Richard suddenly felt nauseous in his stomach, looking at the two dead men in front of him, one with his knife in his throat.
Bertrand walked up to the one soldier, now lying on his side on the ground with blood, and casually pulled Richard''s knife out of the man''s throat and wiped it clean with a rag. As soon as he did, blood spurted out, and Bertrand had clearly expected that and had stood off to one side so that the blood wouldn''t get on him. ¡°Quick, let''s drag these bodies down into the alley, then maybe if we''re lucky nobody will see them until morning.¡± Harry and Kateryn walked over and help Bertrand drag the bodies into the alley; part of Richard''s brain was telling him he should help as well, but he felt like he couldn''t move, like he was rooted to the ground, and he just stood and watched.
After they''d moved the bodies, Bertrand walked back over to Richard and handed him his knife back. Richard mechanically put the knife back into its place on the leather baldric he was wearing on his chest.
Bertrand clapped him on the shoulder. ¡°You did good, kid. Was that your first time killing someone?¡±
Richard nodded slowly.
¡°It''s not easy, and you''re going to have to take some time and process this, but later. We have to act now, we can''t stand around here. Do we keep going, or should we just flee town?¡±
¡°We keep going.¡± Richard said, quietly. He closed his eyes for a second
I have to get a grip, I have to be calm, I have to be rational, what do we do next?
¡°Ok. Ok. I don''t think we want to walk in the front door of the warehouse, is there another way we can get inside?¡± Richard asked.
Harry looked at the warehouse. ¡°Evelyn said the enchantress was on the second floor. Over on that side of the building, there''s another warehouse next to it is very close, there''s only about a three-foot gap between the buildings. If we can get in there, should be able to get up to the second floor and climb across into that window. I have rope with me.¡±
¡°Ok. Let''s move quickly, before someone comes out to check on those two guards.¡±
The other warehouse was locked with a chain and a lock on the front door, but Evelyn was able to create a low flame and burn a hole through the wooden door large enough for them to climb through. The warehouse was dark inside, and Evelyn created a flickering candlelight flame in the air above them, so they could see.
The warehouse was a large open area, with rows of boxes stacked in the middle. Around the outside of the warehouse there was a narrow catwalk with wooden stairs going up to it, and a series of doors on the outside of the catwalk. Harry lead the way up the wooden stairs, and they could hear the thud of their boots echoing in the empty space as they walked up and around the catwalk. ¡°I think it''s this room,¡± said Harry, and they opened the door. Next to the catwalk over here was what looked like a small office, with cabinets and a desk. They walked over to the window, and it was indeed only a few feet over to a window on the next building, over a long drop into an alley. Fortunately, the room in the other building was also dark, and presumably empty, although it looked like there was some light inside the warehouse. Harry opened the window and looked out.
¡°Yeah, this should work.¡± Harry said. ¡°I just wish there was a way to open the window in the other building without breaking it, that might make too much noise.¡±
Evelyn walked over to the window. ¡°I might be able to do something.¡± She started quietly chanting a spell. Unlike her fire spells this one took her a full minute to cast, but once she did the window in the other building slid up, opening.
¡°Perfect. Now let''s see...¡± Harry leaned out the window. ¡°Hold my feet, guys, just don''t let me fall.¡± Richard, Kateryn, Bertrand, and Evelyn got a good grip on Harry''s ankles, and Harry climbed up and put his knees up on the windowsill. He leaned forward, with his head and arms out of the window, and then threw himself forwards. He managed to grab the open window on the other side of the alley. ¡°Ok, I got a good grip, you guys can let go now.¡± Once they did, he pulled himself forward. His feet pulled out of the window, and Richard felt a moment of terror as Harry''s legs swung down over the 15-foot drop, but with just his upper body strength Harry was able to hold on to the window and then pull himself up and through the window.
¡°Ok, that wasn''t so bad.¡± Harry threw a rope across the window, and Bertrand caught it. ¡°Tie the rope over there somewhere, make sure it''s to something strong, and then the rest of you can use it to cross.¡±
Bertrand tied the rope around the heavy cabinets, and then he smiled. ¡°Ok, Richard, you should go next.¡±
Richard nodded, and walked over to the window, looking down at the fall. He climbed up onto the windowsill just like Harry had, but at least when he reached out he was able to grab onto the rope. With his friends holding on to his ankles, Richard wrapped his arms around the rope and carefully inched himself out towards the next building, trying not to look down. Fortunately, Richard was tall enough that his friends were still holding onto his ankles when Harry was able to grab his arm and pull him the rest of the way across the gap.
You have earned +5 High Stakes points
One by one, the rest of them climbed across the alley into the room the same way. Bertrand was the last across.
¡°Should we cut the rope? It''s kind of obvious what happened if we leave it up here,¡± Harry whispered.
¡°No, we might need to leave the same way. And odds are someone will notice the missing guards before they notice this rope,¡± Bertrand said.
The room they were in now was dark, but they could hear people moving around in other parts of the warehouse. While the rest of them stayed back, Harry got down on his hands and knees, and carefully opened the door a few inches and peeked outside, staying low so hopefully he would be less visible. His face paled, and he crawled back away from the door.
¡°I think you guys need to see this.¡±
Richard crawled over and looked out the door. From what he could see, the warehouse they were in looked a lot like the one they had been in next door; wooden walkways around the outside of the walls, with doors on them going to second floor rooms. The warehouse was lit with several glass balls with white glowing lights in them, placed at different spots on the first floor and along the wooden catwalk. They weren''t that bright, but in the shadows, there was enough light for Richard to see what was in the warehouse.
Warped men. Dozens of them, just in the part of the warehouse he could see through the crack in the door; if the whole warehouse was like this there were probably hundreds. Hard, blackened tubes where arms or legs should be, some coming to a point, some bulging out. They were standing in rows in the warehouse, unmoving, silent. It looked like their eyes were closed; Richard could see them breathing, otherwise he might have assumed they were dead.
Flashes of memory hit Richard, things he had seen in the other warehouse and been told to forget about.
Chalk circles on the ground
Rows after rows of warped men, silent, waiting
He carefully crawled back away from the door and turned to the others. Each member of the party took a turn crawling down and peeking through the cracked door to view the same scene before returning to the furthest point in the room from the door as possible.
¡°Ok. Things may be worse than I thought,¡± Richard said quietly.
Kateryn quietly snorted. ¡°You don''t say.¡±
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class: Skirmisher(1)
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 80 (Max: 80)
SP: 38 (Max 38)
MP: 144 (144)
MP regeneration: 3.4%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 41
Cunning: 42
High Stakes: 35
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +1 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.
Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +50% to damage and +25% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.
Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +25% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.
Skills (General):
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (1): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Rational Introspection (1): You have begun to develop the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.
Surprise attack (1): When attacking someone by surprise or from stealth, +1 to damage and +5% to Critical hit chance
Skills (Skirmisher):
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Chapter 20
Evelyn sat on the floor, close to the window of the room, and tried to get to grips with what she had just seen. We can''t possibly fight that many. She quietly pulled off the overly long cloak that had been hiding her face and stuck it in her backpack; if they did have to fight at least she wouldn''t have to do it while wearing that thing, and she held her wooden staff tightly in her left hand. At this point, she didn''t care if someone in here recognized her, and she knew she''d have a much easier time fighting in her comfortable red wool dress.
¡°So, they have a warehouse full of abominations.¡± Bertrand said quietly. ¡°Does this change our plans?¡±
¡°They have at least two warehouses full of them, if not more.¡± Richard whispered back. ¡°The memory only came back to me when I saw this one, but the warehouse by the Inn is full of the Warped Men also. That also explains why they stayed there and didn''t run and hide like I expected them too.¡± He shook his head, ¡°It doesn''t change anything right now. We still need to get Jehan and get out of here.¡±
Evelyn raised the charms one more time in her hands, and they pointed up and through the wall to their left, pointing in a V shape. ¡°She''s very close, and on this floor; probably in the room to our left.¡± She put the charms back away. ¡°That''s the last time I''m going to be able to cast a magic trace. If you still want me to have enough mana to fight at all, I need to save the rest of it for that.¡±
I probably shouldn''t have used so much mana earlier. Why did I waste so much burning through that door? Was I trying to show off what I could do or something?
¡°Stat book, page 2¡± she whispered. Her stat book appeared in front of her and flipped open to page 2.
Name: Evelyn
Race: Human (6)
Class: Mage(4)
Scribe (3)
Age: 19
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 13
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 11
Intelligence: 17 (18.7)
Wisdom: 14
Perception: 11
Charisma: 15
HP: 74 (Max: 74)
SP: 40 (Max 83)
MP: 30 (109)
MP regeneration: 14%/hour
Divine Class: Acolyte of Ikar (3)
Humor: 35
Cunning: 113
High Stakes: 147
Divine favors:
Seeker of hidden truths (Cunning): bonus to research into secret, lost, or forbidden knowledge. Increased chance of learning secret, lost, or forbidden knowledge, skills, and spells.
Divine spells (2 casts per day):
The Gambler''s Blessing (High Stakes): Has a chance of improving the outcome of a risky action you are about to take. Most effective when you were about to do something very clever or very foolish or both.
Special traits:
Education (basic): +5% to effective intelligence
Education (magic, incomplete): +5% to effective intelligence, +10% to training spells
(For class and racial traits, see page 3 and 4 of stat book)
Skills: (See Page 5 for current skill levels and more details)
Magic sight (Mage)
Spell control (Mage)
Fire magic attunement (Mage)
Wild magic attunement (Mage)
Reading (Scribe)
Writing (Scribe)
Melee weapon (staff) (General)
Pathfinder (forest) (General)
Sewing (General)
Cooking (General)
Tracking (General)
Trapping (General)
Survival (General)
Planting (General)
Harvesting (General)
Spells: (see page 6 for more details)
Force push (general) (2)
Gust of wind (general) (2)
Create water (general) (2)
Insight (general) (3)
Trace magic (general) (2)
Candlelight (fire) (6)
Create fire (fire) (6)
Fire manipulation (fire) (4)
Fire bolt (fire) (5)
Fireball (fire) (2)
Fire divination (fire) (3)
Wild Surge (wild magic) (1)
Wild disruption (wild magic) (0)
Ok, 30 mana left. Should be enough for a quick battle at least.
Harry quietly spoke, ¡°I''ll check it out and see if I can figure out if Jehan is in that room with her.¡± He carefully and silently opened the door and while staying low, so as to be out of sight of anyone on the ground, he carefully moved towards the room to the left of them.
He returned a minute later. ¡°Yes, he''s in there. I could hear people in there, it sounded like they were asking him questions, and I could hear him answering. Couldn''t quite make out what they were saying, but he''s clearly in there.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Ok. We know that at least the enchantress is in there with him, there''s no way we''re going to do this quietly, so let''s do it quickly instead. We kick in the door, rush in, and take out whoever is in the room, probably the enchantress and a few guards. Hit the enchantress with everything you have fast, don''t give her a chance to open her mouth if you can help it. Remember, Jehan might be charmed, so don''t be surprised if he tries to attack us too.¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
This plan has more holes in it than I could even list. Odds of us taking down a high-level enchantress before she gets a spell off are...low. We don''t know who else is in the room with them; probably at least some guards. And if we do manage to win somehow, how do we get Jehan, who might or might not be fighting us, and get back out of here when the warehouse is full of abominations.
But there probably isn''t a better plan. And I''m not leaving without Jehan.
So, all Evelyn said was ¡°Be careful. If she''s an enchanter with some levels, she''s probably loaded with lots of magical items she''s made. She could have almost anything; necklaces, wands, enchanted clothing. Good news is, unless she''s also a Mage, she probably can''t quickly cast combat spells other than that enchantment magic; she might be able to confuse or restrain us with that, or try to charm us, but she probably can''t kill us directly with magic in combat, enchantment magic isn''t good for that.¡±
The five of them crept out of the room as quietly as they could. They stayed close to the wall and walked in a low crouch, with Harry leading the way and the rest imitating him. From their position they were low enough that they couldn''t see any of the abominations on the ground of the warehouse, which hopefully meant anyone down there wouldn''t be able to see them. If there had been anyone walking around on the catwalk they probably would have been seen right away, but fortunately there was not. The room they were headed for was in the corner of the building and was larger than the one they''d been hiding in, with doors on two sides going to the catwalk.
As they got close, Evelyn could hear voices in the room.
¡°...I think that''s all we''re going to get out of him tonight.¡± A woman''s voice said, frustrated. ¡°He''s still holding something back, but he''s putting up a great deal of resistance, and I don''t want to risk exhausting my mana.¡±
¡°We already have men on the way to the house he told us about,¡± said a low male voice, loud but with an unhealthy sounding rasp. ¡°I hope that anyone who knows anything will be there. We only need to keep this a secret for another 24 hours, and then everything will be in position.¡±
¡°The sleep charm on his forehead should keep him unconscious until I can recover my mana. I will get through to him eventually,¡± she said.
Evelyn whispered. ¡°Ikar, I ask for the Gambler''s Blessing. Please aid and guide the foolish thing we are about to do.¡± She felt the divine blessing settle on her, unsure as always if the unpredictable blessing would actually help or not.
At that moment, Harry kicked in the door, and the five of them came rushing into the room. Evelyn was the second one in, with Harry to her left, Bertrand rushing around to the left of Harry, and Kateryn and Richard to her right. Evelyn raised a hand and began to channel her mana into fire and cast a fire bolt as her brain quickly processed who was in the room.
The room was a large office, most likely one that had previously been owned by someone important based upon the quality of the mahogany furniture in the room, all of which had been pushed off to the side. There were three soldiers in guard uniforms, with swords on their sides.
Behind them was a beautiful woman who Evelyn immediately assumed was the enchanter. She was wearing a short blue skirt that Evelyn immediately recognized had runes of some kind sewn into it, and she had multiple necklaces and charms hanging around her neck. Next to her was Jehan, unconscious, sitting in a chair with a leather belt covered in runes wrapped around his forehead. In the back-left corner of the room was a narrow staircase going down to the lower level. A few feet to her right was another man. He was wrapped black robes, and had a long, narrow face with a crooked nose, but most notable was the dark aura that seemed to warp light around him.
The corrupted mage is here too. I don''t think we''ve got a chance fighting against both of them. She didn''t let the thought distract her and continued her spell.
Before a moment had passed, Harry had fired an arrow at the center of the woman''s chest, and Richard had thrown a knife at her. Both projectiles somehow missed, the arrow seeming to veer off to her right and the knife veering off to her left. Harry drew and fired a second arrow, and this one also missed, veering off and almost striking the sleeping Jehan.
Evelyn finished her spell a moment later. She turned the mana into fire mana almost effortlessly and directed it with just a few rapidly spoken words and a gesture. The bolt of fire streaked from Evelyn''s right hand directly into the center of the woman''s chest, and...vanished. The woman smiled, rapidly tracing a pattern in the air.
¡°HOLD,¡± she said. Suddenly Evelyn felt her feet rooted to the ground, unable to move. Bertrand had started to rush toward the guards on their left flank but he was suddenly frozen as well; all five of them were suddenly frozen in place.
Evelyn activated her Magic Sight and could clearly see the various runes on the many magical items the enchantress was wearing. Some of them she recognized; one of the woman''s necklaces had a rune on it that Evelyn recognized as a ¡°protection from arrows¡± spell, which could deflect normal ranged weapons away from her. She wasn''t sure what the runes on the woman''s clothing were but suspected they would protect her like armor. There was a bracelet on her left wrist, with glass baubles, that stood out as especially magical, but Evelyn couldn''t begin to guess what that might do. One thing she could easily recognize was the rune on a jade necklace the woman was wearing around her neck; it was clearly a version of the same fire protection rune that she had taken from the soldiers. Unlike a quick rune on a piece of leather though, this was a very precise rune, with more complexity and depth added, carved into a rectangle of pure jade.
Those leather fire protection amulets might have failed after 3 or 4 fire spells, but this one could probably absorb a hundred without failing. I can''t beat her this way.
The woman smiled, tracing a new rune in the air. ¡°Now, gentlemen, if I were you I would stop firing arrows and throwing knives around. You seem to have TERRIBLE aim, and you wouldn''t want to strike your friend here, now would you?¡± She smiled. There was certainly a kind of truth in what she said, one of the arrows had almost hit Jehan, but the impact of here words were more than they should have been.
A suggestion spell. Evelyn recognized. Harry suddenly looked unsure and lowered his bow.
I''m only going to have one chance at this.
Evelyn carefully turned the smallest part of her mana she could into a tiny bit of wild magic and trying to follow the description she''d read in that book about how to create a Wild Disruption, she carefully threaded the wild magic into the fabric of the jade amulet the woman was wearing. The wild magic intertwined with the runes of the amulet, and Evelyn could see the runes start to warp and twist as the wild magic subtly changed them. She fed a little bit more into the wild disruption, trying to aim for about five mana''s worth of wild magic into the spell. The runes seemed to twist and dance to Evelyn''s Magic Sight skill.
If that worked right, then maybe the jade amulet will fail to protect her now if struck hard enough with a fire spell. It might not work at all, or maybe it''ll explode or something. One way to find out.
Evelyn guessed she had about 20 mana left, give or take. She turned every bit of mana she had into fire mana, all at once, and put it all into an Empowered Fire Bolt. That was more mana then she had ever tried to put into a Fire Bolt spell before, and there was a chance it might fail or cause a backlash, but she thought she could manage it, and Jehan was too close to her target to risk casting a Fire Ball.
The bolt of flame flew out from Evelyn''s hand, larger and brighter than any Fire Bolt she had ever cast before. It struck the enchantress directly in the center of the chest, right where her jade amulet was hanging. The Fire Bolt vanished, but something was different this time. A bright light seemed to shine from the amulet, brighter and brighter, and strange cracks seemed to appear around the outside of it. Evelyn watched, fascinated, until Richard put a hand on her shoulder and shoved her to the left, and she fell sideways.
Just as she fell, the jade amulet suddenly shattered in a burst of light, and a massive blast of fire ten times brighter and larger than the one Evelyn had cast came rushing out of the ruined amulet, directly back in her direction. Smaller sparks and balls of fire shot out in many different directions.
If Richard hadn''t pushed me out of the way, that would have gone right through me.
The blast of fire tore through the wooden door behind them, and Evelyn could feel the scorching heat as it passed by her. It continued and spread out as it traveled, a huge wave of fire striking the far side of the warehouse, starting fires across the building. Some of the sparks landed on the wooden floor, starting smaller fires, and the area around the doorway was burning as well.
The enchantress, angry now for the first time, made another gesture with her hand and pointed at Evelyn. ¡°SILENCE!¡±
Evelyn had continued falling and crashed into the ground with her left hip before falling onto her back. Every part of her that touched the ground was now unable to move as she was held by the hold person spell, and now she could feel that she was unable to speak, which would have prevented her from casting most of her spells.
Not that it matters, I''m out of mana anyway.
The man cursed. ¡°Ice spray!¡± he shouted, and a spray of ice from his hand extinguished some of the small fires around their feet. ¡°Lillian, can you control them while I put these fires out, or do you need me to put them down first?¡±
The enchantress nodded. ¡°Don''t worry, I have them under control now. The girl just surprised me, I think she''s that wild mage the Duke was looking for, but she should be safe for now.¡±
He nodded and cast another ice spray at the fires around the door before running out into the warehouse. Burning timbers had begun to fall from the ceiling.
Lilian smiled again, a harsher smile this time, and looked back at the five of them. Evelyn was lying on the floor, unable to move or speak, with no mana. Harry had lowered his bow and didn''t seem sure what to do next. Bertrand had drawn both of his swords but couldn''t move, he was as rooted to the ground as any of them, and Kateryn also didn''t seem able to move.
¡°Anyway, my friends here wouldn''t want to hurt me anyway, even if they could, would you my dears?¡± Lilian said, making another gesture.
Evelyn could feel the suggestion hit her, and any desire to hurt Lilian faded.
¡°Good. Now, Richard, my pet, are you still in my thrall?¡±
¡°Of course,¡± Richard said, a faint smile on his face.
¡°Excellent. I free you from your Hold. Why don''t you walk over here to me, protect me from anyone else who might try to hurt me, and tell me everything you know. And then you can help me kill your friends. Except the wild mage of course, the Duke wants to recruit her.¡±
Richard smiled again, and slowly started walking over to Lilian. Evelyn¡¯s heart sank; with her magic sight active, she could still see parts of the charm spell clinging to Richard, as well as the new spells Lilian had just placed on him. The charm spell wasn''t complete, Richard had broken parts of it, but she could see that at least some of it was still working.
She lay there on the wooden floor, unable to move, with no magic and no voice. She smelled the smoke of the warehouse starting to catch fire and tried desperately to think if there was anything else she could do.
Chapter 21
Harry said ¡°I''ll check it out and see if I can figure out if Jehan is in that room with her.¡± He crept out of the room, and then returned a minute later. ¡°Yes, he''s in there. I could hear people in there, it sounded like they were asking him questions, and I could hear him answering. Couldn''t quite make out what they were saying, but he''s clearly in there.¡±
If Richard had any doubt about the accuracy of Harry''s observations, they vanished a moment later, when a blue box appeared in front of Richard''s eyes.
Quest received ¨C Save Jehan. Get Jehan away from his captors and to a place of safety to complete this quest.
No hint in this quest text? No back door, no easy way to do this? I guess that would be too much to ask for.
Last chance to back out. Richard thought. Somehow, they''re following me, even though I have less experience at this than any of them. If I say the word, say this is too hard and we should climb back out that window and get the hell out of here, they will, and Jehan will probably die. If I say go forwards, they will, and I might get all five of us killed. He already knew which way he was going to go, though.
¡°Ok. We know that at least the enchantress is in there with him, there''s no way we''re going to do this quietly, so let''s do it quickly instead. We kick in the door, rush in, and take out whoever is in the room, probably the enchantress and a few guards. Hit the enchantress with everything you have fast, don''t give her a chance to open her mouth if you can help it. Remember, Jehan might be charmed, so don''t be surprised if he tries to attack us too.¡±
Richard paused, expecting someone to point out what a weak plan that was, but the only comment was Evelyn reminding him that the enchantress probably had a lot of magical items. He nodded, and they went.
Harry went through the door first, slamming it open with a kick. Richard could hear the sound of wood breaking. Evelyn was the second one in the room, already starting to cast a spell, and Richard came in on her right side.
As soon as Richard came into the room, he saw her, the most beautiful young woman he had ever¡
Wait. She looked different the first moment I saw her in the warehouse. Older, not quite as flawless. Something is wrong here.
In a moment, he started to spot the tiny mistakes, like broken pixels on a computer monitor. Spots of light seemed to shine through the enchantress'' body in ways they couldn''t have. Her shadow on the floor didn''t quite line up with where her figure looked like it was.
The illusion broke for him, and Richard got a good look at what Lillian actually looked like when she wasn''t weaving an illusion. He saw her as she actually was; maybe 40 or 45 years old, and it looked like some of them had been rough years, with signs of wrinkles already on her face, brown hair with spots starting to go gray. She was still kind of an attractive woman, but with the illusion gone he could tell she was much more normal looking. All the strange jewelry she was wearing was real though; she had several necklaces hanging from her neck, including something around her neck that looked like jade, and a bracelet on her left wrist with several large glass spheres hanging from it.
Without giving himself a chance to think, Richard pulled a throwing knife, and threw it directly at her. Harry had already drawn his bow back and fired an arrow at her at almost the same moment.
Richard''s eyes followed the knife through the air, not wanting to see the bloody mess he expected as it hit the unarmored woman but not able to look away either. But that didn''t happen. In midair, the knife subtly changed course, as if a strong wind was blowing it to the left, and it completely missed her, sticking into the wooden wall behind her. Harry''s arrow also missed, except somehow his arrow had veered as if it was being pushed to the right and missed her on the other side.
Must have been magic. How did that work? I haven''t seen her cast anything yet. There must have been a force field maybe, something from one of her items? Is there a way I can beat it?
Harry rapidly fired off a second arrow, and this one also veered away from her. Richard had been hoping that maybe there was a consistent direction of force he could account for and work around with a second knife throw, but it seemed clear that whatever was changing the path of arrows and thrown knifes was simply pushing them sideways in whatever direction was most convenient to make them miss her.
Maybe if we could throw enough things at her at once it would overload the spell or something? Does that work?
A bolt of fire flew from Eveyln''s fingers but vanished as it hit Lilian. Is she protected against everything?
¡°HOLD,¡± Lilian shouted, while tracing a rune in the air, and suddenly Richard''s feet seemed frozen to the floor. He glanced at his companions and could see they were all frozen to the ground as well.
It was a strange sensation; Richard could still move his hands and arms, could still move his back, but his feet felt like solid lead. He strained and couldn''t lift them off the ground.
Is this another charm spell? Can I break this with rational introspection? But this didn''t feel like a charm spell. A charm spell would have made Richard feel like he just didn''t want to move, for whatever reason he could rationalize; this was more like his legs just couldn''t move.
Maybe this spell did something to my nerves or something? Or maybe my feet are actually stuck to the ground now? I can test this.
Richard reached down and shoved his right leg forward with his arms. It moved quite easily, sliding forward an inch or two just like he expected.
Yeah, the spell is just telling my legs they can''t move. What if I got down on all fours and crawled, dragged myself around by my arms, would that work, or would my hands just stop working as well?
¡°Now, gentlemen, if I were you I would stop firing arrows and throwing knives around. You seem to have terrible aim, and you wouldn''t want to strike your friend here, now would you?¡±
Richard felt the Suggestion settle down on him and noticed how it affected his thoughts. Suddenly the idea of throwing a knife filled him with dread.
This spell I could probably break free of, eventually. I can feel how this one works, inside my mind. It might take a while, but it''s not like there''s much else I can be doing right now...
Richard noticed something glinting on Lilian''s chest. Her jade necklace was starting to sparkle and twinkle and move, like it had some bizarre kind of energy squirming inside it.
A huge blast of fire, much larger than the previous one, flew from Evelyn''s hands towards Lilian. This one also disappeared when it struck Lilian, but this time Richard could clearly see the fire somehow narrowing to a narrow beam and being sucked into the jade amulet, and then the Jade amulet started glowing much more brightly.
Richard had a sudden terrible premonition and reached out and shoved Evelyn to the left. A tower of flame tore out of Lilian''s chest and went right through the area Evelyn had just been standing in. Richard could feel a warm spot on his arm that was probably a burn.
He winced as he saw Evelyn hit the ground and saw that as soon as her hands touched the ground, she couldn''t move them either.
Ok, plan ¡°crawl to safety¡± is out as well.
The tall man who looked like he was wrapped in shadows and nightmares started putting out the fires by summoning sprays of white icy particles from his hands, and Richard blinked. Wait; had that man standing there the whole time? Richard thought he had been, but somehow hadn''t paid any attention. How could he have not noticed someone like that?
Shit. I was so focused on Lilian I somehow didn''t even notice someone like that standing in the room, that means I''m still not thinking clearly. Evelyn warned me that I still had pieces of that charm spell on me.
¡°Anyway, my friends here wouldn''t want to hurt me anyway, even if they could, would you my dears?¡± Lilian said, tracing another rune in the air.
Richard winced as he felt another Suggestion sink into his mind. Richard focused on his thoughts, and since he was aware the exact wording of the two Suggestions, he could see how that affected his thoughts in his own head. The Suggestion wasn''t nearly as all-encompassing or powerful as the charm spell he had been hit with before, it only shaped a single thought pattern, but it did that with a terrible precision, and in a way that might have almost seemed plausible if he hadn''t known a spell was affecting him.
When Richard thought about throwing a knife at someone, anyone, the enemy guards in the room for example, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a terrible terror and certainty that he would miss and hit and kill someone he cared about if he tried. And when he tried to think about hurting Lillian; well, he just didn''t want to.
You should want to. A part of his brain insisted. What she did to you before was terrible. What she''s going to do to your friends now if you don''t stop her is worse. This isn''t natural, it''s another mindfuck spell.
Or maybe I just don''t...like...hurting people? Another part of his brain hesitantly asked. The image of the guard he had killed a little while ago rose in Richards head, and bile rose in his throat at the memory of the way that man choked on his own blood with Richard''s knife in his throat.
Even so, this is not natural, this is the spell. Richard looked at Jehan, sitting just a few feet behind and to the left of Lilian, sound asleep with a leather belt carved with runes wrapped around his forehead, and he could see that Jehan''s hands were tied behind his back as well. Richard could feel his mind struggling against the spells that restrained it, trying to find loose threads to pull apart.
I think I can break through these Suggestions eventually, but I don''t think it''s going to be quick.
¡°Richard, my pet,¡± Lilian purred at him.
He looked up at her, his train of thought shattered for a moment.
¡°Are you still in my thrall?¡±
She doesn''t know I broke her charm spell. She probably has no idea I even could do something like that. If I play along maybe I can take her by surprise.
Richard smiled, his face perfectly mimicking the happy feeling he had felt the first time she had charmed him. ¡°Of course.¡±
¡°Excellent. I free you from your Hold. Why don''t you walk over here to me, protect me from anyone else who might try to hurt me, and tell me everything you know. And then you can help me kill your friends. Except the wild mage of course, the Duke wants to recruit her.¡±
Richard could feel the Hold spell release his feet, and with a smile on his face, doing his best to act like the mindless pet she thought he was, he started slowly walking over to her. The three guards looked at him, their swords drawn.
She believes it. I''m doing a good job acting the part.
How sure are you that you''re acting? Another part of Richard''s mind quietly asked. Richard realized with a jolt that he really did have a weird feeling of happiness, and that part of him was glad to follow her orders.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Shit. The charm spell isn''t totally gone either. For a moment Richard almost fought her command but realized that that would give the game away.
It''s ok. I just have to pretend to be charmed and act like I''m charmed without letting the pretense be a reality. And then when I get over there I can...
Richard''s mind went blank. What would he do? Maybe fight the guards or something? But he didn''t think he could fight three guards...
Something is wrong with my thoughts.
I don''t need to fight the guards. I need to... his mind shied away from the thought, but he pushed through the resistance. I need to...stop...Lilian.
¡°Very good, Richard. Now stand by me here and protect me from anyone who tries to hurt me.¡± Lilian said with a smile, before turning to the next possible threat, Bertrand. Bertrand clearly couldn''t move, but he still had a sword in each hand, ready to fight anyone who came within his reach, and his face was red with rage.
¡°You, over on the right. Bertrand, right?¡± Lilian said, while tracing a rune in the air. ¡°Drop your swords.¡±
¡°No.¡± He said. His voice had a finality to it.
¡°Very impressive willpower you have there. But there''s no point in fighting anymore, you''ve already lost. DROP YOUR SWORDS.¡±
Bertrand shook his head again, sweat pouring off his face. The swords in his hands lowered slightly, but he kept his grip on them, his knuckles turning white from the strain. ¡°Do...do you have any idea how much a good pair of swords like this cost? I was taught to treat swords better than that.¡±
By this point all three guards and Lilian had turned away from Richard and were focused on Bertrand. Her back was to Richard, she clearly had no concern about him at all.
She''s standing right there, with her back to me. All I have to do is draw out my sword, and ______. Richard couldn''t complete the thought.
All I have to do is pull out my dagger, and then I can _____.
Shit. I still can''t even think about hurting Lilian. What can I do?
Richard took a step back away from her, as quietly as he could, and slipped the rune-inscribed leather belt up and off of Jehan''s forehead. Jehan woke up suddenly, wide-eyes, but Richard touched his lips, and Jehan nodded and didn''t make a sound.
Lilian was now yelling at Bertrand. ¡°Surrender now, or either I will either break your mind or I will just have my guards kill you while you are rooted to the floor!¡±
Bertrand''s eyes were bloodshot now, but he shook his head again. ¡°I could kill your toy soldiers with one arm tied behind my back. And believe me, crazier women than you have tried to break my mind.¡± The strain was clear in his voice, but he also had a huge grin on his face.
While she was focused on Bertrand, Richard crept up behind Lilian as quietly as he could. When he was just behind her, Richard pulled the magical belt down over her head in one quick motion and cinched it tight around the back of her head so that it was firmly pulled against her forehead.
¡°Maybe I can''t hurt you right now, but I believe a good nap never hurt anyone.¡± Richard whispered, as Lilian sank to the floor, sound asleep.
Skill earned: Stealth (2)
For defeating a spellcaster by turning their own magic against them, you have earned +15 Cunning points
For making an attempt at saying a pithy one-liner while defeating a major foe, you earn +5 humor points
As soon as Lillian was on the ground and not moving, one of the glass spheres on the bracelet on her wrist suddenly flashed with a blinding blue light and shattered, spraying glass across the floor with a tinkling sound, and suddenly Lilian was gone.
The moment that Lilian was gone, the Hold spell failed as well. Bertrand was the first to react, rushing the soldier in front of him with a battle cry. Kateryn threw herself at the soldier closest to her, swinging her spear in wide, wild swings, and Harry and Evelyn together advanced on the soldier in the middle with their wooden staves.
Richard thought for a second about throwing a knife at one of the soldiers, but because he was behind the soldiers he was afraid he would miss and hit one of his friends
wait is that my thought or the Suggestion, never mind, no time to worry about that right now
so instead Richard drew out his sword and attacked the soldier Kateryn was already fighting.
Neither Richard nor Kateryn were nearly as experienced in melee fighting as the soldier, and it showed. The soldier easily blocked Kateryn''s spear thrust and pulled her off balance, before parrying Richard''s attack with so much force that Richard almost dropped his sword. But that parry slowed the soldier down enough that Kateryn managed to swing the back end of her spear down at the soldier and struck him in the gut with enough force to make him double over in pain. When he did Kateryn slammed her elbow into his face with all of her strength, and the soldier dropped his sword and went down.
Harry and Evelyn worked together in fighting their soldier as if it was a dance they had long rehearsed. Harry swung his staff high while Evelyn swung hers down at the soldier''s knees, Harry blocking the sword with his staff while Evelyn swung her staff around and into the small of man''s back, and he went down as well. The third soldier that Bertrand attacked alone was already dead on the ground.
3 human soldiers, 1 human enchanter defeated (partial exp): 1430 Skirmisher EXP granted
Skill earned: Rational Introspection (2)
Level up, Skirmisher level 2. +1 Dex, +1 max HP, +4 max SP. HP, SP, and MP restored.
You have earned +20 High Stakes points and +10 Cunning points
Achievement unlocked: Underdog-Defeat someone at least 10 levels higher then yourself. +1 to all effective skills when fighting higher level opponents.
Richard quickly cut Jehan free from the ropes binding his wrists and helped him up out of his chair. While he was doing that, he asked ¡°what just happened with Lilian, exactly? Why did she vanish like that?¡±
¡°Must have been an item set with a ¡°contingency¡± enchantment, probably designed to teleport her to somewhere safe if she was knocked unconscious or wounded in a fight,¡± Evelyn explained. ¡°She could be anywhere now. Maybe if we''re lucky she''ll stay in a safe house somewhere alone and asleep until someone finds here and takes the spell off of her.¡±
¡°Come on, we need to get the hell out of here.¡± Bertrand said, running towards the stairs in the corner of the office. The rest of them followed, Jehan limping slightly after having been tied to a chair for several hours. Richard grabbed his throwing knife out of the wooden wall as he ran past.
As they got to the ground floor, Richard saw Vlithar the corrupted mage and summoner, dressed in black with a disturbing dark cloud around him, still trying to fight the spreading fire by spraying ice and firing bolts of ice at the burning areas. Richard could see that Vlithar had mostly managed to contain the fire, although some small parts were still burning. It looked like a large beam had fallen from the ceiling and crushed a few of the Warped men, but that was the only major damage that had been done. Disturbingly, even the Warped Men who had been standing right next to the ones who were crushed didn''t seem to have moved and were still silently standing in place.
There was a door leading to the outside right next to the staircase, and Richard''s group fled down the street away from the warehouse as quickly as they could, with Bertrand and Richard putting their arms under Jehan''s shoulders so they could support him and help him move more quickly.
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class:Skirmisher (2)
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 24 (28.8)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 82 (Max: 82)
SP: 42 (Max 42)
MP: 144 (144)
MP regeneration: 3.6%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 46
Cunning: 67
High Stakes: 55
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +2 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.
Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +60% to damage and +30% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.
Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +30% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.
Skills (General):
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Rational Introspection (2): You have begun to develop the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.
Surprise attack (1): When attacking someone by surprise or from stealth, +1 to damage and +5% to Critical hit chance
Skills (Skirmisher):
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather than for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Quest: Try Not to Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Save Jehan. Get Jehan away from his captors and to a place of safety to complete this quest.
Achievements: Bounty Hunter(intermediate): +2 DEX One Shot: +5% CRIT
Underdog: +1 Skill lvl when fighting higher level opponents
Chapter 22
The group ran several blocks in a zigzag pattern, trying to put some distance between them and the warehouse.
¡°I don¡¯t see or hear anyone chasing us, we can probably stop here for a minute¡±, said Harry.
The group stopped, leaned against a stone wall, and caught their breath for a minute.
Bertrand said ¡°Ok, so what do we next? We can¡¯t go back to Harry¡¯s farmhouse.¡±
¡°Well, we can¡¯t risk getting into another fight until we¡¯ve had some time to break these mental spells. I think I could eventually, but it¡¯s going to take some time. Are the rest of you still affected?¡± Richard asked.
¡°How can I tell if I am?¡± Harry responded.
¡°Harry, imagine someone comes running down this road right now trying to kill us. Would you be able to fire an arrow at them?¡±
¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t want to risk that here! We¡¯re in the middle of a city, I might hit someone!¡±
Richard pointed down the street. ¡°We¡¯re still in the docks district, this whole area is empty this time of night. I haven¡¯t seen anyone on the streets since we left the warehouse, have you?¡±
Harry shook his head and looked confused. ¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯s strange. Is that from the spell she put on us?¡±
¡°One of them,¡± Richard replied.
¡°I could dispel the magic. But it¡¯s going to take some time; hours maybe, to get all of you clear. Mind magic is dangerous, you have to remove every thread of it very carefully, and if you try to rush and only get rid of part of it can have some long lasting or even permanent effects.¡± said Jehan.
¡°I¡¯m also not going to able to do much until I get some rest. I¡¯m out of mana,¡± Evelyn looked embarrassed.
¡°We could just go right back out of the city over the wall, the same way we came in, and just keep going,¡± said Bertrand. ¡°We came in here for one reason, to save Jehan, and it¡¯s lucky we survived that. We¡¯re in way over our heads, it might be time to cut our losses and get out.¡±
Richard shook his head, ¡°We have to at least warn someone. They said they¡¯re going to make a move in 24 hours, and if the town guard isn¡¯t prepared for it, a lot of people are going to die.¡±
¡°The question is, who can we warn?¡± asked Jehan. ¡°At least some of the guards were charmed and acting under that enchantress¡¯ orders. And we don¡¯t know who else might be.¡±
Richard sighed, ¡°Ok. We¡¯ll try to figure something out, but I guess we need at least few hours to rest and get ourselves back into fighting condition first, so we don¡¯t walk into another trap unprepared. That means we need somewhere safe to bunker down for the night, ideally somewhere inside the city. Any ideas?¡±
¡°Yes. Follow me.¡± Jehan led them into the residential part of town, and to the Temple of Ikar that Richard had seen before.
You are on holy ground blessed by Ikar. +25% rate to recovery of HP, SP, and MP.
¡°Temple of Ikar? Why here? Isn¡¯t this the first place anyone would look for you?¡± Kateryn asked.
¡°I think I get it,¡± Bertrand said, looking around the temple. ¡°Corrupted magic like in those abominations might fail on holy ground.¡± He paused, ¡°But I think Kateryn¡¯s right; we should find somewhere to hide instead. As soon as they find us here they could just send a bunch of their soldiers in after us.¡±
Jehan smiled, ¡°Do not worry.¡± He walked up to statue on the right, which was a statue of Ikar in his ¡°Gambler¡± form and reached up and pulled on the mustache of the statue. The stone platform under the statue in the center of the room, The Vizier, slid off to the side, revealing a stone staircase going down underneath it. Jehan smiled and led them down into a hidden basement under the temple.
¡°Seriously? A hidden staircase under a statue?¡± Richard looked down. ¡°Uh. Does every temple of Ikar have one of these?¡±
Jehan laughed. ¡°No, it wouldn¡¯t be much of use if everyone knew it was here, would it? Come.¡± He led them down the stairs. The stairway didn¡¯t have any railing and there was a drop off on the right side, so Richard walked down carefully along the left side of the stairway, his fingers tracing along the cool stone wall. Halfway down, Jehan pulled a lever, and they heard a grinding sound above them as the stairway got a little darker. ¡°This lever moves the statue back into place, pull it again if you need to leave.¡±
Quest completed ¨C Save Jehan. +500 human exp earned, +10 reputation with Ikarians
The hidden basement under the temple was fairly small, with walls and a floor of cool, smooth stone. It was stocked with several of the glowing glass spheres that Richard had seen around the city, it had a cot and several bedrolls, a stash of dried food, and a stash of weapons.
Bertrand looked interested. ¡°Did you have this made?¡±
Jehan shook his head, ¡°No, this temple has been here for 200 years, and the hidden bolt hole was built when the temple was. At the time there was a lot of hostility against Ikarians, it wasn¡¯t long after the War of Three Gods, and it was thought to be important to have a place to hide.¡±
Harry looked around, shaking his head, ¡°I¡¯ve been to this temple probably a thousand times in my life, and I never thought there¡¯d be anything like this under it.¡±
Jehan smiled, ¡°It¡¯s a well-kept secret, and has been for a long time. And even people who don¡¯t like Ikarians are usually too smart to start poking around at the statue of a god in his own temple. I keep it stocked, just in case, and a couple of times have hidden someone down here, but nobody but me has been down here in the past few years. Anyway, relax, lie down, take a rest. I¡¯m going to start by trying to dispel the mind magic from Richard, since he presumably got it the worst.¡±
Bertrand nodded, took off his boots and socks, and lay down on one of the bedrolls on the floor, but kept his swords close to hand. The rest of the groups followed his lead and started to relax.
Jehan took a seat behind Richard, and gently put a hand on the back of his head. After a moment, Jehan pulled his hand back, a little surprised.
¡°How many spells did she put on you, Richard?¡±
Richard thought, ¡°When she was charming me? Maybe five, I think? Something like that. And then we all got hit with the two suggestions in the warehouse.¡±
¡°So, how did you get free of all of that?¡± He looked more closely at Richard. ¡°I can see¡yes, I can see where you broke through the charm, it looks like you just wore through it, but it should have taken weeks for the spell to fail like that.¡±
¡°I knew something was wrong, so I just kept¡picking at it, working at it, until it made sense,¡± Richard responded. ¡°I got a skill afterwards, something that lets me use intelligence to fight through mental control and illusions.¡±
Jehan nodded slowly, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of that being done before, but I think that makes sense. You¡¯re just lucky you didn¡¯t damage yourself. Hold on, let me dispel this¡¡±
It took almost an hour, with Jehan carefully, precisely removing the charm and suggestion spells one thread of magic at a time, one line at a time, one inch at a time. Richard could feel the course of his thoughts shifting, could feel himself freer to think again, with every thread removed. He could almost feel what each thread did; this one touched the part of his mind that was attracted to women, this one touched his memory, this one touched his vision. As his brain got freer, thread by thread, he could get a better feel for how each part of his mind connected to each other part, for how his thoughts moved and how they could be diverted. It was honestly fascinating.
Skill earned: Rational Introspection (3)
¡°Ok, about finished,¡± Jehan leaned back and took a breath. ¡°Ok, I can clear one more person tonight, then I¡¯m out of divine magic for the day, and I¡¯ll have to help everyone else after I sleep.¡±
¡°I suggest Harry. The suggestion about ranged weapons harms him the most,¡± Richard said, and Jehan nodded.
While Jehan started working on Harry, Richard looked around the room. Kateryn and Bertrand were both already asleep on different bedrolls. Evelyn was sitting in the corner, propped up near where one of the glowing lights was fixed to the wall reading a book. Richard walked over and sat down next to her.
She looked up at him and smiled, ¡°Thanks. I think you saved my life earlier, when I screwed up.¡±
Richard shrugged uncomfortably, ¡°Sure. And, you didn¡¯t screw up.¡± He paused. ¡°That enchantress back there. She shut all of us down, hard. If she hadn¡¯t made a mistake with me she would have had us. You took a shot, at least. Just got unlucky with the wild magic?¡±
She shrugged, ¡°I guess. When it comes to using the wild magic I¡¯m mostly guessing. The old books I found were so vague.¡±
Richard nodded, ¡°One person with magic can pretty much shut down someone without it, right?¡±
Evelyn shrugged again, ¡°Not always. Someone with enough levels in something combat related is always a threat, no matter what you have, but they¡¯re rare. And the kind of magic they were willing to teach me was just¡they just wanted someone able to stand on the front lines and throw fire, just another cheap and quick warrior to stand guard on a wall somewhere or slug it out with monsters in the woods. Getting real power is a long climb from that, and not many people get there.¡±
¡°You said you had some books I could read, maybe to get started learning a little magic?¡±
She looked worried at the question. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to be careful. That backlash you did with the insight spell¡you could have badly hurt yourself with that. Damaged your mana, or maybe even your mind of you were unlucky. Not many people have 140 mana and zero control, especially with your low wisdom, and that¡¯s a really dangerous combination.¡±
¡°Ok.¡±
She hesitated, and then pulled a well-worn book out of her bag. ¡°Here. This has an intro to magic, and five small, basic spells you can learn. None of those spells can take more than a few mana before falling apart, so hopefully you can learn some control without hurting yourself, but¡please be careful. Put as little as you can into each spell, just enough to make it work, until you¡¯re really sure you know what you¡¯re doing.¡±
He nodded, and she handed him the book. He picked it up and started reading.
Skill level confirmed, Reading (10) (Max).
Prerequisites met: reading skill (2), writing skill (3). New minor crafting class available: scribe! Would you like to accept this class? (Y/N)
¡°The system is telling me I can become a scribe now. Is that¡good?¡±
Evelyn nodded. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s only a minor class, it only takes 2 skills to get it and you can only get it to level 5 before it maxes out, but most spellcasters who know how to read take it. I did. It usually gives you intelligence points and increases your mana, it helps make your writing more precise which helps a lot if you later want to do any work with runes, and it¡¯s a crafting class so you can level it safely by just working as a scribe.¡± She smiled. ¡°That¡¯s one reason books are as affordable as they are, lots of people are more than willing to work as scribes just to earn a few silver and get some experience.¡±
Richard nodded, and accepted the class.
The following skills are now part of your Scribe class:
Writing (5)
Reading (10) (Max)
Human experience: 5844--------------> 4344
Scribe experience: 0 ---------------->1000
You have gained the Scribe trait: Faster writing
You have gained the Scribe trait: Precise handwriting
Level up, Scribe level 2: +1 Int, +1 max HP, +1 Max SP, +3 Max MP. HP, SP, and MP restored.
Richard started reading the book. He had always been a fast reader and someone who could pick up a concept by just reading a textbook once, but this seemed even easier and faster than before.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I guess that¡¯s the reading skill. Or maybe the Int increase?
The beginning of the book gave him a little bit of background about ¡°formal¡± magic. All the magic in this book was created in a specific ancient language called ¡°Ionic¡± by the book.
Ionic? Wasn¡¯t that an ancient Greek language? Or is that just what it¡¯s being translated as to me? Strange.
Ionic in this book had both a written and a verbal language, with the written language being a set of written pictograph runes that each had a specific meaning. The book cautioned that runic magic worked very differently from spoken magic and that you couldn¡¯t just write down a spoken magic spell and expect it to work. There was a brief discussion about other kinds of magic, including what the book dismissively referred to as ¡°folk magic¡±, other small spells that had been passed down from generation to generation often in other languages, and mentioned that a person who learned a lot of different kinds of ¡°folk magic¡± could become a class called a ¡°hedge wizard¡±, but it strongly suggested that that should be avoided unless you wanted to add a second magical class later in your career.
This book was apparently mostly for people interested in becoming either ¡°Mages¡± or ¡°Wizards.¡± The main difference between the two seemed to be that a ¡°Mage¡± was someone who managed to attune themselves to a specific type or element of magic, and mages could quickly cast spells one after another, while a ¡°Wizard¡± was a class for people who didn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t attune themselves, and tended to cast spells much more slowly, although they tended to learn a much greater variety of spells. Wizards usually weren¡¯t expected to fight on the front lines of battle, as it took them a minute or two to cast each spell, although the book pointed out that a wizard with some time and room to work could do amazing things, and Wizards seemed to get certain traits that made that long spell casting time a little easier to work around. But the book seemed to be strongly hinting that anyone who had the ability to become a Mage, who showed any affinity for any element, should.
Trying to recruit people to be Mages so they can be front line soldiers, like Evelyn said. Well, that¡¯s fine, there¡¯s still probably something in this book worth learning.
After the introduction chapter, the book had 5 chapters, one for each spell. The book explained that each spell was related to one of the five elements or types of spell that were the most common affinities and suggested that as the reader learned and practiced the five spells that they should keep an open mind to see if they felt any intuitive understanding, or connection to one.
The second chapter was devoted to the spell Gust of Wind, which was supposed to be occasionally useful on its own but mostly was designed to see if the reader had an affinity to air. The spell was written out, and a very careful pronunciation guide was included to make sure the reader was able to figure out the exact pronunciation of every syllable of every word. Richard hardly needed it, for as soon as he saw the words he knew how they were supposed to be pronounced, even the words he had never seen before.
¡°I call the breath of ages, the wind of the skies¡Feel the air move, feel the air pass, feel the air¡¡± Richard started to chant.
¡°No.¡± Evelyn interrupted him, and he stopped. ¡°You¡¯re putting too much into the spell, too much effort, too much mana. I can see it. You¡¯ll get a backlash for sure that way. You have to be gentler.¡±
Richard tried again.
¡°¡breath from my lungs, breath from the skies¡wind blowing across the sea, wind blowing across the lake, wind blowing across the fields of grain¡¡± This time he could feel the sensation of energy flowing out of him as he put his power into the spell, and he focused on that, tried to narrow the channel and relax the pressure so the power would flow out of him more slowly and in a more controlled way. He continued the chant for more than two minutes, it looped around and repeated itself three times, before he felt something give. The power he had built up in the spell burst, and he felt a stinging in the side of his head.
¡°You were closer that time.¡± Evelyn said. ¡°You just have to be a little gentler, feed the spell a little more slowly, let it build more gradually. You can do this.¡±
Richard nodded, and started the spell again from the beginning.
¡°Breath from my lungs, breath from the skies¡¡± He cut the sensation of power flowing from him even more, until it was just the faintest, barest trickle of power. This time he cut the power down so low he lost the thread and the spell just fell apart, although at least less painfully this time. He restarted again.
¡°Breath from my lungs¡¡±
The slightest trickle of power, but keeping the flow steady this time¡
¡°wind blowing across the fields of grain¡¡±
He could feel the spell growing, building, and it was an exciting feeling, like an oncoming rainstorm, but he resisted the temptation to speed up and just kept feeding the spell slowly, gently¡
¡°wind blowing across the sea¡¡±
He could picture it in his head, the wind blowing across the tops of breakers on the beach he would go to as a child. He kept the power flowing into the spell.
¡°breath from my lungs¡¡±
Finally, after several painstaking minutes, he could feel the spell click into place, complete, and he released it. A gust of wind blew across the basement, sudden and implausible in that place, and the pages fluttered under his hands.
You have learned the spell Gust of Wind (1)
Evelyn smiled. ¡°Wonderful. You do learn quickly, don¡¯t you?¡±
Richard smiled, and yawned. ¡°Thank you.¡± He looked around, and he and Evelyn were the only two people still awake. Harry was snoring loudly. ¡°We should try to get some rest as well.¡±
Evelyn nodded, and put away the book she was reading. ¡°Ok. Hold onto that book, keep working on it when you have time. Just be careful.¡±
Richard nodded, and put the book away in his bag. He lay down on the bed roll and stared at the stone basement ceiling.
Magic. Magic is real, and I can¡I can do magic.
He fell asleep, with a feeling of peace despite everything he¡¯d been through during the day.
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class:Skirmisher(2)
Scribe (2)
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 25 (30)
Wisdom: 4 (3.6)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 83 (Max: 83)
SP: 42 (Max 42)
MP: 138 (153)
MP regeneration: 3.6%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 46
Cunning: 67
High Stakes: 55
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +2 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.
Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +60% to damage and +30% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.
Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +30% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.
Faster writing (Scribe class trait): +50% writing speed. Scales with scribe level.
Precise handwriting (Scribe class trait): Increased handwriting neatness and precision. Reduces risk of error in runic magic. Scales with scribe level.
Skills (General):
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Rational Introspection (3): You have begun to develop the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.
Surprise attack (1): When attacking someone by surprise or from stealth, +1 to damage and +5% to Critical hit chance
Skills (Skirmisher):
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Skills (Scribe):
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Reading (10) (Max): You are highly skilled at reading and reading comprehension. Increased reading speed, -75% reduction to the penalty from learning a skill or spell from a book instead of from a teacher.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Gust of Wind (1)
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Chapter 23
Richard woke, with a blurry memory of strange dreams.
A woman, the left side of her face young and pretty, the right side blackened and decaying¡
A window popped up in front of his eyes, distracting him just as his mind was trying to remember what he had dreamed.
Through gaining a better understanding of your own mind, you have gained +1 WIS
Through extensive training with a light throwing weapon you have gained +1 DEX
He completely forgot about the dream, wondering how the stats worked.
I did spend a lot of time yesterday practicing throwing knives, and I gained that rational introspection skill, so I guess it makes sense. Both times I gained stats like this it happened first thing in the morning after exercising the previous day, so maybe that¡¯s the pattern?
Richard sat up and looked around the basement. With no windows down here and the light globes unchanged, he had no idea what time it was, and he really missed having a clock or cell phone around. But everyone else was awake and moving around already, so he got up as well. They had already been quietly talking, discussing what to do today.
¡°Oh, good, you¡¯re awake Richard,¡± Jehan said. ¡°I was just saying that if we want to let the guard know about what¡¯s going on, I could visit my friend, Sergeant Bennett. He¡¯s not on duty in the mornings, so I should be able to catch him at home and have a little chat before he goes back to the guard house and let him know what we know. I¡¯ll just head out there by myself, and we can...¡±
¡°No,¡± Richard interrupted. ¡°No one goes anywhere alone right now. Last two times we did that, I got brainwashed and you got kidnapped.¡±
The room went quiet, but Jehan nodded slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t think we should all go together, but you¡¯re right.¡±
¡°Connecting with your Sergeant friend is a good idea, though. You didn¡¯t notice any sign of him being under mental influence?¡±
¡°Not that I noticed. Although the more obviously charmed soldiers did know I was there,¡± Jehan hesitated. ¡°He still might be our best bet, though.¡±
¡°Ok. Who else can we warn, who might have the power to help control a few hundred warped men?¡± Richard asked.
¡°You know, that¡¯s been bothering me,¡± Harry was leaning against the wall, holding onto his staff. ¡°These warped men; I know they¡¯re dangerous, but you said they¡¯re slow moving and stupid, and not terribly strong, right?¡± Jehan and Richard nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no way a few hundred of those could take or destroy this town. The town guard, or even just a few dozen mid-level adventurers could probably take them down, right? So, what are they planning? Especially if this is something the Duke is planning; it can¡¯t just be a matter of causing some random destruction.¡±
¡°If that woman has some of the guard charmed, or suborned¡then¡hmm. No, still probably not.¡± Kateryn shook her head.
¡°That¡¯s a good point, though. Adventurers could also help control this. They¡¯re another group we could warn about there being warped men in town,¡± Bertrand said, looking up towards the ceiling as he thought.
¡°Anyone else have any ideas?¡±
Evelyn spoke up. ¡°If we had some way to let the mayor or anyone on the town council know¡but I¡¯m not sure how we could do that today. Or there¡¯s always the merchant guards, although they¡¯re not likely to do more than protect the people paying them.¡±
Richard thought about it. ¡°Ok. How about this. Jehan, Harry, and Kateryn, the three of you go visit this Sergeant that Jehan knows. It wouldn¡¯t be that strange, the three of you showing up together, right?¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°No, it wouldn¡¯t surprise anyone to see the three of us talking or walking together. Not like having the whole band of us together anyway.¡±
¡°Ok. Me and Bertrand can go to the adventurer¡¯s guild. They know you there, right?¡±
Bertrand nodded.
¡°And Evelyn, you¡¯d better stay here, for now. It¡¯s too risky to have you walking around in broad daylight, especially anywhere near the guards or adventurers; both are probably looking for you right now.¡±
Evelyn sighed, but nodded.
Skill earned. Leadership (small group) (1)
Quest received ¨C recruit adventurers to help protect the town from Warped Men
Jehan walked down the street, talking about minor details with Harry and Kateryn and smiling, looking as if he didn¡¯t have a care in the world. When no one was around, he leaned closed to the other two and said in a low voice ¡°have either of you checked your status books lately?¡±
They both looked up and whispered ¡°status¡±, and a minute later, both of them looked quite surprised.
¡°I have¡a quest? To alert the town guard about the warped men?¡± Kateryn sounded extremely surprised but tried to keep her voice low.
Harry nodded. ¡°I do too. Strange. I suppose that means this is going to be dangerous, huh?¡±
Jehan nodded back. ¡°I fear that is true. Something else, though. One of us could have gotten a quest spontaneously, just by trying to do something dangerous and important, but for all three of us to have the quest at the same time¡¡± he trailed off.
Harry finished his thought for him. ¡°Richard asked us to do this. Is he giving out quests, like a guild master? Is that something a champion can do?¡±
¡°Or¡you all said,¡± Kateryn corrected herself, ¡°we all said, that we considered him the leader of our group. It could be a leadership skill.¡±
¡°Sure, could be. I don¡¯t remember him saying he had a leadership skill, though, and he went through all his skills for us. Was he hiding it?¡± Harry speculated.
¡°Or maybe he didn¡¯t have the skill yesterday, and has it now,¡± Jehan said quietly. ¡°I have never seen someone learn skills as quickly as he does.¡±
Kateryn looked doubtful. ¡°Wait. I know he¡¯s smart, but you can¡¯t just get skills like that, right? Especially uncommon ones like leadership. Someone has to train you. Right?¡±
¡°Usually, but not always,¡± Harry mused. ¡°Men in battle sometimes learn skills they were never trained in.¡±
¡°Anyway, we are here,¡± Jehan said, as they stopped in the street in front of a medium sized house several blocks away from Jehan¡¯s temple. ¡°I thought this would be simple, but since we have a quest, that almost certainly means it will not be. Be prepared for anything.¡±
Jehan knocked on the door, and a few moments later Sergeant Bennett opened it and smiled. ¡°Jehan! It¡¯s wonderful to see you!¡± Bennett was wearing his uniform pants but hadn¡¯t put his uniform coat on yet and was wearing a white button-down shirt. He did have his sword on at his side.
I would guess that he grabbed it and put it on before answering the door, he probably did not have it while sitting at home in the morning. Jehan thought. He must be jumpy today not wanting to answer his own door without a sword.
Jehan smiled back, ¡°Great to see you as well, Sergeant! You remember Harry and Kateryn?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The Sergeant smiled and nodded, ¡°Of course, of course! It¡¯s great to see both of you.¡± He shook Harry¡¯s hand and then gave Kateryn a quick hug. ¡°Anyway, come in! Nice of you to drop by.¡±
They came into the house, and Bennett shut the door behind them. ¡°Actually, this isn¡¯t totally a social visit. You remember how I was reading those records from the investigation yesterday?¡±
Bennett nodded, his face turning serious. ¡°Yes. Terrible thing, monsters inside of the town like that, makes everyone jumpy. Did you find anything?¡±
Jehan nodded slowly, ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. First, I have to warn you; I am worried that some of the other guards might be compromised by someone using forbidden mind-magic, and¡¡±
With a flash, before Jehan had finished the sentence, Bennett had drawn his sword with his right hand and slashed it down toward Jehan from above. Bennett¡¯s face had gone totally blank and emotionless.
Harry thrust his staff sideways and managed to partly block the sword just before it struck Jehan in the shoulder. The sword glanced off his staff and slashed the skin on Jehan¡¯s upper arm slightly, but it mostly missed him thanks to the deflection.
Harry swung his staff up at Bennett¡¯s head, and Bennett blocked with his sword. Right after that was a rapid flurry of blows, with Harry mostly blocking one attack after another with his staff, keeping his staff horizontal across his body and raising one end or the other of the staff to block attacks coming from either side. Kateryn tried to circle around behind Bennett, but he spun to his left as he fought Harry, and she couldn¡¯t get behind him.
Bennett saw an opening, low and to the left, and tried to stab towards Harry¡¯s hip. Harry managed to sidestep and bring his staff down hard across Bennett¡¯s hand. Bennett dropped the sword, but instead of stopping the fight, he rushed Harry head on. Harry managed to strike him on the side of the head and in the stomach, but neither hit seemed to slow Bennett down, and he grabbed Harry¡¯s staff with both hands and managed to pull it away from him.
Just as he did, Kateryn and Jehan both managed to get a grip on Bennett from behind and pulled him away from Harry. Bennett tried to swing the staff, but Kateryn managed to restrain both of his arms, and Jehan pulled an arm across his neck. Together, the two of them managed to pull him down into a wooden chair and hold him there.
Harry came and put an arm down on Bennett¡¯s, and Kateryn had Bennett¡¯s hands firmly pinned together behind his back. Bennett continued to struggle and kick, his face strangely emotionless, until Jehan gently put a hand on the back of his head and whispered a few words. Bennett stopped struggling and his body went limp.
¡°I hope I didn¡¯t harm him, it¡¯s not safe to dispel mind magic that quickly,¡± Jehan muttered, keeping a hand on the back of Bennett¡¯s head. Now that Bennett had stopped struggling, Jehan was able to focus better and carefully removed the rest of the mental magic from Bennett.
A few minutes later, Bennett¡¯s head came back up, and he seemed to regain consciousness. ¡°Thank you, Jehan. And I am sorry. I was¡not myself.¡± He glanced at Jehan¡¯s arm, ¡°You¡¯re bleeding.¡±
¡°I will be fine, it¡¯s just a small cut,¡± Jehan said, putting a hand on the wound. ¡°And this is not your fault. Most of us were affected by her too at one point, we know what it¡¯s like. The important question is, what do we do now?¡±
Bennett thought for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not sure who is affected, but I bet that at least most of the Sergeants of the guard are, if they bothered to target me. Maybe we can talk to them and the soldiers one on one, and you can remove the charm from anyone else who is affected?¡±
Jehan hesitated. ¡°We can do some of that, but I am¡limited in how many I can help in a day.¡±
Bennett nodded. ¡°We might be able to take it slowly, slowly clear a handful of people a day. I haven¡¯t seen her in two weeks, it¡¯s not likely she¡¯ll notice right away that I¡¯m free. Maybe within a week we can¡¡±
Jehan shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid we do not have that kind of time.¡±
¡°Why is that?¡±
¡°Your town¡our town¡is full of monsters. They are going to attack tonight.¡±
¡°Monsters?¡±
¡°Yes. The same ones that attacked the inn, but hundreds of them. And they are under the control of the same people that seem to have charmed half the city guard.¡±
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class: Skirmisher(2)
Scribe (2)
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 25 (30)
Wisdom: 5 (4)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 11 (13.2)
HP: 83 (Max: 83)
SP: 42 (Max 42)
MP: 153 (153)
MP regeneration: 4%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 46
Cunning: 67
High Stakes: 55
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +2 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.
Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +60% to damage and +30% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.
Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +30% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.
Faster writing (Scribe class trait): +50% writing speed. Scales with scribe level
Precise handwriting (Scribe class trait): Increased handwriting neatness and precision. Reduces risk of error in runic magic. Scales with scribe level.
Skills (General):
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Rational Introspection (3): You have begun to develop the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.
Surprise attack (1): When attacking someone by surprise or from stealth, +1 to damage and +5% to Critical hit chance
Leadership (small group) (1): You have some basic skills at leading small groups of people into battle (10 or smaller). Minor bonus to effective charisma towards people in a small group who consider you their leader, minor morale bonus for people under your command. Small chance that sending people you are leading on a mission will create a quest for them; you can not create a quest more often than once per week.
Skills (Skirmisher):
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Skills (Scribe):
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Reading (10) (Max): You are highly skilled at reading and reading comprehension. Increased reading speed, -75% reduction to the penalty from learning a skill or spell from a book instead of from a teacher.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Gust of Wind (1)
Quests:
Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Recruit adventurers to help protect the town from Warped Men.
Achievements: Bounty Hunter(intermediate):+2 DEX
One Shot: +5% CRIT
Underdog:+1 Skill lvl when fighting higher level opponents
Chapter 24
¡°Unless we find someone there we can really trust, you probably don''t want to tell them everything.¡± Bertrand explained.
¡°Why is that?¡± Richard asked. The morning sun was shining brightly on them as they were walking down the main street towards the adventurers hall.
¡°These are adventurers. And we''re not hiring them. Some of them would just leave town if they found out how many monsters there are. Others, if we told them where the monsters were, would probably just walk into the warehouse and stir them all up before the town guard are ready to deal with them. Or gods know, they might try to set a fire or something. Adventurers are unpredictable, and half of them are bloody idiots.¡±
Richard smiled. ¡°You''re an adventurer, Bertrand.¡±
Bertrand chuckled. ¡°So, I would know, wouldn''t I?¡±
¡°So, what do you think we should tell them?¡±
¡°Unless we find some we really think we can trust, we should just let them know that we have reason to expect another Warped Man attack in town later tonight. You were there for the last one and people know you were investigating, so some of them will take you seriously, and at least armor up and be ready. There''s a bounty on Warped Men, so they''ll probably stick around and see if they can bag a few, at least if they don''t know how many there might be.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Is that really going to be enough, though?¡±
¡°Enough to stop them all? Of course not. We''re mostly counting on the town guard to deal with this. But if anything goes wrong, having a bunch of adventurers alert and prepared could help, maybe chase down a few stragglers before they find civilians.¡±
Richard nodded.
When they got to the Adventurers and Mercenaries Hall, Richard spent a few minutes talking to the person at the desk, asking him to spread the basic tip that there was likely to be another Warped Man attack somewhere in town later today or tonight and that adventurers should be prepared. As he finished talking, he heard a soft cough behind him, and Richard turned around. With a sinking feeling, he saw standing behind him a familiar man, tall, walking around in full plate armor, with a giant sword on his back.
Teodric, the knight and acolyte of Toran. The one who hates me. Shit.
Richard quickly began backing away and reaching for one of the knives strapped across his chest, when the main held up his right hand away from his sword.
¡°Peace.¡± The man''s voice was deep, but loud. ¡°I''m not here to fight you.¡± The man hesitated and looked over his shoulder. The elf woman Richard had seen before with him nodded at Teodric, and he continued. ¡°I''m here to...apologize. I accused you of being a liar, and I was wrong.¡±
Richard¡¯s eyebrows raised. That is not what I expected. He pulled his hand away from his throwing knife and stopped moving away, ¡°...I accept your apology.¡±
The elvish woman spoke up. ¡°If I may ask, what did happen when you found those warped men in the canyon? We went down there to check out your report, killed a few more of them, and purified the area.¡±
¡°I was in the gully, and they cornered me, surrounding me on both sides. I''m...my main combat class is skirmisher.¡± Of course, it wasn''t yet, but I still don''t want these guys knowing how low level I am. ¡°I can deal with enemies like that if I have room to run and throw weapons and keep my distance from them, but I don''t do well when I''m cornered.¡±
Teodric spoke up. ¡°That makes sense. I heard about what happened in the Inn. It sounds like you saved lives there, at risk to your own.¡± It clearly hurt him to say that, but he didn''t hesitate.
¡°Thank you. So...rather than try to fight them head on, I climbed up the side of the canyon to get away from them. They almost caught me, they climb better than I expected, but I managed to get up to the top and then throw rocks down at them until I had killed four. The rest escaped, back into a hole in the ground.¡±
The elf nodded. ¡°That explains what we saw.¡± She looked at Teodric. ¡°Cleaning those things out might have been easier if we had spoken to you before, but someone decided to start a fight instead...¡±
Teodric nodded slowly. ¡°I know. I dishonored myself. It was not like me...¡±
¡°It...was not entirely your fault.¡± Richard wanted to tell him about the low glory but thought better of it. ¡°I could have been less hostile myself.¡±
¡°I heard what you said, about more monster attacks happening later today, and I heard you were investigating. Were you able to find this ''Evelyn'' that the guards believe is responsible for summoning these monsters, do you know where she is?¡±
Richard tried to keep emotions off his face. ¡°No.¡±
A faint darkness was visible around Teodric, and the man suddenly put a hand to his sword.
¡°Do you know the corrupted summoner?¡± He asked, much more quietly. The tone had changed, and Bertrand also had his hands on the hilts of his swords.
What just changed...wait, there was a strange glow around him...
Richard made the connection, ¡°Do you have...a lie detection spell?¡± The man''s brow furrowed farther. ¡°That sounds...incredibly useful.¡±
¡°Answer the question. Do you know the corrupted summoner?¡± The elven woman behind Teodric had pulled an arrow out and had rested it against the notch of her bow string; not drawn back, and not raised, but she was ready as well.
Richard spoke, quickly but not emotionally, choosing his words with precision. ¡°Me and my group encountered the corrupted summoner last night, as we were investigating. It was the first time I or any of us had ever seen him.¡± Richard put a slight emphasis on the word ¡°him¡±, and Teodric nodded slightly. ¡°We were not able to stop him, and he and his...allies...are even more dangerous than we had expected. We are trying to gather allies right now to try to stop him and keep this town safe.¡±
Teodric relaxed and took his hand off of his sword. He nodded back to the elf, and she put her arrow back away. ¡°All that was true. It does raise many more questions, however.¡±
Richard nodded, and looked back at Bertrand for a moment, before turning back to Teodric. ¡°I will be glad to tell you more, but...not here.¡± By this point they were the center of attention in the adventurers hall, with a number of armed adventurers watching the exchange. ¡°If we can go somewhere we can talk alone, I would be glad to tell you what''s going on.¡±
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¡°Fine. But quickly; the spell of detect untruth only lasts for 15 minutes, and if you are telling the truth about the nature of the threat we face I am loath to waste another divine spell today.¡±
Teodric went and talked to the man behind the desk of the adventurers hall, and then he quickly led Richard into a small room in the back. This was a room where richer clients who wanted to hire adventurers and mercenaries for more private missions could meet with them discretely. It had a large map of the city and all the city streets on the left wall, a map of the surrounding area on the back wall, and a map of the world on the right wall.
It was the first time Richard got a look of a map of this world, and his brows raised with surprise. It looked a great deal like Earth, in rough outline, but somewhat different. After a moment, Richard realized what the biggest difference was; for some reason, the oceans seemed to be somewhat lower on this world. Europe and Asia were clearly visible on the map, but there was a land bridge across the west side of what should have been the Mediterranean Sea, where Spain would be on Earth, cutting the sea off from the ocean and creating a western land bridge to Africa. On the map, this giant landlocked sea was just labeled ¡°The Southern Sea¡±. It was also a little smaller than on Earth, with land extending farther from the north and south, and the shape of what should be Italy connected to Sicily. Currently the town they were in was in an area of the map that Richard guessed would be somewhere in southeastern France if they had been on Earth. Richard vaguely remembered that there was a river in a similar place on Earth that corresponded to the river Bromwich was located on (was that the Rhone river, or am I thinking of something else?) but the river on this map seemed to be longer and didn''t seem to have quite the same shape.
Great Britain was also connected to the mainland, but there was still what looked like an island labeled ¡°Erie¡± on the map, although there was something on the map labeled ¡°The Rainbow Bridge¡± that seemed to stretch between it and Britain.
In northern Eurasia was a huge stretch of poorly mapped out woodland labeled ¡°The Orcish Wastes¡±, and there seemed to be a land bridge from Siberia across to North America. The Americas were on the map, although they didn''t quite seem to be the right shape (Richard wondered if some guesswork was involved), and there was something labeled ¡°The Empire of Blood¡± across much of those continents.
Teodric coughed politely behind him, and Richard realized he had gotten distracted. I need to learn more about this world, but later.
¡°Forgive me, I was just gathering my thoughts for a moment.¡± Teodric nodded impatiently, and they sat down around a long table in the center of the room.
¡°Ok, first thing is first,¡± Richard said. ¡°We were investigating to try to discover who had summoned the warped men and found that it was much worse than we had expected. There is some kind of large plan involved, which includes not just a corrupted summoner, but also a very dangerous high-level enchanter who is an expert at mind magic and charms people to do her bidding, as well as at least a handful of soldiers. Significant resources as well, they were able to rent or buy at least two warehouses and had the time to summon hundreds of warped men. They seem to be planning to unleash them all on the town tonight.¡±
Teodric''s hands clenched into fists so tightly that his knuckles went white as Richard spoke, and he turned to the elf sitting next to him. ¡°All of that seems to be true, unless this man can fool truth spells. Corruption magic and forbidden mind magic.¡± He turned back to Richard. ¡°Do you know who is behind this?¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°The whole operation seems to be run by Duke Walter De Rudhale.¡±
The knight nodded. ¡°I''ve heard rumors about him meddling with forbidden magics. Do you have proof of his involvement?¡±
¡°One of the soldiers working with them, protecting their warehouse, is a man I saw in the Duke''s uniform just four days ago. I...the man is dead now, after a fight with them we...left his body in an alley by the warehouse.¡±
Teodric''s face grew grim. ¡°You killed a man. And left his body in an alley. Have you informed the guard about this?¡±
¡°The rest of our group is trying to do that right now. The problem is, we know the enchantress charmed at least some members of the town''s guard, and we don''t know who is compromised. My friend, the priest Jehan, should be making contact with a sergeant of the guard he trusts right now, while the two of us came here to try to let some adventures know about the danger.¡±
Teodric nodded slowly. ¡°I see. So, you think the Duke had some master plan that involved charming at least some of the guard, and letting loose several hundred warped men in the town? What was he trying to accomplish?¡±
¡°I don''t know that yet.¡±
¡°I have one more question I need you to answer before I can trust you. Earlier, before you knew I had a spell of detect untruth, you lied to me about something, when I asked you about the corrupted sorcerer. And you knew you were lying. What were you lying about?¡±
Richard glanced at Bertrand. Bertrand shook his head, which Richard took as a sign not to tell any more here, but Richard didn''t see another way out.
¡°I was lying when I implied I didn''t know where Evelyn is. I do know where she is, she is a friend of mine, and she is not mixed up in this business at all. She fought at our side against the corrupted sorcerer and the enchantress, she is trustworthy.¡±
¡°Are you saying she was falsely accused of being involved in forbidden magics?¡±
Richard sighed. ¡°No. She is primarily a fire mage, but while at the Magelight Academy, she also found some ancient books in the back of their library and learned a little bit about wild magic. That was enough for them to have her killed, if she hadn''t managed to flee as soon as she was discovered.¡±
¡°Wild magic. She is a wild mage. And she is a friend of yours.¡± Teodric''s eye twitched, as his face went stony.
¡°She''s...she''s a fire mage who knows, uh, I think only two wild magic spells, and almost never uses them.¡±
¡°Wild magic is forbidden FOR A VERY GOOD REASON!¡± Teodric''s voice came to a shout by the end of his sentence, and he slammed his hand down on the table.
Bertrand spoke up for the first time. ¡°I agree with you. But she''s a good kid, and she''ll be a good adventurer, someone I''m glad to have with me in a tight situation. She''s not a high-level mage, but she''s quick at casting fire bolts, good in a fight, doesn''t panic under stress. And she''s careful. I only saw her cast a wild magic spell once.¡±
Teodric looked at Bertrand. ¡°Her casting a wild magic spell once could have killed you all, you know.¡±
Bertrand laughed. ¡°And it very nearly did. She managed to set fire to the building we were in while we were all paralyzed under a hold spell. Still, I don''t blame her. If she hadn''t done anything it''s very likely all six of us would have ended up charmed and working for the other side. I''d rather burn.¡±
Teodric sighed and spoke again in a softer voice with less anger. ¡°She''s going to get herself killed, and probably her friends as well. Even if she only uses the wild magic when she thinks she absolutely has to, if she keeps adventuring she''s going to keep ending up in situations like that, and sooner or later it''s going to go badly. It''s a roll of the dice each time, and nobody gets lucky forever.¡±
¡°Maybe. But we''re adventurers. Sooner or later most of us are going to end up dead, one way or the other. You''ve been doing this long enough to understand that.¡±
Teodric nodded slowly. ¡°I''m guessing that us cooperating with this wild mage is a condition of us being allowed to help you on this mission?¡± He asked, looking at Richard.
Richard nodded. ¡°It is.¡±
Teodric stood. ¡°Then I give my word. For at least as long as we are working together on this, I will take no action against her, and I will not try to arrest her or give her to the authorities, I swear. I cannot swear that no one else will.¡±
Richard nodded. ¡°Then we have a deal.¡±
Teodric stood up, and started walking back and forth, pacing. ¡°I have connections, I can bring this right to the mayor. But first, I need proof, I need to see this with my own eyes. Even with a truth spell, your word is not enough. Can you take me to this warehouse with the warped men?¡±
Richard looked doubtful. ¡°We have to be careful. Even if my friend was able to warn the guard, they''re not going to be ready yet, we can''t do anything that will make the warped men move early.¡±
¡°It''s probably something we could manage, if you just want a peek.¡± Bertrand said. ¡°We got in ourselves, after all. I don''t think you''re going to be sneaking around with that armor on though.¡±
Teodric nodded. ¡°Of course, I''ll leave my armor here.¡±
Richard sighed, ¡°I think this is a bad idea, but I guess we''re going to do this.¡±
Quest updated! Recruit Teodric to help protect the town by providing him proof that the threat is real.
Chapter 25
Sergeant Bennett walked into the guard headquarters with a somewhat strange group of people that drew more than a few eyes. With him were four guards, two civilians that some guards recognized as being Harry and Kateryn Hatch, and the priest Jehan. A few guards said friendly words to him as he walked past, but he quickly walked through the station and up the stairs without stopping to talk, and most of the guards recognized that he seemed to be moving as if something urgent was going on and let him go. They quickly walked up the stairs past the second floor of the guard office and up to the small third floor, where there was only one office, the office of the Captain of the Guard.
As they walk through the door, the Captain''s personal assistant was sitting at a long desk in front of the door and looked up from her paperwork in surprise. ¡°Sergeant Bennett! It''s nice to see you today. I thought you weren''t on duty until later?¡±
¡°We have urgent intelligence for the Captain, about a threat to the town.¡± Bennett said, without slowing down his rapid walking pace. ¡°I''m going in to see him now.¡±
¡°Oh. I...uh...¡± she started to say, but before she could figure out how to respond, the group walked past her and opened the door. Bennett nodded to two of the guards, and they nodded back and took positions on both sides of the door outside the Captain¡¯s office.
¡°Sergeant Bennett! Is something the matter?¡± The Captain asked.
¡°Yes. This priest has information about the monster attack that happened inside the city. The situation seems to be urgent.¡±
The Captain leaned forward in interest, while the other two guards who had come in with Bennett nonchalantly walked forwards on the left and right side of the group.
¡°Oh? What''s the information?¡±
¡°For one thing, it seems, um...¡± the Sergeant drew it out until the two guards had moved up to be on both sides of the Captain ¡°...some members of the town guard have been affected by mental magic.¡±
As soon as he said the key phrase, the Captain suddenly yelled and started to draw his sword. The two guards who had quietly moved to outflank him reached out and grabbed both of his arms, holding him in place. The Captain yelled incoherently and slammed his head into the nose of the guard on his left, who collapsed, and then as soon as his left hand was free he swung it around in a broad roundhouse punch into the guard on his right. The poor guard literally flew several feet back and slammed into the back wall, unconscious, and the Captain drew out his sword and rushed Sergeant Bennett.
Sergeant Bennett had his sword out in time to parry the first swing, and the second swing, and the third swing. The Captain was a normal looking man in his 40''s, but the speed he was moving at and the strength behind his blows were both intense, and he was attacking frantically and wildly with no attempt to defend himself. It was all Bennett could do to keep up.
Kateryn moved, thrusting the dull end of her spear towards the Captain''s legs. She missed his kneecap, but the spear got tangled between his legs, and the Captain tripped over it, falling forwards. Bennett had to quickly jump to the side to avoid the Captain falling onto his sword.
The Captain struck the ground, and Harry jumped on top of his back, pulling his staff across the Captain''s neck and pulling it back against his throat, cutting off his air. The Captain coughed and struggled, but after a minute he stopped moving, and Harry pulled the wooden staff away.
¡°I hope I didn''t hurt him too badly¡± Harry said.
Jehan got down on his knees on the hard-stone floor next to the Captain and held a hand under his nose for a minute. ¡°No, he''s still breathing, he should be ok. Hopefully he''ll be out for long enough for me to work...¡± Jehan gently put his hand on the back of the Captain''s head, and concentrated, muttering words of prayer under his breath.
Several minutes later, Jehan had finished his work and gone to check on the two guardsmen who had been knocked down early in the fight, when the Captain woke up, groggy. He looked back at them and shook his head slowly.
¡°Are,¡± he coughed, ¡°Are the men all right?¡±
Jehan nodded. ¡°They''re both alive, at least. I think you may have broken this man''s nose with that headbutt, though.¡±
The Captain winced, and then looked back at Bennett. ¡°You found out what was happening. Good man. Was...was it just me that woman was controlling, or...¡±
Bennett shook his head. ¡°She got to me, as well, and a few others we know about. At this point we''re assuming she may have gotten to much or all of the command staff. And there''s going to be an attack, tonight, from inside the city.¡± There were muffled sounds of a struggle outside the room. ¡°Oh, but first, you will need to talk to your assistant. The two guards I left in the hallway had to...restrain her, when she heard the fighting going on in here, so she wouldn''t go and get help.¡±
The Captain nodded and pulled himself up to his feet. He had another coughing fit and winced, before shaking his head. ¡°Ok, I''ll talk to her, and then we''ll have to take back the rest of the guard together. I''m guessing we''re going to need more priests who can dispel magic first?¡±
Bennett nodded, as the Captain walked towards the door. ¡°Oh, and Captain...don''t mention mind magic to her or anyone else, not until we know if she''s been charmed as well, or she might flip out the same way you and I did.¡±
He winced but nodded again. ¡°Yes, you are correct Sergeant. Although I''m going to have a hard time explaining this to her without saying that...¡±
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard, Teodric, and the elvish woman Reneth were lying on the rooftop of a three-story tower, above a building full of people weaving blankets and clothing to sell.
¡°Yes, that''s the warehouse, directly ahead of us. You see the guards standing around it?¡±
Teodric nodded. ¡°I see what you mean, those guards are not standing around like merchant guards usually would, and there are quite a few of them for a quiet warehouse.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Richard nodded. ¡°We were able to climb through by coming from the window of that warehouse next door, but it looks like they have a guard in that alley now.¡±
¡°Yes. I need to get closer and get a good look at what we''re facing here. Reneth, can you get us over there?¡±
She nodded. ¡°Yes, I think so.¡± She looked at Richard¡¯s questioning face and smiled. ¡°Enchanted boots and a little bit of air magic can go far.¡±
Without saying another word, Teodric tied off the end of a long rope to a raised tower in the center of the roof and handed her the other end of the rope. She whispered a word and leaped forwards and up; Richard noticed glowing runes on her boots as she left the ground, and she leaped a good 15 feet into the air. She opened her green cloak in midair, spreading har arms like wings, and Richard could see a sudden strong gust of wind catch her from behind and carry her forward. She sailed across the street, her cloak flapping in a wind that didn¡¯t touch anyone else and landed hard on the rooftop of the warehouse. Her enchanted boots absorbed most of the impact, but she still had to make a controlled acrobatic tumble forwards and go into a roll for several feet before coming to a stop, still holding the rope.
¡°Now, let¡¯s quickly slide down that rope over there, before anyone happens to look up and see it. Make sure you¡¯re quiet, if you yell people will notice.¡± Teodric wrapped his ankles around the rope and held on to it with his hand and slid down the rope onto the other roof. Richard bit his lip and hesitated for a second, before clumsily climbing on to the rope himself.
A week ago, on Earth, I don¡¯t know if I would have been able to do this, but my dexterity is higher now, and a supernatural force has granted me additional skills, so I should be fine now right?
He put both hands on the rope and tried to wrap his ankles around it the same way Teodric did. The first time he tried he got his right ankle over the rope, but when he lifted his left foot off the ground he spun around and fell back onto the roof. He got back up, and this time after getting both hands on the rope he jumped with both feet at once; it took three tries, but he was finally able to hook his ankles over the rope the way Teodric did.
I hope I¡¯m doing this right Richard thought, and he loosened his grip a little and started sliding down the rope. He started going faster and faster, the rope burning his hands. About halfway across the street he suddenly felt like he was going too fast and clenched down with his hands, coming to a stop and almost losing the grip on the rope with his ankles. He hung there above the road for a second, and then slowly moved hand over hand down the rope the rest of the way to the rooftop, his friction-burned hands complaining the whole way.
Finally, he got to the other end of the rope, and managed to get his feet up onto the roof of the warehouse and then pull himself up. Teodric and Reneth were waiting; Teodric had a blank facial expression but Reneth seemed to be smirking a bit.
¡°Sorry, never done that before,¡± Richard said, breathing heavily and his heart still racing.
¡°You did fine. Let¡¯s cut this rope loose and hopefully nobody will see it.¡± Teodric cut the rope, and most of the rope swung back to the other building, keeping about fifteen feet of rope on their side. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s climb down into the second story window on this side, and hopefully that will be another empty office like the one Richard told us about.¡±
They tied the rope off and climbed down, and the office was quiet, with no light except the sunlight streaming in the window. Reneth went first and was able to quietly pry the window open from the outside. Richard followed her, and Teodric came last.
They quietly moved towards the door of the office, and they could see the warehouse full of warped men. The warped men were all standing in rows and staring up at a flickering light coming from the left side of the warehouse.
With care, Reneth quietly opened the door wider so they could get a better view, and they got a view of¡
¡°What?¡± Reneth whispered.
A giant, floating, partly transparent figure that looked exactly like Richard floated in the air, slowly rotating 360 degrees.
A moment later, it flickered out and an image of Evelyn was there instead. A few seconds later, that was replaced by a picture of Jehan, and then of Harry. The warped men stared at the three-dimensional illusions, apparently enraptured.
¡°Are you sure this is a good idea?¡± the enchantress said loudly, as she stood under the illusions she was creating.
¡°They know too much,¡± hissed Vlithar, darkness moving across his features like shadows that weren¡¯t cast by any light. ¡°This way, if the warped men see any of them, they will know to go after them first and to pursue them no matter how they flee. If we can make sure that anyone who knows too much dies in this attack, we will have fewer problems later.¡±
¡°The warped men aren¡¯t going to get to much of the city, though, not if everything goes according to plan and the mayor acts like we expect him to. What makes you think the warped men will even run into those guys?¡± The enchantress asked, as she again idly spun a giant image of Richard over the front of the warehouse.
Vlithar laughed, a dark wheezing sound. ¡°These are clearly self-appointed heroes. What are the odds of them staying out of the way and staying out of trouble?¡±
Teodric touched Richard on the shoulder, and the three of them carefully crawled backwards away from the open doorway before they could be spotted. He nodded, and then Reneth climbed out the window and down the rope. Richard followed, and Teodric came out last.
The rope didn¡¯t go all the way down to the ground, so when Richard got down towards the end of the last bit of rope, he let go and fell the last several feet to the ground. He managed to land with some degree of grace, letting his knees flex to absorb the fall, and then quickly got out of the way so Teodric could come down. Several people on the street had stopped and were looking at them.
Shit. We can¡¯t afford to make a scene right now, just outside the warehouse, or they¡¯ll notice. And we probably look like we just robbed the place.
¡°Oh, don¡¯t mind us, we¡¯re working on developing fire escape routines and procedures.¡± Richard smoothly said, as he quickly led the three of them away from the warehouse.
¡°Fire¡escape¡procedures?¡± Someone asked, sounding confused.
¡°Oh, yes. Do you know how many of these warehouses have caught fire in various cities in the last 50 years? Dozens. Hundreds of people died. Especially if they¡¯re filled with grain, or wheat¡¡± Richard continued to briskly walk as he talked, and Teodric and Reneth shared a glance at each other behind him. ¡°If we just had a good, easy way for people to escape in case of a fire, then many lives could be saved, especially people on the second floor who otherwise can¡¯t get out of a burning building.¡±
¡°So¡that¡¯s what that rope is for?¡±
¡°Oh, it¡¯s one idea we¡¯re trying, yes. Just having a rope hanging down past the window from above. We¡¯ve also considered having some kind of landing by the window and some kind of external staircase that goes down the side of the building, although of course that costs more. Anyway, I¡¯d love to talk about this, but we¡¯re on a schedule¡¡± Richard nodded politely and briskly walked away, Teodric and Reneth following. The group of people behind them turned and started talking to each other, confusion clear in their voices, but none of them yelled or raised an alarm.
You have earned the skill: Fast Talking (1)!
For successfully fast-talking your way out of trouble you have earned +5 Cunning points
After they had walked a few blocks away, Teodric quietly turned to Richard. ¡°I cannot believe that worked. We were¡testing¡fire escapes? Is that something that actually exists?¡± He paused. ¡°Should that be something that exists? Where did you even come up with that?¡±
Reneth giggled quietly. ¡°It was a good con. In this case he didn¡¯t have to convince them of anything. He just needed to keep them unsure of themselves and second guessing themselves for long enough, so they wouldn¡¯t yell ¡®thief¡¯ at us. A confusing story that almost made sense, delivered in a confident tone, was the best thing he could do.¡±
Teodric sighed. ¡°Well, I suppose I cannot argue with success. Anyway, I think I¡¯ve seen more than enough; we can go and bring this right to the mayor now, I¡¯m sure he will see me.¡±
Chapter 26
Quest completed: you have recruited Teodric and Reneth to help you protect the town.
Reward: +400 human experience, +1 charisma
As Richard, Teodric, and Reneth walked through town towards the Mayor''s office, there was a shouting in the central square that sounded to Richard like a carnival barker.
¡°Come see this artifact, a true divine artifact, only 3 copper to see it. This blessed divine artifact, created by the Gods themselves, see it for yourself now or you might never see another...¡±
As they came around the square, they saw that there were dozens of people huddled around the back of a merchant''s wagon, looking at something inside it.
¡°Scam artists. Disgusting for them to claim to have a divine artifact.¡± Teodric strangely sounded less angry about it than Richard would have expected, and Richard felt calmer as well.
¡°How do you know it''s a scam?¡± Richard asked.
Reneth snorted, but it was Teodric who answered. ¡°An artifact is an object created by the Gods themselves and sent to Earth as a gift to humankind. There are only 4 known divine artifacts in the world, like the Shield of Toran, which makes the holder almost invulnerable to frontal attacks, or the White Stone of Soothsaying, which it is said requires anyone touching it to only tell the truth and can give visions of the future. They''re all held by churches or powerful kingdoms. There is no way someone like that could have one.¡±
Richard nodded, but there was something off. A minute ago, while he did not let the strain show on his face, his heart had still been racing from the sight of his own image projected as an illusion for hundreds of monsters to target, followed by climbing down the side of a building. Now, suddenly, he felt a strange sense of calm, a feeling that he suspected wouldn''t have arisen naturally out of his own thoughts at the time.
Skill earned, Rational Introspection(4)
"Teodric...you have a divine class, right?¡±
¡°Yes, I am an acolyte of Toran, why?¡±
¡°Can you feel that? It feels...¡± Richard closed his eyes for a second, focusing on the inside of his mind. ¡°You know that feeling of calm you get when you¡¯re inside a temple?¡±
Teodric looked surprised for a second, but closed his eyes for a few seconds, mumbling a prayer under his breath. Then he opened them again and gave Richard a nod. ¡°You are right. There is a powerful divine aura around this whole square.¡± He paused for a second. ¡°I am surprised you noticed it. I would not have thought you a religious man.¡±
¡°You could say I had a¡personal experience with the divine recently.¡± Richard said vaguely. ¡°So, what does that mean, does he really have an artifact?¡±
Teodric shook his head again, but more slowly. ¡°Still almost certainly not, but he has something there that is very powerfully blessed. To create a blessing that powerful on a single object that you can put in a wagon must have taken a dozen priests several hours. How could a con man like that have gotten his hands on something like that?¡±
Richard paused. ¡°I was told that warped men would have a great deal of trouble entering a temple or something like that, because of the divine blessing. Would an object like that keep them at bay?¡±
Teodric nodded. ¡°I think it could. You are right, a blessed object like that could help protect this town and everyone in it. I suppose we must requisition it from him.¡± He started to draw out his sword.
Richard put his hand on Teodric¡¯s arm. ¡°There¡¯s probably 30 or 40 people over there surrounding what they think is a holy artifact. If you walk in and demand to take it they might riot, and we aren¡¯t going to have any town guards to back us up. Let¡¯s see if there¡¯s another way.¡± Teodric nodded and let his sword slide down into its sheath.
Richard led the three of them up to the crowd. As they got close, the large man with the loud voice stood in front of them and said, ¡°If you want to see the divine artifact, pay 3 copper pieces each.¡± He was wearing loose fitting clothing.
Teodric started to open his mouth, but Richard simply tossed the man a silver piece with a smile. ¡°For the three of us. Keep the change, friend.¡±
The man smiled and nodded and let the three of them pass.
As they walked around to the back of the wagon, Teodric was the first to see what was in the back of the wagon and shook his head quietly. ¡°I do not understand. Why would people spend the effort to put such a powerful blessing on something like that?¡±
As Richard caught up, he saw what was in the back of the wagon. A short, chubby man was telling an elaborate story of how he had ¡°seen in a dream the artifact descend from the heavens¡±, and next to him was¡a chair.
A heavy, oak chair that looked solidly built and reinforced but otherwise just looked like a normal wooden chair that might be in the dining room of a nice merchant family. It was a chair that Richard recognized.
Richard started laughing. ¡°I suppose he did find an artifact, after all.¡± Teodric and Reneth both looked at him with startled expressions, but Richard simply pushed his way to the front of the crowd and jumped up into the back of the wagon with the man and the chair. Teodric and Reneth followed him and stood on the ground nearby.
The short man suddenly interrupted his story to look on Richard, surprised at the interruption. ¡°I understand you want to see the divine artifact more closely, but I¡¯m afraid that you can¡¯t just come up here like this¡¡±
¡°Oh, I¡¯m not here to just see it more closely. I am here to tell everyone that I can verify that it is absolutely real. This is truly an artifact, this is the Chair of Ikar.¡±
The man looked startled and nodded. ¡°Ah¡yes¡of course¡¡±
¡°And you know one thing about artifacts of the Gods¡¡± Richard said, leaning forward and putting one hand on the arm of the chair. ¡°When you are touching a true artifact, you cannot lie, and can only tell the truth.¡±
The man nodded, with the confused look on his face of a man who was not sure of where this was going.
¡°That is not true of all artifacts, that is only the White Stone of¡¡± Teodric started to mumble under his breath. Reneth elbowed him hard in the ribs to silence him.
Richard, dramatically touching the oak chair, said in a loud booming voice, loud enough for the whole crowd to hear, ¡°As this is the Chair of Ikar, it clearly is the property of the Church of Ikar, and as I am a representative of that Church, I have full authority to take it away right now and bring this artifact to the Church.¡±
The man¡¯s mouth opened, and he started shaking his head. ¡°No, I¡¡±
Richard smiled, and in a lower voice said ¡°Careful. If you call me a liar, right after saying that people who touch an artifact can¡¯t lie, you¡¯re saying that you don¡¯t think this chair is truly an artifact. Are you willing to say that right in front of all these people,¡± Richard gestured to the crowd ¡°who paid you to see an artifact? They might not be¡happy¡to hear that.¡±
The man¡¯s face went pale, and he looked around with a growing sense of panic. ¡°Please don¡¯t take this from me¡ I need this¡¡± he whispered.
Richard grinned wider, and with a louder voice said, ¡°But you had a dream of this chair descending, did you not?¡±
The man nodded.
¡°The dream told you that the chair could be found on the road between the Magelight Academy and the town of Wimborne, did it not?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The man looked even more surprised and nodded. ¡°How did you¡how did you know that?¡± he whispered.
Richard grinned again. ¡°As I said, I am a representative of the Church of Ikar. I know about these things.¡±
The man just stood there, his mouth hanging open, having no idea what was going on.
¡°Ikar wouldn¡¯t have given you that dream if he hadn¡¯t thought you worthy of bearing his artifact, though, would he?¡±
The man shook his head, confused.
¡°What¡¯s your name, friend?¡±
¡°P¡Peter.¡±
¡°Tell me, Peter, are you a follower of Ikar?¡±
Peter gulped. ¡°I never¡um¡I had never followed any one god, although of course I always honored the gods¡¡±
¡°Well, while this artifact is of course the property of the Church of Ikar, as a true Ikarian artifact, I, on my authority as a representative of the Church of Ikar, give you permission to travel with the artifact and show it to the masses, all in the name of glorifying Ikar.¡±
Peter nodded, his eyes wide. ¡°How¡how are you the representative of the Church of Ikar, again?¡±
Ricard winked, and leaning close to the man, whispered ¡°Do not tell anyone yet, but I am the Champion of Ikar.¡±
¡°The champion¡¡± the man mumbled under his breath.
¡°There is just one favor I must ask of you, Peter, in exchange for allowing you to carry on and have permission to continue to display this artifact, for the Glory of Ikar¡and even for a few coppers here and there to display it, to cover your expenses of course.¡±
¡°And¡and what favor is that?¡±
Richard¡¯s voice got low. ¡°A terrible force of monsters is going to attack this town soon, and when it does we will need this sacred artifact. In a few hours I will send a messenger to you, and he will tell you where you need to bring the Chair of Ikar with your wagon.¡±
Peter looked startled. ¡°I¡I don¡¯t want to face monsters, I just¡¡±
Richard shook his head. ¡°You will be well protected. And in exchange for this favor, I will get a priest of Ikar to write you an official document proclaiming that this is, in fact, an artifact, and that you have permission from the Church to display it.¡±
¡°You¡you can do that?¡± Peter asked, confused.
Richard put a second hand onto the armrest of the oak chair and smiled. ¡°Are you calling me a liar?¡±
Peter hastily shook his head. ¡°Of¡of course not!¡±
¡°Stay here for now. Continue to do as you are doing. I will have a messenger come and tell you where to go within the next two hours.¡±
Peter nodded. ¡°You have a deal.¡±
Skill learned, Fast Talking (2)
You have earned +5 Cunning points and +5 Humor points for conning a con artist by telling him the truth
Richard smiled, shook hands with the man, and stepped down out of the wagon. He walked away without looking back, with Teodric and Reneth following him.
¡°I wish I still had that spell of truth detection active, then maybe I would know what the hells just happened,¡± Richard heard Teodric mutter behind him as they walked away.
Spoiler: Character sheet
Name: Richard
Race: Human (5)
Class:Skirmisher(2)
Scribe (2)
Age: 26
Strength: 3 (2.4)
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 11
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 25 (30)
Wisdom: 5 (4)
Perception: 7
Charisma: 12 (14.4)
HP: 83 (Max: 83)
SP: 42 (Max 42)
MP: 153 (153)
MP regeneration: 4%/hour
Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)
Humor: 51
Cunning: 77
High Stakes: 55
Glory: -911
Divine favors:
Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).
Special traits:
Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.
Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.
Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.
Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what''s over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.
Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.
Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +2 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.
Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +60% to damage and +30% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.
Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +30% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.
Faster writing (Scribe class trait): +50% writing speed. Scales with scribe level
Precise handwriting (Scribe class trait): Increased handwriting neatness and precision. Reduces risk of error in runic magic. Scales with scribe level.
Skills (General):
Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.
Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.
Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.
Stealth (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.
Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.
Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.
Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.
Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.
Rational Introspection (4): You have developed the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.
Surprise attack (1): When attacking someone by surprise or from stealth, +1 to damage and +5% to Critical hit chance
Leadership (small group) (1): You have some basic skills at leading small groups of people into battle (10 or smaller). Minor bonus to effective charisma towards people in a small group who consider you their leader, minor morale bonus for people under your command. Small chance that sending people you are leading on a mission will create a quest for them; you can not create a quest more often than once per week.
Fast talking (2): You have a moderate level of skill at talking another person into doing something against their own better judgement.
Skills (Skirmisher):
Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.
Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.
Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.
Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.
Skills (Scribe):
Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.
Reading (10) (Max): You are highly skilled at reading and reading comprehension. Increased reading speed, -75% reduction to the penalty from learning a skill or spell from a book instead of from a teacher.
Spells:
Insight (1)
Gust of Wind (1)
Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn''t be too hard...right?
Achievements: Bounty Hunter(intermediate):+2 DEX
One Shot: +5% CRIT
Underdog:+1 Skill lvl when fighting higher level opponents
Chapter 27
¡°Are you sure the Mayor isn''t going to also be affected by the mind-magic?¡± Richard asked as they walked through town.
Teodric nodded. ¡°Fairly sure. Mayors of free towns and cities wear a Livery collar, a chain of office they always wear around their necks, which along with showing that their position was granted to them by the King, also includes multiple magical protections specifically to ward against things like that. It would be much harder for anyone to enchant him while he was wearing that, especially if they were trying to be subtle. In any case, we''re here.¡± Teodric said, stopping in front of a large building on the northern end of town, ¡°Town Hall¡±.
The Town Hall was a large wooden building with a high roof, it was painted white on the outside and had a large set of double doors in the front, which were unlocked as Teodric led them in. The main room of the building was large with several rows of chairs fixed to the floor, with a raised area up front that had a long wooden table with several chairs behind it. The room was currently mostly empty, with a few guards standing around near the door in the back of the town hall.
¡°This is where they hold the town council meetings. The mayor''s office is through that door in the back.¡± Teodric explained to Richard.
They walked to the back of the room, and upon seeing him, the guards quickly stood up and gave him a small bow. ¡°Prince Teodric, what can we help you with?¡±
¡°I need to speak to the mayor.¡± Teodric said.
¡°I''m afraid the mayor is in an important meeting right now, sir, but I''m sure he will be glad to...¡±
¡°This can not wait. I have important information about a threat to the whole city. We will likely be attacked in hours.¡±
The guard nodded. ¡°The Warped Men? If you have information about that, the mayor may want to you join this meeting...please, sir, give me a minute.¡± The guard turned and went in, with the other guard standing out by the door.
¡°Prince Teodric?¡± Richard asked. ¡°You hadn''t mentioned you were a prince.¡±
Teodric nodded. ¡°Yes, but it''s not important.¡±
¡°It''s not important?¡± Richard said, with a raised eyebrow.
¡°Teodric is the eleventh son of the king of Venetia,¡± Reneth said. ¡°In his family, younger sons like him are expected to either go out and prove themselves in the world or become priests.¡±
¡°And you''re...his bodyguard?¡± Richard guessed.
She smiled. ¡°I''m a retainer of the family, yes.¡±
The guard came back. ¡°They''re ready to see you now, sir.¡±
Teodric, Richard, and Reneth were led down a hall into a meeting room. The walls were hung with beautiful tapestries, and large glass windows allowed a lot of light to shine into the room. In the center of the room was a long table and seated at the table were the Captain of the Guard, Jehan, Harry, and Kateryn, while an older man in a black robe sat at the end of the table. He was wearing a heavy gold chain around his neck, with a silver leaf emblem around his neck that Richard assumed was a symbol of office.
He looked up at Teodric and nodded. ¡°Prince Teodric, thank you for joining us. I was told that you have information about the monsters that threaten the town?¡±
Teodric nodded, and in some detail gave a report of what they learned and had observed.
The Mayor responded, ¡°How certain are you that the Duke is responsible for this?¡±
Teodric hesitated, ¡°That I can''t personally confirm. Richard?¡±
Richard cleared his throat. ¡°One of the guards that they had defending the warehouse was the same person I personally saw in the Duke''s uniform just a few days ago. I also overheard the enchantress saying something along those lines.¡±
The Mayor nodded. ¡°I''m sure you''re correct, but that''s nothing I can use as proof...I''m sorry, what was your name?¡±
¡°Richard.¡±
Teodric spoke up. ¡°Richard was the adventurer who with that priest fought the warped ones in the tavern, and he also fought several of them outside of town a few days ago. He and his friends then further investigated and discovered the warehouses full of warped ones. I believe he is...reliable.¡±
The Mayor nodded again. ¡°I''m sure he is, and I''m sure he is correct, but I need proof.¡± He stood up suddenly, and walked away from the table, his arms crossed behind his back. ¡°Earlier today, I received a letter from Duke Walter De Rudhale, informing me that he had...heard...that we had a monster problem, and further informing me that he and his army were already in the area on...exercises.¡± He walked back and forth in front of the fire. ¡°The honorable Duke also informed me that he would be glad to assist us with our problem, and that all we had to do was to request that the town be put under his official protection, with the usual oath of fidelity and so on that that implies.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Teodric hissed through his teeth, and the room went silent.
Richard spoke up ¡°So if you agree to this, he would...rule this town?¡±
The Mayor nodded. ¡°Yes. Asking for his protection and swearing loyalty oaths would make the town part of his feudal estate. As a free town, it would be our decision to do so, although that would be the last decision we would be able to make. And in fact, my guards have already spotted the Duke''s army, less than half a mile west of town. They are not making any secret of their presence.¡±
The Captain of the Guard spoke up. ¡°He has several thousand soldiers with him. A solid spear line, archers, fire mages, and so on. Even if the town guard were at full strength, we would not be able to hold the walls against him if the Duke decided to take the town by force. Our walls are fine for keeping monsters at bay but can be scaled quite easily by people even without siege equipment, and we don''t have enough men to hold the entire length of the walls.¡±
¡°So why didn''t he just attack?¡± Richard wondered out loud. ¡°Why go through all the trouble of summoning warped men inside the walls?¡±
The Mayor responded. ¡°Because if he attacks a Charter Town, that''s an act of rebellion against the King, and would force the King to raise an army against him. But if a Charter Town asks protection from a nobleman because it can''t defend itself against monsters, well, that''s a different story isn''t it?¡±
Teodric raised his voice. ¡°We can not give that man what he wants! He is using forbidden magic, using a corrupted summoner and a mind mage to do his bidding! If he takes your town, do you think he will stop using them?¡±
Rather than respond to him directly, the Mayor turned to the Captain of his Guard. ¡°Captain, can we stop them without the Duke''s help?¡±
The Captain looked uncomfortable. ¡°Normally, we might be able to, but...as I was saying, the guard is very much under strength right now.¡±
¡°How much?¡±
¡°We managed to retake the command structure at least, most of the Sergeants have been cleansed of any mind-magic, with the help of Jehan and a few other priests.¡± Jehan nodded his head. ¡°But a lot of the other guards had mind-magic enchantments on them as well, and we haven''t had the resources to clear most of them yet. A full third of them are currently in our jail cells, until we can clear them. And in the process of restraining them, about twenty-five of my other guards were injured, and two were killed.¡± He paused again. ¡°And that''s just the ones who had the implanted command to go berserk when they heard anyone suggest they might be under mind magic. There might still be other guard members who had more subtle commands, and it''s going to take more time to confirm that. Even though these Warped Men seem to be slow...if they exist in those numbers as the Prince described, and they are in both of those warehouses, we just don''t have the numbers to hold a line against them, especially since those warehouses have multiple doors. Our men would quickly be surrounded and swamped.¡± He hesitated. ¡°If we had to fight them, my advice would be to...knock down houses, use them as barricades to block off all the streets around the warehouses, post archers on the rooftops around there, and try to shoot as many of them as we can before they spread out into the rest of the town. And hope they don''t manage to find their way up onto the rooftops.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I''d like to evacuate the civilians out of town first, but it sounds like we don''t have time. So, assuming we don''t stop all of them, I would expect civilian casualties to be...high. But if we don''t let our guardsmen be killed in the initial rush, perhaps we could use our organization and discipline to hunt them down after they spread throughout the town, and slowly clear them out. Fighting would likely last for days or weeks.¡±
¡°If we started tearing down houses around them, would they react and attack early, before we were ready?¡± The Mayor asked.
The Captain shook his head. ¡°I have no idea, sir.¡±
The Mayor sighed. ¡°If it comes down to it, I would rather swear fidelity to the Duke and let him rule this town rather than see it destroyed, which your plan would amount to. In fact, I''m pretty sure if we let these monsters destroy the town like that the Duke would end up intervening anyway, for our own protection.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Unless anyone has a better plan?¡±
¡°I...might.¡± Richard said. Everyone turned towards him. ¡°Although for my plan to work...Mayor, I''m going to have to ask you to pardon Evelyn.¡±
¡°Evelyn? Isn''t she the corrupted summoner? You want me to pardon her?¡± The Mayor said.
¡°Evelyn is apparently not the corrupted summoner.¡± Teodric responded. ¡°Apparently, the Magelight Academy put that warning out about her because she had learned some wild magic.¡±
¡°Wild magic?¡± The mayor sighed. ¡°Has she hurt anyone?¡±
¡°No, she has not,¡± Jehan said, speaking up for the first time since Richard had come into the room.
The Mayor nodded. ¡°Fine, gods know I''ve pardoned worse crimes than that over the years, so long as she doesn''t use any wild magic in my city. The Academy isn''t going to be happy about it, but we have bigger problems right now. So, what''s this plan of yours?¡±
¡°I still have to work out the exact details, but the key is that the corrupted summoner made a huge mistake earlier today, and we have a chance to capitalize on it.¡± Richard turned to the other people in the room. ¡°Harry, I''m going to need you to run to the Adventures Guild and get Bertrand, he''s still there trying to recruit adventurers to help protect the city. Oh, and while you''re there, get them to give you that map they have of all the streets in town and bring that back here, we''re going to need that to work. Kateryn, I''m going to need you to go and get Evelyn out of...where she is...and bring her here too, we¡¯re going to need her for this.¡± Richard smiled. ¡°If this works, the warped men won''t be our problem anymore.¡±
Quest received: Get rid of the Warped Men in town.