by A O Storm
Spell Cast: Fix Injury I
Target: Self
Result: +20 Health Points
A warm glow swept through his shoulder and suddenly the pain disappeared. He felt hungrier, as if he could eat a whole meal, but his arm and shoulder were as good as ever. Checking his stats, he saw his health was still down twenty from maximum, but with the shoulder wound healed, he could fight.
"I saw Carl get eaten," the voice called, firing another arrow. Thunk! The shaft stood vibrating in the tree trunk a few inches from Kano's head. "I believe he may have used some more creative language, but he probably told you what I need." Kano didn’t reply, flexing his newly healed arm and wishing he had a long distance weapon.
"Let's be reasonable," the man continued, firing yet another arrow. "When you die, the game can always recreate you, so it's not like you personally lose anything."
"And it's not like you gain anything either, right?" Kano shouted back.
"Now you're just being silly," the man continued, firing again. "Of course we gain something. After all, you are a walking, talking embodiment of our intellectual property, game or no." The man fired another two, then three, arrows in rapid succession just as Kano was tempted to lean forward to get a look at his assailant.
The bark from the tree sprayed his cheek when he ducked back out of range. "Crap," he muttered. "If I survive this, I definitely need to figure out ranged attacks and not just close combat."
"Listen up," the voice called, polite, despite the obvious ill intent. "If you make this easy, I promise when you respawn, you'll forget all about it."
Kano could not resist taking the bait. "You're basically promising me you’ll kill me quickly and I won’t remember?"
"Yep," the man called, just as another arrow thunked into the tree where he was hiding.
"Your idea of making it easy sucks," he said, ducking down lower when the latest arrow hit the tree. "Also, you clearly don't know how to bargain. Here!” Kano tossed the broken arrow torn from his flesh towards the man’s voice.
“My blood is all over the fucking arrowhead you shot me with. How about you take the arrow and call it good?"
“Sure, step out and hand it to me,” the stranger answered.
“I just threw it to you, just take it and go!” Kano pleaded, but the man laughed in return.
“I need a lot more than that, Kano. Killing you will make this easier on you, and you’ll just wake up in some fairy grove somewhere and start over again.” The patience and levity in the man’s voice dropped. “Look, you little prick, you are stuck here for good whether you like it or not. People out there need what you have inside of you.”
“Screw that!” Kano yelled back. “I might be in a freaking game, but I’m alive. I feel pain! No drug is worth torturing or killing for.”
"Perhaps, but, you have to also consider the profit potential."
"What?"
Kano could not believe the last thing the man said. He knew capitalism had become a bit of a cliché and out of hand. However, Kano had never met a specific individual who thought death in service of corporate profit was good. The idea made him a bit sick and he leaned over to the other side of the tree, trying to get a glimpse of the mystery archer.
Twenty-One - Boy Meets Squirrel
Thwack! An arrow struck the tree once more and Kano began to lose his patience. So far, every other person he had met wanted to kill him. Mostly for arbitrary stuff, like his DNA, in this case. He did not doubt the coma was a real issue and his recovery was spectacular. However, the whole magic pill thing seemed a bit crazy.
Until he could figure out more, with another arrow hitting the tree, he had to figure out a way to survive. Kano could see the many arrows the mystery archer had shot were close to splitting the tree in half. At that point, his defense would be reduced to zero. Kano ducked down even lower. He had the sword and no realistic options of escape.
"Listen," Kano said, hoping to bargain, "I'm sure I could donate some blood, maybe other genetic material, and you'll figure it out. Maybe we do a scheduled draw or something until you have enough?"
"You'd do that, no questions asked?" The voice sounded hopeful and Kano decided to risk another look.
"Yes," Kano said, getting a brief glimpse of the archer before he ducked back behind the tree. The man was an adult, but his age could have been anywhere between twenty and fifty. He wore a green camouflage outfit, pants and hood included. Kano thought of the various Robin Hood characters he had seen. Despite the costume similarity, this guy was clearly no good.
Name:
???
Level:
10
Class:
Hunter
Energy Points (Max)
130 (150)
Health Points (Max):
150 (150)
Skills:
Unknown
For a brief, tense moment, no shots were fired and Kano dared to breathe a sigh of relief. He waved to the side of the tree and thought about what he could negotiate. He was tired of the bloodshed. On the one hand, it was a game, but on the other, it could kill him over and over and over again. Painfully. When he stuck his arm out for the unknown archer, he ignored the voice in his head insisting this was too dangerous.
The next arrow almost ended him.
"Aaack!" Kano exclaimed, feeling the wind from the shaft against his cheek.
He ducked behind the tree again and breathed deep, touching his face and exhaling deeply when he confirmed the arrow hadn't struck him. That was far, far too close.
"This is why I wanted Battle-Cat," he muttered, wondering how to get out of the situation. If Baby Lasher had not run away I could have had it sneak behind the guy and distract him, eat his face or something.
I wonder if Animal Speak would work out here, he thought, remembering the second spell listed in his updated character sheet.
The tree exploded into splinters, splitting when another arrow struck. Kano ran and tried to duck behind another tree when an arrow got him in the thigh. "Ow," he groaned, turning his fall into a roll, using his Acrobatics skill, and ducking behind a rotting log.
Ignoring the pain in his leg, he selected from the spells available and quickly understood how to cast. The spell had a limited distance and if no creatures were in range the spell would fail with no effect. Fingers crossed, he made the required gestures and spoke the spell, softly.
Spell Cast: Animal Speak I
Target: Minor forest creatures within the spell range.
Result: Gray squirrels nearby can now communicate with you
Oh, you are freaking kidding me. Why would the spell choose a squirrel, he thought. What’s the squirrel going to do? Cute this guy to death? Maybe have a talk with him about delicious nuts?
Hearing another arrow thunk into the decaying tree Kano knew if he didn't do something soon, the next arrow might do more permanent damage than the one in his leg. Looking around Kano tried to see where the squirrels were that he could communicate with. Crouched underneath a nearby bush were a few glowing points of soft, blue light.
Somehow, he knew each of those was a squirrel. He thought about what he wanted them to do and then smiled. "Hey guys, I know where some fresh nuts are located." He chuckled softly, ignoring the next arrow that thunked into the fallen tree, spraying bark across his face and into his hair.
"Hey! Okay, you win. Just stop with the arrows. I’m coming out unarmed," Kano called, trying to bait the man into lowering his weapon. He thought he had an idea where the man was, and put his hands on the arrow buried in his thigh. He snapped it in half, almost passing out from the pain, and then slid the arrow out of his leg, causing it to bleed freely.
"Really?" The man sounded surprised.
Kano took advantage of the man’s surprise, putting his hands on his wound and trying the healing spell again.
Nothing happened and he checked his character sheet quickly. Apparently, mana points were drained from casting the healing and animal speak spells, howeve
r nothing yet indicated how much mana he had in total. Another thing to ask a player who can explain this to me, or a wizard, Kano thought. He drew his sword and tried to ignore his bleeding leg. Observing the progress of the little glowing blue squirrels as they crawled through branches Kano smiled as they reached the tree closest to where the archer stood.
"Why are you waiting if you're going to-" he cut off abruptly. "Get off me, you little rodent!"
Kano could sense the first squirrel had landed on the man's head and heaved himself to his feet.
"Get off me!" The man yelled louder this time and Kano saw his assailant once more. The man was shaking a leg, hopping up and down, trying to fend off the second squirrel that was now crawling up his pants, having crawled up from the ground. A third squirrel was scampering down a tree as Kano watched the first climb down the man's back.
The man was older, middle aged, yet with a full head of dark hair and a clean-shaven face. The angles of his jaw were set in a grim line as he dropped the arrow nocked to his massive bow and reached back, attempting to grab the squirrel who'd started to climb down the back of his shirt.
"Ack!" he squeaked, higher pitch. The man started to scream as the third squirrel raced up his other leg along the soft portion of his inner thigh. All three were vicious, their claws lacerating his flesh, tearing through the plain dark pants and thin, loose-fitting shirt with equal ferocity.
Limping forward, Kano was almost close enough to stab him when the man swung out with his bow, hitting Kano in the shoulder where the arrow had first hit him earlier. It hurt, but not nearly enough to cause him to deviate from his course.
"Not there," the man screamed, bending at the waist and reaching down to attempt to rip his pants free. When he'd swung his bow, one of forest rodents took advantage and climbed to the man's groin. Once there, the rodent had started shredding the man's pants and tender flesh beneath.
"Ahhhh!" The man screamed as Kano's sword sliced into him, nearly cutting the man in half. The man kept screaming until Kano ran him through once more. The squirrels finally lost their compulsion to act and ran away in confusion. They scurried up a tree and disappeared while Kano slumped, clutching his wounded leg, exhausted as the adrenaline surge slowly leaked away.
He looked around the woods to see if any further intruders were about to jump out again and then, satisfied he was alone for the moment, started to bandage his leg. Good thing I found these, he thought, using the small cloth he picked up in the mine. He then looked at this character sheet and was surprised by a notification about his stats.
Character name:
Kano
Profession:
(Blank)
Class:
Druid
Level:
5
Experience Points:
9,100
Next Level:
10,000
Energy Points (Max)
40 (60)
Health Points (Max):
80 (100)
Mana Points (Max):
15 (130)
Complications:
Fatigue, dehydration
-10 energy
-10 health
Defeating the man had been worth a lot of experience and he got a boost for using the animal speak spell creatively. Further, his mana had replenished enough to cast the healing spell again. He did so, immediately feeling a warm flood of relief as his leg stopped bleeding and he could feel the muscle tissue mending underneath his hands. The wound did not completely disappear as his shoulder injury had.
The healing spell won't fully restore my stats if I’m missing over the amount it can fix, Kano thought. Seems like I should work on leveling up that spell as soon as possible.
It was dusk, the sun already gone from the horizon, when Kano stumbled into the village. Cleaning up the second corpse had taken some time, and the man possessed a few interesting items Kano wanted to inspect more closely when he had time. The first thing he did was visit the inn and drink a whole bottle of water, then started in on the fastest to prepare food he had in the storage. When finished eating, he realized how dirty, bloody and stinky he had become from the day's long adventure.
Cleaning himself and changing into another set of Bob's old clothing, he felt like a new man when he prepared to leave the inn with a lantern in hand.
"You're back!" Thomas cried, standing in the doorway as Kano pulled it open. The red haired mayor walked into the White Rabbit and Kano stood there, surprised.
"Your ears must have been burning," Kano said, frowning. "It’s done. The mine is cleared."
"Good, good, but did your friends find you? They left here not long after you did."
"What do you mean, my friends?"
"Carl and that other guy, Zed was his name."
"Dead."
"Excuse me?"
Kano smiled grimly. "Zed's dead, baby."
"Baby? Do you address grown men that way where you come from, Kano?"
"Sorry, no. Look, if anybody else shows up asking for me, I'm not here."
Thomas frowned, looking around the inn, "But aren't you living here now?"
"I mean don't tell them where I am, especially if I'm all alone in the woods, half starving, running a fool's errand for you. Those men wanted to kill me."
"Wait a second, you're not some kind of fugitive, are you?"
"Nope, they were just confused. They think I stole something from them and wanted it back. Turns out you can't return what you never stole." Kano did not want to explain the whole story and knew if the villagers found out, they would treat him differently for certain. Somehow, he knew different was not welcome. He didn't want that and given he intended to live in Three Rivers, a good relationship with everybody was critical.
"Sure, Kano, if you say so. If something like this happens again, though, we'll have another talk." Thomas gave him a stern look. "That talk might not be very pleasant."
"Understood," Kano said, stifling any snark to the overly stern response. He’s just a game character, but I gotta play along to make this easier.
"On another topic, I need to go get a few documents prepared, a messenger sent and other items taken care of. With the mine now empty, we can use it and start building up the economy here." Thomas smiled. "We won't get rich tomorrow, but we're on the right course."
Kano smiled, happy. He didn’t really care about becoming rich. With the inn, he was already more successful than he'd dreamed in such a short time. He'd need to continue to level up, of course. With his near death experience with Carl and Zed, he knew he’d need more skills, abilities. Magic. Allies. There wasn’t any telling what could show up and try to kill him next.
Life in this world was a challenge; one he intended to keep winning.
Twenty-Two - Getting Settled Inn
Thomas walked off after chatting with Kano, who decided to grab a drink from the bar and relax after the trying day. A half hour later, two drinks down, Kano stumbled to bed, too tired to remove Bob’s old clothing and slept in it, boots and all.
Early the next morning, as soon as he walked downstairs, Bertha started giving him an earful about the mess he left the night before. Then, she started to recite a growing list of management tasks for the White Rabbit Bob had neglected.
Before long, Kano felt as though Bertha was the one in charge as she continued to add to the list of things he needed to do.
"Okay, okay," Kano said, tired and barely recovered despite the large plate of food he finished as Bertha droned on. "Let me clean this up, use the facilities and then we'll start on the chicken coop."
"Facilities? Kano, did you hit your head? You're at the inn, we have many facilities. I don't get it."
Idiom, Kano thought, and then explained what he meant and offered to meet her back in the common room before the end of the hour. The morning hour was still early and Kano knew he could use a lantern or similar to identify what Bertha was on about in case it was still too dark out.
An hour later, the chicken coop
was cleaned, water replaced and food distributed from the sack he found. Completing the task, Kano was curious if he could gain experience from something like maintenance work. When he pulled up his character sheet, he was quickly disappointed, as he got exactly zero from the manual labor.
When he came into the common room, victorious, he was greeted with a waiting Bertha, ready to give him the next set of chores. During the course of the day, he got a crash course in all the various maintenance projects you might enjoy as a homeowner. Only thing was, he'd never nailed together a single two by four, dug a line for a latrine, built up a compost heap or any of the other tasks Bertha instructed him in.
At one point he asked why he was doing all the work and she smiled, telling him if Kano did not know how things were done, how could he expect to run the White Rabbit? She had a sadistic smile on her face as she asked him the question and he grumbled, wondering if all the hard work was worth it. There were no customers, and after a brief lunch, again with more instruction, he continued working through the evening.
Kano eventually begged off and said he was too tired and would not remember anything else if he tackled another item on the list. Bertha grunted and that night, he had nightmares about climbing up on the roof and falling down, over and over. The tale of Sisyphus came to his mind, of the tortured soul who was cursed to push a rock uphill, which then rolled down, so he had to push it back up again. In the dream, he felt like Sisyphus, destined forever to roll the boulder uphill, watch it descend, and then push it upwards again.