by N H Paxton
“Got one! That’ll make a good meal.” Ina stood out of stealth and headed over to collect the rabbit. She shoved the whole thing in her backpack, then recovered the arrow I had shot. She walked back over to where I was now standing and put her hand out, making a “give me that” motion.
I felt like a moron, but I complied, handing her the bow and arrows. In exchange, she handed me the crossbow, as well as a pouch full of bolts.
“I think a crossbow will suit you much better, Vlad. Why don’t you keep that one?”
I took a couple seconds to look at the weapon. It was basically the same thing as a propelled pistol, but used a wire to propel the payload. The trigger was spring-loaded, quite a marvel of engineering in a fantasy world. I liked it a lot better already. It was small enough to hang on a belt ring and use with one hand.
“Vlad will use with great appreciation.” I clipped the hand crossbow to my belt and found a place for the bolt pouch. I received a notification about engineered weapons, which was one of the weapons my class was proficient with and took a minute to examine it while we walked.
<<<>>>
Skill Unlocked!
Skill: Engineered Weapons
Engineered weapons, such as crossbows, ballistae, muskets, and flintlocks, require a great deal of skill to use to best effect. Though the simpler versions of these tools of destruction can be found in the hands of common soldiers, the more advanced weapons are suitable only for experts trained in their use and maintenance.
Skill Type/Level: Passive/Level 1
Cost: None
Effect: Increases engineered weapon damage by 5%
<<<>>>
I read the skill more than once before waving it away. Engineered weapons in a fantasy world. Now we were getting somewhere.
Timeline: 1 day before Astraea, 12:18
A few hours after leaving Cressfal, we stopped for lunch. Ina pulled a few dried rations from her pack. They were made of some kind of unidentifiable meat, but their taste was nothing short of delicious. It was, quite literally, the best jerky I had ever eaten. She also pulled a few small rinds of cheese out of her pack. These were wrapped in cloth, but the smell was terribly enticing. I was pleased to have them.
We ate in silence, taking a few moments to ourselves. We were both, I imagine, working through the details of what had happened so quickly over the last two days. Ina had gone from defending a village of people to finally making her way to achieving her dream. And as for myself, well, I had gone from being completely alone in the world to having someone I was both very familiar and completely a stranger with. There was a lot going on, for sure.
Before moving on, we shared a pipe full of tobacco, laced with Hare’s Grass, for Stamina. Smoking it gave me a green buff notification. I focused on it, trying to understand this world better.
<<<>>>
Buff Added
Hare’s Pace: You are imbued with the stamina and recovery of a Hare! Your Stamina will decrease 25% slower while running, and you regenerate Stamina 50% faster. Duration: 30 minutes.
<<<>>>
We stood together and continued our way south after quickly collecting our bags. I tried to hand the pipe back to Ina, but she waved a hand at me, shaking her head. A gentle smile slipped across her face, and I placed the pipe into my bag.
“One day, you will teach herbalism, yes?” I wanted terribly to learn herbalism and alchemy now that I had seen the simple effects of herbalism in action.
“Of course I will, but first we need to see to Rowanheath. We’re about halfway there, I’d wager.” I didn’t know how Ina knew where we were, and she seemed to know what I was thinking. “Imagine that you have a map,” she said. “Now, imagine that you can see that map in front of you, sort of physical, but also not.” I tried to do that very thing and was rewarded with a large, mostly greyed-out map of the entirety of Eldgard.
“Whoa, is huge place.” My shock was evident in my voice.
Ina chuckled like she always did when I learned something new.
“Eldgard is a massive place, Vlad. And we’ve only seen the smallest amount. So, off to the northwest of the mountaintops there is Rowanheath, and we’ve journeyed about halfway today. We’re almost there, and we’re so very close to accomplishing both of our dreams!”
“Is incredible. We can do anything.” I was suddenly filled with a renewed vigor to achieve that which I’d thought impossible.
After I closed my map, we carried on south, beginning a slight turn toward the west.
We walked for another solid hour or two—it was hard to keep track of time—before the path we were walking began to become a solid road. It resembled the dirt roads in the farmlands in Russia, hard packed and rutted with what I assumed were wagon trails.
“Oh, good, we’re finally getting to civilization.” Ina sounded pleased, though I could tell there was some disappointment in her voice. She was leaving everything she had ever known.
As if intended to pull our attention out of our own lives, we heard a shout from afar. My eyes searched the distance, looking for the source of the noise. There was an overturned wagon littered with crossbow bolts and a person underneath it.
“Hey, help! Help me!” A richly attired Wode yelled, dragging himself across the ground with his arms. From this distance, it looked like his legs were broken. His clothes were tattered and bloodstained, and his hair was matted with dirt.
“We should go help,” Ina said.
I hesitated. Something about this felt familiar to me, but distant, like when we set scenes with Almaz-Antev for weapons development and demonstration, almost like the whole situation had been staged.
I shook the suspicion off and ignored it, and we both ran toward the man. On closer inspection, the wagon had a broken wheel, and there were a pair of dead bodies, both wearing armor, scattered about the ground.
“Oh, oh, thank the gods.” The merchant was obviously in pain, his face contorted as he pulled himself along the ground. “They took everything and killed my guards. I don’t know why I’m still alive, but I can’t go back to the merchant guild like this.” He waved a hand at the destroyed wagon. It was obvious what he meant.
“What happen?” I was legitimately curious, but the suspicion was starting to well up again. It all seemed too perfect. I quelled the sensation before stepping aside to let Ina talk.
“What do you need? We can help.” Ina knelt beside the man and offered him one of the healing potions from her belt.
He took a deep drink, draining it in one go.
“Oh, thank you. It was awful. These thieves, they came at us in a hail of crossbow fire. One of them broke the wheel with an axe. My guards didn’t stand a chance. Please, you have to help! They headed south with my goods. Please, I will pay anything I have on me to get them back. They’re worth more than my life.” The man struggled to sit up, his body beginning its process of healing the injuries with the help from the magical draught.
<<<>>>
Quest Alert: Thievery in Broad Daylight
You have stumbled upon a small, destroyed caravan. The merchant who ran it has requested you to find the thieves who stole his cargo and killed his men, recover his goods, and return with them.
Quest Class: Common, Random Event
Quest Difficult: Moderate
Success: Find the thieves and retrieve the cargo.
Failure: Fail to find the cargo, or die during the quest.
Reward: 250 XP; 2 gold pieces
Accept: Yes/No?
<<<>>>
I accepted the quest, nodding at the merchant slowly.
“Is dangerous, Ina. Should be careful.” I cautioned her, laying a hand on her shoulder, but her eyes were already hard and focused.
“Of course it is, but this man needs our help. We need to help him.” Ina turned to me and gave me that hard smile I had known for years, the way her mouth turned up at the edges.
“Yes, help. Very good, let us go.” I could never deny her the desires of her heart
when she gave me that smile, here or on Earth. Regardless of my decision, I intended to keep an eye out for things that didn’t add up, and as it stood, the math was very poor.
For thieves, their trail wasn’t very well covered. It was almost too easy to find the small cave where they were hiding. Ina saw the pair of guards at the front of the cave before I did, and she stopped short. I bumped into her, our gear rattling a bit.
She knelt down into the brush and activated stealth. I struggled and shifted, but managed to make it into stealth just as one of the guards looked our way. He made a motion to the other guard, and they both approached our hiding spot. My heart was thumping like a drum in my chest, but that wasn’t the worst part. That happened when I felt the edge of a blade scrape my neck from behind.
“You idiots, you’re just so gullible.” The “merchant” from earlier was now attired in leathers and had a pair of nasty looking daggers, one of which was held at my throat. “Now, tell your little girlfriend to comply as well, and we won’t kill you outright.”
Black and white not so simple...
WE WERE BOUND IN WHAT looked like a small loot house, a shallow cavern with natural stone walls and various items piled up in a disorganized manner. The thieves must have had this scam running for a while to have acquired this much stuff. None of it looked particularly spectacular, but there were a couple heavy looking bags of what I suspected were hard currency sitting on a table.
The number of thieves in the cavern was small, maybe six total, but the number of captives was much higher. There were, all told, twelve of us. A few of the captives looked an awful lot like peasants, just trying to make their way in the world, while a couple of the others were clearly meant for combat. There was a Risi—I recognized the race’s distinctive features from my time in the Race selection—with muscles on top of muscles. His face, though, showed defeat.
Maybe I can get his help.
“Look, we can’t kill them, it isn’t good for our profits.” One of the thieves was sitting in front of a book that looked like an old-world ledger. His face was streaked with ink or soot, maybe both.
“And why not?” The merchant from earlier, who I had learned was named Balkin, was at odds with the ledger-keeper.
“Because if they end up dead, what do we do? Bury them? Where? Here, in the cave? Do you know how much that would stink in just a few days?” He stood from his table and smacked a hand against it. The loose coins that were gathered rattled a bit, and one fell off the table and rolled toward me. It slowly turned in circles as it stopped, and it landed on its side, faceup.
My eyes shot back to the ledger-keeper, who was visibly sweating. He looked shaky and a little pale; maybe he didn’t like the idea of murder.
“Okay, fine, you win, Lark. But what do we do with them? We’ve only been doing this for two days, and already we have twelve people captured.” Balkin tapped his foot in irritation, expecting some kind of answer immediately.
“I don’t know—we need to relocate. It won’t be long before someone sees what we’re about, and sends the local wardens, or worse, the City Guard.”
“No, we’re too far out for the guard to even be bothered. That’s a solid hour’s walk in full plate. You expect them to come to us? They’re occupied with the Thieves Guild thing.” Balkin raised a hand and spread his fingers, like he was disinterested.
“Oh, the disappearance of the Gentleman, yeah. Well, still, we need to find a new place to do this. We can’t keep it up here. Someone will notice.” Lark was close to talking sense into Balkin’s thick skull. I could see the gears turning in his head.
I used the distraction to loosen some of the fibers on the back of my boots. Hopefully I could make something sturdy enough to pick the locks of the manacles on my wrists. I was well into the process when I felt something metallic hit my hand. It tumbled to the floor and let out a slight clink.
At this point, Balkin and Lark were arguing so loud that most of the other thieves had left, and neither of them were paying attention to the captives. I looked around to see who had basically handed me my freedom, and the Risi gave a quick nod, then shifted his shoulders farther than his manacles should have allowed. He was free!
I shifted my body a little bit, leaning back. My fingers reached the cold of the metal lockpick, and I twirled it about to get it into the right position. All those years of twirling my pens and tools while working paid off in spades.
“Damnit, Lark, these stupid reasons you have aren’t even remotely valid. We have a good thing going here! Why should we break something that is already fixed?” Balkin slammed his fist down on the same table Lark had hit earlier.
More shaking, more coins shifting, more tinking as they fell on the hard stone ground. At the same time, the lockpick I had been working ever so gingerly snapped in the lock.
Well, shit, there went my amazing escape.
But then a thought occurred to me: I was an Engineer. Surely something in my ability tree would be useful in this situation.
<<<>>>
<<<>>>
I DUMPED 3 PROFICIENCY points into my skill tree to unlock Dismantle, which allowed me to break the mechanical pieces of anything I touched, so long as they were simple.
With a thought, I activated it with the manacles as the target. The manacles got hot for a minute, but then I felt the lock inside click. I shifted my hands and caught the manacles so they wouldn’t fall. I leaned up against Ina and used Dismantle again. Her manacles popped as well, and she caught them deftly.
I looked over at the Risi, who started to stand as Lark stood up and shoved Balkin. The Risi used the chaos of the shove to grab an old dagger and lunge at Lark. Lark deftly moved out of the way and kicked the Risi in the shin. The look on Lark’s face was priceless as his kick did next to nothing. The Risi backhanded Lark in the face, knocking him to the floor.
“Get up, get moving. Free the others, cause chaos. I will take care of these...” The Risi looked like he was struggling for the right word. “Idiots, that’s the best I can come up with for them just now. They’re idiots.” He kicked Lark in the chest while he was down, eliciting a long-winded shriek from the poor man.
Balkin was recovering as Ina pulled her blade free and carved a wide gouge into his arm.
“I’ll have all of your heads!” He vowed, then shouted, “The captives are breaking free, do something you useless shits!”
I knew we needed to act fast, otherwise we were going to be overrun. I stepped from prisoner to prisoner, using Dismantle on all of their manacles. A thought occurred to me while I was freeing them. Where the hell did the thieves get all of these manacles? They were pretty high quality.
One of the prisoners was a burly looking man with a salt-and-pepper beard and short, shock-white hair which stood on end. He rose quietly when I freed him and grabbed a poleaxe from the pile of various weaponry. He weighed it in his hands, a brief smile covering his face, as he moved to the front of the group.
“Ina, need plan, will be overrun soon.” I shouted at Ina, who turned just in time to avoid the counter-attack from Balkin. She nodded fiercely and continued to press her advantage.
In the meanwhile, the man with the poleaxe, a Wode, shouted loudly in the small area. I was suddenly feeling very invigorated and had an intense desire to fight. I noticed a small half-green half-red marker in the corner of my vision. Was this a buff and debuff at the same time? It had a countdown that was quickly spiraling down from 60. I didn’t have time to inspect it.
I pulled my crossbow and fired off a round at Balkin, who was expertly fighting two opponents. I missed wide, but it was enough to throw him off balance, giving Ina an opportunity to open another wound, this one in his leg.
“Push for the front!” The Wode shouted and made an impressive jumping attack, jamming the head of his poleaxe at Balkin, who leapt backward. He was an evasive little shit, no doubt about it.
The other prisoners were finding old weapons and armor and equipping themselves. I felt nearly
heart-stopping cold seep into my fingers as my crossbow developed an odd sheet of crystalline ice.
There was another green mark in my vision, another buff. I assumed it had something to do with causing ice damage, but didn’t have time to check. I wasn’t sure who the ability had come from, and it didn’t matter, because immediately thereafter, I was forced down to the ground from an intense scorching heat that was launched over one of my shoulders.
A huge fan of flames poured from the fingers of another of the prisoners, igniting everything. The furniture and various racks immediately burst into flames, and then we were all heading outside quickly. The gigantic Risi had thrown Lark over his shoulder and was carrying the unconscious thief out of the cave, striding as though he weren’t burdened at all.
When we were all outside and clear of the thick, inky smoke that was pouring from the cavern’s mouth, I found that we were surrounded by a very formidable force of men and women of various races, and apparently various classes, all wearing similar attire. The armor was branded with a blue-and-white crested falcon on a field of silver.
“Someone called the cavalry,” Ina said to me, relaxing her stance and lowering her weapons. “That’s the falcon of the local Battle Warden chapter.”
Someone had called the cavalry, and it had come none too soon. Balkin had been brought to his knees, and there was a Dawn Elf man with a large axe standing in front of him. He looked down at Balkin with eyes filled with anger.
“Your thievery ends now, Balkin Hardshadow.”
“You can’t kill me without a fair trial, Veryln. I know my rights. You’re nothing more th—” His voice was cut off as the sound of metal cutting through flesh filled the space. His head rolled off the side of his neck, striking the ground with a wet thump. It took a full two seconds for his body to follow suit and fall over.