The Monolith

by Stephen Roark

  -2, -2

  “Shit!” I cried out, slapping at the bones with the flat side of my axe. The fingers came apart like dry sticks and I staggered back, leaping over another of the corpses as it reached out at me.

  The Risen—Level 6

  Sick water splashed down the back of my neck and I spun around as one of the men, carrying his own left arm in his right hand, swung down at me.

  My Blunderbuss roared and the riposte sounded beautifully.

  Doooooom!

  I followed up immediately with a heavy blow that almost took the thing’s head off.

  175

  The Risen’s skull toppled sideways, but hung desperately to the rest of its body with a sliver of flesh attached at the shoulder. It swung out at me with a clatter of bone, but I quickly Shadowstepped behind it and followed up with another massive.

  167

  As I raised my blade for a follow up attack, I understood why Rathborne had directed me here; there were tons of the things, but they were slow, and with Shadowstep and a 20% bonus to my Rally ability, I’d carve them up like Swiss cheese.

  Three more blows beat against the animated corpse before it had a chance to turn around and face me.

  77—79—75

  It swung out with its arm as I felt more hands clutching at my feet. Kicking off a skull beneath me, I leapt to the side and dodge the Risen’s attack before slashing out with a broad strike that cleaved off one of its legs. My Rally bar bloomed and I brought my axe down with a final blow to finish him off.

  Quintessence swirled around me and I heard the satisfying sound of a level-up that filled me with a renewed sense of purpose, invigorating me as I spun and lashed out in every direction at the cursed and wretched carcasses clawing their way toward me. Blow after blow landed with might.

  81—83—76—81—77

  Another went down with a scream, then another and another as my Rally bar glowed strong and defiant against the encroaching disease of the swamp. I was feeling good.

  The Swamp of Sacrifices, I thought as the Quintessence pools whirled around my body as I stepped through the enemies like a tornado of destruction. Were these wretched cadavers the result of those sacrifices—somehow related to the plague that had swept through the Weeping Hills? The lore and history of the area swam through my mind as I cleaved and crushed through the horde of bodies.

  My Blunderbuss cried out again as I spat slugs into my nearest foe, tearing the flesh from his face to expose the gleaming bone beneath.

  Dooooooommm!

  Barrel smoking, I raised my axe in an oblique, destructive strike that took the thing’s head off in a massive attack that all but killed it.

  456

  Holy shit! I thought as two more swings took it down. That was huge!

  It definitely mattered where you aimed your blows in Blood Seekers, and these things apparently were weak in the neck, so I focused my attacks there after slashing off a couple of limbs.

  The Quintessence was swirling around me in thick waves like a school of blue fireflies as I cut down the Risen, my Rally bar in full glory doling out damage to everything in my path. I cried out with furious joy as a final blow slashed one of them in two, sending his top half splashing down into the filth below.

  78—81—83—76

  Another riposte sounded—I smelled gunpowder as I hacked down a second foe before following up with a devastating massive attack to finish off the other. Body parts flew through the air, bones cracked and old rotten flesh tore to pieces.

  I’m unstoppable…I thought as I heard the sound signaling my level-up to level 6. You were right, Rathborne! I’m doing a no-hit run!

  I cleaved a skull in half, riposted another Risen, then ducked low and took out the legs of another just before it attacked. Of the original horde, only two remained. I scored a massive on the one I’d blasted with my firearm—

  280!

  Then heaved off each of his arms before finishing him with a downward stroke. Anticipating the last Risen’s attack, I leapt to the side and swung, taking off his right leg below the knee. As he fell, I brought my blade down on his neck and finished him off, but before he died, he managed to ball those sickly fingers of his into a fist and strike me on the ankle.

  -27

  My Rally bar vanished.

  “Shit!” I laughed as he vanished into a swirl of Quintessence. “So close!”

  Of course, it didn’t matter if I’d managed to slay them all without taking a single hit. I’d strolled into an unknown territory and conquered like a gladiator. I opened my character sheet and practically slobbered all over myself as I stared at the enormous pool of unassigned Quintessence. But then, something else caught my eye. Just beneath my name was something that hadn’t been there before.

  Intuition—1

  “Intuition?” I muttered, hovering my fingers over the words.

  Intuition, perhaps one of the most valuable talents, allows the Seeker to learn new abilities to strengthen themselves along their journey.

  “Okay. One every five levels maybe?”

  I felt myself starting to get excited as I noticed a new tab had appeared on my character sheet.

  Talents

  “Yes, yes, yes, yes!” I cried out, tapping the word with two fingers. A brand new window appeared, with a list of new abilities that practically had me salivating.

  Talents

  Shadowstep: 7 second cooldown—can decrease with high Skill. Allows you to morph into a cloud of shadows and mist, passing through any enemies for 3 yards.

  Slaughter: 10 second cooldown. Devastating blow when enemy’s health is low.

  Disembowel: 10 second cooldown. Deal 150% damage and apply Bleeding Debuff: 15% weapon DPS for 5 seconds.

  Quickening: 15 second cooldown. Increase attack speed by 50% for 5 seconds.

  Crippling Blow: 10 second cooldown. 150% weapon damage. Requires a Strength weapon. Sever: 5 second cooldown. Deal 125% weapon damage to enemy.

  Blunted Strike: 10 second cooldown. Stun enemy for 2 seconds.

  Shatter: 15 second cooldown. AoE attack. 3-yard radius. Deal 125% weapon damage and stun for 2 seconds.

  Tendon Cut: 10 second cooldown. Deals 110% weapon damage and slow enemy by 80% for 3 seconds.

  Colossal Roar: AoE knockback. No damage. 3-yard range.

  Each talent glowed slightly as I hovered my fingers over it, indicating it was able to be learned. I couldn’t believe there was no obvious progression or restriction among them. Most MMOs would limit what you could learn, saving the most powerful and sought after skills until the higher levels. I stared at the long list, feeling slightly overwhelmed by choice.

  “Shadowstep,” I chuckled. “Nope!”

  I went down the line.

  Slaughter seemed interesting, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a finishing move this early on. I wanted something unique.

  Quickening was actually pretty attractive, as it increased my speed, and combining that with Shadowstep and my 20% rally buff would be pretty powerful. But again, it was just a glorified stat buff at the end of the day. Crippling Blow was just like Disembowel, but without the cool bleeding debuff, and Sever was only 25% less damage with a 5 second less cooldown.

  Not bad, not bad, I thought as I kept reading.

  “Blunted Strike,” I mused.

  Blunted Strike: 10 second cooldown. Stun enemy for 2 seconds.

  Crowd control was always powerful in games, and annoying as Hell in PvP, and was definitely something different and would give me something unique in my play style. I hadn’t had too many issues with other players, except that Dorrin dickhead, but I could see it coming in handy when that kind of trouble eventually surfaced. Also, I couldn’t help but think that riposte—massive—Blunted Strike could be a pretty devastating combo, giving me about four seconds of free damage on any enemy. I almost picked it up right then and there, but kept reading.

  Shatter was an AoE attack, which was also pretty attractive, especially in the swamp if I e
ver was almost overrun by Risen. Tendon Cut was another crowd control move with an 80% slow on it that would be absolutely devastating in PvP, but I couldn’t see it being that useful against mobs—at least not yet. And Colossal Roar was simply an AoE knockback that was no doubt useful, but just not my style. I hovered over Blunted Strike and pressed with both fingers.

  The skill flashed golden and I felt my eyelids flicker as something entered my skull. The sensation was impossible to explain, but it literally felt as though I’d just learned something—like, I knew how to use the ability now as though it was something I’d known all my life, like how to ride a bike or throw a ball or take off my shoes. There was no obvious icon or button to select or interface within the game indicating how I should use the new talent, and I was instantly taken back to the first time I’d Shadowstepped back at Rathborne’s hut.

  Feel it! he’d told me. Feel it!

  “Oh, yeah.” I grinned, gripping my axe tightly as I stared out across the loathsome swamp. “I feel it.”

  27

  Sick, Sick, Sick!

  “I feel less of a man as I sit down today with my quill and parchment…I made my way to the Swamp and turned back. What horrors lay beneath the water! Grotesque creatures that turned my legs to wet noodles. It will take a braver man than I to explore that despicable bog!”

  —from the private journals of J.P. Cornish

  “You really should up your toughness, dude,” I told myself as I stared at the pool of Quintessence I’d yet to spend, hearing Alastor’s voice in my head.

  Wonderful, tasty Quintessence!

  “You’re right about that, my weird friend.”

  My Toughness was still 5, where it had begun, but the Risen hadn’t even touched me. If I was going to keep grinding the Swamp of Sacrifices, I didn’t see any reason to spend anything there—or my Vitality for that matter. So, maybe brashly, I dumped everything I had into Strength and Viletaint.

  Rand—Level 6

  Vitality: 14 HP = 352

  Toughness: 5

  Strength: 22

  Skill: 5

  Viletaint: 14

  Intellect: 5

  Hell yeah, I thought with pride, ready to carve up the entire zone with my axe. Looking down, I realized I’d been so pumped to learn my new talent and spend my Quintessence, that I hadn’t even bothered to loot any of my kills.

  I added almost a complete stack of Soothing Syrup to my inventory, and also three Scourge Steel bits. The Smith’s words rang clear in my mind.

  Bring me a chunk of Scourge Steel. And I’ll get that axe of yours singing a sweet tune!

  Scourge Steel Bit—A tiny piece of Scourge Steel. Not much use on its own.

  “Damn,” I muttered, dropping the pieces into my inventory. My best guess was it was like other RPGs, where the smaller pieces would add up to a bigger piece that you could then use to upgrade your weapon. The only question was: how many did I need?

  Wilhelm would be able to tell me, of course, but I wasn’t in any rush to head back to the Weeping Hills—not while more Risen were alive. I didn’t know how far away Ebonmire really was, but I figured I had a bit more time before I had to head back to meet Altarus and Fujiko. Besides, I still had to test out my new talent.

  I felt like a prize fighter after a knockout and strode forward through the thick, pungent swamp water, breathing through my mouth to save myself from the stench, searching for new prey. But to my surprise, the swamp was quiet. Had I somehow managed to kill every Risen in the area? That didn’t seem possible, even if the enormous amount I’d hacked down had given me a level and a half of experience.

  I stomped heavily through the puddles, thinking maybe that would drive out any Risen still clustered beneath the ground from their hiding spots, but none came.

  “Come out, come out!” I shouted. In the swamp, my voice did not echo. I pictured the vibrations rippling through the air, only to be stopped by the thick sheets of hanging moss, cushions that swallowed up the sound the way the waterlogged earth sucked up the corpses of the fetid creatures that had tried so hard to kill me.

  Again—nothing.

  I was a little annoyed as I continued on. Here I was with a brand new skill and some beefed up stats and there was nothing to kill! I made as much noise as I could as I walked, splashing down heavily in every pool of rank sludge, slashing away at any branch of vine that got in my way, but still—nothing came.

  “What the Hell, Rathborne?” I muttered, kicking a root that was so rotten it exploded against the tip of my boot. “What’s the respawn rate in this place? Two years?”

  The swamp seemed to go on forever, the silvery blue moonlight cutting spotted beams through the canopy like a flashlight shone through a cheese grater, and I was just getting ready to turn back or recall, when something hit my leg.

  It felt like a set of teeth clamped around my ankle, and I looked down to see almost just that: a thick, gelatinous mass the color of snot, translucent with rows of spiked teeth concealed within, suckling at my flesh like a baby might suckle from its mother. Only this abominable monstrosity’s objective was my blood.

  -11, -12, -17

  The thing rippled and bounced like gelatin as I swatted it with my axe, but it fell off all the same. I looked around to see where it had come from, and my eyes landed on something so strange it took me a minute to process, but I quickly recognized it as the thing I’d seen moving in the distance when I first arrived at the swamp.

  It could only be described as a sickening mutation, a cross between a monstrous snail and a starving man. The shell was at least four feet tall and looked like lines of cold grey-blue stone that had been folded and wrapped like a cinnamon bun. A tough line of crusted mire clung to the side that touched the ground, and hanging from the fleshy mouth-like opening at its front of the shell was the pale torso of a tortured man.

  Not a fleck of color decorated his eyes. The balls of tissue embedded in his oblong skull were like glass globes filled with old milk, or balls of cheese that had gone off weeks ago. His sinewy arms were obscenely long and his hands, which clawed at the ground as he pulled itself towards me on whatever he could find, held only four fingers, each of which was precariously thin and seemed to have more than three knuckles. Just the sight of it made my stomach turn.

  Toxic Snail—Level 7

  Thankfully, the disgusting thing moved slowly, but as I stared at it, it raised up its head, pouted its lips in an almost comical fashion, and spewed in my direction.

  Another glob of wicked snot wobbled through the thick air and struck my thigh.

  “Gah!” I cried out, slicing it in half with my axe before it had a chance to get its knitting needle teeth into me. My feet propelled me back as I leapt behind a tree. I could hear the vile thing crawling its way towards me, but thankfully it was relatively slow, which gave me time to develop a strategy—or so I thought.

  Something squealed behind me and two sets of teeth embedded themselves in the backsides of my ankles, sending shards of pain streaking up my legs.

  -29, -31

  I spun and struck out at two enormous dog-sized rats snapping jagged yellow teeth at me. My blade hit one of them in the skull, cleaving off a chunk of flesh that splashed heavily into the water.

  77

  The thing screeched angrily and hurled its quaking body towards me, sinking its two thick teeth into my thigh.

  -38

  I yelped and slapped it away with the butt of my Blunderbuss, not dealing any real damage, but getting the damn thing off me. It was then I noticed a threatening red bar had appeared in the corner of my vision where the debuffs normally appeared, and was about a quarter of the way full.

  What’s going to happen when that fills up?! I thought, raising my gun and letting loose as the second rat attacked. The slugs plastered his face, but my timing was off and I missed the riposte. Thankfully, the shot was enough to send the pesky creature spinning away from me, his jaws twisting in a way that was all wrong.

  His comp
anion bit down on my boot and I watched as the mysterious debuff bar bulged as though it were being pumped with bile injected from the thing’s repulsive mouth. I brought my axe down hard and cleaved off its left hind leg with a brutal blow.

  84

  The thing squealed, but instead of retreating, kicked off the ground with its good leg, aiming itself straight for my guts. I reacted like a veteran gunslinger, raised my trusted Blunderbuss and squeezed the trigger. The bell-shaped muzzle cried out and peppered the creature with slugs—this time my timing was perfect.

  The riposte sounded, and the rat was thrown back. It landed on its back with its tender, vulnerable belly exposed, but before I could raise my axe to strike, I felt another one of the snailman’s balls of sputum slap against my side. I felt the bite of the teeth and saw another debuff appear.

  Toxic Swamp Sickness—12 Damage Per Second for 8 seconds.

  “Shit!” I howled as the rat snarled and clawed at my leg, propelling itself up to my neck and clamping down hard.

  -41

  I tried to swat it away, but the thing held firm and squeezed again, dealing more damage.

  -27

  In the corner of my vision, I saw the Toxic Snail emerge from around the tree, its skeletal hands clutching a vine that it used to pull itself in my direction.

  Seconds, I thought. I only have seconds!

  The mystery debuff bar was past halfway. I didn’t know what was going to happen when it filled, but it definitely wasn’t going to be good. I swung wildly with my axe, slashing the tail of the rat intent on severing my head from my neck, causing it to squeal and drop off like a dead branch.

  The other beast was recovering from the stun that had belted him down with my perfectly timed riposte, and I took that second I had while it scrambled to its feet to pop a Soothing Syrup. The sweet liquid was like a shot of strength as my health slid back to full, but the Swamp Sickness was still ticking away.