"If we don't try, we'll never know."
Shortly after that, we were there. There were always many people at the temple. The Radiant God gave generous bonuses to his adepts, but he did require strict observance of the main principles of the faith. One of them was that his followers must visit the temple and pray to him each and every day. And by doing so the players increased their reputation with Nergal and got buffs to their attributes.
Getting through the crowd, I considered how to approach the mission. Walk a circle around the temple to find a separate entrance to the crypt, or go straight to the high priest and say I was here on a mission from the Chief Councilman? Eve kept back. With her build, it was even harder to get through a big crowd.
"Scyth?" Tissa's voice rang out next to me. Now there's a surprise!
"Hey, Melissa!"
"Look at you in your torn-up rags. How’d that happen?" she asked.
I looked at myself and grew embarrassed. My ripped shirt revealed a heaving chest and protruding ribs. It was hard, but I got myself together: it was just a game.
"Torn-up? Ah, I happened across some ‘defender of the meek and powerless.’ He ripped my shirt. Some guy named Crag..."
"Crag? Ha-ha-ha!" Tissa laughed. "Did that loser raise a stink over some girl's skirt again?"
"Exactly."
"Don't pay it any mind. He's an asshole. There aren't many of them. That's why he’s not in a clan. He always gets thrown out. He's such a crap-head..."
"To the nether with him!" I interrupted her, then it hit me. "Hey, it's actually cool I saw you. Think you could help me out? I have a quest in the temple. There's something in..."
"You? A quest?" Her eyes went wide in astonishment, but Tissa was even more surprised when she saw Eve. "And what is fatty doing here?"
"Come on, don’t call her that. Her name is Eve," I corrected her, hoping she was far enough away not to hear.
"Ah, screw it. What did you want to ask?"
"Chief Councilman Whiteacre said something was going on in the temple crypt. I’m supposed to check it out."
"Pfft... I could have told you that. A pack of undead have taken root! Like, you know, skellies and zombos. The boss is a small but very mean lich. Me and my clan did that mission a long time ago. It isn't hard."
"How do you get in?"
"Go through the back door into the temple, you'll see a ladder going down. You go down it, through a short tunnel then you reach the entrance to the ins... And that's all! What made you wanna get quests all of a sudden? What about this whole 'I'm too cool to play childish games' act?"
"I got bored. There was nothing to do, I decided to check the game out a little more." I tried to keep on my mask of indifference, but I wasn't sure I succeeded.
"Hm... let's say I believe you. Did the cow take the quest too?"
"You're the..." Eve exploded, walking up, but realized she could never call Tissa a cow. "Beanpole!"
"Come on Eve, calm down. I'm not talking to you," Schafer answered. "Alright, I'm in a hurry. I've still got to bless some new adepts. You two, by the way, would you like to accept Nergal as your protector? It gives a bonus to dark magic resists, and damage against undead. Plus, the more faith points Nergal has, the higher your reputation. And that’s just the beginning! Scyth, it will definitely help you in that ins, what do you say?"
"No thanks. I want to read up on all the gods before I make my choice..."
"You still haven't figured it out? Nether, guys, what have you been doing here all year? Polishing that bench?" she asked, rollicking with laughter.
"Very funny!" Eve snorted, but quietly so Tissa wouldn't hear and laugh even more.
"We've got to go," I said. "Thanks for the tip."
"Sure. Good luck with the ins! Actually, wait... Are you level one? How are you going to pass it?"
"I'm helping!" Eve threw out.
"Sure, just... Guys, you're funny! Do you even have a weapon? You'll be chopped into coleslaw before you even touch any mobs! They will do increased damage to you, and you will do the opposite! You won't even be able to hit them! You'd better get a group together, maybe you can find someone... Although it isn't likely. Loot will only drop for people who have the quest. And what kind of loot will it be? Scrap metal and bones? You'd be better off paying a power-leveler! For a few gold, you can find a high..."
"So you can't help?" I asked, finding some boldness, which I immediately regretted.
"Me? Definitely not. Sorry, Scyth. You're a nice guy..." Tissa drew out her last word, then interrupted herself: "... if a bit strange, but Crawler won't understand. Especially after everything you said today. See you in school!"
She left, heading to the main entrance but then turned around and winked. For a second, I was enshrouded in light. Tissa had cast a +5-strength buff on me. Unfortunately, me only.
I heard sniffling behind me. After enough time with Eve, I was used to that.
"A strange, but nice guy? What was that about?"
"I have no idea. Well, are you coming?" I turned and looked skeptically at my combat buddy. "Those aren't rabbits, it's gonna hurt!"
"I think I'll manage," she answered and looked away. "Too bad you can't just break a branch in this game and fight with that..."
Yes it was unrealistic, but if an item was not classified by the game as a weapon, the damage it did was generally equal to zero. What a mechanic!
Chapter Seven. When You're not Prepared
WE PUSHED THROUGH a crowd of people listening to the senior priest giving one-day buffs along the way. Then we got out in the open and breathed more freely. The smell of one hundred and fifty unwashed bodies was faithfully recreated in the game.
We walked along the side of the temple down a cobblestone street. The building was in excellent condition: ideally clean, undamaged with no dirt or anything else a normal city building might have. Even the city council building was scratched up. It was as if the temple wasn't even made of stone but cast marble if such a thing were possible.
In the twilight it was especially easy to see the faint glow of the walls. And it was not an earthly light. When I raised a hand to it, my hand stayed dark. The divine glow gave no warmth, no illumination, it had just one function: to announce the presence of the god.
We finally found the back door near the far end of the temple wall. Following Tissa's instructions, we reached the entrance to the ins in just a few minutes. We would have made it faster, but Eve tripped on a big cobblestone and nearly died. What it was doing in this tunnel we had no idea. Then I turned to check a side passage, which led to a dead end, just wasting time. It was always that way in this game. Any hole, passage or abandoned cave, most likely was simply generated by a heartless artificial intelligence. There were usually no hidden objects or treasure chests, or even decaying bodies with intriguing notes to kick off a quest chain.
Back in the tunnel, we reached the flickering pall of the quest instance Crypt of the Temple of Nergal the Radiant, and tried to enter. Eve even went first.
"I can't!" she said. "It says: 'you have not been assigned a quest associated with this location, and are not in a group with someone who is.'"
I hurriedly added her to my group, took a deep breath and dove into the instance. I took a look at the first room. It was dimly lit by a couple smoldering torches on the walls. There were bits of a spiderweb in the corner, but I didn't see its eight-legged maker, nor any other aggressive creatures. Eve appeared at the entrance soon after.
"Don't be afraid, no one is going to attack now, it's empty," I said.
Eve squinted, looking deep into the crypt. I then took out my club and suggested a plan:
"Just wait here, I'll scope things out. If I die, you leave."
Eve nodded in agreement and stayed at the door. The first and most important rule of going through instances was not to die. If the whole group died, you had to do everything over from the beginning. But if Eve didn't die and left the crypt, I’d also have to start over again, I just... I j
ust didn't want her to get hurt. What was more, she was wearing a light dress that didn't even reach her knee, and was totally unarmed.
I left her and looked into the corner. There was a narrow dark corridor, and I could see a vaguely moving silhouette at the other end. If I listened closely, I could hear a scraping sound. I stared a bit and saw what it was:
Raised skeleton warrior, level 5
The smell of rotting flesh struck my nostrils, and I could barely keep myself from vomiting. I held my breath, grabbed the club in both hands and spent a few seconds getting set up.
You can't postpone death with a deep breath – that old saying was extremely relevant now given the horrid smell of rot. I took a decisive step into the next room with my club at the ready and swung it, also moving towards it. The languor of the undead creature played into my hand. The skeleton didn't even have time to turn around and took a blow to the back of the head. The bear bone slammed into its human bone. I heard its skull crack. I saw some not-fully-decayed bits of flesh fly.
You have critically damaged Raised Skeleton Warrior: 4!
Health points: 35/39.
Even if he could wince, he wouldn't have. Turning unflappably, his short rusty sword shot up and landed a blow I just couldn't dodge. In the end, he wasn’t as slow as he looked. This mob was an energetic runner.
Raised Skeleton Warrior has damaged you: 7.
Health points: 16/23.
The flash of sharp pain in my chest quickly passed, but I was not exactly burning with desire to experience it again. The exchange of blows after that was clearly not going to end in my favor, and I instinctively took a step back. But when the skeleton took a step toward me, I caught him moving the wrong way and swung.
Miss!
And so, trading blanks, we walked all the way to the beginning of the ins. The battle was silent. My enemy didn't make any sounds, except the cracking of its bones. In silence and with the perseverance and unflappability of a robot vacuum cleaner, it landed a scripted chain of blows: straight at my chest, from left to right, from right to left, straight on...
I started to get scared. It was depressing to see it instantly change tactics to suit me and my attempts to dodge.
Raised Skeleton Warrior has damaged you: 8.
Health points: 8/23.
I had enough health left for one more hit. And if I landed it, this undead creature’s life would go down by just three health points.
The skeleton thrust forward, Eve squealed behind me and I got distracted, taking a fatal blow. The skeleton's sword cut through my neck, and this time a dull wave of icy cold burned through my whole body.
After dying, I didn't head straight for respawn at the graveyard, using the allowed ten seconds to sit in my dead body and see whether Eve pulled it off. At least I had some luck. My body was facing her.
"Just run!" I thought, but I couldn't even write her in the group chat. Dead people can't talk, and I was dead.
But she didn't run! Squeezing out a cry of rage, Eve closed her eyes and flew at the mob like a predatory chicken. Her little fists thrashed the evil skeleton, but even without logs it was obvious she wasn't hitting.
And the skeleton didn't miss once. He was so much higher level that every blow landed, and the damage was increased. Eve gave one last shout of terror and fell dead.
Just then, my respawn timer counted down its final second and the dialogue window disappeared. I was back to life. What the heck?! I didn't come back in the graveyard! I was right back in the instance!
The undead fighter, already on its way back to the patrol zone, sensed a new enemy and immediately turned around. What was happening?
Raised Skeleton Warrior has damaged you: 6.
Health points: 0/23.
You are dead.
Back in a corpse. The respawn timer started counting down again. I pressed the respawn button.
And again found myself in the same room. The skeleton had walked away again, and looked back at me a bit puzzled and didn't attack right away, just took an unconfident step.
I looked at my life bar: 1/23. Come on, what the crap?
"Where are you?" Eve wrote in the group chat. Hmm, where was I...? I had a fleeting thought Shakespeare. “Wherefore art thou Scyth?” But I was never strong in poetry, especially with a living corpse coming after me.
The skeleton was already next to me, and I was infuriated. I took a step to the right, but then immediately shifted my weight left and jumped past so I could grab the club I dropped after my first death. The system did not agree with my estimate of my own agility, so I was only half able to execute my plan.
A short jab of the skeleton’s sword caught me midjump. Too slow!
Raised Skeleton Warrior has critically damaged you: 9!
Health points: 0/23.
You are dead.
This time I was in no rush to resurrect. I figured let the bastard get some distance, then I'd just grab my club and ditch this stupid ins. Eve was still bombarding the chat, and one of her messages drew my attention: "I can't enter the ins! It says you’re in battle!" Well, that made sense. As long as at least one group member was in the instance, the others couldn't get out after respawn. Otherwise any boss could go down in flames by a group coming back to fight multiple times after dying.
The skeleton was in no rush to leave. It was standing next to my body and slowly turning its skull like a tank tower, looking suspiciously all around. And all that in dead silence.
The timer ran out and the show “One on One with a Stinking Corpse” picked back up with its guest Alex aka Scyth aka the most pathetic loser... Nether it hurt! The rusty sword with a chipped blade – I got a very good look! – went right between my eyes as I tried to get my club up off the floor.
Raised Skeleton Warrior has damaged you: 7.
Health points: 0/23.
You are dead.
Freaking a! Why had I reached for my weapon when I was planning to get out of there. Hell knows, but then why had my desire to leave been replaced with white hot rage? Something in me was stubbornly saying: that thing hurt me too many times. It must be punished!
Only then did I notice that the mob's health was stuck at 32/39. I guess this little skeleton couldn't last forever! I guess if I had respawned at the cemetery, the instance would have rolled back, but I was still here, though I was a ghost most of the time.
I respawned again and mentally I was swinging. As soon as I was in my body again standing next to the mob, I punched the bony bastard in the forehead.
Miss!
I managed to get in two more swings before dying again. And the last time I hits!
You have damaged Raised Skeleton Warrior: 1.
Health points: 31/39.
Raised Skeleton Warrior has damaged you: 8.
Health points: 0/23.
You are dead.
And although I was lying on the ground, just a corpse, and my enemy was grinning in self-satisfaction and pulling the rusty sword from my chest, inside I was smiling. Until level ten, dying didn't take any experience. And I just had to land thirty-one more accurate blows to crush this bony shitheap into dust! Then I could get to the bottom of whatever bug was making this happen to me…
After thirty deaths I finally lost count. By then, I had the skeleton's life down to 19/39. After one respawn I managed to grab the club. It happened when an especially forceful attack sent me back and I died a few steps away. It allowed me to land just one blow with the club, but what a blow it was!
You have critically damaged Raised Skeleton Warrior: 5!
Health points: 14/39.
Eve had been writing for a while already, but I hadn't been able to answer: the dead can’t talk, and these brief seconds of life were not enough to type an answer. In that regard, the corporation was also conservative. If you wanted to use your voice long distance, you could buy a signal amulet or a mirror of far sight. Obviously, Eve and I had neither...
They say people can get used to anything, but I just couldn�
��t get used to being stuck through with a sword every ten to twelve seconds. I instinctively winced or covered my eyes with a hand every time I came back, hopped, crouched, and dodged. Basically I was doing everything in my power not to die right away and get off a hit.
And expecting a flare of pain every time, I could literally feel my heartbeat speeding up in my chest IRL. If you think pain reduced many times is bearable, try poking yourself with a needle. First in the eye, then the side, then the chest, try it on your stomach or neck, too. And keep doing it every ten seconds. How quickly would you give up? I was just about at my limit.
Class-A Threat (Disgardium Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 6