Brightblade
Page 34
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Common
Yes
44/100
N/A
Cloak
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
A simple red cloak, worn and singed, with a house sigil in tatters upon it. It still appears useful, however.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Common
No
27/100
N/A
Greaves of Swift Movement
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
These hardened leather greaves have Iron plates attached to the outside and are enchanted with a simple speed enhancing inscription. They will increase the wearer’s speed by 5%. Armor 15
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
Yes
37/100
N/A
Bracers of Defense
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
There metal bracers are attached to a hardened leather padding by an apprentice of leatherworking, giving +5 to the standard defense of +7 for this item. Armor 12
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
No
52/100
N/A
Winged Helm
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This helmet has ornamental wings that extend from the sides, but is badly damaged and corroded.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Common
No
7/100
N/A
I cleaned the previous owner out as best I could and pulled the ‘Greaves of Swift Movement’ on over my jeans. They were a bit tight and stiff, but they were still an upgrade, as was the Hunter’s Cuirass, which I replaced my original one with. The bracers were an upgrade, but the hidden daggers in mine were still an awesome addition, so I stuck with the original ones. The helm was trash, as was the cloak, so I piled them up with the corpse of the mage in the corner of the room, adding the contents of the adventurer’s purse to my own. That left me a total of six gold, three silver and twenty-three copper pieces, as well as two garnets of average quality richer.
I felt a lot better, now that I was more heavily armored, and took the time to drink and rest before getting my gear together for hopefully the last time that day. I stuck the adventurer’s skull back onto its corpse, then used my ‘Raise Weak Skeleton’ on it, and a new ‘Bob’ joined Oracle and me. I returned the greatsword to it and told it to stand at the door. ready to fight. I settled down with Oracle for a moment to recover my mana.
“I didn’t say it before, but thank you,” I said. She turned from examining my minion and quirked an eyebrow at me with a quizzical smile.
“What for?” she asked.
“For saving my life, for distracting the skeletons, or healing me; all of it. I… I’m not good with people, but I need you, and this fight really made that obvious, so thank you.” I said, embarrassed that I hadn’t thanked her right away.
“It’s okay, Jax. We’re bonded now, so we’re a team!” She grinned at me happily, her tiny smile lighting up the room as she pirouetted round in midair. “Now, come on, we’ve got bad guys to fight, wisps to reawaken, and the whole world to explore!”
I grinned back at her, and as soon as my mana was full, I took up position behind Bob, commanding the door to open. As soon as it dissolved, he was off, piling into the few undead waiting near the door. He drove them back by sheer impetus, lashing out with his sword and smashing two into bone piles in quick succession. As he worked, I hit one in the skull with a Firebolt, blasting it apart and causing the corpse to collapse as the controlling DarkSpore was destroyed. Since I had a few seconds of space, I quickly used my ‘Identify’ spell on one of the nearest skeletons.
DarkSpore Possessed Decrepit Skeleton:
This creature was once a noble warrior of the Great Tower, until its corpse was discovered by the DarkSpore now inhabiting it. It has been turned into an undead slave to the SporeMother that puppets it.
Level: 4
HP: 50
Mana: 0
While the description told me little, it did explain why these were dying so easily as I saw Bob smash through another one. I quickly blasted it in the head with Firebolt, watching its skull explode with a satisfying scream, and then headed past the majority of the fight toward the nearest window. I heard one closing in behind me as I fumbled with the latch, but between my armor and my experience with these low-level undead, I knew I was better off getting the window open.
I finally got the latch to snap off in my hand. That was not the way I had wanted to open it, but it was good enough. The light streaming in around me caused a scream and clatter from behind. As I whirled around, I saw one of the undead, a short sword in hand, reeling back from the light with a hand raised to its skull in defense.
Never one to pass up an opportunity, I swung my naginata hard, lashing through the legs and sending the walking corpse cartwheeling to the ground. I quickly stabbed it with the blade and used that to drag it into the light. Another tiny skull appeared in my vision as it died. Continuing on, I circled the room, opening three more windows, before coming back around to give my minion some help.
With the undead mostly fixated on Bob, I got close quickly, but they were only minutes away from taking him down. A spear was stuck through his chest, his left arm was missing from the elbow down, and his jaw was gone entirely, courtesy of a mace strike. I concentrated on taking as many out as possible, with a strike aimed to attempt to behead as many as possible at once. I severed two heads before my blade got stuck in a shoulder joint of the third. As I dragged the lucky recipient around, trying to free my sword, I raised my foot, planted it on its hip, and kicked as hard as I could. The blow sent the skeleton reeling away into the sunlight and its doom. I quickly scanned the space to ensure I wasn’t getting snuck up on again. To my surprise, I found myself on the far side of a group of them.
They stood in a small cluster, trying to avoid the light and finding themselves unable to close on me without walking out into the deadly patches of sunlight. I took the time to catch my breath and investigated the room. Between the sunlight and the walls, the remaining undead were effectively hemmed in now on three sides. The only place they had left to retreat to…. was my sanctuary, dammit!
I started cursing myself as I began to rush around them, heading for the Hall again. I had to kill them all without giving them time to retreat. If the SporeMother could change their orders, she might send them into the room, and then I’d be well and truly screwed.
I cast Firebolt, taking another head off, but realizing that the majority were still intent on dragging my minion down, I took the time to retreat inside again and let my mana start to recharge.
Watching the clouds of DarkSpore as they were released from their current vessels, I realized I didn’t have a great deal of time after all. They sparked and screamed as they frantically tried to possess another body, but the current inhabitants fought back.
As I watched they began joining together again, and melting into my minion, causing it to jerk and shake. Just in time, I realized what was happening, and ordered it to grab the nearest undead and run into a large patch of overlapping sunlight created by two nearby windows.
It turned out to be more of a stagger and collapse than a run, but it worked better than I expected, as a second undead latched onto it as it pushed past. My minion caught fire, writhing and screeching as the invading DarkSpore died, taking the other two decrepit undead and their DarkSpore with it.
As all three burned and fell apart, I turned back to the fight. There were only two left no
w, and I liked my odds. As the nearest closed on me, it brought up its sword and thrust one-handed at my stomach. The second was trailing a few meters behind it, wielding a mace again. I quickly deflected the sword swing with the tip of my naginata, sweeping it around after the parry to claim the creature’s head. Before the final skeleton could bring its mace to bear, I brought my weapon back up over my shoulder to unleash a devastating blow that smashed it apart from shoulder to groin .
Before the DarkSpore could escape, I quickly kicked, dragged, and pushed the skulls and the rest of the corpses into the patches of sunlight. I was rewarded by new skull icons flaring in recognition of the joint deaths of the hosts and parasites.
I stood there for several minutes, catching my breath and surveying the devastation of the hall. Piles of bones were scattered everywhere near the light, while broken windows and smoldering shutters told the tale of my desperation to light the room. I’d escaped nearly uninjured this time; my mana bar was low but refilling, and the worst damage I had taken was scratches and a few aches from swinging too hard.
I decided that tanking was definitely a job best left to others, and wherever possible, I was going to have a minion to do it. While I could hum the tune, to hell with trying to sing it after all. I’d always wanted to be some kind of ranger/rogue/mage mix. Getting to be all stealthy, and stabby-stabby, and great in the woods, then kicking ass with some spells sounded better to me than slogging through a battle on the front lines.
Looking through the logs, I discovered that I’d managed to rack up a serious amount of experience from that latest battle, as well as reaching my next level.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Possessed Decrepit Guardian. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have…
Congratulations! You have reached Level 5. You have five points to invest in your stats. You are now at 125/6500 Exp toward Level 6. You have 1 point to invest in your Meridians.
Chapter Sixteen
I’d forgotten about the meridians. I had found the vision boost thingy useful so far, so I brought up the list of options.
PRIMARY
Brain: 1/10 Spell Cost Reduction: -5% (Primary Bonus: 1 spell slot per point)
Head: Primary Node: Additional points invested will reduce mana cost by 5%.
SECONDARY
Eyes: 1/10 Vision Improvement (Secondary Bonus: x10% chance to notice important visual details)
Eyes: Important details will glow to your vision. This will level with the relevant skill.
Ears: 0/10 Hearing Improvement
Ears: Important sounds will become clearer with concentration. High levels will aid in translation.
Mouth: 0/10 Vocal Improvement
Mouth: Your voice will become 10% more likely to have a desired effect on a target, soothing, seducing, persuading as required.
Nose: 0/10 Tracking and Detection Improvement
Nose: Scents will be stronger, aiding in tracking.
Heart: 0/10 Health Increase
Heart: You will gain an additional ten points of health for each point invested in your Constitution.
Lungs: 0/10 Stamina Increase
Lungs: You will gain an additional ten points of Stamina for each point invested in your Endurance.
Stomach: 0/10 Sustenance Improvement
Stomach: You will gain the abilities to resist poisons by 5% and to gain sustenance from more sources.
Legs: 0/10 Speed Increase
Legs: You will gain a boost of 10% to your speed, as well as better stability over various terrain.
Arms: 0/10 Strength Increase
Arms: You will receive a boost of 25% to your carrying capacity and your damage output with melee weapons.
Hands: 0/10 Dexterity Increase
Hands: You will develop crafting abilities at a 10% increased rate, along with a greater chance to succeed in crafting complicated items.
It was going to be more difficult to decide than it had been last time, as I needed all of them. Heart would literally double my health; each point I earned or invested there in the future would be worth twenty points, rather than the usual ten. If the ‘Head’ option had provided that increase with mana, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat. Just comparing the differences if I invested all my points in one area was insane. I loved crafting; investing enough points into my hands would level my skills at a crazy rate, as well as almost guaranteeing success in making complicated items. I could make a damn fortune. Legs would make me into a speed machine. As far as my voice, having the ability to convince people of practically anything? I could be a Jedi, go all ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’ and shit. Plus, there were bound to be some ladies around soon… Nope! Back on track!
I thought about my options for a while, but eventually decided to invest my points in my Heart. I wanted to use them in so many other places, but if I didn’t live long enough to use them, then there was no point. Another five levels, and I would let myself pick something more fun.
I had five points to invest in my stats as well, and I needed to get the most out of each point. While I was tempted to add all five points into my Constitution, giving me another hundred HP… I’d just doubled my HP with the meridian point, so I moved on. Agility was a tempting one; it was one of the skills that leveled as I worked out, but gains were slower than my Strength and Endurance, and it’d make me a lot faster… I decided to come back to that. Charisma, I bypassed without a second thought, but I considered Dexterity for a while. Five more points there would make me a better fighter, as well as make it easier to cast spells, with all the snaky finger movements. Intelligence was always a good choice, even if I couldn’t add anymore spells for a while, since all five points would give me an extra fifty mana to play with. Wisdom would take me from two points a minute to two point five, which would make an increase of thirty mana regenerated an hour. It didn’t sound like much, when I could get fifty mana from my Intelligence for the same points, but in the long run, it would pay off more. Luck… well, luck was just that. An increase of five points there would make me a lot luckier than I was, but I’d never know if it was down to skill or luck if something happened, and I couldn’t rely on it. Perception was a weird one as well, since five points would give me a fifty percent increase in ranged damage, as well as a five percent increase in spotting hidden items. With the ten percent chance I got from eyes as my secondary meridian, that added up to a respectable eighteen percent chance, which was nearly a one in five chance of spotting things. Added to all of this were the progressions to the next levels I was making, simply by surviving. I was so close to levelling Dexterity and Agility naturally, I could practically taste it.
I went back and forth for at least an hour, sitting in the midst of the devastation I’d wrought on my enemies, before finally remembering I had a ‘damage log.’ I pulled it up, and there was my answer. When I’d used my Firebolt spell, I hadn’t been doing ten points of damage like I’d thought I had. I’d been doing thirteen! My ranged skill was affecting the damage I did with my spells as well! I quickly decided to ‘risk it for a biscuit’ as the saying went, putting all five points into Perception, and confirmed it, feeling a burning in my eyes as the changes took place. As soon as I could see again, I brought my character sheet up and checked through it.
Name Jax
Class: Spellsword
Renown: Unknown
Level: 5
Progress: 150/6500
Patron: Jenae, Goddess of Fire and Exploration
Points to Distribute: 0
Meridian Points to Invest: 0
Stat
Current points
Description
Effect
Progress to next level
Agility
15
Governs dodge and movement
Average speed + 50%
99/100
Charisma
11
Governs likely success to charm, seduce, or threaten
Success chance +10%
25/100
Constitution
15
Governs health and health regeneration
HP+100, regen 5pts per 600s (+10% regen due to soul bond, -20hp, each point invested worth 20hp)
79/100
Dexterity
15
Governs ability with weapons and crafting success
+ 50%
99/100
Endurance