Deserts Of Naroosh
Rise Of The Grandmaster™ Book Three
Bradford Bates
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 by LMBPN Publishing
Cover Art by Jake @ J Caleb Design
http://jcalebdesign.com / [email protected]
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, February 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-450-3
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-451-0
Contents
List of Tim’s Current Stats and Skills
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Author Notes - Bradford Bates
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Books By Bradford Bates
Books By Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
About Bradford Bates
The Deserts of Naroosh Team
Thanks to our beta readers
Kelly O'Donnell, Mary Morris, Larry Omans, Rachel bBeckford
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Dave Hicks
Dorothy Lloyd
Veronica Stephan-Miller
Diane L. Smith
Jeff Goode
Angel LaVey
Allen Collins
Rachel Beckford
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
The Skyhunter Editing Team
List of Tim’s Current Stats and Skills
“Tim” Level Fifteen Battlesworn
Primary Stats
Strength: 13
Endurance: 14
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 32
Wisdom: 44
Perception: 5
Vitality: 3
Revitalization: 3
Luck: 6
Notable Gear
Simple Dagger of Dexterity, +1 (X2)
Staff of Divine Retribution, +4 Intelligence +5 Wisdom
Circlet of Wisdom, +1
Boots of Swift Regeneration, Increase base movement speed and Mana regeneration by 1%
Battlesworn Robes of Justice, +4 Intelligence +6 Wisdom
Belt of Wisdom, +2
Wristband of the Goddess, 10% damage reduction to dark-based attacks
Leather Wraps of Divergent Health, 10% chance for single target healing spell to jump targets and heal the secondary recipient for 50% of the value.
Ring of Marginal Transcendence, +2 Wisdom
Necklace of Unshakable Will, +3 Wisdom +1 Intelligence
Pants of Recovery, Increases mana regeneration
Jerkin of Unmeasurable Delight, +1 to all base stats
Paul’s Gloves of Mending, +4 Wisdom +7 Intelligence
Skills
Healing Orb: Journeyman rank one
Dodge: Apprentice rank one
Flame Burst: Apprentice rank three
Cleanse: Apprentice rank seven
Appeal to the Goddess: Novice rank one
Infiltrator: Novice rank three
Small Blades: Apprentice rank six
Throwing Knives: Apprentice rank two
Sneak: Apprentice rank three
Night Vision: Novice rank five
Backstab: Novice rank seven
Flame Burst: Apprentice rank three
Weaken Undead: Apprentice rank five
Divine Light: Apprentice rank five
Healing Storm: Novice rank one
Curse of Giving: Novice rank five
Behold My Power: Novice rank six
Who Needs a Shield: Novice rank five
Quick Feet: Novice level one
Stances
Way of the Boulder: Novice rank nine
Way of the River: Novice rank nine
Buffs
Armor of Eternia: Novice rank six
Attacks of the Faithful: Apprentice rank one
Open Quests
The Deserts of Naroosh
Chapter One
“Wake up!” ShadowLily yelled.
Hey, it wasn’t his fault he fell back asleep after the last time she told him to do something. Mornings weren’t his thing, and it sure didn’t smell like coffee. Tim pried his eyes open, wondering why his mouth tasted so bad.
Never bet a fire mage how many different foods you can eat at once without getting sick.
He wanted to laugh but wasn’t sure if it would make him throw up again or intensify the ringing in his head. Why was there this horrible pounding noise?
Something jabbed him in the ribs.
“Grahh.” Swatting her hands away, Tim mumbled, “It can’t be morning yet. Go away.”
“If you answered the door as I asked you to, then we’d know who’s been out there for the last ten minutes.” ShadowLily climbed out of bed, looking for her clothes.
Damn, they must have had a good night if her clothes were on the floor and not in her inventory.
The pounding in his head didn’t stop when whoever was beating on the door finally relinquished their furious barrage of hate against such an innocent barrier, and it took him a moment to realize he was hungover. He must have been out of it if he didn’t remember to cleanse himself. A quick cast of the spell made him feel a million times better. As the pounding faded from his ears, he tossed the sheets aside and stood.
They needed to invent something back in the real world to take the edge off a bad night out. He’d heard of IV services that would come to your house, but he’d always hated needles, and an IV hydration service seemed a little extreme. Maybe when it got
to the point you started hiring someone to pump you full of liquids, it was a better idea to tone down the drinking a wee bit.
Sure would be helpful after a good party though.
He tried to equip his clothes and realized that they must have been in the tangled mess on the floor. It looked like a laundromat exploded in their room. Clothes mixed with sheets, combined with towels, and what was that?
Fuck it. He didn’t have to get dressed to answer the door.
Now that his senses were coming back to him, he realized there was no way it was morning yet. It was still dark outside the windows. It was damned inconsiderate to bang on someone's door in the middle of the night unless it was an emergency.
Holy shit, could it be an emergency?
Was it already time to save the world again? It hadn’t been more than a few hours since they wrapped up their last adventure. Eternia already dropped their next quest on them. Not that he was complaining. It wasn’t like he entered the game to sit around and drink beer. It was just that a full night's sleep would be nice, and if he couldn’t have it then whoever showed up better have coffee.
Tim reached the door and pulled it open. “What?”
JaKobi gave naked Tim a solid once-over. “It seems as though Vitaria sent us one last surprise. Seraphina asked us to meet her at the city gates.”
“That was fifteen minutes ago, so you better hurry,” Cassie snapped as she took a hearty eyeful.
Lorelei yawned. “And maybe get some pants. While I’m sure Seraphina has seen one before it’s probably considered quite rude to go around with that thing flopping about.”
He’d almost forgotten that he’d decided not to put on clothes before answering the door. His cheeks burned as he felt the fury of his awakening fading. There wasn’t anything to do now but put a brave face on. “Pants are overrated,” Tim casually replied as he sauntered back into the room, trying to find the damn things before anyone figured out he wasn’t nearly as comfortable with this as he was letting on.
If Seraphina was calling on them in the middle of the night, it must be important. The city’s leader had her bit of mischief to attend to. I doubt she’d give that up just to screw with my sleep. Tim wondered what kind of horrible monster Vitaria dumped on their doorstep this time. With the passage under the mountain clear, the city of Tristholm should have been safe. It just went to show that it never paid to take your safety for granted.
Tim looked up, wondering if ShadowLily had found his pants, and saw that she had climbed back into bed while he was gone. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t feel like doing anything right now. Not sure if she was hungover, Tim cast Cleanse on her.
“Apparently we have a monster to fight.” He pulled the covers off ShadowLily’s head. “This is why you never open the door.”
“I didn’t open the door. You did.” ShadowLily hit him with a pillow. “It wasn’t like we were going to get any sleep with them pounding at the door anyway.”
ShadowLily was right, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t grumble about it. What was life without a few well-placed gripes? As long as you kept them in moderation. No one wanted to hang out with someone who bitched about everything.
He smiled and decided it was his turn to return the poke she’d given him earlier. He gave her a gentle nudge in the ribs and squawked as she grabbed his wrist and flipped him onto his back. A second later, she straddled him with a giggle. The move was so unexpected that he completely forgot he left the door open.
Shit, with her on top of him, he forgot what his name was.
ShadowLily looked down at him with a stern face and waved her finger back and forth. “I do the poking around here. You do the things the poker tells you to do.”
Her expression turned hungry, and Tim knew today would be a good day.
Cassie cleared her throat from the doorway. “I don’t think you have time for that.”
ShadowLily rolled off him, taking the blanket with her. Tim was left lying there at full salute and nothing he could do about it. Why did his brain move so damn slow without coffee? Not to mention how his critical thinking skills were cut by ninety percent as soon as he saw boobies.
“Five minutes or I’m sending the guards in to haul you away,” Cassie yelled, and their door slammed closed.
Tim leaned over the edge of the bed into his girlfriend’s furious face. “So I have four minutes to kill.”
“That line would have worked before I almost had sex with you in front of our friends.” The assassin’s clothes appeared as she stood up.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a point, and maybe it wasn’t as funny as he thought it was. “It’s just…” Tim waved at her gorgeous body as she strapped her weapons into place. “When I see you, sometimes I forget about everything else.”
A dagger appeared in her hand, and the blade slowly spun in her flat palm. “If you weren’t so damn cute, I’d toss you out the window.” The knife stopped spinning, and she slashed the tiniest papercut of a scratch across his chest before putting it away. “Next time, the door is closed, or the clothes stay on.”
Tim healed himself. “Sounds like a good rule of thumb.”
It wasn’t like he wanted to put on a show for the world. He just needed more sleep to make better decisions.
Two minutes later Tim tracked down his last item of clothing from the floor, and they were out the door. Cassie smirked at them before turning and leading the way to their destination. It didn’t take long for the sound of shouting to reach his ears. It was the kind of noise you heard and instantly knew trouble was brewing. Cassie glanced back, and he motioned for her to get going. He knew it meant running, but sometimes an adventurer had to do what an adventurer had to do.
The world didn’t save itself.
Cassie slid to a stop inside the courtyard holding her arms out to make sure no one went past her. There was a giant cobra in the center of the open space and a guard lying six feet away moaning in agony. Five or six of Seraphina’s men had their spears out and were trying to back the giant snake away from their fallen comrade without much success.
The soldiers didn’t seem able to get close enough to the wounded man without putting themselves at risk. The best they could do was keep the cobra from finishing off the wounded warrior. A rescue attempt would take a full-out assault, and Tim was pretty sure he didn’t get called down here to deal with one snake that a handful of Seraphina’s archers could kill from the rooftops.
Violence should be a last resort, the failsafe for when all other options turn to shit.
Tim quickly cast Cleanse on the wounded guard. The man stopped moaning, and his eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw the cobra. He back-peddled, looking like a crab going after a tasty treat it spied down the beach. When he was back in the arms of his fellow soldiers the guard’s wits returned, and he gave Tim a firm nod of thanks before letting two of the soldiers escort him away.
The rest of Seraphina’s men still held the giant cobra at bay, but its movements were growing agitated. There was no chance the cobra would live in an attack on her men, so what were they waiting for? Something else was going on here, something he hadn’t figured out yet with all the commotion.
Tim drew a deep breath and let his eyes move past the snake to take in the rest of the room. Looking completely relaxed as it used a dagger to cut slices of orange fruit before tossing them into its mouth was a creature Tim had never seen before. It was a Were of some kind, that much was certain, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on which. The thing in front of him was shorter and more compact than the werewolves but was easily over six feet tall.
A six-foot-tall were of any kind wasn’t something to fuck with.
At least not alone. Thankfully, he brought backup.
Tim took a minute to look the creature over and thought about where he had seen the dog-like features before. The name of the Discovery show he’d been watching escaped him, but Tim knew what type he was looking at now. He’d always thought hyenas were
kind of cute.
Like big furry love balls with razor-sharp teeth.
The kind of thing that was super cute on TV and terrifying in real life. Not that he ever planned on meeting a hyena in real life, let alone its Were counterpart in a game.
A quick scan of his interface showed that the creature was titled Jabari’s Chosen. Tim wasn’t sure if that was the creature’s name or its classification. It sounded a lot more like a generic title so probably not a name. After letting his pet attack one of the guards, Tim was pretty sure the thing's name didn’t matter. A messenger didn’t stroll in armed to the teeth if they weren’t looking for a fight.
The spear in the werehyena’s hands looked like it had seen some heavy use. It never paid to take a skilled fighter lightly. The difference between a trained fighter and your average street-tough was like the difference between the guys at the “Y” and the ones in the NBA.
Thankfully, Tim and Seraphina had a few skilled fighters of their own.
Before taking charge of the situation or addressing the monster, Tim wanted to observe Jabari’s Chosen for a few moments longer. He was more than willing to let the guards continue doing their jobs while he took in the situation. The more you knew about an opponent, the easier it was to defeat them.
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