by Dakota Krout
“Did you call the helpful guy outside of the entrance a ‘gut’?” Alexis hissed. “Did you forget how to say ‘guy’?”
“Did he forget how to control his calorie intake? How did he even do that to himself in the short time this game has been running?” Jaxon rebutted heartlessly. The others rolled their eyes and chalked up another reason to get him some points in charisma.
“That’s a terrible thing to say,” Joe admonished his teammate. “He could have designed his character that way, or maybe he just struggles with his weight.”
“If he struggled with weights, he wouldn’t struggle with weight,” Jaxon responded with great satisfaction. Joe had to resist the urge to slap him. Due to Jaxon’s deplorable charisma, there was no way of telling what he thought people were saying during this conversation, so getting mad would just be helping the developers get their laughs.
Their conversation had the unfortunate effect of drawing the attention of the nearest foe, which rushed at them with a howl filled with insanity. It looked like a normal person that had been encapsulated by a rapidly growing tree. The creature came at them swiftly, its attacks wild and brutal. Each swing of its arm was enhanced by the thick wood that twined around to form a club-like weapon, and roots protruded past its feet allowing it to spring forward at high speeds.
“This looks like mah kind o’ enemy!” Bard laughed as he stepped forward, axes held out to each side. He swung hard, landing a blow that was blocked by a wood-covered arm. The metal gouged deep into the fibrous armor and tore out a chunk of wood, but Joe realized that they were in trouble when the creature casually counterattacked with a backhand that knocked Bard a full two meters backward. Bard landed hard, coughing up a mouthful of blood from the force of his landing. A healing spell landed on him, and his breathing came a bit easier. The Skald rushed to rejoin the battle.
Alexis fired a crossbow bolt that tore into the exposed flesh of the humanoid, knowing almost instantly that her poison was having no effect. “Immune to poison or at least this kind! This thing must be undead; be careful!”
“Undead? Excellent! My favorite!” Poppy sprang forward, his rapier hissing through the air like a striking serpent. He skillfully sank his blade into exposed flesh, tearing open a hole that slowly dripped black blood. Jaxon appeared beside the creature, landing a devastating kick to its knee. With a sickening crunch, the joint twisted sideways, but the wood covering simply constricted and realigned the leg before the monster could fall.
Jaxon leaned away from a blow that should have taken his head, and Poppy rammed his rapier into another unarmored location. Bard was back on his feet, charging into the fray within moments of being healed. Joe was preparing to use a shadow spike when their opponent suddenly stomped, one foot after the other. The roots that had given it so much mobility now sank into the ground, and its wounds began closing at a visible rate.
“Get away from it!” Joe called, staring at the creature and activating Intrusive Scan. He watched the creature for five full seconds while it snarled at them, unable to move for the time being.
Name: Lumber Jack. Class: Livingwood Ghoul. Level: 10.
Highest stat: Constitution.
Ongoing effects: Living Armor, Undead, Cursed, Sacrificial Defense, Absorb Nutrients.
After five seconds, the Ghoul’s weak points lit up in Joe’s vision, and he hurried to point them out before combat reignited. “Anyone know what Sacrificial Defense means? Also, Alexis, its armor is alive even if the creature isn’t!”
“I have something similar to Agent Orange; it works on plants and meat! No need to worry about poison immunity if its flesh falls off!” Alexis began to dig through her pack. “Make sure not to breathe this in after I use it if you like having lungs!”
A tiny halo of copper light appeared around Bard’s head for a moment. “Ah! Skaldic Knowledge kicked in! Sacrificial Defense means that armor will be continuously repaired using the health of the person wearing it. Killing the armor should kill the creature as well!”
“Alright, but when it is standing still like that it is healing by pulling nutrients from the ground,” Joe told them, watching as the wounds on the Ghoul closed. It was staring at him with frightening intensity; his intrusive scan must have built up a lot of aggro.
“I’m gonna launch the herbicide,” Alexis told the group as she put a new bolt in her hand crossbow. “As soon as it clears up, go for the kill.”
The melee fighters got into position, getting ready to charge the undead that was eying them like dinner. *Thwack* At this range, there was almost no time between when Alexis fired and when the bolt landed. As the cloud of toxins settled on the wood, the Ghoul released a shriek of fury. The wood and exposed flesh began to bubble, and the wood armor thrashed in place while uprooting itself. The Ghoul’s already thin body became skeletal as the wood absorbed muscle and fat to restore itself.
As the air cleared, the fighters launched themselves forward. Bard began using his axes to take chunks of wood from the armor, forcing it to kill its host in an attempt to recover. Poppy aimed for the critical points that Joe had mentioned and Jaxon continued to try and tear off limbs by forcing joints to rotate over and over.
Exp: 300 (2 * 150 * Jack x1).
The attacks stopped as the notification appeared, everyone breathing heavily as the adrenaline began to wear off. Bard smiled happily as he exclaimed, “I go’ five hundred exp off that shan beastie!”
The others seemed happy with the gains from fighting the Ghoul, but something was bothering Joe. He snapped his fingers as it came to him. “Aha! Guys, we only beat half the enemy! That armor is alive, remember? We were fighting ‘Lumber Jack’, but we only got experience for ‘Jack’. Let’s kill the armor!”
Joe started the attack, spraying a gout of acid onto the wood. He was pleased to see that it took extra damage, as it was apparently considered equipment even if it was alive. He would remember that in future battles. Bard came in next, using his axes to chop the wood into manageable chunks. The others stayed back, their attacks not very useful against this kind of enemy. On the plus side, without a host, the armor was immobile. In moments, a new notification appeared.
Exp: 150 (2 * 75* Lumber x1).
“I am loving this double experience,” Poppy sighed happily. “Two hundred experience for an immobile enemy? Awesome.”
“Ah got three,” Bard told him smugly.
“I’m glad for you, but doesn’t that just mean you are at a lower level?” Poppy’s seemingly pleasant words caused Bard to grimace, a bit of color that he tried to hide coming into his cheeks.
Jaxon seemed troubled. He looked around the transformed town, sighing as he saw mainly enemies similar to the one they had just fought. “I am uncertain how useful my skills will be here. Unless we encounter enemies without limb-assisting mechanisms, most of my skills will be countered quite easily.”
“I’m sure there will be something out there for you, Jaxon. If nothing else, you apparently have a really high skill in dodging. You could serve as an alternate tank if you needed to.” Joe patted the despondent Monk on the back, hoping to cheer him up.
“Joe, there is something you need to see.” Alexis had moved forward to do a bit of scouting, and the way she hurried back was concerning.
“What’s wrong?” Joe responded instantly, putting on his ‘serious’ face.
“I think we are in trouble.” She motioned for everyone to stay as quiet as possible, and they followed her. They peeked around the corner, horrified as they saw the mass of ghoulish enemies clustered in the area. While none of them were exactly the same, it was obvious that they would be at least as strong as the first ghoul they had fought.
They moved back to the entrance, regrouping around the bubbling remains of the ghoul. Poppy was beginning to panic, and his words were filled with a mix of fear and frustration, “How are we supposed to fight that? This is stupid! Much as I love fighting the undead, there must have been two dozen of them clustered in the town squ
are!”
“Calm down,” Jaxon demanded, surprising the others. “If you attract them over here like that, I am going to make you hold them off.”
“Take it easy, Jaxon.” Joe was getting concerned; had he made a mistake adding Jaxon to the party? It seemed that whenever he wasn’t talking about things that he was passionate about, he was… kinda mean. Though… something was… off. Jaxon was looking at him with a strange, uncomprehending expression. “Jaxon… what did you just hear Poppy say?”
“What are you talking about?” Jaxon pointed at the Duelist, who seemed quite offended. “You were right here! He said, ‘How can we not fight that? Don’t be stupid; there are only two dozen of them, and we can lure them from here.’ I thought that was a terrible idea, and if he wants to draw them in like that he is going to need to hold them off if things go wrong. It’s only fair.”
“Oh, this is so cool,” Alexis whispered, eyes alight with interest. “I read in the forums that people with negative stats in certain areas have different gameplay, but I’ve never seen any posts from people with low charisma! Oh, that’s insidious. I love it.”
“What do you mean?” Poppy didn’t take his eyes off of Jaxon, who seemed to be studying his fingers again.
“Well, people with below ten strength or constitution have a really hard time getting around or doing anything physical,” Alexis started, only to be cut off by Joe.
“I can attest to that.” Joe held up a hand. “I only recently got above ten in those two stats.”
“Right, and people with bad dexterity fall a lot or hurt themselves trying to work with intricate stuff,” Alexis continued while Joe nodded along almost nostalgically. “Warriors that didn’t think intelligence or wisdom mattered have reported that when people talk, they only hear the simplest words; everything else comes out as ‘blah, blah, la-la’. Baby talk. Apparently, it is really upsetting. Bad wisdom? They attack things that they really shouldn’t, like rocks, thinking they are the enemy they were seeking.”
“So what you are saying…” Joe realized where this was going. “Low charisma means that they just think everyone else is being a jerk!”
“Exactly!” Alexis smiled, though it faltered a bit when she saw that she was the center of attention. “Ah… so, Jaxon really thinks he is doing nice things for people, and he might not even be saying mean things, but the game is transforming what he says to meet his low charisma.”
“Insidious. Ye weren't jokin’.” Bard looked at the smiling Monk. “I’ll see if ah can’t find ah spell ta buff charisma when we get outta here.”
“If we get out of here,” Poppy muttered, looking away.
“That’s something we should talk about.” Joe heaved a sigh as a plan formed in his mind. “Not that I don’t have faith in our team, but… I don’t think we can beat this dungeon.”
“What are you saying?” Jaxon seemed shocked at their leader’s lack of faith.
“I think that we should play it safe and pick off individual enemies for as long as we can. But if we can’t leave except by winning or dying… we should make sure that we get enough experience not to drop a level before we take any chances. Let’s look for any items or money, but if we have a total party wipe don’t be upset.”
“Joe, if we plan to fail, we will,” Alexis spoke up uncharacteristically vehemently. “We will play it safe, but we will beat this dungeon. Even if it takes a week or a month of grinding and going slow, we will all walk out of here together. Alive.”
As she finished her speech, the group was coated by a spray of liquid. Jaxon fell to the ground, his head landing a moment later. Behind his falling corpse was another ghoul, but the wood covering this one’s arms was curved and sharp as if it held a scythe in each hand.
“I take it we forgot to set a guard?” Joe quipped as they rushed to get into a battle formation. Contrary to his flippant attitude, Joe was furious with himself for failing to take care of his people. He readied a spray of acid, planning on skewering this foe with a shadow spike as soon as it was distracted by the destruction of its armor. Poppy parried a swing from the ghoul, using the opening to create a large hole through its neck.
“That didn’t count as a critical!” Poppy warned them. “I forgot for a moment, head or heart with the undead.” The creature spun rapidly, its other arm coming down on Bard, who failed to properly block in time. A fresh shower of blood wet the ground as a huge wound opened up on Bard’s arm.
“Argh! Yer maw's got baws ‘n yer da' loves it!” The Bard shouted at the ghoul in rage and pain. The ghoul took on a red tinge as Bard unexpectedly enraged it. Joe finished with his cast, and the ghoul was coated in weak acid, its armor instantly trying to fix the damage by tearing into its host. Joe quickly aimed his scepter at Bard, sending a focused heal into his arm as the ghoul began to swing at the Skald wildly.
Bard’s motions became much more fluid as his arm stitched itself together. “Gimme ah minute wi’ this beastie! Mah dodge skill has been stagnatin’. Jump–*swish*–in if’n–*swish*–ah look like ahm gon’ die!”
The group tried to heed his wishes but kept attacking in order to whittle down the ghoul’s health. A scythe came too close to killing the Skald once, slicing open his cheek deeply enough that his teeth could be seen through the hole. Though they threw a few attacks in every once in a while, they made sure to let the focus stay on Bard until Joe saw the ghoul begin to lift its foot. Instantly reacting, he began to cast shadow spike.
*Slam*. The first foot came down, driving the roots into the ground. Joe had timed his spell perfectly because as the other foot raised and lowered, a spike was formed right under the stamping heel. A sound like a tree splintering cracked through the area as the ghoul drove its foot down as hard as it could, allowing the spell to drive upward all the way to its knee. The spike vanished a bare second later, and the ghoul would have fallen if its other leg weren’t already stabilizing it.
“Brilliant cast!” Alexis laughed in exaltation, firing another bolt into the ghoul’s wood-covered face.
Bard took the initiative and hacked into the rooted leg like it was a sapling. After a few moments of this, the ghoul dropped to the ground. Bard and Poppy finished it off by chopping off the ghoul’s head in honor of their fallen comrade. This had the added benefit of killing the armor at the same time, so they decided to remember this trick for the future.
Exp: 450 (2 * 225 * Plank McGee x1).
Joe looked sadly at the grey matter leaking from the ghoul’s split skull. “If only I had a way to preserve that! I have so many uses for an undead brain…”
Alexis looked at him oddly but didn’t say anything. Bard gestured at Jaxon’s body. “Well?”
Joe nodded in reply, sitting down for a minute to regain his mana. “This is going to be the only time I can do this today, so we really need to be extra paranoid from now on. Guards, cautious steps, the works.”
“Do what today?” Poppy questioned as Bard nodded in understanding. Alexis made a ‘no idea’ gesture as Joe stood up.
“Alrighty, here we go.” He began going through the myriad of movements needed, finishing up by pulling his arms back so his elbows were tucked to the side with his palms facing forward. Once again, mana began to fluctuate in front of his hands, becoming visible and seeming to hold great depth. Joe pressed his hands forward slowly as he took a deep breath, “Resurrection!”
As had happened the last time he used this spell, a rent in the air appeared, a portal to elsewhere forming. A second passed, then two, but soon Jaxon stepped through the breach. His corpse vanished from the ground before his foot had touched the first speck of dirt. “Didn’t think anyone made it! I do have to say, the time dilation makes the wait much more manageable.”
“Gotta stop dyin’, Jaxon.” Bard rolled his eyes. “If ye already complain about tae time it takes ta magic ye back…”
“Yes, yes, don’t make dying a habit.” Jaxon waved Bard’s words away. “I would really prefer not to, but if I do go down, I mu
ch prefer a speedy return.”
“You can resurrect people?” Poppy gasped with glee. “I don’t even… do you know what this…”
“That’s a neat trick.” Alexis gave a half smile, her cool attitude sobering Poppy.
“I like it.” Joe shrugged nonchalantly. “C’mon, guys. Let’s try to find a safe area; we need a plan of action.”
~ Chapter Twenty-one ~
By going left instead of taking a right into the town square, they were able to avoid the densely packed enemies. Joe had a sinking suspicion that they would still need to go into that area if they lasted long enough. Most of the buildings that had been in the town were still standing, though they had been twisted, malformed, and–strangely enough–reinforced. Even with the strange new look, the building they set up in felt far less rickety and likely to collapse than they had expected.
They crept around, and after ensuring that there was no one hiding in a corner waiting to jump out at them, they closed and barricaded the door. Bard sat down, heaving a huge sigh. “Two foes in an’ we’re near ready ta drop.”
“I’m still shocked how something as large and nasty as that thing could move so silently,” Jaxon complained heatedly. “I normally have excellent situational awareness.”
“We got too caught up in discussing game mechanics.” Joe waved Jaxon over to sit with them. “We got too loud, too focused on other things. We won’t let it happen again, but right now, we need to make a plan. I’m not sure what the requirements for beating this dungeon are, but if it’s anything like other games we need to find and beat the dungeon boss.”
“Most likely still true here.” Alexis sank down to the ground next to Bard. “In my opinion, there are two choices for who the boss would be: either the highest leveled person in town–Sir Bearington–or the person who set this whole thing into motion, the smith.”
“The mayor is a bear,” Joe flatly stated. The others ignored his inane comments and continued talking.