Pendrackon

by Aaron Oster

  Sam didn’t even have the words to express how amazing this new skill was. Not only did it already come at the Intermediate stage, but it increased his aim and damage right off the bat.

  This time, when he lifted the Flintlock, it was easy for him. He concentrated on a rock some fifteen yards away, and his eyesight suddenly zoomed right up to it, as though he were standing with his face a mere six inches from its surface! It was like looking through a scope on a rifle, only much better.

  “Hey, Barry, watch this,” Sam said with a wicked grin.

  He then leveled the Flintlock and squeezed the trigger. Unfortunately for him, Sam had not expected a recoil on a weapon that didn’t use bullets. Thus, when the concentrated blast of red power shot from the barrel, he ended up whacking himself in the face, causing his shot to go wide.

  “Motherfucker!” he yelled, clutching at his bleeding nose.

  “Ha!” the bird cackled. “That’s what you get for trying to look all cool, bitch!”

  Sam whirled on the bird, leveling the gun and getting a much firmer grip on it this time.

  “Eat shit, bird!” he yelled, then zoomed in on the parrot’s tailfeathers and pulled the trigger. This time, though the Flintlock bucked, it wasn’t nearly as bad as before, and though he was still off-target, he did manage to singe the bird’s tailfeathers because he wasn’t shooting normal bullets.

  Barry took off into the air with a screech of indignation, then proceeded to try and pelt him with exploding bird-crap. That was how Emma and Gordon, freshly returned from picking some herbs, found them.

  “We leave for fifteen minutes, and you two are already at each other’s throats?” Emma demanded.

  “He started it!” said Baron Von Tweet and Sam simultaneously.

  It was only then that the two of them noticed how beat up Sam and Barry were. The gleaming firearm in Sam’s hand was also a dead giveaway that something big must have happened while they were gone.

  “Are you serious?” Emma exclaimed. “We missed all of that while gathering plants?”

  “Thank goodness for that,” Gordon replied. “Samuel was finally taught a lesson about attacking defenseless animals without provocation. The Overlord is wise indeed.”

  “Yeah, I think you’ve got it backward, dog,” Sam replied, sliding the Flintlock into his waistband. “All I learned from this is that I can trigger special event quests by killing shit. You can bet I’ll be doing that again!”

  “My goodness, it is no wonder the Overlord placed me in charge of you,” Gordon huffed. “We really must learn to temper that horrid attitude of yours toward living things.”

  “Shut up, you damn mutt! You don’t own me!”

  SKILL RANK UP!

  Congratulations! Your Browbeat skill has advanced from Novice to Beginner!

  Browbeat: If you’re intimidating enough, you can get away with anything

  Effect: +20% Increased chance to make people do what you want, +5% Increased chance to cow those you intimidate

  “Gah!” Sam cried out as the notification faded.

  Gordon was now lying on the ground, a very big-eyed and sad dog look on his face.

  “Sam! You shouldn’t talk to him that way!” Emma admonished, crouching down next to the dog and beginning to pet him.

  “What a wimp!” Barry crowed. “He can dish it, but he can’t take it.”

  Sam rubbed at his temples, wanting nothing more than to just end all of this and get some food in his stomach. The gross stew rations from before were giving him indigestion, and if he didn’t get something good into his stomach soon, he might lose whatever was already in there.

  “Let’s just get some food going,” he said, looking for a flat piece of stone to cook on.

  “I think that is a very good idea,” Emma replied, still scratching Gordon’s ears. “I think we’re all a little cranky right now, due to a lack of good food, and we’ll all feel much better with full bellies.”

  She didn’t move to help him, staying where she was as Sam hunted for a good piece of stone. Once he found it, he had to call Emma over to dig it up and carry it back to the slaughter sight. It was embarrassing, but even with 10 points in Strength, he didn’t have nearly enough to do it himself.

  There were plenty of bunny corpses to choose from, though all the bunnies who’d attacked after the event was triggered had already vanished. Sam didn’t mind that at all, as he didn’t think he would even want to eat those mutated monsters.

  “Do any of you know how to skin a rabbit?”

  Of course, none of them did, but Sam was sure the meat would taste just fine even if they did make a mess of the thing. However, another problem presented itself as soon as he found a good bunny. None of them had any knives.

  “Hey, Emma, do you mind trying to skin this thing?”

  “Hell, no,” Emma replied. “I’m not getting my sword all dirty!”

  “But you kill monsters with it all the time. What’s the big deal now?”

  “There’s a big difference between killing monsters and skinning a bunny. I refuse!”

  “Why do you not simply eat it raw?” Gordon asked, seemingly over his annoyance as he crunched through a bunny carcass. “It is quite scrumptious.”

  “Much as I’d love to, I don’t feel like vomiting again,” Sam replied, remembering well his first attempt at eating one of these creatures when he’d first come here.

  “Fine! If all of you are a bunch of useless losers, then I’ll do it,” Barry declared, walking over to the bunny carcass.

  Sam watched he extended one of his claws and proceeded to rip the hide from the meat. It was by no means a neat job, and by the time the hide came away, about half the meat had gone along with it.

  “There!” Barry proclaimed proudly while standing over the mutilated corpse. “You can cook it!”

  “Well, that’s good enough for me,” Sam replied with a shrug. “Can I see what herbs you gathered?”

  Emma held out a fistful of green plants, and Sam examined each, sniffing at them one at a time before deciding which could be used. In the end, he used a salt stalk, wild garlic, and a peppery-tasting blue stem. He didn’t want to mess around too much, and he was very hungry. After rubbing the meat with the herbs, he blasted the flat piece of stone with his Mana Burn until it was nice and hot.

  The sizzle and the scent that followed as the meat hit the heated stone made everyone’s mouths water. Suddenly, Gordon, Emma, and Barry were all crowded around the stone as Sam turned the rabbit over to cook evenly.

  “My, that does smell delightful!” Gordon exclaimed.

  “I’ve never eaten rabbit, but wow does that smell good,” Emma said while swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

  “Get that meat done so we can eat!” Barry screeched.

  Sam was equally impatient, but he knew that if he rushed and took it off to early, it would still be too raw to eat. The total cooking time was less than five minutes, but to the ravenous group, it felt like an eternity. Finally, sizzling and popping, the small rabbit was removed and placed onto a large, clean leaf.

  He made them wait a further five minutes to allow for resting time, then finally told them to dig in.

  “One piece per person,” he said, tearing off small chunks and handing them around. “If it’s good, we can skin and make more.”

  The others wordlessly snatched the proffered meat and shoved it into their mouths, chewing with glee and bliss written on their faces. As soon as Sam sampled the meat, he understood why. The burst of flavor was exquisite, far better than any rabbit he’d had back on Earth, and yes, he had eaten it before.

  Sam was a big fan of meat and had made it his mission to sample as many types as he could. But this was something special. He knew that it shouldn’t taste this good, but it seemed that the bunnies here were far tastier than the ones back home.

  “Oh, wow! That is soooo good!” Emma said, trying to reach for another piece but having her hand slapped away.

  “No more until everyone
’s finished. Then we can dole out the rest,” Sam said with his mouth still half full.

  Emma folded her arms and sulked as the rest of them chewed their way through the rabbit. The second mouthful was somehow even better than the first, but by this point, there was no meat left. The group immediately set to dismantling and cooking more bunnies, stuffing themselves until they were nice and full.

  Sam leaned back, lazily popping a piece of meat into his mouth as he stared up at the mid-afternoon sun. He was full, content, and felt as though he could go for a nap. The others were already out cold somehow, so he knew he couldn’t risk it. Once again, he would need to stay awake for the good of the group while they lazed about. He was just reaching for the small bit of leftover meat when a new notification popped into view.

  TABOO!

  You have desecrated the name of our Illustrious Overlord by consuming food that was not stew. Do so again, and the penalties will be far greater!

  Debuff Gained: Desecrator

  Effect: -20% to all attributes

  Duration: D 1 : H 23 : M 59

  Sam stared incredulously as the notification vanished, all sense of wellbeing now gone.

  “Fuck you, Overlord!”

  His scream of rage woke everyone from their sleep, reaching for weapons and scrambling in surprise as they looked for an attack. All they saw was Sam on his feet, red-faced and screaming into the sky.

  “Who knew you were such a petty prick?!”

  24

  They didn’t make it to the city of Kamelmiddle that night, instead sleeping out under the stars. They were all angry at the fact that they’d been cursed so badly, though Sam had to wonder why this hadn’t happened the first time he’d eaten it. Gordon guessed that because he’d thrown it up and hadn’t eaten until satisfied, the curse must not have come into effect.

  Worse yet, Sam hadn’t donated any money to charity and had been slammed with another divine curse. By the time he went to sleep, he was past caring. The day had been long, and they were all exhausted, so he couldn’t be bothered. Unfortunately, when he woke the next morning, he found that the rule of the day had not changed.

  “How the hell am I supposed to give away a hundred gold?” Sam raged as they approached the final village before Kamelmiddle.

  “Beats me,” Emma said, checking her status. “All I’m really mad about is this damn debuff. Having all my attributes reduced by a fifth majorly sucks!”

  “Tell me about it,” Sam complained. “I didn’t even get a cooking skill for all my hard work.”

  “The cooking skill was most likely not bestowed since your cooking and consumption of the rabbit was viewed as taboo,” Gordon replied.

  Both he and Barry were completely unaffected by the taboo, something which Sam and Emma were extremely mad about.

  “Why didn’t you warn us this would happen?” he asked the dog.

  “How was I supposed to know?” Gordon replied defensively. “I have partaken in many different types of meat and was never cursed as a result.”

  Sam bit off a retort, knowing that it really wasn’t anyone’s fault other than the Overlord. He’d seen Gordon eat other things and had assumed they could as well. He’d just thought the other people of Somerset were cracked in the head and thus ate only stew.

  “Wait,” Sam said. “We can eat bread, can’t we? So why is this any different?”

  “Bread is a staple in all stew dishes,” Gordon replied. “One is never served without the other, so perhaps they are considered a single dish in the eyes of our Illustrious Overlord.”

  Sam was about to reply when he suddenly caught the whiff of something odd on the wind.

  “Is that smoke?” Emma asked before he could quite place it.

  “Indeed,” Gordon replied. “The wind just changed direction, so I was unable to smell it before. I believe it is coming from up ahead.”

  Sam and Emma shared a look, immediately knowing that the one thing in their path was the town.

  “Let’s go,” Sam said, breaking into a jog.

  However, after only roughly five seconds, he found himself lagging horribly behind as all three of his companions streaked ahead of him. Emma and Gordon seemed to almost be gliding over the ground, barely even touching it before they took their next step.

  Guess that’s what an Agility over 100 will do for someone, he thought, thinking of his own abysmal score of 8.

  The group began to slow to allow him to catch up, but Sam just waved them on.

  “Go. I’ll catch up.”

  Emma nodded, then turned and dashed away. Sam watched in dumbfounded shock as she seemed to vanish over the next hill, followed closely by Gordon and Barry.

  “And I thought we were moving quickly before,” he muttered, feeling like the proverbial tortoise in this situation.

  If she could move that quickly with a 20% stat decrease, then she could probably kill him before he could blink. He amended that thought a moment later, remembering how well he’d fared against opponents with obviously higher speed. There had to be some way the system compensated during battle for those not heavily invested in speed.

  He really needed to get some points into Agility, and that meant finding equipment or Elixirs once they reached a major city. If Kamelmiddle didn’t have anything, then Kamellittle likely would. He just really hoped it would be within his price range, remembering how expensive gear could be.

  He’d wanted to purchase a Spatial Bag back in Shtut, only to discover that it cost over 100 electrum, the equivalent of over 10,000 gold or a million dollars back on Earth. His full set of legendary Bu Ni gear was worth about three-quarters of that, and the set of Epic King Mage robes that had been stolen from him were worth about 25 electrum.

  If an Elixir of Lesser Strength that gave only a single point to the attribute was considered Epic quality, he could scarcely imagine how much a more potent one would cost. Once he got the Inspect skill to Master, he knew that he’d be able to appraise anything. But he should be able to appraise most items at the Advanced stage. Last he’d checked, he only needed 4 more levels to reach it, so he was getting close.

  Sam’s thoughts turned to other matters when he finally crested the hill and got a good view of the landscape stretched before him. Black smoke, previously hidden by the rise, billowed into the sky in thick clouds, and in the distance, the small village of Waystop was on fire. He could make out small figures rushing about, and by the looks of it, the fire wasn’t an accident.

  Searching along the road, Sam could make out the small figures of his friends, already more than halfway there. He estimated the distance at well over a mile, so he was shocked they’d made it so far in just a couple of minutes.

  “With that speed, she could have been an Olympic runner back on Earth,” he muttered as he began to descend the hill.

  The village was under attack, and though he couldn’t be certain, he was pretty sure he already knew who was responsible. The only way to confirm his suspicions would be once he reached the village and saw for himself.

  Despite his low Stamina and Agility, Sam forced himself into a shuffling run as he descended the hill, allowing gravity to do most of the work for him. His Stamina began to drop quickly, although it was slower than it would have been if he was on flat ground or running uphill. He was forced to slow down when he reached the bottom and allow it to regenerate. Now would not be the time to fall on his face.

  He could feel the difference between now and when he was at full strength. Even his fastest run wasn’t even close to what he could have achieved back on Earth. Sam hadn’t been the most athletic, but even then, he’d been able to keep a decent pace. He’d meant to ask Gordon what the Base stats were for normal humans earlier, and he was kicking himself for it now.

  They couldn’t be 10 points, because his physical strength hadn’t increased by much when he’d raised it by 4 points earlier. He had said that at 48, he was about 7% more attractive than he had been, which gave him a basis on which to go by. If 100 poi
nts was 30% and there was a marked increase, then he could assume that 98 points would be near 15%.

  But by that logic, he should have the strength of a regular human at 0 points. He let out a sigh, deciding that now probably wasn’t the time to be figuring this out and that by simply asking, he could save himself a lot of the legwork. The village was getting closer by now, as was the heavy smell of smoke.

  Emma and the others were sure to have reached it already and were likely fighting the invaders. He, however, was still more than half a mile away. His legs were feeling like jelly and his Stamina was dangerously low, but the longer he took, the more likely he was to miss the fight entirely. Missing out on XP wasn’t something he wanted to do right now.

  SKILL RANK UP!

  Congratulations! Your Sprint skill has advanced from Beginner to Intermediate!

  Sprint: Run like the wind

  Level: Intermediate 21 (4%)

  Effect: -20% to Stamina consumption while running or jogging, +10% Increased speed while running or jogging, -5% Lactic acid buildup while running or jogging

  Sam let out a relieved breath as the skill popped into view. The burning in his muscles decreased, as did the drop of his yellow Stamina bar. His speed also got a noticeable increase, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

  Looks like things are lookin’ up for ol’ Sammy, he thought.

  The western accent seemed highly relevant because of the Flintlock now at his waist. It didn’t entirely fit the theme, as the pistols were pretty much obsolete by those days, replaced by the revolver, which had more than a single shot before it was used up.

  Lifting the Flintlock once again, he admired its sleek design. Sure, it didn’t resemble a modern pistol in the slightest. The grip was more akin to that of a rifle with its thirty-degree bend, but it had an old-timey charm that the newer guns just couldn’t match.