by Bruce Sentar
Exp and Loot Variable
Negative reputation with the Violet Merchants
Y/N?>
It appeared to be shared with the rest of the group, because Sky’s panicked voice came over party chat. “What are you doing?!”
Well someone was concerned. It was just a thought. “Let's meet up back near the camp.” Ajax wasn’t sure how to party chat worked with others overhearing their conversation and this was not a conversation for the merchants’ ears.
Sky rounded a wagon with a scowl already on her face. Ajax stepped up next to her “Look, I was just snooping on what the caravan was bringing to Tyren. I happened to peek over Borris’ shoulder as he was making his rounds checking on the goods.”
Missy’s voice was a bit too loud “So you were casing them?”
“Quiet.” Ajax hissed “No, I wasn't doing it with the intent to steal anything. Curiosity just got the better of me.”
“Well, the game seems to disagree. So let's talk about what you found.” Sky crossed her arms under her chest causing Ajax’s eye to linger for a second as her mounds pushed up and the valley deepened.
Ajax scratched the back of his head nervously “I didn’t get too many details, but I saw that they had three crates of skill books.” Ajax had a bit of guilt for getting a quest to steal right after looking at that list. Had he really wanted to steal those? Part of him knew he had envied the books but he didn’t think he really had the intent to steal them.
“Three crates of spell books!?” Missy hissed. Sky took a sharp inhale next to her. They both were as excited as Ajax by the news. The judging looks had melted away. While they had managed to create a few new physical skills, skills with magic components were much harder to create.
“Just ignore it, for now. We just started day three. Who knows what could happen. Let’s keep our options open.” But he paused before continuing. Missy still had a reckless smile on her face.
Sky sighed “I’m sure we can get it again later if we need it, but I don’t want to plan on it. We aren’t sure if that will change our alignment or how they treat us if we suddenly take a quest to steal from them. And who knows what broader impact it could have with future merchants or cities.” Missy nodded in agreement, but the mischief hadn’t left her eyes.
Ajax had a feeling that these merchants and their goods were on to womens’ radars to stay.
As time passed, Ajax had seen a series of messages back and forth between both girls with subtle gestures that might as well be another language to him.
Something was going on between the two girls. They seemed to have worked out whatever was bothering them earlier. But now they were playing oddly nice, and Ajax wasn’t sure how long that was going to last, or what it meant. It felt like he was missing something.
The three of them met up to begin training, walking along with the wagons as they trained. They would jog up and down the wagon line, practicing their skills. Ajax drained his mana bar every time it filled up, pumping magic bullets into random stones or trees that he deemed targets.
A few times, wildlife came close, like a wild dog or boar. They were traveling along a river, which drew plenty of woodland creatures. Ajax used them for his next round of target practice, advancing from the stones and trees to moving targets. He was getting pretty good with Arcane Bullet. He had never shot a gun in real life, but here he seemed to be getting the hang of it.
Leveling his hands like a gun, he sighted a tree amongst many they were passing. It was maybe half the width of a person- good practice for his current aiming capabilities. He sighted down his pointer finger and activated his magic. There was a slight delay, maybe a bit longer than a second, between willing the spell and the shot going off. He was sure if it was any other game there, would be a casting bar filling up the HUD. But Legendary Rule didn’t have any of those. It was more advanced, just a faint sense of magic building up in his body and traveling out his fingertip.
The second passed, and a thin light flashed from his finger to bore a hole in his target. The tree was maybe fifty or sixty feet away. That seemed to be about the range that he could hit accurately. He found that the spell wasn’t very accurate after that. He’d recently tried hitting a target about a hundred feet out, bracing his arm against a nearby tree and shooting off eight rounds. It had looked like amateur hour at a shooting range. The spread was about ten feet across, so maybe it would work for a giant.
He wondered if learning how to shoot outside the game would help translate to higher accuracy in the game. It was an odd thought that skills could transfer between the two worlds so easily.
After he’d done a few more rounds of testing, he found that the bullets had a fair amount of drift after 50 or so feet.
The other trick he had been working on was starting the spell and whipping up his hand at the last second to fire off the bullet. It was harder than it looked to pull that one off well, but it would be important for the element of surprise. Ajax had come close to shooting the girls more than once and was now being ignored. However, he was sure he was going to need his western quick draw at some point.
Ajax held up both his hands and started recklessly firing into the copse of trees. He had found a way to increase his intelligence; it was simply casting spells. The dual casting he had picked up since the fight with the goblins would have been a great help, but it had harsh requirements. It increased the mana cost and slowed the casting speed. Right now it was less effective to cast Magic Missiles in both hands than to just focus on one, but he was sure as both skills leveled up it would be well worth it.
As his dual casting leveled, the mana cost and casting time would get closer to what it would take to normally cast the spell. Once that happened, it would be such an overpowered spell. He was excited at the prospect of using this spell to both double his casting speed and provide some much-needed versatility.
Firing quickly into the woods, Ajax thought he saw another critter between the trees. He took aim and landed his shot. However, what followed wasn’t what Ajax expected.
A strangled gurgled shout came from within the trees.
More strangled cries joined the first. Soon, it sounded like a small army of the strange creatures were moving closer to the caravan.
Remblaar was swift in his actions to gather the guards and prepare for what was coming. Ajax and the girls joined the huddle. “Oh good. The adventurers. We could use you three for this. Merlocs are gathering up to attack the caravan. They normally don’t leave the river, but something must have angered them.” He either didn’t know or didn’t point out that it was Ajax who upset them. Given his dislike of adventurers, probably the former.
“Great, how can we help?” Ajax had no small amount of guilt for this. He was willing to help however he could.
Remblaar grinned, and Ajax had a sinking feeling. “Actually you three can be of quite a bit of help. You see merlocs like the goblins use poison. Only their poison his a potent paralytic.” Remblaar’s fake smile spread even wider.
Ajax couldn’t help but think of the few jars of poison they had looted from the goblins. None of the merchants would purchase it. He wondered if the merloc poison was just as useless. “That doesn’t sound so bad.” A few seconds of being paralyzed was bad in a fight, but not something they couldn’t recover from.
Missy nudged Ajax and whispered in his ear. “I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“Glad you think so. As adventurers, you can recover from the paralysis. We caravan guards would be bed ridden for days. So if you three could take the front when the merlocs come, it would help save many of my men.” Remblaar then turned to his men and had them all arm up with bows and arrows.
Ajax realized Remblaar wanted all of them way back out of range. They all crowded around the caravan, Remblaar sought refuge on top of one of the wagons.
“Days. The paralysis lasts days. That’s some wicked poison for the low levels.” Missy said as the three stood alone betwee
n the woods and the caravan. The strangled cries were still ratcheting up as more and more seemed to be gathering within the trees. Ajax could almost make out what they looked like between the trees.
“Yes. He said days, but he also said we recover from it.” Ajax corrected.
“It depends on how you look at it Ajax. We can die and come right back. We could ‘recover’ by suicide.” Sky emphasized her skepticism with air quotes. She had a good point though. Were we just being used as fodder? He didn’t have time to ponder that.
Remblaar shouted from his perch on the wagon. But what he said was drowned out by a tide of gurgling war cries. Hopefully it wasn’t important.
Before Ajax could ask Remblaar what he said, a tide of brightly colored creatures burst from the tree line. Ajax brought up his hands to rapid fire Arcane Bullets into the crowd before he really got a good look at them. They were a mess of fluorescent colors, like someone had puked highlighter on them. The merlocs only went up to Ajax’s thighs like a child, but they looked nothing like a human. While they had arms and legs, they were oddly proportioned, their huge fish heads as they ran with a strange abandon. They wobbled like they weren’t used to running on dry land. Their tiny legs kept them upright, but Ajax thought they were moving forward more on momentum from the initial charge than any real coordination with those toothpick like legs.
Ajax fired off another Arcane Bullet, knocking down a merloc. They went down easily enough. Ajax wasn’t sure if he was actually killing them in one hit or if they were falling from the impact. With the stampede behind them, it was unlikely they were going to survive either way.
The bright fish-things continued to pour out of the trees as Arrows started flying from the guards. Wave after wave of arrows rained down upon the monsters.
Sky had a plan. “Ajax, focus on the front runners. We will try to keep them off Missy as long as possible. Missy you are the last line of defense. Go crazy if they get to you.”
Ajax did his best. He didn’t want to be responsible for either girl getting paralyzed. But it was getting hard to judge distance as it started to feel like a wall of florescent paint was rushing at them rather than individual creatures. Seeing Missy jump forward to slash through two of the little guys was his first clue that some were getting through.
To make matters worse, an arrow thumped into the ground next to his foot. The guards were dropping their range to help, but it put Ajax uncomfortably close to the line of fire.
They needed to retreat.
“Sky! Missy! Back up.” Ajax yelled over the merlocs’ screams. But he didn’t have time to focus on them more as he started walking backwards, focusing on firing his Arcane Bullet spell out of both hands.
The merlocs were a never ending tide of bright colors. He almost missed the flashes of pink hair among them. Missy hadn’t fallen back. Instead, she had rushed into the crowd with her newly minted whirlwind skill.
Shit. He couldn’t just leave her in there. If what Remblaar said held true for them, Missy could get paralyzed in the middle of hundreds of them. What could he do? It wasn’t like Ajax was able to wade through the merlocs and pull her out. The only spell he had for combat was a single target attack.
He watched Missy as she carved a path through the merlocs. She seemed to be okay, but it felt like a vice was squeezing down on his chest. He was nervous knowing all it would take was one poisoned attack.
Ajax’s attention snapped back to the merlocs around him as his distracted firing failed to keep them at bay. A sword grazed by Ajax’s shoulder as he pivoted away. He brought up his hand and finished it with an Arcane Bullet.
Keeping the merlocs off him, Ajax tried get sight of Missy. The relentless tide of creatures finally slowed and changed. The wave of charging merlocs came to an abrupt halt as a line of merlocs with glowing staffs appeared at the back. He assumed those must be mages. He had no idea what the could do, but the casters would be even bigger trouble.
Adjusting his aim, Ajax began firing toward the back line of casters. Ajax’s instincts told him they needed to be taken care of ASAP. It always seemed to get harder at the end.
Ajax’s doubts were verified when the merloc mages started giving off blue light. It sprayed upwards and fell on the battlefield. Ajax braced himself, but all he felt was rain. It was barely a misting before it started to pick up.
He untensed a bit. Some rain on the battlefield wasn’t so bad. But there had to be a reason they were causing the rain; he just couldn’t puzzle it out.
Having a bad feeling, he looked towards Missy. She was trying to get clear of the murlocs she had been spinning in. Sky must have noticed as well, because she started peppering the line of creatures between Missy and freedom.
Her shots starting falling short before she adjusted. The guards were not so skilled. Their shots were dropping dangerously short and becoming more of a hazard for Ajax than any real help. Ajax moved towards where he thought Missy was going to punch through the line of murlocs.
Another creature jumped at Ajax, and he finished it with a head-shot. Or, he thought he did before he was reminded that it was still alive when it crushed his arm with its mace.
Fuck. Ajax swore and pivoted from the next strike, finishing it with the Arcane Bullet from his other hand. He checked this time. He did a double take at that murloc, then over the field. Where they growing? They were taller now; Ajax was sure of it.
The next murloc took two shots to take down, and Ajax was sure they were growing stronger in the rain. Two shots per monster might not sound like much, but when there were so many it really adds up.
Ajax felt his progress slow noticeably as he continued to try to carve out a spot for Missy to get away. Sky finally reached his side.
“Ajax, I need you to shoot the casters. I can’t shoot that far in the rain.” Sky yelled over the battle. She focused on keeping the murlocs away from the two of them, giving Ajax the reprieve he needed.
Lining up a shot in each hand, Ajax was able to take out his first murloc mage. It didn’t have an effect on the rain. It continued to pour down around them. He started to take out another when Missy finally broke free of Murlocs and sprinted to them.
“God that was fun. But it was getting too muddy. One slip in the mud and game over.” Missy was panting with a smile on her face. She did a half spin taking out a nearby murloc. They were getting past the trio now, forcing the guards to draw their swords and join the fight.
The guards weren’t far behind the group taking, on Murlocs coming in from the sides. “Focus on the mages Ajax.” Missy reminded him. “We don’t know how big these guys will get, and I really don’t want to find out. I don’t want to magnify their ugly mugs any more than we have to.”
The trio fell into a quick pattern as the murlocs thinned out. When the rain finally petered out and the last of the murlocs were being finished by the guards, the trio slumped together. Ajax wrapped his arms around both girls holding them up against him.
Ajax watched as several of the guards had to be carried away. Luckily no one in their group had gotten poisoned.
There was a calm between them as they just held each other. The fight hadn’t been that long, but it was draining to be so focused for so long. As they both nestled into his embrace, he breathed deep taking both of them in. He realized he was attracted to both of them. What would happen to the party if he ever chose one? Could he keep the party together?
He didn’t know, and right now he just wanted to enjoy the comfort of both of them while he could. However, Remblaar didn’t agree. “Come on you three, time to clear the field. We need to get moving.”
Grumbling Missy freed herself from the group hug. “Loot! Yep lets get the loot. Then we are taking a break in a wagon.” She set off to the back to start looting the mages. Ajax watched her heart shaped ass bounce as she jogged away. He smiled thinking about how lucky he was to be with two beautiful women.
“She’s hot. Do you want to take a bite out of that?” Sky teased him running her hand
along his side.
Ajax looked at the other beauty still in his arms and felt a moment of guilt looking at Missy with Sky still in his embrace. He flushed, opening and closing his mouth not knowing what to say.
“You are cute when you are stumped.” Sky chuckled, giving him a peck on the cheek. She slipped out of his arms and went to join Missy in looting.
Ajax paused, trying to figure things out. Standing there watching both of them, his mind was churning. What was he going to do about his relationships with the girls?
He couldn’t dwell on it too long because one of Remblaar’s men started yelling frantically from the tree line. When Ajax saw him waving his arms, it reminded him of the shot he made before the fight started. Right about there was were he hit the first murloc. Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed Remblaar as he jogged over to the spot.
When he got there, it wasn’t a murloc. No, on the ground a man in mismatched leather armor. He was covered in something like snot.