The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive
Page 37
Rose ran again, this time back to the village, straight past the guards with barely a wave and shout at them as she went. Her run took her down the main street where she nearly ran over three different citizens and had to leap over a large dog that ran into her path. When she reached the temple, she hardly slowed down despite her stamina bar being depleted severely.
“Rose, you have returned,” Trinico greeted her with a kind smile.
“I need blood,” Rose stated bluntly, between gasps of breath, earning a shocked look from Trinico. “Just a vial of blood. My goddess set me a quest to obtain 5 unique blood samples. Will you help me?”
Trinico’s expression quickly calmed. “Thank goodness, I worried for a moment there. Of course, I will help you.”
“Thank you,” Rose replied, handing a vail to Trinico. She then rushed over to Micaela. When she got to her, she looked indecisive for a moment then poked the ogre in the shoulder.
No reaction.
Rose tried giving her a little shake.
No reaction.
“Give her a slap,” said Trinico, having watched the attempts.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Rose replied.
“She has got thick skin. You will not hurt her,” the priestess assured her.
The slap rang out loudly filling the almost empty building with an echoing clap of skin striking skin.
“Owee, why’d you slap me?” asked Micaela, rubbing her cheek, now sporting an angry red handprint.
Rose also appeared to be in pain. “What are you made of? Solid stone?” she asked, cradling her aching hand.
“Rose, you may want to get to the point. You seemed to be in a hurry a moment ago,” Trinico pointed out.
“Right, I need your blood,” Rose stated, looking Micaela in the eyes.
“Will you die of thirst or something if you don’t drink some blood? Do you have to drink blood often? How much blood do you need? Will it send me to respawn? Could I become a half-ogre, half-vampire shaman?” Micaela rattled off questions.
Rose expected shock or fear at the request, not to be bombarded with questions. “Slow down,” she pleaded. “I need a sample of your blood for my class quest. I’ve only got a few minutes left. Can you help me?”
“Sure,” said Micaela, turning her head slightly and pulling back her shirt a little to better expose her neck.
“Not like that,” Rose nearly shouted. “Here, in the vial,” she held out the little glass tube.
“Oh, heh-heh,” Micaela chuckled. “Makes sense.”
With just a minute left on the timer, Rose returned to the altar of Lilith in the basement of the temple.
“I’ve returned my goddess,” Rose stated as clearly as she could, while still slightly out of breath.
“Sso, you have,” hissed an amused voice from all around her.
Rose waited with some trepidation for whatever was to happen next.
“I ssupposse you have potential. Are you prepared to sswear yoursself to me?” hissed the voice.
“I am,” Rose answered.
“Kneel,” ordered the voice, sounding closer now.
Rose kneeled before the altar. Then she saw the source of the voice or what she thought was the source. It was a tiny little mottled green and brown snake, how it could speak in such a loud and powerful voice was strange. It was stranger still, to see the snake enlarging before her eyes. Shifting, bubbling and bending into a new form. Into that of a beautiful young girl with dark raven locks of hair, black lips, black eye-liner and a black, overly dramatic dress that seemed to be alive and moving. A closer look at the dress showed it was not a dress, but snakes of the darkest black in constant motion, covering the girl. The young girl before her was the perfect gothic Lolita if one ever existed.
“Do you sswear yoursself to sserve me and my interesstss above all otherss?” asked the Goddess Lilith, now with the voice of a young girl, fitting her current appearance.
“I swear it,” answered Rose confidently, sure this was what she wanted.
“Gift the blood,” ordered the Goddess Lilith.
Rose took out the five vials and offered them.
“You shall drink one ssip and I shall drink the resst. Thiss magic sshall bind uss” ordered the Goddess.
Rose frowned at the idea of drinking blood, but she had come this far. She was not about to back down now. She uncorked a vial and took a sip, then handed the vial and the remaining blood within it to the Goddess Lilith who drank the rest. By the fifth vial, Rose was fighting back the urge to vomit, but that would not be a good idea in front of her goddess.
“The ritual iss complete. I now offer you the classs of Ssquire Vampiric Knight. Do you accept?” asked the childlike goddess.
“I do,” said Rose, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Little Pantherophis, will you accept this ssquire as your masster? Will you protect and guide her in my sservice?” the goddess asked, looking at her hand, confusing Rose. When Rose tried to look closer, she saw a little black snake, presumably a former part of the dress, was now coiled up in the hand of the goddess, its eyes completely white.
“You honor thiss blind sservant, misstresss. It would pleasse me to sserve,” hissed Pantherophis in reply.
“I expect great thingss from the both of you, young ssquire, young sservant,” said the Goddess Lilith with finality before she began to shrink until only a single black snake remained, taking the in place of the mottled green snake. The same snake, which only moments before sat upon the Goddess’s hand.
“I greet you masster. I am Pantherophis, your companion from thiss day forward,” said the diminutive snake.
“I get a snake?” asked Rose.
“And if you sserved Dracula, he would no doubt asssign one of his foul batss to guide you,” hissed Pantherophis.
“Guide me?” Rose asked, still unclear on how all of this worked.
“Yess, I am your guide. I will help you grow your Vampiric sskillss and blood magicss. I will alsso fight at your sside, though I am sstill young and will not be of much usse for a while. As I gain in sstrength you will be able to choosse sskillss and sspellss you wish me to know,” explained the little snake.
“That is so cool,” Rose whispered, a smile beginning to brighten her face. “Are you a constrictor or a venomous snake?”
“I am whatever you need me to be,” he answered. “You will choosse as I get sstronger.”
“Right, so I select your skills when you level up,” Rose stated, confirming what she thought the snake had said.
“A blunt way to put it, but yess,” he stated, his tongue flicking the air. “Pleasse alsso remember, I am blind. I cannot ssee what you cannot ssee. Your eyess are my eyess from thiss day forth.”
“I’m Rose Thorns, it’s nice to meet you Pantherophis,” said the young woman, offering her hand palm up to the snake.
Pantherophis slithered forward onto the hand and then under the armor and along Rose’s arm, causing her to giggle from the tickling sensation until he re-emerged from the neck opening in her armor. The small snake then curled around Rose’s neck, not unlike a necklace, the tip of the tail hooking it in place.
“So, Panther, can I call you Panther? Never mind, I’m just gonna call you Panther. What next?” Rose asked.
“We get sstronger,” Panther answered. “You are not quite ready for blood magic and your only available vampiric sskill requiress you drink blood, ssomething you sseem to dislike.”
Rose cringed a little. “Yeah, I don’t care for the taste of blood. I don’t suppose I could mix it with something else?”
“You can mix it with almost anything you prefer. Jusst bear in mind, it will quickly losse potency and musst be drunk or eaten immediately upon mixing,” he answered.
“That works perfectly for me,” Rose said. “A vial with a little blood, mix in a little vodka and I’m good to go.”
“That is alcohol yess?” Panther asked.
“Yes.”
“Then n
o, think more along the line of juice or as gravy on ssomething you eat,” suggested Panther.
Rose deflated with that. “Lame.”
“Necesssary, alcohol killss the blood,” he explained.
“Bumber, but it makes sense. Alcohol can kill just about anything and it dulls the senses. I suppose, I don’t to be impaired need when I’m supposed to be fighting anyway,” Rose reasoned.
“Indeed,” he replied. “Any other questionss or can we proceed with getting sstronger?”
“I suppose,” replied Rose, rising back to her feet from where she had been kneeling.
“Rose, you’re back,” shouted Baby, seeing her sister return from the basement.
“You bet I am,” Rose replied cheerfully. “And I’m a Vampiric Knight.”
“Ssquire Vampire Knight of Lilith, it is alwayss besst to be precisse when you sserve a goddess lesst they take offensse,” warned Panther.
“Sorry, didn’t know,” Rose replied.
“Did you just hiss at me?” asked Baby, her head cocked to the side and looking confused.
“Those who do not sserve the goddess cannot sspeak my tongue,” explained Panther, from his place around Rose’s neck.
“Woah, I speak snake now,” grinned Rose.
“Should we start calling you ‘She who-” I started but was cut off by hissing from around Rose’s neck.
“May we kill him?” asked Panther, moving slightly to glare at the man responsible for making his mistress’s heart race and her blood boil.
“No,” hissed Rose too quickly. “He’s useful to us. He will help us get stronger.”
“Very well,” accepted Panther, not sounding overly pleased to have done so.
“Um, Sis, you know you’ve got a snake around your neck, right?” asked Baby, pointing a slightly shaking arm and finger toward the snake necklace.
“Yeah, this is Panther, isn’t he awesome. The Goddess Lilith gifted him to me. He’s my companion and as we get stronger, he can fight with us,” Rose quickly explained to her sister.
“Panther, this is my sister Babies Breath, no biting her, scaring her is fine, but make sure she deserves it,” Rose hissed, pointing to her sister.
Then she looked at me before hissing again.
“You can bite Bye-bye if says or does something stupid but don’t kill him,” she hissed instructions.
“Why do I get the feeling, Panther and I are not going to get along?” I asked, not liking the look on either of their faces.
“Brave, but stupid, mate,” commented Olaf. “Anyway, now that we’re all back together again, let’s get to work on that quest.”
“What about going to Giggle-Ana’s?” I asked.
“It’s only coming up on noon. I figure if we can get through this quest by 2:00 or 3:00 this afternoon, we should have plenty of time,” explained Olaf, getting a nod of understanding.
“That could work,” Bye-bye replied.
“Great, so we’re all ready to get out of here,” said Rose. “Trini, it’s been fun. See you tomorrow.”
“It was nice to meet you and your sister. Please keep each other safe,” Trinico requested.
“We will,” said Baby. “Now let’s go on an adventure.”
“Order of Epic Adventurers let’s go!” shouted Micaela, dramatically pointing an arm and finger toward the temple doors.
“We’re not naming it that,” said Olaf and I together.
“But guys,” whined Micaela.
“Interesting friends we’ve made, huh?” asked Baby, fluttering next to her sister.
“Yeah, interesting . . . but fun,” Rose replied, grinning a little. “Hey, what’s this Order business?” she called running to catch up to them, Baby flying along right next to her.
Chapter 22
“Do you see any tracks, Bye-bye,” asked Olaf, waiting, not exactly patiently, for me to find something to chase.
“Tons of tracks. But I need to find the right tracks,” I explained, feeling his impatience. There were too many tracks all around the portal to the World Tree. I was looking for tracks leading away from the portal dais, most of which followed the road. It was almost twenty-yards north of the portal when I finally found a lot of tracks that didn’t belong. It was really odd too, they just kind of started out of nowhere, wagon tracks and a large number of footprints.
“Found them,” I shouted to my group.
“That’s pretty far from the portal,” commented Rose, echoing my own thoughts.
“Yes, it is, I don’t know why it doesn’t go right up to the portal itself, but these are most likely the tracks we need to follow.”
“Could they have covered up their tracks? Is that why they appeared suddenly? I mean, even I can see the wagon wheel indentations,” added Baby, flying nearby.
“Only one way to find out,” said a grinning Olaf, his hands inching towards his weapons.
Admittedly, I was kind of anxious to see what they could do too.
“Lead the way, Bye-bye, we’re behind you,” said Rose grinning. “That way if something goes wrong, you die first.”
“She’s all hugs and kisses, isn’t she?” I asked, looking to Baby for help.
“Nope, I’m staying out of it,” said Baby, raising her arms in surrender. “You two can bicker and flirt as much as you want, just keep me out of it.”
“Flirt?” asked Rose. “Are you drunk?”
“Must be, if she thinks you and I flirt with each other,” I added. “No offense, but you’re not my type.”
“Oh please, anything with a pulse if your type,” retorted Rose.
“Vampires are undead, right? That would mean you’re not my type. Besides, I prefer nice girls,” I poked at her.
“Are you saying I’m not nice?” asked Rose, taking a fist full of my shirt.
I looked down at my shirt in her grip. “Case in point.”
“Yeah, whatever,” said Rose, pushing me back a step. “Just . . . show us where to go.”
I rolled my eyes but moved forward anyway. We followed the trail north, pretty close to the mountainous eastern border. This was also where we encountered the first mountain lion we had seen.
It was slightly larger than one of the wolves we encountered near the village, and its level was higher too. The
Then it was our turn. Rose taunted the lion and hit it hard with a ‘Shield Slam’, dazing it. I didn’t even get a chance, to attack, to get any measure of revenge, because Olaf finally got the chance to use his hand-cannons on a real target. It took two shots for Olaf to kill it, then the man reloaded and took two more shots for good measure. When it was done, it wouldn’t have mattered if any of us had the ‘Scavenge’ skill. The only remains, after just four shots, was pulp.
“So, I may have overdone it,” said Olaf, grinning sheepishly.
“Overdone it he says,” laughed Rose. “A bit understated, don’t you think?”
“At least he got it out of his system now,” said Micaela. “Won’t happen again, will it?” There was a glint in her eyes daring Olaf to contradict her.
“No, you’re right. I got it out of my system,” said Olaf, wisely accepting.
“I should hope so,” I replied, focusing on casting my own ‘Lesser Heal’ to bring my HP back up to full. “So, how are we going to proceed? That cat pretty much wrecked me.”
“Obviously, I’ll have to go first,” said Rose. “Just, tell me where to go.”
We resumed our northbound route, only encountering one more of those lions. It was dealt with in short order, between me and Olaf. This encounter also made me aware of something I had not yet encountered, friendly fire. Wh
en one of Olaf’s shots went wide, it happened to graze my arm, nearly taking it off, as the miniature cannonball passed. Once again, it was only thanks to Baby, I did not lose my arm, which started another discussion of curiosity. Would limbs grow back if healed? We also had to discuss, how we would deal with friendly fire, and how we can avoid it in the future.
It made the walk north go quicker, we had a curiosity to discuss. Before we knew it, we were standing by the waterfall, I had previously mapped. What I hadn’t mapped, or even seen before, was the path behind the waterfall leading into a cave system.
“Dungeon or just a cave?” asked Olaf.
“There aren’t dungeons in the starting provinces,” stated Baby matter-of-factly.
“But if there were, I’m pretty sure Bye-bye would be the one to find it,” said Olaf confident in me.
Baby looked like she wanted to retort but held back. Eventually, she agreed, “You may have a point.”
“Anyway, I don’t think this is a dungeon. There is no barrier or anything leading into the cave,” I replied. The entrance was as wide as the waterfall and branched into three different tunnels, each wide enough to fit a wagon or more inside. There were also tracks and wagon indentations going down all three paths.
“Which way do we go?” asked Micaela.
“Left,” said Rose.
“Why left?” asked Micaela.
“Why not left?” asked Rose, grinning. Her sword and shield were already out in front of her and leading us into the cave system taking the leftmost tunnel.
Thankfully, the tunnel was at least ten feet high, so Micaela and Olaf had no problem fitting, though the width of the tunnel didn’t allow for them to stand shoulder to shoulder. Best of all, the tunnel was well lit. A little looking around and I was of the opinion, these bandits had set up shop pretty well in here. Torches were mounted to the walls at regular intervals and the floor was relatively smooth. Less thankfully, there were several blind corners.
We must have been about two or three hundred yards into the tunnel when we came across our first patrol. We were just turning one of those blind corners, when three humanoids, a male orc with a large two-handed sword, a troll female with two daggers and a human with a bow, were also turning the same corner.