The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive
Page 39
“Hey, what’s this quest?” asked Rose.
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 5 (Recommended Level 4-5)
You have confirmed the trolls were indeed hired to kill Duke Johnson but more importantly to destroy the Moonshine and the still that made it. Question the leader of the Bandits to find out who hired him.
Reward: Experience
Do you accept this quest?
Yes
No
“It’s a chain I’ve been working on for a while. It would seem, you just got added to it,” I answered, intrigued by the next step of the quest.
“It also just gave me level 4,” said Rose, grinning.
“So, is this normal?” asked Baby, looking to Olaf and Micaela.
“Pretty much,” said Olaf, grinning to match Rose.
“But how did you complete it?” asked Rose.
“Uh, I kind of just overheard a conversation,” I answered honestly, pointing with my thumb over my shoulder toward the barricade.
“Hey, intruders, get them!” shouted a voice from up the tunnel we came from. It drew the attention of all of us.
“It’s a patrol,” shouted Rose in warning as she got back to her feet quickly and rushed to attack.
I was the furthest back, but was fast enough to catch up and run past Rose and the two she engaged with. The last one turned tail and ran, he was a
The attack gave me the time I needed to stop him. I struck as hard as I could, unrelentingly, despite my already low stamina dropping even faster. Eventually, I had to resort to casting ‘Holy Smite’ repeatedly until the man finally perished. I was exhausted when it was done, and the man laid dead. I also felt regret, I didn’t even try to capture him. I was so worried about him escaping and getting help, I just attacked until it was over.
After sitting for a few minutes catching my breath and replenishing my stamina and mana, I began the walk back toward my companions.
While I walked, in an effort to distract myself from my guilt, I reflected on the fight itself. I wondered if I had discovered a new skill or rather a subskill. I opened the blinking exclamation points at the bottom of my UI and was greeted by a wall of text. Many of my skills had gained levels. But the one I was looking for, hoping to find was at the very bottom.
Two-Handed Polearms
Level: 27
Experience: 6.38%
Current Damage Modifiers
Damage: +13.00
Critical Strike Chance: +1.30%
Subskill: Hamstring
Reduce Enemy Movement Speed: 50% Duration: 15 Seconds Enemy Receives Increased Damage: +6.75%
Skill Stamina Cost: 47
I learned a new subskill ‘Hamstring’. It also explained why the ogre took extra damage. And I learned it by accident, which was kind of awesome. I learned ‘Stealth’ skill by doing something specific. It was good to know I could also learn subskills this way, considering all of my subskills so far, had been taught to me either by trainers or from reading books.
When I returned to my group, I saw there was now one more captured bandit. They also appeared to have already replenished their mana and stamina and were just waiting for me.
“I hope there is a wagon down the last tunnel, hauling the prisoners and . . . well, it won’t be easy without one,” stated Olaf, closing the chamber of his hand-cannon.
“We’ll need a team of wagons. Not all of those merchants will be strong enough to walk under their own power,” I replied. Logistics were never something I had to worry about before, but right now, they were a great deal of concern to me.
“Let’s hope the last tunnel has what we need. For now, we need to deal with the self-proclaimed Bandit King,” said Rose, standing up and walking toward the door.
“I wonder if that will be his actual title when we see him?” wondered Olaf aloud.
“Should we knock?” asked Baby.
“It’s only polite,” said Rose, a mischievous grin etched on her face. It wasn’t so much a knock on the door, as it was a mail booted foot, kicking it open. She was first through the door, followed by me then Baby with Olaf and Micaela coming through last.
A quick look around the room revealed a few treasure chests sitting against the back wall, but otherwise, was only occupied a by a single desk and a few chairs. Standing behind the desk was a male dark elf. He really was called the
“Watch for poison,” warned Rose, moving toward the bandit cautiously.
“How dare you invade my base! You will all die for this . . . well, the man and ogres will die. My men will enjoy the ladies a little first. I have never had a fairy before,” the Self-Proclaimed Bandit King said disgustingly. I could almost feel him leering behind his mask as he looked at Rose and Baby.
“Over my dead body,” snarled Rose, moving fast to start the attack. She opened the fight with a ‘Shield Slam’ knocking the man back a step, preventing the double overhand strike he had aimed at her.
Once she had started the fight, I flipped over the desk to begin my own attack. I hit him with my first stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ then tried to ‘Hamstring’ him immediately only for him to dodge when he flipped sideways up on to the desk. He was knocked right off again, when he took a shot to the small of his back from one of Olaf’s hand-cannons, taking a big chunk out of his health. More importantly, it told me he probably knew the ‘Acrobatics’ skill.
Rose took the opportunity to hit him with another ‘Shield Slam’ while he was on the ground, then followed up with a quick stab, piercing into his shoulder between the leather armor pieces. I figured it must have been the ‘Pierce Defense’ skill she learned this morning. The elf screaming in a combination of pain and anger suggested it worked. Further evidenced when the elf ignored Olaf, despite my fear he would pulled aggro from Rose, instead the bandit attacked Rose with a renew voracity.
I hit him with another stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’, then tried to ‘Hamstring’ him again, he rolled instinctively out of my way, much to my frustration. I was pleased though when he rolled back to his feet he got a ball of fire to the face from Micaela’s ax, Sundance.
“Fighting him in melee is no good,” warned Rose. “Stay at range and burn him down with magic. I can barely hit him as it is.”
I understood and took a step back. I renewed my stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ on him then started casting ‘Holy Smite’. I was able to get almost six casts before I had to renew ‘Lesser Holy Fire’.
The fight seemed to be going well. Rose seemed to have him fully under control. I wasn’t expecting to pull aggro. It came as a shock to me, when the bandit vanished, only to reappear behind me. He stabbed both of his blades into my back, sending my HP plummeting and rewarding me with two different poisons. One reducing healing received by 50% and the other preventing wounds from closing which increased bleed damage by 25%.
Thankfully, Olaf shot true, knocking the ma
n away. Less thankfully, he jerked the blades free.
“If you die, run back fast,” shouted Baby, her focus on healing her sister. I took a second to glance at the party bars and Baby’s mana bar was getting lower by the second.
Seeing the rate my HP was ticking down, it was probably inevitable I was going to die in this fight. If Rose was afflicted with the same poisons I was, then Baby couldn’t afford to heal us both.
It also made me realize how stupid I was to have gone after bandits without preparing better. I should have bought antidotes to deal with poisons, as well as some potions. I was arrogant to think this would be easy.
I cast a heal on myself to see how effective or ineffective it would be. Less than +50-HP. I was bleeding -35-HP per second and ‘Lesser Heal’ took 2.00 seconds to cast. If I did nothing but heal myself, I would still die.
Accepting my trip to respawn was inevitable, I did the only thing I could. I burned as much mana as possible as fast as possible on the guy before my inevitable death. Between my ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ and ‘Holy Smite’, I wrought a considerable amount of damage in the short time I had before death. He only had 3% of his total HP remaining, when death claimed me, but he was low enough, I knew my team would prevail.
I wasn’t instantly sent to respawn like I expected. Instead, I was now a ghost watching the end of the fight in muted greyscale. It was odd, I couldn’t move or feel my limbs, I just, kind of, was.
I watched fascinated as the bandit’s health continued to drop all the way to the 1% mark. I could hardly believe it when he moved to dodge a swing from Rose, his feet slipped. His head bounced off the table and he hit the ground unmoving, but with his health still showing 1%. I saw Rose’s lips moving but heard nothing.
I was then greeted with another system message.
Combat has ended with no one in your party capable of reviving you. You will be automatically transported and revived at the nearest graveyard.
Chapter 23
It took me almost thirty minutes to run back to the caves to meet my friends again. A few wolves died along the way for a single point of experience each and few more paws in my collection. The boar charm was also now at 96/100, just four more wolves to completion.
“You finished him okay?” I asked, reentering the room, even though I got to watch the fight to 1% I didn’t get to see them actually win.
“Yeah, we got him,” said Rose, looking rather proud of herself. “He did some weird cutscene at 1%, where he slipped and hit his head on the table, gaining a knocked out and captured status. It was weird, and felt kind of forced, to be honest,” she explained. Then she pointed toward the rest of the waiting group, “Anyway, they decided we should wait for you before talking to him.”
“You didn’t exactly argue against it,” added Olaf.
Rose simply shrugged, then walked over to the chained man. She nudged him with her boot and when he didn’t respond, she kicked him in the gut, getting a gasping cough from the man, who seemed to be wide awake now.
“Wha . . . what is this?” the bandit asked slightly dazed at first but was quick to realize he was chained up. Suddenly much more awake, he began wildly thrashing against his bonds.
“You’ve been captured,” I told him plainly. “Now, you’re going to tell me who hired you to kill the Johnson’s.”
“I am not telling you a thing,” the bandit protested defiantly, glaring at me. The effect was somewhat ruined by his lack of armor and mask or anything that would have been remotely threatening.
“Baby, do you have any more of that slow rot potion left?” I asked, looking at the floating fairy and winking.
“I’m out, but I do have some animal sterilization potion I made for that farmer a few months ago. Those poor bulls, I have never heard such pain from an animal before,” she replied.
“That should work,” I said, looking back at the bandit who was now pale as a ghost and sweating bullets. “What do you think? Will that work for you?”
“I do not know who hired me, not exactly anyway. He was always cloaked. All I know is that he has money, a lot of it. He paid us 10-gold to destroy the moonshine factory and kill the man who ran it,” the bandit answered. It seemed he was more than happy to sing.
“That’s a start, what else? Any detail would help,” I prompted him.
“He wore armor . . . and . . . okay, maybe you will not believe me, but he had very sharp teeth, I only saw a reflection once but . . . I do not know anything else. Now let me go,” the captured bandit pleaded.
“No, you’re going with us back to town along with the rest of your captured men,” I said clearly and with as much authority as my voice could muster.
“Not that, anything but that. He will kill me, he killed my men, the ones that were captured before. I will not stand a chance,” the bandit pleaded.
“That won’t happen again. You and your men will be better protected this time,” I said, believing it to be true. I just couldn’t see Sergeant Butters allowing that to happen again.
“I would rather die on my own terms,” said the man, he chomped his mouth closed hard then clenched his jaw so hard I could see the muscles flex with effort. Then I heard a cracking sound and saw a poisoned debuff appear on the man followed by him dying a second later.
“Suicide?” I asked in disbelief.
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 5 (Recommended Level 4-5) - Completed
You have confirmed the trolls were indeed hired to kill Duke Johnson but more importantly to destroy the Moonshine. Question the leader of the Bandits to find out who hired him.
Reward: +500-Experience
“We didn’t get any answers, how is that completed?” asked Micaela, her arms crossed and looking annoyed. Everyone looked annoyed, even as the next quest popped up.
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 6 (Recommended Level 4-5)
Time to widen your search. Questioning the leader of the bandits revealed the presence of a shadowy figure behind everything. Perhaps it is time to speak to the Johnson’s directly and find out what they know, after all, it was the Johnson’s still the shadowy figure wanted to be destroyed.
Reward: Experience
Do you accept this quest?
Yes
No
“Of course, we accept,” said Rose. “I want to know what is going on here.”
“It is one big bloody mystery, isn’t it?” asked Olaf, unable to keep the silly grin off his face.
“A real life, whodunnit,” said Baby. “Is it wrong to be excited about this? I know the guy just killed himself, but this is one heck of a mystery.”
“It’s not wrong to enjoy the game, it’s why we’re all here. Yeah, it sucks this guy killed himself, but I have to agree, this is getting interesting,” I agreed with the sentiment. I had my theories about who was behind all of this, but they were just theories, nothing I could prove yet.
“Alright, that’s enough lollygagging around here. Let’s deal with the last tunnel and see about getting everyone and everything out of here,” Rose stated before turning back the way we came to lead us back out. There was nothing more to be accomplished here, so I followed her as did everyone else.
The last tunnel was as narrow as the first, but not nearly as long. We found the last three bandits guarding the entrance to a large cavern. They were nothing special and were easily taken out. The room behind them was their stash room. Of the left side of the cavern were half a dozen carts and penned oxen to go with them. The rest of the cavern was filled with crates of stolen merchandise, far too much to transport with just six carts.
“Okay, Olaf and Micaela, can you take two of the carts and oxen down the left passage, free the citizens, load anyone who can’t walk into the cart.”
“We can do that, I’ve got the key. Baby, why don’t you come with us, maybe you can heal them s
ome more,” suggested Olaf.
“Rose, you and I will take a cart and start collecting the bodies and captured bandits.”
Rose only nodded her agreement.
It took almost an hour for Rose and me to collect and load the dead and the prisoners. Some of them decided they wanted to be uncooperative and had to be subdued again. Thankfully, they were easy to subdue as they were still fairly beaten down.
Shockingly, the Self-Proclaimed Bandit King’s body was missing, as was the bag of gold we had been left sitting on the desk. Rose was definitely peeved to have been played so well by the bandit. I thought he might have actually deserved his title of ‘Bandit King’ if he was willing to fake his own death to escape.
After that, we used the last three carts to load up as much of the goods as we could, including the three treasure chests from the room of the Self-Proclaimed Bandit King.
Returning to town was slow and required frequent rest breaks for the former captives but eventually, we returned to town, causing a massive uproar in the process.
“What is the meaning of all this?” demanded Lieutenant Graves, he was stomping down the street toward us at the main gate.
“Run, go get Sergeant Butter,” I whispered to Gavin. The man nodded and took off at a run.
“I said, what is the meaning of all this?” Graves demanded louder.
“The end of your bandit problem,” I answered, meeting the glare of the man. He was just as ornery as the first time I had met him, maybe more so.
“We do not have a bandit problem,” Graves insisted, glaring right back at me.
“Not anymore you don’t,” Rose stood next to me, adding her own glare at the man.
“We were asked by Mayor Semper to look into the missing caravans and merchants. If there isn’t a bandit problem, why would he ask us to look into it?” asked Olaf, adding his own glare at the man.