For a while we kept up the banter, something that I guess comes from spending most every day together. We were outside, and that was a plus, but there wasn’t anything to really fill each other in on. I’d known that, despite my many speeches about how I didn’t like charity, Gerald had gone right ahead and played game after game with our work colleagues to make sure I didn’t lose out on anything in those lost two weeks.
And he knew that I’d been working on taking care of myself, and that I was as fit as fiddle.
As a result all that mattered to us was the moment we were in, there was no living in the past on that day, it was all about the future which, if we continued eating as we did that day, was filled with obesity and diabetes.
“This is so good, innit?” I said over the mouthfuls of burger bun and meat.
Gerald either nodded or was biting down on his burger like a zombie, either way he was having a good time.
Then his phone rang.
“Hey Phillip!” he said enthusiastically as he wiped his hands off on a napkin, “How are yo- oh… Okay… Sure thing. Yeah, yeah, not a problem at all. Yeah. See you in a bit.”
I waited for him to hang up and start getting ready to go, “Is everything okay?” I asked, the fear that some other grand tragedy had occurred.
“Yeah!” Gerald almost shouted with a smile as he stood up, “Linda’s gone home sick and they need someone to fill in. I hope that’s alright?”
I was a bit hurt, not in a needy way, just in that the universe seemed so damn intent on annoying me, “Yeah, course. I’ll handle this.” I said, pulling out my card.
“You’re sure?”
I nodded, “Yes, now get a move on. Phillip never calls people in unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You’re the best,” he said as he started his run past me, giving me a little kiss on the head that was very nearly a head-butt, “love you!”
“Love you too.” I said cheerfully as I walked over to the server and pressed my card to the machine she offered.
That’s around the time I started to get excited, I could finally go home and log some hours.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love spending time with Gerald, it was just that I felt obliged to go out and do the whole relationship thing since I was freed from the shackles of bedrest. In no way is that negative though, I really did love him, and I loved spending time with him, but from the moment I got on the tube right to the point where it reached West Ham I felt absolutely electric.
As I stepped out of the station and into the open air I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief join the joyous emotions I was experiencing. Sure, I hadn’t gotten into Aldok Dethrisr’s hideout, I hadn’t even made it to the bloody MoDA yet, but that stuff wasn’t causing me anxiety anymore, it was filling me with excitement.
The fact that I was going home to a half dozen unfinished quests let me know that things were going to get done, I was going to get things done. I was in control of my own destiny and no one could take that from me.
Oh, sweet innocence, how thou toyed with me.
I suppose I shouldn’t complain though, the reason we have bad times is so that the good times are that much better. We smile when we can so that when we aren’t it doesn’t hurt as much.
Man, I am bad a poetry.
Anyway, it may have been the few weeks away from the game, or maybe just the fact that I’d survived being thrown from a moving car, but I had a whole new outlook on life. I, as crazy as it would’ve seemed a month prior, was actually eager to play Legends of Tarthirious.
So much so, in fact, that when I got into my building I didn’t even bother saying hello to Lily as she started her jog down the stairs, not out of rudeness, but because by the time I’d registered she’d waved to me it was well past the point of quirky awkwardness and into the territory of me having to chase her down stalker-slasher style.
I got into my flat, after a good few seconds of trying to remember how the key went in of course, and didn’t bother checking to see if my television was missing, it wasn’t by the way, and ran straight for the Rig Room.
With popstar level pizazz, I burst into the room and, despite every bone in my body screaming to run around, forced myself to calm down.
After a few paced breaths I cross the room to my chair and turned it to face me, at which point I decided to sort of hover above it before finally giving in to my baser urges.
My chair gave a happy sounding squeak as I slid into it, my back immediately giving itself over to the temptation to lean against the cushiony support. It had been a rough few weeks, there was no denying that, but that return to formula, that beautiful moment of freedom and relaxation, it washed away the pain and grief.
I smiled as I spun the chair back around and rolled forward before starting up Armelia’s rig, the buzzing and whirring of the beast awakening coming out as music to my ears. Without really thinking about it, I shifted the keyboard around a few times before accepting that it was in the right place to begin with.
That’s when I noticed something odd. My keyboard, as I went to type in my login details, had started to make some unnatural clicks and clacks, like a mechanical keyboard that’d had pieces of corn chips wedged under the keys.
I thought that it might’ve had something to do with a lack of use, but then I discovered that the mouse was making almost the exact same noise and pulled my hands away. Clearly someone had been using my things, and not only that, they’d broken them as well.
With a furrowed brow I went to send a message to Gerald to see if he’d let anyone in to look at my Rig Room, but stopped when the keyboard made the sound without me touching it, my fingers a full inch from the keys.
That’s when I started to get an inkling of what was actually going on.
I held both my hands just above the keyboard and, after a few seconds of debate, started typing in the air and heard the clicking. Perhaps the appropriate reaction would’ve been to call the hospital, or, at the very least, stop moving my fingers in that way.
But I didn’t.
No, I was far too amused at my newfound special ability.
After a few more seconds of playing around with fake typing I turned my hands to face me and smiled, wiggling my fingers curiously, “Right,” I said with a laugh, “let’s get back to work.”
Legends of Tarthirious
Book Three of Kylia’s Story
A LitRPG
by
Zachariah Dracoulis
For Mum,
Taking care of four kids is a prick of a thing, we’re lucky to have you.
Armelia: Chapter 1
Welcome back Armelia Fireheart.
Transaction occurred:
Grand Gerry the Good gave you a gift.
+9750 gold.
14,100 gold.
My eyes practically rolled out of my head. I couldn’t believe what he’d done for me while I was in the hospital, and everyone else of course, but it was Geral-… Gerry, who banded the team together to not only help me take care of my regular financials, but also to give me enough overhang to get back into it.
I was going to pay him back every piece, I promised myself that right then and there, and in order to do that I needed to get back on mission, which I’m not too proud to admit I’d forgotten all about.
Current mission: Overdue.
Objective: Take Relian Tyos’ Guide to Spellcrafting to Joliv Fren.
I chuckled a little at the lack of change. Life had gone on all around me while I stood waiting in that courtyard, days had flooded by while a young druid stared blankly ahead, clutching a book to her chest.
At least, that’s the way I liked to see it.
After a few more moments of allowing myself to enjoy the beautiful blue sky above me, I made the decision to return the book.
There were a million and one things I wanted to do, a lot of them involving cathartic slaughter of lesser daemons, however the primary thing I really wanted to do was get my life back on track. Pursue t
he magic arts, not just to get into that bastard’s hideout either, but because I wanted to have a sense of purpose beyond simply making money.
It’s funny, though the clock had come to the point where I had barely two months left to square away everything, I had an unending desire to have a direction and not simply do every little thing that happened to get in my way.
At the same time I wanted to have some fun, as opposed to what I’d done and saw as the major failing point when I’d gotten out of jail. I was less concerned with behaving like Tarthirious was some kind of real world, don’t get me wrong, in a lot of ways it was, but by taking it so seriously last time I’d forced myself to take on a bunch of random quests that didn’t really amount to anything.
It was in that moment that I decided I’d set myself some real goals, things I could have fun with that I could do in my own time. So wrote a little list in my journal, making sure not to make them too serious or complicated, and definitely not as if they’d been written by a woman in the middle ages, which meant no ‘doth’s, ‘thine’s, or ‘don’th’s.
My knowledge of middle age literacy isn’t exactly comprehensive.
Custom Journal entry made.
Learn magic.
Complete the guild quests, the major ones anyway.
Bust down Dethrisr’s door.
Kick Dethrisr’s arse.
Collect reward with Gerry.
Go to the MoDA.
RETURN BOOK.
That last one was written more as a simple goal to sort of get me on my way I think, a little ego booster to help my emotional fortitude.
And it was working.
I swear I burst into that library like the only way I could save the world was with an amazing catwalk routine. Thinking about the way I strutted up to that poor librarian still makes me anxious to this day, like seeing someone on a TV show coming up with a lie in the middle of a public speaking event.
He didn’t seem to mind though and simply went on reading the tome he’d been reading since I was last there, “Given up already? Why am I not surpri-”
I silenced him with the loud thud that came along with me dropping Relian’s book, before giving him a less than modest look.
Relian Tyos’ Guide to Spellcrafting removed.
The Master Librarian looked from the book to me a couple more times before finally getting his blasé expression back, “Good job, I suppose. Took your time though. Here,” he said, dropping a sack of gold on the desk and taking the book, “it’s probably more than you deserve. Come back if you’re interested in tracking down a few more books.”
I took the gold and frowned at it a moment.
+25 gold.
14,125 gold.
I wasn’t going to let my discomfort with weird numbers get to me on that day though, so I stuffed it in my knapsack and gave Joliv a polite nod, “Thank you for your business.”
“Fine, good, go away.”
Mission Completed: Overdue.
+200 XP.
Progress: 1920/3000.
I was glad to be out of the Librarian’s presence, and even more so to discover when I returned to my room that a glowing engraving of a tree had appeared on my door.
“First step,” I said with a smile as I scratched one thing off my list and pushed open the door, “first step to- ah!” I shrieked when I saw Gerry sitting on his bed, “What are you doing here? I thought you had… outside questing?”
He gave me a funny look then one of realisation, “Ah, you mean work. Well, you see, the thing about that is-”
“You’re supposed to be working but instead you’re here, right?”
Gerry chuckled and shook his head, “Close, and I can see why you’d think that, but no. No, Phillip just needed a hand with something, all’s well now though.”
My smile returned, “Good. Well… what do you want to do?”
“What were you going to do?”
I shrugged and opened up my quest log again, “Could do the first class, I suppose.” I said as if it wasn’t the one I’d been thinking about since I got back in.
Current mission: First Class.
Objective: Meet Your Class at the Girit Outskirt Swamp After Dark.
“Sounds good to me,” he said with a grin as he jumped up to his feet, “let’s go.”
And the efficiency went on, and that made me feel good.
It’s not that I didn’t want to spend more time catching up on his day or anything, but the fact that he was as happy as I was to get stuck into it as I was made me more than a little relieved.
“What do you know about this mission?” Gerry asked as we rode Shadow-Stal through town, “Any ideas on what we might be up against?”
“Probably nothing major,” I said, hiding my nervousness, “but that’s why I wanted to head out early, scope out the area and see what Vilor can throw at us.”
I wasn’t sure what had me on edge, though I had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that with Gerry there the challenge was going to be even more intense than the normal mage stuff.
The last thing I wanted to see was a bunch of non-essential NPCs, or even other low-level players who were along for the ride, get slaughtered by whatever was the next step up from a pack of shadow wolves.
Up until the point where we reached the swamp, the only thing that came from Gerry being there was a pile of guilt that no doubt came from his generosity, and it was kind of starting to bum me out.
Then he smiled at me and all that went away, like a million little butterflies had flown by me and I was left with a warm fuzzy feeling afterwards.
“So,” Gerry said as we dismounted and the Girit Outskirt Swamp discovered prompt faded away, “where do we go from here?”
I looked around the foul smelling area we were in, and, well, it was pretty swampy. Kind of disappointed me with how uncreative the designers had been with it, but at the same time it did what it had to do, stink, bubble, and occasionally roar just to make me feel uncomfortable.
“I guess we just have a look around? See if we can find an entrance or something?”
“Sounds good, wanna split up?”
I nodded, “You go left, I’ll go right, shout if you see anything.”
We each took our paths and I did my best to try and not enjoy the solitude of my journey. I was able to focus on every reed, bubble, and toad that happened to cross my path without the distraction of another person there that I needed to constantly make happy and comfortable.
I sound like a right bitch, I know that, but imagine if you were stuck in hospital and were constantly surrounded by people that wanted to make you feel better, it gets overwhelming.
I’m really not doing myself any favours by trying to explain myself, am I?
Whatever, I did my best.
It was at about the halfway point in my circuit that I noticed something in the water just a few feet from the shore. Thinking it was some kind of secret entrance I waded in, not even thinking to call for Gerry, and started running my hands over it, triggering some kind of reaction.
Your eyes flutter closed as your hands trace the hard shell, you feel some kind of life inside, something crying for help.
That was all I needed to hear to pull out my sword and start slashing wildly, sending chips of the hard shell in every direction.
“You found something?” I heard Gerry ask as he ran around the swamp toward me.
“I think so, but there’s no HP or anything.” I was starting to wonder if there was any point in what I was doing, or if I was simply damaging my sword.
My sword had reached 72/100 in terms of durability, and I was right about to give up when, without warning, the tip of my blade became embedded in the shell and the option to pry it open became available.
Really probably should’ve taken that as my first sign not to do it, but you know what they say…
Armelia: Chapter 2
“Oh… that’s bad.” I said as I pried open the shell and the unmistakable stench of death waf
ted over me.
Six sets of dead, faintly glowing green eyes stared up at me from the pit that was their home as water from the swamp flooded into the shell. That’s how they stayed as well, staring and waiting, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before the afternoon sun hit their rotting flesh as the pit filled and they floated to the top.
“Out of the swamp?” Gerry asked as if there were any other bloody option.
I was already slogging my way out before he’d started speaking, getting as far away as I could from what I’d opened before the notification went off meaning they were on my heels.
Water was their domain after all.
Armelia Fireheart has awoken the swamp lurkers.
6x Level 22 Swamp Lurkers, HP: 1200/1200.
Swamp Lurker discovered.
Journal entry made.
I made it to the shore and looked back to see them steaming through the swamp toward me, and Gerry was nowhere to be seen.
“Gerry!?” I cried as I bolted for a boulder on the other side of the swamp, “Gerry! I could really use some help right about now!”
The zombielike creatures kept up with me, their ability to zip through water unlike almost any other amphibious monster in Tarthirious. I was lucky though, and still managed to make it to the boulder before I could be turned into afternoon tea, scrambling up the ten foot tall mossy grey rock to where they couldn’t reach me.
“Gerry!” I felt like such a damsel in distress, and screaming for help wasn’t doing my credibility any favours, but, to be fair, the lurkers were damn creepy.
“I’m stuck!” he shouted from somewhere in the swamp.
“What do you mean you’re stuck!?” I growled back in annoyance as the lurkers finally shambled their way onto dry land where they were significantly slower but still deadly, their wet clothes and flesh, torn and degraded from the years of living underwater.
“I went to run away and I somehow vaulted into the shell! Bloody thing closed on me and now I can’t find a way out!”
Legends of Tarthirious : Books One-Four of Kylia's Story (Legends of Tarthirious (A LitRPG)) Page 27