Level Up!...
Level Up!...
Level Up!...
Level up! You have reached level 41!
You have earned one attribute point.
Mace nearly passed out from the sensation of leveling twelve times in a few seconds. The game was designed to grant a feeling of pleasure to reward players for each level. The higher the level, the better the feeling. What Mace just felt was making him lightheaded.
Coming back to his senses, he ducked behind the lizard’s head and crept around to look for the spawn. It, too, lay dead on the ice. The lizard’s jaw still clamped down on its neck, which was now twisted at an odd angle. The last twitch from the lizard must have snapped the spawn’s neck.
Mace bent to loot the lizard, then the spawn. A flood of loot descriptions filled his UI. He waved them aside for a moment. Still feeling a little woozy from the leveling rush, and whatever his dagger had done to him, he sat down on one of the spawn’s arms, which was the size of a log. He took out a flask and drank a few gulps of water.
As expected, the two kobolds came racing up. They tackled Mace in a celebratory dogpile that knocked him backwards onto the ice. When he got back up, he was covered in the black ichor that was probably the spawn’s blood. So were the Kobolds, but they didn’t seem to notice.
“You killed dragon AND water monster!” Truffle shouted. Shook nodded his head so hard that Mace imagined his brain must be getting bruised. “You greatest warrior EVER!” Shook added.
Mace held up his hands, trying to quiet them down. “They killed each other. All I did was get caught between them, piss them off, then get out of the way. Then I finished off the lizard when it was too hurt to defend itself.”
The two kobolds looked at him blankly. Then Truffle grinned. “Greatest warrior EVER!” and pumped a fist in the air. Shook copied him. Mace just shook his head. “Why don’t you two harvest the bodies while I rest? Bring me a few of the lizard’s teeth, and it’s eye. And bring me one of the spawn’s tentacles, both its eyes, and a couple of its claws. Be quick, before scavengers start to show up.” he instructed. The two kobolds whipped out knives and dove into their work.
As he sat there in a daze, Mace felt Minx settle back onto his shoulder. He reached up to pet her invisible form, whispering “Are you okay little Minx? Did you get clear in time?”
He felt her response as a tingle in the back of his mind. “I am fine. You are slow. I explored while you sat on rock. Found nest. Lots of shinies, but smells big bad.”
Minx is speaking in sentences now! She must have leveled up along with me.
Minx gave a tiny snort that reminded him of Shari. “Of course I leveled. We are bonded. Silly elf.”
Mace wasn’t sure he was ready for the little creature to be reading his mind, so he answered out loud. “You said a nest? Where?” He facepalmed, looking at the trail of destruction left by the rampaging lizard. “Never mind, I can find it.” He said.
Getting onto his feet, he called out to the kobolds. “Follow me when you are done. I’m going to Grandpa’s nest.” He pointed toward the path.
Following the obvious path back along the lizard’s route, they soon came to a wide low spot in the floor. The stone was worn smooth and glossy, as if it had been polished repeatedly for decades. Maybe centuries. Mace imagined the giant lizard’s scaly skin rubbing against the stone every day, over and over. How old must that thing have been?
Looking down into the impression, he saw that it was indeed a nest. It was filled with crushed stone, mushroom husks, and bones. Scattered about were bits of armor and broken weapons. As well as coins and gems, and other ‘shinies’ as Minx had called them. She was right about the smell, too.
At the center of the pile sat four large egg-shaped stones. Not all that anxious to slide down into the smelly nest, Mace tried to Identify the stones.
Petramander Behemoth Eggs (4)
Level: 0
Health: 1,000/1,000
“Well shit, Minxy. Grandpa was a grandma. Or rather, a mama. No wonder she was so angry. She was protecting her nest.”
Minx appeared on his shoulder, fully visible now. She tickled his nose with her tail, just as she’d done on their first day together. Then she was off his shoulder and down in the nest. She was quickly snatching up coins and gems, and they were just as quickly disappearing into her pouch.
Mace chuckled. “You really are quite the little thief. Let me save you some time.” He said as he stepped down into the nest. He bent down and put a hand on it, then thought “Loot all”
In a flash, his UI was once again full of notifications. He quickly scrolled through them, discarding several dozen items of broken armor or weapons, or things like tattered cloth. The kobolds showed up just as he was finishing, and gazed longingly at the pile. They handed him his requested loot, and waited. With a shrug, he said “Help yourselves.”
They dove gleefully into the nest, showing each other a broken sword, or dented helmet they’d found. They scooped up everything made of metal that they could get their hands on, then walked back up out of the nest grinning. “Good stuff!” Shook said.
Mace motioned for Truffle to take the lead again, and they jogged back to the scene of the battle. Mace was tempted to try and find the spawn’s nest. But the inky black water changed his mind. He offered the kobolds the chance, and they both stepped back, shaking their heads. “Bad water.” Shook offered.
So they continued on their path. This time Truffle set a faster pace. He turned down one tunnel, then another, never pausing. When they stepped into a small cavern and crossed it without even looking, Mace called a halt.
“Truffle, have you gone crazy? You just ran right into a cavern.” he scolded.
Shook reached out and touched a splotch of the black ichor on Mace’s arm. “We smell like boss monsters. Nothing here get close to us. Beasties smell us, run away!” he grinned. Truffle nodded his head.
“Huh. I hadn’t thought of that. I should have gathered some of that stuff in a vial. Could come in handy.” Mace mused. He waved at Truffle, and they continued on. They stopped a few times for water, and once for a meal. They were making better time than Mace could ever have planned. This boss stink was like an express pass.
Six hours later, they emerged from a tunnel onto a rocky foothill. The sky was filled with stars. It took Mace a moment to adjust to the wide-open sky after being in the tunnels for so long. All three of them blinked at the light from the stars and the moon.
Mace checked his map. He knew from the game wiki that the elven lands were to the east and south. But his map was just a grey area except for the few hundred feet around him.
Truffle pulled on his sleeve, pointing south, down the hill. “Our tribe this way. You come. Good meal. Safe sleep.”
Mace looked at his quest log. They had reached the surface. He should have gotten a quest completion notification. Upon reading the quest description, he noted the phrasing. “Keep them alive until they see the sun again.” Figures they would emerge at night.
Not wanting to pass up the xp, even after the levels he’d achieved, he agreed to follow the kobolds home. The three of them jogged down the hill for maybe forty minutes before Truffle led them into a gully that Mace hadn’t noticed. At the end of the gully was a small cave entrance. Mace ducked inside after the kobolds. It turned out there wasn’t a cave, just a short tunnel that curved to one side for about twenty yards, then sloped up to an exit.
Upon leaving the tunnel, Mace was amazed to find a small town in a valley before him. There was a wooden palisade with a gate. Through the open gate Mace could see stone and wooden houses, a blacksmith’s shop, and what looked like a tavern. Kobolds walked the walls and the streets inside.
“This our home.” Shook said. “Long time away. Go see family now!” and he dashed down the hill. Truffle took off after him, and Mace followed.
Unfortunately, to the guards below, it must have looked as if Mace was chasing the two kobolds with the intent to do th
em harm. A horn was blown from a tower next to the gate. People began to scramble, and soldiers rushed to the wall. Mace didn’t think anything of it, assuming it was some kind of welcome home celebration. He saw Shook and Truffle shouting and waving their hands, and kobolds on the wall motioning for them to hurry forward.
Mace was approaching the wall, thinking how nice it was that his two hunters were getting such a homecoming, when an arrow struck his knee. He lost his balance and tumbled several feet further down the hill. The small kobold-sized arrow shaft broke as he tumbled. “Ow! Shit!” he cursed.
He looked up at the wall in time to see a hail of arrows speeding his way. There wasn’t even time to activate his liquid armor. He felt the first several impacts, and the burning pain of the poisoned arrowheads cutting into his body. Then nothing.
You have died.
You may choose to respawn at your most recent bind point, or remain with your corpse, and resurrect it after a ten-minute wait period. Your resurrected avatar will have 50% health, and a two-hour debuff.
Respawn at your bind point? Yes/No
Not wanting to be sent all the way back to the boss-monster cavern, Mace selected ‘No’ and sat thinking about creative ways to cook and eat kobolds. With ten minutes to kill, he decided to check all the loot notifications he’d waved aside. His mood instantly improved.
Scrolling backwards, he saw that he’d looted the four behemoth eggs, as well as nearly three hundred gold, one hundred silver, and thirty gemstones. Also from the nest he’d picked up a couple high quality weapons, two pieces of quality plate armor, a pair of boots with a big stamina bonus, and an epic bow. If the auction house was still functioning, he could have made a killing selling some of these items.
Scrolling further, he got to the loot from the monsters. The behemoth had given him three stacks of twenty behemoth meat. Which was, for some reason, tinted with a purple designation. Which made it epic loot. He wasn’t sure why giant lizard meat was epic, but he would find out. Several teeth, the creature’s heart, two stacks of behemoth hide, and a behemoth bone dagger rounded out the behemoths loot.
From the spawn, the loot was more interesting. There was a smoky grey gem he couldn’t identify. He got five claws, each nearly a foot long. There were six vials of the black goo, which made him chuckle. He had the creature’s eyes from the kobolds- they were a silver-tinged item, which was very rare. And there were two potions of water breathing that would grant user the ability to breathe underwater for an hour.
Mace had finished going through the loot inventory and was about to look at assigning some of the attribute points he’d received, when his respawn timer ran out. His body gasped in a lungful of air, and he opened his eyes. He was surrounded by kobolds. Several of them were leaning over him, poking at his face and body. A few sniffed at him and backed up. “Hey! Stop that!” he grumbled when one of them kicked him.
“Told you! Mace is outworlder. Not die. Or, die and come back. Not sure. Doesn’t matter. Anyway, he back now!” Shook puffed out his chest and began shooing the crowd back.
Truffle was still leaning over Mace, his kobold face blocking out the stars above. “We sorry Mace. Tried to stop guards from shooting. They think you attacking. Please not burn village?”
The kobolds all took a step back as Mace sat up. Though they’d just killed him easily, they seemed afraid of him. “No, I won’t burn your village. Maybe just one building.” He joked.
The kobolds all gasped, taking another step back. They began to argue about which building would be sacrificed. Mace couldn’t stand it. “That was a joke, guys. I understand why you shot me. I will not harm you or your village. It was partly my fault.”
The crowd gave a happy cheer as Truffle helped Mace to his feet. They led a procession of kobolds through the village gate and right up to the tavern. Once inside, they took a table near the center of the room. Scores of kobolds filling in around them, and drinks were passed around. Truffle wasted no time in telling the story of their travels since they’d been captured. Shook added commentary when he thought it was needed. Mace mostly zoned out. He checked his inventory to confirm he hadn’t dropped anything when he died. Then he took some time to assign the fifteen total free attribute points he had.
He put three each into wisdom and intellect, his main stats. Then he added two to stamina, and two to strength. Then one each to agility, dexterity, and charisma, and luck. He saved one point.
Character Name: Mace Class: Sorcerer Level 40
Race: Drow Spec: Darkblade Experience: 0/12,000
Health: 5200/5200 Mana: 1200/1200 Attribute Pts Avail: 1
Stamina: 16 Wisdom: 22 Charisma: 11 Life Regen: 16/sec
Strength: 14 Intellect: 24 Dexterity: 11 Mana Regen: 5/sec
Agility: 11 Luck: 11 Armor: 85 Skill pts avail: 0
Noticing his experience number, he grimaced. Dying at the hands of the kobolds had cost him at least 12,000xp. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he couldn’t complain. In all he was ten levels higher than when he’d left Svartholm less than a day ago. He’d picked up some potentially lucrative and useful loot, leveled up Minx, and done… something to his dagger. It had absorbed the soul of the lizard, he was sure. He was just about to draw the weapon and inspect it when Shook leapt up next to him. “Mace bravest warrior! He fought dragon and water monster!”
Mace shook his head as Truffle launched into the tale of the fight in the cavern. He was actually quite the storyteller, recalling details of sound and smell as well as actions. He was also pretty factual in his recounting, though he might have played up the courage of the two kobolds as they bravely fled from the monsters. Still, when he was done, Mace found himself in a silent room full of wide kobold eyes staring at him. It was clear they expected him to say something.
“I got lucky?” Was all he said. This caused a roar of laughter from the kobolds, who thought he was joking. There was much handshaking and patting on his back as they all congratulated him for his great victory. Then Truffle resumed his tale, reaching the part when they looted the lizard’s nest. If anything, this part had the kobolds even more captivated than the battle. Shook once again contributed. “Good stuff!” he grinned at the crowd.
When the storytelling was over, he was given a meal of roasted meat (he didn’t ask what it was), potatoes, and a pitcher of ale. The meat didn’t taste bad, and the ale was actually quite good. After the meal a kobold female escorted him to a room with a short bed and a chest. He curled up on the bed, a now visible Minx curled up on the pillow next to his head. He’d given her a few bits of the meat from dinner, and she was purring contentedly. Mace closed his eyes and logged out.
Chapter 11
We Ain’t Afraid o’ No Ghosts
Shari logged in, and immediately summoned her piglet. The little thing was still sound asleep, just as it had been when she dismissed it. It lay on its back, legs in the air. Its front left leg twitched a bit as it dreamed.
Smiling at him, she said “We need to figure out your name.” She rubbed his tummy, waking him up. He looked confused for a moment at finding himself indoors, then snorted and got to his feet.
“So what should we call you? Piglet fits you now, but it would seem silly once you’re grown. Pigster? Porky? Hoggy McBacon?” she ran through a myriad of pet names in her head. None really seemed to fit her new companion. While she was deep in thought, the piglet began to nose around the room, sticking his snout into corners and following it under the bed, looking for any morsels of food that might be hidden.
Shari emerged from her reverie and looked around for the piglet. He was nowhere in sight, but she could hear a snuffling sound under the bed. She smiled. “Snuffles! That’s what I’ll call you.” Her smile grew even wider when she imagined Mace’s reaction to the name. “Yep. I’m gonna have a big tough warrior pig named Snuffles!”
The piglet emerged from under the bed, looking up at her as she spoke. “What do you think? Do you like it?” she reached down and picked him up. “Sir Sn
uffles McBacon. Purebred oinkster, and my hero!” she rubbed her nose against Snuffles’ snout, causing him to snort.
Pleased with herself, she gathered her gear and opened the door. Snuffles followed her out into the hall and down to the tavern. She placed him on a chair next to her as they ate a breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, and tea. She’d placed a bowl of oatmeal on the chair next to Snuffles, and he’d dived right in. When he was done, his snout was coated in oatmeal. She laughed as he tried to lick it all off, looking cross-eyed at his own snout.
After breakfast she walked through the city and out the gate, Snuffles following along behind. They didn’t get as many stares as the previous day. The novelty was wearing off. Just outside the gate she consulted her map. The areas where the wolves, ghosts, and many of her spell components were located were west of her. Equipping her bow and warning Snuffles to stay close she headed in that direction.
They were maybe a half mile into the woods when Snuffles began to act nervously. He crowded against her leg, nearly tripping her. His head was moving back and forth as if searching for something, and his snout was going nonstop. “What’s wrong, little fella? You smell something? Hear something?”
A rustle in the underbrush answered her question for her. A jet black rabid wolf appeared thirty yards ahead of her, emerging from behind some scrub. Maybe three feet tall at the shoulder, the creature must have weighed close to two hundred pounds. Its eyes were bloodshot, and foamy saliva dripped from its jaws.
Rabid Forest Wolf
Level 16
Health: 650/800
Snuffles squealed and moved behind Shari’s legs. She raised her bow and pulled back on the string. She knew from experience that the wolf would leap at her. She pulled the string back on her bow, taking a deep breath and holding it, she raised the bow a bit, ready for a shot.
The wolf didn’t disappoint. It took a few jogging steps forward, then leapt into the air. Shari lead the leaping wolf just a little bit and released the arrow. It flew straight into the rabid beast’s chest, knocking it slightly to the side as it fell. The impact with the ground drove the arrow deeper into the wolf, pushing the head out through its back. It convulsed a few times on the forest floor, then lay still.
Land of the Undying Page 20