Noob Game Plus
Page 44
Su-Kar smiled weakly at Phillip and held up the mask. He smiled back, patting his side pouch that contained his torturing knives. Su-Kar was so resourceful. As she looked almost fondly over at Phillip, she spotted something out of the corner of one of her keen eyes.
Su-Kar examined it for a long moment. Phillip tore his gaze away from her and followed her line of sight. She didn’t have any of the long-range sensing skills he enjoyed, so he would be better at distinguishing whatever it was. If he gave her some time, the clever woman probably knew a dozen spells that would let her see whatever she had spotted more clearly than he could. What she saw appeared to be a man, riding a vast furry horse. “Phillip, dear, what is that?” Su-Kar asked, gesturing with one of her knitting needles.
Phillip dropped his underwear back into the cauldron. While he may not have the best manners, he was actually trying to act civilly. “I see it, too. I do believe that will be a major problem.”
Su-Kar nodded at him and finished up her stitchwork. Phillip groaned inwardly. After politely excusing himself from Su-Kar, he walked back into the Summoning Chamber. Hardragon would take the news like a kick in the teeth, no matter what. Phillip didn’t know what he’d done to piss off Hardragon recently, but this wasn’t going to help matters any.
Rolling his eyes, Phillip re-entered the summoning chamber. He glanced over at Hardragon, who was still chatting with the princess. She looked almost defeated, finally, and Phillip was glad for it. In Su-Kar, the undefeatable attitude was kind of hot. From the princess, the stubbornness was annoying.
Hardragon continued his verbal berating of Julia. “Do you honestly believe you have any chance of escaping here?” Julia’s face began to crumble, as Phillip went about putting on the pants to his armor.
Sensing her weakness, Hardragon doubled down. “Do you think that your kingdom is going to rescue you? No one even knows where you are.” That one hit home. Phillip watched, as the cracks in Julia’s armor began to show. One more little hit, and she was going to break.
Hardragon prepared his final blow. “Do you think that some hero, holding his sword up to the heavens, riding a giant fucking badger, is going to crest the hill and come charging in to rescue you?”
“Oh, you saw him, too?” asked Phillip, conversationally.
Explosive temper didn’t begin to describe it. Hardragon stormed down the path from the summoning chamber, brushed past Su-Kar, and stopped at the balcony where Twinkle was busy strumming a harp.
“Ahem,” stated Hardragon, causing Twinkle to jerk upright. The elf quickly glanced out over the field, undoubtedly to give his report on nothing. He opened his mouth but promptly snapped it shut again. His eyes narrowed at the small black dot in the distance. Phillip’s Perception was high enough to catch the single elven swear word that Twinkle uttered. Thankfully for the elf, Hardragon remained ignorant.
“Where did they even find a War Badger?” asked Twinkle, looking out with his elven eyes. “I thought we killed them all.”
“It looks like Hardragon missed one,” replied Phillip, trying to keep the conversation going. Hardragon was counting under his breath and rubbing his temples. Phillip groaned.
Hardragon hated War Badgers. In his opinion every War Badger needed to die a long, miserable death. No one knew quite why Hardragon felt so strongly. You just had to accept that about him.
“Hold your horses,” stated the Hunter, drawing his bow. “I’ll get you all the details you want.” Even with the man well out of range, just holding the bow and using the aim action allowed Phillip to zoom in nearly two and a half times greater than usual. That directly expanded his Lore range by the same amount.
“Black armor, racing stripe, holding up his sword like a loon,” stated Phillip, as he continued watching.
“Like Grebthar,” gasped Twinkle. That earned him a glare from Su-Kar.
“Har har,” stated Phillip, as Hardragon stood stoically. “How do you think he found us?”
“A quest, I expect,” answered Twinkle with a yawn. “He probably got a ‘Save the Princess’ quest. Something along the lines of ‘She is in the tallest tower in a ruined temple with monsters guarding her.’”
“Five gold says he doesn’t even get past the fifth floor,” stated Phillip to the elf.
“I’ll take that bet,” Twinkle grinned, before thinking. “Wait just a second! In order to prove I’ve won, I’ll have to go down there to collect the remains.”
Phillip grinned, and the elf chuckled. The first few floors wouldn’t be much of a challenge for the elf anyway. The idiot savior kept riding closer and closer. Finally, he was near enough that Phillip could see an expanded list of details.
“The badger’s name is Badgelor,” stated Phillip.
“Great,” hissed Hardragon, calming down. “That’s just fine, then. It takes a real idiot to name their badger after Badgelor. At least we have that bonus.”
“He’s actually a pretty tough badger. He has the full Ultimate talent tree active,” stated Phillip, frowning.
“Will you be able to take him with arrows?” asked Twinkle, popping his knuckles. Phillip groaned inwardly. All elves were master Archers, his hairy ass. Phillip knew Twinkle couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with arrows. With his fists, the elf was a bit more deadly. However, at this range, Twinkle was useless.
“Are you upset because you won’t be able to fist him?” asked Phillip.
“I’ll have you know, I pride myself on my fisting. Any time, any place, I’ll be there to fist anyone who needs it,” stated Twinkle, placing his hands on his hips.
“Well, your skill at fisting is legendary,” stated Phillip. Twinkle nodded.
Su-Kar coughed. “Why do your people use fisting instead of fisticuffs anyway?”
“Because we are monks,” stated Twinkle authoritatively.
Phillip chuckled. It had taken him a while to realize that the elf got the joke. Twinkle would go on about his fisting abilities for hours if you got him drunk enough. That made it even better in Phillip’s book. Even Hardragon almost grinned.
“Unless he has Bludgeoning Resistance, I’ll do just fine,” stated Phillip, going back to the topic at hand. The badger continued to close. War Badgers were just beasts, which was Phillip’s highest Lore skill. He could get details from the badger at a farther distance than he could from the rider.
The rider looked all sorts of impressive. His armor was about the same caliber as Hardragon’s, and his weapon looked useful. Hopefully, they would both sell for a reasonable price. That idiot was running into a whole team of adventurers, and even that asshole O’Really hadn’t survived. Of course, Maggie was gone now, attempting to fulfill her little quest.
Su-Kar had been kind of sad that they missed him. Their journey to Union had been dominated by what they were going to do to O’Really, once they captured him. Of course, O’Really had run into Hardragon, and that had been that.
Then, Phillip saw something that made him snicker. “His name is Jim.”
Su-Kar chuckled. “Is he coming to teach us to mind our manners?”
Twinkle and Hardragon grew quiet for a moment. Twinkle finally spoke. “I can’t see two people having that same name.”
“No,” hissed Hardragon, “He must be Maggie’s target.”
“She was sent to torture and kill someone named Jim,” stated Su-Kar, nodding. “I guess it would be impolite if we didn’t do the same. We can put the poor idiot out of his misery.”
“I suppose we could,” said Hardragon uncomfortably. Twinkle watched him for a moment, but then Phillip shrieked like a giddy schoolgirl.
“Hey, Su-Kar, it’s our lucky day. That Jim guy is O’Really!”
“Praise be the Elder Demons, dropping that idiot into my lap,” growled Su-Kar, looking over at Phillip. “We can share!”
Phillip barked a laugh. “It will be fun. That asshole deserves everything he gets.”
Hardragon watched the rider with concern. Twinkle looked over at him for a moment, adj
usting a piece of hair that had slipped in front of his face. Flipping the errant lock over his shoulder, the elf asked, “Problem? I thought the boss wanted Jim dead.”
“The boss doesn’t give out many kill orders anymore. I’m surprised she bothered with an unaffiliated adventurer,” stated Hardragon. “Frankly, I wish Maggie had just assassinated him in Union, rather than the two of you screwing around with him.”
Twinkle said nothing for a long moment. “Maggie did try to assassinate him. She changed forms and put all her Stamina into it. O’Really, well, I guess Jim, saw through it.”
“He is a pretty tough customer, Hardragon,” stated Phillip. “He’s next to impossible to hit with arrows.”
“And he’s pretty good at countering magical spells,” stated Su-Kar. She looked down at the oncoming badger and reevaluated her choices.
Phillip continued, “But you beat him with the sword, so it will be fine.”
“He had to use his Shout,” stated Su-Kar.
“Hardragon used his Shout twice,” amended Twinkle.
“I thought you just did that to shatter the Temple,” said Phillip, suddenly concerned. “O’Really lived through two Shouts?” There was an uncomfortable silence, as the three adventurers watched Hardragon.
Hardragon spoke slowly. “There was someone in the room with the boss when I received my orders. He was screaming about a man named Jim. The boss seemed concerned about that man.”
Phillip knew of only two people in the entire world that the boss cared for. Neither of them was there. Unless Bashara suddenly turned into a man, that didn’t bode well for the world
“Su-Kar, you and Phillip can take the point over there,” stated Hardragon, gesturing to the edge of the balcony. “That should position us to use our firepower to slow his approach. Su-Kar, I’ll be counting on you to use your magic to slow him down.”
Su-Kar frowned. “I need to start Julia on the ritual soon. Otherwise, we will miss the window for tonight.” Hardragon stiffened.
Twinkle spoke up, “What’s going on?”
“That clever bastard,” growled Hardragon. “He knows we are trying to summon an Elder Demon using Julia. He would have noticed Julia wearing a Collar of Domination. He was waiting to act until we committed to commanding Julia.”
“That does cut our numeric advantage down a little, but Su-Kar will be free by the time Jim fights his way through the dungeon,” stated Twinkle, glancing at the stone-faced Hardragon.
Hardragon watched the badger closing with an increasingly grim expression. “War Badgers have a way of ruining your life.”
Chapter 51 – Onward goes the Hero
The constant jostling eventually woke me up. I had fitful dreams of being wrapped in tentacles, buried in some smothering cocoon. Those dreams suddenly gave way to a sense of rumbling motion.
“If he falls off, this isn’t going to work,” yelled Shart.
“I canna breathe, you giant zit,” hissed Badgelor.
“Breathing is for the weak! Onward!” yelled Shart.
I was riding Badgelor, technically. By ‘technically,’ I mean that I was tied to the great badger’s back by a single loop of rope around his neck. There was a line of drool running down my face. My sword was in hand, at least, though it had been physically tied there. In fact, there seemed to be a framework of sticks tied to my body, keeping me upright.
Grabbing the fur at Badgelor’s neck, I yelled, “What the hell is going on?”
“Ashes and fire, he’s finally awake,” stated Shart.
“I canna breathe, cut the fecking rope and hold on,” exclaimed Badgelor. I checked the rope. He had tied it into a poor approximation of a constrictor knot. It appeared the knot had been pulling tighter and tighter for quite some time. The rope didn’t bother me, but Badgelor had wound it around his neck. Snapping the framework holding my sword, I used it to cut the rope.
“What the hell happened?” I asked, looking around. It was getting dark out, but that didn’t make sense. I had passed out when it was already dark. “How long have I been asleep?”
“All fecking day,” stated Badgelor. “I tried everything to wake you up, but nothing worked.”
“Everything?” I asked.
“He even teabagged you. That was my idea,” stated Shart proudly. I started to protest, but the demon cut me off. “It worked last time!”
It had, sadly.
“We wasted the whole day,” I groaned. “Has the summoning started?”
“Not yet,” stated Badgelor.
“Um,” replied Shart.
“Feck,” I groaned.
“As far as I can understand, your body didn’t like the conversion into its Tier 2 form outside of a Chamber of Souls. You went into a tiny bit of a coma,” stated Shart. I checked my stats.
● Jim, Cleric 10
● Explorer 15
● Duelist 15
● HP: 560
● Stamina: 445
● Mana: 220
● Force: 2/3
“Well, I got stronger,” I said, completing my quick assessment. My Tier 2 body seemed to be a stronger version of my human body. Well, no better way to test it than through life-or-death combat.
“Yes, with a few side effects,” said Shart.
“I was in a coma,” I groaned.
“A tiny bit of one. It only lasted around 18 hours,” stated Shart. “It would have been longer, but your stats are higher now.”
“How did you tie all that stuff to me?” I asked, pulling several short lengths of rope off my person. Doing so allowed me to release the remains of the frame that Badgelor had built around me.
“I used our shared skills, like Rope Use and Improvised Tools,” stated Badgelor. I would have to talk to him about his Improvised Tool usage. When I used that skill, it was cool. When he used that skill, shit got kind of creepy.
Plus, he had forgotten the chicken.
My new stats were higher than they used to be, which was a solid improvement. I had even recovered 2 Force Points. Force Point recovery seemed to be tied to achieving notable events, rather than any natural recovery. Thankfully, the
With his neck free, Badgelor kicked it into fifth gear, and we continued to shuffle down the valley at his best possible speed. Before us, the massive entrance beckoned. As I looked up to the balcony, I could faintly see a few beings on a large terrace at the top. I didn’t have any details, until I caught a flash of something in the rising moonlight. The black armor was a dead giveaway.
“Faster, Badgelor,” I yelled.
“Badger’s aren’t built for speed,” grumbled the badger, as we continued toward the base of the tower.
Chapter 52 - Preparations
“I’ve finished,” grumbled Phillip, as he walked back from the Dungeon Core. He was the only one with the Dungeon Master skill, so, of course, he had to activate the stupid dungeon. The Dungeon Master had to do all the prep work, while everyone else just wasted time. Foolish adventurers were always making demands of their Dungeon Master. Would it never end?
Now, all the monsters on the top four floors were good and pissed off. The other floors were empty, or Phillip would have riled them up, as well. If that didn’t delay Jim the Curious Puppy, he couldn’t think of what would.
Phillip tried hard to be amused by a man named Jim, but his sense of humor was failing him. That badger was moving far faster than it should have been able to move. They were going to get to the temple’s base before Su-Kar could get the summoning ritual started. It was up to Phillip and the dungeon's vastly depleted forces to hold Jim off while the ceremony was completed.
Hardragon, of course, didn’t respond. Why would he? He wasn’t the kind to give positive reinforcement. Sighing, Phillip drew his bow and fingered his new arrows. While he had nothing to do but wait, the Woodsman had taken the time to appropriately equip his weapons. He had everything he needed to take on th
e asshole.
“After he goes into the entrance, Phillip will be able to track him on the dungeon interface,” stated Twinkle. Hardragon stood next to the elf, looking impressive.
Phillip had to admit that when it came to looking like a badass, few could do a better job than Hardragon. Phillip watched the Dragonsworn and realized he was wound tighter than a spring. Trying to speak reassuringly, Phillip said, “Even if he breaks our record, and there were five of us going through, he will still take approximately thirty minutes per floor. The summoning will be completed in an hour, and Su-Kar is hurrying. She can be available in just a few minutes. You are worried about nothing.”
As Jim and Badgelor got to the final stretch of road leading to the dungeon, Hardragon finally relented. “Yes, this will be fine. We’ll get the summoning performed and, when it’s all over, use the teleportation circle to get out of here.”
“We could fight him,” offered Phillip half-heartedly.
“After Julia’s done her little trick, I’m going to get paid,” said Twinkle, shrugging. Glancing back over to Hardragon, he asked, “I am going to get paid, correct?”
Hardragon said nothing. He wasn’t the paymaster. Twinkle was going to have to take it up with the boss. Phillip knew that the elf was looking for something more valuable than gold, because the boss paid out gold without a second thought. Twinkle was noticeably quiet about what he was earning, but he was an elf. Phillip figured that whatever the payment, it was hard to find and, most likely, silly.
Phillip rolled his eyes but agreed. Everyone present was a Mercenary, except Hardragon. Expecting much loyalty, beyond the handful of rules that the boss enforced, was futile. The approaching adventurer’s equipment would be valuable, but Phillip wasn’t sure about fighting O’Really again. Besides, Twinkle was an elf; they had their own ways of traveling the world. As soon as his mission was over, Twinkle would vanish. That mission did not include fighting Jim the Curious Puppy.