Manifest

by Cody Whitfill

  Reward:

  400 experience points

  Increased reputation with Dwik

  Gitch gave it some thought, but ultimately decided to accept all three. The first quest’s reward wasn’t all that impressive, but he thought it might be easy enough to complete as they traversed the forest. The second quest seemed a bit biased towards Dwik’s actions. He wondered if Dwik took some creative licensing with that one. He was very much looking forward to receiving a new weapon, but there seemed to be possibilities for additional rewards upon completion. Who knew what those could entail?

  The last one sounded like it could be pretty dangerous, but potentially quite lucrative. It would be interesting to meet another tiny race, albeit of a more devilish nature. He also didn’t know why Dwik was still looking for his goats. It wasn’t like he was going to bring them along on their adventures... right?

  Gitch was suddenly filled with the image of him swooping in for the silent, but deadly, assassination of a giant ogre, when suddenly the night air was pierced with the bleating of a dozen goats. Cover blown; the ogre swatted him away like an overgrown mosquito. Gitch’s life span began shrinking before his eyes, but he supposed they would have to cross that bridge later.

  "Dwik, I accept each of your quests. Still want to come with me into the forest?"

  Dwik nodded. "Yeah, I’ll be comin’ with ya. Yer no longer a level 1 noob, but 3 ain’t much better. I think ya might need all the help ya can get if ya run into any beasties, ‘specially them wolves."

  Gitch solemnly flew up to meet Dwik at eye level. "Thank you, my friend. Now let’s go kick some booty!"

  Dwik gave a somber nod. "Aye, let’s do that."

  They picked up what meager possessions that lay about and left the glade in earnest. Gitch felt a bit off leaving the strange glade. Sure, it looked a bit different than when he arrived yesterday. There was no golden stream, and a colossal toadstool stood near the spot of the now pulverized stone hut. Still, this was all he knew of the world he now called home. That was the way of the adventurer though. He had places to be, things to kill, quests to complete. It was time to leave.

  Chapter 9

  To his dismay, Dwik led them west. Any other direction would have been just fine, but no. They just had to go into the creepy forest of foggy death. There was an ominous sense of foreboding, but he did his best to keep his unease to himself. Man-fairy pride and all that.

  They crossed the tree line and Gitch instantly felt the air cool. It wasn’t like he needed a winter parka, but there was a chill nonetheless. The visibility was lessoned due to the hanging fog and general gloominess, which did little to improve his nervousness. Still, he wouldn’t quit, and he wouldn’t turn back. He had to grow stronger. He did have to admit though, reading this in a book was a hell of a lot easier than living it out in person.

  “Hey, where are we headed anyway?” he shouted up to Dwik. The gnome was leading them somewhere, and Gitch would rather not be left any more in the dark.

  “Shhhh!” Dwik whispered back. “What are ya tryin’ to do, alert every monster within two miles of our bein’ here? Grow some brains boy!”

  Gitch instinctively looked around. In the books he used to read, this was usually when the hero would look in the distance and see a pair of glowing red eyes staring back. One bush in particular looked extra suspicious, and he began a careful inspection of the foliage while trying not to look too obvious.

  “Oi! What in Dufflin’s name are ya doin’? Stop givin’ that bush the side-eye. If ya want to ask it to dance, just do it already. Now is hardly the time or place, if ya be askin’ me, but who am I to stand in the way of love. Don’t worry, I won’t judge’ ya if that be yer hold up.”

  “No! I wasn’t-what the hell is wrong with you, Dwik? You really that lonely? Are you trying to live vicariously through my relationship with that bush? That’s just weird, man!”

  Dwik was about to retort back, but then hung his head in shame. “A true companion is hard to come by, it’s true. Aye, I need a woman. Will ya help?”

  Quest Received: Find Dwik a Companion

  Dwik the hermit has been alone for many long years, and is desperate for some companionship. Be a pal, and help the poor gnome find some love.

  Reward:

  75 experience

  Increased reputation with Dwik

  10 copper coins

  "Dwik, I would be glad to help you find a lady. I can be your wing-man! Get it?!?” Gitch laughed at his own joke.

  "Aye, sounds... great," Dwik replied hesitantly. He clearly did not understand Gitch’s genius humor but could sense the fairy was willing to help.

  “Yeah, it does!” Gitch agreed in half a whisper. “But back to my question. Where are we going? Aren’t there quests and easier beasts to kill back in the safe, bright forest?”

  “First off, nowhere in the Dufflin Forest is truly safe. Maybe in the fairy city, but then only if yer a fairy, and I have never been so I can’t be testifyin’ on the truth o’ that place. Second, if its beasties ya want to be killin’, they might as well be nasty beasties. I’d rather the woods have fewer exploding slugs than deer, but that’s just me.”

  “Exploding slugs! Like, how big an explosion are we talking about here?!”

  “Well, not as big as yers, but I still wouldn’t stand too close. Best use a ranged weapon on them.”

  Gitch held up his tiny needle in response. The thing had a reach of less than two inches. He had limited magic options at the moment, so he was pretty much guaranteed to be in the thick of the action. He thought it safe to assume the slugs had a blast radius of further than three inches. On second thought, maybe that was not a safe assumption. Nothing about that seemed safe to him.

  “Ehh…” Dwik said uncertainly. He could definitely pick up on the small fairy’s unspoken frustration. “Maybe ya could fly around and distract ‘em for me?”

  Great, I’m a glorified kite. Not even that glorified, Gitch thought sourly. The further they walked through the dark, the moodier he seemed to find himself. It was not a cheery forest. A notification on his left stated that he was under a debuff. Apparently, being in a state of constant fear in a dark, spooky forest had a negative effect on morale. He was under a debuff that dropped his health and damage output by 10%.

  The only thing going for them was that they hadn’t seen any monsters. The problem, however, was they were actively searching for monsters. He had a sinking suspicion that the farther in they traveled, the bigger and more dangerous their quarry would be.

  They walked for a while longer before Gitch decided to bring it up. “Dwik, where are all the monsters? Sure, this has the feel of B-horror movie, but it doesn’t seem to be all that dangerous.”

  “Yes, the lack of monsters is disturbing, but not for the reason ya might think. I believe our hunters have eaten all the lesser monsters in the area,” Dwik replied grimly. Gitch saw that he held his sling at the ready. Gitch gripped his needle a bit tighter.

  “I… I thought we were the hunters?”

  “Not any more. Have ya seen the trees? There’s more to see than what’s on the ground, laddie.”

  Gitch lifted his head, albeit with hesitation. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, at first. The dead trees stood ominously, and he saw no movement in the underbrush. The dense fog left much unseen, but there were occasional patches where he saw dozens of thick webs spanning across multiple trees.

  They had past webs before, but nothing like this. These were built strong, likely able to support several large creatures. If he looked hard, he could see a few such creatures wriggling against the strands, caught in the near-invisible trap. Had he been flying; it would have been very likely that he would have been ensnared as well. Actually, with his poor luck stat, it was all but guaranteed.

  Something told him that death might not come quickly. Spiders from his own world were jerks, taking their time on the little bugs caught in their webs. He didn’t want to think what a giant monster spider
might do to him. All he knew was there would be little hope of a quick respawn. Flashbacks of this morning’s incident with Dwik’s beard suddenly hit him, but he shrugged it off. This was much worse.

  Dwik was paying special attention to one tree in particular, but Gitch didn’t really see anything that set this tree apart from the others. They all seemed like they were hiding a spider or five. Not that he would ever abandon Dwik, but even if he wanted to, there was no way he could outrun a giant spider. He wasn’t great at math, but eight legs beat two any day of the week, especially given the size difference. He had already established flying was tantamount to suicide. The fog obscured some of the webs, and he could only avoid them for so long. No, he would stay and fight.

  “Dwik, come what may, I am with you. The evil creatures of this place will come to fear us!” Gitch said, not attempting to quiet his voice. Spiders were master stalkers, almost as bad as his uncle Tom. There was no way they didn’t know the two intruders were there.

  Dwik gave a bloodthirsty smile and let out a challenging roar. He may have been several times larger than the fairy but that didn’t mean he sounded especially intimidating. Still, Gitch felt a resurgence of energy flow through his veins. He was ready to kick some hairy spider butt!

  Seeing as it lost the element of surprise, a large spider jumped from the tree Dwik had been watching. It looked just how he thought a silver, four-foot-tall, scary as hell monster-spider would look like. It had two large pincers, and a giant stinger protruded from its bulbous back-end. Gitch was impressed Dwik had seen the bugger to begin with. It was near invisible against the webbing, trunks, and fog, but he did happen to see a white dot hovering above its terrifying head. This one was a level 3, same as him.

  The spider charged straight for Gitch, but it took a long moment for him to truly register what he was seeing. He would have been crushed, stabbed, or eaten had it not been for the quick reflexes of his gnome companion.

  Dwik’s years of tournament experience was still paying dividends. He may not be as quick as he once was, but he didn’t have to be. He knew the spider was planning on taking out the weaker prey first and had been ready for the charge. He squared up and let loose a stone from his sling. It traveled the 20 feet in a flash, slamming hard against the spider’s head. The spider continued forward a few more feet, but only from the momentum. It toppled end over end until it came to a final rest just in front Gitch.

  “DO NOT HESITATE IN BATTLE!” Dwik shouted, startling Gitch from his stupor. He had thought he was ready, but how could anyone be ready for battle without having gone through it, especially against monsters! Gitch had no training. No experience. What he did have was a new friend who would likely not respawn if killed. A friend who was out here in this hellish forest because of him. Gitch would not fail him. He had lost too much. Too many people already. If he could do anything, he would do everything to keep that from happening again!

  Gitch could see that the spider was truly dead, and turned to give Dwik his thanks. As he did so, he spotted another spider flying through the air towards Dwik. He pointed, but it was already too late. Dwik spun around just as the spider landed on his chest. The spider bit a chunk of flesh from the gnome’s right arm, and one of its legs had pierced Dwik’s thigh. The smell of blood was in the air, which only seemed to spur the spider on.

  Dwik was not defenseless, however. With his left arm, he pulled his hatchet from his belt and swiped hard. He took two of the spider’s legs clean off while also damaging a third. The spider collapsed on top of him and rolled to the side. By the time it had righted itself, Gitch had arrived.

  The spider was leaking copious amounts of black blood from its wound, but it was not out of the fight yet. Dwik was having a hard time getting to his feet, so it was up to Gitch to finish it off. He would have given just about anything to see the creature’s health bar. He felt that was a significant handicap in this ‘game’. No matter, he was about to make this spider squeal!

  Gitch hovered seven feet off the ground. Far enough out of reach, but low enough to not get caught in the web traps that he could now see had them completely surrounded.

  He flew over to the spider and began flying circles around him. The hobbled arachnid tried following his movements, but between its injury and the fairy’s high dexterity, the spider couldn’t keep up. It soon toppled over, and Gitch dove down to strike. He landed on its hairy head and drove his needle into an eye, and then another, and another… He kept stabbing until he felt the spider lose its struggle. Gitch was covered in icky black blood, but it was done.

  You have slain level 3 Giant-Spider Hatchling

  Experience points received: 12 (18)

  Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Improvised Weapon Proficiency

  A typical weapon is not always readily available, and you have discovered the long and ancient history of improvised weaponry. Do not underestimate the danger of a shovel, cane, and rock in the hands of a skilled warrior.

  While wielding an improvised weapon, you experience the following:

  +2% damage

  +2% accuracy

  That thing had been a hatchling?!? He sure didn’t want to experience the adult version! They needed to get out of there.

  It wasn’t lost on him that he had only received 12 experience points. That was awesome, but it seemed like there were points left on the table. It had been on his level, but it was possible he did not gain the full 18 points because he didn’t defeat the monster by himself. Points must be based on contribution to the battle. That made sense, but it meant leveling as part of a group would take far longer than going solo, though much safer. Thoughts for another time.

  Dwik was just getting to his feet and he had a pained expression on his face. He took a strip of cloth from his bag and strapped it around his leg. Gitch carefully flew over and helped him tie another bandage around his arm. They didn’t have much time for respite, however, as another two jumped out from the trees. Gitch gritted his teeth and gripped his needle a little tighter.

  They finished those two off and many more besides. It wasn’t long before he completed his slayer quest, which he then received again. Dwik warned that he could only be given a repeatable quest twice daily. That was a bummer, but good to remember.

  They easily finished that quest as well. Gitch was finally getting used to the combat element of the ‘game’, when three spiders jumped them all at once. Dwik took the brunt of the attack while Gitch systematically pierced them from behind. It was by far the most challenging wave they had faced, and they both were beginning to wear out.

  “Thanks. That one was a doozy. Let’s get out of here before any more show up,” Dwik suggested as he wiped the blood and guts from his rusty hatchet on the grass at his feet. Gitch merely nodded his agreement. They turned to leave, when yet another spider jumped into their little clearing. This one was twice as large as the others and had an orange dot, meaning it could be as much as five levels higher than him! It stood eight feet high and just as wide. Hundreds of tiny holes appeared all over its body, which did not make Gitch feel especially optimistic. The spider looked at all of the fallen hatchings and then back at the two intruders.

  “I am assuming we can’t outrun that one?” Gitch whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Not a chance,” Dwik whispered back. “That be one of the adults. They are much stronger and much faster. If you were to leave me, at least you could possibly escape.”

  “Nah man, screw that. Let’s end this mother!” Gitch wasn’t about to let Dwik be bait. He was going to fight next to the surely gnome and even lay down his life if it came down to it. No doubt about it, battle strengthened relationships.

  The giant spider must have sensed the pair was going to stay and fight. She sunk low to the ground and lifted her rear in the air as if she was about to pounce. Gitch was just about to dodge out of the way when he saw a green gas pour out from the many holes on the spider’s posterior. The gas spread throughout the impromptu ba
ttlefield, not dissipating in the least.

  Gitch couldn’t help but breathe in some of the gas. There was nothing to be done. They couldn’t escape, and he could only hope the gas wasn’t strong enough to kill instantly. Dwik seemed wholly unaffected. One shake of the head and he seemed to be right as rain, not counting the holes in his arm and leg.

  Gitch… was a different story. Being much smaller, the gas affected him much more strongly. His health, mana, and stamina levels all stayed the same, but he found it hard to concentrate. He slapped himself, but there was no change. He was really beginning to worry before-nothing. He felt completely fine!

  There was nothing to worry about at all. Yes, there was that giant spider that wanted to eat them both, and Dwik was wounded of course... meh. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. He just wanted to have some fun! Gitch gave Dwik what could be considered a naughty smile and took off into the air. He started doing some aerial loops and giggling hysterically. At one point he heard himself say, “Quick! Do a barrel roll!” Man, he missed Slippy. What a silly frog.

  Why was he not always so carefree? This was the way to live! He threw off his shirt and flew around the clearing without a care in the world. He flew close to some of the low hanging webs a few times, but never actually came into contact with them. He wondered how close he could get without getting stuck. He spent the next several minutes playing his new game, but it was just too easy after a few cycles. It was simple enough to correct, he just started increasing his velocity bit by bit until he was at full speed!

  Congratulations! Flight has increased to level 4!

  Each additional mana point invested now increases your flight speed by 3.3 feet per second.

  Current Cap: 5 MPS

  Congratulations! Flight has increased to level 5!

  Each additional mana point invested now increases your flight speed by 3.4 feet per second.

  Current Cap: 5 MPS

  This was way better! He turned to see if Dwik was checking out his awesomeness, but the silly gnome was still just playing with the big spider. It looked to be a great game of tag, with Dwik doing his best to run away and the spider giving chase. It actually looked pretty fun, and so he sat there in the air and watched awhile. Dwik was shouting something at him, but he couldn’t make it out. Oh well, probably not that important.