The Road to Red Thorn
Page 15
Radley shrugged and selected Yes again. This time, he felt a firm mental bond form between his mind and the incapacitated monster but taming the grendel wasn’t a free gift. The battle was the mental equivalent of accidently glueing two fingers together with superglue and trying to get them apart again. A new gauge labeled Battle of Wills appeared between them that showed their current status. A marker started dead center and flickered to the right and left as Radley and the grendel exerted against the pull of the others mind. Radley could feel that his own power was limited, almost pathetic, but the grendel was barely conscious and it couldn’t muster much of a resistance. He began to force his will on the grendel and the tug-o-war between them slowly moved in his favor. The mental battle took a physical toll on Radley and his remaining HP began to tick down again.
*6 HP*
The mental effort drained him, closing down his senses until his vision was encased in a long black tunnel.
*5 HP*
The grendel finally lost the last of its will to fight and slowly, the creature’s mind opened to him. The battle of wills ended in an anticlimactic peace as the grendel succumbed and Radley passed out.
CH 22 Willpower's Power
Radley awoke in a ball on the ground feeling cold, damp, and dirty. His head was groggy and for just a moment he forgot why he was there, but the memories of the battle came flooding back and his head snapped up to find out the status of his opponent. The grendel however was gone with only a patch of dirt and scattered leaves as a memento of its sojourn.
The result of the battle of wills and what it meant was unclear to him. It was possible the grendel had died but he didn’t think so. He could sense it somewhere out there. It sounded crazy but he felt a pull to the north.
He stared up at the darkening canopy and thought how silly it was to be chased around by a monster, but then he supposed that this was a more natural existence than the one he had been living in his HEPA filtered smart home. Big things just killed little things. That was the natural order and he was just a small thing right now. He thought of his mom again. She’d cried once when a rat had gotten into their house and then cried again when they had killed it with a broom. It wasn’t a good or bad memory, but it reminded him that he was alone now. He dropped his head back on the ground and felt sorry for himself. He hated this. This world had game rules and game goals, but it stopped being a game when it took away everything he cared about and loved. It took away his comfortable life, his family, and friends and replaced them with pain and fear. There were no answers yet, how or why this had happened and for a while he just milked the self-pity he felt. After several minutes he couldn’t procrastinate any longer. The thought of being unprotected in the forest at night was more terrifying than getting up and moving forward. For what seemed like the thousandth time since arriving in this world, he pushed himself back to his feet and dusted himself off.
The sun was no longer overhead and dark shadows had consumed the green light previously filtering through the forest canopy. The clock on Radley’s HUD showed it was 4:48 pm. More than two hours had passed since his collapse and his health and stamina were now fully restored.
He tapped his chest and pulled up the map on his user interface. The fog of war still covered most of the area in a black shroud. He could see the ant hill and meadow and his careful route north. At the spot where he encountered the grendel, there was an abrupt change in direction and the path turned east and varied chaotically. He placed a new beacon on the map where he estimated the first grendel had died then dismissed the interface. Hopefully he could get back and find some loot but at the very least he needed to recover his sports bottle and walking staff. His bag and the gear it held had been destroyed by the grendel. He set off towards the beacon at a reluctant pace. As he walked, he reviewed the numerous notifications flashing at the edge of his vision.
**You have reached level 3 in “Sneak”**
**Consuming this water leaves you feeling blessed with ‘Refreshing Draught’. Stamina regeneration is increased by 10% for 1 hour.**
Radley was confused by this notification and couldn’t figure out which water the prompt meant. His mind was still hazy from passing out so he didn’t try to figure it out, but the buff had probably kept him alive. He shrugged and continued reading his prompts.
*You have failed the agility check and do not land on your feet.*
*You have failed the constitution check. You are stunned for 1 second.*
*You have learned the skill “Sprint” (level 1).*
*You have reached level 2 in “Dodge”*
*You have reached level 2 in “Climb”*
*You have failed the agility check and do not land on your feet.*
*You have failed the constitution check. You are stunned for 4 seconds.*
*You have reached level 3 in “Battle Tactics”*
*You have reached level 4 in “Elemental Magic”*
*You have killed a Forest Grendel - level 57. You receive 1,097,644 xp.*
* Congratulations! You have reached character level 3. You have received 6 attribute points and 2 spell points*
* Congratulations! You have reached character level 4. You have received 6 attribute points and 2 spell points*
* Congratulations! You have reached character level 5. You have received 6 attribute points and 2 spell points*
* Congratulations! You have reached character level 6. You have received 6 attribute points and 3 spell points*
*The experience rewarded for killing ‘Forest Grendel - Level 57’ exceeds the maximum level advancement that can be received from a single monster kill. Excess XP has been converted to the character attribute most relevant to the victory.*
*1,066,224 excess XP from killing ‘Forest Grendel - Level 57’ has been converted to Luck at an exchange rate of 100,000 XP to 1 Luck (rounded up to the nearest whole point).*
*You have received a permanent increase of 11 Luck.*
Radley was blown away by this strange leveling limitation. He was certainly happy with his 4 level promotion which by itself was amazing. The added luck he gained was proverbial frosting on the cake. He actually had no idea what luck did. It was probably a good thing to have more of it though, but he wished he’d been given the choice. Eleven additional attribute points to spend would have been a nice way to start level 6. He wasn’t complaining though, in fact just being alive right now was a pretty nice result. He continued searching through the prompts:
*For reaching level 6, your rank as a mage has increased from initiate to novice. You may now access circle 2 spells. Circle 1 spells are cheaper to purchase now and more powerful when cast.*
*You are out of stamina. Any further movement will consume HP until your stamina recovers or you die.*
*You have learned the skill “Forage” (level 1)*
*You have learned the skill “Ranged Combat” (level 1)*
*You have successfully tamed ‘Forest Grendel - Level 57’*
*You have learned “Tame” (level 1).*
*Grendel are not typically domesticated animals and therefore must be controlled with a familiar bond. Your willpower is insufficient to form a familiar bond with your tamed animal, ‘Forest Grendel - Level 58’. Without a familiar bond, your tamed grendel will not remain tame for long. You have 24 hours until your grendel becomes feral again. Form a familiar bond to domesticate the grendel.*
Radley read the last prompt twice and berated himself for not just killing the thing when he had the chance. If he had, he’d probably be Level 10 right now with 33 Luck. I should have just killed the grendel instead of doing that stupid battle of wills he thought to himself. He tapped his chest and pulled up his player profile
Character Name: Rad Fabulous
Age: 111
Race: Naga-Tao
Alignment: Dark
Size: Medium
Class: Elemental Mage
Rank: Novice
Profession: None
Level: 6 (0% to level 7 - 0 / 27,875 XP)
Description: You are an average looking Naga-Tao.
Level 6 he thought. He was still so surprised by the fast level advancement. He flipped to his Battle Statistics Tab to see what that meant for his abilities.
Health 90/90
Stamina 36 / 40 (+2)
Mana 156/156
Psionic Points 60/60
Hit Roll 7
Damage Roll 5
Armor Roll: 4
Magic Resistance: 0
Dodge Roll: 7
Luck: 22
Gaining 4 levels all at once had a significant effect on his stats even before spending any ability points. It seemed there were outward benefits gained by leveling alone. The extra health was a welcomed sight. He flipped to the third tab and checked his attributes:
Attributes:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 13
Agility: 14
Constitution: 10
Willpower: 6
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom:8
Charisma: 7
Unspent Attribute Points: 24
Leveling hadn’t changed his attributes except that he now had 24 attribute points to spend. He wasn't sure what to prioritize. He needed more willpower if he wanted to keep the grendel. If he dumped every point he had into it he could get it to 30 but he didn’t know if that would be enough to form the familiar bond. He also didn’t really want 30 willpower. He decided not to use the points until he knew for sure it would benefit him. He worried that whatever he picked would end up being the wrong choice.
His beacon came into view quicker than he expected and he saw the area again where the two grendel had battled. The space glowed red under the tinted light of the setting sun. The evening light penetrated into the forest through the hole in the canopy left by the uprooted oak. The tree where he had tried to hide was now lying broken on the forest floor. The landmark was a potent reminder of just how close he had come to a second death. Not far from the tree, he saw the motionless corpse of the smaller grendel. It lay in a twisted heap, discarded like a bag of garbage. Radley approached it slowly and was confronted by a sickening stench. He wondered if things rotted faster here than on old earth. Maybe the corpse was already decomposing. As he crept closer though, he realized that the stench was just how it had always smelled. In his frantic, adrenalin-pumping flight to stay alive, he just hadn’t noticed. He stood beside it and prodded the corpse with his clawed foot to ensure it was dead. It was. He reached out to touch it but as his hand got close, a new prompt appeared above the corpse.
*Do you wish to loot the corpse of a forest grendel? (Yes/No)*
Radley grinned and selected Yes. The grendel crumbled to dust leaving behind a strangely organized pile of items. A large leather hide almost as thick as his thumb lay on the ground as if outlining the spot where the creature died. On top of the leather was a small pile of bright white teeth, some gold coins, and two large slabs of meat. Radley identified each item.
Heavy Grendel Hide
Item Type: Material
Quality: Unusual
Uses: Unknown
Value: 10,000 c
Raw Grendel Meat ×2
Item Type: Ingredient
Quality: Fresh
Uses: Food
Value: 40 c
Grendel Tooth ×16
Item Type: Ingredient
Quality: Unusual
Uses: Unknown
Value: 100 c
Grendel Fang ×4
Item Type: Ingredient
Quality: Unusual
Uses: Unknown
Value: 2,000 c
In addition to the body parts, he also counted out 18 gold coins. The coins were small, a little smaller than a nickel, but they were mesmerizing. Radley had never seen real gold before except maybe on jewelry and plated electronics. These coins were different. They weren't a glossy gold chrome but looked dull yellow and felt deceptively heavy. Radley bounced the coins up and down in his hand. The sound they made as they danced in his palm didn't ring. Instead, their tintinnabulation was soft and heavy like the clattering of smooth river stones.
Radley assumed the loot was pretty good considering the values they listed. Despite that value, he didn’t know what to do with any of it at the moment. Nothing was immediately useful to him or the current situation. This was further complicated by the fact that everything together was large and heavy and would be difficult to carry. His backpack had been destroyed so he had no obvious way to carry things. He knew one thing for sure, he wasn’t going to leave the loot behind.
He jogged over to the fallen tree and found both his sports bottle and staff where he had left them. The bottle was still half full of water but would make a good container to carry the smaller items. He took a long drink of water, then poured the rest out. Once it was empty and relatively dry, he dropped all the smaller loot inside and closed the lid. Then he placed the bottle on the center of the leather hide and began to bundle it all together. He folded the sides inward, so they overlapped before tightly rolling up the hide. The bottle was safe at the center and the roll of leather was much more manageable in a compact size. He set the leather roll down and turned to decide what to do with the slabs of meat.
The meat seemed okay to eat but he wasn’t hungry and for some reason it smelled less appetizing to him than a bloody rabbit carcass. But wasting food might be a big deal in the wilderness and he couldn’t bring himself to leave them behind. He finally skewered them on the end of his walking stick and hung them over his shoulder like a bindle bag. Before he picked up the leather roll again, he opened his map and dismissed the beacon that marked the current location. The original beacon was still pretty far away, and it was almost dark. Making his way there would have to wait until tomorrow. He hated the thought of it, but he needed to find a place to sleep. Climbing a tree might work but he had seen a rocky outcrop not far to the west. He had passed it while running from the grendel. The location was visible on the map and he placed a new beacon on top of it. He dismissed the interface and picked up the roll of grendel leather then set off towards his destination as the last light of day began to fade.
As the darkness grew oppressive, he flicked on his heat vision lighting the forest in dramatic contrast. Under the lens of thermal contrast, the landscape lost all detail, but the temperature gradient between the quickly cooling air and warmer ground gave him a good view of the terrain. He saw no danger but that could change very quickly. The moment he started to feel safe, might just be the moment of his death.
CH 23 How to train your Grendel
As he walked, Radley’s thoughts turned back to the tamed grendel and the pending attribute points he had to spend. He wanted to find out how many willpower points he needed to form the familiar bond. He tapped his chest to open his user interface again and navigated first to his “profile” tab but didn’t see anything that could help him. Then he flipped down to his “skills” tab and read the description for tame.
Tame - This skill is used to domesticate wild creatures into husbandry animals for use in packing heavy gear, fulfilling errands, riding as mounts, or fighting as companions. The acceptable uses are determined by the nature of the domesticated animal. Once domesticated, these animals may be raised and leveled as an extension of the player who tames them. Levels of domestication include: Feral, Wild, Skittish, Timid, Placid, Eager, Obedient, Trained. Not all animals can be domesticated gradually and may require a ‘battle of wills’ and formation of a familiar bond. This is called hostile taming and may require status effects such as stuns, paralysis, charm, or significant HP loss to make an animal susceptible. In the case of hostile taming, levels of domestication only include bonded and unbonded
The description helped explain how the taming worked but gave no hint to the willpower level needed to form the bond. Radley was about to close the interface when he noticed a new tab called “Domesticated Animals.” It hadn’t been there before, and he selected it immediately. The tab, was mostly blank
, apparently because their bond was still incomplete, but it held the answer he was looking for:
Tamed Animals: 1
Name: Unnamed
Race: Forest Grendel
Alignment: Dark
Size: Large
Status: Tamed - unbonded - 21 hours and 23 minutes remaining)
Disposition: Hatred
Level: 58 (Unknown % to level 59)
Health Unknown
Stamina Unknown
Mana Unknow
Other Attributes:
Unknown
Your willpower is currently insufficient to form a familiar bond with your tamed animal. 1 point of willpower is required for every two character levels that the tamed animal has achieved. You currently have a willpower of 6 and may form a familiar bond with an animal level 12 or below.
Untamed Animals: 1
Name: Noah the Boa
Race: Mythic Constrictor
Alignment: Dark
Size: Large
Status: Timid
Level: 32
Health Unknown
Stamina Unknown
Mana Unknow
Other Attributes:
Unknown