Digitized Online
Page 4
The sewers seemed very clean and maze-like. I was surprised. Were these not used? I worked my way through the twisting, turning corridors. The further I got, the more dank and filthy they became. Soon, I was holding my nose. Pee-yew!
Off in the distance, I could hear faint skittering noises that caused my hair to stand on end. So far, I'd been bit by a mad rabbit and a wolf. Could I go for the trifecta? I needed to start dodging better.
Rounding a corner, I came face to face with my first rodent.
We both shrieked at the same time. Patch wasn't kidding! These fuckers were huge! And they stood on two feet. Wtf?
Before I could react properly, the 50-pound rodent hissed and leaped for my face. Luckily, I leaned out of the way just in time. Damn, they were fast little shits.
I lifted my bow up and activated both my freezing and double arrow abilities. With two arrows nocked, I waited until the beast was in mid leap before releasing. Again, the first arrow was a crit. The two-legged rodent was frozen in mid-air as first 10 hp were taken off, then 4 more, leaving him 6.
Frozen, he couldn't catch himself as he fell like a stone to the floor, causing another point of damage. Before he could recover, I got off another arrow. The rat was left with 2 hp. I quickly nocked another one, but before I could get it off, he raced back the way he came.
I took a deep breath, trying to still my beating heart. I had no idea rats grew so big. I followed the trail of blood until I came upon a large room. I could hear faint animal noises on the other side of the door.
I waited until my cooldowns were up, activated both, then busted into the room with arrows nocked and ready. I expected the rats, but what I didn't expect to see was the goblin. He was holding a mace and jumped in front of my arrows.
He had 25 hp, there was a second rat who was at full health - 20 hp - and the injured rat who was cowering in the corner with only 2 hp left. This was my first big fight.
The two arrows' aim were true, piercing the goblin's chest, both freezing and injuring him. His mouth froze in a silent scream as one arrow wiped 5 hp from his health and the other stole away 4. Shit. He still had 16.
Before the other rat could react, I nocked another arrow and drove it into the heart of the goblin. It only struck him for 3, leaving him with 13 hp.
The second rat jumped on me, clawing and scratching for 2 points of damage. Glancing at my health bar, I was down to 36. I flung the rat away and aimed the next arrow at the cowering rat in the corner. Fatal hit.
1/10 Rats Defeated
Flashed across my screen. I was starting to run out of arrows. I quickly dashed past the goblin, who was just shaking off the effects of the freezing spell, and grabbed a couple of arrows from the dead rat's body.
Blocking my path out were both the goblin and the large rat. Neither of which looked particularly pleased. The rat bared its fangs and jumped as the goblin lunged forward with his small mace held above his head.
I successfully dodged the rat, but the mace came crashing down on my head, causing me to see stars. I watched 3 life points drain away. Good thing I had some hp to soak up this damage with.
Problem was, I was in cramped quarters. A bow was practically useless here. I had to get to the passageways.
I sprinted toward the door, but felt a hand grab my foot. Without thinking, I stabbed it with an arrow. The goblin screamed, losing 1 health. It was just enough to make him loosen his grip, allowing me to escape into the hallway where I had a better chance with my bow.
As soon as I was out, I activated both abilities and nocked two arrows. I waited to see who was going to come out of the room first. It was the rat.
With a sharp twang, I released both arrows, freezing the rat at the entrance and causing 4+3 damage. The goblin roared, shoved past the rat and tackled me. My bow went skittering and when I hit the ground, I felt the air rush from my lungs.
The goblin proceeded to pound on my face, causing 2 hp damage until I was able to fling him off. I leapt to my feet and dashed toward my bow, barely dodging out of the way of the jumping rat.
I was starting to think that I was going to lose. But the next arrow found its mark, causing 3 points of damage. Bringing him down to 9. With a handful of arrows left, I avoided the rat and shot another one toward the goblin. It hit for 5 hp, leaving him with only 4 left.
The goblin apparently found his mace and flung it at me, hitting me in the chest for 5 hp. That cut me down to 26. I was starting to take a serious beating here. But my cooldowns flashed on my screen and I immediately activated the abilities, nocked 2 arrows, aimed them at the goblin and released.
Surprisingly, one missed. The other critted for 10 damage, killing him instantly. I had no time to celebrate as the other rat leaped on my head and bit my ear, causing 4 hp damage. Fuck, I was half down. And I still had 9 more rats to slay for this quest. I was going to have to heal and come back. No way I could take on all these rats. Maybe one at a time, but not several.
I hit the rat with my bow until he fell off. Then I nocked an arrow at his head and critted him for 10, leaving him with just 3. Trouble was, I was now out of arrows. As the rat lay dazed on the ground, I quickly scanned the hallway and saw two arrows sticking out of the goblin.
Pulling them out, I barely had time to nock one before the rat jumped on me, knocking me to the ground. In the struggle, I was able to get off an arrow, causing 4 hp of damage, killing him even as his teeth had sunk into my leg.
I carefully pulled the rat from my leg and took a moment to survey the situation. Two rat-men and a goblin lay dead and I was seriously injured - again. I was going to have to start bringing bandages or healing salve or something.
The pain was intense and I hobbled over to the first goblin, checked him for coins and other valuables, then did the same with the other. They each had exactly one silver on them and a couple shiny green gems that half-way looked like emeralds. Those looked like they would fetch a good price.
The goblin I saved for last. I knew he'd have something good on him. And I was right. He had a couple gold pieces, a handful of silver and a curious black gem that was warm to the touch.
There was also an ordinary-looking key in his possession.
I examined the stone, but it showed no stats. Just ???. It was magical somehow, but I'd have to get it checked out to find out exactly what it was and what it did.
The pain in my leg was starting to become unbearable. I seriously doubted if I could go on. I was going to have to hobble back, get myself healed up and try again. I wasn't sure of the respawn rates in this game, but they likely had them. Fuck.
I carefully searched the dim room, looking for any valuables - hidden or otherwise. I was just about to give up when I saw something poking out from under the cot.
"Aha!" I cried out, my voice hoarse and dry. Being careful not to injure my leg any more than it already was, I knelt down and carefully brought out the footlocker.
Using the key from the goblin, I slipped it inside, turned it and heard a satisfying click. I opened the musty footlocker and peered inside. There was just enough light to see the contents.
A bunch of paper, some shiny - but otherwise useless - glass, a few more of those green gems, a bunch of copper and then, buried way at the bottom I spied a red vial.
A potion?
I studied the liquid for a moment, then brushed off the dirt covering the label.
Scrawled in sloppy handwriting was simply the word 'Heal'. A healing potion? Really?
I looked around to make sure I wasn't being snuck up on, then weighed my options. Normally I wasn't in the habit of quaffing unknown liquids - especially not ones that had been sitting in the bottom of a goblin's musty footlocker for Gods' knows how long.
I looked at my leg. It was oozing blood and looked very bad. Did I really have an option? I glanced at my health bar. 21. Shit, I was losing health from the blood loss.
The decision made for me, I popped the cork, took a big whiff - I should NOT have done that as it stank to h
igh heaven - and quaffed it right down. Nearly gagging from the thick, viscous liquid, I waited to see what the effects might be.
For all I knew it could've been blood or something. Maybe it was so old that it would kill me. I knew very little about how this world worked. I didn't even know how - or if - I would respawn.
I closed my eyes when I felt myself becoming light-headed. Oh boy. The contents of my stomach began to swirl and for a moment there I thought I was going to lose my lunch.
But then everything started to clear up. I felt a slight numbness and tingling in my leg and when I looked down, the bleeding had stopped and I could see the skin re-grafting. It was a very odd experience.
Quickly, I brought up my HUD. Potion of healing - it showed for my current effects. I watched with fascination as my hp ticked up. 22...24...27...30, finally settling on 31.
Nice! A 10hp healing potion. I arose and immediately felt stronger. Maybe I could complete the quest after all. I glanced at my xp bar and saw that I had been awarded 65x2 xp for the rat-men and 175 for the goblin. That put me at 1905/3200. Not quite there, but a few more kills, another quest or two and I'd ding level 4 in no time.
Striding from the room, I gathered up all the arrows I could find. That was going to be the real bottleneck. I was simply going to have to deal with it. As soon as I could, I vowed, I was going to complete the fletcher's quest and learn how to make my own god damn arrows.
Right now I had exactly 12. I had 8 more rats to slay. Good thing they were reusable. The arrows, not the rats.
Making sure I hadn't forgotten anything, I straightened my quiver, preemptively nocked an arrow and set off. The rest of the sewer was comparatively easy. I was starting to get the hang of my abilities.
I'd start by activating both Double and Freezing Arrow, bringing the rat-men down half-way. Unless I got a lucky crit, then another arrow or two and they were dead.
After the initial opening, I'd casually walk around the frozen rat, peppering it with another couple of arrows. Then, by the time they were able to retaliate, they were so low on hp that one or two more arrows would generally finish them off.
The few times they got close, I leaped away, side-stepping their lumbering attacks.
Each rat-man had exactly 1 silver and 1 of those green gems on them. I surmised that it was some kind of payment for whoever they were working for. I wondered who that was.
I found myself getting into such a routine that I had plenty of time to think. As strange as it was, I was actually enjoying my new life here. I didn't much like the fact that I was completely alone - save for the NPCs - but there was nothing I could do about that.
Once I'd plunked dead the last rat, I'd been awarded another 65x8 for 520 xp, bringing me up to a nice 2425/3200. Nearly there.
Quest complete: Kill 10 rats
Experience gained: 200
New quest objective: Return to Patch for reward
Nice! Now I was just that much closer to leveling up. I seriously contemplated leaving. I mean, I'd done what I had set out to do, namely complete Patch's quest. I was a few gold and gems richer. I could also do with a bit of a rest. I looked at my health and saw that it was starting to creep down again. It currently stood at 27. Not great. Not really bad, but it could be better.
Two slouching rat-men guarded a large, ornate door that undoubtedly held someone - or something - important inside. But what? Curiosity burned my soul. I had to find out.
Gripping my bow tightly, I crept forward and positioned myself right behind a large crate. I had perfect line of sight to them and they couldn't see me.
With 7 arrows left, I activated my abilities. My goal was to bring down one guard as quickly as possible, then kite the other one to death. Would it work out that way? Only time would tell.
Taking a deep breath, I released my two arrows, piercing the heart of the first rat-man guard. To my shock, he crumpled down like a toy. The other one popped open his sleepy eyes and glanced around.
Large, red numbers floated above the corpse. A fucking double crit! Holy shit!
With the one down and my advantage secured, I quickly nocked another arrow and plunked the second rat-man guard. 4 health instantly knocked off his 20, taking him down to 16. With my freezing and double arrow abilities on cooldown, I was going to have to do a bit more kiting than with the others.
The rat-man growled, pulled his lips back, baring his filthy, black, rotten fangs. I couldn't imagine what diseases and germs he was carrying.
With a surprising leap, he sprang through the air toward my hiding position. I scampered out of the way, but stumbled into the crates. I was able to dodge his vicious attack, but just barely. I was going to have to be more careful.
Unfortunately, I had lost my counter-attack initiative.
Dusting himself off, the rat-man bored his evil eyes into mine and leaped again, this time knocking me over. I kicked him off, but not before he grazed my flesh, taking 2 hp from me.
I kicked him as hard as I could, sending him flying against the wall and I noted that it took 2 hp from him. But that still left 14.
Rising quickly to my knees, I nocked an arrow and unleashed it for 5 points of damage, bringing him down to 9. However, that only served to enrage him more. I had only moments before I could activate freezing arrow, but he was on top of me before I could hit the button.
Growling and gnashing his teeth, he tore into my shirt, nearly ripping it off. His teeth grazed my jugular, but I jerked my head away at the last second.
The two of us grappled until I was able to fling him away. I grabbed my bow that had skittered away, quickly activated my freezing arrow and fired it at him.
But, like me, it was weak and he easily batted it away.
I sprang to my feet, grabbed my last two arrows and activated my Double Arrow shot. With blood dripping down his mangy body, he lumbered toward me, his fangs bared and his arms outstretched.
I waited until I thought I had the perfect shot and released the arrows right into his face. The rat-man screamed out in pain, clawing wildly at them. The arrows did not kill him, but the combination of him pulling them out and passing out because of it, caused him to fall back and break his skull open on a jagged rock.
I stood there, stunned into silence. I wasn't entirely sure I was going to win that one. I waited until my heart returned to normal before taking stock of the situation. I was up to 2755/3200 xp. Still nearly 500 away from level 4, I was just grateful to be alive. I touched the side of my neck where his teeth grazed me and came away with a bit of blood on my fingers.
That was close. Too close.
I rifled through the pockets of the dead rat-men, knowing exactly what I was going to find. A silver and a green gem. I was right. But there was something else. When I had crashed into the crate, it had busted open and out spilled a cloak of some kind. Picking it up, I could tell from the material that it was just a simple cloak.
Seeing as my clothes were torn and practically falling off my body, I threw it around my shoulders. Couldn't hurt. Doubt it offered any armor, but it was something.
I rounded up my remaining arrows of which there were now 5. Was I really going to face the boss of this dungeon with 5 flippin' arrows? That seemed a bit suicidal.
Now that I had taken care of the guards, I turned my attention to the door. I didn't come all this way and risk my life multiple times just to turn back now.
I turned the knob. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. My heart suddenly thundered in my chest. Was I walking into a trap?
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light, but the room I walked into was nothing like the sewers I had just been in. In fact, it seemed completely out of place.
What was this?
"Hello, Ivanhoe Darkwolf. I've been expecting you."
Chapter 4
"Who are you?" I lifted my bow and aimed it at the voice.
"My name's Orge. I'm the dungeon boss." The little half-elf said as he hopped down off his throne and smiled. "Bu
t I tire of this." He waved his hands.
He seemed completely unconcerned with my arrow pointed straight at his head. Why? Where were his guards? A boss? All alone?
He turned to me as if he'd heard what I'd been thinking. "I walk alone. No need for guards. Go on, release the arrow. You won't be satisfied until you see for yourself."
I had a funny feeling about this. But, he was right. I had to know.
"As you wish." I said and released the arrow straight to his head. I was mentally counting the loot he was no doubt going to drop when I watched the arrow literally zip through him and thwack the back of the throne.
"What the hell?" I asked, my hackles suddenly raising. "Are you a wizard?" I could've sworn my arrow was true.
"Your aim is fine." He waved my concern away. "Come, sit for dinner, have a rest. We have much to discuss."
I wasn't entirely sure I could trust this...Orge character. What if he was just a really cunning boss? But how did he know my name? I figured I could let him talk. I'd just keep my guard up.
"Okay, sure. Talk."
Orge cooked us up a nice, fancy meal - if cooked was the appropriate term. More like he materialized it from thin air. As we ate, he explained that he wasn't an NPC, nor was he a digitized character like me.
What was he, then?
"A hacker." He said simply. He continued on to explain that an evil AI had taken control of the world's nuclear weapons and had detonated each and every one of them. Turns out pretty much the entire world was covered with them. Every conceivable location had a nuke pointed at it.
"So..." I chewed on his words. "You're saying the entire world was destroyed? By an AI?"
"Precisely." He gestured with his hands as he devoured the food.
I leaned back in my chair and dabbed my mouth with the napkin. "Then how --?"