Homeland: Ingame 2

by Kieron Uchee

  I could see that the chest had three items in it, a weapon, some kind of leather gear and a scroll. None of the items were wet, more magic I would guess. I grabbed them all and then swam to the surface. Once on dry land I grabbed my cloak and began to dry myself off and get dressed. Sitting down I examined the weapon first. It was a dagger, a blue item that had plus ten to all stats when equipped. I belted the sheath on and immediately felt the difference that having the extra plus ten made. My stats now read,

  Level four Stats

  Strength = 410

  Agility = 410

  Mana = 420

  Health = 410

  Speed = 410

  The next item was a cloak, it had no stats but did have a concealment charm built into it. If it totally covered the wearer he would merge into the background. That was well worth selling and I bagged it. The final item was a scroll that read,

  The power of magic is knowledge and this is the first step towards that

  power.

  The spell of Ice bolts.

  Do you wish to learn this spell

  Yes, or No?

  As I accepted the spell my mind was suddenly filled with the knowledge of how to cast Ice bolts. It worked for me as it was a distance attack and one that would grow as I leveled. I called the guys back to me and showed them what I had found. Looking around I asked, “Did you find an exit here, or do we need to search more?”

  Sebastian spoke up and pointing towards the top of the waterfall said, “It is on top of the waterfall, there is a hidden ledge with a cave that turns into a downward tunnel. Unfortunately, the only way up there is to climb through the waterfall.”

  I sighed, this was not going to be easy, but we had managed the first level in half a day. I was pleased and standing up I said, “I will go first so if I fall you guys can catch me, hearing them groan I smiled and then stepped under the waterfall and felt for a handhold.

  Chapter 10 Lady-killer

  As I began to climb over the waterfall onto the upper ledge the ding sounded and I leveled. I was wet, tired and level four. Nice, I thought as I lay on my back catching my breath. The guys both landed beside me and we all sat for a few minutes. I passed smokes around and asked the guys to give me a moment to dry off. Looking at my new stats I now observed,

  Level five stats

  Strength = 810

  Agility = 810

  Mana = 820

  Health = 810

  Speed = 810

  It was pretty amazing as I could feel the changes and they felt good.

  Eventually, we entered the cave and began to walk downwards; the passageway was wide enough for two people to walk abreast. The walls were damp and the floor was sand and gravel.

  We traveled for several minutes until we reached a sharp bend, going around the corner the passage opened up into another large cavern, it looked very similar to the first one. There were rocky outcroppings and deep pools of seawater.

  Sitting on several of the rocks were girls, naked girls. They all had a bluish tinge to their skin, and their hair was green in color. They were slender with the typical dimensions of female NPC, large chest, and narrow waist, with all the padding in the proper places. The faces I could see in the distance looked perhaps a little more triangular than normal but that only added to their beauty.

  “Who are these girls?” I asked softly. I was feeling a bit ambivalent about having to take down a woman. Call me old-fashioned or just stupid but the idea of hitting a female just did not suit me. Not a pleasant feeling realizing that you are leaving your comfort zone.

  Sebastian spoke up, “I think that these women are Sirens, they take the form of a mermaid that spends most of the time living on land, so in appearance they are women. They use their powerful voices to sing sex magic towards men, who lose all control and usually die trying to reach the Sirens.”

  I nodded that made sense; some of the old Greek and Roman legends and stories also mentioned Sirens. I activated my PIM and then linked into GNet to look up a definition for Sirens in the Wikipedia archives. The relevant passage I found stated,

  (In Greek mythology, the Sirens were beautiful yet dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli.)

  Calling the guys together I asked for their thoughts on how we should approach this dungeon area. We talked it out for a while when Sebastian suddenly said, “I do not think we need to worry too much about the Sirens. In fact, I am sure that this will be one of the easiest levels here for us.”

  I stared at his grinning face and asked, “What makes you think that man, I see at least twenty of the girls and there may be more at the far end of the cavern. Once we hear them sing it is over. We have no earplugs and no way to stop them from singing.”

  Looking over at Komhether, Sebastian smiled and stated, “The sirens use their voices to drive men mad with physical desire with sex magic. I suspect that Komhether and I are not going to be affected by the girls. Also, you may have forgotten, but when Ama gave you her mark it has the effect of negating all other sex magic. You also will not be affected. The singing will move us emotionally as all good songs can do, but I doubt we will lose control.”

  I nodded, he was right; we were protected from the Sirens. The guys were only interested in each other and while I was weak the protection that Ama gave me would be my defense. I thought about what we would have to do and then I said, “Guys I may have one problem here, I am not sure that I can kill a girl who is singing at me.”

  Both Sebastian and Komhether looked at me. I shrugged what could I say, it was just the way I felt. I know that feelings come and go and that things change but to kill someone for singing just did not seem right.

  Sebastian spoke up and said, “I know that they look like attractive girls but wait until we get close to them. They will change and when they reveal themselves I think that your hesitancy will disappear.”

  I nodded at this and said, “I hope so.” We then continued to discuss how we would deal with the Sirens. I asked, “What kind of physical or magical attack can we expect?”

  Both of the guys shrugged, Komhether looked at the closest two Sirens and said, “I would expect that they are stronger than they appear, but they do not have any weapons I can see.”

  All right, let's see what happens, I will stand back and cast lightning on them and when they are distracted you guys swoop down and attack from the back. I am also going to start using the new spell I just learned to start leveling it up. Are we ready?” Seeing them nod I began to thread my way along the rocks towards the first of the sirens.

  There were two sirens sitting on the first rocky outcropping above the pool of seawater. The guys had already flown up and were near the roof of the cavern. Once the girls saw me they both began to sing, the sound was clear and light, it brought back memories of times gone passed.

  Suddenly the song changed and it brought to mind springtime and flowers. As I came closer to the sirens the tempo increased and thoughts of summer heat, warm nights and languid mornings filled my mind.

  Thank the Gods that I was immune as the singing was powerful and hypnotic in nature; I was able to stay focused by concentrating. Without the protection of Ama’s mark on me, I would have been lost in a living daydream that would have drawn me in closer and closer without any thought of what might happen.

  Suddenly Sebastian and Komhether swooped down with great speed and thrust the tridents into the back of the sirens. With a look of pain on their faces, the Sirens spun around to face the attackers. As they began to turn their attention to the guys I could see their faces change. Instead of looking like two exotic women they now had a much more serpentine aspect on their face.

  They both thrust out their hands and I could see water blasts form and fly up towards the hovering Sebastian and Komhether. The blasts missed but judging by the force when it hit the roof of the cavern I had
no doubt that it would cause severe damage to anyone it hit.

  Without even thinking of opening my interface I called out lightning strike and watched as two bolts flew from me to hit the tridents stuck in the Sirens backs. The effect was instantaneous as both sirens were blown off the rock outcropping, their bodies frozen in a muscle spasm.

  As the Sirens hit the ground both of my friends dived down and upon landing ran towards them, then each grabbed a Siren by the head and then gave a strong twist which snapped the Sirens neck.

  I ran over to where they were and quickly looted the bodies; each produced four silver and some vendor trash. I asked, “How did it go?”

  Komhether smiled grimly and said, “It was an easy task, by the time we threw the tridents at them we were flying rapidly. The weapons hit with a great deal of force and easily took off at least sixty-five percent of their life points. Your lightning strike froze them and must have done at least thirty percent more damage to them.”

  “Well, guys I guess that we are going to be doing the wash, rinse and repeat of dungeon crawls here. I hate the fact that we just repeat what we do over and over but it gets the job done safely. Are we ready to continue?” I asked.

  They both nodded and then Sebastian asked, “Should I fly up and direct you towards the next group? It might make this go a little faster.” It was a good idea, the faster we were done the happier I would be. It turns out that with my lightning bolts frying the sirens the sight of naked female girls that had a burnt fish smell did not appeal to me at all.

  Thanking Sebastian for a good idea we continued on, as the afternoon turned towards evening we finally had the boss left. I had made just over ninety gold and three more green items that would be sent to the Auction House. The rest was vendor trash and only worth keeping as long as I had room in my bag.

  Looking at the final boss I observed that she was older and seemed more mature than the other sirens had. She radiated a purpose and I knew that this one would be a lot more difficult. “Any thought guys? I am having a problem coming up with a plan here.” I asked.

  Both of the guys looked at the siren and just shook their heads, Sebastian said, “She is going to be a tough one. I would bet her water blasts are a lot stronger than that of the other sirens we faced. And look where she is, that outcropping of rocks is so close to the far wall we will not be able to get into position behind her.”

  I nodded he was right, it would be impossible to use the tactics that had served us so well. I would have to think out of the box on this one. The trouble was my thoughts were darting around but I could not formulate anything that I felt would be successful. Feeling frustrated I said, “Let's take a break and eat, maybe she will want to join us,” in a joking manner.

  Spreading out the cloaks we brought out the remainder of the fresh food, tomorrow we would be eating the dried rations. Tonight, we still had some cheese and sausages, with fruit and a pastry. Both Komhether and I still had a couple of bottles of wine left and I had three hard apple ciders.

  I cracked the first bottle of wine and poured as we sat and ate. The food was good and the company was great, but the problem did not magically resolve itself. Halfway thru the meal she began to sing, it was happy and sad at the same time. I felt homesick for a place I had never been to. I stood and walked towards the siren.

  She had spotted us earlier, so I was careful not to enter her aggro range. Once I was as close as I could get and still feel reasonably safe I lifted the unopened bottle of wine I had brought. Waving my hands above my head I waited until she stopped singing.

  “My thanks for your songs,” I shouted. “Here is a bottle of wine in payment for the singing. It was truly remarkable.” Putting the bottle into the water I saw that it floated, so swinging my arm out I gave it a toss and watched it land near her rocky outcropping.

  Slowly I made my way back to my friends, the wine we had drunk was potent and I did not want to slip. Once I arrived back I sat on my cloak and lit three cigarettes.

  As we chatted and finished off the last of the cheese I noticed the siren had fetched the bottle up and was drinking it. When I say drinking it I mean she was sucking the wine out of the bottle faster than humanly possible.

  As she looked over she lifted the bottle and saluted us then with the hint of a lopsided walk she went back to the center of the rocks and began to sing again. This time, her voice was looser and had a raw powerful feel to it. Still beautiful but subtly different.

  Komhether gave a snicker and said, “She drank that wine fast and is feeling the buzz, you can hear it in her voice.” Sebastian and I chuckled and then I reached for the next bottle. I was about to open it when Sebastian suddenly said, “Stop, do not open that wine.”

  I looked at him curiously and asked, “Why not? We still have a couple of bottles left and I do not think we are ready to take her on yet.”

  Sebastian just grinned at me and then said, “Do you like older women Torn?”

  I was starting to wonder where this was going when Komhether started to chuckle and then whispered, “Oh you're a dirty minded Demon, Sebastian and I like that.”

  I may not be the sharpest marble in the bag but I can usually extrapolate information from what is in front of me but as I stared at the bottle in my hand I did not have a clue what these two clowns were talking about. “Alright, what gives?” I asked.

  Sebastian looked at me and then smiled, “Methinks that the lady likes the wine, Torn.” I agreed with him, she had drunk it down faster than I would have thought possible.

  Suddenly I felt like an idiot and then began to smile as I put it all together. “That one bottle went down fast and it impacted her, you could tell by her walk,” I said. “Let's see what will happen if she manages to drink two or three more.”

  Seeing the guys laugh I knew I had hit on Sebastian's plan. I slowly walked over to the spot where I had tossed the wine bottle and lifting the new bottle up I tossed it towards the sirens rocks. I watched as it floated towards her and then observed as she scrambled down and grabbed it.

  She tore the cork out and guzzled the whole damn bottle then and there. “Quickly, the other two bottles,” I called out. Komhether brought them to me and I tossed first one then the other towards the siren. Once she grabbed them she once again ripped the lids off and then drank both bottles one after another. I watched her as she stood swaying and then slowly made her way back towards the center of the outcropping. About halfway there she sank down and after a few minutes, she began to snore with the sound of it echoing in the caverns open space.

  I could not believe it, the old girl liked the sauce. I looked at the guys and said, “In my realm drinking like that can be the death of you.” We were all grinning like crazy but after high-fiving Sebastian and explaining what it meant we got down to work.

  “I want you guys to use the tridents on her back as she lays there, and then I will cast lightning at her until I am done, once she has been stunned get in close and do your best to end her. I can not think of any other way to do this,” I said.

  “It will work,” Sebastian said confidently. Grabbing the tridents they flew as high as the could and then dived towards the siren. Leveling off they threw the weapons into her back with great force. With a scream that tore out of her throat, the siren tried to stand, but the alcohol in her system was too much.

  As she staggered about trying to stand I cast my lightning, watching as the power gauge on my interface began to go to head towards zero. At five percent I called out, “Now guys,” and then I fell to my knees. I could see that the siren was still locked into the position she had been in when the current that had hit into her.

  Komhether grabbed her about the waist and Sebastian grabbed her by the neck and then with a visible effort they snapped her back. I watched as her HP dropped from twenty-five percent to zero, and then when it finally bottomed out I heard the ding.

  I closed the window without looking at it, I knew that my stats had just doubled again. It felt good as I ha
d been almost out of energy and by leveling all my stats were topped off at the new level.

  Level six stats

  Strength = 1610

  Agility = 1610

  Mana = 1610

  Health = 1610

  Speed = 1610

  Making my way to the rocks where her body lay, I heard Komhether whisper just loud enough for me to hear, “Torn, he is a real lady killer once he gets them sauced up.” They both burst out laughing at my expense but I did not mind, Sebastian’s plan had saved us.

  “Let’s see what she has,” I said as I looted her body. Ten gold and book titled,

  The art of singing and carrying a tune.

  Or how not to have tomatoes thrown at you.

  I put it all in my bag and then moved on to the chest that was visible behind a pile of rock. Opening the chest I stared at what I saw in amazement. It was full of bras and lacy things that ladies would wear. What the hell, I thought as I plunged my hand underneath the Sirens underwear.

  Finally, I could feel something, pulling out all the personal effects I finally saw what was at the bottom of the chest. There was a jewelry stand and on it were two rings and a necklace. I examined the rings first, both were blue items with a bind on equip enchant and they were all level five items

  I saw that you had to equip the rings to find out what stats they had. Unfortunately, if the stats did not suit your build then the rings were useless. Looking at the necklace I saw that it was also a blue item and it had plus fifteen to mana. It also was the third piece to the set and if all three were equipped then the health stat would be increased by fifty points.

  Calling the guys over I showed them the items and asked what they thought. Sebastian looking at the items asked, “If you put them all on you get a bonus, right?”

  Seeing me nod he then said, “I suggest you put them all on, you will level past the usefulness of the items soon anyway.” I glanced over at Komhether and saw that he was nodding yes.