"Stop right there, you two," said Marbareus. "Never tell your secrets like that. Especially your abilities' limits and attribute points. You never know who's going to become your enemy in the future nor how that information will be used.
"I, for instance, know that a stealth ability with such a requirement in perception would be impossible to obtain by normal means in such short time, and so would sixteen points in perception. Both of you either have rare titles or rare enchanted items to attain that.
"The only reason I myself am not killing both of you for the chance of the items right now is because I would be hunted by the Resistance afterward."
"Oh," said Daggers.
"Well, I'm impressed," I said to him. "I never thought you would help me in any way whatsoever."
"It's not for you that I do this, deathlord. I decided it would be better to keep the temptation down. Next, you would tell me something absurd like having more than ten points in your mage trait and I would be sure that you are using the Circlet of Enlightenment the deathlords plundered from a vampire stronghold two hundred years ago. It would be impossible to not kill you, then."
For almost all the remaining of the trip, I didn't speak a single word, except to tell him when I was tired and when I was rested.
Daggers asked for a short stop to eat; I asked her about sleeping and she said drow didn't need to. The vampire told us it was related to the influence of the God of Darkness, also known as Devourer: he modified their bodies when they became the drow. That was an interesting knowledge not available in the game's official wiki pages.
Constitution increased to 8 (+1)
This insane amount of running has made you more robust.
» HP: 275 (+40)
» Stamina: 210 (+10)
I leveled up my constitution by the end of the seventh hour and finally understood how it worked: each point I got in it would increase my HP by the new level number times five. Meaning: when I got to level ten in constitution, I'd get fifty more HP. Level eleven, fifty-five HP. And so on.
Intelligence and MP worked the same way.
To tell the truth, it made me a little concerned about the game balance. I mean, I had six hundred and twenty MP now. As long as I stood in a protected position I could just attack with magic for a very long time. But that also meant the next spells I learned would either require more time or ridiculous amounts of mana to use. Or both.
More importantly, it meant that mages were not as useful as I would like. Someone with as much constitution as I had intelligence would also have six hundred and twenty HP. That was a lot of HP and unless he stood still as I attacked him from afar, I didn't have enough magic to kill him before he got close and killed me.
Glass cannon, that's what characters like me were called in games: capable of dealing lots of damage but physically fragile as a trade off. Right then, I decided I would not stand for it. I would become a warrior mage.
Trait received: Warrior
Being a warrior is not just about repeatedly attacking enemies with a physical weapon; it's a mindset, a belief that your muscles are as necessary as your brains to destroy your enemies.
» +1% efficiency to stamina consuming skills
That was... Interesting, for two reasons:
First, it made clear that how the player thought heavily influenced the game. A little scary, to tell the truth, but not that unexpected.
Second, it was a damn overpowered trait. Every stamina consuming ability would become more efficient? That was bullshit. It made the warrior trait good for everyone but people who used magic.
Why the hell couldn't mages be considered warriors? What was with that prejudice?
Thinking about magic, something came to mind. "Why can I only have three morbs at the same time?" I asked the vampire.
"Because of your low intelligence. That is also information you should keep to yourself. Unless it's a difficult battle you should never show your enemy how many morbs you can maintain."
I frowned. "What's the intelligence to morb ratio?"
"Three to one."
"Why-"
"I'm not," he cut me off, "your magic teacher. Shut up."
I obeyed. If the ratio was three to one, it meant that I could create four morbs with my fourteen points in intelligence, not three as I was doing. Why didn't it happen, then?
Well, obviously because I didn't try.
I had tested my boundaries after leaving the prison and got to three morbs, but I hadn't done the same recently.
"What?" I asked looking around.
"I told you to shut up," growled Marbareus.
"But-"
Looking around and seeing no one speaking I concluded I was crazy and listening to things.
I laughed.
She replied with the same tone.
Her voice was visibly more relaxed.
I was lying before, but I didn't think she would take it well.
Her answer came with a hint of a smile.
Again she became silent, now for a longer time. I warned Marbareus I was close to exhaustion and we sat for me to rest.
No reply, which I took to mean she had hung up. After that, it was back to resting and running in silence.
Until we finally got to our beautiful and painful destination.
Jack Thorn
Unbound Deathlord
Legendary Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage
Level 10
Hit Points:275 / 275
Mana Points:0 / 620
Stamina:3 / 210
Attributes:
Strength:7
Agility:7
Dexterity:6
Constitution:8
Intelligence:14
Perception:6 + 10 [Items]
Willpower:9
Charisma:7
Traits:
Adept Mage:11 + 10 [Items]
Adept Controller:11
Energizer:3
Diviner:2
Gold Digger:2
Scavenger:2
Antimage:1
Athlete:1
Crafter:1
Healer:1
Meditator:1
Mind Seer:1
Negotiator:1
Nitpicker:1
Shadow:1
Warrior:1
13. People Person
'Acting on principles is an easy way to become predictable. And once you are predictable, it's only a matter of time until you are destroyed.'
- Father
"Don't speak, don't look up, don't walk away from me. If you do, you'll be attacked and I'll not protect you," said Marbareus.
"Ok," I answered weakly.
"Yes, sir," said Daggers.
We were in Crystalia, a cave complex full of crystal forests – there was no other way to describe it. Crystals of all colors shone everywhere, from red to blue, white to black, in all sizes, from the equivalent of sand grains to five stories buildings.
They formed a maze of colors that was as beautiful as it was confusing. Even the ceiling was covered with crystals. My head was hurting from that the sensory overload, especially after coming straight from the drow city and its complete lack of colors.
The plan to paint the Underworld rainbow colors died right there. Someone had already done much worse and I'd rather not be considered a plagiarist.
I didn't even have the force to argue with the vampire, with my head hurting so much, it was as if someone had found a way inside and was driving nails into my brain. It had gone on for half an hour or so, ever since we entered the crystal chamber via a hidden passage in the wall, and I was seriously considering logging out when he told me we would be arriving at a vampire's city soon.
If he had told me to kneel and beg for admittance in the city I would've done so, if only to get into a dark room and lock myself in there for a few hours. The small darkness in the hooded black cloak he had given me to hide my face did nothing to block the pain.
The city I could now see had walls made of large crystals, but they had at least kept to a single color: blue, the main color in Marbareus' cloak which had intricate green details stitched throughout. Vampire soldiers with the same cloaks as him had passed by us and spoken in whispers to him before moving on. I didn't even try to eavesdrop, I only wanted the pain to end.
Over the walls – it looked like they had either carved the crystals or placed a platform there – more soldiers were patrolling. They looked attentive; more than one archer knocked arrows on their metal bows and a few morbs were created as we approached.
Until now, the vampires and deathlords war had been just something distant I heard about, but all those soldiers around made it real to me. And not only was it real, I was getting closer to it.
We neared the immense gates of the city and I kept my eyes low. Pain and helplessness have a way of making people less defiant, go figure. Marbareus traded words with the vampires guarding the doors – seven vampires in full armor – and they made a point of looking away from me and Daggers as we walked past them.
The moment I went through the threshold of the city, my headache disappeared; not even a trace remained. I breathed heavily, which seemed to deeply disturb the vampire, by the look he gave me.
His frown was quickly replaced by a happy smile, though. Marbareus smiling in legit happiness was one of the creepiest things I had seen in the game.
"Crystalia is one of the great mysteries of Valia," he said. "The crystals have been growing in this land longer than recorded history and no one understands why being in their presence causes similar effects to indirect sunlight. It's one of the best natural defenses of the Underworld." He was in good humor.
"And the city has protection against it," I said.
"Evidently. The Sophus clan is proud of being the only ones capable of such feat." His chest grew as he said that. "We are the first defense against the West Underworld and no one has ever breached us."
The vampire had shown himself to be a fairly important person in the city, making guards look away as he smuggled us in and all. Now that the meeting was already in the past, I saw it as an opportunity to get myself a new high-level NPC pal.
"Impressive. How many have tried and got massacred?"
His good mood disappeared and he didn't answer, just started walking again. Apparently, it had never been breached because it had never been attacked.
"You are an idiot, but you have some courage," Daggers whispered as she followed along.
At least he didn't like me before anyway. No big loss there. I went after them.
The city was classical Greek or Roman – I never could tell the difference – in style. White columns supporting spacious tall white buildings were everywhere, vertical banners giving color and indicating what they were or who they belonged to.
Some of the buildings had gardens with actual grass and flowers, with what looked to be crystal sand glowing on it. The streets were large and stone-paved, and the vampires walking around were all well dressed in Roman-or-Greek-looking clothes.
It felt as if I h
ad found civilization for the very first time since I starting playing.
"This is a damn nice city," I said.
"Too late," whispered Daggers. The vampire didn't even acknowledge my commentary.
We walked in the direction of a big building in the middle of the street, far away. Vampires looked at us as and talked among themselves as we passed.
"Won't they get suspicious?" I asked. Daggers and I were hooded, but we were obviously outsiders.
"They will," Marbareus said, "but no one would dare get in my way."
The words had barely left his mouth when a woman stopped in front of us, arms crossed. She was tall and lean, her blond hair almost white, her red eyes shining in a way I believed meant either anger, battle mode or skill usage. Like all vampires, her skin was light, but not pale like Marbareus'.
"What is the meaning of this?" She said as she opened her blue and green cloak to reveal impressive golden armor with an intricate pattern and gems all over it. It was tight, but there were no nice breasts curves on it, as in almost every other game or movie with women in armor.
Yes, definitely a game made for eunuchs.
"Get out of the way, sister. This is none of your concern."
"But it is. The Prince has named me Captain of the Guard. You-"
"I," he raised his voice to interrupt her, "am not under the Guard's scope of power. Unless the Prince has ordered you to annoy me, get out of my way."
They locked their eyes for a long, long time. Was it me or were her eyes glowing brighter each second? I couldn't see Marbareus' face, but I bet the same thing was occurring on his face.
People passing by pretended not to see, but I noticed more and more vampires were stopping nearby, finding some reason to stay in sight of us.
After five minutes I was beginning to wonder if the NPCs were malfunctioning when she finally spoke again.
"The Prince has summoned you. You are already late."
I thought Marbareus would swear and run, but he made a nasal sound before answering. "I told you twice to get out of my way and not only did you keep challenging me, but you also interfered with my fulfilling an order from the Prince. This is the third and final time I tell you: get out of my way. Or face both mine and the Prince's wrath."
Unbound Deathlord: Challenge Page 23