He didn't answer. The chat became silent again.
The caravan took about forty minutes to get there. A man in dark green metal armor – very lean and sculpted armor – was the first to appear. He had completely black eyes and had been a human before turning into an undead. Above his head, a single green morb floated.
After him were nine catrons carrying multitudes of bags and a single merchant in silk clothes. No guards at all.
Tardas' answer was an arrow flying toward the earthbound and hitting the ground before him.
He missed? What the hell?!
The deathlord's response time was very quick. "Ambush!" He yelled and extended his hand to the floor. His morb flew to the ground, and it erupted in an incredible speed.
Like a one-person bunker forming from below, it covered him entirely, leaving only very narrow slits on the eye level that not even an arrow could penetrate. Tardas sent another arrow flying anyway.
This one shone blue and red as it flew to the bunker. It hit it and penetrated making a hole the size of my fist. Then it exploded inside in a red and blue flash, and the mist appeared.
It came from inside the bunker and covered a very exact round area around the shelter. One to two meters' radius, if I had to guess. It was dense and impossible to see anything through it.
The perfect cage for a mage: inside a fortified position, with no visibility at all.
She did. Appearing out of nowhere, she hit the man in a very particular spot on his neck and he fell unconscious.
The ghoul became visible and walked to the catrons. There, he proceeded to unload everything into a backpack; a backpack that he took from his purse, after opening its mouth wide.
Oh, so the item storage can be used this way, as I thought.
The man was a beast at thievery. In less than half an hour he had stolen everything from all nine catrons and from the merchant's body too. The animals were released into the Maze and the merchant was tied with a rope.
Tardas stopped speaking as I crouched next to the merchant, opened his eye with my fingers and I lowered my hood in front of him. Then, I got up.
Raw fury was visible in the ghoul's face.
I shrugged.
Apparently, he didn't have a lethal eye attack because his look didn't kill me.
His hand shook, making the bow tremble. I kept wisely silent. Eventually, he closed his eyes.
Staying in the Maze for longer wasn't what I had in mind, but I'd take what I could. I started walking and was surprised to hear Daggers whisper.
"That was well done, sir."
I smiled and winked at her. It was good to know that not everyone expected me to just meekly accept people trying to take advantage of me.
"I need better relationship for my Blackguard quest," she whispered next. "But trust me."
My eyes widened. Was Daggers really willing to sell me out for a quest? And after telling me to trust her?
She covertly made an 'OK' sign with her hand, and we found some more goblins to kill and train with.
Nothing like a massacre after pissing on Marbareus' plans.
Jack Thorn
Unbound Deathlord
Legendary Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage
Level 13
Hit Points:320 / 320
Mana Points:620 / 620
Stamina:225 / 225
Attributes:
Strength:8
Agility:9
Dexterity:6
Constitution:9
Intelligence:14
Perception:7 + 10 [Items]
Willpower:10
Charisma:8
Traits:
© Adept Controller:21
© Adept Energizer:13
Adept Mage:11 + 10 [Items]
Diviner:2
Gold Digger:2
Scavenger:2
Scout:2
Antimage:1
Athlete:1
Crafter:1
Healer:1
Meditator:1
Mind Seer:1
Negotiator:1
Nitpicker:1
Shadow:1
Strategist:1
Tactician:1
Warrior:1
21. Ice in the Hole
'Shh... It was only a nightmare. Relax, honey.'
- Aunt
Three days had passed. Our routine became raiding caravans and training by using nearby monsters in between. About four merchant caravans came each day, and after the first one, all came with guards.
But they were weak as hell.
Thing is, Marbareus had downplayed the importance of the Great Maze to the earthbound's pride. They forbid guards to come at all, and only covert weak ones passed their inspection. They also refused to send more than a single earthbound, claiming it would be enough that time.
Deathlord politics seemed to put a lot of faith in believing your enemy wouldn't be crazy enough to keep attacking. We had, after all, left the battlefield multiple times in the past week to allow the earthbound to retreat alive.
It also better explained the choice of this place for an ambush. Three players around level ten would hardly be able to withstand the fury of the most powerful deathlords unless it was in perfect conditions.
I wouldn't have believed in such stupidity from the deathlords if it wasn't for my political background. I knew how bureaucracy and idiots could allow a tiny problem to fester and snowball into a catastrophe.
'Most of our enemies are power-hungry imbeciles in prominent positions who only know how to buy and sell favors,' mother had taught me. 'They lack foresight and knowledge to solve problems themselves. Therefore, they became the best as stalling for time and waiting for the problem to solve itself.'
All those days, Marbareus and I had been playing a little game of cat and mouse.
First, he updated the quest adding a condition: I had to show my face to a conscious sur
vivor. Daggers agreed to put a dazed status on a man 'by mistake' in a fight, and I showed my face to him.
After that, he ordered me to show my face to a conscious and lucid survivor. I did, then I waited for the quest update and killed the guy anyways.
Marbareus could only talk to Tardas once a day. The Maze was a magically isolated place, forbidding even Daggers and Eternal's bodies to fade away in there when they logged out. Such a communication blockade only made it an even better defense against invasions.
Those had been fun days, but they were about to end. Marbareus had finally realized what he needed to do: he merely changed the quest to the lines of 'obey Tardas unconditionally.'
At least it would end with a grand finale. Today there would be no dull merchants and guards for us to kill, but a spicy novelty: players. The earthbound claimed the Destiny Spirits had asked for a quest to be created to deal with us.
I would bet all my money it was bullshit. Someone in there had something like a brain and was using it.
According to Tardas' report, twenty players were coming, mainly deathlords and vampires, but also a couple of ghouls; these were the only species that could start the game in the Inner Circle.
Tardas was in the corner of the static chamber. Eternal and I were right after the corner beyond the exit. Daggers was a little ahead on the entrance's tunnel, invisible thanks to Tardas' skill, and timing the arrival of our enemies.
I finally caught sight of the first players. I was excited and had been a little worried about their numbers, but the worry faded away as I saw more of them: there was no organization. Instead of walking and fighting as a single unit, they were divided into small groups or walking alone.
Seeing them was a very educational experience. The sheer variety of equipment was amazing: from leather to metal, from robes to armor, daggers to mage staffs, halberds to bows. It was also possible to see how my gang fights had been stupid in the way we fought without coordination. Tardas and Daggers had shown me the usefulness of enforced discipline.
Not that I would ever admit it.
One of the player's upper chest armor was a metal piece strapped on with leather and chains. It was the last thing I needed to complete my new pillaged set: copper vambraces and greaves were on my arms and legs. They changed my fighting style a little, and I liked them a lot.
They were not entirely metal, only the front half, the remaining being plain leather. It was a very well thought-out workaround to the armor weight problem, protecting critical areas but still being light enough for agile fighters to wear. Daggers told me Blackguards were forbidden to use metal except in training, but the reason was a secret.
Sadly, I couldn't use any chainmail gloves over my ring nor any helmet with my circlet. When I tried, they stopped working, and I received a stupid message about the items interacting with the ambient enchantment. Also, no guard had had a better short sword or shield.
Fighting the weak caravan guards had been easy. They fought back, but they were just barely stronger than the elite prison ghouls had been. It had, however, allowed us to test different tactics to ambush people. The two fronts attack had been the most successful one.
By now, the players were all in the cave. They looked around suspiciously, visibly anxious. The earthbound deathlord was a woman this time, but she had the same dark green metal armor as all the others had had. Also like the others, a single earth morb floated above her head.
"Where are they?" One of the players broke the silence.
"Silence! Pay attention!" The woman bellowed.
The distraction was even better for us.
Tardas arrow flew and hit the ground before the earthbound. "Ambush!" She yelled, like all the others had done and threw her morb on the ground, from where the bunker appeared. Either they had a bad AI or a very standard military training back home.
[Daggers] Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!
[Daggers] Critical damage for 2.0x damage!
[Daggers] 384 (192 x 2) slash damage dealt to Rear Mage
HP: 0 / 384 <?>
Daggers attacked a mage in the back a split second after the earthbound created his bunker. Tardas blue-and-red shining arrow flew at the same time, distracting everyone.
Daggers became visible when she attacked, but the distraction and shouting all around was enough for no one to realize the loss of the mage, who had been alone.
She moved further into the group and shadowed, killing a warrior with three fast strikes in the neck, then jumping quickly at another mage nearby, killing him too.
"Behind us!" The earthbound's voice came from the mists and was miraculously heard over all the shouting. Apparently, they created parties right before entering the Maze, in case their clients wandered away.
Everyone turned, and Eternal and I used the opportunity to attack. After finally reaching level fifteen on intelligence, I could now create five morbs. Together with my fireball spell reaching level two – four with the ring – I was now a damn volcano, melting everything in my path.
Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!
Critical damage for 2.0x damage!
228 fire + 15 burn damage dealt to Random Mage (243 total)
228 fire + 13 burn damage dealt to Random Mage (241 total)
HP: 0 / 484 <?>
I killed two dudes and injured another one. Even Eternal managed to kill one. We had discovered sneak attacks only worked if no enemy at all was seeing the attack coming.
After that, the real fight was on. Fourteen people to go. Right after we struck, Eternal and I hid, one around each corner, and began to recreate our morbs.
I kept an eye on Daggers' HP. I knew that she would fight smart: dodge attacks and put people between herself and the enemies, moving like a ghost and abusing her high agility, only attacking when it was safe. She still would take occasional damage, but it shouldn't be anything off of charts.
The chamber was in chaos. People kept trying to get to Daggers but couldn't, and not a few attacks from them hit their own associates. Without the earthbound, they had no one to coordinate them and their yelling added to the confusion more than helped.
I loved it.
My fireballs flew. It was a shame, but people were looking our way, so no sneak bonus damage applied. It was still enough to kill the guy I had injured earlier, and coordinate a single target attack with Eternal to kill another one.
We both were already going back to hiding when two arrows missed me by a breath.
It amazingly didn't miss my hood, which we wore to give some credit to our thieves cover, and it opened, revealing my face.
"It's a deathlord! They are deathlords!" I heard one of the archers yelling.
Scanning the logs, I saw Daggers kill another guy. Eleven to go. Her stamina was draining quickly, though, already at a hundred and eighty.
Some arrows and magic hit the edge of the gap we were at, but my leather armor was good enough to protect me from small incidental damage, like the burn and frost that came. The sound of explosions still made me half deaf, though.
Two arrows hit me before I could even see the battlefield a
nd a white ball followed suit, partially blinding me. I was still able to see two shapes running at me and targeted them.
My first two fireballs went for their bodies, then turned midair to hit their legs. They stumbled and fell on the floor. My following three fireballs hit one of them in the head – the one without a helmet – and killed him.
Eternal attacked the other one. The helmet prevented critical damage from spells to the head, and he survived. We hid again, and I kept my shield ready for the incoming warrior. If the guy were dumb enough to try and get to Eternal, on the other side of the corridor, he would leave his back to me and die horribly.
He wasn't that stupid, though, only mildly. Three seconds later, he was on me, but his back was to Eternal. I defended his attack and put my fireballs in his face, while Eternal put his fireballs into the guy's neck. He didn't die, but I could see his eyes get desperate underneath the helmet. Smiling, I kicked between his legs and he screamed in pain. I finished him with a sword through his face.
Concentrating amidst the ringing in my ears, the shouting and explosions was hard, but I managed to summon all my morbs while Daggers killed another guy.
Eternal and I repeated our attack and killed another two.
Only seven to go, but Daggers stamina was down to ninety, and two of the remaining ones would be a pain in the ass to take care of, thanks to their body covered in plate armor from head to toe. To tell the truth, only Daggers could deal with them, and she would need a lot of stamina for that
Unbound Deathlord: Challenge Page 38