Unbound Deathlord: Challenge
Page 43
That sounds so wrong.
Outside the swamp was a larger tunnel without any supports, so probably a naturally formed one. The walls were covered with mold and some plants. With a safer environment ahead, it was now time to use Dagger's stuff.
Low-Quality Leather Pants
» +20 defense
Low-Quality Leather Armor
» +20 defense
Low-Quality Leather Boots
» +5 defense
Discovering that Daggers' equipment was worse than mine had been a surprise. From what I remembered, her defenses had been a lot better than mine. It had been a shame that her cloak had disappeared when Tardas took it off as it seemed to be the best defensive item she'd had.
What worried me the most was my shield. It hadn't broken, but it was so crumpled and dented that I didn't think it had much time left.
The last thing I put on was the Sun Crystal Resistant Cloak. I wasn't planning on traveling to Crystalia, but I also wasn't planning on being recognized and killed for some reward.
Everything set, it was traveling time.
Twenty minutes of walking later, I saw five players riding a giant yellow lizard.
Jack Thorn
Unbound Deathlord
Legendary Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage
Level 20
Hit Points:620 / 620
Mana Points:950 / 950
Stamina:305 / 305
Attributes:
Strength:19
Agility:17
Dexterity:18
Constitution:14
Intelligence:18 + 2 [Items]
Perception:16 + 10 [Items]
Willpower:18
Charisma:8
Traits:
© Adept Controller:22
© Adept Energizer:14
Adept Mage:12 + 10 [Items]
Scout:3
Athlete:2
Diviner:2
Gold Digger:2
Meditator:2
Scavenger:2
Shadow:2
Antimage:1
Crafter:1
Healer:1
Herbalist:1
Mind Seer:1
Negotiator:1
Nitpicker:1
Ranger:1
Strategist:1
Tactician:1
Warrior:1
24. Dream Crushing
'How do I look in this dress? Hey, eyes up here, young man!'
- Aunt
It wasn't hard to identify them as players: they had mismatched equipment, ranging from silk to steel, and were from multiple species: a pale dwarf, two drow, a ghoul and a vampire.
The giant yellow lizard they were riding was double my height and moved in a clumsy but quick way. They passed by me in silence, without even taking note of my existence.
Yeah, definitely players, probably using the mind chat.
I soon discovered the Underworld had changed, and I wasn't sure if it was for the best. In that little tunnel, I ran into dozens of other players, and when I got to more central cave chambers – uncomfortably close to Crystalia – I found hundreds of others. Most were on foot, but a few rode lizards.
If the beasts were as expensive to maintain on the road as Tardas had told me they were, the riders had to be rich dudes who had converted real money into Valia currency.
As I walked, I found no monsters in the caves, but plenty of bodies from beasts and humanoids alike – which I supposed were players. Only some of them bore the marks of teeth or scratches that indicated PvE fights.
It didn't come as a surprise that there were some PK – player killers – going around.
All the corpses had already been robbed of their possessions, but I still checked on them just to be sure.
The first noteworthy encounter in my journey happened when I was in yet another straight tunnel, only large enough for maybe five people to walk side by side comfortably.
"Stop right there!" A man in a trio yelled to me when he was about twenty meters away. They were all drow, wearing leather armor and holding steel bows. His two friends, both women, looked at each other, then knocked arrows and pointed the bows at me.
I stopped. "What? Think I'm hot? "
"There is a toll to pass through this tunnel. One gold piece."
That made me take a better look at them. Their leather armor was worn, and their bows didn't look like much. The man had lots of muscles, but the women were almost too lean to be healthy. They had pretty standard drow faces: bluish black skin and white hair.
To be honest, one gold coin wasn't much to me, but I knew the thug's type: if I gave him anything, he would just ask for more.
More importantly, I was still very much pissed on the Underworld, and he was an example of what was wrong with those caves.
"Do you have a death wish?" I asked, as I took my sword from my scabbard and held my shield in front of me. A new fire morb flared to life.
It was his time to take a second look at me. He could only see beginner equipment and dirt under the cloak, but my bent shield sure as hell gave me the looks of someone who knew how to fight and wasn't afraid to do it. His attitude changed instantly.
"Wow! Wait a second, there. I'm just following-" A third fire morb came to life, and his eyes popped. "Sorry! Just let me pass, please!"
It was a tough decision.
I don't want to worry about them turning around and ambushing me. But I also don't want to be found by other players in the middle of a fight.
"Sure," I said and got into a defensive position next to the wall.
They walked slowly. The women kept their bows pointed my direction, and I changed my defense angle as they passed by.
Well, if I don't want to be caught by other players, I just have to be quick about it.
Critical damage for 2.0x damage!
222 fire + 20 burn damage dealt to Woman Number One (242 total)
The first woman died with two fireballs and the second one screamed in pain as another hit her. As I waited for a second to pass so I could create a new fire morb and finish her, her body became limp and dropped on the floor. She had logged out.
I directed the new fireball to the guy.
As I expected, he was planning to attack me. He didn't even blink as he found himself alone, he simply produced two daggers from behind his back and counter-attacked. He was expecting my fireball and dodged on the last second, too late for me to correct the path.
"Surprise, little mage!" He said and shadowed the way I had seen Daggers do.
I didn't try to defend myself – he was too fast for it. I left my right flank purposefully unprotected, and he took the bait. The moment he got nearby, I put my sword in his way.
He impaled himself on it.
"Surprise, motherless bastard," I created another fireball and threw at him.
His screams only increased when he took a critical in the face.
A second critical made me surprised he didn't die. After some struggle, he freed himself from the sword and tried to become invisible. Unfortunately for him, with my high perception I could see him much clearer than I had been able to see Daggers.
He died to the third fireball.
Heh. Thanks, Daggers. If I hadn't seen you do that shadow thing, I'd be dead meat by now.
I had no doubt of that. If he had managed to close in on me, it would have been the end. It was looting time.
Swift Dagger
» 30 (+18 [Agility]) physical damage
» +1 agility
Low-Quality Metal Shortbow
» +10 (+18 [Dexterity]) damage to arrows
Low Quality Enchanted Quiver
» Storage limit: 500 arrows
Common Arrow
» 10 physical damage
A single dagger was all that I took for myself from the guy. Besides the weapon, everything else he had was trash. The women provided me with a shitty bow and a nice quiver with three hundred and seventeen arrows.
I also found almost twenty-three go
ld coins in the guy's pocket. It seemed his business was thriving.
What I couldn't carry in my hands or over my shoulders I left on the bodies, since my bags were full of jungle loot.
Man, player-killing sure was profitable! I could already see the riches pilling on the ground from the war I had planned. It would be the best day ever!
After a few tries, I managed to correctly use the bow and make arrows fly. The way different attribute points affected different weapons was interesting, but also a little disappointing. I expected more freedom from Valia.
I mean, it did make sense for a sure aim with a bow to deal more damage than a powerful or fast pull, and daggers were supposed to be handled with speed, not strength, but that should have been left for the player to decide, not the game.
What if a very strong, but slow character tried to use a dagger? How fair was it for him to deal crappy damage because he had the wrong attribute for the weapon?
Forced attribute growth is not cool, game.
As if they had been expecting the cue, an exclamation point appeared.
System message
Dear user,
After continuous observation and careful analysis, we have detected nothing against the rules in your gameplay.
Your game-related thoughts will stop being streamed to our human staff.
As a means of apology for the false flag, you will be given a random attribute point.
We thank you for your cooperation and wish you a good game.
Yours,
V-Soft team.
Dexterity increased to 19 (+1)
You don't really deserve it, but I have no choice but to give it to you.
A single attribute point, given unwillingly. Yeah, based on all I had seen in Valia, it sounded like V-Soft to me. Well, better one than zero. They had followed the law, after all, and it didn't require any compensation.
I kept walking, watchful and suspicious of the masses of players I found everywhere. How many people were in the Underworld?
Camps were commonplace; people sat around fireplaces or by the walls and talked. It surprised me how many people would speak aloud even while having the party mind chat available. After a quick reflection, I concluded that I agreed with their choices; actually listening to voices in the air was much better than hearing people in my head.
A passerby talked about my black eyes, and it made me realize I had forgotten to put the vampire illusion ring on. I corrected my mistake right away.
The path to the Catacombs led me to the cave where I had seen the fishmen, and I found it devoid of any mushrooms. About twenty people were by the lake's margin and the moment three fishmen leapt out of it, all twenty of them attacked. It was a slaughter.
Thankfully, the vampire camp was gone. I went straight to the corridor that passed by the prison. If I could prevent it, I would have gone another way, but the map I had didn't show other ways to the Catacombs.
What worried me was that deathlords, ghouls, vampires or other types of Dakar's denizens could be traveling the corridor to the prison. Just in case, I walked with five fire morbs and a death one ready, and an arrow knocked to my brand-new bow.
Holding a bow with the same arm I held a shield was weird.
It was wasted worry on my part. I saw no one but players, and when I got to the prison entrance, it had been completely sealed. Where once stood the gates, the corridor now continued as if it had always been like that, without any openings. Only the signpost made me aware of where the gate had been.
Curiosity demanded that I try to find out if the wall was an illusion or not, but my wiser and more cautious side made me move on.
Some lizards and lots of players later, I finally got to the Catacombs cave chamber. It had changed a lot.
The first thing I noticed was that the logus were gone.
The second thing was that a kind of small town had developed close to the place where the invisible Catacombs were. It had three distinct small stone buildings and lots of metal shacks. Hundreds of people were in the area.
I arrived at the cave chamber two days early. I trusted Ted well enough, but Bear was a stranger. By getting to the place earlier, I could prevent ambushes or even lay my own trap if I so desired.
With nothing better to do and reasonably confident about the safety of the place, as seen by the people entering and leaving it without visible worry, I decided to check the small town.
* * *
It was a mix of slums and flea market.
Merchants were everywhere, exposing their merchandise on fabrics on the floor and on low shelves. It covered the area of about a hundred soccer fields. Lots of guards, using red metal armlets with a white tree symbol on it, patrolled the narrow streets and kept an eye on everything.
What surprised me the most was that everyone looked like players. The drow didn't have their plain robes, the vampires didn't wear clans cloaks, and the ghouls weren't slaves. Specters, deathlords, zombies and sorins completed the species from the Central and West Underworld which walked around.
"Hey, pal," I asked a random merchant, who was a ginger dwarf.
"Yes? Interested in something?"
"Yeah, information."
"Sorry, man, I don't have a permit for information brokering. Walk ahead until you see some people in blue jackets."
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome."
Heh, politeness. Talk about strange things.
I marked the dwarf's face and stall – he was selling raw ore – for some grateful business later, in case he had told the truth. I followed his directions.
People were bargaining everywhere. I paid close attention to the ongoing prices; money hadn't been a worry before, but I now had to save enough gold to invest in the destruction of my enemies.
The Blue Jackets were some hundred people inside a big square, surrounded by a small metal fence. For about two hours I just watched the money changing hands. No one was speaking anything, which I assumed to mean parties were formed to discuss business.
"Hey!" I said to a Blue Jacket close by.
You have received a party invitation from Vampire Girl.
Accept or refuse?
Status effect resisted: Influence
She bent slightly, and I suddenly realized her cleavage was very much visible, thanks. Under the blue jacket, she wore a tight white cotton shirt with a low neckline and- I frowned as I checked it again. Yes, she was wearing black yoga pants. In Valia.
It was proof of how worried I was about important stuff like money and information to not check out the lady.
Sadly for her, I wasn't about to trust and fall for someone who had just tried to use some kind of skill to influence me.
Status effect resisted: Seduce
Her smile instantly disappeared.
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
I laughed at her face, out of the mind chat.
She crossed her arms.
She just shrugged.
She rolled her eyes.
For some time, I just looked at her.