We kill and loot like true raiders until we have so much experience from them that I don’t even get to use claw before they’re dead, and the experience they generate on the kill is negligible.
“We need to go somewhere else,” I say to Turtle when he draws near me in the midst of the slaughter.
“Agreed,” he grunts at me. We regroup on the shore. “What do you think? Any ideas on where we should go?”
“Not really,” luvs2heal says.
“I have an idea.” Even as I say this, I feel a little sick in my stomach. “Here’s how it’s going to work.”
Chapter 16
I make sure to buff up when we get to the outskirts of our next target’s range, and I encourage the others to do the same. I eat one of luvs2heal’s wolf kebabs and fish around in my pack to see what potions I salvaged. I pass a +3 INT flask to her, and find a +3 PWR flask for myself. “Sorry, Turtle, that’s all I got.”
“I got my own,” he assures me.
“Okay, are we ready? This guy’s going to come at us balls out, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Ready,” luvs2heal says.
“Lead the way,” Turtle says.
I cloak myself in shadows and clamber over the grass-clumped sand dune to the body of the fallen scout. Sure enough, my friend the fisherman is nearby. He has his back to us right now, but Turtle and luvs will surely grab his attention in a moment.
“Keep walking,” luvs2heal says. “I’ll hang back for heals.”
“And I’ll hang back for surprise,” I say. “Tank it for us, Turtle.”
“You got it,” he says and clears his throat. “Hey! Hairy one!”
The very large, very green, very muscled fisherman jerks around at the shouted words. Then he comes at Turtle like a bullet train. He runs like he’s on speed. My jaw drops. I’m in awe of him. He’s still a wicked bastard with that fishing pole. I can see luvs2heal waving her hands around; she’s already starting to heal Turtle. A holy golden shield pops up in front of him and I’m close enough to the melee now that I can pop in for the fight.
Man, if I thought the river goblins were fun to shred, it’s nothing compared to what my new skill does against this guy. The goblins went down easy. This guy has a serious health point cushion. I can hit him for all I’m worth and he’ll still be standing after several rounds. I fall into a rhythm with my daggers. I stick and slash him until I’ve got the maximum rage points and then I unleash the claw on him and zing when I see the screen flash purple.
Critical hit: 1,764 damage. Your opponent is severely wounded.
Turtle keeps whaling on him, and keeps up enough aggro so that my slashes go by seemingly unnoticed. I take no damage while luvs2heal works like mad to keep Turtle alive. I land another crit and the fisherman goes down.
+250,000
I can’t help it. I let out a whoop and then I dance on his corpse. Take that, angry fisherman.
My curiosity overtakes me. While he’s dead, I can run to his cabin and see what it is he’s protecting so fiercely. I run for the shore and come alongside the small hut. It’s got a crudely fashioned window facing the shore. I peer inside.
There’s a woman there, a very pregnant, very human woman. This is what the fisherman doesn’t want anyone to find? Is she a prisoner here?
“Psst,” I hiss. “Are you all right? Everything okay here?”
The woman looks up from the straw pallet she’s laying on. “Who are you? What are you doing here? Where’s Omar?”
Omar must be fishing buddy. I realize I’m running short on time before he respawns.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. You’re not in trouble are you? You’re okay?”
She nods. “I’m perfectly fine. But where’s Omar?”
“He’ll be here any minute,” I say, knowing that it’s true. “If you’re okay, I’ll be off,” I say and, not waiting for a response, I run back to Turtle and luvs2heal.
“He’s got a woman holed up in there, a pregnant woman.”
“Interesting,” luvs2heal says.
I look around nervously. “I’m running low on poison,” I say. “We should head back. Let’s run back to town, cash in this experience, and I need to get some poison for my knives, get them sharpened too,” I say.
Turtle and luvs2heal agree and the three of us make the trek back to town. I’m throbbing with so much energy when I check in with Billy the Dodger and get my level boosts that I have to immediately excuse myself to ... distribute my talent points. That’s what we’ll call it.
LEVEL 19 CHARACTER STATS
NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—827,400/775,200
Next level achieved at 1,254,300 experience points.
CORE ATTRIBUTES
19 + 22 (modifiers) AGILITY (AGI) = +41% to dodge and critical hit
1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points
8 + 1 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 90 health points
13 POWER (PWR) = +130 damage
ARMOR/ENHANCEMENTS
Chest—black leather vest
Head—Cowl of Shadows +1 AGI
Hands—Gloves of Stealth +1 AGI
Legs—black leather pants
Feet—black leather boots
Rings— Ring of Dodge +1 AGI
Necklace—Of Protection +1 FORT
WEAPONS
Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers +1 AGI/level
SKILLS
Stick’em
Slash
Slippery Fish
Shadow Cloak
Fangstrike
Cut Purse
Lock Pick
The Claw
PROFESSIONS
Fishing
Poisoncrafting
Mixology
Woodlore
ACHIEVEMENTS
Level Ten!
Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!
Say my name!
Phew, Level Five already?
They just don’t want to share the hedge.
It was this big!
You’ve arrived!
Bardic Credit: 10
Chapter 17
Later that afternoon, much refreshed, I return to the inn. I don’t see any sign of Turtle or luvs2heal, so I head down to the cellar to see Billy the Dodger. “Need help with anything?”
“Yes, I’m glad you asked. You remember my friend Matthias, the one you helped get out of the wizard’s tower?”
“Of course I do.”
“Well, there’s a problem. He’s been absolutely despondent since he broke free. He won’t even see me. Maybe since you’re a relative stranger ... he won’t feel so ashamed to talk with you. Here, take these bracers to him; he left them here. He won’t even let me see him to give them to him. Find out what’s going on. See if you can cheer him up.
Quest offered: Brace Yourself!
Return Matthias’s bracers to him.
Reward: Experience points and 3 silver, 80 copper pieces.
Do you accept?
Simple enough. “I accept,” I say, picking up the bracers. Conveniently, there’s a pulsing red “X” on my map, so I head out in that direction.
I go through the door of a little cottage and find Matthias sitting at a table by the fire. “Oh hey, it’s you,” he says.
“Mind if I come in? I have something for you,” I say, offering up the bracers.
“Not at all,” he says. “Please.”
Brace Yourself! Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
3 silver, 80 copper pieces and 100,000 experience points
That was too easy. “Billy says you’re feeling a bit down. Want to tell me about it?” I’ll admit I’m fishing for a quest. There should be more here.
Matthias stares into his mug of ale. “I did a job for the local magistrate and he turned on me. Instead of paying me for the job, he turned me in for murder. That’s why I was being held in the tower. Those daggers I had you get were supposed to be my payment. I don’t want them. You can have them.”
He stops and removes the daggers from his belt, then shoves them on the table. I do a quick check and see that while they’re nice, they’re nowhere near as nice as my heirloom beauties.
“You should keep your daggers,” I say. I think you’ll need them.
“I know now why he wanted me exposed, though. I couldn’t figure it out at the time. I’ve never had any beef with him. Now I know what happened. My wife just got notified that we have permission from the queen to introduce human blood to her line.” He looks at me directly and takes a deep breath. “We can have a child,” he says reverently. “The queen always notifies the magistrates before she notifies the lucky couple. Now my wife is being held on the magistrate’s estate as his ‘ward’ and now we know exactly how corrupt our magistrate is. He’s trying to take our birthright. He wants to take everything from me. My life, my wife, the future of our family line.” He’s almost resigned to his fate. He takes another deep quaff of his beer.
“Wait, how is it even your family line if your wife is impregnated by a human?”
“That’s how it works here. It’s about the rights of succession and inheritance. Here in Arcadia, you have to have an heir. I can’t pass my wealth or heirlooms onto my brother. If I die without a child, or if my wife does, our belongings go to the queen.”
“What can I do to help?”
His voice suddenly grows angry. “I want you to execute him. Publicly. At the town hall. Then I want you to shout ‘Long Live Fidelius!’ and get the hell out of there. There’s a meeting of the council tonight. I will rescue my wife while you take care of the magistrate.”
Quest offered: A Friend In Need
Execute the magistrate at the town hall meeting this evening.
Reward: Experience points and 4 silver pieces
Do you accept?
Matthias appears to look at everything and nothing for a minute. “Look, I have one more skill I can teach you to make sure this comes off right.” Follow me, I’ll show you how it’s done.
“Okay.”
He gets up from his chair. “This way. Do as I do.” He shadow cloaks, so I do too.
He dashes and stabs and I mimic his behavior. “Now, do it knowing this,” he says, and places a hand on my head.
Congratulations! You have learned a new combat skill: shadowslide.
The knowledge seeps into my bones. I’m impressed. This is a nice opening and finishing move all in one. It feels wicked powerful, fitting someone near the top of the food chain, as I now am seeing as this game maxes out at twenty and I’m nineteen. With shadowslide, I can glide in unseen behind a target and hit him, hard, before he has any chance to respond. The magistrate may be stronger than me, but it won’t be by much, and if I manage to land a crit on him he may go down in just one or two blows. Execution indeed.
I hang out with Matthias for a while and then, when the town bell strikes six, I head for the council meeting. The building has deep overhanging eaves from the roof, and it’s easy to hide in the shadows alongside it.
Inside is harder, but they make it possible for me. The magistrate is standing at the head of the table, and he is a straight shot from the open door to the hall.
I read the quest text again to make sure I have it right. Wouldn’t do to have to repeat this one. I close the pane, satisfied I’ve got it right. It’s now or never, I suppose.
I target the magistrate, then shadowslide up behind him and pound him with my daggers delivered full to the hilt into his muscles, doing 1,728 damage. He crumples before me. The cooldown initiates. I stick’em and slash until my rage is up and then I claw his throat open in front of everyone.
+130,000
“Long Live Fidelius!” I shout, and then shadow cloak. Every one of those councilors is staring at the magistrate, dumbfounded. It’s easy to slip out.
I slide back through the shadows to Matthias’s place. He’s not back yet, so I put on a kettle for tea. Or I try to. I mean everyone should be able to make some tea.
You are attempting a cooking recipe. Would you like to take cooking as one of your professions? Warning: you have a maximum of five professions. Yes or no?
I review my professions and decide I want to keep my final slot open. I’ve already got woodlore, poisoncrafting, fishing, and mixology. Poisoncrafting really should just be a variant of mixology. Maybe the game designers will fix that in a later iteration. But for now, I can’t even make a goddamn cup of tea, so I say, “No,” and sit at the table by the fire and wait.
The door opens, and Matthias comes in, cradling a woman I presume to be his wife. They clutch one another like a pair truly in love and I’m happy to see this moment of reunion in their home.
“And this is who we have to thank,” Matthias says, gesturing at me. His countenance turns serious. “Is it done?”
I nod. “It’s done.
A Friend In Need Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
4 silver pieces and 200,000 experience points
Congratulations! You’ve earned +5 Bardic credit. You’ve done something worth singing about. Unique quest line completed. Notice: Bardic credit is non-transferrable. Once you have earned 100 Bardic credit, your story will be submitted to the bardic guild and a song will be commissioned on your behalf, telling of your adventures as a hero in the land.
Congratulations! You have reached Level Twenty!
Warning: You have five minutes to distribute two talent points.
Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement. Maxxed out! Awarded upon reaching Level Twenty.
Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement. Keys to the City! You may now enter Silverkeep City.
This is kind of amazing. I’m finally here. I blink and take a deep breath, then distribute my talent points. This is it. My final character pane.
Maybe I can still learn a fifth profession? Maybe I should have taken cooking. Oh well. Can’t change that now.
LEVEL 20 CHARACTER STATS
NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—Max.
CORE ATTRIBUTES
20 + 23 (modifiers) AGILITY (AGI) = +43% to dodge and critical hit
1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points
8 + 3 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 110 health points
14 POWER (PWR) = +140 damage
ARMOR/ENHANCEMENTS
Chest—black leather vest
Head—Cowl of Shadows +1 AGI
Hands—Gloves of Stealth +1 AGI
Forearms—Bracers of Strength +2 FORT
Legs—black leather pants
Feet—black leather boots
Rings— Ring of Dodge +1 AGI
Necklace—Of Protection +1 FORT
WEAPONS
Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers +1 AGI/level
SKILLS
Stick’em
Slash
Slippery Fish
Shadow Cloak
Fangstrike
Cut Purse
Lock Pick
The Claw
Shadowslide
PROFESSIONS
Fishing
Poisoncrafting
Mixology
Woodlore
ACHIEVEMENTS
Keys to the City
Level Twenty—You’re Maxxed Out!
Level Ten!
Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!
Say my name!
Phew, Level Five already?
It was this big!
You’ve arrived!
Bardic Credit: 15
Chapter 18
The Keys to the City achievement puts a stamp on my traveling papers, which is why I came to the village in the first place. Now I can go find Catriona. I feel a little bad abandoning Turtle and luvs2heal, but I have no idea where they are. I send luvs2heal an in game message and let her know where I’m heading. Maybe she’ll look me up when she gets there.
Stamp acquired, I walk back to the central transport station and get in line. The place is just as busy as bef
ore, with people lined up everywhere. Snakes of lines with makeshift huts thrown up in between them and vendors hawking their wares are all around me. The place is bustling. Then I see there are signs for trams going to the capital of Silverkeep City as well as a number of other places, one of which I’m in line for. I find the place I’m supposed to be and shift over to the line for Silverkeep City. And then I wait again.
My hackles go up. There’s a bunch of guards questioning the people in line. Just my line. I notice one guy’s distinctive mole. It’s the same security team that was on the tram I originally took to get to Arcadia. They’re scanning everyone with some kind of device. I don’t know why I’m worried. It’s not like I’ve done anything wrong. So what if I’m at cross-purposes with the queen. It’s not like that device is going to discover that ...
It doesn’t feel right, my Spidey-senses are going off, so I back away and shadow cloak, then duck against the side of a building, a street over, out of sight. I check now and then. The security team hangs out there for a good while, and I wait until they’re satisfied and leave. Then I let the line build up again. Who are they looking for, and why?
I shadowslide to leap into a targeted opening in the shuttle lines, opting not to do any damage to anyone this time. I do it when I notice everyone’s attention is on a tram coming in from the human lands, and I blend right into the crowd. I fidget nervously at first, and then remember to act like I’ve belonged here all along. Soon I’m at the front of the line, and the flight master catapults me into a saddle on the back of a giant griffin.
The flight master slaps the beast’s giant haunches. The griffin launches with lunging force into the air and we’re off. It’s amazing. Exhilarating. The wind buffets my face and clothes. I’m grateful for the break provided by the leather I’m wearing all over. I try to pull up my cowl, but the wind just pushes it back down.
Arcadia Unlocked: A LitRPG Novel (Arcadia LitRPG Book 1) Page 11