Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  Wasn’t sure what I was worried about though, we hadn’t entered some kind of notoriously scary woods filled with evil creatures or anything. Hel, it’s not like we’d been warned about…

  “The highwaymen…” I whispered as I got ready for a fight, setting off a few small bolts of lightning that arced between my knuckles while I tried to keep Shadow-Stal going in the right direction.

  “Highwaymen?” Gerry asked curiously as he too got battle-ready, “Where?”

  “I don’t know, Bruthben talked about them though, said they knew how to hide…”

  Suddenly I was seeing them everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The odd pile of leaves, the fallen tree, the split boulder, all looked like potential attackers and I had no idea what to do, short of blindly firing into the forest.

  “Plan, Armelia?”

  “Nothing yet, you reckon you could use the forest to fight for us?”

  Gerry shook his head, “Not without having them turn on the snakes or Shadow-Stal when they finished mulching the highwaymen. How about Blazie? I should be able to use him again.”

  “Bit of an overkill, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, overkills can be fun though?”

  “True, very true, but what happens if we need it for Aldok? No, I say we keep on pushing through and if we run into them we consider using the big guns, yeah?”

  “Sounds good to me…” Gerry muttered as he finally started paying the forest around us some real attention.

  I know it seems odd, we weren’t exactly incapable after all, but I was sure that the enemies’ were going to start growing in strength as the average level between Gerry and I went up, and that didn’t seem like something I was quite ready for.

  That was actually something I was learning to love more and more about being online with Gerry, I was stuck in the constant state of being the ‘noob’ in our party, and I would be until I reached max level.

  There was a glisten just out of the corner of my eye, but as soon as I’d turned to face it the trick of light was gone. I’d have chalked it up to simply being a figment of my imagination, or even a build-up of eye gunk, but I’d seen what had happened to those people in movies far too often to discount it.

  “They’re all around us,” I said as I slowly turned my attention back to the road, “I think they’re waiting for us to lower our defences.”

  “Why in the bleedin’ Hel would we do that?”

  “Because otherwise they’ll never fight us and continue to attack the villagers. It’s our duty as-”

  “Ugh, fine. I’m lowering my hands, but you better remember that you forced this when we get attacked by a horde of fifty highwaymen.”

  “Hello travellers!” a peppy voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once called to us, “I see that you didn’t pay the toll!”

  “Toll?” I asked without stopping, instead allowing Shadow-Stal to continue to trot us as far away from the village as possible, “What toll?”

  “Why the Likbrog toll of course!”

  “Likbrog?” Gerry scoffed, “Is that some kind of cheap ale?”

  “Likbrog is the name of one very powerful gang young mage, and you’d do well to know your place when speaking to one of their leaders.”

  “One of? As in there are more than one gang?”

  “Yes! Many more, scattered all across the land, collecting our toll from the various travellers that use our forests.”

  We’d stalled them long enough, the chances of some cocksure young guard barging into battle and getting himself killed having drifted to the lower percentages of likelihood.

  “Well, if you’d like your toll,” I said as I dismounted and restarted the electric flow within my body, “I suggest you come and get it.”

  “Gladly.”

  Armelia Fireheart has aggravated the Glenburrow Likbrog Gang.

  20x Level 25 Highwaymen, HP: 8500/8500.

  Level 50 Gang Leader, HP: 22500/22500.

  Likbrog Gang discovered.

  Journal entry made.

  Mission Started: The Likbrog Gang.

  Objective added: Defeat the Glenburrow Likbrog Gang.

  Armelia: Chapter 11

  Upon seeing what we were up against, Gerry and I had both sent our snakes into their dormant states for their own safety, but in using those few seconds to defend them we’d left ourselves open to assault from all sides.

  “Sure you don’t want me to call Blazie in?” Gerry asked as he dodged an arrow that went whistling dangerously close to his face.

  “No,” I laughed, “I’m really not!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, which made rolling and avoiding the appearing and disappearing highwaymen all the more difficult.

  “Men in Tights!” I shouted over to Gerry as I realised I’d put about fifty feet between us with my rolling, “That’s what these guys remind me of!”

  “Brilliant!” Gerry grunted as he used a spell to pull down a tree onto a group of his attackers, “Mind channelling that Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog then?”

  “That’s Monty Python you heathen!”

  I gotta admit I was having fun, real fun.

  Not only was I up against an enemy that must’ve had an endless supply of invisibility potions, but I was actually enjoying life for some reason.

  I guess I must’ve finally let myself get lost in the world again without having to force it. I was able to talk about things from out in the real world without everything that was happening in my personal life dragging me down.

  “Shit!” I cursed as a throwing axe from an invisible assailant cleaved into my shoulder, putting a rather severe damper on that happy feeling.

  Left arm wounded.

  325 damage inflicted.

  -20 bleeding damage per minute.

  HP: 5675/6000.

  I was about to quickly heal myself and go to work on returning the axe to its owner, but then I realised that the wound had done something that gave me a fighting chance in a battle I didn’t have a hope in.

  Blood.

  I quickly drew a Heavenly Smite sigil on my right fist, deciding that putting any more strain on my already damaged arm would only exacerbate the situation, and darted back into the fray.

  It didn’t take long to find my first target, some fool just off the path who’d made the mistake of keeping his back to me, my legs bounding against the road and pushing me toward him like a magnet as I drew my fist back and got ready to land an epic level punch on him.

  Unwise decision on my part.

  Me, being who I am, leapt at the last second and launched my fist down into the back of his head, blasting the sigil’s brilliant white light in a fantastic display that left my target without a head, but also launched me a good twenty feet in the air.

  “Gerry!” I cried as I started to fall, the diagonal blast that I’d activated having sent me whisking through the air like a tennis ball thrown by a World Series pitcher.

  It was no use though, Gerry couldn’t hear me, and before long I was crashing through the canopy and into the hard ground where I skidded along for a good few feet before coming to a stop.

  Right arm injured.

  Left arm injured.

  Right leg injured.

  Left leg injured.

  Back injured.

  Chest injured.

  Head wounded.

  3790 damage inflicted.

  -400 crushing damage per minute.

  HP: 1885/6000.

  Your equipment is in dire need of repairing.

  I laid there a while, bleeding out, ribcage collapsing in on itself, wondering if perhaps I was out of my league, that I didn’t have what it took to fight Aldok, and suddenly my personal problems all came back to me.

  “Ow…” I groaned in an effort to pretend I wasn’t thinking about how messed up my life was, no matter how many fun lunches and gaming sessions I squeezed in, “Just… ow.”

  Armelia: Chapter 12

  Casting Ky-Len’s Heal proved surprisingly difficu
lt with a broken body and mind, the body preventing me from doing anything of much use without great effort, my mind telling me that there was no bloody point to it anyway, but I managed it anyway, because I’m a fighter.

  And stubborn.

  Mostly stubborn.

  “Hey! Armelia!” Gerry called over the sound of hooves crashing against the forest road as he came riding over toward the small crater I’d made with Ky-Len’s Heal, “Hey, aha, I lost you back there.”

  End of Conflict Report:

  (Sole Survivor Multiplier: x 2.5)

  Grand Gerry the Good: 19x Level 25 Highwaymen, 1x Level 50 Gang Leader.

  (Abandoned Conflict Multiplier: x 0.5)

  Armelia Fireheart: 1x Level 25 Highwaymen.

  Total experience awarded:

  Grand Gerry the Good: Max Level Reached.

  No Experience Points awarded.

  Armelia Fireheart: +250(-125) XP.

  Level 16 Completed!

  Level Up!

  Level 17 Progress: 120/6500.

  5 Skill Points awarded.

  Progress made in mission: The Likbrog Gang.

  Objective completed: Defeat the Glenburrow Likbrog Gang.

  Objective added: Go to Underburg.

  “Yeah… ha…” I said as I looked over the mission that I no longer had any context for, “what happened with the gang?”

  Gerry dismounted, giving Shadow-Stal a few good pats as he did so, and shrugged, “Nothing much, mostly he just wanted to make sure that we knew we’d picked a fight with an indomitable force and we’d meet our end soon enough at the hands of the mighty Likbrog Gang. Bit of a wanker if you ask me.” he said with a smile before gaining a look of concern, “You alright? You seem kinda down.”

  “It’s nothing,” I replied through a forced smile as I brushed past him and climbed back onto Shadow-Stal, “come on, I’ve gotta go get this stuff repaired.”

  “Well I reckon we should head back to Glenburrow then, that forest path looks to be a fair bit longer than I thought it was gonna be. Besides, we’re well closer to Glenburrow than whatever it is that’s on the other side of the forest, but you’d know that,” he laughed, “you must’ve seen the curvature of Tarthirious from up there, eh?”

  “Yeah, it was great getting thrown from the first bit of real fun I’ve had in ages.” I growled, “Now, are you gonna get on the bloody horse or not?”

  “Hey, don’t put this on me.” Gerry replied defensively.

  “Well you’re the bloody prat who went ahead and let me go flying off into the sunset.”

  “What was I supposed to do? Lead the entire gang back to you? Because I doubt that would’ve gone down well.”

  Gerry’d gotten to know me too well, that much was certain. The bloody man had discovered that if he didn’t give me a fight I’d eventually tire myself out with my own arguments in my head, which also meant that he knew that I didn’t actually give a damn about him not coming to rescue me straight away and that I probably would’ve been pissed if he had.

  But that didn’t mean I couldn’t do the most childish thing of all to win an argument, “Fine. I’m logging off.”

  Kylia: Chapter 7

  Night had started its steady creep into the sky as I shut down my computer and took out my USB, my inner child being channelled as I thumped my way over to the bed and flopped down with enough force to make something in the mattress make a breaking sound.

  “What are you doing?” Gerald asked as he calmly shut off his own computer and got up.

  “What do you mean?” I hissed back, “I’m done playing, so I’m going to stop playing. I thought that’d be obvious.”

  An annoyingly cute smile landed on Gerald’s face and he started shaking his head, “You know I’m not falling for this, right? I’m not gonna have it out with you so that I can end up being your personal scream pillow.”

  “Why not?” I whined before I could stop myself, the knee-jerk response to insert humour where even I didn’t want it coming out as naturally as breathing.

  “Because I love you. If I thought for a second it’d make you feel better I’d have a grand ol’ row with you.” he said, his smile not changing but my interpretation of it turning from irritating to comforting, “I’d bellow and moan until I was hoarse and then I’d yell some more, but all that’ll do is offer you a brief moment of catharsis and a target to put your anger into.”

  “Well you’re no fun.” I said, a catch forming in my throat as a single unexplainable tear rolled down my cheek, “Great,” I laughed, “now I’m crying.”

  Gerald came over and joined me on the bed as I desperately tried to wipe away the flood of tears that were rushing down my face, “Hey, you’re alright.” he said before wrapping his arm around my shoulders, “You’re alright.”

  And then I was happy again, comforted and safe, but something else had come about to replace the sadness. It was barely noticeable at first, just a sort of twinge near my stomach, but it quickly became this debilitating ache and I finally realised what was going on.

  “Oh no…” I trailed off in annoyance as I got to my feet and started toward the door, “really?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Aunt bloody Irma is what’s wrong.” I replied as I pulled the door open, “hey, I need pads.”

  For some reason I got weirdly direct whenever I was on my period, sometimes aggressively so.

  “Pardon?” Ronald asked, obviously taken aback.

  “Pads, I need them. And some chocolate. And chips and gravy, perhaps some fish too… Point is I need pads, they’re like the one thing I didn’t pack.”

  Ronald didn’t bother responding, instead opting to go ahead and start the process of calling out for a supply drop-off.

  Normally I’d get some warning before anything actually started, but I figured that stress would’ve thrown my body off-guard something shocking.

  It was really quite annoying.

  “Bloody thing…” I growled at myself as I walked back toward the bed with my legs pressed together, stopping halfway there.

  “Something the matter?” Gerald asked in a panic, having come to his feet and started opening and closing his hands in confusion.

  “I reckon, and this is just a thought, that maybe I should go have a bath… What do you think?”

  “Maybe that’d be for the best.” Gerald replied with a nod before darting over to the hatch and lifting it up for me, “I could join you if you-nope, that’s not a good idea at all.”

  “Heh, probably not,” I said as I started my weird little waddle over to the ladder, “thanks for the offer though.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll let you know when the food’s here, yeah?”

  I nodded and started climbing down, “That’d be great, thanks.”

  And just like that I was reassured of my happiness with being with Gerald. Everything about him was perfect and I knew that no matter what he’d stay by my side, he even seemed to be at the point where he’d start calling me out on my bullshit, and I don’t mean the gentle conversation we’d just had.

  He was the perfect guy for me, and I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.

  Kylia: Chapter 8

  The bath was absolutely amazing, especially after Gerald brought down the chocolate bar that the MPs had gotten for me.

  It was like being on holiday in a cave.

  A really creepy cave.

  Alright, so it wasn’t that much like a holiday, but going upstairs to cooked food, warm clothes by the fire, and a happily waiting boyfriend certainly wasn’t bad.

  “Oooh…” I moaned as I knelt down to grab my clothes, “Can we eat by the fire, it’s so warm.”

  “Course,” Gerald replied with a smile as he got up, picking up the newspaper wrapped pile of food and the accompanying tub of gravy as he did, “anything for you.”

  He made me so damn happy like I couldn’t believe, but I still had to get my pad and everything ready in the relative privacy of the other end of the cab
in while he set up.

  What? I can still have things I want to be private, even with the best man in the world.

  Eventually, after a good deal of angling myself away from Gerald, I’d gone to sit with him and started eating by the fire.

  “How’s the fish?” I asked as I slowly ate another gravy covered chip.

  “It’s… good?” Gerald responded confusedly as he shovelled another forkful down his throat, “There’s one for you, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know, I just have this thing with fish. I have to wait and see if it’s good first.”

  “So, what? I’m a food tester now?” Gerald laughed, “Good to know.”

  “It’s not that, it’s… actually, it kind of is that.” I said with a smile, “Scooch, I wanna have some.”

  Gerald did as I asked and I started carving up my fillet with my fork and spearing it with my chips, the fried, salty goodness making up for the fact that the cabin didn’t appear to have a single condiment or spice.

  “Are you starting to like it here?” Gerald asked, making me realise that we’d both been silent for at least twenty minutes.

  “I’m not sure. It’s certainly simpler than home. How about you?”

  Gerald shrugged as best as he could with his arm draped over me, “It’s like I’m goin’ to bed, you know? I’m right about to drift off and then I get jolted back awake by a thought, but instead of panicking that I left the stove on or left the door unlocked I’m panicking about my entire life back home falling apart.”

  The silence returned for a few moments as I too started thinking about how destroyed my life could be when I returned.

  If I returned.

  “I hate it when you get all deep and meaningful,” I said with a weak smile, “especially when you have such good points.”

  “Eh, gotta take the good with the bad.” he joked, “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Kylia: Chapter 9

  I must’ve dozed off at some point, because when I woke up the next morning I was tucked into bed with Gerald cuddling me, his entire body warming me up as the early morning sun struggled to push away the night’s crisp air.