“Yeah, but he won‘t know that.” the man said, rubbing at his head.
“You do not understand how any of this works. He gives us the money, stays away from the auction and we get the boat. Once we have the ship loaded up, we get out of here and tell him where to find her.” Butt-face explained.
The man shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I say so. Now, I have to go make preparations for the auction tomorrow, make sure no one does anything stupid with the kobold.”
The man snapped a sloppy salute as Butt-face walked away. Once the big man was out of sight, the man moved back toward the gate. Skree slid the Great Sword back into his bag and drew his hatchet. The big weapon was powerful, but was unwieldy in tight spaces. If he wanted to make it through the compound undetected, he would need a close quarters weapon.
Skree slunk from the shadows, Zuka pacing just behind him. creeping up behind the man as he fumbled in his pocket for the key to the gate, Skree used Analyze to know what he was dealing with.
Name: Bogey
Race: Human
Class: Brawler, level 8
Profession: None
Health: 560
Mana: 180
Stamina: 290
Disposition: Patrolling
He grinned wolfishly at the prompt. Level 8? He could easily kill the man in a single blow, but that was not his intention. He needed information about what was inside and how hard it would be to rescue his friend. The man slid the key into the lock and froze as cold steel came to rest against his neck.
“Don’t make a sound, or you‘re dead.” Skree whispered, pushing the blade harder against his throat until a small trickle of blood ran down to stain his collar.
“Okay, okay.” the man muttered. He slowly reached for the knife at his hip and Zuka growled with teeth bared and the man froze. “It‘s you.”
“It is.” Skree said, removing the man's dagger and tossing it away. “How many are inside.”
“Enough to kill you.” Bogey said with a sneer. Skree drove a heel into the back of the man’s knee, sending him to the ground. He yanked the man's head back and raised his hatchet to deliver the killing blow.
“Last chance to play nice.” Skree said, repulsed at his own desire to kill this man.
Through gritted teeth Bogey stammered, “Enough, there are three guards inside. Half a dozen on patrol.”
“Where is she?”
“Inside the warehouse, in the dry cellar. It's the only room made of stone we had, so she won't burn the place down. Go through the side door, down the hallway to the set of stairs leading down.”
Satisfied, Skree drove the pommel of his hatchet into the man's temple, sending him crumpling to the ground. With Zukas help, they dragged him behind a pile of rotting crates. Pushing open the door, they moved like shadows, dodging two different patrols until they made it inside. The hallway was empty, and just as Bogey said, there was a stone stairway leading down. From the depths, Skree could see candlelight and hear the voices of the three guards.
“On three.” He said to Zuka, who nodded. “One, Two, Three.”
Zuka leapt the length of the stairs, landing at the base with a growl loud enough to send a chill up his spine, Skree followed close behind. The guards all scattered, trying to flee from the massive wolf and grab their weapons. Zuka leapt forward into the narrow space, activating pounce and driving one to the ground. Screams erupted from the space as they called for help before Skree was on them, hatchets swinging into their soft flesh. Blood sprayed, bones shattered and the entire thing was over in less than fifteen seconds.
It was a slaughter. In their rapid assault, he hadn’t even used analyze to see how strong they were. It didn’t matter now. He searched the men for the key to the cellar and unlocked the door, pushing inside to see poor little Priestess, chained to a wall, her fancy new robes torn and bloodied. He cast Minor Restoration, and Zuka used his ability, Lick Your Wounds to double up on the healing energy.
Seconds later, she snapped awake, hissing a threat before she recognized it was Skree unlocking her bonds. “Skree! Oh thank goodness, I knew you would find me.”
“Sorry it took so long. This place is a pain in the ass to break into.” he said, undoing the last of her shackles. She placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself before shaking out the numbness from her arms.
“How did it hurt your butt?” she asked earnestly.
“What? Oh, never mind, it‘s a human saying.” he said with a chuckle.
She rolled her eyes. “Humans are weird.”
“Can you fight?” he asked, having a flashback to the first time he had fought at her side in the slaughter at the warren.
“I am fine, thanks to you and Zuka.” she said, running a clawed hand through his fur. “Are there more to kill?”
Skree nodded and sent Priestess a party invite which she accepted quickly. “The patrols probably heard our fight and are on the way.” Zuka growled and Skree heard shouts from the hall upstairs. “Scratch that, they‘re here.” he said, sprinting up the stairs.
As soon as he entered the hallway, he rolled, narrowly avoiding a volley of arrows. The shafts hit the wall above him with a loud thunk. Zuka leapt over him and he saw Priestess riding his companion once again, fireballs in hand.Skree scrambled to his feet, and watched as the pair bounded down the hallway, fireballs racing ahead of them to impact the guards in an explosion of fiery light.
Screams echoed through the hallway, the men rolled around on the floor to extinguish the flames. Skree huffed, remembering the instructions from his grade school fire safety. Stop, drop, and roll you bastards. Dashing after them, Skree watched as Zuka tore into one and Priestess another, both men dead before he arrived. He looked out a window and saw there were four men gathered in the stockyard, all pointing bows at the door.
“We can‘t go out this door, we’ll get peppered with arrows.” Skree said.
“What do we do?” she asked.
He noticed something leaning against the wall and had an idea. He stepped over to the large crate and used his hatchet to pry off the lid. Inside were jars of canned vegetables, and other sundry goods, nothing useful, but he didn’t care about its contents. He hefted the lid like a shield which covered his upper body and part of his thighs. He cracked the door open and nodded. “Ready?”
“Ready.” she said, hands wreathed in flames once more.
Skree kicked open the door and rushed forward, holding the makeshift shield before him. He felt the thunks as the arrows buried themselves in the wood and dropped it when an arrow penetrated through the wood into his forearm. He roared in pain and challenge, as his companions dashed out, running along the wall as arrows flew. Zuka was fast, so fast that none of the arrows even came close to hitting the pair.
Skree dashed forward, not willing to let his friends take all the glory this time. Fingers waggling, Skree cast Entangle, his go-to opening spell. Vines burst from the ground, wrapping around the group and slowing their movement speed by eighty percent for fifteen seconds. The pair aiming their bows at him faltered as the thorns dug into their skin and clothing, giving him time to close the distance.
Hatchets cleaved in violent arcs and blood sprayed as he tore into the men who had taken and hurt his friend. They held their bows up to block his attacks, but the ranged weapons provided little in the way of defense. Seconds later, the first two men were dead. A flash of brilliant green light to his left drew his attention as one man unleashed a spell. He rolled to the side, but the glowing projectiles arced through the air, tracking his movement and slammed into him with the force of a hammer blow.
He felt the pain of the impact as the three watermelon sized orbs collided with his side and back. When they impacted, they burst like water balloons covering him in sticky goo that burned his flesh, hissing as it dissolved his skin and clothing. He clawed at the acid, screaming in agony as the fluid burned holes in his armor, sending wisps of acrid smoke into the air.
In the corner of his vision, his
health bar had turned a strange green color and showed that he had lost almost two hundred hit points already. Below that, a blinking icon appeared, and when he focused on it, the details appeared.
Debuff - Corrosive Acid: 20 damage per second for 30 seconds.
Doing some quick math, he knew the spell would kill him if he didn‘t heal quickly. Scrambling away, he cast his healing spell, Minor Restoration and saw a chunk of health return instantly and the blinking icon for healing over time appeared next to the debuff icon. It was a strange sensation, feeling the acid burn his flesh followed by his regeneration fix the damage in alternating waves of pain and relief.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand and face the men again. He watched as Zuka leapt into the circle of grasping vines, driving the caster to the ground and savaging him while Priestess unleashed a torrent of flames onto the others. Again, the pair made short work of their assailants. Skree was almost jealous of how well the two worked together. Priestess was small enough to use Zuka as a mount and allowed her to get into spell range quicker than on foot and apply her damage with much less risk.
Together, his companion and Priestess were a force of destruction. Perhaps he could use Zuka’s talent points to enhance this new tactic. He would have to do a deep dive into the talent tree when he had more time. He had just leveled again, and by proxy, so had Zuka, giving him some companion talent points to work with. With the men dispatched, they regrouped.
Priestess inspected the burns covering Skree’s arms and face with concern. “You going to be okay? Your health is dangerously low.” Skree checked his health bar again. Despite the blistering pain, it was easy to forget how close you get to death when you are under the effects of healing magic. Zuka cast Lick Your Wounds and his health bar started regenerating. Once the cooldown on Minor Restoration elapsed, Skree cast the spell again, watching his damaged skin regrow and become whole once more.
“Gotta say, that really sucked.” Skree said, wiping the now inert acid from his armor. He scowled at the holes and pockmarks covering his once fine armor.
“Carver would give you a good talking to for damaging that armor.” Priestess said.
Skree shrugged. “If it wasn‘t for this armor, that spell would have killed me. It reduces magical damage by twenty-five percent and it was still a close call.” He glanced down at the savaged corpse of the spell caster. “Let’s loot these bodies and get out of here. No telling if another group will come to relieve these guys.”
She nodded and got started on the two they had killed. Skree jogged over and did the same on others. He had broken their bows and damaged their poor quality armor but there were a few things that drew his attention.
You have found Gloves of Archery, Rarity: Uncommon, Quality: Average, Durability: 38/40. Description: These gloves increase all damage with bows by 10 percent.
You have found Black Iron Dagger, Rarity: Common, Quality: Average, Damage: 22, Durability: 68/90. Description: Black Iron Daggers are commonly used by criminals, the black metal reflects little light, making it perfect for clandestine activities.
You have found 13 silver and 68 copper coins.
Satisfied there was nothing else of value, Skree walked back to Priestess, stuffing the items into his bag. “Find anything?” he asked, noticing the glittering ring she was holding in front of her eyes.
“I think this nearly killed you.“she said, tossing it to him. He snatched it out of the air and inspected the ring.
You have found Ravin’s Ring of Acid, Rarity: Precious, Quality: Masterwork, Durability: 1/5. Description: Ravin created these rings to melt the flesh from his enemies. This ring can hold up to five charges and can be recharged using essence stones. Activating this ring fires one orb of powerful acid per charge spent that deal 75 damage on impact and inflict the corrosive acid debuff dealing 20 damage per second for 30 seconds. 1/5 charges remaining.
He whistled at the description. “What a strong item, I wonder where he got it.” He tossed the ring back to her, and she slipped it onto her finger.
“He’s a pirate, probably took it from someone. Also found ten silver coins and a few dozen copper.” she said, patting her pouch.
Skree extended his arm gentlemanly. “May I walk you home?”
Chapter 29
A cacophony of excited squawks greeted them upon opening the door to the Boarding house as dozens of kobold crowded around them, desperate to welcome Priestess home safe and sound. It took a while, but eventually they mollified the younglings returning them to sleep. Priestess soaked in a tub of scalding water, soothing her aching bruises and cleared her mind of the unfortunate events of the evening. Skree stripped out of his gear and read the note Butt-face’s men had pinned to the front door.
‘If you want to see your little lizard friend alive, you will not attend the auction tomorrow. Once the auction is complete, we will send a runner to collect a payment of one thousand gold and will release the kobold unharmed. If you are at the auction, or refuse to pay us, we will kill her and dump her body in the bay.’
He shook his head. “What a bunch of assholes.” he muttered, gently stroking Zuka’s head. His fingers brushed against the scar where his right eye used to be causing him to wince. He remembered how terrible the wound had been, how the delicate organ had hung from his companion's eye socket. His healing magic had failed to restore the eye which forced Skree to remove it entirely. A white hot flash of anger filled him before fading into sad acceptance.
Despite how powerful magic was, it had limits it seemed. Fenna had told him that a master of life magic may restore the eye for a hefty fee, but there were none in Theseldora. After hearing her explanation for the rarity of healers on ships, or in places like Theseldora, he knew it would be a long while before he found someone able to restore his companions sight.
A gentle clicking of claws of stone drew him from his melancholy thoughts. He smiled as Priestess approached, draped in a robe that was far too large for her tiny frame.
“You look adorable in that.” he said with a chuckle. She looked like a kid playing dress up with her parents clothing.
She held up her arms, letting the sleeves dangle over her hands. “Everything is so big here. Why are there no robes for human younglings?”
He shrugged. “Most kids don't get robes I guess.” A frown crossed his features, and he sighed. “Priestess, I am so sorry I let that happen to you.”
She plopped onto the couch next to him, tail wrapping around her waist and resting in her lap. She played with it like a human might play with a strand of hair. “Stop blaming yourself for everything that happens. You are not that important.” He raised an eyebrow and started to protest but she continued. “Let me guess, if only you hadn’t let me walk home by myself, or if you had only done this or that, they would have never taken me? Is that what you are about to say?”
“But it‘s true! If I hadn‘t left you alone…” she whacked him playfully with her tail, and he stopped talking.
“I am an adult and a Fire Priestess of the kobold clans. I was the stupid one today. Wandering the streets in wide-eyed fascination I forgot to remain vigilant to my surroundings. In the warrens, giant snakes, cave bears or worse stalked the tunnels and any kobold dumb enough to lose focus lost their lives.” she explained, buffing a particular scale on her tail. “The world is a dangerous place, whether it is the streets of Theseldora, or the tunnels of the Blue Stone Clan; death can come swiftly. We all must bear responsibility for ourselves.”
She met his gaze, and he saw wisdom in her eyes. She was so young, yet a life lived in the deadly tunnels and of constant tutelage by her mother priestess, had given her a pragmatic nature. He knew she tried hard to display an outward veneer of calm detachment but inside; she was still a ball of tumultuous emotions that could spill over at any moment.
“You‘re right, as usual.” he said. “But it doesn’t mean I can’t feel bad about what happened.”
“You can’t control everything. Trust me, trust
I can take care of myself, otherwise you will get distracted in battle or make a bad decision because you are worried about me. We are in this together.” she reached into her pocket and withdrew a pouch, setting it gently on his leg.
“What‘s this?” he asked, undoing the strings.
“The gemstones I took from Carver’s workshop. We can use these to purchase our ship tomorrow.”
He poured the stones into his hand and joy thrummed in his heart.
You have found Large Scintillating Fire Opal x 8, Rarity: Epic, Quality: Legendary, Durability: 500/500
You have found Small Scintillating Fire Opal x 3, Rarity: Epic, Quality: Legendary, Durability: 200/200
You have found Medium Opalescent Geode x 2, Rarity: Legendary, Quality: Legendary, Durability: 500/500
You have found Small Diamonds x 5, Rarity: Rare, Quality: Superb, Durability: 100/100
Skree clutched the fistful of stones to his chest, staring wide-eyed at Priestess. “I can‘t believe Carver was sitting on a fortune of this magnitude. These geodes might be worth more than the Fire Opals.”
She grinned. “Who would have thought his rock collection would be worth something. To the kobolds, they are just pretty rocks.”
“We definitely can afford that ship now. Hell, we could probably by all the ships in Theseldora with this much money.” He said, dumping the stones back into the pouch. “Tomorrow, we’ll swing by Hagar‘s, sell the stones and hit up the money changers. Then it’s off to the auction to buy a ship out from under Butt-face.”
“I can‘t wait to see the look on his face when he sees me standing there, all fangs and scales.”
~~~~
Hagar poured the contents of the pouch into the felt-lined jeweler's box and gasped as he beheld the majestic pile of gemstones. He quickly shook off his moment of amazement and inspected the stones, sorting them into piles again. He slid a slip of paper across the table with trembling hands.
“Before you open that, I want you to know what these are.” he said, gesturing to the Geodes. “These are some of the most pristine geodes I have ever seen. I can break them down into smaller stones for jewel crafting, or you could use them to create cornerstone buildings in a settlement. Priestess explained why you needed such vast amounts of wealth, and I refuse to buy these without telling you the reason for their value.”
Raiya- Early Game Page 22