Extra Credit

by J. Arthur Klein

  The chains wrapped around Kelikk and Gimli, leaving the rest of the party free. Kelikk struggled against the chains, his increased Strength causing them to flex slightly.

  Paying too much attention to what my companions were doing almost cost me. A hint of movement out of the corner of my eye gave me just enough time to avoid being cut in half.

  I wasn’t the closest available target, but apparently I’d done something to piss off the chef and was now target numero uno. Even Cedric’s taunt seemed to do nothing to decrease his desire to get to me.

  I jumped and ran as fast as my little legs could carry me, weaving from side to side as the giant nightmare chef tried to turn me into something’s dinner.

  At one point I bobbed when I should have weaved. Something massive struck me from behind and I went flying through the air, a line of pain throbbing from my shoulder to hip. My Dark Shield absorbed a lot of the blow, but the damage that got through was still enough to drop me down to three percent.

  Scrambling weakly to get away, I turned to see the orc standing over me with his cleaver raised high to deliver the killing blow.

  Cedric appeared just in time, his glowing shield slamming into the chef’s gut and sending him sprawling with a bright flash of light.

  Almost immediately, a warm soothing sensation filled me and my wounds began to close as Leilani’s healing landed.

  I regained my feet and looked around. Cedric was kiting the orc around the room, his direct attack finally gaining the chef’s attention. I took advantage and began blasting the orc with bolts, the bonus damage from striking from the back adding up.

  We followed their duel, making sure to keep Cedric in range of Leilani’s healing, and Feruk in range of my bolts.

  The orc’s health dropped steadily, reaching forty percent and then thirty percent. When my damage output was enough to aggro the boss, Cedric would use his taunt skill and we would keep going.

  The chains unraveled and Kelikk and Gimli rejoined the fray, the dwarf and his skeleton exacting vengeance on the fat orc.

  I was still a little hurt, and Feruk was at five percent and dropping fast so I moved into Drain range.

  Leilani called out “Kababala what are you doing?” worry in her voice.

  Looking back at the elf, I gave her a wink and then yelled out, “Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side,” and cast Drain.

  I cackled as purple lightning sprang from my fingers and latched on to the mortally wounded orc, siphoning its hit points to finish my healing and then some.

  The last of the chef’s health bar disappeared and it fell to the ground, dead.

  Your party has killed Feruk the Chef! You have gained 300xp.

  QUEST UPDATE: Eviction – Clear out the Bandit Lair: 35%

  Surprisingly, the orc had nothing on him that was lootable or scavengable, and the body was in such a crappy condition I doubted I’d be able to harvest anything useful… but I tried anyway.

  The Dissection menu gave options for all the normal orc things, but this guy had an extra one for lard. I selected that, and the bones option. It would be poetic to use this thing’s skeleton to replace Curley.

  I activated the skill and watched it do its thing.

  Success! You have obtained: Big Boned Orc Skeleton, Orc Lard x9! You have gained 15xp!

  I laughed and tucked the harvest into my bag. Big boned, my ass.

  “All that for no loot?” Cedric complained, “What the hell?”

  Leilani responded, “Maybe there’s something in the room he came from?”

  We headed into the back to the kitchen and there it was. Sitting on the counter near the back wall was an iron banded chest.

  But that wasn’t all I saw. One of the shelves near the door had a large book sitting on it, sparking away. I touched the book and it appeared in my hands.

  Success! You have obtained a Cooking Primer! You have gained 10xp!

  “Yeah! Go, go, kobold racial!” I said, showing them the book. “This’ll save me a lot of time trying to cozy up to some innkeeper or fetching snails for some weirdo chef.”

  “You want to cook?” asked Kelikk with a laugh. “Well, to each their own!”

  Leilani shrugged, and Cedric looked like he couldn’t have a care in the world as he approached the chest. I tucked the book into my pocket and prepared to reap the rewards of chef-slaying.

  We each took our turn pulling our loot from the box. We all received the same amount of coin, a few potions applicable to our roles, and a single uncommon item suited to our characters.

  Leilani got a snow-white cloak that, contrary to what you would expect of a bright white garment, gave her a reduction to her aggro generation.

  Kelikk pulled a set of bracers that gave him a bonus to Strength, and Cedric found a necklace that could be used once a day to completely negate the next physical attack.

  My loot was a pair of mana potions, forty silver, and a circlet that gave a plus two bonus to Intelligence with a one time a day ability that improved Perception by five called an Assessor’s Crown. It was an improvement to my current headgear, so I placed it on my head. Being custom for me, it had cutouts for my horns and fit perfectly.

  Each point of extra Intelligence was another bump to my mana pool and spell damage. Keep ‘em coming!

  I took a bottle from a nearby shelf and poured it onto the ground in memory of Curley.

  “This one’s for the homies,” I said with a grin, eliciting an answering smile from the Leilani and Kelikk and a completely puzzled look from the Cedric.

  “Huh?” he asked, and the others just chuckled as I answered. “Before your time Ced, before your time.”

  ***

  34

  We left the kitchen and headed towards the other door, pausing briefly as I replaced Curley with the new, Big Boned Orc Skeleton. Curley’s equipment fit the skeleton, even if its bones were a bit more… robust, and it had no issue wielding a battle axe or shooting a bow. There were only a few arrows left anyhow, so our extra ranged DPS was going to be limited for the time being.

  I named the new minion Eric after another cartoon character of my youth. After all, he’s not fat, he’s big boned. Respect his authoritah.

  After our time-honored tradition of skeletal trap detection, Cedric and Gimli led the way through the door and formed up.

  The path ahead sloped gradually downwards, and it was suspiciously empty of any foes. Deciding to play it safe, I took out another Orc Skeleton to serve as a sacrifice, handed him a pair of clubs, and sent him running down the hallway like a madman.

  After three short steps a blade flashed out of the side of the tunnel, cutting his skull, and both of its clubs in two.

  “Well… that was a good idea,” Kelikk chuckled. “Think there are any more surprises like that ahead?”

  I shrugged. “Probably. These bandits do like their traps,” I said and pulled out another Orc Skeleton to repeated the process.

  Giving it my last club, I sent it to lead the way for the party, letting them all pass while I cast Dark Shield on myself and then followed behind.

  When we arrived at the end of the corridor, we found the new skeleton impaled upon two crossed spears in front of another door. Its porcine skull was strung like a bead on the spear tip, looking at me accusingly.

  I gestured at the skeleton and turned to my companions. “This is why dissecting all the bones is important. That’s four so far sacrificed to take one for the team.”

  Kelikk grumbled. “Point made,” he said as he pressed his ear against the door and listed while his dwarfiness filled in our maps. “I hear a bunch of them talking in there, probably another big group.”

  Cedric’s shoulders sagged slightly, but a look of resolve crossed his features and he readied his shield.

  “Use the door and corridor to bottleneck them?” I asked.

  My companions nodded their agreement and Cedric and Gimli formed a wall in front of the door with Kelikk on the left flank nearest the
door, and Eric in the back lines with Leilani and me to provide ranged support.

  Kelikk kicked in the door and glanced in the room, counting the enemy before getting back into position. “Ten rogues, two lieutenants,” he said.

  I nodded and ordered Eric to open fire. The skeleton drew back his bow and launched an arrow into the next room.

  I heard a muffled cry and then the sound of orders being shouted. A second and third arrow followed the first, and then the enemy was at the door.

  As the first rogue rushed through, Kelikk’s axe lashed out and removed the bandit’s head from his shoulders with a single hit. His body fell, tripping up his companions as they piled through after him, weapons at the ready.

  The dwarf took a step back and Cedric stepped into place, showing himself to the incoming forces as he released the glowing pulse that was his taunt.

  Gimli stepped in next to him while Eric shot the last of his arrows into the pack clogging the doorway.

  I sent a steady stream of Necromantic Bolts into the press of rogues in the doorway until they’d all pressed through into the corridor.

  The Lieutenants directed their troops from the rear while the rogues clashed with Cedric and Gimli. After the arrows were gone, Eric joined the scrum on the right flank, chopping into an unlucky rogue who was squared off with Gimli.

  “Get the intruders! For gold and glory!” the lieutenant called out, releasing a pulse of energy that flowed over the bandits, causing them to fight with a renewed fervor.

  Bandit Lieutenant uses Call to Arms!

  “Give ’em the what for!” yelled the second lieutenant, releasing another pulse a second before my Necromantic Bolt struck him in the open mouth, dropping his health by almost half.

  Bandit Lieutenant uses Strike True!

  The enemy’s blades took on a slight glow and their strikes became more accurate, finding the chinks in our tanks’ armor.

  Kelikk was bleeding from several wounds as well, having suffered from the enemies’ improved accuracy during his last engagement.

  Leilani, as always, was on top of things. Her healing spells were in the air almost before they were needed, keeping Cedric and Kelikk alive as they fought against the buffed foes.

  Cedric’s taunt ran its course, and the bandits began to split their attention between their attackers, chipping through Gimli’s armor and putting some damage on Eric as well.

  As bandits were felled by our superior levels, more came to take their place, but it was apparent that even with the buffs we were ahead of the game. I focused fire on the lieutenants, dropping the injured one with two more bolts and then doing a number on the second.

  The bright light of the paladin’s taunt flashed out again and from then on it was just a matter of cleaning up.

  The lighter armored rogues went down to the combined might of our melee fighters and the second lieutenant earned another round of bolts that put him in the dirt.

  By the end, Gimli was looking pretty beat up with only five percent of his health left since Leilani couldn’t heal him, but the only sign of damage on our living party members was the missing mana in our elven priestess’ status bar.

  Your party has killed 10x Bandit Rogue! You have gained 200xp

  Your party has killed 2x Bandit Lieutenant! You have gained 150xp

  QUEST UPDATE: Eviction – Clear out the Bandit Lair: 55%

  Cedric has reached level 8!

  Kelikk has reached level 8!

  Leilani has reached level 8!

  “Congrats,” I cheered. “You’ll be catching up with me soon at this rate. Can’t wait to see what kind of skills you guys’ll get after this one.”

  A quick search of the area showed we were clear of enemies for the moment, so they handled their level up while I started the looting and dissecting.

  I replaced the skeletons I’d lost and then toggled that option off, sticking with blood and hearts. After it was all said and done, I collected thirty-one doses of Rogue Blood, five Rogue Hearts, one Warrior Heart, and three of Warrior Blood, as well as a nice Scavenged ring I’d have to identify later. A good haul.

  I healed up my minions and then seeing my group was still debating their point expenditures, I cast Psychometry on the ring.

  Psychometry Check – Item Level 1 vs Psychometry Rank 1 – Bonuses/Penalties: None

  Success! You have identified a < Bandit’s Signet >.

  A ring, once the property of some poor soul, most recently part of the bling of one sad excuse for a bandit, this ring gives a small bonus to one’s Charisma.

  Effects: +1 Charisma Price: 2g

  I finished the spell just as the others completed their upgrades. “All done?” I asked.

  Leilani nodded and gave me a curious look. “What was that spell?”

  “What? Oh. That’s Psychometry. Basically identify. I was just checking out a ring I scavenged from one of the bandits. Anyone need Charisma?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened. “You can identify items!? Holy crap man, we’ve been spending like, twenty silver a piece to get things identified.”

  “Wow, twenty silver? I mean, the component does cost ten silver a pop, and that’s what the merchant in the starter zone was charging so I figured it was a wash. If you want, I’ll ID your stuff at cost when we get back to town and I can get more components.”

  Her smile nearly split her face in two. “I could almost hug you, scaly little lizard man.”

  “It’s no problem. Really,” I replied as we headed over to the loot pile where the others were sorting through the haul.

  There was nothing spectacular. A studded leather kilt had dropped, so we equipped Eric with that, packed up the rest and then headed into the next room.

  Beds lined the walls, and at the foot of each was a small footlocker that taunted us with the potential of loot. We rushed around the room searching for anything we could take, but the chests were all decorative, full of dirty clothing.

  Kelikk did his thing, mapping out the edges of the room and then reporting back to us. There were doors leading to the north and west.

  To the north was a door bearing a large, wrought iron lock, beyond which he thought he heard the sound of someone crying. His racial filled in the map with what looked like a small room on the other side of the door. None of us had any skill with picking locks so we were going to need to find the key.

  Kelikk attempted to kick the door in, but the lock didn’t budge, so we headed west.

  I summoned a dummy skeleton and prepped him for trap duty, sending the poor sap to open the door and lead the way forward.

  ***

  35

  We reached the end of the short corridor without encountering any traps. It ended in a large double door, splattered with blood.

  Kelikk approached the door and mapped out the interior. “Looks like another big room,” he said.

  We edged forward and opened the door, Cedric leading the way.

  In the center of the room was an ogre seated on a massive throne. Leaning against the throne was a club the size of a small tree, easily big enough to crush me with a single blow. On the other side of the throne was a large iron chain running from an opening in the ceiling to the floor where it was attached somehow.

  As we entered the room, the ogre perked up and looked at us with a smile.

  “Ahh, fresh meat for Haraak. You will make a good meal,” the ogre said, picking up his club and kicking out the peg that was keeping the chain fastened.

  The chain shot up into the ceiling and a giant portcullis crashed down behind us, trapping us in the room.

  Kelikk chuckled. “Looks like we found the boss! Let do this!”

  Cedric raised his shield and charged forward with Kelikk and my minions close behind. He dashed in, his shield alight, and crashed into the ogre’s knee, knocking him a step back.

  The ogre swung his club in a wide arc, knocking Eric through the air before the club stopped short on Cedric’s shield. Kelikk and Gimli stopped forward and buried
their weapons into the ogre’s thigh, Kelikk’s axe opening a wide, bleeding gash while the skeleton’s shortsword sank into the muscle.

  The boss’ movements slowed as my Cripple spell took effect. I followed up by casting Rot, using another dose of Bone Dust to enhance the spell.

  The noxious magic sank into the boss’ flesh and it began to decay. I switched to Necromantic Bolts, casting them as quickly as possible and watching as our combined damage slowly chipped away at the ogre’s health bar.

  The boss reared up and smashed his club down into the ground, creating a shockwave and a spray of jagged stone.

  Several sharp pieces of rock bounced off of my shield, but several broke through and sank into my skin, dropping my health by a quarter.

  Luckily for my minions, the lack of flesh made them less susceptible to the attack and they escaped with only minor damage.

  Cedric was at ground zero. His shield was able to absorb the brunt of the attack, but the shockwave alone was enough to drop him down to sixty percent.

  Kelikk took the full brunt of the spray. His flesh was in tatters, dripping blood from hundreds of tiny cuts with barely more than a quarter of his hit points remaining.

  Leilani was far enough away to avoid the blast, staying at the very edge of her range. Golden bolts of healing flew from her hands to wash over Cedric and then Kelikk, sealing some of their wounds.

  Kelikk growled and charged back in, activating his rage skill and chopping into the ogre with a quick flurry of blows, opening several more gashes in its hide.

  Our combined efforts had only managed to shave about five percent from the boss’ health so far, which was worrying as both myself and Leilani’s mana bars were dropping rapidly.

  Cedric activated his taunt and turned the boss so we’d have its back, and Leilani cursed as she moved to keep the paladin in range.

  The bonus back-strike damage helped a lot, but the boss was still incredibly hearty and had more than ninety percent of its health left.

  When we reached the ninety percent mark, the boss went mad and started smashing the ground around him in a frenzy.