Master of None
Page 10
Gonk looked like he was still trying to figure out exactly what the hell was happening and why I was insulting the dragon, so he had no idea why I suddenly dove out of the way and got behind a rock large enough to shield me. His hesitation caused him to take the full extent of Midnight’s attack.
Midnight’s Breath Attack(Acid) hits Gonk for 50 damage!
Midnight’s Breath Attack(Acid) hits Gonk for 50 damage!
Midnight’s Breath Attack(Acid) hits Gonk for 50 damage!
It looked like the attack caused damage multiple times if you were stupid enough to stand there and take it. Gonk was more than stupid enough, which was fortunate for Nik and I.
“Hit the orc again before the blind wears off on the dragon!” I yelled, realizing it was about to be able to see me any second now.
You hit Gonk for 13 damage!
You hit Gonk for 13 damage!
Nik hits Gonk for 12 damage!
As soon as Nik’s bolt hit him, I realized we were fucked. The orc quickly cycled from pain to a brief moment of serenity before finally landing on pure, unbridled rage. This was beyond mortal anger. This was a rage that ran through his blood. This was rage he could breathe like oxygen. His muscles ripple and expand as a few of the wounds we’ve inflicted begin to heal.
His focus lands on me and I tried to say “Oh fuck me” but I have to admit it came out as a sort of squeaking sound. By the time I realized he was moving towards me, he’d already stepped into range.
“Nik, he’s too fast! Throw a-”
Gonk hits you for 50 damage!
Gonk hits you for 50 damage!
Wall hits you for 10 damage!
HP 10/120
Oh, yeah. We’re definitely fucked.
I tried to stand up and put on a brave face, but it felt like everything was broken. At the very least the ribs where he hit me were. On top of that, my vision was blurry and I might have had a concussion. If I did though, it didn’t come up in my notifications as a game recognized status.
CLICK
That sounds familiar. Oh shit, I can still hear. That’s good, right?
TINK
“GONK END HUMAN SNEAK NOW! THEN GONK EAT GNOMIE FRIEND!”
TINK
Midnight chimed in with another deafening roar. I could hear the clacking of claws on the ground as he maked his way towards me.
TINK
TINK
Midnight stopped moving towards me to sniff the air. It picked up the smell of something, but I couldn’t see what. I hoped Nik didn’t come in.
POP
Gonk has been blinded!
Midnight has been blinded!
So that’s what that sound was.
We only had one shot at this so I reached into my bag and pulled out a couple of healing potions, drinking double barrel like I’m trying to impress some dudes at a frat party. The full-body relief was instantaneous.
You have recovered 30 HP!
You have recovered 30 HP!
Warning! Drinking two Healing Potions in such a short time-frame has made you susceptible to Potion Sickness! Drinking ANY potion in the next hour will cause you to become ill. Side-effects variable.
That just means I can’t get hit again. And I don’t think I will.
“Let’s light this big bastard up before it wears off, yeah?” I said to Nik as he finished reloading his crossbow.
Nik responded by burying another crossbow bolt in Gonk’s stomach.
Nik deals 24 Sneak Attack damage to Gonk!
Oh, hell yes!
You hit Gonk for 26 Sneak Attack Damage!
You hit Gonk for 26 Sneak Attack Damage!
Unlike the kobolds, I knew Gonk wasn’t going to panic through his blind.
There’s a “blind rage” joke somewhere in there. Maybe one about that movie where the dude who always seems to play hobos was a shitty Zatoichi ripoff? Nevermind, it’s not important now. What is important is not letting Gonk’s wild swings of his big ass hammer catch me.
You dodge Gonk’s attack!
You dodge Gonk’s attack!
I learned the hard way that he could attack back-to-back with that big thing, but I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. I knew even his wild swings could end me now.
Midnight roared and swiped at the air just to make sure we hadn’t forgotten there was a fucking dragon in here with us. If the room were smaller, we’d likely be getting, at the very least, clipped by the dragon’s blind swings.
Nik deals 24 Sneak Attack damage to Gonk!
You hit Gonk for 26 Sneak Attack Damage!
You hit Gonk for 26 Sneak Attack Damage!
Somehow, Gonk was finally looking hurt. I could feel most of the tension leaving my body as I realized we’re about to bring the big bastard down. Obviously, that’s when the universe decided to tell me to always mind my surroundings.
Midnight hits you for 15 damage!
Midnight hits you for 15 damage!
Midnight hits you for 20 damage!
HP 20/120
Two swipes of the claws were followed up by a vicious bite attack. I got so caught up in our imminent victory over Gonk that I somehow forgot about the dragon!
“Nik, we’re going to have to kill the orc fast and start wearing the dragon down with our ranged weapons.”
“That could take too- wait a second. I think I have an idea! I was thinking over what I could do to help and discovered a n-new application for one of my spells!”
“Well let’s discuss it AFTER we kill the orc!”
Nik hits Gonk with Sneak Attack for 24 damage!
“Ready when you are, Jack!”
Oh, that snarky bastard! He’s growing on me.
Two final sword thrusts into the back finally ended our struggle with the Barbarian. And with that, the former overseer of the Gnometheran Mine is no more.
You hit Gonk with Sneak Attack for 26 damage!
You hit Gonk with Sneak Attack for 26 damage!
You have slain Gonk!
You receive 500 XP!
It seemed sort of anti-climactic when it happened, but I didn’t give a shit considering we’d just cut our number of problems in half.
“OK, get over here fast, Jack. I’m casting mine already. We need to hurry though because that dragon’s gonna be pissed when it comes around.” Nik said from behind his rock outcropping.
Running to Nik’s hiding spot, I saw him doing what looked like channeling a spell into his crossbow that was currently laying on the ground.
“Nik, exactly what the hell are you doing?” I said, getting ready to berate him for putting his weapon down mid-combat.
“Oh, right. I have a fairly low level spell that can increase the speed at which devices and machines can be operated. It keeps the device from breaking under the strain. It also helps the operator move faster without fumbling anything.” he explained.
“OK, how does that help us right now?” I asked.
“Oh, sorry. I came up with the idea of trying it on crossbows and similar weapons to see if it worked. As soon as I did, it changed the spell description. We can get double attack speed for a time!” he said, clearly pleased with himself.
“Listen, Nik, this is fascinating. It really is. BUT WE HAVE TO KILL A DRAGON!”
I see Nik wince with guilt and I regret raising my voice at him like that. However, it’s pretty justified in this situation on account of the dragon. When you’re stuck in a room with a dragon the size of a sedan, brevity is key in all conversations.
Speaking of our angry, reptilian friend, I checked the timer just as the last tick of the debuff went away. I looked over at it and saw lizard eyelids blinking away the last of the effects of the blind as it scanned its surroundings. It finally seemed to find what it was looking for.
Namely, me.
Panic started to set in as I realized that I couldn’t survive a single hit from this thing. Nik hasn’t cast his spell on my arm crossbow yet. He needed time, but the dragon didn’t seem too keen on let
ting us get ready.
Oh, of course! I think to myself when the realization hits me. I still have my flash bombs! I should have a couple left.
The dragon was starting to pick up the pace and I could feel the hunger radiating off of it. Looks like it’s time to blind this big mother fucker all over again!
You have blinded Midnight!
At least, that’s what I like to think the notification would have looked like. Actually, I’m pretty sure it would look like that. I mean, it would have if what just happened hadn’t actually happened.
What did happen was that the dragon saw the device flying towards it and jumped into the air like a cat only to land directly on top of it. Interesting tidbit for those that have never seen a dragon in person: they don’t have eyes on their bellies. That makes it quite hard to blind one when they’re laying on your flash grenade.
Now would have been a good time for a Plan B. Actually, I had a Plan B, I just didn’t like it. What I would really have loved would’ve been a viable Plan C or D I could skip to. I didn’t have one of those, though, so it was time to “nut up” as they say.
“Nik, take this. I’m going to buy you some more time.” I said as I unstrapped the device from my arm. An unexpected benefit of ranking up the associated skill is that I could work the straps and connectors holding it onto my arm much better than when I first put the damn thing on.
As soon as it was in Nik’s hands I took off as quickly as I could. If I played this right I could deal with two problems at once. You see, as crazy as it might sound, I’d been thinking about issues other than the dragon currently trying to eat me. I’d actually been thinking about one issue, in particular.
Someone brought this thing here for the now-dead Orc overseer. That meant they could most likely control it easily. That also meant there could be more. I’m no dracozoologist, so I couldn’t exactly say how many dragons were born from a mother at a time, but let’s not risk it.
I needed to make sure that whoever Ghost Man was, he couldn’t just magic his way in here through his little doorway for the recently deceased. That’s why Midnight was about to help me destroy it. I hope.
The dragon clearly didn’t expect me to run into the room, but not at it. To be fair, it doesn’t really fit into a “fight or flight” response. I took advantage of the confusion by picking up the pace towards the gate. The ceiling of this level seemed to be just high enough that the dragon could get some air if it wanted to, so that’s just what it did.
Dragons perform their role of fantasy apex predator beautifully. The series of movements that sent Midnight into the air and briefly gliding before beginning its incredibly fast descent were impressive to say the least. The display of both power and agility were awe-inspiring. I could even tell that it was leading me like a sharpshooter getting ready to hit a moving target. The moving target in this scenario was me and we were definitely about to collide. That is, we would if I hadn’t suddenly fallen sideways into a roll out of the way.
You see, it had finally occurred to me that these flash grenades worked in a similar fashion to regular grenades in the real world: some mechanism primes them for activation, they’re thrown, then they go off after a set time. Generally speaking, you don’t want to pull the pin on a frag grenade and then hold it, as that reduces the distance you can put between you and the ensuing explosion. Devices that do nothing but emit a blinding light offer no such risks if you let them cook for a little bit.
That’s why as I was running, I primed my last grenade. Once I had let it cook through most of its “fuse,” I lobbed it into the air in front of me, closed my eyes, and took a rolling breakfall to the right side of where I was running. The roll to the side wasn’t to get away from the grenade so much as to make sure I wasn’t in the path of the soon to be crashing dragon.
You blinded Midnight!
You remember all that grace and beauty and “poetry in motion” from before? Yeah, that all goes to shit when a dragon is allowing momentum to carry it on a trajectory plotted by instinct and panics as it realizes a half second too late what the small sphere that just appeared in its field of vision is.
Midnight hits Portal Arch for 500 damage!
Portal Arch has been destroyed!
Midnight receives 150 impact damage!
Midnight is stunned!
“Jack, catch!” I turn as Nik is tossing me my now enchanted gadget. I strap it back onto my arm and Nik and I do our best to unleash hell before the stun wears off. It does not take long to finish the deed.
You have slain Midnight!
You receive 1500 XP!
You have reached Level 7!
You are awarded the following:
+3 Agility
+5 Intellect
+1 Endurance
+5 Free Attribute Points
Do you wish to take over Gnometheran Mines? Yes/No
“We did it!” Nik yelled as I minimized the notifications. I was too frazzled to think straight and needed a moment to collect myself.
“We sure did, nuddy.” I replied with smile. “I’ve got the option to take the mine, now. Are you sure you don’t want to do some sort of split with me? You have as much right to it as I do, now.” I said.
“Trust me, Jack. I would be m-miserable if I had to m-manage this thing. As long as you throw me some m-money every now and then to fund my crafting projects, that’s all I need out of this m-mine.” he reassured me.
On some level, it was still impossible for me to believe. He was literally throwing away money in my eyes. No matter how much money one had, I always thought you should always want more. There was no such thing as enough money. Clearly I was wrong because Nik seemed to have enough.
I brought up the notification without further debate, whether internal or external, and selected that I did, in fact, want the mine.
Congratulations, you have wrested control of the Gnometheran Mines from Gonk the Barbarian!
You receive 2000 XP!
You have reached Level 8!
You are awarded the following:
+3 Agility
+5 Intellect
+1 Endurance
+5 Free Attribute Points
Achievement Earned:
The Spice Must Flow: Gain ownership of a major resource
Reward: 10 Skill Points (World First Bonus: Double normal reward!)
Minor Trait obtained!
Minor Player
Requirement: Gain control of a resource or settlement that can affect regional politics
Effect: +/- 5 to all “Trade” skills when dealing with those who know what you own
Note: You receive the penalty or bonus to your skills depending on whom you are dealing with and if they would rather gain access to your resources or take advantage of your source of continuous wealth. Be careful who knows what you control!
Holy shit. I expected some notifications, but this is…
THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!
13-Upper Management
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many simultaneous notifications in a game in my life!
In addition to the information about the mine, level ups, traits, and achievements, I was blasted with skill increases.
Your Gadgets & Trick Weapons has increased to 6!
Your Light Armor has increased to 7!
Your Short Swords has increased to 8!
Your Dual-Wielding has increased to 8!
Your Stealth has increased to 7!
Your Leadership has increased to 8!
And on top of those boosts, I’ve still got fourteen skill-ups I’m sitting on. Four of those are already spoken for, as I’d like to get Daggers up to five as soon as I pick it up.
Looking over my skill list I wished I could get everything bumped up. Sadly, it was going to take time to build all of this up and get my Intellect so high there was no way I could hit my cap.
After looking at the list, I could only think of one way to spend them, and it just so happened that ten points work
ed out perfectly for what I had in mind. Without hesitation, I dropped eight points into Haggle and two into Skinning. This would not only increase our profits on sales, but also make sure I got everything I could from the dragon.
On top of everything else, there was also a blinking notification for the mine itself. I realized it was for some sort of control screen for management of the mine, but I wanted to give it my undivided attention later so I left it for the time being.
Instead, I looked over my free attribute points from leveling.
I really would love to get some more HP going, but I have some more skills I plan to learn and could definitely use the breathing room on skill levels. I thought to myself. After some thought, I went Intellect +5, Vit +3, and Agi +2. It seems like I’m forgetting something though.