Watcher's Test

by Sean Oswald

  Emily still didn’t agree, but she at least was trying to give him time to explain.

  “We can make it to the forest in a few minutes even with our packs and there is a tree that Jackson and I discovered that we can climb into to sleep tonight. We can eat the supplies that the Watcher gave us for tonight and the same goes for water. If we take the next two hours and kill as many of these frogs as possible, then I should be able to gain a couple of levels. The more power that we have the better chance we have of surviving. Your healing is impressive, but you are gonna need me, and I hate to admit it, Mira, to fight for you.”

  Dave paused to see if she had anything to say, but all she asked was, “Why the frogs?”

  He was glad for that question because it was one that he had a ready answer for. “Well, from what I have seen and what Mira described, the frogs are susceptible to both her ice and fire. On top of that, Jackson showed us that if we can flip them onto their backs, we can kill them pretty easily.”

  “Wait, you want Mira to help fight the frogs?”

  “No, actually, I want Mira to stand a ways back with you and the other kids. I will do the fighting, but you will be there to heal me if necessary and Mira has proven that she can blast the crap out of the frogs if I get in too much trouble. The frogs just seem much easier to kill than either the boar or the flame lynx that I fought earlier.”

  Emily had that stare that she gave him when she was gonna go along with what he was saying but wanted him to know that she didn’t approve. “So if, and I mean if, I agree to this, you have to promise me that if it gets too dangerous, we will all go climb that tree you are talking about and figure out something different tomorrow. The cut-down trees mean there have to be people around here somewhere. So, if your plan doesn’t work, then you have to agree that we will try to find a town or something tomorrow.”

  Dave quickly agreed, knowing it was the only way to move forward. He didn’t mention that a town of people might be more far more dangerous than the animals they had encountered so far as they had no way of knowing if any people they discovered would be friendly, or even what race they would be. He added in to sweeten the deal, “The best part is that we can try out the plan on Mira’s charmed frog first and see how it works.”

  Emily shook her head, afraid she was gonna regret this, but simply said, “Okay.”

  After some further discussion on just how they wanted to handle this along with providing an explanation to the children, it was eventually decided that they would all move to about one hundred feet from the river with Dave thirty feet in front of them and the charmed frog made to sit still right next to Dave. Jackson wasn't happy because he wanted to be allowed to gain XP too but finally accepted after he was ordered to stand beside his mother and protect her. The truth was that with him getting only 1/10th of normal XP it would take too long for him to make any meaningful gains, and what they needed now was a dramatic increase in power. Usually in games, the first few levels were the quickest to gain, but that had not been the case so far in Eloria, unless you counted Emily's quest XP.

  The moment of truth was upon Dave. His family was standing a ways behind him and the overgrown amphibian was sitting peacefully next to him. In a game, he had no trouble attacking anything in the noob zones so that he could gain immediate XP, but it somehow seemed different here. He quickly pushed that thought out of his mind. This had to happen. It was the only way to protect his family. He had a plan and he needed to stick to it. Besides, he got one free shot at this frog due to the charm spell, so he was never gonna get a better chance to learn.

  Giving the signal with a raised hand that he was ready to start, Dave slid his sword from its sheath and then took aim, not with the sword but with his foot. Might as well take advantage of that skill level 10 in Unarmed Combat. Truthfully though, his kick wasn't meant to damage the frog but to attempt to flip it over and for the first time today, something went according to script. He felt the jolt of the impact run all the way up his leg, through his hip and into his lower back, but it accomplished its purpose. The frog was flipped clean over onto its back. As soon as he could rock back from the momentum of the kick, Dave thrust forward with the longsword shoving it into the soft underbelly of the beast before him. The frog squealed and tried to roll over but couldn't seem to get off its armored back. It only took two more thrusts to finish the beast off. Each of the thrusts had seemed to do more damage, apparently because of the frog’s vulnerable position.

  As soon as he withdrew his last thrust, Dave was greeted by two notifications, one for the XP gain and one for leveling and reaching level 2.

  You have defeated: Average Horned Bullfrog Level 5. XP: 30 xCharmed Target Penalty of 50% x 2 (killing blow bonus) x Racial Bonus +50% = 45 XP

  You have 2 new character points. You have 7 unused character points.

  Congratulations!

  Ding!

  You have gained sufficient XP to reach level 2.

  You have gained 2 stat points.

  Dave had choices to make now, and in keeping with his plan to be the tank for the family, he chose to spend his two stat points on Strength and Constitution. It appeared as he looked at his character sheet that simply leveling up didn't provide him with any increased health or mana. That was not like most games he was used to, but it seemed that in Eloria, such stats only increased by increasing the base stat that controlled them. This was very interesting, as it would mean that a much higher-level person could still have much lower health than a low level who had put points into Constitution. Dave didn't have time to think about the ramifications of this now but knew he would have to later. Dave also wanted to spend his character points but needed time to think about all of it.

  It had worked so well that even Emily had no problem with letting him lure another frog from the river out to fight and then finally a third one. Both of them fell fairly quickly to Dave, although each time he took a small amount of damage in his effort to get them flipped over, but all in all this plan was working better than he could have ever hoped. Those last two frogs pushed him up another 90 XP or just into level 3. This time he kept his 2 stat points to decide how to spend them that evening and he, of course, held onto the 4 extra character points the two kills earned for him. This brought his total for unspent character points to 11 and he was actually starting to think that he might be able to buy something worthwhile. What was more, they had only spent thirty minutes of the allotted two hours luring out those two frogs and gaining level 3. Dave was starting to have visions of proverbial sugar plums dancing in front of his eyes as he thought he might be able to reach level 4 before the time expired.

  Of course, it is a rule of life that when something is going too well, it can’t last. This time the issue was one that Dave kicked himself for not thinking about because it was the same problem he had run into with the boar carcass. It wasn’t enough to loot the acid sack from each of the frogs—in Eloria, their bodies didn’t just disappear—but instead became bait for something bigger to come munch on. If it had just been another of the young flame lynxes, Dave wouldn’t have minded, not with Emily and Mira for support, but of course, it couldn’t be that simple. Instead, coming up out of the tall grass at the edge of the river was a long reptilian head. Clearly something like a crocodile just on the larger side. Dave immediately cast his Assess Enemy spell and got a flashing red warning: Young Dire Crocodile, lvl 15.

  Freak, there was no way that they could take this on. Looking at those jaws, he wouldn’t be surprised if this thing couldn’t damn near one-shot him. The only good news so far was that the beast seemed to be very slow. It came out of the water and had immediately started to munch on one of the frog carcasses. Dave couldn’t even be sure if it had seen them, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He immediately turned and started to walk very quickly without breaking into an outright run. As soon as he got close to the rest of the family, who had by this time seen the dire crocodile, he said, “Everyone start walking very quickly, but don�
��t run and stay together. Head for the tree line. If Sara falls, then I will carry her, but for now, I’m going to stay a good thirty feet behind you to provide a buffer in case it sees us.”

  As they started walking, each of them kept looking back over their shoulders while Emily encouraged the kids to keep looking straight ahead. The beast’s body was now completely in view and it was clearly at least twenty feet long. Its body was a wide as a car, the long head making up about a fifth of its body and the tail about a third of its total length. It was able to scoop up the first frog like a bulldozer, and even more than one hundred feet away, they could hear the sickening sound of the frog’s armor and bones being crushed in two or three chewing motions before it was swallowed down.

  The horror of that image caused Sara to let out a scream of terror. The beasts head shot up immediately upon hearing that scream, and its beady reptilian eyes latched on to the family now over one hundred and fifty feet away, rapidly walking away. Seeing living prey, the crocodile started to move much faster, straight at them.

  Turning to face the oncoming engine of death, Dave called out without even looking back, “Jackson, show your mother where that tree we found is, and Mira, once you get there use your flying ring to get everyone up into the branches as high as you can.”

  “No, Dave. Just run with us.” Emily was frantic as she cried out and tried to grab Sara up into her arms as she broke into a run.

  As he heard his wife’s cry, Dave didn’t say anything back but focused on how he was going to try to engage the beast. He couldn’t have it focus on his family. This worry made Dave think of a skill he had read about back in the gray loading zone. He hoped that it would work the same way that it did in games, but he didn’t have time to worry about the specifics. So, with no further delay, he mentally triggered the spending of a character point on the skill Taunt.

  Taunt: A declared action, melee-based skill. This skill requires a physical attack as well as for the target to be able to see and hear you. Once activated, if target does not resist, it will be enraged and focus all attacks upon you. Resistance is wisdom based. Duration is 1 tick + 1/level.

  Dave was glad to see that the beast, even once it saw them, didn’t appear to be much faster than Sara, so the rest of the family should be able to easily stay ahead of it. All Dave needed to do was slow it down long enough for them to reach the tree. Even as he cast his Sure Strike spell and prepared to activate his new Taunt skill with his first blow, he saw a flash of spinning blue opaque blades come spinning by him and strike the crocodile straight in its broad face. Apparently, Mira decided to try to slow the beast down too and, while Dave wanted to make sure his daughter was safe, he was still proud of her fighting spirit. What was more shocking was that after seeing the incredible damage Mira’s ice spell had done to the first frog they had fought, he was disheartened to see that it seemed to have no impact upon the crocodile. At least as far as he could see, the daggers caused absolutely no damage.

  The dire crocodile lunged toward Dave, and he performed what was becoming his trademark maneuver and sidestepped the charge. This time though he learned from the fight with the flame lynx and didn’t risk a thrust for fear that the weapon would be pulled out of his hands. He even had to be careful not to make a slash against the momentum of the beast as its nearly three-ton body might still rip the sword out of his hands. Instead, while activating Taunt, he used the added insight of his Sure Strike to try a slicing attack at the spot where the thicker back armor met what he hoped was the softer lower side scales.

  His blow landed exactly where it was intended, Sure Strike guiding his hand and was greeted with a notification:

  Critical Strike: 35 damage - 12 damage resistance. Net damage = 23.

  Taunt Successful - target enraged and focused on you. Duration- 2 ticks.

  A critical blow of 35 was amazing. That had to be his best hit so far, but its armor resisted more than a third of the damage. Worse though, Eloria wasn’t like most of the games he had played where he could see a health bar for his target. He had no idea if the attack had had any real impact on the beast. He only saw a small slice in its side, and it didn’t seem to slow at all. As frustrating as that was, Dave didn’t lose sight of the beast’s jaws. He was careful to make sure that those jaws couldn’t snap shut on him, jumping back in case it turned its neck and tried to eat him. Instead, the croc swung its tail at him, which, due to its length, was still behind Dave. Once again, a critical blow was landed. This time it was against him, though, and the tail blasted into his back for a staggering (78) damage. Combined with the mass and momentum of the huge body that critical blow sent Dave rolling and bouncing like a croquet ball against the broken ground and tree stumps. He was hit time and again each blow only causing 1, 2, or 3 damage, but as he was flung forward some fifty feet, the little blows added up to an extra (32) damage.

  When his painful roll came to an end, he had been nearly bowled into his family. Every inch of him ached. His body bruised and throbbing all over, but even as Sara was crying out, “Daddy,” he was already struggling to his feet. He knew there was no time to waste. He wouldn’t let a little thing like the weakness of his body stop him from protecting his family. While a weak smile crossed his face, he looked at Emily and said, “What are you all doing standing around? I can’t stop fighting it until you guys are in the tree.”

  The croc was already moving toward them again as Dave got up and realized that once again, he had lost his sword. He saw Mira concentrating on some form of magic, but she informed them that her charm spell apparently wouldn’t work on a monster that was of a higher tier. That was all it took for Emily to once again pick up Sara and order Jackson and Mira to run with her.

  As they ran, Dave knew he needed to change strategies. That one tail swipe and its aftermath had cost him 40% of his health even with his magic ring. Emily shot him a quick healing spell as they ran away and restored 66 health. He had to hope that it would be enough. The family ran faster than they had yet run and made it to the forest line in just over a minute even over the uneven ground. They were running as hard as possible and to them, it only seemed to take seconds, but for Dave, that minute was an eternity. He was busy ducking and weaving and dancing around. Finally, he was able to position himself so that with a roll he could pick up his sword. Once it was back in his hand, he would lash out with his sword only very lightly, not actually intending to cause harm, only keeping its attention on him. So far, it hadn’t managed to land another blow on him, and it was still a good three hundred yards away from the tree line. This also meant that he was still three hundred yards away from the tree line and was getting too tired to keep this up. With that, he tried to make his dodge and rolls take him to a position where he could see the tree line, hoping to find out if Emily and the kids had made it there yet. After dodging another snap of those deadly rows of teeth, he was able to look up long enough to see the backs of his family as they passed out of sight into the forest. A wave of relief came over him temporarily banishing the fatigue he was feeling, enabling him to work his way once again around the beast so that he was between it and the forest.

  From this position, Dave turned and started to run as fast as he could in his scale mail with a sword in his hand all the while trying desperately not to trip over any tree stumps. A fall would mean almost certain death. His primary hope was that the beast being some variant of a crocodile which presumably lived in water would not want to chase him too far inland. All that was going through his head was ‘Run, Forest.’ He kept his eyes focused ahead, and only as he reached the tree line panting and on the verge of vomiting did he dare to look behind him. From what he could see, his guess about the croc not being willing to go too far inland must have been right because sure enough it was back a good two hundred yards and not moving at all. His sides heaving, he was trying to get his bearings and then nearly sliced Mira in half when he suddenly felt a hand touch the top of his head. Only his utter exhaustion made his swing go so wide as to mi
ss her while she floated in the air above him, eyes wide with fear.

  “I’mmm soo sorrryy.” His words came out expanded as he gasped to catch his breath. “Didn’t know it was you.”

  Regaining her composure, Mira responded, “I only have five more minutes of flight time on the ring, Dad. You have to let me get you up into the tree.” She then hooked her arms under his and started to lift him before her arms gave way, and she couldn’t hold on.

  Pausing for a few seconds, Dave finally caught his breath enough, and they talked about if it would be possible for her to lift him considering how heavy he was, especially with his armor and pack. Mira assured him that the ring didn’t have a weight limit that she had learned so far, but that they had to find a way for her to hang onto him or him to hang onto her. Finally, after waiting a full minute to allow Dave to regain his composure and strength, they were able to get up into the tree in two trips. Mira first carried up his pack and then came back and allowed Dave to hold onto her tightly.

  There they were, up some fifty feet in the air on a platform of the interwoven branches of one of the largest trees any of them had ever seen. There appeared to be less than two hours of sunlight remaining and all of them were exhausted. So much so that once she had seen her father make it successfully into the tree, Sara had shortly after fallen asleep with her head against her backpack. The other four of them looked at one another with expressions of consternation and confusion, unsure what to do.

  Chapter Twelve