by Erik Rounds
Tasha kept rummaging through her inventory, tapping at the menu screen, looking for anything she might have missed. “I don’t think I have anything else I can sell.”
The gnome thought for a moment. “Hmm… well, I want to make this sale, but I can’t bring the price down any more than it is. Tell you what… do you know how to sing? I’ll pay you the remaining 30 GP for a song.”
Tasha gave her best performance of “Bad Romance,” proving once and for all that Tasha was correct in her career choice not to be a professional singer. The gnome seemed mildly entertained and handed over the gunblade. Most of the surrounding onlookers were relieved that her singing had come to a merciful conclusion.
She gave Namaka a few practice swings and returned it to her inventory. There was no way of knowing the current time, so Tasha would have to rush to meet her friends, but there was still one thing that she needed to do before leaving town. Something that she needed to retrieve from the scene of the crime.
She made her way back to the fisherman district. It took maybe ten minutes to get there. She climbed up onto the roof of a building, which was relatively easy given her high agility score.
Overlooking the marketplace, she could see guards wandering around the crime scene.
There, in the center of the ruined marketplace, was the mana container that she’d earned when she leveled up after fighting the orcish police officers. Tasha had touched it before Slimon grabbed her, causing it to fall to the ground. The guards either hadn’t seen it or couldn’t see it. If she didn’t take it, she would lose her chance for another mana container. Tasha didn’t want to risk waiting for things to cool down. She knew where it was now—that might not be true in the future.
Tasha watched their patterns closely. A few of them were doing a forensic study of the dead guards. Others were patrolling the area, ensuring that nobody disturbed the crime scene. There was no way that Tasha would be able to enter the crime scene on foot. she would need another way to get the mana container.
She spent a few minutes looking for something that she could use and finally discovered a tool that just might do the trick. It was a discarded fishing pole resting against the side of a crate set against the building. She picked up the fishing pole and examined it. It was heavily worn, which is probably why it had been discarded. It still had a line with a hook at the end and a mechanism to reel the line back in.
She climbed up onto the roof of the building that overlooked the crime scene. Tasha cast the fishing pole in the direction of the mana container. It wasn’t even close and landed on the ground amidst the guards. She quickly reeled it back in, ready to try again.
Her aim was much closer this time; the line was thrown past the mana container, but when she reeled it in again, the hook brushed against the mana container but didn’t latch onto it.
One of the guards turned to look at the place where the mana container was. Fortunately she’d already pulled up the fishing line.
Tasha waited for him to return to his rounds and gave it one more try. The hook again landed at a place just beyond the mana container. She slowly reeled the line in and gave it a tug when it got close to the mana container, moving the hook into position. She continued reeling it in, and this time it latched on to the mana container’s handle.
Quickly reeling it up the rest of the way, she took the mana container in her hands and turned around as though to leave. Unfortunately, her foot slid on a loose tile, and she tumbled down the roof and toward the crime scene. Bits of ceiling tile broke off as she rolled toward the edge.
With one hand, she caught the edge of the roof, but her fingers slid right off of it, and she fell on her back and into the watching gazes of the orcs. She lost three heart containers from the fall. Her mana container had also fallen out of her hands and rolled a few meters away.
A burly orc towered over her, his hand over his weapon. Tasha backed away just a bit, holding up her hands in front of her.
The orc reached out and took her arm, pulling her to her feet.
“Are you hurt, miss?” he said. It appeared that he didn’t recognize her as a criminal. Tasha had made a stupid mistake, but dumb luck had saved her.
He pointed his open palm at her and said “Heal!” The pain left her, and her heart containers were fully restored.
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
“We aim to serve. Please be more careful in the future, miss.”
Tasha quickly scooped up the mana container and made her way toward the city entrance. When she was out of sight, she used the glass mana container, adding one to her mana reserves, bringing it up to six.
Tasha rushed back to the entrance. She saw guards occasionally but tried to keep a good distance from them. The trick was not to look like she was keeping her distance.
By the time she arrived at the city gate, Ari was already there with Pan. They must have been waiting for Hermes and Slimon. She waved at them, but they looked right past her, as though they didn’t see her. At first Tasha was a bit offended, but then she remembered the Cloak of Dusk. It would probably be wise not to remove it.
As Tasha got closer, Pan finally noticed her and pointed in her direction. Aralogos squinted as though trying to figure out what she was pointing at. Eventually he saw Tasha, and his face registered surprise.
“Hey, Ari, how are ya?”
“Wha… How…? Tasha, how did you get out of jail? You didn’t kill yourself to escape, did you?”
“Of course not,” she said, laughing nervously. “How dumb would I have to be to do that? So yeah, no, I didn’t do that. I sort of broke out of jail, but I have some other good news for you. I think I might know where the princess is being held!”
“That’s great,” he said. “The princess thing, I mean, not the jailbreak. Your jailbreak could add years to your sentence if they catch you.”
“We’ll worry about that once we rescue the princess and I get my audience with the king. I prefer to handle my crises one at a time. The girl who broke me out was with the thieves’ guild, and she told me about a group of mercenaries who was hiring help. It’s not a sure thing, but it’s our best bet right now.”
“T-the thieves’ guild?” Pan said. “C-can I join?”
“I can introduce you later if you want,” Tasha said.
Ari shot Tasha a dark look. “I’ve failed as a father figure. My beloved daughter has fallen in with criminals.”
The trio continued waiting for a few minutes until Hermes arrived with Sir Slimon in tow. The look at the dwarf’s face when he saw Tasha was priceless.
She held out her hand to him. “Listen, Hermes, no hard feelings from earlier, okay?”
After the dwarf shook it, she realized that she’d been lucky to extend her right hand. It could have been awkward if she’d extended her left, since Hermes’s was a machine gun.
“It was a good fight,” he said. “Well, except for the collateral and property damage, of course. And all the civilian injuries and deaths. Besides that, it was a good fight. I won’t hold a grudge if you won’t.”
“I feel the same way. Let’s be friends.”
Tasha extended a hand to Slimon, who produced a tentacle and shook her hand.
“Pffpt,” he said boisterously.
“Like I said earlier, I may, emphasis on may, know where the princess is being held. There’s no time to waste, though. Let’s get moving.”
“Pffppt!” Slimon said, as eager as she was to rescue the princess.
Chapter 19
Princess Rescue
Before leaving town, the party stopped at the rent-a-raptor station. An elven girl wearing a straw hat and work clothes was managing the stables when they approached.
“How can I help you fine gentlemen? Looking to rent a velociraptor?”
“I’m not a gentleman,” Pan grumbled quietly to herself.
“How much for four raptors?” Ari asked. “We have a dwarf, a slime, and two humans.”
“We have a slime mount available
, but I’ll need a minute to hook it up. How far do you need to travel?”
“We’re exploring the countryside,” Tasha said. “No more than ninety miles but as little as thirty.”
“That won’t be a problem,” she said. “It’s one GP for every five miles traveled per raptor, plus a base cost of five GP per raptor.”
The girl tapped at the air in front of her, operating a menu visible only to her. She was most likely using the calculator in the tools section of the menu to figure the cost.
“It comes to ninety-two GP. I’ll need a deposit of 150 just in case you go over. You can claim your refund at any rent-a-raptor station. Remember, once you dismount, the raptor will return to the nearest rent-a-raptor station after about a minute. If you want your raptor to wait for you, make sure you tell him to wait. They’re more intelligent than most people think and will understand you.”
Prince Hermes gave the woman a number of GP coins of different sizes and colors. Pan, Aralogos, and Hermes all received their raptors, and after a moment the stable girl returned with a mount specially designed for slimes. The saddle seat was taller and had a cup-shaped recess designed to contain slimes and keep them from sliding off the saddle.
“Hold it,” Tasha said. “Better make that five mounts instead of four.”
“Why?” Ari asked. “You can ride Denver.”
“True, but we’re setting out to rescue the princess. We’ll need another raptor for her to ride on the way back, assuming we find her.”
The stable girl tapped her menu screen closed. “No problem. Your rate will be the same, and your current deposit should be enough to cover the cost. Have fun rescuing the princess, if that’s what you’re doing!”
They led the raptors to the city entrance. After visiting the stable and claiming Denver, they walked through the main gates. The guards gave only a cursory glance, seeming more interested in challenging people who came in rather than people who left.
Having left the walls of the great city, they mounted up. Denver crouched down, allowing Tasha to climb up. She stepped into one of the footholds attached to the saddle and lifted the other leg over him, putting it on the second foothold.
Denver lifted his body back to a standing position. Checking on her companions, she noticed that Pan was having trouble mounting her raptor, and Ari was helping her up. Her velociraptor was much smaller than the others and more suitable for her small frame.
When everyone was finally ready to disembark, Tasha urged Denver forward gently. This was the first time she’d ridden a velociraptor since training with the dwarf several days prior. It felt natural enough.
“Hyaa!” Aralogos yelled, and his raptor broke into a run, passing by her. She urged Denver to go faster to keep up.
♦ ♦ ♦
Tasha finally came in range of the waypoint after following her compass for several hours. Upon reaching the peak of a large hill, a watchtower became visible in the distance. Dismounting, Ari instructed the rented raptors to wait.
They crept silently to the top of a hill, being sure not to expose herself to the enemy. Pan handed her a pair of binoculars. The structure in the distance was an ancient watchtower that had fallen into disrepair. She focused on one of the windows and saw a beautiful elven girl with green hair. That had to be the princess.
Focusing on the base of the tower, she saw two figures stationed at the base. They were covered from head to toe in black cloth and wore black ninja face masks. Tasha felt warmer just looking at them in such hot weather.
Tasha handed Pan’s binoculars to Aralogos, and he looked over the scene. “It seems we found our shinobi,” he said. “The princess is on the top floor, and there are at least two ninjas at the base of the tower. We have to assume that there are many more inside. There might be a save point inside. Unfortunately, the save point will give them a major tactical advantage, as they could use it to heal up.”
Tasha hit the quick-slot button on her HUD, equipping her chainmail bikini armor. Namaka materialized in her hand.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to approach them undetected,” Ari said, “but we might be able to flank them. Tasha, take Pan and circle around to the east. I’ll move southwest of their position. Hermes and Sir Slimon, I’d like you to attack from here. We’ll attack at the same time. If we’re very lucky, they won’t see us until we get close.”
“Hmm…” said Hermes. “How can we synchronize our attacks? The menu clock isn’t working, so we can’t time it.”
“Just get into position and watch where I am,” said Ari. “Make sure you stay out of sight. I’ll start counting to give you the time you need. Once I start moving, that will be your signal.”
“Tasha, take Denver into battle with you. If the enemy tries to run, you might need to chase them down if they try to escape with the princess. Rental raptors won’t follow us into combat, but Denver will.”
Tasha nodded. “Well, look at you. I didn’t realize you were such a tactician. I’m on it, boss.”
She put a waypoint to the east of the tower. Mounting Denver, she helped Pan get on behind her. Tasha urged Denver to move into position, hugging the sparse hills to keep them between her and the watchtower. It occurred to her that the purpose of a watchtower was to be able to see long distances, so it was unlikely that they could avoid detection if the kidnappers were actively watching.
Tasha briefly wondered if they should have waited for nightfall, but it was too late to think about that now.
After a few minutes, she reached her position. Pan and Tasha dismounted and observed the tower, waiting for Ari’s signal. Several long minutes passed, and there was no activity from the tower. They had a better vantage point than before.
After several minutes, she saw Aralogos running toward the tower. That was the signal. She mounted Denver, and Pan hopped on behind her, arms wrapped around her waist, and Denver darted forward. Out of the corner of her eye, Tasha could see Hermes and Slimon approaching the tower from the other direction. It took about a minute for Tasha to reach the base of the hill where the tower was stationed.
As they rushed the tower, the ninjas finally detected their presence. Ten of them emerged from the tower entrance, joining the two who were already there. The two guards remained at the entrance while the ten new arrivals took up a circular defensive formation around the tower.
Four of the ninjas broke away and started running in Tasha’s direction. Their arms were trailing limply behind their backs, ninja style. Tasha wondered for a moment why ninjas ran that way. Did they think that it more aerodynamic somehow, or was it just for show?
As she rode toward them, Tasha pointed her gunblade in their direction and pulled the trigger. A ball of compressed steam shot forth from the tip of Namaka. Apparently, the water nature of her gunblade had changed the elemental makeup of her fireball spell.
The ninjas split to either side, avoiding the ball of compressed steam, which passed by them ineffectively. It impacted the ground and exploded outwards, not hitting any of her targets.
At some point, Pan had jumped off Denver. She saw a bolt whiz past her and strike one of the ninjas, who collapsed to the ground. The ninja tore out the small arrow and got to his feet.
Two of the ninjas rushed Tasha at the same time. One of them was tall with a muscular build and the other was a female ninja wearing a pink bodysuit that showed more cleavage than was strictly necessary. Tasha wondered idly how a pink bodysuit would contribute to stealth.
Scantily clad pink female ninjas. Anita Sarkeesian would have a field day with this.
She jumped off Denver and swung Namaka at the closest one. The sword slashed right through him. Unfortunately, the moment it struck the ninja, he vanished into a puff of smoke and was replaced by a wooden log, which hit the ground with a thump.
A substitution jutsu. Hmmm, well played.
She lost track of him, but the remaining male ninja was keeping his distance and throwing a barrage of shuriken at Pan. Tasha couldn’t see her but hop
ed that Pan was avoiding the thrown projectiles successfully.
The pink female ninja weaved some strange hand spell, and two clones of her appeared to either side. Tasha shot a fireball at one of the clones, which vanished into a puff of smoke. The original and the remaining clone each pulled out a pair of nunchucks and started swinging them in a rhythmic pattern. Unfortunately, she lost track of which one was the clone and which was the original.
One of them jumped at Tasha and struck her in the head with her nunchuck. This brought her down to six and a half hearts. Her chainmail bikini armor must be doing its job, because the impact didn’t hurt as much as it should have. She thrust Namaka at the attacker and plunged it into her gut. She gasped in pain and looked at the wound. Blood started rushing from where she had been impaled.
Her clone dashed at Tasha, enraged. She withdrew the sword from the ninja’s gut and slashed lengthwise, severing the ninja girl’s head from her body. The dead ninja’s clone vanished, leaving only smoke where it had once been.
Unlike mobs, this body didn’t vanish. The ninja wasn’t a random spawn; she was a person, like the orc guards. Her headless body remained on the ground, a pool of blood collecting around her. Tasha was slowly becoming accustomed to killing people. Apparently video games really had desensitized her to violence.
This wasn’t the time to lose her nerve. People didn’t die here—that ninja kidnapper would be reborn, in a manner of speaking.
Pan had killed another of the ninjas, but the one who had been throwing shuriken at Pan was still standing. He turned his attention to Tasha and hit her with multiple throwing stars. Two of them struck her in the leg, and the other fell away, leaving a scratch. She was down to four hearts. Tasha raced at him, but he jumped out of range.
Invoking her Sprint ability, she quickly made up the distance. The world was racing past her at an impossible speed. Before Tasha knew it, she had already run past him. She skidded to a stop and started running at him again, this time slashing as she passed.