The Adventurers stared expectantly at Carrow.
Carrow stared right back at them.
“You’re going to help us,” Shiya announced brightly. Despite the cheerful tone to the Adventurer’s voice, it was clear to Carrow that this was not a request—it was a statement of fact.
“What makes you think that?” Carrow demanded. Some tiny part of her was shocked that she was speaking to Adventurers this way; the old Carrow wouldn’t have dreamed of it. But the old Carrow might as well have fallen with the other townsfolk back in Highspring, because she was dead and gone. Someone new stood in Carrow’s place now. She had no idea how or why it had happened, but she wasn’t Trader Carrow now—she was Adventurer Carrow.
She’d been right that morning about something being different after all.
“Because we need it,” Shiya replied, apparently unperturbed by Carrow’s tone; if anything, Shiya sounded even more certain now.
“Uh…” was all Carrow could manage.
“Great, so it’s decided!” Shiya exclaimed, clapping her hands once in excitement.
“N-no…”
“Ridiculous,” Zaccai muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.
Trevien shot the Warrior a pointed look, then turned back to Carrow with a polite smile on his face. “I think what Shiya means to say is… will you please help us?”
Carrow stared into the Farrian Cleric’s lilac-colored eyes, uncertain how to respond. She still only understood half of what they had been talking about or what they wanted from her, but anyone with two eyes could tell that they needed help. The roads were mostly safe, but a trio of naked Adventurers with no weapons and no armor? If they did run into some sort of threat, be it monster or bandit, they’d be easy pickings.
But it made more sense for Carrow to find another quiet town far from Highspring and settle down and try to rebuild her business instead of pretending to be something she wasn’t… didn’t it? Going on adventures and fighting monsters wasn’t her, it never had been.
Except everything about her old life was gone now, burned to ash and smashed to rubble. Could she really be content with the same small, quiet life after that?
She drew in a slow, somewhat shaky breath, realizing that Trevien and Shiya were still staring at her. Zaccai was watching her too, although he was making a show of pretending not to be paying attention. All of them were waiting for an answer as the faint cries of the dragon still echoed faintly across the hills.
Carrow knew what answer she wanted to give… and she also knew the answer she needed to give. Out of all of them, Carrow liked Trevien the most. Not only had he saved her life, but he was also the only one to pause and try and offer her some consolation, such as it was. Trevien was the only one who had been treating her like… well, like a person instead of a thing. Carrow owed him a debt, one that she wanted to repay.
“What exactly is it you want me to do? In detail and in a way that I would understand,” Carrow asked carefully, mind whirling like a tempest.
Never in her life had she felt such uncertainty. Always before, any choices she had to make seemed simple, like they weren’t really choices at all. Every day was the same, with only a few small changes depending on whether or not Adventurers came a-calling. Carrow had been content with that; she’d never felt any need to break the mold. But now the mold was gone and there was nothing telling her where to go or what to do. Carrow had to come up with the answers for herself, and that realization was almost as terrifying as the dragon.
Almost.
“We need you to—” Shiya began.
“I was asking Trevien,” Carrow interrupted.
Beside her, Shiya made a sound that was half cough, half laugh, but Carrow ignored her. She kept her eyes trained on the Cleric, waiting for him to answer.
“Well…” Trevien said, searching Carrow’s face. Carrow wasn’t certain what he was looking for, but he continued speaking before she could ask. “This probably sounds strange, but we get experience from killing monsters.”
“Of course,” Carrow said, staring at him. “Once you’ve fought a creature before, of course you’d be better at it in the future.”
“Well, yeah, but I meant experience points. And when we have enough of those points, we go up in level and get stronger.”
Carrow was about to tell him that made no sense, but right as she opened her mouth, she remembered some of the words that had popped up in front of her eyes a few minutes before, once they had successfully escaped from the dragon. She distinctly remembered something about gaining a level, and some sort of number called “XP”.
“XP…rience… experience…” Carrow said slowly, puzzling it out.
“Yup,” Shiya said.
“So… you need to kill things… and that’s why you can’t wear your armor right now, because you have to be stronger. I mean, a higher level…”
Trevien nodded, smiling at her. “Yeah. We’re not strong enough to do much of anything right now. Any monster we find would probably kill us right away. But you’re a higher level, and you have that sword. Since we’re all in a party together, we get credit for anything you kill, so we’d get stronger, too.”
“I see,” Carrow said. She supposed that made sense, in as much as any of this made sense. Amazed, Carrow shook her head. She had always known that things seemed to work differently for Adventurers, but she never would have expected something like this—and she had the feeling she was only scratching the surface of the differences between Adventurers and normal people.
“So… will you help us?”
“All right,” Carrow answered at last. This was insane, all of it, and Carrow felt a sudden pang of longing for the simplicity of her old life. But the more she thought about it, the more she was sure. Whatever had happened, whatever had changed her, there was no going back now.
And, honestly, Carrow wasn’t altogether certain that she truly wanted to go back even if she could.
“Excell—”
“But,” Carrow said loudly, cutting Shiya off again, “you’re going to do something for me in return.”
Apparently forgetting that he was pretending not to be paying attention, Zaccai raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Oh?” he asked, voice dripping with barely concealed sarcasm.
Choosing to ignore the other Warrior’s tone, Carrow nodded and focused on the other two. “You’re going to help me find a way to kill the dragon.”
There was a prolonged moment of silence as the Adventurers processed Carrow’s request. She could practically see them thinking about how much work that would be. Perhaps they knew the history Acadia had with dragons, or perhaps not; either way, Zolzrinth wasn’t going to go down easily and all of them knew it.
As Carrow expected, Trevien was the first to break the silence and agree. After a moment, so did Shiya. The three of them then turned to stare at Zaccai, who was glowering silently at all of them. “Fine,” he snapped eventually, when it became clear that he didn’t realistically have any other option.
“Great!” Shiya exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Now let’s go kill some monsters!”
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* * *
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“You know, I just thought of something…”
The whisper drifted up from behind her as Carrow and the rest of her party crept through the woods in the ever-darkening twilight, trying to get a jump on a monster without a monster getting the jump on them. Thankfully, the dragon’s roars had mostly quieted, although they were still closer to Highspring than any of them were really comfortable with. But Carrow didn’t want to risk going too far out, where the monsters were likely to be stronger. If all of them were able to fight, there wouldn’t have been a problem with venturing further away from the ruins of her town; when she had to do battle on her own for all of them, Carrow didn’t want to take any chances.
“What?” Shiya whispered back in response to Trevien as they tiptoed along behind Carrow, Zaccai sulking along in the rear.
“We know what happens if we die… but what happens if she dies?”
“Hmm… good question.”
“I know. We never changed our attunement to anywhere close to here, right? So it’d probably just dump us in the closest city. And NPCs normally respawn back where they belong, but her town is gone, so—”
“Ssh!” Carrow hissed suddenly. The shush came out harsher than intended, although it actually didn’t have anything to do with Carrow’s irritation that the Adventurers were yet again discussing her as though she wasn’t right there listening to every word they said. No, Carrow had spotted a silhouette in the gloom up ahead, something four-legged and hunched and beast-like.
A moment later, they heard the low, menacing growl the thing let out, a growl that didn’t promise anything good.
Carrow took a deep breath, inspecting it. The sun had recently set and there was just enough light left to make it out amongst the plants, but Carrow was more interested in the green-colored words that popped up before her eyes:
Coyote
Level 3
HP: 85/85
A wild dog-like creature native to Albia. You probably don't want to try to pet it, though... especially if its hungry.
Well… not as bad as it could have been, although the Coyotes in the hills around Highspring were mangy, half-starved things that were likely to attack unwary travelers on sight. More than once a group of them had tried to attack Highspring itself, desperate for chickens or food or even any townsfolk they were able to bring down. At least there was only one of them right now, as far as Carrow could tell.
Okay. She could do this.
Carrow had her Rusty Short Sword that she had picked up back in Highspring, and Shiya had rooted around in her bags and found a Weak Wooden Shield for her that helped her chance to block attacks a tiny bit. Both items were in poor condition, hardly worth more than a few coppers, but it was better than nothing. Carrow desperately wished that she had some armor beyond her clothing, which would provide little defense against the Coyote’s teeth, but there was no help for it. The Coyote was just a Level 3, lower and presumably weaker than her. And even though she wasn’t an experienced fighter, it was pretty clear how to swing her sword or jab it at the Coyote when it tried to attack. All she had to do was stay away from the claws and teeth… right?
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Tightening her grip on her sword, Carrow stepped forward.
“Wait!” Shiya hissed.
Carrow was brought up short as Shiya grabbed the back of her shawl, preventing her from moving forward.
“What?” Carrow snapped, glancing uneasily back and forth between the Adventurer and the Coyote. The beast didn’t seem to be advancing—not yet, anyway, but Carrow didn’t trust it to stay where it was for much longer. The ferocity of its growls meant that it had spotted them, too. Even inexperienced as she was, Carrow wasn’t stupid enough to turn her back to it.
“Your points! Did you assign them?”
Watching the Coyote carefully out of the corner of her eye, Carrow frowned at Shiya. “I thought you said the XP points just add up…”
“No, no, no, not those points—your stat points. You get some each level. Shit, how should I explain this? Just,” Shiya said, waving her hands in the air, “uh, just think about the menu?”
“Is now really the time—”
“Yes!” Shiya insisted, Trevien nodding from behind her.
Biting back a sigh, Carrow turned to face the Coyote fully again so it couldn’t sneak up on her, then did as Shiya suggested. She didn’t expect anything to happen… but much to her surprise, a translucent list of things appeared before her. It was a little bit familiar—from when Carrow put things into or took them out of her inventory, she realized. But there were a lot more options now, enough to make Carrow’s head spin. Later, Carrow would have to stop and look thought everything, but there were slightly more pressing issues at the moment—namely, the Coyote, who was crouching low to the ground and taking an exploratory step forward, hungry eyes fixated on her.
Not sure how to do any of this, Carrow focused on the option that said “Stats”. The words in front of her eyes shimmered and changed to something new, a list of different things like Strength, Vitality, Dexterity… the list went on and on. A handful of the ones near the top had a plus sign next to them, presumably ones she could change, while the ones further down seemed to display other numbers that Carrow couldn’t change directly. And, up at the top, a glowing notice that said: Unassigned Points: 30.
“What do I pick?” Carrow asked, nervously focusing through the floating menu at the Coyote beyond. It was great that she could see the words and what was behind them all at once, but it was only going to take the beast a few more seconds to slink forward close enough that it could jump at her…
“Strength,” Shiya and Trevien said at once.
“And some Vitality! It’ll give you more health, since I can’t really do much to heal you right now,” Trevien added.
“Um. Okay,” Carrow said, focusing on the menu again. It seemed strange to do things just by thinking them, but it worked perfectly. Carrow quickly added sixteen of her points into strength, distracted for a moment by the swell of energy that surged through her. It seemed crazy, but she felt a little stronger, a little more sure of herself and her physicality.
The Coyote snarled, eyes boring into her.
Right. Danger.
Carrow hastily started adding the remainder of her points into Vitality like Trevien suggested, watching as her health rose with each one. There didn’t seem to be an obvious correlation between each point she added to her Vitality and how much HP she gained from it, but Carrow wasn’t complaining. However it worked, it was a big improvement.
“Move!” Shiya suddenly shrieked, yanking Carrow to the side as the Coyote lunged.
She gasped as she was pulled off-balance. The jolt caused her to accidentally put the remaining two points into Dexterity instead of Vitality. Carrow had no idea what that meant, but it was too late now. She shook her head, mentally wiping the menu away as she planted her feet and stared down at the Coyote.
No more time to figure things out; the fight was now.
Carrow shifted a step to her left to help block the other Adventurers as they carefully retreated, giving Carrow space to fight in.
Here went nothing.
Just barely within range, the Coyote crouched again in preparation. Carrow hastily swung her sword in a wide, wobbly arc at it before it could jump. To her shock, her sword collided with it, catching it hard on the shoulder.
Coyote takes 19 points of damage!
For just a moment, Carrow felt a little thrill run through her as the Coyote yelped in surprise and shook itself and the words floated up above it briefly, then faded. She’d done it! She’d actually hit it! It was a solid hit, too, thanks to the points she had put into her Strength, which significantly helped the weak damage from her sword.
Her excitement was short-lived, however, as the Coyote immediately reached out a paw and swiped at her with its claws. Carrow wasn’t quick enough to move her leg out of the way, and she winced as her newly enlarged health pool took a hit.
Carrow takes 11 points of damage!
There was a faint sting in her leg from where the claw had caught her just above her boot, but it was easy enough for her to ignore. Adjusting her stance, Carrow quickly swiped at the Coyote again.
Coyote dodges!
She blanched as the Coyote twisted away from her blade just in time, avoiding her attack completely. The thing was faster than its thin, half-starved frame suggested. The Coyote recovered before Carrow, who was thrown off-balance by her attempted attack. Carrow flinched as the beast jumped at her, raising her right arm to try and shield herself. The Coyote’s jaws closed around her upper arm above her shield, and Carrow gasped as the teeth inflicted more damage on her.
Carrow takes 14 points of damage!
Carrow kicked at the Coyote, twisting at the same time to try and dislodge it from her arm. The kick caught it in its belly and served its purpose, although it didn’t seem to damage it. The Coyote dropped down to the ground and Carrow hastily shoved her sword in its direction, more trying to drive it back than actually attack. But her hit landed, the blade’s edge sinking into the Coyote’s matted, filthy fur.
Coyote takes 15 points of damage!
Her fighting was completely inelegant, she knew, and about as coordinated as a child waving around a stick as they pretended to be a knight. But sharp metal was still sharp metal, and she was relieved to see the text pop up momentarily after the last hit she managed to land. Darting back a couple of steps, Carrow looked at its HP… which was still 48, above half after all that. She hastily checked her own health as well, relieved to find that she still had 220 points remaining.
Momentarily relieved, that was. Taking advantage of Carrow’s distraction, the Coyote leapt at her again, and Carrow was too slow to do more than get her left arm up in defense before the beast’s jaws clamped down on her.
Carrow takes 16 points of damage!
“C’mon, Carrow!” Shiya cheered from somewhere behind her, but Carrow didn’t exactly have a chance to respond at that moment.
Grunting, Carrow brought up her shield and smashed it into the Coyote’s head as hard as she could manage. She had only been trying to knock it off, but the Coyote yelped and danced backward away from her as her shield bash actually hurt it.
Coyote takes 5 points of damage!
Well, that was better than nothing, Carrow supposed. Summoning up every bit of coordination she possessed, Carrow darted forward to strike at the Coyote again. Busy trying to shake its head after the solid whack Carrow had given it with her shield, the Coyote didn’t see the incoming attack in time to dodge it.
Coyote takes 20 points of damage!
“Getting there!” Trevien exclaimed. “Keep going! It doesn’t have much left!”
“Kick its ass!” Shiya hollered.
Without meaning to, Carrow made the mistake of glancing back over her shoulder toward where her other party members were clustered around a tree, watching the battle—and Carrow immediately paid for it. There was a thud and Carrow suddenly felt herself falling to the ground, knocked over by the Coyote’s weight. She managed to twist as she fell and landed on her back, but before she could do more than blink, the beast’s jaws clamped down on her neck.
Critical hit! Carrow takes 21 points of damage!
She wasn’t sure if the loud shriek came from her or one of the others; either way, that was a big hit, and the Coyote didn’t seem ready to let her go any time soon.
The one upside was that the Coyote couldn’t dodge when it was busy trying to tear her throat out. Carrow yanked her arm up and jabbed her sword into the Coyote’s unprotected side as hard as she could, desperate to do anything to get it off before she took more damage from it.
Coyote takes 18 points of damage!
Shocked by the sudden burst of pain from her sword, the Coyote released its grip on Carrow’s neck. She awkwardly shoved it off and scrambled to her feet, trying to push away the pain and ready herself for another attack before the Coyote did the same.
A quick check of her health showed she was still at 183 HP, which was a relief—paying attention to where her health was at and where the monster’s health was at and fighting at the same time would probably come easier with time, but for now it was difficult to focus on everything at once. After that critical attack, Carrow had worried that she was far lower than she actually was. This was all new to her, unlike the Adventurers behind her, and it was without a doubt going to take her a lot more practice before she felt comfortable truly thinking of herself as a Warrior.
In the meantime…
Once again taking advantage of her distraction, the Coyote lashed out with its claws. Even wounded near to death, the beast was still quick. Carrow saw the attack coming this time but still didn’t manage to move quickly enough to avoid it, and she winced as the claws slashed into her leg.
Carrow takes 11 points of damage!
“Finish it!” Shiya hollered from behind her, and Carrow got the distinct impression that Shiya was hopping up and down in excitement and enjoying watching this far more than she should have been. It was all well and good for her to be excited about all this—she wasn’t the one actually fighting.
Steadying herself, Carrow narrowed her eyes at the Coyote. One good hit was all it would take to kill it, and Carrow meant for this to end now. And this time, she had a plan.
Coiled for action, Carrow waited until the Coyote jumped at her again. This time she used her shield, small and weak though it was, to help deflect the Coyote’s head. Stepping aside at an angle at the same time, Carrow let the jolt of the impact from the Coyote’s own momentum help pivot her around so she could stab at the Coyote’s exposed flank with the head and claws out of range to hit her.
It worked.
The Coyote’s momentum continued to carry it forward as it crashed to the ground with a last, pitiful whine, Carrow’s sword still sticking out of its side. It attempted to clamber to its feet with the last of its strength, failed, and collapsed motionless to the ground.
Coyote takes 16 points of damage!
Coyote has been defeated!
XP gained! 306
I did it!” Carrow gasped, turning to the others. “I actually did it!”
“Fuck yeah, Level 2!” Shiya exclaimed. “Nice and easy.”
“Easy?” Carrow demanded. She felt like the battle had lasted forever, and the thing had taken nearly 100 HP from her—and it was a lower level than she was! What if it had been the same level, or even stronger?
Trevien shook his head. “It was only easy to level up because we had the XP from escaping the dragon. Next level’s gonna take a lot longer.”
“Easy?” Carrow demanded again when they didn’t answer her. Nothing about that had seemed easy to her, not when she was the one putting her neck on the line—literally.
“That fight took way too long,” Zaccai grumbled, scowling at Carrow. “It was just a Level 3. Should’ve been like two hits.”
“Yeah, maybe if Carrow didn’t have a shitty level two sword,” Shiya said, rolling her eyes at him. “So unless you’ve got something she can use…”
“Whatever,” Zaccai muttered under his breath, turning away. “Let’s just keep going.”
“Might as well,” Trevien said with a quiet sigh. “I can’t heal you until I find a staff of some sort, but you should be fine for now. This is going to take a while.”
“Um… what level were you before…?” Carrow trailed off, waving her hands to try and encapsulate the reset or whatever it was that had caused the Adventurers to be weak and naked and in need of her help. She still didn’t understand why it had happened, only that it had.
“…Twelve.”
Carrow groaned and dropped her head into her hands, nearly skewering herself with her sword in the process.