“I thought -“ Tony started
”You’re actually up for Chain Fighting - being out for three days and all,” Jak continued.
”Three Days?” Tony mouthed at Vixie.
She shrugged nonchalantly, as if saying “What did you expect?” with the gesture.
Tony wondered for a moment if whatever medicine Vixie had used on him had shut down his Ascendant Healing Factor.
That would be pretty scary… he mused.
Tony nearly jumped out of his skin when the soccer ball with wings’ voice rang out in his head.
“This would be a great opportunity to get some of your Dread Knight Talents back! All you need to do is beat the individual opponents - even though it would be better to win all three fights, any victory will restore the associated talent!”
”You okay?” Jak asked.
Tony glared into the corner of his vision where the small white sprite, with a singular eye this time, looked up at him for a moment before winking out.
”Yeah, I’m fine… who am I fighting and how long do I have to prep?”
”Vultog Brekkenfeis, Rex Ursus, and Raina… in that order,” Jak answered.
“Oh, great, just the Berserker that probably berserks better than I do, the were-Dino-bear, and the Padinus with an ax to grind… perfect,” Tony muttered.
“I can help you with that,” Vixie chirped.
Tony looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. She rocked back and forth on her feet and wring her hands for a moment before continuing, thinking twice about the offer.
“In my recipes tab, I can make a berserker brew called ‘Hamaskyr,’ it’s really, really powerful and I have enough reagents here… especially after your fight with Locusnettle, to make a few flasks of it…” Vixie said.
“You have an hour, then you need to be in the Pit Barracks,” Jak said, hands raised in an effort to remove absolve himself of involvement in Tony and Vixie’s scheme as he left the infirmary.
“How much can you make in an hour?” Tony asked as soon as Jak was out if earshot.
“I can get one flask done right, which is three doses of the stuff. One per fight, got it?” She said.
“I understand,” Tony answered. To his surprise, the oh so familiar “Deception: Failed” notification did not sound. Tony did understand the instructions that Vixie gave, his intention to follow them was something else entirely.
“How can I help?” He offered.
----------------------------------------
One Hour Later…
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Tony strode into the Pit Barracks refreshed. He had a plan, tangible benefits for winning these fights, and three days of rest. When he entered the corridor to the Pit itself Jak was waiting for him, pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself, and leaving little pebbles of perspiration in the dirt.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was you going in there,” Tony piped up.
Jak paused and looked over at him, “I’m not, but there is a problem…”
“Which is?”
”They’re all out there…”
”Well yeah, I’m gonna be fighting -“
“All of them at once,” Jak interrupted.
“Oh…” Tony answered.
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“Yeah…”
Tony rustled through his pockets and pulled out the flask of Hamaskyr. The liquid looked like a rage potion for sure; it was a pulsing crimson with orange and black flecks that almost seemed to breathe within the mixture. For a moment he thought about just drinking the whole thing as soon as the gate opened but something told him that would not go well.
He combed through his sheet, just to see if there was something there that would help against three powerful enemies; something he may have forgotten. As the sheet popped up, he noticed that it did so in a compressed view, allowing him to view just his Attributes, Skills, and Talents - he was well aware of his backgrounds and part of him still wanted to recall Maximus to his side, but he couldn't put his dog through this, especially without knowing what Serketzi would try to do to him.
Antonious King - Dread Knight (Fallen)
Attributes
Strength 29 Charisma 15 Intelligence 16
Dexterity 17 Wisdom 16 Wits 16
Endurance 28 Spirit 28 Luck 16
Skills
Melee 20 Awareness 10 Occult 11
Survival 5 Fortitude 16 Athletics (Freerunning) 10
Tandem Tactics (5) Resolve 6 Empathy 5
Socialize 5 Enigmas 1 Martial Arts (JKD) 9
Talents
Knight's Charge, Battle Rush, Summon Blade, Life Biting Essence, Channel Dreadblade, Berserker's Stance, Frenzied Blood Rapture, Pommel Strike, Punishing Parry, Invincible Will +, Indomitable Self, Cicatrize, Imbue Cicatrix, Adamant Grit, Rancor, Pact of Spite
The last time Tony had used a handful of his talents, like Berserker's Stance, Pommel Strike, and his Charge Talents, was the first time that he had ever been on Arach.
Berserker's Stance - Killing an enemy that yields XP will increase Stamina regeneration by 2% (to a maximum of 10%)
Cost: None Duration: Indefinite
The only way Berserker's Stance would help him would be if any of his opponents had something like familiars or summons that were weak enough and recurring enough for him to target, which did not seem likely.
"Wait, that upgraded somewhere..." Tony mumbled.
"What?" Jak asked, "Lemme see!"
Tony waved him off and focused on Berserker's Stance again.
Frenzied Blood Rapture - Wounding enemies that would grant Honor or Experience will increase Stamina Regeneration by 2% (to a maximum of 20%)
Note: To best stack bonuses, attacking different targets is highly recommended.
Would you like to continue seeing tutorial messages?
Yes No
Tony ignored the prompt, satisfied that his stance talents were no longer useless in the situation, and continued through his, previously unused, talent trees. He did pause for a moment, Honor was not a “currency” he’d encountered within the current system before. In the past, in “Godmaker,” honor had been part of the PvP system.
Is this here because Ignacious has Ascendants?
Pommel Strike - Deal Minimal damage to an enemy with the pommel of your weapon to stun them for 2 seconds
Cost: 1% HP Cooldown: None
Pommel Strike had been shifted around a bit to accommodate for his lack of mana or lore pool, a single percent of his total HP to activate wasn't a terrible cost, but the cooldown vanishing in exchange was well worth it.
”I think it’ll be fine…” Tony muttered, “as long as big, shiny, doucheface doesn’t interfere, it shouldn’t be considered a Dire Battle so I should be able to just…” he trailed off as he mentally commanded his Respawn Location to show.
Your Respawn Location has been set to: Serketzi’s Bed Chambers - Essence Slave Collar is preventing you from changing this location - Would you like to submit a request to have the location changed?
”That bitch,” Tony seethed, “open the doors!”
“Tony, slow down, what’s going on?” Jak asked.
“She set my respawn to her fucking bedroom, she changed the chain fighting so it would be all three of them so that I couldn’t win and I’d be back where she wanted me. I’m not playing this game, I’ve got shit to do, a dog to get back to, this is bullshit -“
“Listen Tony -“
Before Jak could finish whatever he was about to say, the large doors groaned then burst open in a showy display of cascading desert orchid petals. Just like Jak had said, the three combatants were all out on the sands.
Rania was decked out in what looked like sand-samurai armor; she had a scimitar on each hip, the large bladed crook that the other padinus guards had used, and the glass barbed whip. The Dino-beast carried no weapons and the only “armor” that was present was in thickened hides, scale plating, and thick furs over its vital areas, its natural weapons made a sweat break out across Tony’s back, a pair of large scythe-like claws protruded from the outside of each forearm and the top of each of its feet, its had a long tail with a clubbed end, a plate of solid bone over the top of its head and forehead, and thick tusks jabbed out at irregular angles from its lower jaw. The thing was a walking weapon.
Then there was the Orkken, Vultog Brekkenfeis, the berserker. There was no lack of weapons to be seen there; any weapon that started with the word “great” was piled across his back, he had a bandolier of hatchets across his chest, jagged single-edged blades on each hip, and a wicked looking knife that he tossed hand-to-hand with the word “Shanker” carved into the handle.
To make matters worse, Serketzi was in her personal box that was, somehow, closer to the battlefield than it was before.
“Whatever you’re playing at, I’m not biting!” Tony shouted looking directly at Serketzi, “I won’t fight just to wind up at your bedside.”
“Oh, I think you will, my little Ascendant…” Serketzi taunted. She extended an arm behind her and made a “come hither” gesture with her index finger.
Vixie walked out into the box, her chin meeting her chest.
Tony froze.
“If I understand correctly you have in your possession a potion? Drink it. Now.”