Well, it had been over an hour, and we were officially lost.
“That tree looks familiar, maybe that way?”
“We just came from that way.” Was the blunt reply, a slight break midway.
“Well, if that’s the way that we came from, then logic dictates that it will lead back to our previous destination.”
“Would logic still dictate that even if we’d been walking in circles for the past hour?” Replied the acne ridden youth.
“… Probably not.”
Tress, trees, trees, as far as our eyes could sees, and it had been like this the whole time, no small clearing or anything, just the continuation of this dense wood. It WAS rather peaceful though, walking through the woods, the suns light creeping through the tree tops above, the shadows of which would flitter and dance on the floor below, as the breeze pushed the branches too and fro.
We continued to walk through the wood, trying to stick to one direction, but the density of the trees and our inability to properly see the sun made it difficult to stay on a clear path, eventually, we ended up in front of a tree that we had previously cut an x into.
“Aaaand we’re back again.” Said the blonde boy, rather annoyed.
“Patience Miles, patience.” I told him, very wisely.
“I can’t help it, I wanna go questing and find cool loot, and stuff.” He replied.
“Let’s just go hunting here, we could probably find some decent stuff in a drop, we’ve already gone up 3 levels each, why not push our luck?” I asked, quite liking my idea. After all, I still had to practice my magick, I was still a bit rusty.
“Yeah ok, I guess that could be fun.”
So that was that, we started walking yet again, this time with a little more purpose. This time, we weren’t looking for an escape, we were looking for a fight! Far more entertaining if you ask me. And it didn’t even take long, after only a few minutes of brisk walking, we had come across a level 5 Forest Rat Pack.
The pack was made up from 4 level 5 Forest Rats, which in Continental Chaos, is one of the many societal monsters, which means that individual instances of the Forest Rat class can form parties of their own.
These 4 Forest Rats had clearly had some experience with former battles, because for such low level monsters, their teamwork was admirable. One would dart from its cover at the right to some shrub at the left, and another would leap at us from its behind a tree trunk at the side, these little fuckers were using diversionary tactics!
Although Miles and I were startled to begin with, we’d managed to regain our composure, and pull our heads out of our asses. It was time to get serious.
Miles drew his dagger and shot forth, concentrating on a Forest Rat that was in the middle of darting in and out of cover. Miles planted his right foot, and swung his left around in a frightful roundhouse, catching the Forest Rat mid jump and sending it reeling towards a shrub where Miles knew that another was lying in wait for its turn to distract us.
As Miles was taking care of the distractor, the attacker was right on queue, jumping at me from behind. I turned, stretched my arm out, catching the Forest Rat in the air, and sparking as big a flame as I could in that moment.
The Forest Rat let out a squeal as the flames enveloped it, and started to lick at it passionately. Then, taking a page out of Miles’ book, I tossed the Forest Rat to the left of a rather thick tree trunk, catching Forest Rat number 4 as it tried its distraction technique.
Now 2 of the Forest Rats were on fire, and 2 were stunned, so far so good.
I raised my hand at one of the stunned Forest Rats, making my hand into a finger gun, then I dropped my thumb, like the hammer of a gun, and a small lick of flame shot out at the speed of lightning, and in the flash of an eye, 3 Forest Rats were on fire. Meanwhile, Miles drew his hand back, and brought it forward in one swift motion, that familiar bolt of black energy shot out, speedily closing in on the Forest Rat that I’d caught moments before, and when that bolt of energy connected, the forest around us rang with the whoof of the impact, the Forest Rat exploding into a cloud of pixels and dropping a small sack.
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One of the Forest Rats had managed to find a puddle to splash in, so it was no longer on fire. It sprinted in and out of cover behind shrubs, tree trunks, rocks, and anything else that would lessen the damage of one of our attacks, and had managed to circle behind the 2 of us. As soon as the Forest Rat was close enough, it leapt from behind its cover, and clamped down on my right wrist with its vice like jaws.
I cried out in pain as the rock hard and razor sharp teeth of the rodent bit into my flesh, and stuck in bone.
“FUCK!” I yelled in pain, looking down at the overgrown rat dangling from my limb, this asshole put a dent in my hp.
I grabbed it by the neck with my left hand and tried to pull it off, but its grip was like iron! I then started to try and shake it off, but that just made my hp deplete further, finally, I tried this.
I grabbed the rodent by the throat again, and concentrated as hard as I could on what I wanted my fire ability to do. The Forest Rat began to squeak, then it began to squeal, its grip loosened on my wrist, and with a sharp yank, it was free.
I focused even harder, filling the Forest Rat with as much of my fire as I could, before swiftly pegging it at the closest tree.
BOOM!
The Forest Rat exploded in a puff of smoke and flames, the tree that I had thrown it at was reduced to splinters and an ashen stump, flames licking at it calmly, the fire growing ever so slightly as it ate away at the stump. All that was left of the Forest Rat was the small sack of its loot.
“You ok?” Asked Miles once he’d taken care of the last Forest Rat, his voice breaking slightly.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I replied, my wrist killing me.
#
We had decided to take a break, let our hp regenerate, and Miles offered to give me the run down on all the things that I needed to know.
“We have hp, but no mp, rather than mp, your character will just get tired and exhausted, think of it like instead of using an mp counter, they’re instead placing more strain on the caster, with varying degrees depending on the spell and the power put into it.
Also, the kingdom that we started out in is called Drakemore, this kingdom is what’s called a crafters kingdom, blacksmiths, enchanters, builders, and craftsmen of the like are what makes up the majority of the stores and guilds. Which if you ask me, makes a great town, there’s always good wares to purchase, and people who would buy them, which makes Drakemore one of the largest merchant hubs in this continent.”
Miles continued to prattle on about things, but his last little speech had got me thinking, blacksmithing and enchanting would be good trades for this character, I could make my own gear EXACTLY how I would like it, and those skills could come in use later on too.
#
After Miles had ended his saga, I suggested that we try another alternative to just walking in circles. We were gunna burn our way out.
I breathed in, and out, in, and out, concentrating deeply. After a few moments, I raised my hand and placed as much power into my palm as I could, and then I let it erupt. Bright orange flames were sent reeling from my hand in a steady stream, charring the wood before it as it continued on its raging path.
“That took a little out of me.” I told Miles, my breathing slightly ragged, and sweat on my brow.
“It looked like it would have,” he replied, “I’m beginning to think that I should have chosen Mage as my class.”
“Well, it IS pretty fun.” I said with a smirk.
#
After 40 odd minutes clearing away the forest in front of us, felling trees and charring foliage, we finally came out the other side. It just wasn’t the right side… But, that’s no matter, at least we weren’t lost in the forest any more.
“Which way to Drakemore?” I asked Miles.
“That way.” He replied, pointing down the road to the left.
“Then let’s head back, I have some stuff to do.”
#
It had only taken us 15 or so minutes to walk back to Drakemore, albeit briskly. The gate to the castle grounds was a sight for sore eyes and exhausted ears. The 3 metre tall, solid oak gate was lined with steel, making it just as strong as the solid rock walls that are connected to it.
The gates were open for the time being, but during a battle, or an attempted siege, the gates would close and then be barricaded, and by the looks of those gates, it would be near impenetrable. But I expected no less from the crafters kingdom.
We walked through the gates and were welcomed by the courtyard, bustling with players and NPC’s alike. People were selling their services and wares, and others were happily buying them. Merchants sold their wares, and people haggled, some with a passion!
“So, what did you need to do?” Asked Miles, curious as to what his new friend was up to.
“I’m gunna go to the blacksmithing guild, as well as the enchanting guild, and then I’m gunna train.” I replied, starting towards the area of the courtyard that the forge was in, easily found because of all the smoke billowing from the chimneys, painting the sky overhead black.