"You have a decision to make," Rebus said.
He had sidled up beside Ashley while Mistress Hegel was glued to the door, peeking through a crack in the wood frame.
She wiggled her eyebrows at the cat.
What?
After a few moments of panic, she'd stopped buying in to the narrative. It was easy to forget that this was a game. The crashing and shouting outside were supposed to be unsettling, but none of it was real.
"Oh, poor Maximian!" gasped the old lady. "They've gone and smashed his door in and pulled him out into the street!"
Dreadful. This is where I get emotionally invested in the lives of the peasants I guess.
Rebus was staring up at Ashely from the floor.
"They're likely coming here next, so you might wish to listen."
Ashley shrugged, then realized there was no reason to worry about the old lady NPC's feelings towards her.
"What?" she said out loud. "What choice do I have to make?"
Mistress Hegel gave her a sidelong look, but said nothing.
"Accept me as your familiar," Rebus said. "You will gain some abilities you might find useful."
"What do you get out of it?"
"I grow, as you do. When I saw you arrive I knew you were something special. Chances like you do not come along often. I'd be a fool not to try to be yours."
"What abilities exactly?"
Mistress Hegel's head swung around and she made a hissing noise.
"I don't know who you're talking to girl, but I fear I suspect. You should tread carefully."
The cat's head swiveled to look at the old woman, who made another warding gesture with her fingers and flipped her shawl up over her head.
"Basic offensive and defensive spells to begin with."
"Aha, magic powers."
"Exactly so."
"And if I make a contract with, then you give them to me?"
"More accurately I release what's latent in you, but yes."
Mistress Hegel wailed and jumped away from the door, which crashed inwards.
A huge man dressed in ragged leather armor but carrying a bright and wicked-looking sword strode through the remains of the door frame.
Raider, Lvl. 4
Apparently this one didn't even deserve a name.
"Mercy sir," wailed the old woman. "I'm an old lady with naught to give you! I'm poor as a mouse!"
The man's eyes scanned the room coldly. He had a ragged graying stubble of beard, and his face was dirty.
"I'll take your little girl there," he said, pointing at Ashley.
Oh well fuck that.
"I accept your offer. Become my familiar but do it fast."
"Give me your hand," the cat said.
She stuck out her left hand in front of the cat, who promptly sank his teeth deep into the fleshy part of her palm. It burned fiercely, but Ashely clamped her jaw shut and bore it. When the cat finally released her again, she had some new text flowing across her vision.
Familiar Acquired: Rebus
Common Cat, Level 1
Allegiance: Lawful Evil
Class Acquired: Hedge Witch, Level 1
Allegiance: Neutral Evil
MP: 80
Status Effect: Dark Resist 1 (All Dark Spells and Enchantments 5%
Reduced Effect)
Defensive Spell Added: Dark Shield 1 (10 MP; Physical Attacks 20% Damage Reduction;
Magic Attacks 5% Damage Reduction; 10 minutes)
Offensive Spell Added: Bolt 1 (20 MP; 15 Physical Damage)
"You hear me girl?" the raider bellowed at her.
"Oh sorry, what?" she said. "I wasn't listening."
"Leave the poor thing alone," Mistress Hegel cried.
The man didn't even look at her, he just pushed the old woman aside. She crashed to the floor with an anguished shriek.
"Hey," Ashley said. "Leave her alone."
The man grinned at her.
"You be nice and she'll be just fine," he said.
Oh I do not like you one bit.
"Just say the spell name?" she said to Rebus.
"What?" the raider said.
"Focus on him, use your hands, really mean it," the cat said.
"Bolt!" Ashely yelped, throwing her hands out in a gesture she vaguely remembered from movies.
To her surprise a flash of dark red shot out from her palms and struck the man square in the middle of his face.
15 Crit + 5
Health 80
The text beside the man lit up.
More text followed in blue this time. It was her status, she supposed.
MP 60
So I can do that three more times. Not enough to kill him.
She needed to get out of there.
The raider was still staggered, and had his hands over his face, cursing.
Ashely ran. She assumed Rebus would follow, but there was no time to check. She shoved past the raider who made a feeble grab at her but he was still blinded by the effect of her bolt, and she ducked under his arm and out into the night.
She only had a moment to take in the scene outside. There were at least five other raiders and as many horses all milling around. They all seemed to be facing the village chief's house and not paying the slightest attention to what was going on at Mistress Hegel's.
A fat man who must have been the chief was kneeling on the ground. There was blood streaming down his face, and as she watched one of them struck him again with the butt of a sword. It made a wet thud.
"Your wife is next, cough it up!" the raider bellowed.
Sorry mister NPC, no time for you.
She ran at high speed around the side of Mistress Hegel's. There was a mass of brush and trees around back and she dove into them gratefully, not minding the scratches and tears one bit.
I'll just keep quietly creeping far, far away from all of this.
It seemed like the sensible plan for the moment. Whatever help there was for her, it wasn't in that miserable cluster of huts back there.
She huddled down for a moment, listening for the sound of the raider coming after her. There was a lot of shouting, but it didn't sound like anyone was moving in her direction.
Then suddenly Rebus was beside her, crouching in the long grass.
"You move fast and quiet, I'm impressed," he said. "Humans are usually thumpier."
"Thank you for the spells," she whispered. "I don't know what else I would have done."
"You're..." the cat started to say and then paused.
Ashely didn't question why.
There was something... dangerous? Frightening?
Not good, in any case. Something was near to them. Getting closer.
"That's powerful," Rebus said quietly.
"What is it?"
"No idea."
It was almost on top of them. Ashely felt a thrill of fear in her stomach and got ready to run. Whatever this was, it was worse than the raiders. But she was afraid to move.
"Hello?"
It was a child's voice. It sounded afraid.
It was just a few feet away, somewhere in the tall grass and bushes.
"Mistress Hegel?" the voice said. "I saw you run. It's me, Alexis."
Oh shit, a village kid.
Then she mentally shook herself.
An NPC. That's all.
But why was there such a feeling of danger at the same time? She had her spells at least.
Oh damn, what was it called? Shield? But there was something else.
"Dark Shield," she whispered with a dramatic flourish of her hand.
Sparkles of purple light rippled down her skin, and she heard the child gasp.
"It's okay," she whispered. "Mistress Hegel was protecting me. I'm not dangerous."
There was silence while the child weighed how much it was going to trust her words.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Ashley. I'm hiding from the bad men. Just like you."
"I'm not hiding."
The voice sounded offended, but the feeling of looming dread never left Ashley all the same.
"What are you doing then?"
"What I was told."
"Look Alexis, I'm not dangerous so don't be scared. In fact I'm leaving. You should be safe here. Just stay quiet until they're gone."
"Wait!" the voice said. It suddenly sounded very young and frightened.
"There's something with him. I don't know what, but it's very powerful," Rebus said.
"Alexis, I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me about. Something feels wrong."
Stolen novel; please report.
There was silence.
"I'm not supposed to talk about it. But it's okay, really. It just feels that way."
"What feels that way?"
Silence again.
"Okay, well like I said. Stay quiet and hidden. You'll be fine."
Ashley started crawling in the direction she thought was farther away from the huts. At the same moment there was a scream from back in the village.
"Wait!" said the child's voice again.
She sighed.
"What?"
"We have to help them."
Aha, there's the quest flag.
"Did you see them? They're big. And there's a lot of them."
Silence, followed by another scream and then the sound of rough laughter.
"It's my uncle. They're my only family."
"He's the fat guy?"
"Yes. They want what I have. I'm supposed to hide and not come out no matter what."
"Sounds like good advice Alexis. You should listen to it."
There was a crunching of sticks and the sound of grass being pushed aside. The boy's face came into view in the dim light. Big scared eyes. Blond hair, probably about eight. Skinny.
I bet your Uncle eats his fill though.
She knew they were toying with her sympathies. But on the other hand that feeling of doom was increasing as he got nearer.
"It's him," Rebus said. "He's got something with him. Something dangerous."
"Please," the boy said, and his voice wobbled close to tears. "They're going to kill him. Because he doesn't have it. I do."
A small hand held out something that caught little silver glimmers of light.
Rebus hissed, and the boy started, suddenly seeing the cat.
"That's a Relict," he said.
"Is it a treasure?" Ashely said to the boy.
"You could probably buy your own estate with it," Rebus said. "Servants included."
The boy nodded to her question.
"It's supposed to stay hidden. They say it can do bad things. But I was thinking that doing bad things might be what we need right now."
"It's probably a Cursed Relict," Rebus said. "Deep magic. Ancient."
The boy was still holding it out.
"You're offering it to me?"
His hand pulled back.
"Only if you use it to help my aunt and uncle before they kill them," he said. His little face was serious, but his eyes were pleading.
Yup, there we go. We get the magic weapon if we kill the bandits. Trite. On the other hand until I find the logout button I could use something better than my little 15% firebolts or whatever.
She sighed.
"Why don't you do it?" she said to the boy.
He shook his head.
"I tried. It doesn't do anything."
"Let me see," she said. "If the stats look good I'll do it, otherwise no deal."
Someone shouted something and there was a piercing, shrill scream from a woman's throat.
"Hurry, please!" the boy said.
Ashley took it. It was a silver chain with a little greenish bauble on one end. Nothing happened when she held it in her palm. Waves of dread were coursing through her body, but she ignored them. It was just a stupid game after all. She looked at Rebus.
"Don't ask me," he said. "I've only heard about them."
She held it up.
Nothing happened. No text appeared. There was probably only one way to find out.
"It's too small to go around my neck."
Rebus made a snorting sound.
"It goes around your head," Alexis said.
"It's a tiara?" Ashely hissed.
A magical tiara. Fucking hell.
At least it wasn't covered with flowers and dangly jewels. It was fairly plain silver, and there was just a hint of a glow from the small green jewel.
She looked at Rebus.
"Is this a good idea?"
They boy's eyes went wide when he saw her talk to cat, but he didn't say anything.
"Something is happening. It feels powerful. This thing might be incredible, or it might kill you. Your call I guess."
"I can't feel a thing," she lied, and slipped it over her hair so that the little green gem was on her forehead.
If it kills me I probably logout anyway, so maybe that would be an improvement.
Instantly there was a crackling noise, like someone stepping on a thousand eggs, then a burst of darkness that seemed to suck all of the light out of the air. Then it was gone again.
Text started flowing. A lot of text.
Artefact Acquired: Crown of the Night Queen
Legendary Tier, Class 3
Level: ??? (Currently Limited: Level 12)
Class Reassignment: Night Queen (Dread Witch), Level 1
Allegiance: Chaotic Evil
XP+1500; Now 1800
MP+200; Now 280
Now Level 2
Now Level 3
Now Level 4
Now Level 5
Now Level 6
Wisdom +2
Intelligence +2
Loremastery +3
Charisma +1
UI Level Increase: Now Level 2; Appraise now available
Status Effect: Cursed (Currently Level 2 - Light magic does 7% more damage)
Status Effect: Lifedraw (Currently Level 2 - Slain foes restore HP)
Skill Acquired: Dark Lore (Currently Level 2)
Skill Acquired: Dark Tongue (Currently Level 2)
Spellmastery: Rot (Level 3; 50 MP; 80 HP + 1 Dmg/sec for 20 seconds)
Spellmastery: Reflect (Level 3; 50 MP; Magical Damage to Level 5
Reflected 50%; 60 seconds)
"Holy shit!" she yelped.
There was another piercing scream from back in the village.
"Wow," Rebus said. "I felt some of that. You look different now too. More scary."
Alexis stared at her with wide, frightened eyes.
"Please ma'am," he said. "Please save them."
The NPCs can wait. But then again maybe I lose the quest and this thing too if the fat man dies.
She sighed.
"Do you think I look more scary now too?" she said to the boy.
He nodded quickly.
"Really scary. Please hurry."
Ashely straightened herself up and exited from the bushes with as much dignity as she could muster. Surprisingly, Rebus was right beside her.
When she raised her eyebrows at him he said, "I need to see this."
"Tell me how I look more frightening. I can't see it."
The cat paused for a moment.
"Your eyes. They're dark. Like they're all pupil. Plus now you have that sense of doom."
She nodded.
"Nice, I can work with that."
280 MP. That's five shots with Rot, plus one with Bolt. Or I can use reflect for safety, but these guys don't look like wizards.
Briefly she wondered again about how easily she was making these calculations. She must have experience, but definitely couldn't recall it if so.
She strode forward boldly towards the huts again. No sense in not using her new scary appearance to best advantage.
But she stopped just before she came into their view and peeked carefully around the corner of Mistress Hegel's hut.
Six of them. Shite. I can't just straight up kill them all.
Strictly speaking one of them could still just cut her in half with his sword and that would still be the end of it.
They were all clustered around the village chief's shack, and watching whatever was going on there.
There was a low agonized groan from whoever they were doing things to.
"It's not too late," she heard one of the men say. "Just give it up and we won't have to burn down every miserable hovel here looking for it."
"Rebus," she said. "Is there anything you can do?"
"I can offer strong words of encouragement."
"Really? So you're kind of useless?"
"Excuse me? The only reason you have any magic powers is because of me."
"Fine, whatever. But nothing, really?"
The cat paused.
"Once a day I can do Cry Of The Hunter. Big terrifying scream. Makes them shit their pants."
She held up her hand and did a Star Trek Fingers thing.
"When you see this, you do your once a day scream, okay?"
"You got it boss."
She shook herself and tried to get into a scary frame of mind. That was easier when she saw the one who had pushed Mistress Hegel. He still had a big red burn on his face.
He saw her at the same time.
"There!" he yelled. "That's the one. She can do magic, be careful!"
But then he finally caught sight of her face as she advanced on the circle of raiders.
"By the gods," he said weakly.
She raised one hand and bellowed "Rot!" at the top of her lungs, really meaning it this time.
A grey-black thing shot towards the raider so quickly that he had no time to move. It smashed into his chest with a squelching sound, and he cried out in pain and disgust.
80
Health 0
The man dropped dead on the spot.
Five left. Four shots.
A horse screamed and reared away from the dead man, or more likely from the smoking filth that covered his torso. This panicked more of the horses who began neighing and jostling loudly.
The raiders looked at their dead companion, then at her.
One of them had already drawn his sword and was moving for Ashley. His face was a mask of rage and fear.
"You want to die next?" she said coldly.
He sneered and kept coming, and the other four had already drawn their weapons as well, the village chief forgotten in a bloody pile behind them. Another huddled figure was presumably his wife.
"Rot!" she yelled and cast it at the nearest raider.
Centre mass, let's not try for fancy head shots.
The goo shot towards him - he tried to duck to one side but the ball of filth actually swerved in mid-air to follow his movement and splorched neatly in the middle of his chest.
80 Crit +5
Health 15
The raider made a disgusted cry and folded up on himself, trying to smear the filth away. Red +1's of Damage over Time ticked up from his prostate body.
But another one was already heading for her, arm raised high.
"I guess you die too," she said, and cast the Rot at him.
But he was ready for the spell and dodged to one side, sweeping low out of the the path of the missle.
Ashley thought she'd just wasted one of her remaining three shots, but to her amazement the ball arced away from the raider then made a tight turn and splashed into the middle of his back when he was just a few feet from her.
I like this spell.
80
Health 20
She was trying to keep her face a mask of calm contempt, but it wasn't easy. That last one had nearly been on top of her.
The remaining three raiders were being more cautious. Two of them had retreated to the other side of their horses, keeping the animals between her and them.
"You will all die here," she said coldly. "Or you can choose to leave instead. It's your call."
As if to emphasize her point, the second raider's last +1 ticked off in red, and he died with a groan. The third one wasn't likley to be far behind him.
"It's a monster," one of the raiders shouted to the others. "We can't fight this. Let's just go."
The biggest of the three snorted.
"Coward," he said. "Armind, let fly!"
Something snicked through the air past Ashley's face, and when she looked she realized that one of them had a bow pointed at her. He was fast. The next arrow was already notched and he was drawing it back for his shot.
And just like that the big raider was on top of her. Instead of slashing her he tackled her full on, knocking the wind of out her.
The two of them crashed to the ground and she was pinned underneath him, her face grinding into the mud. His knee was in the small of her back and he jerked one of her arms back. A icepick bolt of pain shot up her arm and she screamed.
-10
Health 90
Realistic somatics, got to give it that.
Her mouth was full of dirt and blood.
He didn't have his sword out. He had his dagger. She knew instantly that he was going to slice her throat wide open.
She had one hand... well not exactly free but she could wiggle it. She prayed that Rebus would see.
She extended her fingers into a full Spock, and waggled it up into the air with her wrist.
The knife was against her neck. It was biting into her.
Red numbers started ticking through her field of view, dropping down already.
-5
Health 85
Damn.
Then a screeching howl thundered through the night. It sounded like something from the pit of Hell searching for food. Seeing food, and coming for it. Right now.
Ashley's bowels nearly turned to water, even though she was expecting it.
The raider's grip on his knife slackened and he instinctively pulled away from her while he looked for the hellbeast that was almost on top of him.
She knew it was her only chance. She jerked her torso to one side, gaining just enough range of motion to pull her arm up out of the mud and jam it right into the raider's filthy face.
"Rot!" she screamed and his whole head was enveloped in gray-black goo.
80 Crit +5
Heatlh 15
"Rot!" she yelled again.
80
Health 0
The man dropped dead on top of her. She howled in disgust and pushed the bulk of him away from her and leaped to her feet. She could tell she was bleeding. There was a warm stream of blood running down her chest, which could only be starting from the ragged pain of her gashed neck.
Another arrow snicked out of the night and buried itself in her upper right arm.
-20
Health 65
But something had snapped inside of her and she barely felt the pain. Instead she smiled - she smiled like a maniac, inviting them to try to kill her.
"More," she said, advancing on the two remaining raiders. Their faces were masks of pure terror.
The one with the arrows dropped his bow in the mud and leapt onto his horse, not even looking to see if his friend was with him.
The last raider took a look around at his dead companions and then at the bloody, smiling figure advancing on him with her one good arm raised ready to cast another spell.
He didn't even take the time to mount his horse. He simply broke and ran, pumping down the dirt road after the mounted one.
Ashley stood in the middle of the churned up mud for a few moments, staring at the crumpled figures of the village chief and his wife. The woman was bleeding too, but staring up at Ashley with an expression of deep fear.
She noticed Rebus strolling into view beside one of the other huts.
"Good cat," she said. She could hear that her words were slurred.
"Well done I guess," he said. "But that was pretty close, and you're hurt."
"Couldn't be helped," she mumbled. She was definitely feeling dizzy.
Her health was down to 45% and dropping.