Violence often led to more violence. Something that was drilled into me with sharp screws again and again over time. Did the knowledge ever stop it from occurring? Sometimes, certainly. Knowing how to read a room was both useful when trying to ply trickery as it was gauging which people were likely to want to carve their name in your chest just to be heard. Infamy cast you as an empty whiteboard just dying for anyone with a marker to deface - and some of them were permanent.
I fought the urge to empty out my stomach as the bandit leader approached. Something about having half of my chest carved apart and then magically stitched back together hadn’t sat well with my organs, who had to bear witness to the act. I hadn't eaten enough as of late to generously share with the ground.
Where had he even been hiding? Perhaps the System-created could just appear where they needed to be - on some trigger? Like part of a rehearsed show, he crawled out of the woodwork once I sought to meddle with his treasure chest. Not as big of a threat to a Party of adventurers, but to a distracted and wounded-
I rolled to my side, further away from the camp as the axe bit into the soft dirt where I had been laying. Now wasn’t really the time for prodding about the inner workings of the how the System did things - unless I wanted to find out what happened when you died. It turned out I did not want that.
Against aching muscles, I managed to roll back onto my feet, some long forgotten muscle memory helping me with the amateur acrobatics. The bandit leader was fast, already winding up for a second swing. A card flared up in front of me, some pain from exerting myself preventing me from doing anything too fancy with it. I still had no idea what mana was or how it worked, but a finite resource that was harder to grasp the more power I used seemed about on the mark. Going too far seemed to cause me pain rather than refusing to function outright, but even that had a limit.
He tried to block the flung card with his axe shaft, but I turned it at the last moment and cut into his chest. Wrong position and not deep enough for a heart shot. In his brief moment of pain, I leaped over some fallen stools and tried to circle around a couple of tents to buy time.
The bandit kicked through the wooden items, sending their broken parts across the ground behind me, as he continued to advance.
I dropped a Hellhound card by the front of an open tent and moved to lure the leader closer to the center of the camp.
“Quit running and face me,” he growled.
“Are you capable of going off-script?” I asked as I backtracked closer to the inert campfire.
“Stop talking and die.” The bandit crouched and tensed his legs, looking like he was ready to leap forth toward me.
I wasn’t sure if that answered my question or not. It could have gone either way. Not that I thought myself capable of dissuading him from parting my head from my neck - but extending their union worked in my favor. A card span out in front of me.
He made his move, but just as he did - the Hellhound that had been waiting in silence jumped forward and bit him just above the ankle, causing him to falter and stop his intended sprint.
As he turned to strike at the latched-on canine, my card zipped through the air and struck him in the forearm. Not enough to stop his blow, but it rendered it inaccurate, and he sliced at the earth beside my summon. While he rose, another card slashed him on the side of the head. Blood ran down his face, but there was no fear or panic in his eyes - just anger. One of the few things that took me out of the encounter.
Calmly, I drew card after card - the bandit now stuck between the hound he was unable to shift and the constant barrage of gashes from my magic deck. As if he couldn’t decide who was more worthy to attack first, he now just paused in confusion, until he could no longer hold the axe. Weakened from my relentless assault, one final card to his neck and he was as good as dead.
I clutched at my pained chest as his body fell, more blood soaking my suit as my hands were doing the whole bleeding thing again. Mentally, I made the note to add absorbant gloves to my shopping list. For when I had some place to shop that didn’t mind my current appearance. I added getting a proper wash and change of clothing to my to-do list slightly higher than the gloves. Couldn’t be seen in public this way, I had an image to build.
My Hellhound came over and sat before me. “Good boy,” I said, “or girl. I haven’t really been checking. You may go now, you did great.” I gave the flaming canine some pats on the head and neck, and they faded away back to Hell.
With a slight spring in my step, and awkward gait due to my lethargy, I approached the bandit leader to loot him.
[75 Gold]
[Unidentified Axe]
[Rations Box (2)]
[Supply Box (3)]
[Bandit Key]
As nice as the gold and weapon were, the [Bandit Key] was the real winner here. My aching eyes went over the bloodied camp to see which bandit it would open up. Oh, no - it was more likely for the treasure chest. Something to draw me towards Quest completion. I turned and approached the chest, wondering if I should use a bandage first… after a brief pause I relented and used the two I had remaining. Greedy and reckless, maybe, but I also wanted to be as far from anything remotely death-adjacent.
After two progress bars, I felt a little sharper and less like I was about to collapse into core parts on the ground. With key in hand, I opened the locked box.
[80 Gold]
[Antidote]
[Power Token]
[Family Heirloom]
A wide grin spread across my face as relief took grip of my soul, the desire to locate the heirloom glazing over whatever else I found. Any joy was briefly halted, however, as soft footsteps came from my side. Purple energy flared up into a card as I stood and turned. The magic dissipated as soon as I clocked the shape of the figure with piercing blue eyes, and I gave a glum nod to Ren.
“Got the Quest item?”
“Yeah, I did.” I rubbed at my tattered suit where a sword had torn into my now mostly healed forearm.
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She looked tired and her usual glare was narrowed off to the ground. Maybe there was some guilt there for trying to feed her lamb to the wolves without intervening. If anything, I was more surprised and impressed she might have had regrets but still not intervened. Showed some strength of conviction, even if a little cold-hearted.
“You look like shit,” she said with an eventual sigh. “Let me heal you back up, at least.”
Still wasn’t giving me eye contact, which was a shame, but we’d get around to process things once we were back in the clear away from all these bodies. I hadn’t realized it, but I had my ‘show’ smile across my face since looting the box. The elf put her hand on my arm and a radiant pulse of energy filled me, soothing my aches and pains.
“Don’t get beaten up for a bit, you’re still not at-“ She stopped to turn to look behind me with wide eyes. “Move!”
I was shoved and hit the dirt, my head catching the side of the treasure chest. Sparks danced within my eyes as a flash of amber and yellow engulfed the elf. Radiant light flared from inside the vanishing fireball, leaving a scorched Ren grimacing and drawing her bow.
My head swam as my vision blurred and wobbled in the direction of the attack. Not bandits. Three figures stood just at the edge of the bounds. Shaved head in a robe - some kind of wizard. Dark gray metallic armor that reflected the sun, with a full plate helmet looked to be a knight. Third was a man in greens and browns holding a shortbow - an actual ranger, I presumed.
Even as I struggled to my feet with lopsided balance, I threw out a Hellhound and mentally had them set their sights on the ranger. The wizard was building another fireball as Ren fired off an arrow. With a quick step, the knight moved in front of it, batting it away with a plain iron shield.
“Kill the dog,” the wizard seethed, diverting the ranger away from attacking us. My card was already in motion though, and with the plated man in the way, I swerved the projectile wide and brought it down into the robed figure, striking him in the hand and severing fingers.
He dropped the spell, shocked as his missing digits fell to the ground. Whilst the System had been great at healing bodily damage, I had no idea if it was able to regrow missing appendages. He wouldn't have the chance to find out either.
Ren lit up her arrow with the flare of an ability - it didn’t look like the radiant glow of before. This one had a green hue that danced with golden waves. As it flew through the air, it lit a trail across the camp, like a firework or streamer. A simple enough attack for the knight to move in front of and block.
As the arrow struck his shield, it burst out in golden light. From the ground around the three, vines grew up and encircled their legs.
My Hellhound wasn’t able to dodge the return fire, and an arrow struck him in the front between his chest and foreleg. He tumbled to the ground with a yelp as my card spun through the air above him. I clenched my teeth. Too slow to try to intercept the arrow and save my pup.
Instead, I whipped it around at the ranger, going for the neck shot. Just as it went to strike him - he blurred, as if turning intangible briefly, and the purple rectangle went straight through him and struck the knight. A flare of energy, but it did no damage to his suit of armor.
We scattered to each side now as the ranger drew another arrow and the spellcaster began to charge something with his one good hand. I leaped over the chest and rolled between the two tents, unable to see how far Ren went. The first fireball had done quite some damage to her, but it looked as though she had healed through the worst of it. If she had mana that worked the same way mine did, there might be a limit to how much more support she could provide.
From my Inventory I withdrew the Healing Potion and popped the cork. I couldn't entirely rely on the elf, and that treasure chest had left a dent in my head that threatened light-headiness. Immediately I cupped at my mouth and avoided retching and drawing attention my way. It tasted horrible. Warm aniseed with the sharp bite of alcohol at the end. Perhaps I would have to rely on Ren if they tasted like that.
I placed the empty bottle away and cursed myself for letting them sneak up on us. There was no doubt these were three of the Players that Ren was trying to kill. That they had shown up right after I was done was a small blessing, rather than catching me in the-
The air changed as a super-heated ball of fire surged across the clearing toward the tent next to me. It turned out that my moving while being out of sight was paying dividends - especially if they themselves remained rooted in place. Their missed attack also did something else. It gave me a good idea of where the wizard was casting from.
I crouched at the back of this tent, smelling the burning fabrics and wood from beside me, hearing the crackle of consuming flame… but eyes always focused on where the fireball had originated from. A card bloomed up in front of me and I almost growled in focusing my energy onto it. Forward, through the tent and out the front - across the clearing that I couldn’t see. I told it to do nothing but go straight ahead.
Reward came with a yell - a pained cry to signal that my card had found a mark amongst them. Likely, my position was now compromised, but I wasn’t about to stand around and find out.
“Max!” Ren yelled.
I moved immediately, going around the tent with the card in motion already to see what was happening.
The enemy ranger was trying to shrug away the hound nipping at him, drawing a knife to better melee the wounded dog. Behind him, the wizard was pale, blood soaking through his clutched chest. Now several strides away, the knight had broken free of the entrapping vines and was approaching Ren. The elf laid back with an arrow through her thigh. Her bow appeared to be caught on part of the tent nearest to her.
It was time for the show-stopping finale. I ran on tired legs, anger forcing my shaking hand to create a stronger card - and it was off. A wide arc that circled from their views before zooming in, taking the distracted ranger through the neck and curving around to strike the mage in the actual heart this time.
The knight turned to me as I continued running towards him. Crimson energy flared up around his body as he readied himself. His helmet only had the slit visor, with the mouthpiece just dozens of holes. It wouldn’t look out of place with a feathered plume out of the top, and I briefly remembered using one as a prop.
“You cannot beat my defenses,” he crooned.
As a card spun up over my hand, a radiant flare of light flashed across towards him as Ren used her arrow skill. The knight raised his shield and deflected it, a flicker of crimson pooling from the armor as he did so.
I was about in melee range now, so I threw my projectile.
With a clang, he brought his shield up in front of his face and blocked it. “See?” He chuckled, “I told you…” as he lowered his shield he saw the [Tusk] falling to the ground.
Holding my card between bloodied fingers, I collided with the heavy man, jamming the glowing rectangle in one edge of his visor slot and swiping it to the other. He yelled and struck me with his sword. It was… unpleasant, but my closeness to him dampened some of the force of the blow.
Plus, my body was already aching with pain, my suit torn and soaked with blood. It was difficult to know what he did. I stumbled away as he swung wildly through the air, blinded by my attack.
“Do you need to question any of them?” I called, stepping to the side so as not to give my position away too obviously. The knight stumbled toward where I had spoken from.
“No.” A simple reply. Cold and business-like.
I rolled my neck and watched the flailing man. For my next trick, the vanishing blade. Once he had swung and left himself open, I stepped forward, pushing the nose edge of his helmet and stabbing the dagger up through the small gap into his throat. I received a bash from the shield, numbing my left arm as he staggered backwards. He slowly dropped to the ground, trying to clutch at the blood pouring from his neck.
My eyes closed for a second, and I wavered - enjoying the breeze as the heat of adrenaline started to wear off. I clucked my tongue and walked over to the Oathwarden as she pulled the arrow from her leg with a growl. She glared up at me.
I gave her a bow and a smile, extending my hand to help her up.
“And then there were five.”