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Ch 10: Stealth Archers = OP

Ch 10: Stealth Archers = OP

“What’s the problem?” Simon asked. “It’s just a bear.”

Larenia snorted. “Just a bear, he says.”

“Even the weakest adult bear has more Health than the three of us combined,” Hadvar said, running a hand over his face. “They’re strong, fast, tough and notoriously aggressive.”

“Well, it should be asleep. Could we sneak past it?” That was an option in the game but, as Simon spoke, the knowledge from his Sneak skill revealed that even he would struggle to go undetected, let alone Hadvar.

Annoyingly, while he knew that a bear was a Stage 9 to 18 creature empowered by purely Primal force, he only knew how that translated into sensory ability. Still, patchy knowledge was better than nothing. Hopefully, once he’d dealt with Alduin and Potema, he’d have time to flesh out his basic knowledge in the College of Winterhold’s library while waiting for the Eye of Magnus to show up.

Hadvar shook his head. “No. You might be able to but I would wake it up, even in a cave of this size.”

“There… might be a way to kill it,” Larenia said, looking conflicted.

“How?”

Larenia grimaced for a few seconds, then drew herself up to her full, diminutive height. “I have level 25 Archery, level 30 Sneak and a 370% Body bonus.”

A look of pure shock briefly covered Hadvar’s face, before he could suppress it.

“How much Damage is that?” the nord asked.

“About 3000 with a Journeyman bow and arrow. 1000 for any follow-up shots.”

Hadvar nodded slowly. “That… that could work. If it’s an elder though…”

“So long as the cave isn’t too cramped, I should have time for at least two arrows. Three if it’s this sort of size.” Larenia gestured around the cave they were standing in.

“I’m sorry, did you say 3000 Damage?” Simon cut in, incredulous. “Am I missing something?”

“Oh, right,” Hadvar glanced over at him and shook his head. “It’s mostly Sneak attack Damage. If you land an attack on an unaware target, the Damage is increased by your Sneak Skill Bonus. The rest is just from the combined Damage of a bow and arrow being the highest of any weapon.”

Simon opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Hadvar cut him off.

“You can ask about Damage formulas once we are out of this cave.”

“Not what I was going to ask, but I will definitely hold you to that,” Simon replied with a grin. “Let’s go watch Larenia kill a bear.”

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They set off into the next section of tunnel with Larenia in the lead.

It was strange to see someone else sneaking. Obviously, Larenia’s extra levels made her steps quieter and more confident than Simon’s, but there was something more, something he wouldn’t have noticed without his Skill knowledge.

There was a near imperceptible pressure to look away, to completely ignore the creeping elf who was quite clearly in front of him. It was, his Skill told him, the Mystic Force, or more specifically, the Sneak aspect of the Mystic Force, reacting to Larenia’s stealthy movements and intent.

He didn’t have much information on the three Forces, but he could at least infer that acting in accordance with the skills gave some form of supernatural benefit to the action taken.

While the Primal Force seemed fairly straightforward, in that it simply granted increased damage or damage protection, the Mystic Force was more, well… mystical. Sneak obviously made you harder to notice and Light Armour somehow made it easier to dodge in addition to boosting the effectiveness of light armour. Annoyingly, his knowledge was rather vague with the details.

Simon’s musings trailed off as the three of them emerged into a cave filled with a low, quiet rumbling. It was just a touch smaller than the previous one.

On the cavern’s far side was a small opening through which the tiniest amount of light reached. Meanwhile, to their right, curled up on a pile of bones, lay the source of the rumbling: a massive, snoring bear.

Larenia held up a hand and they stopped. A longbow appeared in her left hand with an arrow already nocked and held in her right. She drew back the bowstring and, for a brief moment, as they each held their breath, the only sounds in the cave were the snoring of the bear and the rustle of a distant breeze.

Then Larenia let the arrow fly.

There was a thunderous roar as the bear shot to its feet and jerked around to face its attacker. The arrow jutted out from the bear’s neck, having just barely sunk past the arrowhead.

In the instant that the bear turned, a second arrow appeared, nocked, on Larenia’s bow.

The second arrow flew across the cave before the furry wall of muscle had a chance to take a step. It hit right between the eyes, vanishing into the creature’s skull. There was a clatter as it pierced all the way through and hit the cave wall.

Larenia fired another three arrows as the bear took a slow, shuddering step forwards. It collapsed with a thud, blood steadily flowing from its wounds.

“Are you sure you needed that many arrows?” Simon asked. “Seems like overkill to me.”

“That’s because you’re an idiot.”

Hadvar rolled his eyes at them both. “With 3000 Health, the bear would have a regen of 0.5 Health per second. That’s enough to offset the blood loss and prevent the brain damage of the first shot from killing it. Against opponents with that kind of Health pool you need overwhelming force to guarantee a kill.”

“Huh…” Simon frowned. “So, is there a relationship between Damage values and the amount of actual physical damage dealt then? It should be the case if Health values equate to a certain amount of Healing.”

Hadvar glanced towards the faint light coming from the cavern’s exit and shrugged. “The general rule of thumb for bladed weapons is one centimetre of flesh per Damage or Health point. Ten for bone, five for chitin. Health regen prioritises the most vital damage first. Things are less clear cut for blunt force Damage, but 100 Damage will generally take down any Healthless man or mer.”

“Shouldn’t it be measured in volume per Damage rather than distance?”

“Every training group has some clever sod who asks that,” Hadvar said with a grin. “It’s just the way it is.”

“Actually,” Larenia cut in, “It’s measured in distance because, for so long as there is Damage to expend, the blade is infinitely thin.”

“Right…” said Simon, “so all that matters is the distance it takes for the Damage to run out.”

“You learn something new every day, I guess.” Hadvar scratched the back of his helmet. “Anyway, why don’t we go get some fresh air?”

Simon and Larenia both nodded and they set off towards the light.