Chapter 3
The poison was sapping the strength from my body slowly but surely. The burning feeling spread to the rest of my leg as well as part of my stomach. It wasn’t actually decreasing my health at all which was scary when you thought about it. There wasn’t a duration on this poison, so it could just keep spreading pain and draining my strength until I couldn’t move or feel anything but pain. And this was a level 2 monster! Fuck! What the hell kind of monsters are in this game?
When we arrived at the town gates, Lupin called out to the guards, “We need to get this man to an alchemist quickly! He’s been poisoned!” The guards quickly snapped up from their lazing about and one of the guards called out, “Quickly follow me! Rema’s shop is nearby.” He waved to follow and began heading into the city.
Less than a minute later the guard had led us to a small shack that looked like some of the pieces were falling off. It had a sign hanging crooked over the doorway ‘Rema’s Remedies’, the ‘R’ in ‘Remedies’ was upside down hanging on by a thread. “Don’t let the outside fool you. Rema’s an excellent healer. Now hurry inside before he gets any worse.” He gave a slight bow and returned to his post at the gates.
The inside of the shop didn’t look much different than the outside. There were bookshelves with half of the shelves slanting to one side or another and various ingredients haphazardly lining the shelves. The room gave off an odor of dirt and decay. Unexpectedly, a cheery eyed elderly gnomish woman stood behind a counter in the middle of the shop. “Hello! And welcome to Rema’s Reme-” Her face quickly changed from that of a perky retail employee to that of a worried mother when she noticed the state I was in. “Oh dear, I’d say you’re in dire need of an antidote. What was it that poisoned him?” She looked to Lupin for the answer as I probably couldn’t talk even if I tried at this point. There was no strength left in my body.
“It was a group of Ravid Wolverines just inside the forest.” As he sat me down onto a chair in front of the counter.
“Ah, they aren’t the most dangerous monster to be poisoned by, but they’re still not harmless by any means.” She hurriedly began moving around the shop picking different herbs and ingredients off the shelves. “It’ll only take a minute to prepare the salve and then I’ll apply it right away.”
She returned back to the counter with her ingredients and began grinding them together. I was on the verge of fainting from the pain when she finally came with the finished salve and applied it to the cut on my leg. Instantly, I felt the burning fade and be replaced by a pleasant healing warmth, like sitting with the sun on your back and a breeze blowing across your face. “Now let that soak in while you sleep. You should be fine to walk in just a few minutes and you’ll be right as rain come morning.” She gave me a small smile before going to store the rest of the salve and clean her tools.
Lupin had a relieved look on his face as he took a seat next to me. “Phew, sure glad I didn’t have to watch a party member die on my first day. Thought you were a goner there for a minute.” He gave me a light pat on the back.
“Well, I’ve still gotta turn in this quest at the guild before I go to bed, but mind if I add you to my friends list? It was fun and I might need some more help on another quest.” I simply nodded in reply, and he made his way out, “Well, catch ya later then.”
After taking a second to add him to my friends list, I walked up to Rema, who was just finishing putting things away. “Thank you for all the help. That was certainly an unpleasant experience, but I was actually planning to come to your store, before I was poisoned. I was hoping to buy some poison to apply to my blades, and now I’m thinking I should get some antidote as well.”
She looked up with a devious smirk, “Of course, any self-respecting alchemist has poisons as well as antidotes. The common antidotes cost 10 copper each and the common spider poison costs 1 silver for 20 doses. How many would you like?” Checking my inventory, I had 22 copper pieces, which equaled a little more than 1 silver, 2 Large Rat fangs, 4 Iron Boar tusks, and a Ravid Wolverine venom sac.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“I’d like to buy one of the poison vials, and if you’re willing to purchase these items, I’d like an antidote as well.” as I placed both fangs, two of the tusks, and the venom sac on the counter. I want to save two of the tusks to hopefully get a dagger made by a blacksmith.
“Well, that’s quite the variety you have there. These boar tusks are great for defensive potions, and the venom sac, of course, produces a weakening poison you’re, no doubt, all too familiar with. Finally, these rat fangs can be used to enhance speed. Hmm...” Taking a moment to determine the value of the ingredients. “I can give you 1 silver for these, bringing the price of one poison and one antidote to 10 copper pieces.” She gave a wide smile while holding her hand out, waiting for money.
I dropped the coins into her hand, and her hand swiftly went under the counter and came right back up holding two potion vials. One a dark green, the other a soft pink. I hoped I was right in thinking green means poison, but just to make sure, “The green one is the poison right?”
She simply chuckled, “Of course, my young lad. After all, nature is the most ruthless killer.” That devious smirk coming back for just a moment before her wide grin returned. “Now go run along and have fun with your new toys.” I took my new potions, gave a slight bow, and left the store.
I did want to go test out my new poison, but there was only about an hour of daylight left and I still wasn’t completely recovered from the poison from earlier. So, I started heading to the town square, where I could visit the Adventurers’ Guild and grab a room at the Inn. Walking down the main road from the gate, I saw many other players seeming like they were coming back from a long day of adventure. There were many of the different species among the adventurers, but I didn’t see any other androids. Eh, I decided to ignore it for now, maybe androids just weren’t that appealing to many others.
Besides, this was a good time to decide on my new spell to learn. Magelight was out because it would easily give away my position. Shield was also out because my plan is to evade attacks not try to block them head on and if I have enough time to cast a spell, I'd hope I would phave enough time to dodge. That left me with the two ranged options Firebolt and Icebolt. Besides the initial damage, Firebolt does small additional damage over time, while Icebolt slows the target for a few seconds. Icebolt definitely fits my style more. I want to control the battlefield, slowing my enemies to a crawl while flashing by with the killing blow.
So my choice was made. Icebolt - 20 mp - Hurl an ice spike at the target. Reduces target speed by 15% for 5 sec. Increases by 1% per level and duration by 1 sec every 5 levels.
After selecting my new spell, I found myself in the town square. The Adventurers’ Guild towering above me. It might be only three stories, but each story was easily worth two. There were four pillars in front holding up the second floor balcony. Each pillar was covered in carvings of warriors and mages fighting giant beasts and great dragons. Adventurers traveled in and out, giving no doubt this was the place I was looking for. I walked inside, still taking in the intricate carvings.
The first floor was a grand hall with long tables on either side of the hall, about half of the seats taken up by groups of adventurers drinking. Leaving a wide aisle down the center to a counter with a man sitting reading a book and a bar with a young female bartender making drinks. On the left wall was a large board with multiple flyers pinned on it, most likely a request board. I’ll take a look at those before I leave, but first I’ve got to register.
I made my way down to the counter, clearing my throat before I spoke, “Excuse me, but I was hoping to register with the guild today and I think you might be the person to help.”
The scholarly dwarf set down his book and adjusted his glasses as his looked up to me. “Aye, just place ye hand over this here crystal.” He pulled out a fist sized glowing blue crystal from beneath the counter and set it down.
I placed my hand over the crystal and the glow brightened as a floating blue screen appeared over my hand. It showed my name, class levels, and my skills. He then grabbed a credit card piece of steel and waved it through the screen. The steel card glowed and my information showed up on the card along with a picture of my character.
“All right, all done. Now, just grab one of those request flyers and press the card on it and ye’ll be on ye first quest. When ye done, take the card to that there scanner and ye’ll get yer rewards.” He pointed over to the right wall where I saw a crowd of other adventurers turning in their own quests. “Yer limited to taking rank E quests fer now. But, as ye complete quests ye’ll rank up. Good luck! Now, off with ye. I’m getting to the good part.” picking up his book where he left off, I headed to the request board.
I saw various gathering and hunting quests, including a quest to hunt goblins that paid one silver per goblin ear. It also had a bonus reward if you killed the Goblin King. I pressed my new guild card onto the quest and that same blue glow began on the backside of the card. I quickly flipped it over and read Quest(s) 1 - Cull the Goblins (Rank E) - kill and bring back at least 5 goblin ears. One silver per ear returned. Bonus reward for bringing the Goblin King's head.
This quest will be a good chance to work on my fighting technique instead of just wildly swinging and stabbing with my dagger like I did today. But that'll have to wait for tomorrow. For now, I'll head to the Inn and get a good night's rest.