Now that the whole decision making process was out of the way she proceeded to imagine all the cool things she would do as a Vampire.
But before too long she got a quest.
Bloodless
After having made the decision to follow Else into her village you have opened a quest to join the ranks of the Vampires. Follow the directions closely, don’t step out of line, do what you’re told! The path is narrow and dangerous. Better said: Follow danger and you’re on the path; Dangerous is the path. Don’t die! Betrayal is fastest way to a slow and painful default.
Goal: Make it to the Vampire village without dying or fleeing.
Penalty if failed: Default, slowly, and painfully.
Penalty if refused: Attacked by a Level 57 Vampire Scout.
You cannot decline this quest.
From there she had no choice to deviate from her choice. She tried to closely follow Else as she sped through the forest. It was pitch black, the sun had been down for hours, the stars hardly shone through the thick treetops. KillPrinsX had turned on Focus just to be able to see anything at all. Charlotte was behind, seeming to have no trouble keeping up.
Just a few minutes later a bear came out of nowhere, angry and charging like someone had touched her cubs. Else lashed out with both of her hands, stunning the bear in a heartbeat. It tumbled to ground and tried to get back up, sinking into another charge attack. But Else was quicker. She came in with an enchanted black dagger and stabbed it under the neck.
That was all it took to kill that bear.
“Feel free to help,” Else said casually. “There’s plenty of them out here. And they’re good XP, especially at your level. By the way, what is your level?”
KillPrinsX was surprised that she didn’t have Analyze. Either way, she answered. “Sixteen.”
“Not too bad. Just wait until you’re in the twenties. Then it really starts to grind.”
KillPrinsX analyzed her just to be sure she was who she said she was.
0ElseMatters - Level 57 - Vampire
It looks like she was telling the truth, at least most of it. The quest had already inferred she was at a very high level. Almost mythical just thinking that someone could get that far.
“So you’re a Mage?” Else asked as they continued their journey and crossed the river in near darkness.
“Actually I’m a Psychic. But I figured I needed to learn some more magic. I hardly have any good attacks.”
“I figured that, actually. How else would you be able to get the Bloodsucker spell? I had to make sure you’re not lying.”
Maybe she was…
“So you are Psychic?” KillPrinsX asked.
“No, but a lot of Vampires are. There’s other ways to joining our ranks, but Psychic seems to be one of the easiest, once someone gets that skill… and is in the forest. I’d never go out to the desert just for a recruit.”
“So how many ways can someone get to be a Vampire?”
“Not so many. Sacrificing, killing Werewolves, just to name a few. The other ways are really hard and long quests that involve a lot of hard to find items, skills, and whatnot.”
“So I’m one of the lucky few who just happened to get Bloodsucker while being in the forest, not too far away from—”
“Don’t move.” Else stopped dead in her tracks.
It caught KillPrinsX off guard. “What?” There wasn’t anything she could see.
“You might want to stay back.” Else started winding her hands around in an incantation.
She still couldn’t see anything.
“Don’t get too close. They move fast and unexpectedly.”
The only thing she could tell was that they had come across some danger.
She could hear the trees being pushed aside, almost as if… “Oh my god! A Troll!” It was 15 feet tall, grey, and super ugly. It’s eyelid’s drooped, cheeks drooped, and lips drooped, looking like a half melted action figure.
“You got that right,” Else said as she fired an orb of energy at the Troll and started another incantation. The orb split into three, moving at walking speed, growing larger and honing in on the Troll.
The Troll brandished a hefty log as a weapon and tried batting at the orbs coming it’s way. All that he succeeded in was getting stunned with a shuddering bang and falling on his ass.
That was her queue. She went in, simultaneously casting Bloodsucker and pulling out her bone dagger. She drained a good 100 HP from the Troll and got in a good stab with the dagger. But the Troll had moved! He swung out with the log and KillPrinsX went flying. 150 HP lost, bruised and stunned.
She had learned her lesson. But either way, she couldn’t move for a few seconds.
Luckily Else had already finished her second spell, summoning a ghostly sword of a translucent blue. She held her ground, staying back a good number of Troll steps and firing more missiles of miscellaneous magic at the beast.
Stolen novel; please report.
That kept him occupied.
Now she had a vengeance to pay.
KillPrinsX stood up, cast a buff or two and summoned a rock. She threw it fiercely at the savage Troll. But KillPrinsX didn’t wait to see if any damage was done. Another stone! Then a few more. Each with the accuracy of a professional MLB pitcher.
“You might want to stay out of this one,” Else said. “Unless you don’t mind doing something effective.”
Fine! She had enough of throwing rocks anyways, her shoulder was starting to get sore.
She had a good one, a spell that never failed her before. Analyze!
Edgart - Forest Troll - Level 18
Forest Trolls are much like any other Trolls found throughout the map. They’re ugly, really ugly, and have a huge stench like no other, making up for the size of their brains. Every part of their skin droops and one may have to look out for their skin flailing and slapping you in the face as they turn and swing.
Trolls have a high resistance to Earth, Life, and Dark attacks. While their regenerative properties keep them swinging even after that critical hit combo.
They suffer from a hysteric pyrophobia to the point that if they smell smoke, or see a campfire, run over to put it out, usually with a club, their feet, and sometimes jumping onto it belly first.
Trolls are also herbivores, getting their nutrients from berries and leaves, even munching on tree branches to keep them occupied, and fed. So, not to worry, they won’t eat you, even if they only rip off your head with their teeth.
By the time she had finished reading the description, Else already had it bleeding from he nose, one arm limp, and looking like it was the stupid drunk at a bar fight.
Besides that, she had learned that throwing rocks will not help.
How about another spell.
Fireball!
The orange ball sped through the air and hit the Troll on the arm. It did some good damage, causing the Troll to rage, it’s eyes opening as wide as they could, while still sagging, and the club catching on fire.
She cast another one, this one actually blasting and sending it back on its ass again.
KillPrinsX stepped a bit closer to get into range, now casting Bloodsucker and taking off another 300 HP, filling her own health back up.
Now her Mana was down…. But that didn’t stop her. She used MP Leech, trying to get some of it back, but it stopped at 57 MP recovered. The Troll mustn’t have had much more than that.
But the Troll had felt it; his Mana down, injured, on fire, all the while trying to get into a rage about his club being on fire.
She pulled out the daggers and duel wielded, looking ready to fight.
At the sound of unsheathing, Else looked back at KillPrinsX with an expression of, “What are you doing?”
She just shrugged and thought that it’d be best to stab the Troll.
“If you want to die, go ahead,” Else said.
But KillPrinsX actually had a plan. She summoned a drop of Neurotoxin for both of her daggers and ran forward, jumped, and landed on top of the floundering Troll. She came down with both daggers into the Troll’s rib cage just below it’s neck.
The Troll flailed for a second, and lay still, attempting to breathe one last breath, eyes rolling back in its head…
You have slain Forest Troll Level 18
There was a whole series of battle debriefs that she skimmed through, she looked for her own damage.
10 stones: -1 HP
Fireball: -128 HP
Fireball: -153 HP
Twin Bone Daggers: -26 HP
Neurotoxin: Paralyzation of the chest muscles rapidly spreading into the lungs, heart, and spinal chord.
Forest Troll ultimately killed instantly by Neurotoxin into the brain.
Else must have been reading the same thing and came over to look at her daggers. “What was that?”
“Neurotoxin.”
“I know that. But how?”
“I got it from eating an elk that my spider killed.”
“Well that makes sense,” Else said sarcastically. “How the hell did you get the Neurotoxin?”
She couldn’t really explain it. But she tried her best. “I… uh, got the poison… essence? And I can use it whenever I want. But I can’t recharge it unless I eat something my spider has killed.”
“I’ve never seen that before. You could have used that earlier.”
“Sorry,” KillPrinsX said, “I was in a rush, and didn’t really think. All I thought of after getting hit was throwing stones.”
“That,” Else replied, “does make sense. One tends to get stupid after a near knockout. We’ll have to work on your rebounds, you can’t do that in any fight. You have to stay sharp, think fast, and be able to use any skill after you get hit. You can’t just stay confused.”
“Yeah, but I had a debuff.”
“There’s ways around that. Debuff or not, you can still make the decision,” Else said as she tapped her head with a finger. “We’ll work you over at the village. Lots of training to do to make you stronger, faster, smarter… and not throw rocks at a Troll when you have Fireballs to use.”
“Good point,” KillPrinsX said, now following Else again, deeper into the forest. “Are there going to be more Trolls?”
“There are more Trolls, and worse. I would have escaped this one but I wasn’t so sure how fast you could run. You already seem to be having a hard time as it is just keeping up with me walking.”
“So we had no option but to fight once you had spotted it.”
“Most likely less. I also wanted to see you fight. I know you could have been killed, but with me around, it’s unlikely. Just, when I say to stay back, you stay back. Don’t do anything stupid like physically attack a frickin’ Troll three times your size. You’re lucky it wasn’t a critical hit.”
“I learned my lesson. Thanks.”
They continued for another hour walking through the forest. It was silent. Dead silent in this part of the woods. No birds chirped, despite it being night. All the sounds one expects to hear just weren’t there. It was spooky, not to mention the fact that everything was in grey scale as she used her Focus skill to be able to see.
“You don’t happen to have something that will help me see in the dark. I really can’t see a dammed thing.”
“You get it when you become a Vampire,” Else said. “For now, you just have to grind whatever skill you’re using to see in the dark.”
“Focus.”
“Yes. That too. You can’t do anything half hearted. Until you don’t have one. Then, everything you do is heartless.”
“I didn’t mean that. Focus is the skill I use to see.”
By then, another few hours of walking through the forest, Else, KillPrinsX, and Charlotte on their tail, the sun had started to peer through the horizon and brighten the sky.
Still no birds chirped, not one tiny mammal scurried up trees.
“We’re going to have to stay here for the night. I can’t see the sun,” Else informed KillPrinsX.
“So we just sleep under the trees?”
“You do, I sleep underground.” Else began to wave her hands in a flowing back and forth motion. The ground before her had suddenly raised in the shape of a coffin. She pushed on the top and the lid slid open. “Sorry, there’s only room for one,” she said as she slipped in.
Just stay under the trees, don’t venture off to far. If you sleep, sleep lightly. Listen for any sounds of predators.”
“And if I do hear one?”
“Run. But come back to this spot. If you have the guts kill a wolf, go ahead, but be careful as they’re usually in packs, and the leader can be quite fierce.”
KillPrinsX was nearly stunned at the thought. Being stuck out in the forest while her Vampire escort was sleeping. She’d be helpless!
Else had one more thing before she closed the lid. “And don’t go running away. You said you’d follow me to my village. Stick to your word. If you’re not here I’ll find you.”
She wasn’t thinking of it. But… Else is a Level 57 Vampire Scout. Probably nobody could run from her.
Else’s coffin sank into the ground, leaving only the trace of a recently buried body.
Night had been colored in with the rising sun. It would have been a beautiful morning, but still no birds chirped, no squirrels ran around playing hide and seek. There were bigger creatures than those, this side of the forest.
KillPrinsX thought that she might as well take a nap. It wouldn’t do any good getting to the village on a virtual jet lag.
She curled up underneath the branches of a tree, making sure Charlotte had accommodated herself as well.
She tried to sleep. But the sounds of the forest were so absent that the tiniest snap of a twig made her jump. She didn’t have the guts to actually look to see if any monsters were too close for comfort.
It wasn’t until she heard the sniffing sound of a canine next to her ear…