Max stepped back from the gatehouse window as the killers emerged. They moved smoothly, swiftly, taking up an aggressive formation on the ridge path. Their skin was pale, dark lines over their faces gathering at the eyes. Their eyeballs black and staring at Max. He checked their stats to see what he was up against.
>
>
> Name: Deadtide Scouts
>
> Status: Hostile
>
> Attack: Slashing Longsword
>
> Threat level: Dangerous
>
>
Max stepped back towards his party as the Deadtide scouts fanned out, giving them each room to swing their swords. Max knew he was facing danger, as he had done on virtually every single day since he arrived here in Eveirea, but he felt confident with his friends on either side of him.
“You men of Castle Deadtide are far from home,” Elderon said.
Max looked into the eyes of these killers to see how they would respond to Elderon, a Mage respected everywhere he went. The Deadtide scouts snarled as one and launched their attack.
>
>
> Deadtide Scouts attack Max.
>
>
Max stepped back as the sword slashed through the air, the point missing his throat by an inch.
>
>
> Attack blocked; no damage done.
>
>
The scouts closed in on Max and his party fast. Jahrod brought up his axe and parried a blow from one of the scouts. Anita jabbed her spear at her attacker, holding him at bay, the stone tip glowing with the magical flame deep inside. Elderon hung back, his hands twirling in the air and quietly speaking his incantation.
A second attack came in on Max, a swinging sword cutting the air.
>
>
> Deadtide Scout attacks Max.
>
> Attack blocked; no damage done.
>
>
Max stepped back again and drew his Shortsword of True Striking. He was facing two of the Deadtide scouts, and their sword blows were coming thick and fast.
>
>
> Deadtide Scout attacks Max.
>
>
Max raised his shortsword and deflected the swinging longsword.
>
>
> Attack parried; no damage done.
>
>
Max staggered backwards from the strength of the blow. He raised his shortsword as a blow came in from the second attacker, a heavy downward stroke aimed at his head.
>
>
> Deadtide Scout attacks Max.
>
>
The sword glanced off Max’s shortsword and landed on his shoulder.
>
>
> Max takes heavy damage.
>
> Max badly injured.
>
>
Max lost his footing and fell to the ground. The pair of Deadtide scouts moved in. Max scurried backwards over the beaten earth track. Then Elderon finished casting his spell.
>
>
> Elderon casts Seize.
>
> Deadtide Scout seized and held.
>
>
Max looked up at the scout stopped in his tracks. His sword high above his head ready to bring it down with force. The air seemed to shimmer around him. His eyes darted this way and that, and frustration wracked his features. Then came the second scout, stepping past his frozen fellow, his sword held high. He brought his sword down as he moved in on Max.
>
>
> Deadtide Scout attacks Max.
>
>
Max rolled to the side as the sword came down on him. He got to his feet in one swift move and lunged at the scout with a stabbing motion.
>
>
> Max attacks Deadtide Scout.
>
> Deadtide Scout takes heavy damage.
>
> Deadtide Scout badly injured.
>
>
Max’s Shortsword of True Striking almost guaranteed a hit with every attack; only the highest armor rating could defend against the magically enhanced weapon. And in this case, it landed a heavy blow on the Deadtide scout. The scout gritted his teeth. Black bile bubbling out between his teeth. His eyes were dark and lifeless but staring at Max as he advanced. The scout held the sword in two hands before him, ready to defend against Max’s stabbing shortsword.
Max lunged forward.
>
>
> Max attacks Deadtide Scout.
>
> Attack parried; no damage done.
>
>
Max felt sure one good hit would defeat the scout. He made ready to lunge again, driven by frustration. But just as he drew his sword back to attack, the scout jabbed forward with the pommel of his sword.
>
>
> Deadtide Scout attacks Max.
>
>
The pommel caught Max square on the chin. The sound of metal on bone, the taste of blood in his mouth. Max staggered back.
>
>
> Max takes minor damage.
>
> Max critically injured.
>
>
The punch only took a small amount of Max’s Health, but it was enough to see him teetering on the edge of defeat. He held his shortsword up in defense, but he needed to attack. He couldn’t defeat his opponent with defense alone. He parried another heavy blow. The scout’s longsword carried through in a wide arc. At the end of its swing, he brought it back around again in another wide swing. Again, Max parried the heavy blow as the scout tried to beat Max’s defense with sheer weight of attack rather than any finesse.
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As the Deadtide scout’s blade swung past in another wild attack, Max stepped inside the arc and delivered a jabbing attack.
>
>
> Max attacks Deadtide Scout.
>
> Deadtide Scout takes moderate damage.
>
> Deadtide Scout has been defeated.
>
>
The scout dropped his sword and crumpled to the ground. Max looked to Jahrod and Anita. They were each locked in single combat with their opponents. Max could see Anita had taken minor damage, but Jahrod was unharmed. Max gasped as the scout delivered a heavy blow to Jahrod, but the sword bounced harmlessly off his thick armor.
“Here, take this,” Elderon said as he tossed Max a small bottle. Max recognized it as a Potion of Minor Healing. He drank it straight away and checked his Health stats.
A Potion of Minor Healing had restored some of his Health, but he had taken so much damage that his Health bar was not even half full. Max hoped he had a potion in his Satchel, but before he could check his inventory, Elderon’s Seize spell that was holding the Deadtide scout wore off.
The scout was instantly moving, resuming from the moment he’d been held. Max had only moments before the scout was on him. He had been forced back and away from the scout who’d been held, and Max had a crucial bit of space in which to act. Elderon was already casting when Max began to cast a spell.
Elderon cast a Magic Missile. The glowing orbs of magic power slammed into the scout. Then Max cast his own.
>
>
> Max casts Magic Missile.
>
> Deadtide Scout takes moderate damage.
>
>
It was a hit but not enough to even slow the scout. Max began to cast a second magic missile. The scout moved in and raised his sword. Elderon’s second magic missile slammed into the scout and delivered heavy damage. Then Max’s magic missile was cast too.
>
>
> Max casts Magic Missile.
>
> Deadtide Scout takes minor damage.
>
> Deadtide Scout has been defeated.
>
>
With both of Max’s attackers defeated, he could turn his attention to aiding his friends. Anita had taken another hit of moderate damage, but her Health was still high. Jahrod had taken only minor damage from a lucky blow. Both attackers were critically injured. Anita jabbed forward with her spear. She failed to deliver any physical damage to the scout, but the bonus fire damage from her spear of flame was enough to defeat the scout.
The final scout backed away from Jahrod as Anita threatened him on his right flank. The Deadtide scout knew the fight was over. He backed further away.
>
>
> Deadtide Scout overcome with fear.
>
> Deadtide Scout flees.
>
>
Max didn’t want this scout to report back to his army about the battle at the ridge path tollgate and possibly send reinforcements. He knew he had to stop him.
>
>
> Max casts Magic Missile.
>
> Deadtide Scout takes moderate damage.
>
> Deadtide Scout has been defeated.
>
> Max gains experience points.
>
> Max has leveled up.
>
>
“Hey, I gained a level,” Max said.
“How many Magic Missiles do you have left?” Elderon said.
“Two. I haven’t used them all yet.”
“Do you have any other attacking spells?” Elderon said.
“Fireball,” Max said quietly.
“Good job you didn’t cast that here, or we would have all have taken fire damage,” Elderon said.
Max nodded. He knew how his old mentor felt about him having access to the mighty Fireball spell. “I’ll be careful not to cause my party any damage,” he said.
“Do you want to level up now?” Elderon said.
Max went over to the nearest defeated Deadtide guard.
“I’ll just check their inventories first,” Max said.
The first Deadtide scout had nothing of interest. Their armor was not suitable for a Mage to wear, and it was far inferior to Jahrod’s armor, so the dwarf would have no interest in it either. The Deadtide scout’s sword was plain steel and not magically enhanced in any way. But the scout did have two gold. Max scooped up the coins.
The next scout had nine gold. Max added it to the rest. The final two scouts also had nine gold each, and one had a scroll of Know Item.
>
>
> Max gains Scroll of Know Item.
>
> Max gains 29 gold.
>
>
Max checked his inventory. He now had a total of 210 gold. That would buy a lot of meat pie and dwarven ale.
Anita stepped out of the guardhouse.
“I have blessed the fallen,” she said. “The ground will take them in time, and they will rejoin nature.”
“And one of them had a Potion of Minor Healing,” Jahrod said and tossed the small bottle to Max.
Max thanked the mighty dwarf and drank the potion. His Health was now restored to half. Anita walked over to him and laid her hands on him. She whispered softly, almost singing, and cast a healing spell. Max felt fully invigorated and fully healed.
Max thanked her for restoring his Health, but it was her touch, her hands on his body, that was as reviving as any of her spells.
“Make your level now, young Mage,” Elderon said. “And then we will make our way with all speed back to Ralynn City to report on the approaching army.”
Max sat down and looked at the grass just off the side of the ridge path. He let the long blades of grass form a table of his stats. The grass twisted and turned on the wind and quickly formed Max’s stats table. The information on the table was blurred and indistinct, the words “level up” floated over the top. Max focused on the words and they moved towards him and washed over him.
As the words “level up” dissipated, the table was now obscured by many floating words. The largest of these was Mage. Max knew he should select this to gain another Mage level. Behind the word Mage, not quite so big but big enough for him to select, were the words Thief and Bard. If he chose these, he knew he would gain new skills and abilities, but it would limit his Mage abilities. He had already earned several levels, and he was learning that progress as a Mage was slow, but he’d seen what higher-level spells would one day become available to him if he kept his focus and developed as a Mage.
Some words were only just about readable. He felt he could with some effort reach out to these and select them. He saw the word “Warrior” just about in reach. Could he select that and become a Warrior Mage? That sounded cool but somehow he knew the restrictions would slow down his ability to learn new spells.
He was not tempted at all by the Thief class. Back home, he had been a thief, forced to climb buildings, to gain entry and steal valuables, all for the benefit of his gangster boss. He was happy to leave that life far away.
Max reached out to the glowing word Mage. The word grew and wrapped around him, and he leveled up.
>
>
> Max gains Level 4.
>
> Health increased.
>
> New Level 2 spell slot available.
>
>
As he gained the new level, so his stats became available for him to view once again.
>
>
> Name: Max Lightfoot
>
> Class: Mage
>
> Level: 4
>
> Health: Full
>
> Strength: 9
>
> Stamina: 16
>
> Agility: 18
>
> Intelligence: 17
>
> Wisdom: 12
>
> Charisma: 16
>
>
>
> Abilities:
>
> • Climb
>
> • Pick pocket
>
> • Sneak
>
>
It no longer looked strange for him to see his name given as Max Lightfoot, a name Anita had given him. He had been Max Freeman back on Earth, and it had been a name that mocked him for so long because he’d been essentially a captive of the gang. Max Lightfoot was his Mage name. He liked it.
“I’ve got a new spell slot,” Max said, looking up at Elderon. “But I don’t have any slots for Level 4 spells.”
“Nor will you until you can control that level of magic. You will need to be at least a Level 7 Mage before you have the ability to cast a Level 4 spell.”
“But I’m Level 4 now. I should be able to have a Level 4 spell.”
“You have much to learn, young Mage. The level of the spell is distinct from the level of the Mage. Be content you now have the power to prepare an extra Level 2 spell. Use your spell slots wisely. You are still limited on the number of spells you can cast.”
Max pulled out his Mage Book and opened it to the selected spell page.
>
>
> Selected spells:
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Strength
>
> • Fireball
>
>
Three of the Magic Missiles were faded on the page, showing that they had been cast. He would need to rest before they would be active again. Strength and Fireball were still glowing brightly, showing they could be cast. And now there was a new slot for him to prepare and an extra Level 2 spell. He checked his collection of spells.
>
>
> Mage Book
>
>
>
> Level 1 Spells:
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Detect Enemies
>
> Level 2 Spells:
>
> • Strength
>
> Level 3 Spells:
>
> • Shield
>
> • Fireball
>
>
So far, he had only learned one Level 2 spell. He really needed to find more scrolls so he could copy them to his Mage Book, but spell scrolls were not easy to come by. He had a scroll of Know Item, but that was a Level 1 spell. There was no point wishing for spells he did not have. He selected a second Strength spell.
“All done?” Elderon said.
Max nodded, but he could not help feeling like he wanted to see more development for his new level. If Elderon was to be believed, it would come. In time, it would come.
“We rest briefly,” Elderon said. “We have walked far. Make no fire. Cold rations only.”
Max ate a tough dark bread and unrolled his Blanket of Comfort. He looked to invite Anita to join him, but she appeared to be in a trance, her Wilderness Lore ability active, allowing her to see through the eyes of a distant circling bird. She kept watch over the resting party.
Jahrod was nowhere to be seen, but he could most certainly be heard. He was curled in the long grass at the side of the path, snoring. Elderon sat and studied his Mage Book. Soon, they were on their way again. The party headed back along the ridge path, back towards Ralynn City in the Kingdom of Faregent.
As the night began to fall, Max spotted a white shimmering light out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Janet had appeared at his shoulder, her white glow even more intense thanks to the deep black outline around her.
“Max,” she said. She pointed a quivering finger back towards the Hinge, back the way they had come.
“Janet, what is it?”
“You have to go back. You have to go back to that army.”
“What?” Max laughed. “I’m not putting myself in the way of that army. We’re heading back to Ralynn City, back were we’ll be safe.”
Janet grew to full size in an instant. She stood before him and fixed him with a hard stare. Her words shook his bones.
“Nowhere is safe, Max. You must go back. Now.”