- 68 -
They tumbled over the ground, pecking and clawing as they rolled. Half the attacks glanced off his armor but the few that still got through cut deep. Drew dropped the arm in the fray and the small beast ended up on top of him.
It bit down on his shoulder, just between his breastpiece and mantle. Drew was overwhelmed by the pain.
HP: 28%
Debuff: Stunned. You lost more than half of your health in one hit. (0:05)
Debuff: Bleeding. (0/1)
“Alicia…” Drew said as he choked out blood.
She reared back to bite again but stopped.
“I’m sorry missshter Drew. This is how it hasssh to be. Grandmother is ssstrict and teaching me well.” She struggled to speak with her weasel snout full of needle like teeth.
Her little red eyes welled up with tears.
“I can help you.” Drew said.
She prepared to bite down again.
The long tip of a rapier protruded through her throat, covering Drew in her blood as she gasped.
Alicia whirled on her attacker and Marcus cowered back with his sword point between him and the beast.
Drew activated his healing spells and his health started ticking up.
She shot in for a bite of the elf but she pulled back just as quickly, not able to find an opening.
Debuff Removed: Bleeding. Exp 25.HP: 45%
Drew’s wounds closed up as his MP dropped, until he was able to stand.
My health is above 50%.
He let go of his healing spells and focused on Meditation to get his MP back above 50%.
Marcus cowered behind his sword, slashing and thrusting with the tip. The little monster could not reach him with her claws or teeth no matter how she tried to slither past his guard.
That poor girl, raised to be a monster.
Krag’s severed arm on the left, on the right was Marcus and Alicia locked in combat.
Maybe we can stun her, take her out of the fight?
Isabella let out a roar and broke free of Damien’s stone restraints, she slashed through a mercenary’s shield and gutted the next mercenary with her second attack.
Drew fired the last charge of his lightning wand into the elder beast and scooped up Krag’s arm.
I can heal Krag and hope this fight ends peacefully.
The Johns fired a volley of arrows into Isabella and her screech of pain distracted Alicia long enough for Marcus to strike.
Except Marcus took that chance to turn and run instead, but the smaller beast bound after him a second later.
Drew used his Mage Hand to club her with Krag’s forearm, preventing her from goring Marcus’s back.
She coiled up and sunk her claws into the arm on reflex, and Drew let her take it. She scrambled over the arm in the dirt, trying to get to him.
“I’m sorry.” Drew said as he used Mage Hand to stab his throwing knife into her neck. She was lithe and muscular under all the fur and his knife did not penetrate far.
He stabbed at her again before she threw the arm off and rounded on him.
Drew flew up out of her reach and the Johns released a volley of arrows into her.
Combat results: Snowy Skizzard level 34. 1100 exp.
This is so wrong! I should be able to save children like her!
Drew grabbed the arm and swooped around the outside of the wagons avoiding the fight. He came around to where Thrain and Krag crouched.
“Hold on you idiot.” Thrain shouted as he unstopped another health potion.
“Here! I’ve got the arm. Get it attached.” Drew said.
He activated his healing spells for Krag as Thrain washed the arm’s stump off with his canteen of water.
“Damn thing is filthy, what did you do roll around in the dirt with it?”
“Actually yeah. Then I used it to punch a Skizzard in the face. Now get it lined up properly while I work on his Disarmed debuff.”
“Ye weren’t kidding about the amazing healing spell were you?” Thrain asked as the Bleed debuff faded away.
Debuff Removed: Bleed. 25 exp.
“It works, just takes time and mana. But you got to line it up right first.” Drew said. “You got a spare a mana potion?”
“Anything if you can save my friend.” Thrain said
“Noooooo! You bastards!” The elder Skizzard shrieked.
She staggered towards the corpse of her granddaughter but couldn’t break free of the Bind Talisman’s grip.
“Damn you! Damn you vile city trash, invading my home! Bugger off to your slimy corrupt cities and just leave the desolate corners of the world alone.” She dropped to her belly gasping for breath and bleeding profusely.
The mercenaries had her surrounded and weren’t letting their guard down again. With their one brother gutted and another out of the fight admitting first aid, they were down to four fighting men. They cautiously took opportunities to stab her with their spears and then jump back before she could swipe at them.
“Krag, can you hold this?” Thrain asked as he handed the Orc his own arm to dig into a pouch at his hip for a mana potion.
Krag slammed it onto his stump with enough force that Drew felt it shake the ground.
Debuff Removed: Disarmed. Exp 175.
Drew downed the offered mana potion and his pool filled up to 100%.
“That’s one way to do it. Good to have you all in one piece my friend.” Thrain said and punched the Orc’s shoulder.
“Humph.” Krag smiled a massive grin.
“I need more bandages over here! Maggie is bleeding out!” A mercenary shouted.
“Alright, more folks to heal!” Drew said as he flew across the camp.
He landed poorly beside the fallen mercenary and kicked up some dust as he scrambled to stand.
“I can help. I have a healing ability.” Drew said.
“She’s bleeding too much. I got almost all her guts back inside but they are all scrambled and her wound won’t seal up. She wouldn’t stop bleeding.” Jeff said.
“Then she’s got bigger problems. Let’s get those guts back out. Bring me a clean tarp! Stat!”
Drew activated his two healing abilities and got a list of debuffs.
Debuff: Disemboweled: (1/4)
Debuff: Bleed: (2:00)
Debuff: Bleed: (2:00)
Debuff: Bleed: (2:00)
Debuff: Fractured Bone: (1/1)
Debuff: Fractured Bone: (1/1)
Debuff: Fractured Bone: (1/1)
Debuff: Unconscious.
Oh damn. That’s a lot of debuffs. I don’t know what the difference in timers or fractions is about but it’s got to be bad either way.
Probably good that she’s unconscious.
He activated Mage Hand and stuck the hand into her torso.
What happens if there's foreign objects inside still after I close her up? No way this makes any sense but let’s get going.
“Feels like her ribs are fractured. And her guts are just shoved back in helter skelter.” Drew said.
“Speak Common! I don’t know what any of that means.” Jeff said as he brought a clean canvas tarp out of the nearest cart. He laid it out next to Maggie and then dragged her onto it.
“How much of her guts fell out earlier?” Drew asked.
“Too much, a couple handfuls? Five?” Jeff said.
Debuff removed: Bleed. Exp 125.
“Okay, I’m going to pull some back out and you are going to wash them off. Then we put them back in better.” Drew said.
“Damn, okay. I’m ready.” Jeff said.
MP: 25%
“I’m going to need some mana potions and she’s going to need health potions. Do you have any on you?”
Jeff swore then shook his head.
“I ain’t made of gold, I can only afford bandages. I used them all on her already.”
“Damien! I need that bag of potions!” Drew shouted.
Damien was crouched down in the dirt carving an enchantment into the ground around the immobile Skizzard.
“Trunk! Bring Drew those bags!” Damien hollered.
His trunk came skittering out of the tent and made a beeline directly for Drew.
Drew used Mage Hand to pull out some of the woman’s guts.
Debuff: Disemboweled: (4/4)
Okay that was a few handfuls…seems like everything else is tightly packed in so I better leave the rest alone. There’s dirt and who knows what else in here.
The trunk opened and Drew grabbed the travel bag. Drew took out two mana potions and a health potion. Jeff’s eyes went wide as he saw into the bag.
Drew downed one mana potion and set the other aside for later. He took the health potion and dumped it directly into the woman’s open wound.
It works like magic right? Does it prevent disease and infection too?
Debuff removed: Fractured Bone x1. Exp 250.
Debuff removed: Bleed. Exp 125.
“Is it working?” Jeff said.
Jeff poured water from a second canteen onto the guts and once they were cleaner Drew started laying them back into her exposed torso.
Just like the switchbacks we came down the mountain yesterday. Just got to feed them in. They all fit before so they will fit in again right?
Debuff removed: Fractured Bone x1. Exp 250.
Debuff: Disemboweled: (1/4)
“Alright, nearly there Jeff.” Drew said as he tucked the last of her guts in and closed the flaps of her stomach with a claw.
I guess her missing tissue and muscles will grow back too. She will likely get an infection when I seal her up, but if it’s a debuff then I’ll fix that later. Here goes nothing.
Debuff: Disemboweled: Removed. Exp 350.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Drew downed the next mana potion as his MP hit 10%.
- 69 -
Isabela turned out be be a giant were-ferret-snake thing? Who knew? I guess she did growl an awful lot. But maybe it’s a curse? Like did she want her granddaughter to be one too?
Drew looked at his combat results again.
Combat results: Elder Snowy Skizzard level 94. 6100 exp.
The John's had wordlessly started to break down the monster's corpse and bury the remains. They did not add any of the parts to their food reserves, opting to bury them instead.
I’ve got enough to level up. But the storage ring is more of an issue right now. My speed run is slowing down to a crawl now that I’ve ranked up.
Drew spent the exp on his Gathering Ring and upgraded it once. The upgrade increased each of the 6 slots capacity by 1 each.
He quickly loaded three of the slots with mana potions and two slots with health potions, the last slot held throwing knives.
Now I’m a walking medical station.
“Captain I’m telling you the Skurr saved Ruth’s life.” Jeff said.
“I heard you Brother, that’s not the issue. Your fellow was mortally wounded because you couldn’t keep your shield up.”
The captain delivered two punches quickly into the other man. One at the knee, and the other at his neck.
“The shield wall only works when you protect the man to your right from knee to neck. Do you know now where that is Jeff?”
The man gasped on the ground from the neck strike. He managed to nod his head yes.
“Good, dismissed.”
The captain turned to where Drew sat nearby. He pretended to mind his own business while he cleaned his armor.
“Do you have a problem with how I disciplined Jeff?” The captain asked.
Drew shook his head no and the man stood silently at ease thinking.
“You are not a member of our brotherhood. I have taken no oaths from you. I have given you no oaths.” He paused to think.
“I will grant you the same reward for saving a brother’s life that I would offer any of my men.”
At this point I’ll take anything. Gold, or food, an iou to use later.
“Better armor or weapon or gear. It’s yours to choose.” He said.
Drew stared at the man.
Until today I thought they were invincible. I had not seen any of the mercenaries without their armor on. Now I have seen three of them. Jeff and Maggie are both battle scared and grisly but still human. The captain puts them both to shame. Every part of this guy’s face has been broken at one point.
“Speak up, you make me look like a mad fool talking to myself.”
“Sir, I’d like a knife. The only one I have is this throwing one and it has nearly failed to penetrate every foe I have fought.”
“We can get you a knife. But that hardly seems enough. You used three potions to save a life I am sworn to protect, that is a heavy burden.”
“A heavy knife then. And a skill book. What can you offer a hero like me?” Drew asked.
“That’s a fair trade hero. But we are not wealthy enough to travel with skill books. And they encourage lazyness." The Captain said.
"My men are incentivized to train all their skills above level 20 so they can teach them to their brothers as needed. Ask around amongst the brothers and when you find a skill you like let me know.” He donned his helmet.
“When Maggie wakes up, ask her for a knife. She is our quartermaster and a weapons expert.” He quickly marched away.
Damien waved from over by the wagon, his trunk was packed and loaded up, the wagons were getting ready to go.
Drew looked back down to the small stone marker Damien had erected for Alphonse.
The mercenaries buried him deep. They set his kit and tools on his grave.
Their burial ritual was simple. A minute of silence then they sang. It was a wordless harmony, started by one mercenary, and picked up by the next so that the note never faltered. Then new pairs chimed in with their own sounds. Some humming, some groaning, one pair took turns whispering “tah tah tah tah tah” without pause.
It was awful, chaotic, and mesmerizing.
“Ye saved the life of my friend, one I care about as much as my own.” Thrain and Krag stepped up beside Drew and they both stared a moment at the stone as well.
“You didn’t have to do it. I heard from that cowardly tink Marcus that you risked your life to regain Krag’s arm.” Thrain said.
“I’m doing the best I can, healing is something I want to be good at.” Drew said.
Krag nodded. He reached down and handed Drew a ring with a hooked fang icon on top.
New item: [Blacktooth Family Ring]. You have been given a favor by Krag Blacktooth. Your standing with the Blacktooth clan has increased to Friendly.
“You have both our thanks.” Thrain said. “If you need anything simply ask and if it is in my cart you can have it.” He laughed and the two of them went to get their cart ready.
Drew flew over to the wagon he shared with Damien and landed on the open door.
“Well Drew we’ve made some friends the hard way. How are you feeling?” Damien asked.
“You know, actually pretty bad. I fought and killed a little girl. She sat there across from us for a whole day. She laughed at my jokes. She loved reading that book right there! She was a real little girl.”
Damien sat patiently with his book open and listened.
“But guess what! She was also a monster, trained by her grandmother to be a deadly killer. Dragged along on some kind of vendetta to kill that cartographer? For what? Because he drew a map of her forest? That’s fucked up. Right?”
Damien closed his book and looked out the window.
“Skizzards are a strange story, a strange species. They don’t reproduce the way you would expect, they don’t give birth. They infect themselves into others and forcibly convert them to their race. I have never heard of one so young as Alicia being turned. Nor have I heard of a Skizzard quite so old or adept at appearing Ressian.”
“Could I have saved her? Is there a cure?”
“She was already a monster, there’s no changing that. Her family would have already mourned her as lost. Any government in the world would consider her dead already. Born again as a monster no matter if she still answered to her Ressian name.”
A John called back to the other wagons.
“Let’s move out!”
Drew hopped down into the wagon and took the spot opposite of Damien. He closed the book forgotten there by the dead little girl.
Lover in the Lost Woods... a Novel?
Alicia’s spot. Was she that much more of a monster than I am? Was Marcus’s life worth more than hers? If I had chosen her side could I have killed Marcus? Would I have gone to live with the Skizzards?
“Do Skizzards have cities?” Drew asked.
“No. They hate the noise of cities. Scholars theorize that they have heightened senses that are overwhelmed by urban sights and sounds and smells. One can sneak into a city to create more of their kind. But they always retreat back to their lairs.”
“But then there’s me, right? People are either calling me a demon or a shapeshifter or trying to sell me off for a handful of gold as a novelty.” Drew shouted.
“What do you mean Drew?” Damien asked.
“I haven’t had time to tell you the whole story. When I was gone those few days. It was because the guild master captured me and sold me to a merchant. The merchant took me out of Rottervale in a cage and I wasn’t able to do anything until some Pixens killed him and tried to kill me too.”
“Anyways, a lot happened, but nobody treated me like a person. Not until I met a family of farmers. They trusted me and helped me return to Rottervale.”
“Drew, this is a fantastic story, but it’s more than anyone would reasonably expect a Skurr to be able to do.”
“That’s the hardest part. I’m not a Skurr. Well I am now. I was a man before I died. But I couldn’t afford to come back as a person again.”
“You are godsent? Drew that’s fantastic, how much of the godly realms do you remember? There’s so much you could tell us!”
Damien opened up his book again and started scribbling across the pages.
Maybe I said too much.
“This explains everything! Your name for one, and increased intellect, why it would explain how you can learn skills for Ressians. Godsent, fascinating.”
“Is it so rare?” Drew asked, but Damien didn’t hear him.
”Tell me everything. Which gods did you meet? What were the hallowed halls like? Were they full of angels?”
“It was a while ago, but I didn’t meet any gods.”
”Their angels then, was there a holy choir of angels?”
“If there were angels I didn’t meet them. I met their employees. They called themselves representatives.”
What do I know? I have my blessings. And what’s his face the death faction guy was super rude… when was the last time I thought about the gods anyways? And wasn’t there a sprite? He hasn’t shown up in a while either. Holy shit I can’t remember much at all.
“My case worker was Agusta, she was an Elf, not an Angel. Atleast she didn’t have any wings. She seemed pretty good at her job. Got me my blessings by tricking this other Elf from the other faction.”
Damien was writing everything down quickly.
“They argued and had petty vendettas. They were flawed people like you or me or anyone.” Drew said with a shrug.
“Fascinating, truly astounding.”
“There was a wisp! That helped me select my starting city and race. They knew a lot of history about all the kingdoms and races. You two would get along actually.”
Damien made the sign of the moon and spat out the window.
“I hope a wisp never finds me. They are untrustworthy tricksters that steal babies.”
“They bring them back sometimes.” Drew said under his breath.
“Damien, I don’t know how but a lot of the things about the gods are fuzzy and hard to remember. I know that I got to choose to be Skurr, Ressians and Elves were better but I couldn’t afford it. Not enough juice to make lemonade, does that make sense to you? I got short changed on points because of the blessing I got in my interview.”
Damien stopped writing. “You have a blessing? Is it your healing ability? What’s it called?”
“It’s Basic Heal. But I have Healers Blessing which removes debuffs, like Bleed or our hangovers.
“Fantastic, so you are aligned with the God of Nature. You must have been a healer in your previous life.” Damien said to himself as he jotted down notes.
Still can’t tell him I’m from Earth. Having one blessing was enough to make him forget I used to be human. Being godsent apparently is overwhelming enough.
The wagon trundled along while Damien scribbled new notes down in his books. Drew had time to think about his whole situation.
Is this what Agusta had planned for me? Is she some all powerful Angel? Did she set me on this course? Am I destined to travel across a dangerous fantasy world where the plants and animals are dangerous? Even the people beside me could be monsters.
Damien really put himself into harms way to go with me across the kingdom, it’s the second day and three people were killed by the other party members. Even Damien was a dangerous killer in his younger years. Maybe that death elf guy was right.
Will I survive the trip? Will I be me when we reach Valoria? Or will I be hardened killer? And then where do I go?
Getting kicked out of the valley by the flock is basically a death sentence.
I really have gotten myself into a big mess.
- 70 -
“Alright everyone let’s get cleaned up and try to find a place to get this wheel fixed.” A John said.
By noon the next day, they had crossed a soggy patch of countryside between two low hills. By midmorning the ground was spotted with puddles. They turned out to conceal some kind of skeletal turtles. Three erupted from out of the muddy puddles damaging the wheels of the lead wagon and killing one of the garnts.
Damien and Drew jumped as their wagon rocked and jolted so extremely that Damien’s trunk fell off the back.
Drew jumped out the window without time to put on his armor. From above he could see two massive skeleton turtles trying to flip the front wagon over.
Whoa! Undead Turtles! Those look like they are strait out of a Necromancer’s wet dream.
The John driving their wagon pulled over to the side of the road where it was dry and tried to calm his Garnts.
“They are called Bone Snappers. Strong surprise attackers, they can wreck a wagon easily.”
Damien stepped out of the wagon and called his trunk back over and got it reattached to the wagon as he spoke.
“They aren’t actually made of bones, they collect them and wear them. They are related to lizards under all that bone.”
The mercenaries had been more than capable of handling the monsters, and they chipped the bones off of the turtles to harvest the soft meat inside.
Marcus’s garnt was drafted to help pull the damaged wagon and he was forced to ride with Seraphina. They made it another hour without issue when a John called for a stop.
“Hey John! My wheel is cricked. If you can come set it right I’ll make an early lunch.”
“Is it the front right one? I told you it was going to need more attention. I’ve got some strips of canvas and glue, let’s patch it up and get a move on.” The other John replied.
“Damien, let’s go pay a visit to our friends Thrain and Krag. He promised me one thing on his cart and I haven’t even taken a look.” Drew said.
Drew strapped on his armor.
Just to be safe.
“Oh certainly, I will grab my mana lens. I have been wanting to preview his enchantments. His cart seems to be very complex.” Damien said.
He grabbed a small kit from his bag and joined Drew beside the wagon.
As they passed the second wagon the door opened and Marcus rushed out. He had his heavy wrap cinched tightly over his shoulders. Cold air wafted out behind him and he rubbed his arms with his hands to shake off some ice.
“Oh!” He said with a start. “Hello Damien, Drew. Care for some company in your wagon after lunch? I’ve been given the cold shoulder.” He said.
It’s like a walk in freezer in there. No wonder he doesn't want to ride with her anymore.
“Certainly Marcus. We have more than enough space.” Damien said.
“Thank you,” he replied, “where are you two off to?”
“Heading over to Thrain’s cart to go shopping.” Drew replied.
“Oh, well I hope you find what you are looking for. I’ll move my bags and we can meet up after lunch?” Marcus asked.
“We should be back in time for lunch save us a seat.” Drew said.
The elf loosened up some and smiled before hurrying over to where a John was prepping lunch.
“Ho friends!” Thrain shouted as they approached. “Come to see my wares?”
Drew swooped over quicker than Damien could walk and circled the cart.
Krag had opened up the kitchenette portion again and was pouring an ale for Thrain.
“I may buy something, but I’d be more than content to simply see your enchantments working. I never did get the answer from you, regarding the schematics.” Damien replied as he stepped up to grab a seat.
“Drew, come down and look at this catalog, if you cant read then ask Krag to read it for you, he can use the practice.” Thrain said and tossed a small leather folio onto the table for Drew.
Drew was relieved to see the book was written in common, a neat record of every item on the cart.
There’s got to be over a hundred pages here. Some of these items have to be huge. A bathtub for two? How does it all fit in this cart?
Krag poured an ale for Damien who sipped at it before speaking.
“Thrain, why did you side with me when nobody else did this morning?” Damien asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well you don’t know me. I haven’t earned your trust, and yet you knew in an instant I wasn’t the one who killed Alphonse.” Damien said staring into his ale.
“We have not known eachother long, you and I. But I have known many men and I know when one is haunted by his past.” Thrain said looking away towards the forest.
Damien looked pensively into his ale before his eyes hardened.
There’s so many things here, what do I want to begin with anyways? I can’t carry much at all. Stat points and health are what I need most. I was taking too much damage.
“Krag, what do you have for raising my defense that is easy to carry? I can avoid hits, but when they do hit I lose a lot of health.” Drew said.
Some kind of armor? Maybe a light elven chainmail woven from high grade mythril?
Krag turned the pages of the leather folio to a section near the back where there were alchemical items.
“Here.” He grunted and pointed to a section on alchemical baths.
I’ve read about these in that Alchemy book. They come in powdered form, kinda like bath salts and are added to water.
New Quest: Learn Alchemy: The art of understanding and directing the mana of the world around you. It takes understanding and precise control. The Mage expects great things from you.
Yes Please! There are treatments to raise each of the earthly stats, and also ones to raise my defense against a specific element.
“This is amazing. Which stat would give me more survivability? Increasing my HP, or raising my constitution?”
Krag stabbed the page with one large finger. The writing was so fine that his finger indicated three different line items.
“How much would this treatment raise my defense if my CON is 18 and my HP is 35?” Drew asked.
Krag pulled a lever on the cart and a few sections shuffled around to reveal a shelf with several paper wrapped boxes in different colors.
“Oh ho, savvy choice Drew. A creature as light and fast as you needs help increasing your constitution.” Thrain said as he leaned over to pick up a red box from the shelf.
Damien was squinting through his Mana Lens jotting down notes on how the cart shifted.
Krag reached for a different box of a deeper shade of red placing it in front of Drew instead.
“Needs HP more.” Krag said and put the other box back on the shelf.
“It won’t matter how much HP he has if he keeps losing it due to low CON.” Thrain rebuffed, returnig the box to the table.
“Could I buy both?” Drew asked checking the price for the alchemy kits.
Wow that would be all my gold. Maybe I can haggle them down some.
“For two together it could run you 50 gold, but with the friends and family rate, and considering the favor we owe you it comes out to 30 gold.” Thrain said.
“Wow 30 gold, that’s a hefty investment. Maybe I’ll only need one for now and then I’ll come back and buy the other after I get more coin.”
Krag placed 5 gold coins down on the table beside the two boxes without saying a word.
“There you see we are a generous merchants.” Thrain said.
Damien placed down 5 gold coins of his own.
“Throw in a vessel made of mirror steel, and mana enriched water for the bath and you have got a deal.” Damien said.
“Done. Ye drive a hard bargain my friend. I could use ya help with the housewives in the next town we pass through! Hah ha!”
Thrain’s laugh was honest, rumbling deep in his chest.
The two men clasped hands to seal the deal and Drew hopped onto the table to drop 20 gold coins onto the table.
“Bella’s moon lad, you have been carrying such a heavy purse, it’s a miracle you can fly at all!” The merchant said.
Thrain laughed some more.
“Happy to share the burden of my wealth with you. Hope it’s not too much for you to carry.” Drew said.
Krag scooped the coins off the table into a red leather coin purse.
“Thats why I have Krag, he’s great with the heavy lifting.” Thrain laughed.
“Krag get our friends our finest wash basin, and two stone of that purified water from lake Lira’D Real.”
“Lunch is served all. Come and get it!” A John called out.
Krag carried the materials over to their wagon in the wash basin and then joined them for lunch.