Chapter 113: Poachers
Lina woke in the morning to the sound of birds singing in the nearby trees surrounding their campsite. For a moment, she’d forgotten where she was, how she got there, and why she was sleeping outdoors. She’d stayed up so late talking with Aegis after the long day of adventuring that she’d slept through the night like a rock.
Her head was resting on something soft, yet firm, and as she came to realize what it was, she nervously lifted her head up. She’d somehow, while sleeping, rolled closer to Aegis’ body and had her head resting on his chest. She looked up to see his head tilted to the side, still fast asleep with one of the bedrolls rolled up and being used as a pillow by him. Rather than stand up, she decided to just keep her head resting on his chest, listening to his heart beating and feeling him breathe in and out. She knew it wasn’t his real heart, or even his real breathing, but it was still Aegis.
Her mind began to race, and her heart fluttered excitedly the more she’d settled into the reality that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, they’d kissed, and she could lay on him like this peacefully without needing to feel scared. It was easier to enjoy the circumstances while he was asleep, she didn’t need to worry about anything. She remained laying like this for a while, occasionally peeking her eyes open to catch a glimpse of Melon moving around, cleaning out all of the grass around their campsite happily.
As the sun finished rising up over the treeline and the new day began, the smell of morning dew filled her nose. She wished more than anything that the moment wouldn’t end, but it did. Rakkan’s character suddenly formed in front of Aegis and Lina, exactly where he’d logged out the previous day. He looked around confused, then spotted Lina and Aegis laying on the ground as Lina shot upright awkwardly beside the sleeping Aegis, looking at him embarrassed.
“Oh… sorry.” Rakkan said shyly as he looked away, pretending as though he hadn’t seen anything “So, you guys are like, together now?” Rakkan asked.
“Mhm…” she said, but a bit too quietly for Rakkan to hear, so she tried a second time. “Yes.”
“Ok. Well, I guess I’ll just practice my rune over here a bit, while we wait for everyone.” Rakkan said as he started walking away from the campsite.
“It’s ok, I… I have to log out for a bit anyway. Tell Aegis I’ll be back later.” She said quietly, as not to wake him, then logged out of the game. As Selena climbed out of her Simbox she saw that it was breakfast time and her mom and dad were already sitting at the table in their basement ‘gaming dungeon’, in the middle of all three of the family’s Simboxes. The television on the wall near the dining table was showing Yumily’s livestream as she was rehearsing a song aboard her airship.
“Oh, hey sweetie. We made some breakfast for you.” Her mom said, while her dad just stared intently at his plate of pancakes like it was the most interesting plate of food he’d ever seen, avoiding eye contact with Selena. Selena noticed the odd behaviour and stared awkwardly at the screen for a moment, trying to think of something to say. She got the feeling that until recently, something else was on the television, and they most likely saw her and Aegis the previous night.
“Okay, I’m going to the bathroom first.” Selena nodded, walking out of the room to escape the awkward atmosphere.
Selena used her time in the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. First, she smiled at herself, revealing the bracers on her teeth which she disliked, and quickly stopped. Then she turned her attention to her body. She lifted up her shirt to see her stomach in the mirror and grabbed an extra flab of fat that hung off, shaking it. She then did the same thing to her arms, grabbing the loose fat as if measuring it. She repeated this for several parts of her body, ultimately being disgusted with herself, and she let out a loud sigh of frustration.
After a few more moments of repeating this process, she marched back out to her parents at the dining table with determination.
“Mom, I want to lose weight.” She said confidently.
“Really sweetie?” Her mom asked.
“Why? You look beautiful the way you are.” Her dad replied.
“No I don’t.” She huffed back at him.
“Of course you do. Even that young man Aegis said so.” He motioned to the television, but this got him a nasty glare from both Selena and her mom. Selena decided to ignore her dad for now.
“How can I lose all my weight, really fast. Like right now.” She said irrationally.
“Sweetie, you can’t lose weight all at once, it takes time.”
“But what’s the fastest way?” She demanded to know.
“Why are you in such a rush?” Her dad asked.
“I want to be confident. You know, like Yumily!" She motioned to the television. "I want to be pretty like her too, but in the real world.” Selena replied.
“We-” He started answering, but Selena’s mom kicked his leg under the table lightly and made him stop.
“Are you doing this for yourself, or for the boy?” Selena’s mom asked her with an inquisitive stare.
“For myself.” Selena replied instantly. Her mother paused to think on her response for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Okay. I could lose a few pounds as well. How about I start us on a diet together, okay? But no reckless diets.” Selena’s mom replied to her with a smile.
“Okay.” Selena nodded back with enthusiasm.
“That means no more pancakes for breakfast, they’re loaded with sugar and carbs.” Her mom said as she stopped eating her plate of pancakes and dumped it in the trash. “And it would be so nice if your father was supportive and joined in on the diet too, don’t you think?” Selena’s mom said, and both of them stared at her dad as he looked between the two girls, then looked longingly at his plate of pancakes.
“Ok, but, just let me finish these, and then I’ll start.” He said as he stuck his fork into the pancakes and got judgemental stares from the two ladies as they watched the pancakes get closer and closer to his mouth. He felt so uncomfortable that he stopped before he got it inside his mouth and sighed. “Fine, no more pancakes.” He relented, dumping his pancakes in the garbage as well.
“Alright, it’s diet time for the whole family. Let’s get healthy together!” Selena’s mom cheered.
“As fast as possible!” Selena joined in.
“Yay.” Her dad said unenthusiastically.
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One in-game week later…
“I’m just saying, it’s gotta be a record or something.” Darkshot said as he sat off the side of the clearing in front of the lynx den. Rakkan sat cross legged beside Darkshot with his echo copy sitting in front of himself. He was practicing controlling his rune:echo copy by playing rock paper scissors with it while Darkshot watched. Pyri was leaning up against a nearby tree reading a spellbook with the title ‘Flying Without Wings’. Lina was standing away from the group, closer to Aegis, while he had his shield up and was blocking attacks from 5 lynx beasts simultaneously. He had to use guard a few times to stop himself from getting hit, and he had the Aura of Beauty buff as well as a lynx steak buff active which helped maintain his stamina.
“This is a lot faster than how I leveled my sage.” Rakkan nodded in agreement with Darkshot.
“We’re lucky, on other islands a spot like this would be really heavily contested by other players.” Lina said.
“That’s why Kalmoore’s the best. I told you when I picked the island, right? Remember Aegis?” Darkshot called out to him, but it was clear Aegis was barely listening, too focused on blocking the 5 enemies’ attacks.
“Huh? Yeah, sure.” Aegis said between heavy breathing. His shield mastery, in fact all of his skills had risen greatly over the past week. The group was now all at level 50, save for Lina who sat at level 52. “Ok, that’s enough.” Aegis said as his stamina dipped close to 0. Hearing this, Lina quickly dashed around the 5 lynx monsters and finished them all off. “I think that’s it for these things, they’re not giving much experience anymore.” Aegis said as he put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
“Really? But, they’re just starting to get easier! We killed that last group in less than a minute.” Darkshot replied.
“Exactly, too easy means bad experience.” Aegis replied, to which Darkshot sighed.
“Already rounded up this batch.” Rakkan said as he motioned to a big pile of lynx bodies ready to be harvested.
“How much leather do you have now?” Pyri asked as she closed her book and looked between Aegis and the pile.
“Enough to clothe everyone in Rene.” Aegis said with a grin, but he didn’t walk towards the bodies, rather towards the den. “Since we’re leaving, wanna check inside?” Aegis asked the others.
“Hell yeah, bet there’s treasure in there.” Darkshot hopped to his feet and walked towards Aegis eagerly.
“Let's go.” Rakkan nodded, joining in along with the others. The five walked forward under the roots that hung down from the tree above the cavern entrance. The ceiling hung low, forcing them to crouch slightly as they wandered inside.
After a short, narrow tunnel of jagged gray stone walls, the den opened up into a large circular cavern with an uneven floor that went up in some spots and down in others. It was pretty big, and dark, but Pyri created her cinderbolt and turned it into a large red ring to illuminate the interior.
It was easy to see where different groups of lynx would’ve spawned or respawned inside the den, but there weren’t any extra siderooms or boss chambers. There were, however, several large piles of bones made up of various creatures that the lynxes had hunted. Aegis wasn’t sure if these NPC lynx’s actually hunted the beasts and ate them, or if the bones were just there to decorate the environment and add to the immersion. While pondering this, he spotted a shimmer coming from one of the walls of the den, reflecting the light of the cinderbolt ring.
“Ah, jackpot!” Aegis pointed it out and rushed over.
“What is it?” Darkshot asked excitedly, moving to stand beside him, but he lost all interest when he saw Aegis pull out his pickaxe. “Oh.” He groaned.
“Iron! For repairs!” Aegis cheered excitedly as the sound of his pickaxe hitting the iron echoed off the walls around them. After he’d finished mining it, the group gave up on finding treasure and headed back out.
“That was anticlimactic. I was hoping for at least a treasure chest.” Darkshot said as they stepped back out under the sun.
“Dens like that aren’t really real dungeons, so they usually don’t have any special loot.” Lina explained to him sympathetically.
“Bet the poachers have treasure though.” Rakkan suggested as Aegis got to work on harvesting the last batch of lynxes. Once he’d finished, he took a look at his character sheet to check on the state of all of his skills that they’d spent the last few days training up.
Name: Aegis
Title: Lord of Rene [Land Rank: 3 (Village)]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Marriage Partner: Lina [+25% Experience While Grouped]
Level: 50
Class: Shattered Healer
Health: 14,907/14,907
Mana: 3606/3606
Stamina: 571/571
Hunger: 100/100
Armor Rating: 2605 [28.98% DMG Reduction]
Strength: 62
Agility: 33
Constitution: 102
Intelligence: 11
Spirit: 200
Charisma: 13
Favor:
Eirene: 29,270
Aphrodite: 4,260
Odin: 2,500
Equipment
Chest: Direwolf Leather Armor [534 AC][ENCH: +15HP/5s]
Legs: Direwolf Leather Pants [381 AC][ENCH: +15HP/5s]
Feet: Direwolf Leather Boots [172 AC][ENCH: +15HP/5s]
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Hands: Direwolf Leather Gloves [184 AC][ENCH: +15HP/5s]
Back: Vestments of Eirene [1 AC] [O1: +25MP/m]
Accessory[2/3]: Simple Ring, Aegis' Bane[ENCH: MindShell]
Mainhand: Iron Shortsword [51-59DMG][ENCH: +16-20HLYDMG]
Offhand: Enchanted Iron Shield of Eirene [1160 AC][O1: +250FVR(Eirene)][O2: -5% ABY][ENCH: +15HP/5s]
Class Skills [Shattered Healer]
Heal(Intermediate): Level 53 [+3300HP, 310mp]
Smite(Intermediate): Level 1
Cleanse(Intermediate): Level 1
Bless(Intermediate): Level 54 [15m, +56-58 dmg, 169mp]
Healing Wind(Intermediate): Level 55 [+403hp/3s, 39s, 165mp]
Aura of Light(Intermediate): Level 1 [1mp/3s, 1m]
Avatar of Eirene(Intermediate): Level 25 [4m35s, +29.2%AC, 29.2%HE, +14.6%Aura]
Path of the Stars: Passive [Eirene]: Passive [2/3]
->[1/3]Aura of Beauty(Intermediate): Level 38 [4.8st/5s, 21mp/5s, 2.85m]
->[2/3]Challenging Roar(Intermediate): Level 35 [7,290threat, 216mp, 11.8m]
Gentle Touch: Passive [Eirene]
Light of Eirene: Passive [Eirene]
Basic Skills
Shield Mastery(Intermediate): Level 60 [+27.5%]
Abilities: Brace, Shieldwall, Bash[593-596dmg]
Sword Mastery(Beginner): Level 2
Abilities: Parry
Unarmed Combat(Beginner): Level 6
Leather Armor Proficiency(Intermediate): Level 58 [+37%AC, +6MS]
Shadow Resistance: Level 10 [10% DMG Reduction]
Fire Resistance: Level 30 [30% DMG Reduction]
Nature Resistance: Level 1 [1% DMG Reduction]
Riding(Intermediate): Level 45
Land Vehicle Mastery(Intermediate): Level 30
Leadership(Intermediate): Level 45
Taming(Intermediate): Level 31
Crafting Skills
Mining (Intermediate): Level 31
Proficiencies: [Copper][Iron]
Woodcutting(Intermediate): Level 30
Proficiencies: [Pine][Birch]
Herbalism(Intermediate): Level 35
Creature Harvesting(Intermediate): Level 68
Weaving(Intermediate): Level 30
Sewing(Intermediate): Level 30
Refining(Intermediate): Level 33
Blacksmithing(Intermediate): Level 30
Woodworking(Intermediate): Level 40
Alchemy(Intermediate): Level 30
Tanning(Intermediate): Level 30
Leatherworking(Intermediate): Level 30
Artistry(Intermediate): Level 30
Architecture(Intermediate): Level 41
Scribing(Intermediate): Level 30
Cooking(Intermediate): Level 30
Enchanting(Intermediate): Level 30
Abilities: Enchant Object
Stone Cutting(Intermediate): Level 43
Farming(Intermediate): Level 30
Crafting Mastery(Intermediate): Level 36
Once Aegis had put enough of his bonus stat points into spirit and reached 200, he’d realized he wasn’t having issues with mana as much as he was keeping his stamina up while blocking so many hits at once, using his guard skill, and dealing damage with shield bash. He’d quickly begun to understand why the roles of damage, healing, and tank were usually split up between three players - the resource costs to try and perform all three by himself were very high.
Still, he wasn’t ready to give up on it, and continued to build out his character and find ways to optimize both his mana and stamina usage. With his food buffs and aura of beauty, as well as his now higher spirit and constitution, and the mana regeneration he got from his vestments, he was doing pretty well, he thought.
The next major optimization he wanted to make was to improve and upgrade all of their gear so he’d take less damage. He was eager to make a new and improved leather set using the lynx leather, and re-craft his iron shield using the new technique’s he’d learned from studying. All of that would have to wait until they got back to Rene, though. For now, he’d make do with what he had.
The others had improved a great deal as well. Pyri’s cinderbolts had gotten bigger and now dealt much more damage over a wider area when she flattened them out optimally. Darkshot’s multishot was now firing 6 arrows, up from 3, and his piercing shots were much bigger.
Lina was able to control her shadow dance much more efficiently, and Rakkan seemed to have a decent grasp on how to use his echo now, not wasting nearly as much time moving it around aimlessly. Occasionally Aegis even had trouble telling which one was the real Rakkan and which one was the copy.
“Lead the way to the poacher camp.” Aegis said once he’d finished harvesting the last lynx. He stood up and dusted his leather pants off around the knees.
“This way!” Darkshot marched forward into the forest, and the group left the lynx den behind them. The party of five traveled together southward through the old forest, climbing over giant gnarled roots that grew out of the ground forming natural arches or bridges. Aegis recognized most of the trees from his studying, and none of them stood out as being higher than tier 2 like birch, so he resisted the urge to chop them down. He’d also had to hold off on gathering herbs now, as his inventory and the inventory of his party members were getting dangerously full due to how much leather he’d gathered over the past week, despite having expanded their inventories as much as his intermediate crafting allowed.
Just as they’d begun feeling fully immersed in the wilderness, the mossy forest floor transitioned into a dirt and grass clearing, and beyond the treeline ahead of them they’d spotted a small encampment.
It was fortified by a palisade on all sides as far as they could tell, with a large gate made out of logs bound together by rope. There were several carts, crates and barrels stashed up against the wall on the outside near the gate, where two level 50 guards wearing leather armor and wielding crossbows stood watch. In addition to them, Aegis could see several more guards patrolling on top of the palisade walls. Through his architecture skill and his own knowledge, though, he could see that nothing was impressive about the construction of the walls, they didn’t look as though whoever built them put much thought into it, and he could spot a few weak points in the construction with just a quick look around it.
“There it is, the poacher camp. If you step out from under the cover of the forest, they’ll start shooting at you.” Darkshot said.
“Okay, that rules out the diplomatic approach.” Aegis nodded as he huddled in a circle with the others. “We know there’s going to be animals captive inside, but we don’t know how many, or how many poachers there are.” Aegis said, and the others nodded.
“Maybe I could sneak inside and let the animals out of the cages? That could make it easier to fight them.” Lina suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea, but the quest says the gryphons need to survive. If we let them out to help us fight, they might die in the process and we’ll fail the quest.” Aegis replied.
“So we charge in ourselves?” Rakkan suggested. Aegis looked to the others to see how they felt about the idea, then shrugged.
“Actually sounds kinda fun.” Aegis grinned. "Wait until I get off a challenging roar, then go to town on em.” He smirked, followed by quickly blessing buff on everyone’s weapons. They all did their last minute preparations, drawing their weapons out, casting their spells and preparing to attack. “Aura of Beauty.” Aegis whispered, exploding in a flash of white light before stepping out from under the treeline to where the guards could see him.
“Avatar of Eirene!” He shouted whilst breaking into a sprint towards the front gate of the encampment, causing him to release a second shockwave of light and making his eyes glow pure white. The moment he did this, the guards at the gate and on the wall began shooting crossbow bolts at him, and seconds later a bell began to ring from within the walls like an alarm.
Aegis lifted up his shield and heard the sound of metal arrowheads clinking off of the front of it as he blocked multiple shots.
You take 234 Piercing damage.
You take 225 Piercing damage.
You take 249 Piercing damage.
“Healing Wind!” Aegis shouted as he tapped his chest with his right hand, charging forward with his shield held forward. Once he’d gotten to the first guard by the gate he rammed his shield into him, mainly out of curiosity to see how Eirene would react. He was happy to see that in addition to dealing 600 damage, he didn’t lose any favor, and he’d knocked the guard backwards off his feet and stopped him from reloading his crossbow.
“CHALLENGING ROAR!” He shouted as loud as he could, and his voice reverberated throughout the sky around them, diminishing the sound of the alarm bell for the moment as it echoed outward. The moment he had, the gate of the camp began to open and a squad of poachers wielding spears charged out to meet him, whilst more poachers appeared on the walls with crossbows.
Before any more bolts could be shot at Aegis, though, a ball of smoke erupted atop the wall and engulfed them, and a second later Aegis could see that Lina had shadowstepped into her smokebomb on the wall and started attacking the crossbow wielding poachers.
Simultaneously, before the charging spear-wielding poachers reached Aegis, they were bombarded with arrows and cinderbolts that flew past Aegis over his shoulder, coming from Pyri and Darkshot as they stepped out of the tree line. And as Aegis turned to the other guard that had been standing in front of the gate, Aegis watched as two Rakkans used charge-strike to crash into the guard with their swords and spears, taking it out after a flurry of blows.
Rakkan and Aegis continued to push forward side-by-side from there, engaging the spear-poachers head on and passing through the gate. Anytime they were beginning to get overwhelmed, Pyri and Darkshot were able to break up their attacks with powerful ranged support. Simultaneously, they were firing arrows and cinderbolts up on the walls to help Lina take control of it.
It wasn’t long before Aegis and Rakkan had made their way a good few meters into the encampment to see the numerous tents and cabins set up within it, as well as many caged beasts lining the dirt paths between the structures.
There were significantly more poachers than they’d been anticipating, however, and Aegis knew when he saw them that they were in for a long battle. Rakkan and Lina were close enough to gain the benefits of his aura of beauty, but he wanted to make sure he didn’t need to worry about using any mana on them for healing.
“Challenging Roar!” He shouted a second time now that they were fully within the palisade walls of the camp. A few moments after, Lina, with the help of Pyri and Darkshot, took complete control of the walls near the gate they’d entered from, and both Darkshot and Pyri jumped atop them while Lina moved further across the walls to continue smoke bombing and attacking the crossbow wielding poachers along it.
With elevation, Pyri and Darkshot had an easier time supporting Aegis and Rakkan with their ranged attacks, and they were both able to get more reckless with their area damaging abilities. Darkshot began using carefully aimed rain of arrow attacks, causing dozens of arrows to pour down on the spear-wielding poachers as they gathered in formation towards the center of the camp, preparing to charge Aegis and the two Rakkans.
“Heal.” Aegis casted on himself, making sure to stay as healthy as possible.
“Aegis!” Lina shouted suddenly, causing him to look up at her on the walls some distance away. Once he saw her, he noticed her pointing towards the eastern end of the camp, and he followed her finger to see what she’d been pointing at.
A very large creature was stomping towards him and Rakkan, towering above the other poacher NPCs. [Beastmaster Mak’rog - Level 60] sat above his head. He didn’t look human, though he was humanoid in form. He was a gigantic beast of a creature with pale pink skin, covered in bulbous muscles and giant broad shoulders. He was wielding a long leather whip in his left hand, and a large barbed club in the other. His face was covered in scars like claw marks, with an eyepatch over one eye and no hair - his left ear was missing a chunk at the bottom.
“Kill them and feed them to the gryphons!” He roared at Aegis and his party angrily as he approached, revealing very few jagged yellow teeth within his mouth as he did.
“Clean up the small guys first, I’ll keep him busy.” Aegis shouted to his group.
“On it.” Rakkan nodded as he focused on clearing the spear-wielding poachers out from around Aegis whilst Mak’rog stomped towards him.
“Be careful, that is an ogre! They’re really strong!” Lina called out worriedly to Aegis as she saw Mak’rog closing in on him.
“Challenging Roar!” Aegis shouted one last time for good measure, then prepared his shield as Mak’rog lifted up his club and prepared to swing it down him.