‘What are you doing?’ Val asked.
We were camped out in the living room of Corminar’s Fenrock apartment, Val having claimed the armchair for herself, me having slept on blankets on the floor. As I blinked myself awake, apparently woken by the same noise as Val, I noticed a twinge in my back; I was too low a level to get away with sleeping in such discomfort.
Corminar didn’t look over at us, and carried on rifling through his cupboards. ‘Where is it?’ he muttered. ‘Where could it be?’
‘Hey, Cor? Some of us are trying to sleep, here, buddy.’
The elf continued wrenching open cupboard doors and drawers, throwing their contents to the floor.
‘Maybe if you told us what you were looking for?’ I suggested. ‘Then we could help you find it, and then we could go back to sleep?’
A nod from Val told me she was grateful for that last part.
‘A small…’ Corminar started, then trailed off, as though lost in thought.
Val and I turned to one another. ‘Something small,’ I said.
‘A… teaspoon?’ Val guessed.
‘A ring?’ I threw into the mix.
‘A list of all your good deeds?’
‘A rabbit’s foot?’
‘Your p—’ Val started, and was—fortunately, I suspected—cut off by Corminar.
The man stared into the latest of the now-open drawers. ‘Aha!’ he said, and then pulled from it a small brass object, which—on closer inspection—turned out to be a pocket mirror.
‘What… is that?’ I asked.
‘A mirror of truth,’ the elven ranger replied. ‘Ask it any question, and it will answer honestly, as per the limits of its knowledge. Invaluable, and—’
‘Oi, mirror,’ I called out. ‘What are the chances of us killing this Player and surviving to tell the tale?’
‘Much greater now that Corminar Cladenor joins with you,’ the mirror replied, using my voice.
‘That’s not really an answer, is it?’
‘It is,’ the mirror said.
I narrowed my eyes, then flicked my gaze from the mirror to the man holding it. ‘Are you sure this is a mirror of truth?’
The ranger sighed. ‘Who is the most handsome person in this room?’ he asked it.
‘You are, sir,’ the mirror responded.
Corminar held up his hand as if to say “well, there you are”. ‘Mirror of truth, as I say.’
I shook my head, turning back to Val, who only shrugged—this wasn’t something she cared enough about to interrogate. As I clearly wasn’t getting any backup on this one, I turned my attention instead to the last of the notifications I’d got last night, after defeating the Mala.
Worldbending increased to level 5!
Base Points gained — +2 INT, +2 Free Points (INT/WIS/CHA)
Ability selection unlocked
Select an ability from the list below:
Option 1: Skinsmith (Worldbending) — Toughen skin to act as natural armour. Strength of armour scales on [WIS]. Uses mana/second.
Option 2: Silence (Worldbending) — Create a bubble of five foot radius in which sound is eradicated. Uses mana/second.
Option 3: Local Portal II (Worldbending) — Upgrade to Local Portal. Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.
Reading through, I was a little disappointed to see that I’d met no hidden criteria; the three options presented to me all seemed to be part of the default skill tree. That said, the novelty of being able to wield magic abilities was still alive and well in my heart—and this was the very first time I’d been able to choose my next ability; the first had been given to me based on my part in the defeat of the Ascendent Cultist.
Upgrading the Local Portal ability was very tempting, as the addition of a radius in which I didn’t even need to see the destination had, surely, a good few use cases. On the other hand, the radius was only ten yards—it wouldn’t exactly get me very far.
The Skinsmith ability was tempting, too. I’d never—either in this life or the one before—spent the time investing in an armour skill, for one simple reason: you didn’t level up your armour class without getting hit. And I didn’t like getting hit. So if I had a skill which would replace that… yeah, I could see that coming in handy.
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And then there was Silence. What better a magic ability to complement my attempts to level back up my Stealth skill?
All three abilities, I noticed, required mana/second to operate them. Even though they didn’t specify quite how much was required, I figured there was no harm putting my two free points into Intelligence again—this base stat now being my highest of the six, by far.
But this still left me with the choice of ability, and for the first time in a long time, I was struggling to decide. All of these had potential, definitely, but the Local Portal was already tried and tested. And I might get another shot at picking the others as I levelled up Worldbending further—they might even jump straight to stage 2, if I levelled the skill high enough. With that in mind, and a heavy heart, I selected option 3.
Ability upgraded — Local Portal II
Local Portal II (Worldbending) — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.
‘I just got—’ I started, but Corminar interrupted me.
‘I believe I have everything of importance; let us begin our journey.’
‘Cor, we just woke up,’ Val said, pulling herself upright on the sofa, clearly realising that she wasn’t getting any sleep tonight. ‘And the sun isn’t even up. Why don’t we—’
‘The Thorn will be seeking revenge, Vignor. They know my place of business, and therefore it is only a matter of time before they locate my residence as well. It is best we depart with the dawn. Unless you know of any purveyors of exotic creatures from whom we might purchase a replacement—’
I sat up, staring the elf down. ‘We don’t mess around. Not with Malae. Not ever.’
Corminar met my gaze for a moment, but it was him who broke it off first. He waved me away. ‘Nevertheless, Malae or otherwise, I have failed to uphold my end of the contract with the Red Thorn; it is best I do not wait around for them to find me. Come—I will lead you to Lore, if indeed reforming the Player Slayers remains your objective.'
* * *
We scurried along the main road out of Fenrock as the first of the sun’s rays washed over us. Moving so quickly at this hour was suspicious, but there were few people up and about to be suspicious of us, so we reached the gate without drawing too much attention. We could only hope that the few who did see us would not remember our faces; the Red Thorn could be persuasive in their methods of extracting information.
As we passed through the gate, grateful that the guards only worked day shifts in this city, it being as safe as it was, Corminar came to a sudden halt. Val and I kept going for a while before realising that the elvish Slayer wasn’t following, and was instead staring at the city’s message board.
‘Catch sight of a mirror, buddy?’ Val asked.
The elf didn’t respond to this dig, instead continuing to stare at the message board with a smirk on his face. ‘It looks as though I am not the only one highly sought after,’ Corminar said, pulling a scrap of paper from the message board and holding it up to his torchlight.
‘What? What you got there, Cor?’ Val asked as her and I joined the elf at his side, reading the note over his shoulder.
The first thing that struck me was the crude depictions of two humans at the top of the page—the woman attractive, the man portrayed as having a boil on his noise and a hood not entirely unlike…
‘Oh, hey!’ Val said. ‘It’s us!’
WANTED: By order of the Baron of Umlok, the note read. Sorcerer Val Vignor and peasant boyfriend “Styk”.
‘Peasant?’ I cried.
‘Boyfriend?’ Val protested.
Wanted: dead or alive — for crimes of murder and jailbreak. Highly dangerous. Reward: 20 gold coins.
‘Twenty gold ain’t bad, though, is it?’ Val said.
I raised an eyebrow. ‘You don’t seem to worried about this.’
The sorcerer shrugged. ‘It’s not the first time I’ve been wanted.’
‘It was thirty gold at one point, was it not?’ Corminar asked.
‘Thirty gold and the promise of a general’s daughter’s hand in marriage. I’m surprised you didn’t hand me in.’
‘Me as well; perhaps the daughter was not as tempting as she might have been.’
‘Oh, she was—I think it would’ve been the prospect of General Kharniq as your father in law that would’ve put you off.’
Corminar nodded. ‘Ah. Yes.’
I glanced over the pair’s shoulders to see two guards of Fenrock gently ambling towards the gate—the morning shift arriving at duty. ‘If you two are done reminiscing…’
Val and Corminar turned to see what I was looking at, and then turned back to one another. ‘Could do a quick fight,’ the sorcerer said.
‘We could. Two guards, three of us.’ Corminar glanced at me. ‘Two guards, two and a bit of us. I can’t imagine it’d be our most difficult skirmish.’
‘Been a while since I whipped out my magicks,’ Val said.
I blinked, mouth hanging open. ‘It’s been six hours!’
‘Far too long,’ Val said.
Corminar nodded his agreement. ‘One must keep the body as limber as the mind.’
I shook my head, fed up with the both of them, and began strolling out of town. ‘Lore’s this way, yeah?’
"Styk"
Level 6 Novice Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 10
Intelligence — 27
Dexterity — 15
Strength — 27
Wisdom — 10
Charisma — 0
Skills:
Knifework — Level 12
Worldbending — Level 5
Identification — Level 5
Stealth — Level 2
Abilities:
Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
Stab — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR].
Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.
Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.
Basic Stealth Attack — Passive. 10% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.
Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +400%