A group of elves, each wearing a long crimson robe and a bow over one shoulder, ambled up the road to Lore’s farm. All pairs of eyes were fixed upon the house, none of these visitors giving Val and I a second look. Every one of them had long hair twisted into a tight braid, as though to keep it out of the way in case of trouble. But were they seeking the trouble, or bringing it?
‘We seek Corminar Cladenor,’ one of the elves said, gesturing for the group to halt, a good twenty yards from Lore’s house.
My elven friend stared back at the new face, considering the man without expression, before slowly placing his potion ingredients back down on the small wooden table in front of him. He matched the visitors’ paces as he strolled down from the terrace and onto the yard.
Corminar stared the visitors down for a moment in silence, as though daring them to speak first. They didn’t.
I placed a hand on the hilt of my dagger, and back over at the house, I could see Arzak doing much the same with the sword leaning against the side of her chair.
‘I must admit,’ my elven friend finally said. ‘What with all that has happened of late, our deal had rather slipped my mind.’
It wasn’t until this moment that I realised who these visitors were. There was only one group—as far as I was aware—that Corminar had outstanding business with. And it wasn’t the type of faction that you much wanted outstanding business with, either. The elves standing on the road to Lore’s farm were, surely, members of the much-feared Red Thorn—elves that had been exiled from the Dawnwood, operating in industries best kept in the shadows.
The elf in charge, an older man with hair starting to grey, paced forwards one step while the rest of his contingent remained behind. ‘How unbecoming of you,’ he said, meeting Corminar’s stare. ‘And just what events might have kept you from fulfilling our bargain?’
‘I do not think you would believe me if I told you.’
The older elf raised an eyebrow. ‘No? You think I would not believe that you were busy delivering justice to a Player that had overstayed their welcome?’
Corminar’s right eye twitched. This was about the only giveaway I’d noticed him having, when it came to his emotions. ‘You—’
‘We are informed sufficiently about the world around us to understand that the general consensus concerning Players is not rooted in reality. We would be rather terrible at our jobs if this were not so.’
There was silence once more as Corminar considered these words. A sheep baa-ed in the distance. Lore stuck his head out of a window to see what was going on below, but managed to close his mouth before saying anything that might have got Corminar in trouble.
‘Elandor, I—’
The older elf held up his hand. ‘I am not present to listen to excuses; I am here to uphold the name of the Red Thorn. If it were known that we allowed you to escape a bargain, then our name would mean nothing. Do you not agree?’
‘Perhaps we can strike a new arrangement,’ Corminar suggested. ‘One that grants me my life while demonstrating that the Red Thorn cannot be trifled with.’
‘If you do not have the Mala with you,’ Elandor said, ‘then I believe it would be simpler to deliver our own form of justice now and be done with the—’
‘Kill him?’ Val shouted across from the other side of the wooden fence, apparently able to keep quiet no longer. ‘You can kill him over my dead body.’
Elandor raised an eyebrow, making no effort to hide the smile that crossed his face. ‘Such terms would be acceptable to us.’
Corminar flung a hand out to signal to Val to stay out of this, that he had it under control, but it was too late. The sorcerer was already moving.
Realising what was about to happen, Arzak grabbed her two sword and stood, ready to defend herself. Lore’s face disappeared from the window above.
‘No,’ Corminar said. ‘No!’
Elandor’s fellow elves, remaining strangely calm, responded in kind, and pulled their bows from their shoulders. What was it with elves and Archery skills? Why did they like it so much? Was it the wood involved?
‘I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this,’ Elandor said.
Corminar opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by me opening a portal underneath him and sending him tumbling back onto the porch, where his bow was waiting. A single arrow, that would have struck him firmly in the chest, soared over his head.
Arzak stepped off the porch, parrying away the shot of another Red Thorn ranger with expert timing. ‘You not want this?’ she said, ‘Then stop!’
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Val stood at my side with her arms stretched out at her sides, then suddenly clapped them together. A summon gust—though “gust” was maybe underselling the strength of this blow—billowed across the road and caught the group of elven archers, blowing two of the five from their feet.
‘Val, we—’ Arzak started, but was cut off when an arrow caught her in the shoulder.
Up above, Lore appeared back at the window once more, this time… leaping through it. He met the dusty ground hard, greatsword in hand, then rose to leap once more—this time at the members of the Red Thorn group who were still standing.
As Lore attacked, his sheep’s heads suddenly snapped to him, their eyes wide. Most of them were fenced in, but a few—Lore’s favourites—were able to wander the farm at large. It was those ones, now, who began to charge at our new enemies.
In the few seconds that this happened, I had gestured one hand to the leader of this enemy group, opening a portal at his side and linking it to one at Arzak’s side, expecting her to strike through it. But the orc didn’t move, her only efforts concentrated on defending herself.
As Lore charged the enemies, so too did a pair of his sheep, from the elves’ other side. He swung his sword forward at Elandor, but the older elf—a smile still on his face—simply stepped backwards, out of reach. ‘Thorns,’ he said, ‘concentrate your fire on this man, if you will.’
The three archers still standing pivoted to point their bows at Lore, and he had just enough time to blink, dumbfounded, at them, before they fired.
I was quicker, though. I flicked one of my portal to the space between Lore and the agents of the Red Thorn, catching their fired arrows with it, and sending them shooting instead into empty space and the dusty ground.
The closest of the sheep reached Elandor at this point. While the older elf had anticipated the attacks of the Slayers, it seemed he hadn’t anticipated the sheep attacking him too. This sheep headbutted the elf at the back of the legs, hard, sending him tumbling backwards to the floor.
To Elandor’s credit, he adapted the fall into a backwards role, landing on his feet once more a moment later with more agility than I had expected of an elf of his age. With a furrowed brow, the older elf glanced down at the sheep, then flicked his fingers.
In the blink of an eye, Elandor was standing much further down the road, out of range of any of the conflict. He left a purple glow where he’d been standing just for a moment—the familiar purple glow of Worldbending magicks.
Lore turned his attention to the fire elven rangers, and charged at them. I wasn’t quick enough to block the arrows, this time around, but Val was on it. The sorcerer sent another blast of air at the enemies—one with enough force to push the fired arrows off-target or to mess up the rangers’ aims.
The barbarian leapt into the air, sword raised, and one of the rangers dropped their bow to the floor. In the same movement, they pulled a dagger from their waist and held it up to meet them.
‘Lore!’ I shouted, admittedly for no particular reason, before draining my mana some more to open another pair of portals. I caught Lore before he could meet the hidden blade, sending him rolling onto the ground at Arzak’s feet.
The orc looked down at Lore, then up at me, and nodded.
This was a signal I knew, by now, all too well.
With another flick of my hands, I opened another pair of portals once more—one at Arzak’s side, the other behind the group of enemies. She stepped through it, dropping one sword to the floor and holding the other high, then grabbed at the nearest elf. She held one sword to their neck, and then…
‘Enough!’ she roared.
The farm fell silent but for a sheep turning to charge at Elandor. With a whistle from Lore, they too came to a halt.
Arzak pulled the enemy elf away from the rest of the group, blade still held to their neck, and then turned to face down their leader. ‘We do this, we kill some of you. You kill some of us. Nobody win. There is better way.’
Elandor considered her carefully before finally speaking. ‘Pray tell.’
‘We do better than Mala,’ Arzak said. ‘And we do it for free.’
"Styk"
Level 11 Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 26
Intelligence — 103
Dexterity — 38
Strength — 50
Wisdom — 26
Charisma — 8
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 24
Knifework — Level 23
Identification — Level 10
Stealth — Level 6
Needlework — Level 4
Abilities:
Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.
Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.
Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.
Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.
Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.
Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.
Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.
Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.
Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +900%