I took a seat on the bench that Val and I had sat on earlier in the evening while the rest of the team saw to healing their wounds. Or getting Val to heal them, as the case may have been.
Ability selection unlocked
Select an ability from the list below:
Option 1: Slice III (Knifework) — Upgrade to Slice. Slice the enemy for physical damage [+50%] worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
So it was an upgrade first, and not a bad one at all. I’d never invested in the upgrade to Slice II—only my Stab ability I’d so far chosen to upgrade—and yet now I had progressed enough to skip that level of ability entirely. The rest of the team had reminded me again and again that upgrades were often the most powerful, if least exciting choices, so I forced myself to truly consider this option. That +50% to physical damage was now quite the modifier, and would mean I would start to be able to do pretty decent damage even without any imaginative trickery.
Option 2: Execution II (Knifework) — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.
This was an upgrade to an ability I’d not selected, though—if I remembered correctly; a lot had happened these past few months—I had given it pretty substantial consideration. And if +50% damage boost on Slice III was tempting, then it was nothing compared to the +200% boost—up from +100%—that I got here. The only difference, of course, being that I’d have to remain undetected for this to work.
I was doing well to level up Stealth, even though it hadn’t been my main focus. Already at level 9—and very close to turning level 10, I believed—then maybe a return to the stealth-oriented build of a past life could pay some dividends. And who knew what level 10’s ability selection might offer?
I turned my attention to the third and last of my ability selection options.
Option 3: Parlour Tricks (Knifework) — Impress others with a wide variety of knife-related parlour tricks, including five-finger fillet and blind throws. Chance of success scales with [CHA].
Every fibre of my being wanted me to select this option.
I supposed it was a side effect of the Needlework skill tree levelling up my Charisma that I got this ability as an option. That is, a Knifework ability that wasn’t combat-related. It was certainly the coolest of the three choices, and I had made good use of this precise skill in a previous life to pick up a certain type of woman, but… my priorities were different now.
I looked up at the rest of the group, at Val helping Corminar to his feet, and at Arzak trying to get the red stain of blood out of the collar of Lore’s tunic.
This team were well on the way to being heroes, not just the slayers of fake ones. If we just tried a little harder—if we were just a little less dysfunctional—then maybe we could be great. And part of that was me being great, too.
I ruled out option 3, and return to options 1 and 2.
I knew I’d probably get the choice of both of these skills—or more likely, their upgraded version—down the line, but what if that wasn’t the case? Which would I regret not taking more? I already had a decent basic offensive attack in Stab II, and so it was Execution II, really, that gave me more breadth of options.
‘Alright!’ Val cheered. ‘Level up!’
‘Yeah, I—’ I started to reply, before realising that she was talking about herself.
‘And a ability selection at that.’
‘What you picking?’ Lore asked.
Val shrugged. ‘Don’t know. Gonna think on it while we figure out what happened here.’
Aiwin looked up at that. ‘What do you mean? We know what happened here; hags attacked. Perhaps as vengeance for fallen siblings.’
Val, without looking back at Aiwin, shook her head. ‘This hag? It only came cos of the noise we were making. And there was no sign of a fight, remember? There’s no bodies. And—’
‘It wasn’t the hag that screamed,’ I called across the open space.
Val pointed an index finger in my direction. ‘Exactly.’
Aiwin continued to stare down Val. ‘And just how is it that you know so much about hags?’
‘I studied at an academy,’ Val said. ‘Managlass Academy. Where did you study, Aiwin?’
The elf remained quiet.
‘Hags, they don’t have notions of vengeance,’ Val continued. ‘They’re not human. It’s a stretch to even call them humanoid; they’ve just adopted this form cos they’ve spent so long trying to hide from us, trying to blend in.’
‘Then we not know what happen here,’ Arzak said. ‘The hag not answer anything.’
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
‘No,’ Val agreed.
I watched as the team fell into silence, considering their next steps, and I predicted exactly how the conversation would go next.
‘One might argue that it does not matter,’ Corminar said. ‘We arrived at this location in search of a witchfinder’s clasp—let us not forget that this is all that ties us to here. Perhaps we simply locate this clasp and leave, fulfil the terms of our deal with the Red Thorn, and retrieve Lore’s sheep from Elandor?’
Lore nodded his agreement.
‘Are you scared, Corminar?’ I called out, causing all head to swivel to face me.
‘Corminar Cladenor does not feel fear,’ Corminar Cladenor said.
‘Then why are you in such a rush to get out of here? We don’t know what’s happened here, true, but I think it’s pretty clear that something terrible did.’
‘He’s right, Styk,’ Val said. ‘There’s no reason for us to—’
‘What do you call yourselves?’ I asked them.
Everyone remained quiet, some of them casting confused glanced to one another.
‘I call myself Arzak,’ Arzak said.
‘I meant collectively. What do you call yourselves?’
‘The Player Slayers,’ Corminar replied, one of them finally giving me the answer I was looking for.
‘Exactly. And that name should carry some weight. People should know what you’ve done for them, by killing those evil Players. You lot are heroes, don’t you see?’
Val chuckled. ‘Heroes? Styk, we’re just—’
‘You’re doing the right thing in the face of overwhelming odds. Without any chance of people being grateful and without expectation of being paid for it. What is that, if not the definition of heroes?’
‘Styk, if this is more about you wanting to be some big hero, worshipped by—’
‘This isn’t about wanting to be anything. This is about being it!’ I resisted the urge to put my head in my hands. ‘Don’t you see? You’re heroes already. And people have gone missing here. Maybe they’ve been kidnapped, or killed. Do you all really think you can leave without wondering what happened to them? Do you think you won’t regret trying to help them?’
Quiet passed across the village once more, and Corminar seemed suddenly very interested in the ground.
‘You want us to stay?’ Val asked. ‘Here? Really?’
‘I want you to help the people who were here.’ I saw Val’s eye twitch. ‘And if some of them were guilty of other crimes, we punish them proportionately.’
After another pause, Arzak piped up, ‘You want be new leader?’
‘I don’t want us to have a leader. I just want us to do the right thing.’
Lore, after another moment of consideration, put his hand into the air.
‘Yes?’ I asked him.
He blinked back at me.
‘Was there a question?’
‘Oh, no,’ the barbarian said, ‘I was just saying I’m in. I agree. Let’s be heroes.’
Val stared at me. ‘I’m trusting you,’ she said, before raising her hand.
Arzak and Corminar, perhaps due to peer pressure, followed suit, before the latter turned to his elven friend.
‘I’m not a part of this,’ Aiwin said. ‘It’s your choice.’
I nodded. ‘Good.’
When there was silence, and no movement, I realised I was going to need to take charge in this particular scenario—it was my idea to stay, after all.
‘We start by searching the village. More thoroughly, this time. We know there’s something here—we’ve heard the screaming—so let’s find it. Look for signs of life, yes, but also look for anything else that might offer a clue as to what’s going on. OK?’
The team nodded their agreement, and then everyone but Val and I paired off and began searching the buildings once more. Instead, I ambled over to the witch’s side, who was standing over the body of the beast we’d just slain, nudging it with her foot.
‘I hate hags,’ Val muttered to me. ‘They’ve got so much to do with why witches are so hated. It’s just a magick type at the end of the day, Witchcraft. If hags hadn’t hurt so many people over the years, people wouldn’t be so scared of it. And I’d be…’ She trailed off, staring into space.
‘People shouldn’t judge you for your class.’
‘Yeah, well, thanks for stating the obvious,’ Val replied, her tone bitter. Then, she seemed to catch herself, and she turned to me, offering me a small smile. ‘But thanks for saying it, too.’
I nodded, and for a moment we fell into silence.
‘Upgrade my Slice or get Execution?’ I asked her.
‘What?’
‘I levelled up Knifework,’ I said, then proceeded to explain what each choice did.
Val gave a pretty definitive answer, and I did exactly as she chose.
Ability unlocked — Execution II
Execution II (Knifework) — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.
"Styk"
Level 12 Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 28
Intelligence — 115
Dexterity — 49
Strength — 54
Wisdom — 32
Charisma — 14
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 27
Knifework — Level 23
Identification — Level 10
Stealth — Level 9
Needlework — Level 7
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%.
Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.
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.
Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.
Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.
Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].
Basic Cloth Armour — Craft basic cloth armour, quality dependent on materials, time and skill level.
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +900%