At the twist of my wrist, a portal opened beneath us, and Arzak and I tumbled through, onto the floor at the other side of the room. My blind aim had got better, it seemed, because the pair of us landed just where I’d intended. And I’d intended this spot because it was behind the two soldiers—I was still undetected.
It was time to find out if the damage bonuses from Stealth Attack and Execution II stacked.
I gestured for Arzak to keep quiet, rather than scramble clumsily to her feet, and I turned my attention to the two soldiers who were at this very moment staring Val down.
‘I can explain,’ Val said, doing her best to avoid looking at me or Arzak, though she clearly knew we were there. After all, why else would she be trying to distract our enemies?
I approached slowly, using my innate Stealth abilities to keep the noise of my footsteps to a minimum. The soldier who’d realised the truth, Soll, was closer to me, and so it was to him I crept first, knife drawn.
‘Oh yeah? You gonna explain why you’re using our friend’s face, are you?’ Ela asked. ‘Cos that’s treason in these parts.’
Val raised her new face’s eyebrows. ‘Maybe it is, but I got good reason.’ Her eyes flickered, just for a moment, towards me. The two enemies didn’t seem to notice.
I stepped closer still, the man’s unwashed stench filling my nostrils. And this guy has not one but two lovers?
‘That I’d like to hear,’ Soll said. ‘Give us one good reason we don’t kill you where you stand.’
I swung my blade around in front of the enemy, activated by Execution II ability—my Stealth Attack being a passive, and therefore always active—and sliced the soldier across the throat.
Level 19 soldier of the golden kingdom defeated!
Stealth — +1,200xp
Stealth increased to level 11!
Base Points gained — +1 DEX, +1 WIS, +2 Free Points (DEX/WIS)
Worldbending — +500xp
Knifework — +1,000xp
He began to drop.
I, admittedly very clumsily, grabbed the man by one arm to stop him thudding to the ground and attracting the other enemy’s attention. This had been a kill in one, and so, surely, the effects of the abilities had stacked? Or else otherwise the man hadn’t really ever invested in Vitality—there was no real way of knowing. I internally cursed myself for not Identifying the man before I’d killed him, as any information might have given me a clue.
The other soldier began to turn.
I stifled a cry, opening another portal beneath my feet, this time opening myself above the other enemy, readying myself for another Execution. But I hadn’t moved quickly enough; even before the soldier was in reach of my knife point, she was shouting.
‘Intruders!’ she cried. ‘Intru—’
The second shout was ended by me Stabbing my knife through her head. It wasn’t enough to kill her, considering I’d lost all my stealth buffs, but there was nothing like a wound to the skull to stop you shouting.
The soldier staggered backwards, and I moved to stab once more. In the same moment, Val pushed both hands forwards and summoned a gust of wind to propel the woman towards me. Between the force of my stab attack and the movement towards me, I was able to pierce her armour, right where her heart would have been.
Level 18 soldier of the golden kingdom defeated!
Worldbending — +700xp
Knifework — +1,000xp
Knifework increased to level 26!
Base Points Gained — +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)
She, too, dropped to the ground, and I staggered backwards before I could stain my new clothes with blood. Not because I liked them, of course, but because it would ruin the disguise.
On any other day, I’d feel bad about killing two people who were just doing their jobs—even if it was in inevitable self-defence. But these two—what with all that apparent indiscriminate killing of my fellow Tundran countrymen that they’d confessed to a minute ago—they hadn’t earned quiet as much sympathy. Besides, if we’d let them live, then the palace would be put in a state of alarm, looking out for intruders. It’d make our lives a lot more difficult.
I looked to the wardrobe, eyeing it up as a place to hide the bodies. ‘Close—’ I started, and then footsteps announced the appearance of more guards charging towards the room. ‘Uh-oh.’
I moved to open a portal beneath Val, to bring her to my side while Arzak charged across the room. The witch fell through clumsily, not having anticipated it, and grabbed a bed post to stable herself. I moved next to open another portal and get us out of here, but remembered I couldn’t do that without hiding the bodies first, or the whole palace grounds—or city, perhaps—would be on lockdown. So instead I opened a portal beneath the two bodies, its pair inside the wardrobe, and they fell through with a heavy clunk. But before I could magick the three of us out of here, four guards burst through the door to check out what all the commotion was about.
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We froze. ‘Err…’ I said. ‘Hi?’
Nobody said “hi” back. Instead, they started attacking.
Three of them drew their standard issue blades, while another, in slightly different uniform, raised her hands. This gesture was familiar to me, because I was currently doing roughly the same thing—she was a spellcaster.
Arzak rushed to stand in front of me and Val, protecting us with her brawn and drawn blades.
‘Quick and quiet,’ Val hissed. She was right, of course; we couldn’t let anyone else know there was a fight in here or we’d be in big trouble. I cursed myself; picking Silence as a Worldbending ability all those months ago would finally have come in handy, especially with my Stealth focus now. But that was the nature of levelling up; no matter how prepared you were, there was always an opportunity cost.
So I did the next best thing; I portalled myself through the floor to the other side of the room, and I closed the door. Turning back to face the rear of our attackers, I realised something—what with how broad Arzak was, the soldiers hadn’t been able to see me. With the Tamed Portal ability reducing the glow of my portals too, they hadn’t known I’d gone anywhere.
I was, surely, the very definition of “unnoticed by enemy”.
I drew my dagger once more and moved to attack, before the four soldiers could figure out what was going on. As the spellcaster released a fireball—why was it always fire magicks? what was it about the allure of fire that always made people specialise this way?—I realised there was another approach I might have taken, in activating Ash Husk, but this way was safer.
Arzak suffered the brunt of the fire attack on her shoulder, damaging the new clothes she’d spent, presumably, a lot of money on. And she seemed more annoyed about that than the hit to her health bar.
Before the spellcaster could release another magick attack, I charged at her, it helping that she was standing at the rear of her group. I went straight in for another Execution boosted by my Stealth Attack passive, and because this woman had presumably put more points into Intelligence than Vitality—mana over health—she was downed in one. This was despite me attacking her with the pommel of my knife rather than the blade. After all, neither ability said I actually needed to stab anyone, just “attack”, and I couldn’t say for sure whether this woman shared the horrific values of the first two soldiers.
Level 24 fire mage of the golden kingdom defeated!
Worldbending — +700xp
Knifework — +1,400xp
I moved quickly, not even letting the spellcaster hit the floor before I sprung—assisted by a quick pair of portals—to the next soldier. As I soared through the air, pommel of my knife arcing towards the soldier’s temple, Val again summoned a blast of air that sent the man stumbling backwards. The movement towards me increased the impact, allowing me to fell this man, too, in one hit.
Level 18 soldier of the golden kingdom defeated!
Worldbending — +100xp
Knifework — +1,000xp
Knifework increased to level 27!
Base Points Gained — +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)
But it also alerted the other two soldiers to my presence at their rear. I was noticed once more, and without the 350%—by my count, I wasn’t exactly adept at maths though—boost to damage, I had no chance of taking out either of the others with one hit.
Fortunately, Arzak took full advantage of the distraction I’d created, reaching out and bashing one of the soldiers over the head with the end of one of her swords. When he didn’t go down, she hit him again, in the same place, and then again, until he finally dropped.
This left only one.
I ran towards her, hoping that I’d be able to at least do enough damage to cause a distraction, and allow Arzak to swoop in. I charged, weapon raised, point-first this time as I knew I’d not inflict more than a light injury—one that could be healed, by Val if necessary—when the woman suddenly shifted. She hopped to one side, free arm stretched out, and she grabbed me with it.
Before I knew it, I had one arm around my neck, squeezing tight enough that I went light-headed, and sword point in my face.
‘Drop the swords,’ the tiefling soldier told Arzak.
‘No,’ the orc replied.
There was a moment of silence. ‘But I have a sword to your friend’s neck.’
‘I not drop swords. They make loud clatter and then more soldiers come. I not do that.’
‘OK…’ the soldier said. ‘But—’
Val stepped out from behind Arzak, a soldier’s sword in her hands. ‘Think fast!’ she said, throwing the sword towards the soldier and me. As it left her hands, lightning magicks began to crackle around it.
The tiefling, surprised by this sudden turn of events, loosened her grasp on me just enough that I was able to wriggle free, and I portalled myself to Val’s side, not wanting to risk ending up in the same state all over again. The soldier caught the blade with her free hand, and all the muscles in her body went stiff as the lightning shocked her.
Arzak ambled over to the incapacitated woman’s side, and knocked her over the head with both weapons at once. She dropped to the ground, dropping the lightning-imbued sword, and the shocks slowly faded.
‘Nice,’ I said to Val.
The witch smiled. ‘Not bad, huh?’
Silence swept over the room as we listened out for any more advancing assailants, but none came. Only when we’d remained still for a couple of minutes, listening, did we finally relax, and I surprised myself with a long sigh of relief.
‘Hmm,’ Arzak said, weapons sheathed, hands on hips, looking down at the four unconscious bodies. She glanced over at where we’d stuffed the first two soldiers. ‘Going to be full wardrobe.’
"Styk"
Level 13 Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 32
Intelligence — 124
Dexterity — 57
Strength — 62
Wisdom — 38
Charisma — 21
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 30
Knifework — Level 26
Stealth — Level 11
Identification — Level 10
Needlework — Level 9
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.
Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.
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.
Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.
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.
In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].
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%