Chapter Four – Tutorial Quest II
Ikor the Skorge. That first encounter in Swords of Allerion was like a trial by fire. Tara could never forget the first time his character had appeared after an alarming cut scene of the troll captain charging down the ladder to see what the disturbance was on the lower decks.
She still remembered how the game controller had vibrated between her hands, emphasizing the powerful impact of the troll’s arrival. Her palms sweated so much during that fight.
But this was nothing like that. There was no screen and game controller between them, and the troll was in massively higher definition than her 4K Ultra HD.
The troll was huge. His massive body was protected in jagged iron and leather armor. Ice hung from the horns curling over his wide skull, but Captain Ikor seemed impervious to the weather. He was built like a bull, and ten times more dangerous. In his massive arms, Tara saw the gleam of a double-bladed battle axe.
It didn’t help that trolls were the most dangerous of all humanoid creatures in Allerion. Just looking at this monster, steam curling like smoke from his flaring nostrils, reminded Tara of their base stats.
Character Class
Class Details
Base Stats
Troll
Trolls are the massive cousins to the gnomes, and live in a generally symbiotic relationship with their smaller, more industrious relatives. Trolls are generally a solitary, divided people, forming camps of no more than a single family scattered across the Grayscape.
Stamina: 170
Strength: 200
Intelligence: 50
Dexterity: 50
Magic: 110
Special Skill: Mountain guard - trolls have the ability to become stone, giving them protection against even dragon attacks. This skill lowers dexterity to 0.
The thought of that 200 point strength made Tara’s knees weaken. And that was just the base level. Ikor the Skorge was ugly and evil, but he wasn’t base. Tara remembered looking up his character stats at one point. Wasn’t his strength 300?
As if cued to her concerns, Tara’s own vastly limited stats flashed to her mind.
Character Class
Class Details
Base Stats
Borzerk
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A human race primarily settled in the flatlands of Grayscape and the crags of the Windrake cliffs. They are a savage people who love war, and have been known to form raiding parties against the Skor, although they prefer to attack their nearest neighbors, the trolls.
Stamina: 150
Strength: 150
Intelligence: 80
Dexterity: 120
Magic: 30
Special Skill: Bloodrage - when a Borzerk succumbs to bloodrage, they are able to fight with +50 strength and sustain terrible injuries for a short period of time. Cost: -100 stamina.
Not bad for a beginner. For this fight, she was definitely working at a disadvantage. But it was possible to defeat Ikor. Some gamers, confident after several playthroughs, were able to take him out with nothing but bare fists.
Steam curled like smoke from the troll’s mouth as he let out another ear-splitting roar. It was hard to imagine anyone surviving against him with fists alone, now more than ever.
“Get back!” shouted Wenrik.
Too late. Tara bore the brunt of the troll’s massive attack as he charged straight for her. She felt herself flying backwards, the sword struck from her hands by Ikor’s violent impact. On her back, she stared up at the enraged monster in a daze.
“Move!” cried someone, somewhere. “He’s going to—”
Too late. The troll’s fist descended, and Tara knew no more.
***
When she opened her eyes, the guard was removing the chains from her ankles in the ship’s hold. She was pushed towards the ladder after the other slaves, and Wenrik was speaking to her, just as he had before.
“Don’t let them know you’re afraid. They feed on fear. Let them know what it is to starve.”
Tara had been surprised enough in the last few hours. She hadn’t thought it was possible to be more disturbed. But the fight, the troll—it was as if none of it had happened. As the slaves assembled on the oar deck, Wenrik and Horon seemed exactly the same as they had been before the fight, waiting for their opportunity to resist the slavers.
“Wenrik?”
The Borzerk turned to her. It must have been her tone, serious and weak, that surprised him.
“What happened?” Tara asked. “Where’s the troll?”
“Captain Ikor?” he asked, frowning. “I imagine he’s on the main deck. He has little to do with his merchandise.”
A guard pushed towards them. “Each of you, take an oar! We don’t want to be here until the sea freezes over.”
Wenrik made his move. It was all exactly the same. The guard went down, at the Borzerk’s wild howl the decks came alive with action. In the confusion, Tara was already fumbling her sword.
“You don’t know how to fight, do you?” asked Wenrik.
Tara bent her knees immediately, knowing what he was about to say. “Do you know how to fight a troll?”
The Borzerk’s red eyes flickered. “Remember this about trolls,” he said. “They are strong and you will never overcome them in a front attack. But they are stupid and slow. You, on the other hand, are fast and light.”
“So I dodge,” said Tara. “I need to get behind him.”
Her phrasing hit Wenrik oddly. She saw the furrow between his brows. But there was no time to continue their conversation, not when she heard the roar that signalled the begin of the boss fight.
This time, Tara was more prepared. She rolled aside as the troll charged at her, his giant head lowered. Her desperate impulse made her slide on the sea-wet deck. Gasping, she fumbled her sword as the troll turned to face her.
Horon’s own attack distracted the troll briefly. Ikor swatted the man aside as easily as if he were a fly.
“Move!” shouted Wenrik, and Tara barely managed to escape the troll’s axe.
Why is he coming for me? she thought, panting. There are so many other people. Why me?
She wasn’t even trying to fight at this point. She was trying to run.
“Tara! Now!”
She turned and saw that Wenrik had engaged the troll in combat, weaving between the giant beast’s attack to strike at his thick legs and back.
Tara was moving towards them when Ikor flung his weight suddenly backwards. His full weight descended on Wenrik. In the game, this move was a one-shot kill. From the looks of the situation now, it was a one-shot kill here, too.
Tara backed away. She was trembling, terrified. She was turning to run, and never even saw the troll’s axe swing towards her in a wide arc. She didn’t even feel pain.
***
“Don’t let them know you’re afraid. They feed on fear—”
“Let them know what it is to starve,” murmured Tara wearily, her head slightly hanging as she climbed the ladder.
Wenrik looked down to flash her an appreciative grin. “Exactly. We think alike, friend, you and I.”
Tara didn’t have the heart to respond. She took her place with the rest of the slaves.
“Wenrik,” she said. “I can’t help it. I am afraid.”
The Borzerk glanced at her. He was critical, not contemptuous. “Can you think of a better thing to fight for than freedom?”
“No. It’s just…” She didn’t know to tell him, I keep dying. “What do I do?”
“Stay with us,” said the Borzerk simply. “We’re in this together. That’s how we will win.”