[Achievement Unlocked: Slay a giant]
[Armed combat increased to level 5]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Isabelle smiled. What better way to level up than right after killing a giant in front of a crowd of adoring fans? Isabelle shrugged to beign her leveling process.
[Notice: You’ve reached level 6!]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 7
Hp:
29
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
11
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
14
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Isabelle decided to put four attribute points to her stamina and three to her hp. She would worry about adding points to her mana once she was actually using it.
Skill Points to Spend: 7
Str:
10
Int:
9
Dx:
8
Wis:
5
Const:
8
Char:
8
Wait a second. Why were Isabelle’s int and wis higher than before? She hadn’t added any skill points to those areas, yet she was certain they were both one point higher than they were last time she leveled up.
[Clarification: You can also gain skill points by using those skills. Leveling up just provides additional skill points for you. In this particular instance, using strategy to fight enemies stronger than yourself has added these int and wis points.]
Wow. So really, Isabelle could level up her skill points in two ways. That was good to know. She hadn’t even realized she was using her int and wis, but it made sense in hindsight. Since Isabelle’s wis and int had been so useful for those battles, she decided to put two more points in both of them. Then, she put two points to her char, and one point to const.
[Notice: Please pick a special ability from the list]
Now that was a new one. Isabelle got to pick a special ability? What even was that?
[Clarification: Your special ability is like a special, long lasting spell. Depending on which special ability you pick, it can be something that is always affecting you, or it can be something that you can activate in times of need.]
That was interesting. Isabelle looked at the list of special abilities.
Special Abilities
Ability
Become Invisible
Type
Cast once per day
Description
You become completely invisible for a duration of five minutes
Breathe Underwater
Continuous
You can breathe underwater, allowing you to swim for long distances without resurfacing
Critical Hitter
Cast during combat for 5 stm
Cast this during combat to increase chances of landing a critical hit by 70 percent for thirty seconds
This was a tricky choice. Breathe underwater sounded nice, but Isabelle wasn’t sure when she’d ever get a chance to use it, and she wasn’t sure how helpful it would be for her going forward. The critical hitter ability also sounded quite nice. At the same time, she’d managed perfectly well in combat without such an ability so far, and Isabelle wasn’t sure it was worth the cost of 5 stm when she was already fairly decent at landing critical hits. Become invisible stood out to Isabelle. She could think of a number of bad situations she’d already been in that would’ve been much easier to get out of if she could just become invisible, and even though she could only cast it once a day, it seemed like her best bet at helping herself out in the future. So, Isabelle chose the ‘Become Invisible’ ability.
[Congratulations, you’ve finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
6
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
32
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
11
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
18
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
10
Int:
11
Dx:
8
Wis:
7
Const:
9
Char:
10
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
0
Summon:
0
Heal:
0
Destroy:
0
Transmute:
0
Confuse:
0
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
2
Sneak:
3
Archery:
0
Lockpick:
0
Armed Combat:
5
Melee Combat:
3
Speechcraft:
2
Slight Of Hand:
0
Excellent. Isabelle was feeling better than ever.
[Leave the Citadel and talk to Oglo]
Oh. She’d forgotten about the fact that she did need to leave the field at some point. First, though, Isabelle wanted to see if she could loot the giant. She turned to look at his body and focused on it.
[Loot ‘Maalzos Soul Render’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Inventory: Maalzos Soul Render
Item
Traits
Greater Thorned Armor (giant)
+85 str, +30 hp, +150 carry weight
Greater Iron Axe (giant)
+200 damage, +175 carry weight
Potion of Giant Strength x3
+155 str, 0.5 carry weight
Potion of Excellent Healing x2
+30 hp, 0.5 carry weight
Gold (5500)
n/a
Wow. Now that was some loot. Of course Isabelle couldn’t really take the giant’s armor or his axe, but that was no surprise. What Isabelle was surprised to find was the potion of giant strength. She didn’t even know that was a potion she could find, and it was thrilling. She felt even more assured of her decision not to choose ‘critical hitter’ as her special ability. Who needed something like that when Isabelle could just drink one of these potions and become as strong as a giant? And, of course, the gold didn’t hurt to find, either.
Inventory: Maalzos Soul Render
Item
Traits
Greater Thorned Armor (giant)
+85 str, +30 hp, +150 carry weight
Greater Iron Axe (giant)
+200 damage, +175 carry weight
[Leave the Citadel and talk to Oglo]
Ugh. Isabelle figured the system wasn’t going to stop nagging her until she started listening to the quest, so she walked on towards her wing of the Citadel. As Isabelle walked under the covered area, she heard the doors swing shut. She walked further forward, and the metal gate slowly crept down towards the ground. Once again, Isabelle was trapped. Or was she?
Isabelle walked forward into the waiting room. The wooden door swung open and in walked Oglo, a huge smile on his scaly face.
“Hey, Isabelle!” said Oglo. “That was really amazing. I’ve got to be honest, I really didn’t think you would make it that far. Like, truthfully, I thought you’d probably die in the first or second round. But then again, I think you really did get a lot from my training! I’m so happy I can say that I trained Isabelle the Giant Slayer.”
“Thanks, Oglo,” said Isabelle. She felt like slapping him. Here Olgo was, happily taking credit for all Isabelle’s hard work! Half of the stuff she’d been taught by him she’d already known, and the other half had been about using shields. She’d used maybe five percent of what he taught at best, and yet not only did Oglo feel the need to undermine her by saying he was sure she was going to die, but he then to her face told her that she probably won because he was great! What an egomaniac.
“So, let me just access your inventory real quick and I’ll take the Citadel’s cut,” said Oglo.
Isabelle did a double take. “Sorry, what did you say, Oglo?”
“I need access to your inventory, Isabelle. So that I can take the Citadel’s cut of all that gold you got. You didn’t think we were just going to let you keep all of that, did you? I mean, Isabelle, you’re still a prisoner of Cloud Reach.”
She was? Isabelle thought the whole deal was that if she fought in all the rounds at the Citadel, she’d get her sentence reduced. She told Oglo this, trying not to let her eyelid twitch.
“Well, yes and no, Isabelle,” said Oglo. “You see, you actually have had your sentence reduced. Cloud Reach is happy to say that, at this point, you have nineteen years, six months, and five days left in prison. The audience did seem to love you, so if you want to keep grinding away at your sentence, you really are more than welcome. You did really well tonight, you even killed a giant, so I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if you were able to get your sentence reduced to about six months after about a month of fighting. Of course, your life is at risk every time, and there are always plenty of people up for a fight, but that’s how the cookie crumbles! Now, if you would please allow me to access your inventory, Isabelle, so that I can take that gold. The Citadel can’t allow a prisoner to have such deep pockets, especially when we’re behind on our rental fees. Trust me, though, this will be a beneficial thing for us both, really. Fighting in the Citadel has been shown to really rehabilitate criminals like yourself. After all, when you have to work so hard to get your freedom back, you start to really value it. Now, can I please access your inventory, Isabelle?”
Fuck no. There was no way in hell Isabelle was letting Oglo get his slippery kobold fingers on any of her gold, or anything else in her inventory, for that matter.
[Combat mode activated]
[Hook Sword (poisoned) x2 equipped]
Isabelle lunged forward, raising her hook swords in preparation to strike. However, before she could, Oglo raised a claw. A light blue light shot out of his hand and enveloped Isabelle.
[You’ve been paralyzed]
[Achievement Unlocked: Get paralyzed]
Isabelle’s body went limp as a ragdoll. She tumbled to the floor, dropping her weapons. Only her eyes could move.
“So sorry about this, Isabelle,” said Oglo. “But I’m sure you have to understand, I’d never let a dangerous prisoner near me without having some serious means of protection. Especially one eager to keep all their money and other loot. Since you did attack me, of course, you’ll be penalized by a confiscation of all your earnings instead of just a percentage. Along with that, I’m afraid the Citadel can no longer offer you the one year I mentioned off your sentence. Additionally, you’ve now been barred from participating in any more Citadel battles, and have been penalized by an additional six months in prison for attempting to assault me. That brings your new total incarceration time to twenty one years and five days. I know you can’t move, but please, in the future, don’t do anything to add to your prison time. Nobody deserves to spend their entire life in jail.”
Fucking Oglo. Any opportunity to talk much more than anyone wanted to hear, he would take it. She so wished he hadn’t paralyzed her, that she would’ve been able to catch him and hit him and crack his skull open. Instead, she got to watch the system updates as he took all her stuff.
[Gold (5645) removed from inventory]
[Steel Warhammer removed from inventory]
[Hook Sword (poisoned) x2 removed from inventory]
[Bobby pin x5 removed from inventory]
[Potion of Lesser Stamina removed from inventory]
[Brass knuckles (poisoned) removed from inventory]
[Potion of Giant Strength x3 removed from inventory]
[Potion of Excellent Healing x2 removed from inventory]
“Wow,” Oglo said with a smile. “You really had some nice stuff in there, Isabelle. I can understand why you tried to attack me, I wouldn’t want to give up this stuff either, if it was mine. Luckily enough for me, now it is mine, at least it’s mine for twenty one years and five days. And, seeing as it’s easy for things to get lost over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t end up getting most of them back when your time was up. Through no fault of my own, of course. I feel bad that you keep staring at me, Isabelle. Yes, it makes me feel like a bad person, but really, I’m not so bad. I did my best to give you a fair, legal way of getting out of your prison sentence. It’s not my fault you didn’t have what it takes. Now, um, I guess I’ll knock you out.”
Isabelle could only watch as Oglo pulled her head up and punched her in the noggin three times.
[-6 hp]
[Notice: You’ve fallen unconscious]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Notice: You’ve woken up]
Isabelle’s eyes opened. Her head felt horrible. She was lying on the floor of her cell.
Quest: Talk to Oglo About Your Prison Sentence
Description: You’ve completed five Citadel battles. Talk to Oglo to see what he can do regarding your prison sentence.
Note: You cannot deactivate this quest
Completed
What a useless message from a useless quest. It was fine, though. Isabelle had already made up her mind back when she was paralyzed. She was going to get out of this hell hole somehow. Nobody knew she could turn invisible now. What’s more, once she did get out of prison, Isabelle was going to find Oglo and take back everything he owed her. Hell, she was going to take back anything Oglo had taken from anyone. And then, after that, Isabelle was going to kill the bastard.
Quest: Get Revenge On Oglo
Description: Oglo has taken everything from you and added six months to your prison sentence. Break out of prison, find him, and enact your revenge.
Reward: Recovery of what’s rightly yours and the joy of shutting Oglo up, perhaps permanently
Activate? Y/N
Wait, what? The system was offering Isabelle a quest to go do exactly what she wanted? Was that normal? Was it supposed to do that?
[Achievement Unlocked: Create your first quest with the system]
Well, that explained it. It was normal. So, Isabelle looked at the dialogue and thought yes.
[Quest ‘Get Revenge on Oglo’ activated]
[Loading quest]
[…]
[…]
[Quest prepared]
[Escape Cloud Reach’s prison]
Well, that was easier said than done. It seemed Isabelle still had to do most of the heavy lifting here, but it was nice that the system listed it. The dialogue made Isabelle feel like it was possible, as opposed to her just hoping it was possible.
But how exactly was she supposed to escape?
Then, Isabelle heard the footsteps of a guard approaching down the hall. She had a feeling there could easily be an opportunity here to make her escape. But what would it be?
The guard was stepping closer. She could see the glimmer of their torchlight. Then, Isabelle had an idea. But, she had a problem. How could she activate her special ability?
[Clarification: Think ‘activate special ability.’]
Obviously. Isabelle should’ve known. She thought ‘Activate special ability.’
[Special Ability: Become Invisibile activated]
[Become Invisible duration remaining: 5:00]
Isabelle looked down and was shocked to see that even she could see through herself. How startling. Startling, but also effective.
The guard approached her cell, calmly glancing towards it. The guard did a double take when they noticed the cell was empty.
“What the hell?” said the guard. “How could she have gotten out?”
Isabelle crouched, just in case.
[Current visibility: 0/200]
Without a moment of hesitation, the guard unlocked Isabelle’s cell door and wandered in to the cell. While the guard looked around, Isabelle crept around him slowly.
[Current visibility: 0/200]
Excellent. Isabelle headed out of the cell. She noticed that the guard had left his roll of keys in the door. Perfect.
[Cloud Reach Prison Key Ring added to inventory]
She slowly eased the cell door shut. Then, Isabelle focused on the door and locked it.
[Prison Cell Door - Locked]
“Huh?” said the guard. They turned around, noticing that they’d been locked inside. “Hey! What in the hell is this?”
Isabelle said nothing. She turned to look at the hallway. Nobody was coming, at least not yet. There was no way to tell what laid beyond this room of the prison. Isabelle started running, eager for a taste of freedom.