Isabelle readied her arrow, preparing to shoot at one of the four guards up the in the tower by the gate to Cloud Reach. Sir Jingles was running in zigzagging circles as the guards fired arrows at him. Tahsi was knelt on the ground, groaning in pain as arrow after arrow struck his chest.
Isabelle pointed her arrow at a guard’s head. She was so far away that Isabelle figured she ought to use some of her stm to steady her aim.
[Stamina 98%]
Isabelle watched as her depth of vision improved and she could see the guard clearer and clearer. When she felt like she had a clear shot at his head, Isabelle fired.
[Stamina 89%]
[Critical hit]
[321 damage dealt]
[‘Cloud Reach Guard’ has been poisoned]
Isabelle had struck right in the guard’s forehead. The guard was startled. He staggered back, quickly stumbling over the side of the tower wall and tumbling down, down, below the other side of the Cloud Reach walls.
[‘Cloud Reach Guard’ is dead]
[Achievement Unlocked: Kill an enemy indirectly]
[Achievement Unlocked: Make an enemy fall from fifty feet or higher]
Well, that was fun. But Isabelle needed to focus on the other guards in the tower, not revel in her success.
[-4 hp]
Isabelle jerked as an arrow shot througth her neck. She was concerned that she might die or something, but once again, all Isabelle felt was the stabbing pain of losing hp in her heart. She did her best to focus her vision on the arrow through her neck.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes. The arrow disappeared.
“Hey, how are you doing that, Isabelle?” asked Tahsi, who was still knelt on the ground and looked similar to a pincushion due to all the arrows coating his torso.
“I just focus my vision on the arrow and then the system gives me an option to add the arrow to my inventory,” said Isabelle. She did wonder why Tahsi had to ask her that, when his wis and int were apparently so much higher than her own. Whatever.
[Tahsi -16 hp]
“AAAGH!” Tahsi cried as an arrow struck his right kneecap. “An arrow to the knee!” Tahsi focused his vision on the arrow. It disappeared into his inventory. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine. I won’t let that stop me from being an adventurer.”
Isabelle snorted as she prepared to fire an arrow at another guard.
[Stamina 97%]
Shit. It missed. Now Isabelle only had one poisoned arrow left. At least she also had those standard arrows the guards had fired at her. Isabelle drew her last poison arrow and focused on a guard.
[Stamina 95%]
Damn it, the guard kept moving. He was trying to shoot arrows at Sir Jingles, whose feline reflexes were clearly making him a difficult target. If only Sir Jingles would use some of those reflexes to help kill guards, instead of just running away from them.
[Stamina 87%]
Isabelle finally had a clear shot at the guard. She fired.
[205 damage dealt]
[‘Cloud Reach Guard’ is poisoned]
The arrow struck the guard in the chest. Isabelle was disappointed with her results. How was she supposed to take all of these guards out on her own? Did neither of her companions have a bow and arrow?
“Tahsi! Sir Jingles! Do either of you have a bow and arrows? I can’t take all these guards out on my own!” said Isabelle.
“I have about twenty arrows, thanks to that add arrow to inventory trick you told me, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. “But I don’t have a bow.”
“Ugh,” Isabelle said. Then again, didn’t Isabelle have another bow? She walked over to Tahsi, barely dodging a few fired arrows, and opened her inventory.
Isabelle focused on the longbow and thought about giving it to Tahsi.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 78/92
Item
Traits
Longbow
+3 damage, +1 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
[Give party member ‘Tahsi’ item ‘Longbow’?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
“Thanks, Isabelle!” said Tahsi with a smile. He equipped the longbow and started aiming at guards. “My archery level is six, so I should be able to kill some of these guys pretty quickly.”
Isabelle almost wished she hadn’t given Tahsi the bow. Even his archery was higher than hers, and Isabelle had never seen Tahsi fire an arrow before. It just wasn’t fair.
Tahsi and Isabelle readied their arrows in semi-unison, though Tahsi was able to load his faster. They each aimed at a guard. Tahsi fired a coupler seconds faster than Isabelle.
[Critical hit]
[645 damage dealt]
[‘Cloud Reach Guard’ is dead]
At first, Isabelle felt vindicated and joyful on seeing these notices from the system. Until more of them came in, and she realized that she’d been seeing the status updates for Tahsi, who had just one shot killed a guard by shooting an arrow through their neck.
[Stamina 98%]
[321 damage dealt]
Isabelle had hit the guard she’d hit earlier, and he was looking pretty haggard, but he was still alive, and was now preparing to fire an arrow back at her. This was such bullshit. Isabelle didn’t want to keep firing arrows when Tahsi could one shot somebody in half a second.
Isabelle unequipped her bow and her arrows.
“Isabelle, what are you doing?” asked Tahsi as he drew another arrow and aimed it at the weakened guard. “Are we going to run away? I’d love to run away, don’t get it twisted, I just didn’t think you’d want to give up on your active quest is all.” Tahsi fired his arrow.
[345 damage dealt]
[Cloud Reach Guard is dead]
“Nice job, Tahsi. Also, I’m not running away,” said Isabelle. She opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 77/92
Item
Traits
Necromancer Robes
+10 mana, +3 confuse, +3 enchant, +1 destroy, +4 carry weight
Ring of Improved Destroy
+3 destroy
Staff of the Undead
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+5 mana, +2 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
[Necromancer Robes equipped]
[+10 mana]
[+3 confuse]
[+3 enchant]
[+1 destroy]
[Ring of Improved Destroy equipped]
[+3 destroy]
[Staff of the Undead equipped]
[+5 mana]
“Holy shit, what’s all that stuff?” asked Sir Jingles. He stopped running around to look in awe at Isabelle’s robes. This, unfortunately, gave a guard the opportunity to hit him in the back with an arrow.
[Sir Jingles -8 hp]
“Fuck, that hurt!” said Sir Jingles.
Isabelle raised her right hand and aimed her pointer finger at the last remaining guard at the tower. She honestly wasn’t entirely certain this would work, but maybe using extra stamina to up her focus would give Isabelle the edge and range she needed.
[Stamina 95%]
Yes, Isabelle could picture the path her cast spell would take through the air and towards the guard. She watched the guard aim an arrow at her. Good luck, Isabelle thought.
[Stamina 85%]
[Error: Command ‘good luck’ does not exist]
Isabelle rolled her eyes.
[Stamina 79%]
Isabelle thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[Mana 92%]
Lightning coursed out of Isabelle’s pointed finger, snaking its way through the air higher and higher and right to the chest of the remaining Cloud Reach guard, who was enveloped by electricity.
[Critical hit]
[555 damage dealt]
[323 electrocution damage dealt]
[Achievement Unlocked: Use a spell for a long range attack]
The guard stood there, twitching and spasming. Smoke rose from his body. His body dropped, limp, forwards and off the side of the wall, falling and splattering over the ground by the gate entrance.
[Cloud Reach Guard is dead]
“Fuck’s sake,” said both Tahsi and Sir Jingles in unison.
[Combat mode deactivated]
Isabelle walked forward, looking around. She noticed that the gate to Cloud Reach was closed. She did not see any guards rushing forward on the other side. She could still see some smoke billowing in the air, remnants of the exploded hanging stage no doubt.
“I don’t think they’re going to let anybody come in through that gate any time soon,” said Tahsi. He equipped some stale bread and chewed it with a smile. “Especially after this. Really, we ought to consider laying low in Westroad the rest of the night in case anyone’s out looking for us and then going around Cloud Reach and into Wheatstar. Even if our plan is to break back into the prison, I think entering Cloud Reach through the Wheatstar gate will be much less suspicious, and well worth the inconvenience.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Why was Tahsi always going on and on about what he thought they ought to do?
“I find that idea just irksome, honestly,” said Sir Jingles. “There’s no way in hell I’m trampzing through the woods. It’s not safe, and it’ll scratch up the pads of my feet rather terribly.”
“What if we had mounts? Like some horses, or something?” asked Tahsi. “If we had horses, the whole trip wouldn’t take long at all. What’s more, with horses and our Cloud Reach guard armor, we’ll look like members of the mounted guard. Everyone takes them a lot more seriously than standard guards, so we’ll probably be able to get away with pretty much anything. Nobody’s expecting three missing criminals to have nice, intimidating horses.”
Isabelle had to admit, she kind of liked the horse idea. She’d gone to horse camp a few summers back in her old life, and remembered it fondly. Plus, it would probably only be easier for her to ride a horse now in Beaubinte, considering that Isabelle had the system to help her.
“There’s no way in hell we’ll be able to get horses!” said Sir Jingles. “Horses run, what, like a thousand gold a piece? At least? Where in the fuck are we going to get that kind of money, you crazy kobold?”
Isabelle cleared her throat and checked her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 77/79
Item
Traits
Raw Garnet
n/a
Garnet x2
n/a
Amethyst x3
n/a
Sapphire
n/a
Copper (6)
n/a
Gold (2840)
n/a
“What?” asked Sir Jingles. “What are you checking, Isabelle? Am I missing something, here?”
“Well, I might have enough money,” said Isabelle.
“Really?” asked Sir Jingles with skepticism.
“Actually, I wouldn’t be too surprised if that were the case,” said Tahsi. “Didn’t you go through a dungeon to escape the prison, Isabelle?”
“Yes, Tahsi. I sure did,” said Isabelle. “Only, I’ve got a little less than three thousand gold. So unless I can sell this raw garnet, these two normal garnets, these three amethysts, and this one sapphire I have, I don’t know if I’ll have enough to buy all three of us horses.”
Isabelle looked at Tahsi and Sir Jingles, noticing both of their jaws hanging wide open.
“What?” Isabelle asked. “What’s the issue, here?”
“No issue, no issue at all,” said Sir Jingles. “Only, if you hadn’t intimidation checked me into not trying to pickpocket you, I’d be all over your inventory right now.”
“I would say not to tell most people that you’re carrying all that stuff around, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. “Some people would kill for that much money. Hell, I think a lot of people would. Especially around Wheatstar, which—”
“Tahsi, I know about Wheatstar!” Isabelle snapped. “I talked to some orc at a bar and before I knew what was what he had three hired goons going after me! They weren’t worth a shit, though, and I killed them quickly.”
“Isabelle, you’re kind of scaring the shit out of me right now,” said Sir Jingles. “That said, I think we ought to consider the horse idea seriously now. While it would be best if we could find a shop that might buy some of your gems for gold, I think it’ll be more likely that you could try to convince someone with horses to sell us three for a lump sum and some gems.”
That sounded fair enough. Isabelle, Tahsi and Sir Jingles headed to the east, where they could see some stables in the distance. It didn’t take long before the familiar scent of horse dung filled the air. They were happy to see that the lights inside the cottage attached to the stables were on.
“Now, before we go in, let’s get out of these guards outfits. I can’t imagine anybody would willingly sell horses to Cloud Reach guards,” said Tahsi. Tahsi unequipped his guard armor and put on his burlap prison sack. “Oh, shit. Now I just look like a damn inmate.”
“Yea, that is a bit of an issue for you,” said Sir Jingles, equipping some flowing, fanciful robes that were not a far cry from what he was wearing before he got arrested.
“How’d you get those clothes, Jingles?” asked Isabelle, content to continue wearing her necormancer’s robes, though she unequipped the staff of the undead so as to seem a little less intimidating.
“Easy,” said Sir Jingles. “I just walked into a clothing shop in my guard outfit and told them to give me some of their best stuff or I’d arrest them on suspicion of price gouging. Of course, do that out here and you’ll get shot or stabbed, but inside the Cloud Reach walls a Cloud Reach guard can do much of anything. You know, Tahsi, I think I have some kobold clothes in my inventory now, too, if you’d like them. I’m not sure they’re your style, of course, but at least they’ll keep you from looking like an escapee.”
Isabelle watched as Tahsi equipped Sir Jingles’ offering. She burst into laughter as she saw Tahsi’s torso envelopped in long, flowing ruffles and his lower half covered in tightly fitted brown leggings.
“Oh my gods,” said Tahsi. “I look ridiculous.”
“To each their own,” said Sir Jingles. “I find that piece rather classy.”
As her party members bickered, Isabelle walked up to the cottage door and knocked on it thrice. After a few moments, the door cracked open, and serpentine eyes were looking back at her.
“Hey, what do you want, human?” asked the kobold.
“Um, my party members and I were hoping to purchase some of your horses,” said Isabelle.
“Oh yea?” asked the kobold. She opened the door up a little more and cleared her throat. “Now, do you mean purchase, or do you mean rent?”
“I’d hope we could purchase them,” said Isabelle. “If that’s possible, I mean.”
“It’s possible for me,” said the kobold “But I don’t know you three, and I don’t know if it’s possible for you. Then again—” the kobold looked at Tahsi and Sir Jingles’ outfits, “—maybe you three can afford it, after all. We just don’t often get folks around here willing and ready to buy a horse outright. Folks without a good credit history, I mean. I do offer pretty good financing options myself, though you are of course welcome to finance with your own financial institution of choice if that’s what you’d prefer.”
Tahsi walked forward on hearing this. It was like he could sense Isabelle’s bewilderment at being talked to about horse financing.
“We’ll be buying outright, if that’s okay,” said Tahsi.
“Oh, that’s more than okay,” said the stable owner. “It’s just a little unusual. Then again, you three look well enough off, and those ruffles look mighty flattering on you.”
Tahsi almost looked like he was blushing through his scales. “Aw. Thanks for saying that. Now, erm, how much might it cost to purchase three of your fine steeds?”
“Right to business. I like your style, mister. Let’s go on outside and look at some horses,” said the kobold. Was she batting her scaly eyelashes at Tahsi? Isabelle felt sick to her stomach just watching the scene unfold.
The stable owner kobold lead Tahsi, Isabelle and Sir Jingles to some rolling pasture. They could see six horses chewing hay across it.
“Now, before we get started, are any of you three interested in test rides tonight?” asked the kobold.
Everyone grumbled no, though they hadn’t discussed it beforehand.
“Alright, that’s fine, no worry, no worry,” said the kobold. She walked them over to a very muscular horse with white and black speckled hair. “Now, this horse here is just absolutely lovely. Lugano’s his name, sprinting is his game. He can leap over medium-sized ravines fairly reliably, and his stamina is unparalleled.” The kobold patted Lugano on one of his hind legs. “Yours for two and a half thousand gold.”
Isabelle felt a little uncomfortable. Hadn’t Sir Jingles said she only needed one thousand gold per horse?
“He’s just one horse, of course, and I know you’re looking for three, so I will say that if you purchase Lugano today I’ll throw in his brothers, Stefano and Doug, who you can see over there—” the kobold pointed to a fully black horse in the distance, and a fully white horse even further in the distance, “—for a discounted total of five thousand five hundred gold.”
That was… so much more than Isabelle thought she’d have to pay. Then again, she had no idea how much her gemstones were worth, or whether this stable owner would accept them as payment.
“I will remind the three of you that we do offer financing here at the stables, with a very competitive APR,” said the stable owner kobold with a smile.
[Speechcraft attempt: barter]
“How about this,” said Tahsi. “We give you two thousand five hundred gold, along with some precious gemstones?”
[Speechcraft had mixed results]
“Hmm,” said the stable owner kobold. “Paying with cash and gemstones? That’s a little suspicious. Where did you three say you’re from, again? And why do you need these horses, exactly?”
The aura of the conversation suddenly shifted. Isabelle felt a little uncomfortable. And then, the awful dialogue popped up in her vision.
[Recognized: 22/100]
Shit. So much for Tahsi and his amazing charisma score.