Isabelle stood in stunned shock as Tahsi swung one of his stale bread loaves at her face, and her own horses ran forward and trampled her with the hooves. She was already feeling quite haggard, and if Isabelle didn’t do something soon she’d be all out of health. She looked to the three-eyed, eight legged puma, also known as the supposed prince of Sharithlond, who was controlling her party members’ every move. He had a big smirk on his monstrous face.
[-2 hp]
[-3 hp]
[-2 hp]
Isabelle was already feeling a little lightheaded from all the hp loss. However, didn’t she still have some of her special ability left to use? She’d deactivated it early, so there was a chance. Isabelle thought ‘Activate special ability.’
[Special Ability: Become Invisible activated]
[Become Invisible duration remaining: 2:11]
Okay. Not a ton of time, but it was better than nothing.
[Current visibility: 0/300]
Tahsi and the horses suddenly stopped attacking Isabelle.
“Shit, where’d she go?” said the prince, his three sinister eyes darting around the scene.
“I’m sorry, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. “But I seem to have lost track of that prince guy. And just when I’d almost killed him, too!”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Obviously the prince’s confusion spell was still working overtime on Tahsi. If only she knew how long it lasted, or what to do to break its hold on her party member.
[Clarification: To see the duration of a spell cast against a party member, think ‘See (party member) cast spell duration.’]
[Clarification: You need to know more spells to attempt to counter a cast spell. There are confuse spells and heal spells that could possible serve your purpose.]
Great, so much for doing anything else for Tahsi at the moment other than waiting out the clock. At least Isabelle could see how much longer the confuse spell lasted. She thought, ‘See Tahsi cast spell duration.’
[Tahsi confuse duration remaining: 3:09]
[Become Invisible duration remaining: 1:43]
Fuck. So Isabelle was going to lose her invisibility before Tahsi regained his senses. What a mess! Isabelle didn’t even want to see how long the spell would last on the horses.
[Current visibility: 0/300]
Isabelle’s current visibility indicator gave her another idea. Didn’t she have Stelas’ poisoning daggers in her inventory? Maybe she could do a bit of a sneak attack on this unsavory prince-monster while she was invisible. Sure, she couldn’t really kill him since he was in the Overlord’s party, but Isabelle knew she could at least weaken him. And maybe a weak prince-monster would have to jump out of his monster form and become a prince again.
Isabelle walked over to the prince and watched him search around for her aimlessly. His large, feline tail danced and flicked around in the air with menace. She opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 89/91
Item
Traits
Flask of Whiskey
n/a
Shrouded Cowl
+1 sneak level, +1.5 carry weight
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Hey, Isabelle had forgotten all about the shrouded cowl! It added a whole level to her sneak, so she had to equip that. She also appreciated the system showing her the flask of whiskey, but Isabelle wasn’t sure that was the best choice for this situation, as badly as she wanted a drink.
[Shrouded Cowl equipped]
[+1 sneak]
[Poisoning Dagger x2 equipped]
[+2 poison]
[+12 damage]
[+2 sneak level]
Holy shit. Those poisoning daggers were not fucking around. Isabelle would have to be careful she didn’t break them, like her poor fang blades. For a moment, Isabelle wondered if maybe some day she’d happen upon another giant spider in a dungeon and could make herself some new ones. It sounded kind of implausible, but she was in Beaubinte, and who knew what all could happen.
[Become Invisible duration remaining: 1:02]
Fuck! Isabelle needed to stop thinking so much about her old weapons and get this stealth attack in gear. She skirted around the prince, who was ambling around on his eight legs towards Sir Jingles, who’d scurried up into a tree to hide.
“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty,” said the prince.
“That’s just demeaning!” said Sir Jingles. Isabelle noticed he was as puffed up as a pom pom. “Plus, you’re a cat too! Or, at least you’re in a feline shape at the moment. Knock it off with the cat-based insults!”
Isabelle shook her head, thinking to herself that Sir Jingles sure was a pussy. Then, she inched up right by the prince’s furry haunches, raised her poisoned daggers, and plunged them deep into the prince’s hide.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[778 damage dealt]
[‘Prince of Sharithlond’ is poisoned]
[Stamina 89%]
“Ack!” said the prince. “What the fuck was that?! Where are you?”
He looked around every which way, but it was no use. Isabelle was invisible.
[Become Invisible duration remaining: 0:31]
Well, she was invisible, but not for much longer. Isabelle needed to take this guy down, and fast. She dashed over to his huge, snarling face and stabbed the prince right in each of his three eyes with quick, alternating slashes.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[345 damage dealt]
[‘Prince of Sharithlond’ is poisoned]
[Stamina 84%]
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[345 damage dealt]
[‘Prince of Sharithlond’ is poisoned]
[Stamina 76%]
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[345 damage dealt]
[‘Prince of Sharithlond’ is poisoned]
[Stamina 71%]
“AAAGH!” screamed the prince. He staggered back, clutching at his eyes, which were leaking a glowing green pus. “I am severely weakened!”
[Become Invisible has expired]
Shit.
“Isabelle!” said Tahsi. “I see the prince again! Don’t worry, I’ll take him out for us!”
[Stamina 77%]
Tahsi charged toward Isabelle, and worse still, so did the horses.
“Lugano, Stefano, Doug, I’m so sorry for this,” said Isabelle. She unequipped the dagger in her right hand and raised her palm towards Tahsi and the horses. Isabelle thought ‘Cast Ice Blast’ and focused on powering up the spell with as much mana as she could muster.
[Mana 13%]
[Stamina 81%]
Ice flew out of her palm and cascaded around Tahsi and the horses. As it fluttered away into dust, Isabelle was relieved to see all four of them encased in a layer of ice.
“I’ll melt you guys out of there as soon as that confusion spell wears off, I promise,” Isabelle said. She turned to look back at the prince, who was growling at her with malice. “Alright, what the hell is your deal? Are you even a fucking prince?”
“Of course I’m a prince! How fucking dare you!” said the puma prince, leaping towards Isabelle with his fangs bared and claws unsheathed.
[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]
[Y/N]
Now that was good timing. Isabelle thought yes.
[Extra focus activated]
[Stamina 80%]
Time slowed to a crawl. Isabelle could see the prince slowly getting closer and closer to pouncing on her, but as long as she had stamina, she had time to act.
[Stamina 72%]
Isabelle requipped the poisoning dagger in her right hand so that she was dual wielding them again.
[Poisoning Dagger equipped]
[+1 poison]
[+6 damage]
[+1 sneak level]
[Stamina 64%]
Nice. Isabelle pointed the daggers up towards the prince’s soft underbelly. She drew them back slightly, and then as time suddenly sped up to normal speed she stabbed them deep into his gut and dragged them up to his neck and chin.
[Critical hit]
[2033 damage dealt]
[‘Prince of Sharithlond’ is poisoned]
[‘Prince of Sharithlond’ is unconscious]
[Stamina 32%]
[Armed combat increased to level 7]
[Combat mode deactivated]
As the prince slumped over in an unconscious heap, his three eyes rolled back into his head. Then, slowly and in tune with each baited breath, his body reshaped itself from the monstrous puma beast into the form of the soft, slender elf prince.
Isabelle had kind of been hoping to level up from all that, but then again, she had only just reached level 14 anyway. Plus, at least she’d leveled up her armed combat. Still, since the danger had passed them, at least for the moment, Isabelle decided to her check on her XP and see how much longer she had to go. Isabelle thought, ‘See xp status.’
XP Status
Overall XP:
41/100
Level:
14
Magic Ability XP
Enchant:
0/100 xp
level 0
Summon:
0/100 xp
level 0
Heal:
0/100 xp
level 0
Destroy:
76/100 xp
5
Transmute:
0/100 xp
level 0
Confuse:
35/100 xp
level 0
Normal Ability Levels
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Crafting:
0/100 xp
level 4
Sneak:
95/100 xp
level 6
Archery:
22/100 xp
level 5
Lockpick:
0/100 xp
level 0
Armed Combat:
21/100 xp
level 6
Melee Combat:
55/100 xp
level 4
Speechcraft:
42/100 xp
level 6
Sleight Of Hand:
42/100 xp
level 3
Hmm. Not bad, not bad at all. Then, Isabelle noticed thst her sneak was about ready to level up! Maybe she could spur on that process a little. Isabelle crouched.
[Current visibility: 300/300]
“Isabelle, what are you doing?” asked Sir Jingles from up in his hiding tree.
Isabelle rolled her eyes, ignoring her party member’s question. She continued to crawl around the forest floor, eventually spying a rather thick patch of bushes. She slunk behind them.
[Current visibility: 0/300]
“Hey, Isabelle, where’d you go?” asked Sir Jingles.
[Sneak increased to level 7]
Perfect. Only, Isabelle had still been hoping she’d get to level up proper from that, and it looked like she didn’t. What a bummer. She thought ‘See xp status’ again so that Isabelle could judge how much more progress she needed to make.
XP Status
Overall XP:
86/100
Level:
14
Magic Ability XP
Enchant:
0/100 xp
level 0
Summon:
0/100 xp
level 0
Heal:
0/100 xp
level 0
Destroy:
76/100 xp
5
Transmute:
0/100 xp
level 0
Confuse:
35/100 xp
level 0
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
0/100 xp
level 4
Sneak:
1/100 xp
level 7
Archery:
22/100 xp
level 5
Lockpick:
0/100 xp
level 0
Armed Combat:
21/100 xp
level 6
Melee Combat:
55/100 xp
level 4
Speechcraft:
42/100 xp
level 6
Sleight Of Hand:
42/100 xp
level 3
That wasn’t too bad. Isabelle would probably level up fairly soon. She could probably push herself over the edge sooner rather than later, though, if she worked on some of these other abilities. If only she could learn that confuse spell that the prince had used on Tahsi and the horses! With that, Isabelle would surely level up her own confuse level. Plus, it was obviously an incredibly useful spell. Isabelle could imagine it coming in handy if they ever managed to sneak back into Cloud Reach and got on the wrong end of an argument with the guards.
Isabelle looked back to Tahsi and the horses. She needed to melt them out of that ice before she focused on anything else. Isabelle unequipped both her poisoning daggers and raised her right hand. She thought, ‘Draw Flame.’
[Mana 96%]
Her right hand erupted into flame. Isabelle walked towards her frozen companions and raised her flaming hand to the ice. Quickly, it melted away, and soon Tahsi and the horses were rasping for air.
[Mana 85%]
“Holy shit,” said Tahsi. “I’m so sorry, Isabelle. You have got to understand, I thought you were the prince! It was so strange, it was like my vision changed and everything!”
“It’s fine, Tahsi,” said Isabelle as she melted some ice off a horse hoof. "The prince cast a confuse spell on you. You couldn't help it. He did it to the horses, too."
[Mana 77%]
“Huh,” said Tahsi. “Pretty interesting. That sounds like a useful spell, If only we had some way to learn it from this unconscious prince guy.”
Isabelle shook the fire out of her hand and scowled at Tahsi. Great, somehow he’d managed to have the same idea she’d had, but had also had the wherewithal to say so aloud. Now Tahsi would get all the credit if they did find a way to learn the prince’s confuse spell. What a joke.
“Hey, it was only an idea, Isabelle!” said Tahsi. He’d misinterpreted her facial expression. “I just pictured us using it against the guards if we ever got back to Cloud Reach and ended up at the wrong end of their swords again is all.”
Isabelle sighed.
“Hey, that’s not a bad idea, Tahsi,” said Sir Jingles. He hopped down from the tree, landing perfectly on his feet. “You know, I nabbed this thing called a ‘spell catcher’ from a guy in Middlewharf a few months ago. It might be just the ticket!”
“Wow, I sure am glad I thought of that,” said Tahsi. “What a good thought I had.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes.
“Gee, I’m chilly,” said Tahsi. “You know what’ll warm me right up? Some delicious bread!” He equipped some bread and took a chomp.
Isabelle remembered her hp was still fairly low.
“Hey, um, Tahsi?” asked Isabelle. “Would you… um, would you mind if I had some of your bread?”
“Say no more!” said Tahsi. He equipped three loaves of bread and stuffed them in her hands before Isabelle could take a breath. “Enjoy!” Tahsi smiled.
Isabelle crunched down on Tahsi’s bread and forced herself to smile back. She felt obligated to look happy, with him being so genuinely happy.
[+4 hp]
[+3 hp]
Each bit was more rocky and unpleasant than the next, but it healed her, and Tahsi seemed to be on cloud nine.
[+3 hp]
[+3 hp]
“Okay, I found the spell catcher!” said Sir Jingles. He held it in the air for all to see. It looked almost like a spider’s web, or a cat’s cradle, made out of a sparkling, fuzzy yarn. “Hey, has everyone looked at this already? I’m losing my mind here trying to keep myself from swatting at it.”
“Do you mind if I use the system to learn more about it real quick, Sir Jingles?” asked Isabelle.
“Yea, sure, what the hell,” said Sir Jingles.
Isabelle focused on the spell catcher and thought, ‘Learn more.’
Item: Spell Catcher
Traits: +2 carry weight
Description: This artfully crafted spell catcher, when equipped, allows the user to ‘catch’ any available (read: recently used) spell or ability from an unconscious player or NPC. The act of ‘catching’ is an act of random chance mixed with your int, wis, and const scores. Once a spell/ability is ‘caught,’ it becomes unavailable to the player or NPC it was taken from, and can be granted to anyone who equips the spell catcher and activates it.
Note: Once this spell catcher is activated and grants a spell/ability to someone it will collapse, destroying itself permanently, never to be used again. It will also collapse after five failed catching attempts.
“This is fucking awesome,” said Isabelle. “Alright, Jingles, hand it over.”
“Wait a second,” said Sir Jingles. “Who said you were getting it, Isabelle? It should go to whoever in the party has the highest int, wis and const.”
Isabelle sighed. Then, she and Sir Jingles both looked at Tahsi.
“Why’s everyone looking at me?” asked Tahsi. He took a bite of bread and spoke while he chewed it. “I mean, okay. Maybe my wis is 70, I get that. But my int is only 45! And my const is barely better than that, it’s just 41.”
Isabelle and Sir Jingles looked at Tahsi with wide eyes and open jaws.
“What?” asked Tahsi.
“You know, Tahsi, I’d had a feeling you’d leveled up some since the last time I leveled you up,” said Isabelle. “But those stats are absolutely wild. I don’t even know how you’ve managed to get all those skill points so insanely high when you’re only three levels above mine.”
“I guess it pays to be an NPC with real world experience,” said Tahsi. “Anyway, I’ll go ahead and try out that spell catcher now, if you’d like.”
Sir Jingles handed Tahsi the spell catcher. Tahsi held the spell catcher, walked over to the unconscious prince, and focused on his body.
[Use Spell Catcher on ‘Prince of Sharithlond’?]
Tahsi nodded. Nothing happened.
“You have to think yes, Tahsi,” said Isabelle.
“Oh, thanks, Isabelle,” said Tahsi.
[Spell catch failed]
“Ah shit,” said Tahsi. “I’ll have to try again.”
[Spell catch failed]
“Fuck!” Tahsi said. “This is frustrating.”
[Spell catch failed]
“Ugh. I’m getting kind of nervous, folks,” said Tahsi.
[Spell catch succeeded]
[Please select recent spell/ability to catch: Spell - Confuse, Special Ability - Transmute to Mega Puma]
“Huh,” said Tahsi. “It looks like there are two things I can catch from this guy. I can take the confuse spell, or I can take his special ability, which is to turn into that weird puma thing. But, didn’t the puma thing he turned into give him the power to use the spell? And what’s more, if I take his transmute ability, doesn’t that mean this prince can’t really threaten us any more?”
“Are you just thinking out loud, Tahsi?” asked Isabelle.
“Yea, kinda,” said Tahsi. “But I also want to know what you think. Should I still take his confuse spell, or should I take his special ability?”
As much as Isabelle was annoyed at Tahsi for being definitively better than her at so many things, she had to agree he had a point. “Take the ability, Tahsi.”
“Okay, great!” Tahsi smiled.
[Special Ability - Transmute to Mega Puma from ‘Prince of Sharithlond’ has been caught in the spell catcher]
[Achievement Unlocked: Capture an NPC’s spell in a spell catcher]
Well that was nice. Isabelle got the achievement for capturing the spell even though Tahsi was the one doing it. She guessed it was because he was part of her party.
“Well,” said Tahsi, “Who wants the special ability, then?”
Everybody just kind of stood around, looking at the ground awkwardly. The mega puma was a pretty gross transformation, and Isabelle wasn’t eager to take on that task. Plus, she wasn’t totally sure it wouldn’t take away her current special ability of invisbility, which had already saved her life far too many times to be discounted.
Unable to reach a descision, the party decided Sir Jingles could take his full spell catcher back and stash it in his own inventory. Then, they tied the prince back up, threw him back on Stefano the horse’s back, and mounted their steeds. Isabelle noted that she could smell a strong whiff of burning smoke and sulfur, but wasn’t sure where exactly it was coming from. It seemed to have blown in from a gust of wind.
It was not even five minutes after walking along the woodland trail that they reached a clearing where, in the distance, they could clearly see signs of civilization.
“Hey!” said Tahsi. “We made it! We’re at the outskirts of Wheatstar!”
Everyone rejoiced for a moment, except for Stelas’ severed head, which grumbled about the entire situation being bullshit and how uncomfortable being stuffed in a burlap sack was.
“Something seems off,” said Sir Jingles.
Something did seem off. There was smoke billowing in the air. And, when Isabelle focused, she could see what looked like licks of flame burning some of the buildings in the distance.
“What the hell is happening?” asked Isabelle.
[Combat mode activated]
“Fuck’s sake,” said Sir Jingles. “Aren’t we going to get a break at some point?”
“I don’t even see any enemies!” said Isabelle. She was frustrated. They hadn’t even gotten a moment to celebrate getting out of the woods before getting thrown into, well, whatever the hell was happening here.
“Oh my gods,” said Tahsi. “Look up there.”
Isabelle looked up and gasped. There was a dark red, winged lizard swooping and darting through the air, breathing bursts of fire on the ground some distance away.
“Holy shit,” said Isabelle. “An actual fucking dragon.”
“He looks kind of like you, Tahsi,” said Sir Jingles, wiggling his whiskers with a sneer.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” said Tahsi.