Isabelle stood there, staring at the slender, pale elf holding a long saber. It was the false prince of Sharithlond, whom Isabelle and her party had taken prisoner a while back.
“What did you just say to me?” asked Isabelle.
“I said—” said the elf, “—what are you doing on the road to Chox?”
“Chox?” said Isabelle.
“Yes,” said the elf. “You know, follow the rive from the port of Thres to the east and Chox is the first city there?”
“Not really ringing a bell,” said Isabelle.
“It’s the one with the cult?” said the elf.
“The cult?” asked Isabelle. That did sound a little familiar.
“Yes, the cult of Chox, as it’s informally referred to,” said the elf. “It’s the biggest cult in Beaubinte, actually. Hell, really it’s the biggest religious movement in Beaubinte. Which is pretty funny considering where it’s located. You know, the Protectorate of Ozi isn’t much of a big nation, so really it’s kind of ironic, but yes. Chox is a city, named after a guy. That guy’s name is, get this, Chox. And the cult is self is known as Choxianism, or more informally the Choxian Cult.”
“You just said Chox a whole lot of times,” said Isabelle.
“Yea I did, I just felt compelled to,” said the elf. “They say Chox has that effect on people.”
“Weird,” said Isabelle. “And kind of creepy.”
“More than kind of creepy,” said the elf. “He’s known for brainwashing people and turning them into his quote-unquote ‘flesh puppets,’ which is something that just rustles my jimmies immensely.”
“Hey, can I ask you something only tangentially related?” asked Isabelle.
“Sure, why not?” said the elf.
“Why are you telling me all these things? I kind of got the distinct vibe that you were going to try and kill me or something, what with that saber pointed at me and all,” said Isabelle.
“Oh, I’m not an idiot, Isabelle,” said the elf. “I know how powerful you are. And I know how much you have at your disposal. Anything I could try would be worthless. You’ve slain dragons. Simply put, I’m no match for you.”
Isabelle scowled. She enjoyed the flattery, but it also made her suspicious. “Maybe you’re not, but that doesn’t mean I trust you at all. Especially with that long, dangerous saber of yours. You’re a backstabber. How can I really trust or believe anything you’ve said to me?”
“Isabelle, you’re under no obligation to believe me,” said the elf. “I was just trying to keep you informed of Chox, Chox the city and Chox the cult leader, but really you have to make up your own mind about everything. Really, though, I think you’ll find that this is common knowledge. You really haven’t heard of Chox before?”
Isabelle racked her brain. She did remember talking about Chox to an orc in an inn back in Wheatstar, but that felt so long ago. Still, the cult thing sounded somewhat familiar. “Yea, okay, maybe you’re telling the truth this time. Regardless, why the hell are you even talking to me? And what are you doing? If you’ll even answer those questions truthfully.”
“I’m just… venturing around,” said the elf.
“That’s not suspiciously at all,” Isabelle said sardonically.
“I am!” said the elf. “Thres is a shitshow. Nobody has any money, everyone’s in debt, and the infrastructure, which is all the damned township had going for it in the first place, is practically all demolished in part due to dragons and in part due to… well, due to you. And, all things considered, a con man needs to be somewhere where there’s a lot of money if he wants to succeed in his goals of conning people out of it.”
“You have me somewhat convinced,” said Isabelle. “Still, why go to a cult place? Wouldn’t they be hard to con?”
The elf laughed. “Isabelle, Isabelle, Isabelle. Think with your wis, instead of with your int for a second.”
Isabelle frowned. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“I can see you’re not getting the picture. Let me put it like this,” said the elf. “Where can you find the most egregious amounts of money possible, with as little oversight as possible, all the while surrounded by the most gullible, braindead idiots possible?”
Isabelle was starting to get the picture. “I see. So you’re on your way to Chox to swindle them out of everything. But how do you know you won’t fall victim to the cult yourself? How do you know you won’t get converted?”
“Hah!” said the elf. “My diety is Dezdarr, the Trickster God. And old Dezzy has my back, see. I won’t be falling for any tricks, that much I’m certain of.”
Isabelle felt a little uncomfortable with this assertion. “I’d be more cautious if I were you, assuming you’re telling the truth about Chox being a center for a cult.” She could remember her past life, and her experiences studying cults while working towards her anthropology degree. Isabelle knew that most anyone was susceptible to cult mentality, and thinking that you weren’t was effectively putting on blinders and letting them walk on in and brainwash you.
“Trust me, player,” said the elf. Then, he laughed. “Then again, what am I saying? You’ll never trust me, will you?”
Isabelle shook her head. “No, not after all the shit you pulled. Now what are we going to do? Am I going to have to fight you?”
“I don’t know,” said the elf. “I don’t think a fight is necessary if you don’t, so long as you don’t try and capture me or anything. Seeing as you’re wearing those dingy peasant robes instead of some armor made out of a dragon or whatever I’m assuming you got robbed by those dead kobolds over there?”
“Yes,” said Isabelle. “But even without weapons I could take you out with magic in an instant.”
“I don’t doubt that,” said the elf. “And what’s more, I really don’t want to test that theory, either. I know when I’m bested.”
“Okay,” said Isabelle. “Good.”
“However—” the elf pointed his sword at Isabelle, “—I do find myself somewhat interested, compelled if you might say, to see if I can call your bluff. You see, I’ve got a special kind of spell on my hands now. An—”
“Anti-magic field?” asked Isabelle, rolling her eyes.
“Yes!” said the elf. “Why, how’d you know?”
“It seems everyone has them these days,” said Isabelle with a sigh. “And frankly I’m sick of it. Seems an awfully cheap way to make my spells useless.”
“You have to understand, Isabelle—” said the elf, “—as the mage of shadows, your ability to use magic puts most people at odds with you.”
“It’s not just me that uses magic, you know,” said Isabelle.
“Indeed, that is true,” said the elf. “But at the same time, not everyone is the mage of shadows. And the Chandian Theocracy, on determining that you are indeed the mage of shadows, saw fit to disperse anti-magic fields throughout Beaubinte in order to protect people from you.”
“Sorry, what?” asked Isabelle. “Chandian Theocracy?”
“You really need to brush up on your geography, Isabelle,” said the elf. “The Chandian Theocracy is one of the largest nations in Beaubinte, and it’s a part of the western continent. They’ve been putting out these bulletins all over the place from airships.”
“Airships?” asked Isabelle. “I haven’t seen any damn airships!”
“Maybe that’s because you haven’t been looking, player,” said the elf. “You’ve been so busy killing and causing mayhem, like a real mage of shadows would, that you haven’t been paying a shred of attention to global politics. With the Overlord dethroned and the Red Serpent headed by two queens instead of him, there’s a serious power struggle between the Serpent and Chandia going on that you’re not really privvy to. The anti-magic fields are part of that, and hell, whether you realize it or not, you are part of it.”
“Okay, but why haven’t I seen any airships?” asked Isabelle.
“Do I have to break it all down for you?” asked the elf.
“Yes,” said Isabelle.
“Fair enough,” said the elf. “The airships deployed only fairly recently and—you know what, Isabelle?”
“No, I don’t know what,” said Isabelle.
“It was a figure of speech,” said the elf.
“Oh,” said Isabelle.
“Anyway, what I was trying to say is that here, just read this flyer sometime and it’ll explain the whole thing to you,” said the elf. “The airships have been dropping these everywhere. You probably would’ve already seen one if you hadn’t been locked away in that wooden carriage while you were meditating.”
[Airship Drop Note added to inventory]
“Usually, the notes come with special spell tomes that teach the reader how to use anti-magic fields,” said the elf. “Of course, I’ve already used mine, so I’m just giving you the note.”
“Wait a second,” said Isabelle. “If it’s a spell tome, can’t you just hand it off to me?”
“No, they’re special spell tomes,” said the elf. “They self destruct after one use. It’s some policy of Chandia’s to force scarcity.”
“Force scarcity?” asked Isabelle. “How could you even force scarcity when they’re dropping the shit everywhere?”
“You’ve got to have a demand before you can make something scarce, Isabelle,” said the elf. “Gods, it’s like you have no business sense whatsoever.”
“Why should I have business sense at all?” asked Isabelle.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the elf. “Maybe because your int and wis are fairly high, I guess. But, whatever. Go ahead, read the airship drop note.”
“I don’t think so,” said Isabelle. “How am I supposed to know that you won’t try and attack me the second I drop my guard and open my inventory?”
[Combat mode activated]
“You don’t!” said the elf with a cackle. He lunged forward, stabbing his saber towards Isabelle.
[Stamina 96%]
She leapt just out of the way.
“Sure, you’re quick on your feet—” said the elf, “—but you haven’t got any weapons, and your magic is useless!” He stabbed at her again.
[Stamina 94%]
Isabelle evaded his slash and stabbing motions expertly. This was far from her first fight. Still, was she really going to have to fight with her breath weapons again? Isabelle was getting a little worried that if she relied on them too much someone might get wise and cook up an anti-breath-weapon field or something. So, Isabelle decided instead that she’d run towards the dead kobolds and see if she could find a weapon or two in their inventories.
[Stamina 92%]
“Oh, running away, are we?” asked the elf. “Not so fast!”
Before Isabelle could react, the elf drew a long hook attached to a chain and twirled it after her. It wrapped around her ankles, pullerd tight, and yanked her down onto the ground face first.
[Stamina 90%]
[You’ve been staggered]
[-6 hp]
“Heh heh heh,” said the elf. He walked up to Isabelle.
“Ugh!” said Isabelle. She tried to roll over onto her back to face him, but she was too tightly held by the chains of his weapon to rightly move!
“Just imagine how much money I’ll make when I tell Chandian representatives that I’ve caught myself a mage of shadows!” said the elf. He yanked Isabelle backward, dragging her over the dirt-covered ground.
[-3 hp]
[-2 hp]
[-4 hp]
[-1 hp]
Sure, losing hp hurt a little, but Isabelle had so much hp now that this was really barely anything against her. There was no way she was going to let this jerk get the best of her! Still, every time she tried to move at all, the chains only grew tighter around her, and wrapped further around her body.
[You’ve been poisoned]
[-5 hp]
[-5 hp]
[-5 hp]
“Fuck’s sake!” said Isabelle. “You’re really trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
“Hell yes I am,” said the elf.
[-6 hp]
[-5 hp]
[-5 hp]
“Ugh! Damn it!” said Isabelle. She just wanted to move! “Why the hell can’t I move at all?” she asked, noticing that even her lips were getting heavier and numb.
“Special kind of posion damage,” said the elf. “You see, Isabelle, after you so nastily decided to paralyze me way back when with that nifty little staff, I got to thinking. Somebody who’s not as strong as you, someone like me, I figured, could get a lot of good use out of some sort of paralyzation ability. Of course, I can’t use a staff. It’s not in my class, you see. Yea, I’ve actually got a class, unlike you. But anyways. I found myself a bit of a workaround.” The elf pulled Isabelle up to her feet and turned her around. He looked her in the eyes with his piercing purple eyes and chuckled. “See, this weapon I’ve got you trapped up in has a slow paralyzing effect. First, it grabs you. Then, it staggers you. Then, it poisons you. And then, it paralyzes you.”
[You’ve been paralyzed]
“Case in point,” said the elf. He snickered again. “And now, you’re stuck just like this, unable to move until I decide you can and deactivate the weapon. Nifty, huh? I surely thought so.”
[-8 hp]
Isabelle was incredibly irked. This elf guy was obnoxious as hell, and he seemed to have caught an all-too-common affliction of the people of Beaubinte wherein he just couldn’t stop flapping his lips. If only Isabelle could flap hers back, she’d use a breath weapon on his annoying ass and send him flying away. Then again, it sounded like she was stuck here until he decided to release her. Which was a pretty shit situation to be in.
“Now, I’ve already checked your inventory and I can see you don’t have shit,” said the elf. “So I will say I’m fairly inclined to—”
Before he could finish his obnoxious sentence, the elf was stuck from behind by two powerful hooves.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[Lugano dealt 855 damage to Elf]
[‘Elf’ is unconscious]
As the elf tumbled to the ground like a ragdoll, Isabelle immediately felt herself freed from the clutches of his paralyzing hook and chain weapon.
[Combat mode deactivated]
[Achievement unlocked: have a horse knock out an enemy for you]
[Notice: you’re ready to level up]
“Lugano!” said Isabelle. “I should’ve known you’d be able to help me, since we were in combat mode and all. Thank you so much, my beautiful horse.”
Lugano neighed in approval.
[Notice: you’re ready to level up]
Well, shit. Apparently it was time to level up. Isabelle couldn’t argue against that, now could she? Isabelle shrugged.
Shit, she really had to keep in mind that she’d changed how to open her character sheet while talking to that obnoxious dragon soul. Isabelle thought, ‘Open Character Sheet.’
[Notice: You’ve reached level 33!]
[hp restored to 349]
[stm restored to 100%]
[mana restored to 100%]
[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: 23
Hp:
349
H-Regen:
3/30sec
Mana:
141
M-Regen:
2/40sec
Stm:
136
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Twenty three points to spend this time. Nice. Isabelle decided to add ten to mana, ten to stm, and three to hp. It seemed like a good way to quickly increase her mana and stm while slightly boosting her hp, which was already super high thanks to absorbing all the hp from that adult golden dragon.
Skill Points to Spend: 23
Str:
90
Int:
60
Dx:
85
Wis:
60
Const:
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
55
Char:
47
Twenty three more points to spend. Isabelle figured she’d put five points into dx, ten to const, five to int, and three to wis.
[Congratulations, you’ve finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
33
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
352
H-Regen:
3/30sec
Mana:
151
M-Regen:
2/40sec
Stm:
146
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
90
Int:
65
Dx:
90
Wis:
63
Const:
65
Char:
47
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
3
Summon:
2
Heal:
3
Destroy:
13
Transmute:
2
Confuse:
3
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
8
Sneak:
12
Archery:
11
Lockpick:
3
Armed Combat:
16
Melee Combat:
4
Speechcraft:
12
Sleight Of Hand:
6
Now that she was all done and leveled up, Isabelle figured she ought to get her bearings a little bit. First things first, she wanted to loot this elf. Part of her wanted to kill him, but she wasn’t entirely sure if going for a kill would wake him up, and until she’d taken all his weapons away she couldn’t risk that confrontation. Isabelle focused on the unconscious elf.
[Loot ‘Elf’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Inventory: Elf
Item
Traits
Grappling Hook (poisoned) (enchanted)
+3 progressive damage, +2 poison, +2 paralyze, +3 dx, +11 carry weight
Potion of Minor Deception
+25 speechcraft, +0.5 carry weight
Bronzed Dwarven Armor (elf)
+10 str, +5 damage, +5 hp, +2 stm, +14 carry weight
Fighting Gauntlets
+5 damage, +3 carry weight
Map to Chox
n/a
Oh, shit! Was that last thing a map? Also, if Isabelle was looking correctly, she could loot everything from this dick of an elf and leave him naked again. Which was an idea she found far too compelling to leave on the table. So, she emptied his inventory.
Inventory: Elf
Item
Traits
n/a
n/a
Now, not only did Isabelle have the elf’s dangerous grappling weapon, but he had nothing at all! Still, she was faced with a bit of a delimma. Should she kill him, or should she leave him be?
Neither of those options appealed to her. No, Isabelle wanted to do something else. She looked at the scraps of rope and chains still dangling off her person, and had an idea.
In about fifteen minutes, Isabelle had tied the elf up and fastened his naked body to the back of her horse. It made her feel nostalgic for the times when Tahsi and Sir Jingles were in her party. Still, Isabelle couldn’t dwell on the past. That was then, and now the naked elf on her horse was her responsibility alone. Maybe, when he woke up, she’d be able to get more information out of him.
Until then, Isabelle saw fit to walk over to the two dead kobolds that had captured her and loot them, too. After all, didn’t she deserve to dig around their inventories? Plus, maybe they had some of her old stuff with them! Like maybe her adult golden dragon armor? Isabelle was really going to be pissed if she didn’t get that back.
As Isabelle approached the two kobold bodies, she felt a wave of unease and disquiet pass through her. She wasn’t necessarily sure why. Still, it didn’t dissuade her from walking up to the corpses and focusing.
[Loot
[Error: you cannot loot]
“What the fuck?!” said Isabelle.
The two dead kobold bodies started rattling and shaking. Isabelle watched as the drying blood splattered over the ground got wetter and wetter and then quickly ran back inside their bodies. With sickening pops and snaps the kobolds’ limbs restructured themselves until they were back together and in place. And soon, Zig and Zag were looming over Isabelle with malice in their eyes/one eye.
[Combat mode activated]
“Nice try, missy,” said Zig.
“Yea,” said Zag. “Now it’s time to show you a real fight, eh?”