V1C4 Innocence Lost

(StephOFF’s POV)

We stood with our weapons drawn, waiting. I glanced over at Ulfa and saw that she had some kind of brass knuckles. I heard her mumble, “What idiots. Not one of them even brought a bow.” (U)

I heard a sound behind me which seemed to start the onslaught. The main guy that block our path came straight for me as well as one of his lackeys. The other three lackeys went straight for Ulfa.

Starved Bandit

Level 2

15/15

Starved Bandit Leader

Level 3

30/30

The leather armor I was wearing didn’t too much confidence…

Well, I did get it on sale after all.

I focused my attention on the leader, as he’d deal more damage. He came in quick, closely flanked by his lackey. I backed out of the reach of his swipe and noticed a follow-up dagger aimed at me. I ignored it, trading it for a hit on the boss.

The red 3 rose ominously, accompanied by his grunt. What! My mind was reeling. The window thingy said 4-6 damage! I started grumbling about his armor. The slash to my side didn’t help with my mood, as I watched a second attack fall. Two 3s quickly rose.

***

The battle flowed so fast, I couldn’t keep up with what was happening. I barely found openings to hack at the boss, while the opposite was true for my enemies. I watched my health drop; their attacks were relentless. I was glad I had pumped my level ups into my health. It was currently at 74/130. Through my battle, I figured out that daggers seemed to hit a constant amount. The leader hit 5s, while his lackey hit 3s. Well, that’s only when they hit my armor, which blocked a whole point of damage! Yaaaay… Anyway, the leader and his lackey were at 18 and 11, respectively. They were controlling the battle with their tactics.

They suddenly rushed me with a pincer attack. I kept up my tactics and focused on the leader. I swung my sword to meet his slash. Hah! He stopped! My body turned right into the incoming attack of the lackey, spinning around.

Then I felt a stinging in my back and heard a shifty voice say, “Backstab!”

[3]

[Critical! 10]

I spun back around to face my fleeing foes. I took this chance to sneak a peek at my health. 61/130. Next to the numbers was the symbol of a couple of drops.

[1]

I was filled with dread. I was nowhere near the end of this fight. ‘Shiiiiit…’

The bandits closed in, and I started to panic. My ensuing sword swings were not my proudest, but they did their job as bandit repellants.

[1]

‘Arghh! This is totally unfair!’

I was about to continue my ranting when I realized that I wasn’t the only one in the middle of a fight. Said realization came in the form of a light enveloping me.

[+15]

The green numbers gave me hope again! The bandits clicked tongues as I felt the wound on my back close up just a little. The bandit leader’s face plummeted further as he watched Ulfa barrel into his subordinate. We squared off again; however, this time, the advantage was mine.

I rushed in, more confident now that there wouldn’t be an unexpected knife in my back. Sword posed ready for an overhead slash, I moved in. As he slashed out in response, I gave him a taste of his own medicine. Shifting my momentum, I angled my path out of harm’s way. Bringing my sword down and doing some fancy footwork, I positioned myself and sent out a stab. My aim was true, and the bandit found himself with a large hole in his neck.

[Fatal strike! 18]

His lifeless body dropped to the ground. I followed soon after, panting.

‘I did it! I killed him!’

‘Wait… I just killed him…’

My stomach started to turn over. In a flash, I just ended a life. I stepped close to a nearby barrel and started to empty my stomach.

***

(Thundatwin’s POV)

I heard the sounds of retching, but I couldn’t let myself be distracted. I was still tangled up on the ground, wrestling an elf. I had luckily hit his arm with an arrow, causing him to drop his dagger. So we were now down to history’s oldest weapon.

Our fists.

Wubs got a kick or two in, which really helped. Still, even without the use of one hand, I was struggling. I finally pushed him off of me, rolling us both close to a building. I got a lucky shot in as I hit him across the jaw, dazing him for a moment.

[1]

This left him at 4/15 health. I took the opportunity to stand and drag my opponent to the wall nearby. Grabbing the elf by his scraggly hair and started to repeatedly, but politely, slam his head into the bricks. His health was slowly dropping, until the fight finally left him.

I sat next to the body, huffing in and out. I shot a glance at the body next to me. It was weird. I recognized it as something that moves, breaths, thinks. But it would never do that again. I tried to convince myself that he was a bunch of ones and zeroes, just computer data. It didn’t work though. I felt more alive in this game than I have in a while living without it.

I instead used a cliché.

‘It was either him or me.’

That worked a lot better.

75 EXP gained!

I welcomed that distraction. The experience wasn’t bad at all, and it brought me near to level 4.

I pulled myself up off the ground and joined my brother to collect the loot. Ulfa apparently went to go check on Steph. They walked out of an alley together, Steph looking worse for wear but probably better than when she entered the alley.

We split the loot, which included nothing special, and started moving towards the waypoint again. This time, with a lot less talking.

***

We followed the waypoint it to an inconspicuous house. It was quiet, which was nice. Nothing to interrupt my thoughts. The buzz of a crowd back at the bar was enough to cause headaches.

I stepped up to the door and knocked. Everyone else was watching our surroundings.

“Come on in. The door’s open.”

With a shrug, I opened the door and entered. Which was a bad choice.

My arm got snatched, and I was pulled in and spun. My assailant had one of my arms at a weird angle behind my back and a knife to my throat.

“Freeze! Or buddy-boy here gets it!”

I had a dry expression on my face. Steph and Wub Wub tensed at the feminine voice, whereas Ulfa showed a face of surprise followed closely by laughing.

“Emma, calm down. Your brother sent us to deliver something.” (U)

The hands, which I now realize were a dark purple…-ish color, relaxed and released their grip.

“Ulfa! Come on in! I thought you were more of those thugs.” (E)

Ulfa stepped in, followed by the other two. They had grins plastered on their faces as they snickered. I vaguely heard the words “Buddy-boy” whispered, but I shook my head. A tad embarrassed, I followed everyone into the kitchen.

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The kitchen actually doubled as a prison, as I saw a bunch of generic bandit types tied up in here. The three of us looked at Emma in a new light.

We stayed for a bit and chatted over some tea. Steph had hers without sugar, a thought that makes me shudder. Thanking us again, she saw us off.

***

During the walk back, I kept imagining what I’d say to Enzo when we saw him. I was pretty set on exploding in his face the moment I set eyes on him. As we opened the bar door, however, we could do nothing but walk straight passed our employer and plop down at a table. We were all emotionally exhausted, including Ulfa, which surprised me. Well, as surprised as I could bring myself to be. The fire crackled as its light fought the darkness the sun had left behind many hours ago. I honestly expected it to have gone up by now. Enzo brought out some soup, which nobody touched or even looked at. Wubs lifted his head to explain what happened to Enzo.

“I see… That’s quite the tough time you had there. How about a break as an additional reward?”

Quest Completed!

Enzo's RequestReward:150 EXP

1 silver

Increased relationship with Enzo

5 fame

A break

I closed the window without batting an eye. I only snapped out of it as I heard a refreshing *Ding!* was heard.

Level Up!

I thanked Enzo and noticed the others had perked up a bit as well. I asked and found out that we had all leveled up. Wub Wub had even leveled up twice, bringing him up to my own level. We started to eat as we distributed our points.

StatusName:ThundatwinLevel:4Race:Rabbit BeastmanGender:MaleClass:BeginnerSubclass:NoneTitles:NoneHealth:120Mana:100Satmina:110STR:11INT:12AGI:14WIS:12CHR:12LUK:17Fame:5

StatusName:Lil' Wub WubLevel:4Race:OrcGender:MaleClass:BeginnerSubclass:NoneTitles:Master of Bread

InfamousHealth:110Mana:120Satmina:100STR:14INT:16AGI:11WIS:16CHR:9LUK:10Fame:5

Wubs made a weird face, which piqued my curiosity.

“What’s up, bro?” (T)

“Nothin’, Buddy-boy. Just a new title I missed.” (W)

I glossed over the venom in his voice. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”(T)

“Apparently, I have the highest infamy in the game, so it gave me a title. Infamous.” (W)

My eyes widened while Steph choked on her soup. Ignoring the individual asphyxiating nearby, I shot a question at my brother.

“What. Did. You. Do.” (T)

“Remember all of that street art?” (W)

Steph, who had just started regaining her breath, quickly lost it again as she joined me in my laughter. We caught the interest of Enzo and Ulfa, who had quietly been chatting nearby.

“So the Elven guard…?” (T)

He nodded, again setting off our laughter. StephOFF was clutching her stomach as tears cascaded down her face.  I think. It was hard to see anything, as my laughter had caused my eyes to almost close.

Our laughter slowed to a trickle as we got an alert.

*Ding!*

Quest Update:

Hard Hangover

SharableBodyOgre, L0ckj4w, and Shadowstepp499 have turned in a stack of firewood, completing the quest.Requirements:4 stacks of firewoodQuest Members:Lil' Wub Wub

StephOFF

Thundatwin

All laughter had ceased. I shot up, knocking my chair over, and stomped my way over to three shadows, who were talking to Enzo.

“What. The FUCK. Are you telling me you three dipshits don’t even have the decency to do half of the work!?” (T)

The orc, who I assumed was BodyOgre, answered. “Not our fault you chumps are behind.” (B)

Wub Wub held me back from my righteous onslaught.

“How’d you guys collect the firewood so quickly? You shouldn’t even be let out of the gates yet.” (W)

“We bought some off of one of the NPC adventurers. And it wasn’t cheap, so good luck trying to buy four stacks of it.” (B)

I shook my brother’s restricting arm off of me and made my way over to Enzo.

“Enzo, what was that?” (T)

“Now listen here son. I’m just lucky they gave that much. At least I can actually trust you three to go out and get some. I’ve got a business to run.” (E)

I looked around the room. What should have been able to fit ten tables was occupied by no more than three… if you were being generous. One of the survivors was missing a leg, so it was shoved into a corner of the room. The business the past couple of days had been served mostly at the bar.

“You’re right, Enzo. Sorry for his outburst. We’ll be sure to get the firewood.” (W)

Wubs had arrived at with Steph at his side without me knowing. Perhaps because this was his first time meeting the punks, Wub Wub was not as angered as StephOFF and I. I could see that she was even more pissed than me. She looked like she was about to explode, so I guess I just beat her to the punch.

We made our way back to our food as Enzo turned in to get a quick wink. The sky was progressively being polished by the sun, revealing more and more of a blue hue to the three of us. We quietly finished our meal and started to clean in order to pass the time. We just had to make it until noon to finally finish this quest.

A/N: Wow. Got really stumped on some of the smallest things in this chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. I didn't include Steph's stats as she's not supposed to have a big role in the story. ask me if you want it though.