Mageblood Page 7

  We did the same thing for another, having earned one sheep pelt from the first sheep, and earned another when this sheep fell. As we went to pull a third of them, another creature sprinted into existence in the area.

  Lvl 3 Ram – Hostile

  “I’m on it, don’t worry about using Allure,” I shouted and put myself between the others and the ram with my shield raised.

  I slapped my shield with my sword, trying to bring his attention to me. It seemed to work a little as it lowered its head and charged forward. I took a steadying breath and felt a solid presence at my back. It was Sundar. Her body molded against mine, and she helped me settle into the position better.

  “Tense just that arm and shift your weight forward. The sword will come out, and around the second it hits, and you can try to gore him. We’ve got your back.” Her presence was gone, after that I refocused my mind.

  A second later, the ram crashed into my shield, shattering it easily.

  13 dmg taken.

  Stunned – 3. Prone.

  The ram was busy trying to stomp me out like a four-legged river dancer from hell, and I couldn’t move at all. The Stunned effect was going to really suck.

  2 dmg taken.

  2 dmg taken.

  Stunned – 2. Prone.

  A burst of red and pink flashed above my face, and the ram chuffed loudly just before Sundar clubbed the beast in the ribs and knocked it off of me. She took a kick that I didn’t see a damage notification for, but her health bar looked a little depleted from it.

  Stunned – 1. Prone.

  The stun wore off and I vaulted myself up onto my feet like I had been in one of those old-fashioned fighter movies. Time to get some revenge.

  The ram was busy trying to make out what to do with Monami when I decided what to do. The splintered shield was still on my left arm, and a jagged piece stuck out just over my fist.

  While the ram snorted and pawed at the ground in front of my friends, I bolted forward and tried to lodge the jagged edge of the shield into its left eye. My aim was off by a hair, and the ram smacked my left hand away with a horn. I used the momentum of the blow to shift and swipe at its body with my sword, scoring a decent cut on the chest as it passed by.

  1 dmg dealt.

  “Mo!” I got her attention and tossed the sword to her feet.

  The ram took that opportunity to charge at me once more, but rather than take the blow, I waited and dodged to the right of it. A dart of flame smacked it in the face, its HP bar lowered by a quarter.

  I reached into my inventory to retrieve the glaive that Filk had given me. It felt decently balanced, if not a little heavier with the small axe at the end of it. It reminded me of a hatchet’s head with a spike at the tip.

  I took a calming breath and settled my weight into a wide stance that Sundar had showed me briefly with the shaft of the weapon in both hands.

  As the ram turned for another pass, I sidestepped wide, and whipped the axe portion into its rib cage.

  6 dmg dealt.

  Sundar sprinted at the ram where it stopped as its eyes panned to me and tackled it with her shoulder like a linebacker. She grabbed one horn and planted her feet in the ground, desperately trying to slow him down.

  I lowered my glaive so that the pike faced forward at the last second and the ram crashed into it chest first.

  CRITICAL STRIKE

  11 dmg dealt.

  Bleed dmg added 1 per second.

  Suddenly Monami was there with the sword in her right hand and her dagger in her left slashing and stabbing as much as she could.

  8 EXP.

  “That was insane!” I hooted. The others smiled and sat down, seeming a little more drained from the brief encounter. I tried to check and see if I was going to recover naturally, but it seemed slow at best, which was odd for a game like this.

  I glanced over my notifications and looked at that last bit of damage. I wasn’t told specifically about it, but I felt like my Strength or Skill were taken into mind with damage calculations, so I did more damage than the weapon was capable of doing as a base. I sat with the others and wondered at that while waiting to see if my health would regen.

  Sundar made a series of grunts and motions with her hands and a small wooden totem with an orc face, and a plus symbol on its forehead popped into the center of us. The entire time, a blue aura had exuded from her skin. Weird.

  Healed +1

  Healed +1

  Healed +1

  I stopped paying attention to the notifications and sighed in relief. “How long does this last, Sundar?”

  “About a minute or so, but it heals 1 HP per second, so it’ll get us up. I’m wondering what other things I’ll get.” She leaned back and looked to be enjoying the warmth of the sun playing along her green skin. I noted the mark where she had been kicked on her hip, the dirtied area with a hoof print there. Her health raised as mine did, and I relaxed a bit.

  “When we’re up to full, let's finish the rest of these sheep off. We’ll have to watch out for the rams, but it should be all right if we can limit their movement, right?” The sun was really nice today, and the light was doing wonders for the area around us. The lush fields and plains moving along with the breeze. It was magnificent.

  “Let’s get this over with, so we can get some new clothes.” Albarth stood and brushed himself and his wanderer rags off. “These are dreadful.”

  “Agreed,” Monami said. “We need gear. These weapons are okay for now, but it’s time we got better gear.”

  Speaking of, I checked my glaive, and the durability had decreased by one. Considering the use I’d gotten from it, I could see the necessity of repairs after our time here was finished.

  We collected ourselves and started the process again. The good news was that each sheep we killed netted us another pelt each. Also, a new ram spawned after every two sheep were killed. It took a little more than an hour, but we had a system down, and it was safer. Though having to wait for respawns for the sheep and chasing off other players was annoying. They had started to come our way, but Sundar cut an intimidating figure, and after the first one tried and almost got socked for it, the others kept away.

  On the initial pass, or in this case charge, Sundar would gain control of the head, then the rest of us went at the beast as hard as we could. It wasn’t hard since I took the majority of the damage, but she healed us where we needed it. Another cool part was that a couple of them dropped ram pelts, and it looked like they were a little better quality than that of the sheep. We put those into our inventories. We killed an even sixteen sheep and eight rams. A good haul. Sixty-four experience from the sheep, and then sixty-four from the rams, so an even one hundred and twenty-eight total.

  Boom. Level three, just like that.

  “You guys want to level out here in the wild or wait until we’re back in the city?” Monami looked longingly at the notification but glanced at us.

  “Better to be safe where we may be able to find answers to any questions we may have.” Sundar sighed knowingly. We were an impatient bunch. Fighting the urge to at least peek at it was so hard, and I would have rather taken a shot to the groin by a ram than wait too much longer. I could tell the others were itching for it, too, but we had better discipline than that.

  With that, we began to evaluate our tiny amount of gear. Their weapons were okay, the sword I gave Monami breaking at the hilt this time in a ram’s throat.

  My weapon though was battered and on its last legs at 3 durability. I had miscalculated a slash and struck a ram on the head and cracked the shaft.

  It still worked, but I could feel the shift in the weapon that wasn’t pleasant and threw off the balance.

  I put the weapon into my inventory, and we were on our way back to the city under the noon-day sun. The clouds above us passing lazily by covering the sun in spots here and there, lending an even more pronounced thought about the amount of work and attention to detail the designers had put into this game.

  Mo
re than once, I had wondered if my withholding points for the sake of later use had made me subpar as a tank, and I contemplated spending them but held off. If only just barely.

  “Any specific kinds of builds you guys had in mind?” Monami asked lightly enough that I could barely hear her. We were passing through some groups now, and she likely didn’t want to have anyone listening in.

  “I think we should probably discuss that either when we aren’t in-game, or when we actually take a look at the skill trees,” I advised as we entered the gates to the city. They were lightly guarded, the armored city guards a mismatched couple with likely what weapons the armory would provide and whatever armor they could afford.

  “Skill trees?” Albarth grabbed my shoulder and turned me so that I could look at him. “Where did you learn this? Have you been peeking? And why the secrecy?”

  I snorted me? Peek? Nah. “I had a conversation with Felix, the guy who trained me about it. He mentioned it, though he wasn’t entirely certain how it worked.” I glanced around at the plains around us with all of the other noobs running around in easy earshot and lowered my voice. “As for discussing it secretively, well, it just seems weird that we let other people around here know our builds. What if someone wants to bogart our quests or tries to start PKing us? Plus, what if some of our subscribers are here? Do we want to ruin the surprise?”

  “Is that what took you so long?” Sundar raised an eyebrow. My explanation of the need for privacy seemingly ignored.

  “Look, you all had things to help you fight those rats and whatnot, actual magic. I had to get up close and personal. That’s not like me, and you know that. It took me a while, and I barely survived.” I was a little angry, but these guys knew me better than anyone.

  “Newb.” Monami shoved me, and we started walking again. “I will admit, I hadn’t really spoken to any of the NPCs when we came here other than what was needed.”

  “You? The story queen?” Albarth looked aghast with his mouth open and a hand to his chest in shock.

  “I wanted to hurry and get to you guys.” She pouted a little, her feline features lending a little added emotion to the look somehow.

  “Lot of good that did any of us.” Sundar chuckled. “Where we need to turn that quest in again, Al?”

  He took a look at his screen and mumbled, “The Woolen Womb?”

  “What an odd name.” Monami laughed. “Lead the way, then.”

  “Is there a map?” I thought about it, and a round mini-map populated the upper right-hand corner of my vision. “Never mind. Interesting that it takes a conscious thought to bring that up. I love it.”

  “The green question mark icon is where we need to go to turn the quest in,” Albarth explained, and I saw it on the edge of our mini-map straight ahead. “I also find it enlightening that two of the better players I've ever worked with can be so stupid.”

  Both Sundar and I teased him for a moment with jabs and rib pokes, but his grin and air of superiority stayed firmly in place as we exited the plains. We walked for a few minutes longer in silence after that, taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling city and commerce around us. Dwarves, halflings, animal creatures, elves, and just wild creatures. I didn’t see any Kin, though, but they might not come here for whatever reason.

  We eventually squeezed through the crowds and citizens into the shop called the Woolen Womb. The clothing inside was an assortment of wool and wool-adjacent materials. What they were? No clue, but they were there. And woah. There was some serious lack of color in the place. I’d have to see if there was a place to get dye.

  “Welcome, welcome!” A burly figure greeted us from behind a spindle. His foot pumped without thought as his beefy fingers deftly worked the fiber through. “How can I help you today?”

  My eyes adjusted to the lack of bright light and heavy shadow quickly, and I noted that the figure was an ogre. Massively built, taller even than Sundar and looked to weigh easily seven hundred pounds. His thick brow was slightly covered by a large gray bandana the same shade of his skin, and a brown leather apron adorned his chest. His meaty leg, surprisingly light as it pumped the wheel for the spindle, was covered by woolen breeches that reminded me of rough-spun sweatpants.

  “We came to see about turning in your requested materials, the fifteen wild sheep pelts?” Albarth spoke for us. “As you can see, our clothing leaves much to be desired.”

  “Heh!” The ogre’s deep timbre reached our ears, his smile was pleasant despite the broken, chipped, and yellowed teeth in his mouth. “I’d say. Sounds like you’ve got a good sense of fashion there, sir. I can already tell that you and I will get along mighty well. I’ll take those pelts from you, thank you. And we can see about getting each of you some clothes, eh?”

  “You’re right about that,” Albarth spoke. “While we have your attention, could you perhaps tell us where to find someone who could sell us better equipment? And maybe repair what we already have?”

  “Well, the repairs could be done at the smithy up the road, speak to young Alvor, tell him Codgy sent you, he’ll help you out as best as he can.” He took the pelts that Sundar offered him with a nod of appreciation. “I’ll also let you know for free, that if you were to do him a favor, and bring him some materials like you have for me, he might be more inclined to help the lot of you more. That or create something new for you.”

  “Bring us better materials, and we can provide you with better gear, clothing, and equipment. Know, also, that some folk don’t entirely trust that the wanderers will do as they should and will make you work for every inch you get with them, and then some. So be prepared.”

  That was kind advice. “Thank you, Codgy, was it?” The ogre looked at me, his smile never leaving his face.

  “Name’s actually Codilgoren, but the young smith’s apprentice calls me Codgy, partly because he thinks me old, partly because I lecture him a lot. Codger like, I suppose. You can all call me Codgy, as well.” Sundar laughed, the sound eventually making her snort. “Find that amusing, do you?”

  “Infinitely.” She beamed at him. “I’m the eldest of the four of us, and they make sure I never live it down. Glad to finally find another soul in a similar situation.”

  The ogre clapped her on the shoulder lightly. “I like you too, though you hardly look ‘old’ enough to warrant that treatment.” He set the wool in his arms on the counter and turned back to us. “I have some clothing available for purchase at present. What can I offer you? If you have materials, I can also work for trade or offer advice for a small fee.”

  “Well, how about some starting clothes, just some plain ones to get us out of these rags, and we can go from there?” Monami took over.

  We purchased a set of starting clothes for five copper pieces, a copper piece being a tenth of a silver. Ten silver to a gold and so on. Five copper for a starting set of clothes wasn’t bad, but we had also bargained three of the ram pelts as leverage to get him to lower the price. We dressed there just by selecting and equipping the clothes. A figure of my body popped into view in my status screen with the equipment tag highlighted when I did so. It looked like the clothes didn’t prohibit me from putting armor over top of them. Awesome.

  “Do you happen to have any dyes?” I asked, hopefully.

  The ogre looked a little bashful for a moment. “Well, uh, no. No, I don’t. I am not one for colors, actually.” He saw my confusion and held out a hand as if to forestall judgment. “Ah, I—my kind—don’t see a lot of colors too well. I can tell grays, and blacks, whites, and some other shades, but greens and reds and such evade me. So, I stick to colors I know. My apologies.”

  “No!” I blurted, panic surging through me at having possibly insulted him. “There’s not a thing wrong with that! I just like a lot more color for no reason other than I like pretty things”—I blinked and realized I had probably offended him by saying his clothes weren’t pretty enough, my hands went clammy as I watched the large man regard me stonily, my heart pounding—“Not that yo
ur clothes don’t look good! Uh… uh... They look great! Super comfortable, by the way, did I say that? How comfortable? I’m going to shut up, Mona, help!”

  Codgy eyed me worriedly before Monami took pity on us both and spoke up, “What he means to say, is that he doesn’t feel like himself if he isn’t expressing his love of loud, bright colors. And he wants everyone to stare at him and see the wonderful work you’ve done with something as simple and elegant as your starter clothing. Does that make sense, Codgy?”

  He blinked. “No, but I appreciate you explaining it to me. Thank you.” He turned back to me, a genuine smile in place. “And thank you, as well. I don’t have any, but some of the armorers or other clothiers may sell some in the market near where you’ll be going to see Alvor. It may be a bit expensive, though. Forgive me, I don’t buy it, so I’m not too aware.”

  “That’s perfectly fine!” I assured him with a nod, hands out to wave away the thought. “You’ve been very helpful, thank you.”

  “Come back again, and I’ll take better care of you. My clothing does wonders!” He called as we left the area.

  I had no doubts that it would, and it would be majestically colored. I loved that idea.

  “Before we go and get the new gear, we need to decide on our builds, so we don’t waste time, money, or points.” Sundar pulled us into an alleyway and spoke as she opened her own status screen. “Talk us through each step and process, okay? No one make any concrete decisions without talking it out.”

  The rest of us gave her motions of agreement. The level up had been nice and all. I got another point to use for the level, which was great, but that skill tree was beautiful.

  Opening it up, it had my ability at the top, Mageblood, with its fifty percent resistance to magic.

  The level beneath it had two skills that were open for viewing, and the three after that were heavily blurred with nothing else visible at all. The one on the left-hand side, Blood Thief, and on the right, Aether Sever. There was also a stat increase that came with each.