Beta Life, page 12
part #1 of Digital Sorcery Series
Summoning a fireball, I took careful aim at the rear end of a horse near the center of the bunch. I quickly said a prayer that this wouldn't hurt the animal too badly, or heaven forbid, set it on fire. I released, and my fireball took flight and shot towards the unsuspecting animal. Time seemed to slow as it moved through the air, and I held my breath without realizing I was doing it.
It hit the horse on the upper half of one of its hind leg,s and for a moment, all seemed silent save for the men who were frantically putting out the fire. Then the animal screamed and kicked, which in turn started the horses around it screaming. The horses, frightened as they were, turned around away from the fenced end they were standing at, and took off towards the other end of the enclosure. Finding the opening, they went straight through it and took off down the lake's shore.
The horses' screams drew the men's attention, and they started yelling about this new emergency. The commander who had been giving orders to put out the fire looked back at the fleeing horses and muttered a curse. He took one more look at the burning tents and then, as if deciding it was a lost cause, motioned for his men to follow him after the horses.
That worked almost too well, I thought, watching the slavers take off after the horses. I think I just might be a genius. I watched their backs until they were well down the coast and then slid out from behind the cage and started walking towards the center of the camp.
I was stopped a moment later by one of the captured calling out, "Please, don't leave us here!"
"I'm not going to leave you here. I just need to find a way to get this open first," I said producing the chest.
The center of the camp was a mess. The men left whatever they were doing on the ground when they took off to put out the fire. Bowls with some sort of stew were everywhere and several weapons were left lying around; however all of them were edged, and I didn't think they would help me open the box any more than the mostly useless dagger I already had.
I kept looking and not finding anything, occasionally looking up to check on the slavers who still hadn't caught up to the horses, until a deep voice said, "I'd try the blacksmith's hammer over there."
I looked up and towards the cages and found the dwarf in the far one pointing at a hammer about fifteen feet to the left of me. I quickly moved over and picked up the hammer by its handle. Jesus, was it heavy.
Setting the chest down on the ground, I proceeded to swing the hammer down at the lock. On the first swing I missed, which caused the dwarf to sigh loudly, but on the second swing, I hit it. Nothing happened, so I hit it again and again until I felt it give.
Looking down, I saw that I broke one end of the of the lock. Success! I twisted the lock and pulled it through the latch and opened the lid. Inside, there was a boatload of gold, which I quickly scooped up and placed into my inventory, and a keyring.
Taking the keyring in hand, I stood up and ran over to the cage with Elaria and Eldertits in it. I put the key in and turned. Nothing happened. I pulled it out and tried a different key and nothing happened. I put the third key in and was about to turn it when a voice came from behind me.
"All right that's enough fun," it said, as I felt the tip of a blade touch the back of my neck. "I have to admit, setting the tents on fire and sending the horses scatting was pretty hilarious, and although NPCs will fall for stupid shit like that, it was pretty obvious to us what was going on."
"Well," I said raising my hands in the air without turning around, "I'm glad I could entertain you. That's really what I'm here for."
Eldertits, who was just in front of me holding onto the bars of the cage, mouthed the word "two" to me and whispered something to Elaria that I could catch. Her hands slowly crept towards the keyring that was hanging out of the lock until they grasped it. I just prayed that whoever was behind me couldn't see what she was doing.
"We actually should thank you," the voice said. "I've been trying to figure out a way to steal the company's gold for a while without incurring the reputation penalty, and now that you've stolen it, if we take the gold you drop once we kill you, then it won't really be stealing from our own company, will it?"
Eldertits slowly twisted her hands while I gritted my teeth waiting for the two men behind me to notice what she was doing. The key turned, and the cage unlocked with the most grateful silence I had witnessed. She moved her hands back to the bars of the cage door which remained shut, but now all it would take to open it was a gentle push.
"Really, it's a win-win," the voice continued, "We kill you, get the gold, and we look like heroes to the rest of the company for stopping you from freeing the slaves. Our reputation with the group will probably even go up."
"Well," I said while Eldertits silently communicated with both Elaria and me, "there's just one problem with that."
"Oh yeah, what's the problem?" the voice asked.
"Two of the prisoners are free," I replied and threw myself to the side.
At the same moment I said this, Eldertits pushed open the door, and she and Elaria charged out summoning weapons almost faster than I could see. Looking back, I got my first look at our assailants. They were both human men with dark black hair. The one that spoke had Bonepit Lvl. 9 written above his head, while the other one had Freeza Lvl. 8 above his.
Eldertits engaged Bonepit with her axe, which he blocked with the sword he held to the back of my head. Elaria pulled out her bow and pointed it at Freeza with an arrow nocked. Freeza, who clearly had to be a caster class summoned an icicle. At the same moment, both Freeza and Elaria unleashed their projectiles at one another.
The arrow and icicle sailed through the air, and as they crossed paths, time seemed to stop. A moment later, both slammed into the chests of their intended target. Elaria let out a simple grunt but otherwise didn't move. Freeza smiled before blood trickled out of his mouth. The two of them then proceeded to shoot each other again and again until finally, Elaria shot an arrow that struck him between the eyes. A critical hit. He actually laughed before toppling over backward and disappearing into a pile of coins.
Meanwhile, Bonepit had Eldertits on the defensive. Surprisingly, he was able to handle her heavy axe blows and even managed to push her back. I stood up wanting to help her but wasn't sure how to go about it without hitting her as well. She swung heavily, and he parried her blow and quickly jabbed at her stomach, slicing it open. Blood trickled down from the wound, but Tits hardly seemed to notice. If anything, it seemed to make her come at him with a renewed vigor.
Her axe became a flurry of motion as it slammed into his sword, again and again, moving faster and coming down harder with every swing. It was as if she was determined to beat him by simply using overwhelming force. She finally landed a blow which bit deeply into his sword arm.
Bonepit didn't crumple under the pressure of her attacks or even falter after she took a large chunk out of his arm. Of course, regular players couldn't feel pain when playing, so he had an advantage over her in that regard.
With a bellow, he seemed to speed up while she seemed to slow down. Eldertits swung her axe, but Bonepit quickly ducked underneath the swing, took his sword, and thrust it straight through her right breast until it was sticking out of her back. The fight seemed to stop while they stared at one another, and blood slowly dripped from the point of his blade.
Eldertits dropped her axe, wrapped her arms around him and said, "If you wanted to penetrate me, I'm pretty sure I could have arranged a better way. That was me lucky teet."
Bonepit smiled at her and replied, "Next time, we'll have to do it your way."
Eldertits seemed to tighten her grip around him, and his smile faltered. In a single motion, she kicked his front leg and pulled him forward while she fell backward. The two of them fell to the ground. He landed on top of her with an audible oomph. Bonepit attempted to get up but Eldertits, much to her credit, didn't let go, even with a sword sticking through her chest.
"Ryland, a little help please," she said sounding strained.
This caught me off guard, and I stood frozen for an instant before jerking myself into motion. I approached the two of them, and then while standing over them proceeded to fire fireball after fireball into his back. It wasn't the most honorable thing to do, but slavery really wasn't honorable either, so screw him.
"Until next time lover boy," Eldertits said to Bonepit beneath me and proceeded to kiss the surprised player.
I shot two more fireballs into him, and he proceeded to disappear in a shower of coins that landed all over Eldertits.
"Why is it that men," Eldertits said picking up the coins off of herself, "always like to make a mess on you?"
I looked down at her and smiled, but frowned when I saw just how low her health bar was. She had to be hovering near death, and the giant hole through her chest where the sword was probably wasn't helping matters.
"Elaria," I called, "Tits is on the verge of death over here. Can you do something?"
Coming over to the two of us, Elaria pulled out a bottle filled with red liquid from her inventory, unstoppered it, and proceeded to force it down Eldertits' throat. It had an immediate effect. Tits' health bar began to slowly climb, and the wound in her chest began to close until she regained about two-thirds of her health.
"Thanks for that," Eldertits said standing up. "As you know dying really sucks."
Congratulations Elaria has defeated level 8 Human Wizard! As a party member, you have earned 98 XP.
Congratulations You have defeated level 9 Human Warrior! You have earned 111 XP.
Congratulations you have reached Level 7!
HP: 56 → 63
MP: 78 → 88
You have 3 unallocated stat points.
You have 2 unallocated skill points.
All of these notifications popped up as soon as we were out of harm's way, for the moment anyway. The boost to level seven was nice, but I still had a quest to finish and would hopefully gain another level for completing it.
I headed back over to the cage with the keyring still hanging from the door and pulled it out and proceeded to unlock the other three cages. Twelve human men, three human women, and a dwarf proceeded to exit the cages. I waited for more notifications to appear, but when none did, I glanced over towards the shoreline where I could see in the distance the band of slavers heading back towards the camp. It was time to run.
Chapter Nine: Flight or Fight
"Shit, they're coming back," I said watching the shoreline.
Eldertits, who had only just partially recovered from her fight with Bonepit, yelled, "Everyone gather as many weapons as you can, so they can't use them against us!"
The former prisoners began to scour the camp for any and all forms of weaponry. I ended up picking up the blacksmith's hammer and a mace that I couldn't use myself.
After a minute, Tits, who was still watching the slavers, said, "That will have to be good enough. Elaria, can you lead us away from here as fast as you can?"
Elaria nodded her assent and took off at a brisk pace between the cages and the now smoldering remains of tents. I could see she was aiming for a gap in the hills about one hundred yards ahead of us. Most of the former captives took one look at the shoreline and decided to follow.
Tits and I brought up the rear following after one of the human women, Camila, who was really struggling to move and slowing us down. Tits and I moved closer, and I looked her over for any injuries but didn't see any. She could have something wrong with her legs under her large skirt, but I wasn't about to ask to look.
"Camila," Tits said to her as we more walked at her pace instead of running, "you're over encumbered, drop some items."
"But if I drop these weapons they can use them on us," Camilla responded clearly frustrated.
"If you don't drop them, they are going to catch us," Tits responded firmly.
Camilla must have listened to her, because the next thing I knew she threw a large sword, axe, and mace to the ground off to the side of us. That did the trick as the woman was finally able to run, and the three of us took off after the group ahead. We were about twenty paces behind the main group, and looking over my shoulder I saw that the slavers were nearly back at their camp.
Elaria mostly stuck to the low areas between the hills as she led us, and this time she didn't bother trying to see what was over each hill as she went. There was no time for that, and she probably figured, like I did, that if we ran into anything it couldn't be any worse than the band of slavers behind us.
There was no talking as we ran, not because we wouldn't talk to one another, but because running was taking all of our concentration. I was one of the poorer runners but not the worst. Several of the humans, besides Camilla, were not great runners, but the very worst was the dwarf, Kurnoc.
Though he appeared to be breathing a lot easier than most of us, his short legs just couldn't match the strides of the taller humans and elves. He almost seemed to waddle instead of run, and I would have laughed were the situation not so dire. I'm a terrible person, I know.
"Come on Kurnoc," Eldertits yelled beside him, shattering the cacophony of heavy breathing. "If we make it out of this, I will fuck you senseless. Now run harder, damn you!"
The pale dwarf's face blushed a deep red that contrasted horribly with his thick red beard and hair, but he didn't look unpleased. If anything, his face showed an even fiercer determination, and he seemed to run a little bit harder.
If there was one thing I was finding out, it was that Eldertits was a surprisingly good person to have around in a desperate situation. She was showing that she could be a good leader and motivator, albeit an unconventional one.
Looking back over my shoulder I saw that the group of slavers was gaining ground on us, and a few of them were even on horseback. There was no way we were going to be able to outrun them. I thought about trying to shoot some fireballs at the grass behind us in an attempt to set it on fire but chose not to because the grass was too short to slow them down even if it managed to catch fire.
"Elaria," I yelled, "They're gaining on us. We're not going to be able to outrun them!"
She didn't stop running but instead leaped over a small stream that was just wide enough to give a few people some problems. On the other side of the stream, the ground sloped upwards and was uneven. After making it across she stopped and motioned for the others to follow her.
Her gaze drifted behind those of us in the rear, and she finally responded saying, "We make our stand here. We have the high ground and they must cross this stream to get to us."
The tall black man, named Midnight Rondo, leapt across next, easily clearing the stream. Several of the group did not make it in one jump and splashed down into the stream where their arms were seized by either Elaria or Midnight Rondo and pulled up onto the opposite bank.
I sprinted ahead of Kurnoc and Eldertits and as I approached the stream I leapt. A moment later, ice. My legs splashed down into the stream, which was surprisingly deeper than it looked, and my upper legs and chest slammed against the opposite side which had about a six-inch drop off. Shit, that water was cold. It felt almost like my legs were being stabbed.
Midnight Rondo reached down and grabbed one of my arms while Elaria grabbed the other, and together they managed to drag me up onto solid ground. My teeth started chattering just in time to see Eldertits sail over the top of me and land smoothly on her two feet. Part of me hated her in that moment. That stupid show off.
Standing up I turned around and saw Kurnoc about to make the leap. There was no way in hell he was going to clear the stream, and sure enough, his jump only carried him to the middle of the stream where he had to trudge forward slowly. While this was happening, the slavers closed in on the bank, and I wasn't sure if he was going to make it out in time.
"Draw your weapons" Eldertits yelled. "Form up in a line facing the shoreline, melee fighters up front, ranged fighters behind them up higher."
"I do not know how to fight," one of the women said, clearly almost in tears while the rest of us began to line up.
"If you don't know how to fight, go to the top of the hill and wait, but remember it is better to die than be captured," Tits responded.
Kurnoc made it to the edge just as the slavers reached the stream. In a swift motion with one arm, Eldertits pulled him out of the stream and placed him down next to her. That freaking barbarian strength was ridiculous.
"Well, here we all are," the Gray Brothers' commander said while his men drew weapons and lined up on the opposite side of the stream. "Which one of you pissants was responsible for burning down our tents and loosing our horses?"
A silence settled over the two groups before I gained my courage and said, "That would be me. I also stole your gold and freed your captives."
"Ah, the little sorcerer from earlier. I did so enjoy watching that ogre crush your brains," the commander said leering at me. "Though I have to admit, you've surprised me. I didn't think you had it in you. You were practically useless in our previous fight. Still, you must know I have a very special reward for you now."
Well, that sounded ominous. Let's hope we can somehow hold off this group and beat them back. I counted the numbers, and we had seventeen fighters on our side plus two non-combatants. The slavers had twenty-eight fighters on their side, so they had the numbers, but we had the terrain advantage, so that had to count for something, right?
"Yeah, yeah, the South will riiiise again. We get it," Eldertits said in a mocking tone before adding, "Are you gonna come at us, or are we going to stand here all day comparing dick sizes?"
If her desired effect was the commander letting out a growl and ordering an attack, she succeeded. The slavers surged forward and attempted to leap over the stream with weapons outstretched. Several of them didn't make it and landed in the stream, but the vast majority of them did and were met by our melee fighters.
