Chapter 35 (Early Version)

Chapter 35 - All the Bases

“A true master of the sword need never use his sword at all.”

- The Living Sword by Fen Vaigorus Kaldari Swordmaster circa 520 AC


Unluckily for us, the moon was high and bright among the veil of stars and cast a silvery light. The charcoal piles continued to emit their smoke, ghostly now under the moon’s pale light under the sleepy watch of their minders.  Our group stalked towards the edge of the trees and noticed that a solitary man had come towards us. We all stiffened still, except for Elwin who had somehow slipped off. The man kept moving towards us, oblivious to our presence. As he came closer something dark, the ghost of a shadow, fell from the trees onto the man without a sound, a glint of metal flashing in the moonlight. With Kidu I rushed as stealthily as possible the few yards toward him to find Elwin standing over him. Blood emanated from a stab wound in the man’s neck. Hoping that I was not too late I also stabbed the fallen man with my makeshift weapons to make sure of his demise.

You have slain a human 25 experience gained.

Thankfully I was able to get a hit in while his heart had still been pumping blood. I smirked in the darkness realizing that this man must have been worth even less experience than Gunne. Just as I was about to discuss our next steps with our group, there was an explosion of activity from the opposite treeline, as if the man’s death was some sort of trigger.

Familiar silhouettes bounded across from the giant trees in great leaping strides, calling to one another in their unnatural clicking language, weapon arms raised in deadly threat. A man shouted a warning to his peers and the men grouped. The sounds of alarm were repeated as the rest of the men burst from the cabins carrying a variety of arms and lethal implements.

The wave of chittering Echo-Stalkers and a melee of steel against razor-sharp claws and piercing mandibles began. The sound of battle and violence filled the previously tranquil night, almost surreal in its beauty. Slowly the sounds turned more to shouts, then screams of panic as the humans fought against a much more numerous and deadly foe.

I looked at the faces of my companions, their worried expressions clear in the moon’s subtle light. The initial plan had gone completely to tatters, fate’s arrow once again striking against us and a decision had to be made.

“We strike from behind and kill these Echo-Stalkers, then we simply keep on fighting. We need both groups dead. Be ready to follow my move!” I ordered as I girded my loins for battle once more and rushed towards the fight with a lack of hesitation and fear that would have surprised my past self. In that moment of frozen time, everything seemed so full of clarity as if my ears could distill each and every individual sound that cried out into the night, the air cool and refreshing as it brushed against my face.

The charcoal burners had started to regroup after their initial shock. The insect-like Echo-Stalkers had the numbers and savage ferocity, but the charcoal burners had a surprising amount of discipline and skill as they fought back against them. Still, even so, the Stalkers had begun to push their human enemies back. The charcoal burner’s line was beginning to weaken, and I ordered my small group to charge.

Our group crashed into the rear of the Echo-Stalkers, entering the chaotic melee with silent violence that belied our rage. Stabbing with both of my weapons into the hard chitinous back of one of the foul creatures, I found little resistance piercing their natural armor with their own weapons. Snarling now like a beast, I dodged a slashing blow meant to my arm that I could barely see out of the corner of my eye, more instinctive motion than a conscious decision. A death notification of the creature floated across my vision and I dismissed it instinctively with half a thought. I stared at one of the creatures who darted this way and that, its attention focused solely on me as it made to strike, the natural blades on its arms blue in the soft moonlight. I lunged into the arc of its blow, coming beneath the creature and stabbing it with my dual blades through the chest with a Power Strike before slicing to my sides, almost bisecting the creature.

Somewhere in the grand melee, I could hear the charcoal burners shout out their techniques as they unleashed their various skills against the midnight horde.

Suddenly I felt a clang against my helm, almost taking it off my head, before something scraped across my shoulder blades, failing to pierce through to my lungs. Turning around, one blade outstretched to guard and the other held close ready to stab, I saw one of the chameleonic strains of the creatures, its outline blurry in the night. I knew that my only chance was a whirlwind of blows, as my skill would be of no match against such a lithe and lightning-fast creature. Where skill failed, raw savagery would have to prevail. I could barely make its outline in the moonlit night and every strike would have to be a literal stab in the dark. Swinging with wild abandon I continually missed the creature as it dodged and weaved, like mist in the night. Just as I was gearing up to strike out at the creature again, I was saved from my reckless strategy by Elwin who appeared as if by magic behind the creature, backstabbing it with a neat precise blow to the base of its neck.

Knowing better than to pause in combat, I swiftly turned on the balls of my feet, engaging a regular drone with my twin weapons against its natural armaments. I certainly had the edge with this combat as my own blades had greater reach, and were probably sharper. I was also faster, tougher and stronger than the drone. I roared as I charged, parrying both of its falling arm-blades with my higher dexterity. However as I ducked under its questing sharp mandibles, I was met with its other pair of clawed arms that scraped across my chest, tearing through the cloth and leaving bloody lines across my chest damaging my Health. At the back of my mind, even in the heat of battle, I realized that I was not feeling any pain from the blows I had received. It must be because my Health was still over eighty percent I thought, remembering the Tree-Laur and the exact threshold when the bleeding damage began to cause me great pain.

I did not have to wait long for my theory to be proven correct, as a sharp pain burst from my left leg as another of the Echo-Stalkers struck my blind spot. Still within my original target’s guard and summoned a Power Strike to skewer the creature with my right blade looking to finish the current opponent as quickly as possible. I made sure to keep my left weapon in a hastily made guard position to help fend off further attack from the other creature. My right blade hit true as I pierced through its armored chest, part of my fist burying within its body. Kicking it off with a savage kick, uncaring to make sure it was dead, I turned to focus on the beast that had stabbed my leg. My Health points were falling precipitously due to bleed damage from a number of wounds I had received. I needed a distraction to cover me while I disengaged and healed myself.

Not seeing to where Elwin had disappeared, I shouted, “Kidu! To me!” screaming as my voice carried through the moonlit night air.

Kidu swiftly disengaged from his opponent, his spear a rapidly spinning guard that swept away at his opponents in a deadly circle, as he found his way to my side. I took this moment of respite to gather my magical energies and cast Heal vocally, knowing that the din of battle would cover the sound, prioritizing speed over discretion. Faster than if I had silently cast it the spell, it came to fill my body with its familiar soothing energies and raised my Health almost back to full. I studied Kidu for a moment and saw that he was not in any need of healing, having only suffered minor cuts along his arms and legs.

Fully invigorated, Kidu and I rejoined the chaos of the fray.  Kidu’s spear was like lightning, thrusts mixed in with wide circular motions that kept multiple opponents at bay and took off a lot of the pressure from the charcoal burners. Regarding the massive Hunter as the principal threat, most of the Echo-Stalkers focused their ferocious attacks on him. I took the opportunity to savage their flanks while they were exposed bombarding him.  Kidu’s spear darted from a guard sweeping to a savage jab in a storm of violence. I glimpsed Elwin there too, flitting among the melee between the charcoal burners and the Echo-Stalkers. There he was stabbing at their vulnerable points when the Echo-Stalkers were distracted fighting a charcoal burner. There he was again plunging a blade into one of the insect monster’s eyes before fading back into the night in an impressive display of shadowy stealth and martial skill. Between our two groups, we began whittling away at their numbers, before gradually crushing them with our combined might.

My Stamina was just under half when we finished stabbing the last of the Echo-Stalkers, and I was a little displeased that I had not leveled up after the encounter. Over half of the charcoal burners had perished in the fight, and the remaining few looked tired but grateful at our party. The leader who was clad in blue, a deel-like garment I noticed on closer inspection, came up to me offering his hand in gratitude.

With no belt or scabbard to hang my blade, I handed one of them to Elwin who tested its balance as I walked up to meet the man.

Smiling oilily, the leader spoke to in a voice that was both obsequious yet condescending, “Thank you, travelers, without your timely help this night I am sure that perhaps we would all have perished. May I offer you the humble hospitality of our camp? And if it does not displease you, may I ask why foreigners, for you are clearly not of these lands, are so far from the city at the borders of the great Sainba...”

Even as he was speaking, a whisper in my subconscious suggested to me that he only wished to let my guard down before trapping me once again into slavery. A twisted logical part of my mind put forth the notion that this was the only possible way he could recover from the losses of this night.

I didn’t let him finish as I stabbed him mercilessly in the neck.

You have slain Chagatai Nyamdor 85 experience gained

We had after all planned on killing them all anyway. I didn’t have the energy to answer a slew of questions, any of them potentially blowing our flimsy cover. The wildman waiting for my signal had fallen on the exhausted Children of Tides with relish, releasing a battle cry that seemed to stun them. Elwin followed him two heartbeats later with his small flashing blade that stabbed and stabbed into yielding flesh. With utter shock on their faces, and with little resistance we slaughtered them all to the man. I welcomed the experience as the last man fell.

Still shaking from the thrill and shock of battle I had completely ignored my notifications, so I decided to check up on the progress of my character, looking for any notable changes I missed.


STATUS
Calling: Gilgamesh Level 10 Paladin of Avaria / Reaver
Strength: 24
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 34
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 10
Luck: 15

SKILLS & PROFICIENCIES
Pain Nullification (lvl.2)
Power Strike (lvl.2)
Endure (lvl.3)
Stealth (lvl.2)
Rest (lvl.3)
Backstab (lvl.2)
Dodge (lvl.3)
Polearms (lvl.2)
Dual Wield (lvl.2)
Critical Hit Mastery (lvl.2)
Mining (lvl.2)
Unarmed Combat (lvl.3)
Hammers (lvl.2)
Flails (lvl.1)
Maces (lvl.1)
Shields (lvl.1)
Medium Armour (lvl.1)
Heavy Armour (lvl.1)
Axes (lvl.1)
Daggers (lvl.1)

SPELLS & MAGIC
Heal (lvl.5) 5
Rust (lvl.3) 1-2
Identify (lvl.2) 1
Silent Casting (lvl.1)
Mana Regeneration (lvl.2)
Purify (lvl.2) 3 Visible
Greater Heal (lvl.1) 10
Holy Aura (lvl.1) 2
Decay (lvl.1)
Drain (lvl.1)
Entropic Aura (lvl.1)

GIFTS
Curse of Entropy -20% all starting attributes.
Mark of the Paladin - 10% resistance to Dark/Holy magic. 5% resistance to Physical.
Touch of the Void  - 10% reduced resistance to Holy/Fire magic, 20% resistance to Mental Effects, 15% immunity to Mental Effects.

Experience to next level 2417/2583

Health: 196/230
Stamina: 15/55
Mana: 8/13


Progress of my character? What a strange turn of thought, this was my progress and this was in no way a game. I focused more seriously now on my current situation.

A single point to Dexterity and Strength was both welcome and at the same time a little disappointing, since it appeared the growth rate of my attributes was slowing down despite the ever more frenetic battles I had been fighting. Despite suffering a multitude of wounds in the heat of combat my Constitution did not budge, and I was already missing the extra Health that my lost point had granted.

Going over my skills I noticed that my Dual Wield proficiency had increased by a level, thanks to my wild swings with my new weapons. This world must have also categorised those weapons as daggers, for I had gained basic proficiency in their use with a new skill Daggers. This skill like all of my other newly acquired skills from this world was at level one.

I still had some spells that required testing, which I would leave until we had reached a safe place in the light of day. My new gifts from my class choices would also need to be examined some other time, as I had more pressing needs before me currently.

“Leave the corpses where they are, take no trophies, but loot the men for easily removed valuables. Leave the weapons on them for now. If they have coin take some of it but not all,” I said, looking hard at our Rogue who looked like he was about to protest. “Please trust me...there is a method to my madness,” I assured him between labored breaths.

Elwin shrugged his shoulders before he began rifling through the bodies alongside Kidu, who was about to desecrate one of the corpses. Luckily Elwin was able to stop him, possibly realizing the intent behind my commands.

During the latter part of the fight, several times my notifications displayed the names of the men that I had killed, due to me previously identifying them with my magic. I felt a stab of guilt as I thought about whether they had family or friends to mourn them, before swiftly brushing the thought aside.  Their deaths were necessary for the survival of our group. It was a cliched conviction, but we simply did what we had to do. I did not have the time nor emotional energy to cry over each and every defeated foe.

“Okay...I mean alright,” I said as I looked at the corpses that had been killed by spear and knife, “let’s make this look a little more genuine.”

Moving to those corpses, I started the gruesome task of slashing or stabbing at the wounds that Kidu and Elwin had inflicted, attempting to make them look like they were simply the victims of the Echo-Stalkers.  Understanding my intent, Elwin moved to join me and we quickly finished our macabre work.

I nodded my permission to Elwin, who took the initiative and pocketed a fine-looking steel dagger, its blade a beautiful damask pattern that drew the eye with wavy lines etched into the blade. I hoped that it was of a common enough design in these parts to avoid drawing too much attention. Noticing my longing look he removed the leader’s shortsword from his belt, replacing it with another of the charcoal burners' long daggers, and passed it to me for my perusal.

Drawing it from its plain unpatterned leather sheath, I examined it under the large moon’s argentine light. The lightly fullered blade was a little longer than my crude scythe dagger, perhaps around forty-five centimetres in length, ending in a triangular tip with the handle being about half that. A simple bronze guard protected the hands, and the pommel was made of heavy lead or iron. Testing its weight in my hands, I concluded that it would make a functional if not a particularly aesthetically pleasing weapon.

Assessing its heft, I rolled it around my wrists as I had seen actors do before in film. Finding it comfortable, I sheathed the blade back in its scabbard.  Seeing that I was having some difficulty fitting the cloth sword belt around my waist, the intricate knots alien to me, Elwin assisted with a wry grin.

“Right bunch of trouble you are, feel like mother helping out with her child’s first mass-murder,” he said jokingly in a paternal tone, though his eyes spoke a different story.

Kidu merely snorted at the attempted joke before commenting, “We had saved their lives, their lives belonged us to spend as we pleased”, a satisfied sparkle in his eyes as he waited for further instruction. I couldn’t help but note that the calculus of the North was a cold one indeed.

“Let’s search the cabins for valuables and supplies. Try not to disturb the place too much, and remember not to take everything,” I instructed the pair, looking at them each in turn, their faces a blue silver. “I don’t want to leave too many signs of our intervention here, better they think that this was a simple attack from the Echo-Stalkers. The last thing we need is a patrol breathing down our necks looking for runaway slaves or would-be bandits,” I explained logically to them.

Nodding their understanding, we moved through the cabins. Signs of a hasty exit could be seen with overturned chairs and food half-eaten still at tables. The insides were all sparsely furnished with utilitarian furniture of simple wood or iron. The walls were unadorned, but a simple fire burnt merrily in each of the cabins in a stone hearth. We searched through dressers and tables, the Rogue uncovering a coin purse hidden under a loose floorboard. Making sure to put as many things back in their original place, we passed through each of the buildings eagerly searching for items useful for us.

During this time I was greeted by yet another mysterious notification;

Do you wish to claim Nyamdor’s hold?  Yes/No

I paused as I rifled through a dead man’s bedside dresser looking for hidden valuables, surprised once more by how gamified this world was. This smallholding must have been the property of the man in blue garments, Chagatai Nyamdor. Scoffing at the notification, of course, I chose ‘No’ and the message disappeared out of sight. The last thing I needed was something linking us to the massacre that we had perpetrated. I remembered the games I had played in my past where you had to build up your settlement, pandering to an endless list of needs from helpless NPCs and micromanaging their pathetic daily lives for minor pointless rewards. No thank you, I thought with finality as I continued my pillage, most certainly not my cup of tea.

The work was tedious but worthwhile. Our haul consisted of several bags filled mostly with copper and bronze coins, with several silver pieces and four gold coins Elwin had found under a floorboard. The rogue replaced his iron dagger with another simple steel dagger of slightly higher quality, which he discovered in the private things of one of the recently departed workers. We also attained a good supply of food and general supplies, taking what we could easily carry in large leather bags that we also pillaged. Most importantly we were able to find new clothes, even for Kidu’s massive bulk, all cut in the local fashion with wide silken sashes. We were even lucky enough to find spare leather boots that were roughly our size, a huge upgrade over our simple sandals. This time around I had a little more success in fitting my cloth sword belt around my waist, the intricate wrapping coming a little easier to my fingers.

After changing we burnt our slave linens in the fire of one of the hearths. The whole process was solemn, like a funeral or a pagan rite of passage. We had come so far, and we were now closer to achieving true freedom as we watched our old garments being consumed by the hungry flames. My modern sensibilities now thoroughly put aside, I knew then that I would fight with everything I had to survive in this cruel and callous world.