"What… what the hell happened?" His voice was barely a whisper. It was all he could do to grasp the canteen placed in his hand, drinking deep of the ice-cold water as refreshing as mana to his dry, parched lips.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” said a hard-eyed Morlekai. “What the hell did you do, Eric?”
And before Eric could say a word, he was hit by a fresh prompt that sent fresh shivers of wonder through his tattered soul.
You have sworn alleg...
2022-05-09 09:55:21 +0000 UTC
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Eric flashed a tight, hard smile. "Finishing this quest is suicide. We already risked our lives, and we took out one Spider Queen already. I can't help but think that if I were to reshape my Undead Bulwark covered in lizard hide that not even that titan could smash through, not for awhile at least, around that gate, there would be no chance in hell any spiders breaking through. Ever. It will cost me my bulwark… and all I will charge for it is the mayor's keys and codes."
Er...
2022-05-09 09:49:14 +0000 UTC
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As elated as Eric was to see so many of his combat skills improving, thanks to high level kills, a high Finesse score, and his Maximum potency to skill rank conversion factor, it still didn’t change the troubling revelation that his True Shot archery perk had a significant flaw. It seemed that some powerful creatures, like the Arachnid boss monster that had come so close to killing Alice, were able to resist. At least partially.
Which was a damn shame, because the whole poi...
2022-05-09 09:47:25 +0000 UTC
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Eric found himself springing to his feet by pure reflex, desperately racing towards his friend almost as soon as she was jerked off her feet, his 18 Perception forever blazing indelibly into his mind the look of surprise on her features as a strand of spider silk latched on her back and jerked her into the air.
“Alice!” Eric roared, immediately switching halberd for bow in the blink of an eye.
Before being frozen with awe as the air lit up with a brilliant crack of ...
2022-05-09 09:46:10 +0000 UTC
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Eric turned to Alice, his voice instinctively dropping to a whisper. “Is that true?”
“Is what true?”
“What the kids were saying… about the… well, I know the pod around here is pretty crazy, but, I mean, can anyone jump in a pod and grab at least a basic class in Freetown?"
She solemnly shook her head. "Those boys were just cheering themselves up. Granted, I haven't been back in almost two months, but when I left… it was only a 10% rate."
Eric...
2022-05-09 09:40:38 +0000 UTC
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“You ready, kid?”
Eric forced himself to smile and nod at the look in Morlekai’s eyes. Because he was indeed ready.
Even if their smith had sighed and shaken his head, making it clear that even he had limits, and less than three days to design an arrow shaft that would stay intact when shot by a bow capable of breaking the sound barrier was definitely one of them.
Even if a girl who he had foolishly let touch his heart now wouldn’t even meet his gaze, beca...
2022-05-09 09:35:46 +0000 UTC
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Content Warning! (Romantic Scenes)
“You should have seen this guy, Morlekai!” Alice enthused while slugging back her wine. “His gaze was all intense, glaring at his target like a hawk going in for the kill! And his bow… shit. You’ve seen our master’s toys. This bow was vibrating the exact same way. Like it couldn’t wait to do Eric’s bidding! And when he released his arrow, it streaked off so fast that the air actually cracked!” She smirked at Eric. “Too ba...
2022-05-09 09:34:23 +0000 UTC
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“Eric, hero of the hour! How are you feeling, my man?” This from a smiling Drake wrapping him up in a bear hug when he came downstairs, still yawning after his exhausted doze, a part of him curious if there was anything else of note that the mayor and Morlekai had spoken of.
“Pretty good,” Eric said, the shakes and bouts of anxiety that had hit him so hard the night before, even with the sweet girl that had been such a to comfort him, now no more real than a fading dr...
2022-05-09 09:31:23 +0000 UTC
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(Someone gets lucky! - Low-key descriptions only.)
“It’s done!” Morlekai said, his words instantly drawing the attention of the panicked hundreds near the town entrance, before echoing through the entire town, for all that Morlekai hardly had to raise his voice at all. “The quest has been completed. The portal to the lich has been severed! Norvolth the Destroyer, and most of the undead swarming by his side, are now no more.”
As exhausted an...
2022-05-09 09:00:25 +0000 UTC
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Eric flashed a hard smile, sensing that had finally defeated the last of the shamblers. He closed his eyes and placed his hands upon his spike-laden funnel corridor, returning it to his ES Space only once he felt so attuned to the construction that he could reconfigure it in a heartbeat.
Morlekai glared down at the corpses at their feat. "I regret that I was unable to provide further assistance than as your backup with our death funnel, and harrying them as a murder of crows ...
2022-05-09 08:58:14 +0000 UTC
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If there was anything Eric regretted more than charging into the unknown, it was the precious seconds he had to spend as the approaching swarm at his back slowly got closer, shaping in his mind exactly what he needed if they were to have a chance in hell of surviving. He was surprised, in fact, that he could visualize it so quickly and so precisely.
“Eric, move now!”
Morlekai’s desperate caw rang in his ear as the bird nipped his cheek, but Eric was already chargi...
2022-05-09 08:57:08 +0000 UTC
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You have successfully shield bashed zombie!
Zombie has been critically hit by saber.
Zombie has been set ablaze!
Eric did his best to ignore the panicked screams and shouts of the remaining townsmen still trapped in various buildings and unable to make their way to the fortified shelter leading to the escape tunnel at the very back of the massive tunnel, beyond even the gardens. Because for every panicked man woman and child he saved now...
2022-05-09 08:54:55 +0000 UTC
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“Eric, get up! We have to move now!”
Eric groaned. For a second, it was all he could do to fight the urge to hurtle all over, before finally stumbling back to his shaky feet. Yet a quick look at his character sheet made it clear that his reserves were back up to full, and he shouldn't be feeling any pain at all.
If anything, he was awed by how much he had grown, absorbing it all in the blink of an eye before racing to Morlekai's side.
______________...
2022-05-09 08:45:54 +0000 UTC
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“Eric, over here!”
Eric's run became a flat-out sprint when he triangulated the source of the cry, racing past a handful of panicked townsfolk darting out of the buildings closest to the gates and fleeing for imagined safety deeper within the cavern.
“Monica!”
Alex’s eyes snapped in the direction of the desperate plea, seeing a woman stumble out the door of a clapboard building that had yet to be renovated, ignoring the blood running down her own arm as ...
2022-05-09 08:41:17 +0000 UTC
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His gut clenched, heart pounding with adrenaline when he counted no less than a dozen shambling corpses wearing the tattered remains of ancient armor, ancient swords of bronze, and eyes that glowed with an ill green light.
But what truly sent chills down his spine was that though he could make them out with infravision, just as distinctly as the blue-tinted ground at their feet, just by the way the air played over them, they gave off no additional heat at all. They were detec...
2022-05-09 08:39:58 +0000 UTC
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“Holy shit,” Drake whispered as they immediately flowed into battle positions; he, Eric, and Louie immediately surging forward with their wickedly curved war-blade bardiches held in close-quarters quarterstaff grips as they scanned the room, Alice between the three of them, crackling wand raised high, the air suddenly filled with scores of blood crows.
A quick scan revealed a surprisingly large studio style room with polished hardwood flooring covered in arcane sigils and...
2022-05-09 08:34:16 +0000 UTC
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Desperate cries for help went unanswered.
Because it was only when his friends were off on their own pursuits, the house completely empty, and Eric pushing his focus to the utmost, that the bone bow finally revealed itself to be the necromantic tool that it was.
A weapon that was eager to finally find and claim a host, after being separated from its master during the earliest days of the invasion. It was a truth Eric sensed even as he cried out in the extremis of his pa...
2022-05-09 08:32:25 +0000 UTC
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You have successfully used the power of your blood to soul-bind Reverse Draw Crossbow! Familiarity Bonus in effect! Base experience point (potency) soul-binding cost reduced to one-tenth standard!
Eric smiled with sharp satisfaction, the messages flashing across his interface mirroring what he already knew intuitively, feeling the sudden frisson of connection between himself and his tool of death. Delighting in the feel of power surging and flowing between himself an...
2022-05-09 08:31:10 +0000 UTC
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Eric pretended he didn’t see the tear in the man’s eyes, the look of desperation quickly hidden behind the mask of good-natured tough guy bemusement that seemed to be the common stance taken by so many of the survivors calling Junk Town their own. He just accepted the man's silent handshake, surprised the guy seemed too choked up even to speak, and even Drake could sense the moment, patting the shorter man on the shoulder. "Our Eric's one of the good ones. I'm glad Morlekai bro...
2022-05-09 08:28:53 +0000 UTC
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Eric grinned, looking at his friend dressed not in training leathers but like a nightclub bouncer even the classiest joint would be happy to hire, complete with vest, tie, and form-fitting dress shirt that showed off his chest and abs surprisingly well, that Drake proudly informed was made of Italian cotton with mother-of-pearl buttons.
Eric grinned. “Looks like you went to a tailor.”
Drake nodded. “Damn right I did. So let’s go.”
And a somewhat bemused ...
2022-05-09 08:27:46 +0000 UTC
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Potency infusion has been successfully completed.
Leveling has stopped. Additional experience earned upon reaching maximum Level 9 potency will be applied to Core Infusion.
Increased core density is correlated with superior class selection.
Increased core density is correlated with superior class resonance.
You have achieved 0.021% maximum core density.
For optimal class evolution paths, personalized con...
2022-05-09 08:13:16 +0000 UTC
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“All you have to do is show us where those jackals are hiding. Do you understand, worm? If you do that, we will allow you to crawl back to our sanctuary. But if you seek to deceive us. If you seek to ambush us..."
Eric heard the desperate hoarse cry of a broken man. “No, please, master. I would never even think of betraying you. Never! It’s the vampires. I told your master about th—“ his pleading broke in an abrupt scream, Usef’s smaller form radiating a bright or...
2022-05-09 08:12:03 +0000 UTC
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“You’d better not be lying to us, worm! If you cannot find us the tunnel leading to this hidden city you claim to have scouted so thoroughly, you and all your slaves will serve as a fiery example to any other would-be Custos who dares to promise more than they can deliver!” barked a clearly irate orc some 60 meters ahead, massive body outlined by the lanterns atop poles held by three of the smaller orcs.
“The city is just up ahead, great Lord Tog!" assured the smarmy ...
2022-05-09 08:07:47 +0000 UTC
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Eric went for a reassuring smile. The furiously blazing arrow filling the entire chamber with the smells of pork left too long on the grill was instantly returned to storage.
"Morlekai! Damn good to see you up on your feet! How are you feeling?”
The man’s eyes locked with Eric’s own before he slowly lowered his head. “I feel as if I owe you a great debt.”
Little more than a husky whisper, the air resonated with how profoundly he meant it, Eric even...
2022-05-09 07:58:57 +0000 UTC
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Eric’s heart pounded with dread.
Trouble was coming. Trouble in the form of twenty giant-sized foes rapidly closing in. Monsters that would slaughter him if he dared to face them head-on, compounded by the fact that they had every intention of destroying a sanctuary comprised of over a thousand refugees, thanks to one rat-faced coward of a psychopath who didn't care who suffered, as long as he prospered.
Two distinct choices lay before him.
One, he could h...
2022-05-09 07:52:32 +0000 UTC
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“No, you're him, you're him! The one who shot Jules and all his men!" The scrawny man squealed, scuttling back from the sight of Eric's scarred features in the flickering lamplight that somehow hadn't yet gone out.
Eric flashed an ice-cold smile, doffing his hat and dipping his head. “I am.”
“You… you killed them all. You’re a monster. A fucking monster!”
Eric tilted his head with a bemused smirk. “If I'm a monster, then what does that make you? Ho...
2022-05-09 07:21:22 +0000 UTC
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“The hunt’s on, kid. Better be prepared. Our prey is leaving the roost.”
Eric looked up from what he was doing, giving the sleek and deadly Morlekai a pleased nod. “I was hoping tonight was the night. Just one second, I’m almost done.”
Morlekai's hardening gaze gave way to curiosity as he adjusted the steel-reinforced tricorn hat upon his head. Elegant, stylish, with a frock coat that was effectively a jack of plates with all the reinforced steel underneath ...
2022-05-09 07:18:41 +0000 UTC
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“So, Eric, bro, what’s up with the campfire outside our pad?”
This from Drake, digging into his pasta like a starving man his favorite meal, grunting appreciatively and giving a thumbs up. “Best damned pasta I’ve ever eaten! You’re a lucky man, Louie,” he said, his friend giving an agreeable nod as Alice beamed happily, none of them acting like the day before had even happened. And if they were happy, who was Eric to say anything?"
“Yeah. I had a bit of ...
2022-05-09 07:17:34 +0000 UTC
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“Draw and strike, Eric. Just like I taught you.”
His mentor's gruff, never-quite-satisfied voice washed through Alex's memory as he faced the fur-covered pell that had managed to deflect even a spear hurled by a boosted class skill, so tough was the inch thick rawhide beneath the fur, and the greater lizard scales just underneath.
Inhale, exhale, strike.
Inhale, exhale… strike!
From utter stillness to an explosion of killing intent, E...
2022-05-09 07:12:18 +0000 UTC
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Eric, still caught in a state somewhere between shock and awe, couldn’t even find it within himself to move as a smiling Morlekai approached.
"And that is thrice you have come to the aid of myself and my clan.”
Eric swallowed as the man’s steel-like grip patted his shoulder.
“And a prime number like that must never be ignored, no matter the oaths that bind. Would you not agree… Associate?” He said the last with a teasing smile, as if a joke shared betw...
2022-05-09 07:09:22 +0000 UTC
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