Chapter 8: Riding the Waves
[Quest Updated: Birds of a Feather. Wave 2/3 complete. Ritual Progress 80%]
“Any more brilliant plans?” Krieg asked.
Carth blinked. “That didn’t even sound sarcastic.”
“It wasn’t, airhead. That was a genuinely inspired tactical maneuver. Makes me sick. Here I thought you might make a decent cutthroat, and you’re out here fighting like some malakas sorcerer! I’m impressed and maybe a little proud. But mostly just sick.”
“Well, thank you. That’s about as close to a compliment as you’ve gotten so far. I’ll take it.”
“Cut the quark, kid. What’s our next move? That salt-blood over there is looking pretty pissed we just wiped out his men.”
“Her men,” Carth corrected, pointing to the blatantly feminine commander atop the largest assault crab. She was already raising the war shell to her lips to sound another attack.
Krieg stared up at Carth incredulously. “I take it all back. You’re not just an airhead. You’re a fluxing quark-for-brains ikthiodt! I don’t care if it’s a him, a her, or a fluxxing meteorite heading our way, we’re in danger and we need to do something about it!”
Carth glanced around at the bodies strewn across the front third of the ship, an idea formulating in his mind. Images of zombified elves and sea nymphs rising from the deck floated across his imagination.
“Do you have enough mana left for another illusion?”
“Nope. Fresh out!”
The idea fizzled away into nothingness.
“Okay. What else do you have? Those smoke bombs were pretty useful.”
“Yeah, and I only had four of them. I gave three to you. I’ve got one left. It’s mine. I’ve got knives. I’ve got me. I’ve got no mana to speak of. And I’ve got you. That’s it. We’re right fluxxed all over again aren’t we?”
Carth stared across the ship as the myrmidon commander herself broke away from the assault on the stern and led half of her remaining forces their way. This time the only battle crab they brought with them was the one she was riding, but since it was half again as large as the other ones this did not feel like much of an improvement.
His vision snagged on a nearby trident, an exact copy of the one he was wielding, laying discarded beside a dead myrmidon.
“Can you throw a spear?” Carth asked, allowing a new idea room to breathe. He dropped three points into Persuasion, ranking it up to tier two, whatever that meant.
Krieg scoffed. “I did three years of service in Silvertrees before life took me down a better path. Aye, I can throw a bloody spear.”
“Yeah but you probably aren’t very good at it. Nevermind.”
“How dare you!”
“No, no it’s okay. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just thinking out loud, like I said, never mind.” Carth looked away, making himself appear deep in thought.
Krieg crossed his arms, rising to the bait.
“No. Hells no! You’ve impugned my honor as a murderous bastard. I can hurl a spear as well as the best satyr you’ve ever heard of. I’ve used more than a few to finish off the odd jobs over the years, and you can bet your swirly gray arse I can throw a spear with more precision than any of these Goldreef pointy-eared quargs!”
Carth listened attentively and shrugged, offering his trident to Krieg.
“My apologies, friend. Here. Prove me wrong and show me what an excellent shot you are.”
[Persuasion Succeeded]
Krieg snatched the trident from Carth’s hands with a ‘Ha!’ and tested the weight with a wicked grin.
“Thirty Gold Marks says I can hit the lead myrmidon from here!”
“Forty says you can’t hit their commander!” Carth challenged.
“DEAL!”
[Gentleman’s Wager: 40 Gold Marks to the winner!]
Krieg bleated out a derisive laugh, or perhaps it was a war cry. He cocked the trident back, took two great steps, and fired the trident through the air like a thin, extremely short-range ballistic missile.
All three prongs drove into the myrmidon commander’s chest as her attention was drawn to the side. One second she was barking a command at a wayward lieutenant, the next she was thrown from her saddle and died before she hit the deck.
Krieg let out a whoop of joy.
[Gentleman’s Wager: You owe Krieg 40 Gold Marks!]
As one, all of the myrmidons, even those attacking the elves, abandoned any sort of tactical formation and charged towards the front of the ship. Each one looked enraged and determined to be the first to avenge their fallen commander.
Krieg halted, mid-victory-dance, and looked up at Carth with a horrified expression.
“Wait a second… an airhead like you don’t even have forty gold marks, do you?”
“‘Nope. Fresh out!’” Carth quoted back to the satyr. “But we got way bigger problems, fuzzball!”
Krieg glanced towards the front of the ship.
“Ah, FLUX!”
The ship shuddered and Carth’s eyes caught sight of something behind the screaming wall of incoming sea nymphs that made him even more afraid.
Every remaining golden elf was grabbing onto the ship’s railing or rigging. Anything they could do to keep themselves upright.
Two golden elves wearing sorcerer’s robes both held up their hands and surrounded the pilot, captain, and nearby crew with a glimmering barrier of golden light as they all braced for impact.
Carth turned away from the myrmidons and focused his attention on the front of the ship, and what lay beyond.
Oh flux me!
“Uh, Krieg?”
The satyr, who had not stopped cursing since he first spotted the incoming myrmidons, paused long enough to cuss out Carth for a second instead.
Thinking fast, Carth hooked his foot under a trident and lifted it into the air where he could snatch it. Grabbing it and Krieg, he rammed the trident into the wooden deck as hard as he could, aiming for a seam between planks.
[Critical Strike Unlocked!]
The trident struck true, thank flux. Holding on for dear life, Carth felt Krieg suddenly stop struggling as the satyr spotted what the ship was sailing into.
A tidal wave that towered over the ship’s retracted mast came hurtling towards them with all the fury of a herd of stampeding centaurs.
Instead of trying to avoid it, the ship accelerated to an unnatural velocity and speared right through the tidal wave. The moment the prow raised enough as the water swelled, the entire vessel shot forth like an arrow being released.
Untold thousands of gallons of green seawater passed over (and through) the ship as it was completely submerged. Everything not bolted down was carried away, including the battle crabs, the vast majority of the remaining myrmidons, and nearly all of the bodies aside from those stuck to the ship’s deck by the point of a spear or trident.
Tiloa and the surviving Elves were shielded by their magic, Carth and Krieg on the other hand were left to cling to the shaft of the trident with all of their might.
During the brief eternity spent underwater, Carth looked around and saw a strange and beautiful world beneath the ocean’s surface. Exotic sea life and colorful reefs abounded everywhere he turned his gaze.
Even as his stamina was being depleted and an oxygen bar rapidly emptied on his HUD, Carth was struck by just how beautiful it was under the water’s surface and a part of him wished that he could linger.
Off to the ship’s starboard side, he saw the glittering lights of some underwater city flickering in the distance. Floating islands were chained to the sea bottom, and schools of merfolk flitted around between towering structures far away and below the elven frigate.
The City of Saldoras.
With a heavy heart, he realized that the myrmidons were likely just trying to preserve this beautiful territory when they launched their attack on the elven vessel.
Then again, maybe they were just pirates trying to rob the elves of their treasure.
With the ritual progress at 78%, Carth and his companions would not be sticking around long enough to find out one way or another.
The ship pierced through the far side of the tidal wave, dozens of meters above the oceanic surface, and crashed down into the settling waves hard enough to dislodge the trident Carth and Krieg clung to.
They fell apart and collapsed, coughing up seawater.
[Quest Updated: Birds of a Feather. Wave 2/3 complete. Ritual Progress 80%]
[Insight Status, Hoplite’s Sandals, 100%]
[Skill Unlocked: Hoplite’s Resolve I. Improved Equilibrium]
Carth dropped two skill points into the new skill and found that pushing off the deck to get back to his feet was much easier now. Hooray for minor victories.
Having hid behind their magical barrier, the elves were still relatively fresh and began marching towards Carth and Krieg before the two men had even fully recovered.
Still, what choice did they have if they wanted to escape?
Krieg did not even have anything snarky to say this time.
Carth made direct eye contact with the most ornately armored elf headed their way. It was either the ship’s captain or the lead Hoplite. Maybe both.
“I’m out of tricks,” Carth confessed.
“I figured. You still owe me 40 gold marks.”
“What? I just saved your life!”
“You still owe me 40 gold marks!”
“You value your own life at less than 40 gold? That’s just sad, fuzzball.”
“Nah. As an assassin, I’m very well aware of the going price for a life. I’ve killed some very important people for far less.”
Carth froze, completely ignoring the encroaching formation of elves. “How much less?”
Krieg failed to conceal a broad grin. Instead of answering, he just started laughing. Loud, boisterous, and proud. It was the laughter of a swindler who had outconned someone who thought themselves more talented at manipulation than they really were.
“Krieg. Exactly how much is 40 gold worth? Explain it to me like I’m five.”
Gentleman Krieg only laughed harder. “Not 40 gold, ikthiodt. 40 gold marks!”
“Krieg, I’m serious. How much do I owe you?”
“Lemme put it to you this way, airhead. Assuming we make it out of this? You and I are going to be seeing a lot of one another in the future. You owe me so much fluxxing money!”
Carth took a deep breath and calmly unsheathed his xiphos in his right hand and then knelt down to grab a myrmidon sword, a serrated kopis, in his left.
Arranged before him were two mages, just shy of 20 armored Hoplites, and a heavily armored elf that was probably the Captain. In light of that, owing an exorbitant sum to an annoying little Satyr was the least of his concerns.
The ritual progressed to 85%, and the elves began their assault.
Chapter 9: Escape, Interrupted
With a scream worthy of the infamous Wilhelm himself, the elf positively flew right through the nearest open shutter. Unlike Krieg’s victim, this man impacted the curved strut connecting the ship’s dorsal and ventral hulls. He struck hard and tumbled down past the white oars into the ocean with several debuff icons that whipped by too fast for Carth to spot.
At Level 3, Carth was already enjoying an increase in his reaction time and mobility.
Sadly, these increases were not enough to let him fight an entire squad of level 6 elven warriors at once. He could feel how keenly outmatched he was with each passing instant. His every attack was countered by the Hoplites’ golden-bronze shields and while he had thus far avoided more than a few cuts from their spears, he knew it was only a matter of time.
Krieg hurled a dagger at short range and struck the hoplite that had been completely overpowering Carth directly in the back of the neck; dropping him with one single strike.
Stepping away from the elf as his Hp hit zero, Carth sent two blows to his next opponent using his elven xiphos, both of which impacted a raised shield and did minimal damage, then thrust his myrmidon’s kopis into the gap created as the elf shifted out of his block to counterattack. The blade sparked off the elven breastplate and nicked the man’s arm; applying several stacks of the [Bleeding] debuff.
A third hoplite ducked behind his shield and charged forth, trying to ram Carth. This forced the Seeker to dive to the side and scrabble to his feet.
Off to his left, Krieg came running out of nowhere, lunged through the air, and planted both of his hooves into the raised shield of an angered hoplite; sending the elf soaring clear over the edge of the boat and into the unforgiving waters below.
The satyr then used his last smoke bomb to vanish before the other elves could converge upon him.
The [Golden Elf Captain] guessed—correctly—that the satyr who had already executed both mages along with several of his hoplites was far more dangerous than Carth, and ordered his subordinates to focus on him.
Now Carth found himself facing only the pair of hoplites he had just been fighting.
One bleeding profusely, the other still recovering from his rush attack.
Throwing caution to the wind, Carth hurled his myrmidon’s kopis towards the bleeding hoplite and charged towards the other one at top speed. Instead of attempting some brilliant tactic, he decided to just do his best to mimic the success of Krieg’s kick maneuver.
Once he had crossed a few meters he picked his legs up off the ground just enough to let his momentum carry him to his target. Extending his feet before him he planted both sandals into the hoplite’s back, transferring his momentum into his opponent’s body.
With a scream worthy of the infamous Wilhelm himself, the elf positively flew right through the nearest open shutter. Unlike Krieg’s victim, this man impacted the curved strut connecting the ship’s dorsal and ventral hulls. He struck hard and tumbled down past the white oars into the ocean with several debuff icons that whipped by too fast for Carth to spot.
[+30 Essence]
His moment of victory passed all too quickly.
At the moment of impact between his feet and the hoplite’s back, the vessel finished cresting a wave and dipped back down; leaving Carth floating up towards the frigate’s metallic roof. For a fleeting second he had an elevated view of the battlefield, allowing him to see the Elven Captain disengaging from the melee and marching towards Tilloa undeterred, before gravity reinstated its cruel hold over him and slammed him down into the deck; undoubtedly furious with his momentary defiance of her indomitable grasp.
Carth heard a crack as he fell, and his vision swam with moisture and notifications.
[Active Debuffs: Dislocated Shoulder (left), Stunned, Disoriented x2, Disarmed x2, Winded x4, Sprained Ankle (Right)]
Gritting his teeth, Carth rolled onto his back and groaned.
“Quiet, cur!” Spat the remaining elven hoplite, still stricken with the [Bleeding] debuff, as he loomed over Carth. The hoplite’s health bar had plummeted from a strong 73% down to a dismal 26%. His right side was coated in blue ichor and his opal eyes had a sapphire-themed bloodshot look to them as he raised his dori up high.
Taking careful aim for Carth’s heart, the bleeding elf started to laugh but only managed to cough up blood.
A faded icon in Carth’s periphery suddenly blinked to life and announced that the lone spell he knew was finally off of its cooldown.
Fluxxing finally!
Reacting as quickly as his multiple debuffs would allow, Carth reached out and managed to brush his fingertips against the man’s boot. He triggered a [Jolt] that swallowed up all of his remaining mana.
The first time he had used the spell it had stripped a full third of the sea nymph’s health bar. This time, despite his recently acquired level-up, it only knocked off a quarter. Likely this was due to the elf’s naturally higher magical resistance. But it was enough to bring the hoplite down to a single measly percentage point.
As the blade of the spear plummeted towards his heart, Carth rolled towards the elf, avoiding impalement by the slimmest of margins. He kept rolling until he felt the man’s legs topple over him as his opponent came down in a heap.
Carth rose to a kneeling position with his left arm dangling uselessly and yanked out his utility knife in preparation to shave off that last percentage of the hoplite’s Hp the old-fashioned way.
The winded debuff was replaced by three new notifications, telling him that while this fight was over he now had bigger problems.
[Elven Hoplite Bled Out! +30 Essence]
[Quest Updated: Birds of a Feather. Ritual Progress Halted! (97%), Waves 2/3 complete. Protect the Archivist to resume the ritual. 00:23 seconds remaining.]
[Sidequest Updated: Dance in the Shadows. Free Krieg to unlock the Assassin subclass.]
“CARTH!” Krieg gasped from the Seeker’s left, being held up by his throat with his hooves dangling in the air as the last remaining hoplite prepared to run him through with his xiphos.
To his left, at the front of the ship, Tilloa was outside of her ritual circle battling the Elven Captain, wielding her driftwood staff like a quarterstaff.
While she was putting up a decent fight she was no match for the skilled swordsman she was facing.
Carth had one dislocated shoulder, a pocket knife, two friends in need of saving, zero remaining spell energy, and about twenty seconds to think of something clever. His eyes darted across the ship and his HUD, looking for anything that would help him save them.
What he found was the fallen spear of his latest foe, and his Focus bar sitting comfortably at 100%, just waiting to be used. The yellow bar was slowly blinking, the same way that his [Jolt] spell had when it was loaded like it was waiting to be activated.
“Screw it.”
Carth triggered his Focus.
His pains and aches faded into the background and all color evaporated from the world around him. Both the [Golden Elf Captain] and the remaining [Elven Hoplite] were highlighted a sinister red whilst Tilloa and Krieg were highlighted blue.
He sheathed his utility knife in favor of scooping up the spear before him and stood, aiming for the Hoplite hoisting Krieg up by the satyr’s throat.
The afterimage of Krieg’s perfect throw that killed the myrmidon commander flickered past Carth’s vision like a ghost and several things about the satyr’s stance and his grip on the trident clicked all at once.
Carth shifted his grip so he was balancing the spear on the web between his thumb and forefinger, just guiding it with the rest of his hand. He took two strides, putting all of his force on his good leg and letting the strength and momentum travel all the way up through his body to the point of release.
From behind his back, all the way past his ear, he hurled the spear clear across the deck of the ship.
In his hubris, he had been aiming for the Hoplite’s head. The spear was heavier than he was expecting and dropped a bit lower. Luckily the distances involved were not enough for the spear to stab into the deck instead of its intended target.
Carth’s spear struck the Hoplite through the back and punched through his breastplate.
[Critical Strike!]
[You impaled Elven Hoplite, Lvl 6! +30 Essence]
Without waiting to see Krieg escape, Carth pivoted (still on his good leg), and ran as fast as he could towards the Captain. He had no shield to duck behind, and the satyr kick had not turned out so well for him last time, so this time he led with his shoulder.
With 00:01 left on the timer, Carth collided with the Captain and they both went sprawling across the deck. His Focus ended, leaving him to feel all of his accumulated aches and pains without the numbing effect of the ability.
“Finish the ritual!” Carth shouted painfully at Tilloa as he rose to his hands and knees.
Without hesitating, the Sorceress tossed her driftwood staff towards Carth before darting back inside her spell circle and began casting once more. He caught the staff, feeling a surge of new strength flood through him and clear away his debuffs, though his Hp remained at 68%.
Carth leveraged the staff against the deck of the ship, rising painfully to a standing position.
The Golden Elf Captain rose to his feet so gracefully that it was like watching liquid flow upward. In addition to the typical golden-bronze breastplate and greaves, the Captain also bore a white cape and a helm with a white horse-hair plume. The blade of his xiphos was white instead of the typical dull gold of the others and had a massive pearl acting as the pommel.
He spat out a glob of blood, slightly battered from his fight with Tiloa and Carth’s tackle, but his Hp still sat comfortably at 86%.
“Congratulations, prisoner. You shall die first!”
Chapter 10: Flock This Way
The Captain slapped his free hand down on the deck and sent a wave of violet psionic energy blasting away from him; sending Krieg and Carth flying in opposite directions!
With no further warning, the Captain dashed towards Carth and unleashed a flurry of attacks with his sword. Carth managed to block only a third of them. His Health bar dipped lower and lower with each passing second.
The ritual reached 98% right as Carth’s Hp hit 50%.
The Captain was keeping up a running monologue mid-fight, which was not helping Carth concentrate at all.
“I shall mount your head on the mast as a warning to all who would question the might of the Golden Empire!” Rearing back, the edge of the Captain’s blade took on a crimson hue in Carth’s HUD before it whipped around and slashed right through the driftwood staff.
Carth backpedaled and examined the pair of short sticks he now held in his hand. “Well, that’s just fluxxing great, innit?”
The Captain gave no reply as he pressed the attack.
Surprisingly, being armed with a defensive weapon in both hands made this fight a little easier. He still could not hope to keep up with the Captain’s insane sword skills, but he was only getting hit maybe half of the time or less as opposed to two-thirds of the time. Minor victories.
The ritual reached 99% and Krieg joined the fray.
The dark little satyr came running out of nowhere and slid across the slick deck; firing his hooves into the back of the Captain’s right leg and dropping him to a knee.
Without missing a beat, the Captain whipped his sword around and almost decapitated Krieg with a single backhanded slash. Several dark hairs fluttered up into the air in the wake of the blade’s passage.
Krieg backpedaled and tapped his throat and chin, looking relieved not to find any blood.
Enraged, Carth went on the offensive for the first time and started hammering blows down upon the Captain.
Krieg pulled out a pair of daggers and did the same.
Trying to defend against both of them proved too much for the captain to handle, and his health bar began losing points.
“ENOUGH!”
The Captain slapped his free hand down on the deck and sent a wave of violet psionic energy blasting away from him; sending Krieg and Carth flying in opposite directions.
“You are all prisoners of the Golden Empire! I offer you this one chance to lay down your weapons and return to the brig. One chance! What say you?”
Carth and Krieg exchanged a glance. The little satyr pulled out a familiar spiral dagger, the [Poisonous Shiv], and showed it to Carth where the Captain could not see.
Carth got the hint.
“Go flux yourself!” Carth roared in reply to the Captain.
Rounding on him, the Captain turned his back to Krieg with a swish of his white cloak; presenting the perfect opportunity.
With a flair for the dramatic, the Captain took three elongated strides towards Carth, twirling his blade around to point it accusingly at him.
“How dare y-”
Krieg’s dagger found its mark, and the Captain dropped first to his knees and then flat on his face. Still alive but completely paralyzed.
Carth had just enough time to pluck the captain’s [Aurumantium Xiphos] from the deck and place it in his inventory before the ritual reached 100%.
[Quest Updated! Birds of a Feather. Ritual Complete. Waves 3/3 Complete. Thanks to your efforts the Archivist has completed her ritual and will now make good on your escape.]
The green spell circle surrounding Tilloa collapsed in on itself and three spheres shot out. One hit her, the other two tracked to Krieg and Carth in an instant.
Krieg made a sound of disgust as the magic took hold.
“What in all the hells did you hit me with, tree-witch?”
Carth sheathed his new sword and clutched his side as a sudden sharp pain struck him. A notification popped up in his periphery.
[Status Applied: Transformation.]
“Transformation into what?”
In his HUD a new compass icon appeared. His senses began shifting, focusing less on things like balance and more on things like magnetic pull and wind speed.
Carth glanced over to ask Tilloa this but instead of the tall dryad, there was a small green bird, a [Featherleaf Kite] according to her title-card, raising its wings and tilting its beak to the sky.
Eyes wide, Carth looked to Krieg for answers only to find a [Silver Kite] with a salt-and-pepper plumage standing where the satyr had been a moment earlier. This bird followed the same action as the other one and raised its wings, turning its head to the south.
“Oh, flu-”
Carth’s striped gray body that he had worked so hard crafting suddenly shrank and reformed into the body of a small bird. Devastated, Carth let out a squawk of protest and hopped towards Tilloa with the intent to give her a piece of his mind. But before he could make it more than a few hops, the rest of the spell took effect and robbed him of his will.
His wings raised and his head tilted south just as theirs had done, and as one the three tiny Kites flapped their wings and leapt into the air.
Carth’s new hollow bones and broad wings allowed him to catch a gust of wind and rise higher and higher with every downward flap. In next to no time the small flock was heading south, leaving the elven vessel far behind.
With his enhanced vision and elevation, Carth spotted a force of Saldorians even larger than the first raiding party converging upon the elven vessel. The myrmidons and their assault crabs swarmed the ship, clawing their way up the ventral hull and through the open shutters. They wouldn’t find much resistance left on board. The ship was theirs now.
Off in the distance, the glittering City of Saldoras shone beneath the waves.
Before he could gather any more details his head rotated forward of its own accord and locked him into a flight position. Without any ability to control the direction he was heading in, Carth was effectively treated to a living cutscene as he trailed behind the bird-shaped sorceress.
Everything he had ever read about flying was how freeing it always felt. Reduced to a mere passenger in his own body, unable to so much as tilt his wings to either side, Carth felt very far from free. Mostly, thanks to the sheer winds they were soaring through, he just felt cold.
The only upside to this that he could see was receiving a literal bird’s eye view of a section of the Triskelion Galaxy he had not seen in years.
When he was playing this game as a kid, Viridian was one of the three main starter worlds players could choose from. All three orbited the same star, Aspirion. Here, new Seekers could test themselves and prepare for the challenges ahead before sailing off to begin their odyssey across the stars.
Of the other two, Carth had more memories of Erythrai, as it had been something of a hub world during the second game, Dread Harvest. Most of his memories with his guildmates had at least started on that tropical paradise.
Cerulia was less of a starter world and more of the launching off point into the rest of Triskelion, and had always been embroiled in a series of complicated quest lines regardless of which iteration of the Triskelion Saga Carth was playing. The warring factions and major cities of that overpopulated world were always embroiled in some form of trouble.
As breathtaking as the views were, Carth had no desire to remain here for long. He and his old guildmates had big plans for their future in Triskelion that would take them far away from Aspirion in due time.
-
For six hours they flew south from the oceanic territory of Saldoras, following Tiloa's dark green plumage as she guided them to safety. No fewer than three paradisiacal islands with clear signs of habitation passed by beneath them without so much as a flutter from her green wings.
Overhead, the many moons of Viridian jockeyed for position in the heavens as the light of Aspirion faded to twilight.
Only when night had reclaimed the sky and the light of Triskelion's three spirals set the green sea alight with their pale radiance did Tiloa at last tilt her wings and begin to descend. Her target was a puny, misshapen island with more rock and sand than vegetation.
Krieg, still in his silver-black kite form, let loose a squawk of protest as they glided down to the beach. Each kite flapped his or her wings to slow their descent until they could touch down upon the white sand.
It was not with talons but with their normal feet that the three companions of circumstance landed upon the island.
Tiloa landed first, drifting down gracefully with her robes flowing around her like some ethereal goddess of war and magic.
Krieg dropped down and rolled, coming up in a satyr-themed hero pose with his eyes roaming the shoreline warily.
Carth belly flopped onto the sand and shaved off 3% of his already dwindling health bar in the process. Which left him sitting at a calm 14% total and was not at all stressing him out.
Notifications popped up one after the other.
[Quest Complete! Birds of a Feather. You have escaped captivity and the doomed vessel alike thanks to the efforts of you and your new companions. You are now a free Seeker. Quest Rewards available with Tiloa Moonthistle and Gentleman Krieg.]
[Level 4! 3 Stat Points available. 5 Skill Points Available. Progress locked. Read more…]
[Tutorial Complete, easy mode disengaged]
Carth spluttered out a mouthful of sand in indignation.
“‘Easy mode!’ Are you kidding me? What the flux was easy about that?” He grumbled under his breath.
Krieg rose to his feet and brushed himself off, not wasting a single moment before turning to Tiloa and yanking out a pair of daggers from seemingly nowhere.
“Alright witch, what was that?”
Tiloa took a single step. Wobbled. Dropped to a knee. And vomited.
Krieg looked disgusted for a moment and opened his mouth to say something. His eyes went wide and his cheeks went green before he too was vomiting into the sand.
Carth did the math and grimaced, knowing it was his turn next.
Sure enough, a moment later he was stricken with [Debuff: Transformation Sickness].
And so it was that Carth’s heroic return to the lands of Triskelion began with him turning out the contents of his stomach along a strange beach in the middle of the Viridian Sea.
At least he didn’t die during his first day.
Hooray for minor victories, right?
