“Alright, Basi, let’s go.” He returned his bow to his back, leaving it out in case he ran into trouble on the road, and the two of them set off at a quick pace. He needn’t have worried about running into trouble. There was a reason that he hadn’t run into a monster in this part of the Mountains yet - This close to the dwarf village was an artificial safe zone. The dwarves sent out regular patrols from the town to the mine, often enough to ensure the area was practically free of monsters.
That’s not to say he didn’t pass other humans from time to time. Most of them were poorly equipped and looked to be coming straight from the prairie. He nodded to most of them, but as he came close to them he adopted an annoyed expression as he moved along quickly enough to avoid any conversations.
He smiled to himself as someone took a look at his face and hurried past, ‘Just like Costanza said, when you look annoyed all the time people think you’re busy’ He was a friendly enough sort, but he was ready to get on to the next level, especially as more and more humans began to catch up to him on Level II.
Before long, he found himself at the crossroads, and this time he went left towards the mountain pass. The path climbed sharply for the first twenty minutes of walking, leveling off eventually. It was a beautiful view. From where he was, looking up the mountains he could see alpine environments, beautiful tall evergreens dotting the gentler slopes and providing a great contrast to the white snow that capped most of them.
In the valley below, he saw a wide river that wound through the canyon, carving it deeper and deeper as time marched on. He could see caves dotting the sides of some of the mountains. On the side of one mountain, he could see several Rams congregated together on a grassy field. He didn’t spend too much time enjoying the sights as he walked along the trail at the fastest pace he could sustain given the terrain. At one point, the trail descended to the valley floor, the area much more open than the rest of the trail had been.
He was walking close to the river at this point. The water was clear and crisp, and it seemed like it would be oh-so-refreshing. ‘Maybe I should stop for a drink.’ He moved over to the river, Basi close beside him, and the two of them leaned down to get a sip of water from the river. The water was as cool as he could have hoped for.
It was at this point that he found his first monster in the Pass. The surface of the river seemed to explode as an amphibious beast jumped forth, hunched over and somewhat humanoid in shape. It had a javelin in it's hands, and much like an Olympian, it launched the projectile quickly and with great power. Saul barely had time to register the creature’s presence, jumping to the side as quickly as he could. He didn't move quickly enough as the weapon embedded itself in his shoulder.
If he hadn’t moved the javlin would have taken him through the neck. He pulled his own bow from his back wincing at the pain as it lodged itself further into his shoulder. He gripped the shaft of the javelin and yanked it free from his shoulder. Pain flared in his wound as he threw the blood-stained weapon to the side. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and placed it on his bowstring, drawing back with a deep breath. He let it fly watching it hit the beast in its chest. The monster’s health bar appeared overhead and dropping by a fifth. ‘Murloc Hunter, Level 6’.
‘A murloc? It’s like this whole place was created by Gary Gygax…’ He grit his teeth and grabbed an arrow from his quiver acutely aware of his own health bar in the bottom right of his vision. It showed he’d lost about a third of his health. He couldn’t afford another hit from the murloc’s javelin. He didn’t want Basi going after it in the water. 'I don't even know if he can swim. A battle in water would be bad news for the both of us. I need to keep away from the water in case there are more nearby.'
Focusing on his Qi quickly, he overloaded the arrow and drew it back, along with a deep breath. Aiming at the beast’s head, he let the arrow fly. It was a direct hit, and it seemed to have caught a weak spot as the monster’s health dropped by two thirds, moving to critically low territory. The murloc didn’t seem phased by that as it reached behind its back and grabbed another javelin. It flung it at him with great speed and charged behind it at him with a fierce, “MMRMGMLLL”
Saul was able to slip the javelin but the murloc was on him quickly. He used his bow to try and fend the beast off. He knocked the spear that had suddenly appeared in its hands aside. “Basi, a little help!” His lizard rushed forward and swiped at the murloc with his claws landing a hit that almost killed the monster. Saul saw that it had only a sliver of health left and lashed out with his bow, clubbing the murloc. He watched with satisfaction as its health ticked to 0 and it fell to the ground before him.
‘That wasn’t so bad.’ He thought. Then he heard it. “MMMHRL!” “MGRRGRGL!” ‘MMMMMGLRLRLR!” More murlocs. ‘Of course there isn’t just once… There never is.’ He sighed, reaching behind him to grab another arrow and aiming at the oncoming group of Murlocs, four strong. It didn’t look like any of them had ranged weapons.
He was beginning to see why people considered the pass dangerous.
