OK.
So I wanted to try a few things for a while now.
First things first…
"Blink" on purpose…
{
Race: Donkey {Lvl 2}
Stats | Skills
HP: 250/250 | Carrying Cargo
MP: 30/30 | Crushing Bite lvl 2
INT: 17 | Bronco Buck lvl 3
STR: 25 | Fireball lvl 1
CHR: 14 |
AGL: 16 |
Titles: Protector.
Exp: 55 | Skill Points: 0
}
The sparks from the orcs’ cooking fire hung in the air.
The two orcs were half way standing up when I blinked, and now they were frozen in a sort of unbalanced squatting position.
Ibehru had already started to draw her gladius - it was half way out of its scabbard.
Time was standing still.
Perfect.
Sure, sort of a "cheat", I guess?
Even though - I too was frozen in place now, and the status poster blocked a good portion of my view…
… this was still cool!
This was what I had been aiming for - I now had as long as I wanted to stop and think and plan!
So…
The next item on my agenda was of course…
{
Fireball Lvl 1
}
How do I activate that?
Or aim it???
Or make sure that no friendly targets were hit?
If this was a verbal spell - well being a donkey means I’m toast.
And if spells required some sort of complex finger wiggling, again, not something I could grasp as a donkey.
Finally, if spells needed ingredients, well, I’m all out.
So my fervent wish was that at least Fireball could be summoned and directed by thought alone - well at least for me.
As a test, I concentrated on the word "Fireball" on the status poster.
Oh nice!
More info - what I was hoping for!
{
Fireball Lvl 1
Does #Y damage, plus #W per level of user.
At user level #A++, optional explosion component is added.
Level up of skill grants further options.
Do you wish to activate "Silent Activation" for race donkey?
***
[YES!] <-> [Nope]
}
Well…
YES!
Thunderbird 1 is GO!
But what was that question about anyway? Did races who can talk maybe not get that choice?
I haven’t seen anyone use magic yet.
Or rather, I have not heard anyone use it, might be more exact to say.
If everyone could use Silent Activation, who knows what magic they were casting all the time around me, right?
Now a new mystery.
What was with all those hashtag # thingies?
Hmmm, so I was a Lvl 2 Donkey - so my damage was:
{
#Y + 1 * #W
}
Whatever that actually meant…
Neither #Y nor #W were numbers, as far as I understood them.
Sigh…
Meh, guess that didn’t really matter as long as I was able to do at least some sort of damage!
OK.
Let’s do this!
After I "unblink", I’ll target the weaker looking orc first - somewhere I sort of remembered to get rid of the weakest enemies as quickly as possible was a good strategy.
Nothing worse than to be hounded by small fry while trying to deal with the "main event"... or something like that was what a distant memory was trying to tell me.
UNBLINK
<<FIREBALL!>> [Donkey]
Even as Ibehru’s sword was clearing its scabbard, and the orcs had just reached to pick up their spiked clubs, my Fireball Lvl 1 scorched through the cave air and found its target.
Right into the orc's kisser!
The orc unceremoniously keeled backwards.
Time froze.
Eh?
Level Up?
{
Race: Donkey {Lvl 3↑}
Stats | Skills
HP: 350↑/350↑ | Carrying Cargo
MP: 10/40↑ | Crushing Bite lvl 2
INT: 17 | Bronco Buck lvl 3
STR: 25 | Fireball lvl 1
CHR: 14 |
AGL: 16 |
Titles: Protector.
Exp: 65↑ | Skill Points: 0
}
Oh - guess I fried the poor orcs brain with that one shot…
No skill point added - so maybe I only got those on even numbered levels.
Before I un-blink, lets do a quick status check.
Ouch… so that Fireball Lvl 1 used up all 30 of my previous total MP (magic points aka mana) - I did get 10 MP from levelling up, but I had no other magic I could use, so my Fireball was a one time use, for now.
Well, even at such a high MP usage, it was well worth it if I could one-shot orcs!
Hm…
Next move?
Not enough space to do my devastating Bronco Buck (Lvl 3!) - so I suppose I would use the old "chomp chomp"... I hoped orc tasted better than the various thugs I’ve been biting these last 3 weeks or so!
UNBLINK
Avanti!
"Rawr! Kill you Donkey Meat!" [Orc2]
The remaining orc lumbered towards me, raising his club at the same time I started towards him.
OUCH!
His club hit me square on the flank - that... that really really hurt!
Luckily the bag on my back caught the spike, and I only received blunt damage.
I did not let the moment go to waste, and as the orc struggled to free his spiked club from the bag, I took a serious CHOMP down on his wrist, hard!
And then next to my ear I heard a sort of squishy sound that I wished I hadn’t heard.
The orc’s eyes went wide, his mouth dropped open, and then he slumped to the cave floor as if he had been a marionette with cut strings.
Ibehru had not hesitated and taking advantage of the orc being occupied with me, had slain it in a professional soldier fashion.
"Sigh… I really don’t like to do this, but it was either the orcs or us… and call me egotistic or even greedy - but I prefer us…" [Ibehru]
I nodded in agreement.
So… what were we going to do with these two orcs…?
Ah…
Ibehru grabbed the first orc and unceremoniously dumped it into the bag on my back.
Repeat with the one I had scorched.
I did not notice an increase in weight.
Actually now that I think about it, I never even noticed the bag’s weight, no matter how much post and mail we were carrying…
And I will for now ignore the fact that Ibehru easily just orc-handled two full sized orcs, both of which looked to be almost as heavy as I was…
"Eh, we’ll have the gate guards take care of these. We still have an important package to deliver to a wizard, and the sun is about to set. Do you remember how to get back to the tree?" [Ibehru]
Sure! I nodded…
There were those silly signs guiding us all the way, we just had to follow them back, right?
Follow me!
Avanti!
We spotted a small campfire at the base of the giant tree as we got closer.
The sun had finally really set, and it was post-dusk now.
The old gnome had been waiting for us, a beat up old copper kettle hung over the small fire.
Slight whiffs of steam escaped the kettle.
"Oha! Come back have you." [Gnome]
"Yes, and we got the golden thistles - here you go!" [Ibehru]
{
Quest completed!
Task: Golden Thistles
Reward: +5 exp
Items lost: 3 Golden Thistles
}
Weird - time did not always freeze when these quest posters appeared…
Guess maybe it was because this time it was just informational?
No skill points added so I did not need to interact with it.
The gnome took the thistles carefully - they did have stingy bits after all - and popped them all into his kettle.
"Ah, good - need them you do…" [Gnome]
"Eh, we do?" [Ibehru]
"Yes! Anti-Height tea! Turtle is very high up - not much air. Affects brain it does - if not prepared!" [Gnome]
"Oh! So the thistles prevent mountain sickness! Well, that is handy… I was wondering why we were sent on a wild goose chase for some vegetation…" [Ibehru]
"Hmm Hmm… ready soon… then we go, up!" [Gnome]
Up?
HOW?
Unless the gnome had secretly carved a staircase up the tree while we were out hunting golden thistles - I had no clue how we were supposed to get to the top.
"Here you go Donkey. Drink it all up. It sort of tastes like… hay? And Clover? A bit?" [Ibehru]
I looked at the liquid in the bucket that Ibehru had placed in front of me.
Sniff sniff sniff...
Not unpleasant - yeah, hay and clover was what the smells I got, too.
Course, I could probably just as well have eaten the golden thistles directly - they did look sweet, after-all.
Oh, maybe I forgot to mention it - I’m a donkey.
We eat thistles all the time.
After finishing our "herbal tea", the gnome hop/walked to the tree.
There were massive roots sprouting all around the tree, some coming down from four floors high up.
This spot the gnome chose was quite free of any rootware, though.
And the bark seemed to be much smoother here than the rest of the tree, too.
The gnome simply pressed his palm at a random spot, then stepped back.
"Takes moment to arrive, it does." [Gnome]
"Arrive?" [Ibehru]
"Hm, yes. Wait we do." [Gnome]
After a bit I thought I was feeling a subtle rumble under my hooves.
"Eh, the ground…?" [Ibehru]
So Ibehru noticed it, too…
"Yes. It here, now." [Gnome]
DING
A double door shimmered into view on the side of the tree.
Each door blade had a round porthole in it, light shining out from it.
SWISH
The doors slid open - one blad to the left, the other to the right.
The warm light that we had seen from the portholes now spilled out from the opening in the tree.
"Lift…" [Gnome]
"Lift… I’ve heard of those being used in the Wizard Towers of Branoch…" [Ibehru]
"Same, same…" [Gnome]
The gnome nodded briefly, and ushered us through the doors.
"Sit?" [Gnome]
We had entered a larger room than I had expected.
There were several divans of various sizes and heights strewn around.
The floor was polished wood with several small carpets under each divan.
Well, I being a donkey, could of course not take advantage of a divan…
... so I trotted to a free spot near a wall that looked to be safe, and just stood.
Ibehru chose a divan matching her size, and plumped down.
The gnome meanwhile was pressing another random spot on the inside lift wall.
SWISH
The lift doors softly came together again and closed.
A slight jolt.
We started to move…
"Rest.. travel we will for a while…" [Gnome]
I must have closed my eyes and dozed off for a bit.
The soft rumbling and the smooth travel had a calming effect.
When I opened my eyes, the gnome was perched on a divan a few cubits from my snout.
The divan was too high for his size - so it was obvious he had chosen it for its location.
His expression was indecipherable.
The moment he saw me looking at him, his expression changed back to his normal loopy one.
"Ah, nap had? We half way up…" [Gnome]
I glazed over to Ibehru - still in full armour she was stretched out on her divan.
A soft snoring escaped her, every so often.
A bit later I woke up again.
This time Ibehru was sitting on her divan, her head propped on her fist, elbow on knee, staring at the gnome.
"So… you know what I think?" [Ibehru]
"No… mind closed, not easy to read." [Gnome]
"We are going to go all the way up to the floaty turtle thing, and you will bring us to some showy throne room, where you will with a flash of magic grow and stretch…" [Ibehru]
Ibehru at those words sprung up and put on a dramatic pose, one fist on her hip, the other hand thrust up skyward - index finger pointing to the the roof.
"... and thou shalt explain almighty - I BE DA WIZZZZZARRRDDD YOU BE LOOKIN’ FO’" [Ibehru]
Pause for effect.
The gnome looked sheepishly down at his feet, his hands linked behind his back.
He softly kicked the floor with one foot.
"Shucks… found out have you…" [Gnome]
Ibehru, still in her ridiculous pose looked down at the gnome with wide eyes.
"Did I? I mean.. I did?" [Ibehru]
"But… just little me, am I…" [Gnome]
The gnome poked himself on the tummy.
"How you notice?" [Gnome]
"Eh???" [Ibehru]
Ibehru dropped her pose, her arms now hanging down limply beside her sides, and she bent forward a little.
Her mouth hung a bit open before she straightened up and caught a hold of herself again.
"Heh - well it was really just a wild guess based on your standard type, really… Mysterious figure close to the goal, gives weird fetch quest, guides heroes to destination… end up being really who heroes are looking for.You know… the standard drivel one reads in all the modern penny dreadfuls these days…" [Ibehru]
Ibehru handed the wizard’s package to the gnome, and then sat down again while she spoke.
"Ha, caught me you have! And thank you. This book - help us it will. But please… up continue we will? Belidor gets lonely some days - not many visitors we get…" [Gnome]
"Oh sure.. Yeah I suppose that will be fine. Living on a floating giant turtle... with no easy way to get there…" [Ibehru]
At that the room we were in jolted slightly, and the rumble stopped.
DING
SWISH
We exited the lift and were met with a sight that took our breaths away…
The ride had taken all night.
The sun was just peaking over the far eastern mountain range.
Rays of light streamed across the countryside.
There was a giant turtle floating in mid air...
"Wow… that sight… just… wow…" [Ibehru]
"Hehe, yes, never tired I get, seeing it, myself. Come, bridge solid, bridge safe…" [Gnome]
OH NO!
My second worst nemesis!
A BRIDGE!
