Origin ARS 4 (11 page)

“That seems like an odd restriction.” said Scott.

The trader shrugged his shoulders. “My hands are tied. There is a law in effect in Eizen that requires fair and equitable trade practices. I can’t require something from you and not require the same thing from another person unless it includes something minor like a small monetary discount.”

“So, no matter what I’ll need a writ?” asked Scott.

“If you know someone who has one, we might be in business. Otherwise, I can’t make that trade. I run an honest shop. In my line of work, in this city, I have to.”

Scott frowned. It would be so simple if he could just get around that damned writ! Sure, spending so much money would be like a punch in the gut, but what was he going to do with it? He can’t take it with him to the other server anyway. He might as well do some good with it.

“What do we do then? I need to get those mermaids home, but the city is taking its sweet time in giving us that writ.” said Scott.

“How much have you done for the city?” asked the trader.

“We’ve killed off hundreds of monsters, taken down smugglers and done who knows how many random messenger missions. I honestly forget how much we have done. We’re currently trying to finish a mission to subjugate some well-hidden bandits.” said Scott.

“Well hidden bandits...Hmm?” asked the trader.

“Yes. We can’t seem to find them.” admitted Scott.

“Ah, we might have a solution at hand my friend.”

“By all means, do tell.” said Scott.

The trader tapped his nose with his forefinger. “The blood tracker race is the best race of hunters in ARS. Their entire thing is hunting and tracking. If he can’t find your bandits then it is not possible to do so without magic.”

“I suppose we could use him for a while to that purpose, but once I have the writ I would be out well over half of a million Fayth as you agreed to release the mermaids to my custody anyway.” said Scott.

“No problem. I’ll buy him back, as long as it has been at least twenty-four hours. That would be minus the ten percent handling fee, though. So, you’d be out sixty thousand Fayth.”

“Sixty thousand, huh?” asked Scott thoughtfully. Maybe he should just dump the wolf-guy on the mermaid queen then remind her where her people were. It would cost more, but he would feel less irritation.

“That is actually a reasonable rental fee for such a slave. I did not exaggerate when I said that they were the best trackers in the world.”

It was the best deal that he would be able to make in the situation and honestly sixty thousand Fayth to finish this quest was small change. He had made that in one day of hunting recently. The sooner he herded the mermaids back to their home, the sooner he could finish training and begin the destruction of Corpse Rat.

“I’ll have to confer with my people, but I suspect that we have a deal.” said Scott.

The trader released a sigh of relief. “Good, and I hope so. I don’t want to force a slave on anyone who does not want one. That’s barbaric.”

Scott blinked then quirked his eyebrow. Barbaric indeed. He certainly would not want to cause such a fine upstanding citizen as the slave trader to feel bad about himself.

Chapter 9: Bandit's Cove

A low, threatening, growl echoed across the clearing. Scott rolled his eyes then glanced over to Rhea. His beautiful elven companion shook her head. There was nothing else that could be done about it.

The blood tracker snarled at Scott then eyed Rhea in a lustful manner. It was obvious what he was doing, though it would be less annoying if he wasn’t a player pretending to be from the tribe of the blood trackers.

“Stop that stupid snarling. You wanted to get sold at auction and I’m getting tired of your passive aggressive bullshit.” said Scott. The furry wolf man had made lots of aggressive noises, but he had not once attacked.

The wolf man snarled hotly at Scott then showed him his fangs. Scott rolled his eyes then raised his hand. “You really want to do this? If not, just shut the hell up and come on. The sooner we’re done, the sooner you can be bought by someone else.”

Yellow eyes flashed and the wolf man made his move. He ran forward then leapt at Scott. The sorcerer did not even bother to dodge. He simply raised his arm.

Sharp fangs bit down on his arm with great force and the blood tracker began to worry it back and forth in an effort to bite Scott’s arm off. After a full minute of making that attempt he looked up at Scott and saw only a bored expression. He had not taken a single point of damage.

The blood tracker let Scott’s arm go then sighed. “You’re no fun, you know that?”

“Yep, good old predictable rock.” said Scott lightly.

The wolf man snorted then backed away. “If we were the same level you would have lost that arm.”

“If we were the same level I would have set you on fire and left you here to burn.” retorted Scott with a smile.

The player with a furry-fetish yawned loudly and exposed his long pink tongue. He then glanced over at Rhea and flashed her a wolfish grin.

“Try it and I’ll cut it off.” said Rhea pleasantly.

The wolf man whined like a frustrated dog then nodded. “Fine, what is it that you want with me?” he asked Scott.

“Simple, we are searching for a group of well-hidden bandits. We want you to try and find their trail.” said Scott.

Yellow eyes brightened considerably. “Well, that’s something at least. I doubted that you’d need me for my battle prowess.”

“You’d need to have some of that before I’d want it.” replied Scott in a sarcastic tone of voice. He expected the wolf man to start growling and being aggressive again, but the fanged man-beast merely laughed then nodded his head.

“Good point. Alright, if it’s tracking I can do that much better than you. Might even be able to work it into my backstory.” said the wolf man.

“Great. Well, let’s get going.” said Scott.

As they left the clearing outside of Eizen, Scott heard Ero whispering inside his mind. He tried to hide the smile that rose to his lips, but it was hard. The little fairy had said, “My, what a big ego you have grandma.”

The trip back to the lighthouse was somewhat uneventful. A singular incident occurred when the wolf tried to make another move on Rhea. She had casually twisted his arm around and pressed his face into the dirt until he begged for forgiveness.

At the lighthouse, the group stopped a moment to take in the view of the early morning sun shining over the sea. It was quite the majestic sight. The background song, a soft and lonesome instrumental piece set the scene beautifully.

The moment was ruined by the blood tracker making snuffling sounds. He had his nose to the dirt and rocks nearby. He crawled around on all-fours like a wolf sniffing out a trail.

“Seriously?” said Scott. Did he have to track like that or was this just some weird player quirk?

Rhea shrugged. As long as the furry would-be alpha male found the trail she did not care.

They walked around the lighthouse twice before the new guy in the group picked up on something. Quickly they jogged off toward a single rock on the beach.

When they arrived, the wolf man sniffed around the rock in circles. Scott was about to ask if he’d found the hideout, but to his surprise and disgust the wolf man stopped moving and hiked up his left leg like a dog who was about to mark his territory.

“What the hell are you doing?” called out Scott.

The blood tracker turned his wolfish head toward him then blinked. “Oh, sorry.... force of habit.”

“I don’t have to touch that rock do I?” asked Rhea. Ero echoed her sentiment inside of Scott’s mind.

“No, with a bitch I mark my territory in other ways...” said the wolf with a wide fanged smile.

Scott’s eyes narrowed then he pointed his hand toward the rock and said, “Burn.”

The wolf man proved to be far more agile than he had seemed. He hurled himself out of the way of the oncoming fiery missile. Scott had not aimed at him, but he did want to make a point.

The boulder was hit with a powerful concussive blast of flame and force that sent it rolling sideways. Surprisingly, below the rock there was a hole with a ladder leading down. The group gathered around and Ero brought Scott’s attention to something just inside the hole.

Scott touched the destroyed set of ropes and springs. “You’re right Ero; it does look like this boulder was meant to be moved from the inside.”

“Yeah, they probably come out here, and then roll the boulder back into position. Would mean that there is another entrance.” said Rhea.

“What, no one’s going to thank me?” said the wolf man.

“Thank you.” said Scott sincerely.

“I’d rather the bitch thank me.” said the wolf man.

Rhea started to unsheathe her sword. She said, “I have a name. Use it.”

The wolf merely grinned at her then yawned in a condescending manner. He loved it when a bitch got uppity.

Scott noticed the interaction then decided to say something. “Wolf guy, you stay here since you’re too weak to be of use in a fight.”

The wolf glared hatefully at him then unleashed an angry growl. How dare this mere human say such a thing about him.

Scott winked at Rhea then hopped down into the darkness below. He did not even bother with the ladder as such a distance was nothing for him. He hit the ground and felt a light jarring sensation in his legs but otherwise he was unharmed.

Rhea hopped down next and she landed with supernatural grace. She smiled at him briefly, then blinked and jumped to the side. The wolf man had leapt down into the tunnel below as well.

“Oh fuck me!” snapped the wolf as the fall broke his legs severely. The shin bone of his right leg poked out through the skin and he bled heavily.

“Dammit!” cried Scott. He started to pull out a healing potion, but it was too late. The furry idiot died on the spot that he had landed. His fur was now covered in his own life’s blood, even as a pool of it rapidly spread out around him.

Rhea glanced down at the dead wolf then sighed. Life was a fleeting thing, and she had to think about the hardships that many people endured, especially their group. “Do you think we can get our deposit back?”

“Not till the asshole respawns. Man, what an idiot.” remarked Scott. What kind of moron would leap down into a pit like that? Sure, he’d done it, but he was used to leaping out of trees and jumping off the side of buildings now.

In the end it did not matter much. The wolf, for all his help in finding the caverns under the sand, was of not real use at the moment. The group moved on in preparation of finishing their current mission. The sooner they could crush the bandits, the sooner they could finish their business and get back to leveling in anticipation of their final push on this server.

The underground corridor was dry, and smelled heavily of sand and salt. In many ways it reminded Scott of the days he had spent swimming at the beach as a child. He would occasionally get a bit of water up his nose, and then have to go dry out for a bit. It was that sort of scent.

It did not take long before they slipped into an area where they began to hear voices. While they hid behind a large stack of crates, Scott raised his finger to his lips.  Rhea nodded and kept silent. Even Ero, currently residing within his mind, remained silent. Now was the crucial part. They had to check the nature of their opponents.

Between Scott and Rhea there would be a stark difference in power for the rest of the time that they remained on this server. Still, it would prove useful while they reached for the end. If Scott could not easily destroy these bandits, Rhea might be able to.

There were three bandits up ahead. One was horribly fat, while the other two just looked horrible. The smallest bandit was close enough that Rhea could see his harelip. Scott could only see that he was ugly and possibly needed a bath. The thing that all of them could see was the bright red names emblazoned above their heads. These bandits were all known murderers. That meant that this group of bandits was comprised of players. It would definitely complicate things.

Scott glanced to Rhea and she nodded. There was no way to know how many more bandits were in the caverns, but fortune favored the bold and the sexy. It was time to get this party started. Scott led the charge in order to test the waters. He chose to use one of his strongest spells just to see how effective it would be.

The damage numbers generated by the attack should not be as massive as he was used to seeing, but if he used his strongest spells there would be a reasonable chance that they could take these guys out quickly. He moved back away from the crates a little then found a position where he could still see the bandits well enough.

“Ar-Burst Rain!” called out Scott quietly as he unleashed his strongest fourth level attack spell. A bowling ball sized ball of fire, lightning, and frost shot out of his palm then arced forward over the top of the crates. After a brief moment the sphere blew apart. Dozens of flaming, electrified, darts of ice rained down upon the clueless bandits. The closest one, the one with the harelip, took the most attacks directly.

“The hell!” screamed Harelip Pete, it was the bandit’s actual name, as several darts penetrated his body then exploded like magical hand grenades. Five damage numbers ranging from sixty-two to eighty-seven rose above his head in bright red. He fell to the ground and started to twitch, but he was not dead yet.