The wolf spirit stalked a desperately fleeing Cline and came to a stop when it spotted a figure standing stoic in its way. Sift, though gravely injured, took up a ready stance. Predator and prey circled each other slowly. The cruel wolf knew the man before him would pose no threat. When Sift attacked, the wolf slammed its front paw down, pinning the monk.
Appearing from the mists, Dakkon poured the remaining mana he had into a tiny hotspot at the tip of his dagger and, unsure of its effect, plunged it into the wolf spirit’s tether to the other world—located defensively in its hind leg, away from any strike the monk could have made.
The dagger pierced into the center of the orb and, with his thermal sight, Dakkon could see the small hotspot erupt outwards and fill the cold orb with heat.
[Critical hit! You have stabbed Geh`hen for 866 damage. You have dealt an additional 432 damage as the result of an elemental advantage. Geh`hen has been slain.]
[You have gained 5,000 experience! EXP until next level 3,366/6,660]
[You have gained a level! You have 65 free stat points to distribute!]
[Your mettle has been tested. Your resolve unwavering. You have gained a rank in Steadfast!]
[Fortune favors the bold. You have gained a rank in Heroic!]
[You have received a title: Alpha Spirit]
The orb swirled radiant reds and muted blues like mismatched paints until it reached a solid, neutral color. Then the orb and wolf surrounding it disappeared.
Sift lay crushed on the floor. The red skull on his cheek vanished and a few of the monk’s valueless possessions dropped to the ground—dirtied hand wraps, a torn tan tunic, and just short of 12 gold in coin. Dakkon scooped up the dropped items reverently, to be returned to the monk who had saved him, Cline, and likely the entire quest.
C
HAPTER 26:
T
O THE
V
ICTORS
All remnants of the wolf’s mist dissipated in seconds after the battle’s end. Those left standing numbered five. Cline, Dakkon, Damak, and two NPC warriors were all that remained of the large expeditionary force. The ice around the warriors’ feet melted, freeing them. Seconds later, an oversized chest made of some wispy, purple and black, spectral material appeared near the center of the cave, not far from where the boss and Sift fell.
Damak was the first to approach the ectoplasmic chest, and he opened it eagerly. When the lid swung open, a prompt appeared for each of the five remaining members of the expeditionary force, NPCs included. The prompt gave the names and a description for each boss-dropped reward.
|Coolstone: Sister stone to the Warmstone. The wearer of a Coolstone will feel comfortable in hot environments which would normally be intolerable. The effects of fire damage are reduced substantially.
|Thunderclap Greaves: When worn, all force from a fall is directed outwards and around the wearer, creating a proportional shockwave.
|Puppet Cuffs: A pair of bracelets. When invoked, motions made by the master bracelet are mimicked by the wearer of the slave bracelet.
|Draught of the Ageless: For 20 years, the imbiber of this draught will forgo aging.
|Aren’s Bulwark: When Aren’s Bulwark is slammed to the ground, a magical stone fortification will be erected for as long as the shield remains touching the ground. A wall will naturally last 20 minutes or until the shield is lifted. After a wall is formed, eight hours must pass before another can be created. The wielder of Aren’s Bulwark may customize the size of the wall.
|Dousebinders: At the wearer’s whim, these sapphire-encrusted wraps will spray fourth water. The amount of water can be customized; however, overuse may incur a recharge period of up to four hours.
|Quiver of Plenty: This quiver replenishes with basic arrows granting an endless supply. The arrows disappear a minute after they are removed from the quiver.
“You can focus on an item to get more specifics on it,” explained Damak, noticing Dakkon’s wide-eyed expression. “You can also rearrange the items by dragging them around. After we all hit ‘submit’ at the bottom of the window, the game will distribute items based on who wanted each one the most. The higher up you put the item in the list, the more you want it.”
Dakkon looked over the list in more detail. He also noticed a button toward the bottom that said ‘forfeit,’ which he guessed would pass up any claim he wanted to lay on the loot.
The Coolstone was an interesting item, but somewhat redundant given Dakkon’s class. The Draught of the Ageless was worthless to him, as a player—though it could be worth a hefty amount to a noble seeking an extra 20 youthful years. The quiver and shield were probably going to be the first priorities of Cline and Damak respectively, and they didn’t really fit Dakkon’s current playstyle. The Puppet Cuffs were probably wholly impractical outside of pranks or some extremely sinister jobs—so he’d pass on those as well.
That left the more interesting items:
|Name: Dousebinders
|Item Type: Armor – Cloth
|Durability: 30/30
|Armor Rating: 5
|Ability: Waterfount
|Description: Each of these sapphire-studded wraps can produce its own fountain of water. When the pair of wraps are worn and touching, a more powerful stream can be created. Water created by the wraps will disappear after an hour unless it has been consumed by some other process.
Dousebinders: These seemed mediocre at first glance. Making water was probably not extremely useful save for not needing to carry around a canteen. Still, you’d probably need a cup or a lot of control to avoid looking like a fool to everyone when sucking upon your wrist wraps for hydration. However, for the right class, water on-demand seemed incredibly useful. Dakkon knew that some ice mages sub-classed into water mages so that they could produce far more powerful ice shards and walls than their primary class alone would allow for. Maybe, as a thermomancer, he could shoot his own ice shards or boiling water like a bombardier beetle.
|Name: Thunderclap Greaves
|Item Type: Armor – Steel
|Durability: 250/250
|Armor Rating: 20
|Ability: Force Dispersion
|Description: These reinforced boots have been crafted by a master of both metalworking and enchantment. Created to mitigate the damage of any fall, at the user’s whim, force that would impact the bottom of these boots is instead dispersed outward in a 360-degree ring. The shockwave produced will grow in strength proportionally to the impact that is redirected. These boots may require additional strength to wear comfortably.
“Holy shit,” thought Dakkon. The ability to ignore fall damage was huge—but these boots seemed to also allow someone to wait in ambush from a cliff top then drop like a human bomb and suffer no repercussions. For something this strong, Dakkon wouldn’t mind dumping some extra points into strength. Dakkon thought about what it would be like to kick someone while wearing the boots when Sift came to mind.
Sift had saved him, Cline, and probably the whole quest. The monk was a force to be reckoned with all on his own. If he had these boots… “Wow,” thought Dakkon.
“Say,” asked Dakkon to no one in particular as the others were each examining the list on their own. “Can monks… wear heavy steel boots in this game?”