NOVEL NEXT 5. Fifth Attempt: Wiremu
5. Fifth Attempt: Wiremu
So I have now been in this Quarry for three years. Two and a half years after bonding with Pip. Yes, I probably wasted those two free attribute points. I certainly haven't had any grand Spiritual revelations, or even a noticeable skill. Yes, we have managed to keep out of the Torture Pit, but I think it is iminent. We have had some close calls and more than one Guard was careless and died by Desert Viper venom. Those things are a menace, though one of the Guard’s constitution was too high, even for Pip’s adult venom, and he had to be helped to his untimely demise. I never did figure out what a nest of Desert Vipers were doing out here in the grasslands. They must have hitched a ride on one of the wagons I suppose.
The events of the last two and a half years are clearly written in my Status. There are some Base increases in my Physical Strength and Mental Strength, just from the general torture of being in this place. Similarly with the Pain Resistance. I haven't managed to level Hunter again. I guess there are only so many ways to hunt rodents. Quarry Worker is knocking on the Journeyman door but hasn’t broken through. I got a Physical Strength and a Spiritual Strength base increase when it busted through to Apprentice, so I am expecting something good, but I know our time has run out here. If we don’t make it out in this attempt there won’t be another.
I did get a new Class. I thought it would help me a lot. I was having to deceive a lot of people about Pip and I got a base increase in my Mental Agility which bumped the total to 15 along with a new skill, Deceive 1. When Deceive hit the Apprentice level I got offered the Class Spy. I remembered my old master saying to get a class you must be trained by a class holder above Journeyman Level or sometimes you were offered it if you had one of the Class required Skills over Journeyman Level and all the others over Apprentice level, but not always. Easier and more reliable to be trained, he said. But apparently, I managed it by levelling Stealth from hunter to over Journeyman Level, and I guess I got lucky or met some other hidden requirement.
Spy gives 1 to each of Mental Agility, Mental Perception and Spiritual Perception and then two free points. Spiritual Perception is seeing the Spiritual. So finding Spiritual Traps and locks, understanding and analysing the Spiritual. Levelling Spy is how I know I have run out of time. I broke into the Captain’s office (not for the first time) and the Caravan is due in a week and I have been marked as being here too long. Our fifth escape attempt is literally going to be do or die, because I would rather be dead than a slave.
All this Spying has boosted Stealth and Hearing Aid and I finally got Far Sight. I am hoping Far Sight will prove it’s worth when we get out of here tonight. See, Pip. Think positive. When we get out of here TONIGHT! Pip and I understand each other a lot more now our Animal Bond is in the Apprentice Level. I like to think he gets all my jokes, but maybe I am just going crazy, despite my Mental Strength. Or maybe I am going crazy because of it. There's a thought. I think the stress is getting to me. They could come for me at any time and we can't really leave till after dark.
I bring up my Status Screen to distract myself while I pound stupid useless rock. I have been saving my free attribute points from Spy cause I think I might need some boosts tonight and I am not sure which yet.
Class
Hunt
QW
Spy
Total
Type
Attribute
Level
4
9
4
Constitution
Physical
Strength (PS)
19
2
18
39
77.0
Agility (PA)
14
4
18
Perception (PP)
11
8
1
20
Mental
Strength (MS)
20
2
22
56.0
Agility (MA)
13
2
4
19
Perception (MP)
11
0
4
15
Spiritual
Strength (SS)
11
0
9
20
44.0
Agility (SA)
8
2 10
Perception (SP)
10
0
4
14
Totals
117 20 27
13
177
Free points
0 7
Resistances: Pain +9, Poison +4
Skills:
Novice:
Fishing 3, Skinning 4, Cooking 1, Butchering 1,
Small Blades 4, Spear 1,
Tracking 2, Lock Pick 4, Far Sight 1
Apprentice:
Identify 7, Trapping 8, Hearing Aid 9, Animal Bond 5,
Bow 5, Deceive 6
Journeyman: Stealth 12, Hammer 12
Bond: Pip, Desert Viper.
Skills: Venom Bite, Quick Strike
Looking at my attributes, I am basically 40% stronger than a normal man, 20% faster and can see 20% better. But that is not unusual around here. My Physical and Mental Constitution is way above what I estimated that the first Warrior I fought was at, so long ago. I am fairly sure I am tougher than (maybe as tough as) the average Guard here. I have had a lot of time to think here and a few months to spy. They definitely send their weaker warriors on the slave raids, under the command of more seasoned warriors. I took out a Level 11 Warrior, i.e. Warrior was in the beginning Journeyman levels and he hadn’t been able to specialise or get a second class. This means he was lacking in either attributes, or skills or both. The Sentry was the seasoned warrior in charge, and probably the only reason I am still alive. He didn’t have to aim for my leg.
Even though I might be a strength and constitution match for a Guard, the fact there are multiple Guards, trained to work together and supported by Bowmen, tends to hold me back from unleashing on them. I know they have an eye on my strength too, which is why I think there are always several in view and they are looking forward to finally getting rid of me. This day is dragging something fierce. Will they come for me before tonight? My guess is during the night as that will be easier for them to restrain me, but I have been wrong before.
We had a change of Guard about 5 months ago. They came with a new Captian and a new Slave Taskmaster. I don’t know if the old company got promoted, or just finished their time here. Maybe the new Captain did something to earn him the scut duty. Things got very unsettled there for a while as they changed things up and established themselves. There were a lot more random people sent to the Torture Pit. Initially I was quite plesed to have a new Captian and Slave Taskmaster. I have settled on a long term goal, or purpose for my life, as long as I can live past tonight. I want to find a way to break the slave bond and reverse the Slave Class. It sounds like an impossible goal, but I am going to try. Slave Taskmaster is primarily a Mental Class.That means it has minimum Mental Attribute Requirements and will give Mental Skills and Attributes. That is one of the reasons I was so pleased to get Spy because it is also a Mental Class with a perception focus.
The Slave Taskmaster must transfer the slave bond to a Slave Owner. Killing the Slave Taskmaster or Slave Owner should break the bond, but won’t reverse the class. The Slave would just wait for a new Owner or Taskmaster to come along. I wonder if there are people in the empire who assasinate the slave owners and nick off with the slaves? I guess that is just called theft and murder, and undoubtably happens. What we need to do is reverse the class or find another class that essentially reverses the attributes. Being able to break the bond without going around killing everyone would also be of benefit.
I was using Identify as much as I could on the Slave Taskmaster and those with the Slave bond with little success. Then I turned it on to the bond between Pip and myself, it suddenly broke through to the Apprentice Level. Then I started making progress. I could get an impression of the bonds. The Bond between Pip and I had some similarities to the slave Bond, but there were a lot of differences too. The Slave Bond was a lot more complex than ours, probably because it was between two thinking beings and it probably also depended on a Skill of the Slave Taskmaster. With a new Taskmaster arriving I really wanted to see the bond transfer between them. It was really frustrating when it happened during the day and all I could see was rock and all I could do was pound rock. The new bond seemed to have a different flavour to it, which was the only way I could explain the difference.
Using Identify on myself actually gives me a lot more information in my classes and skills and their requirements. Sometimes I can get a sense of Skills just out of my reach where I might just need a little bit more of an attribute. I could sense Farsight and that a little bit more Physical Perception and I could get it. You don’t get a list of skills when you hit the required attribute level. You actually have to be doing something to trigger the Skill. I was hoping for a new skill when Mental Perception hit 15. I could sense there were some, but I couldn’t trigger any. Identify is my most frustrating Skill.
Enough history and speculation. The work day was over and the dinner line was forming. I wasn’t going to wait till everybody was asleep. I often slipped away after the dinner gruel when others were milling around. I kept Pip with me this time. Often while I had dinner he would go off hunting, to save us from slip ups. I wasn’t too worried this time as I was either going to be gone or dead. I also might need him if the Guards came early. There is always a head count at the dinner and breakfast lines, in addition to other random checks.
I had nothing kept by my sleeping pad so wasn’t planning to go anywhere near it. My gear, such as it was, was stashed in the Quarry. It consisted of a couple of sharpened stones I used like knives, some ripped fabric I had formed into snares and a stoppered jar of snake venom. I would need more gear to survive in the rocky grasslands, while trying to get to some civilization where I could get better supplies. I expected this to be supplied by some unwilling Guards before I left. I hoped they would be carrying some coins as well. This was a bit too much of relying on luck for a decent escape attempt, but it was the fifth attempt. Options had run out. I was going to go up the Wall. At night. At the back of the quarry is a sheer cliff face they called the Wall. They do have archers patrolling near the bottom. The last person to attempt the Wall wasn’t brave enough to go at night. He started in the predawn and was a quarter of the way up when the first archer saw him. They didn't even string their bows. They took bets on how high he would get and whether he would be alive after he fell. He got less than half way and he was unfortunate enough to survive. They dragged his broken body to the Pit. Of course I was going to be different and I would hopefully be taking one of those bows with me. Positive thinking.
After the meal, if you could call it that, and the head count, I manoeuvred to the edge of the milling, generally depressed group and slipped into the darkness toward the edge or our “pen.” That was when four figures detached themselves from the surrounding shadows. I was having a minor heart attack, when I realised they weren't guards, but fellow prisoners. Pip slid down the inside of my trouser leg and onto the ground and off into the night.
“Slate,” I greeted the leader. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s been noticed that you are not here a lot at night.” He stated.
“And this concerns you, how?” I asked.
“Tonight, you need to be.” He said.
“Why?’ I asked.
“Apparently, you have an appointment,” he said with a sly smile.
“Really, Slate?” I replied. “Have you sold out to the Imperials? You don’t look glassy eyed.” I pretended to peer into his eyes.
“Captain, said we do good keeping things orderly, we won’t have to take the class.” he stated.
“Surely, you are not that gullible,” I mused out loud moving forward a bit. Deceive was getting a workout tonight.
His smile disappeared. “We got assurances,” he declared.
The Captain probably had a leadership type class, which was a mental focussed class, and he had probably used some sort of Persuade Skill on them. I looked at them again. On the other hand, maybe they were that gullible. A Skill notification was flashing in the corner of my vision, but now was not the time. I was almost in position.
“So what are you going to do about it, Slate?” I asked.
His smile returned. “Cap, said said we could do what we liked as long as you stayed aliv…” I hadn’t waited for him to finish, but had got in striking range and struck hard and hit his temple. My knuckles were very sore, but he dropped like a sack of slate. I didn’t know if he was unconscious or dead, because my eyes were firmly fixed on the other three. The sudden violence from me and the loss of their leader, had stunned them, momentarily.
“Shit!” exclaimed the one on the left and started jumping up and down. This spooked the other two and they took off into the night. If one of them went to the guards everything just got a lot harder. Do or die. No other choice. Pip rejoined me, his victim now lying on the ground. We picked up the pace, went over the pen fence and into the quarry. I now had two Skill notifications flashing at me. So not the time.
When I got to my small stash of goods, I quickly checked the Skill notifications. Truth Sensing 1. Help to see through lies and help against persuasive type skills. A requirement of having Mental Perception of 15, I knew something was just there. The other skill was Unarmed Combat 1. I didn’t think the punch was that effective as I hadn’t been aiming for his temple, however, I will take it and be grateful. I had had a theory that Skills and Levels came a lot easier in times of stress. This seemed to support that.