Vivid Stars Online

“Right,“ I said as I looked at the ominous shape highlighted against the fire. “What do you reckon the chances are that it’s just going to eat a few corpses and leave?”

“It looks big enough to eat a dozen and still be hungry,“ Linnea sighed as she responded from behind me. “I doubt it’s going to go until it’s finished every bit of food it can get its hands on. Since I left a trail of bodies down the sandbank as I retreated, you can probably guess where it’s going to end up.”

“Right here,“ I groaned in annoyance. “Fuck. So we what? Fight or try to run away?”

“Yep,“ she nodded in response. “I guess we could try to run past it while it’s eating. Or maybe swim back across the cove?”

I shuddered as I thought back to the corpse I’d seen sinking into the lack. “I’m pretty sure that thing came from the water,“ I said as I got myself back under control. “I don’t particularly feel like chancing it. What if there are more in there?”

A loud crunching sound, like something cracking bone, sounded out from near the fire. “Yeah,“ Linnea said slowly, “Let’s not risk it. At least on land, we might have a chance.”

I nodded in response. “If that’s the case, I don’t think we should wait till it comes here,“ I said as I gestured to the mere foot of sand on either side of us.“ With nowhere to run, it will just push us back into the lake till it catches us.

“Agreed,“ Linnea replied. “So you’re right. If we don’t stay here, it’s down to fight or flight. Any updates on the quest?”

That was a good idea that I hadn’t considered. There were several alerts flashing in the corner of my vision that I’d been ignoring so far. The first was the combat report, the second a level-up notification, and the third was indeed a quest update.

Objective Update for Quest First Mission (Path of the Explorer)

Objectives:

Locate an area where the city can immediately begin gathering food (Complete)

Survey the location for two days

Secure the location for future use (updated)

Kill enough wolves to scare the pack away from the lake (35/35 - Complete)

Bonus Objective: Discover what lies beneath the lake

Bonus Objective: Kill the Lake Beast

“Good call," I said as I took in the information. “It's listed as two bonus objectives. One to find out what’s down in the lake and the other to kill it.”

“Hah,“ she laughed incredulously. “This quest of yours doesn’t know when to quit with the difficulty. Though I suppose if it’s a bonus objective, we could just leave?”

“Probably,“ I sighed in response. “I might not get the best outcome, however, it might be worth it to avoid another fight. Do you think you can outrun it with those wounds? “I gestured to the massive holes in her shirt filled with wound sealant.

She paused for a second before pulling herself up and taking a few tentative steps. “Not really,“ she shook her head, wincing as she slid back to the ground. “I don’t know how you keep going with all the injuries you accumulate.

I’d been wondering that as well, though I had a working theory. “I think it’s my Will and Mind stats. My class gives me free points in them at every level and I think they're helping with managing the pain and keeping going.

“When you combine that with my Toughness stat,” I shrugged as I continued. “Which seems to reduce the initial damage and then help my body keep operating. Well, you get me where I can just keep going through the pain.”

It might not be the flashiest build in the world, however, it was the one I’d chanced into. Thinking about that, there’s a way I can put that theory to the test, I suddenly realized.

“Hold on a second,“ I turned to Linnea as I spoke. “I leveled to four in that fight, so I should be able to see exactly how it affects me when I’m already wounded. Could you keep an eye on the Lake Beast and let me know if it moves away from the fire?”

At her answering nod, I pulled myself to my feet despite the pain. Then I went through a few basic stretches, seeing how far I could move my limbs with my current injuries, as well as how much it hurt.

While it was an unpleasant experience, it gave me a solid baseline. Then I triggered the level-up. The first thing I had to do was to select a new universal skill. I quickly scrolled through the list and selected Light Blades.

With my pistol still stuck in a wolf that may have already been devoured, my dagger was the only weapon I had. It only made sense to pick up the skill for it. While five percent increased damage wasn’t a lot, I’d take anything I could get at this point.

That progressed the level up to where I got my static stat increases. Before spending my free points, I went through the same set of exercises that I had before.

I found it was a little better on all fronts. While I certainly hadn’t healed or anything, the pain was less and I had more maneuverability, despite my injuries.

That proved the stats were having an effect, though it didn’t really help to determine which ones were responsible. Luckily, I still had the two free points to spend. I put them both in Toughness as usual and then repeated the exercises one last time.

This gave obvious results. The pain was the same, however, I could move even more freely than the second time. It was enough to conclude that one of Toughness' functions was to keep my body functioning while injured.

That left either Mind, Will, or both as the stats responsible for the reduction in pain. Perhaps I’d figure out which after I got my Psionic powers and started increasing them.

I moved back to Linnea and after confirming that there was no major movement from the Beast, I relayed my findings to her.

“Interesting,“ she nodded in response. “Was this really the time for science, though? That thing could move down here and kill us at any time.” She seemed oddly calm as she said that, and I had to wonder if she’d already decided it was inevitable.

I shook my head in response. “I had to level anyway,“ I said empathetically. “And the tests didn’t take that much extra time. Even if I’d just leveled straight away, I would have had to figure out how mobile I was. Besides, knowledge gathering is always important.”

“Now even if we die and respawn having failed the quest and lost all our gear, we will still have gained something.” I grinned as I finished, almost convincing myself.

Linnea rolled her eyes at me, though she was smiling as well. “Fine, fine,“ she said with a small giggle. “If you’re done, then lets at least try to come up with a plan. I can’t help but notice your holster is empty,“ she gestured at my belt as she finished.

“Yep,“ I replied nonchalantly, “lost it down a wolf’s throat. It’s a long story,“ I shrugged as I continued. “How about your gun? I hope it’s still around here somewhere?”

She nodded, gesturing back to where she'd been savaged by the wolf. “I tried to use it to block the Beast as I did a couple of days ago. It worked for a while, but the gun got pretty beat up. I’ll have to go check if it’s even still working.”

Since I was already standing, I helped pull her up and took over Beast watching duty. She was gone for a few minutes before returning with the long rifle cradled in her hands.

“Scopes busted,“ she spat in annoyance as she returned. “Seems to be stuck in rifle mode as well. I think it will still fire, but I won’t be sniping the thing from here. Can’t even get a good look at it without the scope.

That’s unfortunate, I thought with a sigh. Would have been really nice if she could get some good hits in with those powerful sniper shots. Though I suppose she’s still better off than me with my dagger.

“Maybe you should just run,“ she piped up, breaking me from my thoughts. “I don’t think I can outrun it, but I can certainly distract the damn thing so you can escape. You’re the client, after all.“ her voice wavered slightly as she finished, yet her face was set in a determined frown.

I didn’t like to admit it, but that offer was tempting. I was still carrying a significant amount of credits in gear, not to mention being nearly done with the quest. The smart thing might be to leg it and then use the reward money to compensate Linnea for the death penalty and losing all her gear.

But at the same time, I hated to think of her being killed alone in the dark, even if it was just a game. We’d been through a lot over the last few days, and I felt a level of camaraderie with her that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

It was one of those moments that seemed to stretch on forever. There was a choice to be made, and it felt like it would be one of the defining moments of how I played the game going forwards.

Finally, I sighed and shook my head. “No,“ I said, my voice steadier than I’d expected. “I don’t want to be the kind of player, the kind of person who leaves the people helping me behind when the going gets hard.”

“If we’re going to fight it and die, then we’ll at least do it together,” I finished confidently.

Linnea stared at me for a moment, as if trying to gauge my resolve. “You’re crazy,“ she finally said with a laugh. “But I have to say I kind of like it. OK then, we fight to the end whatever happens.”

With our course set, we settled down to plan.

That is one big beasty, I thought, shaking a bit as I took in the sight. I’d seen a lot of scary Beasts over the short time I’d been in the game, this one, however, was by far the worst.

Its central torso was the body of a massive shark, easily sized to fit in your horror movie of choice. A writhing mass made from dozens of tentacles held this body off the ground, all working together to drag it across the sand.

I’d crept forward as far as I dared to get this look in. Luckily, the Beast was absorbed in shoving an entire corpse down its throat and hadn’t noticed me. Unluckily, it was the corpse of the Great Wolf.

Well, I’m not getting that gun back, I thought while suppressing the urge to sigh. Even if we managed to kill the Beast, I wasn’t up for trying to cut my way into its stomach and then into the wolf inside.

With a shudder at the awful sounds the creature made as it ate, I tip-toed my way back toward Linnea. I relayed what I’d seen in whispers, pointing out its tentacles in particular. While it was large and terrifying, its method of transportation looked almost fragile.

If we could destroy enough of them, I hoped it would be unable to support its own weight, leaving it easy pickings for Linnea and her rifle. Surviving long enough to achieve that would be the hard part.

After checking that she was ready one last time, I edged forward a dozen feet, then a foot to the right. Linnea would be initiating the battle, my job would be to keep up my now familiar role of Beast punching bag.

With a last, deep breath, I signaled for her to start. Come and get me horror from the deep, I thought with determination. It was time for one final fight.