Green Aura

Junk fell around me as I checked my arrows. Star was frozen staring at the widening hole in the ceiling. Up above new trash began to fall in earnest. Bags of used needles fell like rain upon the hill I called home. Only it wasn't home without Gwen and it wasn't safe with a hole in the ceiling.

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Quest: Rescue Gwen

Reward: +10 END

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Quest: Defeat Dol's 5 Guards

Reward: 10 STR

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Quest: Defeat Dol

Reward: +10 COM

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Quest: Steal Dol's Library

Reward +10 INT

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Quest Steal Dol's Artifacts

Reward + 10 DEX

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Quest: Arrive before Gwen dies

Reward: +10 AGL

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Quest: Find the root of Gwen's issues

Reward: +10 PER

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Quest: Reach Dol's Tower

Reward + 5 AGL, + 5 LUK

I didn't like it, Gwen jumped ahead of schedule. I approached one of the gobling bodies. My health was low. I tore into the gobling's throat and drained it dry. My saliva seemed to have a supernatural blood thinner in it. Food for thought for another time. When I felt the blood stop, I pulled away from my victim.

It had been a week since Gwen left. After the mental battle, I was bed ridden for days.

I felt full and better than I had a days ago. Gwen was way ahead of me, and I was slow. I'd focused everything on, an INT build and she decided to go with a frontal assault. I'd pushed her too far, and it was my fault. There wasn't a spell in my arsenal to help me catch up.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Star asked. She had not stopped fretting over the roof since Gwen ripped a hole in it. Star would be useful, and she was quick. Another set of eyes like hers would mean a lot. The goblings of Dol's tower were going to be ready for anything. And a pissed off mind Flayer was about to rip into them like a drunken rhino. If we were going to follow the plan, there was no one I'd rather have than Star.

But if I lost them both, I'd be alone. I pulled a set of boots on we'd taken from the gobling's. They'd been cut open and stitched back with spider silk curtesy of Star. Feeling them on my feet felt good. It felt like the care of a good friend.

"Stay here Star, if that hole gets any bigger, then we won't have a home to come back to. I'll get her back." I said the words with confidence. If I had to spoof my system I would. The disaster was here, no sense in holding back now.

I didn't know how I was going to pull it off. If there was a way to bring Gwen back and finish the job, I'd find it. I was up against a group that didn't mind using hostages. There was no reason to hesitate or show mercy.

To prepare for the inevitable battle, I gathered some armor. A warped steel plate and some silk from Star made an excellent cup. After the owl become soup his feathers were ripe for plucking. A long silver headdress flowed from my head to my back and would provide excellent protection from arrows. The feathers were light as their name suggested but hard as steel. An old leather coat kept most of the cold at bay. My black leather pants had to be stitched together and was made of office chairs, but it kept my legs warm.

Star looked me over then cupped her chin. "Do you think the headdress is overkill? It looks great and I worked on it all night but it's a little flashy." Star said. I felt at the silk band on my forehead. It was silver and flashy as hell. Star made it and I liked it.

Instead of taking it off, I walked towards the door. "Star, I'm a darkling. It looks like something a conceited prideful darkling would wear. Thank you for making it for me. I'll be back with Gwen soon." I closed the door behind me and sped off.

…

All I saw was the silver of a knife. I drew my own and blocked it. The smell hit me before I focused on the beady eyed creature.

"Ratling," I growled at the swift rodent. It moved like a meth addicted ballerina. I was put on the defensive immediately as I struggled to match a ratling in speed and knife skills. It was stuck at level ten, but it was much faster than me. I made up for the disadvantage with perception.

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Quest: Defeat Ratling In Knife Fight

Reward: +4 AGL + 4 STR

My eyes, instincts, and reactions weren't enough to counter the much faster rodent. Whenever I tried to say the words of a spell, he rushed me and ignore the few scratches I was able to land. I didn't have time for this it was holding me back. If I couldn't beat it in skill or tactics then, I'd use strategy. In the corner of my eyes, I saw the telltale sign of a roach nest.

I went on the offensive. Our knives clashed screeching with the song of steel against steel. Before we'd only searched for holes and gave ground when the other knife grew too close. I ignored the scratches and when my knife slipped in too close, the ratling surrendered ground.

The ratling stabbed its knife under my armpit. It cackled before I kicked my boot into its stomach. It let itself fall with the kick. The ratling was a tumbler. It knew how to fall without hurting itself an important skill to have.

It landed in the nest and the roaches erupted digging mandibles into his legs and dragging it under while the ratling swung its knife at open air. The creature screamed at me before it was dragged under. I felt the knife fall from my right arm. Blood pooled down my jacket.

It was damn good. It had cut the tendon under my arm and made the limb useless. Unless I leveled up the wound would be permanently debilitating.

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Quest completed: Defeat Ratling In Knife Fight

Rewarded: +2 AGL + 2 STR

Agility 18

Strength 19

Suddenly, my body was a little bit stronger and lighter. If not for my bleeding useless right arm I'd feel much better about my chances.

Unfortunately, this made my bow dead weight. All plans for sniping the goblings were scrapped. Gwen had barely covered any of the secret gobling tunnels. If I didn't clear them out, I'd leave myself open for an attack from behind.

This mission was in all sorts of trouble. It was the worst of all both worlds. Attacking ahead of schedule was often used to take the enemy by surprise. That was out because of Gwen. Having only partial information about secret tunnels left me blind to the ones I had no clue about. This plan was doomed to fail.

Predatory Roach lvl10

Predatory Roach lvl10

Predatory Roach lvl10

If I stuck to the plan that's exactly how it would be. The roaches erupted from their nest hungry for more fresh meat. I noted the fresh blood covering their legs. They hadn't been much of a threat before. These were each level ten.

"Black Lightning Javelin," I yelled the name of the spell and threw up my hand. Three javelins emerged from my aura and fired. They flew like black steaks. Each skewered a roach before electrifying and decaying them.

I lowered my left hand and felt the xp flow into me. Despite slaying three level 10s I didn't rise a level. They were too weak to be considered a difficult struggle. Maybe if I had used a knife. Each breath restored my aura in a matter of moments I'd recovered from using nearly a third of my AP. Gathering qi was easier around the dead for some reason.

Every foe that got in my way slowed me down and lowered my chances of reaching Gwen in time. Just as I crossed into the Troll chieftan's territory, I heard dozens of pawed feet. Goblings mounted on wovlen saw me and gave chase.

These were the people I wanted as my allies. I didn't want to fight them but if they attacked, I'd have no choice. Time was of the essence.

Gwen was far away. She'd vanished too quickly. Before she left, the last thing I felt from her was self-loathing. She hated herself and what she had tried to do.

They continued to charge at me without stopping. "Black Aura, Black Lightning Javelin," I pulled my first javelin formed and plunged it through a wolven's head and through the rider's chest. There were two ways to use the weapon. The first was by hand and the second was by the spell's design. Once the weapon had plunged through the lead rider, I fired it. It shot out of the first rider's chest and and streaked into the side of another wolven rider.

Long hypodermic needles slammed into my coat. Most plunged through the leather and stuck deep in my skin. A terrible itching sensation swept through my body. I threw my left hand forward and felt the world shake. Only, it was my legs swaying like a rope bridge. I sucked in a breathing feeling the xp and qi slowly flow into me.

I needed a level up. If I didn't take a level soon, I'd fall unconscious and that would be the end of me.

"Purple thoughts, black aura, black static, black parade," I shouted the spells and felt them conglomerate and take form. The spells stack and black parade multiply the effects of two.

My aura exploded and turned black. Then it funneled into my fingertips with a new purpose. The increase in intelligence steadied the world for a second. Despite the drugs pumping their way through my system, I had a steady shot.

I reached out with my fingertips and felt certain of my actions. This was the best thing to do with the hand I'd been dealt. The close-range buff spell Black Static leapt forward from my fingertips and erupted in a wide cone. It hit several of the riders and sprayed like a shotgun blast.

The rest of the riders peppered me with needles. It was too late.

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Level Up

HP and AP Restored

Jacob lvl16 Darkling

+10 HP and AP

+1 to all stats

"You shouldn't have come here Jacob." The Troll Chieftain said in a strange voice.

Lightning smashed into my chest and blasted me across the ground. Some needles snapped before lodging into my back while others shot out from the sudden current running through them. It hurt like hell and I wasn't getting hit by that again.

A mysterious green light gathered around my body healing my wounds. "Let me give you a hand out." A snobbish voice said.

Before I was fully healed, another bolt smashed my side sending me sprawling across the ground. "You would have made a great tool, but I've rested. I have all the tools I need right here." The gobling seductress said.

"This is stupid Gwen. If these guys were a match for Dol, they would have taken him out hostages or no." I said.

"I'm not talking about them. I'll use Dol's own guards to kill him." Gwen said.

"If you were certain you could, you wouldn't have taken control of these guys to slow me down. Come back to us and we can discuss a new plan." I said the words but didn't feel them. Something had broken in Gwen.

"I told you, if you could defend your mind from me, I'd tell you who I was."

Gwen's mental power threatened to shatter my barriers and flood into my mind. "I lied, you should have known not to trust a mind flayer. Now go before I make you into a slave like the goblings." The wizened gobling raised his staff for another lightning bolt. Debris whipped up from the discharge revealing a barrier around the wizened gobling.

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Quest: Defeat the three Plebe leaders of the Gobling Town

Reward: +10 STR +10 DEX +10 INT