Enter system, p.20
Enter System, page 20
part #1 of Natural Laws Apocalypse Series
Kobold Beastmaster (Lvl. 3)
He barely dodged the centipede as it lunged at him again and decided that he needed to keep his attention on his own problem.
“Rob, can you help Felicia?”
“I'll try,” Rob said, staggering across the room.
Marc's pilum drove down again and this time he scored a hit, snapping one of the pincers off of the creature's head.
Well that's half the poison problem gone, he thought.
As he stepped to the side, the centipede surprised him, whipping around him but not trying to get its pincers to him this time. Instead it whipped several of its legs against his ankle, tearing through his Arcane Armor spell and skin both.
It continued to spin around him in a circle, cutting deeper and deeper into his leg and Marc gave in to desperation. He dropped as though he were going to his knees, but leaned farther out with his shield, triggering a Shield Bash as he fell to the floor.
Your skill, Shield Bash, has increased in skill level (1->2).
He caught the centipede's head beneath his shield as he slammed it down. It kept moving, squirming around, but for the moment the area of its body right behind the shield was still. Choking up on his pilum he drove the blade portion into its body over and over.
A moment later there were a series of dull thunks one after the other and he looked up to find Felicia slamming her tire iron into it over and over. Rob staggered over a moment later and pushed his pilum straight through its body.
Finally the centipede stopped moving, but in its last efforts it finally managed to get its head out from under the shield. Marc was pretty sure he'd let up on the pressure and that's how it got out. He paid the price for it too, the remaining pincer scoring across the back of his forearm where it was strapped into the shield before he got the blade of his pilum driven into its head, stilling the insect forever.
Felicia immediately scrambled towards the other corpse, taking a drop of its venom on her finger and approaching Rob. She cast a spell and Rob seemed to immediately steady somewhat. She dropped to her knees next to the centipede they'd just killed, acquiring another drop of the venom before casting again, this time with Marc as the target.
It was good that she had. There was no way Marc had been going to manage to stand up as the poison had taken affect almost instantly. Not only was he unsteady, but he'd started to see little flashes of light in his vision, flashes that seemed to be trying to form into actual things.
He shook his head.
“I don't know how you're still standing Rob,” he said. “That thing just hit me and I couldn't stand and was starting to see things.”
“Eh,” Rob said. “Try being a linebacker sometime. Get hit hard enough to see stars a few times and you learn to tell the difference between what's actually there and what's not.”
Marc knew Rob had been a linebacker on the high school football team, but he'd never even given any consideration to what that might have taught him, except maybe crediting it to why he'd wanted to tank.
“You know Rob, sometimes you surprise me,” Marc said, “but I still like you anyhow, even if you used to be a jock.”
“I like you too, Marc. You know, just not in that way, just so you know.”
Marc stared at Rob and blinked, then blinked again.
“Did you just make a joke?” Marc asked.
Felicia was staring at Rob also, a smirk on her face.
“Yeah, I did. Just don't tell Jeff. He thinks I don't have a sense of humor just because I don't like his jokes,” Rob said.
“Don't worry, your secret's safe with us,” Felicia said.
Then she turned towards the stairs.
“It's safe to come down now Jeff. The big, mean bugs are all dead and gone.”
She waited until she heard him on the stairs.
“Well, maybe not gone yet, but dead at least,” she continued.
The sound of Jeff's footsteps racing back up the stairs set Marc to laughing as he reached over to loot the centipede he'd managed to kill.
* * *
Chapter Fifteen
You have received: Giant Centipede Venom Sac (full), Giant Centipede pincer, Giant Centipede hide.
He checked his inventory quickly, worried that the venom sac might be leaking all over it and wondering if that would affect him in some manner. Fortunately, the venom sac was just sitting in his inventory, dry and, as far as he could tell, with no sort of opening for the venom to leave it.
There had been silence for a minute or two from the room where the banging had been coming from before, but now someone hammered on the door again.
“Crap,” Marc said, then raised his voice. “We're coming, just give us a minute.”
After looting the second centipede corpse, picking up the pincer that had snapped off, and reminding Rob to loot both of them, the two giant bug bodies faded out of existence, leaving only a small pile of dust behind. The kobold Beastmaster was looted as well and once that corpse was gone, Marc moved over to the door.
“On guard guys, we don't know if these are people, bad attitude kobolds, or what.”
“Got it,” a disembodied voice said next to him.
Marc jumped.
“Jeff, don't do that!”
“Hey, on guard for me means Stealthed, so I was just listening to your orders.” Jeff said, still Stealthed.
Marc shook his head and glanced over at Rob and Felicia. They both looked ready so he slipped the bar out of the door before pulling his pilum back out of his inventory. He nudged the door open with his foot, then stepped back.
The sight that greeted him was almost exactly what he'd feared. Inside the barred off room were a bunch of people. Seventeen people, to be exact. They ranged in age from what looked like kids that would be right at home in the school they were in to an older woman whose hair was just starting to gray.
“About time! What took you people?” one of the prisoners yelled. “What are you? Cops, military? I want to know who to complain to.”
“Oh god, a Karen,” Jeff whispered in Marc's ear. “Can we just leave her here and bar it back up?”
“We're private citizens,” Marc said. “And if you manage to find any cops or military to complain to, please introduce us. As far as I know, they've both been wiped out.”
That seemed to shut the Karen up for a moment. But there was a disturbance in the back of the room before a path seemed to clear back to that area. A man in a familiar uniform, although a tattered one, was being helped to his feet.
“Not quite wiped out, damned well close enough though,” the police officer said.
The man was limping along, one leg obviously heavily wounded, blood encrusting the tattered fabric of his uniform pants.
“Felicia?” Marc said, looking over towards her.
“On it.”
Felicia began to chant and a moment later a yellow-gold glow encased the policeman's leg, the pain easing off of his face as the spell took effect.
“What the hell was that?” the policeman said.
“You guys have no idea what happened, do you?” Marc asked.
The policeman shook his head. Obviously the rest of the group in there were willing to let him be the spokesperson for the group.
“No, I got a call on all units to converge here. We knew there was something going on and that people were dying left and right. Last orders were to use the cars to cordon off an area around the school here. My partner went out with our car, but I was told to guard the school. I got jumped by a bunch of little nightmares and went down. That's what left me like this,” he said, pointing down towards his leg.
“Well, or gave me the wound I had down there, which isn't there any more?”
The policeman seemed a little confused, staring at his leg.
“We'll get to that in a few minutes,” Marc said. “What happened then?”
“Well, there were a few more people in here originally, but those things kept taking one or two a day out, and we're what's left.”
“Well, first, I'm Marc. Can I get your name? I'd rather not keep thinking of you as just 'the policeman', that just makes me keep flashing back to 70's music.”
Strangely enough, the policeman had to stifle a chuckle before continuing.
I guess we aren't the only people whose emotions the System is messing with, Marc thought. Assuming I'm correct and that's what's going on.
“The name's Conner,” the policeman said, offering his hand.
Marc dismissed his pilum to his inventory, then reached for Conner's hand. When he took it and went to shake, he realized that the other man was still staring at Marc's now empty hand.
“Don't worry about it, that's more of what we'll cover,” Marc said. “However, I think we ought to get you people somewhere safe before we start doing that.”
“I don't get it,” Conner said, looking confused again. “With what I've seen from you guys, I ought to be taking you down to the station about now, but I don't feel like that at all. Instead, I almost feel like I ought to be trying to recruit you.”
Marc grinned.
“I was just thinking the same. Well, about recruiting you at least. Wait until we get you an explanation though, then we can talk. In the meanwhile, we've got to get you all to the high school, which we've converted to a Safe Zone.”
“That the thing in that weird message we got? We all decided it had to be a mass hallucination or something. We can go there, but a couple of the kids might need to be carried. They just kinda shut down,” Conner said.
“Huh, we might be able to get them moving again. More likely with the kids than the adults anyhow,” Marc said. “Hey, Jeff, can you find the kids that are like that? Give them the basic idea that everything's like a game now? That might give them something to relate to that gets them moving again.”
“Sure thing, Marc,” Jeff said, still Stealthed.
Conner jumped, then spun to face the general area Jeff's voice had come from.
“Jeffrey O'Reilly? I'd recognize your voice anywhere. This had better not be one of your tricks or you'll be seeing the inside of a cell this time.”
“Nah, Conner. This is the real deal. Sorry, you don't get to arrest me again this time. Hell, maybe you'll even thank me later on.”
Conner shook his head ruefully.
“Good kid, lots of trouble with him though.”
“I heard that, Conner. Just because I'm invisible doesn't mean I'm deaf,” Jeff said.
He shimmered into view and started making his way into the room, looking for the kids that had been mentioned.
“He can call me Conner,” Conner said, gesturing towards Marc, “but I think you'd better stick with Officer Bailey.”
“You got it, Conner,” Jeff said before disappearing into the room.
“Any more wounded?” Marc asked.
“A few, I was the worst though.”
Marc looked over at Felicia, who nodded, then he raised his voice.
“Anyone who's wounded, please come out here and see Felicia,” he said, gesturing towards her.
Several people headed out. Before Felicia was done taking care of them, there was a raised voice in the room.
“You mean it's like an MMORPG?” a young voice said. “Shit, where do I get a class?”
Yup, sounds like Jeff is managing to get through to them, Marc thought.
A few minutes later, the entire group was out of the room, except for one person. The Karen was sitting in the back corner, muttering imprecations against the school, the world, the police, the military, and anyone else she could think of.
“Are you coming, lady?” Marc asked, already getting tired of her and pitying the people that had been imprisoned with her for days.
“Where?” she said. “I need to go home. I'm sure my husband has been looking for me.”
Jeff was not as polite as Marc, almost the opposite in fact.
“Lady, your husband, if he's still alive, is probably blessing the fact that he hasn't seen you in days,” Jeff said.
“How dare you!” she screamed. “I never!”
“I'm pretty sure that that's your problem,” Jeff replied. “But that's your husband's job to fix, not mine.”
Jeff stepped out of the room and the Karen stood and raced after him, as though she wanted to hit him. Once she stepped out of the room, a System message flashed up onto Marc's screen. Apparently on the rest of the groups' screens as well since they all went still. Jeff even stood there as the Karen hit him several times, until Conner went over and dragged her away from him.
Marc himself was still standing there, staring at the message he'd received.
For saving 50+ people you have received the title: Hero. Title bonuses are cumulative unless otherwise indicated.
Hero: When taking actions that are intended to save other individuals, all your chances at success will increase by +5%.
You have gained a level (4->5)
You have two ability points to distribute.
Your Intelligence has increased (12->13)
Your Constitution has increased (8->9)
You have one new skill point to distribute.
You have learned the spell: Crenelate (1)
You have learned the skill: Creative Writing (1)
* * *
What the hell is Crenelate? Do I get to build my very own castle? Marc thought. And Creative Writing? That's got to be from the English Major class, what does that do?
Help Crenelate.
Crenelate:
This spell is designed to provide protection for the recipient. Upon casting, a block of stone, waist high on the caster, will rise from the ground beneath the targeted point. The spell will fail if there is no solid footing for the crenelation to rise from. This spell will last for 1 minute plus 1 minute per level in the spell. At higher levels the spell will produce additional crenelations, each of which must be positioned within 5 feet of another crenelation produced by the spell.
Marc pondered that for a moment, ignoring the people around him. They were rummaging through a pile of items that had been right outside the door, recovering any of their stuff they could. Then Jeff started moving out onto the area where the concrete had been torn up. Marc had been about to pull up the help on Creative Writing, but Jeff interrupted him.
“Hey, we need to dig, right here,” Jeff said.
Marc shook his head to pull himself out of thought.
“What?”
“I just leveled up, got a new skill too, Find Valuables. Of course I used it right off, and it says there's something valuable buried here.”
“Fine,” Marc said.
He looked around for anything to use as a shovel. The closest thing he saw was some fragments of board against the wall.
“Sorry about this,” he said, directing the comment at his shield as he pulled it out of his inventory.
Using a corner of his shield, he started to dig a hole. The dirt was looser than he'd thought it would be for having been under concrete though and it went quickly. He was only down about a foot when he hit something solid, and hollow from the sound of the impact.
A little more digging revealed the lid of what looked like a chest. He had to spend another minute or two beyond that to get it uncovered enough to pull it out. It was heavier than it looked, but still easily manageable with his strength of six.
“Now what?” Marc said, looking at the chest.
“Now you get to watch the master at work,” Jeff said, pulling out his lock picks.
He bent over the chest, then grunted.
“Never mind. It isn't locked.”
He twisted the latch and threw the lid up. Inside were several handfuls of copper and silver as well as something that looked vaguely familiar. Marc reached down and picked up the gemstone looking thing as Jeff grabbed a handful of coins and let them run through his fingers.
Staring at the gem, Marc was only a little surprised when the System showed him its description.
Lair Core (kobold)
Item grade: uncommon
Item quality: common
When placed in an unoccupied area, this Core will began to accumulate mana. Once it has accumulated enough, kobolds will begin to appear and create a lair. The overall size of the lair, levels of the kobolds, and all other accouterments of the lair such as traps, treasure, and the like will increase with the duration of the Lair's existence.
“Holy shit!” Marc exclaimed.
“What is it?” Jeff said. “Just looks like a big costume jewelry gemstone.”
Marc leaned over and whispered to Jeff.
“A Lair Core. Like a monster core or dungeon core type of thing. This can produce a lair of kobolds.”
“You mean like a dungeon?”
Marc shrugged.
“It says Lair, so who knows, but we'll need to check it out. Or we could just use it to create another Safe Zone I bet. The Safe Zone help just said cores, not any specific type.”
Finally Marc realized that the room was staring at him and Jeff.
“Sorry,” Marc said. “I just found out that the System classified this as a Lair of kobolds.”
“The System?” someone asked.
“That's it. We need to get these folks back to the Safe Zone and let Al talk to them for a while,” Marc said. “Let's see if we can find Jayden's group and we can all escort them back together.”
Once back upstairs they whistled loudly, then waited for Jayden and his group to arrive. The Karen was still bitching, but when given the choice of staying in the basement by herself or actually using her own feet and walking to stay with the group, she started walking.
“Where were they?” Jayden asked when they arrived.
“Downstairs. I think it was the kobolds' larder,” Marc replied.
“Ugh, I was hoping I was either mistaken about what I saw in the cafeteria or could forget about it,” Jayden said.
“You guys went by there?”
“Yeah, we were checking for stuff to loot. You guys hadn't cleared the kitchen so we've got all the bulk stuff that was in there.”
“Looting! You're stealing from the schools? I'm going to report you to the authorities!” the Karen practically screamed.
