“Great!” she said. “We’ll need the experience.” She rushed up to the knight and activated the dialogue box.
“Behold!” said the knight, holding up his sword to the heavens. The sunlight caused the steel blade to glint. “There are but two noble people before me! Alas, I am wounded! But my quest must continue! Not too far off from here is a beautiful princess who has been held captive by an evil sorcerer! I was wounded in my attempt to liberate her from her prison, but you two! You two must go and finish what I have started!”
A quest menu appeared in front of Sang. She glanced at it.
Quest: The Tower
Mission: You must free the Princess from the tower before it is too late!
Reward: 4,000 experience. Ring of Charms.
Recommended Leveclass="underline" 5.
“Well?” Van asked. “Are we taking it or what?”
Sang nodded. “Yes, it’s perfect! We’re just the right level and we should be able to save the princess relatively quickly.”
“Great, well, it shouldn’t be too far from here, so let’s go save a princess!” Van answered.
They quickly rushed in the direction that the knight had indicated; the valley wasn’t too far from the jungle, and they could already see a massive stone tower in the distance.
“That is much larger than I would have expected,” Sang muttered as she looked toward it.
“Yeah, well, evil sorcerers love to build towers,” Van said. “What’s the plan?”
“What?” Sang asked, glancing back at him with a puzzled look.
“Well, you’re the one in charge, so why don’t you come up with a plan?” he offered.
“I’ve not done this mission before; I wouldn’t know what to do,” Sang said, feeling a little put off by Van’s words.
“Well, the good news is that I have no idea either. And I’ve been thinking, too... the problem between us is that you’re always relying on me for the plans, but then you always mess them up on some level. So, I figure if you come up with the plan, maybe you won’t blow it so badly.”
“I said I was sorry about the arrows thing,” Sang replied.
“Let me ask you... did you grab any arrows before we left town?” Van asked.
Sang glanced at her inventory.
Inventory: Longsword, short sword, knife. Bow. Beginner’s Arrows (150). Steel arrows (5).
“Oh, uhhh, crap,” Sang said as she realized that she had completely neglected to get new arrows before leaving on their current mission.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Van said as he pulled out a big bundle of steel-tipped arrows from his bag. “If we’re gonna survive this game, you’re going to have to learn how to take responsibility for your own actions. So, yeah, you’re in charge on this one. Lead me to victory, oh fearless leader!”
Sang looked at the tower, and back to him.
“Fine!” she said, raising her head and straightening up. “We’ll go right up to the tower and climb it. From the looks of it, we should be able to get right to the top.”
“You think the princess is at the top?” Van asked.
“Princesses are always at the tops of the towers,” Sang replied as she took out her rope. “Now, come on, we’ve got some experience points to gain.”
Chapter Fourteen
They walked through the valley as the wind gently blew against them. They were heading through a serene, green valley with beautiful flowers of gold, yellow, and violet. Everything was still and, except for the chirping of the birds nearby, there was no sound at all.
As they walked up to the tower, the words Abandoned Castle greeted them, indicating that the castle wasn’t occupied. Sang frowned as she checked her map. There was a single red blip on the map, indicating that this was a place where there was bound to be some kind of trouble. The problem was that Sang wasn’t exactly sure where their enemy would be. Her Map skills weren’t high enough to determine the exact location of the enemy. She glanced back at Van, who was eagerly watching her, his bagpipes in hand. She didn’t want to put off the impression that she was unsure, so she shrugged and began to climb the tower.
“My Climbing skills are high enough to get me up there,” Sang called down as she grabbed for the stones and crevices of the tower. “I’ll throw you the rope once I’m in the tower!”
“Alright, fine!” Van answered. She could hear the lack of confidence in his voice. Not that he wasn’t confident in himself, but was rather hesitant towards her approach. She ignored his unspoken hesitation and continued to scramble up the tower. Rocks chipped off as she dashed from the right to the left, barely catching the window ledge with a jump when she reached the top. She wheezed as she pulled herself over and the windowsill.
Much to Sang’s surprise, the tower was well lit from the inside. She could see dozens of strange sketches on the wall. There were anatomical drawings of what looked to be hideous ghoul-like creatures pinned to the wall, as well as potion bottles scattered across the ground. The room was almost ominous and spooky. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she spotted more than a few skulls in jars sitting on a large oak desk at the center of the room. There was no princess to be seen.
“See anything?” Van called out from below.
“Something!” Sang called back as she glanced around some more. She needed to find something sturdy to tie the rope to. She found the desk in the center to be the right choice. It seemed to be made of very sturdy oak and, when she tried to move it, it didn’t budge. As she tied off the rope, though, she heard a loud creaking as the door behind her opened up. She spun around to see a tall, pale woman wearing purple robes. Around her neck hung a purple gem. Purple was the color of royalty, Sang thought as she breathed a sigh of relief. She’d found the princess.
“Hey!” Sang said to the princess.
“What are you doing here?” the woman demanded, raising her hands threateningly.
“I’m here to rescue you!” Sang said as she rushed over to the window and looked down. “I found the princess! Catch the rope and we’ll get her down!” she called out as she threw the rope down to Van.
“You found the princess? Up there?” Van asked.
“Yes!”
“Are you sure?” Van asked, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand as he looked up at the tower.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Sang said, crossing her arms and turning back to glance at the princess. “I’ve clearly found her.”
“I don’t think the tower’s big enough for her,” Van replied.
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t let you rescue the princess!” said the woman behind Sang. Sang saw the words YOU ARE IN COMBAT suddenly appear in front of her. She turned around to see that there were words displayed above the tall woman’s head. They read Evil Sorceress Level 7.
“What?” Sang asked as she was promptly blasted by a powerful bolt of magical energy. She watched as her Health dropped by 50 points. The blast had knocked her away from the window and into the wall where the strange sketches were.
“Hey!” Van cried from afar. “What’s happening up there?”
“Get up here and help!” Sang cried out as she stood up and drew her bow. She aimed it at the sorceress and fired off a shot, hitting the sorceress for 10 points of damage. Crap! She was still using her beginner’s arrows.
“Die!” the sorceress screamed as she raised both of her hands and unleashed a powerful torrent of flames from her fingertips. The flames arced toward Sang, but she was able to dodge out of the way, using her Dodge Roll ability as a ranger to avoid the damage entirely.
“Van!” Sang cried out again as she fumbled to switch the arrows in her inventory. She had to actually change her arrows physically, and she was having a hard time grabbing them out of her bag as the woman kept shooting bolts of magic at her. “A little help!”