The Way Ahead

“Woah!” Edwin cried out as he stumbled, regaining his footing with the aid of his walking stick, its end digging into the hard-packed ground as he whirled, trying to Identify his attackers.

Outlaw Laborer

Brutish Minion

So they probably weren’t professional fighters, at least. Good. Given their Classes, he didn’t need to feel bad about responding with force, either. From a half-remembered conversation with Tara, nonlicensed adventurers- Outlaws, rather- were simply not protected by laws of any sort. Their life had no value, so he wouldn’t need to worry about any retributions should he kill them. Heck, the licensing program was a relatively recent- Tara’s words, not his, given it was almost a century old- attempt to ensure more outlaws didn’t turn to banditry.

“[...] na, am the greatest aver [...] and then ya missed!” one voice mocked.

“Shaddap.” His partner snapped, “He moved. It’s a lat harder ta hit a moving tahget.”

“Oh really? Ya don’t say, now. Guess what, ya Tares. Tha’s how fightin’ works.”

Edwin cut off their banter by jabbing the end of his walking stick into the face of the Brute, snapping his head back and making the Minion stumble back, voice distorted as he swore about his nose.

That galvanized his partner into action, and the Outlaw tried to sneak up on Edwin- there was clearly some Skill involved, though not a high-level one- and deliver a Skill-empowered blow at his head, though with the speed of the club, it may as well have been through molasses. If not for the magical nonsense that accompanied Skills, it couldn’t possibly have any level of force behind it. However, once you did, that slow attack was probably quite dangerous. Edwin tried to step back to avoid it, but his assailant just sort of… moved, staying in perfect lockstep, gliding across the ground to keep the blow still aimed at Edwin’s face. He frowned at the sight- what was this, some sort of Inevitable Blow? Slow, but can’t miss. Hmm- but thanks to the speed of the strike, he was able to bring up his walking stick to block it, reinforcing the structure with Mana Infusion, in the hope that it would stop the blow.

As soon as the club connected with his stick, it started moving at more normal speeds, bouncing off the empowered wood and sending a shockwave down its length, giving Edwin a painful jolt. He nearly dropped the staff, though he managed to recover before his body carried out that very Bad Idea. Instead, he disengaged, trying to get a bit more distance between himself and his attackers, but once he turned to start and run, he was violently shoved by the Brute, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying off the road, where he landed in a painful heap in the grass. He groaned and got to his feet, expecting to have broken something but not finding any obvious candidates as he scrounged around in the brush for his baton, managing to grab it just in time.

A rustle in the grass to his right made him sweep his stick out horizontally, trying to trip up whoever was next to him, and while he wasn’t quite able to knock out the man’s feet, he did manage a solid blow against the… Brute’s shin, who swore and recoiled, the grass swishing to accommodate his bulk. It wasn’t much, but it bought Edwin enough time to stand up, and he gave a follow-up swing to try and strike about where the back of the Brute’s knees should have been, but his assailant had moved without him noticing, sending the blow swishing through empty grass. His strike overextended his reach though, and he fell prone once more as his balance fled. His sudden lurch did save him though, a club blow whistling mere inches over the top of his head an instant later.

He was alive, at least, but he was also back on the ground, which was a problem. He used his arms to lunge forward, trying to escape, but his backpack caught on something as he tried to do so. Edwin bit back a curse as his advance was suddenly halted and made a snap decision to try and shed his backpack. It took a moment, and enduring a few painful seconds of kicks raining onto his side, but he managed to finish dumping his bag just in time for a particularly solid blow to connect. Edwin tried to roll with the blow, succeeding enough to block the next kick with his hastily-recovered stick braced against a slightly protruding rock.

“He’s here!” one of the voices called out as Edwin tried to pull himself to his feet. Another blow of the club thudded into his shoulder, the thick fabric of his gambeson blunting the strike such that it didn’t feel like he’d broken anything. Heck, it was probably the main reason he was still in one piece. It wouldn’t stop him from getting one heck of a bruise, though, he was certain, but he was able to use the impact to tuck into a roll and spring to his feet a short distance away. Edwin whirled around- he hadn’t even seen where that one was coming from. Gah, he couldn’t see anything. It was really just luck and occasionally a bit of good hearing he was able to -

Edwin narrowly dodged a club blow from the Outlaw, the attack impacting his cloak instead of his arm, and he bit back a curse. If only he could see what was going on. How was he supposed to… his eyes narrowed. He had an idea, and it just might work.

Backpedaling wasn’t terribly easy, and he was certain that he would have tripped if not for one or more of his skills, though which he didn’t know- actually hmm, probably Walking, maybe Flexibility and Athletics, possibly Visualisation, was- no, stop it. Focus, Edwin- but he put enough distance between himself and the two robbers for him to start messing with his Skills.

Mana Infusion-Identify

Mana Infusion-Identify

Outsider’s Almanac: Club-thing. Avoid

Mana Infusion-Identify

Mana Infusion-Identify

Outsider’s Almanac: Different Club-thing apparently. Still avoid

Mana Infusion-Identify

Outlaw Laborer

Tares(?)

Brutish Minion

Club-thing. Avoid

Different Club-thing apparently. Still avoid

Edwin grinned in the darkness as his Skills took effect. Thanks to Mana Infusion, he was able to keep up several Identify windows at once, which also moved appropriately with their corresponding objects. It wasn’t perfect, sure, but he at least now had giant glowing blue signs letting him know where the robbers were and, more importantly, where their weapons were.

Speaking of which, now that he could see, he was able to fairly easily step out of range of the latest clumsy blow from the Outlaw, but that opened him up to a strike from the Minion, which thudded into his gut and knocked him back a good ten feet. There had to be a skill involved, the physics otherwise just… didn’t work out.

“So what do you guys even want? My money? I don’t have much of that, and threatening people is more effective than attacking.” Edwin wheezed, taking a deep breath to recover while they closed the distance once more. He unsteadily got to his feet, “And I promise I’m not worth ransoming.”

“Shaddup!” the Minion yelled, telegraphing his blow so clearly that even Edwin could fully predict its path, “Da boss will wanna see you.”

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Well, ya see, ya- hey waidaminute! I shouldn’ be […] you dis! Issa secret!”

Pity. So much for exploiting the morons. Then he was back to trying to deal with two attackers, and most of his attention was immediately refocused to avoid becoming flanked. Gah, even with a clear view of what was going on, and against two people who clearly had no clue what they were doing, he hadn’t managed to deal any kind of substantial blow and had taken a couple himself. If this went on longer, he wouldn’t like the conclusion. So, how could he finish this off quickly? Hmmm.

Well, fire had worked against S’uchanidiot…

The next time the Minion tried to lunge at him (they couldn’t decide if they wanted him close or far away, could they?), reaching out with a hand to try and grab his cloak, Edwin allowed it, stepping in close until he was able to return the grip of the hulking figure, holding onto the hem of the bandit’s shirt.

Mana Infusion-Firestarting.

The effect was immediate. The front half of the shirt immediately burst into flames, illuminating the area and nearly ruining Edwin’s night vision (only quickly screwing his eyes shut allowed him to avoid losing it altogether), and the Minion understandably started screaming bloody murder, the grip on Edwin completely forgotten as he frantically tried to pat out his flaming clothes.

Somebody forgot Stop, Drop, and Roll. Hm. Would they even have that here? He wondered, then looked around at his surroundings, Oh, shoot. I really hope it isn’t the dry season.

Even as the thought crossed Edwin’s mind, some drifting embers of the Minion’s swiftly-burning outfit floated to the ground, where it fortunately gutted out a moment later. Upon seeing that, Edwin breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t just started a wildfire. That still left one bandit to go, though, so he made sure to grab the club the Minion had been using- no point in letting it go to waste- and a quick Firestarting later, it too was on fire and being threateningly waved at the Outlaw, keeping him away. Then, before it could burn his hands, Edwin hurled the burning weapon at the man, illuminating a terrified face before it crashed solidly into his chest.

Edwin felt a triumphant grin creep across his face. Throwing Weapons was such a great skill, and while he was sad it no longer leveled, at least he kept its effects. Throwing things was such a useful ability to have, and given how the Outlaw was starting to run, it was exactly the sort of thing he needed to stay safe.

For a moment, Edwin merely watched the fleeing figure as he retreated into the distance, before he narrowed his eyes. A quick glance at the Minion showed that he was laying on the ground moaning in pain, only smoldering a little bit. He might be fine, he might not be. It wasn’t Edwin’s problem. He wasn’t about to waste any emotions on someone who attacked him. Live or die, it wasn’t his concern, so stop thinking about it. Ahem. Anyway. The already-dispatched attacker wasn’t his concern, but the one running away? Yeah, that could be more of a problem.

They did mention a boss, one side of him thought. But, if he hit the road, he might manage to get far enough away that even if they come after him again, he’d be too far away for them to catch up. It was a dangerous assumption, though, because they might really want him specifically. But why would they want him so much? He can’t be that valuable...right?

I refuse to believe that I radiate that much special-ness that just looking at me means people want to kidnap me.

The dwarves had been bad enough. Honestly, he was probably just a target of opportunity for the bandits, and escaping them meant that they’d never bother him again. He’d recovered his backpack, he could turn and walk on, and leave it all behind him.

But….

He didn’t want to feel weak anymore. He resolved to make himself stronger, and that meant that he couldn’t just let them get away with trying to sneak up and attack him. It had been super easy to fight off, so either he had gotten way better at fighting or his assailants were super weak. Either way, he could deal with it. Plus, he would be able to protect future people as they traveled, too. There was no way this attack was a one-off thing, with nobody else having ever or never being at risk, and hey! He could be a proper adventurer, clearing out a bandit camp or whatever.

Edwin narrowed his eyes at the fleeing Outlaw. He was getting away, but not for long.