The Lost Queen Vol 1 ch8.1: Interlude - To the last arrow

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The Lost Queen

by:
Elsbeth

Suddenly transported to another world what will Eleanor need to do to survive and hopefully get home.

Queen

Chapter 8.1: Interlude - To the last arrow

Myra daughter of Ella slowly let out her breath before letting loose an arrow. Her target, which had been trying to sneak up the ledge, gave a final terrified screech before its body fell back into the pool of water.

“Good shot,” Katilia opined before letting loose one of her own.

“Thanks.”

Looking at her friend, Myra found her counting the bolts in her quiver. The arrows in her quiver now numbered only nine.

“You know, I won’t be angry at you if you tried to make it out of here by yourself.”

“I’ll think about it,” Katilia deadpanned before letting loose another bolt then murmured, “Idiot.”

Myra couldn’t help but smile. There was no question that the four of them were going to receive Mania’s warm embrace; it was just a matter of time. A sudden bang caused both women to jump. Their healer had blocked another spear that had been thrown onto the ledge.

“Amice looks angry,” Myra chortled. “You almost have to feel sorry for the rats when they eventually climb up here.”

The party’s scout snickered, “Almost.”

“I’m sorry,” Myra let loose another arrow, this time dropping a ratkin who was trying sneak up to throw a spear. She now had eight arrows.

Katilia sighed, “You’re at it again. I told you before luv. Sarin just turned his back on us. We all knew the dangers.”

She and Myra had braved the labyrinth for the thrill of the adventure. Argus had been the easiest to convince, for he was always searching for rare magics. Denis joined because he had nowhere else to go. Amice and Warin had been the hardest to convince to return to the Pale Hills.

“I’m just annoyed we’re going to miss Amice’s wedding.”

“Oh, that’s right; you mentioned you have never been to one.”

Myra remembered her cousin's wedding. Cassandra looked beautiful in her blue cotehardie standing with her soon to be husband under the Wedding tree. Her grandmother had worked almost a whole season on the dress. Of course, chasing her cousin to capture the garter and the dancing afterward had also been fun.

Katilia just shrugged; there were many things she missed having grown up in the Taurn orphanage.

“I was looking forward to the dancing.” Myra stepped back, no need to empty her quiver. At least not yet.

“So was Argus,” Katilia chuckled at her friend's confused look. “You did know he was rather fond of your sister?”

“What?”

She couldn’t help but snort. Myra was so obtuse sometimes. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.”

Raising her crossbow, she dispatched one of the spear carriers that had been trying to sneak around to the other side of the pond. “Of course, he was also terrified of her.”

Myra huffed. “OK, now I know your just making fun of me.”

“No, really,” Katilia dropped down from her perch to take a seat. “You know how she kept trying to get him to discuss magic with her.”

Iona’s sister couldn't help but groan. “It's hard to get her to stop.”

Katilia snickered, “Poor Argus didn’t understand half of what came out of her mouth.”

“How do you know?”

“Angus told me, of course. He wanted some advice on how to approach her. I don’t think he ever would, though.”

“He did tell me that he planned on teaching my sister a couple of spells when we returned.”

“Oh, maybe he gained some courage after all. Well, good for him,” Katilia said approvingly.

“Hmm, they’re pulling back,” Myra commented wearily. The two watched as the ratkins retreated into the darkness, most likely to regroup. “I’ll be back.”

Keeping one eye on the shadows below, she moved over to their healer. Perhaps some of them would get out of the mess she created after all, “So, how is he?”

Looking up, Amice gave her childhood friend a sad smile, “I fear that Warin’s not long for this world.”

Kneeling, she started to rummage through her pack, “I still have some food.”

“Save it, Myra, you will need your strength.”

They all agreed that they were lucky to get as far as they did after the disastrous ambush. The young warrior had taken a grievous wound, trying to protect his friend Argus. Only Amice’s skill as a healer had kept him alive, but now he looked pale as if his very life was draining from him.

“Why do you and Katilia remain? If you can, you should try and find a way out of the labyrinth.”

“You know I’m not leaving the two of you, Ams.”

“Then you’re an idiot.” Reaching over, Amice took hold of Myra’s hand, “This is not your fault.”

“But, Denis, Argus, and now Warin,” Myra started to sob.

“We all agreed to search this labyrinth, all for different reasons, but it was our choice.”

Myra tried to pull back her hand, but the healer’s grip was firm.

“We followed you because we love you. And, you needed someone to keep you out of trouble.”

The young pathfinder tried not to laugh as she rubbed the tears from her face.

“Didn’t help.”

“I guess it didn’t.” Amice tiredly conceded. “Now go back to Katilia. Whatever you two were talking about brought smiles to your faces.”

“Oh, she was telling me that Angus was afraid of my sister,” Myra explained while counting the number of arrows in her quiver again.

“Ahh, I wouldn’t say afraid but perhaps nervous about embarrassing himself in front of someone he liked.”

Amice suddenly raised her voice, apparently coming to a decision. “Myra, when the time comes, you will retreat from this place. I will buy you time.”

“Ams.”

“NO! You will not die here. I will not allow it!” The healer almost stood up, tears now running down her face.

“They're coming again!” Katilia called out.

Myra nocked an arrow as she watched the ratkins readying themselves for another attack, “Not going to happen, Amice.”

“So, you will be leaving Iona alone?”

The pathfinder's head snapped back as if struck, “You’re a cruel woman.”

“Nonetheless, you made a promise to her, did you not,” Amice countered.

Drawing the bow to her ear, she loosed an arrow. A ratkin, who appeared to be giving orders, took it directly in the mouth. The second one bounced off a shield as another rat ran forward. A third disappeared into the darkness.

“Alright,” Myra reluctantly agreed.

“Thank you,” Amice smiled. “Don’t worry, before I join Warin in the Halls of Nemin, I’ll make sure the ratkins and their dark gods remember my name.”

Dodging a spear, Myra returned to her post. She noticed almost immediately that even more ratkins were working on the ramp. How much time did they now have?

“I see you're not happy,” Katilia commented as she let loose a bolt.

Myra grumbled, “Amice brought up my sister.”

Raising her bow, she picked off a ratkin who has been trying to cross to the other side of the chamber. Counting the arrows in her quiver, she frowned, only three.

“I see. So, what’s the plan.”

“Once we're down to our last couple of shots, we'll make a break for it,” exasperated Myra as she sighed heavily.

“I assume it's only the two of us?” Katilia muttered aside.

“Yes, she won't leave Warin.”

“I understand.”

The two of them looked into each other eyes, blushing then set about defending their positions at least until their arrows ran out when suddenly everything changed.

--0—

Aggro - As a verb, it refers to a hostile mob that has noticed a player and is actively trying to attack that player. As a noun, it refers to the amount of "hostility" the player has generated on the mob.

Alt - or alternate character is a character in addition to one's "primary" or "Main" player character. In addition, one frequent use is to play characters of opposite gender or to see what new features have been added since they last were on a low-level character.

Bells: Most large communities have some way to keep time, useful for travelers, and tradesmen heading off to work. Usually the either the Town’s Hall or Healer’s Hall will ring a large bell. It's Midsummer, so the times below will change depending on the time of year and location-

First 2:30 a.m.
Second 3:40 a.m.
Third 7:00 a.m.
Forth 12:20 p.m.
Fifth 3:00 p.m.
Sixth 7:00 p.m.
Seventh 8:20 p.m.
Eighth 9:30 p.m.

Buff - refers to preparatory actions taken before combat, usually involving the casting of spells. Adding additional bonuses to characters.

Escort Missions – a job where you have to safeguard an NPC, without getting them killed. Now, this wouldn't be so bad, except that the NPCs are universally stupid, running ahead and getting killed in the process. Many players despise these types of jobs.

Death Penalty – In real life, death is well permanent. In MMORPG, not so much. Yet death in 99% of MMOs is a mere inconvenience and speed bump — you don’t lose experience, and you don’t lose much of your time.

Guilds - Semi-permanent player groups. In typical games, players must use a substantial amount of capital to start the guild.

Minimap - A mini-map or minimap is a miniature map that is often placed at a screen corner in video games to aid players in orienting themselves within the game world. They are usually only a small portion of the screen and thus must be selective in what details they display.

MMORPG - Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

Mob - An AI-controlled monster.

Noob- Newbie, newb, noob, or n00b is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Variant forms of the noun include Newby and newbee, while the related term noob (often stylized as "n00b") is commonly used in online gaming.

Root - Can refer to a class of abilities as well as its effect. A root spell immobilizes a target. The target is then said to be rooted. Early versions of these abilities involved references to plants, hence "root."

Spawning - In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character, item, or NPC. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction, perhaps after losing one of its lives. Despawning is the deletion of a body from the game world.

Tank - A tank or also known as a meat shield, redirect enemy attacks or attention toward themselves to protect others. Typically the fighter tries to take as much aggro as possible away from weaker players such as healers and mages. Since they can often take a lot of damage, they are usually heavily armored and have lots of health.

Total party kill (TPK) “Rocks fall, everyone dies” or wipes - a situation in which every player character in a party dies. Factors include player inexperience, insufficient player characters, or encounters too difficult for the party's capabilities.

Horses in the Middle Ages:

The Destrier
The Destrier was the most expensive horse and were typically owned only by nobles and knights. Destriers were tall horses and were typically only used in battle. Trained to not only bite and kick on command but also to trample fallen enemies. Destriers were not common and, as a result, were highly sought after by knights.

The Palfrey
The palfrey was used for riding, traveling, and hunting as well as for ceremonies. Riding a palfrey was much more comfortable and was the favorite riding animal of noblewomen.

The Courser
Coursers were fast horses and had good endurance. They were often used by messengers as well as by people who needed to move quickly. Many knights who did not have access to a destrier, preferred to ride a courser into battle because it was fast, strong, and agile.

The Rouncey
The rouncey could be used as a pack animal or even on the farm. It could be trained for war or used as a riding horse and was often used by knights who could not afford any of the other horses. A knight would also provide rounceys to his squires and other men at arms.

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Comments

Warin

Hopefully the death of the barrow wight / revenant means the drain on Warin stopped or Lady Eleanor can save him. Also you didn’t get to the good part from their perspective, their reaction to Lady Eleanor’s groups arrival. That event would be really nice to see that from Myra’s parties point of view. We didn’t get to see Lady Eleanor’s epic entrance, hopefully we don’t have to wait a week for more.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Axe

Lets hope he didn't get hit with that cursed weapon.

Axe

In 5e cursed items are usually just stuck on equip and I think the life draining is a wight specific thing so it should have stopped with the barrow wights death Leo might possibly have remove curse,

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Life Drain

Checking 1E MM and 3.5E MM, the life drain is contact driven (per attack) and cumulative. The only variance between rules versions seems to be the details on the mechanics so I would expect 4E and 5E to also be similar. The basic problem is once hp is lost it doesn't return until a remove curse or similar is successful. Anyone completely drained becomes a wight eventually. The death of the wight doesn't effect the outcome.

Other systems would also vary some. Bottom line, a single lucky wight could be a TPK and anyone afflicted, would be dangerous to have around until cured.

Remove curse

Eleanor is likely capable of casting it as in-game it looks like it is a level 3 spell and she has already cast immolation which is higher. There is a slim chance imho she does not know it but one would think it would be useful on campaign to be able to remove a curse asap so she would expend the resources necessary to learn it.

Leo is a Master Healer

BarbieLee's picture

Handing out death isn't the only talent of one of the three. Leo was busy healing students that got in the way of knives, swords, spears when he wasn't teaching the art of fighting and what supplies are needed for an Adventure.

I'd bet our Lady Eleanor is also a healer, although that hasn't been brought into the tale yet. If Warin expires it won't be from the lack of healing soon to be placed upon him by the new arrivals. If I was in that game there is only one place I'd want to be. Right beside Lady Eleanor. And one place I'd hope to never be. At the receiving end of her wrath.
always
Barb

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Nice additon to the story line

BarbieLee's picture

This piece added a dimension to the story until told was missing. It filled a hole that was there but ignored until revealed how much was missing. It takes good talent from the author to switch gears from first to third person and then above everything else leave the main story line, delve into a side story still bonded tightly to the main story.
always
Barb
Life is meant to be lived, not worn until it's worn out.

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Healing potions

Very happy to see another chapter, but your decisions on when to stop need work. ;-)

Hopefully Leo can help Warin back from the edge. If not, then hopefully Eleanor is like the majority of adventurers, and doesn't leave home without a stack of healing potions. Much more common than resurrection magic.

Potions

I was wondering that last chapter if she had those plus maybe a scroll of remove curse or Leo may have it,

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Potions

Sure she does, it was in chapter 2 where her skill at potions is mentioned as she wanted talk to the
Mr Oscar, the village healer who also made potions because of said skill.

It would be good that she made her own healing potions as in-game, the best healing potions cost a LOT!

Potion cost

Elsbeth's picture

Very much so, unlike Eleanor's game where you just gather items and brew, in this world there is also a mana/heart core cost. So the more powerful the healing potion the more powerful or pure the core is needed. Which of course , ups the price.

Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.

Broken Irish is better than clever English.

Warin

So hopefully Leo has a pre-made one with him then or Eleanor too though since hers was likely not created with a mana core, can that be relied on.

Now, I wonder what sort of core is necessary to make a potion to snatch Warin back from the verge of death?

Potions

Eleanor's rune skill, which allows her to make scrolls, hadn't changed. So I would think her alchemy skill would also be unchanged.

If it has, they do have the basilisk core. That might be enough to at least get him back to the Healer's hall in town.

"your decisions on when to stop need work"

WillowD's picture

No, I'd say her decisions are just about perfect. Her stopping points have left me eager with anticipation, to the point were I am checking almost every day to see if there is a new chapter and I am occasionally rereading some or all of the entire story. Her last stopping point resulted in 65 comments in 4 days.

Darn it, I want to know what happens next. :(

Next

I want the initial reaction for the rescue from Myra’s parties perspective, then from Lady Eleanor. I have a general idea but it would be cool to read it.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

suddenly everything changed

Indeed Lady Eleanor has a way of doing that :). As for food for the party, I believe she is well stocked; in addition to the hunting they did. I'm pretty sure she has a few healing potions for emergencies, and killing the wrath earlier probably saved Warin; as it should stop the drain.. Might not thou depending if he got hit with that cursed axe thou, don't know.

Well this addition to the story was inspiring, we have a better feel for who Myra and party are! We can pretty much assume the impression on them as Lady Eleanor's party makes its entrance. Auntie blazing away with arrows, little sister rain hell down on the rats... and of course Eleanor doing what she does best... looking good :)... Bring the hurt shall we say! So yeah I think their going to need abit to process it all :)

The more the better.

Sadarsa's picture

The more i read, the better it becomes. When i started it i thought it'd be a small distraction, but im finding myself very much invested into this story now.

~Your only Limitation is your Imagination~

Thanks

Elsbeth's picture

Thank you, I'm glad your enjoying the story.

Thanks for reading!

Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.

Broken Irish is better than clever English.

Adds perspective

This is a good thing to add, giving perspective on the people Eleanor so selflessly put herself out to save. It reassures a bit that they will view Eleanor with respect.

I think this misadventure would sober them up.

Leo may be able to save Warin but may need a lot of mana support as it was mentioned that the kingdom’s healers complained about the lack of mana stones when there was that todo about that other living labyrinth.

Isn’t it fortunate she has so far collected some significant sized/quality ones.

Heart Cores

I think your confusing mana stones and heart cores. Monsters contain heart cores they have a few of those but they found mana stones in the wight room.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Heart cores

I believe they and mana cores are one and the same but hopefully Elsbeth can comment on that.

Mana/Heart Cores

Elsbeth's picture

Correct they are one in the same, used interchangeably usually depending on what they are going to be used for.

Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.

Broken Irish is better than clever English.

I keep coming back.

WillowD's picture

I keep coming back to this story at least once or twice a day to look for new comments. They are almost as good as reading the story itself. (I keep telling myself this. Sometimes I almost believe it.)

Amice’s armor and shield

I thought these items can’t be too heavy duty else it might hamper het powers?

Currently she is described as ‘well armored’ and having what sounds like a very good strength shield.

I am assuming that she might not have her healing powers at the moment as I thought that was not allowed for her class type?

Healers

Clerics can use medium armor and shields in 5e and some can use heavy armor and shields. Additionally there is no spell failure chance in 5e if you are proficient in the armor you are wearing.

Because of the mental focus and precise gestures required for spellcasting, you must be proficient with the armor you are wearing to cast a spell. You are otherwise too distracted and physically hampered by your armor for spellcasting.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

The correct armor

WillowD's picture

I would assume that if she is not in the middle of battle she could swap armor for whatever will allow her to cast the best healing spells.

(And, yay, it's been 3 days since this was posted so there is a significant chance we will get the next chapter in 1 to 3 days. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.)

Ch 9

She said it is unlikely that she will get it up before she leaves on Friday she said by Sunday at the latest.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Thank you for the update.

WillowD's picture

I find I am checkout out BCTS at least several times a day to see if the new chapter is out yet. In fact, ever since chapter 1 I have been eagerly looking for the next chapter to come out.

Elsbeth getting home

She said she is going to be sleeping in her own bed tonight so depending on how late she gets in and how tired she is she might post it tonight I’m hoping at least.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Ch 9 the Insanity of waiting,

I am going stir crazy right now she’s home and she told me Sunday at the latest and it’s already 9:30.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Tracking Myra

It just occurred to me that Eleanor (well Karin really) could not track Myra’s party by their ‘spoor’, especially after Argus was killed, as we know bodily functions do occur here. So is a living labyrinth self-cleaning?

Tracking problems

Elsbeth's picture

In normal ruins, or dungeon considering the amount of dust, rubble etc that one would walk through, not at all, here well it's one of the things that confirms it's not a normal labyrinth.

Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.

Broken Irish is better than clever English.

Dungeon Prize

I wonder if the boss of the dungeon has a resurrection item, it would be really cool to bring Argus back. If it happens then Iona can marry him at the chapel in the capital. I’m really curious what happened to Denis, was he captured or did he fall in the river or something.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna