Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – North to Shackleford

At 10am, I was one of the only guys on time. Lincoln had already arrived with his wolf and one of the younger guys was standing by with his staff. Danny showed up at 10:05, along with Carlos. At 10:12, Craig and Liam lolled into the group, obviously on their second or third beverage of the day. Danny rolled his eyes. “Thought you’d never show.”

Craig feigned a taken aback look, “Danny, I figured you’d know. It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere.”

Liam echoed a laugh and a smile flashed across Danny’s face. “Alright boys, bet you can see our wonderful ranger has joined us today. Flashy new pistols and all, by the looks of it.”

Lincoln scoffed. “I thought I was the ranger, Dan?”

Danny chuckled, “Your spot is being challenged. Don’t worry, it’s temporary. Quinton, you got another guy to heal now. You okay with that?”

The young man with the staff smiled wide, “Don’t worry about me, boss.”

I was a little surprised at the respect Danny commanded, but not really. Quinton and the rest of the group idolized Danny, and it was clear why. He was strong, a front-line fighter, and a team player. He was naturally charismatic and good at leading people. He fit this role. I did not.

Danny gave a clap of his hands. “Alright, boys. We’ve got decent stamina stats and we’re a fast crew. Shackleford had 2 small towns and hell of a lot of wildland. From what we know, there are no other players in the area, but always keep a lookout. Moran is about 29 miles out. Pre-game population of around 200. I’m expecting to find ruins and some decent level creatures along with decent level loot. This is a big adventure and we’ll probably be out for a while. I’ve got enough bread rolls and other food stuffs in my inventory to last the seven of us about a month. I don’t plan to be out nearly that long, but who knows? We’ll camp the first night and then head into Moran tomorrow afternoon. After that, depending on what we find, we’ll explore some of the wildland and try to level up.”

“Let’s get a summary of everyone, yeah? Mainly for Jere-bear’s benefit.”

I hated that nickname.

“I’m Danny.”

The group echoed a “Hi, Danny” as if it was an AA meeting.

“Paladin Class, Level 12.”

Craig smiled, “I’m Craig, Knight Class and Level 10.”

Liam raised his hand, “Liam, Barbarian Class and Level 11.”

Lincoln patted his wolf on the head. “Lincoln, Ranger Class and Level 10.”

Carlos was next up. “Carlos, Wizard Class and Level 10.”

Quinton raised his staff. “Quinton, Priest Class and Level 9.”

The group looked at me with expectation in their eyes. They wanted me to introduce myself, too? This is stupid. I already know these people and they know me. Oh, well. “I’m Jeremiah, Ranger Class and Level 12.”

Danny nodded. “Good! Now that everyone knows everyone, we can get started. Let’s…start walking!”

------------------------------

The first day was relatively uneventful. I had always figured life would be easier traveling in a party. I hadn’t guessed by how much. Despite splitting gold, experience, and items 7 ways, we faced very little trouble. An hour or two into Eastland county, and we were chopping apart a pack of 8 Kobolds like they were butter. By the end of the day, we had taken out 22 Kobolds, 16 Gnolls, and a dozen wolves. Despite the party split, I came out of it with 10% experience and 140 gold. It wasn’t much, but it was a solid day of adventuring with near-zero risk. Danny took most of the hits along with Liam, but Quinton quickly healed them.

It was the first night that proved to be an issue.

I was woken up to screaming and the sound of steel hitting steel. As I stood up, I barely saw the large wooden club hit me in the head. I went rolling across the campsite. As I drew my pistols, I saw our attackers. A group of Bisonmen had attacked us in our sleep.

“EVERYONE CIRCLE UP!” Danny was shouting from the campfire as he fought off two large Bisonmen with their axes.

As one of the monsters charged at me, a loud growl was followed by a ball of fur and claws tackling the creature. Lincoln’s wolf, Shocker, had come to my defense. With the Bisonman on the ground, I fire four shots in quick succession into its skull. The creature died immediately.

I turned my pistols onto another Bisonman, this one attacking Quinton. I fired a [Multi-Shot], watching my six bullets tear into the beast. It staggered as Craig came roaring in with a sword and shield, slaying it.

Flipping to Carlos, I saw him backed into a corner by two of the monsters. Firing [Multi-Shot] again, I could feel my energy draining. I saw a burst of fire hit the beasts as Carlos fought back. Lincoln’s arrows thudded into the attackers and knocked them down enough for Liam to charge in, swinging his Claymore and slaying both. Quinton shot a quick heal spell into Carlos, and I saw him starting to recover.

Danny was now being hammered by three of the monsters, but all six of us were ready. We charged into the beasts. Lincoln and myself did what damage we could from afar as Liam and Craig charged into the fray. Danny was badly injured, but holding his own. Quinton cast a [Prayer of Light] to heal all 7 of us. It was effective. Danny shot his sword through the skull of one of the buffalos before backhanding his shield into another. I fired a headshot into the third and watched it collapse.

You are reading story Pistols and Blades: A LitRPG Saga at novel35.com

At the end of all of it, 8 Bisonmen between Levels 9 and 10 were dead and I had gained another 5% experience and 48 gold. As we looted the bodies, a Ranger item dropped. “Buffalo-Hide Leggings (8C+2 Agi, +1 Str)”. Lincoln had no qualms in immediately handing it to me. “You earned it.”

I equipped them and smiled as my legs began to feel much warmer in the cool January air. “Thanks, Lincoln.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“What the hell happened?” Danny was furious.

Quinton swallowed. “I….I fell asleep.”

I sighed. This type of shit always happens in groups…I think.

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Double watch from now on. If you see your partner sleeping, wake them up.”

Danny and Carlos had taken a severe beating. The group decided to sleep a few extra hours to recover fully, with a rotating watch. Having Quinton heal them would just mean Quinton needed to recover as well. I volunteered to take the first watch along with Lincoln, and the others went to sleep.

It took an hour for Lincoln to say anything. He just sat there, patting his wolf. When he finally turned and said something, it made me jump. “What did you do before this?”

“Before…the party?”

“No. Before the game.” Lincoln was older. He had tattoos up and down his arms and muscles bulging out of his shirt. I was surprised he hadn’t gone for one of the more physical combat roles.

“I…I was a high school senior. I was mainly just focused on who I was gonna take to prom.”

“Who was it?”

I frowned. I hadn’t thought about that in a long time. Ever since my sister was taken, I had tried my hardest to block out memories of the past. “Some girl named Janet. I had been held back a year but so had she. We both were 18.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died.”

Lincoln nodded silently. The awkward nothingness sat in the air building and building until I finally gave in. “What did you do?”

“I was in prison.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How’d you get out?”

Lincoln smirked. “They pretty much let me out. I was on a transport from Abilene to Dallas. When the bus stopped for gas, that’s when the clock hit six. Bus died. They tried to get it back on…nothing happened. They tried to call for help…no signal. The prisoners were about to take advantage of the situation when we watched one of the guards get speared through by a Goblin. None of us knew what was going on and all of us panicked. Another guard went down trying to kill the thing. Finally, the driver opened the gate to give us a chance to get out, tossing handcuff keys to us. He didn’t last long after that.”

Lincoln stared off into the distance as he continued, reliving the experience. “The group bolted off the bus, trampling each other in doing so. Most of them got chopped down before making it out of the gas station. I was lucky enough to make it to Eastland and…well…here I am.”

“I thought Danny was the church boy?” I was confused more than anything. Danny was Pastor Gabriel’s son and always had a tendency for a stick up his ass.

“Dan’s a good guy. He took me in and trained me. I always liked dogs and didn’t feel like being a Shifter Class, so he helped me train my Ranger skills to get Shocker. You should trust him a little more than you do. Those Bisonmen were heading for you…the ones he was fighting off. He would have died for you. He’d die for any of us.”

I opened my mouth and closed it a few times. I looked at Danny’s sleeping body and sighed. “Thanks for the information.”

-------------------------------------------

We made it to Shackleford County by a little after noon on Saturday. The power scaling was evident. As we left Eastland, we found a small trio of Level 7 Gnolls. We dispatched them rapidly. Upon arriving in Shackleford, the air seemed to shift. The grass seemed darker and the sky seemed cloudier. It was as if smog filled the air. “NOW ENTERING: SHACKLEFORD COUNTY (HOSTILE)” appeared in front of us in golden letters as we followed Highway 6. Trees and torn down fences lined the road we were walking on and provided cover for anything that may have been watching us.

Lincoln, who had an ability called Hawk’s Eye, was the first to identify an issue. When he pointed out that some of the trees seemed off, we started to see it. Carlos casted a detection spell only for one of the trees to turn. I immediately saw a profile appear above it.

---