Sam ran with the desperation of a man whose life was on a timer. He rounded a corner in a sliding skid, searching the quiet neighborhood for somewhere - anywhere to hide.
38. 37. 36.
The young girl's voice rang out in his head, blocking out all attempts at rational thought. He sprinted to a car door but immediately rejected that idea. There was absolutely no way she wouldn't check that.
31. 30.
He ignored the houses - they felt too obvious. Her sphere seemed to encompass a square of about four residential neighborhood blocks, which seemed like a lot of space to hide in until you considered that the people trapped in this domain would likely have heightened speed or some sort of movement skills. He wasn't sure if the brat who'd trapped him here had any of those, but he wouldn't have bet against it. This was her domain after all.
He had been so confident when he'd seen her, just a lone child in a ragged dress holding a beat-to-shit teddy bear. She'd been humming to herself, talking gently to her bear while plucking tufts of dirt and dander out of its fur. He'd expected an ambush, but his heightened senses told him that they were the only ones in the area. Normally he would have backstabbed her from the shadows, but something had stayed his hand. His Identify skill had advanced with his Assassin class to become Shadow Reveal, which let him see more than just someone's name and level - if he was casting it unobserved from the shadows. What he'd seen had shocked him:
Jaidyn, Level: 10
Class: Domain Specialist
Core Stats
STR: 15 AGI: 16 END: 10 INT: 12 LUC: 10 CHA: 19
Combat Skills
Melee Combat: Basic 1 Ranged Combat: N/A Defense: Basic 1 Tactics: Basic 5 Attack: 1 Defense: 1
Magic and Technology
Magic Affinity: Basic 2 Tech Savvy: N/A Spellcraft: Basic 2 Enchantments: Intermediate 3
Ancillary Skills
Leadership: N/A Survival: Intermediate 1 Crafting: N/A Stealth: N/A
Her stats made no sense to him. He'd observed a lot of stat sheets lately and they all followed the same basic numbering scheme. Not hers though. Firstly, there was just no way a girl her age… six years old? Eight? He had no idea, kids were all just kids to him until they got their driver's license, then he considered them teenagers. She didn't look like she'd hit puberty yet, though, so he guessed she couldn't be over 10 years old. However old she was, she was way too young to have stats as high as she did. The numbers themselves didn't make sense either - they didn't follow the pattern of 3 points per level. Normally a child would have started with about 50 stat points and, by the time they reached level 10, they'd have 72 points to distribute. She had 82, which meant that she'd either started out stronger than other children or she'd gained extra along the way somehow. That latter part worried him.
Secondly, for a girl her age to have survived this long and reached level 10 meant that there was something different about her. Something unexpected. He wasn't the type to jump into a situation blindly - he studied and prepared before striking. Some primal sense inside of him was telling him that attacking her blindly was a huge mistake.
And third was her weird combinations of affinities and skills. Each person had these at semi-random levels based on their experiences, but they tended to follow trends. Fighters would have higher combat skills, magicians would have higher magic skills, etc. You could tell a lot about how someone fought by how their skills grouped up. This girl's made no sense - her combat skills were effectively zero at this stage of the System's arrival, and yet her strength and agility were high. Her intelligence was about at current world averages, not nearly high enough to account for her magical affinities and enchantments to be as high as they were.
And lastly was her survival skill. Anyone who had entered the Intermediate range on any skill had shown remarkable, above-average use and success in that skill. Of everything he saw, that was the one that gave him the most pause. He had no qualms about killing an unarmed child - that was the world today - but he needed to understand what that survival skill meant first.
He'd stepped out from behind the house cautiously, keeping his attention on the many windows and shadows of the neighboring homes. This area was a standard cookie-cutter, middle class neighborhood, with plenty of stalled vehicles. It should have had people too - low-level targets to hone his skills on. This was the first one he'd run across that seemed to be empty.
Well, empty until now. He moved into the road so she could see him coming, but stayed close enough to the curb to jump into any of the shadows of the trees lining the street, should he need to beat a hasty retreat.
"Hey there little girl, are you okay?"
She looked up at him, squinting against the sun, then smiled. "Hi! Who are you?"
"I'm just somebody that came to visit some friends. Do you know where everyone is?"
She dropped her attention back to the bear. "They're gone."
"Gone? All of them?"
She nodded somberly. "Yep. All gone."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He pointed to the curb next to where she was sitting. She just shrugged so he sat down with an exaggerated groan, within striking distance but not so close as to miss an incoming surprise attack from her. They sat in silence for a minute while he waited for her to spring any traps. When nothing came he decided to move things along.
"So what happened to everyone? Did monsters get them?"
She just shook her head. "No monsters. We were playing games and they all lost."
"Games? Like magic games?"
The girl nodded and petted the bear's head. Sam returned the nod in understanding. The System had been throwing them into all sorts of challenges since arriving, and it seems like this poor neighborhood had fallen victim to one of them. Damn, that was a waste of so much valuable XP.
"So how did you make it? And why can't I see your last name when I look at you?"
She cocked her head his way with a suspicious glare. "I'm not supposed to tell people my last name, it's dangerous."
"Only for strangers though," he said cheerfully, not sure why he was suddenly so intent on playing this out. "We don't have to be strangers, we can be friends!"
She eyed him a little longer, then the suspicion was gone and her face beamed with a bright smile. "Okay! We can play a game together! Friends play games together. Do you want to play a game?"
Do I want to play a game? The words beat at Sam's mind. Do I want to play a game? Well of course I do, why wouldn't I?
"Mister, I asked if you wanted to play a game so we could be friends?" The question came again, like a warm blanket to his mind, soothing all doubts and questions.
"Yeah… I think a game would be fun… what kind of game?"
She clapped her hands with joy. "Oooh! Do you like Hide and Seek? We could play that! You hide and I seek!"
He nodded his head dumbly. "Yeah, that sounds fun."
Her face turned instantly to a pout. "But what if I win? What do I get?"
Some part of his subconscious cried out at that question, but it was silenced when he saw her pouting expression. "Oh, it's okay! Don't be sad. What do you want?"
She placed her chin in her hand in an exaggerated expression of deep thought. "I want… want… new toy! I want one of your magic tricks. If I win can I have one of yours?"
His lizard brain was practically screaming at him now, but every one of her expressions put him at ease. He was starting to get a headache from the back and forth in his mind. "Uhm… okay," he said, not really understanding what she was asking for. "But then if I win what do I get?"
She tapped her cheek with one finger and looked thoughtfully into the distance. "What do you want?"
His mind was a fog and he could barely register her question. "I want… levels. I want to kill you." Why did I just say that?
Her expression grew dark as she leaned in toward him, hands on her hips. Even in his current state he noticed that she didn't appear scared, just offended. "Kill me? I thought we were going to be friends!"
"Friends! We're friends. Sometimes friends kill friends and let them have their experience." He realized how weak that sounded but he wasn't able to formulate anything more coherent.
"Okay, but if you kill me that's a BIG prize. I want two prizes if I win! Can I have two magic tricks?"
He nodded his head dumbly.
"Please, Mister," she said. "You need to say it. I say 'If you win you get to kill me and take all my experience.' Now you need to say 'If you win you get to take two of my magic tricks.'"
He nodded his head again, some part of him understanding that an agreement needed to be made. He even understood that if he accepted this deal and won he'd get 50% more than the amount of experience for just killing her now. "If you win you get to take two of my magic tricks."
A barrier snapped down around the world and he could sense the edges of it a few blocks away. The haze from his mind disappeared and his danger sense came screaming back at him. His eyes went wide when he realized what had happened. "What did you do? That couldn't have just been your Charisma."
The smile she beamed at him could have lit up a Sunday School classroom. "Okay Mister, I'll count from 60 and come find you! If I tag you, I win! If I don't tag you before the game ends, you win!"
He was already mid-lunge, knife aimed at her carotid, when she dropped her face into her hands and said "60!"
The knife struck an invisible barrier around her and he was thrown violently backwards. With dawning comprehension he realized that he knew the rules to the game instinctually. She was invulnerable until the countdown ended. He had to hide and she would seek him out. He could use any of his powers and abilities, he just couldn't escape this domain. This was her playground and he was suddenly playing a game that had evidently dispatched her entire neighborhood.
He also realized that all she had to do was find him and he'd lose both of his magical skills. He'd be an assassin in class only. Without Shadow Strike or Shadow Jump he was just a basic melee fighter with slightly higher than average agility and perception. He'd be a walking bag of free experience for any person or creature that came for him. He'd never bothered to try to train up any new skills, opting instead to just get really, really good at killing from the shadows and making a quick escape. Being level 12 meant that anything he fought at his level would absolutely destroy him without his primary magical abilities, and starting from scratch to create new ones would take forever due to the diminishing returns of getting virtually no experience from low-level creatures.
In short, if he lost this game he was a dead man.
15. 14. 13.
He considered the roofs around him. The girl was so small that maybe she wouldn't be able to see to the tops? And even if she could, she had to touch him to have 'found' him. He discarded that idea too. No doubt some of the people in the neighborhood had already had that idea, and there were no shadows up there to jump through if she found him.
10. 9. 8.
He skidded to a stop when he noticed a yard with a hole dug into it, the pit surrounded by construction supplies. It looked like someone had been trying to dig out a pond or fire pit or something.
5.
He sprinted again, falling into a baseball slide as he dropped into the hole.
4.
He reached out frantically and tugged at the tarp that was next to the hole.
3.
The tarp was weighted down with stacks of bricks and resisted him.
2.
"Come on you fucker!"
1.
He braced his legs against the side of the pit and heaved again, back straining against the pull.
"Ready or not, here I come!" The voice in his head sounded out with a tinkle of childish laughter.
He groaned and strained, falling backwards into the hole as the tarp was pulled free from the bricks to fall over him. He frantically tugged at the edges to situate them around him in a way that, he hoped, looked natural, and not like it held a person underneath it.
He instinctively knew that he just had to remain hidden for 10 minutes or kill the little bitch before being touched. He'd resort to the second one if he had to, but at his heart he knew he was a coward. That's why the assassin's path had called out to him - attack when there was no danger, flee if the attack didn't work. He'd much rather wait her out than try a direct assault. Besides, there was a lot of ground for her to cover in that short amount of time.
The air under the tarp grew hot and fetid, begging him to just open up the edge and let the fresh air in. Just a small sip would be bliss… His hand reached for the edge when a giggle reached his ears.
"Oooooohhhh… I can hear your heartbeat! It's close!"
He froze like a baby rabbit sensing a snake outside its burrow. He clamped down on his breathing, but realized with increasing horror that, the longer he held his breath, the harder his heart beat in his chest.
Sweat poured off of him as panic wormed its way through his gut. He didn't know how much longer he could hold his breath, but he knew it was measured in seconds. I guess it's fight or flight time, he thought and pulled his stiletto out.
It slid from the sheath with a light rasp and, the moment it did, the tarp was flung away from him.
"I found y-" Before she could finish her sentence he lunged at her. Her eyes went wide but she sidestepped the stab. He had been ready for this, though, and his eyes locked onto the shadow of a tree just at the limit of his sight. His lower half was still in the shadow of the pit and he activated Shadow Jump, the skill letting him jump from one shadow to another as long as he could see the destination. He faded backwards into the shadow, just outpacing her reaching hand, then he was gone.
He emerged from the shadow of the tree and saw her look at the hole in confusion, step backwards, then snap her head around to look at him.
"You're tricky, Mister! That's not fair!" Then she was sprinting at him at incredible speed - far faster than what her 16 Agility should allow her. His agility was 18 and he could see that he'd lose a footrace to her in a heartbeat. Shadow Jump was on cooldown for 60 seconds so there was nothing for him to do but stall for time. He jumped behind the tree just as she reached him, the two of them dancing back and forth around the trunk, her trying to reach him from behind it and him trying to keep the tree between them.
She rounded the tree incredibly fast and he swiped out, his knife cutting a deep gash in her hand. A screaming wail erupted from the other side of the tree and retreated. He looked around the trunk cautiously and saw her standing in the middle of the street, cupping her cut hand to her chest.
Sobs heaved her chest and she looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "You cut me!"
His heart lurched and he took a step out to her, to comfort her, to apologize to h… What am I doing? Shock rang through his mind as he realized he was falling under her compulsions again. God damn, this girl is evil, he thought before diving back behind the tree. Just as he did he managed to catch the tears stopping and her face turning a mottled pink with rage.
"You hurt me! You cheated! Now I'm going to cheat too!"
Ozone filled the air and static made his hair stand on end. A dangerous premonition made him step back from the tree, which promptly exploded in front of him. He covered his face against the onslaught of wooden shrapnel, his forearms peppered with thick splinters.
Peeking out from between his arms he scanned the street for the girl, his fear making his skin tingle when he couldn't find her. Where in the hell are you?
"CHEATER!" The angry voice sounded all around him and the domain shook with her rage. He looked up to see her floating in the air, wild hair whipping around her. She held the bear toward him in her outstretched hands, the blood from her cut palm soaking into its fur. Truth settled onto him like a weight and he didn't even bother to move against it.
"Well fuck me."
She smiled a wicked grin then and he could barely hear "Get him, Teddy," before the lightning traveled down her arms and erupted out of the bear, straight for him.
Sam lay on the street, his eyes gummed and his body wracked with pain. It faded after a few breaths and he realized that he was feeling pretty much up to snuff. He patted himself down and couldn't find any lingering traces of injury. He looked internally and saw that his health was still at 100%.
"Why am I still alive?"
A giggle sounded next to him. "Because that wasn't the deal, silly!"
He whipped his head around and saw Jaidyn sitting on the curb next to him. The cut on her palm was completely gone, but he couldn't help but notice that the bear still held a red blotch of blood in its fur. He instantly tried to Shadow Jump away but it refused to activate. They were sitting in the shadows of a tree so it should have worked… He looked for his skills and realized they were both gone.
A small groan escaped his lips, the loss of them and what it meant for him driving him to desperation. "What the fuck did you do to me? Where are my powers?"
"You said I'd get them if I won, silly!" Her smile beamed at him, but it had no power over him now that the game had ended and the deal was concluded. He sensed that he'd never be able to be tricked by it again, not that it mattered anymore.
"That's… I didn't agree to that."
"But you did! You said it!"
"But I didn't know what I was agreeing to. You tricked me into accepting with some sort of… I don't know, mind manipulation magic or something!"
The girl shrugged then started trying to wipe the blood off her teddy bear by using her dress, creating a mess of both. She replied in a sing-song cadence. "But you did. You did. You did."
Rage boiled up inside of him. He was a dead man walking. He'd been tricked, and by a child no less, into giving up the only things that were keeping him alive. If he walked away from here as he was he didn't have a week to live. There was no way he was surviving the next thing that came at him. He still had his raw attributes, but everyone had those these days. Without his powers he was a dead man. If not today, then at some point in the near future.
Unless I kill this little bitch and get some levels for it.
The dagger was in his hand in a flicker flash of movement and he was halfway to her before it had left its sheath. He may not have had Shadow Strike but his body remembered how to do this very well.
A sharp pain erupted from his back and he looked down to see that the knife was missing from his hand. Turning to look over his shoulder he met the eyes of the girl behind him, her's round in fascination as she gripped the knife that had been plunged into his liver.
"Oh, that's cool!" She said with delight. "I can go between the shadows! And if you don't see me attacking it does two times the damage! That's such a cool toy!"
He groaned as she pulled the knife from his back and stepped backwards. "Here, Teddy, you hold this," she said and slid the knife up into the bear like it was a sheath. He fell to the ground as his lifeblood seeped out of him, the girl already skipping away, singing a song to herself as if he was completely forgotten. When she disappeared around the corner he realized he had been.
"You agreed! You did it! You said it! You agreed! You did it! You said it! You…"
Jaidyn the Orphan, Level: 10
Class: Domain Specialist
Core Stats:
STR: 15
AGI: 16
END: 10
INT: 12
LUC: 10
CHA: 19
Combat Skills
Domain (The Playground): As a Domain Specialist, you will not acquire System-assigned skills or abilities through conventional actions. All skills and spells must be obtained by defeating opponents within your domain. While you can earn levels and upgrade acquired skills through standard means, upgrading your domain can only be achieved by defeating players or creatures within its boundaries.
Skills and abilities gained within your domain can be used and leveled outside of it.
Skills and Abilities:
Charismatic Influence 4
Channel Lightning 2
Shadow Step 1
Shadow Strike 1
Name: The Playground (Level 5)
Type: Domain Enchantment
Description: This skill transforms the caster's surroundings into a deadly playground, creating a domain where players must survive the game's rules for a set duration. The number and complexity of games are determined by the spell level, making the domain an inescapable trap until the game concludes.
Players must volunteer to participate for the prizes to be valid or for the game to cause death. Players trapped in the domain against their will are still subject to the game's rules and can be harmed, but they cannot be killed.
All players have full access to all of their skills and spells while within the domain, but the caster has their effectiveness being the combined total of the caster's personal level and the skill's level. For example, if the caster is at level 10 and The Playground is at level 5, they can cast spells and perform skills as if they were level 15. Additionally, they will receive attribute boosts corresponding to this combined level.
Current games:
Red Light, Green Light: The light in the domain turns red or green at random intervals. When the light is green players must continue moving and when the light is red they must not move. Breaking the rules will cause the player to be harmed. The game continues until only one player is left. The caster determines if the losers are knocked unconscious or harmed until killed.
Duck, Duck, Goose: Note that for this game each players' levels, spells, and skills are set to match the level of the lowest player. The players sit in a circle facing each other. Each player takes a turn walking the circle, tapping each player in turn. When a player is selected as "Goose" they are struck with the strongest attack from each of the other players. If the player survives they are now the "Goose", and they may pick any player except the one that just chose them. When there are only two players left they take alternating turns attacking the other. The game continues until only one player is left. The caster determines if the losers are knocked unconscious or play until killed.
King of the Hill: The domain forms a hill in the center, and players must reach and hold the top of the hill. The player who holds the top for the longest duration is the winner. Players gain temporary strength and resilience while on the hill. The game ends when the timer expires with a single player on the top. If multiple players are on top when the timer expires they will gain strength and agility every second until one player is forced off. The caster determines if the losers are knocked unconscious or play until killed. The game lasts for 2 minutes per caster level.
Hide and Seek: The caster counts down from a number based on their level, during which they are impervious to damage. Once the countdown ends, the caster gains heightened senses to track and locate the players. The game is won when the caster manages to touch the one hiding.
Tag: The caster starts as "It" and attempts to tag a player, saying "Tag, you're it!" after a successful touch. Each person in the game is eligible to be tagged "It" by any other player. The player who was "It" gets an increase in speed and agility every time they tag someone. When the game timer expires the person who is "It" is the loser. The timer and bonuses reset each round until all losing players have been eliminated. If the caster is unable to tag someone before the time ends all remaining players will be considered winners and the caster must pay out all prizes. The game lasts for 1 minute per caster level.
Effects:
Enhanced Perception: The caster's senses are heightened, allowing them to detect heartbeats, breathing, and movements within the domain.
Domain Lock: Escape from the domain is impossible through normal means. Any attempt to breach the domain results in being teleported back to the center.
Soul Mark: Once a player is found, they are marked with a spectral tag that slows their movement and makes them easier to track. Player must be physically touched for the Soul Mark to be applied.
Limitations:
Voluntary Participation: Players must agree to play the game, either through a formal agreement or a magical pact, or must perform an unprovoked attack against the caster. (Stealth attacks do not trigger the spell.)
Cooldown: The spell has a cooldown period of 24 hours per level, during which it cannot be cast again. The countdown does not apply to games without prizes.
True Sight Vulnerability: The caster's enhanced senses can be disrupted by abilities that impact perception.
Distance: The game area is a sphere with a diameter of 100' per level.
Prizes: The winner of the game gets the prize(s) agreed upon below. The winner can decide not to activate their prize.
Note that agreements made beyond the prizes are not enforced by The System and are not guaranteed.
Note that the player and caster do not have to choose the same prize.
Note that neither party needs to tell the other which prize they requested.
Energy Siphon: The winner siphons an agreed-upon number of level's worth of energy from the loser. The loser's level will be reduced by the amount required to increase the winner's level. If the winner chooses this prize in secret they win one level's worth of energy.
Vitality Transfer: The winner absorbs an agreed-upon number and type of attribute points from the loser. If the winner chooses this prize in secret they default to one attribute point from each category.
Skill Swap: The winner can choose one skill or ability from the loser to permanently transfer to themselves. The loser loses proficiency in that skill but does have the opportunity to gain it again at a future date. If the loser is a higher level than the winner the skill will be reduced in power to match the winner's level. After gaining the skill the winner can continue to level that skill as if they'd earned it on their own. If the winner chooses this prize in secret they get one skill chosen at random.
Life Essence Bond: The winner creates a bond with the loser's life essence, allowing them to draw on the loser's health pool at will. This bond will heal the winner at the expense of the loser's health each time it is used. The bond remains until the loser's level exceeds that of the winner or until the winner releases the effect. If the winner chooses this prize in secret the effects last for one month.
Death's Expanded Domain: The loser dies and the winner get 1.5x the experience they would have gotten for killing them. Note that if the caster is the winner the energy may be directed into leveling up the skill rather than the caster. This prize cannot be chosen in secret. This prize is the default prize when the caster is the target of an unprovoked attack outside of battle.
Won from Jeremy Canter (Level 7)
Name: Charismatic Influence
Type: Mental Influence
Level: 4
Description: This ability allows the user to influence the minds of those around them, making targets more susceptible to suggestions and commands. It is especially effective during interactions, subtly manipulating a target's thoughts and actions without their realization.
Effect:
Charming Presence: Enhances the user's ability to charm and persuade others, making requests seem reasonable and friendly.
Subtle Manipulation: Allows the user to implant suggestions in the minds of others, causing them to act according to the user's will without overt realization.
Usage:
Active: Can be activated to persuade or influence a target during a conversation or interaction. The skill now includes increased effectiveness, calculated as your Charisma plus your Domain level, specifically when attempting to lure targets into your domain.
Passive: Provides a continuous boost to Charisma, making the user more likable and trustworthy.
Won from Thomas Harrington (Level 8)
Name: Channel Lightning
Type: Elemental Magic
Level: 2
Description: This ability allows the user to channel electrical energy through their body and into objects or targets. The skill enables the user to generate and direct powerful lightning attacks, stunning or incapacitating enemies with precision strikes.
Effect:
Lightning Strike: Channels lightning through the user's hands or a conduit, dealing significant electrical damage to a target.
Stun Effect: Struck targets may be stunned or temporarily paralyzed by the electrical discharge.
Usage:
Active: Can be activated to launch a lightning attack at a target.
Cooldown: Requires a brief cooldown period between uses to prevent overloading.
Won from Ariel Harrington (Level 9)
Name: Wind Dancer
Type: Mobility
Level: 2
Description: This ability grants the user the power of flight, allowing them to soar through the air with exceptional speed and agility. The skill provides the user with unparalleled maneuverability, making it difficult for enemies to target them while airborne.
Effect:
Flight: Grants the user the ability to fly, with speed and maneuverability equal to their running speed.
Aerial Agility: Enhances the user's agility and reflexes while in the air, allowing for rapid changes in direction and evasive maneuvers.
Usage:
Active: Can be activated to take flight, allowing the user to travel through the air with ease.
Duration: Flight time is equal to one minute per spell level
Cooldown: Cooldown time is determined by Magic Affinity score.
Won from Sam Blackwell (Level 12)
Name: Shadow Step
Type: Mobility
Level: 1
Description: This ability allows the user to move through shadows, teleporting short distances within their eye line. It makes the user incredibly elusive and difficult to pin down, as they can disappear from one shadow and reappear in another almost instantly.
Effect:
Shadow Teleport: Allows the user to teleport between shadows they can see, evading attacks and repositioning with ease.
Stealth Movement: Movement through shadows is silent and undetectable, making it difficult for enemies to track the user.
Usage:
Active: Can be activated to teleport to any visible shadow within range.
Cooldown: Requires a short cooldown period between uses to recharge the ability.
Won from Sam Blackwell (Level 12)
Name: Shadow Strike
Type: Assassin Skill
Level: 1
Description: This skill enables the user to perform devastating attacks from the shadows, doubling the damage when attacking unnoticed. It is a crucial ability for assassins, allowing for lethal strikes against unaware targets.
Effect:
Ambush Attack: Doubles the attack damage when the user attacks an enemy unnoticed.
Weak Point: By default this attack automatically targets the weakest point on the anatomy of the target. Note that the attack does not target weak points in armor.
Usage:
Active: Can be activated to perform a Shadow Strike on an unsuspecting target.
Limited Attempts: Can only be used on a target one time per encounter. Can not be used on a target that knows where you are.