"BOYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
The scream echoed out through the field as Arthur ran through it. Well running was a strong word to use, in this case he was more stumbling and tripping over his feet. His body was still weak and no amount of fear and adrenaline was going to change that; however it did do a good job of blocking out the pain.
When Arthur had heard his Father running towards the shed like a charging bull, all thoughts of completing the bonus objectives vanished from his mind. 'This guy is a maniac,' Arthur thought as he panted relentlessly. He was chasing him down through the wheat field because he had carved up a bunch of firewood. It was only wood. It wasn't like they couldn't get more. Any other parent would surely just chastise their child and make them go and gather more; meanwhile Arthur was about to get beaten worse than he'd ever been before.
_________________________
[Skill Gained: Conditioning (1/100)]
You've endured pain hardship and movement under pressure
You now gain a +1% boost to Constitution
_____________________________
"Oh seven fucking hells, you can fuck off," Arthur muttered while he continued to pant. He seriously hated how weak his body was, even with that 1% boost he felt like he was going to keel over and die any second.
'I can't just keep running, I need a plan to escape,' he thought to himself. But what could he realistically do, his father was faster and stronger and likely knew this land better than he did. He could try and hide behind his mother, but knowing her she'd be joining Gormon in the beating. He could try and hide behind Mira, she'd fight for him. 'No!' While old Arthur might've been a bit of a coward and would be fine throwing his pride away he wasn't the same as he was before. He'd never throw his pride away.
Until it was the only option...
He dug through his memories as he tried to figure out any hideaways or private places he had. He had a few, but they were pretty far from the farm. In the end, he couldn't think of any that were close enough for any plans to be viable. That's meant in no uncertain words he was well and truly fucked. Gorman was going to catch him and he was going to beat his ass until he finished off what the sickness couldn't. 'Seven hells...' Arthur thought as he stopped running and took a break.
'At least things can't get any worse.'
_____________________________
[Emergency Quest Triggered]
DOUBLE THE BASTARDS
Description:
Your brothers Gregor and Garlan just saw what your father missed
And unlike him they are younger faster and already halfway to you
You don't have time to think you barely have time to breathe
If they catch you it's going to hurt a lot
Objective:
– Lose them
Reward:
– Otherworld Token
Failure:
– Worse beating than your father would give you
_____________________________
Fuck.
Arthur started running again although his legs felt like they were going to give out. What did he do in his past life to deserve this? He must've took a piss on one of the gods shrines, on a septon. Maybe he just committed mass murder. Something must've gone wrong for him to be stuck with a father and brothers who wants to kill him and a sister who wants to fuck him. And a mother who is so indifferent to it all she'll probably serve dinner for them as soon as they get back.
'Okay calm down Arthur...' he thought to himself. 'There has to be a way out of this, otherwise why even bother with a quest. Just a message saying you're fucked would've done.'
Gregor and Gorman both go out hunting a lot, more so than father, they probably caught onto his footprints and that's how they found out what direction he was going. So he just needed to backtrack while not making any more new tracks. It's dark enough that they won't question why there isn't any; from what he remembered, they were not experienced hunters and mostly dealt with rabbits and if the local Lord permitted a doe now and then. 'It's risky. I'm going to have to try it.' He stopped in his tracks and made sure his feet sunk into the earth. Carefully, he moved backwards making sure to place each foot in each track. He felt his heart beating out of his chest as he kept moving back; when he felt like he'd moved far enough back he carefully went off in a different direction. A benefit of his light weight was he was able to leave light tracks when he wasn't running; he just hoped that his brothers would miss them.
"Arthurrrrrr!!! Come here!!!" he heard Gregor shout. He could hear the thudding of their footsteps get closer.
"We won't hurt ya!" Garlan shouted just after. "We just want to talk, is all!"
'Yeah, sure...' Arthur kept hidden within the wheat, staying close to the ground. With his sharp ears he was able to hear them from way off, and he could now tell they were nearly right on top of him. He clenched his fists as they ran past him. He waited for a few seconds after that, and then waited some more. They were still running. They were still following his tracks.
________________________________
[Quest Complete: DOUBLE THE BASTARDS]
You ran like hell and somehow lived
Turns out survival is easier when you don't stick around to get kicked in the ribs
Reward:
– Otherworld Token
________________________________
Smile formed on Arthur's face, as he got visual confirmation that he had escaped his brothers. Which also meant he got another otherworld token. 'Let's hope that whatever I get this time isn't as useless as fucking carpentry."
Arthur didn't hesitate this time. As soon as the glowing token icon appeared in his vision, he opened the Token Wheel and jammed his will into it.
"Come on," he muttered. "No more damn hobbies. Give me something I can use."
The wheel spun faster than last time. Colors blurred. Rarity tiers flashed past.
Common. Uncommon. Rare. Epic. Mythic.
Then it slowed.
Rare.
It stopped.
A sharp ping echoed in his ears as a new window opened:
_____________________________
[Token Consumed]
[New Skill Gained: Novacaine (Active)]
You can now temporarily turn off your pain
For ten seconds you feel nothing
Use wisely
_____________________________
Arthur stared at the screen, then slowly grinned.
"That'll do." He got up and activated the skill and almost laughed out loud when he felt everything go numb until the pain was nothing but a distant memory. He pushed off his feet and ran in the opposite direction of his brothers; he pushed himself faster than before, no longer feeling the aching of his limbs. He had ten seconds to clear as much ground as he could, hopefully making it close to the forest where he could hide in a tree till morning or something.
That was the plan.
As soon as novocaine ran out Arthur fell flat on his face. All the pain of his body felt like it was amplified twice over; it wasn't hard to see why. Going from one extreme to the other was not a problem when the pain was going away, but going from numb to full on pain.
Needless to say Arthur was close to crying like a little bitch.
He managed to get up a little and crawl out of the field and into the forest.
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*
Arthur's heart froze as he heard the footsteps coming right behind him. He turned around and waited for the inevitable, but instead he sighed in relief.
"Arthur!" Mira shouted, as she ran towards him as fast as possible. Her eyes were red from tears and the bottom of a dress was muddied; Arthur could see the sweat patches under her arm and across her forehead. She had clearly been running a lot. "I'm so relieved that I found you before Father did!" She almost shouted as she dropped to her knees in front of him.
"I'm so sorry Arthur, I didn't mean for father to find out, I just wanted to put it on my dresser because I liked it so much," she cried as fresh tears poured down her cheeks.
Arthur couldn't help the sadness he felt as seeing his twin cry. Despite not being the same Arthur as before, it seemed he still had the same weakness for his sister. "It's okay Mira, it's not your fault our father is a giant dick," he said as he rolled onto his back.
Despite still crying Mira giggled, "What a strange phrase," she commented before she jumped on Arthur and hugged them tightly. "Come on." She drew back from the hug. "We need to get you out of here, at least until morning where father may have calmed down."
"Seems like a good idea," Arthur groaned, he struggled to get up but with Mira's help they managed to get him on his feet.
"BOY!!!!"
They both heard the familiar shout of their father echo throughout the farm. He was a lot closer than Arthur thought he would be, it took him a moment, but then his eyes lit up in realisation. "Mira I think they're following your footsteps, because they think they're mine," he said with a tight look on his face.
Mira looked panicked, She looked back to the farm and could see the large stalks of wheat being disturbed. "We have to go now!" She said in a panic as she tried to move Arthur.
It was a much bigger struggle than either of them imagined, Arthur was already sick. Combine that with the running he had just done and his already weak constitution and you have someone that cannot move very well. Mira to give her credit did not give up and she continued to try and move Arthur despite the fact he could barely walk himself.
Meanwhile, Arthur was of a different mind. He knew this was over so instead of planning how to escape he was planning on how to weather this ultimate beating he was going to get. 'You know what fuck it...' Arthur thought to himself. If he was getting a beating for such a petty reason, he was gonna at least do some damage back.
"Mira stop put me down," Arthur said as he tried to push away from her.
Mira looked at him with confusion. "Arthur we need to get you somewhere safe, you're very sick, another one of his punishments could kill you!" She cried.
She wasn't wrong. It was one of the reasons why he understood why she was so upset. Mira was usually the one who treated him after the punishment and with the realisation that she loved him he could understand it must've been painful to watch as he laid bloodied and beaten. "Trust me, I have a plan. I'll be fine don't worry." a complete lie, but he doubted she would've let go of him in any other case.
Mira was still unsure, but she trusted her twin more than anyone. She slowly let go of him and he leaned against the tree. He breathed heavily as he used the trunk to support his weight; Mira continued to look at him with a worried expression. He gave her a smile, "I'll be fine..." he said through gasps.
"BOY!!!"
His father cleared the wheat and entered into the forest. He and Sister had not travelled far so they were the first things his father saw when he entered. A sadistic smile appeared on his face when he caught sight of Arthur. "There you are boy!" he growled as he started to take slow steps towards them.
Mira immediately put herself in front of Arthur and held her hands out. "I won't let you hurt him father," she said resolutely.
'I really do have the best sister...' Arthur thought to himself as he looked at Mira. 'It's a shame she wants to bang me...anyway,' he cast a sinful thoughts of Mira away and focused on the present. Novacaine had cooled down and he could use it again, that gave him 10 seconds. 10 seconds to utterly annihilate his father.
Annihilate may be a bit strong.
He just needed one good hit and then he will have 10 seconds to do whatever he wanted, which meant 10 seconds to punch his face in. But If he couldn't stun his father in that first hit then it wouldn't work. Of course he had a companion. 'Hello Mr. Rock...' Arthur slowly leaned down and picked up a rock off the g ground.
"Get out of the way Mira!" Gorman said loudly, enough so that Mira felt slightly intimidated. Despite the fact father had never hit her; Gorman just had that presence about him, one that spoke violence.
"I won't!!!" Mira screamed. If Arthur survived this, he would definitely have to do something nice for her.
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*
But alas it's simply not meant to be.
Gregor and Garlan both appeared out of the fields a smile appearing on their face like the cat that caught the canary. "You lead us on quite the chase little brother," Garlan, his eldest brother growled.
"What's wrong do you not wanna play with us anymore?" Gregor said in his signature scratchy voice.
Both boys sided up to their father, Mira was now facing down three men over 6 foot and full of muscle, and yet she never flinched. She stared them down "I won't let you hurt Arthur, just leave us alone!" Mira shouted out.
Gregor laughed, it was an annoying laugh a high-pitched squeak that irritated his ears. "Finally playing knight and the maiden the way it's supposed to be I see." This got a laugh out of Garlan next to him, luckily his laugh was much more bearable. Arthur wasn't sure what they meant for a moment, but the memory quickly resurfaced. Him and Mira used to play Knights and Maidens, where Arthur would play a Knight and he would save Mira from whatever imaginary monster was there at the time. Gregor always made fun of them, suggesting that Arthur should've played the maiden and Mira the knight.
Gorman wasn't in the mood for games, however, and he merely walked forward and grabbed Mira. "I'm not playing around with you Mira, now go home to your mother!" he warned.
"No!!! I won't!!! Let me go!!!" Mira shouted as she tried to get free from his grasp.
"ENOUGH!!!"
Everyone froze and all of them looked around to the source of the voice. To all of their surprises, it was Arthur. "Mira go home," Arthur said, as he stood up off the tree, stumbling slightly but managing to maintain his footing.
"Arthur, you—"
"Mira... go home," he said once again. He then smiled and winked at her. "I've got this."
Mira was conflicted she knew what was about to happen yet she also trusted her twin implicitly. Torn between the option of listening to him and ignoring him she ended up just freezing and standing there. Gorman pushed past her and walked the few steps it took to stand in front of him. "No longer hiding behind her skirts boy?!" he said in his low tone that was almost suffocating to listen to.
"I don't need her to protect me," Arthur said as he stood straight and looked directly into Gormans eyes. Something that surprised the man.
"You might regret that in a few moments," Gorman replied. He then held up the small horse that he had made and that Mira had taken. "Wasting firewood on something so useless, right when autumn is here." he crushed the wooden horse in his hands.
Arthur snickered. An action that again shocked everyone present. Usually Arthur was on his knees by now begging for father's forgiveness, yet the Arthur before them was actually standing up to him. "Don't act like this isn't just an excuse, I could've chipped one of the pots and we'd still be in this forest."
"Careful boy, I am your father and you will respect me!" Gorman growled as his fist kept on tightening.
Arthur didn't back down, while he may have looked cool and stoic on the outside on the inside, he was close to shitting himself. 'What the fuck am I doing!!!' he thought to himself. 'This guy is going to kill me!!!'
He couldn't back down now, this was the only plan he had, and if he was going to get an unjust beating. He was gonna make sure he made Gorman pay for every single hit.
"Time for your punishment," Gorman said as he tightened his fists. "Gregor, Garlan, take your sister home," he said without turning around.
"Come on Pa, we wanna watch," Garlan said disappointment and his tone.
"Yeah come on we've been running around trying to find him, don't make us miss the good stuff," Gregor chimed in.
"NOW!!!" Gorman shouted, his voice echoing through the forest and sending both his sons back into the field with Mira being dragged behind them.
"I'll let you curl into a ball like you normally do before we start," Gorman said as if he was offering some form of kindness to him.
"Thanks..." Arthur said his voice dripping with sarcasm. Though when he leaned down, he activated Novacaine. He immediately swung back up with the rock in his hand and connected with his father's jaw.
"GAAAGGH!!"
The hit worked better than expected, and Gorman fell onto one knee. Arthur took advantage and immediately started bashing as fathers face in with both hands, including the rock and his right one. He screamed as he did it channeling all the hate and rage that had built up over the years. Sadly, this wasn't a Knight's tale and he was not a Knight, Novacaine ran out and Arthur immediately fell backwards onto the ground.
He panted as he lay there waiting for his inevitable death. 'You know what, that felt really good, and if I wasn't about to get beaten to death, I'd say it was worth it...' he thought to himself as he lay there.
Gorman stood up after a moment, his face was bloody, multiple lacerations across his face from the stone and a broken nose. If Arthur was going to get a beating for using chopped firewood, then he couldn't imagine what was about to happen now. "Who's the coward now!" Arthur said with a grin as he spat on the floor. He laid there waiting for the end, but surprisingly it did not come. Arthur who had closed his eyes at this point looked up to see his father just standing there.
_____________________________
[Quest Complete: WHAT'S THIS THEN, BOY?]
You didn't die
You didn't back down
You escaped with your ribs mostly intact
Not bad for a boy with weak guts and clumsy fingers
Reward:
– +1 Dexterity
– Otherworld Token
– Random Skill
Hidden Objective Completed:
– Earned Gormon's Respect
+100 XP
_____________________________
[Level Up: Arthur of Harrowfield has reached Level 2]
+1 Unallocated Stat Point
_____________________________
'Okay...'
That was certainly not what he was expecting. Gorman instead just rubbed his jaw and looked at him one last time before he turned around and walked back towards his home.
The moment he left Arthur let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was so sure he was going to die that she just began to laugh. Maybe whatever God had put him here , was looking out for him. Though, if that were true, he definitely wouldn't be in a world on nightmare mode. After Novacaine cooled down, Arthur activated it again and got himself up, before finding a place he could lay down for tonight. There was no way he would make it back to the shed, and even if he did, he wasn't sure he would be safe from his brothers.
Plan was to rest up here till tomorrow, and then have a look at the skill and otherworld token he had gotten.
'Sounds like a great—'
He was already asleep before he could even finish the thought.
────────────────────
STATUS MENU
────────────────────
Name: Arthur of Harrowfield
Class: Farmer
Heritage: Valyrian / Stormlands
Age: 16
Level: 2
Unallocated Stat Points: 1
Title(s): [None]
────────────────────
COMBAT ATTRIBUTES
────────────────────
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 5 (+1%)
Intelligence: 1
Perception: 2
Luck: 2
────────────────────
PERKS
────────────────────
[Comely]
You've got the kind of face that gets you smiled at flirted with and forgiven for things you probably should not be
[Sword Prodigy]
You wield a blade like it belongs in your hand faster learning speed tighter reflexes and better execution with swords
[Sharp Ears]
Your hearing is unnaturally acute you can detect faint sounds whispers movement even from across the room
[Blood of Valyria]
Your veins run silver and fire whether you earned it by birth or by bed the Old Blood knows its own
Grants heightened affinity with magic dragons and other Valyrian relics
Also makes you just a little bit more unhinged than you'd like to admit
────────────────────
NEGATIVE PERKS
────────────────────
[Weak Gut]
Low resistance to spoiled food rot disease and stress susceptible to nausea and vomiting
[Clumsy Fingers]
Fine motor skills are lacking you struggle with anything requiring delicate precision like lockpicking crafting or stitching
────────────────────
SKILLS
────────────────────
[Observe]
[Carpentry] (4/100) (Novice)
[Conditioning] (1/100)
[Novacaine] (0/100)
────────────────────
(Hidden)
────────────────────
[Debuff] Autumn Fever
– Mild fever chills and fatigue
– May worsen if untreated
– Reduces maximum energy and slows recovery slightly
_____________________________
(AN: So Arthur has survived the ordeal with his father and he is now a little stronger than before. Why did his father spare him? Could there be some hidden love between them? Could the Targaryen incest run between more than brother and sister? Probably not but who knows at this point. Anyway hope you enjoyed it.)
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