I hope you'll join me on this adventure!
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/112380/gamebreaker
Chapter 2 – This Isn’t a Game
Devin grabbed the handle of the
pitchfork, then yanked his hand back when more words appeared in his vision.
Pitchfork
(Tool, Common)
This is a pitchfork. It’s made for moving hay, but it looks like
you’re about to use it for a battle. That makes it an improvised weapon which
is, fortunately, right in your bailiwick.
“What’s happening?” Devin said.
He looked at the dog with wide eyes. “This is not supposed to be happening!”
“Relax,” the dog said. “This one will
be easy.”
“Easy? A talking dog is telling me to
kill a giant tree with a pitchfork, and I’m supposed to believe this is easy?”
“It could be worse,” the dog said.
“How?” Devin yelled.
“Well, it’s a pretty weak specimen of
its kind,” the dog said.
Another branch slammed into what was
left of the farmhouse’s roof. The ground shook, and one of the beams supporting
the roof crashed down. Inside, a child screamed.
Devin grabbed the pitchfork out
of the dog’s mouth and waved it above his head.
“Hey, ugly!” he yelled.
The tree turned towards him and roared
again. Another icon appeared in his vision. This one was a ‘C,’ and it expanded
on its own. This time, the words were bright red on a white background.
Devin’s Ability ‘Identify Opponent’ scored
a critical success on ‘Corrupted Tree’.
Corrupted Tree (Magical Creation, Silver,
Hostile)
A tree altered into a ghastly
unliving state. These creations are often used as
guardians. They hide in plain sight as normal trees until someone threatens
their territory, then they spring to life, destroying everyone and everything
around them. Don’t expect mercy from these unfeeling creatures of darkness.
Critical success in Ability ‘Identify
Opponent’ provides a +5 bonus to Ability ‘Spot Weakness’ against this
opponent.
Devin leaped aside as the tree smashed
its three largest branches down onto the barn. The building collapsed with a
sound like a train wreck.
“Maybe weak is not the best descriptor,”
the dog said.
Devin stared at the pitchfork in
his hands. He couldn’t think of a less effective weapon to use against a tree.
A widow-maker branch swung at
Devin at about head height. He ducked underneath and stabbed the pitchfork
upwards. He expected it to bounce off, but it buried itself to the tines in the
limb. The handle was jerked out of his hands as the tree roared.
Devin froze. What he’d just done was impossible.
He was in good shape for his age, but there was no way he could have dodged
that blow and counterattacked, let alone stick an old pitchfork that far into solid
wood. It wasn’t …
Something soft crashed into him
from the side. He went tumbling just before a huge branch slammed down right
where he’d been standing. He rolled to a stop, tangled up with the dog.
“This isn’t a game, Devin,” the dog
said. “Start taking this seriously or you’re going to die.”
“I …” Devin rolled aside as
three more branches slammed down. The face of the tree glared down at him,
twisted and ugly. It was outlined with bright luminescence.
More red words appeared.
Devin’s Ability ‘Spot
Weakness’ activated on Corrupted Tree.
A quarter of Devin’s vision was
now filled with words and symbols. They obscured his view of the tree looming
over him. Oddly, the glowing luminescence around the face shone through the
text.
Another beam snapped. The whole
family poured out of the farmhouse as it creaked and groaned.
The baby wailed. The tree turned
to look. Something snapped in Devin. He hopped to his feet with a yell and
darted forward. He ducked under the swing of a smaller branch and jumped. He
caught the lowest branch and chinned himself up.
The branch whipped around in an
arc and tried to smash him into the ground. Devin tucked and rolled. He came to
a stop several meters away from the tree near the collapsed barn. He sprinted
towards it.
Roots exploded out of the ground all
around him. He danced through them to reach the woodpile. A root came out of
nowhere and caught the edge of his foot. He went tumbling across the hard
ground as a branch sliced through the
air above him at about neck height.
He came to his feet next to the stump,
pulled the axe out, then rolled to the side as a huge branch crashed down where
he’d been.
Wood Axe
(Tool, Common)
This axe is made for chopping wood. It’s still an improvised weapon,
but you’re using it against a tree, so good on you!
“Come on,” Devin said with a snarl. He
choked up on the axe like it was a baseball bat.
The tree hesitated.
Devin charged. He dodged another
branch and took off in a running jump that would have been impressive for a
tiger. He sailed into the trunk and buried the axe in the middle of the tree’s
face.
The face caved in. Black goo flowed
out of the cut. Devin’s feet swung into the trunk, and he wiggled the axe to enlarge
the cut. More letters appeared, further blocking his view.
“Go away!” Devin shouted.
Every icon vanished. At the same
instant, a thin branch hurtled in from the side and impaled him through the torso.
It pulled him off the trunk into the air.
His whole world exploded into pain.
He managed to get his hands around the branch to keep it from ripping him open
as it whipped him back and forth, but he could feel his insides tearing apart. The
words that appeared now pulsed red in time with his heartbeat.
Devin is infected with Tree
Rot! This is a fatal disease.
Devin is bleeding to death!
Not so lucky now.
The branch whipped up like a
trebuchet and flung Devin into the air. He flew straight up. Everything seemed
to pause when he reached the top of the arc. The entire farm was spread out
below him. He could see a road to the south and an irrigation canal stretching
past the fields to the north, both running east to west. In the back of his
mind, he marveled that he knew what direction was what. He’d always been the
guy who could get lost in a shoebox.
He fell. Below him, the tree toppled
over onto the already-wrecked barn. At the same moment, the farmhouse
collapsed. If he'd been in a video game or a movie, there would have been a hay
cart below him, but Devin was plummeting towards nothing but solid earth. The
ground raced towards him faster and faster.
At the last minute the dog ran
underneath him. The last thing he heard before darkness overtook him was a
crunch.
“Sir?”
Devin groaned. It felt like a
thousand goblins were pounding his skull with jackhammers, but that was nothing
compared to his stomach. It was as if someone had shoved a hot poker through
his belly and poured lava into the wound.
He blinked open crusty eyes and
looked around. His vision was blurry. The sun beat down from high overhead. He could
hear a man and a woman arguing from the direction of the farmhouse.
One of the farmers knelt next to him.
It was Lee, the youngest. In one hand he held an empty vial; in the other, a
waterskin.
“What …” Devin coughed. He tried
to sit up, but waves of nausea flowed over him.
“Don’t try to talk, sir,” Lee
said. He helped Devin sit up and dribbled a few drops of water into his parched
mouth. “I used the salve the midwife gave Maw last year when she got hurt while
having the baby. There wasn’t much left, but it stopped the bleeding.”
“The dog,” Devin rasped. “Did I
… did I kill the …”
Lee stared at him, then looked
aside. The dog sat a few meters away, watching them. He didn’t have a scratch
on him. His tail thumped the ground.
“Sir, you’ve got to get away
from here,” Lee said. He looked over his shoulder at the farmhouse. “Paw’s gone
to Pitmerden to get the constable.”
“I’ll wait here,” Devin said. “They
can take to me a hospital.”
“I don’t know what a hospital
is, sir, but the only place they’ll take you is to the gallows. After what
happened here, they’ll bring some soldiers with them for sure. That’s assuming
Bryce doesn’t do something stupid before Paw gets back. You’ve got to go.”
“Where would I even go?”
“You can try Horgoff,” Lee said.
“The healer there can fix you up.”
“Where’s Horgoff?”
“About a day’s walk,” Lee said.
“Head east through the forest until you hit that wheat field with the big tree,
then turn right. There’s a path that runs north. Keep going until you hit the
creek, and then …”
“I can’t remember all that,”
Devin rasped. “Also, I can’t walk like this.”
“You better try, unless you want
to fight my brother,” Lee said. “He’s saying he’s going to kill you before Paw
gets back.”
“Why does he want to kill me?”
Devin said.
“Bryce has a mean streak to
him,” Lee said. “Maw told him to you fought that thing off and saved us all,
but Bryce said you probably brought it here in the first place. I tried to tell
him you were a knight in disguise, but he said you’re one of those Warlocks. I
snuck away while he was arguing with Maw.”
“You think I’m a knight?” Devin
said. “Like, an actual armor-clad knight?”
Lee flinched and looked around.
He leaned close.
“You’re one of the rebels,
aren’t you?” he said. “I won’t tell anybody. Just don’t hurt my brother.
Please. He’s mean but he’s still my brother.”
Devin looked down at the wound
in his stomach, then shook his head. “I’ll try not to hurt him.”
Lee’s look of relief was almost
painful. ”Rest a minute. I’ll bring you some more water and we can figure out
how to get you …”
“Lee! Get away from him!”
Devin swiveled his head. Bryce
was sprinting out from behind the farmhouse. He held a machete in his hand.
“Get back here, Bryce!” Maw
yelled.
“I’ve got to finish him off while he’s
down, Maw!” Bryce yelled. “He’s a Warlock!”
Lee helped Devin to his feet.
Devin swayed then staggered towards the trees. Bryce overtook him and thrust the
machete into his back. Devin felt the impact, but the point didn’t break his skin.
Bryce cursed and raised the machete
for an overhand chop. The dog darted in between his legs, and Bryce went
tumbling. The machete flew out of his hands.
Devin staggered into the trees
bordering the farm and kept running.
It took Devin half an hour to
reach the path running north. The pain kept getting worse and he had to slow to
a walk lest his insides fall out. If it hadn’t been for the healing goo Lee had
given him, he didn’t doubt they would have.
He came out of the woods onto a
dirt path running north and south. The road looked like it had no end.
“I give up,” Devin said. He slumped
against a tree and slid down to the ground. His mind wandered as he dozed.
“No rest for the weary,” a voice
said.
Devin opened his eyes to see the
dog standing in the middle of the path. In his mouth, he held the reins of the
mule that had run over Devin.
“I found you a ride,” the dog
said.
“Go away,” Devin said. “Just let
me die.”
“Don’t be dramatic,” the dog
said. “Mount up and you can rest on the way.”
“On the way to where?” Devin
said.
“Horgoff, of course. To the
healer.”
Devin pushed himself to his
feet. He staggered over and collapsed against the mule.
He managed to climb onto its back and get his arms around its neck before he
passed out again.
