Saturday, June 16, 2018

Master of Strings Ch41: Fool's Luck

Zilo was having trouble finding a tavern. He needed some liquid courage before setting off to save his friends. After searching until the sun fully set, the closest he found was a wine stand with a single bottle left. The stand looked far beyond the craftsmanship of men, like everything else in the city.

"Hello Mam, I would like some of your wine please."

The elf looked him up and down and responded, "Sorry, but this wine can be a little much for beings such as you, besides I was just packing up to head home." The woman reached for the bottle, but Zilo's hand snatched it up first.

"Fine then, I'll pay double. Trust me, I'm good for it."

The woman grabbed the wine by the base and begins trying to pull it back from the bard before she says, "No, you trust me, this is Enchanted Fey Wine, only beings such as elves can drink it effectively." Zilo began yanking the bottle back, and with his other hand he uncorked it.

"I'll prove it to you, I can drink anything that an elf can. My tolerance is more impressive than you'd think." The woman was straining to get the drink back as she continued, "It's not about tolerance, if you drink it then you'll never get up again!"

As the two pulled the bottle they both lost grip at the same time and the bottle twirled up into the air, with some of the wine shooting out of the top. One of the drops managed to work it's way into the elf woman's mouth, and the bottle landed into Zilo's quiver top down. By the time Zilo managed to remove the bottle from his quiver, it was empty, and he turned back to the stand to see the woman was gone.

"Well, I suppose I should stay frosty, maybe that's better for my chances. Well, goodbye wherever you went." Said the bard as he returned the empty bottle to the stand, and began to walk while dumping the liquid out of his quiver.

The woman had been forced into a sleep so strong it bypassed the natural resistance to sleep that elves had. Luckily she would wake in 10 hours, when her resistance worked its way through the drink, but a normal man would be stuck there, asleep for possibly years.

Across town at the elven fort, Zilo used a combination of his whip and his acrobatics to scale the side of the fort. once at the top he took out Harmony and mumbled, "Okay, I don't want to kill the elves, just scare them away. Hopefully with the main army gone those who remain aren't soldiering material."

Zilo took aim from his vantage point at his first target, and he hit home, but the elf fell over for some reason. Zilo wanted to go down and take a closer look, but didn't want to give up his position. He began nailing the other elves around the fort. After he took down most of the elves around the fort, he spotted a different kind of elf, one with black hair.

This elf was looking over one of the elves that Zilo shot already. Zilo took aim again, but this time, the elf lept out of the way, and fired a shot back. He was fast, too fast for Zilo, so he would need to try a different tactic. Zilo lept over the edge of the fort wall... but he messed up.

Zilo's pant leg got caught and he was hung on the other side of the wall upside down. His hat fell off his head and landed on a bush on the ground. Zilo began to try and lift himself back up, but he heard someone on the wall. The bard froze, trying to stay silent as the black haired elf shot Zilo's hat and made his way down to take a look at it.

Zilo scampered his way back on the wall and took aim at the elf, hoping to hit him this time, but again, the elf dodged. Zilo and the elf fired back and forth, but suddenly the elf vanished. Zilo was flabbergasted. After looking for a moment or too he decided to try finding him with his dark-vision, until an arrow planted itself in his shoulder. Zilo fell from the wall and hit the ground 5 meters down.

"Ugh!! That's gonna hurt tomorrow. Cure Moderate Wounds." Said Zilo pulling out the arrow and standing with his back forming back into a usable formation. He then ran off into the central fort's building. He began to dash up the stairs, but he managed to get lost.

For a few minutes Zilo navigated around some tunnels below the elven fort, desperate to find stairs that went up. Luckily he found a map in the new recruits bunk room, and found he had managed to wander his way to entire other side of the base to another courtyard. He finally made his way to the top of the building he was in.

Once he was there, after a few seconds of looking for his enemy he heard an arrow thud into a target on the ground. Zilo had no idea where the arrow had come from since he couldn't see the target from his spot, but he had an idea.

"I bet I could hit that target over there. Let's give it a go, no one's around after all."

Zilo makes a a shot, and manages to not only hit the target, but hits the bull's eye. Zilo fist pumps and smiles at his luck, but then remarks, "You know, it would be a good idea to find Jin and Leo." And with that Zilo hops down to a lower roof top with a door back to the inside. He began to read over the map he picked up, but sadly that the locations were written in elvish.

"Why can't they ever be in something I know, whelp, better get looking."

Zilo managed to find the cafeteria, the armory, and the stables with a single large elk. Zilo pets the elk and gives him a bit off food before he takes off and finally, after searching through the entire base, he found the prison. With a quick shot of two arrows he took down the guards in the area.

"ZILO! I knew you'd come to get us!" Shouted Leo. Jin side looks at Leo and reacts, "No ya didn't! you wanted me to take out de guard when he finally started patrollin our cells."

Leo shushes Jin as Zilo approaches. Now that the guards were taken care of Leo got to work on the lock with Acid Splash. Zilo looked to Jin and asked, "So how did you two get caught anyway?"

Jin looks away and says, "De guards asked us what our business was, and so I told dem we were looking into if the elves committed genocide recently." Zilo's eyes go wide and says, "No wonder, what the heck Jin." Jin grabs on to the bars and makes the excuse, "I don't lie! Zilo!"

"Don't bother, Zilo. I've been yelling at him for hours over it." Says Leo, as he finishes melting through the lock. Zilo pats both his friends on the shoulder and says, "I found a new heading on that actually, but right now there is an archer outside. I'll distract him, you two escape."

Jin asks, "What's you plan?" Zilo grips Harmony and says, "If I wait for him to shoot at me, then I'll see where he's hiding and shoot back." With that Zilo runs out of the prison with Leo and Jin left hearing his plan, but too late to tell him it would get him killed.

Zilo began walking out into the courtyard, and waiting. After a minute or so he figured that the archer was in another courtyard, so he began doing the same in another one. It wasn't until his attempt in the 3rd courtyard that he finally made contact. An arrow hit the ground next to him and Zilo fired up at the balcony above.

Zilo ran up the stairs to find the archer, but he was gone. Zilo looked for him up and down, but he was nowhere to be seen. After looking for the archer for a few minutes, Zilo received a Message from Leo saying they had escaped. Zilo decided that if the archer didn't want to be found, why chance it. Morning was coming and they could use the cover of night to make it out of the city.

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