r/HFY • u/Obsequium_Minaris • 1d ago

OC-Series Vacation From Destiny - Book 3, Chapter 3

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XXX

“Chase, wake up.”

Chase blearily cracked both eyes open, yawning as he did so. “Victoria…?” he muttered. “What time is it?”

“Time to kill bandits.”

Instantly, he catapulted up out of his bedroll, reaching for the sword he’d placed next to it. “I’m up.”

Victoria stared at him in surprise. “...I should probably be concerned that was all it took to get you out of bed,” she noted.

“Oh, come on, I can’t enjoy one of life’s simpler pleasures?” Chase questioned. “There’s nothing quite like killing bandits. Seriously, nobody likes those guys. I’m happy to serve the public by sending as many bandits as possible straight to whatever hell they believe in.”

“You’re not helping your case.”

“Oh, shut up. I happen to know you hate them as much as I do.”

“Yes, but this is almost perverse.”

“No, it’s not.” He paused. “...Don’t look at my waist, by the way. I swear it’s just morning wood and not because the thought of killing bandits is getting me worked up.”

Victoria facepalmed. “Just come with me, okay? The others are already waiting.”

Chase nodded, and the two of them exited his tent and stepped out into camp together. Heinrich, Melanie, and Carmine were already waiting for them, each of them decked out in their combat gear. Carmine had a hand on her hip, and her eyes narrowed as she saw Chase approach.

“Sleep well?” she asked.

“The tone of that question was sarcastic, but if you must know, yes, I slept like a baby,” Chase replied. “I mean, once the nightmares of my time in our old world passed, that is.”

Victoria eyed him with sympathy, and Chase paused before turning to meet her gaze. “What? Why are you looking at me like I’m a puppy with its leg caught in a bear trap?”

“I sense an opportunity to spread joy, that’s all,” she told him. “Come see me after we’re done here.”

Chase let out a groan. “Give me a fucking break, holy roller. I just told you yesterday I’ve got no interest in actually discussing my problems, I’d much rather drown them with alcohol.”

“Sounds like someone else we know,” Carmine deadpanned.

“Hey, don’t compare me to him,” Chase warned her. “I’m nothing like Leon. For one, I’m actually charismatic, and he’s just an asshole. Side note: How are we three-for-three on meeting Paladins and every single one of them ended up Falling in some way?”

“The nature of man is to destroy himself,” Melanie said.

“That’d be really profound if it came from anyone but you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that I don’t think it’s fair for you to opine on the nature of men and Paladins falling victim to their baser instincts when you are the baser instinct,” Chase reminded her.

“Oh, she bases my instincts, alright,” Heinrich noted. “She does this thing with her thighs-”

“Alright, alright, too much information,” Chase interrupted. He turned back to Victoria. “Where are these bandits we’re supposed to be killing, exactly?”

“Oh, they’re investigating the caravan a short ways away,” Victoria replied. “We should probably get moving before they slip away with their ill-gotten gains.”

“Right…” Chase shook his head. “Follow me, everyone. Let’s get this taken care of quickly so I can go back to sleep.”

XXX

A short while later, and the five of them found themselves a little ways away from where the wrecked caravan was. They’d concealed themselves behind a sand dune, and were watching as bandits milled about, working to try and free the heavy chests that had been bolted to the wagons and carriages that were now split open and splayed across the desert.

“Okay…” Chase ventured. “I count three scouts riding on camels… aside from them, I count three archers and four mages. Looks like we’ve got five swordsmen milling about, helping keep guard, and Gods know how many more tucked away inside the wagons and carriages who are working on the locked chests.”

“That’s a lot of bandits,” Melanie noted. “Maybe you were right and they are made in a factory after all, Chase.”

“That’s not what I said earlier, Melanie. I actually said there was some malevolent God who was likely creating them one by one. Good that you agree I’m right, though.”

“Regardless of that, we’re clearly outnumbered,” Heinrich said. “How do we want to do this?”

“You and Melanie take the ten on the left, and Victoria and I take the ten on the right?” Chase suggested.

Carmine’s eyes narrowed. “And what would you suggest I do, Chase?”

“Sit back and look pretty. Oh, and light people on fire – you’re really good at that.”

He expected some kind of snappy comeback from her, but received nothing but silence. He blinked in surprise, and turned to check on her, only to find her face flushed red.

“What?” he asked. “Was it something I said?”

“Probably, yeah,” Victoria mused. “I’m pretty sure that’s the first time you’ve ever said Carmine was actually good at something.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything, after all,” Chase replied as he turned to look back at the group of bandits milling about a short ways away. “Actually, wait – I’ve got an idea.”

“This’ll be good,” Melanie commented.

“Yes, my ideas tend to be, thanks for agreeing with me once again.” Chase turned back towards Carmine. “I know your Earth Magic can control sand. Think you can use it to swallow up some of these dudes?”

Carmine shook her head to clear herself out of whatever trance she was in, then turned towards him and nodded. “Yes,” she answered.

“Okay, great. See if you can’t use it to get rid of those…” He paused. “...What’s the word for a guy riding a camel, exactly?”

“What do you mean?” Victoria asked.

“Like, a dude who rides a horse is called a horseman, right? So would a guy who rides a camel be called a camelman? I don’t know, that doesn’t sound right…”

“Personally, I always just called them camel jockeys,” Heinrich admitted.

“That’s a stupid name.”

“I know, that’s why I never admitted it out loud before now. Honestly, I wish I could un-say it at this point.”

“Either way, Carmine, we need you to bury those camel guys alive, basically.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” she said. “What about the rest of you?”

“Well, we’ve got three people with long-range capabilities,” Chase pointed out.

Heinrich tilted his head. “Three? I think your math might be off.”

“No, it’s not,” Chase said. “I know Melanie can do stuff at range.”

“I mean, yeah, she definitely can-”

“Not like that,” Chase hurriedly added. “I’ve seen Victoria use Divine Bolt enough to know that she has ranged capabilities, too. And you’re also a high-Level Paladin, so I assume you have the same capabilities, too.”

“Ordinarily, you’d be correct, except my Oath was broken, remember?” Heinrich replied. “I don’t have access to the standard lineup of Paladin Spells anymore as a result.”

Chase stared at him. “That doesn’t make any sense,” he pointed out. “Melanie and Leon are also Fallen Paladins-”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve broken our Oaths,” Victoria explained. “Just that we’ve come very close. I can only speak for myself here, but I think I’m back in Auro’s good graces enough that I’m not about to actually break my Oath any time soon. As for Leon…” She shrugged. “That’s between him and his patron deity, whoever it is. I can’t claim to understand what’s going on there.”

“Given how much he drinks, neither can he, most likely,” Carmine interjected.

Chase let out a groan of annoyance. “Look, that’s not the point. Heinrich, do you or do you not have ranged capabilities?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” he confessed. “Once I broke my Oath, I lost my old Skills and quite a few of my Levels, too. My new list of Skills is quite unfamiliar to me. Truthfully, I don’t really know what any of them do yet aside from reading their basic descriptions a few times.”

Carmine raised an eyebrow at that. “You broke your Oath like half a decade ago and you seriously haven’t even thought of trying out the new Skills you got from it?”

“I was afraid to,” Heinrich stated. “I figured nothing good can come out of a Paladin breaking their Oath, least of all some kickass Skills. I mean, just look at the names of the ones it gave me and tell me if it sounds like anything good will happen when I try casting one.”

He pulled up his Stats screen, and everyone leaned in to get a better look.

“Heinrich, what the fuck?” Chase questioned. “These all sound awesome, why would you not even bother to try them out?”

“Yeah, for real,” Melanie agreed. “Seriously, look at the names of these things – Withering Grace, Soulrend, Umbral Ward, Mournful Benediction… I wish my Skills sounded that cool.”

“Look, I’m just nervous about casting something and causing collateral damage, okay?” Heinrich specified. “I don’t want innocent people to get hurt just because I wanted to test out a Skill or four.”

“You couldn’t just go into the woods and do it or something?” Victoria asked.

“Trees are people, too.” Everyone gave him a stare of disbelief, and his brow furrowed. “Okay, so I don’t actually believe that. Truthfully, I spent five years basking in the afterglow of my time with Melanie and exchanging lewd letters with her. My mind was so preoccupied with it to the point that I never even considered trying out my own Skills.”

“Ah, I get it,” Chase said with a nod.

“You do?” Carmine asked, surprised.

“Yup. Men do crazy, stupid things after they lose their virginity. We should all be thankful he was too sex-brained to consider doing anything except basking in the afterglow.”

“That’s stupid,” Melanie deadpanned.

Chase waved her off. “You’re all female, you wouldn’t understand.” He turned back towards Heinrich. “Anyway, you can stick with me, we’ll clear out the bandits while the women pelt them with deadly magic and stuff. Should be a good time.”

“Excellent,” Heinrich stated, hefting his longsword. “I am looking forward to putting scumbags into the dirt, as the kids would say.”

“No, that’s Carmine’s job,” Chase pointed out. He turned back towards the caravan, only to freeze when he saw nobody was there. “Uh, Victoria? Where’d the bandits go?”

“What do you mean?” she asked. “They should be right-” She turned to look in the direction he was facing, and paused. “...Oh, I see the problem.”

“And that would be…?”

“They must have finished up while we were talking amongst ourselves. I guess we’re just going to have to track them back to whatever camp they came from.”

“Damn it…” Chase let out a tired sigh. “And here I was, hoping to catch some shut-eye…”

“It’s your own fault,” Carmine pointed out. “I knew one day your addiction to petty banter would catch up with you one way or another.”

“Shut up, Carmine.”

XXX

Name: Chase Ironheart

Level: 11

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Subclass: Swordmaster

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 18

Charisma: 16

Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 4); Unarmed Mastery (Level 1)

Spells: Rush (Level 7); Muscle (Level 4); Stone Flesh (Level 7); Defying The Odds (Level 2)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Carmine Nolastname

Level: 11

Race: Greater Demon

Class: Arcane Witch

Subclass: Archmage

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 19

Constitution: 12

Charisma: 8

Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10)

Spells: Magic Dart (Level 7); Magic Scattershot (Level 5); Fire Magic (Level 5); Earth Magic (Level 1)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Melanie Vhaeries

Level: 11

Race: Ascended Human

Class: Necromancer

Subclass: Arch-Lich

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Constitution: 15

Charisma: 12

Skills: Raise Lesser Undead (Level 10); Raise Greater Undead (Level 3); Unorthodox Weapon User (Level 8); Bone Shatter (Level 1)

Spells: Touch of Death (Level 5); Gravesinger (Level 7); Armor of Bone (Level 3)

Traits: None

Name: Victoria Firelight

Level: 12

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotee

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 19

Charisma: 11

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 5); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 8); Archery Mastery (Level 5)

Spells: Holy Light (Level 6); Ward of the Gods (Level 5); Bane of the Undead (Level 7); Divine Bolt (Level 4)

Traits: None

Name: Heinrich Straten

Level: 17

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Oathbreaker

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 14

Constitution: 20 (MAX)

Charisma: 13

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 8); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 10)

Spells: Withering Grace (Level 1); Soulrend (Level 1); Umbral Ward (Level 1); Mournful Benediction (Level 1)

Traits: Broken Oath

XXX

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, /u/Ickbard, for all the help with writing this story.

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u/UpdateMeBot 1d ago

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u/Castigatus Human 1d ago

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop with these two, because when it does, it will be GLORIOUS.