Fourth Wall

Five: By the Gods

It became clear to Chloe very quickly that fighting was no longer as easy as pressing a few buttons.

Her armour was heavy, her clothes chafed when she walked, and she had no idea how to access her spells and cantrips. Her avatar was strong, luckily, and lifted her sword with ease, but Chloe had no idea how she would fare in a real fight.

There were no menus anymore. The map had vanished, as had the HUD. She no longer had a list of quests and achievements, or a way to contact her party members or switch between them. She had to rely on them for real now. And herself.

She had to rely on herself.

She didn't know if there would be any do-overs here. No loading the game back to do it differently. This was life and death now, and she wasn't sure how to handle that.
When the group of bandits appeared out of nowhere, Chloe found herself frozen in fear.

She wasn't used to this.

But her friends were.

Seeing them in action was nothing like the slow process of turn-based combat rpg's. Lae'zel sprung forth and clobbered one of the bandits so hard he died on the spot without so much as a whimper or grunt. It was instantaneous and gory, and Chloe was so shocked at how violent it was that she nearly lost her balance.

Astarion pulled out his crossbow and hit another bandit directly between the eyes, sending him tumbling to the ground in a spray of blood. They disposed of the third and fourth bandits in equally efficient and brutal manners.
Seeing combat was different than the game, too. She could smell the tang of the blood, could see the life drain from their eyes. Chloe wasn't prepared for the violence, for the brutality, or the sheer amount of blood.

When the battle was over, the four of them stood over the bodies, breathing heavily, covered in blood. In the end Chloe hadn't even needed to lift her own sword. Which was good, considering she'd frozen.

"I'm sorry," she said once the battle was over, to no one in particular. "Where I come from, we don't..we don't do battle like this. I've never actually seen combat before. I'll...I'll get used to it." She determined, straightening her shoulders. Lae'zel made a tsk sound.

Chloe knew she wasn't going to survive long in a world where fighting was real, and where she had to kill, if she couldn't get over her hesitation.

She wasn't exactly surprised when Wyll approached her and put a hand on her shoulder, offering her a warm smile.

"No apologies necessary. You will learn, friend." He assured her.
She gave him a grateful look, then turned to Astarion, who had his back to her. She walked over to him.

"Hey. Are you okay?" She asked, reaching out to put her hand on his arm. He turned, and she immediately noticed his hand clutched to his side, seeping blood.

"It seems the bastard caught me a bit. Not to worry. Merely irksome for a vampire, even just a spawn like myself. I'll need to rest and feed and I'll be right as rain." He assured with a smile, but she could see his eyes squint almost imperceptibly with pain.

"We should find a safe place to camp." She said loudly to the others.  "There was an abandoned cabin just up the way, maybe we can set up there. We can all rest." Chloe suggested, not mentioning to the others that Astarion needed to rest and feed. They still didn't know the truth about his nature. Elf turned vampire spawn, kept slave by the Szarr family for 200 years.

He looked relieved, though, as she took charge. She led them through the tr trashed cabin, to the barn where they could camp. She'd taken her armour off, and was helping Astarion into a secluded stack of hay.