by Dakota Krout
Dexterity: 70 (2.20)
Constitution: 62 (2.12)
Intelligence: 117 (3.17)
Wisdom: 92 (2.42)
Charisma: 59 (2.09)
Perception: 70 (2.20)
Luck: 45 (1.45)
Karmic Luck: +16
Even his Karmic Luck had reached new heights, though he wasn't sure why, or what that changed for him. Joe was struck by a thought; why not ask Tatum about that characteristic? It would need to wait, as his team was currently on their way to the ‘holy site’ indicated by Tommulus. It just so happened to be the main Temple area in Ardania.
“So, this is just right in the center of Ardania?” Alexis sighed as she pushed someone out her way in the road. “It is something that everyone knows about? How is this something rare, then?”
“It’s in the main Temple of the city,” Joe distractedly repeated for the third time. “There is an event that happens every once in a while, and the tome we are after is apparently one of the rewards this time around.”
“You’re starting to sound like an NPC, Joe,” Alexis teased him.
Joe was distracted due to consolidating the gains he had made during the previous week. All of his time in the testing dungeon had been devoted to Dexterity, which explained such a large gain compared to the others, but nearly every other waking moment had been devoted to alchemy, enchanting, and finding better ways to use his staff in close combat. He had only gained a small amount of experience, less than two thousand in total, but with all the buildings he had repaired or built, Joe was getting close to both a class and character level.
Alchemical Rituals (Novice VII).
Enchanted Ritual Circles (Novice III).
Skill gained: Enchanting (General) (Novice IV) Enchanting is the domain of higher-order beings, and is the process of writing down a portion of the laws of the universe and using them to your advantage. This seems like a good fit for you: lots of chances to blow yourself up or catch the attention of something you really don't want watching you. Effect: +1n% power of created enchantments that you have a role in creating or modifying. +1n% chance to successfully disable enchantments without catastrophic failure, where n = skill level.
Magical Matrices (Apprentice II).
Polearm Mastery (Beginner IX).
Profession experience gained (Ritualistic Alchemist): 1337
Ritualistic Alchemist reaches profession level 2!
He was pleased with most of his progress, most of all Magical Matrices. It seemed that it impacted almost all magical crafting attempts, and that it was considered one of the most difficult skills to raise. Joe’s teachers had showered praise on him for increasing it to this level, and Joe didn't have the heart to tell them that he had basically only just officially gained the skill.
Joe’s enjoyment was cut short as Alexis sharply jabbed him to regain his attention. “Joe! How dare you just ignore me like that after I specifically-”
“That’s enough of that. It's time for me to find out what’s going on here.” Joe cut Alexis off sharply as he focused his gaze on her. “Intrusive Scan.”
“Excuse me?” Alexis started reaching for her crossbow, only to be unexpectedly stopped by Bard. She fought against him for a moment, but by then Joe had seen everything he needed to see.
Alexis the Miasma.
Highest stat: Perception.
Ongoing effects: Sight Unseen. Blurred confusion. Cursed (item based). Well-hydrated. Well-adjusted.
Cool title aside, Joe recognized two positive effects. One from himself, one from Jaxon. The other three negative effects… Joe focused on them, and a helpful information bar appeared.
Blurred confusion (Perception two tiers above intelligence): Solve the Problem? I can't figure out which part is the problem. I can't compartmentalize, I see it all. Effect: Constant low-grade migraine from sheer sensory overload. +5% chance to take no action that involves movement. Refreshes every .001 seconds.
Sight Unseen (Perception two tiers above luck): Yes. I know that dragon was polymorphed and didn't want to be seen, but I saw it anyway, and that's why we're running. Effect: 1% to notice truth that nobody will believe.
Cursed (Ring of -cursed- courage): This ordinary-looking ring is guaranteed to improve confidence, helping the wearer to overcome whatever their previous fears may have been. Hidden effect: Cursed. This ring will achieve all previously promised goals by making the wearer aggressive and paranoid.
“I have good news and bad news.” Joe started.
“The bad news is that you are about to die from poison.” Alexis fired a bolt at him that bounced off his Shell. She was slapped to the ground by his shadow in the same instant, and Joe dove away from the small cloud of poison that erupted from the point of impact.
“You have a curse on you!” Joe shouted at Alexis as she was rolling to get into a better firing position. This made her pause a moment, and Joe took the time to explain about her ring.
“So what?” Alexis decided after a long moment of thinking. “It’s better this way! I can have full conversations without panicking, and everyone likes me better now that I make them know what I want!”
Bard had a huge smile on his face as he walked toward her. He put his arms out and swept her into a giant hug. “Ah told ya ah liked ya jus’ how ya were! Ah was wonderin’ where we went so wrong that ya stopped likin’ me. Ya do still like me, yeah?”
“I… of course I do!” Alexis demanded impatiently. “That’s why I got this ring of courage in the first place! I needed to be able to show affection and speak in public!”
“Nah.” Bard shook his head. “That’s not sommat that ya can just skip inta. That’s long months or years of work, ‘Lexis. Public speakin’ is hard, and scary. Beyond tha’, why would you think that I want you to do somethin’ ya don't wanna do? If ya don't wanna be touchy-feely in public, ah respect that! If its somethin’ ya do want, we can work on it at ah comfortable pace.”
“I…” Alexis flushed angrily. “It doesn't matter, the ring doesn't come off.”
“That’d be the curse,” Joe muttered very quietly; she was still pointing her crossbow at him, after all. “Alexis, I think that you’ve also been having a low-level migraine for a while? That’s a debuff from having your perception two thresholds above intelligence, just like Jaxon has a charisma debuff.”
“Hello!” Jaxon called cheerfully. “What’s happening now? Joe was practicing acrobatics? Can he tumble?”
Joe looked at Poppy as well, but the man jumped and rolled behind Bard. “Keep your eyes to yourself! Some of us don’t want to share all our flaws and secrets!”
“Fair enough. I’m just trying to help. You’ve been really paranoid and grumpy, and I was hoping to help!” Joe shrugged and started walking after dusting himself off. “We’ll figure out a way to get rid of that curse, Alexis. If that’s what you want.”
Alexis looked at Bard, who was smiling happily at her for the first time in almost a week. “I think that would be for the best. I should work on myself if I want to be a better person, rather than relying on something ‘giving’ me what I want.”
“So mature!” Jaxon’s voice rang out. “Back to the present moment, then. Joe, how do we get around the blockade? Do we just let them know that we have a quest, or what?”
“Blockade?” Joe noticed what Jaxon was talking about right away. A wall of city guardsmen were redirecting people down other roads, away from the Temple. Joe walked up to the first of them and offered a salute. “Good morning, gentlemen! Might I ask why this road is closed?”
“Joe? Joe! So good to see you!” The guard shook Joe’s hand enthusiastically. “I never got a chance to thank you in person for bringing me back from the brink, and on your first day in this world, at that! Meant a lot to me, and my wife has been poking at me to go looking for you for weeks!”
“Then… you must be Bobby?” Joe thanked his huge intelligence score profusely, as it allowed him to remember things that he should have forgotten long ago.
“Well, I’m trying to get to the Temple to complete a quest…” Joe stated leadingly.
“Ah…” Bobby smiled ruefully. “By order of the Royal High Cleric, the routes to the temple are to be fully inaccessible unless someone has a writ of passage.”
“I see.” Joe looked up and around. “But is it illegal to get past you, or to go to the Temple?”
Bobby raised an eyebrow, then looked at the glowing golden eye on Joe’s forehead. “Interesting thought… let me tell you our exact orders. We are to make a barricade and stop anyone we see from passing us. Now, we are all facing this way, and none of us are looking behind us. There are archers on top of the buildings, and if we see someone trying to get past us we are to stop them. But let’s say that we see someone already in the area. Why, we would just have to assume that they are supposed to be there, as we collect the writs of passage as people come through.”
“Got it. Well, that’s too bad. I guess we will just have to give up on this! I’m glad you are doing well, Bobby.” Joe nodded and winked at the guard.
“Better than I ever had hoped for. By the way, legally speaking, no one can deny another access to the Temple. Only the path there may be closed; never the Temple itself.” The guard nodded deeply. “Good luck in your future endeavors, and I look forward to our next meeting.”
“Same, so long as it isn't like our first.” Joe turned as they were both chuckling, walking to his team with a serious face. “It seems that someone pretty high up is trying to make sure that they are able to claim all the prizes within the upcoming event. We need to find a way past all these people.”
“I have a plan for that.” Jaxon called. The rest of the team looked over to see him squeezing a small wooden barrel.
Alexis slapped at her hip, then looked at the barrel with more concern than Joe was hoping for. “Jaxon! No! That’s-”
“-a smokescreen, you already told me! It blocks vision!” Smoke started to leak out between Jaxon’s fingers, and he threw the barrel to the ground, where it detonated into a huge cloud with a *whump*.
“It’s a concentrated poison of blindness, not a smokescreen!”
Chapter Thirty
“Gas, gas, gas!” Bobby the guard shouted as a wave of charcoal smoke washed toward them. They knew what was coming, since they had been close enough to hear the entire conversation. The street filled with panic as everyone nearby tried to avoid the poison that was billowing around. After only two seconds, the guards were swallowed up and trapped in darkness. Only a few seconds after that… the smoke cleared.
“Everyone okay? What happened to the poison?” Bobby looked around frantically. He glanced behind himself, and almost called out as he saw Joe’s team hurrying away. Snorting through his nose, he realized they had been hoodwinked, misled, and possibly bamboozled. “So that was only a smokescreen? Sneaky little…”
Joe was laughing so hard that he had to work to maintain his balance as they moved. “How did you guys come up with something like that in the few seconds I was talking to him?”
“It was easy when I realized that I wanted them to not be able to see us!” Jaxon explained earnestly.
“That was a huge batch of smokescreen that was ripening,” Alexis grumbled. “If it had matured fully, we could have gotten triple the effect for a quarter of the amount.”
“Why have something if you aren't going to use it?” Jaxon queried as they raced toward the looming temple grounds. “Seems like a waste. ‘Oh, I invested in a rare wine. No! Don't you even think of opening that bottle!’ See what I mean? Waste of money to have something and not use it.”
“Right, but this was ripening so that we could-”
“Stop right there!” Three men in red robes appeared in front of them with a flash of fire. “The Temple is closed, and you may not enter!”
“Who are you to stop us?” Joe demanded.
The man in the middle responded proudly, “We are the Inquisition!”
Joe nodded, “Ah. I didn’t expect you…”
“No one ever does!”
“…to flaut the law and bar entry, as it is a crime against the kingdom.” Joe finished his sentence.
“Pah! So what? By the time some random people find a way to complain, there will be-”
Joe pointed at his forehead, where the glowing eye signifying his ‘Extended Royal Family’ status was imprinted. “If I am able to enter the Temple, there will be no reason for me to bring the full might of internal affairs against the Inquisition, will there?”
There was a pregnant pause, where the three men clearly debated rebuffing or outright killing them. “Fine. But know that you have gained unfavorable attention from Elemental Fire.”
Reputation decrease: -200 reputation with Deity ‘Elemental Fire’. New reputation rank: Cautious.
“Well, that seems arbitrary.” Joe glared at the three of them. “You were the ones breaking the law. Shouldn’t followers of Elemental Fire be neutral, not tending towards evil? If you ask me, I think that you are straying from neutrality.”
As Occultatum’s Chosen Champion, you have decreased the reputation of the three followers of Elemental Fire by -800. Their new rank with Occultatum: Cautious.
Their eyes bugged out, but Joe was too invested in the fact that he could decrease reputation to listen to any more of their drivel. His party entered the Temple, and a message appeared.
Quest update: The Golden Tome of Divine Favor. You have passed the first bars to entry, getting to the Temple by hook or crook! Now that you have stepped in, your party will automatically have the option to teleport to the Hallowed Lands when it opens!
“How dare you enter this place!” A voice bellowed, shaking Joe and his team to their core. There was a massive amount of power in that voice, and… something else. Something that really resonated with Joe. The most graceful man Joe had ever seen stalked toward them, his every motion flowing into the next. There was only one word for this person:
Deadly.
“I, Aaron Slender, Champion of Elemental Water and High Cleric to the Kingdom, have given orders that this day would be the one day a year the temple was barred to all!” Aaron’s voice, despite hissing at them, was loud enough to make them tremble and nearly fall to the ground. Joe glanced up, and saw several parties using this distraction to dash into and out of the temple with grins on their faces. “I hereby cast judgement upon you for breaking this holy order! Cavitation Prison!”
The area was suddenly filled by a tidal wave that converged on their location. Joe’s party was wrapped in a bubble of air, which explosively decompressed.
Damage taken: 0 (3,000 backlashed)
The water vanished, and Aaron dropped to his knees and vomited blood. His eardrums had burst, and his nose and eyes were bleeding. There was even fluid dripping out from beneath his fingernails. Before anyone could speak, a message appeared to all of them.
The Temple of Ardania has long been neutral ground for all Champions. When access to the Hallowed Lands opens, this law is enforced by the entire pantheon. There will be no attacking each other within these walls.
Aaron collapsed to the ground fully, foam mingling with the blood that poured from his mouth. Joe rushed over and slapped a hand onto the fallen Cleric. “Lay on Hands! Mend!”
“Joe, what are you doing?” Poppy was shocked at Joe’s instant move to save someone that had tried to kill them.
“This guy isn't a player! If he dies, he’s gone! The kingdom will lose a powerful ally, and he will have died for no good reason!” Joe’s eyes were hard as he used his healing spells as quickly as possible. Aaron’s condition stabilized, and soon he was merely sleeping on the hard stone floor. Joe flopped onto the ground, even as the blood in the area dried and flaked away thanks to his aur
a. “I think he’s okay, but that was a nasty spell backlash. I wonder how much damage he took.”
“Almost seven thousand, spread over five seconds.” Aaron answered for himself as his eyes snapped open. “I thank you for your assistance. I would have certainly died here without you. Though I would not have been in the situation if you were not here. Still… I may have been too hasty in my judgement.”
“Clearly.” Poppy called dryly.
“A dozen parties, at least, entered the temple while you were… waving… at us.” Jaxon quipped at the stricken Cleric. “If Joe weren't the one to be attacked, you would likely have died to one of them from backlash, and I doubt they would have cared.”
“I knew that this was a bad idea. We’ve never limited the Hallowed Lands before. Why did I let them talk me into this?” Aaron closed his eyes, thinking deeply. Then they snapped open, and locked onto Joe. “What you did for me, after what I tried to do to you, demands compensation. What can I offer you?”
“I’m after the Golden Tome of Divine Favor in the hallowed lands, but I assume you can’t do anything about that?” Joe wanted to say that there was no need, but that part of him had slowly been dying in this dangerous world. He gestured at Alexis, “My party member is wearing a cursed ring, and we were hoping that we could find-”
“Done. Cursebreaker.” Aaron waved at Alexis. Nothing happened, so he frowned and tried again. “Greater Cursebreaker.”
The ring on Alexis’ hand screamed as the metal tore and shattered. She screeched as the shrapnel tore her hand up, but Joe was there in a moment to fix the damage. Aaron shook his head, “How odd; that must have been in place for a long time for such a small curse to grow into a greater curse. Still, that small favor does not nearly reconcile our debt.”
“Can we perhaps put that off until after we return from the Hallowed Lands?” Joe asked hopefully. “I have no idea what to ask for, but perhaps I will find something fitting?”
“Hmm. That should be fine.” Aaron sighed and stood. “What a waste of resources… I’m going to go call off those guards. Doesn't matter at this point.”