Devon transferred her weight to her other hip and turned her face away from the sun. It was already getting hot out. “How about other expeditions? Did he send different groups to recover the other relics?”
“I have no idea. Probably. And since you asked earlier, I’ll be abundantly clear. Henrik knows exactly where we are. If you care for suggestion…?”
Devon almost interrupted to say what she’d already been thinking but reconsidered. She swallowed back her distaste for the man and looked at him with interest.
“Your information has already been extremely helpful. Of course I value your advice.”
Greel seemed to sit a bit straighter. “We should relocate as soon as possible. Those platforms might keep the settlement safe from a boar, but if Henrik comes in force…”
Devon widened her eyes as if terrified by the thought. “You’re right. Why didn’t I think of that?” The words sounded fake in her ears, but the man didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he simply nodded and tried—failing spectacularly—not to look smug.
You have gained esteem with Greel: +5 Reputation.
You have gained a skill point: +1 Leadership.
She rolled up the paper and carefully balanced the quill and inkpot in her other hand. “Thanks, Greel, I know you aren’t fond of me, but I think we can work well together.”
He shrugged. “You’re better than the ogre, anyway.”
“Then can you do me a favor?” she asked, pushing her luck. “I’m going to set up in the shade. If you send over a worker who hasn’t yet taken up a profession, I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the day.”
With a heavy sigh, he stood and marched into the trees. Devon dragged a pair of stumps to the shade of the canopy. She laid out the paper and waited for the first worker to arrive. She talked to them one by one and wrote down their preferred professions.
After the interviews, she gathered the tribe in the shade of the platforms. The paper in her hand listed out the specialties she’d decided to have the remaining workers take.
1 x Fighter
2 x Lumberjacks (one to retrain as a blacksmith later)
1 x Quarryman
1 x Stonemason
1 x Scout (to retrain as a hunter or fighter later)
One by one, she gave her blessing to her followers. The mood of the group lifted so much the darkness beneath the canopy seemed to fade.
“For now, take your time practicing your new skills. I’ll talk to you individually later.”
You have gained a skill point: +1 Leadership.
The meeting broke up, but Devon snagged Hezbek and Greel as they started to walk away.
Greel glared. “You said you were done with me for today.”
Devon pressed a hand to her forehead. That’s right, she had promised. “I just have a quick question for each of you. As advanced citizens, you can each take a second specialty, right?”
The medicine woman nodded, and a guarded look came over her face. “I already have.”
Greel snorted. “As have I, though I thought it should be obvious.”
“Obvious, how?”
“You aren’t very observant, are you?”
A window popped up in her view, showing information on Greel. Before, she’d seen his profession listed as lawyer, but now, a second entry listed him as a Martial Artist - Level 11.
She suppressed a groan. Why hadn’t the game shown her the second profession before? Because she hadn’t thought to ask? Because she’d needed to see him in combat to unlock the knowledge?
“Maybe I should have guessed, but you could have volunteered the information. It would have been nice to know you’re such a strong combatant before I assigned one of the workers to be our second guard.”
Greel smirked. “Would you really want me as a main defender for the encampment?”
Good point. “No, probably not.” She turned to the medicine woman. “And yours, Hezbek?”
The woman was silent for a long time. She walked to a tree and leaned her back against it.
“Many years ago, I was a very different person. A more… aggressive sort. I had a particular skill set that was very effective for adventuring. And even war. It’s mostly dormant now, and I prefer to keep it that way.”
Things were starting to come together in Devon’s mind. “That’s how you rescued me from the Stone Guardian.”
Hezbek nodded and held out her hand. A ball of crackling light materialized above her palm.
“I was a sorceress. Quite powerful—among those I knew, anyway. Unfortunately, I hurt many people with my magic. The events that prompted my change of heart are a story for another day, but suffice it to say I retired. Years later, I took up medicine as an attempt to atone for the harm I caused.”
Devon pulled up Hezbek’s inspection window and couldn’t help inhaling in surprise. Her second profession was listed as Sorceress - Level 20.
Hezbek’s face hardened. “You have my secret, but you must know I won’t fight. I won’t ask others to follow my pacifist’s path. Even though I’ve changed, I understand that violence is sometimes necessary. I’ll leave that choice to others though. Now, I will only save lives.”
Devon met the woman’s gaze. Her history was far more complicated than Devon would’ve imagined.
“I won’t ask you to do anything you don’t wish to,” she said. “Will you satisfy my curiosity, though? How exactly did you rescue me from the Stone Guardian?”
“I was in the ruined city on a harebrained exploration for Uruquat. I saw you hit your head. Figured you could use some help. Anyway, the spell was a type of teleportation. It’s an advanced technique, and much harder with a passenger. Uruquat was rather upset that I consumed the necessary reagents.”
Devon cocked her head, thinking. “You aren’t still looking for an apprentice, are you?”
Hezbek smirked. “It might be something I’d consider. Of course, you’d have to be willing to choose Sorcerer as your Base Class.” The medicine woman glanced at Greel. “Think carefully, because others could teach you as well. Perhaps you’d be more interested in what they have to offer…”
Greel scoffed. “I’d have to be able to stand your presence first.”
Devon sighed and rolled her eyes. “Perhaps we can talk more about it later. For now, I want to check the others. Thank you for your answers.”
She hadn’t yet reached the clearing when a beeping sound filled the jungle and her interface started flashing.
Right… the alarm. She’d promised Tamara she would take breaks to eat.
With a glance over her shoulder, she slipped between a pair of trees, sat down, and logged out.
***
Devon blinked and stretched as she came to. Overhead, the ceiling fan stirred the air. The light breeze tickled Devon’s arms. She climbed off the couch and headed for the kitchen.
The new information from Hezbek and Greel ran through her head. Either one could train her in a base class. Sorcery or martial arts… Which would help her character the most? Or should she hold out until she figured out how normal players were selecting their base classes? The tile in the kitchen was cool against her bare feet, refreshing in the heat of her apartment. Even though E Squared paid her well enough, she’d spent the last six years pinching pennies. Especially when she spent most of her time immersed, it seemed ridiculous to turn on the AC.
Anyway, it couldn’t be as hot as Uruquat’s encampment on the jungle afternoon.
She smirked at the irony of it.
The cabinet was full of prepackaged convenience foods. She stood on tiptoes and grabbed a box of granola bars then filled a water glass. While she walked to the table, she chewed her lip.
She’d been purposefully ignoring any information on forums or news sites. But now that she had a chance to choose a class, it seemed stupid to ignore information that might help her make the best decision. Especially since she was getting paid to be an in-game overachiever. With
a mental gesture, she pulled up a web browser, projected onto her vision by her Entwined implants. Calling up the main site for Relic Online, she navigated over to the forums.
Despite the small player base so far—the company wasn’t releasing exact numbers, but a long thread on the forum estimated the player count at under ten thousand—there were pages and pages of forum posts. A quick scan told her that most players had a vastly different experience than hers. Most had started in cities and villages near other players. One similarity, though, was that the quests and events across the world were far more dynamic than any previous game. People couldn’t post quest walk-throughs because the content changed from person to person and group to group. There was good information on the classes, though. Apparently, when other players hit level 5 and learned their starting attributes, they went through quick tutorials that explained the general strengths of each class. Afterward, a full set of trainers were available to award base class designations.
Devon snorted. Must be nice.
She opened a granola bar and started chowing. At least she could get info on her current choices. She pulled up the subforum for Martial Artists and scanned the first posts. Someone had directly transcribed the text they’d received during the tutorial.
A martial artist is a master of combat, talented in both unarmed strikes and simple weapons. At later levels, they may specialize in a specific style learned by traveling to a distant land and enrolling in schools dedicated to a branch of the arts.
Farther down, others had posted that damage inflicted was based largely on a player’s Agility, though Strength played a minor role. Naturally, defense came from their ability to dodge, with less emphasis on the armor they wore. The Focus attribute contributed to the accuracy of their attacks and their mana pool, which powered some of their more mystical abilities.
She considered that approach. It could work with the Deceiver class, as far as she could tell. Her shadow could serve as a distraction or—depending on what she learned about the Shadow Puppet’s properties with different light sources—maybe there would be other dynamics. She’d already gained some proficiency with simple blades and, thanks to the game’s sarcastic sense of humor, a couple points in unarmed combat earned while falling down.
Devon felt a small twinge of envy when she saw that some of the players posting in the forum had already reached level 12. She was supposed to be a star in this game, but she was still stuck at level 5. She hoped that didn’t mean that E Squared would fire her. Anyway, she wouldn’t make forward progress by sitting here worrying about it.
She backed out of the MA forum and opened the discussion on the Sorcerer.
Now this was interesting. It looked like the size of a sorcerer’s mana pool was based on Charisma, and their spell effectiveness came from Intelligence. Hit points, as with every other class, were a combination of Constitution and, to a lesser extent, Strength. With either of the class choices, she’d have to decide whether to invest in those stats simply to increase her health or whether to focus on offense.
The Sorcerer class seemed like an awesome fit for her starting attributes. Then again, her highest and lowest attributes were currently just 11 points apart. As the game went on, that minor difference could easily be erased as she spent points to customize her build. It seemed the bigger question was whether she should take another class that relied mostly on mana. If she was spending her pool to cast Deceiver spells, what use would it be to have the Sorcerer abilities?
Taking a class whose attributes would boost her mana might be worth it in of itself. It seemed a sure bet that a Sorcerer would ultimately have a bigger pool than a Martial Artist. Even after recently gaining a couple Cunning points, she still had just 50 mana, and she could never be sure when the game would award her new special attribute points.
Of course, she didn’t know whether all Deceiver abilities would require mana, and maybe she’d find Sorcerer spells to be really useful in some situations.
Plus, there was one thing about Sorcery that had given her an idea. She just needed to do a little in-game research.
She finished the last bites of the granola bar and brushed the crumbs into her hand. After finishing her water, she set the cup in the sink. On the way to the couch, she thought of one more thing. With a sigh, she opened the website again. In the search bar, she subvocalized, “How do I reroll my character?” If she made a mistake with her class choice, it would be nice to know she could start over.
The question sent her directly to a subsection of the FAQ:
Currently, only one avatar per player is allowed. Characters may not be deleted. After the initial launch phase, E Squared expects the player load to be more evenly distributed across the world. At that point, players may create a second character. Thank you for your patience while we assure that the experience in the starting locations remains smooth and uncrowded.
Well, that answered that. Whatever she chose, she was stuck with it. But seeing as there were plenty of players who were much higher level than her, she just needed to get on with it. As she flopped onto the couch, she checked her messages. There was a recent question from Emerson, and his icon looked like he was still online.
Hey, Devon, just checking in. How has the pain response been? Seems like the problem is isolated to you, but that doesn’t make it any less of a problem.
“I haven’t noticed. Haven’t been badly hurt.” She hesitated. Seemed like there was something else she wanted to ask him, a question about the implants that had come up while she’d been having tacos. But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was. After a few seconds spent wracking her brain, she finally shook her head and finished her message.
“I’ll let you know… Not that I plan to go break a leg for research purposes.”
He sent back a laughing emoji. Thanks, he said. Please do stay in touch.
Chapter Twenty-Three
WHEN DEVON LOGGED in, it was already mid-afternoon in the jungle. Tribe members were practicing their new professions. The lumberjacks hacked at the jungle, stripping low branches from trees and reducing those to firewood. Her new fighter struck at another tree, working up his unarmed combat skill. Now that Hezbek’s hut was up on a platform, the medicine woman sat on the rough-hewn planks outside her door, humming while she mixed ingredients inside an earthen bowl. Near the spot Devon had logged out, the captive was sleeping on the jungle floor. Hezbek’s potion would probably keep him unconscious for at least a day, but her tribe had taken no chances. His wrists and ankles were bound and lashed to different trees.
She tapped her foot. Devon really hated making irreversible character decisions. There was one more thing she wanted to investigate before deciding between Sorcerer and Martial Artist. Stepping deeper into the jungle, she dug through her bag and pulled out one of the ivory fangs. The item sat awkwardly in her palm no matter how she adjusted her grip. After a few practice swings, she tried to aim a strike at a nearby tree trunk.
The fang’s point skittered off the bark, slipped from her hand, and nearly nicked her exposed wrist as it spun through the air. Devon winced. Too close. As she gingerly crouched to pick up the item, she checked her combat log.
You strike at the tree and fumble your weapon. (Skill check failed, Ivory Fang requires 65 points in One-handed Piercing. Your current score: 1)
Be glad it wasn’t a critical failure, genius.
65? Ugh! Back when she’d fought with the rusty knife, it had been just as easy to pierce as slash. But the machete just wasn’t good at stabbing. Unless she got another weapon, she wouldn’t be skilling into the fang anytime soon. Maybe the skill requirements would go down once she figured out how to identify items or found a weaponsmith capable of working the fang into a less crude weapon. Anyway, she certainly wouldn’t finish the day as a martial arts master wielding a pair of magical daggers that killed with just a scratch. She tucked the fang back into her bag.
With a deep breath, she glanced up at Hezbe
k. Time to get over her fear of being wrong… It was just a game, right? Snatching hold of the nearest rope ladder, she scampered up and crossed a bridge to Hezbek’s platform. She took a cross-legged seat before the woman.
“Got time to talk?”
The woman sat her concoction aside. “I was hoping to catch you alone, actually. I’m guessing by our captive that you’ve learned something about why Uruquat came here. Who gave him the assignment, perhaps?”
That’s right. Devon had forgotten about the quest.
“I have learned a lot,” she said. “Much of the information came from Greel, actually.”
Hezbek’s scattering of teeth showed when she grinned. “I’d hoped that was the case.”
Quest complete: Who are the Puppet Masters?
You receive 5600 experience!
Congratulations, you have reached level 6!
You have gained 4 attribute points.
Finally, another level. Devon grinned.
“So what did you find out?” Hezbek asked.
“In short, a city councilman named Henrik wants to collect five relics which will give him ownership over Ishildar and all the power the city commands. Uruquat led you out here to search for one of the relics, the Greenscale Pendant. Of course, we have a problem now that Uruquat is gone. Henrik wants results, and we have twenty days before they come to try to extract them.”
“I see…” Hezbek fiddled with the bowl beside her. “And where were we supposed to be searching for this relic?”
“It was held by a vassal society in this region. Looking at the map, I have a few guesses, but a lot of the area is still completely unexplored.”
“Well that narrows it down. I think?”
Devon snorted. “Yeah… just a hundred square miles of jungle to search. Anyway, I’m making plans to relocate the encampment somewhere that Henrik doesn’t expect. Hopefully with better natural defenses.”
Temple of Sorrow: A LitRPG and GameLit Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 1) Page 15