“I’ll take option number two. Here’s the money.”
You unlocked Good Choice, Level 1.
To get it, make 14 more good (as judged by the game masters) decisions in game situations.
Reward:
+2 to wisdom
Logician, a passive ability, Level 1: +1 to intellect
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
You learned a new active ability: Sword of Retribution, Level 1
Boosts the strength of your blows by 75% and increases your chances of landing a critical hit by 50%
Activation cost: 30 mana
Recharge time: 45 seconds
You learned a new active ability: Bloodletting, Level 1
Gives you a 50% chance of causing bleeding
Bleeding damage done: 7 health per second for 50 seconds
Activation cost: 35 mana
Recharge time: 1 minute
You learned a new passive ability: Strong Shoulders, Level 1
Lets you wear light armor and chainmail
“Happy?” The old man watched my face closely.
“Certainly!” There was no sense in hiding it. They were good abilities, they didn’t take much mana, and they did decent damage. Plus, I could wear light armor. “Can I ask you a few questions?”
“Go ahead.”
“How do I use abilities in battle?” It sounded funny to ask, but I hadn’t looked that up on the forums yet. I guess I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
He patted the bench next to him in an invitation to sit down. “Look, when you’re in battle, and you want to use one, just say it—either out loud or to yourself. That’s it. Just remember that you can’t have more than five active abilities. If you want to learn a sixth, you’ll have to pick one of your existing five to forget.”
“How many passive abilities can I have?”
“As many as you want.”
“And the second question, these are all Level 1. What happens later? Do they level-up?”
“Good question. The more you use them, the better your chances are of having one of them level-up. They each have their tipping point, but I couldn’t tell you exactly when that is. Fight a lot, use them a lot, do a lot of damage, and you’ll be fine.”
“How many levels do abilities have?” I figured I’d asked the old man everything I could think of seeing as how I had him right there.
“Three. Only three.”
“When can I learn new ones?”
“When you get to Level 25. And then Level 30.”
“Got it. Levels divisible by five.”
“What?”
“Thank you, I said. Time for me to go.”
“Hang on a second. I see your path lies to the east.” The old man threw me a look that spoke volumes.
“What? Why do you say that?” I was surprised, as I hadn’t even thought about where I’d go next. I had too much to do right where I was.
“I don’t know, I just had a feeling. Anyway, if you’re in the east, get me some parchment for my flyers, okay? My granddaughter loves flying them, but if she breaks this one, I don’t have enough parchment to make a replacement.”
You have a new quest offer: Acquire Parchment.
Task: Get some parchment from the eastern end of the continent and bring it to instructor Serhio in Fladridge.
Reward:
1000 experience
Your choice of active ability.
Accept?
Yes, of course. Though I wasn’t planning on heading east—yet, at least.
“All right, I’ll see you.” I gave the old man a deep and grateful bow.
“Good luck, sonny!” He waved and got back to work on the kite’s tail.
I left the instructor, whose name, to my shame, I only found out thanks to the quest description, and smiled. Life had new meaning and looked to be much more fun thanks to my new abilities. All I had left to do was visit the knight’s mission, give them Olaf’s amulet, and get my reward.
Chapter Thirteen
A Knight and a Mayor
The mission turned out to be a little building marked by a sign identical to the amulet—a circle with a tear in the middle. I pushed the door open and walked in to find myself in a small room centered around a desk. Behind it, sat an old man who could not have looked less like a knight. He was wearing a robe and writing something. This was the representative of a powerful order of knights? Where was his chainmail, sword, mustache? He looked up from the parchment in front of him.
“How can I help you?”
“Is this the Tearful Goddess Order?” I thought I might have been mistaken. Maybe the building belonged to…oh, I don’t know…Who could it have belonged to?
“Yes, the Tearful Goddess Order.” He immediately dispelled my doubts, cutting short my attempt to think of what else might be going on. “What do you need?”
“I have an amulet for you.” I pulled it out and showed it to him. “Here, I think it belongs to one of you.”
“Wait a second.” He jumped up from the stool he sat on and ran into the next room. He returned almost immediately, throwing open the door and announcing grandly, “Master of the Tearful Goddess Order, keeper of the lost temple secret, member of the Council of Involved, Majordomo Hugo von Shlippenshtain awaits you!”
That was impressive. Involved in what? And what was that about a secret?
I walked through the open door with as dignified and measured a gait as I could muster.
The inside of the room looked much more fitting for a knightly order. The room was spacious, weapons hung on the walls, an enormous bearskin sprawled over the floor, and a fire crackled in the fireplace. I found myself looking at a tall and sinewy older knight. He had a drooping Polish-style mustache and could have been pulled straight from Dragonlance or the movie Crusader. Shlippenshtain seemed like a strange name for him, as I would have expected something like Pan Tadeusz or Sir Ogloblya.
“Welcome, warrior.” The knight nodded his head slightly in greeting. “I am Master of the Tearful Goddess Order Sir Hugo von Shlippenshtain. You can call me Master Hugo. And what is your name?”
“Hagen,” I answered. “Hagen from the Thunderbirds clan. I don’t have quite as many titles, as I haven’t had time to acquire them yet. So you can just call me Hagen.”
“Well, if you have bravery in your heart, strength in your arms, and a brain in your head, titles and glory will come. You just need to understand if you really need glory.” Master Hugo was being very diplomatic. “Brother Tsimiskhy said you brought an amulet belonging to one of our brothers. Could you give it to me?”
“Of course. That’s why I’m here.” I offered it to him.
“Olaf von Dal.” The knight looked at the amulet sadly. “He was a fun, carefree boy, and all he wanted was to write the chronicles of our order. You know, Hagen, he even bought a thick book that was orange for some reason. We joked that it turned blue for fear of what he would write in it, but he said that sooner or later his stories about our order would be called the Orange Chronicles. How did he die?”
“I don’t know, Master Hugo. I found his amulet in a den belonging to a creature I killed named Burrig. I imagine it was responsible. He was probably just unlucky since he must have been a strong knight and the creature wasn’t that dangerous. Maybe he twisted his ankle or was already wounded… Who knows?”
“It’s not important anymore.” The master nodded his head in agreement. “You say you killed the beast?”
“Well, yes.”
“Can you prove that?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” I pulled out Burrig’s claw, which I had been carrying around the whole time.
“Will you give it to me? I’ll keep it with Olaf’s amulet to show that his death did not go unpunished.”
“Of course.” I gave Hugo the claw.
You completed a quest: Remembering the Fallen.
You let the brothers in the knight’s order know that he is dead.
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Reward:
100 gold
500 experience
+5 friendliness from the Tearful Goddess Order
You also completed an additional action and may receive a variable reward.
“Thank you.” The knight clasped his fist to his heart. “I think it would be fair to give you something more than the standard reward offered for returning the amulet belonging to our fallen brother.”
Ah-ha! That’s what Gerv was talking about! I thought.
I had been trying to figure out what weapon he was talking about, seeing as how there wasn’t a mention of one in the quest description.
“The Tearful Goddess Order is very old,” continued Shlippenshtain. “Our storehouses have accumulated many things needed by people in search of fame and great exploits. We also have much gold, which people treasure so highly. Finally, the order has knowledge we can share.”
Choose one of the additional rewards available for completing the Remember the Fallen quest:
3000 gold
An item from the order’s storehouse matching your class
An ability matching your class
“Choose carefully, Hagen. Pick what you need most.”
“What would you pick?” I asked.
“Me?” The knight smiled. “I have not been asked to make that choice, as I am usually the one giving it. I can only say that there are three things the order values above all else: personal honor, a purposeful philosophy, and soldierly abilities. Those are our founding principles.”
I found myself looking at what was obviously a trick question for the second time in the space of ten minutes. Just as with the instructor, I was sure there was more behind it than just gold, some item, or an ability.
“I choose the ability.”
“And why?” Hugo was intrigued.
“Gold is just metal, and I can get it whenever I want. Items I can purchase with the gold I get. But abilities… You can’t mine them, and you can’t simply buy them. Plus, they’re combat abilities so they could save my life.”
“Bravo!” Hugo was effusive with his praise. “I was right about you!”
You learned a new active ability: Strength of Fire, Level 1
Inflicts fire damage on your opponents: 5 health per second for 30 seconds
Activation cost: 55 mana
Recharge time: 30 seconds
The Tearful Goddess Order offered you their friendship:
The benefits you will get if you accept are:
Title: Friend of the Tearful Goddess Order
You can always count on the physical, magical, or financial assistance of the order, whose missions are in all the cities in Fayroll, if you need it to defend your honor, protect the defenseless, or destroy evil.
All knights of the order, when they see that you are in need of assistance, will consider it their duty to help you.
If you commit a dishonorable deed and the order learns of it, you will be stripped of their friendship and declared their enemy.
Accept?
That made things interesting. On the one hand, it was help from lots of NPCs and a wallet I could dip into if needed. On the other, if you happen to just kill someone, and an NPC sees it, you’re toast—the enemy. I didn’t need any help figuring out what knights do with their enemies. It would be straight to the respawn point for me.
Still, I leaned toward accepting their friendship and ended up clicking “Yes.”
You unlocked Friends by the Bushel, Level 1.
To get it, become the friend of nine more orders, factions, or societies founded by NPCs.
Reward:
Charmer, a passive attribute, Level 1: 5% discount for all traders and all products in Rattermark
Title: Everyone’s Favorite
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
“I’m very happy our order has a new friend. In days gone by, many of your kind were our friends, though these days, they prefer to get what we have rather than enjoy a relationship with us.” Hugo seemed entirely sincere in his regret.
“Things aren’t the way they used to be.” I sighed. “No romance in the world anymore…”
“These are bad days. Everyone’s chasing gold, and meanwhile evil is awakening.”
“It’s awful. You can’t even walk down the roads.” I thought back to the unpleasant woman with the bushel of sticks.
“There’s actually a reason I’m still here.” Master Hugo leaned in and confided in me. “There’s a very powerful witcher in our city, or maybe somewhere in the outskirts. Be careful out there, Hagen, and especially at night.”
“Can I help?”
You have a new quest offer: Witcher in the Shadows.
Task: Find out something about the witcher living in Fladridge or its outskirts and get the information to Hugo von Shlippenshtain.
Reward:
1200 experience
Other rewards: variable
Important note: If you do not get the information you learn to Hugo von Shlippenshtain, and instead use it to find and kill the witcher, you will fail the quest.
Accept?
“I’d be happy to help the order.”
I left the mission very satisfied with the ability, experience, gold, action, and quest I’d gotten. Not bad!
Ten steps later, I found myself staring at a sign: “Hotel.”
“What an idiot!” I smacked my forehead. “I almost forgot. I’d have been stuck lugging everything around yet again.”
The hotel was small and cozy. The bell hanging on the entrance rang softly, and the face of the cute blonde girl behind the counter lit up with a smile.
“Welcome to the Starling and Lira! I hope your stay will be pleasant.”
“I’m sure it will be. Could I have a room?”
“Of course.” She smiled again. “Room 15, second floor, up the stairs and to the right. Five silver coins a day. You pay when you return your key and leave the hotel.”
She handed me a key.
You’re now renting a hotel room. It is your personal space, meaning that you always have a place to leave your things no matter which city in Rattermark you’re in. You are the only one who can enter unless you bring someone with you, and they are only allowed in when you are there. Don’t forget to pay on time. If you do not, you will not be allowed into your room. Don’t worry, however, your possessions will remain there waiting for you.
“Got it!” I looked at the girl again, and she smiled one more time. “What’s your name, cutie?”
“Lubelia.” She blushed.
“Beautiful. Lubelia, here’s 30 gold. That’s enough to cover rent for… Well, for a long time. And here’s one gold for you. Buy yourself some candy or something—something as gorgeous as you are!”
“Thank you, sir.” Lubelia blushed again and looked at me coquettishly. “Maybe I can come by this evening to fluff your pillow?”
“No, no, no,” I said. “I won’t be there tonight, I have things to do. But thanks.”
I walked upstairs thinking about what I’d turned down. She was great, and I enjoy sex as much as the next guy, but sex with a piece of code seemed a bit much. Some perverts somewhere probably can’t get enough of it, though…
The room was simple: a table, a bed, chairs, a window, and a large chest. The latter was all I cared about. I unloaded all but 30 gold, taking the time to pat myself on the back for what was a decent haul for Level 22. Although, it really wasn’t that hard—a thousand here, five hundred there. I also decided to leave the lucky earring there until I got to Level 25, and the sword followed it. Sure, I couldn’t lose it, but what was the point of carrying it around? I did keep the ring the Gray Witch gave me, remembering that I couldn’t lose it either.
Once I had everything in the chest, I stepped back and looked at my collection proudly. Then, having slammed it shut, I left the room.
“You’re leaving already, sir?” Lubelia scrunched up her nose adorably. “That quickly?”
“You bet, babe.” I handed her the key. “Exploits await! You don’t happen to know where I could find some villains to protect the city from, do you?”
“Of course I do.” She sighed. “We can’t even go into the forest anymore. There’s a witch living there, and the magistrate even put a price on her head. Go talk to the mayor, he’ll tell you everything. Will you be coming back here?”
“Well, certainly. I’ll be back!” I said in my best Austrian accent.
“What?”
“Ah, forget it, it’s from a movie.”
The magistrate building was the tallest in Fladridge, and it had the most NPCs and players running around it. I was already sick and tired of the inquisitive high-level players running around asking questions, and I almost got into a fight with one of them after he grabbed me and tried to shake some information out of me. Obviously, he outweighed me by a large margin, so I had to think of something quickly.
“A-a-ah! Game admins! He’s stopping my game progress! Help me!”
“Are you crazy?” Volosat from the Children of Sin clan dropped me. “What are you talking about? If you don’t know anything, just say it!”
“I did!” I looked at him in annoyance. “You came here to kill me! Kille-e-er!”
“Who needs you, you squirt?” He wheeled and walked off.
“Why did I have to start all this?” I berated myself as I clambered up the steps of the magistrate building. The mayor’s office was on the third floor, and nobody had bothered to invent the elevator yet. “I saw what I wanted to see, but this is getting out of hand.”
The mayor looked, well…like a mayor. Remember Evgeni Leonov from An Ordinary Miracle? One and the same, although this one was in a black frock coat. He had an enormous nose, red cheeks, and crafty little eyes—the kind of person who never gives and always takes.
“What do you need, sir?” he asked.
“Someone told me you have a witch problem. I can help take care of it.”
“Yes, exactly. She’s awful, sneaking all over the place!” The mayor smiled as he realized why I was there.
“Witches are all the same.”
“It’s true.” The mayor cocked his head and looked at me. “If it weren’t for knights like you, altruistically helping us simple people…”
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