by Dakota Krout
“You made it to the expert rank by accident?” Aten released a frenetic giggle, his eyes a bit crazed. “Then the Master rank from completing–what–social quests? Your jump skill, you say? Have you ever actually just… jumped?”
“Just the once.” Joe was starting to feel uncomfortable. But then he began thinking about the situation and failed to hold in laughter. He was a Master jumper, having only jumped a single time. Soon both of them were laughing, but Aten was the first to come to his senses.
“Alright. This is just absurd. Any other skills that are off the charts for no good reason?” Aten looked closely at the cleric, hoping for more ways he could benefit the guild.
“My next highest skill is ‘Heal’ at Novice rank two,” Joe informed the guild leader.
Aten’s eyes crossed. “You have a Master rank and your next highest is barely increased at all. Ugh. Alright, well, I guess this doesn’t really change anything. I still need you to work with the guard, and I will still work to make sure you are happy in the guild. I’d do that for anyone though. Go get some sleep, and thank you for letting me know about you. I’ll try to think of some way to make the jump skill useful to us.”
“G’night boss-man.” Joe waved and left to find his bunk.
A vivid nightmare about falling was his only memory from sleeping when he woke up the next morning. He was extra groggy as he stumbled to the kitchen, and when he finally found breakfast, all he wanted to do for the first ten minutes was drink coffee. After the first cup went down and the second was half gone, he allowed his eyes to creak fully open. Tiona was sitting across from him, a smirk on her face.
“Not much of a morning person?” she cheerfully chirped while chomping into a bagel loaded with salmon, various vegetables, and cream shmear.
Joe grunted a few unintelligible words, finally mustering up the energy to speak properly after another long drink of his steaming beverage. “It isn’t usually this bad. I swear I slept. Just… poorly.”
“Hmm.” Tiona tapped on her chin, then her eyes lit up as she snapped her fingers. “Go into your status page, look at effects, and then the active effects page.” Joe followed her instructions grumpily, staring through bloodshot eyes at the text in front of him.
Active effects: Rested. After laying in a bed for six hours, no matter how poor quality, you were able to get some much needed beauty sleep. +5% Experience gain for four hours.
Stinky: You haven’t showered, bathed, or cleaned your clothes in several days. -2 charisma (Temporary, somewhat mitigated by level increases.)
Addiction I: Your actions have consequences. You are well on your way to developing a severe addiction to caffeine. Intelligence +1, Wisdom -1 after drinking 10 oz of coffee. 30% chance of headache after not drinking coffee for 4 hours.
“Gross.” Joe scanned the active effects again, looked at the coffee in his hand and reluctantly set it down. “It says I am rested, stinky, and addicted to coffee.”
Tiona smirked at him. “Well that explains it. If you had gotten a good sleep on a good bed, you would have ‘well-rested’ status right now. Sleep poorly?”
“A bit. It’s only been a few days, but it’s been pretty wild.” Joe looked longingly at his coffee and sighed. “Any showers around here?”
“There sure are, Mr. Stinky!” Her chipper attitude this early in the morning earned her a glare from several people around the table. “They also have a laundry service, so you can get your clothes cleaned at the same time. Let’s get going; you are going to need all of that charisma today. I hear you are assigned to buttering up guards?”
“That’s what I do, pretend the guards are delicious bread,” Joe grunted the best pun he could come up with as they moved toward the bathhouse. She looked a bit green after that one though. After showering and getting into fresh, warm clothes, Joe certainly did feel better. Also, people stopped swerving away from him; he hadn’t even noticed that they were doing that! Perhaps that was a side effect of lowered charisma: you couldn’t see how your actions were impacting those around you? It did make some sense…
Tiona walked with him to the training grounds that the guards owned and waved at him as he started his mission. Noticing some familiar faces right away, Joe went over to them and started asking how they were doing. Any wounds reopen? Any relapses or pain? Most of the people answered that they felt great, but a few had been injured recently.
As Joe worked to heal them, the guard captain came over to see why the men weren’t doing their training or sparring. “What the abyss are you all standing around for? Criminals don’t rest easy for one reason: because we are fit enough to chase them straight into a cell! Are you giving up on that advantage? You can’t be a good guard and be lazy!”
“Good morning, Captain!” Joe interrupted as the red-faced man inhaled to continue his tirade. “My apologies, I stopped in to check up on a few of the guards that had been more seriously damaged and my inquiries became a bit too much.”
“Huh?” The captain looked over, apparently noticing the cleric for the first time. “Oh! Joe, m’boy! Good to see you. How have things been going? I’m sorry to say that I must get these men back to work.”
“Please don’t let me get in the way!” Joe smiled and waved cheerfully at the guards as he turned away. “You gents let me know if you need any healing! Always free for the people keeping the citizens safe!”
You have gained +100 reputation with the guards of Ardania. 900 points to reach ‘Ally’ status.
The captain followed along as Joe strolled down the training field. He glanced over at the cleric and grunted loudly, “Humph! You look like you’re after something. Whaddaya need? Money? An introduction somewhere?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. Thank you, by the way, for that introduction at the library. You didn’t have to do that, but I’m really glad you did.” Joe waited for the captain to nod before he continued, “I’m actually here because I joined a guild.”
“Ahh, now we get down to brass tacks. They need something, huh?” The captain seemed ready to slap Joe around for answers–high reputation or no–so the cleric quickly got to the point.
“Not quite. They are hoping to become a Noble Guild, and to that end they are trying to find ways to help out around the city. They seem to think that if they can make the city a better place, it will reflect well on the guild. All they asked me to do was what I am happy to do anyway: go around healing anyone who needs it. The only stipulation was that I mention that I am an officer in the guild. Something about me being a good example of their upper echelon.” Joe’s smile widened as he got a notification informing him that his charisma had increased by a point.
“Huh. You travelers sure do have some strange ideas.” The captain was rubbing his chin. “You’ll heal anyone, you say?”
“I feel like this is going to be interesting, but yes. Is something wrong?” Joe was watching the captain as he struggled with some internal debate.
“Alright. C’mon, follow me.” The captain marched toward the small jail that they had in the area. Really, it was just a holding pen under a small fortification where suspects were held until being sent to the dungeons. They walked along until they came to a small cell. The captain opened the door and waved at a heavily bruised and bleeding individual on the stone bed.
“Many of my lads wanted this man to be left to his fate, but if he dies, he won’t have been punished enough for my liking. He’s a traveler, and you all keep popping up no matter if you die or not. Quite disconcerting, really. This one is the leader of a guild that we suspect burned down a tavern in town. If he dies, he has served his time. If he lives, he gets sent to a punishment dungeon that the Kingdom runs to hold criminals like this. We are able to change his ‘bind point’ by force, and even if he dies, he will come right back to the dungeon. No escape until time is served.” The captain motioned to Joe. “Up to you.”
“There are dungeons around here?” Joe stopped that thought and stepped into the cell, looking at the man on
the ground. Under the bruises and crusted blood, he recognized the leader of the Hardcores, Headshot. Joe smiled a grim smile. “Cap, I’d be more than happy to make sure this man serves his time. He tossed me off a cliff recently.” He stepped forward and healed the crumpled form to full health, then used ‘cleanse’ until he was sure that Headshot didn’t have any poison in his system.
Skill rank up: Heal (Novice III). Healing only people you like will slow down your understanding of how to heal! Heal everyone and everything! Need practice healing? Find a prison, church, or a hospital! (*note: healing to increase the time a person can be tortured will negatively affect alignment.)
“That should do it!” Joe stepped back and looked at the still form on the bed. “Anything else right away?”
The captain was still looking at Headshot. “He isn’t waking up. Are you sure he is fixed?”
Joe didn’t know how to describe the man being away from his console. “He is fine, this is a traveler thing. He is… he is meditating in hopes of resurrection. I bet that he will be awake and furious within three hours. Maybe have him transferred by then?”
“He has already been sentenced… good call. No resistance this way.” Nodding, the Captain motioned Joe out of the cell and re-locked it. “You know, I am worried that he may come looking for you when he is released. I’m told you people are able to see the name of whoever hurts or heals you unless they magically hide it.”
He must have been talking about the combat logs. Joe had a feral grin on his face. “I think I’m okay with him knowing.” He smiled as he thought of the lock of hair he had taken from the unconscious man. He had dipped it in Headshot’s blood as well, and this would make it a powerful focus for one of the nastier rituals Joe had access to.
“Well, if you don’t mind, I could use your help keeping a few criminals alive for their trials. I’d much rather see justice done and ensure we got the right person than have them die in custody.” The captain grinned when Joe instantly agreed to help him.
Quest alert: Living for justice (Ongoing). Every day, people are arrested. Many of them are critically injured and will perish before trial without help. Some are innocent! Most are not. You have accepted this quest. Rewards: +100 guild and personal reputation with the city guard for every person who survives their time in jail due to your efforts.
Joe thought the reward was a bit high but quickly understood when the captain informed him that everyone else that was captured was doing fine, and though they may be injured, they didn’t need healing to make it to trial. So, this quest would only pay out when the prisoner was otherwise fatally injured? Good to know. One hundred reputation appeared on his status, so he knew that healing Headshot had already paid off.
“Where are you staying?” The captain was walking toward the door. “If we need your services, we’ll send a guard over to get you.”
“Ah, The Wanderers guild is sleeping at a barracks building we rented,” Joe informed him as they shook hands.
“Oh, that’s the guild sleeping there?” He rubbed his chin as he thought. “Well… since you are doing work for the city, I suppose we can get you qualified for a discount. Tell your guild master that we can knock off… say, ten percent?”
“Whoa! Thank you!” Joe exclaimed happily. It was good to be useful to the guild; small benefits like this would help to increase his standing, especially with whoever was in charge of the guild finances.
“No, thank you, cleric. While most of the time we only haul in true filth, there are innocent people that you might save here. This is the least I could do to repay the favor. We’ll let you know if we need you.” The captain waved him off and returned to his duties.
~ Chapter Fourteen ~
Joe returned to the guild, getting a ‘look’ from Aten as he walked in. “Joe, weren’t you supposed to be working with the guards all day?”
“I have good reason!” Joe threw his hands into the air in a classic surrender pose. “I have secured an ongoing quest with them; they will come find me whenever they need my help. I also come bearing gifts. I got us one hundred guild reputation and a ten percent discount on renting the barracks!”
Aten tried to keep his face straight but couldn’t hold back his smile. “Alright, fine, dang it! It took you an hour to get the same amount of reputation we did in a week. Tiona hasn’t left yet, so if you want to get out and do some fighting, now would be a good time to let her know.”
“Thanks! I’ll go find her.” Joe walked toward the gates and only had to wait a few minutes before Tiona and the party appeared.
“Joe?” Tiona glared at him. “Look, I know that fighting is more fun, but Aten gave you a mission.”
“Mission complete, reporting for grinding. Aten sent me.” Joe saluted with his tongue out as he joined the party and they started walking. “Where to today?”
“Good to see you, man!” Dylan cheerfully pounded him on the back. “You have good timing; we’re fighting Wolfmen today. Think werewolf but a wolf standing upright, not a human turning into a wolf. They use poisoned weapons and are usually traveling with a pack of trained wolves. Wolfmen are much stronger than regular wolves and direct their pack during combat. Level seven enemies, so watch it.”
“Dang.” Joe took a moment to digest all of the information. “Should I really go with you? I’m only level three.”
Chad decided to be the one to answer. “I think you’ll be pretty valuable on this mission. You can heal, and if my cured hangover was any indication, you can also get rid of poisoning.”
“I can, but it is still ranked at novice one. I’m not sure how well I’ll do trying to fight a level seven attack, ya know?” Joe chuckled nervously as the others shrugged.
“Gotta get practice to level it up, right?” Dylan hefted his shiny new shield; he seemed to have finally resigned himself to becoming a tank. “Just hang out behind me, and it’ll be fine.”
Crossing the rabbit’s territory was simple; it seemed that there were very few remaining in the area. Apparently, they had almost been wiped out by the zombits before the humans had rallied and went out to slaughter the fluffy abominations. The event had yet to conclude; it seemed that there were zombie rabbits somewhere in the area that no one could find. Crossing the fox zone was a bit… rougher. The foxes seemed to be starving and did extra damage due to their savage hunger. Instead of biting and clawing followed by a swift retreat like normal, they would latch on and try to tear off a chunk of flesh to munch on.
Joe had to heal Dylan a dozen times before they got to the edge of the wolf zone, and the tank was complaining bitterly about his new role. Eighteen foxes had died so far, almost fifty percent more than they normally even saw during an outing. Joe was secretly pleased since he had gotten not only some experience from the foxes but also gained an experience multiplier from healing Dylan as they went.
Exp: 216 (Starving Fox x18) (8 per fox * 1.5 for healing during combat. This includes a bonus from title, as well as points for combat healing.)
Gleefully planning how he would use the skill point from his next level, Joe almost missed his step. Catching himself on his shield-bearing teammate almost made him fall as well. Dylan was already a little worked up from being bitten several times and snapped at Joe. “Hey! C’mon man! Watch where you’re going. I don’t need to be falling on my face and provoking an attack of opportunity from some random mutt!”
“Geez! Sorry buddy, I was looking at a notification.” Joe took a step back and tried to pay attention to where they were going. He started looking around with interest, and his high perception began highlighting details for him that he wouldn’t have seen before. Paw tracks that crossed their path, a wet spot on a tree trunk that some animal had marked, and eyes near the ground that reflected a bit of light. “Wolf there! Ten o'clock, he’s blending in with the forest floor pretty well.”
Chad swiftly drew and released an arrow at the wolf. It yelped, then ran at them in a fury. Dylan braced himself with an ugly mutter about needing to
buy heavy armor, but to his relief, the wolf didn’t even make it to them. Their final party member came out of seemingly nowhere and slammed his daggers into the wolf’s side. It fell with a whimper, and the rest of the team circled up while they looked for any extra wolves.
Joe looked at the forgettable face of the… rogue? Why hadn’t he ever talked to him? “Hey, sorry. I didn’t catch your name.” The rogue looked over, waved, and then continued observing their surroundings. Joe noticed that his facial expression didn’t change.
“Guess,” Dylan told him as a snarling ball of fur and fury approached them.
“Um. Shadow? Killer? Sneaky one?” Joe laughed nervously as a drooling wolf drew closer.
“No, her name is ‘Guess’,” Chad informed him. “She’s playing a male character in game, but we know she’s just drag-surfing. Guess is using an old VR helmet with a mental keyboard, and we are pretty sure she has a broken microphone because she never says anything.”
“I do too.” The voice coming from Guess was androgynous and mechanical, and while it seemed to match the body, there was no real tonal inflection.
“Yeah, you type it though; you don’t actually say anything. That’s how we know you’re actually a girl, ya know?” Dylan bashed the wolf in the head with his shield, stunning it long enough for Tiona to skewer the creature. “Hey! I got a new skill!”
“Congress,” Guess spoke mechanically. “Ugh. Dang autocorrect. I meant congrats.”
“Yeah, democracy, Dylan.” Chad chuckled as Guess made a rude hand gesture at him. “Shield bash?”
“No, shield mastery,” Dylan told them as he read over his skill. “Makes it so I can ignore a small portion of the damage that my shield blocks. Really good for fighting enemies that can knock me around.”
“Good, you’re slowly becoming an immovable object,” Chad taunted Dylan. “Go~o~od little meat shield.”
“Maybe I ‘accidentally’ miss blocking the next wolf that jumps at you?” Dylan mused loudly.