Rich woke up in a sad state and there was no cup of herbal tea to aid in his headache. Rich's headache was then exacerbated by a mind bending sight of a gene like caricature of his guide flying around on his HUD. The guide had a set of Cymbals and was banging them while swirling around and blowing on a party favor. There was even some confetti floating behind the traitorous guide which made Rich's wakeup even worse. Rich started to dry heave and a bit of bile entered his mouth. He spit it on the floor and screamed out "Stop it you fucking dickhead".
Robert looked like a slightly transparent small gene with a large nose and chiseled chin. Everything below his lower half was a long snake like tail that dispersed in a smoky point. He stopped banging the Cymbals and blowing on the party favor. Robert said "That was payback for your negligence the night before" and Rich couldn't really tell if Robert was talking about forgetting to save the settings allowing Robert to see and hear as Rich did and allow him to communicate in real time or if he was referring to getting too drunk. Rich said "Why the banging?" and Robert laughed out with a deep belly laugh. Robert started off saying "When a new recruit came out of the barracks in such a sorry shape the consequences would have been similar. This was mostly for the captains or squad leaders enjoyment but did have the side effect of making the recruit remember moderation in the near future". "So you think this is funny?" Rich shot back indigently to which Robert replied "Hilarious" in the douchiest way possible.
Rich cast mend on himself a few times to clean himself off and cleaned his clothes. It took far too much concentration and effort and Rich considered casting a healing spell on himself to get rid of his hangover but remembering the tea made the decision too selfish. He was sure there were some more people needing healing and it seemed selfish to cast healing on himself for a minor affliction.
Robert was talking "... and you leveled up! We should address what you want to do with your class point and stat increases. No new spells yet but you're getting close". Rich replied "I want to continue leveling up cleric all the way. Well maybe just for now and changed his Cleric level from 1 to 2" Doing so gave him a +1 to a stat of his choice and nothing else. Oh his max HP was increased too, he noticed that after a second of concentration. 10 to 14, seemed like a good bump. No new spells or more spell slots. It seemed his gifts from Jack were just a down payment or at least he thought that might be the case. It was hard to think and Rich broke down and cast a minor healing spell on himself. He couldn't imagine going on dealing with Robert and making decisions with such a ponding headache. The spell immediately made him feel better and his HP ticked from 14 to 14 and his spells per day ticked down to 5.
Robert said "Are you serious? You wasted a spell slot for a light hangover? You know you only have to eat or drink anything for that debuff to start to go away" Rich was ignoring Robert. he was tying his steel toed boots. Robert noticed and continued with the advice "You got a skill point and I recommend putting the next few ability score increases in strength. At least until you're 13 and can wear heavy armor without a terrible endurance penalty". Rich couldn't believe how foolish he was walking around in chain mail and not even noticing the status condition telling him how hard he was making it on himself. Rich increased his strength from 10 to 11. Rich was pretty sure Robert was giving him a hard time without being too hard after the wakeup call. Just because he didn't know every rule didn't mean he was an idiot. He was an idiot because he didn't save the settings so he didn't notice the status condition or read it at all. Safe to say Leather armor for a while.
Rich sat down to prepare his spells and Robert recommended the following: "detect magic, command water, command person, magic shield, ceremony, and produce antidote". His reasoning was Charm person was mostly an overlap with command and produce antidote might be handy if Rich runs into more poisonous monsters. That was because detecting poison is significantly worse than actually curing basic poisons. He was also a damn cleric that could actually heal the diseases and wounds as opposed to detecting them. The new list seemed ideal so Rich picked those spells. He checked to make sure he was dressed, mended, had his gods amulet on. Then, in a moment of inspiration he took his clean green shirt off and threw it on his bed. He then pulled out an identical black shirt and putting that on. "Changing up ones wardrobe is important" Rich said outload forgetting Robert could hear him. Robert replied "You're a roygbiv man". Rich didn't understand the insult and felt a little bewildered. Robert continued "You're the guy that's got 13 of the same pants and shirts and they're only different based on their color. You wear the same pare of cargo shorts and sandals every summer for the last 13 years. Just no originality". Being deeply offended by this Rich ignored his guide. It is important to ignore the annoying ghost like sidekick that can't actually communicate with anyone else. Besides what does some trumped up Clippy know about style. Rich decided he looked fine and went down stairs. He knew he was in trouble.
For one, Bear, was colored like a golden retriever. Rich wasn't sure why he thought this was his problem but he was aware of the look Wolf was giving him. He noticed there also are three broken glass mugs sitting in his normal spot and a stuffed elk had been knocked off the wall with a broken antler. Sally was coming out from the back and she stopped, stared at him, and without saying a word pointed at the broken glasses. Rich assumed he was not going to be getting food until everything was fixed. He first started with the Elk's antler. Rich couldn't lift up the elk head though. Even with his 11 in strength he just couldn't. It was heavy. He tried and felt quite silly not being able to and failing to do so in front of people in the Inn. Instead of admitting his failure he pretended he was inspecting the antlers to make sure they were fixed. No one believed the act and at least one person snickered. It was Wolf. He was laughing. Rich walked over to his spot and started mending the broken glasses. Finally Sally decided his hang dog look was bad enough. She set down a plate of eggs and a cup of tea. Rich felt very selfish for healing his hangover instead of just walking down and getting food. A mistake he wouldn't make again. It could actually be life saving.
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After Wolf casually rehung the elk head he walked over and said "You don't remember much from last night do you?" Rich shook his head. Wolf continued by pointing to Bear "I don't know what a golden retriever is but apparently you found great enjoyment in making my wolf look like one". Rich sheepishly replied "I don't remember that at all... I think I can change his coat back to normal... I think". Sally turned the corner around the bar and said "I really like him that color" and Wolf shrugged. "Maybe it'll keep him out of trouble but I think he liked being gray" said wolf after a moment. Rich didn't continue the conversation and sheepishly repaired the last glass. Sally said "Why don't we keep him golden for a bit but I think he would look the best white or red". The couple laughed for some strange reason Rich didn't understand. He was thinking it had to be an inside joke or maybe Sally just liked the color red. Sally was busy though and had to continue actually running the inn. At least she really seemed to enjoy it. Rich wondered if he'd ever get to settle down and find a job he actually likes. He was a rich Cleric in a new magical world but he couldn't help but feel a little envious of Sally and Wolf with their quiet lives.
Wolf interrupted his musing "I've got to go clear the new dungeon that popped up to the west of the town. The stitchings you encountered were a ghastly sign of a new low level dungeon opening up. I can clear it by myself but you might want to tag along". Rich didn't want to go. He still remembered the gruesome scene he saw the day before and remembered the goblin. Rich asked about the Goblin and wolf pointed over to the side of the Inn where a small green person with sharp pointy teeth, long nose, and pointy ears. Rich waved and the goblin waved back. In Rich's mind Goblins were monsters in the games he played so why was there one in the Inn. Robert chimed in "Identify the Goblin", so rich did.
Apparently identify was a base skill that Rich was not aware of due to his unorthodox tutorial. The skill informed Rich that the goblin was named Sue, male, and a lvl 3 adventurer. Robert said "most goblins are monsters. I assume this guy is a traveler like you incase you didn't work the problem out".
Rich knew he should talk to Sue but initially told Wolf he would go if Sue was allowed to come too. Rich felt like Travelers should stick together. Girl power! or probably Traveler power! rich thought. Wolf didn't care as long as they went that afternoon. Rich went over and sat down across from Sue and said "Hi I'm Rich". Sue looked up at him and said "I was told you saved me Rich" and Rich nodded. Sue said "Thanks buddy. I guess I owe you one. I just got here a week or so ago". Delighted to know he is a traveler Rich asked "Ok but why be a Goblin and is your name really Sue?". Sue laughs and says "I watched a lot of TTRPG shows. Those shows that had actors. One of them was a goblin and I liked the class ability. As for the name I felt the need to change it and I always liked the song about the boy named Sue".
Rich thought for a moment and delicately said "Yeah but now you're stuck in a goblins body and named Sue". Sue had to be a good natured guy before changing universes because he took it in stride and said "Nah. I was planning to prestige and keeping the class ability but picking something else. The ability doesn't work except on things larger than me so it won't be as good if I was a human but most boss monsters are big any way. It should be fine. I thought the build the character did was good but I wanted to be a fighter and when I was reading over the race/class it didn't seem like it was a once a day thing. So basically I just get slightly more damage against pretty much everything. Seemed broken".
Rich and Sue talked for a bit about the old world and what they did. Rich bitched about being in Telecommunications and Sue mentioned he use to be a welder and pipe fitter. He thought his trade skills would help in this world but he hadn't seen a welder in this new universe. Still being handy in construction and other life experiences left him with a bonus proficiency in building. Rich felt cheated that he didn't at least get a glass blowing proficiency or something. He had dome some fiber splicing and that was a stupid thought. Rich got around to asking Sue if the man turned goblin wanted to go on a dungeon run with Rich and Wolf. Sue said sure that sounded fun and a great way too level up. Rich told Wolf they were in and they agreed to meet back up. Rich went back up to his room and changed into his leather armor and buckler. The arm guards were a bright orangish leather, the pants were a more muted brown with full grain wear marks, and the leather chest plate and shoulder pauldron were dyed gray. With his blue baseball cap Rich looked like either a total fucking noob or a high level MMO character of some speed running guild. He then put on his belt and hammer and headed down stairs to do dungeon diving.