“So that’s an every-”
“Yes, it’s an every time thing and I’ll thank you to shut the fuck up about it.” Shaggy muttered as he sat in the half completed framework of their new bar.
Vlad chuckled loudly as he sipped on a glass of something red. Shaggy wondered who had given the damn vampire blood. But he just let it go. With the way Lina, the purple Alien woman who had his armor, had looked at Shaggy, he was sure Vlad had his share of brown-nosing Lackeys. Some of whom were probably more than willing to part with some of their blood. Even more so if Vlad played up the Children of The Night angle.
Vlad saw him staring at the glass of blood, and the side of his mouth quirked up in a grin. “Some of the new Lackeys were wondering if I could turn them. Apparently vampire stories are big in-game too.”
Shaggy nodded as he adjusted his new shorts. They were part of the set of clothes he had bought on the main street. But the damn things were uncomfortable as hell. But, considering how cheap they were, it wasn’t really a surprise. It was better than sitting on a wooden chair naked.
“So, of course, you took advantage.”
“Oh please, I just told them I needed to be more powerful. They asked how I got more powerful and I told them.”
“Does it even help you?” Shaggy asked as Frank and Petra walked by, discussing something about the bar.
“Nope. Our boys are pretty weak. Which is why I think, if I get the chance, I should turn a few of them. So should you. We could have an army of Weres and Vamps at our disposal.”
Shaggy started to argue when he realized he didn’t know if he could do that. “I’ll look into that. I don’t think it’s even in my tree.”
Vlad nodded. “Yeah, it just showed up in mine. But it’s a point-sucker. I’ve dumped fifty into the damn thing already.”
Shaggy grunted understandingly. He continued to look around the bar as he thought about the various ways they could increase their Lackeys deadliness. Turning to Henchmen was another obvious route. Or maybe they could find someway to teach a few magic. Some of them were Aliens so all they needed was training to increase. That is, if the NPC worked like the players did. He was about to bring it up with Vlad when Chromia and Slink walked into the half-complete bar.
The two had been talking since Chromia saved Slink from Muscle-Lord. To Shaggy, it looked like the kid had a crush, but Chromia seemed to not notice. Or she ignored the younger man. Chromia glanced over at Vlad and Shaggy and smirked at Shaggy. Shaggy flipped her off as Vlad raised his glass in greeting. Soon, the odd pair walked over to where Mr. Blue was handing out drinks.
Petra had insisted that they keep the Lackeys happy with booze. Mr. Blue had seemed reticent, but perked up when he heard everyone would be paying. Vlad had also made all the players hand out credits to a few of the Lackeys. As a ‘thank you’ for sticking around during the fight and also to see if it raised some loyalties. It had paid off. All of them had increased their personal Lackey counts. Although none more so than Dave.
“HAH! HAH! HAH!” sounded from outside and Shaggy turned to look at the blue-armored Player.
The happy-go-lucky guy was showing his various Lackeys a few punches. It looked to Shaggy, like the martial arts teacher was taking them through some katas. They all shouted as they happily threw punches, mimicking Dave. Apparently, his fight with the golem-guy had impressed a lot of the thugs, and Dave now had a good chunk of men. Although when he didn’t know what to do with them, Vlad and Shaggy told him to toughen them up.
Sure, they had a good supply of guns, but when people could soak a few rounds before they went down. It paid to be ready for an up close fight or at least no how to dodge. They actually had more weapons than Shaggy had remembered, but Vlad explained they were the spoils from Rakgu and other gang attacks. Pipes, chains, giant wrenches, and pistols made up the bulk of their armory. Along with a few automatic rifles and the two K-Tech energy rifles. They had more than enough to protect themselves, but they could always use more.
“He’s a charismatic sonofabitch.” Vlad smirked as he looked through the uncompleted wall into the square.
Shaggy grunted. “No kidding.”
Vlad took another sip from his glass as he stared at Shaggy. “So, still not going to say about what happened topside?”
“Told ya, waiting for Ren. I want everyone to hear this.”
Vlad finished his drink. “Well, what am I supposed to do? Wait around? I want to get out there and get some points.”
Shaggy was about to tell the vampire to cool his jets when remembered something. “Oh, damn it! Points! I need to check my points.”
Vlad stood and stretched out his arms and legs. “Fine. You do that. I’m going to do some scouting around. Maybe I’ll get lucky and the Rakgu will try attacking again.”
“Pfft. Unlikely.” Shaggy said, thinking of Scholer.
Vlad didn’t say anything else as he walked away, leaving Shaggy to open his in-game menus. He held his breath as he navigated to his Evolution Trees and clicked on the tab. He hadn’t checked the points he had gained while topside, but he was excited to see what he had gained.
Lycanthropy Mutation Tree
* Attack Lvl 5
* Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 3
* Bone Claws -
* Defense Lvl 5
* Tough Bones Lvl 1
* Utility Lvl 5
* Regeneration Lvl 25
* Limb Regen Lvl 2
* Pain Suppression Lvl 3
* Partial Transformation Lvl 1
Points: 50
General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 17
* Thick Skin Lvl 5
* Skin Resistances Lvl 1
* Reflexes Lvl 18
* Quick Hands Lvl 5
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 2
* Mind Lvl 17
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 1
Points: 120
Skills:
* Werewolf
* Werewolf Senses – Beginner Level 2*
* Werewolf Form – Beginner Level 3*
* Werewolf Speed – Beginner Level 2*
* Werewolf Durability – Beginner Level 3*
* Normal
* Claw Fighting – Beginner Level 2*
* Leaping – Beginner Level 3
* Enhanced Senses – Beginner Level 4*
* Endurance – Beginner Level 3*
* Fight Like An Animal – Beginner Level 2*
Shaggy felt his breathing hitch for a second as he glanced at the point totals. Not to mention the Skill gains. Going topside had been a fantastic idea. He had to stop himself from running out and going back up. Sure, running for his life most of the time had been a pain, but with gains like this, he was happy to do it.
Sure, the Werewolf point total was still lower than his General one. But fifty points could go a long way. At least he hoped they would. He set about placing his Werewolf points first. He still felt he was doing fine with the Regeneration in the Utility tab. So he focused on his attack first. Claws were great, but he wanted to see what the next tier would give him. So he raised it to fifteen and checked his tab.
* Attack Lvl 15*
* Canines Lvl 0*
* Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 3
* Bone Claws -
He felt his teeth sharpen into points in his mouth. It was a weird feeling as he ran his carefully over a few. The damn things were pretty sharp. But how often was he going to bite someone in a fight, really? But then he thought about it. It wasn’t a bad idea. It would certainly surprise a few people, and everything goes when you were fighting for your life. Soon he made peace with the idea and put a point into the new Evo Cell. He would test it a few times first. Maybe it increased his damage in the actual Werewolf form too.
* Canines Lvl 1*
Shaggy grinned and started to put his leftover points into Defense when he saw the one standout in his Evo Tree.
* Partial Transformation Lvl 1
Partial Transformation still stood by itself in its Cell. Not attached to his main Utility Tree. Shaggy blew out a breath and checked his point total. Seeing that he still had thirty-eight points left, he said a mental ‘fuck it’ and started dumping points into Utility. It was bound to do something good. As he held down the mental button, he watched his point total drop to thirty and his Utility Cell reach level fifteen.
* Utility Lvl 15*
* Partial Transformation Lvl 5*
* Limb Transformation Lvl 4*
He mentally swore again as he quickly checked his point total. But it was still at thirty. The system had raised the level of the Partial Transformation itself. Shaggy gave a mental cheer and even raised his hands, drawing a few odd looks. He ignored them as he looked over the improvements. Partial Transformation was now a part of the tree and had even risen to the level he was currently using it at. Giving him the limb Transformation Cell as well.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He briefly raised his hand and shifted it back and forth between human and wolf claws. He found the not only was the transformation smoother, but he felt like he could now do it to any part of his body. Much like most skills, the information on how was just there in his mind. He knew he just had to will it and he could make it happen. He wondered if he experimented a bit he could unlock a different Cell and see the same gains again. But he shook it off. It was an idea for the forums later.
Shaggy instead looked back at his Defense Cell and started putting in points. However, his point total quickly dropped. Shaggy let go of the mental button and looked at the reminder of his points and saw that he was sitting at ten points left. It had taken twenty points to get his defense up to ten. He swore out loud this time as he guessed that the system made the other Cells more expensive as everything leveled. Or maybe these points were from weaker enemies. He grunted and put the rest of his points into his Tough Bones Cell. Thankfully, that one raised a bit quicker. Soon he stepped back and glanced over his full Werewolf Tree.
Lycanthropy Mutation Tree
* Attack Lvl 15*
* Canines Lvl 1*
* Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 3
* Bone Claws -
* Defense Lvl 10*
* Tough Bones Lvl 3*
* Utility Lvl 15*
* Partial Transformation Lvl 5*
* Limb transformation Lvl 4*
* Regeneration Lvl 25
* Limb Regen Lvl 2
* Pain Suppression Lvl 3
“Okay, it wasn’t all horrible,” Shaggy thought as he looked everything over. He also had another tree to go into. He rubbed his hands together as he brought up the general tree.
General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 17
* Thick Skin Lvl 5
* Skin Resistances Lvl 1
* Reflexes Lvl 18
* Quick Hands Lvl 5
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 2
* Mind Lvl 17
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 1
Points: 120
This time, as Shaggy thought about putting points into the separate trees, he tried to focus on all of them at once. Sure, he could probably min-max things, but where was the fun in that? So he focused on raising everything to twenty and watched his point total fall. It wasn’t as rapid a decline as it was for the Defense Cell, but points still dropped like crazy as he watched everything raise. But soon enough he was sitting with around seventy points left and all of his top Cells were at level twenty.
So now, with a general boost to everything, including his HP, he looked at the Sub-Cells. Enhanced Focus had been useful a few times. Mentally slowing down things to get a better look at the bigger picture was an impressive ability to have. He put a few points into it to see what it did, but with five points in, nothing had changed it. Shaggy sighed. It looked like the ability was going to be a point-sucker.
So instead he focused on his Thick Skin ability and dumped some points into there. The point conversion seemed to go better as every few general points saw a rise in the ability’s level. Before he knew it, the level of Thick Skin was at fifteen, and it had evolved into a new ability. Shaggy grinned as he checked his point total, which was at fifty-eight points. Not too bad overall.
* Thick Skin Lvl 15*
* Skin Resistances Lvl 5*
* Skin Durability Lvl 0*
Shaggy tried to think of the difference between durability and toughness. But quickly let it go. It was another layer of defense on his already thick hide. Maybe next time a mad scientist tried to cut him in half with a laser beam, he would come out of it better. He dumped a few points into the new skill, raising it to level one. Raising the new ability took him down to the mid-forties in points, but he felt it was worth it in the long run. Next, he turned his attention back to Enhanced Focus.
He had already dumped a few points in there. Plus, he really wanted the ability to grow. Who knew what kind of Cells would Evo off of it? Shaggy grit his teeth and ignored his Reflex Cell entirely. Dumping loads of points into Enhanced Focus. He stopped when he had ten points left and looked at the ability.
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 3*
Two levels for over forty points. Shaggy shook his head and started pacing as he tried not to second guess his decision. He dumped the remaining points into Quick Hands and checked the whole tree again.
General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 20*
* Thick Skin Lvl 15*
* Skin Resistances Lvl 5*
* Skin Durability Lvl 1*
* Reflexes Lvl 20*
* Quick Hands Lvl 10*
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 2
* Mind Lvl 20*
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 3*
Overall, it wasn’t bad. He had made himself tougher all around. Even his mind would seem faster now. Plus, his hands would be quicker when he used them to claw through people as he often did. Tougher, faster moving, and faster thinking. Shaggy grinned to himself as he stopped pacing and opened his looked at the full tree.
Lycanthropy Mutation Tree
* Attack Lvl 15*
* Canines Lvl 1*
* Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 3
* Bone Claws -
* Defense Lvl 10*
* Tough Bones Lvl 3*
* Utility Lvl 15*
* Partial Transformation Lvl 5*
* Limb transformation Lvl 4*
* Regeneration Lvl 25
* Limb Regen Lvl 2
* Pain Suppression Lvl 3
Points: 0
General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 20*
* Thick Skin Lvl 15*
* Skin Resistances Lvl 5*
* Skin Durability Lvl 1*
* Reflexes Lvl 20*
* Quick Hands Lvl 10*
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 2
* Mind Lvl 20*
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 3*
Points: 0
HP: 311/311
SP: 298/298
Skills:
* Werewolf
* Werewolf Senses – Beginner Level 2*
* Werewolf Form – Beginner Level 3*
* Werewolf Speed – Beginner Level 2*
* Werewolf Durability – Beginner Level 3*
* Normal
* Claw Fighting – Beginner Level 2*
* Leaping – Beginner Level 3
* Enhanced Senses – Beginner Level 4*
* Endurance – Beginner Level 3*
* Fight Like An Animal – Beginner Level 2*
Shaggy blew out a breath as he looked over everything. He was a beast. At least he thought so. His HP was now over three hundred with his Stamina pool only a little lower. He really wanted to head topside again and try himself against a few Supers, or maybe even that fucker, Cog. He bet he could take the old bastard now.
Thinking about the old man reminded Shaggy that Cog hadn’t been the one to take him down. It was the sheer number of the man’s bots. He hadn’t been outclassed, merely outgunned. Even now, he could probably last longer, but no way was he going to decimate an army by himself. Vlad was right, they needed to focus on their crew.
Shaggy closed out his windows and looked around the framework of the bar. It was shaping up pretty well, if it was only a frame so far. They had some of the floor down and the wooden floor was a welcome change from metal and dirt. As Shaggy glanced around, he noticed several Lackeys were pointedly not looking at him. Nearby, Slink was seated with Chromia. The metal lady had a smirk on her face as Slink had a full-on grin. Shaggy twisted his head in confusion.
“Dude, you’ve been wandering around and flailing like a madman for the past few minutes. It was hilarious.”
Shaggy grunted. “I was placing points into my trees.”
“That explains the weird mood swings from happiness to fear to grudging acceptance.” Slink chuckled as he drank his water.
“I wonder how that looked to the NPC?” Shaggy said as he glanced around.
Slink shook his head. “No idea, but some of them were looking at you like you had lost you mind. I thought they were supposed to ignore that.”
“They ignore anything that might prove this is a game. So a guy wandering around acting like an idiot isn’t really that strange. Even if they don’t know the reason.” Shaggy explained.
Slink seemed to think about that as a clamor came from outside. Chromia jumped to her feet and almost jogged out of the bar. Tan skin turning silver again. Shaggy joined her as the crowd of Lackeys outside cheered. Shaggy pushed his way through a few people before he broke through and saw Ren and some of their crew coming back with the delivery carts. Nearby, Chromia dropped her metal skin and glanced around before she found Slink again.
Ren looked a little haggard and was surprised to see a square full of people. Even the NPCs with him seemed a little worried. But once Shaggy pushed to the front, they all calmed down. Shaggy was wondering what the cheering had been about. Then he remembered that Ren, Tinsel and the others were off on another beer run. They had returned with two carts laden with barrels of booze. Shaggy had to give a yell as some of the new Lackeys were making their way toward the carts.
“Hey! That’s for the bar, damn it! You want some? Buy it like everyone else. We might give some discounts for crew later, but we are trying to start a business here. So get back! Go about your business. If you don’t have any, then find some.”
There was some grumbling as the Lackeys drifted away. Shaggy heard Dave asking if anyone wanted to go on a run. There was some light agreement as Ren walked over to Shaggy. The carts were dragged and pushed toward the bar as they spoke. Apparently, the trip had been comparatively quiet compared to the last time they had made the trip. Shaggy also told Ren about the return of Muscle-Lord.
“That man going to be a problem?” Ren asked.
Shaggy shrugged. “In the way dumb-asses are always a problem. But I don’t think he is going to have too many other Players helping him. The real trouble will be if he gathers a few Lackeys like we have.”
Ren nodded, looking around. “Yeah, about that. What the fuck?”
“I do not know, dude. I got back from topside and we had a whole cavalcade of thugs down here ready to sign up. After the Muscle-Lord fight, we each got some new Lackeys. Sorry you missed it.”
Ren waved him off. “Meh, the delivery crowd are pretty much my Lackeys right now. Except Tinsel, I think. But I’ll manage.”
“Good to hear. Now I wanted to tell you and the guys about what happened topside. It’s fucking crazy.” Shaggy started before he saw Dave running past them. Shaggy shouted to get the excitable man’s attention. “Hey, Dave. Before you go, we are going to have a leadership meeting.”
Dave and his group of Lackeys who were all following him like ducklings, looked disappointed. But what Shaggy said seemed to register with the young man a few seconds later. He snapped his head up and nodded happily.
“Leadership? Oh hell yeah, dude. I can be there. Give me a second.” Turning to his men, he continued cockily. “Sorry, dudes. Our run is going to have to be a minute. Management needs to talk about some things. You guys go back to practicing.”
Ren cocked an eyebrow at Shaggy, but he could only shrug. “Dude’s a people person. Also, he has the biggest group of Lackeys after Slink now. I’m not sure about the exact numbers, but we can put that on the meeting agenda.”
Ren chuckled as they made their way toward the bar. Petra and Mr. Blue were taking inventory on the new barrels of booze. While nearby, a few Lackeys hovered around, hopeful looks on their faces. Shaggy sighed and shooed them away. He started toward Slink and Chromia’s table before Petra tapped him on the shoulder.
“Sorry, boss, but we have to talk about our shipments. Beer is all well and good, but we need other amenities.”
“BOOOOOO!” someone shouted from nearby.
Shaggy wiped the smile from his face as Petra sent a glare in the voice's direction. “I get it Petra. I will bring it up in the meeting we are about to have.”
Petra’s eyes shined as she moved toward him. “We are having a meeting?”
Shaggy stepped back at the gleam in her eye before he coughed awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. Leadership is going to have a sit down meeting and we’re goin-”
“Well, let’s get going!” Petra said happily, moving past Shaggy toward Ren and the others.
“Uh Petra, no we were-”
“Mr. Shaggy. You made me the manager of this establishment and I have several things I would like to say about our day to day. So I think I should be included in any meetings we have going forward. Agreed?”
Shaggy sighed and stared at the angry glare from the scaly woman. Eventually, he nodded and waved a hand toward the table. Petra smiled happily and informed Mr. Blue what she was doing. As Shaggy moved over to the table, he gave Ren a wan smile and sat down. As he looked across the table and Slink’s questioning face, he saw Chromia standing just behind the young man like she was a bodyguard. Shaggy raised an eyebrow at the pair, but neither said anything.
Ren collected a chair for Petra, who gave the large rhino-man a grateful smile and sat down. She collected herself before she looked around happily. Dave was sitting in a backwards-facing chair and drumming a tune idly on the table as he looked around at the ongoing construction. A thought seemed to strike him as he said excitedly.
“A band! We got to do music when we get this place setup.”
Petra nodded and adjusted the glasses on her face. “Agreed. Appropriate entertainment is on the list. Although parties can get hectic in Under-Town.”
“Where did she get glasses?” Shaggy thought. “Was she always wearing those?”
From the looks on some of the other’s faces, Shaggy didn’t think so. But Petra powered on as she swiped a finger over her tablet.
“Okay, first order of business.” She started, but Shaggy raised a hand.
“Hold on, Petra. We have to wait for Vlad. I want all of our leadership here before we get down to business. Also, I think we should leave bar business for the end, if you don’t mind.”
Ren raised a hand, but also so did Dave as he rocked back on his backwards chair. The two stumbled over each other for a bit before Ren let the smaller man talk.
“Yeah, about that. Why am I part of leadership? I don’t mind, but I was just wondering.”
Shaggy coughed into his hand awkwardly. “Well, you have most of the Lackeys out of us. I mean, next to Slink. But they seem to gravitate toward you, so if you don’t mind running with us, then you are gonna be in a leadership position. But you could also take those guys and start your own crew or something, I guess.”
Dave sat his chair back down and waved his arms. “Oh no thanks, dude. I was just wondering. I’ll stay here. You guys are the ones who are helping me make sense of some of this stuff. Like, what’s the Teacher Skill do?”
Slink sighed and explained. “Like we told you, Dave. You just have to mentally hover over the Skill and it should give you an idea of what it is. But if I had to guess, it’s from you teaching some of those Lackeys your kung-fu.”
“Naw. I don’t know any Kung-Fu. It’s just good ole-fashioned Karate. But that makes sense. Yeah, it says I can help increase other’s Skill in my preferred Martial Art. Cool. It’s like what I do in the real world. Wait, I don’t know if I wanna do my job in a game.”
Shaggy rubbed a hand down his face. “Well, if you could just do it every now and again. We would be grateful. Making our Lackeys stronger is good for all of us.”
Ren nodded. “Just whenever you feel like would be good. Also, to the other point, I think we should get the bar business out of the way while we can. Vlad doesn’t have to be here for that, and we can move on the gang-related stuff when he comes back.”
Shaggy looked at Ren and then at Petra, who seemed to vibrate in her chair with excitement. Tablet clutched in her hands. Shaggy sighed and gave the bigger player the stink-eye.
“Fine. Petra hit us with the business talk.”
Petra coughed and adjusted her pair of amazing randomly appearing spectacles. Shaggy sat back in his chair and winced as it creaked noisily. He groaned as Petra started going into the current state of affairs of the bar. Ren listened with rapt attention as Dave seemed to follow a fly with his eyes. Slink and Chromia were having a whispered conversation and Shaggy let the chatter drone over him as he tried to will Vlad to hurry back.