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Chapter 21: Unlocked

Davin hit yes, and a new feeling flowed through his mind, a mix of relief as well as power as the next pop-up filled his vision.

[Congratulations, You are now a level one Rogue, you now have full access to all aspects of your class as well as all of the powers that your patron has to offer you. Your next choice for this class will happen at your third level. You are also now free to multiclass as you see fit, you will need to finish each class training to unlock the class.]

[Patron spell added to the spellbook. Guiding Hand]

[Spell casting unlocked]

Davin found himself staring at his pop-ups and smiling when he finally noticed that Big Green was waving his hand in front of Davin trying to get his attention. He was official, he was now a full rogue, and he was ready to start his real adventure, all of his training was instantly justified, he wasn’t sure, but he felt far more confident about what he'd learned from his training over the last few… weeks? It's only been a few weeks by Earth standards, but he felt like it had been far longer, especially when thinking about his friends, this was exciting news that he wanted to share with them too.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I just unlocked my class and levels, was just reading all the pop-ups." Davin said to Big Green as he shook his head trying to not get too absorbed in the rampant pile of thoughts that were hitting him.

"Oh?! That is fantastic news, I got this here, you go celebrate, heck, you come back later and I'll buy you a drink! So, go on, get, go tell Gale, he was worried that you'd not get your last unlock and that you were going to switch classes, but don't tell him I told you that." The big man let out a loud laugh and went back to sorting his fish as he waved Davin a goodbye.

Davin headed back to the rogue's training hall, he wanted to tell Gale and Jes, heck he even wanted to tell Grim. His excitement calmed down as he walked to the hall, while it was still internalized, he wanted to have a little fun at Gales's expense if he could, his thoughts switched to how to best trick the "liar" rogue as Jes commonly referred to him as. "Big Green said that he was concerned that I'd leave, and try for another class… I could make use of that, not as well as he could, but I'm sure I could keep a straight face long enough to get a good laugh out of it all." his plot started to form, "Was fisher a class or just a profession? I like fishing well enough, could I pull off a 'switch' that big?" By the time he made it back to the hall, he'd started to stoop, letting every emo song that he remembered ring in his mind as he tried to act as though the world was against him, dragging his feet as he entered, looking down, pulling into himself as he moved through the common areas. Gale was in the dining room, he was chatting with Jes the two looked worried as they finally noticed Davin as he made his way across the room. Jes was the first to get up, she moved quickly, but Gale was far faster than she was, he got to Davin first.

"Mate, you okay? You didn't come back from The Hall yesterday." The concern in Gale's voice was thick.

"Yeah, I just…. I just don't think all this rogue stuff is for me…." Barely speaking over a whisper, his lip quivered as he held back a smile, but it came off as if he was holding back tears, his voice cracking in the right spot to make it sound convincing. By this point Jes had gotten to him, hearing his words, a large smile spread over her lips, picking up on the game that Davin was playing.

"It isn't for everyone, and if you think you can't cut it, we can't force you to stay." Gale looked at her like she was crazy, she kept a sad tone in her voice playing along with Davin.

"What?! What are you both talking about? He has the talent, he's one of the most promising prospects either of us had seen in a while, and you think he should just give that up… and… and do what?" The panic started working its way into Gale's voice.

"I spent yesterday out at Long Dock, and I was thinking I could be a fisher, I liked it well enough in my last life." Shrugging and swaying the act became harder especially since Jes picked up and was playing along.

"A noble trade." Jess nodded along.

"A Fisherman? That is such a waste of your talent." Gale threw his hands into the air, and a light blast of wind radiated from him.

Jes was the first to break, she snorted and coughed before letting out a loud laugh. Davin followed suit, his laugh rang out as he and Jes stood together trying to keep each other standing. Gale was instantly confused, the two laughing together after such devastating news seemed like it was too much.

"Why are you laughing? This is terrible news." His horrified expression grew deeper as he stood confused as the two continued to laugh.

Jes was the first to say something as she took a deep breath. "This is why Insight is important, you can't even see a lie so blatant…"

By this point, Davin had stood up and caught his breath. "I got my class, you're looking at a level one rogue." Davin held his hands out like he was presenting himself to a crowd. Jes squealed and tossed her arms around him.

"You did it!" She planted a small kiss on his cheek. "I knew you could! Congratulations!"

"You did?" Gale's anger drained out of him like a balloon deflating, he drooped and let out a laugh. "Oh, you bastard, that was a good one." He let out a long sigh. "I'm glad mate, we should celebrate, but later, because right now I kinda wanna stab you."

Davin started to back away, Jes took the cue to make herself scarce as well, and they left the dining hall they heard the cackle of Gale laughing maniacally. The two walked together, Jes' arm wrapped around Davin's as they made their way towards his room.

"You smell terrible by the way, you should take a bath." Jes sniffed at him and exaggeratedly plugged her nose and turned away.

"It's on the list." He stretched and shook out his limbs. "Pushing a cart of heavy fish through town and then staying in a rat man's house has a special kind of funk to it, I need to was my other clothes anyway, but that can wait." He pulled her into an embrace, her cheeks instantly colored and he placed a light kiss on her lips. "Okay, that feels better."

Jes touched her lips, the color in her cheeks getting darker, she continued to hold his arm as he continued to walk to his room. "I… I…" He tangled his fingers with hers.

"I don’t know if I'm ready to be an us yet, but I like you, I just want to make sure you know that." He smiled and stepped into his room. She sat on the bed since there weren’t many places to sit. He started undoing his boots, and he heard her let out a gasp.

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"Are we?" Her hands went to her buttons.

Finally catching up and seeing how what he was doing could be taken. "As flattered as I am, I'm not ready for that yet, but I've been in these same socks for an entire day and I really need to take them off."

She laughed as she buried her face into her hands, and a poor attempt to cover the color that at this point had made its way to her ears. "I'm sorry, I just thought."

"You're fine, nothing to apologize for, if it makes you feel any better, you can still count it as flirting." He laughed lightly as he continued pulling off his extra layers stripping down to his shirt and pants. He tossed all of his other clothes into a pile and grabbed fresh ones, and pulled everything together. "I do need a bath, and to do laundry, you can join me if you want."

"Hmmm, maybe, a bath would be nice, but I do have a party to plan, we don’t get a new rogue every day." The color had faded to where she was only a shade darker than her normal skin tone.

"I Don't need a party, you and Gale, maybe Grim are all I really need, and Big Green Said he'd buy me a drink." He sat on the bed next to her and leaned against her.

She nodded. "That seems like a good idea, so I'll let the guys know, and we'll all meet at The Hall in a few hours, now go bathe, you smell like a fish was used as a murder weapon against a troglodyte."

"See I thought I smelled like a homeless man that used 'odeur de poisson'." He sniffed himself and let out a small cough. "Yeah, that’s rough."

Washing his laundry had been an action that he didn't have to think about much in his previous life, handwashing was a vastly different experience than he ever thought it would be, especially since he was in fact, dead, and he didn’t have plans to have to do laundry in the afterlife. Luckily the smell of fish and filth washed out without too many issues, but he thought about what could be on his clothes in the future, like what did monster blood do to your pants? He really didn’t want to think about it, but as he washed his clothes his mind just idled around it, he honestly figured that a magically advanced society would have solved these problems already. When he finally made it to his bath it felt like magic, the stiff muscles that he'd accumulated started to relax, and he felt a longing for a shower, while he never minded baths, he much preferred showering, that lingering thought of bathing in your own filth, even if there was soap involved.

He had gotten all of his clothes from the drying room and had made it back to his room without incident, but at the same time he wasn’t expecting any, but at the same time he wasn’t sure what this world did about leveling, was it akin to a birthday, since this place didn’t suffer the same progression of time that the rest of the universe did. And with that thought, he brought up his status.

Davin O'wild

Human Rogue (1)

Patron: Compass

AC: 14

HP: 9

Strength

10

Dexterity

16

Constitution

12

Intelligence

13

Wisdom

14

Charisma

12

Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of hand, Survival, Light Armor, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, short swords, cooking tools, basic crafting tools, thieves' tools

Expertise: skill specializations grant bonus to Investigation and Insight

Sneak Attack: You deal bonus damage when you catch a target off guard or when you and an ally are working together, this is limited to finesse or ranged weapons.

Thieves' Cant: You know a select secret way of wording what you say or by using hand signals to be able to communicate other details to those that also have this skill.

Feat(s):

Lucky (feat): 3 times a day, you can alter your luck, when making an action, you can spend one of these points to put things in your favor, when being attacked, you can use this feature to turn an attack against you into a miss.

Spells:

Cantrips: Guidance

Level 1: Guiding hand

Gear:

dark and natural-colored clothing

soft-soled boots or shoes

Belt pouch

a bedroll

a blanket

some candles

a mess kit

a few rations

Soap

tinderbox

some torches

Tent

Pouch of assorted tokens

Whisper stone

Treasure hunter (patch, unbound)

[Rogues Belt]: (Attuned) When attuned this belt grants the bonuses from any patches attached to it, as well as provides a small amount of extra protection, this belt has six patch slots and once it is equipped, takes the shape of a standard belt, the patches mixing into the material protecting them from damage.

[Patch: Keen-eyed: grants a small bonus when using perception. Reward from Big Green for using your inspection on something you suspected was more than it appeared [bound].

[Lesser handy backpack]: slightly larger on the inside than it looks, also reduces the weight of items put inside. [Upgradable]

Seeing it all start to fill out was eerie, since the magic this world used as a whole was able to track everything, even the new patch that he'd gotten that he hadn't even attached yet. He then remembered part of the prompt, he now had spell casting, he looked over his spells, and he remembered that the one named Guidance would help him when he needed to make use of his skills, the new one he wasn’t sure about, concentrating on the spell.

Guiding hand: When casting this spell, visualize a location that you know, or has been described to you, upon success, a spectral guide manifests to lead you to your destination.

That seemed simple enough, as he thought about The Hall, and he concentrated on being led to it, and the strange feeling of remembering something you don’t know swelled, words that he didn’t know came from his mouth, and his hands moved in a smooth pattern that seemed to repeat, after a few moments he began to panic and he spat and shook his arms, a feeling like his ability to focus crashed into him, an instant headache began to throb behind his eyebrows, and his vision swayed. It took what felt like several minutes for his mind to settle, the whole experience making him want to swear off magic of any kind from this point onward, thinking he would need to talk to Hugh about it…. "Hugh!" as his thoughts got back together, one of the people that he didn’t think to invite to his party, he pulled the whisper stone from his pocket, squeezing it and holding it to his mouth.

"Hugh!" He spoke clearly into the stone, just like he had when he was called, and the stone started to buzz in his hand.

"Davin? What's up?" Hugh asked casually.

"I Did it, Party at The Hall tonight"

"You did it? Wait, did you get your class?"

"Wooo!" Davin's whoop of excitement seemed to be all that he could really say and the whole thing started to sink in.

"Alright! At The Hall? Heck yeah, I'm in, I'll start making my way there now!"

The whisper stone buzzed again, meaning that Hugh had let go of the stone, Davin pulled himself up and started pulling himself together, his head having calmed. A set of nicer clothes was now on his wish list of things, he was having to go to his 'graduation' party in his normal everyday clothes, he honestly hoped that he wouldn’t stand out too badly, but he also couldn’t remember seeing anything too fancy when it came to clothing, except for when he and Jes went around town, but he wasn’t sure if it was because they were nice, or that they looked nice on her. He finished getting ready, making himself as presentable as he could, trying to style his hair, and left all of his weaponry in his room.

Davin walked into The Hall and it was as lively as he'd ever seen it, to that, he noticed that almost every face in the hall was people that he'd seen in the rogue's training hall. He didn't know most of their names but he had seen them, and they'd talked on occasion, most he mostly recognized from the agility training areas that had become a big thing after Davin introduced tag to the training. He eventually found Jes, Gale, and Grim, who had set up on a central table and had already had a drink waiting for him, as he sat down they slid it to him, and he took a deep drink from it. And that is likely where he made his first mistake, He did just unlock his rogue class, and most of the people in the room were all rogues….