"That all seemed like it was a lot of fun"
"It was, I have always wished for something like that in my world, so the fact that it is a training ground for rogues was honestly the most exciting part about having died…"
"I sense your concerns, and do not worry, I didn’t steal them, they are just dimmed, for now, we have found that if we didn’t many would linger on their lost life and fade away before they could do anything beyond sob. So it is for both your protection and the patron's benefit to have them dimmed, the longer you are here, the more the strength and importance of the memories to you come back."
"So that is why I can remember everything, but it doesn’t feel as important to me as it should, wow, I mean I get it, but that kind of sucks."
"Agreed, some have not taken this news well, and have fallen into their own personal hells as a result, so for your own well-being, I do hope you don't let it rule you."
"That is a relief actually, I was terrified that I'd become a sociopath or something, something to look forward to I guess."
"Agreed, but to continue our conversation from last night, after looking into it, from what I could find, the belief in the afterlives of the religions has slowed down the flow here, but it shouldn’t be as much as it seems to be, and that may be a problem worth looking into."
"Fair enough, because I know that at least a chunk of my world's population is either Atheist or agnostic, so it makes no sense for me to be one of only a few over the last few years let alone the centuries that you're suspecting that it has been since one from my world has been here."
"Mhmm, I will continue to look into this, I will let you sleep now, it may be a few days before I reach out to you again."
The world faded back into comfortable darkness, and before he knew it, Davin's body decided that it was time to wake up, feeling more rested than he had previous nights, making him think that interacting with the Patrons may not count as restful sleep. Davin spent a good chunk of time trying to remember aspects of his life, thinking about when he met his wife, their whirlwind courting before they got married three months later, the first few years that passed in the blink of an eye, the day they found out that they were pregnant with their son, the first time he held his son, and everything was there, but Compass was right, it all was there, just muted. He wanted to feel sad, happy, something, it felt like watching someone else's life, and that was what hurt him, after getting caught in these feelings, he remembered that this is exactly what has brought several down to their knees, and he was stronger than that, he remembers at least that much about himself, he wasn't one to get depressed and linger on things that were outside of his control, he needed to make sure he lasted here, that was how he would get the feelings tied to his memories back. After shaking himself out of that stupor he thought about his status, remembering that he hadn't looked at it since we picked his race, he'd messed around with the inspect feature, but he hadn't looked at himself, and with that Davin opened his status.
Davin O'wild
Human Rogue in training*
Patron: Compass (adventure, compassion, and wonder)
Strength
10
Dexterity
16
Constitution
12
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
13
Charisma
12
Proficiencies: Insight, Persuasion, Survival, cooking tools, basic crafting tools, Acrobatics*, Athletics*, Deception*, Intimidation*, Investigation*, Perception*, Performance*, Sleight of Hand*, Stealth*
Feat(s): Lucky
Spells:
Cantrips: Guidance
Gear
dark and natural-colored clothing, soft-soled boots, pouch belts, a bedroll, a blanket, some candles, a mess kit, a few rations, soap, a tinderbox, and some torches
Tent
[Lesser handy backpack]: slightly larger on the inside than it looks, also reduces the weight of items put inside. [Upgradable]
[Badge: 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 [unbound].
* Denotes that aspect is currently in training and is not set as a class, skill, or ability.
After looking over the details of his status he saw that there was quite a bit more than there was before, but most of the new add-ons had an asterisk and a note that they were "currently in training", assuming that tag is just because he was currently in the Rogue training halls and regularly working with trainers, a question for another day. After that, Davin dedicated herself to getting up for the day, getting on some fresh clothes, and stretching, since who knows what he's going to do today, so he might as well be prepared for it. Fully limbered up, Davin set out into the hall, starting to make his way down it, at that point he started to wonder if there was more than one way down the hall since he'd remembered that first day when the wall opened and many people were watching, there must be a way to get there. Avoiding setting off the trapped panels that he'd passed he found himself in the last stretch, thinking about how he'd wished that thieves' tools were higher in priority on the training list. The last stretch of the hall was farther than he could jump even if he'd mixed in some wall running, there was no physical way to get there in one go. The worst he could do was try, "what's the worst that could happen?" slipped from his lips as he thought about the dilemma, having realized it, he slapped his hands over his mouth and dropped down to a crouch, knowing that the hall was set up to train you to move and act silently, but it was too late, his words echoed down the hall, seeming to get louder and louder with each moment, setting off every trigger down the hall.
When Davin came too, he was in what looked to be a hospital, but from before the industrial revolution, a strange colored liquid was on a drip tube, a needle in his arm, and his head throbbed. He felt like an idiot, he uttered the one thing that you should never say when you don’t know what the results of your actions will be. The one good thing that he could think of for the moment, was that he could still hear, the sound of his breathing loud in his ears in this empty room.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"You're up, good, you had us all worried" the sound of Jes's voice was music to Davin's ears.
"You have no idea how good it feels to hear your voice" tears edged into Davin's eyes, the creak in the edges of his voice.
"I'm glad you're hearing anything at all" the relief in her voice clear, "we'd not had a backlash like that in years."
"What happened?" concern edged into his voice.
"Apparently, when you quickly crouched it was just enough to set off the alarm trap, but because it had come just after the echo marker you basically set the whole thing off, on one hand, we are lucky that you were the only one in there, if there were too many that got injured like you did, we likely wouldn't have been able to save them all."
Davin felt relief and hurt at that statement "I'm glad no one else was hurt".
Jes rested her hand on his shoulder, "we aren't set up for treating mass injuries like that, I'm glad you made it out alive", tears welling in her eyes as Davin's met hers. Throwing Davin off, the worry in her eyes struck deep to his core "I'm tougher than I look" cracking a smile trying to get her to smile back. The corner of her mouth rose, "don't let it happen again, I couldn't take losing someone anymore."
"Anymore?" the confusion clear in his voice, "I thought you couldn't die since we were already dead?"
"You're right, we can't die, but that doesn’t mean we can't be lost, damage to the psyche enough and you basically become a husk, hollow, some recover, but it can take a very long time", grief tinting her response.
Davin nodded, "Okay, I will be far more careful, that is not an experience that I want to relive."
"No rest for the wicked they say, so come on, let's get you up, today is when you learn the tools of the trade." Jes stood up and offered her hand to Davin.
Moving slowly, the pain thrumming if he moved too quickly "I'm in no condition for anything too physical", pulled the IV from his arm, and it came out easily, the needle mark vanishing the moment it left his skin.
"Nothing to worry about there, it will mainly be an introduction to the weapons we use and then getting your hands on your first set of thieves' tools", supporting his body as they walked slowly out of the infirmary.
"Weapons? Like for fighting?" surprise tinted his voice.
"Yup, can't all get on by just good looks, plenty of times you have to solve things the quick and dirty way, and we want to make sure you can do that the quickest way possible" a hint of a flirty tone in her voice, as she pulled out a dagger to show it off briefly before stowing it once again.
"Never was good with weapons, my world was mostly peaceful" Davin felt inadequate as a result of this statement.
"Nothing wrong with that, mine was too, that is why I use daggers, the closest thing to a kitchen knife and the only thing I was any good with" a hint of a blush on her cheeks as well, "Depending on your path, you won't need them, but it is better to have them and not need them then it is to need them and not have them."
Davin nodded along, her logic did make a lot of sense, "being prepared is easier than improvising at the moment."
The two of them arrived in what seemed to be a small armory, a large assortment of weapons hung on the walls, many that he was familiar with, and quite a few he couldn't even imagine how they could be used. "Okay, just grab a few, see how they feel in your hands, you want something that feels right more than ‘how good you think it is’ making quotes with her fingers.
Davin started looking around, grabbing and testing the weight of a few weapons, picking up what looked like a sledgehammer, swinging it briefly, and grunting loudly with the effort. "Definitely not you" putting the maul back on the wall. Testing some tried and true rogue daggers was strange, they both felt right, but at the same time wrong, setting a few aside to throw. He started looking for something, but wasn’t sure if he'd find it since he wanted to go the path of the explorer, he needed the most iconic tool known to clichés, "found you" Davin whispered as he picked up a whip, giving it a few test swings, feeling the smoothness of the swing.
"Not usually a rogue weapon, but I can see its uses, but don’t have anyone that specializes in the training of using a whip" Jes tapped her chin and looked off into the distance while she thought, "I can teach daggers and most other simple weapons, Gale prefers a rapier, swords, and bows."
Setting the whip aside with the daggers he kept looking around, thinking that he was missing something, " are our stats the same?" he asked with no preamble.
"Huh? Stats?" Jes sounded confused by the question.
"Yeah, what comes up when you activate your status?" he activated his status with a thought just so he could look it over while talking about it.
"Ah, I understand now, well you should be able to inspect me, go ahead if you want since I'm giving you permission you should see some, but since we haven't known each other long, it limits the information" Jes seemed to wave her hand through something that Davin couldn't see in front of her. Looking at her and thinking about inspecting her, the familiar window popped up and he looked over her stats.
Jessabelle "Jes" De 'Ore
Tiefling Rogue Inquisitive
Patron: the one who seeks truths
Strength
18
Dexterity
14
Constitution
10
Intelligence
18
Wisdom
16
Charisma
14
Trained skills:-
"Jessabelle? Huh, I for some reason was expecting something different, something unpronounceable" shrugging.
"Is there something wrong with my name?" Jes's tone took a harsher edge.
"Oh, no, it’s a pretty name, but when I came to this world I was expecting something, less normal I guess? That is a name from my world," holding his hands up defensively.
"A lot of us have similar origins, so similar naming conventions wouldn’t be much of a stretch, but it could also be that the words you're hearing are being magically translated by this world." Jes shrugged.
"Huh, hadn't even considered that option…." concern grew on Davin's face as he thought of what else could be taken care of by magic that he was missing.
"It is common courtesy to offer your status after viewing someone else's" Jes pouted softly.
"Oh, you're right, go ahead, take a look" with that she waved her hand in Davin's general direction and he could see the window's translucent frame hanging in front of her, "Didn't know I would be able to see the window too."
With that, Jes looked up, "You can?" confusion crawled onto her face.
"Am I not supposed to?" Davin asked now feeling just as confused as Jes looked.
"Normally no, not unless someone is showing you with a spell or ability," Jes stated matter-of-factly.
"Weird" Davin stated with a shrug.
"I figured your stats would have been a lot higher than mine, also, why can I only see your name, class, patron, and stats? Figured it would have been more there", Davin sounded concerned at the lack of details.
"Well, it is based on your level, since you are a level zero, it will only show you the absolute basics, since I am a higher level than you, I can see your current training class, skills, and other options, the only thing I can't see are the things you have equipped" still looking over his status.
"So just as my level gets higher I can see more? What about if I want to do it without them permitting me?" thinking about what Gale's stats could be.
"As I said before, there are a few spells and items that let you do it, but they are very few and far between, but just doing it without them is nearly impossible," crossing her arms as she waved Davin's status away.
"Good to know" finishing looking at all the things in the armory, playing with a few things that were well outside his known skill level, but they were all the classics.
Laying out the weapons that he'd picked out, looking them over, a handful of daggers, most balanced for throwing and a single one balanced for use in melee, a whip, and a hand crossbow. The last item was at the request of Jes, "sometimes range is a safer option" knowing he would need a lot of practice with it before he felt that he would be ready for using it in combat. Jes had shown him a range that he could freely use with any of his weapons. Still feeling the lingering damage from the morning, he took his time, mostly trying to get a feel for the weight of the throwing daggers, only a few of his throws making it to the target let alone sticking in like they are supposed to. The hand crossbow was a little easier to use than he had originally expected it to be, the tricky part was reloading the weapon in a quick enough manner for it to be effective. After a while, Jes brought him a strange box and a collection of tools. "ready for these? Should be the last pieces you need" the box made a heavy thunk as she set it down.
Davin recognized a few of the tools "what all is that?"
"These are the tools of the trade, a little bit of everything to keep you alive" patting the tools on the table, "and this box here is what you're going to practice on" patting the box.
The next few days kept to a similar pattern, still not hearing back from Compass, but feeling far more confident in his abilities, still having yet to finish the hall, but getting further and further each day. His repeated torture at the hands of Gale and the improv games made him feel better about those, but they were not skills he was focused on, he made better use of Jes's training, being able to pick out the lies with the improv group. His training with Jes were some of his favorite times, the two of them worked on some more new challenges that would help others in the future. The box was a different story, it was a mixture of locks, puzzles, and traps, while parts of it were fun, there were a few things about it that Davin could have done without since all of the traps were real… non-lethal, but real all the same, itching powders, pepper oils, and a slew of other things, that Jes would reset once the box was finished.