After JohnWillStab woke up from being beaten to death by the fat man, he walked up to Jordan's corpse, he respawned five minutes later, letting JohnWillStab breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank fuck you're alive," he exclaimed.
"Yeah, same to you..." Jordan replied.
JohnWillStab extended a hand and helped Jordan get up off the muddy ground.
They looked at the fat man, he was passed out on the ground.
"Looks like Alex decided to make a move against Eric..." JohnWillStab sighed.
"Why Eric?" Jordan asked confused.
"Earlier, when you were fighting the fatass, I told Alex my suspicions, that the illusionist was controlling him. It's weird how all magic users except Eric were treated like prisoners."
"And how he told me to 'Buzz off' after I cut his lip, that was a decent indicator of the fact Eric's bee-related-trauma carried over to him."
"So... you're saying Eric was the evil master-mind?" asked Jordan.
"Looks like it," said JohnWillStab gesturing to the fat man.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU FUCKING TELL ME!?" he demanded smacking John on the head.
"Careful, I just got this head!" he exclaimed.
"Let me explain." JohnWillStab cleared his throat before presenting his theory.
1: Tell Jordan Eric is bad.
2: Jordan confronts Eric before John and Alex are totally sure it's him.
3: Eric mind-controls Jordan.
4: Jordan kills either John or Alex.
5: Then he and the fatass team up against the remaining person.
6: Jordan lives on as a puppet or has his soul annihilated because he's upset about being a murderer.
7: Eric establishes an anti-bee dictatorship.
"Step seven is a bit of a work-in-progress," JohnWillStab explained.
Jordan opened his mouth to protest but didn't.
"That's... disturbingly possible..." Jordan yielded.
"Except for the last point..." Jordan added.
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"In any case, we should drag the baldy back inside, since it's actually him this time," JohnWillStab said terrified of the task.
The next morning...
JohnWillStab, Alex and Jordan were woken up by the sound of the fat man entering the house they were staying in.
"I HAVE COME BEARING APOLOGIES!" announced the man, he was clutching a large heap of alcohol bottles in his arms.
"Who the fuck is this man?" thought JohnWillStab, is vision clearing enough for him to be able to tell it was the fat man from before, his personality did a one-eighty.
"Who are you!?" Alex demanded grabbing a hold of his blade.
"I came to apologize for before! I wasn't myself - though that is no excuse!" he replied.
"He looks different... " thought Jordan.
He sat down on the ground cross-legged and placed the alcohol aside before lowering his head.
"I was trapped in a strange illusion by someone I considered a friend, after the spell wore off I remembered all the terrible things I did while under his control."
"For the things I did, the white-haired one and the pale one, if you wish to take my life, I will accept your judgment." he offered.
"Nah, I'm good. I'm satisfied with the revenge we got on Eric." he pointed to Eric who was desperately waving his hands around, on the floor rolling around in a pile of flowers making a buzzing noise. "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
"Yeah, I'm not one to seek revenge..." Jordan sighed.
"Besides, It's not your fault," he added.
The man sat up instantly, a happy grin returning to his face.
"Damn, that was quick..." thought Jordan.
Thal didn't say anything.
"Alright! Now that the apology is out of the way!" he began.
"I will go help repair the town, we have plenty of work to do!"
The man stood up and left with the alcohol.
"He took the fucking booze." Alex sighed.
JohnWillStab rolled over to his other side and closed his eyes, planning to get some more sleep.
"It probably tastes like piss anyway." he shrugged.
Beside JohnWillStab napped Arachnophobia curled up into a cinnamon bun shape...
Another hour later, JohnWillStab got up, as soon as he opened the door, he was surprised to see that the town so different in such a short amount of time.
Grass started spreading around thanks to the help of the druids, the trash and waste were collected by several people.
As expected the others received an apology as well.
Most understood, though some still chose to leave.
"I noticed Jordan wake up very soon after me waking up... I guess that's because I was passed out... I guess I stayed passed-out for a few minutes before choosing to respawn..." Thought JohnWillStab.
He saw the hill giant from before sitting on the ground, no longer chained up, the large man was apologising to it profusely, so much so it looked like the giant felt pretty awkward about the whole thing.
"That was a quick shift in atmosphere..." Alex exclaimed standing behind JohnWillStab.
"I know, right..."
With the help of the large man, the druids created a wooden leg to replace the one which was broken off, allowing the hill giant to walk back to its kind, it did so without hesitation, not willing to hear any more apologies.
"Right, now that's dealt with, we can go back to questing, right?" asked JohnWillStab.
"Guess so," replied Alex reluctantly.
"Are you guys getting ready to leave?" Asked Jordan running up behind them.
"Yep."
"Wait up a moment!" A voice called out from behind, they turned around and saw the large man from before, he ran up to them and handed them each a quest page.
"What's this?" Asked JohnWillStab.
"You three have really saved this town! So the villagers and I got a quick quest going for you guys."
They glanced down at the quest paper.
"Quest difficulty: S"
"Quest level range: 10 - 20"
"Task: Save the village of Levelgreen at least once at some point."
"Reward: 2113 XP
As soon as they accepted the quests their levels increased.
JohnWillStab was now level twelve.
Dexterity: 12 + 2(Gloves)
Perception: 13
Stamina: 9 + 4(Boots)
Athletics: 12
Strength: 10 + 1(Gloves)
Weapon skill: 14
Magic: 7
Intelligence: 9
Luck: 8 + 1(Ring)
Charisma: 3 + 9(Tits) (+2 from "Respected by villagers")
"Thanks a lot, guys..." JohnWillStab said putting the now useless page in his pocket.
"No, no, we should be the ones thanking you, sadly most of us lack the XP for a proper reward." the man replied.
"Guess this wasn't a waste of time after all." thought JohnWillStab satisfied.
"Alright, let's get going! We have mossbacks to kill!" JohnWillStab said turning to his party.
"Right!"