Zilnek quickly nodded his head, relief washing over him when Joe left with his sister. Kilniara brought him around the corner then looked into the dining area to make sure it was empty. Finding a few people there, Kilniara ended up going all the way back to the bedroom and Joe quickly outlined what he wanted to say to Zilnek. Kilniara listened carefully before nodding ever more as Joe explained and she began to understand. After he was done, she quickly reassured him.
“That sounds like exactly what he needs. He’s been a bit of a pain in the butt lately.”
Joe smiled, “Maybe, but he’s feeling a bit overwhelmed and not in control, so… I can understand how he’s feeling a bit, but…”
Kilniara nodded and pulled Joe back down but Joe still spoke on the way, “So … nothing bad if I do this?”
“No. He’ll be fine.”
Joe smiled, chuckling a bit as they walked down and back into the backyard. Kilniara spoke first as they went in, reassuring her brother, “Don’t worry. It’s fine, but you need to listen closely!”
Zilnek seemed to relax complete then nodded his head, looking up at Joe eagerly. Joe inspected Zilnek carefully, staring at him before finally nodding and making a choice.
“OK. Well… please listen carefully. I’m not angry or upset or accusing you of anything. I’m only worried about you and how you are going to grow as a person. It is more about you becoming a good person than you being a bad person, OK?”
Zilnek seemed to relax even more when he heard this and Joe settled on the ground, beckoning the others to sit in a circle around them.
“Right. So let’s make this a lesson. So, you’re feeling like this isn’t your fault or that you are not in control, right?”
Zilnek seemed to waffle a bit before nodding carefully, “A little bit, yes.”
“So. You think that something else forced this on you.”
Zilnek opened his mouth, nodding his head yes even as he began to speak before he stopped and thought carefully. After a few moments of careful though, he began to frown, “I guess I feel that way, but now that I think about it, I don’t know why I feel this way.”
Joe thought for a bit but then spoke, “I did end up calling you out on it.”
Zilnek quickly shook his head, “You had to. If you had given me over to the…” Zilnek cut off, shivering, fear flashing through his face, “I’m actually grateful for your consideration, if I were to be honest.”
Joe nodded, but said nothing, “But you do feel trapped.”
That was what broke the conversation wide open and Zilnek almost leapt to his feet in exultation, excitedly shouting, “Yes! That’s… yes! That’s what I feel!”
Joe smiled and nodded. He allowed Zilnek a moment to revel in his understanding and Joe nodded and offered his final comment, “Are you really trapped if I’m helping you? If we are all helping you?”
Zilnek frowns a bit, thoughtful before slowly nodding then smiling, his happiness growing, “No. No I’m not.”
The four soon fell into light small talk and spend the rest of their time for exercise in conversation. Joe then dragged everyone upstairs to wash up again since they’d spent so much time collapsed in the dirt after their exercises.
Washing up went quick, followed by a quick breakfast and then onto the dungeon. They’d still made it quite early, despite the time taken to resolve Zilnek’s issues, and found themselves in their dungeon corner, ready for the day. Joe did ask them to bring up their status to make sure all their stamina had recovered, worried how they would respond if they ended up trying to fight without the help of the system. Their stamina was back and he took the time to warn them about how they would feel once their stamina emptied again. Once he thought about it, though, he realized that it would be a good learning lesson and he took a bit of a detour on the normal dungeon fight.
“Wait. Let’s go ahead and let you guys actually feel what it’s like to fight without stamina. This will be really important if you ever get in a dangerous situation. If you are used to it, or expect it, you will be able to keep fighting and protect yourself, OK?”
The other three seemed to shift nervously and Joe smiled, comforting them, “Don’t worry. I’ll fight right next to you and keep you safe, OK?”
The other three relaxed and nodded at that, excited if still nervous. Joe called Garnedell out first as he had the best combat ability, and he explained that to all of them. Garnedell accepted with some trepidation and the other two nodded with acceptance.
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Joe brought Garnedell out with him, “OK. Go ahead and drop your stamina down to zero. You should maybe do planks. You don’t want to tire your legs or arms.”
Garnedell nodded then dropped and quickly ran through his stamina. Joe watched his status and when he’d dropped his stamina into the single digits, Joe picked up a stick and waited another few moments before tossing the stick at the nearest goblin. When it arrived, Joe engaged it with his shield and then waited, dancing around the strikes of the goblin while he let Garnedell set up to fight.
When Garnedell felt his stamina zero out, he groaned, and his stomach quivering in pain. Joe heard his reaction and called out to him.
“Right. Up, up, up. Up and fight. Quick before you recover any stamina.”
Garnedell struggled to stand, his movement occurring in spurts as his stamina recovered then was immediately used. He stopped to take a breath but Joe shouted him down.
“No. Don’t stop to rest. It’ll defeat the purpose and if you lose your stamina in the middle of a fight, you might not react well.”
Garnedell groaned and stepped forward, swinging his staff at the goblin and thumping it on the head. Even as he swung, Garnedell grunted in pain, but pulled his staff back after it smacked the goblin’s head, ready to block an attack.
The goblin screeched and turned, screaming as it began wildly striking at Garnedell. Garnedell barely held the goblin in check, spending almost everything on blocking the goblin without ever really retaliating. Joe watched for a moment before he began offering warnings.
“You’re only going to feel worse and worse if you don’t do something. Soon, you will feel worse, more tired, and you will get hit. Fight back.”
Garnedell grimaced but then actively blocked a strike, shoving strongly, if a bit wildly, against the goblin’s strike, tumbling it off balance. Garnedell groaned a scream as he quickly swapped grip on the staff to a more aggressive one and swung it hard at the goblin. The staff smacked again the upper arm of the goblin, stunning it once again, and Garnedell pressed his advantage, his screaming groan morphing to a growl of anger as fear kicked in and he began wildly beating at the goblin, albeit much more weakly than while he still had system stamina. His strikes were poorly controlled and aimed, most striking limbs and even hands and feet, but were enough to keep it at bay and finally defeat it. However, it took him quite a bit longer to fight and he completely collapsed after the fight.
Joe let him fall, smiling with pride, “Nice job. How do you feel?”
“So… so… so tired! I’ve never felt tired like this before?!”
Joe smiled and chuckled, “Now you know how I felt every day.”
Garnedell’s wide eyes looked at Joe in shock, “Really?”
Joe chuckled but said nothing, “Head back for a rest?”
Garnedell smiled, nodding, “Definitely. Thank you. That was… very strange!”
Joe laughed and sent Garnedell back to the corner before calling out for the next one to come. Zilnek leapt to his feet and Joe smiled. Except for the strange weapon, the exact same thing played out, although Zilnek’s frenetic strikes were not quite as strong, but were better controlled. The fight ended the same way, with Zilnek collapsed on the floor in wide eyed wonder, fear slowly retreating.
“See? You can do it.”
“But… it was so hard!”
Joe smiled, laughing a bit, “How often do I take rests here in the dungeon?”
“You never do, except for lunch.”
“Do you think my stamina points last that long?”
Zilnek’s eyes grew wider and wider as the realization struck home. Joe smiled, nodding, before sending him back to rest.
“Go get some rest. Let Kilniara have a turn.”
Zilnek groaned a bit as he rose to his feet since his stamina was still pretty much empty, and he staggered back to the corner. He didn’t even need to wave as Kilniara already rushed out and dropped into a plank, looking up at Joe with excited expectation. Joe laughed and nodded, accepting her status that she’d opened on the run over. He watched her stamina points dropped and admonished her at the same time.
“Don’t get too excited, you’ll feel a lot more fear, worry, and exhaustion than you’re usually used to,” Joe grinned.
Kilniara nodded, but remained excited, “Yeah, but I’m still excited.”
Joe laughed and picked up the stick, Kilniara’s stamina now already into the single digits.
“Ready?”
“Yup!” she rebutted excitedly.
Joe shook his head and found the nearest goblin, but waited another couple seconds, now more able to judge the stamina loss compared to the arrival time of the goblin. He tossed the stick and the goblin shrieked at him as he tore forward, grabbing the stick as a weapon. The goblin arrived before Kilniara’s stamina collapsed and beat on Joe’s shield several times before Kilniara groaned, her stamina gone.
Having seen the other two, she struggled to her feet, pushing herself before setting herself carefully and bringing her staff down on the goblin’s head in a mighty swing. Setting herself had returned a point of stamina to her, allowing her more control and strength, but it had been a very wise move; excellent planning on her part. He didn’t want to discourage that, so allowed her to do so although he quickly prepared to intercept for her in case the sudden drop to zero stamina disrupted her.
It did shock her a bit more than she was ready for, but was still able to fall back to a defense, although she ended up trapped in defense just as Garnedell had been. Joe allowed it to go on for another few moments before offering the same warning he’d given to Garnedell. Like Garnedell, the warning spurred Kilniara on and she went on the offense. However, unlike Garnedell, the goblin was able to get in a couple swats with his stick against her side and one on her leg. She flinched but didn’t let it stop her, pushing herself into striking the goblin until it fell, dead.
She collapsed like the others and Joe offered the same encouragement. He did, however, notice the strikes from the stick didn’t seem to affect Kilniara much, and he asked her about them.
“You OK? The goblin hit you pretty hard,” Joe asked while looking at her health points. They’d dropped down to single digits in the fight, but never once zeroed out. The strikes hadn’t been deadly, but they were enough to make any combat newbie cry out in pain at the strikes from the switch.
Kilniara nodded, “Yeah. I’m fine. They weren’t that big a deal.”
“They didn’t hurt?”
“Not much. It didn’t break my health.”
Joe blinked, nodding, thoughts already thinking about health points and how it might affect people, including him, “Alright. Head back for some rest. I’ll do some fighting myself. When you guys all feel better, please tell me. I want to make sure you are ready and alright before you fight, OK?”