Chapter 8 - Meeting

I came to in a white … it wasn’t really a room. More like everything was just white. There was a figure in front of me. I didn’t know it back then, but he looked like a ken doll. No clothes - also no private parts - a static smile on his face. Even when he(?) started talking the face didn’t change, the mouth just mechanically opened and closed.

“Hello you annoying piece of shit. I don’t have time for your questions so let me be blunt. You are on a path that would ruin my plans for this century. I am willing to offer you a deal. You get a … let’s call it a handicap. In the form of a Perk. This would ensure you don’t interfere with my plans too much. Actually you could be an interesting addition to them, but we will see. In return you get another Perk, which will give you a boon roughly at the same power level as your handicap.”

I went to scratch my head, but that felt weird, because I didn’t have any hair here. In the end I just crossed my arms

“Why should I? No offence buddy, but I don’t see how this trade is in my interest. You said yourself that it would equal out. Can’t you offer me something better in return? Or just some details on this ‘handicap’ would be nice.”

He(the voice was definitely male) sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. That looked really weird. He didn’t close his eyes during. After a few moments in this pose he removed his hand from his face and started to count on his fingers

“First: Fuck you, for demanding I give you stuff. Second: I am trying to be nice here. I have been told that I should try conflict resolution before I send people after you.”

He took a few deep breaths. Or he made the sounds of deep breathing. Chest didn’t rise or anything.

“You are currently making my plans for non-violent resolution seem rather foolish.”

I don’t know why I didn’t feel any fear of him, but I couldn’t help but satisfy my curiosity: “How do you send people after someone? Do you have assassins at your beck and call?”

He stared into my eyes for a solid minute, until he spoke with a lot less anger: “You know what, kid? I kind of like how you have no sense of self preservation. It’s refreshing. To answer your question: I ‘send people’ by pulling them up here and giving them a quest and promising them some perk for their troubles. That’s what I would have done for you, but again, trying to be less violent here. So? Deal?”

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He stared at me expectantly. I still didn’t feel any fear, or really anything. Just cold hard reason without any emotion. In that state I asked what seemed to me to be the obvious solution.

“Can’t you just tell me what to avoid instead?”

“I like how you think, but no. Not since you have that Oath. If you go into that dungeon there is a 40% chance you come out alive. If you come out alive you will be set to disrupt my plans substantially. Believe me the Perk idea is the best solution for the both of us. If you are smart you could even turn the handicap into sort of an advantage. Anyway, no more questions. Yes, or no?”

Well that wasn’t much of a choice so I tentatively said: “Yes?”

“Great! Now accept!”

We stared at each other. “Accept what?”

He sighed once more “Didn’t you go to school in some form?”

I chuckled: “I would say ‘Some form’ is a generous descriptor.”

“Ok, fuck! Whatever we’ll have to do this quick and dirty then. Although you should really look into accessing your soul one of these days.” He took out a little rectangle, you would recognise it as a tablet computer, and started to look intensely into it.

After a few moments he cried out triumphantly “Aha! [Internal Mana Manipulation]! That should work in a pinch.” He swiped a few times on his tablet. “Alright. I have your verbal consent, now you need to do exactly as I tell you.” I nodded my ascent “Good. Now pool your mana into your centre and form them into the word ‘YES’ all capital letters.” I did as he said.

And just like that I was back in my Body, being slapped by Val. Repeatedly.

“WAKE UP, DAMMIT! WAKE UP!” She yelled to emphasise her point.

I caught her next slap and told her: “I am awake, ok? Where have you been this whole time?”

She sighed in relief and let go of me, before answering: “I was busy concealing you. Someone was scrying your whole village and it takes a lot of effort to conceal someone from a scrying spell without the caster knowing something is concealed from them.”

That was a … surprisingly reasonable explanation.

“OK, that makes sense. Thank you!” I paused for a moment and looked at the unconscious [Ranger] on the Floor. “We need to… I need to save my people. They were being kidnapped to act as sacrifices for some ritual in a local dungeon. The mage at the head is presumably the one who was scrying.”

Val let out a long sigh, like really long. And said: “You made an oath didn’t you?”

“Yep! [Oath of Vengeance] to be exact.”

“Oh! Alright. That I can work with. I was afraid you made something like an [Oath of Rescue] or [Oath of Saving]. Those can fail really easily. What do you need to kill?”

“The mage and the [Rangers] that betrayed the village.”

“Not the easiest targets, but that’s OK. I am guessing you interrogated this miscreant already, right?” She pointed at the downed [Ranger]. Skadi was standing guard over him. Good Girl.

“Yeah. The dungeon is two days Travel north-east of the village and the sacrifice is supposed to commence in 25 days. I was thinking we travel in that direction, while you give me intense Anatomy lessons based on our specimen here.”

“Good Idea. We’ll cut the hunting time to travel 4 hours a day. I’ll give you my food for the next while. But what are you going to do once we reach the dungeon? Just walz in with your claws?”

“Nope. I will need to get proficient in [Human Anatomy]. Then we grab one of the mages henchmen and I’ll get proficient in [Goblin Anatomy]. Then I will infiltrate the dungeon and launch an attack from the inside.”

Val gave me one of her rare, genuine smiles. The last time I saw one was when I managed to make my detachable claws. She put a hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and said: “Let’s do it.”

And with that I set off on my first Quest.