The journey back to the sheriff's village was uneventful, with the three party members walking carefully but casually on a bright fall morning.
Clyde's spells had ranked up, and while going up a level was the most efficient way to improve skills, spells, and abilities, using them often and for a real reason also did the job.
The DM had a pet peeve about players getting stronger through cheesing the system, reminiscent of players improving skills in games like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion by endlessly repeating actions. In this game, using skills allowed progression, but they had to be legitimately used. Clyde couldn't mindlessly use his heat vision spell; he had to be actively searching for something.
This game, backed by two intelligent entities, allowed for judgment calls, but specific equations or formulas governed most outcomes. Clyde had been talking with Lucy, the AI, trying to get a breakdown of values for ranking up. While she was hesitant to share specifics, Clyde had obtained some information he was discussing with Travis.
"I feel like she could tell us exactly how we rank up, but for some reason, she doesn't want to. There's something else too, but I hate that we can never speak privately," Clyde mentioned.
This caught Travis's attention. "I hear you, but I don't think there's anything we can do about that. What is it?"
"Something about the way she says things tells me that there is someone or something above her dictating what can and can't be done. It's hard to explain, so don't ask why I think that; call it an intuition. Not like yours, more something shared between nerds geeking out over gaming," Clyde explained.
Travis wasn't sure what to make of that, but he didn't press the issue. He did agree that they needed a way to talk without the AI hearing, and he had some ideas, but that wasn't the priority now.
"Okay, fair enough. What did you learn about how we go up levels?"
"Sorry if I went off-topic. The way I understood it was like this: killing monsters gives the clearest and most consistent XP. I'm going to call it XP, experience points, but again Lucy seemed to imply that wasn't exactly the value used to rank up."
"But I digress, okay, so monsters. Yes, they give XP for every kill without question, but depending on the monster, you may only get a little bit. We would never go up levels if all we did was kill a kobold five times a day. It's those huge fights where someone takes out 15-20 of them where it really adds up."
"Next are more powerful monsters. Like, say, that spider and goblin you killed, I bet you got a ton of points for that. But there will never be a ton of boss-level monsters to kill."
"Then missions. Not all missions give XP. This one is kind of complicated; I'm writing up a memo on it so everyone understands. Can you wait for that to dive deeper into mission-based XP?"
"Is it really that complicated? Are video games or role-playing games like that?" Travis inquired.
"Some can be, but most are not. In your basic popular video game, you get a boatload of XP for completing missions. The same goes for older games. RPGs vary a ton, but it's generally pretty similar."
"Finally, XP can be gained from creating things in the game. She was clear about this. So far, no one in our party has gotten the opportunity to create, except me with my building spell. It upgraded, by the way, but we'll talk about that in a minute."
"Once we have an alchemy table set up or something like that, XP can be gained from making stuff. That's everything I learned. She did say that as I ranked up, she would share more with me. The game is meant to be more of a slow burn, just like the old-school RPGs, both real and virtual."
Travis mulled that over as they continued to walk. "Wait, you said you ranked up, Clyde."
Clive Sanderson - PC
Race - Human
Tier 3/Level 6
Class - NA (not available)
Subclass - NA
Faction - Joint Task Force - 2nd in Command - Head Mage
Alignment - Good
Base Attributes
Strength: 6
Intelligence: 15
Reflexes: 8
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 6.5
Secondary Attributes - Luck: 9 Willpower: 10 Perception: 11
Skills
Trusty Lieutenant - Passive
Teacher & Mentor - Passive
Spells
Fire Starter - Level 2
Thermal Vision - Level 3
Manipulate Wood - Level 2
Summon Skeleton Warrior- Level 1
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It had been a while since Travis looked at Clyde's character sheet. It seemed like not long ago when Clyde couldn't even get a journal, and now he is ranking up spells left and right.
“So you ended up getting a skeleton, huh? It had to be one of the monsters we fought at the village right. Have you tried it?”
“Not yet, I've pretty much been with you the entire time. Should I try it now?”
“How do summoning spells work in games normally?”
“Obviously, it depends, but there is a baseline for most versions of the spell. You would summon the creature, and it would show up right next to you. Then there is usually a timer of some kind. In video games, it attacks the nearest enemy, and if there isn't an enemy, it just follows the summoner. But in games like DnD where you have more agency, you can order it around or even get it to do tasks for you.”
“Well, let's hope it's more like the second way. Fire it up.”
Spells could be cast in your mind sometimes, but others needed an incantation. There will be even others down the road that require materials or certain conditions. For this spell, Clyde inherently knew the words he had to say once he read the tome.
He needed something to call the monster to start the summoning, so he went with the first thing that came into his mind when thinking about a skeleton, “Bones, come forth and serve me.”
Clyde instinctively held out his hand, and he was smart to do that. About 3 feet in the direction his hand was pointing, there was a sound. It was supposed to be bones coming together but was closer to the sound of a thick playing card in bicycle spokes.
Nonetheless, within 3 seconds, a humanoid skeleton manifested right in front of them. It was about 5 foot 5, very skinny because it was literally just bones. The summon was holding a shield and longsword. As the spell ranked up, it would carry better equipment.
The monster turned its empty eye sockets on Clyde, waiting for an order.
“Is it waiting because it doesn't see any enemies, or will it always need orders?”
They were surprised that the poignant question had come from Omar. They weren't surprised that he asked a smart question, just that he spoke at all. The young man was very intelligent.
“Great question, Omar, but I do not know,” Clyde responded.
Travis had a bunch of ideas but didn't want to tell Clyde how to handle his summoned monster, not on its first time out anyway.
Clyde was trying to think. He almost wished there was an enemy monster around. Then he turned and saw a squirrel lounging in a tree not far away. Clyde pointed at it, “Kill that squirrel.”
Without looking, the skeleton half walked, half ran towards the tree where the rodent was. It then half tried to climb the tree as the squirrel ran up it. The team watched as a summoned skeleton with a shield and sword tried to climb a tree to catch an animal that it had less chance catching than it had turning into it.
As the skeleton made another noise and disappeared, Travis motioned for everyone to be quiet. Far at the end of his senses, he could feel a pretty large group of humans approaching. After telling Clyde they weren't monsters in a whisper, the mage started to relax.
Then Clyde saw the face Travis was making and the nervousness returned as fast as it had left, “what is it?”
“They have ill intentions.”
For everything Travis and company have been through since the changes, they have actually been very lucky. He all but befriended the werewolf mage who is the nastiest threat in the area by far.
They had been attacked at base once, but even that was personal. The undead fight was someone else's battle, and the one vampire came upon them when three of the strongest members of the faction were together.
Other groups, both PCs and NPCs, have faced nightmare after nightmare. Monsters, of course, but another large threat terrorizing the populace has been groups of NPCs bent on destruction. Some are your garden-variety thugs just out to take from others.
Then you have more organized groups who may be led by a PC or in a couple rare cases someone who came across some skill books. Yet still, among the worst groups prowling the land these days, are the cults.
Even before the changes, people were rife with conspiracies, both the kind that imagined secrets around every corner and the conspiracy of more than one person forming a group to partake in some nefarious plan.
One of the worst types of cults, though, are the ones that build upon normal times sentiment but ramped up to a thousand because they believe the changes are due to whatever crazy thing they believe. Religion is one of the most common, but there are also cults based on other things.
Things like charismatic leaders that claim to have all the answers. Imagine a man with no scruples and a knack for eloquent speaking. Now picture death and destruction right over the border from the cataclysm, and a man with a journal meant to join him to the game. Yet the people suffering do not know this, so they see this man as some sort of savior or prophet who was chosen to get a magical book.
Throw in some good luck for this chap and early good works—after all, even Hitler was credited for helping Germany out of the Great Depression early on. By the time these people who followed this man learn that he isn't the only one with a journal, it's far too late. They are already sucked into the cult of a wannabe dictator. Sound familiar? I digress…
This particular PC, whose name is Lester but who was smart enough to change it once grateful people started asking. He is now known as David, and he often uses imagery from the Bible, his favorite being the story of David and Goliath.
On this particular October morning, there are 15 followers of David out on a mission to bring back new followers, willingly or unwillingly. There are rumors that David has power over the souls of the people brought before him.
That's bullshit, of course; he just has a pretty minor mind control spell which he uses to get people to act out his will. When the pretty weak spell runs out and they are doing something unspeakable, he then comforts them or, if that isn't working, punishes them. This is how he gets people to stay and follow him, one way at least.
There is something to be said for security and nourishment in a post-apocalyptic world. Those familiar with the story of Travis might not realize how brutal life has become for those living outside of the safe zones or outside of a faction.
As they walk further into Travis's perception limit, he starts to see how many there are, that none of them are PCs, and vaguely sense the hostility within many of them.
“How far are they?” Clyde asked after a long silence.
“It's hard to tell. I can get a feel for distance, but I don't know how to put it into actual metrics yet. There are about 15, though, and none are PCs.”
“What do you want to do, Major?” Clyde had a habit of calling Travis major when things started to go south. For the first time, Travis could sense that Clyde did it out of a sense of respect but also nervousness. It's like he wanted Travis to remember that he is not only Major Porter, faction leader, but also a former badass soldier.
Travis could sense that Omar wasn't scared. He was apprehensive and felt a bit like a burden because he couldn't really help, but the kid was not scared.
“I think we need to stand and fight. For one, we can. I'm not sure why, but I feel it. Two, these guys are heading somewhere to cause real trouble. It's time to start thinking outside of just our advancement. Besides fighting evil is a path to progression, we fight bad guys in order to get stronger than come back again and do better” That was a little too 'white knight' for Travis but that is how he felt in this moment. It was like the scene when Neo stopped to fight Smith on the subway platform in the Matrix. "He is starting to believe."
Omar had been through more in his short life than even someone like Travis who fought in a war. For Omar, his home was a warzone. He had been looking for some type of security for longer than most people could imagine. As he witnessed Travis in this moment, the young Iraqi finally felt like he was in that place.
“They will be in view in a few minutes.” Travis looked around really quick until he saw what he was looking for. “Omar, see that tree?” He pointed to a large tree surrounded by bushes with a fallen tree right next to it. “Go over there and hide. If things start to go bad for us, you run back to base and tell Paul or Javy. Do not wait until we are both dead! That will be too late, do you understand?”
Omar didn't flinch but looked at him and nodded his head. Then he started running over to his hiding spot.
Travis turned to Clyde. “Give me your bag. I don't want them to know we are both PCs.”
He stopped Clyde from arguing with a look. “Trust me, Clyde. Have your blade ready. I am going to cut them down by half very early on. These are tough guys, guys who think they are hot shit and won't know enough to be scared. All I need you to do is not die while trying to take on 4 or 5 of them. If you can kill a few, great. If not, no sweat.”
Clyde was looking at Travis in surprise and not with a little amazement. Travis had always been so deliberate in everything he did. Badass, sure, but not like this. He couldn't help himself and he had to ask, “You aren't playing around anymore, huh, Major?”
The look on his face would have given Clyde the sweats if he wasn't on this man's team.
“I'm so tired of fucking around, Clyde, especially with people like this. I am going to kill every one of them so they can't play around with anyone else again.”