Corey had left Agatha’s apothecary with a grin on his face, and hope in his heart. Anna the Innkeeper was still a mystery, so his imagination was going wild with possibilities. Will Anna teach me the ways of a rogue class? Corey asked himself, laughing out loud as he thought of the small woman sneaking around and backstabbing creatures or bandits.
Maybe it’s a quest for a secret crafting profession… Corey thought back to Clyde the cobbler’s task to get some necessary “supplies” from Anna for his boots, though he guessed the supplies were just rat skins.
As Corey walked toward the inn, he saw someone down the road leaving the the building with two NPC’s following her. Her nameplate read Xena, so he stopped in place, watching her walk off toward the blacksmith.
Corey shook himself free of his stupor and continued toward the inn. He didn’t have time to waste and he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to her right now. Taking a deep breath and hoping he was making the right choice, he walked up the steps to the inn. He went in and was immediately reminded of why he hadn’t stayed long the last time. The sensory overload was intense, and the inn somehow seemed even busier than before.
He smelled something amazing coming from the kitchen that reminded him of chicken pot pie, so it was probably some sort of meat pie, but it was almost drowned out by the smells of beer, sweat, and what could easily be described as a gym bag with some “lucky socks” that hadn’t been washed for months.
The sounds and visual chaos were worse, with people slamming empty tankards down on the bar or their tables, calling to the servers, and otherwise clamoring to be heard above the rest of the noise by their friends, with every group seemingly in a competition to be the loudest in the room.
Then there were the brawls that were happening in the roped off corner of the inn that he’d seen before with the sunken sand floor. He’d been in a hurry earlier, so he hadn’t inspected it closely, but he guessed it had been made for the patrons to settle their disagreements without needing to go outside.
Corey stepped to the side to allow a large hairy man with an axe at his hip to go past and out the door. The bright light coming in from outside let out a new chorus of shouts to, “Shut the blasted door.” which, Corey realized, was what they had been shouting at him when he’d entered.
They sure do like the dim lighting in here, Corey thought as he walked over to the bar. Anna wasn’t at the bar. Looking around he couldn’t see her, but she was fairly short and could have been anywhere in the chaos. There was a large clean shaven man with long blond hair tending the bar though. Corey walked over and asked, “Do you know where I could find Anna? I have some business with her.”
The bartender gave a shrug, then finished polishing the glass he was holding and set it down. “Depends,” he replied. He then set down his rag on the counter and folded his massive muscled arms and added, “What business do you have with her?”
Corey’s hair stood on end, and he gulped and stammered, “Um, I mean, yeah.” Then he let out a cough and added in a low voice, “I was sent here by Clyde, who implied that Anna could direct me to some needed supplies.” Corey hoped that this man was in on Anna’s secret, since he didn’t think ruining her relationship with this massive bartender would be a good way to get her support.
The man unfolded his arms and leaned on the counter with a grin. “Oh, sure. Anna is busy at the moment, but should be returning to the bar soon. What can I get you while you wait?”
Corey wasn’t sure if the big man, Bart, by his nameplate, was telling him the truth, but figured that calling him a liar wouldn’t end well, so he looked up at the menu board. It was literally, a board. It had various things painted on it, as well as a few nails that smaller planks would be placed over as they changed the menu. Presumably to avoid scraping and re-painting.
Corey looked for the cheapest item on the menu, and found it to be a mug of cider, so he ordered that.
“That will be 5 coppers,” Bart said, and upon collecting the coins Corey set on the counter, all 6 coppers, the bartender gave him a nod and bustled about, filling a mug from one of the taps. He set it on the counter before Corey with no fanfare, and went to polish the wooden counter farther down where the bar had been recently vacated.
Corey pulled out his pocket bread and ripped off a small piece of it, tucking the rest in his pocket for later. He washed it down with the cider and his eyes went wide. The cider was far sweeter than he would have expected. Corey hadn’t realized how tired and hungry he was, but the food really hit the spot. He noticed his stamina bar, in the top left of his vision, that previously had a small greyed out portion was now refilling. After he finished eating it was back to full. There was also an icon of a chicken leg next to his status bars, and when he focused on it a prompt opened.
[Well-Fed: Your stamina will decrease at a slower rate, and upon resting can refill to its maximum. Time Duration: 3 hrs.]
Well, Corey thought, that answers that… I definitely need to eat in this game to stay productive. A cooking profession was starting to look more appealing by the minute, though if he could find another way to make a lot of money while training a skill, he would be able to simply buy food like he just had.
Corey received a prompt, which was odd since he hadn’t done anything. He opened it.
[Quest Update: Mayor Indeed. Xena has swayed Brian the Blacksmith and gained his vote. The position of Craftsman has also been filled by Brittany and she has given her vote to Xena. You will need to sway the majority of the council to vote for you before the ceremony. Current Votes: 1/8. This is a timed quest and will end at 6:00 PM Game Time.]
Seriously? Corey thought. And now there are eight on the council? It looked like this Xena girl meant business. I hope Anna unlocks something awesome, he thought, resigning him self to give up entirely on becoming mayor.
“Why the long face?” Bart asked, walking back over to polish the counter near Corey.
“Oh, nothing,” Corey said. “I just realized I need to change some plans.” Then looking to Bart, he had another thought and couldn’t’ resist, so he asked, “Is Bart short for Bartender?”
Bart let out a laugh and slapped the counter. “No, it’s short for Bartholomew. Focus harder on someones nameplate and you should be able to see their full name rather than just their nickname.”
Corey focused intently on Bart’s nameplate, and it shifted to read Bartholomew Huntington. “Cool,” Corey said. Bart smiled, giving him a nod, and started polishing another glass.
After a few more minutes had passed and Anna hadn’t showed up, Corey looked over to watch a couple fights in the roped off corner of the inn. They ended rather quickly.
Bart asked, “You interested in a fight? You can only wager on your own victory, but if you’re skilled enough you can earn some decent coin in the pit.”
“Oh,” Corey responded, “I don’t really know how to fight.”
The barkeep leaned over the counter to slap him on the shoulder saying, “You’ll learn.”
He was grinning, so Corey took it in good nature, but it stung more than he wanted to admit.
Bart continued, “I could teach you a thing or two about unarmed combat. It’s not much of a fighting school, but it’s the best you’ll find in the area for unarmed combat instruction.” He scratched his chin, then added, “It is effective though.”
[Unarmed Combat Trainer, Bart, has been unlocked. Speak with Bart to begin your training.]
Corey took a risk and asked, “So, you could say… It’s the school of hard knocks?”
Bart let out a hearty laugh. “That you could. Tell you what, I like you. I’ll give you a free lesson while we wait for Anna to get back.” Bart whistled, and a younger man with overly large ears came up to the bar and started polishing glasses in Bart’s place at his command.
Corey figured it would not only be rude to decline, but with no weapons aside from his small knife and makeshift mace, he should probably have another way to fight. What if his weapons were lost, broken, or he was disarmed? With a nod, he walked over with Bart and down to the pit.
The pit was a roped off square in the back right corner, with two steps down to the sand covered floor. There were a few practice dummies off to one side as well.
The instruction was quick and painful.
Bart commanded, “Punch me in the stomach as hard as you can.”
Corey stared at him.
“Come on, we don’t have all day!” Bart prodded.
Corey shrugged, and took a step forward, squaring himself up, and punched Bart in the stomach as hard as he could.
Corey’s hand stung from the impact, but was rewarded with a prompt.
[Skill Gained: Unarmed Combat. Lack of a weapon no longer means that you are entirely helpless. Current Skill: Novice 1/75.]
[Ability Learned: Pitiful Strike. This is among the weakest of strikes. Base damage will scale with current strength attribute at a rate of 0.1 Damage per Strength Attribute, rounded down to the nearest damage point. Current Damage: 1.]
At ten strength, the base starting amount of all the stats for players, Corey’s punch seemed to do next to no damage. Worse, he had actually done a point of damage to himself, though his health bar soon regained the lost hit point as his hand stopped stinging.
“Not like that,” Bart said, walking over to one of the practice dummies. “You need to use your whole body in the strike. Watch my shoulders and hips while I demonstrate,” he said. Bart then threw a punch while stepping forward and twisting his shoulders and hips to maximize the force.
The dummy’s pole attaching it to the ground splintered at the base as it slammed against the back wall and bounced onto the ground.
Holy smokes, Corey thought. The rest of the room raised their tankards and cheered.
“Now,” Bart said, “Your turn. Punch my stomach again.” He turned to stand facing Corey in a stance that looked almost bored.
“Wouldn’t it be better for me to punch one of the dummies?” Corey asked.
“Did I ask you to punch one of the dummies?” Bart asked flatly.
Corey stepped up and tried to mimic the movement he had just witnessed, and threw his whole body into the punch.
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Corey’s health bar dropped down ten points, leaving him at 490/500. “Ahhh!” Corey gasped, doubling over and holding his hand, which was in a fair amount of pain. It felt like he’d punched a brick wall. Bart just smiled.
Ability Learned: Forceful Strike. This is a respectable strike that maximizes Damage without use of any special abilities or weapons. Base damage will scale with current Strength Attribute at a rate of 1.0 Damage per Strength Attribute. Current Damage: 10.]
Corey inspected Bart, only to see that his health bar was unaffected. Either he had such a large health pool and ten points of damage was a drop in the bucket, or perhaps he had some natural defense that negated a certain amount of damage.
“Congratulations!” Bart yelled, causing another round of cheers in the common room. “You learn quickly, I could teach you enough to fight some of the locals here in the pit if you’d like. The regulars are quite a bit more powerful than you, but with some effort you could learn and grow in strength.”
Corey was saved from answering when Anna walked over and reached up with a wooden spoon to smack Bart on the head. “Bartholomew,” she said. “What do you think you are doing? I leave for ten minutes and you’ve already recruited my young adventurer to join your fights.” She tisked, but it was cut off.
Bart leaned down with a smile to scoop Anna up and spin her around. “I was just making Corey a bit more useful, no harm done.”
Anna smacked Bart on the shoulder and he put her down, still smiling and Anna had a grin of her own forming. She looked to Corey and said, “I hope my husband hasn’t caused you too much trouble. He does love his unarmed combat training.”
“Oh, not at all,” Corey responded. “It was a great way to pass the time, and I’m grateful for the chance to learn more skills.”
“That’s well enough,” Anna responded. “But, I have some business to discuss with you. Come with me.”
With a wave to Bart, Corey followed her to a back room that was obviously an office of a sort. It smelled of paper and ink, and possibly spices. Anna sat behind a desk piled with small boxes and papers, and said, “Shut the door.” Corey did so, and Anna gestured to the chairs in front of her desk so he sat in one.
Anna sat with her elbows on the desk and clasped her hands while she stared at him for a moment. Corey broke the awkward silence, “Are those the spices I delivered earlier in the little boxes?”
“Yes, you’ve got quite the nose. How did you know they were spices? The package you delivered was still wrapped.”
“The package smelled like spices, just like this room now,” Corey said with a shrug.
Anna nodded. “They help my food taste delicious no matter what other ingredients I need to use.”
Corey thought of the rats he had killed for her and fought down a laugh.
“I was making a… delivery, to Clyde,” Anna said, “and your name came up. It seems we could help one another.”
“That’s actually why I came.” Corey responded.
“Excellent,” she added with a somewhat disconcerting grin. “I have a problem I could use some help with. You see, there have been some roving goblins in the forest, and they have been hunting most of the wildlife or scaring it deeper into the forest. In the past, I’ve had Bart go out and hunt nearby, but he doesn’t have time to roam too far. We need to find a more permanent solution.”
“So,” Corey said. “You want me to get rid of some goblins?”
“Oh no, you have it all wrong,” She said with a laugh. “The guards are trying to eliminate them, but you are no match for a goblin yet. I suppose I have been rather long winded… Suffice it to say, I have found an alternate source of meat and leather. And, I would like to ensure that that source does not disappear due to some pesky goblins taking the source for themselves.”
“The rats?” Corey asked.
“Would that bother you?” she asked.
Corey shrugged, reminding himself that it was just a game, so none of the meat was real anyway. “Not really, how can I help?”
“The rats seem to come at a constant rate so long as I let some of them carry away a few scraps of this and that on occasion. The thing is, they come at too constant of a rate.”
“What does that mean?” Corey asked.
“I suspect,” she said, pausing to lean over the desk to add in a low voice, “It’s a dungeon.”
“Okay,” Corey said. “And, that’s a big deal?” Corey had thought with a name like Dungeons and Destiny, there would be lots of dungeons, so he hadn’t thought much of her comment at first.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “A dungeon is a rare thing indeed. They only occur naturally if there is an abundant source of mana that the dungeon can draw upon. They are even more rare because up until now, the makers have tasked the elite soldiers of the realm to conquer and destroy the dungeon’s cores. Only recently have the makers allowed them to take root and develop.”
“Because we, the chosen have arrived?” Corey asked.
“Yes,” Anna said. “The makers believe the dungeons would be useful to your training.”
“So there are going to be a lot of them now?” Corey asked.
“Not necessarily,” she replied. “Dungeons only form on convergences of mana channels, which creates a blank, or mindless, dungeon core. This core will tunnel to the surface and lie in wait until a creature finds it. At that point, it gets absorbed and the dungeon gains and enhances the intelligence of said creature as it’s own. It also gains the ability to create copies of the creature and it’s like.”
Corey nodded. It was getting interesting, and he was getting excited at where this was going.
Anna continued, “I suspect a rat stumbled upon this dungeon core, and that is where these rats are coming from. I would say that it could just be a monster nest, but those are not intelligent enough to direct rats to behave in such a way. The dungeons of this world tend to be much more intelligent.”
“Okay,” Corey said. “So what do you want me to do about it? Aren’t they still coming into the cellar?”
“Well,” she said, “yes, but I worry that another creature will find the core and ruin things. In particular, the goblins that are sneaking around in the forest killing our guards and pillaging the outlying farms. Even a wolf finding it would be problematic. Imagine a nonstop wave of wolves attacking the town?”
“What can I do about it?” Corey asked.
“Go and capture the core, of course! Then you can make sure that it is hidden and fortified so that the goblins can’t reach it, and you will be able to keep sending the rats to my cellar.” She let out a sigh and added, “And, there is always a chance that the goblins have already found the core and captured it, though I doubt the core would continue sending the rats into my cellar if they had.”
“Wait, wouldn’t it start creating goblins instead of rats?”
“Oh, it would,” she said, raising one finger and adding, “if the dungeon was powerful enough to do so. It takes time for a dungeon to level up, and if it has only been sending out rats, I doubt that it is above level zero.”
“Zero?”
She sighed again. “You young folk don’t know anything. I suppose it’s up to me to teach you. You see, the dungeons are ranked based upon what level of creatures they can create to fight for them. Goblins start out at level one, so a level zero dungeon, the base level, could never create one, even if a goblin captured it. That is, until it has been leveled up to level one. At that point it can create level one goblins. However, as the dungeon continues to gain levels and power it will be able to create higher levels of the monster blueprints that it has absorbed.”
“Okay…” Corey said. “You seem to know a lot about this, why not capture it yourself?”
“Because I have you,” she said with a wink. “Besides, only other monsters or those chosen by the gods can capture a dungeon without serious negative consequences. Now, what do you say?”
Corey opened the Wiki to see what he could find on dungeons. There wasn’t much. Everything Anna had just explained to him seemed to be about all that anyone had uploaded yet. Does that mean nobody else has discovered a dungeon yet? Corey thought.
He closed the Wiki and sent a private message to his friend Leroy: “Hey, so it looks like I lost out on becoming mayor, but have you heard anything about dungeons? I might have a quest to conquer and control one.”
The reply came back ten seconds later: “Bummer, but yeah, I’ve heard a couple rumors, and there are a few posts on message boards about peoples friends conquering a dungeon, then disappearing. It sounds like it might be a secret quest line or something. If I were you, I’d go for it!!!111”
Corey laughed at the extra 1’s instead of exclamation marks. It was an old running gag among gamers from the days when they had used actual keyboards. The headset didn’t even use a virtual keyboard, so it was clearly intentional as it was more of a mental composition of a text message.
He replied, “Thanks Leroy, I’m gonna go for it. I’ll let you know what I find out. By the way, how is your own gaming experience going?”
Leroy replied, “Yeah, I’m still focusing on enchanting, but it took me forever to find the profession trainer, and it’s starting to look like I’ll have to do a bunch of combat in order to level up to defeat monsters for magical components. That, or drop an insane amount of in game gold to buy everything… Like, the amount of gold that can’t be made in game with the junk I can make right now. I would have to buy in-game gold with real cash, which would make any prize likely only recoup part of the expense. I’m debating on whether to ask my dad if it’s okay to blow that kind of cash to at least get a head start.”
It was possible to buy in game gold from the company with real world cash, but the price was steep, and Corey was a little jealous that Leroy even had that choice. He replied instead: “Sorry to hear that.”
“It’s fine,” Leroy said. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Oh,” Corey said, “have you convinced Stacy to join us in the game yet? I haven’t seen any friend requests besides yours.”
“I’m still working on it,” Leroy replied. “She said she is going to eventually, but she needs to get in here before she misses out on all the cool achievements for being first to do stuff, or doing something that is difficult.”
“There are achievements?” Corey asked.
“Yep,” Leroy said. “There was a guy, Jorandal, I think was his name. He started in my area and got the title of Deadfall for jumping off a cliff to see how the death penalty worked in this game.”
“Can I get that one too?” Corey asked. “And, does it do anything special?”
“It’s just a title for you to put behind your name. It doesn’t do anything, but you get to show them off.” Leroy said. “But, you have to beat other players to it for most of them. Other people tried jumping off the cliff to get the title, but it turns out that was a unique one.”
“Sweet,” Corey said. “Mayor Corey would have been a good one.”
“Yeah,” Leroy said. “That might be one that multiple players can have since it’s a bigger deal. Too bad you didn’t get it. On the other hand,” Leroy added, “Dungeon Boy might be better. I’m going to try and get advanced enough in my enchanting to get the Enchanter title. Supposedly it’s unlocked when you hit artisan level enchanting.”
“Awesome,” Corey said. “Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.” Corey doubted he would be able to do much from the other side of the continent, but he would if he could.
“Will do,” Leroy said. “They say there are certain components that are super rare outside of dungeons for the stronger enchantments, so if you take over a dungeon I’m definitely heading your way.”
“Cool,” Corey said. “I’ll look forward to it. Talk to you later.”
“Later.” Leroy replied, leaving the chat.
Corey looked over to Anna, who had sat patient as a statue while he had been communicating with Leroy. “Anna, I think I’d like to conquer this dungeon, but before I get too involved in it, how exactly will it benefit me?”
“Excellent!” She said. “I’m glad you’re on board. And, I can assure you, it will definitely be worth your while. Not only will conquering this dungeon allow you to provide the needed supplies, by doing so I will immediately help by paying off your debt to Clyde. It will also give you an opportunity to become very wealthy.”
Anna continued after a pause to look Corey up and down. “Now, the first thing to do is find your way to the dungeon. This will involve some stealth and patience as you try to see where they are coming from. I can teach you the basic stealth and tracking skills.”
[Quest Available: Dungeon Conquerer. Anna the Innkeeper would like you to track the rats, find, and conquer the local Dungeon. In exchange for your continued supply of rats, Anna has offered to teach you the Stealth and Tracking skills, and promised to clear your debt with Clyde. Rewards: Completion of Strings Attached, and other unknown rewards. Accept Quest?]
[Yes] or [No]
Corey tapped yes, and vocalized it as well, “Sure, but I already learned a little about stealth on my own in the woods while gathering lifebloom for Agatha.”
“Interesting,” Anna replied. “In that case, this should go even faster since I only need to teach you to track. Follow me.” She got up and turned to walk to the back wall and reach behind a bookcase.
With a click, the bookcase slid to the side and revealed a door, which she opened to swing out into the alley behind her inn. She gestured and Corey followed her outside.
Anna pressed on the bookcase again and slid it back in place, blocking the doorway, and proceeded to close the door, which had no handle on the outer side and just looked like another wooden panel making up the back wall after it closed with a click.
So cool, Corey thought.
“Now,” Anna said, dusting her hands against one another. “Let’s show you how to track.”
After exiting the inn and finding its long alley continued past the backside of various buildings all the way to the palisade. Corey spent a few minutes of crawling around in the dirt of the alley near a low window that was open a crack, which she insisted was the way the rats were getting into the cellar, Corey saw some tiny footprints with long fingers, almost like little narrow handprints, though they were obviously from the rats.
“Rat sign,” Anna said proudly.
[Skill Gained: Novice Tracking, 1/75. You will be able to track basic creature sign, and with enough practice, advance to tracking more powerful or stealthy prey. The tracks, broken twigs, disturbed underbrush, and other sign will now glow faintly to your sight while actively tracking.]
Corey stood up, and when he squinted his eyes, or focused them to look for the tracks, a green glowing trail of footprints led away from her shop down the alley to the palisade wall that was about fifty feet from the back of the inn. He walked to the wall and peeked through the small gap in the wall of timbers to see the tracks continue out toward the tree line. He relaxed and asked Anna, “What other things can I track with this skill?”
“Well,” Anna said. “Anything you want to, as long as your skill level is high enough. At level one in the novice rank, you will likely only be able to track things like rats, deer, or other less intelligent creatures. You might be able to track goblins too, since they rarely try to hide the signs of their passage, but if you see goblin tracks, you should probably run the other way until you get stronger.”
That made sense to Corey, so he nodded. “Well, thanks! I guess I’m off to find a dungeon.”