Chapter #?: A wolf’s needs
“You cannot bring a wolf into town.” The exasperated town guard repeated for the third time.
“Okay look, he has joined my party. He is part of my group, I think he should be allowed in.” Jennifer was trying to keep her cool while dealing with the guard, but her frustration was mounting.
“Would you keep someone’s pet dog out?” Sarah planted her hands on her hips, tapping her foot.
“If that was just a pet dog in this world, I would let it in. But in my world, we have leash laws to protect people from creatures like this.” The guard raised his voice, attempting to speak down to Jennifer who was a head taller than him.
The raised voices caused Kevin to growl at the guard.
Jennifer put her thumb and forefinger against her temple, thinking as fast as she could.
The nameless guard shouted over the growling wolf. “See, this beast is far too aggressive. He cannot come into the city.”
“Sarah, could you please?” Jennifer gestured at Kevin while trying to think. Sarah spoke quietly, and Jennifer assumed the wolf was calming.
“Fine. What if I got him a leash and made sure he was being led by a parallel at all times?” Jennifer asked.
“Let me check his alignment. This is a good town. We do not want a big bad wolf getting into town.” The guard’s lips twisted into a smug smile that Jennifer did not like. The guard took out the same square device that had shown her alignment before.
She nearly burst out laughing as the device asked, “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” It pinged and announced, “You are.” A note of shock passed over the guard’s face as Kevin barked with happiness, waggled his tail, and ran in a circle.
The guard eyes moved over the group with skepticism at the other parallel in the group, Large Soup Bowl. “It will have to be a very short leash. At the first sign of trouble, the guards will be on him in an instant.” The guard kept up his self-important air during his pronouncement. “You go straight to the foundry and get the leash made. If you don’t go straight there, I will make sure you’re never allowed in the city again no matter what the mayor says.”
“I was looking forward to visiting the foundry anyways.” Jennifer raised her voice above the guards but not loud enough to wake up the whole village this time.
Jennifer pointed at the wolf and then at the ground beside her. She made the gesture clear while hoping it did not come off as a command. Kevin walked to the point Jennifer pointed to and sat. Jennifer pointed at the wolf then herself. She placed her hands close together but without touching. She hoped this would make it across the species language barrier.
The wolf took a long moment and nodded to Jennifer. Jennifer led the group towards the micro foundry.
After making the third wrong turn, Sarah took the lead, putting Jennifer in the middle with a wolf on one side and a lynx-shark on the other, followed by the neon ninja. The ninja had an exceptional glow at night with his colors constantly changing.
The wolf growled softly at Sarah. But Jennifer looked down with a smile and spoke in a kind voice, “It really is for the best. I’d probably get us lost.”
The wolf tilted his head but kept walking beside Jennifer.
The micro foundry was an odd little building. The outside resembled a normal two-story house you would find anywhere in the town. The only exception was the dull orange light coming out of all the windows of the house, and a robot sitting on the porch.
The robot came up just shy of Jennifer’s waist and had a ball shaped head with two square sets of white lights in the approximate location where a very young child would place the eyes. A long, horizontal bar flashed periodically where the mouth would be. The torso of the robot was clothed in blue coveralls. The body of the mechanical being was accompanied with more of a rectangular prism with rounded sides. Its arms resembled an air duct tubing with strong, five-digit hands coming out of the end. The hands looked to be larger and stronger than Jennifer’s. The robot had no legs but two large wheels on the side of the body covered in a rubber tire. Just behind the first large set of wheels was a much smaller set of wheels that seemed more for balance than for maneuvering or adding speed.
“Welcome to Honest Grezzer Micro Foundry. What can I do for you?” When the robot spoke the long mouth rectangle lit up.
“Hello, I would like to get a leash and harness for my friend here.” She gestured to the wolf.
The robot went straight to business. “Sure thing, ma’am. Coming right up. That will be twenty oranges.”
Jennifer nodded. “Can you make the harness out of combat leather or some kind of armor?”
The bot turned its head away from Jennifer, the light in its eyes turning off and on again. Returning to face her, it repeated the process. “I cannot stretch any pattern too much, but I think I have got something that will do. Two hundred oranges at his level.”
Jennifer eyed the robot up and down. Rust showed in several places along with severe scraps and a pockmarked shoulder. Taking a chance, Jennifer cast Mend and reached out to shake the robot’s hand. When the robot took Jennifer’s hand, he found he was being repaired.
After a long few moments, Jennifer let go and ended the Mend. The robot took a mirror out of his inventory and inspected himself. “I look one hundred years younger, and I am operating at two percent more efficiency.”
Jennifer was shaky on her feet. The wolf whined beside her and licked her hand showing concern.
“As long as I’m fed, I’d be able to cast Mend on you as long as I am in town.” Her words came out slightly weak, but she showed what worth she had to the bot.
He nodded, “How much can you repair?”
“Depends on what I am using that power on. My guess would be up to eighty percent.” Jennifer answered honestly. “And once a day until I reach your cap? As long as I’ve eaten, the repairs come out of my stamina.”
The robot rolled back and forth for a moment, before presenting the offer, “Five oranges up front for the cost of the materials. You come by once a day until you repair me up to eighty percent. I understand life happens in the adventuring world. So you cannot miss over three days in a row. If you do I will report a breach of contract to the Law Guild Second Division – Carl and Hamster.”
Jennifer turned to Sarah who had remained quiet, but gave the slightest of nods. Jennifer handed over the five oranges from her inventory.
The ground beneath her feet rumbled as if an engine as big as a house had just turned on. In the house behind the robot, lights moved, pulsing to the rhythm of machines. The front door of the house opened, revealing a conveyor belt that came down in front of Jennifer. The conveyor belt deposited a set of armor that would fit the wolf. Jennifer lifted the armor up to inspect it. On the back, seven bands of strong light metal overlapping one another. The suit even had shoulder armor with three of the plates. On the wolf’s chest was a single triangle-shaped piece with rounded edges and a belt with pouches on the side.
The wolf made a questioning awwroof sound and turned to look at Jennifer.
She smiled at the wolf, pointed to the armor, and then at him.
Kevin let out several joyous barks before prancing to the armor. Sitting on his haunches, he reached out with his paws. This wolf had five digits at the end of his paws and could equip the armor without aid. He did not by putting it on like she or Sarah would, but by touching and claiming the armor, adding it to his inventory and then equipping the armor. The reason she knew this was due to the log in her menu telling her so.
The wolf’s tail wagged hard and fast enough to work as a fan on a hot day. “What about the leash?” Jennifer asked.
“One moment, do you want it to be just as strong as the armor?”
Jennifer smiled at the question. This was going to be easy. “No, I want it weak, flimsy, and just long enough to count as a leash.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The robot pulled some string out of his pocket and signaled for the wolf to come close. He tied the string in the shape of a bow and glued it in place. “Will that do?” the robot asked.
“Yeah, that’ll do, and the leash will always be led by a parallel.” Smiling, Jennifer waved at the robot and said, “See you tomorrow, Honest Grezzer.” Jennifer took the leading position in the group to the inn. Sarah coughed and pointed in the correct direction.
Jennifer only got the team lost once before getting to the inn. She was first to walk into the inn and spotted the mayor sitting at one of the tables.
The placard embedded in the wood with his name and title was a dead giveaway that this was a mayor only table. He waved at her and went back to reading the paper in front of him. Things seemed normal at the inn. A mellow band played on the stage. There were more patrons here now than there were at lunch.
Quiet conversations were going on at a few of the tables. The only thing of note was a group of red-armored warriors sitting at a single table. Confident all was well, Jennifer looked back at her party, waving them forward. Everything was fine until the last member of the party entered the room. The room went silent as Kevin, the armored wolf, silently followed the team.
All eyes followed the wolf who did not seem to care about the scene he was causing. Although Kevin did have a prance to his step, in spite of him not acknowledging the eyes on him.
“That’s a Great Forest Green Wolf. Is that now part of your team?” The mayor could have been yelling in the town square with how quiet the noise of the room went.
“Yup, his name is Kevin,” Jennifer answered the mayor happily. Ready to turn in her quest, Jennifer put all eighty-five healing mosses on the table before the mayor. By the look of her experience bar, she would be able to level up.
“Isn’t he one of the wolves that’s been attacking travelers and livestock in the area for longer than I’ve been mayor?” While the mayor's volume didn’t change, the ninja vanished, and Sarah found a seat far away from the pair.
“Yes. Well . . . probably. He nearly killed us twice and would’ve gotten us on the third time, maybe. Definitely on the fourth time at least.” Jennifer kept an upbeat and happy tone as she petted the wolf’s head affectionately.
“First the judge’s hellhound. Then the traveling musician. Now this.” The mayor buried his face in his hands. “I send you out to get healing moss and you make friends with a wolf.”
Jennifer reviewed her menus and found an add friend option, she sent out a friend invite to Kevin, Large Soup Bowl 14, Sarah No Val, Mayor Gigawatts, and Honest Grezzer. All of them accepted almost instantly.
“Again, yes, that’s more or less how it happened. Now about this quest,” Jennifer said, smiling.
The mayor groaned, accepted the friend request, and dragged his hands down his face just enough for his very tired eyes to look at her.
Jennifer kept the corner of her lips pointed up as she returned the mayor’s gaze but only received a harrumph. To her surprise, the mayor gave a fifty percent experience bonus to Jennifer and her team for completing the quest. The experience points were pro-rated based on the time the team members had been with the quest and how much they had done during that time. Jennifer received the most, followed closely by Sarah, then Large Soup Bowl and finally Kevin. They all leveled up. “Thank you, Mr Mayor.” Jennifer’s response from the mayor waving his hand dismissively.
Kevin followed Jennifer to the table where Sarah was sitting. As they weaved through the dining room, she almost had to rebuke the wolf. Not for anything major, just tell him to watch his wagging tail. Several of the inn’s customers almost got hurt, barely avoiding the whipping fur stick. Kevin was a happy puppy.
Woozle was nowhere to be seen, so Jennifer assumed the lynx-shark had gone back to their room. She looked down at Kevin and guessed he too would be staying in their room. Jennifer’s stomach growled, it had been another long day with very little sleep.
“It is time for rest. I am going to log off for the night.” Large Soup Bowl faded out until he was no longer in this world.
“Do you know what you want to do with your level up?” Sarah asked Jennifer, her eyes shifting from right to left, probably reading her menus.
She had twenty-four hours to choose her leveling choices before they defaulted to random. Once was enough to do the random thing, and that just got her some poison resistance.
“Tomorrow morning I’ll look at what my options are. With three power sets, I always feel a bit overwhelmed.”
“I think this town has a social worker that can help you choose your level up,” Sarah said, absently going over her options. Sarah whispered something that sounded like, “Token of Cowthulhu,” but Jennifer wasn’t sure if she had heard Sarah correctly.
“Token of what?” Jennifer asked.
“I unlocked a level up optional power. It seems to allow me to summon a . . .” Sarah paused and furrowed her brow. “Well, it is not clear what I would be able to summon, but it will be fun.”
Her frown turned into a little smirk that reminded Jennifer of a kid who had just figured out how to get the cookies out of the cookie jar and did not want anyone to know.
Too tired to ask more questions, Jennifer concentrated on what to order. She had just narrowed it down to meat and filling when the innkeeper arrived at the table. The plates the inn keeper had with her made Jennifer’s eyes go wide. A large green salad was placed in front of Sarah. This salad had lettuce, spinach, grass, baby tomatoes, yellow peppers, and strawberries. This salad was colorful and looked delicious. The innkeeper set down a plate of two bundles of wrapped bacon the size of tennis balls. The third plate was some kind of uncooked meat slices.
“Umm, who wanted the uncooked elk?” She asked looking around, her brow furrowed.
“How do you know what we want?” Jennifer blurted out rather than answering the Host.
“I use my ‘always serve them what they want’ ability. It’s a passive power under the Innkeeper options,” she answered, trying to find the intended guest for the meal, with confusion on her face and holding the plate.
Kevin raised his head above the table, giving a polite little bark.
Her eyes went wide, and she shot an irritated glance at Jennifer. The innkeeper put down the plate on the ground in front of the wolf, who proceeded to wolf down the elk meat.
Jennifer used her cutlery to cut one of the bacon balls in half, revealing that the bacon was only the outer layer. From outside to inside, the layers were bacon, brown rice, ground spiced meat, cheese, more of the ground meat, green peppers and onions, with a center of a boiled egg. The side salad that came with it was much smaller than Sarah’s. This was easily the greatest meal Jennifer ever had, even if it was only the fourth or fifth meal she could remember eating. There was a look of satisfaction on all of Jennifer's teams mates at the end of the meal, expect for Kevin. The beast was looking up at her with big pleading eyes for whatever was on the necromancer’s plate. When she show him the plate he started to inspect the ground around the table.
Sarah went to her room, while Kevin followed Jennifer to hers. When Jennifer got comfortable enough to sleep, she realized she was going to need a bigger bed. Somehow Woolze took up more space on the bed than the two-hundred-pound wolf. Both the wolf and lynx-shark snored that night. “How could you two snore so much and so loud,” she asked the sleeping creatures. Somehow, she was still able to pass out.
The next morning, Jennifer woke up with a lynx-shark sitting perched on her abdomen. He had grown again and was now larger than any house cat Jennifer had ever seen. The wolf sat in his battle armor at the end of the bed. Jennifer yawned, closing her eyes and stretching her arms and legs. Her feet were well over the end of the bed. She closed her eyes hoping for more time asleep. The long note of the train pushed her to open her eyes, the lynx-shark and wolf were watching her. She noticed in a corner was a small spider web with Rover resting in the hammock like structure. “Oh, I see the smallest of us gets a whole bed to themselves.” She affectionately mocked the spider who wiggled its body in what she assumed was a morning greeting.
The wolf gave a wide yawn, showing off massive white fangs, before exiting the bed. The lynx-shark proceeded to produce the word, “yawn” with his double row of triangle teeth showing, but his eyes never closed. When he closed his mouth, she gave him head scratches while smiling.
She needed to find a toothbrush and toothpaste. Pushing the thoughts of oral hygiene from her mind, she focused her thoughts on her status bars in her menus. Twenty percent of her stamina bar was still blacked out, but her other bars were full.
Still not fully awake, she reviewed her situation. She realized she had limited time left in the inn, but she had a plot of land in town with nothing on it.
She pulled up her menus to see her quests.
Get into Bishop’s University: Letters of recommendation, mayor 1 of 1, parallel 0 of 1, business owner 0 of 1.
[+ other quests, see story guide]
Gather grazing animals 0 of 5
Save the town 0 of 1, save the nation 0 of 1, save the world 0 of 1
Her quest list was short, but she still had a way to go. She decided to give herself a new quest in the meantime.
Get a house 0 of 1
After adding the quest, she looked down at the wolf in her room. She caught a stray thought listing off the parallels she knew. Kevin was a parallel and would be able to write the letter of recommendation. The only issue was that she had no idea how to mime, “Can you please write me a letter of recommendation for my university?”
As Jennifer got out of the bed, Woozle and the spider followed. Rover opened a trapdoor, appearing on Jennifer’s shoulder. “Are you coming?” Jennifer asked the wolf. The wolf placed a paw by his cheek, tilted his head, and closed his eyes, unmoving from his new spot in a sunbeam on the floor. She believed that some things were universal and understood he wanted to sleep more.
Jennifer went to the shower and bath for a quick soak, which allowed her to review her plan for the day. While soaking in the hot tub she set about planning her day.
1) Check out her plot of land
2) Find out how houses are built
3) Find quests to do
4) Go to Bishop’s University and see about using their stuff to make a healing potion
5) Return in time for the paper raid
6) Repair Honest Grezzer
“Mend” She sat bolt upright looking for the source of the word.
“Mend.”
Jennifer not knowing the source of the word she took in the room she was in. Aside from Woozle and Rover she was alone in the baths.
Again, the reedy, childlike voice. “Mend.”