It was the morning after, everyone was fresh and ready for the journey ahead of them. Fresh was the only positive quality that could be said of the party. Slapdash would be a more fitting descriptor.
Boyan hated the thought of being in the same party as Fafnir, and he liked to show that by making snide remarks off to the side here and there. But he lost the bet, so here he was.
Fafnir took everything with a stoic demeanor, but he wasn’t happy about it either. Sam told him that his party needed someone who knew the rules of the world, so Fafnir, as a tutorial character, seemed like the perfect choice considering Sam’s limitation to being only able to recruit NPCs. He’d rather join a player party, but since he couldn’t get [Dragon Coins], this game’s premium currency, he was out of luck for the time being. So, Sam played the helpless puppy card and, considering Fafnir’s nature as a helper, basically forced him to join.
Finally, Marika, upon hearing that Boyan and Fafnir were going to be in the same party, decided to tag along to keep the two in line. She said something to the effect that as able as he might be as a fighter, Boyan needed a babysitter when he was around people he didn’t like. Dragons seemed to be on top of that list.
As for the road ahead, Sam did manage to kill [Momma Bear], but the journey they were embarking on was a different story altogether. His defeating [Momma Bear] was nothing but luck, anyway, so that hardly counted for anything. He was still as green as it got in this game. All he had was his experience with the previous Earth, Parchment & Swords game to go off of, and the games could not have been any more different. One was a Sci-Fi space exploration game, the other a classic fantasy RPG.
Sam checked his stats before they went on:
Gitaroo-Man’s [Lvl.5] Stats:
[Strength]: 4
[Vitality]: 5
[Agility]: 7
[Perception]: 6
[Wisdom]: 1
[Charisma]: 1
Available Stat Points: 12
“So, who’s the party leader?” Sam asked.
“You are. As the only ‘official’ adventurer among us, it makes you the party leader by default,” Boyan said.
There were two paths Sam had to choose between. One path looked like the most pristinely maintained English garden. Peaceful. The other was overgrown with thick vines, dark and dusty. It looked like a horror movie waiting to happen. The party was waiting for Sam to take the first step.
Obvious choice here, Sam thought and confidently took a long stride in the direction of the well maintained one… where he would ultimately hit his face on an invisible wall, falling flat on his butt. Boyan and Marika burst into laughter, even Fafnir had to suppress a giggle.
“Sorry,” Boyan said wiping his tears away, “but we really didn’t expect you to be this clueless. The other adventurers may ignore us, but at least they know where they’re supposed to go.”
“That’s the adventurer’s road,” Marika explained. “The paying kind. And since you seem to be as fortunate as we are, we’re going to have to take the regular route. Been a while since someone’s went that way, too. Look at that foliage.”
Invisible walls. One would think they could find more creative ways to stop you from going where you’re not supposed to go. Just as a design choice: kind of lazy.
Sam picked himself up and the party was finally on its way, down the dark and overgrown road towards the capital of Watra, which was the hub world and Sam’s chance of reconnecting with the outside world and, hopefully, his friends from the old game.
The path was an uneven mess. Vines were growing across the ground and all around them. Making their way through was excruciatingly tiresome.
The party arrived at a vine covered wall that they couldn’t get around. Sam equipped his [Dual Butterknives] and struck the [Wall of Vine].
Your attack deals 10 damage to [Wall of Vine].
It didn’t cut through a single vine, though.
“Apparently, my knives are too blunt for the vines,” Sam said.
“Too blunt? Or you’re too weak. Step aside and watch this!” Boyan said.
He stepped in front of the door, pushing Sam aside. He cracked his knuckles. One, two and KAPOW!
(NPC) Boyan’s attack deals 20 damage to [Wall of Vine]
His punch smashed right through the [Wall of Vine]. Smashing through it was one thing, pulling his arm out of it another. The vines tightened around his arm. He was stuck.
“What are you standing around for!? Help me!” Boyan said.
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Sam tried to pull him out. To no avail. No matter how hard he pulled. With his strength stat at 4, it didn’t really come as a surprise. That’s when Fafnir walked over. He had a different approach in mind. As soon as Sam saw his neck starting to glow, he got the hell out of there.
(NPC) Fafnir uses [Blaze of Fire] on [Wall of Vine].
The wall finally retracted, revealing the way forward and freeing Boyan’s arm.
He immediately got into Fafnir’s face.
“You could have burned me, lizard brain!” Boyan said.
His arm did get damaged, though, not by the fire. The vines clasped down on it quite a bit.
“Calm down, you big ol’ brute!” Marika stepped in. “And let me take a look at it.”
She grabbed Boyan’s arm at which he winced a bit.
Underneath her overcoat Marika revealed a sort of utility belt with many different phials and concoctions. Without even looking, she took one phial, opened it, and emptied it on Boyan’s arm without even taking her eyes off the wound. She exuded the air of someone who knew what she was doing.
(NPC) Marika uses [Wound-Away].
“There you go. See? Wasn’t half as bad as you made it seem now, was it?” Marika said.
Boyan just grunted and continued ahead.
“Don’t mind him,” Marika said to Sam. “He’ll calm down.”
Sam wondered what the story between all of them was. They must know each other really well. She knew exactly what to say to verbally disarm Boyan and calm him down.
Marika looked around.
“We should look for a spot to set up camp. It’s almost nighttime,” She finally said.
Marika’s experience in managing a tavern shone through with all the planning involved in setting up a camp. Not only that, but the entire party’s experience also really showed. Except for Sam’s. He had none. He spent his life basically living as a recluse in his parents’ summer house all throughout the summer, and at high school barely anyone even knew he existed.
Lucky for him, Boyan, Fafnir and Marika had everything they needed to set up camp. Sam really regretted not having done the whole boy scout thing, although he failed to see how selling cookies would’ve helped him here. Or was that a girl scouts thing?
Anyway, better late than never, Sam thought, and watched as the rest worked and tried to pick up as much as he could.
“Instead of standing and watching, you could help. Nothing beats learning by doing, you know,” Boyan said.
And so, he did. He helped wherever he could, asked about whatever he didn’t know, and, before long, learned a lot about camping. Examples of the things he learned included: bringing food that you can easily cook on an open fire, or packing a sleeping bag that fitted the climate of the area, scheduling who’s supposed to keep watch while the others slept, etc.
Personally, Sam was looking forward to learning how to start a fire, but with Fafnir around, starting a fire was not really an issue.
“There are human adventurers who have learned the fire breathing technique, as well,” Fafnir told Sam.
Sam couldn’t sleep. He waited for his turn to keep watch fully awake. He was second after Marika, and as he went to switch with Marika, Sam could see her sitting there, using all sorts of weird-looking instruments. She seemed to be preparing what he assumed to be different potions and concoctions.
“Hey, it’s my turn now,” Sam said.
“Oh, sure, I’m just going to finish up here. You can join me. Sit down,” Marika answered.
Sam watched her for some time. It was like watching a mad scientist conducting an experiment. She was mixing substances seemingly at random until they switched colors. They went from red, to blue, to green, to all kinds of colors. For some she decided that blue was enough, with others that red was enough, some green, and many other colors were among them, as well.
“What are each of them for?” Sam asked.
Marika explained the simplest ones. The red ones, which were the only ones that Sam already knew, were [Health Potions]. The blue ones were [Mana Potions], and the green ones replenished your [Stamina]. So far, so good. Nothing new here. In addition to these, Marika also made ones Sam hadn’t seen before. They had all sorts of colors. Currently, she was brewing yellow ones, and of those she made the most by far.
“Finally, the yellow ones. These I came up with myself. Once I’ve perfected them, they’re going to sell like hot cakes at the capital.” She was holding one of them up and looked at it like it was some sort of golden treasure. The golden glow lent itself to that comparison, too. “I call them [Re-Chargers]. Everyone gets fatigued after a while, but you drink one of these and they give you a jolt that can keep you going for days on end. They’re not done yet though, so all kinds of side effects can occur.”
“Oh! They’re like energy drinks,” Sam remarked.
Marika’s face looked like it turned into that of a red-eyed demon. “What are you talking about? Are you telling me this already exists!?”
“Nope! Never mind me! I speak nonsense all the time. But they sound like a great idea!” Sam said and followed it up with a nervous laugh.
She gave him a suspicious look. “Well, anyhow, I figured that with all these adventurers running around all the time, some of them seem like they never want to stop. They’ll spend a fortune on these! Or that’s what I hope, at least. And once we’ve arrived at the capital that’ll be my ticket into the alchemy guild. There I can make a name for myself. I’ll be the first new non-adventurer to make it.”
“That’s quite a dream,” Sam said.
“I don’t like that word for something like this. Dream. ‘You snooze, you lose’ is a saying for a reason. What about you?”
“Me?”
“What do you want to achieve?”
Sam had no answer to that question. Especially now, considering that he didn’t know what was going on. Was he dead in the real world? Was he in a coma maybe? But even besides the situation he was in, Sam didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. At school and at home he tried to avoid the subject at all cost.
“Well, you better find something. Out here, it’s all we have to keep us going. A purpose.”
Eventually, Marika went to sleep, and Sam was left alone to chew on the conversation and stare into the darkness for a couple of hours.
He also used that time to check his [Character Stats].
Gitaroo-Man’s [Lvl.5] Stats:
[Strength]: 4
[Vitality]: 5
[Agility]: 7
[Perception]: 6
[Wisdom]: 1
[Charisma]: 1
Available Stat Points: 12
Time to use those stat points. Looking at his abilities, Sam figured the rogue was all about critical strikes.
[Rogue Squat] Striking from a crouched position deals double damage.
[Class Ability]: [Shady Strike] Striking at an unsuspecting target guarantees a critical strike.
He didn’t even know what [Wisdom] and [Charisma] were supposed to do, so he ignored them. He decided to go for perception and agility. Those sounded like typical rogue stats to him.
Gitaroo-Man’s [Lvl.5] Stats:
[Strength]: 7
[Vitality]: 7
[Agility]: 10
[Perception]: 10
[Wisdom]: 1
[Charisma]: 1
Available Stat Points: 0
After writing down the changes, Sam went back to staring into the darkness of the forest at night. But this time, he noticed things he couldn’t before. In particular, there was something in the distance that caught his eye. It was a bright glow. And against his better judgement, Sam decided to go and check it out.