Mr. Montgomery's PoV
Charles had just left the room after finishing his report. Mr. Montgomery had held in his anger but finally lost it and slammed his fist on the desk.
The FDA had done what they were told and had given the substance their rubber stamp. But first thing in the morning his lawyer informed him that they were breaking off negotiations.
His PI had screwed up. There could be little confusion when someone came snooping around right after a delivery. They can't have known for certain, but with how hard he had been pushing to make this more than a one time deal, it wouldn't take a lot of brain power to guess who was breaking in.
He had gone to his doctor after taking the doses of the so-called weaker drug. They were shocked to find how healthy he was, at least relatively. Before they had given him only six months to live. Now that figure jumped to two years. And so far they couldn't find any side effects. If he could get a supply of this, how much longer could he live? Five years? Ten? Fifteen? With so little time left, he felt like now was the time to make a gamble.
Mr. Montgomery had to have this drug. One way or another. His mind went darker as he remembered a time when he first started out in business. Back then, business was done more often with fist than words. The man named Jim had fled and was nowhere to be found, but Charlotte was still around.
He would try things the nice way first. But if things would not progress soon, he would have to return to another time. A time when he had not been known as a nice old man.
***
Jim's PoV
Jim asked "Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Will we be there soon?"
"Probably another week and a half at this pace."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Jim pouted. This adventure sucked so far. Five hours of walking and nothing. No encounters with evil wildlife or bandits. No damsels in distress. Nothing. Just walking.
Jim asked again, "Will we be there soon now?"
Forrest answered dully "No."
Jim looked to Forrest and asked "Is this normal? For it to be this peaceful?"
Forrest glanced at Gwen and Maria and reluctantly said "Actually no. It's very odd. Generally the only time it's this quiet is if a large predator is around, but if that was the case they would have attacked us by now."
Jim perked up and asked "Large predator? Like what?"
Forrest responded "Around here, probably the big cats are the most common. They can get up to four times the size of humans. There are groups of kobolds around here too, but generally they won't mess with a group of humans this size. They will attack humans if they are found alone. There are plenty of other things, but generally the big cats are the worst of it."
Forrest scratched his chin and said "There are tales of some demons around near the temple, but no one has seen them in the past twenty years. Also in legends there were rock giants. Even at this pace it will probably be a week before it's even possible to see them. It's been over a couple hundred years since the last one was reported to have been seen."
Confused, Jim asked "Rock giants eat animals?"
Forrest shrugged and said "No one knows. The only people to have seen them and lived were far away. General knowledge says if you are close enough to see one in detail, you're probably about to die. Regardless if they want to eat you, if they see you, they will attack."
Jim mumbled to himself "I wish I could have a rock giant mount. That would be awesome."
Trying to keep his mind occupied, Jim scanned his inventory list. For some reason he had "Helmet x 119."
Weird. Why did he have over 99 of them? Pulling one out he examined it. Just a normal crappy low tier helmet. Shrugging, Jim tossed it away.
Speaking of mounts, the little brat from the caves seems to have found one. The entire journey she has been on the back of a wolf. He was slightly jealous, it looked like a lot of fun. She would weave in and out of the walking groups making a figure eight pattern. A few times she went too far ahead and her mother called her back.
Jim exited out of his item menu and looked at the main menu screen. He was kind of happy to see the empty spots for party members filled out. What was even cooler was that he could add them to the party.
Outside of Alextria the first person the party could recruit was in Jacksberg. But it seemed like his menu didn't care if party members were the original party members from the game. He could add anyone!
Wait… anyone could join? Jim looked at Fluffy, the wolf who was not currently giving the little girl a roller coaster ride.
"Fluffy! Come here for a second!"
Breaking off from his sibling, Fluffy began walking beside him and cocked his head. Jim said "I want you to try something for me. When I ask, I want you to say 'accept invite.'"
The wolf cocked his head and gave him a skeptical look. "Don't give me that look! I know you can't say the words, but try to use your own language or something. Please!"
The wolf nodded and waited. Jim found a small little button below the party menu that had a plus sign next to it. Tapping the button he pointed to Fluffy next. "Try to accept!"
The wolf made a varied tone growl and was quiet. Jim expectantly looked at his party menu. Nothing happened. Was the party too full? No that couldn't be it. Normally the max party number was five, but including himself, it was currently six.
It only showed five members on the main party screen but there was now a scroll bar. So it seemed like he could have as many party members as he liked, or at least that was his guess.
Normally there was an extra button on the menu for members who were not currently in the party. Generally for plot line reasons party members came and went. This button's main use was for retrieving gear. But that button wasn't showing up on his menu.
There wasn't an error noise or anything either. Thinking out loud he said "Damn, I think the response needs to be in english. The request went out, but nothing is happening. It's like it's still waiting for a response."
"One more time, I know it's dumb but can you try to speak in english?"
The wolf nodded. The dog made a four syllable bark, but it still didn't work. About 20 seconds passed and then he heard an error noise. Seems like the request was timed out.
"Probably going to take an elven beast tamer's magic to teach you two how to speak. I guess it doesn't matter. It would have been nice to see you two in the party menu. Oh well, it was worth a try. I guess it really doesn't matter. Thanks Fluffy!"
Giving Fluffy a vigorous head rub, he returned to his sister who was still zooming around the party with one passenger on board.
Gwen yelled "Maria! Be careful! If you fall it's really rocky here!"
Princess heard her and slowed down a bit. This seemed to happen in a cycle. The pair would speed up faster and faster till Gwen got worried, and then they would slow down for a time.
Going back to his blue boxes, Jim checked out his party's new equipment status.
Equipment - Jim - Warrior Level 1 Equipped Helm Demonic Black Knight's Helm Equipped Chest Demonic Black Knight's Breastplate Equipped Legs Demonic Black Knight's Legguards Equipped Boots Demonic Black Knight's Greaves Equipped Main Hand Lost Great Sword of Valraduth Equipped Off Hand None Attack 5,738 (+50% : 2-Hand Bonus) Armor 4,000 Equip Effects Decreases All Damage Taken by 50%. Deals Double Damage When Not Using a Skill.
Equipment - Scarlet - Assassin
Level 15 Equipped Helm Crimson Basilisk's Circlet Equipped Chest Crimson Basilisk's Vest Equipped Legs Crimson Basilisk's Leggings Equipped Boots Pathfinder's Elven Boots of Speed Equipped Main Hand Elven Dagger of Reflection Equipped Off Hand Elven Dagger of Parry Attack 450 Armor 335 Equip Effects Reflects Offensive Magic Back to the Original Caster. 10 Minute Cooldown. Increase Chance to Parry by 15%. Increase Chance to Dodge by 20%. Increases Speed By 25%
Equipment - Forrest - Ranger
Level 11 Equipped Helm Green Chameleon's Tricorn Hat Equipped Chest Green Chameleon's Vest Equipped Legs Green Chameleon's Leggings Equipped Boots Pathfinder's Elven Boots of Speed Equipped Main Hand Bronzewood Bow Equipped Off Hand Quiver (Default) Attack 300 Armor 305 Equip Effects User blends into the background when not moving. Allows 30% of the effect while moving in combat. Increases Speed By 25%
Equipment - Forrest - Davis
Level 13 Equipped Helm Basic Mithril Greathelm Equipped Chest Basic Mithril Full Plate Armor Equipped Legs Basic Mithril Legguards Equipped Boots Pathfinder's Elven Boots of Speed Equipped Main Hand Elven Longsword of Parry Equipped Off Hand Duke's Guard Shield Attack 350 Armor 750 Equip Effects Increase Chance to Parry by 15%. Increase Chance to Block by 15%. Decreased Armor weight by 60%. Increases Speed By 25%
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Equipment - Maria - Healer
Level 8 Equipped Helm Senior Acolyte of Anera's Bonnet Equipped Chest Senior Acolyte of Anera's Dress Equipped Legs Senior Acolyte of Anera's Leggings Equipped Boots Pathfinder's Elven Boots of Speed Equipped Main Hand Miracle Worker's Staff Equipped Off Hand None Attack 20 Armor 230 Equip Effects Increases Healing Effects by 40%. Increase Mana Points by 125. Increases Speed By 25%
Equipment - Gwen - Fire Mage
Level 3 Equipped Helm Intricate Black Mage's Pointed Hat Equipped Chest Intricate Black Mage's Dress Equipped Legs Intricate Black Mage's Leggings Equipped Boots Pathfinder's Elven Boots of Speed Equipped Main Hand Deathdealer's Black Magic Staff Equipped Off Hand None Attack 25 Armor 200 Equip Effects Increases Area of Damaging Spells by 40%. Increase Mana Points by 125. Increases Speed By 25%
Overall it was about mid game level gear. Nothing special, but in newbie land it should be super overpowered. Normally decent weapons around this area did around 60 damage and a full set of chainmail armor was around 180 armor. Even the pretty dresses he handed out were sporting better stats than that and they had added bonuses too!
Would the normal damage formula for Final Fantastic 3 work? Jim somehow doubted it. Whenever he got bored he would have to set up some target dummies with equipment on them to see how it performed.
Jim looked at the readout for his new party members. The main difference between the party screen and using Sense seemed to be that Sense wouldn't tell him their names. Well, and the party menu didn't give Jim a little blurb about how the target feels about him.
Jim - Warrior Level 1 HP: 50,238 / 50,250 MP: 5,018 / 5,018 Strength: 2010 Agility: 2008 Stamina: 2010 Magic: 2007
Scarlet - Assassin Level 15 HP: 782 / 825 MP: 60 / 78 Strength: 35 Agility: 46 Stamina: 33 Magic: 31
Forrest - Ranger Level 11 HP: 726 / 800 MP: 33 / 33 Strength: 29 Agility: 34 Stamina: 32 Magic: 13
Davis - Protector Level 13 HP: 842 / 875 MP: 31 / 31 Strength: 39 Agility: 32 Stamina: 35 Magic: 13
Maria - Healer Level 8 HP: 475 / 475 MP: 97 / 193 (+125) Strength: 14 Agility: 16 Stamina: 19 Magic: 14
Gwen - Fire Mage Level 3 HP: 340 / 375 MP:185 / 185 (+125) Strength: 10 Agility: 14 Stamina: 15 Magic: 24
Sheesh, both Davis and Maria seem to have leveled a decent bit. Wait, did that mean Maria was a part of the battle?
One other interesting thing was that it seemed just traveling took some HP. Jim doubted HP worked exactly like the game, but it was interesting. Man giving those two items that gave an extra 125 mana really buffs their mana pool. Getting access to mid game items on lowbies was crazy.
But how has Maria used over 90 mana so far? Curious, Jim clicked on Maria then on the spells tab in his menu. Jim read the information.
Heal: Level 1 - Cost 4 MP A weak heal that restores a target's Hit Points(HP). Requires contact with the target. Heal of the spell is based on Magic stat.
Vigor Heal: Level 1 - Cost 3 MP Restores a target's vigor making the target fully alert. Requires contact with the target. Spell has diminishing returns based on the target's Stamina stat.
Requires contact with the target? Jeez, healers got nerfed in this version. And what the hell was Vigor Heal? That was never originally in FF3.
Then Jim realized why the wolves were zooming around so much and why Maria had used so much mana. With the wolves massive Stamina stat, she could probably spam the ability on them and they could run forever.
Deciding to continue on his nosy streak he looked at Gwen's spells.
Fire: Level 1 - Cost 4 MP A weak fire attack that will continue to burn an area. Length of the burn and damage of the attack is based on Magic stat.
Elemental Mastery: Level 3 - Passive User has shown mastery over one of the basic elements. Increases magic damage by 30%.
What the hell? There were passive abilities? FF3 didn't have passive abilities! What kind of cheat passive is that! Plus Fire now burns an area?
That makes sense, but before it was just an animation and a damage number. In the 2D game there were no lingering effects after casting it. Sheesh, the program must have been stealing other game's systems. But once Gwen leveled up she would probably be a powerhouse.
Continuing his investigations he checked out Scarlet. Hahaha, she had Sense too! But what the hell was Sharpen Blade?
Sharpen Blade: Level 3 - Cost 8 MP Increases damage of weapons by 30%. Allows user to bypass 90% of enemy's armor value. Lasts 5 minutes or 100 strikes.
Holy crap! She had a level 3 spell? Or was it an ability? In FF3 abilities didn't have mana costs. But who knows, new game, new rules. But that was crazy, that buff was almost as good as the double damage ability on his sword. Although with her current mana pool she could probably only keep it up for around an hour.
Sharpen Blade: Level 2 - Cost 3 MP Increases damage of weapons by 20%. Allows user to bypass 60% of enemy's armor value. Lasts 5 minutes or 100 strikes.
Sharpen Blade: Level 1 - Cost 1 MP Increases damage of weapons by 10%. Allows user to bypass 30% of enemy's armor value. Lasts 5 minutes or 100 strikes.
The MP cost for the lower ranks was a lot less, maybe they would be useful in a longer fight? Still, the level 3 version is overpowered as hell.
Jim checked Forrest and Davis and was surprised to find they each had a passive skill.
Protector's Oath: Level 3 - Passive Reduces all damage by 30% when protecting another person.
Ranger's Camouflage: Level 2 - Passive User blends into the background when not moving. Allows 20% of the effect while moving in combat.
Wow, that's a hell of a tank stat. And the gear he gave Forrest already had a camouflage bonus on it. It was probably going to be a pain in the ass for anyone to hit him at a distance. Why the hell did his party have all these cool abilities and he had nothing but useless Sense? It wasn't fair!
***
Scarlet's PoV
They had settled down for the night and Scarlet saw the two former prisoners wander off, so she followed them stealthily. Not too far away she found shelter behind a tree and listened to their conversation.
A female voice said excitedly "Can you believe our luck! That woman is traveling to Jacksberg! We can still make it out of this with our heads if we play this straight!"
The man irritably said "Keep your voice down. And yes we can salvage our lives, but our reputation will be ruined! Why did we risk this much just for this girl? This is crazy."
The female said agreeably "Yea. But the boss wants her dead. Someone paid a lot of money, and I really mean a lot. And you know Aaron, everything is for sale for the right price, especially right now. Money is tight."
The man sighed and said "Evil bastard, but he's our evil bastard. This should have been an easy job! How did she find out about the trap? There's no way she could have found out. But how else could she have defeated a powerful mage?"
The woman said tiredly "Sometimes some people just have way too much luck. I would suspect the client was a rat but the down payment was way too much. Maybe there was a good reason for them to pay that much in advance."
The man made some agreeable noises and then said "We need to get back to camp before someone starts looking for us. Just be on your guard to make an accident happen. You still have those poison roots or whatever you call them?"
The woman said "Yea. Next time we settle down for a meal, I'll try to help out with the cooking. There is no way that woman will just walk into Jacksburg. We need to act quickly before she runs off. Just be ready."
"Got it."
Aaron is it? Scarlet almost wanted to laugh. She was right! Looks like she really pissed someone off. Wonder who though. There were so many...