Character Profile
Name
Jake Grey
Class
Champion
Level
13
Reputation
Unknown
Health Points
270
Mana Points
240
Stamina Points
310
Fate Points
5
Power
21 {+7}
Intellect
22 {+2}
Agility
25 {+6}
Wit
22
Vitality
22 {+5}
Charisma
20
Skills (17/20)
Titles
Combat
Evasion [4]
Hunting Bows [3]
Medium Armour [4]
Short Swords [3]
Utility
Aim [5]
Free Movement [7]
Inspect [6]
Observe [7]
Silent Movement [6]
Creation
Alchemy [5]
Butcher [3]
Cooking [2]
Crafting [7]
Gathering [6]
Skinning [3]
Magic
Nature Magic [2]
Shadow Magic [2]
Owner of the Dark Woods
Frontrunner
Giant Slayer V
Pioneer
World Breaker
Touched by Corruption
Champion of the Wilds
Mayor of Machiville
Persistent
Jake checked his Character Screen as he jogged through the woods. Several of his Combat Skills had levelled up during the fight with Maurice and the hunters, as was to be expected, as had [Free Movement] and [Silent Movement]. The Skill that had seen the most growth, though, was [Aim], having jumped a whole two levels in the short fight. His Magic Skills had also levelled, though Jake wasn’t too sure as to when that had happened.
Now he was making his way towards the East Oak in hopes of finding Luna and the pups, unable to follow their tracks as the wolves were extremely stealthy. A long howl made him stop, looking around at the close sound, before a familiar form loped out of the woods, tackling him to the ground.
“Luna!” he laughed as the pups appeared from the shadows behind her, coalescing in the way that Shadow Wolves do, “You’re alright!”
Luna nodded, looking at Jake as he pulled himself out from under her, brushing the dirt from his cloak. Jake smiled as he looked at the pups, amazed at their growth. They all now looked to be months old, each standing at an easy two-feet-tall, with the exceptions of Alpha and Eta. The former was already three feet in height, while the latter was only slightly smaller than his other siblings.
“How?” Jake muttered, turning to the statue as Gaia spoke.
“A combination of magic and need for beasts to grow quickly,” she said as she walked up beside him, “That is simply the way of the world. How are you?”
“I’m fine,” Jake smiled at the goddess, “It wasn’t a tough fight, all things considered.”
“That’s not what I’m asking about, Jake Grey,” she said, “I could feel it. You almost lost yourself back there.”
“I did?” Jake blinked, remembering the fire in his chest as he’d fought, how it had grown during the fight, almost overwhelming him when he was facing the half-giant, Maurice, “Oh. What was that? It was...weird.”
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“I do not know, I can only assume it was something to do with your Travellers,” Gaia shook her head, crouching down to pet some of the pups, “But I do know that you should be careful of it.”
“Okay,” Jake nodded, watching as the pups gathered around the goddess excitedly, all vying for pats and scratches, “So, what now?”
“Now, I finally give you your Quest reward,” Gaia said, holding out a roll of leather to Jake, who quickly used [Inspect] on it.
Magic Map
A map that magically updates to show everywhere you have been.
Quality: Epic
Soulbound
“Cool,” Jake said as he took it, opening the map and seeing the whole of the Dark Woods on it. A bit of experimentation later, and Jake found he could alter the zoom and detail of the map with a thought, before putting it into his inventory.
Magic Map detected.
Activate Mini-Map?
Y/N?
“What?” Jake blinked, “Uhm…yes?”
He blinked again as the small circle appeared in the top right of his vision, showing the area around him and several yellow dots, as well as two green dots just beside him. Looking around, he quickly figured out that the yellow dots were the pups, and the two green were Luna and Gaia. With a thought, the circle shrank into a small map symbol, freeing up his vision.
“That’s useful,” he muttered.
“I’m sure,” Gaia laughed, “Now, I do believe you have some other important matters to attend to?”
“I do?” Jake asked.
“Back in your new town,” Gaia nodded, “I wouldn’t keep them waiting if I were you.”
------
“Hmmm.”
Andy stared at the screen in front of him as the party walked back to Dusk Keep, scratching his chin.
“Still can’t decide what to Ascend your [One-handed Weapons] Skill to?” Holi asked, Andy just nodding.
“I have three options,” he said, “[Axes], [Long Swords] and [Maces]. Thing is, I’m most used to fighting with swords, but I’ve been enjoying using a mace. Maybe I should go with that and try something new.”
“I dunno,” Shadow hummed, “Better to stick with what you know, right? I’m sure Mirri could reforge that Iron Mace into a Longsword for you.”
“I’m sure she could,” Andy nodded, before making his choice, “But I want to try something different.”
“Fair enough,” Sophie said as she nodded to him, “So you chose [Maces]?”
“Yep,” Andy nodded back, “So, what shall we do now?”
“I say hand in the Quest and get some grub,” Shadow cheered, “I also want to go back to my Class Trainer and show off my new Skills!”
“As I said earlier, I would like to learn a new Spell,” Holi hummed, “So I shall be visiting the Temple of the Healer for that.”
“I also levelled up my [Fire Magic] Skill,” Sophie said excitedly, “So I can learn a new Spell too!”
“Okay,” Andy laughed, “So I guess you’ll all be going to see your Class Trainers then?”
“What about you?” Shadow asked, Andy cringing slightly, “Shouldn’t you also go see yours?”
“I guess,” Andy sighed, remembering the last time he’d tried to visit the old man.
He’d barely knocked on the door when it had swung open, the familiar short figure just glaring at him for a moment before snorting and telling him to come back when he’d made real progress. That had been several days ago, and Andy hadn’t been sure of what the man had even meant. Shaking his head, he smiled at the rest of his party.
“I’ll give it a try. So, the Basket when we’re all done?”
“Sounds like a plan!” Shadow cheered again, racing off ahead of the group, “Last one there’s a plate of nutrient paste!”
------
“I took the liberty of…relieving the old mayor of these,” Bertram said as Jake sat in the large chair behind the equally large desk, feeling like a child with his legs hanging over the edge of the large piece of furniture. Looking down, he used [Inspect] on the four rings in front of him, starting with the simplest.
Mayoral Signet of Machiville
A ring denoting the wearer as the Mayor of Machiville
Effects:
+1 Charisma
+1 Wit
Ability: [Town Interface]
Quality: Rare
Ring of Shielding
Projects a magic shield around the wearer capable of blocking a certain amount of damage
Effects:
+1 Vitality
+1 Intellect
Ability: [Aura Shield]
Quality: Rare
Ring of Obfuscation
Protects from and allows the wearer to sense uses of [Observe] on themselves
Effects:
+1 Charisma
+1 Wit
Ability: [Obfuscate]
Quality: Rare
Ring of Suggestion
Allows the wearer to cast the Suggestion Spell once per day
Effects:
+1 Intellect
+1 Charisma
Ability: [Suggestion]
Quality: Rare
Skill [Inspect] has levelled up.
“And this is all he had?” Jake asked, the Assassin nodding, “Are you sure?”
“Other than a bunch of other expensive baubles that have already been shoved back into the towns coffers, yes,” Bertram said, “You going to keep any of them? Apart from the Mayoral Signet, of course, that one you have to take.”
“Right,” Jake nodded, picking up the iron ring and slipping it onto his finger. A moment later, a new screen appeared in front of him, showing a variety of tabs all to do with the town, “Ah, this is going to be a lot of work.”
“I’d say,” Bertram chuckled, “Machie was always complaining about how much shit he had to deal with, even when he shunted most of it onto his secretary.”
“Secretary?” Jake asked, jumping as the door to the room opened quietly, a pretty woman with long pointed ears walking in and bowing to him.
“Good afternoon, Mayor,” she said softly, “I am Merina, your secretary. Is there anything I can assist you with?”
“Yes,” Jake said after a moment of thought, “Can you bring the most important people in the town here? Actually, is there a place we can meet that isn’t this office?”
“There is the dining hall,” Merina nodded, “It should be large enough to seat all important figures of the Machiville. I shall get on that right away.”
“Thank you,” Jake nodded as she left, before looking at Bertram, the man looking like he was fighting back a laugh, “What?”
“You look like you’ve never seen an elf before, Traveller,” the man chuckled, shaking his head, “All wide-eyed and borderline drooling.”
“Well, I haven’t,” Jake blushed slightly, shaking his head as he started to explore the new screen in front of him, called the Town Interface System. It didn’t take him long to find several problems, looking back at Bertram, “Why is the tax rate so high? And all the money is being funnelled into the Mayoral Manor.”
“Machie’s doing,” the man shrugged, “Wanted to keep the townsfolk in their place, as it were.”
“Well, we need to change that,” Jake huffed, quickly dropping the tax rate as low as it would go and pouring the town’s meagre funds into building and maintaining the town as a whole, “That’s better.”
“I’m sure,” Bertram chuckled, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in, “So, you done with that yet? I want to get you fighting right as soon as possible, and the only way that’ll happen is with practice.”
“How long do you think it’ll take Merina to gather everyone up?” Jake asked.
“Couple of hours, at least,” Bertram hummed, “So let’s get moving!”
“Mayor,” the elf’s soft voice said as the door opened again, both men looking at her, “All the relevant personages have been gathered in the dining hall.”
“What?” Bertram snorted, “How?”
“They were awaiting the new Mayor outside,” the secretary said calmly, “So it was not as difficult to gather them as I had thought it would be.”
“Great,” Jake said as he hopped down from the chair, looking at it in thought for a moment, “Also, do you think you could organise a desk and chair more…normally sized?”
“Of course, sir,” the elf bowed again as she quickly left.
“Right,” Jake sighed, looking at Bertram as the man also stood, “Time to meet these important people.”
------
Edward Carp watched the door as it swung open, the quiet chatter that had been filling the air of the lavishly decorated dining room dying as the new mayor stepped through it. He was surprisingly thin, even under his armour, though Edward could feel a strength almost radiate off the man as he approached the long table they were sat around. Taking his seat, the new mayor nodded to each of them in turn, before starting to speak.
“I will be honest with you all,” he said, “I have no idea how to run a town.”
Silence echoed at the proclamation, the man continuing.
“But I hope that you all will be able to help with that. As such, can anyone tell me exactly what is needed to bring the town up to a proper, liveable standard?”
The rest remained silent for an almost uncomfortable amount of time, Edward finally having enough.
“Gold,” he said, “Or money in general. You want to improve this shit hole; you’re going to need to pay for it.”
“Fair enough,” the mayor nodded to him, “How much?”
“How much?” Edward snorted, “Hard to say. Most of the building in town are in shit condition, unmaintained and needing to be heavily repaired, if not straight out demolished and rebuilt. For the basics, you’d be looking at a thousand gold heads at least.”
“A thousand?” the man asked, Edward nodding, slightly surprised that the man hadn’t even flinched at the number, “And if you had more?”
“More?” Edward laughed, “Well, the more we have, the better the buildings and faster we could get it all done. How much you thinking?”
“How about ten thousand?” the man asked, Edward almost choking on his spit at the number.
“T-ten thou…We’d be able to have the whole damn town rebuilt in a month for that amount!” he coughed, “You can’t be saying you have that much, can you?”
“Yes?” the man replied, a confused look on his face, “Hold on.”
Edward watched as the man waved his hands in front of him, much like the head foreman had seen Machie do when dealing with town business before. The next moment Edward blinked as a screen appeared in front of him, his jaw going slack as he saw the number.
“Wait,” Abby Tiller, the closest thing that Machiville had to a proper tailor said, her voice shaking, “You’ve given one hundred gold just to…just to clothing the people?”
“Yes?” the mayor nodded, “Is it not enough?”
“N-no!” the woman gasped, “It’s far more than enough! I’ll get right on it, Mayor!”
The room was quickly filled with the shouts of the others as they quickly rose from their seats, hurrying out to start their jobs, each having been given a minimum of one hundred gold to start. Edward just sat still, staring at the number in front of him in shock, until the voice startled him out of his stupor.
“Is something wrong?” the mayor asked, Edward swallowing nervously as he shook his head.
“No, Mayor,” he said respectfully, “I just…this is more gold than I’ve ever seen in my life! And you want this to be used for the town?”
“Yes,” the man nodded, Edward clearing his throat as he stood.
“Then it will be done,” he nodded, heading towards the door, before pausing, “Oh, uhm…any particular buildings you want added to the town?”
“I trust your judgement,” the man simply replied, “Oh, but do keep a space clear in the centre of town for a temple.”
“A temple?” Edward asked slowly, “To who, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Gaia,” the man said, a smile on his lips as he stood, “And don’t worry, I’ll take care of the construction of it.”
------
Jake sighed in relief as the last person hurried out of the room, the strongly built man looking like he’d just seen a ghost.
“Well, that was sure something,” Bertram hummed form the corner, Jake turning to look at him as he slipped out of his stealth Skill, “The looks on their faces spoke volumes. How much did you put into the town?”
Jake looked at the screen just off to his side, the Town Interface System on the ‘Development’ tab. It was useful that Jake had discovered that he could transfer money from his own personal account into the town just before entering the room, making the whole meeting go much more smoothly than he’d expected.
“Twenty thousand gold,” he said, looking back at Bertram as the man visibly choked, before coughing loudly and banging his chest.
“By the gods,” he gasped, “How much money do you even have?”
“Left over?” Jake asked, the man nodding, “About one hundred and eighty thousand. Why, Is that a lot?”