Morning light streamed in through the shutters of the small and simple room, Jake stirring on the soft bed he had been sleeping in. Sitting up, he stretched out his arms, yawning in satisfaction.
“Andy was right,” he muttered, getting up and moving to middle of the room, selecting his Shadow Wolf Set from his inventory, the armour appearing on him in a burst of light, “Sleeping does help.”
Jake quickly equipped the rest of his items in much the same way, Andy having showed him how to do it the day before when Jake had started to manually strip off his gear. It appeared that one could do both, but Andy had said that only the hardcore role-players tended to bother with actually physically removing their armour. Jake was actually somewhat glad about that, as he was exhausted at the time, and had passed out almost as soon as his head had hit the pillow. What had followed was a night of dreamless sleep, Jake now waking to find himself refreshed and ready to take on every and anything the new day could throw at him.
Jake’s stomach grumbled, letting out a low growl that was quickly echoed by Eta, the Shadow Wolf yawning as he woke up as well. Laughing, Jake quickly headed downstairs, unsurprised to see Andy already sitting at their usual table in The Full Basket’s main room, two plates of food in front of him.
“Morning, sleeping beauty,” the armoured man said as Jake approached, “I was worried that I would have to eat your breakfast for you before it got cold.”
“Thanks,” Jake laughed, “I’m sure you would have done just that.”
“You calling me fat?” Andy chuckled back, patting his character’s flat stomach, “I just like my food, man.”
“I’m sure,” Jake nodded as he quickly began to eat the food, finishing the plate almost as fast as Andy. After their plates were taken away by the serving girl Andy had called Lilly before, the large man spoke.
“Right, so we’ve done most of what we needed to over the last couple of days. So, is there anything in particular you want to do, Jakey?”
“Not really?” Jake shrugged, “I mean, I should probably go check on the pills I’m having made for your Mage friend and myself, Salazar did say they would be ready by today. Then I wouldn’t mind going out and hunting a bit to get used to all the stuff I learned about being a Ranger yesterday. I also want to try and get the [Tracking] Skill.”
“Woah, wait, you’re getting pills made? Like Magic Pills?” Andy asked.
“Yeah? Salazar said that the Manawort Mushrooms I gave him could make a level ten pill,” Jake hummed, Andy just shaking his head as he laughed.
“Bro, my party isn’t even level seven yet, and I’m only level eight because I was partied with you the other night when you and Eta wiped out all those Starved Wolf packs. A level ten pill is something far off for anyone but you.”
“Oh,” Jake muttered, “So I shouldn’t give it to her?”
“Nah, you totally should,” Andy said seriously, leaning in to talk to Jake, “I bet she’ll be so blown away by it that she won’t be able deny that you’re real ever again!”
“I think just being there would be enough,” Jake laughed, “So, they’re going to log in tomorrow morning?”
“Should do,” Andy nodded, taking a sip from his ale, “So, our day is set? Check on your pills, learn a new Skill and chill?”
“Sounds good,” Jake grinned as they got up from the table, heading out.
------
Merina Fleurenger sighed.
She was sat in the mayoral office of Machiville, the simple desk and chair she was using looking out of place amongst the lavish decorations of the room itself. She desperately wanted to change the décor to something more muted and peaceful, but she worried that doing so may upset her new lord. Thinking of him, Merina sighed again.
Jake Grey was a strange one, even for a Traveller. He had shown the town and its people generosity beyond Merina’s comprehension and placed her in a position of power with little to no thought. He had made almost no demands of the town apart from clearing and powering up the Teleportation Pad and had left the moment it was operational. While she understood that last part to some degree, Travellers being free spirits, what really confused her were the numerous new building designs that had become available to the town once he had gained his Lord Title.
All of them were interesting, each having a naturalistic design that resembled elven architecture more than the regular human style of building, except different. For example, the Bakery that was going to be built to help provide more food to the townsfolk had two options, a normal building of stone and wood, or the naturalistic design. The naturalistic design looked more like a cottage, the eaves covered in moss and vines, with a water wheel turning on the side, probably to help grind flour in house. It was only slightly larger than the basic design, but if what Merina was seeing was true, it had an almost twenty five percent increase in productivity compared to the normal one.
This was the case with most of the buildings that had the naturalistic designs available, each having a solid twenty to twenty five percent increase on their abilities. There were even regular houses in the style, each able to hold more people than the basic homes and boasting a bonus to inhabitant happiness. Merina still wasn’t sure if selecting them was the right choice, but his lordship had said that he trusted her judgement, hadn’t he? And what was better than a more productive town?
“OI! Machie!” the shout pulled Merina out of her thoughts, looking up from the Town Interface to see a familiar face glaring at her, “You, lass! Where’s that damned half-breed of a mayor? His bastard son is busy tearing down me forge!”
“I assume you’re talking about the late Pereion Machie?” Merina asked the dwarf calmly, having expected this to happen eventually.
“Aye, that’s the one!” the dwarf shouted, stomping into the room before suddenly freezing, “Wait…what’d ye mean ‘late’? The old bastard finally kick the bucket?”
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“Not quite,” Merina hummed, “He was slain in a Challenge fight. By the new lord of the town and forest.”
“Slain? Yer shitting me,” Gert huffed, “Then why is that lumbering idiot boy of his tearing down me forge?”
“Because,” Merina sighed, rubbing her temple as a headache started to form, “We’re rebuilding essentially the entire town. However, to start doing that, we need to deconstruct as many buildings as possible and see what can be salvaged.”
“Salvaged? From this shit hole? Not a lot is my guess,” Gert grunted, running a hand through their thick beard, “And what ‘bout me forge? Where’m I supposed to work while a new one’s being built?”
“I’m sure you can set up a basic forge somewhere,” Merina sighed, “I was going to have you making nails and tools for the construction anyway.”
“You? Have me make things?” Gert growled at the elf, “And who in the Deep put a harlot like you in charge?”
“The new lord,” Merina shot back, holding up her hand to show off the Mayoral Signet, “And the last time I checked, the contract you signed with the late Pereion Machie is still valid for another, oh…twenty odd years, is it not?”
“You…you damn sneaky bitch,” the dwarf muttered, before letting out a guffaw, “Fine, a Stonehammer always keeps their word, especially when it’s written down. I’ll go set up a basic forge to make nails in some backstreet around here. Just make sure you get me a good forge in exchange!”
“Of course,” Merina smiled, opening the Nature’s Forge design, and showing it to the dwarf in front of her, “Is this adequate?”
“It’s no Dwarven Forge, but damn…” Gert trailed off, before clearing their throat and patting some soot off their beard, “Aye, that’ll do.”
“Good to hear, now, don’t you have nails to go make?” Merina smiled.
“Bloody tree loving wench,” Gert snorted as they turned away.
“Stone brained midget,” Merina hummed back, making the dwarf freeze for a moment, before shaking their head and laughing as they slammed the door shut behind them.
------
“Damn, he really did it?”
Jake nodded as the two Travellers looked at the two pills in his hand, Jake using [Observe] on them again.
High Potency Magic Awakening Pill
A pill made to awaken and enhance the magic of the individual who ingests it. Contains a high amount of High Potency Mana.
Quality: Rare
Level Restriction: Level 10+
“So, are you going to take one?” Andy asked, Jake placing both of the pills in his inventory as they left the library gardens.
“Not right now,” Jake shook his head, “The last time I awakened my magic was…less than pleasant. I’d prefer to be somewhere safe before I try again.”
“Fair enough, to the Basket, then?”
“Sounds good.”
The pair moved through the town, heading back to the familiar tavern, the natives paying them little mind. Suddenly, a small figure darted out in front of them, bumping into Jake as they passed. He blinked as he felt something flash in his mind, looking down at his bag in confusion. Quickly opening his inventory again, he realised that one of the two pills he’d just stored was missing, turning to see the small figure duck into a nearby alleyway.
“Andy,” Jake said, Eta growling beside him, “I think I just got robbed.”
“What?” the Defender sighed, looking in the direction Jake and Eta were glaring, “Shit. Must have been a Rogue using [Pickpocket] on you. What’d they take?”
“One of the pills,” Jake said, Andy starting.
“Then what are we waiting for!” he shouted, “Let’s get after them!”
------
Quick Fingers grinned as she darted down the alleyway, quickly checking what she’d gotten from the fancily dressed idiot she’d just robbed. Not only had she managed to grab something probably valuable, but she’d even managed to level up her [Pickpocket] Skill at the same time, which was odd considering it had levelled up less than an hour ago. Ducking into another side alley, she quickly checked the small pill in her hand, almost falling over at what she saw.
“What the fuck?” Quick gasped, staring at the small blue pill in amazement, “This thing is…holy shit!”
“They went this way!” the shout startled her as she looked back, spotting the lumbering tank in iron armour that had been with her original mark pointing straight at her, making Quick swear under her breath as she started running again.
The man sprinted after her, his armour making a racket that bounced across the walls of the thin alley, but Quick was confident that she was faster. Or at least slipperier. She ducked into another alley, bolting down it and across the street at the other end, before slipping through a crowd of chatting women and sliding under a cloth covered table of a stall. She paused as she caught her breath, straining to listen for the tell-tale clomping of the tank’s metal boots.
Instead, she heard a low growl, feeling hot breath on the back of her neck as she turned slowly to stare into the yellow eyes of a wolf, it’s head poking in from under the cloth.
“Fucking hell!” she screamed, leaping out from under the table and barrelling straight into a cloaked figure, knocking her backwards as he glared at her from under a wolf’s head cowl, “Oh shit.”
“Hand it over,” he said flatly, Quick having already slipped the pill into her inventory during the initial chase.
“No idea what you’re talking ‘bout,” she huffed, getting to her feet, and puffing out her small chest, “I don’t have anything of yours.”
“The pill,” the mark said quietly as he moved his cloak aside, revealing the fancy armour beneath, and a vicious looking short sword at his hip.
Quick could barely hide the shaking of her hands at the intimidating display, before swearing under her breath at the sound of multiple leather shoes hitting the cobbles, looking away to see a group of guards quickly approaching. She looked up at the mark again, his eyes shadowed beneath the cowl, and was about to run, when the growl sounded behind her again, the wolf right behind her.
“Shit,” she swore, “Shit, fuck, fucking hell! Fine, here’s your damn pill!”
She grabbed the pill from her inventory and threw it with all her might over the man’s shoulder, blinking as his hand shot up and caught it expertly.
“Thank you,” he said, turning away and starting to walk off, stopping as the guards called out to him.
“Hold, your lordship,” the one in front, a lieutenant, said, “Is there a problem?”
“Not at all,” the mark said, shaking his head, “This person just took something of mine, but they gave it back.”
“A pickpocket?” the lieutenant growled, glaring at Quick, “We’ll put them in the gaol for a week then. Sort them out.”
“No need for that,” the man shook his hidden head, “They returned what they took.”
“But they’ll take again,” the guard huffed, “Better to punish them now, than risk a repeat offense.”
“It’s fine,” the mark said again, “It was just a misunderstanding. You can leave them be.”
“Are you sure?” the man nodded firmly at the question, the guards glaring at Quick for a moment, before turning away and leaving.
“What the fuck?” she muttered, looking at the man as he started to walk off, the iron clad tank from before having come out of the alleyway not long ago, “Oi, why’d you do that?”
“What?” the man asked, turning to look at her as she scowled at him, “Oh, you gave back the pill, so there was no reason for you to get arrested.”
“Yeah, but I still stole from you,” Quick huffed, suddenly blinking at the stupidity of her admission, “I mean…shit, no denying it now.”
“Right,” the mark nodded, turning away again before stopping, suddenly reaching out to Quick as she flinched back.
A coin was pressed into her hand as she held her arms up to protect herself, blinking as she looked at the shiny metallic yellow of the gold piece, her eyes going wide.
“What the actual hell?” she gasped, looking at the man again, “But I…and you’re…who the fuck are you?”
“Just a passing stranger,” the man shrugged, looking at the coin in her hand, “Use that to get some better equipment, you look like you need it.”
Quick looked down at her ragged and mismatched leather armour, most of which had been scrounged or stolen from other players. Glancing at the coin in her hand, she knew she could buy a full set of at least Uncommon Quality gear for it, and still have plenty to spare. Shaking her head, she looked up again, blinking as the man and his friend, plus the wolf, had vanished.
“Fucking weirdo,” she muttered, before pocketing the coin and hurrying off.