The next week passed in the same fashion, with the unnamed getting his chores done early and heading into the Rat Run each morning to see how far he could get and record the results in his custodial journal. While he was making slow progress in the maze and recording invaluable information, it still felt like he was an utter novice when it came to fighting and tackling the various obstacles and trials the Rat Run presented. The only reason he was able to get anywhere at all was because of the training collar and the fact that it cost him nothing to reset again and again.
One peculiar aspect of his time so far in the Brawler’s Guild had been the way in which his ability to complete chores had increased almost exponentially. Whether it was cleaning dishes, sweeping, polishing, dusting, or any of the dozens of tasks guild members were required to complete, the unnamed was quickly able to master each of them, falling into a rhythm and significantly reducing the amount of time he had to spend on chores, compared to the rest of the initiates.
He suspected that the ease with which he acquired and mastered new skills of this nature might relate to his Custodian class. A fact which was confirmed by his training collar.
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You have now reached rank 1 as a Custodian! All that sweeping and polishing, cleaning and mending has paid off and now you can stride through the halls of your guild with pride knowing that you have finally attained a single rank point!
I’d say spend some time celebrating with your friends, but we’ve already established that you’re something of a loner. You know, because of all the solo deaths and incompetent maze runs. Still, why not take a moment to pat yourself on the back. YOU DID A THING!
The unnamed tapped his Custodian tattoo and a display showed up outlining his advancement.
** YOU’VE GAINED RANK! **
** Custodian: Rank One **
** SERVICE CLASS TALLY **
Rank: 1
Class: Custodian
Meticulousness: 1
Efficiency: 1
Persistence: 1
Courtesy: 0
Special Skills
Broom Mastery: 2
Mending Touch: 0
Trash Whisperer: 1
Sanitized Aura: 0
Somehow, by simply completing his chores each day, he’d risen to the lofty heights of rank 1. Of more interest, however, was the fact that new skills now appeared and, the unnamed found, by pressing a finger against each of the listed skills, he could get a brief rundown on each.
Broom Mastery: The custodian’s primary tool of choice is the broom. Broom Mastery reflects the various uses of that tool. While it does not directly engage an at-will ability, higher levels of Broom Mastery will increase the effectiveness of all broom and handle based cleaning arts.
Mending Touch: The custodian can repair damaged objects and structures. As the skill improves, the types of items that can be mended increase in complexity and durability.
Trash Whisperer: The custodian is able to survey a scene and, by spending a few moments inspecting trash or debris in the area, determine the most effective means of cleaning and tidying the region. At higher levels, a Custodian may also uncover minor clues such as the recent presence of a creature or person, hints about their activities, or hidden loot items within the trash.
Sanitized Aura: A passive skill that emits a cleansing aura around the custodian, clearing harmful conditions or diseases from the environment or party members.
There were other details associated with each skill, but the unnamed could tell that those details were hidden for now. Likely, they’d be available if he increased his rank. He could see that the skills weren’t altogether useless, particularly if he did actually want to be a custodian. He wasn’t sure how useful they would be, however, in his bid to enter the Brawler’s Guild. The ability to mend items, cleans harmful conditions, and even fight, to some extent, with a broom weren’t completely without merit. It’s just that they paled in comparison to the skills his fellow initiates were learning.
It was infuriating to see his meager progression among the various custodial skills, especially considering that he hadn’t really progressed at all with any of the normal skills the other initiates were working hard to perfect. Blade proficiency, an agility boost, even the provision of a basic defensive stance would be something, but no matter how much he worked at it, nothing seemed to change.
“Trash Whisperer?” he mused, shaking his head as he considered the dubious value of such a skill. “How the peanut butter toast did I end up leveling that one up?”
The training collar display popped up, overlaying on top of his custodian stats.
Unlike other classes, the Custodian class is limited to three skill points gained at each rank. Now that you have scaled the unfathomable heights of the custodial mountain and reached level 1, you have three points assigned to your basic class stats.
Given your performance thus far in conducting guild chores and service duties, three points have been evenly distributed to Meticulousness, Efficiency, and Persistence. Increased your base skills will add power and effectiveness to the various spells and abilities you learn as a Custodian.
Unlike baseline skills, your individual spells are not limited in terms of advancement, however the amount of points designated to each spell will depend on usage and proficiency.
You have already gained 2 points in Broom Mastery because the broom has been your primary method of cleaning at the guild and it is also the primary tool used by the Custodian class.
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The Trash Whisperer ability is linked to your perception as a Custodian. It relates to your ability to survey a given scenario and determine the best way to clean or mend as required by the circumstances you are presented with. At higher levels, this ability will also allow you to uncover clues and potentially find lost loot.
You have gained a point in this ability most likely because of your efforts attempting to find a path through chambers in the Rat Run. While this does not relate strictly to your custodial abilities, it is close enough that you have been granted a single point in recognition of this.
The unnamed closed down the display. The sight of those meagre stats spurred him on, offering at least some encouragement that he was progressing. Advancing in his custodian rank was one thing, but how much more thrilling would it be to actually advance as a member of the Brawler’s Guild or, more importantly, as a magic user? More than ever, he was convinced that he had to win a permanent place in the Brawler’s Guild at any cost, had to put all of his efforts into exploring his ability to use magic.
Vella and Tusk had clearly noticed the change in him since his journey into the Rat Run. He was obviously late to bed each night and disappeared each morning, typically skipping breakfast altogether and then giving his usual lackluster performance in the training room while staying resolutely to a null score. They kept pressing him as to what exactly he was doing each morning and why he always got his chores done the night before. He offered vague responses, insisting that he was simply practicing to get better even though his total score hadn't shifted from zero since they've begun.
The matter came to a head at dinner three nights before there preparatory training was to finish. Tusk and Vella waited for the others to finish eating and asked the unnamed to stay at the table while the initiates moved off to bed. The big troll Naleth was there too, puzzled as to what was going on but echoing the concerned expressions on Tusk and Vella’s face.
“We need to talk,” Vella said flatly. “You need to tell us what’s going on. It’s been almost two weeks, and you’re still stuck at zero.”
He opened his mouth, about to offer another excuse when Tusk interrupted.
“This is an intervention bro. You gotta get off the gear and focus. It’s time to get clean.”
The unnamed laughed. “What gear?”
“Wacky weed. Smack. Whatever you kids are into these days,” Tusk offered with a broad smile. “We’re gonna scare you straight!”
Vella slapped him on the arm.
“Stop it, Tusk. This is serious.” She turned to the unnamed. “We’re heading into the Rat Run in a few days, the three of us. We’ve got no idea what we’ll face and we’re all going to need to work together if we want to get through this.”
She sighed.
“I know that you’re only new in Havenspire and you haven’t had time to build up your skills—”
“Except for sweeping!” Tusk interjected. “Sweeping and mopping. He’s great at those.”
She ignored him as she continued. “It’s fine that you’re not at the top of the tally and I get that you’re probably finding it harder than the rest of us because we’ve been in Havenspire for a long time. But to have zero points at this stage... It’s just no good.”
The unnamed couldn’t help the smirk from spreading across his lips as she went on.
“We can see you doing your best in training and you’re definitely doing better than you were when you first started, but for some reason you’re still stuck at zero and that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Is it Hob?” Tusk asked. “That little sunny side up egg burger did something do you didn’t he?”
The unnamed shook his head, holding up his hands in surrender.
“No, it’s got nothing to do with Hob and I’m not doing drugs or anything like that.”
“What is it then?” Vella pressed. “You disappear every night and every morning. We never see you during chores, but they definitely get done, and even though you’re not dying and getting revived in training much anymore, you’re still stuck on zero. What the waffle is going on here?!”
Naleth looked from one person to the other, his craggy features scrunched up into a heavy frown. Clearly he wasn’t following any of what was going on, but the big troll was doing his best to join in.
“Yes, yes,” he growled. “What going on, friend? Naleth confused.”
“Just…hold on,” the unnamed said, bringing up his collar display and looking around the hall to make sure they were alone. “I want to show you something. Just give me a few minutes and it will all make sense.”
He pulled up his training stats and expanded the selection to show the total accrual of points. Predictably, his total and individual scores all showed as zero, but the negative numbers in brackets next to those scores told a very different story.
** RAT RUN INITIATE 012 **
Total Score: 0
Fraternity: 0 [-20]
Perception: 0 [-7390]
Endurance: 0 [-2310]
Martial Prowess: 0 [-1100]
Tusk and Vella stared in disbelief at the display with their mouths hanging open while Naleth looked from one to the other, trying to determine whether what they were seeing was a good thing or a bad thing. The unnamed grinned, waiting for the realization of what he’d been doing to sink in.
“What the chicken fajita omelet?!” Tusk whispered. “Dude, that’s…”
“Incredible,” Vella offered. “But I don’t understand. How did you rack up this many points.” She threw a thumb towards Tusk. “He’s leading the ranks at the moment, and he’s only just passed seven-thousand points. How on earth did you manage this? And how did you lose them all?”
Her eyes shot up from the display, pinning the unnamed as she reasoned through what she was seeing.
“The Rat Run,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “That’s what you’ve been doing, isn’t it? Finishing your chores early, sneaking into the Rat Run each morning and…”
The unnamed closed the display and opened up his journal.
“I want to introduce you both to a little something I’ve called The Knowledge. There are still a bunch of holes in it, and I haven’t figured out yet exactly how many different chambers there are in the maze, but this should give us a good head start.”
He opened up the contents page and moved through several of the entries, showing the video footage, crudely drawn maps, and key notes, he had made and refined during his various outings. while Tusk and Vella watched in amazement.
“Pretty,” Naleth said with a smile as he pointed to one of the glowing blue rune marks on the screen.
The unnamed continued to scroll through the record, past warnings of places to avoid and brief descriptions of the key features of the room being outlined.
“I’ve encountered twenty-two unique rooms so far. Three have repeated themselves at least once and I’m hoping to knock off at least another twelve rooms before we have to head in there for real. The rooms don’t trigger until you actually walk into them, so there’s plenty of spaces you can rest. So far, the furthest I’ve gotten through the maze is five rooms in one go. No idea how long it will take to get all the way through but—”
“This is amazing,” Vella said, shaking her head. “You’ve given us a huge head start. If even a few of these rooms show up when we head into the Rat Run for real, we’ll be in much better shape.”
The unnamed nodded. “Yeah, that’s the plan. I’ve also made suggestions for what types of weapons and tools would be most useful, in order of priority. So, if you’re in a group of three, like us, you’ll go for these three, but if you’ve got a larger group—say five people—then you could grab a few extra items.”
She looked up at him, her piercing blue eyes questioning.
“You’re going to give this to everyone, aren’t you? All the initiates?”
He nodded. “I figure we’re not competing against each other, so why not?”
Tusk grunted. “Aren’t we though? I mean, I get all this fraternity, look out for your guildmates stuff, but we’re still competing, right? Why have a leaderboard if we’re not competing against each other?”
The unnamed shook his head.
“Not in this case. I checked with Leo. There’s no limit to how many initiates they accept into the guild in a single batch. As long as you get through the Rat Run in a week and meet the five-thousand-point threshold, there’s room for everyone in our induction group.”
Vella leaned forward and tapped on the screen, moving through some of the information as she spoke.
“So, how many times have you died while you were in the Rat Run?”
He shrugged. “Couple of hundred at least. Maybe more. I lost count after a while.”
“And each time you lose the points you’ve gained, so, even though you’ve racked up over ten-thousand points, you’re still sitting at a total score of zero.”
“Yeah. It’s a risk, I know, but I figure it’s probably more important to get as much information as possible on the Rat Run before we head in. I’ve worked it out and, provided I don’t die more than a few times, I should be able to rack up enough points to get through, just by clearing enough chambers each day. As long as we make it out of the maze in time, I’ll meet the requirements.”
The unnamed closed down the display, looking left and right as other initiates drifted in and out of the eating hall.
“Now that you know,” he said, “why don’t you come with me? There’s three days left, so if we all go in together, we might be able to clear a bunch more rooms. That means more information and a better chance of getting all the way through.”
Tusk frowned. “So, when do we do our chores?”
“Now,” the unnamed said with a grin. “When everyone goes to bed. Then, first thing tomorrow morning, we hit the Rat Run.”
The half-orc grunted. “And what about breakfast?”
“Skip it,” the unnamed replied. “Or grab something from the kitchen before you come to the Rat Run.”
“We’re in,” Vella said, prompting Naleth to nod in agreement.
“Yes, yes. Naleth in, also.”
The unnamed looked up at the brute. “Thanks, big man, but you’re already a guild member. They fast-tracked your initiation, so you don’t need to go through the Rat Run. I wish you could, but I don’t think they’ll let you.”
He frowned, nodding like a child who’d just been informed that Christmas was cancelled.
“French toast!” Tusk blurted. “Okay, I’m in too. Combat training’s boring anyway. Time for something new.”