Name: Charisse Race: Human

Ht: 5’6, Wt: 130, Sex: Female,

Archetype: Rogue

HP: 1 / 7 Mana: 0 / 0

Stats:

Physical: 2, Moxie : 3, Spiritual: 2, Luck : 3,

Agility : 3, Magic : 2, Mental : 2, Energy : 2.

Relevant Skills: Moxie - Deceive

__________________

Charisse limped back around toward where she'd left Jax and Todd. Taking care not to be anywhere near where the goblins were advancing from, she stumbled through the forest.

"Halt! Charisse, is that you?" Sirah's voice from behind a tree.

Charisse looked in the direction but didn't' see her trainee. A cloak was hanging willowy from the trunk above; obviously, no one was wearing it. Rustling in a bush at the base of the tree, between the branches, she could see her trainee lying on the ground, smiling.

"Good job. It took me a while to see you." Charisse said. "The cloak only works at a distance, however."

"Your praise brightens my heart," Sirah said. "Your friends are about twenty feet behind me."

Charisse nodded then hobbled past the bush. The smell hit her before the sight. Air tinged with the coppery scent of blood, excrement, and bile from first battle jitters or death gave her pause as she swallowed hard.

To the side, next to a tree, Jax walked along a small line of people. Several had red-stained bandged wrapped around an arm or head. As she shuffled through the muddy dirt, she stood next to Jax as he worked a bandage on someone's head.

"I'm alive," Charisse punctuated the sentence with a groan. Jax turned to her, a brief look of shock covered his face before he reached a hand out to touch Charisse on the neck.

Spell Effect: Healing Touch, heals 5 damage. Excess lost.

Like a hot shower washing away tense muscles, the wave of healing energy erased most of the pain Charisse was suffering. Agony replaced with numbness or slight soreness as her skin and muscles heal. Quickly feeling around, she made sure the lack of pain didn't mean loss of feeling. Everything seemed to be in order.

"Thank you," Charisse said.

"Did you stop the flank?" Jax said.

"Yeah, I think so. How is Todd?" Charisse said.

"He is fine, just needed some rest. He told me fighters have an ability that triggers if they drop below 0 hp. It heals them. His kept triggering as he ran and had a side effect of exhaustion." Jax said.

"Pretty cool ability." Charisse looked around. Several people leaned against a tree or were lying on the ground. "We lose anyone?"

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"A few close calls, but no deaths. We killed ten goblins in total. I think Sirah said one or two fled."

"Sirah, with an I," Charisse looked toward where the village should be. "We head in and take the village?"

"No, we wait for the main force to meet up with us; if a dozen goblins present that big of a problem for us, then two dozen we won't stand a chance."

"Maybe, but you didn't have me," Charisse flexed a little.

"Or me," Todd said as he slowly sat up. "Even at 50%, I'm more than a match for a couple of goblins."

"No, we wait. They'll be bunkered in, who knows what traps they'll have." Jax looked around at some of the people still leaning against trees. "Even though I've healed everyone multiple times, they're still injured. The game seems to be more lenient toward Players, rather than the NPC's."

"I'm guessing its an attribute to having an archetype. Even though the trainees got some skill ups, I doubt they have an archetype associated with them." Charisse said.

"We could try, maybe get one to say the words," Todd said, looking around. "Maybe one of the rogueish people."

"Worth a try, I'll go see if Sirah is up for it," Charisse said, giving a glance toward where her trainee was hiding in the bush.

After finding Sirah again and getting her out of the bush, Charisse brought Sirah back to where Jax and Todd were, then sat her down.

"Some of this is going to have to be off just faith, so please trust me," Charisse said.

"I trust you with my life," Sirah said.

Charisse grimaced a little before nodding, "So my friends and I are not from here."

"You are from out west, by the ancient grove."

"No er, yes, but no. We are not from this world."

"Are you from the Realms of Power?" Sirah's eyes grew wide, and she quickly made a seven-pointed star with her right hand.

"No, we're… Yes, from a plane of power. In our world, we speak and meditate upon some words to help us train. These words of power help us choose our path in life. Jax chose Paladin, the way of the holy warrior. Todd chose Fighter, and I choose rogue." Charisse paused to let her words sink in for a moment.

"If you teach me, I'll choose rogue too, anything to be like the stealthy Charisse." Sirah straightened up and held her head high, smiled for a moment, then quickly changed it to a neutral expression.

"It may be possible your people cannot do this, if it doesn't work, know it is not a judgment on you. We are just different types of people. Also, if it doesn't work, know you're still one of my best students, and I'm extremely proud to walk by you." Charisse tried to think of more compliments to build her trainee up. Sirah smiled and beamed at the praise.

Charisse sat down next to Sirah and took her right hand.

"Think about how you can choose an archetype; then you should be able to choose rogue," Charisse said.

Sirah's face tightened as she closed her eyes. Sitting still as a statue, she seemed to stop moving. Charisse watched her still holding one hand.

"How long did it take for us?" Charisse softly asked.

"Didn't seem like that long," Todd said.

"How long should we wait?" Charisse said. She glanced upward and looked for the sun; it was a few hours until sunset. She waved Todd away as she sat down and started a slow count. One, two, three…

One hundred and forty-three, one hundred and forty-four… Charisse caught a change in Sirah's face. A small drop of water rolled down from her right eye.

"Is everything ok?" Charisse said as she laid a hand on Sirah's shoulder. Another tear rolled down her trainee's other eye.

"I'm so sorry, I tried." Sirah opened her eyes as well as the dams behind them. Tears freely flowed down her face. "I tried, I begged, but the gods have denied me."

"It's ok; we warned you it might not work," Charisse said.

"I want to be like you; I want to be powerful and able not to be seen."

"You already can; it took me a few seconds to see you in that bush earlier."

"I'm so sorry; perhaps you'll want to ask Frederick," Sirah's hands covered up her eyes as she wept.

"No, if you cannot do it, then none here will be able to," Charisse said.

Success! Moxie Roll 6d10; 7, 6, 3, 1, 8, 10. Three Successes; Skill Moxie - Deceive gained 3 Experience.

Skill points to next level, 9,733

"You had the highest chance of everyone here to be able to access it." With a hug and squeeze, Charisse smiled at her trainee and offered a small cloth to wipe her eyes. "Now, let's go kick some goblin ass and get your town back." Offering a hand, she helped Sirah stand.

Charisse walked over to where Todd was helping Jax. Both of them sat on the ground with a whetstone as they sharpened the goblin swords they'd just picked up. Todd looked up, took a glance at Sirah, then sighed.

"I'm guessing it didn't work," Todd said, between sliding the stone across the edge of a blade.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Charisse said.

"Figured if it had worked, you'd be smiling and cheerful," Todd said.

"I didn't need an arckite to kill goblins before, don't need it now," Sirah said. She pulled out a dagger and started flipping it end over end in one hand.

"We wait. We keep making that mistake and someday it's going to end up getting a lot of people killed." Jax said, glancing at three trainee's lying on the ground.

"This time will," Sirah was cut off by a glare from Jax.

"No, we wait. Else, we leave no one to guard the still wounded. Todd here was easily overwhelmed even though he's the best warrior for a hundred leagues." Jax patted Todd's armor. "Even steel bends when enough pressure is applied."

"Sirah, rest, or go watch for another attack, we'll retake your village soon enough," Charisse said.

Sirah glared at Jax, then turned toward Charisse. The glare softened, and she blinked her eyes several times as tears started pooling in them. With a clenched jaw, she turned from Charisse and went toward a thick group of trees.

Charisse waited until Sirah was out of sight before speaking.

"Sometimes, I forget this is just a game," Charisse said softly.

"What if it wasn't, and we are the interlopers?" Jax said.

"That hurts my brain, and I'm already going to have issues with the fact that real magic works in our world." Charisse pinched and rubbed the corner of her eyes. Wiping her fingers on her shirt, she looked around. "Was there a working bow among the goblins?"

"Aye, but we have someone with a broken leg who wanted to use it." Todd glanced at one of the injured people lying on the ground and pointing toward a young man with his left leg strapped to a stick.

"Alright, I'll be watching for Mark," Charisse pointed toward the trees near where Sirah had been hiding.