[Achievement Unlocked: Get arrested]
Isabelle opened her eyes. The cold, stone prison floor was unforgiving on her back, and she could feel her joints ache as she pulled herself up to a sitting position. She was alone in her cell, though she could see someone in the cell across from her scrawling something across the wall.
Isabelle was wearing her peasant robes again. She couldn’t remember much of what had happened since being arrested, but she couldn’t imagine she willingly equipped them. Isabelle checked her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 1/43
Item
Traits
Peasant Robes (human)
+1 carry weight
Copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws
+0.5 carry weight
Wow. Isabelle didn’t know if she was more upset that they’d taken everything from her except her peasant robes or that she’d been given a copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws. Isabelle wasn’t going to read that shit. Isabelle focused on the Cloud Reach List of Laws and thought ‘discard.’ The scroll shot across the room, bouncing around like a rubber ball.
“Hey there. You seem pretty angry,” said the prisoner in the adjacent cell to Isabelle. As he walked up to the bars of his cell, Isabelle noticed that he appeared to be some sort of green skinned man with a wide nose and pointy ears.
“Um. Do you mind if I ask what you are?” Isabelle said to him.
“Haven’t you ever seen an orc before?” the prisoner asked, not seeming annoyed as much as he did confused.
“No, I haven’t. Sorry,” said Isabelle. “I’m Isabelle, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Isabelle. I’m Grul the Mutilator,” said the orc.
“Um.” Isabelle tried not to be unsettled by the orc’s name. “What are you in here for?”
“Fraud and racketeering,” said Grul. “What about you, human?”
Isabelle tried to remember the list of charges the guard had rattled off against her. “I think it was manslaughter, destruction of property, disturbing the peace… and there was something else, too, but I can’t remember off the top of my head.”
“Holy shit,” said Grul. “That’s quite a rap sheet. Do you know how many days you have?”
“No idea,” said Isabelle.
“Ask the guard next time he walks down the hallway. He’ll let you know,” said Grul. “I’m getting out later today. I’m so excited to see my kids.”
Isabelle did her best not to unpack that statement.
Soon enough, a kobold guard holding a torch walked down the hallway.
“Excuse me, sir,” Isabelle asked the guard, “Do you know how many days I have left in here?”
“Days?” the guard asked. “Lady, you’re looking at a minimum of five years. Didn’t you read the copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws? We take most of your crimes—especially destruction of wildlife—very seriously, ma’am.”
Five years? Isabelle knew she’d messed up, but five years seemed more than a little ridiculous.
“Destruction of wildlife?” Grul said with disgust, scowling at Isabelle. “Wow. If I’d known you committed that crime, I would’ve never even talked to you.”
Great. Now even Grul the Mutilator thought she was a bad person. Isabelle sat there in emotional agony as the guard walked off.
Something occurred to Isabelle. Maybe she ought to read that
copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws after all.
She walked over to it and focused on it.
[Pick up ‘Copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Isabelle opened her inventory and focused on the list of laws.
[Copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws equipped.]
Isabelle looked at the scroll.
Cloud Reach List of Laws (abbreviated based on your charges)
Crime: Thou shalt not harm the wildlife
Punishment: 1 year/infraction
Your infraction count: 12
Crime: Thou shalt not disturb the peace
Punishment: 0.5 year/infraction
Your infraction count: 6
Crime: Thou shalt not destroy others’ property
Punishment: 1 month/infraction
Your infraction count: 66
Crime: Thou shalt not commit manslaughter
Punishment: 1 day/infraction
Your infraction count: 5
Isabelle felt sick and confused. Twelve years for harming widllife, and five days for accidentally killing someone. Also, three years for just disturbing the peace? Exactly how much time did all this add up to, anyway?
[Clarification: Think ‘get sentence total’ to have the system total your prison sentences for you.]
Isabelle thought ‘Get sentence total.’
[Your total sentence is 20 years, 6 months, and 5 days]
Fuck. That was absolutely insane. How in the hell did these Cloud Reach people expect Isabelle to just sit and rot in a cell for so long over a couple of honest mistakes?
Then, something at the bottom of the scroll caught Isabelle’s eye.
Some prisoners may have their sentence time reduced by participating in battles at the Citadel.
Now that sounded nice. Isabelle needed her sentence reduced all right, she needed it reduced by a lot. And hey, she’d fared pretty well against all those crabs. Maybe she ought to see if she could find out more about Citadel battles.
“Hey, Grul, I have a question,” said Isabelle.
Grul did not respond, he’d gone back to writing on the wall.
[Speechcraft attempt: persuade]
“Grul! Hey! I was wondering if you knew anything about fighting at the Citadel!”
[Speechcraft failed]
Why did Isabelle always have to fail her speechcraft checks?
Grul turned to look at Isabelle and laughed. “You? Fighting at the Citadel? I know you must think you’re hot shit since you pick on innocent wildlife, but I really don’t think battling out your sentence is the right move, human.”
That just made Isabelle irritated. Who was this orc man to tell her whether she could or couldn’t fight at the Citadel? What did he knew? Maybe she’d be great at it!
Regardless, Isabelle wasn’t really sure how to go about finding out more about the Citadel if Grul wouldn’t talk about it with her. She figured the guard would probably tell her.
“Grul, do you know when the guard is coming back?” asked Isabelle.
Grul didn’t answer.
Isabelle decided she could wait. So she sat there on the floor, staring at the ceiling, until her eyelids started getting heavy. Heavier. And then, she fell asleep.
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[You’re fully rested]
Maybe she was fully rested, but Isabelle didn’t feel like waking up just yet.
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleep interrupted by event]
“Hey, human, get up. It’s time to eat,” said a kobold guard.
Isabelle sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
The kobold unlocked a slat in the bottom of her cell door and slid a bowl of oatmeal into her cell.
“There you go,” said the guard. They started walking down the hall.
“Wait, guard!” said Isabelle.
“Yes?” asked the guard.
“I’ve got a question,” said Isabelle.
“Okay,” said the guard. “Make it quick.”
“How do I participate in battles at the Citadel?” asked Isabelle.
“Oh boy,” the guard sighed. “Look, it’s a very intensive process, and frankly I’m not sure you’re cut out for it. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
[Speechcraft attempt: persuade]
Isabelle had to pull out all the stops. There was no way in hell she was spending over twenty years in a cell. She leaned forward, kind of pushing her chest out a little, and pulled down her neckline a little by pressing her arms together. “Oh, please, please let me give it a try! I’m absolutely desperate!”
[Speechcraft succeeded]
[Speechcraft increased to level 2]
“Very well,” said the guard. “I’ll send a Citadel trainer in here to talk to you. If they like you enough, maybe you’ll get a quest request. Good luck.”
“Thank you,” said Isabelle.
The guard nodded and walked away. Isabelle then looked across to Grul’s cell. It was empty now. Lucky bastard had gotten out.
Isabelle sat and ate her oatmeal, for the first time wishing that she could instead have some of Tahsi’s bread. That reminded her—where exactly was Tahsi? And what about Sir Jingles? She’d have to ask the next guard.
It was about half an hour before the guard from earlier came back to collect her empty bowl.
“Just an update,” said the guard, “The Citadel trainer said they will come by sometime tomorrow.”
“Thanks again,” said Isabelle. “By the way, could I ask you something else?”
“You can,” said the guard. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll give you the answer you want.”
“It’s about some of my pa—” Isabelle stopped herself, unsure if divulging the fact that she had a system to this guard was a good idea or not, “—some of my friends, that got arrested with me. I want to know if they’re okay, if they’re locked up for the same time, that kind of stuff.”
“What do they look like? I don’t remember them off the bat,” said the guard. “Plus, they only tell people as much as they need to know here, and the includes me.”
“One of them is Tahsi. He’s a kobold,” Isabelle said, as if that completed his description.
“A kobold. Like ninety percent of people in the Protectorate of Ozi, and ninety percent of the people in this prison. Sorry, I haven’t a clue,” said the guard.
“Okay, that’s okay,” said Isabelle, “What about Sir Jingles?”
“Now, that name sounds familiar,” said the guard. “That wouldn’t be the cat, would it?”
“Yes, yes, that’s Sir Jingles!” Isabelle finally felt she was getting somewhere.
“Yea, he’s a real slippery one. Had a bunch of warrants out for his arrest that had nothing to do with your crimes, too. We had to put him in maximum security. He’s got a bit of a reputation as a jailbreaker,” said the guard.
“Wow,” said Isabelle. Maximum security. Things were just feeling more and more hopeless.
“Are we done here? Any more questions?” asked the guard.
“That’s it, I guess,” said Isabelle.
“Okay. See you later, prisoner,” said the guard, walking down the hallway with a whistle.
Isabelle didn’t see a point in doing much more of anything, not that there as anything to do, until the Citadel trainer arrived. So, she slept again.
[Sleeping…]
[You’re fully rested]
Oh, no. Isabelle wasn’t waking up that easily. The system could go ahead and let her continue sleeping, thank you very much.
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleeping…]
[Sleep interrupted by event]
“Hello, human,” said a kobold in a tank top outside Isabelle’s cell. “I heard you wanted to talk to me.”
“Are you the Citadel trainer?” asked Isabelle.
“Yes, that’s me,” said the kobold. “My name’s Oglo, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Oglo, I’m Isabelle.”
“Likewise,” said Oglo. “Now, Isabelle, I’ve got to tell you something right off the bat. Usually our Citadel entrants are a little more… well… well, first of all, they’re kobolds.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Almost everyone was a kobold in this place, of course that meant most of their Citadel entrants would be kobolds! But, she didn’t want to offend Oglo when he had her fate in his hands, so she just shrugged.
Character Status
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Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
4
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
26
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
11
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
11
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
8
Int:
8
Dx:
8
Wis:
4
Const:
8
Char:
4
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
0
Summon:
0
Heal:
0
Destroy:
0
Transmute:
0
Confuse:
0
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
2
Sneak:
3
Archery:
0
Lockpick:
0
Armed Combat:
3
Melee Combat:
3
Speechcraft:
2
Slight Of Hand:
0
Shit. Isabelle had forgotten about that little system quirk. At least she got to see her speechcraft leveled up, that was satisfying.
“Hey, are you okay?” asked Oglo. “Your eyes went glassy there for a second.”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” said Isabelle.
“Okay then,” said Oglo. “The other thing I wanted to say is that not only are our Citadel entrants usually kobolds, but they’re also usually a lot… tougher looking? Fiercer? And usually they’re fighting to get out of life sentences. It makes the stakes a little higher, and, well, deadlier, to be honest. I’m not sure you’d be a good fit.”
As if that would deter her. Isabelle had twenty years, and that might as well have been a life sentence.
[Speechcraft attempt: persuade]
“Do you know why I’m in here?” Isabelle asked.
[Speechcraft had mixed results]
“Yes, I know why you’re in here. But it’s not necessarily enough to convince me you have what it takes to not fall on your own sword in the first five minutes,” said Oglo.
Isabelle held back a scowl. What a condescending kobold.
“Here, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take you in for a practice round where you can use some of our battling equipment and get a feel for everything. If you do well enough, we’ll see about setting up a deal for you. If you don’t, well, at least I won’t have your death and an audience’s disappointment on my hands,” said Oglo.
It felt patronizing, but it was obviously the best deal she was going to get.
“Okay,” said Isabelle. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Great,” said Oglo. “I’ll send you a quest request.”
Quest: Citadel Practice Round
Description: You’ve been accepted for a practice session with Oglo at the Cloud Reach Citadel. Use this opportunity to get used to the fighting tools and prove your mettle.
Reward: Ability to continue on the ‘Citadel Fighter’ questing path
Activate? Y/N
Isabelle thought it was a little curious that Oglo and the guards seemingly were unaware she had a system, but were also aware she could recieve quest requests.
[Clarification: Whereas players in Beaubinte receive quest requests through a system dialog, NPCs in Beaubinte receive quest requests in the form of abstract thoughts. It allows for increased communication and social gathering management through this ‘soft telepathy.’]
Huh. Well, that was kind of cool. No wonder her party members had gotten so irritated when she ignored quest requests. Isabelle focused back on the current quest request and thought yes.
[Quest ‘Citadel Practice Round’ activated]
[Loading quest]
[…]
[…]
[Quest prepared]
[Follow Oglo]
“Alright, I’m going to unlock your cell. Keep in mind, any funny business will get you taken out by the guards immediately,” said Oglo.
[Prison cell door - unlocked]
The door swung open. Isabelle walked forward, noticing that her legs felt almost like jelly from lack of movement.
“Okay, follow me,” said Oglo. “We’ve got a tunnel that leads directly to the Citadel from here so that any prioners we conscript don’t have to leave our sight.”
Oglo lead Isabelle down the hallway she’d seen the gaurds walk down. Then, he approached what appeared to be a stone wall. Oglo then hissed an encantation. The stone slid up into the ceiling, revealing a staircase.
“Cool, huh?” Oglo said to Isabelle.
“Yes,” Isabelle said. She had to admit, it was pretty cool.
Oglo walked Isabelle down the staircase, hissing at the wall again to close it behind them. Eventually, the staircase ended, and they were walking single file down a long, dark corridor. Just when Isabelle thought it would never end, Oglo reached to his left and pulled an old wooden lever.
A wall beside them swung open, revealing the warm light of what Isabelle could see and smell was the Citadel training room. Oglo walked into the room and pulled out a sword and a shield. He handed them to Isabelle.
[Citadel Training Sword equipped]
[+2 damage]
[+2 stm]
[Citadel Training Shield equipped]
[+3 str]
[+3 const]
“This is our standard training gear,” said Oglo as he picked up another sword and shield for himself.
“So, what are we doing for the practice?” Isabelle asked.
“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen,” Oglo turned to Isabelle and pointed his sword at her. “I’m going to do my absolute best to kill you.”