Chapter 3 - Dark Blue Boxes And Fighting_There Will Be Dragons Here

Isabelle felt prickles of fear as the cupboard door slowly creaked open, a crack of light slowly approaching her left foot as Kolti pulled it open.

“No, no, that’s silly,” said Kolti. She let out a lackadaisical sigh. “There’s no way a fierce, muscly warrior could fit in that cupboard. It’s too cramped.”

Kolti shut the door.

[Current Visibility: 0/100]

Isabelle felt a strange tingling in her spine.

[Sneak Increased to Level 1]

A flash of light surrounded her for but a moment, and then was gone. What’s more, she seemed to be the only one who noticed, as Tahsi and Kolti continued talking as if nothing was happening in the cupboard.

[Current Visibility: 0/150]

“Huh,” Isabelle nodded slowly, covering her mouth as she realized she’d voiced her reaction to the current visibility dialogue aloud.

[Current Visibility: 12/150]

“What was that?” Kolti asked

[Current Visibility: 3/150]

“Eh,” Kolti said. “Must’ve been the wind.”

[Current Visibility: 0/150]

It was all Isabelle could do to keep from bursting into laughter. How could her saying ‘huh’ have been misconstrued as the wind? Was there even an open window in Tahsi’s house?

[Clarification: The higher your sneak, the harder it will be for people to notice when you are hiding from them. This increases exponentially as you level up your sneak.]

“Alright, Tahsi. I’ll get out of your hair,” said Kolti. “But you watch your back. The Ozian Sect surely will be.”

Kolti trudged out of the house and slammed the door behind her.

Tahsi sighed in relief.

“You can come out, now, human," said Tahsi.

Isabelle crept out of the cupboard.

“So who is Kolti, anyway? And what’s the Ozian Sect?” asked Isabelle

“You don’t want to know,” Tahsi said.

[Speechcraft Attempt: Persuade]

“Um, no, I actually do want to know, Tahsi," said Isabelle.

[Speechcraft Failed]

“Well, I don’t want to tell you," said Tahsi. "It’s dangerous to talk about. I’m just a baker, you know. I don’t have many options if someone like Kolti comes here to antagonize me.”

[Speechcraft Attempt: Persuade]

“Come on, Tahsi. I won’t tell anybody," said Isabelle.

[Speechcraft Failed]

“Look, I took you in, okay? Isn’t that enough? I’m not a tutorial, you know. I’m a person," said Tahsi.

“A person? I thought you were a kobold," said Isabelle. "Are kobolds considered people in… in… where exactly are we, again?”

“Beaubinte! You’re in Beaubinte!" said Tahsi. "Gods, your brain really is fried. Look, why don’t you just sit down, take some deep breaths, and eat some bread, okay?”

“Okay.” Isabelle plopped on the bed, but she did not start eating the bread. “You know, Tahsi, I was just thinking something.”

“What?” Tahsi asked, his serpentine eyes darting to her uneaten bread, and then to her mouth, and then back to the bread.

“I was just, well, I was just thinking.” Feeling obligated, Isabelle took another bite of bread. She labored to speak through it. “I was just thinking about how you said you aren’t a tutorial.”

“Yes, that’s damned right, I’m no tutorial!” said Tahsi.

“Well… seeing as I don’t know anything about where I am, and this whole world seems to have some sort of weird game mechanics to it, do you happen to know of anybody who might be willing to give me a tutorial?” asked Isabelle.

Tahsi’s face grew grim as he shuddered. “Did you just say game mechanics?”

“I don’t know what to call it. I just have this weird green text above my vision pop up from time to time. Apparently hiding in that cupboard from Kolti leveled up my sneak," said Isabelle.

“…Leveled up…” Tahsi swallowed air. “Gods. I was worried it might be you. Oh, gods!” Tahsi took a loaf of his own bread and started bashing himself in the head with it. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why’d you have to go and drag the unconscious human into your home! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

[Tahsi -0.5 hp]

“Tahsi, stop it!” Isabelle leapt to her feet and pried the loaf out of his claws. “You’re losing hp!”

“Are you calling my bread stale, Isabelle?” Tahsi glowered at her, tears in his eyes.

[Speechcraft Attempt: Deceive]

“No?” Isabelle frowned.

[Speechcraft failed]

Tahsi plopped on the bed, buried his face in his claws and wailed, sobbing. “Oh, Isabelle, I’m a horrible baker. I’m, like, I’m the worst baker in town, Isabelle!”

“That’s not true?” Isabelle figured whatever the green text was, it couldn’t necessarily count her saying that as an attempt to deceive, as she didn't technically know of any other bakers in town to compare Tahsi to.

[Clarification: Well played, Isabelle.]

“Oh, yes it is! It is, Isabelle!” Tahsi wailed again.

Isabelle frowned, not certain what to say. So, she shrugged.

Something rather unexpected happened when Isabelle shrugged. The green text became a large, wide table full of information.

Character Status

Name:

Isabelle

Gender:

Female

Level:

Class:

Undefined

Race:

Human

Alignment:

Neutral-Neutral

Attributes

Hp:

H-Regen:

3/min

Mana:

M-Regen:

2/min

Stm:

S-Regen:

0.5/sec

Skill Points

Str:

Int:

Dx:

Wis:

Const:

Char:

Magic Ability Levels

Enchant:

Summon:

Heal:

Destroy:

Transmute:

Confuse:

Normal Ability Levels

Crafting:

Sneak:

Archery:

Lockpick:

Armed Combat:

Melee Combat:

Speechcraft:

Sleight Of Hand:

“W-what the fuck?” she said. Isabelle also felt almost a little insulted by the long list of zeroes in the ‘ability levels’ section of her… her… well, her whatever-it-was.

“It’s called a character sheet,” Tahsi said, interrupting Isabelle’s thought process. “And before you ask, no, I’ve never seen one before. Most people in Beaubinte haven’t seen them. We’ve only heard legend of them.”

“Heard legend?” Isabelle turned to Tahsi, watching her character sheet blip out of her vision.

“Yes,” Tahsi sighed, “Along with that, I would suggest you not go around telling people you can see yours. That ability is… dangerous. For a number of reasons.”

Before Isabelle could ask Tahsi to clarify, a loud banging rattled the door.

“Shit!” Tahsi looked through the window. “Kolti’s back with her goons! Quick! Grab something painful and dangerous!” He grabbed a small wooden bat.

Isabelle instinctively snatched Tahsi’s inedible bread loaf, brandishing it like a blade. Tahsi noticed this development and sighed in disappointment.

The windows shattered as kobolds clad in soft, leather armor climbed in, brandishing maces and morning stars. They laughed as they circled around Isabelle and Tahsi.

Kolti kicked the door open, dust and wood splinters sprayed through the air. “Hah! I knew you had a human in here. Now, it’s time for you to pay for your insolence, Tahsi.”

What happened next was a flurry. The circling kobolds lurched towards Isabelle and Tahsi, swinging their weapons closer and closer.

Isabelle suddenly felt that she had to do something. What’s more, whereas normally she would’ve felt anxious or nervous about the situation, she instead felt herself go emotionally numb.

“What’re you gonna do with that bread, little girl?” cackled a kobold.

[Combat mode activated]

Isabelle charged forward, swinging her bread loaf with fury at the head of a nearby kobold. It immediately exploded, spraying blood and chunks of brain over the room. Everyone froze and gasped.

[Critical hit]

[55 damage dealt]

[‘Kobold’ is dead]

[Stamina 20%]

“H-holy shit,” Isabelle said, huffing and puffing.

[Stamina 27%]

“That’s some hell of a bread loaf, eh, Tahsi?” cackled a kobold.

[Stamina 31%]

It was back on. Isabelle ran to another kobold, though she noticed that she felt a little more winded with each step. She swung at its torso twice.

[10 damage dealt]

[5 damage dealt]

[Stamina 0%]

That was a little less satisfying. The kobold was still alive and looked irritated. Worse still, Isabelle’s chest felt tight. It was like she could barely move.

[Stamina 2%]

“Heh,” the kobold chuckled, “That first swing must’ve been beginner’s luck. Guess you ain’t as strong as you seemed, eh?”

[Stamina 4%]

The kobold twirled their morning star, swinging it towards Isabelle. She forced herself to jump just out of the way.

[Stamina 0%]

The weapon burrowed into the floor of Tahsi’s house, sticking into it.

[Stamina 2%]

The kobold jerked. It would not move.

[Stamina 4%]

“Isabelle! Drink this!” Tahsi pushed two kobolds off his back and handed her a small, green bottle. Before Isabelle could ask what it was, more kobolds piled onto him, kicking, hitting and snarling.

[Stamina 6%]

Isabelle shrugged, and then—

Character Status

Name:

Isabelle

Gender:

Female

Level:

Class:

Undefined

Race:

Human

Alignment:

Neutral-Neutral

Attributes

Hp:

H-Regen:

3/min

Mana:

M-Regen:

2/min

Stm:

S-Regen:

0.5/sec

Skill Points

Str:

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Int:

Dx:

Wis:

Const:

Char:

Magic Ability Levels

Enchant:

Summon:

Heal:

Destroy:

Transmute:

Confuse:

Normal Ability Levels

Crafting:

Sneak:

Archery:

Lockpick:

Armed Combat:

Melee Combat:

Speechcraft:

Sleight Of Hand:

Isabelle rolled her eyes, having forgotten for that moment that shrugging made her character sheet pop up. Then, Isabelle drunk from the bottle.

[Potion of Endless Stamina Consumed]

[Temporary Buffs:]

[Stamina 100%]

She then turned to look at her kobold attacker. They had almost managed to pull their morning star out of the floor. Isabelle took this moment to raise her bread loaf and wallop the kobold on the top of the head.

[5 damage dealt]

[Stamina 100%]

That was nice. Isabelle didn’t even feel winded. She took another swing.

[8 damage dealt]

[Stamina 100%]

Another swing, and this one right to the kobold’s neck. Immediately, its head popped off, blood spurting like a geyser as it shot through the room, hitting and smashing a portrait of what Isabelle could only assume was Tahsi’s grandmother.

[Critical hit]

[88 damage dealt]

[‘Kobold’ is dead]

[Stamina 100%]

“W-wow…” Isabelle felt like trembling, but it was almost like the ‘combat mode’ was preventing her from anything other than swinging her bread at another kobold.

[10 damage dealt]

[Stamina 100%]

“Hey! Human!” hissed a familiar voice. Kolti.

Isabelle turned around to see a tall, burly kobold with bright yellow scales, clad in shimmering black armor. She held a long, spiky chain that was wrapped tight around Tahsi’s neck.

“Your traitor friend’s ready to kick the bucket!” cackled Kolti.

“Don’t listen to her, Isabelle, I’m fine!” Tahsi rasped.

Isabelle squinted, focusing on Tahsi.

[Tahsi hp 18/85]

For a second, Isabelle felt a little jealous that Tahsi had more hp than her. Once she got over that, she jumped to action, leaping towards Kolti and hitting her with the loaf of bread, which shattered to bits.

[2 damage dealt]

[weapon ‘loaf of bread’ broken]

[Stamina 100%]

“Hah!” Kolti kicked Isabelle away.

[-3 hp]

“Ugh!” Isabelle wretched. Interestingly, getting kicked itself barely felt like anything, but as soon as the red lettering detailed her missing hp Isabelle felt a sting deep in her heart like a dagger.

Kolti punched Tahsi in the gut.

[Tahsi -8 hp]

Kolti raised her chain and twirled it in the air, whipping it around to Isabelle’s knees, thrashing them.

[-5 hp]

“The Ozian Sect has claimed you both!” Kolti hissed.

Tahsi elbowed Kolti in the groin and pushed her away from him, taking a deep breath and, brandishing his wooden bat, reeled back and swung at her head.

[Critical hit]

With a terrible crackle and squelching it shot off her spine and bounced off the walls of the room, coating everything in even more blood.

[Tahsi dealt 150 damage]

Isabelle furrowed her brow. 150 damage? She’d been lucky to deal 88. It didn’t feel quite fair that Tahsi was already so much better than her.

Kolti’s blood bathed the room. The few remaining kobold minions froze, shuddered, and started jumping through the windows, shattering the glass with curses and screams of agony.

[Combat mode deactivated]

[Armed combat increased to level 1]

[Temporary Buffs Expired]

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

Tahsi dropped the bat and started clutching at his temples. “W-what the fuck was that?”

“I mean.” Isabelle pushed her hair out of her face, blinking the blood out of her eyes with irritation. “You kicked her ass?”

“Yes, but—” Tahsi cleared his throat, “—I-I don’t fight. I mean, I’ve never… I would never… I just… look, Isabelle, something happened to me back there in that fight. I saw green letters, Isabelle.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

Isabelle huffed. “Tahsi, I’ve been seeing those letters the whole time!”

“Yea, but you’re supposed to! I’m not supposed to see letters! Unless…” A look of cold fear washed over Tahsi’s face. “Oh gods. Why. Why me. Quick, Isabelle. Think about checking your party status.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“I’m sorry, my what?”

“Just think about your party status, gods damnit!”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

Isabelle rolled her eyes. Then, she thought about her party status.

[Party Status Loading]

[…]

[Party Status]

[Members: 2]

[See members?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought ‘yes.’

[Party members: Isabelle, Tahsi]

“Aww.” Isabelle smiled. “You’re in my party!”

“Fuck!” Tahsi took a blood-spattered loaf of his bread off the floor and bashed his head with it. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

[Tahsi -0.5 hp]

“Does this mean we get to keep hanging out?” Isabelle asked.

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“Yes,” Tahsi sighed. “We get to keep hanging out. Putting my life in imminent danger. Such fun.”

“I mean—” Isabelle looked to the dead kobolds on the floor, “—we seemed to take pretty good care of them.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“But that’s just some bottom of the barrel grunts from the Ozian Sect! You have no idea, I mean, literally no idea what we’re in for, Isabelle. Gods damnit, why did I ever drag your unconscious body out of the shipyards?”

“Because you’re a good person—er, kobold, Tahsi.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“You can still call me a person, Isabelle.”

“Okay.” Isabelle patted Tahsi on the shoulder. “Because you’re a good person. A good, green, scaly person.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“Thank you, Isabelle.” Tahsi took a deeop breath. “Say, Isabelle, I’ve got a bit of a question. If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Sure thing.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“Um. Why aren’t you the least bit fazed from all the blood and guts? I mean, you just killed some people. You realize that, right?”

Isabelle thought about it for a second. She remembered Erin and Sal. “You know, Tahsi, I kind of always imagined bursting the heads open of people that annoyed me. So, I guess it’s not that big a deal.”

[Notice: You’re ready to level up]

“Tahsi, how do I level up?”

“I think you go to your character sheet, Isabelle.”

“Thanks for the tutorial, Tahsi.”

“I’m not a fucking tutorial!”

Isabelle shrugged.

[Notice: You’ve reached level 2!]

[hp restored to 20]

[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]

[Would you like to spend your points now?]

[Y/N]

Isabelle thought yes.

Attribute Points to Spend: 5

Hp:

H-Regen:

3/min

Mana:

M-Regen:

2/min

Stm:

S-Regen:

0.5/sec

Isabelle thought about her options. She didn’t feel like adding anything to mana, as she hadn’t really been using any magic and wasn’t sure when that might come into play. She decided to add three points to her stm and two to her hp.

Skill Points to Spend: 10

Str:

Int:

Dx:

Wis:

1 (unable to change)

Const:

Char:

Isabelle had a feeling she might understand her skill points more after she spent more time in Beaubinte. She was pretty irritated she couldn’t add to her wisdom points. Isabelle settled on adding four points to her strength, three to her dexterity, and three to her constitution.

[Congratulations, you’ve finished leveling up]

Character Status

Name:

Isabelle

Gender:

Female

Level:

Class:

Undefined

Race:

Human

Alignment:

Neutral-Neutral

Attributes

Hp:

H-Regen:

3/min

Mana:

M-Regen:

2/min

Stm:

S-Regen:

0.5/sec

Skill Points

Str:

Int:

Dx:

Wis:

Const:

Char:

Magic Ability Levels

Enchant:

Summon:

Heal:

Destroy:

Transmute:

Confuse:

Normal Ability Levels

Crafting:

Sneak:

Archery:

Lockpick:

Armed Combat:

Melee Combat:

Speechcraft:

Sleight Of Hand:

It felt good to look at her character sheet. Isabelle felt a tingling flow through her veins and up to the top of her head as swirls of purple light shimmered around her.

“Wow. That was cool.” Isabelle smiled, looking around the bloodshed surrounding her. She focused on a nearby kobold corpse.

[Loot ‘kobold’?]

Isabelle shuddered. Then, she looked at the kobold corpse again

[Loot ‘kobold’?]

Instinctively, Isabelle thought yes.

Inventory: Kobold

Item

Traits

Steel Morningstar

+3 damage, +5 carry weight

Potion of Lesser Health

+5 hp, +0.5 carry weight

Gold (5)

n/a

Isabelle figured all of those could be rather useful. So, she focused on each item, almost imagining saying ‘yes’ to each of them. With a blink, the kobold’s inventory was empty.

Inventory: Kobold

Item

Traits

n/a

“Oh my gods,” Tahsi said, his eyes wide. “Did you just loot that guy with your mind?”

“I think so,” Isabelle said, looking over to Kolti. “I bet she’s got a hell of a lot of loot, come to think of it. I wonder what traits that crazy spiked chain of hers has.”

Before Tahsi could say anything, Isabelle walked over to Kolti and focused on her.

[Loot ‘Kolti’?]

Isabelle thought yes.

Chapter 3 - Dark Blue Boxes And Fighting

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