Isabelle stood before the crowd of kobolds huddled around the house she’d just burnt down. It took every ounce of self confidence Isabelle had to focus not on the fact that it was she who’d burnt the house down, but instead on the fact that nobody knew it’d been her that had burnt the house down. Save for Oglo, of course. Oglo knew. But, Oglo had also recently been chucked far away through the air thanks to her breath weapon, so what Oglo did and didn’t know wasn’t necessarily that important at the moment. What was important, instead, was what all these kobolds that were looking at her knew. And they didn’t know shit.
Well, okay, they knew what Isabelle had told them, which had been about three parts truth and five parts bullshit. But that attempt at speechcraft deception had had mixed results, and Isabelle could really only wait to see how the kobolds reacted to what she said to know if she was in a mess of trouble or not.
“Did you say that Oglo burnt this house down?” asked a kobold from the crowd.
“Yes, I think she did,” said another kobold.
“Why, that’s absurd!” said a third kobold. “Oglo is such a stand up guy, and he was great friends with his neighbor. There’s no way he wouldn’t burnt down his home.”
“Yea, I don’t know about this whole story,” said the first kobold. “Isabelle the Dragonslayer, I know we as the people of Thres owe a lot to you, especially considering you completely gutted our ruling class—and I do mean that in earnest, the good people of Cloud Reach are actually quite pleased to welcome a classless society into their lives—but I don’t know if I believe this story. Oglo was a stand up citizen.”
“Yes, he was,” said the second kobold. “He was always donating to charities the money that he earned working at the Citadel.”
Isabelle forced herself not to frown. Oglo didn’t earn money at the Citadell, he stole it from the fighters. Fighters like her.
“Plus, he was always so welcoming to anyone new in town,” said yet another kobold. “If you met Oglo, you pretty much met the whole district. He’d take anybody he met around to parties and such. And of course he’d pressure you a little bit to donate to charities, but it was always for a good cause.”
“Yes, he was a real net positive for this community,” said another kobold. “Why, remember when he gave that guy his kidney?”
“Oh, I remember that,” said a kobold. “Oglo always said a kobold only needs three kidneys, anyway, so what was he missing out on by donating his fourth?”
“Plus, he would always dress up in that big fluffy suit and beard every cold season and let the kids sit on his lap,” said another kobold. “Everybody loves that. It really fostered feelings of joy in the communtiy.”
“Yea, I remember that,” said a kobold. “I also remember how, after he’d finished talking to all the kids, he’d go into the local soup kitchen and spoon out food for the needy all night long. Hell, he’d bring extra food half the time. Not that he was an exceptional cook or anything, but he sure did try.”
“Oh, that was always so sweet of him,” said a kobold. “Did you know that once, there was a horsedrawn carriage that got off track, started rolling down a hill, and it almost killed me? Do you know why I say almost, and why I’m alive today? Because Oglo swooped in and saved me. He said it was the responsibility of a fighter to always be prepared to help those in need. I remember I cried tears of joy and hugged him so tightly on that day.”
“Once, I was actually so down and out from bad business decisions and what I must admit is a pretty bad drinking and gambling addiction that I found myself and my entire small family homeless,” said a kobold. “And you know what? Before I even had to fill out a certificate of homelessness or anything, Oglo comes up to me and puts me, my wife, and my children up in his own home! He even said that he’d just stay in a hotel for as long as we needed because he didn’t want to cramp our style. He really came off to me as a selfless person.”
“Plus he was always rescuing puppies and kittens from the side of the road,” said a kobold.
“And he even found out who was dumping all the puppies and kittens on the side of the road, took all their animals away, redistributed the pets to people who’d care about them, and got the guilty person arrested!” said a kobold.
“Plus, he made the best bread in town,” said another kobold. All the other kobolds murmured in agreeance.
This last statement made Isabelle feel more than a little sad. She hated how much she realized she missed Tahsi. Why’d she kicked him from her party? Would she ever see him again? Was he going to get himself killed going after Frimri without a system? Isabelle didn’t necessarily want to know the answers to these questions, but in her mind she was asking them all the same.
Still, she couldn’t dwell forever. Isabelle had all these kobolds looking at her expectantly, like they were asking for her to explain away all of Oglo’s apparently good, wholesome traits so that they could start hating him for burning his neighbor’s house down. Of course, it hadn’t really been Oglo who’d burnt the house down, it had been Isabelle, but they didn’t need to know that.
[Speechcraft attempt: decieve + persuade]
“Good people of Cloud Reach,” said Isabelle. She cleared her throat. “I know that there were many things that Oglo did that came off to the lot of you as good and well-intentioned. You all have made that very clear. However, that does not excuse him from his crimes. He burnt his neighbor’s home down in cold blood, with the neighbor still inside, and he listened out for the neighbor’s cries of pain, shock, and agony and he did little more than laugh. He laughed, people! I think you all need to consider the fact that how Oglo presented himself to you all, and how he actually was as a person, were two different things. Often times the most giving and kindest people can at the drop of a hat be the most cruel, sadistic, and unforgiving. And I believe that Oglo is one of those kinds of people.”
[Speechcraft had mixed results]
“I hear what you’re saying, Dragonslayer,” said a kobold. “But, like, Oglo paid for me to go on vacation recently. And it was a really nice vacation in a log cabin.”
Isabelle felt her eyelid twitch. Were these kobolds just going to keep rattling off things Oglo had done for them?
“What a nice man,” said another kobold.
“He’s a murderer!” said Isabelle. Was that true? Was Oglo a murderer? He’d certainly murdered her sanity, that much was certain.
“Eh, well, nobody perfect,” said a kobold.
Isabelle sighed. “Well, whatever. I won’t waste any more time trying to make you people understand that Oglo’s an awful person.”
“Good,” said a kobold.
“Yea, good,” said another kobold. “I really like Oglo because he helped pay my taxes without me even asking him to.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Obviously this was beyond a lost cause.
“You know, maybe there’s a good reason Oglo set this house on fire and burnt it down,” said a kobold. “Maybe this neighbor of his, whom I barely know at all, was a real jerk or something.”
“I bet that’s what it is!” said another kobold. “Yes, it must be something of that nature. This neighbor probably wasn’t very neighborly. Surely we can’t sing their praises like we did Oglo, now did we? With that in mind, I think we should just agree that we trust Oglo’s judgement.”
Isabelle felt a tinge of fear. So these people loved Oglo so much that they assumed he’d killed his neighbor, but for a good reason? How bizarre. Still, at least she’d managed to keep the blame off herself.
“You know, usually by now the Cloud Reach guard would charge in and start questioning and arresting people,” said a kobold. “But, considering they’re all dead, I think we can just kind of shrug and move past this whole house burnt down situation.”
“Wait a second,” said another kobold. “What about the talking severed head laying in the pile of ashes?”
“Oh, he’s mine,” said Isabelle. She walked quickly forward, yanked Stelas up into the air by his white hair, and backed away from the scene with a tentative smile.
“Why’s he covered in soot?” asked a kobold.
“Because there was a fire!” said Isabelle.
“But, um, why was he there?” asked another kobold. “If he’s yours, I mean. What was he doing there?”
Isabelle’s eyes darted from kobold to kobold. She was suddenly feeling nervous and overwhelmed. She hadn’t fully succeeded in any of her speechcraft attempts, so Isabelle decided to open her invnetory and see if she couldn’t give herself a bit of a char or speechcraft boost real quick.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 312.9/317
Item
Traits
Platinum Choaker Necklace
+8 char
Spun Silk Gloves
+5 char, +0.5 carry weight
Ethereal Silk Lingerie
+10 char, +8 stm, +2 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Scale Pendant
+10 char
Necklace of Greater Speechcraft
+10 speechcraft, +0.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Isabelle grimaced. Was it really worth putting on three necklaces at once, silk gloves, and worst of all swapping her adult golden dragon armor for ethereal silk lingerie in order to better persuade all these Oglo-loving kobolds? Isabelle looked at the crowd. She felt uneasy. Yes. It was worth it, she decided.
[Platinum Choaker Necklace equipped]
[+8 char]
[Spun Silk Gloves equipped]
[+5 char]
[Ethereal Silk Lingerie equipped]
[+10 char]
[+8 stm]
[Young Red Dragon Scale Pendant equipped]
[+10 char]
[Necklace of Greater Speechcraft equipped]
[+10 speechcraft]
The crowd’s eyes immediately got bigger. There were a few woo’s in the back. Isabelle had to admit, the lingerie didn’t look bad on her, though it wasn’t necessarily her style. Still, she needed to play it up to its strengths in this moment, so she leaned forward a little as she spoke and crossed her arms for some extra support.
[Speechcraft attempt: decieve]
“Um, so, when I came here, I saw that Oglo was burning down the house,” said Isabelle. She used a lot of hand gestures to show off her outfit, or lack thereof, a little more. “And I was holding Stelas here. And Oglo yanked Stelas out of my hands, tossed him into the burning building, and told me to go fuck myself.”
[Speechcraft succeeded]
[Speechcraft increased to level 11]
[Speechcraft increased to level 12]
[Notice: you’re ready to level up]
Wow! That was a big change in level. Attempting to speak to a large group must’ve given Isabelle a lot of xp.
“That makes sense,” said a kobold.
“Yea,” said another kobold. “Oglo was a real nice guy, but he sure did love to tell people to go fuck themselves.”
“Oh yea,” said another kobold. “Why, he’d tell at least five people a day to go fuck themselves.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes as the crowd of kobolds walked off towards a tavern, mumbling to one another about their many memories of Oglo. She couldn’t focus too much on them, though, because it was time for her to level up!
“Fuck’s sake, Isabelle,” said Stelas. “You fed those guys more bullshit than that fake prince of Sharithlond fed you and your party. And what’s more, they believed you! Just think what you could’ve convinced them to do if they didn’t love Oglo so much.”
“Yea, well, I guess that’s the power of wearing lingerie with a +10 char bonus, along with all this other stuff,” said Isabelle.
[Notice: you’re ready to level up]
Shit. Isabelle had already forgotten it was time to level up! She shrugged.
[Notice: You’ve reached level 31!]
[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: 20
Hp:
347
H-Regen:
3/30sec
Mana:
121
M-Regen:
2/40sec
Stm:
116
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
It sure was nice to get twenty whole points to spend on her attributes. Isabelle decided she’d give her mana ten and her stm ten. Her hp was still so high that it just didn’t seem necessary yet to add on to it.
Skill Points to Spend: 20
Str:
80
Int:
55
Dx:
75
Wis:
53
Const:
52
Char:
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40
Twenty more to spend! Time to think. Isabelle wanted more int, maybe five points there would be enough. She decided after this moment to add some points to her char, because maybe relying on putting on lingerie in front of a crowd of strangers wasn’t necessarily the best course of action all the time. Maybe five to char was enough. That left her with ten more points to spend. Isabelle figured she’d throw five of those to her dx, and the other five to her str.
[Congratulations, you’ve finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
31
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
347
H-Regen:
3/30sec
Mana:
131
M-Regen:
2/40sec
Stm:
126
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
85
Int:
60
Dx:
80
Wis:
53
Const:
52
Char:
45
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
3
Summon:
2
Heal:
3
Destroy:
13
Transmute:
2
Confuse:
3
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
8
Sneak:
12
Archery:
11
Lockpick:
3
Armed Combat:
16
Melee Combat:
4
Speechcraft:
12
Sleight Of Hand:
6
Great, now she was all leveled up. It was always a good feeling, that much was for certain.
“Did you just level up or something?” asked Stelas.
“Yes,” said Isabelle.
“Oh, okay,” said Stelas.
Isabelle felt a little silly. Was this Stelas’ best attempt at striking up some banter? Because it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Tahsi was always good at that. Jingles had also been pretty decent at it, too, although he’d been a little meaner. Isabelle chalked that temperment up to him being a cat, though.
Isabelle decided at this point that she needed to figure out a game plan. What exactly was she going to do? Part of her wanted to try and find Tahsi, because she was genuinely worried about him, but another part of Isabelle was so hurt by the fact that he’d left her party with such glee and reckless abandon that she couldn’t stomach the thought of chasing after the bread-toting kobold. There had to be something else she could focus on for a while, at least while she processed what all had happened.
And then Isabelle remembered the Horns. That outer district of Thres that Tahsi had been so vocal about heading out to when she first reincarnated. What was in the Horns, again? Wasn’t there someone or something there that could help Isabelle in some way? She racked her brain, trying to remember. So much had happened since then in so little time that her memory was a little fuzzy.
Wait a second. Hadn’t there been a quest request Tahsi had sent her regarding the Horns? Maybe that was still in her system, even if Tahsi wasn’t, and she could use that quest to guide her.
Quest: Go To The Horns
Description: Tahsi suggested you go to the Horns so that you can learn more about Beaubinte.
Deactivated
Yes! There it was. Isabelle focused on activating the quest.
[Quest ‘Go To The Horns’ activated]
[Loading quest]
[…]
[…]
[Notice: You’ve learned more since the last time you’ve looked at this quest request. Updating quest to include additional information]
[…]
[…]
[Quest updated]
[…]
[Quest prepared]
Quest: Go To The Horns
Description: Tahsi suggested you go to the Horns so that you can learn more about Beaubinte. Head to the west of Thres to look for Lute Pluck.
Activated
[Head for the western gate of Cloud Reach]
Lute Pluck? That name was familiar. Tahsi and Jingles had known who Lute Pluck was, and had suggested she go see him. Ugh. The more and more Isabelle thought about it, the more she regretted kicking her party members on impulse. Why had she even done it? Because they thought she was a mage of shadows? What the hell did that even mean? Why had she cared? What a stupid decision. She’d shot herself in the foot by sending them away.
Isabelle shook herself. She needed to get out of this negative emotional loop she’d been snared in, it was weakening her self-confidence to an abhorrent degree. What was the best way to do that?
Isabelle thought for a moment, and then she knew. Meditation was the answer. So, she thought, ‘Activate Meditation.’
Isabelle involuntarily sat on the ground with her legs crossed. Quickly, the outside world went out of focus, almost like there was a camera taking it all in that just turned its lens until everything was fuzzy. Isabelle’s body was the only thing she could see clearly. Almost like she was the only one there, and the only entity there.
[Close your eyes to begin]
Isabelle still found it funny that she had to voluntarily close her eyes to start meditating when the system made her sit down involuntarily.
[Error: thought detected]
[Close your eyes to begin]
Isabelle rolled her eyes. This shit again.
[Error: thought detected]
[Close your eyes to begin]
Isabelle was sensing a pattern here. Still, she figured she needed to at least try and meditate successfully this time. How would she ever get to check out the Nexus if she could barely meditate at all?
[Error: thought detected]
[Close your eyes to begin]
Isabelle closed her eyes.
[Meditation initializing]
[…]
Isabelle could no longer open her eyes, and her whole body was still and solid as stone.
[Meditation initialized]
Isabelle watched as the dark, empty nothingess of her vision slowly became full of everything. Twisting, parabolic patterns danced magnificently before her eyes. Shapes and colors became morphing, undulating masses of magic impossibilities. And then those gave way to memories, but not memoriers of Isabelle’s past life. They gave way to her memories in Beaubinte. In her new life, her new reincarnation.
And they were harsh, and vivid, and somehow felt almost more alive than when she was living them. Isabelle watched herself make cohice after choice in her new life, and what she noticed was not what choice was right and which was wrong, but instead how she’d been unwaveringly decisive in her choosing. And she felt proud. Not a blinding, swelling pride that only served to derail her meditation, but instead a pride that gratified and exalted her mind.
And then these memories too faded away. Darkness was with her once again. Until it wasn’t. Two bright blue orbs faded into Isabelle’s vision. They grew in strength and power until in a cascade of color they dominated Isabelle’s entire psyche. Aloud ringing shook her eardrums, and then it cut off abruptly as if she’d been submerged in water.
“Isabelle,” said a deep, booming voice. “You’re the one they call a dragon slayer, yes?”
“What the fuck?” said Isabelle. Only, she didn’t say it with her mouth, it just kind of echoed through her own consciousness, almost like when she thought things to the system except this time she could audibly hear it.
“They do call you a dragon slayer, do they not?” asked the voice. As time passed, the glowing orbs started to look more and more like huge, reptilian eyes, dancing and jittering around the endless void space of Isabelle’s meditation in impossible permutations.
“Yes, I’ve slain some dragons,” said Isabelle. “Who’s asking?”
“A dragon,” said the voice. “Or, should I say, the soul of a dragon.”
“Ah, shit,” said Isabelle. “You aren’t one of the dragons I killed, are you?”
The booming voice laughed. “No, no, not at all. I’m the soul of a sleeping dragon. You couldn’t kill me if you tried.”
Isabelle resented that sentiment slightly, but she didn’t let herself get so caught in her emotions that it would derail the meditation.
“But enough about that,” said the dragon’s voice. “And no hard feelings about the dragons you have killed already. Really. I’m speaking to you now out of choice, Isabelle.”
Isabelle wasn’t sure how to respond.
“As you can probably tell, a major change is coming to Beaubinte,” said the dragon. “And while you are not necessarily the catalyst, you are an important piece of that major change. As you’ve learned, we dragons are awakening. The world will never again be the same.”
“Okay,” said Isabelle. She forced herself to be polite, although her knee jerk reaction was to be irritated at the dragon for interrupting her meditation to spout platitudes. “What are you getting at?”
“There comes a time when a new player must learn things. Things about their system, things about the world, all many different kinds of things,” said the dragon. “Usually, this would’ve been done with a tutorial. But the time of the tutorials is long gone now. So, it is necessary that you learn of the system the way they once did, back in the olden times of Beaubinte. Back before most people knew of the system.”
Isabelle wasn’t sure how to respond.
“You see, Isabelle, before there were tutorials, the only way people of any race, faction or creed could gain use and control of the system was through creatures like me,” said the dragon. “Through dragons, that is. For, you see, dragons are the original source of the system in this world, and we are those closest to it. Or, at least, we were. Back in those olden times. But now that we are awakening from our slumber again, we will soon regain what systemic abilities and knowledge we used to hold.”
Isabelle wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad thing.
“And you, Isabelle, the new player, the dragon slayer, the person without a class, without a tutorial, without direction and without hope, must learn to use the system as we dragons did if you hope to succeed in your quest,” said the dragon.
“Which quest?” asked Isabelle. “Like, which quest in my questing menu are you referring to here, mister dragon?”
“I wasn’t referring to a specific quest!” said the dragon, its eyes engorging and brightening with frustration. It cleared its throat and its form returned to normal. “Erm. Do forgive that outburst. I was just referring to a proverbial quest, and I thought it was obvious, but clearly I was wrong. Really, it was my bad.”
“Okay,” said Isabelle.
“Now, Isabelle—” said the dragon, “—I must ask you. Are you ready to begin your dragon-led tutorial?”
Isabelle pondered the offering for a moment. Was this a trap? Even if it was a trap, what could a dragon do in her meditative state? It wasn’t like Isabelle had opened up the Nexus or anything, she hadn’t attempted to mod the system.
After this consideration, she had made her decision.
Isabelle thought yes.