Chapter 14. Rowan and Cassandra

“Here’s one of our favorites,” Rowan’s voice filled the bar. Not only did the magic of the stage amplify her voice, but it was clear that she could project. She shined, her blue eyes capturing the people, her affect cool and mysterious.

She began playing, and the hook of the song silenced the crowd at once. The notes were crisp and clear, yet raspy like the sound of an electric guitar.

People screamed in absolute delight, and hands went up in the universal sign of rock and roll.

Her sister came in right after the first hook, using a bow to bring the base line.

I could barely tear my eyes from Rowan, but with some effort, I found Marv behind the bar. “I need that favor,” I told him. I tried not to sound desperate.

He stared at me, clearly thinking. Then he nodded. “You did well tonight. What can I do for you?”

You have completed a quest: Opening Night

Reward: Marv will grant you one favor.

I looked behind him at the drum, then back at him.

He sighed. “Fine.” He reached back, took the drum off the shelf with deference and handed it to me. “Be careful with this. I don’t play it anymore, but it’s special.”

You received Tribal Drum

Tribal Drum: In the right hands, this drum can produce the full range of percussion instruments.

Item Class: Instrument

Item Quality: Rare

I approached the stage, working my way through an excited crowd. All eyes were on Rowan and her sister as they belted out the first chorus. “Man, she’s got issues and I’m gonna pay.”

Real musicians did not appreciate guests joining their performance, and I knew I risked making the girls incredibly mad. But this song needed a drum. Frankly, it needed a full drum kit with hi-hats, snares, and base. And I needed to try. I wanted to play onstage, feeling the music come out of me and the crowd dancing to my rhythm. I couldn’t help myself. I held the drum between my thighs, and I began playing. I started soft, getting the feel for it. I kept a simple beat, loud enough that people could feel it, but not loud enough that it overshadowed her performance. I looked up to Rowan.

She shot a glare at me, letting me know exactly how she felt about being upstaged. People noticed, and the crowd between us parted, creating a circle around myself and the girls onstage.

A prompt appeared, and I barely kept the rhythm with its interruption.

Congratulations, by demonstrating a basic understanding of rhythm, your Integrator Passive has granted you a new Job: Musician.

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Job: Musician. As a lover and player of symphonies, you can play any instrument at an Expertise of 50.

Passive 1: Rhythm—your party has a 10% boost to coordination and timing. Cost to maintain: 1 stamina/second. Cost to Buy: 200 Job Points.

Passive 2: None

Skill 1: Memorize Song. Channeled spell. Allows you to remember all parts of a song that you hear. Must maintain the channel for the entirety of the song. Cost to Cast: 50 Stamina. Cost to buy: 500 Job Points.

Skill 2: Tempo: Increase the pace of the song, granting your party 10% haste. Cost to cast: 5 Stamina. Cost to buy: 200 Job Points.

Skill 3: none

On Level Up: 1 Constitution, 3 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom, 0 Strength, 2 Perception

Do you wish to activate this new Job? :Yes/No

I chose “yes,” and felt a new connection with my drum, as if I had a hundred hours of practice with it. I knew its weight, its soft spots, and the possible sounds it could make. If I wanted a hi-hat, all I had to do was tap the side, against its metallic ring. If I wanted a snare, I could pop my fingers off the rim in just the right way. And there was more. This drum could sound like a tambourine, a cymbal, or a cowbell.

I changed my play, matching the punk style with snare drum backbeats, quick doubles on the base, and sloshy hi-hats. But I didn’t overplay it. No solos. I wanted to make the other musicians sound great.

Rowan’s intensity increased, feeling the energy of the song and the crowd roar. She wailed out the lyrics. She danced. She worked the crowd. And when the last lines of the song, “just do me favor, and check your baggage at the door” I had already stopped playing. Her voice sang out alone — tortured, and beautiful. The crowd went nuts.

Rowan and Cassandra bowed as the applause continued.

Mags stepped on to the stage, clapped for them and quieted the audience. “Should we have them back?” She asked the patrons. The crowd roared again. “And should this young man join them?” She motioned to me. People clapped and cheered. Somebody clapped me on the back. She sent the sisters off stage.

Before Rowan left the stage she nodded for me to follow.

“Warren,” Janica stopped me as I began to follow the sisters. “You changed jobs back there, and you need to add the Spiritual Connection passive to your current loadout or we’ll lose our connection forever.”

I pulled my loadout up, immediately, which was filled with all of the Musician skills and passives. I selected “passive 2,” which was empty, and a dropdown menu appeared. I selected Spiritual Connection as it was the only option. The 3rd Skill slot was empty, but I hadn’t been able to purchase any skills from the Mystic Job, so I had to leave the Skill slot empty.

“So,” Rowan asked, back at her table. “You make it a habit of coming in in the middle of people’s sets?”

This girl was direct. Somehow, that didn’t surprise me. She sat back in her chair and leaned over to her sister. She whispered something in Cassandra’s ear, and Cassandra giggled.

“Hey!” Janica said to them. “Secrets make enemies.”

I turned to Janica, surprised. This was the first time I had seen her interact with a Gamer other than myself, and it startled me.

The girls looked surprised as well.

“Who are you?” Rowan asked with awe in her voice. The girls stared at Janica like she was Jimmy Hendrix’s Fender Straticaster. Janica seemed to relish in the attention.

“Just a badass woman like yourselves,” Janica said, fluttering over to the girls. She inspected their armor. “I can tell we’re going to be great friends. You see, Warren. This is how one should treat a Fairy warrior princess. You could learn a lot from these two.”

I ignored that comment, answering Rowan’s question. “No,” I said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever come in during somebody’s set.” I shrugged. “Couldn’t help myself. I like that song. It would have been better if you had picked Self Esteem, Come Out And Play, or anything by Guns N’ Roses, but, like I said, it pulled me in.”

Rowan leaned forward, her finger now in my face. “Guns N’ Roses is trash. They have like four good songs and no depth. You could put everything they ever did right on one side of a mixed tape.”

“Ooh shots fired,” Janica said, slamming her beer on the table.

I leaned forward, glaring at Rowan. She held my eyes, an intensity in her face. I looked from eye to eye to the smirk on her face. If this was going to be a musical standoff, she was going to lose.

“I hate to interrupt,” a new voice startled me out of my staring contest.

Rowan and I turned to see a new person sitting at the table. It was Henry, the boy from the mine. “But I have a proposition.”