The Donkey Diner was empty other than the table Bryn, Jordan, Vince, and Reggie occupied. It was 5 in the morning, and the gloomy sky made for an unsettling environment as breakfast was served. The plate of bacon was freshly cooked, and Vince began immediately double fisting. Reggie sat next to him, wrapping several pieces of bacon around a sausage link as steaming hot coffee was poured into each person’s cup by the Demon-Dragonborn waitress.

“So how are you guys doing? You were both in pretty rough shape when you came back into town last week” Reggie said as the table continued to eat.

Bryn looked up from his plate, shrugging slightly before going back to his meal. “I feel fine now, I just don’t get what happened. Did you manage to get ahold of Luther?” Bryn asked. Before they went their separate ways upon their arrival in Dregmoor, Luther had given them the name of the village he was working in, a town an hour east of Dregmoor named Marshall. While the pair recovered over the previous week, they had asked Reggie to travel to Marshall and ask Luther if he had any information regarding the situation with Jordan’s peculiar skill.

Once they had treated their injuries, Jordan immediately went to his room at the Inn and checked his viewing stone.

10/28/1 6:00 pm

Name: Jordan Hamilton

Race: Half-Elf

Class: Ranger

Level: 8

Guild Score: 2050

Skills

Adventurer’s Boon

Sense Weakness

Swift Hand

Animal Spirit

Nature’s Credit (Increased Limit)

Environmental Symbiosis

As the message Jordan saw before now confirmed, his peculiar skill had left him before he had even learned how to use it. As frustrating as that was for him, curiosity was the more overwhelming feeling. If Bryn did not have an Adventurer’s Boon, he could not use skills. This was not something that was up for debate, it was simply the core concept that allows skills to exist in the first place. While neither of them had extensive knowledge on peculiar skills, they knew enough that whatever the skill was should still require a Boon.

Reggie frowned before taking another bite. Jordan had mostly gotten used to the overwhelming smell of meat, demons were carnivores after all. Though as Jordan was hit by the aroma of 4 different kinds of animals simultaneously, he found himself craving vegetables for the first time in his life.

“I did, I had to meet him outside of his Inn since he set his room on fire.” He said, the memory of their first meeting popping into Bryn’s mind.

“Was he trying to steam by setting his bed on fire again?” Bryn asked, the smell of goblin sweat wafting through his memory.

“No apparently he tried to cook a steak in his room, but he didn’t have anything to cook with so he-“ Reggie said.

“Set his bed on fire to cook the steak right. Should we be taking advice from this man at all?” Bryn asked looking over at Jordan. The meat sweats were pouring down his face, and the tips of his pointed ears were red as Jordan finished his 2nd plate.

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“I don’t even know where I’m at man, I leave the decision making up to you.” Jordan said as he leaned back in his seat, moaning and rubbing his belly. Bryn shook his head as he looked back over at Reggie, who continued to speak.

“Anyway, after we got outside I explained your situation to him. He said all peculiar skills have unique activation requirements and are incredibly powerful, but transferring them between people is unheard of as far as he knows. I adventured myself for a few years, and I’ve never heard of a skill being transferable, let alone a peculiar one.” Reggie said.

“Damn, well it was a long shot either way. Thanks for trying, I’ll have to just wait to look into it until I get back to Zyphtal.” Bryn said, the disappointment in his voice obvious. While he recovered from the fight just fine, his curiosity over the situation was killing him. Dregmoor didn’t have nearly the same resources for research, and forgetting about this until he went back home was a frustrating conclusion to come to for Bryn.

“I have something that might help” Vince said, surprising Bryn that he spoke at all. The pair invited Vince to the diner since the 4 of them were the only adventurers in town, but there was clearly still tension from the previous incident. “When I was in Zyphtal before I came back home, I was in a party with a fighter that could use the Swift Hand Skill.” Vince said quietly.

Jordan perked up slightly at this comment, though the circus in his stomach was still his main concern. That skill was one of the first that Rangers are able to use, and is exclusive to them and Gunslingers. A fighter using that skill shouldn’t have been possible, no matter what level of experience they have.

“That’s weird, did they ever tell you how they managed that?” Bryn asked.

“I was new to adventuring still and just felt lucky to be in a party at all, so I didn’t ask any questions I didn’t need to.” Vince said meekly. His confidence had clearly been damaged, and Bryn felt a twinge of guilt until Jordan broke the silence with a loud belch.

“Oh God that was so necessary. Thanks for that info Vince, are you coming back to Zyphtal anytime soon?” Jordan asked as he dabbed his forehead with a napkin. Vince looked caught off guard by this question, hesitating for a moment before answering.

“I’m not sure, i feel like there’s a lot I still need to learn” he said sheepishly.

“Yeah but you learn by doing. If you feel like coming back by the time we leave, you should join our party.” Jordan said, grabbing a toothpick and going to town as he spoke. Vince looked flabbergasted, stuttering as he attempted to respond.

“Calm down man. You messed up before, but you clearly care about doing the right thing and you can acknowledge when you make mistakes. A cleric is a versatile support class, so in the context of an adventuring party that you have chemistry with, what you do is really important. Hey Bryn we should head out, it’s almost time to do patrols.” Jordan said, slipping out of the booth and grabbing his equipment. Bryn nodded and thanked Reggie and Vince for their time, the latter still trying to process Jordan’s comment and continuing to stutter. Reggie smiled as he patted Vince on the shoulder and waved goodbye to the party. As they departed the diner, the minimal amount of light Dregmoor received broke through the sky.

The pair trekked through the quiet village, the residents still in their homes for the most part. As they made their way to the patrol checkpoints, the duo discussed the events of the previous week. “So you still can’t remember anything?” Jordan asked as he examined the footprints on the southern road. This path led to the bandit’s fortress outside of town, and the traps Bryn had placed hadn’t been activated yet.

“Not at all, I blacked out once you handed me the sword. I don’t remember anything until after I woke up in my room.” Bryn said. Jordan had carried Bryn back to town, bringing that fact up at every possible opportunity. Though he had been injured severely himself, the look in Bryn’s eyes after the toads had been killed encouraged Jordan to prioritize getting his friend to safety.

After sleeping for several hours, Bryn awoke in a daze with no memory of how the toads had been killed. Once they had rested for a couple days, the pair returned to the area the toads had taken residence in and exterminated the rest of the pack. The experience they gained from the previous fights, along with the environmental knowledge gained from Nature’s Credit, made finishing the pack an easy hour of work for the two.

“No help at all, you’re lucky you could kill me with some sort of secret sword skill or I’d really give you what for.” Jordan said, putting up his fists in a joking manner.

The next threat on the docket was the camp of Nevermore bandits who had taken residence in an abandoned fort outside of town. For the past 6 months, Dregmoor had been terrorized at least once a week when the gang decided to get drunk and cause chaos. Many people had been assaulted and robbed, with the townsfolk living in terror as they didn’t have the manpower to fight back. Jordan and Bryn were prioritizing them next, as the plant overgrowth was still manageable through consistent trimming.

Nevermore was going to be a different kind of enemy compared to what the pair had fought against before. While the monsters they had faced up to this point provided their own sets of challenges, a group of 50 plus people with Adventurer’s Boons were a different animal. Even the lower level abilities of fighters, wizards, and the other more traditionally powerful classes were enough to intimidate Jordan to this day.

Bryn began drawing a convergence circle into the road, and tossed Jordan a pair of small metal boxes. He recognized it as a pair of Den Wire Boxes, a magical device Bryn had purchased in Zyphtal. Once activated, a steel wire reinforced with den shoots out and connects the boxes. As he searched the area for a place to set up the trap, he looked up and saw Bryn was already moving on to drawing a second circle.

“Hes gotten fast at that” Jordan said, his optimism slowly returning. As he placed one of the boxes by a bush on the side of the road, he noticed a familiar smell. Looking closely at the ground, a small amount of blue powder lay scattered by the bush. The smell was memorable to Jordan, the thought of a smoking gun in a desert dungeon flashing in his mind.