The Charismatic Glass Cannon

Brail had to say my name twice to get my attention.

“Kent? You, okay?” She said again.

“Oh, sorry,” I replied, turning my attention to her.

I almost blurted out that it was hard to keep the voices out as my interface talked, but decided that saying that phrase to someone did not usually go over too well.

“We are getting ready to go down to check on the cemetery and I wanted to see if you wanted to go?” Brail asked.

“I would,” I replied with a nod.

Brail still looked sunken. I could tell she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. I myself was getting a little tired, my sleeping schedule all out of whack. There was a group of ten or so people that now gathered around Brail and me in front of the inn. There was not much talking, and I assumed Brail had already recounted the tale.

We made our way down to the cemetery. It looked a lot less spooky without the fog, moonlight, and darkness. The bodies of the acolytes and the cleric were pretty burned, the entire outside of the bodies blackened. Then we went into the “fuck this door,” which I now renamed to “this door sucked,” now that it was daylight and what had transpired behind the door was metaphorically behind us.

When I made it down the steps, I was before a charred room. All the foliage on the ground was burned away, only the blackened bodies could be seen. Brail started to cry after completing her initial walk around in an “are we still in danger” mode. She made her way to Braar, dropping to her knees in front of him. Next to Tyler, there was a cross like the dead users I had seen on Level 1.

[Tyler Beahm]

[Pomona, California]

[Killed by NPC Brail Undr]

Hey Kiwi, why was that user in this area? I thought.

Relationship? What relationship?

When nobody was looking, I swooped up Tyler’s loot box. It was the only one in the room. I guessed that because they were like some sort of hive mind, it only counted as one. My experience bar took a big jump, so at least that was a good thing. People started to leave until it was just Brail and me in the room. I didn’t know if I should leave too or not, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving with the off chance something else happened. A chance that may not be too off in this place. I stood in the corner and opened Tyler’s loot box, seeing two things appear in my inventory. I recognized the telltale sign of a class and there was his staff. Question marks covered both my interface taking over.

Legendary Class: Sentient Hive Mind Spore. This class also transforms the users race into a hive mind. You are unable to change race as one is already slated for assignment. This class grants all the basic druid abilities with the additional ability of releasing an infecting spore that will add creatures and users to its hive mind.

The interface then quickly stated the following.

Side effects may include fatigue, diarrhea, heart disease, nausea, muscle and joint stiffness, non-gender biased raging uncontrollable erections, swelling, sore skin, drop in sex drive and infertility or early non-gender biased menopause, loss of appetite and difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, alopecia, or hair fall, which is normally temporary, and an insatiable hunger to infect all living life.

Damn, I now felt kinda bad for the guy. Was he just influenced by his fucked-up class? Made a bad choice like I did, thinking it was the right one? I knew what it was like to get a fucked-up class. But it sounded like the guy was an asshole even before the class so hopefully that will let me sleep tonight. I already had enough regret on my hands with the college kids, a still present but to a lesser extent the frogs, and going first leaving my brother behind.

Druidic Staff of Growth. Druid spells can be cast through the staff for increased effect on plant-based spells.

After a few minutes Brail turned and headed up the stairs, standing tall. I trailed behind her. We walked in silence, just the two of us, until we joined the group waiting for us in the cemetery. Our group made its way back on the path towards the inn. About halfway, I heard a weird voice speaking drawing my attention.

“Get off of me, Harold you horny bastard. I have a headache,” I heard in a cow’s mooing feminine voice.

I looked over to see a cow mounting another cow behind a fence.

“Oh yeah, Bessie. That's how I like it,” I heard in a moaning mooing male voice.

Well, this will be a moment that haunts me forever. At least it’s interesting to know the headache thing transcends species. I hadn’t realized I had completely stopped staring at the two cows or that my mouth was agape until a fly went down my throat, eliciting a gag. I looked over to see Brail staring at me, her eyes following my gaze to the cows who had finished their love-making. She let out a single laugh, a brief smile on her face. I could tell the laugh was for me, not for the cows. It was just as infectious as the spores as I felt a smile cross my own face. She turned and continued to walk, and I followed.

When we got back outside the inn, a large gathering was waiting for Brail. A man stood up on a crate as our group merged with the crowd.

“The vote was unanimous. The town hereby elects Brail to be the new Chief Watchman. He, he, he,” the man said.

“Ho, ho, ho,” the crowd replied in a ritual I was unfamiliar with.

The crowd didn’t stay for long, seeing Brail’s still sunken expression. The same woman from the night before led Brail away. As Brail was led away, a notification appeared in front of me, my interface reading it aloud as I selected it.

Quest complete! You have completed the quest Joining the Watchman to investigate the cemetery. Additional 2 renown points gained. I think that letting you complete this quest is a little much, but it’s not my department, and they ignored my complaints that I submitted in triplicate.

Renown progress towards current story quest completion 12 out of 100.

You are now level 5!

It seemed like I gained a significant amount of experience for completing the quest, giving me the final 25% needed to reach my next level and some progress towards level 6. However, I still had no understanding of how experience worked or how much I got for certain things. I was really hoping to figure that out.

Race assignment unlocked. User is currently restricted to assigning pre-assigned race Chaos Myar. User may replace assigned race at level 10. Subrace options available at level 10, with additional race bonus selections available every 5 levels.

Feeling exhausted, I realized I needed a clear mind before deciding on my race assignment. I had no idea what a Myar was, and I was quite attached to being human. I entered the Inn, where the atmosphere was mostly quiet except for a few patrons having breakfast. I made my way to my room, entered my camp, and promptly went to bed after making a few more copies of my money pouches.