The Grand Game

“You again,” the ghoul muttered.

“Me again,” I agreed, standing in front of the Class vendor.

The undead merchant looked at me suspiciously. “So are you going to buy something this time, or just stand around and complain?”

Rather that attempt to debate his unjust statement, I only nodded agreeably. “I am ready to choose my Class.”

The ghoul reached into his bag again. This time instead of placing the first bronze marbles he withdrew onto the table, he sniffed each carefully until the found the three particular stones he searched for. Once the merchant was satisfied, he arranged them in front of me. “Choose then.”

I inspected the three Class stones. Unsurprisingly, I saw they contained the same Classes I had rejected earlier, but I had already made my peace with that and was ready to choose.

Given that I had already ruled out the caster Class as an option, my next inclination was to go with the path of a warrior. Fighters, I knew, were powerful early on, even if they were usually less so end-game when casters came into their own.

But after giving the matter much thought, I had decided that becoming a warrior would be as much a mistake as picking the caster Class. Primarily, this was because a fighter was usually only as good as his gear, and seeing as how I would only be able to buy two pieces of equipment, I realized I would be exceptionally underdressed for my venture into the dungeon.

On the other hand, a scout was far less dependent on equipment. As a scout, I would have the dodging and sneaking skills at my disposal. With those skills I would have a good chance at surviving most encounters—when I wasn’t able to avoid them altogether.

Or so I hoped.

The path of the scout was not ideal, and ordinarily I suspected I wouldn’t have chosen it, but given the options in front of me, I thought it gave me the best chance of surviving until I could pick up a second Class. I would make sure, I assured myself, that my choice of secondary Class was one less constrained by necessity.

“Well?” the ghoul barked, interrupting my musing.

I shook my head to clear it. Dropping one of the Master’s obsidian glass chips into the merchant’s coin chest, I picked up the bronze marble containing the path of the scout. “I’ll take this one.”

The merchant only grunted in response and began packing up his stall.

I held the marble in my hand, wondering what came next. I was about to turn to Gnat for advice, when I felt the bronze stone turn warm.

Glancing down, I saw the stone turn misshapen, before melting entirely to vanish beneath my skin. “What in the world—” I began.

I broke off as the Adjudicator spoke in my mind again.

You have acquired the scout Class. You have gained the trait: nimble. This trait increases your Dexterity by: +2 ranks. Your level cap for dexterity-based skills has increased to: 20. You have gained two basic skills: dodging and sneaking. Choose your light weapon skill from the list of those available.

Following the Adjudicator’s words, a long line of text scrolled through my mind: light weapon skills. All of them were familiar, and matched one or the other of the weapons I had seen in the vendors’ stalls.

Curiously though, some of the skills were labelled as ‘advanced.’ “Gnat, are their different grades of skills?”

The skeletal bat nodded. “Yes. As with Classes, skills can belong to any one of three tiers: basic, advanced, and master.”

“Hmm,” I murmured. Just on principle, I was tempted to choose one of the advanced light weapon skills—like the one labelled kukri—but while the idea of having an advanced skill was nice, some instinct warned me that such skills were matched with weapons that were usually rare or hard to come by.

I will be more likely to find a common dagger or short sword than a kukri in the dungeon, I thought.

Considering that whatever choice I made would be my only weapon skill until I picked up another Class, I decided to go my original choice of short swords.

You have gained the basic skill: shortswords. Initial scout Class configuration complete. Remaining Class skill slots: 3. To gain further Class traits, advance your Class rank.

Hmm, advance my Class… That sounded interesting, but I left off further deliberation of the matter for later. Now that I had my Class, I was eager to begin my journey in the dungeon.

Whistling soundlessly, I strolled to the weapons vendor I had picked out earlier.

~~~

Even as I took my first steps as a scout, I sensed something different about myself. My stride was surer, my feet bounced lightly off the ground, and my body felt far more coordinated.

Extraordinary, I thought. The effect, I knew, had to be a result of the two additional ranks in Dexterity that the Class had given me. On a whim, I tensed my haunches, and launched myself upwards into the air.

And executed a perfect backflip.

“Wow,” I breathed in awe as I landed back on my feet. I was amazed that I had managed to pull off the maneuver. Adrenaline surged through me and my heart beat rapidly. It had been exhilarating.

As dangerous as this Grand Game appears to be, perhaps, there will be aspects of it that I will come to enjoy.

I turned my mind to the other ‘gifts,’ the Class had given me. Merely thinking about the three new skills was enough to trigger an avalanche of data into my mind. The information felt at one time both foreign and familiar.

Instinctively, I dropped into a crouch and padded forward stealthily.

You have failed to conceal yourself from the nearby entities. You have failed to advance your sneaking: skills cannot be gained in this area.

Despite my failure, I laughed. “Incredible,” I chuckled.

“If you are done playing,” Gnat said acerbically. “We best get moving before all the vendors leave.”

I smiled at the skeletal bat. Not even my familiar’s sour words could destroy my happy mood.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said.

~~~

You have acquired a basic steel shortsword. This item increases the damage you deal by: 10%.

You have acquired a common thief’s cloak. This item increases your sneaking skill by: +3 when in dark environments.

I used my last two tokens from the Master to buy a basic weapon and the item of clothing that I felt would best suit my skill set. I secured the sword around my hip with the belt and scabbard that it came with it, and draped the cloak over my shoulders. So equipped, I padded towards dungeon’s entrance.

I was finally ready to enter its depths.