《Hold the line.》 (CH-0)prologue ¡°Yo Jonesy, who¡¯ve you got in the pot for today?¡± Bizkit asked while securing his weapon in a mount, and buckling his seat belt. ¡°2-2, catastrophic, I¡¯m going to say 6 hours in¡±. I sat in the gunner seat of an up armored HUMMVEE listening to the ritual back and forth my truck crew went through before we rolled out of the gate. It was something that the whole platoon had taken up after they got the orders extending their tour from twelve months to fifteen, a death pool. We¡¯d gotten fatalistic. Bizkit continues the rounds of the truck, ¡°what about you Big-J?¡± ¡°You know I don¡¯t go in for the pool biskit, keep that bullshit off my side of the truck.¡± ¡°I¡¯m with Big-J¡± Del chimes in. ¡°Ranger that. bout you gopher?¡± he always asks me because he knows Del hates my answer the most. ¡°You know me: If you¡¯re going to bet on death; bet on your own. 2-4, a disabler, I¡¯m the only one that doesn¡¯t make it, but you guys all go home and name your ill-bred children after me.¡± I¡¯m not suicidal, and I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m superstitious, but I don¡¯t want to be the one calling someone else¡¯s death; I don¡¯t need to live the rest of my life with that kind of joke on my fucking conscience. My name isn¡¯t gopher, just like the rest of these bozos aren¡¯t as poorly named. We have call signs and nicknames to either bust balls or come across radio traffic, gopher is a play on gunner because we spend our days popping up and down in our gun-holes like gophers in a yard. That¡¯s about as deep as we get most days. I¡¯ve gotten off-track, my name is Daniel and I sit in the gunner¡¯s seat in a HUMVEE for second platoons fourth truck, this is the platoon sergeants truck in our platoon. I look nothing if not average 5¡¯10 dark brown hair, brown eyes and a nose, an athletic body build, just your average joe. I¡¯d been in the U.S. ARMY for about 6 years now, would have been out a few years ago, if my life hadn¡¯t fallen apart. I was married, with one foot out the door with a medical discharge when me and my wife had what could easily be called a falling out. I decided to take the advice I had heard for years: fake it till I make it. The gun is all I¡¯ve ever known, what the hell else was I supposed to do? Big-J slapped my leg bringing me out of my thought¡¯s, ¡°Call squadron on the way out of the gate, let them know what we''re doing and how long we¡¯re going to be gone.¡± ¡°you got it.¡± I push the black button attatched to my body armor, and key up my mic ¡°wolverine, this is horseman 4golf¡± A slightly annoyed, groggy voice comes back. Probably some poor private who got stuck jockying the desk for the day. ¡°we are outbound through gate ten to 3-10 west via Tampa, presence patrol, estimate 10 hours to return, how copy?¡± ¡°will-co, horseman 4golf out¡± Everytime I roll out the gate and have to ''out'' the other end it reminds me how pissed off I get about movies where some shmuck ends his transmissions with "Over, and out" they both have their seperate connotations in the world of communications "You know they hate it when you ''out'' them gunny." Big-J is right, the command center didn''t like it, but if those fuck-boys read their manuals they''d know that the initiator of the radio call was the one to ''out''. Try telling that to a few guys with officer rank on though, it rarely sinks in, and the ones it does rarely admit their wrong. ¡°You hear em Big-J, they want hourlies. Did we miss a threat level bump?¡± It wouldn''t be the first time. Information dessimination is not the strong point of our unit, we''re more the guys they send in to ''fuck shit up'' it was a rare day that we were sent out on something as tame as a presence patrol. Normally we were out and about kicking in doors and putting people in cuffs. Or in the ground. ¡°nah gunny, new procedure, they just want us to know that they know we know.¡± I don¡¯t really need to respond, we¡¯ve been at this for a few years now, and he knows I don¡¯t like prolonged conversation. Big-J was my platoon sargeant when I first joined up, and through my first deployment. We were the lowest ranked crew, with the lowest ranked truck commander to ever recieve a top gun award at a gunnery. Of course we never saw it, but there''s no denying the page in my jacket the first sergeant put there along with the scores from the judge. Around 9 hours into the patrol we were headed back to base, it had been about as mind numbing as I thought it would be. Driving down a side road about three miles out from home when our truck hit¡¯s an EID. I¡¯m lucky enough that the blast tags the back end and slams me into the floor of truck rather than out of the turret. ¡°shitshitshit, you guys still up?¡± I ask my truck mates. Big-J and Bizkit reply immediately, I can see that Jonesy and Del are unconscious, but they are both still breathing. I stand up and realize my leg is probably broken, not sure yet, but it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. ¡°J the dismounts are Knocked-out, hell of a time to another fucking nap. My leg fucked, but I can stand on it.¡± I hear big-J call it out to platoon, then hear the lieutenant call it up to higher that we have a disabled, but all personnel are alive. He sounds a little panicked, he''s kind of new. We go through them on a pretty regular basis, our platoon is kind of the wild-card. What the hell do they want from us out here? This isn''t like most of the rest of this country, we pick up more engagements in a patrol than most everyone else sees in a month. We end up spending about 20 minutes getting the truck hooked up for a tow, probably would have been a lot sooner if we didn''t have to spend most of the time with our heads turned over our shoulders scanning for threats hoping we weren''t the ones finding the attack with a 7.62 to the dome. As soon as I hear LT start the call to move we start taking small arms fire; AK-47 and stolen M-4s, it¡¯s not heavy enough to hurt our trucks but it is enough to keep the gunners behind the shields in the trucks so we don¡¯t take any rounds. the LT comes across again, thank you sir, I had planned to stop and ask how they felt about the current state of affairs in Georgias parlaiment, but I guess we''ll do your thing instead. He''s barely through sending his traffick when our truck takes an RPG to the rear right wheel, the resulting blast¡¯s throws me out of the truck. The blast throws my face into the back of my mounted gun, as it throws me out of the truck, smashing out my front teeth and spraying the blood and fragments onto my face and the turret area. I only have enough time to have the terrifying realization that I''m airborne before I hit the ground and sink into the dark. I come to a short amount of time later, all I can hear is bedlam coming through the radio <4 what do you mean ¡°gone¡±?> If ''currently shitting a brick'' were a tone of voice, the LT would have been speaking in it. Big-J sounds calm, but I can hear the worry in his voice, out of everyone in the platoon me and him understand each other the best. Me and a few other guys were pretty close, but Big-J and me were closer to family. He was there for me when my wife left, he was there for me when my mom died. The man was my rock, and he leaned on me as much as I leaned on him. I shake my head, and wipe the blood and pieces of tooth off of my face as I check my surroundings. I had been blown out and into a culvert. Once I have some presence of mind I realize that my left arm is half the length, and a dripping mess. My helmet is gone, never really liked wearing it anyways, the only solid thought I have at that point is how pissed command is going to be that I died without a helmet on. My rifle is nearby though, guess there¡¯s something to be said for being in shock, I don¡¯t even notice the pain of all the injuries. ¡°not sure who is looking out close enough to make sure that gun came out of the truck with me, but you give me a sign and we¡¯ll talk about my convert needs¡± I mumble to myself, just after thought is out of my mouth I hear peopletalking in Farsi close by, "I''ll take that as a ''Were not interested.''". I don¡¯t know a whole bunch of Farsi, but It sounds like they are searching the area. ¡°Aww fuck. They know I got blown out¡± I key up my mic and whisper into the unit <4actual, 4golf I¡¯m about 60 meters back to your right, I¡¯ve got a rifle but they are searching, they know I¡¯m out.> This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The relief in his voice hurts even worse when I think about what I''m about to have him do. He''s been a great friend, fuck that, he''s been a part of my family, he''s been the reason I pulled a gun out of my mouth more than once. He know''s what I want, and I know it''s a hell of a thing to ask for, but there are promises to be kept. He''ll be good for it. There was a seconds before his responce comes across with a cracking voice I''d love to say I wasn''t crying like a little bitch, but that''d be a godsdamned lie. I drag myself up to a knee, seat my buttstock to my shoulder and take aim at the closest shape I can see in the moonlight ¡°HEY!! FUCKFACE!!¡± ¡°Samiet eanh¡± I¡¯m not one hundred percent sure what he said, but his surprise only lasted for as long as it took me to start pulling the trigger. The kick of the gun knocks me over and I roll further into the culvert. Through the muzzle flash I could see the first drop to the ground with red exploding from the holes in his chest, he has 5 more friends. I swap my selector switch to auto and pull the trigger, body shaking with the pressure of recoil; until I¡¯m not. Instead of pulling a trigger, I¡¯m sitting in a smallish white room, in a chair looking at a watching what looks a hell of a lot like me, in what looks a hell of a lot like the situation I was just in, my finger is sub-consciously pulling a trigger, ¡°¡­the fuck¡± [the fuck indeed mister Nom] A voice inside my head, very clearly not mine, it''s not that deep. I must have a concussion, maybe I¡¯m sitting in Walter-Reed and this is how my brain is processing the trauma [Not even close mister Nom] shit. Looking around the area I say ¡°can you prove that?¡± [can you disprove it?] I¡¯m not about to argue with what I¡¯m assuming is my own mind, that guys an dick. A man wearing a pair of gray tactical pants and a standard issue brown-tee pops into my view off to the side of the screen. Built like Mac-truck, had to have been on the upper end of six-foot, stacked like he and the rock should have been oiled up duking it out on the big-screen. His eyes are a light piercing blue color, straight nose came to an almost abrupt slightly rounded end, and a mouth was set in what looked like a perpetual half smile. I¡¯m not a gay man or anything, but if he¡¯d have asked, I would probably have his babies. "This event has already happened mister nom." His voice is a surprising tenor for his size, like it was pitched a half-step above where my brain wants it to be. ¡°I feel like I¡¯d know if I were pregnant.¡± I mumble to myself. As I mutter the sentence he smirks at me and I have an almost overwhelming sense of Deja¡¯ vu. He waved his arm at the screen, "You died. A horrible death, A warrior¡¯s death, your actions in notifying your friends brought attention to an impending rear ambush. Your entire platoon survived because you were incredibly unlucky." ¡°Silver-lining to everything I guess. This purgatory?¡± I''m kind of hoping it''s not; if the christians were right I''m heading straight to hell. "It is an analogue of what you would call purgatory, every soul from every world is measured in some form or another as they shrug their mortal coil. I am an entity of this¡­sector who is tasked with measuring souls and sending them onto their next stop" With those words the realization that I am dead starts to sink in. Fuck. I didn''t have much to live for, but I could have had more, could have done more. Theres a heat inside my chest slowly making it''s way up my throat, threatening to burst out of my mouth as a sob. Gritting my teeth I swallow it back down. ¡°huh, I¡¯ll be damned if the Buddhist¡¯s weren¡¯t right.¡± I can''t trust myself with more than short sentences at this point. Too much more than a few words and I risk turning into a useless ball of self-pity on the floor. I hope they send someone to my sister before my dad, he''s not going to handle it well, her being there would make it much easier for him. "Among a few others mister Nom. My point is that YOU have been judged as earning a reward. This can come as something in a few ways." ¡°Lay it on me big fellah." I take a sharp breath and try to push the fact that I''m dead out of my mind. " I guess I don¡¯t have much use for money at this point.¡± "You have quite a few options, but balance must be maintained. You can decide to be reborn on your current world as a new birth as any living, thinking being if you¡¯d like, grow up in a cushy life. Be a great inventor or discoverer, that choice leaves you with an almost inexhaustible list of options. You can move onto a different reality if you would like. Or I can drop you into the SYSTEM." Those words shock me part of the way out of my self-pity. ¡°Like THE system? Where I get to loot dead goblins and shit?¡± If what he''s saying, is what I''m thinking, then my love for reading fantasy, and litRPG books is going to pay off for me in the afterlife. "Close. The current system-god attached to your universe has your system directly linked to a post-apocalyptic future of your universe, not just your world, your entire universe will be connected, it has to do with the respawn system." I feel like there''s some kind of hint there, but I''m a little bit overwhelmed with whats going on to really dig into it, I can feel my initial shock of being dead fading though. Compartmentalization FTW. I can¡¯t help but interject, ¡°I like the sounds of this ''respawn system''¡± "This type of SYSTEM is referred to as Valhalla. The basic idea is the same in all universes, with a few differences, it is a place where people who have either constantly achieved greatness, or have lived through enough reincarnations to merit the choice. Even as that stands most people hear what it is and decide it is better to reincarnate to the world." "There¡¯s no WAY I¡¯m passing up Valhalla, every soldier I¡¯ve known would stand in lines around a block to kick me in the junk if I didn¡¯t jump on this.¡± the room is suddenly assaulted by the sound of the deepest laugh I have ever heard. "Yes All-father, would you like to keep the reward we discussed last time we convened?" He doesn''t sound sad, more annoyed at the intrusion. ¡°Did you just say All-father? Man, this couldn¡¯t go any better. Going to assume you''re Loki, don¡¯t feel like Thor would disagree with Odin.¡± Geek-mode, engage. "I am Baldr, actually, one of Lady Hel¡¯s generals. The universes have battles to decide who rules which reality, and those who populate our fields are pitted against one another, you typically fall under Odin, and the Aesir, but the god¡¯s love a good wager, and Lady Hel did not believe you would choose the life of a warrior again, notations on your soul say this will be your tenth consecutive time deciding to live a life of struggle. As such, and in accordance with bets made; Odin has decreed that you will have the option to choose your race, and either two starting skills, or a skill affinity. The difference being the skills you start with will be maxed through the system, whereas a skill affinity means you can have a learning disposition towards a skill type. I.E; technical skills, warrior skills or survival skills.] ¡°Alright then biggen, let¡¯s talk options. What kind of ¡®System¡¯ does my universe have?¡± "The way the System works is that you will be spawned to the plane of Valhalla this is a place of safety and rest you will have your own lodgings and respite area. The downside is that growth personal combat growth in Valhalla can only be described as sub-par. But the option to run missions in a post-apocalyptic future of your own world, the earliest year you can jump into is 2030 as it is your actual world, is only an option because it is the instant the System has been implemented. Magic is commonplace, and zombies will be your main opponent, anything you loot can be brought to Valhalla, but not everything from Valhalla can be brought to the shifted dimension. You will have viewable stats and a skill list¡¯s it¡¯s pretty much the wet dream of every web-novel enthusiast everywhere." The biggest kicker about the System that is run in this reality is that though respawn is a thing you start over from your a weekly time and spawn point, you will get to keep whatever skills you earn, but they will be reset to the bottom of the earned level any experience earned in them will be converted to a form of currency that you can spend to either outfit yourself, better your starting location, or link up with other survivors. I will tell you from the start that some of the people you know have decided, or will join you, in Valhalla." The idea that I might find friends I''ve lost cinches it for me. ¡°I¡¯ll take human, and give me an affinity for survival please. I¡¯d like to keep my own name though¡­ahh fuck it, god hates a coward. You ascended cat¡¯s love a good bet, right? I¡¯ll wager my race on the flip of a coin for doubled fixed starting stats, head¡¯s I get human with doubled stats, tails I get the houses choice with whatever the baseline for that is.¡± ¡°I accept.¡± The most beautiful woman I¡¯ve ever seen stepped out of a door that definitely did not exist a second before. Six-foot if she was an inch, rounded face with eye¡¯s that were grey, and perfectly spaced above her pert nose, mouth set in what I assume is an almost perpetual flat line, and an athletic body wrapped in a tight black body suit that did not leave much to the imagination. Her¡­assets¡­weren¡¯t anything to write home about, I''ve always believed that more than a handful is a waste anyways. The feeling of danger coming off her was almost palpable. ¡°With the caveat that if you lose the coin toss you start as the base race, no racial traits unless you buy them with experience from your ¡®runs¡¯¡± ¡°Shit, I¡¯d give up my starting affinity for a couple hours to test those waters¡± I mumbled to myself ¡°I acce- ¡° I quickly interrupted her ¡°THAT WAS IDLE SPECULATION!!!¡± "Very well, there is a good chance your soul would not have the resilience needed to survive such an encounter." waving her hand at Baldr, "Flip the coin, heads Gnome gets his request, tails I get mine.¡± I looked over just in time so see Baldr send a coin the size of a silver dollar spinning into the air... (CH-1) Youre not special. About half a millisecond after I saw the coin go into the air I realized exactly how big my wager was. What the hell was I doing, this isn¡¯t me dying once and finding out what happens after, this is infinity. Shit. Hel has a definite quirk to her lips she clearly enjoys my epiphany a shit ton more than I do. I don¡¯t even know if the rules are skewed in her favor, is this her realm or just the foyer to all realms? Shit. The coin seems to be slowing down in the air, I am 100% sure that the time effects on it are slowed. The glinting, wobbling disk lands in baldr¡¯s hand without him even looking as he flips the hand and smacks it on his wrist. The predatory woman across the rooms has an almost feral grin on her face ¡°I will give you this one chance to retract your offer gnome. But before you make a decision keep in mind that in these realms fortune always favors the bold.¡± Is she coming on to me? Nah, calm down man, there''s a good chance she''d crush you like a bug. I''m not terribly interested in going through eternity as a eunich. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even dream of it sexy-pants. Let it ride.¡± I feel a lot less confident then I sound, at least I hope I sound confident. I¡¯m basically a nervous wreck, but honestly, I¡¯ll basically be starting at the bottom, so it can¡¯t get too much lower. The truth of the matter at this point is that I¡¯m pretty sure the only way I could have any more luck is if a Jessica Biel showed up handing out free lap dances. Baldr pulls his hand up and show¡¯s tails ¡°looks like you lose Gnome, you have forfeited your choice of race, the option now belongs to lady Hel.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see him as a daemon elf. Disregard the red-eye effect, he can keep those hazels, I¡¯ll be calling that in as a small favor in the future. Do you understand the SYSTEM sufficiently Gnome?¡± she¡¯s got that predatory smile again. ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain I know enough to wing it.¡± Fake it till you make it. ¡°That will be noted as an acceptance,¡±Immediately after saying this she pulls out a knife, and tucks it into my belt as she whispers in my ear ¡°don¡¯t disappoint me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not even yours!¡± all she does is laugh, put a finger to my forehead, and pushes me backwards through a portal I didn¡¯t even know had opened behind me. I would love to tell you that the portal was full of bright chromatic lights, or that it was like falling through the vertical equivalent of star treks warp, but it was not. Just a void, that honestly could have lasted for hours, or minute¡¯s, what I CAN tell you is that the portal opened a couple of stories off the ground and dumped me into the center of a town square. The impact drove me unconscious so I didn¡¯t get a good look at the town though. Seem''s like a shitty way to show up at your new house. I woke up in a small room that had naught but a bed and a side table with excruciating pain in my hip, which is one hell of a surprise since I¡¯m supposed to be neigh on indestructible here. Reaching down I discover the blade Hel had given me lodged in my hip. ¡°What kind of shit doctor leaves a knife in his patient?¡± after I start talking I hear movement in the hallway. A man comes in, he looks pissed ¡°The kind of doctor who cannot remove the blade, and you are lucky you were not sent to a lockup dropping into the town proper instead of the gate looking the way you do. Imagine the surprise on the guards when they checked your status only to learn you are a fresh-spawned Odin-kin.¡± It would be pretty hard to judge his weight, considering the flowing robe he is wearing. I¡¯d guess his height at about 6¡¯2 though. Brown hair and eyes, with a downturned mouth. The frown might be because I called him a shit doctor though. ¡°Still pretty sad about the knife in my leg Doc. It¡¯s not nearly as comfortable as it looks.¡± ¡°you¡¯re going to have to pull it out yourself, were pretty certain it is a bound weapon, no one can even see the stats on it. The only weapon¡¯s that cannot be [identified] are either high level, bound, or have a special perk that hides it.¡± he doesn''t seem terribly interested in my pain, wont even look me in the face which is kind of annoying. He''s spent most of the time his mouth was open moving things from one pocket to another, or looking at the chart sitting on my side table. ¡°can I get a drink first?¡± I manage to wheeze as I roll slightly to take pressure off. The frown gets a little bit deeper ¡°There is water on the side table.¡± I can¡¯t help but give him an annoyed look ¡°you and I both know that¡¯s not what I mean.¡± ¡°Until I am sure you are going to be released you may not imbibe any alcohol.¡± His bedside manner is a little lacking, if I might die why not let me do it drunk? I guess I should technically respawn, but still. The more I lay there and think about it the angrier I get, why the fuck is this asshole being such a dick to me? The last time I was awake I had just died, after dying I got put into a room full of gods who had made a wager about how I''d react and to top it all offI¡¯m not even sure how the knife got into my hip, Hel put it in a sheath on the front of my belt, I get a very distinct feeling this knife was meant to end up in me at some point. Goddamned crazy broad. I¡¯m sure the shock of a new reality is over now, the last time I was this pissed off I spent a few days in the base lockup for assaulting an officer. All I can see is red at this point, the Doc looks a little perturbed by my rage. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything cra- ¡° ¡°Anything crazy? FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING PRICK!!¡± I scream as I look him straight in the eyes and rip the blade from my hip. Looking at the wound I can see pieces of muscle, and some other bits come out with the blade, it is not the same size as the little knife she had given me. If I weren¡¯t so angry I might have passed out, as it is though the pain shocks me back to a calmer state of mind. This is something that was always something I could do back home, pain makes me more concentrated, almost like time slows down, and my brain starts to work better.
-SKILL- Concentrated mind- LVL.2 -With a high level of concentration, you have the ability send your brain into overdrive suppressing pain, and creating a personal effect of time dilation. ---survival skill affinity +25% EXP.
Well isn¡¯t that nifty. Even better, I can literally feel my body fixing itself, the pain would probably be incredible if I wasn¡¯t suppressing it. I give the doc a smile and think *status*
Name- Gnome LVL. 1 Race- daemon elf
Titles- N/A Classes- N/A Alignment- Chaotic good
Health-20/100 (wounded, bleeding) Mana-100/100 Skill Points- 200/200
Health regen- 10.0(min) Mana regen- 5.0(min) Skill Point regen- 20(min)
Strength-12 Perception-12 Dexterity-12
Vitality-8 Intelligence-8 Charisma-2
First things first. ¡°can I get a heal Doc?¡± I¡¯m not sure if the bleeding and wounded status will lead to a respawn, but the pain is pretty fucking distracting. He points his hands at me, and flicks his wrist all the sudden the room lights up and it feels like the blade is back in my leg ¡°SHIT, Doc warn a brother!¡± ¡°that¡¯s your warning. All healing hurts, you must experience the pain, the faster the heal the more intense the pain will be. You need to rest, and I have other things to do. I¡¯ll have a Valkyrie bring in a manual, and she will be able to answer any question.¡± With that he just turns around and leaves. "Nice to meet you too guy." I throw at his back. No mention of how long. Whatever, back to business. I glance at the dagger [identify]
Soul-bound item Hels gift. Level-2/00The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. EXP-35% Damage-10-14 Durability-Indestructible SKILL-Transforming weapon Known transformations- Stiletto, Small knife, Large knife. Description- It¡¯s not the size of the sword, but how you use it. But there''s something to be said about bringing a Claymore to a knife fight.
Is that innuendo? I''m not sure what kind of vibe she picked up in that room but I was terrified. Hell if I know though, maybe that''s how she likes em. Shit. I¡¯m not even sure I should let anyone know about this, I guess it wouldn¡¯t really matter though, not like they can take it from me. The door opens and an angel walks in, like literally, an angel. I don¡¯t even get a good look at her face before she starts screaming and comes at me with a sword. ¡°HEL-SPAWN, SOUND THE ALA-¡° That¡¯s as far as she gets before I am back in the void. I¡¯m not sure how most people start out here but if it were a competition I¡¯m in last place. Without any preamble I wake up in the same bed with disheartened looking Valkyrie standing next to me. Her eyes are closed, I think Odin is communicating with her to let her know about the Odin-kin thing. It does give me a chance to get a good look at her though. Probably just a hair under 6 foot, perfect sunburnt tan, and the muscle definition of, well, a god. Just a tad too much on her chest for my taste, I wouldn¡¯t kick her out of bed for eating crackers though.1 oddly enough, I¡¯d have to place her from the Asiatic region of earth. A rounded, but long face, slightly slanted eyes, topped off by a severe nose, and a mouth that looks more used to a smile than anger. [Identify]
Valkyrie Name: ??? LVL: ??? ???
¡°If you wanted my name you could have just asked.¡± She says in a bit of a huff. ¡°If you wanted mine YOU could have asked. The healthcare around here is worse than the V.A. At least I was never attacked there.¡± She seems a bit embarrassed at that statement, I¡¯m not one to torture a pretty girl, but she did stab me, or cut me, I¡¯m not sure at this point all I really know is that the clothes I came in are gone which brings up an interesting conundrum. I am now a slightly ashy blue color. My hair, which was most definitely in a high and tight when I died is now long enough that I can see and very very white. There are red Samoan/fractal style marking¡¯s pretty much everywhere I can see on my body except for the most notable thing; uncovered, naked, in the room with the Valkyrie was my semi-erect dick. I¡¯m not sure what all changes Hel made, but that thing was bigger than it used to be, by a WIDE margin. I grabbed the pillow and quickly covered up, but the damage had been done. The look she was giving me wasn¡¯t embarrassed, and was not at my face. ¡°Eyes are up here sister.¡± ¡°you can call me Ianata.¡± she didn¡¯t seem the least bit put off by my statement. ¡°you fall under my care for training and information," she waves her hand to encompass me and everything outside the window, "I can see you¡¯ve already figured out a few things. Everybody gets Identify, it¡¯s a base trait, most people learn this when they walk through the portals. Odin say¡¯s you were coopted for a less traditional route, but you are already well versed in how this works. You would normally choose starting armor, and weapons at the portals also, as such if you tell me your preference in battle style I will bring it to you. As an initiate, you can pick any armor up to and including chain mail, most of these are going to have their downside¡¯s, do you need to know them?¡± she seemed like she wants me to succeed so I figure I¡¯ll let her know what I know. ¡°If possible I¡¯ll take some kind of tactical vest with plates. My preferred close range weapon is going to be a naginata, if it can be broken down, if not I¡¯ll just stick with my knife, I only toyed around with polearms back on earth, knife fighting was my close arms specialty.¡± I¡¯m excited at this point, if I can get hands on a naginata or a short spear to train with and some type of gun for long range engagement¡¯s I will be ecstatic. ¡°Is a fire-arm a possibility for a long-range weapon?¡± ¡°unfortunately, no, since you are yet to prove your worth to the system you can have a standard short spear, and a pistol. And honestly if you want anything with a higher caliber than .9 mil you are going to have to give up the spear and choose a weapon closer to the long-knife class. Balance is a pretty big deal here. After you have made a run you can spend your EXP on either leveling, weapons, or skills. The choice is yours. While we¡¯re on the subject I should notify you that grouping is going to cost you EXP, it is something that needs to be purchased through the system by every party in a group, and on top of that EXP will be shared, the lions share to whomever commits the majority damage, or completes the highest percentage of the current objective. Survivability skyrockets though.¡± ¡°I keep hearing the words ¡®run¡¯, what is that?¡± I¡¯m sure I know, but I¡¯ve always been the type to get information where I can get it. ¡°A ¡®run¡¯ is how you gain EXP. You need to go to the great hall and either get missions that are posted by other ¡®survivors¡¯, or system generated missions that will range from hours to years, they will tell you expected completion time, or time limits. I would avoid the years for now, were I you. Alternatively, you can start your own ¡®story¡¯ which is basically you jump back into your world in one of a few locations chosen for you, these will have difficulty ratings, the harder the rating the higher the rewards. The ¡®story¡¯ however is one that will save ONLY on the exact second of the seventh day you came in, or in a relatively safe area if you are in immediate danger. There is no rolling back saves, it does it automatically and if you want to fix a fuck-up you are going to have to restart from the beginning. The upside to starting over is that skills, and EXP you get to keep whatever level you die at in between these will stay, your base level stats and any bound gear, or things in your [inventory] will be saved.¡± ¡°once you have completed 10 runs, or gained enough EXP to be level 5 you will be eligible for arena battles. These have special rules, but you don¡¯t need to know them until you have reached that point.¡± She dumped a ton of info on me there, I guess I¡¯ve got some decisions to make. ¡°Sounds good. Since I was ¡®gifted¡¯ a knife and don¡¯t need to take a melee weapon, is there possibility for a rifle? Or maybe a higher caliber pistol?¡± ¡°The doc had said you had a knife lodged in you when you came in, nobody could check its stats though, is there any chance you would let me check it out, my curiosity is getting the better of me.¡± I can almost see a smaller version of her peeking out from a vault door behind her eye¡¯s. ¡°I will on two conditions. First you tell me how to do it, I imagine its some kind of share thing that I don¡¯t understand, and second you cannot tell anyone about it. While the soul-bound nature will not allow it to drop, I¡¯m sure there are plenty of people who would be more than willing to try. I enjoy a good fight as much as the next guy but I have a feeling I¡¯m going to want to rest when I¡¯m back here.¡± She looked a little pensive for a second ¡°I can promise not to tell any other ¡®survivors¡¯, this is what your fellow warriors are called, but the other Valkyries and local demi-gods might ask and I can neither lie, nor keep a secret from them.¡± I chew on it for a few seconds,¡± how about this, we¡¯ll amend that to the entity has to agree to not informing any survivors in any way, shape, or form. I understand that this is constrictive for you, but this is my eternal safety I¡¯m worried about, you understand.¡± She closes her eyes and I think she is communicating with someone telepathically, man I really hope that isn¡¯t a Valkyrie locked ability, that would suck. ¡°The local demi-god says he can agree to the terms, and if he is currently sending it up the chain to make it System enforced.¡± She closes her eyes for a second, and before she opens them a little smile crosses her lips and say¡¯s ¡°I accept the terms set forth in the agreement set forth by Daniel.¡± ¡°That easy huh? Well, tell me how this is done and we can get on with it.¡± I¡¯m very interested in this, any information on how to use the system gets me excited, it might not be the right mindset, but I feel like I¡¯m in a game. ¡°All you need to do is open the skill, and will for me to see it, if you will for anyone to see it then anyone will be able to see it, you have to will me specifically.¡± I go ahead and pull the screen up and will for her to be able to see it. She blinks a little bit and start¡¯s reading the notification, she freezes a few seconds into reading and the little version in the vault almost takes over, she is pretty much drooling at the weapon stats. I guess that¡¯s a good weapon, not sure how often I¡¯ll need a melee weapon in an apocalypse that involves working guns, but I¡¯ll take every advantage I can get. ¡°I will trade you two tier three guns, and a soul-bound bow for this knife.¡± What the shit? ¡°we can trade soul-bound weapons?¡± ¡°if we go to a temple we can. There are a few ritual¡¯s that need to be performed before it is possible, but nothing that is too hard.¡± I feel a bit suspicious about this, it doesn¡¯t feel malicious, but her want for this weapon is an almost palpable presence in the room. -Skill generated-
-SKILL- Gut feeling- LVL. max You will have insights into personal danger be it intentional, or unintentional. -Passive-
Instead of saying anything I just will for her to see the screen. ¡°Balls. Yeah there are a few caveat¡¯s, wouldn¡¯t have been all bad though. I probably wouldn¡¯t be that poor of a wife, and the option only becomes valid if the union is¡­sanctified.¡± Jesus. H. Christ. She tried to trick me into a marriage. Done that before, wasn¡¯t too good at it. C¡¯est la vie2 I guess. ¡°Sorry lady, I am very not interested in being married at the moment. Maybe a little light bondage, or some spanking if you¡¯re lucky, but there¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯m giving up that knife. For starters, it¡¯s a scaling, transforming weapon. Second, Hel herself gave it to me, and It might be hopeful thinking but there is definitely some innuendo in the description. I don¡¯t get laid often and having what I assume might be the fraction of a chance with a GOD is not something I¡¯m willing to give up.¡± The Valkyrie seems a bit mollified by that ¡°I mean, unless you and Hel are going to let me watch, but you¡¯re going to have to run that one up the system first.¡± For a minute, she looks speculative, unfortunately I have to shut it down. ¡°that is just a joke, I really have no intention of trading a weapon from a god. I doubt there are many floating around, and I am banking pretty hard that the one¡¯s floating around aren¡¯t Hel-bound.¡± ¡°yeah, I guess I can understand that. I¡¯m sure you¡¯d be missing one hell of a show though.¡± She¡¯s definitely not shy. Getting too off topic at this point though, and I have zero control over the bodily reactions under the pillow at this point. ¡°Let''s get back on track. If I eschew a new close quarters weapon from the initiate armory can I get a rifle?¡± gotta get my head in the game here. She makes a few motions with her hands that look like she is checking some kind of list, then answers ¡°If you take a rifle I can get you a low quality generic bolt action rifle in .3033, and 2 loaded ten round magazines. If you decide on the pistol you can get a generic .404 with 3 ten round mags and enough loose rounds to reload each magazine once.¡± Not as bad as I feared, not as good as I¡¯d hoped. ¡°of course, if you want new clothes and some kind of armor you¡¯re going to have to forget the long rifle all together, and either drop the pistol caliber to .9 mil, or only take 2 loaded .40 mags, and enough rounds to a refill each once.¡± Yeah, that feels about right. Not one to be indecisive I go ahead and tell her what I want. ¡°I¡¯ll take a set of black or grey fatigues, ladies choice, no armor, the .40 with a holster and as long as I end up with 2 mags as many bullets as I can have.¡± She swipes down the list for a few minutes before coming back with ¡°I can grab you a set up dark grey tactical pants, a combat shirt, and the .40 with two full mags and enough ammo to reload once. That¡¯s about as good as it¡¯s going to get for what you want, if you want undies you¡¯re going to give up a couple of bullets.¡± ¡°Underwear are for the weak.¡± (ch-2) The kids arent alright In a short order Ianata had left and come back with the gear I needed, even fronting me a few EXP for mag pouches and a shoulder holster. I could just have easily used my inventory, which by the way is stupidly easy, like many thing¡¯s so far. Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t hold much. Both space and weight limit it, I can pay EXP eventually to enlarge it and make the weight limit less, right now it had 20 liters of space that would stretch any way I needed. No luck on the weight area though, if I had 20 pounds of gear it was still like carrying 20 pounds. The weight isn¡¯t technically a limit, I just need the strength to carry it. It was a little disconcerting that she refused to turn around so I could put on my clothes though, I¡¯m not usually very shy but I¡¯m also not used to being looked at like a piece of meat. It probably wouldn¡¯t have been as annoying if a nurse hadn¡¯t popped her head in almost seconds after I finished pulling my pants up, then left mumbling about how she¡¯d ¡®missed the show¡¯. As soon as the urgent need I had to go out and shoot things wore off my junk was going to get me in a ton of trouble. After I was all dressed Ianata took me on a quick tour of the compound, she kept calling it a town but there were only four 6 story barracks, a great hall, and a shop. There was a statue of an older warrior in full armor standing with one foot on top of a wolf his helmeted head raised to the sky and an ax loosely in his hand, Odin I presume in the center of town with two barracks parallel on the west, and east side, the great hall was at the north perpendicular to the barracks, and the shop was offset next to the gate. The walls around the compound were about 40 feet, it was basically a small fortress. Ianata explained that most settlements are like this, the people that live there are either off in the system trying to grow, out in the wild fighting local monsters, or moved to the bigger towns with crafting assets. This town was simply known as horshewic it is one of the towns specifically geared for combat. Known for the warriors that compete in the city tournaments. It is almost all warriors here, and almost exclusively the elite, or those who are expected to be. The barracks each housed around 90 warriors each, with the top floors of each building belonging specifically to the Valkyrie. The shop was probably about the size of your average Walmart, and included a bazaar, and trading center. They sold mostly creature comfort things and other amenities that you could technically pick up in what I''m going to just call Valhalla. They also provided your bank, repair people and clothier, it was an all in one shop, the second floor also housed the shop employees. I wasn¡¯t interested in going because I didn¡¯t have any money to spend. Currency was a thing here too, but this outpost being full of survivors who usually barter it¡¯s not a prevalent thing here. Ianata tells me that it is the same as most places: 100 copper is a silver, 100 silver is a gold, 100 gold is a platinum, I¡¯m sure there are more than platinum but the money is something I will pick up from looting enemies in the system. I was taken to the a barracks and shown my room on the third floor, not too impressive, but It¡¯s not like it needs to be. As long as I go on 1 regular ranked mission a month, or 5 easy my room is covered. Anyways, the layout is simple, when you walk in the front door you immediately run into the living room, off to the direct left is a room that is probably counted as a kitchen, with a counter separating the two. On the far side of the living room is a sliding door for a little balcony, it¡¯s not that big probably 7x12 but a balcony is a balcony. If you walk into the living room and turn right there is the bedroom, a little further out on the same side is the bathroom, there¡¯s an opening in the bedroom that leads directly to the bathroom. The whole thing is probably less than 800sf but the layout makes it feel big, but homey at the same time, it¡¯s a definite bonus that it is already furnished, mostly a couch and chair next to a table, and the bedroom has a double bed with a nightstand on both sides. The door is keyed to my aura, with an option to invite others in via stored aura prints. Quite frankly the system Ianata explained to me is way more complex than I can understand at the moment. As I¡¯ve got nothing else to do, I pull a toothbrush and toothpaste from the bathroom and ask Ianata if I will transfer, getting an affirmative I store them in my inventory and we moved through town to the great hall. Going to be honest with you, my first thought when walking through the doors at the front was just utter confusion. It looked more like an office building than anything half the front rooms on the main building were purposed for local quest to Valhalla, the other half of the front was for posted quests for other people¡¯s worlds I was told these are mostly acquisition quest¡¯s; settlement X needs Y pounds of fuel delivered. Town A needs the monsters in the immediate vicinity subjugated. the entire back half of the first floor were cubicle sized rooms leading to portals to quest objectives. They portals are aura tagged too so you cannot go into, or be forced into a mission not of your choosing. The second floor was my favorite thing in the world. I¡¯d like you to imagine, if you will, if Dave and Busterstm were a giant, rowdy bar. The center of the room holds 3 giant long tables lengthwise from front to back, the left and right side are full of what basically amount to skill games that can be paid for with either local currency, or EXP the helpful hostess I met on the way in told me I can even pay for a monthly subscription!!! I can put EXP or coins down on a set amount of game credits. My mind was blown. Back on point the rear third was awash with games of chance, you could bet EXP, coins, skills, it was a nuthouse. I¡¯m in love. After I had a mead we headed back downstairs so I could get on with one of these missions, I figured I would knock out an easy run to get my feet wet and see what this whole thing was about. It didn¡¯t hurt that I was self-conscious the entire time. There were a mix of humans, elves, dwarves, and half breeds of every conceivable breed, the problem was that I was the only one who had the look of a Hel-kin. I¡¯m not good with being the center of attention, well I don¡¯t like it, it¡¯s not like it killed me or anything. Shit, I¡¯m off track again, gotta focus, too much stuff changing too soon. Ianata was asking what skills my race came with, and I wasn¡¯t sure if I should tell her that I had lost them in a bet with Hel. I broke though, while we were sitting at a terminal and she was helping me pick out an intro mission I whispered it to her. She immediately offered to buy them for me, saying I could owe her a favor. I had to decline, I¡¯m not used to being a sheep but these Valkyrie were wolves and I¡¯d be damned if I was going to tether my fluffy ass to her. I decided to do a mission that took place a little backwoods town of Tennessee, I didn¡¯t even look at the name. I just saw that it was creature subjugation with the drop rate being high since it was in the middle of nowhere. The biggest draw, if I¡¯m being honest, was probably the fact that I didn¡¯t have to die at the end of the mission, I would be able to slip into a portal. After I selected the mission I checked that Hels gift was attached to my belt behind my back and my pistol had one in the chamber. A purple vortex opened in the portal room, and I couldn¡¯t help but sit and stare at it for a moment. ¡°Are you going to go in?¡± the moment was broken. I was about three feet from the portal, with Ianata behind me a few feet, I spun around put my hands on her neck and pulled her into a kiss ¡°kiss for luck.¡± I quickly spun and dove into the portal trying to dodge any hate I might catch in the form of a physical attack, I was relying on the idea that she either couldn¡¯t follow me in or couldn¡¯t interfere on a system mission without solid reason. The portal wasn¡¯t like the void, it was like going through a doorway I dove through and immediately faceplanted onto a tree root ¡°ah FUCK.¡± At first I thought the hit to the tree had given me a slight concussion, but turns out it was just really godsdamned dark. After sitting for a few minutes and letting my eyes acclimate I realize I¡¯m starting to be able to see a little bit better. On top of that I¡¯m certain my eyesight is better than 20/20 double-score. The area off to my right front is brighter than anywhere else so I start trying to make my way there. After about 10 minutes of slow moving through the forest I hear what sounds like someone sobbing and punching a punching bag. The second I consider going to detour and see what it is a blue screen pops up pretty much scaring the balls off me.
-SIDE MISSION- -Errant lovers- Kelly, and Mike stole away from the town in the middle of the night to try and make a better life elsewhere, little did they know that outside the town was even worse than they could have imagined. -OBJECTIVES- 1)Bring Kelly back to the town alive. (distinguishing marks: butterfly tattoo on shoulder) 2)bring Mike back to the town alive (scar above left eye)
I know what the sound is, I was young and in love once, I¡¯m guessing the light is a fire. Doesn¡¯t seem too hard though. I don¡¯t know how he¡¯s still at it though, women who cry during sex always put me off, nothing about that does it for me. The closer I get to the fire the weirder things seem to be, shit, there are 6 voices, and none of them are speaking English. I default into my training and decide that I need to recon the area, despite the rating a six on one hostage situation does not seem like an easy task. -SURVIVAL SKILL AFFINITY SKILL LEARNED-
-SKILL- Stalk- LVL. 1 A combination of the Sneak, and Track skill¡¯s allowing a perceptive individual lowered chance of discovery while having heightened awareness. -While stalk is active the footfalls are (Base Dex)1.5% quitter, and survivor is (Base Per)1.5% more likely to detect threats -AFFINITY BONUS-Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Due to high survival affinity, the corresponding skills have been unlocked -unlock skill sneak lvl-1 -unlock skill track lvl-1
As great as that is, I gotta figure out if there is an option to remove the notifications or auto hide, something. That shit is going to get me killed. The second thing I notice is that after I got that window there is a little red, bar stacked on top of a blue one, and a green one. Good to know, I won¡¯t have to guess at my health, don¡¯t need the blue one though, as simple as that the blue bar goes away and the red is stacked on the green. Score another one. I¡¯m now close enough to see that the crying isn¡¯t a girl on the verge of woman hood, it¡¯s a girl who is tied to a tree crying while a group of goblins take turns beating on her. Sorry lady you¡¯ve survived this long, you''re going to have to bear it for another 5 minutes. I circle around the camp to the left trying my hardest to keep my anger in check, the only thing rushing in is going to do is get everyone killed. There are a total of 6 creatures¡¯ that look like goblins, and something else sitting off to the side with the bedrolls talking to itself that I assume is some kind of orc, he¡¯s probably torturing the boy. I¡¯m going to try and make my way closer to identify the creatures. Once I¡¯m with in about 20 feet I finally get a screen. [Identify]
-CREATURE- Goblin- LVL. 1
All six goblins are level one, I¡¯m not sure if this is a blessing yet, I guess I¡¯m going to have to hope my pistol is enough.
-CREATURE- Orc- LVL. 4
Another side effect of being this close is that I learn the orc isn¡¯t whispering anything. The teen boy is dead, and the orc is cutting up the body while taking to himself and laughing. I¡¯m not usually rash but this is too much. I thought the system would be like a game, yeah, I¡¯d have to die, but fucked -up shit wouldn¡¯t happen anymore. I make a snap decision. I dive forward pulling my pistol landing in a shoulder roll that brings me up about 8 feet from the orc and immediately go into a sprint. By the time the orc even notices a noise behind him I¡¯ve got a hand pushing his head towards the ground and a .40 Cal barrel poking against his asshole ¡°fucking animal¡± is the only thing I can say as I pull the trigger. He flops forward squeezing in pain and I jump on top of his body pushing his skull sideways so I can put the pistol to his neck. I pull the trigger twice spraying pieces of nerve, spine, and bone into my face. looking over to the goblins, they are unsure of what is going on, as some of them start to move so I duck behind the orcs body for cover and try to pick them off. The first goblin goes down with a gurgling scream after a shot into his throat. The second isn¡¯t even smart enough to dive for cover. I line up a shot center mass and pull the trigger. -click-- Aww fuck. I raise up onto a knee, pull the mag, and pull the slide try to clear the malfunction, double feed, fucking junk. The rounds are falling in almost slow motion towards the ground, and the goblin has capitalized on my issues, he started charging me after the misfire. I don¡¯t have time to rearm the gun before he hits me in the chest trying to tackle me to the ground. While his reaction should be commended his decision was poor. I¡¯m mediocre a lot of things, but there are a few things I excel at. Unarmed combat, for example. I¡¯m not a judo master by any means, what I am is a vicious asshole. I Roll with the hit, pulling the goblins head into my chest, and locking my shin in-between his thigh¡¯s, we hit the ground and momentum rolls me on top of him. A quick jab to the throat as a distraction, and I pull out my knife and slam it into his temple. After it slide¡¯s free I am up and running for my pistol, I can see the goblins grabbing their spears, a couple already en-route to my position, unfortunately for them my pistol is only a few feet away. I slide the fresh mag in from the holster, rack it, and push into a fighter1 shooting stance. Breath in, hold. --bang- adjust -bang- adjust --bang-- adjust -bang- adjust¡­reassess¡­ all the goblins are on the ground, two are still alive, I walk up and put a round into their heads. I probably could have done it without the waste of rounds but I''m pretty amped up, combat is easy once the shit hits the fan, it''s the after where adrenaline and nerves start to kick in that sucks. I move over to the girl who I¡¯m sure has checked out and doesn¡¯t know that her torturers are dead at this point. As I pull my knife and start to cut her binds I try and get through to her ¡±Kelly, I¡¯m not here to hurt you, the goblins are dead. I hate to ask this of you but I made a lot of noise and we need to leave, you have to pull yourself together enough to point us towards town, I¡¯ll get us there, but I need you to tell me what direction we need to go, can you do that for me?¡±, she rolls up into a ball and starts sobbing louder. ¡°Kelly, I need you to listen to me, I¡¯m going to check these guys and see if they have anything worth keeping, when I come back I need you to point me to town, it¡¯s the only way were going to make it, do you understand?¡± she doesn¡¯t say anything but I can see her give an affirmative shake of her head through all the hair. As I¡¯m moving to the closest goblin, I realize I should have asked how to loot things. As I bend down and wonder if I¡¯m going to have to rummage through this filthy thing¡¯s pockets to put shit into my inventory two windows pop up side by side. The first is one titled goblin, and the other is my inventory. Guess that¡¯s easy. He¡¯s got a few coins and a rusty dagger on him, I throw it all in my inventory. I loot all the goblins on my way towards the orc, ending up with 18 copper, 2 rusty daggers, and a low quality spear. I loot the goblin and find 70 copper, and a silver necklace. Shit, he¡¯s got a weapon around here somewhere but was naked when I rolled up on him. I do a cursory search and realize I¡¯m over my self-imposed time limit. I decide there is one more thing I need to do. I drag the orc and his friends to the fire, lain out in a row. With Kelly watching I cut their dicks off and stick them into their mouths, I''m not usually so vindictive but warnings have to be made, and psychological warfare on this level used to be illegal. I¡¯m not sure if the bodies are going to disappear or not, but the girl seems a bit more cognizant, if not disgusted after I finish my work. She starts talking to me at some point while I work ¡°they cut his throat in front of me. The big ugly one beat me and laughed while he cried. When Mike thought they were distracted he tried to run off and leave me here with them. The orc caught him pretty quick and brought him back here, when Mike refused to look at me being beat anymore they cut mike¡¯s throat and dragged his body to the bedrolls and kept at it.¡± There was no emotion in her voice, it¡¯s the kind of apathy you only hear inside of a trauma group. Judging by the butterfly tattoo on her shoulder she¡¯s at least 18, but I¡¯ll be damned if she¡¯s year older than that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Kelly, we have to go though, I can¡¯t carry his body back and get us both there. We need to leave before something else shows up.¡± Her eyebrows raise "leave his body, he tried to leave me here alone with these fucking things" she tells me the town is and we start moving. After about 20-minute walking towards her side of the fire. There isn¡¯t much else to say, so I help her walk out of camp towards home. It¡¯s slow going but uneventful, once we hit the road I¡¯m able to pick her up in a princess carry and start moving towards town. After about 2 miles I hear people yelling out for her and Mike. She rolls her head into my chest and starts sobbing in earnest whispering ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m still alive.¡± Repeatedly. once I¡¯m about 100 feet from one of the search groups I yell to them, ¡°I found Kelly in the woods, I¡¯d like to bring her to you but I need you to not freak out.¡± Random shouts of ¡°oh god Kelly!!¡±, and other things to the effect of ¡°did she get separated from Mike¡± were spoken as they started moving towards me. ¡°STOP¡± I yelled at them. ¡°If you people don¡¯t stop right where you are we are going to have a problem¡± prompting an immediate reaction of shouts about not hurting the girl. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt her, or anyone else, but I need you to understand I¡¯m helping. I¡¯m not here to hurt anyone, and my appearance is the effect of a spell placed on me.¡± An omission of truth is not necessarily a lie, morals are important. ¡°It¡¯s fine, we won¡¯t attack¡± I start walking towards them but make sure I have enough space between myself and Kelly that I can pull my gun if necessary. I get that these are real people, and I will respawn, but there¡¯s no grey area here for me. There is no way for them to know I can respawn, and anyone attacking someone who shows up claiming to help is the type to get exactly what I''m going to give to them.
-ALIGHNMENT CHANGE- Alignment has been changed from nuetral to chaotic good.
As they come into viewing distance one of their people¡¯s flashlights moves over my face ¡°It¡¯s a trap, he¡¯s a fucking Hel-spawn!!!¡± ¡°DON¡¯T SHOOT, I HAVE YOUR GIRL!¡± I hate to do it but I use my hand to roughly turn Kelly¡¯s face towards them so they can see I¡¯m not lying. ¡°I found the body of the boy, and this girl in the forest. The system has tasked me with killing your local monsters, I will need a few of your resources and maybe a place to crash for the night. I¡¯d give you the girl but she¡¯s not letting go,¡± I let my left-hand fall so they can see that she is holding herself to my chest,¡±I found her in an incredibly traumatizing situation, so the faster we get through this the faster we can start getting her help.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have very many resources, and there aren¡¯t enough beds for the people we do have. I can offer you a yard where you can rest in peace, away from everyone else so you don¡¯t cause a panic.¡± The leader says, he¡¯s an older man, probably mid 50¡¯s still kicking though, but I guess you need to be strong after the drop. ¡°I need some .40 ammo, and a cleaning kit if you¡¯ve got it. I¡¯ve got a little bit of fresh water left, but I gave most of it to the girl.¡± I should be done with this quest by the mid-morning tomorrow, I¡¯m fairly certain the orc was the boss attached to this quest and there are only 4 more goblins left. ¡°if you can give me those as soon as possible, and point me towards the other group of goblins at daybreak I can be out of your camp before your people even know I¡¯m here.¡± The leader seems to like he¡¯s conflicted on letting me in. ¡°how did you know we needed the local goblins thinned?¡± I guess that¡¯s fair, this is still pretty early in the timeline. ¡°Somebody here, probably some type of priest, prayed to a higher power. They can¡¯t come, so you get me.¡± The leader introduces himself as Doug, and invites me in.
-LOCATION- You have discovered Haven, Tenn. -As you do not have a map this location will be revealed when you purchase your own-
Well aint that a bitch. Add another thing to the list I guess. The ¡®fort¡¯ Doug leads me into is mostly just plywood held up with whatever fencing post¡¯s they could find. I¡¯d estimate there are probably 12-14 houses in this little backroad, all nice. These are the types of places that money keep as weekend houses. No resources my ass. Whatever. ¡°take me to wherever this girl needs to be, and if you have someone who cares for her please bring them, I¡¯m not sure she¡¯s letting go otherwise.¡± Doug hesitates again ¡°she¡¯s not one of ours, she came in with a group of college kids that have all died during foraging parties in the last couple of weeks. Doug has family here, but she¡¯s still pretty new to us.¡± Kelly picks that time to speak up ¡°don¡¯t leave me alone Daniel, please, please. I can¡¯t be left alone.¡± ¡°I guess take me somewhere she can be laid down, and bring some type of medic.¡± He leads us to a little vacant house near the front of the fort and goes off to get a medic. The whole time I try to make conversation with him I keep getting odd feelings about it, he¡¯s probably just nervous because of the way I look. I lay Kelly down on the couch since she passed out, and look at Doug out the window, the entire walk away, and up towards his group he keeps shifting his gaze back to the house. I don¡¯t trust this.
-SIDE QUEST- -Something funky going down- something strange is going on in haven, a group of college kids who came for sanctuary have all died and the fort survivors are shifty, and fidgety. -OBJECTIVES- -find the source of strangeness is in haven
(CH-3) A little bit of sneaking. I should have asked more questions, do assigned missions generate more side-quest¡¯s? or is it something to do with my [gut feeling] skill. Too little too late at this point, I¡¯ll have to ask Ianata when I get back. Jesus I wish I could sleep. I don¡¯t trust the locals though. Not that they are overly aggressive, every time I look out and up the road they are in the same place, it does appear I¡¯ve gotten a guard though. There¡¯s definitely someone watching the back of the house too, I can hear him moving around occasionally, I hope he doesn¡¯t think he¡¯s stealthy or he¡¯s in for a rude awakening. Looking over at Kelly, she¡¯s pretty enough after all the snot and tears are dried and cleaned off probably be prettier without the bruises. Shoulder length dark-brown hair, her nose is one of those that come to a roundish end, but are slightly upturned, her smallish mouth hasn¡¯t smiled since I met her, but that is completely understandable. I give a little sigh, I guess I should wake her up, I need information. The poor girl has circles around her eyes dark enough to make a raccoon jealous. ¡°Kelly, I¡¯m sorry to wake you.¡± I put my hand on her shoulder and she sits bolt upright trying to swing a punch in my direction. In my surprise I don¡¯t even think to dodge, it¡¯s a solid left-handed jab to my chest. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry! I don¡¯t do well with being touched.¡± She looks a little embarrassed, but it¡¯s not like she broke something ¡°No worries. I¡¯ve never been in the exact situation you were, but I¡¯ve been in situations that leave you feeling powerless and weak. Few people come out the other side the same. I don¡¯t have the cure-all, only advice I have is don¡¯t let it break you. Shitty advice, but it¡¯s all I got.¡± I¡¯ve gotten through most of my hard times with compartmentalization1, and either pure force of will, or unbridled hatred none of these are even close to the ideal ways of dealing with trauma, especially long term. I haven¡¯t broken yet though. ¡°I woke you up because I need information and I don¡¯t know how much longer I¡¯ll have before they come back, so I need to get it from you as soon as possible. I need to know; are these people worth saving? I get a very odd feeling from Doug, everything about the situation with the people here makes me anxious, and the story he gave me about your group leaves me feeling like it is not on the level. Did they mistreat you? Are they closet bandits? Is Doug just a shitty leader? I will complete my mission either way, but I don¡¯t have enough information on the people I am working for, and I hate being at a disadvantage.¡± Taking the advice and word of an 18-year-old girl who is still recovering from a severe trauma is not ideal, but I¡¯ve taken less savory intel from crappier sources. ¡°They haven¡¯t mistreated me. I¡¯m not exactly let into the inner circle though. The town probably has somewhere between sixty and seventy people, and a most of us aren¡¯t allowed up into the center building, that big gray house at the end of the cul-de-sac. It''s something of a base. Doug isn¡¯t a leader, he¡¯s a member of the security force that usually guards the gates and other things around town. I¡¯m almost sure whoever is in charge is trying to form some kind of popup kingdom type of thing. I¡¯ve only been here for a month, maybe a month and a half?" The statement brings a distant look to her eyes, with a little nostalgia behind them, "The people I came here with were drafted into the foraging crews, the whole crews disappeared it wasn''t just my friends.¡± She doesn''t seem too phased by that, there''s a story there, or maybe she''s just good at suppressing her feelings. Kelly opens her mouth in a yawn, and quickly closes it with a snapwhen she realizes she hadn¡¯t even tried to cover. A little red in the cheeks, she pushes on, ¡°this place isn¡¯t ideal, definitely not safe either. The town proper is pretty close and I think the school up the road is spawning monsters. Most of this little area is just covered by some foot patrols with the exclusion of the end were on here that is¡± she air quotes ¡± ''fenced¡¯ they¡¯ve got posts and some plyboard up but it¡¯s not great. Something breaks through every couple of days, noone has died in at least a week though. the defenses arent better, just nobody is going outside.¡± ¡°A few more questions and I¡¯ll let you get back to sleep, is there anything suspicious going on at the gray building? People go in and don¡¯t come out, more activity after dark? This town feels wrong, I¡¯m not I can get past leaving you here if something wonky is going on.¡± I can see that she has turned red and is looking everywhere but my face, I dont want to give her the wrong idea so I need to lay down some uncomfortable truth. ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited. You seem like a good kid, and I want to help you, but I can¡¯t take you with me once this missions over. Aside from the fact that I¡¯m fairly certain it¡¯s physically impossible, I can barely take care of myself at this point.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not why I¡¯m embarrassed. You brought me in from the woods, carried me for at least a mile back to town, risking your life bringing me here. I repaid you by snoring half the night, and punching you." , she starts playing with her hands and shoves them in between her folded legs, I see a little bit of a smile through her hair as she says "You could always stay with us, I haven¡¯t been mistreated here, and people will get used to your looks. You might have to work on the manner¡¯s but most people are assholes now-days anyways.¡± Her smile is a bit timid, but an immense improvement. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really can''t stay. I¡¯ve got a week, at most, to report back. Even if I didn¡¯t, I really like my job. I might settle down someday, but I¡¯m getting to go all around the world and help people. I used to be in the army, I really was a human before I got changed. I was in for a few years, and I felt like I was making a difference, but it¡¯s hard to see when you¡¯re only visiting a town once or twice every few months and then never seeing it again after your tour is up. This job has me making even more direct changes, your alive because of the actions I¡¯ve taken, that¡¯s not hubris, I did that. It¡¯s not something the old me could do, and I want to see where I can take this. I''m truly sorry, I¡¯ve got to change the subject back. Having feels makes me uncomfortable.¡± My trademark stellar mental condition paired with my winning attitude showing through now. Information, I need information ¡°anything odd you can think of around here?¡± she scrunches her face a little ¡°I¡¯ve never actually met the leader of this place, we were told the guy in charge is the one who actually owns the company that built the subdivision. He¡¯s supposed to have a kid and a wife, but I have never met them, or had anyone pointed out to me.¡± After she tells me that I suggest she lay back down. after she closes her eyes I make a quick pass of the house and loot what I can. As expected there isn''t much usable in the cabinets, the only thing for food is a package of white albacore a few weeks over the expiration. I''ll take it, most canned goods are solid for some time after they expire, if I open it later and it smells funny I¡¯ll toss it. Waste not want not, or whatever. That¡¯s that then, looks like I¡¯m going to that house. Were already inside of nautical twilight2 I need to act before we push into astronomical. ¡°I was really hoping they would bring the supplies I asked for but I guess that¡¯s not happening.¡± The girl has fallen asleep by the time I make it back to the living room. I write her a quick note apologizing for leaving her in the middle of the night, and asking that she wait till daylight to leave the house. I hope she doesn¡¯t just wake up and start an alarm in panic. The thought of her panicking before reading the note gives me a few seconds pause. Deciding there isn''t really anything I can do about it I head up the stairs to move out. Moving up to the second floor I go out a bedroom window onto the roof. I¡¯m not completely sure where the guard around back is, but I think he is leaning against the rear gate back here. The closer I get to the edge of the roof I can hear shallow steady breathing, you¡¯ve gotta be kidding me. I peak over the edge and sure enough, there is a man with a gun sleeping with his back against the fence. Going to get him killed one day. Now I guess I¡¯ve got to decide if I wake him up to just to knock him out again, walk away, or just try to rob him while he¡¯s sleeping. No matter where you are every soldier from every branch does something refered to as ''tactical acqusition''4 time for a little bit of practice. Maybe he''ll learn a good lesson from having his targed not only get past him, but take something off of him. Good luck explaining this one away. Confident in my the stats of my new body I slowly roll over the roof and activate sneak, I can see the green bar in my top right peripheral start to go down. Shit, at this rate I¡¯ve only got like 30 seconds. I drop to the ground and start moving to the sleeping man. Once I¡¯m within a few feet I can see that he is out out, mouth open, drool, were he in a more comfortable position he¡¯d probably be snoring. I can¡¯t help but smile a little, his life is going to suck when he wakes up. He¡¯s got an older style hunting rifle with a round pouch attached to the rear, probably around 10 shots overall, I pull my knife and cut it off him, I¡¯ll identify it later, sticking it into my inventory I quickly look over him to see if there¡¯s anything else easily accessible. The only thing he has reachable that I really want is the flashlight half hanging out of his pocket. better hurry though my sneaks going to give out in about 10 seconds. As I reach for the flashlight I get a feeling that I need to lift my arm a little further out to his side, and slide the flashlight towards the ground, once it¡¯s out of his pocket a little pulsing blue spark pops up in my peripheral vision. I get the flashlight to my pocket just as the sneak gives out. Despite the skill going inactive I decide I can get away without making too much noise. Walking crouched, sideways so I can see the guy on the ground I move towards the end of the walk. This place is rural-everywhere U.S.A. houses lining both sides of the street, the only difference I see is the fire at the ¡®gate¡¯, and the lights inside the 2-story gray house off the little side street. Memories crowd into my head; flashes of me and a few friends building a ramp and jumping out bikes off of it, running out my front door chasing the sound of an ice-cream truck. Ignoring the stinging coming from my eyes, and the lump in my throat I push my mind back to the task at hand.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Guess I know where I¡¯m going, just need to get there. I look both ways and decide that even though the safest way to get where I want is probably to crawl through the open area, I¡¯ve got to risk moving quickly, tucking into a deeper crouch check both ways tense my body, and sprint for all I''m worth across the street. The trip across feels like an eternity, I''m expectin gunfire or an alarm the entire way. My heart is pumping so loud I¡¯m not sure I would hear if any alarm were raised. Reaching the corner of the house I was heading towards drop into concealment between the house and a bush¡­no sounds, I¡¯m good to go. Taking a few minutes to calm down I glance at my green bar my SP will be refilled sometime in the next 7 minutes, about a 10-minute turn around. Another thing I should have checked before I jumped into this mission, the list is growing by the minute. Staying low I move around the bushes and into the back yard of the house. Peeking over the fence I see the gray house two yards away, they might have someone laying on the roof, I can''t really tell from this angle, but if there is he¡¯s facing the woods in the opposite direction. The only fence left is a chain link around the gray house. My luck hasn¡¯t held though, it¡¯s a tall chain-link fence, the kind you keep for huskies and other dogs that are motivated enough to climb out. I don¡¯t have any way to get in easily. Shit. Recon, I guess, I drop to the ground and crawl to the edge of the fence to see if it would be hard to move, it¡¯s buried, clearly the last owner had a dog that liked to escape. Doing the only option that really made sense I started crawling towards the house along the fence, they¡¯d cut down all the bushes so the concealment here was lacking. After reaching the edge of the house I can see that the basement has those in ground windows with the circular metal sheeting and some rocks outside of them. There¡¯s just enough space that I could probably slither my way inside, the window is locked. No free meals. Options are limited as the sky starts to lighten, I¡¯ve got maybe an hour till dawn. Think, think, c¡¯mon brain do something. The knife! I pull the knife out and try to activate the skill, that¡¯s not working. Hmm, maybe it¡¯s a mana thing? How the fuck do I use magic. I will my blue bar back into my peripheral, under the green bar. Hoping for the best I close my eyes and think about my blue bar, imagining the blue bar connected to the knife. All the sudden there is a cool, freezing sensation coming from my chest, it''s like there is a ball of ice. Ahh, mana core. I can¡¯t see it, but it feels like I swallowed a menthol cough drop, I''ve either gone insane, or this is going to work. I imagine the knife transforming to the stiletto form. The temperature of the ball in my chest raises and the knife in my hand is suddenly a short-handled knife with a thin 6-inch blade. Smiles for days. ¡°I¡¯ll be damned if I don¡¯t owe you one Hel.¡± I breath out under my breath. and the little blue star in my peripheral pulses again. Balls. Gonna have to take care of that star at some point. I slide the blade between the window and push the catch to the side. Slowly pushing the window in so it doesn¡¯t creak I slide my body into the basement of the house. Pushing the window closed behind me I pull the pillow case I had planned to use for looting out of my cargo pocket and cover the window with it. With that done it is pitch black down here, my only option is the flashlight. I cover as much of the lens as I can and click the on switch the basement is an open room full of boxes, most of them with clothes spilling out of the top. There are a set of stairs a few feet away leading upstairs, but my attention is locked on the whimpering noises from the next room that started with my flashlight being turned on. Making my way across the room to the door it¡¯s padlocked, I have no way in that is quite I¡¯m sure the other side of this room runs into the garage. Checking my inventory just to make sure, nope, not a damned thing. Listening to the whimpers I can here slight growls along with it, it sounds like whatever is in there is in pain and caged. Is this a prison area? I must know now, Kelly never mentioned prisoners. The only ways into the door are force though, this basement is sparse, the only thing with any leverage is the ski in the corner and I¡¯m fairly certain it¡¯s not going to break the lock. Trying to decide whether I¡¯m going to kick in the door or find a key I hear the whimpering coming out in the same language as the goblins I killed in the woods. Prison cell then, screw em. I turn around and start moving towards the stairs. A few steps off I realize that the goblins that are in there are probably supposed to be with the group I killed in the woods. Shit, gotta get in there. At this point, if you count the couple of hours I was out after falling into Valhalla I¡¯ve gotten about 4 hours sleep in the last 48 hours. I¡¯m tired, stressed, hungry, and my mental acuity is working somewhere just north of autonomous operations. I close my eyes for a few seconds to decide what I should do. There¡¯s probably a key somewhere in the house. There¡¯s also a good chance I could get that door open and kill those goblins before anyone found me though. Escape, escape becomes a problem either way. What if all the goblins aren¡¯t there? Fuck it, god hates a coward.3 I spin around, take a few steps, and slam my shoulder into the door between the lock and the handle, I have vastly underestimated my strength. I fly through the door for a few steps and slam my hip into a work table sitting just to the inside left of the room, tripping and falling on the ground. Shining my flashlight around the far-left side from me has what look like stacked dog kennels there are 2 goblins in one kennel, and 1 in the next one over, shit where¡¯s the other one. Standing up I whip my flashlight around the room, trying to hurry without rushing and jacking everything up. There is a giant metal table in the far side of the room with a cut up mostly dead goblin and a man who is in the same state next to him. Messages pop-up in little boxes in my lower left peripheral.
The local¡¯s in charge are experimenting mixing humans and monsters.This is an abomination on any plane. -bring mercy to the experiments -Kill the one responsible for preforming the experiments -bonus: destroy the lab, and/or bring this to the attention of the camp population.
I¡¯ll be damned if that aint convenient. I cringed, I guess an agreement must be spoken or directed to become a contract. Either way, I''ve got to start paying attention, I can hear someone coming down from above, they haven¡¯t reached the basement steps yet, they have to be coming from the second floor. No way to destroy the lab, I pull the knife back out of my sheath and run towards the experiments. A quick stab into one chest¡¯s then the other, and I¡¯m moving towards the cages. I don¡¯t want to let the goblins out, and I feel kind of bad for killing what amounts to a caged animal, but sometimes you gotta rise above. I sheath the knife, pull out my pistol and squeeze a round into the head of the first goblin. The basement door slams open, not completely sure but it sounds like at least 3 people, this could get nasty. Before turning to the door, I put the last two goblins down. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON DOWN HERE?!?! WHO IS IN MY LAB!?!?!¡± comes from the bottom of the basement stairs. A scientist huh? After the thought a man in a pajama¡¯s wearing glasses burst¡¯s in, not the brightest scientist. I step into a weaver firing stance and put 2 rounds into his chest before even getting a good look at him. ¡°James!¡± Two more guys stumble in behind him with guns up, not ready enough. Doug had walked in right behind James, I put two rounds into his chest and one into his friends. they drop to the ground like they had been hit with sledge-hammers. Walking over to the bodies I can see that they are both part of the group with the search party. The portal back to Valhalla opens behind next to the experiment desk, and I can hear lots of people rushing into the house. I start to go through the portal but decide to wait in front of it. A teenage boy rushes into the room with an axe in his hands ¡°Dad?¡± he¡¯s looking at James, well that sucks for him. I stare at him with as much indifference on my face as I can "This is the price you pay for trying to play god, do not repeat your fathers mistakes." After a few more people come through the door to see the mess I step backwards through the portal, hoping my patience paid off. Stepping from through the portal door back into one of the portal offices I receive a message.
-MISSION COMPLETE- Goblin subjugation- G. 10/10 goblins 1/1 boss(ORC) -Side mission errant lovers- -Kelly 1/1 -mike-0/1 50% completion -SIDE QUEST- -Something funky going down- -Discovered someone was experimenting on monsters and humans and punished the perpetrator. 100% complete -Bonus complete- ¡­Calculating rewards¡­
NOT A CHAPTER- Just an info-dump. I went throught and revamped the first block of chapters today, nothing world changing. Nothing worth re-reading unless you are interested in voicing an opinion on whether it feels smoother or not. Most of what I did is fix capitalization, added/modified some sentence''s to try and give the people a more human feel and not vocal information banks. I also went through and fixed the SYSTEM message boxes thanks to a suggestion from Butterz, which actually led me into fixing the same missing pieces and addign a few more. starting tomorrow I will be trying to put a chapter in once every 2-3 days. that is a conservative estimate since I''ll be starting class again tuesday and I dont know exactly what my homework situation is going to look like I could probably churn them out on a daily basis, and I''ve got a few chapters planned out in my head and started on paper but if I take the time to write them, set them aside for a bit and come back fresh I can get a solid edit before they drop and I think it will be more efficient and better all around.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. We will return to our regularly scheduled post''s tomorrow. ___________________________________ Since this is my first full author post I''m going to add in here that I''m going to try my hardest to keep the MC from going full OP, I love reading OP stories, but I get frustrated when the MC all of a sudden becomes either too hesitant, or too stupid to use their gained powers. I want our MC to come off as a mercenary. Mercs dont forget, and they never waste an advantage so growth will be slow, and those of you that read a bit further into the leveling system of the first chapter are going to catch that I''ve already built in what I am refering to as my ''fail-safe'' if I get to that point before I''m ready. The SYSTEM screens are probably going to be sparse most of the time, I''ll have some chapters that will be catch-ups on them, the next for example is going to bring out the rewards, I need to ''build'' the system shop, and there are a few skills/magic to be learned. I ''m going for more of a semi-hard litRPG (Be prewarned, I may be 30, but I am a child. If I see a genital joke I''m going to jump on that like paris hilton at an all you can suck dick buffet) So I will have stats that need to be kept, and I''m all up on how to use excel, but they are not what I want to push my story forward. I guess I''ve got that out of my sytem (ch-4) Sleeping dogs. ¡°Hey guy, you just going to stand there all day?¡± a rocky voice behind me asks. A little surprised someone was in the room I turn around and there¡¯s a man about as high as my chest. He¡¯s got the same the same outfit as Baldr on, a pair of desert combat boots, grey tactical pants, and he¡¯s got a Kryptek patterned combat blouse on1 his face is a mishmash of tiny scars, a lumpy nose with a crook in it, and eyes so inset I cannot even see the color. He¡¯s wearing a kryptekskullcap and sporting a friendly smile. I will away the blue screen for a minute, I¡¯m not usually one for making friends but the only person I know here is a Valkyrie who either wants to rob me, or fuck me. possibly both so I¡¯m not going to turn down offers. Unhooking his hands from his pockets he moves to shake my hand ¡°Names Hep. I was with the guard patrol that almost Merced you when you fell out of the sky. A little while ago Ianata told me we''re both under her banner and we might get on well, so I figured I would get the ball rolling.¡± There isn¡¯t a hint of malice in anything he is saying, but I don¡¯t do well with trusting people, maybe he just hasn¡¯t gotten to his angle yet. I reach out to shake ¡°Call me Daniel,¡± his hand shake is firm, and dry ¡°it¡¯s nice to meet you Hep, maybe you¡¯ll let me buy you a drink and I can pick your brain about a few things I must have missed by skipping the regular introduction.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me, you want to go through and sell off any loot before we go, or do you plan to do that later?¡± He is pointing at a keypad that is over the wall. I¡¯d forgotten about it ¡°how much are beers? I guess I should have asked before I offered.¡± His laugh is ridiculous enough to sound fake, and incredibly loud. I can¡¯t help but laugh, I used to serve with a guy who laughed like this. After he is done laughing he wipes a tear from his eye and slaps me on the back ¡°This is Valhalla boss, the drinks are always free. The food is usually about 6-7 coppers for whatever is in the pot though. You can get free food too but you don¡¯t want that, it tastes like straight garbage.¡± I can¡¯t help but give him a shit eating grin, Hep and I are going to be great friends. ¡°let¡¯s do this then, don¡¯t go too crazy I only managed to pick up a couple silvers and some copper.¡± We start making out way towards the stairs upstairs and I ask him ¡°is guarding something everybody has to do, or some kind of job option?¡± While we are walking towards the stairs I can¡¯t help but look around, there are tons more people here now. There are groups of humans, people that look like they might be cat-people mix, reptilians, and more people built like Hep. ¡°Guard duty is mandatory until you reach level 5, most people just keep on with it though. It¡¯s only a 6-hour shift once every week. The guard designation on your I.D. gets you discounts pretty much everywhere in town, it¡¯s nothing too big but 4% off everything adds up when you think about the long term.¡± He¡¯s got a point there. Once we are at the bottom of the stairs I am no longer able to ignore the smell that is wafting down them. It smells like someone is cooking sausages and hot red Saur-kraut, and it smells like they know what the fuck they are doing. I haven¡¯t smelled food this good in years, living in the barracks and eating at the DFAC2 is cost effective, but leaves a lot to be desired. Hep is looking at me with a sparkle in his eye, I haven¡¯t known him too long but I can tell he is physically stopping himself from laughing again. I wipe the drool off the side of my mouth and motion for him to lead on ¡°I don¡¯t know how much that kraut is going to cost me, but I will suck every dick in this hall to get some if I have to.¡± He snorts ¡°you¡¯re an odd one, were going to get on just fine. Most of these people are too serious for my taste, none of em can take a joke, and they get all butt-hurt at the drop of a hat. Bunch of whiny little bitches if you ask me.¡± We make it to a table and he waves a table wench over. ¡°Most everybody at this compound is level 10 or under, so some of them have forgotten that this is the land of the chosen, we are all warriors here but they think they are better than everyone else. most people who make it above ten either move out to the bigger cities, group up, or join a guild and move to their hall.¡± The serving wench walks up and I¡¯m a bit stunned. I¡¯ve never seen a less attractive woman in my life. She¡¯s about 5 foot even, wearing a knee length serving dress, and some type of apron with her hair pulled back under a kerchief. She¡¯s a got a solid build to her, a little bit of an hourglass, but only because her ass and chest are bigger by a small margin. The show stopper is her face though. An almost square jaw with cheeks that are too chubby for her figure, her nose is potato shaped, and she has a mono-brow that would make an ogre proud. ¡°what¡¯ll you have boys?¡± She gives Hep an overly exaggerated wink and he turns a bit red. Oh god, say it aint so Hep, say it aint so. ¡°Hey Ellet, we¡¯ll both have a plate of the sausage and kraut, I¡¯ll have whatever Sven¡¯s got on the tap for rotation for today beautiful.¡± I guess everybody¡¯s got a type. She looks at me, ¡°you going to have anything handsome?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have whatever he¡¯s having, if it¡¯s not some type of pale ale. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll take whatever your favorite mead on tap is.¡± It never hurts to flirt with your server, even if you aren¡¯t interested. Hep gives me an annoyed look ¡°We can be friends, but don¡¯t try horning in my territory.¡± Whoa, that¡¯s aggressive. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it boss. I¡¯m not interested, just a force of habbit flirting with serving staff.¡± I deflect a little more, ¡°little too short for my taste anyhow. I like mine with some legs to em.¡± I don¡¯t know him well enough to joke about his girlfriend yet, even if I did some guys never take well to that. Ellet sits the plates and glasses on the table, ¡°here you go boys, going to be 20 coppers for the meal, but I threw in some olives and pickles for free.¡± I pull the money out of my inventory and hand it to her ¡°thank you miss.¡± the smell of the food is almost too intense, the smell of the Saur-kraut mixed with the spicy pungent sausage is almost like sitting in my aunt¡¯s kitchen back home, it makes my eyes start to water. Go away feels, I¡¯ll deal with you when I get back to my room. Pushing the moment of weakness out of my head, I put of the I put some kraut on a fork and cut off a piece of sausage. Putting the fork into my mouth all I can do is groan and hope I die with this food in my mouth. ¡°I¡¯m not sure who cooked this but this is the happiest I¡¯ve ever been with a sausage in my mouth¡± ¡°Yet.¡± Hep quips back. I almost spit the food out, I wasn¡¯t expecting such a quick comeback. Around bites of the food we discuss personal matters. I tell him I¡¯m from earth and died after a convoy attack in the Iraq war. I used to be human, but lost a bet with Hel. I find out he is originally from Wisconsin and was in the national guard but died back in WWI. He¡¯s in a dwarf¡¯s body as a racial swap, he had to grind, and its still going to set him back literal years. Apparently its EXP expensive, but he¡¯s happy with it. That¡¯s cool, maybe eventually I can regain my humanity, not that I''m sure I want it anymore, this body at the stage it is right now is miles above what my human body was in peak condition. Thank''s be to Odin that Hel didn''t make me a slime or something. As a byproduct of stashing his EXP Hep hasn¡¯t made it through to LVL 6 yet. He says most people break through to LVL 5 quickly, 3-4 easy missions should put me at the higher end of 4, or in the lower end of 5. If I¡¯m willing to risk a regular level mission I can probably cut it down to 1 regular and another easy or two for the same effect. The kicker is that after level 5 EXP demands for level increase exponentially. After we clear away the meal we can get into the meat of why we¡¯re here.
-MISSION COMPLETE- Goblin subjugation- Easy. 10/10 goblins 1/1 boss(ORC) -Side missionerrant lovers- -Kelly 1/1 -Mike-0/1 50% completion -SIDE QUEST- -Something funky going down- -Discovered someone was experimenting on monsters and humans and punished the perpetrator. 100% complete -Bonus complete-
-BATTLE SUMMARY- -Orc killed > 20 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -Goblin killed > 10 EXP -TOTAL- +100 EXP
-SKILL-Stolen novel; please report. Pick pocket- LVL 3 Deft hands and loose morals are all you need to get some of the best goodies for free. -Activating Pick pocket automatically initiates a chance to access to targeted physical inventory. -Failure results in target notificatin of target owner. -5 SP(SEC) Dexterity, and Agility modifiers added to Initial roll. > Pick pocket can be activated as a manual skill resulting in a higher chance of success.
-STATUS UPDATE- -You now owe lady Hel a small favor.
-MISSION REWARDS- -Main mission completion 100% > +200 EXP -Side mission completion 100% > +100 EXP -Side mission completion 50% > +50 EXP -EXTRA INFORMATION- -Innocent killed > -50 EXP -Innocent killed > -50 EXP -TOTAL- +250 EXP -Training voucher
Fuck me sideways, Doug must not have been that bad of a guy. I feel like a shitbag for killing him but there was no way for me to know. I guess it''s something I''m going to have to deal with eventually. Maybe something in my head broke when I came through to this realm, I feel like something tantamount to murder should bother me more. Hope that doesn''t come back to bite me in the ass. Maybe I''m just exhausted. 350 EXP doesn¡¯t seem like a whole bunch for what I did, but as I¡¯m not sure how much I can do with it I shouldn¡¯t be too downtrodden. ¡°All right Hep, I¡¯m sitting at 350 EXP, and got a something called a training voucher.¡± he wasn¡¯t paying attention and my random speaking makes him jump. ¡°That¡¯s not bad for a first mission, 200-600 EXP can be expected anywhere in the Easy spectrum, of missions if you don¡¯t include side missions, modifiers, or EXP you are going to pick up from monsters. You can also sell any loot you pick up for EXP or coinage.¡± He takes a pull from his mug and continues ¡°You can sell loot at the keypads in the bottom floor of the great-hall. You can also use them to upgrade your stats, and skills. The only other place to upgrade yourself is in your owned space, or at the home of someone you have registered as a friend.¡± Makes sense, Ianata said that I could only upgrade every seventh day in the rift, or if I died. I can roll with this. ¡°Thanks man, mind if I add you to my friend list?¡± after he gives me an affirmative I will to have a request to add him to my SYSTEM friends list. With the list, I¡¯ll be able to see any information he wants to share. It can tell me if he is in town, or the rift. At the basic function were able to send short messages to one another, or have a chat if were within 20 Meters. I can upgrade it to the point where the only time I can''t contact someone is if they are in a different dimension than me, that seems like a good invstment. It¡¯s the stalkers paradise of social media. You can set your status if you will it though, so it¡¯s not that bad. ¡°So, what¡¯s the Training voucher about?¡± he looks excited about it. ¡°Training vouchers are a guaranteed drop for every mission you take up till LVL 5, or the completion of your tenth mission. They become a rare drop after that.¡± Good to know, I wonder what it does though. ¡°The training voucher is good for almost anything, you can learn a Skill, some traits, add different avenues of approaches to your missions, selling them at the Bazaar will net you 3-5 gold depending on the market that week, or the system will buy them straight out as loot for 2 gold. They¡¯re not super rare, but in my opinion they are probably one of the best drops you can pick up, even for the upper level guys.¡± That sounds fantastic, That changes everything for me. I can get my racial traits back at almost free. Damn, that brings up another issue ¡°How do favors work, I was being facetious and now I owe lady Hel a favor¡± he leans back a little and whistles loudly. ¡°You¡¯re going to be a hoot boy, all right, favors are things tradable in the SYSTEM if depending on what someone asks the system will determine whether it fits the small, medium, or large category small usually ranges anywhere from asking you to escort them someone, to giving them a small item. Medium they can ask you to do something a bit compelling you to personally withdraw from a battle, or a medium level item. Large favors are the doozy. If you owe someone a large favor they can compel you to switch sides in a battle, or give them a large item. Those are all examples; the favors range in pretty much any direction. The only thing that is constant is that they must equal out, someone who you owe a small favor to for borrowing a can of food cannot ask you to trade for a small weapon. That whole balance thing again.¡± ¡°Ahh, so she doesn¡¯t necessarily have me by the balls, it¡¯s gotta be an equal exchange.¡± ¡°I can think of far less favorable things than putting your balls into a beautiful goddess¡¯s hand.¡± ¡°I guess you got me there." I barely manage to cover my mouth before a yawn escapes "I hate to pick your brain and run, but I haven¡¯t slept in literally days¡¯ man, I am barely standing at this point. I¡¯ll catch you later?¡± It feels like a shitty thing to do, but I really am running on fumes. I only asked in the first place because a lack of the information I needed could mean a lot of pain in the future. ¡°yeah bud, you go on and get some shut-eye. It¡¯s been a hell of a day one for you.¡± He gives my hand a quick shake and starts moving towards Ellet. I¡¯m barely cognizant but manage to avoid running directly into anyone on my walk back to my room. I make sure my door closes behind me, and fall asleep on the couch with my legs hanging over the side. I¡¯m sitting on the porch of a small dock-house at my best-friend¡¯s house with a fishing pole against the rail and a bottle of whiskey in my hand watching a light rain pock the ponds normally serene surface. The smell of recently-cut grass and fresh rain on dirt are welcome companions to my lazy day. Behind me and up the hill I can hear light shoes scuffing on gravel coming down to the dock-house. I¡¯m not worried, I understand this is a dream. A few seconds later lady Hel comes around the corner she¡¯s dressed completely different in a long white dress with her hair pleated around the crown of her head, now that her arms are bare it''s hard not to notice the muscle definition, and even harder not to see the light red swirl patterns on her skin. She walks up the steps and takes the seat across from me. I take a deep drink off the bottle in my hand, ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was going to be that kind of dream, but it''s a hell of a lot better than what I was doing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not part of your dream Gnome. I may not be your patron god, but I have duties that need to be discharged all the same.¡± The predatory aura she had when I first met her is non-existent and she looks incredibly sad. ¡°This is the worst part of my job, being a goddess has its perks, but same as most things, to have good you must have bad. I am going to offer you the chance to see your funeral. This is the only time this will be offered, and your last chance to see the people you love. Very few of the people you loved even belong in Valhalla and a majority of those who do will not make the choice to come here, they are not warriors like you are. They do not enjoy the struggle, the strife that you find peace in. As much as it pains me I suggest you take my offer, the regret you may feel from skipping this chance at closure might destroy you one-day.¡± Taking another deep drink from the bottle I set it down, I know she¡¯s right. Fucking hell this is going to hurt. ¡°Thank you, lady Hel, I accept.¡± She stands offering me her hand ¡°stand up Daniel, and take my hand. we will proceed when you are prepared.¡± I stand up, dust my hands off on my pants and take her hand. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± Reaching my hand out I intertwine her fingers with mine, I can¡¯t help but notice how soft and petite her hands are. I feel like a brute with my scarred and calloused hand inside her perfect digits. Considering how terrifying she was the first time I met her its causing a bit of conflict in my head. ¡°No one will be able to see, hear, or touch us, we will be slightly out of shift with your dimension.¡± She snaps her fingers and we are standing in outside of an open-sided tent in a graveyard. There are chairs set in a horseshoe shape around a plain oak casket with a flag draped across it. About 50 feet off to the side there are 7 soldiers standing at attention with rifle butts resting against the grass next to their feet. There are a few people walking around handing out glasses wrapped in black cloth. The people handing out glasses finish their task and I hear a voice ¡°Daniel was not known for being emotional, and he disliked large groups of people. Suffice it to say he would hate this,¡± my best friend from the Army Kevin is standing at the head of my casket holding one of the glasses in his hand ¡°he was an abrasive, curt, alcoholic.¡± Damn he¡¯s going to rip me apart at my own funeral, I stand there in shock. This isn¡¯t what I expected at all. ¡°But he was the best of us. Never once did I see him say no to an honest request. He¡¯d push himself past point where the rest of us had already given up. He¡¯d say how much he couldn¡¯t stand his job, then turn around and give the Iraqi kids snacks and drinks he¡¯d bought with his own money. Most of all he wanted to help people. I saw, and heard him engage an ambush with no chance of survival so the rest of us could walk away. I¡¯ll never forget what he did, and my only regret is not being able to tell him that.¡± He takes a shaky breath and I hear him whisper ¡°I hope I don¡¯t fuck this up.¡± Under his breath ¡°He once joked to me that the only way he would have a funeral was if there was drinking involved. Little did I know he put that in his will. So, I hope you will all join me in raising a glass to another warrior gone too soon.¡± He raises his cup up and starts a toast. ¡°Here''s to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking. If you cheat, may you cheat death. If you steal, may you steal a woman''s heart. If you fight, may you fight for a brother. And if you drink, may you drink with me.¡± All the people in the crowd who served with me shout "Ready and Forward" and down their glasses. After a few seconds you can hear a few people coughing. Most of my civilian friends and family were never into whiskey. It doesn¡¯t even register with me at that point though. I¡¯ve fallen to my knees with tears streaming down my face. I endured 4 tours through two separate war-zones. I¡¯ve been blown up nine times, shot four, stabbed once, and punched more times than I can count. None of that could hurt as bad as the pain in my chest at that moment. It was like someone had shoved a chainsaw into my chest. This is why I don¡¯t do emotions. This is why I compartmentalize and never deal with things. Fuck this. ¡°I¡¯ll give anything, anything Hel. Please make the pain stop, I can¡¯t take it. Please. Please, godamn it please.¡± She drops to her knees in front of me, and pulls me into an embrace. ¡°Were I willing to take that favor I could not. There is nothing I can do to change this. This is the way the world has to play out, it is the way of the world young one.¡± In between my sobbing I can hear orders being given. ¡°Port¡­Arms.¡± From the corner of my eye I can tell the honor guard¡¯s movements are crisp and precise as the bring their rifles up and hold them diagonally across their chest¡¯s. ¡°Ready¡­¡± the charging handles are slammed to the rear so smoothly it sounds like they are one single weapon ¡°Fire.¡± They put their rifles and fire each fire off a round with a precision and timing that can only be gained by being to more comrade¡¯s funerals than should ever be expected of anyone ¡°Ready¡­¡­. Fire¡­¡­Ready¡­¡­Fire¡± the last shot rings out and echoes for what feels like an eternity. Despite the fire in my chest I feel empty on the inside, feeling that somehow I have let these people down. Like I could have done more for them. Hel runs her fingers through my hair ¡°You did all that was expected of you and more, the belittlement of your own accomplishments tarnishes their resolve.¡± I don¡¯t know how long we sit there on the green grass of the cemetery ground with me trapped inside of my own pain and self-pity, but by the time I have gotten ahold of myself the casket is in the ground and people are getting in their cars. ¡°Is there anyone else you would like to see?¡± her voice is barely a whisper but the pity in it hammers my soul. ¡°No, I¡­thank you. I didn¡¯t know.... I¡¯m sorry you have to bring people through this, but I¡¯m glad you do. It would have destroyed me going through this alone, it''s not something I''m sure I could have came back from.¡± The smile she gives me is small. looking into her eyes I cannot even begin to judge the depth of the pain in them. "Your a kind soul Gnome, most curse me for putting them through this not realizing the damage that is being avoided." I will only have to do this once, how long has she been doing this? Being a god looks good on the outside, but I¡¯m not sure I could do what she does to keep divinity. She stands and takes my hand, as she pulls me up the background shift¡¯s back to the dock-house on the pond. I keep hold of her hand as I pick up my bottle of whiskey and walk to the railing over the lake. Taking a swig, I offer her the bottle. ¡°This is my favorite one. The apple flavor softens the blow of the alcohol aftertaste, but it''s still got a pretty high content.¡± She takes the bottle and takes a timid sip, ¡°this is delicious! I have never had a drink with these hints of flavor, the alcohol taste barely registers.¡± That smile is a killer. Were I back in the regular world, and Hel a regular woman...well probably nothing, women that look like that didn''t deal with guys that had looked like me without money. ¡°When was the last time you had some spirits from my earth? The last hundred years or so of my world there was an explosion of experimentation with beer, and other alcohol.¡± After she takes another drink I take the offered bottle back and take a couple of gulps. ¡°It¡¯s a beautiful time to be alive.¡± (CH-5) Lets go shopping. Waking up in the morning was hell, I still had on the clothes I¡¯d worn through the mission, and realized I had taken the toothbrush and toothpaste but hadn¡¯t used the godamned things. ¡°No time like the present.¡± I go into the bathroom and turn on the shower, put some toothpaste on and brush my teeth. I check the temperature while I scrub spanking new pearly whites. Looking over and catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I forget how much I¡¯ve changed just in the past few days. I¡¯ve gotta be close to six and a half feet if I¡¯m not an inch or three under seven. The red fractal designs on my body also come up to my face, one outlining my left eye from just under my tear duct up through my eyebrow the design widening out the closer it comes to the place between the back of my jaw and ear following a path leading to mu jugular till it disappears under my shirt. I look pretty much the same as I used to, the only major feature, other than the white hair, is that everything seems to be more refined, smoother maybe? I¡¯d like to say my new body is handsome, but it might be more accurate to say pretty. Shrugging my shoulders, I take my clothes off, they were disgusting. I cannot believe they let me into the great hall much less served me food. Survivors cannot get sick like regular people, the only things that will affect us are things classified as ¡®status ailments¡¯ by the system. I feel slightly embarrassed now, how many people saw me sitting around in bloody clothes talking like a straight amateur? Getting into the shower I point it straight at my face and rub the hot water into my hair. Showers are one of my favorite things, like seriously, the only thing better than a good shower is a good blowjob. Usually I like to spend about ten minutes in the shower basking in the glory of cleanliness, today I spend about twenty, I¡¯d have stayed in longer but I had to get going and get something done today. I grab the towel I hung on the hook and start drying myself off. About five seconds in I hit my first real problem. Long hair sucks, it won¡¯t just dry out I¡¯ve got to wrap a towel around it, and figuring out how to do that takes me another 5 minutes to get it to kind of stay. First objective: Haircut. Once I¡¯ve got the towel in place and find another to finish drying I realize I don¡¯t have any clean clothes. Damn it, I should have spent a little extra time on day-zero to set myself up. Guess I¡¯ll message Hep and see if has anything left over from before his race change. I will my friends list open and message the only friend I have.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: Sorry to bother you, but I took a shower without realizing I don¡¯t have a change of clothes, do you have something from before your race change that¡¯d fit? Hep: I¡¯ve got some gym shorts and an old shirt, they¡¯re both going to be kind of short on you. Gnome: I¡¯ll take it, my only other option is blood crusted clothes. I¡¯m in room 4531 Hep: be there in 5.
Hep to the rescue. While I¡¯m waiting, I pull my towel off and get a better look at my markings. Their pretty damned cool. They''re almost pixilated once you get to a closer look. They are everywhere. I¡¯ve got tribal tattoos swirling down my back, over my ass and down my legs. Let¡¯s also say I¡¯m going to be saving a fortune on shaving supplies. The monster also has a few lines of design on him, before I get a good look at them though¡­ BANG BANG BANG My savior has arrived. I run to the door and pull it open. As I¡¯m pulling the handle the catch snags my towel and throws it to the floor behind me ¡°shit, sorry man guess you¡¯re getting the full moon.¡± A melodic feminine voice answers ¡°OI shit yer snags3 out.¡± You¡¯ve gotta be fucking kidding me. I might as well walk around naked at this point for the amount of people who have seen me naked. I snatch the towel off the floor and hide my shame. ¡°damn, he got the drop on ole¡¯ Rita, caught that straight in the face, that were a gun Rita¡¯d be dead.¡± That¡¯s godamned American dad reference!! ¡°I¡¯m just messin wit yeh mate; names Rita I live ova¡¯ in 455 thought I¡¯d interduce meself and be all neighbah¡¯-like.¡± Definitely Australian. Of course, she lives here, why else would she be knocking on my door? I can feel myself starting to blush ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I ran out of clothes and thought you were my friend bringing me some more.¡± This entire situation would be much less annoying if she weren¡¯t attractive. A pair of jeans and a green tee-shirt that had to have been painted on to a body that had all the right curves in all the right places. Pouty lips under a petite nose, and dark green eyes topped off with chestnut brown hair pulled into a loose ponytail. Pinch me. I must have stared a bit too long, she gives me a saucy smile, she puts her hand out, ¡°Nice to meet you¡± In a daze, I almost reach out with the hand holding my towel, but remember just in time to use the other arm to hold it in place. Her smile gets even bigger, she¡¯s sneaky. I give her hand a quick shake and go back to holding the towel. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you neighbor, sorry about the whole nudity thing, if you let my friend here through though I can solve it.¡± Hep is a few feet away, I guess he didn¡¯t want to be rude. ¡°If you want me to come back later, I¡¯m sure Rita might have some clothes you could wear.¡± Dick. Rita takes a step back and lets him through and gives me an innocent look ¡°ye goin¡¯ to invite a gal in neighbah¡¯?¡± yes, I¡¯m going to invite you in. Another wolf trying to pick off a sheep. ¡°sure thing, come on in.¡± After letting her through I grab the clothes from Hep and rush to the bathroom. It¡¯s been awhile since I¡¯ve been nude in front of anyone but other men, and even if I were into my own gender; there¡¯s nothing sexy about shitting in a hole you just dug, or cleaning yourself with diaper wipes. The second the door closes behind me I hear Hep and Rita burst out laughing; hers the sound of bells, His the abrasive sound of a donkey being kicked in the balls. I pull the shirt he brought over my head and it¡¯s going to be more than a little short, it¡¯s loose, so I¡¯ve got that going for me. The shorts are another matter entirely, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s doing this on purpose. If I pull them down to about an inch of my little guy they will just cover everything over, there¡¯s no hiding anything though, they are basically silkies1. I take a deep breath and walk back into the main room. ¡°All right bro I need clothes. Time now.¡± I don¡¯t even stop in the living room, I just keep walking towards the door. ¡°I¡¯m comin¡¯ too, you men have no Idea what good clothes look like and beside that I¡¯d be a fool to miss the spectacle you are about to become.¡± Whatever. I roll my eyes and hope my face isn¡¯t as red as it feels ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go though. If I¡¯ve got to do this, I¡¯d rather get it over with.¡± I start walking out and towards the stairs, I technically don¡¯t need them to get clothes, I know where the shop is. They follow me out and I can hear them talking about how great it was going to be to see this, entertainment must be at a premium in the realm. As I am making my way down the stairs I hear over hear Rita tell Hep she¡¯s glad he messaged her and had her knock on the door. Fucker set me up, I guess there¡¯s no way he could have known I¡¯d drop the towel though. I can be annoyed at him for sending her, but I can¡¯t be mad at how bad I fumbled. I was trying my hard not to think about walking through town with a shirt that came down to just above my belly button, and shorts that didn¡¯t do anything to hide the goods, unfortunately the people in town didn¡¯t have the same embarrassment I did. ¡°Hey sweetness, nice shorts¡±, ¡°you open for business hot-stuff?¡±, and catcalls the entire walk to the store was made of embarrassment. By the time I got into the store I was almost in a sprint, I could hear Rita and Hep cackling behind me. It was Walmart, well not an ACTUAL Walmart just way to similar not to have the same management at the top. From the layout to the rude, laconic employees, it was godamned Walmart. Even in a separate dimension. Made things easy I guess. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a tee I pulled the tags, put the pants on over the silkies, and replaced the short shirt with one that had a stipe of woodland camo running down the left side. Roughly ten-million times more comfortable I decide I need to figure out prices and get a couple of outfits. Putting the tags in my pocket I take a swipe at Hep ¡°what the fuck man.¡± I¡¯m not as mad now, I guess I¡¯ll live. ¡°I¡¯m going to grab some clothes and shit. Then I need to grab a vest and a few other things.¡± ¡°Most any clothes you¡¯re going to want to get are right here. Tactical pants, and some shirts and such, there are clothes that have armor ratings up near the armor,¡± he points towards the front or the store near where we came in ¡°but unless you are willing to spend EXP on them your better off just getting regular stuff.¡± Rita is taking the clothes I¡¯m putting in my arms and setting them back where I got them from. ¡°these colah¡¯s don¡¯t go together. Were you raised in a barn? You can¡¯t wear straight gray everythin¡¯. What¡¯s your budget?¡± I let her know I¡¯ve got two silvers, and eighty-seven coppers. She gives a nod and starts moving around grabbing different colored pants and tops. She seems happy enough doing the shopping herself ¡°Just cargo pants please, and try to limit the shirts to darker colors or grey, I¡¯m not a fan of flashy clothes.¡± She nods her head again mumbling about how we¡¯d both be happier if I just let her do what she wanted. Whatever a pretty girl shoehorning herself into doing my shopping isn¡¯t going to hurt me any. I shout to her that me and hep are going to go and look at the armor and she should catch us up there. I thought the best part of this place so far was the food section of the great hall, but I was wrong. The armor section is packed full of full body suits of armor, tac vest¡¯s, there are even stealth suits. After I run into the plate and leather suits Hep explains to me that there are planets that are magical in nature in the universe, and some that are more technologically advanced. I either need to reach them on my own, or buy them with EXP. It¡¯s disappointing that there was alien life out there my people won¡¯t get to meet, but invigorating that I¡¯ll be able to. While browsing through selections Rita shows up with a dazed expression and a cart full to the brim with an almost disturbingly organized cart: pants, shirts, boots, I see what I suspect are a few skirts and at least one box of women¡¯s shoes in there. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure what you have there is going to wipe me out Rita. I need to buy things other than clothes.¡± ¡°You said you had a couple silvah¡¯s and some coppah¡¯s.¡± ¡°For everything, I need more than clothes, I don¡¯t have much Rita.¡± The dazed look starts sliding away ¡°but the clothes..all the clothes..¡± she groans I let out a sigh, ¡±Ok. Three full sets of clothes for me and a pair of desert boots, put the underwear back; I don¡¯t wear them. Leave that green backpack. Ummm, and for all the help you¡¯re giving please get yourself an outfit. Just please keep everything under a silver!!¡± I had to yell the last part, right after I mentioned getting herself an outfit she was sprinting in the opposite direction. After searching around some I decide that I¡¯m going to go for a simple tac vest with molle webbing, adding a two mag pouches. I go ahead and grab three resizable bungee rifle mag pouches to go with it, I¡¯m getting a rifle if I have to spend XP to do it. Damn it, I have that long rifle in my inventory.
-WEAPON-Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. -Naturalpoint hunting rifle > LVL. 2 -Damage > 45-70(per shot) -Effective range > 150m -Quality > below average. Weight > 12(Lbs.) -DISCRIPTION- -The naturalpoint hunting rifle is a bolt-action long rifle with an attached scope that is typically used to hunt deer.
The damage is about the same as my pistol, but it¡¯s much better for long distance engagements. The pistol is only effective out to around 20 meters. A bolt-action rifle is not what I¡¯m looking for though. Down the road maybe, but I need something in the realm of semi-auto right now. ¡°Yo Hep, will they buy weapons here? I need to offload this hunting rifle.¡± He waves towards the register and tells me there is a sell option. I just need to press the trade button and it will open my inventory and we can get down to business. Walking over and initiating the trade use my finger to move the rifle into the trade box, the system immediately comes back with an offer of one silver and 2 coppers. I approve the trade. I¡¯m getting a little worried about Rita, she¡¯s taking a long time to pick out clothes. Being inside the shop is making me nervous, as interesting as this place is there aren¡¯t any easily accessible exits, and there is a very distinct lack of ground level windows. Hep seeing how anxious I¡¯m getting says we should go look at the weapons and he¡¯ll message Rita. The weapon section is even more overwhelming than the armor section. The rear left side of the store is covered in shelves that are holding every conceivable style and configuration of M-4 you could want. Everything from SBR2 variants to SR-15 variants in 6.5 Grendel. To my dismay every single one of them is outside of my coinage price range. I decide on a Garand style long rifle package in 5.56 that comes with four 20 round magazines, strap sling, and a little 1x red-dot sight is powered wby ambient mana. It¡¯s over what I wanted to spend at 120 EXP but I feel it¡¯s worth the price.
-WEAPON- -granger survival rifle > LVL. 4 -Damage > 90 (per shot) -Effective range > 140m -Quality > Above average. -Weight > 10(Lbs.) -DESCRIPTION- -The granger survival rifle is a semi-auto rifle with a 14-inch barrel, its size and weight allow for a manageable weight in a reasonable sized package. It is typically used for mid-length engagements.
-WEAPON ACCESSORY- -Ambient light mana red-dot sight > LVL. 1 -1x magnification -Quality > Above average. -Weight > 0.5(Lbs.)
-RIFLE MAGAZINE- -Chamber > 5.56/ .223 -Capacity > 20(Rds.) -Quality > Average
I brought the package tag up to the clerk, he had me put my hand over the same type of scanner the door to my apartment had. Taking the tag, he ducks behind the counter and comes back out handing me back a box. Seeing my look of childlike glee, he admonishment that I not open it inside the store. Hep says Rita is waiting for us up near the front. Whenever we¡¯re ready. Dreading what I¡¯m going to find I head towards the front of the store and the impending bill. Rita has a bright smile on her face that looks too reminiscent of the fox that got into the hen house. Scanning the close in without looking I get through a few pairs of darker pants, she did manage to find some grey pants that were a different color grey then I am, I guess she¡¯s not giving up on that one. I scan the last item in the cart when I realize I that the only thing Rita had put in the cart are a pair of camo pants, and a dark blue tank top. What the hell was she doing that took so long? I look over at her ¡°This it?¡± At this point I see something I didn¡¯t think existed; a blushing Rita. ¡°I did get somethin¡¯ else, you said a full outfit but I need you and Hep to turn around.¡± Seriously? She saw me naked earlier. Whatever I guess. Me and Hep share a look and turn around. I hear the scanner beep, then the rushed sound of someone putting something in a bag and yanking it away. ¡°K, you gits can turn around now.¡± After tallying up the items and ammo for me, the stuff Rita got, and the gloves I saw Hep eyeing. I set one hand on the scanner and push the pay with coinage option on the screen. All said and told I¡¯ve got about 30 coppers to my name. Not as good as I¡¯d like, but not as bad as I¡¯d thought it would be. Rita, Hep, and I head back to the barracks so we can drop off. We make some small talk on the way back. Hep splits off at the square and heads to his barracks saying he¡¯ll catch me later. Having a few minutes to talk with Rita on the way up is a nice distraction. She was from earth and got here a couple of weeks before I did. Turns out Rita wasn¡¯t military or any other kind of combat related job, she was what most in the normal world would call a survivor though. She survived the explosion of the twin towers while on a vacation by somehow navigating her way out of an elevator and down from the twenty-fifth floor. She got cancer related to the smoke and debris inhalation and survived first chemo, then a lung transplant. Top that off with her being within a few meters of one of the bombs during the London bombings and I¡¯d say she paid her dues. A drunk driver got her in the end, she says she didn¡¯t even see it. One minute she was driving home from work and the next she was talking to Thor. I can¡¯t help but be impressed, I know people who were in one of the towers who never left their homes again. She wouldn¡¯t stop going out. As we get to our doors I ask her if I can add her to my friends list. She quickly sends me an invite and we decide to go grab some food after we drop everything off. I¡¯d love to break out that rifle and become familiar with it, but it¡¯s lunch time; and I loves me some grub.
-message- Daniel: I¡¯m done, you ready to head out? Rita: Not yet. give me five minutes? Gnome: Do you just want to meet me there? Rita: Nah mate, have some manners and walk a girl to lunch. Gnome: you got it, knock on my door when you are ready.
Well at least I know she¡¯ll call me on my shit if it¡¯s annoying to her. On the upside if ¡°five minutes¡± is the same time reference for women here then it was back home then I¡¯ve got a little bit to pull my gun and stuff out. Pulling the rifle out of the carrying case it came in I can see that the optic is already attached. I¡¯ll have to head to the range before my next mission and see how accurate Heps claim that any gun bought and registered with an aura scanner will be just as accurate out of the box as it would be had a master tuned it. The gun is almost a work of art, I¡¯m either going to have to upgrade the body for polymer later, or get a different weapon at some point. Woods pretty, but weight and usability have always been the name of the game for me. The magazines are your standard military issue 20 rounders. It¡¯s got a decent seat when I pull it into my shoulder, nothing that duct tape and some foam won¡¯t fix. It¡¯s a bit front heavy to just hold. Shouldn¡¯t be a problem, will probably help with barrel control and target reacquisition later. After I¡¯ve been sitting for about ten minutes pulling rounds out of their boxes and loading mags Rita knocks on my door and tells me it¡¯s time to go. She¡¯s wearing the same clothes but has done up her hair and put on a little bit of make-up. She looked better without the make-up but I¡¯m not dumb enough to say it aloud. Maybe another time. After we get out the door she hooks her arm through mine and we start heading to the hall. I hope she doesn¡¯t think this is more than it is, I¡¯m all about a beautiful woman hanging on my arm, and Odin knows I could use a good lay, Or a bad one, but I¡¯m not up for the work that needs to be put in to get to the point today, I¡¯m still recovering from my last mission. As we walk towards the hall we exchange a few stories about the old world and get into some discussion about our recent missions. As we get to the front of the great hall I remember I need to take care of my EXP stuff ¡°Rita do you mind helping me out a bit more and knock out some of my skill stuff, I¡¯ve got EXP burning a hole through my pocket.¡± She gives me an affirmative nod and we walk back to one of the open rooms in the rear of the building. Laying my hand on the keypad at the table a screen pops up on the wall listing an option all of the options for upgrading myself. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement in the same realm as saying Godzilla was just some lizard. Getting into the Traits section I see that to reinstate my racial traits as a package is going to cost me 300 EXP flat, it¡¯s almost double that to buy them all piecemeal. Those are going to have to wait. It won¡¯t even go towards raising my level either. I guess I should just be thankful I can get them back. Most of the traits are too expensive for me to buy at this point, I can¡¯t afford most of them, and I don¡¯t have enough experience in the rift to know what is really going to be useful. I do grab the one that catches my eye though.
-TRAIT- -Pack mule -LVL. 1 -EXP to next LVL > 0% -Weight reduction > 5% -Space increase > 5% (Traits passively gain EXP dependent on actions and environment) (EXP cannot be spent towards trait levels.) (Every two points in Strength will add a 1% Weight reduction.) (Every two points in in Intelligence will add a 1% Space increase) -DESCRIPTION- -Pack mule is a passive trait that modifies the Weight/Space inside of the user¡¯s personal inventory.
It cost me 100 EXP but it¡¯s going to make my life easier in any situation. I don¡¯t have even close to enough EXP to pay for any of the rest. I sigh and bring up the skills the list¡¯s here are worse. Rita helps me out by showing me how to organize the list¡¯s so that we¡¯re not here all day. Closing my eyes and trying to figure out what I should prioritize I decide I should go with magic, ammo is finite whereas my mana will refill eventually. With refilling on my mind, I figure I should consider some water affinity. The magic section is reasonable at least, all the skills are affinities. I look over the list for a few minutes and make my decisions.
-SKILL- -Mana manipulation > LVL. 1 -Spell cost > -5%(MP) -Spell control > 5% -The ambient power of the aether is no longer a complete mystery to you. -Mana manipulation is a passive knowledge on how to access and better utilize your mana to power spells, weapons, constructs, and other things requiring mana.
-SKILL- -Water affinity > LVL. 1 -Water control > -5%(MP sec) -A basic knowledge of the way the aether interacts with the element of water allows you a basic control of water.
The manipulation cost me 50 EXP, and the water cost me another 30 EXP so I¡¯m down to 50 EXP and there isn¡¯t anything on the skill¡¯s list I can¡¯t get on my own for 50 EXP. We¡¯ve probably spent an hour or so with me looking over the skills and stuff and Rita telling me what things do to the best of her knowledge, I¡¯ve got one more question though ¡°Sorry this is taking a bit longer than I thought, I didn¡¯t realize how much there was going to be. One more thing then we can head up to grab some food. I¡¯m down to 50 EXP and a training voucher, is there anything that can help me out?¡± She thinks about it for a few seconds then lowering her eyelids a little bit she whispers ¡°Were I you I¡¯d get a H.A.N.D.I.¡± That¡¯s aggressive. ¡°You¡¯re pretty and all but those training vouchers are worth at least two gold apiece, you¡¯re going to at least put it in your mouth if you¡¯re trying for a bribe.¡± ¡°Oi get bent, not a handy, a High Altitude Natural Drop Insertion shortened to H. A. N. D. I. fucking twisted git.¡± Shit, I thought she was propositioning me. ¡°Yeh¡¯d have really given it away for a quick gobble? Twat. I was scheduled for my trainin today but Hep said I should say ¡®ello to the new meat.¡± At least I didn¡¯t piss her off too bad, she said most of it with a smile. I guess I know what I¡¯m getting, I wonder if Hep Has it, or skipped it in lieu of getting his race, if not maybe we can all knock if out together. I make my selection on the screen, my mood automatically a million-times higher. Waving away the blue screen offereing me a training mission,I hold out my elbow, ¡°All right beautiful, care to join me for some food?¡± (CH-6) Getting a H.A.N.D.I. After messaging Hep to tell him that we were going to get our H.A.N.D.I. certifications, I invited him to lunch. Rita would have rather spent the time getting to know one another, but I figured we could just get to know one another after the training. When she excused herself to go to the lady¡¯s room I pulled up the blue screen I had been too excited to read earlier.
-PORTAL MODIFICATION- -Blood upon the risers- -To receive the upgraded mission portal insertion option: High Altitude Normal Drop Insertion [H.A.N.D.I.] you must complete the required training. -The High Altitude Normalizing Drop Insertion is exactly what it sounds like. Your portal will open roughly 14,000m(45,000ft) above your target zone. To complete the training and obtain the drop device you must jump from altitude and navigate to your Objective and land within designated markers. -Certification will consist of three portions: Training, practical assessment, followed by certification test. -Certification attempts remaining > 5/5 (Training portals are accessed via the same rift gates as insertion portals.) (Trainings can be taken as a group without the qualifications required for a rift mission) (Note that you can retake the initial training and practical assessment needed without penalty.) (It is recommended that an upgraded System H.U.D. be used in conjunction, but is not a requirement)
I guess I¡¯m not a huge fan of only having five attempts, but I guess it motivates you to get it right. Lost in thought, I come back to myself when I hear Hep and Rita talking on the way back to the table. Hep puts his hand out for a shake ¡°You ready for this? I grabbed the modification ticket before I left my room, whenever you''re done eating we can do this. Honestly, I¡¯d have skipped the meal though.¡± He''s got that shitty smile airborne''s who think they know better get when they think their right. ¡°Oh yeah buddy, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane is pretty much what I¡¯m about. I guess technically it won¡¯t be a plane though. Still, you know what I mean.¡± Ugly bastard, this aint my first rodeo. I can¡¯t help but match him though, were about to learn to jump out of the sky. Its, quite literally, what humans have been trying to do since we learned science. ¡°Aint nothin¡¯ to it but to do it buddy.¡± I throw my arm over his shoulder and we start moving towards the door, feeling euphoric I can¡¯t do something that only happens in the shower. I start singing under my breath ¡°He was a cherry soldier and he surely shook in fright, He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar. And he aint gonna jump no more. Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.¡± To my surprise I hear Hep join in, it¡¯s easy to forget he¡¯s from around the same place and time as me ¡°¡®Is everybody happy¡¯ said the sergeant looking up, Our hero meekly answered ¡®yes¡¯ and then they stood him up, He jumped into the icy-blast his static-line unhooked, And he aint gonna jump no more.¡± By the time we got through the first verse were approaching a roar, and I get an even bigger surprise when Rita winks and kicks into the chorus with us ¡± Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.¡± Before I can start the next verse a grizzled man with a surprisingly melodious voice behind me is belting out the next verse ¡°The ambulance was on the point, the jeeps were going wild The medics shouted out with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled Cause it had been about two weeks since last a ¡®chute had failed, And he aint Gonna jump no more.¡± Glancing around I can see that most of the hall is looking at us like we are either idiots, or insane. There are another twenty or so people standing up and looking at us who join into the chorus. ¡°Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.¡± As the last verse of the chorus is being sung out, I look at the grizzled guy next to me, and say ¡°bring us home!¡± With a smile that could scare most large men into submission he slows down to about half the step, deepens his voice and sings; ¡°There was blood upon the risers, there was brains upon the chute, Intestines were a¡¯ dangling from his Paratroopers suit, He was a mess; We picked him up and poured him from his boots, He aint gonna jump no more.¡± All the people from before joined back in for the chorus, ¡°Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die, Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.¡± There are varied shouts of ¡°Airborne!¡±, ¡°eighty-second!¡±, or ¡°one-O-First!¡± shouted out, followed by a few minutes of the banter I¡¯d never thought I¡¯d here again; unit bashing. It was the backbone of the military. The 82¡¯nd hates the 101¡¯st, the army hates the air force, the air force hates the navy, the navy hates the marines, and everybody hates the national guard. Stopping to take in that feeling, wishing I could put it in a bottle and keep in on a shelf in my room the old timer walks up and shoves his hand out to me. ¡°Name¡¯s Jones.¡± Jones looked older than most people here, I¡¯m guessing he decided to keep the body he had before. Somewhere in between 40-45 years old he was a solid guy. I couldn¡¯t judge his actual body type since he was wearing full body armor that looked heavy enough that my strength modifier would probably just fall apart at the thought of putting it on. His face was weathered, but wasn¡¯t heavy on wrinkles. Short brown hair over brown eyes, his face looked more accustomed to smiling than anything. ¡°I¡¯m the leader of the 21¡¯st centurions, I¡¯m guessing by your song there that you are from around then, or are overly informed.¡± After shaking my hand, he continues ¡°We pick up guys from around our timeline, we¡¯ve got guys from the Afghan war all the way back to old world war oneers, if you¡¯re ever interested in a guild, or even just to hang out look us up the guild on the web, I¡¯ll put your name on the prospective list.¡± ¡°You can call me Daniels, put me on if you¡¯d like. I¡¯m not interested in a guild yet, but I just got here recently so I¡¯m still learning.¡± He reaches over and puts his hand out to Hep ¡°good to see you made it through the transformation, our offer still stands for you too.¡± Jones comes across as the kind of guy who steamrolls through conversations, straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯ll let you guys go, your clearly on a mission.¡± He throws a wink at Rita and moves back to his table. ¡°you yanks are right nutters.¡± She¡¯s got me there. ¡° We might be a little off, I¡¯m surprised though; I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d even know that song.¡± Rita has been surprising me at every turn today, from the little time I''ve spent with her she seems quick witted and intelligent. She seems to be able to enter, and exit conversations at will too, a skill that takes more practice than most give credit for.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Yeh, my last boyfriend was part of the Australian SAS, at least he claimed to be, knew enough about it. He loved the song, I guess him and his mates trained with some guys who sang it before every mission.¡± For all I knew she was right, the S.O.F.1 community ran the gamut from U.S. Army Rangers, to C.I.A. operatives, and at the higher levels all the U.N. governments provided operatives for the Global Task Force. I''d imagine a lot of the guys running around here were either military combat arms, or special forces for their countries. Continueing our conversations, we arrive at the portal rooms and head inside to start our training. Hep walks over and initiates the screen, selecting our training tickets and option to go through as a group. The interface seems easy enough, a list on the left side with an option to select everyone who has an active ticket and activate it. After willing yes on the little window popping up asking if I would like to do a group training the portal opens and Rita steps through, with Hep behind her, I follow them through. Stepping from the portal room into what looks like an exact mirror of the room we just left everything is the same, except there is a sign on the wall that reads ¡®Trainees should proceed left outside of the door and speak to the attendant¡¯ It¡¯s not what I was expecting, shrugging at the others we walk out the door and down the hall. There isn''t much to look at, it''s mostly just the painted grey cinderblock walls you see on most military base buildings. Arriving at the end of the hall the specified desk is empty, there¡¯s a bell on it though, so I do the only rational thing you can do with a bell. ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding "You''re a fucking child, stop that." Apperently hep doesn''t like to have fun. A little green ball of light pops up out of nowhere ¡°Wel-¡° ¡°WHAT THE SHIT. You can¡¯t just pop out like that little ball thing.¡± I panic and yell at it, little fucker scared the shit out of me. Some day I¡¯m really going to need to stop being surprised by things here, but today is not that day. ¡°I am sorry, my functions are in suspense until someone either rings the bell or attemps to walk out to the training hall.¡± It¡¯s voice never fluctuates, carrying a pleasant almost humming tone. ¡°Please proceed to the training hall. Through the door to your right and we shall begin.¡± With that it blinks out, probably teleporting to the training area or whatever. I like this, straight to the point. Airborne was three-weeks of hell, all the fun being in the last week. I''d been half afraid we''d need to learn all the dumb shit, I''m guessing the ability for our bodies to handle mass damage negates a fair amount of training. Safety margins are a bit higher when you''re going to slowly heal anyways. ¡°You always get ya knickers in twist when yeh get surprised?¡± Rita asks me with a teasing smile on her face. ¡°Underwear are for the weak.¡± I''m not sure anyone believes me when I say that. The first time somebody''s gotta triage an upper thigh wound on me their in for a surprise though. She gives a giggle, and Hep snorts ¡°Let¡¯s do this kiddies, I don¡¯t want to rush you or anything but I¡¯ve got a freedom-boner. Let me know if you two are going to eye-fuck each other all day, I¡¯ll hit the bathroom take care of myself.¡± He¡¯s right, back to the task at hand. ¡°lead on leader.¡± I say to him. throwing his nose into the air and pushing his chest out hewalks through the door with one of the most impressive exaggerated swaggers I¡¯ve ever seen. Inside the room the ball pipes up from our left without warning ¡°Select your training device from the table please.¡± I hop to the left and have my pistol out and pointed before I''m able to catch myself. "Fucking quit that. Either make a constant noise so I can track you, or be brighter. Your shiny little ass is going to get a new hole if you do that again." Things trying to put me in an early grave. After calming down I walk up to the table and look at the devices on the table, they look like the type of paintball mask, there¡¯s no gear attached so I¡¯m not sure how that works. It¡¯s just a piece that covers your mouth and a little piece of some kind of glass, or plastic that covers your eyes.
-EQUIPMENT- -A facemask designated as a High Altitude Normal Drop Insertion Jumper [H.A.N.D.I.-J.] is required equipment for H.A.N.D.I.¡¯s. Covering the mouth and nose with an eye shield that will uses a rechargeable mana crystal to manipulate gravity so that you can control your descent and landing to an extent. The Jumper forms a forcefield around the user and allows for safe descent. (A non-training variant of the Jumper will require a user to activate the fall-safe.) (Training variant will automatically activate the fall-safe within predesignated distance from ground)
That sounds cool, super glad I don¡¯t have to carry all the stuff those SOF cats do. I had hoped for something like this, a smaller packaged object that can just be thrown in a bag afterwards. I hope their are helmet, or suit attatchments that would make life much easier. Glancing over I see Rita already has hers on, even with her small stature it¡¯s intimidating. ¡°gonna get me one of these that attaches to my helmet.¡± her voice has got a tinny sound to it, resonant, almost robotic. If I didn¡¯t know she was a girl I¡¯d just assume it was a man, hard to tell gender under all the gear. Which kind of sucks. Fantasy games had me all primed for chicks to be running around in skimpier versions of mens outfits. Basically naked, I feel like I''ve been robbed somehow. ¡°It looks pretty awesome Rita, If I didn¡¯t know who you were it¡¯d be intimidating.¡± She whips her hand up at my face and straightens her back ¡°I find your lack of faith disturbing.¡± She barely even gets it out before she¡¯s laughing at herself. I can¡¯t help but smile a little, she¡¯s enjoying the shit out of it. The ninja orb-thing chimes in. ¡°Please press the equipment to your face around your mouth and nose. Once in position it will begin to gravitate to your face. Do not be alarmed this is just the HANDI-J nearing completion; keep a firm grip but try not to pull your face away.¡± "I used to give my ex the same advice." Hep mumbles. If I weren''t geeking out over the new equipment I might have lost my shit. ¡°Once the Jumper is seated if will run through the diagnostics phase, after which it will give you an indicator of whether it is good to go: green, or needs to be reseated: red. After the startup sequence, it will automatically supply you with air when needed, since your bodies aren¡¯t like normal humans you do not need to worry about Oxygen normalization or any of the other biological effects. You will also notice that the Jumper screen has indicators for any map notations you have made before you jump. For the duration of these training we will be using pre-designated markers for you to jump to. After you are in the air lay your body flat and use your arms and legs to steer towards your designation. Once you have reached your preferred altitude will your Jumper to slow you down for a landing. For safety purposes in the training zone the jumper will automatically activate if you do not will it before fifty meters. Jumpers used outside of training must be willed open, these all have different ratings for different opening heights so make sure and check manufacturer specifications. Are there any questions?¡± ¡°I¡¯m good, you guys good?¡± I ask the others, Hep and Rita give exaggerated nods through their mask¡¯s. Grasping the mask I push the edges around my face and let it do its work. Its pretty much like wearing a paintball mask without straps, suprisingly comfortable though. There are little lights on the left that I have no idea what they do, probably an instruction manual for that. Not my problem right now, adrenaline Gnome has taken over. ¡°Then we will proceed to practical training. Once you came through the door to the training area your brains were implanted with the skills on how to control your body during fall, they should have completed the integration. We will make a practice jump, and you can practice as many times as you would like before your certifying jump. Proceed when ready.¡± The door next to the ball slides into the wall and we''re left looking through a hole in the wall. It¡¯s mostly just a beautiful blue expanse, but there are cloud banks and whisps of white fluffiness reaching up towards us like cotton. They look like the most delicious fluffy potatoes I have ever seen, sue me, I''m a fat kid. Rita and Hep seem mesmerized by the sight. I cannot help but smile, ¡°god hates a coward.¡± without taking the time to be worried about it , I run and jump into the wide open blue. It¡¯s more beautiful then you could believe. The feeling of the free fall is new, it¡¯s like my body knows what to do though. I¡¯m not sure what I was expecting, but I can feel all the pressure, my brain is picking up information and processing it without me having to think extra hard about it. From the clothes on my whipping around my form, to how the backpack is causing a slight spin. I¡¯m going to need to tape some straps down before I do this again. Looking below I see the target area, it isn¡¯t too far out. I rotate my arms back at an angle beside back and tighten my legs to give myself some forward motion. It is every bit the rush I wanted it to be. After getting a little bit of speed I decide I want more. I tense my arms and legs more until I¡¯m in almost vertical position shooting down towards the objective like a star crashing to earth. I can¡¯t hear anything except for my heart pumping blood as fast as it can to keep up with the adrenaline. In my distraction I have drifted off the mark some. It¡¯s much easier to correct then I thought, the key is little movements. The readout from the mask is blinking orange, I¡¯m sure that means I need to slow down before I come to fall-safe distance. I bring my arms up next to my shoulders and let my body go almost slack. It¡¯s a weird feeling my body reacting to muscle memory it doesn¡¯t have. It¡¯s like they know what they should do, but are atrophied, delayed. Coming to a few hundred feet from the ground the light goes green and I will the fall-safe on. My descent slows and my body starts to change position so I¡¯m in a pencil dive angle of attack. Slowing down I realize I have even more control over my direction because of the gravity magic. I can see the little green dot in the center of the target area I start angleing myself trying to get to it. My concentration is pushed to the limit I can feel the gravity magic fighting me. Fighting is the wrong word, it¡¯s more like trying to push my way through a mud-bog, or attempting to dig a trench with a spoon. After a moment of intense concentration, I manage to land with one foot inside of the green circle and the other one just outside. I¡¯ve still got enough speed that I drop to a knee and roll once I hit the ground to keep it from being doing any damage, it¡¯s still much softer than the parachutes we used for airborne operations.
-NOTICE- -You have landed in the target circle on your first jump. -Would you like to accept this as an active attempt? Y/N?
I can¡¯t help but be ecstatic, I go to pump my fist in the air in celebration when something heavy hits me from behind knocking me off the circle and sending me flailing. Throwing my mask clear of my face and rolling me a few meters forward across the ground. By the time I have turned around Hep, and Rita are standing just offcenter of the circle. Rita is doing a little dance, Hep looks nonplussed but he¡¯s behind a mask so it¡¯s kind of hard to tell. I select yes. Beaming at my two friends I walk up and give Hep a high-five. As I go to put my hand out for the same from Rita she drops her mask to the ground and pushes her lips against mine,giving me a deep kiss on the mouth. The softness of her lips clashes with the adrenaline from jumping such a great height, my body isn''t sure what to do with the information its getting ¡°That was bloody crackin mate, you beat us to the ground by at least ten seconds. I want to go again, do we got to go again if we got it on the first try?¡± the little green ball shows up and I figure he''s going to shit all over our happy-fun-times. ¡°You have all accepted the training fall as a sufficient first attempt. Touch the raised keypad on the side of the airfield, you can either stay and keep practicing, or go to the training building and head on your way." I''m more than a little surprised we get to keep practicing, but I guess it makes sense. We all decide to go more than a few more times. After we¡¯ve had our fill for the day we get to pick our new Jumpers. They are the same as the trainers except they don¡¯t have the restriction to keep you from flattening yourself. All exhausted after that, Hep decides he¡¯s going to turn in so he can get back to the grind tomorrow. Rita talks me into another meal, and we all head on our way. (ch-7) The knifes edge. As I put the last of my clothes and extra gear in my inventory I can¡¯t help but be slightly annoyed. Rita is still on my bed snoring. You¡¯d think I would be happy about a snoring woman in my bed, and I probably would if things had gone my way last night. After dinner things were going well, Rita and I had had a few brews, and talked mostly about nonsense. After while she asked if I were interested in heading back up to my room. Fuck yes, I was interested. We get back to my place and things are going well. Right up until I put a hand under her shirt, and she knees me in the balls. She apologized, obviously, but the damage had been done. What followed that is fuzzy. All I¡¯m really getting are snatches of screaming with her throwing my shit out of the room and me sleeping on my couch. My bed looked so godamned comfortable. Lesson learned though: never forget the hot/crazy scale. I throw my empty bag in my inventory, and pin a note to the front door that she can apologize to me and explain exactly what her fucking problem was when I got back. Maybe not verbatim, I used a few more words, and less expletives but you get the idea. Instead of staying here and putting up with any immediate aftermath I decide it¡¯s time to do some work. I figure I¡¯ll take another mission and see where it leads me. Once I get to level five I might start my own permanent world and see how things go. You know, blood for the blood god, that sort of thing. Before I even realize it, I¡¯ve managed to get to the great hall and am scanning my hand into a rift room. Going to the table I look through some missions, I figure I¡¯ll take something a little more aggressive than your average ¡®collect ten rabbits¡¯ missions. Checking some of the boxes on the list I quickly bring up a mission that looks good. A nice little ¡®clear this area¡¯ mission I¡¯ll take that, there are even a couple of points of interest on the map.
-MISSION- -There are a group of bandits who have been attacking and robbing local settlements, the local groups have determined the general location of the stronghold and have prayed to Odin for help. -OBJECTIVES- -Discover the exact location the bandits are working from -Remove the bandit threat. -If the situation can be solved without violence extra EXP will be earned. -If the bandits are all exterminated extra coinage will be earned. -BONUS- -There is a point of interest marked between the survivor outpost and the bandit location. -There is a point of interest marked on the largest building in the town. -If mission is completed within four hours extra mission rewards will be earned. (It is not required to contact the survivors, or investigate the points of interest.) (After the situation has been resolved mission will be considered complete.) (Time of day: Afternoon.)
Accepting the mission I synchronize the points of interest with my map. Bringing up the map to look at my optins, I choose to bypass the survivors. I¡¯ll hit one point of interest then make my way to the other before pushing on to the bandit area. If I run I should be able to hit them all in the time frame, barring a major incident. I select the tallest building as my first, no point in walking up when I can jump to the top. As the portal spins up I pull out my Jumper and seal it to my face. Leaning over the threshold of the portal I look down and make sure my points are synchronized. I didn¡¯t used to be a religious man, but I¡¯ve met these gods and I¡¯m going to take every edge I can get, closing my eyes I say the first prayer I¡¯ve spoken in probably about 8 years; ¡°All-Father, let my arm be stronger than my enemies, and let my aim be truer than theirs. If it cannot, then let my death be swift, and violent with my enemy¡¯s blood on my teeth.¡± I get how corny it is, I''m out of practice. Taking a deep breath, I jump out; it¡¯s the same as the practice jumps. It¡¯s hard to describe the feeling of falling, oddly enough, its comfortable. The only pressure is the wind resistance. Angling myself into a hard dive I push vertically towards the top of the building, it¡¯s the middle of the day so I¡¯m going to have to do this quick to limit exposure. I¡¯m falling so fast that the wind is pushng the jumper hard into my face, the pressure shoving the skin of my face tight. From the outside you wouldn¡¯t be able to see it, but under the mask are the smile and sparkling eyes of a maniac. I¡¯ve always been an adrenaline junkie; fast cars, fist fights, anything to get that high. If I''d had the money jumping out of planes would have made me plenty happy. Unfortunately multiple demotions, and counseling¡¯s in my file jacket kept me from ascending to a rank where I could afford to do it. I was never a ''tow the line'' kind of soldier. Command seats are boring anyways, why would I want to sit behind a desk when I could sit behind a trigger? Fuck, I got distracted. Jumping out of that high up takes a while, and I''d let my mind wander. I¡¯ve drifted a LOT. Trying to flatten out and move myself on a more horizontal plane. Even with the help of the gravity magic I¡¯m not moving forward as fast as I need to be. Damn you sir newton, you and your stupid godamned rules. The jumper is flashing a red light on the left side, underneath it is a blinking orange light, why the fuck didn''t I read the instruction manual? This isn¡¯t going to go as well as I¡¯d have liked. Activating the fall safe, I''m still about four-hundred meters to the south, and a thousand meters above the landing spot I wanted to hit. The red light on the left side goes from blinking red to a solid red blinking green, I guess that¡¯s good, well better, this is what happens when you don¡¯t read your instruction manual kids. The gravity well starts to take effect but it¡¯s not doing enough, panicking I will myself into a forward motion so I can hit at an angle and hopefully roll out of it. Like last night with Rita, things do not go my way. I¡¯m heading towards the building much faster than is safe, and I¡¯m not going to land on the roof, I¡¯ll end up two floors under. I¡¯m still flying at a high speed, not wanting to chance that the windows are reinforced I pull out the .40 and start dumping rounds into it. I manage to slow myself down to somewhere around twenty miles per hour, but was still cruising pretty fast. On my ''glide'' in I saw four guys on the roof who were decked out in tactical gear, ready for war. They looked like a nasty bunch, but maybe their townies? Hope for the best, plan for the worst. I tuck my shoulder and hit the window smashing the whole thing in as a solid sheet. Tumbling through and over a desk slamming then slamming into and through a sheetrock wall. My left shoulder snags on a stud on the way through and I can feel a burn and a pop. Fuck. Me. Its been awhile since I have pushed something out of place. I cant believe I''d forgotten that exquisite burn. The feeling of something in your body being pushed out of place is painful, and vividly uncomfortable. Like somebody stuck a small potato up under the muscles in my shoulder. Coming to rest against the wall in the hallway I can hear voices from outside the window. Staying as quiet and still as I can I pull off my jumper and put it into my inventory. ¡°What the hell was that, was that a person? I¡¯m pretty sure I saw a gun. Bernie take Wells go down and check the ninth floor.¡± The leader, I presume. ¡°Aww c¡¯mon Shawn, why don¡¯t we all go? Safety in numbers.¡± Obviously not the brown-noser of the group. I hear a slapping noise and a grunt ¡°Who¡¯s going to stay and make sure it¡¯s not a distraction by the townies? How do we know they aren¡¯t trying to sneak up here? Besides, I¡¯m the fucking boss here Bernie, go do your godamned job or I will bend you over the A.C. unit then throw your bleeding ass off the side of the roof.¡± Shawn sounds like an asshole. Glad I dont work for him. Guess that answers that, while they were talking I¡¯d managed to scoot myself over and picked up my pistol. My left shoulder is jacked up, I can feel my new natural healing taking slow effect though. No using that side until the HP regen fixes it though. Maybe five minutes,I don¡¯t have the time for that. Dropping the mag out of the .40 I put it in the holster, put it in my inventory and pull a spare, waste not want not, those little shits are expensive. I load the fresh mag, pull the .40 and start moving down the hallway. It¡¯s gotten quite on the roof, if I hadn¡¯t had such a hard time reloading I could already have an ambush set at the stairs. I can see the stairs at the end of the hall, pushing my body to a jog I try to get there before the bandits come out. I''m still about thirty feet away from the door when it starts to swing open, not my day. There''s nowhere to hide, I¡¯m in the middle of a hallway, it¡¯s the textbook definition of a fatal funnel. There''s only one reasonable thing you can do in this situation. I raise my pistol and wait for a soft target. The first one coming through the door is a talker ¡°I¡¯m telling you Bern, this is no- ¡° I squeeze off a round interrupting him. The first round hits the wall to his right, fuck, I squeeze again and hit him in the leg. Screaming he falls to the ground. Bernie, showing the leadership that most criminals are known for, squeals and heads back inside the door. Closing it with his friend on the outside. No honor among thieves I guess. The first one is laying on the ground whimpering. I kick him over and drop a knee into his kidneys ¡°how many of your friends are on the roof?¡± He makes a whining noise, I slam the barrel of my pistol to the back of his head ¡°How. Many.¡± I dont have time for this bullshit. These guys were clearly here to hurt someone, probably some dead townies around here or on the roof somewhere. ¡°Three, please let me go.¡± His voice is high and tight. Tarnished with his fear of dying. Maybe next time he''ll choose a safer occupation, or not be such an asshole. ¡°No.¡± Squeezing the trigger I put a round into the back of his skull passing through his throat and splashing blood onto the ground. Raising my gun to point at the door I keep my knee in his back and kneel on him while he gurgles and bleeds out. Ignoring his noises and trying to not get his blood on me is all I have for him right now. It''s not that I dont feel bad for taking a life, just that I know when its time to turn it off. Survivul might be instinct, but it''s one you can train into a skill and hone to an edge. There are no good excuses for dying. I¡¯m not taking any chances, with my fucked-up arm he might have attacked me. In a standup, he would have taken me. After I¡¯m sure he¡¯s dead I move to the right side of the door and wait. I don¡¯t want to, but I can feel my arm moving back into socket and I really don¡¯t want to be moving or shooting when it pops back in. After a few minutes the shoulder is back in the socket. Still swollen and in too much pain to use fully, but it¡¯s not just dangling around like a limp noodle. I use the damaged arm to pull the door open . Peeking around the corner I see the whole stairwell. Across from me to the left there is a stair leading down, and next to it is one going up. Unsure that good ole Bern didn¡¯t head down, but options being what they are I decide I need to move up. Snaking right and following the wall I keep my pistol pointed at the apex of the stairs. As I follow the wall I keep the gun trained up the stairs and strain my ears for all their worth. I don¡¯t think anyone is on the stairs, so that¡¯s good. I guess. I clear the next couple of flights the same way, going as fast as I feel I can comfortably shoot with accuracy. Reaching the top of the stairs faster than I thought I would, the top landing is empty except for a single-person size door directly across from the stair. I¡¯m not surprised, why fight on the stairs when they can draw me into a prearranged ambush? Unfortunately for them, I came prepared. Holstering the pistol, I grab a flashbang off my vest I finagle the pin loose with my bad hand. I let the spoon fly, hit the door handle and kick the door open just far enough to reach my arm through and toss it out. Before it is even in the air there are bullets hitting the door, slamming it into my shoulder and pushing me a few feet back. It sounds like they have a couple of rifles and a pistol. Nothing too heavy, I¡¯d have been fucked if they had an LMG. Unholstering my pistol again I start to count, after I hear the pop of the flash I burst through the door and move low along the wall. There isn¡¯t much cover on the roof, the bandits have all of it. Luckily two of them are standing up with that stupid look on your face you get from the decompression and blinding light from a close proximity flashbang. I pull a bead on the first and put two rounds into his chest. Before he¡¯s even started to fall I readjust to his friend and let a couple of rounds fly. I manage to put one in his thigh and one into his midriff. Dropping his gun he falls to the ground with a pained scream and curls over his wounds. Another guy pops up, going to assume Shawn, on account of the better quality armor and rifle. He seems a bit dazed like he can see but not too well, firing rounds randomly in my direction he manages hits me in my already damaged shoulder spinning me to the ground behind a small piece of heating duct. My shoulder is on fire, it¡¯s at least as bad as the last 3 times I was shot before Valhalla. I can¡¯t give in to the pain now. I might only lose a small amount of EXP for dying, but I¡¯d still have to die, and I¡¯m really not into that. Rolling over to my chest I can see Shane¡¯s legs just below the knee. Taking my time, I line up a shot to his calf and pull the trigger. He falls to the ground, laying there for a second holding his leg before he realizes he should be paying more attention . I give him a little wink and dump the rest of my magazine into his chest. I¡¯ve got enough ammo to waste for now. And I¡¯d rather not take chances, plus, fuck these guys.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. That could have gone better, but at the end of it all I¡¯ve got a bullet wound and a prisoner so I guess it¡¯s even? Probably not. Whatever. It¡¯s my shit now, the townies can come claim whatever I don¡¯t want, or can¡¯t take. Interrogating the prisoner is the first thing on my list. He¡¯s holding his stomach and mewling like some kind of animal. ¡°Where are the rest of the bandits.¡± I pull out my map and show him the area that¡¯s marked as hostile ¡°the more information you give me, the less pain you have to endure.¡± He starts talking immediately, it¡¯s nice to be taken serious for once. I learn there are eight bandits inside the building and they have a townie kid as prisoner. After I have all the information I slide the knife into his heart and let him slip away, back into the cycle.
-MISSION UPDATE- -The bandits have taken a local boy hostage to keep the townies from moving against them. -BONUS OBJECTIVE- -Retrieve the local boy alive.
Seeing the update I look at my mission and see that it list¡¯s seven mission targets and a bandit named Kurt. Ok that¡¯s doable, so long as I can catch a heal. I loot the first bandit and all he has is some garbage gear and a silver. I loot all the bandits and the only one that has anything worth having is Shawn. His tac vest is better than mine, but its broken. I¡¯ll throw it in the inventory and keep looking. He¡¯s got something a couple of System linked items called [Bandages] and a semi-auto granger like mine, only a lower level. I¡¯d love to bitch, but free ammo is free ammo. He¡¯s carrying six 20 round magazines, I pull them and put them some in my vest, and the rest in inventory.
-ITEM- -Bandages are a medical item that can speed up healing recovery by x4 base regen rate. -Can heal small cuts, and wounds. -Stops effects of Bleeding, and Laceration status. (Wounds classified as larger than Small will staunch bleeding/lacerated status, but healing boost will be negated.) (Manual usage of Bandage will intensify effects for a short amount of time.) (To apply bandage hold to open wound and will it to heal.)
I¡¯ll take that. I open the package and press it to my shoulder the best part is the numbing effect. It takes a while before I feel my shoulder close. The bullet is still in there, maybe it desolved? If not I really hope that comes out at some point or there¡¯s going to be some mechanical problems. Marveling at how quick my shoulder is healing I move to a box sitting near the corner of the roof, behind the A.C. unit Shane had been using as cover. It''s mostly full of food, rope, and some ammo. I end up sitting on the roof for about an hour for my health to get back to baseline normal, I''m lucky its a small wound, anything time my health bar goes below half of full 1/6''th is grayed out until I can get either a system heal from valhalla, or a magical heal to full. I¡¯d been thinking about it and there¡¯s no way I¡¯m making the other Point of interest and the bandit outpost. I¡¯m going to head straight to the stronghold. It¡¯s only a block away, so I should be able to make it quickly. I do opt to take the rope from the case, its your run of the mill climbing rope, about 100ft of it. I also filled my carrying bag full of food, a few thrown into my inventory in case I have to ditch it. My arm is back in working condition, it hurts but I can bend and pull it in most directions. I¡¯ve reloaded all my mags with ammo from the box and am ready to go. Pulling out my pistol I head down the stairs, I move a little faster than is safe but I¡¯ve only got a couple of hours left to get there and I¡¯m already behind where I wanted to be. I cannot stand being behind schedule, it''s not a crippling OCD thing, I just prefer to do things a certain way. Getting out of the building goes smoothly, no extra baddies, no zombies. Just plain walls and cubicles all the boring stuff office buildings are known for. Once I¡¯m at the exit to the building I swap the pistol for the long rifle, it¡¯s a good close engagement weapon, but this is mid-range combat territory. Deciding to take my time I move as careful as possible to avoid confrontation with any zombies. I had seen a few from the roof, shambling around, only recognizable because they were covered in blood. I¡¯d rather not run into a horde-style situation, It''d fuck up my entire day. Sneaking between buildings and making sure my corners are clear I move to my recon location quickly. Set up in a building a few shop-fronts down and across I set up and watch for a bit to see what is happening. From my vantage point, I can see the townies posted up down the street behind a barricade. Waiting a little longer nothing is going to happen. I decide to move up to the townies and fill them in on my plan. If they aren''t going to do anything, I sure as shit am. Maybe I can talk them into helping. I manage to get within shouting distance of the townies before they put their guns one me ¡°FRIENDLY, I¡¯M FRIENDLY!!!¡± I¡¯ve got my hands up, it¡¯s a bit of a gamble, but I figure if I¡¯m unarmed good people won¡¯t kill me. Probably. ¡°My name is Daniels, I was told you guys needed help. I¡¯m something of an expert on these situations. I can try and get your boy back and maybe move the bandits along.¡± They look a frightened and suspicious. Not getting any help from these people. I give them the short explenation that I¡¯m one of Odin¡¯s chosen and they seem too accept it. This isn¡¯t a new occurrence to them. Explaining to the leader, a guy named Brian, that I¡¯m going to initiate negotiations with the bandits and get them out of there. He argues a little about how it¡¯s risky. I tell him that the boy is definitely going to die if we sit around and argue, at least this way I can probably get him back. He seems hesitant to let me do my thing. After agreeing, I tell them they need to be ready for whatever the bandits have planned. If I die it¡¯s going to get nasty fast. So they need to be prepared to attack, or retreat. Moving forward I dash between one cover to the next, I¡¯m fifteen feet from the door before a bullet impacts the ground as I go to move closer and I hear a voice ¡°That¡¯s far enough, drop the tribute there.¡± Tribute? They think this is some kind of novel where I''m here to pay them for being shitbags? Amatuers. ¡°I¡¯ve come to negotiate your surrender!¡± I yelled at the side of the building. Trying to control my voice. The adrenaline has started to set in, I can feel my body temperature is up, and time feels like it''s moving slower than it should. ¡°You¡¯ll never take us alive!!¡± screamed one of the bandits peeking his hand around the window and popping a few shots at me. A little bit more range time would have done most of these guys a world of difference. ¡°well, If I¡¯m being honest, I really hadn¡¯t planned on it.¡± I hadn''t. The mission gave me the option, but I''m more of an immediete gratification kind of guy. Plus, in the deep places of my heart, I really am an asshole. There was a slight pause before I receive a response, the same voice as before squeeks out ¡°You just said you wanted to negotiate.¡± It seems my comment had caused some confusion. ¡°Yeah, I see where you¡¯re coming from. No. It¡¯s more EXP to bring you in alive, but it¡¯s more money if you¡¯re all dead. And daddy needs money. For like, dead hookers, or something? Fuck if I know.¡± Technically their dead, I mean they¡¯re in Valhalla. ¡°That¡¯s not how this works man, you offer us a trade: put down our weapons and come out peacefully, or- ¡° I''ve got them flustered, a little bit of psychological warfare is always good. ¡°Yada, yada, yada. I told you bro, it aint happening. The hookers part might have been a joke but you are all horrible human beings and the reaper has come calling. I¡¯m willing to negotiate a quick death for anyone who comes out with their hands up, offering me information on where the kid is. Otherwise we play a game of ¡®last man alive gets tortured¡¯.¡± One of them pops his head out pointing his rifle in my direction ¡°we don¡¯t have the kid assho-"-BOOM- His head flies backwards snapping his neck with enough force to break his neck as his body slowly crumples to the floor. On the wall behind him blood mixed with skull fragments and brains is sliding down the wall. ¡°That¡¯s a lie.¡± I tried, I really did. I wasn¡¯t going to let them live but they could have at least made my day a little easier. It¡¯s been a shitty couple of hours and these fuck-wits are the cause of it. I arm a couple of flashbang grenades and lob them into the windows. Giving it a count to five I begin to sprint towards the entrance. One of them gets a couple of shots off before the flashbangs go off. I crash my shoulder into the door knocking the guy behind it down. Bringing my rifle up to the left I snap off two shot into the guy sitting under the window, his friend behind him raises a gun in my direction. I put three rounds into him, center mass, spurting blood out the holes in his chest and slamming him down hard enough that his head bounces off the concrete. Knowing that there are behind me I knee slide next to the door I''d came through and put a round into the head of the guy I bulled through to get in here. Rounds are flying around the corner at my position, I¡¯ve wasted most of my flashbangs. A little sleight of hand is in order. Sticking the barrel end around the corner and snap off a couple of shots, then I get low and move back outside of the building and crawl along the wall. I hear what sounds like two guns shooting at my previous position as I crawl along. The shooting stops and one asks ¡°Did we get him?¡± Nope, I stand up and fire through the window the glass shatters in and cuts the front one up bad, not that it matters, he¡¯s dead before he knew what was going on. Pulling the trigger until they are both down for the count. It¡¯s a little disconcerting how brutal I¡¯ve gotten in such a short time. I was never one of those bleeding heart liberal hippies, but I¡¯ve always had a healthy respect for life. I should be more, I don¡¯t know, perturbed? Something, killing shouldn¡¯t be this easy. I guess that¡¯s a problem for another future-me. Everything tallied up I¡¯ve killed five in the front room, that leaves three more and the Kev guy. Onwards and upwards, I suppose. The building is a single-story office type building, so I guess upwards might not fit here, whatevs, I do what I want. Enough ridiculousness. Loading a fresh mag I bring the rifle up to a high ready position. Going through the left side door I am in a hallway with two doors on the left and one on the right. Since the right door is closer I try to open it, only to find that it has been jammed from the other side. I move across to the next left door. Bracing my right foot and slam the left into the door crashing it in and open, the motion drops my foot right back down in a stable firing position. It¡¯s not perfect, but it¡¯s workable move for being alone. The room is empty, I snug my right shoulder into the door jamb, and slide the barrel of my rifle from the left corner and around pieing the door. Clearing the whole room in the matter of a second its a motion that has been practiced for years before this. There is a table in the center of the room and looks like the other door here is the one further down the hallway. I decide to cross the room and move out of the other door. Coming out of the door back in a high ready, I move down the hallway coming to a stop at the right-hand corner. Getting down to a knee and peek around. Most of the left-hand side of the new hallway has torn up walls, around corner and across from me the sheetrock walls that cover the rooms is shattered and broken. The room over there are empty from here. There are some overturned desk¡¯s and a couple of smoldering tables, but I don¡¯t see any contacts there. On the right side about half way down there are two guys nonchalantly standing guard to either side of a door. You¡¯d think they would be more on point, with all the shooting and explosions a few minutes ago. Taking a half step back and bracing myself against the wall I take aim. I need to kill the first one with a shot, if they rush I would get decimated. Breathing in and squeezing the trigger, my aim is good, his head explodes. The jaw is sent down with such force that it swings back up around on a piece of skin and hits his friend in the hip. lining up my next shot I can still see the individual pieces of brain flying through the air. Taking a second to reset the other guard is so shocked about his friend¡¯s head exploding next to him he doesn¡¯t react fast enough. By the time he decides to act I¡¯m squeezing the trigger. I aim for the stomach, taking three shots they stitch him almost directly up his middle. Little craters erupt, covering his stomach, midsection and chest in blood splotches like a gory raggedy Andy. I can hear a voice scream in fury ¡°GO KILL HIM!¡± and the other plebe points his gun around the corner. I put rounds in the door around him, but fail to connect with flesh. Deciding I don¡¯t like the idea of sitting static for so long I step up into a targeted ready stance and move down the hallway with my knees bent for stability. The next time his head comes out I send more rounds out. Fucker won¡¯t go down, I can¡¯t have too many rounds left in this rifle. He peeks out again and manages to hit me in the chest with one round, and another grazes my temple pushing my head to the side. The shots hits my chest like a baseball pushing me back a step, he pops out further thinking he scored an easy kill. It had hurt, but I¡¯m not dead yet. With my left hand off of the rifle I rip off three rounds in quick succession, two manage to hit him one in the chest the other his inner thigh. I keep my gun trained on him as blood flows out of his femoral artery, I put two more rounds into his unarmored areas and move towards the door reloading as I move. Sliding around the door I see a smaller guy wearing fatigues and a wife beater holding a knife to the neck of a kid. The guy with the knife is probably around chin height for me, it¡¯s too dark to see his eyes, he¡¯s wearing camo colored bandana, he¡¯s frowning, I don¡¯t think he''s enjoys what I did ¡°Move any closer and the boy dies.¡± The voice is smoother than I expected. ¡°I don¡¯t really need the boy to live, as long as you are dead I win.¡± It¡¯s a callous thing to say, I¡¯m hoping he doesn¡¯t call my bluff. I¡¯m not sure I can back it up. He stares me down for a moment, trying to figure out the best option before responding ¡°how about you let me walk the boy to the back door, I¡¯ll release him and then we go our separate ways?¡± it''s semi-reasonable. ¡°counter offer: You find a giant bag of dicks and see how long it takes to suck your way to bottom.¡± There are better, more creative insults somewhere, but the knife to the kid¡¯s neck is frazzling my nerves more than I want to admit. ¡°you¡¯re a funny guy. How about instead you put your guns down, I¡¯ll put my guns down and we¡¯ll settle this with knives?¡± I like this idea more than the knife to the kid¡¯s throat. ¡°I can live with that, but you drop your guns first. There¡¯s nothing to stop you from slitting his throat and then killing me.¡± He smiles a little, I think that¡¯s exactly what he planned to do. Reaching behind his back he tosses a pistol towards a pile of rubble across the room, and then kicks the rifle leaned against the chair in the same direction. I pull off my sling and toss my rifle down in the hallway, after that I pull the pistol set it down and kick it in the same direction. My backpack and vest are the next to come off, landing next to the pistol. Kurt nods his head and walks towards the center of the room. Pulling Hels gift from its sheath and moving towards him. Once were both about 5 feet from one another we stop and start assessing the other. His stance is the same as most of the people who I¡¯ve trained against, maybe a bit more arrogant. I can use that to my advantage, overconfidence has lead to more deaths than anything. While I¡¯m paying attention to his legs he surprises me by quickly sliding in slashing my side. ¡°ssssss¡± I suck in some air that stings. I react without thinking pushing my right hand across my body, I miss his arm. The move sets me up to do a thrust though, he manages to dodge that also. He¡¯s too quick, and he has more experience. I¡¯m starting to regret this decision. Overconfidence might kill me. ¡°what¡¯s a matter? Not as good as you thought you were?¡± he¡¯s taunting me, trying to get a rise out of me. Might''ve worked if I weren¡¯t in so much pain. There¡¯s only one way to end this in a favorable way, the trick is going to be getting it just right. I step in and start taking wild swings, making sure I keep my arm bent so my swings all look shorter than they are. His smile only gets bigger, letting me take a few swings before dancing a couple feet out of reach. With my last swing, I slash from left to right sending my right hand too far out to recover if he attacks. He steps in with a stab and tries to put the knife into my chest. Screaming I uncoil my right foot and jump up and into the knife pushing it in just below my ribcage. I wrap my left arm around him and fall on top of him dropping us both to the ground, the knife under my ribs is an inferno burning away everything but pain and anger. I start slamming Hels gift into him, stabbing indiscriminately. At some point I come back to myself and realize he¡¯s dead, probably been dead for awhile at that point. Kurt is disgusting. I can see his skull, deep scoring from my wild stabbing has left most of his head with lacerated skin dangling off, one of his jaws is hanging by a tendon. His spine is visible through all the cuts I made at his throat, the muscle and other soft tissues glistening as I breathe heavily atop his body. I can hear the boy crying off to the side, but realize I should probably do something about the knife in me. I¡¯ve lost a lot of blood and I¡¯m not sure how I¡¯m still alive. I pull some bandages out of my inventory and take in as big a breath as I can. Pulling the knife out I put the bandages on and will them to work, the first batch just disappear without any real effect. No numbing effect this time either, the wound must be too bad. I can see the blood slowing so I decide to go with real world medicine. I take the next set of bandages and fold it, and use one more to wrap it and hold the first in place. I can feel them working, but not sure they are good enough. Before I untie the kid, I check Kev¡¯s gear. None of it is worth anything, looking around the room I try to find a loot box. Nothing here, guess my reward today is a job well done. I untie the kid, and tell him to stick with me until we make it outside. As we go through the building I take gear off the bandits I killed, by the end I¡¯m carrying way too much for my abused body. Banking on being able to sell it once I get back though so I will bear it. Me and the boy get outside and he runs to his people. On the verge of deliriousness from the pain and blood-loss I hear a portal open behind me. Nodding at Brian causes me to lose my balance and I basically fall into the open portal behind me. (ch-8) Reconciliation. With the portal closing in front of me I can feel the healing properties of Valhalla start to take effect, I was unsure of whether I was going to go for respawn or not, kind of a rough couple of hours there. While waiting for the pain to wear off some I decide to go ahead and sell off the bandit loot. After a few minutes of fumbling with the screen I discover that I can do everything via thought, and intent, makes sense, wish I would have thought of it sooner. I figure since the mission probably netted me a solid amount of EXP I¡¯ll just sell everything for coinage. Sitting all the bandit gear into the trade box I will it to sell, and end up with a tidy one gold, three silvers, and 42 coppers. Not bad for a few hours¡¯ work. Now I need to get into the good stuff. Looking at my H.U.D. I will the boxes up for review.
-MISSION REWARDS- -Main mission completed 100% > +400 EXP -Situation resolved through violence > +5 Gold -Point of interest discovered > +50 EXP -Mission completed within estimated time-frame > +100 EXP -Secret mission ¡®Lost boy¡¯ discovered 100% > +300 EXP
Top that off with the EXP from the bandits, the two named bandits and I¡¯m sitting pretty at just under one-thousand, nine-hundred and thirty-four to be exact, add in my stashed fifty and I¡¯m sitting at a solid amount. I think I¡¯ll let those sit and do all my take care of all this up in my room. I start making my way out, and decide that I¡¯m just going to eat some of the food I stocked in the pantry. The great halls food will probably taste better, but I¡¯m not in the mood to interact with people right now. On my walk-through town, I can¡¯t help but people watch, it¡¯s amazing the diversity and tolerance you can see here. I¡¯m the only person really getting any kind of dirty looks, and I¡¯m figuring most of them are because I am a ¡®Hel-spawn¡¯. Back in the regular world you hardly ever saw interaction like this, sure it happened, but it was far from the norm. Walking up the stairs to my room I remembered that I¡¯d left Rita in my room. I really hope she isn¡¯t there, I¡¯m not sure I can handle that type of conversation without being a huge dick right now. Scanning my hand, I take a deep breath and walk into my home. It looks empty, the bedroom door is open, and there is a note on the table. I figure I will get to that after I¡¯m cleaned up and changed. I dump all the stuff I didn¡¯t sell from my inventory onto the couch and head into the bathroom. Peeling my clothes off is a more painful venture then I would have believed, some of it is caked on and dried. Even with the accelerated healing here it¡¯s still going to be a day before I¡¯m good. Pulling my combat shirt up and over my head turns out to be something I am incapable of. Godamned Rita, if she hadn¡¯t lost her shit I could ask her to at least cut it from me. I decide my best course of action is to lay on the ground and try to finagle my way out of it. I end up spending the better part of five minutes getting out of my shirt, there¡¯s blood all over the floor now. All the dried stuff being rubbed into the wet stuff made a hell of a mess. Another problem for future me. The whole time I had been fighting with my shirt I had imagined how heavenly it was going to be to step into the wonderfully warm shower to wash off the gore. Have you ever cleaned out a cut under a faucet? Or gotten water into a cut in the shower? Yeah, I¡¯d forgotten how shitty that was. Stepping into the shower was like pouring lemon juice in my wounds. I knew I¡¯d gotten messed up pretty bad from the initial crash, and then will all the flak from nearly being shot making little cuts. My shower was thoroughly ruined. I managed to at least get most of the caked-on stuff off, and hit most everything with some type of soap. Problem that was really getting me here was the head-wound, it wasn¡¯t deep; just a graze really, but it was on my head, and outside of my comfortable reach. I ended up ripping open a few other wounds while cleaning it, but I managed to get it, and my hair cleaned out. Note to self, hit the healer after the end of my next mission. Getting out of the shower I decide to give a once over, looks like I¡¯m going to have some new scars, but nothing too bad. Most of them should be covered and I don¡¯t think the graze on my head is bad enough to scar, I guess time will tell though. I decide that air-drying is my best option, so I go to the living room to look at the note on my table.
¡®Gnome, I¡¯m sorry I freaked out on you, it has been a long time since I¡¯ve let a man touch me and I thought I was ready for it. I clearly was not, maybe we can work into something like that in the future, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s something I can handle right now. Please forgive me for the way I acted. And hitting you. And throwing your stuff. And making you sleep on your own couch. I hope we can still be friends, let me know. Respectfully, Rita.
Straight-forward enough. I can still be Rita¡¯s friend, I¡¯m not trying to get tied down to anybody though. Maybe she¡¯ll be interested in the whole FWB thing in the future, but it¡¯s not something I will hold her to if she¡¯s not interested. Oh well, I guess if this dry spell goes on a bit longer I¡¯m going to have to consider the dead-hooker thing a bit more seriously. I¡¯m not normally one to pay for it, but even a dead-men got needs. I really want to get into setting up my level stuff, but I figure I should knock out some quick food and I can do it while I eat. I use the interface set into the coffee table to put the TV on and turn it onto a channel showing arena games, the one on right now is a battlefield set up like a jungle warzone and two teams are fighting it out for a pot of ten-thousand EXP. It¡¯s an interesting concept and Hep put me onto it while we were sitting in the great hall eating the other day. He was more interested in the whole small team tactics than anything, but I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t thinking of entering. They have everything from one versus one, up to large-scale guild battles involving hundreds of thousands. It¡¯s an intricate system that I will probably never understand. I pull a steak out of the fridge and throw it on a hot pan, trying to get a quick sear I leave it for about a minute then clip it over. After a minute on the other side I put the steak, pan, and all, into the pre-heated stove. I figure I¡¯ll let that go for 10-15 get it a nice medium-rare. While it¡¯s cooking, I throw on a package of premade cheesy rice and veggies. Within a few moments my meal is done and I can calm the angry badger that has taken up residence in my stomach. I pull a beer out of the fridge and manage to hobble over to the table with all my foodstuffs. After sitting down, I start getting to the important stuff.
Name - Gnome LVL. 1 0/100 Race- Daemon elf
Title - N/A Class - N/A Alignment - Chaotic good
Health -100/100 (Wounded, Bleeding) Mana - 100/100 Fame - 20
Health regen - 0.1(min) Mana regen - 0.05(min) Karma - Neutral
Strength - 12 Agility - 12 Dexterity - 12
Vitality - 8 Intelligence - 8 Charisma - 2 (-2)
Endurance ¨C 6 Wisdom - 10 Known languages - Common, Elven.
If I understood Hep right I cannot directly affect the LVL. Adding points to stats, and skills will prompt the SYSTEM to evaluate the level after I have made my decisions. I guess the first thing to do is buy my Race traits, it¡¯s not going to do anything for my level but it should make life easier all the same. 300 EXP down, and I pull up the status again. To see what I have. Are you FUCKING kidding me? My racial trait has a minus two charisma. A minus. Two. charisma. Jesus. It might have been better to buy everything one piece at a time. Or maybe to look at the package. Oh well I¡¯m not here to make friends, so no use in crying over spilt milk. Guess I should keep going, so far, I¡¯ve needed to move around exclusively on foot, so I should probably add in some endurance, and keep getting hurt, so vitality might be important. I decide that instead of Min/maxing myself I¡¯m just going to try and keep everything normalized, growth might be slower overall, but I don¡¯t think it will put me in a bad spot. After finishing all my selections, I pull it up one more time(giggety).
Name- Gnome LVL. 3 (0/400) Race- daemon elf
Title- N/A Class- N/A Alignment- chaotic good
Health-100/100 (wounded, bleeding, Mana-100/100 Fame- 20
Health regen 0.4(min) Mana regen- 0.05(min) Karma-N/A
Strength - 12 (+2) Agility ¨C 12 Dexterity ¨C 12 (+2)
Vitality - 12 Intelligence - 8 Charisma ¨C 4 (-2)
Endurance- 12 Wisdom ¨C 10 Known languages ¨C Common, Elven.
Considering a regular human has an average of eight in every stat at level one I¡¯m not doing too bad. If I were a regular elf I¡¯d be much higher in wisdom and intelligence, but I¡¯m fine with this, I feel like magic would take a bit more of that brain power crap. I¡¯m down to three-hundred and sixty-four EXP but I think it was well worth the cost. From what rita said the day before I can eventually get a skill or something that allows me to put XP directly into my stats, the catch there being theres a cap for each one and you have to take the perk more than once. She also tried to explain how its "scaling" or something? I was pretty drunk and maths are my weak spot sober. I need to re-stock some of my gear, and get a hold of a helmet. I saw some swanky stuff in the bazaar, maybe I can get something second-hand that¡¯s outside of my regular prevue. That¡¯s going to have to wait though, after the food, and the mathing for skills I need some sleep, and I¡¯m damned sure going to get it in my own bed. As I lay in my bed I can¡¯t help but think that it is even more fantastic than I thought. It¡¯s like a godamned marshmallow. I could live the rest of my afterlife here and never have a regret about it, if I weren¡¯t such a violent prick. I was most of the way asleep when there was a light-tapping happened at my door. Damn, was almost out. Getting up I start moving towards my door, about half way there I realize I¡¯m still naked. Fuck it, anyone knocking on my door has either already seen me naked, or isn¡¯t interested. And I¡¯m tired damn it. I don¡¯t even bother to look and see who is outside through the peephole, I just pull the door open. Not surprisingly it¡¯s Rita, she looks like she is fresh out of a shower and has tears in her eyes. I have never been equipped to deal with a crying woman, it¡¯s a lot of the reason me and my wife didn¡¯t work out; Emotions, and drama aren¡¯t my thing. ¡°you know mate, Ima knock on your door one day and you¡¯re Gonna have some pants on.¡± She¡¯s trying to play off her sadness with a joke, but I can hear there is no levity in her voice. She does take a second look from my feet up and I can see her surprise that I have new scars and wounds. ¡°The Fuck happened to you? Those weren¡¯t there last night.¡± ¡°Not sure how you¡¯d know that. What do you want Rita, I was sleeping it¡¯s been kind of a rough one?¡± I¡¯m sure she¡¯s here to see where our friendship is going, but I¡¯m still a bit peeved about last night. ¡°That¡¯s fair. I wanted to know if we was still friends. I think you are fun to be around, and I really was interested. I just panicked, you got my letter?¡± I shake my head in the affirmative and she continues, ¡°I think I could get there eventually, but I need time.¡± ¡°I can understand that, your fun Rita. I¡¯m fine with being friends, and even more physical stuff if you are ok with it. I¡¯m not looking for a long-term relationship though. I can do just friends, or friends with benefits, whatever but I don¡¯t like being led along. I wasn¡¯t joking when we were drinking, I¡¯m abrasive, and I¡¯m more of a ¡®cards on the table¡¯ kind of guy. I won¡¯t do drama Rita, your cool and all, but I¡¯ve abandoned friends for it before. So, you know coming in.¡± She looks thoughtful for a few minutes. ¡°I¡¯d be in interested in some of that, maybe even friends with the option of more later. I don¡¯t usually do drama, at least I don¡¯t think. If I am you¡¯ll let me know, and give me a chance, right?¡± ¡°I can do that.¡± I get the feeling this conversation was only a part of why she came here.¡± Is there anything else?¡± ¡°Just a sec. so we¡¯re good, right?¡±, gahh this woman, ¡°yes Rita, if there¡¯s something else please let me know, I really am exhausted.¡± She looks down, a little intimidated, ¡°I really hate to ask, but I¡¯ve had a bad day, and the only other person I know is Hep.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I¡¯ve reached my limit, ¡°Spit it out Rita, cards on the table, remember?¡± ¡°yeah, sorry. It¡¯s not been a great day, and if I¡¯m alone I won¡¯t be able to sleep, can I sleep here?¡± ¡°Yes, I guess, but I¡¯m not sleeping on the couch again.¡± She gives me a sheepish look, ¡°I was more thinking I could sleep in your bed. With you.¡± Gotta be fucking kidding me. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t interested in that Rita.¡± Her cheeks turn red, ¡°I was kind of thinking maybe back to back or something. I could really use the human contact.¡± ¡°I guess, if you steal the blanket though I¡¯ll kick your ass out of the bed.¡± I turn and she follows me into the bedroom. As I¡¯m getting into the bed she clears her throat ¡°are you going to put any clothes on?¡± ¡°I normally sleep naked. Not a huge fan of clothes, besides, until this knife wound is done healing any kind of bending or arm raising is out of the question. My bathroom floor is a bloody testament to how unsuccessful I have been at it today.¡± ¡°I can help you get dressed. Not that it¡¯s a bad view, but I¡¯d be much more comfortable if you had at least some underwear on.¡± I sigh, ¡°fine Rita, over in the dresser, top drawer there are some gym shorts, the shirts are in the third drawer down.¡± She walks over and grabs a pair of gym shorts and a shirt. It occurs to me as she is bending to help me into my shorts what she¡¯s getting a face full of. Thinking about it doesn¡¯t make it any better, the contrary, actually. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Rita, that¡¯s not something I have much control over at the moment. My new race seems to be much more hot-blooded than your average human.¡± The fact that I¡¯m having trouble balancing to get my feet into the shorts is making things much worse. ¡°If you hit me in the face with it you¡¯re paying for damages.¡± At least she can joke about it, I can¡¯t even take care of the goddamned thing until It doesn¡¯t to move. She finishes putting them on and helps me into the shirt. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry about that Rita, mix the amped up sex-drive I have now with the fact that I was on the back end of a fifteen-month tour in Iraq and it¡¯s going to take more control then I have not to come to, umm, come to attention.¡± I¡¯m a little embarrassed about waving that thing in her face, but she asked to sleep here. ¡°I¡¯ll live. I asked to sleep here, you didn¡¯t try to shove it into my mouth so I guess all¡¯s even.¡± She tugs the blanket down and crawls into the far side of the bed. ¡°c¡¯mon horn dog, sleeps to be had.¡± I lay in the bed with my back to her, and a few moments later she scoots over and puts her back against mine. ¡°Thank you again Daniel, I really appreciate this.¡± I just mumble at her since I¡¯m mostly asleep. I wake up the next morning with my arm around Rita¡¯s waist and on the skin of her belly. It¡¯s an amazing feeling of taut, soft. I realize a moment later that running my fingers over her stomach mixed with the fact that it is morning is influencing my lower brain and remove myself from the bed, I need to take care of that. The speed at which I roll out of bed wakes her up. ¡°You awake already?¡± I try to keep my back turned to her so she doesn¡¯t have to endure the trauma she did last night. ¡°yes, I¡¯m feeling much better, I¡¯m going to grab a quick shower and then head to the healer. If I can get all healed up today I think I¡¯m going to run another mission.¡± ¡°Ya know Hep started his rift world, right? I got a notification that he had set a mission for any of his lower leveled friends to find a place to scout out at good spot for relocation. You¡¯d have seen it when you went to check missions, but if you are interested we can go in together, I¡¯m sure he¡¯d appreciate it.¡± She¡¯s right, I guess I know what I¡¯m doing then. ¡°All right, that sounds good. I¡¯m going to grab that shower, some breakfast and head out to re-gear.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make some breakfast since you let me stay here, I really can¡¯t tell you how much I appreciate it.¡± She looks at me with something like pity on her face. ¡°Did you know you talk in your sleep? I know you told me you were a soldier before, but the things you say in your sleep¡­I can¡¯t even imagine. Some of the things you were saying sounded horrifying from the outside looking in. I can¡¯t believe you manage to keep joking.¡± This isn¡¯t something I wanted to happen, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this isn¡¯t something I¡¯m comfortable talking about. Suffice it to say that my jokes are mostly to keep me smiling. I think we¡¯ll be great friends one day Rita, but those boxes are something I¡¯ve never opened to anyone, not on purpose anyways.¡± ¡°O.K. I¡¯ll let it lie, but if you ever want to talk about it, I¡¯m here.¡± She gives a smile. I smile back, and head to the shower. Now that I¡¯m good enough to stretch some I¡¯m able to get some of the stuff I could feel I missed. I don¡¯t mind being dirty in the field, but having access to a shower makes me almost obsessive about being clean. While cleaning, I decide I¡¯m going to grab a hair-cut at the bazaar while we are restocking. Getting out of the shower I just put on the clothes I¡¯d gotten out of, I¡¯ll change after breakfast. Rita makes a delicious breakfast of eggs and some bacon. We talk about the mission that Hep had put up, looks like it¡¯s a long term so I start writing things down on my paper, lists are one of the most mundane things in the world, but a bad one will get you killed.As I am finalizing my list I feel the need to discuss last evening with Rita. ¡°Rita, I think we need to discuss what¡¯s going on here. I know what I said last night, and I still need it to stand. I know you¡¯re not ready for anything more physical, and I can understand that, but, if you come and ask to spend the night again I can¡¯t guarantee that I¡¯m not going to make a move. I won¡¯t force myself on you, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m getting at, but you must understand benefits work both ways. I¡¯m not good with emotions, mine, or others. My explanation has gotten a little off course. I guess what I¡¯m trying to get at is that I¡¯ll be there for you, whenever you need it, but if you show up at mid-night saying you need physical contact were not always going to be on the same page. I¡¯ve got two active ways of dealing with shitty emotions: Violence, and sex.¡± I am entirely sure that came off just as creepy as it sounds. ¡°It¡¯s a weird way of going about saying you¡¯re an awkward man who wants to have sex with vulnerable girls, but I get it.¡± She¡¯s smiling, so I¡¯m just going to assume I didn¡¯t sound as creepy as I thought. ¡°Thank you for understanding.¡± She heads off to get dressed while I take stock of what I still have and modify my list. Not long after that we were on our way to the bazaar. We make a quick stop by the medic¡¯s room on the way down the stairs and I get myself healed up and stock up on bandages along with some heavier healing supplies. I managed to get a haircut, extra ammo, and a few other miscellaneous items that are necessary for long term survival while at the bazaar, I tried my best to keep Rita from spending all her money on clothes but I¡¯m pretty sure a large portion of her pack and inventory have ended up full unnecessary things. As for myself, I wound up getting a bigger backpack, a helmet, and had a my vest repaired, then added a couple of pouches. They weren¡¯t as big as my inventory, but it was enough to hold all the extra mags and loose ammo I bought. I also traded the site off my scope for a combo red-dot, Marksman optic.
-EQUIPMENT- -Titan Combination optic > 4X Marksman scope with top mount 1X red-dot optic. - Quality ¨C Above average.
-EQUIPMENT- -Raven tactical vest > Quick release tactical vest with molle weaving, includes two 2x2 weight-null pockets. -Quality > Average.
-EQUIPMENT- -Low profile tactical helmet > Helmet has two slots for enhancements. -Quality > Above average -ENHANCEMENTS- -0/2
I blew everything I had on my new gear and supplies, someday I was going to have extra money. I really wish I could have gotten an enhancement, but the one¡¯s I wanted costed more than all the equipment I bought combined. After getting to the mission room, and paying the fifty EXP apiece for a combined mission. We decided to upgrade our communication abilities. After the upgrade, we plan what we¡¯re going to do, Rita thinks it would be a good idea to stick together, but with the upgraded communications we¡¯ll be able to tell the other where we are on the map, and talk at will so I tell her we should split up, there¡¯s a bonus objective to finish within a time frame. The last time I completed it was a nice chunk of EXP. We decide to compromise and jump closer, within twenty-miles of one another. I¡¯m not sure what happened in her last mission, but she seems pretty shook up still. I take a quick look at the mission profile as Rita goes about checking her gear.
-MISSION- -A fellow survivor has located a group of locals. He needs someone to assist by performing reconnaissance for a new stronghold. -This is an open-ended mission, the originator of the assignment will verify what coordinates fit his, and his people¡¯s needs. -This mission should be completed within a two-week time-window. -REWARDS- -Mission completion > +600(+) EXP (The originator is a SYSTEM verified friend, and has listed you as a preferred option.) (This mission has no fail parameters, as such, EXP will be decided on defensibility, location, and time per submission)
I seal my jumper and head out. On my way into my target zone I review what I had planned. I¡¯m going to be landing in a wooded area about twenty-miles north of where Rita dropped. The map looked like it had a few empty roads and what looked like an empty campground next to a lake. Probably an out of use summer camp, I guess I¡¯ll know in a moment. I let her set her coordinates and go first, the area she chose to jump to looks like it¡¯s safer than the one I¡¯m going to be in. She¡¯ll be in a rural area so I don¡¯t think things can go too bad. After Rita is out I key in my preferred drop zone and get to it. The second the portal opens I can immediately see that the sun is much lower than it was when she jumped must be some kind of time dilation inside the rift, I¡¯m guessing we missed synchronization on the options. Probably cost more EXP, it is what it is I guess. Once I''m dedicated to my zone and too close to change course I see a lot of movement down below, I need to notify Rita, who knows if she has started this way or not, and with our enhanced bodies she could make twenty-miles in a few hours if she pushed it. I open my options and initiate a voice contact.
-message- Rita: The shit Gnome, I tried to call you for hours. I¡¯m headed towards your drop-zone, probably about three-miles out if I¡¯m reading the map right.¡± Shit. Daniel:Stop where you are and hold in place, the camp is crawling with patrols of people. I¡¯m not sure if they are friendly, I¡¯m not even on the ground yet, but I¡¯m pretty much going to end up in the center of camp at this point. So, if I go grey and can¡¯t answer either move back to your original location, or push out to check another that we have marked closer.¡±
I was a bit nervous at this point I could see them looking up at me. Initiating my fall-safe I immediately go vertical and put my hands up in the universal gesture of ¡®I come in peace¡¯, no-one tries to shoot me out of the air, so that¡¯s good. By the time I¡¯ve landed there are about twenty-people with guns out fanned out around me. I¡¯ll give it to them they are covering me in an L formation so they aren¡¯t going to shoot one another, someone here¡¯s got some brains. No-one is talking as a set me feet on the ground and immediately kneel with my hands up, ¡°Don¡¯t shoot, I¡¯m not here to hurt anyone, and I don¡¯t want a fight, or an execution I guess.¡± I point to my mask ¡°I¡¯m going to pull this off, I don¡¯t look like you, but I¡¯m not a bad guy. I look around waiting for an affirmative before I do anything. Most of the people around me look to be younger, probably somewhere in their late teens, possibly low twenties for a few. Guess the camp wasn¡¯t unoccupied. ¡°Is there someone here, a leader? Somebody in charge, the mask doesn¡¯t hurt but it does make breathing and communication a bit of a problem.¡± I¡¯m starting to sweat under the mask, no one is talking, they don¡¯t necessarily look aggressive, but they haven¡¯t wavered one bit in their aim. ¡°Nessa is on her way, once she gets here you can talk to her. We¡¯ve already killed two of your friends who said the same thing.¡± The kid talking is wearing a name-tag, Brennan. He¡¯s young, but he looks like he¡¯s one of the older ones in the group, I¡¯d give him 20 years on the top end, but not a day more. ¡°It¡¯s all right Brennan, the closest friend I have is miles away. I can wait for Nessa, is she in charge?¡± I want to make sure they understand that I may be alone here but I¡¯m not completely alone. I don¡¯t want them to feel threatened, well, maybe a little threatened they are pointing guns at me. A girl who looks like she is in her late twenties shows up. She¡¯s wearing a full tactical get-up, pants, vest, helmet, looks like she¡¯s wearing a combat shirt too, Kryptek my favorite color. She¡¯s about my height kneeling, which would put her on the lower end of most humans, I can see some loose strands of dark red hair hanging down from under her helmet. She has a lighter shade of green eyes that look like they want to almost be blue, her face is a healthy oval shape, with a severe nose and plump lips set in a flat line. The second she sees how tall I am on my knees her gun comes up pointing at my head ¡°Name.¡± straight to the point I see. ¡°And pull off the jumper, slowly, if you move your hand in any direction then your face you die.¡± I¡¯m a little surprised she knows I¡¯m wearing a jumper, but I guess it makes sense ¡°Daniel, I¡¯m not here to fight, or die. I was just doing some recon in the area and you guys were on my point of interest.¡± I slowly move my right hand and pull my jumper off. Getting a look at my face she blows out a relieved breath. ¡°Hep thought you would choose this area ¡®practical¡¯ he said, he has to stay with his charges or mess up his initial mission. There on the way here already. I think you¡¯ll get partial credit for the mission. I found it, but If you put in these coordinates as a drop zone before seeing it the system will give you extra points.¡± ¡°I¡¯m really glad we cleared that up, any way you can tell your people that I¡¯m friendly?¡± no one has lowered their guns and I didn¡¯t fail to notice the tightening fists on guns. ¡°Yes, sorry, Hel-spawn have shown up basically on top of us a few times now. Hep¡¯s got enemies. Sabotaging his world has been on more than a couple of lists for years.¡± She points at her friends, he¡¯s alright guys, this is Daniel, he¡¯s a friend of the guy who sent me. He¡¯s not going to cause any trouble.¡± They look reluctant, I don¡¯t think Nessa has the level of control I thought she did. ¡°All right guys, I¡¯m going to put my mask away. I¡¯ll leave my weapons away, I just need to have a conversation with Nessa I¡¯d prefer to do it without guns pointed at me.¡± I¡¯m getting pissed. I¡¯ve shown good faith here, I haven¡¯t overtly threatened anyone, Hell, for me this is down-right cordial. ¡°How do we know he¡¯s not he- ¡° ¡°Shut the fuck up kid. If I wanted to kill you I would have waited for nighttime and dropped right into the lake, all your patrols are around the outside. With my level of skill and training I could have ghosted through and killed most, if not all non-combatants. Then I would have picked off your patrols, I¡¯m not someone fresh to war, and more importantly I¡¯m not someone new to infiltration. I was crawling to hide¡¯s and shitting in ditches dug next to me in the sand before you even got into high-school.¡± I¡¯m the mother-fucking king of eloquence. The kid looks like he¡¯s ready to shoot me. ¡°look man, I get it, I¡¯m different. I¡¯m scary to look at. I used to be a human though, like I said before I¡¯m not here for a fight. I¡¯m here for the same reason as Nessa; I was invited. How much do they know Nessa?¡± ¡°If your asking do they know Hep is on his way with more survivors yes.¡± Good she¡¯s smart enough to keep them informed. Judging by her manner either police officer, or military, well, ex-police officer or military. ¡°good, we don¡¯t have to be friends. We don¡¯t even have to like one another, but unless you¡¯re going to pull that trigger I¡¯m going to be here for a few days. Knowing what I know now I¡¯m going to assume the infiltrators you killed were the forerunners. Probably here for recon because this is an almost perfect spot to hole up. Because those people never reported back, or in, the enemy is going to know where we are. Now, do you want to fight me to the end of this, or can we get on long enough for me to shore up the defenses?¡± Nessa is giving me a speculative look. I¡¯m positive she is judging my sanity. Holstering her gun and looking to the kid she says ¡°I¡¯d trust him, even if you kill him he can come back. The way Hep talks about him I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he had an open invitation to come whenever he wanted. If anything, he¡¯ll do a better job than what he says; For people like us this is a paying gig, the better we do the better our rewards.¡± She shrugs at Brennan and walks away. ¡°I guess we can get along for a few days. I¡¯m sorry man, the world went to shit a day or two ago and now things are nuts-o, ya¡¯ know?¡± I didn¡¯t think he had any malice in him, he¡¯s just a scared kid, I¡¯m happy I didn¡¯t have to hurt him to prove my point. Once he lowers his gun I can feel the tension leave my body. I put the jumper into my inventory, and move to follow Nessa. ¡°No worries boss, I¡¯m not here to horn into your territory. God knows I¡¯m a shitty leader, but I¡¯m hell in a scuffle, and that¡¯s what you people are going to need. Honestly, I¡¯ll probably spend most of my time outside of the camp, I do most of my best work alone.¡± I follow Nessa into what looks like a dining hall as the kids and young-adults in the area disperse back to whatever they were doing. ¡°All right miss Nessa, I¡¯ve got a friend a few miles out, but probably closer. If you can call your people and let them know she¡¯s coming, her name is Rita, she¡¯s Australian. I honestly don¡¯t know her capabilities so if your people fire on her she might kill them.¡± She points to one of the kids following her around and tells her to send runners to the guards. ¡°Now on to business. I am not interested, in the least, in taking over whatever you have going on here. I¡¯ll tell you now most of my skills run in small teams, and counter ops. I can probably give you some help in shoring up defenses, and placing traps where you can¡¯t but I don¡¯t have the mental acuity to lead, or organize a group of this size.¡± She¡¯s shaking her head the whole time. ¡°Hep said you were ex-military, that you were a sergeant, I figured you¡¯d want this as soon as you got here. I only took it because I found these kids, and no one else was here. It¡¯s a summer camp, most of these people haven¡¯t even broken twenty-five years old yet, and many them are in their mid-teens. I don¡¯t even LIKE kid¡¯s man.¡± Her look is almost beseeching ¡°are you sure you can¡¯t take over, most of my skills run parallel to yours, I was Diplomatic security at the embassy in Juarez before I joined Valhalla. And I¡¯d only been doing that for about a year, we¡¯d get in gun fights with the cartel, and run a few ops but most of my base is theory and bush craft I learned growing up.¡± I feel sorry for her, but this is the world now. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to suck it up till Hep gets here, Rita used to be in some kind of job that had her dealing with people and traveling. Between the two of you I¡¯ll bet this place will be just fine. Speaking of I should shoot her a message to not kill these kids.¡±
-MESSAGE- Daniel: Hey, they''re friendly. The leader here is an acquaintance of Heps. Don¡¯t hurt anybody if you don¡¯t have to, most of them are just kids. Rita: Ok I¡¯m a mile or so out. I¡¯ll start making my way in.
¡°Alrighty, she¡¯s on her way in, I told her not to hurt any kids.¡± ¡°What do you plan to do? You sound an awful lot like you plan to go off and get into something.¡± She seems a bit jealous. ¡°I¡¯m going to go hunting. If whomever sent those scouts isn¡¯t already on their way, then they are certainly in the vicinity. Shoot me an add for your friends list if you don¡¯t mind and I¡¯ll head out.¡± A decidedly jealous look crosses her face. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what, if Rita is comfortable with it and you can get your people to listen to her shoot me a message and I¡¯ll come back for you. If we¡¯re going to be working together we should get to know one another.¡± ¡°I bet you try to get to know all the girls.¡± ¡°Nothing wrong with making a few friends, I¡¯m a growing daemon after all.¡± I wince, that was weak and we can both see it. As she tries to cover her laugh I decide to try and redeem myself. ¡°Is there a place I can drop some gear, I¡¯ll make more time if I¡¯m lighter.¡± Pointing she says ¡°Over there next to my black bag, no-one will mess with it. Good luck.¡± I gotta get out to the woods before I get myself in trouble. (CH-9) No cure for the weak.

I¡¯ve been out in the woods every night for the last three days, me and Nessa have been taking turns running silent patrols. Rita has taken over as command and control, she used to be an organization consultant for fortune 500 companies. She¡¯s very good at it, and great with the kids. She¡¯s got everything organized so we have less holes and she has started putting them to work tearing down a couple of the old barns and using them to build fences around the housing portion of the camp. The campers have killed a good number of monsters in the last few days, mostly some goblins and zombies, there were a few orcs. They wanted us to just take care of them for us, but we decided they need to do it themselves. They¡¯re going to have to learn how the world works now, and people who can¡¯t kill something that wants to kill them need to be ferreted out quick, having a liability in a life or death situation almost always ends badly The camp is a decent size, but we have pulled everyone back to the councilor living area, it¡¯s about half a mile back from the main road, and the only obvious way in or out of the camp. I made a command decision there. The councilors that were left wanted to put everyone inside the chow hall, but it¡¯s indefensible, it¡¯s probably the oldest standing building in this place and it¡¯s made from thin wood. Someone could just push through a wall and run roughshod through everyone. I¡¯m stalking someone in the woods now, buying my racial traits had upgraded my eyes and ears to actual elf equivalent so my life has gotten much easier. I can¡¯t see perfect in complete dark, but low light situations are about as bright as an overcast day. The only real problem here is that I¡¯m convinced the people who have been following the trail I¡¯m on have the same advantage. The one¡¯s we¡¯ve managed to get eyes on have been Hel-spawn. Nessa thought she¡¯d seen something on a rock-face across the lake and I figured I would check it out. Once I got up here I could see that there is a clear trail to and from a cleared spot under some bushes at the top. Whomever is coming up there has the basic idea of how to build and maintain a hide, but they lack the nuance of someone who has real world practice so I¡¯m hoping they are less prepared for me then I am for them. Back to the task at hand, I¡¯ve gotta stop these damned tangents. I¡¯d followed the trail to the top and found the hide empty, it looked like they had tried to cover it so I decided to follow their trail out and see if I could find their camp. Best case scenario they don¡¯t send anyone out to the hide, worst case they do and I go around them and hope they don¡¯t double back for some reason. It¡¯s the way things are though. After about half a mile the trail becomes much more pronounced, like they didn¡¯t think they needed to hide it anymore. I can¡¯t help but smirk at that, now I don¡¯t even need to be on the trail to follow it, there are broken branches and signs everywhere. I decide that¡¯s my move, I move far enough away that I can follow the trail and start stalking down the side. I refuse to make the mistake these people are. Maybe they¡¯re not guarding the trail, but I would. The trail eventually moves into a ravine and snakes around next to a shallow creek. Following it from the woods I can see some light deep-set into a saddle in side of the creek, it¡¯s a decent spot. It¡¯s on an offshoot of the creek, there are trees all around the lip of the creek so it¡¯s almost like a woodland cove. the walls of the creek around it are too high, and sheer to climb in without being noticed and they slope up some so that if they were attacked from above they could just hug the walls. The only real problem I can see with it is that there aren¡¯t any egress points. But for where it is there might be a cave or something in the back.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: I found their camp. It¡¯s a well thought out spot. I¡¯m going to send you the coordinates on the map before I go try to scope it out. Nessa: Roger that. I¡¯d rather you not went near them at all, but we need intel on them. Don¡¯t get in too deep, if they know we¡¯ve found them they¡¯ll just move. Gnome: You got it, I have no intention of doing anything other than looking.
I move around towards the top of the ridge over their camp. Deciding the best course of action is to just get into a crawl and move that way I get down on my stomach and only move in slow motion. Getting close to the top of the overhang I start running into traps more often. Most just look like fishing line heading towards the camp, probably meant to not be noticed and alert the people inside. I do come across a few bear-traps, it¡¯s almost painful for me to leave them behind moving these just a few feet either way could pull some of their resources to heal wounded. I leave them though, I don¡¯t know if the traps have failsafe¡¯s and I¡¯d rather not find out. It takes me a little over half an hour to get to a point where I can look down into the camp, luck was on my side this time. I managed to find some brambles that were thick enough that most people wouldn¡¯t have went into them. I carefully made my way inside. There was just enough bush that I could look over the edge and make out about ninety percent of their camp. Counting them out I could see fourteen human shapes around their fire, they had tried to bury it, but didn¡¯t consider that the light was bouncing off the back walls, or maybe they were confident? I really hope they are stupid, and not confident. Confidence means numbers, and numbers are bad. Me and Nessa can probably account for two-three each if we get the drop on them, and their grouped. Rita can probably take another couple if she is in a good position. If we count the campers, we can probably calculate out to one enemy per six to seven campers. And that is a hopeful estimate. Looking down into their camp I can see nine drow elves grouped together near the flames, I can¡¯t [Identify] any of them, so I assume they are the incursion force from Hel. I roll back up on the edge and message Nessa telling her I have eyes on nine, but there are probably a couple of groups watching our camp, and if there smart a couple on guard that I can¡¯t see. She sends a message back but I ignore it, I¡¯ve seen enough here. If this group mobilizes were all dead. The camp is about as good as worthless at this point now anyways. Even if we kill these guys another incursion force will be here, and another. From what Hep has told me he has made enemies during incursions, and arena battles. Some of them much higher level than him, and all of them vindictive.
-MESSAGE- -Gnome: Hey man, sorry to bother you but we have a developing problem. There are at least 10 of these guys, there¡¯s no way we can take the one¡¯s here. Even if we can they¡¯re just going to keep coming back. This camp is compromised. -Hep: Fuck. You¡¯re sure? It¡¯s a perfect location, and were only another two days out. -Gnome: yeah man, even if we wipe these guys the position is notable on a map. It¡¯s why me and Nessa both came here. It¡¯s why these guys are here checking; the spot is blown. Best case scenario we cause some havoc at their camp and move the kids in the confusion. Worst case, they decide to mobilize and the camp fights from a dug in position. -Hep: godamn it. I guess we make a move then. I need those kids, there aren¡¯t many resources as important as our youth at this point. Fuck man, what¡¯s you thought, I¡¯ll back whatever your play is. -Gnome: I don¡¯t like it, but I think the best play is to wait for them to start moving and I hit them hard as they move out. They¡¯re not going to be paying attention leaving their own camp, and one of the only entrances is through a rocky creek, the sides are high, and almost impossible to climb. -Hep: If you can hem them in the possibility of holding them in place is high then? -Gnome: Yes. It leaves me no exit strategy though, best case at that point is that they are all moving out when I hit them. Worst is that they have sentry¡¯s out and they come and hold me down while the main force attacks. Either way my odds of survival aren¡¯t high. -Hep: I hate to bring it up, but the system rewards self-sacrifice like that. I¡¯m not going to tell you to do it, I¡¯ll let that be your call. But for me the cost vs reward is high if you can hold them down. -Gnome: Alright man. I¡¯ll sit tight and wait for them to make a move, once they start talking about acting I¡¯ll move to an ambush point and do some damage. Make sure the others know my plan. I¡¯ll keep them informed where I can. -Hep: Thanks brother, I owe you one. -Gnome: Let me mesh my rift with yours and we¡¯ll call it even. -Hep: You got it man, I was going to ask if you were interested. You¡¯ll have the option to skip System initiation night if you want, but I¡¯d do it then we can set them to synch up. It¡¯s going to cost a hefty amount of EXP but it¡¯ll be worth it. -Gnome: We¡¯ll talk more about it later, I gotta get in the mindset for what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯ll talk to you later boss. -Hep: Stay safe.
Guess I¡¯m going to be sitting tight for a while. I guess it¡¯s time to plan my ambush point, so that I know where I¡¯m going once these guys kick out. Spending the next couple of hours with my attention decided between the camp below and my map I almost miss a couple of the roving guards who walk past talking about how they are going to move out en¡¯ masse in a few hours. Shit, I really thought I would be here for days.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: They are moving in a couple of hours, keep an eye out for some of them over there. Don¡¯t tell any of the kids, but start moving around complaining about food and stuff being on the ground. Call it sloppy, do what you have to get them ready to move without alerting your watchers. Rita: Hep filled us in, are you sure about this? Nessa: It seems like an unnecessary risk. Gnome: I¡¯m not going to discuss it, I¡¯m doing it. Act like you have a few hours at most, they will probably try to attack in the hours closest to dawn, and if they decide to move fast they can be there within 20 minutes. Get yourselves ready, don¡¯t message me again I need to move without distraction.
I hate being second guessed, especially when I really don¡¯t want to be doing what I¡¯m doing. I am terrified of what is about to happen. Respawning takes the edge off, but it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m not about to die a horrible painful death. Point of the matter is, I¡¯d rather not, but I¡¯m gonna go anyways. I take some time getting back to the position I started from, I can see that some of the traps have been pulled up, the cheaper one¡¯s are in the same place. I can hear them losing discipline as they break camp, If I booby-trap the ravine, and time it right I can probably ace three or four in the initial. After I make the decision there aint nothing to it, but to do it. Setting the traps, and building a semi-hidden defensible position takes me the better part of two nerve-wracking hours. I¡¯m at cold sweats by the time I hear them start moving out. I check that my four lines are tied to the sticks I have them set to, check that my overly expensive wireless detonator is armed, and message the others to let them know I¡¯m going to start the party. It takes another ten-minutes for the group to start walking through my kill-zone. Here. We. Go. The first two walk past the grenades I have set up on line, and I pull the pins. I can see they look confused as to what the sound is for a second before the four grenade¡¯s I had set up in a rectangle behind rocks blow up and turn them into red-jelly. I before the next two in the column can react I start putting rounds into the ravine. I¡¯d love to kill them all, but realistically I just need to keep them here either until I¡¯m dead, or Rita gives me an all clear. There isn¡¯t enough cover for more than one person near the group and a few of them are fighting over it, I shoot the cover and most of them start falling back. I can hear the one I¡¯d pegged as the leader yelling at them to assault into the ambush. It¡¯s a good tactic, it would have been my move. Too bad they don¡¯t know where I am. I¡¯m keeping most of my shots to when I hear someone yelling, or just after the blast¡¯s. I wait for most of them to fall back and hold position. I can see the leader of the group get in solid cover and his eyes glaze over. Probably calling someone in, or ordering the attack. I¡¯d order the attack on the camp. Now¡¯s a good a time as any. I draw a line on the leader and pray to Odin I set my scope right. Pulling the trigger, the bullet hits him just above the clavicle and down at an angle through his throat and into his chest. He¡¯s as good as dead now, I hope I acted fast enough to curtail his message though.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I pull the second string and the single grenade I had put under the far side of the only front cover goes off. It¡¯s impressive to say the least, the elf must have been set square on it. There is an eruption of leaves, dirt, and gore into the air. His body comes down and the top right arm is draped over the rock, there is a chunk missing from just under the shoulder down to the hip. A few other holes can be seen, but I don¡¯t have time for that. The whole troupe is panicking. This is the best-case scenario, I couldn¡¯t have asked for anything better. If I could ex-fil now would be the time. I wait around for a second hoping that I get the message, but I¡¯m not that lucky today. After a few minutes behind cover they send another guy out to rush the front cover. He¡¯s firing blind in almost every direction, I wish I had the money to blow ammo like that. He hunkers down behind the rock with a look of utter fear on his face, like he¡¯s sure his comrades sent him to die. I can¡¯t help but giggle a little at it. Pulling the third string on my little trap gallery my smile gets even bigger. I had set two grenades about 5 feet in front of the rock. The explosion throws more dirt and leaves into the air, and I take another shot at the guy in cover. I had decided earlier that I would put my Hide further off from the edge, it gives me a lot less leeway on the far side of the ravine, and gives them cover if they find me, but that¡¯s only if they are organized enough to find me. I take another deep breath and shoot the guy up front in the leg before the dirt settles. I don¡¯t want him dead, I want him as a panicky reminder that moving forward is a horrible Idea, full of only death and pain. A few of the ones in the back think they are smart and that they¡¯re going to move back to camp, like I hadn¡¯t thought of that. It¡¯s the only ace I have though, so I hope they only had one ex-fil set up. I turn the key and push the button. There is an explosion near the top center of the ravine setting off 2 full pounds of C-4 that I had dug into a shallow hole. The rear rock wall of where their camp used to be crumbles from the edge and crashes down sending a wave of dust and dead forest in our direction. That was my one big trick right there, and it was expensive, so I hope it was worth it. The people left look confused, and they should be. In the matter of a couple of minutes I killed four of their friends and left another one bleeding out screaming.
-MESSAGE- -Rita: We¡¯re clear. Six of their people broke into our camp and killed a bunch of guards and kids, probably somewhere around forty before we took them down. It looks like it was targeted, most of the people who died were the older ones we¡¯re out now though and headed towards the rendezvous with Hep. Meet us if you can, good luck.
Goddamn it, my hands clench and I must close my eyes to ride out the pressure in my chest. The heat from my rage makes the morning chill non-existent. They all die, If I have to sit here for the year and wait for them to run out of food and die of starvation I¡¯ll consider it well worth the effort. Me and the dunces in the ravine have been at a stand-still for about twenty minutes now, I could have left after I got the message, but the longer these guys are in place the less chance they have of tracking my group when I hear someone trying to be sneaky while coming at me from my north-east. Fuck, I guess the jig is up. Time for my last party favor. I wait until I can hear the scuffling from just off to the side of the two trees on my blind side and pull the chord. Another eruption of dirt and leaves happens, this time I hear the scream, and see pieces of another elf coming at me through the air. I roll over and a large piece of what looks like a chest with an arm attached slams through my cover. I guess that¡¯s my que. I aim toward where the group below is and dump the entire mag in their vicinity to keep their heads down. Breathing heavily, I sprint in the direction my last trap went off in. Between the effort of keeping my rage in check, and the adrenaline I¡¯m having a hard time keeping the sweat out of my eyes. Getting up the hill takes more energy than I would have expected, its much steeper when your sprinting. My new position involved me moving around and above the near side of the creeks lip, so that I am slightly behind the last of the trash. It¡¯s a bit of a gamble from here once I attack they might make it out of the area, but I¡¯ll hunt them down. I get set behind a large rock sticking a few feet above the ground. My heightened concentration causes the sounds of the wood grain scraping into place sound like someone has started a chain-saw. Calming down, wiping my brow I take a deep breath and put my eye up to the scope. From here I have a good view of the remaining four, five if you count the one screaming. Two of them are sitting next to each other on the opposite side, slightly under some overhanging roots. One is trying to crawl to his hurt friend, and the other is looking in my general direction a little behind the ones under the roots. I¡¯m going to need to kill the one looking in my direction first, then the one on the ground, the two crowded together will probably stick together. One last breath. Sitting the chevron inside my sight onto the chin of the one looking in my direction, I hold my breath at the apex and lightly squeeze the trigger. I pull harder than I mean to and my shot drifts high and to the right. It still takes him in the side of the face sending bone fragments and blood soaring through the air. Sighting on the one crawling, he¡¯s turned over and raised up a bit to see where the shot came from. The only way he could have presented better were if he had walked up and pointed the barrel right at his face, I need him alive though. I don¡¯t think the first one I shot is going to make it, his screams have quitted to whimpers. Begrudgingly I lower the barrel and snap off two shots into his lower legs, one smashing his left knee and sending him rolling over and screaming. The other catches him in the meat of his right thigh ripping a chunk out and turning it into red mush that sits on the ground feet from the owner. The last two finally get the idea that they are not in a good place, and turn to start firing on my position. I drop to my stomach behind the rock and slide to the right side poking my barrel through a bush that is growing next to the rock. Training the rifle on the left-most one I start lobbing rounds at him. I manage to put three into his chest armor and another bounces off his helmet putting him on the ground unconscious. The other had retreated towards the camp after the last round of shooting, I¡¯d rather hunt him in there then in the open woods, so that¡¯s going for me. Waiting a few moments, I can¡¯t hear anything but the screaming guy and his whimpering friend, I can¡¯t let them sit too long, they might have advanced healing items or magic, you never know here. The rage I had warming me up before has cooled to a dull simmer and thinking is much easier. I get into a crouch and slowly circle around and to my right side trying to keep the people in the creek in sight while holding cover. After making it back to the lip I realize my mistake. There isn¡¯t much cover for them to get out, but there isn¡¯t much cover for me to get in either. I¡¯ve got a plan, but it¡¯s a long shot. Taking a deep breath, I begin to sprint at the only cover there is: A rock covered with blood and body of the dead elf I exploded. I make it about ten feet from my cover before rounds start coming at me. I crouch and try to speed up, I¡¯m pretty much running with my feet and one hand. I slam my back into the rock. My breath is coming fast and heavy, the calm I had cultivated a few minutes ago, shattered in the last five second run to my position. I peek out from the side of my rock and empty the last of the mag into the whimpering dark elf. At this range I can¡¯t help but notice he looks like a kid. Maybe seventeen, the snot and tears on his face running rivulets down his cheeks. I decide the best thing I did for him at this point is put him out of his misery. He¡¯ll respawn in whatever realm he came from, mentally scarred but probably not much worse for wear physically. The elf at the other end of the ravine is getting better, in the time it took me to put his friend down he managed to put a few rounds off the rock right next to my face. Time for that hail-Mary I was talking about. I pull the silver cylinder out of my inventory rear back and lob it in the direction of the remaining enemy screaming ¡°Fire in the hole!!¡± It arcs perfectly it¡¯s going to land right next to him, he notices the same thing I do, snagging his gun and sprints in the opposite direction. Before the cylinder even hits the ground I¡¯m up and sprinting in his direction as fast as I can passing the bottle of juice I¡¯d peeled a label off of I can¡¯t help but smile to myself. Today has been a lucky one, more experienced fighters might have noticed it wasn¡¯t shaped like a grenade. He¡¯s stopped behind an overturned camp table ¡°That table isn¡¯t thick enough guy, my bullets will rip right through it. Come out and let¡¯s have a chat.¡± ¡°why don¡¯t you just finish it? I¡¯m not going to give you information, and I have no idea what a monster like you would do to me if I surrendered.¡± I¡¯m surprised, it¡¯s a female¡¯s voice. Doesn¡¯t change much, I¡¯m still going to end her, her people killed children. That¡¯s a big no-no where I come from. ¡°I¡¯m not going to rape, or torture you. If you give me information on your friends I¡¯ll kill you quick though. What¡¯s your name? I¡¯m Gnome. I¡¯m not a monster, your people killed children in that camp, the fact that I have killed most of you so fast is a mercy.¡± ¡°Eat shit, Dominic would never let the group kill children. We¡¯re not that kind of vicious.¡± She sounds like she wants to believe what she is saying, but her conviction isn¡¯t as strong as it could be. ¡°I know that Hel-spawn aren¡¯t inherently evil, I understand you guys just grew up on a separate planet from mine or whatever, but that guy ordered your forward group to enter our camp and kill the people there. Most of those were kids.¡± I¡¯m pointing at the dead leader off to the side, his face is smashed in and his brains and blood are pooling inside the helmet he was wearing. ¡°My name is Lena I used to think that they wouldn¡¯t do such a thing, but the last couple of missions have been brutal, I¡¯m pretty sure a few of the new people in the group might have been raping our captives. I don¡¯t know anymore. I¡¯ve been with Dominic for a few months now, he invited me into the merc guild. Are you sure you should kill me? I can just walk away, I will wait until my timer runs out and step into my portal. You¡¯ll never see me again.¡± At the end of the last sentence she sticks her hands up and peeks her head out. Her face under her helmet is an ashy-grey color. Purple-eyes set above a short sever nose, with her mouth set in a flat resolute line, from here I can see that she has tear streaks down her face. I could take her out now, but I think she might be telling the truth, and I¡¯m a softy for a pretty face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I do have to kill you Lena. You might be telling the truth, but I¡¯ve known you for minutes. Would you do any differently in my position? I promise I¡¯ll make it quick though, regardless of if you give me information or not. I¡¯m going to suggest you do some information gathering and quit your guild though.¡± A thought occurs to me,¡± Have you ever considered defecting? I don¡¯t know how ensconced you are in Hels realm, but I¡¯m betting Odin would take you in.¡± The world comes to a pause and it feels like I¡¯m being ripped out of my body, my face and neck muscles tighten into a grimace and I cannot even open my mouth enough to scream in pain. After a few seconds the pain lessens and I¡¯m left lying in the dirt panting and drooling underneath my own body. ¡°Your progressing down a path you have no information on.¡± I fight my head to the side and see a tall man in a set of dark brown traveling leathers shooting a frown in my direction. ¡°Fuck man, that hurt. Couldn¡¯t we have just had a discussion without the pain?¡± I spit on the ground and realize that I had bitten into my cheek and my mouth is bleeding. ¡°Who are you anyways?¡± ¡°I am Vidar. I could have pulled you in a less painful manner, but you have irked me. Asking someone to defect isn¡¯t wrong, per se, but it¡¯s something usually reserved for priest¡¯s and such. Do you understand the implications of that girl defecting to Odin¡¯s realm? One single soul, from one single world can upset the balance for the entire interdimensional conglomerate. There are avenues that must be taken, things that must be done in a specific order. You are messing with the very nature of how things operate.¡± He seems pretty upset about this, How the hell was I supposed to know? It wasn¡¯t like there was some help guide. ¡°Look, Vidar, I¡¯m sure I¡¯m not the first to do this. I never heard anything against it, so there¡¯s got to be a precedent. Besides, I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll go for it. I was just trying to butter her up so that she doesn¡¯t fight it when I put a hot piece through her dome.¡± ¡°regardless of your intentions she is not only thinking of defecting to Valhalla, she is considering doing it with a request to be in your camp. If, or when, she decides to do that she will bey your ward. Anything she does will reflect back on you for the entirety for her indenturement.¡± That sounds like a slavery thing. ¡°Like, indentured slavery?¡± ¡°Precisely. If she decides to take her request to the system you will both be prompted to make a decision. You will effectively become her owner. There are a few drawbacks on your end, you don¡¯t just gain a slave. All her food, clothing and equipment will fall on you. Any mistreatment will be registered by the System and you will be penalized for it. That covers most of the issues you really need to know about. If she takes her request to one of the Valkyrie counterparts in Hels domain, you will have a decision to make. I only tell you this because a System flag was raised at her level of interest in your offer, there is a high chance that she is going straight to a higher power and making the request when she gets back if you do not talk her out of it.¡± Fuck it, if she isn¡¯t enjoying her life on the other side of the fence she can come suit up with us, if she is willing to pull her weight. Of course, this changes a few things, her honesty is almost guaranteed at this point. I could probably let her escape into the woods and not have to worry about it. Vadir is giving me a dirty look. ¡°I see I cannot change your mind for this course of action, just remember, you¡¯re going to owe Hel at least a large favor, and you will be accountable for the girl¡¯s actions.¡± With that he put a finger to my forehead and I was back in my body tumbling to the ground ¡°The fuck Gnome.¡± Lena is standing behind her table again. ¡°Calm your shit, got a visit from a god there. Apparently, I made you an offer I had no idea about. If you go home and ask whatever your System equivalent of a Valkyrie is your request will most likely be granted, but you¡¯re going to wind up indentured to me for what is probably a long amount of time.¡± She closes her eyes in thought. ¡°It¡¯s better than what¡¯s going on now, but if I have to settle up for contracts I¡¯m coming over with nothing. Most of my gear is borrowed from the guild, and depending on what they ask to get out of my contract you may have to front something for me right from the start. I¡¯m not happy there, the people aren¡¯t necessarily bad, but you¡¯re the first person I¡¯ve met in months who hasn¡¯t treated me like shit.¡± Well I guess that¡¯s decided, if she isn¡¯t happy there I¡¯ll do what I can. Having someone pretty much guaranteed to help me is not a bad deal either. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll agree to whatever terms get set, and you¡¯ll owe me a favor for it, but I will expect you to pull your weight when you come. Another thing on top of that, I¡¯m not going to kill you. I don¡¯t know how much time you have until you can terminate your mission and go through your portal but spend it considering whether you want to do this or not. I¡¯m not a bad guy, I¡¯m not going to force you into situations you tell me you are uncomfortable with. But I expect the same in return.¡± I might regret this decision, but we¡¯ll see I¡¯ve got a good feeling about it. ¡°all right, one last thing. Your friends how many were on this run with you? Were you guys just the forerunners? Can you disclose positions?¡± I can trust her information more than torture information. And I don¡¯t have to deal with the nightmares afterwards. ¡°There were fifteen altogether in our combat group, the only two not gray are me and Gleason over there. If there are other groups I don¡¯t have any information, but we were the only ones assigned to your group. Umm, I think were the forerunners I¡¯d expect there to be a larger force after we all respawned and fed the raid group information. You should get out of the area, I can¡¯t stay here either. I¡¯ll tell them I was tracking you through the woods and lost you if anyone asks¡± I¡¯ll take it. ¡°All right Lena, I¡¯ll catch you when I can, I¡¯ve got to go kill your friend and get out of the area. Wait for him to be dead before you walk past, if he sees us both calmly walking he¡¯s going to assume you turned.¡± I shake her hand and push out. Walking up to the guy screaming on the ground I steel my face ¡°Your friend managed to get away, but you¡¯re going to die. I¡¯m sorry about this it¡¯s nothing personal but you attacked innocents.¡± I pull out Hels gift and slam it into his forehead the pressure of the knife behind his eyes causes blood to squirt out of his nose. Without wasting any time, I start looting the dead elves. A couple of them had small caliber M-4¡¯s and I could use one of those like nobody¡¯s business. I don¡¯t check any of the loot as I take it I need to be out of the area fast. Backtracking down the trail to camp I make as much of a mess as I can. I¡¯m going to set some traps and set myself up for some guerilla ops for when the main raid group gets here. It should be a busy couple of days. (CH-10) Special delivery. Sitting in a hollowed out tree I felt zero remorse for the guys inside of the camp trying to figure out the mess of tracks I left. It wound up taking their raid group five-days to get into Heps rift, I had to rush through my refit day, wasn¡¯t much I could do, EXP isn¡¯t awarded until I¡¯ve either died, or completed the mission. I did spend every gold I collected off of the dead one¡¯s buying stuff to set up traps though. There were trip-lines all over the route in, some of them didn¡¯t do anything, but it slowed them down. They weren¡¯t taking me seriously the first day, thought they would just blow through. Suffice it to say; they learned a little respect. I had set a whole bunch of dead-end traps that didn¡¯t set off for a solid half mile, the last one in that line was dug trench of C-4 spaced out in two foot increments that went back thirty-meters. I killed six guys with that, and wounded another fourteen. If they would have ended me there I would have called it even in an instant, no second thoughts. Unfortunately that¡¯s not where it ended, or fortunately I guess. I managed to lay a metric fuck-ton of false trails, most of them lead either directly back to the lake, or to traps. I had taken to running attacks on their patrols during the early hours of morning, today didn¡¯t turn out like I wanted it to though; their patrol was ready. I almost got caught in a trap, if one of theirs hadn¡¯t stepped into a pitfall I¡¯d set up a few days ago I¡¯d be headed back to Valhalla. It should have been obvious in hindsight though. They were pushing around the inside of the lake, in an area they had already covered. I figured they were just rechecking the ground to see if they missed anything, I was terribly wrong, they were dragging me in on purpose, whoever the leader is he¡¯s got me pegged. If I make it out of this, I¡¯m going to need to move on. He¡¯s smarter than me, every move he makes is economic, his soldiers are well disciplined, if his people weren¡¯t invading Heps rift I¡¯d want to make friendly, I might still maybe not so friendly but it¡¯d be nice to get a face to face.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: Got myself in a tight spot, might be headed for respawn soon. Either way next time we get face to face were going to have a conversation about why you have a well-organized group of mercs looking into your shit. Hep: That¡¯s fair man, I¡¯d tell you now, I¡¯ll tell you everything. The whole story, it¡¯s short but important. Especially if you want to synch your rift to mine. Gnome: I doubt I¡¯ll change my mind, these guys don¡¯t seem evil, just committed. I don¡¯t want to come off as a dick here, but, if you feed me some bullshit story and fuck me I¡¯ll haunt you for eternity. And I mean that in the most literal form there can be, I don¡¯t doubt for an instant that Hel would trade the favors I owe to move me over to her realm. Hep: She¡¯s got a pretty intense wide-on for you, you¡¯re going to have to make a move on that at one point or another. Gnome: I¡¯m not sure what kind of enhancement¡¯s I need for the kind of abuse that Hel enjoys, but if you have a list handy send it, I could live with being Hels consort as long as she didn¡¯t get jealous. Fuck gotta go, incoming patrol, if I go gray we¡¯re going to have a conversation next jump. Hep: Anything for you sweet-cheeks.
I hear a patrol coming up the trail I¡¯d come in on, their following my tracks. Shit. I¡¯m gonna have to move soon, I left a present a few meters back though. Just have to calm down, if I¡¯m too amped up to hit the trigger a claymore doesn¡¯t mean a damn thing. Closing my eyes I force myself to take even breaths. In..1¡­2¡­.3¡­out¡­1¡­2¡­3¡­in¡­1..2..3¡­out..1¡­.2¡­ SNAP- I press the trigger on the wireless remote attached to my wrist. -BTOOOOOM- the two-pounds of Symtex I planted up the path explode in a teeth-rattling blast. No time to check the aftermath. I roll out of the tree and scroll my gun around checking for targets, their patrol is fucked. At least three of them dead I can hear two others groaning in pain, if I had more time I¡¯d grab that free EXP but it looks like they didn¡¯t cinch the noose as tight as they could have. I decide against taking any shots I don¡¯t want to give away that I¡¯m actually in the area. I keep my safety off, as sweaty and twitchy as I am my finger will probably slide right the switch, I¡¯d rather not leave that much to chance. It¡¯s been a long time since I felt this much adrenaline. There¡¯s a feeling you get when you are operating at your peak, a sense of balance. Some will liken it to tiptoeing down a razors edge; their doing it wrong. My kind of rush is more akin to drifting a Ferrari, wide-out around the mountains of japan with a bottle of whiskey in one hand, and half a wheel over the edge at edge at every turn. The feeling that you only get from knowing that everything is happening too fast for rational thought; that everything exists in that instant, but that the only thing that matters is what is right in front of you. It¡¯s a beautiful thing if you ever achieve it, but the only time I¡¯ve ever felt it was on the edge of death, maybe I have some issues. I don¡¯t need your judgement. Moving towards where the patrol came from seems like the best option. Hopefully they were counting on their scouts being competent enough to not need back-up so I can just walk out behind them. Not letting the shakes I feel inside surface, I start sprinting up the scouts backtrail pushing my abused body for everything it has left I barely notice the two armored humans before I slam into the first. Knowing that in my state if I don¡¯t incapacitate or kill they¡¯re just going to catch me I use viciousness to the fullest extent that I know how. Instead of rolling into and around the first I throw my knee up and put all the force I have into a forward knee to his junk. The move catches him off guard, he had planned to just grab me in a bear-hug. There wasn¡¯t even a token defense to what I did, he makes a high-pitched noise that sounds more like a tea-kettle than anything a grown man his size should make as he falls to the ground. His friend is stunned at what just happened, not in a position for a drawn-out fight, I pull my knife and jump at him. He¡¯s quicker than his friend, he reaches for the pistol on his hip, I¡¯m faster. I reach out with my left hand, and grab his ascending wrist in a straight arm cycling it up while pushing forward with my right foot I put him slightly out of balance. In the same movement, I slide my right hand with the knife under his left hand, which had reached out to grab my throat, and into his arm-pit. Letting go of the knife I complete my step by rolling my right hand up and inside his grip to break it, and slam my right palm into his jaw, knocking him unconscious. I quickly collect my knife and keep on the direction I was going, I¡¯m spent, my breath is coming too heavy, my thoughts are panicky, and after that last engagement I¡¯m not sure I can make it out of the camp radius, much less evade these people while doing it. I¡¯m not even sure what direction my people went. I told them not to tell me because I didn¡¯t want to chance torture, it¡¯s one thing to think ¡®All I have to do is not think about it, and ignore the pain.¡¯ It¡¯s another to do that while someone is sticking sharpened sticks under your fingernails. Torture doesn¡¯t work the way most people think it does, no decent torturer is going to cause severe damage before they get the information. If your subject believes they can go back to a nominally normal life afterwards it¡¯s easier to manipulate them, that¡¯s why you don¡¯t cut whole fingers off in one go, you slice them up into little pieces like carrots on a cutting-board. Physical damage will only get you so far, every battle is fought on an emotional level. With those thoughts in my brain I can feel the shakes I had been keeping under lock start to push through to the surface. No time to deal with that, with a force of effort I can literally feel in my chest, I shove the emotional reaction to the dark place, to be forgotten and come lurking when I have time to stand with it face to face. Everything from that point always comes back to me as something like an out of body experience. Like watching a movie from the third person, my body does everything right. Reacting with split second instinct to either hide, or run. Using tactics I learned many years ago, in another life, during sniper/counter-sniper training to throw off my pursuers, the memory is just flashes here and there but the experience had to have taken hours, if not days. The only part that stick¡¯s in my mind is a point near the end where I come to laying in a creek and realize that I need to get into some concealment and manage to drag myself another three-or-so miles before I pass-out under a giant rotted log. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Sitting on my best friends porch again, the same scene as before. Whiskey on the floor next to me, fishing pole against the rail, this is how he and I spent any time we could. The only difference is the ferocity of the rain, attacking the lake with a barrage of heavy thick drops that crater the surface like explosives on a battlefield. ¡°Hel said the place you find refuge was both beautiful, and sad. I had believed it to be one of her usual over dramatic descriptions. I fear she may have under-told herself here.¡± Baldr is sitting in the chair a couple of feet away from me with his own pole and bottle of whiskey, ¡°I have been waiting for an extended amount of time now, your escape was impressive, were I you; I would hold onto it in my mind as a masterpiece. Unfortunately it is the very reason I am here. You owe lady Hel a small favor, and she is coming to collect.¡± ¡°Fucking kidding me man? I don¡¯t mean to be a dick, but if you guys wanted me to turn myself in she could have popped into my head at any time.¡± I can¡¯t help but get heated, the praise is enjoyable, but if they¡¯re going to ask me to turn myself in I¡¯m going to be pissy. ¡°Hold your anger Gnome, this is the opposite of what you are thinking, we need you to continue on this course. There is a place you need to go, and a particular human you need to capture. All of the details will pop-up in a mission window once you come out of this refuge, and back to yourself.¡± I don¡¯t know if it is the scenery, or if this is his usual demeanor is just this different outside of the purgatory area, but he looks relaxed. Calm in a way that I would not have expected from a man who sits at the side of a god as her foremost general. ¡°I will tell you now, refusing this mission will not hurt your karma in anyway, but completing it will remove the favor you owe hell, and completing it within the expressed parameters will see lady Hel owing you a favor. You would be the first in a very long time with that honor, so if you earn it, make sure you treat it as the gift it is, and not squander it.¡± The last comment is made with him looking directly into my eyes to make sure I understand how serious it is. I give him a nod of my head, ¡°I could never consider it anything else. As long as you can promise me this mission will not cripple, or break Heps rift world I will accept it. I am open to almost any kind of mercenary work, but I never work against friends.¡± Acting on a hunch I follow that with an oath, ¡°In my place of sanctuary, I request that you answer me honestly, and without misdirection¡± The rain coming down freezes in midair and begins to dully pulsate a deep gold color. Baldr gives me a funny look, then a small, honest, smile twists the side of his mouth. ¡°I accept¡± when he says it I can hear it out loud, and in the same way I have heard any of the other agreements that have been made with higher-beings so far. ¡°You¡¯re going to be interesting mister Gnome. The request that lady Hel has will not harm the rift- world, and will not be a detriment, or cause direct opposition, to the people you consider friends.¡± The rain stops it¡¯s dull pulsing and goes back to a normal heavy down-pour. ¡°Sounds good to me, I¡¯ll get on it as soon as I am rested up some.¡± ¡°I am sorry to inform you, but you must awake and go to rest anymore would put you, and the mission you are about to undertake at risk. Good luck mister Gnome, I genuinely hope you succeed. I do think I would like to sit in your sanctuary for a time? It has a calming effect on this old soul¡± ¡°Sure, feel free to stay as long as you¡¯d like. Give me a ring before you drop in next time though, I do enjoy privacy, and every occasionally; shit gets weird.¡± He nods his head, puts his hand up and makes a shooing motion. With the flick of his wrist, wake up face-first under a mushy log in the middle of the forest.
-MISSION- -Lady Hels request- -Hel has requested that you fetch a particular soul residing on this rift-world. You need to find, and escort this person to a junction point where Hel can safely extract him. -PARAMETERS- -Soul must reach the extraction point reasonably intact, and alive. -The soul does not have to be willing. -Completing this mission will dissolve one of the small favors you owe Lady Hel. -Time period for escort is four-hours. -Completing this mission within the parameters, and time-limit will put Lady Hel in your debt.
Sounds easy enough. I take a few moments to look over the information, looks like the main mission pick-up point is about sixteen miles east, and the drop-off point is a few miles north of that it¡¯s doable, and I sure-as-shit would love it for a god to owe me one. Rolling out from under the log, and brushing myself off I start in the direction I need to at a light jog. It¡¯s not usually advised to move at this speed at night, and there are easier routes if I went back to the main or side roads, but through the woods doesn¡¯t have anything other than a smaller creek, and it doesn¡¯t get any thicker than it is now, so I¡¯m hoping my map reading pays off here.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As I jog I lose myself in thought, wondering about what Kind of person a god formally requests to be retrieved? I hope I¡¯m not delivering someone to a future of endless torture. It¡¯s not going to stop me, but I might feel bad about it. Some. Maybe it¡¯s a genius engineer that she wants to add to her ranks, I guess technically this could be me making a move against Odin, but I feel like somebody would step in. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re on opposing sides. Maybe, maybe, it¡¯s a beautiful woman who wants Hel to take her soul, and ravish her for eternity, if that¡¯s the case I know where that favor is going, whether it¡¯s going to destroy my soul or not. I spend the better part of the next two and a-half hours, most of my travel time, alternating between being on high-alert worried about the space around me, and musing about what the person I am coming to pick-up is. Once I¡¯m a few miles out I decide to do slow down and recon on the area, the quickest killer is complacency after all. Within the next mile, I start seeing more and more zombies. Deciding that I¡¯m going to stick to the woods and avoid as much as possible. The town marked on the map isn¡¯t big, a general store, a little factory and a twenty, maybe thirty houses, possibly more I can¡¯t see that are on the side streets. There¡¯s an apartment building on the far-eastern side of town, but I¡¯m not even going to begin to think about looking there. It¡¯s situated at the edge of a river, next to a loch, and surrounded by trees on most sides. I might actually come back and recon this some more after my drop, it¡¯s probably not perfect, but cut down some trees and build walls on every side it could turn into a decent location. The water isn¡¯t flowing too fast, and I¡¯m betting there are other towns up and down the shores, the more I think about it the more I like it. The building I¡¯m looking for is a single-family home a couple of side-streets into town on a little side street. By the time I¡¯ve circled around the town I¡¯m left with a little over an hour to finish my task. My best bet is to follow a line of trees on a raised hill next to a park. As long as I keep to the side furthest from the general store I shouldn¡¯t be visible to anyone inside the town proper, or the zombies. Staying low and rushing from one cover to the next I make it to the back fence of the house in a matter of moments. I listen to make sure there¡¯s nothing going to jump me as soon as I hop the fence and jump over. The house is pretty nice for what it is, a yellow single-story with a tiny porch and a fraction of an acre inside the city. Sliding up next to the back-door I place my ear against it and close my eyes, listening for sounds inside. There is something making noise inside, it doesn¡¯t sound like the shuffling noises the zombies make, it sounds more like the sounds of someone whispering and moving quietly. If I have to knock someone out to carry them this is going to get loud and dangerous fast. Keeping my eyes closed I decide to listen for a few more moments ¡°I¡¯m telling you Jillian, we can¡¯t stay here were going to have to leave town one way or another. I can get to the general store and get food without dying, but we should just go. We¡¯ve pushed it enough staying here this long.¡± It¡¯s a man, he sounds like he sounds young, early-adult? Voices alone always make placing an age hard. ¡°You don¡¯t think I know that Patrick? We¡¯ve gotten lucky my Adare is such a good baby, every time he makes a sound I¡¯m afraid one of those zombie-things are going to bust into this house. What if there are other people in town, shouldn¡¯t we look for them? Aunt Hellen was still in the apartment building, I was on the phone when everything went nuts. Was she as prepared as you? Do you think she is still alive?¡± Jillian, I presume, another young one. Maybe a young family, with a new baby? No ravishing happening, I guess. We¡¯ll, maybe she¡¯ll be super thankful and her husband won¡¯t mind. I doubt that though. Steeling myself I give the door a light knock with my fingertip, in a louder whisper I talk into the door, ¡°Don¡¯t freak out, I¡¯m here to help. I can get you and your family out of town, but we need to leave now.¡± Jillian squeaks in surprise and I hear a pistol slide out of a holster. Judging by the sound I¡¯m going to say it was kydex, or plastic probably high-quality, well used. The draw was too smooth and immediate to be anything other than someone who carries, and practices on the regular. ¡°Who¡¯s there? Are you one of the neighbors?¡± I can hear Patrick trying to quietly move to the door. ¡°Stop, please. I heard you draw, and I can hear you moving. Neither of us want those zombies on us. I¡¯m not a neighbor, and you don¡¯t know me, if you whip this door open you¡¯re not going to like the outcome. I was sent here by one of the blue boxes to get one of you out.¡± The mission didn¡¯t give a description of who I needed, and if I offer to help them all their more likely to acquiesce. ¡°Why would you help us, if you don¡¯t know us?¡± I hate not being listened to. ¡°I literally just told you, I was given a mission to get you out, missions have rewards. Besides, I may not be human anymore, but I still have some compassion left.¡± I immediately regret the last part. Shit. ¡° ¡®not human anymore¡¯? You¡¯re going to have to explain that a little more before I open this door.¡± Patrick sounds agitated, I can hear the shallow breathing and throat muscle stress that comes with trying to sound calm when you¡¯re not. ¡°I was changed into an elf by something, now I run around helping people, and killing monsters. It¡¯s not the perfect life, but it¡¯s as close as I can get to righting all the wrongs I¡¯ve done in the past. I¡¯m not helping completely out of the kindness of my heart either, most would call me a mercenary, and they would be correct. I will be rewarded for the speed, and condition at which I get your family to the safe-point, so It¡¯s in my best interest to get you there quickly and safely.¡± It probably didn¡¯t put him in a direction to be best friends, but I can hear his breathing calm some. ¡°O.K. Say I believe you, how do you plan on getting us out? How long do we have to decide? Where is this safe-place?¡± Questions, questions. Fine, let¡¯s move this along. ¡°Open the door and I¡¯ll answer your questions, be warned though, don¡¯t point your gun at me. I¡¯ve got mine holstered and I will move slowly, don¡¯t freak out when you see me.¡± I take a step back and put my hands out to the side when I hear him near the door. He pulls the door open with the gun pointing out of the gap, and levels it at me. ¡°I literally just said ¡®don¡¯t point your gun at me.¡¯ That¡¯s your one bro, everybody gets one, aim it somewhere else, there¡¯s a good chance a shot from a nine-mil isn¡¯t going to take me down in the first hit and you¡¯ll be dead before a second.¡± Patrick is probably about six-foot even, a buzz-cut, wearing a pair of jeans with a flannel shirt and some cowboy-boots. He¡¯s got sandy-blonde hair, brown-eyes, and a square-jaw. My guess was right, he¡¯s probably early twenties, but he¡¯s got that 1950¡¯s look that makes it hard to place an age. I can see the shock at my appearance on his face. ¡°Alright Patrick, you¡¯ve gotten a look, keep the gun out if you have to, but point it somewhere else.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a Drow!¡± His whisper is loud, bordering on stage level. ¡°You better give me a good reason why you know that, or we¡¯re about to make a hell of a lot of noise Patrick.¡± The fact he knows there are more than one kind of elf puts me on edge, I can feel my heart speed up, and I slowly start to lower my right arm towards my pistol. ¡°I read a lot of fantasy, one of my favorite characters is a Drow. You¡¯re a bit different, he didn¡¯t have the markings, were you a slave or something?¡± I can understand that, I loved those books; carried the whole first couple of arcs of them in paperback my entire first deployment. He keeps the pistol out but lowers it off to the side, maybe he¡¯s a local cop, good instincts, good form. ¡°No, I¡¯m a Daemon Elf. More physical oriented, and I used to be human. I don¡¯t want to rush you here but I need you guys to make a decision, we¡¯ve got three miles to cover in a little under fifty-minutes. So we need to make a move.¡± As I¡¯m finishing my sentence a woman with short sandy-blonde hair steps out from around a corner to take a peek. She¡¯s probably an inch or two shorter than Patrick, bobbed hair-cut, and a rounded face. She has Hazel eyes, and a tightly wrapped baby in her arms. She¡¯s either a sister, or a close cousin. Depending on the state I¡¯m in they could be married, but I doubt it. My chances just went up. ¡°Shit, it¡¯s a baby-baby. I thought you guys were talking about a toddler.¡± After her shock of seeing me she responds, ¡°Adare is just under two-months old.¡± Damn, that¡¯s going to complicate things, I can be mad at adults for making noise, I can¡¯t get mad at a little baby-thing. ¡°Alright, we need to go. Now. Pack a bag, were going to go out the way I came in. Out the alley and through a little park. The safe place is about three-miles north. I can¡¯t give you people anymore reason to trust me then I already have, so if you¡¯re in let¡¯s go.¡± I hope they¡¯re in, because my next best option is to rush them and take the baby, it¡¯s the only guaranteed way that both are going to follow. That could get a lot uglier than I want. Patrick looks at her, ¡°I think we should go with him, grab the diaper bag and some food. We-¡° ¡°leave your food, just bring baby-stuff and a change of clothes or two, I¡¯ve got enough food for three people to survive on for at least a week, more if rationed. We shouldn¡¯t need it, but I have it.¡± Patrick nods at me. ¡°You heard him Jill. Give us a second to grab our bug-out bags and were in.¡± He turns and takes the baby while Jillian dips around the corner to grab their bags. Their ready within a couple of minutes, Godamn I love prepared people. As we get to the back fence I put my hand out ¡°Let me check the alley, don¡¯t fire your gun unless you are unable to put a knife in their skulls, or are about to get bitten. I¡¯d rather you not get into any altercations at all, but that might not be an option.¡± Without waiting for a response I open the gate a fraction and look out. Both sides of the alley are clear so I wave and move out. We make it to the end of the alley without any issues, some zombies have shifted on the street though, there¡¯s no way to get across without being seen. We are going to have to just push through. ¡°Alright, there¡¯s no way we are getting through without being spotted. Our best bet is to set out at a jog, none of them move fast and they are spread around. Just head for those trees over there. I won¡¯t leave you, but I¡¯m going to move around and kill some if they get too close.¡± I look over at Patrick, ¡°If you need to shoot here don¡¯t hit me, and make any shots count. I don¡¯t carry nine-mil so whatever you have on hand is all you have. Ready?¡± They check the straps on the baby holder to make sure he is tight, and we start moving. ¡°Keep your heads down for as long as you can.¡± We get most of the way to the trees before the first zombie spots us. We¡¯re in a position that the ones aren¡¯t going to see us from this side of the hill if we keep low. I let Patrick know to hold his fire, and put myself on the side of the hill where any Zombies might come over. It ends up being a tense five-minute walk to the woods but we make it without having to engage anything. ¡°Alright guys, we need to move as fast as we can, were pushing the time limit at this point. If you can jog with that baby, we need to jog. But we cannot stop.¡± I¡¯m hoping they take me seriously. I¡¯m going to be pissed if I don¡¯t make my deadline after what doing all the shit I did. Jill just gives me a nod and waves her hand in a ¡®lead-on¡¯ fashion. Good girl. Patrick looks a little more hesitant, ¡°I was never really good at cardio, most of my workouts are lifting.¡± Whatever, ¡°that¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll pick up a slow jog let me know if you need to slow down to catch your breath. If she thinks she can carry a baby three miles at a jog, then I¡¯m sure one of whatever-this-town-is¡¯s finest can keep up.¡± He looks a bit more determined, but I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to be able to hold up. We keep to the woods, but close enough to see the road for the better part of our movement. Once we¡¯re within three-quarters of a mile I move us out to a dirt road and we slow down to a fast walk. I wave Patrick up, and he comes up sucking air. ¡°Alright, my map says there are a few cabins up this way. I don¡¯t expect opposition since this is supposed to be safe, but in case someone pulls a gun you and your cousin need to put your hands up and do what they say. It¡¯ll take a few shots to put me down, but you and she don¡¯t have the same kind of body I do.¡± I doubt I¡¯ll run into anyone who doesn¡¯t know were coming, but it¡¯s still best to be safe. Checking my clock, I can see that we have about half an hour so we¡¯re good on time. It¡¯s probably safer to go around into the woods, but if there are people here it will look suspicious, and if there is anything else we¡¯ll see it coming through the sparse tree cover. We round a bend in the road and up ahead I can see a few things I¡¯m not a huge fan of. There is a group of four zombies meandering around up ahead. Just behind them is a T section of road, our objective is off to the right side of the turn at the end of the road. ¡°Get a little distance behind me, I¡¯m going to move up and try to take them out with a knife.¡± I motion for them to slow down some. ¡°I can help, I¡¯m trained in submissions from the academy.¡± I¡¯ll give Patrick that he¡¯s brave, but I¡¯m not risking that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry man, I need you to keep your¡­sister? And her baby safe. Stay with them.¡± Do what fishing I can while I can. ¡°She¡¯s my cousin, and the baby is my sister¡¯s, she didn¡¯t make it through the first night. Jill managed to get the baby out of the house though.¡± I almost smile, better than I hoped. ¡°Keep an eye out, once they are down come up.¡± Moving forward I pick up a few rocks and start throwing them at the zombies, if I can get them coming I can line them up. After a few minutes of maneuvering I manage to get them in a ragged line, a bit slower than the ones in town, I¡¯m betting these ones haven¡¯t killed anything for a few days at least. Holding my knife in an underhand grip I walk up and push the first zombie while slamming it into his forehead. He is dead halfway through the push and falls back onto the legs of the zombie behind him causing a domino effect, knocking them all down. Easier than I thought, I move in and slam the blade into every head. Looting them I manage to come out with about thirty coppers, and a lighter. It¡¯s not much, but I didn¡¯t really expect anything. As I finish the looting Jillian walks up ¡°What did you do there? Why were you waving around like that?¡± ¡°I looted them, the world is a lot like an RPG now. You just touch them and think about wonder if they have anything on them and a couple of windows pop-up. At least for me they do, I don¡¯t know if you have an inventory.¡± As we walk towards the last house on the road I try to explain the way her world works now, if Hel doesn¡¯t take her she¡¯s going to ask these questions. She gives me a look of clear disbelief, ¡°I feel like you¡¯re just pulling our legs here, why would the world be this way I just think ¡®Inventory¡¯ and¡­¡± she stops walking, I guess they do have inventories. ¡°And that happens. It¡¯s a brave new world Jillian, and if Baldr doesn¡¯t take you with him I¡¯ll introduce you to people who have banded together to survive.¡± I reach out and tap her arm, dipping my head towards the house to get her moving again. All the houses are on the side of a lake, the only properties opposite them are little sheds you would use to keep jet-ski¡¯s or other toys. The last house on the road is pretty much what you would imagine the lake house someone who had money would to build would be. A single story little green house, probably enough space for three or four bedrooms with the any of the amenities you would miss if you were outside of the real world. The road even has a power line with a phone line runner, I bet there would be Wi-Fi out here if the world hadn¡¯t gone bad. We¡¯ve got about five minutes until the deadline but we made it, I walk around to a gazebo behind the house where the mission marker ends out. As I start walking towards it a portal opens on the far side and Baldr steps out. ¡°You made it, I am impressed. I really thought you would get bogged down fighting the zombies. I am glad you can see other options than combat as solutions to problems, it speaks well for you.¡± That faint smile again, I¡¯m probably missing something here, but damned if I know. ¡°I require Adare. One of the other two may come as well, that is the best I can offer.¡± Jillian hands the baby off to Patrick, ¡°it¡¯s your sisters baby, you take him. You know I¡¯m bad with kids.¡± Patrick looks a little hesitant. ¡°Maybe you should take her and I will stay. I¡¯m a trained police officer, I probably have a better chance of survival.¡± Jill doesn¡¯t even wait for him to finish before she is shaking her head. ¡°Don¡¯t fight me on this, Adare will be better off with you, and I¡¯m not walking through that portal. I hated the world before, I feel like I could do well here Patrick, don¡¯t take that away from me.¡± I just stand off to the side, this is their decision to make and I don¡¯t want to taint it. Patrick closes his eyes and looks down at his feet. After a moment of thought he nods his head, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do it, but you keep yourself safe. You probably would have ruined something anyways, clumsy-ass.¡± He smiles, and takes his cousin into a hug, ¡°Thank you Jill, I will always remember this.¡± They give each other a deep hug, and she hands the baby and his bag off to Patrick. ¡°I hope I see you again someday meat-head, keep him safe.¡± After another round of hugs, He pulls his gun off and gives her his bag. ¡°That was not as emotional as I thought it would be.¡± Baldr says to them, ¡°The boy will come to no harm, and Lady Hel will remand you into his care as guardian once we are on the other side.¡± He turns to me, ¡°Congratulations. Take care of the girl, Lord Odin says she is of the fate.¡± Without another word, he takes Patrick¡¯s shoulder and leads him into the portal.
-MISSION COMPLETE- -Lady Hels Request -Main objective complete > 100 EXP -REWARDS- -Completed without harm to Adare > 100 EXP -Completed objective within time limit > 100 EXP -BONUS- -All objectives completed within parameters set forth > Hel owes you a medium favor.
Shit yeah. After taking a couple of minutes to look at my window I realize that Jillian is sitting on the ground crying, ¡°I¡¯m sorry you lost your family, but those two are off to a better, most likely, safer place.¡± She wipes away a couple of tears and looks at me, ¡°I know, I can¡¯t explain it, but I feel deep inside of me that they are better off. I¡¯ll just have to have faith.¡± ¡°Next time I talk to Baldr, or Hel I¡¯ll ask them.¡± I put my hand out and wait for her to take it so I can help her up, ¡°let¡¯s go clear this place out. If we can get a house or two secured before nightfall we can get a good night¡¯s sleep.¡± ¡°Are you like them? An alien, or god, or whatever?¡± I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a god, but to normal people I am something like it I guess. ¡°I¡¯m not like them, mostly, I did die and work for one now. They call themselves gods, but they could just as soon be aliens. Hell, we¡¯re all aliens somewhere.¡± That gets me a smile. (IN-1) Needs must. I¡¯d used my water magic for the first time earlier, I carried a few buckets worth from the lake up to the house and put it in buckets so we could heat it up and get clean. The master bedroom in the back had a fireplace in it so we heated water up there. I could have just cleaned off with cold water, but she talked me into the fire with her bright smile and white teeth. I¡¯d pulled a toothbrush out of my bag and she had basically jumped on my chest to ask if I had another, apparently she hadn¡¯t been able to brush her teeth in a few days. She kept watch while I brushed my teeth and did a quick scrub-down. I had moved out after I was done, she was eager enough that she hadn¡¯t even waited for me to close the door before she had started unbuttoning her shirt. It sounded like she appreciated the hot water, glad I could help. I¡¯d put my back against the wall at the center point of the hallway, with my racial traits reinstated I could go into a meditative state that kept me cognizant of the waking world. It wasn¡¯t a solid solution to not sleeping, but a workaround that would let me get something like sleep. I heard her moving around, I fully did not expect her to sleep. Her last two family members had just went into Hels-realm, voluntarily, they were both much safer than us. I hear the door crack and low whisper ¡°Gnome? Are you awake?¡± she¡¯s wrapped in the blanket off the bed, it got a little chillier after the sun went down, but I didn¡¯t think it was that cold back there. ¡°I¡¯ve brought you a blanket,¡± ah that explains it, mighty thoughtful of her. ¡°Thank you but I¡¯m going to have to refuse, it¡¯s easier to stay aware if I¡¯m a bit uncomfortable.¡± The look of disappointment is so over the top I almost laugh. She slides down the wall next to me, ¡°can I sit here and talk to you then? I¡¯m not really feeling sleep; my mind won¡¯t shut down.¡± The soft curve of her shoulder leans against me after she reaches the ground. ¡°We can talk, I¡¯m not great at it though.¡± I tend to piss women off, so the less said the better. ¡°Will you please share the blanket, you don¡¯t need to be uncomfortable if I¡¯m talking to you, and it would feel rude if I sat under it and you didn¡¯t¡± she hits me with that smile again, I guess it couldn¡¯t really hurt. ¡°Alright, some warmth would be appreciated.¡± I try to give her my best smile, I hope it¡¯s a smile, and not a grimace, my face kind of does what it wants. I lean forward and she slides the blanket around my shoulders and moves closer, a little too close for my comfort, but I¡¯m not going to tell a pretty girl to back off. When I go to readjust to a more comfortable position I accidentally brush her stomach, finding out something very interesting, ¡°You¡¯re not wearing a shirt.¡± Casanova incarnate. ¡°If you want to get technical I¡¯m not wearing anything.¡± She sets her hand on my thigh and looks around my face, ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about what happened right now. I need something more physical, and I need to thank you.¡± The last part has me pull away a bit, ¡°I¡¯m not usually one to turn down a naked woman, but you don¡¯t have to thank me that way.¡± ¡°I know I don¡¯t have to, I want to. Neither of us are saints, and I know you want this.¡± In my distraction of catching her naked I didn¡¯t realize her hand had slid down my pants leg and was covering the firm bulge. ¡°Don¡¯t try to deny it either. You can tell me no all you want, but this guy is shouting something different.¡± She traces her index finger over the head of the tent I¡¯m pitching causing me to let out a little gasp, ¡°Don¡¯t think this is my first time, I¡¯ve gone for a roll in the hay for far less than saving me.¡± I don¡¯t have any rebuttal to that, so I just keep my mouth shut as she continues down undoing the buttons on my pants and pushes them further down towards my hips. She puts her tongue to my collar bone and slowly runs it up to my ear, ¡°don¡¯t be shy, anything is on the table¡­¡± then she bites my ear as she reaches into my pants and around my shaft. Getting a handful, and realizing how much more there is, she stops nibbling and I hear a sharp intake of breath, ¡°Shit, were you trying to keep me safe? We could have used this thing to bash zombies today, it¡¯s massive.¡± She¡¯s talking to herself and flipping it around just outside my pants, ¡°it¡¯s not even all the way hard yet¡­¡± Mphm, I cough a little to bring her back. She gives me a devilish grin, and scoots back on her heels ¡°Stand up and take your pants off.¡± ¡°Yes ma ¡¯mm¡± she lets go of me long enough for me to stand up and get a leg out of my pants, before I¡¯m able to get the other leg out she pushes my ass up against the wall, licking from just above my knee and up against my sack before I¡¯m leaned back all the way. I let out a gasp as she sucks my right ball tightly into her mouth and starts rolling her tongue around it. I run my hands into her hair and pull it back to a pony tail behind her head. ¡°There you go, I¡¯d be happier if you were a little harder though.¡± She pops my ball out long enough to make a comment. Making eye contact I give her a devilish smile. Taking my shaft in my left hand, squeezing the hand in her hair she lets out a little noise. Once her mouth opens I set the tip on her lips ¡°If you want to use it, you better get it ready.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t try to shove it down my throat witho-¡° I hadn¡¯t planned on it before, but¡­ When she gets to the O-noise I slide the tip into her mouth, just the tip though, I¡¯m not that much of an asshole. She lets out a noise that is somewhere between surprise, and a groan. Holding her head in place I slowly slide myself a few inches into her mouth and hold it there for a second, pulling my hips back I pull out a little bit. I feel her left hand against my thigh pushing me back towards the wall, as her right hand wraps around me again. Holding my mostly erect member in her hands she pulls her mouth off ¡°I¡¯m in control here. Boys who don¡¯t listen get punished.¡± I¡¯m used to being the one in control, but I can play this game. I let go of her hair and hold both hands up to show she can do what she wants, ¡°good, don¡¯t move, if you move you¡¯ll have to wait for your treat.¡± I¡¯m not sure what the treat is, I really thought this was it. As that thought is going through my mind she nips the tip, ¡°OW!¡± I can¡¯t help but chirp out, ¡°That¡¯s your punishment for the first time.¡± She slowly kisses where she bit, then as I think she is about to pull her head back she opens her mouth and slides half my dick down her throat, without thinking I groan and try to tilt my hips forward. She pushes me back hard with her left hand, and runs the nails on her right across my abs. It hurts, but In a way that makes me want to try to push into her again. Pulling her hand off my abdomen she twitches her finger in a ¡®no-no¡¯ motion. Then gets back to work.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! She¡¯s slowly sliding her mouth and hands up and down me, it doesn¡¯t take more than a few strokes for me to be as hard as granite. I¡¯m not going to lie, it¡¯s pretty magnificent, I¡¯m not sure how I haven¡¯t blacked out from poor circulation. She pulls it out and taps it on her cheek a few times, ¡°I think your temperature runs high, this thing is a heater.¡± ¡°I am a ¡®Daemon elf¡¯ I imagine the daAaemon part is warmer¡­¡± Halfway through my explanation she surprises me yet again, sliding the better part of me, into her mouth, down her throat and slowly back out till it¡¯s just the tip in her mouth. I grab her shoulders to stop myself from shoving the rest of it in. ¡°Fuck that¡¯s good, warn me next time. Another one of those and you¡¯re going to have elf-milk in your stomach.¡± She takes her hands off my hips and starts sliding them around and under my thighs, ¡°Hey lady, Don¡¯t put anything in there, off limits.¡± Her hands to start pushing my hips forward, slowly sliding the better part of my eleven-inches down her throat and back out. She gets me all the way out, ¡°That¡¯s a treat for both of us, you can use your mouth on me next.¡± ¡°If you¡¯d started this on the ground, I could already be doing that.¡± She¡¯s already got my tip in her mouth, I start to pull out so she can answer me. With a growl she shoves my hips forward and my dick all the way down her throat, I don¡¯t even get a chance to recover before she does it again, taking a breath and gagging the second time. After the third time I¡¯m sliding out of her throat I put my hand in her hair, ¡°I¡¯m going to cum.¡± I barely whisper it but she goes back at it with fervor. Her head bobbing and sliding while her other hand runs up and down my shaft, on the last stroke out I start to cum and she hugs my waist to her face, growling the whole time. It¡¯s a bit disconcerting, but I cannot help but love it. Blowing my load down her throat I don¡¯t even realize I¡¯m holding her head in both hands, with my hips thrust forward. After a few seconds she frantically taps my leg, I start pulling myself out of her mouth. She coughs a few times then pops her head forward wrapping her teeth around my shaft in a firm hold, ¡°I told you bad boys get punished.¡± She holds my shaft hostage with her teeth while her tongue teases my tip licking off the extra fluid. It¡¯s almost painful, and she keeps it up for about half a minute, making sure she has cleaned it all. ¡°That was good, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re eating, but you taste great.¡± Something about her telling me how much she loved blowing me, mixed with her kneeling there with her legs slightly spread showing her pussy, puffy enough to push out a little from between her legs drives me to put a hand around her throat and lead her to the ground. ¡°I¡¯m in charge now, every time you talk or make a noise I¡¯ll be keeping track.¡± I punctuate my words by giving her nipple a squeeze with my forefinger and thumb, ¡°Starting now¡± The squeak she lets out elicits a squeeze on her throat, ¡°that¡¯s your free one.¡± I use my right hand to reposition her body so that her head is dangling over the stair, and her body is laid out at an angle over the blanket. Giving me direct access to her slit. I remove my hand from her throat and move down kissing her left hip, while massaging her ass with my hands. I continue running my nose down her thigh I kiss midway between the knee and her slit. After that I start alternating, kissing one thigh then the other barely moving half an inch towards her dripping womanhood as I slowly push her knees further out in a semi-butterfly giving me a better view or the desired area, and causing her lower lips to part giving me a hint of the perfect pink delicious center I am aiming for. The only noise that can be heard is a heavy panting. When my upwards kissing is within a few inches of her pussy I use my hands to spread her legs a few more inches and place my tongue at the bottom of her opening, her hands come down and wrap around my hair trying to pull my face upwards. I fight her, instead of licking her like she wants I pull away and smack her inner left thigh, her pussy contracts shoving some droplets to the surface, ¡°You had your fun, let me have mine. If you¡¯re a good girl, I¡¯ll keep your watch tonight.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather you fuck me to sleep, I¡¯m sure I can find a way to stay awake for my watch.¡± Mouthy girl, I slap her a little harder on her inner right thigh. ¡°Shoosh.¡± Before she has a chance to say anything else I bend back down and run my tongue from the bottom of her wet lips to the top. Using my thumbs, I spread her open and lick the pink center. Practicing the ABC¡¯s with my tongue she¡¯s trying to push my face away by the time I get to T ¡°Stop, I¡¯m going to cum on your face,¡± she pants out in a low whisper, ¡°fuck me, please, I need it.¡± Rule number one: the customer is always right. I take my tongue away from her dripping pussy and slip my body up her slit until the tip of my rod is resting against her hole. ¡°Just put it in, shove it all in.¡± she sounds almost delirious, I¡¯m sure were in about the same state. Wrapping one hand around her throat, I lean back enough to set my shaft and slowly slide inside her. If I hadn¡¯t grabbed her throat the moan/growl she let out might have escaped. Giving a squeeze I start to slowly fuck her, pulling myself almost all the way out of her and sliding back in at a slow cadence. ¡°Harder, Nnnn, harder.¡± I start to push inside her faster, pulling out and ramming forward until the wet slap can be heard. After less strokes than would be expected she puts the blanket into her mouth and her whole body convulses, and goes rigid. I push her legs up so her knees are out and hanging above the sides of her chest, and intensify my thrusting. I¡¯m on the brink of Cumming when she convulses and goes ridged again, I grind myself deep into her a couple more times before she lets out a low moan and fluid erupts around me from inside her hot hole. Her insides constrict and I only last a couple more thrust¡¯s before depositing my seed and collapsing on top of her in a euphoric bliss. ¡°Fuck me, I needed that. Too bad we¡¯re not in a secure location, I bet you¡¯re fun when you can let loose.¡± Not the most eloquent of things, but it¡¯s all I can think to say. I¡¯m sure given more leeway we could have a hell of a time. ¡°You¡¯re not the only one, it¡¯s been months for me. Probably a few years since I squirted on a guy though, jury¡¯s undecided on whether that is skill, or disuse though.¡± She gives me catty grin, and strokes my face, ¡°we¡¯ll have to try again sometime to get an actual verdict, somewhere we can really drop the hammer.¡± Seems straight-forward enough for me, and I sure as hell aint going to turn down more sex. ¡°Shit, get off of me, you¡¯re heavier than you look. You get this screen?¡± her eyes go fuzzy, and she flicks her finger.
-LIFE EVENT- -You have completed having intercourse. -Would you like to become pregnant? (Y/N)
The box disappears after I barely get a look at it, ¡°I selected No, I wasn¡¯t ready to be a mother before this shit, I¡¯m much less likely now.¡± She looks a little embarrassed at the statement. ¡°Me either, maybe someday, but bringing a child into this shit would be stupid. They¡¯d definitely call Child Protective Services on you.¡± I give her a smile so she knows it¡¯s ok. I was never big on kids in the first place, even if I was I¡¯ve only known her for a day. I¡¯m just glad were on the same page here. The house is quiet, a nice calm after the storm we created. I can¡¯t help but watch her body as she stands up. Coated in a light sweat, and red from satisfaction and exertion I can¡¯t help but thinking about how tight and smooth it was inside of her only a moment ago. ¡°You better put that thing away for the night mister. My body is already going to be sore, I can¡¯t go again.¡± She¡¯s staring pointedly at my half erect member. ¡°Fair enough, I guess one of us really should be paying attention to our surroundings. I¡¯ll wake you up at daylight, get some sleep.¡± I wave her into the back room and start putting my gear back on. She is already half stooping, she must have been tired before we started. Oddly enough I¡¯ve got more energy than I know what to do with, if she would have been down I¡¯d have been good for another round or two. I¡¯m loving this new body. I redress and sit back in my spot. It takes me much longer to reach a meditative state again, and every time I do the realization that I¡¯m in one knocks me back out. After about an hour of trying I get up to check on Jillian. Peeking through the door I can see that she is laid out in front of the fire place half naked on top of the blanket. She really is a beautiful girl, maybe after I mesh my rift with Hep¡¯s I¡¯ll make base wherever she is. Shrugging I step over her and toss a few more cut up logs on the fire, we don¡¯t need it too big, just enough to kill the chill air. (CH-11) Ruminations. I decided to just let Jillian sleep since I probably wasn¡¯t going to get any actual sleep, and would probably just sit in the back room meditating. I¡¯d messaged Hep earlier to let him know my location, and tell him I thought it was a good spot, lake front inside of an alcove type area, just woods and a few low rolling hills around. A nice little secluded area, we¡¯re going to become much more noticeable once the wall starts going up and alterations start happening but I think we¡¯ll hold fine. Eventually those mercs are going to show up, but were almost thirty miles out, so with any luck we¡¯ll be well prepared by the time they get here. I sit the night away considering what I¡¯m going to do until Hep¡¯s group gets here. I don¡¯t want to leave the area, so I¡¯ll probably just clear out the area and fortify a house. This one isn¡¯t bad, all the way on the end, and has the a shed and a couple of mid-size barns. I should probably check those out a little bit more. a could see that a few of the houses had boats, and jet-skis at some at some dockage. If it holds to the ways I know these barns will probably have some ATV¡¯s and other off-road vehicles. If were really lucky one of them will have an on-site gas tank to fill from. If not, we¡¯ll just find one. Lost in thought I barely notice when the hallway starts to brighten from the grey of night vision to a more overcast morning color. I sit and think for another hour before I go and wake Jillian up. Quietly opening the door, I kneel next to her and lightly touch her shoulder ¡°Jillian, it¡¯s morning. We need to get up and take care of some things before we rest the day away. Pulling the blanket away she mumbles something into her pillow about ¡®five more minutes¡¯. ¡°No, I¡¯m going to give you about five while I hit the little boys room. If you¡¯re not at least sitting up when I get back, I¡¯m going to drop a bucket of water on you. Before leaving the room, I see that she has sat up with the blanket falling around her shoulders barely covering her, I can¡¯t help but think of one of those photos from the 16¡¯th century that were pretty much porn for them. ¡°Fucking dictator.¡± I hear mumbled as the door closes behind me. I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, taking care of the other morning essentials I¡¯m back in the bedroom within ten minutes. The door to the room is open and walking in I get an eye full of her bent over pulling up a pair of pants. It¡¯s a hell of a view, if I weren¡¯t so focused on getting the area cleared out and this place secured we¡¯d be busy for a little bit. Assuming she was interested, maybe last night was a one off. I don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m not looking to get tied down, especially with someone who hasn¡¯t entered Valhalla yet. ¡°Stop staring and hand me my shirt.¡± Waving her hand at the chair in the corner she points to a red and blue flannel shirt. ¡°We¡¯re going to need to get you fitted in something a bit more substantial. I¡¯ve got an extra set of clothes, but you¡¯ll be swimming in them. You and my friend Rita are probably about the same size. Might have to barter for the clothes though, she kind of has an addiction.¡± When I mention Rita, I keep a closer eye for any reaction from her. There¡¯s curiosity, not possessiveness on her face, so were good for now. ¡°Sounds good to me, we¡¯re only a few miles from my town, and the next biggest city has a few sporting goods stores. It¡¯s probably a ten-mile drive, but it¡¯s probably stacked with gear,¡± she finishes buttoning her shirt and straps the gun on her hip ¡°what¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to clear out the surrounding buildings and get a rough list of what¡¯s around. I¡¯m hoping some of the houses around here were the ¡®sporting¡¯ kind of rich people with ATV¡¯S and other goodies. I¡¯m pretty sure I saw a few trails crossing the path on the way in, but we were kind of in a rush.¡± I check her over, stepping forward I take a knee and unclip the holster around her thigh. ¡°Stand like you regularly would. The holster should drop so that the grip of the pistol sits an inch or two above where your hand naturally sits. Makes for an easier draw.¡± I tighten the inner strap up a little, her and her cousin were about the same height but I¡¯ll bet his arms were longer giving him a lower draw. ¡°there you go, try pulling it and holstering it a few times.¡± She hesitantly pulls grips the gun and pulls it out holding it teacup style. Her basics aren¡¯t bad, probably shot a few times in the past. I tap her off foot moving it a bit more forward, and pushing her right foot out a bit wider. Grabbing her shoulder, I push her lower back forward a few inches so she is in a more forward lean than straight stand, ¡°You want to lean in, every gun is going to kick,¡± I move her left hand from under the magazine well and lay it over her other hand on the grip. Pulling my gun, I take up a stance so she can see what I¡¯m doing ¡°See how I¡¯m almost pulling the front hand while pushing the front? You don¡¯t want too much pressure either way, just enough to get tension.¡± After a few minutes of showing her the correct way to stand and having her practice drawing and getting into stance we move out to the houses. ¡°I¡¯m going to go in and draw anything left out of the houses, stand outside where you have a good field of view around. I¡¯ll drag them out and you can use the knife on the sheath on them. I¡¯ll hold them once it¡¯s safe to, and just jam it into the temple as hard as you can.¡± She looks a little queasy when I mention shit ¡°It¡¯s going to suck. Try not to think about what you are doing, these aren¡¯t people anymore. Their monsters now. Just keep in mind that you¡¯re doing this for the betterment of humanity. Plus, it needs to be done. You said you¡¯re ready to survive in this world, now you need to step up and prove it.¡± I feel like an asshole doing this, but she¡¯s gotta start somewhere. We go through most of the houses on the street without running into anything until I run into a lone zombie in the second to last house. She was an older woman, wearing a muumuu gown thing. I shrug and lure her out the door. Getting Jillian to distract her I slide around behind her and lock my arms around hers and lift her off the ground, ¡°Ok like we talked about don¡¯t think abo- ¡°Jillian slams the knife into its temple with enough force to stagger me to the side, and send a blood splatter over the side of my face. ¡°Shit, Like that. Only not as much force. The temple is a soft spot you don¡¯t have to put your entire weight behind it. Good job though.¡± I ignore the tears in her eyes, even if I knew what to say about it I¡¯d probably end up being more insulting than anything. I have her loot the body so she gets the idea, then I lead her around to check out the other houses. We spend most of the morning searching through houses and the other out buildings. We only run into a few more zombies, but we do manage to find four-wheelers, a few dirt-bikes. The barns next to the house I¡¯d chosen actually have a couple of dirt bikes and a UTV in one, and a half torn down Jeep wrangler resides in the other with parts everywhere. I¡¯m keeping this house. The barn has a full set of tools, and from the parts laying around this was probably about to go into the rebuild phase. We manage to scavenge some chain link fence from a little shack down the street and I bolt it over the windows in the house I¡¯ve chosen. There aren¡¯t a lot of windows, but the big one¡¯s on the lake side over the porch are large pane. By the time, we are done covering some windows with chain-link, and reinforcing others with scrap metal and stuff we found laying around it¡¯s almost nightfall.
-MESSAGE- Rita: My group is a few miles out from the point you mentioned on the road, if I push the kids we can be there just after dark, did you have a chance to set up a secure position? Gnome: yes. Once you reach the T in the road cut right and it¡¯s the last house down on the left. Holler when you get here. Rita: Gotcha. We¡¯re down to about twenty people, we had a few run ins with monsters and zombies that didn¡¯t end well. Gnome: You guys get here and they can rest for the night. It¡¯ll be a tight fit, but we can manage.
¡°looks like we¡¯re going to have some friends crashing here tonight. Rita from camp managed to get here. Hep should be here with his group morning after next if he keeps pace, with twenty more bodies we can fortify a few more buildings.¡± Jillian hears me, but she¡¯s dead on her feet. I didn¡¯t let her stop today, after we were done putting everything together had her practice drawing and aiming until she could do it without adjusting her stance. It¡¯s brutal, and probably unnecessary but it¡¯ll keep her mind busy. ¡°Go lay down, in that smaller back room. You¡¯re probably going to have to share later, so pick a good spot.¡± Nodding she shambles off to the back room. I¡¯d be surprised if she even wakes up when they come in. After about an hour I can hear voices and movement outside. Opening the door, I find Rita with her hand raised to knock. ¡°Hiya. Come on in.¡± I reach out and grab her hand pulling her into a hug. ¡°You smell like shit.¡± ¡°Blow me. Me an this lot ave been slogging through the woods since you messaged me yesterday. I dint have time ta stop for a mani.¡± She gives me a firm squeeze and steps inside, waving the kids and young adults behind her. They look worse than I imagine I did when I came out of that camp. Grubby with smudges of dirt everywhere, some faces with tear streaks cleaning tracks down their faces, others with the look of people too far inside their own heads to do anything other than react. These are the faces you expect to see on a battlefield, not on young people. The thought of what they¡¯ve had to go through makes my stomach curl. ¡°Tell them to lay anywhere, I¡¯ll lock the doors and keep a watch. The bathroom is back there to the right, the water is from the lake and there is manual pump next to the toilet so it works, but the only drinkable water is in the kitchen. I only had a few gallons on standby, we¡¯ll boil some water tomorrow. Get some sleep too, you look almost as bad as them. The back room to the left has the girl I found in it.¡± She drags me into another hug and mumbles a thank you into my chest before walking off towards the back room. Not much time passes before I manage to get the new people situated enough to sleep. Leaning my back against the front door I drop into a meditative state and spend the night hoping things are going better for Hep than they did for Rita. The next couple of days go by in a lull, we spend time putting fence over some windows, and boarding up others. The morning Heps group comes up the drive we are in the middle of fortifying the ninth house. Walking up to hep he grabs my hand in a firm shake. ¡°Glad to see you haven¡¯t been sitting on your ass the last couple of days. Half expected to show up with you having someone fanning you while another fed you grapes.¡± I let go of his hand and give him the finger. ¡°I would have but they kept arguing over who gets to sit on my lap. Figured I¡¯d just skip the drama.¡± ¡°hAW hAW. You are a riot. I¡¯ve got somewhere between one-hundred and forty, and one-hundred and sixty. The counts I¡¯m getting from the people I¡¯ve put in charge either can¡¯t count, or are not counting well.¡± He looks haggard. Getting these people here probably took a lot out of him. ¡°I hate to do it hep, but I need you to get your people in with mine and get them working. Even the bigger houses are going to be uncomfortable with twenty plus people in them.¡± He¡¯s got a few architects in his crew and they get to work quickly. The day is spent working and building. We manage to fortify most of the houses in the area, and set up a roving guard. I want to ask Hep about the mercs but it¡¯s too busy. On the morning of the third day Hep asks me to meet him upstairs in the command building, we need to talk about his past. Walking into the room he¡¯s chosen as his own it¡¯s hard not to notice how bare it is. A couple of chairs, a bed, closet, and a desk. He¡¯d basically taken over a little sewing room, he was happy with it, so I¡¯m not going to knock him though. He gives me a look that is somewhere between distress, and determination. ¡°Have a seat boss, I¡¯m going to tell you a story that less than a handful of people know. Don¡¯t interrupt me, or I won¡¯t be able to finish.¡± Quirking an eyebrow at me until I nod affirmative he leans back in his seat. ¡°all right.¡± With those words, Hep launches the tale of his last mission with the Black Raven Mercenaries, and the subsequent fall out. -HEP-- ¡°Any way you can get on with this?¡± Teagan was always a worrier, complaining about something or another. He¡¯s also survived most of our engagements with little to no damage, so he¡¯s a weaselly slimy little shit.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Any way you can eat shit?¡± I hate being rushed, explosives are my specialty and I¡¯ve been doing them for years but mistakes can still be made if I¡¯m not careful, ¡°I¡¯ll have this wired up and set for about two-minutes soon. Sooner if you¡¯ll shut the hell up.¡± Fuck that guy, he might be a survivor, but more often than not he¡¯s the only one. Maybe something shady there, maybe not, I¡¯d rather not chance it. Teagan kept looking over his shoulder like he was expecting incoming any second, I couldn¡¯t help but notice his tiny little pointy nose, and close in little beady weasel eyes. The face fit perfectly with his short height and malnourished looking body. I¡¯m not the first to compare him to a weasel, it¡¯s his call-sign in the guild, but he owns it. I¡¯ve been working for Hel for close to twenty-seven years at this point, I died back on titan by accident. Negligent discharge by some other platoon¡¯s men, if timelines were actual lines that kid is probably still in prison back there. Lessons learned. I¡¯ve only died a handful of times since I reached Tartarus usually on these high-profile missions against the ¡°Greeks¡± or the Pantheon, whichever you prefer. The ¡®gods¡¯ have been waging wars since time immemorial and it¡¯s probably going to keep going. Every fifty or sixty years there is a full scale interdimensional rift battle over who owns whose turf, and who stepped on whoever¡¯s toes. They used to duke it out toe to toe until what is only known as ¡®the decimation¡¯ from what I gather a war between at least twelve different god factions decided to meet in a quadrant and get it on. It ended badly. Tens of thousands of beings who cannot be reborn died in the process, two entire factions were wiped entirely from history, and those remaining decided it was best they find a surrogate for their shitty little wars. In comes the lesser races: humans, elves, faerie, dwarves, etc. the universe can recoup our souls and rebirth us to new beings, it doesn¡¯t have the juice for the older souls. Well, it does, but only one gets reborn every thousand years or so. And it¡¯s not the same entity, just a new ¡®god soul¡¯. So here I am, sitting on the pipes under a bridge in the dark of morning with a weasel rigging it to blow. This is a supply route for the pantheons main force in the meta-rift, it¡¯s where most of their forces get supplied from. My squad got wiped earlier while we were battling our way onto the bridge, me and the weasel here managed to hook up behind the enemy and have set up a daisy-chain of explosives; once the first goes the rest will react. And I¡¯ll tack another bridge onto my tally. The guild is good at what they do, and we damned well should be. Me and Melark started this guild shortly after we met and have been meticulous in who got in. everyone with us is a specialist in their own right, even the weasel. Their all groomed, and chosen for the positions they sit in. I¡¯m not one prone to emotion, but when I sit and think about what we¡¯ve accomplished it brings a tear to my eye. Back in my previous life I would have been considered special forces, that was only after a few years of training. If I were to compare me now, the me from then I couldn¡¯t just in skill alone the gulf is too wide. Suffice it to say, if we weren¡¯t the best, we were damned close. That was a known fact in at least one dimension, the ¡°black ravens¡± were mercenaries, we¡¯d work for anyone who had the coin, or favor to buy us. Melark usually accepted the missions and I planned them, I tended to not do well with clients. This one was a repeat job, we¡¯ve blown bridges for both of warring factions at least once, work was good here. I finished setting the timer and called out to the weasel, ¡°We¡¯re set, we can roll out.¡± My only answer was silence. I took a quick tour around our little area, he wasn¡¯t here. Fuck. Slimy little bastard, I wonder what his game is. Fuck em¡¯. I lit the primer and headed for the exit, shimmying along the thin I-beam towards the bank we came in on. The initial plan had been to quick rope down to the water below, but my missing compatriot had the bag with ropes in it. If I have my way this is the last straw, he¡¯s out. Bending my arm around the last jut to get around an extended corner a hand grabs my wrist and yanks me around and over a railing, slamming my face into the ground with two people jamming knees into my back and another two with guns pointed in my face. ¡°Godamned it, what are you people doing?¡± gotta bluff until I come up with something better, ¡°I was checking out the trusses, somebody had tried setting a bomb but I managed to kill him and throw his gear over.¡± It¡¯s about as flimsy as the shirts on the girls back in the red-district. ¡°He¡¯s lying.¡± I know that voice. ¡°Melark? Shit man, you had me going. Get these fucks to let me up, I completed what I came to do. We have maybe a minute to get out of here.¡± His sense of humor could probably use some work, but I guess any joke is a step in the right direction. ¡°No, Hep. YOU are the objective. Weasel has disarmed the bomb, and we have you in custody. We¡¯re taking you to a tribune of the gods to stand in judgement for the acts of war you have used the guild for against several gods.¡± The look he¡¯s giving me is full of righteous fury, but his eyes might as well have been blackholes for all the emotion they were showing. ¡°You know I wouldn¡¯t do that, I love the guild. I created it, built it from nothing. You helped me, there¡¯s no way I could have done this.¡± I¡¯m almost frantic at this point. It feels like someone has stuck nettles underneath every inch of my skin and set them on fire. ¡°You have orchestrated every mission we¡¯ve been on in the seven years the guild has been active, I have records to show this is true. I am just a Captain Hep, how would I know what the guild master¡¯s business is?¡± Motherfucker. Not only is he setting me up, he¡¯s been setting me up for years. If he thinks I¡¯m going to take this lying down he¡¯s wrong. They¡¯ll send me for a respawn before I roll over for him. Slamming my arms down I activate my blink ability and set my point as just behind Melark. By the time the blink had ended he¡¯d already had a stun baton complete in a swing. I barely felt it hit my head before the volts from the weapon sent my body into spasm¡¯s, locking my muscles and immobilizing me. As I fell towards the ground I caught a look at his face with a dark self-satisfied smile as the baton came at my face and sent me to oblivion. I woke to a blinding headache strapped to a chair in a room set up like a mini-colosseum. Seats filled with gods all around, probably at least twelve of them, sitting in factions around the raised oval space. ¡°Do you know why you are here Heplite?¡± The blurry pillar to my right asks. ¡°Not a damned clue, if you could unshackle me from this chair though we could have a civilized conversation.¡± I¡¯m trying to keep a lid on my frustration. I know exactly why I¡¯m here, that fuck-bag Melark screwed me. ¡°We are going to require that you speak your thoughts aloud in this court Heplite. Your mind is blocked from us, we can hear static but nothing else.¡± The inflection of the voice never changes timbre, just a flat monotone. Probably a male, going by what Melark told me probably either full Gods, or Demi¡¯s. ¡°I was thinking my partner fucked me. From what he told me on the bridge this is some kind of war crimes tribunal for assaulting various gods.¡± My head is rocked to the side as the blurry pillar flashes and backhands me. Funny what you notice when you¡¯re on the edge of blacking out, Like the fact that the chair must have been bolted down, that was one hell of a hit. ¡°YOU WILL SHOW RESPECT.¡± The timbre barely changes, but that is a definite octave boost. Anger, bordering on rage. The indifference is probably self-control. ¡°Yes sir. I do not know the exact charges. If it would please the tribunal to inform me I would be most thankful.¡± Flowery speak bullshit. This is why I don¡¯t deal with clientele. My vision is clear enough that I can see the blurry pillar next to me is Apollo. Clad in his pristine toga, looking like he just pulled it out of a dry-clean bag. Chiseled jaw underneath bright eyes, and sun-golden hair. A darker blur in the stands in front of me stands up. I can¡¯t see his face, but with that color armor its either Ares, or Hades. ¡°It would please the tribunal greatly. You are being charged with acts of aggression, sanctioned and directed by your own hand, directly against both full, and demi-gods. Your captain was more than forthcoming, he relinquished all contracts for the last seven years. We have almost irrefutable proof that you have been acting against the spirit of the guild contract.¡± I could have handled Ares, the god of war would be more indifferent about it; he understands how war works, casualties happen. ¡°I have never knowingly worked directly against any higher beings. I¡¯ve brought the ravens up from an infant guild to one of the top ranking in an unheard-of amount of time. There is no other single guild who has risen so far, so fast. Why would I risk that for trinkets? Sand that would flow through my fingers?¡± I¡¯m reaching the limit I have for bullshittery. ¡°You misunderstand this tribunal Heplite. We are not here to gauge your innocence, we are here to decide your sentence. We have reached a decision and you shall be sent the underworld specifically the depths of the timeless to the tender mercies of the residence until such a time as a tribunal can be convinced you have learned your error.¡± He¡¯s still a blur in front of me, but I can hear the smile in his voice. I can almost feel his aura reaching out to caress my soul. The depths are a place of legend. Horrifying legend. A dimension bereft of anything but pain, inhabited by the most depraved beings. There is no dying there. Your soul will reform whole in the depths, no reprieve for the inmates. It¡¯s not a death sentence, but a place meant to strip you of your sanity, a place to make you into something that a soul recycled to the world would be a mercy. I don¡¯t even have words. They weren¡¯t mincing words. Once the gods spoke a sentence it was law, they¡¯ve already decided, I¡¯m just waiting for them to send me. Go big or go home I guess. ¡°Any of you who believe one party over another without having a fair trial can go fuck themselves. The place I was raised in was brutal, it was dirty, but the right to a fair trial was always an option. I¡¯m not dumb enough to threaten gods, but it should be noted that when I am released I will hunt Melark until he begs for one of you to release him back to the cycle. I Vow that I will spend my eternity bending everything I built and he stole from me into a smoldering wreck that is only recognizable to the people who are watching it burn from the inside. He¡¯s made a grave miscalculation. I will not bow, I will not break. I¡¯ll walk through the timeless with a smile on my face knowing before I go back to the cycle I¡¯ll have made his existence nothing more than pain and loss.¡± ¡°I ACCEPT.¡± ¡°I have nothing more to say, do what you will.¡± Closing my eyes, and dismissing the beings in front of me, I waited for oblivion. -GNOME- I can¡¯t help but lean back in my chair. I didn¡¯t realize I¡¯d even began to lean forward. He doesn¡¯t look like he wants to talk about the depths, and I sure as shit aren¡¯t going to make him. ¡°That¡¯s one hell of a story Hep. I¡¯m sorry your friend fucked you over like that. I¡¯m with you man. As soon as I¡¯m done with setting my rift and meshing it we can guild up and get to work.¡± I¡¯ve only known Hep for a few weeks now, but he has been nothing if not loyal to me, and to walk through what he did and come out the other side standing is a testament to who he is. ¡°Are you sure man? I¡¯m in one-hundred percent against Melark, it is what I exist for. Once I have completed my task I¡¯m going to be asked to a release back to the cycle. There¡¯s no joy in war for me anymore, only a burning need for revenge. I don¡¯t want to turn into a monster.¡± It¡¯ll suck to lose him, but I¡¯ll stand by him until he¡¯s ready. ¡°I got you man, we can do this, I won¡¯t hold it against you. Were already riding that fine line between monster and hero, so I understand. I hope I have the incite you do if it ever comes to it for me.¡± I reach out and grab his forearm in a warrior¡¯s grip, ¡°you make me a promise that if I ever step over that edge you either put me right, or put me out though.¡± He gives me a firm shake ¡°Agreed, but it goes both ways. I might turn into a monster to do what I need to do, don¡¯t let me.¡± Feeling a little uncomfortable about the proximity between us in the small room I release his hand and open the door, ¡°I¡¯ll catch you in a bit.¡± He just waves me out of the room and lays down on his bed. We¡¯d coopted this house after he and his group got here a few days ago, I decided the one on the end was unsuitable as a main hall. So, we grabbed the big two story a couple of houses down from the T in the road. It had four bedrooms upstairs, the ground floor had two living rooms with a fire place in each on opposing sides. The kitchen was open to one of the living rooms, with a rear porch facing a lake about ninety meters out. There was a basement too, but it was mostly just storage space and a workshop. I made my way downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a roll on my way out back to the porch, I needed to process some of the information Hep had given me. I think his story is true, but I¡¯d be a fool not to do my own research as we went along. Being manipulated by someone I think is a friend is not on my agenda. Stepping out the door and onto the back porch I can¡¯t help but be amazed at the people Hep had brought in. They had managed to build a wall around the backside of the road, blocking the water off so that you had to make your way around a sixteen-foot wall, or cut your way through full grown trees. And that wasn¡¯t happening without someone noticing. There were stations build with ladders up to platforms that looked over with plans to make it a full wall with a palisade once the initial wall surrounding the area and making it a compound was finished. The plan one of the architects that came with the group had made up was evolving quickly. ¡°Hey ya gonna sit, or just stand around with ya fly-catcha open?¡± Rita is on the second, lowered, portion of porch on a foldout chair. She¡¯s face down with a towel folded over her ass and her bathing suit top untied. ¡°I wasn¡¯t staring at you Rita, I didn¡¯t even notice you down there. These people are for real, they are trying to make a home here. And their doing it quickly.¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed her, I guess I should have noticed a half-undressed woman though. ¡°Way ta let a girl down easy. How bout you grab some of that tan lotion and give me a quick rub-down.¡± She points at a bottle of lotion on the table next to me. ¡°Just don¡¯t go kicking me in the junk for it.¡± She lowers her head and raises her middle finger. As I grab the bottle and step down she pulls the towel down towards the center of her ass, ¡°I¡¯m not gonna hitcha, just don¡¯t reach under the towel, and don¡¯t try shovin¡¯ ya snag down meh throat.¡± I almost trip, and let out a choking cough. She snorts, ¡°Gals talk Gnome. You best keep that in mind goin forward.¡± I can hear the smile in her voice, so I¡¯m fairly certain she¡¯s not mad. I do walk up to her with my twig and berries angled away from any attack she might make at me though. I squeeze a drop of the lotion in a line down the center of her back and watch her shiver as the cold substance touches her ¡°I¡¯d have warmed it up with my hands, but I figured you might need to cool off some.¡± ¡°yeah, nah, get bent mate.¡± Rubbing my hands together to warm them up some I start massaging the lotion into her back trying to get an even application. I¡¯m almost immediately lost in how soft her skin is. The stark difference I can feel from the first centimeter or so before the almost rock-hard muscle underneath pushes back. Lost in thought I don¡¯t even realize that I¡¯ve been massaging her ass for much longer than is necessary. ¡°Dunno why ya stoppin¡¯ now. A little bit longer and I might have attacked you like blondie did. Given these crowd a show that¡¯ve scarred a few of em, if what she said about ya donger¡¯s true. Sounded like she found the bloody Bunyip the way she went on.¡± I¡¯m glad I wasn¡¯t a fly on the wall for that conversation. Free advertisement is better than no advertisement, especially if it¡¯s a good endorsement. ¡°Sorry Rita, I just got lost in thought about everything going on. Maybe if you ask another time, nice-like to apologize for the last time you offered, and I¡¯ll consider it.¡± Her chest rises and a ¡°Pfft¡± sound comes out of her mouth ¡°get on and do something useful, mouthy gallah.¡± I stand up to walk away, but can¡¯t help to open the lotion and squeeze a large squirt between the towel and her ass leading down. As much as I wanted to watch the show of her jumping up I decided digression is the better part of valor and vaulted the rail sprinting off towards one of the work crews cutting down trees in the distance. ¡°Yeh gonna pay for that one, I¡¯ll beatcha ass until it looks like raw meat!¡± Looking back, I can see she¡¯s managed to wrap herself in the towel and is standing at the railing. The swim bottoms she was wearing earlier laying untied next to the chair. Damn, it might have been worth it to stand there and take the beating. I pull my eyes off the angry Ausi girl and continue out to the work crew at a jog, I¡¯ve got some issues to work out, and manual labor is always a good way to work out some confusion. (CH-12) A friendly offer. I was coming up on a week rift-side in an hour, time to head back to Valhalla and refit. I¡¯d been talking with Hep about it and there is an option to start my rift on the same day as his did. I¡¯ll have to go it alone without communication, but it¡¯s a much better option than starting my own. Cost effective I guess. So, that¡¯s the plan. Rita left to do that a few hours ago. I guess there is an equalizing effect where we won¡¯t be able to see each other until the day after tomorrow in this rift. Not in Valhalla, anyways. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m not excited, I know I shouldn¡¯t be since it¡¯s basically a simulation of the end of the world, but still. An apocalypse is a warrior¡¯s wet dream. I spend my last hour organizing my house, and enjoying the work the people here have put in. The initial wall was finished, a hair under twenty-feet, with guard towers every fifty meters. The front gate was more sliding door than anything wheels set on the bottom so it can roll across. We¡¯d managed to encompass the entire little neighborhood, fourteen houses in all. It was still kind of cramped for some, but the next goal was new homes. Not anything fancy, there is a few little towns within a short distance from here that we can clear out. I watch the timer in my peripheral turn over and will the portal to open, walking forward before it¡¯s even completely formed I return to Valhalla.
-MISSION- -Finding a home- -Found a position that is acceptable to requestors needs > 1000 EXP -Mission completed within timeframe > 200 EXP -BONUS- -Repelled an Incursion event > 400 EXP
That ain''t bad, add it to the kills from the mercenaries and I¡¯ve got a nice little four-thousand eight-hundred. More than enough for my needs, especially since I¡¯m only going to be allowed to take basic gear with me. Hep started his rift on advanced, which is why the incursion could happen in the first place. My green message icon is blinking in my peripheral, telling me I have saved messages from this side. I only know a few people here. Maybe it was Rita before she left, I¡¯ll check it while I eat. Deciding I was going to get some decent food, and a good night¡¯s sleep before I go. I head out the door and up to the second floor of the great hall. Stepping out the door the hallway is empty, must be an off-time. I figured this place was bumping all the time. Snatches of the food from upstairs are still wafting on the wind so I know there will be food. I¡¯ve got to stop myself from sprinting up the stairs once I reach the bottom. I haven¡¯t had anything but basic rations, and gamey meat since I started the last mission. That was two whole weeks, you can¡¯t go back to the exact time you left the rift-world if you leave the refit room. Leaving it causes time to move at a normal interval parallel to Valhalla. Hep tried for a good-long while to explain it to me, but I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around it. The System regulates time streams so that thing¡¯s don¡¯t get all crossed, it¡¯ll take me a few hundred-years of being interested to begin understanding it. Luckily, I feel fine knowing that it works, even if I don¡¯t know how. Reaching the top step, I see Ianata sitting at a table by herself near the far wall with a tablet like device in her hand. I wave at her but she doesn¡¯t notice me. Great, I¡¯m that asshole now. I look over at the waitress, pointing to myself, then to Ianata¡¯s table so she knows I¡¯m going over there and I¡¯d like some food. There aren¡¯t many people in the hall, it¡¯s later than I thought, around zero-two-hundred. I snake my way over to Ianata¡¯s table. ¡°Hey you.¡± She puts up a finger in the universal sign of ¡®gimme a sec¡¯. Pulling a seat, I sit down across from her. When the waitress shows up a moment later I ask her to bring me some of the soup, and a hot-loaf of bread. ¡°I¡¯ll have the same, his treat, thank you.¡± She smiles at the waitress and gives her order. ¡°Considering you stabbed me at some point I¡¯m pretty sure you should be buying.¡± I don¡¯t mind buying a pretty girl some food, but I¡¯m going to bust her balls while I¡¯m at it. ¡°Yeah, but you probably deserved it. I talked to Rita earlier and she said you were coming back to make a start in Heps rift. I approve. The three of you will make a great team. It seems the group hep picked up also has a few of the fated headed to Valhalla when they die. The girl you met, Jillian? She will be positioned at this outpost once she has reached the realm.¡± That¡¯s one hell of a nice way to say she¡¯s going to be here after she dies. ¡°On to other news. Did you read my message?¡± I shake my head no, ¡°Ok then. Lena. The girl you offered a convert to wants to come over to our camp. There are stipulations. It¡¯s going to cost you a thousand EXP. You¡¯re going to owe HEL a favor, and she will be considered your ward. Any trouble she causes will be on you. This offer only lasts for the next couple of hours, she made the request at a temple and is sitting in a limbo waiting for you to come out.¡± Godamn it. ¡°Is there anything else or is that it? Do I get to talk to her about it before it happens?¡± It¡¯s too much, I¡¯m exhausted. I really thought the universe would throw me a bone here, give me one night to sleep. ¡°Until your decision has been made you cannot run any missions. If you decide she can come here, you must wait twenty-four hours for her soul to integrate before you can go on missions. Integration will reset her level to match your level five. As your ward, she cannot out level you by any more than two levels. She¡¯s also coming with nothing. From the report, I got she sold everything to get clear of her guild debt. Her assets are a few sets of clothes, a pistol with enough ammo for a couple of reloads and a tac-vest. I¡¯m pretty sure that is about it.¡± Damn it. Couldn¡¯t she have waited a week or two to convert? It sounds like she¡¯s burned all her bridges too. God hates a coward. ¡°Fuck it. I¡¯m game. Quick question, can I trade that favor Hel owes me so that we don''t owe one another?¡± Tapping around on her tablet for a minute she looks up, ¡°If you trade up, it downgrades to a small favor that Hel will owe you, is that acceptable?¡± Her eyebrows quirked a little in interest. I guess she¡¯d missed that lady Hel owed me one. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s easy enough. I accept the offer.¡± She taps a little more on her tablet, ¡°OK she will port in around this time tomorrow. Go to a portal room then and the system will recognize why you are there and send her through.¡± She takes a bite of her soup, it¡¯s a cheesy broccoli stuff. Lots of mushrooms and potatoes, I¡¯m loving mine. It¡¯s not sausage, and Kraut, but it¡¯ll do. ¡°Is there anything else Ianata?¡± I finish my food in pretty much record time. ¡°Nope, that¡¯s it. Your living space will stay the same. The side room opposite yours should be acceptable for her to live in. You¡¯ll have to come back and stay sometime, let me buy you a dinner for trying to kill you.¡± She¡¯s got that wolf look on her face again, I¡¯m not prepared for that tonight. ¡°I¡¯ll take that into consideration, I¡¯ve got to go crash out now. I¡¯m beat, catch you later.¡± I make a hasty exit, looking over my shoulder to be sure the wolf wasn¡¯t following the sheep to his slaughter. Luckily, she must have had better things to do and I make it out clean. The walk back to my room is much faster than I remember, and I¡¯m showered, then in bed sleeping within a few moments. Morning comes much too fast. I¡¯m not sure what I was dreaming about but I wake feeling the calmest I¡¯ve probably felt in years. The room is the perfect temperature, the blankets are piled around me like I¡¯d been resting inside of a cloud bank. I consider going back to sleep but decide I need to get my stuff together. List making time, first I need to see what Ianata was talking about with extra room, there¡¯s only one here.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: Sorry to bother you but I think I need to move rooms, I only have one bedroom, and I am not sharing it with Lena when she gets here. Ianata: Open the interface on your table and select ¡®home customization¡¯ you can select to customize your room. You can change the layout in there. Once you open the interface it will give you directions on how it works. It will cost some money or EXP depending on what you want to spend, but it¡¯s worth it. Gnome: Alright. Thank you. Ianata: No problem, message me if you need any more help. I¡¯ll be around in Valhalla for the next month or so off rotation.
Sounds easy enough. I walk to my couch and sit down, flattening my hand on it to signal I want the interface to pop up. It comes alive with a simple list interface, a long list on the left-hand side that opens menus in trees moving to the right across the screen. I¡¯m sure the options can be changed, but this seems like it¡¯s straight-forward, so I¡¯ll keep it as is for now. I find the list on the left and select ¡®home customization.¡± The list fans out to the right with more options ranging from floor layouts to purchasing compressed space boxes, closets, and rooms. Considering the compressed space stuff, I almost gag, the prices are beyond ridiculous. Backing out I look at the layouts. There are a few that have my attention. One I¡¯m considering the most pushes the far living room wall closer, using the space to make a bedroom that almost mirrors my own. There¡¯s one like it that makes the common room a bit smaller but adds queen beds to them for a couple hundred extra EXP. Deciding having a bed I¡¯m not afraid I¡¯ll fall out of in the middle of the night is important I select the choice to add the extra room and queen beds.
-UPGRADE- -All occupants must leave the domicile for upgrades to take effect. -select start from the door menu to lock-in selected floor layout. (700 EXP will be drafted once selection is confirmed by homeowner.) The mention of a homeowner brings up more questions. With a quick search through the list¡¯s I find an option for adding people via a list/search type function. There¡¯s something neat.
-HOME- -Registered owner > Gnome. (Owner has right to change anything inside of the domicile. Also, has ability to add entry permissions.) Residents > Lena (North bedroom permissions.) (Have the right to manipulate registered rooms, owner must approve other changes/permissions.) -Entry permissions > Hep, Rita, Ianata (Assigned Valkyrie).
I guess Ianata has permissions as my assigned Valkyrie, it won¡¯t let me limit her or anything. No use worrying about it I guess. I¡¯ll let the ¡®home¡¯ do its thing after I finish my list and head out to the store. List time I guess, what does Lena need? Shit, maybe I should just take her straight from the rooms later and she can just figure it out herself. She was in Hels realm longer than I¡¯ve been here, buying her the wrong gear would be stupid. Guess that leaves me most of the day to do¡­what? Can I set up mission parameters from my room? Deciding I¡¯ll be spending most of the day inside my room anyways I step out and start the home upgrade.
-HOME- -Upgrade in process > twenty-minutes remaining.
Should have expected that I guess. I wonder if it just, like, migrates or if there are inter-dimensional gremlins that move everything around? Might be an interesting talk to have with someone at some point. Staring at the door I realize that I don¡¯t want to stare at a door. I make my way to the bazaar; the town is much livelier now. There is a definite feeling of tension though. People seem more tight-lipped, everybody has weapons holstered and is moving about quicker. I¡¯ll ask Ianata about it later. The bazaar hadn¡¯t changed any, it was still a giant, glorious wally-world. Walking to the weapons counter I select all the gear worth anything and sell off almost everything. Including my trusty Granger, sans sight. She¡¯s been a wonderful companion so far, but I need something with a little more oomph. And silenced. I love the idea of a bow but I never really got too deep into them back before the jump. After drooling over everything in the shop I¡¯m torn between whether to get one of the modular AR type rifles. You can swap the upper receivers like a regular AR and customize it as needed. The package I¡¯m looking at comes with a 12 inch 5.56 upper, and an optional 16 .300BLK upper for an extra cost if packaged. Or the M1A type scout rifles. The base model package I¡¯m looking at comes in .308 with an optional low end silencer. They¡¯re both calibers I¡¯ve trained on and am comfortable with. The price difference, even with option, is minimal. If I didn¡¯t have to buy for Lena, I¡¯d just get both and be done with it, but for all I know she¡¯s a pistol expert. Godamn it. In the end, I decide on the AR packaged with the .300BLK upper with a x8 sight, and six magazines for each caliber. The scout rifle would have been nice, but in the end the AR is just too versatile. I don¡¯t even need to get another pistol I can just give it to Lena.
-WEAPON- -Rhino AR style modular lower receiver > LVL. 5 -Quality > Above average. -Weight > 2 (Lbs.) -DESCRIPTION- -The Rhino AR style lower receiver accepts compatible upper receivers without physical modifications. (Buffer spring, and buffer included.)
-WEAPON- -Rhino AR 5.56 upper receiver > LVL. 5 -Damage > 80 (Per shot) -Effective range > 300m -Quality > Above average. -Weight > 6.5 (Lbs.) -DESCRIPTION- -The Rhino AR 5.56 upper receiver is a battle-tested weapon trusted by many militaries before the collapse. Good for close to mid-range engagements.
-WEAPON ACCESSORY- -Rhino AR 5.56 silencer > LVL. 3 -Sound reduction > 30 (dB) -Quality > Above average. -Weight > .30 (Lbs.)
-WEAPON- -Rhino AR .300BLK upper receiver > LVL. 5 -Damage > 140 (Per shot) -Effective range > 800m -Quality > Above average. -Weight > 9.2(Lbs.) -DESCRIPTION- -The Rhino AR .300BLK upper receiver is a swappable caliber variant for the Rhino lower receiver. It has more stopping power, and is specifically made for longer range engagements.
-WEAPON ACCESSORY- -Ambient Mana long range engagement scope > LVL. 3 - 4x-8x magnification. -Quality > Above average. -Weight > .5 (Lbs.)
I¡¯d have loved to gotten a silencer for the .300 but the amount I spent on the package went way past my expected budget. Sixteen-hundred EXP lighter I make my way over to the area with tactical helmets. I need to get one with a jumper and maybe a night vision slot. Selecting a helmet was worse than the gun. The helmets were situated next to full body suits, some of which had connected helmets that retracted. They were some serious space age tech. I think I should just stick with what I have for now, the only thing we can take with us into the initial rift is going to be guns, ammo, and rations. Maybe I¡¯ll have enough for one of these sweetums when I finish. I decide to grab a quick disconnect, compression pack that will weave right onto my vest on the way out. It¡¯s only a couple of silvers and I¡¯m sitting on twenty-three gold with all the bodies I looted. Feeling like someone had stolen my happy I carried my purchased weapon back to my room and pulled everything out and set it up. I had decided to go with the extra lower. Lena had a rifle when I met her in-rift, I figure she can live with it for a mission. If she doesn¡¯t like it she can give it to me and I¡¯ll either sell it or rearrange my kit to make it usable. I almost don¡¯t notice the difference in my home as I walk in, the living room is much smaller, but the kitchen has moved closer to the door. It¡¯s cozier than what I thought it¡¯d be, an upgrade, or adding compressed space rooms in the future might be a good idea. Rubbing my hands together in anticipation I start pulling packages out of my inventory, and assembling my kit. After everything was put on both rifle¡¯s looked intimidating. After the silencer was put on the 5.56 upper was only five or six inches shorter than the .300BLK. I¡¯d decided on getting them in a base flat dark earth color scheme for everything. It¡¯d been the color I chose for all my firearms before the collapse, why ruin a good thing. Checking the time, I still had another six-hours before I needed to pick her up. Maybe I¡¯ll make a quick meal and then grab a nap. I fire up the oven and throw some frozen chicken nuggets and French fries on a sheet inside. Wishing I had thought to buy aluminum foil so I didn¡¯t have to clean anything afterwards I set an alarm and walk back to the table. Engrossed in the options for the table I barely realize that the food is done. I pull them out and toss them on a plate, sliding the sheet into the sink. I move back to the table and am lost in the options available in the system. I can search for different rooms, homes, anything from here. The one thing that has my attention is the option to plan a mission from here and just head down to the rift-rooms and jump in. It would have been nice to know before, but it wouldn¡¯t have changed anything. Before I realize it, I¡¯ve nibbled through my food and it¡¯s about forty-minutes until Lena comes through. I¡¯ve managed to plan the rift world. To the depth that once we walk out of the rift it will subtract the EXP needed. Then Send Hep a message that we have finished our initialization and our worlds are merged. The system options get incredibly in depth. Even more interesting is the fact that there are some options greyed out, and no matter what I do I cannot access them. I hate being denied access by a computer. -KNOCK- -KNOCK- ¡°FUCK.¡± Scared the shit out of me. Who the hell is going to be knocking on doors at this hour. Falling back on old habits I rack the slide on the pistol and set it against the door before I open it. ¡°I heard you set up the gun gnome. The chances of you being attacked here are pretty low.¡± Ianata. Keeping the pistol set against the door I pull it open ¡°Can I help you? I was just getting ready to head out.¡± ¡°It¡¯d help if you put the pistol away. But I doubt you will.¡± She looks a little red, and unhappy. Oh well, she tried to kill me once. Respawn might just be a joke for her, I don¡¯t know. ¡°I¡¯m here because it¡¯s time to pick up your ward, I have something I need to talk to you about beforehand.¡± Sounds serious. Pulling the gun off the door I pull it open and wave her in. ¡°Alrighty then, let¡¯s have a conversation.¡± She looks haggard, much worse than she did last night. ¡°I¡¯m not going to step around it, I need you to understand the facts now, and I need a decision before you head through to your rift.¡± Shit, it is serious. Holstering my pistol, I take a seat on the opposite side of the couch from her ¡°That¡¯s pretty much the best way to get through to me anyways. Lay it on my lady.¡± Sitting back and taking a deep breath she looks much more anxious, come to think about it, almost afraid. Not sure what kind of things scare a fucking Valkyrie I¡¯m getting a bit worried. ¡°Do you know we can die gnome? We can die and be sent back to the cycle: You, me, even most of the demi-gods, they are just people who have gained enough power to ascend to the next plateau. There are certain weapons, and individuals who have the skills to do so. You are leveling at an accelerated rate compared to others. You¡¯re not special, you just work harder, and ignore fear better than most. Making you more efficient.¡± The intense stare she¡¯s giving me is moving further from fear and more towards wolfish again. It¡¯s confusing. ¡°I¡¯m on the verge of ascending to the next plateau. I need disciples, you would still work under Odin as your main god, but you would need to move your base with me wherever I went. I don¡¯t have the power to oust the current demi-god here. I can¡¯t stay either, he knows I¡¯m close to moving up, he¡¯s been trying to send me back to the cycle it¡¯s why I disappear so often.¡± I¡¯m not sure what she¡¯s asking entails, but I¡¯m going to make her ask me outright. I like her, she seems like she wants to help, and isn¡¯t looking to make too many waves. It¡¯d be nice to live in a smaller town, getting catcalls and whistles every time I try to walk anywhere here. An eternity of being taunted for a mistake is not something I find fun. ¡°That sounds good for you, you must be super excited to be able to do that. I¡¯m unsure of what you want from me though. I feel I know, but you said you were going to lay it out. Cards on the table, don¡¯t leave anything out.¡± After expressing I knew what she wants aloud without an outright denial her face gets much calmer. She spends most of the time up till I must go and get Lena explaining. She explains that as a demi-god she should either wrest control of a town from another, or take control of a mini-outpost. It¡¯ll involve much the same thing as here since she¡¯s picked enough people who want to stay on this side and either guard walls, or go on local missions. All I¡¯d have to do is move to her outpost once I reached Level ten and I could keep on like I am. There were a few key differences. The outpost being small we¡¯d have to wait for ordered weapons and such to be delivered from other outposts and towns. I wouldn¡¯t have to pull anymore wall guard since she chose people specifically for it. There would also be a twelve-percent EXP and coinage tax taken from every mission upon completion, to go to the betterment of the town. Not bad as far as taxes go honestly. The main reason she was propositioning me is;the more people of worth a town/outpost has the faster it will grow. If the person becomes famous or well known it might draw others. Basically, she¡¯s betting on my success. Something about that makes me warm inside, I¡¯m so used to people stepping on one another to get to the top I''ve forgot that you can climb by helping each other up. The biggest downside is that she has enemies. Until she has held the outpost and its surrounding areas for a month straight she can be sent back to the cycle. There are ways those attacking her can send others back too, but it¡¯s rarer. More likely to happen to the more powerful people she is asking to go, but the fact that my growth isn¡¯t a secret might put me in danger. It¡¯s a little bit terrifying, and a lotta bit exhilarating. ¡°I can¡¯t give you a yes right now, I¡¯ll let you know before me and Lena leave tomorrow though, I¡¯m leaning that way though. I just need to sleep on it before I decide.¡± More than likely I¡¯ll take her offer, but maybe I¡¯ll have some insight after a sleep. Standing up and taking my hand in a warrior¡¯s grip ¡°let¡¯s go get your ward. I¡¯m not going to put you in a position you don¡¯t want to be, but if you did this I¡¯d owe you a big favor.¡± Godamn it, that pretty much makes up my mind. I¡¯m not going to tell her that though. A god owing me a favor, and a demi-god owing me a favor would come in handy. Assuming Ianata survived. Releasing me she heads towards the door. I throw on my vest and weapons before following her, clipping my helmet to my hip as I close the door behind me. We talk about small things on the way down to the rift rooms: the weather in Valhalla, Heps progress in Rift. Even a little of what she can tell me about what to expect after I jump in. ¡°Hell, it doesn¡¯t matter that you¡¯re going back to the first day of Heps rift. You¡¯ll always be put in a different location, and because of the things he has set you have to match them. You¡¯re going to run into enemies that are challenging. You won¡¯t even have a map going in, you¡¯ll have to find a way to navigate. If your very, very lucky you¡¯ll start in a small town. More than likely Hep set the starting parameters to high. there is a good chance you''re heading into a large city. Probably with a few minutes before the drop, or a fortified position a few minutes after, likely mid-assault. It¡¯s going to suck, and if you or Lena die before the initial seven days are up you¡¯re going to start from the beginning.¡± That got the blood flowing, it¡¯s worse than I thought. I had known we weren¡¯t going to have much in the way of usable gear. I guess the question now is do I try and kit Lena to survive, or outfit myself to the max and try to make my survival a priority. ¡°Shit, what would you do? Do I make my survival rate higher, or try and kit Lena up enough so that were close? This wouldn¡¯t have been an issue had she given me a few days. Godamn it.¡± I don¡¯t want to be annoyed at her before she even steps through the door, but it looks like it¡¯s going to be. Trying to calm myself down I stick my hand on the scanner and head into a rift-room with Ianata in tow. We¡¯re already past time when Lena was supposed to walk through. She¡¯s already sitting at the table looking more than a little confused, angry, and afraid. ¡°The fuck man? I had the verification message that I was accepted. When I walked through I couldn¡¯t access the system interface, couldn¡¯t open the door. If I¡¯m accepted why am I locked out?¡± She seems a bit peeved. ¡°It¡¯s because you are a ward. You don¡¯t have full rights yet, Gnome must decide how much freedom you are going to have. For most intents and purposes, you are an indentured slave.¡± Lena¡¯s face drops, apparently, she didn¡¯t read the fine print. ¡°Indentured slave?¡± The fear on her face is painful on a primal level, not sure where that comes from. Not sure I want to know. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you all the permissions you promise to behave for Lena. I¡¯m not looking for a slave, I¡¯m looking for a compatriot. I need someone who wants to stand at my shoulder on the line, not someone who has to. I¡¯m not going to demand anything from you that you are unwilling, or do not want to do. Well, I¡¯ll probably figure out the mission schedule most of the time. I will expect you to follow me on most missions.¡± Her face lightens some, I¡¯ve still gotta lay the heavy stuff on her though. ¡°Were probably moving to a much smaller outpost then where we are now after the next mission. One we have to pay extra mission resources to live in. Instead of me getting a part of your EXP after missions it¡¯s just going to be set up to pay the system fees. I¡¯ll put the extra two-percent on top of the ten you are paying, but it¡¯s coming out either way. I¡¯m not trying to fuck you over, it¡¯s the rules of the deal.¡± The fear that was there a moment ago, is gone, replaced again by annoyance. ¡°Why should it come out of mine? Why aren¡¯t you paying it?¡± Fine, let¡¯s be assholes. ¡°Because you got back to your world and immediately requested to move to me. You¡¯ve upset pretty much every plan I had made. The system is taking a tax out of your keep any way you look at it, this way it goes straight to principal. What you had given to me would have went straight to that anyways.¡± She¡¯s still got a shitty look on her face, ¡°All right. Let¡¯s get to this right out of the gate. I¡¯m an asshole. I¡¯m not going to rape you or anything, but I¡¯ll expect you to keep up with me, and I won¡¯t ask you to do shit that I won¡¯t." "Unfortunately for you, I¡¯m a fucking nut-bag. That bullshit I pulled back at your camp? I FREQUENTLY put myself in those situations. I¡¯ll expect you to wade in either right behind me, or when and where I tell you. If you won¡¯t try, I¡¯ll leave you behind. I¡¯ll pull every fucking permission you have and you¡¯ll sit in the rift-room until I¡¯ve completed the mission or died. I will not expect you to be the best there is, but I¡¯ll expect you to try your hardest. Because I will.¡± Her face had hallowed out again, but I¡¯ve got to finish my thought, lowering my voice I keep on. ¡°I hold myself to a high standard, if I see you are unable to keep up I will adjust, or change plans.¡± Her head has lowered and I see tears coming down her face. ¡°look at me Lena. I¡¯m usually a semi-reasonable guy, but if you are not going to try and be useful let me know. I¡¯ll even make you a guarantee.¡± Setting my hand on my heart I look in her eyes, ¡°I swear on my soul that I will never ask you to do something I wouldn¡¯t do.¡± Ianata¡¯s eyes widen and she takes a step away from me as a door opens behind me and Vidar walks out of the door. ¡°A soul contract must be officiated by a system bound god. You will place your hand in mine and make that oath again once time resumes if you mean it. If you tell me, you do not I will step back through the door.¡± I can see the dare in his eyes, the test behind what he¡¯s doing. ¡°Restart time, I wasn¡¯t kidding.¡± He puts one hand out and snaps his fingers again. Time resumes and Ianata and Lena are staring that Vidar. ¡°Gnome has made a statement that needs to be system bound. I am here to do so.¡± He puts his hand back out and waves me over. ¡°You know what you have to do Gnome.¡± Without any hesitation, I walk to him and set my hand on his palm. ¡°I swear on my soul that I will never ask more of Lena than I would of myself.¡± ¡°I accept.¡± Without another word after his proclamation he tilts his head at me and walks back out his door. ¡°Well fuck me Gnome, I don¡¯t know if I can keep up with you but it¡¯s going to be a hell of a ride. I¡¯m in.¡± Lena has a look on her face of somewhere between confusion and star struck. I can¡¯t help but shrug, ¡°I¡¯ve been told I do things a bit different than most. It¡¯s worked out for the best so far, I¡¯ll let you know if it stops.¡± (ch-13) Sidetracked. It turns out that Lena wasn¡¯t a Drow Elf. She was a changeling. We¡¯re going to keep that between us, even my dumb ass knows that people are going to be suspicious about that. Plus, it¡¯s a hell of a party trick. Doesn¡¯t help any that her race is an offshoot of the D&D one, not all cute and cuddly change whenever they want. She needs to digest the DNA of whatever race she wants to change into. She can change to any race regardless, but to gain their base racial traits she must digest a part. A significant amount if I understand her right. I didn¡¯t ask how she had to do it, and I would much rather she keep that information to herself. On the upside, she¡¯s already gained Drow Elf, Human, she says she¡¯s most of the way through digesting a wood elf. The first order of business is to get her to stop calling it ¡®digesting¡¯. I¡¯m cool with the fact that it¡¯s something her people do, just the idea of her eating sentients is kind of off-putting. ¡°Can we call it something else? I understand that¡¯s the best word fit since you are assimilating it, but frankly, it¡¯s disconcerting.¡± This is a conversation we¡¯ve had at least three times since we got her gear set up and came back to the house. She¡¯s not receptive. ¡°That sounds more like a you problem, than a me problem. Might as well ask Ianata to stop calling you an asshole, it¡¯s not flattering but it¡¯s who you are.¡± Straight faced. If she weren¡¯t an underling, and interested in sex in the least I might make a move. Godamned asexual. ¡°I¡¯m not an asshole, I¡¯m blunt. The way people perceive me is something they need to live with, since I am not changing.¡± Fuck. I walked right into it again. Her base racial intelligence is annoying. She keeps walking me wherever she wants in conversations. I kind of want to stab her. Raising her hands in a ¡®what can you do¡¯ motion and smirks at me. I made myself a promise that I wouldn¡¯t punch her in her face. I don¡¯t think she means to be annoying, she just seems like the type who is too smart for her own good. It does work out for me though, she did manage to finagle enough gold to buy herself some of her own gear. Turns out she is more of a long-distance engagement kind of girl, not much for close combat. That¡¯s fine. It works out for the best, really, since I¡¯ll have some insurance every once in a while. I also managed to buy a spear and have Hels-gift assimilate it, I figured I trained some in the past, and it¡¯s got a knife fight beat by a mile. If she¡¯s is being honest she can hit one-hundred percent of the targets she shoots at up to one-thousand meters. I¡¯d love to test it out at a range before we go, but schedules must be kept. We spent most of last night buying her kit, and some comms stuff to make keeping in contact easier. We¡¯re finishing packing bags and going over list¡¯s in the main room right now, then it¡¯s off to try and nap. The rift room is going to take us in to a bad position either way, so we¡¯re going to try and get some sleep beforehand. I¡¯d love to be able to jump in but it¡¯s not an option, the system must have its pound of flesh. Bring it, I don¡¯t give a shit. Lena had finished her list a while ago, but was taking her time picking at me, ¡®getting to know me¡¯ she kept calling it. Lots of annoying questions, random information about her past. She¡¯s a friendly girl, talkative. I¡¯m not a fan of talkative. I¡¯m perfectly fine going days, or weeks without talking or hearing a voice. Or seeing another person, if I¡¯m honest. ¡°I can¡¯t believe fighting is an option on your planet. I was born as a dark-skinned changeling so I my people shunned me from the day I was born. While the rest of the kids were learning to mimic humans, and elves I was stuck learning how to mimic orcs, and dwoemer. It¡¯s believed the ¡®shaded¡¯ are soulless and the only thing we are good for is combat. I was to guard the villages of the ones who refuse to change, but fuck that noise, as you¡¯d say.¡± It¡¯s a little disconcerting, I can hear the emotions in her voice but she¡¯s not actually making facial expressions. I think it¡¯s a way for her people to show trust? Fucking creepy. ¡°So, I had to grow up learning all kinds of combat and defense. Put on a scout squad at one point, and found out quick that I¡¯m one hell of a sniper. Put me in a decent position with a decent rifle and enough ammo and I can kill anything. Did I tell you about the time I decimated a squad of ogres?¡± ¡°Yes. It was somewhere around the third or fourth sentence you spoke. Then again somewhere a few more conversations later.¡± I¡¯m done setting my shit up, and I need do that sleeping shit. ¡°I don¡¯t want to cut you off in the middle there, but I need to sleep. I hope your race sleeps.¡± Instead of waiting for her to answer, and launch into another tale of her greatness, I stand up and start moving towards my bedroom. ¡°Oh, we do, I must be incredibly well rested since the assim- Ah, I get it. I¡¯ll let you get away from the conversation this time. We will become friends Gnome, you¡¯re a giant softie under your assholic exterior.¡± Her voice had been rising as I walked away and went through my door, she managed to get the last part in as it closed. She¡¯s not entirely wrong, helping people is what I¡¯m about. Doesn¡¯t make me a softie though, I might be by her standards, I don¡¯t know what she went through growing up. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get her life in excruciating detail in the next few days. If it were possible I¡¯d like to hole up and murder zombies for a few days. I doubt that¡¯s what is going to happen, but it¡¯s nice to dream. The system will reward me for rescuing people though. So, we¡¯ll be heading into shit situations and trying to extract people from them. Stepping up next to my bed I pull off my clothes and sink into its wonderfully soft embrace. Within moments I¡¯m drifting off to sleep. Walking through a golden meadow of waist high wheat, I run my hands among the stalks. My rough calluses catching the soft chaff of the wheat scratching out the sounds of my movement. This isn¡¯t a normal dream for me, normally I¡¯d be at the lake house. If I¡¯m fortunate my brain will forget about the shit-trodden past. I¡¯d be in my hometown, amongst faces that haven¡¯t looked at me with anything but distain for years. I don¡¯t blame them for hating me, I¡¯m not drunk enough to dwell on those memories. Making my way through the field I notice a break in the trees with a view of a small village area with children running, and adults smiling and watching. Just on this side of the break I see Hel standing sideways watching the children play, she¡¯s clearly waiting for me. I was wondering how long before her curiosity drug me to her. Not wanting to ruin the calm feeling, I stop moving close my eyes, and turn my face up, letting the sunlight kiss my face. After a moment to embrace the carefree sounds of children playing. The subdued murmur of friendly conversation opens my eyes and turn back towards Hel. She¡¯s wearing almost the same outfit as when she came to see me for my funeral, less somber, a light blue and yellow knee length sundress. Her hair is a tied into a single braid in a pleat down her back, but her smile unrestrained. I can almost feel the joy she has at being able to watch the scene in front of her radiate to me from yards away. Walking up I stand next to her, I don¡¯t have anything to say, so I let the silence between us continue. ¡°This is my kingdom. The afterlife my peaceful followers receive. There is never any crime here, and no one wants for anything. Every god has a realm for their faithful like this, for the warriors who have gone too long, or the peaceful who have made the universe better. Some of these aren¡¯t even mine, they are the loved ones of those who came here.¡± The pride in her voice is warmer than the sun coming from above, it¡¯s clear she loves this place, these people with all that she is. ¡°I have control of death in several different realms, I watch over an almost countless number of worlds. But this, this small realm with but a few hundred thousand, is my treasure. Nothing else I own, nothing I reign over is a quarter as important to me as this place is.¡± Turning towards me, and locking her eyes on to mine she surprises me. ¡°I¡¯d have you here. Either as a resident, or as a realm protector. No strings attached, and no favors owed. I will never rescind this offer. If you want to come to this realm when you have tired of battle, I will have you. I would even be willing to take on whatever payment Odin asked of me.¡± The openness in her gray eyes staring into mine is painful. It¡¯s a look that begs an answer, asking me to know something that I¡¯ve never learned. ¡°Why? Why would you want me here? I¡¯ve never done anything in your name, I do not believe earth is even in your purview.¡± Some of the joy leaves her face, and I feel like I¡¯ve failed a test I didn¡¯t know I was taking. That¡¯s not a no, I want to know why me?¡± I point at the children and the people enjoying them play, ¡°I¡¯ve never been that happy, I can¡¯t even imagine being as joyful as those people from watching that. I¡¯m not even sure I could ever reach a level of peace within to even consider that.¡± Once I¡¯ve finished my small tantrum I realize I¡¯d gotten much louder than intended and some of the people were looking over with concern. ¡°That is precisely why. Look at those people, what do you make of their minds? What do you suppose they are thinking?¡± At least I know I¡¯m there is a test now. ¡°They worry that I have disrespected you, insulted that I have ruined the calm afternoon. Scorn, is the word I¡¯m looking for here.¡± I¡¯m not usually self-conscious but having insulted a beautiful god in front of devout follower¡¯s I am acutely self-aware. ¡°You would be wrong. That is concern, and not for me. They worry for you. Not that I will hurt you, I have never, and will never commit violence in this realm against someone invited. They are wonder for your well-being. Your state of mind.¡± Her searching look is back ¡°I would have you here for that precise reason. If you did not have the soul of a warrior, you would have been a healer. Had you neither you would have been a teacher, lacking any of these you would have been a guide.¡± Turning her face back to look at the nearby scene, she waves her arm ¡°These people have helping in their very souls. It is not a part of who they are, it is a part what they are. In any world, of any realm they would have been doing their best to better other people¡¯s lives. You are one such as this, and your soul has gone back through the cycle more times than most. Unlike most it has a past, an imprint, if you will. There¡¯s something about it that inherently wants to stop suffering in any form.¡± I don¡¯t have any way to respond to that. I¡¯m not even sure there is a response to that. She may have the wrong soul. I¡¯ve done horrible things back in my old life, things that keep me from sleep. Things that drag me into pits full of razor sharp self-hate that tears me apart from the inside. All that''s left is a shell of a man who can¡¯t process the emotions. ¡°I am not mistaken. Were your soul cleansed and sent back to the cycle I could pick it out of a crowd of billions without effort. You may see yourself as a pariah, nothing more than a dark-blot on the universe that will be better once cleansed. But I tell you now; you are a beacon. Were the changes your one soul has wrought be set on the scales they would shatter in your favor.¡± The conviction in her voice is hard to ignore, and I feel like a fraud for the things she believes. ¡°What you think matters little.¡± Messing about in my head again. ¡°You do not have to believe that you are good gnome, I have enough belief for the both of us.¡± We stand in the companionable silence, her watching the people. While I try and process what she has said. Eventually some leave and she motions for us to have a seat on a bench they had been occupying. ¡°That conversation is not why I brought you here. I had not meant to make that offer so soon, but I do not regret it. I brought you here because I wish to know the nature of the favor you are going to ask.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. This is the conversation I expected when I got here, guess we took the long way around. ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯m not even 100% sure what I can use a favor for,¡± I put up my hand to forestall her from interrupting, ¡°I¡¯d rather bumble my way into it if I¡¯m honest. I swear I won¡¯t waste it though. I have no intentions on using it anytime soon. It¡¯s a nice safety blanket, plus I hear you giving one out is rare, so I¡¯ll hold on to it until it¡¯s necessary.¡± I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d use it for, and I¡¯m not sure I want to know limitations. If nothing else if I try to use it and it¡¯s not going to work maybe Vidal or somebody will show up and tell me I¡¯m wrong. Give me a bit more thinking room. The sound of Hels laugh rings out clear as a bell. ¡°I will not mention to him that I offered. More than likely he, or I, will show up to tell you if you can or cannot do something when you ask. If it is I, you may end up owing another favor. Don¡¯t play the ¡®new kid in town¡¯ card for too long though. Vidal likes you, but if you annoy him you will live to regret it.¡± Her tone got more serious as she continued through her admonishment. I¡¯ll take it to heart, I¡¯d rather not make enemies. She stands up and puts a hand out, ¡°Would you like for me to give you a tour of the local city? I can help you see why living he-¡° A dark look crosses over her face. She stops talking, she blinks rapidly a few times then is gone. ¡°What was that about.¡± Fuck, I hope I¡¯m not trapped here. She said she brought me, is it my mind, or is my entire being here? I try my hardest to wake myself up. There¡¯s got to be a way. I walk up to a tree, draw back my fist and swing, my fist impacts the tree with a thud. There is no pain, so I am dreaming, I don¡¯t know how to wake myself up. As I¡¯m drawing back my arm for a harder punch Hel pop¡¯s back in right next to me. She looks disheveled, and rushed. I¡¯d use the word panicked, but I don¡¯t think she¡¯s capable. ¡°You must go. When you wake get your companion, and have Ianata escort you to the rift rooms. You are not going to have much time. The Greeks have torn a hole into Valhalla and Apollo¡¯s personal Spartans are moving on your compound. If you are lucky they are sending a message, if you are not they will have soul-rippers. Do. Not. Get. Hit. If you are there¡¯s no respawn, no recycle. It will destroy your soul. There Spartans are one of the only units that carry them standard. Ianata can tell you more, I¡¯ve wasted too much time.¡± ¡°Why are they attacki-¡° she reaches out and pokes me in the forehead. Her poke translates to the physical world, pushing me awake so hard it throws me from the bed onto the floor. ¡°LENA! Lena get the fuck up, and get in your gear, we need to go. Now.¡± As I¡¯m yelling for her I¡¯m picking up the things I¡¯d set next to my bed to repacked in my inventory and stashing them. I decide to take what extra clothes I can. If a god is attacking the outpost, he means to tear it to the ground. I look over to see Lena standing in my door, ¡°what are you yelling about? It¡¯s too late for that.¡± She looks like she woke up and walked over. Hope she didn¡¯t fall asleep recently. ¡°Hel came to me in a dream. The Greeks are on their way here, and they are bringing Spartans. It¡¯d be best if we were gone by the time they got here. Get your shit, we are going to go knocking on Ianata¡¯s door, then we are out of here.¡± Shaking her head in affirmative she turns and sprints back towards her room. Shit I need to message Ianata.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: The Greeks are attacking with Spartans, Hel says I need you to get me to a gate. I have a feeling she¡¯s got more information than whatever we have. Ianata: Our people don¡¯t know anything, Ascarius the demi-god for the town, isn¡¯t here. He left to tour the region a day or two ago. The only people who know were Valkyrie. Gnome: Then you either have a mole, or he¡¯s trying to thin the ranks. Per Hel they are Apollos Spartans, so they have soul-rippers. Ianata: I wouldn¡¯t put it past him. I was already awake, I¡¯ll be at your room in a minute or two.
This is so much less than good. I hate to even think that the local demi-god worries enough of her ascending that he would contract someone to destroy her. I wouldn¡¯t put it past someone in a position such as that to be that corrupt though. Finishing putting my gear away I walk over and open my door, Ianata is reaching for the handle. ¡°Are you guy¡¯s ready to go? Sooner is better. If Hel wants me to take you I¡¯ll put you there, but I¡¯ve got to defend the outpost until we can get everyone evacuated. Most of the people here don¡¯t have the level to stand up against Spartans.¡± She seems flustered. Frightened even, I agree completely. If I thought the guy who should have my back was willing to kill a shit-ton of people to get me I would be less than thrilled. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re good.¡± Closing the door behind her Lena follows us out. We¡¯re walking across the square when an explosion rocks the front gate, tearing one door half off and blowing chunks out of the connecting wall. Far enough away that we only catch the concussion, the wave throws me and Lena off our feet. Ianata manages to hold her ground.
-INCURSION EVENT- -Apollo is attacking the outpost with a squadron of Spartans. -The attacking force is of far greater average level than town occupants. -Lower level residents will evacuate through the rift portals.
-OBJECTIVE- -All capable warriors must hold the town while Valkyries direct evacuations -After general evacuation is complete all residents will evacuate, to include Valkyrie. (All incoming rifts are being diverted.) (Evacuees can either evacuate to nearest defensible town, or start pre-planned missions.) (There will be no reinforcements.)
Well. I going to defend the fuck out of this place.1 By the time I¡¯m done reading my message Ianata has helped Lena to her feet and is heading my direction. I can see the people on the walls firing down outside the compound. Another group tucked against the gate are firing what look like vehicle mounted .50 caliber machine guns. ¡°Ianata, me and Lena are going to post up at a window on the second floor of the great hall. It will leave us close to egress, and we should be able to fire into the Spartans as they come.¡± She is shaking her head before I even finish, ¡°the people fighting at the gate are the strongest we have, our next strongest are coming in behind them. Even if you have the best gear you can have for your level these guys are so far above you it¡¯s not funny. There¡¯s no good you can do, you are part of the ¡®general evacuation¡¯ because your level, but mostly because Hel said to get you out.¡± I¡¯d love to argue, but she¡¯s got to be right. A god¡¯s personal army has to be a whole bunch of badasses, ¡°Fine, but I want to be one of the last out. I¡¯ll go when I know we can¡¯t hold. I¡¯m not above a tactical retreat, but I will not run like a whipped dog.¡± I don¡¯t have to like her point. ¡°Whatever lets you sleep at night. Post up on the pedestal next to the front door, if you are upstairs and they take that door you¡¯ll never make it past them. I¡¯m not kidding, don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± I bite my tongue on what I was going to say. ¡°Good, get over there. You leave when I tell you though. I¡¯ve got a good working relationship with Hel, I don¡¯t need you ruining it.¡± ¡°One more thing Ianata. I¡¯m in for your outpost, sign me up. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have it by the time I finish this mission. Good luck, don¡¯t get yourself killed.¡± She¡¯s been good to me. Besides the guy running this place is a shitbag, and I never met him. Fuck him. ¡°You too, now go.¡± Me and Lena push through the crowd that is crushing into the great hall. Making our way on to the raised pedestal next to the front that looks like it was for a town crier, or executions at one point. It gets boring from there. The wall and door are doing a good job of repelling the attackers, I¡¯m feeling confident that we¡¯ll hold. Somewhere around an hour after the assault started shit gets bad. Most of the evacuees were through the building. Lena and I were waiting for word on whether we should go through when another explosion rocks the gate decimating all the forces there. Before our forces manage to plug the hole a group of ten or so men dressed in high-tech red and gold armor sprint through and disappear into buildings. The view through the gate is bad. From what I can see there are a few fifty man platoons outside the gate. They aren¡¯t slowing down either, a backup force from our side is managing to stem their tide some, but they¡¯re in. The one¡¯s the made it through ha few minutes ago have set fires, and explosions are going off every couple of seconds now, I guess they¡¯re tired of waiting. Turning my head to tell Lena we¡¯re going to head out I see a man in Spartan armor jumping onto the platform and start sprinting at us. ¡°Lena, get down!¡± I point my rifle at him and start ripping off rounds, they barely slow him down. They do make him change to me as a target though. ¡°Start heading for the rift room, one at the direct end of the hallway I¡¯ll meet you there.¡± She¡¯s smart, she doesn¡¯t argue and runs. While I had been yelling to Lena the Spartan had slowed down and was looking at me with his head cocked to the side, ¡°You are Daemon-elf, Gnome. I have you on a kill list. You are a friend of a blasphemer. I will gain great glory from this.¡± Running his mouth gives me the chance to throw my rifle into my inventory and pull out Hels-gift. Imagining the knife transforming into the short-spear form my mana almost completely drained. The Spartan sits patiently while the knife grows, ¡°Ah you wish for a test of arms. I accept.¡± He reaches onto his arm and pulls a small cylinder. It shimmers for a few seconds before it is an exact match to my spear; four and a half feet, an inch cross guard, and a six-inch blade He drops into a mid-guard stance and immediately starts testing my defenses. Sending a straight thrust at my face, I deflect with the guard and slash at his chest. Continuing after my slash I send a straight thrust at his abdomen. Quick-stepping back and then forward so fast it looks like he almost blinks he dodges my stab. ¡°You are not bad at this, it is good to find an almost worth opponent. Too bad I must kill you now, perhaps one day we will meet in the arena. My name is Lelax.¡± ¡°Eat a dick.¡± He starts thrusting and slashing his spear at me. I can only block because I am rolling through defensive routines, trained since childhood. My uncle was a kendo master, but I had hated the sword. Something about it had felt clunky, off-balance. So, he taught me what he knew of the spear, for my day and age I was good. But we weren¡¯t Spartans, I hadn¡¯t lived it. The spear was a hobby for me, it was a way of life for the Spartan, and that was before he¡¯d died. I cannot even imagine how long he¡¯d been doing it since. Within a few seconds, I was bleeding from at least a dozen cuts, none of them deep enough to kill, but every one of them excruciating. I¡¯m bringing my spear around in a spinning underhand feint when Lelax halts his spear, causing me to overshoot my block by a couple of inches. Reaching out his foot he sweeps my legs and sends me tumbling to the ground. I manage to block a couple of his attacks before he knocks my weapon clear. As he draws back his spear I pull my pistol from the holster and let off a round at him, hitting a forcefield. As his spear descends I keep pulling my trigger. Resigning myself to fate his head snaps to the side and his spear tip deflected high, ripping through the upper trapezium in my shoulder. The rounds keep coming, four in quick succession in almost the same spot every time. The unexpected rounds push Lelax over and away into a diving roll to assess where the threat is coming from. Without even thinking I grab my spear and start sprint towards the great hall, hoping his roll will put him too far away and I can make it to the room Lena is in. As I pass through the door to the hall I see Lena prone at the end, she¡¯s the one shooting rounds. I¡¯m not sure about her long range, but she¡¯s good with quick shots from a mid-distance. I may have made a hell of a deal for this one, it¡¯s already paying off. Chancing a look behind me I see that Lelax isn¡¯t there anymore, he¡¯s behind cover somewhere. The rifle she¡¯s got won¡¯t kill him, but judging by the gates earlier it¡¯s enough to hurt. As I come up on Lena I reach down and pull her up, ¡°Thanks for that, we need to go though. If history is right he¡¯s not going to be happy you interrupted a duel.¡± ¡°Duel? You mean him cutting up your giblets?¡± She¡¯s got a smile on her face, glad she can find the humor here. ¡°COWARD, COME MEET YOUR FATE!¡± Lelax is on the stairs with his spear pointed through the door at us. I point my spear back, ¡°NAH, I¡¯M GOOD, THANKS.¡± I grab Lena and we sprint to the closest open rift door, slamming the door closed and activating it behind us. Without slowing down, I run to the table and pull up the mission I¡¯d already set up.
-MISSION- -A brave new world- -The apocalypse has begun, you must survive the impending end. -DESCRIPTION- -The end has finally come; zombies and monsters walk the earth. Survive the first days of the apocalypse and find a long-term base of operations. (Rift world set to ¡®Hard: Reduced Hud, equalized monster levels, learning monsters.) (You have chosen to link-rift with Heplite.) (As a link-rift you will arrive at the initiation of Heplites rift in a different location.) (You must leave the rift world for twenty-four hours once you have reached an intervening timeline.)
Reading over the mission one last time I select yes, and wait for the portal door to blink on. Unlike most of the time¡¯s I¡¯ve come through it¡¯s a black portal. Maybe they''re looking to create an air of mystery. I can hear Lelax banging on the door, and see dents starting to form, we don¡¯t have much longer. ¡°You ready?¡± Seeing her nod yes, I change Hels gift back and stow it and pull out my rifle. ¡°Let¡¯s go then, grab onto my vest and come through with me. The transition can be weird sometimes.¡± Raising my rifle to a ready stance I wait until Lena grabs my shoulder strap and walk into the door. (CH-14) Drums of war. Transitioning through the gate is more like walking into a different room. The gate closes behind us as Lena¡¯s foot touches down on our side, leaving us engulfed in darkness. The only sound we can hear is breathing, the darkness weighs heavy like a blanket. ¡°Lena, do you have a flashlight? It never even occurred to me.¡± Being able to see in most low-light conditions has spoiled me, a flashlight should have been on my list. ¡°I have light magic, it will not last long though, I can sustain it for ten-minutes before I have to rest.¡± She¡¯s whispering, I guess I was too. Something about the pitch black does that to people I guess. ¡°Go ahead and do what you need, be ready to cancel it at any moment though. Once you have it up we¡¯ll assess and move out. Guess we hope we didn¡¯t get dropped into a nest of some kind.¡± Probably shouldn¡¯t have added the last part. ¡°You¡¯re a ray of sunshine. So, comforting.¡± There¡¯s a tremble in her voice, she¡¯s a big girl though, she¡¯ll be fine. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready.¡± The darkness starts to take on a cold blue light. As our surroundings come into view I¡¯m not liking our chances of survival. It looks too much like the inside of an ammo bunker. The walls were slick concrete and there were pallets, and shelves stocked with ammo all around us. ¡°Fuck, Lena put your gun away or we¡¯re going to get murdered. We need to find the door, it shouldn¡¯t take long.¡± This is a shitty place to start, if the gate guards are dead we are so fucked. These things are bomb proof, as well as intruder proof. On the upside if we can get out we¡¯re going to have a couple of hours to plan. ¡°Why? What are these boxes? Do you know this place? It looks military, some kind of cache ?¡± Smart kid, brownie points for getting it on the first go. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s definitely military. U.S. by the writing on the boxes. On the upside, I served in the US military, on the downside we are more the ¡®shoot first, ask later.¡¯ Kinds of people. We¡¯re going to put our weapons away so we look about as unthreatening as we can, and go knocking on a door.¡± I take a breath, trying to appear calmer than I am, ¡°with a little bit of luck we can get to a command and get everyone rousted. More than likely though, we¡¯re going to have to break ourselves out of whatever holding cell they put us in.¡± That¡¯s making a huge leap though, and only counts on the lower-enlisted at the door not blasting us away as soon as they see us. Lena makes her ball of light bright enough for us to see that the bunker is relatively small, a few hundred feet by a few hundred feet. The door is easy to find at least. While walking towards the door I try and read some of the ammo boxes on the way. It looks like the shipping flags are marked ¡®Fort Carson¡¯ I spent time stationed during my first enlistment. Nice surroundings, the leadership sucked though. I hope it¡¯s changed since then. Passing a half-stripped pallet of ammo, I read 5.56, waste not want not. I stop her and start stripping the box, with my upgraded strength a can of ammo in my inventory shouldn¡¯t affect much. ¡°Lena put this in your inventory, tell me if it¡¯s too much though. I can always grab ammo off bodies.¡± Walking over she tries to pick up a box and throw it in her inventory ¡°It¡¯s too heavy. I could carry it, but I would be hampered.¡± She sounds disappointed, I am too but we¡¯ll make do. An ammo can is 840 rounds I shouldn¡¯t run through that anytime soon. ¡°it¡¯s no problem, adding to the mags I already have loaded I¡¯m good to go for a while.¡± I wave her on and we head towards the door. Once we¡¯re at the door we run into another problem, its reinforced steel. There¡¯s no keypads or anything, so I revert to the best option. I turn around and donkey kick the door until I can hear people on the other side. ¡°Lena, move back about five-feet, put your hands on your head and get on your knees. No matter what, do NOT respond in violence. They¡¯re going to get rough with us, but I won¡¯t let them take it too far.¡± Nodding she does as I ask, I move back next to her ¡°Kill the light, they¡¯re going to freak out enough once they see us.¡± The light is fading before I even finish talking, I had been annoyed with having her at first, but she¡¯s been invaluable. I forget how nice it is to work in a team sometimes. The lock on the other side of the door is being undone, and I can hear them talking about stacking up. ¡°Shit, Lena, they¡¯re going to breach, face on the ground, close your eyes and plug your ears.¡± I hadn¡¯t thought about it before hand, it¡¯s a smart move though. We are barely able to get down and cover like before a flash-bang pops through the door and lands a few feet behind us. Even with my ears and eyes covered the concussive force is still disorienting. Before my senses recover there¡¯s already a guy with a knee on my back putting me in zip cuffs. I look over and see how Lena is doing, I hope I don¡¯t look as confused as she does. Looking forward again I can see a captain in ACU pointing a gun at me moving his mouth. I can¡¯t hear him with the ringing, but I can guess. ¡°CAPTAIN, I CAN¡¯T UNDERSTAND YOU. I¡¯VE BEEN FLASHBANGED.¡± I know I¡¯m yelling, I don¡¯t care. He looks confused for a second, then realizes I can¡¯t hear him. It takes us a few minutes but they¡¯ve got us standing with a guard. His guys are well trained, intersecting fields without hitting their own. If we made a move they¡¯d cut us down. ¡°Pretty sure my hearing is coming back sir, I need you to take us to whomever oversees the base. If shit hasn¡¯t gone bad yet it¡¯s going to sometime soon.¡± I feel more confident then I should with all these guns pointed at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are, or where you came from, but don¡¯t try and tell me what to do. I know what the ROE is here, you are lucky we didn¡¯t shoot you.¡± Now that they¡¯ve all calmed down they are noticing we¡¯re not wearing paint, that I¡¯m not camo''d up I¡¯m actually grey with red swirls ¡°Are those tattoos tribal? Are you Samoan or something?¡± ¡°Was really hoping this could wait Cap. I¡¯m a daemon elf, the end of the world is coming. I¡¯ve been teleported from somewhere else to here, I don¡¯t have time to explain. And if I did I¡¯d have to explain again. Do whatever you need to do to get me to someone important, please, for all of our safety.¡± If this doesn¡¯t work my next move is a bit more drastic. ¡°You¡¯re going straight to holding, command will get to you when they get to you.¡± Sweet, another jumped up LT probably spent all his command time here, fucking old boys club. ¡°Fine SIR, we¡¯ll do this the hard way.¡± I hope this bluff pays off. ¡°Me and my partner here are contractors. we get hired by commands to infiltrate bases and see where we can get without being caught. I hope you have enjoyed your command. Not only did I manage to get past base We¡¯ve been in this bunker since the last ammo drop.¡± His eyes bulge a little, good, fuck him. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± His voice is a few octaves higher now, and his face is turning a brighter color. ¡°What you believe is irrelevant. You will call command, and you will take me straight to the brigade building for a report.¡± Deciding to soften him up a little bit I put my teeth away. ¡°I will report how fast and organized you took the bunker though. Don¡¯t feel too bad Captain, this isn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve broken into a heavily defensed position, it¡¯s kind of our job.¡± Poor Lena is doing her best not to look confused. If the soldiers weren¡¯t so confused by our coloring, they would have noticed that, but distraction is good enough for now. ¡°I¡¯m leaving you in the zips.¡± He says giving me a dirty look, I guess that had the opposite effect. I shrug, ¡°I don¡¯t care, do what you have to do.¡± The captain tries a few times to make conversation while we¡¯re loaded into a HUMVEE and driven back to the command building. He stops after a few tries, I¡¯m not going to talk to him, and Lena hasn¡¯t said a word aloud.
-MESSAGE- Gnome: If you have to talk, just tell them we¡¯re with Dainsleif industries. Were a private company that the Government contracts for jobs that need to be done in the dark. Lena: I can do that, one question though. Did you pull that name out of your ass, sounds fake as shit.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Gnome: No, Dainsleif was the sword of some Norse king. The wounds it gave never healed, and once bared couldn¡¯t be sheathed without taking a life. Lena: You¡¯re the boss, just don¡¯t get us killed.
A rousing vote of confidence there. I guess in her defense it wasn¡¯t looking great. We pulled up to the command building and were ushered inside to the building and into a room with the command staff already sitting at desk¡¯s. There were armed guards all around the room with mags loaded, and angry looks on their faces. The guards moving us in take us to the center of the room and leave us standing there alone. ¡°Captain Long said he couldn¡¯t get a name out of you, but you¡¯re supposed to be contractors. I find that highly suspect, we normally know when those are coming.¡± The guy in the center seat looked very familiar. His head was shaved bald, razor style, an overly athletic face. With a scar over his nose. ¡°No fucking way.¡± It takes me a minute to even realize I said it aloud, I barely notice though. I am fighting too hard not to laugh. I can¡¯t keep the smile off my face though. ¡°Look son, I don¡¯t know who you are, or why you¡¯re in that get up, but I can guarantee this isn¡¯t a laughing matter.¡± His face has turned dark, he¡¯s pissed. Different from back when we served together, but for him it¡¯s been years. ¡°Calm your shit Bizkit.¡± I hit him full in the face with the shitty smirk I used to give him. He drops his hands on the table in front of him and leans forward, I can see his temper has gotten much worse. ¡°There were very few men who knew that name, and I can¡¯t think of any of them who would give it without reason. You can tell me who told it to you or you can rot in a cell until the CIA or whoever they send comes to get you.¡± Fuck it, knowing I¡¯ll have to deal with him if I get aced makes this much easier, I¡¯m going to ride this. ¡°I figured you would go officer. A little too smart for your usual grunt type.¡± I step forward until I¡¯m a few feet from the desk he¡¯s leaning on ¡°Two things general. First: I want you to take a very close look at my face. Second: I don¡¯t know what the pot was up to, but I won, and yall owe me.¡± He closes his eyes in anger before I see him take a deep breath and can almost hear him counting to calm down. I¡¯d bet it¡¯s been awhile since someone talked to him like I do. After opening his eyes, he looks at my face and I see a light of recognition start to shine. Some panic comes into his face, ¡°Not possible, we picked apart your killers, and delivered your body to the plane ourselves. You¡¯re dead. I don¡¯t know where you got that face.¡± He falls back into his seat, ¡°no one else knew about the pot though, we never told anybody about it. It was a joke.¡± He¡¯s talking to himself now, I feel bad about it but I needed him to see me. The faster he understands the faster we can get to what needs to be done. I only have until midnight before bad shit starts to happen. ¡°Do you know this man general?¡± Some weasel Colonel pipes up. He¡¯s one of those pen-pusher types. Too skinny, close to six-foot. Pretty boy with a perfect haircut. I give him the full effect of my attention behind a look cultivated to kill, ¡°Shut. Up. Let him process. If you interrupt again, I¡¯ll kill you. Your men are good, but I¡¯m not worried about dying.¡± Shit, that came across more aggressive than I wanted. His hand slides down to his pistol, his face is slightly more pale, but no hesitation. I don¡¯t want to, but I like him more now. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt anyone. Keep your hand off the gun. He knows me, and he¡¯ll tell you what he wants, when he wants.¡± If he¡¯s going to shoot me he¡¯ll do it whether I¡¯m looking or not, so I turn back to my old friend. ¡°I don¡¯t want to rush you here general, but we¡¯re on a timeline. At midnight CST, the world is going to go to shit, the whole thing. You need to get the word out, and you need to move your civilians to a defensible position. It¡¯s going to be bad.¡± He¡¯s still giving me a deeply skeptical look, understandable. ¡°Fine ask me something only I would know. You want to talk about how I stopped wearing underwear? Even with ripped pants that showed my junk to the dismounts. We can talk about the time I shot a steel ball out of a slingshot and broke Delsks turret windows, I know that never left the truck.¡± Both of those have his eye¡¯s wide open. ¡°Both of those have been told at one point or another, rarely, but I¡¯ve heard them. I can only think of one thing. What did you say to Big-J before you died? Your last words, we never told anyone.¡± He looks like a man standing on the ledge, just waiting for the push to send him over. I had to do it, I wouldn¡¯t let him fall alone though. Closing my eyes and taking a ragged breath I whisper, ¡°Ready and forward.¡± I don¡¯t have the courage to look him in the face as I say it, I¡¯m holding myself together with the slimmest of margins as is. The room is dead silent, the only sound I can hear is my own breathing. ¡°Put your guns away, everybody out. Sergeant, put a man on the other side of my door no one comes in until I say.¡± The whole thing is said in a flat monotone voice, devoid of emotion. ¡°Give me your knife sergeant.¡± I need out of these zips, he¡¯d be well within his rights to put a knife in me. Thinking about it though I don¡¯t feel like the world is going to put me in the same spot twice, and there are very few places as good as here. ¡°I don¡¯t think this is adv- ¡° ¡°Shut your fucking mouth Colonel. Go report to whomever you need to, but get a general alert going. I¡¯ll be out of this room in the next five minutes. We¡¯ve just got some things that need working out.¡± That same tone, I kind of miss the happy go lucky one from back when I knew him. I feel like this version is much more dangerous, possibly unstable. Everyone else in the room files out, a soldier handing him the Kbar off his vest before pulling the door closed behind him. ¡°Now. You¡¯re going to tell me how you know that information, or I¡¯m going to cut you into little pieces.¡± I never was one to be intimidated, but if I were I¡¯d probably be terrified. ¡°I told you. It¡¯s me, for me I¡¯ve been gone weeks. You do whatever you need to do short of killing me to feel right, but we need to get this over with.¡± I easily snap my zip cuffs and pull my knife from the sheath. ¡°If you think I¡¯m going to sit and take it though, your mistaken.¡± Rolling the knife around his fingers a few times he finally stops and gives me a small smile ¡°¡­Daniels? It is you, isn¡¯t it? How man. How the fuck? You¡¯ve been dead for twelve-years.¡± He sits back down, putting the knife on the table. ¡°I died. That shit happened. Times weird there, I imagine there is a queue or something judging by the time differences and who¡¯s where. But I am dead. Mostly.¡± I walk around and sit in the chair next to him. ¡°The world really is going to go bad. The clock says we have four hours, you need to do something. The civilians need to be brought to a fallback point, and we need to be set up for a siege.¡± He looks at me like I¡¯m crazy ¡°I can trust that you are you, but these people aren¡¯t going to.¡± ¡°Fine, tell them I¡¯m part of Dainsleif Industries. We contract out as security and investigations for DHS. Get the ball moving, call everyone you can. Get the word out to believers. There are going to be some big changes at midnight, and everyone is going to have to adjust or die. The new world requires no less.¡± I give him a minute to respond, he looks to be chewing it over. ¡°O.K. What are you going to be doing?¡± It¡¯s a question that sounds more like a beesechment. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere bro, I¡¯ll stay with you, or I¡¯ll go where you need me. I do think you should sound the base general quarters though. Have them bring their families in, with enough population the base should be able to be made safe quickly.¡± He reaches up and pokes at my face, pushing my ear, wiping my skin to see if I¡¯m painted. ¡°Unless you¡¯re going to buy me dinner and a drink first you better stop rubbing on me like that buddy.¡± The sound of my voice gives him a start. ¡°All right. Alright, SERGEANT!! Get in here!!¡± the door is open and the soldier comes in with his gun up. ¡°Shit, calm down Sykes. I just needed you in here, put the gun away. Call the rest of command staff into my office. Have CQ call battalions, I want commanders in my office within the next half an hour.¡± The sergeant solutes and double times his way back out the door. He turns back to me and stands up to go, ¡°I need you to stick with me Daniels, people are going to have questions.¡± ¡°You got it, call me Gnome though. I don¡¯t want to sound callous, but Daniels is dead. This is what I am now.¡± ¡°Like ThagNome? You could choose any name to take with you into the afterlife and you picked your fucking gamertag? Jesus fuck.¡± The vein on the side of his head is big enough to drive a small car through, and I hear him whisper ¡°Fucking nerd.¡± Before he walks towards the door ¡°Come on Elf, we¡¯ve got shit to do. Tell your friend to stop pretending she didn¡¯t break her zips when you did, and bring her with us.¡± He doesn¡¯t even look back to make sure we¡¯re following as he walks out the door, and across the hall to his office. I walk in and take a seat in his office. I spend the next half an hour leading up to the command staff meeting listening to a friend I haven¡¯t seen since the day I died giving out orders. He managed to have the 10¡¯th SFG stood-to and ready, and the national guard unit activated and pulled in before the commencement. He even called the other service bases in the area and warned them the threat level has gone up and they need to get their people on base. It was awe inspiring, in a way, how organized he was. How quick he got things across, he had gotten a reputation as a man who was straightforward. Someone who only said what needed said and was listened to immediately. But taken another way I realized he was doing this entirely on my word, he sat with me for two minutes and believed everything I said. If I was wrong he would lose everything, probably spend a few years in Leavenworth for gross negligence. But he hadn¡¯t even hesitated. Having quality friends is better than having quantity of friends. The command staff meeting happened in the same room I was brought into when we got here. We didn¡¯t mention that I was a guy who¡¯d died to him years ago. we did tell them that there was a very serious national security threat and soldiers needed called in, and collected if necessary. They needed to bring their families in. I was there to bring across the seriousness of the threat. It ran much longer than it needed to, leaving us with under an hour to get everyone set. Well, not me, I didn¡¯t do shit. Initially they wanted to centralize everything. I told them their radio equipment would work, so they decided to have everyone move to companies and they¡¯d all hold regular radio procedures. It was coordination of a scope that was out of my depth. I couldn¡¯t have even begun to follow what they were doing. After the meeting adjourned everyone moved out to complete their assigned tasks. Bizkit called a couple of red phones and told them terrorist were going to attack the president, and other things, they needed to prepare. That was more of an afterthought for him, I think, He was so wrapped up in his own people everything else came second. Made sense to me, I could follow that logic. I spent the last hour leading up to the drop informing him of what was going to happen. Meteors from the sky, creatures would appear at random and attack. Status windows would pop up, people would need to level. He seemed skeptical at that point, but I kept on. He¡¯s already in for the penny, might as well get the whole pound. At ten till he gave me and Lena personal radios to keep in contact with his people, I told him I needed to be out in the shit. I wasn¡¯t like him, I needed direct contact and the more dangerous the better. It was complete bullshit, I would have been just as happy to sit at the rear and let it happen. I¡¯d be sitting pretty as it is, but if I could get into fights I¡¯d pick up EXP like crazy. He¡¯d told me to take the Humvee out front and head down to the SF facility, they¡¯d deploy me and Lena as an asset from there. I gave him a handshake and told him to stick with his people, they were going to need leaders like him to keep everyone afloat in the future. Neither of us were under the delusion that he was going to survive, but we weren¡¯t the type to play it up. I could see he was a little nervous about what was going on, but I didn¡¯t say anything, I was trying to keep my own nerves in check. (CH-15) Brave new world. Once inside the HUMVEE I realized two things: One, I had no clue where I was, and two, I hadn¡¯t been on Carson for at least three years before I died. So, I haven¡¯t even seen the layout since 2011, kind of wishing I had a smart phone at this point, google-maps, or something. Keying the radio I called up Bizkit, ¡°I don¡¯t know where I am. I haven¡¯t been on this base in years, how do I get to the SF compound from here?¡± The response back is almost immediate, ¡°out of the lot take a left follow it till the end, right on Specker, right on Titus, left on Bad Toelz. You should be able to see emerald city from pretty far out.¡± ¡°Thanks man, I¡¯m going to try and keep your line clear. Stay safe.¡± I¡¯m going to feel shitty if he doesn¡¯t survive this. With any luck, he¡¯s one of the chosen though and he¡¯ll end up in Valhalla. ¡°You too brother.¡± Deciding that traffic laws are for normal people I drive like a man possessed. Going over curbs to pass slow moving vehicles. Once I have eyes on ¡®emerald city¡¯, which is basically a bunch of green roofed buildings, I cut cross country. Taking the vehicle down the dirt PT path at around forty mph, sliding around corners. We make it from the center of base to the SF facility in under five minutes. We are stopped at the end of Bad Toelz by a couple of soldiers in ACU with full kit. One sits with his rifle over the hood of their HUMVEE pointed at our cockpit, the other is off at the window. ¡°State your purpo- ¡°surprise stops him a few words in, ¡°I thought command was having a go at us. Having fun with a ready drill.¡± He chews over what is happening for a few seconds. ¡°Guess this is real. Head down the road to the big building on the left, it¡¯s got the mobile TOC out front you can¡¯t miss it. SMADGE Poss will know who you are.¡± I love SF types, straight to the point. ¡°Thanks Sergeant.¡± With nothing left to say, and a short timeline to keep we floor it and get straight to the command center, sliding to a stop twenty feet from the front door. I slam it in park and leave it half on the grass. Me and Lena cause a small scene coming in. Sergeant Major Poss finds us quick, He¡¯s younger than I thought he¡¯d be for an SF command staffer. Mid-thirties, shaved head with a black beard streaked with gray. His eyes never stay in one place for very long, a dark brown color that takes in everything they see, processing threats in an instant. He is a bit on the shorter side, even for a human, standing over five and a half feet. He doesn¡¯t look like what you¡¯d assume an operator would, but I already knew that preconception was wrong. ¡°You¡¯re him huh? You don¡¯t look like much.¡± At least it¡¯s not an outright insult. ¡°You wanna grab your step stool and get a closer look?¡± I can almost feel Lena tense as everyone in the room stops, and his eyes lock on to mine. For a few second¡¯s I¡¯m sure we¡¯re going to have to fight our way out, until I see his eyes crinkle in a smile. ¡°Good. I¡¯m a no-nonsense kind of guy gnome, I¡¯m not going to put you in critical position to support anything on this base. I don¡¯t know, or trust you. I¡¯ll set you up attached to a reactionary team, not in control of, you¡¯rewiththem. I don¡¯t expect you to follow orders to the letter. I do expect to know what moves you¡¯re going to make, and coordinate with the team you¡¯re assigned to, any questions?¡± His short speech is concise, no missing the point. ¡°Sounds reasonable. I¡¯m trained in small team tactics anyways. Lena here is a good shooter, she can put multiple rounds on target from a distance pretty quick. Reminds me, you guys have any .308 she used a few rounds getting us out of a position on the way here. If you have some M1A mags that would be best.¡± He points at a guy in fatigues next to me, ¡°He¡¯s your attachment. Gear them up.¡± And turns away back to setting up his people. ¡°I¡¯m Captain Miller, call me Mills. Are your weapons in the truck?¡± I can see the annoyance as he asks, any soldier worth the name would keep their weapon on them always. Miller is what you¡¯d expect an operator to look like. He¡¯s about as tall as me, chiseled face showing a few days¡¯ stubble, and the same roaming eyes as Poss. He doesn¡¯t look like a body builder, more like an athlete, the kind that can carry sixty pound packs for miles. Pulling my M4 from my inventory I smile at his surprise, ¡°Don¡¯t get too jealous Mill, in about ten you¡¯ll have access to the same ability. Along with quite a few others.¡± I make sure Lena has her gun out and wave him on. Taking us out back he introduces us to a six-man team standing next to a line of four wheelers. Their all built about the same, somewhere around six-foot, the ones that aren¡¯t wearing facemask¡¯s have full beards. The air around the group is that feeling of quite competency you get around men who have authority and know how to wield it. Every wheeler has a pack strapped to it except for the last two, guess they were expecting us. ¡°Is that a girl Mill? What kind of operation are we going to be running here?¡± The guy talking is sitting on the third wheeler back, wearing full gear with a facemask on. ¡°Stow it Jack. Since you¡¯re so talkative, how bout you point the lady to the ammo.¡± He sounds annoyed still, maybe that¡¯s his regular tone of voice? ¡°Prove your point if you have to, but don¡¯t hurt anyone Lena, these people aren¡¯t as hardy as us.¡± Dipping her head in an affirmative nod she follows Jack to a table full of ammo. I¡¯m half tempted to pull more ammo for myself, but I¡¯m already sitting on way too many rounds. ¡°All right Gnome, this is my team. We¡¯re going to be designated Honeybadger-3 for radio, anything that comes across as Cobra is you and your compatriot there.¡± I can see in his face that he¡¯s thinking, ¡°I wasn¡¯t necessarily told not to trust you, but I¡¯ve been informed we aren¡¯t sure of your background. How about some help here, what are your capabilities?¡± I¡¯m liking these guys more and more, no wasted words, everything straight to the point. ¡°I spent seven years as a scout back during OIF. Not that it matters now, but I was sniper tabbed, and had been training to go to selections after my deployment.¡± He didn¡¯t look near as surprised as I thought he would at my confession. ¡°I¡¯ve always believed in aliens, didn¡¯t figure ya¡¯ll would be hiding in the military though.¡± Still feel like he ruined my fun there. ¡°I¡¯m not an alien, I used to be human. I ended up in another realm, transformed by what I¡¯m assuming are aliens masquerading as gods. Honestly, I haven¡¯t been doing this long. I got into it a few weeks ago, if we survive I¡¯ll give you guys what info I can, but the next few days is going to be busy.¡± A scuffle is going on over by the ammo table, within a fraction of a second the SF¡¯s in the area have their guns trained on me. Except for one at the front of the wheelers pointing at Lena. Looking over I see she¡¯s got Jack in a standing arm bar. Pushing his head down, while twisting his arm up and locking it out. ¡°If you call me ¡®dainty¡¯ again I will remove this arm.¡± Fuck. ¡°Lena?¡± looking up she sees that all the SF¡¯s have guns pointed at us, ¡°Do what you need to do, I¡¯ve got your back. If you break his arm were going to be pretty dead though.¡± I know she¡¯s not actually going to hurt him, well, I hope she isn¡¯t. In lore, her people are vicious. Shrugging she bends down and starts to whisper in Jacks ear, I can¡¯t hear it from here but I can see him nodding his head. ¡°Alright Cap, you can have your guys put their guns away. Were on your side, my friend is trying to prove a point. This is a new world were abou- ¡°I¡¯m interrupted by radio¡¯s squawking from the wheelers. Shit, ¡°Mills, I don¡¯t know where those are going to land. We need to get some distance, down into a culvert if we can.¡± ¡°You heard him, everyone mount up. Jack stop playing with your new friend and lead us to the culvert by the solar plant.¡± Turning to me he points at the last two, ¡°Those are yours, their full of gas, just follow us.¡± The next few moments have us blasting across open ground towards a field of high mounted solar panels. We¡¯re a few hundred meters from the culvert when the first meteor in the sky lights off in the atmosphere. Blazing like a sun all of a sudden, a clear night has turned to bright mid-morning from the strength of the light. The radio had came across as massive, but it couldn¡¯t convey. The meteors are huge, the size of a two-story houses. It¡¯s not just one either, their grouped in five to six in bunches. They¡¯re going to pass over, but not by much. Without realizing it we were at the culvert, Mills is screaming but can¡¯t hear him over the air disturbance sounds of the meteor. Giving up he waves his hand in a big circle and points to small road leading to the divot. Queuing up at the end of his people I wait my turn, last in line behind Lena. As Lena puts her nose over the edge and starts to go down I hear the meteor impacts, the light flares and goes out. A few seconds before I get to the edge I see the mushroom cloud and the dust storm heading towards us. Cursing how slow this was going I decide to chance it, I push the thumb accelerator down and aim off to the right of Lena. If I get caught in the blast up here I¡¯m either dead, or wounded. Barring neither of those I¡¯m separated. As I hit the edge of the drop I scream out a warning and jump up off the wheeler not wanting to be on it if it hits and rolls.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The drop to the ground is about seven-feet, I hit the ground a few feet behind the wheeler as the blast from the meteor impact hits us. The force pushes the wheeler back into me throwing me into the ravine wall. Slamming the back of my head against compacted dirt, and crushing my body between them. I can feel more than a few bones flex, nothing breaks though. I lose my fight to stay conscious a few seconds later. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I heard him screaming and saw his wheeler come over the edge in this direction. If he¡¯s built of the same stuff as the female he¡¯s alive.¡± I don¡¯t recognize the voice but they¡¯re looking for me. Opening my eyes, I can¡¯t see very well, I think the dust in the air is obscuring vision heavily. There is only ten feet visible around me. ¡°Can you guys hear me?¡± my voice is croaky from swallowing dirt. It feels like someone fed me sand. ¡°I heard him! Over there, by the wall, is that a quadbike?¡± a couple of guys wearing mask¡¯s come over and start trying to move the quad off me. I¡¯d hit the wall so hard there¡¯s a small impact crater behind me, and I¡¯m pushed into the dirt a few inches. Had the wall not given I¡¯d be dead. ¡°Fuck, what are you made of guy?¡± The first to come around and help me out of my hole is looking back and forth between me and the wall. ¡°The good stuff, apparently. Is it us? Did you guys run into anyone else?¡± I¡¯m a bit worried about Lena, I¡¯m sure she¡¯s survived, but after the dust starts to coalesce things are going to get nasty. ¡°we need to link up with your team, now, this dust is going to start pushing its way into the ground. After that creatures are going to start popping up. I¡¯m not sure where they are going to come from, but their coming soon.¡± The first who helped me up nods and points to his right. ¡°They¡¯re up that way, we should try your quad though. I¡¯ve seen one stand up to a roll down the mountains in Afghanistan. Their built sturdy for us.¡± Walking over the second one has already checked it over and is trying to kick start it. ¡°What¡¯s up Stovall?¡± the one with me asks ¡°Nothing¡¯s broken, but the push start isn¡¯t working,¡± He gives it a few kicks and it turns over. Hopping off he waves the same way as his friend, ¡°Follow us, they aren¡¯t far. ¡°I hop on the quad and follow them up the ravine, they were right, but less so than I thought. The blast pushed me down the ravine about thirty-meters further than where I¡¯d started. It looked like it¡¯d also destroyed our ramp, we were going to have to find another exit. Pulling up to the group they¡¯re all sitting on the quads in a circle. ¡°Glad to see you made it Gnome, we¡¯re discussing what our plan is. I¡¯ve got comms from honeybadger-main that we¡¯re not hearing any chatter from Ironhorse, or any other command elements. We¡¯re being tasked to push out to base command and get a SITREP.¡± ¡°So, we don¡¯t know if the Command staff survived that?¡± goddamned it, I just found my friend. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go then, General Baker is a friend of mine.¡± Without much extra prompting, Mills gets his men into a column formation and we start a slow move down the culvert towards the direction I¡¯d crashed. It¡¯s slow moving with all the dust, we haven¡¯t run into any creatures yet though. I don¡¯t know how long after impact the dust is supposed to react though. It could be minutes, it could be hours. The trip to the command building goes much slower than the trip to the SF compound. There are abandoned cars all over the streets. The outlines and shadows I can see for buildings look wrong, somehow off. It¡¯s incredibly eerie. We can hear people moving around, and see shadows. We never actually encounter anyone directly until we pull into the command buildings parking lot. We can hear people yelling from a far distance off, screams of fear, and command. Riding right up to the front we can see that a small meteor had struck the main building crashing through and landing in the smaller building next to it. Almost half of the main building was laying on the ground, with almost a quarter of what was left standing canted towards the ground, soon to follow. It was a testament to the design that as much stood as did considering the size of the crater next to it. The SF¡¯s, Lena and I jumped into action without having to be asked. Running up to the main building and pulling survivors staggering out further to safety. Me and Jacks ran inside despite the third floor being aflame. Charging from room to room checking for survivors, most of the people had self-evacuated by the time we made it to them. It was at the second floor where things started to get bad. People were either unconscious or dead all over the place, this is the same floor Bakers office had been on, it was on the side that was gone now. I was trying not to think about losing one of my best friends that I had refound. Even if the friend part was taken away Baker would be an asset anywhere. He was smart, adapted well, and could get along well with almost anyone. As I was trying to wake up a few people who¡¯d been knocked out I heard Jack yell out that he¡¯d found the general, but he couldn¡¯t be moved. I grabbed the closest cognizant person, telling them to work on the soldiers. Sprinting across the building I was half excited, until I got there. He was half buried under a collapsed wall, blood leaking out from underneath, and some of the ropes of his intestines sitting next to him. Even if we had the ability to get him out his chances in the best of conditions on a regular day wouldn¡¯t be great. He was conscious and asking how his troops were doing. Trying to relay his orders to an attach¨¦ sitting next to him while Jack ran to grab the medic. Looking over to me he waves the attach¨¦ away and crooks his finger. ¡°You¡¯re here to take care of my people? You said this was a mission for you, the more good you do has to count towards something. Right?¡± I hadn¡¯t told him exactly what was going on, but he had figured most of it out when I¡¯d mentioned Valhalla and going back and forth. I think showing him my inventory might have put him hot on the trail of what was going on. ¡°Yes, pretty much. Wasn¡¯t supposed to be this personal though. I was supposed to show up and help people. Save a few, kill a few monsters. Nobody I talked to mentioned what was happening on this scale. It leads me to wonder if they had to hold back or if this is another one of the ¡®gods¡¯ fucking with me.¡± That¡¯s been on my mind since I ran into him earlier, saying it aloud doesn¡¯t help like I thought it would. ¡°At least you haven¡¯t gone full sociopath. I remember the shit you used to say,¡± he stops to take a breath he¡¯s holding the pain well. His jaw is clenching, every breath pulls his face tight. ¡°I know it¡¯s not your job anymore, and I don¡¯t know what you planned to do, but I need to you stay with these people. Everybody I talked to was going to start pushing towards the Cheyanne mountain complex. The facility is much more than most people know, averylarge portion of that mountain has been hollowed out and reinforced. Everything technical I could get my hands on says its rated to withstand two nukes dropping on it at the same time.¡± He hisses when the dock shows up and sticks a morphine into his leg ¡°Sir, you¡¯re going to have to stay still. Preferably no more talking, the more you do, the faster you bleed out.¡± Their medic seems to have genuine concern, I guess that¡¯s normal for any medic though. Baker swivels his head and looks right at him, ¡°No disrespect son, but we both know I¡¯m not getting out of this. Give me a time-limit here, how long can you keep me alive to coordinate before I expire?¡± The medic closes his eyes doing some mental math, ¡°If I use the consumable fluids in my kit I can keep you running for another twenty minutes. You¡¯re only going to have about ten usable minutes out of that though. Between blood loss, and morphine you will be too out of it for your command decisions to be coherent.¡± It¡¯s a no-nonsense assessment. ¡°I¡¯m not going to waste any of those son, no point in wasting resources on a dead man.¡± Despite being given a morphine I can still hear the pain laced in his voice. There¡¯s no missing the tears drawing tracks through the dirt and dust on his face. ¡°I¡¯ve told everything I can to that young soldier over there. Go get your commanding officer, tell him to bring his longwave.¡± The medic gives a nod and is off moving at a jog. Me and Baker don¡¯t say much until the medic comes back with Mills, trying to give him as much time as I can. Mills walks up and looks at me, ¡°The dust is thinning, nobody noticed because we are working. It¡¯s getting faster, I can see enough to know that the city is burning and the side of the mountain is wrecked. Getting to the Cheyanne facility is going to suck.¡± ¡°It was going to suck either way Mills. Once that dust clears we¡¯re going to be fighting creatures on a scale you¡¯ve never dealt with before.¡± I motion at the general, ¡°general Baker has something he wants to convey ,¡± I turn my head to Baker, ¡°I¡¯m going to take a look outside, I¡¯ll be back in two minutes.¡± He nods his head and reaches for Mills radio. I walk over to the room the soldier¡¯s I was helping earlier were in, looking out the window. Sure, enough I can see well enough to tell the southern end of the city is a mess. It looks like that big one must have hit there and tracked over the north end of base. A large part of southeast Colorado spring is gone, if my guess about how bad the swath is. It probably goes from almost the center of town and arcs around through security-widefield, and stops below Fountain. That¡¯s a guess from the fires I see burning though. I imagine by the time the fires are put out a very large portion of the city will be nothing but ash. The meteor strike cuts off most of the exit gates to the north and east, South-gate as well. Doesn¡¯t matter much. Cheyenne mountain is west of here. But doesn¡¯t bode well for anyone that wasn¡¯t on base. I take one last look and return to my friend. I hear an argument as I walk up, ¡°He¡¯ll do it son, and he¡¯ll do it on my order. That gray fuck owes me at least one, I¡¯ll not waste resources too slowly slip away, and I sure as shit are not going to lay here in pain.¡± Mills and Baker are arguing over something, I¡¯ve got a pretty good idea of what it is. ¡°That¡¯s not the point sir, not only is what you¡¯re asking unethical, it goes against everything we stand for.¡± ¡°I¡¯m DEAD son, ask your medic. You think this is the first time I¡¯ve seen a man in my state? I spent twelve months in the most dangerous part of the war in Iraq, I was on the front line of the push into Iran in 2018. Ask your medic, even if we had a working hospital I would have to spend the rest of my life on dialysis, living in a bubble because my immune system is gone. I¡¯ll go out on my own terms.¡± I put my hand on Mills shoulder, ¡°I made a promise a long time ago mills. The only thing I have now is my word, you understand, right?¡± ¡°NO, I DON¡¯T, it¡¯s unethical. It¡¯s wrong, I can¡¯t allow it. We don¡¯t leave men behind¡± He¡¯s almost hysterical, the look he¡¯s giving me is someone who wants to believe, but knows better. ¡°Listen Mills. Say your deep in Afghanistan, you take a bullet to the neck. You know you¡¯re not going to survive, and that if your team has to drag you out it¡¯s going to give them away. What would you do? You and I both know that¡¯s not how things work. I would never ask a battle to carry my body out if it would risk his life, neither would you. We¡¯re realist Mills, what would you do?¡± I hate talking him into this, but I made a promise. We all did back when we were fresh soldiers, promises made to a new battle-buddy, drunken demands that we never thought we¡¯d have to follow through on. I got a reputation as the guy to go to, if someone was at the end and they couldn¡¯t do it themselves I¡¯d get asked to take care of it. It¡¯s not something I was proud of, and it¡¯s not something I enjoyed, but it¡¯s something I did. Anything for my friends, I can handle it. Anything for my friends. ¡°I don¡¯t like it sir. I¡¯m filing a complaint with command.¡± Even in his defeat he maintains bearing, he knows things like this happen. Baker waves the attach¨¦ over, ¡°Note Captain Millers complaint. Make it official, do you care Gnome?¡± ¡°No, note my complaint as well kid. Don¡¯t look at me like that Bizkit. I¡¯ll do it, but I¡¯m not going to enjoy it.¡± I can hate myself later, in the dark when no one can see the scars. The soldier writes things on his paper, looking up when he¡¯s done. ¡°Captain Miller, look at me.¡± Baker is barely talking above a whisper, ¡°I trust Gnome with everything. Tell Poss he¡¯s on the level, he can be read in.¡± CRACK-CRACK-CRACKFrom outside the sound of screaming and gunfire erupts ¡°Go to your men Mills, I¡¯ll be out in a moment.¡± He looks me in the eyes, and without a word stands up saluting Baker and then walking out. ¡°You go to soldier, you¡¯re going to see enough horrible things to haunt your dreams in the coming hours, you don¡¯t want to see this.¡± Baker releases his attach¨¦ with a final order, closing his eyes once the kid is out of earshot. ¡°Don¡¯t get lost Daniel. I know you think you are a sociopath, and I know you think your nothing but a shell, but you¡¯re not. I¡¯m not going to give that clich¨¦ better than the rest of us bullshit, but your one of our best. Get my men to that mountain, I¡¯m ready.¡± His breathing is shallow Standing up I pull my pistol from the holster, ¡°You were one of the best Baker, I¡¯ll miss you.¡± Taking a breath, I flip my safety off, aiming the pistol at the center of his forehead, ¡°You know the words, say them.¡± Taking a ragged breath, he wheezes ¡°For those I love, I will sacrifice.¡± ¡°ready and forward.¡± I pull the trigger ending the life of one of my best friends, the greatest chance of survival most of the people on this base had. Standing a few seconds I use all the willpower I can muster to shove the emotions of committing yet another horror into the compartments I keep. I holster my pistol walk to the stairs down out the front door. (CH-16) Cruising for trouble. Thing¡¯s outside aren¡¯t any better than inside. At least they¡¯re more straightforward. Mills has everyone arrayed in a semicircle facing outward. around forty people holding a firing line behind vehicle cover. There is an assault against us in progress from what look like goblins. Interspersed within them are orcs giving orders, they¡¯ve got small arms. I thought the ones I fought in the forest with melee weapons were scary, these are twice as bad. Most of the goblins only have hand weapons but every once in a while, I see one with a pistol, or short rifle. It¡¯s not looking good. I pull my rifle up and fire into the horde, dumping a mag as I maneuver towards Millers vehicle. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± I spit out as I load a new mag and take up position against his hood. ¡°They¡¯ve got us locked in, took most of the force by surprise after the dust settled. Most of them appeared from around the side of the building over there. I swear a few of them just kind of appeared out of thin air.¡± He¡¯s much more in charge of himself now then we were inside of the building. ¡°You¡¯re doing fine captain. the horde is only going to get worse here, the sound of gunfire is going to draw them. Here¡¯s what we need to do: Next time the horde backs up to reset we start getting these people in trucks and pushing them out. The HUMVEEs will drive right over the horde, have them head towards emerald city. We¡¯ll sit here until their out, then regress once they¡¯re out of the area. What do you think?¡± It¡¯s half-assed at best, but it¡¯s better than getting everyone killed. ¡°I think that¡¯s doable. Poss says he can¡¯t get anyone to us, but their virtually untouched over there. Small assaults, but nothing serious enough to warrant a retreat. I¡¯ll start getting them into trucks now though, there¡¯s no telling if these¡­things, are going to slow down.¡± He jogs away shouting orders, getting the people that aren¡¯t actively fighting, or were doing more harm than good out of the way. The radio transmission comes through clear. most of the people have moved into trucks.st the SF team, Lena, me, and a few other stragglers who were doing damage. I should have mentioned to him that I¡¯m carrying a fuck-ton of grenades, well, twelve. Still more than enough, I¡¯ll give him a quarter on the count. If I don¡¯t make it out I¡¯ve got to do this whole thing over again, so I shouldn¡¯t be too scroogish with them. Letting my M4 fall to my chest I start pulling my grenades out and lobbing them. I only throw them far enough to damage a few ranks back before I pull my gun back up and dump the last of my mag into the ones that are almost on top of me. Clearing the immediate area. His transmission is almost lost for the gunfire coming through it, but I get the idea. I step around the truck I was leaning on and start firing off single rounds every second or so. Picking off any target that looks like it might get brave. I had planned to save them, but the horde is dumb enough that they are already trying to push. From where I was standing watching the SF¡¯s work was art, the machine precision of a fine Swiss watch. Nothing they did was wasted, peeling back to the quads took them all of ten seconds, I was happy to see Lena managed to get on the rear-facing seat of one. From her driving earlier she¡¯s not quite comfortable with it, but has the basic idea. I pull out the four grenades and prime them. Tossing them in an arc without even looking and sprinting towards the last quad in line, with Mills sitting at the driver seat. The wheelers move out in a staggered pattern, giving everyone almost uninterrupted fields of fire as we go. An orc sprints through the smoke of one of the first grenades, headed straight towards the bikes. I twist my rifle over and fire off a round, sinking it into his chest. The erupting blood, and resulting hole don¡¯t do anything to slow him down, so I pull the trigger three more times managing to hit him twice. He¡¯s slowed down enough that he¡¯s not able to catch us as we turn the corner out of lot and onto the main road. We¡¯re roaring down the street, and ahead we can see the convoy is lost. There are goblins and orcs all over it, firing their guns and stabbing spears into canopy and cabin hundreds of them. Anyone there is dead now. Mills shakes his head. The foot trail is the dirt running path that goes almost everywhere on base. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the best decision, but I don¡¯t have any better ones. The path manages to be miraculously clear all the way to emerald city, and we pull down Bad Toelz and up to the command center without any resistance. Killing the quad Mills hops off and heads into the TOC. Looking around I can see that they are gearing up to move out. There are HUMVEE¡¯s, technical trucks with guns mounted on them, and other various vehicles all over the place. It looks like we¡¯re leaving. ¡°Gnome, SMADGE wants you.¡± I was hoping to avoid this, I don¡¯t know how this guy is going to take what I did. With one hand on the pistol grip of my M4 I step into the TOC and up to Poss, ¡°you wanted me.¡± He stops and looks me up and down, ¡°I¡¯m not going to fight you, you did what needed to be done. It¡¯s what I would have done and I don¡¯t fault you for it. I needed you to get you informed.¡± I can¡¯t stop the breath that escapes. If I¡¯d have had to draw on him I wouldn¡¯t have walked out of here. ¡°Your unit was the last to come in, everyone else is loaded up. We¡¯re putting miller and his quads in the middle of the convoy and heading out to Cheyanne. The rest of the units on base have already evacuated what they can. Now¡¯s the part you¡¯re not going to like. The national guard base went dark half an hour ago, I can¡¯t spare men to get there, but I can give you and your friend ammo and the quads you were riding. You can even take the radios, that model should be able to get us up at Cheyanne from anywhere on base. Can you do it?¡± Fuck, I thought I was going to get out of this easy. ¡°I can check. If they are overrun there isn¡¯t anything we can do to help them, if I do this we¡¯re going to have to be hands off.¡± I¡¯m not confident in what we¡¯re about to do, but it¡¯s a side mission request at this point. ¡°That¡¯s what I was hoping to hear. We¡¯re going to push out through west gate past the gold course. And head up our backway to NORAD. If you can keep in contact with me at least once an hour.¡± Absentmindedly signs a paper someone hands him, ¡°If you can do it get back up to us. General Baker was a good man, and I can count the number of people he¡¯s explicitly told me to trust on two fingers. I didn¡¯t want to at first, but Miller has talked you up as well. If you can get to us we¡¯d be glad to have you.¡± Honest, positive reviews are always appreciated. I guess. ¡°I might do that, but you should know now, NORAD isn¡¯t a long-term solution. The city is going to breed monsters. And those it doesn¡¯t breed it will attract, bigger and meaner things. The world is only going to get worse. I don¡¯t want to suggest writing off civilians, but taking that town back isn¡¯t worth it.¡± Saying it aloud stings worse than I thought it would, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you up there, but I¡¯m not staying. I¡¯ve got a friend making a base back to the east. I think, I don¡¯t know the exact location. South? I honestly don¡¯t know, I jumped in and was transported out.¡± I didn¡¯t even think of that, I wonder if there¡¯s a way to figure that out. Shit. Guess that would have been good information to have. Poss is giving me a weird look, ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll pass that along to higher up once I get there. Good luck gnome, don¡¯t do anything unnecessary to get the intel. If it¡¯s an impossible situation, then report and back out.¡± It¡¯s a nice sentiment, but Lena is shaking her head next to me. ¡°We¡¯re not in the sane decision business boss.¡± I crack a smile, it¡¯s nice to get a joke in. ¡°You¡¯renot in the business of sane decisions, I¡¯m just an employee. A very hardworking employee, my bonus better be stellar.¡± Lena cracking jokes too makes me feel better about the whole thing, she hadn¡¯t said much. I guess I told her not to, but I didn¡¯t figure she¡¯d listen quite so well. ¡°What do you even know about bonuses, did your world even have them?¡± I¡¯m half joking, but Xenoarchaeology has always interested me, it¡¯s one of the thing¡¯s I¡¯d spent my free time back in Valhalla studying. Different races, and their actual habitats and habits. It¡¯s fascinating. ¡°The world I came from was about where yours is technologically. From what I¡¯ve studied it¡¯s because we had so many different species that skin color never became a factor in our advancement. We had to deal with each other as we were, so we learned to coexist.¡± It¡¯s a fair point.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. mPHmm, Poss coughs, ¡°this is fascinating, truly, but my men are waiting on me. We¡¯re moving in five, your quads are outside. I have a few things to take care of. Again, good luck.¡± He reaches out and shakes mine and Lena¡¯s hands before walking off to his prep. With nothing else to do me and Lena chatter as we walk outside to the quads. Jack is sitting next to the quads along with a few of the others we¡¯d gone on the run to base command with. ¡°We swapped out the one¡¯s you guys used with a couple fresh from the motor pool. If we come back it¡¯s going to be awhile, so they¡¯d sit anyways.¡± Didn¡¯t think Jack was the thoughtful type. Looking at Lena he twitches his head off to the side. Ahh, that makes more sense. ¡°Go on, I¡¯ve got to talk to Mills.¡± Not sure if she¡¯s into him, but I do need to hit Mills up. ¡°Good to see you again Captain, once she¡¯s done with jacks we¡¯re going to roll on over to the National Guard building and check things out.¡± Pulling out his notepad he points at some notes for me. ¡°The UAV¡¯s are up. If you hang a left out of the lot here,¡± he points at his map, ¡°and then hang a left at the tank trail at the end it¡¯ll be your fourth right. As of a few minutes ago, there aren¡¯t any creatures on the route. The UAV is showing fires in and around the building though, the front barricade looks abandoned. You can go at it anyway you want, but that¡¯s how I would do it. Hit it hard, get what you need, and get out.¡± I¡¯ll take that to heart. ¡°Thanks Mills, I hope to see you at NORAD. Make sure they know I¡¯m coming.¡± As Lena pats Jack on the shoulder and walks back I shake mills hand and meet her at the quads. ¡°He seems like a sweet one, did you win him over with violence?¡± I¡¯m not going to let this one go. ¡°It seems that way, from all my research it had seemed most of your males dislike a female who can overpower, or outthink them.¡± The statement came out more as a question. ¡°If you look at the media side, yes. Most of the people you¡¯re going to run into, warrior types, aren¡¯t going to be like that. Some will, don¡¯t get me wrong, but most won¡¯t. We tend to be a realistic caste.¡± Mounting my quad I push the start button and have Lena pull up next to me. The rear seats on the quads have tac bags attached to them now, looks like they gave us party favors. Going to try and keep those. ¡°we¡¯re going to blast right in. left out of here, then a right onto the dirt road at the end. Once on the dirt road the fourth right hand turn is where we¡¯re headed. I¡¯d like to pull straight up to the front door, but we¡¯ll adjust when we get there, got it.¡± Short and sweet, if the plans not complicated it¡¯s harder for me to jack up. ¡°Easy enough, ready when you are.¡± By the time, we were done planning the SF force had started its convoy heading the opposite direction, so we pulled out and gunned it. The convoy was running full light, but with the dust gone me and Lena can see like normal. Thank Odin for the moon today. We turn onto Bad Toelz and pull the throttles wide open. Tearing down the road at a speed that would be reckless midday. There are more tactical ways to do this, but I¡¯m more of a hammer solution kind of guy. At the cross where we¡¯re supposed to turn right I can see there are a couple of wolf creatures, they¡¯ve spotted us and start sprinting in our direction. Lena comes over our personal chat, ¡°Just ram them, they¡¯re a lower sub-species of Canis.¡± It¡¯s not like I have much choice anyways, by the time I have decided to do it they¡¯d already charged into the front of my quad. Slamming into the bull-bar and exploding like brown bags of disgusting black paint. Both manage to get in front of me and get mowed down. The second my right wheel bounces over, it¡¯s dead, but it didn¡¯t explode in the same fantastic way as the other did. The shock of hitting the first dog slows me down enough that I almost go over the handlebars. Barely managing to keep hold I skid to a stop at the far side of the dirt road. Lena pulling to a stop in the center faced in the direction we¡¯re supposed to be going. ¡°The one we¡¯re supposed to be going to appears to be burning brighter than before. It doesn¡¯t appear as if anyone is attempting to fight the flames.¡± I don¡¯t know who¡¯d fight them, but she¡¯s right. It¡¯s catching much faster than a concrete building should. ¡°You¡¯re right. We stick to the original plan though, the faster we¡¯re in the faster we¡¯re out.¡± I pop backwards a few feet then gun it back up to top speed. We got to the turn off quickly, within a minute. As we get closer to the building I see shadows moving inside the building, but they¡¯re too far to make out what they are. I¡¯m going to have to catch a break at some point. HOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLL Not now, apparently. A large group of bipedal wolves sprint out of the front door. ¡°WEREWOLVES!!! Back up, back up, back up!!!,¡± screaming into the net I lock the brakes and power slide, ending most of the way back around. Lena isn¡¯t quite as versed so she has to make a slow, wide turn. Shit, the best option is to ditch one of these and ride the same as we did with the SFs earlier. ¡°FUCK.¡± Lamenting the loss of the extra vehicle and gear I jump off and sprint to Lena¡¯s quad, pushing her back mid turn. ¡°Spin around I¡¯m driving. Shoot them down if you can, I¡¯m not sure what we¡¯re packing can even kill a werewolf.¡± ¡°I do not, without silver our only option is to cut off the head.¡±, I don¡¯t have much time as I jump on, ¡°grab on, we need distance.¡± I feel her hand snake over her shoulder and grab on the drag handle on my vest. It can¡¯t be comfortable, but it leaves her one hand to fire with. Pushing the throttle lever as far in as it will go the back-wheel¡¯s spin and we shoot off back the way we came. I¡¯m hesitant to drag these things to the convoy, so when we hit the T of the road I slow down and crank it left. Wolves are persistence predators when they can be. It they can¡¯t kill something they will chase it until it drops from exhaustion. I¡¯m counting on that for now, if I can drag them out to the fields then double back later. Then a thought hits me, Butts Air Force Base is down this way. If we can get a good enough lead I¡¯d bet good money I can get a little bird off the ground. All I¡¯ve flown are ultralights up till now, but I used to be huge into simulation gaming. One of my favorite things to do was fly the MH-6 little bird. Iknowthey have them there. If there aren¡¯t any we can go back to option one, driving the long way around to NORAD. franticly trying to piece my helicopter dream together I call the only asset I have. good, I can still get them. fingers crossed so much skepticism. There was a silence on the other end. By the time I got a response I could see the flood lights that had been set up before they rolled out. That¡¯s a little disappointing, half considering dumping that Idea. A different voice comes over the radio this time, the line drops for a second, Damn. I guess those are my options then: keep the bird and don¡¯t go to NORAD, or give them the bird and I¡¯ll gain trust and a side mission reward. Probably a substantial one, considering the odds of me getting a helicopter into the air and too NORAD are low. Sighing, I key up the mic I spend the thirty seconds pulling around the open gate and up to the tarmac cursing myself for an idiot. I could own a military grade helicopter. It would be mine. Who¡¯d stop me? I guess NATO could. Eventually. I can see a little bird at the end of the runway, a flight of three in line. Probably set up for the SF training lift. The whole ride down the runway there¡¯s evidence of helicopters being prepped and put into the air in a hurry. Unstowed straps, gas trucks left sitting off to the side. There are a few birds that are on fire with craters near them. I don¡¯t see any dead bodies though, I¡¯m guessing the population out here is so low that nothing too bad spawned. Pulling up behind the flight I do the mental math, ¡°Lena, I¡¯m guessing we have about four minutes before those were¡¯s catch us. We¡¯ve got to get one of these birds in the air.¡± Looking at the helicopter she squints her eyes, ¡°this does not look like the birds from my research.¡± ¡°It¡¯s what we call helicopters sometimes, walk around the outside and undo the latches tying us down, if their too much trouble cut them.¡± I sprint up to the left side of the bird and clear them all with the rifle before I hop in and turn on the controls. I flip the battery switch to on and yell back to Lena, ¡°keep an eye out, we¡¯re going to get one shot at this. If you see those were you tell me right away, I¡¯d rather abandon this than have to fight them.¡± As I run through my quick start ups: moving the stick around, checking the rotation of the throttle and the collective smoothness. ¡°Lena, one more thing, pull the bag off the quad and put it in the seat next to me. If we lift off you can leave it in your lap, if not I¡¯ll grab it on my way to the quad.¡± I open a private channel between the two of us, hoping the mental link comes through regardless of the rotor-wash. Been a while, the cockpit is simple though. Most of the buttons and switches are unneeded, it¡¯s more about knowing what needs to be turned on when, and what should be left on. Normally, with my little private bird, I¡¯d take about 10 minutes to check everything. I¡¯ve got to assume right now that the pilots have done most of the initial checks. Falling back on an old habit I talk as I work. ¡°Battery¡­on, fuel¡­off, start timer¡­2 3 4 5, starter¡­TOT safe, fuel on¡±. The rotors start moving, so I know I¡¯m going in the right direction. ¡°N1 at 30¡­40¡­50¡­ self-sustaining. Let go of starter, generator on¡­accessories on¡­¡±. Electronics in the dash come alive, the sudden light almost blinding me. The radio screen grabs my attention, but I don¡¯t have the right for it, so I leave it alone. ¡°are you talking to me?¡± Lena comes through the link almost perfectly, I can¡¯t hear her, but understand her words. ¡°No, I do this as a check list, old habit. Let me work.¡± I¡¯d love to explain the process to her, but I¡¯ve got to make sure everything is coming up as it¡¯s supposed to. ¡°Rotor RPM¡¯s matched¡­ ¡°I can see them, looks like they came cross country when they heard the sound, we have a roughly minute before they get here. That¡¯s not counting if there is anything else closer.¡± Shit, it¡¯s going to be close, I don¡¯t want to raise the rotor RPM too fast. It¡¯s military spec though, so I guess some abuse is expected. ¡°Lena, get it, we¡¯re out of here.¡± From the mirror in the skid I see the werewolves are within a hundred meters, they made much better time than us. Lena grabs the bag off the seat and hops in ¡°Put on your seatbelt, don¡¯t yell, and don¡¯t touch any of the controls, you might kill us.¡± She manages to look sufficiently frightened by my last comment. I turn the throttle until I feel us buoy up a bit, looking at the mirror I see the wolves are far too close for comfort. I rip the throttle and we shoot up into the sky, spinning because the rear rotor can¡¯t keep up with the anti-torque. Out of the bottom of my view I see a were¡¯s hand miss the skid by a fraction of an inch. I let out a breath I hadn¡¯t realized I was holding. We¡¯re free and clear. All I need to do now is navigate to NORAD while flying a helicopter I¡¯ve never flown before, then land in whatever LZ they have made up for me. Should be a cakewalk. NOT A CHAPTER. Just an update. Ok, so I kind of went off grid there for awhile, and I apologize for that. I''m not going to make up some lame excuse about it, life became busy and writing had to move to the back burner. I havent even managed to do any of the editing I had wanted to do because of the way things have been going. That being said, after finals are over in a week or two I hope to get back in with some semblance of structure. Just to be clear, that''s not a promise, I''m fickle at best. But since I wont be writing pieces for my creative writing classes and a few Psych classes I won''t feel like writing is a chore and I''ll be able to get back into it.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Thank you for reading. ---------End update, begin personal thought----------- If I''m going to be honest about it, writing is cathartic for me, as I''m sure it is for most people who do it as a hobby. I can release whatever thoughts are running through my head out into the world; unleashing them upon the errant population as if they were wild lions. Albiet half lame, mostly blind lions, with herbivore teeth. My point is that though I am fickle, and will probably dissapear for days, weeks, or months, I will always come back. Writing is a drug, the more you do it the more you need it, and I''m hooked. If you made it to the end, double thank you, and I''m sorry you subjugated yourself to that. NOT A CHAPTER. Just an update (PT2!) Alright people (or stacked animals in trench coats; I dont judge.) All of my main finals are finished, and the only one I have left is basically a breeze, you know what that means: EDITING will be taking place. TL;DR- Editing will be copleted by June 1 Moving to a softer litRPG style, removing stats EXP and abilities. changing currency to coinage alone. Some character descriptions may change. Going to attempt to update story with Char bios, and other important tidbits. You guys are fantastic. I''m hoping to have the complete story edited and ready by the end of may; I''d like to have it sooner, but I''ve got a couple of kids and between the one doing baseball, and the other being in marching I figured a more appropriete goal should be set, even if it''s further away than I would like.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I do have a few short stories that I will be posting up either loosely related, or completely non related to HTL. I''m not going to give a release schedule on those because they''re things I have been working on here and there since I started HTL and are a good way to pull myself out of it to get a more abjective view. I''m compiling a list of things I plan to change on my white board but I think the main takeaway, and the reason the story will be taking longer than I wanted it to is because I am going to pull out some of the ''game mechanics'' and might move out of the litRPG arena entirely. I will be revamping the ''economy'' by removing EXP as a spendable currency and going with coinage as the main. I may also be changing some of the character descriptions. As I move through the Editing process I''m going to try and keep anyone following me abreast of what I''m doing I.E. I''ll be uploading character BIOs, currency sheets, and anything else I think might make it easier to follow throughout the story. I''m basically going to do it so that I have a glossary at the end of the book for people to go through and see character relations/ clearifications on some things. I''m not releasing the full BIOs there, I dont want to give too much away. I''m also chewing on the idea of having someone draw me up maps for reference. I''d like to have them so people can reference who/what is where, maybe putting in what GODS are connected to what places etc. I guess that''s all I have for now, sorry this ended up being a bit longer than I wanted, but congratulations if you stuck it out!! An apology. Changes...They are a''comin. I''m going to be rewriting the story to add the abilities as a function since I skimmed over it before. I will also be giving the protagonist a different name, I had never intended to use Gnome as the characters name, it was a place-holder for me that worked well.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I am also removing one of the 2 main forms of currency and changing Rita so that she does not have the weird accent I wrote in originally. Thats not me saying I think austrailian accents are weird, thats me saying I''m going to add some kind of language translator to the mix, I like the idea of having one that just goes to shit for one reason or another, but haven''t figured out how to do that yet. Exciting news! Alright! The book is finally edited and out, and I''m on my first set of revisions for the digital, and in process of preparing the paperback model. Thats more for me, I''ve always dreamed of looking at the bookshelf and seeing my name on a spine. I digress! Although the book released last night I will be doing a free day on 9/11. Every year I see people come together and enjoy the freedoms our forebears have brought for us. So in the spirit of that starting at 12am(ct?) tonight, and ending at 12am(ct? I think) tomorrow the first book of Hold the line will be free on amazon kindle, I will set up a link in the author foot note so that it can be easily accessed.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Tell anyone you know ( I know most of us on here are pretty heavy introverts, but still) even if they''re not interested, tell them to go ahead and grab it, you never know when you might decide to try a new genre. Plus...FREE BOOK, if anyone is half as excited about a free book as I am, then they''d probably be pretty stoked I''ve gone on a tangent again, but I did get to where I was trying to go, so there is that, I''ll drop a link in the bottom. I''m not 100% sure what timezone the free book promotion starts on, but I imagine early morning/midday wherever everyone is should be fine to grab it. CH.17 Move in day. Turns out piloting the little bird to the Norad parking lot wasn¡¯t as complicated as I thought it would be. Partially because it was pretty much a straight shot North-west, but mostly because I had been there more than a few times. I had spent a lot of my free time stationed at Fort Carson trying to get close to the facility without getting in actual trouble. so much so that I knew some of the guards by name and face. I was still struggling with the idea of giving the bird off to the human forces at Norad, fortunately for them this was a troop carrier, not the armed version. If I had seen an armed attack bird sitting there I would have hidden it elsewhere and never even given them the option. After we had been in the air for a couple of minutes I had remembered to tell Lena about the headset so we could talk, she hadn¡¯t said much even with it on. A few comments once we were in the air about how amazing it was that we survived as a species with such a dangerous way of transportation. I hadn¡¯t seen her before take-off with all the excitement but now that I can get a good look at her I can see that she is stressed, I don¡¯t think they used high-speed spinning blades attached to a small metal container by a metal shaft as a form of transportation where she¡¯d come from. Her face under her helmet is an ashy-gray color, purple eyes set above a short severe nose. Lena was on the smaller side of petite a little taller than five-foot, she was wearing full black fatigues under a tactical vest. Lena was my indentured servant, I had met her during an earlier mission fighting for the other side and talked her into defecting to our side of the fight. Probably didn¡¯t hurt that the people she had been hanging with were ass-hats. After we had taken off from Butts Air Field I had taken off to the east and started trying to get a handle on the new landscape, Colorado Springs was a mess a big chunk of it missing, I don¡¯t know a lot about it but I think that the meteors that crashed somehow converted to the monsters in the area? Or maybe they were mana that catalyzed the transformation? I¡¯m not completely sure, but after they had touched down and wrecked everything they had dissipated somehow, leaving only giant scars through the city and on the landscapes as testament to their passing. One of the meteors had missed Cheyenne mountain, landing a half a mile north of the mouth to Norad and carving a furrow the better part of a quarter mile deep north east through the center of town. I¡¯m not sure how far it went exactly, but it looked like the airport was about center of the line. So many lives gone. Taken so the gods can play their games, not that I can judge too hard, I decided to be here. I knew what was going to happen and I made that decision. Another judgement call I¡¯ll have to come to terms with. It¡¯s a little bit easier knowing their souls matter, it¡¯s not the end, but a new beginning. They might die here, but their lives will go back into the cycle, circle-of-life, and all that. Kshhk The radio keys up and Poss comes over the headphones. Radio traffic is something I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll never forget, it was always one of the more important parts of my job as a Cavalry Scout in the US ARMY that I used to do before I died and joined the fight for Valhalla. Kshhk He sounds a bit nervous, which considering the circumstances is incredible in and of itself. The man¡¯s whole entire world ended, in fire. I was prepared for it and it still shook me to look at it, it dropped out of the sky onto him and he is adapting admirably. Plus, I have a piece of equipment that is going to mean a very significant amount to them. I may have acquired it, but they need it a hell of a lot more than I do. I was not in the business of sugar-coating things, either for someone else¡¯s feelings, or my own pride. My experience up until this point had always been either ultra-lights, or instructor assisted. This was going to be fun. Turning the stick, and adding power through the throttle I put the bird on a course for Norad station. Realizing that this is going to be the last time I get to fly this, either because there are more qualified people, or I¡¯ll end up crashing it I decide to have some fun Yawing to the left I dip the nose in a harder dive, dropping from two-thousand feet down to six hundred before evening out I can hear Lena screaming over the mic through the wind noise. Pointing the nose up the road we fly North-West skimming over I-25 at under one-hundred MPH. I can see most of the cars that had been on the highway off to the side, some with lights flashing, others trying to navigate up the road. If I trusted my skill more I would try and land to at least tell them to head for Norad. Any with some common sense will head up there anyways. Not wanting to fly over the chasm made by the meteor I cut West and over the northern end of base. After another 30 seconds, I see the base of the mountain coming up fast. Throttling down, and adjusting the stick I flare hard and drop from ninety-MPH, down to twenty in the space of a few seconds. Eliciting a scream of fear from Lena that is easily heard over the headset. ¡°Calm the fuck down! If you start to panic I might crash this thing.¡± I¡¯m not great at calming people. ¡°WE¡¯RE CRASHING!¡± Her panic is pretty evident. "No, we¡¯re not. I was slowing down, now shut up or we are going to crash.¡± I decide to ignore the daggers she¡¯s shooting at me from her eyes. there are two parking lots, it looks like the upper one might have been cleared for air traffic/parking, and the lower for land vehicles. its good he¡¯s got some mirth left after everything that¡¯s happened. The southern end of the parking lot does not have as much space as I¡¯d like, but it¡¯s still a large amount of open space to land in. Trying to guide the chopper over and then land was harder with the little bird than I thought it would be. I¡¯m not going to recount that feat of amazing for you, but trust me, it was great. ¡°You broke its leg!¡± Lena jumped out of the Heli and was screaming at me from beyond radius of the blades as they spin down. ¡°I didn¡¯t break its leg. I landed on the curb a little bit.¡± Ok, so the landing wasn¡¯t as smooth as I¡¯d like and we dropped the last few feet to the ground. On the one hand, I''m sure I broke something. On the other though, I got it there. ¡°It¡¯s sideways, and it sounds like it is dying, you have killed the bird.¡± She¡¯s moved forward now that the blades are slow enough to see the blades spinning and is poking me in the chest screaming in my face. She seems rather upset about the landing, it is what it is though. I had given us a little less than even odds to crash it, killing us and a few other people in the process.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°That¡¯s enough Lena, grab that bag of gear before the SF guys decide they need it back.¡± Waiting for the blades to stop moving so I can complete the shutdown process I try and look around. There are a few mechanics standing off to the far side either waiting for someone to sack-up and come over, or for someone who outranks them to show up. I reach up and point at one of the closer ones, a young-looking kid in green coveralls with a patrol cap in his hands. Crooking my finger in the sign for ¡®comere¡¯. He takes a bit longer than I¡¯d like for him to decide whether he¡¯s going to listen to the Gray dude with tattoos all over his face who crashed a Heli, So I point again and then point to the ground right in front of me. Looking at his friends who all either shrug, or look relieved it¡¯s not one of them he decides to slowly start walking forward. I decide to motivate him, ¡°Holy shit soldier, get your ass over here or you¡¯ll push until I¡¯m tired.¡± The reaction is almost instantaneous, his eyes widen and jogs right up to me and locks up giving me a salute. ¡°That¡¯s cute kid, but I work for a living. Go tell your chief that this bird is here and I broke it.¡± I¡¯m barely done talking before he salute¡¯s me again and runs off. I can¡¯t help but shake my head, it¡¯s amazing what a little threat of correctional training can do. I was a little surprised there wasn¡¯t one, but running a command on the fly is probably a little distracting. a bit more organized than I thought, I¡¯m an outlier so I guess it¡¯s going to happen. ¡°Don¡¯t you ignore me gnome! What the hell was that, I thought you knew how to fly, it seemed like you had a handle on it!¡± by the time she¡¯s done talking she¡¯s calmed down , her face has moved from enraged-fear, to annoyed-fear. ¡°I never said I knew how to land. Getting up is easy, it¡¯s the landing that takes more practice.¡± I¡¯m trying not to smile so hard. I don¡¯t see what the big deal is, we made it to the ground. We didn¡¯t even die in the process. ¡°Look here you giant gray bag of dic- ¡° ¡°Gnome! You made it.¡± Saved by Sgt Mills and his guys. ¡°Yeah, it was a bit rough. The National Guard building had been overrun by werewolves, we didn¡¯t even make it to the building before they started out at us. If it hadn¡¯t been for those wheelers you gave us we would have been dog-meat.¡± The run from those creatures felt like something that happened days ago, not less than an hour ago. ¡°I had heard from Poss about it, you¡¯ll have to tell me what they looked like up close. Maybe some of their combat effectiveness if possible. We are unprepared for this situation. Equipment wise we¡¯re not that bad, but we can¡¯t raise Peterson, Schriever, or any other military installation in the area. Local command wants you inside ASAP. I¡¯m supposed to make sure you are unarmed when you go, but I¡¯m not about to try and enforce that. You promise me you¡¯ll be peaceful and we¡¯ll call it square.¡± Considering we went through combat together a little while ago I can appreciate that. taking in to mind there¡¯s no practical way for him to make sure that I¡¯m unarmed does throw a little doubt to my mind though. ¡°Alright man, I¡¯ll keep my guns away. I¡¯ll even make the attempt to be all civil like. C¡¯mon Lena, you can talk to Jacks later, I have a feeling we¡¯re all going to be spending a good amount of time together in the coming weeks.¡± I wave my hand in a lead on gesture towards Mills and we start walking towards the buildings instead of the entrance that¡¯s blocked by a few Stryker¡¯s and a bunch of soldiers on guard. ¡°We¡¯re not headed inside?¡± I can¡¯t help but be a little disappointed, I REALLY wanted to get in there. ¡°No, were operating out of the building up front, command decided that they wanted to be outside in case comms went down. Plus if power gave out they¡¯d all be climbing their fat-asses up those ladders since they don¡¯t want to chance the backup generators failing as well. The general took command from Poss as soon as we got here, so that¡¯s who you¡¯re going to be dealing with.¡± with his back turned to me I can¡¯t see it, but I hear the smile in his voice. Mills is a good guy, team lead for his team, a competent leader, and knows when to take direction if it is warranted. Probably optimistic about his command too. Poss might want to be out in the building, but I¡¯m not convinced the Norad command didn¡¯t want an easier option to cut and run from, it¡¯s hard not to notice that the personnel tents are on the far side of the lot and all the birds are sitting outside the ¡®command¡¯ building. I could be wrong, but I¡¯m probably not. The building we¡¯re walking towards is reminiscent of almost every military building you run into; a rectangle that is a few stories, cinderblock painted white, with a set of doors up front. Nothing fancy here, all the cool stuff is inside the mountain. We walk into the building, past desk where a couple of soldiers are in full kit, and into a conference room off to the rear behind it. It¡¯s about what I expected. A room with tables set in a giant U shape, pointed towards a pedestal where an older man sporting three-stars on his lapels is standing. He¡¯s a little less than underwhelming. He looks to be in his late forties, white hair cut short to his head, with a gut that has been earned by a few years in a non-combat command. Most of the chairs in the room are full of people in different uniforms. There¡¯s only one in Marine camo fatigues, and a whole bunch of Airforce personnel. I see a few army, but not as many as I thought I would. The general is arguing with Poss, ¡°You only had one job master Sergeant. Get your equipment and teams here. I¡¯m holding you accountable for the ambush, and subsequent death and abandonment of equipment. Most of the things we have faced here are weak, thoughtless beast¡¯s barely worth the name.¡± He¡¯s got one of those voices that sounds low but has an almost whiny tone to it. I immediately don¡¯t like him. ¡°I was ambushed by over forty combatants. These weren¡¯t the simple beast¡¯s you have been dealing with up here, they had small arms weapons. Utilizing complex tactics to ambush our convoy and take most of my people, and a significant portion of our equipment!¡± Poss is red faced, I can see a vein sticking out of his forehead from all the way over here. The general gives him an exaggerated shrug, ¡°Do not make excuses, I expect it from the regular army, but you Special forces guys are supposed to be better.¡± The disdain in his voice is palpable, to make it worse most of the air force people in the room are shaking their heads in agreement. ¡°You¡¯re dismissed Poss, see to your men until such a time as we can decide your punishment.¡± It was one of the ruder things I¡¯d ever seen, probably even dumber than he realized as well. The SF guys wouldn¡¯t go native, but you never know, people react to situations in different ways. Poss grits his teeth and walks out the door, keeping his mouth shut and his fists balled up. The marine gets up without even saying anything and follows him out the door. The general watches and looks like he might comment, but lets them go I look at Mills, ¡°Go with him, make sure he¡¯s stable. Tell him I¡¯d like to have a talk when the chance arises.¡± Without any comment, he turns and follows them out. The general jumps a little bit when his eyes come away from the door and see me and Lena standing there. I¡¯m not easy to miss, A few inches over six-feet, a dark gray color with bright white hair, and red tattoos all over my face. He spends a few seconds looking me over before talking, ¡°I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re gnome? The one who showed up before this started and told us it was coming?¡± there¡¯s a lot of tension in his voice, and his face is barely concealed hatred. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re the guy, right, head honcho or whatever?¡± I¡¯m angry, tired, and not dealing well with seeing a good man who lost a lot of soldiers get drug because this guy is ignoring the world he¡¯s in. His eyes narrow and a definite sneer comes over his face, ¡°I am General Carter.¡± He looks over at the door and says, ¡°Take him into custody. Suspicion of terrorism. You¡¯ll give us the answers we¡¯re looking for.¡± Before I even have the chance to say anything the guards standing around the room bring guns up and point them at me and Lena. ¡°Hands up Lena, were not killing soldiers because of an idiot.¡± She gives me a confused look but oesn¡¯t bring her gun out. Turning my head back to the general I say, ¡°this is a mistake, I¡¯m not going to resist, and I¡¯ll give you information to help without the need to put me in a lockup.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t trust your information. It is a little too convenient that you show up shortly before a major attack on the city, and ingratiate yourself with base command. I¡¯m not falling for any of your tricks.¡± He¡¯s gotten himself all worked up by now, spittle flying from his mouth as he talks, and his face turning almost the same shade as Poss¡¯s when he left the room. ¡°Believe what you want, but know this: If you hurt my companion in any way I will make sure you suffer before I kill you.¡± I¡¯m one-hundred percent sure it¡¯s the wrong thing to say. Before he has the chance to say anything something hits me in the back of the head and I¡¯m on my way to the land of dreams. CH.18 A change in the wind. The general had six soldiers escort us to a holding cell, which was a huge disappointment. It wasn¡¯t even in the cavern, it was inside one of the out buildings just a gray room that had two rooms separated by bars. I was underwhelmed, to say the least. Lena was in the cell next to me she was¡­ annoyed. She¡¯d been telling me for the last 10 minutes exactly how NOT excited she was. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you just let them take us what the hell man.¡± I¡¯m sure the look she was giving me was supposed to be scary but it just made me want to smack her in the face. ¡°We need these people on our side we¡¯re going to need to deal with them for a very long time. A little bit of goodwill¡¯s gonna go along way for us.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe it myself normal people like the general pissed me off, but we have to deal with them. ¡°We are going to be here long time and honestly I don¡¯t like it either but this is just the way it is so we¡¯ll live with it.¡± ¡°I really hope you¡¯re not going to rollover like this every time somebody threatens us.¡± Lena said with a dirty look. She¡¯s really starting to piss me off, I mean, I was already pissed off but holy fuck. ¡°Look I get it, you don¡¯t like this. I don¡¯t like this, it¡¯s a shitty situation. Neither of us want to be here so how about you shut the fuck up and let me do what I do.¡± She gave me a dirty look but she did shut her mouth and sit down. I¡¯m sure I will have to deal with that later. Oh well I guess, it really couldn¡¯t be helped. Now I gotta figure out what we¡¯re going to do next, hopefully someone will come soon have a talk with us with any luck that won¡¯t involve torture. On the upside it gave me a break. I could just sit here for little while not having to think or do anything. I feel like I¡¯ve been running myself ragged the last few weeks, just going full tilt. While the break is nice, it¡¯s kind of stressful waiting here for possible torture. Sure, they won¡¯t actually torture us, I mean they¡¯re just Air Force. ¡°Are we just gonna sit here and wait?¡± Lena huffed. ¡°Unless you have another plan waiting is all we got.¡± I said to her, angrily. I don¡¯t know what the fuck she expected me to do, were in the same boat. Me and Lena sat there for about three hours before anybody showed up. All he did was slide food under the grate and walk out without saying a word. Every once in while me and Lena were trying have small talk we are both just too annoyed to deal with each other. The next time somebody came and it was a fully armed guard, he came in and pointed the gun directly at me. The general walked in behind him sat on the bench across from my cell, ¡°I¡¯ve been asking around, and all the SF guys say that you help them out, and some of the people that were at the main squadron building confirm that you were there in a firefight against the attacking forces. Now, I¡¯m a big enough man to admit when I¡¯m wrong. I still don¡¯t trust you, your timing is just to convenient.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you sir, I showed up when I did I gave all the information I had, and helped where I could.¡± Opening my hands, and shrugging I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what more I can do to make you trust me, I¡¯d rather work with you than fight you, I don¡¯t see the point in fighting each other when everything else wants to kill us.¡± The general stared at me for a few minutes, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what. I need recon done, I¡¯ll send you some of the S.O.F. guys and if you come back, and they say your solid, will try and work things out.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good with that. Are you going to send me out with Patch and his boys? I¡¯m willing to go out either way, but I know those guys so might be easier.¡± It¡¯s probably not what he planned to do, since Patch is already on my side, but I figure it couldn¡¯t hurt to ask. ¡°I¡¯m going to send you out with Patch¡¯s boys. They¡¯ve already given you an endorsement, and they are willing to risk their lives on it.¡± He didn¡¯t look angry, just annoyed. ¡°You¡¯re going to be staying here until then. I¡¯d rather not cause a panic at the way you look.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, when do we go?¡± I¡¯d rather not be sitting in the cell to the next few days while he decides. Glancing down he looks at his watch, ¡°In about five hours you guys would be moving out. We want to send the infill out before daybreak.¡± Without any preamble he gets up and walks out of the room. ¡°Well, at least he¡¯s not sending us out to just kill us.¡± Lena said without looking at me. She was still laying down with her hands in a lace behind her head, she hadn¡¯t even gotten up or opened her eyes when the general came in. ¡°I¡¯d half expected him to send us out with his base team, and have them take care of us away from probing eyes.¡± It really was unexpected, I didn¡¯t think he would be so open to sending us out so soon without talking is to us or knowing more about us. ¡°Well, I guess there¡¯s isn¡¯t much for us to do except to sit and wait.¡± Taking a note from Lena¡¯s page, I laid back and laced my fingers behind my head. With nothing else to do but think, it was going to be a long night. It might be the recent adrenaline, or the fact that were in it now, but I couldn¡¯t help but think about all the things I didn¡¯t know about the system. Why is the system the way this, who runs it? Why do they run it? I¡¯d gotten the simple answer from Ianata back in Valhalla, but I feel like I¡¯ve been pushing so hard lately, trying to ignore all the things that have happened to me, that I have missed some big answers that I should be looking for. At some point in my contemplation I must¡¯ve fallen asleep. I was awoken to the sounds of the key unlocking my cell door, ¡°rise and shine beautiful, it¡¯s time to get the work.¡± Looking over I see Mills at the door, and can¡¯t help but smile. It¡¯s going to be a good day. ¡°Hey man, how¡¯s it been? I¡¯m glad to go with you guys, and not some NORAD kill team with orders to take us out.¡± He just shakes his head at me ¡°How do you know I don¡¯t have orders to take you out?¡± It¡¯s a fair question, I guess. ¡°Because you know better.¡± I say with a wolfish smile. Putting his hand out gives me shake, ¡°Ready when you are boss.¡± We follow Miller out the same door we came in, coming at the front door and seeing his team arrayed around us. All on foot wearing backpacks. The only reason I could see them as is the light from the roof shining down, casting a yellowish haze on them. ¡°All right guys easy day, get into the suburbs, see what we can find. Assess the situation, get out. All without being seen, preferably.¡± Miller said to his team. I spent the next few minutes shaking hands with Miller¡¯s team, I couldn¡¯t help but notice Jacks and Lena spent a little bit more time reuniting than the rest. Without any preamble, the teams are to move towards the gate following Miller as he went. We spent a few minutes checking over gear once we got to the gate.
-WEAPON- -Rhino AR style modular Rifle 5.56 > LVL. 5 >Damage > 80 (Per Shot) -Effective range > 500 -Quality > Above average. -Weight > 2 (Lbs.) -DESCRIPTION- -The Rhino AR style lower receiver accepts compatible upper receivers without physical modifications. (This is a combined upper and lower receiver rifle.) ¨C Attached ¨C >Titan mid-range mana optic
It wasn¡¯t the sexiest rifle in the world, just like your standard M4 carbine. It was flat dark earth instead of black, carrying handle, the mana optic that sat on top was 4X multiplication. Fore grip was the clip in type, not the floating. I¡¯d have to change that eventually probably give me more range. I had Hels gift attached in a sheath on my waist, behind my back. Digging into my inventory I pulled out my helmet, and reluctantly sat on my head. Lena was all decked out her gear, the only real difference was that she had a .300 blackout upper instead of the .556 I had. Her dark fatigues were battered and dust stained. She didn¡¯t say anything else just getting me a thumb up letting me know she was ready, ¡°Alright Mills, me and Lena are good to go whenever you guys are.¡± ¡°All right then everybody roll out, our first objective is to recon the immediate area namely all the Richy rich houses just to the east of here.¡± Putting his hand up next was head and waving it back and forth a knife-like motion, has been formed up in a line and we start moving.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. There wasn¡¯t anything else said, these guys didn¡¯t need to, they¡¯d been working together so long it was just second nature. They fell into a line, jacks upfront ahead of a couple of the guys I didn¡¯t know, Miller in the center than a few other guys I also really didn¡¯t know. I probably should have taken some time to get and know. There was a good chance that the general would be putting us with them far more often. It didn¡¯t take us long to get to the subdivision area, there were a lot of nice houses most of them two and three stories with garages. None that really stood out above the rest. I really wasn¡¯t clear on what Miller wanted us to do, I didn¡¯t know if we were going to be clearing house to house, or if we were just reconing the area to see if anyone was making enough noise for us to hear. Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t a lot of places around the suburbs to move without being seen, fortunately though, we didn¡¯t run into any trouble while walking through the suburbs. If we heard people inside we would knock on doors inform them there was a military sanctuary up at the Cheyenne mountain Air Force station and then move on. This is what we ended up doing for the next three days without finishing the entire suburb, I don¡¯t know if there were any other teams up doing something we were, or if they were somewhere else but it was a nice change of pace helping people instead of shooting bullets. We spent the better part of most days shuttling people back and forth from where we found them, or trying to convince them we weren¡¯t monsters. It was on the fourth day when we were out on the far side of the suburb scanning at the country club before anything exciting happened. We had reached as far northeast as we could go through the suburbs. At the edge of the crevasse created by the meteors. As far as we knew the furthest anyone had gone yet. Most teams were going either west or southeast further to look for survivors and collect supplies. We had just cleared the house at the end of a cul-de-sac and a few of us were sitting on the back porch on the second floor looking out. It was incredibly surreal. There was this house, then the backyard, halfway through the backyard the ground just ended dug down and destroyed by the meteor furrowing through. ¡°Man, this is fucked up. I wonder if there were people here when the meteor came down?¡± Miller asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. We haven¡¯t found any blood in any of these houses. Plus, there¡¯s not even a car in the driveway.¡± It was almost eerie how many places didn¡¯t have blood, or signs of distress. The weirdest thing is the impact didn¡¯t cause any shockwaves. Something that big hitting the ground behind the house should destroyed everything within a very large radius. If nothing else the resulting displaced dirt should¡¯ve crushed some houses. ¡°If you ladies are done discussing landscaping, there¡¯s one more house we gotta get to before we head back to base.¡± Lena says through the door behind us. All through this Lena seemed indifferent. I guess she did go through a lot of the stuff in Hels realm, or something like it. The way she describes her world is very feudalistic, it sounded rough but they had somehow managed to advance in technology despite that in most of the leadership in the world were on good enough terms not to need war. Trying to pull solid details of how things were there was worse than pulling teeth. It¡¯d gotten to the point that I¡¯d stopped asking. ¡°yeah, I guess we can go if you¡¯re ready Miller.¡± I¡¯m still looking at the crater, but I see him shrug his shoulders and turn to leave. I stood for a moment longer, looking at the massive trench, lost in thought over the absence of secondary damage when the sound of gunfire and explosions comes from far off to our Southwest. Closer than I¡¯d have liked, but far enough away that it¡¯s not an immediate concern. ¡°MILLER!¡± I yell turning and running into the house, ¡°It sounds like contact Southwest. We should investigate.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s a base, the radio went nuts a couple of seconds before the explosion started. I¡¯m not completely sure but it sounded like it was an attack from a large force of something,¡± we¡¯ve all moved to the front door where the team is in a protective perimeter outside. He¡¯s holding his hand up listening to the headset with his eyes closed. ¡°Information coming through is a very large force of zombies hit the front road and steamrolled through the cordon. The command and most of the civilians are falling back into the bunker. Sounds like it¡¯s just the Marines and a few other combat elements locked outside.¡± I walk outside behind is guys watching in the direction of base, and hear him talking with someone on the radio. I¡¯m not sure who, I don¡¯t have any comms, but it sounds like they want us back there quickly. He finally finishes his transmission, ¡°The Marines and the Air Force security forces held at the bunker gate and there isn¡¯t a much left to do but we¡¯re headed back. We¡¯ll cut west and come direct South Overland see if we can¡¯t do some recon. Let¡¯s go.¡± Over the last couple of days, I found out this is how to know when he is stressed. Most of the time he asked for opinions and what the men thought might be the best way to go about things. The only time he doesn¡¯t is when he¡¯s too stressed and he doesn¡¯t want to lay the decisions out in a way that somebody else would have to carry them. Seeing that he¡¯s in a mood I decide it just roll with it. Moving back to the end of the column with Lena we roll out. Thinking that I will to talk to her for a couple of minutes while we move, maybe get her thoughts on what¡¯s happening. That doesn¡¯t happen, the pace Miller sets is quick, almost brutal. Or would have been before the drop. At this point are all capable of moving at a speed between a jog and run without getting winded. I¡¯m not sure what level Miller and his men are at this point but they¡¯ve got to be getting close to three or four. While I¡¯m fine with the pace, the unfortunate side effect is that I cannot talk with Lena while we move. We quickly make it into the woods west of the suburbs and to a little dirt road that connects with NORAD. Once inside the wood line Miller has us slowdown to a combat speed. ¡°Guns up, eyes open.¡± Is all Miller says as we move into the wood line. Once we¡¯ve slowed down enough I decide I might try and get some info from miller, so I move up to his position. ¡°Hey man, can you give me a bit more information I don¡¯t have the headset like you guys.¡± I¡¯m hoping that explaining the situation to me will shake him out of whatever he¡¯s in, plus give me something to go on. The more information I have better I¡¯ll know how to react. ¡°From what is coming over the radio on command channel it sounds like the Marines and the airmen cleaned out the horde, but the general is refusing to open the door. There¡¯s not enough open space for me to get word in, but it sounds like the general plans on holing up.¡± An annoyed look comes over his face ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to let us in.¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± Well, aint that a bitch. Over the last couple of days, I get to know the general a little better he seemed a bit skittish, but not like a bad guy. He¡¯s a guy who got thrust into a situation and is in over his head. ¡°Campo wants to leave. We¡¯re not getting any information from high command. We lost contact with the element at Specker last night and we¡¯ve lost three teams here so far. We told the general this is a bad spot and we need to move, but he¡¯s stuck on how heavily fortified the bunker is. He doesn¡¯t realize that eventually the foods gonna run out. And if we get hemmed in there is only a few exits. Other than the main ones there¡¯s no way for more than 3 to 4 people to get out of the time. It¡¯s a death trap in there.¡± I can hear the frustration Miller¡¯s voice. I haven¡¯t been privy to anything the command has done. When I get back I¡¯m allowed to get food and then go back to my cell, and that¡¯s all Lena and I have been doing. I didn¡¯t want to make any waves because I need to build trust. I needed that general willing to go with me when the time came. ¡°It didn¡¯t matter What Campo or I Said. Hours of meetings and all the Air Force command wants the hold in position. It¡¯s stocked up with food, water, and other provisions. Enough for a couple hundred people to hold out for about six months. Me, him, and Patch talked to some people about rallying together and heading out like you wanted to. I talked to my guys about already and they said they¡¯d all come. Campo and all his Marines are also in, there¡¯s a few of the others and some of the pilots who said they want out. We hadn¡¯t mentioned it to the general because he¡¯s completely sure the infrastructure isn¡¯t wrecked, that somebody¡¯s coming.¡± Miller didn¡¯t sound like he believed that at all. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you Miller, I wanted to start moving the day after we got here. Pretty much two minutes after I found out we were going to NORAD. The problem with all of us leaving is that we leave these people defenseless, we need to get inside and give them the option. We get as many as we can and we go. If it¡¯s not too many we can take that Chinook, if it is too many we¡¯ll take a Chinook and some other birds to...¡± And then hard truth hit me. I don¡¯t actually know where hep is. I got the feeling we had been somewhere on the eastern coast, but that¡¯s a big chance to take in heading that direction, and it is more than a few of us here. Getting all these people there¡¯s going to be a huge problem. I doubt a large group really make it that far safely. Getting to hep isn¡¯t something that I have to do, it¡¯s something I want to do. The fact of the matter, is that what we need is a haven with enough distance from a city to not be inside any large mobs hunting grounds, and the ability to send raids if necessary. Somewhere with sustainability, access to food water and shelter. Unfortunately, this is Colorado next to the Rockies; not known as farmer friendly. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you guys are going either way?¡± I figure Patch¡¯s soldiers, and the marines were done with the bullshit. They had been carrying the weight of guarding the base, and going on patrols almost constantly. Don¡¯t get me wrong the air force security forces were working, but the general was putting them in much safer positions, less risky. It¡¯s not the move I would have made in his position. In a world where the common tongue is violence, everyone needed to become fluent. ¡°We were trying to find a good time to bring it up to you, Patch and Costa have already been moving around asking discreetly, I¡¯m not sure what the final tally is, but they were only asking those they thought would be interested, or those who they trusted.¡± Would have been useful information a couple of days ago, but they probably hadn¡¯t gotten that far yet. ¡°You know I¡¯m in. Any idea¡¯s where we are going? We don¡¯t exactly have great range, and we won¡¯t know where is safe.¡± I¡¯ll follow them wherever they want to go, and have a few suggestions, I really don¡¯t want them to start seeing me as someone in charge though. ¡°yes. One of the pilots has family up in Kremmling, it¡¯s close enough that all the birds we have could make it in one jump. Add on that there is an airport, and a small town. It¡¯s not ideal, but it¡¯s the best of the suggestions we have. If you have anything you want to weigh in on I¡¯m sure Patch would listen.¡± While we¡¯d been talking we¡¯d come back into the base area and up to the giant entrance to NORAD. Patch and Campo were standing outside the door looking annoyed. Campo had a large radio in his hand yelling about they should open the doors that it¡¯s clear, and how unreasonable someone was being. I had a feeling it was the general, he¡¯d probably reached his breaking point for weird. ¡°You¡¯re not going to get through to him like that Campo. He¡¯s gone into fear mode.¡± I say. ¡°I¡¯m open to ideas Gnome. We¡¯ve been here for almost twenty minutes, the general just won¡¯t open the doors. Keeps saying he can¡¯t know if we were bitten or somehow infiltrated.¡± The man sounded like he was two breaths from trying to kick the bunker door down. ¡°How about this, set the mic down for a minute, let¡¯s talk about this exfil plan.¡± When I say that both him and patch¡¯s head point directly at me. ¡°How do you feel about it?¡± they¡¯re both watching me for a reaction. ¡°I think we should try and contact anyone who hasn¡¯t been asked and see if they want to come. I¡¯ve been saying this is a bad spot since the day we got here. As long as everyone gets the option, and we¡¯re going somewhere away from large towns I¡¯m in.¡± Campo¡¯s face visibly relaxes, and Patch¡¯s shoulders untense. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what we were thinking. Altogether we had about twenty who are solid yes¡¯s, and another fourteen thinking about it. If it comes to that we¡¯re going to need more than one bird, but I don¡¯t foresee any problems with it.¡± It¡¯s more than I thought. People tend to stay where they perceive as safe, even if it clearly isn¡¯t. ¡°So, bypass the source. Go wideband, there¡¯s an emergency broadcast port somewhere up here right? I remember him saying something about the intercom speakers reaching everybody in the bunker. Just tell them that we¡¯re leaving in six hours, if they¡¯re in they need to get out here. It sucks to leave them, but we can always come back and check later. Mills says the flight isn¡¯t that far; forty minutes at most. It¡¯s not like the option goes off the table.¡± His eyes open a little bit, and I realize in their frustration they hadn¡¯t thought about doing that. Neither one says anything, just walking off towards the out building next to the entrance. I hadn¡¯t seen Campo very much the last few days. He seemed like a good guy, he was part of the force recon unit training joint ops with 10¡¯th SFG when shit went south. He was quieter than most marines I used to know. Not really a big guy, on the underside of 5¡¯9, but jacked. He looked like he was of some Hispanic descent, and his head looked like he normally kept his hair shaved to the skull. After they have been messing with the phone on the wall for a few minutes patch says into the speakerphone. ¡°THIS IS THE GROUND FORCES ON THE SURFACE. THE GENERAL REFUSES TO OPEN THE DOOR TO LET US IN. WE WILL BE TAKING MOST OF THOSE LEFT ON THE SURFACE AND LEAVING IN SIX HOURS, ANYONE WHO WANTS TO COME WITH US NEEDS TO COME OUTSIDE BEFORE THEN OR BE LEFT BEHIND.¡± Patch¡¯s low timbre voice sliding over the door face sounds like the reverberations of a bell. I don¡¯t think the general will block anyone trying to come out with us, but he¡¯s made more than a few bad decisions so far. If he does I guess it¡¯s something we¡¯ll have to deal with if¡­ when we make it back. ch.19 New digs. The casualty count at the base was surprisingly low on our side of the fence. There were probably a few hundred dead zombies on the ground leading up to where the defenders took a stand but only twelve of ours died. Would have been three less if zombie bites didn¡¯t infect. The way of the world now though, I guess. In the end, it was decided the people with me wanted to go to a little town in the mountains called ¡®Kremmling¡¯. I¡¯ve never been there, but the pilot who suggested it says it is a smaller town with an airport. It¡¯s situated inside of the mountains next to a calmer part of the Colorado River, and there¡¯s enough solid land around it that farming should be possible, if not optimal. The pay Patch described it the guy said the community was tight nit, and there were more than a couple survivalist up there. In my travels I have discovered that there are more survivalist than people realize, the smart ones usually don¡¯t just come out and say, ¡®I¡¯m a prepper¡¯ because they realize that¡¯s a good way to take on responsibility if anything goes south. The ones that broadcast are usually the ones that want to help others, or want people to think they want to help others. I like to think the ones who think it are just out to say, ¡®I told you so¡¯ and nothing too nefarious, or realize that long-term survival is more of a group effort. I guess all that speculation really doesn¡¯t matter if the small town got its shit rocked by a falling comet from the sky. Which brings up the even more annoying fact that it¡¯s a one-way trip if it has fallen, or an annoying process of us defending the airport while we try to refuel the birds. Patch and Campo have both taken the time to plan out alternate landing zones as well. I personally believe that if Kremmling has fallen we could take it. If what the military map they managed to scrounge is right it¡¯s not a huge place, and clearing it shouldn¡¯t be hard. That¡¯s probably just my pessimism though, mountain folk are hardy. I had initially wanted to help load up the birds with some of the supplies we were going to take but ended up helping the wounded after the general opened the doors. I really thought he was going to lock his people in and shell up and that is his plan, but he is allowing others to leave. The ones coming out to go said he is taking down names and has intentions of writing them all up as deserters, but isn¡¯t stopping anyone otherwise. It¡¯s a smart move on his part, it gives him the illusion of deniability, and a modicum of control. Not enough to matter to those who are going, but enough that it¡¯ll keep the peace until they are gone. After the first five hours are up we are geared out at we have thirty-six going with us. All the marines are going, most of the SOF guys that are still around, and a few of the personnel from the air force that don¡¯t want to be stuck underground if it comes to it. We¡¯d recovered almost two-hundred people in the last few days and another hundred-fifty or so had come in on their own. I¡¯d expected more to want to come with us, but I can understand their hesitance. From the outside looking in, the guys who are going are in the wrong. But in the real world, they haven¡¯t contacted anyone outside of this area in almost a week, the government has fallen. In my mind it has come to a situation where technically the US of A doesn¡¯t actually exist as an entity anymore, it¡¯s probably more of an area descriptor now. I¡¯m sure you could argue the other way, but until there is someone with enough power to enforce that level of bureaucracy again it just ain''t happening. Honestly, it¡¯s kind of the best-case scenario. The chance of world war is gone now, everyone I¡¯ve talked to who had prior conditions said they are gone. The people who needed glasses suddenly don¡¯t. Top it all off with the fact that if you get hurt you will heal on your own up to a certain point and the apocalypse has done the world a favor. Kind of. I¡¯m sure the death-toll is astronomical. Millions, if not billions, of lives, were lost in the advent. When things are on the move or busy, it¡¯s easy to push the fact that every soul survives. Death is only a gateway to the next life for everyone. But it¡¯s only easy to think like that because I know that, and I can¡¯t die. If I get taken out I lose a couple of days, and start over again, if any of these people die its game over. Their soul survives but them as a person do not. My personal belief is that every life has a base worth. Some move forward, they are shining beacons for humanity to congregate around and learn from. Others are only valuable as a lesson. I¡¯m quickly learning that that is an unfair way to look at things. Some of the people we discovered or brought in were escaped, prisoners. Which is kind of frightening, but at the same time most of those that came brought people with them. One guy, Pete, who¡¯d been in the prison for gang-related something or other is hailed as a camp hero. The story is that he was headed to his home and saw a car surrounded by zombies. The people with him decided to keep on his way, but he waded in with nothing but a knife he¡¯d picked up from a corner store and killed eight of them on his own. I saw the knife, it wasn¡¯t some Rambo knock-off. You could say the blade was four inches if you were generous. Top that off that he immediately took the family of three under his wing and brought them to Cheyanne and he deserves the title. Pete was coming with us, so was the family he saved. A woman named Emma and her two kids. They had been traveling to Cheyanne to meet up with her brother when she swerved to miss something in the street and curbed her car bad enough. Her brother is one of the pilots that made it here, it¡¯s probably one of the brighter stories to come out of this. Most of these people have lost husbands and wives. There¡¯s enough tragedy going around that any happy story should be shared. ¡°You ready man?¡± Mills has become part of the inner circle, the deciders. ¡°Yeah, just off in my head. Trying to drive my thoughts without crashing the car. If you know what I mean.¡± I¡¯m sure he does. ¡°Got it. Were about ready, everything is loaded up into a chinook. Not that there was much to load. If we¡¯d had too many more people it might have been a problem but we managed to load everyone, plus a crate of food, and another of ammo. They¡¯re going to start spinning up any minute now, I figured you¡¯d want a seat near the door.¡± The whole-time mills is talking he spends looking off in the direction of the birds. I doubt it¡¯s intentional, he seems to wander when he gets the chance. ¡°It is appreciated. I¡¯m a little more indestructible than most of you guys. Any way I can get strapped to the ramp? I¡¯ve always wanted to dangle my legs out.¡± I¡¯m only kind of kidding at this point, those crew-guys who get to do that always look so godamned happy afterward. ¡°You¡¯ll have to fight Campo over that one. He¡¯s talked them into letting him mount a .50 cal back there and is going to sit on it every time the door opens.¡± The smile on his face made it clear it¡¯s the same thing he wanted to do. Probably everybody wanted to do. Flying in a bird without much access to see out is annoying at best, but considering the things that have been going on, and the fact that we¡¯re not completely sure that there isn¡¯t something out there that can just knock us out of the sky has dulled the excitement edge of some of this. ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t want the fifty, I just want to be able to get off quick.¡± I had discussed with Patch and Campo about evacing early and coming from a different direction. Partially because the way look might cause problems, but mostly because I don¡¯t want to get in the way of the command structure that¡¯s about to be set up. If the town¡¯s alive it¡¯s probably going to have some kind of council running things, and I¡¯m sure my people don¡¯t want to take that over. Patch is probably going to push himself into that, I¡¯m not sure about Campo, he just seems like he just seems like he wants all the information he can get his hands on. I imagine they will organize some type of guild and get a hall or something inside the city. I know Mills was talking about it. It¡¯s a great idea if you can get in early. Adventurer guilds are a staple in books and gaming. Starting one up would be a good thing for setting yourself up, but probably a better thing for the local community. I got the feeling that Mills might be a bit nerdier than he¡¯s letting on. He and a few of his guys get more of my nerd references than I figured they would. ¡°¡­o get going?¡± I catch the tail end of what Mills is saying. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Are you ready to get going?¡± He asks again. I got lost in thought again. I hadn¡¯t even noticed the blades spinning up on the Chinook, or that the line out the back was empty now. ¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡± We start walking back to the bird and I notice that the mountain door is closed up again. There are a few people outside for sight guard, but only enough to see the surrounding area. The rotor wash is too loud to talk, so Mills just walks up the ramp and takes the third to last seat to the right inside the door. Lena is across on the left side of the chopper in a jump seat near the center, making faces at the kids on the flight. The hardest thing to miss is Campo sitting with his legs around a .50 cal on a tripod with a shitty grin. I hadn¡¯t seen the man smile much, and having seen it now I kind of wish I hadn¡¯t. The guy looks like a psychopath, like the joker without paint. It¡¯s disconcerting. Patch is in one of the center jump seats next to the chick I¡¯d seen at the first meeting. She¡¯s a spook, or something close enough to it. We ran into her type enough in country that she was easy to pick out. She¡¯d be a solid eight if she weren¡¯t trying so hard to be a four. Thirty, or so, I¡¯d say she tops off at about 5¡¯6, mid-length brown hair, and a cute face. Probably Inuit, or Indian descent somewhere in her tree. She¡¯s non-descript until she moves. Most people would call the way she moves ¡®graceful¡¯. It¡¯d be a fair assessment, but only in the same way that a cat stalking can be considered the same. She¡¯s dangerous. I¡¯ve said maybe three words to her. She doesn¡¯t talk much, which is another staple for those types. They don¡¯t say much and let you fill in your own blanks. I think she has a lot to do with the final decision on Kremmling, she was attached to tenth-group for some reason, I didn¡¯t ask though. Some people are more comfortable with their secrets. I managed to get a seat between Miller and patch, second to last on the right side. I didn¡¯t bother strapping myself in, and before long we were off into the sky for our hour flight. Which was, thankfully, uneventful. During the flight, I had the chance to catch a little sleep. I had always been the one to fall asleep on a Heli ride. It was so smooth, and with all the noise canceling everything out you were in your own world. I came too with Patch tapping me on the shoulder and holding out a set of headphones to me. It was the same type him and most of his guys wear. Trying to wipe the grogginess of a nap out of my eyes I get them on before he starts talking. ¡°Do you still want to get off early?¡± I¡¯d talked to Patch about this already, I was having kind of a hard time dealing with people in positions of power. I¡¯d told him that I would prefer to jump and he can tell whoever he runs into on the ground that he dropped an ¡®asset¡¯ early to do some recon of the area.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Preferably. I can open pretty close to the ground, so as long as we¡¯re a thousand feet up I can jump from wherever.¡± He nods his head, ¡°While circling the area we noticed that a low wall circles most of the town, Park says it wasn¡¯t always there, so we¡¯re assuming it¡¯s system generated thing. We¡¯ve also managed to get ahold of someone in the air control tower. He says the town is mostly secure. Apart from a campground that¡¯s not quite inside of town, but not quite out. There appears to be a group of creatures living there.¡± I hope this is an invitation. ¡°Do you want me and Lena to jump and clear it out? Did they say what kind of ¡®creatures¡¯? I¡¯m in either way, but you know how I like my information.¡± I shrug and hope. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re going to make one more wide swing to get up to two-thousand feet, then you can jump on it. They say the creatures don¡¯t appear aggressive, but they don¡¯t like people coming in. They aren¡¯t large. Something about short lizards on two feet, about ten of them. The guy sounded like he was reading from a report.¡± He raises his eyebrows. Looking out the open ramp I can see the orange-brown canvas painting the sky, getting near dusk. The flight must have taken longer than planned. ¡°I¡¯m in, can I keep these to contact you?¡± free gear is the best gear. He shakes his head, ¡°No I borrowed them from Jacks. If you take the campground just sit tight and we¡¯ll send a group out to you ASAP. Wanna step to the door and see if you see where you want to go?¡± I¡¯m a little sad I can¡¯t keep them, but I understand why. I wave my hand at Lena and wave to her to come over before sending her a message. Nome: Hey, we¡¯re going to get off a bit early and buy some goodwill. Make sure you are ready to jump and let¡¯s go. Lena: Umm...You know I don¡¯t have a jumper, right? My certification followed me over, but I don¡¯t have the kit. Nome: Shit. I guess you¡¯re staying with the bird. Lena: Seriously?! What the hell Nome. Nome: Sorry, I didn¡¯t even think of that. It¡¯ll be fine just do what Patch asks and start moving towards the campground to the north of town as soon as you¡¯re boots on the ground. She didn¡¯t look happy about that, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll listen though. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s just me Patch. Lena doesn¡¯t have the right equipment.¡± The idea of doing something solo again has me excited. It¡¯s been almost a week since this started. Midnight tonight will signal the start of the last day before I can hit Valhalla for a reset. Patch has a look on his face that says he might be worried about me, ¡°Are you sure? We can just land then move over together, it¡¯s not like we have to take it before we touch down. I think he¡¯d just mentioned it so we didn¡¯t try and land next to it.¡± I shrug, ¡°It¡¯ll be nice to get some alone time. Besides, the report said ¡®not-aggressive¡¯ right? Maybe whatever it has brains, and if it¡¯s what I think it is I¡¯ll probably be able to do this almost bloodlessly.¡± I¡¯ve got a feeling that it might be Kobolds. From what I¡¯d read they were commonly found in mountains and caves. DnD always had them as a tribe hierarchy, with an elder, or magic user as head. ¡°It¡¯s your football, you can fuck it any way you want.¡± I can¡¯t help but smile at that one, some things never change. I pull the headset off and hand it back to him before stepping to the back ramp and looking over the edge. We¡¯re making a pass over the northern end of town. Almost directly over what I assume is the area they want me to clear, I see that it¡¯s more a cabin-ground than a campground. There is a little bridge that leads to it from across a creek. Deciding I the little field across the creek is probably my better option I put my jumper on. Turning around and giving Campo a short salute I backflip off the edge and push into a hard dive. The faster I get to the ground the less chance of whatever is in there seeing me. The closer I get to the ground the more I realize that I should have given it a few more seconds. There is a fire roaring in the center of camp and I can see they have guards set up to watch the town side, and one at the bridge I wanted to sneak across. Seeing the group around the fire in the center I decide to test my luck. A couple hundred feet off the ground I will the fall-safe on and steer myself towards a figure standing alone across from the ones around the fire. He appears to be wearing a set of robes and carrying a staff. I don¡¯t want to kill him outright, I think I can challenge him for leadership. Hopefully. Cutting the fall-safe and pushing the jumper into my inventory I drop the last twenty feet to the ground and slam into it hard enough that it pushes dirt and rocks away from me in a shower. The creature in the robes has barely moved. He¡¯s staring at me from behind slitted eyelids, his face reminds me of an iguana. With a stubby mouth part and sharp teeth sticking out of his slightly open mouth. They didn¡¯t attack me when I landed and he doesn¡¯t appear to be aggressive. He looks over my gear, cataloging it as I stand up to my full height. ¡°No want fight.¡± His words are clear, and his voice comes across with an almost yipping sound behind it. I¡¯m slightly confused, sure he¡¯s trying to trap me. ¡°Leave then, this isn¡¯t your land.¡± I¡¯ll try to play it soft but I don¡¯t believe it for an instant. ¡°No, leave. You leave.¡± The last part is almost a bark. Taking a few steps, and turning so I can keep as many as possible in my sights I notice that none of them have drawn weapons. Their either very confident in their leader or don¡¯t want to fight. I take a good look at the leader and realize he¡¯s tense, but not fighting tense. He hasn¡¯t set his feet for a lunge and the grip on his weapon would have to change significantly for an altercation. He wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything before I got a knife in him. ¡°Why are you here?¡± I figure if they want to talk it¡¯s worth a try. I did tell Patch I might be able to do this bloodlessly. He shrugs his shoulder at me, ¡°No Know. Disagree with leader, troop exile, fall asleep in woods wake up here.¡± He thinks a second more, ¡°Me Grag, who you.¡± The last part comes as more a demand than a question but seems fair. ¡°I¡¯m Nome.¡± He looks annoyed for a minute, ¡°Not dumb. You elf. Too tall to be Gnome, unless half giant-gnome.¡± Shit. He thinks I meant my race. He¡¯s got me there though, Nome is misleading. I shake my head, ¡°My name is Gnome, I am a daemon elf.¡± Taking a minute to think about it he moves his mouth in what I assume is a smile, but looks like he¡¯s trying to bare his teeth, ¡°That dumb. We call you ¡®dumb-name¡¯. Easier, less confusing if meet actual gnome.¡± ¡°How about Thag? That is my first name.¡± I really don¡¯t want to be called ¡®dumb-name¡¯ ¡°Already have Thag,¡± He points to a kobold across the fire with gray skin, and red splotches on his face, ¡°You dumb-name now. Why here dumb-name? We no hurt town, want peace.¡± That¡¯s odd. Kobolds are usually seen as evil or lawful evil. Even the description I read when looking at missions said that. ¡°Leader from home want to fight all time, we want live,¡± He gives me what I assume is a suspicious look, ¡°No fight, just live. No kill. You leave.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not leaving. The town wants you cleared out of here, you make them nervous. How do I know you are telling the truth?¡± Against my better judgment I believe them. ¡°No humans when come. Clear zombies here. No zombies come town while here. Ask.¡± There¡¯s a humph in his voice, but if he¡¯s telling the truth I understand. It sounds like they got here and it was abandoned and they killed it and decided it was theirs. This is a good spot. It¡¯s close to town, but not considered inside town border. The wheels in my head start to turn. ¡°We can make a deal. Do you know compromise?¡± I¡¯ve been keeping my hands away from my weapons the whole time I¡¯ve been standing. I had been moving enough to keep an eye on my surroundings though, I spot a kobold trying to be sneaky and come in from around the house behind me, ¡°You trust me I¡¯ll trust you. We can make a deal and the humans will let you stay here, how does that sound?¡± I see his eyes flick to the kobold behind me, then back. He looks me up and down one more time then makes a few barking noises. The one trying to sneak up behind me turns around and heads back around the house. ¡°Good, we can call that good faith.¡± I smile at him. ¡°Speak kobold?¡± He seems excited about it, but I have to ruin it for him. ¡°No, I knew he was coming. If you had let him attack me I wouldn¡¯t have been able to trust.¡± He walks closer to the fire and sits on a big rock next to it, ¡°What compromise. I leader, we want stay.¡± At least he¡¯s willing to negotiate. ¡°You give me control of this area promise to behave and get along with my people. I¡¯ll tell the town you¡¯re with me and they will let you live here. Maybe in time even trade with them.¡± He slowly stands up again and stares me in the eyes. ¡°Me leader, you challenge?¡± there¡¯s a growl in his voice. ¡°I would rather not. You will lead the kobolds; my friend will lead the humans. You just have to agree to play nice and I¡¯ll say I¡¯m the leader.¡± I can tell he¡¯s not going to go for it, I was hoping he would. I have a feeling I could destroy these guys pretty quickly. Especially since the only ranged weapons I saw was a bow and a few with hunting spears. ¡°My camp. You want camp we fight. You win camp yours, leader of kobold. I win: you leave, town leave us alone.¡± It sounds reasonable to me, a lot more reasonable than I thought it was going to be. ¡°We fight to submission. No weapons, fist¡¯s only. Sound fair?¡± It¡¯s definitely not fair. I¡¯m a solid two feet taller than him, and if my guess is right he¡¯s not exactly in the prime of his life. ¡°Hand fight. No death. First give up lose.¡± Easy enough then. I smile at him, ¡°Deal.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± He sets his spear down and shrugs off his robes. Underneath he¡¯s wearing a leather shirt and pants. The surprise is that his arms are straight muscle. He¡¯s built a lot more solid than I thought kobolds were supposed to be. ¡°You¡¯re bigger than most kobolds.¡± I try to keep the accusation out of my voice, but his arms are bigger than mine and I don¡¯t feel as confident as I did a moment ago. ¡°Mountain kobold bigger than most. Dwarf ancestors.¡± That¡¯s slightly more terrifying. Nothing to it but to do it, ¡°I¡¯m ready when you are.¡± I take a few steps back and get into a ready stance. Grag doesn¡¯t waste any time. He shoots forward and throws a jab at my stomach, I didn¡¯t think he could move as fast as he does and he catches me with a full-on hit. It¡¯s solid enough to knock me back a few steps, but not as solid as it should have been. I realize that he¡¯s probably insanely strong compared to regular kobolds, but not so much against a race that is so much larger. Judging by the look on his face I think he realized the same thing. Without another thought, I come in at him with a left hook. He blocks with his hand but I overpower him and slam my chest into his face and upper body throwing him to the ground. I quickly step forward in a standing straddle position and start hammering blows into his chest and head. He¡¯s pretty good, managing to almost throw my balance off more than once. It was decided before it had even gotten started. Once he realizes that I¡¯ve got more skill and a better position he curls up into a ball, ¡°You win, Grag give up.¡± Once I stop he peeks out from behind his hands before rolling over onto his back and splaying his arms out. He lets out some growls and clicks. The kobolds from the fire have surrounded us during the fight. I was so into it I hadn¡¯t notice, I realize when they let out a cheer and go down to a knee. I can¡¯t help but smile as I put my hand out to help Grag up. He flinches when I reach out. ¡°I won¡¯t hurt you Grag. I don¡¯t know what it was like before you came here, but I¡¯d like to know. I would also like it if you led these kobolds for me. Vice chief, second leader, whatever you want to call it.¡± I want to make sure he understands right away. After he is stood up he spends some time yipping and growling. I assume he is letting them know what is going to happen. ¡°I take to Panel. Give ownership.¡± Without asking he starts walking towards a cabin in the corner. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before but the cabins are laid out almost like the number seven. About ten of them, with the one he¡¯s leading me two at a right angle on the corner. They all look to be about the same size, and this one looks almost exactly like the rest. He leads me up a short front porch with wooden pylons, to a quaint front door. Opening it up he takes me inside, and it¡¯s about what I had expected. There are a few beds just inside, off to the right there is a sectioned off area that I assume is the bathroom. Across from that is a little kitchenette. Walking to the table he splays his hand out and a window pops up above. It¡¯s too fuzzy for me to read, but after a couple of seconds of swiping he waves me over. ¡°Put hand on table, next mine.¡± I put my hand and spread my fingers out, as I do a line of text pops up in front of me Grag would like to transfer ownership of Muddy Creek Cabins to you. Accept/Decline I think accept and the screen in front of Grag blinks out. ¡°Yours now.¡± He seems less annoyed now than he did a few minutes ago. As we walk outside to the porch a group of kobolds run up yipping and pointing at the gate, Grag takes a minute to listen then almost in a panic says ¡°Keep deal? Humans here.¡± ¡°Yes, Grag, take me there.¡± Grag sets off at a run down the road towards town. The speed he moves at surprises me again and we quickly come to the end of the road where a couple of the kobolds have spears raised at Lena an a few of the SOF guys. ¡°Lena! Stand down, they¡¯re our friends!¡± ¡°These are kobolds, mountain kobolds if I¡¯m right. We¡¯re friends with kobolds?¡± She doesn¡¯t look like she trust¡¯s it. ¡°Kind of. I beat Grag here in single combat, so technically I¡¯m the leader. I promised to smooth things over with the humans for them.¡± She seems to accept that. She turns to Wills and puts her hand out, ¡°You owe me, I told you he¡¯s a big softie.¡±