Quest completed: you have recruited Teodric and Reneth to help you protect the town.

Reward: +400 human experience, +1 charisma

As Richard, Teodric, and Reneth walked through town towards the Mayor's office, there was a shouting in the central square that sounded to Richard like a carnival barker.

“Come see this artifact, a true divine artifact, only 3 copper to see it. This blessed divine artifact, created by the Gods themselves, see it for yourself now or you might never see another...”

As they came around the square, they saw that there were dozens of people huddled around the back of a merchant's wagon, looking at something inside it.

“Scam artists. Disgusting for them to claim to have a divine artifact.” Teodric strangely sounded less angry about it than Richard would have expected, and Richard felt calmer as well.

“How do you know it's a scam?” Richard asked.

Reneth snorted, but it was Teodric who answered. “An artifact is an object created by the Gods themselves and sent to Earth as a gift to humankind. There are only 4 known divine artifacts in the world, like the Shield of Toran, which makes the holder almost invulnerable to frontal attacks, or the White Stone of Soothsaying, which it is said requires anyone touching it to only tell the truth and can give visions of the future. They're all held by churches or powerful kingdoms. There is no way someone like that could have one.”

Richard nodded, but there was something off. A minute ago, while he did not let the strain show on his face, his heart had still been racing from the sight of his own image projected as an illusion for hundreds of monsters to target, followed by climbing down the side of a building. Now, suddenly, he felt a strange sense of calm, a feeling that he suspected wouldn't have arisen naturally out of his own thoughts at the time.

Skill earned, Rational Introspection(4)

"Teodric...you have a divine class, right?”

“Yes, I am an acolyte of Toran, why?”

“Can you feel that? It feels...” Richard closed his eyes for a second, focusing on the inside of his mind. “You know that feeling of calm you get when you’re inside a temple?”

Teodric looked surprised for a second, but closed his eyes for a few seconds, mumbling a prayer under his breath. Then he opened them again and gave Richard a nod. “You are right. There is a powerful divine aura around this whole square.” He paused for a second. “I am surprised you noticed it. I would not have thought you a religious man.”

“You could say I had a…personal experience with the divine recently.” Richard said vaguely. “So, what does that mean, does he really have an artifact?”

Teodric shook his head again, but more slowly. “Still almost certainly not, but he has something there that is very powerfully blessed. To create a blessing that powerful on a single object that you can put in a wagon must have taken a dozen priests several hours. How could a con man like that have gotten his hands on something like that?”

Richard paused. “I was told that warped men would have a great deal of trouble entering a temple or something like that, because of the divine blessing. Would an object like that keep them at bay?”

Teodric nodded. “I think it could. You are right, a blessed object like that could help protect this town and everyone in it. I suppose we must requisition it from him.” He started to draw out his sword.

Richard put his hand on Teodric’s arm. “There’s probably 30 or 40 people over there surrounding what they think is a holy artifact. If you walk in and demand to take it they might riot, and we aren’t going to have any town guards to back us up. Let’s see if there’s another way.” Teodric nodded and let his sword slide down into its sheath.

Richard led the three of them up to the crowd. As they got close, the large man with the loud voice stood in front of them and said, “If you want to see the divine artifact, pay 3 copper pieces each.” He was wearing loose fitting clothing.

Teodric started to open his mouth, but Richard simply tossed the man a silver piece with a smile. “For the three of us. Keep the change, friend.”

The man smiled and nodded and let the three of them pass.

As they walked around to the back of the wagon, Teodric was the first to see what was in the back of the wagon and shook his head quietly. “I do not understand. Why would people spend the effort to put such a powerful blessing on something like that?”

As Richard caught up, he saw what was in the back of the wagon. A short, chubby man was telling an elaborate story of how he had “seen in a dream the artifact descend from the heavens”, and next to him was…a chair.

A heavy, oak chair that looked solidly built and reinforced but otherwise just looked like a normal wooden chair that might be in the dining room of a nice merchant family. It was a chair that Richard recognized.

Richard started laughing. “I suppose he did find an artifact, after all.” Teodric and Reneth both looked at him with startled expressions, but Richard simply pushed his way to the front of the crowd and jumped up into the back of the wagon with the man and the chair. Teodric and Reneth followed him and stood on the ground nearby.

The short man suddenly interrupted his story to look on Richard, surprised at the interruption. “I understand you want to see the divine artifact more closely, but I’m afraid that you can’t just come up here like this…”

“Oh, I’m not here to just see it more closely. I am here to tell everyone that I can verify that it is absolutely real. This is truly an artifact, this is the Chair of Ikar.”

The man looked startled and nodded. “Ah…yes…of course…”

“And you know one thing about artifacts of the Gods…” Richard said, leaning forward and putting one hand on the arm of the chair. “When you are touching a true artifact, you cannot lie, and can only tell the truth.”

The man nodded, with the confused look on his face of a man who was not sure of where this was going.

“That is not true of all artifacts, that is only the White Stone of…” Teodric started to mumble under his breath. Reneth elbowed him hard in the ribs to silence him.

Richard, dramatically touching the oak chair, said in a loud booming voice, loud enough for the whole crowd to hear, “As this is the Chair of Ikar, it clearly is the property of the Church of Ikar, and as I am a representative of that Church, I have full authority to take it away right now and bring this artifact to the Church.”

The man’s mouth opened, and he started shaking his head. “No, I…”

Richard smiled, and in a lower voice said “Careful. If you call me a liar, right after saying that people who touch an artifact can’t lie, you’re saying that you don’t think this chair is truly an artifact. Are you willing to say that right in front of all these people,” Richard gestured to the crowd “who paid you to see an artifact? They might not be…happy…to hear that.”

The man’s face went pale, and he looked around with a growing sense of panic. “Please don’t take this from me… I need this…” he whispered.

Richard grinned wider, and with a louder voice said, “But you had a dream of this chair descending, did you not?”

The man nodded.

“The dream told you that the chair could be found on the road between the Magelight Academy and the town of Wimborne, did it not?”

The man looked even more surprised and nodded. “How did you…how did you know that?” he whispered.

Richard grinned again. “As I said, I am a representative of the Church of Ikar. I know about these things.”

The man just stood there, his mouth hanging open, having no idea what was going on.

“Ikar wouldn’t have given you that dream if he hadn’t thought you worthy of bearing his artifact, though, would he?”

The man shook his head, confused.

“What’s your name, friend?”

“P…Peter.”

“Tell me, Peter, are you a follower of Ikar?”

Peter gulped. “I never…um…I had never followed any one god, although of course I always honored the gods…”

“Well, while this artifact is of course the property of the Church of Ikar, as a true Ikarian artifact, I, on my authority as a representative of the Church of Ikar, give you permission to travel with the artifact and show it to the masses, all in the name of glorifying Ikar.”

Peter nodded, his eyes wide. “How…how are you the representative of the Church of Ikar, again?”

Ricard winked, and leaning close to the man, whispered “Do not tell anyone yet, but I am the Champion of Ikar.”

“The champion…” the man mumbled under his breath.

“There is just one favor I must ask of you, Peter, in exchange for allowing you to carry on and have permission to continue to display this artifact, for the Glory of Ikar…and even for a few coppers here and there to display it, to cover your expenses of course.”

“And…and what favor is that?”

Richard’s voice got low. “A terrible force of monsters is going to attack this town soon, and when it does we will need this sacred artifact. In a few hours I will send a messenger to you, and he will tell you where you need to bring the Chair of Ikar with your wagon.”

Peter looked startled. “I…I don’t want to face monsters, I just…”

Richard shook his head. “You will be well protected. And in exchange for this favor, I will get a priest of Ikar to write you an official document proclaiming that this is, in fact, an artifact, and that you have permission from the Church to display it.”

“You…you can do that?” Peter asked, confused.

Richard put a second hand onto the armrest of the oak chair and smiled. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Peter hastily shook his head. “Of…of course not!”

“Stay here for now. Continue to do as you are doing. I will have a messenger come and tell you where to go within the next two hours.”

Peter nodded. “You have a deal.”

Skill learned, Fast Talking (2)

You have earned +5 Cunning points and +5 Humor points for conning a con artist by telling him the truth

Richard smiled, shook hands with the man, and stepped down out of the wagon. He walked away without looking back, with Teodric and Reneth following him.

“I wish I still had that spell of truth detection active, then maybe I would know what the hells just happened,” Richard heard Teodric mutter behind him as they walked away.

Spoiler: Character sheet

Name: Richard

Race: Human (5)

Class:Skirmisher(2)

Scribe (2)

Age: 26

Strength: 3 (2.4)

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 11

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 25 (30)

Wisdom: 5 (4)

Perception: 7

Charisma: 12 (14.4)

HP: 83 (Max: 83)

SP: 42 (Max 42)

MP: 153 (153)

MP regeneration: 4%/hour

Divine Class: Champion of Ikar (1)

Humor: 51

Cunning: 77

High Stakes: 55

Glory: -911

Divine favors:

Gift of Tongues: May speak, understand, read, or write in any mortal language (may only speak languages you have heard and only write in languages you have seen).

Special traits:

Offworld Education (Legendary): +20% to effective intelligence, -10% to effective wisdom. Learns skills 50% more quickly than someone with an equivalent intelligence, gains experience 25% more quickly. More likely to learn unusual skills.

Pampered: Compared to most humans, this person has spent his whole life eating the best food, doing minimal physical labor, and generally living what most would call a life of luxury. -20% to strength, -20% to stamina points, +20% to hit points, +20% to charisma.

Without Glory: This person is extremely lacking in Glory, one of the 3 virtues of Toran, and as such may be instinctively distrusted or even hated by followers of Toran. -10 to reaction from followers of Toran.

Explorer (Human racial trait): Humans are known for wanting to explore the world, and for wanting to discover what's over the next hill. Gains a small amount of experience gained for discovering and exploring new locations.

Curious (Human racial trait): Some humans have a high degree of curiosity, and a desire to learn many new things and try many different possible paths. Many consider this curiosity to be one of the great assets of the species, even if it frequently gets them into trouble. Learns skills and spells 10% more quickly (scales with human level). Experience bonus for more than 3 classes (currently 0% bonus). Can earn human experience for making discoveries.

Accuracy (Skirmisher class trait): +2 to hit with any thrown or ranged weapons. Scales with skirmisher level.

Running throw (Skirmisher class trait): +60% to damage and +30% to range when a weapon is thrown while charging at full speed. Scales with skirmisher level.

Rapid retreat (Skirmisher class trait): +30% speed when running away from an enemy or hazard, but at a cost of +10% SP consumption. Scales with skirmisher level.

Faster writing (Scribe class trait): +50% writing speed. Scales with scribe level

Precise handwriting (Scribe class trait): Increased handwriting neatness and precision. Reduces risk of error in runic magic. Scales with scribe level.

Skills (General):

Pratfall (2): You have the ability to fall in a hilarious fashion. Likely to make people laugh if executed well. All falling damage reduced by 20%.

Mathematics (14): You are extremely skilled at mathematics. +140% to calculation speed and accuracy. +70% to learning speed of other skills with a mathematical component. Small bonus to other math related skills and spells.

Pathfinder (forest) (3): You have an intermediate level of skill at moving through a forest quickly. You have learned the basics of how to travel through a forest, can see where to step and where to avoid, and can identify good paths to take while traveling. +30% to movement speed through a forest. -30% to SP cost for moving through forest. Increased chance to see and avoid natural hazards.

Stealth (2): You have a basic level of skill at moving quietly and in a stealthy manner. Decreased chance of being detected while trying to move quietly and stealthily.

Climbing (1): You have a basic level of skill at climbing.

Taunt (1): You have a basic level of skill at taunting an enemy to cause them to attack you. Most effective on enemies with low wisdom scores.

Acrobatics (1): You have a basic level ability at acrobatics. Improves jumping, tumbling, rolling, and balance.

Melee weapon (sword) (general) (1): You have a basic level of skill at sword fighting. +1 to-hit bonus with any sword, +1 damage with any sword.

Rational Introspection (4): You have developed the rare skill of being able to rationally inspect your own thoughts for errors and inconsistencies. Can be used to notice and break free of some types of mental magic and illusion spells. Allows you to use your intelligence to slightly increase your resistance to some types of spells.

Surprise attack (1): When attacking someone by surprise or from stealth, +1 to damage and +5% to Critical hit chance

Leadership (small group) (1): You have some basic skills at leading small groups of people into battle (10 or smaller). Minor bonus to effective charisma towards people in a small group who consider you their leader, minor morale bonus for people under your command. Small chance that sending people you are leading on a mission will create a quest for them; you can not create a quest more often than once per week.

Fast talking (2): You have a moderate level of skill at talking another person into doing something against their own better judgement.

Skills (Skirmisher):

Jogging (3): An unusual running practice, primarily designed to improve the health and endurance of the human or for recreation rather then for practical gain. -30% SP cost while running slowly on roads or even ground, -15% SP cost for other running. +15% endurance and constitution training gains while running.

Thrown weapon (rocks) (2): You have a basic level of skill at throwing rocks. +2 to-hit bonus with thrown rocks, +2 damage. 5% chance for a thrown rock to stun an opponent.

Thrown weapon (daggers and knives) (3): You have a basic level of skill at throwing daggers and knives. +3 to-hit bonus with thrown daggers and knives, +3 damage. 5% increased chance for a thrown dagger or knife to inflict the bleed status on an opponent.

Parting shot (3): You have a moderate level of skill at using thrown or ranged weapons while moving. -45% to ranged penalty for using ranged weapons while running or riding.

Skills (Scribe):

Writing (5): You know how to write clearly. Higher levels of this skill improve writing speed and accuracy.

Reading (10) (Max): You are highly skilled at reading and reading comprehension. Increased reading speed, -75% reduction to the penalty from learning a skill or spell from a book instead of from a teacher.

Spells:

Insight (1)

Gust of Wind (1)

Quest: Try Not To Die. To succeed at this quest, merely live through your first two weeks in the world without getting killed. Shouldn't be too hard...right?

Achievements: Bounty Hunter(intermediate):+2 DEX

One Shot: +5% CRIT

Underdog:+1 Skill lvl when fighting higher level opponents