2.4

“To defeat the Revenant King we have to work together!” - Imamu the Lone Swordsmen, known for disbanding and joining a new party every other day.

“That was weird,” Boba finally commented as we returned to the mall.

“Yeah…” I muttered, “I have the distinct feeling that we were scammed, however, I can’t tell how,” and honestly that’s bugging me more than the possibility I was scammed or tricked.

“Brother Sardines’s behaviour was indeed suspicious,” Valhorn agreed.

Brother? Oh yeah, Valhorn did name the rats his brothers and sisters or something oathy like that.

“I mean just cause he was acting suspiciously didn’t mean it was anything bad,” Peps added.

“Eh,” I returned doubtfully, “I guess that might be true-” a dozen notifications suddenly entered my field of view as I regain access to the menus.

Noam (Mattmanfoo): Yo where tf are you?

Noam (Mattmanfoo): Hello hello???

Noam (Mattmanfoo): Earth to dex!!!!!!!!!

Noam (Mattmanfoo): Hurry up! Hurry up!

Noam (Mattmanfoo)...

…

“A problem?” Valhorn asked.

I sighed, scrolling through dozens of messages in the chat history, “Nah, my friends just calling me.”

“I see,” Valhorn said, probably realising from my scrolling gesture that I was on the user interface.

“Next time then,” I said. “Friends list? I still need to pay you guys back for the spell.”

Valhorn smiled, “There is no need to feel indebted to me, for the experience was enough.”

“I got the map so I’m fine,” Peps added.

“But still let's add each other!” Boba butted in, a notification appearing at the edge of my vision as she said that.

Boba has sent you a friend request.

“I look forward to future adventures then,”

Valhorn Hillblight has sent you a friend request.

“Where is this thing…” Peps muttered.

“Top right, the icon with the silhouettes on it,” I answered.

You have sent Peps a friend request.

You have accepted Boba’s friend request.

You have accepted Valhorn Hillblight’s friend request.

“Well I should be on my way before my friend stabs someone,” I said only half-jokingly. “Was fun you guys.”

Valhorn nodded amicably, “If thou require aid you may call upon me anytime.”

“Let’s party up again some other time! I can help you guys shoot things!” Boba yelled, before adding in a much quieter voice, “Unless it’s people because… eww.”

Peps laughed, “I hope that I won’t get us scammed again.”

I chuckled, “Who knows, maybe I was thinking too much about it.” The issue of whether or not we were scammed was still up in the air. Since I had no definitive way to value the stuff we got. For all I know we could’ve just been manipulated by some Terry Pratchet rats that knew Shakespeare and got paid fairly for our troubles.

… That sounded really weird out of context.

Oh well.

“I’ll see you guys later then,” I said.

“See ya!”

“Bye,”

“Fare thee well,”

They said as they waved me off.

I waved back, then went deeper into the mall. Typing as I walked.

Dustin (HitZaDecs): Yo I’m back.

Noam (Mattmanfoo): Fucking finally! What took you so long!

Dustin (HitZaDecs): You can’t use the menus out of the safe zones apparently, so I didn’t see any of your messages.

Noam (Mattmanfoo): That’s a dumb ass rule.

Dustin (HitZaDecs): Just got back, where do I meet you?

Noam (Mattmanfoo): Idk. This place is pretty much the same irl so the usual place?

Dustin (HitZaDecs): Sure

It was odd seeing the arcade so run down. Blaring neon lights and the constant sound effects of various video games were replaced by calm glowing moss and the quiet chittering of innumerable insects.

All that was left of the arcade machines were the skeletons and hulls, no sign of machinery ever being inside them.

“Yo!” I heard a voice yell.

Leaning on one of the synthetic chairs of the racing games, was a tall, blue-skinned demon-like humanoid. Horns of a slightly darker blue hue grew on his head, curving backward and holding dark black hair almost like a crown. Pure purple eyes with no irises stared back at me with a devilish, Cheshire cat-like grin.

“What the fuck did you get?” we both exclaimed at the exact same time.

“Myconid Fungalmancer.”

“Tiefling Skald.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Primarily constitution and wisdom based race, Fungalmancer is a mage subtype that has a mushroom theme and seems to focus on utility rather than damage.”

“INT and Charisma for me, though I plan on speccing more into physical stats since I plan on being a frontline fighter,” he said, gesturing to a long halberd, “Skald is a bard subtype with charisma as the damage modifier, apparently more focused on combat than a normal bard.”

“Abilities?”

“Breathless, Vicious Mockery, Biting Words, Swift Strike. I also get darkvision and fire resistance from my race.”

Of course he took two abilities just for insulting people.

“Grow Sporage, Balm Spores, Light Spores, Sneezing Spores, Acid Spit, Mushroom Meal, Poison Spores, Darkvision, Poison Resist and Pacifying Spores,” I said in a single breath.

“Shit, that is a lot,” he commented.

“Yeah, though I have two racial debuffs to go along with it, I can’t stay under the sun without getting tired and mana is a problem.”

Matt nodded, “Mmm. Gotta stay indoors then, find any dungeons yet?”

I shook my head, “None so far, I’ve had a trip outside and it seemed pretty similar to real life.”

“What does Sporage do?”

“Grows a mushroom that stores a spore-based spell that I can activate, however, right now it needs line of sight and I can only activate one at a time.”

“Limit on numbers and duration?”

I mentally sighed. He’s gonna be impressed or something, “No limit on the number, at least none that I’ve found and they seem to last a few hours.”

“Holy shit.”

I sighed, “Less useful than you think it is,”

“You’re a trapper dude, just cover a place in mushrooms and you’re all set.”

“Not against high numbers, did you get the goblins in your tutorial?”

He nodded, “A hundred of them, I didn’t do that well, twenty-two, with the elite.”

“Wow,” I replied genuinely impressed, “I had a chance to kill the elite however I was too busy with keeping myself alive. Only got like fifty-something.”

“You didn’t just turn the entire mall into a killing field?”

I sighed, “No, the goblins split up into groups of three to four and patrolled the mall. If I was aware of all their patrolling patterns I might’ve been able to set something up, and they knew how my mushrooms worked and avoided them. It would also be difficult for me to hide them while also fulfilling the line of sight requirement.”

“They swarmed me early on, I knew I lost the battle of attrition so I rushed the most important looking dude.”

“I did ambushes hoping that it would cause the remaining goblins to bunch up, then I would transition to setting up trapped areas when their movements became more predictable, however, I was thrown off when they remained in split off parties and started sending ranged goblins after me.”

“Hmm. Never got to that stage.” he muttered, “And dude, Sporage sounds fucking amazing,”

“Not against-” Matt raised his hand, stopping me, “High numbers, I got that, you know what else is bad against high numbers? Literally everything, and how often do you expect to fight so many enemies?”

“Eh, fair point I guess.”

“Did you get any rewards from it?” He asked, pulling out a white, pipe-like thing from within his armour.

“I guess?” I replied, pushing up the hem of my cap, revealing the two wisps,

“What are those?”

“Wisps, no idea what they do yet other than drain my mana, probably a pet companion type thing which I have to incubate first. Yours?”

“A whistle which can increase my agility and dex once per day.”

“Any idea by how much?”

“No clue, haven’t tested it yet. What’ja do so far?”

I smirked, “I got paid by Pratchet mobs into pking players.”

“What?”

That look on his face was worth getting maybe scammed for.

Name: Dustin

Classes: Fungalmancer Level 2

Body

Strength: 8 (Enough to throw a rotten tomato)

Agility: 7 (Enough to dodge a rotten tomato thrown by a parapalegic gorilla)

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 18

Stamina: 10

Vitality: 12

Mind

Intelligence: 13 (Enough to know that tomato is a fruit)

Wisdom: 17 (Enough to know that tomato doesn't belong in a fruit salad)

Charisma: 6 (Not enough to sell a tomato based fruit salad)

Soul

Will: 10

Aura: 10

Perception: 10

Racials:

Superior Darkvision, Fungal Body, Sun Sickness, Mana Dependency, Pacifying Spores, Innate Magic

Class Skills:

Fungalmancer: Grow Sporage

Spells:

T0: Balm Spores, Spore Lights, Sneezing Spores, Acid Spit

T1: Mushroom Meal, Poison Spores

Available Spell Slots:

T2: 1

Equipment:

Leather Armour (Damaged) - One HP Potion - One MP Potion - Basic Wooden Staff - Two Basic Daggers - Herbalism Kit

Backpack - Tinder Box - Mess Kit - 50 days worth of rations - Spell Stone (Bark Skin)

8 Gold Coins

Quests:

Murder the Murderhobos! (Complete)

Fleeing Morals (Active)

Impact Points: 5