Chapter Fifteen

**Sledge**

The gold felt good in Jason’s pouch, but it didn’t prevent the aching sense of vulnerability he felt in his stomach. He wished he had Vanna with him. Low Street seemed safe enough but he worried about hawks following unsuspecting people until they went into less savory areas and rob them. Before today, he’d was scared to carry around one gold, let alone over fifteen.

To be overly cautious Jason walked into a nearby inn. Plenty of establishments littered Low Street mixed discretely or not so discreetly between the shops and houses, so with little more than a sign bearing their name and others with sparsely dressed women at the door attempting to draw travelers in. However, they were all of typically the decent to extravagant quality and better than anything that could be found down by the docks. Jason chose a decent and discrete one. Inside he found exactly what he wanted.

The lounge, which seemed to be what the bars were referred to on that side of Laxtar, was empty except for a handful of men playing cards at a table and a pair of merchants discussing business in a booth. Jason bought a tankard of weak ale from the host and sat at a table near the men.

“That’s it for me,” one of the men said as he rose from the table. There was a round of disapproval as the departed scooped his winning into a leather pouch. It was money the other would never win back.

The men got over it and continued to play. Jason had pulled out his book and pretended to read but his attention was on the table. They were playing a card game but of the likes, Jason had never seen and it was too complicated to understand from glances.

Eventually, there were some more groans and gasps. Jason looked up and saw one of the men was beaming happily, he had just won a large pot. “That enough for me as well lads, I have a boat to catch.”

The other men grumbled then moved on to play a simple dice game. At that point, Jason got up and went to the innkeeper for another drink. He slipped the man an extra copper and a question then returned to his table.

“Ha, Sledge,” one of the men cried out after a few rounds of the game. “I hope your luck with women is better than your luck with dice,” he laughed then rose from the table. The speaker scooped coins off the table into a pouch, announced, “I’ll be seeing you, pal,” then walked out of the barroom accompanied by all but one of the gamblers. The man, who the victor had called Sledge, propped his elbows on the table and sighed.

Jason slipped into the bench across from Sledge, straddling his tankard. “I’m sorry about your loss friend,” Jason said sincerely. “I would invite you to a game of 39 Thieves but I already know I’d lose,” he smiled warmly inwardly hoping his above average charisma would kick in.

“Thirty-Nine what…” Sledge muttered then looked up.

“Bartender,” Jason called out, “another round for my friend and I please. My name is Jason by the way,” he said offering his hand to Sledge.

Sledge looked at it curiously then shook. “Sledge,” he said but in the deep bass typically only used by either adolescents trying to sound older or grown men with little self-confidence.

The innkeeper brought two new flagons and Jason tipped him generously. “You seem to be a mercenary, Sledge,” Jason said. Jason truly wouldn’t have been able to guess this unless the innkeeper hadn’t revealed this to him. In Laxtar, at most, people wore only light armor and a sword or knife; otherwise one would receive suspicious glances from guards or more likely a trip to the nearest precinct. Sledge, while shaped like a bodybuilder, wore only simple trousers and a tunic; there was no way to distinguish him from any other hard laborer. It turned out, just like in any other game, innkeepers know a lot. For a small fee, Jason was able to learn that Sledge, along with his gambling buddies, was a part of a mercenary guild called The Stalwarts. The guild hired itself out to warlords and in more peaceful times, such as the current time, they adventured outside of Braccia. Laxtar was their port of origin, so they were a familiar sight to the innkeeper, but Sledge seemed relatively new. Nevertheless, the innkeeper told Jason The Stalwarts, as their name implied, had a perfect reputation for loyalty towards their employers.

“Yeah,” Sledge said, not suspicious in the slightest. “Why do you care?” He drank from his tankard until it was empty. Jason would have offered another round but he needed the man to be functional.

“I’m in need of a temporary escort,” Jason explained, “just for the day.”

“I’m a little busy,” Sledge said however not turning Jason down. “Hey,” he said slowly raising an eyebrow, “how did you know I’m a mercenary?”

Jason laughed, “just look at you. What else could I assume you were? A professional gambler?” He joked hoping Sledge wouldn’t dig any deeper.

He didn’t. “My company sails out tomorrow.”

“So you’re free today then,” Jason said happily.

“I’ve still things to do,” Sledge said.

“What?” Jason asked. “You’re a soldier, the quartermasters take care of supplies, I bet all you have to do is make sure your kit is in order.” Sledge turned his head slightly. “So it seems to me, all you really have to do is gamble a little more while you’re in port,” Jason guessed. “Look,” he sighed, “it's easy money. Just follow me around for the day and by nightfall, you can go off and waste whatever money I’m going to pay you.”

Sledge shifted slightly, he had turned his gave to the table while Jason had been speaking but now looked up, “who’s trying to kill you?”

Jason laughed, truly laughed. “It’s nothing like that, I just don’t want to be pestered by any pickpockets or thugs. Or attract any unwanted attention. You see my typical guard is off on an errand today.”

Sledge relaxed. “How much?”

Vanna's wage was still five coppers a day, but what really mattered was how much Sledge’s retainer fee was. Jason groan inwardly knowing he would have to throw out something appetizing on the first go or Sledge would leave. “four coppers for a half day's work,” Jason said.

Sledge smiled, content with the offer, “all right then.”

Jason smiled and offered his hand again and this time Sledge gladly took it. When they let go of each other a familiar screen appeared in Jason’s view.

**New Worker Added to Management Screen**

Worker

Role

Wage

Vanna (Player)

Guard [De facto Captain]

5 Coppers per Day

Next Payment: Five Days

Eliza (Non-Player)

General Caretaker [De Facto Head of House]

3 Coppers per Day

Next Payment: Five Days

Sledgehammersicks9 (Player)

Guard [Temporary]

4 Coppers per Day

Next Payment: N/A

“You got to be kidding me,” Jason groaned loud enough the businessmen stopped their meeting and glared at him.

“What?” Sledge asked innocently.

“You’re a player?”

“Oh… yeah that,” Sledge said fumbling his hands.

“Sicks…9,” Jason said slowly.

Sledge raised his shoulders, “I didn’t realize you couldn’t change your name without making a new character. Hey, are you a player too?” Sledge asked enthusiastically dropping his false bass.

Jason kicked him underneath the table. “Yeah,” he hissed quietly, “but I find it better not to mention that to people which is why I use a real name.”

Sledge ignored Jason and continued talking, “oh man I’ve never met a noncombat or crafter class player.”

Jason closed his eyes and shook his head not looking forward to the rest of the evening.

*****

“Where is your guild heading?” Jason asked. He didn’t have a destination in mind and he didn’t trust Sledge enough to reveal where he was staying for the night, so they were walking around Low Street aimlessly. Sledge didn’t know this and didn’t seem to mind. Despite his earlier awkwardness, he was easy to talk to and Jason was quickly learning a lot from the other player.

“Draccia,” he answered. “My guild leader says this time of year has the greatest monster spawns. In my opinion, it’s better than being stuck around here. She’s been in here long enough to know her stuff.” Earlier, Sledge had told Jason that he had entered the game under similar circumstances and roughly the same time as Vanna, about three in-game months prior. However, Sledge, unlike Jason and Vanna went in and out of the game and was able to coordinate meeting up with one of his friends who was also in the game. Sledge’s friend was a member of the guild and was able to get Sledge in and out of an NPC run army. “Don’t you get bored of just being a merchant?”

“Technically, my class is Trader,” Jason answered, “and no actually. I had a rough start,” he wasn’t going to get into the details with Sledge, “but I made some friends and now I’ve got a steady business going. At least I don’t have to worry as much about getting hurt and dying.”

“Eh dying isn’t that bad,” Sledge remarked, “at least when you’re still a low level like us. And pain mitigation potions are a dream. Like Advil, cheap but on steroids.”

Jason stopped, “what! You’ve died before? What’s it like? What happens?”

“Hey chill man,” Sledge said. “The first time it happened was on my first day in the game. Froze to death at night. Closed my eyes underneath a tree next thing I know I got a notification saying I died from exposure. I hadn’t thought I’d need to protect myself from the weather. I was sent back to that blue room, you know the one when you first get into the pod and choose your race? Well, the system gave me two choices: wait for 24 in-game hours and spawn close to my last body or respawn instantly in a random location. I started with a pretty nice sword so I chose the first. I was about to log out and wait it out in the real world but I guess the pod manipulated my perception of time so that time passed in the game but I didn’t have to wait at all. I respawned and I could tell I was in the same forest but not close to where I’d died. Took me half a day to find my gear, luckily I remembered I died near a river and just followed that until I recognized some things trees. When I found my gear, my body had vanished, which looking back I’m grateful for. I bet looking at a dead version of myself would have been freaky. My sword and armor were fine but I guess some animal got into my food.”

Jason nodded taking it all in. They had steered themselves into a small park so that they didn’t have to walk and talk at the same time.

“Anyway,” Sledge continued, “the second time was more interesting. By then I was recruited into some dumbo NPC warlord’s army taking rounds gutting peasants.” Jason wrinkled at the comment and Sledge noticed. Sledge slapped Jason on the shoulder and laugh, “relax I’m just joking. I sat around on guard duty most of the time, they’re not real anyway.” Jason didn’t agree but kept his mouth shut. “As I was saying, I was on a patrol mission when my squad was ambushed. Couple arrows in the chest and I was dead.”

“So you died, like really died?” Jason said wide-eyed.

“Yeah but I don’t really remember what the pain felt like. And I don’t get like nightmares or anything. I guess the pods do something so that those things don’t mess with your brain,” Sledge said as if this were the first time the thought had come to his mind.

“What about when you respawned?”

“Same thing. Blue room. Two options. Only this time the wait was three in-game days. I chose it anyways but instead of the magic time bending thing like last time I got another pop-up screen from the game asking for my consent to do the time leap. The notification said anything over twelve real-world hours required player confirmation. I accepted and was back in the game.”

“How far away were you from where you died?” Jason asked.

“A lot farther than before,” Sledge answered. “I woke up in an inn in a town about a day’s march away from the village my battalion was stationed in. The only items I had were new clothes and the cheapest dagger the system could spawn. My stat points were all the same but any experience I had working towards my next level was gone and a few of my skills went down a level or two. But what was really weird,” Sledge said, “was my body changed.”

“What?” Jason said confused.

“The room I spawned in had a mirror and I guess I looked a little like my old body but I could still tell something was off. Like how you can tell the difference between identical twins? It was just like that. I couldn’t put my finger on one thing differently but I knew I looked different. Anyway, after that, I logged out and coordinated meeting up with my buddy. I wasn’t going to waste a few days just to get my trashy gear. Most of it was below 25% durability.”

It sounds like the stronger your character is the more the system sets you back, Jason thought. I wonder how far I’d get set back if I died right now? He didn’t want to find out. Jason sighed, “It’s nice to talk to a real person for once, who sees this place as a game.”

Sledge nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean,” he said. “Spend too much time with these NPCs and you’ll start to think this place is real. Am I right?” He laughed.

“Yeah,” Jason nodded wistfully. “Come on, I just remembered something I needed to do.”