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-

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