Chapter eleven, Rules Revenge part three, the end of a dungeon and the start of what?

I awoke early next morning, or rather I awoke and I think it was morning. It was kind of hard to tell in a dark dungeon, but soon enough Rondellen and Eonde were up as well. We had a quick cold breakfast consisting of some more rations. We swallowed it down with some Canfee. The Canfee was really this trip's saving grace. We had been in this dungeon for a couple of days now, and we all had the skins containing the Canfee in our [Inventory]. It still tasted like it did when it was fresh, and it energized us.

After breakfast, at last, it was time for the third room. When we had started talking about the dungeon, it was this room, the third on the second floor that made me the most excited to experience. The reason was because here the room was nothing like the others. Instead of yet another cave-like room, this one felt like it was more or less out in the open even if it still was in a dungeon. The ceiling was high above and made it feel like the sky. You could almost feel the rays of the sun touching your skin. There were trees and grass. The most stunning difference from the other rooms was the house they told me about. And boy were they right. There was a house at the end of the dungeon room, or maybe more like a cottage made of wood, with a small porch out front. In front of the porch stood 2 Brawlers dressed like, well the closest I could think of was how Napoleon's soldiers dressed back on earth, with white trousers and blue jackets and pompoms on their heads. They looked so cute that I almost started laughing if it wasn’t for the fact that they were here to kill us. The way it worked was that you walked towards the house, and when you reached it, a third Brawler came out. Opening the door from the inside and stepping out, behind the Brawler was a KingaFant that had the air of royalty about itself. You then followed the KingaFant into the cottage and mayhem ensued.

Both Rondellen and Eonde had tried different tactics when doing this room in the past. When I asked them if they had tried talking with the KingaFant, they just looked at me as if I was deranged. Talking to monsters? No, that was not something you did. You killed them, the faster the better. However, when I laid my plan out for them, they agreed to let me try it my way. They said that if it didn’t work, I should move on back and let them take care of the room their way.

We walked closer to the cottage and you could see the two red, small creatures dressed up. Even if they cleaned up well, the clothes couldn’t hide the smell. Same as when we fought them on the first floor, it wasn’t the sight of them that made you gag, it was the smell coming from them. Even if they were only two, you could feel it ways away.

When we were maybe 25 meters from them, one of them turned and knocked on the door to the cottage. As expected, a few seconds later, the door opened and a third Brawler, similarly dressed, walked out followed by a KingaFant. The KingaFant flowed in the air more than flew but still at waist height and also this one with an air of royalty.

This was the moment for me. I took a step forward, and with a mental leap of faith, went down on one knee and said “These three humble servants of the gods want to have safe passage and an audience with the king.”

There was silence of the utmost kind.

Still on my knee.

After two minutes of time had passed without any response from the KingaFant, there were louder and louder whispers from Eonde and Rondellen that I should get up and get back so they could finish this. All of a sudden, the KingaFant bowed deeply and then said with a voice or accent that reminded me of the old movies my mother used to see together with my father before the accident. “We accept these three humble servants of the gods and grant safe passage and an audience with our King, King Lars the Almighty. Follow me into my little vacation home. I have a portal there that will take us to Fantsiland.”

Both Eonde and Rondellen started to protest against going anywhere with a KingaFant, at least not through a portal!

Here is where we disagreed. I turned around and faced them and said, “I will follow the KingaFant and see what they have to say. I know we are gearing up for a war with Maurade, so I think that it couldn't hurt to have more allies.” All that was said with a low whisper.

I turned to the KingaFant and said, “Lead the way. It will only be me that accompanies you to your kingdom, my fellow companions have fallen ill.” I don’t know what got into me, but it worked. The KingaFant just nodded, turned and with a motion with her/his hand told me to follow. The two Brawlers got back to their posts, and the third one followed after me.

Inside the little cottage there was a small kitchen, a fireplace and a door that was open and led to a bedroom. I wondered where the portal could be, not that I’d seen one or gone through one before. As a gamer, I had done it plenty of times, and knew how they worked but not as Green Raven. That got me thinking, I had been in this game or rather I’d been on PAERD now for what felt like a week or maybe a few more days. Everything had gone so fast, spawning in the woods, fighting with the Goblins, the Wood Wolfs, meeting Rondellen, going to Ostvik and so on. Not once had I stopped and just thought about everything that had happened, how my mother was, if I’d meet up with my mates from earth in what, for them, was a game. Now was not the time for it either. During the short time I had stopped and started to think about everything, the KingaFant had gone through the kitchen, past the fireplace and the door to the bedroom and down a corridor that led to another door that was closed. I sped up my pace and was soon just behind the KingaFant. “I’m sorry, but what should I call you? I am Green Raven myself.”

It half turned and said, “You can call me Olof. I’m one of the counselors to the King.”

“Okay Olof, where is this portal you told me about?”

“It’s just outside, behind my cottage, just through this door,” he said as he opened the door and yes there was the portal. It was a blue shimmering monstrosity. I’d never seen anything like it, this was nothing how the portals looked in all the games I’d played. This more looked like it was held together with duct tape.

“It’s magnificent, don’t you think? I just had it installed the other week. Before, I had to travel for months just to get here.”

“Uhm, yes, it’s something. That is very true.” I said with a badly hidden smile. I was more worried that it would be safe to use. Just as I had thought. Olof stepped through it. I hesitated for a moment but got a slight push in the back from the Brawler. This propelled me to take a step right through the portal. There were none of the fancy lights or shimmering of air that I had gotten used to in the games I’d played back on earth. One second I was in the dungeon Rules Revenge, second floor, room three. Next, I was in Fantsiland. I had no idea where I actually was at first, but later on, it turned out that I was in fact there. Just as Olof had told me. When we stepped through the portal and reached the other side, we came into a room made of stone, like the ones that make you think of old medieval castles. It was a large rectangular room with a high ceiling. The portal was the only thing in the door and on one of the side of the room was another door. Olof went straight for it. When he had opened the door halfway, he turned and looked at me. “Follow me, I’ll take you straight to King Lars.”

We walked silently through a long winded corridor all made of stone and without any windows. It soon opened up in a courtyard filled with green grass, bushes and a small pond where you could see some kind of fish swimming. And the sun shone quite brightly, so brightly that I had to cover my eyes until they had adjusted. When we reached the courtyard, that was also the end of the silence. You could hear laughter and…

Control of the body is temporarily taken over to avoid accidental injury.

Stasis induced

Teleportation to PAERD, location USERUS commencing…

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Teleportation to USERUS concluded…

Removal stasis of the body

Waking up Green Raven formerly known as indenture 6012349873

“Greetings, Green Raven,” a voice I vaguely remember I have heard previously. I open my eyes and was met by the white cursor and an otherwise completely black room. Yes, I’ve been here before. This is where my journey to PAERD began.

“Is this something you will keep doing? Teleporting me whenever you feel like it?” I asked kind of gruffly.

“I can do that, but if everything goes as planned, next time we see each other is when I send you back to your own world, Earth!” Userus answered. “The reason I called you over now is simply because now you have settled in. You’ve got your bearings and got to know some people. You’ve killed some monsters and used your skills somewhat successfully. Now is the time for you to start paying off your debt to me. You will once again have two choices; One, you go back to Rondellen and Eonde and fight the fight against Maurade with them and potentially put them in danger. Or two, you keep them safe and take on the fight yourself. If you chose number one, I’ll teleport you back to the end of the dungeon where Rondellen and Eonde are currently located. If you chose number two, I’ll give you a quest that goes toward defeating Maurade. First, we will go through your status page. I have some questions regarding your choice of getting 500 mana when you have a great Sword that I helped Anders craft for you.”

“In all my games I have played, I have always gone for magic skills, so I did the same here. But wait, you helped Anders?” I asked with disbelief in my voice.

“Yes, I’m quite hands on when it comes to helping my people in the fight against evil. But in this case, it was more that I guided his hand when crafting your sword. Then your choice to go for mana makes sense. Let me help you get the most out of your skills and gear and get them aimed for mana use.”

At that point, my bonded sword disappeared from me, I felt it quite drastically, like a part of my body suddenly just vanished. Just as I got acclimated with that loss, my armor and clothes left my body too. They were replaced by a robe similar to the kind you see magic users wear. I couldn’t see it, but I guessed that it was a robe. It felt similar to the dinner robe I’d worn at the dinners with Rondellen and his people.

“Now you look better dressed for magic use. Let’s just give you a suitable weapon. Here is once again where you get to choose. Do you want a staff or a wand?” Userus asked me.

“No, this is all wrong. You help Anders craft a great sword for me to just take it away later on. What says I can’t do magic and use a sword? Can you maybe change the sword to channel it for use with magic?” I asked, while keeping my fingers crossed. I really didn’t know Userus, so it was a bit of a gamble. He had said that when it came to fighting evil, he helped his people. This was to see if he considered me one of them. Also, since I was already in debt to him, why not sink a little bit further down.

“You are quite brazen in your assumptions that I should help you like that. At the same time, I like it when my indentures take charge of their own destiny. A sword to use as a wand or staff is not something we ever heard about on PAERD, but I don’t see anything wrong with it. Let me try something out,” he said and the cursor stopped blinking for a long while. I don’t know for how long. Measuring time in a totally black room is not that easy. At least not for me. After some time had passed, I had gotten long past the stages; bored, irritated, angry, stressed and finally resigned. When the cursor started blinking again and I heard Userus say;

“Yes, it took some doing and tinkering, but I think you will be pleased with the result.”

When he said that, I felt the reverse of what I felt when he removed the sword from me. The following notification appeared in my sight;

Sword Green Ravens Disciple bounded

with you and the sword is equipped

I immediately used [Inspect Item] to see what, if anything, had changed.

The sword Green Ravens Disciple

Level 60 short sword

Minimum Requirement level 58 or Green Raven, bind on pick-up.

Sharp as Sharp should be Rune

Don’t wanna be dull Rune

Never gonna break apart Rune

While holding this sword, all magic skills take 50% less mana.

Damage: 40-80 HP

5/5 uses per year: 1 strike is all it takes.

Legendary quality

Holy cow, the sword went from level 20 to 60 and the mana discount was out of this world. I couldn’t really understand why ‘1 strike is all it takes’ went from 10 to five uses. Still, it was worth it. The next thing I checked was the robe, [Inventory]

Inventory Slots 05/16

Bonded items:

Sword Green Ravens Disciple

Robe of grandness

Inventory

1 Sword, level 2, fair quality

1 Water-skin, full, fair quality

1 Canfee-skin, half-full, fair quality

2 medium health potions

1 small health potion

3 Wood Wolf sleeping bags

Let’s see what the robe could do, [Inspect Item]

Robe of grandness

No level required

Color blue

Don’t wanna be seen Rune

I wanna be clean Rune

Never need mending Rune

Armor at the same level as Light armor full body at your level

Not bad at all. The only thing missing was some cover for my head, and I needed to know what the runes ment. That was my question to Userus, and he responded with;

“The robe has runes embroidered on to make it self-cleaning, self-mending and if you need to be, invisible. Just stand in shadow and only someone over level 100 can sense you but not pinpoint your location. Under level 100, you will not be sensed either. Yes, you need a hat that matches your robe. I will figure something out. Please hold on.” The cursor once more went still. And the waiting game started again.

The robe was really something, and those runes must be really rare. Wonder if I could learn to make runes myself? Some time later, I don’t know how long, the cursor started blinking again.

“I have tinkered some moreI I think you will be pleased with the hat I came up with.” Userus said.

I felt something change on the top side and my head felt different, not heavier, just different. I was just about to check my new hat out when;

“With your gear sorted, time for the quest. I will send someone to help you. You will feel a bit of pressure on your brain, but probably no pain.”

Userus almost mumbled the last couple of words. Before I had the chance to ask what was going on, I felt a terrible pressure on my head and pain. The pain was like what you felt when adding strength or dexterity stats. Unlike the short burst of pain you felt then, this held on for at least a minute. When it started to fade away, something had changed inside of me.

Hello, I’m Yoerus your companion/helper/assistant.

“WTF! What is happening?” I screamed out loud. This was some scary shit.

“Green Raven, meet Yoerus. He lives in your brain now and will help you with whatever you need. He is like the smart digital assistant should be on earth. He is me but part of you now. He knows what I know, so now you can ask any type of questions without me having to teleport you here to answer your questions. You don’t have to speak out loud to him. Just think what you want to ask or tell him and he will ‘hear’ it. And before you ask, no he can’t read your thoughts. He only ‘hears’ what you ‘say’ to him. Other Offworlders have had Yoerus in their brains as well, but it has been a while now. Like a few hundred years. I understand that it will take a while to get used to, so now in the beginning, Yoerus will not speak to you unless spoken to.” Userus told me in a serious voice.

Now onto your first quest.