The "Best" RPG Ever-3

 First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

They were nearly to the town, and Katherine had been remarkably quiet for the past few minutes, when she suddenly said, "Got it!"

Zack turned around. She looked satisfied with herself, but otherwise nothing was different. "..Got what?"

"I figured out how to look at my stats and skills and stuff. Turns out all you have to do is close your eyes and think about it. Apparently this game uses DND stats or whatever. Oh, and I actually have a passive skill that adds an intelligence-based bonus to my charisma, because as a Psion I can read people a lot easier. Should be good for getting better prices in shops. Also, I think we share money now that we're in a party."
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"Well, it said 'party gold'. It was slightly more than two hundred, which makes the most sense if we each started with one hundred, and you add what that wolf dropped."
"Right. Well. Let's move on, then." Zack turned around and started walking. His ears flicked around, which he still wasn't quite used to yet, and picked up the sound of Katherine's feet moving behind him.

"By the way, why aren't you wearing any shoes?" he asked.

"I dunno. When I got turned into a girl they disappeared. Maybe it's some kind of Felis racial trait that lets me walk better without them or something. And yet socks have no negative effect."
"Felis?"
"Oh, that's apparently my race now. Real creative, right? They're part cat, so give them the same name as the genus! I bet you're, like, a Canis or something. Why don't you check?"

"Because I'd rather be sitting down somewhere relatively safe before I close my eyes long enough to read all that information," he said.

"Okay. By the way, since I am effectively more persuasive than you, let me do the talking whenever there's something important going on."

"You do realize you still have to talk persuasively or that probably doesn't matter, right?"
"Don't you worry about that. I know how to roleplay."

The town they entered was of about a medium size, not a tiny village but no city either. The citizens didn't take too much notice of their entrance; the place didn't have a gate or any guards to get by, either. The people in the town were about an even mix of Felis like Kath, people with dog-like (or more accurately, wolf-like) traits like Zack, humans with no animal traits, and people with more fox-like traits. It was hard to get a fix on what made that last group different from him, but Zack got the distinct impression they were part fox all the same. Mixed in with all of that, there were maybe one or two people with pointed ears..elves, possibly. There weren't any obvious tensions between the various races here, but appearances could be deceiving.

Eventually they found what looked like an inn. Katherine looked up at the sign, proclaiming it to be the "Broken Dragon Tavern and Hotel". "Say, this looks like a good place to rest our feet a few minutes. We might even be able to find a tip on a job here. This could be the gateway to a great experience, don't you think?"

"Sure, whatever." Zack wasn't sure if this was her idea of roleplaying or not. She wasn't exactly being subtle about metagaming, after all. At any rate, she led the way in and found them a booth in one corner of the place. It was probably afternoon or so, so the tavern wasn't in its peak time, but there were a fair number of people eating there. The backs of the booth's seats were slanted so that the bottom was farther back than the top, which proved remarkably helpful to Zack and Katherine sitting in them with their new tails.

Eventually a human waiter showed up. "Hello, welcome to the Broken Dragon Tavern and Hotel; my name is Milo. What can I get you two?"
"Well, what would you recommend? Is there a special on today?" said Katherine.

"Why yes, actually. A fresh catch of trout came in recently; our cook knows how to make a fine filet with them."
"I think I'd like that."
"Good, good. And for you, ma'am?"
Zack tried not to glare at him; explaining his situation to anyone who wasn't in a similar one just wasn't going to work. "..Same."

Once the waiter left to handle their orders, Zack said, "Really? Fish?"

"What? I'm allowed to like fish. I liked fish before I got into this game. Besides, it's apparently the best thing on the menu right now. And, you ordered it."
"I didn't want to bother with asking for a menu. You didn't even ask for prices?"
"Relax, I'm sure we have enough. And if we don't, we'll find some other way to repay them. Or we'll just have a tab. I'm sure we'll be hanging around this town for at least a little while, anyway."
"Yeah, probably...we should have gotten something to drink."

Milo returned a couple of minutes later. "Would you ladies like something to drink while you wait?"
"Hmm..do you have any sort of tea?"
"Ah, certainly. And you?"
"Just water. If it's clean."

"Oh, of course. We have our own private well here, very sanitary. I'll be right back!"

"You do realize the tea here is probably bitter and hot," said Zack.

Kath shrugged. "It's an adventure; I'll try new things. Besides, I don't want water, and I'm not ordering milk. I'm still technically underage, you know, so alcohol is out.

"You don't look underage to me. The drinking age is probably lower here anyway."

"Yeah, but..I also don't think anybody wants to know what happens when you mix psychic powers with weak inhibitions."

"Point made."

Zack took some of the time waiting for their food and drinks to close his eyes and try to get a look at his own status screen. Strength and constitution were his highest stats, followed by agility and dexterity. Intelligence was the lowest, but still not all that much lower than the others. The weird "gem of brightness" was in his inventory, as well as a scroll labeled "instructive information". They would bear looking at later on. He tried bringing one gold to his hand, and found that it worked before dismissing it back to the inventory. Did this mean any party member could do that? What if they had someone who was always trying to spend all of their money on stupid, expensive items?

Milo showed up when they were part-way through their meal. "So, is everything alright?"
"It's great," said Katherine. "By the way, we're kind of new in town. The two of us are..explorers, you might say. Adventurers. You know of any way we could get that kind of work around here?"
"Oh, sure. There's a board on town square, people with monster problems or other kinds of tasks to do put up bulletins there, and anyone can come take one to say they're gonna try and do the job. I mean, within reason, but you two look more than fit enough to deal with most of the small-time problems we have around here. If someone takes a bulletin and doesn't come back or contact the person who put it up, they usually replace it after a day or two. Of course, once people disappear or give up on a job, the guard marks it as dangerous or difficult; enough of that, and they won't let just anyone take the job anymore. Tough jobs like that are kept on a board in the guardhouse, but they won't let strangers even attempt them..no offense."

"None taken. We're pretty new to this, so starting slow is probably a good idea anyway," said Katherine. "Thank you."

"Sure, no problem."

Their meal cost 20 gold, and Katherine added a five-gold tip, explaining to Zack that having a friend in town would be a good idea..as if he didn't already understand that. And then they went to have a look at the board.

Zack got out the scroll while she looked over the board. "Hmm..window cleaning? No way. We need something that involves a fight to get better."

"You are the party leader," said the scroll. "Your approval is required to add new party members, and your menu alone contains permissions for money and other shared inventory. Key items are placed in your inventory regardless of who picks them up. Seniority is the guiding principle for who leads should you leave a formed party or become incapacitated."

"Here's one!" Zack put away the scroll and looked at the bulletin she was kneeling over to point at, down near the bottom of the board. "A gang of eight or so goblins stole some guy's engagement ring...mugged the caravan it was on, rather. He paid a scryer to find out where it was, and discovered the location of their hideout. I bet if we find anyone else with stuff they stole, they'd be happy to repay us for that, too."

"Two-on-eight? Sounds like a little much," said Zack.

"Well, we just have to sneak in, take them out one at a time."
"I don't know if you've noticed, but my armor makes a little too much noise to sneak effectively."
"Well, we'll figure something out, I'm sure. Maybe level up mid-battle or something? Your main sword's big enough you can probably cut down two or three of 'em at once anyway." She pulled the bulletin off the board, and stood up, grinning at him. "Come on, live a little! If this is a game, it shouldn't let us actually die anyway."

"..Oh, alright. So should we talk to the person who put this up to get better directions first, or is it clear enough there?"

"It gives his name and address, and doesn't say where the hideout is, so we'll have to talk to him."

---

Next part will be them going to the hideout. I don't really feel like writing out the conversation with the employer, I mean, unless you have some really brilliant idea for them being a recurring NPC or whatever.