Reggie 1-5

Hi, Patrons! This week I'll be posting some bonus chapters with a POV that helps the plot move along. I am giving you all 5 ahead of RR. These are in addition to regular chapters. If you're wondering, they are intended to be read around the time that you read M16 or B9.

R1

Reggie Arnold Gandry-Thule was a big man, and he liked having a big name. He stretched his big, thick arms over his head and yawned, kicking his legs to throw off the annoyingly scratchy blankets that the dumbass System had given him. He sat up and scooted, on his butt, out of his little tent. The morning was cool, dew was in the air, and he once again cursed the lack of showers in this place. So the bigwigs had made a wall, yippee. What about a nice, hot damn shower? Reggie yawned, hugely, again, scratching his bushy red beard, then stood up in the grass. It was cold and squishy between his toes, and he frowned. “We should have a house by now.” He pulled up the leaderboard for the Contribution Store:

Name:

Points:

1. Bronwyn Tallow 4230
2. Olivia Bennet 2120
3. Oscar Sandoval 1940
4. Maria Rios 1700
5. Boris Saltzki 1380
6. Tanya Delgado 1340
7. Alec Green 1100
8. Rene Bisset 900
9. Tina Bensen 880
10. Reggie Gandry-Thule 760

“Goddamn right! Top ten, baby.” Reggie had gotten onto the top ten last night, and he was glad to see no one had usurped his position while he’d been asleep. He was still pissed that the System didn’t put his full name on the list, though. “Get up, dipshits!” He yelled at the three tents sharing the firepit with him. Muffled grumbles accompanied by the shaking of the cloth tents informed him that they’d heard him and were moving. Good old Sam, Tony, and Robbie; they’d been working together for years, long before they got selected for the arkship. What a joke - they were in-vitro technicians, and none of the fucking cryo-storage units or the damn eggs they contained had made it to the surface. “So we’re fucking useless, eh? Nah, we gonna get me to the top of the leaderboard. Wake the fuck up, you lazy bums!”

After a minute, Sam crawled out of his tent, bleary-eyed and frowning. Soon all four of them were sitting around the fire, Reggie having gotten it started back up. They had a good-sized stack of wood; all of them had done “quests” to collect wood, and, after they deposited it for credit, they’d gone and taken a bunch of it for themselves, stacking it near their tents. “All right, boys; I have a plan for how we are gonna get me up that list. You heard the bigwig, Ballard - first place gets awarded the first big house. I’m gonna pick up all the quests I can; then we’ll work as a team to get them done. After I get first place, we can take turns helping the rest of us to get up on the list. Make sense?”

“Awe, man. I really need some new shoes, and I’m sick of eating bread,” Sam grumbled.

“Chill, brother! I’m going to get points for turning in these quests. I’ll buy you guys the shit you need ‘til we’re done pumping up my score.” No one else spoke up. Reggie wasn’t sure it was because they agreed with him, or if they were afraid of him, or if they were just too tired and dumb to put up a fuss. “Get dressed and eat something. I’m going to pick up my quests.”

Their tents were close to the hill with the Colony Stone. Just about a hundred yards north of it. Not many people were on this side, and Reggie liked it like that. After he slipped his boots on, he stomped toward the hill and quickly climbed up, slapping his hand on the stone. He called up the Contribution Store and then the Quests menu:

Contribution Activities for Reggie Gandry-Thule:

Forge Energy beads.

10 contribution points per bead.

Accept? Y/N

Task: Collect 1000 lbs of lumber

250 contribution points.

Accept? Y/N

Task: Gather 100 mushrooms from surrounding woods.

100 contribution points.

Accept? Y/N

Quest: Find an animal den west of the colony.

500 contribution points.

Accept? Y/N

“Interesting!” Reggie hadn’t seen a quest to find an animal den before. He accepted all of his tasks, except the dumbass Energy bead one, and then walked back to his buddies. “Alright, buds, we got some work to do.”

Reggie split the jobs among his buddies: He would find the animal den, Sam and Tony would chop wood, and Robbie would pick mushrooms. Haha, what a goof; he laughed to himself every time he thought of Robbie rooting around under bushes and fallen logs looking for mushrooms. He wasn’t fooling himself - their job had been easy enough that a twelve-year-old could do it. They each had been assigned to monitor a bank of cryo units that held five thousand fertilized eggs. The only tricky part of the job was making sure you didn’t fall asleep and miss any sort of alert. Alerts that never happened as far as his experience in the business had gone. That being said, his buddies weren’t exactly on the level of Olivia Bennet. That fucking babe was like Einstein compared to Robbie, so picking mushrooms was probably a good job for him.

Reggie strolled out the west gate while his boys worked on the grunt work. He’d bought a big wood cutting axe the day before, so he walked with it resting on one shoulder, and he couldn’t help the swagger that entered his stride. Reggie was a big man, and he had a big axe, and this was a world where that mattered. He smiled at the two dipshits guarding the gate, nodding his head as he strolled by into the woods. “So, some kind of animal den, eh?” He wandered around, wondering how he was supposed to find a den in a forest that seemed to spread out for dozens or hundreds of miles. He figured the System wouldn’t give him a wild goose chase, so he started looking closely at the ground while he wandered, hoping to find some sign of an animal.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the skill Tracking - Basic.***

“Oh sweet!” He called up his status sheet:

Status

Name: Reggie Arnold Gandry-Thule

Race: Human - Base 1

Class: –

Level: 5

Core: Hematite Class - Base 1

Energy Affinity: 4.9

Energy: 94/94

Strength: 28

Vitality: 15

Dexterity: 6

Agility: 8

Intelligence: 8

Will: 9

Points Available: 0

Titles & Feats: 

Skills: System Language Integration - Not Upgradeable, Tracking - Basic, Axe Mastery - Basic

“Looking good, brother.” He grunted and started to look at the ground using the new skill the System had given him. As he pushed himself through the underbrush, staring at the ground, he occasionally saw little glowing tracks with labels. He saw tiny tracks that said, “feyris.” He followed those for a while, but then he saw bigger tracks that looked like glowing hoofmarks, and they said, “huldii.” So he started to follow those because he figured the bigger was always better.

Reggie plodded along through the woods for nearly another hour, following the huldii tracks, then they crossed with some other hoofmarks that were even bigger, and the system just said, “cadwalli.” Reggie followed both sets of tracks for a few minutes, and then they seemed to spread out, crossing all over each other, and it was a bit of an anticlimactic surprise when a System message appeared:

***Congratulations! You’ve completed the quest: Find an animal den west of the colony. Return to the Colony Stone for your reward.***

“Huh, what the hell?” The “cadwalli” tracks he’d been following continued into a dense section of undergrowth, so he pressed forward, pulling the thorny bushes apart and peering within the hedge-like growth. He was startled to see a red-furred deer-like animal’s corpse hanging from a tree branch by a rope.

“That’d be my lunch,” a gruff voice said from right behind him. Reggie turned and just about shat himself when he saw the speaker. A wiry little man with brown skin and grey hair stood not three feet behind him. He wore a fringed leather vest and short pants, but what startled Reggie were his horns and the fact that his legs were furry and ended in hooves.

“What the fuck?” Reggie stepped back, holding his axe in front of his chest.

“You’re feeling tired, sit down,” the man said in his rough voice, and Reggie suddenly did feel tired. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit down right here? He plopped down on his butt, his axe resting on his lap, entirely forgotten. “That’s better, boyo; we’ve got some things to talk about.”

R2

“So tell me again about this Bronwyn person? The leader of your village?” Thun asked. He’d introduced himself to Reggie and begun dressing his dead deer creature with a big, wickedly sharp knife. Thun had told Reggie that he was interested in the human colony and asked him a bunch of questions, most of which Reggie couldn’t even remember. He just felt so tired and wanted to get done here.

“Bronwyn? She’s a fucking solid ten, that’s for sure. Kind of a bitch, I hear, though.” Reggie shrugged lethargically.

“She’s level ten?” Thun asked, slicing another long strip of meat off the hanging corpse.

“Oh, no. I don’t know what level she is; I meant she’s a knockout, a real babe.”

“Are you trying to tell me she’s beautiful? Words are important, Reggie. Try to be precise.” Thun flicked his big, sharp knife toward Reggie, and some blood splattered onto his cheek. Reggie wasn’t sure why, but that act scared the fuck out of him.

“Yeah, she’s fucking beautiful, alright? She seems tough too, but I dunno, I’ve never talked to her.”

“And she’s running things in there? With the help of some others?” Thun began to carve meat again, taking his eyes off Reggie. Reggie thought about running briefly, but he was so tired, and why was he running again? It all seemed a bit foggy.

“That’s right. There are some other bigwigs. Arthur Ballard, Olivia Bennet, a few others.”

“Mmmhmm. There are five thousand humans? That’s the right word, yes? Humans?”

“Yes, like I already told you, ten goddamn times, there are five thousand.” Reggie flinched when Thun turned to him, and those fucking creepy vertically slit eyes focused on him. “Sorry, yes, five thousand.”

“And none of them are children? Or the elderly?”

“Uh, no kids. I mean, Arthur and some others might be considered seniors, but they get around fine.”

“Mmmhmm. What level is your Colony Stone?” Thun began hacking at the joints of the deer or huldii’s tendons, separating one of the rear legs from the carcass. He held the skinned haunch up and smiled, and, for a goat-man, he had fucking sharp teeth. “This will make a lovely roast.”

“I think you already asked me that. I don’t know what level it is. I don’t even know how to tell. I’m just trying to collect wood and shit so I can earn contribution points.” Reggie didn’t know why, but he was feeling very fucking stressed, like meet your girlfriend’s parents and let them know she’s knocked up stressed.

“Ahh, so there’s a Contribution Store established. Excellent, Reggie. Thank you. Now, Reggie, this is important: how many people have access to the Colony’s Stone’s controls?” Thun turned back to the carcass while he waited for an answer. Reggie’s eyes drifted to the pile of entrails and other innards that Thun had let fall out of the dead animal when he started cleaning it.

“Umm, I really don’t know. Maybe just Bronwyn? When she set it up, we all got a notification that she was the leader.”

“You’re doing better, Reggie. Now, how would you like to learn a new skill? Something powerful?” After Thun spoke, Reggie perked up. A powerful new skill? Fuck yes, he’d like to learn that.

“Yes, that sounds great!” He started to stand up, but Thun looked at him sternly with those eyes again, and he slumped, too tired to bother standing.

“Good, Reggie. You and I are going to be good friends. I’m going to teach you something new right now. If you keep helping me out, I’ll teach you more. Does that sound like a good deal?”

“That sounds like a great fucking deal!” Reggie’s fear had been replaced with excitement. None of those other dipshits had a scary-ass goat-man teaching them secret skills.

“Be calm, Reggie. Now, first, a couple of things. You must agree to keep my existence a secret. Secondly, you must agree to return to me, here, each evening to give me a report.”

“Uh, every night?” Reggie’s eyes narrowed slightly, some of the fog lifting from his mind.

“Only until I have the answers I need. It shouldn’t take more than a week.” Thun smiled, his long canines and creepy fucking eyes making it more threatening than comforting.

“Okay, I agree.” Reggie shivered. Thun’s smile grew more expansive, and he somehow produced a sheet of paper and a long quill. He gestured for Reggie to sit still and then walked around smoothing the paper out on Reggie’s broad back. Then Reggie heard the sound of scribbling, and he felt the tickle of the quill moving around on the parchment. This went on for several minutes, and then Thun straightened, walked around to face Reggie, and produced the parchment with a flourish. Reggie took the parchment and looked at it; it was covered with scribbles that didn’t mean shit to him.

“What the fuck do I do with this?” Reggie flinched as Thun frowned at him.

“Stare at it for a moment. Will yourself to understand.” He frowned further, some annoyance leaking into his words. Reggie did as Thun asked, staring at the strange writing, and then something fucking weird started to happen: the squiggly characters began to move around, and then they flew off the paper and started to fly into Reggie’s eyes. At first, he freaked out and almost threw the scroll away, but he knew Thun would be pissed, so he held still and let it happen. When it ended, a System message appeared:

***You have been offered a contract: Become Thun’s agent, obeying his directives in exchange for the skill Enrage - Basic. Accept? Y/N***

Enrage sounded pretty fucking cool, but the contract seemed more severe than Thun had made out. “Hey, it says I have to obey your directives, and it doesn’t say for how long.”

“Excellent! Your discernment is striking! Yes, it would take me hours to craft a contract with such specific contingencies. You’ll have to trust that all I need is information for a few days. Why would I lie, Reggie? I could easily force you to comply rather than offer you this valuable skill.” Thun absently used his large, razor-bladed knife to carve one of his dark, pointy nails into an even sharper point. Reggie’s mind raced for a moment, but, again, lethargy took hold, and he wondered what he was so worried about. He selected the “yes” option, and suddenly warmth spread out through his scalp, almost like someone cracked a warm egg over his head.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the skill Enrage - Basic.***

***You have gained a new title: Thun’s Agent***

Reggie couldn’t resist and accessed the part of his status sheet that showed what his new abilities would do:

***Enrage - Basic - Using Energy, you are able to enter into a state of rage, canceling fear effects and increasing your physical power by 20%. While in this state, you have reduced sensitivity to pain. Energy Cost: 50 activation + 1 per second.***

***Thun’s Agent: Thun’s will holds authority over you. You must follow Thun’s directives or suffer Energy deprivation***

“Good, I can see by your expression that you understand our new relationship,” Thun said, a crooked grin spreading on his face.

R3

Reggie stumbled through the gate; he was tired as hell. Man, who knew finding a little animal den would be such a slog. Then there was that fucking guy, Thun. Yeah, he’d given him a cool skill, but he didn’t like that dude. He reminded Reggie of his uncle Paul, and Paul was a scary asshole who broke a guy’s teeth out for looking at his girlfriend wrong. Well, he’d have to live with it; he didn’t have to do much, anyway. Plus, the guy had told him he’d get a new skill if he finished all the tasks he gave him.

He wandered over to the Colony Stone, where he’d told the other knuckleheads to meet him. All three of them were sitting on the grass eating some kind of mushy-looking blue melon. “Hey, dudes, you could always go collect more of this stuff. The System might repeat tasks.”

“Bro, we just got here, anyway. Been fucking cutting wood all day.” Tony tossed a hunk of melon rind at Reggie as he drew the last word out in a whine.

“Whatever, man. I’ve had a fucking nightmare of a day out in the woods, so don’t even complain. Where’d you guys stack the shit you brought in?” Reggie couldn’t see any sign of a pile of mushrooms or wood. Tony held up a crude-looking leather bag with all kinds of funny-looking runes burned into the leather. The runes reminded him a little of the squiggly words on Thun’s contract, and he suppressed an involuntary shudder.

“The fuck is that?”

“It’s a damn bag of holding; some dude named Boris sold it to me. I had to give him half our wood, but it fucking holds a lot.” He tossed it to Reggie, who pulled the leather drawstring, opening it. The inside looked like a window into space, but with no stars. He reached his hand in and felt nothing. He kept moving his arm in, and soon it was up to his shoulder. He waved his arm around, reaching in different directions, not touching anything. He strained a bit further, but then his hand started to get cold, and he realized he couldn’t feel anything. In a panic, he yanked it out and saw that his skin had taken on a gray tinge. Slowly it regained its pink tone.

“What the fuck, dude?” Reggie’s voice was shrill with outrage.

“Goddamn, man; I didn’t know it would do that. I had to bind with it to use it, but when I put my hand in there, I can grab any item I want out.”

Reggie tossed the bag back and said, “So all the shit’s in there? But you gave up half the wood?”

“Yeah, man, all of it. We gave up the wood, but we cut more; it was twice as fast since we didn’t have to carry it around and stack it up. I’ll go dump it by the Colony Stone.” Tony started walking up the hill, and Robbie and Sam stood up. Reggie gestured for them to follow and walked up to the stone. A few other people were around, but they weren’t using the stone at the moment, so Tony just dumped the contents at the base. Reggie called up the menu for the Contribution Store and collected his rewards. He started laughing when the stone offered him another task to stack his goods down the hill by the pond. It was only fifty points, but he wouldn’t turn his nose up at easy money.

Reggie passed out his new tasks to his crew after they’d collected the easy reward for moving all the wood and mushrooms down the hill. Sam and Robbie had to find berries in the eastern woods, and Robbie, having no other task, was going to sit by the tent and learn how to make Energy beads. “What about you, Reggie?” he asked when Reggie put an end to his grousing about not wanting to study some “dumb manual.”

“You think I’m not pulling my weight? I have a bigger quest I’m working on, which will pay big dividends. Don’t worry, boys; we work as a team, we’ll share rewards like a team. Last one for the day, then we chill by the tents, and I’ll buy us some booze with the contribution points we earned today.” Reggie waved the three of them off; then, he turned back to the Colony Stone and the small crowd of people starting to mill about now that the day was winding down and they were ready to turn in their tasks. He walked over to a group of four people. He looked at the better looking of the two women, a dark-skinned beauty with extremely short hair, almost shaved. “Hey, any of you guys seen Olivia Bennet or Arthur Ballard or any of the other bigwigs?” When he spoke, he looked right at the woman, even though his words were for all of them.

“Uh, no, I haven’t,” the short-haired babe said, backing up a step from him.

“I saw Arthur. He was just over by the west gate, talking to some people plotting building locations,” a little Asian guy said from behind the woman. Reggie looked at him and nodded.

“Alright, thanks. Hey, if you guys wanna party later, visit us a bit north of here in the meadow. Look for a group of four tents and a bonfire. Later.” He offered a smile to the woman and walked off, not noticing her eyebrow arched in disbelief.

He asked around a bit by the west gate and eventually found Arthur talking to a guy who had a leather-bound notebook and a pencil, scratching notes and diagrams as they walked and talked. Reggie stepped up and said, “Arthur, uh, Mr. Ballard.”

“Yes?” the old guy replied.

“Yeah, uh, the name’s Reggie. Reggie Arnold Gandry-Thule.” Reggie reached a hand out to shake, and Arthur took it in a surprisingly firm grip. “Hey, I had a few questions for you, if you don’t mind?”

“Well, sure. Brian, go pencil in the area for the bathhouse, and I’ll catch up.” The man that had been walking with Ballard nodded and kept moving while he scribbled in his book. “Well, what can I do for you, Reggie?”

“What’s the deal with the leadership of the colony? Why’d we all get that message about that Bronwyn chick? It doesn’t seem like she should be our leader; I thought she was just some VR pilot.”

“Oh, well, that’s a good question. I’m happy to help. The System awarded her the leadership because she finished the orientation first, but she’s agreed to share responsibilities with a council of sorts. We have some people acting as council members, but we’ll have an election soon. I’d appreciate it if you’d help to spread the word about this; I’m sure you’re not the only one with questions.”

“Oh, alright. And who can run for council member?” Finally, Reggie had gotten to the question that Thun had told him to ask. He hated all this diplomacy bullshit.

“Well, I don’t think there will be any restrictions. Anyone can throw their hat in the ring. Was there anything else?”

“Yeah, when’s the election?”

“Oh, not too long. We want to get things settled a bit and feel secure here.”

“Alright, and what about the leaderboard? When will you start building the nice houses for the leaders?”

“It’s on our list! We know we need to keep people incentivized, so look for the first leaderboard award within a few days.” Arthur started to turn away. “If there’s nothing else?”

“Alright, thanks, Ballard.” Reggie also turned away, walking up the hill. That was easy as hell; he’d already gotten the answer that Thun wanted, and now he could party with his friends, not needing to report back to Thun until tomorrow afternoon. Reggie stopped by the stone and bought a small cask of hard cider from the contribution store. He had planned to buy more than one because it only cost twenty contribution points, but when the first one appeared, it was the size of a pony keg. He lifted it and realized it wasn’t pressurized like a keg, so maybe he would need two. He bought another and then walked to his campsite, one cask hanging heavily from each hand; it was party time.

R4

“Wake up, dipshits!” Once again, Reggie found himself standing in the damp grass, trying to wake up his boys. His head throbbed slightly from the excess of the previous night, but he felt alright, and it was time to get moving on the leaderboard. He picked up a half-full mug of cider and chugged it down. “Hair of the dog!” He laughed and shook Robbie’s tent. “Get up, get up!”

“Jesus, man, chill. My head feels like it’s about to split open.” Robbie’s head poked out of the tent, and his eyes were swollen, puffy, and red as hell.

“Damn, dude. You should put more points into vitality.” Reggie laughed again. “Come on, boys! I’m fucking third on the leader board. Time to get moving if you want that first house!” Reggie pulled up the leader board one more time, just to see that glorious sight:

Name:

Points:

1. Bronwyn Tallow 4330
2. Olivia Bennet 2420
3. Reggie Gandry-Thule 2260
4. Maria Rios 2140
5. Oscar Sandoval 1940
6. Boris Saltzki 1480
7. Tanya Delgado 1340
8. Alec Green 1140
9. Rene Bisset 960
10. Tina Bensen 910

“I dunno what the others were up to yesterday, but they hardly moved. We can win this thing! C’mon!” Reggie started walking around the firepit, lifting his knees high and thrusting his fists alternately into the air, making sounds like a train, “Chug-a, chug-a, choo, choo!” He felt pumped up today. They’d climb the leaderboard, he’d go talk to Thun and give him his dopey information, and then they could party again. What a fucking life!

The morning went as planned; he got another job to cut wood, and two other gathering jobs, so they split it all up, went to work, and met back by the stone at noon. Once again, Reggie collected all the rewards, but when he checked for new jobs, the only thing available was making Energy beads. “Maybe we’re finishing them faster than it can refresh? Hmm, alright, boys, it looks like you’re making beads for the afternoon. I gotta go finish up another task I got.” He turned and started walking toward the west gate.

“Hold up, dude,” Tony called. “I hate making those fucking beads; it takes hours. Let me come with you.”

“Nah, bro, this is a solo quest. Sorry, you hate it, but we need all the points we can get. I’ve heard some people make them faster - maybe try to trade for other people’s beads? Then I can turn them all in together? Whatever works for you, but don’t dick around.” Reggie kept walking, ignoring the stormy looks from Tony and Sam. They’d get over it after he invited them all into their new house. Before that, even, he’d get back on their good sides with another party. Reggie kept his eyes open for any babes as he walked to the gate, calling out invites to party later that night.

Reggie meandered down to the west gate, smiling and waving at all the women he passed, letting them know there’d be a party at his tents again tonight. He was surprised that most of them didn’t know what he was talking about or who he was; that was when Reggie would remind them to check the leaderboard and look at number three. When he walked past the guards, he saw one of them eating what looked like a pulled-pork sandwich wrapped in a paper towel. “Yo, where’d you get that sandwich?”

“Oh, one of the cooking enthusiasts on the south end. Someone killed a boar-like animal, and they’ve been trying to make a good barbeque sauce all day. This one tastes pretty damn good; I think they got the buns from the Contribution Guild.”

“Huh, south end, you say? I’ll have to check it out, maybe grab some grub for my party tonight.”

“Oh, a party?” the other guard asked.

“Yeah, bring your girlfriends. Come to the tents just north of the hill; look for the big campfire. Oh, and bring some of that pork.” Reggie sauntered out through the meadow and into the woods, walking to where he met Thun the day before. A few people were out and about, but after he’d walked for about thirty minutes, he stopped hearing other people moving around. Reggie practiced using his new tracking ability, noticing the highlighted names of a few new little woodland animals and even seeing some human tracks, though they seemed faint and old. He wondered if they could be his. He realized he was walking slower and slower, and he knew it was because he was dreading meeting with Thun; Reggie didn’t like that guy’s attitude one bit. The dude had a superiority complex.

“Good, you’re back, Reggie.” Thun’s voice nearly made Reggie jump out of his skin. He jumped and whirled around.

“Jesus, dude.”

“No, no, I am Thun, Reggie. Well? Have you gleaned the details of the leadership in your village?”

“Yes, man. I talked to Arthur Ballard himself, and he told me that the council isn’t official, and they’ll be having elections.”

“Oh?” Thun scratched his thick, gray goatee. “Is there some law among your people determining who can be in elections? What is your social status, Reggie? Could you be elected to the council?”

“Anyone can run for council, man. I’m not that kind of guy, though. I’m more of a go and do A, then B, then C, kinda guy.”

“Nonsense! What about this leaderboard you were telling me about? Aren’t you highly regarded among the people?” Now it was Reggie’s turn to scratch his chin.

“I mean, yeah, I’m getting famous already. I bet I’ll get the first big house awarded at this rate too. The people seem to love me - I throw a party almost every night.”

“So you see,” Thun said, stepping closer to Reggie. “It only makes sense for you to be on the council. Who is better suited than the man who won the top prize on the leaderboard? Who else has helped the community more than you?” Thun leaned in, ever closer as he spoke. Reggie felt a little fuzzy again and had to sit down on a mossy log.

“Yeah, who fuckin’ better?”

“Yes, good, Reggie,” Thun said as he produced another sheet of paper and his long, black quill. He scribbled on the paper, holding a thin, smooth black book underneath it. “Now, Reggie, I’m going to give you another skill, one that will prove very valuable to you. Using this skill, you’ll be able to sway others to see things your way. Use caution, however: if you use this ability on the wrong person, someone more powerful than you or with a very high will, they’ll see what you’re doing, and it may provoke them.”

“Alright, man.” Reggie accepted the paper that Thun passed to him, turning the writing side up and staring at it. Just as before, the squiggly runes started moving around and then flowed off the sheet and into his eyes.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the skill Rabble Rouse - Basic.***

***Rabble Rouse - Basic - Using Energy, you are able to inspire emotion in people listening to your words, causing them to view you more favorably and making them more receptive to your arguments. While maintaining this effect, you are especially susceptible to mental attacks, reducing your will-based resistance by 50%. Energy Cost: 50 activation + 1 per second.***

“Good, Reggie, good. Use this at the end of your conversations with people. Urge them to vote for you. Remind them that they deserve a voice on the council, and that voice will be you!” Thun smiled his creepy fucking smile at Reggie and gently massaged his shoulder with one dark-taloned hand. Reggie felt like he was going to crawl out of his own skin, but he struggled to maintain a neutral expression.

R5

Thun watched Reggie’s back as he walked away, slowly becoming lost in the dappled shadows of the forest. Thun snorted, pulling his walking stick from his dimensional storage ring. Reggie would be a decent tool, though he wished he’d have time to cultivate another. Still, Reggie had proved to be an ideal candidate; he had just the right amount of natural drive and ambition coupled with a feeble will and lack of critical thinking. By all indications, though, it seemed these humans were of a universally low level; Thun might well have made an agent out of any one of them.

He set off, using his Steps of the Dark Maiden to accelerate his pace. Soon Thun was miles from the human settlement, in the very shadowy, ancient heart of the Gresh Woods. He could feel the presence of beings even older than he nearby, but they were slumbering, not yet aware of the new developments in the area. “Good, let them sleep away, oblivious.” Thun grinned and produced a thin pipe, stuffing a crinkled blue weed in the bowl and lighting it with a flaming fingertip. He inhaled, pulling the sweet, gray-blue smoke through the stem and filling his lungs. Thun felt his senses expand, and Energy flowed out from his lungs into his Core. It was just the boost he needed.

Thun placed his hand on the ancient bark of the Umbrilak tree, reciting the words he’d learned from the Weave Dancer among the Ghelli Corpse Dreamers so many years ago. He felt the Energy being pulled out of him, into the bark, and then a seam appeared, and the trunk started to pull apart from itself, revealing a shadowy tunnel leading down into the roots of the ancient tree. Thun stepped into the tunnel and calmly descended, whistling a tune as he went; the lines of Energy were so thick here, he could feel it humming through the roots around him. After a short spiral wind of tunnel, Thun came to the chamber he’d prepared.

He’d carved a perfectly round room here, nestled among the roots of the Umbrilak. The walls were smooth, hardened dirt, with lengths of gnarled, dark roots extending through them in seemingly random angles. More importantly, Thun had compressed the soil of the floor and etched it with an immensely intricate pattern. He stood at the center of the design, removed his knife from his belt, and slashed his palm. Thun dripped blood into the bowl-shaped depression near the edge of the pattern, channeling Energy along with the fluid. Slowly at first, but then more quickly, the blood propagated all the lines of the pattern. He gave a final push of Energy, and then his vision faded.

Thun’s vision slowly returned to him, and he saw that he was standing on the pattern, but it was in a different room. Now he was in a dark stone chamber, and he knew he was high in the Blue Spine Mountains. He again called flame to his finger and walked over to the sconce he knew was on the wall opposite him. As the sconce flared to life, Thun took in the small, round, stone room - another place of power that he’d found. Veins of Amber Ore extended beneath him, gathering Energy and creating a natural focal point for it here. He counted three paces from the flaming sconce, and then he turned to the wall, tracing some faint runic symbols etched in the stone. With a little push of Energy, the wall split, sliding open with a soft rumbling grind.

Thun walked up the sloping stone tunnel toward the hazy gray daylight in the distance. Soon he was standing on the ledge of his little mountain getaway, looking out over the diagonal folds of mountain ridges, and watching the sun turn the sky a million shades of gold and crimson with its setting. He pulled lazily on his pipe and sat down on a smooth boulder that had born his weight hundreds of times on evenings just like this. Thun didn’t have to wait long before he heard what he’d been waiting for - the scrabbling sound of someone making the ascent up the narrow, gravel-strewn path from the valley below.

Soon, the bobbing head and shoulders of his visitor came into view. The trail was difficult, and the visitor’s eyes were on the ground, taking each step with care; a fall from this height would prove fatal to most. Thun waited patiently, refilling his pipe and savoring the cool moonlight as the sun finally gave up the fight, slipping away behind the world. He closed his eyes, reveling in the heady smoke from his pipe. The scrape of gravel and the heavy sigh one makes after completing a difficult task signaled his visitor’s arrival. Thun opened his eyes, “Greetings, lordling.”

“Huh, hello, Thun. You have news for my father?” The red-furred Urghat was a dark shadow in the dim light. Only his teeth and parts of his eyes reflected the pale light of the moons.

“Guts, you may bring this news to your father: I have an agent in place within the human colony. I anticipate being able to hamper their defenses severely. Tell Spineripper that he’d best prepare the artifact for delivery. I’ll continue my plans, but I won’t have my agent act before I’ve received the payment.”

“You should use more respect when talking about the Overclaw.” The Urghat took a step, his looming bulk meant to be threatening.

“Sit down, Guts. You’re feeling tired.” With just a bit of Energy, Thun pushed the Suggestion. The Urghat immediately yawned and sat down on another smooth boulder, conveniently situated across from Thun’s. “Now, your father wouldn’t have lied, would he? He has the Calamity Shrike’s heart?”

“Yar, he has it. Was part of his System reward for completing a clan challenge.” The Urghat yawned.

“Imagine that. The System loves to sow strife, that’s for certain, giving out a reward that your ‘Overclaw’ couldn’t possibly be ready to use. Still, I suppose it makes for a sound bargaining chip. So, as I said, I have my agent in place. I’ll continue to make preparations. When you’re people are ready, send someone with the artifact to the heart of the Gresh woods.”

“Gresh woods? Isn’t that place crawling with Yovashi?”

“No, not crawling with them. Don’t worry, my eyes will be open, and your courier need not fear, so long as your father doesn’t deviate from our bargain. Now, sleep here until the sun rises, then scurry down, back to your father.” Thun stood and left the Urghat there, stifling another yawn. Guts didn’t attempt to stop him or even speak again; he was busy rolling out a bedroll and getting ready to follow Thun’s instructions. Thun shook his head; here was another creature with entirely too low a will attribute for its level.

Thun walked back down the sloping tunnel to his hideaway. He closed the seam in the wall and opened another on the pattern room’s opposite side. A short hallway led him to a much cozier room: here, he had a luxurious rug laid over the stone floor, and a short set of steps led to a natural hot spring, vented out through a stone chimney. The sulfur smell was strong in the air, and Thun reveled in it. He doffed his leather gear, stowed it directly into his ring, climbed the steps, and sank into the hot, Energy-rich water. He’d cultivate here for a few hours before making the portal back to the Gresh woods.