Death Whistles: A Mercenary Quest

I've always just lurked around these boards for a little while but I've finally decided to try my own quest. Please be patient as I am still getting used to the "quest" system and how it works. All criticism is welcomed. The setting of this story takes place in a medieval fantasy world called Oz, where magic exists.
~~~~~

"Money isn't everything."

What a stupid quote. At least your new boss would think so. He was about to use his riches to take over the world.

You see the world of Oz is made up of 7 different kingdoms, all of them containing their own lords, knights, kings, peasants, and more. And out of all these individuals your boss, Lord Isaac Melchior is the wealthiest man in existence. It's rumored that he possesses more money than all of the 7 kingdoms combined.

Lord Melchior was born into an already wealthy family but he had made several smart business moves that took him from insanely wealthy to it's-borderline-impossible-for-you-to-have-this-much-money wealthy. You would assume someone with that much money would be content to relax and enjoy their life but apparently being able to purchase everything in existence isn't good enough.

Lord Melchior was enamored by the idea of ruling over his own kingdom. He made offers of ludicrous amounts of money to all of the kings of Oz to buy their kingdoms. Unfortunately, the kings weren't ready to give up all of their land, buildings, and control over the subjects that lived in their territories. Melchior was promptly declined by all 7 of the kings who would not negotiate a price with him. He gave them one last ultimatum to reach an agreement for the kingdoms or he would take them by force. An ultimatum that the kings did not take seriously as they dismissed him.

And all of that led you to today. You'd just reached the outside of Melchior's estate, where you saw about 1,000 or so other mercenaries waiting to get into his gates. Melchior spent a fortune hiring the best mercenaries in the world to serve as soldiers in his own personal army. You assumed that he would get you acquainted with his estate today, spend the next few weeks organizing you into an actual military unit, declare war on one of the seven kingdoms, conquer said kingdom, and then move on to the next one until he eventually ruled over all of Oz.

It must be nice to be rich.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You yawned as you moved up a step in line. You'd been waiting on line to get into Melchior's estate for about 5 or 6 hours now. You'd heard stories about it before but seeing it in person completely shattered all of the myths.

Melchior's castle was the biggest castle you'd ever seen in your life. It was a gigantic dark blue castle about the size of a large village, surrounded by an imperial steel gate, and acres of fertile land.

At the gate entrance stood a young woman. As you got closer to the gates you recognized her as Lady Beatrix Melchior, Lord Melchiors only daughter. She was stunningly beautiful, with olive skin, long soft brown hair, and piercing emerald green eyes. She was dressed in an elegant white dress that certainly helped to accentuate her slim but curvy figure. Beatrix was handing sheets of paper to the mercenaries as they entered the estate, most likely a copy of the contractual agreement between them and Lord Melchior.

You were about 5 people away from the gates when you heard some people behind you arguing about their reasons for becoming a mercenary. It sounded pretty pointless to you. Mercenary work was pretty brutal, you essentially killed people for a living. You obviously had to have a strong enough conviction for this line of work. Nevertheless, their argument reminded you of the reason you became a mercenary, your favorite indulgence and your ultimate vice....

[] For the thrill of battle! There was nothing like the rush you get from fighting to the death with your life on the line! (Story: Path of Violence)

[] For your love of women. You loved women and women loved money, which indirectly made you a lover of money, at any cost. (Story: Path of Lust)

[] For the alcohol. It was safe to say you've completely transcended alcoholism by being drunk every waking moment of the day. You needed this income in order to support your addiction. (Story: Path of Intoxication)

[] For the fame. In Oz, if you weren't born into wealth, then you were a nobody. The only way you could make a name for yourself was by becoming an accomplished knight or mercenary. (Story: Path of Vanity)

[] For the dreams of early retirement. You were an extremely lazy individual. Any other career field that you could get would have you working until the day you died. Hopefully after you helped Mercier take over the world, you would have enough money to retire and not do a damn thing for the rest of your life. (Story: Path of Apathy)

[] Write-in. Just try to follow the examples above.


A/N: If you have any questions or concerns feel free to let me know.

Stats

All stats in this quest are out of 100 which represents mastery over a stat.

Durability: Basically HP. The amount of physical damage you can take before dying or falling unconscious. Also effects your ability to fight through pain. (Fighting with a broken arm etc.)
Mana: Your reserve for using spells. The more mana you have the more spells you can use before exhausting yourself.
Spellcasting: Affects your skill in using spells. (Shooting a single fireball that flies straight vs five different fireballs that hone in on your target), ability and speed in learning and creating new spells, and ability to improve already existing spells.
Strength: Physical strength in terms of striking others, lifting objects, etc.
Speed: Physical speed and reflexes.
Intelligence: Your "book smarts", perceptiveness, your ability to detect lies, make plans, etc
Combat: Your combat IQ and your hand to hand combat skill.
Weapon Skill: How skilled you are with a specific weapon.
Stamina: Your endurance for physical activities before getting fatigued and passing out.
Dexterity: Your accuracy and evasion tied into one.

Ranking


Fighters are ranked on a scale of the grand total of their stats.

E (0 - 100) A regular human being.

D+ (100 - 199) A regular human with minimal combat experience.

D (200 - 299) Rookie footsoldiers. Somewhat trained in the magical and combat arts, otherwise average compared to regular humans.

C (300 - 399) Common soldiers. Competent with their magic/combat skills.

C+ (400 - 499) Experienced soldiers. Veterans in physical and magical combat.

B (500 - 599) Elite soldiers. Standouts among warriors, highly skilled in combat and/or magic.

B+ (600 - 699) The gifted and the talented. Warriors who have reached near reached the level of mastery on the battlefield.

A (700 - 849) The pinnacle of humanity. These fighters are the peak of human ability.

A+ (850 - 999) Individuals who are beyond the brink of humanity in terms of power.

S (1000+) Near god-like in power, these are the strongest individuals in existence. A single S rank has the potential to bring an entire kingdom to its knees.


Mana Cost

The mana cost of a spell can vary from; Minimal, Low, Medium, High, Massive, and Colossal.

For a good barometer Minimal are spells you can spam nonstop with no impact. Low costs are spells you can spam but slowly drain your mana. Medium costs are spells you can cast repeatedly by take a toll on you, High costs are spells you can typically use 3-4 times, maybe more depending on your mana size. Massive costs are spells you can use generally once or twice max. Colossal costs represents spells that completely use all of your mana and have the ability to render you unconscious, injured, or even kill you.

You can train and spend the points upgrading your spells and choosing the effects. (Requiring less mana, less time to start, increasing strength and size of spell, altering effects of spell, etc.)



Reputation

All social interactions Jim has with other characters can either increase or decrease his reputation with them. Rep in this quest is out of 50, so the max you can have is 50 rep and the lowest you can have is -50. For a barometer -50 is hate, -25 strong dislike, -10 dislike, 0 indifference, 10 like, 25 friendship, and 50 is love. You can increase rep either through quest rewards or through social interactions with other characters. The amount of rep gained or lost is equivalent to either the dice roll or the action that caused the change in rep. (Ex; Telling a girl she looks pretty will get you less rep than saving her life.)

Monetary System

Money in this quest is based on a bronze, silver, and gold system so it works like this.

100 Bronze = 1 Silver
100 Silver = 1 Gold


You will get a better feeling for how much weight gold carries as you read the quest but for a general barometer, the average man makes about 4-5 gold a year.

Life and Death

So as far lives go in this game, every chapter you start off with 3 lives. If you use up all of those lives, the MC dies for good and you guys must pick from a selection of characters you've interacted with to continue the quest. There are opportunities to earn extra lives for the harder chapters in the quest.

Reserved for Character List