Chapter 25: The Path Barely Taken
"All in all, it's up to you," Levi said, looking at Drew. "If you take Wizard Supremacist then you could get an extremely powerful attack spell, at least one strong defensive spell, and a wide array of other things. Keep your bident in your inventory, don't do anything stupid, and you're likely fine."
"I'll think on it," Drew said, leaning back and toking on his joint. "What about you guys?" His voice was very relaxed.
Taylor eyed his friend worriedly for a moment, but let it go.
"Okay," Taylor said, "does anyone disagree that Leo should take Wheeler Dealer and I should take Sysop? That Rollup skill lets her turn low-level boxes into high-level boxes and Sysop lets me transfer boxes from other people to her in order to get rolled up. That, plus all the other bullshit that Sysop can do says to me that we
need this combo. Yes?"
He looked around and got three nods of agreement and a 'hey, why aren't you petting me?' nudge from Moose. He obediently started petting his giant wooly mammoth friend.
"If you do that, maybe I take Banana Farmer," Drew said. "Seed Spray gives ranged damage, the 'animate trees' power give us disposable bodyguards, it's got wide-area detection powers, and I can make the bananas explode. Plus, it sounds hilarious and it doesn't have that huge problem that Wizard Supewhatever does where I blow up if I swat a fly."
"I think you should take Mystic Scholar," Taylor said, ignoring Drew's hyperbole. "You could make scrolls and spellbooks so that we can all use each other's spells. Plus, we could sell them. Levi was saying that money is a good survival mechanic in the dungeon."
Plus, he didn't say,
you could make a spellbook of Create Spellbook so we can keep access to that after this floor. He didn't say it out loud for fear that Borant would preemptively patch the exploit if it was called to their attention.
"Yeah," Calliope said, her voice doubtful. "Except it means we don't have a lot of punch between us. This Rollup combo is going to give us a lot of power, later. Right now we'd be working with the same gear we had on the second floor except we're probably facing tougher mobs."
Taylor looked to Levi; their manager nodded confirmation.
"Takes us back to Wizard Supremacist," Drew said, pulling up the option. "It's got punch for days, and there's so many abilities that even if I don't get all of them I'll probably get
something good."
"Huh," Taylor said. "That's pretty smar..." He trailed off mid-word and sat silently, feeling like he'd just been thwacked with a 2x4.
"Unc?" Calliope asked. "You okay?"
"Levi," Taylor said, "you mentioned that when Moose hits level 60 he'll have an Intelligence of 2, which will make him count as sapient, which means he'll be able to use chat and you'll be able to turn his inventory on so that he can open loot boxes. When that happens, will he be able to get a class and a race?"
Levi shook his head. "No. Everyone only gets one shot at path selection, and that's immediately after arriving on the third floor." He caught himself. "Well, technically there's specialization on the sixth floor. Some classes and races are expected to specialize when they reach the sixth floor. It tweaks their abilities in various ways and powers them up. But it's not full path selection."
Damn. "So if Moose were sapient right now—if he had an Intelligence of 2—then he would be able to pick a class and race, but if he doesn't do it now then he won't be able to later. Yes?"
"Right. Once he leaves this room, he doesn't get to go again." Levi's eyes flickered as he scrolled through menus. "Also, it looks like 'Dog' is an option for race, but it doesn't get a specialization."
"What if he became sapient before leaving this room?" Taylor asked. "If we can get him another two points of Intelligence right now, that would do it, right?"
Levi shook his head. "I mean, yeah, probably, but there's no way. You've got two items that give the necessary bonus but he can't wear the beanie because it's not a canine item and he doesn't have fingers so he can't put on the Mutable Ring. Plus, I'm pretty sure it needs to be his base Intelligence, not the effective number."
"Sysop would allow me to copy an actionable from one crawler to another," Taylor reminded him. "It would shut off my powers for the rest of the floor, but I could do it. Stat bonuses are actionables, right?"
Levi's eyestalks stood straight up. "Yeah," he said, dragging the word out. "Yeah, I think that might actually work. Wow, that class is so nuts." His eyes flickered. "Except it says that you can't be in a safe room while you're using that power."
"Oh," Taylor said, deflating. "Damn."
A slow and secret smile crept onto Levi's face. "Let's figure out the rest of you. Drew, I think you were right: you should choose Wizard Supremacist as your class for this floor in order to give the party some punch. In fact, why don't you do that now? You're probably only going to get some of the abilities, not all of them. If we know which ones you're getting then Calliope and Taylor can
tailor their choices around you."
"Never heard that one before," Taylor muttered.
"S'okay, dude," Drew said, taking a hit on his joint and holding it. He tapped at the air for a moment; there was a short burst of golden light and a faint tan-tan-ta-ra!
"What did you get?" Levi asked.
"Most of it," Drew said. "In fact, everything except the Mystic Assault skill, the Empowerment spell, and the two picks from the spell list where they name the spells. I got the two picks off that list at the bottom, though. Oh, and the Shield and Annihilation Dart spells, so I can do the damage thing." He fired off a series of finger guns, John Woo style. "Pew, pew, pew! Oh, hey, anybody want nachos? I want nachos." He looked sad for a moment, then brightened. He held out his hands and a massive bowl filled with cheese and chips and other fixings appeared from his inventory. He silently offered it around; Taylor and Levi waved him off but Calliope happily took a small plateful.
Once the byplay was finished, Levi nodded. "Cool, glad you got all that. Shield and Dart are excellent combat spells, and you'll be providing all the firepower anyone could ask for. You said you got two picks off an options list. What are the options?"
Drew read them off around noisy mouthfuls of cheesy chips. The group discussed them and choices were made; compared to the drawn-out nature of race and class selection, it was a breeze. The entire process took less than ten minutes.
"Good enough," Levi said. "Taylor, Calliope, all that's left is your race selection. Drew's got damage covered, so you guys are free to invest in more utility-oriented things. You'll need to choose options that unlock Earth classes, but that's the only limit."
"Pity," Taylor said. "Leo, I wanted you to take Tortugan. The idea of a seven-foot giant tortoise riding around on a skateboard was hilarious." Plus, that race had a huge Constitution bonus and heavy armor, making her vastly more survivable. He hadn't forgotten his promise to Danielle.
She stuck her tongue out at him. "No way, Unc. Ima go catkin all the way."
"You sure?" Taylor asked. "Some of these other options look pretty amazing. Look at Chronan; it gives you literal time powers. Those are always broken."
"Yeah, but the best ones aren't available for ages," she said. "Level 20 for Time Cube, 30 for Borrowed Time, and 40 for Time Rip. Plus, Time Cube is too small to trap an opponent in until I've leveled my Intelligence forever." Her eyes did not flicker with the glow of interface access, nor did she glance at the display where Levi had pulled up the description of the race.
"No way to know what you'll get from catkin," Drew said. He blew a smoke ring and watched it rise to the ceiling. "Total lottery. It's the antiwhat."
"First of all, ew. Don't try to talk like me," Calliope said. "It's weird. Second, catkin will get me good socials. Levi said that's the only way to survive in here."
"I did not say that!" Levi yelped. He hesitated, thinking. "Or, if I did, then I was oversimplifying. Yes, you need to get an audience, but that's a long-term thing. You also need to survive the short term. Chronan is a good race. Sure, it's got a ramp to get to the more powerful abilities, but you start off with the Haste Self spell. That's excellent for someone like you, who can fight both in melee and at range. It lets you pick the engagement distance that's most inconvenient for your opponent."
"Doppelganger sounded cool," Drew said. His voice was getting dreamy. "You'd be like the Terminator. Not the Ahnold one, the metal one. That guy was badass."
"He's right," Levi said. "It's hard to do an apples-to-apples, but doppleganger
might be the most powerful race on your list."
"Eh," Calliope said. She reached out and tapped the air. "There. Choice locked in. I'm a catkin."
"Damnit, Calliope!" Taylor said. "We talk about these things!"
She shrugged, unrepentant. "End of the day, it's my body and my choice. You support the 'my body, my choice' thing, right Unc?"
"That is not the same thing and you know it," he said, voice hard and cold.
"Why not?"
"Because..." That was actually a good question. "Because it's not just you on the line here. We need to decide this stuff as a group. Find synergy so that we are more than the sum of our parts."
She shrugged again. "At some point, we have to make a decision and this is mine. Now, we're burning time. Do you want to keep scolding me or do you want to nail down your choice and get out there?"
Taylor forced his fists and jaw to unclench and made himself take several deep breaths. "Fine. Let's do this."
o-o-o-o
With much griping and complaining, Levi had climbed back into his formal clothes. He dusted off the hat, slipped his ears through the slots and made sure the hat was balanced properly so it didn't pull on his delicate ears.
"You ready?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be," Taylor said.
Levi nodded and pulled the door open, stepping through with a dramatic flourish. Taylor Blue followed him through without bothering to elaborate his motions.
On the other side of the door was a dirt road with one- and two-storey wooden buildings running along both sides. It could have come straight off the studio lot of any Western film ever made, except it sprawled more. An eclectic mix of people were passing by—a handful of elves, a lion-headed humanoid, and something that looked like a tumbleweed made out of snakes that moved by biting the ground and rolling itself. Overhead, Taylor could see three humanoid eagles; one was swooping and spinning like a dancer and the other two were clearly moving with purpose from one building to another.
"Your attention, please!" Levi cried. "It gives me great pleasure to announce: Taylor Stone, the Level 15 Multacorpalan Sysop!"
A few people glanced over with dim interest, then continued on their way.
Taylor Blue deflated. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but that wasn't it. Maybe if he'd brought both bodies out simultaneously? (Mutacorpalan was bullshit.)
"And now we wait," Levi said with a sigh. He unfolded a camp stool and sat down, leaning back against the wall of the guild and closing his eyes.
Taylor sat down crosslegged, facing the door. Path selection did not end until all crawlers had exited the room and, so long as it continued, no one could see, or send chat messages, in or out of the guild hall. As a result, all that either of his bodies could see in the doorway was a shimmering blue field with golden sparks skittering and crackling through it. That, and a massive paw and a celadon-green hand that were stretched through the blue field.
He scooted as close as he could get and placed a hand on both the paw and the green-skinned hand. He let his eyes fall closed and tried to relax.
o-o-o-o
Moose: MOOSE LOVES YOU, TAYLOR AND CALLIOPE AND DREW!
Taylor laughed and thumped the massive dog on the shoulder, just behind where his brand-new peytral opened out to provide freedom of movement. The armor gleamed silver and blue in the bright sun of the Overcity as the team walked out of town. "Love you too, buddy."
Levi and Taylor had spent an hour sitting outside the guild while Taylor waited for his Sysop power to activate and copy one of Drew's class features, the Intelligence boost granted by Wizard Supremacist, over to Moose. They had then waited another three hours while Levi and the humans guided a very excited and newly-sapient dog through the process of selecting a race and class. Moose had been especially excited after discovering the chat system; this was the fourth time he had messaged the humans about his affectionate feelings for them.
Moose: MOOSE LIKES YOU, RABBIT GUY! MOOSE MIGHT LOVE YOU LATER, AFTER MOOSE KNOWS YOU MORE! YOU SMELL GOOD!
Drew, Moose, Calliope, and Taylor Gold (as distinct from his original body that had been dubbed Taylor Blue for clarity) had only just now left the guild hall, thereby ending path selection. This had removed the block on sending chat messages in or out of the guild and enabled Moose to message Levi directly instead of sending the message to Taylor Gold, who would then repeat the message aloud through the Taylor Blue body that was outside the guild hall. (The Multacorpalan race and its multiple-body powers were
absolute bullshit.)
Levi: Drew, didn't your class give you a +20 boost to Intelligence?
Drew: Yup. Why?
Levi: Taylor, that's the bonus that you copied to Moose, right?
Taylor: Yup.
Levi: Moose, the average human has an Intelligence of 4. Yours is 20.
Moose: YES! MOOSE IS SMART BRAIN DOG! THANK YOU FOR MOOSE SMART BRAIN, TAYLOR AND DREW! MOOSE LIKES BEING SMART BRAIN! MOOSE ALSO LIKES BACON! AND SCRITCHES! GIB BACON AND SCRITCHES PLEASE!
Moose spun in a circle, chasing after his own tail and huffing in excitement. Fortunately, the street was wide and the various passersby had been giving the enormous dog plenty of space, so no one was sent flying. Granted, Drew and Calliope and Taylor needed to move quickly to avoid being struck.
Levi: This is a joke, right? You're putting us on with this dumb dog act?
Moose: MOOSE IS NOT DUMB! MOOSE IS SMART! RABBIT GUY SHOULD NOT CALL MOOSE DUMB! MOM ALWAYS TOLD TAYLOR AND DANNI THAT CALLING PEOPLE DUMB IS NOT NICE! MOOSE IS NOT SURE HE LIKES RABBIT GUY NOW!
Levi: Ohhhhkay. Well, the intelligence scale
is different between races sometimes. An Intelligence of 4 doesn't mean the same thing for a human and a marlok. (They're an alien species. They look like clams with legs and a prehensile tongue.)
Calliope: Gross. I bet they smell like stank.
Moose: MOOSE BETS THEY SMELL YUMMY! MOST THINGS SMELL YUMMY! EXCEPT TOMATOES! TOMATOES ARE BAD! MOOSE DOES NOT LIKE TOMATOES!
Levi: Actually, yeah, martoks smell gross. Kinda like salty barf. Only time I ever regretted being a manager.
"Here we are," Taylor said, speaking through both mouths at once because why wouldn't he and it was fun watching everyone look freaked out. He switched to alternating as he said, "Edge of town, beginning of terra incognita, gateway to adventure—"
"Unc, would you
please stop switching between bodies for each word?" Calliope begged.
Taylor turned inward, facing Calliope's front and back simultaneously, enjoying the way he could watch behind himself from both directions. "Why wouldn't I—" / "—switch? Besides—" / "—I'm not actually switching. There's—" / "—only one of me."
"It's friggin' weird," she griped. "Especially since there's one of you on each side of me so the words come from different directions."
"Hmph," Taylor double-said, speaking through both Blue and Gold and folding all four of his arms with twinned expressions of offense. He did, however, take mercy on her enough to speak only through Blue (the one she was facing) when he said, "Do I ask you to only use one hand to pick things up? Noooo. No, I do not."
"Don't be a buttcheek, Unc."
He chuckled. "Okay, okay. I'll be nice," he said through Blue.
Taylor: Levi, we're at the edge of town. Any advice before we leave, as you called it, 'this useless little place'?
Levi: I didn't say it was useless. I said that small towns are expensive and have limited inventory in the shops so it's more useful to go to one of the bigger settlements. And my advice is the same as it was before: Go on the road or through the ruins, your choice, but get to the next settlement by sundown. Message me when you can see the place and
do not go into a safe room until you get there, and warn me before you do.
Calliope: Geez, Levi. We get it. You don't want to be teleported without warning. We get it, we get it. You don't have to throw down about it.
Levi: That's not remotely what I'm doing. Now go on, git. I've got stuff to do.
Vote time! You're voting for two things: where you're going and how you're getting there.
The third floor is an open-world level consisting of a lot of towns connected by roads. The towns come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. Small towns have expensive shops with poor selection and little in the way of opportunity. On the other hand, they are generally fairly safe. Large towns are the opposite on all points, and medium towns balance risk and opportunity. The area between the towns is ruins—the conceit of this floor is that the entire area used to be a massive metropolis that was destroyed in Scolopendra's nine-tier attack, leaving only isolated pockets of civilization behind. The ruins are infested with mobs, dangerous ones by day and more dangerous ones by night.
If you commit a crime in a town, the guards will attack you. They are essentially unbeatable at your current level, so if you piss them off then the only solution is to run for it. They will not follow you out of the town and they do not communicate with guards in other towns, although their aggro does not go away.
There are two towns nearby, one medium and one large. Levi's initial suggestion was that you go to the medium town first, as a way of getting your feet wet with a decent balance of risk and reward. After some discussion, he admitted that the timers on this floor are very short and you've already burned a
lot of time on path selection, so it might make more sense to go straight to the large town where the best opportunities will be. He left it up to you which way to go and whether to stick on the roads (which are safe and will get you there quickly) or cut through the ruins, which is a route that is simulatneously more dangerous and more direct, although still slower due to worse terrain.
There are two votes going on:
[] (Where) Medium
[] (Where) Large
[] (How) Roads
[] (How) Ruins
New Achievement! Discordian Delight
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#dungeon-crawler-you channel in the
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