She agreed to a second chance at life. She made a very big mistake.
At least whatever afterlife she was going to would have been better than being stuck in a Sabbat controlled Miami with who knows what else out there in a rotting, slowly crumbling world.
This world has been broken since before history was recorded, and now she was stuck here, in the body of a former ghoul with a vengeance. Eh, doubt anyone would mind if some parts of Miami went up in smoke.
I would be lying if I said that dying wasn't that bad.
Sure, the constant pain and detachment from the body thanks to drugs was now gone, a balm on my soul that I never thought I would have, especially not in my right mind.
Lung cancer was a bitch, especially because breathing was sorta something that you needed, no matter how much I sometimes wished that I didn't. The end wasn't that bad though.
Surrounded by friends and loved ones, a smile on my face as the medication dulled the pain, and the last thing I saw was my little guerito's (little white boy) sad green eyes, filled with tears that made my heart break and soar as I closed my eyes and just… let the currents take me.
It had been a good forty or so years. Sure, the world might have gone a bit weird, and the roads that my life took hadn't been the ones that I expected.
Some days were bad, others were better. But those green eyes had been the thing keeping me going for so long, and in the end, I was happy to have at least seen the son I took in grow into the man that my asshole of a dad should have been. Yes, even after fortyish years since seeing him I still hold a grudge, sue my old ass.
Anyways, you don't care about my old ass dying, I barely care about that much right now. No, what I really cared about was blinking my eyes and finding myself sitting in an… office.
Not even a fancy office.
A simple wooden desk, wooden board filled with photos of people and… was that a Wookie? Smiling into the camera, while little pins dotted the brown and sea of frozen people.
Other than that, the walls were barren white, and there was a dinky old computer that looked like someone had dusted it out of a museum beeping away as a scraggly blue bearded man typed away, green eyes magnified behind his half crescent glasses.
And I don't mean normal green eyes, I mean glowing, life giving green that crackled with energy as they flicked at me once before they moved back to his screen.
What kinda old anime ass shit was this?
"You're dead." The man with baggy eyes said, his twenty-something face instead looking like he was in his mid-forties.
I could help the words that came out of my mouth, but I stopped giving a damn about that years ago. "Yeah, no shit, dumbass."
"Hm." The old/young man hummed without a measure of emotion as he typed away before he finally turned to me. "Good, you've accepted it already, can't stand when I have to counsel one of the new hires."
"Kid, this better be a joke, because I thought that the whole point of dying was that you could finally stop working." Seriously, that was, like, the one good thing about finally closing your eyes for the final time. "What kinda job would you want a 68 year old Latina for anyway? I ain't' hoofing it around, legs are tired enough as is."
"Right, I work for an organization that likes to give dead souls that have potential second chances as data collectors and overall doing various jobs across worlds in exchange for power."
"I know I was high as a kite when they pumped me full of drugs, but I don't think I was high enough for my soul to get stuck on whatever video game shit this is."
"If narcotics were really the only way to get here, I would be even more swamped than I already am, and wouldn't bother keeping photos around." Greeny said as he gestured towards the photos, one hand gently brushing a fingertip across the laminated images with a tenderness that was very much against the bored accountant look he was giving me.
"Alright, I get power out of this, whatever, that might be enough to get the lonely desperate shit for brains to agree to whatever this is, but you're going to need to be more specific if you want me to agree to this."
"I don't really need your agreement, I can just force you to do it, but I prefer to work with you instead of forcing you to do a job you don't want to do. We get more results that way, and I have fewer headaches due to not dealing with any rebellions or intentional fuckups." He responded dryly, as if he'd done this whole song and dance already.
"Why are you doing this, kid? You look tired." Was this weird? Yes. Should I be questioning how real all this was? Maybe, but I died, and I remember dying. What else did I have to lose?
He let out a long, long sigh, rubbing his beautiful green eyes with one hand while passing over a smirk. "I am, but when your mother is busy dealing with a bunch of branching or broken timelines across multiverses, you tend to push yourself to the limit instead of just bailing. I could. But I won't."
"You're serious about the whole giving me power just for data and doing the odd job?" I asked, knowing that I probably wasn't going to get more out of him.
"As a heart attack. We always need more agents, for extra variables or simply to do the occasional odd job that a variant needs help with, but it costs us little to dole that out. Once you have this, the System we provide, the strength and power is yours to do with as you wish. Won't cost us much besides whatever you buy from the Marketplace."
System? Marketplace? Huh? And what was this about his mother and 'branching timelines'?
"Alright, we need to wrap this up, I need to debug a system error that is summoning monkey gods to the wrong reality, and that sorta takes up priority, so listen good, and listen fast and be ready to say yes or no. We provide you with a System and Marketplace to provide you with tools, gear, and various other materials that you need to become stronger. In exchange, we offer quests of objectives that we would like to be accomplished, with optional ones being highlighted. If there are some quests that you can't complete for whatever reason, the consequences will be yours to deal with in the main world we will be sending you to. As for the world, it is not a happy one, or one that one would consider the ideal. Good news is, you can help fix it, and do whatever you want because honestly, it's harder to break at this point than healing it. And before you ask, no, you can't go back to your family. That life is gone, and the door is closed to you. You have thirty seconds to answer yes or no, and if you answer yes, then more information will be provided. Whatever afterlife you have is outside our control, so don't bother asking us where you're going."
He pressed a button and an hourglass appeared, each grain of sand falling down in a shower of ticking time.
Fuck.
Fuck.
A second chance at life, but I become someone's lapdog? But he said I could not do quests. That would bring consequences that would be mine to deal with. And the life was going to be shit.
Sure, he said it would be easier to fix than break, but was that really a life that I wanted to live? I could just… go to whatever afterlife is out there for me.
But what if there's nothing? Shut the fuck up existential dread, no one asked you!
Yet, the thought was out of the bottle and bouncing around in my head. Fucking hooray. Now it was all that I could think of. So, like a normal, stupid human, I let my fear of death take over and said. "Yes."
"Wonderful." For the first time since I had shown up, he gives me a big, genuine smile. "I look forward to working with you. So, let us get underway then."
More clicks of the ancient keyboard pass as his mouth moves. "Unfortunately, your start is going to be a harrowing one, mainly because it is the easiest way to ease you into the underbelly of the world that you are going to. Your objective? Prevent, or at least mitigate, the incoming end of the world. It is a world of horror and monsters, one where good rarely shines bright, and more than one breed of creature of the night prowls the world. If you die in your line of work, the acts that you did in this world will apply to whatever afterlife awaits, so please keep that in mind before you decide to go full 'edgelord' as the younger folk like to say."
Words flew from his mouth, faster than the swiftness of his hands on the keyboard, as he met my gaze and gave me a soft smile. "You will wake up afraid and in danger, and for that, I am sorry. But please, do your best. This is a world that needs a little light, and I hope that you can provide it."
Those were the last words I heard before everything went dark.
I instantly regretted not taking that damned offer for the afterlife the moment I opened my eyes and saw an image straight out of hell. It was a dingy, old motel room, one of the roach infested ones that you just knew had drug deals going down. Trust me, being out in the streets taught you when one was going down, and to stay the fuck away.
Standing up on shaky limbs, forcing the damn things to keep me from falling into a pool of something, I stared into what had to be a drug deal gone wrong. Or a gang fight that went right for someone.
The motel room was full of corpses. Most of them were riddled with holes or had their necks ripped open like some animal had gone for their throat. Some of them though looked… wrong. Like their bones had pushed themselves out of their bodies while their flesh had been sculpted into something wrong.
I lick my lips involuntarily and flinch back as the taste hits my tongue. That pool I had been laying in?
That was blood.
My blood, I knew.
Or rather… Regina's blood. The girl that had been taken by these assholes and brainwashed into being a good little footsoldier.
The corpses of the people weren't the only ones. Over by the restroom, there was a corpse that looked like someone had drained all the blood from the inside, down to even the fucking bone marrow as sunken hollow eyes stared up into the ceiling.
The open doorway only showed even more corpses in the warm night air, blood leaking down the rails onto the floor below, the constant drip from the veritable carpet of corpses a bloody pale sight. I had seen dead bodies before. Hard not to when you were a street rat that had run away from her parents.
But I had never seen this many.
I don't bother fighting the urge to throw up, but end up only dry heaving because there wasn't really anything in my stomach.
Well, except my stomach acid.
When I finished hating my life, a small blue screen appeared.
GAMER SYSTEM INSTALLED
STATUS MENU INSTALLED
QUEST MENU INSTALLED
SKILL MENU INSTALLED
PERK MENU INSTALLED
MAGIC MENU INSTALLED
SHOP MENU INSTALLED
PARTY MENU INSTALLED
SKILL, PERKS, MAGIC, AND SHOP MENU CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE DUE TO TUTORIAL STILL ACTIVE
WARNING, YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM POST REVIVING SICKNESS
WARNING YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM BODY WEAKNESS
"What the fuck?" I ask the unfeeling void that was the blue text box with white glowing letters
QUEST GIVEN
SURVIVE
YOU HAVE WOKEN UP IN WHAT CAN ONLY BE EXPLAINED AS A BULLET ORGY GONE HORRIBLY RIGHT WITH THE LOVELY RED FINISH. GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE DUMBASS, OR ELSE YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FOR REAL THIS TIME
Somewhere in an office outside of real space, a blue haired old young man groaned in irritation.
REWARD?
100XP, SKILL, PERK, MAGIC AND SHOP MENU UNLOCKED, 2000GP
"What menu?" I asked the empty warm bloody air, trying to ignore the iron stuffing into my nose as memories that weren't mine flashed through my head.
A menu of blue appeared in front of me, the quest disappearing.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
HP:20/50 MP:150/150
FUNDS:0
REVIVING SICKNESS MINUS 5 FROM MENTAL ATTRIBUTES
BODY WEAKNESS MINUS 5 FROM PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
BLOOD BOND(BROKEN) CONNECTION TO KINDRED
Jesus christ.
The sound of movement and some sort of squelching sound caught my attention, and slowly, oh so slowly, I tipped my head over the balcony down to the first floor below.
It was a parking garage, something so mundane and normal that you would be forgiven for just ignoring it. You know, if it wasn't for the dead shriveled bodies on the floor. One of which had someone kneeling over the corpse, their head bent down onto a dead man's neck.
I didn't need to see it to know what was happening.
That horned bitch. She survived a shotgun blast to the chest. And she was drinking her fill because that's what she needed to survive.
The fight upstairs had been a wild and savage thing, one that I had been too doped out of my head because of whatever the fuck they did to me to remember. There were guns littered on the floor, and if the hotel wasn't so outside of the city, then the place would already be swarming with popo already.
I tried taking a step back, but of course that's when my fucking feet slipped and I fell onto the floor, the blood staining my clothes and face. I hit the floor with a loud slam and feel what little HP I had go down into the bare minimum. I hear more than see the horned thing downstairs howl at me, their rapid footsteps coming up, snarling and howling like some sorta monster.
Fuckshitmierdashitfuckcoolerofuck
I scramble around, hands reaching out for whatever my hands can reach, and feel one hand grip a long bulky thing, and the other wrap around the hilt of something far smaller that felt familiar in my grip.
I wasn't going to fuckin die her-
A blur of motion rushes up the stairs, and on mere instinct, I raise either weapons and point them at the rushing abomination. With a squeeze of both fingers, I pull the trigger of both weapons. In my right, a pistol that was dripping red with blood. In the other, a shotgun that flew away with the recoil, as my noodle arms were very much not strong enough to deal with this.
She screeches in pain and horror, bloody fanged mouth howling in pain and outrage, dazed demonic eyes lost in pain as her flesh horns bled from past injuries. The pistol got her in the chest, the shotgun on her legs, tearing one knee apart as the other was thrown off the balcony, landing belly first on the floor, her head mere inches away from my leg.
Enough room for the red dress wearing cunt to reach out and try to bite into my leg, mouth chomping onto the metal floor with enough force to tear through.
Acting on pure adrenaline, I unload every last bullet in the clip onto the screaming vampire, because what else could it be? Only two of the five bullets impact her skull, her screams turning more frantic, more distorted, like screaming through multiple speakers before adding in bats screaming into the stereo. I just chucked the gun at her as I scrambled away and grabbed a piece of broken wood from a nearby door.
She launches herself off the floor, right into the waiting wood that pierced her through the heart.
With that, the screaming dies, and the flesh sculpting bitch goes quiet, torpor taking over.
I knew what world I was in.
And I fucking hated it. I grab the nearest gun, and unload even more bullets into the bitch until her head was little more than a mess. Knowing that I can't stay here for long, I drag her, my pissy strength barely enough to roll her down the stairs, and I struggle to get her into the back of a nearby pickup truck.
Looking at a nearby corpse, I find a watch and give a grim smile as the clock struck 5AM.
Even if the bitch wasn't dead yet, sunrise was soon.
But I didn't have the luxury to wait.
Without another look at the parking lot, I look into one of the empty motel rooms and take a quick shower, knowing that the cops weren't going to come for at least another half hour. I was done getting most of the blood off in less than five minutes, and I take some clothes from a nearby dresser, the poor owner of the clothes now gone. As was everyone else in this hotel room.
God, this was such a fucking shitshow.
By the time I let the tears flow, I was driving down the road, having stolen one of the many cars that we had brought with us, hands shaking, and barely able to see the road. I hit Miami just as the sun rose, and a notification hit.
QUEST COMPLETE
SURVIVE
SECRET OBJECTIVE COMPLETED
KILL BONE LILY THE TZIMISCE
REWARDED FULL SYSTEM UNLOCKED
2000XP REWARDED
6000GP REWARDED
+1 TO ALL STATS
OBTAINED THE PERK, STAKER
DEAL BONUS CRITICAL DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES WHEN STAKING THEM THROUGH THE HEART
ISLA REVERE AKA BONE LILY ELIMINATED
REWARD: 1500XP, 1100 GP By the time I had gotten to 'my' apartment, I had cried my eyes out already and just felt… tired.
I took another shower, making sure to get every last speck of red off my skin, thankfully still brown just a lighter shade, changed into a new set of underwear that needed to be replaced soon, and a loose shirt. I burned the clothes I had stolen and hid the ashes in a box that I would then scatter into the ocean.
After that, I slept, and didn't dream.
When I woke up, I stared at the dingy, disgusting apartment that looked like someone barely lived here.
There wasn't a single clean plate in the dirty, brown sink, most of the clothes were dirty, or barely hanging together, and trash had been piled up in half forgotten bags in the corner.
Then I looked at myself in the mirror. Or rather, the face of the young lady that had died. And I felt my heart crack as I stared at the gaunt, haunted face that looked back. We didn't look alike much. Her features were sharper, rougher than my button nose or almond eyes, hers being more angular, nose far more pointed than mine was. Sad Hazel eyes stared back where they should have been a darker brown, and my hair that had been grey and white was replaced by straight bronze.
Taller than I had been, but that wasn't much of an accomplishment when I was barely above five feet, and I can't believe that a part of me right now is missing being a short stack.
Regina had been a pretty, bright young girl at one time, with hopes and dreams. A veterinarian. She loved animals, adored learning about them and volunteering at shelters.
A future that she had been building towards, brick by back breaking brick, barely eating because her family didn't come from money, but making her parents proud. Then she got mixed up with the wrong crowd.
Met the wrong people that introduced her to another ghoul that then introduced her to him.
A short man with close-cropped blond hair, shades, and always wearing some kind of leather jacket with nice clothes underneath. Skin as pale as bones, with a smile that had long since lost joy, now frankensteined by mere sadistic pleasure.
The memories were there, but not mine. Just reflections that I could look at, detached.
That only made me angrier when I thought of him, and how he used the girl that had once dreamed of healing sick dogs and nursing orphaned kittens. Who would get followed around by whatever little animal had grown an interest in her for no reason other than her presence.
Who became so obsessed with reaching her dreams that she found herself isolated, bereft of any real friends. A marvelous opportunity for recruiters and predators.
A year of life as a ghoul. A year away from graduating and finally earning that doctorate of hers. All of it, now gone into wind, the memories the only thing left of her inside of this body. And that damned connection that the Brujah prick made on her.
Well… how's about we take care of that, why don't we?
The only thing I have to lose is a life that isn't mine. So, how's about I take that asshole down? And every other Vampire in this fucking city.
NEW QUEST
CLEANSE THE WOUND
OH GEE, HERE WE GO! THIS!
THIS IS WHY I LISTEN TO THAT BORING OLD DIRECTING MANAGER IN THE FIRST PLACE! THE MURDER! THE CARNAGE! THE FUTILITY! GO OUT AND KILL EVERY VAMPIRE IN THIS CITY! CLEANSE THE ROT BUILT INTO THIS CITY! IT'LL JUST COST YOU WHATEVER ANONYMITY YOU HAVE LEFT, BUT THAT ISN'T SAYING MUCH SINCE IT'S ABOUT AS FLIMSY AS A DOGGY BAG THAT'S BEEN REUSED FIVE OR SIX TIMES
REWARD?
WHO KNOWS?
Wouldn't be World of Darkness if shit wasn't ominous, now would it?
Before that though… time to clean this fucking place.
Though, how's about I buy something to make this easier?
And there were a lot of notifications that I hadn't bothered to open yet.
Five level up notifications, five stat points per level, leaving a nice little nest egg with more of those 'GP' things than I knew what to do with. The weakness hadn't left me yet, it still felt like I was moving through weighted limbs with a bit of brain fog that wouldn't go away, regardless that I slept a good twelve hours. The first full night of sleep that Regina's body received in at least a month.
I even got a quest notification for cleaning this place, couple hundred or so XP and some GP, but I didn't really care much about that. Better to just have some place clean and her personal belongings stored away. She deserved that much respect at least.
Oh, god. I was going to have to reach out to her sister wasn't I?
The thought of not doing so was an even worse thought than the latter.
Not now. Now, you choose your weapons. Your powers and spells.
So, what to choose?
Instead of buying something really quick, I wound up spending the next hour or two just going over various options. There were a lot of locked boxes, citing 'requirements not met', but that didn't mean that I didn't have plenty there to tide me over.
Apparently, some of these had been unlocked when I staked and suncooked that flesh sculpting horned bitch.
MIND RESISTANCE
2000GP
VAMPIRE PHYSIOLOGY
4000GP
WOODEN WEAPON MASTERY
1500
Yeah, some of those options could go take a sunbath, ain't no way I was going to turn myself into one of those damned monsters.
No matter how much I dug, I couldn't find Observe anywhere on the list, think that someone might have scrubbed that from the list because of how much bullshit that one skill was.
Well, I could do with something to compensate for it, besides, intrigue and investigation was a big part of this damned world, so I might as well buy something for this place, shouldn't I?
CURRENT BALANCE:5100GP
It was like I could suddenly see the obvious in the world that I couldn't before.
The minor scuff marks over the window held greater interest than before, as did the little scratch marks that were left on the latch, like someone had tried cutting through it or rubbed something against it a bit too much.
What it was, I didn't know, but it was only one of the many new details that suddenly just popped to my eyes.
INVESTIGATION HAS REACHED LEVEL 2
Yeah, I don't think this one is going to get old any time soon.
Hm, going to have ta be picky with what I buy from here on out, don't have that much GP left. Though, those debuffs were still there.
Fuck it, Esuna was a spell that had every benefit, especially in this world.
ESUNA
-2000GP
Immediately I could feel the difference when I cast the spell on myself, my MP took a hit, but the overall weakness, the slight fogginess in my brain was gone. Like someone had snuffed out a candle on the way out of a room.
Alright, 3200 GP left, and I still needed to distribute those points.
Hm, how about evening some of the scales out?
STR:14
DEX:13
VIT:16
AGI:14
INT:21
WIS:26
There we go, nice distribution. Specializing was probably the smarter option, but I wasn't exactly going to go full mage like I wanted to.
Would it be awesome if I could just vaporize that fucker with a Flare? Sure.
But then I'd have every cop and military member looking for my ass for blowing a building to kingdom come. So, that meant that I had to go for something that could just be waved away without sending a squad of technocrats or something resembling them after my ass.
So.. time to go a bit boring then.
ANSATSUKEN
-1500
It used a combination of Str, Dex, and Int for overall damage output, but the actual techniques were something that I actually had to practice.
Just as I was widening my stance, I slipped on an old ramen cup and fell on my ass.
Ah. Right.
Cleaning first.
Sure, I spent about 1000 of my remaining GP on Telekinesis, and it took a nice chunk of my MP, but it helped a lot. Getting a nice chunk of trash into a bag on the porch was a time saver, but I had to lug them outside on my own.
Didn't want anyone seeing me do that and have to deal with that shit on my own.
Now, the mopping and getting this fucking stain off the goddamn carpet was when someone started banging on the doorway. I'm just glad I remembered to put on a bandana on my head when I was dusting, sure, it didn't protect everything, there was still some dust and old trash that fell on my hair, but the less got in there, the better.
"REGINA! YOU FUCKING WHORE! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" See asshole, I know that's bull because i didn't know I was going to be here today. Or rather she didn't…
Great, I just made myself angrier.
I could just hide in here until asshole went away, but I was already heated, so might as well let out some steam by yelling at whoever this was.
Wrenching open the door, I scowl down at some grubby skinny guy with moppy black hair and rat like eyes. Jim Reach or something. My scowl only got worse as I leaned down at him. "What do you want Jim?"
He blinked in surprise at my question, flabbergasted that 'junky Regina' had grown a spine, probably. Then he remembered that I was some skinny chick that he could still throw even with her height advantage.
"I want my money, bitch! You still owe me a good 2k after the last couple of buys." It took everything in my power not to grab the little asshole and chunk him out the window. Or try to Shoryuken his ass into the ceiling. That would be fun.
Huh, guess being younger brought my temper back. Or maybe dying and killing someone, even a monster like her, did that.
Don't think about it.
He wasn't connected to the vamps, one of his other clients was, so he didn't know jack about what went bump in the night.
Even if I really wish that he was. But I didn't need his buddies coming after me when I was basically a newly born chick without a flock to protect me. Could I take them for a bit? Yeah. But I was basically close to broke, and had no one in this world.
So, as much as it pains me, diplomacy was the only option.
"I don't have it Jim, going to need at least a couple of days before I get it to you. I'm good for it. Bye."
"Hey you stupid bitch I don't care that you need time I want my mo-" He tried to grab my wrist, but it only ended with my own hand around his wrist, my other gripping onto the thin cloth of his shirt, ready to throw him over my shoulder and finish with a punch.
Instead, I just held him there and stared deep into his eyes, doing nothing to hide the sheer rage that had been simmering in my chest since I woke up this morning. "Give. Me. A. Few. Days." I grunted out through clenched teeth and chunked him out the door, slamming it in his face while I breathed out heavy puffs of air through my nose.
Yeah, I wasn't ok.
I mean, I knew that when I woke up in a pile of blood, various other ghoul soldiers scattered around me, but I stopped snapping like that years ago. Lord knows I wouldn't have been able to raise my little boy if I had into my thirties.
Thankfully, that peddler left soon after that, probably spooked that I didn't just do whatever he said like the last couple of times he came by.
I'd have to take care of Ricky later too. Damned bastard. He wasn't a ghoul, but he kinda knew what was going on. What he was dragging, or throwing people into. There were a lot of teenaged or college kids that 'somehow' wound up in the gang life because of that night club asshole.
If I went after him, though, I was going to sound the alarm, because the Sabbat needed their disposable soldiers. Didn't care who they were, but did care if they kept getting them or not.
Thing is, because they didn't care about us, they also didn't care what they said, especially the ones that they were just going to dump and forget about.
Meaning, I knew where a couple of other Vamps liked to sleep during the day.
Before that, though, I had to do some digging around.
A trip down the street into a decentish coffee shop had me with a newspaper in hand, and groaning as I read the date and remembered a little something.
It was fucking 2004.
No smartphones, no Youtube, no streaming services, no music at the palm of my hands, and no being able to google shit at the drop of the hat.
Oh my god.
Was Guilty Gear ever a thing here?
I was going to have to go to the library to find this shit out, wasn't I?
I sipped my coffee and grumbled, doing my best not to think about some of the raging emotions I was going through. I was going to save those for a crying session later or something emotional, when someone new walked in the door.
He was a big boy, and in the nicest way possible. Wide shoulders, nice hazel eyes, chin length straight hair and a sorta ferociousness that you could just feel off him. Those were just the nice aesthetics from him, it wasn't what drew my attention to him and leveled up my Investigation by two levels.
Large, gnarly scars stretched from the corner of his eye down to his jaw. Scars that weren't made by any blade or industrial accident. Those were made by claws. And there was a predatory look in his eyes that drove me to the edge.
Yet, he grabbed a cup of coffee, didn't even say a word to the lady at the counter, who gave him a bashful smile, and walked right out the door.
A local then. I didn't have a chance to scan Libra on him, there was enough about what I did see that had me on edge.
Whatever, wasn't my concern right now anyways.
I had some Vamps to hunt tonight.
QUEST ACCEPTED
KILL "LUMPY" RICK
WELL, WE CAN'T EXACTLY CALL YOU AN OVERACHIEVER, NOW CAN WE?
NO, INSTEAD OF GOING STRAIGHT AFTER THE GRUNTS, WHICH IS DEFINITELY NOT THE SMART THING, YOU'VE DECIDED TO GO AFTER THEIR BOSS FIRST. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT HOTSHOT.
REWARD?
4000XP
7000GP
FURTHERING QUESTLINE
UNLOCKING HIDDEN ITEMS IN THE SHOP
+2 TO EVERY STAT
GREATER NOTICE FROM THE SUPERNATURALS OF MIAMI
STIRRING THE POLITICAL SMORGASBORD THAT IS THIS HELLHOLE
INCREASED CHANCES OF WAKING UP A BLOODLESS HUSK
??? There wasn't much that I knew about "Lumpy" Rick, other than the fact that the Bastard's pack hated his guts and called him the laziest vampire imaginable. The fact he was also at least five hundred years old, was another thing they never stopped complaining about. Ah, seniority. A curse that it seemed only got worse when you became a soulless bloodsucking monster.
It gave me some flashbacks on some blue collared places I worked at, factories and such that meant most guys that had 5+ years on the job meant they could get away with almost everything.
I blew the steam off my hot cup of coffee as I read the newspaper on the latest events, unsurprised that they were still talking about the fight just two days ago in that little motel out of town. "All suspects are presumed to have been found." I read off the first page, and frowned down at the page.
Think that was all that I needed to know about the cops being under the Vamp's control. Wouldn't surprise me if the captain or police chief was a ghoul. That tended to be the usual MO for modern day vampires, less having to worry about normal everyday cops coming after them if the right people were paid off.
Course, they couldn't go too far, because then they'd have certain other parties coming after them.
Hadn't come across much Technocracy proof, but that was sorta the point with that bunch. They had to remain hidden, otherwise consensus was going to bite their ass with a big heaping curse of paradox.
The Traditions however were a different matter.
Here and there, as I walked through the city, I could spot certain pieces of graffiti and street art that had specific imagery that caught my attention. The good old caduceus of Hermes, the wheel of life and death that the Chakravanti believed in, and certain pieces of holy imagery scattered through the city.
Now, that could just be my brain jumping to conclusions, but paranoia wasn't unfounded if the people I was worried about were actually out there.
I had no wish to deal with the Ascension War, so I was going to stay as far away from those bullheaded reality benders as much as possible.
Then there were the various Pentex companies that were scattered all over the city. Gas stations, pharmaceutical companies, entertainment, etc.
It caused a chill to crawl down my spine as I realized just how entrenched those assholes were.
Goddamn do I hate this place.
Somehow, though, it's better than Worm.
If there was a damned message option, I would have left that Bob prick some nice and long hate mails, just like I left my asshole parents right before I ran away from home.
The Form Party option was there, and I could have up to six, but that was kinda hard when most people that I hung out with day to day were already dead. Dead. But at least they were free.
I refused to be under the Blood Bond again, to be that thing's plaything like Regina had been.
Downing the last of my coffee, I stood up from the bench, stretching my arms and putting down the newspaper as the sun slowly rose from the sky, knowing that Ricky boy had been asleep for the past two weeks.
He tended to do that, apparently, sleep for weeks at a time while he let his childe take over the day to day. He had to wake up to make sure that none of them overstepped their bounds, and that his own little posse of ghouls stayed loyal to him, and him alone.
It was why I was staring at a middle class apartment complex in a nicer part of Miami. It wasn't that big of a place, but at least a dozen of the people there were ghouls bonded directly to Lumpy Rick.
At least five of them were completely loyal to the old man, one of them having been his ghoul for at least a whole lifetime, but I didn't know who that was.
And the thought of having to deal with him and the rest of them made my stomach do little backflips.
Killing a vampire wasn't something that I struggled with. Not after all the things I've seen those damned monsters do, what they said, how they thought.
The ghouls though were still human.
Human beings.
Regina had killed before. After all, when you were high on Vitae, if your vampire asked you to jump, you asked 'how high?'
You would do anything for that high. The rush of power and life as you drank the blood of your master.
Nothing else mattered.
It was enough that a part of me wanted to just smash a car into the fucking building, damn the consequences.
But I couldn't do that.
Taking your first life was a slippery slope, and I hated that I knew that my first step was an inevitability in this world.
There were too many monsters here that just needed to go. To many of them.
Far, far, too many that had lived too long and sowed too much chaos.
Fortunately, I didn't need to take care of all of them, just a few, with some distractions.
It's why I was practicing Telekinesis all day yesterday after the coffee shop and got it up to level 10. Which turned out to be a milestone.
TELEKINESIS LEVEL 10 RACHED
YOU HAVE REACHED A MILESTONE
+2 TO INT
+2 TO WIS
That had been a nice surprise, and it sure as shit helped with the MP regeneration.
I still needed to wait a bit for it to regen, along with being limited to what I could lift. I had gone from being able to lift about twenty pounds up to a nice slab of metal.
Course, one of the perks I'd bought helped in that little department.
FORCEFUL MIND
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
So that meant that I could do this!
I reached out to a loose panel of metal from a gas station across the road, raising it a few feet in the air before I launched the improvised weapon through a very fancy car parked on the side of the road. Rick's favorite vehicle.
I couldn't help the smile on my face as two people rushed out of the building, an older bald man built like a linebacker, and a younger looking dude with slicked back hair.
I climbed down the building, my increased stats helping with my descent, the men so distracted in their shouting and yelling that other morning goers started to converge around them to see what happened.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE ACROBATICS SKILL
ACROBATICS HAS REACHED LEVEL 5
Huh, guess higher stats helped learn some things a little easier? Nice. Wonder how much this would synergize with Ansastuken. It was the only skill in my arsenal that I hadn't leveled up, but that was because I spent most of my day yesterday going through all of my options.
Was I min maxing? Not really, that was never my thing, but I was doing my best. I hoped that INT stat would help in that department, but I'd always had the attention span of a crow. Jumping to the nearest shiny with everything that I had.
Slipping into the building was relatively easy, Regina had been here exactly once before with him, and I had memorized every little detail.
The hood of my hoodie was up, and I telekinetically moved the camera in the lobby towards the far wall.
The clock was ticking, and I only had so much time before I had the rest of the ghouls on my ass.
You'd think that a Vampire taking a long ass nap would be in either the nicest building, or in the basement sleeping on a regal bed, or in a coffin.
But no.
Rick was actually a lot smarter than that, and if Regina hadn't been with him when Rick woke up, I'd be up shits creek with a spoon for a paddle.
Which is why, now of course, was when everything went to shit.
I was just about to get to the next floor when something smashed into my shin, almost sending me tumbling down the stairs, but I managed to grab onto the han rail and push myself up, spinning in the air as I landed on my feet.
-10HP
Holy shit, I didn't know I could do that! And Ansatsuken along with Acrobatics both went up a level!
ANSASTUKEN LEVEL 2
ACROBATICS LEVEL 6
-30HP
Oh, fuck! I jumped back with the motion of getting punched in the face, feeling something in my nose begin to creak at the impact, the smell of copper in my nose.
A stocky, short guy looked surprised that I wasn't on the ground, gaping at me for a second before setting his shoulders and stepping towards me in a boxing stance.
He was definitely stronger than a normal person, and faster as he closed the gap between us in a blink, fist cocked back and ready to hit.
Too bad for him that I still had MP.
I mentally grabbed his shoe and yanked with all my focus, causing him to fumble in surprise, managing to catch himself before he fell down the stairs.
It's ok though, I helped him by kicking him down them with a spinning kick to the face and a telekinetic shove down.
YOU HAVE DEFEATED RICK GHOUL (NAME UNKNOWN)
+500XP
+600GP
TELEKINESIS LEVEL 11
ANSASTUKEN LEVEL 5
Without another glance, I kept running up the stairs as fast as my legs could take me, which was a little hobbled when someone from behind me started shooting, and managed to clip me on the shoulder.
-40HP
Dammit, down to half HP, and bleeding, meaning I was losing one HP ever minute until I tied this damn thing.
Without looking back, I threw a telekinetic blast, wide instead of focused and heard another gunshot, along with a shout of pain.
TELEKINESIS LEVEL 12
Dammit, they were injured, but they weren't out of the fight.
Can't slow down now, need to keep going.
"WAKE UP, THIS ASSHOLE IS GOING FOR THE BOSS' ROOM!"
I heard a woman shout behind me, and that only made me pump my legs faster, even as my lungs burned and legs protested. Just because I could move this fast didn't mean that my body was built for this kind of work quite yet.
Fuck, I jumped the gun on this, didn't I?
Let my rage get ahead of me, and unlike back home, I didn't have anyone to convince me to rethink things.
Too late to worry about crushed eggs, keep going.
I didn't bother trying to open the door, instead, charging through it with my shoulder, the wood, and chain snapping as I used the last of my MP for one more telekinetic shove.
Throwing the door open, I push over the blankets and find a handsome tall man, with accentuated tall cheekbones, a strong jaw, and some of the palest skin I've ever seen.
Wow, he even looks like a douche.
He barely managed to open his eyes and open his mouth before I grabbed a piece of the door and stabbed it into his chest.
STAKED! BONUS DAMAGE!
"NO!" Someone shouted down the hallway, but far enough that I could drag the paralyzed vampire from his resting place, face shaped into a feral demonic scowl.
Dammit, this room didn't have a window!
And I was out of MP.
Out of the corner of my consciousness, I heard the metal 'click' of something, and threw myself into the closet over the vampire, slamming a leg into the stake to drive it further into the monster's heart.
You don't get to be a bishop in the Sabbat without being some kinda dark brand of horrible.
Six bullets punched through the door, right where I had been standing before it was kicked in and a woman stepped through, blood on her scowling face and gun held up towards the rest of the bedroom.
Too slow.
I jumped towards her with a leap from the closet, more fumbling on top of her rather than landing any good blows, smashing my fist over and over again into her face. She screamed and shouted, trying to shove me off her, but I was persistent in my onslaught until one lucky hit finally got her to go night night.
-10HP
-10HP
-10HP
CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE DEFEATED RICK GHOUL (NAME UNKNOWN)
+1500 XP
+4500GP
God, I wish that sleep or an incapacitating spell had been in the shop, but noooo.
I swear, if one of those spells gets added after this fight, I'm going to break a boat or something.
There was no time for me to rest like my body wanted to, and looking out of the corner of my eye, I smiled as my MP regenerated just enough for one more telekinetic shove. Specifically, I pick up Rick's body and chunk it right at the wall towards the outside.
Most of it breaks apart before I manage to make it through, but I smile as enough gets through for the smell of something old and foul cooking.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE KILLED 'LUMPY' RICK!
+8000XP
+13000GP
CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST
KILL 'LUMPY' RICK
REWARDS:
+4000XP
+7000GP
+2 TO EVERY STAT
DUE TO KILLING THEIR SIRE, ALL UNWILLING OR BRAINWASHED GHOULS HAVE BEEN RELEASED FROM THEIR BLOODBONDS.
"You piece of fucking shit!" Someone screamed out, a gunshot ringing out, and I couldn't hold back my scream as a bullet hit me right in the shoulder.
-40HP
Damn, guess I only knocked him out for maybe a minute, because that guy I knocked out earlier was already up and around. There was a wild look in his eyes, the same kind that I used to see in my younger years when I had nowhere to go and hung out with the homeless and addicts.
I had just gotten rid of the one thing that gave him his fix, and now he was going to be stuck going to someone else for his Vitae.
While his whole body seemed to shake, his gun arm remained steady as he readied his gun towards my head, finger on the trigger, the twitch alrea-
BANG!
A bullet rings through the shambled room, piercing through the man's jaw, through his skull and into the ceiling.
The woman I had knocked unconscious for a bit was blinking through the blood, bruised and bloody face scowling, only not at me.
At the man in front of us.
"I never liked you John." Was all she said as she stumbled up, and I did the same, going to help her up before I knew what I was doing.
She gripped my hand, weaker than before, and pulled me into her.
I was expecting her to shoot me again, but instead the gun clattered to the floor.
Then I realized there were more gunshots ringing out through the building, screaming and shouting going on outside that sounded like a war was going on.
I need to get the hell out of here.
"Take us with you." The woman whispered at me, eyes ringed red with fresh tears, probably the first ones that she'd shed for herself instead of under that assholes control. I knew exactly what that was like. But I hated what came out of my mouth.
"I can't take all of you." I told her honestly. "You all need to get out of town before the rest of the city hears what happened. I don't got the resources to help with that."
And I hated that. These people were free now, sure, but they were basically consigned to go back into their slavery.
I hated these 'tough' decisions, but I knew that if I tried to do too much, I was just going to wind up dead. I was already near death as I made a quick purchase, the blond pretty lady staring as I bought and cast Cure on myself.
-1500GP
Thank god that bullet managed to get out of my shoulder, and there were definitely going to be some scars from this shit, but there wasn't much that I could do about it.
She looked like she was going to protest, but the coming sirens answered for both of us, and we bagan to hobble our way out of the room. Though, I did snatch some of the cash that we found around here, and I stuffed it in my inventory, leaving the guns on the floor.
If I left this place like this… they'd find my blood, wouldn't they?
Fuck.
Well… I've committed plenty of crimes, hadn't I?
Why not add arson to it?
FIREBALL
-1500GP
I made sure to pull the fire alarm before I threw a fireball into the room, the remnants of the corpse bursting into flames alongside the rest of the room.
Ignoring the wide eyes from the woman we kept moving our way downstairs, though I cast cure on her when my MP regenerated, and we both took off in a sprint down backstreets, sirens heralding our escape.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
LV:8
XP:4,800/12,800
HP:200/200 MP:230/230
ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE:10
FUNDS:$4000
GP:23,700
PERK POINTS:1
PERKS: FORCEFUL MIND:
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
THOUGHTFUL MIND: INCREASE MP REGENERATION BY 50%
HARDY LUNGS: INCREASE OVERALL ENDURANCE AND STAMINA.
So, yeah, my brain decided that it wanted to write another story, and I've been wanting to write a gamer story for years. I've taken a lot of inspiration from Mister Ficser's wonderful fic Project Gamer and I highly recommend that everyone go and take a read through that one.
Most of the notifications through the chapter were for my own benifet, because, wow, keeping track of everything is way more of a nuisance than I thought. Respects towarsd all Gamer/Litrpg authors for keeping track of those numbers.
Now, for those of you that have read my first fic, yes I'm using Mia again. Sorry that I haven't updated that one, I've just found the motivation drained out of me for that particular story, and I do plan to someday continue it, but that won't be today. She of course won't develop the same way that she did there because WoD is a very different place compared to Worm, one that is weird, depressing, yet you can find the light scattered here and there in some of the stories that are being told. Full disclaimer, I am not a complete Lore buff for everything in WoD. Ironically, Vampire is one of the splats I know the least of, with lacking knowledge in Wraith and Mummy. I have done a lot of research, reading through a 20th edition pdf I've had collecting dust for a while, and asking those that know so I'm doing my best to make sure everything is as accurate as I can make it.
To those of you coming from the Gamer side of things, World of Darkness is a Tabletop Roleplaying game taking place in a far darker and more monstrous urban fantasy setting where more times than not you play as the monsters of the setting. Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Changelings, Wraiths, Mummies, and Demons, with Hunters being caught in the middle. Unlike a good number of other TTRPG's, this one had an overacrching metaplot that advanced with each new release of books until the world itself came to an end in 2004 due to the company deciding to reboot the setting. In more recent years, we received various 20th edition books for Wraith, Mage, Vampire, Werewolf and Changeling, along with some of these receiving 5th edition updates which were... controversial to say the least.
Then again, for anyone that keeps up with the creators White Wolf, that isn't anything new. Most of the books were written back in the nineties and... let's just say that a lot of stuff there hasn't aged well in the past 20+ years.
As I said before, I am not a complete lore buff, and have been trying to catch up on the various books and splats, but unfortunately haven't had an actual chance to play a game. Also, Mage is the deep end especially when it comes to mechanics with Changeling behind it I think.
Now, since I'm about 90% sure that there are going to be some people going into this from the Gamer side who have no idea what World of Darkness is, I thought I'd type out a little informational section for it.
Now, I already explained some of it in Chapter 1's Author's Note, so go check that out if you're interested, and watch this video as well.
There's about thirty years worth of lore to go through for World of Darkness, a lot of it hasn't aged well though, so be warned.
Now, Vampires. They were the very first gameline that White Wolf released for World of Darkness, and the rest of the game lines were released around it.
Vampires, are basically what you're thinking. Old bloodsucking monsters, with one of the biggest points of the game in how you deal with the change you've gone through. How much do you hang onto your humanity, and what can happen if you allow the Beast that every Vampire carries inside of them to run loose.
Given that Vampires have been around for a long long time, Caine was the first vampire(yeah that Caine), they have done well to ingratiate themselves into human society, hidden from view because while most Vamps can kill humans easily, we outnumber them and would get them eventually. They know this, and many hate it.
There are three main 'factions' in Vampire. The Camarilla, the Anarch's, and the Sabbat.
Camarilla:
The largest and most well organized of the Vampire factions. For years they have hidden themselves and upheld the Masquerade, building up their prescence in human society, and while none of them are ever going to be known in public, a lot of them have vast amount of money and like to control things from the shadows. Many of them like to pretend that they are keeping their humanity and 'shepherding the mortals', but in truth, most spend their time playing political games with each other while growing their power base, the old growing older and keeping their young on a tight leash.
Anarchs:
Basically what it says on the tin, vampires who have gone rogue or rebel against the Camarilla and old masters who they have grown tired of obeying. Originally it was a small rebellion, but in recent years it has become a larger movement due to younger kindred(vampire) flocking to their banners. It is also the faction that we know the least about.
Sabbat:
These assholes. They make most other Vampires look like saints. They believe that they are fated to fight on the side of Caine against his children, the Antedeluvians when Judgement day comes, and they specifically fight against the rules that the Camarilla enforce. They believe that they should be the ones to rule, not in the shadows, but in pubic so that mortals would know their place. If I don't sound impartial, it's because there is no way to look at this particular group of douchebags in any form of grey.
Instead of clinging to their humanity, they take on alien Paths of Enlightenment, some are actually somewhat noble, but more often than not, they are alien, brutal, and barbaric in the worst way possible. With being cooperative, compassionate, or trustworthy as sins and believing that the only way to live is by betraying everyone around you until it is just you at the top.
The Camarilla and Sabbat have been at war with each other since the Sabbat formed back in 1512, with various cities falling to either side in shadow wars across history.
Right now, the Sabbat control Miami, as they do a number of other cities like Washington DC, New York City, Milan, and a great vast many more.
Now, as for what Ghouls are. Ghouls are basically mortal thralls that Vampires take. The moment that a Ghoul takes Vitae, vampire blood, they become bonded to the Vampire and become infatuated with them to an unhealthy degree. Drinking Vitae also brings out the greatest, and most potent high that anyone could experience, with normal drugs never coming close to the feeling that Vitae can bring about. Ghouls do receive benefits from this of course. Increased strength, durability, learning some vampire bloodline powers depending on how strong their sire is, ceasing to age as long as they drink Vitae at least once a month, and some eventually become Embraced by their sire and become full fledged vampires.
Thing is, out of all the groups, the Sabbat treat their Ghouls the absolute worst, and their own vampires just the same. One of the terms that they use is 'shovelhead' where they embrace someone and then bury them into the ground, forcing the newly birthed vampire to claw their way out of the ground. Most times, newly embraced vampires don't have a choice in if they're embraced or not. After all, if you refuse... well, they can't exactly let you leave now that you know about vampires, now can you?
Of all the various supernaturals, Vampires are some of the most numerous, yet, ironically, also one of the weakest.
A single Werewolf can cleave through a coterie of Vampires with barely any trouble, Mages can literally bend reality to their whims, Changelings are tricky and able to escape to dream lands or cast their own brand of magic, and Demons while a new breed of supernatural are resistant to any form of mind control that a vampire can cast against them.
Yet, it has been secrecy that has kept all of them safe, not just from each other, but also the world around them.
And, just like Vampires, everyone has their own crap to deal with.
Noooo, I just had to let my blood take the place of my brain, and now here I was. In my shitty old apartment, 4 stacks of bills in my Inventory, a formerly blood bonded ghoul passed out on my couch, and watching the news as the building I set on fire smoked into the air. I could even see the black plumes if I looked out the window.
Thank god I'd at least put on a hood and covered my face with a bandana while wearing clothes I'd bought from a thrift shop. I'd already set those clothes on fire, and healed my wounds with the Cure spell.
Now, I had a different problem.
It was the reason I had a metal detector jammed into my shoulder with telekinesis, while I drew an X at the right spot with the radio tuned into mariachi music as loud as it would go.
Turns out, that damn bullet was still in there, contrary to what I had thought.
So, I grabbed one of the oldest T-shirts I had, that whole wardrobe was getting burned later, cut into my shoulder.
It was painful, with a lot of blood, me once again regretting all of my decisions, a lot of screaming, and tears in my eyes. It was strangely nostalgic for my teenage years.
Getting the damn bullet out was easy after that, and healing the wound closed thankfully didn't leave it with worse scar tissue or any loss in mobility. Maybe it was because Cure had reached level 7 already, or maybe it was just that Final Fantasy magic was complete and utter horse shit.
Honestly, I didn't know.
I didn't know anything other than the fact I was so, so fucked unless I grew stronger soon. Grew stronger, and found more people to watch my back.
Unfortunately, it wasn't like I could just hit people up when most of them would try to kill me before I could get a word in. And that was before they knew about what I could do.
Mierda.
Now that I was done having a panic attack, I decided to just deal with some of the notifications that had accumulated from the fight.
ARSONIST
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE ENTERED THE HALLOWED HALLS OF ARSON THAT ONLY A SPECIAL KIND OF CRIMINAL HAVE ADDED TO THEIR PRESTIGIOUS RAP SHEETS. TRULY, YOU MAKE YOUR PARENTS PROUD.
REWARD: YOU GAIN AN INCREASED EXPERIENCE GAIN FOR FIRE BASED ABILITIES
DAY HUNTER
YOU HAVE HUNTED AND KILLED A VAMPIRE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. TALK ABOUT A STALKER. HOPE THAT YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO ACTUALLY TAKE THINGS ON WHEN THEY'RE ACTUALLY AWAKE INSTEAD OF KILLING THEM WHEN THEY'RE ASLEEP. TALK ABOUT RUDE.
REWARD:YOU DEAL INCREASED DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES DURING THE DAYTIME.
There's a reason my parents didn't want me to go to their funeral, and that's because they knew I'd probably air out all the dirty laundry that they tried to hide for most of their lives. Sure as shit what I did online when my dad passed away.
Is it petty? Yeah.
Did I care? No.
Spite was the only thing that kept me going for most of my life.
Though, I did feel kinda bad afterwards.
Stop it dumbass, you're letting your thoughts drift away again.
Having a nice little nest egg of GP was good, more currency for the shop and expand my abilities, though I should probably put those attribute points somewhere.
I put half of them into Vitality, and the rest into Wisdom and Intelligence. I had grown too close to death, and every point of HP was a benefit.
For perks, well, there were too many choices, so I just went with one that would be beneficial no matter what I did.
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY: REGENERATE YOUR HP BY 5% PER HOUR INSTEAD OF 1%.
The sound of groaning from the coach stopped my descent into the shop, which was no doubt going to take at least an hour of my time with how many options there were. And I remember that the shop said there was going to be even more after the quest.
Turning, I clean the knife I'd used and stare straight at the blond woman as she groaned and groggily rose from her position on the coach, eyes bloodshot and wild as she searched for a monster that was already dead.
She locked onto me, body tensing like a coiled spring ready to jump, hands shaking from-
Ah. Shit.
ISABELLE BERNADETTE
HP 150/150(200)
STATUS: VITAE DEPRIVATION
ABILITIES: NONE
WEAKNESSES:NONE
INVESTIGATION SYNERGY DETECTED
A FORMER GHOUL SUFFERING FROM HER BLOOD BOND BEING BROKEN, AND VITAE RUNNING LOW. AGING PROCESS HAS NOT STARTED YET, BUT WILL DOUBT BEING AFFECTING THE SUBJECT SOON.
Well, damn, that can't be good.
I can't believe that I just brought her to my apartment. Then again, it wasn't like I had anywhere to stash her, and she did save my life after I broke her nose. She'd let me set it, at least before she passed out.
For a second, she gave me a murderous, hate filled glare, and I was getting ready to throw her the moment she jumped at me. Thankfully, she instead relaxed, some of the tension remaining, but she didn't look like she was about to try and kill me with her bare hands.
"Thank you." She said, and it's only now that I could hear a faint French accent in her words.
I didn't have to ask to know what she meant. "I wasn't going to leave you there to be rounded up by any of that assholes children." I said simply, standing up and walking towards her, taking a knee and beginning to inspect her.
Fever was building up, body was shaking, face is pale, and her eyes were completely bloodshot.
"I take it you hadn't gotten your Vitae hit in a while?" I asked softly, and she just gave a harsh bark of a laugh.
"While he made sure that we would receive enough, he enjoyed making us wait to the last possible moment. A game that the man played to keep us in line." Of course he did. You don't get to be as old as that asshole was as a vampire without getting some penchant for cruelty.
"How long have you been stuck under his thumb?" I asked.
"Sixty years."…I really wish I'd shot him a couple of times before I cooked his ass. "I had been visiting the man that would have been my husband. It was after the war, and we had fought together in the war."
"You were a soldier?"
"Non, resistance. I still remember the day Paris fell. The people gathered and taken to be 'processed'. My friend, Marie, and her family were taken from their homes so many years ago. And I could not simply stand by and let that continue. I saw many comrades fall, some of them next to me during our nightly raids of soldiers." Like a flood, she just kept going. On and on about her days during WW2. Nostalgia and melancholy mixing into bittersweet medicine that brought a smile to her lips even as tears streamed from her eyes.
I just pulled up a seat and listened, wishing I had set a pot of something to boil so that we could both drink. She talked about her parents, who she had lost in a bombing run. How her favorite coffee shop managed to survive the war, scratched up and in need of repair, but still there.
It was like she hadn't been able to speak freely for the past sixty years, and I wouldn't be surprised if Rick was the 'women were meant to be silent' assholes.
And then she got to where her true nightmare began.
"I found them while he had been drinking my Bruce. He wasn't the most dashing man, but he had 'eart. A pure soul that wasn't afraid to dive headfirst to save anyone that he could. And they took him away. And for so many years I just… didn't care. Because he didn't want me to care. Just that, was enough to make me forget about my home of Paris. Forget sweet skinny Bruce, who'd lost his father while he was gone to war."
She cried, she sobbed, and before I knew, she was clinging onto me and I just let her because I knew what she explained. Only, unlike her, Regina never woke up from her nightmare. That girl was gone, and I was here to pick up what scattered pieces were left.
I was at a loss for what to do for her. There wasn't anything that I could do.
Her life was gone, her loved ones were dead, and the world had changed drastically in the past sixty years, and it was only going to keep changing.
There was one thing that I could do. No point in beating around the bush, she'd already seen me cast a fireball and force throw Lumpy through a wall.
But I would ask her first.
"The side effects are going to hit soon." For once, my voice was even and almost cold. Far and away from how I usually spoke, but the occasion called for it.
Isabelle didn't react, merely nodded. "I have accepted that."
I probably would too. Death is better than that.
"If you could avoid that outcome… would you? Not by taking any more Vitae." I added quickly when she glared up at me. "I mean, if there was another option, would you take it?"
She considered my question, leaning back into the couch, silent contemplation flitting through her blue eyes.
"Well, if all I got left to lose is my life, then why not? Surely don't wish to die because of that monster." I wave a hand over at her and cast Esuna, ignoring the dip of magic points and three levels.
Like a light switch going off, she was good as new. The deathly pale was back to a healthy tone, crimson red eyes shifted to white sclera, and the shaking slowly dissipated within a few heartbeats.
She blinked a few times, staring at her hands as she sat up, breathing out disbelieving puffs of air. "I don't feel it. The cravings. I thought I was going to die, wanting to drown in that hideous blood."
"I would avoid going anywhere near the blood from now on." I said quietly, knowing that she was already going to do that, but thinking that it was probably best to say it out loud.
She doesn't laugh or cry like I would have expected her to. With a quiet sigh, what tension remained just left her body and the woman contemplated where to go from here, much like I did.
Poor dear. I had her wrapped in a hug before I knew what I was doing, instinct taking over before my brain could tell it otherwise. She reminded me so much of my little one back home, of me when I first realized that I had a home again and didn't have to worry about my next meal, or shelter in the winter when the shelters were overcrowded.
Isabelle leaned into the hug, burying her head into my shoulder, while I just sat there, more than content to help in any way that I could.
There were so many other ghouls that were out there right now, afraid, alone, and suffering from the effects of losing their blood bond and Vitae addiction.
I hated that I knew helping them would just be a stopgap before they'd be found if I took them in.
The Sabbat had most control of the city, with the rest of the supernaturals of this world caught up in their own issues. The Technocracy and Traditions stuck in their endless war for 'ascension' that I wanted no part in, the Changelings cursed to lose themselves to the banality of the world, the Werewolves losing an endless war that they themselves caused at the very beginning of history.
Everything was fucked.
And it was just me here, with a French woman crying her eyes out, and no one else to help.
I needed that help.
Mages, Changelings, and Demons were right out the window, with Mummies being exceedingly rare in this day and age. Werewolves might help, but they were all angry eco warriors, with most of them probably willing to kill me just for knowing about their culture. Their kinfolk, those with wolfblood in their veins but not actual Garou, would probably be more amenable, especially the Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers of the city, but then word would go back to their arrogant cousins.
Hunters, meanwhile, were even more paranoid than Vampires or Garou, and with good reason. Unlike the rest, they had no idea what the fuck was going on, much like me. Which meant contacting one was incredibly hard because most didn't want to be found.
Then there was the chance I'd find one of the Imbued instead of a normal hunter which would have… unfortunate implications.
"What are your plans?" Isabelle asked as I released her and she stared out the window at the inviting and foreboding darkness of the Miami night sky.
"Hunt down as many Sabbat are left in the city. Probably get eaten by one or turned into a flesh golem by one of those Tzimisce bastards if I'm lucky enough." I said tonelessly, already beginning to dig through the shop for more things to buy.
For the first time since I'd met her, she laughed. A musical sad sound that lacked the joy that a laugh should have.
"Yes, I do believe that will be your fate. Would you mind sharing it with someone with nothing else to live for?" My hand froze on the holographic blue screen, turning to stare at the stone faced and completely serious woman who evenly met my gaze. "I saw what you did. You are… a magi?"
This time, I barked out a laugh. "Not the kind that Lumpy would have known. I'm something… new. Something different. Unlike most mages, I don't have to worry about hiding whatever magic or weird shit that I can pull out of my ass."
She scrunched up her nose at my language, ah right, she was from the 1940's, but didn't comment on it.
Something simple, a form of craft or something.
Ah, how about that? -2500 GP
DWARFEN RUNECRAFT(WARHAMMER FANTASY)
AN ANCIENT ART KNOWN ONLY TO THE DWARVES. UNLIKE MOST OTHER RACES IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLD'S, DWARVES HAVE NO AFFINITY TO HEAR OR CONTROL THE WINDS OF MAGIC. INSTEAD, THEY HAVE LEARNED TO HARNESS THE MAGIC INTO THESE RUNES, CAPTURING THEM AND CONTROLLING.
YOU ARE NOW ABLE TO FORM BASIC RUNES. HIGHER LEVELS WILL UNLOCK NEW STRONGER RUNES, ALONG WITH INCREASING THEIR STRENGTH AND THE SPEED AT WHICH YOU CAN CREATE THEM.
Now, something else that will help with this.
-2000GP
HASTE
A TIME MAGIC SPELL THAT INCREASES THE TIME OF THOSE UNDER THE SPELL.
STRENGTH AND DURATION OF THE SPELL IS AFFECTED BY INTELLIGENCE, ALONG WITH THE SPELLS LEVEL.
She watched me buy my two spells, silent but intrigued, and I shrugged as I cast Haste on myself. She'd already seen me cast a fireball this wasn't that much worse.
HASTE HAS REACHED LEVEL 2
The speed was probably only about 25% and it wouldn't last me longer than a couple of minutes, but it was still something at least. It was only at a walk, but I must have looked like ran across the room as I grabbed a piece of paper and started to write down all the runes that played in my head. Most of them were beyond what I could do, I instinctively knew, but that was something that I could take care of with time.
For now, simply having them written down would help later one when I had to actual inscribe them. I was going to need an anvil, a forge, a nice weighty hammer, and space.
When the spell had worn off, I was standing there, an entire booklet written on different runes and how to properly guide the magic where I wanted it to go. Doubt that anyone else could use this thing right without being able to use magic, but it might be useful someday.
Adding a couple of runes to guns or pieces of clothing would be helpful, especially against those vampire fucks.
Realizing that she was staring at me with great big wide eyes, I give her a big smile.
"Sorry, heavy subjects tend to make me antsy and want to work on something with my hands. I've sown a lot of quilts and baked tons of cookies. Now… if you're serious, you're in it for the long haul. No turning back, no running away."
Isabelle nodded without a second thought, and stood up, taking my hand and kissing it.
Well, that was one way to make an old lady blush. Part of me wishes that she wasn't straight. Shut up horny Mia, we're too old for that.
"My life, my freedom, were given to me by you. Not out of obligation, or for a payment of debts, but because that was what you wished. An act of kindness that I will not answer with abandonment. If it is more of the Night folk we must hunt, then I shall do so gladly." I usually wasn't one to get embarrassed when talking to people, shame was something you tend to throw away after a couple of years after being alone for a while. But damn, people sure as shit didn't do that when I was growing up as a kid.
I clear out my throat. "Now, now, no need to bow your head to little old me dear. Please stand up."
She did, though she gave me a curious stare. "You do not speak as other people of this day and age do."
I snort. "That's because I'm a lot older than I look." I said honestly. Ah fuck it. Just because I could be alone for long periods of time, didn't mean that I wanted to. Especially in this hellhole. "You've opened up about your story, I should open up about mine. At least, mine and Regina's.
And I did.
She listened with the patience of a saint, barely reacting to anything that I said, with the occasional wince at Regina's fate, or widening eyes when I summoned a small fireball in my hand before crushing it.
I thought she was going to call me crazy, so I just bit the bullet and used a feature for the first time.
ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A PARTY INVITE TO ISABELLE BERNADETTE?
Y/N
I was way too sober for how fast I pressed 'Y'.
Thing is, I could see the text box that appeared in front of her just like mine. She stared at it in disbelief for barely a second before she accepted it as well.
When she summoned her status, she looked over at me.
"So, what now?"
"Now, we build up our strength and figure out where we're hitting next." I said honestly.
"Hm, you should know, you are not the only hunter in the city then." That… made my heart soar with just the tiny bit of hope.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
LV:8
XP:4,800/12,800
HP:250/250 MP:230/230
ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE:0
FUNDS:$4000
GP:19,200
PERK POINTS:0
PERKS: FORCEFUL MIND:
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
THOUGHTFUL MIND: INCREASE MP REGENERATION BY 50%
HARDY LUNGS: INCREASE OVERALL ENDURANCE AND STAMINA.
DAY HUNTER:YOU DEAL INCREASED DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES DURING THE DAYTIME.
ARSONIST:YOU GAIN AN INCREASED EXPERIENCE GAIN FOR FIRE BASED ABILITIES
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY: REGENERATE YOUR HP BY 5% PER HOUR INSTEAD OF 1%
Paying off that asshole was the first thing I did with the cash that somehow found its way into my pockets. At first, it looked like he didn't want to take it, because then he couldn't try to bump up the price for 'interest' and 'late fees'.
With him off my back, I was debt free, able to work on myself, but there was one problem.
I didn't have a job. And the thought of having to work again with… well everything going on was just so weird. Was this what some Hunters in this world felt like? Well, the respect I had for some of them, you know, the ones that don't end up losing their minds, went up by a few notches.
We had to move, though. Not just because this apartment was a shithole, but because everyone from Regina's old life knew where to find her. Most of them were dead now, but I knew that some of them were still around, and the less that I had to worry about someone calling in imagined debts, the better.
Real Estate, like always, was a bitch and half. Not nearly as bad as it had gotten back home, but shit was still fucked.
Especially when I didn't have any income.
God, I was probably going to have to steal money from those Vampires, didn't I?
Or, at least, I thought I was going to have to.
I was on my fourth cup of coffee (of course it was the cheap shit), when Isabelle walked back in the door with a briefcase full of paper work, and a smile on her face.
I blinked owlishly as she opened the briefcase with enough paperwork and legal documents to make my head spin, and a FINANCES to be earned with at least four levels.
That was one skill I was more than happy to leave by the wayside, but I was already reading and comprehending some of these papers already.
"You took all his money." I said with wonder and amazement as I saw more zeroes than I had in both lives.
"He wasn't always awake, and needed someone to manage his finances." She said evenly, a wolfish sharp smile on her lips. "Due to his age, he trusted none of his childe or subordinates to not take everything he had and use it against him. So he ensured that the only person that could access his accounts besides himself, and an accountant no one knew about was… well his little 'pet'."
You could melt the metal off a dreadnought ship with the acid that dripped of her smile.
Did this mean I was rich now?
You know what, don't think about it too much.
"We're still going to have to move and lay low. Especially you because I'm pretty sure that other higher ranking Vamps know you." I said softly, already having added certain… runes to the windows. Minor charms against undead that were probably too shoddy for an actual Runecrafter, but I didn't have months to make one rune, just a couple of hours so they were going to have to do.
"This is true, no matter how much a part of me wishes to simply dance in the sun again." Her melodious voice said with a sad sigh, staring out at the window towards the sunlight that looked… so much dimmer than it did in my world. Not really, but light lacked the warmth or hope that it should inspire.
There was an… uneasiness that I felt as I stared at this world. Like it was lacking something that I couldn't understand or comprehend.
"While your home has its… charm-" I didn't bother hiding my bark of laughter at that, but she ignored it. "-we must move on somewhere that is better fortified and defended than this place."
"I agree. Was looking in the shop for stuff, but most places that we could use for a home are… way more expensive than most other shit here." Seriously, I know that it's big, and way cheaper than some of the mechs I saw around, but almost a million GP for the Nautilus was a fucking lot.
Was I going too big? Maybe, but call me paranoid and wanting a home that can hide just about anywhere in the oceans.
"We need more than just a normal home though. Especially if we want to take the fight to the vamps." I said honestly, knowing that it was probably a lot more ambitious than I had any right to.
"How many ghouls are out there alone and afraid because we just don't have the room to protect them? To shield them from retribution that those bastards might bring?"
"Far more than you wish to know." Isabelle said grimly, reaching into space and pulling out a little something I bought for her from the shop. Or rather, two things. A nice reliable Colt 993, and a .45 ACP that gleamed in the living room's light. "I promise you that I will put these both to good use."
"Well, I'm just glad you convinced me to get normal guns instead of something more… exotic." She didn't snort, it was more like a graceful titter at my expense. Well, I ain't a lady, and didn't think I was ever going to be, so I just growled at her.
"I do believe that we would have more eyes focusing on us if we had gone with that 'radiation rifle' that you wanted to purchase."
"Hey, I like cool stuff, sue me for it!" I growled back, about to curse but deciding against it when I saw the glimmer in her eyes.
"Though, I have a number of different locations that might catch your interests, but before we decide to descend on a new home, I do believe that training is in order." That was actually a good point.
"Yeah, I'm… still not exactly sure what all I can do." I admitted staring at my fists that were more comfortable closed than just a few days ago.
We split from each other then, her heading towards a shooting range nearby, while I headed towards a little boxing gym a couple of blocks away. Thankfully, it was a bigger place, one that I could easily get lost in, even if I did get a lot of strange looks from people nearby.
I was a walking weirdo to be fair. Skinny, almost bone thin thanks to Regina not taking care of herself for the past couple of months since she had become a ghoul. It was something that I tried to fix, changing up my diet and finally eating healthy, but while stronger, faster, and overall better, it was still a human body.
A few warmup stretches and some treadmill running had my muscles a little sore, but I knew that it was going to be way worse in the morning after I woke up. I started with a few blows at a punching bag, wearing gloves over my fists and pads on my knees. Nothing much, simply practicing some normal straight blows that I occasionally mixed in with uppercuts and lower body blows.
After a couple of minutes, I started to mix in a few kicks and knees, the rattle of the chain and slight pain in my hands and legs sorta… therapeutic. I let all the stress, all the fear for the world around me, the loss that I had been feeling that I would never see my boy or family again fuel the blows, moving faster and faster even as my muscles screamed and burned in protest.
As the pressure built and sweat formed on my brow, I felt something collect in my body, a force, energy, that bubbled and collected ready to be used. Instead of collecting it into my two palms, I focused on my right fist as I cocked back, bending my knees before moving forward and up as I slammed an uppercut into the punching bag, both the bag and myself traveling a few feet in the air before gravity once again took hold.
ANSATSUKEN HAS REACHED LEVEL 15
CONGRATULATIONS! FOR REACHING LEVEL TEN YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED
+5STR
+5VIT
+5AGI
Holy shit. Seven levels? After just one training session? Or was it because of my already high stats that the skill rose up that fast? Or the whole fighting for my life imprinted more experience into my brain than I had expected?
Don't think about it too hard Mia, Gamer powers are bullshit and trying to understand everything about them was probably more effort than it's worth.
Looking around, I realized that the entire gym was turned towards me, every pair of eyes staring at me, before darting towards the punching bag, and then returning towards my huffing and puffing form.
Well.
Shit.
Here's another place I was never coming back to.
Without another word, I grabbed my crap and walked out the building, my limbs wobbling in protest at having been pushed farther than they could handle, and balking at the clock that said I had been beating that bag for almost an entire hour.
By the time I got back to the apartment, Isabelle was already there brewing another pot of coffee while reading through some more documents.
"I received quite the surprise while out at the range." She said conversationally, making her status appear and float the box over towards me.
I almost spit my drink out when I saw that both her Dex and Agi were fifteen points higher than they had been this morning.
"Guns? I asked, remembering how my own stats had gone up in points after I had progressed a skill.
She nodded. "After a single session, it registered my gun skill at having been the equivocal of 20 or so."
Damn, that meant that her Dexterity and Agility were already higher than mine. Talk about a cheat.
Eh, whatever.
"Take a look at this." Isabelle said, passing over a police report?
"How'd you manage to get your hands on these?" I asked as I started reading over it.
"Lump had some contacts in the police, a couple of officers and detectives that are specifically on his payroll. Something that some other higher ranked Sabbat members frowned on."
"You mean wanted to kill him over 'consorting with mortals'." I muttered under my breath as I read through the report. It wasn't even a week old. A corpse had been found beheaded last week inside of a large scale wood shop. Apparently someone had used one of the saws to cut it off.
There had been a struggle inside the building, with someone else's blood on the man's hands and mouth, and the entire wood shop had been torn apart like a bull had been given cocaine and someone put red shades on its eyes.
Weirdest part was that the corpse looked like it had been dead for at least a couple of years and looked like a mess before it literally broke apart in ash when exposed to sunlight.
"The guy who wrote this is dead, isn't he?" I asked in a quiet voice.
"Even the Sabbat know that exposing the Masquerade as it is with the Camarilla around is a death sentence. A pity." She said with a harsh voice, and I shivered at the thought.
I knew that the moment the Masquerade gets broken, all hell breaks loose.
It's the reason I wasn't trying to expose or break it myself because I know that there is no putting that genie back in the bottle, and it's going to end with a lot of dead people.
"So, Rick thought that the guy that killed the Vamp is a hunter?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yes, though given the blood on the vampire, I doubt that it was an actual hunter and is instead a would be victim. Then there was this." She set down a grainy old picture on the desk. A black van, one that had its fair share of dents and scratches, had been parked just outside the building at the suspected time.
"You think that's the car he was driving in?" I asked.
She shook her head. "I think that's the car he was taken in." Another file was dropped on the table, that of a Wallace James, the owner of the woodworking shop. "The owner of the shop went missing the same day that this happened, and Rick's ghouls or subordinates weren't the ones that took them."
"If it was a Technocracy group, then Rick would have never found this in the first place." I said quietly, ignoring the confused look she gave me. I hadn't had a chance to tell her about those assholes, and that was mainly because of just how much there was out there. Explaining Werewolves had taken an hour, and that was with just a simple explanation. Hadn't even gotten into the various tribes, breeds, or the Black Spirals that were trying to destroy the world. "Alright, so some group came in and took Wallace somewhere, but who could have done it?"
And, well, I had an option for finding that van anyway.
SCRY
-1300GP
Like most of the other spells I'd bought, this came in a scroll that immediately uploaded the spell into my brain when I accepted it, placing the scroll in my Inventory with the rest of the skill books and scrolls I've bought.
Huh, so that's how you do it.
I grab a nice big pot from the kitchen, a gift from Regina's sister from years ago, and fill it up with water, placing it on the floor. With both hands, I picture the Van from the photo in my mind, every last inch that I knew of it, from the large dent on the back bumper, to the large scratch alongside the right door.
There, in the pool of water, slowly but surely, that van appeared. Only, it wasn't black anymore but grey, the scratches and gouges hidden underneath the new coat of paint, but the bends and bumps were still there. I couldn't see people near it, but I could make out a bar.
Roxxie's Motors.
Weird ass name for a bar, but whatever.
I reach in my pocket for my phone, then curse as I realize that smartphones aren't invented for another couple of years. Fuck.
I keep the image clear for a little while longer, trying to turn the camera, but the damn thing won't let me. But, there out of the corner I notice the street sign. Brickell Key Drive.
Over by South Beach.
"Well, I guess we're going on a stake out." I say as I let the spell dissipate and head towards the restroom. "Better get ready, I have a feeling we'll have a long night ahead of us."
For now, I think I'll spend some of my GP.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
LV:8
XP:4,800/12,800
HP:250/250 MP:230/230
ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE:0
FUNDS:$4000
GP:8650
PERK POINTS:0
Spells:
Libra:2
Telekinesis:12
Fireball:2
Cure:5
Esuna:5
Haste:2
Scry:4
Mind Blank:2
PERKS: FORCEFUL MIND:
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
THOUGHTFUL MIND: INCREASE MP REGENERATION BY 50%
HARDY LUNGS: INCREASE OVERALL ENDURANCE AND STAMINA.
DAY HUNTER:YOU DEAL INCREASED DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES DURING THE DAYTIME.
ARSONIST:YOU GAIN AN INCREASED EXPERIENCE GAIN FOR FIRE BASED ABILITIES
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY: REGENERATE YOUR HP BY 5% PER HOUR INSTEAD OF 1%.
Alright, this'll be the last chapter for like a week until my work week ends. Hope you all enjoyed. Also, Mage is a nightmare, especially Mechanics wise.
Finding the bar wasn't that hard.On her time away the french woman had rented out a car under one of her many aliases'. She still had to cover up and ride shotgun, which left the driving to me.
After all, a lady driving around while wearing a mask was kinda weird, and would get someone's attention. However, if she was riding shotgun most people would just assume that I was driving her to the hospital or something.
Thankfully, I'm mostly an unknown and I'd have to wait about four more years before technology reaches a point where I have to worry about having my photo taken by any rando on the street. Technocracy on the other hand…
God, I wish there was an electrokinetic ability in the shop, but it seemed those were locked behind whatever requirements the shop has. Most greater abilities were locked behind the shop, but some of them were primed and ready for sale. Like that fucking Digistruct Engineering class.
Oh sure, I knew how to make that no problem. Technology that is able to break matter down into data and then reconstruct it based on blueprints and proper matter requirements? I wrote down the ideas in a journal and it leveled by about four points just for that!
It's just too bad that the tech required components and software that was going to take me hours to fucking make! Note to self, make sure to stop and think about buying something in the shop so that I don't buy something that's basically useless to me if I don't have the right skills already! Five thousand points, right down the fucking drain.
Sigh. Whatever.
I still had enough for any last minute purchases that I might need, so no use in whining about it right now.
"Here you go." A faint french voice said, handing me a drink and some tacos from a nearby food truck that had parked a street away. I smiled at Isabelle as she sat next to me, both of us facing the water, but keeping the parked van in the corner of our eyes from where we had parked our own car.
"Thanks. Didn't realize I hadn't eaten anything all day." Work, training, and following the lead had sorta blinded me from my favorite pastime. My Abuela always did say I ate like three viejos(old men) combined.
"It has been the same with me." Isabelle softly said, taking a bite of her own and humming in appreciation of the taste. Then she sucked in a breath when the spice hit her tongue and she began to down her water.
"Not a fan of spicy food?" I asked as she took another reluctant bite, though mainly for the spice instead of the flavor.
"Non, it is not a staple of my cuisine, even after being stranded here in this country." She said as we both finished eating our food.
"Ah, that just means you need to acquire a taste for it!" I bubbled out with a cheer. "Next time we go grocery shopping, I'll make you the best huevos rancheros you'll ever have in your life! It's my grandmothers' recipe, and I'll make sure to go light on the kick at first."
She gave a nervous chuckle and looked away. I could read that she was reluctant to eat anything spicy, but she was probably going to humor me anyway. Now, making the huevos mild was a crime in my family, but if she reacted that way to just these tacos, then I was really going to have to be careful with the peppers.
Conversation evolved from there, first with food, then in culture, her memories of better times, and mine of the soft comfort that my thirties brought me, when she asked me a question. "Were you ever married, Regina?"
I gave off a throaty laugh at that. "No. I mean, I had some relations here and there. Knew a guy or a gal that might have been something, but… well I was always a bit too headstrong for them, or they were too flimsy for me. Or, we just didn't want the same thing. In the end, all I had was my boy, though he wasn't mine by blood, but that doesn't really matter. He was the last thing I saw when I closed my eyes, and for me that was enough."
"I always wanted children. Someday." Isabelle whispered softly, eyes misty and clouded by loss.
"And you will." I promised, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. Gorgeous, was in her twenties looks wise and overall had a gentle personality that would fool anyone into thinking that she was a wallflower. You know, until she shot you in the heart from the other side of the block.
There had to be someone in the world crazy enough to be ok with what we're doing.
Silence took over after that, the sun already beginning to set when someone left the bar and got into their van. We waited a couple of seconds before we started up our own car, following a few cars behind.
By the time this happened, it was dark enough that we felt comfortable with Isabelle taking off her mask, both of us focused on the grey of the van as we followed almost an entire street behind him. We almost lost the van a couple of times because of how much space there was between us, but it was preferable to the driver getting spooked because they noticed us.
If we lose them, I'll still be able to scry them no problem.
But if we spooked them then they might wisen up and ditch the vehicle.
After one particular turn I thought I'd lost them or they had taken a different road than I thought when I noticed they were parked in front of an old chop shop. Big old place with plenty of garages, and probably a nice basement. And there were other cars parked nearby as well. Well, that wasn't suspicious at all.
We parked a few streets over, nervousness bubbling in my stomach that I ignored as we quietly exited the car and began to creep towards the building.
SNEAK ACQUIRED
REACHED LEVEL 2…3…4
Maybe it was because my stats were already at a point beyond human, but I swear with each footstep I took, I became as silent as a ghost.
If I was getting better with each step, then Isabelle was a master at stalking the shadows, with nary a sound as we inspected the building and I couldn't see a single camera facing outwards from the building. From here, we couldn't see a single source of light from inside, but I knew that he was inside.
I could try scrying, but I didn't know who we were looking for. It had been too dark to spot the man who had gotten into the van, but even I knew coming here was a weird choice, especially with the sun going down and the entire building looking inert.
"Should we go back?" I whispered towards my friend, Isabelle… wasn't beside me anymore.
Blinking, I choke back the cry of panic that wanted to erupt from my throat, looking around like poacher surrounded by lions, and sigh in relief when I saw her by a door picking a lock.
She had that thing open before I reached her, swinging it open and moving inside with the grace of a ninja.
Well, I wasn't going to let her go in there by herself.
While her steps were those of a legless wraith, mine were that of a clumsy mouse. Quiet, sure, my old pals on the streets didn't distract employees for nothing, but still noticeable to anyone with decent enough hearing and paying attention.
The inside of the shop was drenched in darkness, an eerie ominous tone hovering over the little lobby, and office. As we kept moving through the shop, we passed by workbenches, toolboxes, cars that were kept overnight, and enough parts that some of the engineering knowledge in my head wanted to just start popping stuff into my inventory.
You know what, if it turns out these guys are fuckstains, I was going to loot everything that wasn't nailed down in here. I might already be committing a crime, you know another one on top of breaking and entering, so adding another line to the rap sheet wasn't that big of a deal.
As we approached the stairs, we saw light for the first time since entering the treasure trove of grease hands, stairs leading downstairs well lit, with voices that I could just barely understand.
"Yes, Sam, I'm sure that I wasn't followed! Seriously, what kind of idiot do you take me for?" A male high voice cried out in exasperation. I had a feeling that it was going to be with shame or rage by the end of the night.
"George, you cannot blame me for being extra careful about everything when the entire city feels like the hornets nest has been kicked by a rabbit in heat!" Now, a woman shou- nah, it wasn't really shout. More like a louder whisper, like the owner of the voice couldn't, or hated, yelling so that was the loudest they would go. "You have seen them at night, figures watching from the dark, eager to pounce on anything that might seem to be prey."
I shivered at that.
She wasn't wrong. Even on the drive here, the streets felt… oppressive. People driving, or walking along the streets, but there was something else. A pervading feeling of observation. As if the night itself was waiting for something to happen.
I had killed a Bishop, freeing his ghouls in a single heartbeat, while probably killing a few more that were inside of the building. Though, the XP wasn't attributed to me, I was willing to bet that some were caught in the sun when they were 'rescued' by paramedics and firemen.
Sabbat vamps were probably prowling the night, trying to figure out who had done it, with others no doubt searching through Lumpy's records and paperwork, only to find out that most of his assets were gone now.
Their reach was vast, and the night was long, but there were avenues that they couldn't reach past or walk over. There was a reason why they tended to avoid mages and technocrats. Unlike most other supernaturals, Vampires didn't count against the collective unconscious, so that meant that Mages and Technocrats could unleash everything they had against them without worry of adding witnesses to whatever backlash was coming for them.
Course, that protection didn't apply to their human Ghouls.
"Fuck Sam, what the hell are we going to do about him?" The man asked, voice clearer with each footstep that I took, Isabelle already moving down the steps with the grace of a predator.
"He's not dead yet. Sure, what we did might be a bit of a patch job, but he might pull through." The woman responded back, this time being the one panicked instead of the male voice.
"Even if he doesn't die, that Vamp still bit him! How are we sure that he isn't going to turn into one of them if we don't put him down?" Aw shit.
"And if we are wrong in that?" The woman asked, apprehension thick in her words as Isabelle and I began to creep down the stairs.
SNEAK IS NOW LEVEL 5
"Just because we've hunted some of these Vampires doesn't mean that we know everything about them! If anything, we are more ignorant of them, than they are of us."
"As if, there's no way that they know who we are!" The woman scoffed at this.
"I mean, they understand humans better, know how to hunt us, know what we think and where we go, while we just go on the assumptions based on old myths and superstitions."
"It's gotten us this far at least, five of those Vampires burned to ash after leaving them in a cage out in plain daylight. Anyway, the moment this dude turns into one of them, he's going to eat us like starving man finding a buffet!"
"Again, you make this assumption based on movies and old tales."
"It's all that we got Sam!" The man screamed out, finally in our view as we peeked over the stairs railing. He was a skinny guy, probably taller than I was now, but not really a giant with a scraggly brown beard that screamed of not caring, and bags under his dark eyes. He wore a t-shirt that exposed lean muscle and a tattoo of thorns along his right bicep with the letter "RIP T" underneath them.
The woman was most definitely bigger than all three of us, black hair that reached past her shoulders, which were also wider than mine. Honestly, she looked like a bodybuilder with the way the turtleneck hugged her arms and shoulders. A bent nose and some scars on her cheek screamed of fights and probably a rough childhood, but even with her agitation, there was a gentleness that reminded me of some of the older homeless people I knew in the past.
Those who had made their peace with their lot in life, and tried to help those that they could before the end took them.
With those sad memories, I stared at the third person in the room.
Well, homeboy looked more like a corpse than he did a person, but he was still breathing at least.
Wallace, the missing owner of the wood shop was a big man that obviously kept up his workouts even in his old age. I could see his large muscled arms and barrel chest from his position on the bed that was using an old table as a frame. He was also wearing nothing except for some jeans, because his chest was covered in white bandages, bruises dotting his tanned skin. A tube stretched from his arm to the metal stand next to the bed, a clear IV bag probably the only reason why he hasn't died yet.
Suddenly, the pieces clicked in place, and I knew what had happened back at the shop. From the exasperated look on Isabelle's face, I could tell that she was thinking the same thing.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU COMPLETED THE QUEST MISSING WOODWORKER
REWARDS:
1000XP
1000GP
Well, at least I got that. And Isabelle did too. Neat.
"I leveled up!" She whispered to me, thankfully neither of the people downstairs noticed. I gave her an earnest smile while she inspected her new stats, while I focused on the people downstairs wondering what to do next.
On the one hand, we could just walk out the door and wait till the next day to approach them.
But I was worried about the way that the guy was staring at the barely living form of Wallace. The cost of inaction might result in fear and paranoia getting the best of one of Wallace's would be rescuers.
So, with a sigh, knowing that this was going to be a pain in the ass, I stand up, ignoring Isabelle's stare, and walk down the steps without a care in the world, taking out a mask from my inventory and putting it on.
I knew that the magic of the mask had already done its job and overlaying an illusion in front of my face.
ILLUSION MASK 1250GP
WEAR THE FACE OF SOMEONE ELSE IN A QUICK PINCH!
Scraggly shouts in surprise, fumbling for his belt, while Muscles quickdraws a pistol from behind her and has it pointed at me almost as fast as I can blink.
Ignoring them, I stare at the wounded, and probably dying man, silently casting Libra on him.
NAME: WALLACE JAMES
HP:30/100
CONDITIONS: BROKEN LEG, HIP, ARM, HEALING CUTS, MALNUTRITION, RECOVERING FROM BLOOD SIPHONING, UNCONSCIOUS ETC (CLICK TO VIEW FULL WINDOW)
Well, that checks out, behind me, I hear Isabelle following in my lead, gun already out and pointed at Muscles as the woman shouts for the first time since I'd met her. "Who the hell are you!?"
"I'm the lady that's the answer to all of your questions!" I say with a smile and bow, gesturing towards the injured man. "How's about we start with your friend over there? Can heal him, right here, right now free of charge. No strings attached, promise!"
The gun doesn't move, and the man next to her has his own gun out, a tiny little .38 and has it pointed my way, hand shaking.
Yeah, I expected it to go this way.
"Answer the fucking question!" The man screamed out, hand growing steadier with each passing second, both hands on the gun, finger twitching towards the trigger, though the woman was steely eyed and glaring.
Hm, she was experienced. The man less so, but I wouldn't say that he was afraid. Panic fueled his shaking, not cowardice.
INVESTIGATION HAS REACHED LEVEL 9
"How's about this, my friend behind here is going to put her gun down, and I want you to do the same." The man scoffed.
"Lady, why the hell would we do that when you're the one barging in here!"
"Because if I didn't want to talk, we wouldn't be. You'd be right there, dead on the ground, the last things that you hear a gunshot, and my fist punching through your gut." Was it blunt? Sure. Was it meant to scare them a bit? Also yes.
It worked, even if neither of the two of them showed it. But I saw the slight widening of the eyes, and the quick glances that they shot each other.
I gesture towards Isabelle, and I can feel her stare into my back before reluctantly putting her gun down. They keep their guns trained on both of us, thinking that they can shoot now, but I stare down the barrel of both guns without a single twitch, ready to telekinetically shove their guns to the side.
I was faster than both of them combined by now, even if I couldn't see their equivalent of stats. This body was still out of shape, but I was still fast enough to knock them both out before I ran out of mana.
Thankfully, they both put their guns down. Good. I didn't want to give either of them concussions. It seemed like they were already out of their depth.
"Thank you." I said simply, giving them both a smile, making sure to keep my distance as I sit down on a chair next to me, gesturing at Isabelle to do the same on a step. She doesn't, staying behind me, one hand on her pistol, ready to pop both of them if they did anything.
I don't think that they are, but we'll see about how things go.
"Now, as for who I am, I kinda don't want to say my name, though I do know yours." This only seemed to anger both of them. Before they could say anything, I raise a hand. "If a vampire with the power to brainwash one of you, then they're going to know our identities. Sure, you could tell them what we look like, but I have… tricks at fixing that."
I didn't buy that damn mask because I thought that I…that Regina had been ugly. Looking in a mirror and seeing someone else's face was never not going to be weird.
The answer didn't make them happy. "Don't you think that it's a bit rude to just barge in here and start asking questions like you own the place?"
"My dad always did say I was an ungrateful bitch." I said offhandedly inspecting the wounded man on the table, it was a wonder that he managed to survive as long as he did. "You're lucky that we found you instead of one of the Vampires. If it wasn't for one of their Bishops getting burnt crispy black, you might have gotten a visit from one of them instead."
Like a flash of lightning, fear appeared in both of their faces at that, the woman quickly returning to her stoicism, while the man defaulted to anger.
"What do you mean Bishop?" The man asked, taking a step forward, Isabelle keeping her gun holstered only because I gestured towards her.
"Listen child, did you really think that Vampires were only a small infestation?" The words seemed to drain whatever bravado was left in both of them, faces going as pale as the monsters they hunted, eyes going wide and full of panic. "The world is full of more monsters than either of you would like to know, and the Vampires have been around for a long, long time." I promised both of them, deciding to double back for a bit. "Now, about that healing? The man is fine for now, but he's on the knife's edge."
"What do you mean child? Lady, you look younger than I do!" Muscles ignored her friend, and glared at me without an ounce of fear, hand twitching towards her weapons.
"What would this healing entail? We aren't going to just sell ourselves into slavery for it."
"No strings, no nothing. I just know that this man is a victim of a vampire attack, and given what we heard, you were hunting the vampire that had been stalking him, am I right?" They both nodded.
"He was some prick that liked to hang around the area and intimidate people into giving him stuff. Called himself 'Stringleech' or something." Oh, it was that patsy?
"You're lucky it was him instead of someone higher on the totem pole. Little prick was a weak tenth generation compared to some of the older monsters that are prowling around in the night." They froze and stared.
"What?" Scraggly asked in fear. "He was a weak one?"
I nod. "Yeah. Sure, he could be good in a scrape against humans, but against other Vamps? He'd be one of the first to get downed and staked for a couple of weeks before they take it out and bury him somewhere as punishment."
He always liked to beat on Stringleech whenever the occasion suited him. Stupid sadistic Brujah fuck. Didn't even know that Brujah literally just means 'witch'.
I don't know what Leech had been, but he definitely had strength beyond a normal vampire. Potence then.
"Now, I already heard you mention that you hunted more of these fucks, and we can have our conversation after I heal that guy." I said pointing at the wounded man.
"How do you know he won't turn into one of them?" Scragly asked.
I didn't bother hiding my snort. "Being bitten by a Vamp doesn't turn you into one of them. At least, not just being bit. To turn into one, you need to have been completely drained of blood by a Vamp, after which they will drop some blood into your mouth. Could be a lot, or just a drop, but soon after that is when you wake up as a vampire. A very hungry, rabid, dangerous vampire." To his credit, scraggly went and grabbed a notebook at the back of the shop, scribbling down everything that I said with a feverish ferocity that had me nodding in approval. He knew they didn't know jack shit, and while he didn't trust me, knew that whatever information was better than none of it.
"Fine then." Muscles said with a shift of her head, eyes never leaving me.
I wish I could snap my fingers to have some sort of dramatic gesture, but unfortunately that was one skill that I never quite learned. So, with a wave of my hand, I cast Cure and Esuna on the man, a green glow enveloping him as his eyes fluttered open.
I gave the man a smile, and turned around, walking towards the steps.
"And where do you think you're going?" Scraggly asked with the sound of motion, but I didn't bother turning around to look at him.
"I just came to make contact. That piece of advice that I gave you is free." Now how the fuck was I going to contact them again… damn I wish I had a computer at home to make an Email or something. Or a phone.
Damn there was a list of shit that I needed to do, huh?
"Like I said, the world is full of more monsters than either of you could think. And now that older gentleman over there is going to be dragged into it, because there's not much that I can do about memories. Don't let him go home for a little while. No doubt that the Sabbat are going to be questioning him with whatever plants they have in the police department, so that place isn't safe.
Just lay low for now, promise that I will be in touch. Don't worry, I'll contact you." Before he can get a word in, I cast Haste on both Isabelle and myself, both of us dashing out of the room in a sprint for us, but in a pure blur for the two of them before poor Wallace can wake up.
We don't speak again until we're back in the apartment, having driven around aimlessly for a little while before we finally made our way back, paranoid at just how easily we were able to tail those two.
I sit down on the ratty couch, the French woman next to me, both of us sighing with the same old tired breath. God, I wish that I had bought some beer or whiskey. Now that I'm not dying, I can have whatever I wanted again. No more cigarettes though. Lung cancer took me one time, it wasn't going to take me again.
"Are you sure that was the wisest course of action?" Isabelle asked.
"Not really." I admitted. "They were both pretty green, don't know what they're doing, and probably have no real connections that we can use."
"I do so love it when you try to sell an idea madame." I chuckle at her dry tone.
"They don't know our faces, and even if a Vampire manages to capture them, they'll probably think we're mages or technocrats."
"And those are?" She asked.
"People that we are far better off avoiding. Reality warpers whose very belief changes the world around them. It's confusing, and tends to end in ideological dick measuring contests." And that was mostly just the Traditions and Technocrats dealing with their own internal bullshit. Crap tended to get ugly any time that the groups managed to run into each other.
"Why contact them in the first place?" She asked, curious, but there wasn't any judgement in her voice. I appreciated that.
"Because there are too many things that are happy to eat you or take over your body for us to do it alone. Sure, they're just normal humans, but maybe we can change that. It's just an idea that might one day bring us fruit. For now, information is going to be what we give them, along with support and healing. Lord knows that them going to the hospital with bullets wounds or gouges is going to bring some unwanted attention." And that was just from the mortal side of things and not including the Sabbat, Technocrats, or one of those Pentex pricks.
"Is it truly worth it for us to risk everything for them though?" She asked.
"Isn't it?" I retorted without any venom in my voice. "Most hunters in the world are running on a manual that is more etch a sketch than 'hunters for dummies'. And that's because most of the time they get killed or corrupted before they manage to do anything about it. Sure, there are some organizations out there that have managed to survive, but most of them are rather… problematic, and so stuck in their ways that they don't even know they're working on misinformation. These guys… they're new. You heard them in the basement. They don't know what they're doing."
Realization dawned in her eyes. "So you wish to teach them so that they do work on information that they would be able to use."
I nod. "If I don't they're most likely going to die. Information is a weapon, and most humans are running on either lies or half-truths that have been ingrained in pop culture." And that wasn't even mentioning the newest addition to this cavalcade of fuck ups that were the night folk. God, I was going to have to figure out a way to seal demons, wasn't I? Just killing them was merely permanently putting down the corpses and letting the Demon fly to the next host so they aren't sucked into hell.
"Well then, how about you begin with me, then?" She asked, eyes piercing through my soul, demanding that I tell her.
Sighing, I nod. "First thing in the morning, I swear. For now, I think that we both need to sleep."
And I needed to figure out what I was going to do next.
Alright, so I'm not going to be posting the Sheets every chapter, just every time that something big happens or there is a big change to the stats. Don't worry, I'm making sure to keep an accurate sheet every chapter.
ATTENTION GAMER
WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, BUT THIS MESSAGE IS MEANT TO INFORM YOU THAT LEVELING UP SKILLS WILL NO LONGER GRANT ADDITIONAL STAT POINTS. THIS WAS A MISTAKE ON OUR PART, AS AN OLD VERSION OF THE GAMER SYSTEM HAD BEEN ACCIDENTALLY UPLOADED TO YOU.
THIS MISTAKE HAS BEEN CLEARED UP, AND WE WILL NOT REMOVE WHAT STAT POINTS YOU HAVE GAINED IN YOUR EXPERIENCE.
ADDITIONALLY, WE HAVE FOUND AN ERROR IN HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE AND GP YOU HAVE BEEN EARNING, SO WE HAVE FIXED THOSE ISSUES ACCORDINGLY.
IN ADDITION, QUESTS AND THE MESSAGE TAB HAVE BEEN ADDED BACK INTO YOUR SYSTEM AS HAD BEEN INTENDED.
I fucking knew that we were earning Stat points too fucking easy. At least they didn't take them away cause of their fuck up.
First thing I did after that was go to the messages tab, and gave a wicked smile at the fact I had two options available to me. A chat for Isabelle, and a chat for Bobby boy.
I made sure to fill up the message I sent him with all the curse words, frustration and hate that I could before hitting send, and gave a sigh of contentment.
Might it be a mistake to antagonize the guy that was my 'handler' through the all powerful gamer system?
Probably.
Did I give a damn? Hell fucking no.
What did it mean by "Quests" were added back though? I thought I was already getting quests?
Clicking onto the quest tab, I had to hold back a gasp at the sheer wall of text that stretched out in front of me. Lines and lines of words, all of them rated at different levels of difficulty and danger, each one providing something new.
Before I could click on any of them, another prompt appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING GIVEN ACCESS TO THE QUEST SYSTEM!
GIVEN THAT THOSE WITH HALF A BRAIN WOULD LIKE TO REMAIN AS INCOGNITO AS THE BLOOD SUCKERS OR THE WOLF FUCKERS, WE FIGURED THAT YOU MIGHT WANT AN ALTERNATIVE TO GROWING STRONGER THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE BEING THROWN BEHIND BARS LIKE IN YOUR TEENS
Oh fuck off.
YOU ALSO MIGHT HAVE NOTICED THAT THERE ARE SOME OPTIONS IN THE SHOP THAT HAVE BEEN KEPT LOCKED AWAY LIKE YOUR VIRGINITY SHOULD HAVE.
Bobby, I was going to stab you the moment I get my hands on you, now I'm going to break my foot up your ass while I make you sing Hallelujah
WELL DON'T WORRY, NOW YOU HAVE ANOTHER METHOD TO UNLOCK NEW THINGS FROM THE SHOP, OR BETTER YET, STEALING IT YOURSELF LIKE THE KLEPTOMANIAC YOU HIDE INSIDE!
INSTANT QUESTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO BE TAKEN, NO TIME SHALL PASS WHILE YOU INITIATE SUCH QUESTS, SO NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT POOR SCHMUCK THAT YOU KIDNAPPED DYING IN THE TRUNK LIKE A DOG WOULD IF YOU LEAVE HIM IN THE CAR DURING A HOT DAY.
OF COURSE, THERE ARE OTHER BENEFITS TO THESE BENEFITS, BUT I THINK THAT I'M GOING TO LET YOU FIGURE THOSE OUT ON YOUR OWN. GOOD LUUUUUUCK!
I don't know why, but I was sure that long 'luck' was said with a creepy laugh. This damn thing seemed like a sadist that got off on torturing people.
Yeah, doubt that this was Bobby boy posting these. He seemed to be the kind of guy that just hated his job instead of having a god complex. No way he would be able to keep that shit hidden when he had me there alone with him in that room.
Now… what oh what could these Instant Quest's provide?
I reached out to start inspecting, when my finger stopped just a few centimeters away from the screen.
No, right now, I had other things going on, and even if this thing stopped time here, I didn't feel comfortable just leaving them alone after about a week.
Besides, I was out at a bar, watching Muscles make a drink while Isabelle waited nearby.
I made sure to keep myself from drinking myself under the table, no matter how much I wanted to right now, instead relying on Esuna before I got too drunk. Guess that getting drunk counted as poison to the White Magic spell. Best part, no more hangovers!
Isabelle was somewhere in the back, dressed a lot more conservatively while wearing a face that was definitely not hers. That Illusion Mask was definitely one of the best things I've ever bought.
Of course, I had another on my face, choosing a face that was closer to what I used to look like in my previous life.
The night had stretched on, and Muscles had stared at me like she was thinking of shooting me right then and there when I'd passed on a note alongside the cash for the last drink.
Turned out her name was Brenda, thank you name tags, and she had an absolutely wonderful smile that contained more warmth than you would think from the large stoic woman.
It wasn't until the last person walked out the door, and she had flipped the sign over that she finally looked at me with angry, suspicious eyes.
Props to her, though, she managed to keep from looking at me the whole night.
When the ticking clock started to get awkward, I decided to be the one to break the ice. "So, how's Wallace doing? All the bones heal ok?"
Brenda was very good at imitating a statue, because she didn't even blink at my question or move eye contact, just staring straight into my soul like she wanted to strangle my living body with it.
"The only reason I'm not shooting you is because I saw you walk in when the sun was still up." She said evenly, sitting down at a stool that she apparently kept behind the bar counter, pulling over a glass and filling it up with tequila.
Yeah, that's why I came in when the sun was still up. Paranoia kept you alive, but it also made it real hard to make new friends or allies. Then again, betrayal is also a very normal thing in this fucking place.
"I probably would have caught the bullet. I mean, I think I can do it now. Might bruise my fingers though." Finally, I managed to make her mouth pop open, just a little, for a split second before she caught her break in stoicism.
"I thought you were a Mage." She asked.
"I prefer multiclassing." I answered back evenly, and all I got for my witty comeback was a confused blink.
"Mia." Isabelle said as she sat down next to me. Ah, right. Don't get distracted just to fuck with people idiot.
"How's Wallace doing?" I ask again.
"Completely healed. Not a single broken bone, bruise, and even the holes on his neck are gone. He didn't turn into a vampire the next night." Unspoken was the fact that I had been right, but I could see the admission in her eyes. "He remembers most of the night, the Vampire drank some blood, but didn't get as much as we thought."
I nodded, sighing in relief. Wallace surviving was a weight that I had been carrying since we visited them. Every part of me wanted to swing back on them, but they needed time and patience before I showed up again, otherwise they might be a bit more open to the thought of giving me lead poisoning.
"Who are you?" More importantly, I heard what she really wanted to ask. What are you.
"Someone with a lot of information, but not enough people to do much with it. I could deal with the symptoms, but the infection is too deep for me to do anything about it." I admitted somewhat hollowly.
Was I strong enough now to probably rip through most Vampires? Yeah probably.
All of them, including their Ghouls, and then whatever other monsters were lurking in the night?
No.
I needed people. Resources, allies, a place to sleep, and more importantly, those that can make sure that a different faction doesn't come in after the place has been cleaned up. If the Sabbat are wiped out, the Camarilla are going to be more than happy to come in and take over after I'm done.
"Why?" She asked. And while I could ask the clarification, I didn't really need to when she probably had way more questions for me than I might have answers.
"Because I don't want the world to end." I answered simply, the weight of… well everything that might go wrong hanging over my head, my body sagging for a split second before I managed to get hold of it again.
Anything could cause it. Too many deaths awakening the sleeping grandchildren of Cain, any of the various Garou Tribes falling to the Wyrm and speeding up the clock of the world, the war between the mages causing reality to break and leaving only those who survive to pick up the pieces, Changelings abandoning the world because the ghosts of dream and hope finally vanished from the world.
Brenda takes what I say, internalizes it, and nods. As if that's all that I had to say for her to understand. A bit freaky if I'm being honest.
"How common are these Vampires that can take over people's minds?" She asked.
"More common than anyone would like." And there are other things in the world that can overtake minds, but I wasn't going to tell her that quite yet. "I have a gift if you would like it." I asked as her mouth twitched into a frown before returning into a thin line as I reached into my Inventory and pulled out a couple of boxes of flame ammo. Real magical ammunition, not normal incendiary ammunition.
While Runes were definitely useful, I couldn't exactly make them without specific materials and actually being a smith. And… well-being a smith means having a Forge and those weren't that easy to get, especially not when you're trying to lie low. I might have to try and make a poor man's version later out of a barrel, rusted car, and an old piece of rebar, but that was for later.
"Fire rounds?"
"I got some other ones too." I said as I pulled out a box of .308s and .45's. "Fire is one of the Vampire's weaknesses, and you'd be surprised how often one would be able to survive getting shot by a normal bullet. Though, these are more for if you get ambushed rather than in a clear fight with them. Close quarters, go with a shotgun instead." I started listing off, leaning back in my seat while she went through the various boxes of ammo.
I was about 2500GP points lower after that particular shopping spree, and then I bought a few skills for Isabelle.
Meaning that I was down to just barely above 1000GP.
I might have to go into one of those Instant Quests just to make sure that I didn't go broke.
"I'm giving these to you, because at the end of the day, a war can't be fought with only two people, especially not against something as big as these Vampires." I said quietly, Bertha examining me and Isabelle both with a much less guarded expression than before.
"How big is this? How many are there?" She asked.
"The worst thing about the Vampires is just how easily they can hide amongst us. All they need during the day is somewhere their useless body can rest before the sun comes up, and they can do whatever it is that they do. You bump into them in the middle of the night, and most of the time you'd be none the wiser." I said quietly. "The true danger of them, though, is that they can gift their power to normal humans by giving them their blood. This is what Ghouls are."
She hid it well, but I could see the fear and shock in her eyes. "What are the effects?"
"Increased strength, speed, durability, some of them can even learn the Disciplines, vampiric powers, that most Kindred know. Kindred being what Vampires call themselves. Though, Ghouls tend to have weaker versions of Bloodlines, along with being limited to how much Vitae they keep in their system. Vitae being the name that Vampires call their own blood."
"What happens if a vampire drinks another vampires blood." She asked curiously, gesturing towards the bar, and then filling up a shot with some tequila for me.
"That's called the Diablerie. Most vampires are very much against the act, though the ones that run this city don't particularly give a fuck. It's considered to be one of the worst act in the Camarilla's eyes. The Diablerie is a… potent experience. Drinking another Vampire dry tends to grant quite a few abilities to Vampires, one of them being an increase to all their abilities and reducing their generation to whatever Vampire they decided to chow down on like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Best advice I can give you to deal with one? Don't." I said as she filled up another glass and we downed a shot, Isabelle having a glass of wine in her hands.
I had a feeling that if she had a pen and paper she would be writing down notes like her friend scrawny did the other night.
"For someone so worried about information getting out about them, you were fine with using her name just now." Brenda said towards Isabelle, staring at the blonde who appeared to be a brunette with different facial features.
"And how sure are you that the name we used is the same one that people would find in reports?" Isabelle asked with a smile, her French accent gone like the wind.
Brenda grunted in affirmation downing another drink.
"So, what now? Just going to disappear into the night after offering some advice and weapons?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I wanted to let you know that we're going to be attacking a Sabbat home." I said evenly, taking out a map of Florida and sprawling it out onto the table. In various spots, I had circled around certain buildings and areas surrounding the city, just on the outskirts but still within the city bounds. "While I would love nothing more than to actually take time to teach you how to do all of this, we don't have much time before they start realizing that something is going wrong, and shit starts moving. Since you've managed to take down a few, I'm willing to bet that you and your friend can handle a vampire or two?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
She gave me a stiff nod. "Dad was a soldier and made sure that I knew how to handle myself. Brad, the guy you met last night, is decent with a gun and knows how to handle explosives. Never in the military, but he said that he liked learning how to do stuff as a kid."
I nodded. Good. That was going to help with some things.
Glaring down at the map, I let out a huff. "Give me a week, at most, to get some things ready before we get anything started. If we're going to launch this thing, then I'm going to need to get some new tools in our box." Then an idea came into my head. One that made me feel like an idiot for not realizing sooner.
Sure, I wasn't going to give them access to the system, but what about some other uses that the Instant Dungeon's could provide?
"Though… I might come to you and Brad in a few days for a little training. Might have some new toys to play with too. I'll let you know." With that, I downed one more shot and gave the woman a smile. "Thanks for the drink."
With that, I cast Haste on both myself and Isabelle as we left the building, rushing towards our car as we waited for the spell to release before we started to drive back home.
"Are you sure that this is the best option?" Isabelle asked again, though, it was definitely a fair question given that we weren't exactly going out for a carton of milk or anything.
"If we want to get our hands on the whole White/Black Magic combo then we're going to have to do whatever an Instant Quest is." I said distractedly as I shoved everything that we had in the fridge into our inventory. Just because time was stopped on our end, didn't mean that the time we spent wherever this was taking us was going to be a quick and easy trip.
Note to self, see if I can get anything that can take us somewhere fast.
I also need to work on… well a lot of shit.
Sigh why did I have to get stuck in a universe where the end of the world is multiple choice with only the worst options available?
"If those spells are as useful as this Heal spell has been, then it would behoove us to retrieve it, wouldn't it?"
"Thing is, we're going into this blind, so I have no idea what else we might run into while we're there." I admitted as I brought up the "Instant Quest" menu and typed in Black Mage and White Mage spells into the search bar. A nice nifty little feature.
Thing is, when I typed both "White Mage" and "Black Mage" spells into the search options, all I got was a quest full of questions marks and one descriptor.
DUE TO INPUT REWARDS, THE QUEST HAS BEEN RANDOMIZED AND PAIRED WITH ALONG ANOTHER OBJECTIVE THAT WILL BE RANDOMIZED.
TRUE OBJECTIVES AND FURTHER REWARDS WILL BE RELAYED WHEN QUEST HAS BEEN TAKEN
Well that was good to know.
Before I could give myself time to think about it, I clicked 'Y' and reality changed.
My shitty old apartment was replaced with a literal shitty sewers, the smell hitting my nose, and immediately reminding me of some places that I used to hide in on some of the… scarier nights in my teenage years.
Thing is, these sewers were a lot… bigger than I was expecting. Bigger, grander, with stone walkways, arches, and only the occasional metal piping.
"Damn, I'm sorry that I brought you here Isabelle." I immediately panicked when I didn't hear her respond.
I whip my head around and start swearing in Spanish when I realize the French woman hadn't been transported alongside me. Great. Was this one of those moments where she had to be holding my hand or touching me for the fucking quest to work?
QUEST ADDED
FIND THE SCROLLS OF BLACK AND WHITE MAGIC
SOMEWHERE IN THE GARAMSYTHE WATEREWAYS THE SCROLLS BEHIND THE WONDERS OF SPELLCRAFT ARE HIDDEN. FIND THEM FOR YOURSELF, AND DEAL WITH ANY COMPLICATIONS THAT MIGHT COME OF IT.
REWARD?
+50,000 EXP
+50,000 GP
NEW INSTANT QUESTS ADDED
NEW AREAS UNLOCKED FOR FUTURE SETTING QUEST
RIPPLES IN THE SETTING YOU ARE IN
Wtf did that mean?
Now, I already know what some of the first comments are going to be, so let's get this out of the way. Yes, I know that the Instant Quests/Dungeons aren't something that many of you are going to like, no it is not going to change. Forgive me for being blunt, but I went into this with some ideas already in mind, and know that many of them are not going to be popular.
I am fine with criticism, fine with if I didn't write something properly, if you dislike the characters or how things went, but sometimes we authors go with an option that isn't going to be to everyone's taste so I decided to just rip the bandaid off something that I knew most people weren't going to like.
This doesn't mean that we are going to have dozens of chapters in an Instant Quest, though some might take longer than others or serve a different option.
I did say that I took a lot of inspiration from Project Gamer, though I'm going to make some changes, and probably taking a few ideas that Mister Ficser had while making my own spin on them.
BTW, if anyone is worried about threat ratings and the like, reminder that while WoD can be very good at normal street level stuff, there is some cosmic level shit either running around, hiding, or sleeping. Just look at what the Ravnos Antedeluvian did to Bangladesh.
The smell here sucked, sure, but the monsters in this fucking place were the worst.
"JUST. FUCKING. BURN. ALREADY!" I shouted as I threw another fireball into the Malboro Overking, the tentacled mouthed spinach head screaming as it threw more of its putrid breath my way.
Fuck, I knew that I should have bought those gas masks I saw at those garage sales!
Barely able to hold my breath, I moved forward, my body moving faster than any humans should be capable of and swept its tentacled feet out from under it as the flames finally started to do some damage.
It screamed trying to get more of its disease ridden breath onto me and missing as I reached into my Inventory and brought out a nice heavy shotgun, loaded with some of those Incendiary Rounds from the shop.
Without a second thought, I shoved the damn thing into its mouth and unloaded every shell into its skull. I coudln't quite help the grin on my mouth as the plant monster flopped to the ground. I think it was a plant at least. Who knows!
That had been the fifth damn thing I'd killed along with plenty of the weaker bats and rats that were scurrying around here in the sewers. Before I could mess with the damned controls on the water level, I had to find the damned key that controlled the flow of these damned sluices and gates.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE LEVELED UP!
LEVEL 10
+5 ATTRIBUTE POINTS
+1 Perk Point
CONGRATULATIONS! FOR REACHING LEVEL 10 YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN ACCESS TO THE CLASS SYSTEM!
A NEW ADDITION WITH THIS ITERATION, EACH 100 LEVELS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE A CLASS WHICH GIVES YOU ACCESS TO NEW ABILITIES AND MILESTONES, ALONG WITH STAT INCREASES PER LEVEL ALONGSIDE YOUR NORMAL STAT POINTS DUE TO YOUR RACE!
ALSO, NEW CLASSES WILL BE ADDED TO YOUR CHOICES AFTER YOU COMPLETELY LEVEL A CLASS TO 100, SO THERE IS NO REAL BAD OPTION HERE! UNLIKE MOST OF YOUR LIFE CHOICES!
WHO KNOWS!? MAYBE THIS WAY YOU WON'T WIND UP AS JUST ANOTHER DUMPED CORPSE FLOATING ALONGSIDE SHIT AND SEWAGE LIKE YOU BELONG!
Huh. Well, that was new.
A new screen popped up after that, and I found quite a few classes waiting for me. Most of them were the typical stuff that you would expect. Fighter, Berserker, Mage, Sorcerer, Thief, but there were also the occasional weird choices like Engineer, Lab Rat, Street Peddler and other stuff that just left me wondering.
But, right now, I had to pick something that wasn't too… bombastic. Something that could be subtler, or at least be explained away so that I didn't have people coming after me once I got back to that monster ridden hellhole.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE MONK CLASS
+2 TO DEX
+2 TO STR
+2 TO AGI
+50HP per level
+20MP per level
GAINED ABILITY:
UNARMED MOVEMENT: +5 TO YOUR AGILITY STAT WHEN NOT USING A WEAPON
STUDIOUS MIND: INCREASED SKILL LEARNING OF MARTIAL ARTS
GIVEN THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED STATS FROM A PREVIOUS GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM, YOU WILL NOT BE AWARDED THE STATS YOU WOULD HAVE.
TOO BAD.
Holy shit.
Well, first off, fuck you again stupid piece of shit system.
Those stats though… were going to be a fucking amazing boon. My dreams of doing the Kamehameha were closer than I ever thought they would ever be. Not bad for an old lady.
No, I never outgrew my weeb phase, fuck you.
There were also a bunch of new options that opened up in the shop thanks to my class, so I guess there were some boons that the system didn't bother to mention. Which, all in all, nice.
Trudging back to the big blue crystal, I sighed in relief as the healing energies washed over me, my mana coming back in mere seconds when I heard something.
Voices.
Or rather, one voice.
Following up towards the north of the sewers, I was surprised to find someone down here with me.
It was a kid, one that looked like he was barely eighteen, with blond hair, wearing only a necklace and vest on his chest, with baggy cotton pants with a red sash as a belt. The kid was currently trying to catch one of the larger mutant rats that reminded me of the ones in New York. He almost managed to corner it, knife coming down onto its back, when the little creature actually jumped over him and landed on his back, mouth opening ready to bite down into him.
I just reacted, dashing down the sewer walkway, feeling that energy that had been building up more and more pushing my body past its limits and punt the thing up with an uppercut.
A loud wailing screech echoed through the cavernous chambers, Vaan turning around in bewilderment, dagger poised to strike at me as the rat plummeted between the two of us on the floor with a 'crack'.
Huh, it managed to land on its head.
"If you wanna rob me kid, then you're going to need a bigger knife than that." I told Vaan with a smile on my face as the teen fumbled when he realized he still had the knife pointed at me. "It landed on your back and almost took a bite of you."
Instead of answering me, he just stared at me in confusion, like he had no idea what the fuck I was saying.
When he opened his mouth, I realized why.
Well, no wonder I couldn't make heads or tails of whatever the hell those gates were saying, because I didn't speak the language.
Wonderful. As if being stuck in the sewers and not being allowed "Out of Bounds" wasn't bad enough already.
Honestly, probably for the best. Knowing that people could come in here was already one big problem, but being able to influence shit outside of here?
Yeah, I'm wise enough to know that I want nothing to do with the magical political feces storm that was brewing upstairs.
Now that I look at Vaan, he looks younger than I thought he would have. Maybe this is before he decides that sneaking into the Royal Palace while the Empire Consul was visiting was a wonderful idea.
He was also a lot skinnier than he would one day be, lacking the muscles that being a hunter and sorta mercenary would bring. Not gaunt, not quite, but it was only a few more days without food away.
With a sigh, I reach into my Inventory, ignoring the way that his eyes widened and he took a step back, knife clattering to the ground, and toss him an Overking Fruit that he barely managed to catch.
He recognized the fruit, because instead of sniffing the disgusting waste of nutrients, he held it as far away as he could, but he didn't toss it away. Because he knew that thing was worth quite a bit of gil. I think.
It's a bit of a hazy dream at this point. The last time I played FF12 was back before the arthritis got my hands.
Though, that didn't mean that I stopped playing video games.
If I let a little hand pain keep me from going back to some of my most cherished memories, then I really was just a little bitch with a big mouth.
Eh, I didn't need all these damned poison treats anyway, not like I wasn't going to get more in a little bit anyways, so I just dump all them out onto the floor. The antidotes and various healing items are staying with me though.
I gesture towards the pile of disease and poisonous Malboro ball sacks, point at the staring teen, and then turn around and walk back towards my little campsite. Sure, hunting down some of those bats and rats would be easier, but I made a lot more progress hunting down the Malboros.
Even if the mere smell of them made me want to burn my nostrils out with a heated razor blade.
The entrance towards the sewers from what I think was called Lowtown, was the only place where I could get away from the fucking smell, and I had made a little hovel underneath some stairwells for some rest.
Because even if I wanted to just blow this entire place sky high, it was the sewers for the city of Rabanastre, home to millions of people. I think. The game never really went into detail on just how many people lived there. I think.
While the kid was light footed, I could hear Vaan following close behind me even as I started a little fire with some matches, the orphan staring at me as he held the bag filled with fruit while looking over towards the entrance to Lowtown.
He gestured up, as if inviting me, while glancing back to the bag in his hands and making little eating motions with his hands.
Aw. He was inviting me to a bite to eat for thanks. I knew he was a sweet kid, but that touched my old heart just a little bit. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave the sewers. It was 'out of bounds' for the 'scenario', so the sewers were the only place that I could go to and from.
Shaking my head, I shooed him away, giving him the best smile that I could while I started to roast a little microwaveable meal in a pot.
Eventually he left, bowing up and down a few times before he scampered off.
Good kid. I hope that those fruits got him a good penny. There were plenty of places up top that were probably going to love getting their hands on those, especially because since the Empire took over, I doubt that any of the city guard were coming down here to deal with the little monster population that had popped over here.
Well, that was better for me at least in the short term.
Leveling up was just a means to an end for now. If I could, I would just make myself a nice coffee machine, fuck off somewhere in the middle of nowhere and be a hermit for a few years. Probably adopt a few kids and run a little home while occasionally making some magical peculiarities.
The quiet life was what I lived in my old life, and I loved it.
But I didn't have that choice here. Not when a vampire could come and drink my entire family, or a Nephandi would bring about the end just because they could.
For now though, some sleep, and tomorrow I would continue on.
Vaan
Sure, there was better money to be made stealing from the rich and Imperial that started to make their way into the city instead of being in the sewers, but he felt bad just leaving that nice lady here.
She wasn't too old, probably only a couple of years older than he was, but there was something about the way that she had looked at him a few days ago that reminded him of the way that Migelo and Old Dalan would sometimes. Like he was too young to be down here, and should be out doing something else.
But he and the rest of his little group had to eat. Sure, dire rats didn't have that much meat on them, and you had to really cook them, but pickers couldn't be choosers. And at least some people wanted the pelts for leather or whatever else they needed them for. As long as they gave him the coin, he didn't really care what someone did with rat pelts.
With those Overking fruits though, he'd actually managed to get a lot of coin for Penelo and the others, Migelo even giving them a discount on some clothes and medicine that they needed.
It was… nice to see the little ones smile with full bellies and Penelo lose some of the bags from under her eyes. Best part, he didn't steal any money this time, so she didn't ring his ear again.
Even with the Empire starting to move in and take over, for the first time in years he could relax.
It's why he was coming back down here with some bowls of food. She might have a bounty on her head from the Empire, or maybe got into some trouble up top, but he didn't judge. She had given him enough of those fruits to earn more gil than he had seen his entire life.
When he got to the foot of the stairs, he found the same little camp that he had seen her in the other day, though this time it was a bit bigger than before. There was a strange looking tent at the back, with a bigger fire pit and a nicer pot hanging over the flame than he had seen the other day.
Only, she was nowhere to be seen, the flame already low and beginning to die down.
Not knowing where to put them, he opened the tent flap and put the bowls inside, leaving the main entrance and beginning to make his way south.
Sure, he was no match for the Malboros or giant Lizards that hung around on this side of the sewers, but given the occasional craters and dead creatures that littered the passageways, he didn't think that he needed to worry much about it.
A few more platforms further in he finally heard the sounds of Lizard croaks, Malboro grunts, and a lady screaming something in a language that he didn't recognize.
Wait… was one of those screams getting closer?
Looking up, he barely manages to dodge out of the way as a Lizard, its red and blue skin tumbling down the passageway, the creature's head smashing into the floor causing one of its horns to come tumbling near him.
"Chinga tu madre you fucking sludge eating cunts!" Alright, he might not understand what any of that means, but he was willing to bet that most of it were some form of curse words.
The entire passageway was nothing but a war zone. Dead Lizards on the ground, long tongues hanging out of their mouths, while the Malboro Overkings were little more than burnt vines and tangles.
There was a whole horde of the creatures swarming around a single person in the middle, and she was winning.
Worse, she was doing it completely unarmed, using only her fists and feet to beat the creatures to death while occasionally shooting out a fire spell at a downed Marlboro.
Each kick and punch was a fluid movement, flowing into each other faster than most soldiers around the city could with their blade, the monsters rocketing back in place with each blow landed. Then she started doing… weird stuff.
When a bunch of Lizards dove at her, mouths wide open with their fangs ready to chomp down, she actually jumped in the air, right leg extended in a kick and spun in place three times, hitting a Marlboro so hard that it sent the Lizard behind it barreling back. One Malboro even tried to chomp on her outstretched foot, and it received a downward kick to the face, the jeweled crown bouncing off the floor and landing on her head.
The lady then chucked it at a Lizard, cracking its skull open as she crouched and cupped her hands together close to her chest as light crackled to life along her arms, gathering and pulsing into an orb in her hands.
"HADOUKEN!" She shouted as she thrust her arms forward, shooting a spell of blue energy at the last Malboro, the plant creature in the middle of a jump as it tried to chomp onto her hand.
It exploded as the blue orb of energy went into its mouth, Vaan barely dodging out of the way so that he wasn't covered in gore.
Just like all those nights he tried to sneak out of the house without Penelo noticing, he wasn't very successful at it. Ah! Some of it got into his mouth!
At some point between him throwing up and her laughing at him, they found themselves back at her camp. He didn't even remember when she noticed him, he was too busy downing all the water that she was giving him, trying to get that disgusting taste out of his mouth while she passed him an Antidote.
Even with bile on his tongue and water sloshing in his mouth, he managed to get the words out. "Teach me!"
I always manage to get the strays to follow me, don't I?
Even if I couldn't understand the kid, given the way he was badly copying the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, I knew he wanted me to teach him how to fight.
Which… yeah I honestly needed the company.
A few days down here, alone, without the sun or other people to talk to was… driving me a bit crazy.
I can't remember when was the last time I took a bath, and I had been so obsessed with trying to find that damned scroll that I lost count of how many of those giant toads and gaudy Malboro's I'd killed along the way.
Probably not the best for my mental health, but at this point I couldn't bring myself to care.
At least I got a few nice perks from running around and killing these things.
FOR SURVIVING CONSTANT BOMBARDMENTS OF BAD BREATHS FROM MALBORO'S, YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A NEW PERK!
REINFORCED IMMUNE SYSTEM
YOU AREN'T JUST ANY OLD KID THAT DIED IN THEIR FIRST MONTH FROM PNEUMONIA, NO YOU ARE A TROOPER! LIKE A COCKROACH, YOU PRESS ON EVEN WITH YOUR BODY CONSTANTLY BATTLING AGAINST DISEASES AND POISONS!
YOUR POISON RESISTANCE IS INCREASED BY 12%
YOUR DISEASE RESISTANCE INCREASED BY 20%
Reaching level 15 had been cause to celebrate, especially because I wasn't having to come back and rest near the crystal every couple of fights anymore.
I was just counting myself lucky that none of those damned Malboro's managed to get a bite out of me. Don't think that Cure would have been able to fix that particular issue. Same goes for teeth.
At least Vaan had brought down some nice hot meals, a sort of meat stew with vegetables that I didn't recognize. Probably something grown from the Giza plains… south of here?
I was going to have to look in the Shop later to see if there were copies of games and stuff in there.
Don't know who supplied all that inventory, might be Gaia and her brood, or it might be other Gamers who do the supply, but I didn't care. I just wanted to listen to some damn good music instead of whatever weird shit that pervaded the World of Darkness.
There were some other differences there too.
Like Mr. Rodgers had never existed in that world. I know, I looked him up for whatever reason.
And, it explained a lot.
I wish it didn't, but it did.
Well, that was something for me to deal with when I got back.
For now, I was dealing with showing Vaan the scroll that I had received when I bought the Ansastuken fighting style.
He didn't understand the language any more than I did, but that's what the pictures were for.
I had gotten a prompt to learn the skill, which just provided a basic understanding of the style. Actually mastering it, perfecting it, was something that needed actual work put into it before I could make any true progress.
For Vaan, since he didn't have access to the System and I wasn't going to, he was learning it the hard way, with some guidance from me.
Practicing the various katas and movements with precise slowness and deliberation.
The language barrier was a problem, yeah, but he still came by every day since he'd followed me into the sewers, demanding I teach him.
So, a week later, a lot dirtier and hardier, here we were.
Every now and then I would adjust the minor misplaced limb, his feet a few more centimeters apart, straightening up his elbow with each strike, that sorta thing.
Even with the language barrier, I found his company to be a balm on my soul. At least, down here in this hellhole, I wasn't alone. I think I would have gone full feral if I was honestly. Isolation, true isolation, was never a problem when you were out on the streets.
Sure, people would pretend you weren't there, and the loneliness born from that was its own brand of hell. For people to just… pretend you didn't exist was a pain that I never wanted to experience ever again.
But at least there were people to ignore me in the first place.
And, well, he taught me a few things too.
STEAL HAS REACHED LEVEL 4
An exchange of skills was something that the orphan was more than happy to appease, and he had taught me the right way to grab something out of someone's pockets. Now it was a little game that we would sometimes play with each other.
He'd steal something that I intentionally kept in my pockets, and I would steal his Gil coin. Right before he left, we;'d return whatever it was that we stole, the blond boy moving with just a bit more cheer in his step.
There was a part of me that wanted to warn him about what was to come, tell him not to go into that Royal Armory, because what kind of person would I be if I let that kid get involved with a literal fucking war?
No matter how much I wanted to though, I knew that I couldn't. If I left him a note, and someone managed to find it and decipher it somehow, then that was information that no one should know about.
Those invisible assholes would tear everything apart like they wanted, and Vayne would probably fight all the harder for his rebellion against destiny and gods.
Now that was another conundrum.
I agreed with him, at least in part, Screw the gods and anything that tried to dictate how we should live our lives, this System only made that feeling… reinforced, as if it wasn't already given the little torment that my early years had been.
But the war he waged, the kingdoms razed in his progress, and the countless corpses that were only being further piled on as the war continued on.
Well, I didn't want a part in that, but wasn't that a possibility in what might happen back in my new 'home'? When Gehenna, the Apocalypse, or Ascension took place, it would all be a storm of destruction that would claim countless lives.
I should see being here in Ivalice as a fucking vacation, but that was kinda hard when I couldn't even go out and see the fucking sun!
Finding that fucking White Mousse had been a pain in the ass, the damned white Flan monster probably being the worse opponent that a martial artist could fight against when its body was resistant to physical damage.
Well, there was a reason why my Fireball was at level twenty now. And it had included a lot of running.
It dropped a lot of healing items, XP, GP, along with a Burning Bow that dealt a lot of fire damage, but was useless in my hands. I could use a gun, but I couldn't use a bow at all. Didn't even get the skill when I finally did manage to shoot an arrow straight, guess that I needed to actually deal some damage with it or something.
Either way, that Bow was probably just going to collect dust for a while. Moment corpses and vampires start popping up with arrows through them, is when I start getting even more eyes looking for me.
So I just gave it to Vaan to sell or do whatever the boy wanted to with it, the kid practically skipping out of here with a bounce in his step that made my little smile widen up just a bit. He was a good kid. Naive, with some strange ideas on how he could achieve his freedom, but he had a good heart.
His form was still a little sloppy, and he was going to need a lot of practice, but the Malboro fruits and various other spoils that I had been giving him had already shown their worth. He wasn't just skin and bones anymore, already forming some of the muscles that I was more familiar with, and I had no doubt that the rest of the kids in his little group were having better lives now than a few weeks ago. The flames of war were still hot and angry, with a lot of orphans lost with nowhere to go.
If my help could ease their suffering, just a little bit, then the trip here would have been worth it even without the rewards that I was aiming for.
I wished that I could have met those kids, and Penelo as well, lord knows the girl was dealing with enough stress keeping Vaan's sticky fingers from getting him put in an Empire prison, but I couldn't drop her name without Vaan becoming very suspicious.
It was going to be soon time for me to leave though.
The monsters here were becoming less and less of a problem, but most of that is because I was cheating with a bunch of abilities that I really shouldn't have.
Ki Manipulation, Mana Manipulation, along with a few other tricks I had picked up more than made things easier.
Turning a simple Firebolt spell into more of a… shotgun blast had been fun. Compressing the fireball before scattering it into dozens of tiny flame bolts, while more costly than a normal one, dealt way more damage to those fucking vine bags of shit.
After countless hours of going back and forth from the main control station of the sewer gates, reaching level 17 and a lot more levels in skills, I finally found the fucking scrolls.
They were at the center of a large circular opening that was usually underwater.
An area that I recognized and made me want to crawl into a little ball.
It was the same area where an Esper was waiting.
Cúchulainn. Not the Son of Light from Irish legend, but a giant monster that had once been a healer and force of compassion. Taking in disease and blight into himself had twisted the once proud creature into a monster of pestilence and death.
And the giant green bastard was there, waiting, hiding beneath water eager to come and kill whatever might come.
I knew that if I tried to sneak past him he was going to find me. There was no hiding from him, no running away.
The only option I had was going through him, and that meant a lot of HP draining attacks while fighting off his fucking monsters.
Going back to camp and stowing everything away, I knew that Vaan would come back and find me gone. Probably worried and scared that I just up and disappeared one day.
I wonder if I would make my way to this world again?
Most of me wanted nothing to do with the storm that was coming for this world, the political intrigue that would determine the future of this world… but I wanted to see how those kids were doing. See how Vaan would grow up just from the brief time I spent with him.
For now, though, all I could do was drop every broken horn, Lizard corpse, antidote and Malboro fruit that I had gathered since coming here.
Monsters tended to stay away from here, and no one really came into the sewers lately, so I knew that he would find it intact. I wanted to leave a letter, but he wouldn't exactly be able to read it anymore than I could read his language.
Adding in a language skill or spell to my arsenal was definitely now part of my big to do list.
Stuffing all my crap into the Inventory screen didn't take too long after that, and making it to the arena was just a small jog with the occasional punch or fireball.
It didn't take long for Cuchulainn to appear, his two armored arms pulling himself out of the almost black sewer water, his giant round body stomping as he caught his footing, smiling big and wide from his frog like mouth, letting me see the point of what might have been a trident that was shoved down his skull, the other two red points framing his face.
I took in a deep breath and cast Haste on myself, feeling the world slow down around me as I tore through the distance between us, launching two more modified Fireball spells, both of them larger and more volatile than normal, one, moving in slow motion behind me as I cupped my hands together.
The Hadoken took out a chunk of his HP, the smile on his face widening and becoming… was he enjoying the pain?
Nope, not thinking about it.
Those black and red Flans appeared around him after the first few punches and kicks tore out another chunk of his health, the monsters manifesting large fluctuating fists to try and grab me, but I just danced out of their way, throwing some Fireball spells their way and watching them burn. The giant green monster didn't roar so much as he giggled when his HP lowered past the halfway point when I reached the fifteenth hit, each blow dealing more damage than the last as one of the newest perks I'd bought did its thing.
Unfortunately for me, Cuchulainn still managed to poison me along with hit me with Immobilize, my feet suddenly decided to go against my wishes and freeze on the floor, his body moving in slow motion as he turned around.
I cast Esuna on myself while I kept punching him on his flabby back, his green tattooed skin jiggling and bruising with each blow, keeping the count going, while my other hand reached into my inventory and brought out something near and dear to me.
My beautiful shotgun, unloaded its payload into his skull, my dexterity helping boost the damage to the weapon even as my health continued to decline when he managed to hit me with Bio again.
He tried to cast Slow on me, but I guess my Haste spell was too advanced for it to have more of an effect than making him move a little faster. Nothing that reapplying the spell didn't fix.
And yet, that didn't mean a damn thing when I jumped into the air, fist cocked back and Shoryukening that trident of his head and blasting the last bit of my MP into his face.
Cuchulain fell then, giggling and giving me a wide terrifying smile as he disappeared into motes of light, a crystal shattering, allowing the large strange flowing emblem to break free and embed itself into my skin.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SLAIN THE ESPER CUCHULAINN
YOU HAVE GAINED THE ESPER CUCHULAINN AS A SUMMON
+150,00 EXP POINTS
+200,000 GP
YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 20!
Thank god I didn't give him time to hit me with a Disablega, otherwise I might have been fucked. If my Haste wasn't at the level it was at, then this place really would have been my grave.
Note to self, next time I go out on an Instant Quest, go somewhere that doesn't have something that could kill me with their equivalent of a backhand. Hell, I was down to barely 10 of my HP, while my MP was bottomed out, and I finally had to cough up some blood while my insides felt like they were on fire.
Eating helped bring some HP back, and the Potions I had been finding here helped, but moving around… hurt.
I had to crawl over towards the center of the chamber, snatching the scrolls and shoving them into my inventory, disappearing from this world and reappearing back in my old apartment with a 'thud'.
I just passed out as Isabelle rushed towards me, the question of 'what happened' ignored along with the notifications. So, given the recent comments, I thought that it would be best to address it like this, with proof. I'm not going to focus that much on what's going on in Instant Quest, at least, not if I don't have future plans for it, or if it doesn't affect the characters that we will primarily see. Some future Instant Quests might take longer if it's more than just Mia going into them, but, like you, I want to instead focus on what's going on in WoD, and all this is merely icing on the cake that I'm trying to make.
If its Mia going in alone, expect the adventure to be one chapter or less.
If more than one character goes its going to be longer, but I am going to have certain Instant Dungeons happen off screen. Mia needing a new computer and stealing a focus from Horizon for example doesn't need a chapter to detail.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
LV:20
HP:1050/1050HP MP:1000/1000
ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE:
FUNDS:$4000
GP:258,562GP
PERK POINTS:3
STR:45
DEX:45
AGI:43
VIT:45
INT:43
WIS:40
Skills:
Guns:14
Driving:8
Melee Weapons:8
Investigation:22
Ansastuken:25
Acrobatics:12
Finances:2
First Aid:2
Sneak:13
Ki Manipulation: 5
Mana Manipulation:8
Spells:
Libra:10
Telekinesis:12
Fireball:20
Cure:15
Esuna:20
Haste:18
Scry:4
Mind Blank:8
PERKS: FORCEFUL MIND:
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
THOUGHTFUL MIND: INCREASE MP REGENERATION BY 50%
HARDY LUNGS: INCREASE OVERALL ENDURANCE AND STAMINA.
DAY HUNTER:YOU DEAL INCREASED DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES DURING THE DAYTIME.
ARSONIST:YOU GAIN AN INCREASED EXPERIENCE GAIN FOR FIRE BASED ABILITIES
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY: REGENERATE YOUR HP BY 5% PER HOUR INSTEAD OF 1%.
REINFORCED IMMUNE SYSTEM:YOUR POISON RESISTANCE IS INCREASED BY 12%. YOUR DISEASE RESISTANCE INCREASED BY 20%
HARDY BODY: DOUBLE HP GAINS THROUGH VITALITY STAT.
PIERCING BLOWS: UNARMORED ATTACKS IGNORE 5% OF ARMOR OR DEFENSE.
AKASHIC RYTHM: STRENGTH AND DEXTERITY INCREASE BY 10% WHEN PERFORMING A COMBINATION OF PHYSICAL BLOWS.
POISON RESISTANCE: GAIN 25% RESISTANCE TO POISON AND POISON DAMAGE
Spending an entire day as a potato back home wasn't so bad. Sure, there was stuff to do, but I just needed time to rest and sleep, something that Isabelle understood and gave me.
She didn't get any XP or GP from my time in the Waterways, so there was one theory that I had out the window, but it wasn't truly that big of a deal.
We could work on grinding her up later on when we actually went on the offensive.
The Sabbat were still gathering themselves, probably mostly higher ranking Kindred meeting right now, preparing for the storm they had no idea was brewing.
Now that I was thinking about it though, if they went to ground, finding them wasn't going to be an issue. At least, not if I played my cards right.
Detect Undead was a simple spell, and I needed to experiment with it first, but first I was going to need to catch a Vampire intact.
Which meant that I needed to store them somewhere.
Ergo, I needed to meet with Bertha, and I had to kick myself because I forgot to get her phone number.
At least because of Isabelle, money for that wasn't that big of an issue.
I would have a smartphone right now if the Technocracy wasn't insistent on keeping their precious timeline. What did it matter when the world was putrid and rotting from the inside anyways?
Meaning our meeting had to be face to face, and she had me waiting parked behind her bar at noon like I was some sort of dealer.
I mean… I used to be in my teens, but that's neither here nor there.
"What?" Bertha asked through gritted teeth, head shifting back and forth in the alley, eyes searching for anyone that might be nearby.
"I'm planning on doing some… work tonight. Do you have someplace that we can… store away a prisoner for a few nights?" I asked.
Instead of answering me, she sent me a withering look. "Maybe. I have some property just outside of the city. Why?"
"Because we need answers, and I think that it would be best to learn this way."
"What brought this on? Just a few days ago you were erring caution instead of action."
"Let's just say that I picked up a few new tricks." I said as I let a small crackle of electricity buzz through my fingers, causing her hair to stand on end just a bit.
"By any chance, is this going to be a solo thing for you, or can we actually go and learn a thing or two." Bertha didn't quite growl it out, ok no, yeah that was totally a growl.
I could just tell her no… but it might be best to see what she and George could do out in the field. "Fine. Got anywhere that we can meet up later today?" I asked, knowing that if we wanted to get this done as quietly as possible, then we were going to have to do it as close to sundown as possible.
"Yeah, just meet me back at the auto shop after 8PM." Bertha said without a second thought, turning back into her bar without another word.
Well, I like that she's at least to the point. Less bullshit and subterfuge that way.
Waiting, while definitely not one of my skills, is still something that old age taught me to at least deal with while waiting a few streets away from the autoshop. Well, having the system and reading through all the goodies that we would need definitely helped, with Isabelle keeping watch through the front while I hid in the back of the car.
Most of my purchases to finally get Runesmithing underway was going to have to wait until I actually got my own place, or maybe that Bertha or George could help with. Apparently the large lady had some cash to her name, because having that many places that she could crash at didn't come from nowhere.
I at least had spells out the ass, enough that I was basically a mini nuke that probably turn an entire block into an elemental storm big enough that I'd catch the attention of every mage and demon in the city.
Which is why anything more dangerous than a simple Fireball was staying locked up like that Antediluvian underneath New York.
Please, ancient evil vampire, please stay asleep until I can find a way to get you well down before you turn the city that never sleeps into another Bangladesh.
"What is next on the list on your new shopping list?" Isabelle asked offhandedly while staring out the window as cars slowly drove out of the autoshop driveway.
"Trying to see if we can get our hands on some wards and anti scrying methods. Along with some… insurance against anything that might try to slip through the Umbra."
"And that is?" She asked, not even surprised that I was dropping another word she'd never heard of before.
"Ah, right, vampires don't really know that much about the Umbra compared to most of the other night folk." I said offhandedly as I added another quest to the list of stuff that I needed to get done. There were a bunch of the more useful skills locked away behind some quests. "The Umbra is… weird thing to explain. They're basically other planes that exist… underneath this one? I think? Never could wrap my brain around how all of them worked with each other. Its where spirits reside, along with a bunch of other crap that makes its way onto this side, like the Dreaming, ghosts and a bunch of other crap that is harder to explain than it really should be."
And trying to get into that place with an Avatar was a good way to get your soul rent into pieces. I didn't know if me not having one of those made me exempt from that fate worse than death, but I wasn't in any hurry to find out one way or the other.
"As for what I'm buying right now, just some stuff that I'll be able to use later for some future projects." Quicksilver, the specific kind that a lot of Runemasters needed, was worth a pretty penny, but crucial for a lot of runes. Just getting the materials to make an anvil, because the Anvil was the most important tool for constructing runes, took out a third of my GP.
"Any chance that there are any goodies in there that I could use?" She asked, a playful smile on her face as she glanced at her own inventory screen with a glance.
I snort. "Please, I think it would be easier to find something that would be useful for you rather than me." Oh Disgaea, my little number hell, you were always full of options weren't you? I pass her an Assist and Hawk Eye scroll, two passive abilities that might, or might not level up with further uses. "These two should help against some tougher opponents we might find out there. Especially if it's us ganging up against someone else."
Her eyes went a bit glassy as she accepted the two little tomes, and I blinked in surprise as they just disappeared in a cloud of dust. Well… huh. Guess I was going to have to be careful about some of those. Maybe we could print out some copies and see if they were still usable.
Eventually we strode in where there weren't any cameras nearby, getting in through the back where Bertha had told us and made our way down into the basement.
Bertha was there, changed out into a long sleeved shirt that would have been bad in the summer, and cargo pants that had a few bulges that were most likely guns and knives.
George was in the corner of the room, facing the stairs, eyes locked on the both of us while one of his hands twitched occasionally towards the bag sitting next to him.
… Did he have bombs in that thing? Grenades?
I mean… I think I could survive one of those?
Sure as shit could come back from one if it did manage to hurt me too bad.
Hm, maybe try and find some other forms of healing before I actually tested it out.
I give the young man a smile, raising my hand up for a shake. "Nice to actually meet you in better circumstances."
He stares down at my hand like it was a snake he'd found in his boxer drawer, and for a second, I thought that he was just going to let the gesture remain there in awkwardness. Eventually he does take my hand, reluctantly, and gives me a nod that was just barely professional.
Meh, it was fine. I didn't let it bother me, not when he didn't know me this side of Detroit and that I basically ambushed him and his friend just a few days ago.
With meticulous slowness, I reach into my Inventory and bring out small blue vials holding glowing blue liquid inside, passing them to him and Bertha.
"What the sweet Jesus is this?" He asked, staring at the liquid inside like it was nitroglycerin.
"Healing potions." I said simply, barely giving them another glance. They tasted minty, and I'd had to learn to just accept the effects they had after drinking truckloads of them in Rabanastre's sewers. "Long as you haven't lost a limb, and any bullets you might have taken have an exit wound, these will be able to patch you up enough to find me. We don't have time for me to teach you any magic, though that might be on the table, but at least these will keep you from needing a hospital visit and having to answer some complicated questions."
"And how do we know this shit isn't poisonous?" He asked, actually managing to keep his anger from his voice, but I could see it in his eyes and the way his hands tightened around the vials.
Instead of answering, I closed my eyes and opened my hand towards the potions, one of which he put in my hands. Without a second thought, I downed the minty liquid and hummed at the warmth that spread through my body.
His scowl weakens, but the air of distrust wasn't going anywhere, which I more than understood. If I was in his position, I would probably be the same. I was, at one point, many, many years ago.
"Care to enlighten us at what we are doing?" George growled out.
Ah, right, that. Probably important.
"We are going to kidnap a Vampire. The leader of a particularly bloody pack that has been kidnapping people and Embracing them against their will." I said, carefully hiding the vitriol and rage that made me want to burn this entire city to the ground. Laying a map of the city out onto the table, I point towards a building deeper in the city, the various buildings surrounding it circled in red. "These apartment complexes are where he and his two Pack members have been hiding out during the day before they can wake up. A number of the people here have been converted into their personal Ghouls, most of them unwilling, but some of them being genuinely loyal."
"Speed and stealth are what we require tonight." Isabelle intoned quietly, dragging one finger down the streets and pointing towards the back of the building. "Two of us shall be waiting here in a getaway car, which I have already acquired outside. Getting inside is going to be the hard part, because there are always lookouts, whether they be Ghouls, or those that are connected to the ghouls."
Bertha frowns down at the map. "To think, they were right there under our noses. It's always the mundane that hides the strange."
There was a story to that, but that could wait for later.
"So, how exactly are you going to sneak inside without being found out by any of them? Cause I ain't killing any person that doesn't know what they're doing." George quickly growled out, and I couldn't hide the wide smile and approving nod I threw his way.
"Don't worry, I got a plan for that. Bertha, how do you feel about coming with me?" I asked, the woman giving me a slightly worried expression.
Eh, it'd be fine.
Damn, I was running out of closets to hide assholes in.
How many fucking ghouls did that prick drug? How much of his own blood had he used up to do that in the first place?
And most importantly, how many people had he killed to have said blood?
Too many corpses and lives made up that asshole's body, and it had to end. At least Bertha was around to help me move some of the bodies before they landed on the floor after I hit them in the face with Sleep.
On the bright side, the spell was close to reaching 13, and the length that it lasted had more than doubled from the mere 30 minutes.
Though, some of the first guys that we had thrown into a broom closet downstairs were bound to wake up in about 15 minutes so we had to hurry it up.
And the sun was about to set.
I don't know where the last of his pack was hiding, but I knew where he would be. On the third to last top floor, in one of the more lavish apartments that this place had.
Which of course meant that it was the most watched floor in the building, with the cleaning crew just 'happening' to be hanging around the apartment that we were heading towards. There were even some cameras mounted nearby. Not a problem for either of us thanks to the masks we were wearing, though Bertha had to wear something bulkier to hide the gear that she was carrying with her.
I didn't have said issue thanks to Inventory, but that wasn't something that I could share freely. Wonder how hard it would be to get my hands on some bags of holding…
Another little project to add for later.
"Can I help you?" A little old lady asked, dressed in an apron and bandana around her head, a mop in one hand while another was reaching into her pocket as she flashed a bright smile. Down the hall, a man that was leaning against a wall pushed himself off, dark eyes focusing on me and Bertha behind me.
Bertha caught the woman as I put her to sleep, the man beginning to charge towards us before I swept his feet out from under him and also put him to sleep. Good thing too, because my MP was starting to bottom out.
"Come on, we need to hurry." I said, throwing the knife that the guy had in his pocket at the camera while I pocketed the little pistol that the woman was about to try to shoot me with.
Bertha was about to follow inside behind me when I heard that cocking of a gun, and I pushed her down with the last of my telekinesis, bracing my hands in front of my face and the top of my chest as a shotgun pumped its shells into me.
-150HP
STATUS: BLEEDING: -5 HP EVERY FIVE SECONDS
I couldn't help the scream of pain and rage that tore out of my throat, but I did manage to kick towards the shotgun, grabbing it by the barrel and pointing it towards the ceiling, the gun barely budging in my hands. I punched the Vampire that had managed to wake up on his own somehow, grinning in savage glee as I felt something crunch and blood splattered onto the floor.
He was shorter than I was by at least half a foot, barely taller than I'd been in my previous life. A neat beard and stylish locks of black hanging down to his chin, the tips becoming drenched in scarlet as he snarled at me. Already, his nose was starting to fix itself, the bone and old flesh knitting itself back together before my eyes, the blood noticeably lessening the more his nose healed.
Good, the more blood he used, the easier what came next would be.
Faulkner Ring hissed, his fangs elongated in his mouth as his eyes flashed red in rage and hatred, a wordless scream in his throat. His hand punched forward, no doubt enhanced with his knowledge of Potence, the inhuman strength of the fist, no doubt able to shatter a normal human's spine into pieces.
I grabbed it with ease with one hand, growling myself as I pulled him in and headbutted him, no sense of style or teaching in it. Just seeing him made all the memories that Regina had left behind rise to the surface, the fury, both the young girl's and my own, making my body before my brain could catch up.
The grin on my face stretched as his skull cracked and crunched against the force of my own, enough so that I ignored the throbbing that I was feeling on my forehead.
Footsteps rushed past me, and a splinter from the door was stabbed into the chest of the Vampire, whatever movement and groans that he had been making ceased as his body was paralyzed. Bertha was breathing harder than I was, a wild look in her eyes, but thankfully unharmed.
It was enough of a sight to calm the rampant roar that had been my blood, and I forced myself to sigh out, doing my best to slow the tango that was my heart.
"You alright?" I asked, voice calm and measured, a trick that I'd had to pick up years ago when things in my life had turned rough.
"I should be asking you that." Bertha said, eyeing me cautiously as she stared at the motionless corpse that I stuffed in a sleeping bag I'd grabbed from my inventory.
"It's just some buckshot." I said with a wave of my hands as I started to telekinetically grab each of the little pellets embedded in my arms and chest. This time, I kept the scream of pan subdued, greedily downing a potion as my Mana emptied out again.
Glancing out the window, I frowned as the last rays of the sun set below the horizon, and I knew that we had mere minutes before this place was swarmed by Ghouls and Kindred.
Unfortunately, the Inventory wouldn't let me stuff the undead statue in a bag into it, so guess this meant that we were doing this the hard way.
"So, what, we just charge our way back down?" Bertha asked, hand reaching for the gun she had holstered at her hip.
"No, we take the fast way down. Also, sorry about this." I said as I downed an Ether, the sound of shouts and footsteps echoing behind us. The bag containing Faulkner strapped to my back.
Opening the door that led to the small balcony outside, Bertha shot me a perplexed look. "Sorry for wh-" She didn't finish as I lifted her up telekinetically and jumped over the edge of the balcony from the sixth floor. Of course, I didn't jump straight down.
Instead, I made sure to hop down the balconies one by one, Bertha grumbling every curse word under the sun as she floated gently above me, limbs flailing around.
Thank god the lights around here hadn't turned on yet, otherwise we would probably have more onlookers than I'd be comfortable with.
By the time we made it back to the car, she had already socked me in the shoulder, which I let happen when I saw how hard her hands were shaking. Was she scared of heights?
We jumped into the back of the car as I heard the pops of guns starting to go off behind us, Isabelle punching it before the door even closed all the way.
He woke up in an unfamiliar environment. How long he had been stuck in torpor, he didn't know, nor how he had been subdued in the first place. A woman had managed to take a shotgun blast to the chest, and then stopped his Vampiric punch with barely any effort before she shattered his skull into pieces.
His brain had remained intact enough for his body to have regenerated, but that meant that what little blood he'd had left was used up to keep him awake. Already the hunger was building in the back of his mind, the constant need to feed on the prey that walked on two legs crooning and whispering to him gentle promises.
If it wasn't for his fear, he would have embraced the Beast as was his virtue. Attempting to rise only answered him with a bevy of rattling chains, his arms and legs constrained against the wall with links of blue and white that did not look like steel. Yet, they held, even as he wrenched and pulled with all the strength he could muster.
"Whoever you are, you have made an enormous mistake!" He roared out into the darkness of the basement, the sound of wildlife outside of the cracked windows of his concrete and steel prison silencing against his cries.
The only light that he could see came down from the stairs on the far side of the vast room, echoing footsteps approaching him with an almost lazy grace.
That's right. Come to feed me, you calf.
"Whatever mistakes you think I've made, I would instead put as little dots on my bucket list." A woman's familiar voice called down to him, the steady clips of her footsteps giving her voice a soft timber as he licked his fangs in anticipation.
"Then it's a surprise that you haven't become gator feed already." He snarled out, stretching the blue chains as far as he could, flexing and pulling to the point that the shackles on his wrists and ankles began to cut into his limbs. A futile gesture that he hoped would pass unnoticed to his captor. After all, they had no idea that he was almost out of blood.
A harsh laugh echoed down to him as he finally saw her feet appear down the steps, familiar jeans, and unfamiliar hoodie hiding his unknown future meal.
"If a gator was enough to put me down, then what does that say about you then, Faulkner?" A chill ran down his spine as he heard his name spoken to him. Not the name that his siblings in the Sabbat knew. No, his real name. A name that only his packmates knew, and kept because of the Vinculum. "Besides, who is going to come and save you? Robert? We both know that the only reason why he stays with you and that Tzimisce bitch is because his sire is a hateful piece of shit."
"Who are you with? A Camarilla dog, or one of those sightless Anarchs thinking that you can cause chaos by focusing on me!" He roared out, pulling again, this time mostly in defiance instead of intimidation. He knew that he was going to die here now. There was no way that whoever this was would allow him to leave here intact.
Again, she laughed like a witch with a cauldron, raising a hand and summoning an orb of white light that hurt just to look at, the Beast screeching in fear at the coalescence of something that he knew could kill him. "Oh no Faulkner, I'm not a vampire. Completely, and utterly human. Though, not the same one that you would know."
She took off the hood from her face, and he recognized her immediately. Little Regina. A clubgoer that he'd had wrapped around his finger. Maybe she would have one day been good enough to be one of his personal Ghouls instead of cannon fodder, but he hadn't had much hopes at the time.
Why would he care when the little bitch had turned into a junkie because his gift to her had been too much for her weak will to endure?
But this wasn't her.
It couldn't be. Not because of the strange magics and strength that he had subdued him with, or these chains that were probably hers, but because of the way he glared at him.
An expression of fury and satisfaction that looked alien on the formerly frail girl, the gauntness of her cheeks gone, a little paler than she had been a week ago when he'd sent her out with Bone Lily to ambush those Camarilla idiots, neither of them coming back.
"Who the fuck are you?" He growled out. "What did you do with Bone?"
"Oh, don't worry, your little psychopath is a nice and toasty pile of ashes on the back of some poor schmucks car. Might even be in a police bin as evidence. You know, if they had even collected anything instead of torching it." She stopped a few inches out of his reach, hands grasping towards her in futility as she smiled savagely at him. "As for who I am… you could think of me as someone picking up where Regina left off. She's gone, of course. Died fighting the useless war that you and the rest of the Sabbat are so insistent on fighting."
"And what would you know of the fight? Of our crusade against those who sleep and in effort for our Father!?" He roared out, panicking again.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. Caine hates all of you. I promise. The old man is so tired of being reminded about every one of his failures that he just wants to get away from all of you. After all, the last time that he got involved, the Camarilla had a little civil war, and I think that you know what happened after that. But I didn't keep you alive just to drop lore bombs on your head."
He was about to retort and bite towards her, when another white light appeared above her, and the previous one shot down into his left leg.
A pain, a burning that felt so much like the sun blinded his existence, the Beast, and his consciousness screeching in agonizing pain as he curled into a ball on the floor, clutching at the burned stump of his leg.
"When is the next Mass Embrace happening." She asked, ignoring his screaming and cries. "Better yet, where are the last batch that managed to dig themselves out and passed your little test."
"What…huff… makes you think I'm going to answer that!" He growled out in reply.
He lost another limb in reply.
In a haze, he told her. Next week. The same place on the outskirts of town. A bishop and a number of priests would be there to see towards the right, and take their pick of the newest soldiers in their war.
Anything to make the burning stop.
Another flash of white ended his life, the last words that he heard echoing with him as he died.
"I was going to beat you to death, but honestly, I just want to put you down. Goodbye Faulkner. You won't be missed, or remembered. Not even a footnote."
In that moment between the end of his unlife, he thought he could hear the screams of his daughters again. The same ones that he'd heard before his sire had sicced his frenzied state on them.
And he wished that he could cry again like he did then.
Bertha and George weren't quite shaking when I came back upstairs, but they stayed relatively close to the windows, the shaggy haired man in particular twitching towards it as he glanced my way.
Isabelle at least didn't look at me any different, unsurprising given that she probably had as much of a roaring fire in her heart as I did after… well everything.
Killing Faulkner, the asshole that had turned Regina into a shell of her former self didn't make me feel any better. But I already knew that it wasn't going to. Vengeance was never about making yourself feel better, not really. It was balancing the scales and allowing that bottled rage out into the world instead of inward. Though, in many circumstances, it was both.
But, at the very least, I knew that he couldn't hurt any more people, and there were countless others that he had killed before Regina had ever drunk his blood.
"What is a Mass Embrace?" George asked, keeping his voice steady, even if I knew that I probably scared the shit out of him after my little 'interrogation' downstairs.
"It's how some of the Sabbat keep their numbers up. Keep in mind, the Sabbat itself is pretty big, and there are plenty of people that don't like the practice. But… well, given how many of their lot have been dropping around like flies, both because of us, and because the Camarilla have been launching little strikes into their territory, they need to keep their numbers up. They're going to kidnap a bunch of people, turn them, and knock them out before they can frenzy so they can bury them. Any that manage to dig their way out will then be fed and 'initiated' into the organization. Though, most of them are going to be little more than disposable meatbags for the group to throw away when they need to." Regina hadn't been to one before, she hadn't been deemed 'worthy' enough to witness a 'holy' ritual, which was probably a good thing. She might have been fed to one of the Kindred that actually managed to make it out.
Bertha shivered in place, and George looked like he was going to be sick. "So, there's no limit to how many Vampires can be made?"
"The only limit is how much blood a Sire is willing to spare. And how much he needs to feed to fuel the act. And there are plenty of bodies in the city." The words were hollow and ashen in my mouth. A chilling fact that only plummeted the dark mood that had already hung over the room like a weighted cloak.
"Miami is infested with them, isn't it?" Bertha asked, the stubborn fire in her eye dimmer than I had ever seen it.
"Yes. As is every large city in the world. Any place filled with people, filled with blood, is going to attract them like the mosquitoes that they are." That reminded me, I was going to need to look through the Instant Quests to see if I could find that in there.
"What, there aren't any out in the countryside?" George asked, almost hysterically.
"Yeah, there are. That's where the Nosferatu like to hang out. The latter being… physically changed the most out of all the vampire clans. Let's just say that you'll know what one is after you see it. And that's also where the Werewolves tend to stick around." Poor guy let out a hysterical laugh that I was actually feeling right about now as I started to remember just how fucked this world was. How many horrors hid in the shadows and beyond. The web of a weaver choking destruction to the point its thrashing was corrupting and protruding existence.
Individually, most of the problems could be taken care of. I know of at least a few Gamers that could solo a bevy of this shit. The problem was the scale of everything.
Everything was shit, and trying to fix it was probably a futile task.
But, if futility was the end result, I might as well make sure that as many of those fuckers go down in flames with me.
"On the bright side, we can at least start helping here and there." I said with a cheer that I didn't really feel, but I learned how to fake it in the last Depression back home. Sometimes the only way to keep living is by convincing yourself that there was a reason to do it.
I prefer sheer spite, but hey, that wasn't enough for most people.
"And you think that you're enough to fight these things?" George asked, hysterics not quite quelled yet, and wanting to take out his anger on someone else.
"With enough time, sure. Maybe. But the problem isn't just killing them all, it's to keep the rest of them from coming in and taking over once the power vacuum takes residence. We get rid of the Sabbat here in Miami, and then the Camarilla are going to try and take over. They've been trying to send their little hit squads into the city for years, but haven't made much headway when the Sabbat outnumber them and have control of the city. It is much easier to defend your home than it is to attack someone else's after all."
Turning away from the group staring at me, demanding explanations that would help them sleep at night, I glance around the old warehouse that might have once been a bustle of industry. Old rusted equipment lay there, forgotten, dusty and brown with time and abandonment. The ceiling of the building was barely holding together too, various holes allowing the warm breeze to whistle down onto our heads.
It had been a curious anomaly that I noticed in this world. There were a lot more abandoned buildings just… out in the world. Instead of being torn down and changed to a parking lot, or a little space for a company to start reaching their claws into the city, plots of land and buildings were just left there to rot. Factories, shops, warehouses. Sure, you saw plenty of those back home during this time, but it just felt like there were more of these places just scattered around the world.
There were also a lot more stone and gothic buildings hanging around. A lot more churches with gargoyles too. Sometimes I'd forget that I'm in Miami and start thinking that this was Gotham city or something.
A reflection to just how rotted the world was? On multiple courses towards the end? Whether it be Gehenna, the Wyrm, or Ascension gone wrong?
"So, got any plans for this place?" I asked Bertha, the two friends whispering towards each other while sending glances towards me and Isabelle every now and then.
"Not really. I bought this place more to flip it eventually… but things didn't work out quite like how I thought it was going to."
"Buyer flaked basically." I said offhandedly, staring at the vast building that I couldn't help but start to customize in my head. Construction had been one of those little skills that I had to learn after the second time my house blew up.
Wait, was there a construction skill somewhere? Not like I was scraping for points.
"How's about we make a deal then?" I asked with a smile on my face, knowing that there was no way that she was going to say no.
Bertha and George glanced at each other again. "Didn't you promise that you were going to teach us some things first?"
"Of course, we can do that either tonight, tomorrow in the morning if you would prefer. But this deal will only help you, trust me." Wait… couldn't I use that for building out something underground? "After all, we're going to need a place for us to meet up, and I can't exactly teach you magic or how to use a rune properly in the middle of a Denny's."
I ignore Bertha mouthing 'Denny's' at George, who himself looks confused, starting to try and imagine just what we were going to need. The electrical work was going to be a pain in the ass, though maybe a power source wouldn't be too hard.
Oh good, that Engineering skill was helping build stuff underground, that was good to know. I was always shit at math back home.
Maybe I could look up some textbooks on architecture and other skills. My driving was already a lot better than it had been in life, I felt like I could probably do some action movie stuff with one already.
"You seriously want to use this place? For what? It's a giant junkpile." George said with a grunt of disgust as he glanced around at the darkened building, the only illuminating light the lamp that Bertha had brought with her from her car.
"Sure, but I promise you, that I can whip this place into something much better in just a week. Won't be perfect, but I kinda need a secure place for some of my more… experimental projects." Runesmithing wasn't exactly something that one could do with just an anvil and some heat. Well, maybe you could, but doing it that was a surefire way to be visited by black suits.
And unlike the Dwarfs, I wasn't afraid to experiment with creating new Runes. If I had it right, then the true sources of power for the Runes were the magic that they captured, and the actual engraving itself was more like a blueprint for how it should react, along with the proper chants and materials.
I had a number of Runes that I already knew how to make. Probably not very well at first, but we'd get there eventually. Besides… my magic wasn't like the Winds of Magic. It was cheating at what the proper rules should be, and that was just fine with me.
"Fine. You can do whatever you want, just as long as you manage to keep anyone from finding out. The moment that the cops or someone else finds you though, I'm going to pretend you're just some crazy lady that's been squatting here." Bertha said with the faintest trace of amusement in her eyes, tempered just a little hotter at what might be fear.
Of me?
Well… I couldn't blame her for that. Not after I just tortured Faulkner downstairs for information.
I brought up the menu, typing in what I was looking for, and smiled at what I found.
And it was such a simple quest too.
Without waiting for a word from any of them, I walk towards Isabelle and grab her hand, the French woman giving me a suspicious raised eyebrow that freezes when she sees the menu in front of me. "We'll be right back!" I promised both of my little trainees, pressing down the Y button just as Isabelle opened her mouth to protest.
The warehouse was gone, replaced with craggy mountains and trees as far as the eyes could see.
"What have you dragged us into?" Isabelle asked, giving me a very unhappy glare, which I ignored.
"Just a little quest that we can get done in a few hours, not a big deal."
"For what, pray tell, have you taken us to another world for if it is so trivial?" There was ice in her voice again, but I was too busy reading through the latest communication from the system.
SAVE THE BADGER MOLE CUB TAKEN BY POACHERS
SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY, A BAND OF IDIOTS MANAGED TO TAKE A BADGERMOLE CUB WITH THEM TO SELL TOWARDS AN INTERESTED BENEFACTOR. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.
AN EARTHQUAKE THE SIZE OF TEXAS IS HEADING TOWARDS THE NEAREST TOWN THAT'S GOING TO MAKE THE ONES THAT HIT JAPAN LOOK LIKE A FART IN THE WIND.
FIND THE CUB AND RETURN IT BACK TO ITS PROPER MOUNTAIN HOME AND YOU WILL BE AWARDED WITH TEACHINGS FROM A BUNCH OF BLIND GIANT RODENTS THAT COULD TURN EVERY TOWN NEARBY INTO AN UNDERGROUND MUSEUM IN A COUPLE OF HUNDRED YEARS.
REWARD? 10,000XP
5000 GP
EARTHBENDING SCROLL
Well, that was a lot more pressing than I thought it was going to be.
"Something that is going to help make sure that we don't get swatted when someone comes looking for our base. We need a place to hide, after all." The list of crap that I needed to get just to make sure we don't die when we really start making waves was getting longer and longer by the day.
Honestly, finding the trail that the men took out of the caves wasn't that hard thanks to Investigation. Talk about a cheat skill that basically helped me deduce most things. I wasn't quite Sherlock Holmes, but maybe give me a few years, and I'd get to that level on my own.
And I swear, even without the skill being a high level, it felt like my brain was making more and more connections than it should, far faster than a normal brain could process. Maybe a side effect of my higher stats?
Regardless, a couple of Hastes on the both of us had us arriving at the nearest town within just a few minutes, and from there the trail became a hell of a lot harder to follow thanks to the dozens of other tracks mingled on top of theirs.
That was where things became… trickier.
Couldn't exactly just waltz into town without catching some attention, both because of our clothes, and because we obviously weren't from around here. The language barrier was another little problem, but that's what Sneak was for. Albeit, Isabelle was the one better at skulduggery than I was.
It was an Earth kingdom village alright, if the green clothing, stone buildings and the guards moving the stone doorway using their fists was any indication.
"What the hell is that?" Isabelle asked with a thick accent in surprise.
"Earthbending. Some of the people in this world are capable of bending one of the four classical elements. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. The only person in this world that can bend more, as in all of them, is someone that is reincarnated in a cycle. Don't know who it is right now, but most likely it's the last Airbender that managed to avoid the purge of his culture and is currently frozen in a giant ball of ice in the ocean." My words are clinical and unfeeling, but I can feel the burn in my heart at thinking about that poor kid and what he is going to go through in the coming years. Finding him isn't something that I can exactly do, he might be somewhere in the South Pole right now, or he might be a glacier just flowing around somewhere underwater. Who knew.
And going conqueror was only going to end badly for me anyway.
"And a scroll of all things is supposed to teach you how to be an Earthbender?" She asked rhetorically.
"Apparently. Look, just don't ask questions, it doesn't make any sense, I know, but numbers going up shouldn't mean that we suddenly get stronger, so just go with it." I whispered in exasperation as we snuck through the outside of the town towards the shipyard close to a river.
Eventually, we found the cub in a cage that was way too small for the little creature, and of course they had him in a warehouse that was built over water instead of on the earth. The cage was made of wood in a wooden building, and the little guy looked like he had a broken limb.
Blank eyes looked up at me with a tremble, his front paw held closer towards his chest while he tried to retreat back into the back of his cage.
"Aw." Isabelle cooed at the creature, my own coo stifled by the rage I was feeling at wanting to burn this entire building to the ground.
I broke the lock off the cage, and gently reached out to grab the little guy. At first he tried scratching at me, but when my hands gently wrapped around his torso, he went stock still. As if afraid that fighting back in my grasp would only harm him further.
"Shh, there, there pequeno (little one), we're taking you to your mamma." Yes, I knew that he couldn't understand me, even if he did understand human language, but fuck you, I will baby talk cute animals as much as I damn well please. He was definitely bigger than one might expect, probably as large as I was tall, so maybe a newborn? I don't know, it wasn't like I was an expert in Badgermole physiology. Or any form of biology, really.
Maybe that was something that I would have to invest into in the future.
I grabbed a piece of uncooked steak from my Inventory and placed it close to the little guy's mouth, needing to lift my arm as high as it would go so that the piece would even reach him in the first place.
He gobbled up the piece in one gulp, little mouth full of sharp fangs that chewed and swallowed it fast enough that it made me doubt I gave him a piece in the first place.
The white fur on his face seemed to soften at that, and the tension I felt in his body seemed to dissipate away.
"Come on. Let's go." I told Isabelle, the French woman cooing at the Badgermole, gently patting the top of his head as I cast a cure on his arm and launched a Fireball at the building while I was at it.
"What about the ones that took the little one?" My friend asked.
I snorted. "If I could, I'd find the pricks and give them to the parents to do as they please. Thing is, finding them would be far more trouble than it would be worth, especially with the language barrier. Can't exactly find them if we can't ask any questions or understand what the hell any of the writing here means."
"A pity." She said, voice cold as ice, and eyes miniature glaciers that glanced dispassionately back at the burning flames as the shaking earth trembled in rage.
"Yeah. I was just thinking the same thing."
Mia passed the mewling scrambling creature towards the massive badger mother who was easily the size of a bus. Each claw on her four paws were easily as tall as Mia was, yet the young woman crooned up at the sniffing creature, one of her hands twitching to pet it before she decided against it, the realization seeming to pain the woman that was her only friend.
Truly, her life was stranger than she ever thought it could be, yet it was paradise compared to the existence that the last fifty-nine years had been.
The mother did not come alone, four other 'Badgermoles' accompanying the worried mother, each of them gently stomping their feet in waiting, heads eerily still as the empty brown eyes stared into space. She mentioned that they were blind, but I didn't think that she had been serious. This world had been different from the one that she had been used to from the get go. Something in the air just felt… more.
As if the sun shone brighter in this world than hers ever could.
Mia giggled, and Isabelle shuddered as the mother dipped her enormous head and sniffed their heads, gently snuggling into each of them in… thanks.
No, this was an animal, there was no way that it could actually understand what they had done for her.
Mia smiled up at the creatures, ignoring the noises coming from the town behind them, most of them in panic, while there were some people bowing of all things.
"Fuck it." Her friend muttered out, and brushed one hand against the mother badgermoles head, the creature grunting in delight.
I want to do that too.
Unfortunately, before she could, shouts started to come from the town behind them and a group of men came rushing out. Three of them were wearing brown and green robes around themselves, most of them of notably better quality than most of the townsfolk that they had seen, and one of them wearing a red tunic and black pants, his long black hair done up into a ponytail that reached his back.
Mia turned around cracking her hands, a savage smile on her lips, and Isabelle's own hands twitched towards her guns when the sound of heavy boots somehow reached their ears, and everyone on the outskirts of town turned towards the noise.
Quiet prevailed as the sight of a tall woman, taller than any man Isabelle had ever seen, walked with a purpose towards them. Solid boots pounded the ground in a steady gait, her green robes fluttering in the wind as the fading light of sunset glinted off the golden fan-like headpiece she wore on top of her white painted head.
Sounds of surprise echoed from the crowd behind the two women, yet the sound that the former French soldier paid attention to was the wheezing gasp that came from Mia.
"Kiyoshi." Isabelle barely managed to catch, the badgermole family each brushing against Mia before turning towards Kiyoshi, the little cub yipping at Mia as it turned towards the family.
The woman's sharp brown eyes focused the group of two women near the Badgermoles, and Mia, unflappable, headbutted a vampire and stormed two ghoul guarded dens Mia, squeaked like a little school girl.
"Nah, fuck that." Mia said, waving at the family of badgermoles, putting her two fists together and bowing of all things, almost to her waist. She then pressed on the Y option on the blue screen congratulating the party of two for completing the quest, and the surrounding landscape disappeared, Bertha and George a few inches closer towards them, both of them jumping back a few feet.
George didn't know what he had been expecting when he'd followed the psychotic woman that reminded him of some of the more… enthusiastic people in his unit, but her disappearing and reappearing a few seconds after covered head to toe in dirt, with an old scroll in her hands shaking on the ground hadn't been one of them.
He'd just heard her torture and interrogate a Vampire that he knew could take far more of a beating than a normal human, and killed him with just a flash of light.
How, he didn't know, and part of him didn't want to ask.
The other part of him wanted to know everything that she knew about magic and see if he could start slinging around balls of holy light.
"Oh, so that's how it works. Alright then." She said as her eyes roved through the wooden scroll she held in her hands, a smile on her face that only made him shiver in fear.
"I still say that we should run." George whispered to his old commander, Bertha's frown twitching in the only form of worry that he had ever seen from her in their years of friendship.
"Noted. Yet, we both know that the only intel we have is what little we've learned from our Hunts. And those have cost us more than it should have." She responded back with the same tired voice that he knew he couldn't fight against.
No matter how much every bone in his body was telling him that he should be running for the hills against the crazy Latina woman and her French hottie.
If anything, that scar on her face only made her hotter in his eyes, but then again, women that could kick his ass were definitely his type. The Latina one though reeked of the type of crazy that he learned long ago to stay the fuck away from
Both of the strange women ignored him, Mia passing Isabelle the scroll as she popped her neck and observed the surroundings around them. That smile grew wider, and he almost reached for the grenades he kept in his coat, when she spread her feet apart in a fighting stance that… looked kinda familiar.
Her feet were wide apart, arms held towards her chest almost in a boxing stance with her hands balled up into fists.
She stomped her right foot, and he could feel the very ground underneath them shake with the force of the blow, and threw her arms out as if she were ripping a door open. The concrete in front of her moved, twin slabs of stone flipping over in perfect unison, revealing a perfectly square opening that led deeper into the earth.
Oh, wonderful, now she can just throw the fucking ground at me.
"What the hell are you planning on doing?" He found himself asking, the logical part of his brain screaming at him to shut the fuck up and stop talking to the crazy lady.
Suddenly, the grenades in his pockets didn't feel heavy enough of a death switch hanging around her.
"Renovating. Building something new up top is probably going to catch attention and nosy inspectors. But what about underground? Don't worry, hiding it isn't going to be a problem. Nothing a little more concrete or stone can't fix." She mumbled out, the doors leading outside banging open as she started to chuck piles of old earth and dirt into the night.
Even her friend just stared at her like she was crazy, which she was.
"Mia, dear, are you sure that you know what you are doing?"
"No, not really. Architecture is something that I sorta need a degree on. I think. No way that building an underground base is going to be simple."
Every lesson he had ever learned back in his demolition days forced him to speak up, even if he wanted to just stand there quietly and fade into the background.
"Listen, building underground isn't as simple as digging a hole. You need proper support structures to make sure that the entire place doesn't just collapse around you! Actual concrete or steel so that you don't just wake up in a grave!"
And suddenly, he distinctly disliked the gleam in her eyes as she turned towards him.
"You an architect?" She asked.
"Yes?" He managed to say instead of squeak.
Oh, how he wished he'd decided on a different day to meet with Bertha a few days ago.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
LV:20
HP:3150/3150HP MP:1000/1000
ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE:
FUNDS:$4000
GP:176,562GP
PERK POINTS:
STR:45
DEX:45
AGI:43
VIT:45
INT:43
WIS:40
Skills:
Guns:14
Driving:8
Melee Weapons:8
Investigation:30
Ansastuken:25
Acrobatics:16
Finances:2
First Aid:2
Sneak:20
Ki Manipulation: 9
Mana Manipulation:10
Eearthbending: 5
Architecture:2
PERKS: FORCEFUL MIND:
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
THOUGHTFUL MIND: INCREASE MP REGENERATION BY 50%
HARDY LUNGS: INCREASE OVERALL ENDURANCE AND STAMINA.
DAY HUNTER:YOU DEAL INCREASED DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES DURING THE DAYTIME.
ARSONIST:YOU GAIN AN INCREASED EXPERIENCE GAIN FOR FIRE BASED ABILITIES
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY: REGENERATE YOUR HP BY 5% PER HOUR INSTEAD OF 1%.
REINFORCED IMMUNE SYSTEM:YOUR POISON RESISTANCE IS INCREASED BY 12%. YOUR DISEASE RESISTANCE INCREASED BY 20%
HARDY BODY: DOUBLE HP GAINS THROUGH VITALITY STAT.
PIERCING BLOWS: UNARMORED ATTACKS IGNORE 5% OF ARMOR OR DEFENSE.
AKASHIC RYTHM: STRENGTH AND DEXTERITY INCREASE BY 10% WHEN PERFORMING A COMBINATION OF PHYSICAL BLOWS.
POISON RESISTANCE: GAIN 25% RESISTANCE TO POISON AND POISON DAMAGE
MIND AND BODY: SPELLS THAT BUFF YOUR PHYSICAL ABILITIES DO THE SAME TO YOUR MENTAL ABILITIES. YES, THIS DOES STACK. WHOOPEE FOR YOU.
MAXIMIZE HP: INCREASE HP BY 200%
ACROBATIC FIGHTER: APPLY ACROBATIC PROFICIENCY TO DAMAGE DONE BY PHYSICAL BLOWS OR ABILITIES.
Apologies for being gone for a little while, life has been more hectic lately and Persona 3 Reload has consumed a lot of my free time.
So, no need to worry about any more Instant Quests for a little while, or if it does happen it's going to be offscreen.
Though, I am going to be taking a small break from this story for a little while to focus on some of my other writing projects. They need some love too.
