Otherlife Dreams: The Selfless Hero Trilogy (7 page)

Opening his eyes he found he couldn’t distinguish the time of day, the darkened room offered no clues. Each room came with a few endless burning candles that did a fair job of lighting the room with a gentle light, but did nothing to dispel the shadows in the corners. He was covered by a blanket now, his head resting on what felt like an actual pillow.

Hannah sat a few feet form him, not paying attention to him. She’d taken control over his pack and emptied its contents. Everything was now sorted and laid out on the floorboards. She must have worked quietly during his convalescence since she hadn’t disturbed him. Evidently, Hannah was the type of person that wanted things to be in a certain order, or done in a particular way. Even if it didn’t concern her.

Left hand propping her chin, her right hand hovered over a mound of crafting supplies. With a smirk, he could guess she was troubled by the fact that some crafting classes shared resources, though they had different tools.

Stretching his shoulders he tried to flex his back and gauge his control over himself. Gratified by the immediate response to the demands of his body, Runner felt normal. Letting his head roll to the side to watch Hannah, he ended up making eye contact with her instead.

With a room that was silent except for breathing, he’d managed to alert her to his waking by shifting under the blanket.

“Do I greet you with good morning, good afternoon, or good evening?” Runner asked.

Hannah tilted her head and regarded him for a moment before responding.

“Good early morning. You slept through the afternoon and well beyond the night,” Hannah explained. “Color me curious as to your plans considering the brand of justice by these inbred, farm tending, racist, fuck wits. They’d have you dancing at the end of a rope for being a non-human, even those who aren’t thieves. Humans are such gracious bastards.”

And there it was. Her tone was light, despite the vulgarity, but had an edge of lethality to it. Runner had been wondering about her lack of, well, killing him. Now she wanted to know his plans. She hadn’t escaped during the night and had even taken the time to care for him.

There was more going on here than he could reason out in the time he had to answer her. Her every action singled her out as a very unique NPC, beyond having five flags even. There was no telling what plans she had prepared for him while he blissfully slept the night away.

Now the choice was here and his alone to make. Runner couldn’t deny that this world drastically veered away from his expectations the longer he spent here. Turning her over for the town’s version of justice would be the end of her. Perhaps explaining to her everything would placate her, or maybe not. Truth or lies.

He was positive she was more than willing to try to kill him, given the chance, if his answer displeased her. After all, what did she have to lose?

“My intention yesterday was to turn you over to the city, not the town. For actual justice that is. Let them mete out your punishment.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m unsure. Perhaps you could help me fill in a few gaps about the local culture? As you mentioned yesterday, I’m not exactly from around here,” Runner conceded.

“That’s true enough. Well, the simplest answer is that out here in the frontiers, it takes a different type of person to survive. So it’s full of those dipshits you’ve already met. Life is cheap, those who can’t pull their weight, or aren’t part of the community, are unnecessary. You heard them, thieves are hung. What city in the world hangs thieves? Being half Sunless and half Human puts me pretty low on the worth scale to start for this bunch of these east of nowhere bumblefucks. Now add being a thief, an outsider, and involved in a murder with one of their own,” she said quietly. Fresh memories in hand of humanity, Runner felt it had the ugly ring of truth to it.

“I see. Ok, that makes sense. Especially if I use that as a point of reference as to why you didn’t try to slit my throat and escape. They would have been more than eager to grab you. Would it be safe to believe that the closest oasis of civilization is more than a month away?”

“About a month, a week shy of that perhaps, depends on how fast you can walk and what route you take. Most just take the trade road.”

Coming to a decision, Runner cleared his throat and barreled ahead.

“I propose the following. I employ you directly. Specifically, to help me get to civilization. More to the point, off this little island. My goal is to reach the larger island east of here.” Runner said. He’d briefly consulted the in game map the previous day to determine he was currently on an island. One that had been meant to bridge the gap between the starting island and the main continent.

“We can consider the theft thing as if it never happened. I’ll provide funds, food, and whatever else travel expenses we incur. There is one further thing to note. I’ll need your assistance in becoming stronger as we travel. If we encounter a dungeon, a cave, a band of what the hell ever nasties may be there, it’s likely I’ll stop and smell the roses. And kill things. Then loot their corpses while smelling said roses. But hey, who doesn’t love money, right? Or roses.”

Runner then did his best to present a winning smile at her. Thinking in the moment he tried to use whatever he could, mentally grasping at whatever social skills he had. Leaning heavily on his character’s ridiculous charisma he could only hope.

You use Persuade on Thief

Thief is not Persuaded

You use Seduce on Thief

Thief is Seduced

Cursing himself in his mind, he managed to stop a groan from escaping.
Seriously? Seduce? Now? The fuck is wrong with you Runner? The hell is going on with this game?

During the conversation Hannah had decided on how to sort the crafting materials, separating them into two equal piles. Runner could only imagine her AI algorithm was processing everything at light speed while in accordance to whatever personality she had drawn up at creation.

He’d have to be careful of how far he could push the system. Even with all its new resources, there was only so much it could handle. How rapidly it could adapt to changing circumstances and the needs of its players was a finite thing.

Whatever Seduce did, it thankfully wasn’t what he originally feared. Contemplation and hesitation were plainly written across her face from his point of view.

At least she’s considering it and didn’t turn me down flat.

She’d made no secret of the fact that she believed he was disturbed on some level. He couldn’t really argue that he wasn’t from her impressions of him. His offer would give her a very real way out, a way to remain clothed, fed, and taken care of. No stipulations attached. Other than being a tour guide and provide assistance in combat.

She continued to noticeably work her way through the question. Giving her time, Runner stood and began stretching himself out. Stretching did nothing for him but it was comforting at least to his mental health. Mental fatigue could always be relieved in repeating habits, or routines, that brought on normality. Normality and routine calmed the mind for him.

“I accept. My fee is four copper a day, not including food.”

“Fantastic. Please take twelve copper from my purse over there. Four for today, four for yesterday, four for the last day. Consider it a security deposit,” he said gratefully. She’d asked for a pittance and he wasn’t about to argue with her. Four copper was truly nothing to him, but she only knew the world based on her storyline.

“As for your meal, help yourself to whatever fare I have in my pack, I’m getting pretty good at finding things.”

Runner decided to put action to works and go through a rotation of his abilities. One by one, he activated them. For safety’s sake, he only fired off those that would be safe to do indoors. Forage went off without a hitch, producing yet another beetle. Without pausing to consider it, he popped it in his mouth and devoured it.

“Ugh. Do you have any idea what a lovely fucking surprise it was to find beetles in your pack? Why the hell are they still alive? You don’t actually expect me to eat those as my ‘meals’ do you?” she berated him. Beetles weren’t on her menu it seemed.

“Not always? Sometimes I find wild vegetables and fruits. You remember those strawberries, right? Good example that. No?”

“No.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll buy travel rations and you can eat those. Missing out though. After the first one, the beetles actually go down easily and have an interesting taste. As to why they’re alive, I’m afraid they’ll go stale if you kill them. They might not have that same crunch.”

Runner shrugged and then started stuffing everything into his pack, uncaring to the piles they were put into. Squawking noisily at him, Hannah slapped at his hands in an attempt to stop him from ruining her neat and orderly arrangements.

“Arrange your own pack Hanners, mines just fine as it was. Thank you regardless.”

Hannah said nothing more, sulkily giving him the silent treatment. Having stolen her inventory back from his pack during the night she made herself ready. He honestly didn’t want to know where she got a pack from since she didn’t start with one, so he didn’t bother asking.

Minutes later, they stood outside the inn, contemplating what to do next. The rain of the previous day had muddied the roads and paths, but the sun was warming everything as it moved further from the horizon.

Runner had no luck previously in his attempts to get a quest from anyone he came across. He’d come to the conclusion that it was either reputation, or faction, that was preventing him from receiving anything from them. For most games, players would have spent many levels getting here, and building the normal relations with the kingdom and its people.

“Right then. Despite being higher level than the area, I can’t get a single quest from anyone. I honestly was hoping there might be some stupid SovEx fetch quest. ‘Oh dear Hero, please deliver this worthless letter to my Aunt in Bendover, just east of here. Let me mark it on your map for you, because I’m secretly able to read your map perfectly, and know exactly where we are despite never having seen one before.’ Kind of thing, ya know?” Runner said, turning his head to look at Hannah.

“I understood maybe a third of what you said just now. This is just a frontier town. Only reason people come this far out is for trapping, hunting, or exploring old ruins.”

“I’d like to do all three of those things, preferably at the same time, and in the same direction as the nearest city. Which according to my map,” Runner said, opening his in game map with a flick of his fingers. After a moment he closed it again. “Is to the East, by North East. Any thoughts? Normally villagers are supposed to give you a clue, some gossip, or an indirect quest without meaning to, but everyone around here just stares at me till I walk away. Maybe it’s my breath? Do I have beetle breath? Maybe part of a shell on my teeth? Bad beetle death breath?”

Runner sighed and put his hands on his hips and contemplated the hamlet around him.

After a moment of thoughtful silence Hannah offered him a solution.

“You could try asking if there’s a large monster den or an old ruin nearby. Might not be on the way. No, you don’t have beetle breath, but it’d be a blessing if you’d rinse your mouth out after eating one. I swear if I find a leg between your teeth, I will leave you the fuck behind.”

“Hm. Solid deduction skills there Watson. You there, Villager number twelve,” Runner accosted a man nearby, resting his hand on his shoulder. He was named exactly as he called him, Villager. “Would there perhaps be a monster den or ruin nearby? Teeming with wild life, the possibility of loot, or delicious treasure?”

“There’d be nothing like that around here, sir. Though if you follow the road east for a day, you’ll find a path leading into the North Woods. Take that for a day north and you’re sure to find an Orc village that’s made itself a home out of a fort. They’re not real friendly to outsiders, but they’ve left us alone and trade with us on occasion,” replied the Villager.

A Quest has been generated

“Cleaning House”

Experience Reward- 230% of level

Reputation-5

Do you Accept?

Yes/No

WARNING! Experience Reward is adjusted based on current level at turn in

WARNING! This quest is rated above your current level

WARNING! This quest is rated as a group quest

“Oh? Fantastic! That’s just what we needed. East, to the North Woods, where we travel north. Hopefully we’ll get some gear, I’m tired of running around in these newbie leathers. Don’t get me wrong Hanners, it definitely flatters your figure, and works your curves, but it doesn’t do anything for me at all.”

Accepting the quest as he finished speaking Runner set off down the path to the east.

Glancing to the side as she fell in beside him, he nearly laughed at a furiously blushing Hannah. It’d be two days till they arrived, but Runner was excited. Progress. He was making progress. Calling up the system console, he confirmed there were no new messages from the mystery user.

Chapter 4 - Train Incoming -

07:27am Sovereign Earth time

09/06/43

It took two days to reach their destination. They followed the directions and reached the area exactly as described.