CWD: OE ~ Eleven

They moved away from the guild as darkness settled over the land, following the *zip* and *snap* of his flickering Fireflies. He was down to eight little potstickers to light their way, and traveling at night in the Juxtaposition was a dangerous proposition. Beyond the standard threat of simply not seeing an ambush coming in, or stumbling into a dangerous terrain feature, there were also high-Tier creatures that came out of dungeons at night to snack on unsuspecting Players.

Nacho knew that it was better to move now to cut down on the chances of being followed, even if it was by someone well-meaning. They had time, and the necessary skill, to get a few hours of travel in before they crashed.

It had been a long time since he had been out in the darkness without a fire, or a safe place to rest for the night. A smile that he hadn’t felt since the last time he opened a few arteries started to invade his mouth. Instead of intimidating, the night was invigorating. The forest smelled of sweet suggestions, as predators that were new to this world tried to lure hapless creatures to their maw. Strange flowers opened in the moonlight, while real fireflies winked on and off; making an open invitation to all suckers that would chase after them and into whatever pitfall they represented.

“Ahh… This is the life. Knowing everything wants to kill you, just so bad… and knowing that you can kill it first.” He was feeling good, and wanted to share that feeling with his friends. He couldn’t tell if they agreed with him or not, as most of his Guild wasn’t talking to him currently.

Inconceivably, the caterpillar gyros had apparently been the biggest mistake of his culinary career, even taking into account the donuts. He didn’t understand why people had such an issue with them; he thought they tasted fine. Nacho nodded as he worked out the real issue, “I see the problem… people are getting too comfortable. Eh. They’ll learn. Maybe I'll even extend this trip a bit, see how many people die of starvation? There might be a tish little bit of cannibalism, but we can stamp that out once we get back. I bet we won’t have this kind of issue after that.”

“Let’s not be too hasty!” Reuben nervously started speaking to him again, breaking the silent vow of silence he had made with Brie. “That might backfire, and people will try and keep you in the kitchen no matter what, right?”

“Hmm. You may have a point.” Nacho lapsed into silence as Reuben wiped away the sudden sweat that had appeared on his own forehead.

With the issue of ‘silent treatment’ taken care of with one clean kill shot, Nacho’s thoughts turned to the credits he was planning to spend. He wanted to get to their cabin on Heartbreak Ridge before spending anything, as there was a chance that other Chips Guild members might be there—either more people from Taye’s Breakfast Club, or maybe even parties on rotation from the UnderFun.

About halfway to the cabin, Nacho came to a sudden halt, turned, and tackled his friends under the canopy of the whispering trees they were passing. Less than two seconds later, three enormous Vampire Owls floated above the tree. Luckily for the humans, the leaves hadn’t started to fall yet. Nacho had seen them and scanned them in nearly the same moment, and saw that they were Tier three.

They could have easily been mistaken as airplanes if someone were casually glancing upwards—except with talons that looked more akin to electrical poles than something attached to a living creature. Finally, instead of beaks, they had bat-like mouths full of fangs.

As a Tier Three creature, they were dangerous just to be around. As they passed over the trees, vitality drained from the leaves at the top. They withered and started to drop as though winter had arrived early. Nacho shuddered at the thought of having them come in for the kill.

Those Vampire Owls had been pretty high up, likely the only reason they didn’t see Nacho’s glowing potstickers,  and didn’t hear the clank of his mobile kitchen. The irony wasn’t lost on him—in the Probability Vision, he’d moved silently—he was the Shadow Killer, who appeared out of nowhere like a plague of knives.

Now? He clanked like a walking dishrack.

He’d eventually have to fix that.

After the Vampire Owls moved on, Nacho and his friends sprinted until they were sure they were away from the terrifying creature’s habitats, then hustled the rest of the way to the cabin on Heartbreak Ridge; only to find it empty.

“Well that was terrifying. What do Tier three creatures have? Tier one gets the mana protection, two gets an aura effect, what about threes?” Brie questioned as she dropped her pack, even as Reuben silently moved to get a fire going. “Let’s take this moment to get stronger. We have more than enough credits to level up our classes before we go to bed.”

Reuben slumped over the sticks he was stacking and moaned, “Oh no, Brie. Don’t. I say we do it in the morning.”

“Did you say ‘donuts in the morning’?” Nacho brightly questioned with a knowing smile.

“No!” Both Brie and Reuben answered unison.

The big guy followed their outburst with a last little remark, “we will re-visit the Great Donut Disaster only when we have imminent combat.”

“Ouch. You know it’s bad when people will only eat your food for combat purposes.” Nacho clutched at his chest. “I can’t help that cooking things that taste good doesn’t come naturally. Also, Brie, I have no idea about Tier threes. When I saw them back then, they were something to run away from. Near the end, they were treated like natural disasters. I got to the peak of Tier two only because I kept killing people with fat wallets, like guild leaders that held the entire guild’s funds on their person. I never even fought a Tier three monster.”

“Fair enough.” Brie looked at the other two, then shrugged slightly. “Should I level up first, or…?”

Nacho stretched, glad to have his mobile kitchen off his back, even if the weight was something that he could easily manage even in combat. “You’re right. We should upgrade tonight. I got about twenty-five thousand credits from dinner.”

“For your wormy gyros? Really?” Brie arched her eyebrows. “You’re not going to give that back to the people who ate… that?”

“All sales are final.” Nacho shrugged away her concerns. “The meal worked as advertised. No Putrid Mana, refills Hunger points, affordable. I can’t worry about everyone’s delicate sensibilities. Let’s get to getting stronger.”

“I love it.” Reuben pulled himself off the floor and tousled Nacho’s hair. “Don’t worry, buddy. I liked your weird bug tacos. It’s just a shame that people figured it out like… the second they went up for sale.”

“I blame the Brittanys. Pretty sure they let it slip that dinner was mostly caterpillar meat, and that started the… unrest. It was too bad people stopped buying after that. I hate wasting food.” Nacho paused to ponder at the idea that he needed to get a non-disclosure agreement for his kitchen help.

“Old Bill didn’t seem to mind them.” Brie attempted to console her friend. “He said that your gyros were like ones he used to buy at the stand on the side of the road before the Juxtaposition. The one that always gave him food poisoning, but that he bought from it every time. Well, after he found it. Something about how it had to be moved to a different street every few days to ‘stay ahead of them’, or something like that.”

“Let’s just… talk about successes? Start leveling up already.” Nacho grumped at his friends as they chuckled at his expense. Trying to ignore them, he checked his Chips Guild Stat Sheet.

Chips Guild Stat Sheet

Total Guild Credits: 178,551 credits (an 80K Day x2! Keep the streak going!)

Total Number of Members: 6,136

Guild Master: Eli ‘Nacho’ Naches

Alternate Guild Master: Daniel ‘Mayor Dan’ Chronour

Third Alternate: Reuben ‘Lactose Tolerant’ Colby

To upgrade all three of them to level fifteen, they were going to have to pull in some cash from their guild coffers. At this point, Nacho wasn’t going to worry about it. Mayor Dan would understand, and they hadn’t had any complaints when they announced their plan before leaving. Nacho calculated the total credits needed to bring Reuben to level fifteen, and sent it along.

The big guy winced and grabbed at his ears. “Ouch, that *cha-ching* was loud. How many credits did you…? Oh, yikes. Yup, I’m gonna do this thing. Going first!”

Reuben started to convulse as his body was forcefully mutated by the foreign energy that was ‘leveling up’. By the time the unnatural process was completed, he ended up on one of the bunk beds covered in sweat. Nacho wiped his friend’s forehead with a cool, wet dish towel. “Okay, that was something. Feeling okay? Wanna share the results?”

The Healer closed his eyes and silently sent his status.

Reuben Colby

Class: Merchant of Soothing

Level: 15

Experience Points: 159,700 to Level 16!

Current Credits: 0 (342,817 total Dinner Party pool)

Build Type: Balanced, Instant

Body:

• Fitness: 22
• Metabolic efficiency: 21

Mind:

• Metal energy: 21
• Circuit: 21

Satiation:

• Hunger: 100
• Thirst: 100

Health Points: 54

Bonus Physical Damage: 11%

Health Regen: 21% Health Regen/minute

Total Mana Pool: 41.5

Bonus Spell Damage: 10.5%

Mana Pool Regen: 21% Mana Regen/minute

Skill Slots (3/4)

• Healing Hugs (Active) Level 19: 95 Health Points Restored Upon Hugging.
  • Tier 1 Enhancement: Hurl your hug 30 feet!
• Positive Vibes (Active) Level 19: Weapon blessing: (applies to whole party, lasts 10 minutes) Adds 38% physical damage.
  • Tier 1 Enhancement: Longer duration! Double the love!
• Marketing (Active) Level 19: Able to lure creatures to a location. Impacts up to Level:20.
  • Tier 1 Enhancement: Maximizes the four principles of marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).
• Open slot

“I figured out how to turn off the parts I don't want to share every single time you see this. You know how much my abilities cost, it hasn't changed.” Reuben plucked his Yeti drinking horn out of thin air and sucked down root beer to cool himself down. “Know what I mean?”

The Healer seemed strangely dejected, and Nacho felt proud that he had been able to recognize the emotion. Now he acted to try and fix it. “What’s wrong, Reuben? Other than the fact that your Marketing skill’s Tier one Enhancement gives the ‘awesome’ combat bonus of letting you place a sign a little better.”

“It’s not that. Also, I'm not going to argue about how wrong you are. It is super useful.” At least the Healer was chuckling and had his eyes open. “All those credits spent, and all I get are two extra Health Points and a bit more Mana? One and a half extra Mana? A fraction more Mana Regen? Just doesn’t seem worth it.”

“Don’t think like that.” Brie sat and leaned down to give him a warm hug. “It’s a baby step toward Tier two. We can’t just leap up levels anymore. There is no more sprinting, everything from here on out is going to be a marathon. All this does is convince me that we need to fill our last Skill Slot, and maybe buy another. Just like Nacho told us at the beginning, skills are what matters the most.”

“Once we find a Skills Box,” Nacho deflected her attempt to get him to part with the funds she needed, “I totally agree.”

“So close.” Brie snapped her fingers with a grimace. “Bah. Fine. Let’s get some levels. Let’s keep going at the same time? I’m going to handle this like the hardcore lacrosse player I am, and Reuben can watch the area while we upgrade.”

“Good luck,” Reuben pulled his wife in for a peck on the cheek as Nacho transferred the credits.

True to her word, she grit her teeth and stared into her husband’s eyes as she went through the process without making a sound, merely shivering intently and breaking into a feverish sweat. When she was all done, she started breathing like a bellows, and glared at Nacho. “You were supposed to upgrade at the same time.”

“Having two-thirds of our force out of commission would have been a foolish thing to do.” The Cook told her simply, ignoring the glare. She snorted, and without anyone requesting it, sent her Stat Sheet.

Brie McCurdy

Class: Battle Babe

Level: 15

Experience Points: 159,700 to Level 16!

Current Credits: 0 (145,417 total Dinner Party pool)

They went through her information quickly. Nothing much had changed except for her Stats themselves, and since they were exactly the same as Reuben’s, they glossed over them without reading them too much. The additional point in Fitness point was the only thing that did anything for her, and all it did was increase her Health Points from fifty-two to fifty-four.

Brie wiped a sweaty hand across her brow. “Okay, Nacho. It’s your turn. Are you actually going to do it, or are you going to say some other excuse, like ‘it’s too dark to level me up tonight’?”

“No, nothing like that.” Nacho would be going up to level fifteen, a big advancement for his build type. Each of his stats would jump by five, changing him further from human than any other person on the planet, so far as he knew. “Just trying to get ready for the pain.”