CWD: GA ~ Twenty-Four

The arrows did a base damage of five, requiring a couple shots to take each of the monsters down, but Reuben also helped as the monsters swarmed. Darting out of the undergrowth, he’d punch the head of a distracted monster and take it to the ground. Nacho was ready with his knife, but he didn’t end up needing to use it.

The Caw Paws didn’t get wise to the ploy until a good number of them had already fallen, at which point the rest went underground. Once the last of the crow-panther-things had retreated, Brie stood over the entrance to the lair, waiting for one of the creatures to return and stick its head out. Each time one tried, she dropped the hammer and crushed its head to paste.

Meanwhile, Nacho kept an eye out for Crave and his two goons, but they didn’t reappear. He was hopeful that they had been warned off by Crave’s intuition, but he couldn’t fully trust that his luck would be so good.

Once the majority of the remaining Caw Paws were dead, the cook got busy. He bought more salt and pepper and quickly plucked one of the crows. Its little hook arms didn’t have much meat, but the thighs were plump and muscled; unfortunately, they were covered in a thick fur that proved to be more difficult to remove. As soon as the meat was finally ready to be processed, the System happily let him know that he had wasted his time.

Greetings, Satiation Player!

It looks like you’re trying to process a meaty ingredient! That Caw Paw thigh looks delicious! Anyway, wanna process your meal?

Yes / No

“Yes-”

HA! Just kidding; great job wasting resources, though! This is a Level 5 bird of prey. You can only process up to level three. Try again once you’ve seen the inside of a kitchen or two—also, we suggest Colonel White Beard’s poultry seasoning. Enough of the salt and pepper. Boo, boring!

Nacho felt the Mana, Thirst, and Hunger points leave him and bounce off the meat. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the party funds. To process the Caw Paws, he’d have to spend enough credits to upgrade his skill… but it should be a wash. If he hurried, he’d be able to process a hundred credits’ worth of meat. With that in mind, he upgraded his Ingredient Processing skill to level two, then three, and savored the feeling of the golden tingleys filling him.

Reuben and Brie didn’t notice, and he felt pretty bad that he hadn’t clued them in on his expenditure ahead of time. Trying to make sure it had been worth it, Nacho started working as fast as he could to slice the meat off bone.

He soon had piled up ninety credits’ worth of meat and was covered in blood, yuck, and feathers. Ignoring his grimy state, he attacked his food and water supply to get his expendable points back to tenable levels.

Within a few minutes of completing his project, Reuben and Brie retreated from the tunnels, heaving for breath. Reuben flicked a glance at his friend as he choked down a gulp of water. “Well, that was some good exercise, and it looks like our boy Nacho has been working hard.”

Back-to-back skill usage had left each of them feeling weak, thirsty, and filled with a terrible hunger. Nacho couldn’t manage to speak, opting instead to tear open a protein bar and swallow it in three bites. All together, the bar and peanuts were only worth a half-portion, but after swigging down a bunch of water, he forced himself to talk. “Let’s go get our stuff and move back to the waterfall cave. From there, we can figure out our credit situation. With all of these monsters out of the way, it should be fairly safe to camp in the tunnels; certainly more than being out in the open.”

As they hiked back to the waterfall, Nacho couldn’t help but be frustrated. They were doing well with credits, and they were progressing, but he still wasn’t convinced they should spend their money on his Satiation class. It was already day two, he hadn’t been able to cook anything, and combat skill increases was an immediate need.

“We should continue to spend credits on Brie’s combat skills. Food is still cheap from the Store, and it’s not like me being able to cook food right now would help us any.” Nacho was muttering under his breath and trying to be convincing, but there was a part of him that wondered what a full-power Satiation Player looked like. This was completely new territory for him. Yes, there had been rumors of other special classes during his three years in the Juxtaposition, but he’d learned long ago that truth and rumor were distant cousins, twice removed, and most of the time related by marriage only.

They rappelled down the roots to the trail and retrieved their hidden backpacks, then trekked back up and swung through the waterfall. Nacho was pleased by their current location: the dungeon entrance was a pretty good camp. They couldn’t smell the Caw Paws, and though the waterfall kept things a bit chilly, it made for a nice view. The roar also drowned out the still-constant drums from deep underground.

They cautiously waited for a short amount of time, but no new birds came flying in. It appeared they had been successful in killing the entire roost. After purchasing more lantern fuel, they stood around the light source and tallied their credits. They’d killed thirty-three of the Caw Paws, earning thirteen credits each. Reuben looked around with a happy smile. “Four hundred and seven credits. This is awesome.”

Brie nodded at Nacho, tacitly giving him permission to spend credits. “Are we buying your cooking stuff? I’m hungry.”

He winced and shook his head. “I just can’t justify doing it. I really can’t. We should keep pouring our money into your abilities.”

Reuben opened his mouth to agree, likely about to reference his own skills, but Brie dug her heels in and clamped a hand over his mouth. “Can’t you imbue your cooking with magic to increase one of our skills?”

“At level one, I could theoretically cook something that will boost one of your stats by five percent. But this early in the world, that is only a fraction of your damage.” Nacho gestured despondently at her, as if to ward off money being spent on him.

Brie pondered the numbers, eventually shaking her head. “So… instead of a five percent damage bonus, I get a seven-point-five percent bonus. Fine, I see your point, but we need you to be able to keep up eventually. I guess the Store food isn’t that bad.”

“We can buy M&Ms for our trail mix!” Reuben called as he gave Nacho a friendly punch on the arm.

That didn’t make Nacho feel any better. He lit a small fire for light and warmth, even managing to position it in the path of a flow of wind that swept the smoke out through the side of the waterfall. The constant moisture made the cave damp, but at least the corpses of the bird monsters had melted away. He skewered some of his Blues Bird meat and tried to cook it, but gave up as soon as it turned into goo.

“No, I can’t just not be able to cook food. There has to be more to it.” It was Store food for dinner once again, at the low cost of nine credits. Reuben ordered the meat-lover’s pizza, Brie went with shrimp enchiladas, while Nacho got the Dr. James Henry Salisbury's Salisbury Steak. Nacho remembered it as the best possible meal from the Store; in his mind, all Salisbury steak tasted exactly the same. Good or bad, there was no way of telling. “I just need to practice. Practice-”

“Makes better, we get it, Nacho.” Brie interrupted with a snort. Nacho fell silent, trying to figure out where he was going wrong. During his six months back in his old life, he’d looked up the name of the meat, having always wondered where it came from. Dr. James Henry Salisbury had invented the meal for the American Civil War: it was soldier food, and tasted like it.

Nacho had warned Reuben to stay away from the pizza: mediocre pizza was a heartbreaker. Reuben hadn’t listened and was now doing a lot of sighing. Finally, the healer erupted. “I’m telling you, I’ve had cold, week-old Domino’s pizza that was left in the box on my counter that tasted better than this!”

“You should have never put that in your mouth,” Brie informed her fiancé sternly. “The fact that you can legitimately make this comparison bothers me.”

“Also, I did warn ya,” Nacho chuckled as his friend tried to backpedal. “Same watches as last night? Actually, since the two of you are doing most of the fighting-”

“Hold it. Not tonight, Nacho.” Brie stopped him from volunteering to do two shifts. “You need to sleep. We need some clarity on this stuff, and interrupting your night messes with your ability to think. At some point, we’re going to need to invest in your cooking abilities. There has to be a reason why Satiation Players weren’t a thing, and why you suffered so much because of it.”

A thousand responses leapt to Nacho’s mind, but he couldn’t voice any of them.

“Hold on…” Reuben furrowed his brow and looked between the other two. “I thought I was the leader.”

Brie rolled over to him and kissed his cheek. “You’re the leader of my heart. Now get to sleep. You’re taking second watch. Nacho will go first. I’ll take last.”

“You can’t just…” Nacho literally had no idea how he had been planning to end that sentence, so instead, he threw another stick into the fire. “First, we upgrade you, Brie. We pour everything into your skills.”

“In the morning,” she insisted sternly.

“No, wait.” Reuben shook his head, his gamer intuition starting to spin. “Nacho’s right. There’s a chance that whatever is down there drumming might come up here to party. They might be tough, and we don’t want to die with unused credits. It’s like those guys who die of thirst in the desert with full canteens because they hoard water, thinking that they will use it when they need it. Or me, when I used to play video games, and I had ninety-nine of every potion because I’d refuse to use them since they were supposed to be used ‘rarely’.”

Brie tossed her hands into the air. “Fine! I'm perfectly happy with being the best and the strongest, but what happens when I'm busy and you all need to fend for yourselves? Pumping everything into me just sounds… it's just a bad idea!”

“We trust you to do your job, and we can both fend for ourselves long enough for you to come save our butts.” The Healer stretched out, then snuggled into his sleeping bag.

Brie’s eyes glowed as she accessed the Store. “At this point, hunger hasn’t been an issue because we have food, so I’m not going to increase my Athletic Endurance just yet. Only Combat Dash and Defensive Whirl.”

“Oh, hey!” Nacho abruptly remembered a function of the system that had almost never been used by people in his first attempt. “Since we’re a party, you can share some of the Stat Sheet. Do you mind sharing your skills? I’m not a hundred percent on what your levels are.”

It took a second, but soon both Nacho and Reuben were poring over Brie’s skills.

Brie McCurdy

Skill Slots (3/4)

• Athletic Endurance (Passive) Level 1: 2% reduction to hunger loss penalties when using physical skills
• Combat Dash (Active) Level 2: 4% Damage on Dash Attacks, 10 meter dash
  • Mana Cost = 0%
  • Hydration Cost = 0%
  • Metabolic Cost = 10%
• Defensive Whirl (Active) Level 2: Spin toward your enemy, auto-blocking up to 1 strike
  • Mana Cost = 0%
  • Hydration Cost = 0%
  • Metabolic Cost = 15%
• Open slot

Nacho pulled up the Store, noticing that to get both her combat skills to level three, it would take one hundred and twenty credits—sixty each. Fourth level would be one hundred and sixty credits each. They had enough to get her to fourth level for both with some extra left over. He leaned back on the stone wall, using his hands to cushion his head. “Brie, keep up with your Athletic Endurance. We have the extra points, and the less hungry you get, the better. It’ll make a difference, I promise.”

“So will your cooking,” Brie insisted as she waffled between the spending spree and what they should be doing with the money.

Nacho wasn’t sure about that. They eventually convinced her to take her Athletic Endurance up to level two for another forty, and he pondered what else they should make happen before settling in for the night. “You know, I think the best thing to do next would be to upgrade Reuben’s healing ability. We haven’t needed it so much yet, which is great, but there is no world where having a Healer that can give you more health right when you need it is a bad thing. That’s only another forty.”

Brie’s eyes gleamed as her skills increased. Nacho watched it happen in real time:

Level 2 Athletic Endurance!

Level 4 Combat Dash!

Level 4 Defensive Whirl!

Reuben upped his level while completely hidden within his sleeping bag. “Just like that, I’m a level two hugger. Fear me. Thanks for cheesing us up, Nacho.”

“No problem, buddy. Just like that, we are down to thirty-seven credits.” Nacho didn’t comment on the inside joke. Cheese. Nacho. He had been getting that since he’d allowed the nickname to stick. As the minutes turned into hours, the cook reflected on how different things were this time around. Misty-eyed, he watched his friends as they slept, whispering so softly that only he could hear, “Can I just say… doing this with you is so much better than doing this alone?”

Near the end of his watch, the drumming started again, and Nacho realized why the rhythm had sounded familiar: it was reminiscent of an electronic music festival.

“I guess we'll find out tomorrow what kind of messed-up rave is going on down there.”