CWD: GA ~ Fourteen

Standing in the middle of the stone staircase, surrounded by roots, Nacho wasn’t sure how to respond to Brie’s question. The cooked grub didn’t smell too good to him, but he hadn’t used his skills, so he wasn’t hungry. He also wasn’t exactly sure how to use his skills, in fact.

Reuben pulled Brie into a hug. He glowed, she glowed, there was much glowing in the stairwell. But when Brie pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, she still had the wound.

The big guy blinked. “Nothing? Not a single point healed? Then why am I thirsty?”

“Let’s retreat for now,” Nacho decided after allowing their confusion to increase. “You guys can eat, you can see your Health Regen in action, and then we can figure out where we go from here.”

They marched back up the stairs but didn’t stop there. All of them wanted to get into the sunlight after taking out the grubs—they all had a feeling that they were covered in creepy crawlies, and hanging out in the darkness would not help that. Reuben and Brie sat on a dead tree a few feet away from the Oilbark tree and the entrance to the Deep Buggy Darkness.

Nacho bent down to dig through his backpack. He hadn’t bothered to bring medical supplies, because ace bandages and antibiotic ointment paled in comparison to the System’s regenerative properties. Brie pulled up her sleeve and gingerly pressed at the flesh. “I was down ten Health Points, but now I’m all fixed up. Seven-point-five percent of my health is restored over every minute not fighting.”

“Not ten percent?” Reuben raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

Nacho checked his Health Regen, and just like Reuben, had ten percent of his max Health Points. Then he realized what had happened. “Brie’s Hunger isn’t at full. She must have seventy-five Hunger Points.”

Brie confirmed his suspicions, “That’s right. You had said that Health Regen is connected to hunger… makes sense.”

Reuben tapped on a screen only he could see. “My Mana Regen is connected to Thirst, so I’m at nine percent regen.”

Nacho took two Muscle Mania protein bars out of his backpack and tossed one to Reuben, the other to the Berserker. “Eat up, and we can talk more. We did well for our first Active Combat. Especially since it was an ambush.”

“Not hungry, bro.” Reuben waved the food away, tossing it back to the cook. “But hit me with some water. I’m weirdly thirsty.”

Brie tore into the bar, eyelids fluttering. “Oh, that’s good. I used my ability twice and I was already getting hungry. My passive isn’t helping me at all.”

Nacho took a sip of water and tried to phrase his words delicately. “Let’s talk about your skills more. We have twenty credits, so we’ll have to figure out how to invest them. I shouldn’t get anything because I’m useless in combat. I killed a grub and didn’t get a single credit.”

“Not normal?” Reuben questioned him.

“Not even close.” Nacho sighed despondently, trying to figure out the reason for the lack of income.

Brie was the one to come up with the most likely answer. “It bet it’s because you’re a Satiation Player. The rules must be different for those classes.”

“Seems like it. Wait… I think that actually might have been in the class description.” Nacho capped his water bottle as he tried to remember what exactly it had stated, but he eventually shrugged helplessly. “Let’s get back to your skills, Brie. Tell me more.”

Brie slid off the dead tree and began to pace. “My Athletic Endurance should give me a percentage reduction to hunger loss penalties. It’s passive, so I don’t have to pay, but it’s not helping because of the Level Zero stuff. Combat Dash gives me bonus damage, as well as super speed. There’s a ten percent Metabolic cost every time I use it. Defensive Whirl will eventually let me block attacks, and there’s a fifteen percent Metabolic cost. I used both abilities, and I was down to seventy-five Hunger. Not sure why I got so hungry, since I was three-quarters full.”

“You’re not used to being hungry at all. The benefits of being in the American middle class.” Nacho ran a quick System check on the Muscle Mania bars.

Generic Over-Priced Protein Bar

One quarter portion

“Eating that should get you back to a hundred Hunger Points.” Nacho privately debated over which skill they should boost with their twenty credits.

Brie stopped pacing as she confirmed his words. “Back to a hundred. You’re right.”

A System message appeared in Nacho’s vision.

Special Bonus Sauce!

Congratulations! You have fed your party for the first time ever!

Bonus Credits = 5

Spectacular! May your future be delicious!

Nacho smiled slowly as he realized the answer. “Wait. Guys.”

“Yeah, I saw your eyes flash. What happened?” Reuben’s perceptiveness, while a great trait, still threw Nacho off slightly.

“I just got five credits for feeding Brie.”

The woman grunted in displeasure. “Well that makes me feel like a zoo animal. I guess that’s an apt description, since being in the Juxtaposition is like being in a zoo for Patrons, right?”

Nacho wasn’t listening, unsure if he felt excited or baffled by his new Satiation class. “Okay, Reuben, what about your skills?”

Reuben broke a stick off the dead tree and toyed with it. “Well, my Marketing ability costs five percent of my Mana, Hydration, and Metabolic points. Five percent across the board. Because of course it does. Ya know, getting people to buy your stuff is a hungry, thirsty, Mana-intense business.”

“Probably not useful for now. What about your Healing Hugs and Positive Vibes skills?”

Reuben didn’t answer right away, needing to read off the details to refresh his memory. “Healing Hugs doesn’t have a Metabolic cost, so that’s why I wasn’t hungry. It costs me in Mana and Hydration, though; ten percent of my Mana and five percent of my Hydration. I was down to ninety-five Thirst Points, which wasn’t that much, now that I think about it. It just felt right to drink.”

“A lot of that is going to be mostly habit.” Nacho strapped up the backpack and stood.

“My Positive Vibes skill costs me five percent in Mana and ten percent in Hydration. I’m assuming that’s off the total, and not a declining percentage? I mean, ten percent of a hundred is different than ten percent of ninety.”

“Right you are.” Nacho sniffed the air. He could still smell smoke coming from the settlers on top of Armor Mountain. For a second, he felt sorry for them, but he couldn’t soften his heart; not when his life and the lives of his two best friends were still in jeopardy. “So, we have twenty-five credits, and we should put them to use. A Skill Point costs two credits, and it takes ten Skill Points to upgrade a skill to Level One. That means we can upgrade one of us, and then we can head back down into the Deep Buggy Darkness.”

Reuben turned serious. “I hate seeing Brie get hurt. I want her to have her Defensive Whirl.”

Brie again stopped pacing. “Reuben, I can take care of myself. I’m going to be in combat a lot, so you’ll have to get used to it.”

The Healer cast his gaze down to the dry autumn leaves on the ground. “I know. It’s just hard. I’d much rather I get hurt than you.”

Nacho wanted to tell his friend that as the Healer, they had to keep him back. During Active Combat, his hugs just might keep Brie alive. Nacho was the problem. The fact that he didn’t get credits for killing monsters made his help in a fight an active hindrance to their growth. Brie grabbed Reuben’s hand in both of hers, leaning in to give him a kiss.

“You’re sweet, and I get that you want to protect me. But right now, I have to be the one to protect us. You have a point, though; Leveling Defensive Whirl makes sense. It seems like it’s a complete block instead of reduced damage. That’ll keep me alive so I can inflict more damage.” She turned to Nacho. “Is there a way to end Active Combat? Or is it just the System that makes that decision?”

It was a good question, and it had taken a lot of bloodshed for people to learn how it worked. Nacho was glad he already knew the answer. “You can retreat, and once you put a certain distance between you and the monster, Active Combat ends. We tried to map it out, but it changes every time. Normally, barring any sort of natural obstacle, it’s a dozen feet away; but that also pre-supposes that the monster isn’t chasing you. If the monster is chasing you, then it’s harder—if not impossible—to end Active Combat until one of you is dead.”

Reuben shook his head. “It both makes sense and is really ambiguous. So… that’s terrible.”

“It is and it isn’t.” Brie shook her head in the negative. “It gives us some room to maneuver. If I can block attacks, and if we can retreat far enough, we can then use our Health Regen to heal. It makes healing less important, and Positive Vibes becomes more important because that will actively help us dish out damage. This place really is about wholesale slaughter.”

“You’re not wrong.” Nacho approached his friends. “I think Brie is right. Defensive Whirl is the right way to go. She’ll take less damage and can continue to deal it. Are you ready to spend our money, Brie?”

“Always.” She smirked as her eyes flashed. Nacho glanced at the top of his own Stat Sheet to see their credits total.

Eli ‘Nacho’ Naches

Class: Common Cook

Tier Class Name: Common Cook

Level: 0

Experience Points: 100 to Level 1!

Current Credits: 5 (25 total Dinner Party pool)

Build Type: Balanced, Delayed

Nacho had always thought it was weird that he’d never gotten Experience Points from straight combat and needed to purchase them like everything else. “Toilet paper or leveling up? It’s so strange.”

Brie’s eyes lost their glow. “It’s done. I was given the option to pull from Reuben, so I nabbed his five, and not yours, Nacho.”

“I’ll be your sugar daddy.” Reuben grinned at her, but she ignored him. Rested, healed, and with full Hunger and Thirst, they went back down into the dungeon, pausing on the staircase. The flares they’d thrown were still spitting light, though most of their length was now gray ash.

Nacho appraised the dead grubs around them.

Raw Tier 0 Meat

Note: Putrid Mana. Did someone say it’s smoothie time?

He considered his Ingredient Processing ability. He could drain the Putrid Mana out of the insects, but could he cook them? Could he get credits for doing it? He thought so, but he wasn’t sure. Nacho bent and turned one of the giant worms over. It wasn’t getting gooey yet, but it would eventually liquify, thanks to the Putrid Mana. “Wait. I bet I could cook these things. Would you mind eating grubs?”

Reuben made a face while Brie shrugged. “Sure. Protein is protein. But how do we know they’re not poisonous?”

“They are,” Nacho replied darkly as he bounced the pound of jiggling meat up and down. “They have Putrid Mana, but they’re still Tier zero. We can eat them straight, though it tastes terrible and would make us mildly sick. Not terrible, but not pleasant. Luckily, I can help with that. Should I try?”

Something chittered down below. Before the flare gave out a last sputter, they saw something moving in the corridor at the bottom of the steps.

“Cancel that.” Nacho stood ramrod-straight. “This is the wrong place to do any kind of meal prep. I’m thinking the gumdrop grubs were just the warm-up act. What do you think grubs turn into?”

“Bigger grubs?” Reuben seemed hopeful.

“Bigger bugs.” Brie pulled her knife out, arranging the hatchet in her right hand and the dagger in her left. “I’m only going to get better with practice. The more killing, the better.”

“Spoken by my best little Berserker.” Reuben kissed the back of her head.

“Oh, come on.” Nacho gagged lightly, then got serious. “Remember, there wasn’t a sign at the entrance that said ‘You must be this tall to run this dungeon’. It's totally possible that we could run across something we can’t hurt. If that happens? We need to run.”

“I can run. Not well, mind you, but discretion is the better part of valor. I will discretionfully flee.” The look in Reuben’s eyes told Nacho everything he needed to know. He’d sacrifice himself to save Brie and not think twice.

Nacho felt the tremor in his gut, wondering if he was starting to form an ulcer from all the stress. Yes, he had game knowledge that most likely no one else had, but he wasn’t playing as an assassin, he wasn’t alone, and he had a couple that loved each other beyond all good sense. He knew either one would jump to save the other. That might be a benefit; then again, it might be a recipe for disaster if they weren’t careful.

He hardened his heart, trying to stay in the moment, focus on the dungeon, and get his party leveled and back out alive. Then he could try cooking gumdrop grubs.

With a name like that, they wouldn’t taste too terrible, would they?