Game On
chapter 4
There was a clatter of people around the dragons tent, Vito was recovering in his tent being tended to be Jessica, her mother, and a few others who knew remedies that might help. He watched the others, his thoughts still weakened, barely able to tell his camp had moved and reformed around him. He was finally able to talk much later that day, but only just enough to let someone know he was hungry. Jessica didn't like to leave his side she was the only one who seemingly could tell what he needed at any given moment.The best way she could describe what she felt from the dragon was as though his mental self was scabbing over like a wound that needed to close; he would recover, it would just take some time. It was several days later the dragon recovered to a state that he rejoined the world of the living, the dragon having started to heal. He felt weird, it was actually like his everything hurt, he was up but genuinely didn't want to be.
It was a few days later when the dragon finally managed to get out of bed, looking around at the small tent city his group now had, more people having joined him while he was out of commission, many of whom seemed to be refugees he managed to save, and even a few soldiers who deserted from Brakkon Root with their families. Jacob looked over at the dragon as he saw him out and about asking once he hurried over, “Master, glad to see you up, how are you feeling?” He looked at the elf, smiled then pat his head saying, “I'm alright, I still hurt, but I'm getting back on my feet.”
He nodded looking around seeing more people, a few people approaching him and thanking him for his actions, most people thankful when someone saves their life. The dragon however looked around, seeing each person here for what they currently were, a mouth to feed and he just kept seeing more; Vito then asking as he looked back to Jacob, “Where is your father?” He looked up at the dragon who thought to himself, 'I've been down for days, and with this many people here now, supplies have got to be strained.' The boy looked around then saying, “Last I heard he and mom were heading over to the main campfire, I can show you where they put it at.”
The dragon nodded following Jacob around the camp till they arrived Bart giving a few orders to others then saying once he saw the dragon walk up, “Ah Vito glad to see you on your feet my friend, is there something you need sir?” He looked around and sighed a few pains wracking him making him decide to sit down then asking as he looked up to the elf, “I see a lot of people here Bart, how are the supplies holding?” He frowned then said, “As you would expect, we've got supplies for a few more days food alone is being the hardest to keep stocked, I have people out forging to help supplement our supplies.”
The dragon nodded looking around at the town the saying, “Anything salvageable from the town?” The elf shook his head saying, “Not much, a few supplies here and there but the town burned so if anything survived we've not found it.” Vito Nodded then quickly asking, “Water?” To which Bart responded with, “That one is less of an issue, while the city was demolished a few of the aqueduct systems survived, so we've been able to keep our water supplies in check.” He nodded Vito then thinking, 'Ok we've got water but that's about it, well that removes the idea of staying here, plus a ruined lot or not this land does belong to Vasheer, I doubt he'll take us being here laying down; staying here water or not will be more problems then it'll be worth, we might even have to fight the man for it, and if he gets other lords involved we won't be able to win that battle.'
Looking up at Bart Vito then asked, “Well, as I'm sure you must know we can't stay here I need options, any ideas where we can go, even if its temporary. We need supplies, first of all food, then skilled workers, builders, and craftsmen, or at the very least a few people who can teach these skills.” The Elf nodded then saying, “Well I have an idea, if its craftsmen you want we should head toward the mountains, if we're in luck Red Rock will still be intact, oh uh, that's the name of the nearest Dwarven settlement the dwarf clans founded it in hopes of building trade lines with the empire, but there will no doubt be several very skilled craftsmen, and builders too, well that is if the city still exist.”
The dragon nodded thinking for a moment, 'Well not a bad idea, everything I know of dwarves leads me to believe they would be the best choice. So be it tropes aside this is my best option, so far.' With that decided the dragon got up saying as he did, “Thank you Bart that is a good idea, let's get ready to move in that direction.” The elf nodded Vito was however getting sore again and opted to leave this to Bart, the dragon returning to his tent to rest more. Once inside and alone with Jessica, the dragon crawled into his own skull, Vito saying to himself as his perspective shifted back to the soul inside looking around at what few memories he had of the battle, “I saw it right, I'm not crazy?”
He combed over what mental pictures he had of the battle, fuzzy as they were. Even though it hurt his head he found what he was looking for. That split second before he mentally blacked out, almost as if a UI warning popped up, said warning, thought again hard to read said something about ‘instability detected' the soul sitting there thinking about it for a moment more, till back in the real world a voice called his attention back. Jessica asking once the dragon closed his eyes then opened them again, “Master, are you ok?” The dragon looked over to her, the girl had a look of worry on her face the dragon then asking, “What do you mean?” The girl came over and rested her hand on his head the girl then saying, “You were in pain right now, it felt bad, please take it easy master, there are a lot of people who are depending on you now, please don't strain yourself.”
The dragon nodded then saying as he pat her side, “I will, don't worry.” Jessica nodded , about to turn around till the dragon asked, “Come to think of it, where is my bag can you get it for me??” The girl nodded then saying as she looked around, “If I remember correctly Jacob did put it somewhere in here . . . ah there it is” The dragon looked over looking over at the elf in time to see her bend over to pick up his bag Vito idly thinking as he got a good view of the elf's ass, 'Nice shape, decent size but not to much and its soft from what I remember, girls got a good butt she'll be a good addition to my harem; Still, no point to it if she doesn’t want it, wait for her to come to me, then relish it.'
The dragon grinned at the elf who after seeing his smirk knew what he was grinning about and blushed over the girl then saying as she brought over then handed him his bag, “Uh . . . here you go master.” He nodded patting the ground near him saying as the girl set his bag down, “Thank you Jessica, and thanks for the view as well.” Her face blushed over right to the tips of her ears, the dragon laughing as he smiled at her, the girl then saying with a flustered, “I'll go get you some more water master, your water skin is empty.” He nodded saying softly, “Thank you, and sorry if I've made you uncomfortable.” She stopped for a moment, thought about her response then said, “Well at least you only looked this time.” He nodded getting a bit of a surprise answer as the girl got ready to walk out, the elf then saying, “Still I wouldn't be able to say I hate it.”
With that she quickly retreated from the tent leaving the dragon who after a moment could only smirk saying in his usual internal monologue, 'I think she might actually have a thing for me, that or its her fetish fishing for praise, should I get her a collar?? . . . no that . . . that would be weird.' After a moment he opened his bag, then fishing out the binder he had been given by the storyteller. Looking at the two pages he had filled out for the two elves, till a sharp pain racked his mind suddenly finding himself pulled into his inner self. The soul looking around with an assumed wince then saying when he saw what seemed to be an interface, like for a video game the soul then saying, “Wait I have an interface?”
He looked around in his mind-space the information for the girls page now not so limited, the interface entry going into far more details about the girl till he noticed something on the girls page, saying as he reached out as if clicking on the entry he found saying as he did, “Deep seeded empathy . . what the hell is that?” As he clicked on the entry the interface opened and gave him more information, the soul then reading, “This individual has a deep seeded sense of empathy for those around her, and will get a +10 to all healing checks, holy shit thats . . . that's actually really good.” Reading further down, the entry then noting, “Acquired by a desire to help her master. . . . .”
He looked down for a moment till he though, “What about Jacobs page.” To which the interface opened said elf's page all the basic information same as on the physical page till he got to the information not listed, what could only be feats and other such things that would be on a character sheet. One such entry being the soul reading, “Elvin long sight, wait basic, racially acquired, most elves get this at birth but it is a basic version of this skill, adds a +5 to all vision based skills, can be upgraded.” The soul looked at the page and other such things on the page till he then though, “Well ok then, how about my page?”
Looking up as his own page opened he noted all the basic info that he spent what felt like hours on, till he got to what he was interested in. Seeing a few notable entries, entries about dragon related items such as resistances and other things till he got to one entry that shocked him, the soul reading, “The mask? The fuck is this?” Opening the entry he then read, “A lie, a false front, often with a fake smile, though it does well to keep people out, it also keeps the wearer in, plus twenty five to mental defense checks, cripples emotional dependent abilities, innately keeps people at arms length . . . .” He sat there for a long time in quiet contemplation at what this meant till he looked at the page he discovered skills and special abilities. Seeing his dragon’s breath skill, then the entry for Dragon Rage, clicking on the entry the soul then read, “An emotionally driven outburst, pure raw power, a dragon's wrath in its purest form, grants the berserk ability greatly improving strength and constitution.”
The soul read the entry again, more to the point the first part, emotionally driven, it started to sink in, looking at the first page he clicked on his race, bringing up rather limited information about dragons, the soul saying before he started to read, “Alright so you're not going to give me all the answers because its actually impossible for me to know. the page is limited to what I could know then, what's this say then,” Taking a moment with a deep sigh he then read, “Creatures of power, magic, and emotion, these powerful creatures are not a force to be reckoned with, no further knowledge about this race.” The soul looked down then saying, “I've screwed myself then. . .if what this entry says is true then myself and the form I choose are in a sense incompatible.”
He looked around for a moment, till he called out saying, “Storyteller, I know you're here,” The figure cleared his throat making his presence known, the soul then asking, “I need a reroll, if my personality is blocking my dragon abilities then i'm doomed to fail.” The teller however said, “Sorry but you only got the one freebie that includes a character change, besides the page is already set, to allow you to change what you've chosen would unravel this world, why I would allow that?” The soul recoiled then asked in an angry outburst, “Then . . then what do I do? How do I win a game that has hamstrung me from the get go?”
The hooded Teller grinned then said, “By doing what you're doing now.” The soul recoiled a little, confused as the teller then said, “This Is the last time i'll help you friend, anything beyond this point here you'll have to earn,” The soul brightened up a bit as it asked, “Then you'll remove this dumb mask entry?” The Teller shook his head getting a pout from the soul then said, “It is against my rules to cheapen my characters achievements it's one of the fundamental rules that all my worlds follow. A mask in all sense can be removed, if you want your power then you'll have to do what you refused to do in your last life; remove the mask and the fake smile you wore. Feel your emotions express them, don't bottle them up to make it easier to live with those around you. After all this whole dragon persona you're wearing now is just another mask, is it not?”
With that the Teller vanished the soul left in silence, he knew what it meant, he didn't like it but he knew what the Teller had just told him, leading the soul to ask, “How does one fix them-self, if what they need to fix is all they've ever known?” He sat there in silence for a short while till he heard a voice call him back to the realm of flesh, Jessica saying as the dragon opened his eyes, “Your water skin master, I know you must be thirsty.” He nodded the back of his throat was as dry as sin right now, the dragon accepting the bag, thinking as he took a drink, 'I never told her I was thirsty, if this is what she can manage just listing on that bonus then holy crap if I had her trained to heal with magic, she'd be a god send.'
The dragon looked over at the girl as he set down his water skin, but got dizzy his wound flaring up the elf visibly perking up, then saying as she turned to help him, “You should lay back down master.” The dragon nods saying as she helped him lay back down, “A good idea thanks Jess.” He was out the moment his head him the mat, Vito waking a day later. His head finally felt lighter, still the occasional dizzy spell but mainly when he got up. The group a short while later after the dragon was awake made ready to leave scouts posted on the outskirts of the camp having reported troops still loyal to the man who technically owned the land they had been camping on had been spotted scouting the outskirts. Vito agreed that staying here any longer would invite unneeded problems and had the camp pack up and make ready to leave, following the advice he was offered and made in the direction of the dwarven city of Red Rock.
Vito looked around, the dragon seeing his gathered people, the young the old and those in between, more than once he caught people looking his way. He was unsure how to feel about this, these people had put their eggs in his basket, if he failed they would surely suffer, part of him was unsure about this sudden position of power. Another part was afraid this was a lot of responsibility, even if it is what he wanted it was never something he had ever actually had to do, what if he failed or messed up; people would suffer. Seeing the worry on the dragons face Bart set his hand on his shoulder, Asking when Vito looked back to him, “What wrong Vito, you look worried.” The dragon looked over as the elf walked up to his side,Vito taking a moment his face suddenly hiding his feeling, “Its nothing . . .I was just thinking about what my next play should be.”
The elf looked at him for a moment a look of doubt hidden in the elf's gaze, the elf pat his shoulder for a moment, the dragon seeing him walk off. He returned moments later with a rather large water skin, the elf then saying as he encouraged Vito to slow down as to get a bit more out of the sight of the others, saying as he offered the dragon a stone mug, “Here, its wine, now let's talk about what's really on your mind.” Vito looked shocked for a moment till a crack in his mask showed his eyes darting away with an obvious look of worry. Taking the cup Vito watched as Bart poured him a drink, then a smaller portion for himself, Bart saying, “My personal stash, this was a favorite of mine, the wine maker is truly skill, I do hope they still live.”
Vito looked up at the elf who took a drink, seeing the dragon let out a bit of a meek look at the elf who pat his shoulder, encouraging him to drink, Vito doing just that. After a moment waiting for Vito to take a drink. Once he had a mouthful the elf smiled then asked glaring at his son who came around to see where the dragon had gone, the boy got the hint and walked away, “So my friend, whats on your mind?” Vito sighed, taking another drink before he said rather stiffly, “I'm . . . scared.” The elf looked over to him, a little unsure, Asking, “What of?”
The dragon looked around giving a general sweeping gesture toward his gathered group of followers, the dragon then saying, “Of all this, I'm worried, no afraid of what all this means.” The elf nodded a vague understanding of what the dragon was talking of till Vito said, “De . . . despite the front I put up, i'm . . . i'm not very confident of myself, i'm even more so at talking, you know expressing my true feelings; It's hard for me to put into words.” Bart nodded, saying as he took another drink, “Well all you can do is try your best, tell me what is worrying you?” Vito let out a hard sigh, his shoulder suddenly slumping in an almost self imposed defeat, “What if I mess up, these people, you and your family, if I mess up if I fail what happens to you lot, I'm afraid of what will happen if at the end of the day, . . . if I'm just not up to the task. If I fuck up happens to all of you that have placed your faith on me, a nobody you pulled out a tomb.”
The elf nodded Bart saying as he saw the worry compound on the dragons face, fear and anxiety mixing with what have I done. To that Bart nodded then saying as he offered to fill the dragons cup, “Let me answer your question with a story shall I?” Vito looked up at the elf, and gave a nod accepting another cup o the elf's wine, it was sweet clearly a berry based wine, and it was aged well. Taking another drink of the alcoholic beverage, Vito listened to the elf as he told his story, “It was about fifteen. . . no no sixteen years ago, I had opened my first shop, I was afraid that if I didn't do well my business would fail, but if I never tried I wouldn't know. So many of my friends at the time said I was being foolish, that the odds of some nobody elf starting a successful business was not high. Still I wanted to try, I needed to try if I was to just roll over because all the naysayers made it sound like it would be going to hell in a handbasket, I wouldn't have what I have now.”
Vito nodded taking another drink as the elf then said, “It was fine for a few years I was a young lad, barely a few hundred gold to my name and a shop I could barely keep stocked, but I managed. Then I met my dear wife, she came into the shop one day looking for some fabrics, was planning on making her father a new coat and needed to get the fabrics to do so; I was instantly smitten with her.” Vito smiled at the elf as he listened to his tale, Bart then continuing on, “After about two weeks of her and her family shopping at my store, well I decided I wanted to ask her out on a date, I was afraid that she would shot me down, I was after all just a young man with a very small little corner store. It took me an entire day of working up my nerves, and when she came in that afternoon I approached her, looked her in the eyes, got ready to say the words, . . . and promptly threw up on her shoes.”
He laughed for a moment till he went on with, “I had at the same time as I talked myself into doing this I had also wrecked myself with the what ifs, what if she said no, what if she laughed at me, what if she left and I never saw her again that when it came to the point I was going to ask her, I lost it, in this case literally. So long did i spend defeating myself before i could try. Naturally I couldn't apologize to her enough, but she gave he a warm smile and a hearty laugh, and that gave me the courage to ask, and even after she said she'd love to date me. I had messed up, and I didn't want to mess up any more than I already had.”
The dragon nodded that sounded familiar, looking up at the sky as they continued to walk, just out of earshot of the group in-front of them. After a moment Bart then said, “We hit it off almost right off the bat, I liked her, I could almost tell she at least had feelings for me, and her family loved me, at that point I was sure this was a sure thing, then count Price came into play. He was the son of the noble ruling the town, a strapping young lad with the personality of a spoiled brat, turns out he too had his eyes on Marry, though I doubt he'd actually marry her. I could tell with the way he talked to her, she was just a pretty elf he wanted to play with, relations across species are not unheard of but a human noble marrying an elf nearly is. Still I was competing with the lad for what he wanted.”
Vito sighed then asked quickly, “Guessing that didn't end well?” Bart sighed then responded with, “Not at all, one night as I was closing up the shop the young noble Price entered my shop, with a few bodyguards. I knew this wasn't going to be a normal visit but still I greeted him and asked if there was something I could do for him. He instantly demanded that I give up on Marry, that she was going to be his woman. I told him that I had no intention of giving up on her, that I loved her with all my heart, this didn't go over well. The young lord-ling then became furious and started threatening me with an ultimatum, I give up on Marry or he'd make my life hell. I told him to leave and he did, knowing this brat meant it I however loved Marry, I knew if I just took the easy way out the path of least resistance, Marry would have for one reason or another become a plaything for Count Price, just a pretty bobble he would brag about and fuck as he saw fit. I refused however and just to spite the bastard, I proposed to her the very next day; she was overjoyed and agreed on the spot, provided her father and myself came to an agreement on a dowery.”
Vito nodded looking back over as Bart then said, “It didn't go over well with the young count and within the week I noticed what was happening. My usual suppliers stopped working with me, it became impossible to keep my shop stocked with the goods I needed to be able to sell. I managed to get out of one of them who was a bit more of an acquaintance then the others why he was suddenly refusing to sell me goods. He looked around to make sure no one was looking then pulled me aside, told me the young lord had gone to each one of my usual suppliers and threatened them if they didn't stop working with me. To protect their own businesses and families they had to agree; my store was all but ruined. Three days before I was to wed my Marry he came to my store again, and said he was offering me one last chance, give up on Marry and he'd leave me and my store alone; Obviously I told him to go to hell, bastard had already ruined my shop, wasn’t going to let him befoul my love with his seed.”
Vito laughed a little as Bart then said to continue on his tale, “I married her, then promptly had to leave the city. The young lord was so furious that a meer commoner had the balls to refuse him in such a way that he had people out to hurt us. His end all be all goal no doubt to kill me then take Mary as his prize, a pretty bobble for him to have as he saw fit. My store was already ruined, he had gone out of his way to ruin my reputation, and had used his noble contacts and friends to put more pressure on me; I had started getting my supplies from outside of the city and he refused to have that. In the end I was forced to move, both in order to try restarting my store away from the young bastard and for the safety of myself and my new wife. His influence sadly followed us.”
He sighed then continued “After about a year we had a new store in a city miles from where we had been at, then the same thing suppliers stopped working with us. It was the same thing all over again, and well to save a bit of time we ended up having to move again when this time when one night our store caught fire and burnt to the ground. I refused to give up though we moved to the city we had been at till recently. We had a decent store, we were blessed with two beautiful children, and life for better or worse was good, till you know who managed to find us. Turns out count Price was a good friend of Lord Vasheer and one day when he came to visit the man in question he spotted us in the market, and the troubles started happening all over again.”
Vito nodded as the elf pat his shoulder, then saying, “I could have avoided all of this, could have let my worries make me not ask Marry out. I could have knuckled under Count Price and let him have Marry. I could have not bothered to open my shop in the first place and thus never had any of these problems to begin with, but I refused to let what others said deter me. I wanted to open my shop because i wanted to try. I wanted to marry Marry, I refused to give her to that pompous bastard, and you know what, for all my troubles, for all the hardships I went though, It wasn't all that bad. Sure I still hate Price and the nobles that helped him ruin my store time and time again. I love my life, I love my wife, and I love my family, if I had let fear control my actions I would have nothing but a store in a city that was the first to fall to these shadow monsters. Fate it seems has its own twisted sense of Karma, I'm unsure if Price died at the hands of these monsters, but the rest of his family was slaughtered by the demons.”
Bart then saying as the dragon handed him the cup, “I learned that my fear made me better, I didn't want to lose Marry so I stood up to a noble. I wanted my store to succeed, so I realized I had to move. At the end, though I feared it would end with our deaths, we went into that tomb and found you, my fear of what would happen allowed me to keep myself aware of the things that could go wrong, so I could maneuver around them to avoid them, or find a way to overcome them. The presence of Fear if used can mean the difference between a wise man and a fool, use your fear to remind you want you need to do, use your worries to keep you on the right path, and trust those around you to have your back.”
Vito nodded thinking to himself for a bit till he said, “Thanks Bart, I actually needed that.” The elf smiled then said patting Vito's back, “Not a problem my friend, now what I think you need to do is stand up show these people the proud dragon they believe in, and use your fears and worries don't be controlled by them.” Vito nodded and stood up, taking a moment to say before he walked away, “You know, you're a much wiser man then I gave you credit for, thanks Bart.” With his confidence bolstered Vito went back to what he knew he needed to do, be the leader these people were hoping for, and he refused to be anything but that.
~end of chapter~
