“My parents taught me a lot,” Stern said.
“I don’t even have points to spend, though,” Cyra said.
“Ah, but I might spend them in a different way depending on what we choose,” Stern replied.
“Here are your choices,” Ria said. She passed her hand over the counter and three pages appeared.
Cyra picked up the first one, reading it slowly, before handing it to Stern. “I don’t think I’ll choose this one.”
Stern took the offered page and read it. Survivor; making do with the little you have. Can go twice as long without food, water, or sleep.
“It could be useful, and I can see where you’d have wanted it before being a Walker,” Stern said. “Let’s see what the others are before we absolutely reject it.”
Cyra handed him the next page and he saw one they’d already seen before. Stern gave it a scan. Improved Life Sense 1; Help others know when life surrounds you. Those in your crew will know where you have felt life.
“Hmm... still useful,” Stern said. “It trumps the other choice easily, in my opinion.”
Cyra handed him the last page, looking thoughtful. He studied it with pursed lips. Extra Minor Life; You’re a walking healing kit. Minor Life is now usable three times a day.
“Wow,” Stern said. “That’s just…”
“You said healing was rare,” Cyra said, looking at him. “Why do I feel like me seeing this now is unusual?”
“Because it should be,” Stern said slowly. “That perk would get you invited to crews. Some would be willing to give you more voice in the collective points because of it.”
“Would it…?” Cyra cut off, her mind racing ahead of her. “Would it entice others to join us?”
Stern blinked as Cyra’s emotional maelstrom washed over him. “Cyra, calm down, please?” Stern asked, leaning on the counter.
Cyra gasped and her emotions became focused— worry for him, and sorrow that she was impeding him. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—!”
Stern exhaled a shuddering breath. “I know, I know, it’s fine. Deep breaths, please.”
Ria watched them with interest.
Cyra closed her eyes and took several deep, slow breaths. Her hand grabbed one of her ears, pulling it down over her eye, and she stroked it slowly.
The emotional storm passed and Stern was able to push her emotions away. “To answer your question, it might. It’ll hopefully offset me just being with you. A crew might take us both in because of it.”
Cyra did her best to hold her emotions in check as she released her ear. “I’d prefer it if you were the one to lead the crew. Would that perk be enough to do that?”
Stern watched her for a moment and gave her a soft smile. “Cyra, you don’t have to stay with me. That perk would be enough for other, more advanced groups to bring you in and rerun dungeons with you to bring you up to speed with them.”
“No,” Cyra said, her emotional control slipping for a moment. “No, I don’t want that.”
Stern blinked at the hard pulse of emotion that came from her. “Okay. That might make it harder to get a crew for the next three dungeons and beyond, but we can try.”
“I’d prefer it if you led a group, too,” Ria added. Stern glanced at her and she smiled. “Purely a selfish reason.”
Stern snorted at the humor in her tone. “Fine, fine. I’m sure Pawly would prefer it that way, anyway. Who am I to tell the women in my life no?” Twin pulses of emotion slammed into him and he had to shake his head.
Cyra snatched the page from his hand and it became a golden light that surged into her. She gasped and clutched the counter as the new perk bonded with her.
Ria’s hand passed over the other two papers and they vanished. “Well, that concludes the perk selection,” she said. “You have three-hundred and seventy-eight points to spend, Stern.”
“What? That many?” Stern asked.
“The monsters you came up against were advanced and worth more points than any of the previous ones you had faced. That’s one of the reasons why later dungeons give you more points.”
“I knew that,” Stern said. “I just wasn’t expecting them to be worth so much. Pawly killed them all and was hardly ever in danger.”
“Her improvements give her a significant edge.”
“True,” Stern said. “Each of those has been worth my own lack of improvements. Dad is going to be amazed at her DPS.”
“DPS?” The question came from both Ria and Cyra.
“Ah, sorry. Another dadism. It stands for ‘damage per second,’ but it really means her ability to deal damage compared to the little damage she takes.”
“She only took the one hit through the entire dungeon,” Cyra nodded.
“That might change when we find monsters with better than animal-level intelligence,” Stern said. “I already thought of a few ways to ruin her illusion perk.”
“It isn’t a hard one to beat, but the monsters would have to see her fight to have a real idea of what it could be,” Ria said.
“True,” Stern exhaled. “Okay, well with that many points, it opens things up a little. Is it enough to get a lesser rune?”
“No. Those start at five hundred,” Ria said.
“I could get three least runes,” Stern said, “or I could get a collar upgrade for Pawly. Too bad I already put a rune on the one she has.”
“But the more runes she has, the better, right?” Cyra asked.
“Yes.”
“Can’t we buy a new collar for her that has more rune slots?” Cyra asked.
“Rune slots can only be added by skilled crafters,” Stern said. “Crafters who’ve gone through dungeons…” He trailed off, thinking about someone that they were going to be seeing in Darkstone.
“Stern?” Cyra asked.
“Sorry, thinking about skilled crafters. Sometimes, they’ll join a crew just to get taken through the dungeon so they can get better at their craft. Some crews leave their sixth spot open just for that reason.”
“I didn’t know that,” Cyra said.
“So yes, it’s possible, but the crafters who could join would charge a lot more. They’d normally be making armor for Walkers and not just collars.”
“Oh...”
“It might still be an option, and the least runes are still useful,” Stern said. “Let’s get a selection this time, though. I’d just taken fire before, but let’s get ice, air, and dark.”
Three runes appeared under the glass. “These?” Ria asked.
Stern looked at the small runes, each marked with a symbol— a snowflake, a cloud, and a black disk. “Those, Ria.”
“Very well. Here you are,” Ria said as the three runes suddenly appeared on the counter. “Have a good day, and I’ll see you after you finish Darkstone.”
“Thank you, Ria,” Cyra said just before the other woman vanished.
“It should only be about midday,” Stern said as he put the runes into his belt pouch. “We can check with the clothier and see if she has one of your sets of clothing done.”
“Please?” Cyra said.
“After you,” Stern said, motioning to the doorway.
With a smile, Cyra left the store. Stern took a moment to exhale a long breath before he followed her out.
~*~*~
Stern gave Cyra a smile when they left the bathing room. “Dinner is in my room in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll be there,” Cyra said. “Pawly will join us, right?”
“Yeah, I owe her a fish all to herself,” Stern chuckled. “I need to make sure I tell the innkeeper. See you upstairs.”
“Okay.”
~*~*~
When Cyra knocked on his door ten minutes later, Stern opened it. “Come on in. Dinner is already here.”
Cyra entered, a smile blooming on her lips when she saw the covered dishes. “It looks fancy.”
“The covers are mostly to keep it hot,” Stern said as he closed the door and followed her to the table.
&
nbsp; Cyra sat and looked at him expectantly. “Where’s Pawly?”
“I was waiting to summon her. Otherwise, she would have wanted her fish before you got here.” Stern’s fingers twisted in the correct patterns and Pawly appeared beside him, already seated on the chair. “Dinner, Pawly, as I promised.”
He lifted the lid off the plate in front of Pawly, revealing half a fish sliced into easily manageable pieces for her. Pawly chuffed and snagged a bite.
“You should wait for us,” Cyra giggled.
Pawly just kept eating.
“She is who she is— a cat,” Stern snorted as he removed the lid for Cyra. “For you.”
The plate held half a chicken, a heap of steamed vegetables with an herb-butter sauce, and a slice of buttered bread. Next to that was an empty glass that Stern filled with wine.
“Goodness, it’s a lot of food,” Cyra said, her mouth starting to water.
“It’s a solid meal for a day of running,” Stern said as he took his own seat. “If you have room after, there’s dessert.”
Cyra looked at the smaller covered dish still on the table, then at her food. “I doubt I’ll be able to.”
“You can always choose to not finish the meal and have the dessert,” Stern chuckled. “I will if I start to get too full.”
Pawly chuffed as she snagged a second piece of fish.
Cyra giggled and picked up her fork. “We’ll see. I was curious if Pawly actually needs to eat?”
“Need? No. But I treat her as a friend, so I feed her like I would any other cat,” Stern replied. “It likely earns me enough goodwill that she doesn’t brat too much.”
Pawly chuffed, staring at him.
“I see,” Cyra grinned. “We leave tomorrow morning?” she asked, changing the topic.
“At sunrise. We’ll stop by the clothier to get your other clothes and mine and head right out. It’s three days walking to the next city, Darkstone. We’ll equip you there, then stay for a few months to train. Honestly, it’ll take a little while to get your armor made.”
“Like yours?” Cyra asked. “I’ve wanted to ask about it, but I didn’t want to be rude.”
“The coloration?”
Cyra nodded, as she had just taken another bite.
“It’s part of what my parents taught me,” Stern said. “The color blends well with vegetation and stone, and the pattern— or lack of it— is to help stop things from seeing me as easily.”
He began to explain the concept behind camouflage to her the way his parents had taught him. Cyra listened intently while enjoying her food.
“You’re planning on coloring your face, too?” Cyra asked, a little shocked when he finished.
“Have to. The head is an easily seen shape, otherwise. I have the pigments to do it. There isn’t a lot of point until we face intelligent monsters, though. Most animals use their other senses to help spot foes or prey, so coloring my face just hasn’t been useful yet.”
“I’ll do it, too,” Cyra said. “Maybe the others who join us will accept it, as well.”
“We’ll see,” Stern said. “I won’t expect them to until they see that it’s useful first.”
“I’m stuffed,” Cyra said as she looked at her empty plate.
“I’m pretty full, too, but...” Stern removed the lid from the dessert plate. “Maybe just one?”
Cyra looked at the food and bit her lip. “I love strawberries. I never knew people covered them in chocolate.”
“I had the innkeeper get them from another place in town,” Stern said. “I wanted something special for your dungeon clear, since we didn’t get the chance at Bloodstone. I got lucky that you like strawberries.”
Cyra swallowed as conflicting emotions tore her heart.
Stern swallowed just as hard. “Try one?” he managed to ask.
“Please?”
Pawly meowed.
Stern gave her a glare. “No chocolate for cats.”
Pawly let out a soft hiss.
“But she can’t get injured from it like a normal cat, can she?” Cyra asked as she surreptitiously wiped her cheeks.
“If I send her home right afterward, no,” Stern said, “but I thought she’d like to sleep here tonight. Well, Pawly? Dessert or bed?”
Pawly looked at the plate, then at Stern, then back to the plate before she sighed and got off the chair.
“She’s decided,” Stern said as he picked up one of the strawberries and held it out to Cyra. “For you. I’ll take care of the last two.”
Cyra accepted the plump strawberry. “Just bite into it?”
“It should be two or three bites, but yes.”
Taking her first bite, Cyra’s eyelashes fluttered and she let out a soft, happy sound. Stern grinned as he took a bite of his, happy that she liked his surprise.
Chapter Twenty-six
When they had finished breakfast the next morning, Stern gave Cyra a grin. “First, over to the Walkers’ hall. We’ll see what quests they have on the way to Darkstone. It’ll take a minimum of three days to reach the city, but with quests, it might stretch out longer.”
“That’s fine. We’ll be earning money, which we’ll need,” Cyra said.
“After the Walkers’, we need to pick up the rest of our clothing, and then it’s out the gate.”
Cyra stood up with a long stretch and smiled. “I’m ready. How about you, Pawly?”
Pawly chuffed and jumped down from her seat.
“Time to go,” Stern chuckled.
Leaving the inn behind, Stern realized he’d been in a good mood since the previous night. Cyra’s happiness at dinner had him smiling when she’d left, and his mood had stayed elevated.
Haven’t been happy for such a long stretch since leaving home, Stern thought. Cyra is making it easier for me to stay happy.
Even the surges of distrust, fear, and hatred from the few people out at sunrise slid off him easier. Cyra was all smiles as she walked beside him, eager to do a real quest.
The Walkers’ hall was quiet, as the sun had barely cleared the horizon. Stern ignored the other people in the room, going to check the board first. The quest board was laid out like all of them were— with the quests listed by their difficulty, making it easy for everyone to find the right quests for them.
“So many quests...” Cyra murmured as she looked down the wall.
“All the way up to prismatic scale or beyond,” Stern said. “These are the ones we’re looking for, though.”
Cyra stood beside him, reading the pages. She shook her head at the first few. They all required the Walker to gather or kill things and come back to this hall to turn them in.
“This is a simple delivery quest to Darkstone,” Cyra said.
“All of the cities have one,” Stern told her. “Dad always laughed at them because, if we take it, another one will be placed here in an hour.”
“Couldn’t we gather multiples of them, then?” Cyra said.
“Nope. Only one of each type of quest is allowed per person or crew. In theory, we could each grab one, but if we’re together when we turn them in, the reward would drop in value.”
“But why?”
“Dad said it was abusing mechanics. It took me a while to understand it.”
“Okay,” Cyra said slowly. She thought she could at least see the vague outline of the reason. “The delivery quest isn’t really necessary. It’s to help those of us who are newer more than anything, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. That’s what stops us from taking the quest thirty times and using a wagon to transport the goods. We’d get a ding in our reputation with the guild.”
“I see... and that would be bad for future quests.”
“You’re learning fast.”
“Thank you,” Cyra smiled.
“Just speaking the truth,” Stern said as her happiness washed over him. “There’s one for reducing the number of fledgling bunnicorns between here and Darkstone. We could do that... and here’s one for fur needed in Darkstone. We
can do both of these.”
“But?”
“It’ll be tougher than a dungeon, as anything can happen in the wilds. In the dungeons, we only see a few at a time, but it’s possible that we’ll hit a warren and have dozens to deal with.”
Dungeon Walkers 1 Page 21
