Big Trouble

by Andrew Seiple

  Silent Activation

  Cost: 10 MoxDuration: 1 Skill activation

  Grifters are the masters of subtlety! As such they can silently activate any skill they have, by taking an action and spending ten moxie before activating the skill in question. They still have to move their lips, though... Anyone looking at the Grifter’s face has a chance to spot this lip movement.

  “So that’s why he was always rubbing his mouth!” Chase burst out.

  “Who? What?” Renny asked.

  “Thomasi! He was using a Grifter trick to cover up the skills he was using.” Chase grinned. “The good news is that he’s back in the running as the guildmaster.”

  “Now you’ve lost me.”

  “It’s godly stuff. Kind of. And Thomasi can’t help us right now, even if he’d want to.” She rubbed her eyes. “Anyway we’re on our own. And I’ve got the beginnings of a plan. About twenty percent worth anyway.”

  “That’s more than I’ve got,” said Renny. “How can I help?”

  Chase opened her uniform jacket. “Climb on in this coat and cut yourself a little hole so you can see. You said you’re good with illusions and senses?”

  “Yes. I can heighten and dull senses and make illusions.”

  “Okay. If I point to someone and click my tongue, dull their senses. And if we run away, use illusions to make a couple of us running in different directions. Can you do that?”

  “Yes. Yes, I think I see how I could do that. The illusions, I mean. Dulling senses is easy.”

  “Right. Good. Now we’re going to go wander around the prison, and hopefully we won’t die.”

  “Is that the other eighty percent of the plan?”

  “It’s more like sixty percent,” Chase said, as she approached the barricade and started searching among the bodies. “Then there’s the ten percent where we save my father and the townsfolk, and the ten percent where we get your friends back.”

  “I like that part of the plan,” Renny said, watching her pick through the debris around the barricade. “What are you doing?”

  “Well... you know how I said that if this came down to a fight we’d lose? I still think that’s the case. However, since I’m an Archer now, apparently part of that includes being decent with crossbows.” Chase hauled up a small crossbow and quiver and started picking up scattered bolts. “A fight? No, I’d get munched. But if it comes down to shooting that evil Speranza witch in the back of the head, that might be doable.”

  “Can you do that?” Renny asked, seriously. “Killing is hard, for most of the living people I’ve known. For the ones who never had to do it before, I mean.”

  “You and your friends managed fine,” she said, squinting at him. “Was it hard for you?”

  “No. Not really. We went through training on how to fight and how to kill,” Renny said. “It’s different for golems, too. We don’t have the brain chemicals you do, the adrenaline and stuff that makes you feel bad when you have to fight or run. I mean, I don’t like killing... except maybe bunnies, and chickens, and things like that, but that’s the fox job bleeding over into my mind. But anyway, if I have to kill, I will. If I don’t, I won’t. There’s no point in feeling guilty over it, I just have to make sure it’s what I need to do and err on the side of not murdering things.”

  Chase looked down at the crossbow and started fitting a bolt to it. She’d never used a crossbow in her life before, but now all of a sudden, her hands knew the trick of loading it and working the crank to pull the string back. The benefits of the job, she knew. “I killed a rabbit once myself,” she said. “Dad took me hunting and told me to throw a hurler stone at it. It died, and the words told me I’d unlocked the Archer job. That was six years ago. I cried for almost two days.”

  “Do you think it will be easier now?” Renny said. “I’ve only known you for a short time, but I’d feel bad if you cried a lot.”

  Chase spared him a glance. He looked worried about the possibility, and she chuckled, trying to be reassuring. “Probably not. I mean... I’ll feel bad. And it won’t be easy if I have to, you know, do it. But I can fall to pieces later, because going to pieces now won’t do any good. We’ve got what, a few hours to nightfall? There’s no way that creepy Vaffanculo won’t attack once night hits, so we’ve got that much time to get Dad back and save Bothernot. Tomorrow, when this is all done, I can cry.”

  If we’re still alive then, she added mentally. Then she shoved the thought from her mind. They’d win or it’d be a moot point, no sense dwelling on it.

  Chase looked up to find Renny considering her, his little fur brow wrinkled in heavy thought.

  “What?” She asked.

  “Can I trust you with a big secret?” Renny said, moving in closer, looking around the empty halls.

  “You already have. What’s one more?”

  He nodded, and some of the wrinkled disappeared. “We have a way around death, so if you have to kill my friends, I will forgive you.”

  “Wait... say that again?” Chase felt her eyes getting bigger and bigger. “Like that... respawn thing, that Dijornos was talking about? You can do that, too?”

  “No! No. It’s... more complicated. My friends and I all have special soulstones on us... or in us, in my case.” he nudged his belly. “If we die our souls go into the stone. And if I can get those stones back home, then my friends can get put into golem bodies.”

  “I don’t even know what to think about that,” Chase said, still staring. This day had been full of surprises. This wasn’t the biggest of them, but it was still disturbing enough all by itself. Then common sense caught up to her, and she considered some of the unspoken points of the arrangement. “What happens if your friends die and their soulstones don’t get back home?”

  “Then they spend a very long time trapped in the soulstones, unable to do anything. Or they get used by a necromancer to animate an undead, or something horrible like that.” Renny looked down. “It’s not a perfect solution. But it’s what we’ve got. And it’s not so bad, being in a golem body. People like that are called ‘Doll Haunters’ in Cylvania. They’re undead, sort of, but not the bad kind.”

  “Well. Hopefully it won’t come to that,” she said, patting the crossbow on the stock. “Ready?”

  “Yes,” Renny said, scrambling into her jacket. Chase gritted her teeth against the ticklish fur as he got settled, and moved down the hallway. Renny ripped a small eyehole in the cloth as she went.

  The main room of the prison hadn’t changed since they’d last been there, the two bodies sprawled in dried blood puddles, the smell of their death filling the clammy, moist air.

  The metal door didn’t open when she tried it. “I think it’s locked,” she whispered down to Renny.

  “It wasn’t when we were here last. Which is why we spiked it. But the spikes are gone. You can see the holes where they were.”

  Chase ran her fingers over them, finding gouges in the stone. “I think they were dug out. But we can’t go this way. So that leaves...” she shifted, looked around at the remaining doors. Wooden, not metal. “Did you go through those?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. So...” she glanced between them, and remembered the Jinkies books and how the itinerant bard had dealt with dangerous doorways. “What are the odds that these are trapped?”

  “Pretty high, I think.” Renny asked, “Can your Oracle skills help with this?”

  “They could. But the one I’d need to use is expensive. It costs ten fortune a use, and I’ve only got enough for twelve uses, or so.”

  “Wait. HOW many uses?” Renny whipped his head around to look at her.

  “Halvens are lucky. We get great fortune.” Chase shrugged.

  “And what level Oracle are you again?”

  “Two.”

  “Chase, you know how this works, right?”

  “Oracle-ing? Not very well. I just got the job today.”

  “No, I mean jobs in general. How do you level up in them?”

 
“By doing things related to them... using the skills that they come with... oh. You think I should use foresight a lot and try to get to higher levels quickly?”

  “Well yes, but also, every time you level up, it will refill your fortune pool. And everything else except for hit points.”

  Chase rubbed her forehead where the cap met her scalp. It itched a bit, and it hid her embarrassment. “Oh. Yeah. Right. Sorry, it’s been a long day. That completely slipped my mind.”

  “No, it’s okay. You’re new to adventuring. When you’re in over your head, you shouldn’t hold back. Not at the lower levels, anyway. Once you start getting higher up, though, acting that way gets a whole lot riskier and you have to figure out if it’s worth the risk. That’s when grouping up with a bunch of good friends helps.” Renny offered a small smile, the first she’d seen on him. Gods, he was adorable.

  “Thanks,” Renny said.

  “What?”

  “Never mind. So... maybe check the doors, please?”

  Two uses of Foresight and two skill ups later, Chase found that the doors were quite untrapped. They both led to dimly-lit halls branching off in two different directions, so with nothing to do but trust to luck, Chase and Renny headed down the left-most corridor. She took it slow and quiet, trying to be stealthy...

  ...caution that paid off, as words flashed into view, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

  AGL+1

  Your Stealth skill is now level 12!

  The corridor turned sharply ahead, and Chase swallowed, waiting for a tense moment.

  Someone coughed, not ten feet away. Just around the turn, by the sound of it. Then footsteps smacked stone, heading away.

  Chase weighed her options and decided to play it cautiously. She opened her mouth to activate her foresight again but paused. Even if she whispered it, the person might hear something.

  Fortunately, she had a skill for this now, thanks to her Grifter job. A powerful one.

  Chase mouthed the words ’silent activation – foresight’, and was greeted by the expected message;

  Your Silent Activation skill is now level 2!

  She felt a little less sure of herself as she did so, and knew that was the price of silent activation. It leached your moxie away, a hefty chunk every time the skill saw use.

  But it was worth it. She watched her ghostly form creep to the corner and peer around for a few seconds. Then ghost Chase moved back to safety and presented a thumbs up.

  Chase followed suit when time renewed.

  Your Foresight skill is now level 7!

  But even though she gave past Chase a thumbs up, what she saw from peeking around the corner was worrisome. Not one but two guards, halven-sized, but oddly thin and drawn. Shrunken humans, like her father had described? It seemed quite possible. One was standing in front of an open doorway and the other had his back to her, walking away down the hall. She peered back around and studied him, figuring out the best approach. If they only had one to get past, that wouldn’t be too bad. She could work something out with Renny, maybe an illusion or some very dulled senses and a bit of luck...

  But as it turned out, she never got the chance. As he got to a T-junction in the corridor, the walking guard wheeled around and started coming back. Then his cap shuddered up, and his eyes glittered as Chase realized that he was looking her way.

  “Hey,” he called and hastened forward.

  Chase muttered to herself, fast and acting on instinct, remembering the skill descriptions from her Grifter job. “Master of Disguise, Silver Tongue!”

  The guard by the door glanced up at the noise, orienting on her, but she stepped into the corridor and walked up like she owned the place. The walking guard slowed, studying her.

  And to her great relief, new words appeared.

  Your Master of Disguise skill is now level 2!

  Your Master of Disguise skill is now level 3!

  “Ah,” the nearest guard smiled and relaxed. The errant patroller stopped and leaned against a wall, adjusting his sword belt with his free hand. Up close, their faces were thin and wasted, no real fat to it. It was as if something had hollowed them out.

  “Are you here to relieve us then?” The patroller asked.

  “Yes. Is there anything I should know?”

  Your Silver Tongue skill is now level 2!

  “No. Nothing to report.”

  The door guard nodded, and beckoned to the patroller. The two of them moved past Chase, and for a second she felt her heart lift in her chest. Is it truly going to be this easy?

  As if her thoughts had tempted fate, the one in back slowed, then glanced back at her. “Where’s your partner? No one moves alone, she made that very clear.”

  “Oh, he’s checking in on Dijornos. He’ll be along soon.”

  She was half expecting another skill up, and the fact no words appeared were a bad, bad sign. She knew she’d said the wrong thing, even as the guard’s eyes narrowed. “Who?” he said, sliding his hand down to the hilt of his sword.

  The words of the monstrous man came back to her. They called him something. They called him... “Il Macellaio,” she said, trying to sound calm. “He’ll be along once he’s done checking on the Butcher.”

  Your Silver Tongue skill is now level 3!

  The guard’s eyes un-narrowed. He adjusted his jacket, instead of drawing his sword. “That’s fine then. There’s food in the hopper if you’re hungry. Hope you like peanuts.”

  His friend laughed, but Chase didn’t dare ask a question. That had been a close call, so she confined herself to a simple wave. Then they were gone, and new words filled her view.

  You are now a level 2 Grifter!

  CHA+3

  DEX+3

  LUCK+3

  Chase gave them a minute, before she opened her jacket and glanced down to Renny. “That was too close for my nerves.”

  “Want me to go watch around the corner?”

  “No.” She moved up to the door they were guarding and examined it. A plaque outside the door had simple words on it;

  CAMERA DI CONFISCA

  “Confiscation room?” Chase murmured. She reached for the door... then stopped. The guard had been leaning on the uncomfy stone wall, not on the door.

  “Foresight,” Chase announced and watched ghostly Chase put her hand on the doorknob and turn... and a horn blared. Ghostly Chase jumped back, glancing around, and backing up against the wall, and from the passageway ahead a ghostly guard rounded the corner and approached, sword out...

  Time resumed, and Chase pulled her hand back from the door. Well back from it, and then she put her butt against the opposite wall, for good measure, and damn the consequences. The band in her chest tightened...

  ...and ebbed. She’d ridden the dissonance out. This time, at least.

  Your Foresight skill is now level 8!

  “What’s wrong?” Renny asked.

  “I just found out two things. The first one is that there’s a guard around the corner, about eight seconds away at a run, give or take. The next is that there’s something important inside that room. I don’t know what, but we’ll have to come back here later. After we find out how to turn off the alarm.”

  Renny nodded and snuggled back down into her jacket. “One guard?”

  “Only one that I saw.”

  “Let’s give sneaking a try. I haven’t used Dull Senses in a while, I think I can grind some levels, here...”

  CHAPTER 11: CACHES AND CLUES

  You are now a level 3 Oracle!

  CHA+3

  LUCK+3

  WIS+3

  Chase shuddered as she felt her energy refill once more. It had taken quite a lot of foresight to get to this point... literally. Her skill in that was at a sturdy ten now, though it had taken six castings to reach that point from level nine. Renny had explained that was just how skills worked... the higher level they got, the more you had to use them to raise them. Unless you were up against something very deadly.

  Chase had no de
sire to go up against something very deadly. Or even moderately deadly, or just sort-of-deadly. It was rapidly nearing dinner time, she was sure, but she hadn’t eaten a thing since that last half a roll. In fact, thanks to leveling so quickly, she didn’t feel the need to eat food to replenish herself.

  Which in itself was disturbing to the halven girl. She’d been raised to respect mealtimes, and the thought of so cavalierly disregarding them was somehow almost as bad as the guards who would try to kill her in a heartbeat if she failed to properly sneak around them, or if her disguise proved insufficient.

  “We’re having an adventure,” she whispered to herself, for about the fifth time. “This is what you wanted.”

  “What was that?” Renny asked, poking his head out of her jacket.

  Chase shot a look back down the hallway. They were well past the last barricade, and the single guard who’d been manning it. Fortunately the bars had been wide enough for a halven to squirm through... after Renny had dulled the guard’s senses to make sure he wouldn’t hear her moving behind him.

  She thought he was far enough away to reply safely. “Nothing,” Chase told Renny. “Have you leveled up yet?”

  “No. Once you hit level six or so it starts taking a while. Unless you’re in way over your head, and we aren’t yet.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, really. This whole day’s been over my head.” She stopped and glared Renny’s way. “Don’t laugh at the height joke.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because I’m a halven. And humans like joking about our heights.”

  “I’m not human. And I never met any halvens before.”

  Chase glanced ahead. A flight of stairs, descending into the mountain. Deep, but well-lit, and no one guarding them that she could see. It would probably take a lot of foresight to clear them for traps, and she wasn’t looking forward to that. “Are there no halvens where you come from? That silly-vania place?”