Drake Hide Piece with Scale
Currently worth 5,000 XP
Would you like to sell this item?
Alvin whistled softly and glanced at Becky. “That is going to be one hell of a haul for the Settlement. Maybe we should contact Ohm and see if he wants to make a deal.”
“For the one at the refinery?” Becky asked. “Why not go back and loot what we can ourselves?”
“Remember the drake between us and Ely?” Alvin asked her as he accepted the XP. “That’s kind of why. It’ll be worse now than it was the first time.”
“Fair point,” Becky mused. “So we’re going to ask him if he wants to go for a split?”
“Pretty much. I’ll start at half and work my way down to twenty percent,” Alvin said as he glanced at the two trucks pulling up to the kiosk. “Might as well let them sell it all and then give us ours after.”
“You already sold it?” Han asked as he got out.
“Yeah, it was worth five thousand XP,” Alvin said. “Take it out of our cut.”
Shawn frowned. “Do you always just do what you want?”
Alvin shook his head. “I wanted to see what the hide would be worth. It shouldn’t be an issue.”
“It just makes you seem like your own party, and not part of the Settlement,” Shawn said.
“We are,” Alvin said simply. “I’m not going to be staying around after the trip, either. We can get the XP from you after dinner, that work?”
Shawn shook his head. “If that’s the way you want it.”
“It's easier that way,” Alvin said as the others began to pull pieces of hide from the trucks. “We’ll try to stop in, but we won’t be staying at any one Settlement. We’ll be on the road, looking for new and interesting things to kill.”
“Not my kind of life,” Shawn said. His eyes went to the kiosk and his jaw dropped open as he looked behind them.
Looking behind them, Alvin and Becky also felt the same shock as they watched one of the bigger pieces of hide, measuring a good eight feet, sliding easily into the square foot area under the kiosk.
“I guess it’s an extradimensional space,” Shawn muttered. Shaking his head, he focused back on Alvin. “I’ll have the XP ready to trade to you after dinner. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“See about getting some other weapons and upgrading them,” Alvin said. “The ant nest made it clear that we need some backups for what we have, as they might degrade faster than I really want.”
“If you want guns, we have a number of them that we can sell for XP,” Shawn offered.
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Alvin said. “We’ll see you after dinner, if not at dinner.”
Becky’s smile grew wider at his words. “Probably after.”
“Err…” Alvin paused as he recalled Jarvis’ earlier words. “Actually, Gothy, I can only summon the room once a day. Might be better to hold onto that until after dinner.”
Becky’s eyes widened. “Oh, right. Fuck.”
“Not until after dinner, it seems,” Alvin deadpanned. He looked over at Shawn, who was staring at them. “About those guns—can we see them?”
“That can be arranged,” Shawn said. “Han, take care of the loot while I take them to the armory.”
Alvin and Becky followed as Shawn led them to a smaller building set behind the house. The sound of machinery at work drifted from the open door. Inside, various machines lined the walls, including a reloading press, where Wynn was working.
“Taking them into the armory, anything else you need while I’m there?” Shawn asked his father.
“Pull out my M1,” Wynn said. “I want to see about adding some of the common runes to it.”
“Will do,” Shawn said, leading them to a vault door set against a wall. Blocking the keypad with his body he tapped in a quick code, each button beeping in succession, before the door unlocked with an audible clunk. “Follow me,” Shawn said as he hauled the heavy metal door open.
There was a good selection of guns, though not as many as Wild Bill had. Alvin took a quick tour, noting that each gun was already tagged with its quality. Making a mental note to ask Jarvis about that later, he stopped in front of a submachine gun that looked familiar.
“The Heckler and Koch UMP,” Shawn said from nearby. “Dad wanted to up the caliber to .45 instead of the .40 it uses now, but he hasn’t done it. He’s run quite a few rounds through it, though, so I know it’s a good gun.”
“I was just thinking that putting a suppressor on the end of that, and maybe a couple of other accessories, would make it a damned fine gun,” Alvin said.
“Want to have one in case you need to go quiet?” Shawn asked, trying to get a feel for what Alvin was looking for.
“It was a thought, as well as another rifle to make sure I have a decent backup if we’re away longer than can be helped,” Alvin replied.
“Hero,” Becky said from the other side of the room, “how about the Tommy over here?”
“Kicks like a mule,” he called back. “Unless we up our strength, I wouldn’t want to use it as an everyday.”
“We can probably do that tonight,” Becky pointed out.
“Fair enough, make a note of it,” Alvin said as he turned his attention back to the UMP. “I like the idea of this one as my quiet gun, but will your dad sell it?”
“I’ll ask him,” Shawn said. “Just let me know which ones you want. Most of these are my family’s stuff, but a couple dozen are things we’ve looted.”
“Well the UMP is on that list, might as well add the Tommy also. Do you have any rifles that are scoped for range and can have a suppressor added to them?”
Shawn grinned and walked over to one of the other walls. “These five are what you’re asking for, but two of them are .22 calibers and won’t be worthwhile for what you want. The fifth one isn’t going to be sold; Han won’t get rid of his .50. The other two, though, are possibilities. One is mine and the other is Han’s, both Remington model 700s. They’ve got scopes good for three hundred yards, and they use the Winchester .308, so they have plenty of punch.”
“Add one of them to the list of things I’m interested in,” Alvin said as Becky came over to them. “Anything else catch your eye?” he asked her.
“We’re going to have to go back to wearing the pistols,” Becky said, pointing at the far wall. “I’d want one to match you for the less noisy subguns, so I can have a spray and pray gun too.”
She walked over to the MP5 she’d pointed out and grinned, “This one, please.”
Shawn nodded. “That one is dad’s. He got it from a friend who was in the Navy when they got them, so it’s not a legal weapon—not that the cops will care anymore. It’s the Navy edition of the MP5 that was issued in 1986. Dad even has the stainless steel suppressor for it, as well as a thirty round magazine. You can see the vertical foregrip he added to help mom handle it easier, along with the flashlight on the left side where it’s easy to trigger with your forefinger, and the reflex sight.” Pausing the quasi-sales pitch, he glanced at Alvin. “We don’t have suppressors for the others, though.”
“I’d bet they’re in the store,” Alvin said. “So, two subs aiming for silent, a scoped rifle, which will also need a suppressor, and a Tommy.”
“I’ll talk with dad and we’ll hash out the XP for selling them to you guys,” Shawn said as he grabbed Wynn’s M1.
“Works,” Alvin said as they headed for the door. “I think I’m going to check in with Green River and Ely. We’ll catch up in a few hours for dinner.”
“Okay,” Shawn said as he locked the vault door behind them.
Chapter Six
Getting into the Mustang, Alvin let out a deep breath. “Talk to me, Jarvis. Skip the breakdown, just give me the total, and then I have some questions for you.”
“Very well, sir.” Jarvis coughed politely before continuing, “With the ants, queen, hide, and the ten percent from both miss and Shawn, your total is thirty thousand, two hundred XP.�
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Alvin blinked at the total. “That seems like a bit much.”
“The queen was worth five thousand XP by herself,” Jarvis informed him. “You killed roughly one hundred sixty ants in your attack.”
“We didn’t kill—” Alvin began before Becky laughed.
“Did the cave-in kill any ants, and were they added to the total, Jarvis?” Becky asked.
“Indeed, miss, the explosion killed the queen and the resulting cave-in killed most of the rest of the ants.”
“What’s my total?” Becky asked.
“Currently it is twenty-one thousand XP,” Jarvis said. “I would point out, miss, that you no longer receive a discount when buying things. That means your logic, that extra lives cost you less, is incorrect.”
“A very good point,” Alvin said, staring at Becky. “Time to retire that argument, Gothy.”
Glaring at the dash like she wanted to set it on fire, Becky nodded once. “Fine, but no more stupid heroics…” Sighing, she looked at him and her eyes went soft. “I know I call you Hero, but be selfish. For me, okay?”
Stroking her hair once, he smiled as his fingers tangled in it and used it to pull her to him. “I’ll do what I have to, but I’ll always do my best to be safe.” Not giving her time to reply, he kissed her.
Becky purred and leaned into the kiss, her jacket vanishing. Her hands came up and clutched his shirt as he pulled back a fraction, breaking the kiss. “Hero…”
“Tonight, not before,” Alvin told her evenly, though his eyes were alight with his own desire. “I’ll let you play with yourself while I chat with Jarvis, but you aren’t allowed to cum, and you can’t let anyone outside the car guess what you’re doing. Understand, Gothy?”
Panting, Becky let go of his shirt as her pants vanished and her left hand slipped between her legs, “Anything you say, Hero.” Leaning her head back, knowing he was watching her, Becky let her hand begin to caress her folds. The idea that she was being watched by his viewers, and also the idea of trying to hide it from those outside the car, was making her even more wet. “Can I cum just once, please?”
A wicked smile came to his lips. “If no one notices what you're doing, then when I’m done, I’ll give you release.”
“Thank you, Hero,” Becky murmured as her fingers began to walk into just the right spots to get her going.
Tearing his eyes away from his lover, Alvin looked out the windows, keeping an eye on anyone who came nearby. “Jarvis, talk to me about what I can buy to upgrade the guns I hope to have later tonight.”
“Very well, sir. There are a number of runes for guns. I will point out that your current guns are very much nonstandard. Each rank of quality gives the weapon two rune slots, so there are trade-offs to be made. One of the things the developers wanted was to make people choose what they really wanted in the weapon.”
“Once a rune is slotted into a piece of gear, can it be removed?”
“Not at this time,” Jarvis replied.
“Oh, Hero, I’m such a dirty, needy slut,” Becky moaned softly as her hand began moving a bit faster.
Pausing as he tried to ignore the temptress beside him, Alvin coughed and shifted position slightly. “Can you list all of the currently available base runes for guns?”
“Let’s start with the Armor Buster and Bloody runes. The base runes increase armor penetration or damage by a third. Good quality increases the bonus to sixty-six percent, excellent to one hundred percent, master to two hundred, and flawless to three hundred. The runes on your current weapons are excellent quality.”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I asked, Jarvis,” Alvin said as a throaty moan came from beside him. “Please just tell me the basic runes and what they do, not what each increase does.”
“Of course,” Jarvis replied, a hint of humor in his voice. “The silence rune can be applied to a weapon, deadening the sound it makes by twenty percent.”
“If a gun has a suppressor and a silence rune, do they both deaden sound?” Alvin asked.
“Yes, sir,” Jarvis said, “which means that a completely silent gun is entirely possible.”
“Holy fuck,” Alvin said as he considered the Type-56 rifle with a maxed out rune of silence. “That might need to be looked at again.”
“They don’t believe anyone will find a Flawless rune for quite some time yet,” Jarvis said. “They only come from sufficiently powerful mini-bosses and legendary creatures.”
“Let’s get back to runes,” Alvin said as a deeper, more guttural moan came from beside him.
“Reloading runes would be next on the list, sir. This is where your weapons are truly different. The base rune will reload a weapon after ten seconds, with that time reduced by each step up the quality ladder.”
“It doesn’t matter what kind of gun?” Alvin asked, thinking of the defensive guns on the walls of Green River.
“The type of gun doesn’t enter into it at all,” Jarvis said. “It would take the same time to reload a heavy machine gun as it would a pistol.”
“That’s good and bad,” Alvin muttered.
“Indeed,” Jarvis agreed, “but there are no plans to change it currently.”
“Wait and see, I guess. It is a game, after all, so changes are going to happen.”
“Please, Hero, please… let me cum,” Becky panted from beside him as her hips rolled in a circle while her fingers vigorously stroked her sex.
Becky’s scent was beginning to fill the car, making it harder for Alvin to concentrate. “Be quieter, Gothy.” Glancing past her, Alvin saw Han waving at them. He waved back with a smirk on his lips. “Maybe I should call someone over…”
“No… please… no,” Becky gasped softly as her hand movement increased. “I want to cum.”
“Okay, then keep it down,” Alvin said, sharply slapping her thigh and earning him a another moan of pleasure.
“Jarvis, are we almost done?” Alvin asked.
“There are the material runes,” Jarvis said. “Silver, Holy, and Steel are currently available. They are only available as common, but completely negate damage reduction against creatures, such as Fey, that have such protections. Without the proper rune, you would essentially be hitting such creatures with a Nerf gun.”
“Fun,” Alvin muttered, as he now had to consider how to make sure they had all their bases covered.
“They can be stacked, sir, so you can have a Steel, Silver, and Holy gun.”
“That seems broken,” Alvin said.
“Not as broken as having an Armor Buster and Bloody weapon, which is also possible,” Jarvis replied.
“Wow, okay then, not mutually exclusive. Got it.”
“Wounding, would be next sir. It adds ten percent of the damage done as a debuff that ticks every two seconds for ten seconds. Follow that with Durability, which adds twenty-five percent durability as a common rune.”
“Wow, that could really keep a weapon around for a while, then.”
“Indeed, sir,” Jarvis said. “The last two are Recoil and Weight; each reduces the associated attribute by ten percent per rune quality.”
“Weight reduction? Really?” Alvin said.
“Consider a mini-gun that weighs half as much, sir. That would make it easier for someone of lesser strength to use it.”
“But if it weighs less, the recoil would be even worse,” Alvin said.
A dry chuckle came from Jarvis, “Well spotted, sir.”
“Okay, so there are a number of choices to pick from,” Alvin said, considering what he might want to upgrade the newer guns with.
“You can also stack runes, sir, currently none are exclusive.”
“I can have four Durability runes on a weapon?” Alvin asked.
“If that is what you choose to do, yes,” Jarvis replied.
“Interesting. So the higher quality runes are good because they take up less space and let you use a better variety of them.”
“That is correct, sir.”
“Hero
…” the sheer pleading tone in Becky’s voice made him look at her. Covered in a faint sheen of sweat, her hand had not slowed, “Please.”
Leaning over, he nipped her ear, hard. “Cum.”
With a shuddering gasp, Becky came. Her hips bucked hard against her hand, physically rocking the car in place as a deep moan of pleasure came from her. A pool of liquid formed under her as she slowly calmed back down, a languid smile on her lips. “Thank you, Hero.”
“Now get yourself together again,” Alvin told her as he kissed her ear.
Gearing Up Page 5
