All Around the World

“I’m more concerned with finishing our task. I’m only agreeing to find them because we need to stick together,” Lucille replied, a translucent green gun appearing in her hands. “My core power revolves around creating weaponry out of my magic. I’ve got these capsules at my waist that have different things in them. With my eyes I can suppress certain types of magic, grant greater vision, and in short bursts, enhance my reflexes. I see you’ve got two guns, what’re your powers?”

Though John didn’t exactly trust her so far, he knew cooperating with her was the road to success. “I can channel magic through these guns for a variety of effects. They’re blessed, cursed, and soulbound to me. I can also attach spells to the bullets for a variety of effects. I can use mana to make the bullets denser, faster, and change their size. I’ve also got a hand to hand fighting style based around dodging attacks and disarming people. When I move fast enough, I leave afterimages behind that are indistinguishable from myself. I can dispel magic in bursts with sound, shoot magic projectiles, create magic ropes, craft things, steal things, create mana constructs, use telekinesis, teleport short distances, create mana dead zones, create barriers, and charm people,” John moved through his powerset, then remembered to add his gear in.

“My boots allow me a jump in the air, my duster is stronger than most metal armor and makes me near invisible in the shadows, my hat grants me Truesight or Truestrike six times per day, and I’ve got a ton of restorative potions,” John explained, handing her a vial with healing potion. “Oh, and I’ve got a pocket dimension I can put stuff into. Other than that, mostly stuff that’s unimportant for combat. I can also magically link us which will share the benefits of combat,” John finished, inviting her to a party. When opening his sheet, he noticed a new quest.

Life or **** - Third Bounty Hunter Test
Objective: Complete the third test and earn a place among the Rider-Waite guild.
Rewards: 1 Level, 3 Perk Points, 1 Style Point, 1 Skill Evolution Point
Optional Objective: Slay a minotaur
Optional Reward: Hidden Perk - Minoan Strength
Optional Objective: Protect the three dwarves on their way to the mine
Optional Reward: Hidden Perk - Dwarvish Greed
Optional Objective: Make peace between the Merfolk and the Sirens
Optional Reward: Hidden Perk - Waterbreathing OR Hidden Perk - Diplomatic Immunity
Optional Objective: Prevent the tribe of savage vampires from destroying Meul Village
Optional Reward: Hidden Perk - Symphony of the Night
Optional Objective: Eliminate another pair of applicants
Optional Reward: +1 Perk Point, Skill of Choice from the people defeated

Wow, so I get a bunch of good stuff regardless. Out of all of these, the dwarven one looks the least useful, so I don’t really want that one. The vampire one is mysterious, but could be good. The Merfolk gives me a choice, so it’s probably pretty good. Overall, I’d be best off with whatever the minotaur’s perk is, since I’m a physical build, John’s train of thought began, but was cut off by Lucille.

“What is this, a party invite like in Earthian games?” Lucille questioned, putting her hand on the invite window. She hit accept, though shot him a questioning look.

“It’s how I chose to stylize it, doesn’t mean anything,” John lied, unwilling to reveal the true nature of his powers to her.

“Well, you sure came prepared. Alone I could accomplish any of these pretty easily, with you it may be… slightly easier,” Lucille conceded, taking out her own slip of paper. “A minotaur would be in the middle of a labyrinth, a giant leafy maze. I suggest we cross off protecting the dwarves as a possibility we actively seek out, it’s the hardest to track. If we come across it, great, if we don’t, who cares. Merfolk are usually pretty level-headed, so that may be our easiest task. If we come across a large lake surrounded by a circle of sand that looks too neat, chances are a merfolk village resides within,” Lucille explained, taking out her phone and showing him a picturesque lake surrounded by a perfect circle of black sand.

“The vampire task will only be available at night, which by the position of the sun is at least eight hours away. That will be our last resort. I can track vampires pretty well by the biological deadzone they leave behind. It’ll be best to avoid stirring up trouble with other applicants, though if we’re attacked it’ll be a free victory,” the elf finished, putting her phone away. Checking his for its battery, John noticed that he had no signal. He also noted that her assessment of which tasks they should do lined up pretty well with the rewards he wanted.

Figures, he thought, putting his phone into his inventory. Suddenly, he felt the magnet sticker on his arm start pulling in the same direction as the sun, which was low in the sky. If Lucille was right about night being so far off... “Do Kingdoms have poles? Cardinal directions?”

“Some do, some don’t. Sensors suggest this one, at least, does. It seems to have a climate and celestial sphere similar to Earth. I’d guess we’re in K-66 right now,” Lucille explained, showing him her phone and the corresponding climate data. Unsurprisingly, as he wasn’t a meteorologist, he couldn’t understand most of it anyway.

“I’ll take your word for it,” John said, turning toward the direction the sticker was pulling in. “For now, we try to meet up with our friends, yeah?”

“Your friends,” Lucille quietly corrected, slipping her phone into her pocket. “I suppose that is an optimal use of our time, unless we come across signs of one of our tasks.”

“Great! Let’s head off,” John said, looking at the trees around them. Clearly, they were in some kind of forest. “So, I got used to jumping through trees to move around. The acrobatics of it makes it faster than just running. Can you handle it?”

“An astute observation, I’m sure I’ll pick it up quickly,” Lucille replied, jumping into the air and kicking off a nearby tree to land in another. These were taller than the ones in Springfield, they had to be at least 200 feet to the top. Luckily, the branches closer to the bottom were stable too. Still, John had to use his double jump to make it to a stable branch, grabbing onto it and flipping himself on top of it.

Say, it’s been nearly twenty-four hours since I last used Foreboding, shouldn’t something have happened by now? John thought as he and Lucille leapt through the trees, which showed no signs of clearing. The forest teemed with life, and John nearly crushed a squirrel underfoot leaping from one branch to another. Fortunately for both parties involved, it scampered out of the way just in time.

The going was quiet for the first half hour, and John wondered to himself just how big the forest was. A couple of times he had attempted to make small talk with Lucille, who remained quiet each time. The elf had quickly grown accustomed to moving through the trees. John had no idea if she was faster than him and keeping pace or slower and barely keeping up. When they passed a small stream, Lucille jumped down, and John did the same, following her.

“Drink water with me, and make conversation. Be casual about it,” Lucille ordered, leaning down and taking water in her hands.

“Odd that we haven’t come across any hostile creatures yet,” Lucille said aloud between sips of water, then continued in a whisper, “We’ve been followed for the last eight minutes by two men. They disguise themselves with bubbles that refract light.”

“Well, it’s a big place,” John replied, taking two empty vials from potions he had drunk and filling them up with water before taking a drink himself. It was pure, cold, and tasted good. He had been looking for water anyway. “We have plenty of time, we only need to complete one of our tasks,” he thought aloud, then continued quietly, “What’s the plan?”

“We should keep moving, split up and try to find something. Meet back here in an hour,” Lucille said, standing back up straight, adding in quietly, “If I notice that both of them follow you or me, I’ll send a flare in the air as a warning. If only one follows each of us, we’ll fight. I think we can take them on.”

“Sounds good to me,” John replied, slipping the vials of water into his inventory and turning to the right. “I’ll take downstream, you go upstream?”

Simply nodding, they headed their separate ways. After a few minutes of travel with no flares up in the air, John assumed that the first part of the plan was a success. At the end of the thought, as if on cue, Discordance rang in his head.