Level 0

“That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard,” Sam snorted at him. “What are you trying to pull? Is this just some crackpot way of shifting blame onto ME?! ”

“Sam, please, I know everything that’s happened this morning has been confronting, but if you give me a moment, I can explain.”

“Explain what? How I caused my friend to fall into a coma? Fuck off, I’m not a vampire, shheee?” Sam replied emphatically as she hooked a finger under her lip and pulled back to show a regular pair of human canines.

“Right, but-”

“Oh, that’s not enough proof for you!?” Sam exploded, storming over to the curtains and jerking them open. The raven-haired girl stood with arms spread dramatically as the morning sunlight poured over her. No erupting in flames or skin turning to dust.

“You can stop that now,” John exhaled, waving her away from the window. They’d hardly made any progress and he was getting sick to **** of all the shouting. “Look, I have no doubt you have human in you. I’m not exactly clear on how Abyssal vampires work, but it’s clear you haven’t been affected by sunlight in your life. And I’m not trying to blame you, Sam. Clearly shit got out of control last night and that’s definitely on me, but I think you might be involved too. I know that you’ve lived your whole life suspecting there’s something more to you and the world around you, and I think that something is maturing within you now. All I want right now is to figure out what you are and whether it really is connected to Emelia’s condition, so please, can we all just stay calm?” John layered his words with all the charisma he could muster in an attempt to calm the explosive girl.

Sam glowered at him for several, painfully long seconds. “Fine,” she eventually sighed, moving away from the window to lean against a vacant space of wall.

100/100 Persuasion Checks Succeeded

Skill Parameters Met - Passive Skill Unlocked:
Persuasion
Your words are naturally honeyed with magical power, making you more persuasive to those with a disposition of equal to or greater than -25 Reputation Points.

John made a note of his newly acquired skill before closing the window. It was, of course, fantastic to have, but he neither had the time nor energy to be enthusiastic about it right now.

“You are certain she has vampiric blood?” Moira questioned; her tone suggested Sam was one misstep away from becoming paste on the wall.

Sam’s eyes narrowed in Moira’s direction. “Last I checked I haven’t shat in your bed, so maybe reign in the sour look, Brighton?”

Moira’s gaze was unflinching as she replied, “Vampires are evil by nature. They prey on the weak and make sport of the righteous-”

“Moira, please,” John sure had found himself sighing a lot today. “Sam’s a victim here too. You can’t possibly believe she’s a bad person.”

Her features softened slightly, but her eyes remained locked on Sam. “I am unsure,” the Warden admitted. “But if my time with you has taught me anything, it’s that people deserve a chance to prove themselves… I suppose so long as she doesn’t step out of line I am willing to keep the hammer away and my family out of this.”

“Thank you,” John replied with great relief.

“Hey, I’m not even sure I believe this crackpot idea that I’m somehow not human. Why’s it only affecting me now?” Sam questioned.

“Well, could be a few things,” Red chimed in, trying to keep her tone pleasant to wind down the escalating tension in the room. “For wargs, we’re basically human until we hit puberty, then things get a little messy. Could be that whatever Abyssal genes inside you are only fully maturing now.”

“That or you’ve been exposed to something that activated those dormant genes,” John suggested.

There was a slight pause before Red let out a chuckle. “How about bucketloads of your magic spunk, darling?”

“That would be absurd,” John brushed the notion aside easily, sure Red was just making light of him.

“Uhm, actually…” Moira’s stern demeanour cracked as a blush appeared on her cheeks. “It is well documented that the, uhm… s-sexual fluids of powerful entities and individuals are infused with traces of mana. A large intake of such… matter could potentially activate dormant genes and…” she glanced around the room once again, her voice trailing off as she found herself too embarrassed to finish her sentence.

“Hmm, true, John didn’t seem to be lacking in supply last night,” Red hummed.

John just facepalmed. “What is this? A trashy Japanese porn game? Actually, forget it, we’re getting sidetracked again. The issue at hand is whether we can prove Sam did anything,” he said as he turned towards Sam again.

“Hey, don’t look at me, buddy,” Sam shot back. “I’m not totally convinced you three aren’t just jerking me around, so I have no fucking clue how it’s supposed to work.”

“So what has your Observe said, darling?” Red questioned.

“Well…” John began as he reopened it.

“... it’s confirming that Sam’s a ‘Dhampir’. That’s a half vampire right?” John recalled coming across the term playing through the Castlevania games. “Hey, that would make you like Alucard.”

“Who?”

“The son of Dracula, one of the protagonists of a game series called Castlevania,” John explained.

“...Right, well, I somehow doubt Dracula’s my daddy,” Sam replied. “But I’ll admit I just live with my mom and step-father, so I’ve never actually met my dear old dad. Mom doesn’t talk about him much either… makes you wonder, huh?”

“If you’d like, we can look into that later,” John replied. “For now we’ve got a more pressing mystery to solve.” John was ready to close the window before he stopped abruptly, his eyes taking note of Sam’s level. “Huh…” he mumbled to himself, as he went to the Compendium tab of his own Game Menu and looked up his previous observation of Sam from the night before.

“That… is strange,” he said as he compared the two Observe windows.

“Care to share your findings, darling?” Red voiced.

“Yeah… uh, Sam’s a lower level than she was last night,” John replied, his brow furrowed in wonder. “Which is strange. You’d think, if anything, she’d be a higher level than before… but she’s lost a point in all her stats save for Charisma and Libido, the latter of which seems to have gained the lost five.”

“I don’t follow, what are you talking about?” Sam questioned, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“John can find out information about people as if they were a video game character,” Red explained.

“Really?” Sam’s eyes widened. “That’s pretty cool actually.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a nerd,” John responded with no hint of shame.

“So you can see my level then?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, you’re a level six with no set class right now,” John replied as he opened the UI and sent Sam a party invite. “Here, it’ll make more sense if you see it yourself-”

“Fuck me with a screw up the ass!” Sam jumped so high she nearly hit the ceiling. She took a moment to catch her breath with her hand placed over her chest before examining the invite with curiosity. “So you really are a magic man…” she hummed with wonder creeping into her voice as she accepted the invite. “Wow,” she blinked as John saw her name appear in the party menu.

“You should be able to see your Hit Points, Mana Points, Level, and the other party members now,” John explained.

“Yeah, I can,” Sam’s head nodded up and down at an excitable pace. “Soo… only dude in the group, huh? I guess it really is a party.”

“Uhm, I guess so,” John blushed under the weight of Sam’s critical stare. “You’re not **** to stay if you don’t want to… but if you intend on sticking around while we sort out this mess, it’ll help us better look after each other — and you’ll be able to get some benefits from my power this way.”

“Uh-humm, you swear up and down it’s for a practical use, huh?” Sam continued sternly before her face spread into a grin a few seconds late. “Chill, I’m just teasing. I’m cool with staying for as long as we’re working together. Anyway, you were saying I was level seven yesterday?”

“Exactly. Do you feel any weaker?”

“Hard to say,” Sam huffed in reply. “I mostly feel hungover. What about you?”

“Oh, no hangover anymore,” John answered with a slight smile. “Turns out there’s a magic cure for that.”

“Well get me the fuck some of that, please,” Sam let out a small laugh. It was actually refreshing to see her smiling again, however brief. Gloominess didn’t suit her, even if she’d fit right into the Twilight saga. “But no, I meant your level,” Sam continued.

“Oh, well I’m level 27…” John eye’s widened as he read the level on his own character sheet. “...really fucking interesting.”

“It seems like I’ve lost a level, too,” John elaborated, before taking a peek at Red and Moira. “So have you, Red — but Moira’s is the same as I last recall.”

“That would make sense given she wasn’t present last night,” Sam nodded with a thumb on her chin.

“But what about Emelia?” John asked aloud as he turned to scan the comatose girl.

“Uhhh…” John’s face curled into a heavy grimace as he read her stat sheet and he let out an involuntary shiver as goosebumps formed on the nape of his neck.

“Darling?” Red inquired as she took his wrist in her hand. “What is it?

“Well…” John cleared his throat. “Emelia’s lost a level as well,” his eyes flickered over to the other comatose girls. They too were level 0 and each had similarly creepy messages and abnormally high relationship scores relative to how much he actually knew them, though admittedly none were quite as creepy as Emelia’s. “The issue is that her level was one last night… and I’d wager that was the case with the other girls as well.”

“So they’re comatose because they’re level zero?” Sam questioned.

“It seems that way,” John agreed. “On the brightside, this seems to exonerate you, Sam.”

“And you too, I suppose,” Sam replied. “Provided you’re not lying out of your arse — but you seem like you’re being genuine enough.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m clear of wrongdoing based on what I’m reading here,” John muttered before he relayed to the group what he’d read from Emelia’s Observe sheet.

“Okay… yeah… there’s something seriously wrong there,” Sam agreed.

“The others are similar but not quite to the same degree,” John added.

“And there’s nothing you can think of that would have turned Em that way?” Sam checked though John got the sense she already knew his answer.

“Not at all… I mean, my relationship score with Red is 200 but she hasn’t turned obsessive” he explained.

“I’d certainly like to think not,” Red agreed.

“Still,” Sam paced back and forth across the carpeted floor. “My earlier assumptions aside, I’m beginning to feel you’re not entirely at fault here. Em’s stats are whack; I’d wager that’s what has botched her feelings to creepy as hell.”

“Yeah, that may be true,” John replied. Her logic seemed reasonable enough. “But that would put us right back to having no clue what caused this.”

“But we’ve still learned things,” Red pointed out.

“Yeah, shit’s fucking whack and I’m a mother fucking vampire,” Sam snorted. “Whoop-tee-do. I just want my goddamn friend back.”

“Well, in any case, it’s clear we’re far out of our depth here,” John sighed and flopped back onto the bed beside his comatose companion. “Lee might be able to help.”

“Who?” Sam asked.

“A detective and I suppose my boss for now,” John replied.

“Wait, so you’re some kind of supernatural cop, then?” Sam’s brow arched.

“If you want, though at best I’d be a supernatural cop in training,” he answered half-heartedly. “So I haven’t broken your ‘no cops’ rule yet, my paranoid friend.”

“Hey, fuck you, I’m not your friend, buddy,” Sam flipped him off in reply. “And don’t laugh at me, it’s your fault I don’t like cops in the first place.”

“Yeah… about that,” John sat up to look her in the eye. “You kind of got caught up in a bloody mess of a personal affair between Red’s, Moira’s, and my own families. I’d rather not get into the details now but tensions were high and my regular life was teetering on the edge of being totally fucked, but people may have gone a bit too far trying to clean things up and for that I’m sorry. But Lee… he’s a bit of a gloomy guy but he’s a good guy. You can trust him.”

Sam crossed her arms.

A note from the Author:
G'day everyone, I thought about doing this as its own chapter but there really isn't much to say. Regretfully I have to put this branch on the back burner for now, meaning it'll be on hiatus for an uncertain amount of time. Make no mistake that I do intend on coming back, but real life commitments are once again, a bitch and I'm finding myself to distracted right now to sit down and write for you all. I hope you all understand and I very much hope to be back ASAP. As a side note, my Patreon will be closing down for the same reasons. Whether it returns in the future or not, I'm uncertain. To my patrons, you'll be getting a much more personal message soon, but in any case, thank you for your patronage!
-Pie