Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ambrose sighed as he entered the apartment, tired from the track practice he just left. With the week he’s had, he’s happy to have the upcoming Spring Break to lounge around and hopefully get into playing Delta of Magic.

The new VRMMOCRPG was slated to be released in an hour, and Vihaan had managed to hook them both up with the system and their own keys, so although he wouldn’t really call himself a gamer, he was down to spend some time with his close friend.

Speaking of the shorter Indian man, he popped out of Ambrose’s room as he opened the door. “Got it all set up!” he said, grinning. “Know what you’re gonna play?”

“Bro, honestly, I haven’t had the time to look anything up,” Ambrose said, pushing his dreads out of his face. “I’ll probably go for whatever looks the coolest. But definitely not anything physical,” he added, slumping onto his bed. “I won’t be any sort of athletic this break. Even digitally.”

Vihaan laughed. “Man, if only I got you to be a full nerd before you got sucked into track in middle school.”

Ambrose looked up to see him walking away and shouted back. “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be beating off the fellas with a stick!”

“Hey, being a nerd is chic now!”

“Yeah, yeah.” He rolled off of the bed and went to grab a pair of shorts. “I’m gonna take a shower, so order us some food before we get started, okay?”

“Already got it; your favorite burger joint is on the table when you get out!”

“Man,” Ambrose thought, “he was really set on bribing me to hang out with him. Shit, I probably haven’t seen him in a while though with how busy we are. I’ll just make that up this whole break.”

And true to his word, after showering, he spent the next hour catching up with Vihaan; the two of them sat in the living room while they ate and finished up every responsible thing they were going to do before going fully remote for the break. Families were texted, school stuff was put away, and a promise to only focus on gaming and other vices was struck before they went back to their rooms, put on the goggles and headphones, and logged into Delta of Magic.

It took a while, but soon the game loaded, and he felt the stone ground he was placed on beneath him before he blinked and he found himself in a small, candle-lit closet with a mirror.

[Welcome to Delta of Magic! Please make your character!]

He noticed that for the avatar, there was already a pre-filled option, and when he chose it the sheet fell off the mirror to show a digital version of himself: lean and muscular, with the candlelight dancing over his dark brown skin and disappearing in his dreads. Hell, it even had the small running shorts he had put on after his shower.

He pulled up the menu and flickered through all of the different fantasy species he could be, but ended up staying with Human, happy with how he looked currently and not really wanting to fully buy into the more fantasy elements yet. He did indulge himself with a few of the game’s other options though, giving himself some gold highlights in his dreads and putting some sick looking magic tattoos that glowed on his chest and thigh.

When it came to the actual gameplay decisions, Ambrose chose to shuffle and see what would happen. The class was the first option, and he rolled into a-

[Priest: A holy man who heals all wounds and provides solid company and support for his allies.]

“Nope,” he muttered, choosing to shuffle again. “Don’t want to be a healer. What other magical options you got?”

[Magician: A learned scholar who uses magic to rain destruction onto all of his foes.]

He thought it over. Being a walking nuke did sound fun, but as much as he refused to be a big and buff fighter, he also didn’t want to be the glass-cannon opposite.

A small ding in the back of his mind interrupted him; moving through the game menu, he found an invite from Vihaan and accepted it. “Hey.”

“Hey, Amps, are you done yet?” Vihaan’s voice sounded like he was on the phone, slightly louder than the generic fantasy music.

“Nah. I’m still picking out a class.”

“Hmm. Okay, just uh-” Vihaan hummed, now clearly in the middle of something. “Just let me know when you’re good, okay? I’m doing one of the best solo builds, so we’ll be fine as long as you don’t throw.”

“Got it.” He reshuffled.

[Conduit: A trickster who channels power from an otherworldly being and uses it to suit his needs.]

Oh, that sounded good. “Hey, how do you feel about a conduit?”

“That’s a solid choice,” Vihaan said. “It’s flexible enough to change after a rest, and it’s one of the easier spellslingers.”

“But does it work with whatever you’re playing?” Ambrose asked. “I don’t want us to butt heads the entire time we’re playing this.”

There was a long pause before Vihaan spoke, and Ambrose figured he was looking something up. “It should be fine. And also I want you to have fun too, dude. That’s why I picked this game.”

The admission put a smile on Ambrose’s face. “Awe, love you too, man. Let me go ahead and get through the rest of this then.”

“Okay, meet me at the tavern when you’re done, the game won’t let us voice chat like this after character creation.” A ding let Ambrose know that Vihaan had dropped their call.

[Accept Class?]

<Yes.>

[Choose Your Patron.]

A list opened up in front of him, and he glanced over it before his eyes caught on “God-King”. A sick sounding title must go to a cool patron to get power from, right?

[The God-King Narmer is now your Patron. Granting his power now…]

“Ah,” a deep, male voice whispered behind Ambrose, “another mortal wishes to take control of their destiny with me. Well, practitioner, let’s see if you rise to meet my standards.”

With a sudden rush of wind that made the candles flicker violently, Ambrose felt the shorts get ripped off of him, leaving him naked as he stood in front of the mirror. With a yelp, he tried to cover himself, but his hands were held firm, keeping him standing upright and proud.

“Does the mortal really fear seeing himself so pure?” the voice muttered, sounding disappointed. “That cannot be. If one wants my power and prestige, a lack of self-confidence cannot be allowed. Are you ashamed of the temple you have made out of yourself, young man?”

Hearing the voice- Narmer- speak, Ambrose looked at himself again. Now that the shock of suddenly being naked was wearing off, it was like he was in his own bathroom posing for a photo to send off to a hookup. The light was hitting his abs right, and the small curve of his soft 5-inch cock- which was scarily accurate to his actual cock outside of the game, down to the fact that he was circumcised- looked even sexier in the candlelight. He was fucking hot as fuck and he knew it, posing now with a grin.

“Ah, that is more acceptable.” Narmer seemed pleased. “I myself was quite handsome in my youth, and that confidence made the power and control I wielded all the more natural. Are you willing to follow me on your journey to wielding this same power?”

After a few seconds of silence, Ambrose realized that Narmer wanted a response. “Oh, uh, of course, dude-”

“Sir. Or Your Highness.”

Damn, this game was strict. Great voice acting though. “Sir,” Ambrose repeated, rolling his eyes.

[Narmer is displeased by this action.]

The candles were all blown out as Narmer growled thunderously. Ambrose felt a force fully cover and freeze him in place, leaving him helpless in the darkness. “How dare you. The first step to understanding power is respecting it. Our little alliance only works if we respect each other. I think I have found the first lesson for you to learn…”

When Narmer trailed off, Ambrose felt a sudden tightness on his groin. Moments later, some candles relit themselves, and in the mirror he could see a glint of metal on his cock. “What the fuck?” he muttered, trying to move closer so he could see it, but still unable to.

“The base instincts of a man regarding his pleasure is always the downfall of a reign,” Narmer said. “My own kingdom fell to a bastard child of mine, and I have seen many a similar stake be the end to other prosperous ventures. You shall not be like the forefathers before you, Ambrose. No, this trinket shall keep you safe from that folly.”

[Item Equipped: Narmer’s Safeguard]

(Class Item, God-King Conduit Only)

Allows user access to the Conduit class and its abilities.

Ambrose couldn’t believe it. Sure this was an adult game, but he figured that was for violence or sex stuff with NPCs, not his own fucking junk, digital or not. Hell, he could even feel the metal pushing against his dick. “What the fuck?!”

“Now, in regards to the true lesson, I send out all of the mortals who wish to be a conduit for me out into the world with minor blessings,” Narmer said, as if it was completely normal for him to speak to other guys when they were naked and their dicks locked away in metal. “I will be watching and assessing your abilities, young man. You seem to be stronger in will than most others. I find myself thinking that you will impress me.”

[Passives Received: Royal Decree I, Noble Presence, Stand Tall]

[Spells Received: Prince’s Will, Simple Magic, Charm Person, Disdain]

[Items Received: Ornamental Dagger, Potion of Healing, Conduit’s Gear, Skulduggery Tools, Narmer’s Casual Wear.]

[Abilities Received: Move Mountains I, Dig Deep, Conducive Magic I.]

“Do not prove me wrong.”

[Quest Acquired! Learn Your Lesson]

Defeat enough enemies to become Conduit Level 3.

Reward: Superior XP, ???, ???, ???

“Now go, young Ambrose. I’m sure you can find a way to prove your might.”

In the blink of an eye, the candles grew brighter, and the darkness vanished to reveal that what he had thought was a whole closet was a perfectly normal inn room, with a bed and dresser in the corner. The force keeping him frozen went away, and he stumbled, but caught himself before he fell. He immediately reached down and grabbed the ornate, golden cock cage that had been put on his and immediately started fumbling with it, but there was nothing to remove it, not even a lock to pick. The filigree flashed prettily against his dark skin, but was solid and couldn’t even be bent as though it was magically reinforced.

“What the fuck,” Ambrose muttered, realizing that his dick couldn’t feel his hand touching the cage. His balls sat flush underneath the filigree tube, but they were trapped between it and a cock ring- something that he had more familiarity with, honestly- and trying to pull them through was a huge mistake and definitely not possible. “What the fuck. This can’t be real. What kind of pervert shit is V into?!”

Remembering that Vihaan was still in the game now, Ambrose cursed. “Shit, V! I gotta meet up with him… like… this…”

Looking around the inn room again with a clearer head, Ambrose moved over to the dresser and opened it, spotting the only outfit in there.

[Narmer’s Casual Wear → Prince’s Skirt, Casual Thong, Prince’s Sandals.]

He slowly picked up the skimpy thong. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” It was mostly red with a gold waistband. With a sigh, he pulled it on, careful to tuck his caged dick into the tight pouch. He immediately frowned at the feeling of the string running up his ass like a wedgie and the entire thong resting very low beneath his waist. “Fuck, does it have to be so small?”

He had to move past the feeling of the thong flossing his ass while he put on the red and white Egyptian-looking skirt. It barely covered his ass, the bottom of it stopping at his mid thigh even while it also rested low on his hips, and he knew that if he moved wrong, anyone could look underneath it and see his thong and bulge. The sandals at least looked cool, they were strappy and made of brown leather, sturdy enough to feel solid, and gave him good ankle support when fully laced up his calves.

Looking through the rest of the dresser, he found a travel bag full of supplies, a small dagger that was gilded, and 2500 gold to use as money. He picked everything up and organized it all quickly, holstering the bag over his shoulder like it was a cross-body bag, letting it rest on his waist. He scanned the entire room as well as he could and found some gold necklaces and rings, which he put on just to do so. It made him feel slightly better when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He could see himself cast like some sort of Egyptian warrior-prince. Hopefully without the cage.

“What the hell is my life even like right now,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I’m playing this video game that’s being fucking weird, and V will probably hate me if I don’t meet him-” his eyes widened as a thought occurred to him. “Wait, he knows I don’t know shit about this game. I could just log out and log back in with a different character.”

The idea was so simple and so beautiful, Ambrose started laughing as he went to the menu and chose to log out.

[Attempting to log out.]

[Log out attempt failed.]

Oh shit. Maybe he could just… force shutdown the VR system?

[Attempting to shutdown.]

[Shutdown attempt failed.]

Fuck. Shit. Damn it. He let out another loud sigh. “You got this, Ambrose,” he muttered to himself as he looked at the door to his inn room. “You’re hot enough to pull this off, and that Narmer guy likes confidence. Besides, you’ll get V to help you ask for help, this’ll all get reset, and you two will laugh about this later on. Years later. On our deathbeds.”

With another deep breath and no pause for hesitation to lock him in, Ambrose went directly to the door to his inn room, opened it, and stepped outside, now on a mission to find his best friend.

Chapter Text

[New Location: Everton]

Area Effect: New Beginnings 

+30% XP from Quests and Non-Combat Rewards

Ambrose carefully stepped out of the inn room with his arms loosely crossed in front of him. In the hallway, there was a sudden draft that sent shivers down his spine as it caressed his near-naked body. The hem of his skirt fluttered a bit, but thankfully didn’t fly upward; it just threatened to.

Other people were in similar boats as he was. There was an average looking guy with pointed ears- he obviously chose to play as an elf- that was awkwardly looking around as most of his clothing was a full body rope harness. A woman further down had the air of a nun with robes designed to reveal a large part of her body to the god of her choice. Another man snuck through the halls, but seeing as they were very well lit, the samurai-like pants he was wearing with very deep cutouts on both sides of his hip showcased both thighs and almost displayed his crotch with every step.

Ambrose’s cock twitched at the sight of mild debauchery, and he hissed as the cage clamped down on it. Focusing on flexing his thighs and making the cage just a bit more bearable, he quickly walked down the hall and stairs, heading to the tavern below to see if he could find Vihaan.

The tavern was a lot bigger than he thought it would be; full of adventurers just as confused as he was, and in varying degrees of forced debauchery and exhibitionism. Flexing his thighs slightly harder now, he carefully stuck to the outside of the loud crowds as he went looking for Vihaan, calling out for the shorter man and adding to the already noisy place. “Vihaan! V!”

He passed by one of the NPCs, a bartender who seemed swamped by the many players asking them for orders. The bartender waved at him while they were pouring out a batch of drinks. “Excuse me, sir! Are you Ambrose?!”

His head whipped back as he did a double take. “Yeah! Yeah, do you know where my friend went? Vihaan?”

“Yes! Vihaan spoke to the entire staff and told us to look out for you.” They looked relieved as they pointed to the door heading out to the square. “He said that he would be sitting at one of the benches outside.”

“Thank you!” Ambrose reached into his bag and slapped 100 gold on the bar before he ran outside, blinking the sunlight out of his eyes before he spotted Vihaan down the path, fully leaned back on one of the benches with his long black hair pulled up into the ponytail. From here, he couldn’t see anything different about him. “V!”

Vihaan’s head turned, and an apologetic look came across his face as Ambrose approached. “Holy shit, dude. I am so sorry-”

Ambrose cut him off, picking him up and pulling him into a bear hug, feeling better with the contact. “Hey, it doesn’t matter,” he said, wanting to comfort his childhood friend. “This is some weird shit, but I’m not upset with you, really. It’s not like you coded the game.”

“Ah- yeah.” Vihaan squirmed in his grip, clearly uncomfortable. “Yeah, they definitely changed a lot of shit from beta-testing.”

Ambrose let go, letting Vihaan pull back. “Obviously, dude.” He appreciatively gave his friend a quick once over, glad to see that he wasn’t hurt. “And you look fucking cool.”

The Indian man blushed. The added blush on his tan and naturally boyish face further brought out the new iron-colored freckles that dotted his skin and traveled down the visible parts of his body.His ”shirt” was a very cropped green vest that didn’t close and barely covered his pecs, leaving his torso just as bare as Ambrose’s. Vihaan did, however, wear actual pants, although they were very tight and seemed more like black leggings with how well they splayed over his legs and left nothing to the imagination, including the man’s reasonable bulge being visibly pushed outwards. Some simple shoes completed the outfit, as well as a sidebag that was identical to the one Ambrose carried.

“Thanks,” Vihaan said, shrugging. “I’m glad that going to the gym has actually started to pay off.”

Ambrose looked at him again. Now that Vihaan mentioned it, the usual twink frame he had was starting to bulk up a bit. “Holy shit, when did you start going to the gym?”

“Uh, at the start of the school year. The pool is really nice and no one can bother you about computer engineering when you’re in water.”

Ambrose chuckled, glad that Vihaan was coming back around enough to start making his usual “I hate being glued to computers against my will” jokes. “Hey, that’s great, man,” he said. “We gotta go together sometime. Like when I tried to drag you there back in freshman year.”

Vihaan nodded. “Yeah, when- fuck- the logout break.” He brought his hands up to his face as he carefully sat back down on the bench. “That’s a huge problem.”

“How bad is it?” Ambrose hated how Vihaan’s entire posture slumped. He carefully sat next to him. “I mean sure, the system shutdown also doesn’t work, but there’s gotta be another way that you didn’t show me yet. Let’s dip already.”

“There’s not any other safe option,” Vihaan said. “With how the VR system interacts with the brain, if we try to break it to go out, we’ll be risking a lot of medical shit: comas, strokes, aneurysms. Maybe something even worse.”

“Okay.” That definitely sounded bad. “What can we do?”

“I’ve already sent in a few bug reports, but I think that there’s already been thousands because of everything that’s going on.” Vihaan snorted. “I know that this is an adult game, but man, it was not like this in the testing.”

“Yeah?” The sudden reminder of the game’s kinkiness made the light metal cock cage feel imposingly heavy, forcing him to jostle his leg to try and subtly resituate it. “So, it did something to you too, huh?”

There was a long beat of silence before Vihaan spoke. “I- uh- it’s embarrassing.”

“Dude, we’ve seen each other almost naked so many times. Hell, we’ve even kissed-”

“As a dare-”

“I promise you that I’m not gonna be weird about anything that’s going on with you while we’re here. I’d be a hypocrite anyway, right?”

After a few moments, Vihaan sighed, clearly getting himself ready for ridicule. “I- uh- the game has me wearing a butt plug.”

Did Ambrose hear that correctly? There was no way he did. Sure, the game locked away his dick, but that’s practically a cakewalk compared to being asked to move and walk around with something up your ass. The slow movement back down onto the bench and the squirming made more sense now. “Okay. That’s not too different, I think. Really strange, but I mean, at least you can jack off still.”

Vihaan stared at him for a few seconds, glancing down at his skirt every now and then. “What?!”

“I have a fucking cock cage on, V,” he admitted. It wasn’t too bad, especially because he already used one every now and then when he needed to focus, but he really didn’t want to get into his potential kinks with his best friend. “It’s apparently a class item, and I’d be useless without it.”

The Indian man shook his head in bewilderment. “I don’t know-”

The sound of trumpets interrupted him, and Ambrose looked over to the square a few yards away. From here, he could see a number of notice boards, some shops, and a large courtyard that had a good number of people in it. In the center of it all, there was a platform, and an important looking NPC was climbing onto it, with bodyguards and trumpeters below them.

“We should go see that,” he said, standing up. He waited for Vihaan to gingerly get up and join him, not quite sure if he should help him walk. “Anything quick to do on the way?”

“Oh- uh-” Vihaan focused for a second and then Ambrose got a message through the game system.

[Vihaan is inviting you to his party! Accept Invitation?]

<Yes>

[You are now in a party with Vihaan!]

“Just in case.” The two of them glanced at each other for saying the same thing at the same time. “Man,” Ambrose said, casually turning and starting to walk to the square at a slower pace so Vihaan could keep up, “we should hang out more if we’re already on the same page like this.”

Vihaan didn’t say anything, but with a glance, Ambrose knew he was scanning everything, trying to see if there was something he missed earlier. As the two approached the square, Ambrose guided them to the back of the crowd, where they could hear the announcement, but not really be in the midst of all of those people in case they panicked. He felt better knowing that if they needed to run, it’d be a hell of a lot easier from here.

“Hear ye, hear ye!” the town crier shouted, below the platform. “Mayor Halderman is speaking!”

“Uh, yes, yes.” The mayor- an older white man, most likely in his mid-40s- looked a bit chagrined as he started speaking with a magically amplified voice. “Uh, greetings, everyone. I am the mayor, Michael Halderman. I am the lead designer of Delta of Magic, and am currently speaking to you through this NPC, although rest assured, I am currently leading a plan to help fix the massive sabotage that has occurred upon the launch of this game.”

“Sabotage?” Vihaan repeated. He wasn’t the only one; the entire crowd fell into a hush at the word, with a lot of people repeating it. Ambrose felt like he was going to be sick.

Halderman cleared his throat. “We have already figured out the source of the issue: an angry ex-employee of ours somehow still had remote access to the code, and implanted a lot of extra assets and content directly after our last quality check, minutes before the game launched. Normally we would shut down the game and patch this out, but with the neural failsafes and reliable logout features disabled, this would be an incredible risk to everyone.”

“Obviously!” Someone from the crowd shouted. Ambrose rolled his eyes, even though his stomach still continued to slowly tumble.

“So- er- we are currently looking for who in the studio might be helping this hacker, and also trying to find where these new assets are being injected into the game from,” Halderman continued. “It is tentative on when this will be complete, but it should not take longer than 10 days.”

“10 days?!” Ambrose repeated, his heart sinking. “That’s our whole spring break!” The crowd turns with his mood, people very unhappy with the timeframe, especially seeing that Delta of Magic was a relatively real-time VRMMOCRPG.

“I understand that this is not the situation anyone would want to be in, but this is the best and safest option that we have to fixing it,” Halderman says, having to raise his voice now to be heard over the crowd. “We are already moving to reimburse you all for your pain and suffering, as well as vouchers for therapy after we get this all under control.”

“Okay,” someone near Ambrose and Vihaan said, obviously not pleased by what was going on, but was somewhat relieved by what the game studio was doing. “So all we have to do is hide in our inn rooms and everything will be fine.”

Ambrose thought that sounded boring, but hey, at least he could spend time with Vihaan.

“Unfortunately, there is also an extra part of the game that has been added in order to fully encourage gameplay,” Halderman said, and he looked very uncomfortable. “This was also added in by the hacker, and we cannot remove it. For your own safety, it is recommended- Jesus Christ, are we sure we can even say this?”

There were some muffled voices and shuffling coming from the Mayor NPC. None of the other NPCs figured it was weird that when the model spoke, the sound of papers rustling instead of words came out. “Okay,” Halderman spoke. “Legally speaking, we suggest that for our playerbase’s safety, they should try to do the bare minimum to complete a forced interaction mechanic that has been intrusively added to our game by a hostile outsider. We are diligently working to make this game a safer one to play, we apologize for all of the negative outcomes in regards to these unwanted additions, and rest assured, we are actively taking legal action against all antagonistic parties.”

Vihaan shook his head. “Fuck. Check the party quests.”

Ambrose took a moment to get through the menus, but soon the window popped up in front of him.

[Party Quests:]

(All) Get The Blood Flowing {MANDATORY}

(Ambrose) Learn Your Lesson {Class}

(Vihaan) Make A Name For Yourself {Class}

He looked at the first quest for a few seconds, and jumped slightly when it suddenly opened.

[Quest - Get The Blood Flowing:]

Play the game. Or else.

Fail: Become Imprisoned in the Glorious Sanctum.

“Oh shit,” someone whispered, obviously seeing the quest themselves. “I didn’t know the quests could fail.”

“Some can,” someone else muttered. “Some beta-testers mentioned it, but usually there’s a reward state. Since this one doesn’t… I don’t think anyone can get rid of it.”

The thought of what could happen if they failed to play the game sent a shiver down Ambrose’s spine, and he pulled Vihaan closer to him.

The sound of Halderman’s throat clearing regained everyone’s attention. “I- er- I wish I had more to say, but again, please rest assured that we are working to fix all of this. In regards to gameplay, we have also made the respawn mechanic more forgiving. If you see that golden temple over in that direction-” he pointed, and Ambrose turned to see the medium sized building down one of the other streets- “that will be where anyone who needs to respawn independently can do so.”

With a loud sigh, Halderman seemed to be at the end of his speech. “I am now truly out of things to say, and I need to go back to the teams working on these issues. Stay safe, and I once again apologize on behalf of everyone here in the game studio.”

With that, the sounds of the trumpets playing seemed to signal the true Mayor NPC back to fruition as Halderman disconnected, and the NPC townsfolk all dispersed, heading back to their usual positions.

Seeing that the crowd was stunned for a bit, Ambrose immediately grabbed Vihaan’s arm and left the square, bringing him over to a much less populated area and in front of a notice board. “Okay, what do we do now?”

Vihaan awkwardly shimmied a bit, but looked at the notice board. “If we have to play, we should probably do an intro quest. What’s your primary stat?”

Ambrose quietly flicked through the menus, somewhat lost. “Uh… hold on, don’t tell me, I paid attention to this, I pro- there we go!” With a grin, he displayed his character sheet.

[Ambrose, Human Conduit (Level 1)]

12/12 HP, 1 Conduit Spark I, 2 Move Mountains I, 1 Dig Deep

8 STR (-1), 14 DEX (+2), 14 CON (+2)

12 INT (+1), 10 WIS (0), 17 CHA (+3)

15 Defense, 30 Speed

1 Buff, 0 Debuffs

“Cool.” Vihaan was focused on both the board and the system windows. “Charisma casting is nice, and your spell list seems to be good against people, so we’ll stick to that. We can play around each other pretty well, actually.”

Ambrose couldn’t help but grin at that. “Really? Neat. Mind if I…”

“Oh, yeah, here.”

[Vihaan, Aasimar Epoch (Level 1)]

10/10 HP, 1 Minor Miracle I

12 STR (+1), 17 DEX (+3), 14 CON (+2)

10 INT (0), 14 WIS (+2), 8 CHA (-1)

15 Defense, 30 Speed

0 Buffs, 0 Debuffs

Huh. Aasimar. That must be where the iron freckles are coming from. Curious, Ambrose clicked the detailed view of the species.

[Aasimar (Species)]

A heavenly-blessed species. Aasimar are more human-like, with only slight deviations in physicality and ability separating the two. Legends say that many a seraphim enjoyed their time with the mortals here.

Grants: Heavenly Countenance, Minor Miracle I, ???

[Heavenly Countenance (Aasimar Passive)]

Grants user resistance to HOLY and CRSE damage, as well as natural darkvision for 60ft. User may also take a Magic action to cast Light.

[Minor Miracle I (Aasimar Ability)]

User may take a Magic action to heal self or ally creature in melee range for 2-8 HP. This resource may only be used one (1) time.  Refreshes when the user Retires. Upgrades at Level 5.

“Hey, what’s up with the buff count on you?” Ambrose asked. “You have a passive that’s all upside, and yet it doesn’t show up as a buff.”

“What? Oh-” Vihaan pulled up his character sheet too, looking over it quickly. “Yeah, it only shows active buffs and debuffs that can run out or be dispelled. Like, look at your sheet. Noble Presence can be dispelled.”

[Noble Presence (Royal Decree Passive - Buff)]

User gains +3 to Defense as long as they are unarmored. This buff can be dispelled.

“Shit.” That was news to Ambrose. He quickly closed Vihaan’s character sheet and opened up his own, now very curious about it. “Let’s not go up against any one who can dispel stuff.”

“Got it. I’ll pick something out for us, just let me know when you’re ready.”

While Vihaan was talking, the many different things Ambrose had gotten from character creation popped up in front of him.

[Stand Tall (Human Passive)]

User gains an extra 2HP per level.

[Move Mountains I (Human Ability)]

Before the user rolls a check, he may spend a use of Move Mountains to add advantage to it. This may also be used to impose disadvantage to a character attacking the user. This ability may be used two (2) times. Refreshes when the user Retires. Upgrades at Level 5.

[Dig Deep (Human Ability)]

User may reroll any roll. This ability may only be used one (1) time. Refreshes when the user Retires.

Oh, that’s sick! He could reroll dice and make things easier for him or harder for enemies! Choosing human didn’t seem to be a bad choice, even though it looked like Vihaan would get something later on from his species and he wouldn’t.

[Conducive Magic I (Conduit Ability)]

Grants user one (1) Conduit Spark at Power Level 1. User may take a Magic action to cast a spell from his spell list. Some spells may have the additional cost of a Conduit Spark. User may not spend more than one (1) Conduit Spark a turn. All Conduit Sparks refresh when the user either Rests or Retires. Upgrades at Conduit Level 2.

Okay, this is the spell stuff. Thankfully, he knew enough about the game from Vihaan’s many lessons to know that resting and retiring were the downtime actions, with resting being like taking a quick nap and retiring being like actually going to sleep. It looked like that as long as he was able to at least rest, he could at least keep his spells active, even though he might not have many to cast all at once.

[Royal Decree I (God-King Conduit Passive)]

Allows the user to gain one (1) extra skill from Narmer. Upgrades at Conduit Level 2.

So that’s where Noble Presence comes from. Cool.

[Prince’s Will (God-King Conduit Spell)]

Magic Action. 120ft. CHA attack.

User imparts their will into a ray of force that deals 1-10 FRCE damage. This spell may be customized via Royal Decree. Upgrades to King’s Will at Level 5.

[Simple Magic (God-King Conduit Spell)]

Magic Action. 10ft. Non-hostile.

Create a small magical effect.

[Charm Person (God-King Conduit Spell)]

Magic Action. 30ft. vs WIS. Uses Conduit Spark.

Target Humanoid resists with WIS. Gains advantage if user or user’s allies are fighting them. If the target fails to resist, they are Charmed by the user for one (1) hour or until user or user’s allies deal damage to it. 

When the spell ends, the target knows it has been Charmed by the user.

[Disdain (God-King Conduit Spell)]

1 Quick Magic Action. 90ft. Uses Conduit Spark. Holds User’s Attention.

User curses a target character. For up to 1 Hour, or until user’s Attention is Broken, user deals an extra 1-6 CRSE damage to the target with any attacks. The user also gives the target Disadvantage on ability checks with an ability of their choice.

If the target goes to 0HP before the spell ends, the user may take a Quick Magic Action to curse another target.

“Okay, I think I get my stuff now,” Ambrose said, still glancing at his spells, but also looking up at Vihaan and the notice board. “Are there any quests where we could take time to rest? Maybe get into a few small fights back to back before doing that?”

Vihaan grinned. “Sweet, we’re thinking the same thing. There’s a bandit problem we can help with if we go to the town hall. That seems like a good start. I bet your quest has to do with getting in combat and leveling up, too?”

Ambrose pulled it up.

[Learn Your Lesson - Class Quest]

Defeat enough enemies to become Conduit Level 3.

Reward: Superior XP, ???, ???, ???

“Yeah, it’s asking me to get to Level 3 by fighting stuff,” he confirmed, confused about the whole thing. How would defeating enemies make him learn his lesson about disrespect? How would it get this cage on his cock off? “Let’s go get that bread, then.”

Vihaan nodded. “Follow me, I know where it is.” And with a slightly awkward walk- Ambrose didn’t bring up the buttplug- the two of them were off, ready to venture to wherever this game would lead them.

Chapter Text

By the time the two of them got to the town hall, Ambrose and Vihaan had decided that Ambrose could lead the social interactions thanks to his high CHA stat. That way, in case there was a sudden check, he could handle it easier. So he stepped forward to the NPC that looked a bit panicked on the steps of the town hall and chose to greet her with a smile. “Hey, is everything alright?”

“Oh, thank goodness,” the NPC mutters, shaking her head and jostling her straw hat. “I’ve only just arrived and very few people are available to talk to about this rampant theft going on in the Southern Farms.”

“Rampant theft?” Ambrose asked.

“This is some really good voice acting,” Vihaan muttered.

“Yes! Herbs keep on getting pilfered in the middle of the night. At first, we thought nothing of it, just some stray animals feeding.” The woman sighed. “But John realized that the same plants kept on getting taken, and we all grew concerned. You two look like adventurers, can you track down the bandits and recover our crops? We’ll pay you both handsomely.”

Ambrose looked over to Vihaan, raising his eyebrow to gesture that he wanted to try and ask for more. Vihaan shook his head. Ambrose frowned, but then put a flat smile back on his face as he looked back at the woman. “I’m sure we will be able to recover quite a large amount of your crops…”

“Agnes! Oh, thank you both!” She jumped forward and pulled them both into a hug, even though she barely came up to Ambrose’s chest and Vihaan’s shoulders. She didn’t even seem fazed by their lack of a shirt, or how much skin Ambrose showed. She stepped back, fixing her wide brim hat. “I have to go let the others know! Please, hurry as soon as you can!” And without another word, she took off, briskly walking down the road and heading around the square to go south.

[Quest Acquired! Late To Bed, Early to Spy I]

Talk to Agnes at the Southern Farms.

Reward: Standard XP.

“Well, that was easy,” Ambrose said. “She didn’t even ask for our names.”

Vihaan laughed. “That’s the easiest part. Now we actually have to go do stuff. Do you have a map?”

Ambrose quickly checked his inventory. Potion of healing, dagger that he should really equip, a pack of Conduit gear he hadn’t unpacked yet, and a set of lockpicks. “Nope.”

Vihaan sighed. “Guess we should go shopping before we head out. Did you see a map store?”

“Uh, I wasn’t paying that much attention earlier,” Ambrose admitted, looking down the street to see if there was one nearby. There wasn’t one that seemed important right now. “The whole ‘you’re stuck in the game and it’s suddenly perverted’ thing really took a lot of my attention.”

“Yeah, I get it. I still can’t believe this is happening.” Vihaan said. “I’m still sorry, dude.”

“Vihaan, it’s fine,” Ambrose said, starting to get tired of his friend blaming himself. “Look, at least we’re stuck here together. It’s not the worst position we could be in over spring break.” He could tell that Vihaan didn’t believe him, and so he decided to poke a bit at his dignity- something he admittedly hadn’t done in a long while thanks to how busy their junior years were going. “If anything, you can take the fact that you have a fucking buttplug to be punishment enough. How the hell do you still have that thing in you?”

Vihaan gasped and spluttered in the middle of taking a drink of water from a waterskin he had. “That’s so fucked dude,” he managed to get out, chuckling. “You can’t even jack off.”

A very confident smugness filled Ambrose’s veins as he widened his stance. “Yeah, but locking away my dick is a loss to all of the bottoms who would gladly use it. I know you’re bi, V, but there’s no way that your ass is that good.”

Vihaan kept on laughing, his face flush again. He looked back in his bag. “Please, my ass would be the best thing you’ll never feel. Now let’s- oh shit, I found a map.”

“Hey! That’s dope!” Ambrose clapped his back softly. “See, we’ll be fine. Let’s grab a tent or something and hit the road. How far is it to the Southern Farms?”

“Looks like it’s just a day of travel, like 20 miles. We can handle that.” Vihaan put the map away. “Besides, we should try to save money, I only have 600 gold.”

“What? I have 2400.”

“What the fuck?!” Vihaan jokingly punched his arm. “That’s unfair, how are you so rich?”

Ambrose smirked. “God-King privileges, baby. And I think I can spoil one of my best citizens with a carriage ride. I’ll go arrange that and you can get a tent for us?”

“Why can’t you pay for everything, Your Highness?” Vihaan asked, somewhat mockingly. “I still have the video of you saying that if you became a big personal trainer you’d be a sugar daddy. Practice that shit here!”

“Alright, alright! We’ll go get a tent together then. Stingy ass.” Ambrose tried to duck the smack to the back of his head, but even with his 4-inch height difference, Vihaan was still able to gently cuff him.

[Journeyman’s Swipe (Pulled Back)]

23 Attack vs 15 Defense

Would have done 6 BLGN damage

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Holy shit, dude. Are your fists weapons?”

Vihaan shrugged. “Yeah. Epoch’s a cool class.”

“A cool class?! That would’ve done half my health.”

The gamer grinned. “Yeah, and I could follow it up with a second attack too. Now come on, King. Let’s go get that tent.”

Ambrose jokingly saluted him. “Yes sir.”

The two friends laughed as they headed over to the square, and Ambrose took the time to at least read the general gist of Vihaan’s class, the Epoch.

[Epoch: A man of skill and internal knowledge who trains his body and mind to be a legendary fighter on the battlefield and a mythic figure off of it.]

Damn, Vihaan’s playing a martial artist. That’s badass. “Know where the tent shop is?” Ambrose asked

“Uh, yeah,” Vihaan said, looking back at his map of the large town. “Both stores we’re looking for are on the south path, so we don’t have to double back. We can get a tent there and a carriage there.” He pointed to the respective stores, and Ambrose strode off, pulling out a coinpurse and letting the sound of coins grab all of the merchants’ attention.

While he bought the tent- at what he figured was a crazy markup, even with the game apparently taking his charisma and skill at persuasion into account- he spotted some signal whistles, and bought two of them as well, handing the second one over to Vihaan.  “Just in case we get split up.”

“Smart.” Vihaan gave him a suspicious look as they walked away to go find some seats on the carriage ride. “Are you sure you haven’t been gaming with other men?”

“Oh baby,” Ambrose crooned, playing it up for the crowd of players and NPCs that were staring at them. “I could never backslide on you like that! I’m a faithful man, V!”

Vihaan shook his head as Ambrose threw his arm around his shoulders, but he didn’t push the taller man off. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You started this one.”

“Oh man, remember when we had the whole high-school thinking we were dating?”

Ambrose laughed. “Man, that was the funniest thing we ever did. We didn’t even do anything romantic, they all just wanted to see two handsome guys like us kiss.”

“Can’t blame them,” Vihaan said. “We are very hot.”

For some reason, that comment in the killer deadpan that was solely Vihaan’s to claim completely broke the dam, and Ambrose started cackling so badly, he had to take a seat while he got all out of his system. “Holy shit,” he gasped. “Why haven’t we hung out recently? I missed this.”

“You- you did?” Vihaan looked shocked. “I- That’s nice. Come on, get up.”

Ambrose took the offered hand and got up, feeling a breeze beneath his short skirt for a second, but quickly smoothed it down. “Yeah. I think we’ve probably goofed around enough. Let’s go get that carriage ride.”

A couple minutes later, as well as Ambrose’s coinpurse 232 gold lighter, the two of them were comfortably sitting on an open carriage as it started to pull out of the town for a 1-hour ride. The morning sun was coming up on its highest point, and the warmth was picking up. Ambrose carefully sat on the wooden floor of the carriage and leaned back against his seat, stretching out to bask in the sunlight and relax in the feeling of it all over his body.

His eyes were closed when he heard the sound of shuffling and when he opened them, he saw Vihaan next to him, vest off to be just as shirtless as he was. Thanks to the metallic freckles, the gamer glittered in the sun. “Nice.”

“Sun feels good.”

“Sure does.”

“It also helps with the… you know what.”

Ambrose hummed his acknowledgement. He felt the filigree cage bite against his cock as it tried to get a half-chub thinking about Vihaan still nursing that plug. He closed his eyes again and tried to refocus on simply relaxing, but as he did so, he felt the carriage slow to a stop.

“Alright everyone,” a sleazy voice said, clearly from the front of the carriage. “Let’s all be nice and kind now. Me and my friends don’t ask for much, just your valuables.”

Opening his eyes with another sigh, Ambrose slowly sat up. Vihaan was already on one knee, hands up and glaring at someone. Ambrose turned and saw 3 bandits, one on both sides of the carriage and one at the rear, with each of them holding a light crossbow.

“And we don’t need no hero trying to save everyone,” a fourth bandit said, stepping around the front into both players' line of sight. “We just want your money and jewelry. Plain and simple.”

The two players barely glanced at each other before nodding. Getting robbed this early in the game? No way.

[Combat Starts!]

[Vihaan Jumped the Gun!]

Before Ambrose could pick a target, Vihaan leapt over the short wall of the carriage, landing on the ground and rushing to one of the bandits. Reaching the bandit, he threw a solid haymaker-

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Attack]

Critical Hit! vs 12 Defense

12 BLGN damage dealt

Bandit 3 defeated!

-and absolutely clocked the guy, knocking him out cold. The NPCs cheered as he moved to the bandit who circled to the front and went to attack again.

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Quick Attack]

21 Attack vs 12 Defense

4 BLGN damage dealt

Bandit 2 - Roughed Up

He got another solid punch in and grinned, watching as the bandit groaned in pain from the hit. “There’s more where that came from!”

“Hell yeah!” Ambrose yelled. “Knockin’ em dead, bro!”

“Bet I can take out more of them than you can!” Vihaan taunted.

Ambrose gave him a look and nodded; the challenge was on. He looked at the bandit on the opposite side of the cart and his spell list, quickly reading all four spells and realizing that he had a very funny combo that he could do. With a dramatic flourish, he clapped his hands together, and as they glowed in golden light, he pointed at the bandit, imagining him with stubborn joints and being horrifically slow. “Disdain!”

[Disdain - Quick Magic (-1 Conduit Spark)]

Ambrose’s Attention is Taken

Bandit 4 is now Disdained! Dexterity Checks will be penalized!

The bandit glowed in a sickly golden light, and Ambrose grinned. He took his other hand and simply waved away the bandit. “Prince’s Will.”

[Prince’s Will - Magic]

19 Attack vs 12 Defense

8 FRCE damage and 5 CRSE damage dealt

Bandit 4 is defeated!

A beam of dark golden light slammed into the guy, and he also passed out from the force of it and his Disdain curse bouncing off of each other. Ambrose felt the Disdain jump back onto his fingertips, and he grinned as Vihaan clapped for him.

“Solid work, dude!”

“Thanks!” Ambrose spotted the other two bandits pulling out their weapons. “Look out!”

The bandit behind the carriage brought up his crossbow and took a shot at Ambrose. At the same time, the bandit next to Vihaan dropped his crossbow and pulled out a scimitar, swinging at Vihaan.

[Light Crossbow - Attack]

11 Attack vs 15 Defense

Bandit 1 Misses!

[Scimitar - Attack]

6 Attack vs 15 Defense

Bandit 2 Misses!

“Well, that was anticlimatic,” Vihaan commented, barely having to step away from the blade that was swung at him.

“Kinda lame,” Ambrose agreed, watching the bandit start running away from the carriage. “Clean this up?”

“Hell yeah!”

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Quick Attack]

12 Attack vs 12 Defense

4 BLG damage dealt

Bandit 2 - Bloodied

“Damn it!” Vihaan groaned, stepping back from the bandit. “I had plans for my action!”

“Hey, it’s no big deal. We didn’t even bet like that. Just clean him up.” Ambrose’s focus was more on the bandit trying to run away. “Disdain!”

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Attack]

18 Attack vs 12 Defense

9 BLG damage dealt

Bandit 2 is defeated!

[Reapplied Disdain - Quick Magic]

Bandit 1 is now Disdained! Dexterity Checks will be penalized!

Ambrose grinned as he realized that the last guy was still very much in his range. “Man, magic is cool. Prince’s Will!”

[Prince’s Will - Magic]

15 Attack vs 12 Defense

6 FRCE and 5 CRSE damage dealt

Bandit 1 is defeated!

Ambrose blew at the top of his finger like he was cooling off the smoking barrel of a gun. “It’s just that easy.”

[Combat Is Over! Victory Secured!]

Rewards (per player): 50 XP, 583 gold.

“Damn,” Vihaan muttered, getting back in the carriage as the NPCs started clearing up the scene, tying the bandits up and calling for town guards to come and take them to the local jail. “I almost doubled my money in one go.”

“That’s fucking right!” Ambrose held out his hand and Vihaan immediately dapped him up. “How are you feeling though? Is that- uh- that thing of yours messing with you?”

Vihaan was already flush from fighting, but his face got darker at Ambrose’s concern. “It- uh- it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“You sure? It can’t be- ugh-” A groan forced itself out of Ambrose’s mouth as his cock throbbed in the cage, now commanding his focus with no enemies nearby.

“Are you good, Amps?” Now Vihaan sounded concerned for him.

“Fucking peachy,” Ambrose replied, already flexing his thighs. With a sigh, he glanced at the driver, hoping that the answer to his question would be something he liked. “How far are we from the Farms?”

“We’re about 30 minutes away, sir,” the carriage driver said. “My apologies about the bandits, everyone. I hear that there is a theft problem happening, so be sure to keep all valuables in your line of sight.”

“Now she says something about it,” Vihaan muttered. “That must have been one of the random encounters here. We were lucky they didn’t just ambush the cart.”

Ambrose nodded. “We’ll just keep an eye out on the rest of the way. I have Attention on my Disdain, anyway, so if another group tries to jump us, we’ll get them.”

Vihaan nodded. “Nice. Show me the buff for that real quick?”

As the cart started rolling again, Ambrose pulled up his 2 buffs:

[Noble Presence (Royal Decree Passive - Buff)]

Gain +3 to Defense. This buff can be dispelled.

[Attentive (Disdain) - Buff] <58m 23s>

Allows user the Quick Magic Action: Reapplied Disdain. Can be removed when user takes damage and fails to Resist an Attention Break against the damage taken.

“Oh that’s cool. Oh, and it looks like we got some XP.” Vihaan pulled up their XP bars.

[Party Levels]

Ambrose, Conduit 1, 50/300 XP

Vihaan, Epoch 1, 50/300 XP

“A sixth of the way to Level 2!” A solid high five was the only celebration between the two of them as the cart picked back its old speed back up and Vihaan was serious about not getting jumped, saying that “just because these last guys were stupid, doesn’t mean that the next ones will be.”

Although the advice was sound, no other bandit attacks happened, and the carriage made its way into the fences that surrounded the Southern Farms.

[New Location: Everton - Southern Farms]

Area Effect: New Beginnings 

+30% XP from Quests and Non-Combat Rewards

“We’re here!” Everyone got off of the carriage, and Ambrose started looking around. “Where do you think we could find Agnes?”

“Uh, let’s see.” Vihaan pulled out the map. As he studied it, the sunlight kept hitting his iron freckles. “It looks like besides all of the farms and townhomes, there are a couple taverns, a general store, an apothecary, and a town square.”

“We could probably find her at the tavern or town square,” Ambrose said. “You can always track a person down at the bar or on the quad.”

Vihaan shrugged. “I’m not the social one, so I’ll follow you. Town square first so we can try to rest at the tavern?”

“Sounds good to me.” Both men made their way to the diminutive town square; it was much smaller than the square in the town that they left. There are a few people hanging around, but a lot of NPCs are constantly moving through, yelling quick greetings to each other before continuing to head to the fields to work.

Ambrose looked around and spotted a couple of straw hats. They seemed plentiful here, probably to block the sun as someone worked. He waved down someone passing by, a gruff farmer who seemed friendly enough. “Excuse me, do you know where we could find Agnes?”

“The ‘pothecary? Probably at her place, if it’s open now.”

He smiled and pulled out ten gold, holding it out. “Thank you, sir.” 

The farmer took it with a smile of his own. “Glad to be of assistance, big spender!”

[Ambrose’s Renown in the Southern Farms has Increased!]

0 → 3

Ambrose curiously checked what Renown did.

[Renown (Mechanic)]

Renown is an area-specific statistic that normally starts at 0 and can go from -100 to 100. Positive Renown can give you discounts at stores, can affect your CHA checks, and can even grant different options. Negative Renown can have merchants upcharge you, but it also can change your checks and gameplay options (although in a much different way than Positive Renown).

Current Renown:

Everton: 9 (Kind Stranger)

Southern Farms: 3 (Kind Stranger)

“Oh, yeah, I’ll definitely take the lead on social stuff,” Ambrose said as the guy left. “Apparently giving away some money can really boost your social cred.”

“Huh?” Vihaan started going through the menus too. “Where did you find that?”

“Uh,” Ambrose clicked back, paying very close attention. “Party, then Characters, then Renown.”

Vihaan groaned, facepalming. “Fuck, have we been missing lore? We’re going back after we deal with this quest line.”

He sounded so serious about it, Ambrose couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Even in this crazy situation, you’re so serious about lore.”

“Someone has to be. I want my games well made.” Vihaan smiled back at him. “Come on, let's go to the apothecary before we try to rest at the tavern. Think they have a good inn?”

“We’ll ask Agnes when we see her. Which way’s the apothecary?”

“Uh, east from here. Follow me,” Vihaan said, and the two started walking towards the small wooden building with a sunflower on top of it. “I wonder why there’s a sunflower on the building?”

“Can you use a sunflower for medicine here?” Ambrose asked, mostly just throwing the idea out there.

[Medicine Check: Difficulty 15]

Ambrose: 10 (+0 from WIS)

Vihaan: 17→19 (+2 from WIS)

“Eh, it wouldn’t be the strongest thing, but you could make some pastes that can help with healing cuts and scrapes,” Vihaan said. He froze after that, shock all over his face. “That is… helpful, but very concerning.”

Ambrose looked at the results of the check. “Man, you are rolling well. You sure you don’t want to take the lead for social stuff?”

“I’ll let the guy connected with a God-King do all that.” The two of them kept walking, and soon they approached the apothecary. The sign on front said that she was in, and so Ambrose knocked.

“Come on in!” A familiar voice yelled. The two men grinned before they entered the building. The smell of earth and plants was the first thing they experienced, all of the different floral aromas mixing together and clashing. The walls were covered with shelved pots full of different plants; flowers decorated one wall, herbs decorated another, and other plants took up the wall behind the counter, where the small human woman who they met in Everton was busy tying the strings on a package. “What’s the issue you want me to look at today-” she finished and looked up, eyes narrowing as she stared at the two players.

Ambrose waved, stepping forward with a warm smile on his face. “Hi, Agnes. I’m Ambrose, he’s Vihaan. You asked us to help you with the thefts?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh! That’s right! I’m sorry, I have had a day today with the shop and other matters. Yes, yes.” She looked relieved as she sat down on a stool behind the counter. “Thank you both for coming here so quickly. You have a lot of time before the sun goes down, so that’s good. How can I help you?”

[Late to Bed, Early To Spy I - Quest]

Quest completed!

Rewards (per player): 15→21XP (+6 XP from New Beginnings )

[Quest Acquired! Late To Bed, Early To Spy II]

Find the Bandit Hideout

Reward: Standard XP

“What’s being stolen?” Vihaan asked, clearly having a gameplan. “You said it was herbs? What kind?”

“Uh, primarily ginseng, ginkgo, maca, and tribulus, I believe,” Agnes answered. “It’s been going on for about a week at this point. It’s cutting into my profits, keeping me awake with all of the talks with the farms that supply me. Honestly, it's been a real nightmare.”

Ambrose noticed that she had bags under her eyes from missing sleep. “I can see. Is there anything else you can tell us?”

“I don’t think so, no,” she said, sadly shaking her head. “They must have a hideout nearby, but that’s all I know really. I’ve thought about watching over the herb fields myself when night falls, since I’m already struggling with sleep, but my daughter would be so upset if anything were to happen to me.”

The two men looked at each other and nodded. They needed to investigate more, especially if they wanted to find the bandit hideout. “I’m glad you’re not putting yourself in danger, Agnes,” Ambrose said. “We’ll let you go now, you look like you should rest. If you need to find us, we’ll be at a nearby inn.”

“Oh, you both are too kind,” Agnes said. “If you don’t mind, I have a small package that needs to be delivered to the Flower Bed Inn down the street if you go right when you leave. It’s not as comfortable as the inns in Everton, but it’s modest and the best inn around.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Vihaan said, holding out a hand for the package. “Who do we give it to?”

She reached down below the counter and came up with a small, book sized package, already wrapped in fabric and tied with string. “Success, the barkeep. They’ve been asking for some more sprigs to make mixing syrups with. Just let them know that I sent you, and they’ll sort you out.”

[Quest Acquired! Growing Connections]

Speak to Success and deliver Agnes’s package.

Reward: Slight XP, 4 Renown, 400 gold.

Vihaan carefully tucked the package into his bag. “Success? Cool name.”

Agnes chuckled. “They’re a tiefling, it’s standard for them to name themselves after what they strive for. Success certainly lives up to their name with that Flower Bed.”

“Can’t wait to meet them,” Ambrose said honestly. If he didn’t pick human, he would’ve picked tiefling.. “We’ll hopefully run into you later, Agnes. Take care.”

“You two as well,” she responded with a tired smile. “Bye, Ambrose. Bye, Vihaan.”

The two men leave the apothecary and head right, walking down the street. Ambrose looked over at Vihaan and saw he was deep in thought, playfully shaking his shoulder. “What are you thinking about so hard?”

“Just trying to figure out how we can find the Bandit hideout,” Vihaan said. “Right now, all I can think of is trying to find the bandits at night and tracking them…”

“But…” Ambrose egged on when Vihaan fell quiet. “Come on, what’s that genius brian of yours cooking up?”

“But I wonder if there’s a guaranteed non-combat way to find out, so we can get the extra XP,” Vihaan admitted, looking away at the buildings on the side of the road. “It doesn’t really matter, but-”

“No, that’s really smart to think about.” Ambrose gently grabbed Vihaan’s arm to get his full attention. ‘I mean, if we’re gonna be stuck in this game for a while, we should probably try to get stronger as fast as we can, right?”

Vihaan nodded.

“So, you gaming genius, let’s find a way to abuse any bonus this game wants to give us.” Ambrose gave him a smile, and rubbed the top of his head. “Don’t doubt yourself, dude. We can talk about stuff like this.”

The gamer nodded, his entire body kind of slumped in and bashful. “Yeah. Yeah. Let’s just go rest at the inn. I’m starting to get tired of this plug in me.”

Ambrose’s face became very hot. Probably because of the sun being directly on it for so long. “Ri- right. Let’s go.”

The two men spent the next 15 minutes in silence, walking to the Flower Bed Inn and entering its tavern space. It wasn’t as rowdy as the inn in Everton; Ambrose found it to be more like one of the local coffeeshops he went to, with a steady noise of conversation on top of a live and quiet music act making a casual ambiance. It was nice enough, but it also reminded him of the weird gap he’s felt at his side for so long this year.

In the tavern itself, he brushed off that thought, casually walked over to the bar, and rang the bell for service that was placed on it. A few moments later, a tall, red-skinned person with horns that spiraled like a goat out of their skull stepped out from behind the back, leaning slightly and barely showing their charming face. “Welcome to the Flower Bed! Be right with you!”

They disappeared again, and Vihaan handed Ambrose the package. The person came back, and it was clear that they were busy, with sweat soaking the collar of their shirt, their apron untied and loose, and their red tail twitching slightly behind them. “Sorry about that,” they said. Their eyes, fully black and pupil-less, still managed to display their honest sincerity and generosity. “My name is Success, how can I help you?”

“Hey, I’m Ambrose, this is Vihaan, and we have a package from Agnes to give you.” Ambrose held out the package and Success took it, opening it up to see a large packet of herbs.

“Oh, that’s great! Thanks. Here, let me get your due-”

[Growing Connections - Quest]

Quest Complete!

Rewards (per player): 12→16 XP (+4 XP from New Beginnings ), 4 Renown, 400 gold.

“-and is that everything?”

“Uh, could we also have an inn room?” Ambrose asked. “Just for the next day.”

Success chuckled. “You’re in luck, adventurers. We only rent out rooms on a day to day basis. Right now, the going rate for a room is 98 gold a day. It’s actually a bit more than that, but I like you two.”

“We’ll take it,” Ambrose said, reaching out a hand and shaking on it. He was starting to like this tiefling, too. “We’ll rest up for a bit, but can we have some tea and food delivered to the room? I’ll pay for it now, too.”

“That will be another 117, and that’s for 3 meals and non-alcoholic drinks your whole stay, again for both of you. In total, that’s 215 gold. Will you be splitting the price?”

“It’s on me,” Ambrose said, pulling out his coinpurse. “You can give V the key though. He’s the responsible one.”

Vihaan chuckled. Success’s smile grew as they quickly counted the money and handed over two keys. “You’ll be in the 4th room, and all the rooms up the stairs over there. I’ll have a meal and some tea brought up in about 20 to 30 minutes. Is that everything for now?”

“Yes,” both men said. “Thank you,” Vihaan adds. “This is a neat inn.”

The barkeep clearly appreciated the praise, their full black eyes glittering with joy. “That’s so kind of you to say. I’d tell you more about how it works, but I don’t want to get in the way of your rest. Feel free to stop and say hi if you see me and you have the time!”

“We will,” Ambrose said. “See you later, Success.”

The tiefling waved before they were swept away by some of their staff. Ambrose followed Vihaan up to the room, letting out a sigh of relief when the door closed behind them. “Dude, we’re killing it!”

“Hell yeah we are.” Vihaan held up a hand, and Ambrose gave him a solid high five. “Ready to take a Rest?”

Ambrose looked over the room, his eyes immediately stopping at the sight of the modest bed that looked big enough to hold them both and soft enough to stay incredibly comfortable. “Yeah, I’m gonna take a nap.”

“Got it.”

[Vihaan has started a party Rest!]

1h 00m 00s

Will Recover:

(Ambrose) 1 Conduit Spark

The timer started counting down, and the room gained a soft green glow to it. “There’s a tub here in the corner,” Vihaan said, voice muffled behind the privacy screen that came with it. “I’m gonna take a bath while you nap, and I’ll wake you up when the food gets here.”

“Thanks.” Ambrose let gravity help him settle in; he fully fell backwards onto the bed and closed his eyes, not bothering to take off his jewelry or skirt, and barely remembering to take off his sandals before he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Ambrose woke up to Vihaan shaking his shoulder. The Indian man’s hair was down and loose, which was really different to how he normally wore it. “Food’s here.”

Groggily sitting up, Ambrose had to rub the comfortable sleep out of his eyes before he did anything else. The first thing he noticed was the green timer for their Rest period glowed above the door:

[Rest - Channel]

36m 23s remaining.

Looking around the room, a large platter of cheese, fruit, and cured meats sat on the desk with a pitcher of tea beside it. The inviting spread was slightly disheveled, and one of the mugs matching the sandy-colored pitcher was full.

He sat on the side of the bed- jumping slightly when his bare feet hit the stone floor- and stretched. “Looks good. Had any yet?”

“It’s pretty good.” Vihaan grabbed a plate that Ambrose didn’t see yet, half full with things from the platter, took the chair, flipped it around, and sat on it like a jackass- leaning forward onto the back of the chair. “I cleaned out the tub while I was waiting and what not, but I think it’s enchanted to be clean and the right temperature anyway.”

“Holy shit, really?” That would feel so nice right now. “Say less, dude. Let me grab a plate and lounge in the tub like a fucking god.”

Vihaan laughed and shook his head. “Go for it, man. Save me some, too.”

With his friend’s blessing, Ambrose made himself a nice serving, went behind the screen, and saw the stone tub. It was a large oval that looked hot deep enough and wide enough for him to fully sink into, and there were small bottles of different colored soaps sitting on a shelf next to it. There was a bottle filled with a blue liquid that reminded him of the mint bodywash he would use, so while thinking about his usual shower back at home, he poured a good amount of it in the tub. The faucet was also made of stone, but it glowed lightly with an enchantment that he carefully tapped the faucet and slid his finger up and down, noting that it was a temperature slider. It took a few moments to feel comfortable with the water, but when he got it right, he let it run on its own.

While the water ran, he slowly took off all of the jewelry he had on, placing all of the necklaces and rings onto the shelf next to the soaps. The red and white skirt was hung on a coat rack placed by the tub. When he went to take the thong off, he paused. He didn’t necessarily like wearing a thong, but- fuck- he could still feel the metal cage on his cock, and seeing it would be confirming that this game was really doing some fucked up shit to him.

For a moment, he wondered if it would be so bad to keep wearing it. He hadn’t even fully studied it yet due to the shock of it being put on him and everything that happened afterwards. And it could look really sharp and cool-

“What the fuck,” Ambrose whispered to himself. “Why the fuck am I actually thinking about keeping a fucking cock cage on.” With a shake of his head, he cleared away those thoughts, knowing that the cage will come off when he gets to Level 3, and he honestly couldn’t wait until that happened. But for now, he carefully takes off the red thong, puts it next to the skirt, and slides into the tub, keeping his eyes away from his lower half.

The soap doesn’t cause the water to foam up, and it’s so clear that Ambrose can see every inch of his body, even as he was almost fully submerged, with just his head and arms above the water and resting on the smooth edge of the stone, his short dreads dangling in the open air. Because of that, as he was eating his lunch, his eyes had no choice but to fall on the gold cock cage that was framed by how it currently sat on top of his legs and stood out against his dark brown skin, shimmering in the sunlight that peeked through the curtained window high on the wall.

[Narmer’s Safeguard - Class Item]

Allows user access to Conduit class and its abilities.

“All Kings wield the authority given to them. God-Kings make the authority themselves, even out of nothing if they need to.” - Narmer

“Huh,” Ambrose muttered, popping a grape into his mouth. “What an interesting quote there, Narmer.”

His mind raced against his will to remain carefree about it though, thinking about what the fuck a cock cage has to do with wielding authority. He wouldn’t say that he flaunted how big he was- even if he had every right to do so, since he was easily bigger than most guys fully hard when his own dick was soft- but he did feel somewhat humiliated by having his cock locked away from him. That can’t be what this guy was talking about beyond the whole “no bastard heir” thing.

A twitch from the cage brought his attention back to the present, where he saw his cock again fighting against the golden filigree. It looked somewhat ridiculous: the metal looked so fragile, and it should’ve snapped at this point, but it was so solid and stifling that now he was looking at it, it annoyed him. He was also pretty fucking horny.

His hands went down to the cage. He was yet again stopped from gripping his cock and stroking it by the deceptively oppressive filigree, but as he gingerly felt around the metal, he realized that there was a relatively larger opening at the tip of the cage that he could tease the very edge of his tip. The water splashed a bit as the smallest bit of pleasure shot through him, causing him to jerk.

As he kept on teasing the slit of his cock with one hand, the other hand lightly played with his balls, and he took a minute or two to just bask in the small bit of pleasure he could take right now. Fuck what Narmer was trying to pull, he’ll still jack off, even if he finds himself frustratingly horny with no way off getting close to the edge, let alone climaxing. He almost moaned as a shiver ran down his spine, and he quickly covered his mouth as he kept teasing the very tip of his cock.

After another minute or two, maybe, and with a small groan, he slowly stopped playing with himself. The pain of his cock biting into the tight metal cage was killing his mood, and he really should start drying off and getting ready again. Seeing a towel left for him on the side, he pulled himself out of the water and grabbed it, drying off his upper body before he stepped out onto a mat and finished drying off. In a still-horny anger, he made sure to dry off every part of his cage and dick; he was chagrined to see a tiny amount of pre at the tip of the cage, and carefully wiped that away before he did any reckless actions.

He redressed pretty quickly, but spent a few more minutes behind the screen, eating the food he got for himself before he drained the tub, just in case. Ambrose tried not to imagine if Vihaan had heard anything suspicious- he really should’ve sprung for two rooms, jacking off in the same room as your best friend was just so fucking weird, even if you don’t get off- and he definitely waited until the tub fully drained. When it had magically made sure that every bit of soap had gone down the drain and dried itself, he took a deep breath, grabbed the empty plate, and stepped back into the full room.

To his relief, Vihaan was fully asleep on the bed, lying on his front. The platter was mostly cleared now, and the tea pitcher was half full. As Ambrose put the plate on the desk, he glanced at the Rest timer.

[Rest - Channel]

17m 37s remaining.

Damn. He had spent like 20 minutes trying- and failing- to jack off. Quietly humbled by that fact, he poured himself a glass of tea and sat in the chair like a normal person as he drank it. The slightly sweet taste of peach greeted him, and he hummed in surprised delight.

With nothing else to do for 17 minutes, he decided to snoop on Vihaan’s character sheet, since he was interrupted when they were in Everton. Going to the menu, he pulled up the simple version first.

[Vihaan, Aasimar Epoch (Level 1)]

10/10 HP, 1 Minor Miracle I

12 STR (+1), 17 DEX (+3), 14 CON (+2)

10 INT (0), 14 WIS (+2), 8 CHA (-1)

15 Defense

0 Buffs, 0 Debuffs

Then he started digging deeper. V would appreciate it. He slipped past all of the Aasimar stuff, he had already seen it, so he decided to start reading other skills.

[Jump the Gun I (Epoch Passive - Buff)]

User has a faster reaction time when Initiative starts. Upgrades at Level 5.

Okay that’s sick. More likely to go first and do some solid damage.

[Journeyman’s Swipe (Epoch Attack)]

Attack or Quick Attack. Melee. DEX Attack.

User wields their conviction and throws a punch that deals 4-9 BLG damage. Upgrades at Level 5.

[Nimble Dodge (Epoch Passive - Buff)]

User gains a buff to Defense calculated by user’s WIS.

Some solid combat stuff too. Nothing too crazy, but Ambrose figured that was because this was a martial class, and Vihaan would probably go nuts later in the game, especially because he was a beta-tester who studied the game after he played it. It’s just like Vihaan too, to be unassuming at first and then suddenly be cool and impressive. Ambrose grinned at how well it fit together, and glanced over at Vihaan’s still sleeping body.

Vihaan had taken his vest off before he fell asleep- it was next to him in the bed- so his entire back was on display. This wasn’t anything new. Vihaan liked to sleep on his front; there were many times that Ambrose would wake up early for practice or the gym, and he would see that Vihaan would be passed out, on his desk, usually in just his underwear like he was going to go to bed, but couldn’t help himself when it came to coding.

Whenever Ambrose saw him like that, he would pick Vihaan up carefully- although the guy could sleep like a rock- and put him in his bed. A couple hours later, when he would come back to the apartment to shower and get ready for the day, he’d check back up on Vihaan, and if he was still asleep, he’d be on his front.

The only real differences between those times and now were the freckles of iron that danced all over Vihaan’s back and the fact that now Ambrose was really studying him, yeah, he could see the growing muscle definition. Vihaan said he had been going to the gym since August? When was the last time Ambrose caught him sleeping at the desk? Probably in December, when they both independently decided to stay for a winter class.

Holy shit. He really didn’t know anything that Vihaan was doing right now. With a long sigh, Ambrose closed his eyes and shook his head. If he’s so out of Vihaan’s life to not even notice him go from a twink to a twunk, what else was he missing?

Ambrose looked back at the timer.

[Rest - Chanel]

3m 46s remaining.

He looked back at Vihaan. “I’m gonna do better to stick by you, dude,” he vowed in a guilty whisper. “And it starts here in this weird-ass game.” He poured himself another cup of peach tea and drank it, waiting for the Rest to end in silence.

Chapter Text

Vihaan woke up to a quiet, yet insistent ringing noise. When he turned his head to the door, he saw the reason for the annoyance that felt like it was coming from inside his own head.

[Rest - Channel]

The Rest has been successfully completed!

Rewards:

(Ambrose) 1 Conduit Spark

He heard Ambrose moving behind him before the jock spoke. “Hell yeah. Love that funky spark.”

He chuckled as he rolled over. Sometimes, Ambrose said whatever he wanted and it was horribly cringy. “Funky spark?” he repeated. “You are such a dork when no one else is paying attention.”

“Hey!” Ambrose gasped. “You respect the spark! It lets me do some cool magic shit.”

It was all so ridiculous that Vihaan couldn’t help but laugh as he got up and pulled on his vest. Man, he was glad he thought about trying this game out with Ambrose.

To keep the bit going, he held up his hands in mock surrender. “Oh! My apologies, spark! Please accept my thoughts about what we should do as a token of my appreciation!”

Ambrose closed his eyes and held out a hand like he was casting a spell. “The spark… finds your offering worthy,” he hummed. He opened his eyes, and Vihaan caught the usual joyful glimmer in his brown eyes and felt his face warm up. Ambrose dropped his hand and sat down on the chair. “What’s the game plan?”

Vihaan cleared his throat, looking down at the floor to both grab his bag and avoid accidentally looking up his friend’s short skirt. “It’s kind of still in the drafting stage right now,” he started, “but I think we can try to look for more information regarding the bandits and grind for XP at the same time. We just have to stack our quests right.”

Ambrose nodded. “Okay, I see the vision. Are we just winging it on where to go?”

“Nope. We know that the bandits are stealing ginseng, gingko, maca, and tribulus, so we should try to stick to those areas so we can investigate if we need to.” Vihaan reached into his bag and pulled out his map of Everton and the Southern Farms. “I don’t know what fields grow them, but I think we can ask Success that. And also for sundown so we can set a timer for it.”

“Nice.” Ambrose stood up and stretched. “If you want to give me the map, I’ll go downstairs and ask them now while you finish getting ready.”

Vihaan paused at how easily Ambrose moved with the plan. “Damn, Amps, you’re ready to go, aren’t you?”

The Black man grinned. “What can I say? I got a genius for an adventuring partner and I’d be stupid to fight against an easy plan.”

The praise caused Vihaan’s face to heat up again. He shrugged, really hoping that it came across as nonchalant. “Fair enough. Catch.”

The toss was perfect, and Ambrose easily caught the map. “Be back in a minute.”

“Don’t make me wait too long, Amps.” 

As the door closed behind Ambrose, Vihaan pulled out the green ribbon he used earlier and tied his hair back again. After he was sure he secured his hair, he did some lunges to warm up his legs, grimacing through the jolts of pleasure that shot through him.

[Patroclus’ Reminder - Class Item]

Allows user access to the Epoch class and its abilities.

"Temptation and frustration are a large part of a hero's journey. It's how you handle both that determines how your story ends." - Patroclus

If he was being honest, the plug wasn’t too bad. It was tiny, smaller than any of his usual toys. It was small enough that he could ignore it when he was standing up, it wasn’t so distracting if he sat down, and it's not like he needed to use the restroom in the game. At least the weird undertones of porn logic seemed to be consistent enough to also be great for gay sex too, considering he didn’t need to clean out before he had to loop the cock ring around the base of his dick and guide the plug on its short chain up his ass. It went in smoothly with a bit of lube that the NPC gave him, which Vihaan would have expected anyway if this was his actual body, but it was kinda scary that this game knew exactly how well-experienced of a bottom he was. Also a bit hot.

Either way, no matter if he had an intrusive toy inside of him or not, he still needed to stretch. Not actually, as again, this wasn’t his body, but the activity helped keep his mind from spiraling in the same way he had found exercising at the gym did. He mindlessly went through his usual warmup routine, his mind more focused on what could happen next.

“We‘ll definitely have to deal with the bandits, and there’s a reason they’re stealing those herbs,” he reasoned, thinking out loud as he slid into a split. “I can’t think of how those herbs are important, but we should be paying more attention to the lore. Maybe there’s a place here for local history? Or in Everton, at least.”

[Quest Acquired! Stop And Smell The Ginseng]

Deliver the water skins to the farmers at the ginseng field. (0/5)

Reward: Slight XP, 5 Renown, 100 gold

[Quest Acquired! Stop And Smell The Gingko]

Deliver the water skins to the farmers at the gingko field. (0/5)

Reward: Slight XP, 5 Renown, 100 gold

[Quest Acquired! Stop And Smell The Maca]

Deliver the water skins to the farmers at the maca field. (0/5)

Reward: Slight XP, 5 Renown, 100 gold

[Quest Acquired! Stop And Smell The Tribulus]

Deliver the water skins to the farmers at the tribulus field. (0/5)

Reward: Slight XP, 5 Renown, 100 gold

[Party Timer Set! Sunset]

07h 29m 12s remaining.

“Damn, Amps is really putting in the work.” Vihaan shook his head, impressed at the sudden amount of fetch quests popping up. “And that’s a good amount of time, too. We can definitely grind a bit, hopefully hit Level 2. That’ll help. I think I get Inner Knowledge and Epoch Mobility then-“

The door opened, and Ambrose entered, holding 4 small boxes. “Got us some extra XP, dude!”

“I saw. Nice work.” Vihaan brought both legs in front of him and kipped himself up onto his feet. “We heading out soon?”

Ambrose just stared back at him for a while. Vihaan couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and so he awkwardly stood there. 

And stood there.

And stood there.

And kept standing there.

[Sunset - Party Timer]

07h 28m 38s remaining.

“Uh, Amps?” Vihaan awkwardly waved, and that snapped Ambrose out of that weird stare. “You good?”

“Yeah.” Ambrose shook his head; his dreads swung with the motion, showing the little glint of gold in them that Vihaan thought he made up. “Yeah, I’m good. When could you do that?”

“In game. I can almost do it in real life though.” Vihaan snorted at the look of constipated surprise on Ambrose’s face. “Don’t worry though, I’m not coming for your spot as top jock.”

“No, no, it- it ain’t that-”

“Ain’t?!” Vihaan knew his grin was becoming lethal. “Holy shit, man, is my getting buff so shocking to you that you’re defaulting to factory settings?”

“I- I-er-” Ambrose cleared his throat. “I’m just tryin’- trying, I’m trying-” he stressed, verbally browbeating his Texan accent back into its more disguised state- “to figure out how I missed you training like one of those guys from the Assassin games.”

Vihaan shrugged. “Who knows? We were both busy this year. And I’ve been taking better care of myself. Maybe that’s it.” He can tell that Ambrose might still have a few questions, but now is not a good time. “But we can talk about it later,” he said. “Did you get the spots marked on the map?”

“Oh, yeah.” Ambrose put all of the boxes in his bag- Vihaan was glad they implemented hammerspace inventory in this game- and pulled out the map, handing it over. “It looked like they’re all in 1 mile spots along one of the roads here. Straight shot down the path, next to the forest at some parts.”

“Cool.” Vihaan studied the map, seeing the four marks west of where they currently were. “Let’s get going. Wanna jog it out?”

Ambrose grinned. “I might be a sprinter, but I’ll never turn down any kind of run.”

It’s so adorable that Vihaan didn’t have the heart to tell the track athlete that in the next level, he’ll be constantly slower than him thanks to the game mechanics. Instead, he gave him a warning smirk before dashing for the door. “Try to keep up!”

He could hear Ambrose spluttering and cussing him out as he left and almost started laughing. He ran down the stairs and slowed to a very fast walk at the bottom of them, waving at Success as they gave him a confused look before spotting something over his shoulder.

[Athletics (STR) Check: Difficulty 15 ]

-1 Move Mountains I

Ambrose: 4 17→16 (Advantage from Move Mountains I, -1 from STR)

A sudden weight landed on Vihaan’s back, and it caused his knees to buckle-

[Strength Resist: Difficulty 15]

Vihaan: 17→20 (+1 from STR, +2 from Epoch)

-but he was able to correct himself and stand up; now practically piggybacking a laughing Ambrose. “How the fuck-”

“I jumped off the stairs,” Ambrose smugly admitted.

“And you were quite lucky that Vihaan was able to catch you so deftly,” Success said, giving Ambrose an amused, but chastising look. “I would hate for my messengers to be injured before they were even out the door.”

The gentle reproach wasn’t even aimed at Vihaan, and yet he apologized in unison with Ambrose to the tiefling while his friend carefully slid off his back.

They gracefully waved it away. “It is no worry now; please don’t add to the mess I have to clean up. Especially if it is blood.” The last part is said in such a long-suffering tone it almost made Vihaan apologize again.

“No semi-dangerous stuff in the tavern, got it,” Ambrose said. Vihaan nodded to show he understood too. “Thanks again for the odd job, Success.”

The barkeep smiled. “I’m glad I could find such spirited adventurers. Oh, and Ambrose, if you are going to commit more daring athletics, I would invest in skirt weights. Practical advice.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Vihaan saw Ambrose purse his lips together in a flat smile as he smoothed down the back of his skirt. “Thanks. We’ll see you later.”

“Stay safe!” Success called after them as they stepped out into the midday sun. Vihaan pulled up the sunset timer again.

[Sunset - Party Timer]

07h 21m 42s

When he looked back, Ambrose had started walking. “Okay, I think the maca field is the closest one, so let’s hit the road.”

He shook his head and caught up. “You’re really itching to go, huh?”

“What can I say? Feels good doing something with my best bro,” Ambrose responded, turning around and flashing him a grin. “Adventuring and all that jazz. Saving the people one drink of water at a time.”

Emboldened by the bravado- and chuckling over it- Vihaan found that the trek to the maca field seemed to go by faster than he thought it would at their pace. It was also pretty easy to find all of the people currently working there and hand out Success’ waterskins, and soon, there was the small sound of fanfare as they confirmed the quest was done.

[Stop And Smell The Maca - Quest]

Quest complete!

Rewards (per player): 6→8 XP (+2 XP from New Beginnings ), 5 Renown, 100 gold

“Hey,” Ambrose said to one of the farmers, “we heard you guys were having some of the plants be taken, do you know why?”

Vihaan was glad it seemed like Ambrose had picked up on the details of specific herbs.

The farmer- a young man, probably barely 19- glanced around a bit and chuckled. “I mean… I thought someone was struggling to perform at first,” he joked. “But now that there’s so much missing, I think it might just be for selling underground somewhere. Maca root tea does taste good if you like it, and it can be expensive.”

Vihaan took note, ignoring the crass joke. “And the other herbs?”

“I can’t say anything about them,” the farmer said with a shrug. “I just stay here a lot of the time. Is Miss Agnes asking you to help her with this?”

Ambrose nodded. “Yeah.”

“I wish you luck then. It’s been causing her a lot of grief.” He sighed. “It’s been driving Frida up the wall as well.”

Frida… “Is she her daughter?” Vihaan asked.

“Yes. If you haven’t met Frida yet, it’s only a matter of time until you do. She’s constantly walking around the fields to check in on people. Between those two, the entire trade of Southern Farms runs like a properly maintenanced carriage.”

“That’s pretty neat,” Vihaan said softly, pulling back in the conversation and letting Ambrose take over while he filed that specific piece of information away. He had played enough games to know that it was probably going to be very important to understand what was going on.

Ambrose seemed to catch on quickly and ended the conversation soon enough- “We have some more deliveries to make, just try to stay safe!”- so they could get back on the road. They passed by another field of sunflowers before he spoke. “You’re thinking of something, aren’t you?”

“I…” Vihaan trailed off, not really happy he didn’t have enough information, but understanding that they literally just started. “If we run into Frida, we need to talk to her. I have a feeling.”

“Say less.” Ambrose didn’t even break stride. “I’ll ask if anyone’s seen her around at the next field we stop at. I know it’s one of the ones closer to the forest, so it might be easier because I don’t think anyone would go into the place filled with wild animals.”

“Okay, but it might be weird if you’re asking both about the bandit theft and Frida,” Vihaan said. “Let’s split up the water skins; you ask everyone you help about the herbs, I ask everyone I help about Frida.”

“Deal.” The jock reached into his bag and pulled out a couple of the waterskins, handing them over. “How are you feeling, by the way? I know it’s barely been a few hours, but…”

“I’m good.”

Vihaan could tell Ambrose didn’t fully believe that. “Uh huh.”

He sighed. “I mean, it’s annoying to be stuck in a game I’ve seen the code of before, and I’m slightly terrified that whoever hacked into the system at least knows everyone’s first name and biometric data because you couldn’t change those details in the character creation, and oh, yeah, everything is fucking perverted and weird and we’re walking on a simulated dirt road like you don’t have a fucking chastity cage on and I’m not wearing a cock ring and a tiny ass buttplug-”

A hand on his shoulder cut off Vihaan’s growing rant, grounding him enough to at least start calming down the panic and frustration that’s been building over time. In the day time, with all of the jewelry on, Ambrose looked steady, calm even, which is usually not a word that Vihaan would use for him.

“Okay, that’s a lot,” Ambrose started, voice uncharacteristically soft. “First things first, what do you mean you couldn’t change much in character creation?”

The question was so strange, it snapped the rest of the panic away. “Huh? You couldn’t even change your name on the first screen. I thought it was a glitch so I reported it and moved on because there’s usually a name change feature in an MMO.” Vihaan gave Ambrose a questioning look. “Did you not notice that?”

Ambrose looked away. “Uh. Nope. Can’t say I did.”

For a moment, Vihaan wondered how the hell did that detail slip by him- “Oh my god, you were gonna be a self-insert from the beginning.”

“I wasn’t!”

“You didn’t even change a thing about yourself,” he continued, chuckling at the thought of it. “You went to look for the coolest version of you with as little change as possible and you got away with it.”

Ambrose was definitely blushing now, bashful and shy even if his skin was dark enough to hide any rush of blood to his cheeks. “That’s- that’s not what happened-”

“I can’t believe my best friend is such a dork to self-insert in an MMO, Vihaan joked, playing up the sarcasm to make sure Ambrose knew he wasn’t being serious or mean on purpose. The bashfulness was adorable either way. “Were you gonna try and romance the hottest NPC you met?”

There was a long silence as they continued walking to the next field, mostly from Ambrose continuing to try and get out of the conversation and ribbing. After a few moments, he sighed and quietly answered. “Yeah.”

Vihaan chuckled a bit. “Fair.” He waited a bit, smirking as he came up with a devious idea. He decided to wait a little bit longer, seeing the fence line next to them end in the distance and marking that as his signal.

Ambrose glanced at him. “That’s not weird, right?”

“Not really,” Vihaan said. “A lot of people spot a romanceable NPC that clicks with them and lock in. Or sometimes an unromanceable one. Then they write fanfic or something.”

Three posts away.

“Huh. Cool.” Two posts away.

One post away.

They passed the end of the fence line. “So,” Vihaan said, feeling the shit eating grin cross his face, “dating sims catch your eye, huh?”

Ambrose tripped over his own feet and stumbled a few feet before he caught himself. The cackle that ripped itself out of Vihaan was devastating, practically bringing him to his knees.

“What?!”

“Hey-“ he couldn’t stop laughing, especially at the flabbergasted expression on Ambrose’s face- “it’s a step up from 2K-“

“No, no, it’s not like that-“

“Just wouldn’t expect you to be the guy who optimizes for different routes.”

At the joking accusation, Ambrose grew very quiet and for a second, Vihaan thought he might have taken it a bit too far. “Hey-“

The next words Ambrose said were whispered. “It’s Nu Carnival.”

There’s no way Vihaan heard that correctly. “What?”

“I- uh. I play Nu Carnival.”

“Another gacha? Oh, we have to get you out of the mud-“

“It’s a good plot!”

“I bet you play it for the plot-“

“You have a body pillow- several different ones of characters that are much more nasty than what’s in the game I play to pass the time.”

“No, no- I’m not judging. Too hard,” Vihaan admitted. “I’m just in shock that I thought I got you out of the gacha games and you waltzed back into another one.”

“2K is not a gacha!”

“How much money have you spent on microtransactions?” There was a long silence before Ambrose fully turned and walked away faster, shaking his head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

He heard Ambrose smirk before he said, “You’re ridiculous.”

“Hey, you fought for years to get me out of my shell, these are the consequences.”

“Yeah.” Ambrose sighed. Vihaan thought it sounded fond. “Come on, I see the ginseng field up ahead. Probably another quarter mile.”

“Whew,” Vihaan cheered, pulling up the timer.

[Sunset - Party Timer]

06h 35m 55s

A couple minutes later, they finally arrived at the ginseng field, and split up to go find their people. Vihaan chose to go further back, passing many open shelves that had the herb growing all around the posts like vines wrapping around trees.

He spotted his first recipient in the middle of one of the rows, clearly taking a break while they wiped the sweat off of their brow. “Hey! Delivery from the Flower Bed! Success says you guys ordered some water?”

“Oh, thank you, sir,” the man said, taking the water skin and taking a long drink from it. “I’m Hector.”

“Vihaan.”

“You must be an adventurer passing through,” Hector said, using a hand to cover his eyes from the sun while he looked Vihaan up and down. “Especially in that attire. It’s rather flashy, no?”

Vihaan shrugged. The guy wasn’t wrong, the open vest and leggings combined made him look like more of a performer than a fighter or adventurer. “It’s light to move in. I’m a very quick fighter.”

“Eh. If you say so. Thanks for the water-“

“Before you get back to work- uh- Agnes wanted me to deliver a note to her daughter,” he lied, thinking quickly. “Do you know where she is?”

Hector gave him an irritated look. “I don’t really pay attention to things outside my work. Anything else?”

Vihaan shook his head. “I’ll just go now.”” He quickly left, leaving Hector to his own devices. The other person he found in the middle of the field was a young woman who spotted the waterskin in his hands and eagerly reached out for it.

“Ugh, you’re a boon on my life today,” she muttered after he handed it over. “Marie.”

“Vihaan.”

“Oh, that sounds new. Far from home?”

He chuckled. “You could say that. I’m just doing some deliveries to learn the area. I have a few more left after this.”

“Oh, don’t let me get in the way!” She went to wave him along, but she paused halfway through. “Unless you’re trying to find someone for one of them?”

“Uh- yes, I am,” he said, mentally relieved that she was more approachable. “I’m trying to find Frida. Agnes’ daughter? Agnes gave me a note to give to her.”

Marie laughed, her eyes full of warmth. “Oh, you are just behind her on her rounds of all of the herbs here! Keep going west and you’ll catch up with her soon. Hells, you could even find her in the square a good portion of the time; she loves sitting on a bench to do all the calculations before travelling to Everton.”

“She goes to Everton?” Vihaan asked.

“Her and her mom are the Southern Farms’ representatives.” Marie shook her head. “I actually got the day wrong, she goes to Everton tomorrow, but when she does, she’ll talk to people from the other 3 farms and they’ll come up with a trade agreement for the month. Either way- she added, pointing at the road- “you should probably hurry. Frida’s been scarily efficient this past round, probably because of the theft.”

“Uh, right,” Vihaan said, trying to remember everything he was just told. “Thanks, Marie. Stay safe!”

“You too, good sir!”

He turned back and headed back to the path. Hopefully Ambrose would be ready to go-

[Stop And Smell The Ginseng - Quest]

Quest Complete!

Rewards (per player): 9→12 XP (+3XP From New Beginnings ), 5 Renown, 100 gold

“Nice,” he muttered, seeing his friend waiting by the road. As he approached, Ambrose stopped leaning on the wall like a delinquent anime character, stepping forward. Vihaan shook his head before the jock could say anything. “We gotta move; Frida just left here.”

“Say less.” Ambrose followed him in step and the two moved quickly, breaking into a light jog to go to the next field, which although it wasn’t one of their deliveries, they stopped quickly to ask if Frida was there.

“Ah- I was just about to leave,” a young woman with blonde hair looked up from some parchment she was writing on. “You wanted to talk to me?”

Ambrose stepped forward, thankfully already used to being the Face between them. “Yes. We were hired by your mother to help with the bandits.”

“Oh, of course.” Frida pushed her glasses up her nose and looked around. “I should be done here, let’s go to the gingko field next. We can talk on the way.”

[Quest Acquired! Get Your Foot In The Door]

Hold a productive conversation with Frida while you head over to the gingko fields.

Rewards: Standard XP, 7 Renown, ???

Failure: Slight XP, -10 Renown

The two players looked at each other and nodded. “It would be our pleasure,” Ambrose said. “After you, Ms. Frida.”

As the three of them all got onto the road, exchanging pleasantries and introductions, Vihaan noticed another pop up in the game, and quietly opened it.

[Get Your Foot In The Door - Current Progress]

Frida’s Appreciation - 0

Frida’s Disdain - 0

Attempts Remaining - 4

Vihaan realized that this was a social mission, and quietly hoped that he’d be able to keep up with his negative charisma stat. Ambrose might have to carry this all on his own.

“So,” Frida started, “I take it that Mother told you about the bandit problem?”

Ambrose nodded. “Yes, she filled us in as much as she could, but the details were a bit sparse. What could you tell us?”

Frida chuckled. “Well, I could give you the specific numbers of what has been taken, especially in monetary value, but I think that might be adding too much detail to the mystery.”

“We’ll take whatever you can give,” Ambrose said. “Any detail helps, honestly, and V is good with numbers.”

“Oh?” Frida looked delighted. “Then I’ll be sure to get you a copy of that before the day is over.”

[Get Your Foot In The Door - Quest]

Frida’s Appreciation has increased! 0→5

3 attempts remaining.

“And we’ll take it,” Ambrose said distractedly, probably dealing with the sudden pop up. “In the meantime, do you have any other insights?”

“None better than anyone else’s. I haven’t interacted directly with the bandits, so I’m just in the dark about how they operate.”

[Get Your Foot In The Door - Quest]

Nothing changes.

2 attempts remaining.

Right over her shoulder, at an angle where only Vihaan could see it, another pop up appeared.

[PRIVATE RESULTS: Insight vs Deception]

Ambrose: Insight 16→18 (+2 from Insight Bonus)

Frida: Deception 19

Vihaan: Insight 19→21 (+2 from WIS)

Reward: You know that Frida is lying.

Oh shit. Vihaan carefully glanced from the result to Frida’s studious and confident expression and back again. Why would she lie about not knowing anything?

Seeing Ambrose about to try and ask another question, he reacted. “And no one’s said anything about the bandits?” he blurted out. “No threats or anything like that?”

Frida didn’t slow down their walking pace, but the stare she gave him was deeply questioning. “No one has told me anything of the sort. Besides, the bandits only come out at night, and people have the sense to lock their doors.”

The reminder of the bandits coming out at night triggers Vihaan’s memory of the conversation in the apothecary: “I’ve thought about watching over the herb fields at night, since I’m already struggling with sleep, but my daughter would be so upset if anything were to happen to me.”

[Get Your Foot In The Door - Quest]

Frida’s Disdain increases! 0→4

1 attempt remaining.

Vihaan looked over to Ambrose, who raised an eyebrow at him in question. He shook his head and mouthed, “Not right now.” Looking over at Frida, he can tell that she knows what he’s figured out. “It would probably be best if we continued this meeting at the apothecary,” he said. “You can give us the details then. We can also prepare for any and all possible outcomes. Trust me,” he added, looking her directly in the eyes and putting as much confidence into his voice as he could, “we care about everyone's safety, including you and your mother’s.”

[Persuasion Check - Difficulty 10]

Vihaan: 3 12→11 (Advantage from Dialogue Choice, -1 from CHA)

[Get Your Foot In The Door - Quest]

Frida’s Appreciation increases! 5→10

0 attempts remaining.

Frida studied him for a few more seconds before she sighed, although her shoulders remained tense. “You two seem like competent adventurers, and my mother seemed relieved when you heard her out in Everton, so I will hear you out, too,” she decided, quickly glancing around as they approached the gingko field. “Please find a way to separate yourselves from me and we will reconvene at the apothecary before sunset.”

Ambrose nodded. “Will do. We can check to see if there’s some odd job that can be done here and let you speed through your inspection. Stay safe, Frida.”

[Get Your Foot In The Door - Quest]

Quest complete!

Successful rewards (per player): 10→13 XP (+3XP from New Beginnings ), 7 Renown

Bonus Reward:

Vihaan: 3 Renown

[Quest Acquired! Get Your Foot In The Door II]

Meet Frida at the apothecary

Reward: Slight XP, 300 gold

The woman nodded and walked away, purposefully moving towards one of the gingko plants to start inspecting it. Vihaan let Ambrose gently guide him to the other end of the fields so they could start delivering the waterskins. “What was up with that?” Ambrose whispered. “Is she being threatened?”

“I think they’re threatening Agnes to get Frida to help them,” Vihaan said. “Agnes is the apothecary- a good source of healing and medical care here- and Frida runs the trade efforts. If they get in trouble, that would be bad for the entire area.”

“No to mention Frida wouldn’t want her mom to get hurt,” Ambrose muttered.

Vihaan softened. “Yeah.”

Ambrose looked like his mind was already made up. “We’re helping them,” he said simply, with no room for argument.

Vihaan was pretty sure he knew what Ambrose was thinking about. “Of course we are, Amps,” he agreed, holding out his hand and ignoring how Ambrose’s shoulders relaxed. “We’ll plan about it while we do other things. We have time to do so. Let’s focus on these deliveries first.”

“Right.” Ambrose handed over a couple of waterskins. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Vihaan let Ambrose take the lead when it came to passing out waterskins at the gingko field. He was good at being kind and quick about it all, firm enough that he could end a conversation before it really began and personable enough for it not to be rude.

“How the hell do you do that?” Vihaan muttered as they walked away from the last farmer here. The quest complete box popped up to reward them, and he clicked it away.

“A lot of practice at Southern family reunions,” Ambrose said matter-of-factly. “You get a lot of practice at stopping unwanted conversations in between all of the good food and games. You remember the one Dad and I dragged you to during that summer you stayed with us?”

Vihaan nodded. He had eaten himself into a food coma from the barbeque on the first day, the seafood on the second day, and then was given 3 different to-go plates by some of Ambrose’s aunts.

“Yeah, there was a lot of that happening.” Ambrose shrugged. “But hey, we should probably get-” his eyes narrowed as he looked at something over Vihaan’s shoulder- “oh, Frida at 6 o’clock- Is everything alright?”

Vihaan quietly stepped to the side, seeing the studious young woman approach them with a purpose in her stride. “There is an issue with a pack of giant lizards terrorizing the farmers here,” Frida said, brushing some hair behind her ear. “I’m willing to pay the two of you 1000 gold each to handle this problem right now.”

The two men didn’t even have to look at each other. “Done,” Ambrose said. “Where are the lizards?”

“A short way into the forest. I would like to ask for the tails as proof of completion,” Frida added in a long-suffering tone. “Do be careful, and it is perfectly fine if you need to come back with only a few killed, every bit helps.”

[Quest Acquired! Budding Exterminist]

Kill the small rat pack by the ginkgo field and gather 3 lizard tails. (0/3)

Reward: Slight XP, 1000 gold.

Failure: Slight XP (Penalized), 200 gold per lizard tail collected.

Ambrose gave her a grin and a nod. “Don’t worry, we’ll handle it.”

Frida glanced over at Vihaan, as if she was preparing herself for him to say something. He just nodded as he started stretching his hands. He should look into getting some wraps- maybe even some enchanted ones. She seemed to take his silence positively. “I’ll pay you both back at the apothecary later today when you bring the proof back. Take care.”

The two adventurers gave their goodbyes, and Frida turned around and started walking to the next field.

“Well,” Vihaan said, “that’s convenient. XP for us and a solid alibi for meeting up with her later today. Solid game design.”

“Oh, really?” Ambrose asked, already taking a few steps to the forest. “You know, now that I think about it, I haven’t really seen any other player since we were in Everton.”

Vihaan followed. “I mean, there are three other big farms, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The devs probably put in enough questlines through all 4 areas to make it easier for everyone to get through the early level stuff. Otherwise everyone would be stuck trying to talk to the same NPC and it’d be ‘Raubahn (Extreme)’ all over again.”

The two of them stopped in front of the tree line. “I’ll ask for more details later,” Ambrose said, lowering his voice again. “Right now we should lock in. I think a pack of wild animals might be tougher to deal with than some bandits. Think we can sneak up on them?”

“We could try,” Vihaan said, checking his inventory and being glad that the game had the foresight to give him a weathered dagger that he could at least throw from a hidden place. “It would definitely swing the fight in our favor. The surprise debuff just straight skips someone’s turn.”

“Oh shit, dude? Say less.” Ambrose carefully took a step into the forest. “Here goes nothing.”

As always, Vihaan followed, and the two of them slowly stepped into the trees. They went forward a few feet before stopping, Vihaan looking around to make sure they didn’t get surprised by the lizards themselves. “It’d be easier if we knew exactly where they were,” he muttered. “Do you see any tracks?”

[Survival Check: Difficulty 10]

Ambrose: 19

Vihaan: 3→5 (+2 from WIS)

“No- actually, yeah.” Ambrose quietly pointed out some tracks clearly made by talons in the dirt. “Looks like it’s the three lizards we’re going for.” He frowned. “Ugh, that felt weird.”

Vihan nodded, remembering the medicinal knowledge he had suddenly known about sunflowers. “Yeah. Works out though. Let’s be careful.”

Now able to follow a path- even if the path was made out of trampled branches and shrubbery- they skulked through the trees. At some point in time, Vihaan tried to carefully get in front of Ambrose so that he could land a dagger easier, but the jock caught him by the arm. “No way, V. I have more health than you.”

“It’s just 2 points,” he argued, “that doesn’t matter. And I only have a good range of 20 feet.”

“Didn’t I hear you say that every little resource mattered once to one of your classmates?”

“Yeah, and that was before we found ourselves stuck in a videogame and I locked myself into a melee character,” Vihaan grumbled, knowing his annoyance was obvious. “Besides, when we hit Level 3, I’ll be pretty self-sufficient, at least when it comes to health, so we should limit test anyway.”

Ambrose’s eyes narrowed. “Limit test? I hate the sound of that.”

“Eh. Just trust me on this, Amps. I have a self heal and a healing potion. It’ll be fine.”

As much as he clearly didn’t like it, he nodded. “Go crazy, dude. I’ll have your back.”

Vihaan grinned. “Thanks.” With a deep breath, he turned and kept going forward, careful to step over the branches on the ground.

With Ambrose’s presence solidly behind him, he felt confident as they slowly approached a clearing, taking sure steps. At the very edge of it, he squinted to look through the leaves, and spotted the three giant lizards that Frida wanted them to handle.

All three quietly sat in the sun, not moving except to flick their tongues in the air. Their scales looked tough, and they were definitely heartier than the skinny bandits that they had fought while travelling, but thankfully, two of them were fully turned away, and the third didn’t seem to notice them yet.

[Stealth Check: Difficulty 10]

Ambrose: Stealth 4 11→13 (Advantage from Move Mountains I, +2 from DEX)

Vihaan: Stealth 4→9 (+2 from DEX, +3 from Stealth Bonus)

Vihaan’s heart stopped as he saw his failed stealth check. Damn it, this could go really bad now-

“Dig Deep,” Ambrose whispered, and the check box shimmered a bit before clearing up again.

[Stealth Check: Difficulty 10]

Ambrose: Stealth 4 11→13 (Advantage from Move Mountains I, +2 from DEX)

Vihaan: Stealth 17→22 (+2 from DEX, +3 from Stealth Bonus, Rerolled via Ambrose’s Dig Deep)

He let out the quietest breath of release that he could manage, grabbing his dagger in his right hand and reached behind him with his left until he tapped Ambrose, squeezing his hand in a quiet thanks. After a few moments to make sure that nothing would go wrong, he pointed at the one slowly turning to face them directly. He then put up 3 fingers. Then 2. Then 1-

The two leapt out of the bushes, sights trained on their first target.

[Combat Starts!]

[Combat Notice]

All Giant Lizards are Surprised!

[Combat Notice]

Giant Lizard 3 is no longer Surprised!

“Fuck- jump that one!” Vihaan ordered, pointing at the one staring at them. “And spread out!”

From behind Vihaan, he could hear Ambrose’s necklaces jangle as he moved around the edge of the clearing. “Disdain! Prince’s Will!”

[Disdain - Quick Magic (-1 Conduit Spark)]

Ambrose’s Attention is Taken

Giant Lizard 1 is now Disdained! Dexterity Checks will be penalized!

[Prince’s Will - Magic]

12 Attack vs 12 Defense

10 FRCE damage (max) and 2 CRSE damage dealt

Giant Lizard 1 - Roughed Up

From his left side, Vihaan saw the bolt of magic slam into the lizard and throw it off kilter, giving him a good setup to finish it off.

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Quick Attack]

12 Attack vs 12 Defense

7 BLGN damage dealt

Giant Lizard 1 is defeated!

Thankfully, it fell to the kick he gave to its head, dropping to the ground before despawning. He then took aim at the second lizard that was about 15 feet away from him and threw his dagger, and it slipped in between two scales to sink into the lizard’s body.

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Attack {Ranged, Dagger}]

16 Attack vs 12 Defense

6 BLGN damage dealt

Giant Lizard 2 - Bruised

“Wait, that works when you throw shit too?!”

Vihaan laughed. “Hell yeah it does!”

[Combat Notice]

Giant Lizard 2 is no longer Surprised!

The third giant lizard was the one farthest away, but it moved with enough speed to get over to Ambrose with its jaw open, clearly ready to bite him.

[Bite - Attack]

24 Attack vs 15 Defense

10 PRCE damage (max) dealt

Ambrose - 2/12 HP

“Ah! Fuck!” Ambrose had tried to dodge the lizard, but it tracked him well, catching him in the shoulder and getting in deep.

[Attention Break Resist: Difficulty 10]

Ambrose: 17→19 (+2 from CON)

“Motherfucker!”

Vihaan’s heart stopped for a second. “Fuck, Ambrose, are you good?!”

“I’ll live!” he said, although blood was running down his right shoulder. “Just- fuck- be fucking careful!” As if he didn’t have a big ass lizard about to eat him for lunch.

Vihaan ran over, noticing that he got a buff when he approached the third lizard from an off-angle. “Drink a fucking potion! I got this-”

[Flanking - Combat Buff]

You and Ambrose gain Advantage on Attacks against Giant Lizard 3. This buff is dispelled when less than 2 allies are not in melee range of an enemy.

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Attack]

12 Attack vs 12 Defense

5 BLGN damage dealt

Giant Lizard 3 - Bruised

[Journeyman’s Swipe - Quick Attack]

13 Attack vs 12 Defense

6 BLGN damage dealt

Giant Lizard 3 - Roughed Up

On the other side of the lizard, he could barely see Ambrose as the Black man stared directly at the lizard’s jaw in front of him. But he could clearly hear the calls for Disdain and Prince’s Will.

[Reapplied Disdain - Quick Magic]

Giant Lizard 3 is now Disdained! Dexterity Checks will be penalized!

[Prince’s Will - Magic]

18 Attack vs 12 Defense

5 FRCE damage and 5 CRSE damage dealt

Giant Lizard 3 is defeated!

Vihaan’s vision almost went red as he stepped in front of Ambrose, readying himself for the last lizard to approach. “You fucking dumbass!” 

“I was going to die!”

“You should’ve drank the fucking potion!”

“We don’t have the money to replace it!”

“Are you kidding me?!” He whirled around to face Ambrose. “We would’ve found it-”

[Bite - Attack]

21 Attack vs 15 Defense

10 PRCE damage (max) dealt

Vihaan - 0/10 HP

Vihaan is Down!

The pain started at his back, but then spread through his nerves like fire. He heard someone cry out, but he couldn’t tell if it was himself or Ambrose as his vision faded and he crumpled to the ground. Thankfully, the pain instantly dulled into a radiating soreness from his back- clearly a player's slice of life choice- but all he could see of the fight now were windows popping up.

[Fighting Breaths - Vihaan]

12

1 Success, 0 Failures.

Oh fuck. He’s at this mechanic. Thankfully he passed one check already, but if Ambrose couldn’t get him up or finish the fight, things would go pretty south. Vihaan thought he remembered the guy who gave that announcement- Hardeman?- saying something about relaxing the revive penalty, but he would rather not experience what even the relaxed penalty was.

[Reapplied Disdain - Quick Magic]

Giant Lizard 2 is now Disdained! Dexterity Checks will be penalized!

[Prince’s Will - Magic]

12 Attack vs 12 Defense

6 FRCE damage and 2 CRSE damage dealt

Giant Lizard 2 - Bloodied

[Bite - Attack]

8 Attack vs 15 Defense

Giant Lizard 2 misses!

Holy shit.

[Fighting Breaths - Vihaan]

20!

Vihaan is stabilized! Get back in there! (+1 HP)

Holy shit!

Like a TV antenna had finally caught the right signal, Vihaan’s vision and hearing cleared to see Ambrose holding a dagger of his own, still bleeding heavily, but refusing to go down without a fight.

[Dagger - Attack]

14 Attack vs 12 Defense

6 PRCE damage max and 4 CRSE damage dealt

Giant Lizard 2 is defeated!

The last monster went still after Ambrose caught it in the brain. It despawned, and Ambrose took a couple of deep breaths before he sat down, wincing at his shoulder. “Fuck.”

Holy shit. They did it. As the fanfare played, Vihaan quickly crawled over and hugged him, shaking with the last bit of adrenaline running its course.

Ambrose didn’t even hesitate to pull him in closer with his left arm. “We’re not fuckin’ doing that again,” he said.

“Fuck no,” Vihaan agreed, mostly speaking into Ambrose’s good shoulder. “How do you feel?”

There was a surprised chuckle before Vihaan felt himself be moved around so that Ambrose could give him a look of disbelief. “Are you pullin’ my fuckin’ leg, Vihaan? You got dropped like a sack of fuckin’ potatoes. I should be on my knees beggin’ you for forgiveness because I apparently outran common sense today-”

“You’re going southern again,” Vihaan said, slightly joking. “And you also got fucked up. That fight was probably meant for more people.”

“Yeah.” Ambrose sighed. “Yeah, we got real lucky at the end there. Fuck, what do we do now?”

Vihaan almost said he wanted to take a nap, but remembered that they were currently a few dozen feet into a forest. “We should get back to the fields,” he said. “At least take a rest there and see what’s next. We have one more field to deliver to, right? Maybe after that we just do more fetch quests. No more combat for now.”

“Definitely no more fightin’.” Ambrose looked over at his shoulder. “Although it looks like the wound ain’t so bad, and it’s healin’ up already. Your vest is ripped though.”

“Video game logic,” Vihaan muttered.

“I ain’t complainin’.” Ambrose carefully moved his right arm and only winced a bit. “Come on, I’ll check your back and then we’ll bounce.”

Vihaan begrudgingly backed away and got up, distracting himself by pulling up the combat reward screen and looking at it. “Hey, at least we got a good amount of gold.”

“We’ll probably need to get a membership to a healer or somethin’- something.” Ambrose shook his head as he stood up. “Fuck, shoulder still smarts a bit. And, yeah, your vest is completely ripped. But hey, your back doesn’t look too bad and you sleep on your front anyway, so it should be fine, right? Infection isn’t a thing here?”

“I don’t remember it being something,” Vihaan answered, seriously thinking about it. He took off the scraps of green fabric that used to be his vest and put them into his bag. Maybe he could sell them later. “We can ask for help from Agnes when we see her.”

“Yeah, I think we should stop by the apothecary earlier than we planned.”

Vihaan laughed. “Yeah. Hopefully she has a friends and adventurer’s discount.”

The conversation grew quiet after that, with Vihaan keeping an eye out for any danger and Ambrose’s shoulder, knowing that Ambrose was doing the same for his back. With a slow pace, the two of them thankfully got out of the forest without running into any other threat.

When they broke the treeline, they could see the ginkgo field that they had just left behind, and the current head gardener glanced over at them and quickly ran over, clearly shocked by their current state. “Are you two okay?! What happened?”

“Giant lizards,” Vihaan answered. “Got a bench to sleep on?”

“Sleep?!”

“It looks worse than it is,” he said. “My friend and I just need to rest for a bit, and then we’ll feel good enough to go. Right, Amps?”

“Yep.” Ambrose even popped the p with a grin as he spoke.

The man they were talking to looked skeptical, but sighed. “You adventurers are a hardy lot,” he said, pointing to a bench further down the road. “Yell if you need something. You both look like the hells warmed over.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ambrose said, already pulling the two of them to it. “And we will. Please don't let us interrupt your work.”

With a disbelieving grunt, the man walked away, and the two adventurers made it to the wide bench. Ambrose laid down on his back and Vihaan realized there wasn’t enough space for him to comfortably lie next to him. “Wait, where do I go?”

“Bro, just lie down on top of me.”

That made his stomach feel queasy for a quick moment. “Uh-”

“Vihaan, we just fought for our lives and we both feel like shit. Lie down and rest.” At Ambrose’s strict tone, he carefully and awkwardly draped himself on top of the slightly taller man, using Ambrose's chest as a pillow and chilling out about it when Ambrose shook his head. “So fuckin’ stubborn.”

“Like you aren’t any worse. You could’ve drank that potion, but you chose to be an action hero.”

“Yeah, I stared danger in the eye and I made it my bitch,” Ambrose joked. “Wanna start the rest so we can get some HP back?”

“I got it. Gonna check the sunset timer, too.”

[Sunset - Timer]

05h 56m 7s remaining.

[Vihaan has started a party Rest!]

1h 00m 00s

Will Recover:

(Ambrose) 1 Conduit Spark, 3-10 HP (-1 Conduit’s Grit)

(Vihaan) 3-9 HP (-1 Epoch’s Grit)

[Grit]

A resource that can be spent during Rests to recover HP, aided by their CON. A user has an amount of Grit equal to their level, and each class varies on healing via Grit. When a user Retires, they recover up to half of their max Grit (minimum of 1).

The soft green glow of a channeling Rest appeared around them, and Vihaan yawned, finally crashing after the fight. “See you in a bit.”

Ambrose's yawn rumbled in his chest. “Yeah, rest easy, V.”