029 – Bad Dog

Day 1

Since I wasn’t going to get a fancy new tiger shape, we instead decided to focus on grinding experience. If there were any easy-to-kill Created around, I’d certainly get to 10 quickly—at least if we maxed out my first kill tasks and then returned to the fire station.

I was eagerly munching on my 2nd sandwich of the day, courtesy of Stephen, who was back up and prepping food for everyone. I’d wanted to ask him more questions about his class, especially his level 5 perk, but more people were getting up, some of whom I rather wanted to avoid right now.

“What do you think? How much of the sandwich could be lost that it would still provide the buff?” I asked Jamie, holding up a slice of pepperoni. “Do you think if I miss out on this I wouldn’t get it?”

“I studied literature, Eve, not philosophy. But truth be told, I wondered the same. When I finished that bowl of pasta, there was clearly some remaining in there, but when I felt done, the buff kicked in.”

“Do you think the Blessing is using our minds to figure this stuff out? We are done eating when we think we are done? You felt the same when you lifted me, right? The moment it turned from struggle into accident, I got much lighter?”

Jamie finished his sandwich at the same time I did.

“I think you are onto something. Why don’t you ask Gabriel?”

“Because I am nearly certain that the answer would be: Yes and no, it is more complicated than that.”

Naturally, the beautiful voice in my head had to speak up. “And you would be entirely correct. It is more complicated than that.”

“Hah. I was right,” I said.

“But does it matter?” Jamie asked.

“Well, it doesn’t until it does. Everything around us is guided by a web of intricate and interconnected systems. I wouldn’t trust my computer’s operating system with my life, and I don’t like to trust the Blessing either.”

Jamie contemplated my words before he answered. “What did you hack? Also: check that buff.”

[Very Well Sated (159 minutes)

+2 to all Attributes]

“Damn. We should have brought him along. Imagine what he’ll cook up at level 20. As for your question: When I moved to LA, I did security consulting for the big players there.”

“But you hated that?”

“Yes, I did. Lucy said that if I had stayed there, I’d be Fallen by this point—and I’m not entirely sure they’re wrong.”

“And I’d be eaten by bugs. Glad you moved back. But what did you do before? I assume moving to the other end of the country was meant to firmly part from that old life?”

“Before that was Claire and, well, hacktivism. As much as I don’t like that word. Stealing the bad guy’s data, selling it to fund our operation and forwarding it to the people who could actually do something about the bad guys. Nine times out of ten they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, but there are some proper assholes who went to prison due to what we uncovered.”

“Really? And here I foolishly thought you only cared about saving mankind when it came with experience points.”

“Wow, Jamie. Maybe that Paladin class does fit you. What did you think I meant when I said I was a hacker?”

“Something like stealing people’s credit card data. Or whatever those cryptocurrency people do.”

“Oh ye of little faith. I do suck at first impressions, do I?”

“Well.” Jamie paused. “Yes.”

Checking my character screen, the +3 total to all attributes had provided me with a meager +1 to my Charisma.

Jamie, noticing my silence, went on. “But you do make up for it with actions.”

“Won’t stop the people from whispering, will it? You know I heard them.”

“People always do, Eve. You can’t imagine the gossip people shared with me in my line of work.”

My reply was cut short when I spotted a small Asian supermarket down the street. With any luck it’d be unlooted and knock out nearly half of Stephen’s wishlist.

We were indeed very lucky, filling our inventories with dried and fresh goods alike. I was just standing at the counter, trying to decipher if the can in my hand was caffeinated or not, when I noticed three red dots on the streets.

[“Reds on my map, hide.”] I wrote in party chat, as I snuck behind the counter. The enemies must have noticed something, too. They slowed down and eventually stopped. I heard faint noises. It sounded like speech, but high-pitched and with a laughing cadence to it. The dots split up, one slowly crossing along the other side of the street.

I peeked over the counter, at this point certain they knew we were in here anyway. Between two cars, low to the ground, I saw it moving—a hyena. I couldn’t get a visual on the other two dots, and then they vanished from my minimap, without them moving any further away. My Heightened Senses skill might have been able to keep track of one that was trying to hide while moving, but possibly failed the moment they stopped.

[“One or two gnolls and one or two hyenas. Three in total. I think they are setting up an ambush for us.”] I wrote.

[“What’s a gnoll?”] Jamie wrote.

From how Gabriel had explained the Created, I had expected more myth, legends and cryptids; less monster manual.

[“Hyena people. I think they are supposed to be pack creatures. There might be a nest nearby. If it’s two hyenas I’d expect the gnoll to carry ranged weapons. Probably javelins.”]

[“Do you think that’s… like at all risky? I don’t want to seem arrogant, but compared to yesterday, a dude with javelins and two murder canines doesn’t seem too risky?”]

[“First and foremost: I think they have more in common with large cats. And have one hell of a bite. Second: Yeah, we haven’t gone too far, and Gabriel said the Blessing would hold back near clusters of Blessed.”]

[“Again: Literature, not biology. How are we doing this?”]

[“I’ll run out and see if they all rush me. If they do, let me see if I can solo them as the buffalo. If they stay in cover, maybe come out and we can flush them out together.”]

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[“You want to take on hyenas as a big fluffy walking steak?”]

[“It’s a cape buffalo. Ash said they packed a punch.”]

[“Oh. Yeah. That’s not what I was thinking about. Details matter, Eve.”]

[“I’ll try to figure out the scientific name next time, Mr Not-a-Biologist.”]

I slowly made my way to the entrance and pulled the ballistic shield out of my inventory. If they were opening with ranged weapons before I could shift, I wanted something between them and me. By now there were no more dots visible on my map.

#

With the last hyena slain, I had to fight against the urge to charge the next approaching target, despite the blue dot on my map.

I shifted back to human shape, breathing harder—and my heart beating faster—than the ease of this fight would justify. I looked away from the corpse of the second hyena. My plan had been to wait out my cooldown and gore it, so I could use the bleed debuff to get the kill for one of my other shapes.

Somewhere between plan and execution something had gone wrong—its skull got shattered and its body burst like overripe fruit under my hooves.

“Eve? You okay?” Jamie asked. He’d been the blue dot, of course. Which I’d just been pissed at for… existing in my space?

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Mostly. Just hadn’t expected this shape to be so angry.”

Lucy’s laughter rang through my mind. “Oh, kitten. You rampaged all night as a family dog and a prey animal. Now that there is a bit of a killer instinct you are getting scared?”

I held up my hand when Jamie started to say something. Hopefully by now the understood signal for Guides-are-speaking.