The Broken Yardarm was a nautical themed diner, which didn’t make any sense to me since we were in South Dakota, well away from any ocean. In fact, we were about as far away from the ocean as you could possibly get inside the continental United States. Still, the food was good, especially the bacon, which I happily ate while reading the local newspaper.
My attention was on the wanted ads, specifically, the job listings. Several local businesses were advertising for positions they needed filled, though none of them really appealed to me. I really didn’t want to shovel out barn stalls or work as a waitress.
I looked at my new ID, which I’d gotten yesterday and which sat on the table in front of me. The damn thing was nearly useless. Sure, it would work as identification for the Wardens and among players, but beyond that… I shook my head and ate another piece of bacon.
Unfortunately, I no longer had a birth certificate or social security number, no records of education or job history. In short, I was in a legal grey area and most companies wouldn’t even consider hiring me. I’d always suspected that this kind of thing might have been intentional, that the powers that be were purposely nudging players towards the kind of work that only players could really do, the dirty and dangerous kind that most people wouldn’t even consider if they had better options.
“Hey, Maggie,” a familiar voice exclaimed.
I looked up and saw Bunny waving to me as she stepped into the diner with her friends. Olivia moved towards a booth, but Bunny and Turtle marched right up to me. Ace was left behind for several seconds before he shrugged and came towards me as well. Only then did Olivia change direction and join them.
“What are you up to?” Bunny asked, sitting down at my table without even asking. Her friends immediately joined her.
“Job hunting,” I answered wryly as I closed the paper and set it down. “Not a lot of options.”
“True,” Turtle said as he began looking over the menu. “But it could be worse.” He looked up and explained, “Gideon Heights is a player town, so a lot of people around here are players.”
“Property is cheap,” Ace added. “No technology means that nobody else wants to live here.”
“They could have built the town a couple miles away,” Turtle continued. “Then we would have had technology, but also more people and higher prices. At least this way, players have a cheap place to live.”
“Perfect for off grid living,” I commented with a chuckle.
Back when I’d been a Warden, there had always been homesteaders who wanted to live an old-fashioned lifestyle, and they’d appreciated the cheap land near the Labyrinth openings. Sure, there was no technology and they had to deal with the occasional monsters who slipped through, but a lot of people thought that was worth it.
“I only have one month of help,” I said, referring to the room and food vouchers that Agent Davis had given me. “I figured, the sooner I can line something else up, the better.”
“Good idea,” Olivia offered.
“A lot of new players procrastinate,” Bunny told me. “At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“We all have a lot to adjust to,” Turtle said with a shake of his head. “New bodies. New identities. New powers. It can get a bit overwhelming, so I don’t blame people for wanting to take their time.”
I nodded at that, then told him, “I just figure that it’s better to hit the ground running.”
“Good policy,” Olivia said, apparently starting to warm up to me a bit. “Keeping busy makes it easier to not think about everything I lost.”
The others nodded at that, especially Ace and Turtle. Bunny, however, didn’t look bothered at all.
I didn’t ask them about their previous lives since that was considered extremely rude among respawned players. Of course, if someone offered that information on their own, that was entirely different.
“I didn’t really have much to lose,” I admitted with a shrug. “For me, this is mostly upside.”
“Me too,” Bunny agreed.
I stared at the blonde girl, reminding myself that in spite of her apparent youth, she wasn’t really a teenager. In fact, for all I knew, she could even be older than me. I found that possibility to be kind of amusing.
“So,” I said to change the subject, or at least, to get it back on the original track. “What do you all to do to pay the bills?”
“We collect some bounties,” Ace answered. “The Men in Grey put bounties on any monsters that leave the Labyrinth.”
Turtle chuckled at that. “Yeah, but none of the ones around here are very high. This Labyrinth entrance only lets out small fry like those rats, and once they wander far enough away, other locals can just shoot them.”
“Delving the Labyrinth can be a lot more profitable,” Bunny agreed cheerfully.
Olivia scowled at that. “But also a lot more dangerous. Especially the further in you go.”
“That’s also how you get stronger,” Ace pointed out. “I mean, we can’t level unless we kill monsters and stuff. And face it, it might be safer to stay behind here in town, but you’d never get any stronger if you do.”
“And leveling is a little addictive,” Bunny told me with a broad grin. “There’s nothing like it.”
I considered that for a moment and how great it had felt to slot more points into my vitality. I found myself nodding agreement, understanding exactly how that kind of thing could be addictive.
“I think,” I mused aloud, “that I’ll probably go the delve route as well. Money and leveling.”
“It’s been working for us, so far,” Turtle offered.
“Why don’t you come with us on your run tomorrow?” Bunny suggested eagerly. “We’re only going back to the shallow area, but that’s because we want to train and get stronger before going deeper.”
Turtle nodded at that and glanced to Olivia. “We can consider it a trial run.”
I considered the offer for a moment before nodding agreement. “Sounds good to me.”
----------
It was early evening when I stepped into the bar. In spite of my apparent youth, nobody stopped me for an ID check. This was a place that was used to catering to the respawned.
I’d spend most of the day exploring the town and seeing what it had to offer. The answer was, not much. Sure, there were a few stores that had just about everything I needed for my new life, but those were pretty useless to someone who didn’t have a single penny to their name.
“Let’s see,” I mused as I looked around the bar, pausing when I spotted the person I was looking for.
There was a man sitting at a table in the corner, appearing to be in his mid to late thirties. He had dark hair and long bushy sideburns that looked like they were trying to form a beard but couldn’t quite manage it.
A few seconds later, I stood beside the man’s table and asked, “Are you Wolf?”
Wolf gave me a suspicious look before asking, “Who are you and why do you want to know?”
“I was told that you’re the only successful invoker in town,” I answered casually as I sat down in the seat across from him, not bothering to wait for an invite. “And as a new invoker myself, I wanted to get some advice on the class from someone who actually knows what the hell they’re doing.”
“You’ve got balls, girl,” Wolf said with a chuckle.
“Not anymore,” I responded pleasantly. “I go by Maggie.” I gestured to the beer in front of him and said, “I’d offer to buy you a drink in exchange for talking to me, but I’m dead broke.”
Wolf stared at me for a moment, almost seeming amused. “I bet you’re wishing you’d set up a carry-over account.”
I nodded at that, regretting the fact that I hadn’t. Over the last decade or two, a lot of people had been creating ‘carry-over’ accounts, savings accounts that could be accessed by anyone with the right passwords. This was considered a form of insurance for the unlikely event that they happened to respawn after death.
“Never thought I’d need it,” I admitted with a shrug. “Too late to worry about it now.”
“You’ve got that right,” Wolf agreed, pausing to take a long drink from his beer. Once he set it back down, he said, “You can owe me the drink.”
“Sure,” I agreed.
“As I’m sure you’ve already discovered,” Wolf told me after a few seconds, “Invokers don’t start off with any abilities, like every other class does. That means we’ve got to fight through the Labyrinth without until we find a primal willing to share their power, and a lot of invokers are so desperate by then, that they’ll accept any contract, no matter how bad.” He gave me a flat look. “Be careful, become some deals could be a LOT worse than not having an ability.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, taking a mental note of that warning.
“There are different kinds of invokers too,” Wolf continued, immediately grabbing full attention. “Priests. Druids. Warlocks. Shaman…which is what I am.” He shrugged at that. “Basically, this just refers to the type of primals that we specialize in dealing with.”
“Types?” I asked since this was new information to me.
Back when I was still with the Wardens, we hadn’t actually known much about primals. Sure, the Wardens might have learned a lot more since the, but I’ve been completely out of the loop for awhile.
“Yeah,” Wolk told me with a nod. “You’ve got different types. Think of them as like, different types of animals, or different flavors of magic. Each type has certain traits and tendencies that they usually follow. If you know how they work, you can usually get an idea of what kind of ability they might give you…and what kind of price they might ask.”
“You’ve got celestial and infernal,” Wolf continued. “Celestials are all about rules and order. They like sticking their invokers with strict contracts that make you follow a bunch of rules. Infernals are almost the exact opposite, being all about chaos. Those two types tend to hate each other, so if you have a contract with one of them, the other type will usually dislike you on principle.”
“Celestials and infernals,” I mused to myself, wishing I had something to write this down on.
“Faerie are all about being entertained,” Wolf said, pausing to scratch his chin. “They might give you power if they think you’re interesting, but they might also screw you over for a laugh too. They’re some of the worst for bad deals.”
“So far, none of those types sounds particularly pleasant,” I told Wolf.
The other invoker chuckled at that. “They aren’t. That’s why I tend to stick to naturals…primals who identify with plants and animals.” He gave me an almost predatory grin. “Basically, nature spirits. I’ve got a contract with a bear primal that gives me the strength of a bear.”
“That sounds pretty good,” I responded thoughtfully. “But what would a bear spirit ask for?”
“Food,” Wolf answered simply. “I have to give it a lot of food.”
“That…makes sense,” I said.
“Natural primals are pretty simple,” Wolf told me with a chuckle. “That makes them easier to deal with.”
“What about the divine type?” I asked, thinking about my own ability.
Wolf snorted at that and gave me a curious look, probably wondering how I knew about the divine type of primal when I hadn’t even known about there being types.
“They’re the biggest mixed bag,” Wolf finally answered. “They’re usually focused on some concept or idea, which can be anything from generosity to genocide, and they’ll want you to support it too. Mostly, they’ll either want that, or attention and worship.”
I nodded thoughtfully at that, then cautiously asked, “And have you ever heard of one of them giving an ability to someone without some kind of deal?”
“What do you mean?” Wolf asked curiously.
I hesitated for a moment, then explained, “I respawned with an ability from some goddess. I’d never even heard of her before, much less made any kind of agreement with.”
Wolf leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin again. “I… I have heard of that kind of thing happening,” he said slowly.” He gave me a curious look. “Not often, but it does happen. No idea how or why though.”
“I see,” I said with a sigh.
“Whoever this goddess is,” Wolf told me, “I can only assume that you either did something to get her attention…and…”
“And?” I encouraged him to continue.
Wolf leaned forward. “I’m thinking that this might be like a dime bag… You know, a free sample so you get a taste for her power.”
My eyes widened in understanding. “So I might go to her for a real deal.” Wolf nodded at that and I just leaned back and muttered, “Well, crap.”
“Well, you get a free ability for now,” Wolf told me cheerfully. “If nothing else, that is a huge head start for an invoker.”
Wolf and I continued talking for nearly an hour before he said that he had to go. It had been an educational conversation, and I was more than happy with the fact that the only thing this information had cost me, was an IOU for a drink.