Chapter 20 – Snack Run (Patreon)

The rest of the day I dedicated to relaxing, and doodling around, trying to make heads and tails of the kobold language. Arack and I composed a horribly over-the-top epic song about the Whirlwind Warrior and all her imagined exploits. Once we were done laughing, I roped her into helping me translate it loosely into the kobold language and teaching me how to write the damn thing. I recognized a few words here or there, but I clearly had a long way to go for any decent basis of understanding. Still, when we were done, I felt confident I'd be able to recognize a smattering of new written words – at the very least 'heroic' and 'magnificent'.

As payback, Arack asked me to help with her training, and I indulged her. It was hard not to want to indulge her, really. She was a sweet girl, quick to show her happiness and share in yours. On our way to the training room, I stopped, skimming the anticipated pop-up:

[Quest updated:  “When in Nerit...” (Chronicler quest)

You have gained a basic understanding of the written Kobold Language. Certain simple words are now decipherable in writing.]

I smiled and was about to continue on my way, when I was struck by an epiphany and rapidly opened my inventory. With bated breath, I scrolled down to the hereto unidentified book and pulled it out. "Arack. Please - what does this word mean?" I pointed at the first word in the title.

"Let me see. Oh - 'history'. How in the Pits did you get a history book of Nerit? I didn't even know we had one."

"I have connections. Very, very peculiar connections." I despaired of ever really getting to understand Greck. He refused to just straight out explain the deal around Nerit and seemed to be thoroughly offended at having to briefly mention the place - but all along he'd been the one who provided me with a book which was likely to contain all the answers I wanted - as long as I did the necessary legwork so I could understand it, obviously. Whatever he was on about, however, it meant I'd have to step up my reading game or I'd never be able to get to all the secrets that could be hidden within its pages. 

But first things first. It was time to help Arack with her training - and I stood awkwardly inside the training room while she bustled about the room, gathering several handfuls of items. Fist-sized rocks, mostly, with a collection of more dangerous looking items too. "You don't expect me to throw these at you, right?" 

Her amused laughter filled the room. "Of course not. I'm the one who's supposed to train her throwing skills, aren't I? I can't very well do that if I'm prancing around the room."

"I recall agreeing to help - not to be a glorified target board."

"Don't worry, my dainty, silk-skinned friend. You won't be in danger - we have all the aids we'll need right here." She handed me an item with a satisfied nod.

Staring at the thing like it was going to take a swing at me, I commented: "A net. Really?" It was a haphazard contraption – basically a long stick with a loose burlap net attached to a wooden frame at the end.

"Come on. You promised to help, and if we have to spend half our time fetching the rocks, we'll never get anything done."

I grumbled a bit, but in the end, I succumbed, and we started our own specialized version of dodgeball. Basically, I'd dodge and weave my way through the obstacle-filled terrain and flail the net around, presenting as difficult a target as possible for Arack. At first I moved slowly, keeping the net as far as possible from my body, but as her precision became apparent, my nerves dissipated. I also learned that her strength was negligible. Even with my ridiculous physical stats, I was able to catch the rocks without having to overadjust. A short while later, I was taking a breather, yet again cursing my horrible stamina. "That - was actually pretty fun. But I have to ask: Why do you believe you need any additional training? Your aim is incredible - you must have missed five times or so total."

Beaming with the praise, she answered. "Thanks, Arcangelo. And thank you for going easy on me as well – I enjoyed a workout that was less demanding." Before I could correct her, she continued, "I do believe my aim is getting decent – but Darek insists on improving my technique before switching to knives. Makes sense, I guess, though I keep promising him we'll wait with the poisons until I have it down pat."

"That's...very thoughtful of you." At that exact point I realized one tiny detail I'd somehow managed to miss entirely. I needed to learn how to throw. Hell, if I wanted to use my bombs from tinkering myself just the tiniest bit with my lousy agility, I'd have to invest some effort into it. Gah, I'd even gone so far as to remove the Throwing skill from my character sheet in the belief that I'd never get to use it. Oh well. "Hey, Arack. Would you mind letting me have a go? I just realized how much I have to learn."

The next half hour went by in a flash, and I was confronted with how much agility meant. Most of my rocks went nowhere near the target, even when Arack stood stock still. I believe she took pity on me though, because she promised me to help with some additional pointers in the days to come. I readily accepted - it was a godsend, really. Her company and good mood was refreshing, and seeing as how I had nearly three weeks until the tournament, I might as well spend them wisely. Already, my efforts had netted me an increase to Throwing and one to Unarmored Dodge. Soon, practice was over, and we returned to the common room for dinner. Of course, that led me to confront another ugly fact - I was out of food. I decided to ignore it for now though, in the hope that my rendezvous with Darya would go over successfully. The trio were chatting quietly in the kobold language, and I decided to not intrude too much, attempting to see how much I'd be able to understand. The answer was 'not much'. It was pretty much like listening to somebody talk with the heaviest of accents. You might be able to catch a word here or there, but the meaning was still way out of my range. Fortunately, when they'd devoured yet another meal of that horrible soup, it was easy to talk Darek into a one on one conversation. 

So far, my observations had led me to conclude that Darek might be a bit of a grouch, but if you managed to invoke his teacher instinct, he'd shift over into a more pleasant mood. At least, that was my working theory, and I intended to abuse the hell out of it. Our so-called conversation was still closer to baby talk at this point, but it was interesting. At this point, we'd left behind the different phrases and moved on to common words. I'd say a word and he'd provide me with the translation for it – and afterwards I'd try creating some sort of construction from that and other words I knew already. If I had to compare it to real life, we were probably at the 'I go potty' state – but improving fast, if I were to keep it positive. Still, even in the early stages, the process revealed a lot about their race and way of thinking. "No word for friend? How does that even work?"

"Needless to say, we have a word for friend. We do not, however, have a word for 'friend who is not a kobold.' " Darek's stony facade slipped for a moment, leaving him looking slightly uncomfortable. "Even before the war, we have always kept to ourselves. and those who leave us to mingle with the other races seldom return. And afterwards - we have lost a few, but we really have nowhere to go."

"I understand that. So what would you call a half-elf acquaintance instead?"

"D'nerius." Again that look.

"Wait.  Why does that word ring a bell? Somebody called me that before, I believe. Well, not exactly that, but something pretty similar. What does it mean?"

"The correct interpration is probably 'Half-elf vassal.' or ‘slave’ "

My mouth opened and closed a few times before my mind caught up to it. "You guys really need to have more contact with the rest of the world." Seeing the flash of emotion on his face, I backpedaled. "Sorry, that was in bad taste. But that's...not exactly a healthy way of thinking. Have you ever considered contacting Grant's Crossing to establish an alliance instead?"

"The moment the Chief decides to ask fallen hunters for advice, I will let him know." he said sarcastically. "Listen, Arcangelo. Few people know what happened on the night when Nerit fell - and people like you and me will never get to know it. As for what happens now - that is for the Church and the Chief to decide. The remainder of us are only along for the ride."

Damn. I'd hoped that Darek could clue me in on the past. "I apologize for derailing the studies again. So: What's the word for run?" Following this, our studies went on for a while, until things started blurring together in my head, and I opted out. I still had a couple of hours before my midnight rendezvous with Darya and decided to have a nap beforehand. I set the ingame alarm and made myself comfortable. The chatter from Muriel and Arack slowly toned out, and I fell asleep. 

Naps are a funny thing. Sometimes it's possible to nap for 5 minutes, and you'll wake up feeling slightly refreshed. At other times, two hours will leave you feeling strung out and more tired than when you went to sleep. Not so in World of Chains though. While they did allow for a realistical approach to waking up - as in, you weren't fully aware the second you awoke - they'd thankfully elected not to introduce the possibility of a bad night's sleep, REM-cycles and other intricacies I knew nothing about. Nightmares were still a thing though, for some reason.

I wasted little time getting up and tiptoeing outside. Only a glint in the darkness told me that one of the others was awake, keeping an eye on me. The chilly night outside quickly woke me up fully, and I walked straight to the agreed meeting place. Even at night, I could move about pretty well without stumbling. The buildings in the outskirts of Nerit might be mostly ruins, but still the roads and pathways allowed for clear passage without having to fear tripping over rubble in the darkness every other second. Naturally, this meant that I arrived early and had some time to kill in the cold. I did a quick circle of the area, ensuring that we'd be alone, and then I started pacing to keep warm. 

The wait wasn't long. A low voice came from the darkness and Darya emerged from the darkness with a smile. "It's always nice to see a man arrive early. Miss me?"

"Very much so. How're they treating you?"

"Better than you, from what I hear. How did you manage to get yourself exiled? I mean, do you do stunts like these on purpose?"

I groaned - and then spent a while trying to convince Darya that this time around I was not the one to blame. She listened intently, and seemed to accept my explanation.

"Wow - That sounds unfair. Extremely so, even. My introduction was pretty mellow. I received a couple of quests, where I need to impress them with what I know. Basic stuff - sneaking, tracking, shooting a bow. It's a quest series, so I'm not exactly sure what it leads up to, but it looks like once I've got the first part down, I'll have earned enough reputation to be at neutral status - should cut down on some of the scowls I'm getting."

"Otherwise, please tell me. I don't know that I can do anything, but I'm the one who dragged you into this, and I don't want to be the cause of any discomfort."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Please. I'm a big girl - I can take care of myself - appreciate the gesture though. Now - what is all this about you being in dire straits without my help?"

My eyes inadvertently lowered. "Long story short? I need food.  Right now, I have a 'hungry' debuff that's going to change to 'starving' at some point - and money's apparently no good in this godforsaken hole. Also, I've found a trio of fellow losers that are willing to help me - but I'll need to feed them as well to get their full co-operation."  

Her nostrils flared: "So you want me to arrange for food and serve you - like a good woman should?"

"No. Hell no. That's - if that's what you think of me, I..." my words trailed off, as I caught the white glint of her wicked grin in the darkness. "You're a mean woman, you know that, right?"

"And you're too easy. Listen, Daniel, I'm not about to be unreasonable. I can see that you can't just go gallivanting off into the woods to hunt. Here, take this." She started piling items into a rough burlap sack. By rights, half the food from the deer should go to Atlas and you - that's it right here. And I've already told you, I'm more than willing to help Grant's Crossing - so if this will help with your quest, it should also help them, right?" I nodded, and she continued. "Good. My quests are mostly accompanied, but I do have a little downtime. I should be able to scrounge up something extra from the forest within the next day or two. No promises on the taste, but it should be edible." She gave me a confident smile.

"You have no idea how much that means. Thank you very, very much." My eyes veered down towards the sack. "Gods. You even saved some jerky for me." I lifted up a piece, admiring it reverently, before tearing off a huge bite, groaning in delight.

She coughed. "Well, not as much as you might expect. When should we meet again? Two days, same place, same time? Maybe have Atlas drop off another note if something changes - if it's not too dangerous for him?"

I nodded. "Great idea. Judging from his smug demeanor, it was a cakewalk and I bet he'd love to prove it to me yet again. Heh - and have you treat him like the king he is, of course."

Darya smiled. "He's like a huge dog that just adores his scratches - too charming for his own good, really. Do we have any other pressing issues? I don't know what it is with the people here, but apparently they're all early wakers, and some of us need our beauty sleep." She got up and stretched.

I am not certain what compelled me to do it. Before I knew it, though, I crossed to stand before her, and the words flew from my lips "Stay a while?"

Apparently, that was enough to leave Darya at a loss for words, and I struggled to produce the right words. "Only if you don't mind, of course. It's just - for once, I feel that I can relax and be myself. I hadn't realized just how much I'd missed that with being ingame and in character all the time."

She wavered for a moment - but then with a faint smile, she sat back down. "I guess I can hang around for a while."

Naturally, it was a horrible idea. The chance that she might realize who I was, or I'd slip up and say something that she would inadvertently let slip to the wrong person was undeniable. Still - with the stress from the past week's time, the relief from just acting myself around another real person was tangible. And so, for the nonce we just talked - shared anecdotes about our pasts, favorite games and whatever sprang to mind. Once the initial awkwardness had dissipated, Darya talked as much as I did. We shared a few favorites, though she had something of an obsession over Jrpgs I'd never be able to match. Also, she was a complete bibliophile, something I will never be able to understand - I've always preferred my stories in comics or games. Regardless of details, the girl that took shape before me was utterly delightful, intriguing and nowhere near as self-confident as her current looks had led me to believe. If I were to accept a wager, I'd place good money that the real Darya was every bit as much a loner as me.

At some point, she was overtaken by a huge yawn, and my body betrayed me, letting out an even larger one. I smiled, surprised by how grainy my eyes felt - and noticed that the darkness of the night was turning to grey. "You're completely right. I'm a complete ass for keeping you that long - but still, I'm really glad you stayed."

That timid smile reappeared for a while again, before being replaced by her usual grin. "Agreed. Don't go disturbing my sleep too often. That sort of behavior doesn't garner any bonus points with the ladies." She jumped up, looking around. "Today is going to be a long day. Hey, Daniel?"

I'd been rubbing my eyes vigourously, trying to make the blurring go away and nodded, lifting my head. Seeing Darya right before me, I almost flinched, before realizing what was happening. Her arms enfolded me in a rough embrace, and whatever had been on my mind disappeared, as my body stiffened. Within seconds, my natural aversion to hugs lessened, allowing me to relax and hug her back.

A moment later, she stepped back, looking down. "Thank you. This was - I needed this. Take care of yourself, ok?" With one last, fleeting smile, she disappeared into the waning darkness. 

All the way back to the basement, the feeling of having her in my arms stayed with me. Funny. She didn't feel the least bit too muscular to me.