Pebble: I Finally Got My Barbarian Build, But it’s Support?!

Pebble's heart thumped rapidly as his body struggled against the crushing force of Golly's massive stone arm. He fell to a bow, but the force was still intense. A popping sound erupted from his right ankle and he lowered his bow even further. The pain was enough, Pebble cleared his throat as he looked into the deep red glowing eyes of the stone golem. 

"Please don't crush me, Papa!" Pebble pleaded in a small voice. 

"You do speak! Haha, I'm sorry, my boy, you will be big and strong like me in no time!" Golly said as he returned his arm to his side. His movements were oddly silent except for the crushing impacts against the floor. His body looked to be a mix of smooth rock on some areas and some mossy sharp rocks on others. Pebble let out a silent breath of relief once the pressure relented.

"Thanks, Pa." Pebble said as he kept his head lowered to the man holding the red book. Pebble's prior confidence seemed to have vanished entirely. If he had to fight this golem, he wasn't sure if he would win. The man holding the book was a mystery as well.

The Battery said in a cheery tone. 

'Let's not try, please!' Pebble tightened his muscles to keep a grip on his self control.

'Are you saying I'm under-leveled for this?' Pebble shuttered.

Pebble swallowed, 'But, you're saying you can take him?'

The Battery giggled and the book holder smiled as she giggled.

'Uh, can he hear you?' Pebble thought. 

The red book wielding man continued to smile as he approached Golly, "Report." He said gently.

Golly stood in attention and brought his hand up for a salute, "Four dead trespassers, sir! They can all be dead if you desire, me lord!"

The book holder gave an annoyed tisk, "Who are they? Did they attack us or simply knock?"

Golly stood in his salute, but hesitated to reply, "Sir, they appear to be uninvited. My protocols dictate that all uninvited guests meet their demise." Golly lowered his salute and peered at the red hooded man. "State who you are and what your purpose is."

The red hooded man gulped and trembled forward, "Uh hello, Mr. Golly, sir. We actually came here in hopes of joining your army." He kneeled, "You see, life hasn't been working out so great for us. We dwell under the shadow of Aegis, but receive no protection. Some days, we live as victims of bandits, marauders, goblins and literal dragons, but the throne turns a blind eye. We are insignificant." He looked over at his fallen friends and let out a weak noise, "It seems that we are insignificant here as well. All I hope for now is for us to leave with our lives."

Golly recoiled, "You insolent little rat! What makes you speak so freely in front of me lord?" He raised his right arm above the man, "You will learn proper respect!"

"Stand down, Golly, and how many times do I need to tell you, I am not your lord." said the book wielder. The red hooded man scurried back before standing. The book wielder spoke to him, "I apologize. Your friends are dead due to our precautions. They may seem extreme, but they are necessary. I'm sure you've heard that Aegis just pulled a few competent heroes, one of them being a unique."

The Battery giggled.

'Are you okay in the head?' Pebble felt his gut twist. His eye has been twitching as his Divine favor tab lit up, but he was currently unable to access his menus.

The book wielder suddenly took a sharp glance at Pebble.

'Oh shit!' Pebble wanted to run.

The book wielder began to walk briskly towards Pebble.

'Oh fuck!'

The Battery giggled again.

'Jesus, dude! What should I do?' Pebble's legs were tense and ready to dart down the hall. He tried to activate his squire telepathy, but that was being suppressed as well.

The book wielder smiled wide, "Forgive me, Golly. I need you to escort these men out of the cave please. Make sure they don't take any more damage. You'd agree they've been through enough, right?"

"Err, yessir!" Golly looked back down to Pebble, "Come on, buddy! How excited are you for your first set of orders?"

Golly picked Pebble up with ease, but was interrupted by the book wielder, "Actually, Golly, I need to spend a moment with your friend here. Just a quick calibration check!" 

Golly groaned, "Aww man, please make sure he still thinks of me like a dad! I love him already!" He placed Pebble gently on the ground and gave him a small pat before turning to the group of men, "Okay, trespassers, it's your lucky day! Let's go home." He stood and turned around, a few of the sharp mossy rock pieces on his shoulder scrapped the wall, "Oops, sorry!"

'Wait, you can still access my status screen?' Pebble thought.

'Well can you access other menus too? Can you tell Larry and Puffy to run?' Pebble pleaded.

'Please do that!' Pebble almost shouted out loud, but he made sure to keep the urgency inside. The Battery didn't reply.

Golly approached the group of men. Each of his steps created small cracks in the floor beneath him. The men were clearly flustered, but they chose to stay calm and allowed Golly to herd them out of the hall. Pebble could still feel every step Golly took through his bones. His ankle throbbed. 

"I will be back soon, buddy! Just listen to Lord Deox for now!" Golly waved at Pebble before walking down the hall with the group of men in front of him. 

"Indeed." The book wielder smiled. No words have ever terrified Pebble as much as that simple acknowledgement. 

'He's in my head.' Pebble's hands were shaking.

Pebble tried to stand as still as a statue while the book wielder, Deox, walked around him in a circle. He wore a black cloak that flowed naturally down just above the floor. Pebble could make out a dagger of some sort on his hip underneath his cloak, but it was hidden. Deox rubbed his hand over what must have been the hilt for a second before diverting his attention to his red book. He lifted it subtly and closed his eyes. Pebble tried to get a good look at the book, as it felt familiar to him, but it was too dark for him to make out anything except for some golden embroidery on the binding.

After a moment, Deox stopped walking and looked directly into Pebble's eyes. His eyes were deep gold. He had a natural sense of charisma and allure to him as he spoke smoothly, "So, wanna talk about it?"

—

"This cave blows, huh?" Puffy groaned as he pulled a hit from his pipe. The smoke entered his lungs and escaped slowly from his nostrils. 

"Well, I most certainly don't like being split up like this." Larry said while digging through his bag, "I might be new to the group, but splitting up seems to be a universally risky move." 

"Any guesses on what might be up ahead?" Puffy dumped the spent tobacco out of his pipe and began repacking it from a tin that appeared out of thin air.

"If you fucks can pull shit out of nothing, then why am I wearing this oversized backpack?" Larry looked genuinely perplexed.

"I think it's vampires." Puffy ignored Larry's protest, "Who else would build a labyrinth like this in a random cave? Do you think they're, like, perpetually young and hot?"

Larry was about to reply when something flashed in his vision, "Hey, what does 'communication embargo' mean and why is this floating in front of me?"

Puffy froze and met Larry's gaze, "Are you certain you see it for real, or are you seeing things?" 

"It's floating right here." Larry took his hands out of his backpack and held them up in brackets around the text that he could see floating in front of him. "Oh wow, now it says Party chat, Puffy: Everyone report!" Larry coughed, "Does this cave have a gas leak?"

"No you moron, that's me typing in the party chat." Puffy's pipe and tin disappeared, "If Pebble is under a communication embargo, then we are all in real trouble. Get on your feet, we need to figure this out as soon as possible."

"Am I connected to some sort of Hero Network now? How can I see your party chat?" Larry questioned.

"You're Pebble's squire, that's how. Now shut up for a moment, this could be serious." Puffy did his best to be patient with his new party member, but his mind was full of fear and anxiety at the moment. This was all too familiar for him. 

>>Party Chat

Fred: "This is new, didn't know we had a party chat. I'm glad you reached out, things aren't so great on our end. Phil is out cold and looking really grim at the moment. We met that dude who ran in while we watched earlier, he doesn't seem like a bad guy, but he insists that we can't leave here yet."

Bard: "I want to trust this guy, but I get this uneasy feeling from him."Larry: "How do I talk in this chat?"Larry: "Oh sweet, I think I figured it out!"

Puffy: "What happened to Phil?"

Bard: "He ran off ahead of us and returned literally almost dead. It's a long story, I'll catch you up later."

The Battery: "Pebble isn't going to be happy to hear about Phil. Teehee."

Puffy coughed, "Who the fuck is The Battery?"

Larry was still reading the chat, "Err, I don't know, but who the hell says, teehee?"

>>Party Chat

The Battery: "Larry and Puffy, Pebble wanted me to inform you that you need to skedaddle, like right now."

Bard: "Uhhh."

Fred: "Wait, Pebble told me his class's name is The Battery. Maybe this is one of his abilities?"

Puffy: "Why is Pebble under a communication embargo?"

The Battery: "Because he's currently facing someone that could erase all of your existences if he chose to. *Giggles*

Bard: "Did you just emote at us?"

The Battery: "*Twirls hair* I'm pretty sure you have bigger issues to worry about, like your lives. There is a golem in a group of men heading down the corridor. Pebble would like for me to inform you that you cannot win this fight, however, I would be interested in seeing you guys prove him wrong! I'd also be interested in seeing his reaction when his friends start dying. One, by one. Do you think he would become even more angry? Oh, imagine the carnage! Or, perhaps he wisens up after learning about true consequences. Maybe he will become a dead serious warrior. The perfect weapon!"

Larry locked eyes with Puffy, "Is this for real? What should we do?"

Puffy looked around with wild eyes, "We don't have the luxury of not taking this seriously." he said as he frantically felt the floor and nearby walls. 

Larry wasn't sure what he was doing, but he joined Puffy in his frantic search. He started running his hand along the wall, "Are we looking for a hidden compartment or something?"

"No, I'm just trying to get a feel for the material." Puffy rubbed his chin and returned to the center of the hall. He pulled out a notebook and began jotting down notes at a rapid pace, "C'mon, think you stupid little gnome!" He muttered.

"What's the plan, boss?" Larry felt the sweat bead down his forehead. 

Puffy didn't reply, but began conjuring 3 rods. He placed them about arms length away from the cave wall and his eyes started to flash.

"What're these for?" Larry eyed one of the rods.

"I have a skill that lets me make these things. They can be used for a variety of situations, but right now I'm about to try an illusion spell." Larry grunted, "I don't have any particular experience with illusions, so bear with me here."

"I thought Hero's were able to just…" Larry paused and shrugged, "you know, just do it?"

Puffy waved his hand as if to shoo Larry away, "Now's honestly not the time to be discussing this, but we can just do any skills we have, but this is me casting a spell. Just as if a normal non Hero mage would cast a spell."

"There are mages that aren't Heroes?" Larry continued to question.

"What the hell man, don't you live in this world?" Puffy said right before he disappeared behind a wall of rock that matched the cave walls.

"WOW! Where'd you go!?" Larry shouted.

"It's the illusion I was casting you fucking moron. Did you inherit Pebble's intelligence or have you always been this dumb? You really don't get out much do you?" Puffy growled as he pulled Larry into the rock wall illusion with him. "We have to stand behind these rods, it's our best chance of not being noticed." 

Now that Larry was behind the rods, he noticed he could see right through the rock wall. He observed the long hallway with a new sense of security.

"This is crazy! You could do some killer recon with this." Larry hummed as he stuck his hand through the illusion. "And yeah… I'm sorry about that. I've been told that I'm actually a bright guy! But, that's just for my small village standards. I grew up a bit west of here, on the outskirts of Aegis controlled territory." Larry's eyes glossed, "There was no magic there." He said in a pained voice, "In fact, you would be hard pressed to believe in magic coming from a place like that. Even the concept of a Hero seems to be a far fetched fever dream compared to that reality."

 A deep thumping was heard approaching from the direction that Pebble ran down a while ago. Larry quickly pulled his hand back inside.

"Oh shit, they're coming." Puffy gestured for Larry to duck, "Stay down and be quiet."

>>Party Chat

Puffy: "We're hiding, and we hear them approaching now."

Bard: "WE NEED HELP!"

Fred: "If you don't hear from us, we've been sucked into a portal. Phil is in critical condition. Red shirt guy is putting in work, but you wouldn't believe how many goblins they have down here."

The Battery: "Pebble is currently talking, you're going to have to wait, but I can take a message for him if you'd like. *Observes nails*"