The Butcher of Gadobhra

When Suzette heard Ozzy was hurt, she panicked for a moment, forgetting they were in a game world. Injuries healed fast, and death wasn’t permanent. She gathered the little first aid kit she was putting together and ran over to find him sitting at the large table by the huts, holding his side.

She tried not to show her concern or ask how where he’d picked up fifty pounds of muscle and a couple of inches of height and concentrate on caring for his wound. She could bandage a wound like this in the real world if she had to, but there were no emergency rooms to take him to. Magic herbs would have to do. She used the herbs she’d harvested to make a poultice and clean the wound, then stitched it as best she could and bandaged it tight. Not her best job, and the game didn’t acknowledge her efforts with the first aid skill. Ozzy went off to bed, and she went looking for Rolly and Ben. She found them by the corral, dealing with the aftermath of Ozzy’s fight. Ben and one of the tanners were skinning the sedge bull and restacking the logs Ozzy had thrown at it. Lyle told them the story, freely admitting he’d stayed in the tree. Fighting angry bulls wasn’t his job.

It took all four of them to carry the carcass to the barn and hang it from the rafters. Afterward, they washed the blood and smoke off in the stream, and everyone went to bed. It was past midnight when a jarring sound and a system message waked up Suzette.

[Congratulations! You have killed a sentient being using corrupted healing herbs. Normally, this would have earned you the assassin skill: Poisoner, which, sadly, isn’t an option for the Contract Worker class.]

[But, Lucky You, there is a second option: Hermetics! Would you like to earn this skill? After all, you already killed someone to earn it. It's better to get some mysterious unknown skill than limp away empty-handed.]

Suzette was groggy and focused on the message. She was pissed that she was missing out on a useful skill. She’d played spies and assassins many times in games. The only thing she knew about Hermetics was something about crazy alchemists trying to make gold. It was better than nothing, though.

“Sure, I’ll take it.”

[Excellent, we hope you have fun with it.

Since Hermetics is a Primary skill for the Contract Worker class, you earn the following:

100 experience in Hermetics

100 experience in INT

You have learned the Hermetics subskill: Paradoxical Poisoning.

You have increased Hermetics to Rank 1.

You have Increased INT to Rank 1 and gained +1 INT.]

It was only after the message faded away that she realized who she must have killed. Racing to Ozzy’s hut, she saw a tombstone where he slept.

Here lies Ozzy. He played with the bull and got the horns. Time until resurrection is 5 hours, 31 minutes.

She watched as the time counted down, minute by minute. He'd be back at the start of the day and hopefully see the humor in the situation, hopefully. Was learning the Hermetics skill worth killing a friend? She needed to find out what it actually gave her.

Name: Suzette

Height: 5’ 5”

Weight 120 lbs.

Heritage: Human 96% (+2 DEX, +2 CHR)

Creature Type: Contract Worker

Class: Contract Worker: Baker Level 0

You have a role to play in the village of Sedgewick. You have no current quests.

Health: 200

Stamina: 600

Mana: 245

STR: 0 (+20 Stamina, +10 Health, per point.)

CON: 0 (+10 Stamina, +20 Health, per point.)

DEX: 2 (Increased chance to hit in combat.)

AGI: 0 (Increased avoidance in combat.)

WIS: 0 (+15 Mana per point.)

INT: 1 (+15 Mana per point.)

CHA: 2 (+15 Mana per point.)

PER: 0 (Decreased chance of ambush.)

Skill: Bake Muffin (DEX) Rank 0

Skill: Hermetics (INT) Rank 1

Sub-skill: Paradoxical Poisoning Rank 1

Sub-skill: Hermetic Alchemy Rank 0

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Ozzy was currently floating in a misty grey nothingness. This was familiar from previous VR games. He pondered his choices.

[You have Died. A wound from your fight with an Angry Sedge bull became poisoned. At least you died peacefully in your sleep.

You may reenter the game in 5 hours 31 minutes. This is the amount of time until dawn of the next day. Your normal time until resurrection is currently 12 hours, or dawn, whichever is quicker. This can increase with multiple deaths in a short time period. Try not to do that.

You may spend this time in the following ways:

-Reviewing the poor choices that lead to your untimely demise.

-Meditation or sitting quietly in a small natural biome or comfortable living room.

-Logging out of the game.

(Note: Because you are a Contract Worker, this will cause you to incur a fee charged to your salary account to cover the costs of reentering your pod.)

-Access the Global Data Net.

(Note: Because you are a Contract Worker, this option incurs a fee of 1 silver per 10 minutes for GDN access, which can be taken from your salary account.)

-Or perhaps you'd like to play a nice game of chess? A video game? A vintage movie filled with commercials? Perhaps you should start a novel if you plan on dying often. ]

There was no sense in reviewing his death. He obviously died from the wound becoming infected. Death by sedge beast was always going to be a possibility in his current job. He needed to hit them harder and tell Lyle to not bring any of the damned red ones for a while until he got better at it.

He decided to sit in the comfortable living room, and as soon as he chose that option, he appeared in a large room with several couches and recliners, a chessboard, a video controller and screen, and a bowl of peanuts. He grabbed a handful of peanuts and kicked back on a couch to think.

He checked his notifications and brought up the message from the end of the fight. He hadn't really been paying attention when the fight ended.

Learning Caber as a weapon skill seemed odd, but from what he remembered of the Scottish games competitions he’d watched, it was probably accurate. A caber was a heavy log at least twelve feet in length, and a legal toss had it flipping in the air before it came down. Hard to use that in a dungeon, but historically they’d been used to break up charging formations and crush enemies. It was a nearly worthless skill, but it got him some experience points and pushed him to the next level in strength. He wasn’t going to complain.

“Hey, System. Maybe you could explain my spiffy new weapon skill to me?”

[Maybe I could, but you’d have to ask me nicely and throw in some flattery.]

“It’s very generous of you to take time from your busy schedule to explain things to me. You’re also looking handsome today; that outfit really sets off the green of your eyes.”

[Oh, my! Kind of you to say that!

Caber is a Primary Weapon Skill for your Class: Contract Worker.

You will earn 100% experience when defeating foes with a caber.

Your weapon must be at least twelve feet long and six inches in diameter. It must be thrown.

If you don’t throw it, it counts as an improvised weapon.

The base chance to hit with a caber is 40% + 5% for each point of STR.

The target’s avoidance is subtracted from your chance to hit.

Base Damage for a thrown caber is 200 points plus 5 points per point of STR.]

“Interesting. How about the other skill? Weak poison resistance?”

[Excuse me? I didn’t quite catch that.]

“My fault; I mumble a lot when in the presence of greatness. Your style and poise are so perfect.”

[Of course, they are, but good of you to notice. Oh, and if you were wondering about that new skill of yours, let me explain.

Poison can have various potencies, starting with Weak, Strong, and Very Strong.

Your skill will negate 5 points of damage plus another 5 points per rank as long as you are suffering from the effects of a weak poison. The skill will have less effect or even no effect at all on higher tier poisons. Try to avoid those.]

“Good to know. What other skills are available to me, oh most handsome of advisors?”

[I’m sure a smart fellow like you will figure it all out. Especially since you have years to do it. Now, besides being handsome, I’m also busy, so let me just refill those peanuts for you, and maybe we’ll talk more later. We should save some flattery for your next horrible death.]

Ozzy grabbed another handful of peanuts from the refilled bowl and munched on them. “This game gets weirder and weirder.” After some thought, he looked through the list of vintage movies and watched something called ‘The Sting’ until it was time to go back to the game world.