Ben remembered a time when he was about to go out and perform a live-streamed show, and the director had changed the script in the last two minutes. "Don't kill Baron LaVoy, he renegotiated his contract for the season. He'll be on your side at some point today, but that pissed off the folks over at Dominion, so expect some or all of their people to maybe...play fast and loose during the fight. Oh, and your squire is actually the Count d'Abliss in disguise; he was already going to kill you - don't drink the wine, it was in case we needed a funeral scene. Hope we don't. Love ya, Ben! I know you'll be great."

"Cousins? I don't think...."

Harmony interrupted him, slapping her forehead. "Damn me for a beginner. You're right. No time for catch up, we're on a mission. Your horse, so I'll take back." She grabbed a set of saddlebags and threw them over her shoulder, tossed her ruined jacket on the ground and leapt astride Mudhead without using the stirrups.

Ben shrugged. Time to make shit up along the way. He managed to get into the saddle in front of her without embarrassing himself too much, and got mudhead moving. Harmony leaned in close, wrapping her arms around him. "Don't worry about me. I'll just snuggle up behind you. You'll barely know that I'm here."

Ben somehow doubted that. She was pressed up against him, her breath on his neck and her hands had a tendency to roam over him as the horse moved down the road.

Harmony whispered in his ear. "Can we go faster? Just let him run. It's so much more fun to go fast when riding double."

Ben said a silent prayer and kicked the roan with a heel to get him moving, snapping the reins at the same time. One of these made sense to the horse and he took off running flat out down the road, ignoring Bens attempts to steer him around puddles or rough spots.

But a low hanging branch on the left was looking like trouble. Trying to get the horse to move to the right failed, but did bring him to a sudden stop. Ben continued on without girl or horse, impacting the branch with his stomach before slowly falling to the ground.

He got up from the ground to find an angry Harmony confronting him. Her sword was out, and ready to run him through. And her left arm was pointed at him, small steel points sticking out from under the cuff. Ben realized that the full sleeves hid the the wrist mounted crossbow she was armed with.

"We are going to talk, 'cousin'. And if I don't like the answers, I'll take your horse and leave you for the scavengers."

"I noticed that you aren't packing a sword, but I know some of us prefer the whip so I gave that a pass. But you don't have any concealed weapons that I could feel - not even a dagger; that makes no sense at all. Your aura tells me that you aren't a mage and you don't have the muscles for a brawler. But you aren't a courier - no courier sucks at riding a horse like you do. It's like you don't even know how."

"Yet, despite your lack of riding ability, you dismount like a trained tumbler, or an assassin. You arrived at the nick of time, and strangely have the name of one of the lost family. And I'd just been ambushed when you conveniently rode in to save me. Forgive me for not playing the damsel in distress, but something isn't right here."

Ben slowly raised his hands. "I can explain...sort of. I'm a new courier, but I lack a lot of training. Matthias was working with me when the message came in and he sent me off on that damned roan telling me to learn to ride on the way. I fell more than anything else so I worked on dismounting first. And yes, I have a little experience with acrobatics, but a long time ago."

Her eyes hardened. "Matthias and Beatrice were the best couriers of their age. I hardly see them taking on someone who can't learn to ride a horse, and you certainly didn't come out of the academy lacking that skill."

Ben sighed. "I'd have loved to attend this academy, but it's the first I've heard of it. And don't blame my lack of skill on Matthias. He took me on as a charity case after I showed up last month and ACME told me I was a courier. I think they just wanted someone to run messages back and forth."

"You're a player? One of the people from one of the other worlds?"

"Yes! I'm a player. Well...from the other world. The real world? I'm a Contract Worker. My employer pays for me to be here and I do what they say. They also gave us shit skills and work us to death. Hell, I wish I could just show you my damn sheet. I didn't have a choice in this, I swear."

Harmony cocked her head to the side. "Say the following: 'I give Harmony permission to view my character sheet.' "

Ben didn't know what was going on, but complied. "I give Harmony permission to view my character sheet."

Harmony stared for a second, then laughed while sheathing her sword. "Oh, I'm so sorry, cousin, but this ACME screwed you good! Get back on the horse, behind me this time. We need to get moving, but maybe we can teach you something on the way."

Name: Benjamin Franklin the 7th

Class: Contract Worker (Courier)

Level:3

EP: 3025

Boss EP: 1500

Human

4525

Base

Per Level

From Stats

From CSP

Total

Health

200

200

1000

Stamina (x3)

200

200

3200

Mana

200

200

160

1160

Stat:

Rank

Cap

EP

Heritage

Total

STR

0

5

0

0

DEX

5

6

1400

2

7

AGI

5

6

1000

1

5

CON

0

5

0

0

INT

3

7

475

3

WIS

0

5

0

0

CHR

5

5

1100

1

6

PER

3

5

550

3

COR

0

5

0

0

RAD

0

5

0

0

Core Skill Points

Earned

Chardok the Necro-wolf

10

NDA

5

Charnel Daemon

18

Core Skills

Cost

ranks

max rank

total

Hand x-bow

5

1

5

Whip

5

1

5

Run Like the Wind

5

1

5

Raise Cap on INT

1/1/1/1/1

2

2

Raise Cap on DEX

1/1/1/1/1

1

1

Raise Cap on AGI

1/1/1/1/1

1

1

Magic Eyes 1

1/2

1

1

Identification 1

3/5

1

3

Teriary Crafting Skills

1 each

2

2

Secondary Crafting Skills

2 each

Primary Crafting Skills

3 each

1

3

Saved

5

Total

33

Skills

Stat

Level

EP

P/S/T

Quest Mob

PER

4

650

Tertiary

Couriers Gear

DEX

3

350

Tertiary

Couriers Ring

INT

1

50

Tertiary

Bring Tidings

CHR

2

250

Tertiary

Ride/Drive

AGI

5

1000

Tertiary

Whip

DEX

3

400

Tertiary

Hand Cross-bow

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Inventor

INT

2

150

Primary

Leather Working

INT

0

25

Tertiary

Copper Smithing

INT

2

250

Primary

Wood Carving

INT

0

0

Tertiary

Sleepless in Seattle

*****

1

Secondary

Tastes like Chicken

*****

1

Secondary

Endure

*****

4

Secondary

Haul

*****

3

Secondary

Dig

*****

2

Secondary

Push Onward

*****

1

Secondary

She broke out laughing again as he was mounting. "And please, Benjamin, explain to me what the hell kind of skill 'Tastes Like Chicken' is."

==============================================================

Ozzy woke up from his nap and stretched. The air was hot and sooty. Smoke filled the pit. What looked like an old man in overalls was inspecting the meat on the stakes. The man turned and Ozzy saw the overalls were grey in color, and the man's skin a dark black. Ozzy yelled down. "Hey, careful down there. You can get hurt easily."

Deep laughter came out of the pit. The man exploded into a cloud of smoke and a creature formed in front of Ozzy. It looked a little like a tornado made of smoke, about a foot off the ground and several feet high. Two disembodied claws of fire were on either side, and red eyes peered out from the tornado about two thirds of the way up.

"Your servant is ready to do your bidding...Master..." The voice was deep, the words devoid of emotion.

"You're the smoke golem the pit was making?"

"I am the golem summoned by the pit to serve...Master..."

"Who or what was that down in the pit before?"

"Apologies...Master. An alternate form. I will not displease you by using it again."

"Oh, hell. I'm not sure I care what you look like. Pick which ever form you like or gets the job done."

"Truly? This form is traditional..."

"Yeah, well I'm a bit un-traditional at times. You look like you want to, how’s that?"

The golem seemed to condense, turning into a man in his 70's. His head was bald and his skin wrinkled and dark black like soot. He wore black work boots and a pair of grey overalls. "I do prefer this form more. Thank you."

Ozzy looked over the golem's new form. He could still see a bit of smoke coming off of him now and then, and his eyes held a bit of a fiery glint. "Seems like there's a story in there somewhere. Why don't you tell it to me when you feel like it? What do I call you?"

The golem put his thumbs in the straps of his overalls. "Well son, take your pick. I've been called 'The smoking death', 'The burninator', 'Keeper of the Pit', 'Pit fiend', 'Ham Warden', and 'Smokey Joe'.

Ozzy chuckled at the names. He really was curious who this guy had worked for. "Let's go with Smokey Joe, or just Joe for short.”

Joe seemed relieved. "Thanks son, some of those names are just downright embarrassing after a while." He turned and looked at the charnel pit. "Although, not as embarrassing as looking at the state of this pit. I've got no spices or rubs, nothing to mop down that meat and keep it moist, and we're mostly working out of a hole in the ground. I'd like to do a better job for you son...uh, Master."

"Oh hell, Joe, cut out the 'master' shit. Makes me uncomfortable. Just call me Ozzy. Sounds like you have some plans?"

Smokey Joe requests that you accept the following quest:

Increase the level of the Charnel Pit of the Butcher to Level 2

Requirements: 1000 stone bricks, mop bucket, large bar-b-que mop, 6 mixing barrels, barrel of soy sauce, assorted spices (50 lbs.), one whole heap each of onions, garlic, black peppercorns, and brown sugar or honey, two whole heaps of tomatoes, and a root cellar.

Rewards: A better Pit, increased respect of Smokey Joe, access to better recipes. 500 EP in Pit Alchemy. Accept: Y/N?

This was the type of quest Ozzy could really get into. He accepted the quest. "Alright Joe, let’s do this. I'll go see about having some bricks hauled over here, and you figure out where you want that root cellar dug."

Joe watched the young butcher run off to start the quest. This one might just be what he'd been looking for these last few hundred years. And if not, well, accidents happen when you forget to do the binding rituals on your golems.

He'd have to see which way the smoke was blowing.