Dalia actually let me move into an empty room in her house for two coppers a week, which I found extremely nice since it was much nicer than snuggling up with the cows. I stopped at one of the food vendors the next day, and while she called me half-breed, she did it in a polite way, which was a nice change. It turns out food costs just about nothing, so I bought 7 loaves of bread and 7 pieces of beef for a copper. When I finished my purchases the Captain came up again (he seemed to be something like the mayor I think) and said "Marissa says you cast a blessing on her field and now it's come back full and strong"

Since it wasn't really a question I just nodded and shrugged agreement. He paused, then said "It would aid the village greatly if you were to do that on the other fields"

New Quest: Bless Mudtown's fields

Do you accept?

I gave a short "Sure", somewhat disappointed I didn't get an offer to pay me for my time, but sucked it up and headed out to the fields knowing my goddess wouldn't be very supportive of me asking for cold hard cash. There was an obvious difference between the field I blessed and the others, with the blessed field's crops standing tall and green, and the chewed up sections already showing new growth. The others still looked wilted and torn up, so I moved to the next in line and made a full on spectacle for the farmers watching.

"Holy Telina please bless this field so that those who worship you will grow strong in your grace"

I know, a little over the top, but she had said she ran on faith so getting some positive feedback from the farmers wouldn't hurt. She was my main squeeze after all. The casting only took the fifteen seconds or so, but it used almost all my mana and I had to restore it before doing the next. I was surprised to see my endurance drop about 10% a field, something that added up even though my endurance recovers fairly quickly. Doing a blessing in a combat situation could make the endurance loss something to be careful of.

When I did the last one I got:

Quest Complete:Bless Mudtown's fields

I also leveled up, something that surprised me. This level up was a big one and left me with a lot of decisions regarding spells.

Level 5 reached.

Telina's Touch becomes Telina's Gaze. Player no longer need touch to bestow healing.

Telina's Gaze (+55% activate)

Applies 45 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature chosen

25 Mana/use

Choose three spells:

Create Potions

Healing potion:

Vial of water with Telina's Blessing + Telina's Gaze

Healing= Telina's Gaze + Telina's Blessing + 2(Faith)

(Cool down 12 hours)

Telina's Restoring Touch

Restore full health to creature touched

120 Mana/use

Telina's Flame

Holy fire strikes to cause 80 (-15%)points damage to creature chosen

Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft

Double damage to undead

(+10/level maximum 120)

90 Mana/use

Dispel Magic

Dispel Level/+5 magic on creature or area chosen

-Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions

-Does not dispel own castings

(Cool down 4 hours)

75 Mana/use

Turn Undead

Undead of Level+5 or below will flee for 5 minutes

80 Mana/use

Well, the Flame one was a no brainer even with the penalty, but I noticed the spells were either close to, or over my total mana amount, making me wonder what I had to do to increase that (sure was missing a help function now and thinking maybe the geeks weren't so dumb). The create potions one made me really think for a while, but I decided that if the old goddess didn't object, I might be able to make some money making potions. Of course it looked like I could make only two a day, but hell, they had to be worth something more than the cost of a vial and some water.

At the end I settled on the Potions, Flame, and Dispel magic spells, figuring they gave me a decent variety. I hadn't had to dispel anything to this point, but I figured it wouldn't be there if it wasn't needed. The undead one worried me, but it looked like it would only delay a fight for five minutes, so I put that off for now.

Loser

Healer Priest

Level 5 (0%)

STR 9

DEX 9

STA 20

INT 10

WIS 10

Health: 200

Mana: 100

Endurance: 200

Armor: 1

Spells:

Telina's Gaze(+65% activate)

Applies 40 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched

25 Mana/use

Telina's Fist(+65% activate)

Applies 30 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made

25 Mana/use (effective hit)

Cure Disease

Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched

80 Mana/use

Telina's Holy Blessing

On creature: 30% increase in hit damage

35% increase in healing rate

Duration: 6 hours

(+5%/level to level 10)

On flora: 40% increase in growth rate

50% crop amount

(+5%/level to level 10)

85 Mana/Use

(Does not stack)

Create Potions

Healing potion:

Vial of water with Telina's Blessing + Telina's Gaze

Healing= Telina's Gaze + Telina's Blessing + 2(Faith)

(Cool down 12 hours)

Telina's Flame

Holy fire strikes to cause 80 points damage to creature chosen

Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft

Double damage to undead

(+10/level)

90 Mana/use

Dispel Magic

Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen

-Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions

-Does not dispel own castings

(Cool down 4 hours)

75 Mana/use

+20% Healing Spell

-15% Spell Damage

+ 1.2% hand to hand

+ 19% light armor

+ 13% Blunt Weapon

+ 21% Concentration

+ 24% Faith

+ 1.0% Cooking

-5% Hit Damage

-2% Dodge

1 Gold

2 Silver

18 Copper

Rat skin (13ea)

Rat meat (13ea)

Battered Mace

12/18 durability

8-14 damage

----

I stopped by to see the blacksmith, who turned out to be named Seth, and dickered over a set of armor. I eventually got a set for 9 silver and my rat skins:

Worn Leather Armor

+14 armor rating

24/24 durability

Not usable: Mage

Worn Leather Boots

+2 armor rating

24/24 durability

Not usable: Mage

Worn Leather Bracers

+2 armor rating

24/24 durability

Not usable: Mage

I wouldn't know if it was worth it until something started chewing on me, but I have to say it looked pretty cool with the main piece being kind of form fitting and the boots and bracers making me actually look somewhat competent for once. A question to Seth got me the name of the local apothecary who supposedly sold vials, and since the town was one whole street, it only took me ten minutes to find her and buy ten vials for a copper each. That seemed expensive to me, but it wasn't like there was any market competition. I asked the middle aged woman running the shop about healing potions and she said alchemists make a version that heals about 10 points of damage, or a little more depending on who made them. The closest alchemist according to the ones who knew was two days ride south in a city called Telarin.

Since I was comparatively wealthy and had food and a place to sleep, I decided to take the time to try out my potion making skills. It was fairly straightforward of a process, though I had to restore my mana after casting the blessing spell because I didn't have enough to do both spells. When the potion was done it showed:

Healing Potion

128 points restored health

Hell, even if no one bought them they would come in handy in a serious fight. They would restore half my health in one swoop, something that would have been nice against the boss rat.

Making the potion got me into the mood to get better at the survival stuff, so I started cooking up my rat meat, getting a +1% every time I finished one. Turns out rat meat cooked gives you +5% endurance and nothing else. I also stopped in to ask Seth about repairing my mace and got:

New Skill: Repair

Active

Allows player to repair weapons and armor

Requirements:

Hammer

Seth was good enough to sell me a hammer for 5 coppers, but it took me a while to figure out I didn't really have to fix anything, I just equipped the hammer and touched the item I wanted to fix. When I touched the mace I got:

Repaired 15%: Worn Mace

15/18 durability

Touching it again didn't do anything, so I sighed and put the hammer away for now. I guess it was another one of those skills that grew as you used it. Seth let me set up shop next to him, and I repaired anything anyone wanted for free, and if they wanted it better they paid Seth to finish it. He grumbled and moaned a lot, but didn't really act like he minded all that much. By the end of the day I had 2 potions and:

+19% Repair

+13% Cooking

+27% Faith

The last one added a couple of points to my potion strength the next day.

___

Three days of potion making and repairing stuff seemed to make me more accepted in the village, at least to the point where Seth called me Loser rather than half-breed. He was also more willing to answer my questions about various things, the first being other people like me.

"Eternals?" he muttered as he kept banging on a sword "come through now and then, but Mudtown's long way from anywhere. Robbers and thieves most of them, though get one ain't so bad now and again. Never seen one be a priest though, just fighters and mage types, with the odd rogue thrown in. Dangerous most of em, raping and killing if'n they can get away with it?"

"Rape?" I mumbled to myself, realizing I'd been so off balance I hadn't even noticed the women beyond what they did. He took my mumbled word as a question and said "Aye, we been keeping the pretty girls hid away until we were sure you wasn't a bad un. Wrong what they do and being eternals, killing em don't put paid to their evil"

Holy shit! People like me just wandered around killing people without consequences? I shook my head to clear some of the confusion and said "Hey Seth, I know absolutely nothing about this place, mind telling me a little about this...land?"

He gave me a look like I was slow in the head, but shrugged and said "Tarinath it be called. Don't know if anyone other than a goddess can tell you much about it being no ones ever traveled the whole thing. You be in the Abandoned Lands now, named such because the elven folk left it long ago but left the half-breeds like yourself behind. City of your folk couple days south of here, though they don't lay claim to anything beyond the city walls. People mostly think poorly of em, though now I think about it I'm not sure exactly why" he gave me an appraising look, then shrugged and said "not my worry guess, something for the Captain to think on" he stopped to drink some water before going back to work and saying "West lie the Romar Empire. Been ruled by the Romar family since they drove the undead back and started building their walled cities everywhere. Humans mostly, though they let others in, even orcs if'n they're not causing trouble. Elves all left, but I don't know much about what they hold, only that it might be some big land off the coast. South is orc land, so you won't want to be going that way unless you're looking to be ate. Orcs like human meat, or so I've been told. One or two came through here were quiet about it, so no one got et and the Captain didn't have to be killing them. From what's been told, the dwarven folk don't have a land they lay claim to, just cities they built under the mountains in all the lands. I think they fight with the orcs and elven folk a lot, but heard the Empire has some kind of alliance with em" he spat to the side before adding "eternals be the buggers in the mix. Some of em have taken to ruling villages and such, though the orc folk don't seem to have any of em. Get four or five of em together and they get to adventuring in crypts and dungeons and such. Stir up the evil creatures something fierce they do, though now an then they kill somethin that helps out. Mostly though they's more trouble than help"

I was lounging in my chair next to his booth when the Captain stopped by again.

"Priest Loser, silver was discovered in Quilian's cave and the town has begun mining it, but bandits have taken it over, will you clear them from the cave?"

He did talk like he was running a script, something everyone did at points, but I had been chatting with Seth about anything with no issues. Anyway I got a message:

New Quest: Defeat bandits in Quilian's cave

Do you accept?

"Sure" I told the Captain "How many, and when do you want to do it?"

"There are at least three" he said as he nodded for me to follow "and I will send my new recruit Private Lentz to aid you"

Lentz turned out to be pure farm boy, big, blonde, and quiet. He was wearing the chainmail and sword like the Captain, but he also had a shield. I found out later that priests can't use shields (stupid Bugly), but it did make him look a little more dangerous.

"Sir" he said "I am ready to serve"

Private Lentz has joined your party

Level 4

Health 100

I refrained from rolling my eyes, just nodding for him to follow me as I headed out across the fields.

"How do you normally do this?" I asked

He blinked a few times, then said "Never fought with a priest afore, just other warriors and a mage now and then"

I stopped us at the tree line and considered things for a moment. Shrugging I pulled up my inventory and passed him one of my healing potions and said "Take this. Use it if you get down below 20 in health, otherwise let me try healing you first. The caves narrow, so I'll have you lead and will keep you healed until I have to fight" I turned and started casting a blessing on him, saying "Hold still, let me ask for Telina's blessing"

He seemed pretty impressed by the whole spell casting thing, so I made my standard production off asking for Telina's aid, then restored my mana after. I could sense Telina's humor and approval as I did it, and wondered how closely she was watching what I was doing. Hopefully not to closely or I would be poor for eternity. Woman had issues when it came to money. The blessing should make Lentz 30% more damaging, which had to be helpful.

The cave was just where I left it, but this time there was a guy wearing leather armor like me holding a bow outside. As soon as we stepped into the clearing he drew and shot me before I could even say anything. Son of a beeotch that hurt. It did 25 points of damage, and he managed a second one before Lentz got to him and forced him to drop the bow and draw a sword. I had two freaking arrows sticking out of me as I pulled my mace and ran to join Lentz, but both faded before I got to them, though it left two bleeding holes in my body. Holy shit did it hurt.

Lentz's shield helped a lot, and the bandit seemed to spend most of his swings hitting it rather than Lentz. The bandit showed:

Bandit thug

Level 4

Health 80

I could see Lentz's health bar if I semi-focused on him, and he seemed to only be down about forty points at the end of the fight. The Bandit dropped before I got a swing in, so I stopped and did Telina's Gaze for the first time. It worked exactly the same as her touch, but I didn't actually have to touch Lentz, just stare at him for two seconds and call up the spell. I had to raise my hand and sort of point at him, getting my hand to glow at the same time he did. The healing spell and Fist were taking about half as long as they did at first, so I could get both of them going by the count of two. The concentration needed to actually call up the spell would probably keep it from ever being instantaneous, but as long as I wasn't actually exchanging blows with someone I could probably make it work.

The bandit left behind his sword, bow, armor and 8 copper pieces. I took the money, but left the rest until we finished. My weight numbers had increased as I added points to my strength attribute, but I didn't want to get weighted down before a fight. The really funny part about the points being added to strength was that I could actually see I had become more muscular. Not a lot, but it tickled me that rather than exercising, getting stronger meant adding numbers to a spreadsheet. Cool stuff.

I called up Fist, then restored my mana before waving Lentz into the cave.

We got our next fight in the open area the rats had been in, but there was only one bandit standing by a stack of boxes. He was wearing the same thing as Lentz, so I joined Lentz in attacking him. The bandit just took a crouching stance and waited for us, with Lentz getting the first hit in. I was stepping in to take a swing when a guy in leathers appeared behind Lentz and stuck a knife in him. He just seemed to be there all of a sudden, no flashy lights or smoke, just like he had been there and I hadn't noticed him. I altered my swing and got a good hit on the sneaky dude, actually doing almost forty points of damage, close to half of his full amount.

Lentz lost close to 70 points of his health in that one knife strike, so I yelled for him to use the potion as I began swinging at the knife guy some more. I think the other bandit got a hit in on Lentz while he drank the potion, but it didn't really matter since there was a soft white glow that formed around Lentz for a second, then he was fully healed again. Hell, I do good potions.

The knife guy:

Bandit Thief

Level 5

Health 60

He wasn't much trouble once I could see him, and he went down after five or six swings (most of which missed). Lentz held off the other Bandit Thug, Level 4 until I joined him, then we managed to kill him pretty quickly. I only took a couple of slices from the knife, both of which only did 8 points of damage. Never bring a knife to a mace fight I always say, though that stab in the back did a wicked amount of hurt. And how the heck did I miss seeing him?

I picked up the 1 silver and 6 copper pieces, but again left the other items behind for now. I transferred another potion to Lentz as he said "Your potion was truly a blessing from the goddess Priest Loser. I have never heard of such a wondrous thing before and you give them so freely. My thanks to you and your goddess"

"We are brothers in arms Private Lentz" I said, matching his formal tones but holding back a grin "and it is the goddesses will that I aid those in need" Yeah, goofy and heavy handed, but it seemed to be how these guys worked. Lentz at least seemed happy with the response.

The bandit boss was waiting in the same room the boss rat had been in, but the room had widened where mining had obviously been taking place.

Bandit Leader

Level 7

Health 130

Thank god he was alone because he turned out to be one tough mamba jamba. He had on the chainmail most fighters seemed to have, but it looked stronger, and his sword did a butt load of damage when it hit. I let Lentz lead and stayed behind him, casting Gaze pretty continuously as the leader put a hurting on Lentz. By the time Lentz got enough swings and thrusts in to bring the bad guy's health down to 50, I was beginning to lose ground in keeping Lentz alive. I had used up enough mana that I couldn't do the Flame strike thing, so cast Fist, then went in swinging. The jerk stabbed me twice before I got my first hit, both of his doing 25 points of damage, but mine doing 35. I took one more thrust, and Lentz a couple of slices before we finished the guy off. Holy moley the guy had been tough. Between the two of us, the guy did enough damage to kill us twice over if I hadn't been healing Lentz at first. Definitely needed to stay with that healing from behind strategy until these boss guys were down to a manageable level. I seemed to have a lot more life than most of these people, but lord some of them put the hurt on you.

I managed three healing casts, one for me and two on Lentz, before seeing what kind of treasure we ended up with. I liked the whole surprise present aspect of this, always getting that Christmas present feel at the end of a fight.

This guy left:

1 gold

1 silver

6 copper

low quality chainmail

+30 armor

30/40 durability

Boots and bracers to match, and

Good Sword

8-18 damage

21/25 durability

he also had something new:

Bandit Ring

+2 dexterity

+3 to hit

Not usable by: Mage, Priest

That not usable by thing was really pissing me off, but when I finished cursing at the world (getting some worried looks from Lentz), I figured it should at least be worth some money.

We went back through and picked up all the dropped items, all of which I managed to carry, though it put me at almost my weight limit. I also repaired everything, adding a couple of points to the durability, even mine and Lentz's equipment. Every little bit helps I figured. Shit, now that I thought about it I should have cooked up some beef or something to add to our endurance or find something else that would help. Eating before a fight would take some getting used to.

The Captain slipped me another gold coin and thanked me for aiding the village. Lentz was regaling him with our adventures as I left, kind of disappointed I didn't level up again. Checking my stats showed I was at 86%, so it looked like the leveling up thing had slowed down a lot. I couldn't decide now if Bugly's attempt to screw me over attribute wise was really all that bad. Without the big kick in the pants to my health I don't think I would have lasted long at all. Most of the level 3 and 4 people seemed to have about 60 health, and I took that much or more in every fight. The addition to strength and dexterity had eliminated the penalties, so I was sort of at a break even point now.

I gave Dina a couple more coppers for room and board, and knocked out another potion before calling it a night. The next day I made sure to do another two potions, but I also went back to my normal seat by the Seth's place and dickered with him to sell everything I had picked up. The bandit leader's sword and mail brought in the most, but overall I got 2 gold and 7 silver for the lot. He wouldn't buy the ring though, saying he didn't handle jewelry and I would have to go to a city or find someone who wanted to buy it. He did say that enchanted items like the ring were worth gold rather than silver, so I figured it was an investment item for the moment.