Quest Complete: A Propa Check Up!

Description: Dae’mon has instructed you to visit his cabin to take off those bandages and awaits an answer from you. Don’t scratch them!

Meet with Dae’mon: 1/1

Reward: 100 XP

Congratulations! You have reached level 7!

You have recently discovered that you’re a Dreamer!

For being a Dreamer you gain an additional 3 points to distribute every third level

Points to distribute: 6

Caution! You must allocate your points within 24 hours or else they will be randomly distributed!

Durgen grinned widely as he read the notification. “Oi! lookie ‘ere I leveled u-ah aaAAHHH OOOHH!” Durgen let out a scream that turned into a moan, of pleasure, as euphoria washed over him, gradually levitating as he radiated a bright light. As the light faded, he floated back down, landing gently in his seat, legs twitching. Dae’mon finished his tea before speaking and standing up.

“On second thought, maybe we should pick dis up again la’er. I want yer tats to ‘eal an you look loike ya need new pants.” Dae’mon mocked, pulling out a large metal jar. “Dis is a special ointment I wants ya to use twice a day for two weeks. In the mornin’ an evenin’ before ya go to bed. It’s mixed with a health potion so it should speed up dah ‘ealing process. Afta ‘bout three dayz you’ll start peelin’ loike a bad sunburn, dat’s normal don’t pick or scratch at it. Got it?” He instructed with practiced ease, with Durgen nodding, trying to absorb as much of it as he could while he handed it to him.

Item received!

Special Ointment

Rarity: Uncommon

Quality: Great

Description: Ointments are a type of medicine that are commonly used to treat skin conditions. This one has been made specifically to moisturize and heal.

“Good lad. ‘ere I got some ‘omework for ya. Come see me in three days, an’ it be’er be finished by den!” Durgen watched as he sat motionless for several moments, his eyes unfocused. Then finally, he got a new notification.

New Quest Received: Chores for the Weak

Description: Dae’mon has given you homework while your tattoos heal. Just because you’re in recovery doesn’t mean you get to be lazy!

Push-ups: 0/250

Jog: 0/4 miles

Activate Sigil of the Berserker: 0/3

Solve this riddle: 0/1

Sometimes I am born in silence, other times no. I am unseen, but I make my presence known. In time, I fade without a trace. I harm no one, but I am unpopular with all. What am I?

Rewards:

+2 Strength

+2 Dexterity

+2 Wisdom

600 XP

Time remaining: 71 hours 59 minutes 28 seconds

Durgen paled, this was the biggest quest he had ever gotten, and it even had a timer! But if he completed this quest, he would almost get to level eight instantly! Durgen was thinking of how to go about finishing the objectives when Dae’mon spoke again.

“Dat’s all I got for ya today. Any questions while youz ‘ere? I know ya probs got a lot on yer mind.” Durgen thought for a moment, something did eat at the back of his mind. Durgen considered his question, there was only one thing that really bothered him.

“Yeah… earlier today I saw the burial grounds I woke up in. I remembered gettin’ speared in the chest and you choppin’ me head in two. I realize now I should be mad at you fer dat but when I think back it doesn’t bother me. I knows it should but why doesn’t it?” Durgen asked, Dae’mon slowly nodded at his words. He leaned back on his rocking chair and loaded his pipe.

“Dat’s a very good question, boi. Truth be told, I don’t know for certain, but my theory is dat the system itself is to blame. In a way, it favors us, gibes us extra points to spend, makes us immortal, so it would make sense that it heals our mental state as well. Best to consider it as another boon.” Durgen took a moment to digest this new information. Dae’mon had been a Dreamer for a lot longer than he had and everything he said did make since. Perhaps it's not such a bad thing after all.

“How many times have you died?” Durgen asked. This caught Dae’mon off guard and grinned.

“Too many to count. You might not knows it, but this village has fought a lot in da past. When our new chief took over not so much. That was about… twenty years ago now? I’z not complainin’, less work ya see.” He replied with a wink. He snapped his fingers and a blue flame sputtered to life on his index finger, using it to light his pipe.

“What does our village do now?” Durgen asked, now curious. No one had told him about the village’s history and what better way to get then from someone who lived through it all. Dae’mon took another inhale, going into lecture mode.

“We’z mostly keep to ourselvez deez dayz, we occasionally raid an oomie trade caravan fer stuffs we can’t make on our own, but we keep dat to a minimum. If we raid too much den da oomies see us as a pest to stomp. We orcs like a good fight but dey has be’er techiology. Stomped our old chief real good they did. Crush was his name. We had a group of oomies that warned us about dat but Crush didn’t listen.”

“Wait, we had oomies living wit’ us?” Durgen asked, curiosity peaked.

“Oi we did, they were from some learnin’ place called an ‘Oo’niversity’. Seyz they wanted to study us in exchange we learn oomie things. It wasn’t so bad, they taught us smithin’, farmin’ an’ ‘ow to cook. But Crush thought they betrayed us, seyz they gave away our location somehow. They ran off before we could stomp ‘em all.”

“Why didn’t Crush stop raidin’? Was it apart of their deal?” Dae’mon shrugged.

“Az I said, orcs like a good fight.” Durgen nodded understandingly. There were times where he himself was a punching bag.

“I do has one last question before I go.” Durgen stated. Dae’mon motioning him to continue.

“So… hows I supposed to explain dis to me mom?” He asked despairingly, opening his vest, and wildly gesturing towards his sigil and the tattoos that decorated the rest of his body. Dae’mon choked on smoke mid inhale as he began laughing.

“Hehe, That’s up to you, boi! Go ahead an’ pin it on me if you has to, you wouldn’t be wrong. You best be oin’, lad. You got a quest to do.”

“Roight.” Durgen grumbled, another big thing on his plate. “Guess I’ll be seein’ you soon den. Thanks fer everything.”

“Don’t thank me yet, boi.” With that, Durgen headed out the door. It was still mid-afternoon and still had the rest of the day before he had to go home to his mother. He walked over to the edge, enjoying the view lost in thought when something clicked in his mind: He had points to spend! He quickly pulled up his stat sheet.

Name: Durgen

Age: 17

Race: Orc

Class: N/A

Level: 7 progress to next level: 0%

Statistics:

Health:160

Stamina:120

Attributes:

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 16

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 21

Blessings:

Sigil of the Berserker

{Skills} (1) NEW!

Points to Allocate: 6

Durgen honestly struggled in deciding where to spend his points. He knew he had to spend them soon or else they would be spent randomly but he still didn't know what kind of build to go for. A part of him thought to spend them in wisdom so that he could better spend his points in the future, but that takes time and he only gets these extra points every third level. It was also tempting to put at least four points into his constitution just so that it gets into the next threshold. Then his eyes lingered over to his quest log, watching the timer on his only quest slowly tic by, that’s when he decided to think short term and spend his points in a way that would help him finish this quest. Seeing that he had to do quite a bit of running he put four points into dexterity and two points into wisdom to help him solve the riddle. He smiled as his stamina increased to one-hundred-sixty, same as his health. Finally, he clicked on his skills tab, as the blinking “new” was starting to annoy him.

Skills:

Cooking: Apprentice 3

First Aid: Novice 1 NEW!

General Labor: Apprentice 5

Improvised Craftsmanship: Novice 1

He clicked on the First Aid skill and read the description. It told him that he had a plus ten percent proficiency to stop effects like “Bleeding” or “Broken Bone” which also came with information on how to make basic bandages, as if the knowledge was already there and it just now clicked in his mind. It wasn’t exactly a healing skill, but he knew it was good to have. This also confirmed that whenever he got a new skill, it starts a novice one and can be upgraded up to nine before it advances into “Apprentice.” Admittedly, Durgen had no idea what came after.

He turned around and was about to walk back down the incline before catching himself. Don’t I ‘ave a lot of runnin’ to do? He asked himself. Might as well get started! He took a step back and used it to spring himself forward into a jog all the way down, watching his stamina steadily drain in the corner of his vision. Unfortunately, it didn’t take very long until the skin on his legs began protesting against the friction from his pants, his thighs sensitive. He wanted to slap himself as he forgot to put on the ointment. He used the momentum he had already created going downhill stopped at the bottom, thinking about where to go from here. He cursed as he realized there was only one place for him to strip down and that was back home. He sighed, accepted his fate and supposed it was better to get it over with, assuming his mother was, in fact, home.

Carefully, Durgen walked home, trying not to wince as the skin on his thighs throbbed from the excursion, his chest and arms itching like crazy. He kept looking forward, distracting himself while he walked with purpose, noticing several strange looks from the other people he walked by. It was definitely a new experience for Durgen as he was used to being ignored and quite frankly enjoyed the attention. Something about just being seen was such a nice change of pace for him until he realized that they tended to back away as he approached despite being larger than him. Now he was confused, he wasn’t doing anything he wouldn’t normally do. Oh, roight. My tattoos. He thought to himself, acknowledging that they are rather savage in nature, but he didn’t feel like he posed any threat. Then his eyes wandered over to see a hulking soldier hefting a massive, jagged axe, his green skin also littered with black lines like his own. Except his is accompanied by scars from previous battles. He caught Durgen’s gaze and nodded out of respect, or atleast, that’s what it seemed.

Thoughts spun around in his head as finally, his hut was in sight. He approached slowly, looking for any sign that his mother was here. It seems he lucked out. Knowing his mother, it is highly likely that she is over at the clothing station, gabbing with the other women of the village. Durgen would spend hours there when he was younger, completely bored out of his mind while his mom went on and on talking about gossipy nonsense.

He entered his hut and placed the ointment by the cot while he rolled up a skin flap that hung over a window, tying it with a leather cord, filling the space with sunlight. He never had much of anything, his coat was parallel to the back wall, left of the entrance was a makeshift rack his mother built for his clothes and to his right was a small fire pit to keep himself warm. He closed the entrance flap and stripped down, examining his clothes as he went.

Tattered “Shirt”

Rarity: Common

Quality: Poor

Item: Chest

Cloth

Durability: 9/30

Work Pants

Rarity: Common

Quality: Poor

Item: Legs

Cloth

Durability: 22/30

Fur Boots

Rarity: Common

Quality: Fine

Item: Feet

Leather

Durability: 35/45

Durgen winced at his poor shirt, it wasn’t tattered before and seeing the quotations surrounding the word really solidified the need for replacement. Why do oomies ‘ave to make such comfy clothes? He lamented to himself. He hung his clothes on the rack, making a point to wash them later and was now only in loin cloth. He opened the jar and scooped some of the ointment with two fingers. He sighed in relief as he started applying it on his thighs, not realizing just how irritated his skin was. When he finished coating the rest of his body, he decided to get back to the task at hand. Those push-ups weren’t going to do themselves!

He unrolled the extra blanket he had on the ground and got on top of it, getting into position, his toes bent and back straight. He has seen plenty of warriors’ train like this and has a decent understanding of the motions. How hard could it be? Durgen bent his arms down, his chest just shy of touching the ground and struggled to get back up, pushing with all his strength. By the time he finished his sixth, he could no longer push himself back up. Checking his quest log, he only got five so far, his last attempt didn’t count. He groaned as he rolled to the side, something telling him it was gonna be a long three days. Durgen spent the next couple hours trying to get these push-ups out of the way, by the time his arms finally gave out he made it to sixty-three. Still laying done on the floor, he decided to move one and work on the riddle, he read it again, studying every word.

Sometimes I am born in silence, other times no. I am unseen, but I make my presence known. In time, I fade without a trace. I harm no one, but I am unpopular with all. What am I?

Naturally his first thought was babies, as he heard how sometimes a baby is born not crying and figured how a baby can disappear on a distracted mother. While yes, they can be loud, but unpopular with all? Even Durgen had some respect. Sand? No that was always silent. Durgen was lost in thought when he heard footsteps approaching, entering the hut next to his.

“Ma?” Durgen called out. Looking up, he saw the sun was already setting.

“Durgen?” She replied. “Ya ‘ome already, boi? Good, I gots some new clothes fer ya, come out so we can fix ‘em on ya!” Durgen sat back up, realizing he should probably put on some pants.

“Ma, I got someting to tell ya… er, show ya I guess.” He said, while trying to pull up his work pants.

“Iz it ‘ur shirt? I already saw it, boi, I’ll try to fix it when I gets a chance.” Durgen can hear her opening the flap to her hut and walking over to the cooking area.

“No Ma, it’s not me shirt, I would likes it fixed if ya can tho.”

“Den wut iz it, boi? I’z ‘bout cook dinner.” She was going to find out eventually so Durgen figured he might as well get it over with. He took a deep breath in, then out, summoning all his courage, he pulled his door flap to one side and stepped out. His mother turned towards him, her eyes went wide. Without thinking she dropped the skillet she was holding and Durgen closed his eyes, bracing himself for the worst. But it never came. He peeked open one eye then the other, finding his mother casually walking towards him. She stopped, towering over him while studying the patterns on his arms and the sigil on his chest.

“What iz dis?” She asked, tears forming in her eyes.

“It’z my blessing, Ma. Dae’mon gave it to me, says it’ll make me stronger.”

“Durgen, he only gives those to warriors. Why did he give you one?”

“He said I needs it, so I can help ya, Ma.” He replied, telling a half-truth. She wrapped her arms tight around him, holding him in a mother’s embrace and squeezing the air out of his lungs. Durgen was about to protest when he felt a drop of something hit his cheek. Managing to look up he noticed his mother smiling with tears running down her face, so he remained silent. After a few long moments, she released him, wiping the tears from her face with her forearm.

“Are ya gonna be okay, Ma?” Durgen asked worriedly.

“Yeah… I’ll be alrioght. *Sniff* I’z just proud.” She said, pulling herself together. “How was yur trip?”

The two caught up on how each other’s day went while cooking dinner. Durgen told her about the quest he received, leaving out the sigil part of it. When he told her about the riddle part she laughed, apparently already knowing the answer. He pleaded with his mother, but she didn’t relent, telling him that it's his quest and he needs to figure it out himself. She did take pity on him and told him that he could probably do push-ups on his knees, as it didn’t specify what kind of push-ups. Durgen was confused about this idea, making a note to test out the theory after dinner. When the two said their goodnights Durgen examined the new clothes he got.

Blue Tunic

Rarity: Common

Quality: Great

Item: Chest

Cloth

Durability: 45/45

Brown Ankle Banded Pants

Rarity: Common

Quality: Great

Item: Legs

Cloth

Durability: 35/35

They seemed well made, at least by orc standards. The pants he could certainly see himself wearing as they were soft and wonderfully baggy in the thigh area. Unfortunately, the shirt will have to wait, his skin just still a little too sensitive. Speaking of, he grabbed the ointment, giving himself another coating. Then he got down in a push-up position, only this time on his knees. Opening his quest, he put it in the center of his vision. He went down, then pushed back up, finding it so much easier and the number went up! He did another one, sixty-five! He did another twenty before turning in for the night, a plan already forming in his mind. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day!