Chapter Three

Welcome to Al’Qarim

Color erupted back into their vision, as they slammed heavily down onto a black marble floor in a colossal domed room. Tanya promptly puked where she was.

“I feel like my head got torn in half…”

Fred and Stan both felt like they had seen this place before and were distracted enough that they did not hear what Tanya had said. Before anyone else could speak, a screen popped up in each of their visions.

‘Earthborn, as you have willingly come from your home you are able to choose your own class and element. Firstly though, you must choose your leader among you. Your strategist. Leader. {Director}.’

A drop-down menu appeared, showing all their names. It was a voting screen.

“Not Tanya.”

Kate said, smirking. Tanya actually agreed, nodding. Having lost her lunch, she didn’t feel like saying anything. Tanya just pointed at Fred and shrugged; selecting his name in the menu with a mental click. It took a few moments to understand how she could do this.

“Fred is smart and can improvise pretty quick. I mean, we all know he didn’t keep any notes during our entire campaign.”

Fred flushed. Shit, they knew. Shit, shit, shit. He failed at keeping them from knowing. What kind of DM was he, for them to figure that out? He sighed. Wrong thing to worry about right now.

“…You sure? I’m not sure I could do it.”

Zach and John looked at each other, then at Fred. Then nodded.

“Face it, you’re used to looking at stuff from an outside view and being more strategic about obstacles. Afterall, you had to design obstacles and countermeasures to prevent them from being overcome so easy. You lived for those weekly D&D sessions, man.”

“That’s…”

“No. it’s not different. It might be what we need, going forward. Just from the mention of classes, this is some variant of a game, I’m willing to bet. Except, it’s the world itself.”

Stan interrupted, surprisingly heated slightly. Stan never got heated, that any of them could ever remember. He jabbed Fred’s name in the drop-down menu as quick as he could. Zach and John raised an eyebrow then followed suit.

{SYSTEM-ALERT} Fred has been voted {Director} of his group, granting him this sub-specialty. {Director}s have the unique ability, during combat, to see extensive stats and debuffs of allies. In addition, they can also boost; Stamina Regeneration, Mana Regeneration, Movement Speed, Spirit, and more by sacrificing their own relevant stat accordingly. This ability can be spread throughout the group for small boosts, or for one teammate, for a massive but dangerous boost.

{WARNING} {Director}s are marked automatically in combat and are nearly always the first to be targeted for kill. Protect them with your life, or your defeat is nigh insurmountable!

A very large, golden book appeared in the middle of the room. They all walked close, wary. Inside, they could clearly read:

‘Beware, Travelers. While death is not permanent here, in most cases, repeated deaths may make you wish it was. Penalties for dying to monsters;

Small percent chance to forget an ability or spell you have learned (exceptions apply), for 1 week, making it unavailable. Stronger spells have lower chance. The monster that kills you may cast this spell instantly and at no cost.

Loss of three months of memories, selected at random and may be recovered through use of a Recovery Mage.

Minus three percent stamina, mana, spirit and Health for one week. This debuff stacks.

Minus two percent lifetime EXP’

“Okay, that’s scary. We can lose memories.”

Tanya shuddered at the thought, the others agreeing silently.

Stan broke the silence.

“I guess we should take a look at these classes.”

‘Fred – available classes; {Director} sub-specialty only classes;

Invoker: invoke the power of a contracted beast to empower your group, yourself, or another ally. Staff and Robes are main equipment. Mana, Mana Regeneration, and Intellect are main stats. Small percent chance of the beast’s power turning against you or your group when invoked, decreases at later levels. As one who willingly came to this world, you will be presented with one Uncommon contract upon choosing this class. Invokers are targeted regularly and are recommended to have offense and defense spells with which to help aid your party or defend yourself with.

Summoner: Summon a contracted beast to fight alongside you. Staff and Robes are main equipment. Mana, Mana Regeneration, and Intellect are main stats. Fixed fifteen percent chance of the beast you summon turning against you or your group when summoned, only decreased by gaining trust with the creature. As one who willingly came to this world, you will be presented with one Uncommon contract upon choosing this class. Summoners are not to be ignored, and so you are recommended to have offense and defense spells with which to help aid your party or defend yourself with.

Bard: Signal your enemies doom or your allies’ victory with your music. Drums, Harps or Lutes, and leather armor are primary equipment. Stamina Regeneration, Mana Regeneration, and Agility are main stats. Bards can buff the entire group only, or debuff a group of enemies. Be warned. As Bards can change the tide of battle, they will be almost exclusively targeted and have extraordinarily little means with which to protect themselves. Bards are unable to learn spells that do not deal with their musical equipment.

{ALERT} Your allies can see the same screen you do if you willingly share it with them. This applies to all group members.

Fred had to take a minute to figure out how to share this screen with the others but did so once he had.

“Huh. Well, that’s pretty interesting.”

Stan looked at it closely.

“I think the safe route is Invoker, Fred.”

“Let’s look at all our options first, though.”

Kate interjected, everyone nodding.

Zach Available Classes;

Monk: Use speed and raw striking power to deal increased physical damage and dodge attacks. Leather Armor, Leather Gauntlets are primary equipment. Dexterity, Agility, and Stamina Regeneration are main stats. The Monk is considered a damaging and dodging tank class.

Shield-Bearer: Use speed and unyielding resolve to protect your allies and hold aggro on your enemies. Leather or Plate armor, and Spiked Shields are primary equipment. Health, Stamina Regeneration, Agility and Stamina are primary stats. The Shield-Bearer is considered a tanking class focused on dealing damage and withstanding staggering blows.

“Shield-Bearer would be safer with heavy armor, but I don’t know if I could carry around two large, spiked shields all day, every day.”

John available classes:

Cleric: Use holy power to heal your allies and smite your enemies. Staff and Robes primary equipment. Intellect, Mana, and Mana Regeneration are main stats. The Cleric is a healing class that can mete out heavy punishment when not healing.

Paladin: Use holy power to heal your allies while tanking enemies. Plate armor, Sword and Shield are primary equipment. Intellect, Strength, Stamina, Mana Regeneration are primary stats. The Paladin is a unique class that can tank with the best and heal allies while holding back the enemies.

“Looks like I’ll be saving your asses again, guys.”

John chuckled as he looked over Paladin.

Tanya flipped him off as she read her screen.

Tanya available classes;

Rogue: Use stealth and cunning to gain an advantage in combat and outside of combat. Daggers and Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Dexterity, Stamina Regeneration and Intellect are primary stats. The rogue is a cunning class that can often uncover secrets that others may ignore, and deal in information when not busy killing enemies.

Berserker: harness the anger boiling in you and hack your enemies to pieces. Battle-Axes and Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Strength and Stamina Regeneration are primary stats. The Berserker is a rage-filled class that will go to any lengths to utterly destroy their enemies.

Archer: fight from afar with bow and arrow. Bow and arrow, Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Dexterity and Stamina Regeneration are primary stats. The archer is one of very few non-magical ranged classes, but can use magic to strongly augment their abilities.

“Oh, come ON! I do NOT have that bad of anger issues!”

Tanya basically screamed as everyone backed away a few feet.

“No, Totally not, Tanya.”

Kate said, rolling her eyes at her antics.

“Just go rogue like we all know you will.”

“No, I think Archer is a better route for me.”

“Suit yourself.”

Kate available class:

Mage: use long range spells to decimate your enemies before they know what hit them. Staff and robes are primary equipment, Intellect, Mana, and Mana Regeneration are main stats.

“Huh, I only have one available class. Oh well, it’s the one I always liked in games.”

Kate Shrugged. No reason to fret over something you can’t control.

Stan available classes;

Warrior: Use melee weapons to deal grievous damage and wounds. Swords and Plate or Leather armor or primary equipment. Strength, Agility, and Dexterity are primary stats. The Warrior is a classic damage dealing class that can take moderate damage.

Berserker: harness the anger boiling in you and hack your enemies to pieces. Battle-Axes and Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Strength and Stamina Regeneration are primary stats. The Berserker is a rage-filled class that will go to any lengths to utterly destroy their enemies.

Rogue: Use stealth and cunning to gain an advantage in combat and outside of combat. Daggers and Leather Armor are primary equipment. Agility, Dexterity, Stamina Regeneration and Intellect are primary stats. The rogue is a cunning class that can often uncover secrets that others may ignore, and deal in information when not busy killing enemies.

“Uh…Stan? Something on your mind, there, buddy?”

John asked cautiously, his eyes wide. Tanya, he could understand having anger issues. But Stan?

Stan didn’t say anything, selecting the Rogue class.

Everyone else just looked at each other, then selected their own classes.

Fred - Invoker. Stan - Rogue. Tanya - Archer. John - Paladin. Zach - Monk. Kate - Mage.

“A well-rounded group, I commend you.”

A voice spoke from a corner, making everyone jump. The voice sounded...wrong. like a mix of voices, forcibly mashed and mixed together.

“Calm, I am but a guide for the elements you choose in combination for your classes.”

Everyone looked wary but had no comments. It spoke again before they could.

“The basic elements are these; Light, Dark. Death, Life. Water, Fire. Earth, and Air. They all grant you a small deal of bonus damage and resistance of the respective elements you choose, also known as Affinity. However, if you take Light you will be vulnerable to Dark and be unable to use Dark spells until later when you are able to use advanced elements. The same is true with all the basic elements. Depending on your class, you may even receive a unique bonus. Such as a monk with Air affinity being able to strike and dodge slightly faster, or a Paladin with Life affinity being able to heal for more in a larger radius. These bonuses scale with you. Choose wisely, as you may not choose again until level 10.”

With that, the figure seemed to melt away, disappearing entirely. Fred thought he heard a small burp as it did.

What looked like a pool of silvery liquid appeared to their left. It was an oval shape and was roughly four feet wide by eight feet tall.

“When you have chosen, take the portal to your left. Welcome to Al’Qarim.”