HC:Pacifist | Ch. 24 - Dead End (Patreon)

This time, Roth decided to tell the story of a mobster he had known back in jail. He had been one of the rulers of the biggest mafia family in Europe. He had three children. One had a knack for business, the other was a talented fighter, and the last had street smarts. The don hadn't known who to leave in charge of the family and had done a test with surprising results. While working together in the workshop, he once shared the story with Roth, and he figured it would make a good fox story.

"Once upon a time, a rich old badger, realizing he would soon pass away, decided to call upon all the animals in the woodland. Whoever impressed him most would receive all that he owned. The raven said:

- Look at my beautiful collection of shiny things! There are beads of glass, pieces of metal, and even a precious stone or two!

The badger was impressed. Then came the boar. It said;

- Look at my mighty tusks and my strong muscles. See all the gashes and marks I have left in the tree and how deep they are. I have done all of them.

The badger also commended the boar. Finally, the fox came along.

- See, oh badger. I have neither strength like the boar nor possessions like the raven. I am just a poor fox. Please give your inheritance to one of the other two. They deserve it more than I do. I will be by their side to help them manage it wisely.

The badger was most impressed with the fox’s humility and selflessness. It gave to the fox all that he had."

Roth excitedly saw that this time there had been over forty foxes listening to him.

The foxes listening to your tale are fascinated by the story of a witty fox.

+42 reputation with all foxes. You have achieved esteemed status with all foxes.

Your storytelling skills and captivating words capture the attention of many.

+1 Charisma

"Human, you know so many stories we haven't heard before. None of them are in the canon."

"What is the canon?" A little buzz of laughter spread throughout the group.

"You humans are so silly. It's our collection of stories! Our baroness keeps it."

"Your baroness? I didn't know you had one."

"She likes to spend her days reading the tomes of the canon. I'm sure she would like to hear your stories. Perhaps some of them will be worth recording in the canon!"

New Quest: Audience with the Fox Baroness (rare)

Your reputation with the foxes has caused quite a commotion in the community. The baroness hears of your fame and might have some work for you.

Mission objective: Meet the Fox Baroness.

Rewards: Unknown

Would you like to accept? [Y/N]

"Could you take me to her?"

"Hmmm. That wouldn't be very foxy, would it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Foxes are smart. We don't need anyone to show us where things are. We figure it out!"

Blasted foxes. Roth felt a little spark of rage trying to flare, but he immediately smothered it. Recovering his calm, he realized that he couldn't be as naive as to think that everything would go off without a hitch as it had with the mice. It was all uphill from here. He had to figure out where the Fox Baroness was.

"Ok! I will be on my way, then. Goodbye, everyone!" The foxes split into groups as other storytellers started spinning their tales.

Roth would check out the fox dungeon first. If the Rat King had been hidden in the Rat Cave, odds were that the baroness would also be hiding in the dungeon for foxes. Since it was no big secret, Roth checked the coordinates in the forum and headed toward the Fox Tunnels. This was a labyrinthine underground grid of tunnels.

The final boss of the cave was the Wandering Fox, who roamed the tunnels. One could run into it as soon as they appeared in the dungeon or while fighting with a pack of common foxes. Therefore, it was a dungeon where players used the [Shepherd's Shout] skill that Roth would spam when rescuing animals. That way, they could scatter the weaker mobs and finish the boss more safely.

Arriving at the entrance of this dungeon, Roth saw several players. Interestingly, there were more players at the Rat Cave than here. Roth came to two conjectures for this. One was that the [Miniaturizing Potion] was a valuable item that even higher-leveled players treasured. Everyone flocked to the Rat cave in hopes of getting one.

The other was that, although up to level 4, the only option for where to hunt was mice, from level 4, one could choose to continue killing Ratans one more level or move on to hunting foxes or badgers. Players fortunate enough to gain the [Rat Poison] skill usually preferred to hunt foxes. Crowding them up and finishing them off with AOE skills was easier. Other players who liked to hunt in smaller parties would go for the badgers. These had more health but gave more XP and could be hunted by solo players.

As Roth made his way to the Fox Tunnels, he was intercepted by someone who recognized him.

"Hey, you're that crazy guy." The accuser sounded more surprised than upset.

"Oh, hi. What's up?" He recognized the man as the party leader who had been hunting foxes and kept his cool despite Roth's meddling.

"What's your deal, son?" By the person's avatar and the way he talked, it sounded like an older man. Roth was not sure what to say. It sounded crazy to open up with a stranger, and his former squad was probably still looking for him. But it had been many days since he last spoke to another human. The NPCs were incredibly complex inside this game, but there was something intangible that made a human human. Before Roth could think about it, he was already opening his heart.

"I don't know. Some things make me snap. It's as if I was transported outside my head, and I'm no longer myself. I go on a crazy fit, and I can't tolerate seeing anyone around me getting hurt. I just blacked out. I must look crazy to you, uh?" Roth surprised himself with how quickly he had spilled the beans.

To Roth's relief, instead of laughing at him, the man's expression became empathetic.

"Army?"

"No. You?" The man nodded. By the man’s age, Roth guessed he was a WWIII veteran. "Why do you ask?"

"It sounds like what you have is PTSD."

"What's that?"

"Post-traumatic stress disorder. It's what happens when you go through more than your mind can cope."

"I see." He heard Dr. Hilstone mention it in passing a couple of times. "How do you deal with it?"

The man shrugged. "Sometimes all you need is time. For others, there is no choice but to do therapy." Roth believed in therapy. The Rageaholic program, for example, had changed his life.

"I knew something was up with you, and you weren't right in the head."

"Sorry, sir. I did not mean to cause you trouble." After a pause, he added, "Good job not losing control of the situation."

The man chuckled. "What's your tag?" Roth hesitated. "Trust issues? That won't help with PTSD."

"I’m sorry. Some bad people are out to get me. I can’t be too careful."

The man thought for a moment. "SargeantSarg."

"Excuse me?"

"SargeantSarg. My tag. If you ever need to talk." After thinking for a moment, Roth decided to risk it.

"Pax."

"By the way. We all got cursed after killing you. [Martyr's Curse]." Roth had read about it in the forums. It was undoubtedly related to his title. "What does it do?"

"To be honest, I have no idea, sir. If I figure it out, I will send you a message."

"Alright. I'd appreciate that. Stay safe, son. Don't worry. We were made to heal."

The man nodded his farewell and left. Something about the Sergeant had made Roth feel comfortable enough to share his troubles and even his game tag.

Could this be someone willing to contact his mom or the police for him? Roth had not stopped planning his escape. This was the first time he felt inclined to trust someone enough to try it again. He'd have to think about how to enlist the veteran's help.

Roth moved past the crowd waiting for partners to run the Fox Tunnels.

"Looking for a party. I've got [Rat Poison] and [Shepherd's Shout]."

"Looking for a player with [Rat Poison] and 30 Wisdom. PM if you want to join our party."

This time, Roth found that there wasn't any advertisement about players wanting to grind the dungeon to get a specific item. He went to look on the forums for a list of drops and saw that although the dungeon did have some equipment and skills that were better than what you could get in town, the most valuable item was the [Fox Ginseng]. It was an item that craftsmen used in various recipes and that could only be found in dungeons with fox mobs under level 10. This wasn't the only dungeon where one could get it. The prices fluctuated, but according to the forums, one could sell [Fox Ginseng] for 50 silver a piece on a good day.

Roth found it interesting that the developers had found a way to involve even beginners in the game's economy. More advanced players were forced to negotiate and send some money down the pyramid to get items they needed to craft more advanced recipes or complete bigger quests.

Roth looked for the entrance to the dungeon and touched the archaic tablet.

Welcome to the Fox Tunnels. Beware of the powerful wanderers who roam it. Many rewards and treasures await you inside. Would you like to go in? [Y/N]

Selecting yes, Roth was teleported into the cave. Roth found that the tunnels around him were dark. They were much darker than the Rat Cave. Unlike the game's first dungeon, no [Glowshrooms] grew off the walls and ceilings, making it gloomier. This added to the difficulty of the dungeon. It was harder to find your way and easier to be surprised by the Wandering Fox.

Roth appeared in the middle of a pack of foxes. They were stronger than the ones outside.

Crimson Fox (Friendly)

450/450

Lvl. 5

Their information was in green, signaling that Roth was safe. He barked a greeting to the group and howled a salute to the rest of the foxes roaming the tunnels. He was greeted with a chorus of howls in response. Now that introductions had been made, it was time to search through every nook and cranny of the dungeon.

Although players were always teleported to a random place inside the maze of tunnels, the map's configuration didn't change. Roth found a helpful guide online that contained a map of the dungeon, the biggest concentration of foxes, and the best places to box in the boss and finish him.

Roth studied the information. The throne room inside the Rat Cave had been hidden in the room where the dungeon's final boss was. Were he a humorous AI or a nasty developer, where would he hide the baroness' chambers? He first walked the entire length of the tunnels, looking for something unusual. To his disappointment, he saw nothing. What was he expecting? There must have been millions of players here already. If there were a hidden place inside the dungeon, one would have expected that they would have leaked it or found it already.

Roth thought for a moment. He would assume that, following the logic of the Rat Cave, the entrance to the secret chamber, if there were any, would be on the place where one hunted the boss. He studied the map and found three dead ends in the tunnels indicated by the dungeon completion guides as the best place to trap the Wandering Fox. He went to the first one. He found nothing after two hours of looking at every nook and cranny. He went to the other two dead ends and also found nothing. He had already spent an entire day here and still had nothing to show for it.

Roth tried to go about this another way. To unlock this quest, what were the requirements? To accrue enough reputation and also to... Of course! That was worth a shot. Roth ran to the first dead end, the one that was the most central and tried something different. Arriving at the chamber, he barked in Foxian.

"Woof. Woof. Snarl. Woof?" which translated means, "Could you open the door, please?". A hidden door in the wall of the chamber was revealed, and he received the notification he was hoping for.

You are the first to discover the Chambers of the Fox Baroness. +10.000 XP, +300 reputation with all foxes.

[Level up!]

Ch. 23 - Storytelling

INDEX

Ch. 25 - The Baroness