Fell Champions

Otter managed to bathe without throwing any additional flirting or innuendos Rua’s way. A boundary was close to being passed, a threshold pushed wide open, but it wasn’t the time for it. Right now, what they had was fun, and playful. But what it couldn’t be was casual. Right now, they had a good chance of a one-night stand, but Otter knew that wasn’t what Rua needed. 

 

But she also wasn’t sure of what she herself needed. Was she really going to commit to a relationship? Rua was pretty. Very pretty. And the combination of the take-no-shit attitude, with the absolute vulnerability she’d displayed was doing things to Otter she hadn’t expected.

 

The time dilation from Holt’s tech made things tempting. Otter could spend an entire lifetime in this game. An entire lifetime to form a relationship.

 

She could have a future here. Weird, thinking that. If such a thing were possible, maybe Fell Champions really was the perfect fantasy that Ingram Holt preached.

 

Otter finished cleaning and dressed, joining Rua at the small dining table, where a meal had been prepared. It was more of the same soup from before, but Otter didn’t mind.

 

“So,” Rua said. “If this world is a game to you… if this… Holt person you keep talking about sent you here…”

 

“Sent a hundred people here. I’m just one out of a large group.”

 

“More of you. Fables.”

 

“There’s only one of me.”

 

Rua shook her head. “Even so… a hundred people from your world, with no concept of how things work here, all thinking that we’re just toys to be played with.”

 

“I don’t think everyone’s going to be running around, depopulating whole cities. Well, maybe CyberEdge. That man is terrifying with a weapon, and he figures out how to game systems quick. But it’s just as likely he’s trying to figure out how to steal candy from orphans right now. Or overthrowing a government. Or farming.”

 

“And… is this ‘CyberEdge’ a criminal where you come from?”

 

“I think he’s just a lonely shut-in with anxiety. He’s just content-pilled, I think.”

 

“Content…?”

 

“Oh, he likes to do random and unexpected things to entertain an audience.”

 

“Well, thank goodness he won’t have one of those here.”

 

“Yeah, about that… we might have a problem.”

 

Otter tried her best to explain streaming, and how streamers broadcast to an audience, and how that audience was frequently filled with trolls who just wanted to be entertained and delighted in suffering, but it was like explaining television to… well, honestly to someone who lived in a fantasy swords-and-sorcery world. Rua didn’t have much framing for context for a lot of what was involved, but luckily, she was intelligent. So it only took the better part of an hour for her to properly appreciate the sheer horror of letting loose a bunch of streamers on a potentially real world where they thought it was just a game.

 

“Can you… not just explain it to them?” Rua asked.

 

“I wouldn't know how to explain it to them. Holt put us in a video game, and you're real? Advanced AI, I guess? I don't know. And even if I could properly explain it... They won’t believe me. Their audiences definitely won’t. Worse, just because I’m female, that might egg some of them on to be even more obnoxious and begin raping and pillaging on the spot."

 

“Wait, are you streaming? Have you been… showing everything you’ve been doing this entire time?” Rua’s face had gone absolutely white in mortification.

 

“No, no, I never set up my broadcast. I’ve been, uh, too busy with you. But I promise I won’t turn mine on.”

 

“What is even the point of this game to you? Why come to my world at all? Games have rules. This is just my home. What kind of objective could you have? How do you even win?”

 

“This is what we’d call an open world sandbox game. Basically, we make up our own objectives. Let’s say you want to become a king. Well, it’s up to you to decide how you want to do that. Go into politics, run a revolution, assassination, bribe your way to the top…”

 

Rua shook her head in disbelief. “And what was your objective in coming here? How do you win your game?”

 

Otter shrugged. “I win just by being here. I wanted something… new. Holt offered that.”

 

“And now that you’re here? What’s your goal now?”

 

“Not world domination, that’s for sure. That sounds like too much effort. I dunno. I kind of like what I’ve been doing so far.”

 

“You haven’t been doing anything except… you know…”

 

“Boop.”

 

“This is a serious question, you know.”

 

“I’m not a serious person, don’t know if you’ve noticed that. I dunno. I’d kind of like to pamper you a bit. Maybe some standard RPG stuff, I guess. Go on a quest, solve a mystery, shag a princess. Hey, what’re your feelings on polyamory and polycules?” 

 

“What are those?”

 

“You know, when you have a relationship with multiple people, either romantic or sexual or both, and people in your circle have relationships with others. No firm exclusivity, but clearly defined boundaries and communication.”

 

“You just described a relationship.”

 

“Wait, you mean poly is the default here? Oh my sweet merciful Morningstar, I think you just gave me a half-chub with that news.”

 

“What… no, I won’t ask. Everything I hear about your world lowers my opinion of it more. So, that’s it? You just want to go… adventuring into the sunset, and get in a relationship?”

 

“Well, I mean, ideally, a relationship with you. Have I mentioned that I find you very attractive? Hey, can I give you a massage yet?”

 

Rua was apparently building a defence to flattery, because she managed to only look a little flustered at the remark. “No. Not yet anyway. We still have things we need to talk about.”

 

“Right, like, what do you want to do?”

 

“What?”

 

“Well, I’m going to be following you around, I think. And you’re currently stuck in a death swamp. So, are we staying in the death swamp? Why are you even here?”

 

“I… that’s none of your concern.”

 

Otter couldn’t help herself. She leaned forward and flicked Rua across the nose. “Lie.”

 

“Ow. Rude.”

 

“Coming from you, that’s pretty rich. I’m concerned about you being a hermit in a death swamp, ergo, it is my concern. I don’t know how long you’ve been here, but you’re barely scraping by on supplies, from what I can tell. And you’re so desperate for some kind of company that you think I’m a good idea for a relationship.”

 

“That’s quite an assumption.”

 

“Oh, so you want me to check how wet you are the next time I call you a ‘good girl?’”

 

Rua flushed. “Just… because I might respond to that doesn’t mean I want a relationship with you.”

 

“You’re lonely, admit it.”

 

“I… yeah, I guess I am. I exiled myself here, because at the time I thought it was a good idea. And then I was stuck here, and yes, now I want out, because this was a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”

 

“Then that’s my quest!” Otter stood, and struck what she thought was a suitably heroic pose. “I normally hate escort quests, but I will get you out of this stupid swamp! Now can I massage you?”

 

“We’re going to have to train you how to use your Pact,” Rua said, waving her back to her seat. “What kind did you get? Innate? Manifestation? Alteration?”

 

“Hell if I know. The Dreamer didn’t give me an instruction manual. She just called me a ‘Fateweaver’ and next thing I knew, I was sploojing all over your front yard.”

 

“Fateweaver. Hmm.” Rua leaned back in her chair, considering. “I’ve never heard that title before. But that doesn’t mean a lot. I only know about seventy or so, and there’s thousands that’ve been recorded. The knowledge of how to use it should be instinctive, but since you’re not from here, I guess that’s not the case.”

 

“Yeah. I wish I’d been given some kind of ability button on my menu or…”

 

Wait. When was the last time she’d checked her menu?

 

She pulled it up, flipping to the Character Stats page. There were a couple of changes waiting for her.

 

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Tenacity: 14 

Allure: 10 

Will: 15 (16.5)

Fortune: 11 (12)

Awareness: 10

 

Pact of the Fateweaver
Fortune +10%

 

Pact Abilities:

Thread of the Scourge

Cost: 1 Will

Strike or bind, confound your foes.

 

Thread of Sanctuary

Cost: 5 Will

Create a garment of protection. Lasts 24 hours. Can be renewed.

 

Thread of Fate

Cost: 1 Will. Permanently reserved.

Entwine destiny.

 

Okay, those all sounded good. And she had a permanent stat bonus to her Fortune stat just from getting her Pact? But where was she getting that bonus Will from? She flipped through her menu some more, and found her answer in World Quests, where she’d unlocked something.

 

Form a Pact. Will +10%.

 

Okay. That was good. 

 

Otter gave Rua a quick rundown of what her menu said, reading out the abilities and their associated costs. She had to give her a breakdown on her stats, and the points she’d allocated.

 

“We have a similar system,” Rua said. “But it’s not so neatly… divided up with numbers. It’s more a … sense of strength. If I had to compare what I can feel from you, versus what I can feel from myself, I think my Strength, for example, is twice yours. So it would be around twenty? 

 

“But three abilities from your Pact. Three. Right at the start? Fables. Is this because of you not being from here, some interference from your Ingram Holt, or the Dreamer playing at a game?”

 

“Pacts normally don’t get three abilities?”

 

“They do eventually. Over time, they evolve with use. Especially if you’re nearing whatever goal the Dreamer has for you. I’ve heard of someone getting two abilities at the beginning of their Pact once. And that was an act of spite from the Mikovian Dreamer.”

 

“Wow.” 

 

Just hearing that made Otter kind of want to try out her stuff, just to see how powerful it was. If she was going to be some kind of Chosen One, she was damn well gonna swing her metaphorical cock around. Especially since she wasn’t able to swing her literal cock around yet.

 

Her Thread of the Scourge was probably liable to break something in Rua’s cabin. And while Thread of Sanctuary sounded neat, it wasn’t something that seemed Chosen One-y. 

 

Otter only hesitated for a full second before she focused on her Thread of Fate ability. The permanent reserving of one stat point for a skill sounded like a steep cost, and while most people would probably whine over it, to Otter, it was a big red button that said, “Press me, I give you promises of power, ponies, and blowjobs.”

 

“What do you think this does?” Otter said, as a strand of glowing red energy Manifested in her hands. 

 

She held it up, looking at it from multiple angles, stretching it and bringing her hands back together. It behaved a lot like a regular string would. But shiny.

 

Rua made a strangled noise, and reached forward, “Whatever that is, put it away, not in my house, not in my house.”

 

And then Otter shifted. Just a little, really. She’d made a habit of moving into Rua’s personal space a lot, and she must have instinctively gravitated into it, because she certainly didn’t mean to move towards Rua with the shiny red thread made of magical energy whose use was still completely unknown.

 

So when Rua moved to take Otter’s wrist, she grabbed the Thread of Fate instead.