A bunch of yes sirs followed before he dismissed them all. He turned to Alburet, who dismissed Tiny, “So how did you subdue Larry? He’s one of our better unarmed fighters here. He was trained by his father Leoric, who was trained by his father Leeroy.”
Alburet chuckled, “The same way I showed the captain. If you can spare a few minutes and a few men I’ll show you what I showed him.”
The rest of the night Alburet walked the guards of the keep through the same holds he’d showed the city guards. As the Sergeant called a halt to it for the night he thanked Alburet.
“Thank you Alburet, for the informative night. If you’re staying around for another day maybe you can spar with us tomorrow.”
You are Liked by Sergeant Jasper.
Alburet nodded, “I’ll see what I can do, sir.”
Finally Alburet got back to the barracks and collapsed for the night, letting sleep wash over him. His dreams were of a smiling Victoria and a purring Fluffball.
Alburet
Human Summoner
Level 9
Strength: 14
Agility: 14
Constitution: 25
Intelligence: 36
Wisdom: 34
Charisma: 20
Health: 700
Mana: 790
Spells:
Demon Skin-Rank 2
Demonic Retribution
Summon Least Imp
Fire Blast
Sap Strength
Demonic Haze
Summon Lesser Destroyer
Abilities:
Personal Spells
Grinding Goblins
Alburet woke, stretching before he sat up to look around. All around him guards were dressing and chatting away amiably with a few giving him nods as they went by. Smiling at the camaraderie, he got to his feet to grab his gear from the footlocker. Sitting down he put on his boots and gloves which were his only real pieces of armor, as his Demon Skin did better than anything else he had. Once he was ready he shouldered his bag, took up his staff and made his way to the stairs.
Sergeant Jasper met him at the foot of the stairs, “Morning, Alburet. If you would like to break your fast with us we would welcome you at the table.”
“Sounds good to me, sir,” Alburet said, following the Sergeant down a hall into a large dining room which already had a number of soldiers eating porridge with some fruit. He followed the Sergeant's lead, taking a wooden bowl and filling it with the porridge before accepting a cup of tea from an older woman. Sitting across the table from Sergeant Jasper, Alburet sipped his tea and discovered it was an apple spiced tea. He took a sample of the porridge, smiling at the honey sweet taste. “Very good food and tea, sir.”
Jasper nodded as he dug into his own food with the speed of a professional solider. Once he finished the porridge he leaned back slightly and sipped at his tea. “So, are you off to slaughter more goblins today, or are you going to stick around and train the men some more?”
“Possibly a bit of both, though in what order will depend on if any of those I was with yesterday ask for aid today. I shall let you know once I myself know.”
“During the hours of daylight I shall be at my station manning the duty desk. If you come back after dark I will probably be in the training area out back, working on what you taught us last night.” Jasper stood up, gathering his empty bowl and mug. “Enjoy the meal and I wish you a pleasant day.”
Alburet, who had just finished his own meal, followed the Sergeant, “You as well, sir.” He dropped his bowl and cup off in a tub of soapy water, following Jasper’s lead, then followed the man out back to the main room. He took a breath while he considered his options about what he wanted to do. He could go solo farm more goblins easily enough, he could head off to see about finding a more profitable area to farm, or he could stay and train the guards.
He did enjoy training the guards, it brought him back to the happier times he had before. Teaching defensive tactics had been a favorite of his when he worked. He cut off that thought as it would only loop back to his crime. Shrugging, he summoned Bob and Tiny to his side and was just about to head out when he noticed a message from Fluffball flashing away at him.
Message from Fluffbalclass="underline"
Alburet, I will be back out at the keep in half an hour at the most. If you’re willing to party up with me again, we can farm the courtyard if your tank minion is any good. If you’re willing I’ll meet you by the merchant in the courtyard of Stormguard fort.
Alburet tossed her a quick reply using the Mindstone, which sent text messages rather than using ‘telepathic’ communication. He wondered at that. Mindblown could easily have made the Mindstone use VOIP or something similar so players could actually talk to each other. Shrugging it off, he informed the guys that they would have company before he let Sergeant Jasper know that he was off to kill goblins for an undetermined amount of time. He waved to the Quartermaster on his way out, getting a friendly nod in return.
“Master,” Bob asked, “I notice you treat everyone the same, people of this world and other two-souled that is. Why is this?”
“Hard to explain really,” Alburet said. “Most of my kind think of those of this world as little more than paper dolls, here to serve them in furthering themselves. I find myself thinking of this place as a universe of its own. Everyone here has reacted or acted just like any person of my other world would near as I can tell, so it just seems right I should treat everyone equally.”
“Even us?” Bob asked, pointing at himself and Tiny. “You don’t order us about really, and you rarely demand we do anything even when I push at the bounds of good taste.”
“You are my companions, we will be together for a long time I think. As such, does it not behoove me to learn about you and find the best way to work with you? True, I could just gag you and order you from point A to point B. However, that wouldn’t garner the best results, now would it?”
“True,” Bob agreed, “but you only snapped at me once yesterday, and it wasn’t even about a comment I made about you.”
“I know. You need to understand, Bob, for most of the two-souled this world is a chance to be someone else. Here we can do things we would never do in our other world, by and large. Someone shy, for instance, might very well be a fierce Berserker here. I myself would have been something akin to a Defender in my other life, not a man who consorts with demons. Some do it to unshackle those parts of themselves they feel are constrained by the other world. Others do it to gain the confidence they lack normally.”
“So you think Fluffball is a shy and quiet person in her other soul?”
“Consider all that she said and did and think about it, Bob,” Alburet said with a smile. “She should be here soon and then we’ll be off to kill more goblins.”
Tiny grunted, “Good, I am bored.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll soon be busy enough. We’ll be killing much faster than yesterday, with only a few seconds between goblins. As long as we don’t run out of goblins.”
Tiny’s eyes glowed for a moment, “Praise be to the master.”
“Wow, he is big, isn’t he?” Fluffball said from behind Alburet who spun at her words, startled.
“Hey, Fluff. Everything good to go?”
“Yeah, I’m as ready as I can be. How long you on for?”
“I woke shortly before your message found me, so probably for hours and hours.” He sent her a party invite, which she accepted. “Let’s go kill us some goblins and loot their corpses.”