Chapter 25: Tales of the System Apocolypse Ⅳ: Eve & Penny
Penny watched as the fat Goblin killed a total of fifty people before he finally stopped. I had already been dark for hours, and the goblins lit up torches instead of using the lights. They dragged the dead bodies to the center of the area and just set them on fire, letting the corpses burn.
At around six in the morning, the fat goblin dragged himself into the same building as Penny, retiring to the third floor. During the night, the goblins didn't stop sending out raiders; in fact, most of the goblins left the university to raid the surroundings for more humans. In essence, the university had the fewest goblins it had ever had.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Eve asked.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Penny asked, "They rape and kill us?"
The fact that was what would be their fate if they failed killed any humor Penny tried to put into the joke. Of course, that was their fate anyway, so Penny didn't see an issue.
"Let's put this plan into motion," Eve muttered.
Penny took a deep breath before she sashayed her way up to the door. Despite the circumstances, she put on her best smile as she spoke. Activating her only skill, which was [Charm Speak].
[Charm Speak] - Uncommon
The cornerstone of any charlatan's toolkit. 1% chance per skill level to inflict anyone you are talking to with the [Charm] aliment. The cost is equal to 1 mp per minute per target, and you may increase the mana expenditures to increase the effectiveness of the ability.
[Charm]: Your target will treat your every word as if it came from their best friend, and the more you compliment and flatter them, the deeper under your spell they will fall.
She had dumped half of her stat points into charisma and the other half into intelligence to give her the best chance.
"Good evening, gentes. My, what big muscles you have." she started awkwardly.
The orcs snorted, not responding to her provocations. Penny gave them her best winning smile. She kept talking, pushing her mana into [Charm Speak] all the while. She had no idea how she was doing it, but her mana was going down rapidly.
"I mean, two impressive Orcs such as yourselves hardly need to guard a room full of helpless women. I mean, your sheer size, those tusks, they're...majestic," she said, starting to get worried as her mana got to the halfway point.
The orcs were preening under the flattery she was laying on them.
"It's not really fair, is it?" Penny asked, pushing even harder. All of those goblins out there having fun while you're stuck here?"
The orc guards started to nod along with her words.
"Why don't you boys head out and have some fun? I'll keep an eye on the girls here when you get back," she whispered loudly enough for both orcs to hear.
The orcs looked at each other for a moment, then looked around before starting to walk away. One of them turned around and whispered.
"Thanks," before the two orcs walked away from their post.
<[Charm Speak] has Reached Level 2>
<[Charm Speak] has Reached Level 3>
<...>
<[Charm Speak] has Reached Level 8>
For a few moments, no one said anything, and then Eve broke the silence.
"I can't believe that worked," Eve muttered.
"Didn't we need the keys to the door," one of the other women asked.
"Why? They didn't they lock the door?" Penny said as she pushed open the door the orcs had just been guarding.
"What about the others?!" one of the taller women, Penny, who thought her name was Elizabeth, asked. We can't just leave them there."
"There on the other side of the university. I'm not sure how you expect to make it all the way over there without getting caught." Penny shot back.
"I'm not going to give up," Elizebeth stated.
Penny looked at Elizabeth. Her hair was hot pink, she had at least three piercings, and her glasses didn't have a lens. Penny immediately decided to avoid her on principle.
"Fine, just give the rest of us a head start," Eve said as she cautiously poked her head through the door.
"Where can we even go?" one of the other girls asked.
"East," Penny said. "We head towards Langley. Find the cops and tell them about this hell. Maybe they can do something."
Then she got an idea: a bit of petty revenge. Some of the girls started to get ready to leave.
"How are we going to get out of here?" some asked.
"There's a shuttle bus in the lot." Eve pointed out. "Anyone who wants to leave can park their ass there."
"What about the keys?" another person asked.
"If they're not on the bus, they'll be upstairs," Eve said.
With the fat goblin went without saying.
"I'll do it," Penny said.
"What?" Eve hissed.
"Get everyone into the Bus, I'll grab the key," Penny said.
Eve bit her lip, but Penny clasped her hands.
"I'll be fine. Now go," she ordered.
Eve looked like she wanted to protest, but the other girls were already dragging her away.
Penny turned and opened up her options for her new skill.
Courtesan Skill Options
Skill Points: 2
Slaves Privacy - Common
Everyone has a right to basic privacy. But as a Slave, you need privacy; otherwise, your master might kill you. Now, you can block one skill level of [Appraisal], [Inspection], and [Analysis] per level of this skill. Any skill you block will instead see a status you can prepare to make yourself appear far weaker than you actually are.
Slaves Poisoned Nails - Rare
Your nails naturally produce a paralytic poison. If the constitution check fails, the target will be completely immobilized. If it succeeds, the target will suffer a penalty to their agility and dexterity scores.
Toxicity of poison increased by 5% per level of this skill
If you apply a poison to your nails, this skill will then empower that poison rather than supply its own.
Pheromone Control - Rare
Attempts to inflict 1 of the following status effects on all targets within range: [Anger], [Arousal], [Calm], [Depressed], [Excited], [Terror], [Nauseous]. Increases the effectiveness of this ability by 2% for every skill level and every 10 points of the CHR Attribute. Has no effect on creatures without a sense of smell.
Slayer of Men - Epic
Your armed attack always counts as [Manslayer] and inflicts triple damage to creatures of the [Humanoid] type.
Walk of Shame - Rare
When you wake up the next day, you realize you need to walk back to your home after spending the night with someone. No one wants to be seen during the dreaded walk of shame, but with this skill, you do not have to be.
You are 2% harder to notice per skill level
Your movement speed is increased by 1% per skill level
[Slaves Privacy] was an option left over from when she first acquired the class, and she immediately dismissed it along with [Slayer of Men]. She didn't know if goblins and orcs counted as men, and [Slaves Privacy] didn't seem to have any immediate benefit to her current situation. That just left just [Walk of Shame], [Pheromone Control] and [Slaves Poisoned Nails]. If it had been before Orcs, she would have grabbed the [Pheromone Control], and she might even pick it up in the future. But right now, she needed a weapon, and she needed to go unseen. So she picked up [Poisoned Nails] and [Walk of Shame]
She could immediately feel the difference. Looking down at her nails, they now looked like they had been dipped in emerald nail polish. It looked amazing. But she could instinctively feel that her nails were now weapons, and she would have to be careful with them.
Reminding herself of where she was, she started up the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible as she moved up the stairs. She was almost startled by new notifications.
<[Walk of Shame] has Reached Level 2>
<[Walk of Shame] has Reached Level 3>
She ignored the notifications even as they kept coming. She made her way upstairs to the office, and skill notifications went off every now and again. As she arrived at her destination, she froze. The fat goblin was sleeping on one of the desks like a fat sultan, right next to the keys. She held her breath, not willing to make a sound.
<[Walk of Shame] has Reached Level 7>
Penny made her way as carefully as possible to the wall of keys as the fat goblin snored next to her. The bus was number two, so she needed to find the associated key.
"No, no, found you," she whispered as she plucked the key off the rack. She turned around, ready to leave, and then everything went to shit.
BOOOOM
A massive explosion rocked the building. Penny stumbled backwards as the keys fell off the rack and fell to the floor in a cacophony.
"GAAAAH!" the fat goblin cried as he fell off the desk he had been using as a bed.
Panic gripped Penny's heart as she lunged at the fat goblin. The fat goblin's eyes opened wide as she stabbed her fingers into the fat fucks gut.
"Gah," the fat goblin groaned as it doubled over.
But it wasn't paralyzed, so she jabbed him again and again. She didn't stop even after the fat goblin's body turned stiff. Spying the wicked-looking knife he had used to kill all those people, she snatched the twisted knife from the fat goblin's belt and shoved it into the fat goblin's chest.
DING!!!
You have used the Sacrificial Dagger of Asmodeus to slay the [Paralyzed] Goblin Shaman. You have earned the Attention of Asmodeus.
New class available: Warlock
<[Poisoned Nails] has Reached Level 2>
<[Poisoned Nails] has Reached Level 3>
<[Poisoned Nails] has Reached Level 4>
DING!!!
You have unlocked the Regional Quest: Bloody Goblin Horde
Goblins have invaded Kwantlen University. Despite only being here for a day, they have already kidnapped, raped, enslaved, and ritually sacrificed any humans they could get their hands on. Bring the fight to them and destroy the Bloody Horde.
Objectives:
???
???
Bonus Objectives:
Kill all of the Goblins: ??? / ???
???
???
Kill Goblin Shaman: 1/1
???
???
Tips:
Much of this quest has been hidden due to a lack of information. Expand your knowledge to gain further insights into the quest.
Rewards:
2 Levels for everyone involved, Bonus XP for Everyone, a Title: Goblin Killer, 5000 Settlement Points, Winter Event Guild Token
Penny blinked in surprise, but she ignored all the notifications as she looked at the goblin's body. It had withered and died. But his items were still intact. She snatched up the large diamond she had seen him using earlier but couldn't find the massive blood ruby. A second BOOOM reverberated through the building.
She took that as her time to leave. Stashing both the diamond and the knife in her sweater, she raced down the stairs two at a time. At this point, orcs and goblins were screaming as they fought with whatever was attacking them.
When she arrived at the parking lot, the sky was already brightening. As dawn approached, she sprinted across the frozen ground, the ice seeping into her new socks. She leapt up onto the bus, handing over the key to Eve.
"What the hell is going on?" Eve asked.
"Don't know! Drive!!" Penny shouted.
BOOOM
Eve didn't need any more incentives as she started the bus and drove directly over the curb and onto the street. Penny looked around. The bus was overstuffed. The normally fourteen-person bus had almost fifty women stuffed inside. However, one person was missing.
"What about Elizebeth?" Penny asked.
"She said she was going to save the rest of the prisoners, and she didn't need us or the patriarchy," Eve said exasperatedly as she looked at her.
"Are you bleeding?!" Eve asked in a panic.
"What?!" Penny looked down at herself. The front of her sweater was covered in blood.
"It's not mine," she said. Pulling out the Sacrificial dagger. "I killed that fat fuck"
Then she brought out the massive diamond. It was covered in blood now but no less impressive.
DING!!!
Congratulations!!!
For freeing yourself from slavery, you have earned a Title Upgraded: Slave title upgraded to Free*
You have earned 1 Skill point.
DING!!!
Congratulations!!!
For freeing your fellow slaves, You have earned the Title: Breaker of Chains.
You have earned 1 Skill point.
Thanks to your title, you have unlocked additional classes.
"Damn girl. You went all medieval on his ass." Eve said with a smile on her face as they drove away.
"You took so long, so we grabbed some spare clothes from the room they were keeping us in. You can get changed if you want," Eve said.
"Yeah, I think I would like that," Penny said.
She found the clothes in the back of the bus. She pulled off her bloodied clothes and used them to clean her knife and the diamond. She tossed the bloody clothes out of the bus's window before putting on fresh clothes from the pile at the back of the bus. Then she noticed something moving out of the back of the window. She rubbed away the fogged-up window and screamed.
"EVE!!!" Penny called out. "We're being followed?!"
"WHAT!!" Eve called back.
"Orcs, orcs on giant wolves?!" Penny said, unsure of what the wolves were called.
"Wargs or maybe dire wolves," Eve hissed. "Shit."
At least a dozen orcs on dire wolf back were chasing after them, and they were gaining fast. Penny immediately felt it when the bus started to accelerate even faster as Eve put the pedal to the pedal.
"Eve, they're not getting closer, but they're not getting farther away," Penny warned.
"I don't think this bus can go any faster," Eve said. "Does anyone have any magic? Fireball? Magic missile anything?"
Penny looked around, but the rest of the girls were shaking their heads.
Penny made her way back up to the front of the bus again.
"We need to find someone to help us. Are there any police stations nearby or something?" Penny asked. She looked around at the other girls on the bus.
"Come on, Eve. We can't be the only ones to come up with ideas," Penny said.
Penny was scrambling for an idea as the first rays of dawn broke across the skyline.
DING!!!
The Beacon has been lit!!!
[Awoken Myths] have lit a beacon welcoming newcomers to their settlement [Hopkins]. This settlement offers a safe zone, a 30% bonus to skill growth, and access to a skilled healer, making it the perfect refuge in these tumultuous times. But be careful: While settlements offer great security, none of these apply to your fellow man.
Penny and Eve looked at each other.
"You know that's my school," Penny said.
"It works for me. We'll turn off by King George and head down Fraser Highway," Eve said as she tried to outrun the orcs.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Penny Noel
Race: Human
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 7
SubRace: Caucasian
Age 16
Health: 160
Stamina: 200
Mana: 140
Health Regen: 2.0 per min
Stamina Regen: 2.8 per min
Mana Regen: 0.8 per min
Titles: Free*, Breaker of Chains
Immune
N/A
Resistances
N/A
Weakness
N/A
Bane
Manslayer
Classes: Courtesan 4 / 4 Unassigned
Total
STR: 0
AGIL: 0
DEX: 0
CON: 12
END: 8
PER: 0
INT: 7
WILL: 0
SPIRIT: 8
EGO: 4
CHA: 49
LCK: 0
Base
STR: 0
AGIL: 0
DEX: 0
CON: 12
END: 8
PER: 0
INT: 7
WILL: 0
SPIRIT: 8
EGO: 4
CHA: 49
LCK: 0
+49 CHA +7 INT
Racial: +3 CON +2 END +2 SPIRIT +1 EGO
Skill Slots: 17/60: Skill Points: 5
Personal Skills
- [Pursuit Hunter] - Level 1
- [StoryTeller] - N/A
Courtesan 3/11
- [Charm Speak] - Level 1 >> Level 8
- [Poison Nail] - Level 1 >> Level 4
- [Walk of Shame] - Level 1 >> Level 7