The 'Smart'phone Saga: A Distracted Journey of Spells and Signals

Jasson stood outside of the Guild, leaning on a wall and watching the lights drift down into the city as he charged his phone. Holding the crystal to his charging port had been painful after all the tapping, but now that he was healed Jasson charged idly while watching the stars gliding down to earth. Jasson’s first day paying his life debt.

Had it been a good day? He had almost two hundred dollars of gold from it, which would have been an amazing day in his last life. Surely that was good enough. But…it wasn’t just him anymore. This would be split between the three of them, right? Would he get any part of it at all?

Sighing, Jasson pushed off of the Guild and started the long walk home. He needed to see if Petra and Clara were still at the meet-up, then it was several miles up the mountain to home. It still baffled him how the distance seemed to shrink as he walked, what should be miles taking him only thirty minutes. Maybe his sense of distance wasn’t accurate anymore.

Jasson was already on the north side of the city and only had a handful of blocks before he got to the meeting point. But a protagonist traveling any distance through a city will pass at least one alley. For any protagonist, all alleys have a 2.3% chance of a ‘{vulnerable_attractive_female(s)} being accosted by the {minor_plotpoint} gang’ encounter. The women’s screams pass by the deaf ears of everyone on the road and pierce solely into the courageous heart of the protagonist. Then, with brave proclamations of truth and justice, the protagonist will step in to assist the {vulnerable_attractive_females}, winning adoration and affection from the imposed upon.

Fortunately for this protagonist, these {vulnerable_attractive_females} had decided that this time fighting back was worth it.

“Hey,” Clara called, “Jasson! Over here!”

Jasson turned to see the comically collapsed bodies of the {minor_plotpoint} gang lying strewn across the alley. Petra was holding the leader up by one of his cat ears and turned at Clara’s call. Once she saw Jasson, Petra dropped the leader into a heap on the ground and dusted off her hands.

“Glad to see that you’re alright!” Clara bounced towards Jasson and said, “You were late for the meetup so we were worried. Then these hooligans tried to interrogate us on your location. We thought you were in some kind of trouble!”

“Really?” Jasson said, looking at the groaning men, “They were looking for me?”

“No idea why,” Petra said, kicking the leader one last time, “But they won’t be looking for you anytime soon. Healers don’t prevent pain, and I’ve offered the leader an education on methods to emphasize that fact. Did you get any good quests today?”

I probably shouldn’t flash my gold in front of so many criminals, Jasson thought.

“Nope,” Jasson said, “I did find out that all the good ones get taken right off the bat, so I should be more ready tomorrow. But I did get a quest for one silver and a copper. It was to exter-”

“Ugh!” Petra had stepped closer to Jasson and was now backing off as she said, “You stink like crazy. What were you fighting?! You’re worse than this morning!”

“I was killing spiders,” Jasson said, “Which were #@%$ terrifying. But I got paid, so that’s a silver lining. Heh.”

“Great,” Petra gave Jasson a wide berth, “Tell us the rest after you bathe back home. I’m staying upwind of you in the meantime.”

“I don’t think that’ll work,” Jasson said, “I’ve already washed off twice today. One shower, one really long soak in a tub.”

“Well it’s not working,” Petra groaned, “The smell is probably from your clothes. Figures. Good thing- well just stay away from me.”

Jasson followed Petra out of the alley and Clara walked up beside him.

“I’ll stay with you,” Clara smiled, “Tell me all about your deeds today.”

****

Jasson spent the trip chatting with Clara about his day and listening to what she’d been up to.

“Man…I still can’t believe how brave you were,” Clara gushed for the tenth time, “You’re terrified of spiders, yet you bucked up and fulfilled your duty. And there were so many! It’s too bad that the reward was only a silver and two coppers. That’s too low for over an hour of intense labor!”

“On top of that, I was out of commission for hours,” Jasson said, grinning, “But keep telling me about the monster you fought in the dungeon. What did it look like?”

Clara and Petra had gone to a local dungeon and delved some deeper floors, gathering a few gold coins worth of materials. Jasson suppressed a smile and started thinking about the best way to rub how much he’d earned into Petra’s face. He had made over eight gold today when she’d fallen short of five.

“Yeah,” Clara beamed, “A giant skeleton! The skull was this big!”

Clara motioned about waist height and said, “I had to crack the skull open like a coconut to get the crystal out. Should fetch an entire gold coin for it.”

“That’s awesome,” Jasson said, “What type of crystal was it?”

“Oh, it was just a mana crystal,” Clara waved her hand, “undead never have anything good. But it’s big enough to still be worth it.”

“Mana crystal,” Jasson searched his memory, “That’s the ones you can draw on for magic, right?”

“Yeah,” Clara shrugged, “some kinda fuel. I don’t know much more about that, but it should still fetch some gold. We did-”

Clara looked around and checked to see if there was anyone close. A fruitless gesture since they were in the middle of a forest on the overgrown road leading up the mountain to home.

“We found a healing crystal!” Clara said, “Just a teeny one. There was a regenerating slime! Still haven’t cracked it open though.”

“That’s perfect!” Jasson said, “We’ve been needing that!”

Clara grinned and said “It’s honestly only good in an emergency, but now we have something! Even one that small is worth forty gold these days.”

“Forty?” Jasson said, “But…I thought you said that you only gathered a few gold’s worth of materials.”

Clara shrugged and said “I mean, we’re not selling it. So there is not really a point.”

“Oh,” Jasson felt his pride drop, then said “So what’s this about cracking open the crystals? I don’t think Petra ever explained this to me. Only that crystals could come from monsters.”

“Oh,” Clara paused, then said “So, there’s two parts to a crystal. There’s the crystal core that powers a monster, and then that’s surrounded by- erm. What was the word for it? Flack? Flax?”

“Flux!” Petra called from further down the trail.

“Right,” Clara said, “Thanks sis! Anyway, flux covers the actual crystal and covers it up into a sphere. The crystal itself can be really small inside the flux. Take your spiders. There was probably a little crystal ball in each one like grains of sand. The mamma probably had a marble-sized one, and the actual Magic Crystal inside that would have been tiny.”

Jasson recalled the pawn shop he had visited on his second day. Those must have been whole crystals with how round they were.

Clara paused, then continued saying “Of course, this is mostly a rule of thumb. Sometimes there are tiny things that have massive crystals like-”

“We’re here,” Petra called, “Jasson, I’m gonna heat up some water for you. Don’t you dare come inside.”

The road ended as woods were replaced with not-ruins spread out across the massive clearing. Jasson saw Petra disappear into the taller walls and sighed.

Jasson said “Am I crazy, or am I still extremely tired? The healing magic took away my pain and exhaustion, but I still feel like sleeping for a dozen years.”

“I know, right?!” Clara said, “Petra says it’s something about our souls, but all I know is no matter how much healing I get I still need a nap after a long day. Maybe even eight hours if I’m looking for beauty sleep.”

Jasson said, “Isn’t that just going to bed, not a nap?”

“Beauty sleep,” Clara said, “Demands no other definitions.”

Jasson followed Clara, still a bit unfamiliar with the layout, and sighed. It had been a long day, and he could hardly blame Petra for staying away. He stunk like crazy, patches of his clothes were stiff with blood, and Mr. Harrison’s sweat had left its own odor. The dirt and charcoal from previous days were getting to Jasson, and he was considering how to wash his clothes when he pulled aside the curtain that served as their door.

“Oi!” Petra shouted, “Stay outside. I’ll have Clara carry the tub out in a bit. Then you must have a wash in one of the adjacent rooms.”

Jasson fumed just outside the door. To be more accurate, Jasson released fumes to the right of a curtain leading into the house. After a minute, Clara came out with a tub sloshing with water balanced on her head.

“Come on,” Clara said, “You’ll need to take your bath in the next room over. Toss your clothes over the wall and I’ll do my best to wash them.”

Jasson groaned then said “You know, I already tried to wash them. Used soapy water and everything.”

“Did you boil them?” Clara said.

“What?” Jasson said, “Like in cartoons? No.”

Clara said “That’s how we usually get the smell out of clothes. Petra already has the pot boiling, so let’s go.”

A few minutes later Jasson was scrubbing his pinkened skin, embarrassed. He was bathing in a wide room with a flagstone floor surrounded by stone and mortar walls. A wind blew through and chilled every part of his exposed body. Yes, there were walls but the ceiling was a curtain of night with the mountain peaks peeking in on him. Open, exposed, flashing the moon and stars.

“Are you done yet?” Clara’s voice called, “I have your towel if you want me to throw it over.”

It’s not like I was that dirty, Jasson thought, it’s my clothes.

“Yeah,” Jasson said, standing in the tube, “Just give me a-”

Woof!

Something soft enveloped Jasson’s face and he pulled it off and held it out. It was a towel, sewn in luxury with soft fibers and embroidered letters. Jasson squinted but of course, they were written in the language of this world.

Shrugging, Jasson dried off and said “Nice shot. You weren’t looking, right?”

“I’d hardly be a swordswoman if I could only hit what I could see,” Clara said, “Let me know when you’re dried off.”

Jasson stepped out of the tub onto a flagstone, then said “I mean, it doesn’t take long. I’m done already. Are my clothes-”

Boof!

“Ow!” Jasson said as the next projectile fell to the ground, “The heck. You put this one in a bag?”

“Sorry,” Clara said, “Did that hurt?”

Jasson sighed, picking up the bag and saying “Not really. Could you wait until I say that I’m ready to catch it next time? Why did you even stick them in-”

Jasson pulled the shirt out of the bag and it rolled out. White, with laces across the chest and baggy sleeves.

Very medieval, Jasson thought, and very new.

“You got me new clothes!” Jasson said, “Awesome! Thanks!”

“Yeah, well,” Petra’s voice called, “You smelled last night, and you’re smelling even worse today. It was for our own survival.”

Petra? When did she get here? Jasson thought.

“It’s a welcoming gift,” Clara said, “It’s not much, but we hope that you appreciate them.”

“Of course!” Jasson shrugged the shirt on. It wasn’t as soft as cotton, but compared to his old tacky shirt this was heaven.

“I’m glad you like it,” Clara said, “I wish I could have seen your reaction.”

“Fair,” Jasson said, digging in the bag, “Let me finish getting dressed.”

Jasson held his pants out and said “Umm…Wow. Okay. Do you guys have a belt?”

“I told you,” Petra said, “We didn’t need to buy the bigger one.”

“It’s fine,” Clara said, “It’s only a few lead. Better too big than too small. Jasson, catch!”

Something long flew over the wall and Jasson caught it. It was a length of rope.

“Okay,” Jasson said, “this will work.”

A few minutes later Jasson stepped out of the doorway and posed, saying “Well ladies, what do you think?”

Clara smiled brightly while Petra said “You look like a peasant. It looks perfect on you.”

Of course, they wouldn’t get it, Jasson thought, This is a cool roleplay outfit. I could go to Comic Connection with this.

“Hey, that’s an upgrade from before.” Jasson said, “Besides, with how we live we’re technically homeless. We’re squatting, even if it’s on your own property.”

“That’s not how squatting works,” Petra said, “And you have no reason to be so giddy today. A silver and a copper? Really? You couldn’t even take the time to find a better one?”

“The quests all come out at the same time,” Jasson said, “I’ll try again tomorrow, but there’s a ton of competition.”

Clara said, “Come on, at least he earned something.”

“Yeah,” Petra said, “But we managed four gold and half a dozen coppers. He should have at least gotten an electrum c-”

“Now see,” Jasson said, reaching among the things that he’d put down for the shower, “I just don’t understand why you’re assuming all this. Yes, the reward was supposed to be One silver and one or two copper. But-”

“One or two copper?” Petra said, “So they were rewarding a copper per head.”

“Wow,” Jasson said, “I couldn’t even finish my explanation. Yes, it was one copper per head. But there were thousands of heads in that attic. Naturally, they wouldn’t all be worth the same as the big one but…”

Jasson tossed the bag of coins to Petra, who caught it. Petra untied the drawtrings and pulled the bag open with Clara leaning over her shoulder. Petra curled her lips into a smile and Clara beamed at Jasson.

“Wow!” Clara said bouncing to Jasson and giving him a big hug, “Great job! Your second day and you already made a bunch of gold and change! I’m so glad you were rewarded properly for all that you went through!”

“Thanks,” Jasson said, hugging her back, “It was a lot of work.”

Petra counted out a few coins and tossed the bag back to Jasson, then said “Well done. By sheer luck and grit, you managed to turn an abysmal job into a fruitful day.”

Jasson ended the hug with Clara and said, “Thank you. Do you think that it was good or bad luck? That was a lot harder after all, and I could have died.”

“Who knows,” Petra said “but I’m glad that you didn’t show us the gold while we were in Stalt. Stalt might have a full court system, but remember: Don’t count money in public. You won’t just be an idiot, you’ll be an idiot with something to lose.”

“Will do,” Jasson grinned as Clara hugged him again, “Can I come inside now?”

“Come on in,” Petra held the curtain aside, “and welcome back to Reflection Manor.”

End of Arc 2: Goes Around

*****Jasson’s Status****

| Strength | 102

| Agility | 130

| Intelligence | 150

| Wisdom | 90

| Charisma | 93

| Magic | 55

| Stamina | 115

| Luck | 155