Breaking the Rules Pt. 13

Breaking the Rules takes place in an RPG universe, and is the sequel to Bending the Rules. To understand the characters and how the world works, please start from Part 1 of either series. Not based on any particular gaming franchise or storyline, but there may be guest appearances.

There might be a longer delay before the next part releases. Stupid real life.

Stay safe all you lovely pervs. But don't forget to live a little.

*****

Nuru woke up as Furaha pulled away.

"Mmmnn..." he groaned.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," she said. "Wow, I slept right through, I don't think I even moved."

Nuru looked over at Dayo.

"Yep, I'm up," the valkyrie said, sitting up and stretching. "Good thing it didn't storm last night."

"Let's get back before jealous townspeople come lynch us for showing them how much fun they're missing," Nuru said.

Dayo smirked.

Furaha defused the wards to prevent anyone accidentally triggering them and getting hurt, then they all tromped slowly back to Quartz Port.

"Listen, Furaha... no pressure here, but, if you want to talk about what happened yesterday, we've got some time," Dayo said.

"Oh..." her face fell. "Sorry about that. You're sure I didn't ruin it?"

"Not at all," Nuru said.

"I've been... talking with my counselor, you know. I know, intellectually, what's been happening to me. The things I've been through, the trauma it caused. I can describe it, but I hadn't faced it down. I pushed it back, holding the pain away. My counselor said I'm good at avoiding it, but I was close to a breakthrough. I thought she meant I wouldn't need her anymore, that I'd somehow magically be OK. But I guess what she meant was I would realize how good it feels to be able to trust someone. That was... the most vulnerable I've been in a long, long time. Maybe ever. Dayo... this is going to sound crazy. But I felt good in your arms. I felt safe. I knew you were going to take care of me, no matter what happened, and it would be OK. And I guess I had some pain that had been sitting in the back of my mind for years and years, and finally it was safe to take it out and let it go. I mean.... I'm sorry, I sound stupid don't I?"

"No, absolutely not," Dayo said. "That's incredible. You're so strong to have been able to manage the feelings for that long."

"Oh, come on. Nuru, you don't believe this tripe do you?" Furaha said sarcastically.

"I totally do," Nuru said, giving her a side-hug. "You're doing great things. If you were failing to hold it together, we could never have done what we all did, getting me this far."

She sighed. "There I go again. Sarcasm and deflection as a defense mechanism. I'm still coping. But I guess I really am getting better."

"Say, Dayo, you mind running and talking to Jaheem for me since you're going back to Home Town as soon as we get back?" Nuru asked.

"Sure. You want to write a note?"

"He doesn't read. I don't know if it's complex enough that you need to write it down, and you can't understand him to discuss all the details, so I don't think that's necessary. But since Tusa is mad about this whole thing, I just need to ask him to come meet me, so I can make my case. I guess I don't have to go back and meet him, but if I don't bring Jaheem, Gram's probably going to kill me next time he catches up."

"Better not risk that," Dayo said. "Alright, I'll do it. Where should he meet you?"

*****

Nuru paced, thinking furiously. He still didn't know what to say.

YOWL

He turned to see Jaheem trotting towards him, and broke into a grin.

"Jaheem, my old fri-ack!"

The lyena bowled him over and started licking his face.

"OK, OK! Hahahaha you're going to tear my face off with your rough tongue!" Nuru chortled, climbing back to his feet. "Phew... How've you been?"

Grunt.

"Oh, of course.!Fassada Girma!"

Grunt, long drawn-out grumble.

[Life is good, since my son has returned. Home Town is more a home than ever.]

"I'm so glad to hear that. I hear you're taking out monsters that threaten the kids over there."

[I cannot enter the town itself, but yes, a warthog made its way near and I killed it before the young ones could come to harm.]

"I know you're enjoying your time there. I wouldn't have asked you to come if it wasn't important."

[Speak, then.]

"Gram contacted me the other day. I'm not sure I can trust him, but he could have killed me - seemed on the fence about whether to do so or not, actually. Now that he's on my trail again, I'm not sure I can get away if he truly means to. But he did offer me a deal - forgiveness, in exchange for helping a child in his family."

[This is why my son has been acting like a cornered badger, and refused to speak on it.]

"I don't blame him being suspicious. I can't tell if this is just a ruse, to have another chance to hurt you, or a legitimate offer. I don't want you or Tusa to get hurt. But then again, if there's a child that is struggling without a father... I know what that's like. I want him to have a chance at being accepted into society."

[You're meant to come alone with me, then.]

"I told him Tusa might come also."

[Best if he does not. Someone should live to avenge me if he acts in bad faith. Or, so I will tell him. In truth, I prefer his vengeance to come by simply living a good life, to spite our enemies. But he is not ready to accept that, yet.]

[No, I am not,] Tusa stalked forward, hackles raised. [Will you not reconsider? This is clearly a trap.]

[My son, I congratulate you on your improvement at the silent approach. Will you come with us, or will you wait?]

[Your wishes are plain. Why do you even ask?] Tusa spat bitterly. [Forbid it, and let us settle this as we must.]

[Carrier of my blood, if I should die, you will be the head of the pack. I will not force you to do anything if I am to teach you to live without me. You must know how to make decisions, and weigh their consequences. This was the reason I thought it wise to travel with this human, to learn how to see the choices.]

[Even when he deals with an enemy sworn to our death?] Tusa growled.

[A life unrisked is a life already wasted. Better to meet under favorable conditions, than let the foe catch you unawares. A great many of the creatures you will face are hostile. How is this any worse? We have no less than two ways to eliminate a threat with this meeting.]

Tusa sat and thought for a minute.

[Father, you are wise, though foreknowledge favors the enemy as well. I will come, but watch and wait from a distance. Close enough to witness, but far enough to carry some safety.]

[A sound compromise. When do we go?]

"Day after tomorrow. Tusa knows where to find me. Meet me here in the morning, and I'll show you the place," Nuru said.

[Agreed.]

*****

"You're sure this is OK?" Nuru said.

"It should be fine - just don't fall off," Ace said.

"Why don't you have a mount?" Dayo lamented. "I can't even keep up with you this way. We're going to be stuck worrying about you until you arrive."

"Just another thing I haven't had time to arrange," Nuru said.

"Alright, here we go," Ace said, dropping a smoke pellet and vanishing.

Dayo waited carefully as well; the valkyrie would have time to get to the travel service, but Ace needed to be there to call his mount, and time was wasting. But they had agreed not to talk to much, to distract him and ruin the chance. The horse grumbled and stamped under Nuru, making him even more uncomfortable. He waited, trying not to get bored, which would make him more likely to lose his grip on the horn of the saddle. The reins would be useless; the horse was not his mount, and would not obey his commands, and holding onto them might even goad it to try to throw him off. And so, he waited. The horse jerked into motion, taking off at top speed expectedly, but still quite suddenly.

"Let's hope that was the hard part," Nuru muttered to himself, already starting to ache in his thighs.

Horse riding was not high on his list of Proficiencies. It was going to be a long, painful trip, he could already tell. Fortunately, the road was mostly clear, and a horse this fast would be tough for any wandering monsters or Random Encounters to target. There were faster mounts that could catch him, but that required their rider to know where he was, and that was unlikely to be the case, else they would already have made their move - he hoped.

Meanwhile, he entertained himself listening to the changing rhythm of the thundering hooves beneath him over different types of terrain and different speeds as it slowed a bit to conserve stamina, noting the patterns he could use when drumming to have party members with offset attack patterns. Perfect lockstep had worked against the bugbears, but a more sophisticated opponent would probably need to be faced with a more complex pattern to throw off their counter-tactics.

He'd considered trying to have Tusa carry him back to Chosen HQ, but he wanted to give the lyena a little more space to finish processing his feelings of betrayal. Nuru hadn't meant to hurt him, and as Ace had pointed out, Tusa probably would have been offended no matter the way Nuru had approached it, just given the strong feelings he had towards Gram and his role in the young lyena's abduction and forced deathmatch participation. So here he was, bouncing on the back of a horse that wasn't his, as it returned to its master, who had taken the Multiversal Travel Service back to Way Station, and was going the remaining distance to the Chosen HQ entrance, where he would catch up to the thief. This part of the World Map was fairly boring, and there wasn't much to see aside from the odd harpy and regular woodland wildlife. Nuru did take extra care, however, to watch for any home-like trees or pools of water. He could not afford any further entanglements with nymphs, particularly all alone.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the walls of Way Station came into view, and he passed them on the way by. Then there was the Chosen HQ, just in the distance; Nuru dismounted as the horse found Ace and slowed. He could see Dayo coming from the distance, who had gone to Home Town instead and taken a shortcut through the Forbidden Forest, where the valkyrie's Shadow Walk would let them travel greater distances in the shade of the trees.

"Is that why you've got your hut where it is, so you can quickly get to the shadow of the forest and make good time to your HQ?" Nuru asked.

"That's part of it. Mesi had her own reasons for wanting it there as well, privacy of the glades where she does her dancing and such."

"Ah. Makes sense."

"Oh. Maybe I shouldn't have come," Dayo said, looking up with a frown.

"Why? Oh, that's Chibale, waiting for me. Well, that's nonsense, I want you here with me. Have you done all the reconnaisance you need?"

"For now. Furaha's following up on some things, although I have a few more clues to check into. But you'll be meeting Gram tomorrow, I can do some of that then."

"Well it's not like you've got other quests to be doing, right? Wait here, let me talk to him. I'll be back."

Dayo stopped to chat with Ace, who held onto his drum as Nuru continued forward. Chibale didn't seem pleased to see Dayo, but he smiled when Nuru got closer.

"Welcome back! We're planning a retaliatory strike against the Goof Troupe, and those damned pygmy trolls. Think I'm gonna hang them all from tree limbs and make them watch as the ones at the end get Arcane Blasted around the branch and I smash them with a hammer as they come whipping the other direction. Then I'll gather up all the souls and turn a couple into little bombardiers and throw 'em in Legba's base there, and let them run around crawling up their shit-stained breeches and stab them in the balls. You in!?"

"I actually have to go, but I may join you on the next one," Nuru said.

Chibale drooped only a little. "Oh well, won't have to worry about them snatching you under my nose again at least. I'll tell you all about the carnage next time! How did she know to find you there, anyway?"

"Who, Dayo? Just followed the guy with my mutual assistance pact. Not a party agreement, exactly, it's between us individually, but it lets him know where I am when I activate it."

"Hmph. Grandfathered in, I suppose. Don't dissolve that, neither I nor anybody else can form one of those individually with you after that Proclamation."

"Yeah, I know; see you around. Kick some asses for me."

"I got a skull-crushing blow with one of their names on it, I'll be sure to let them know it's a gift from you!"

Nuru waved and ducked down, scrambling forward slowly to make sure the passage hadn't moved at all. He didn't know how frequencies worked, or how exactly the Rules Lawyer had created it, and he wasn't sure Chibale did, either - the chalk line was there to follow, but he didn't want to assume it was still correct. This time, at least, it was.

"Well, Nuru! Man of the hour!" Onyekachi boomed. "Come to watch the carnage? Can't let you join the raid of course, but you might get some morbid joy out of it."

"Sadly, no. But I'll stay for a drink next time I'm by and let you or whoever tell me all about it," Nuru grinned. "Got an actual level to take."

"Oh, my, not like last time though right?"

"No, just the one, sadly. That loophole is closed. Although, let me see your spells first."

Onyekachi bent to hand him a written list.

"See anything you like?"

"Several," Nuru sighed. "All out of my price range. Can't even take Arcane Blast. I mean, you've got Fire Hand and Snowball, but I've got several of those in scroll form. I've only got three slots and two of them are Musical Trance and Influence Emotion. I have to be choosey about my last one. I guess I could take an attack and spam it, it's not like I'm lacking for MP, but it won't have the critical effects until I build the proficiency and that sounds a lot like grinding, which I'm trying to avoid. Replenishing my scrolls seems more expensive for the parchment than it's worth."

"Yeah, the good spells don't come easy below Level Fifteen or so unless they're Faction Quest rewards, just on account of how much your max EXP is, and your class. But since you can't take any of those... Sorry we don't have a lot of bard specialties. We don't get a lot of you guys around, and that's a shame. Can't let the High Factions have all the music; I should talk to Tumelo about getting more of those. I think we have enough necromancy control spells now, heh."

"Ugh, of course, I didn't think about class penalty. Well, I can take my level, anyway. Don't mind me."

Nuru squirmed forward and pressed his finger down to the altar. He hadn't been paying attention to Level Twelve and higher, because he'd been too preoccupied with chasing Sanaa's objectives. That thought triggered a few questions and he chatted with Sanaa as he looked over the skill trees for his next level.

(How the hell do you have so many spells for me to use, if they're that expensive?)

/I'm old, by mortal standards, remember. I had to keep my level below the obsidian ceiling, where I'd start attracting too much attention just for existing. It would be an absolute waste to hit max and not do something with it as I keep getting more; I gave quests out, but sometimes I just needed to dump some extra EXP somewhere, to keep from leveling. I know that sounds crazy because of that time I tried to kill you for the EXP; that was a debt that came due related to leapfrogging Ashanti in the Fieflord's heirarchy. But before and during that, I've needed most of those spells at one time or another. Weightless Foot was mostly a desperate contingency because for a demon, running is a sign of weakness and a lot of berzerkers sit around just waiting for someone to flee the safety of their wards without a proper escort, but the rest I've broken in quite thoroughly./

(And you never once needed a proper attack spell?)

/There are times it might have been useful, I suppose. But most of what you think of using attack spells for are handled by wards or minions, for someone like me that does not invade territory the "normal" way to expand, and there's a class penalty to the EXP cost, so the really good ones are out of my reach. I mostly pay other demons to do the dirty work, where a bit of seduction won't get me what I want; especially the lesser ones. I do have some physical prowess when it comes down to it, but usually by that time the wards have done their work and I'm just finishing them off. Anyway, if I'm away from home I can't swap out my slotted spells and I have much more use for the others I've got./

(You use a lot of wraiths and imps and stuff?)

/Indeed. They can get EXP from being summoned, but most mortals don't know how to balance the risk to reward for them, so they prefer working for higher demons and especially Setangarayu; we know to hire them in groups so at least some of them survive. They like to think individually that they will be one of the ones that make it, even if the odds are against them./

(Seta-what? Oh, succubi like you, that's right.)

/And incubi, we are the same race. You might know us collectively as 'Cubare', or should I say, some of the faction scholars might know us as such, but that's so arcane as to be almost useless. I'm only mentioning it in case it's helpful for getting what we need from Katlego./

Nuru finished looking through the skill tree and selected his Level Twelve skills: Cooperative Scroll Forging, and a classic adventurer skill, Grand Entrance. There was a penalty during its cooldown phase, but the initiative and CHA saving throw bonuses would more than make up for it.

He groaned, noting the circuitous trip he still had to take on the way back.

"Ah, Nuru, I should mention one other thing," Onyekachi said, snapping his fingers.

"Oh?" he said, looking suspiciously at the approaching skeleton.

"Well, we're not allowed to aid you - specifically. However, we can create an assistant for all of our visitors, of any faction alignment. Easiest implementation is simply not to check for one, you know; Ayo here can help you with that monotonous travel to the front door."

"Uh... great. I don't know, though. I can't give it any instructions to speed up or slow down or anything."

"Oh, don't worry, all of the Chosen have that ability. Just call it out and we'll gladly adjust for you. Everybody here's got explicit and very generalized orders to assist anyone engaging Ayo's services. Just good hospitality, ya know?"

"Well, cool then. I see you've brought a towel, Ayo. I guess you're ready to go hitchike the multiverse," Nuru said.

"That's for whatever you need, we'll have somebody change it out every eight hours," Onyekachi said. "You can lie on it like you did with the curtain the other day, for one thing."

Nuru eyed the skeleton's skull drooping awkwardly to one side for a moment. "Well... alright."

He shook the towel out after the skeleton set it down, then crunched in to keep his head down, below the artificial ceiling. The skeleton got down on all fours, tucked a corner of the towel into its ribs, and scurried backwards across the floor, pulling him behind.

"Ack! Slow down!" Nuru said, tumbling off as he rounded a corner sharply.

Onyekachi bounded up behind him, snapping his fingers. Ayo stopped where it was. "Ah, that rascal. Chibale tried that AI routine out yesterday and left it on the fast setting. I told him to check with you on that but he's distracted by the big attack on Clowntown; we've received word they pulled reinforcements away to the outpost you escaped from."

"All this fuss over me?" Nuru said, wide-eyed.

He was not too happy about the attention that would be bringing down towards him from all sides.

"Oh, no, we've a long standing rivalry going on; golems versus undead. We're taking the opportunity, while we know they're licking their wounds, to twist the knife a little deeper. We'll show them a skeleton crew is exactly what necromancers love. That's the official story, anyway," Onyekachi said, winking. "I think Chibale took your abduction a little personally and insisted we go smash their painted faces in. His words, not mine. I'm expecting him to bring a few trophies back for you. They might be a little grisly, but please remember it's the thought that counts."