The Sacred Forest Dungeon was a truly magical place. Among the monsters and twisting trails lay ruins filled with valuable treasures and useful items. But most magical was the bounty of the land. The trees were broad-branched and supplied fruit; deer roamed through shaded meadows, nibbling at the ground cover; and one could drink directly from the streams, for they ran with fresh glacier melt. 

Today, the forest was calm, and Cleo lounged in her tree fort, listening. Birds of many feathers serenaded each other from the branches above, occasionally breaking out into dramatic skirmishes and screeching matches. It was only in safety that the birds would engage in these raucous activities, and so, for a moment, Cleo allowed herself to experience that elusive feeling: peace.

Birds flapped away as loud voices approached. Cleo peered downwards through a crack in wooden slats of the fort. Three humans, geared like adventurers, walked through the clearing below.

They were probably heroes grinding for EXP, or civilians trying to unlock their second character slot. Cleo remembered those days. Her hero identity had been the product of her also grinding to the requisite level—level 50. What a torment it had been, but the character slot that she unlocked had been an immense reward—at the time.

The trio paused beneath her. A man dressed in loose, casual clothes said, “Up there, I see a tree house! Perhaps there is some loot!”

A second man, armed with a bow and dressed in green hunting gear, answered, “Careful, there may be monsters or traps.”

The third, a man in brown robes, agreed, “He’s right Ben. Be careful.”

Cleo popped her head out the top and called down, “No loot here, go on.” It wasn’t entirely true, as she did have some so-called loot that she collected.

“Aw shucks,” said the second voice, “She’s beat us to it.”

Cleo decided not to argue with that.

“Want to join us?” asked the same man, raising his bow welcomingly. “We’re grinding EXP and looking for loot. It’s dangerous for a lady to be out here by herself. What level are ya?” He paused as he looked over her info bar, holding a pair of glasses to his face. Most heroes carried eyewear imbued with the ‘Scan’ spell, which allowed the user to see others’ name tags.

The other two men also scanned her, as was a normal greeting among heroes. They all looked surprised. “Level 99 civilian!” exclaimed the first voice, who she assumed was Ben. “I’ve not even got to that level as a hero, and I’ve never seen a civilian higher than 60 in my life!”

 She jumped down from her tree. “It’s just what happens when you kill a lot of monsters.”

“Yeah, but why as a civilian?” said the robed man. “Levels don’t make you stronger so there’s no point.”

“What are your names?” asked Cleo.

“Oh, we should have introduced ourselves earlier!” said the second man. “My name’s Tim, or Astral Arrow. Ranger class hero, if you hadn’t guessed. At your service Miss.” He bowed and smiled.

“Ben. Kicker’s the hero name. Fighter class.” Ben lazily kicked a leg forward.

“Hugo, or Toxic Pulse. Mage class.” Hugo said this as if the words were forced out of him.

“What’s your name?” asked Tim.

“Cleo.”

“What’s your hero name?” asked Ben.

“If you must know,” said Cleo, “I’m a mage.”

“You must be high profile if you’re level 99 as a civvie,” said Hugo. “I’m sure we could just look you up later.”

“And strong,” added Tim. He brought up his fists and shook them excitedly. “I could imagine you being Flame Blaster maybe. Perhaps Orion, though I always pictured Orion as a guy. I’ve always wanted to meet him!”

“I’m not Orion,” said Cleo, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

“Well, have fun,” said Tim. “Maybe we’ll catch you outside sometime?”

“Probably not,” she replied.

When the men left the area, she climbed back up to her tree and rummaged through the items that she had looted from ruins. Some of them were just plain old treasures that could be sold, but she mostly collected items that could be used or equipped for certain effects. She remembered one that might be useful… aha!

She pulled out a necklace with a concealing-hands shaped pendant. She popped it into her inventory to read the text:

No Disclosure (Unique) - Hides all information from scans. Effects only work for civilian class.

It was class-specific to civilians, so ordinarily useless, but maybe it would bring less attention to her level. She pulled it out of her inventory and donned it.

“Aaaaaargh!” The distant sound of screaming drew her attention. Cleo sighed and cast ‘Teleport’ in the general direction. She arrived at a somewhat gruesome scene. Tim and Hugo were attempting to pull Ben out of the mouth of a 2 meter tall tortoise. It was gray, and beautiful blue and purple crystals jutted out of its shell. Blood dripped out of the reptile’s mouth onto the grass.

“Cleo!” called Hugo. “Help us kill this thing. I bet you’re a powerful mage, right?”

“Get me out!” demanded Ben angrily, his legs trapped in the tortoise’s bulging throat. The shelled beast clamped down on him harder, and he shrieked as more blood exited his body.

“What did you do?” asked Cleo.

“What do you mean?” yelled Ben. “I’m being eaten alive by a monster! If you’re secretly a powerful hero, you should save me!”

“This isn’t a monster. Jeweled tortoises are passive mobs, so obviously you provoked it.”

Cleo examined the scene carefully. In the shadows behind the aggravated beast was the still body of a much smaller tortoise. If she had to guess, Ben had decided to kill it and steal the crystals, not realizing that the mother was nearby.

Unluckily for him, those peaceful tortoises had an insanely high defense, making them almost impossible to kill for any hero under level 100. They also had a low attack stat, which meant being caught in their jaws was a slow and painful death.

“Dammit, if you won’t help me…” growled Ben.

Cleo furrowed her orange brows, eyes hardened. “You and your greed got you into this situation. You’re a hero, get yourself out.”

Hugo snapped angrily, “A hero doesn’t stand by and allow someone to be eaten alive!”

Cleo snapped back, “A hero is only obliged to save civilians, not greedy fools like you. It’s a dungeon. Tons of people die here in this exact scenario. You guys look new, so I’ll tell you now, but it is a punishable offense to be so incompetent that you waste other heroes’ time. Fines start at 2000 credits.”

Hugo bared his teeth angrily. “Just do something! We’ll pay you whatever!”

Cleo eyed Tim. For all the ranger’s earlier friendliness, he now didn’t even look in her direction. He just silently continued his attempts to keep Ben from being sucked deeper into the reptile’s gullet. His face was pale, perhaps because he was watching his companion slowly die. She sighed. “Fine.”

She circled around the tortoise, moving with a slow and predictable gait. The tortoise turned, following her with its head. The movement elicited a pained groan from Ben, who cursed. It made a low hissing noise as she approached the small tortoise.

The child breathed weakly. Still alive, but it had suffered blows to its skull. Cleo bristled at the sight, but did not pause to gape. She lifted the youngling’s head and used a finger to pry its beak open. This elicited another hiss from the parent.

“Shut up fat girly. I’m helping you.” Cleo pulled out a metal flask and dripped the red contents into the small tortoise's beak. It was about the size of a melon, so a couple drops were plenty. Cleo jerked away as the creature snapped at her, drawing a small prick of blood from her fingertip. It lifted its head and ambled over to the larger beast.

The parent released Ben from its mouth and scooped up the youngling, tromping away through the brush. Ben groaned and stared up at the sky.

“Happy now?” asked Cleo.

“I actually thought you were gonna let him die,” said Tim. “Thank you.”

“I was considering it,” said Cleo flatly.

Hugo was red with anger, but he kept his mouth shut. Ben was in a similar state, but he was likely feeling the full wave of pain now that the threat had left the scene.

“You’ve got a huge wound in your belly,” remarked Cleo.

“I noticed,” growled Ben through grit teeth.

Tim pulled out a healing liquid of his own and gave it to Ben who sucked it up in large portions. It healed him quickly; it must have been expensive stuff.

Cleo stretched her arms. “You’re welcome, guys. Have a fun and exciting adventure.”

Ben angrily replied, “Fun and exciting your—”

Cleo teleported back to her tree house. She had a nap to get back to.

 

Hours later, screams rang through the forest once again. Cleo sighed and teleported over.

Hugo commented sarcastically, “I guess if you’re bothering to teleport to us, you must actually intend to help.”

Cleo responded, “I do intend to help. I intend to help whatever peaceful creature is being disturbed. What did you guys do this time?”

They were now near a small village of goblins, another mob that only became aggressive when antagonized. Each house was about as tall as the humans were, and the goblins themselves were half their height. Tim and Hugo observed the village from a distance through some foliage.

Tim answered: “Ben saw a valuable item in their village and stole it. He killed a few of them on his way out, but they caught him and he’s out of mana. It looks like they’re planning to have him for dinner. They’ve got the pot over the fire and everything. Me n’ Hugo are discussing how to rescue him now. You can help if you’d like.”

“I’ll stay out of this one,” said Cleo, “They’re nice folk if you aren’t stupid. Don’t kill any.”

Hugo opened his mouth to say something, but Tim cut in, “Fine by me.”

Hugo glared at him.

Cleo left them to plan their plan in private and walked into the village. Some of the goblins greeted her. They were short, green skinned, and their faces held kindness.

“Cleo!” called the chief. He was distinguished from the other goblins with colorful robes and an ornate wooden staff. “A tragedy! A human tried to steal the golden statue we were gifted by the Amber Forest goblin tribe. He killed Gora and Gob too. It’s horrible!”

“That’s awful,” Cleo agreed.

The chief held his fist up angrily. “We caught him, that dastard. We’re gonna boil him alive for what he did.”

“He deserves it,” Cleo agreed.

The chief sighed. “Well, come join us tonight. We’ll have some festivities in order for when we torment him. Why don’t you come into my home and we can chat?”

“Alright old pal.” She grinned and shook his small hand. She had to crawl into the small wooden house, but it was spacious enough inside that she could sit cross-legged and fit just fine, after some minor rearranging of furniture.

“So what have you been up to Cleo?” The goblin put a kettle on the stove and turned the flames up, before pulling out a chair to sit in front of her.

“Oh, just the usual. Slay a few monsters, doze off. Walk around the forest and look at things.”

“What are your plans for the future, darling?”

She frowned. She hadn’t thought much about that. “I’m not sure. Slay more monsters, doze off, walk around the forest and look at things, I guess.”

“That’s no good. I’m worried about you. You’ve been here for so many seasons, and I’m sure you’re getting lonely.” The goblin tutted parentally. “You are welcome to come live in our village at any time, know that.”

“Thanks a bunch Grimmy, but I don’t really fit in well here.” Cleo smiled sadly, her neck craned downwards to avoid hitting the light fixture.

“Don’t worry about that, Cleo. We all think of you as family. You’ve helped immensely in keeping the monster population down, and we’d love it if you moved into the village with us.” Then the chief teased, “My son said he might court you.”

Cleo laughed, “I know he didn’t really say that. I hate to break it to you, but I don’t exactly plan on marrying anytime soon.” The chief laughed at this too.

The kettle whistled, and the goblin poured the tea into cups. It was about two sips for Cleo, but she accepted it, gently blowing the steam away. She allowed the jovial mood to naturally settle before saying in a more solemn tone. “I’m sorry about Gora and Gob. I know they were both young warriors. It’s a real shame.”

The chief shook his head and sipped his tea. “Yes. It’s a shame not all humans are like you. They see goblins and think instantly that we are inferior and evil beings. I understand why so many of our cousins attack them on sight.”

Cleo nodded. It was beginning to sink in now that two sentient individuals were now gone, courtesy of Ben. What little sympathy she had for him evaporated. Hell, she should have just let the tortoise eat him from the beginning.

Outside, Tim and Hugo were talking to the goblins. Cleo crawled out of the house after the chief.

“We come in peace,” said Tim. He held up his hands.

“You guys were with that evil human, weren’t you?” shouted the chief.

“Well, um. Ben? Yes,” said Tim nervously. “We want him back, please. We’ll make sure he doesn’t cause any more harm.”

“Cleo, help us out,” said Hugo.

Cleo just shrugged. “I told you you’re on your own.”

“You know these people?” asked the chief.

“I helped them out earlier, but clearly they didn’t learn their lesson,” answered Cleo. She addressed Tim and Hugo, “Listen guys. Ben killed two of their people. Why would they just give him back to you?”

Tim pulled out a pouch from his bag and shook it. Coins jingled audibly. Cleo frowned.

“Leave,” said the chief. “We are only enemies of the evil human. We aren’t giving him to you, but we will let you two go without issue.”

“I thought goblins loved gold,” said Hugo.

“Not more than they loved the goblins Ben killed,” Cleo suggested.

“Can we just do this the easy way?” Hugo asked Tim.

Tim made eye contact with Cleo. “I said we wouldn’t attack them.”

“You said you wouldn’t attack them,” Hugo argued.

Tim winced and looked away. “I won’t stop you, but I won’t join in.”

Hugo grinned and began to charge a spell. Green energy collected in his hands. The chief gaped his mouth open in horror. Cleo pulled out a knife and slashed Hugo’s throat with the speed of a snake. His spell canceled and he fell to his knees, gurgling. Cleo finished him off swiftly. She looked at Tim. His face was pale.

“I don’t suppose you’ll do that to me?” he asked.

“I’ve not seen you do anything bad yet.” Cleo tried her best to smile comfortingly.

Tim put his hands on his knees weakly. His eyes were wide. “Hugo was my friend, Ben too.”

“Ben killed two of my friends, and Hugo probably would have killed more,” Cleo reasoned.

Tim smiled wanly and wandered out of the village, dropping the bag of coins on the ground behind him. It seemed he had given up on Ben, and possibly himself too. It was a shame. He was a decent man in a rotten bunch. Hopefully the maze would choose to give him an exit without much conflict.

“Thanks Cleo,” said the chief. “We can always trust you to do the right thing.”

She smiled, “Of course Grimmy. I think I’ll skip the dinner tonight, though. I’m feeling a bit squeamish.”

He took her hands and smiled kindly. “I understand, dear. Get some rest.”

She used her last teleport of the day to get home, now drained of mana. She sat on her cot and opened her menu, hovering her finger over the character tab. Could she ever become that again? She tapped it, viewing her characters. 

Lvl 100 - Civilian - Cleo

Lvl 277 - Mage - Silent Observer

(NEW!) Lvl 1 - Support - Unnamed

A new hero slot? She gasped as she realized she had reached level 100. Hugo must have been the kill that pushed her over the threshold. She tapped the new character.

Please choose a name: |

She exited the screen, and thought about it for a while as the forest around her darkened. A support class. What could she do with this? Schemes raced through her mind. Everything that she would not allow Silent Observer to do could be done by this empty vessel.