Dictator

Though the man had been dead a long time, he was unaware of the passage of time since his death. He looked around the space he was in, everything was grey and formless, even his body as far as he could see was just a grey humanoid shape.

“My boss wants a personal touch with you,” a Mousy masculine voice said, as a man in a suit and glasses walked up. “Your Karma values are some of the worst in human history, but what’s worse is you influenced people to be terrible to others, you turned your once proud nation into a nation of monsters, all the way to the end of your world's history people saw you and your followers as monsters worth killing. And I feel that is most appropriate, sure I could send your soul and the souls of your followers to hell in the new world system, but even with the eternal damnation thing, you would eventually be cleansed by the system and reincarnated. I feel you and your followers need something more lasting as a punishment.” The Nerdy system admin looked at the grey forms and the grey forms of the leadership of this being’s government and secret police. Like the other evil dictators and spreaders of mass murder and war, this man and his followers were going to live forever being killed and respawned.

“Ah, yes for you and yours, I will create a Zombie Dungeon, nothing more satisfying than clearing a Zombie dungeon. Sure, you guys will respawn after each clear, and you will remember your lives, but you’ll never be able to do anything else but act the role I’m going to assign you.”

Looking over the maps of the hundred new worlds that he was settling with new peoples, he picked Gainmheachoiste the closest planet to the Red Eye star, it’s a warm Desert world, the people there will gain a lot of experience and good loot from a Zombie dungeon. Looking to his screen, he smiled as he watched another asshole wordlessly try and beg for mercy. He had long since muted his speakers so the pleas for leniency would not be heard. Well, that took care of all the great dictators. Looking at his list of personal touches left, he had a few world leaders of note, and a buffoon of a man, ahh, I’ll just make him a Female Troll prostitute, the orange skin and fake hair will work.

 

1^st time On the Road

As Rebecca got ready to ride, she looked up to the noonday sky, and was amazed by what she saw.

“Lil’dude were not in California anymore.” She said, looking up and seeing that there were two suns visible, one look almost exactly like the Sol system star called Sun, and the other was a red spot in the sky, from the look of things the red sun appeared to be the same size as the other sun, but from its location in the sky, it was about 2 hours behind the yellow star, although it was less intense.

Later that night when they made camp for the first time, they sat and enjoyed the two sunsets, and then watched as three moons became visible. One was white and looked smaller than the moon Luna, one was a bright blue ball, and if she was correct it looked like another life-bearing world, although it was hard to tell without a telescope. The third was more like a brilliant star that was just big enough to push the boundary of either a planet or a nearby star. There were also several stars which she would have bet were planets, as for the distant stars they looked almost painted on, she wondered if this world followed more magical concepts for how the heavens worked. She had carefully read all the rules and everything she could about all the races, classes, and locations people could spawn. Her choice of New Angel was because it was listed as a coastal grassland, but she could tell there were several planets that she could have settled. But for this to be a binary system, or even a trinary star system really made her wish she had grabbed a telescope instead of filling out her apartment with enough food for a year. But then, until they have a steady income, she doesn’t want to waste too much on buying supplies.

City Watch

Rebecca and Lil’dude continued to ride across the new world, the majority of the lands in New Angel were southern coastal grassy plains. She didn’t have a map, but she did notice that in the direction she was heading there was a small town, they had spent a couple of days riding, and not seeing any animals or people, just a few lightly wooded areas a few streams and a lot of grasslands. It was almost sunset when they pulled into what could only be called a Medieval European village. It was built on the side of a river that emptied out into the Southern Ocean, it had a few sailing ships berthed, and a wall that surrounded the sides not touching the water. She pulled the motorcycle over out of sight of the village and Lil’dude and her stepped off of the bike as she stored it in her storage space. “No need to show the locals our gifts, at least not yet.” She said to her son, as they prepared to walk into town.

“Halt, Friend or foe,” the young half-orc guard said as they approached. He was wearing light leather armor and wore a sword and shield on his back, his Tabard was green and blue with a tree and anchor artistically embroidered on to it.

“I’m Rebecca, and this is my son Lil’dude” Rebecca replied pointing her thumb to the cat boy teen following her meekly. “We are just traveling adventurers, looking for work and an inn.”

The guard smiled, “ Oh I see you’ve gotten used to the new life, it’s weird, but I like it better than Earth he said, still strange that taking all random choices caused me to have memories of this world to go along with my job as a city watch.” The city-watch guy said.

‘Ah, was wondering how this was going to work, I had a ton of points, but my choices were still very limited.’ Rebecca thought.

“It’s two copper tax, one for each of you,” he told her, “unless you have wears to sell, then you have to purchase a vendor stamp, which is also one copper.”

“Not selling, just looking for monsters to slay, and hot guys to rescue,” Rebecca said with a bit of sarcasm.

Lil’dude started to laugh, and said, “and maybe a cute girl or two.” He whispered with a blush.

Rebecca pulled out a silver piece, and the guard made the change, Rebecca was fortunate that her money on earth also converted to money for this world, it was an odd experience counting out the gold and silver pieces which were equal to her life savings on Earth. But that was fine, she had plenty of money, the idea of working as adventurers just seemed too perfect in a world that was basically designed to be an RPG.

“The Inn is near the town square, although it can be a bit rowdy with the sailors there right now.” He said almost automatically, and then continued. “wow, it’s so natural to just follow the internal script sometimes, right now everyone is still a bit new to their new lives and roles, I mean I was a Grandmother stuck in a meaningless life waiting for death, and now I’m a strong young man, and no longer tied to izzz, ah can’t say the name, it’s like all the names of all the old world religions, and gods are blocked, I feel for the people who were devoted, they can’t praise their gods anymore. Instead, they blurt out their new pagan god names, it’s comical, I’m glad, my last life was forced on me do to my birth, I was always jealous of the western world and their freedom of speech. But now everyone has freedom of life and speech, even if few of us are human anymore.”

This made Rebecca happy, but she whispered to the guard, “did you read the racial traits of humans? Not the opening bits which everyone gets, but the small print?”

“No? why?” he asked

“Because Humans are all hermaphrodites, even if they look male or female, they contain both bits, meaning even the humans aren’t actually human as we knew them. Male humans can get pregnant.” She told him with a bit of a smirk, and continued, “in fact, most races are like that now. However, pregnancy is a choice, if a guy wants a kid, they’ll get pregnant.”

The guard’s eye opened wide and he was speechless for a second, then asked, “You mean me, and my boyfriend can have kids?”

“yes, you should have read the fine print, sex and gender is no longer a limitation. Just wait until the homophobes start saying Adam and Steve can’t have babies when now they can.” She replied jokingly, as the guard’s eyes widened with joy at this.

“You realize also that everyone was born to the correct gender, and our kids can easily correct their sex as they mature, being trans no longer has to be hidden, the same with being gay. I’m really happy you get to be the gay man you should have been before.”

“Thank you” the guard blushed, handing her back the two copper, “no need to worry about the entry tax, not until we start really getting used to our roles anyway.” He commented, “just follow this street and the town square is the one with a statue of the town's founder, Roland, oh and the towns named ‘’Gunna Roland”, supposedly he was a great hero a hundred years ago, everyone in town remembers the town's lore, even if we’ve only been here for about a week.”

Rebecca and Lil’dude strolled down the street watching the buildings and noticing that they were walking towards the sunset, which caused them to not look forward but to the sides. Fortunately, they didn’t bump into anyone, but Rebecca almost walked into the statute of what could only be described as a twenty-foot tall cowboy made of bronze, he was dressed like a classic spaghetti western cowboy, his features looked to be close to a famous black actor from the UK, and she wondered if the Administrator was a fan of the film or the book series. Not that she could ask him, after all, he was basically a creator god, even if he implied to be something else. This also kind of messed up her hidden disbelief in god or gods, as she was an atheist prior to being reborn, although she would have never said that out loud. She honestly felt her mom would have taken atheism worse than being a heterosexual trans woman. Not that she ever moved in that direction in her last life, but now, she was finally truly in a body that felt right. And she loved her gothic Lolita in armor look she was rocking.

After both of them looked at the statue, Lil’dude said the thing she was thinking, “Dude looks like the guy from that old movie you once watched while we ate popcorn.”

“Yeah, he does” she replied. They then heard the rock classic “Stairway to Heaven” being played on a lute, “sounds like the inns over there.” She pointed directly into the setting sun and to the source of the music.

Inn the tavern

Once they got out of the last vestiges of light and entered into the Inn and Tavern, named “King’s Tower”, which caused her to sigh and roll her eyes, fortunately, Lil’dude didn’t catch the reference.   

The inn wasn’t crowded, there were a couple of sailors, who looked more like Disney Pirates than someone who lived their life at sea. The music was being played by a nervous Halfling Bard, his nerves were clearly based on stage fright, however, he was really good at playing, even if he was struggling to sing loud enough to be heard over the hesitant whispered voices of the “rowdy crowd”. She walks right up to the bar and saw it was stocked like a modern nightclub, and she felt a bit let down as it kind of broke the immersion of a fantasy RPG setting seeing clear glass bottles with all of the colors of the rainbow, and beer taps and modern soda taps.

“Rum and Coke for me, and a Shirly Temple for my son.” Lil’dude waved, “and do you have a food menu, or can we just order a couple of burgers?”

“Burgers are fine, the chef is working hard at recreating an In&Out burger,” he said with a very English accent. “Also, it’s not called Coke anymore, but Prima-Cola…” he held up what was best described as the classic glass bottle made by the Cola company from Atlanta, the label was even red and white, but the cursive writing said ‘Prima-Cola’.

“I guess the Admin decided to respect trademarks after all.” She said.

The BarTender nodded his head, which was when she realized that he wasn’t human, but something that looked almost human but wasn’t an elf. “I’m a Kalashtar,” the Bartender said, “basically, I’m part spirit.”

“Cool, oh, and then let the chef know we want the burgers animal style if he can, plus animal fries.” Rebecca finished the order.

“Ok, that will be 1 silver for everything.” The bartender said.

Rebecca paid and they sat at an empty table close to the stage. After a few moments, a Tiefling waitress brought their food and drinks. While the bard was now struggling to sing “House of the rising sun.”

“He’s got a good voice, if he’d not be so shy and voiceless while singing,” Lil’dude said while scarfing down the fries and burger.

“yeah, he’s also got good taste in music, so once he’s not so self-conscious he’ll do well.” She responded while enjoying her drink, after-all it was her first alcohol since she was reborn.

Once they were stated they asked the waitress for a room, it was 5 silver a night. Apparently, the rooms were somewhere between poor quality and modest quality, as they had individual rooms with a washbasin. And hanging closet for clothing and gear.  So not as nice as her hidden mobile home, but not going to kill them to sleep. She paid for a week, hoping to find work in the local area.

After talking again to the bartender asking about adventurer work, they found out that the town had an adventurer’s guild but besides the receptionist, they have yet to have any actual adventurers. However, there was a dungeon on the outskirt of town so once they had adventurers clearing it, the town should make good money from the dungeon.  

“Sounds like a plan, what time does she open the guild and where is it?” Rebecca asked.

“Next-door, and she’s our waitress, so let her know when you are ready in the morning, she only helps here because she’s too bored next door.” The bartender informed her.

“Ah, good, then after breakfast, and let the chef know he’s close real close,” Rebecca replied as she started up towards their room, which Lil’dude had already sprinted to.

Next Morning

The next morning the mother and son adventurers got up with the first rays of sunlight they both did a morning ritual in support of Lathander the god Rebecca picked for her Paladin spells since he was the god of the dawn and the harvest he seemed a decent fellow, but Rebecca wondered what mechanics were behind the power of gods in her new reality.

Rebecca washed her face and got dressed and ready, and Lil’dude got dressed and snuck out the window to do some light sunbathing on the roof.

After Rebecca had finished her breakfast Lil’dude showed up ate quickly, and they informed the ‘waitress’ they would like to join her guild and take any work that needed to be done. She led them to what was best described as the other half of the duplex building that made up the Inn and adventurers guild. It cost 1 silver each for them to join, and she had a crystal ball which she had them place their hands on. The ball lit green, and then she placed a piece of metal under it in a small slot, and the metal reformed into a dog tag listing name class and guild rank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Welcome to the guild, according to my script, apparently every city should have an Adventurer’s Guild, and the crystal balls we use are linked so you are recognized as a member everywhere, the dues are 1 gold a year, however, the due is waived if you do at least 30 jobs a year.” The guildmaster/receptionist/waitress stated. “as a bronze ranked member you can take any bronze ranked quest, once you reach a total of 5 class levels you will automatically become an Iron level adventurer, the same applies, you can then take Iron Quests and Bronze quests then, each new rank allows you to take the new level and all previous levels. The additional ranks are steel at 9 class levels, titanium at 13 class levels, and adamantium at  17, if you make it to 20 class levels you unlock a special tier membership, which I currently do not have the information for. Also, some quests are limited to parties, the minimum party size is 2, but we recommend at least 4 people since you are a team of Mother and Son, do you want me to register your party? You get to pick a party name, and the party also levels up based on the average rank of its members.”

Rebecca looked to her son, who nodded that he was in agreement, and then she said: “Yes, please register us, how big can the name be?”

“Um, looks like 30 characters, alphanumeric allowed.”

“Then ‘Lil’dude and the Goth Girl Elf’ that should be exactly thirty characters. I’ll be the party leader, but I want my son to be the face.” She reached over giving him a head pat, he started to purr. “Also, I’m shocked that the guild ranks are just named for metals and not given the classic letter designations.”

The guildmaster looked up, with shock and realization, “Oh…umm, yah, umm I mean, your party is registered, and I guess they do have a letter designation as well.” She showed them a page in a book that she had hidden behind her desk, the page clearly listed everything she said, but the guild ranks were listed with a lettered list.

“Ah, yah there it is, our classic E rank adventurer rating.” Rebecca giggled, “Just like the LitRPGs back on old Earth, I take it you never got into fantasy RPGs back on Earth?”

“Um, no, I might have died on earth a long time before your time,” she said looking embarrassed, “I mean, Theodosius II was the Emperor when I died. So, a lot of things are kind of strange for me. My master owned a tavern, and we were in Anatolia. This is why helping next door feels right for me, but I want to take my new role seriously. I was gifted with so much knowledge I want to give the gods their proper respect for granting me this life.” She looked up smiling, with a great deal of insecurity on her face.

Rebecca gave her a hug and told her everything is going to be great, and she’s doing excellent.

While giving her a hug Rebecca asked, “what name should I call you by?”

“Herminia Protacia,” she replied, “Herminia is fine, I’ve never had a surname before, so it’s a new experience.”

“Herminia, you’re doing great.”

After hugs, Rebecca looked over the Job board, and took the Bronze ranked Dungeon quest, “So I guess we register our quests then?” She asked.

“Um, yes, you bring the card to me, I place it under the crystal ball with the party leader's dog tag. That registers your party to the quest.”

Rebecca handed both to Herminia and watched as the process was done. Herminia then handed both the dog tag and quest card back, “once you are done, just hand them to me with proof of completion which you can now read on the back of the card. Those conditions were hidden until you accepted the quest.”

“AH, I see, 20 dungeon echinacea roots, no time limit. Rewards 1 silver per 2 roots. Extra roots welcomed.”

Herminia then opened her book to show a picture of what the echinacea plant looked like, “the whole plant has value, so besides the root, I’m authorized to buy the leaves and stalks of the plant at 1 silver per pound.”

Lil’dude and Rebecca then left the guild and followed the crudely drawn map to the dungeon, it was on the opposite side of the river from the town, fortunately, there was a draw bridge from the main road in town to the location of the dungeon entrance. The town had a small guard post by the dungeon and where the bridge came down, both to collect taxes and to ensure no civilians entered the dungeon, even though it was considered a level 1 dungeon, people had to have actual combat classes to enter. This means only the town guard or a member of the adventurers’ guild was allowed to enter.

To the dungeon

While crossing the draw bridge. “So, mom, how should we do a dungeon? I remember when you played your games, but I couldn’t actually watch, so this is my first time in one, and even though I have an understanding of my class and what I can do, I’m still foggy on how we do this exactly.” Lil’dude said.

“When we enter, I want you to enter stealth, just think it in your mind, then you walk ahead of me and look for traps, let me know if you find one, and then carefully examine the trap to see how it works if you understand the trap disarm it, if you don’t figure out how to get round it. Meanwhile, if we get in a fight, let me fight them directly I have armor and a shield, I want you to sneak up behind them and stab them and then keep stabbing then while flanking them.” Rebecca replied, “also stay relaxed, it’ll help.”

“Ok, mom, I’ll do that, and keep calm.” He replied as they walked up to the Dungeon Guard.

“Halt, proof of combat class please.” The guard said.

Rebecca and Lil’dude showed their guild cards to the guard at the dungeon door.

“Very good, glad we have actual adventurers, the town needs the resources in here, and the town guard doesn’t have enough guys yet to dungeon dive while doing our jobs, also love your Saber Alter look.”

Rebecca smiled, “finally after a full week, finally someone who knows.” She winked at the Dragonborn guard; he was rugged handsome in that reptile kind of way. Not what she was looking for in a guy, but he had the right build and a nice face.   

He unlocked the door that leads to the steps down into the dungeon, “reminder, this is a living dungeon, which means the monsters respawn and act like monsters in a video game, conscious free killing if you die inside you won’t actually die but you are kicked out to the front door, losing any gear earned in the dungeon. So be careful, all we know is the first floor is level one, but we suspect the deeper levels could go up in difficulty.” 

Don no more

On the world of Sodalased in the Orcish capital of Grentia

Aszea woke to find that she was a Troll, she was once a President of the Greatest Nation on Earth, everyone loved her except those leftists… “no I am a…dammed it all to hell, I’m not a Troll, I’m the … uggg” she struggled to sort her mind out while looking over her body, she was tall kind of reptilian looking with tusks and long pointed ears, her skin was a muddy orange color, and her hair was a messy blonde. She was also tall, much taller than she was before, but she was female, with a bigger pair of breasts than any of her…no his ex-wives. “Uggg, why am I a girl.” She screamed, she then noticed she was also basically naked wearing only a leather bra and panties with bare feet. She was also in a brothel, not as the owner, and not as a customer, she was one of the products, her job was to satisfy people who came in the front door, ‘never, never not, never…’ she wanted to yell this but all her thoughts were quiet, she realized when she yelled earlier that her mouth made no sound. In fact, she noticed her body was moving on its own. A group of tired-looking orc warriors entered her brothel, and she wiggled right up to the biggest, his name was Oklam, they flirted, she said things to him which made her sick, she had no control of her body or what she said. When they did ‘the thing’, in her mind she was screaming in pain, but her actions made Oklam scream in pleasure, Oklam would become her regular, and her body would always regenerate as if they had never done a thing, so she was always in pain, and never in pleasure. However, her traitorous mouth only praised the orc and any other man who paid her madam.