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Chapter 24

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Glenn awoke from his fitful sleep to Ron’s grinning face. The warrior druid had opened the covered wagon’s canvas flap, letting in faint light.

The still drowsy gnome rubbed his face. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but it would soon. Outside, Blizz was talking to his donkey, and someone was gathering up the horses to hitch them up. An advantage of middle watch was a few minutes extra sleep.

“I have excellent news to report.” Ron’s hushed voice held restrained excitement. He leaned black and glanced left and right before leaning forward again. “After a seemingly interminable time, I experienced the dream!”

Glenn didn’t get what Ron was saying. The first thing that came to mind when “dream” was mentioned, was his last nightmare. The one he’d sweated through before mid watch.

The dream?” Stephi asked. “Really?”

“Indeed,” Ron said, nodding his head in assurance. “In it, I was availed the opportunity to peruse my character sheet.”

Then Glenn remembered his dream, when he advanced to become a second-rank healer.

“I earned sufficient experience points to advance both in warrior and druid.”

Glenn didn’t think often enough about experience points, and how important they were, especially for Ron. He was multi-classed, so he had to split those earned equally.

“I had been calculating...” He scrunched his face and bit his lower lip before continuing. “The battle with the manticore pushed my totals past the minimum experience points required.”

Stephi stood, then fluttered forward. Glenn realized that fairies didn’t seem to do much walking. Heck, it took him forever to get anywhere walking and her legs were shorter than his.

“What’s that mean, Lysine?” Stephi asked. “Do you get more spells?”

“An additional first-rank druid spell,” he said. “And eight additional hit points.” His renewed grin nearly split his face. “I rolled remarkably above average, with a nine on my ten-sided dice and a five on my eight-sided dice, plus my Constitution Bonus. In comparison, an average pair of rolls would have netted a mere six points.”

Glenn recalled back to his experience. He got a twelve-sided dice for hit points, and had a better Constitution than Ron. It wasn’t exactly a physical roll, but Glenn distinctly remembered in the dream, seeing the black dice with white numbers roll across a wooden table. Weird was an understatement.

“What skill did you take?” Stephi asked.

His voice fell into lecture mode, reminiscent of his days as a math grad teaching assistant. “A character earns one skill per rank, or level, of advancement, Marigold. Being multi-class and advancing a rank in each of my selected classes, I earned two Skill Slots.”

Glenn sat up straight, interested in what the warrior druid had selected.

“I opted for Tracking and for Religious Studies.” Ron squinted one eye and nodded once in assurance. “I pondered long and hard for this event. Both skills have proven useful in past games. Thus, they are likely to be of benefit in our current predicament.”

Glenn initially took Gem and Precious Stone Appraisal when rolling up his character and Basic Construction when he advanced. He knew Stephi had initially taken Dance. He was curious about her second Skill Slot.

“What skill did you select Stephi, when you moved up a level?”

“Rank,” Ron corrected.

“Oh, I never told you. I took Running.” She flapped her wings and looked down at her short legs. “Not a lot of good it’s doing me now.” Still fluttering in the air she kicked her arms and legs in gear, running in place. “I bet I could’ve gotten a full-ride scholarship for track before that creepy leprechaun.”

Ron rubbed his chin. “With your good sixteen Coordination Score, and your exceptionally tall and lithe elven stature? There is little doubt.”

Glenn considered asking if she’d run the hurdles, but declined.

Stephi commented, cupping her leaf and bark-covered chest, “Good thing this idiotic world doesn’t care if you have ginormous boobs. One of the few things they don’t do is slow me down.”

Ron began saying, “I believe the archetypal video game females influenced—”

Derek cut him off. “Hey, Lysine,” he said, walking toward the tent. “Tell the gnome and Sleeping Beauty Barbie to get moving and help break camp.”

Ron suppressed a smile. “The more expediently we prepare, the sooner we shall arrive at Riven Rock.”

“How long will it take?” Stephi asked. “We’ll get there today, right?”

“By noon, barring any unforeseen events. Actually, the craggy hills of the city are within sight.”

Glenn gulped and folded up the blanket. The world continually threw unforeseen events at them.

Stephi flew up to Glenn, hauling one of his clunky boots. She dropped it next to him. “Come on, Jax.” She laughed. “Kalgore called me Sleeping Beauty, not you.”