Interlude 2.2 The Rogue Contract
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<td style="text-align: center; background-color: #64c8dd">Configuring Contract Requirements for Rogue Contract
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<ul>
<li>Person needs to be deeply disappointed with the "Establishment", resulting in wish to judge everything him/herself instead of following "everyones" judgement.
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<li>Person needs to have some experience in dungeon delving, preferably good contact with adventurers
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<li>Person needs to be independent and have experience on surviving on his/her own for some years
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<li>Person must not be under command or influence of any country or organisation
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<li>Person needs to have his/her own sense of honor and stand to bargains and friends</li>
<li>Person has to be able to travel to reach a meeting point at the border of the Blackshale Swamp within three weeks of accepting contract
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<li>Person may ask for modification of contract rewards before agreeing
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OK, the first condition is the best way to look for someone who can accept working with a [Xenotic] without telling it directly, and the other conditions should filter out people who can''t help me... the General thinks by himself.
So let''s send it out.
The General confirms his acceptance of the contract wording and the system begins to work. As a result someone somewhere on Logronal suddenly receives a system message.
[Ping]
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<td style="text-align: left" colspan="2">You have been offered a Dungeon Contract
[Accept] / [Communicate] / [Decline]
Communication allows you to ask for modifications to the stated contract
If you decline, the contract will be offered to a different person and can''t be reclaimed by you.
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<td style="text-align: center; background-color: #64c8dd" colspan="2">Rogue Contract
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<td>Details</td>
<td>A [Sapient] Dungeon Core has send out a system request for a rogue to work for it.
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<td>Requirements</td>
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<ul>
<li>Rogue needs to be deeply disappointed with the "Establishment", resulting in wish to judge everything him/herself instead of following "everyones" judgement.
</li>
<li>Rogue needs to have some experience in dungeon delving, preferably good contact with adventurers
</li>
<li>Rogue needs to be independent and have experience on surviving on his/her own for some years
</li>
<li>Rogue must not be under command or influence of any country or organisation
</li>
<li>Rogue needs to have his/her own sense of honor and stand to bargains done</li>
<li>Rogue has to travel to a meeting point at the border of the Blackshale Swamp within three weeks of accepting contract to meet another Contractor of the dungeon
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<td>Rewards/Payment</td>
<td>Free and safe access to the Dungeon as required by Contract Conditions, Loot and further rewards depending on missions
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<td>Contract Conditions</td>
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<ul>
<li>Rogue may ask for modification of contract rewards before agreeing.
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<li>Rogue will get his primary class changed to "Dungeon Rogue"
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<li>Rogue will get food and a safe room in the dungeon for accepting contract and future missions.
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<li>Rogue will get additional rewards and loot for fulfilling future missions, to be discussed depending on each mission specifics
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<li>Missions will include spying on adventurers, pretending to be an adventurer and obtaining requested templates.</li>
<li>Rogue is allowed to fight and kill dungeon spawns if agreed and neccessary
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<li>Dungeon spawns may attack or mock fight the Rogue, but will not be allowed to cause serious harm.</li>
<li>Rogue is forbidden to reveal details of the dungeon to others unless specifically allowed to do so by the Dungeon Core
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A sapient dungeon core offering me a contract through the system? Sir Marken once said that tamed dungeons are often made to offer those contracts to selected people because they can make those people a lot stronger, but this is obviously an untamed dungeon. Those should usually be rather automatic and primitive if they''re freshly sentient, and this one already made a mistake or I wouldn''t have gotten that offer.
And I can communicate to haggle as well...
[Communicate]
"I want the safe access and food extended to my sister and my friends, and I have several additional questions and demands. For example, why I am allowed to fight spawns and why is the usual absolute protection from spawns not part of the contract?"
It takes about twenty second, then I hear an answer through the system
<<Maximum half a dozen people, yourself included. The other people will not have special protections and will be required to stay on [safe] floors or under guard while moving as they otherwise might be attacked by spawns.>>
<<Sometimes you''ll have to pretend to be a regular adventurer going in with a party that does not know about your contract. In that case you''ll have to be able to fight my spawns, and they need to at least pretend to attack you even if they will not kill you due to the contract.>>
<<Other questions or conditions?>>
"What would the three most common types of missions be, and what would be my rewards for them?"
<<The missions may change over the years depending on what happens, I can only give the three types of missions that I consider the most common as of today.>>
<
>
<<Secondary missions would be to purchase or steal objects whose templates I desire. Currently I know of none to send you for, that would probably change when you begin spying. Loot and Equipment rewards would be based on the difficulty of how to get the template and be discussed for each specific mission.>>
<<I currently do not know of tertiary mission objectives, but I would suggest further training for EXP and skills when no other mission is planned. That is another reason why you need to be able to fight my spawns. For these missions you won''t get additional loot, only the training itself and sometimes the equipment neccessary to use a new skill or ability.>>
"Is the three weeks for the meeting fixed or can the time be adjusted? And who would I meet then and where exactly?"
<<Three weeks is the longest I can wait, I would prefer if you can get there sooner. However I would need an exact day of arrival as I can''t have my other contract waiting there for days or weeks doing nothing. The meeting place is at the border of the Blackshale Swamp and you would meet a lizardman and perhaps someone else. More details I''m not willing to disclose without a contract agreement.>>
"Let me check with the system for that." I start trying my orientation skills and check what I remember of the map from the bridge post.
Hmm - should I haggle more? I can''t risk losing this because without at least some help we won''t survive. We are already on our own because we couldn''t pay the tax for the inns in Kaarg and Sir Marken''s Party wanted to go into a dungeon deeper in Kaarg.
"We can get to the position in about a week - I can''t promise if it is seven, eight or nine days however as that depends on foraging luck. And I want to be able to refuse or modify a mission if I consider it too risky. If that is acceptable then I agree to the contract."
<<Any refusal needs to have discussable reasons. You need to be able to point out why something is risky or can''t be done. I will not accept mission refusals based on whim or lazyness. The meeting time can be revised to eight to ten days from now.>>
Oh? This dungeon is somewhat better at judging people''s behaviour and reasons than I thought...If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"OK, I''m willing to agree to the contract under those modified conditions."
<<Accepted. As a contractee I can now place quests for you and will do that with the details on where to meet up. Gunny and Lia will arrive at the meeting point in eight days and wait for a maximum of two days. If you miss that then I will have to revoke the contract and look for someone else.>>
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<td style="text-align: center; background-color: #64c8dd">Rogue Contract Accepted
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<td>Primary Class "Message Runner" from "Acrobat" Class Tree changed to Dungeon Rogue (fixed class, no class tree available)
Secondary Class "Torch Bearer" from "Adventurer Support" Class Tree unchanged, but increased chance for class improval and class change on level-ups and rank-ups
Maximum Rank Potential adjusted based on Dungeon and Contract
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Ok, let''s see what this contract really gave me. [Status]
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<td style="text-align: center">Equipment/ Inventory</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Infos/ Titles</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Skills/ Abilities</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Quests</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Gallery/ Knowledge</td>
<td style="text-align: center">History/ Log</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; background-color: #64c8dd">Status</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Race: Human</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Primary Class: Dungeon Rogue</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Type: Traveller</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Secondary: Torch Bearer</td>
<td style="text-align: center">[Locked]</td>
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<td>Name</td>
<td colspan="2">Jason ''Briar'' Seaton</td>
<td>max Rank</td>
<td colspan="2">[Mythical]</td>
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<td>Level (L)</td>
<td>5/120</td>
<td>Experience (XP)</td>
<td>237/500</td>
<td>free AttrPts</td>
<td>0/5</td>
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<td>Body-Power (BP)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Endurance (EP)</td>
<td>10/60</td>
<td colspan="2">Needs:</td>
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<td>Body-Density (BD)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Health (HP)</td>
<td>10/60</td>
<td>Food (FP)</td>
<td>46/100</td>
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<td>Body-Flexibility (BF)</td>
<td>10/120</td>
<td>Physical Rank (PR)</td>
<td>[Limited]</td>
<td>Water (WP)</td>
<td>73/100</td>
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<td>Body-Kuor''Tel (BK)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Kuor''Tel (KP)</td>
<td>24/120</td>
<td>Rest (RP)</td>
<td>89/100</td>
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<td>Body-Aura (BA)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Control Rank (CR)</td>
<td>[Limited]</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<td>Mind-Power (MP)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Astral (AP)</td>
<td>12/60</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<td>Mind-Density (MD)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Soul (SP)</td>
<td>12/60</td>
<td colspan="2">Weights</td>
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<td>Mind-Flexibility (MF)</td>
<td>9/120</td>
<td>Mental Rank (MR)</td>
<td>[Limited]</td>
<td>Equipment</td>
<td>1/4 kg</td>
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<td>Mind-Kuor''Tel (MK)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Kuor''Tel (KP)</td>
<td>24/120</td>
<td>Storage</td>
<td>1/2 kg</td>
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<td>Mind-Aura (MA)</td>
<td>2/120</td>
<td>Awareness Rank (AR)</td>
<td>[Limited]</td>
<td>Astral</td>
<td>0/6 kg</td>
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<td style="text-align: center" colspan="6">Regeneration and Gain Values</td>
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<td>EP (10% BP/hour)</td>
<td>0.2</td>
<td>AP (10% MP/hour)</td>
<td>0.2</td>
<td>KP (1% MKP/hour)</td>
<td>1.2</td>
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<td>HP (10% BD/day)</td>
<td>0.2</td>
<td>SP (10% MD/day)</td>
<td>0.2</td>
<td>[Locked]</td>
<td></td>
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<td style="text-align: center" colspan="6">Temporary Status Effects</td>
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<td>Name</td>
<td colspan="5">Effect</td>
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<td>Malnourished</td>
<td colspan="5">Reduced Endurance and Health-Regeneration (50% effective only)</td>
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<td></td>
<td colspan="5"></td>
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"M...M...My...Mythical???????"
Shocked Briar stares at his status sceen. He has been ranked-up to mythical as a result of the contract''s class-change. Slowly he begins to smile.
Let''s hope that I can handle the tasks the dungeon core will give me - but even if the dungeon core wants to cancel the contract, it can''t do that without compensation or it will lose the contract. And this boost will help us with foraging until then - Shandy needs more food and meat, her malnourish state is almost to the second level.
So I''ll try to get two rabbits today and hope that we don''t get bad luck until my energies are recharged.
Briar continues his slow and silent walk through the forest until he comes to a glade. he can see a pair of deer and a number of rabbits and squirrels scattered through the glade, most of them eating or collecting nuts.
He slowly takes his sling and selects one of the rabbits on his side of the clearing. He swings the sling and releases the stone that flies toward the rabbit. There is a slight shimmering in the air and then the stone hits, instantly killing the rabbit. None of the other animals on the clearing reacts, so Briar targets another rabbit with a second stone.
Again a shimmering speeds through the glade and the rabbit is hit,but this time the remaining animals are spooked and run away. Briar slowly stands and goes to collect the two rabbit corpses.
That was almost too much - I''m down to 2/120 Kuor''Tel. Let''s hope that nothing happens in the next several hours until I''ve got some points regenerated.
Half an hour later he is back at their temporary camp. His sister Rose and Shandy have already prepared a fire for cooking their meal while Ev''lar and Runner were searching for edible plants and herbs. When he presents them with the two rabbit corpses, his sister speaks up:
"Two corpses? That must have depleted your energy - are you sure that you could risk that?"
"Shandy needs the meat - and I got lucky, I might have a job and a guarantee of food and shelter for all of us. I don''t know how much I can tell you at the moment - part of the system''s contract was a clause to keep the contract secret. But if everything works out, we''ll have a home now. We just have to meet someone near the blackshale swamp, that is one week travel in that direction according to the system."
Rose thinks a bit before answering "I admit that we need the food if we were to travel that far in a week, but can you afford to spend that much for hunting? Especially because Ev''lar told me that there will be two or three storms within the next week, we might need to preserve Kuor''Tel to survive those."
"Yes" Briar answers "Part of the contract was a rank-up for me that will make everything easier. It won''t be easy, we''ll still have to work to get there and hope that I can keep the job, but the contract is confirmed by the system."
At that moment an elven child and a very young human child approach the camp from the other side. The beastkin child, Shandy, points to them and says "The others are back, let''s eat - I''m hungry."
During their meal the five children discuss the offer despite the fact that Briar remains close-mouthed about the details, but no one can offer a better solution - they all have been travelling too long since they had to leave their homes, and all cities they passed had no interest in hiring some orphaned street kids. So they set out to meet that "Gunny", whoever that is with such a strange name.