Ben remembered a time when he was about to go out and perform a live-streamed show, and the director had changed the script in the last two minutes. "Don't kill Baron LaVoy, he renegotiated his contract for the season. He'll be on your side at some point today, but that pissed off the folks over at Dominion, so expect some or all of their people to maybe...play fast and loose during the fight. Oh, and your squire is actually the Count d'Abliss in disguise; he was already going to kill you - don't drink the wine, it was in case we needed a funeral scene. Hope we don't. Love ya, Ben! I know you'll be great.""Cousins? I don't think...."Harmony interrupted him, slapping her forehead. "Damn me for a beginner. You're right. No time for catch up, we're on a mission. Your horse, so I'll take back." She grabbed a set of saddlebags and threw them over her shoulder, tossed her ruined jacket on the ground and leapt astride Mudhead without using the stirrups. Ben shrugged. Time to make shit up along the way. He managed to get into the saddle in front of her without embarrassing himself too much, and got mudhead moving. Harmony leaned in close, wrapping her arms around him. "Don't worry about me. I'll just snuggle up behind you. You'll barely know that I'm here."Ben somehow doubted that. She was pressed up against him, her breath on his neck and her hands had a tendency to roam over him as the horse moved down the road.
Harmony whispered in his ear. "Can we go faster? Just let him run. It's so much more fun to go fast when riding double."Ben said a silent prayer and kicked the roan with a heel to get him moving, snapping the reins at the same time. One of these made sense to the horse and he took off running flat out down the road, ignoring Bens attempts to steer him around puddles or rough spots.
But a low hanging branch on the left was looking like trouble. Trying to get the horse to move to the right failed, but did bring him to a sudden stop. Ben continued on without girl or horse, impacting the branch with his stomach before slowly falling to the ground.He got up from the ground to find an angry Harmony confronting him. Her sword was out, and ready to run him through. And her left arm was pointed at him, small steel points sticking out from under the cuff. Ben realized that the full sleeves hid the the wrist mounted crossbow she was armed with. "We are going to talk, 'cousin'. And if I don't like the answers, I'll take your horse and leave you for the scavengers."
"I noticed that you aren't packing a sword, but I know some of us prefer the whip so I gave that a pass. But you don't have any concealed weapons that I could feel - not even a dagger; that makes no sense at all. Your aura tells me that you aren't a mage and you don't have the muscles for a brawler. But you aren't a courier - no courier sucks at riding a horse like you do. It's like you don't even know how.""Yet, despite your lack of riding ability, you dismount like a trained tumbler, or an assassin. You arrived at the nick of time, and strangely have the name of one of the lost family. And I'd just been ambushed when you conveniently rode in to save me. Forgive me for not playing the damsel in distress, but something isn't right here."Ben slowly raised his hands. "I can explain...sort of. I'm a new courier, but I lack a lot of training. Matthias was working with me when the message came in and he sent me off on that damned roan telling me to learn to ride on the way. I fell more than anything else so I worked on dismounting first. And yes, I have a little experience with acrobatics, but a long time ago."Her eyes hardened. "Matthias and Beatrice were the best couriers of their age. I hardly see them taking on someone who can't learn to ride a horse, and you certainly didn't come out of the academy lacking that skill." Ben sighed. "I'd have loved to attend this academy, but it's the first I've heard of it. And don't blame my lack of skill on Matthias. He took me on as a charity case after I showed up last month and ACME told me I was a courier. I think they just wanted someone to run messages back and forth.""You're a player? One of the people from one of the other worlds?""Yes! I'm a player. Well...from the other world. The real world? I'm a Contract Worker. My employer pays for me to be here and I do what they say. They also gave us shit skills and work us to death. Hell, I wish I could just show you my damn sheet. I didn't have a choice in this, I swear."Harmony cocked her head to the side. "Say the following: 'I give Harmony permission to view my character sheet.' "Ben didn't know what was going on, but complied. "I give Harmony permission to view my character sheet."Harmony stared for a second, then laughed while sheathing her sword. "Oh, I'm so sorry, cousin, but this ACME screwed you good! Get back on the horse, behind me this time. We need to get moving, but maybe we can teach you something on the way."
Name: Benjamin Franklin the 7thClass: Contract Worker (Courier)
Level:3
experience: 3025
Boss experience: 1500
Human
Base
Per Level
From Stats
From CSP
Total
Health
Stamina (x3)
Mana
Stat:
Rank
Cap
experience
Heritage
Total
STR
DEX
AGI
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
PER
COR
RAD
Core Skill Points
Earned
Chartok the Necro-wolf
NDA
Charnel Daemon
Core Skills
Cost
ranks
max rank
total
Hand x-bow
Whip
Run Like the Wind
Raise Cap on INT
/1/1/1/1
Raise Cap on DEX
/1/1/1/1
Raise Cap on AGI
/1/1/1/1
Magic Eyes 1
/2
Identification 1
/5
Teriary Crafting Skills
each
Secondary Crafting Skills
each
Primary Crafting Skills
each
Saved
Total
Skills
Stat
Level
experience
P/S/T
Quest Mob
PER
Tertiary
Couriers Gear
DEX
Tertiary
Couriers Ring
INT
Tertiary
Bring Tidings
CHA
Tertiary
Ride/Drive
AGI
Tertiary
Whip
DEX
Tertiary
Hand Cross-bow
DEX
Tertiary
Inventor
INT
Primary
Leather Working
INT
Tertiary
Copper Smithing
INT
Primary
Wood Carving
INT
Tertiary
Sleepless in Seattle
*****
Secondary
Tastes like Chicken
*****
Secondary
Endure
*****
Secondary
Haul
*****
Secondary
Dig
*****
Secondary
Push Onward
*****
Secondary