Veles woke up the next morning, yawned, stretched out luxuriously, and then got packing for the road.
The first wagons were already assembling at the front of the caravan, but other than Geoffrey, the rest of the group was still asleep. It had been a mistake staying up for so long, but with such a fast carriage, it wasn’t like they would fall too far behind.
“Why the rush?” Geoffrey said as he watched the fox aggressively comb out his fur, “don’t you want to catch some extra sleep like the rest of the group?”
Veles looked up at the rather stupid-looking polar bear with his heavy eyebrows and cocked his head.
“We don’t need to leave with the caravan. We’re the rear guards today. It’s our job to be last.” Geoffrey explained.
“Oh,” Veles deflated, “no wonder you’re the only one up.”
Now Veles felt stupid, like a kid who wakes up in a panic during a weekend, thinking they had to go to school, only to realize they had the day off and could have slept in. Still, now that he was awake, falling back to sleep would be impossible. The polar bear offered him a cup of coffee which the arctic fox gratefully accepted, sipping the warm brew.
Steam rose from his cup and into the cold morning air. Veles took a moment to take in the scenery. This world truly was beautiful, and more than a bit outlandish. Here and there, hummingbirds frolicked amongst exaggeratedly large flowers while further down the trail there was a babbling brook that burbled softly.
He kind of wanted to go explore… but he knew that there were monsters in this world – real ones – and as a wizard he wouldn’t fare well against them without someone stronger to stand in front of him.
So instead, he just sat on a log, using it as a makeshift seat, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of nature. The polar bear took up a seat next to him and they sat quietly for a few minutes together. Only when the others began to stir from their tents did Geoffrey get up and begin cooking breakfast.
“I demand that… Eggs Benedict… or whatever that fat hog made for me!” Gregory said when he saw the English breakfast Geoffrey had laid out for him.
“We don’t have lemons, my liege,” Geoffrey sighed, “And we don’t have a proper pot for the sauce.”
“Well,” Gregory sniffed, the mink’s whiskers twitching in annoyance, “then we shall have to correct that. Let’s buy some when we stop for the night.”
“Yes, my liege,” Geoffrey bowed.
Veles didn’t know why the Prince was being so horrid. The breakfast was perfect. He couldn’t actually expect to be served Eggs Benedict every morning, did he? What a spoiled piece of shit.
But when he looked at Geoffrey, expecting the bear to be annoyed, instead he saw the battle butler awkwardly attempting to hide a boner that was tenting his slacks. Did he enjoy being ordered around like that? Well, to each their own.
“So,” a voice said from the empty space next to Veles, “what did you do to the guards?”
Veles jumped, “Jesus, Charlie! No stealthing!”
“I am sneaky,” Charlie shrugged, the black wolf’s muzzle curling into a smile.
“Yes, Veles, where is my caviar?” The Prince asked.
“I ran out of spell slots-erm, I didn’t have enough magic, so I rendered them harmless. I’ve invited them to come over to our campfire tonight.” Veles grinned wickedly.
“You enjoy this way too much.” Charlie said.
“No, he enjoys it just enough,” Gregory said. “I like my spellcasters enthusiastic. As long as they have targets that aren’t myself.”
“I, for one, cannot wait to see what you’ve done to them to make them safe, Veles,” Geoffrey smiled politely.
Veles smirked.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The rest of the day was uneventful.
What had been rolling farm country became hillier and more rugged. Still, guard outposts and regular rest spots kept things safe. Every once in a while, they’d see farmhouses in the distance, though now it was mostly animal pens and other such things.
Veles studied his spellbook and the list of words he’d collected form the bandit’s backstories. He had a few good ones. Starvation and Muscles. There should have been a few other words too…
Veles frowned.
The other words had simply disappeared from the sheet.
They weren’t particularly good words. Mostly ‘its’, at least three of those, but filler words were necessary if Veles wanted to make a cohesive backstory. As he’d seen from altering the weasel’s backstory, leaving things up to interpretation could go the way he wanted them to, but that wouldn’t always be the case.
They stopped for the night, pulling in at a rest area just a mile or two out from a nearby village.
This time, vendors and farmers from the town had come here, setting up fruit stalls and their own trades. A blacksmith had a temporary forge in the middle of the camp and was working on horseshoes. The smith himself was a hugely muscled great white shark, the heat of the forge causing his hide to steam. Every once in a while, he would ladle water over himself. Meanwhile, towards the end of the stands, two pretty does offered chocolate-covered strawberries to passersby and a bunny girl was selling sweet breads, flavored with bananas, cucumbers, and carrots.
Veles and the others got out of the carriage and stretched.
He was surprised at how sore just riding had gotten him. By the end of the day, he could feel each and every rut in the road the carriage had driven over. Geoffrey and Palseks got to work setting up the cook fire and their tents. Charlie disappeared into the shadows, on patrol again, while Gregory left to stretch his legs and piss.
Veles took a brief look around the carts.
Nothing seemed particularly amiss. If anything, it looked like another relatively peaceful night. Charlie had said that things would be fine until they entered the forest. Once they went past the lumber yards and the well-maintained guard outposts at the edge of the forest…that was when the real shit started.
The arctic fox was ambivalent about that.
Sure, he didn’t want to get in any real danger. But that was a big part of adventuring. It was risky business. Adventurers died quite often, in fact. And even though this was a simulation, death still scared him.
Mostly because he had no idea how Finn punished players that died.
Oh, now that he thought about it, Finn was scarier than death was in this world. How horrifying. Veles hadn’t really known the guy for long, so he didn’t feel betrayed, but he also didn’t know how Finn reacted either. If Veles died a noble death, would Finn be okay with that? Or would he just say, ‘any death of a character means you end up a slave or a slug’?
That seemed mean and more than a little psychotic.
Then again, to Veles, Finn seemed mean and more than a little psychotic, so it kinda checked out. But, on the bright side, now that the others knew he wanted the bandits alive, he could have even more fun! Assuming he survived, of course.
Veles pulled out the character sheet he’d stored the words in and frowned. It was blank.
Veles turned the paper over in confusion. Where the hell had they gone? Had he grabbed the wrong parchment by mistake? No, there were the enchantments he cast on it. What in the fuck…?
“Back to the drawing board.” Veles sighed.
Maybe he needed a literal container? Like one of those jars the hag had. Or… hmmm. There were just too many possibilities. He’d need some more test subjects to experiment on. Otherwise, he might as well be farting into the wind.
Good thing they were about to run into bandits then.
Veles smiled and wandered back to his campsite. As he approached, he heard the sound of music playing and an angelic voice singing in some alien language. It was harsh but beautiful, and Veles saw other caravan goers stopping by their carriage to listen in.
As he rounded the corner of the carriage to the campfire, he saw the bandits he’d experimented on the other day. The obese trio were playing their instruments while Palseks sang. Veles was surprised at how well the three were playing, considering they weren’t musicians a day ago. The ability to edit backstories sure was powerful!
Maybe too powerful, he thought.
Surely Finn would have something in place to balance it out. Trimming and Tailoring was an amazing, powerful ability…for a villain. Not for a player. Veles tried not to let his sudden concern show as he came to campfire and sat down. Watching the bandits play made his anxiety increase.
A few minutes later, the song ended, and the people gathered around their carriage clapped and went back to their business. The three former bandits smiled and waved before turning back to the rest of the party, who were sitting around the campfire with them.
“So when are the bandits going to show up?” Geoffrey whispered.
“What?” Veles turned to stare at the polar bear.
“The ones we captured.” Geoffrey stared back. “You said they were coming.”
“That’s them, Geoffrey,” Veles gestured to the three former bandits. “I turned them into that.”
“Oh,” Geoffrey’s eyes widened, “Veles, I cannot remember them any other way.”
“I changed their backstory,” Veles replied.
“Reality shift?” The polar bear’s eyes narrowed. “That’s quite dangerous.”
“I’m getting that.” Veles licked his lips.
Gregory leaned in, “So where are the bandits?”
“Those are the bandits.,” Geoffrey nodded towards the musicians, who were talking to Palseks and Charlie.
Gregory blinked, the mink’s hackles rising, “Were they always fat asses?”
“No.” Veles sighed, realizing where the mink was going.
“Then why did you turn them into such disgusting beings?” Gregory demanded.
“Because if they were skinny and they broke free of the spell they’d be a threat. Now we don’t have to worry about them overpowering us.” Veles explained.
“Harrumph!” Gregory sniffed, “So what? Are you going to do this to all of the bandits? Are we going to be attacked by a troupe of fat musicians?”
“No,” Veles sighed, “Trimming uses up my most powerful spell slots. I only have three fifth level spells. Trimming costs a fifth level spell slot.”
“Wait,” Geoffrey frowned, counting on his big digits, “Are you tenth level?”
“No, I’m still only level four like the rest of you. I just stole Glitz’ arcane power.” Veles explained.
“Can you cast it on me, now?” Geoffrey asked hopefully.
“I… I think I need to keep testing.” Veles chuckled, “I’ve found out that things aren’t quite going the way I thought.”
“Ah, so you didn’t mean to turn them fat,” Gregory nodded sagely.
“No. I mean, I took words out of their backstories to rewrite them. Here, I’ll show you,” Veles wrote down the backgrounds he’d seen. Then he crossed out some words and rearranged others. “And that’s how I did it.”
“I see,” Geoffrey nodded, “You worked with what the backstory gave you.”
“From Glitz’ notes, I can add words and alter backstories with an 8th level spell.” Veles said.
“So you won’t be able to do that until the end of the campaign,” Geoffrey huffed grumpily. “Sucky.”
“I told you to wait until I deal with the bandits. A week, Geoffrey!” Veles replied, completely exasperated.
“Fine,” Geoffrey huffed.
“Geoffrey!” Gregory stared at his butler in shock, “Apologize! We have no idea what would happen to you if he makes a mistake.”
“Sorry,” Geoffrey rumbled, getting up and leaving.
Gregory shot Veles an apologetic look and hurried after his bodyguard.