"Yes. The killer will not kill again.""I see."He stays silent for a few seconds, seemingly focused on operating the machine in front of him. The silence is filled by the clatter of cutlery and the buzz of conversation.
"You did a good thing. Thank you."Hmph. At least
he thinks it was a good thing. He should tell that to Ali.
Fame increased
Notoriety increasedWhen he's done preparing your drink he goes back to serving customers, occasionally arranging glasses and mugs when he's not busy. You, meanwhile, enjoy your hot drink. You drink it in one go and feel its warmth spread pleasantly from your stomach. You feel your heartrate quicken as the hot drink begins affecting your body. Eiwhyl said that's normal. That this is a stimulant, something that sharpens the senses, enhances reflexes, helps people wake up and focus. But still, there could be something there, something more. You try to feel your inner fire in that warmth. It's... If there's something there, some change, it's too weak to tell. Hmm... You know! You just need to order more hot drinks! ... For science, of course, not because they're super good or anything.
Status gained: EnergizedA while later the bartender once again stops in front of you and you ask for another hot drink.
"Are you sure friend? These things can be bad for your stomach. Last time-""I can take it." you cut him off before he can bring up that embarrassing incident. Besides, your stomach is not nearly as full as it was last time.
"Heh. If you say so."Item Lost: 20 creditsWith that he starts preparing your hot drink.
"You know, I saw another one of your kind around here. You might be getting some competition."'Your kind'? Another dragon?! Here?! You need to-
"You saw another of my species?" you ask with barely contained excitement.
"Where? Who?"They could show you, tell you! So many questions!
"Oh, I'm sorry friend, you misunderstood. I meant another bounty hunter." he says, his face showing a mix of kindness and embarrassment.
Oh... So it wasn't that after all. That's... You try to keep your disappointment from showing.
"Are you-""What bounty hunter?" you cut him off with a question of your own, more so that you don't have to explain yourself than out of curiosity.
"Oh, just some Tiss'shar hotshot. Called herself Neh-Rah-Sha.""Tiss'shar?""Lizard people. Not many of their kind in this tower. She looked kinda like you but less bulky, thinner face, thinner scales, green with red stripes on her face, kinda fidgety."Hmm. They probably also lack wings, since you're pretty sure he doesn't know about yours. Still, it would be interesting to see how much they really look like you.
"She lives here?""Nah, she just came here from the lower levels for some job. I was curious, so I asked some of my friends down there. They say she showed up about 6 months ago and started taking on jobs. Mostly monster extermination down there."The bartender finishes his preparations and places your hot drink in front of you.
"They say she's pretty good. Probably came up here for better pay."So bounty hunters kill monsters for payment? That sounds like something you could do! ... Though Eiwhyl probably wouldn't like that.
"But it's different here than on the lower levels. Different kind of monsters up here. The kind that walk amongst people."You pick up the mug and sniff it, taking the time to enjoy the bitter scent almost burning your nostrils.
"Yes. They do. But not all of them."He shrugs.
"You probably know best."Age: some months (wyrmling)
Size: about the size of a human (if bipedal)
Status: energized
Health: fine
Weapons: claws and teeth
Armor: scales
Abilities:
- Flight: You can glide in order to survive falls and quickly move great distances. You can even fly upwards, though not for very long distances. You can use favorable winds and updrafts to increase your flight time.
- Basic Human Language: You are able to understand many of the most common words of the human language, including some that express more abstract things, though there are still a great many words and expressions that you have yet to learn. You can also read, though it takes you some time to understand the words. You can also speak, though it's sometimes hard for others to understand you.
- Communication: You have a knack for understanding other beings, even those whose language you don't know.
- Basic Nursing: You know the basics of caring for patients and preparing and maintaining equipment used in their care. You can also administer certain simple treatments. However you still lack much of the knowledge necessary for you to be able to determine what said treatment should be.
- Magic: You can cause supernatural effects, though doing so consciously and with any level of control is hard. You know of some of the effects you can cause, but there might be more you have yet to discover or unlock. See Magic section for more details.
Inner Fire: Ashes
- Burn Self: Gain a level in hunger or tiredness and in exchange gain a level of Inner Fire.
- Sense Inner Fire: You can sense the inner fire of other beings, allowing you to detect most living things in your surroundings. This also gives you an indication of the danger they could pose and the amount of fire you could gain from consuming them.
Cost: Minor - Cleansing: Direct your inner fire to a part of your body to cleanse a debilitating status effect.
Cost: Low-Medium - Fiery Strength: Direct your inner fire to your muscles and bones, granting you supernatural strength.
Cost: Medium
- Maintenance Tunnels:
- Large Sonic Rifle covered by old torn clothes
- 2 holdout blaster pistols (roughly 20 shots each, effective range 20m, HSB-200)
- Low quality vibroknife (low battery)
- Eiwhyl's Clinic:
- 576 credits (5 orange, 11 blue, 7 red, 4 grey, 6 cyan, 4 pink)
- 2 packs of smoke sticks
- small can of droid oil
- small metal toolbox
- Warm blanket
- Datacard with human medical information
- Datacard with human language dictionary
- Datacard with dragon info compilation
- Datacard with story about hunter of dragons
- small glass statue of bird
- Pack with plastoid tape modifications (dropped in hallway)
- Large hooded cloak
- Half-used medpac
- Purse with credit-reader:
- 135 credits (2 orange, 1 blue, 1 red, 1 grey)
- 155 slightly burnt credits (1 green, 1 blue, 1 red, 5 grey)
- half-used roll of plastoid tape
- flashlight
- pack of smoke sticks
- lighter
- keycard with symbol
- 2 stun grenades
- 2 fog? grenades
- 1 grenade
- 2 grenade thrower mines
- 1 medpack
- 1 bottle with red liquid and unreadable label
- Basic Datapad (contains datacard with encrypted files)
- Ali's Apartment: A tiny 2 bedroom apartment. The little human Ali lives there with Dad/Jobal and Mom/Ania. Room 327.
- Ali's Apartment Tower: Apartments arranged in a circle. Clean, bright, mostly locked doors, few hiding places. Little traffic during the night.
- Eiwhyl's Clinic (Lair): Sells medpacs and other healing items and provides treatment. Warning: stabby. Room 509.
- Streets: Dirty streets, parked hovercars, shops, building entrances, street vendors, little traffic during the night.
- Maintenance Tunnels: Interconnected tunnels, small and large, going low and high. Connect various streets and buildings. Wires and pipes. Dark, dirty, with old machines constantly rumbling. Scavenger-vermin and hunters-of-vermin.
- Garbage Pit: A large room with mountains of garbage half-submerged in a sea of sludge. More garbage frequently arrives from holes in the ceiling. A monster lurks here, may pull prey underwater.
- Hydroponic Pool: A room with a large pool filled with plants. A ceiling full of bright lamps. A spherical gardener-droid takes care of the plants. Patrolled by hostile gunmen. A corridor leads to other rooms. Storage room. Processing room. Other rooms are unexplored.
- Iyran Grower Shop: A store located deeper into the tower's streets. Operated by a cephalopoid. The grower sells cheap synthetic meat, amongst other things.
- Upscale Cafe: A small place with tasty but somewhat expensive food and hot drinks. The bartender is nice but the waiter droid is annoying.
- Upscale Streets: A section of the tower mimicking a suburban neighborhood, including a fake sun. Most buildings guarded.