10 Chapter 10: The Power of Charisma

I felt warm. My eyes snapped open. It was dawn and the fire was engulfing the street. I took a quick breath, letting out a small cough from the smoke in the air. I quickly got up and ran back out of the building. Thankfully it wasn't that far to go through the building and the fire had not engulfed it. The street was empty as the fire was quickly spreading through the city giving an intense red glow in the pre-dawn light and the clouds of smoke.

I hurried back to the keep entrance, where there was a smoldering ruin. The gate house and nearby towers had been gutted, but the stonework still stood. I gave a weary nod to the soldier standing guard at the gate but he didn't spare me a second glance. While I was rested, everyone was exhausted and would hopefully see my uniform and wave me through. I made my way across a large courtyard. There were wounded soldiers lying all over as priests walked around muttering.

I bypassed them all and approached the soldier standing guard at the main entrance. "Report for whomever is running things around here. A fire just started up across the river over in another quadrant."

"Sir Willos is in the main hall. Things are really getting out of hand."

"Lord Breckley?"

"Asleep since the worst is contained, you better hurry."

"Thanks." He gave me a nod and I entered the building. Now came the tricky part, figuring out the locations of Lord Breckley's bed chambers. I saw a servant moving by and quickly followed her down a side hall. I followed her through the corridors of the keep for about a minute. She stepped into a room and closed the door. I hurried over and knocked on the door she just entered. This was the lower level and there were a number of doors lining the hall. I suspected servant's quarters and hopefully I was right.

The door opened and I saw a small bed chamber behind the woman, ten points to logic. "What do you want now? I said I needed…What do you want?" I punched her in the gut and pushed her into the room. I quickly clamped my hand over her mouth.

"I will kill you unless you tell me where Lord Breckley's sleeping chamber is."

"Please don't hurt me, I didn't-"

"Where is he sleeping and I won't hurt you."

"Up on the third floor at the middle of the north corridor."

"How do I get there from here."

"Just make a left, then you will eventually run into a staircase, go up two levels and then his room is the one with the double doors." I stabbed her in the throat and let her corpse fall to the floor making sure to not got get any blood on myself. I followed her instructions passing by soldiers with my head ducked and a weary nod. They appeared tired and worn, probably from fighting fires all night. I soon saw a knight standing guard outside the doorway along with two soldiers that the servant had directed me towards, which all but confirmed the room was the right one.

I walked up to the knight and then threw the pouch of moth poison. The soldiers collapsed but the knight tried to push his way free of the poison cloud. We traded a number of blows and he still wasn't succumbing. I backed away and then threw my sword at him. He ducked to the side and I had taken out a canteen filled with sap. One pull and the cork was out I gave a squeeze and the sap squirted over him.

He rushed towards me and I ran away. I saw soldiers moving up the stairs at the end of the corridor alerted from our sword fight. I knocked a passing torch off a wall bracket onto the floor behind me. Next I squirted more sap in a line between me and the approaching soldiers. The knight ran past the torch and burst into flames. He let out a scream that was sure to wake the dead.

I ran back the way I came past the flaming knight. He ran right over the line of sap igniting it and forcing the soldiers to retreat. I picked up my dropped sword and raced forward. More soldiers were coming up the opposite end of the corridor. I let loose of spray of sap I had across the hall and tossed a torch onto it. The sap went up with a whoosh blocking off their approach. I turned to the double doors and pushed them open.

I saw an older man with a sword drawn and a woman in a gown standing behind him. "Observe."

Lord Tavirin Breckley

LvL 126

Strongest Stat: Charisma

I almost let out a laugh. Charisma, who was he kidding with that sword even if he was a level one hundred twenty six. I threw the empty canteen at some candles. They clattered to the floor but the sap in the canteen didn't catch right away but slowly began to spread towards the fallen candles.. I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. "Lord and Lady Breckley, it is an honor. Normally I don't fight and chat, but I wanted to see how good your Charisma truly is."

The older man didn't blink in the slightest. "Kenji Shadowen?" I gave a small nod of my head. "All this trouble and you come to me. I suppose we have you to thank for all these fires." I gave another nod of my head. "Well no matter, you are going to pay for what you have done to this land and its people. Surrender and I will grant you what mercy I can." I thought about it for a second and then shook myself.

Holy crap, this guy was good. I was actually considering surrendering after all the effort to get here. Why was I even listening to him? I should have attacked. Note to self, Charisma is not a weak stat at the high levels.

I darted in swinging. "Power slash!" I shouted out. My blade slammed into his and cut into his shoulder as his blade was forced down from the strength of the attack. He let out a grunt and then pushed me off. He then stabbed back at me. I was already retreating. He made to follow but stumbled. Poisoned blades are totally overpowered. I moved in and cut his throat. His wife or concubine rushed at me with a dagger. It was simple enough to drive the sword into her eye and out the back of her head. She slid along half my blade as it exited the back of her skull.

The spray of blood and brains hit the light of the rising sun just right. I was so going to put a picture of that up on my wall in my atrium. I slid her corpse off my sword. I then took Lord Breckley's sword for myself and began to loot the room. I pocketed a small bag of gold coins, jeweled dagger, and a crown with three sapphires in it. I saw a number of books, but they wouldn't survive my escape. I couldn't resist I grabbed two of them at random, no time to waste.

I went out onto the small balcony looking out over the other half of the city and the river. This back part of the keep had windows facing the river from the third floor and higher. While not tactically sound, the towers and other defenses in the bay made an attack from this direction unlikely. While there was a talk, there were numerous gates to prevent an enemy from sneaking in from the back. I began to climb up the side of the castle. There were six stories and it was harrowing moving up the keep in the pre-dawn light. I finally reached the roof and let out a sigh. They would look to the water for me most likely and not the keep itself.

I smiled at my idea but I was a master of misdirection. The trick was to always do the unexpected and never get trapped. Always keep them off guard and have a trick up your sleeve. Finally to just go all out, have no fear or morals when I needed to act. Hesitation was the quickest way to defeat.

I found an out of the way corner on the roof and rested. My SP was about gone and I was tired. I took a long sip of water and waited. I was on a tower roof that was a bit blow the top of the keep. I was currently wedged up between a ledge and a tower. The only real way to spot me would be at the top of the roof looking straight down. I occupied myself going through the list of messages I had received.

Trap Making-4

Ambidextrous-3

Running-4

Climbing-2

Stealth-3

Deception-4

Meditate<Active Skill>-5 MAX

You are on the path to enlightenment

LvL 1: +100% MP Regen

LvL 2: +200% MP Regen

LvL 3: +400% MP Regen

LvL 4: +600% MP Regen

LvL 5: +800% MP Regen, +1% Wisdom

Cost: Cannot move

Mental Defense<Active Skill>-1

Make sure you file everything correctly

LvL 1: +20% to mental defense, can recognize a mental attack

Cost: 10 MP per Minute

Murderer-500 MAX

Enemy of the People-5 MAX

Player Killer-10 MAX

Quest Complete-Easy

Start of Journey

+10 EXP

Burning of Breckley-1 MAX

Burn baby burn!

+10 Fate

+10% Resistance to all fire based attacks

STATE OF WAR WITH THE HOUSE OF BRECKLEY

Due to the death of the current faction leader claim over the house passes to the heir

Quest-Easy

Escape

Leave Breckley Bay

+10 EXP

Accept (Yes/No)

Quest-Lifetime

Dragon Slayer

Slay the green dragon Dlthinnir

+100000 EXP

+5 Stat Points

Accept (Yes/No)

Experience

A maximum of 100,000 EXP has been applied for a calamity you have caused

STATUS

Name Kenji Shadowen

Level 51

Constitution 43.56

Strength 51.15

Dexterity 54.06

Endurance 52.5

Wisdom 5.2

Intelligence 5.3

Charisma 0

Luck 0

Fate 555.9

What the hell. Limited experience, no legendary quest completion, and some half-baked quest to kill a dragon. Ulther had been telling me the local tales, and dragons were the apex predator. They were immune to all but the strongest priests, scales that resisted most attacks, flying, fire breath, and let's not forget their ability to use magic. Only one that had ever been killed, by a god. I ball parked their level at a one thousand minimum. They mostly ignored humans and rested in out of the way locations. There was no love for me from the game system.

Well at least I had ten percent fire resistance, whatever that meant. I mean, really how much damage would ten percent hold off against any fire based attack. Instead of a cinder when I got hit with dragon fire, I would be a slightly juicy cinder. Mental defense was nice, but did that mean there were creatures that could mentally attack me. Were there mental attacks?

At least murderer and enemy of the people had maxed out. It was the general consensus online that Fate was bad but with no clear idea of what it did as of yet. I guess that was why the goddess Tafe got cast down, since her stat was bad. I decided to blow through a bit of mana and identify my items.

Crown of House Breckley

LvL 83

Sword of Fey

LvL 173

Identification<Active Skill>-2

What is this now?

LvL 1: Learn Name and LvL of an item

LvL 2: Learn the requirements of an item

Cost: 10 MP

Dammit, with my skill going up I couldn't resist checking the sword again.

Sword of Fey

LvL 173

Requirement: 30 Strength, 20 Dexterity, Descendent of Ralthor Breckley the First

A bloodline requirement, that was stupid. I could still use it as a high quality regular sword like the Knight's, but I wouldn't get the special awesome power it had locked inside. I was tempted to do the crown as well, but MP took forever to regenerate. Meditation helped, but I always liked to have most of MP in reserve just in case.

I secured the loot upon my person and pulled out the two books. History of the Seasons by Galir Trent and The Kraken: Myth of the Seas by Balor Septima. I dug into both of the books. I started with the one about the seasons. It was boring but very informative. Apparently the weather was fairly stable in the area with rainfall around once every ten day. There had been some harsh winters but the book described what insects to look for and their patterns to help determine how bad the winter would be. Galmore to the south was warmer but more rain. The Gloommore Forest or the Gloomwood to the west was pretty much an unknown and the lands beyond were populated by roving clans and warlords.

To the north was Angal, which rested in valley between mountains that had a lot of snow. The Sea of Salmir to the east was fairly benign. There were no mentions of any other lands and the rest of the book devolved into how to record the various changes in the seasons and write them inside the book. Based on the dates recorded this was year 1057 After the Fall with the records starting at year 376 AtF.

The book on the Kraken was a collection of wives tales, fables, and sailor gossip. The author, Balor, had a wicked sense of humor by poking at the stories and people he was collecting them from. Sort of like an evil bard…that was what I needed on my team. I had myself, the dashing rouge leader. Ulther would be my surly but dependable battle mage. Now all I needed was an evil bard to make the ears of my enemies bleed and the ladies puke on their dresses. I also needed a theme song. Being an evil villain is only fun if you have style to go with it.

…Kraken just came up out of the sea like a vengeful god. It then grabbed Old Man Michael with one of its tentacles and pulled him under. I tried to hack him free but by the eight the creature was tougher than stone. By the slovenly and drunken nature of the sailor, it is far more likely he hid or found this tale in the bottom of his cup. Then it snapped the main mast sending most of the crew overboard and smashed the ship. By the eight it was frightful. Like most of the bottom feeders he did not have a good explanation on his survival. Oh look, he just pissed himself and passed out. Next time I will…

I finished the book up just before the sun set. It was time to get out of here. It was tempting to go and try and kill the rest of House Breckley, but I had no idea how far the line extended. After a thousand years everyone in the city was probably related somehow. Also I was out of powder and sap which was the biggest determining factor.

I left the books on the ledge and began pulling out the rope I had around wrapped around my chest. It was a simple matter of tying it off to the parapet above me. I waited until the last glow of the sun was gone and then watched the river carefully. Finally I saw a small boat being rowed up the river. I began to descend as quickly as I could.

I made it to just above the river and then dove in. The water was foul, sooty, and wet. I half floated, half drifted towards the boat. The two swords I had were really pulling me down along with my loot. Not a lot but they definitely weren't helping. I noted two of the mercenary types, four rowers, and finally an older gentleman in the boat.

I grabbed onto the rudder and caught my breath while I let the boat pull me a bit. "…whole city has gone to the dogs."

"All the travelers fault."

"Hmm, more like one Kenji Shadowen. I heard the bounty has gone up."

"How much?"

"Ten thousand gold pieces dead." It was a surreal experience to spy on people talking about me.

"I might be tempted."

"Don't be an idiot. Better to be alive and poor than rich and dead."

"True, true."

"So, how you think Lady Breckley will handle things?"

"No idea, but that is why we are acting tonight."

"You really think that-"

"No talk about that. While I don't think anyone is listening out here, no talking business unless it is a secure location."

"You never did say why though."

"Travelers are bad for business. If my idea works, we will be rolling in the gold." I had heard enough. I pulled out my sword and heaved myself up over the rear of the boat. I slashed one of the mercenaries just behind his knee and he tilted and fell into the water.

The other mercenary spun around and the entire boat tilted to one side at the sudden shifts in weight. The rowers seemed to ignore the situation as they kept on going with a blank look in their eyes. I was up over the side and the mercenary had drawn his sword. His friend had grabbed the side of the boat and was trying to pull himself up.

The older gentleman had turned around on his bench and was facing me. The only sound was the splash of the oars. "Kenji Shadowen, how unexpected. Any chance we can come to an arrangement?" The older gentleman asked.

"Let us sit and we can talk, in exchange you take me out of Breckley."

"If I refuse?"

"I kill you all and then try to make my way out of the bay."

"Hohohohoho, you are as daring as I have heard. Very well, a chance at good conversation is never amiss. Get Squint Eye's soggy ass back in the boat and put away your weapon." The last part was directed at the other mercenary who obeyed.

Once the mercenary was back in the boat I spoke. "I am Kenji Shadowen, but it appears you have already heard of me, but I am afraid I am at a disadvantage."

"Your name is now known throughout the five kingdoms that boarder the Salmir and more after the events of yesterday night. I am Han, just Han."

"Thank you for the lift Just Han, is there something specific you wish to discuss?"

"I want you to work for me." He didn't grin or leer. He really was just a slightly older man that had a bit of grey hair and some nicer clothes. Despite this he was not afraid, no sign of fear or worry.

"It comes down to trust. I would like to trust you, but in the end one can only trust themselves."

"True, but with your reputation and ability, my plans will be far more easily achieved."

"I won't outright refuse, but do your goals and mine align."

"A tough question, I will say that I am a good friend and a worse enemy."

"A compromise. I have some things in my possession that are a bit…tricky to sell off. I would be willing to trade one of them in exchange for a friendship of sorts. Live and let live, we stay out of each other's way while we Observe each other's actions."

???

LvL: ???

Strongest Stat: ???

"Nice try Kenji, but I am not that easy to read." Apparently he read the momentary shock on my face at the failure of my skill. "No worries, but please refrain some such things."

"My apologies, I was only curious."

"All is forgiven. As to your offer, it is intriguing. Let me see what you have." I carefully pulled out the crown and held up the sword I was holding. "You are a tricky one. The crown is far more useful to me." I picked it up and tossed it over. He caught it in an instant.

"All yours."

"You really are an odd one, but that makes life all the more interesting. Hohohoho."

"When I act, I act. Do you have a way I could get a hold of you? If I had stuff to sell or buy, or even if you had a job. An independent contractor."

"I like that term, independent contractor. You really don't care what I am planning or have other questions?"

"Nothing you would answer and let me walk away. Just seeing what I have is troublesome enough, but I need help leaving the city and more so in the future. I also don't want to be caught up in whatever you are doing."

"A true soldier of fortune, very well. But I want you to answer a question in exchange."

"The crown was the gift of trust, anything else will cost. Question for a question, and no I won't be asking anything about you personally or your business."

"Acceptable, how did you start all those fires? From what my men have said they were near impossible to put out."

"The fluids of a certain monster easily catch fire, it was a simple matter of collecting enough."

"Hohohohoho, you are an evil one. Before you ask your question we are coming up to our stop." I looked and saw the city walls only a hundred feet up the river. "I will leave you the rowers."

"That wasn't the deal."

"True, but I will not be turning you in. I am sure you know, but these two here are just to keep the riff raff away. I knew you were hiding on the boat and I know every move you might make. I honestly don't want the attention or headache that will come from capturing you." The boat slid up to a dock and all three of them stepped out. "I don't think we will meet again, but this was fun. It was a pleasure Kenji Shadowen or should I say Rain of Blood."

The boat was already pulling away and Just Han was already disappearing into the city with his two goons. I looked at the rowers and they kept pulling up the boat up the river. I went over the side once more and grabbed the rudder. I was pissed. That guy was probably rolling in Charisma, which was why I hadn't attacked and given up the crown. Also the fact I couldn't Observe him had thrown me off balance. Stupid, stupid, stupid, but I didn't have time for self-recrimination.

Soldiers began to shout at the boat to pull off to the side but it just kept going. Once it was past the towers on either side, arrows began to rain down. I went underneath the boat and used it to pull myself forward. I swam for half a minute before coming up for air. I had made some progress against the current and began swimming as hard as I could for shore. I made it to shore exhausted and wet. The soldiers were already working to drag the boat to shore. Thankfully they missed me in the darkness and the sound of the river. I didn't spare a moment and began jogging up the river bank, away from Breckley.

By the time dawn was rolling around, I had made it to where I had carved out the log to get into Breckley. Ulther looked incredibly relieved when I showed up. "Still alive." I whispered out. My SP was almost empty.

"You look and smell like shit."

"Help me get changed." I changed to a new set of clothes he had and tossed the old ones back in the river. "You get a map?" I asked.

"Yeah, also found out Sir Davos is in Mendal still." I could only have one quest of each type at a time until they were completed or no longer possible. So stupid, but that was the way of things.

"Things didn't work out so well. I managed to kill Lord Breckley, but apparently he had an heir so our war continues."

"Yeah his daughter is now Lady Breckley, I heard before leaving the city. So what now?"

"We head west. Too much focus on me at the moment. I am done with this area."

"Well I got us the cart and a second horse that you wanted. Also a short black haired wig which I ended up stealing during the fire. Five gold pieces for just some hair is insane. There were glasses, but none of them tinted. I also have a wide straw hat for both of us, though I don't know why you call it standard villain attire. Filled up the cart with supplies and a couple barrels of salted fish. We have six gold pieces and thirty seven silver left. I hid the gold in cut out portion of the wagon along with most of the silver. The copper and the rest of the silver were divided up like you wanted. Why go to all that trouble?"

"If we get robbed, we can give up the smaller money pouches to hide that we have a larger one. Traps within traps within traps. Hide this gold as well." I passed him the pouch I had taken from Lord Breckley's room. I got up onto the wagon and put on the wig of short black hair. We set off. I noted that the now that my previous easy quest had completed and I had another one to drink some of the local ale.

There were so many options, but I was honestly sick of Breckley. We were leaving and I might come back in a year or two once I was stronger and had a team. Ulther needed to become my personal battle mage and I needed to find an evil bard. I looked through the cart as we traveled. There was a large stockpile of arrows, a skinning knives, a large hammer, axe, wood carving tools, a tent, a pair of sleeping bags, sewing kit, and four barrels of salted fish.

I had one canteen left of Ent sap, the priestly book, and a number of swords and daggers. We were all set for a long and extended journey. I worked with Ulther on memorizing the twenty four basic chants. He could not produce an effect either, but without a pop-up I wasn't sure if that was the only problem. I needed to make him more wise and intelligent in the hopes that the stat points would gravitate to those two areas.

Well, Breckley was behind us and it was onto a new local and people to terrorize.

***

HellzFirez666: BURN IT ALL!

Ramponator: I saw a couple other videos on the Burning of Breckley, no love for Rain

GODHAXLOL: DOUBLE HORSY!

PedoBear9000: I can't tell if he plans this out or makes it up as he goes along

UltimataSecret: What you really need to ask is how he keeps surviving

HatMan: Lateral thinking, he just does the unexpected

6996: Did you catch when Lord Breckley bit it, and his wife, priceless

Tattles: Where can I sign up??

FuriousGhost: I am coming for you!

Ramponator: You should give up, you are a B or C rate opponent

KilluaXXX: I want to know who that Just Han guy is

LeeroyYOLO1: Just Han

UltimataSecret: Breckley is going to be chaos, urg, I was hoping to get a sword there

HeavenBlade: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not Lord Breckley