Dragon Quest VIII: The Gamer

by SkyRune

The Scepter hidden within the Castle of Trodain has been stolen. Its King and Princess have been Cursed. And our young Hero has found a clue that will lead to the Family that he never knew he had. By the Will of the Goddess, may your Journey be safe. Decided to make a Dragon Quest with the RPG feel.

4. Chapter 3: Learning the Ropes

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*Drip*

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*Drip*

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*Drip*

The sound of water is echoing all around me. My eyes are so heavy...I want to...sleep more...

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*SPLASH*

"AAHHH!" I scream out from my slumber from shock. Looking around, my surroundings have become dark. Rubbing the sleep and water out of my eyes, I can see that I was within a cavern of some sort from the little light that illuminated the room. The 'bedroom' from what I would assume was circular and quite small with the stone walls going only seven feet high. Looking at the only source of light that lit the room, I could see that the bottom portion of the door was blocking the light with its large stature.

"Morn'ng there, Guv" a familiar voice shouted in the room as it bounced around the room, which only made it louder. Bringing my hands to cover my transformed ears to reduce the sound by whatever means necessary, now that I was wide awake and my eyes have adjusted, I could see Yangus holding what appears to be an empty wooden barrel over his shoulder. "The old codger is up an' wait'n for ya. Shake a leg!" his voice echoing as he walks out into the light.

Shaking out the last droplets of water from my hair, I move myself to get off of whatever it was that it was on. What I saw was not what I had expected, thinking to myself 'Fur...I slept on a giant pile of fur...?' moving away from the make shift bed and heading towards the open door was all I could in this situation. 'O.k. let's think back to the last memory I had; I fought Yangus, bridge collapsing, save Yangus, King Trode and Yangus began to fight and then...what? What happened after that?' thinking to myself at the missing piece that should have been there while walking slowly towards the rooms exit. Walking out of the room, I was seriously questioning my own sanity at what was before me.

The room before me was a large circular room with four stone pillars to hold the ceiling in place. A small opening was positioned to let in a beam of either sunlight or rain water in that one location in the center between the columns. but what I was starring at all of the treasure chests across the chamber half opened filled to the brim of gold, gems and anything that would shine. I was tempted to just turn around and go back to the pile of fur to sleep this hallucination away when I could hear yelling coming across the other side of the room towards a door that was hidden from my view. Moving myself towards the wall and made my way around, the voices only growing louder as I make my way closer. After walking down the hallway, I could see a plants growing out of the walls and sunlight filling the hall. Finally stepping out onto the fresh air and the first thing I see were his Majesty and Yangus throwing insults back at each other.

Scanning the area, I see that Medea is grazing close to the entrance and not even paying her father any attention. I looked between all three of them before turning towards the Princess and asking "How long have they been at this?" She lifted her head to see me before galloping over to place her head on my chest. Not sure what was happening, I began to pat her head as she has refused to move it for several minutes. It would then be put to an end when the yelling had gone up a new pitch. "-NDAD! RETURN MY COUNTRIES TAXES AT ONCE, YOU OAF!""I a'nt taken no taxes from an'one! I gots them from people who don't know how ta pay a toll!"

*NEIGH* Medea moving herself to face them and letting out a loud noise to grab our attention. That has caused the King and Bandit to stop their quarreling to look at us. We all stood there blinking at each other before Yangus walks over with a smile on his face. "Glad to see ya up an about, Guv. Would've thought ya be still be walking with a limp on ya aft'a our fight but ya look right as rain."

"As far as I can tell, nothing is causing me any pain. So would you and his Majesty explain to me where we are exactly?" looking at Yangus and King Trode for any information to fill in this empty space of my memory. The miniature green troll walks over to us while clearing his throat. "Well my boy, I am glad that you have made a recovery. But because of this Neanderthal" he points to the Bandit who was looking away while picking his nose "this has caused us to lose a day of travel so that your injuries would not worsen."

"I see…I am sorry for delaying the journey" I stated while lowering myself to bow to King Trode. He just stood there staring at me before asking me "That is quite alright. If I don't take care of my own retainers, then how can I expect them to take care of me and my precious Medea. On another note that I would like to question; how is it that you can use magic now?" Looking up slightly so that I may look directly at his Majesty and tried to form what I could into words for both him and myself to understand.

"I do not know how to explain it, your Majesty. As far as I could recall, I have never once been able to use magic. I was hoping that you might be able to explain why I can use it now when I couldn't use it nine years ago?" Though I may have lied to King Trode, I was also hoping that he could explain if this could happen to anyone. We had remained in our current positions until he had let out a tired sigh. "As far as I know, everyone is born with enough magic within their bodies to keep it stable on a physiological level. I had installed several laws to both protect and utilize magic so that it would not lead to any disputes within the Nobility or citizens. Within the Eastern Continent, the ones who can freely control magic are no more than 8 people in total. It just goes to show that magic is one of the few secrets left for all of us to discover."

While educational as this topic was, it still didn't answer the question as to why I can use magic now. "I suppose we shall have to ask Master Rylus when we reach Farebury now, won't we" the small king said is I could only nod at this. I looked back over to Yangus who was currently doing handstands while we were doing our conversation. Feeling slightly bashful for ignoring the bandit, I called out "Sorry about that Yangus, we didn't mean to leave out of our conversation."

Looking up from his position, Yangus only smiled and continued his work out. "It's alright Guv. Most the time whenever someone talks about something intelligent, it just flies over me head like a Dracky in daylight" he said while still going at a regular pace without missing a beat. I would've thought that Yangus was going to hurt himself doing this exercise at first, considering his enlarge figure, but after yesterdays beating I now know better that Yangus is all muscle.

"By the way, Yangus, how long have you been in the general area? from what I can tell out of all the gold an-" was all I could get out before an orange blur shoot past me and rammed into the Bandit, causing him to fall to the ground. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TERROIZING THE CITIZENS OF MY COUNTRY, YOU BELLIGERENT ARSE!" Jumping to his feet, Yangus puts on a scowl and faces the green troll by yelling "I'VE ALREADY TOLD YA, I AIN'T TERRORIZINE NOBODY!"

Watching as the sparks continue to fly between them from another pointless shouting match, I look to see that the Princess was shaking her long head at the quarrel. "I can assume that they have been fighting since yesterday, Princess?" asking the horse princess and already seeing her nod her head up and down. It would be better if they could resolve their issues on their own but I can already tell that it would be a near impossible task right now. Bracing myself for whatever comes, the next word I spoke resonated with the surrounding. "Radiant"

The orb of light appeared within my hand as I extended it outward towards the bickering adults. A second later, then the orbs light began to intensify blinding all before my path. "GRAAAAAHHH!" "BLOODY 'ELL!" King Trode and Yangus both screamed out as to cover their eyes from the intense spell. When the spell had vanished, the two of them were rubbing their eyes to clear away what I could believe were colorful spots. "If you two could please behave as proper adults for five minutes to explain my previous question, I would appreciate it" saying out loud enough for both of them to know that I was the cause of their blindness. When they could finally see again, Yangus stepped forward scratching the back of his head as if slightly embarrassed.

"Well Guv, as you could tell I ain't a look'r and noth'n. So I had to make do wiv what I got and it made me into me current lifestyle. All them treasures inside is what I made during my stay here for the last...uh, think two months now" he said while looking at the ground like a child caught doing something they were not suppose to. My eyes caught the slightest twitch from the king at how long Yangus was doing his 'job' and decided to let King Trode speak before he chose to either attack Yangus or me, knowing full well I wouldn't fight back. "From what I know of, most of the taxes that come from; Farebury, Alexandria and Port Prospect had as of yet to pay them. I didn't get word of it until last week when the castle steward comes to me with a report that the nobles were hiding the fact that the taxes had not arrived. And now I see that my peoples hard paid taxes have been stolen by this Fat Oaf!" he stated while pointing at said oaf.

"Alright, I seem to understand why you two are arguing but I want to ask two questions. Yangus, are there any other bandits that you know of on this particular road to Trodain?" asking the Bandit to at least appease his Majesty. Yangus had a confused expression at my question but answered "Na, it's just me until ya get to the checkpoint near that Autumn Tree." said tree being the only one to grow red leaves all year round, even during winter. It is a national landmark that we received in a peace treaty with the Northern Continent.

Looking around the clearing to see that the wagon was hidden under the foliage, I ran over to the back of it to see my bag was hanging on the side. Reaching inside to secure the item for my next question as I walked back to them, "Okay, so we have now established that Yangus is in fact the only bandit to be operating this close to Trodain. So my next question is this; have you recently encountered a white stagecoach with this emblem?" I said while giving my Soldier Second Class ID Badge to him. He took his time to examine the emblem while his face scrunched up at trying to remember. Yangus gave me back my ID before saying, "the last time I saw someth'n like that was maybe a month back, after I had just settled in this cave".

Looking back to the green king for any information on the tax collection schedule, he had a frown stretch across his face. "We did receive last month's taxes on the fifteenth as scheduled. If what...Yangus says to be true, then I will...igize" he mumbled out the last few words as to not let us hear it. 'That's about as much as I can get out of his Majesty. Now to sort out this next issue' thinking to myself as I look to Yangus. "Alright then. Yangus, from all that I could gather I believe that you didn't take anything tax money heading for Trodain" I announced as he was sporting the biggest grin I have ever seen. It quickly vanished after my next sentence, "But that doesn't excuse you for having a small vault of gold taken from travelers and/or merchants."

"But Guv, I-" "There is no buts about this, Yangus. What you did was wrong and that will not change what has happened. Do you want to be a bandit for the rest of your?" I stopped him before he could get a word in. apparently my question had made an impact as he was staring at the ground. The only sound we could hear was coming from the cicadas hanging from the trees. "I'm not trying to belittle you, Yangus. I am sure that there were situations that have forced your hand to take up this type of life, but never the less it is not the solution to everything. I saved you yesterday because it was the right thing to do and you may have attacked us if you got out of it, but instead you showed gratitude to us, which tells me that you are man worth saving. I would gladly save them if the situation ever came up regardless of whatever happens afterwards" I said out loud for all those present to hear. Yangus turned his back towards me and was looking up to the clear sky.

"It's really raining down today, Guv. You and Granddad best be gett'n inside..." he said just low enough for us to hear. King Trode looks up at the clear sky with confusion, "What are you talking abo-!" he tried to say before I cut him off. "Thank you Yangus, please come get us when the rain has finally passed. Your Majesty, it would be in our best interest to seek shelter. We wouldn't want either you or the Princess to catch a cold, would we?" I said as I lifted his struggling for into my arms off the ground and motioned Medea to follow us inside the cavern. It would be an hour later before Yangus came inside soaking wet from head to toe, but he was smiling all the same.

For having deductive reasoning to prove that Yangus was not the culprit of the missing taxes your INT has gone up by 2!

From you actions to save what little pride Yangus had your WIS has gone up by 1!

Due to your words of making others reflect on their actions and to strive for better understanding themselves, Yangus has acquire the Humanity Skill Set!

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It had taken a few hours to get Yangus up to speed on who we are our current objective and the reason for our appearances. Yangus's only reaction to it was nodding at it all; apparently he had dealt with a few Non-Humans during his time getting to the Eastern Continent. When all was said and done we had to get moving. Having discussed with King Trode on what to do with this piles of gold and no clear way to determine who it originally belonged to, we all came to the understanding to donate it all to the church when we reached Farebury. The reason for that was Yangus didn't want to just leave this entire behind for another bandit to get but also didn't want anything more to do with it as it would be his final act as from stealing from innocents. We had to move everything in the wagon around to fit 4 treasure chests filled to the brim in it, but it would all fit. When I did a final check to see that we didn't leave anything behind, I came to the room that I was asleep in. Seeing the pile of fur still there I called out "Inventory" for the white window to appear beside me and began to put all of them inside.

You have attained 30 x Large Variant Colored Furs

"It would probably be enough to pay for a week's stay until we get a lead on Dhoulmagus" saying to myself having put the last piece of fur inside before closing my inventory. Moving out of the cave to see Medea being strapped in and King Trode in the driver's seat, I look to see Yangus moving a rather large boulder at me. Getting out of the way quickly, the ex-bandit rolled the boulder straight into the caverns entrance. Looking back at him as he clapped the dust out of his hands, he looked at with and said "It's a way to hide ones loot for being away and also to make sure that no one ain't gonna use it". 'I guess Bandits have their own way of hiding treasure' I thought to myself as I tied my bandana around my head.

"Alright then, if there are no more distractions, we best be on our way to Farebury. With any luck we shall arrive there in by two days time" King Trode said as he steered Medea to the direction of the main road. Moving to her left side and Yangus to the right of the wagon, we began our journey anew.

-Yangus POV-

We had been walkin down this dirt path for hours now and the only excitin' thing we came across was a pack of Bunicorn, pint sized monsters that barely came to my knee. Since my axe was lost in the fight with the Guv, I at least got to pummel the bastards into the ground before they burst into light. The Guv seemed to have a bit of trouble with fightin them at first but would eventually kill one by the time I was finishing my ninth. When I asked why he was taking so long to finish of one of them, he responded that yesterday was his first day fighting monsters and that out of all of them I was the strongest. Laughing at the thought that I lost to a complete amateur on his first day out into the world. I must be losin my touch if Guv could best me, even with that light spell of his.

When the sky began to change color was the time that we moved off the road to the forest. It got a little rough for the 'orse princess but Guv was there to lead her straight. Still can't wrap me head that all of them are cursed by this Dhoulmagus. Granddad I can clearly tell, but the 'orse princess looks just like any old horse from a noble. Guv on the other 'and was a bit hard to tell cause the only thing that really stood out were his ears. He said that they feel like leather when he touches them and besides how they look, nothing else really changed. I've meet with a few Non-Humans though most of them were Dwarves, so Guv's ears don't really have that much of an effect. Though I guess that's not much compare to my ugly mug.

When we found a clearing, Guv was moving items from the wagon to the forest floor while the old Codger just moved from the driver's seat to look around. "Let me 'elp ya with that Guv" I yelled as I moved the heavy chest away with ease. Guv replied with a "Thank you" and continued to search the beat up wagon for something. "Hey Yangus, do you think you can scout for any wild game or a river to fish from? I don't believe we have enough for tonight's dinner" Guv asked when he jumped out of the wagon with a sack and large pot. Stopping what I was doing, I slowly turned to face him when he said that one word. "...Dinner?" I said loud enough that Guv looked back at me and smiled.

"Well yes, we all have to eat tonight and I want to at least have enough for tomorrow's breakfast. I just don't want our meal to consist of just rice" the teen said while placing everything he carried on the ground to start a fire pit. Not knowing what to think, my mouth just ran with "...I get to eat too?" Guv's face was showing confusion at my statement and replied "Well, yes, it wouldn't be fair if everyone got to have dinner except for you Yangus. It's only right that you get to eat too."

I just stood there thinking about the last time I hade a home cooked meal...which I think was with Red and even then we had nearly burned her house down. Shaking away that particular memory away, "Ya sure Guv, I'll wrestle us up a boar to last us a week, eh!" shouting out as I ran into the woods before Guv could say anything else. 'A meal...I get to eat a meal that isn't dried or jarred! Thank Ya Guv!' I thought to myself as I ran to find tonight's meat.

-Eldrake POV-

A skill has leveled up!

Basic Cooking: Lv 5. Next Lv 17/800. The ability on how to prepare and cook meals. Current Level only allows you to make certain meals such as boiled eggs, rice and bread. Hint: some meals can only be made when using recipe or by having someone with the 'Culinary' Class to teach you how to cook. 10 MP per dish

No matter how many times I see this I can never get used to it. The window showed that my skill in cooking had improved by just preparing vegetables with seasoning. Was this skill 'leveling' up because I did something different or is there another reason? Looking around to see King Trode was sitting next to the wagon looking up at the orange sky, deep in his own thought while Medea was grazing the clearing. Having nothing better to do, I began to browse around the window to see what most of these skills really do. They all show a brief description on what they do while others don't have them until I press on them. I knew what Courage could do but what about my skill with a sword? Scrolling towards it and pressing it, a new window showed up.

Sword: The ability to wield this weapon against single targets. As of now you only how to hold it properly and the basic stances down. When you have invested enough PAS Points into this skill, you will be able to learn a new Sword Techniques. 16/100

From the description it states that I'm have no skill in sword play, which is true. Seeing as I have a few PAS Points, I wonder what would happen if I put a few of them in the Sword slot. I thought 'only one way to find out' as I point in a few points into it.

You have become a Proficient Swordsman and gained the Skill: Parry

Parry: A blade work maneuver intended to deflect or block an incoming attack. This skill revolves around DEX, so the higher it is the faster you can deflect both physical and/or magical attacks.

Expecting the same thing to happen like yesterday and braced myself on the ground for the pain to come. I can picture soldiers performing this skill in duels in front of an audience, to battles of distant past that I have only read in books. All of these examples are flowing into my mind and I begin to picture myself doing the same movements. Not a minute later it all stopped. Opening my eyes to see that nothing had changed and everyone was where they were. Getting off the ground and grabbing my sword, I went into the standing position. Going through the motions of parrying, my body was still stiff but I was doing them. I continued to do them until Yangus came barreling down with a wild boar knocked out on his shoulders. Laughing at the scene, I placed my sword back in its sheath and walked over to Yangus. "Guess I better get dinner started."

-Third Person POV-

Dinner was served just as the sun was just about to vanish. Eldrake pulled out the reward he got yesterday to see what it was about to pass the time before going off to bed. A book that had all of the basic theories of spell craft and how to properly manage it, all that it showed was that the spell was only as powerful as the caster is creative. After a few hours of studying the book and the moon had risen, Drake put the book back into his Inventory and looked to see that everyone had fallen asleep. 'I wouldn't want to disturb them, so where can I..." thinking to himself as he moved to the edge of the clearing. Looking closely, he found a small animal trail that lead a bit further into the woods.

Eldrake was moving quietly as possible to not wake everyone up at this dark hour, as well as the Dracky that were around. Looking to his surroundings and seeing nothing but the distant embers if their camp fire, the teen held out his hand to cast his spell. "Radiant" a small ball of light filled his right hand and just stayed there. Pushing what little magic he had into it, the orb began to float few feet above his head. When he moved his hand around, the ball moved towards that general direction. "Alright, so the smaller version allows me to control the direction of the spell. So what happens if I say it again...Radiant" the teen said out loud and another light orb appeared in his left hand. Doing the same as the first try, Drake was having both orbs flying at the tree to see if it did any damage. What he discovered on the other hand was that if the orb was attached to a physical object, it would remain there until the spell had worn off.

Deciding to get a little creative, he made two more Radiant orbs and put them on trees in the four cardinal directions for better lighting. "Okay, so this is a supportive spell that can be used to; light dark areas, blind enemies, leaving markers in case I get lost and for tracking them. Assuming I could actually get good at it to use it that way."

For thinking of new ways of utilizing a common spell, your INT has gone up by 2!

"So, finding new ways to use the spell makes me more intelligent...but what would happen if I changed the spell a little bit" the frilled ear male spoke as he made one more orb. When the runes appeared to make it, he watched as each letter collided with one another until the spell was finished forming. 'This orb is made out of my magic so I should have control over it. What would it do if I split it apart' Drake tried to feel his magic and ask if it could split itself apart. There was no immediate effect until he poured more magic into the orb with the thought of splitting apart. The idea worked as small dots began to lift off the six inch orb and float around, giving him the illusion that fireflies were covering the clearing.

A new Spell has been created!

Radiant Stellae: Through using the Radiant Spell as its foundation and giving the command to split apart, these minuscule orbs will seek out the nearest source of magic and cling on to it. The more magic you use, the longer the distance the orbs will be able to travel to. The command word is "Scatter". 20 MP

Through experimentation of discovering new ways to improve a Spell, your WIS has gone up by 1!

"Huh, so this is a somewhat improved version of the Radiant Spell. But it can only go to whatever has the highest amount of magical power. At least now I know that I can modify a spell if I want to. Now for this other spell..." he looks at the window to see his second spell that he received from the Courage Skill.

Rai (Bolt of Lightning): The User is able to launch a single ball of lightning at the enemy. 20 MP

"Not much to go off of but then again I are a novice so here goes. Rai!" as soon as he spoke, A blue light emitted from his left hand and a *KRRRZZZT* sound. Looking down to see a three inch ball floating in his hand as small sparks of lightning were bouncing off it, bringing up his hand to point the Rai Spell at the tree, Drake made the magic in it fly forward towards the tree. *BOOM* the speed that it took to get to the tree was more than what Eldrake was expecting as it had reached it in less than a blink of an eye and it made a jagged hole in it. It wasn't a clean shot by any means, but it did enough damage to make it halfway through. "...wow...so that's what magic can do. I really need to study it" Drake said as he was looking at the hole in wonder. Fighting back a yawn as he began his walk back to camp, "But that will have to be for another time, we have an early day tomorrow. Well, time to get some sleep."

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Mission: Magic Tutor pt 1/?

Find someone who is willing to teach you Magic

Reward: 2,000 Exp, Spell Book, Title

Failure: 100 Exp

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Name: Eldrake ?

Age: 19 Race: Human/?

Class: Soldier/Lancer

Title: Soldier of Trodain

Level: 7 Next Level: 2,384/4,000

HP: 405 HPR: 10.8 per min

MP: 150 MPR: 2 per min

Strength: 31

Vitality: 22 (+5) = 27

Dexterity: 18 (+5) = 23

Intelligence: 27 (+3) = 30

Wisdom: 27 (+2) = 29

Luck: 8 (can not Level up with points)

Points: 15 (+5 points per Lv)

Money: 205 Gold, 69 Silver, 12 Copper

Perks:

?: +1 WIS & +2 VIT per Lv, +15% increase towards Monster Drop, +20% Reputation gain with Non-Human tribes

?: +2 INT per Lv, +15% EXP towards Strategy & Tactics, +20% EXP towards Politics & Language Skills

Status Effects:

?: The Caster, ?, has sealed away your memories to protect the ?. Due to the seal, you have become Immune to Curse's. Permanent Status.

Elemental Affinity: Light, Lightning

Spell List:

Radiant: The User is able to make a ball of light to illuminate dark areas and possible blind their opponents. 10 MP for 30 Min (Small version) or 60 MP for 1 min (Large version)

Rai (Bolt of Lightning): The User is able to launch a single ball of lightning at the enemy. 20 MP

Radiant Stellae: Through using the Radiant Spell as its foundation and giving the command to split apart, these minuscule orbs will seek out the nearest source of magic and cling on to it. The more magic you use, the longer the distance the orbs will be able to travel to. The command word is "Scatter". 20 MP

Skill List

Passive/Active Skills: These Skills can only Lv up when you have PAS Points. Each Skill will bestow you a New Title and Ability every 10 Points. PAS Points can only be obtained be either leveling up or completing certain quest.

Sword: 20/100. Proficient Swordsman - +5 Power Increase when holding a Sword, Parry

Spear: 13/100. +5 Power Increase when Holding a Spear

Boomerang: 5/100

Fisticuffs: 9/100

Courage: 21/100 Brave - Radiant, Rai

Analysis/Observe: 17/100. Skill - Observe

PAS Points: 7 (+2 per Lv)

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