Chapter 3: Faction Quests

Chapter 3: Faction Quests

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Faction Quests

For a moment, my heart pounded. I knew about the White Fang, of courseeveryone did. But I hadn't ever expected to run into them on the street or something. I mean, I don't know why I never thought about what they did in their free time, but

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the Sun," Tukson greeted.

All at once, I calmed down and started thinking about this rationally. He's here. Running a shop. Meaning he's almost certainly not a known White Fang supporter and that he'd probably like to keep things that way. He wasn't going to grow claws and tear my throat out for not being a Faunus.

Furthermore, I knew he was a member of the White Fang because of his title but he didn't know that I knew. He didn't know anything about me and he probably wouldn't bother finding out so long as I didn't give him any reason too. What's more, I could find out more about him a lot more easily then he could about me.

Still calm as could be, I nodded to the owner and walked over to one of the nearest bookshelves and started browsing, casting a glance at Tukson out of the corner of my eye.

"Observe." I muttered and my new Observation window appeared before me. I scrolled past most of it, though it confirmed his race as a Faunus and gave him a title as 'Reluctant Gang Member.' At that, I skipped past his statsI had no intention of fighting him, after alland went to the new section at the bottom.

Background: A Faunus born in Vacuo, he joined the White Fang prior to its transformation into its current form. Uncomfortable with its new status as a radical organization yet not wanting to betray his friends, he finds himself on unsteady ground, afraid both to withdraw his support and participate. He seeks comfort in his peaceful life as a store owner.

Emotions: Anxiety, Uncertainty, Helplessness, Distraction.

Huh. That changed things. Hell, that threw my train of thought completely off the tracks.

I wondered what to do now. I was even less worried about Tukson now, but I should probably do something here, right? I mean, I waswanted to be a hero. But I think I needed a higher Wisdom score to handle something like this. Tukson was a White Fang member, but I guess I couldn't blame him for thateven I knew the story of the White Fang. However, while I didn't blame him for it, I couldn't really help him with it, either. If I was in his shoes, would I want to betray my old friends? Would I want to run, knowing what might happen?

Thenshould I just take control of the situation myself, ignore his wishes, and call the police? But that would just get Tukson himself wrapped up in thisand bad as what the White Fang did was, the fact was that a lot of people were biased against the Faunus. Who's to say they wouldn't just arrest and haul off everyone involved?

ThenFollow current novels at novelhall.com)

I sighed, raising the book in my hands and leaning it against my forehead.

Maybe I should just ask mom about it again. I bet her WIS score was huge.

"Issomething wrong?" Tukson's voice asked, sounding vaguely concerned.

"Ah," I said, lowering the book. "Sorry. A lot on my mind, is all. Sir."

"Heh," He answered. "I know something about that. Can I help you with anything?"

He nodded around his shop and I hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Do you have anything about Aura?" I asked.

"Third row on the left," He said immediately, his phone ringing as I followed his directions. I saw his expression shift slightly as whoever was on the other end of the phone answered before he moved into the backroom, out of my hearing. Even so, given what I knew about him, it wasn't hard to guess what the reason probably was. I hoped

Holy.

Crap.

I told myself it didn't matter. Whether I did this or not, whether I chose to aid Tukson or leave him be, had to be decided based upon me and Tukson. That's how a hero would do it. That's how I should do it. Tukson was a man in need and I had to decide whether I would help him, could help him, based solely on that fact.

But sixty thousand experience points and a skill book.

The reward doesn't change the quest. If I couldn't bring myself to help a man in need who has nothing to offer, what would it say about me if I would suddenly change my mind if I found out he was rich? My dad would help him either way. So would my mom. If I'm only helping him because of what's in it for me, when I would have rejected it before, then what did that make me? Not much of a hero, that's for sure.

But, I thought, I hadn't made my decision before I saw the reward. Maybe I would have helped him anyway, despite the risk. Maybe I wouldn't have. Maybe any decision I made now was biased by what I'd seen, whether to accept or decline. And, really, the reward itself told me about the missionif it was that great, there was more to this then there seemed. Probably something dangerousreally, really dangerous. And if I did nothing, then Tukson would be the one to face that. He was at a higher level than me, but

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I'd know the answers to all these questions if I had another ten or fifteen points of Wisdom.

Tukson returned from the backroom, features set in a severe frown.

"Sorry, something came up," He said, sounding honestly apologetic. "I'm going to have to close early"

"Um," I interrupted, reaching out subtly to press the button. "It's okay, Mr. Tukson but, uhactually"

XxXXxX

It was surprisingly easy to convince Tukson to let me face horrific danger in his placewell, not that surprising if you think about it that way, but it was still easier then I would have expected it to be given that he didn't know about that part. I'd basically just offered to do the job in return for the book, assured him I knew how to get there and was going in that direction, and tried to ease his concerns. Apparently the job was as simple as transporting a book to a building on the Industrial Side, putting it in a mail box, and coming back, so it wasn't like it was anything huge from Tukson's perspective. It was a simple delivery mission.

Yeah. Right.

I stayed on guard as I ran, though I had to move it to cross the river back over to the Residential District and then cross another bridge to the Industrial District in time. Even though I'd never been there before, I hadn't been lying when I told Tukson that I knew how to get thereI just said 'Map' and one of the City of Vale appeared before me with the position of both my objective and myself marked and the quickest route highlighted. I kept it open beside me and watched it with half an eye as I ran for my life and experience points.

I made it there with nearly an hour to spare and, strangely, wasn't attacked by the forces of darkness, angry Faunus, the police, or anything else on the way there. The most I got were a few odd looks from people as I rushed through the streets and I quickly found myself before a rather plain warehouse in the Industrial District. I was still early in the afternoon and the Sun was high in the blue sky. I could even hear birds chirping in the planted trees on the sides of the street.

I gave the other shoe a chance to drop, but it didn't oblige me. Odds were, it would spring until I'd gone too far to have a chance to escapeor, at least, that's probably how it'd work in a game. Could my power manipulate circumstance that way? Or was it just me it was manipulating, putting in the right place at the right time?

I looked around, looked at the clock nearby, and sighed before taking the last step forward and lifting a hand to knock on the door. I wasn't all that surprised when a blue window appeared before my eyes.

Destination reached! New objective: Survive long enough to deliver the package!

A quest has been created!

White Fang's Need: Rescue the Faunus trapped in the rubble!

Members of the White Fang are trapped in the rubble and need your help! Save them while Blake and Adam fight the Spider Droids! Time Limit: Thirty minutes.

Completion Reward: Exp 3000 per Faunus saved, Increased closeness with the White Fang, quest item 'The Keys.'

The side of the building exploded outwards, three massive machines climbing out of the dust and smoke after a pair of blurs. Each of the machines had the same sign above their heads.

Schnee Security Droid

LV43

Spider Droid