Mark of the Witch

3

^^ Vita ^^

The Obsidian Map, I discovered almost as soon as I reappeared into the game, was actually an item that could go into my inventory, despite its massive size, and by doing so I gained a little mini-map in the corner of my vision. It didn't bother me, and seemed to turn transparent when I was trying to see past it, popping back up when I turned my attention to it. All in all, it was a rather useful thing, considering I had no clue how to get out of the cave system I was currently ensconced in; the map showed me the layout of the tunnels, and so I set out to explore, seeing a few curious rooms that looked suspiciously like hidden treasure rooms on the map and being unable to contain my curiosity. Maybe I'd get another Spell Book from the Loot? This was the Beginner Dungeon for Spell Casters, after all, so the loot would have to be geared towards those types of players, right?

Soon enough, I found myself looking down the hallway at a massive rodent, grinning to myself. "Oh, the Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist..." alerted by my happily quoting the Dread Pirate Robert, the rat turned and charged me at a snail's pace, squealing heinously as I realized that half or the rodent's body was missing or skeletal, making it an undead creature. "Okay, Undead Rodent of Unusual Size... doubly terrifying. Have some Chaos Bolt, then, if you please?" The rodent didn't even get a chance to squeal again as the ball of crackling, smoke-colored and textured energy turned it to paste, and I continued on to the hidden room that it had been guarding. I had no idea how to open the hidden door normally, but I did now how to use a water cutter to carefully sever the door at a downward angle, then step out of the way as the stone slab door fell forward and slammed into the ground beside me, so I gained access to the hoard beyond relatively easily.

Of course, 'Hoard' was a little too opulent a term for the small sack of gold and silver coins and single white leather book that were within the broom-closet-sized hidden room, but it was my first loot, so I was more than pleased with myself. The book, when I opened it to read it, damn-near melted my face off like the ark of the covenant if I hadn't pointed it away from me and closed it first before it did more than blind me, but a few minutes later I could see again clearly, so I opened the notification that it had given me.

'Would you like to learn the Spell: Healing Hands?
Alignment Required: Good Alignment.
Your Alignment: Chaotic Evil Alignment.'

"Hmph... one of my grandchildren can learn it, I suppose... now what's this about me being Chaotic Evil? GM, can I report an Error? I'm not Evil, I don't understand why it's saying I am?"

'User Reported Error: Contacting Administrator.'

"Hm? Oh, it's you again, how ya doin?"

"Until a few moments ago, swimmingly!!! Why am I labeled Chaotic Evil, I literally haven't even interacted with anyone yet?!? Is it a karma system that requires you to do good deeds to raise your Alignment?"

"Oh, no, no, the Mark you chose was your Alignment, and then your 'Speciality' was your Class. You chose Witch, which is the Chaotic Evil choice, then Scholar of Progress, which allows you to cast spells."

"What?!? Oh come on, that was not explained at all!!! It said there were consequences, not 'Choose this and every single NPC ever will want you Dead'!!!"

"Yeah, I know, it's intentionally ambiguous so as to not influence your decision too much. Not much you can do about it, though, except build your Reputation; Reputation supersedes Alignment, in the eyes of most NPC's, because Actions speak louder than birthright, which is essentially what the Mark is, from the NPC's point of view."