Tutorial's End

The Enforcer's Handbook by Betty Winslow

Five Thousand and Eighty Fifth Edition

Section 23-A, Subsection 1 :: Rules of Engagement, For the Purpose of Interviewing a Suspect of Contract Breach

The enforcer is granted allowance to approach, isolate, and interrogate a suspect of contract breach to their discretion.

Refer to section 21-C regarding qualification criteria for being a suspect of contract breach

Refer to section 22-F regarding enforcer discretion.

Should the suspect attempt to flee the rightful interrogation, the enforcer is given leeway to apply appropriate restrainative force against the unruly suspect.

See subsection 4 regarding what qualifies as appropriate restrainative force

Should the suspect attempt to resist through use of magic, technology, or violence, the enforcer is given leeway to respond with an equal or lesser degree of force without escalating the potential for the suspect's death.

See subsection 4 regarding determination of appropriate force equality.

Should the suspect refuse to answer rightful questions related to the investigation, the enforcer may apply whatever power or force at their disposal to acquire complete and truthful answers.

See subsection 4 regarding use of truth-seeking, lie detection, and deterministic reality measurement against a suspect.

Willow

Downtown Plaza, Vesheen City, Shee

Willow had anticipated a fight after breaking out of that weird spell or ability Tather had used to isolate her from her team. Reality had been far more anticlimactic, as she'd found herself standing in a small field between the backs of several of the typical quaint buildings. Exactly where she'd been before finding herself in Tather's interrogation room.

Whipping around in a quick circle, she noted her ability drained a chunk of mana, as she expected it to when she moved with it active. There was no trace of an off putting tree-guy. The only people around were Luzzi, Ravavka, Slyth, and the blessedly silent pink goop in Willow's hand. The only indication anything had happened was the field of washed out gray created by her moment of focus.

Cautiously, Willow released the ability while remaining on alert. Her three companions all staggered, hands flying up to grasp their heads with varying degrees of pain evident on their faces. Slyth had it worse, as he fell to a knee and groaned, his claws digging slightly into the skin of his scalp. Luzzi and Ravavka both managed to say upright, though Ravavka's slow swaying indicated it was a close thing for him.

Moving toward them, concerned, Willow grabbed Slyth's wrists to keep him from hurting himself further. Looking over his head, she started to ask a question, "Luzzi do you-" only to immediately stop, as all three visibly recoiled. Slyth tried to yank his hands back to his head, though his effort barely registered to Willow.

Taking the hint, she racked her brain for anything she could do to help them. Oh, we're right by a bunch of alchemists!

With that realization, she quickly re-activated her ability. Not having to worry about Slyth hurting himself with his sharp claws, she set her pack down and pulled a thick blanket from the top. Draping it over Slyth's head, she released her ability and watched in satisfaction as his hands snapped back to his head but his claws failed to pierce the sturdy material.

Immediate self-endangerment resolved, she turned and sprinted back toward the alchemist field for help. Moving through the line she rapidly asked one question, "Do you know how to fix headaches?"

When someone finally answered yes, she explained her friends had been hit with some kind of ability which had caused them all to grab at their heads and one of them to collapse. Once she agreed to pay the man, he followed her to the isolated little area.

Turning back to the tall dark-elf, whose emerald eyes were scanning the area wearily, she assured him, "I don't think the being who did this is around here. I wasn't able to find a trace of anyone."

"No offense, but this area and situation is quite suspicious…" He spoke, taking a slow step back.

With a confused glance around, Willow realized this was probably the equivalent of being called into a back alley to help someone. As likely to be a trap as a legitimate plea. Eyes flicking between her distressed companions, all of whom were now curled on the ground, and the elf, she tried, "I'll pay double?"

Apparently, that was the wrong answer as he took another step back while shaking his head. "I can bring one of them over to you?"

So saying, she scooped up Slyth like a princess, momentarily shocked at how light the taller man was. Whoa, haven't picked anyone up since powering up a bit, I guess.

Making her way toward where the alchemist stood near the entrance to this little field, Willow felt a bit awkward and off-balance carrying the much larger body. While awkward, it wasn't particularly hard and she was quickly able to set him down in front of the still skittish looking elf.

Once she'd set the blanket-covered man, he curled back into the fetal position while scraping at his head with his claws. Willow took a few steps back and waved urgently, "Please?"

Uncertainty written large on the stranger's face, he relented only after a few more pleas and Willow moving all the way back to the center of the field with the others. Part of her worried that he'd turn the situation around and would harm Slyth instead of helping in order to blackmail her. She was the one in need here, though.

Thankfully, it seemed the dark-elf had no ill intentions. After taking a couple instruments, which looked suspiciously doctor-ey, from his bag he began a quick examination. He poked and prodded the silver skinned man, pulled up his eyelids, gently tapped his forehead, and rested a gold disk over his heart.

In less than a minute he had a diagnoses, of sorts, and shouted his findings across the field. "They've taken some form of soul damage. It's not too bad, or they'd be screaming and raving, but it's enough to put them out of action for a while. If you were all hit with the same thing, I'm surprised you don't feel anything. No headache?"

Seeing the alchemist - or is he a doctor? - was acting much less like a frightened animal on the edge of running, Willow walked back toward him before speaking. She didn't feel like shouting for the whole world to hear.

Once she was within a meter or two, she answered, "No headache or anything, no… I was just a little annoyed after being trapped."

"Maybe you should explain what happened?"

Nodding, she quickly skimmed over the events which lead to the group's current sorry state. Leaving out the tree's claim that he was an enforcer, Willow just explained she'd found herself in a weird place with a table with chairs on either side and a tree-like being on the far end. He'd asked a bunch of intrusive questions until she figured out that he wasn't physically there, but messing with her head in some way. At that point she'd used a spell to break his hold.

By the end, the doctor was nodding along as if what she was saying made sense. When she stopped, he sighed, "Well, it's your fault that they're in this state."

"What?!" Willow's voice cracked a bit as it rose in shock.

Holding up placating hands, he explained. "At least partially. Whoever attacked you is obviously also to blame, but it's unlikely his spell or ability would have left anyone like this if it had been ended properly. Your interference likely caused a backlash. I would guess the backlash against your attacker was much worse than what your friends are suffering, if that's any consolation."

"Oh… Well… I didn't have any way to know…" She trailed off with a mutter, feeling a surge of guilt. Second time I've gotten Luzzi and Ravavka in a bad situation because I didn't think what the consequences of my actions would be.

Making a soft humming sound, the elf shrugged, "I don't know whether you could have known or not. I don't know you or what you do or don't know well enough. But at least they'll be fine. They mainly need rest."

"Mainly? Is there anything else you can do for them, doc?"

"Doc?" He looked a bit confused, but just shook his head and answered the rest of the question, "I can make a soul mending elixir, yes. It will take several hours and I'll need to go back to my office. I suggest you go rent one of the large regent-transport carts from the alchemist's field crew and load your friends on. I'll show you the way to my office, I have several sick beds where they can stay more comfortably while I work on the elixir. Though…"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He looked at Willow skeptically, "It's very expensive. At least a hundred thousand rank two EB. Or I'll take a thousand rank three."

She winced, but nodded, "I'll figure out how to pay you. I've got a bunch of stuff from the dungeon we haven't sold yet." She waved toward the pack which was still resting beside Luzzi and Ravavka's curled forms.

"Some of it should be worth quite a lot. For now, I can give you…" She checked the UICI interface, "Twenty one thousand and a bit of change. If you'll let me leave the others with you, I can go out and try to sell that stuff while you work on making their elixir."

He sighed and shook his head, "How do I know you won't just rush off?"

"I need to come back and get them, obviously!" She gestured toward the others.

He seemed to think for a long moment, then nodded, "Don't transfer the funds over, you'll need some of them to rent that cart. My name is Ackle, by the way."

"Thanks Ackle!" She reached out to shake his hand, which he allowed after a brief final hesitation.

Not wasting any more time, she darted off to rent the cart he'd mentioned. A cart which turned out to be more like a massive floating bed than anything else. She was able to load all three on without any trouble, they were barely even squished together! After that, it was just a matter of scooping up her bag and pushing the feather-light cart behind Ackle as he led the way to his office.

Just before leaving, she remembered the goop which had started this whole saga. She'd dropped it when she stopped Slyth from scratching his own scalp up, but its bright pink color made the bugger easy to find. Placing it back in the tiny jewelry box which had become its default home, Willow briefly wondered why it was quiet again. Is it also soul-damaged somehow?

"No, I won't 'give it to you for some advice'!" Willow growled, the low boil of frustration and anger contained within her rising sharply. The half woman half spider whose shop she'd entered to try and sell a few of the interesting textiles she'd found in the dungeon was the exact kind of person who pushed her buttons.

Case and point, her reply in a tone similar to one might use on a small but angry dog, "Ooooh poor, poor, dear, that won't do at all. Look at your nose, so pudgy and squished up. Dear, those wrinkles will surely stick if you keep making such a face! Listen to aunt Kessav, my wisdom is worth a thousand trifles such as these."

Reaching out, Willow rolled thin mat made of some kind of extremely durable green leather. The various threads, cloth, pins, and yarns spread across the mat snugly contained within. Pulling her hand back, Willow looked up at an unexpected tension. 'aunt' Kessav was holding the other end of the leather tube with a wicked smile.

"Now, now, you cannot simply come into my parlor so brazenly and expect to leave without a single sale or purchase! Certainly, squished nose or no, you aren't such a barbarian?" Her words dripped honey and venom in equal measure and Willow felt a strange pressing sensation in her head. It reminded her of the feeling she got when in a quickly rising airplane.

Scowling, Willow gave a final sharp tug, ripping the roll from the infuriating woman's long fingers. Seeing her long claws tear long lines down the mat, which Willow had hoped would fetch a nice price, she clenched her teeth. The woman had clearly clenched her fingers on purpose to damage her goods.

"You'll be paying for the damage you've done to my property." Willow spoke in a soft, but firm tone.

Since being jumped by that enforcer, the day had gone more and more downhill. Everyone seemed to know she was ignorant of how things worked and what things were worse, offering her insulting 'deals' for her items. This shop was hardly the exception. Willow had never really considered what kind of issues the fixed-price market of most places she'd visited on Earth solved. She'd liked bartering the few times she had the opportunity to. Honestly, she was fairly certain she'd have had much less of a problem with all the people trying to scam her, if said scams weren't directly threatening to cause her to be unable to pay back her debt to Ackle.

Although… Is he scamming me too? The bubbling cauldron of emotions within her threatened to burst its top at the thought.

"I'll not be paying for your brutish actions." Kessav stated haughtily. "Simply give me those paltry items, and I shall forgive your insolence." The pressure in her head intensified slightly and Willow heard the other shop patrons muttering around her. There were three other beings inside, browsing the shelves of the small textile shop and, for some reason, they seemed entirely on the manipulative spider's side. They've literally been here the whole time, how could they think I'm in the wrong?

One of them, a wide dwarven woman strode up beside Willow and glared up from beneath thick, but very well kept, eyebrows. "Just pay aunt Kessav whatcha owe'er and gettout." She grunted up at Willow, glaring eyes somehow looking distant.

Oh. I see. Suddenly not feeling conflicted at all, Willow activated her moment of focus.

Less than a minute later, Willow leaned casually against the door to the store's back-room. Kessav was sprawled on the ground where she'd been thrown unceremoniously, while the store's patrons had each been tossed out on their butts before the store door had been locked. Of course, none of them really knew what had happened and each would go home with a weirdly vague memory of being told to 'resist her influence.'

"Y'know, you're not doing anything to dismiss the stereotype of 'spiders and spider-like creatures are nasty'." Willow noted casually, after releasing her ability.

Kessav's compound eyes blinked twice, before she wailed like a banshee, "GUAAAARDS! I'M BEING ATTA-uegh" Her voice cut off as Willow's fist found her sternum.

"Could have at least got up before acting like an idiot." She grumbled to the manipulative fool. "Now, here's what's gonna happen. Either, I'm going to set this stupid shop of yours on fire as revenge for trying to mess with my head - or you're gonna pay me fifteen thousand rank two EBs."

The woman opened her mouth, and was punched in her stomach again for her efforts. "Without talking. You have ten seconds to make the transfer." Willow growled, while using her UICI to send a payment request as she'd learned to do earlier that day.

Five seconds passed, with Willow calmly counting them down while sanding over the downed spider.

"I don't have that much!" She howled.

Feeling no pity, Willow's voice was laced with a savage kind of satisfaction, "Ah, too bad for your store then."

She started looking around the room for something to start a fire with, quickly locating a simple looking lighter. She nodded to herself as she lit it. "Two…"

She held the lighter toward the closest shelf of varied paper and cloth, "No, no, no! Here! I'll pay, I pay!"

PAYMENT RECIEVED!

Kessav, of Kessav's silk den, has paid you 15,000 R2-EB.

Transaction note: Racketeering and robbery

Rolling her eyes at the attached note, Willow snuffed the lighter and tossed it onto the unmoving pile of black chitin and dusky woman before turning and leaving.

As she exited the shop, she found several uniformed beings who were apparently trying to break into the shop.

Sighing, Willow asked the group of three blocking her path, "What?"

"Uh… There were reports that someone called for guards?" The man in front, a tiefling with red skin and long curving horns, answered.

Nodding, Willow hooked her thumb behind herself, "Yep. The owner of the place called for you when I took exception to her trying to mess with my mind with her mana."

A few moments passed as the apparent guards looked between themselves. The lead one finally answered with perfect eloquence, "Oh… Uh… Is she alive?"

"Yep. She repaid me for the trouble. Our debt is settled and I won't be back here."

"Could you… Uh… Stay to give a statement?" He tried.

Narrowing her eyes, Willow asked, "Remind me, why have I never seen a guard around before this? Is it, maybe, that you have no actual power or right to stop me from doing whatever the hell I want?"

All three looked uncertain, with the two in the back shifting and backing up a bit, clearly not wanting a confrontation. "Sorry, ma'am, we do our best. It's just, on an orc world, the rules are pretty much 'might makes right'…"

"Fine, well I was the stronger party here, and I made it right. That's my statement, now please get out of my way. I've had a really bad day."

"I'm afraid, that won't be possible today!" A new, and unwelcome cheerful, voice broke in.

Willow and the guards all turned toward the newcomer. She was an oddly shaped woman - probably fae, she reminds me a little of Tather. A large head with a mass of root-like hair sitting atop it in an unruly clump was framed in rolling fat from the top edge of each cheek down past her equally flabby chin. The entire bundle of fatty skin jiggled and wobbled as it nearly touched her unreasonably slender shoulders. The loose cerulean skin of her fatty face clashed harshly with the yellow-brown tone of the rest of her body. It almost seemed as if a walrus's head had been haphazardly mixed with a human's, then stitched onto a slender elven body. Willow noted her bare feet had what looked like a thin layer of bark growing on their surface.

"It was more of a demand." Willow said, sighing. Her anger suddenly rushing out of her in a puff as weariness shoved it all out. Today should have been fun! She was supposed to figure out what the pink gloop was, then figure out the next step of her adventure. But noooo, someone had to go and mess with her! Then she had to break out, instead of just waiting for the dude to get bored, and hurt her friends. And now this… Person… Was going to make things even worse? Not a chance.

The woman's wide mouth stretched in a smile which seemed to almost fully split her face, "Oooh, how delightfully certain! Very well, I can see you're in no mood for a meeting. Perhaps I can entice you to meet with me on the morrow? You see, I have information regarding the man whose soul you injured."

Willow didn't miss the quick way all three guards moved away from her at the revelation she'd harmed someone's soul. Best not confirm that, then.

"I'm sorry, I've never damaged anyone's soul. You must have the wrong person." Willow stated, feeling confident she'd beat any lie detector abilities. After all, the backlash of the guy's own ability was truly what damaged his soul. Not her. Same with friend's condition, she may have caused the backlash, but she wasn't responsible for the damage. Nope.

A tittering laugh escaped the woman, but she waved dismissively, "I must have the wrong being, then! My apologies! Though, as a proper apology I still invite you to meet with me for a meal. Please, come by The High Garden at any time and ask for Skathareek. I shall be delighted to host you, I'll even be happy to regale you with the tale of the soul damaged individual I incorrectly believed you to be involved with."

So saying, the woman sashayed away as if entirely unconcerned with everything and everyone. In fact, Willow noticed that everyone appeared to naturally move around her without even seeming to notice her presence.

She's dangerous. Played unbidden through Willow's mind, before she shook her head and made her way back toward Ackle's office, which was totally a clinic. He'd pretended to be confused by being called 'doc', but it was obvious he was one. Maybe the translation didn't work right on the slang?

Willow strode through the city, weaving her way through crowds and keeping her significantly lightened pack pulled tight to avoid anyone trying to pilfer from it, again. Today had been a bit rough, but at least she'd gotten a hint as to the nature of her gloop and had made some new friends?

Yeah, let's go with that. Today was actually a great day! I even got to punch an evil spider lady! Willow snickered at the memory of the woman's horrified face when she was released from her moment.

In her best baritone, Willow muttered, "And that was the moment she knew, she'd hecked up!"