We now return to Taylor Hebert for her view on the events. While this chapter is concurrent with Tutorial 2.1 & 2.2 of Co-Op mode and covers the same events from Taylor's PoV, this chapter is not included in Co-Op mode. So for those of you who already read Co-Op mode… new content!
Party Invite 2.1
I arrived early at the Ship Graveyard to scout it out. It wasn't entirely abandoned. There were homeless living here, but not many down by the beach. While there were plenty of wrecks around, they were regularly submerged beneath the tide and storm surges, so they weren't exactly fit for human habitation. With the economy of Brockton Bay being what it was there were plenty of other abandoned places to choose from that weren't regularly flooded. I'd managed to find a beached container ship that was accessible by climbing over a submerged tugboat. Two-thirds of the vessel was underwater, but what was left was almost perfect for power testing: no people, walled off from prying eyes, nothing at all of value that could be damaged, plenty of junk for target practice, and places to hide even if we did attract attention. My bugs would provide us with ample warning if someone did intrude.
I sat down on a rusty oil drum to wait. I took out a notepad where I'd jotted down some ideas and reviewed them. I was really looking forward to finding out more about James's powers. His powers were weird, but there was safety in numbers. Just spotting other capes would be useful, but I needed to know what else he could do. I'd come up with quite a few ideas for testing his abilities since we'd parted. The Capes and Crooks books had been helpful, but not as much as an older less popular game, Dungeons and Dragons, 2.5 edition. That book had levels and skills and stats like vitality, although they'd called it constitution.
After reading them I'd decided that the most important thing to determine was whether James had a Thinker power that reported when statistics like vitality improve or if he had some kind of power that allowed him to easily improve statistics and skills. The easiest way to do that would probably be by testing strength. If we had access to a gym or a weight set, it would be easy. We didn't, or at least I didn't have access to one. I'd brought a bathroom scale. My plan was to use an empty oil drum, weigh various bits of junk, fill it up and find out the maximum James could lift. Then we'd both do a strength workout. I'd brought some dumbbells for that. After James got a strength check, we could see if he could lift more. If it was a thinker power, then James shouldn't have an observable change in a few hours of working out. If it was something else, then I hoped expect to see an obvious increase.
The next thing I wanted to test was skill acquisition and improvement. James had mentioned that Danger Sense was not very useful. However, that would be a very useful skill IF it could be improved. That led to the same question. Either he had a thinker power that was merely quantifying skills as he learned them at a normal rate, or his power allowed him to improve at an accelerated rate. To test danger sense, I planned to use the kung fu movie method – have James close his eyes, then randomly hit him with a stick and see if he could learn to sense the danger. I expected James not to be at all thrilled with that method. For skill acquisition I'd borrowed a fishing knife from Dad's tackle box. I wanted to see if having James stab at a target would trigger him getting a knife skill. As another test, I wanted him to try sneaking up on me, with my bugs sent away, to see if he could pick up a stealth skill. Having some kind of stranger ability could come in handy.
My bugs let me know that James was approaching. I loved having an early warning system. I directed some ladybugs to form arrows to guide James to me. I could have used more threatening insects, but I was trying to build the habit of using ladybugs for my public face. While they led James to me, I closed my notebook. One thing that I hadn't written down that I needed to remember: this was James's power. He seemed to be willing to let me take the lead, and I liked that, but this partnership of ours was in the early stages. I didn't want to get bossy trying to tell him how to use his power. I needed to let him volunteer his own ideas first. I could introduce my ideas later.
"You're early." I gave him a nod of approval. Early was a good sign that he was taking this seriously. Since not taking things seriously could cause both of us to end up dead, that was important to me.
"Thanks for the directions."
Or maybe I was wrong about him taking this seriously. James looked a little spaced out. "Are you okay? You've got a weird look on your face…"
"I just finished the quest to meet you here. 200 XP and it 'unlocked the tutorial'. It wants to know if I want to view the tutorial now?" He made a gesture in the air as if pushing something that wasn't there. "It's kinda annoying that these block my view when they pop up. At least I can just slide them to the side if I'm not ready to close 'em."
Seriously? He got popups that blocked his view? That could be a real problem in the middle of a fight. "Why would you leave them open?"
"Um… I'm not sure how to open screens up again. And I don't want to wait for however long it'll take to level up again to spend my points."
Cool! "So you really do get points? Do you know what this means?" I hopped down from the oil drum and tried to get a better look. While James was apparently looking at something, I couldn't see the slightest distortion in the air, nor could my bugs feel anything flying about us. "What stats can you spend them on? What are your stats at now? Why haven't you spent them already?"
James backed up and dropped his backpack. "Yes. No?" He started pushing his hands at nothing again. "4 strength, 7 agility, 12 vitality, 39 intelligence, 4 wisdom…and 5 luck. I wanted to check with you before I spent any. Should I focus on vitality to tank for you? Strength to put attackers down hard or hold them still for you? Agility to actually be able to hit them? I also practiced with [Observe] some -"
I let a little laugh slip out when James mentioned his wisdom of four and felt immediately guilty. Yes, that was very James, but laughing about it wasn't nice. He compounded my guilt by offering to spend his points to make him a better partner for me. Then he trailed off again. I waved my hand through the place he seemed to be staring at – nothing. "What happened?"
"I… just accidentally triggered that power that gives me a little more detail about who or whatever I'm focused on. Your title has changed."
"It was [Unaffiliated Parahuman], right?" Now what is it?
James nodded. "And now it's [Novice Hero]. I wonder how much that even means? After all, titles in games can be purely cosmetic or really awesome boosts to stats or skills or growth."
"No way to tell though?" His power was so weird.
"Not that I've found yet."
"Well, maybe we should learn more about your power first. Go ahead and open the tutorial." That wasn't bossing him, just… encouraging.
"Sounds weird without a computer around…" More poking in the air.
"Looks weird, poking your fingers at nothing." He didn't really react. Just stared at something I couldn't see. I counted to ten. Still staring. Did he get sucked in? "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. [Status Window]"
Wait, what? Did he just give a voice command?
"Okay, that works." He jabbed the air again looking satisfied.
What worked? So he has a status window? Strangest thinker power ever.
"[Skills Window]" He kept staring.
I might as well not be here. It really wasn't new that his power quantified his stats and skills, but that it would display them on demand was new. How was his power doing this? It didn't even match up with what I knew about trigger events. I got trapped in a locker full of bugs, so I triggered with bug powers. That at least made a little bit of sense. James got beat up and triggered with videogame powers. That made no sense at all. In the end his theme didn't matter as much as the results; except that it made him act like a mime. Maybe that could be his hero name, Mr. Mime.
"[Create Party] ...tutorial?"
Party? As in team? Now that could be interesting!
"[Invite Taylor Hebert]"
"What was th- AH!" Suddenly I had my very own window with text written on it asking me if I wanted to join the party. I should have expected that. The new window was only visible for me. My bugs flew through it without feeling a thing. Right. I pressed the yes button. I felt no resistance, but suddenly more words appeared.
[You have joined the party Tutorial?]
[Party members can benefit from some aspects of The Gamer's power. Stat points and skills can be earned in a manner similar to The Gamer.]
"Really?" Whoa. Who cared about how silly it looked. James has the best power ever! Would it respond to me now that I was in the party? "[Skills Window]" Oh yeah! I had skills! I had lots of skills!
[Invertebrate Control (Sustained) Lvl MAX]
[Grants the ability to mentally command all invertebrates within control range.]
[When in doubt more bees.]
Invertebrates. That made too much sense. I had originally thought my power was insect control, but it included spiders so that made it arthropods, but I'd already known about worms and leeches. I should have figured out invertebrates on my own. This made it much more versatile than I'd thought. I'd studied up on bugs, but I needed to do more research on other spineless critters.
[Multitasking (Passive) Lvl MAX]
[The ability to manage 10 to the 48th power concurrent mental operations at the same time. This ability is limited by the input and output channels available to the character.]
No fucking way! I knew that I could control a lot of bugs at once, but I had seriously underestimated my own abilities. Even more shocking, Multitasking was listed as independent of my ability to control invertebrates. Thinking about it, I could easily individually adjust each of my fingers in complex patterns while reading this. It wasn't even an effort. Oh, this had potential!
[Invertebrate Clairsentience (Sustained) Lvl MAX]
[The ability to receive the sensory input of invertebrates within control range. This includes sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, equilibrium and kinesthesia.]
Wait, what? That wasn't right. I could feel where my bugs were at all times, mostly feel what they touched. Smelling and taste – usually. However, hearing was wonky and trying to use sight was an exercise in pain. This was wrong.
[Clairsentience Blocking (Sustained) Lvl 89 Exp 40.4%]
[The ability to selectively block out clairsentience to prevent sensory overload.]
[The voices. Someone turn off the voices!]
Again with the not quite right. No, wait… This must be what happened when I first triggered. I almost went insane before I learned to shut out everything my bugs were screaming at me all the time. When I tried to see or hear things I had to relax that control. So this interpretation matched even if it was a backwards way of describing it.
[Mental Control Area (Passive) Lvl 38 Exp 34.7%]
[This skill determines the ZoC, Zone of Control, of the character's active mental powers.]
[ZoC is 3 meters per level, currently 114 meters]
Well damn, that spelled it out quite clearly didn't it? Three meters per level. This more than implied that I could expand my radius with practice. Making the most of my ability to multitask, I immediately sent out bugs to the extreme limits of my range to work on extending it outward.
[Lingering Command (Sustained) Lvl 22 Exp 99.1%]
[This skill determines how long effected creatures will continue to follow mental commands when no longer controlled]
[Commands linger for 66 minutes.]
Huh, James's power was really proving its usefulness. Just knowing this was a skill that I could work on and improve was very valuable. Also that 99.1% experience was interesting. I should be able to level it easily.
[Sense Processing (Passive) Lvl 17 Exp 85.4%]
[The ability to process non-human senses without backlash. Chance of backlash increases with more inhuman senses.]
Backlash, that would be the headaches, passing out and catatonia. If the backlash was based on how far senses diverged from my own, then I should start by trying to interpret smells and taste better, then working my way up to hearing and leave sight for last. That insight alone was worth more than I could put a price to.
[Fashion Design, Passive Lvl 11 Exp 15.3%]
[You know how to design clothes for both utility and appearance. Well designed clothes can provide bonuses to reaction rolls, defense, and other stats.]
[You look mahvelous, dahling.]
Fashion design? Really? And was James's power mocking me?
[Cryptography, Passive Lvl 3 Exp 41.8%]
[A skill for making and breaking codes and ciphers. +1% INT]
[A1, B2, C3, no you didn't sink my battleship.]
Now I was certain that James's power was mocking me, but those bonuses on Cryptography opened all kinds of doors. Did that mean other skills might come with a bonus to statistics? "How do you gain stats and skills?"
"I got five points to spend on stats from leveling up. Some games you get more points at higher levels, but most actually stay the same amount each time, so it'll probably stay the same… Oh! Not only did I get the one point of vitality in your locker, I earned three running home last night and two more running here today. Exercise works, with diminishing returns. Which I guess is kinda normal. Skills… so far I seem to get them based on things I do, but the tutorial said I can also use skill books to get new skills."
Skill books! Oh my god, the possibilities. I could… completely take over and boss James about his power. I even had my finger in the air to wave at him. I needed to chill. I lowered my finger. "We'll come back to that. Can you make the tutorial continue?"
[Party members can also voice chat by stating the name of the party member they wish to contact, or all, with intent. Ending a chat simply requires stating "End" with intent. Please be aware that this is voice chat, not telepathy.]
Heh, James's power mocked him even more than me. "I'll remind you."
"That obvious?"
"Wis 4. On that subject, I want to see how much better level 12 is. [Status Window]"
[Taylor Hebert]
[Level 12]
[Novice Hero]
I still wasn't sure what Novice Hero meant, or how good level 12 was without a scale to measure it against. Now, the good stuff.
[STR: 9] "Okay."
[AGI: 13] "Nice."
[VIT: 23] "Nice."
[INT: 32] "Sweet."
[WIS: 58] "Awesome."
[LUK: 0] What the? "FUCK!"
"What's wrong?"
"I have no luck." I'd like to think this was James's power screwing with me again, but the truth hurt. There it was in print. A great big fat zero. That explained so much.
James made an weak attempt to sympathize with me. "My luck isn't exactly great eithe-"
"Not low luck. No luck. None, Zero. Zilch. Cero. Less than one. It's…"
[Party members can choose to share XP evenly, regardless of actual contribution to earning the XP, provided all party members are within 10 levels of each other. Otherwise, XP is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.]
Right. Not the time or the place for a rant and not James's fault, or even his powers'. XP sounded good.
"Hey, I can just leach off my level 12 friend until I've got a few levels to work with." James was aiming for funny, but didn't quite make it.
I shifted my glare to him, but my heart wasn't in it. I wasn't mad at James. I was furious with my life.
[Tutorial Part Two: Completed!]
[10 XP Awarded]
[Tutorial Part Three of Five: Illusion Barriers]
[Now that you've stood around poking at thin air and generally looking silly to any outside observer, it's time to show you how to practice in private.]
Now James's power is mocking both of us. That breaks the rest of my tension and pulls an unwilling laugh out of me.
[This power can only be activated by The Gamer, but companions can be brought into the Illusion Barrier. To create an Illusion Barrier, simply raise one hand over your head, focus you energy there, and then flare it. Try it now.]
James put his hand in the air. Nothing visible happened, but suddenly every bug that wasn't in direct contact with my body vanished. It was a rather scary feeling, like being suddenly blindfolded. Almost reflexively I commanded the bugs still on me to spread out. As they flew out from me, my awareness of my surroundings returned, albeit lacking in the detail it had before. It was also quiet. Too quiet. "It worked, right? Everything looks the same, but the noise all stopped. And I can only sense the bugs I had on me."
"Yeah, it worked. And I got a skill called [ID Create] to do it again."
[Exiting the Illusion Barrier is almost the same. Raise your hand, focus your power, and flare it with the intent of exiting the barrier. But don't do it yet. We'll be finishing your tutorial here in the Illusion Barrier.]
I wondered if I could learn those skills. The name, Illusion Barrier, said a lot. So none of this was real. That meant… James was part Master? If someone was outside would they see us standing around with vacant looks on our faces? That could be really bad.
[Tutorial Part Three: Completed!]
[10 XP Awarded]
[Tutorial Part Four of Five: Inventory and Equipment]
[The Gamer has access to an extra-dimensional storage space that cannot be accessed by normal means. The interface for this inventory can also be used to review and quickly change equipment. While party members don't gain access to their own extra-dimensional space, they can still use this feature to sort items on hand and manage equipment. Say "inventory" with intent to access the inventory. Try it now.]
"Yes!" That was everything I hoped for out of 'inventory' and more. I reached for my bag for my costume and it was gone. "No!"
"What?"
"You don't get it? We can use the inventory to do quick changes. My costume takes almost half an hour to get into, but with your power, I can switch into it in a second." Alright, not really half an hour, but it took less time to get the skirts hung right than it did to wriggle into my costume. However, I couldn't try it out, because like most of my bugs my bag wasn't here right now. "Or I could, if your power hadn't left it in another dimension."
[Presents have been left for The Gamer and party member in the inventory. It's rude to withhold a present for a lady.]
Lady? Did James's power know?
"[Inventory]," James commanded.
Saying things out loud like that would get James and I noticed quickly. As an experiment I mouthed a not even audible "[Inventory]" and was pleased to see a beige window popup. There was a Barbie doll version of me taking up most of the screen with little boxes of clothes arrayed around it. [Thrift Shop Hoodie], [Bland Shirt], [Old Jeans], [Clean Socks], [Tattered Sneakers], [Blue Jogging Bra], [Pink Hearts Panties], [Smeared Glasses], and [Cheap Watch]. At the bottom was another comment in dull yellow. [Fashion Rating = Unfashionable, -20% to initial reaction rolls, +10% to pity rolls. Aren't you a sad little thing?]
I dismissed the window with an angry wave and watched James. There had been something about presents for a lady. It had better be good to make up for… And James reached into thin air and pulled out a bat. Inventory. Reading it and looking at the screen was one thing. Watching him pull a shiny aluminum baseball bat out of thin air was something else. As I took the bat from James another bat appeared in James's hand. Only his bat was a girly pink. I looked from my shiny metal bat to his pink wooden one and smirked. I probably would have taken the girly bat if he'd asked, but it was cool that he didn't stereotype me.
[Relationship with James Barron increased!]
His power is so weird.
[Tutorial Part Four: Completed!]
[10 XP Awarded]
[Tutorial Part Five of Five: Combat and Victory]
[Combat works largely the same as in the real world. To demonstrate, here's a zombie.]
I was getting too used to James's bullshit power. I was more bothered by the lack of advanced warning from my bugs than the sudden appearance of something from Night of the Living Dead part 23. It was the typical horror movie reject: rotting swollen flesh with raw meat hanging off of it. However, no horror movie was that real. Movies don't come with the smell of the grave. Worse, they don't have real maggots in the flesh sending me that taste of death and describing it as yummy. I barely avoided puking as I hurriedly closed off listening to the tastes from the maggots.
[It's always best to know what you're getting into. Use [Observe] on opponents to identify potential weaknesses.]
As James calls out "[Observe]", I try muttering it, but nothing happens. I look to James for details.
"It's strong but slow. Pretty basic zombie, I guess."
[Fighting works just like in real life. Hit your target until it stops moving, using whatever weapons you have. Try it now.]
Right. Hammer time. The zombie really was slow. I rushed towards it and brought my bat up. With the maggots inside the creature aiming was easy. It was like reaching out to touch my own hand. I smashed it in the balls, and actually lifted it up and off its feet. James swung his bat like a sledgehammer and slammed it onto the deck I followed it up by caving in the thing's head… and it vanished along with the maggots that fed off it. The thing fadeed away into some kind of shadow-stuff, but I couldn't see because I was flooded with pop-ups.
[You've got 53 XP]
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to send enemies flying, [Rising Strike], has been created.]
[Rising Strike (Active) Lvl 1 Exp 0.0%]
[Knocks the target into the air. + 15% increase to knockback.]
[Set 'em up…]
So, no extra damage? What good was it then? Was knockback a gaming term? Would it do damage if I knocked a zombie into something like a wall?
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to utilize blunt weapons freely, [Blunt Weapon Mastery], has been created.]
[Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Lvl 1 Exp 0.0%]
[Allows user to freely handle blunt weapons. 10% increase in attack damage with blunt weapons. 5% increase in attack speed with blunt weapons.]
Alright! This sounded much better. I had considered picking up a sword to go with my costume, but I didn't really think the Protectorate would smile on me having an edged weapon. My new bat had a nice heft to it, but wouldn't match my costume. Maybe a scepter or something? A collapsible baton might be better, easier to carry. This tutorial had proved I shouldn't depend on having access to James's inventory.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to finish off injured opponents, [Finishing Blow], has been created.]
[Finishing Blow (Active) Lvl 1 Exp 0.0%]
[Allows user to strike an incapacitated target for bonus damage. 25% increase in critical rate. 100% increase in attack damage. Can only be used on prone opponents.]
[... and stay down!]
Holy shit. Double damage at first level? Would it get stronger? I'd have to be careful with this one. I could use it on zombies and tough brutes, but this could kill a normal person. Then again, I had caved in the zombie's skull with a baseball bat. That would certainly kill a normal person. Against zombies, the power combo was awesome.
"What did you get?" Interrupted James.
"[Rising Strike], [Blunt Weapon Mastery], and [Finishing Blow]." I gave him a big toothy smile. "How about you?"
"Nice. I got [Grounding Strike] and [Blunt Weapon Mastery]. That weapon mastery is freaking awesome. Something's weird about [Grounding Strike] though. The description had an extra line, dot dot dot 'and knock 'em down'?"
Weapon mastery wasn't as awesome as [Finishing Blow], but I was more amused by James's power. It was really trolling us and I couldn't help but laugh. "My [Rising Strike] says 'Set 'em up…'
"...my power is weird." James finished as he got the joke.
I burst out laughing again. In that we were in total agreement.
[Nicely done! Defending also works like real life: try to not get hit, and if you do, expect it to hurt. Since you've already broken your first zombie, have a few more.]
One zombie popped out of nowhere in front of us, but I sensed the presence of three maggot-filled bodies; one of them was swinging at me! I spun away barely in time to avoid getting my head caved in. It wasn't the most graceful of dodges, but it worked. I kept spinning and tried to follow-through and smash it, but I was off-balance and barely clipped the zombie. It didn't seem at all fazed by the blow. James was in trouble. He was tumbling down the gentle slope of the deck with two zombies after him. I needed to put this one down hard and fast.
The zombie shuffled forward slowly. He looked like a reject from office space of the dead wearing a dirt encrusted suit with a red tie. Perched on top of its head like a dunce cap was a bright orange traffic cone. The zombie staggered closer and tried to tag me with a clumsy swing. The maggots in its body made it ridiculously easy to avoid, although the maggots felt wrong, somewhat… itchy for want of a better word. I really didn't have time to explore that sensation in the middle of combat. I stepped forward swinging my bat like a golf club trying to activate the Rising Strike skill. My aluminum bat made contact with its crotch and sent it flying toward the prow of the boat.
For a moment I weighed running to help James, but he was already back on his feet and fighting. I'd seen enough zombie horror films not to assume the zombie I was facing was down for the count. Better to finish the job than leave it alive (unalive?) and turn my back on it. So I advanced on it and caught it as it was staggering back to its feet. Another upward strike caught it under the chin and sent it tumbling backward. I followed up with two more pummeling blows before it vanished in a wave of darkness.
James meanwhile had his fight under control. Both zombies were down. He whaled away at both their prone bodies while ranting at them, "Die, die, you rotting undead freaks, die…"
I made an executive decision that James needed a few moments. I kept monitoring the situation with my bugs, but I decided to focus on the pop-up windows.
[You got 64 XP]
I still didn't know how much experience I needed to level up or if I could spend points to increase my stats, particularly luck but more experience had to be good.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to avoid enemy attacks, [Dodge], has been created.]
[Dodge (Sustained) Lvl 1 Exp 3.2%]
[A dedicated action to avoid an attack. +10% to Agility while dodging]
[Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.]
Okay, this skill wasn't too surprising after receiving three other skills for using a bat. Ten percent wasn't that much only a point or so of agility, but every little bit helped. I had one more screen.
[A skill has been created through a special action.]
[A skill to create a map of the battlefield, [Combat Mapping] has been created.]
[Combat Mapping (Sustained) Lvl 1 Exp 23.3%]
[By the use of controlled proxies a map of the battlefield is created. Negates [Stealth] of tagged foes and penalties for blindness. Grants limited awareness of zone of control and combat bonuses versus all tagged opponents. Effects increase with skill level.]
Hmm, sounded vague, but promising. In part this was merely telling me what I'd already noticed – it was easy to dodge and hit foes when I had my bugs on them (or maggots inside them). It would be like knowing my own hand trying to sneak up on me, or finding my foot. It was almost instinctive.
[You got 128 XP]
The alert confirmed what the vanishing maggots told me, both of James's zombies were dead, make that destroyed. James… still looked a bit out of it. I'm not sure what was the right thing to do here. James went a little nuts, but it was with good reason. They were zombies, so not exactly wrong to turn them into maggotburgers, just disturbing. Then again, who was I to complain? I'd had a full-blown psychotic break of my own. Before Emma's inner bitch devoured her soul, I would have given old Emma a hug. James wasn't that kind of friend yet, plus he was a teenaged boy, which meant he had that male ego thing going on. I decided to give him some space and watch.
[Careful deliberation and good choices causes your WIS to go up by 1.]
Right, so that happened. James apparently had pop-ups to read, because he started swiping and punching fingers at the air. Whatever he read must have improved his mood because he started smiling a happy smile instead of an axe-murderer smile. Hopefully he was better now? Except he still had zombie guts on him. "You… you've got a little something on your face."
James reached up and wiped his face, but still didn't say anything.
[Now that you've learned about attacking and defending, along with an impromptu lesson in handling multiple opponents, let's discuss loot.]
James let out a squeal that disturbingly reminded me of old-Emma spotting a pair of 'simply adorable' shoes on sale for twenty percent off. Note to self, James wasn't all there.