Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, Overwatch, DnD or any of the references mentioned in this fanfic.
A/N: I'm glad that a lot of you seem to enjoy this story. Also I noticed that the mobile app doesn't show some of the plus signs so sorry about that. Anyways here it is.
Hitting the Road Part 1
"What do you think?" Jesse asked his familiar perched off to the side as he looked at himself in the full-length mirror.
While he still retained that unnatural beauty that would set him apart from normal people his body had gone through some minor changes. In the span of one night, he had grown an extra 2 inches and gained about 20 pounds of muscle mass. A small flex was all that was needed to highlight each muscle group. Even his skin felt tougher. But the changes weren't just superficial. Bone density, muscle density, ligament flexibility, even his motor controls all received a major boost.
His familiar cocked it head and telepathic sent an image of a peacock haughtily prancing around.
Jesse rolled his eyes but agreed, no point in having pretty muscles if they didn't help.
Grabbing a low caliber pistol he loaded a round into the chamber and took a deep breath.
Searching deep inside himself he focused on his emotions, namely his anger, of which there was a shockingly large amount of. Though perhaps it shouldn't have come as a big surprise that he was angry. Angry that his loved ones weren't with him. Angry that he had been ripped from his world and dumped on this doomed world. Angry at the seemingly impossible task of returning home. Angry for having to fight for his life. Countless emotions spilled out of him, yet they all fed back into his anger, like kindling to a bonfire.
The switch had been flipped and the effect was instantaneous. Adrenaline flooded his veins like molten lead, numbing his pain, while his heartbeat started to skyrocket. Every hair on his body bristled like an animal. His pupils narrowed and his vision gained a red tint. Muscles fibers hardened to resemble steel wires.
Looking at himself once more, he couldn't help but feel that the title of berserker fit him very well at that moment.
The transformation only lasted 6 seconds before it started to wear off, though he felt it last much longer than that.
Once he was back to normal, he allowed himself a few scant moments to settle down as he went over any lingering effects and was satisfied when he found none.
Taping into his rage again he found himself accessing it much easier the second time around.
Before the timer ran out, he pointed the gun at his thigh and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The sound of the bullet hitting the wooden floor echoed in following silence. The tip was partially flattened.
Looking at his leg, Jesse noticed that the bullet had managed to break through the layer of skin but had been completely stopped by the red muscles underneath. While there was some blood starting to seep into his pants, it was much less than one would expect.
Calling up his health pool he noticed that he had taken approximately 3 points of damage.
HP: 26/29
This was the reason why Jesse had chosen to take a level in barbarian.
Not only were barbarians master in weapons, but they also had the highest health pools in the game and were tough enough to shrug off some attacks even without armor. Their main feature, which was their rage, went even further to classify them as the party tank by cutting any damage they took from slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning attacks by half. High level barbarians could even theoretically survive falling from orbit down to earth, not that Jesse was hoping to ever test that out.
Vacuo was the closest city by far, and the nearest place to acquire wind dust for his next level up. To get there he had to cross an entire desert filled with Grimm, vicious wildlife, and inhospitable weather conditions. If he wanted any chance of making it that far, he needed to increase his overall tanky-ness or else just one good hit would be enough to take him out.
At this point his rage ran out, lasting 12 seconds this time, extending itself after he took the damage.
"Alright enough playing around, time to get back to work."
(Outlaw)
For the next couple of days Jesse tested the limits of his new body while also preparing for his eventual departure from the village.
In that time, he quickly found that his talent for weapons now extended to every single weapon. It didn't matter how exotic, cumbersome, unwieldy, or even if it was his first time ever holding it, he instinctively knew the correct way to use it after just a few tries.
He'd admit that the thought of creating his own mechashift weapon had crossed his mind, but he quickly discarded that idea. What he needed was overwhelming firepower, not a gimmick. Also, as a mechanical engineer (and a smith) there was something about all those sliding parts that made him feel uncomfortable. All it would take was a single piece to malfunction during the shift sequence to leave him stuck in between form and weaponless.
So rather than rely on a single weapon to define his fighting style, Jesse settled for carrying different types of weapons that he could easily pick or discard depending on the situation. It worked in Red Dead Redemption 2 after all… and also Batman, which if he was being honest, was his main inspiration.
Plus, now that he didn't have to worry about wearing armor, he could afford to upgrade his other gear, which he certainly did, taking advantage of his All-Purpose-Tool's ability to grant him proficiency in different artisan tools.
Using a combination of cobbler, smith, and tinker's tools he was able to add a steel toed tip to his cowboy boots as well as a metal sole and a spring-loaded knife that came out of the heel. Leather tools helped make the various belts, pouches, and holsters. He even got the chance to do some tailoring as he refitted some of the villager's old clothes and added hidden pockets to his poncho.
By the end he was a walking armory.
Brown cowboy boots, each one holding a knife in addition to their hidden one.
Metal knee-guards, the only armor piece he had besides his newly crafted shield.
A leather utility belt with a metal flask in place of a belt buckle that could easily be detached. In addition, there were three square leather pouches containing healing potions, dust crystals, and additional ammo.
A six-shooter revolver hung on his right hip with a short sword handing on his left.
A leather shoulder holster with two automatic pistol and additional mags.
His red poncho held several concealed throwing knives and his magic screwdriver.
And finally, a leather messenger bag that carried all his other things.
He certainly looked like a cross between a cowboy and a modern-day soldier.
Now there was only one last thing to do.
(Outlaw)
"Ready?" Jesse asked his familiar, getting an affirmative screech in return.
He watched it disappear into the distance as he stood behind the wheel of his semi-truck. The dashboard was a mess of buttons, switches, and levels that he had installed.
Taking out a pair of binoculars he could just barely make out the form of a hawk flying over a group of seven Boarbatusks prowling the open plains. Then without warning it dropped an object it had been carrying in its talons into their midst.
The object bounced off the armored back of one of them, confusing it and alerting the others to a possible attack.
They looked around wildly searching for the source, but it was too late as the smoke bomb exploded, engulfing them in thick white smoke.
Taking that as his cue Jesse pressed on the gas pedal and raced forward.
He didn't slow in the slightest even as he neared the smoke cloud, rather he continued to speed up, though he did have to brace himself as he barreled into one of the boar-like creatures, no doubt sending it off into its own isekai adventure.
THUD!
Coming out of the other side of the smoke, Jesse wasted no time as he hit the brakes.
Once it had skidded to a stop, he jumped out of the driver's seat with a shield and his screwdriver.
He had just enough time to see the Boarbatusk impaled on semi's front spikes disappear into black smoke before the first of the Grimm rushed out of the smoke cloud.
"Sacred Flame!" he shouted, pointing the tip of his screwdriver at it.
A ring of white flames formed above it before descended down and engulfing its entire body, making it cry out in pain as it rolled on the dirt trying to put out the flames.
(15+5 /10) Investigation Check Passed!
The flames seemed to be doing more than burning it however as Jesse noticed that some of the bone plates appeared to be melting away.
'Looks like Grimm are vulnerable to radiant damage after all?' Jesse mentally noted, happy to have his theory confirmed.
Another two Boarbatusks shot out of the smoke, spinning like buzzsaws and heading straight for him.
Tracking their zig-zagging pattern, Jesse prepared another spell and waited until the last moment to make his move. He dodged out of the way of one and used his shield to deflect the path of the other but not before releasing the spell he had held.
"Sword burst!"
A circle of spectral swords burst out of him before spinning around him like top. One of the boars managed to dodge out of the attacks range but the other was not so lucky as the spectral blades seemed to completely bypass its armor and cut the black flesh underneath sending it spiraling out of control.
'Vulnerability to force damage? Inconclusive.'
Aiming his screwdriver back at the first boar he hit it again with sacred flame, this time managing to push it past its damage threshold and cause it to burst into nothing.
He noticed a lack of black smoke but didn't have time to think too deeply as he was back to dodging.
After several exchanges Jesse managed to take both down with liberal use of sacred flame but by that time the other four were free of the smoke cloud. He gave a mental thanks to his familiar who had been playing interception by dropping more smoke bombs and grenades into the group.
Putting away his screwdriver for the moment, he unsheathed his sword, which already had the spell Magic Weapon applied to it before the fight had even begun.
Finally, he tapped into his rage as he rushed forward to meet the charging enemies in the middle.
Three of them were pushed aside but one managed to slip past his defenses and slash his leg. Jesse returned the favor by plunging his sword deep into its side.
Two of them came back for a pincer move from opposite direction which Jesse managed to successfully dodge out of the way but left him exposed to another from a Boarbatusk that had jumped into the air and landed on his back.
(9+1/ 11) Strength Check Failed!
It momentarily sent him tumbling to the floor. Glancing up, he was just barely able to roll out of the way of the fourth attack.
Jesse had to give it to them, they certainly had teamwork going for them.
Jumping back on his feet he brought his shield in front of him and braced himself as the next attack came.
(14+1/ 12) Athletic Check Passed!
The Grimm's sharp spikes sent sparks as it tried to saw through his shield, but he held firm even as his feet dug into the ground. It was just as the attack began to lose momentum that Jesse made his move. Taking a firm step forward he pushed with all his might and managed to completely stop the Grimm dead in its tracks. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the Grimm, still in mid-air, locked eyes with Jesse. Red angry eyes met angry bloodshot eyes, both so similar yet one was found wanting. Time resumed as Jesse's sword shot out of cover and impaled itself completely through the Grimm's head, ending it life once and for all.
Now there were only three.
Despite their low intelligence, they finally appeared to show a bit of caution as they stopped trying to charge at him blindly.
Taking note of their hesitance, Jesse decided to test another theory as his rage came to an end.
Not taking his eyes off the trio he planted his sword on the ground and detached the hipflask from his belt buckle. Unscrewing the top, he splashed the contents over himself, his shield and his sword.
"Alright round two," Jesse announced as he tossed the flask aside and retrieved his sword.
Entering his rage again, he charged at the Grimm with abandonment.
The Grimm looked even more cautious than before as he rapidly closed the distance but still chose to attack the clearly insane human.
The cowboy dodged out of the way of the first and second attack before perfectly blocking the third.
Contrary to his expectations, the Grimm seemed to take no notable damage from coming in contact with his shield besides a painful squeal and scorched fur. Still, he was not left completely disappointed when his sword sliced its side with little to no resistance.
As the body disappeared, Jesse took note of the lack of smoke once more.
'Looks like holy water does work on them. Does this mean that Grimm are considered a type of undead or fiend?'
Deciding to wrap things up, Jesse dropped out of his rage state and sheathed his sword.
Taking out his screwdriver again, he spent the next couple of seconds getting more familiar with their attack patterns occasionally throwing out the occasional cantrip before they inevitably expired.
Only until the last one disappeared did Jesse allow himself to look at his HP.
HP: 12/29
"Whistle~ 17 or rather 34 points of damage. That definitely would have killed me before," Jesse noted as it showed that taking that level in barbarian had been the right call.
"Hmm, I'd say that went pretty well," Jesse declared with a satisfied smile getting a positive screech from his familiar as they headed back to town, after all his back was killing him.
(Outlaw)
"Interesting. How very interesting?" Jesse muttered as he scribbled into his journal.
From what he knew, Grimm were originally created by the God of Darkness, to hunt the creations of his brother the God of Light. Classified as creatures of destruction they lacked a soul and were drawn to negative emotions. Very little was actually known of their nature and biology, since Grimm typically tended to kill themselves when in captivity.
Yet Jesse didn't let that small detail discourage him from learning more about his enemies.
In fact, he already found some interesting information.
For example, Grimm, despite having lungs, didn't need to breathe, capable of being submerged under a barrel of water for hours without any sort of negative effect. He theorized that their actual purpose was to push out air for communication and the occasional breath attack that some Grimm had.
Samples taken from them would also start to disappear within minutes of extraction and they could even regenerate their skin, but not their bone plates, after being flayed alive.
Surprisingly, they did have internal organs though most of them weren't actually necessary for survival and were mostly just for show.
Placing down his journal Jesse gave his unwilling research partner a small smile, "Well Number Seven, how about one last test."
The giant bat-like Grimm didn't respond on account of the wooden bar in its mouth that acted like a gag. Its entire body was tied to a wooden post with a bundle of rope and metal chain, yet it still looked at the human in front of it with as much hatred as it could muster.
Grabbing a pair of metal pliers, Jesse walked up to it and held its head still as he yanked out one of its sharp fangs causing it to thrash in its bindings.
Holding it up to his face, Jesse concentrated and channeled his magic powers through the metal pliers and into the fang.
For a second it looked like nothing would happen before it suddenly started to give off bright light as if he was holding a Christmas light.
"Looks like can use Magic Tinkering on Grimm sample. Question is, if the spark of magic I invested in them will be enough to maintain their form even after the Grimm is destroyed?"
Looking forward to the results he placed it down and retrieved another fang.
This one, however, he dropped into a glass beaker filled with holy water. He watched as the fang quickly dissolved into the liquid like cotton candy in water. Though apparently not completely, a closer observation revealed that the water was giving off just a slight amount of light.
A few more fangs were added but each was dissolved with no problem, meaning that the holy water's properties hadn't been affected. By that point, the liquid had gained a noticeable glow that could be seen even under the bright afternoon sun.
Curious about what this could mean, Jesse used another beaker with holy water and replicated the same experiment but this time with different samples. Only after he was satisfied did he finally put the Grimm out of its misery.
"Very interesting," Jesse muttered as he documented his observation in his journal, then turned to look at the next tied up Grimm, "Lets hope you'll be just as interesting eh, Number Eight."
A/N: Thanks for reading.
Just a few things out of the way first. When Barbarian's rage they take 1/2 damage from bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing attacks. Their rage lasts for 1 minute (10 rounds. A round is 6 seconds) but it ends early if they take no damage or they don't attack something in one of those rounds. You also can't cast spells while you rage.
Grimm will be treated as Fiends (Devils/Demons) when it comes to DnD mechanics as they share some similarities. Grimm spawn from black pits; fiends spawn from Hell. Grimm are a manifestation of destruction; fiends are a manifestation of evil energy. Argo they are the same.
By the way, if you're curious about where I was going with the holy water experiment. I suggest you think a little deeper about my cotton candy analogy. Hint. Hint. Wink. Wink. ;)
Here's the updated character sheet.
Name: Jesse McCree
Level 3: Artificer 2/ Barbarian 1
Race: Mark of Making Human
Background: Witherbloom Student
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Dark Gift: Symbiote (Living Tattoo)
Experience: 1,550/ 2,700
HP: 29/29
Proficiency bonus: +2
Walking Speed: 30 ft
Initiative: +4
Armor Class: 17 (19 with shield)
Saving Throws: Constitution (+5) and Intelligence (+5)
Ability scores:
Strength: (+1) 13/20
Dexterity: (+4) 18/20
Constitution: (+3) 16/20
Intelligence: (+3) 16/20
Wisdom: (+2) 15/20
Charisma: (+4) 18/20
Skills (*Proficient):
+4: Acrobatics (Dex)
+2: Animal Handling (Wis))
+5: Arcana (Int)*
+1: Athletics (Str)
+4: Deception (Cha)
+3: History (Int)
+4: Insight (Wis)*
+4: Intimidation (Cha)
+5: Investigation (Int)*
+2: Medicine (Wis)
+5: Nature (Int)*
+4: Perception (Wis)*
+4: Performance (Cha)
+4: Persuasion (Cha)
+3: Religion (Int)
+4: Sleight of Hand (Dex)
+4: Stealth (Dex)
+4: Survival (Wis)*
Proficiencies:
Weapons: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons
Armor: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shields
Tools: Alchemy Tools, Thieves Tools, Tinker's Tools, Smith's Tools
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elvish
Spellcasting:
Modifier: +3
Spell Attack: +6
Save DC: 14
Cantrips:
Mending
Guidance
Sword Burst
Chill Touch
Spare the Dying
1st Level Spells (2/2 slots):
*Alarm
*Cure Wounds
*Expeditious Retreat
*Purify Food and Drink
Silvery barbs (Once per Long Rest)
2nd Level Spells (0 slots)
Magic Weapon (Once per Long Rest)
Artificer Infusions (*in use):
*Prosthetic Limb
Repeating Weapon
Bag of Holding
*1st level Spellwrought Tattoo
Rage per Long Rest: (2/2)