Honestus Roma, Perditus
[X] [Status Quo] Perfect Solution, Later; Alcides' impulsivity will be replaced by patience, but his apathy will persist. Alcides will remain a freeman. His various relationships with Bernadetta, Emile, and Hubert will improve due to this new course of action. Factions: Alcides' reputation with the Adrestrian Merchant Company will decrease to Scoundrel, but the faction will strengthen. Monarchists will reach Collaborator.
Alcides has learned a new spell damage has been learned for following the Perfect Solution, Later path.
[Frostbite] - Mt: 4 Crit: 0 Rng: 0 Lv: F
Gains 30% critical hit chance against burning targets to trigger shock and skip the target's counter-attack, the target's burning status will be removed regardless if a critical hit is triggered.
. . .
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. . .
Drinking my first bit of alcohol after several painful weeks of sobriety burned as it made its way down my throat. The beer had almost made the idea of gutting him like a damn fish worth all the trouble it would undoubtedly bring down on me.
A stench of booze and sweat hung around the man sitting on the stool beside mine, and his gaze drifted off of me. The stress uncoiled itself once the heat off of his breath was cut off, and I stowed my blade as he attempted to flirt with what could've been Anna's sister. Zoning back in, it came to my attention that my drink had warmed, and that my nails had left several black burn marks on the table. I have no idea what to do with what this drunk dumbass just let loose, with my head in the game again I gathered that the whole tavern had probably heard too.
'Edel' had been clever, and continued to seek out that older man's attention while I had been preoccupied. Can't say I always made the best decisions when alcohol was involved. For people milling about in the tavern with us, both situations held interest, but were stuck at opposite ends of the building.
"Well. Good luck with all that," Patting the disgusting man's shoulder would be something that I'd soon regret, my skin making contact with so much sweat that I had to resist the urge to light my own hand on fire. I was glad that he was too drunk to take note of my accent, as I wasn't sure about how'd I go about masking it in the first place. He raised his drink up in the air up at my words as I rose from my seat, "You may need it, but I have a job of my own that I've yet to get done."
There were merits to killing the man, I already had a dozen reasons off the top of my head that started with how much he reeked. Even more told me that it wouldn't be worth it, that this place was a powder keg. Or maybe it was just jitters from my neutered 6th sense, and the information my human brain couldn't make wind off.
"Ahhhhhhhhh~ No [problem friend," The drunken mercenary gave me a dismissive wave while seated, having already accumulated several beers since joining me. I returned a bastardized sort of Anglocan salute before leaving, "Jusssst [happy] to [finally] have [someone] to [drink] with. If you have time you can join us in [Colich] for the job."
A cold shiver had gone down my spine at the sound of the last word the man spoke that remained outside of my linguistic grasp. It had been the name for someone, or a place. Back home I would've been so superstitious, but here where I could feel the emptiness and the eyes on my back while approaching the entrance?
"Edel," The girl stiffed as I uttered the words, and the older man who had been holding a conversation with her glanced over at me. I couldn't place his expression, the cold seemed to have a sobering effect as the ache for stiff drink intensified. Some of the others hovering around the kids and their boss had faces that were easier to read.
By and large none of what I saw suggested anything good on the horizon, the woman on her knee trying to cox forward Burn had an especially. . . Well, let's just say she wasn't pleased to see me for a moment before regaining her composure. A few of the others had their hands loosely holding onto the handles of their sidearms while turning to face me.
I ignored them in favor of bringing Edel's attention back over to me, not that I had much of a choice when it came to options. Crouching down so that I could look the pair of preteen sisters at their level and in the eye, "You and Burn good to go now?"
[Enemy Turn]
One of the idiots tried to get in between us, and grab my bum arm as Burn lept from her sister's side. Hiding from sight with the help of my cloak, wrapping up her fingers in a layer of warmth the same way that own skin would've. My blood ran cold, with my thought's sharpening in focus as the world started to slow down. He tried to hold on, whether out of a sense of nobility or ego the heat that raitated off of my form was too much for him to handle.
For the flicker between seconds I saw the older man's face grimace as he looked me over under a new lens. Another one of them swore under their breath, and I heard them mutter the word 'mage'. Fumbling around a couple seconds, a few of them managed to unsheath the blades at their waist before their boss kept them from making a move. Holding out a hand and placing it on the older woman's chest that had been attending to the girls.
"Easy," A spell's worth of Frostbite was screaming to be released, bound up in layers of pressure waiting for a weak valve. Keeping the spell active and ready was eating away at me while beads of sweat rolled down my neck at this time of night. I directed the last of my remarks to the rather large man still nursing his stung hand that had retreated back to the safety of his friends, "I don't want to kill you now."
"[Neither] do we, but had [wanted] to keep your [girls] safe from [anyone untoward]. You know how it is," A low voice boomed, gravely but added by the visage of his powerful frame. Stepping ahead of his companions the older man held out the same hand he had used to signal his followers in an offer to shake my hand. He was pretty terrifying for such an older man, and knew that this night was never going to be so simple either way.
"The name's Jeralt," He had the humor enough to laugh at my shit joke, and officially considered it a shame if I had to kill him. The first of his boys and girls relaxed a bit once we shook hands even if they maintained a grip on their blades, "I didn't exactly catch your name in all the fuss that got dug up."
While I was undoubtedly at a terrible disadvantage in the situation that I found myself in, my potential enemy wasn't what made it so bad. I had faced overwhelming odds, and fuckers that we're stronger than me by several leagues. The fact that I had to keep the kids out of harm's way, while handling the numerous and mighty would've proved to be an issue.
"Ah-dolf," With a decision made, the tension in my shoulders bleed away as the heat underneath my skin returned to normal. His hand was firm, a clear strength that surpassed mine as we shook hands with rough skin from a lifetime of hard labor. It was like seeing my father in the flesh, and I hoped that my own grip wasn't any less firmer for my wandering mind.
"Like the lord of [wolves]?"
"It is as said," The short bout of adrenaline slowed, and my line of vision expanded to see Edel who had been watching the entire exchange off to the side. She wasn't panicking, or not quite in the manner that someone native to this world might've noticed at first glance. Even though I didn't have a physiology degree; I recognized that deer in headlights look that she bore, and it was a painfully familiar one. Helping her would have to wait a little longer still, "I'd best like to not have to burn off your face, not much left of it at your age."
"Oho! Easy [kiddo," He laughed at that, greatly amused while feigning a deep pain in his chest like he had been shot. It was easy to see how he had come to such a place of leadership as the other's also eased up on the combative stances, "That [hurts, [right] here in my ego."
"Hope that I take no need for fear in your own," While it probably wasn't best to let my heart rate plummet in questionable company, but the warmth that rolled off my body in waves was worth the risk. Burn's grip on my trouser leg loosened at my words even as I kept eye contact with this group's leader, "It just is that, the two of them are in my care."
"Pah! I've [learned] to not take [these sorts] of [things personally]. [They're] just a [bunch] of [scaredy] cats," Jer-alt joked while patting my shoulder, briefly holding a curious look on his face after I created a bubble of heat. Ultimately the older man was unafraid, and Edel finally seemed to return back to normal as she took in a longer than normal breath as her eyes dilated. The older sister joined me at the hip with her head held up high with her gaze flickering between us, "We don't get a lot of [magicians, and the ones that we do come [across]. . . Well, me and mine are [mercenaries] by [trade, so I [tends] to be a [mixed] bag."
Bang!
"We need to go," In an instant it had seemed like all the effort the two of us had put into defusing the situation almost went up in flames. One idiot from the bar, another pair of adventurers or mercenaries barged out of the door to the tavern that we we're all in front of. They quickly made themselves scarce after being stared down by close to a dozen high strung men and women, "And here is not the best sort for a talk."
The moment passed with little fanfare, but I could feel the exhaustion of this whole fucking day start to pile on my shoulders. It must've been something in my eyes that the older man saw, or maybe God and his angels were looking down on me.
"[Normally, I [might argue otherwise] when it [comes] to [Remire]. Good folk live here," A tired expression enveloped Jeralt's visage, with half of his face lit up by the heat I was radiating. He signaled his compatriots and they settled into what seemed to be a well practiced formation, "But [times change] and I'd be a [hypocrite otherwise]. . . How [about] you join us at our camp?"
"We may not have the time," I was unconvinced by the offer even if Jeralt seemed to be of the genuine sort. The ones under his command were much less twitchy now, but pressure at the back of my skull argued to return back to the forest as possible. As it stood, I was simply content to walk with them as long as it took us away from the center of town.
"[Should] only take up an hour or two of [yours," Jeralt joked smacking a hand against my chest as whispered conspiratorially, "The kids look like they [could] use a good meal, and [trust] me. We have much [better alcohol]."
"You make a good case. We take you on that if you let us," I made a show of mulling it over, shuffling the groceries on my shoulder before I bobbed my head toward the twins. Edel squinted into the distance for a moment until she reluctantly shook her head in agreement, "Just till the next day may come."
They were camped out at the edge of town, effectively on the other side that we had entered this morning. Maybe it was my scent in the air, or flow of magic that I left that brought them out of hiding like some secret 7th sense of mine. It was hard not to overhear 'It's the [actually goddamn] lord of [wolves]', and one of the women muttered 'I don't care what this [bastard] is the lord of' before Jeralt shushed them. Truth be told, I was too tired to correct any of them as I beckoned my families forward and offered them treats.
"[Those] are some [hunting] dogs you got [there," Jeralts voice coming from behind me was more curious than concerned, and the pups paid him no mind. I don't think I heard him right, but I wasn't going to correct him if he thought them to be domesticated.
Jeralt made a point of introducing me to the rest of his cohort, a hardy group of armed men and women. Not quite what would've passed for the military in this day and age, but certainly seemed to be a cut above the others. Cleaner than most bandits that I'd come across, and organized as well when one of them dragged out a large keg while others brought meat to be cooked.
Couldn't say that the mood was festive, I had never been all too much of a fan of parties that my family had dragged me off to. So I resigned myself to nursing a cool drink while the sisters mingled, or I suppose Edel became the center of attention. Burn just hung off to the side of her sister trying to keep out of the spotlight the best she could while making puppy eyes at the designated cook.
"Ah! Adolf," The wolves yelped as I stood up, shaking back and forth as I popped my shoulder. Jeralt had his arm around the frame of a blank-faced younger woman, pseudo dragging her along with a pep in his step. , "[There's someone] I'd like for you to meet."
"I don't have in mind that they will tell you this," I snarked as they approached, hiding my mischievous grin from behind the half empty cup of alcohol. Took me longer than I'd like to gather my strength, but eventually the liquid returned to a cooler temperature. With a second glance between them a hint of my cleverness showed itself, "But you are a bit too old for her."
"Pfft! Oh. . . [You're] a riot kid," Jeralt released a full bodied laugh at my remark, while the girl's face who got squeezed against his chest didn't so much as twitch. I would've expected a teenage girl to have some sort of reaction while being bothered by their family, "This one is my [pride] and joy, I'd dare say that she's [almost] as good with a [blade] as I am."
"Byleth Reus Eisner of the Miracle Mercenaries, ignore father. He is simply being dramatic."
The alcohol froze in my blood, every hair along the backs of mine stood on end at the perfectly spoken latin. It was sobering, a visceral disorientation that shook me down to my core. Even with every instinct or magical inclination pounding within my skull I tore myself free of my momentary hesitation to shake her hand.
"Adolf."
Light and unscarred unlike her father, but she shared a certainty with her grip before our hand parts. There was something electric about her skin, writhing under the surface while I could feel my heartbeat ringing in my ears. I had expected a child of his to be blonde as well, a bright blue eyed and haired teenager wasn't what I imagined.
"Nice to meet with you."
My tongue felt foreign in my own mouth, but if Byleth noticed she didn't say anything to the change. It might've been restricted to my own mind, as my gaze flickered back over to her father. Jeralt was elbow deep in the keg, and thoroughly preoccupied with fixing himself with a stiff drink.
It was the sort of sight that made you wonder how much a man like him could drink. . .
"I know [you're dying] for some chow kid," Jeralt came to be my savior once again just as I started to realize how very little I had to say to his darling daughter. Even though his words were directed to kin. Being such a mountain of a man his words still had their impact on the tipsy version of myself, "[You're] free to go."
"Father," Her voice spooked me, feeling so close to my ear that I could've sworn that there was warm air brushing against my skin. Respecting nodding her head in her father's direction before departing as her gaze passed over me, "Until we meet again then."
Wasn't sure how her staring escaped my notice, my interlocking vision should've caught such a detail before too long. It wasn't until after Jeralt had spoken that I had felt that her gaze had been on me, and a pressure that I had been ignorant to previously left my shoulders at the same time. Could've sworn that the younger woman's hair and eyes were a bright green, or even a golden, but it only lasted a moment before I blinked. Honestly I don't think that she blinked a single time during that entire exchange, "Do you tell her to do that all the time?"
"Hah! Not [everyday," Jeralt was in a jovial mood, and an outsider would've noticed what a pair we made with how on edge I was. He clinked his drink against the one I was limply holding onto in my offhand, "But she [tends] to need a bit of a push when it [comes] to [meeting] new [people]."
I don't think he understood what it truly was that I was asking about, but I wasn't going to start questioning the ways of the fae. Anna was more than enough trouble, and if I could avoid Byleth by merely remaining sober? Well, I'd gladly make that trade. There's something to be said about women with bright colored hair, and it seemed to cross over into this strange world that I'd found myself in.
"If you say so. Let's see how she does to save the two of them," Jeralt coughed up his drink at my comment, finally noticing that his daughter was in the middle of cutting in line on Burn's behalf. Groaning beside me at what I assumed to be a fairly regular sight with the sort of company he keeps, "It's sure to be good fun."
"Well. . . It'll be nice to have some [company," Glancing over at Jeralt, he looked more like the father he claimed to be. With a familiar expression of simply having aged a decade for being a father, and I'd only spent a mere moment in Byleth's presence. Humming to himself. Jeralt decided to break our comfortable silence with a wry grin that spoke more than words that left his mouth, "[Looks] like all the [girls could appreciate] a bit of a [break]."
'Looking at the bright side are we? To each his own I suppose.'
"I'd hate to ask, and I [think] you know that I have to. Just [comes] with the [territory] of my old job, but I have to know. It's just. . . Old [habits] you know," Jeralt danced around the topic and huffed while he searched for the right words to use. Wasn't the worst, sitting beside the man without mosquitoes getting the chance to bother me. Instead of flaring my aura or anything. Something about the alcohol made it easy to supercharge my blood with mana and obliterate the pests before they had their fill. My mind lagged behind once Jeralt did raise what was apparently so important, "How long have you been, well, been [babysitting] them for?"
"Hmm, a week. More or less," Despite the odd question I made an honest attempt to answer it truthfully, whether I trusted my own time keeping faculties was irrelevant. Willing to divulge what I knew with my sobriety going down the drain, "Why do you ask?"
"It's [nothing really]. Or at [least] it [shouldn't] be," He'd become much stiffer since we started, temporarily abstaining from his drink while I nursed on mine. I rolled my eyes at whatever strange trick he was trying to use to ease the metaphorical blow, "But it pays to keep an ear to the [ground, helps] get you the best gigs."
"Just get to it."
"[Takes] a [while] for news to [reach] us this far, and the [empire] is a big [place]. Easy to hide in a town like [Remire," My better half reared up when Jeralt brought up 'hiding', with the blood flowing through my veins chilled. The two wolves at my feet snapped awake and started growling at the man's insinuations as my anxiety built itself up, "Has me [wondering] why [you're] in such a rush when you [could choose] to stay and rest."
". . ."
"Cool [those bright] eyes of [yours] kid," I think he recognized the look that I was giving him, and he promptly raised a hand to placate me. My mouth soon returned to the rim of the tankard after I pinned Jeralt with an irritated glare that carried a message of warming to watch his metaphorical steps. The fire we were sat around seemed to get a tad warmer while the older man got his chance to explain, "I know you mean them no harm, but I also know that it [usually takes something major] to get a [magician] out of [their precious tower]."
"Get to it old man," I was firmly and officially done with his shit, swallowing the last third of the cup of alcohol in a single gulp. My vision cleared with a mixture of beer and building hatred burned a pit in the depths of my stomach, "What do you want?"
"To give you the talk I wish [someone] had [given] me. [You've] more than [proved yourself," The look of pity that he gave me twisted my stomach into knots. I was torn between punching him in the face, or just break down laughing at my increasingly ridiculous life. While he had likely intended for his lecture to be comforting it hardly had that actual effect on me, "But if you keep [going] down this road. That fire of [yours] will burn you from the [inside] out, and [you'll] be of no use to [anyone]."
"Fucking moral fag. Yo- damnit, you know not the hell you walk into," A familiar migraine was starting to form within the depths of my skull from engaging in conversation for so long. Letting this well meaning moron get killed because of my irresponsibility would've been too much to accept. Instead of taking the time I needed to breathe and gather my thoughts. The only thing to come out of my mouth was a near incomprehensible babbling mess, "They are not safe with you, and not safe here. Gah- you are lucky that I don't know any slurs in your language. They can't be left with you."
"We're not [bandits, you can see that even if [Byleth could stand] to [learn] to [smile]. My men can [handle] the [bought] and paid for [lackeys] of [opportunistic nobles," So long as either of us lived, I would make sure Jeralt never knew how much merely squeezing my shoulder had affected me. More than any moment in the weeks I had been stuck here had I wanted someone else to handle this on my behalf. His need to thoroughly convince me proved to be useful for me to collect my own thoughts, "We've [trained] for this sort of [thing]. This [needs] to be your sole [burden] to bear no [longer]."
"Not the same. Dumb-ass," I think my voice cracked while speaking, desperate to be heard and under control in spite of the alcohol in my system. Even more frustrated with myself for lacking the ability to make myself and my predicament understood, "We run from evil, more than just men with coin."
So I lied, or at least not entirely. Gods. How I wanted to yell, to even be capable of screaming after all this time.
"Hear what I mean," The wooden handle belonging to the tankard in my offhand cracked under the pure frustration that I was feeling, "Now."
If I had any other method, language or even more time than I would've used it. Had I hesitated, maybe called on Byleth to act as an intermediary? Things could be different, but I was tired. So very exhausted from running, and being pushed around by this world. I was Roman, and Romans do not bow like cattle.
"You," A relieved look flashed across the older man's face for a second before I spoke up again, as the hyper mana infused air was quickly vacuumed out, "Are not safe with them."
Meaning, mattered so much more to me than words at that point in time. Being able to say so little might've been a blessing in disguise, but it certainly didn't feel like it been a boon.
"[You're] in [danger] and you want me to [leave] it up to fate?" Jeralt was smart enough to recognize the difference between hysteria and my frustrations, that had been the true blessing. Any more inflamed and I don't think that he would've had the patience to hear me out, "Are you mad?"
"Stay far away, and all of us will be safe. As I am left in the hand of my God," My words were softer now, weaker from carrying the weight of their importance. Wrongness wasn't something that it seemed that I could hide, and evidently Jeralt could tell something was wrong with the twins. Trusting Jeralt in place of Anna was a balm on my paranoid mind, "If you wish to help. Lead any who may ask for our name down a path not ours, not a soul is safe with this."
"You can't [expect] me to defy the [Emperor] and his [cronies, or hell even the [Church]-."
"All of us are at risk," That woman had put fear of God back within me, her flesh had melted like wax and reeked of disease. I didn't want to dig deeper and discover the truth about this world anymore, "If you can't defy, don't kill them, but tell lies or hide. I ask that you live, and do not die for this."
I didn't care if it made me seem cowardly, that damn pit had nearly been the death of me. Whoever was in charge was either corrupt or incompetent to people that had been conducting human experiments. Something irked me about the plague, and the monsters I'd encountered far too human for my liking. The mixture of everything had made me averse to investigating.
"Even if you can do more," My gaze flickered out at the laughter and good cheer taking place closer to camp. Jeralt's gaze remained on the sight of our respective charges being clumsy, a unique brand of awkward that drew much assumement. I wanted him to weigh, and actually consider what I was trying to warn him of. The weight on every inch of my skin made me wish that I had never gotten this old, "Do you want to risk her life or that of your men? Play your part, or we will all have to pay for it."
"[Funny, it [feels] like we're [already paying] for it. [You've] made your [point, and I know when I'm beat, I'll play [along]. Don't make me [regret] this. . . [Goddess above," It finally seemed to dawn on him the true extent of the wasp hive that we had found ourselves in, one that he had once been eager to intervene in. There was too much on the table for either of us to lose for either side to go all in on a gut feeling. Jeralt dragged the keg over for easy access and held out his hand for my tankard after filling his own, "What a [blasted] pair are we. How do you feel [about another drink]?"
"Don't you dare stop."
- 2 Silver Ore, 1 Bronze Ingot, Argathian Dagger.
200 (x2) 15 750 10 =
1175 GP
We'd made it another dozen miles west from where we had just been, 'Remire' from what I had gathered had been a nice town. Sticking around wasn't a luxury I was willing to risk, not while I lived and drew breath.
Jeralt and I hadn't slept that night, though our conversation never strayed back onto the topic of what the other ought to do. We traded tips, weighed the worth of my inventory and he advised me on lesser traveled paths that I could take. There weren't many places that I could go, not that I knew what to expect from my destinations, and from what I'd recently learned.
Even Anna couldn't be relied upon, if she had told me the truth and her connection was dependent on commerce by some metric. Then anything less than a city wouldn't quite do, but that meant risk I couldn't afford to take. Risks that I refused to take, danger that could take more than I had to give.
My arm hurt again, the veins along the exposed part of my scarring flesh throbbed in the chilly morning. It disgusted me, and I wished that infection had taken root instead. Being responsible for two kids was going to be the death of me, and if I loosened my grip then the wolves would go for my neck.
I'm not sure how I managed to gather the strength to rise from my feet, to unfurl myself from the pile that had formed in the middle of the day. The campfire died out twice before it could keep itself going, but it would've survived if I had held my eyes open long enough to intervene. A new cloak would've been nice, something to cover my old cloak from the wind. Snow hadn't fallen, and while it wasn't quite as cold as when the storm that had swept through a week ago. . .
Curling up to sleep, and never waking up soundly oddly comforting coming from the devil on my shoulder. Reluctantly, I rose to my feet despite the feeling of vulnerability that seeped into my muscles.
There was almost always something that I had to do, be it purifying water or looking for food. Technically I didn't have to do anything, but keeping busy this early in the morning tended to bear productive fruit. One drinking session had managed to destroy that.
I could've shoved my fingers into the flames and not felt the difference, the soft cracks of wet wood burning had a look on my attention. Everything just got colder waiting in the dirt, every minute dragging the sun under the horizon became more bearable even if the temperature continued to drop. With only so much light left before we'd have to start traveling again, I prayed for the first time in years.
Sitting in the palm of my hand, the liquid gold bubbled and popped in a growing pool as the pile of three golden coins melted. Feeling cooler against my skin than I had initially imagined that the whole process would lead them to be. If I closed my eyes while on my knees I almost could've fooled myself into believing that I was on the grounds of my home town's basilica.
My prayer to any of God's angels above who might be inclined to listen, a messy affair that lacked half the words of what you were supposed to say. To Mars, Venus, Micheal, or Uriel. Just any that might take the time out of their busy day to help, of any that might've felt tempted to have mercy.
". . ."
The silence wasn't broken by some creaking that came from a weak tree branch, or some other part of the world I could construe as some sort of divine message. At the edge of my brain an older piece had finally woken as the sun had fallen, and everything around me took on a new level of depth. I wanted to cry or scream, or something else my human form simply wasn't capable of.
"Morning you little shit," It was a small mercy that this pair were too stupid to make note of my poor mood, the male chose to rub his head against chin. Using low growls to beg for food, I had to turn my face up to avoid his licking. Once they had held sharp features that reminded me of jackals with gray fur coats to match, now? They were softer to the touch and their fur was several shades more brown than they had been. Though I chaulked up the change in their coat's to the freezing cold that this winter had brought, "I'm not feeding you, you fuckin' freeloader. Go get a rabbit yourself, and don't lead anything back."
I didn't have to focus in order for him to fuck off, once he realized that I wasn't going to give anything up he trotted away. While I'd never dare say that they were domesticated, there was a sort of understanding that had formed. Nothing close to master and servant, that sort of thing had left a bad taste in my mouth and even if it didn't. My stomach just wouldn't be able to maintain what that relationship would require. Such a thing was simply savage and barbarius, my immortal soul would sooner break rather than bend.
Could've just been the Roman in me. . . 'Mother would be so pleased that I had actually been paying attention during church.'
Almost all of the metal was pooled under the brunt logs, a few drops of the golden liquid remained trapped within the cracks of my splintered arm. Clinks of orange covered cracks between the black scabs that had grown to cover the wound that I earned so long ago. I already knew that cleaning the quickly cooling metal would be pointless, but the magic that thrummed through my veins made the pain easier to swallow.
The skin had chosen to hug the bone, and there was little fat to hide the new ways that my arm moved. Looking at it wasn't something easy, but the damage needed a closer examination. I needed to do it before I lost my nerve.
All of it was too exposed, a mess of sinew that had healed incorrectly even if I had been lucky that it had healed to begin with. You could trace a path where the flesh was firmer than the other spots, a healthy looking tan blob surrounded by white scars interlaced with throbbing red and blue veins. Both of my sleeves slid down my arms once that I'd had my fill of my disgusting body, the experience had left me short of breath.
"[Adolf," The sound of Burn's voice sent a spike of terror through me after being stuck within my own thoughts for so long. A wet feeling of relief rolled over my shoulders once I zoned back in and took note of the nature behind her inquiry, "What are you [doing]?"
"Nothing, I- I just had to pray," My brain hiccuped in the midst of my reply, caught between whether I should tell the truth and channeling mana into my voice so she could comprehend my words. Every muscle in my body screamed at me as I rose to my feet, "Do you want to be in my arms, or do you feel like you can walk?"
Her face had quickly turned red at my suggestion, muttering under her breath at such a volume that I couldn't quite make out what she was saying. Everything before the girl's last three words went unheard with my other wolf being too deep in slumber to offer up her ears, "I can walk."
"Okay," The anxious baby deer behavior had just become another facet of life that I had adjusted to, and digging into the girl's issues wasn't something I was equipped to handle. There was so much that I had wanted to warn Jer-alt of that I couldn't communicate, "Just be hand in hand with Edel. Edel, Edel?"
Edel only responded to the third utterance of the nickname that I'd given her, shaking her head free of idle thoughts. She had been staring out into the direction that the sun had sunk, it had become a habit of hers before we started traveling under the moonlight.
"Yes," In comparison to her smaller, more timid sister that Anna had wrapped up in colorful green clothing was far more stiff. She was better put together, enough that I knew that she didn't need me to hover over her shoulder twenty four seven. There was no hesitation from her as she grabbed Burn's hand so we could trudge through the forest again, "Of [course]."
I was dumb enough to think that she was fine after everything that she had undoubtedly gone through, but I couldn't help either of them even if I wanted to. Child psychology hadn't been what I went to school to study, not like I had even finished my degree to begin with. So my best bet was to just by time, and buy enough of it that whoever had locked them up got tired. That they exhausted themselves, and stopped looking once the trail of footsteps that we left in the snow melted away.
We had unconsciously made a system for traveling over the course of a week, but to call it that. Even in my own head, it felt improper to refer to a line of people holding hands as they walked through the woods as a 'system'. I led, Burn acted as the connecting piece between us, and Edel formed the last one in the chain with an eye on the lookout for anything that could potentially creep up on us. One demonic abomination was more than enough for a single lifetime.
Crunch-
"Fuck," Something under my foot fell through, and I sunk deeper into the patch of snow ahead of me than I'd been expecting. It was bad news, but leagues better than if the sound had come from behind us. Edel's fingers dug into the skin of my cloak sharply enough while adjusting her footing that it shook from my day- nightdreaming, "Ugh, well, time for a detour."
After spending more than a month in this world, I could probably write, and act out a documentary on this place. Large patches of quicksand like snow had quickly become a bane of mine, it wasn't as much of an issue before. Or at least not enough of one that I had felt the need to mention, but going from a group of three to five had changed a lot of things.
It really wasn't helping that my experience with snowy weather amounted to a single vacation that I had been abruptly dragged out of. God, I missed the Mediterranean.
Every so often the snow would rise to my thigh once I placed a majority of my weight forward, and we'd have to back up. Going through was always an option, but being able to pivot easily outweighed travel speed in my mind. Especially with Galewind, this would've been child's play, but again.
Escort duty was the entire point, and the sound of one of the twins breathing rapidly brought my attention back to them. Edel had already turned her head around to speak in a hushed tone with her sister, "Do you two want to rest?"
While the two of them froze at my voice, it was Edel that turned to answer my question.
"We're fine," She was quick to get us moving again with a restless in her features that starkly contrasted with the cold winds whipping at us, "It's nothing compared to the Morgainus mountain range, and we have plenty of ground to make up for-"
"We have time," Edel seemed to deflate at my words, and gave me an incredulous look as I brought them over to rest by a fallen tree. By her expression, it was clear she wanted to argue with me over it. But it was Burn's giggles that seemed to get through to her even if she huffed at my command, "Give me your hand, both of you."
They were so small, but better than they had initially been since I was able to get some food into their bodies. Burn had scared me, my initial attempts to heal her hadn't taken root until her condition worsened from the severe cold. Even holding their hands now, clad in gifted gloves that didn't feel like they made them any warmer. I had to bit my tongue till the taste of copper flooded my mouth so that enough heat could leave my body, and return their body temperature back to something that resembled normal.
I could survive the cold by lighting myself up like a furnace, but they were little more than skin, bones, and fur coats.
"How do you both feel," My gaze snapped away from their flexing fingers, satisfied in knowing that they would be fine for a little while longer. Even if I was just prolonging their deaths, they shouldn't have to be in pain to spare me the energy. They both had straightened their backs without having the cold press against their shoulders, "Good."
Burn, despite her reservations. Made the effort to hum a pleasant tune as her form of a response while Edel just nodded bluntly.
Sometimes I wished that we came across more wildlife, just a bird or two would do wonders for my nerves. But now, at a time like this? Where we had been forced back onto one of the well traveled roads because of how truly wild the wood tended to be. Never thought that I'd miss the rocky outcroppings that had left us so much more exposed to the elements.
We made more progress following the road even if someone could've turned the corner either way and stopped us. Though I was unsure whether I dreaded coming across bandits or the authorities more, it ultimately wasn't worth gambling on. Not that many people we're in a travelling mood this time of year, while I had not prayed for that very thing specially. Which made the town we came across act as a bit of a contradiction.
"We [should] get more [supplies," Edel commented, popping up beside me as I had slowed down upon spotting the first few houses that dotted the village limits. The sound of a stomach briefly growling drew our attention back to Burn who released a squeak, ". . .[There] is some coin [leftover] for a [proper] meal [right? Something] warm [would] be nice."
"We will not stay here long," On one hand, the sound of another decent meal right after eating my fill in the company of Jer-alt's group was immensely tempting. The reasonable part that wanted to walk a good distance around the settlement made a compromise, "But if you see a good deal, tell me."
Hoowoo~ tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap!
I had almost forgotten about the furry fuckers, being blessed with a less wishy washy awareness of my surroundings. The other pair of siblings, my canine familiars, had finally decided to catch up with us. Yipping at my heel while Burn stuffed her face with their fur, but at least one of us was happy with them showing up, and that helped make them more tolerable.
For now, they would have to go. My presence would be bad enough given the sometimes extreme temperaments of people here, and I wasn't about to panic the locals with a pair of wolves. So they were reassigned to be the rear guard hiding in the forest, at least until we got far enough that people wouldn't be able to spot them.
The dead of night wasn't exactly how I imagined coming to a new town, or at least maybe driving through one after getting off from the airport. Place was normal as far as villages here went, seemed people didn't like to keep oil lamps burning past midnight.
Seemed safe enough to light up my unoccupied hand with a bushel of flames, exchanging heat for the brightness that fire could provide. It wasn't a rich neighborhood by any stretch of the imagination, while I hadn't spent much time in the city. Certain expectations had been set, thatch roofs with wooden walls just weren't boogie.
"[Where] is [everyone]?"
"They are busy in bed," Burn's voice was the only sound to cut through the silence, aside from our footsteps even the wind paled in comparison. It was fortunate that this place was large enough to warrant a tavern of its own, finding one of its windows lit up by the dull oranges and red's of a lamp. Never had I been more relieved to have been in the service industry, the work never ends and the night shift is always unforgiving. My fire flickered one last time before it died out leaving me drained as we reached the entrance, "Here we are."
Briefly looking back at the kids, I gave them a wry grin while patting the coin purse that lay within my coat. Technically I had split the money into two parts, mainly so that some headway could be made toward repaying the debt I had accumulated with Anna. As much of a can of worms situation that was, I prefer to not have to owe anything. Especially when my debtors liked to engage in rat tactics.
"Do you have an idea of what you want to," My voice briefly skipped a beat while I bit down the instinctual desire to mutter 'shit' or 'fuck' under my breath while opening the door. While I would say that I'd seen a lot, not much could prepare you for witnessing a blooded man face first in a woman's abdomen. It was at that moment when the door stopped creaking that I realized my appetite had abandoned me once more, "Eat."
Lv. 4, Pawn
HP: 35 Mv: 5
Str: 15 Lck: 0
Mag: 5 Def: 12
Dex: 11 Res: 7
Spd: 12 Cha: 3
What I had seen firmly convinced me to never allow the children to go anywhere while not supervised by an adult.
"[Adolf]. I know we are low on [funds," Edel, the beautiful and strong hearted girl, bless her immortal soul. Stepped up from behind me to peer into the tavern before I could react. My free hand jumped up and pushed her back. But by that point she had already seen what I had and placed a hand over her mouth, "But we can [share]-!"
"We need to go," Despite the shit pant level of aura that I was likely projecting, Burn was completely unaware as she whined about not getting to eat. This was while Edel was preoccupied with holding back so she would lose what was already in her stomach, "They don't have time for us."
At some point the zombie, or cannibal or mutant had stopped chowing down on the corpse inside. The lack of the sound clicked a moment later than it really should've, and I cursed not having slept for longer. Little things could've tipped it off, in the half second where the rush of adrenaline shot through my body and the world seemed to slow down I was free to theorize. The creaking from closing the door, the uncontrolled amount of mana I was leaking, or the noise generated from trying to shush Burnie, and keep her in blissful ignorance.
I Didn't Fucking Care.
"grouraaa-" "AAAAH!"
[Player Phase]
Nothing I could do would've been able to stop her from screaming, it was honesty something I had initially been forced to refrain from doing as well. The creature was bloated and half rotted down to the core, familiar purple boils covered what skin of his that was exposed. My seal's auto-implanted training kicked in once it took its first step toward us after slamming the tavern's front door to wildly swing its head looking for prey. In the next second once the runes around my right could snap into existence, I was able to verify whether zombie pop culture had any merit.
19 Damage! -2 HP HP: 28/30! 20 Damage!
34 Experience!
The undead do burn quite well it seems, they just left out how disgusting the whole process smelled. Even briefly doosing the one that chose to fucking sprint at me, and shattering it's neck with a much colder punch didn't help. Or maybe it was the pus and other gunk that had splattered all over my chest which was leaving that impression.
"Fucking hell," My mind was made up, even if Edel looked like she wanted to argue with me for a split second before watching the man lunge for us. They seemed to die easily enough if the first was anything to go by, and considering that I had enough magic to warrant being a 'mage'. The magical equivalent of a shotgun lay in my very willing hands to make use of that power, "We don't have time."
"[Stupid Bernie, I'm [sorry]. I'm so [sorry please," Burn was stuck as a shaking mess, repeating apologies while clutching the edge of my cloak. Her pleading switched to her sister once she began tugging on the shorter girl's wrist so they could escape, "You have to stay. [Prinzessin, Edelgard] tell him that he can't-."
"It has been my job to keep you safe, both of you. Know that I will find you when I am done," My instincts were screaming bloody murder the very microsecond that I took my eye away from the corpses in the distance. The sounds of those Things, struggling to climb out of windows went ignored as I kneeled down before the twins. Some part of my magic reacted without my guidance to burn the gunk of my hands so I could gently pry her fingers off of me, "For now? I need you to run as far as you can for me, and do not look back."
"graaaaahhH!" "Vuuusraah!" "raaaruuuu!" "Graaaaa!"
[Enemy Phase]
The last part cut a hole through the air, and from the corner of my eye. All the waking forms of long dead men, and women within my range of vision all seemed to spasm simultaneously. To say there was a 'mild' migraine premature building at the back of my brain would be the understatement of. . . Well. The past year, and especially the last few weeks had exceeded whatever I had ever been able to conjure up. Putting any amount of time on something like THIS, felt pissing on the rocks of the Holy Son's final resting place.
For brief moments I had lived in this world, both of myselves', that being my mortal form and immortal soul could be indistinguishable. It wasn't something that came up often, not when so many other things occupied my thoughts at times like this. Now that I was staring into the distinct dual glowing red pinpricks that didn't belong inside of human heads.
'Professor Isaiah would've loved this.'
My runes unraveled around me in preparation as one of the runners barreled straight toward me, ramming my body right before I could retaliate. -1 HP HP: 27/30! Even after everything that had happened, I don't think wrestling with some madman or a monster would ever get any easier.
20 Damage!
Instead of drunk idiots that I had peel off of my friends who'd usually be equally if not more so drunk off their asses. This zombie had been a quarter of an inch away from biting my face when a series of frozen spikes sprouted from its neck. A final shudder went through the undead's frame before all the fight left the body as my balled fist was covered with icy shards for one hell of a haymaker.
20 Damage!
35 Experience!
The second reanimated dickhead was actually successful in tackling me to the ground, getting closer to blinding me than anyone else had. Going straight for my face it raked my face with deformed hands that felt more like claws of a feral beast. -3 HP HP: 24/30! I wasn't able to throw the creature off of me even as I pushed its mouth away from me during its imitation of an aggressive dog on the other side of a fence. 20 Damage! Even shattering that very same jaw by stuffing its maw with a torrent of ice failed to get the dead woman back off.
Risking my hand by plunging it in the mouth of a crazed dead woman had managed to buy me a second's worth of breathing room. Enough that I could drag one of my legs back, and kick her straight in the abdomen with enough force that something audibly broke from the strike.
7 Damage!
20 Experience!
'God. . . fuck. . .'
Felt like it took an age to toss her twice dead corpse off of me, took damn well long enough that I saw another one racing for me. A much fatter man that lacked a jaw entirely, moving far faster than anyone of his size had any right to travel. Had this been the start of the fight, when my own blood wasn't pouring down the side of my face and obscuring my face. I would've been fairly confident in landing a shot at this distance, and instead readied myself to evidently get trapped under a pile of hungry zombies.
[Player Phase]
In the event that such a case would become my fate, the wolves that had become my 'familiars' had their own opinions on it. With two dark blurs slamming into the man before he could reach, each one latched onto a different one of the zombie's limbs.
They had given me precious time to catch my breath fully, but even with their senses linking themselves to mine. My ability to more clearly parse the environment felt like a severe disadvantage, my moral diving off the side of a cliff at the approaching hoard. With only a new moon above us, my own magic had stood as my sole form of light in the darkness.
A dozen pairs of hidden growling figures turned into close to a hundred, and a full array of bright orange runes joined the small flame burning in the palm of my hand. Range was my best bet, and as limited as it was considering the array of spells that I could pick from. I had come up with a strategy of sorts.
Maybe it helped that the next undead running towards me showed visible signs of being farther along the process of decaying. One of his legs sunk deeper into the snow than it did for the others, giving me the opportunity to bathe his bottom half with flames. 17 damage! His flesh sizzled and popped to the tune of a barbeque, the zombie refused to be deterred even if I had crippled its movement. Made it infinitely simpler to do a pseudo upward slash with my broken arm, and send shards of ice into his heaving chest. 18 Damage!
31 Experience!
He didn't die quickly, but a twitching corpse whose strings had been severed was no different to any other dead man. The fuzzy feeling that swept over my chest from using magic in such quick succession warned me that that trick wouldn't be something I could pull again. Or at least until my body returned back to normal, and I swore at myself for not practicing my magic more.
LEVEL UP!
'\[11/'
Mage
HP: 30 1 Mv: 2
Str: 13 1 Lck: 9 0
Mag: 20 1 Def: 13 1
Dex: 10 1 Res: 21 1
Spd: 15 0 Cha: 8 0
244 Experience points until the next level up!
"Goddamn parlor tricks," My wounds stung, and there was no way to get around the pain except to hope that adrenaline would be a sufficient crutch. Calling them mere flesh wounds would've been a pathetic exaggeration on my part. Searing pain that made me want to bite my tongue even if the damage amounted to my cloak being torn in a few places, "Ugh, fuck my life."
[Enemy Phase]
The severe changes in my own internal temperature was probably going to get me ill, but if meant keeping them at bay. It was just going to have to be another risk I'd have to be willing to run in the absence of better solutions.
"KAAAAAA!" "RAAAAAA!"
I'd almost been able to block out the near constant grunting, groaning, and growling that these undead freaks gave voice to. When two particularly noising ones pushed past the main hoard that had been masking their existence. Screaming once they were able to see me, and I knew it was because of that in particular since their eyes were actively flashing crimson.
Lv. 13, Blighter
HP: 40 Mv: 4
Str: 20 Lck: 0
Mag: 3 Def: 14
Dex: 11 Res: 11
Spd: 16 Cha: 8
[Damnation] - Foes lose -2 HP after combat if unit or foe uses physical means to damage either side.
Bit of a comical sight really.
Such was my line of thinking until the pair stepped close enough that my fire could illuminate their forms. Last I recalled if my memory serves well, and it has been a while since I had a biology lesson. Humans definitely weren't supposed grow fucking spikes of all things, or sprint while being impaled with knives and axes in areas vital for survival. Unfortunately my wolves had collectively decided to go after the one with an axe lodged in its abdomen which left me with a lumberjack looking fellow, with a knife already jabbed in his throat.
Honestly I was getting a bit tired of these bastards trying to become bowling balls, playing the role of the 'pine' wasn't a pleasant experience. Not to say that it was ever fun, but the point stands.
"Ack!" There only existed a handful of ways to make such a scenario worse, but I had never in my wildest dreams considered adding spikes. Something had to give during the impact, and the soft crack coming from where our chests collided felt more like one of my ribs had broken. Aside from air that had been forced out of my chest, there was Something penetrating my body that brought a wetness to the back of my throat. The fact that I didn't pass out from the pain was a miracle in itself, "Mot- GAh! You son of a persian whore, I-"
-7 HP HP: 17/30!
The fact that he just wouldn't let go of me, in fact he wrapped his arms around me and began squeezing once I was restrained. While the pain had been intense before, my vision simply blurred until everything went completely white. My blood ran cold, and my muscles locked up without my permission.
16 Damage!
"GAAAAAAAAAAAA," For the first time since I had started to fight these monsters, the one directly on top of me screamed out in pain. It was from some mixture of my entwined senses, what used to be a man had retained enough brainpower to recognize the fire tearing into his flesh. My power had struck out in an unstable wave of pure heat while I vomited out the blood that had entered my lungs, "AAAAAArchggg!"
Unfortunately it seemed that this creature lacked any other sense, including common sense or a self preservation instinct. Choosing to split its jaw in half at a horrifying 90 degree angle before lunging forward, and I was left to do my best to avoid the insane beast's attack.
But I was too tired, and my luck had run dry. Its lips were far too wet, a leathery tongue that cut into my skin and my tired brain cried out that this thing just couldn't be human. Something on the left side of my head got caught in its jagged teeth, one of his canines hooked onto a loose bit of my skin, and took a piece of me as his prize. While drool and blood seeped into my ear canal the monster swallowed whatever it was that he had taken from me.
-7 HP HP: 10/30!
27 Experience!
". . .fuck," For a moment something else took hold, where a sense of weightlessness fell over my body as the calm before the storm. I breathed without breathing, and my surroundings got darker even if the back of my mind recognized the familiar sets of runes. There was light somewhere that I just couldn't see as my voice's own echo ran inside of my skull, "off. . ."
[Player Phase]
The heat inside of my body must've been incredibly hot. Considering that once the last word left my lips, my tired body finally slid down so that my own feet touched the ground again. Whatever had been holding me up, which could only be those black spikes, had broken off the creature's bodies. -2 HP HP: 8/30! Regardless of the implication on the impending damage that could be done to my internal organs. It suddenly became infinitely easier to suck in a breath that I'd been dying to take, an action that was more of a reflex than a command. Such cold air poured in that it practically burned on its way down my much abused throat.
BANG!
16 Damage!
I just collapsed onto my knees once the arms holding me in place finally loosened enough for me to leave its grasp. Practically everything hurt, and my cloak didn't don't anything to make it not feel as if the zombie's gooey flesh had not been splattered across my bare chest. The flash of heat had briefly cooked my brain, and for the next few seconds made it incredibly difficult to recall what exactly had transpired.
While I was stuck sprawled out in the snow, another tongue, and this one distinctly not like the last one that had been accompanied by biting. Started to lick at my face, and my hair which had become slick with sweat from this whole ordeal.
'Thanks guys.'
On some level I was grateful to know that we were in relative safety again, but I appreciated the extra pairs of eyes more so. From the outside looking in, a lot of blood. . . and other forms of liquid were covering my face. I frankly looked like a disaster, frankly, the fashion police would've been justified in beating me to death. And the idea of just giving up, and dying was really starting to sound like not that bad of a deal.
'Brother' wanted to sniff the corpse of the thing that had been bear hugging me to death, but I psychically slapped the moron before he could. I had played enough COD to dread the day that we came across any undead animal. My heart was beating too much, running high enough that its thumping echoed inside of my own skull. Leaving me more nauseous than anything else that I had seen up to this point, and it would surely get worse without Tylenol or another pain killer. With my luck it would probably transform my skull into a bomb.
'You're a fucking genius Alcides, pack a bunch of whiskey. Dump your water to make more space, and bring nothing to deal with the inevidentable hangover. . . Dumbass.'
A proper examination of my direct surroundings at least seemed to reveal what I did, or became. Hundreds. No, the amount was probably in the thousands with how they were evenly spread out. Tiny and see-through shards littered the brute's body, all the way from his thigh to his neck. . . His head had been blown clean off. Using my good hand I swept away some of the blood from my face so I could look at my familiars.
I straight up refused to investigate any further to figure out where it ended up. Personally, I never wanted to see another human looking thing turned into fleshy string cheese, but I was glad that I no longer had to stare into its flickering red gaze.
For now the hoard marching towards me wasn't a concern, or at least one far enough that it would be my future self's problem. The rationalization made searching through my pack in the middle of the battlefield palatable, my wolves on full alert in case we had any more runners.
A deep breath steadied my hands long enough to drink a fraction of my only vulnerary, figuring that now was better than never. 10 HP HP: 18/30! I needed to be sober for this, and the potion did a good enough job that my flask went untouched. Eventually I found the 'other' item that I had spoke with Anna about, my curiosity was turning out to be a damn curse. Anna had called them 'sacred', and I had told her to shove them up her ass.
I have no excuse, only that she should have a return policy, and the fact that she doesn't make her all the poorer for it. Besides now that I had time to think about it, she was probably flirting with me, but sadly for her that was a trick I'd become immune to. Working in sales for long enough tends to make you fairly numb to that sort of thing.
Times change, and as much as I detested the idea of allowing anymore strange magical items the ability of influencing me. I needed to be faster if I wanted to see the kids again, to get to them before something, or someone else got the chance to. Biting the metaphorical bullet, I took one of the glass shoes in my good and channel my mana while squeezing down as hard as I possibly could.
2 Mv Mv: 4
Once they had fully faded from view, and the miniscule amount of weight they possessed simply merged with me. While it had appeared that they shattered, no sound was emitted as the low level of light that allowed them to glow faintly. Dimmed. The soles of my feet almost expanded, where a constant flow of cool air threatened to bring me to tears at the soft sensation. A moment later the rush of power settled, thickening until my sock felt far too tight and my boots had an extra bounce whenever I flexed a toe.
"You guys can handle it if they have any more runners," My wolfdogs gave me blank looks while their ears were tucked behind their heads, and I chose to look through their eyes again. Their concerned expressions made a bit more sense once 'twin' drew closer so I could see myself while lit up by my fire, ". . .Right?"
A bloody nub was all that remained of my left ear.
Chapter 8 Note: (Jan 28th)
-Never have I ever been sicker for longer than a week straight, and for the record. I never want to be subjected to such a thing ever again.
-I had a bit of an internal debate when it came to Jeralt's characterization, but I'm going to caulk it mostly up to what a man, and more importantly a Father. What they would be keeping in mind, and prioritizing above all else.
-At this point I don't really think that combat arts are ever going to come up in any meaningful way, writing combat 'Super Moves' just doesn't lend itself well in this sort of format. Now that's not to say I will never bring them back up, or include them in the story. Just that it won't be something I will be actively keeping track of.
-What if instead of Greylock it was called Freaklock, and Adam did the thugshaker.
-If I haven't properly aligned certain parts of the text, or if you think I've made a mistake when it comes to aligning text. No I didn't, you should go back and read again.
-The fucking Cali fire is never going to end is it? Damn those foreigners and the trees we imported, we should have never trusted the Japanese! I am, in fact, being sarcastic.
-Brief tangent as a writer; Anyone have a preference for the '. . .' shit, like in dialogue where something just trails off. Do people tend to like "word. . ." or "word . . .", or is it just me. I may just be suffering from hyper analyzing my own work.
Choices (optional to participate in)
1) Available until Chapter 10.
- Pick one deficiency and proficiency for Alcides to adopt, alongside the proficiencies and deficiencies he already possesses. If they coincide or contradict what is already present then a proficiency will be negated or a deficiency will be converted into a weakness.
] [Proficiency/Deficiency] Write in.
2) No Time Limit.
- Once in a lifetime opportunity, a character's canon rewrite. Be warned! I have many terrible things in store for multiple characters, plus you already know what happens in canon, so you are only getting this once. You can comment complex conditions under which this will activate as in saving it for later to keep certain characters alive longer, like if you'd keep a character alive even if they should've died. No retcons. This is not comparable to Sothis's time reversals, most character deaths will just be downgraded to mortal wounds etc.
] [Rewrite] Write in.
3) No Time Limit or if a Good Idea Comes To Me.
Wolf pup names! WooooooW, you guys get to name the dogs. That or I'll just spin a randomizer for names that I think would be funny. (You can still suggest names for the 2 that are alive.)
] [wolfNames] Write in.
Character Sheet and Details
Alcides, Lv [11] Mage, Experience: 15/259
HP: 31 (40%)
Mv: 4
Str: 14 (35%)
Lck: 9 (30%)
Mag: 21 (60%)
Def: 14 (35%)
Dex: 11 (40%)
Res: 22 (60%)
Spd: 15 (50%)
Cha: 8 (20%)
Class Growths: (Mage)
HP: 5%, Str: 0%, Mag: 10%, Dex: 5%, Spd: 0%, Lck: 0%, Def: 0%, Res: 10%, Cha: 0%
Base Critical Chance: 9.5% = [(Luck Dex) / 2]
Dodge: 9% = Luck Ability bonus
Base Attack Speed: 8 = Speed [Inventory weight (Strength / 5)]
Personal Skill: [Deserve to Die] - Foes within five spaces take 3 extra points of damage.
Class Ability 1: [Prepare] - Spending an action will store any spell that can be triggered at any later date as an action with no reaction from foes. [Monk Mastery required, 40/40]
Class Ability 2: [Logos, Lv 1 - Grants 1 range for spells per whole new letter grade above F. (D = Rng: 2)
Class Ability 3: [Pathos, Lv 1 - Increases the user's max uses of spell by 0.1 per partial letter grade beyond F. (Note: I draw the line at keeping track of spell usage)
Class Ability 4: [Ethos, Lv 2 - Grants the ability to use magic that is lower than or equal to this skill's placement * 2. (E = 4 Mt Currently)
Class Ability 5: [Mastery required]
Ability 1: [Knife Prowess, Lv 5 - Grants 5% to land a crit while using sharp weapons.
Ability 2:
Ability 3:
Ability 4:
Ability 5:
Learned Abilities: (n/a)
Available Spells: [Soothe] - Mt: 0 Crit: 0 Rng: 0 Lv: F A spell designed to treat inflammation, and reverse damage dealt to an ally. The healing output delivered is equal to the caster's level of magic.
Learned Spells: [Blaze] - Mt: 3 Crit: 15 Rng: 0 Lv: F Can inflict Burns that reduce physical defense equal to might on critical hits.
[Frostbite] - Mt: 4 Crit: 0 Rng: 0 Lv: F - Gains 30% critical hit chance against burning targets to trigger shock and skip the target's counter-attack, the target's burning status will be removed regardless if a critical hit is triggered.
Skill Levels: Knives (70; C), Reason (89; C), Authority (26; E), Faith (11; F), Daggers (0; F)
Proficiencies: Reason.
Deficiencies: Faith.
Budding Talent: (n/a)
Inventory: Steel Knife (1 mt, 10% crit, 1 wt), 1 Blessed Tome (4 wt), One Vulnerary, traveling pack (7 wt), Knowledge gem (0 wt). Total wt = 12
Currency: 1175 GP