A Wildling Brood 3 (2/2)
Jarrik looked over at her. “The garrison of guards in town grew four fold in the last two weeks. Something big's going down.”
“Word is they're bringing in dragonriders!” Bak'Shaz grinned. “I wanna see that!”
“Not up close and personal you don't,” Garon told him. “But we don't talk about this. Not till Dad says it's okay. Swear?” He held out his hand. “Put yours on mine and swear,” he added, at Celia's look of confusion.
The four kids and Threadbare touched hands, as they swore their first oath of secrecy against the rest of the world. Well, Threadbare thought it, anyway. He got his head ruffled for being cute again.
Afterwards, they were silent for a while, digesting the news in their own way as the stars wheeled overhead.
“Hey,” Garon finally said. “You wanted us to tell you what it was like being half-orcs?”
“Oh. Never mind, it was a stupid question anyway.”
“No, it's fine. You're tribe now. You're family.”
“Oh, uh... thanks!” She gasped. “My charisma just went up!”
They laughed at that. “Ya must've lead a pretty sheltered life,” Jarrik jeered.
“You have no idea,” the girl muttered.
Garon shrugged. “Alright. So being a half-orc means people are gonna look at you and think to themselves 'wow, that guy's really tough and really violent and really dumb.' It means having to live with that, knowing that people will think you're either a threat or an idiot.”
“That's horrible!”
“Well... it can be, if you let it. But here's the thing. The people who are stupid enough to think that's all there is to you, they underestimate you. So if they're your enemy, you can exploit that. They die easier when you pull off something smart. And if they fear you, you can use that to your advantage, too. Me, people look at me and think hm, axe, half-orc, the dude's a berserker, who's going to murder his way through life, go into a rage, and kill indiscriminately.”
“That's horrible!”
“Yeah, especially since what I want to do is murder my way through life, go into rages, kill discriminately, and get paid for it.”
“But you aren't a berserker, how can you rage?”
“Race skills. We get born with one orcish skill and one human skill. In my case I've got that human drive to achieve, which gives me bonus experience for quests and stuff like that. And I've got twisted fury. It's... pretty horrible. It's a rage that burns me up, eats up hit points.”
“Oh. That's... kind of dangerous, right?”
“It would be if I weren't smart.” He tapped his forehead. “Shamans get slow regeneration which helps me survive, and mercenaries get Blood is Gold, which lets us trade money for instant healing. I'm gonna be a legendary fury on the battlefield, when I start getting paid enough. And when I'm on a battlefield. Which is going to be soon, if the Oblivion's going down in our lifetime.” his eyes gleamed. “It'll make grinding all that charisma totally worth it...”
“We didn't get his fury,” Jarrik said. “Just as well. He goes through so much crap keepin' his temper down. We got Darkspawn instead. Lets us see in tha dark, get bonuses to stuff at night or in tunnels and such.”
“Oh. That's pretty handy!”
“Yeah, all the best monsters come out at night,” Bak'shaz grinned. “Downside is I'm stuck with Orky charisma. But my tamer job helps there.”
“Mom put a scorpion into his crib to toughen him up when he was a baby,” Garon explained. “No shit, he made friends with it! Didn't sting him, slept with him, kept other bugs away from him.”
“Wait, she did what?” Celia's voice rose.
“It's all right. She had the antidote right there, and was ready to heal him up. She did stuff like that to all of us. Orcs are born with lousy luck and no real clearics among most tribes. So children have to get tough fast or improve their luck quickly, or they die because they just didn't have the luck or fate to survive.”
“She lost a few children that way, before she started getting tough on us,” Bak'shaz said. “Then we lost one more 'cause she got stupid.”
“Don't talk about Mastoya that way,” Jerrik scowled. “You don't know nuffin' about it.”
“What... um...”
Garon glanced Celia's way. “She joined the King's guard. She had twisted fury too, she'd be dead if she couldn't find an outlet for it. Can't blame her. She's off in the North somewhere right now. Still sends letters and money back. Dad keeps the letters and gives away the money. Which is a shame, because I could put it to good use. In fact...” He bit his lip, considered Celia.
“What?”
“You're family now.” He glanced around. “Jarrik, are Mom and Dad gone out of earshot?”
“Keen Eye,” Jarrik whispered, then stood up and looked into the woods. “I think so.”
“Good.” Garon smiled, and leaned in close to Celia. “How would you like to help us run through a dungeon?”
THREADBARE'S CHARACTER SHEET
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Threadbare
Age: 8 days
Jobs:
Greater Toy Golem Level 7
Bear Level 4
Ruler Level 2
Scout 2
Attributes:
Strength: 47 Constitution: 54 Hit Points: 145 Armor: 22
Intelligence: 37 Wisdom: 56(61) Sanity: 92(97) Mental Fortitude: 12
Dexterity: 24 Agility: 33 Stamina: 65 Endurance: 32
Charisma: 35(40) Willpower: 27 Moxie: 61(66) Cool: 20 (30)
Perception: 37 Luck: 35 Fortune: 71 Fate: 7
Generic Skills
Brawling - Level 9
Climb - Level 6
Clubs and Maces - Level 7
Dagger - Level 4
Dodge - Level 1
Fishing - Level 1
Ride - Level 2
Stealth - Level 3
Swim - Level 2
Greater Toy Golem Skills
Adorable – Level 13
Gift of Sapience – Level NA
Golem Body – Level 5
Innocent Embrace - Level 2
Magic Resistance –Level 4
Bear Skills
Animalistic Interface – NA
Claw Swipes – 6
Forage – 7
Scents and Sensibility – 7
Toughness – 7
Ruler Skills
Emboldening Speech - Level 1
Identify Subject - Level 1
Noblesse Oblige - Level 1
Royal Request - Level 1
Simple Decree - Level 1
Scout Skills
Camouflage - Level 1
Firestarter - Level 1
Keen Eye - Level 1
Sturdy Back - Level 5
Wind's Whisper - Level 1
Equipment
Rod of Baronly Might - (Level 5 Club, CHA +5, WIS +5, +10 Cool )
Quests