Getting Your Bearings 3 (2/2)
And then Threadbare was a Cave Bear.
Still a teddy bear, still a Greater Golem, but a bit thicker and with a bigger skull.
You are now a level 10 Cave Bear!
+10 CON
+10 WIS
+5 Armor
+5 Mental Fortitude
+5 Endurance
You have unlocked the Darkspawn Skill!
And that wasn’t the only level up.
You are now a level 3 Duelist!
+3 AGL
+3 DEX
+3 STR
But it was the final one that brought the most interesting results…
You are now a level 5 Animator!
+3 DEX
+3 INT
+3 WILL
You have unlocked the Animus Blade skill!
Your Animus Blade skill is now level 1!
You have unlocked the Arm Creation skill!
Your Arm Creation skill is now level 1!
You have unlocked the Dollseye skill!
Your Dollseye skill is now level 1!
New skills… Threadbare shook his now mildly-larger head, and peered around with new eyes. If he could have seen himself, he would have noticed that the buttons were bigger, darker, so black that they almost seemed hollows within his head. And in there, a tiny gleam flickered like pupils.
The raccants in the stands had fled, he saw. For the minute the room was empty.
But… where was Missus Fluffbear? She had to be here!
He took a sniff. His Scents and Sensibility had helped him so often before…
And it did not fail him now.
PER +1
Your Scents and Sensibility skill is now level 16!
It was coming from… above? He lifted his new, sensitive eyes –
-up to where the platform shuddered, and slowly began to retract into the hole in the ceiling.
“No!” He grabbed Pulsivar, interrupting a perfectly good groom, and held fast to the scruff of his neck. The cat jerked its eyes to the little bear, looking mortally offended. “Up! We need to go up!” Threadbare pointed with his free hand. “Jump! Please Jump!”
Fortunately, he’d just equipped some very good charisma gear.
CHA +1
Pulsivar got the gist of it, and did his thing, running and leaping for all he was worth, as Threadbare hung on tight.
Your Ride skill is now level 8!
It was a very good thing that he was so light, and had gotten so strong.
They made the platform, the cat’s claws clicking and scraping as he caught the lower edge of it, flailed, and pulled himself up. All told it was a good thing he didn’t have a proper tail anymore, else it would have been severed as the platform clunked into the ceiling.
Threadbare let go, and looked around at the place…
…and realized that he was far, far out of his depth.
It was a void, a black void. The floor was stone, he could feel that under his paws, but there were no walls. Pylons filled the expanse, green pillars of light, flickering softly. In amongst a cluster of the pillars, a red crystal the size of Threadbare hovered, swaying up and down, as small lightning bolts arced between it and the pillars.
Some of the pillars had raccants in them. Others had jumbles of things. Coins, bits of treasure, familiar looking objects…
And one had Missus Fluffare, suspended in midair. She looked a little torn and dirty, but she was still intact, still six inches tall, and most decidedly NOT a Bearserker or a Trash Panda.
“There you are!” He sobbed in relief.
Pulsivar rumbled, low in his throat. He did not like this place one bit. Threadbare patted him. “Stay here please,” he said, then ambled toward the cluster of inhabited pillars.
As he approached each one, glowing letters faded into existence. One pillar filled with a pile of worthless junk got the letters MINION – TRASH MOB.
Another held one of the raccant guards. MINION – RACCANTEER
One held the bard he’d fought. MIDBOSS 1 - MC SLAMMER
Another held someone he hadn’t encountered… a Raccant with a blonde wig and a torn up dress, holding a weird gizmo with buttons and numbers on it. She had two labels; MIDBOSS 4 – RACCANT EVEN, and MIDBOSS 5 – THE VERY MODEL OF A VARMINT MAJOR GENERAL. Maybe she was in another part of the dungeon?
The one with Missus Fluffbear in it had two labels. MIDBOSS 2 – BEARSERKER, and MIDBOSS 3 – TRASH PANDA. He reached for it…
…and his paws frizzed, blurred and started flashing green. Ow! What was this? He pulled them back, quickly. It felt almost like… like that one time, back in the Catamountain, during the final fight when Celia had almost hit him with an electricity ball.
Threadbare turned, to look at the red crystal.
He moved up to the pillar under it, the one labelled DUNGEON BOSS – RINGTAIL MASTER.
And the Ringtail Master looked back. Shocked, Threadbare stumbled back, and the boss burst out of the pillar, reaching out to grab and claw at the interloper-
-and got promptly jumped by Pulsivar.
He went down easier this time. A lot easier. And his corpse didn’t disappear.
A soft chime echoed everywhere and nowhere, and words, green words writ large across the… sky? They were made of numbers, all zeroes and ones, and Threadbare shook to see them. They felt… wrong. Strange. If he’d known the word, he would have called them unholy.
NO MASTER DETECTED IN DUNGEON 01010010 01000001 01000011 01000011 01001111 01001111 01001110 01010010 01010101 01001101 01010000 01010101 01010011
PLEASE ASSIGN NEW MOB TO COMMAND VARIABLE TO CONTINUE OPERATION.
Threadbare stared at the words. They made no sense.
He went back and tried to pull Missus Fluffbear out again… and again, his hands got zapped. No, no, that would do something bad. He didn’t know what, but it would be bad, his advanced wisdom told him.
What could he do?
The bleak landscape shuddered. For a second, there were stone walls all around, an old mine cart off to one side, and then it was the black and green weirdscape again. Pulsivar howled in fear, and ran to the bear, nudging him with his face. It was time to go, Pulsivar insisted, in cat.
But there was nowhere to go.
Was there?
The words above shifted. ERROR! NO MASTER DETECTED. DUNGEON SEALING IN 30.
Then the 30 changed to 29. Then to a 28.
Threadbare hugged Pulsivar, and held on tight. Was this the end?
It wasn’t.
When the numbers reached zero, the world changed.
It was a dark mineshaft, dingy, just one central cavern with a few small tunnels off of it. Threadbare looked around, his new darkvision drinking everything in perfect detail, as scents once again filled his nose. Raccant, mostly, but under it all, the welcome odor of Sandalwood.
He ignored the chittering Raccant Bard and whatever the Raccant Even was as the two of them fled, ignored the minion raccants who followed them out at top speed, with Pulsivar in hot pursuit. He ignored the various bits of loot littering the ground, and even ignored his Scepter, lying there, golden in the darkness.
No, Threadbare ignored them all as he walked up to the tiny bear, half his size, dazed and looking around in the darkness. And he hugged her. She stiffened, but then golden light flared from his innocent embrace-
You have healed Missus Fluffbear for 100 points!
Your Innocent Embrace skill is now level 11!
And a smaller golden light flared, as she hugged him back.
Missus Fluffbear has healed you for 10 points!
And while there was a lot to sort out, for now, he knew that all was well with the world. The loot could wait. He'd been too long in here already, here and whatever that... other place had been.
Scooping Missus Fluffbear up, he carried her out of the shallow mineshaft, and back into the daylight.
THREADBARE'S CHARACTER SHEET
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Threadbare
Age: 5
Jobs:
Greater Toy Golem Level 10
Cave Bear Level 10
Ruler Level 4
Scout Level 4
Tailor Level 8
Model Level 3
Necromancer Level 1
Duelist Level 3
Animator Level 5
Enchanter Level 1
Golemist Level 1
Smith Level 1
Attributes:
Strength: 93 Constitution: 100 Hit Points: 253(293) Armor: 42(46)
Intelligence: 75 Wisdom: 110 Sanity: 185(215) Mental Fortitude: 32
Dexterity: 70(75) Agility: 72(82) Stamina: 152(187) Endurance: 52
Charisma: 64(79) Willpower: 61 Moxie: 125(170) Cool: 20
Perception: 66 Luck: 60 Fortune: 126(156) Fate: 10
Generic Skills
Brawling - Level 25 (+5)
Climb - Level 13
Clubs and Maces - Level 9
Dagger - Level 9
Dodge - Level 7
Fishing - Level 1
Ride - Level 8
Stealth - Level 5
Swim - Level 2
Greater Toy Golem Skills
Adorable - Level 17
Bodyguard - Level 6
Gift of Sapience - Level NA
Golem Body - Level 20
Innocent Embrace - Level 11
Magic Resistance -Level 4
Bear Skills
Animalistic Interface - NA
Claw Swipes - 22
Darkspawn - NA
Forage - 8
Growl - 2
Hibernate - 37
Scents and Sensibility - 16
Stubborn - 7
Toughness - 15
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 4
Keen Eye - Level 1
Sturdy Back - Level 6
Wind's Whisper - Level 1
Tailor Skills
Talioring - Level 37(41)
Clean and Press - Level 4
Adjust Outfit - Level 2
Model Skills
Dietary Restriction - Level 15 (+30 to all pools)
Fascination - Level 3
Flex - Level 13
Self-Esteem - Level 13
Work it Baby - Level 6
Necromancer Skills
Assess Corpse - Level 1
Command the Dead - Level 1
Soulstone - Level 1
Speak With Dead -Level 2
Zombies - Level 3
Duelist Skills
Challenge - Level 3
Dazzling Entrance - Level 1
Fancy Flourish - Level 6 (11)
Guard Stance - Level 3
Weapon Specialist - Level 10 (Brawling +5)
Animator Skills
Animus - Level 12
Animus Blade - Level 1
Arm Creation - Level 1
Command Animus - Level 7
Creator's Guardians - Level 12
Dollseye - Level 1
Eye for Detail - Level 4
Mend - Level 17
Enchanter Skills
Appraise - Level 1
Glowgleam - Level 1
Harden - Level 1
Soften - Level 1
Spellstore - Level 1
Golemist Skills
Command Golem - Level 1
Golem Animus - Level 1
Invite Golem - Level 1
Toy Golem Construction - Level 1
Smith Skills
Refine Ore - Level 1
Equipment
Apprentice Tailor's Apron (+4 Armor, +4 Tailoring)
Baggy Pants of Hammerspace (+5 AGL, +5 CHA, Allows hammerspace for one blunt weapon)
Poor Quality Bling
Yellow Belt of Bravado (+5 AGL, +5 DEX, +5 to the Fancy Flourish skill)
Toy Top Hat (CHA +10)
INVENTORY
Assorted Copper and Silver coins
Clown Horn
Tailor's Tools
2 Doses of Yellow Reagent
Quests
Save Celia
Unlocked Jobs
Berserker, Cook, Tamer, Wizard