Born Again 1 (2/2)
Zuula snorted. “Pssht. So afraid of fast paths to power…”
“Says the woman who stuck with shaman and let her other adventuring jobs rot.”
“Bah, she only need shaman. Shaman awesome.”
“Garon has a point,” Threadbare put his paw on Missus Fluffbear’s shoulder, as she whittled busily at scraps of wood. “I just found out a very good job that probably would have helped my friends, but I can’t learn it. Unless I find my guild. Oh! Does anyone know anything about that?”
Silence for a bit. Then Zuula sighed. “No. Dat part of de problem.” The little half-orc doll leaned against the counter, and shook her head. “Ain’t no one know what guild de words talking about. People first t’ought maybe it meant dem old trade guilds dat ain’t around no more.”
“Yeah. Dad told me about that,” Garon said. “When instant crafting became a thing, it wrecked the trade guilds overnight,” Garon said. “Touched off some really nasty trade wars, and a lot of people died, as the bigger Guilds tried to scrabble to keep their power and influence, and mercenary work boomed. But those weren’t the guilds the messages were talking about.”
“So no one know, and so we stuck wit’ de jobs we got,” Zuula shrugged. “How many you got little black bear?”
“Five left,” said Fluffbear, and they were all silent. “Adventuring, I mean. One crafting one left, now.”
“Oh, you’re eight and four too,” Threadbare said. “Good to have that confirmed.”
“How?” Garon finally managed. “Humans get SEVEN. Half-Orcs are stuck at six, for crying out loud. How’d you get such a big amount?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mff. So damned broken… Well, anyway, normally the path most people take is to level up their attributes associated with a job BEFORE they go into the job. That means that they train up their attributes while the training’s easier, so that the skill ups from leveling go farther. But you’ve kind of blown that away, I guess.”
“I guess. I didn’t really know what I was doing through most of it.” Threadbare said. “My luck was pretty horrible for a lot of it, so things kept happening to me. I think…” He rubbed his head. “I think if I hadn’t taken all those jobs I wouldn’t have survived.”
“So…” Missus Fluffbear turned her head back and forth. “Which way is better?”
“No way’s bettah, really,” Madeline said. “Speaking as someone who’s eaten people who followed both paths, it really just depends on wheathah you want to have powahful focus in one or two things, or have a bunch of useful skills in a bunch of areas.”
“I think the important thing is to figure out what you want to be, what you want to do to get to your goals, and find jobs that you like that support that,” Garon said. “Whether that’s all at once or waiting a bit to see if you change your mind later, or if you unlock something nifty, that’s up to you.”
“No wahn can tell you how to live yah life, right?” Madeline sounded approving. “Kickass. So, uh, ya ready to make me a mouth yet?”
Twenty carpenter skill ups and five levels later, she was.
It took Threadbare working in tandem with her for the leather and cloth components… the former of which they had to salvage from the curtains. This also gave him a tailoring level up, which… refreshed his sanity. Ah yes, he’d forgotten he could do that!
Handy, but sooner or later the levels would be farther apart. It had gotten him through some tough instances, but he couldn’t count on being able to do that forever.
And finally, the crowning touch. Missus Threadbare notched the eighteen-inch-tall marionette’s flexible, jointed cloth-and-wood mouth carefully, and slid in two tacks for fangs.
“Does that look vampire enough?” She asked Madeline.
The Soulstone pulsed red. “Oh yeah! She’s hot. I’d do me.”
“Do what?” Threadbare asked, confused.
“We’ll tell you LATER.” Garon shouted, then stopped, confused. “Huh. Sorry, I thought Mom was going to explain again.”
“What? Zuula not know what she talking about.”
“Thank gods for small favors.”
“Eh, fahgeddit. Let’s do this thing.”
“Wait,” Garon said. “What about the daylight thing. And the wood thing?”
“I thought of that. You know how many nights I spent staring at my screen? Gaht those ‘skills’ memorized. The exact wording was my flesh burns at the touch of sunlight. My FLESH, Gar. So if all I gots is wood, instead, I should be fine. And the wood thing don’t kick in till level five, and it says wood which pierces my skin will pain me, and wood through the heart will paralyze me. Guess what puppets don’t have! Skin or hearts!”
“Sounds sketchy to me.”
“Eh, if it don’t work out we go with anothah bahdy, and I just accept I can’t be a vampaiah.”
“You sure you don’t want to be a dragon instead, Mads?”
“I’ll stick with what I know. Like yer old lady, there.”
“Maybe a bit clever girl after all. For dead t’ing.”
“Love you too, Zuu.”
“Bah.”
They returned to the relatively safe basement, Threadbare did his thing, Zuula laid her midwife’s blessing upon the puppet, Fluffbear blessed her as well, and she sat up.
“Yes! I DO want to be a vampaiah. Bing! There we go. Awright. Moment of truth… Status.” The puppet read her screen, then jumped in place with a clatter. “You guys!”
“What?” said Garon.
“Zuula not a guy.”
“I’m not either! I think,” Said Missus Fluffbear.
“I suppose I’m a guy,” Said Threadbare. “Celia thought so and she would know.”
“You guys you guys you guys!” Madeline said, dancing a wooden jig with vampiric agility.
“What?” Garon said. “C’mon, share.”
“I have an open adventuring job slot! And a crafting one!”
There was silence for a long moment. “What? How?” Garon asked.
“Well I didn’t have an adventuring job befoah, right? And you all could carry one job ovah when you got turned into doll haunters, right?”
“Right…”
“So what if tha vessel opens up a slot regahdless, even if you don’t have one ta begin with? Like you tucked a baby in heah, he’d be able ta learn new jobs! Oooh, good idea. Let’s go find a baby.”
“No.” Garon said.
“What? Oh, right, what was I thinking!”
Garon looked relieved.
“There’s none around heah.”
Garon looked less relieved.
Oblivious, Madeline continued. “But the point is, I can learn something like an adventurer could. I’m kind of like people now. Wow. Didn’t expect this.” The vampire hopped up on her coffin, and drummed her heels on the lid with a staccato beat. “Man. What should I choose?”
“It’s… tough to say. You’re still a vampire, right?”
“Yeah, but my strength got a li’l nurphed. Most everyting else too, but eh, level one, so whatcha gonna do? Only one way up.”
“Unless you die. Then you gots to start all over,” Zuula said.
“Yeesh. Buzzkill. Eh… well, good time to test it, before I try anything. Hey guys, wanna walk me upstairs to do the sunlight test thing?”
They did, and the little puppet stared at the hole in the curtain where Threadbare had cut it for the leather, and the sunlight leaking through onto the ground. “Moment of truth,” Madeline whispered.
Then she put her foot into the sun.
“Tingles,” She said, shifting it back and forth. “Ya put ya right leg in, ya take ya right leg out… yeah!” She whooped. “Left leg in, an’ you shake it all ABOUT!” The marionette, stringless, danced the hokey pokey through the sunlight. Because THAT was what it was all about.
“Lucky, lucky day! Rules lawyerin’ for tha win!” She said, stepping back into the darkness. “Whew. Comfier. Good ta have darkspawn bonuses back. Lucky…” She froze. “Hey. That ah, that blessing of luck?”
“Yes?” Fluffbear asked.
“It’s on me, right? And not Zuula? Who’s runnin’ on half-orc luck now?”
“Oh, yes. It’s okay, because she has her Newborn’s Innocence… up…”
They fell silent, and looked to Zuula.
She never had put her midwife buff up. She’d tried it on herself, but she hadn’t had a mouth then, and in the joy of discovery they’d all forgotten completely about it. And once she had a mouth, she hadn’t cast it. She’d forgotten too.
Zuula, oblvious, stared back. “What-“
WHAM!
The door flew down, as Pulsivar and a ragged wolf, frothing at the mouth and bloody, rolled through the room. Mopsy chased the screaming, brawling pair, slashing…
…and then her eyes fell on Zuula. Panicked, and spooked by the sinister little doll, she leaped-
Half an hour later after they disposed of the wolf’s carcass, chastened the cats, yelled at Zuula until she Newborn’s Innocentsed herself, and finished mending themselves and the door, they settled into the basement for a nice long game of grindluck.
“Best present I ever took off a corpse,” Madeline said, fondling the worn cards as best as she could with wooden hands. Fortunately the animus spell and some careful woodwork beforehand had given her usable, if stiff fingers.
“Shut up and keep playing,” Zuula grumbled.
“What ah you worried about? And… oh, I just unlocked necromancer. Guess we all still count as undead.”
“Do you want to be one?” Garon asked.
“Thinking. I dunno. Threadbare’s got us covahed on that front. Unless he dies.”
“Oh gods, you’re right.” Garon said. “We’re effectively immortal unless he goes, so long as we die around him and he can soulstone us in time. But we’re boned if he dies. Unless we somehow find another friendly necromancer, and convince him to help. And even then I doubt we’d luck into another golemist-”
“I’m a necromancer,” Missus Fluffbear said.
They all stared at her.
“Right. Of course you is.” Zuula slapped a cloth hand to her yarn-covered head. “You deal peacefully with smart undead yesterday. Then job came up you just say ‘yes’. This why undead suck. Corrupting all the innocent youth.”
“Says the lady who used to put scorpions into our beds,” Said Garon, dropping his cards from his claws again. “Agh! Fucking dex.”
“I gotcha hun.” Madeline scooped up the cards, then froze. “Wait. Maybe I DO gotcha, Gar.”
“What?”
“I’m out for this hand.” Madeline folded her cards, walked over to one of the wall sconces, leaped up, and kicked an unused torch free. “Ya a scout, right mistah beah?”
“Yes, I am,” Said Threadbare.
“Firestartah me?”
“Um… won’t you die? Oh wait, you mean the torch.” It was a very good thing he had a fairly high intelligence, now. “Okay. Firestarter.”
She took the burning torch and stalked off into one of the side tunnels that the vampires had burrowed out from the basement. Mystified, the group watched her go. Eventually she turned a corner, and all they could see was the flickering torchlight.
“Mads?” Garon asked, uncertainly.
“It’s fine. Just looking for… ah, hello my pretties!”
A horrible squeaking chittering filled the air, and the toys jumped up from the table. “Rats!” Threadbare said, and charged towards the tunnel.
“It’s okay, I got this!” Madeline called back. “They’re caged! Darla had some set aside for snacks latah!” Threadbare slowed as he approached and oh goodness, wasn’t THAT a horrible smell. Roasted meat and rodent fear. “Yeah, theah’s the unlock! Thanks Garon! Yes! Ooooh, Status.”
The dragon’s eyebrows wrinkled. “You’re… welcome? Why?”
“Hee heee heee… ha ha ha!”
“Madeline? Starting to worry me, here.”
“Endure Fire! Call Fire! Yeah, that’s the stuff!”
The light in the tunnel flared, and Threadbare gasped as Madeline came around the corner, wreathed head to toe in fire.
But NOT burning.
“What?” Said the sunproof, stakeproof, and now fireproof vampire. “You wanted a faia elementalist, didn’t cha?”
THREADBARE'S CHARACTER SHEET
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Threadbare
Age: 5
Jobs:
Greater Toy Golem Level 11
Cave Bear Level 10
Ruler Level 5
Scout Level 5
Tailor Level 9
Model Level 4
Necromancer Level 10
Duelist Level 3
Animator Level 5
Enchanter Level 2
Golemist Level 3
Smith Level 1
Attributes:
Strength: 95 Constitution: 102 Hit Points: 257(297) Armor: 42(51)
Intelligence: 121 Wisdom: 148(153) Sanity: 269(341) Mental Fortitude: 32
Dexterity: 76(81) Agility: 80(90) Stamina: 166(231) Endurance: 52
Charisma: 74(99) Willpower: 104 Moxie: 178(243) Cool: 20(30)
Perception: 78 Luck: 65(70) Fortune: 143(188) Fate: 11(16)
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 10
Swim - Level 2
Greater Toy Golem Skills
Adorable - Level 20
Bodyguard - Level 6
Gift of Sapience - Level NA
Golem Body - Level 21
Innocent Embrace - Level 11
Magic Resistance -Level 6
Bear Skills
Animalistic Interface - NA
Claw Swipes - 22
Darkspawn - NA
Forage - 13
Growl - 2
Hibernate - 37
Scents and Sensibility - 18
Stubborn - 7
Toughness - 15
Ruler Skills
Appoint Official - Level NA
Emboldening Speech - Level 5
Identify Subject - Level 1
Noblesse Oblige - Level 20
Organize Minions - Level NA
Royal Request - Level 1
Simple Decree - Level 1
Swear Fealty - Level NA
Scout Skills
Alertness - Level 1
Best Route - Level 1
Camouflage - Level 1
Firestarter - Level 5
Keen Eye - Level 1
Sturdy Back - Level 6
Wind's Whisper - Level 1
Tailor Skills
Tailoring - Level 38(42)
Clean and Press - Level 5
Adjust Outfit - Level 2
Model Skills
Dietary Restriction - Level 20 (+40 to all pools)
Fascination - Level 3
Flex - Level 14
Self-Esteem - Level 14
Work it Baby - Level 9
Necromancer Skills
Assess Corpse - Level 10
Command the Dead - Level 28
Deathsight - Level 6
Drain Life - Level 1
Invite Undead - Level 12
Mana Focus - Level NA (+10% to sanity)
Skeletons - Level 16
Soulstone - Level 24
Speak With Dead - Level 18
Zombies - Level 3
Duelist Skills
Challenge - Level 3
Dazzling Entrance - Level 1
Fancy Flourish - Level 6 (11)
Guard Stance - Level 8
Weapon Specialist - Level 10 (Brawling +5)
Animator Skills
Animus - Level 13
Animus Blade - Level 1
Arm Creation - Level 1
Command Animus - Level 7
Creator's Guardians - Level 12
Dollseye - Level 2
Eye for Detail - Level 8
Mend - Level 25
Enchanter Skills
Appraise - Level 9
Glowgleam - Level 1
Harden - Level 5
Soften - Level 1
Spellstore - Level 1
Golemist Skills
Command Golem - Level 1
Golem Animus - Level 6
Invite Golem - Level 2
Toy Golem - Level 6
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
Ringtail Master's Coat (+5 CHA, +5 LUCK, +5 Armor, +5 Fate)
Rod of Baronly Might (+5 CHA, +5 WIS, +10 Cool)
Yellow Belt of Bravado (+5 AGL, +5 DEX, +5 to the Fancy Flourish skill)
Toy Top Hat (CHA +10)
INVENTORY
A sack of coins.
A Finely-Made Dagger (Dagger Level 5)
A Dungeon Core
Tailor's Tools
A small jewelry box full of reagents and crystals, most minor.
Minorphone (Enhances voice and social skills focused through it twice per day)
Quests
Save Celia
Unlocked Jobs
Berserker, Cleric, Cook, Spirit Medium, Tamer, Wizard