Heroes of Last Resort (The Other Guys Book 1)

by JK Galioto

  You have gained 5 points in block, 4 points in parry and heavy armor, 3 points in large blades, and 1 point in Burning Hands. You have obtained beginner rank in the block skill and may choose one of the following perks:

  Shield Bash 1: You use your shield to bash an enemy, stunning them for a base of 5 seconds. This can be completely or partially resisted by resistances of the creatures you are bashing. This maneuver takes 6 stamina and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. Additional ranks in this perk will increase its effectiveness.

  Magic Defense 1: You use your shield to partially block spells directed at you. You apply your shield’s defense bonus against spells that would normally bypass armor defense. Further ranks in this skill will increase defense applied against such spells.

  Shielded Mage 1: You learn to hold your shield farther up on your forearm, leaving your hand free to cast spells. This cannot be a tower shield and reduces the block skill by 25%. Further ranks in this perk will reduce the defense penalty.

  Gooch spent over an hour analyzing the choices before finally deciding on Shield Bash 1. He really wanted to take Shielded Mage but having a go-to move in battle that could stun his opponent was too much of an advantage to ignore. He moved on to the next notification.

  You have achieved apprentice rank in the heavy armor skill and may choose one of the following perks:

  Increased Defense 1: Increases the bonus to defense of heavy armor you are wearing by 2. Further ranks in this perk will continue to increase bonus to defense.

  Fortification 1: Reduces chance of a strike against you being a critical hit by 25%. More ranks in this perk will further reduce the likelihood of critical hits landing on you.

  Freedom of Movement 1: Reduces movement penalty by 25% and reduces penalty for agility checks while in heavy armor by 25%. Normal: Heavy armor reduces movement by 25% and imposes a 100% penalty on agility checks.

  Armored Casting 2: Reduces the penalty of casting spells in armor by an additional 50%. Normal: Spell failure chance in medium armor is 25%, and spell failure chance in heavy armor is 75%.

  Gooch again took his time to review his choices. He chose Armored Casting 1 when he attained beginner rank, which reduced the chance of spell failure by twenty-five percent. It had helped him cast his Burning Hands spell the few times he had used it, but there was still a fifty percent chance he would fail every time he cast a spell. That was unacceptable, so Gooch chose Armored Casting 2. Besides, between his hardened skin and his poor-quality chain mail, he was still reducing each hit by eleven points. He moved on to his next notification.

  You have completed the quest, “Free the Prisoners.” Reward: 500 experience and increased reputation with the halflings. You have gained 100 fame points and are now Lesser Known. You are awarded the title: Defender of the Weak. Your reputation with good-aligned races is increased by one rank. Your reputation with evil-aligned races is decreased by one rank.

  Gooch had completely forgotten about that quest but happily checked it off his to-do list, and was proud of the Defender of the Weak title it bestowed. He was already protecting Jack, so he decided it fit.

  He only had one notification left, but it was a doozy.

  You receive 1,551 experience. Congratulations, you have attained level 5 and may choose a new class.

  Fighter: The fighter class is at home on the battlefield. This class excels at using all melee weapons and armor and will gain melee skills faster than any other class. They are also tougher, gaining more hit points per level than any other class.

  Samurai: Samurai are fighters that value honor above all things. Usually descending from nobility, Samurai follow a strict code of conduct that centers around protecting the innocent and destroying evil.

  Paladin: Paladins are Fighter-Cleric hybrids focused on defending their allies through strength of arms, protective magics, and divine healing. Paladins eagerly find the toughest creature in any battle and engage them in an honorable contest of might.

  Magus: Magus are scholars at heart, students of both the magical and martial arts, blending magical skill and martial know-how into something utterly distinctive. As the Magus grows in competence, magical and martial talents will continue to fortify each other until they are a power that few would dare stand against.

  Gooch carefully read each description, asking Emily questions and receiving mostly partial answers in return. He thought about what the party would need, especially after they brought over more of their friends. He hadn’t talked to Jack yet, but he would recommend bringing over Geoe, Topher, and either Joel, Joey, or T. Gritz and Bo would be especially useful when they started their stronghold or township, but they weren’t ready for that.

  He tried to narrow down the list, eliminating Fighter. As much as he appreciated the health and quick skill progression, there were just too many other interesting options. He also nixed the Paladin; Jack could heal and he wasn’t sure how divine magic would work in this world and honestly didn’t want to find out. He also eliminated Samurai; while he could get behind the code of honor, he really wanted to take something that elevated his magic. Maybe it was his real-life background of being a teacher and his love of learning, but he chose Magus.

  You chose Magus as your next class. You gain 6 hit points, 6 stamina and 10 spell points, and two attribute points in strength, intelligence, and wisdom. You also gain three Magus perks: Study Foe, Combat Casting, and Arcane Reservoir. Finally, you can access the abjuration, divination, alteration, and evocation spell domains. Choose one spell from each domain now. You will be able to choose new spells as you level and will gain access to more powerful spells.

  Abjuration Domain:

  Shield: Casting Time: Instant. Spell Cost: 6. Cooldown: 1 minute. Effect: Instantly produce a barrier around you that lasts for 5 seconds or until absorbing 20 points of physical damage, whichever occurs first.

  “Think shields surrounding the USS Enterprise,” Emily said in his mind. Gooch was still a little freaked out about that voice’s intimate knowledge of Earth culture.

  Mage Armor: Casting Time: 10 seconds. Spell Cost: 12. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Effect: Cloaks the caster in blue translucent armor, providing an additional 4 points of defense. The armor lasts 8 hours and does not weigh anything or hinder movement or spell casting. It does not stack with other worn armor.

  Absorb Elements: Casting Time: Instant. Spell Cost: 7. Cooldown: 1 minute. Effect: Instantly produce a barrier around you, lasting 5 seconds or until absorbing 20 points of magical elemental damage, whichever occurs first.

  “Captain Planet ain’t got nothing on me!” Emily said, her voice sounding strangely like Denzel Washington from Training Day.

  After taking a minute to think about it, Gooch chose Absorb Elements, thinking he could handle physical damage, but had no protection against magic, remembering those magic arrows hitting him in the last fight. He moved on to divination.

  Divination Domain:

  Guidance: Casting Time: 7 seconds. Spell Cost: 4. Cooldown: 1 minute. Effect: Give guidance to your target, improving their chance to win a skill check. Lasts one minute or until the target uses the skill.

  Analyze: Casting Time: 2 seconds. Spell Cost: 2. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Effect: Analyze an item, creature, or other object.

  Comprehend Languages: Casting Time: 15 seconds. Spell Cost: 10. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Effect: Grants the caster the ability to speak and read the language of a person nearby. Lasts 8 hours.

  Gooch didn’t think twice before choosing Comprehend Languages, then began sifting through the alteration domain options.

  Alteration Domain:

  Mending: Casting Time: 8 seconds. Spell Cost: 6. Cooldown: 1 minute. Effect: Repair an item, including weapons and armor.

  Feather Fall: Casting Time: Instant. Spell Cost: 4. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Effect: Instantly cast a spell to slow your descent, allowing you to fall like a feather. Lasts 30 seconds and can affect up to 4 targets.

  Night Eyes: Casting Time: 12 seconds. Spell Cost: 12. Cooldown: 5
minutes. Effect: Target gains Darkvision for one hour.

  Gooch spent an hour reviewing the three spells and really thinking about all the ways he could use them. He peppered Emily with questions about how they would change if he were able to level up the spells, learning that leveling up the skill of spells mostly reduced cooldown and spell cost and increased damage and range. He eventually chose Night Eyes. He knew Jack had Darkvision from his elven heritage and saw the benefit in being able to see better at night. He moved on to evocation, his last domain.

  Evocation Domain:

  Magic Arrow: Casting Time: 8 seconds. Spell Cost: 9. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Effect: Cast a magic arrow that unerringly hits your target, doing 2-8 points of damage. The number of arrows depends on the skill of the spell.

  Burning Hands: Casting Time: 3 seconds. Spell Cost: 8. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Effect: Shoots a small jet of flame 10 feet from your outstretched fingers, doing 4-10 points of fire damage to anything it hits. Targets within the area of effect will receive an agility check to reduce the damage.

  Ice Burst: Casting Time: 3 seconds. Spell Cost: 10. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Effect: Creates a burst of ice that flies out from you, doing 4-10 damage to everything within 10 feet of the caster. Creatures within the area of effect will receive an agility check to reduce the damage.

  Maybe Gooch was getting tired, but he chose Magic Arrow without much thought, thinking it would be nice to have a ranged attack in his arsenal. He moved on to reviewing his new Magus perks, asking Emily to display more information about each.

  Study Foe: You study your foe for 10 seconds, looking for weaknesses. During this time, you cannot cast or attack, but can defend yourself. After the 10 seconds is up, you may be able to identify your target’s weaknesses. Success is dependent on your skill versus the skill of the creature.

  “Hey, Smaug has a huge, missing scale. Grab your black arrow and have at it, Bard!” Emily said.

  Combat Casting: You can cast evocation spells while wielding weapons in each hand, a two-handed weapon, or a weapon and a shield. The spells take 25% longer to cast, due to additional vocalization requirements of the spell.

  Gooch appreciated the perk, but it would make his casting time fifty percent longer than normal when stacked with his Perfectionist perk. But he wouldn’t need to keep dropping his sword to cast, which was a huge plus.

  Arcane Reservoir: The Magus gains a reservoir of magical energy that can be drawn upon to fuel his combat ability. The reservoir contains a number of points equal to the levels gained in Magus + intelligence modifier, currently 4 (1 + 3 [intelligence modifier]). You can spend a point to use any of the perks below:

  Enhance Weapon: Grant a 10% attack and damage bonus to your weapon. Lasts for 1 minute.

  Weapon Element: Add elemental damage to your weapon, adding 1-6 damage to each attack. Lasts for 1 minute. This can stack with Enhance Weapon. Elemental damage choices include fire, lightning, acid, and cold. Sorry, Captain Planet, no heart!

  Fast Casting: Change the casting time of a spell to instantaneous.

  The points are replenished each day at dawn. The Arcane Reservoir perks will improve as you gain strength in the Magus class.

  Exhausted from the lengthy research and analytical process of leveling up, Gooch decided he might wake Jack up after all. But first, he wanted to review his character sheet and see the changes.

  Name: Gooch. Heritage: Stone giant. Class: Magus. Level: 5 (976/1600). Sex: Male. Height: 6’6.” Weight: 285 lbs. Hair: Black. Eyes: Brown. Fame: Level 2: Lesser Known (0/200)

  Hit Points: 62. HP Regeneration: 7/hour, outside of combat.

  Stamina: 57. Stamina Regeneration: 7/minute.

  Spell Points: 42. SP Regeneration: 8/minute.

  Chapter 35

  Jack woke up to find his friend fast asleep, alongside the halflings that had survived the night. Food and a good night’s sleep had done wonders for Jack, and he felt ready to tackle the day. He decided to review the notifications that had piled up in the corner of his vision before he got moving.

  You have learned the language: Common.

  You have gained 4 points in small blades and dodge, 2 points in persuasion, stealth, light armor, and performance, and 1 point in bluff, perception, and parry. You have gained 7 points in Minor Heal, 2 points in Analyze, and 1 point in Savage Scorn.

  Jack had attained apprentice rank in persuasion. The same options were listed as last time, so he chose Persuasive Performer 2, increasing his bonus to performance by another 5. He also attained journeyman rank in stealth. The same perks were there from last time, with a couple additional options.

  Quiet Allies: Your allies watch you closely and step where you step, increasing your allies stealth by 10 skill points. Their movement speed is reduced by 60% instead of the normal 50%. Prerequisite: Journeyman rank in stealth.

  Foil Smell 1: You are stealthy against more than just sight and sound. This perk allows you to somewhat mask your odors, reducing an enemy’s ability to smell you by 50%. Prerequisite: Journeyman rank in stealth.

  Jack dismissed Armored Stealth 3; he wasn’t going to be wearing medium armor any time soon. He enjoyed the freedom that wearing light armor gave him, even if it meant being squishy in battle, and he also didn’t think he could make Gooch silent, no matter how much Gooch tried to follow his footsteps. He chose Foil Smell 1, knowing there were several creatures that hunted through smell, and more importantly, he really, really stank. Worse than a port-a-potty at a chili cook-off on a one-hundred-degree summer day.

  You have attained beginner rank in small blades. Please choose from the following perks.

  Bleed Attack 1: You gain a 25% increased chance to cause bleeding when wielding small blades.

  Hit Harder 1: You add two points of damage to each small blade attack.

  Small Blade Defense 1: You gain a bonus of +10 to the parry skill when using small blades.

  Jack was torn between Small Blade Defense and Hit Harder, but eventually chose Hit Harder 1. Having an extra two points of damage would add up over time, especially when he considered sneak attack and critical strike multipliers. He continued to his next notification.

  You have attained level 2 in Bastion Party Leader. The group skill bonuses to dodge, parry, and block increase to 6. In addition, you may choose one of the following perks:

  Increase Party Size 1: Add an additional member to your party. Party size is currently capped at 4.

  Mind Meld 1: You can communicate telepathically with members of your party, within a range of 90 feet.

  Assign Tank 1: You can assign a tank role for your party. The person you designate as tank will receive a +5 skill bonus to parry and block.

  Jack reviewed each perk, weighing the pros and cons. His party currently consisted of two members, himself and Gooch. He thought he would have time before he would need to increase the party limit. He liked the ability to mentally communicate with Gooch; it would be especially useful when he scouted ahead. But giving Gooch an additional five points into parry and block on top of the six he was already getting from Jack’s Bastion Party Leader specialization would be amazing. He finally decided on Mind Meld 1, partly because he couldn’t wait to freak the big man out when he heard Jack’s voice in his head for the first time. He moved on to his next notification.

  You have completed the quest, “Free the Prisoners.” Reward: 500 experience and increased reputation with the halflings. You have gained 100 fame points and are now Lesser Known. You are awarded the title: Defender of the Weak. Your reputation with good-aligned races is increased by one rank. Your reputation with evil-aligned races is decreased by one rank.

  He was interested in seeing how fame worked, and guessed he already surpassed his earthly fame, which consisted of ten to fifteen groupies for his band.

  Jack reviewed his last notification.

  You have gained 1,551 experience points and attained Bard level 6. You gain 6 hit points, 6 stamina, and 10 spell points. You have 2 attribute points to assign, 2 sk
ill points to assign, and must choose a class perk and a spell.

  Jack reviewed his spell list again and decided to continue on his healer route, selecting Cure Poison. Like his grandpa always said, it was better to be prepared and not need something than need something and not have it. He then reviewed his Bardic perk options.

  Inspire Competence: Allows you to use your musical talent to assist your target with a skill check.

  Soothing Performance: Allows you to use your musical talent to heal all creatures within 30 feet of you for 2-8 + 3 (charisma modifier).

  Word Strike: Allows you to use your musical talent to direct a burst of sonically charged words at a foe, doing 1-8 sonic damage per Bardic level.

  Extra Use: Provides two extra daily uses of your Bardic perks.

  Extend Perk: Extends the duration of your Bardic perks. Inspire Ally and Discourage Foe will last an extra minute, and Song of Respite will last 16 hours.

  Greater Inspire Ally: Increase the bonus to attack speed to 25% and +5 damage when using the Inspire Ally perk.

  Greater Discourage Foes: Increase the penalty to enemies’ attack speed to 25% and damage to -5 when using the Discourage Foes perk.

  Greater Song of Respite: Triple the regeneration effect of Song of Respite.

  Most of the options would count against his daily number of Bardic perks, which was currently limited to 5. Jack stayed on his theme of healing and chose Soothing Performance; he would use that on the halflings around him after he was finished with leveling up, and fully planned on weirding everyone out with his signature rendition of “Sexual Healing” sometime soon. All he had left was to allocate his skill and attribute points. He reviewed his character sheet and chose to place one point in agility and one in charisma, and the two skill points in stealth. He reviewed his character sheet, pleased with his progress.

  Name: Jack. Heritage: Sun elf. Class: Bard. Level: 6 (390/3200). Sex: Male. Height: 5’9” Weight: 226 lbs. Hair: Brown. Eyes: Blue. Fame: Level 2: Lesser Known (0/200). Party Leader: Level 2 (120/3000).