by C. M. Carney
“Dickhead,” Gryph muttered, as his eyes spazzed back and forth seeking the cloud of miniature enemies. Wick fell over, unable to control his laughter and even Ovyrm grinned at him in mirth. Tifala walked up, a sympathetic look on her face.
“How bad is it?” Gryph asked.
“It looks … good,” Tifala said and held her laughter for a whole four seconds. “It’s very fashionable,” she sputtered between chortles.
“Perfect,” Gryph grumbled, and he felt a tickle on his neck and spun spastically around looking for more lutins.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be back for a while,” Tifala said.
“How can you know that?” Gryph sputtered, still swatting phantom lutins away.
“I cast Hearth of the Home, a life spell that creates a safe haven we can camp in. It is a sphere about thirty feet in diameter that will shield us from all but the most powerful of creatures. From the outside, it will look like more forest, and it will subtly suggest to any beast we are likely to encounter that food, shelter, water or whatever else they seek is in another direction. It isn’t a perfect defense, but it will feel more like home. Come, we all need to eat and rest.” She gave Gryph one last grin and tried to hold back her mirth. She almost succeeded.
They ate and rested and laughed. To Gryph’s relief, the laughter wasn’t all directed at him. After dinner Gryph decided it was time to look at the prompts he had minimized while they were still in the Barrow.
You have earned the skill LEADERSHIP.
Level: 1-3 (level 1 + 2 GH levels bonus) - Skill Type: Passive/Active
You have stepped up to the plate of leadership multiple times and have shown the capability to lead.
A Perk Point has been spent on Adventure Party. You may now organize your fellows into an Adventure Party. Members of your Adventure Party benefit from your Leadership Perks. All followers now have the Secondary Stat Morale. Morale increases by 1 point per 10 levels of Leadership Skill. Be warned, your decisions as a leader have consequences and can increase or decrease the Morale of your followers.
Adventure Party Max Members: 5 (Including Leader)
Gryph scowled at the prompt, not because the skill wasn’t useful, but because it dredged up unpleasant memories. Back on Earth, in the Army, he’d been the leader of his squad. It had been his respect for the chain of command that enabled the massacre that had led to his court-martial. He had been a scapegoat for the actions of his Lieutenant, but it was also true that Sergeant Finn Caldwell should have done more to prevent the massacre. Ever since then Finn, and now the elf who called himself Gryph, had done all he could to refuse the mantle of leadership. Life sometimes had different ideas. Maybe it was time for Gryph to leave Finn’s ghosts in the past.
Easier said than done, Gryph thought with a sigh. He thought it was odd that the prompt said he’d earned Leadership as opposed to having learned the skill. If he ever saw Lex again, he’d have to ask the curmudgeonly banner what that meant. He was also annoyed that the Game Mechanics had spent one of his precious Perk Points without his consent, but then when he saw the benefits, his frown turned to a smile.
Adventure Party: This perk allows a Leader to form an Adventure Party. There are five Tiers of Adventure Parties, and each increases the number of followers able to gain all Boons and XP bonuses.
• Adventure Party: 5 max members (including leader).
• Adventure Group: 6 max members (including leader).
• Adventure Troop: 7 max members (including leader) + Mantra.
• Adventure Company: 8 max members (including leader).
• Adventure Guild: 10 max members (including leader) + Charter.
Boon: A Boon is an automatic bonus given to all members of an Adventure Party upon that party’s formation. Boons are created using magical spells (as well as some abilities and perks) already known by their creator. Once a Boon is chosen, it cannot be changed. Boons remain in effect as long as the Adventure Party is active. Boons are stackable.
Experience Bonus: A bonus to experience gained and shared by an Adventure Party.
Note: The Leader of an Adventure Party can gift all members with any defensive spells they cast at the cost of 1.25 mana per member.
Gryph already knew the power of Adventure Party. Ovyrm had activated it during the battle against the Barrow King, and the xydai’s Adjudicator’s Boon had been invaluable, perhaps the key to their survival. He was a bit peeved that there was no explanation for Mantra or Charter but imagined it was another ‘must be discovered’ type of knowledge the Realms seemed so fond of tossing his way.
Warmth rushed through his body, and he sensed the new perk hovering at the edge of his awareness. He tagged it, and another prompt came up.
Do you wish to start an Adventure Party?
Available Members: Wick, Tifala, Ovyrm, and Xeg.
Maximum Members: 5 (4 + Yourself)
Duration: Until canceled, Gryph loses consciousness, is mentally controlled or killed.
Cooldown: N/A
Available Boons: None
XP Bonus: 0
YES or NO?
He wasn’t a fan of the phrase ‘until Gryph is killed.’ It suggested such an eventuality was inevitable, despite his ability to respawn and the apparent immortality it granted him. He’d also forgotten all about Xeg, but his option to add the irritating imp suggested that he was lurking somewhere close.
Hopefully, he’s met the lutins, Gryph thought with a sly grin that quickly turned to a frown as his hand moved unbidden through his badly shorn hair. With a grunt of annoyance, Gryph tapped NO. There was no point in starting an Adventure Party now, but he wanted to be familiar with the interface when the time came.
He dumped another Perk Point into Boon 1.
You have created BOON LEVEL 1.
You may create a Boon to be shared with your Adventure Party based upon your current skills, spells, perks or other. Boons will last as long as the Adventure Party to which it has been granted.
Do you wish to create your Boon now?
Note: Choose wisely. Once created Boon 1 cannot be changed.
Note: If applicable, the Boon power level is determined by either the level of the skill the Boon it is derived from or the Leadership skill, whichever is higher.
YES or NO?
Gryph was stunned. The freedom and potential power of Boons were incredible. There were so many options for him to choose from. Halo of Air had saved his bacon several times, but that seemed to have limited effectiveness for an Adventure Party. Ovyrm had taught him Telepathic Bond, and he’d already seen its power, but choosing that as his Boon seemed short-sighted as Ovyrm could already grant it to the group. Yet the xydai had ceded the leadership role to Gryph, something Gryph was still not comfortable with. They could also be separated. What happened if Ovyrm was knocked out or worse yet killed?
He put a mental check next to Telepathic Bond, but then cycled through his other spells and powers and found his mind drawn to his Divine Perk Assimilation. His finger trembled at the idea. Assimilation was a powerful perk. Once a week it allowed Gryph to assimilate one skill from a defeated opponent. He had used it to assimilate Soul Magic from the Barrow King Ouzerio. Not only would Assimilate allow his Adventure Party to learn new skills, but it would level commensurate to a third of the defeated enemies level. Killing the Barrow King had granted Gryph level 25 in Soul Magic.
Without hesitation Gryph mentally moved the Divine Perk into the Boon 1 slot and a prompt leapt into his vision all red and angry.
ERROR: You cannot use a Divine Perk to create a Boon.
“Figures,” Gryph muttered. With a frown, he cycled through his other options. I guess that would have been too easy. He considered Mind Shield but decided that because it only worked against people and beasts capable of using Thought Magic it had limited use.
Another option was the chthonic spell Demon Scales that he’d learned from Xeg, although learned was not an accurate description of how that had gone down. The imp h
ad jumped onto Gryph’s head and forced knowledge of the spell into his mind.
Despite the rude delivery method Gryph was excited to cast the spell and quickly saw the benefits of the netherworld incantation. It provided a bonus to armor class, without taking away any mobility. It would currently only provide a 10% boost, but that would grow as either his Leadership or Chthonic Magic skill leveled.
Nearly every option was tempting, but he knew that information and coordinated action in battle could mean the difference between life and death. He pushed Telepathic Bond into his Boon 1 slot.
Congratulations you have created BOON 1 - Telepathic Bond.
Whenever you form an Adventure Party, all members will receive the ability to communicate mentally over distances up to 200 feet. Any member can detect the relative location of any telepathically bonded member of the Adventure Party by concentrating. This ability is effective up to 500 feet. Additional benefits will be revealed as Gryph’s Leadership level advances.
Duration: Until canceled, Gryph loses consciousness, is mentally controlled or killed.
Well, huzzah, Gryph thought pleased with his choice. He shifted focus back to the Leadership perk tree and eyed the Experience Bonus perk. The Realms thrived on power and to get power you needed experience. Without hesitation, he dumped a third Perk Point into the first level of Experience Bonus. Now any Adventure Party he led would gain a 25% bonus to any experience they earned, whether it was from quests of slaying monsters.
Leadership Perk Tree
Tier
Adventure Party
Boon
Experience Bonus
B
Adventure Party
Boon 1
25%
A
Adventure Group
Boon 2
50%
J
Adventure Troop
Boon 3
75%
M
Adventure Company
Boon 4
100%
G
Adventure Guild
Boon 5
200%
Gryph closed down all the Leadership prompt windows and smiled to himself. He might look like a five-year-old had played dolly with his hair, but he and his people had just become a bit more badass. And that matters much more than looks, doesn’t it? He pulled a hand through his once long and lustrous hair and grimaced.
A few other prompts blinked, begging for his attention. He tapped the one that seemed to be related to his Leadership skill prompt.
You have unlocked the Secondary Stat MORALE.
Morale is a measurement of the trust your followers have in you and your ability to lead. Morale is measured on a scale of -100 to +100 and always starts at 0.
A Leader’s Leadership Skill will add 1 point for every 10 levels.
The events and course of the battle (and decisions made outside of battle) will alter the Morale positively or negatively. Exactly how events affect Morale must be discovered over time.
-100: Surrender: The follower drops their weapons and surrenders.
-75: Cowardly Action: The follower has a 50% chance of fleeing the battle field.
-50: Decreased Attack Speed: 1/2 x attack speed.
-25: -50% to Stat regeneration.
-10: -25% to Stat regeneration.
0: No bonus or penalty.
+10: +25% to Stat Regeneration.
+25: +50%to Stat regeneration.
+50: Increased attack speed: 2 x attack speed.
+75: Heroic Boost: +5 to all Attributes and +50 to all Stats.
+100: Invincible: Damage taken by followers reduced by 50%.
“Damn, that is cool,” Gryph said aloud.
“What’s cool?” Wick said. “You cannot be talking about your hair?”
Gryph gave him a two-fingered gesture that the gnome could not possibly understand, but whose meaning was obvious.
“Well that seems unfriendly,” Wick said.
“Shush, grown up at work over here,” Gryph retorted.
“You sure look the part,” Wick said, dripping sarcasm and earning another glare from Gryph.
“Children don’t make me come over there and spank you,” Tifala said.
“Promises, promises,” Wick said with a wink.
“Behave,” Tifala said.
“You’re no fun,” Wick mumbled under his breath, but he leaned back and closed his eyes.
Despite the ribbing, Gryph smiled. Wick snuck a peek at Gryph and grinned. Ovyrm seemed oblivious to the whole exchange as he sat cross-legged in meditation, but Gryph knew that the warrior monk had heard every word.
It had been a long time since he’d been able to call someone a friend. The fact that he now genuinely considered all three of his odd companions true friends both warmed his heart and made him wonder just how much weirder his life would become. Gryph returned to his prompts with a chuckle.
You have reached Apprentice Tier in Soul Magic.
With this Tier Boost, the skill has gained a new ability.
You can now use the Tier Ability Soul Bind.
Soul Bind allows you to engage in a battle of wills with a creature or beast. If you win, then you can bind that creature or beast to your will, effectively making it your pet or servant. The creature will fight alongside you and take basic directions. The complexity of those directions is limited by the creature’s inherent level of intelligence.
Control Limit: 1
Note: You can release control of any Soul Bound creature at any time, but beware, they may turn hostile.
Note: Each successive tier of Soul Magic enables you to Soul Bind an additional creature to your will.
Note: The binding of a sentient creature is considered a corrupt use of Soul Magic and may push you down a dark path.
Gryph’s eyes went wide at the possibility. He’d fought some insane creatures in his time, and the idea that he might turn one from enemy to ally was perhaps the best news he’d received since leaving the Barrow. It almost made him forget about his hair, almost.
A deep yawn overtook him, and Gryph realized just how exhausted he was. He looked over to see that Wick and Tifala had lain down, cuddling each other. Ovyrm was still meditating. Guess I should get some sleep as well. He laid down, used his arm as a pillow and closed his eyes. A prompt filled his vision.
Due to the El’Edryn Racial Trait: Soul Reverie, you cannot sleep.
The elvish races do not sleep like the shorter-lived races. Instead, when in need of rest, they will enter a trance like state where they will experience snippets of past lives lived by their immortal souls.
Elves must enter Soul Reverie at least once a week or have all Stats and Attributes negatively affected due to exhaustion.
Do You Wish to Enter Soul Reverie? YES?/NO?
What the hell? Soul reverie? Past lives? Gryph had known people back on Earth that claimed to have memories of past lives, but he’d always thought of them as unhinged wackos. After all, not everyone could be Caesar or General Patton or Joan of Arc in a past life, and nobody ever claimed to have been a gutter rat or a slave or a drunk. But here, in the Realms, it was a real phenomenon.
A bit nervous, Gryph mentally tagged the YES button and his eyes closed. The sounds and smells around him grew distant, and he found he was floating on an endless sea of silver. Spheres rose in the reflective surface, expanding like soap bubbles. Images of places, people and events flowed across them touching the edge of Gryph’s awareness before popping and disappearing like an ill-remembered dream.
Gryph focused on the closest and saw himself as a child that was not Finn Caldwell, but a young girl, smiling, her face stained by mud. She wore a basic linen dress and ran through tall reeds along the bank of a wide river. A voice raised in joy flowed over the water and Gryph was happy.
Then the bubble popped, and he was back floating on the silver sea. Another bubble expanded right in front of him, and part of him wanted to back away. I do not want to remember this life, a distant
part of his mind warned him, but the bubble of thought stuff burbled around him, and once again he was elsewhere.
He was tired, and he was far too low to the ground. Where the last memory had been sharp and vibrant, this memory was dull and clouded, as if he remembered it through a fog of alcohol or anesthesia.
