by C. M. Carney
“We all played our part.”
As if sensing Gryph was uncomfortable with the praise, the tall, gray-skinned xydai looked up to the sky where the sun had just dipped towards the horizon. “This is a good place to make camp.”
Gryph almost protested. He wanted to find a farm or a town, someone who could tell them where they were. How close are we to Brynn? Gryph thought. He looked back at the adjudicator with the piercing yellow eyes he now found oddly comforting and nodded. “You’re right. We need the rest. And this place is beautiful.”
“It is perfect. So different from where I come from.” The xydai’s lips curled up into a sad smile, and he walked to the edge of the small clearing. He sat atop a moss-covered boulder, eased his crimson metal saber from its scabbard and tended to the weapon. Precisely what it was made of and what it did was one of the thousand questions that burned at the back of Gryph’s mind, but he knew the answers could wait.
“Wick, Tifala, we’re going to camp here for the night.”
Wick gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. “The lady and I want our own tent. We have some urgent business that needs tending to.” His grin did not fade, even when Tifala punched him in the gut.
Gryph smiled and said back “We have tents?”
“Shit,” the blue-haired gnome said, and Gryph had to laugh at both his friend’s adoption of Earth swears and the genuine sullenness that crossed his suddenly youthful face.
“We have something better,” Tifala said, and she closed her eyes, and began a low murmuring chant. Her hands and fingers moved in intricate patterns as she began to cast.
Watching Tifala cast made Gryph’s eyes go wide in joy. He still hadn’t got used to the fact that the Realms was a place built on magic. As he eased himself down, back to a tree clad in an unearthly silver blue bark, he pondered this strange universe. He’d been under such constant and horrifying attack since entering the Realms he'd had no time to consider the wondrous insanity of it all.
I am in another world, another universe, Gryph thought to himself. It doesn’t seem real. He looked about him drinking in the beauty of the world. Not only were the trees more magnificent than any he’d seen on Earth, but the small creatures flitting among their branches were equally strange. Despite the trilling birdsong coming from the tiny flying creatures, he discovered they were not birds at all, or at least not like any bird he’d ever seen.
One of the singsong creatures landed on a branch near Gryph and stared down upon him. It looked for all the world like a small blue salamander had taken the bipedal form of a man. It stood on the branch, large eyes staring unblinkingly at Gryph. It shook the four clear wings that sprouted from its back and Gryph got the impression that the tiny creature was both curious and irritated. The light passing through the wing membranes shimmered all the colors of the rainbow, reminding Gryph of a dragonfly.
He used Analyze.
Blue Skinned Lutin: Level 3 H: 23/ S: 17/ M: 33/ SP: 0
Blue Skinned Lutins are distant relatives of Pixies and like their cousins are fond of mischief. While they lack the mental faculties, culture, and intellectual capacity to be considered truly sentient, they are lovers of the wild places of nature and consider the sentient bipedal races to be irritating pests. Most sentient races have the same opinion of Lutins, who have been known to steal the hair from man and beast alike.
Strengths: Unknown. Immunities: Unknown. Weaknesses: Unknown.
Gryph pulled his dagger from the sheath at his waist. The lutin jerked backward, hiding behind a branch. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Gryph said, having no idea if the creature understood him. He moved his dagger slowly up and cut a lock of his long, silver hair. He returned the blade to its home and tied a small knot securing the individual strands. He held the bunch up to the flitting creature.
It stared down upon him with an unmistakable look of greed and jumped from branch to branch coming ever closer to Gryph. It cocked its head from side to side, its wide green eyes hungry and its tiny, three-fingered hands grasping.
“It’s okay,” Gryph said with a nod and a smile. The creature took to the air, hovering a few feet above Gryph. Its eyes went from him to the strands of hair and back to him. Gryph nodded again and then in a blur of motion the lutin sped down, grabbed the bunch and zipped back to its branch. A trill of pure pleasure erupted from the small creature, and it flitted off faster than Gryph could follow.
“You’re in for it now,” Wick said with an undertone of laughter.
Gryph turned towards his friend. “What do you mean?”
With a grin and a nod, Wick sent his eyes skyward. Gryph looked up to see a cloud of lutins looking down upon him. He smiled at the group of multicolored flying little men for a moment, but then they swarmed.
Gryph was suddenly surrounded by a haze of trilling song and lightly humming wings. His hair moved up and around him in a halo of silver as the cloud of lutins pulled his hair to and fro. “Ahh,” Gryph screamed in panic, feeling mildly claustrophobic as dozens of the tiny creatures snipped strands and flew away with their prizes. He swatted at them, but they easily dodged his clumsy attempts to defend himself.
Gryph’s mind flashed back to a time when he was in his teens and Brynn had wanted to play hairdresser. The haphazard chopping his sister had given his hair had taken weeks to grow out. This time, Gryph somehow knew it would be worse.
Wick was laughing at him and he decided that the pesky gnome deserved a thrashing if he ever extricated himself from this rainbow cloud of amateur stylists. Just as Gryph started to panic, a warm pulse of air flowed over him and pushed the lutins away like tumbleweeds in a breeze.
“Aw, Tif, you couldn’t give them a few more minutes?” Wick said through his chortles of laughter.
Gryph stood, rage battling embarrassment as he flitted away a few more imaginary lutins. His heartbeat calmed, and his eyes snapped to Wick. The gnome couldn’t contain himself, and his laughter forced him to bend over, one finger held aloft in a ‘give me a moment’ gesture.
“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 Ovrym 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. Ovrym 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, Ovrym, 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. Ovrym had taught him Telepathic Bond, and he’d already seen its power, but choosing that as his Boon seemed short-sighted as Ovrym 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 Ovrym 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 had 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 or 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.
