So far, nothing in this world was like that. A choice was a choice for that time only and it didn’t stop him from taking another path later on.
As much as he would appreciate the strength of Ruby Stars, he went with Azure Fate. Lack of control was the exact reason he nearly fell to Besal. He wanted to avoid that again at all costs.
A flash of sapphire-blue mana rippled across his translucent arms and brought Ashera and Noth’s focus to him. Hal grinned and shrugged as a new prompt rolled in.
Azure Fate Unlocked.
Spellshaping Unlocked.
Spellshaping
The chief trait of Azure Fate is empowerment by greater control and efficiency. With this trait, any spell from any discipline is capable of being controlled and shaped in a different manner than its original invocation describes.
A Firestorm spell that incinerates a 10ft radius is sloppy magic that can hurt friend and foe alike. Spellshaping allows that same spell to be molded, avoiding friends while annihilating foes.
You have 1 Beast Magic Perks awaiting assignment.
Azure Lore 0/1
Reach into the very depths of Beast Magic, forming a sympathetic bond with your adversary. By touching a monster, you are able to understand your quarry that much better. Its weaknesses and fears, its strengths, and most importantly what it’ll do before it does it. Defeating multiple enemies from the same Monster Family confers unique bonuses against that family.
Empty Vessel 0/1
Each Beastborne is unique. Those that follow the Azure path accept the risk of Strain but are not without the tools to handle the dangerous influx of corrupting magic. Once per day, you can focus on the way your body was before becoming a Beastborne. Holding that image, you purge all Strain from yourself, becoming an empty vessel once more.
Sheep’s Clothing 0/1
Utilizing the adaptive nature of Beast Magic, you are able to shroud yourself in the magical essence of a given monster. To most creatures, you appear as that type of monster and they will treat you as such.
Ruby Stars 0/1
Take your first step among the red-shifted stars of a dying universe, basking in the unfettered strength of the Elders.
The reappearance of Ruby Stars after selecting Azure Fate confirmed Hal’s suspicions. And he was glad that he didn’t lock himself out of an entire branch of benefits.
Each of the perks was beyond good. If this was any indication of the branching perks that he might see in other Classes and other skills, he was in for many long nights as he weighed his options.
He seemed to have a similar effect to Sheep’s Clothing applied whenever he channeled a specific essence through Splice. While the thought of walking amongst a bunch of monsters and being treated like one was interesting, he wasn’t alone.
And he sorely doubted that his friends would be given the same pass which took Sheep’s Clothing out from the running for now.
Ruby Stars was tempting but Empty Vessel and Azure Lore were too good to pass up. The former would be a single-use “get out of Beast-mode” free card. It would allow him to ramp up his Strain in a particularly difficult fight all while taking advantage of his new trait Edge of Disaster. And then just before losing control, he could dump all that Strain at once.
On the other hand, Azure Lore seemed to be similar to his Premonition trait. Wherein he could glean the next action that the monster would commit to before it moved.
Hal shook his head. Strain was too much of an issue to let Empty Vessel pass by. Even with its limited usage, it could save him from the colossal struggle he would undergo if he let his Strain build too fast.
He took Empty Vessel, expending the last of his Beast Magic Perks. When he was finished, he found his eyelids drooping. Feeling that a little rest couldn’t go awry, Hal closed his eyes. Hal was so tired that he barely realized he was ethereal anymore.
73
For the first time in what felt like years, Hal slept peacefully. Unbothered by strange dreams or nightmares.
When he awoke the next morning, Ashera was already in the middle of preparing their breakfast. She smiled at him, a look of immense relief on her fair features.
Only then did he realize he was corporeal once more. Noth had taken up her post, floating above the small campfire. She watched over the room impassively.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Hal wondered if he should spend more of his EXP or sparks. He had just enough EXP to hit the next Level of Beastborne, but aside from the 5 attribute points it would afford him, he likely wouldn’t get anything else.
And considering the potential gains of using Dominate on an approaching monster horde….
Hal shook his head. The scene of the Treant stomping out lesser predators was one bright spot of unrivaled joy and discovery. He managed to repay his EXP debt and it was great fun besides to ride on one of the higher branches and watch the behemoth wreak destruction.
All while Hal was able to reap the rewards.
He decided to keep a buffer of EXP. Not only because Oathforger was staggering close to full affinity, but because he thought he might need to use his Founder Sigils before long.
Before breakfast was ready, Hal looked over his skills to see which could benefit the most from an investment of sparks. Upon seeing his skills, he noticed how high his Leadership was.
And, since it increased damage for everybody in the party so long as he was the leader of the party, wouldn’t it make sense to check in and make sure the highest Leadership was still the party leader?
When he brought it up, he expected a series of shocked faces and surprised exclamations that he had managed to eclipse Elora’s Leadership skill. Instead, once they compared Levels, Hal was quickly handed the party leadership position.
Nobody seemed terribly surprised that his Leadership was higher. Perhaps it was a Founder thing. They were trying to groom him to be a leader after all.
With what Ashera had given him, plus his own large bounty from the Shoggoth not to mention the creatures the Treant killed, he had enough to make rapid improvements across the board.
Or he could dramatically improve a single skill.
The only question was, which route should he go?
As much as he was impressed with the Camping and Well Rested Buffs from Survival, he would soon have a glut of sparks to spend with the completion of the Coffin Contract.
For now, with Elora providing a stronger Camping Buff than he could ever attain with the sparks he had, it was better to focus on skills that would ensure the successful completion of the Contract.
To wit, combat skills.
The obvious choice was to increase Beast Magic further, but as he attempted to do so… it didn’t work.
Looking up from her cooking, Ashera noticed the look of consternation on his face. “Something troubling you?” she asked, pitching her voice low so as not to wake the others.
“I just tried using some of the sparks you gave me to increase my Beast Magic from ten to eleven but-”
“But it did not work,” Ashera guessed. “And your Beastborne is Level 10, is it not?”
Hal nodded.
“That would be it then,” she explained, stirring the creamy-looking morning meal. “You cannot increase your skills - through sparks at least - beyond your highest Leveled Class.”
“So if I have three Classes, and all of them are Level ten….”
“Then Level ten is the highest you can get by investing sparks,” Ashera finished for him. “Otherwise people would have Level fifty skills at Level one, provided they were wealthy enough.”
“What about naturally?” he asked.
“Beg pardon?”
“Am I able to gain a skill beyond the highest Leveled Class?”
“Of course,” Ashera said with a soft smile. “The limitation is only on sparks. For whatever reason, I am glad it works that way. Hard work should be rewarded, but being able to help friends - by giving them sparks to catch up - is equally important.”
Hal
nodded, looking back over his skills and deciding what to do with this new information.
Armed with a better understanding, Hal decided to shore up his defenses. Considering his latest shadow essence attunement, he went with Evasion over Parry.
He had just enough sparks to cover raising Improvised Weaponry from Level 4 to 10 as well. And then he was almost completely out of sparks. He would have liked to get Enfeebling Magic or his Sword Skill up. Unfortunately, he already refused the extra bounty of sparks Ashera offered from the Shoggoth. But everything from the Treant’s rampage and the smaller sum gained since the Shoggoth, he accepted.
Even with the large sum awarded from the Contract, Hal still worried they might need more. Buying supplies for an entire settlement couldn’t be cheap. And when Ashera didn’t argue the point, he felt he had come quite close to the mark. He felt guilty enough spending over 20,000 sparks just to increase Evasion and Improvised Weaponry.
But, he reminded himself that getting 2 skills up to Level 10 was a massive improvement. And that if he died there would be no settlement, he had to be strong enough to survive to be able to spend those sparks, after all.
A shimmering feeling of euphoria filled him, washing away his doubts as the sparks evaporated and his skills climbed.
Your Evasion Skill has risen to Level 5.
…
Your Evasion Skill has risen to Level 10.
+1% Evasion speed (+10%).
-1% Stamina cost (-10%).
+2% Time decay (+4%).
You have 1 Evasion Skill Perk point awaiting assignment.
Patient Offense 0/1
Each successive evasion of an enemy’s attack increases the damage of your next attack by 10%. Resets if hit.
Leaf on the Wind 0/1
While wearing Light Armor, +10% Evasion chance. While Unarmored, +20% Evasion chance.
Light as a Feather 0/1
Reduce falling damage by half.
Your Improvised Weaponry Skill has risen to Level 5.
…
Your Improvised Weaponry Skill has risen to Level 10.
+2% Improvised Weapon damage (+20%).
+2% Improvised Weapon attack speed (+20%).
-5% Stamina cost (-10%).
You have 1 Improvised Weaponry Skill Perk point awaiting assignment.
Savagery 0/1
Attacks with Improvised Weapons deal 5% more damage with each successive hit up to 5 hits in a row. Attacking with a different weapon resets the enhancement.
Denting Blows 0/1
Attacks with blunt-based damage reduce the DEF of the target by 10% for 10 seconds.
Overrun 0/1
Increase attack speed by 15% when utilizing an Improvised Weapon and a One-Handed Weapon together.
Time decay? Hal furrowed his brow at that one. Most of the bonuses were pretty straightforward but that one had him scratching his head a little. With a shrug, he pressed on to the perks.
He stared at Leaf on the Wind. Too soon. Before he knew it, he was humming the Firefly theme song.
Leaf on the Wind was undoubtedly good, a straight 10% improvement worked well with Shadowy Presence. Though the wording was different, now that he thought about it.
Light as a Feather was something he would love to have, if only because he still hated heights. Even if he wasn’t as terrified of them as he was before. Strangely, falling off that rooftop in Fallwreath had helped him to overcome his fear.
There wasn’t much worse than getting an arrow in the thigh and falling off a multi-story building. When he had lived from that - and with such pitiful VIT at that - without any long-lasting injuries, it showed him that falling wasn’t quite so bad.
He wasn’t about to go leaping out of any windows but it did help to temper that spike of paralyzing dread he used to get.
That left Patient Offense as the last, and coincidentally, the likeliest candidate. Increasing damage with every evasion? What wasn’t to like about that?
He would make sure to get Leaf on the Wind at Level 20, the two would pair together nicely.
Turning his attention to his Improvised Weaponry perks, he saw two that stood out immediately. Savagery and Overrun. Denting Blows was nice and all, but he already had a much better - although significantly costlier - way of reducing enemy DEF.
Savagery would increase his damage with a chain. As soon as I find another one, he thought sourly. I seem to go through so many chains. I might as well get one made for me, specifically for fighting.
And while he liked the potential of having a 25% boost to his damage, Overrun boosted both weapons he favored. With the attack speed bonuses from Improvised Weaponry, he would be hitting almost a third faster with a chain. At the same time, increasing the speed he could wield his sword.
Selecting Overrun, Hal looked up to see his other two party members awakening. They ate breakfast together, but the mood was understandably somber. With most of their injuries healed, they were ready for the day.
Though none of them had absolutely wrecked and tattered armor like Hal. His [Traveler’s Aketon] was shot. [His Duelist’s Bracers] hung by a fraying thread. There are definite drawbacks to buying used armor, he thought.
Not that most people went through the sort of trials Hal did.
Judging from the whopping 21/200 durability of his [Leg Guards +1], the only piece of armor he would have by the end of the day would be his [Leaping Boots].
When he said as much, Elora perked up. “I nearly forgot, I have a Repair Kit if you want.” She fished out a palm-sized onyx hexagon and handed it over. “Here, just put this on your armor and it’ll do the rest.”
Hal did as she instructed. The hexagon shimmered and he had a prompt flash by, asking if he would like to repair his gear. He confirmed and the [Repair Kit] went to work.
It was slow at first. The hexagon opened and spawned a second black hexagon. Then, from each of the six sides, another hexagon spawned. They folded continually outward until each of the palm-sized things coated every inch of Hal’s clothing.
They were surprisingly pliable, a bit like plastic. The whole process took less time than it took to eat breakfast. And when it was done, all of his equipment was at 50% durability.
“It’s a one-time-use, and only restores equipment to half durability, I meant to give it to you sooner,” Elora said, now in the process of doing a series of stretches for the day.
“But we got split up and….” She shrugged. “Oh, that reminds me, I also got this. I tried to use it like you did but it didn’t work for me.” She wrapped the [Length of Void Chain] in a cloth and tossed it to him.
Hal grinned and set to wrapping it around his left wrist. “Thanks. I go through chains so fast. Treant ate my last one.” The cold was familiar, almost comforting.
“Excuse me?”
“A Treant ate my last chain.”
Elora looked to Ashera who nodded. “Of course, that was before he took control of the behemoth and caused it to savage its fellows. It was good fun. If ever you get the chance to ride upon a Treant’s shoulders, I would highly recommend it.”
The Ranger’s mouth hung open at the simple, understated way Ashera said such a ridiculous sentence.
“All right,” Ashera said, getting her things in order again. “Ready when you are, Hal.”
It took him by surprise when each of them, except for Mira, looked to Hal for guidance. “Let’s go back up to the room with the shadow creatures bound in emeralds,” he said. “I need some answers.”
Mira looked at everybody else, then Hal. Her eyes were wide and bright. “Are we just not going to talk about him turning into a monster and nearly killing everybody?”
Hal forced himself to look her in the eye and square his shoulders. “It’s related to my Class, Beastborne.”
“Never heard of it,” Mira said, folding her arms across her chest. “Sounds fake.”
A quirk of Hal’s brow reigned in the Dragoon’s protest and she unfolded her arms, patting the air between them. �
��I’m just kidding! No reason to whip out your fleshy bone blades again. That hurt.”
“Sorry, I….” Hal shook his head. He really meant it. He turned to look at each of them in turn. “For all of it. The long and short of it is that Beastborne has a rather deceptive downside to using Beast Magic.
“Every time I enact a spell, it places a certain amount of Strain on my body. If that Strain gets too high, I lose control. The magic, or a manifestation of myself that the magic brings to life, takes over.
“When I used Drill Branch to break through to the tunnel where you two were, I pushed myself too far and hit a level of Strain my body couldn’t cope with. The Beast took over then. I could see everything that was going on but was powerless to do anything.
“I thought I could wrestle control back but it was much harder than I initially thought. I nearly failed completely and from the prompts I was getting, I would have turned into something horrific.”
“I knew it wasn’t you,” Elora said. All eyes turned to her. She hunched her shoulders and glared back like a cat backed into a corner. “You wouldn’t try to hurt us.”
“Elora is right,” Ashera chimed in, putting an arm over the Ranger’s slender shoulders and making her blush. “I could tell you were still in there but no longer in control.”
Noth had clearly told Ashera what was going on. Had she kept the source of the knowledge to herself? Hal guessed in the heat of the moment explaining that she could see a Reaper that none of the others could see would lead to more questions than answers.
Mira threw her arms up into the air. “Well, I sure couldn’t! How do we know this won’t happen again?” She was about to poke Hal in the chest but thought better of it and instead merely pointed. That slight hesitation hurt more than her words. She was afraid of him.
Beastborne- Mark of the Founder Page 62
