We continue on through the winding tunnels, following Nika the Grubwick [Hunter]. She mentions that there’s an exit to the surface near here. Usk was deeper down but Splott is close to a surface exit. We stop by it first in order to get the discovery Deed.

You have discovered Skullburn Outpost. Skill acquired: Survival (Sense of Direction)

I do love getting skills from these. After resting here for a bit, we move on back into the In-Between. The glowing fungi are slightly more blue in this section of the caverns and there’s a lot of tiny trickles of water here and there.

As we travel through the caverns toward Splott, an aura comes into range that really should not be here.

Category Person Race Human Gender Male Rank Basic Class Warrior

I pause, frowning, and raise my hand to the party and send the screen I just detected, along with his location.

“Alone? Here?” Anise whispers.

I nod, and we locate the boy. He’s crying softly and hiding behind some purple foliage, but trying to keep quiet. He has a mop of tangled blond hair and looks to be about 12, and he’s clutching his leg. I think I’ve seen him before. Didn’t he come to study fighting at Corwen? What was his name again?

“Rowan?” I say.

“What?” Rowan jumps in surprise. “Did my mom or my Hearth send you to find me?”

“What are you doing here by yourself?” Anise asks, approaching to take a closer look at his leg.

“Don’t judge me,” he retorts. “You’re not my mother. Or my aunt, for that matter.”

“True, but we’re here now and we’re going to keep you from dying down in the dark alone, so maybe being rude isn’t the best idea.”

That silences his protests.

Meadow sits down in front of him and brings out her colored pencils and sketchbook. “The lighting here isn’t great but bringing out a light might draw attention.”

“How did you even find the way in?” I ask.

“Saw some goblins on the surface,” Rowan says. “Tracked them in here. Lost them and slipped trying to follow.”

“Are you here on a quest, or just exploring?” Anise asks.

“Quest,” Rowan says. “I was supposed to retrieve a sword made for my uncle, who went off on his first adventure several years ago and never came back. I don’t even know if it’s anywhere nearby.”

“Well, that sounds like a quest to join a party for,” Anise says.

“I want to be a protector, a guardian, a [Paladin],” Rowan says. “I want to be the knight that swoops in to save the day, not rely on others to do things for me.”

“Being a protector doesn’t mean doing everything by yourself,” Anise says. “A balanced party needs people in different roles. Like, for example, tracking goblins, noticing that you’re about to fall into a hole, or healing you when you get hurt.”

Rowan grumbles but concedes the point.

“Be healed!” Milo tries, and when that has no effect, “Paladin, heal yourself!”

“I don’t have any magical skills yet,” Rowan grumbles. “If I had a healing skill, I wouldn’t be stuck behind this rock with a broken ankle.”

“Eh, don’t worry,” Anise says, going over to start healing him. “I’m actually pretty good at healing since I have to heal my own stupid self-inflicted injuries regularly.”

“Why didn’t you just heal me instead of berate me, then?”

“The skill is named Sorcery (Pity for Fools),” Anise says. “Sorcery is emotion based and some people have skills more based on compassion and mercy and whatever. Me, I have to feel sorry for you.”

“So you heal yourself with self-pity?” I ask.

“Pretty much, yeah. Please, Rowan, by all means continue to be pitiful and foolish.”

Rowan groans. “Once I reach Elite, I’m going to get some sort of healing ability that isn’t based on pity.”

“I can do minor Sorcery healing,” Nika says in shaky Common. “But only work on people I like. I not know you.”

“Sorcery’s so easy even goblins use it,” Rowan comments.

“Yeah,” Anise says. “It takes practice to learn to use your emotions to fuel spells properly, but anyone who isn’t a Basic can do it. Just like anyone over 7 years old can enhance their attributes. You might want to invest some work into unlocking Enhanced Heart (Rapid Healing). And Enhanced Feet (Uncanny Balance), for that matter. That one’s great. Keeps me from falling over no matter how drunk I get.”

“Noted,” Rowan says, and lets out a pained, “Ah, ah, ah!” as his ankle slowly mends itself. “You don’t have enough pity to make that not hurt like the Void?”

“Oh yeah, you should also get Discipline (Pain Tolerance),” Anise adds lightly. “It takes extra energy to make it not hurt and you’re not my daughter.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“And you’d inflict pain on your son or nephew over there instead?” Rowan asks, looking at me. “You get on my case for coming out here by myself but you’ve brought a little kid here too? He can’t be over six.”

“I’m a reincarnator,” I say. “But I haven’t really been advertising that outside my Hearth and the goblins. I dislike the attention and expectations. So please don’t go gossiping about it.”

“I won’t,” Rowan says. “I am in your debt. How did you even find me?”

“As a reincarnator, I have access to Clairvoyance. I spotted you with [Aura Sight].”

“Huh, that is a pretty good reason for people to want you in their party,” Rowan says. “I would have thought someone under 7, reincarnator or no, wouldn’t contribute much.”

“Yeah,” Anise says. “He’s only Basic still and doesn’t want a combat-oriented class, so we try to keep him safe.”

Rowan gets down on one knee and says, “I, Rowan Talgarth Tempest Tiganna, formally request admission into your party.”

“Careful there, I just healed that ankle!” Anise says. “And I’m not really the leader here. I am completely irresponsible and don’t like leading stuff.”

Rowan, unphased, turns to me and says, “I, Rowan Talgarth Tempest Tiganna, formally request admission into your party.”

“Actually, this one is Milo’s gig,” I say, pointing a thumb at the small goblin.

Rowan sighs and works up his face in a variety of expressions. “Are you a reincarnator too? Is that why everyone’s treating you like they do?”

“Yep,” Milo says. “We’re actually exactly the same age.”

“I, Rowan Talgarth Tempest Tiganna, formally request admission into your party,” Rowan says.

“So far, this doesn’t look good on your resume,” Milo says. “I’m looking for team players and go-getters, not irresponsible loose cannons. If you join my party, you have to be able to take orders and work together with others. If you can’t do that, we will escort you to the nearest surface escort and send you home.”

“See?” Anise says. “That’s why this guy wouldn’t be able to heal you.”

“I can do that,” Rowan says. “Please give me a chance.”

“Very well,” Milo says. “You may join us on for a probationary period. And please get off of your knee. We are currently on a mission to make contact with goblin villages in the area in attempt to negotiate for peaceful relations with the human Hearths. I am also authorized to offer goods from Corwen and Penbryn that the goblins may be interested in.”

“This goblin knows more words than I do…” Rowan mutters. “I understand. This… this would actually help people, wouldn’t it?”

“Corwen loves the mushrooms Grubwick traded it,” Anise says. “They have one that gives a water breathing buff! That’s so cool!”

“We are also attempting to enact a cultural revolution among the goblins,” Milo says. “I was born into a culture that knows nothing of music, alcohol, good food, comfortable clothes, or frequent bathing. I was a wealthy businessman in another life and I enjoyed the finer things in life, which don’t exist here. I feel compelled to make them exist.”

Rowan looks at the two goblins. “You don’t mind him badmouthing your culture?”

“He right,” Nika says. “Chosen always right. Core bring Chosen for change. So we change. If core want, we not deny.”

“I understand,” Rowan says.

“I do not merely wish to rule over a Stone Age village,” Milo says. “I am uninterested in the notion of having the best things. I want good things, and do not mind if other people also have good things. By enacting—”

“Milo,” I interrupt. “Sorry to interrupt your manifesto, but perhaps this is best done safely behind walls.”

“You are, I may have gotten slightly carried away,” Milo says.

It’s funny how Anise speaks perfect Goblin thanks to exploiting a loophole with Language (Drunken Slur), but Nika speaks Common like a… well, goblin.

We continue on and shortly come within view of a large underground lake. A tributary from it trickles off down toward the underswamps. A village sits on a pillar in the middle of the lake, the base of its walls meeting natural rock about two meters above the waterline. The edge of the shore on each side has a rickety dock and a handful of leaky hide boats.

“I see a body of water that needs a bridge,” I say. “Hmm… how far is that, and how deep is the water.” I start doing some mental calculations as we approach the lake.

Skill acquired: Search (Measurement)

Numbers pop up in my third eye. Hmm. That’s a longer span than the carp-filled underground river, and I have no idea whether this lake is safer or more dangerous. Although in either case, a drawbridge would be more prudent from the standpoint of defense and potential for boats needing to pass under them.

There’s a trio of goblins at the bank of the lake, fishing. When we get close, they look up and one says, “You want across?

“Ah man, I don’t think our boats can carry the big humans,” says another.

“Maybe if they went by themselves,” says the third.

“What are they saying?” Rowan asks quietly.

“We can begin your Goblin language lessons once stop to rest,” Milo says, then addresses the goblins in their own language. “We’ll appreciate the safety of your walls by whatever means are used to get there.”

I will spare you the details of solving the unexpected boat puzzle. Suffice it to say that I am now even more motivated to getting a bridge built here eventually.

Considering their settlement is in the middle of the lake, the goblins of Splott are surprisingly welcoming and friendly. They had heard about recent events in Grubwick and thought they sounded cool. Like bridges. They excited about the prospect of bridges. Or at least better boats.

I know very little about making actual boats and it suddenly occurs to me that I should if I’m planning on building a skyship someday. Models are all well and good, but building something that can hold water is a little more complicated than carving a bit of wood. And while a skyship doesn’t specifically need to worry about water, it has to deal with similar challenges. The system skills from building a rowboat would probably carry over to building a skyship.

“You seem distracted,” Anise says. “Big engineering plans?”

“I need to learn how to build boats,” I say.

“Humans come to learn to build boats from goblins?” one of the local goblins says. “We can teach you! And you can teach us things in exchange!”

The Splotts are happy to have something to offer that we want. While I’m sure humans would be capable of building actual wooden boats, they would be less willing to teach them to a five year old. And I’m curious about what the goblins know. And I’m pretty sure the skill is Crafting (Shipbuilding) and doesn’t specify the type of vessel. I am not within arm’s reach of a skill encyclopedia, though.

We make some agreements and decide to stay for a bit and get in a few lessons either way.

My next attempt at analyzing vis is gauging Anise’s moods and watching her use magic. She’s a competent sorcerer and knows how to use her magic properly. She only sets things on fire when she wants to set things on fire. And she really likes to set things on fire. Meadow’s entire purpose in the party is preventing Anise from starting forest fires.

I am mildly irritated at how the stupid “emotion magic” trope is actually real in this sky full of tropes, except that I’m pretty sure I was a psychic back on Earth and could do “emotion magic” before the system even existed.

Your Discipline (Self-Delusion) skill has increased to level 3.

I am mildly irritated at how the stupid “emotion magic” trope is real and normal and the natural state of the universe and everything is fine.

In any case, emotional state is the next type of vis I figure out how to read, and it comes with a shiny new skill as well.

Skill acquired: Clairvoyance (Empathy)