The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.
Pre-Fall commentator
A booming noise rose in the distance, causing Johanna to drop her fork. Everyone left at the camp straightened.
“What’s that?”
“Some Changed Beasts, I bet,” she replied as she stood up.
Everyone followed suit, looking at the woods and ruins surrounding their camp at the Library, waiting to see. Suddenly, one scavenger pointed out toward the north.
“What the…?!?”
A pair of 12-foot tall figures came out from the side of the domed Capitol ruins. The pair stopped and looked at the camp before pawing and starting to rush at them at an insane speed.
Johanna had never seen the like of those. They looked as if something had taken vultures, shaved their wings, and stretched them with enormous legs and necks. Both sported manalights running over their bodies, warning her of the enhanced nature of the Changed birds.
Johanna immediately launched a fireball. She hadn’t tested it yet, but she was not surprised to see the ball go a lot farther away than it used to, thanks to Fire Master. However, she misjudged the direction, and the two barely had to dodge the ball which dissipated just behind them.
“Locked,” the Earth Shaper – Jorieke Witchers – suddenly announced as one of the flightless birds stumbled, stopping abruptly.
The other bird ignored his distressed companion and bore down on them at a fast speed. Johanna launched another fireball, as the two Rangers started firing their arrows. This closer, the bird had less time to maneuver and she was more accurate, but the fire splashing only drew a massive honk of anger and the Changed beast became suddenly covered in stone as if it had changed into a very fast-moving statue.
Then a pair of blurs came, as Tom and the other Battler jointly rushed. The Quick Battler’s sword failed to scratch the rocky covering, but Tom’s hammer shoved the stony form aside.
Johanna switched to the other bird, letting the melee deal with the earth-based enemy. Without tricks to remove himself from the sticky ground like the spider, the hapless bird was an easier target and honked loudly twice as fireballs slammed into the static target, but finally fell to the ground, plumage burning.
Then she felt pain behind her and almost fell. She twisted and faced a flat beak, inches from her face.
Ambush, she belatedly realized, before she breathed out steam.
The bird honked angrily, jerking back in surprise. Johanna stepped out, and reflexively reached for fire… for protection.
Angry sparks rose, making a circle around her. The small grasses that had managed to take hold on the cracked pavement started to smoke. The circle looked more like the ash of a long-burned-out fire, but it did irradiate a massive heat as if the fire was still going on. The bird backed away, almost comically stumbling in its haste.
Cinder Circle. Aptly named, Johanna realized.
Then a sword came out of nowhere and Peter sliced at the side of the Changed bird attacking her. A spray of blood came, droplets sizzling where they came close to the hot ash.
With a proper angle, she launched a fireball at the bird’s body. At this close range, her aim couldn’t be off, and a splash of fire engulfed the bird who shrieked, in loud contrast to its previous honk, before falling to the ground.
She thought it did smell like over-burned barbecue rather than chicken.
“Eh. Can’t leave all the fun to Petra,” her friend said, returning the Swordcutter to its scabbard.
“Speak for yourself. I’m sure this has ruined my jacket. I felt it.”
“Surface wound only,” Laura announced as she came close.
Johanna belatedly realized she’d kept the cinder circle present, even though she’d stepped out of it. The pavement even started to crack as the relentless heat of the unnatural cinders heated everything. She relaxed and the ash evaporated.
“Thanks. It’s getting hotter.”
“Every aspect of fire has increased since I got that Fire Master,” she noted.
“Congratulations,” she heard from the side and noted Kartmann approaching.
“For what?” she asked back.
“For him,” he replied, pointing to Peter. “First time I see it… live. Without a parchment, that is. His power level just rose, like ten seconds ago.”
“Oh?” the short man replied.
“Not fair. I just got a level yesterday and you already get one?” Laura jokingly complained.
“Eh. Must be the Washington air,” he replied, adding, “Sorry Tom, better luck next time?”
“Watch out,” he replied.
Two Level 8 and one 9 Supreme Struthios. Somehow, Moore was not surprised to see ostriches turned into Changed monsters. There had been farms around, he guessed, and not everyone had eaten them before they turned into mutated monsters. The scene even reminded him of that dinosaur park movie and its packs of three predators. After all, birds were distant relatives of dinosaurs.
Extra XP for everyone, he thought.
Then he noticed that said XP had just jumped Peter’s available pool – and his own as well – to the point where he could increase him to level 8. He half expected not to see a physical specialization, as proof of the System messing with him, but he got a Deviser to appear, which he wasted no time in allocating to Peter, along with his new skill.
Stolen story; please report.
Peter Malik Donnall
Male human, 19 years, 9 months
Deviser
Level: 8 (34000 XP needed)
41/398 stamina (+33 per hour)
0 unallocated skill points
XP: 0 + 1460
STR: 16 (4520 XP needed)
Forced Attack (56)
(EVERSHARP: 133)
AUT: 14
AGI: 18 (1790 XP needed)
Deflect (62)
Return Strike (62)
PER: 20 (7952 XP needed)
Accurate Pierce (48)
DEX: 22 (12722 XP needed)
Reconnaissance (96)
Ambidextrous (74)
EMP: 14
+9.6 Perception for skill checks
+6.2 Dexterity for skill checks
Accuracy, strength, and grip 74% better with off-hand
+5.6 Strength for skill checks
15.5% less wound depth
(Cannot lose your grip on a weapon up to 133 pounds)
A quick check showed no hybrid versions unlocked, so he now had to assume that, of course, the presence of hybrid specs was a Shaper-only thing.
Unless, of course, Tom proved him wrong this evening. It was possible, but he would still raise his Strength to 21 to check.
In any case, he was not ready to dump specialization lists. He needed a lot of XP. Tons more if he wanted a complete list for all level 8 variants. But Pr. Gomez was ready with his pencil, like some anime version of a mad scientist.
Well, I can give some more skill dumps. Categories and pool types.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the book conversion did not give you Talent energy,” Gomez noted as they were heading to the work area.
“How so?”
“Just a guess. Interacting with Talents themselves might be a source of the energy you’re accumulating. Because it’s clearly way too fast, compared to what looks like a common accumulation rate for everyone else, including yours prior to the expedition. Speculation about combat or not.”
“And there’s nothing more significant than creating Talent parchments,” she continued.
“Quite so. So, let’s see what the afternoon brings,” he said, as the four stretched, then took their seats.
“No specializations yet,” Gomez noted.
This time, Agility and Deflect had popped under Johanna’s touch. She quickly checked the rest, but they seemed to produce the usual specialization sets. After that, she kept producing Talents, but every time associated with Agility, at least until she produced an Authority Talent, which was followed by another.
“Looks like some categorization,” Gomez told her.
“How?”
“A lot of the Talents need multiple qualities, but I’m guessing that one of these matters more than the rest.”
“A lot of the early sets we made seemed to run around each quality.”
“I’ll wait until I get all the categories, but I’m fairly certain of what I’m going to find.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not speaking too early. Can you guess? I’m going you a hint, it’s the difference between you and your friend Donnall. Peter Donnall.”
Johanna frowned, then tried to figure it out. She’d spotted her Cinder Circle early under Agility, and Authority, so far, had also her Flame Handling. She tried to remember what skills of Peter’s were there already. She stopped and riffled through the pile of Agility still there.
Gomez laughed and fished out a note on which Johanna recognized their Talent lists from the first day.
“You can find it there. I’m just waiting for confirmation that your original list matches what categories we have there. Cheating is allowed on this exam,” he said, chuckling again.
“Got it,” she said as they adjourned for the evening.
“So?”
“Me, Laura, and Tom, we all get seven Talents for our level 8. Peter got only six. And even complained about this.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he has two Agility and two Dexterity Talents. And none in Authority or Empathy. The second Talent in the same category requires having more Levels available.”
“And you have confirmation on this?” Gomez asked.
Feeling like she was under Mistress Vanu, back in Anasta, Johanna replied.
“I skipped my level 5. Because Fireball is a Dexterity talent and I had one already?”
“And when Mrs. Donnall skipped level 6?” he asked back.
She scrambled to remember why. Then she smiled.
“Because Regrowth and Field Resilience both require a level 7?”
“Good. If I ever open up classes for picking Talents, I’ll get you as a guest lecturer, maybe,” Gomez said, smiling.
“So, what you got?” Monica whispered as Hank crossed the small bare expanse that separated the side of the building from their hidden camp.
“Took all I could without obviously disturbing the stock,” he replied, as he dumped the thick stack of papers on the ground.
“How much do they have already?” she asked.
“That crate is filling up. Thousands, I think. Maybe ten thousand already. As long as I don’t wake the guardian… that’s why they didn’t notice.”
“And they’re all… mount-skills?”
“Let’s see.”
The paper square on top was similar to the ones that Mists or the other two mounts had not been able to use. She picked the Level, Strength, Discreet, and Reconnaissance sheet.
And light formed and started slowly turning as she held the paper. Startled, she let it drop, and Hank grabbed it.
“You can light it, but I can’t?” he realized.
George picked it up, but the square refused to light in his hand as well. He handed it back to Monica, and the lights returned.
“It’s only you, then.”
“But that answers the question. Mooneyed can get those mount-skills, just like you got Strength,” Monica said.
“It’s just that not every skill can be gotten,” Hank noted.
“This leaves us with a question. Do you want to try?” George asked Monica.
“They are making those by the thousands,” Hank added.
The paper flashed, sparks flying and vanishing.
“The big question is… what does Discreet do? Or Reconnaissance?”
Most of the mount-skills that came after did not light under Monica’s touch. Precise Hand and Fast Draw were the only ones whose blue lights sprang when she held them. When she spotted another four-way, which none of the three hunters could use, she guessed she’d exhausted the possibilities. The next one was also a four-way, with Earth Shaper and Stoneskin, which again none of the three Mooneyed could use. They skimmed the skills, whose names were evocative like Popping Rocks or Earthbind until they got to a four-way which immediately lighted under Hank’s hands. Seeing as George couldn’t use it, the hunter used that Spotter, but none of the skills that followed went active. George finally got lucky with an Explorer paper, and two additional skills.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have used the Level and Strength last time,” Hank said when they finished the stack.
“What do we do with the unusable mount-skills…” George asked before he realized what he’d just said.
“They’re not mount-skills. They’re just skills,” Monica said.
“But mounts can use them.”
“And all of them?”
Monica thought.
“That’s why they can gain mount… skills as they come of age, and we do not. It’s a lot easier for them than it is for us.”
The three hunters fell silent, pondering the meaning of that.
“Now what?” Hank finally asked.
“At this point, we know what they’re here for. Why they came, and probably come back regularly. That’s what the elders wanted to know.”
“I don’t think the elders knew what madness it was for,” Hank joked.
“We have something like twenty more skills. We can strengthen our mounts, and report back now. We don’t have to use the Tallers as an escort through the wilds.”
“We should keep a few to demonstrate their use,” George immediately said.
“We need enough to be able to find people at the Camp who can use them.”
Hank looked back toward where the Taller’s camp was.
Monica Silvers
Female Mooneyed, 20 years, 8 months
Discreet
Level: 6 (8000 XP needed)
103/103 stamina (+29 per hour)
3 unallocated skill points
XP: 925
STR: 15 (2000 XP needed)
AUT: 13
AGI: 17
Fast Draw (40)
PER: 15
DEX: 17 (2000 XP needed)
Reconnaissance (40)
EMP: 17 (2000 XP needed)
Precise Hand (23)
+4.0 Perception for skill checks
Unshakable grip on a weapon under 40 pounds
+2.3 Dexterity for skill checks