CHAPTER 6: PATH TO POWER
I know adventure is supposed to take you places, but this itinerary is getting kind of crazy.
Thomas and Arcanis ended up in front of yet another door, the evening already approaching with indecent haste. Unfortunately, compared to the other doors the aspiring wizard had passed through this day, this particular instance appeared a lot more sinister, located in a seedy quarter the locals gave the reassuring name of 'The Outskirts'. It was on the northern end of Erfurt, between the Rivergate and the Northgate and a place of poverty and crime. The kind of place, the city guard only visited in squads. Or squad rather, given what we've seen on the way here.
They had passed three brothels, teetering on the brink of ruin, a rundown gambling hall, and at least one place that must have been a gang hideout. Until they reached this cheerful, friendly, inviting door, if the signs were any indication. 'Keep Out', 'No I wont', 'Go die somewhere else', 'Enter and Perish', 'Disturb and Die' ... lovely. The door was lowered beneath the street level, and seemed to lead to a cellar, the trash gathering on the stairs leading down to it.
Makes you wonder who so dearly desires company.
Thomas knocked - again - on the wooden door. It looked like a dilapidated door that should not survive a knock half as hard as the warrior's. The sound that rang however sounded more like somebody hitting a solid, reinforced wall.
After waiting for another minute he knocked yet again, this time with maximum force, obviously meaning it. The door vibrated but survived the hammer-blow, without sustaining visible damage.
Arcanis felt a slightly weird sensation from the door that he could not really describe. Then a deep, rusty voice yelled at them - half a-rumbling, making it really hard to understand - "So! Who's got a death wish today? Ye wankers can't even read belike, given that the signs give fair warning!"
A loud clang interrupted his rant and the door started moving inwards as the voice continued. "Gave fair warning and still ye came, so I suppose ye are prepared to meet yer maker, are ye?" As the door kept opening Arcanis was the first person in sight, Thomas having taken a step back. "Dammit, this city grows more rotten by the decade. This young and already suicidal?"
The resident's left hand started to sparkle with electricity, adding enough light to finally reveal a dwarf in black, wizardly robes, wearing a black, pointy and even more wizardly hat. What ruined the entire ensemble was the fact that the man was built like a dwarven smith. Arms like steel bars and a torso that appeared to have an extra layer of armor, all muscle, don't really mesh well with robes.
Looking at the man's eyes, the aspiring wizard realized that he certainly wasn't about to point that out to the man though.
The rant continued unabated. "Anyway, piss-poor live choice ye made there. Can't let ye go boy, got a reputation to uphold. But let nobody say I was a poor sport - given yer age I'll spot ye five sec- HOLY CRAP, Thomas!!"
Finally recognizing the warrior, the sparkles faded away and the dwarf fully turned to the man. "Couldn't ye have announced yerself like any sane person?! Wasted a perfectly fine rant there!" He leaned out and checked left and right from his door, not spotting anybody, then leaned back and waved them in. "Well come on in, lest any of the wankers in the neighborhood see ye gallivanting around here."
The dwarf turned around and moved back into his home, Thomas and Arcanis followed. The latter tried to close the door, but it would not budge, the warrior turned around, pushed and closed it without any problems.
The path went down a set of stairs, leading to a foyer that looked like half a ritual room. The virgin sacrificing kind of ritual room at that. A lot of arcane-looking circles, tomes clad in weird leather and sinister script, an actual altar, suitable to place a human on top. The floor was also decorated and a drainage system seemed carved around the altar, presumably to carry away any blood spilled. The doors to neighboring rooms indicated a similar theme.
Arcanis shot Thomas a what the hell look but the warrior seemed unperturbed. The dwarf led them to a wall, pulled a candle-holder and pushed the segment of masonry he was standing in front. A click could be heard and the wall swung open, revealing a short passage into what looked like a more reasonable entry to a home.
"Alright, fellas" the wizard - warlock? death cultist? - called to them while passing through the passage. "That big lug already knows the drill, but you kiddo are new, so listen up. Nobody enters me home with their shoes on, so get them off and grab a pair of comfy slippers." He waved at a cupboard that contained a large number of sets of slippers, in the oddest color combination, before grabbing himself a pair - black-colored - sat on one of the chairs arranged at the sides and followed his own rules.
The two visitors followed suit and soon they found themselves in a living room, sitting on comfortable couches around a low table. Except for a few odd symbols at the corner, the table - and the rest of the furniture - were strictly functional in design. Well made, and probably not cheap, but also not meant as an ostentatious flaunting of the owner's wealth.
Their host returned with three mugs of ale, placing them on the table before seating himself. "So Thomas, care to tell me what brought ye here?"
The warrior grabbed the closest mug, took a long swig and sighed in content before responding "Well, our last mission didn't go all that well, but we found us an interesting lad on the return trip" he nodded to Arcanis "Boyo's got the spirit of adventure, sure, but he also has the Gift. We've got a deal, where we teach him adventuring, build skills and all that, and in return he keeps healing us for three months."
The dwarf nodded, obviously understanding the realities and benefits for both sides there. Then he focused on the aspiring wizard and suddenly Arcanis felt the same weird sensation he had at the door, but this time a lot more intense. "Gotta agree, the boy has the Gift. Barely." Turning back to Thomas he continued "So, why do ye bring the kid here, given that you owe him training?"
"Weelllll ..." Thomas looked aside, obviously uncomfortable "... you know how it is. Me and the gang? We know our adventuring well enough. Bashing in monster heads we can teach, no problem. But damn if any of us has any idea how the magic stuff works!" he looked glumly into his mug "We got him that Healing Touch tome and he managed to make it work, but frankly ... the healing sucks and we have no idea how to fix it, other than having him grab any skill that raises Power and hope it works."
The dwarf harrumphed at that "So, want me to play babysitter and elementary school teacher for him, do ye?" he scratched his chin and brushed through his beard as he thought things through. Coming to a conclusion after half a minute he nodded and looked at his visitors. "Alright, I figure we can do that. Just so we are clear on that, I don't have bloody all time in the day to spend on ye, boy, so we'll have to make do with what we can manage. Also, fair warning, my focus area is meta-magic, not healing. That probably doesn't tell ye much, but the key part is: I don't know much depth about healing things. Not a problem to get you started, know the basics fair enough, but if ye want to drill me for healing details, ye probably won't like the answer.
"I'm a busy fellow though, so I'll just send a message for when ye should come for another chat. Got some reading material you can borrow and some skills ye can grind well enough without me, so that shouldn't hamper things too much. Which leaves us with ..." He grinned and rubbed his hands "... how I get compensated for my services."
Thomas started to speak at that but was waved down by the wizard. "I think I know exactly what I want already." The wizard paused to drink from his own mug, before using it to point at Thomas. "From you Thomas, I'll take a favor. Specifically an adventuring related favor. And since this is helping out yer entire team, it will be on yer entire team, not you personally."
"Isn't that asking a bit much, old man?" Thomas complained "On myself would be one thing, but on the rest of them? Most of them have no idea you even exist!"
"I'm sure ye won't have any problem bringing them around in no time. Not like I'll be asking ye to take on a dragon or other suicidal acts. And with the boy up and running as a healer ye all will have much more time to do adventuring anyway, so ye'll come out ahead on this deal."
Another attack on the dwarf's mug later he then pointed the now significantly depleted container at Arcanis. "As for you boy - what's yer name anyway? - from you I'll have a wizardly favor. What exactly we'll need to nail down later after we've had a good long chat. Similar conditions apply to the one for this big lump." He pointed at the warrior "In that it's not going to be a life-endangering task - at least not beyond what goes for regular occupational hazard - and not going to ruin ye. In yer case, some more time investments might be necessary, and I'm thinking long term, not something I collect on anytime soon."
Arcanis thought on that for a moment before nodding in assent and answering. "Sounds fair enough. I'm Arcanis, your friendly neighborhood aspiring mage. So, what am I going to call you? 'Master'?"
The old dwarf grinned at that. "I like the sound of that, so lets stick with it. Oh, and are you sure that lout picked you up? The way you talk, you wouldn't believe the two of ye ever met!"
The dirty look Thomas shot didn't even leave a mark on the dwarves grin.
* * *
After a bit more small-talk - which mostly consisted of verbal sparring between Thomas and their host - they finished off their drinks, which apparently was the dwarven signal for 'Time to stand up, refill and move on to the next activity'. Which in this case was a weird card game revolving around clearing your own deck first, by building sorted stacks. Complicated by the stacks being shared with all the other players.
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The rules were easy enough and they got the game rolling while they got to the more serious parts of the conversation.
Master started into explaining the basics. "Alright, let's look at yer basic issue here. Ye got a newbie wannabe wizard here who probably just got done with his Activation and ain't got a stat above 20. Then ye have him cast a healing spell at a tough adventurer, with a more than decent Resilience and ye get a couple of hitpoints back and wonder what went wrong.
"Don't forget to draw new cards, fool!
"Anyway, that about it, Thomas?"
"Aye" the warrior confirmed.
"As expected then. The simple story is this: Most magic compares the caster's Power stat with the target's Resilience stat. If you have more Power than the target's Resilience, you raise the effect over some base value, otherwise you get a penalty. Healing is no exception here, as we are an external force modifying the body. How is the body to know it's benevolent, eh?"
He interrupted by playing his turn before continuing. "So, yer idea of stacking skills that raise Power wasn't a bad one. I've probably got the better list of skills to work with though.
"Hands off, that's my deck, not one of the stacks!
"Alright, where was I? Ah yes, the other option to improve the output is to learn how to ignore some of that Resilience. There's one that allows the target to lower its own defense, but that one is horribly annoying to level, so probably not the best option for ye. There is a dedicated skill for the healer though, that allows ye to ignore some of that Resilience on all of yer targets, so that will be one of our main goals.
"Fair warning though, the amount of things we can do before ye actually unlock yer magic attributes is very limited. And unlocking them takes time and resources we don't have. So, for the foreseeable future, expect to be limited to that one spell ye have. Without those unlocks ye are basically limited to those pre-canned Crystalized spells."
"I've been wondering about what that attribute meant ..." Arcanis added in a questioning voice.
"Long story, we'll get to that next time around, yer day's been full already, going to lose most of the content I'd try to fill in that head of yers, so I think we'll skip that for now. And will ye wanker stop drawing all of my jokers?!" The dwarf exclaimed in frustration.
Following their hosts intent, they dropped the topic for now and focused on finishing their game. The Dwarf had been playing that game since he was a wee kid, sitting on his father's lap. Years over years of training, a true veteran of the game. Against the young aspiring wizard's infernal luck it was all for naught.
It took only five more minutes to end that game.
The old wizard threw his remaining cards on the table in frustration. "Curses lad!! Did ye sell yer soul to a demon in return for being able to give honest dwarves heart attacks?!"
Thomas too could only shake his head in disbelief at this one-sided landslide victory.
Arcanis grinned at the other two men's consternation as he checked his gains in satisfaction.
You have unlocked the skill: Gaming!
Gaming (Level: 1) [General]
"Swords, daggers, dice, cards ... each of us chose their own weapons."
Friends come together, have fun and play some games where the goal is to have fun together and socialize.
The winning part is mostly coincidental happenstance.
Not for you, bane of parties, ruin of fun and murderer of camaraderie.
Mercilessly you march on to conquer the cards and master the dice.
Friendship ends at the gaming table.
+1 Dexterity, +1 Power, Improved instincts for playing games
You have unlocked the skill: Gambling!
Gambling (Level: 1) [Social]
"I'll take luck over skill any day of the week."
A lot of people wager their money and fortune on an unlikely roll.
Believing that they are the fortunate few that will actually luck out and come out victorious.
There is a reason few only ever do - and that the slums will never go away.
That said, while nothing is ever certain, you might actually be one of the fortunate few.
Fortune smiles upon you
Thomas appeared to have no trouble reading the grin on his companions face. "Enjoying your spoils of the evening, are you?" The warrior asked before continuing with a smirk "Don't worry, you'll have no trouble training your gaming skill with us around."
The aspiring wizard grinned back. "Why am I not surprised. A question though about the second skill I just earned: Its bonus isn't quite clear to me - what does Fortune smiles upon you mean?"
When he did not get a reply after a few seconds he focused back from his notification only to see the other two staring at him with a baffled look, the warrior's mouth hanging open.
A quick cough from Arcanis returned the two to reality and Thomas stuttered "Yo- you've got-. Damn, you got the Gambling skill as well?!"
The dwarf grumbled silently "There goes me chance to have a friendly match with me not-an-apprentice."
By then however Thomas managed to get back his balance and he answered more seriously. "Alright Arcanis, let's start with your question first: We don't exactly know all the details, but what we do know is enough to go with. Basically, you are more lucky whenever you play a game of some kind where there is something riding on your win. While the exact effect is impossible to measure, it's real enough that people owning this skill are permanently banned from any casino in the realm."
He looked seriously at the young man. "Keep the fact that you have this incredibly rare and dangerous skill to yourself. It's enough to get you into deep trouble, especially since its effects on regular wagers are ... unclear and murky at best. People will distrust you just for having it."
Arcanis nodded in acceptance. "So, how is this skill rare? I mean, we get skills for doing or attempting what they represent and gambling isn't exactly the most uncommon of action, right?"
"Fair enough" Thomas replied "we didn't go into details when we covered skills yesterday. Basically, there are two kinds of skills that do not fall into the common patterns of acquisition: Social skills and skills related to Luck.
"Social skills are really, really rare - we don't know why, but the System apparently has decided that sentient interaction should not be easy to skew with skills, so it rarely if ever hands those out. Gambling is one of them, but many others are equally rare, Having those skills is something you generally hide, as people will suspect you of manipulating them if they believe you have one.
"As for Luck related skills ... they simply follow no pattern. It's dead random, really. We have kids that start with one on Activation Day, I have witnessed one case where a grandfather earned one on his deathbed, for no perceptible reason."
He shrugged "It really is fully arbitrary and we have no idea how that works."
Master spoke up at that with a smirk on his face. "Well, we sure know one lucky fellow now"
You have unlocked the attribute: Luck!
Luck
The grace of the gods is with you.
Generally speaking, the grass is greener on your side of the river.
Good things may happen to you more frequently, but there is no escaping the tides of fate.
Arcanis went completely stiff as the next message distracted him, the other two looking at him with suspicion as he read the it. "Funny you should mention it ..."
* * *
Thomas was still shaking his head in disbelieve as they made their way back to the inn. Two days! Two days out of Activation and he grabs Gambling and the Luck attribute. How much misfortune did this guy have in his last life to need this level of compensation?!
They had gotten a list of skills to investigate to raise and a book that apparently covered the 'most important non-magical skill for a wizard'. Thomas had his suspicions on that one, but was not going to inquire.
The return trip was a lot faster, as night had broken and street-lights were mostly unavailable outside of the main streets and the noble quarter, leading many people to stay at home. One set of muggers meant to take them, but obviously reconsidered as they took in the adventurer. Thomas let them walk away without comment, the youngster at his side not complaining either. Not the guard, too much hassle and it won't fix anything anyway. Not with how rotten the higher levels of administration are here, anyway ...
Without further incident they managed to reach the inn.
* * *
They had grabbed some food and drink on the way up to the team's common room. The others were all gathered there, lazing around and playing some dice game, which did not keep Maria from giving the sloppiest salute Arcanis had seen in a while.
"Hey boss-man, glad to see you made it back! Did the old monster try to murder somebody again this time?"
"Wellll ... now that you mention it ..." Thomas replied with an easy grin as he flopped down on a seat without unbalancing his plate. "Nope. Was a close enough thing, but he recognized me in time to ruin the fun."
Arcanis gave the warrior a distrustful grimace as he put down his plate on the table. "Don't tell me he really would have murdered me otherwise."
The older man had already dug into his food, gesticulated as if trying to answer with a full mouth, but then obviously reconsidered and finished first before replying. "Well, you know ... he did put up those warning signs."
"Really Thomas?"
"The thing about a reputation and threats ..." he interrupted to drink deeply from his mug. "... is that they are pointless if people don't believe them."
He nodded at Arcanis with an evil grin.
"That means you need the occasional demonstration."