Last night was a great success. I managed to track down when I read the Wildemount and the Taldori books. But better than that Rubert the little genius bird of limited flight managed to find an even more crucial piece. A timeline of events I saw on the wiki. Combine that with the names of the months and days of the weekend I now know it's the 15th day of Thunsheer. That places me about 2 years out from the start of campaign 2. The mighty Nein shouldn't get together for a while. The most important thing I can think of that will happen right now is Essek Thelyss giving the Cerberus Assembly two of the Luxon beacons. He might have already done that I am not sure. I don't think I can take on the Cerberus assembly. Even the Mighty Nein would have trouble with that. Plus Essek does go on to become one of their best friends. I would be a hypocrite if I didn't give Hot Boy his shot at a second chance. That leaves any mysterious campaign 3 things I don't know about. I only watched around the first 10ish episodes before I lost the time to keep up with the show. Predicting that stuff is gonna probably be an impossibility.

It's almost time for me to wake up. I can feel my grip on the dream fading. “Rubert, I think I am gonna leave in a minute. Can you keep checking these memories for me?” I asked.

“Sure thing. Anything you want to know in particular?” He asked.

“Focus on Wildemount and campaign 2. Alrighty see you later.” I said feeling myself awake.

…….

Oh gods. I need to get a bed roll. I can’t afford a room in the inn but a bed roll would stop me from waking up with hay needles sticking into my side and back. Okay, let's see if anything has changed. Hands look good. Skin color is the same. No new bruises. Physically I seem well.

Let's concentrate on the phantom feeling I had on Roob's soul. I can feel the silver mound and more than that. I can feel Roob's soul. I reach out and touch it. Glowing silver energy begins to flow out from my palm. As it extends something follows it. I stare at my hand and where once there was nothing now there is a beak.

“Rubert?” I asked.

Silence. The beak doesn't move. Do I need to give him ears? I mean he isn't usually a silent bird so if I have his mouth on my hand maybe it needs his throat. I connect to the silver mound then Roobs soul again. I concentrate and think about growing his whole head from my palm. With more silver light the beak extends and a full rooster head appears on my palm. This leads to a sudden headache and weird vision. I see myself and so much stuff. The eyes on the head I can see through them. Oh, I am gonna be sick.

“Blargh. Oh gods. Too many degrees of vision. Ugh and the mouth. New taste buds no thank you.” I complained. I focused on removing the head completely. It disappeared into more silver light. Thank god. Not interested in this amount of body horror. It didn't speak so Rubert wasn't inside of it. Might try that later. A long time later.

“So new powers that's good. I can make chicken parts. I felt them too.” I said. Feeling better I try again but this time think smaller. I will my entire hand to become a chicken's claw. It becomes engulfed in silver light and then it actually does become a claw. There is a problem. It's not my hand size but looks like a nub with a chicken claw on it. “I know women say that size doesn't matter but I don't think I believe that.” I flex my tiny little hand and yep I can control these limbs. I briefly think about turning a lot more or even my entire body into a chicken but decide against that. I am not sure if this power lets me think outside of my brain or not. If I replace my head with that of a chicken's will I still have the thought process to change back. Not risking it at this point. But maybe I can with different animals. Or better yet, I can kill a dragon. Dragons are smart beings capable of higher thoughts. WAIT! There are lots of species I could use this ability with. Giants would be a great form to have. I might even get their abilities. If I kill a sorcerer can I connect to his soul and gain the ability to cast his spells? Alright, this is looking good. I lucked out with this power. I am a low-power Ben 10. This is goood!

If I am gonna want to go on this adventure around the world collecting souls like Pokemon I am gonna need money. OH and training. I might be able to cheese some fights but I barely know how to throw a punch. I also need to consider the monsters themselves. Were creatures are immune to nonmagical or nonsilvered weapons? Some creatures are simply resistant. Both are hard to deal with and can probably crush me easily. And both sound absolutely delicious.

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Fantasizing about power creep can wait. I don't know where I can even find most of these monsters. What I can figure out is money and training. I might need to ask the local Zhelezo if I can volunteer. They might let me practice some spear work as well. My quarterstaff is nice but if I am gonna kill dangerous creatures I want something with a blade on it.

I spent another couple of hours working for Bruce making myself another 5 silver. That plus what I got last night minus expenses is 44 silver. I also have my knife, quarterstaff, and the greaves. I am going to need camping gear, rations, good boots, rope, a tent, a flask or wineskin, and fire starting kit. There are other things I could use like caltrops, a lantern (which will become useless once I get some kind of darkvision) maybe a crossbow. I know how to use a gun so a crossbow won't be much of a difference with some practice. The total cost of all the essentials is 4 gold 5 silver or 45 silver. Might need a few days to get that and not be totally broke. A crossbow is gonna cost me 25 gold, so 250 silver. Not gonna be able to afford that before I actually make money as an adventurer. If my powers are about me changing my body based on the souls I have claimed then I can probably settle with a chain shirt and some padded armor. Both those are 60 gold in total. Well out of my price range. Sigh.

Although, there is a way to gain lots of money and supplies quickly. I can kill bandits. The Zhelzo may travel the Gilded Roadway but that doesn't make them entirely safe. Bandits and Pirate gangs hideout in the woods and along the coast. If they are decent they will have arms and armor. But if they are decent they will probably kill me quickly. Which means I would need a powerful form that lets me take them by surprise and one that lets me survive the inevitable scuffle after my first move.

This plan has a problem though. I still don't fully understand the conditions for a thing I kill to enter the dream world. Actually, no. I am gonna call that place my soul plane. It's basically a plane of existence I control with god-like power that I visit when I dream but it's gonna be filled with souls. Anyway, if I kill these bandits is that enough for their souls to go to the soul plane? Or do I actually have to eat their bodies? If it's the second I am slightly grateful because I won't be doing that and it will be nice not to have to give these hypothetical pirates an afterlife. I can test this later when I fish. I might actually go for a dive instead. See if there are any crabs I can get.

Carcinification for the win baby.

……

I need to connect with the fish I killed yesterday. I can probably put some of his scales on my skin. Not sure if it will do anything but the aesthetic of being a fish person is neat. I also need to see if I can stack forms. I might not be able to change the size of the parts I get but that's just me not trying hard enough. Gather enough fish souls and I can probably cover my entire body with scales.

It's nice being in such clean water. The salt burns my eyes but it is a small price to pay for power. I want to be able to kill at least 4 crabs the size of my knees, that way I can use their shells as knee pads and elbow covers. I sadly can't see any other sea creatures I want to gather or need. I won't try gills unless I can get a fish my size. Maybe a giant octopus or shark. If I get the chance for either of those I will go for it.

Catching my prey for the day I feel refreshed and enjoy the promise of future accomplishments. I managed to acquire 5 crabs and then with some fishing after another bass. I only had to endure like a million pinches but it was worth it. I head back to the inn and offer my harvest to Cherryfoots. I boil all the crabs and roast the fish. I take meat from only 2 of the crabs and from the fish to test the requirements for soul collection. Another day done and 5 silver for working in the kitchen with a 3 silver bonus for the extra food. Up to 52 silver now. I could get the camping supplies if I wanted tomorrow. Definitely should have gotten the bed roll today.

…….

“Hey Roob,” I called out.

“Yeah, boss?” Rubert called out.

“I am gonna rearrange the place a bit then I need you to go check for some crabs and more fish. If they are there I am gonna try and make a soul connection.”

“Sure thing boss,” Rubert said.

In the meantime, I find the orb containing the Wildemount guide. Going over the information about the Menagerie coast I made several important discoveries. First of Feolinn is apparently infested with Myriad forces. While I haven't seen a lot of open crimes it appears that most of the upper class of wineries and other local business leaders are either in their pockets or blackmailed. The book is vague on who best of the way it was written. Most of the information in the book was written in such a way that it was up to a GM to decide how they wanted their version of Exandria to play out. While that was good for running a campaign, actually living through it made the sparse details frustrating. But other than local wine prices there isn't much information I can use on Feolinn. Now as for local creatures two have stood out. To the west of me around the Gravid Archipelago there is a big ass Roc. Says it's bigger than a normal one too so that is definitely something I am interested in. Birds of that size will be useful in killing dragons.

There are also Swavain Basilisks. Sea serpent versions of a regular Basilisk that petrify you with secretions in their skin instead of looking at them. That is one to both look for and avoid as best as possible. I don't have a friend with greater restoration so I will probably end up turned to stone if I fight that. There are also giants and other creatures that live in the Cryios mountains to the north. Might end up illegally crossing the border if I head up there but I might be able to find a giant eagle form. Honestly, I would best try for a wolf form first. Get that and try and move to bigger creatures like bears than giant spiders. My best bet would be to gain a giant spider form. Webs and poisons would do well to help me set traps and begin to punch above my weight. I do worry that if I awaken a spider they might start praying to Lolth. The problem for another day as I see Rubert approaching me.

“Any luck?” I ask.

“Oh yeah.” He said.

“Good. Let me tell you my thoughts.” I replied.