“What about the kids?" I asked. Besides the combat skills, what did they end up with?"
"Isadora has high intelligence and charisma stats like I do." she stated. "She got a light spell that lets her summon an orb of light that can float near her or be attached to items. And another one called, "Verse of Warding?” She asked in a puzzled tone. “Not exactly sure what that is, but she’s supposed to sing it I guess.”
“Hold on a sec," I said. Sing it?” I knew Isadora had been in the choir for many years and loved music of all kinds, especially if it was on vinyl. She loved plays and musicals and had an artistic mind. I always used to ask her jokingly. "How did you get so cultured living out here among the farmlands and the yew haw people?” She would simply smile and shrug her shoulders.
I put my hand on my face and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “What other skills did she acquire?" I asked.
“Well, she continued. She got a decently high animal husbandry skill level, probably from all her years in 4H and FFA raising and showing animals. Oh yeah, and a high level vocal mastery skill."
I dropped my head to the table, and groaned out “She’s a Bard.”
“What’s a Bard, Denise asked.”
“It’s one of the most annoying characters in most games. And probably the most hated. BUT… I said quickly, as I saw Denise’s forehead scrunch up into a scowl. It is one of the most underrated and powerful classes in any game. And I’m positive she’s not going to be sitting in a tavern playing a lute, singing melodic songs that barely make sense and don't hardly rhyme. So it’s all good. As far as her verse spell goes, warding is a protection spell, so she can give us protection buffs. That’s a win for me.”
“Moving on," Denise said while glaring at me. Travis got high stats in strength and constitution.”
“I guarantee that’s from playing sports all year since he was very young," I responded, happy to change the subject. I’ll bet his strength stats are more than mine even though I'm a higher level.” I didn’t even have to inspect the children to know they were all level 1 because their mother would absolutely not allow them to do anything dangerous, ever.
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“Indeed," Denise said, relaxing her scowl a bit. "He got an ability called Hot Hands where we can heat up just about anything by touching it.”
“Oh cool, I nodded. He can probably heat up a sword enough to make it a flaming sword, doing lots of damage.” Receiving another glare from Denise, I said, “or maybe he could use it for welding. He did say that he wanted to get into some kind of trade or skill after high school.”
I coughed, “moving on.”
“He also has an ability called Enlarge,” Denise continued. I raised my eyebrows at her and gave her a sheepish look.
“Does it make him larger and stronger for a short period?" I asked. She just nodded her head at me not wanting to hear what she knew would come out of my mouth next. “Okay look," I said while holding my hands up. I’m not saying this is what he has to choose. And I’m sure it’s just the system putting people in places they think they’d be best at. But… If it were me, I’d say that’s looking like a warrior build.”
“AND… Moving on,” I said after getting a renewed glare. “What did Jace end up with?"
"Jace," Denise replied after a brief pause, "got some decent stats in intelligence and wisdom."
"Wisdom?" Really?” I exclaimed.
Denise held up her hands in an "I don’t know" pose." That's what he said, she continued. "He has a detect magic spell, which seems self explanatory, and a passive ability called tinkering. Apparently he can take something apart and see how it fits together or can be fixed, and he even gets a schematic for it that he can access on his stat screens.”
When I heard this, I almost exploded out of my chair. “Wait a second," I said. "He can take something apart, see how it fits together AND get a schematic for it?” Denise, not understanding the issue, just nodded. “And my mom has years of experience building electronic parts and has a lot of materials stocked in their garage. Do you know what this means baby? It means we can fix so many of the things the EMP ruined,” I finished excitedly. At that thought, I got out of my seat and paced back and forth in the kitchen. “Okay, give me a minute here," I said more to myself than anyone, as I kept pacing. "High intelligence and wisdom, I’m sure he has decent levels in crafting, and has the tinkering ability… OH Holy Crap" I exclaimed as I turned and looked at Denise, "He's going to be an Artificer.”
“What is that?" she asked.
“It’s difficult to explain,” I said, but think of a person that can combine technology with magic, especially when creating weapons. Come to think about it, Travis built his own gaming computer prior to this whole shit show. I’m sure his intelligence score is high too. He and Jace can work with my mom to repair some of our electronics and both can gain the Artificer class. Two artificers that can combine technology and magic and repair some of our losses. This could be epic.”