There was a sharp crack of wood on wood. Daggat didn’t look up from the book. “This is ridiculous. Why does this symbol sound ‘v’ here, but ‘th’ THERE!”
“You need to be aware of the last syllable before the symbol, for instance-”
“No, I get that. But, there are so many symbols to use. Why reuse them? It’s needlessly complicated.” Calion sighed.
“I understand your grief. But, this is how it is. You just need to get used to it.”
“I can make a better system in my sleep. Everything is written like this?” He lifted the book by a corner like a dirty sock.
“By all means, do so. But, yes. If you want to read anything written, then these are the rules.” Calion gently took the book from his hands.
The lessons on reading were going well, shockingly well. Daggat had instinctively picked up the patterns and subtle rules of writing. In one short week, he was reading children’s books with ease, and could likely tackle heavier content with the assistance of time. He already had the vocabulary, Calion had told him it was a boon of being born with high intelligence.
The other gremlins did not shirk their training either. At the urging of Calion, each practiced different skills they had an interest in.
Calion made Klaw a simple wooden sword, whittling a large branch. The sage was no warrior and could only help him with the very basics of swordplay. Hit the target with the sharp end. It was up to him to experiment and practice different ideas. But, with no teacher and no sparing partner, it was glacial progress.
Zuss, on the other hand, was improving quickly. She stalked and ambushed the other gremlins. Watching them for hours unseen or jumping out to scare them when they least expected it. Fortunately, she had a master. Birdy. She imitated the cat, slowly adopting a feline grace to her movements.
Each gremlin was working hard to find useful skills, so they could spend their skill points effectively. It ate at Daggat that he had three points unspent, not to mention the biotraits. Logic prevailed, and he managed to convince the other gremlins to save them. The biotraits were best spent to adapt to the situation like Daggat had done against the drake.
“Let’s take a break from this.” Daggat slammed the book closed. Calion winced.
“Very well, what would you like to work on next?”
“Alchemy. Do you know anything about it?”
“Some… why? Is that an interest of yours?” Daggat nodded. “Well, what do you know?”
“You mix stuff in liquid and then sprinkle magic powder and you get a potion. Heat speeds the process. That’s about it… OH! And organic bits need to be used to affect living things.”
“Sounds like you have dabbled.”
“A bit.”
“Well, that is the actions, but you seem to lack the basic understanding.” He took a sip from his mug. The scent of a thick, spiced eggnog filled the room. Daggat had his own mug. “Alchemy, at its core, is about stripping the essence of an object of significance and distilling that into a physical form. The effects of it vary wildly. It is an art, not a science.” Daggat’s ears twitched. He was visibly holding himself back. Calion noticed, then handed him a sweet from his pocket. “One question at a time, please.” Calion was getting used to Daggat.
“Essence. What’s that?”
“Do you know what mana is?” Daggat shook his head. “Think of it like… air. It’s all around. In some places, it is thicker than others. Essence is mana infused with the concept or conceptual interpretation of something.”
“Woah… I am far more lost now than I was a moment ago.” The sage scowled. Klaw screamed something about tearing apart the tree he was hitting with a stick.
“It gathers around objects, places, and events that embody the concept of something. I am no alchemist, so the nuance avoids me. This is just what I have read. The classic example is fire. Fire essence gathers around flame and heat, images of fire, or around people who embody fire. A fiery personality, as one might say.” Daggat took a long drink from his mug. It was the size of his head.
Essence was what he was missing when it came to alchemy, but now he had to figure out what that was, exactly. Did the rat parts he used have essence?
“Is there rat essence?”
“I don’t know. I am sorry. I had heard that beast essence is one of the crucial ingredients for transformations. Perhaps that is the essence of living beings. Once you can read, I can direct you to some works I have heard of, but you would need to track them down.”
Daggat toned him out. He opened his alchemy menu. It was a simple, blank screen that listed recipes. He had none. Fat lot of help that was.
“Can I borrow a saucepan?”
“I suppose… but, let me help.” Daggat rolled his eyes. Calion had a habit of treating them as if they were dangerous or could break something at any time. This was TRUE, but he didn’t have to act like it.
From a drawer that Calion had lent him, Daggat pulled out his belongings. He left the copy of Divine Will but grabbed the drake horns, a gray drake heart, and that strange organ, which also looked off. Eh, it would probably be fine.
With Calion’s help, he brought a pot of spring water to a boil. Then he tossed it all in, along with a sprinkle of the magic powder.
After a moment, the water transformed into a bright orange with an oily red sheen. Daggat rubbed his hands together.
“This is MUCH better than I had made before. Monster parts are the way to go!”
“Well… be careful with it.” Calion looked worried. But, graciously he offered Daggat a few clay bottles that once held medicines. They spooned the liquid in, totaling five potions.
Then, Daggat opened his alchemy menu.
[Would you like to record the recipe? Yes/no]
Daggat selected yes, and it prompted him to give it a name. He thought “Drakeheart potion”, it was the first that came to his head, and it was slotted into his alchemy recipes.
Drakeheart potion
Primary Essence: Fire
Secondary essence: Beast, Strength
Effects: Unknown
“Would you like a taste?”
“Oh dear, no!” He gathered himself. “I mean, no. It’s too dangerous. Anything can happen.”
“Like what?” Daggat had images of flying through the air go through his mind.
“Potions work by infusing the essence into the imbiber. That essence becomes part of them, fundamentally. So, it rarely harms the imbiber. But, the effect varies from person to person. Each transformation is unique to them. It could make them stronger, or they might just explode in fire. If you must experiment, do it away from the house.”
Daggat was already running outside.
“Klaw! Klaw, I got something you gotta try.” Daggat held a potion above his head in victory. His brother threw his makeshift sword to the ground. He had his shirt tied to his waist and was covered in sweat. Calion followed reluctantly. He had a bucket of water handy.
“What! I’m busy.”
“Drink this.” He tossed him the potion. “Just a sip.”
“What is it?” Klaw sniffed it dubiously.
“Come on… it could make you stronger.” Klaw shrugged, then took a small sip.
The effect was immediate. Klaw grunted, and the grunt grew into a roar. Red scales erupted from his skin, settling in like armor. His eyes yellowed. Two small horns grew from his head. Most shockingly, was the heat. It radiated off of Klaw like a furnace.
He took a moment to gather himself, then looked down at his body. His claws spread. They were a blackened metal and glowed red hot at the tips. Klaw laughed, and it came out as a deep, guttural laugh. Then he lunged at the tree he was striking. His claws easily cut through the wood, which popped and blackened. A line of burned wood, with licks of flame sputtering out.
Then, as quickly as he changed, Klaw was back to normal.
“What was THAT!?” Klaw’s grin was contagious.
“Alchemy! Now we have a proper weapon. With this… we can be even stronger.”
“Well, don’t hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it.” Calion tried to interject but was ignored.
“We only have five bottles, so we have to make sure it lasts.” Zuss dropped from the tree Klaw was attacking. How long had she been there? She took the bottle with ease.
“Hey!” Klaw tried to grab it back, but Zuss was already taking a small sip.
Her transformation was different. She shook as though in pain for a moment. Blackened scales grew, rather than red. Smoke drifted from her scales like incense, giving her an aura of shadow that obscured her movements. It smelled of burned medicine.
Then, she jumped. Two wings, seemingly formed of shadow, carried her high into the air. She hovered for a moment, like a bird of prey formed of smoke. Then, she fell. The smoke drifted away, and Zuss rolled to a stop, back to normal.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Wha- WHAT! Why does she get wings!? That’s not fair.”
“Each potion affects a person differently. Their self-image, personality, disposition, and many other factors are involved.” Calion looked impressed. She had almost jumped to his height.
“See! See! This is power. The more monsters we kill, the more I can make.”
“Keep in mind,” Calion interjected, “If you use more than one potion per day, then you CAN get sick. Deathly so. The body must recover.”
Zuss strolled over to Daggat, then tossed him the bottle. Daggat supposed he should try it. He didn’t even think of trying it himself. Strengthening his crew was his priority. He felt a moment of guilt for not thinking greedily enough.
There was just enough left for him to take a sip. He did so. It tasted like heat. More than just spice, it had notes of smoke and blackened bone. It burned on the way down. Then, the heat exploded for a brief moment. Daggat doubled over, grunting from the pain. It was over an instant later. His companions looked at him with interest. He looked down at his hands. They were scaled, like the others. A deep red, like old blood. But he could feel he had no wings. Nor were his claws burning.
A flash of burning anger washed over him. Was this potion useless for him? What good were scales compared to burning claws or wings? His fury raged like a bonfire. That rage condensed to a point in the back of his throat. Finally, it erupted. He screamed, and with his scream came fire. A three-foot cone of fire spewed from his throat, burning the grass.
Zuss croaked and backed away, fear evident in her eyes, even through the mask. Then, the fire in Daggat dissipated, like mist drifting away.
“That was awesome!” Klaw slapped Daggat on the back. He coughed some residual smoke. “How much of this can you make?”
“Unless we kill another drake, this is it.” Daggat realized he wasn’t angry anymore. He never got THAT angry. It was the spirit of fire that influenced his thoughts, he realized. That clicked something into place. The essence, it was a spiritual thing. The spirit of fire, and a bit of strength, flowed through him. He needed to find objects that had the spirit of something. Not just anything, but ingredients that truly represented something. The fire gland of the drake for fire, maybe beast. The heart held the strength of a beast, even Daggat knew that. And the horn, just a bit more beast. Then he noticed the notification.
[Form transformation detected. Adapting to change. Transformation information is now available.]
He opened his statistics. There it was, at the bottom.
Transformations
Drakeheart form:
+2 strength
+2 charm
Lavaproof Scales
Fire breath
The same information was copied in his recipe. Daggat giggled in glee. He wondered how many transformations he could find. It also only lasted a few seconds. If he drank a full potion, would it last longer? Could he do something to increase its duration or potency?
“Hey, tell me what the drakeheart form gives you.”
“Uh… where’s that? Oh, found it. Plus two strength and constitution. Fireproof scales. Burning claws.” Fireproof scales, not lavaproof? Daggat wondered if already having fire-resistant skin just improved the heat resistance.
“Two strength and… dexterity. Smoke aura. Lesser wings.” So they were really different.
“Alright, good. Now… I am going to give some to you two. ONLY use it in emergencies.” Daggat gave Klaw the extra potion. Zuss narrowed her eyes at him. “Hey, which of us do you think would get into more fights?” She shrugged. Her throat was healing, slowly. Daggat hoped she would recover quickly. He missed her snarky comments, as much as he loathed to admit it.
They spent some time after that talking about their new transformations. What they could do, battle plans, and potential other transformations. That night, they all spiked their eggnog with pepper.
Every passing day became colder, and the gremlins settled into a routine. They would get the chores done quickly and spend their time training. They were still gremlins, so their training came with frequent breaks and the nightly dinner began to look more and more like goblin revelry than Calion liked.
Daggat had begun to read more complex works. He also began to write notes, though his handwriting was still large and sloppy. Perhaps it was his intelligence, but it came easy to him. He saw it like solving a code. Once, Klaw was curious and sat in. He left after only ten minutes. Daggat would have to teach them to read later.
Klaw spent his two growth points on strength, and Zuss on dexterity. Daggat had spent his one point on charm.
The first to spend a skill point was Klaw. Burst of strength, was one of the few useful skills he could get. Calion eventually agreed that it wasn’t a bad choice… it could be enhanced and it was one of the basics. Most warrior-type paths had that skill.
Zuss was the second. After two weeks of practicing her stealth, it finally reached level five. She had tackled Daggat from out of nowhere when it happened, glee in her eyes.
“Dag… five! In stealth. I got it.” He stood and brushed himself off.
“Good! You have been working very hard. Or, I assume you have. I haven’t seen you work on not being seen for even a moment. Which is a good thing!” She laughed with a rough sound, then winced. “So… any new skills?”
“Silent steps. Deep Shadows. Forgettable Features.” Daggat thought through these, interpreting their abilities based on his intuition.
“Well… I don’t think forgettable features would work…” He winced when he realized he brought up a sensitive subject.
“Shadows… works well… with smoke.”
“Then, it sounds as though you have made your choice, oh lady of the dark.” She smacked him painfully. Then, she looked around the room for a shadow. She skulked behind Calion’s chair. The shadows seemed to deepen as she moved in. Like she was sinking into ink. After a moment, she practically disappeared. The darker blur around her was noticeable if you knew what to look for. If not, Daggat could easily see someone walking right by here.
“I wonder… could you enhance the effect with a biotrait?” Together, they scanned through their options. Camouflage was an option, but Daggat was worried it just wouldn’t work with the shadows. If you can’t see the skin, what’s the point of it changing colors? But, Zuss did find one she was interested in. She had a sly look on her face and refused to tell Daggat.
He found out the next day. Calion, Klaw, and Daggat were all watching her performance. She scampered up and down the trees with ease. With the grace of a monkey, she swung from branch to branch… by her feet. Eventually, she hung above them, gripping the branch by her brand-new prehensile feet.
“Will you be getting a tail next?” Calion asked.
“THAT was your surprise. You got feet hands, so what? Wait, she spent a biotrait. Can I?”
“Well, hold on, Klaw. It could be useful. Four hands to clap with now.”
Klaw and Daggat laughed. She threw a pinecone at Daggat. “You can spend it if you find something you want. I won't stop you.”
“I did. Dense Muscle Fiber. Calion said it could make me stronger.”
“It MIGHT, I said. It’s hard to know for sure. As I said, I have limited knowledge of biotraits.”
“They are your points to spend. If you want to risk it, then do what you think is best. I can only guide you.” Daggat was curious, otherwise he would have said no.
“Fuck it! We can’t pussy foot around.” Klaw’s eyes glazed over for a moment, then he blinked, selecting the choice. Visibly, the beginning of a muscular gremlin body shrunk down until he was skinnier than Daggat.
“What? WHAT!” He was feeling his body for the changes. Daggat and Zuss were on the floor, rolling in laughter. It clearly pained Zuss, but she couldn’t stop it. “MY STRENGTH DIDN’T EVEN GO UP! This is orc shit!”
Daggat crawled up, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Hol- hold on.” He giggled. “I have an idea of how it works. You get any weaker?” He shook his head. “Calion, am I right in assuming that lifting things is a skill?” He had remembered that the goblins who were in charge of lifting things tended to look bulkier.
“It is. Strength training. Very common skill to train, it’s one of the few ways to enhance the strength attribute.”
“If I was a betting gremlin, which I am, I bet that if you did that, you would get even stronger than normal.” Calion rubbed his chin.
“That would make sense. You have a head for this, Daggat.”
“Oh, please. I have a head for everything.”
As the land settled into the first days of winter, the gremlins continued to train. Zuss climbed and soared through the air, and Klaw abandoned his sword training to instead lift rocks all day. Daggat continued to learn under Calion. A quick education, but a bright student and a seasoned teacher. When the snow first began to fall, they huddled together near the window, with hot beverages in hand, and watched the world become white.
—
Gobma was in a sour mood. Not only did he get scolded for not providing enough food, he was ordered to track down his missing gremlin. Now he was trudging through the forest. Daggat, Glut, and Klaw were dead. Killed by the newly hatched drake. Serves them right, thinking they are better than him. They didn’t know how much work he had to do to get his potion, nor how strong he was. He was a boss! That meant he was leagues better than a normal goblin, let alone gremlins.
He assumed Zuss had fallen as well. But when he took the roster the day after they came back, she was still in the party. Eh, she would bleed out or starve to death. No big deal.
But she didn’t.
She stayed on the party screen like a bad rash. She was just one gremlin, so it wasn’t too bad to leave her wandering about, angry at him. But, he couldn’t replace her unless he kicked her or killed her. To kick her, she had to be in sight. It was a ridiculous rule. So, he had to track her down and deal with her, or he would be one gremlin short.
Luckily, it was easy to track down party members. He had the party member locater perk. It told him direction and distance. Somehow, she had left the goblin’s territory and was nearing the human town. If they got a hold of her she might spill the beans on the goblin's secrets. If she knew any.
It took him three days. One of his gremlins died in the march, died to injuries from a wolf attack. He couldn’t leave his meat shields behind, of course. He finally was approaching her location. She hadn’t moved for over a week.
When he snuck ahead and saw the bounty of food and possible other riches inside the cabin, he saw a bright future ahead of him. It was night, and Zuss was in the cottage. Gobma considered sneaking in and ransacking the place. Gobma licked his lips as he watched the cabin. More food than he’d ever seen in one place. It’d be so easy to sneak in, slit some throats, and take it all.
Then he saw the old man step outside, shaking the snow from his boots. He moved slowly, hunched over, the weight of age settling in.
Weak. Gobma sneered.
Then the air around the man twisted. Just a shimmer, like heat off a fire. The snow at his feet didn’t crunch, it melted.
Gobma froze. Not weak. Not weak at all.
He backed away, silent as the grave. You didn’t become a goblin boss by being stupid. He needed more goblin power if he was going to raid it. Who knows what a human with magic was capable of?
Regretfully, he walked away. He knew where it was, and a couple of the other bosses owed him a favor.
Daggat
True Name: Daggat
Soul: Monster
Genseed: gremlin
Monster Level: 4
Attributes [0]:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 16
Will: 6
Charm: 8
Feats:
Encounter: True Angel
Act: Fledgling Alchemist
Knowledge: System Knowledge
Ability: Mighty Intellect
Act: Devotion [layered feats]
Skills[3]:
Alchemy: 1
System Aptitude: 1
Biotraits [1]:
Base size: Tiny
Regenerative Teeth
Enhanced Night Vision
Rot Resistance
Dominating Gaze*
Fire Resistant Skin
Transformations:
Drakeheart Form:
+2 strength
+2 charm
Lavaproof Scales
Fire breath
Other:
Variant: +10 Intelligence
Klaw
True Name: Klaw
Soul: Monster
Genseed: gremlin
Monster Level: 4
Attributes [0]:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 5
Will: 6
Charm: 6
Feats:
Knowledge: System Knowledge
Act: Devotion [layered feats]
Skills[1]:
System Aptitude: 1
Burst of Strength
Biotraits [1]:
Base size: Tiny
Regenerative Teeth
Enhanced Night Vision
Rot Resistance
Forged Claws*
Dense Muscle Fibers
Transformations:
Drakeheart Form:
+2 strength
+2 constitution
Fire-proof Scales
Burning Claws
Zuss
True Name: Zuss
Soul: Monster
Genseed: gremlin
Monster Level: 4
Attributes [0]:
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 4
Intelligence: 5
Will: 6
Charm: 7
Feats:
Knowledge: System Knowledge
Act: Devotion [layered feats]
Skills[2]:
System Aptitude: 1
Deep Shadows (Stealth 5)
Biotraits [2]:
Base size: Tiny
Regenerative Teeth
Enhanced Night Vision
Rot Resistance
Improved nerve conduction
Improved Balance
Prehensile Feet
Transformations:
Drakeheart Form:
+2 strength
+2 dexterity
Smoke Aura
Lesser Wings