Sigrid opened her eyes to find rays of morning light penetrating the canopy and the goblins already up and about making their meager breakfast and gathering what few supplies they still had. Standing and stretching she paused as something fell out of her lap. Reaching down she picked up the drop spindle and examined it.
It was a simple, top whorl spindle, like the one she’d just been practicing with. Made of smooth, unvarnished wood, with a metal hook on one end just above a disk from which extruded the shaft. She held it in her hand for a moment, sensing a weight about it; not one that came from the mundane item itself, but from what she could do with it. She had already been able to feel the threads of grandmotherhood, but now she could faintly feel the echoes of fate as well. All she had to do was…
Sigrid plucked at the air before her, drawing out a thin strand of magic; not fate itself, she wasn’t now, and probably never would, be that good. But fortune, perhaps? She began to spin, and from her hands flowed a silvery yarn that wound its way around her spindle. The task was draining, more so than even using the last of her divinity, but she felt that her desires required only a little of the substance. Once the yarn was perhaps an inch in length she stopped, and pulled the finished strand from the shaft.
Holding that short bit of woven fiber between her thumb and forefinger she could feel the subtle power it contained. Letting the strand go it unspooled, becoming disparate fibers that dispersed on the wind; silvery strands that drifted out over the camp unseen by any eye unaided by magic. They touched down here and there, dropping onto a guardian, a hunter, a gatherer, a trapper. On and on the fibers flew, touching one person or another, limning them in a soft, unnoticed radiance for a brief second.
“It’ll have to be enough,” Sigrid murmured.
A polite cough came from nearby, and she turned her head to see the three clan heads waiting patiently to speak with her. Seeing they finally had her attention, Oict stepped forward.
“Grandmother Goddess,” he began, only to stop when Sigrid shook her head.
“Just grandmother,” the older woman said.
Oict nodded after a moment. “Grandmother,” he repeated. “We have an idea that we’d like to discuss with you.”
At his pause Sigrid nodded encouragement.
“In about nine or ten days we’ll the road to Ritherhithe, where two more clans make their home. En would like to go ahead of the pilgrimage and carry your message, and our cause, to them. At the very least they may be able to provide food and support as we pass by; though truth be told we’re hoping they’ll join us as well,” he explained.
The grandmother thought the proposal over for nearly a minute before asking her question. “How will she convince them?”
En stepped forward. “I discovered, or I should say copied, a [Skill]. I remembered what you did for us that first night and wondered if maybe I couldn’t do the same, so I tried to invoke the [Counsel of Grandmothers]; that didn’t quite work, instead I got [Lesser Counsel of Grandmothers], which lets me call forth a single person’s grandmothers to speak with them. I think it may be enough to convince the clan heads to at least aid us, if not join us,” she said boldly.
After a few more seconds of pondering Sigrid nodded. “It’s a good idea, but are you sure you can make it there before we do?”
“With all the children, the few elderly, and the general lack of endurance among our people we’re averaging between six and eight miles a day; I could make almost double that alone. I should arrive in plenty of time to convince them, with a few days extra for them to prepare supplies,” the goblin replied.
“Alright then, if you believe you can do it, then do it,” Sigrid said. “However, I think there’s another [Skill] you should develop before you go.”
The three goblins looked at her with interest as she held forth her hands and intoned. “[Don’t Make Me Get The Spoon].” As with the last time she’d used it an oversized wooden spoon appeared in her clasped hands. “This,” she said, “is apparently my [Divine Weapon], I suspect that because you’re my clergy you’ll be able to call upon it.”
Each examined the spoon carefully for a few moments before El spoke up. “What were you feeling when you first manifested it? What was your thought process?”
Sigrid frowned as she thought back to the confrontation just a few days ago. “I… Was staring down that irate, disgusting man and thinking he was just like an unruly child who didn’t get his way. My mother, and her mother, would always threaten to hit with a spoon when we acted like that, and to be honest I’ve made the threat myself enough times that it felt like reflex to say it myself.”
“Threatening retribution? Or consequences maybe?” En murmured as she looked at her own hands.
“But what’s it meant to accomplish?” Oict pressed.
“To be honest? It’s theoretically meant to beat someone into remorse and good behavior,” Sigrid explained. “Though I don’t think that’s ever worked in the history of any race or nation. Ruling through fear only works so long as you’re around to be feared, after all.”
The three nodded, but continued to ponder on her words for several more minutes. Finally En stretched forth her own hands and spoke. “[Don’t Make Me Get The Spoon].” There was a moment of resistance, as if the world was fighting back against the skill, but after a moment it resolved and she was holding a large wooden spoon very similar in appearance to Sigrid’s.
The goblin smiled and gave it an experimental wave, but then put it away by speaking the activation phrase a second time. “Takes a lot of [Mana],” she said. “I suppose that’ll go down as its level goes up.”
“[Mana]?” Sigrid asked.
“You know, the energy of magic? It fuels pretty much all our active [Skill]s?” En asked even as the other two continued trying to grasp the new [Skill].
Sigrid shook her head. “I think it’s different for goddesses. I don’t have [Mana], just [Divinity].”
“Huh, I guess that makes some kind of sense,” En considered. “Wouldn’t be very godly if you could just run out of mana like everyone else.
“And you said your skills have levels?” the grandmother inquired.
“Yeah, they range from one to one hundred, the weaker the skill the easier it is to level. But they can be upgraded once you max them out, so it can be worth it,” En explained.
“...The Spoon],” El said in the background, and another cooking implement appeared in his hands. “Ha! Got it!”
Moments later, Oict had managed it as well.
Sigrid looked over her three bespooned clerics and nodded. “Good, now you’ll be armed should something come up.”
“In fairness, I already had knives,” En noted.
“Perhaps, but now there’ll be no question that you’re mine,” the grandmother said and the three goblins looked pleased.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
For a moment Sigrid smiled down on them, then she frowned. “What happens if you encounter a problem?” she asked.
En gave a tittering little laugh. “That’s simple. I pray,” she replied.
The Grandmother Goddess blinked. It was such a simple and elegant solution and it hadn’t even occurred ot her; probably because no one was sending prayers her way yet. “I suppose that works,” she conceded. “I’ll keep an ear out then, or however that works.”
“Here’s hoping we don’t need it though,” En said, then looked up at Sigrid with earnestness. “Anything we can do for you Grandma?”
“No dear, I’m fine. You’ve your task, and I’ve mine. El, Oict, why don’t you go see if you can’t make something of the food we’ve got left?” Sigrid replied.
The three clan leaders nodded and then hurried about their own tasks.
Sigrid began to walk through the dawn-encrusted encampment, speaking with the goblins and giving them [Encourage]ment where she could. She paused to give small children hugs, and little hard candies she found in her pockets. It was strange, because she was certain she didn’t have any lemon drops, butterscotches, or root beer barrels, on her when she arrived, but every time her hand delved into a pocket she found one in a neat waxed paper wrapping. It didn’t cost her any [Divinity] either, so she wasn’t going to worry about where magic grandma candies came from.
Finally she came to the person she was really looking for this morning. He was still wearing those ridiculous cut off pants and no shirt, making him seem more like he should be part of some beach surf culture than pilgrim in the woods. Fortunately this area seemed to be very warm, so the lack of clothing probably wasn’t leaving him overly chilled.
“You really should put on a shirt at least,” she admonished.
“‘S too warm,” Skree said as he helped Anx pack her bag. Since he was on gathering duty Anx was left carrying most of their stuff and thus proper balancing was key.
“Too warm?” Sigrid asked with a raised brow.
“Yeah, I’m warm, so I don’t wear shirts,” he said like he was daring her to take issue. Sigrid raised a brow but decided that was not today’s hill.
“I see,” she said instead. “Skree, I need your help.”
The young goblin paused in balancing the pack to look up at her suspiciously. “With?” he inquired.
“We’ve so far been lucky enough that our course runs parallel to a river, but I doubt that’ll persist for our entire trip, which means water will become an issue. Further, politics and tinctures can only go so far in healing. People are going to get diseased or poisoned at some point and we have no way to deal with those either. I am assuming that with the magics of your world you’d be able to fix some of these things?” the grandmother explained.
Skree was quiet for a moment. “I could make charms that’ll help fight disease and poison, but they’re weak, not miracle cures; same for ones for healing. I can maybe make a charm that gaters water, but it’d also be really slow. Not sure how any of this helps.”
Sigrid nodded. “And if you had a class? Perhaps one related to totem, charm, or shamanistic magics?”
Skree snorted. “Ya’re still a daft old bint for all ya’re a goddess,” he replied, rebounding into, what Sigrid had become certain was a fake accent meant to make him sound stupider than he was. “Ya can’t just magic up a class out of thin air.”
“Are you sure about that?” the Goddess inquired.
Skree froze for a moment, like a deer caught in the headlights, then shook himself. “Whatever, amuse yaself.”
Smiling, Sigrid reached forward and placed her hand on Skree’s worryingly thin shoulder. “[Counsel of Grandmother Shamans],” she intoned, pouring [Divinity] into the command. It took surprisingly little, just ten points, and she had to wonder if it it cost five more than her own because she guided it in a specific direction.
Skree’s eyes glazed over for a few moments, and the bedroll he’d been working on started to slip from his hands, only to be captured by Anx and shoved in the mostly full pack.
“‘S he gonna be okay?” the small girl asked.
“He should be fine dear, he’s just having a conversation with some old grandmothers,” Sigrid replied, patting the child on the head and offering her a lemon drop; those were especially popular with the children for some reason.
Anx happily took the sweet treat and sucked on it while they watched everyone else get ready around them. A half hour later Sigrid was beginning to think she’d made a mistake, most everyone was ready to leave or had already left, they were now at the tail end of the column with the stragglers and Skree hadn’t shown any signs of stirring. However, to her vast relief, just five minutes later he shook himself like a wet dog and then looked around.
“‘Kay, deserved that,” he muttered.
“Well?” Sigrid asked and Skree gave her a smile, then made a little gesture in the air and she could suddenly see a status screen.
[Name : Skree of Clan Hall]
[Age : 16]
[Species : Goblin (Northern)]
[Class : Totemic Shaman]
[Level : 1]
[Mana : 220/220]
[Mana/Minute : 2.2]
[Attributes]
* Acuity : 15
* Agility : 17
* Magic : 22
* Strength : 8
* Vitality : 12
[Skills]
* [Artist 36]
* [Advanced Herbalism 2]
* [Basic Elementalism 1]
* [Craft Totem 4]
* [Mental Resistance 15]
* [Spirit Sight 1]
[Totemic Shaman: A type of shamanistic caster who calls on the spirits of nature to do their bidding. They can either call on them to create instant effects, or bind them into totems to create sustained auras that last as long as the physical container. +2 Ac, +2 Ag, +4 Ma. +1 Ac/2 levels, +1 Ag/2 levels, +1 Ma/Level, +1 FP/Level]
[Artist: The world is your canvas, paint, carve, sculpt, build.]
[Advanced Herbalism: You know which plants are poisonous, which are edible, and which are medicines (lots of overlap with that first one, surprisingly). In addition, you know how to craft simple poultices, tinctures, and brews to help bring out the magical essences of the plants with which you work.]
[Basic Elementalism: You may entreat the simple spirits of nature to create instantaneous magical effects, such as generating a bolt of lightning, starting a fire, healing a wound, or even curing a disease. More powerful spirits may be entreated for more powerful effects, but they may require more than just an exchange of mana for their labor.]
[Craft Totem: You may place a bound or willing spirit of nature into a receptacle, once so confined it will absorb ambient mana and produce a large, are effect. While it is easy to convince small spirits to take up residence in totems, it can be nearly impossible to convince the larger spirits, requiring either contracts or subjugation.”
[Mental Resistance: You are more resistant to magics or skills that manipulate the mind.]
[Spirit Sight: You can see the spirits of nature.]
“Well that’s different,” Sigrid noted. “I thought you had [Herb Lore], and some skill for crafting charms?”
“[Herb Lore] became part of [Advanced Herbalism] when ya gave it to me, and [Craft Charm] became part of [Craft Totem],” Skree explained. “‘S why they’re higher than level one.”
For a moment Sigrid considered suggesting he speak in full and proper words, but she decided that wasn’t today’s hill either. “Well, we’ve wasted enough time, we should get walking if we’re going to catch up with everyone else.”
Skree and Anx nodded, each picking up a pack, and the trio started moving at a quick pace.