Upon returning to Pogna, Vittorio wasted little time in setting up a meeting with Master Kahe. He earned a tidy sum for what he'd found out about his class, especially a second - and much easier - way of meeting the requirements of {Absence and Abundance}. Keeping a light on overnight was a fair bit more tolerable than spending a week in absolute darkness for anyone but a dwarf.
On the topic of standard Talents, Vittorio was curious to learn that Aberrant Senses, which would allow him to perceive one sense with another, could offer other combinations - but only if he picked it. That way, the next time he got an option of standard Talents, the list would be remade. If he did not choose it, it would remain the way it was. There was no record of what seeing smells was like, but it was still the only option he would feel comfortable with.
Master Kahe did not give direct advice as such, firmly believing that each person should forge their own path. He did suggest waiting with Adopt Ancestry however, as it could only be selected once and Vittorio was in the unusual situation of having many options for how to use his class. The dwarven option, giving better eyesight in darkness, was the most popular among adventurers but there was no guarantee he would need it - especially considering Aberrant Senses.
In the end, Vittorio chose to see smells. He immediately regretted the decision as he was overwhelmed and confused by the change to his perception, but using the innate ability to scale it back he got it under control. Once he did he was instead quite pleased, as it worked somewhat like the best case Vanessa had suggested: He could see faint clouds of smells around things. It would take a lot of practice, and probably sharper senses, to make the most of it, but the potential was high.
He also got a tip on a fun fusion restaurant in the city, combining the traditional dwarven mainstays of pickled, dried, and salted foods with the lighter, fresher, and much fishier elven kitchen. As promised he took Pachakutek out to dinner as thanks for her paying for the whole group before, and they had a lot of fun trying out the very foreign foods. Vittorio was especially taken with a type of pickled shrimp.
The summer passed with Gloria and Vittorio continuing to do a majority of the legwork in the guild. The work was often dull and with a lot of travel to dead ends, earning them only the lone silver the Free Company paid out for information gathering. Still, they made progress and branched out in training. Reaction speed was a major Trait they'd somewhat neglected, but by turning it into a game spending an hour at it felt like no time at all. The equipment available at the guild was a simple magical light: It shone green, and at random intervals would change to red or turn off for a brief moment. People used it in different ways but Gloria and Vittorio sat on the floor, and when the light changed they'd put their hand down flat in between them. First to get there won. Somewhat unintentionally they improved the efficacy of the training by trying to distract each other.
Near the end of the first month of summer another level 1 joined the Company, a [Hunter] named Raffaela. They saw her around and they chatted about the early training, eventually about the Rat Room when she was let in, and she joined them on a few quests. Unfortunately, she was very unhappy about the nature of the quests, complaining to everyone who'd listen - each and every one of them telling her they'd done the same. She decided to leave and level up by playing her trade instead, expecting to be able to return and go on "real quests".
She was not the only one to leave: Vanessa was hired by a city to the west to help fight monsters coming down the mountains and Ulberto was recruited by a merchant house. Each hosted a celebratory dinner with much laughter and drinking before leaving. The three remaining eventually decided to dissolve the team: With two defenders and a support and nobody to fill the gaps in Pogna it just wouldn't work out. They did discuss leaving together but ultimately decided against it - their long-term goals were a bit too different, and they'd all known this was a temporary thing. Only Tarcisio remained in Pogna, finding a new team in need of a solid defender. Nuno, who wanted to save up enough to see a [Class Guide] and hoped to turn his [Soldier] class into a [Commander] or even [Warlord], left for the capital.
By the time Pachakutek took the pragmatic approach and heades for where [Water Mages] were most in demand, the coast, Vittorios crush on her had well and truly passed. He considered her a dear friend but nothing more, though the softness of her fur and her teasing did still elicit reactions.
The guild felt empty to Vittorio after that. Most of the adventurers had teams or close groups and, while they did socialize, Gloria and he tended to end up on the fringes. It was possible they'd spent too much time with just the one team, but they had no regrets. They had each other and would no doubt forge new friendships in time, and they treasured their time with those who had left. Tarcisio would still join them regularly even though he was also training to work better with his new team.
Thus, when the day came that Vittorio reached level 10 and went up a tier, he had only Gloria to share the joy with. Her jubilation was more than enough, but part of him still wished he could have celebrated with those who had left. He would not have gotten this far without them.
Attributes Race: Human Class Susceptible to healing Status All healing affecting you is increased. Log Class: Pactmaker Passive skills Class Attributes Mentality, Personality Gain experience in the class when using Traits associated with an Attribute. Class Traits Adaptability, Concentration, Learning: Experience, Magical attacks: Ranged, Reactions The natural rating of traits are set at a minimum of Adequate. Gain experience in the class when using the Traits. Class Activities Avoid notice, Combat, Negotiate Gain experience in the class when engaged in the Activities. Active skills Commune Open your mind to contact with those who dwell in The Place Which Is Not. Form a pact Enter a deal for power. Available pacts: 5 Pact Passive skills Cleansing Passage
Impurities in the air cannot enter your body.
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Wind armour
You are surrounded by a barrier of air. It provides protection against attacks and stops smell, sound, and heat you emit from traveling more than a short distance. You can suppress any or all of these effects at will.
Active skills Path of Air For a short time, you can create steps out of air with a very short duration. You can use this ability often. Suspend
Make part of the air solid for a period of time. How often you can use this ability depends on the size and duration of the effect.
Wind Weaponry
Launch a spear of solid air that does low damage. You have limited control over the spear after it is launched. You can use this ability at any time.
Talents Generic Deals Occult
Gain proficiency (Supernatural Awareness): Gain Basic rating in a Trait.
Occult Initiate: Gain the ability to learn basic Occult spells.
Transformation
Improved Aptitude (Magical attacks: Immediate): Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very Good.
Class: Pactmaker
Aberrant senses: See smells.
Skill: Commune with mortal: Send a short telepathic message to a creature you can see. You may use this skill sometimes.
Pact aptitude (Magical attacks: Ranged, Reactions): Improve your natural Trait rating by two steps, up to Very Good. This also increases your non-boosted natural rating by two.
Alert!
You have 3 Talent points!
Price evaluation: Gain an increased sense of what will satisfy the price of a pact.
Strengthen position: Gain a slight increase to your ability to negotiate with those in The Place Which Is Not.
He'd ended up investing quite heavily in Aptitude feats, but as they were for three Traits he relied on it felt like the right choice. Tiering up meant they degraded by one step, but that still kept them at Good which was a solid foundation going forward. Strengthen position was primarily a choice for the future, as he'd learned in conversations with Master Kahe that with tiers came the potential for greater flexibility and potential in what his mind and body could handle. Without any real way of training Negotiation that he was comfortable with it seemed like a good choice.
Price evaluation had cleared things up a fair bit, even if he'd worked most of what it revealed out on his own by now. For instance, the price of {The Still Wind} changed from "Foil the plans of the wind" to "Prevent wind from affecting living things or property, or else stir the air to make it do so. The greater the effect prevent or caused, the greater the price paid". He still only had a fairly vague sense of how much he'd "paid" but it was a solid start. The change to the price of {The Exchange} was more interesting: "1 gold per day" had become "Invest 1 gold per day with the goal of future profits, or else sacrifice it". Still not something he wanted to do but at least it wouldn't always just drain his finances.
As for his first tier 1 Talents? There were some changes to minor and standard options, but naturally, it was the major he was most excited by. He'd talked them over with Master Kahe and on his strong advice had decided to stick with class Talents. In the future he would be offered stronger and stronger versions of major class Talents he'd picked before, making up the core of his build. Of those, there were four:
Broaden Pact was straightforward: Every pact granted one additional skill, either active or passive. According to Master Kahe these tended to, as the name suggests, broaden one's capabilities as well as how the entity was represented. If he kept picking it tier after tier, every pact would eventually turn into a hybrid pact. This Talent increased the price to be paid.
Combine Pacts would let him replace one skill in a new pact with one from his previous pact, exchanging a passive for passive or active for active. For instance, he could swap Cleansing Passage (keeping him safe from gasses) for Master and Pupil (making him learn non-class Traits faster). This was quite appealing of course, but it had the downside that the price of the pact would be drastically increased. Master Kahe said the entities simply do not like it, seeing it as a bit of an insult or impurity. Interestingly, it had a note that "Certain restrictions may apply", presumably due to skills or entities clashing. If he kept picking it, he would eventually be able to maintain two pacts at once.
Enduring Pact would grant a boon after he had maintained a single pact for more than two days and would grow stronger with time. While he did spend most of his time with {The Still Wind}, he did regularly dip out for {The Singular Direction} when training or {Absence and Abundance} when traveling. According to Master Kahe's book, the boons tended towards the strange, seeming to be things the entity thought would be helpful. [[The Breaker of Chains]], the last known level 100 [Pactmaker], had gone down this path as they had dedicated themselves fully to a single entity. What exactly they had gained from it wasn't recorded, but for each Enduring Pact chosen, they gained a completely new boon. With how extremely rare it was for someone to reach that level and the fact they had been instrumental in dismantling the most powerful nation in the world, they must have been substantial. Choosing it would not affect the price.
Strengthen Pact was the simplest of them: It would improve every skill granted by a pact. According to Master Kahe, this would eventually lead to the [Pactmakers] individual skills being stronger than other classes, but with the tradeoff of being very narrow at any given time as the skillsets would remain the same.
Master Kahe could not offer much direction in this. He generally advocated following your heart or, for combat classes, to ensure good defense and utility. The nature of [Pactmaker], being able to change skills, rather threw that out the window. Vittorio had a great deal to think about.