"And with a thundering crack of bones, the Liche Lord Bevrost croubles to dust. But before his skull hits the ground his lippless mouth cries out one last time in his ancient evil tongue, a curse on your souls, but before he can finish, he completely dissolves from the holy ora that continues to fill his once corrupt cryptid hall. Silence fills the halls. No longer will the undead threaten the living of this world." And with those final descriptions, Jacobs imaginative cloud that covered the length of the game table dispersed.
"I-I phew..really thought I had you guys there." the groups forever DM Jacob said before plopping down on the pillow on the ground, the exhaustion from maintaining the cloud for the whole session clearly showing its strain on him.
"THAT WAS FREAKEN AWESOME JACOB!!! AND YOU MANAGED TO HOLD UP YOUR TALENT THE WHOLE TIME!!" Nakama proclaimed rising from her seat, and using the wheels in her heels to roll over to Jacob and give him a sturdy high five.
"How are you feeling?" She asked a little more toned down and her more protective sister self taking over.
Jacob sat half hunched back on his elbows trying to draw in more air.
"I-I'm fine Nakama I-I've just never maintained it for... Gahh that long before, I think I might have overdone it." He panted out. As he explained this a much smaller version of his cloud appeared next to him, it showed an engine spinning faster and faster until smoke started to pour from it.
The cold tapping of Kasais Ice claw fingers on the table pulled both their attentions to their third forster sibling. "Tsk, you know Jacob you are gonna have to push your limits a lot farther then that! if you'll ever want to get into the HPA Courses, Not that its likely you'll even get in with that Talent. I mean what would you do if a someone was being attacked? Make a two foot tall mist knight that can't even hit and do real damage. You're better off just getting a regular job like Perran over ther-"
With blazing wheel speed, Nakama rolled behind Kasai and delivered a scolding chop of her hand to Kasais head, cutting him off.
"You're being cruel Kasai, and that's not very heroic of you." Nakama said in her scolding tone. "You're both going to pass the entrance exams and become great Heros one day and we'll all be there to see it!" she stated with such certainty no one could doubt she fully believed it.
"Don't hit me Wheel Heels." Kasai mutter, holding one of his now enlarged ice clawed palm over the welt growing on the back of his head frost blue hair. A frosty breath of air left his nostrils as he clearly tried to control his temper.
"I was just being honest, Heros have to fight and stop villains, without a powerful fighting talent you might as well be fighting like a talentless nobody like Perran."
"Thats enough!" spat jacob quietly not wanting to yell and wake mom and dad.
"There was no need to say that about Perran Kasai!"
The arguing continued for bit but in the middle of the table sitting to Kasias left Perran sat undisturbed on the ground. Surrounded by numerous old and new character sheets and player guide books for Tavern Tales and Talents, the Table top RPG he and his care takers fosters kids play every weekend.
He was quite satisfied with tonight's build. Pandark Windfist a monk who wields a staff, specialized in holy zeal and had the talent; strong mind that let him perform two concentrations actions at the same time, had managed to one shot the Liche Lord after using a few combinations of different spell effects and stacking them carefully to make sure everything was well within the rules of the game.
Perran liked TTnT, it was a way for him to try out fighting techniques and mental tricks on his opponent that he wasn't ever really to do in real life. Sure when he was younger and still had his dad he would train with him a little. His father, the Hero Extend had the ability to extend not just his own body but anything he touched. He had used this in his fighting style, relying on a bo staff he was able to quickly extend and retract it complete ignoring counters or guards but retracting it, just barely missing the opponents defensive strike then re extending it right below their guard. It was an incredibly affective technique. When his father wasn't going around the city saving lives and defeating criminals his father always took the time to show him how to hold a bo staff and how to practice with it, even now Perran still remembers all the warm ups and practice positions, high guard low guards, transitions in-between.
His fathers fighting style was why Perran had chosen to play a monk character in Jacobs campaign, it was a nice way to remember him.
Unconsciously Perran rubbed at his right leg, a twinge of phantom pain made him tense, but he did his best to not make an outward show of it.
The fight tonight wasn't really their characters VS the Liche Lord but was really them as players against the DM. A mental fight of trying to guess the others next actions, Perran had carefully observed Jacob over the past week, noticing his talent often showed images of skeletons, and when one showed a necromancer shooting lighting bolts at his character, and Jacob quickly pulling out his notepad to start taking notes, he knew then to prepare to fight a necromancer. Hence why he had used some of his characters saved up adaption points to upgrade his monks talent from one concentration per turn to two.
He did feel a little bad about finishing off the campaigns main boss so quickly but the amount of skeleton soldiers was gonna keep increasing exponentially unless they put a stop to the Liches summoning directly.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
A sudden alarm going off in his pocket joulted Parren from his thoughts and back to reality.
5 A.M. It was time for work.
Shifting his caine off his lap he used it to push himself upright, the movement was slightly painful as his right leg and hip always locked up when he sat for too long. He than made his way over to his work bag and slung it over his shoulder.
"Perran"
He had to make sure to remember to get his boxed Breakfast/lunch from the fridge before leaving.
"Perran."
A hand grasped his shoulder, the action made his body tense out of habit. The hand flinched away from his response too. Nakama stood behind him her face clearly showing worry.
"Oh um, sorry Nakama, you just started me a little. Didn't mean to scare you."
"Oh, Perran you didn't... ah well. um... Are you sure you should be going to work. I mean we played all night, and I'll be honest I'm barely conscious as is. You must be exhausted too. Why don't you stay home and rest?" her tone of voice hinted that she really did want the latter to happen.
"I'll be fine Nakama, its not the first time I've had to work with less than optimal sleep" Perran said putting on a reassuring smile.
Admittedly though only to himself Perran did feel a little tired but he'd push through it.
"Yea, that's the thing Perran." Jacob added in. "You've been doing that a lot recently, are you sure this jobs not too demanding for you? I mean couldn't you find a job with more reasonable hours?"
"Hah! Yaaaawn! Good luck with that! W-what other job would want a talentless glass shell working for them!" Kasai spat out through continual yawning.
Jacob and Nakama turned back to Kasai and the arguing began again, Perran took the opportunity to slip out before they could continue that conversation.
The brisk cold mornings were a good way to wake Perran up. The cold sting of the wind against his face made him feel alert. A few minutes into his walk to Brick Forge Pipe Manufacturing plant had already loosened up his leg to the point he could walk normally again. Pulling the caine up he pushed the little button on the side and collapse the whole thing down to the palm of his hand. Sticking it into his pocket he continued his walk in silence appreciating the now liberated movement of his joints.
The morning sidewalk soon became a hive of activity as people began to also leave the warmth of their houses to go to their jobs. Overhead people with flying talents flew quickly ahead of perran. Most flyer stayed within the designated flying areas of the road, but some younger kids probably twelve and ten flew recklessly through the air, clearly enjoying the morning winds beneath their wings. In the road people with speed enhancements blurred past him, if not for the glass and stone windbreaks between him and the road Perran would have most likely been blown down by the gust of wind some of them produced.
It took Perran about an hour every morning to walk to work the plot of land the company was on was primarily a large fenced in yard with huge stacks of steel pipes and beams stacked neatly ready to be shipped. In the corner of the lot stood a tall ware house where most of the work is done. On the side of building were the words"BRICK FORGED STEEL." And the companies tag line "Built Backup Better."
Before going in to the building Perran did a few arm stretches and leg stretches. Kicking his right leg up on to a medium fence line he bent over and reached for the tops of his steel toed boots. The scar tissue in his leg and side protested this action every time, but over the months he's been seeing improvement, stiffness didn't last as long, and he could stand up for longer periods of times, he guessed in a years time he wouldn't even need the cane anymore.
Entering the factory floor it was a sight of activity, three rock skinned workers with strength talents lifted large metal rods into positions where a forged that was maintained by a fire breath talent user kept its temperatures blisteringly hot. If Perran even tried to get within five feet of that thing he'd start to feel his skin burn. And he knows this because his first day here, that's exactly what happened.
For a week he had to cover his skin that was exposed to the heat in burn cream and cold wrap bandages. Not to mention he also had to hide the injuries from both his care takers and his boss, the retired hero Brick Forge. Either one of them would have made him give up the job because they thought it would be too dangerous for him because he didn't have a talent limit to protect him.
It took a lot of pleading on Perrans part and a favor from Mr. Hikari who just so happened to be old friends with Brick Forge to get him this job. And he wasn't going to loose it.
Putting on his thick leather jacket and gloves he got to work. Onces the pipes were pulled off the press and cooled Perrans job was to organize them into the large stacks of different, sizes, diameter, material, and purpose. The whole organization system took him awhile to figure out, mainly because no one here actually bothered to maintain a decent inventory of the place. So his first job from his boss was to reorganize everything in the workshop.
He managed to get it done in a little under two weeks and that was because Brick Forge said he was going to fire him if he couldn't keep up with the other workers. So Perran made sure to give it his all everyday, he had to.
Perran knew he wasn't as useful to Brick Forge as the other workers. He was really grateful to have this job and was willing to do anything to keep it and prove that he can do it.
8PM Brick Forge voice rang out through the factory. "QUITTING TIME!! GO HOME AND COUGI ! DON'T FORGET TO PUT OUT THE FORGE AGAIN!", he shouted out in a gravely voice. Standing on his upper railing office, Brick Forge was a wall of a person, his skin was a cracked tan clay that was resistant to fire, but was showing its age with dark burns and long deep cracks penetrating his outer layer.
All the workers quickly began their end of day rituals, cleaning the press, organizing tools, and sweeping the shop floor. Perrans first action was to sit down on a pile of 223 steel piping for a break. He was really tired. He was barely able to stand the pain in his leg for standing so long, and without a goods night sleep. But he did it. He managed another day.
Limping off the pipe pile he made his way to his locker to grab his stuff and clock out. He didn't dare use his cane here to help him walk. he'd never hear the end of it. The crew already have enough colorful words to describe him, and he wasn't keen on giving them anymore.
"Hey egg shell!" said Kazuki, one of the forge workers.
Kazuki's large rocky fraim shook the ground ever so slightly with each rock covered footstep as he approach Perran.
"You're able to drink right?"
"What?" Perran asked confused and taken aback by the seemingly random question.
"You're 20 right? So you can drink."
"Ah, yea I'm 20 as of last month." Perran replied already feeling this wasn't going to end well.
"Ahh well thats Perfect! me an the other guys were thinking of going to the Market Strip Bar on 432. Why don't you join us?"
"Oh ahh wow, thanks for offering, but I'd better get back home to-" He was cut off.
"now now Perran its rude to turn down an offer from your senior, but I'm willing to overlook that since this is your first time. Come on, Jukis in his truck, lets not keep him waiting."
And before Perran knew it, instead of heading to the sweet welcoming comfort of his bed, he was ushered away by two rock goliaths.