I noticed some changes were happening as more and more of the outcasts headed towards Shemi’s hut. Before I went anywhere, I wanted to check out my notifications.
You have partially resisted Ogre Rage. Spell casting ability remains, but your aggressive urges are still increased by 100%. That matched up with what I had felt. Every time the system messed with my head, I wanted to scream. Then again, it might be doing it a dozen different ways without even letting me know.
You have defeated two ogres level 5 and level 6. While you didn’t kill either of them, you could have. Instead, you either incapacitated or forced them to submit. Then you healed them, causing your position to swell in their eyes. This is a good move if you wish to seek power in Ghazban village. XP awarded: 168 (50% bonus for a wise political move)
It was fascinating to get a reward for subduing rather than killing, but apparently that was because it could gain me more power in the long term. It was equally interesting that I gained a good chunk of XP from my role in fighting Tulbat, although I wouldn’t have been able to win the fight on my own.
For your instrumental role in this battle as part of the long-time feud between your Mistress and the chief warrior, you are awarded XP as though you had defeated him yourself. XP awarded: 1599.
After that, I had a few notifications regarding my primary quest line. Or at least the quest line the AI kept shoving at me.
You have completed Where Do I Fit? 1.1c (previously hidden) Your actions may seem minor today, but what you have started is a fundamental change in ogre society. No longer shall the outcasts be limited in their growth opportunities. Yes, you were used by Shemi, but the chief has now seen the value of having more casters. Every outcast who can be, will be trained up as a shaman. This will make the ogres far more dangerous for other npc races as well as for players. Player enjoyment as well as the number of player deaths shall certainly jump based upon your actions. Thus 30 silver seems appropriate. You also receive 800 XP. Thank you for your compliance. Where Do I Fit? 1.1b remains active and you may still earn the rewards for it.
New Quest- Where Do I Fit? 1.2 Hold on to your place as Shemi’s apprentice. Be the first of the outcasts to reach level 10. Beware the AI run outcasts are all betting on their ability to outperform a simple Hybrid Intelligence. Rewards: 900 XP, 1 rare magical item, your choice of 3 spells (rather than the normal 2 you would gain for crossing the threshold), and a unique opportunity for dual shaman affinity Let the games begin. I almost wanted to laugh at this point. None of the other outcasts were over level 4, from what I had seen. I had just gained 2,567 XP so that with what I already had; I would almost be at level 8. Of course, I had no intention of spending that XP now. I was going to bank it until I could hit the next threshold, which was apparently level 10.
Of course, my laughter fled when I saw the next couple of notifications. Apparently, this XP would not get me as far as I had thought.
Congratulations, you have discovered an epic level skill. Spell Forging is the art of combining two spells into one new spell. If done correctly, you retain access to the original spells but have the potential to create a new spell. Do you wish to purchase this skill for 2,000 XP? Having seen the effect that the new spell caused; I would hate to lose out on that spell. So, with only a moment of painful hesitation, I spent the bulk of the XP I had just gained. Getting this new spell was going to be awesome.
You have created a signature spell. You may only have one signature spell per threshold that you pass. In order to obtain a new signature spell, you must exchange another signature spell. In order to claim the new signature spell: Frostburn, you must purchase it for 800 XP. I felt like I was getting ripped off. This was going to leave me with only 95 XP, but there was never any real question. I wanted to see the spell description, but the way it had worked had been too kickbutt to turn down. So, I swallowed my doubts and purchased my first signature spell.
Signature Spells: these spells may not be taught to other casters but remain uniquely yours. They tend to have increased effects and reduced mana costs. With the proper signature spell, a caster can make their name and fortune. Frostburn- Basic 5: By combining two diametrically opposed forces, namely heat and cold, you have created something greater. Cold may be so cold as to burn and fire can be used in more ways than just to destroy. This spell reflects your desire as an ogre to join player parties. You are straddling two worlds. Be careful that it doesn’t burn you. Creates a blast one foot in diameter. Range: 120’+2’/level. Initial Damage: 20-60+5/mastery level. Ongoing damage: 5 damage per second for 1 second/mastery level. The ongoing damage is extremely painful and causes tissue damage as it freezes the cells. This is especially dangerous to living beings. Additional mana may be channeled into the spell to increase the damage and duration of the ongoing damage. Every 10 mana doubles the ongoing damage and extends its duration by 1 second. Initial mana cost: 30+2/level.
I read the description repeatedly. It was a dream come true. This kind of spell would make a tremendous difference for me. Even Frost Rift hadn’t been enough to keep up with a warrior, but with this I should be able to put out my fair share of damage. The other thing was that signature spells would not be something that anyone else would expect.
Of course, since I had never heard of signature spells while playing the game as a wizard, it raised a few questions. Was this a monster only ability? Maybe it was the first stage to developing the seemingly unique abilities that bosses and even some mini bosses had. Or was it simply that I had discovered another path? Legends of Selmia was certainly complex enough to make that possible.
Either way, I had to come up with a plan. A part of me wanted to go off hunting now. This was a race, after all. But I figured I should go see what Mistress Shemi had to say. The thing was that while I might be her apprentice; it was clear that she had her own agenda and that my safety did not rank very high on her priority list.
When I arrived at her hut, the other outcasts cheered. It was by far the most exuberance I had ever seen any of them express. Shemi called out, “Prentice come stand by mez.”
She waited for me to take my place next to her. The two of us were facing outward towards thirty-some outcasts. She began to speak with what I thought of as her politician voice, “Chief haz decided more shamanz be gud thing. Thankz to my prentice. Himz showed power of magic. Ogrez need musclez and magic. Then wez take what wez want. Each outcast now go’z with three warriorz. Hunt. Get strong. When reach threshold, getz be shamanz. When youz shamanz find Shemi or prentice and wez teach’em some spellz.”
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Over the next hour, trios of warriors began to appear and take one of the outcasts with them. None of the warriors appeared happy about it, and more than one of them had fresh bruises. I would guess that the chief had to force this to happen. I wondered how many of the outcasts would make it back and how many would be sent to respawn.
After all the others were gone, including Kittikork, who I hadn’t seen for several days, I realized Shemi was staring at me. When I looked at her, she said, “Youz angry. But is ogre way.”
I laughed. “It isn’t just the ogre way. Manipulating people is a very common tactic. I just hope it was worth it.”
“Youz outsider. Mez not know where youz come from, but youz not like other ogrez. Shemi watchez.”
“I suppose that’s fair. So, you see me as expendable. Well, I want you to teach me some new spells. It’s the least you can do to pay me for helping you get what you want.”
She stared at me for a moment. I caught a glint in her eye. The broken speech patterns and her appearance as an elderly woman, even if an ogre woman, had thrown me off. But the truth was, Shemi was quite the manipulator.
Finally, she nodded. “Fine, fine. Remember be strong. Done gud but fight not over.”
Then she proceeded to teach me two new spells. Learning a spell from another mage was easy. When I had been playing the game, only common spells would have been shared. They were easy to obtain from NPC merchants. Uncommon spells might be shared between people who were real world friends or maybe within a guild. Spells rarer than that were some of the most fought over drops.
I had never worried about it too much when I viewed this as a game. I figured eventually most of the spells would circulate. I had prioritized trying to gain gear. Now this was no longer a game for me and I had very little access to gear. The only valuable gear I had so far was from quest drops, and even those items were only mediocre at best. Of course, I had to remind myself that I was still only level five.
None of the ogres had displayed any talent for crafting. So, if spells were the best I could gain here, that was what I would focus on. Eventually, once I made it to the players, I could purchase or win better gear as drops. At least assuming that the gear was still one size fits all. I hoped that still applied to me as an ogre.
She didn’t give me any choices, but then again beggars couldn’t be choosers, so I took what she taught me and watched as the tattoos formed on my arms. The process was really very simple. Supposedly the adventurer class and runesmiths could craft spells from gathered runes, but so far, I had never actually seen it done.
I had always learned a spell from an NPC, a spell scroll drop, or another player. Those methods were pretty much the same as what we were doing now. Shemi held out her hand. I grabbed it. A notification popped up, and I accepted the spell she wanted to teach me.
It was moments like this that made it hard to not think of this as just a game. But it was my life, and I couldn’t afford that type of thinking. In fact, it occurred to me it might be possible to create a trap spell you could teach to someone as a way for them to harm themselves. That idea would have to go onto the stack of ideas for the future, though. For now, I just checked out the new spell descriptions.
Elemental Endurance- this spell increases the target’s ability to endure heat or cold. Resistance can be granted to one, but not both. Range: 30’+1’/level. Duration: 1 hour + 10 min/level. Effect: 10 elemental resistance + 1/level. Mana: 30+1/level. Scale Skin- causes targets skin to become rough and scaly like the wyvern this spell was based on. Effect: damage resistance to physical damage: Slashing +10, Piercing: +5, Blunt +5. Each type scales up by +.5/level. Target: self-only. Duration: 1 hour + 10 min/level. Mana: 30+2/level.
I couldn’t complain about the spells she gave me. Defense was my weakness. This would provide me with situational protection from two of the most common elemental damage types and a self-buff that I would keep running anytime I thought I might be in danger. Heck, I might keep it running all the time. That brought up the issue of appearance. Just how scaly would it make me and would it affect my interaction with the rest of the tribe?
As a player, I had never been one for cosmetic effects. The people I played with cared more about effectiveness than matching sets of gear. Either way, I was ready to go hunting now.
It was then that the other shoe dropped. The chief and head warrior both walked into the clearing where Shemi’s hut was. The chief had a very serious look on his face, but Tulbat looked positively wicked.
“Shaman, send prentice hunt with head warrior. Learn work together for power of tribe,” Kerkek said.
Shemi started shaking her head. “Head warrior too strong. Him past more threshold than prentice. Prentice no get stronger hunting with Tulbat.”
I found it interesting that she only referred to thresholds and never levels. As I thought back, I couldn’t remember any of the ogres using the word levels to describe progression. I would have to ask about that, but right now, I was watching the three of them stare at each other. I knew this was important to Shemi, but I suspected the chief wanted to show he was still in charge.
“Tulbat no kills stuff. Only be there protect prentice. Prentice can try tougher monsters that way. Show off himz strength,” Kerkek countered.
I wanted to laugh at the idea of Tulbat protecting me. The idea was solid enough. But only if the beady eyed monster didn’t want me dead in the worst way possible. The arguing continued for a while. I took the opportunity to cast Inner Power and Scale Skin on myself. I figured I wanted to let my mana regenerate as much as possible if I was going to be sent out into the forest with the ogre who had repeatedly murdered me as my bodyguard.
In the end, Shemi had to give in. It was too important to her for the other outcasts to be trained. So, if she had to sacrifice me, so be it. I knew her well enough to know that I was on my own. Oh well, that was how I had been shoved into this new life, and I was still kicking, so we would just have to see what happened.