Ril woke with the dawn. The rays streamed cheerily through the glass windows. He opened his eyes and for a moment was unsure of where he was. Then remembering the previous night, he smiled. Taking in the inside of the cottage Ril was surprised once more at the modernity that Gemma had managed to squeeze in.
The couch that he slept on was well made with a tight weave, and cushions that were firm but surprisingly comfortable to lie down on. A wood stove stood in the center of the living room. The fire within it was currently dormant. A black pipe led through the ceiling to the outside.
That in it of itself was not particularly impressive. Plenty of homes back in Elkshire had similar contraptions used for heating. During the winter, the thin plumes of smoke rising lazily from every house made an idyllic picture. No. What was surprising was the water heater that was somehow integrated into the wood stove. The mess of black pipes that rose through the floor and spiraled around the black iron of the stove at first looked entirely foreign to Ril. Only the small silver engraving saying “HOT water” on the pipe rising from the floor, helped him understand what he was looking at.
Like the tube that Ril supposed carried the smoke out of the cottage, the water pipes headed up to the ceiling. There, the two pipes diverged, with the water pipe heading over to the kitchen. Ril got up from the couch and followed the pipe. Once in the kitchen, the pipe merged with another pipe, conveniently labeled: “Cold water”, and into a spigot hanging over a metal tub.
“Never seen a sink boy,” came Gemma’s voice from behind him.
Ril jumped, whipping around to stare accusingly at Gemma who was casually leaning against the doorframe.
“I’ve seen a sink before.” Ril retorted. “Just surprised that you have one all the way out in the middle of nowhere.”
“I may be avoiding society for the time being, but that doesn’t mean I have to live like a barbarian in the duration. Speaking of barbarians.” Gemma said with a grin. “You smell like one.”
Ril blushed. “Yeah. I was meaning to ask you. Is there a place for me to wash up nearby?”
“There is a shower in the backroom. It’s the first door on the right. Towels are in the closet on the left. While you do that I’ll wake up the princess, and find you a set of clothes that haven’t been through hell.”
Gemma turned around and strolled to the iron stove. She started stacking a couple logs into the stove and with a gentle touch, the logs burst into flame. Ril followed, fascinated at Gemma’s casual use of magic. Then with one last glance at the witch, headed down the hallway and into the bathroom, collecting a fluffy white towel on the way.
* * *
The shower was glorious. The same black pipe poked its head out of the ceiling and poured scalding water onto Ril. Hot water! Ril could scarcely believe it. This was his first hot shower in recent memory. Taking full advantage. Ril scrubbed himself raw. Using the lavender smelling soap, he generously lathered up, kneading the suds deep into his silver curls. The clean hot water slammed over his shoulders and relaxed muscles he didn’t even know were tense. It vaguely reminded him of the time that he had followed the river that flowed near Elkshire and stood underneath the waterfall that lay at the end. The water cascaded down his body, washing away the dirt and grease of years on the streets. It fell to the white tile floor and formed a mini brown-tinted whirlpool around the drain disappearing as it carried the dirt away.
Finished, Ril gently pushed open the glass door that had kept the water from the shower from spraying across the bathroom, vaguely nervous that the glass would shatter if he put too much pressure on it. He wrapped himself in the white fluffy towel that he had brought into the bathroom. Then he stared distastefully at his grimy clothes that lay haphazardly over the floor. It seemed such a waste to put them back on after being clean for the first time in what felt like forever. Then, he noticed that near the door on the vanity lay a pile of grey clothes. Delighted, Ril rushed over to the clothes hoping against hope that they would fit him properly.
The clothes were strange. For one, they were completely devoid of all color. A featureless gray fabric. The fabric didn’t seem to have a discernible weave, almost as if the fibers that composed it were too small to see. Or perhaps that the fabric was not made of fiber at all. All of the clothes were made out of this strange fabric, even the undergarments. The clothes were silky smooth, but strangely also vaguely rough as Ril lifted them from the vanity. He hoped that they wouldn’t rub him the wrong way.
The fabric actually tickled an old memory of Ril’s. Just as he felt like he would remember, Ril realized one reason that the fabric looked both strange and familiar. It was the same fabric that the priests back in Elkshire wore. Although they had dyed their clothes white, and in the case of Bishop Antonius, woven gold filigree into it.
Ril shrugged into the clothes. They fit him perfectly, as if they were tailor made for him. Mildly disconcerted at the perfection of it all, Ril poked his head out of the bathroom.
“Finally!” shouted an aggrieved Evelynn, as she shoved past him and pushed him out of the bathroom before slamming the door. The distinct click of a lock turning followed by the roar of the shower.
“Never take too long in the bathroom. Rule number one of living with Eve.” Gemma cackled.
Gemma was sitting on the couch in the living room. In her hands her knitting needles flashed over the cloth. Ril swore that she must have made progress. But both the fabric, and the ball of yarn at her feet seemed unchanged since when he met her yesterday.
“Thank you for the clothes.” Ril said, “And for the shower, it was great. What is this fabric? It looks like the fabric that the priests in Elkshire wore.”
“Mage Vestments,” Gemma replied. “Made ‘em this morning. Nifty little invention. Should help you feel your magic a little better.”
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“Thank you, they fit perfectly.” Ril replied gratefully.
“Ugly though.” Gemma replied with a snort. “Come! No time to lose. If you are heading out with Eve in a couple of days then we are already short on time.”
Gemma stood, and with surprising speed threw open the front door. The chill of the early morning air swept into the room, making Ril curl his toes, as goosebumps spread up his arms.
Outside grass of the clearing glittered with condensation. The unseasonable vegetables seemed to relish the early morning chill and the water that dripped down their stems to water their roots. Gemma led Ril down the steps and around the right side of the porch. There underneath the sole tree remaining in the clearing. Gemma sat down.
Barefoot as he was, Ril was already experiencing the cost of touching the grass this early in the morning.
“Sit boy.” Gemma gestured to a spot under the tree next to her. Hesitantly, Ril sat. Unsurprisingly, the moment his butt contacted the earth, his clean new clothes got soaked. With a sigh, Ril turned to listen to Gemma.
“When the Chromagnum graced us with its presence it essentially provided us access to our character sheets. For the first time people could quantify their strengths. Functionally, knowing ability scores is mostly useless.” Gemma said, wiggling a little to get comfortable on the grass. Then with a sly eye towards Ril she asked. “Why do you suppose that is?”
Ril hesitated. Unsure of what Gemma was really asking for. He actually thought that the character sheet was really cool. Knowing that he had an intelligence score of 17 was actually one of the things that Ril was most proud of. After not knowing his stats when everyone around him did was frustrating and actually made it difficult to prove his worth. For example, a caravan driver that needed a strong worker for unloading his supplies wouldn’t even consider hiring someone with a strength score less than 14. Not that Ril had such a high strength score, but he didn’t even have a character sheet. Wait. Maybe that was it.
“The ability scores give an exact description of reality. But if I see a man who is a foot taller than me and bulging with muscle I could easily guess that he has a higher strength score than me.” Ril replied thoughtfully. “But there are certain traits, like intelligence and wisdom which are not so externally obvious. So I don’t think that knowing the traits is useless. Maybe for some of them.”
“Ahh, Ability scores are almost always balanced. A thinner man like you is much more likely to have a high intelligence score, then the giant that you described. Also, those with high intelligence and wisdom tend towards certain professions. Even before the introduction of ability scores, I could guess relatively easily the general stats of an individual.”
“But you wouldn’t know exactly.” Ril replied. He agreed with Gemma to a certain degree, but he didn’t like it that she was belittling what he worked so hard to get less than a week ago.
“True. But there is another, more important reason for why ability scores aren’t the be all and end all. Abilities themselves are far more impactful for solving problems than any amount of a given ability score.”
“Like my Mirror Image ability?” Ril said.
“Precisely. Imagine how much charisma it would take to trick a guard that is chasing you that you went one way instead of another. With Mirror Image it’s trivial. Going back to the strong man example you brought up earlier. An ability that doubles a user's strength - and yes such an ability does exist - is critical for understanding a person’s capabilities. That is not even beginning to talk about dangerous abilities that temporarily lower ability scores for a massive boost in some other aspect.”
“So what would be a better metric of ability than ability scores?” Ril asked, getting frustrated that the ability scores seemed so pointless.
“That is a complicated question. I don’t think there is a true answer. At the university you will use a number system to measure combat skill at the arena. It’s a variant of Arpad Elo’s performance rating system, but that is neither here nor there.” Gemma took a deep breath. “We are here to talk about how you would reduce your warp. The answer to that question is simple. Simply control the power that was given to you by the Chromagnum and your warp won’t grow.
Ril frowned. He didn’t really follow what the old lady was saying. He had the ability Mirror Image, and yesterday he controlled it. He had made it mirror his movements and move jump around the clearing. From what he felt there was no chance to lose control. It was mostly effortless.
“You are probably thinking of abilities right now, and while that is true and how most people view warp, it displays an incomplete understanding of the subject. You could say that the ability scores on your character sheet were given to you by the Chromagnum. Hell, even warp was given to you by the Chromagnum. In a sense what I mean to say is that you must behave in a way that is deserving of your character sheet. If you have high intelligence, you must act like it. If you have high strength, you must lift things easily. You must put in the effort to lift things, if you expect things to be light because you have high strength you will still be able to lift heavy objects, but your warp will rise.”
“So...” Ril trailed off, trying to understand the convoluted logic. “So if I act stupid, in a way that is below my wisdom, my warp will rise?”
“Yes and no.” Gemma sighed. “A fairer assessment is that when you would act in a way that is below your wisdom the Chromagnum interferes and helps you behave with wisdom that befits you. In essence that is what warp represents; your reliance on the Chromagnum. This is the reason why increasing your base stats through items or abilities is so dangerous. By doing so, you will dramatically increase your warp in the long term.”
“Going back to abilities themselves for a moment. Yesterday I played around with Mirror Image for almost an hour and...” Ril said double checking his character sheet ”Yeah, my warp didn’t rise at all.”
“The chromagnum must have judged your use of Mirror Image to be befitting of someone with your stats. It was the first time that you used the ability. I am going to guess that you spent that time learning the limits of the ability. Doing so is appropriate for someone with high intelligence. Any mistakes you made were satisfactory given your wisdom.”
“I don’t like this. This entire argument assumes that the Chromagnum knows the future.” Ril complained.
“Ahh.” Gemma drew that sound out. “Be careful Ril. There is a very big difference between what is the correct action or the action that was meant to be and what the Chromagnum deems to be correct.”
Ril crossed his arms. He didn’t like this explanation of warp. He felt watched. Like his every action was being judged and his value as a human recorded. Assuming what Gemma said was correct, it implied that reducing warp was nearly impossible. You would have to consistently over achieve in order for that to happen. Made him feel like his best bet is to find a quiet hole somewhere, build a farm, and avoid making any important decisions.
“What can I do then?” Ril asked, turning back towards his mentor.
“Do? You must be the best man you can be. You must learn to notice when the Chromagnum is trying to help you and avoid receiving that help.” Gemma cackled at Ril’s annoyed expression. “Practically, you practice. I cannot help you with being a better person. But I can help you train with your abilities and learn to use them with the exact right amount of strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom and charisma.”
Inside the house the door banged open.
“Ahh, the princess deigns to join us. Let’s train!”