Chapter 18

Side Quest, Part I

At dawn, the heroes of the caravan heaved a sigh of relief; Almeil was functional again. He used his first level mana pool to summon eight riding horses so that they could at least move the wagons and let Phenaquar have his war mount. They had enough healing to heal up the horses that they could heal and the few elves, like Alliasaz, that had taken damage. Blaze had cast restore objects on the two most damaged wagons, wagon 1 and the second guard wagon. They had to modify the hitches a bit for the summoned riding horses and the advanced draft horses. All the elves but Phenaquar and the drivers would be walking, other than carrying their packs laden with as much as they could carry, mostly dragon hide, meat, and harvested components.

Tira then spoke to Almeil. "We lost a lot of horses, and I am loathe to sell the advanced horses for lesser-quality beasts when we enter the first town of the GERV. Plus, we need to buy gear for a lot of elves. Since we are going to be moving at about half speed for the next week, let Star form a party and go after the dragon's lair. We need the lair treasure, unless you are planning to sell everything you own or something."

"We should be able to catch up to you on the road, and there is no reason to let the White Foxes take what we fought for." Maybe we can even rescue some of those poor elven townsfolk instead of cruelly leaving those goblins to be toys or snacks for the goblins. Olier has become evil and needs to go on a quest to redeem himself. Otherwise, we would have to mercy kill him in a month to spare him the agony of turning. Plus, the meals cannot be eaten by everyone, so you don't need Star at the moment. Getting her some levels is a big deal."

"I suppose I could lengthen Manuel's tether and send him with the party. Who are the other three you propose to send?" asked Almeil.

Tira responded, "Well, leveling up low tier commoners makes very little sense. So I guess it would be Raythiel, Twixia, and Zip."

Ameil glared at Tira, saying, "Fine with me, but use this opportunity to learn prudence, Tira. Olier is not the only one in danger of falling. Make sure everyone who has recently leveled up and is accompanying you learns some survival skills.

"Yes! maybe I can get two levels out of this!" exclaimed Tira.

"Listen carefully when your elders are talking to you, Tira," sighed Almeil.

Tira gathered the other five and told them, "We are going to go slay the wounded dragon, take the treasure, and hopefully save Olier from turning. Everyone needs to learn survival skills who can, and we already have packs with lots of meat, so we should be fine!"

"Slay a dragon! Wait, I'm going camping, and the bugs!" exclaimed Twixia, and then she fainted.

"Does she not get out much?" asked Olier.

"She is sort of a bookworm," Star responded.

"It will be fine, she needs to be toughened up some, and she can identify all the monsters we might run into," said Tira. "Plus, Manuel will be going with us and fighting if we need him. But I'd rather we keep the experience for ourselves!"

A few minutes later, after taking some skills, and waking Twixia, the party was about to head off into the woods in the direction the dragon had flown off in. Twixia took Allie's place as the trembling member of the party.

"Think of it as a way to get field experience," said Tira to Twixia. "Everything will be just fine; let's go find some dragons to fight! I am real close to a level, then I can help us camp!"

"I hope we didn't forget anything," said Star. "Oh, wait, how about some weapons for Twixia, now that she has all the racial skills?"

"You are really going to have me swing a sword around and shoot a bow?" asked Twixia.

"As the party leader, I think we should review everyone's system sheets and see what we have before we leave the caravan," said Star. She brought up their status as the leader of the party.

Star    Tira Twixia Raythiel Zip Olier Class Noble Sword Maiden Scholar Imagist Face Hedge Rogue Level 3 4 2 3 3

7 (4 Com, 3 Rogue)

Strength 1+ 1 0 0 1 0 Dexterity 2+ 4+ 1 3 2+ 3 Health 1 1 -1 1 0+ 0 Intelligence 2+ 2 3 -1+ -1+ 1 Will 1 -1 -1 0 -1 -1 Charisma 3 0 1 4+ 1+ 1 Appearance 4 0 1 3 3 1 Hit Points 23 30 10 15 26 31 Total Attack 4+ 4,4 + spell 1+ 1 5 4+ + 2d6 sneak Total Defense 6+ 7+ 5 3 7+ 7 Magical 0% 50% arcane 0% 50% Blended 0% 25% Abilities Marital 50% 50% 25% 10% 50% 50% General 50% 0% 75% 40% 50% 25% Skill slots 30 32 22 9 3 37 Mana pools - 12/18 - 18 - -

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Zip

Skills:

Survival: Wil (1), Navigation (3),

Riding Dex(1) Combat +6 Ride

Endurance Hth(1) Marching +6 Endurance

languages Int(0(3)(2)) Common +2 (free), Elven (racial, non-system) +2, 0? Halfling (racial) +2, Human (Stagian, non-system) 0?

Wil(0) 0? Cooking (non-system) 0?

App Social Attack* (0, 2) (all non-system) Noble Court 0?, Deception 0?.

App for Social Defenses* (0), (2) (All non-system) Charm 0?, Sense Motive 0?

General Abilities: Increased Movement Speed; 20% Bonus to Grapple

Martial Abilities: Dodging (+1 Defense)

* System Sworn (Zip has made an agreement with the system)

* Shard #31: Hidden to all but Etherstaria, including Zip.

* Shard #31: Heroic Downgrade to low-tier commoner until 4th level; 1 free reclass (50% martial, 25% faith, and 25% general if faithfully sworn to Etherstaria)

Star

Skills

Survival (3) Wil (Plant Identification +7, Tracking +7, Find Lair +7)

Perform (3) Chr (Singing* +9, Stringed Instrument* +9, "Versatile" +9)

Profession (3) Wil (Misseuse +7*, Noble +7*, Cooking+7)

Social Attack (4) (capped bonus +3) Chr (Diplomacy+9, Charm+9, Deception+9, Noble Court +9)

Social DefenseWil(4) (capped bonus +3) (+4 bonus outside of combat) Wil (Charm+7, Deception+7, Diplomacy+7, Noble Court+7)

Language Int (2)(4)(1) Elven(racial) +7 , Common(free)+7, Human(Stagian)+7, Draconian +7, Elven(non system) +0?, Human(Stagian) (Non system)+0?

Use Magical Device Chr (3) Activate Magical General Items +9 Read Scrolls +9 Use wands and staves +9

Knowledge Int (3) Local + 8, Nobility* +8, Humanoids +8

Appraisal Int (3) Humanoids +8 Hostility +8 Value of items +8

Open slots 2

Martial: Sword Dance and Fury of Sword Strikes, .25 Seasonal Dance per level

Restrictions: elven, High elven bloodline, maintain lawful alignment, marital ability levels 4, 8, 12, and16 are expended when that level is attained.

General +20% to non combat social defense, +20% to non combat will saves

*Blessing: Strong Destiny

* Shard #31: Hidden to all

* Shard#31: Graceful overridden to Strong Destiny, Graceful (+2 to all charisma skills) erased, system abnormality overridden, added additional attribute traits, via trauma events to make up for this loss. I received and atta boy from Shard #1, so don't start with me.

Tira (Heroine)

Skills:

Appraisal Int (4) Value of items +9, Alignment +9, Magical Items +9, Arcane Magic +9

Endurance Hth (4) Running +8, Dancing +8, Tumbling +8, "Versatile" +8

Performance Chr (2) "Versatile" +5, Dancing +5

Knowledge Int (4) Nobility +8, "Versatile"+ 8, Religion +8, Arcane +8

Acrobatics average of dex and str (4) Tumbling +10, Jumping +10, Balance +10, Versatile +10

Social Attack Chr (4) Charm+7, Innuendo +7, Reputation +7, Courtesan +7

Social Defense Wil (4) Emotional Detachment +6, Blush +6, Charming Social Awkwardness +6, Court Etiquette +6

Survival Wil (2) Plant Identification +5, Harvesting +5.

Language (0)(2) Elven(racial) +5, Common(free) +5

Open slots 4

Tira's magic schools: Elemental (ice), Conjuration, Wards, Teleportation

Abilites (Sword Maiden Class) Damage Reduction .25 per level, Sword Dance, Fury of Sword Strikes, .25 Seasonal Dance per level, Uncanny Dodge .25 improvements after 3rd level, Improved Defense +.25 per level, Spells 50%, Imbue sword with Elemental Magic Spell as one strike of fury of sword strikes.

Detriments No armor allowed, must attune to an elven blade and dance every dawn to maintain sword dances, lawful alignment, High elven bloodline, at least half elven, bound to obey and tell the truth, and fight to the death to a liege lord.

*Blessing: Soldier. Gain a free martial ability every five levels.

* Shard 31: Hidden to all but Etherstaria

* Shard 31: Tira's Liege lord is Etherstaria

Twixia

Skills

* Warning, Special skills flagged skills for violating system norms.

Knowledge Int (10)(+2 free for 10 learned) Capped at 2 Humans + 8, Elves +8(free), History+8, Special Skill Learning (uncapped due to blessing) +16 (flagged), Legends +8, Local +8, Arcane +8, Faith +8, Blended +8 (Free), Books +8, Printing +8, Romance +8, others (non system) +0?

Appraisal Int (3) Capped at 2 Books +8, Hostile Intent +8, Value of items +8

Craft Skills Int (4) Capped at 2, Bookmaking +8, Ink Making +8, Make up +8, Tailoring +8

Performance Chr (2) Singing +6, Oratory +6

Language Int (3)(1) Capped at 2, Elven +8, Human(Stagian) +8, Teaching +8 (flagged) Common (free) +8

Empty slots 1

Blessing: Scholarly (Learns at a 50% accelerated rate)

Flagged: Mixed with scholar class can cause system abnormalities

* Shard #31: Hidden to all but Etherstaria

* Shard #31: Flags overridden, I am under orders, leave this alone.

General Abilities: Truce. Reduce hostile creatures attitude to threatening when combat ends for your party. You are more likely to be spared or captured if on your own.

Marital Abilities: Light Armor

Raythiel

Magical Creature Race Effects from ability changes and exposure to creatures, and base magical creature class:

Dryad Endurance (+.25 cold iron damage reduction, 25% increase in water needs, nitrate poison immunity)

Dryad Will (20% resistance to Illusions, and charms and a 20% reduction to Social Defense, Flattery)

Creature Mind (You are subject to mental degeneration over time on each system day)

Increase to Health has altered this entry, see Dryad Endurance.

Skills:

Performance chr (1) Percussion instruments +8

Communication (3) (free, all specials via dryad seeds) Special Skill Wild Empathy +14, Special skill Tree Speech + 8, Special Skill Tree meld +8

Social Defense chr (3) Charm + 12, Flattery +4, Provoke +8

Social attack chr (3) Charm + 8, Deception +8, Hide Status +8

Languages Int (0(2)(2)) Common +2 (free), Elven (racial, non-system) +2, 0?, Human (Stagian, non-system) 0?

Special Skill Chr (Magical Beast Empathy) + 10

Survival wis (1) Find Water + 4

Perception Wil (1) Hostile Creatures + 4

Empty slots 0

Raythiel's known spells: Disguise (Illusion 1) (2 mana base), Heal (Healing 1) (4 mana base) (3 hit points + 1 die or cure two status damage)

Magical Abilities: Lesser Enchantment, Enchantment

General Abilities: Sacrifice (Gain any enchantable item for destruction of trade goods of equal value, cooldown one month)

*System Blessing (Magical Creature Standard) Unstable Physiology (subject to magical creature physiology, -20% resistance to Polymorph spells and affects, but immune to insanity from polymorph affects)

Olier

Warning! System overridden! Blocked due to alignment. There are 29 dawns remaining until elven curse is in full effect.

"System, I allow Etherstaria Lark to see my status pages," said Olier.

granted working access

Warning! Olier is chaotic and evil. Viewing this information can cause an alignment hit. Should I continue? Y/N

Star hurriedly pressed N.

"Uh, let's wait on that," said Star. "Can you just tell us your skill groups"?

"Sure, I have five skills in each of perception, endurance, appraisal, knowledge, stealth, and perception. I chose three survival skills, or camping skills, for this level: shelter building, rope tying, and campfire cooking. Lastly, I have two social attack skills and a skill to use a magical device. You get a free specialty for every five; that's why I have so many groups of five skills. I have one empty slot. "

"I take it some of those skills are naughty?" asked Star.

"Not as bad as Tira," said Olier.

"Hey! I needed those skills to save the world!" exclaimed Tira.

"I found the one I took useful for lots of things," said Star. "It is very versatile."