Side Story

Blaze

I was named Blaze by my mother, because our village had just been burned down recently, due to being too close to an elven city. My father was killed in the attack, and I don't know how our mother managed to flee with three children. Perhaps the elves didn't have the heart to kill us? Perhaps a few other survivors from our village helped us? My mother wouldn't speak of it. I had two brothers, Fire and Ash, we were all part of the same litter. Instead of maturing at over a hundred, goblins get their system day about age twelve. However, bloodlines can significantly alter this; if you have fiendish blood, you will live longer than a human if you are not killed or die of disease or starvation.I am just a normal goblin, though. Well, not quite normal, as I was born a mage.

Goblins born to middle- and high tier commoners are an order of magnitude smaller than most other races. Villains are not unheard of, but a heroic goblin villager is very rare. I am a magical creature mage, which really isn't a villain, but a high tier commoner. The difference is pretty small, though, the number of goblins that can use magic is quite low. Magi don't get schools of magic, rather, we get a limited amount of popular system spells. Our magic is considered blended, or both faith and arcane, so we can cast all sorts of useful spells. We are given half magical abilities and half general abilities.

What exactly is a general ability? These are abilities that can only be used outside of combat. They are still quite powerful, as you can use them to influence people, improve your skills, get more skills, and so forth. You don't have to be as powerful to survive if you have minions, and you don't have to be as powerful to survive if you have the cold, hard coin. This is the goblin way of leadership. I pretty much owe my life to fire, though. The reason we were taken in by another tribe of goblins and survived He is an actual goblin noble. Ash was also special, as he is a crafter. Naturally, my mother became part of the chief's harem. The system shone brightly on my family.

The new village is named Waterfoam. It is, as you might expect, by some river rapids. It is a prosperous village, so it is under constant threat from elves. But our chief, my new father, is very wise. He forged a deal with the elves. We send them servants, and they let us live. We have to keep our numbers to a certain level anyway. When the tribe grows too large, about a quarter of the goblins break off to form a new tribe, but it has to go at least a week away so it does not anger the elves we have a deal with.

My family was not overly abusive to me and kept the other goblins from doing anything too bad to me. The reason was that I would, as a mage, be given to the elves for a time as an indentured servant, and they would train me. After I paid them back, I was supposed to return to the village and join the chief's harem.

The family that purchased me were the Sandshields. They tended to be nobles or arcane casters, and they were very nice to me. They told me I was not like normal goblins because I was a mage. They said they would power-level me to take me to third level, then I would be even more different than other goblins and have enough magical power to be useful to them. Since I really couldn't use any weapons, they said I could contribute to fights with my ice bolt and healing spells. They said it was ice instead of fire in the elven lands because it wouldn't burn down the forest or render meat inedible, and it was also nice for keeping the meat you killed with it fresh until you got back from a hunt because it was warm here. That made sense to me.

I got my own closet to sleep in, which was plenty of space for me. I had my choice of how high a shelf I wanted to sleep on each night this way as well. Plus, there were plenty of clothes for bedding. I hammered a couple of nails into the shelf with a board so I wouldn't fall out in my sleep. One of my spells fixed things, so I didn't have to worry about the boards having too many nail holes. Little by little, I grew less angry with the elves for attacking me. The system had turned me inside out.

As I leveled up, the system taught me all sorts of things. My favorite was the charm skill; I thought it was funny that I could make elves do what I wanted for the most part. They even took me to the Lark Court sometimes, since it took a skill to be able to go there and not make heroes mad. The heroes there were very shiny. After a few years, they said I had paid them back with my magical healing and the like, and they would take me back to my tribe if I wanted. They were right though—I was not really a goblin anymore. I thought differently than they do now. Going back to being a baby maker no longer appealed to me, even though I had acquired the necessary skills. I decided I would make a harem for myself out of elves instead!

My Sandshield mistress asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to run my own traveling merchant company. I thought traveling around would be more fun than only seeing one place all my life. After all, a goblin's life is always short. I wanted to go out and try to conquer as many elves as possible to make them pay for killing my dad and the other goblins of my original village that I never got to meet.

She let me borrow a single-horse wagon that I could pay back and said I could carry stuff for the family back and forth to the capitol until I had paid them back. I said I would need a driver, so she took me to a guild, where I hired my first elf. His name was Leblanc, and he said he did not mind working with a goblin if he could get in on the ground floor of a new traveling merchant. Plus, one with magic was rare, and he thought that would help us to make money. I told him I also took accounting, and he smiled at me and said this would be a great partnership.

Lablanc bought camping gear with the parole money that was given to him when he was released from prison. I asked him why he was sent to prison, and he said it was because he liked girls too much. I told him I was a girl, so I could help him with that; I wanted to make a harem anyway. Lablanc said something about ports and storms and that we could do that when we were traveling. My first elf had already arrived! He really liked my disguise spell because he said I could look like a woodling, something commoners could never get because they were only for elven royalty. He did not have a great opinion on royalty and heroes and thought they were the scourge of Babylon, always sticking their noses into advanced commoners' business. He told me that heroes went around trying to find a reason to kill us so they could gain more levels.

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I knew heroes were power hungry. I didn't know they went around killing people like us, however, that was an eye opener!

Lablanc said that the ones that formed parties were the worst! They would enslave a sage like him to research night and day to find monsters they could kill, then not pay him like a full party member. When he complained, they laughed at him and told him that they couldn't dissolve him from the party, because the guild would think they were taking advantage of him! Even if he told the guild he wanted out, they wouldn't do it because the system would punish them if the party made him say that he wanted out, but he actually didn't. Since they didn't take him adventuring with them, he never got any levels.

Finally, Lablanc looked up what crimes would make the guild dissolve the bond. If he was going to prison, Lablanc figured he might as well do something bad that he would enjoy, so that is how he got sent to prison. It was a big setback for Lablanc, but that was the only way he was going to ever be free.

A couple of months later, I got my second elf. a hedge rogue named Olier. He wanted me to go "all goblin" over him. He seemed to get along well with Lablanc, as Lablanc liked to hit him with a stick and a whip, and Olier seemed to really enjoy it. I would heal him, and he would be very grateful to me for that, and I enjoyed traveling with my harem. Then one day in Appletown, at the tavern of the Lost Souls, these fancy young elf and elfesses walked in, and I recognized Blue and Grey as being from the elven court.

Long story short, I was betrayed by Olier, who went gaga for an elven noble instead of me. The noble slashed me with her fancy sword when I tried to run away, and I woke up surrounded by the noble and a couple of her friends. I was tied up almost naked, and the noble was lying about why I was naked. I didn't like girl elves, so I was really angry that they were using me this way. I cast a defensive ward, because that is all you can do when you are tied up and gagged. Then the really weird thing happened, and an angel swooped in and said we were causing a surge and flew off with a red-haired elf, while a woodling of all things threw me through a window into the mud!

After that, a handsome knight came to stare at my naked body, it was very embarrassing but hot. I wanted him to join my harem, but instead he let the woodling take me back inside the wagon to be abused. How could a knight do that to people. I guess what Lablanc said was true: heroes were pure evil! The woodling had her way with me while cleaning my body, until a sword maiden of all things took over. She threatened me with her sword and then removed my gag.

I begged her for mercy, saying, "Please don't let those girls do more things to me! I didn't want to hurt Grey and Blue. I just wanted to get them away from your slave ring. Sylphianne said you were enslaving her, and Devoe, who we didn't know was a unicorn, agreed to help us free them from your slavery ring. We just wanted to take them back to their parents, for a fee, of course. For some reason, Olier attacked me. I don't understand any of this."

Tira then said, "Oh, I remember you! You were one of the goblins the Sandshields were raising for academic study! I guess they were done with the study and set you free? I see, well, I will send you and Lablanc back to them. They were the ones that vouched for you, after all. I will liquidate your belongings and send him with you to the Sandshields via unicorn. Dafoe can pay for his part in this by having you two touch him. He pursued Sylphianne and Mistmoon when he should have been hiding his presence. Bad, bad, unicorn! What are we going to do if Blue and Grey realize—oh, never mind, why am I telling a goblin this? Don't cause me anymore trouble by activating shields and the like, or I will cut you way more than my apprentice did."

Here are Blaze's third level statistics, abilities, and skills.

Statistical modifiers for a 3rd-level goblin mage are -1 str, +1 dex, +1 int, and a plus to four other statistics. Note Blaze's appearance and charisma are a 1 for civilized races interacting with her; this also affects her charisma skills, although they aren't listed as they are situational. Other situational modifiers include equipment upgrades, a specific individual's lack of prejudice, and so on. Per circumstance, a stackable two modifier one way or the other. unless magic is involved. Spending time and money on your appearance will give you at least a +2 or higher in charm, while smelling bad and being covered in grime will give you at least a -2.

HP Skill points Str Health Dex  Int Wis Chr App Attack Defense 18 (+3 skills) 18(21) -1 0 1+  2 1 2 2 1+ 1+

Abilities : 3

Magical : 2

Mana First level: 10 (6 + 4); second level: 14 (12 + 2).

Spell casters can use up to five mana per level in a single spell or ward. Blaze's base mana pools are halved for her class; she has +2 mana per level for her +2 int that go into her highest pool. Even though her mana pools are halved, the effects of spells are the same for every spellcaster at the same level, unless you take an ability to make them stronger.

Mana reduction of -20% for magical creature combined spells

+20% ward ratios (wards are weaker if you affect a larger area, more creatures, or all types of damage). You can also raise your defense by 2 for each level of ward instead of negating damage. The popular ward Blaze gets for the area is magical damage reduction. Blaze negates magical hit points by 240% of the points she places in them for the personal version. The ward negates a maximum damage based on the amount of mana spent per attack. You can also negate a duration spell by spending the number of mana points, or mana ward points multiplied by 2, of the spell that was cast on you.

Magical creatures can cast the most popular spell (ward is a school) of each school in their region.

Blaze is negating 40% of her mana deficiency with a single ability. Plus, she can overcast using 6 mana at first level and 12 mana for second-level spells.

General : 1

Communication (charm) earns one point per level, up to a maximum of eight.

Skills:

Instead of spreading them around, she is specializing in certain skills.

Communication (chr) (3+2) Specialties: Charm 11, Courtship 8, Deception 8

Magical (Int) (3+2) Spellcraft 8, Ward Sight 8, Hide Spell Casting 8

Appraisal (int) (3+2) Elven bloodlines 8, illusions 8, alignment 8

Knowledge (int) (3+2) Local 8, Humanoids 8, Blended 8 (4 for arcane or faith)

Non-Combat Defenses (wis) (3+1) Social abilities 7, Detect Spell Casting 7, and Sense Hostility 7

Professions (wis) (3+1) Cooking 7, Magi 7, Accounting 7

Healing (wis) (3+1): First aid 7, midwifery 7, and pediatrics 7

Magical creatures can gain skills from any mental statistic. They gain four points per level, plus one point for each intelligence point. Instead of gaining a bonus hit point for having a single class, Blaze is taking a skill point instead. (Low-tier commoners only get a hit point or skill point every other level, normally.)