The Nightmare grows...
I ticked over one mental lever. Without pause, I ticked over the other.
My soul began to percolate. Energies began to move through flesh and spirit, although it was probably all spirit here in Nightmare, and the Karma I’d ripped off the Curse by slaughtering the things it sent out to kill me churned and flowed through my system.
Melee Seven. Most important effect, I was now In The Dance, and my MAB had hit +7. I could now not just perceive things at enhanced speed, I could now back that up with body movement to match.
+1 Forsaken Bonus to Wis, to 22. +1 Ki.
Seven is where you left the limits of humanity behind, and stepped into being superhuman.
Human/3 washed past me, and brought with it a change in perspective.
Human/2 was the level of Obsession. It filled you with an ambition and drive to be better, to dominate, to improve yourself and look down on others. The reason for this was that it was the most successful way to get people to drive themselves to a high enough Level to become a Human/3. Seven was that Level, no longer just a normal Human.
Human/3 was about crystallizing what it meant to be a sapient pack omnivore. My whole drive of me against the Curse, pitting myself up against the foul magic that ruined my second life, could be seen for the heightened reaction it was, a tool to keep me going in face of everything that had happened to me.
As a Human/3, I could see that the Curse was simply a foul blight upon humanity, and whatever I could do to fight it was simply a right and vital thing. I was a protector and defender of my species, a weapon and a shield, and a Queen among Women. My Forsaken state only exemplified that status even further.
Human Powered were nothing but soldier ants there to guard and protect the rest of the species. They were spawned both by the Land and by the unconscious will of all humanity to defend our species against all the Damn Things out there that wanted to kill us all in a magical world. Those that betrayed humanity by aligning with other forces out of greed for power or madness or whatever, were just dogs to be put down.
It was like being an enlightened predator; it changed the way I looked at the world.
Being protective of my species didn’t mean a Human/3 had to be nice. However, Human/3’s tended to turn their nastiness outside the species, unless they came across someone selling out the race, or preying on people, who they could enjoy just doing some completely horrible stuff to without batting an eye. Murder, genocide, torture, it was all in the cabinet of some Human/3’s… but not to other humans.
The real time effects of this were minimal, more a reinforcement of willpower to fight this damn Curse until the end than anything else. It would be more apparent once I got out of here.
In real terms, getting In the Dance was the biggest thing. The extra Soak, +1 MAB, +1 to Armor Training (and attendant Dodge bonuses), two Techniques, Feat, and Skill Points were all necessary and needed for long-term improvement. Likewise, the extra Health and the Stat bonus for Three were nice, but not game changers.
Oh, and one more Level and MAB was another two points of Strength on my Girdle that I could make use of. Str 24 and +7, baby!
Combat Technique, One Strike Technique.
This took a normal One Strike and improved it to the next level, allowing it to correlate with my Null Strikes more intently, and things like Sneak Attacking and Charging. For a skirmish-style of combat, it was a vital addition for hitting and running. My enemies were using it all the time, natch.
Training Technique, Combat Medic. Counted as Skill Mastery for Heal. Allowed 2/day use of the Treat Deadly Wounds sew-yourself-up action, 3/day if Vigor was used while healing. No penalty for operating on one’s self. Used Heal Ranks instead of Caster Level for magical, alchemical, and spiritual healing applied to myself… which had no effect on Vigor use, but my Blood Healing and Heart and Soul just got a three Level advance in eligibility!
Moar Healink!
Bonus Feat, Parry Anything. Which now included spells. I was so going to start spending an AoO and sending spells launched at me back at their Casters. I wasn’t just a Diamond Vajra anymore, I was a Ricochet Vajra!
Fourteen Skill Points, a large amount by any normal calculation, but I had so many Skills I had to advance at this point that it didn’t actually seem like much. Perception, Stealth, the four Smiths, Leatherworking, Woodworking, Gemcutting, Mining, Martial Lore, Heal, Intimidate, and Sense Motive rang in patiently, upping my modifiers, letting me know I had to get the Mastery/4’s for them politely.
Human/3 would give me 8 Health + Con+1 Health, Melee/7 gave 10 Soak + Con + Favored Class… and the reward for Human/3 was +2 to Stat of choice, which for me was naturally Constitution.
Con 35, bonus +12. Most Dragons and Giants weren’t even close to being as tough as I was.
Health 3d8 (24) +36 (Con) +7 Toughness + 15 (Soul-Fortified Body). 82 Health, which was a totally insane amount of Health for a Human by any stretch of the imagination. And with 75% crit ignore, too!
Soak 70 (7 x d6+4, maxed) + 84 (7x Con bonus of 12) + Fort Save (26) + FC (7) + Ess 39 (Body and Soul) for 226 Soak. Yes, that was more than the Health of the average human giant I was facing.
My Null advanced again with Level and Con, and was the Mastery I ticked over first. Level 7 + Fort Save of 26 + Mastery/4 was a base 37, modified by other things.
My Vajra was sitting at 40 ki, 39 Essence, and 79 combined. Lots available for use, as it were.
Six more Skill Points from Human/3. I put them into Shipwright, as I had to put in a reminder to regain my sea-based skill set at some point… and making my own vessel was a part of that.
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Instead of a Caster Level gain from Human/3, another Bonus Feat, doubled. Breathe to Your Soles and Skill Focus (Shipwright).
A random Talent, as genetic potential was unearthed. I had no idea what it would be.
I also ticked another mental lever forward, to Advanced Human, often called the Atlantean Human. As per Normal Human, but +2 to all Stats, instead of just one Stat. It effectively cost the equivalent of a Level at Ten in Karma… but that was fine, I had nothing better to spend the Karma on. It would revert me back to ‘base’ Human, undoing the changes I’d elected at ‘creation’ for more Stats (my +2 to Int), and then dump the full range of Stats on top of me.
It would complete at Ten, being a Racial Change, such as it were…
My lever-clicking done, I sat there and talked over the changes and new things that had opened up with the new Levels with Tremble. He ooh’d and ahh’d faithfully, we discussed how this was going to make things much better against the ranged attacks of the Casters, and then walked off into the mist.
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Burning a solid arc of fire, Tremble etched burning paths into the walnut tree as I danced up it. Sticking closer to its trunk was actually fairly safe, as it didn’t have full fluidity in its wooden limbs and found it difficult to reach me. Of course, it could lurch around all it liked, but that didn’t deter me too much, and I was basically setting it on fire as hundred-point attacks from Tremble drove into bark and wood and banefire sent the heat tearing through the cellulose trunk of the great tree.
Flames chased me up the tree, and I could feel it shuddering underneath me as the fires pierced deep into its core.
Without looking back, I shifted Tremble to Sharding Mode and ran out along one of the longer limbs that wasn’t moving so fast, leaping out into the air and spinning once, twice, thrice, sending flaming Shardings out to plunge into the flaming wounds and erupt in yet more fires as I plummeted down to the ground.
My ankle Tats caught me an inch above the ground, and I skated away as I sent another three Shardings into the same points I’d just hit, and saw flames blast out in all directions from its trunk. The walnut tree shuddered, and then just about half of its leaves spontaneously erupted in flames as it came to a halt, while the roots that had been tunneling through the ground like hyperactive serpents came slowly to a halt.
The front yard was a total mess. Topiary beasts were burning across half of it, shattered statues were crumbled here and there, the four giant guards were sprawled amid the flowers, the mounted knight statue was hacked apart, and the roots of the walnut tree had basically torn up the nice lawn as it moved after me with ponderous speed.
I had taken to parrying their Aid Another attempts, much to the surprise of the giants involved, as there was no penalty to me doing so, and it only helped me when I succeeded about half the time.
Of course, when Mother had taken one of her own maxed-out thunderbolts full back in the chest, it also changed a few things. Suddenly, the damage I took from their spells dropped precipitously, evening out them scales again, and my Valorous Charges were now deadlier than ever. Ubercharging for a massive killstroke was still by far my most powerful tactic.
I made use of it, continually moving and striking. Flowing Charge let me Skate and meant I wasn’t restricted to a straight lane moving around. I certainly must have seemed like a hyperactive killer pixie to the giants as I dashed here and there, slashing and cutting and then abruptly taking out a throat, or reaching an eye or heart for terminal achievements.
It meant I reached the outside in much better shape than I had the first time, pacing myself to get the maximum benefit out of Battle Vigor’s Soak restoral.
Now, I breathed deeply as I looked over the ruin of the formerly picturesque front yard. Their landscapers were going to be well-paid to put all of this back together...
“So, what’s in the pond?” Tremble asked calmly.
“I don’t know.” I turned my head up, noticing the two rocs up in the sky were noticeably lower than before. “But we can go investigate the back yard, I think, after we find out.”
“Scanning,” he informed me, as his Detects reached out, and he began to cycle between the Banes the Detects were based on, looking for whatever was under the waters.
“Oh, there’s an animal under there,” he informed me after a moment. “Big one. Damn big one! It must be huge! What- “
I jerked aside as a tongue easily a hundred feet long came shooting out of the water as fast as an arrow, even as the owner broke the surface.
It was a freaking bullfrog the size of a whale. It could probably swallow an elephant, and easily mess with the rocs up above.
I realized why they hadn’t just come diving in after the tree was dead. Dream or not, they had probably spotted the frog and didn’t want to become lunch.
“Damn!” I murmured, as the sticky tongue retracted as fast as it had come out. And then, of course, the frog jumped.
I had no desire at all to be landed on by a slimy amphibian that outmassed most whales, and counter-jumped to the side. A flying wall of meat slammed down onto the ground just behind my heels with improbable agility, and I leapt into the air as it lunged at me with speed completely at odds with its size and bulk.
I landed on its head, right between its bulging eyes. Eye, after I cut left, and that eye popped and went away.
The frog croaked, a sound loud enough to pop my eardrums despite my Vajra resistance, and tossed its head to throw me off, a bit late as I was sliding down its back. Tremble’s point was buried into its slick hide, and slicing open a long wound along its spine through skin and fat easily over a foot thick. Then the world bucked and I flew off and away as it hopped away from me and the source of pain I represented.
Happily, I was no longer the handicapped combatant I’d been at the beginning, and I had a ranged attack I could ply when stuff wanted to stay away from me. It hadn’t jumped back into the pond, probably still under the same BS programming that demanded that it attack me, but that was fine.
Tremble wove butterfly patterns as I stood just beyond its tongue range and sent slicing Shardings whining towards it, cutting into its green and black skin, popping warts, opening gouging wounds and generally letting it know that a hundred-foot hop just wasn’t enough.
I knew I was getting closer to a kill stroke, and when it hopped at me, I again counter-jumped ahead and to the side of it. Blood was gushing down its back, spilling out its front, and when I drove in from the side, I wrenched open a yard-long cut the full length of Tremble into its ribs, puncturing the massive lungs, the throat-sac I’d already sliced into, and several major arteries.
The Sharding I fired from the point inside it into its massive heart totally ruptured the organ, and the massive frog seemed to shudder for a moment, massive long toes tearing at the ground in reflex before it went still.
Programming aside, the rocs up there could only have seen this and thought I had just delivered them the perfect lunch. I dashed away from the not-so-small hill of its corpse as their silhouettes began to grow bigger in the sky.
Down they came to investigate the huge dead frog that was going to be such a good meal for them.
They looked like huge golden eagles, with darker beaks and talons, that brownish-gold feather pattern, and the usual golden eagle’s eyes, only they were a foot across or something. They were definitely paying attention to me as I withdrew towards the entry of the mansion, but they landed athwart the frog that massed more than both of them combined, and began enthusiastically ripping into him, following the big cut I’d carved down his backside.
“Righto,” I murmured, seeing that. “Why don’t we leave them to lunch for now, and go see what excitement is going to assail us in the back yard?”
Tremble thought that was a good idea, and I actually opened the front door, went back into the house which was burning down, the corpses of the giants were still spread out everywhere, and headed for the back of the ballroom, where a sun room and patio led out to the spacious back doors.
Today was going to be about discovery, it seemed.