Chess dragged her waterlogged body out of the surprisingly warm pool of water and onto the small ledge where an equally wet Lynn busied herself getting Ashley situated.
The skunkkin held a small stone that glowed faintly in Chess’s low-light vision, giving just enough illumination that she could make out her companions and the features of the small damp cavern that they were in.
Two corridors led off on diverging paths into the darkness, at one end of the room, with the pool they had landed in the opposite. The ribbed roof was scant inches above Chess’s head, muting the small sounds they were making and increasing the oppressiveness from the weight of the stone overhead. When Chess looked back to the ceiling they'd entered through, she found only bare roughhewn stone.
The portal was gone.
No going back. Chess let out a long sigh and took firm hold of the anxious dread in her gut before turning her attention to the girls.
Lynn moved a short way off.
“What’s a Valkyrie?” Lynn asked Ashley, frowning back at the young girl. The white strip down the center of the Kin girl’s face was a stark streak in the oppressive gloom.
Lynn had a long rondel dagger in her left hand and was watching the paths forward, talking to Ashley out the corner of her mouth.
“I don’t know,” Ashley said confused. “It’s one of the best options I have though.”
Chess kept eyeing the blank stone where the portal had been. Was it all an act to make us comfortable? she wondered before realizing what had been asked and explaining.
“They're badass warrior women from an ancient myth back home. They are Freya’s handmaidens and heralds,” she said in a rush, then paused. I guess they’re real since Freya is.
"Shouldn't we get a move on?" Chess shifted from foot to foot.
Lynn followed her gaze and then frowned before shaking her head. "If the time in here passes slower than outside they'd have already come through and we would have been done for. If it's the other way, which is more common with old unexplored rifts, we have a little time. It was a gamble."
Chess closed her eyes and forced out a breath. "It did sound like they were gonna set a watch and call for help instead of following themselves. Wait time flows differently?"
Lynn nodded. "Each one is a little different, but that's not important right now. We must get ourselves ready to move from here as soon as possible. Someone might still come, eventually. And that starts with Ashley's class choice. Valkyrie?"
“They're known for collecting the souls of fallen warriors from battlefields and guiding them to an afterlife for talented warriors. They're also known for being formidable fighters themselves," Chess explained.
Stepping back into a shadowed area, Chess hurriedly pulled her pants and top off before doing her best to wring the water out, then began doing the same with her hair; creating puddles at her feet.
The new cave was chillier than the water and she wanted to be dry as soon as possible, her teeth were already near chattering.
“Only women?” Ashley asked, her excitement growing. She shifted, her back scrapping against the rough wall she was propped against, and winced when she jostled her injured leg. She rubbed at her thigh above the wound. Her face looked strained.
“Yeah, the men were called something else; I can’t remember the name right now. Only the Valkyries had the duties I mentioned. I’m not sure how far Freya will push the duty part if you take it though,” Chess said, scratching the back of her head.
She pulled out her bowie and put it in Ashley’s hand, saying, “here.” The girl gripped the handle tightly, and some of the tension left her shoulders.
“Well, it’s one of my best options. Do you... do you think my father would be proud; if I were to choose it?” Ashley asked, her eyes still distant.
“I’m not sure of his views on the gods and all that. How would he feel about Freya?” Chess asked, rubbing at the aching side of her head with the pads of her fingers.
Ashley opened her mouth to answer but Lynn cut her off.
“Let's not do anything rash,” Lynn tempered. “I only asked what the last class on your list was because it’s usually one of the strongest. That doesn't mean it’s the best choice for you. What were all your options, and what were their synergies?” she asked with worried impatience. She kept turning her head towards the branching tunnels as if expecting something to emerge at any second.
Ashley obliged, giving them a detailed rundown of the classes offered, as well as her strongest 6 skills when the Sister asked for them. Chess noticed that Lynn refrained from asking for more details than she needed to give advice. Only asking if something would work with Ashley’s current stats.
“Ok, the first big question you have to answer is: are you good with taking a faith class offered by Freya? Because if not, that eliminates the two strong contenders that she contributed to your list,” Lynn said, while she knelt to dig in her pack with her free hand; taking out various items and laying them out before her.
“I wouldn’t be alive if not for Freya putting Chess in my path,” Ashley responded fervently.
“Ok, that means you have four strong choices. The tamer class best utilizes your current skills but would need animals that we may or may not encounter soon. It would also be expensive when we get back to civilization. At least, until you’re in a position to sell some of the animals to fund others of course. Also, it’s a Willpower and Charisma-based class. So I would discard the choice if you don’t have good numbers in those,” Lynn said, putting her wet cloth items to one side and everything else to the other.
“Shieldmaiden would give you hardy defensive abilities and little else. Especially with your high-ranked Shield Pyth, but don’t dismiss it out of hand. I’ve heard of a few powerful ones. It’s a constitution and strength class. I’m surprised it's in your offerings though; you must have some dwarven blood,” Lynn reasoned.
Ashley nodded in confirmation her eyes still locked on her interface.
“Cleric is always a strong choice when it’s offered. With a death and healing synergy paired with the Amber core, as your strongest source, I can only imagine what it would offer. One downside though is that many Cleric abilities are charisma based, so if yours isn’t 14 or over I wouldn’t consider it."
“Valkyrie sounds like a jack of all warrior class. It’s the most versatile; giving you some of the strengths of each of the other three. With Freya being a fertility goddess, the faith synergy will likely add some useful healing options to your ability offerings. The rest should be good or better with that many synergies.
“The death abilities the Amber Core will generate should be powerful ,and a strong reason for choosing that class over a dedicated Cleric. Death classes are rare, so their good Pyth and cores are cheaper.”
“I can only guess at its governing stats but I'd say other than faith it would likely be agility because of the movement synergy and likely strength as well. It might rely on willpower or charisma for a few things as well. So, a mixed bag. If you take it, I suggest keeping in mind what the governing stat for an ability is likely to be," Lynn said, clearly putting a lot of thought into her advice.
Lynn had finished sorting through all her gear while she talked. She'd wrung out any wet garments and did her best to dry the rest, including a bag of dried meat. All the while, she kept a wary eye on the exit tunnels as she worked.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Chess had finished with her clothes and reluctantly put the damp outfit back on before shaking out her vine cloak and refastening it. She flopped down beside Ashley against the wall and opened her vault, pulling out a length of ironwood and turning it around in her hands as Lynn spoke. She started forming a dagger, doing her best to copy the one Lynn was keeping close at hand.
“I’m not sure what we need to do to get out of here but I don’t imagine it will be easy considering the system said we’re in a dungeon," Chess put in once Lynn finished her breakdown.
“Right, you’re right. If we're careful it could be an opportunity, though. We just needed to allow Ashley to heal first. For that we need somewhere safe with food and water," Lynn sighed, getting to her feet and going to the other end of the small room.
She cautiously peered down each path, before pulling the light shift she wore over her head and did her best to remove the water from it.
Chess found the disrobed girl curious. She didn’t have evident breasts like her or like Ashley was developing. Her fur covered her entire form, masking everything from view and making Chess wonder why she even bothered with the garment. Must be cultural. Chess thought that she could just wear her pack, belts, and a skirt.
The young Kin shook herself out like a cat, puffing out her fur in the process before putting her shift back on and returning to the others. The silver of the collar around her neck stood out starkly against the black fur of her throat, even in the dim light cast by her stone. The white and black of her fur made it seem as if she was fading in and out of the shadows cast by the small light stone.
“You should choose the class that represents who you want to be. The best class isn’t always the best choice,” Lynn said as she started to repack her gear.
Chess chose to voice her own opinion as well. “You said you wanted to be a warrior and a Delver. Valkyrie is probably your best choice for that but beast tamer could work. It’s not as useful in our current situation and we'd need a lot more money to make it viable. Though cleric is a strong choice, considering Lynn has that blasted collar. If we’re careful we may get by with the effect from the Amber Core. I’m not sold on the maiden class though. Valkyrie sounds better.”
As she spoke, Chess continued to work on the chunk of wood in her hands. Under the influence of her magic the wood flowed easily and the more she worked a piece the easier it seemed to respond to her will.
“Ok, thanks,” Ashley said, falling back into thought, still locked into staring at her status. While she thought, Ashley continued to rub her sore thigh with the knife sitting in her lap.
Chess took the silence as an opportunity to ask a question of her own as she completed the final touches on the blade. She turned it around and carefully inspected her work. She tested it with a thumb, drawing a bead of blood with the point.
“I have a few questions. I reached level two and am unsure which passive ability I should take,” Chess said, before outlining her offered passive skills and asking what Lynn thought.
“The problem with abilities is advancement. Sure, ones that have more synergies are stronger, and in some cases, orders of magnitude stronger, like I suspect your Musical Memory may be. But sometimes they can be near impossible to rank up because of all the prerequisites needed to reach the desired rank,” Lynn explained. “A simple skill like the Perfect Pitch or Toughness you mentioned only requires one essence to rank up for it to follow, allowing for immediate results,” she continued.
“Any idea what they will give me though?” Chess asked, setting the new dagger aside and picking up another chunk of ironwood.
“Somewhat, yes. A one-pyth toughness gives a small increase to both strength and constitution. Thick skin is similar but only affects constitution. Although since yours has three synergies it's likely higher than toughness. Charismatic is the high-ranked version of Attractive and I believe it gives a significant boost to charisma.
"Perfect Pitch is a voice quality ability, I think. I’m not sure how it works, but I know that singers get it sometimes. From its synergies, Background Singer likely creates a singing summon of some sort. Though as a passive?” Lynn shrugged before taking a slow indrawn breath and continuing.
“Musical Memory sounds like a class-specific ability. They generally offer something new with each rank. The downside, as I said, is that it takes a lot to increase its rank. They also have a habit of only showing up as an option for your first two passive choices, so it’s better to take it now if you intend to.”
“Ok, do you think Charismatic will be offered again later?” Chess asked not wanting to give up the potential boost to most of her abilities if she took memory.
“It’s likely,” Lynn nodded, before waving Chess to be quiet. She turned her ear to the tunnels for a moment and listened carefully, before nodding that Chess could continue.
“Thanks,” Chess said, before reopening the skill window and voicing her choice. “I choose Musical Memory.”
Musical Memory
Rank 1: Grants perfect recall (lyrics and musical notation) for any song you’ve heard performed in a similar arrangement more than 10 times or have played more than 5 times in a similar arrangement.
Rank 1
Chess’s brain flooded with songs, hundreds, maybe even thousands, bombarded her mind at once. Lyrics, compositions, musical notation, kept coming and coming until she blacked out from the overflow of mana and blood to her head, her fingers going limp on the new branch.
----------------------------------------
“So, what did it give?” Lynn asked curiously when Chess blinked her eyes open again. It must not have been too long since it doesn’t appear she noticed I passed out, Chess thought.
Her head felt like an overfilled balloon. It was all she could do not to respond in lyrics.
Chess read the prompt aloud when she could focus again and Lynn snorted.
“That sucks, hopefully, the next rank is better,” Lynn said.
“Sucks?” Chess asked, trying to hide her excitement at the ability.
“Well it’s not great, you can read and write and have an Inventory Pyth, right?” Lynn asked.
Chess nodded getting her point. She’s thinking about future songs I hear. She frowned at Lynn for a moment longer but decided to keep her mouth shut waving the subject off. She doesn’t need to know anything about my past and it would be hard to explain how amazing the skill is without saying more.
“Another question?” Chess asked, turning her new bangle on her wrist and waiting for Lynn’s nod. “Do these free skill points have to be used now or can you store them?”
“You can save them but after every 10th rank in a skill, it requires an extra free point to increase it by one. Except for class skills, they don't require an extra until the 20th rank,” Lynn explained.
Chess nodded thanks and gave Ashley a curious look. It’s good that Ash is giving her decision a lot of consideration, she thought before joining Lynn in keeping an ear to the tunnels ahead.
She pulled Sprig from her inventory and laid it in her lap. I need to turn you into a real weapon for what's to come. Maybe a bow, or would it be better to make you into a spear and make a bow from the ironwood?
She hesitantly started singing Cleopatra by the Lumineers under her breath, a song she’d never played before, and found transparent words and musical notes started floating across the top of her vision, helping her reinforce what little she now knew of the song from the earlier bombardment.
She switched to boots or hearts after she’d finished it and the words and notes disappeared. So, if I know the song they don’t show up, cool.
All the while Sprig’s form collapsed from an umbrella into the curved shape of a short recurve bow, seeming almost eager for the change. The amber of the gem solidified around the grip and arrow rest with small one-inch pieces serving to reinforce the tips of each limb.
No matter what I do to Sprig, it turns out beautiful. Now I need to figure out a string and arrows. Maybe the bark? Then a spear or three out of ironwood, she thought admiring its new form before pulling out a long section of the dark bark. When she pulled up Sprig's new window, she frowned at the loss of another hundred points of durability.
Name: Sprig
Bonded: Chess Stewart
Type: Short Recurve Bow, Piercing.
Rank: 3
Rarity: Custom/unique
Properties: Living Ironwood
Durability: 9813/10000
Draw weight: 50lb
Enchantments: Musical Ease: (Sprig is enchanted to work with bonded’s music.)
A gift, freely given, to a traveler for her gift of beautiful music, magic, and patience.
“I choose Valkyrie,” Ashley’s calm voice startled Chess when she finally spoke long minutes later and she turned towards her daughter with a smile. Hells yeah, she thought.
“What did you get offered for abilities?” Chess asked, Sprig and arrows forgotten for the moment.
"Here,” Ashley said and a window popped up for Chess.
Bulwark (Shield)
Chosen Mount (Binding)
Withering Touch (Harvest)
Weapons of the Fallen (Harvest, Shield)
Amber Armaments (Shield, Amber)
Lay on Hands (Binding, Amber)
Reap (Binding, Harvest, Amber)
Einherjar (Binding, Harvest, Shield, Amber)
“How did you do that?” Chess asked.
“Families can share statuses if they want,” Lynn answered for Ashley.
“Freya’s fabulous fanny, your choices are better than mine.” Chess said with envy, reading the list aloud, a smile spreading across her face at the possibilities.
“That’s not the half of it, I only recognize Bulwark and Chosen Mount,” Lynn said. “Chosen Mount does what it sounds like creating a strong bond with a mount. And Bulwark decreases the force of any blow taken. It stacks with the base Shield Pyth ability though,” she continued.
“Shit,” Chess said, dragging the word out.