(Vol 2) Chapter 54: Requiem for the Suspense

With everyone held in suspense, Merril leaned back in his hammock, hands behind his head in smug nonchalance, while seeming to muse to himself. “The buff reward, I’ll note, allows any death to bestow a new mortal class, but the level of the class is determined by the authenticity and meaning of the death… based on proprietary System protocols of circumstantial judgment.”

“Sounds like the System,” Samantha commented wanly. “Your death was exceptionally authentic and dramatic I think, so you probably came off well there?”

“Indeed I did. Highest level, +3 added, in a whole new class.”

There were some appreciative whistles. Then Dax, mouth gaping, said incredulously, “You’re level 7 now?!”

Merril nodded to her with smug satisfaction. “Higher level than you, now… little sister.”

Dax scowled and held out an admonishing finger. “Don’t you even, Merril Asthyre Stoneboro! I’ll always be your big sister, you little shit! I carried you on my bloody back when you were a wee fluffball, cryin’ and sucking your thumb all day!”

The catman just rolled his eyes at that.

“Merril, the class?!” Estara insisted, eyes brimming with curiosity.

Sammy was also demanding. “Come on, out with it already!”

Smirking at them, Merril dramatically enunciated, “Requiter.”

Multiple feminine voices (and Bob) spoke as one: “What?”

“Requiter. Like a… Bard of Death? More focused on fucking over enemies than buffing allies. Songs and strings of requiem; empowered dirges and laments. And it has quite strong damage-dealing capabilities. I can maim with a whistle, kill with a note…”

He grinned in something more of his own special satisfaction. “Based on one’s will rather than muscle, though it causes physical wounds. And if I am Devout or higher and my deity sanctions, I can make the source Divine instead of Arcane.”

There was a pause as everyone absorbed this information. Dax was nodding thoughtfully, while Estara seemed a bit shaken up.

Samantha threw her hands up in glee within her throne realm. “Haha — fuck yeah! Go goth cat!” That was of course not projected to them. Instead, to Merril, she said, “Congratulations. Did you try for the God class? I noticed you said ‘mortal’ there.”

His laughter was rich and impish. “Am I that transparent? Of course I did. But it isn’t allowed, sadly. Eh. Maybe it’s just as well. I’m happy with this — where it puts me and where I can go. It’s more than I’ve ever been able to say in this life.”

The Fortuneteller chimed into her head. ‘He always craves more. The confines of a just-right sandbox are better for his fluid substance. But will he be free enough of corruption by the time he’s needed most? I’ll take the odds, regardless. His well of strength runs deep, now, and the mix made of the flow is all too necessary.’

Sammy swallowed a lump in her throat as the voice departed just as suddenly as it had come. As little as she understood, the final verdict was the same: of course she’d utilize and support Merril. The rest she took as a warning to keep a close eye on him.

“These abilities sound… a bit frightening,” Estara said.

Merril met her eyes, upon which his own softened. “Only to our enemies, Dame Nightsong. Music has been made no less beautiful for it. A knife kills in combat, or it slices meat for survival, or it carves a work of art out of dead wood. This is just another purpose for a tool.

“Actually, I have spell capabilities of varying utility as well, including some healing. I have a slew of mini-quests to find epiphanies for filling free slots. Much faster and easier than wizards, and to a maximum, but I still have to do it… have to find inspiration in new experiences.”

“So I guess this is where you say you’re going it alone for a bit?” Samantha replied. “Need I remind you that you’re a glass cannon, despite this destructive power you’ve gained?”

“Staying moving would make me safer than anyone trying to stay here, at this point. Running and hiding, instead of just hiding. But a bodyguard or two is logical. But” — and he pointed a finger out firmly as his eyes glared at them — “not Dax. I need time away. We all know it, don’t we?”

Dax opened her mouth as if to argue, but paused as she gazed at him… released a breath then took a big, deep one. “Yeah.”

“Well, I’m glad that’s settled, at least,” Samantha offered. “Helps with suspicions about harp-playing catboys attached to deadly, argumentative swordswomen.”

“I’m not argumentative,” Dax muttered in offense.

“I’m a man, damn it!” Merril corrected with a sour scowl. Was it still cute? Yes. “And I will refrain from playing the harp. I have plenty more musical talents now, anyway. Perhaps the harp should be enchanted to look different as well. Wait-” He squinted his eyes as if looking at something System-wise. “Yes! I can obtain my own spell Disguise quite easily, and the mana would be manageable. Perfect. I can masquerade as a human!”

“Actually, the same goes for me, by the way,” Estara said. “It’s a level 1 spell for an hour, but double FE cost makes it 24 hours.”

Sammy blinked in surprise. “Oh. Well! Great. Hmm, would it arouse suspicion if illusions were noticed?”

Dax made a dismissive noise. “I doubt it, Seeress. First, you have to notice, but even then, it’s common to Bards and Wizards. Popular, though expensive on mana to the lower levels. Someone who saw an, er, catman underneath would understand why they would use illusions to appear human. Or a young lass to look older and tougher, to avoid trouble here.”

In a little lull of conversation, Estara — disguise finally dropped — was gazing at Merril. “I’ll miss you, Sir Merril.”

It was the catman’s turn to be stunned slack-jawed for once, caught in those adorable headlights. But he soon looked away and cleared his throat. “I will return. I promise.”

The priestess grinned. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“And,” Samantha added in corrective tones, “no closing our connection and running off without planning and discussion, right?”

Merril grimaced like it was a gut punch. He took a deep breath and, looking as if it was tantamount to chewing glass, said, “I apologize to you all.”

Dead silence reigned in the aftermath, no one quite believing what they just heard. Then Dax began looking up at the ceiling, suddenly fearful and ducking down.

“What is it?” Estara asked, concerned.

“Didn’t you hear?!” Dax queried back, eyes wide. “Merril apologized! The sky will surely fall down on our heads and end the world!”

Merril sat up and pointed at her with a snarl. “Shut the fuck up, Sis! I’ve apologized before! Twice, even!” Miffed, he adjusted his tunic and lay back downward. “Hmmph. Anyway, I didn’t handle that well. I won’t make excuses and I won’t do it again.”

“More than good enough for me,” Sammy declared, smiling wide. She was so, so proud of him.

Everyone settled down to sleep to some degree, Dax only for a couple of hours due to needing to deal with the prisoner while the darkness held. The rest would lay low in the safehouse for a while. Thanks to Dart being there, a watch wasn’t technically needed… Sammy was exceptionally stern that he stayed standing and vigilant as an important sentry, and he swore he would.

Just to be safe, she told Jeeves to keep a bit of an eye on him.

Sammy went ahead and began her persistent illusion enchantments on Bob’s helmet and Merril’s harp. Really, the helmet was plenty enough for Bob — the rest of his armor was generic enough. He wasn’t dumb enough to run around in Mot Mekess colors and heraldry or anything.

The enchantments would take quite a bit of Illusion FE to complete over 3 days to make permanent, so she reminded herself to account for it. It was probably smart to convert Greenleaf prayer over to Illusion FE for a bit.

With that done… She had pretty much ignored her Bard level notifications as she heavily engaged in the ordeal with Merril, but she had indeed gained level 1 in Bard. This included the Special Skills Musical Talent and Inspire Ally (1/day), which combined with her quest reward meant she had Inspire Ally (2/day).

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Inspire Ally

You may encourage and bolster any ally that can hear you speak at least one line of inspiration, in whatever form you desire, so long as it has an auditory component. This is not instantaneous but can be combined with other actions if feasible.

This adds 1 Effective Level to the next attack the ally makes, or potentially to another immediately imminent action that is subject to raw motivational inspiration. It cannot aid any form of long-term task nor something that requires calm, mental focus. For 30 seconds (1 minute if a performing Bard), the ally also has advantage on any ties qualifying for the bonus (i.e. turns ties into full success).

In addition, add +2 Effective Levels to any courage or morale-based level comparisons, such as resisting [Fear] effects. If already under such an effect, the ally may re-compare, potentially breaking its hold.

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Hmm, another bit of a buff layer due to not requiring full concentration.

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Musical Talent

You may invoke the [Bard] class to sing and compose competently without a skill. In addition, you learn musical instruments much more quickly, obtaining Familiarity under this skill. Higher-level specialty is obtained through additional commitment, practice, and learning.

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Okay. Whatever. Bard will also give me another learnable Special Skill slot, so I should probably ask Bast and Azure what they have, and what the meta is for useful choices… as opposed to playing a fucking lute or something.

She also went ahead and Identified the tower shield — namely so they could compactify the thing by whatever mechanism it had for it.

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Shrinking Tower Shield

(Arcane — Physical Enhancement, Protection, Transmutation; Enchantment) Upon speaking the Encrypted Runic command word, this shield shrinks into a hand-sized token. Speaking the command word while it is a token makes it full size again.

The full-size shield provides +1 Magical Defense, +2 Physical Defense, and +1 Physical Defense against impaling or ranged attacks, all from the front. It adds +1 Effective Levels to any attempt to block/cover for another. This shield will be damaged as normal if any Physical Defense is the difference between injury and non-injury. It has the normal improved durability of magic items.

It is currently undamaged.

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Hmm, I guess I’ll have Bob keep it. Pretty easy to toss it to Dart for some mega tanking, too. Sadly, my Servitors can’t take items with them to my demiplane. Maybe there’s a method to bind items at some point.

It was strange coming down from the adrenaline high of what happened with Merril. The consequences were potentially… sickeningly extreme, however worth it they were for what they’d gotten out of it. He’d been her Follower in another life, probably many… No doubt he was a key ingredient to the success they were brewing.

In one sequence he’d become possibly the most powerful Follower in her group…

3 fucking levels added to 4, in a brand new, badass Special Class. Granted, Death is probably the most transformative card there is, and it essentially ended up matched to him. But even more muted permanent effects could be instrumental. What if I use Tarot Reading to jumpstart Bast with a Future pull? Would I just… get Chariot in Future if I focused on it?

But the problem was what the cost would be. Tashome’s price was still unclear in severity, and Orswyth had been completely crippled when he was a powerful knight.

Always a cost. That’s been clear. Give System Reality a third or watch it take everything. Eventually, a satisfactory equilibrium is attained. Or we have the chance to see it out… like with Merril.

And she’d waste any emergency Present use, not that she enjoyed resorting to such a thing due to the gut-wrenching sacrifices. Right then, she was sitting on no free uses of Alter Fate to rely on for key successes. If an emergency occurred, she might need the System Deck, and there were already two in Bast’s party who’d gotten the ‘treatment.’

She dreaded using it again… hated it. But she felt it was inevitable one way or another. Would fate shift and change and adjust if she used it tactically?

All she could do was keep it in mind and consider. If she truly felt an inspiration to, an intuition toward it, she would have to obey. Like some of the quests she’d completed and gotten extra exp: she wanted the ideal results in the end. The good ending…

Because it was really beginning to feel like they had been bad for a long, long time.

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« (Vol 2) Chapter 53 | Table of Contents | *eyetwitch* »

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Samantha, Virgin Goddess of Mirrors & Illusion
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Goddess Level 3 [11/30]; Minor Deity

Domains (3/4): Mirrors, Illusion, Fate
Faith Energy: 352/3000
FE (Mirrors): 5 ; FE (Illusion): 9 ; FE (Fate): 5 ; FE (Light): 129
Followers: 48 (Daily FE Gain: 67 [73])

Devout: 12
Priests: 6+1

Brute: 0
Rogue: 0
Wizard: 2 [8/30]
Bard: 1 [7/20]

MP: 35/40

Special Skills: First Aid, Tarot Reading, Meditation, Priestly Ordination, Holy Relic Investiture, Create Servitor, Read Runes, Spell Construction, Detect Magic, Ritual Cast, Draw Mana (1/1), Inspire Ally (2/2), Musical Talent

Special Traits: Token User, Immortal, Demiplane Domain, Conceptual Body, Fueled By Faith, Detection Ward, Split Prediction, Avatar (Samantha; Core, Mental Res 1, Magic Res 1, PFE: 44/70)

Spells: Identify (5 MP), Icebolt (3 MP)

Powers: Faith Energy Utilization, Grant Prayer (Illusion), Grant Prayer (Fate), Mirror: (Sense, Communication, Maze, Walk, Other), Intuition, Alter Fate, Create Illusion, Grant Invisibility, Dazzling Spectrum, False Auras, Mirroring Duplicates, Reflect Force

Status: Token User Promotional Bonus (11/30)

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Note: Sorry about the delay if you were waiting earlier! Internet issues... hrrrrrrrrrrngh... *faceplants*

Note 2: Tomorrow will be a planned break for odds and ends. Eventually wanna do a master list of power/ability descriptions, btw. Since they've been morphing and changing over time. Anyway, catch you on the next!