Dawn, not Buffy, jumped into the portal to save the world. However, it wasn't death that awaited her but something far more inexplicable...
A Green Keychain (Jumpchain, Dawn-centric)
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First Key 1.1
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.1
Glorificus, The Beast, The Bad Perm Job, lay dead. As it turns out her skull was no match for a Troll Hammer wielded by a Slayer in full Mama Bear mode. This should have been cause for rejoicing, but there was just a small problem. Dawn Summers, the human incarnation of the Key, was cut and her blood used to open a portal. Now that portal was growing rapidly and threatened to swallow the world. Only her blood could close the portal, but it would require a sacrifice. She was just a kid. Her mom died recently from an aneurism. It was sudden, merciless and unnecessarily cruel with everything else going on. Buffy stood up to the plate, but the responsibility of caring for Dawn and worrying about her safety took a toll. The young girl, barely a teenager, bitterly regretted being such a pain in the ass. The shifting tower of steel swayed unsteadily. That's what happens when a bunch of crazies try to build anything. All she wanted was for her mom to hug her again. She wanted one of Buffy's slightly-too-tight hugs right now. Her sister was trying to reach the platform, but a sudden jerk tore the stairs loose. The Slayer watched with dismay as a sizable chunk of the stairs and infrastructure fell away.
"I can't even tell her goodbye…" Dawn lamented. Below her was the portal. As each drop of her lifeblood fell it grew even bigger. If this didn't stop then the Earth would get pulled into a Hell dimension inside out. She stumbled forward as a convenient piece of metal sheared her bindings. Almost as if the universe was telling her how to fix this.
Buffy screamed, pleaded and sobbed as she tried to convince Dawn to just wait. They could still save the day. There was no need for her to die like this. The child, not yet a woman, felt so old at that moment. She turned to look at the faces of her loved ones. It was clear they didn't know what to do any more than her sister did. The sight of them standing there, their eyes watching with mounting horror, would remain engraved in her mind forever. Or however long it took to hit the portal. Dawn smiled freely and waved. This wasn't goodbye. This was Good Journey. They would see each other again, right? Unless there was nothing waiting for her on the other side. She was just a mass of energy given human form after all. This was for her family. Dawn let herself fall towards the spiraling vortex.
"I love you! You're the best sister ever!" Dawn shouted over the maelstrom.
She never got to hear Buffy's response.
Just as Dawn prepared to accept eternity something intervened.
The bellyflop on concrete was too real, and painful, to be a dream.
Dawn rolled over on her back painfully. Her chest was sore and so was the cut in her stomach. A dazed thought crossed her mind. What sort of Hell Dimension could fit in a warehouse? She lay there growing more woozy from blood loss, but at least one thing was clear. This wasn't the afterlife. Dawn knew she wasn't. There was just no way to hurt this badly without being alive. Hell was described as indescribable torments. This was just regular everyday mortal pain. Okay, she couldn't be 100% sure, but it was a more pleasant thought than eternal damnation.
"Hello…?" Dawn called out weakly. If this was an empty warehouse then she might be screwed. To survive Glorificus and the portal only to die on a concrete floor would suck.
[Hello]
The blue pop up box made her scream and jerk in surprise. Her head struck the floor as she flailed ineffectually. She fell back with stars dancing across her vision.
[You do not have time to have an existential crisis. You are currently bleeding out with several cracked ribs due to impact with an unyielding surface. Death is imminent.]
"I don't wanna die…" Dawn's words slurred together. Why was it getting harder to think?
[That would be the concussion. Causing cranial trauma to yourself was not a good idea.]
"Stupid blue boxes…" She muttered.
[You are a Planeswalker, Dawn Summers. A powerful entity capable of traversing the dimensions as easily as entering a room. The issue is that your abilities were too new and untested. You jumped into the Blind Eternities without even a towel.]
Dawn giggled blearily at the Hitchhiker's Guide reference. The talk of being a Planeswalker sort of fit. She was a glowing green ball o' energy that connected dimensions or something. That's why Glory wanted her, right?
[Normally killing a Planeswalker, even a baby such as yourself, is incredibly difficult. However, you were not fully awake before attempting to Walk. At the moment you are little more than a mortal with a talent for manipulating dimensional energies.]
"And the dying bit…? I wanna avoid that…" Dawn waved vaguely.
[This one was formed by your dying wish for survival and your Spark. As you are now it would be instant death if we recombined. You can strengthen yourself, but it will take time. I cannot send you home, but I can facilitate your travel to other dimensions. In essence, reciprocal realities.]
"This would be cooler if I wasn't bleeding out," Dawn observed. Except that it came out as more of a delirious babble. Thankfully her new pal seemed to understand.
[Then you must make a decision. I can tease some power from the various universes, but it is not limitless. You will have a budget to spend. As a Planeswalker your options are a bit more generous, but also be mindful of the drawbacks. Everything has a price.]
Dawn felt invigorated as if new life was breathed into her body. The pop up box's warning remained at the forefront. She only had a limited time to make her choices. From what she understood the Spark was too powerful for her. Which meant she had to find a way to strengthen herself. Without the Spark she couldn't go home. Buffy's tearstained face was indelibly marked in her mind. With their mother dead it was just the two of them. Dawn seized her destiny with both hands and started looking for a way to get stronger faster.
A list of worlds appeared before her that met the criteria. The list was too long to look through. Already her consciousness was starting to slip away again. She blindly chose one that looked nice. The name was Scooby Gamers. It had all her friends and family, which was a definite plus, and a bunch of interesting powers. That's when she saw what some of the rules were. In order to get points she had to roll a d20 and multiply it by a hundred. If she wanted a second d20 she had to take two Drawbacks for zero points. There was also a part to roll for Mandatory Drawbacks and how much those were worth. It seemed like a good idea to just take a few chances. The result appeared to be worth it…
CP: Roll 2d20 = 18, 7 = 2500
Mandatory Drawback: Roll 1d4 = 1 + 2 (0 CP)
Drawback Multiplier: Roll 1d4 = 3
If anyone asked Dawn what she was thinking at the time it could be summed up as: Need More Power. The choices she made reflected that desire, but the Drawbacks were numerous.
CP: 2500 + 2400 = 4900
Location: Sunnydale
Gender: Female
Origin: Student
Age: 14
Perks:
Going With the Flow (100 CP)
Crafting and Repairing (200 CP)
Second Trigger (300 CP)
Yin and Yang (400 CP)
Lucky Bastard (600 CP)
Keep Training (100/Free CP)
Ingenious Ideas (200/100 CP)
Teamwork (300/150 CP)
Instinctive Mastery (400/200 CP)
We Go Together (600/300 CP)
Magic Practitioner - Utility (300 CP)
Enchanting (400 CP)
Specialization Focus - Mage (Free)
Minor Skill - Mana Manipulation (50 CP)
ID Create/Escape (Free)
Scribe, Copy (100 CP)
Evolving Skill Set (Free)
Merit System (Free)
-Quest Maker/Giver (100 CP)
Critical Success (400 CP)
Powers:
Local Magic (Free)
Mage (200 CP)
Past Slayer (400 CP)
Gamer (600 CP)
Items: +400 CP
Student ID (Free)
Magic Outfit - Archmage (100 CP)
Magic Outfit -Swordsaint - FFT (100 CP)
Spirit Gems (200 CP)
Drawbacks: Mandatory 1 + 2, Multiplier: x 3
Annoying Quests (+0 CP) - Time and time again you keep finding yourself stuck doing these annoying quests that take forever to complete, but keep giving you just enough interesting rewards for you to continue. Either that or they're simple and offer little to no reward like taking out the trash or getting takeout. Hopefully, you have some sort of anti-boredom protection because you'll need it.
Potential Slayer (+0 CP, requires Past Slayer) - Instead of being Past Slayer you are just a Potential Slayer, who might or might not get called as Slayer at some point in future. Until this happens you don't benefit from Past Slayer power. If you go the entire jump without activating your Slayer powers they automatically activate once the jump is over.
Uncontrollable Portals (+400/+1200 CP) - Portals keep malfunctioning when you try to use them, sending you to random new realities that you haven't visited previously. It doesn't happen every time but one in three wouldn't be out of the question. Not even avoiding them helps, you'll just end up accidentally stumbling into such portals in that case.
Boss Fights(+400/+1200 CP) - You keep getting caught in boss fights. Despite all countermeasures you take you'll face off against one such boss at least once each year. Against life-threatening bosses at that, and even worse, their capabilities seem to scale with your capabilities. At least the loot they drop is also pretty powerful, but are you sure it's worth the risk? For 400 CP these boss fights are limited to IDs, but trying to avoid this by not going into any IDs will have it upping to higher tier without giving you additional CP. For 600 CP they can happen anywhere.
Universal Drawbacks:
Central Casting [Nothing]: Why do you keep encountering the same people over and over and over again in each new jump? I mean, it's like… you know that bartender in Dresden Files? Is he running a tavern in Waterdeep now? That engineer from FF7 is a car mechanic in San Andreas? From now on, minor characters that you've interacted with from settings you've visited will keep showing up in new settings in similar roles. They won't remember the other setting, of course, but they'll have a virtually identical history with your new persona as they did to your old persona, and a similar history of interaction. This means you'll probably gather a fairly large crowd of people who are annoyed at you, of course, but former lovers and friendly acquaintances will also be included. They will, wherever possible, look and sound the same, as if played by the same actor. Chain Only. No Hiatus. Revoke Fee = 0 CP.
House Rules Reddit
[Benefits]
Random Start CP: Roll 1d20 and multiply the result by 100, this is your starting Budget. If you agree to take 2 Drawbacks without applying their payout, you may add another d20 to this result in the same way, basically rolling 2d20 and multiplying their result by 100, or, rolling 1d20 and multiplying it by 200. The Drawback Requirement may be applied individually to each Jump and one may stack an additional Drawback for another d20 or to increase the multiplier by another 100.
Random Drawback Multiplier: Drawbacks can be useful, I know that, we all need some extra CP from time to time, am I right? Yeah who am I kidding? The number of jumps where taking a ton of Drawbacks isn't expected because either there is so much for each Origin to buy or some extra sections to use, is among more recent Jumps fairly small. However, often Drawbacks aren't worth as much CP as their danger implies, often topping out at 300 CP. No longer now. Once per jump, roll 1d4. Multiply all CP gained from Drawbacks by the result. Yes, all of them. Including the UDS Drawbacks you likely took.
[Restrictions]
Nightmares on Jumpchain: You have to take 1d4 of Drawbacks for each Jump, you roll for each Jump individually. Addendum: Must include at least one you don't want.
Oath of the Pencil: Each jump, roll 1d8 and multiply by 1000, your Jumper now has to write a lengthy report recording that Jump's events in a story format. Functionally, that is the number of words you need to write down in terms of content in that particular Jump. This may be ignored in Gauntlets, or applied for a x2 multiplier on Drawbacks.
[Excellent. Now then you should wake up shortly after the Halloween Spell ends. Pick which costume you want to start with. That will determine which one will have the greatest influence.]
Since she took a predominantly magic heavy build the Archmage costume made the most sense. Except that she might end up too specialized. That's when she got an idea that only made sense because of blood loss. She put on both costumes at the same time. There was nothing in the rules that said she couldn't. Dawn looked like a much younger female Orlandu wearing an Archmage's cloak.
[I wish you well and I long for the day when we are one once more…]
The pop up almost felt sad but hopeful. Wistful?
"We'll be together again soon…" Dawn murmured as she drifted off to sleep.
Soon she would awaken to a whole new world…
AN: Yes, I went back to Scooby Gamers but this time with a twist. Dawn "The Key" Summers is replacing herself. Sort of like the Universal Drawback, but without the extra discounts. Let's watch a close-to-canon Dawn set loose on an unsuspecting omniverse!
Glorificus, The Beast, The Bad Perm Job, lay dead. As it turns out her skull was no match for a Troll Hammer wielded by a Slayer in full Mama Bear mode. This should have been cause for rejoicing, but there was just a small problem. Dawn Summers, the human incarnation of the Key, was cut and her blood used to open a portal. Now that portal was growing rapidly and threatened to swallow the world. Only her blood could close the portal, but it would require a sacrifice. She was just a kid. Her mom died recently from an aneurism. It was sudden, merciless and unnecessarily cruel with everything else going on. Buffy stood up to the plate, but the responsibility of caring for Dawn and worrying about her safety took a toll. The young girl, barely a teenager, bitterly regretted being such a pain in the ass. The shifting tower of steel swayed unsteadily. That's what happens when a bunch of crazies try to build anything. All she wanted was for her mom to hug her again. She wanted one of Buffy's slightly-too-tight hugs right now. Her sister was trying to reach the platform, but a sudden jerk tore the stairs loose. The Slayer watched with dismay as a sizable chunk of the stairs and infrastructure fell away.
"I can't even tell her goodbye…" Dawn lamented. Below her was the portal. As each drop of her lifeblood fell it grew even bigger. If this didn't stop then the Earth would get pulled into a Hell dimension inside out. She stumbled forward as a convenient piece of metal sheared her bindings. Almost as if the universe was telling her how to fix this.
Buffy screamed, pleaded and sobbed as she tried to convince Dawn to just wait. They could still save the day. There was no need for her to die like this. The child, not yet a woman, felt so old at that moment. She turned to look at the faces of her loved ones. It was clear they didn't know what to do any more than her sister did. The sight of them standing there, their eyes watching with mounting horror, would remain engraved in her mind forever. Or however long it took to hit the portal. Dawn smiled freely and waved. This wasn't goodbye. This was Good Journey. They would see each other again, right? Unless there was nothing waiting for her on the other side. She was just a mass of energy given human form after all. This was for her family. Dawn let herself fall towards the spiraling vortex.
"I love you! You're the best sister ever!" Dawn shouted over the maelstrom.
She never got to hear Buffy's response.
Just as Dawn prepared to accept eternity something intervened.
The bellyflop on concrete was too real, and painful, to be a dream.
Dawn rolled over on her back painfully. Her chest was sore and so was the cut in her stomach. A dazed thought crossed her mind. What sort of Hell Dimension could fit in a warehouse? She lay there growing more woozy from blood loss, but at least one thing was clear. This wasn't the afterlife. Dawn knew she wasn't. There was just no way to hurt this badly without being alive. Hell was described as indescribable torments. This was just regular everyday mortal pain. Okay, she couldn't be 100% sure, but it was a more pleasant thought than eternal damnation.
"Hello…?" Dawn called out weakly. If this was an empty warehouse then she might be screwed. To survive Glorificus and the portal only to die on a concrete floor would suck.
[Hello]
The blue pop up box made her scream and jerk in surprise. Her head struck the floor as she flailed ineffectually. She fell back with stars dancing across her vision.
[You do not have time to have an existential crisis. You are currently bleeding out with several cracked ribs due to impact with an unyielding surface. Death is imminent.]
"I don't wanna die…" Dawn's words slurred together. Why was it getting harder to think?
[That would be the concussion. Causing cranial trauma to yourself was not a good idea.]
"Stupid blue boxes…" She muttered.
[You are a Planeswalker, Dawn Summers. A powerful entity capable of traversing the dimensions as easily as entering a room. The issue is that your abilities were too new and untested. You jumped into the Blind Eternities without even a towel.]
Dawn giggled blearily at the Hitchhiker's Guide reference. The talk of being a Planeswalker sort of fit. She was a glowing green ball o' energy that connected dimensions or something. That's why Glory wanted her, right?
[Normally killing a Planeswalker, even a baby such as yourself, is incredibly difficult. However, you were not fully awake before attempting to Walk. At the moment you are little more than a mortal with a talent for manipulating dimensional energies.]
"And the dying bit…? I wanna avoid that…" Dawn waved vaguely.
[This one was formed by your dying wish for survival and your Spark. As you are now it would be instant death if we recombined. You can strengthen yourself, but it will take time. I cannot send you home, but I can facilitate your travel to other dimensions. In essence, reciprocal realities.]
"This would be cooler if I wasn't bleeding out," Dawn observed. Except that it came out as more of a delirious babble. Thankfully her new pal seemed to understand.
[Then you must make a decision. I can tease some power from the various universes, but it is not limitless. You will have a budget to spend. As a Planeswalker your options are a bit more generous, but also be mindful of the drawbacks. Everything has a price.]
Dawn felt invigorated as if new life was breathed into her body. The pop up box's warning remained at the forefront. She only had a limited time to make her choices. From what she understood the Spark was too powerful for her. Which meant she had to find a way to strengthen herself. Without the Spark she couldn't go home. Buffy's tearstained face was indelibly marked in her mind. With their mother dead it was just the two of them. Dawn seized her destiny with both hands and started looking for a way to get stronger faster.
A list of worlds appeared before her that met the criteria. The list was too long to look through. Already her consciousness was starting to slip away again. She blindly chose one that looked nice. The name was Scooby Gamers. It had all her friends and family, which was a definite plus, and a bunch of interesting powers. That's when she saw what some of the rules were. In order to get points she had to roll a d20 and multiply it by a hundred. If she wanted a second d20 she had to take two Drawbacks for zero points. There was also a part to roll for Mandatory Drawbacks and how much those were worth. It seemed like a good idea to just take a few chances. The result appeared to be worth it…
CP: Roll 2d20 = 18, 7 = 2500
Mandatory Drawback: Roll 1d4 = 1 + 2 (0 CP)
Drawback Multiplier: Roll 1d4 = 3
If anyone asked Dawn what she was thinking at the time it could be summed up as: Need More Power. The choices she made reflected that desire, but the Drawbacks were numerous.
CP: 2500 + 2400 = 4900
Location: Sunnydale
Gender: Female
Origin: Student
Age: 14
Perks:
Going With the Flow (100 CP)
Crafting and Repairing (200 CP)
Second Trigger (300 CP)
Yin and Yang (400 CP)
Lucky Bastard (600 CP)
Keep Training (100/Free CP)
Ingenious Ideas (200/100 CP)
Teamwork (300/150 CP)
Instinctive Mastery (400/200 CP)
We Go Together (600/300 CP)
Magic Practitioner - Utility (300 CP)
Enchanting (400 CP)
Specialization Focus - Mage (Free)
Minor Skill - Mana Manipulation (50 CP)
ID Create/Escape (Free)
Scribe, Copy (100 CP)
Evolving Skill Set (Free)
Merit System (Free)
-Quest Maker/Giver (100 CP)
Critical Success (400 CP)
Powers:
Local Magic (Free)
Mage (200 CP)
Past Slayer (400 CP)
Gamer (600 CP)
Items: +400 CP
Student ID (Free)
Magic Outfit - Archmage (100 CP)
Magic Outfit -Swordsaint - FFT (100 CP)
Spirit Gems (200 CP)
Drawbacks: Mandatory 1 + 2, Multiplier: x 3
Annoying Quests (+0 CP) - Time and time again you keep finding yourself stuck doing these annoying quests that take forever to complete, but keep giving you just enough interesting rewards for you to continue. Either that or they're simple and offer little to no reward like taking out the trash or getting takeout. Hopefully, you have some sort of anti-boredom protection because you'll need it.
Potential Slayer (+0 CP, requires Past Slayer) - Instead of being Past Slayer you are just a Potential Slayer, who might or might not get called as Slayer at some point in future. Until this happens you don't benefit from Past Slayer power. If you go the entire jump without activating your Slayer powers they automatically activate once the jump is over.
Uncontrollable Portals (+400/+1200 CP) - Portals keep malfunctioning when you try to use them, sending you to random new realities that you haven't visited previously. It doesn't happen every time but one in three wouldn't be out of the question. Not even avoiding them helps, you'll just end up accidentally stumbling into such portals in that case.
Boss Fights(+400/+1200 CP) - You keep getting caught in boss fights. Despite all countermeasures you take you'll face off against one such boss at least once each year. Against life-threatening bosses at that, and even worse, their capabilities seem to scale with your capabilities. At least the loot they drop is also pretty powerful, but are you sure it's worth the risk? For 400 CP these boss fights are limited to IDs, but trying to avoid this by not going into any IDs will have it upping to higher tier without giving you additional CP. For 600 CP they can happen anywhere.
Universal Drawbacks:
Central Casting [Nothing]: Why do you keep encountering the same people over and over and over again in each new jump? I mean, it's like… you know that bartender in Dresden Files? Is he running a tavern in Waterdeep now? That engineer from FF7 is a car mechanic in San Andreas? From now on, minor characters that you've interacted with from settings you've visited will keep showing up in new settings in similar roles. They won't remember the other setting, of course, but they'll have a virtually identical history with your new persona as they did to your old persona, and a similar history of interaction. This means you'll probably gather a fairly large crowd of people who are annoyed at you, of course, but former lovers and friendly acquaintances will also be included. They will, wherever possible, look and sound the same, as if played by the same actor. Chain Only. No Hiatus. Revoke Fee = 0 CP.
House Rules Reddit
[Benefits]
Random Start CP: Roll 1d20 and multiply the result by 100, this is your starting Budget. If you agree to take 2 Drawbacks without applying their payout, you may add another d20 to this result in the same way, basically rolling 2d20 and multiplying their result by 100, or, rolling 1d20 and multiplying it by 200. The Drawback Requirement may be applied individually to each Jump and one may stack an additional Drawback for another d20 or to increase the multiplier by another 100.
Random Drawback Multiplier: Drawbacks can be useful, I know that, we all need some extra CP from time to time, am I right? Yeah who am I kidding? The number of jumps where taking a ton of Drawbacks isn't expected because either there is so much for each Origin to buy or some extra sections to use, is among more recent Jumps fairly small. However, often Drawbacks aren't worth as much CP as their danger implies, often topping out at 300 CP. No longer now. Once per jump, roll 1d4. Multiply all CP gained from Drawbacks by the result. Yes, all of them. Including the UDS Drawbacks you likely took.
[Restrictions]
Nightmares on Jumpchain: You have to take 1d4 of Drawbacks for each Jump, you roll for each Jump individually. Addendum: Must include at least one you don't want.
Oath of the Pencil: Each jump, roll 1d8 and multiply by 1000, your Jumper now has to write a lengthy report recording that Jump's events in a story format. Functionally, that is the number of words you need to write down in terms of content in that particular Jump. This may be ignored in Gauntlets, or applied for a x2 multiplier on Drawbacks.
[Excellent. Now then you should wake up shortly after the Halloween Spell ends. Pick which costume you want to start with. That will determine which one will have the greatest influence.]
Since she took a predominantly magic heavy build the Archmage costume made the most sense. Except that she might end up too specialized. That's when she got an idea that only made sense because of blood loss. She put on both costumes at the same time. There was nothing in the rules that said she couldn't. Dawn looked like a much younger female Orlandu wearing an Archmage's cloak.
[I wish you well and I long for the day when we are one once more…]
The pop up almost felt sad but hopeful. Wistful?
"We'll be together again soon…" Dawn murmured as she drifted off to sleep.
Soon she would awaken to a whole new world…
AN: Yes, I went back to Scooby Gamers but this time with a twist. Dawn "The Key" Summers is replacing herself. Sort of like the Universal Drawback, but without the extra discounts. Let's watch a close-to-canon Dawn set loose on an unsuspecting omniverse!
Character Sheet
- Location
- PA
Name: Dawn Summers
Jump List:
Scooby Gamers
Jump List:
Scooby Gamers
CP: 2500 + 2400 = 4900
Location: Sunnydale
Gender: Female
Origin: Student
Age: 14
Location: Sunnydale
Gender: Female
Origin: Student
Age: 14
Going With the Flow (100 CP)
Crafting and Repairing (200 CP)
Second Trigger (300 CP)
Yin and Yang (400 CP)
Lucky Bastard (600 CP)
Keep Training (100/Free CP)
Ingenious Ideas (200/100 CP)
Teamwork (300/150 CP)
Instinctive Mastery (400/200 CP)
We Go Together (600/300 CP)
Magic Practitioner - Utility (300 CP)
Enchanting (400 CP)
Specialization Focus - Mage (Free)
Minor Skill - Mana Manipulation (50 CP)
ID Create/Escape (Free)
Scribe, Copy (100 CP)
Evolving Skill Set (Free)
Merit System (Free)
-Quest Maker/Giver (100 CP)
Critical Success (400 CP) (4900)
Crafting and Repairing (200 CP)
Second Trigger (300 CP)
Yin and Yang (400 CP)
Lucky Bastard (600 CP)
Keep Training (100/Free CP)
Ingenious Ideas (200/100 CP)
Teamwork (300/150 CP)
Instinctive Mastery (400/200 CP)
We Go Together (600/300 CP)
Magic Practitioner - Utility (300 CP)
Enchanting (400 CP)
Specialization Focus - Mage (Free)
Minor Skill - Mana Manipulation (50 CP)
ID Create/Escape (Free)
Scribe, Copy (100 CP)
Evolving Skill Set (Free)
Merit System (Free)
-Quest Maker/Giver (100 CP)
Critical Success (400 CP) (4900)
Local Magic (Free)
Mage (200 CP)
Past Slayer (400 CP)
Gamer (600 CP)
Mage (200 CP)
Past Slayer (400 CP)
Gamer (600 CP)
Items: +400 CP
Student ID (Free)
Magic Outfit - Archmage (100 CP)
Magic Outfit -Swordsaint - FFT (100 CP)
Spirit Gems (200 CP)
Student ID (Free)
Magic Outfit - Archmage (100 CP)
Magic Outfit -Swordsaint - FFT (100 CP)
Spirit Gems (200 CP)
Drawbacks: Mandatory 1 + 2, Multiplier: x 3
Annoying Quests (+0 CP) - Time and time again you keep finding yourself stuck doing these annoying quests that take forever to complete, but keep giving you just enough interesting rewards for you to continue. Either that or they're simple and offer little to no reward like taking out the trash or getting takeout. Hopefully, you have some sort of anti-boredom protection because you'll need it.
Potential Slayer (+0 CP, requires Past Slayer) - Instead of being Past Slayer you are just a Potential Slayer, who might or might not get called as Slayer at some point in future. Until this happens you don't benefit from Past Slayer power. If you go the entire jump without activating your Slayer powers they automatically activate once the jump is over.
Uncontrollable Portals (+400/+1200 CP) - Portals keep malfunctioning when you try to use them, sending you to random new realities that you haven't visited previously. It doesn't happen every time but one in three wouldn't be out of the question. Not even avoiding them helps, you'll just end up accidentally stumbling into such portals in that case.
Boss Fights(+400/+1200 CP) - You keep getting caught in boss fights. Despite all countermeasures you take you'll face off against one such boss at least once each year. Against life-threatening bosses at that, and even worse, their capabilities seem to scale with your capabilities. At least the loot they drop is also pretty powerful, but are you sure it's worth the risk? For 400 CP these boss fights are limited to IDs, but trying to avoid this by not going into any IDs will have it upping to higher tier without giving you additional CP. For 600 CP they can happen anywhere.
Annoying Quests (+0 CP) - Time and time again you keep finding yourself stuck doing these annoying quests that take forever to complete, but keep giving you just enough interesting rewards for you to continue. Either that or they're simple and offer little to no reward like taking out the trash or getting takeout. Hopefully, you have some sort of anti-boredom protection because you'll need it.
Potential Slayer (+0 CP, requires Past Slayer) - Instead of being Past Slayer you are just a Potential Slayer, who might or might not get called as Slayer at some point in future. Until this happens you don't benefit from Past Slayer power. If you go the entire jump without activating your Slayer powers they automatically activate once the jump is over.
Uncontrollable Portals (+400/+1200 CP) - Portals keep malfunctioning when you try to use them, sending you to random new realities that you haven't visited previously. It doesn't happen every time but one in three wouldn't be out of the question. Not even avoiding them helps, you'll just end up accidentally stumbling into such portals in that case.
Boss Fights(+400/+1200 CP) - You keep getting caught in boss fights. Despite all countermeasures you take you'll face off against one such boss at least once each year. Against life-threatening bosses at that, and even worse, their capabilities seem to scale with your capabilities. At least the loot they drop is also pretty powerful, but are you sure it's worth the risk? For 400 CP these boss fights are limited to IDs, but trying to avoid this by not going into any IDs will have it upping to higher tier without giving you additional CP. For 600 CP they can happen anywhere.
Central Casting [Nothing]: Why do you keep encountering the same people over and over and over again in each new jump? I mean, it's like… you know that bartender in Dresden Files? Is he running a tavern in Waterdeep now? That engineer from FF7 is a car mechanic in San Andreas? From now on, minor characters that you've interacted with from settings you've visited will keep showing up in new settings in similar roles. They won't remember the other setting, of course, but they'll have a virtually identical history with your new persona as they did to your old persona, and a similar history of interaction. This means you'll probably gather a fairly large crowd of people who are annoyed at you, of course, but former lovers and friendly acquaintances will also be included. They will, wherever possible, look and sound the same, as if played by the same actor. Chain Only. No Hiatus. Revoke Fee = 0 CP.
House Rules Reddit
[Benefits]
Random Start CP: Roll 1d20 and multiply the result by 100, this is your starting Budget. If you agree to take 2 Drawbacks without applying their payout, you may add another d20 to this result in the same way, basically rolling 2d20 and multiplying their result by 100, or, rolling 1d20 and multiplying it by 200. The Drawback Requirement may be applied individually to each Jump and one may stack an additional Drawback for another d20 or to increase the multiplier by another 100.
Random Drawback Multiplier: Drawbacks can be useful, I know that, we all need some extra CP from time to time, am I right? Yeah who am I kidding? The number of jumps where taking a ton of Drawbacks isn't expected because either there is so much for each Origin to buy or some extra sections to use, is among more recent Jumps fairly small. However, often Drawbacks aren't worth as much CP as their danger implies, often topping out at 300 CP. No longer now. Once per jump, roll 1d4. Multiply all CP gained from Drawbacks by the result. Yes, all of them. Including the UDS Drawbacks you likely took.
[Restrictions]
Nightmares on Jumpchain: You have to take 1d4 of Drawbacks for each Jump, you roll for each Jump individually. Addendum: Must include at least one you don't want.
Oath of the Pencil: Each jump, roll 1d8 and multiply by 1000, your Jumper now has to write a lengthy report recording that Jump's events in a story format. Functionally, that is the number of words you need to write down in terms of content in that particular Jump. This may be ignored in Gauntlets, or applied for a x2 multiplier on Drawbacks.
[Benefits]
Random Start CP: Roll 1d20 and multiply the result by 100, this is your starting Budget. If you agree to take 2 Drawbacks without applying their payout, you may add another d20 to this result in the same way, basically rolling 2d20 and multiplying their result by 100, or, rolling 1d20 and multiplying it by 200. The Drawback Requirement may be applied individually to each Jump and one may stack an additional Drawback for another d20 or to increase the multiplier by another 100.
Random Drawback Multiplier: Drawbacks can be useful, I know that, we all need some extra CP from time to time, am I right? Yeah who am I kidding? The number of jumps where taking a ton of Drawbacks isn't expected because either there is so much for each Origin to buy or some extra sections to use, is among more recent Jumps fairly small. However, often Drawbacks aren't worth as much CP as their danger implies, often topping out at 300 CP. No longer now. Once per jump, roll 1d4. Multiply all CP gained from Drawbacks by the result. Yes, all of them. Including the UDS Drawbacks you likely took.
[Restrictions]
Nightmares on Jumpchain: You have to take 1d4 of Drawbacks for each Jump, you roll for each Jump individually. Addendum: Must include at least one you don't want.
Oath of the Pencil: Each jump, roll 1d8 and multiply by 1000, your Jumper now has to write a lengthy report recording that Jump's events in a story format. Functionally, that is the number of words you need to write down in terms of content in that particular Jump. This may be ignored in Gauntlets, or applied for a x2 multiplier on Drawbacks.
First Key 1.2
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.2
It felt like waking from a dream…
Her scattered thoughts slowly came together…
The foreign memories, implanted by the costume, receded but not completely. She was Dawn Summers once again, but now she was more. Xander won a bet where he was allowed to make up backstories for Buffy and Willow's costumes. The younger brunette happened to be there and wanted in on the fun. Partly because of her crush on Xander, partly to be a troll with Buffy, but mostly so that she wasn't left out. She originally planned on wearing her Halloween costume from last year. Even though time and a misadventure in the washing machine shrunk the witch costume to a miniskirt. The traveler started briefly when she realized something. This Dawn Summers was shameless and bisexual. Bisexual was fine, she hadn't really thought about her sexuality much, but the shameless part bugged her. What would her mother say?
"Stop getting distracted…" Dawn knuckled her eyes wearily. The girl wandered around the familiar living room almost in a daze. Memories of happier times and of her mother's death mingled with current memories and the implanted ones.
Xander had a hilarious suggestion. Buffy wanted to dress like a princess, right? Why not have Dawn dress as a lady knight in service to the princess? Her sister playfully complained about the "butt pain" guarding her, but there was no heat. Even if it was just pretend, Buffy knew Dawn wouldn't let her get hurt. Well the younger Summers girl had something of an obsession with Final Fantasy Tactics. From there she put together a costume based on a special knight unit from Ivalice. There were unique knights specializing in everything so one more wouldn't hurt. She proudly declared herself a Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky in service to Princess Ovelia. Willow nearly had a heart attack because of the similarities between Ovelia and Ophelia's names. Xander and Buffy were sure she was reading too much into things.
It was also strangely prophetic.
She was Dawn Orlandeau of the house of Count Cidolfus Orlandeau. Sister of Olan Durai and youngest member of the Lionsguard. An elite unit meant to protect Princess Ovelia Atkascha from all harm. The story deviated significantly when Delita tried to kidnap her from the monastery. Instead of leaving Ovelia alone with only Simon for protection, there was an actual bodyguard. It was still thought to be a plot by Duke Goltanna. Then Gaffgarion tried to assassinate her openly like an idiot. Really. His plan didn't work so well in canon at Zirekile Falls. Why would he think murdering her when she was surrounded by bodyguards would work better? Ramza killed his mercenary mentor early and so they went to Lionel anyway. Big mistake. Canon played out like some kind of demented rollercoaster that she had no control over. Thank goodness she woke up before her beloved sister/protectorate ended up murdered by Delita. The whole thing felt like a sick mockery of her situation. Despite trying to save everyone's lives there were still sacrifices. Good people died so that villains could live.
"Damn…" Dawn swore.
[Do you want to take the Tutorial now?]
"Can't this wait…?" She asked.
[First say "Status"]
Dawn grudgingly thanked her Gamer power as it distracted her from moping. If only by being so darn annoying. It kept nagging her to check her stats, check her skills, use the Tooltips and test her powers. She held off on that last part until later. If she vanished into an ID her sister wouldn't know where she went. Thankfully the pop ups stopped. Momentarily appeased.
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 2
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 230/230
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 800/800
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 12
Vit: 18
Dex: 12
Int: 15
Wis: 18
Luck: 68
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Ruby Swordplay lvl 26 - The hallmark talent of Dawn Orlandeau. Through her innate mastery of the magic arts, and lessons in her father's sword skills, she has created a unique set of skills. Neither Heavenly or Infernal, these Neutral sword skills are nevertheless the equal of any created before. Fire, Water, Wind, Ice, Earth and Astral Forces merge seamlessly with her physical arts to inflict hybrid damage. Each Ruby Swordskill breaks the foe's elemental resistance, deals extra damage to their weakness and confers special defenses on the user.
- Damage is equal to Physical/Magical + 10% per level.
- Range is equal to 30 ft + 10 ft per level.
- Can be designated as a single target (100% damage), area (20 ft, 50%), or emanating effect from the user (100% damage and lower by distance).
- Increases physical stats by 1/10th Current MP
- Increases attack/movement speed by 1/10th Max MP.
Effects:
Azure Blade - Sends up a blue blade beneath the target that erupts in a geyser of water.
- Break: Water
- Add: ½ Water
Garnet Edge - Causes the ground to tremble as blades of stone emerge.
- Break: Earth
- Add: ½ Earth
Emerald Razor- Scything winds gather and shred through foes.
- Break: Wind
- Add: ½ Wind
Quartz Sword - Releases a chilly sharp blade through enemies.
- Break: Ice
- Add: ½ Ice
Topaz Blade - Unleashes a sword of flames from beneath foes.
- Break: Fire
- Add: ½ Fire
Diamond Edge - A sword formed of ethereal energy smites enemies.
- Break: Magic/Spirit
- Add: Shell
Ruby Swordplay was probably the most bullshit talent period. Just like Orlandu, Agrias and the rest, her sword skills didn't use MP. She used MP to make herself as strong, fast and seemingly invincible as her father. The downside was that Silence and just draining her MP rendered most of her talents useless. Just because her skills didn't use MP directly didn't mean they were free. If she ran out of MP then that was it. Good thing she knew how to use a sword. It was implied, but not stated, that Ruby Swordplay was also her general skill with arms.
Spellblade lvl 16 - This is based on the Temple Knight's Magic Sword. Essentially allowing the user to channel spells through the sword much faster than by simple casting. The downside is that normal casting can take twice as long and require more focus (MP).
- Spells cost less to cast: -1% per level
- Spells are cast much faster: +1% per level.
- Allows the user to channel spells directly into the sword: +5% effect per level.
- Ranged casting power is unaffected.
As if Ruby Swordplay wasn't bad enough, she also had a way to cause havoc with basic spells. Even White Magic could be used through Spellblade. She could remember smacking someone with the flat of her sword imbued with Cure. People usually avoided her for healing on the battlefield because of that. For some reason they thought it was excessively violent and that she had a sadistic bent. Dawn was one of the most gentle people, but if they were severely wounded a light whack was better than death.
Ruby Cover lvl Max - A Knight's place is at their comrade's side in times of trouble. Their body is a small sacrifice for the safety of another. When a comrade, or an innocent, is threatened the Ruby Knight springs into action!
- Increases Movement Speed + 200% for reaching a critical/endangered ally.
- Decreases all damage by 50% when taking a blow meant for another. This scales by 5% for each additional strike taken within a 1 minute window.
- Reduces the effect of status effects by 50%.
- Restores 50% of the HP lost when acting to protect someone.
A proper bodyguard should be able to protect their charge, right? The fact it was already max level was nice. It would have been better if she could have raised the percentages somehow. Something to look into later when she had more time.
That's when she got a Quest Alert to go back home before her sister arrived. Dawn rolled her eyes, but quickly complied. As a proper knight and bodyguard she rushed out of the house to safeguard 'Ovelia.' She was left in the middle of Sunnydale with the sensibilities of a medieval lady of war. There wasn't much that could stand in her way. Thanks to Observe she could see who was an actual demon and who was a kid in a costume. The Quest flashed once as 'Failed' a moment before Buffy, Willow and Xander ran towards her.
"Dawn! Why did you come out?" Buffy immediately started without preamble. Her 'little big sister' did a visual check in case Dawn was hurt.
"Well I-" Dawn started to say only for Willow to blurt out.
"Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky!?" The redhead gaped like a fish.
"Yeah, I just-" She tried to speak again, but this time Xander butted in.
"She's got a sword made out of diamond…?" The boy looked on with interest. That drew Willow and Buffy's attention to the exquisite longsword clutched in her grasp.
"My costume didn't know where Buffy kept the swords so made do with her own powers," Dawn remarked dryly. Three sets of eyes landed squarely on her just as three sets of memories intruded. Dawn Summers the Traveler saw her sister, surrogate sister and big brother/love interest. Dawn Orlandeau saw Ovelia the Princess she loved as family, Willow the gentle White Mage who traveled with them and Alexander the Knight who majored in defending others and minored in smartass. The Dawn Summers of this reality saw Buffy as her sister and a pain in the ass. Willow was sweet and someone to flirt with outrageously. In fact Xander was in that category too. That left the Traveler sort of flummoxed. How did this version of herself end up so, well, uninhibited? She was a better person and much kinder than it first appeared. It was just that she hated showing weakness. Somehow she got it into her head that the 'big kids' wouldn't tell her anything unless she was mature. Her definition of mature was to be as flirtatious and aggressive as possible. Thankfully Gamer's Mind kicked in before she got lost in thought.
"Wait, so you kept your powers? Just like Willow and Xander did?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"We were just going to your place to talk about it," Xander mentioned.
"Well I found my charge. No sense in staying out here all night," Dawn remarked. She could have just let the sword shatter into ether, but they were in public. Besides, it was better to have some kind of weapon than none.
The explanation of the Gamer powers took very little time actually. Xander and Willow showed Buffy a demonstration when they absorbed a Skill Book. Her sister was a little weirded out by just how close Dawn was sitting. The younger girl knew this wasn't exactly her sister, but damn it she was close enough. She really wanted to just sit there on the sofa and cuddle all night.
"That's why I think we should do some training and then hunt zombies. With Buffy's levels we probably won't go up as fast, but it would be safer," Xander suggested. Dawn hugged Buffy's arm a little tighter much to the older teens' confusion. All three were exchanging mystified and worried looks.
"Is everything okay, Dawn? You haven't even f-flirted with anyone…" Willow pointed out nervously.
"Nothing is okay. It all sucks. I have years of memories stuck in my head. Years of loving my friend Ovelia and wanting to protect her. Then, just as I think she's safe, her husband kills her on her birthday. Yeah, I'm a bundle of laughs," Dawn commented bitterly. She wanted to tell them the truth, but without proof it would just make them worry over her sanity. Worse, they might think she was playing a prank. This way she was letting them know that something was wrong, gave them a clue as to what, and it was all believable. She ignored the pop up telling her she gained a lying skill.
"Oh no…" Buffy suddenly hugged her so tightly she lost ten HP. The suffocating pressure quickly eased up, but the embrace was no less fierce. "Let me find the bastard who did this and I'll kill him…" She promised darkly.
"What if they're human?" Willow asked out of morbid curiousity.
"I didn't stutter," Buffy said. Dawn just about melted into a pile of gooey happiness. Almost as if the universe just said that this was her sister. Everything she loved about her was right here. The last traces of worry faded. These weren't people who were almost, but not quite, her family. She leaned into the hug happily.
"Do you remember how Orlandu taught you?" Xander asked in a clear bid to change the subject. It wasn't that emotional displays bothered him. He just knew showing weakness bothered Dawn.
There was a lot that needed to be corrected.
"My father Count Orlandeau trained myself and my adopted brother extensively…" Dawn's voice took on a highborn cadence before she caught herself. "I remember how he trained us. I can even write up manuals on the subject."
"That's great! We could really use some direction," Willow gushed.
"If we're able to train our stats, physically and mentally, then we gotta do it right," Dawn unconsciously took charge. Buffy, Xander and Willow stared at her in disbelief as she took on a commanding presence. "Improving our physical ability is important, but nowhere near as much as the mental. Battles are won in the mind before they are fought in the real world."
"Yeah, well, I've been doing this for years. Slayer and reigning champ, you know?" Buffy playfully poked her bicep. Xander quickly waved her down much to the smaller girl's surprise.
"Shhhh! She has knowledge taught to her by the greatest tactician in the land!" He explained in a rush. Willow was just taking notes.
"To that end Intelligence and Wisdom are key. It is entirely possible to be the most foolish genius. Usually that comes from having too much learning and not enough common sense. Wisdom is how you avoid true stupidity. We will not be smart idiots. I know of several exercises for the mind. Battlefield simulations my father…ahem…Orlandeau used to use as training tools," Dawn took a drink of water.
"Yeah, I think she's leading our training," Xander decided.
"Seconded," Willow commented dazedly.
"Thirded," Buffy agreed in mystification.
[You have become the Leader of the Scooby Training Camp!]
Oh yes. Dawn would make sure they were ready for whatever came.
The Beast would never know what hit her.
AN: Dawn remembers bits and pieces of what she learned, but not all of it. Her Int is too low for total recall. That will change as her Int increases and more things are knocked loose. Which leaves room for Xander and Willow to have some of their canon discoveries.
It felt like waking from a dream…
Her scattered thoughts slowly came together…
The foreign memories, implanted by the costume, receded but not completely. She was Dawn Summers once again, but now she was more. Xander won a bet where he was allowed to make up backstories for Buffy and Willow's costumes. The younger brunette happened to be there and wanted in on the fun. Partly because of her crush on Xander, partly to be a troll with Buffy, but mostly so that she wasn't left out. She originally planned on wearing her Halloween costume from last year. Even though time and a misadventure in the washing machine shrunk the witch costume to a miniskirt. The traveler started briefly when she realized something. This Dawn Summers was shameless and bisexual. Bisexual was fine, she hadn't really thought about her sexuality much, but the shameless part bugged her. What would her mother say?
"Stop getting distracted…" Dawn knuckled her eyes wearily. The girl wandered around the familiar living room almost in a daze. Memories of happier times and of her mother's death mingled with current memories and the implanted ones.
Xander had a hilarious suggestion. Buffy wanted to dress like a princess, right? Why not have Dawn dress as a lady knight in service to the princess? Her sister playfully complained about the "butt pain" guarding her, but there was no heat. Even if it was just pretend, Buffy knew Dawn wouldn't let her get hurt. Well the younger Summers girl had something of an obsession with Final Fantasy Tactics. From there she put together a costume based on a special knight unit from Ivalice. There were unique knights specializing in everything so one more wouldn't hurt. She proudly declared herself a Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky in service to Princess Ovelia. Willow nearly had a heart attack because of the similarities between Ovelia and Ophelia's names. Xander and Buffy were sure she was reading too much into things.
It was also strangely prophetic.
She was Dawn Orlandeau of the house of Count Cidolfus Orlandeau. Sister of Olan Durai and youngest member of the Lionsguard. An elite unit meant to protect Princess Ovelia Atkascha from all harm. The story deviated significantly when Delita tried to kidnap her from the monastery. Instead of leaving Ovelia alone with only Simon for protection, there was an actual bodyguard. It was still thought to be a plot by Duke Goltanna. Then Gaffgarion tried to assassinate her openly like an idiot. Really. His plan didn't work so well in canon at Zirekile Falls. Why would he think murdering her when she was surrounded by bodyguards would work better? Ramza killed his mercenary mentor early and so they went to Lionel anyway. Big mistake. Canon played out like some kind of demented rollercoaster that she had no control over. Thank goodness she woke up before her beloved sister/protectorate ended up murdered by Delita. The whole thing felt like a sick mockery of her situation. Despite trying to save everyone's lives there were still sacrifices. Good people died so that villains could live.
"Damn…" Dawn swore.
[Do you want to take the Tutorial now?]
"Can't this wait…?" She asked.
[First say "Status"]
Dawn grudgingly thanked her Gamer power as it distracted her from moping. If only by being so darn annoying. It kept nagging her to check her stats, check her skills, use the Tooltips and test her powers. She held off on that last part until later. If she vanished into an ID her sister wouldn't know where she went. Thankfully the pop ups stopped. Momentarily appeased.
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 2
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 230/230
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 800/800
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 12
Vit: 18
Dex: 12
Int: 15
Wis: 18
Luck: 68
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Ruby Swordplay lvl 26 - The hallmark talent of Dawn Orlandeau. Through her innate mastery of the magic arts, and lessons in her father's sword skills, she has created a unique set of skills. Neither Heavenly or Infernal, these Neutral sword skills are nevertheless the equal of any created before. Fire, Water, Wind, Ice, Earth and Astral Forces merge seamlessly with her physical arts to inflict hybrid damage. Each Ruby Swordskill breaks the foe's elemental resistance, deals extra damage to their weakness and confers special defenses on the user.
- Damage is equal to Physical/Magical + 10% per level.
- Range is equal to 30 ft + 10 ft per level.
- Can be designated as a single target (100% damage), area (20 ft, 50%), or emanating effect from the user (100% damage and lower by distance).
- Increases physical stats by 1/10th Current MP
- Increases attack/movement speed by 1/10th Max MP.
Effects:
Azure Blade - Sends up a blue blade beneath the target that erupts in a geyser of water.
- Break: Water
- Add: ½ Water
Garnet Edge - Causes the ground to tremble as blades of stone emerge.
- Break: Earth
- Add: ½ Earth
Emerald Razor- Scything winds gather and shred through foes.
- Break: Wind
- Add: ½ Wind
Quartz Sword - Releases a chilly sharp blade through enemies.
- Break: Ice
- Add: ½ Ice
Topaz Blade - Unleashes a sword of flames from beneath foes.
- Break: Fire
- Add: ½ Fire
Diamond Edge - A sword formed of ethereal energy smites enemies.
- Break: Magic/Spirit
- Add: Shell
Ruby Swordplay was probably the most bullshit talent period. Just like Orlandu, Agrias and the rest, her sword skills didn't use MP. She used MP to make herself as strong, fast and seemingly invincible as her father. The downside was that Silence and just draining her MP rendered most of her talents useless. Just because her skills didn't use MP directly didn't mean they were free. If she ran out of MP then that was it. Good thing she knew how to use a sword. It was implied, but not stated, that Ruby Swordplay was also her general skill with arms.
Spellblade lvl 16 - This is based on the Temple Knight's Magic Sword. Essentially allowing the user to channel spells through the sword much faster than by simple casting. The downside is that normal casting can take twice as long and require more focus (MP).
- Spells cost less to cast: -1% per level
- Spells are cast much faster: +1% per level.
- Allows the user to channel spells directly into the sword: +5% effect per level.
- Ranged casting power is unaffected.
As if Ruby Swordplay wasn't bad enough, she also had a way to cause havoc with basic spells. Even White Magic could be used through Spellblade. She could remember smacking someone with the flat of her sword imbued with Cure. People usually avoided her for healing on the battlefield because of that. For some reason they thought it was excessively violent and that she had a sadistic bent. Dawn was one of the most gentle people, but if they were severely wounded a light whack was better than death.
Ruby Cover lvl Max - A Knight's place is at their comrade's side in times of trouble. Their body is a small sacrifice for the safety of another. When a comrade, or an innocent, is threatened the Ruby Knight springs into action!
- Increases Movement Speed + 200% for reaching a critical/endangered ally.
- Decreases all damage by 50% when taking a blow meant for another. This scales by 5% for each additional strike taken within a 1 minute window.
- Reduces the effect of status effects by 50%.
- Restores 50% of the HP lost when acting to protect someone.
A proper bodyguard should be able to protect their charge, right? The fact it was already max level was nice. It would have been better if she could have raised the percentages somehow. Something to look into later when she had more time.
That's when she got a Quest Alert to go back home before her sister arrived. Dawn rolled her eyes, but quickly complied. As a proper knight and bodyguard she rushed out of the house to safeguard 'Ovelia.' She was left in the middle of Sunnydale with the sensibilities of a medieval lady of war. There wasn't much that could stand in her way. Thanks to Observe she could see who was an actual demon and who was a kid in a costume. The Quest flashed once as 'Failed' a moment before Buffy, Willow and Xander ran towards her.
"Dawn! Why did you come out?" Buffy immediately started without preamble. Her 'little big sister' did a visual check in case Dawn was hurt.
"Well I-" Dawn started to say only for Willow to blurt out.
"Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky!?" The redhead gaped like a fish.
"Yeah, I just-" She tried to speak again, but this time Xander butted in.
"She's got a sword made out of diamond…?" The boy looked on with interest. That drew Willow and Buffy's attention to the exquisite longsword clutched in her grasp.
"My costume didn't know where Buffy kept the swords so made do with her own powers," Dawn remarked dryly. Three sets of eyes landed squarely on her just as three sets of memories intruded. Dawn Summers the Traveler saw her sister, surrogate sister and big brother/love interest. Dawn Orlandeau saw Ovelia the Princess she loved as family, Willow the gentle White Mage who traveled with them and Alexander the Knight who majored in defending others and minored in smartass. The Dawn Summers of this reality saw Buffy as her sister and a pain in the ass. Willow was sweet and someone to flirt with outrageously. In fact Xander was in that category too. That left the Traveler sort of flummoxed. How did this version of herself end up so, well, uninhibited? She was a better person and much kinder than it first appeared. It was just that she hated showing weakness. Somehow she got it into her head that the 'big kids' wouldn't tell her anything unless she was mature. Her definition of mature was to be as flirtatious and aggressive as possible. Thankfully Gamer's Mind kicked in before she got lost in thought.
"Wait, so you kept your powers? Just like Willow and Xander did?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"We were just going to your place to talk about it," Xander mentioned.
"Well I found my charge. No sense in staying out here all night," Dawn remarked. She could have just let the sword shatter into ether, but they were in public. Besides, it was better to have some kind of weapon than none.
The explanation of the Gamer powers took very little time actually. Xander and Willow showed Buffy a demonstration when they absorbed a Skill Book. Her sister was a little weirded out by just how close Dawn was sitting. The younger girl knew this wasn't exactly her sister, but damn it she was close enough. She really wanted to just sit there on the sofa and cuddle all night.
"That's why I think we should do some training and then hunt zombies. With Buffy's levels we probably won't go up as fast, but it would be safer," Xander suggested. Dawn hugged Buffy's arm a little tighter much to the older teens' confusion. All three were exchanging mystified and worried looks.
"Is everything okay, Dawn? You haven't even f-flirted with anyone…" Willow pointed out nervously.
"Nothing is okay. It all sucks. I have years of memories stuck in my head. Years of loving my friend Ovelia and wanting to protect her. Then, just as I think she's safe, her husband kills her on her birthday. Yeah, I'm a bundle of laughs," Dawn commented bitterly. She wanted to tell them the truth, but without proof it would just make them worry over her sanity. Worse, they might think she was playing a prank. This way she was letting them know that something was wrong, gave them a clue as to what, and it was all believable. She ignored the pop up telling her she gained a lying skill.
"Oh no…" Buffy suddenly hugged her so tightly she lost ten HP. The suffocating pressure quickly eased up, but the embrace was no less fierce. "Let me find the bastard who did this and I'll kill him…" She promised darkly.
"What if they're human?" Willow asked out of morbid curiousity.
"I didn't stutter," Buffy said. Dawn just about melted into a pile of gooey happiness. Almost as if the universe just said that this was her sister. Everything she loved about her was right here. The last traces of worry faded. These weren't people who were almost, but not quite, her family. She leaned into the hug happily.
"Do you remember how Orlandu taught you?" Xander asked in a clear bid to change the subject. It wasn't that emotional displays bothered him. He just knew showing weakness bothered Dawn.
There was a lot that needed to be corrected.
"My father Count Orlandeau trained myself and my adopted brother extensively…" Dawn's voice took on a highborn cadence before she caught herself. "I remember how he trained us. I can even write up manuals on the subject."
"That's great! We could really use some direction," Willow gushed.
"If we're able to train our stats, physically and mentally, then we gotta do it right," Dawn unconsciously took charge. Buffy, Xander and Willow stared at her in disbelief as she took on a commanding presence. "Improving our physical ability is important, but nowhere near as much as the mental. Battles are won in the mind before they are fought in the real world."
"Yeah, well, I've been doing this for years. Slayer and reigning champ, you know?" Buffy playfully poked her bicep. Xander quickly waved her down much to the smaller girl's surprise.
"Shhhh! She has knowledge taught to her by the greatest tactician in the land!" He explained in a rush. Willow was just taking notes.
"To that end Intelligence and Wisdom are key. It is entirely possible to be the most foolish genius. Usually that comes from having too much learning and not enough common sense. Wisdom is how you avoid true stupidity. We will not be smart idiots. I know of several exercises for the mind. Battlefield simulations my father…ahem…Orlandeau used to use as training tools," Dawn took a drink of water.
"Yeah, I think she's leading our training," Xander decided.
"Seconded," Willow commented dazedly.
"Thirded," Buffy agreed in mystification.
[You have become the Leader of the Scooby Training Camp!]
Oh yes. Dawn would make sure they were ready for whatever came.
The Beast would never know what hit her.
AN: Dawn remembers bits and pieces of what she learned, but not all of it. Her Int is too low for total recall. That will change as her Int increases and more things are knocked loose. Which leaves room for Xander and Willow to have some of their canon discoveries.
First Key 1.3
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.3
Dawn looked around the zombie filled streets with some misgivings. She wanted them to get their stats up and some better skills before entering an Instant Dungeon. Unfortunately, Xander had a good point about needing money for their war chest and some levels would increase their HP and MP. He didn't plan on summoning the boss. This was just to get Buffy used to the idea of Xander, Willow and Dawn fighting things without her on occasion.
"Man, Buffy is going to seriously kill our experience…" Xander realized with chagrin.
"Why do you say that?" Buffy asked him with an affronted expression.
"The zombies are all level 8 to 12. You're over 20," he reminded her.
"I'm more worried about surviving the first couple fights than the XP loss," Willow clutched her staff nervously.
"That shouldn't be a problem…" Dawn said before thrusting her borrowed sword forward. "Topaz Blade!" The shout was accompanied by a blade of pure topaz wreathed in flames. The conjured weapon punched through a shambler with ease and instantly set it ablaze.
Buffy stared at her sister's feat in disbelief. "So not fair…"
"Explosion!" Dawn thundered. The burning blade reacted to her call and exploded violently. Shards of crystallized ether struck the nearby zombies and set them on fire. A fragment struck Willow. The redhead swatted at the spot before peering at it in confusion.
"It didn't hurt me?" She asked.
"My sword skills act like Summons or Draw Out skills. They only harm the target so don't worry," she assured her friend.
Friendly fire was nobody's friend after all.
They made their way down the undead filled streets. Xander took potshots with Mana Bolts and bludgeoned things with his baseball bat. Willow got a lot of practice with her binding magic. Buffy generally played sheepdog to keep the group from being overwhelmed. It was almost rote by the end of the first block. Dawn alternated between using her sword skills, melee and buffing spells. Thanks to Xander's Yunhon Soul Recovery they were able to wipe out fatigue and restore their HP/MP. The MP restoration used Soul Stones which the zombies dropped. After an hour, they had to break the current ID to let Buffy go on patrol. The remaining four did another sweep. With the higher leveled Buffy out of the party their gains increased. The quartet had a good rhythm going before Willow suddenly yanked them out of the ID. At Xander and Dawn's questioning look she explained that her Danger Sense triggered.
"Okay seriously? I need to teach you guys how to scribe and copy. Then we could start trading skills. I want that Yunhon Soul Recovery and Danger Sense," Dawn said.
"I want all of the Chunbu Martial Arts Skills he has," Willow added.
"Dawn's Ruby Swordplay and Spellblade stuff. Maybe Ruby Cover as well. That skill is broken," Xander noted admiringly. They got a chance to see how it worked when he took a glancing blow to the groin. The critical hit sent him dropping to the ground and took a worryingly large amount of HP. Just when it looked like he would get dogpiled, Dawn was there with her sword emitting white light. One Cura Sword and his HP was restored while the zombies fell.
Willow was the one who came up with the idea to form a notebook out of mana. The skill Create Mana Book conjured temporary objects, but they were just perfect for their purposes. Xander's contribution was to create a Create Mana Tools Skill just because he couldn't find a pen. The scene Buffy walked in on wouldn't have looked too out of place in a medieval monastery. Three people sat with their heads bowed as they diligently wrote in books. She watched the eerily quiet tableau for a minute.
"What are you doing?" She finally asked.
"We're copying out the skills we know. It's sort of hit or miss since the skill's kinda low," Xander shrugged. "It's not too bad. Turns out we can critically succeed and get another point of Luck."
"Which we need to keep up with Dawn. That passive Luck Buff and Luck bonus just isn't fair," Willow maturely stuck her tongue out at the youngest Summers girl.
"I don't get critical successes like they do, but I get more basic successes. Xander's sulking because Ruby Swordplay and Spellblade take Int 45 and Wis 30," Dawn smiled faintly.
"And she insists I work on my Wisdom before bulking up on Int. I'm not that bad," Xander complained.
"Ooh here! You might want to learn these!" Willow quickly handed Buffy a stack of Skill Books.
The Slayer eyed the titles curiously. Aura Vision was their attempt to write out Observe, but failed. It was incredibly useful for passively seeing mystic auras though. Xander copied the Chunbu Skills he knew. The only one he didn't have was the sword one. A critical success fixed that so now they had the whole Chunbu set. Danger Sense made the rounds as well. On the Hellmouth it would see a lot of use. Willow wanted to try to turn some of the reference books at home into skills. Xander got the idea to scribe his D&D books for more Instant Dungeon ideas. The pair left for home with a strict admonishment to actually sleep, leaving just Dawn and Buffy alone.
"What are you working on? You told them to go to bed," Buffy reminded her.
"I didn't tell them that I have a skill for turning animals into primal spirit gems. Like when Xander got possessed by the Hyena, but actually stable. Thing is it takes a 35 Wisdom minimum," she explained.
"Do you have a 35 Wisdom?" Buffy asked.
"No, but I also don't have a spirit gem set, and I won't until my stat's high enough," Dawn assured her.
"Good. One hyena was bad enough. Mom wouldn't let us have a dog. What would she do if you became a real animal?" Buffy smirked.
"Probably freak out. Just like she'd freak if we didn't tell her about all this," Dawn pointedly reminded her.
"No. The last time I said anything they stuck me in a mental hospital," Buffy shot it down fast, but her sister wouldn't be deterred.
"But now it's not just you. You could bend a fireplace poker, I could make a Diamond sword. We could take her into an Instant Dungeon and remodel the kitchen. There's options," Dawn said.
"But…" Buffy started to say, but Dawn bore in inexorably.
"Just imagine how much safer she would be with some training. We could make her a badass slayer of evil that no vampire could screw with. Darla wouldn't be able to bite her," the younger girl deliberately reminded Buffy of their mother's near brush with death. That shut the dyed blonde up.
"It's not my call…" Buffy was wavering.
"Xander and Willow would be thrilled. They see her like a surrogate aunt you know," Dawn said with a gentle smile.
"Yeah…" Buffy smiled shyly.
Dawn continued to scribe Secrets of the Primal while they spoke. She was trying to get a critical success of course, but also to try something. The young Jumper had a devious idea. What if she could create a Skill that turned all enemies to crystal like in Final Fantasy Tactics? Being able to farm Skills from their defeated foes would be a huge advantage. Even if they just dropped HP/MP restoring crystals it would be worthwhile. The critical success came just before she quit for the night.
[Crystal Story lvl 1 - This Skill adds a new bonus drop from defeated enemies. These special crystals range in usefulness from basic healing to a total transference of Skills. Higher levels increase the chance of more useful crystals appearing.]
"...Holy crap," Dawn breathed. The Skill didn't even have a Stat Requirement. Was it because her costume persona came from Ivalice or did it work that way for everyone? She made sure to copy it out to a physical journal. She felt the urge to run out and test it now, but refrained. It was the middle of the night.
The next morning started off with some bad news. Willow called to tell them that according to Ms. Calendar the Abyss Auction was real. Buffy needed it explained to her that the auction was a neutral shopping network that dealt in everything from magic items to slaves. The Gamers were coming over with their teacher to give a better explanation. At least Dawn had some good news for them. She had Buffy test the Crystal Story Book without a problem. In fact her sister remembered Ovelia's lessons in Holy Magic as she slept. Having Aegis and Dispelna were a huge boon! Yunhon Soul Recovery healed Status ailments too, but Dispelna could be used to create magic items.
"When's mom coming home?" Dawn asked.
"She said sometime today…I dunno when. We'll probably be gone before she gets here," Buffy shrugged.
"Yeah, but I'd rather not wait to tell her about this," Dawn remarked.
"I'm not sure…" Buffy started to say.
"The Abyss Auction deals in information too. What do you wanna bet they already know our mom's job, her routines, her likes and dislikes…" Dawn listed off each point. Her sister waved her hands quickly.
"Okay! Okay! You made your point!" Buffy exclaimed. "God it was easier before Halloween…" At Dawn's incredulous stare she ducked her head sheepishly.
Ms. Calendar arrived just after Xander and Willow. She brought a special guest with her! Rupert Giles the librarian and Buffy's Watcher. The blonde girl rolled her eyes over his inclusion, but let him in anyway. Judging by the set of her shoulders, she was actually relieved.
"Where did you hear about the Abyss Auction?" Giles demanded almost before he was in the door.
"Hello to you too," Buffy snarked. "You sold us out." She leveled the accusation at Ms. Calendar.
"He really should be here for this. Can I come in?" She asked. Buffy stepped aside without a word.
Giles looked as if he were about to come unglued if his questions weren't answered so Dawn bit the bullet. "Xander and Willow became their costumes and kept the knowledge and powers. I did too. What they told us is worrying enough. The Auction really keeps files on everybody?"
"W-Well yes and other unsavory practices. It is a neutral place for the most part even if some of their wares a-are distinctly darker…" Giles fussed. At least he wasn't cleaning his glasses yet. That only happened when he needed to take a moment to think. That's when the rest of what Dawn said came through. "Wait a minute. Powers?"
"Hey we're not the only ones missy," Willow poked Dawn's side.
"I didn't keep the spells, but I remember how to cast them. It's probably the Slayer whatever keeping me from using Holy magic," Buffy groused. That brought both adults up short.
"Holy magic?" Jenny blurted out.
"Hey if you could scribe a book for that…" Xander gave her puppy dog eyes. A piercing whistle cut through the room.
"Hey! Can we try to keep this in order?" Dawn asked.
The explanation came out surprisingly fast. Jenny, at her insistence, and Giles remained quiet while the teens explained. Honestly, the Gamer power was absolute bullshit. According to the librarian that made them Acquired Ability Users. In the comic the guy was a Natural Ability User, but their power was gained through a catalyst. Buffy was a hybrid of Natural and Acquired. She was born with it, but it needed a catalyst for activation. Dawn's powers were also labeled as Acquired because of the Halloween costume. Giles nearly had a coronary when they got to the part about absorbing books. He left to find some books they could use to create Skill Books. Jenny brought out her computer so they could find some useful stuff at the auction.
"Why hasn't this been shut down yet?" Buffy asked.
"This many powerful mages, warlocks and God-only-knows-what-else? I'm not even sure it could be stopped. All we can do is make ourselves so powerful no one wants to screw with us," Dawn said.
"She's in charge of our training," Willow explained for Jenny's benefit. That still didn't help as their teacher looked even more confused.
"My costume's 'Father' was the greatest warrior and tactician of his time. He trained scores of knights over his long military career. I was one of those he taught…" Dawn laid a hand demurely on her chest. She stiffened briefly as Lady Dawn mannerisms overrode her natural ones. The temptation was there to keep fighting, but it was an unwelcome distraction. Who cares if she sometimes acted like a noblewoman? Not this crew.
"Okay. What do you think we should get?" Jenny asked.
They talked it over. Just because Dawn was their training leader didn't mean she was their commander. She didn't want that kind of responsibility! Troll Regeneration made its way to the top of the list. It not only heals health, but also stamina. The Earth Elemental book could teach them about summoning. Dawn was curious to find out if it was possible to call Final Fantasy Summons. She had a particular affinity with Carbuncle according to her memories. What would be the harm in trying to form a connection? Jenny had a magical device that made it look like she was logging in from home. The Techno-Pagan offered to pick up some pizzas on the way to school. Somehow Xander talked them into going to school on a Saturday to use the facilities to train. They didn't have a way to suppress Buffy's passive abilities yet.
"Let me try to scribe something. It couldn't hurt," Dawn shrugged.
"Yeah, okay. See ya soon!" Xander waved. Dawn gave him and Willow big hugs before they left.
Buffy wanted to just leave a note for their mother, but Dawn wasn't hearing it. She didn't Jump to this place to keep ducking out on Mom. If joining their party could save her from brain cancer nothing would get in her way. Not even her own beloved sister would stop her. The younger girl refused to allow the same tragedies to happen here. An icon appeared on the minimap with her mother's name. Joyce Summers. The sight of it made her heart feel infinitely lighter. This was it. The time was almost upon them. She would invite her mom into the party and shatter the masquerade wide open…!
[Quest Alert!]
Dawn was already in the middle of tapping 'No' before it finished forming. Something made her hesitate…
Quest: Little Cat Lost
Details: Whatever happened to Cordelia Chase? No one mentioned her from the night before. Did she just vanish into thin air? Of course not. Due to unforeseen circumstances she's in major hot water. Angel is too. Better hurry or there won't be anyone left to save!
The Quest rewards were ignored as she frantically hit 'Yes.' A blip appeared on the minimap signifying Cordelia and Angel with a counter ticking down rapidly. She ignored Buffy's call to come back as she barreled out of the house at full speed. Dawn chained Instant Dungeons all the while praying she was in time. The sick realization that this was her Drawback at work only made things worse. Gamer's Mind kicked in so that she could function, but it didn't do anything about her feelings of guilt. Did this happen in this timeline or was it her fault somehow? Either way she had a job to do. Dawn formed a Garnet Edge. The mighty two-handed sword would let her use a Sword Skill faster with less risk of hurting Angel too. Vampires were stupidly flammable after all. Her frantic flight ended near the docks at an old warehouse. She used to wonder why there were so many empty warehouses in Sunnydale, but now she knew. An ancient warlock had to keep his supernatural constituents happy. Unused properties were perfect for that.
"Begone vampire!" A mage in stereotypical robes waved a dismissive hand. A large ball of fire rocketed towards Angel at full speed. It was still painfully slow compared to a master vampire, but he couldn't dodge. Cordelia was cowering behind him. They were surrounded. He was trying to shield her with his body while denying the other mages a chance to flank them.
"Angel!" Cordelia screamed.
"No…!" Angel knew he failed. He tried to toss her out of the circle, but there just wasn't enough time.
"Garnet EDGE!" Dawn cried as she appeared beside them. Blades of stone erupted from the ground in a protective circle. The flames ablated off of them harmlessly.
"What is going on here?" Another mage demanded.
"Someone else is getting involved?"
"Dawn! What are you doing here? Where's Buffy?" Angel asked. He blinked in surprise as a diamond blade was shoved in his hand.
"She's not here, but I am. Now take up your sword and make the whoresons pay!" Dawn declared. Modern sensibilities would not avail her here. The idea of killing was anathema to her, but this was combat. They already showed their disregard for life. She was just preparing to put down a bunch of rabid dogs. The Summers girl tossed Angel and Cordelia a party invite.
"What is this?" Cordelia's voice came out a little high with tension.
"Just hit accept. I can protect my allies better this way," Dawn commanded.
"You shouldn't get involved!" Another ball of fire hurtled their way. This one had more power as it melted through the stone barrier. Dawn quickly combined the Topaz Sword Skill with Shell. The resulting fusion appeared as a solid gem shield that drank the flames.
"We're talking here!" Dawn shoved the shield forward. The crystal construct shattered with an ear splitting explosion. Gouts of brilliant crimson flames eagerly sought the caster. He tried to deflect it, but there was just too much heat. The man vanished with a despairing scream. She checked the other casters only to breathe a sigh of relief. Angel beheaded them while they were transfixed by the battle between her and their leader.
"You killed them!" Cordelia blurted out.
"They weren't playing games with us," Angel stated bluntly. He cast the sword away. It shattered into ether shards on the ground.
Dawn searched the area while Angel utterly failed to offer comfort. Just because she couldn't see more threats on the minimap didn't mean they weren't there. The casters had a collection of magic rings that increased mana regen per minute. She also found a crystal where the leader fell. It offered her a choice between restoring HP/MP/Status or Pyromancy. The Summers girl chose Pyromancy before the crystal vanished.
"Let's get out of here," Dawn said.
"The sun's out," Angel demonstrated his incredible grasp of the obvious. "You should be safe enough."
"Safe? Safe!? I'm a cat girl!" Cordelia yowled in distress before flushing with mortification.
"We can go to school. The whole gang's there. I'm sure we can figure out something," Dawn assured her. She turned to Angel, but the Vampire with a Soul was already gone. An open grate showed just where he went.
This was definitely not like her reality. Angel wouldn't have just ran off like that. He would have stuck around until someone came to get them. Still, he tried to save Cordelia even if it might have cost him his unlife. He tried to do the right thing here. Dawn rubbed her forehead wearily. What sort of weird world was this? This was much more than just a couple people in different costumes. Cordelia went to Party Town in her home dimension. Why did she go to Ethan's here? Now she got the fun of bringing Queen C to school so that someone could fix her furry problem. She was a literal cat girl by way of anime. The Chase girl really didn't want to remain like this. What if she started shedding?
Dawn could feel a headache coming on that Gamer's Mind couldn't even stop…
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 8
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 530/530
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 1100/1100
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 12
Vit: 18
Dex: 12
Int: 15
Wis: 18
Luck: 74
CP: 30
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Dawn looked around the zombie filled streets with some misgivings. She wanted them to get their stats up and some better skills before entering an Instant Dungeon. Unfortunately, Xander had a good point about needing money for their war chest and some levels would increase their HP and MP. He didn't plan on summoning the boss. This was just to get Buffy used to the idea of Xander, Willow and Dawn fighting things without her on occasion.
"Man, Buffy is going to seriously kill our experience…" Xander realized with chagrin.
"Why do you say that?" Buffy asked him with an affronted expression.
"The zombies are all level 8 to 12. You're over 20," he reminded her.
"I'm more worried about surviving the first couple fights than the XP loss," Willow clutched her staff nervously.
"That shouldn't be a problem…" Dawn said before thrusting her borrowed sword forward. "Topaz Blade!" The shout was accompanied by a blade of pure topaz wreathed in flames. The conjured weapon punched through a shambler with ease and instantly set it ablaze.
Buffy stared at her sister's feat in disbelief. "So not fair…"
"Explosion!" Dawn thundered. The burning blade reacted to her call and exploded violently. Shards of crystallized ether struck the nearby zombies and set them on fire. A fragment struck Willow. The redhead swatted at the spot before peering at it in confusion.
"It didn't hurt me?" She asked.
"My sword skills act like Summons or Draw Out skills. They only harm the target so don't worry," she assured her friend.
Friendly fire was nobody's friend after all.
They made their way down the undead filled streets. Xander took potshots with Mana Bolts and bludgeoned things with his baseball bat. Willow got a lot of practice with her binding magic. Buffy generally played sheepdog to keep the group from being overwhelmed. It was almost rote by the end of the first block. Dawn alternated between using her sword skills, melee and buffing spells. Thanks to Xander's Yunhon Soul Recovery they were able to wipe out fatigue and restore their HP/MP. The MP restoration used Soul Stones which the zombies dropped. After an hour, they had to break the current ID to let Buffy go on patrol. The remaining four did another sweep. With the higher leveled Buffy out of the party their gains increased. The quartet had a good rhythm going before Willow suddenly yanked them out of the ID. At Xander and Dawn's questioning look she explained that her Danger Sense triggered.
"Okay seriously? I need to teach you guys how to scribe and copy. Then we could start trading skills. I want that Yunhon Soul Recovery and Danger Sense," Dawn said.
"I want all of the Chunbu Martial Arts Skills he has," Willow added.
"Dawn's Ruby Swordplay and Spellblade stuff. Maybe Ruby Cover as well. That skill is broken," Xander noted admiringly. They got a chance to see how it worked when he took a glancing blow to the groin. The critical hit sent him dropping to the ground and took a worryingly large amount of HP. Just when it looked like he would get dogpiled, Dawn was there with her sword emitting white light. One Cura Sword and his HP was restored while the zombies fell.
Willow was the one who came up with the idea to form a notebook out of mana. The skill Create Mana Book conjured temporary objects, but they were just perfect for their purposes. Xander's contribution was to create a Create Mana Tools Skill just because he couldn't find a pen. The scene Buffy walked in on wouldn't have looked too out of place in a medieval monastery. Three people sat with their heads bowed as they diligently wrote in books. She watched the eerily quiet tableau for a minute.
"What are you doing?" She finally asked.
"We're copying out the skills we know. It's sort of hit or miss since the skill's kinda low," Xander shrugged. "It's not too bad. Turns out we can critically succeed and get another point of Luck."
"Which we need to keep up with Dawn. That passive Luck Buff and Luck bonus just isn't fair," Willow maturely stuck her tongue out at the youngest Summers girl.
"I don't get critical successes like they do, but I get more basic successes. Xander's sulking because Ruby Swordplay and Spellblade take Int 45 and Wis 30," Dawn smiled faintly.
"And she insists I work on my Wisdom before bulking up on Int. I'm not that bad," Xander complained.
"Ooh here! You might want to learn these!" Willow quickly handed Buffy a stack of Skill Books.
The Slayer eyed the titles curiously. Aura Vision was their attempt to write out Observe, but failed. It was incredibly useful for passively seeing mystic auras though. Xander copied the Chunbu Skills he knew. The only one he didn't have was the sword one. A critical success fixed that so now they had the whole Chunbu set. Danger Sense made the rounds as well. On the Hellmouth it would see a lot of use. Willow wanted to try to turn some of the reference books at home into skills. Xander got the idea to scribe his D&D books for more Instant Dungeon ideas. The pair left for home with a strict admonishment to actually sleep, leaving just Dawn and Buffy alone.
"What are you working on? You told them to go to bed," Buffy reminded her.
"I didn't tell them that I have a skill for turning animals into primal spirit gems. Like when Xander got possessed by the Hyena, but actually stable. Thing is it takes a 35 Wisdom minimum," she explained.
"Do you have a 35 Wisdom?" Buffy asked.
"No, but I also don't have a spirit gem set, and I won't until my stat's high enough," Dawn assured her.
"Good. One hyena was bad enough. Mom wouldn't let us have a dog. What would she do if you became a real animal?" Buffy smirked.
"Probably freak out. Just like she'd freak if we didn't tell her about all this," Dawn pointedly reminded her.
"No. The last time I said anything they stuck me in a mental hospital," Buffy shot it down fast, but her sister wouldn't be deterred.
"But now it's not just you. You could bend a fireplace poker, I could make a Diamond sword. We could take her into an Instant Dungeon and remodel the kitchen. There's options," Dawn said.
"But…" Buffy started to say, but Dawn bore in inexorably.
"Just imagine how much safer she would be with some training. We could make her a badass slayer of evil that no vampire could screw with. Darla wouldn't be able to bite her," the younger girl deliberately reminded Buffy of their mother's near brush with death. That shut the dyed blonde up.
"It's not my call…" Buffy was wavering.
"Xander and Willow would be thrilled. They see her like a surrogate aunt you know," Dawn said with a gentle smile.
"Yeah…" Buffy smiled shyly.
Dawn continued to scribe Secrets of the Primal while they spoke. She was trying to get a critical success of course, but also to try something. The young Jumper had a devious idea. What if she could create a Skill that turned all enemies to crystal like in Final Fantasy Tactics? Being able to farm Skills from their defeated foes would be a huge advantage. Even if they just dropped HP/MP restoring crystals it would be worthwhile. The critical success came just before she quit for the night.
[Crystal Story lvl 1 - This Skill adds a new bonus drop from defeated enemies. These special crystals range in usefulness from basic healing to a total transference of Skills. Higher levels increase the chance of more useful crystals appearing.]
"...Holy crap," Dawn breathed. The Skill didn't even have a Stat Requirement. Was it because her costume persona came from Ivalice or did it work that way for everyone? She made sure to copy it out to a physical journal. She felt the urge to run out and test it now, but refrained. It was the middle of the night.
The next morning started off with some bad news. Willow called to tell them that according to Ms. Calendar the Abyss Auction was real. Buffy needed it explained to her that the auction was a neutral shopping network that dealt in everything from magic items to slaves. The Gamers were coming over with their teacher to give a better explanation. At least Dawn had some good news for them. She had Buffy test the Crystal Story Book without a problem. In fact her sister remembered Ovelia's lessons in Holy Magic as she slept. Having Aegis and Dispelna were a huge boon! Yunhon Soul Recovery healed Status ailments too, but Dispelna could be used to create magic items.
"When's mom coming home?" Dawn asked.
"She said sometime today…I dunno when. We'll probably be gone before she gets here," Buffy shrugged.
"Yeah, but I'd rather not wait to tell her about this," Dawn remarked.
"I'm not sure…" Buffy started to say.
"The Abyss Auction deals in information too. What do you wanna bet they already know our mom's job, her routines, her likes and dislikes…" Dawn listed off each point. Her sister waved her hands quickly.
"Okay! Okay! You made your point!" Buffy exclaimed. "God it was easier before Halloween…" At Dawn's incredulous stare she ducked her head sheepishly.
Ms. Calendar arrived just after Xander and Willow. She brought a special guest with her! Rupert Giles the librarian and Buffy's Watcher. The blonde girl rolled her eyes over his inclusion, but let him in anyway. Judging by the set of her shoulders, she was actually relieved.
"Where did you hear about the Abyss Auction?" Giles demanded almost before he was in the door.
"Hello to you too," Buffy snarked. "You sold us out." She leveled the accusation at Ms. Calendar.
"He really should be here for this. Can I come in?" She asked. Buffy stepped aside without a word.
Giles looked as if he were about to come unglued if his questions weren't answered so Dawn bit the bullet. "Xander and Willow became their costumes and kept the knowledge and powers. I did too. What they told us is worrying enough. The Auction really keeps files on everybody?"
"W-Well yes and other unsavory practices. It is a neutral place for the most part even if some of their wares a-are distinctly darker…" Giles fussed. At least he wasn't cleaning his glasses yet. That only happened when he needed to take a moment to think. That's when the rest of what Dawn said came through. "Wait a minute. Powers?"
"Hey we're not the only ones missy," Willow poked Dawn's side.
"I didn't keep the spells, but I remember how to cast them. It's probably the Slayer whatever keeping me from using Holy magic," Buffy groused. That brought both adults up short.
"Holy magic?" Jenny blurted out.
"Hey if you could scribe a book for that…" Xander gave her puppy dog eyes. A piercing whistle cut through the room.
"Hey! Can we try to keep this in order?" Dawn asked.
The explanation came out surprisingly fast. Jenny, at her insistence, and Giles remained quiet while the teens explained. Honestly, the Gamer power was absolute bullshit. According to the librarian that made them Acquired Ability Users. In the comic the guy was a Natural Ability User, but their power was gained through a catalyst. Buffy was a hybrid of Natural and Acquired. She was born with it, but it needed a catalyst for activation. Dawn's powers were also labeled as Acquired because of the Halloween costume. Giles nearly had a coronary when they got to the part about absorbing books. He left to find some books they could use to create Skill Books. Jenny brought out her computer so they could find some useful stuff at the auction.
"Why hasn't this been shut down yet?" Buffy asked.
"This many powerful mages, warlocks and God-only-knows-what-else? I'm not even sure it could be stopped. All we can do is make ourselves so powerful no one wants to screw with us," Dawn said.
"She's in charge of our training," Willow explained for Jenny's benefit. That still didn't help as their teacher looked even more confused.
"My costume's 'Father' was the greatest warrior and tactician of his time. He trained scores of knights over his long military career. I was one of those he taught…" Dawn laid a hand demurely on her chest. She stiffened briefly as Lady Dawn mannerisms overrode her natural ones. The temptation was there to keep fighting, but it was an unwelcome distraction. Who cares if she sometimes acted like a noblewoman? Not this crew.
"Okay. What do you think we should get?" Jenny asked.
They talked it over. Just because Dawn was their training leader didn't mean she was their commander. She didn't want that kind of responsibility! Troll Regeneration made its way to the top of the list. It not only heals health, but also stamina. The Earth Elemental book could teach them about summoning. Dawn was curious to find out if it was possible to call Final Fantasy Summons. She had a particular affinity with Carbuncle according to her memories. What would be the harm in trying to form a connection? Jenny had a magical device that made it look like she was logging in from home. The Techno-Pagan offered to pick up some pizzas on the way to school. Somehow Xander talked them into going to school on a Saturday to use the facilities to train. They didn't have a way to suppress Buffy's passive abilities yet.
"Let me try to scribe something. It couldn't hurt," Dawn shrugged.
"Yeah, okay. See ya soon!" Xander waved. Dawn gave him and Willow big hugs before they left.
Buffy wanted to just leave a note for their mother, but Dawn wasn't hearing it. She didn't Jump to this place to keep ducking out on Mom. If joining their party could save her from brain cancer nothing would get in her way. Not even her own beloved sister would stop her. The younger girl refused to allow the same tragedies to happen here. An icon appeared on the minimap with her mother's name. Joyce Summers. The sight of it made her heart feel infinitely lighter. This was it. The time was almost upon them. She would invite her mom into the party and shatter the masquerade wide open…!
[Quest Alert!]
Dawn was already in the middle of tapping 'No' before it finished forming. Something made her hesitate…
Quest: Little Cat Lost
Details: Whatever happened to Cordelia Chase? No one mentioned her from the night before. Did she just vanish into thin air? Of course not. Due to unforeseen circumstances she's in major hot water. Angel is too. Better hurry or there won't be anyone left to save!
The Quest rewards were ignored as she frantically hit 'Yes.' A blip appeared on the minimap signifying Cordelia and Angel with a counter ticking down rapidly. She ignored Buffy's call to come back as she barreled out of the house at full speed. Dawn chained Instant Dungeons all the while praying she was in time. The sick realization that this was her Drawback at work only made things worse. Gamer's Mind kicked in so that she could function, but it didn't do anything about her feelings of guilt. Did this happen in this timeline or was it her fault somehow? Either way she had a job to do. Dawn formed a Garnet Edge. The mighty two-handed sword would let her use a Sword Skill faster with less risk of hurting Angel too. Vampires were stupidly flammable after all. Her frantic flight ended near the docks at an old warehouse. She used to wonder why there were so many empty warehouses in Sunnydale, but now she knew. An ancient warlock had to keep his supernatural constituents happy. Unused properties were perfect for that.
"Begone vampire!" A mage in stereotypical robes waved a dismissive hand. A large ball of fire rocketed towards Angel at full speed. It was still painfully slow compared to a master vampire, but he couldn't dodge. Cordelia was cowering behind him. They were surrounded. He was trying to shield her with his body while denying the other mages a chance to flank them.
"Angel!" Cordelia screamed.
"No…!" Angel knew he failed. He tried to toss her out of the circle, but there just wasn't enough time.
"Garnet EDGE!" Dawn cried as she appeared beside them. Blades of stone erupted from the ground in a protective circle. The flames ablated off of them harmlessly.
"What is going on here?" Another mage demanded.
"Someone else is getting involved?"
"Dawn! What are you doing here? Where's Buffy?" Angel asked. He blinked in surprise as a diamond blade was shoved in his hand.
"She's not here, but I am. Now take up your sword and make the whoresons pay!" Dawn declared. Modern sensibilities would not avail her here. The idea of killing was anathema to her, but this was combat. They already showed their disregard for life. She was just preparing to put down a bunch of rabid dogs. The Summers girl tossed Angel and Cordelia a party invite.
"What is this?" Cordelia's voice came out a little high with tension.
"Just hit accept. I can protect my allies better this way," Dawn commanded.
"You shouldn't get involved!" Another ball of fire hurtled their way. This one had more power as it melted through the stone barrier. Dawn quickly combined the Topaz Sword Skill with Shell. The resulting fusion appeared as a solid gem shield that drank the flames.
"We're talking here!" Dawn shoved the shield forward. The crystal construct shattered with an ear splitting explosion. Gouts of brilliant crimson flames eagerly sought the caster. He tried to deflect it, but there was just too much heat. The man vanished with a despairing scream. She checked the other casters only to breathe a sigh of relief. Angel beheaded them while they were transfixed by the battle between her and their leader.
"You killed them!" Cordelia blurted out.
"They weren't playing games with us," Angel stated bluntly. He cast the sword away. It shattered into ether shards on the ground.
Dawn searched the area while Angel utterly failed to offer comfort. Just because she couldn't see more threats on the minimap didn't mean they weren't there. The casters had a collection of magic rings that increased mana regen per minute. She also found a crystal where the leader fell. It offered her a choice between restoring HP/MP/Status or Pyromancy. The Summers girl chose Pyromancy before the crystal vanished.
"Let's get out of here," Dawn said.
"The sun's out," Angel demonstrated his incredible grasp of the obvious. "You should be safe enough."
"Safe? Safe!? I'm a cat girl!" Cordelia yowled in distress before flushing with mortification.
"We can go to school. The whole gang's there. I'm sure we can figure out something," Dawn assured her. She turned to Angel, but the Vampire with a Soul was already gone. An open grate showed just where he went.
This was definitely not like her reality. Angel wouldn't have just ran off like that. He would have stuck around until someone came to get them. Still, he tried to save Cordelia even if it might have cost him his unlife. He tried to do the right thing here. Dawn rubbed her forehead wearily. What sort of weird world was this? This was much more than just a couple people in different costumes. Cordelia went to Party Town in her home dimension. Why did she go to Ethan's here? Now she got the fun of bringing Queen C to school so that someone could fix her furry problem. She was a literal cat girl by way of anime. The Chase girl really didn't want to remain like this. What if she started shedding?
Dawn could feel a headache coming on that Gamer's Mind couldn't even stop…
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 8
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 530/530
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 1100/1100
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 12
Vit: 18
Dex: 12
Int: 15
Wis: 18
Luck: 74
CP: 30
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
First Key 1.4
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.4
Cordelia wanted answers and she wanted them yesterday. It was all Dawn could do to hold her off until they reached the others. She didn't want to go through the explanation more than once. The fact that she killed a man wouldn't go away. False memories of killing enemies on the battlefield didn't prepare her for the reality. Like she failed somehow by not taking them alive. Maybe it wasn't rational, but it felt that way all the same. They wanted to capture Cordelia for some dark ritual. The mages wouldn't worry about hurting them. Why should she care? Because she was better than that. No life was cheap.
"This is seriously creepy. Why are we doing this again?" Cordelia gestured at the empty ID. The silence was eerie.
"It's just until we meet up with the others. Unless you want half of Sunnydale to see your furrier side," Dawn remarked. Cordelia recoiled as if struck.
"As if! I don't want anyone seeing me like this!" Cordelia's ears laid flat. She grabbed the top of her head with a horrified expression.
"Okay okay…Let me see if there's something I can do…" Dawn hastened to calm her. The head cheerleader almost fell to her knees right there.
It took some finagling, but they found a solution in the Skills tab. Cordelia had a Skill called 'Beast Heart.' Just touching it reversed the changes. She needed to practice to avoid becoming Catwoman in public, but it helped her peace of mind. The rest of the gang was there by the time they arrived. Dawn checked for her mom but the Summers matriarch was nowhere to be seen. Buffy carefully avoided her sister's gaze. The only thing missing was the innocent whistling. Didn't they just agree to bring their mother into this? However, Cordelia refused to be denied.
"What the Hell is going on here? Angel's a vampire, guys with a fire fetish tried to kidnap me, Dawn's killing people and I think I'm shedding!" Cordelia blurted out vehemently. Her new ears and tail popped out as if to illustrate her point.
"That's not the animal I'd pick for her," Willow muttered. The Chase girl leveled a hot glare in her direction causing the redhead to duck her head.
"You're killing people?" Buffy demanded.
"Mages tried to capture Cordelia and barbecue your boyfriend. I made sure they couldn't. Can we focus on that please?" Dawn demanded. Buffy must have seen something in her expression, or heard the shakiness in her voice, as she enfolded the younger girl in her arms.
"Shhh…shhh…It's okay sis…You did good…" Buffy stroked her hair soothingly. Xander patted her on the shoulder.
"How did they know that Cordelia became a magical creature? I assume it happened on Halloween," Jenny speculated.
"Maybe we should try to buy up the files the Abyss has on us," Xander suggested.
"Hey lamers! Could someone explain all this? …Please?" Cordelia started off strong before gradually wilting under their combined stares.
"Yeah, sure…Why not, right? The more the merrier!" Xander spread his arms with a grin.
"We're bringing mom into this," Dawn whispered to Buffy.
"She didn't even listen. I tried to get her to come, but she wanted to go into the shop," Buffy whispered back.
"Okay, you're off the hook," Dawn gave her a squeeze.
Xander offered to make the Instant Dungeon, but Dawn's early morning casting spree yielded results. The younger girl was able to add special effects to her IDs now. The one she used was to suppress all passive buffs. Buffy wasn't sure how to feel about that. She could train with them, sure, but it meant someone could shut her powers down in other ways. The Slayer wanted to ask her Watcher if he knew of anything else that could steal her powers. Dawn mentally winced. That was going to open a really nasty can of worms if Giles didn't handle it carefully. Cordelia asked who died and left her in charge. Xander explained that she had the most knowledge of training super powered beings. The noise gradually died down while she decided how to go about this.
"A couple things before we begin," Dawn said. "We're going to train until it's time for dinner. After we eat we'll pop into a Zombie dungeon to earn some money and levels. We really need to know what the Abyss knows about us. Those guys were after Cordelia before she became a cat girl. That's the only thing that makes sense. The rest of us might be in danger too. Especially with all the changes we've gone through."
"How are we going to train exactly?" Willow asked.
"First thing is to search the gym, the locker rooms and the coaches' offices. Anything could be a Skill Book. If there's a Skill for training it's probably in one of those places. We really should've waited to see if Giles knew of some way to train Int and Wisdom. I have some ideas for that so it's not a total loss," Dawn shrugged.
A quick search of the school yielded a few books. One was for a technique that used sex appeal to stun the target. It wasn't a bad idea to learn it in case they needed a distraction. There was also a book about pole dancing. No one knew how that got there. Dawn figured it was some weird function of Instant Dungeons. Maybe 'empty' Instant Dungeons had some loot to find? None of this stuff was gamebreaking, but it was pretty decent. Still, the pole dancing book opened up a training method that worked Strength, Vitality and Dexterity at the same time. Even better, it gave them a general Dancing Skill. That's when she had a brilliant idea. Her father, Count Orlandeau, used to train on a bunch of wooden poles. It worked the mind and body. The body was obvious as it took perfect balance and muscle control. While it took coordination to locate the next pole without looking.
"So we're going to wear weighted training vests and 'dance' across poles?" Buffy inquired doubtfully.
"Where are we getting the poles?" Jenny asked.
"Right here!" Dawn gestured while discreetly using Garnet Edge. The gym floor buckled and rent asunder as earthen pillars burst from beneath. Each one was roughly a foot off the ground with a couple inches between them.
"Uhhh…They're kinda uneven…" Willow pointed out.
"I think that's kinda the point," Cordelia snarked.
"So we're going to dance across the pillars…" Xander mused.
"While practicing your swordplay and martial arts. Use Yunhon Soul Recovery to restore our Stamina until the MP runs out. Then we're going to work on meditation, debate and strategy," Dawn said.
"Debate?" Xander blinked in confusion.
"Yes, debate. It's not just knowledge that makes for a good debate. There's also being persuasive, knowing your audience and being able to read a room. I have a feeling we're all going to get a lot of points in Wisdom. The first couple times the debate will be on the fly, but eventually we'll start narrowing it down to actual topics. The research for your topic should improve Intelligence. We just need a Speed Reading book to make this easier," Dawn remarked almost to herself.
"And meditation helps with mana recovery and centering the mind. I know how, but I didn't know if it might be a Skill…" Jenny facepalmed.
"Exactly. We don't know what our powers will consider a Skill. So while we rest let's scribe everything we know that might be a Skill," Dawn said.
Dawn used Create Mana Tools to recreate the harnesses her father used. He used a system of adjustable ropes and straps to force the trainee to work harder. Xander used the same spell to put weighted vests, arm weights and wrist weights. The combination might have been too much if not for Troll's Regeneration and Yunhon Soul Recovery. He also had the idea to make blunt training swords out of wood. Willow tried to remind him that Dawn was the one in charge, but she didn't mind. Anything that would keep them alive was embraced. The first hour passed in a haze of pain and exhaustion. Buffy, even without the Slayer enhancement, was still experienced with many forms of violence. Dawn was as well thanks to her Halloween memories. The Summers girls kept their friends very busy. Except when Buff tried a maneuver her Slayer powers could handle, but her unaugmented self couldn't. Everyone took a turn on the floor. On the plus side it did wonders for their situational awareness, martial skill, physical stats and Wisdom. The teens and Miss Calendar even picked up points in Luck with last minute saves. No one wanted to fall two feet to the uneven floor.
When they broke for lunch, Dawn added Scribing and Copying. It wouldn't stop them from eating or relaxing. Jenny critically succeeded when she tried to scribe a basic meditation book. Breath of Life had several useful effects such as increasing Stamina regeneration, MP regeneration and HP regeneration. The most amazing thing was that eventually it could increase the user's MP total beyond the max without limit. Well, that wasn't quite true, as it consumed Soul Stones (a common Zombie drop) and time. Like a day of meditation for 10 MP. Breath of Life could also be sustained even while doing other things. At first level there was a 90% chance of being interrupted, but that would go down with time. Xander enthusiastically reported that it merged with Chunbu Breathing, increasing the effects a full 10%. Jenny made a permanent copy of the Skill. Unfortunately the extra MP was a reward for meditating at full MP for a full day. Willow had some ideas for how to make it viable. Like focusing on physical training or mental training without using their MP Skills.
The afternoon debates were sort of hit or miss. Xander and Cordelia took it as an opportunity to flirt/snark at each other in increasingly lurid ways. Buffy was trying to convince Willow to ask Xander out before Cordelia got her hooks into him. That left Jenny to try to convince Dawn to take it easy and not run them into the ground. The Will They/Won't They pair wandered off behind the stacks to 'research their points more thoroughly.' Dear Buffy utterly failed to help Desperate in Sunnydale with her boyfriend problem. The only one who succeeded was Jenny and only because Dawn gave it up as a lost cause. She really should have Scribed a book on debating. That just left Strategy. It took her a bit to wrangle her charges and to make them clean up (where appropriate).
"Uh, um, is chess really good for battlefield tactics?" Willow asked hesitantly.
"Like don't the really smart generals and stuff play chess?" Buffy pointed out.
"Yeah…no. Chess helps with critical thinking skills, but it's a poor substitute for war. In chess you can take your time and plan your moves. Of course that's important before the battle's actually started," Dawn held up a hand when it looked like Jenny was about to interrupt. "During the battle itself? Everything from your comrade to the weather can change at a moment's notice. Sometimes both at the same time if they have a Mediator or someone with a Frog spell."
"Frog spell?" Buffy whispered to Willow.
"Black Mages can turn their enemies into frogs…" The redhead shivered at the thought.
"What we're going to do is a war game. I will be taking each of you to one side and giving you an instruction. For this first game I'm warning you. In the future I won't tell you beforehand," Dawn grinned unsettlingly.
"Where will you be while we're making fools of ourselves?" Cordelia folded her arms irritably.
"I'll be somewhere in the school stalking you. If you find me then the game ends. If you're struck three times you're out. I will give you ten minutes to prepare. Oh and you're getting your boosts back," Dawn adjusted the barrier to restore their bonuses. Xander and Willow looked more worried even as Buffy smirked confidently.
No one liked Dawn's idea of war games. For one thing she didn't warn them that she released zombies in the hallway. Xander would have cried foul if the ID she made didn't have barricaded windows and doors. They had no way of knowing if it was dark outside. That neatly got around the restriction that said Zombies could only be called at night. Before the game began she led each one away to give them their 'special instructions.' Their initial plan was to stay together and scout the building room by room. No one knew what orders the others were given and it wore on them. Especially since one of Dawn's rules was to tell no one what their orders were. This wasn't a test for them to 'see beneath the beneath' or anything like that. If they broke the rule she was prepared to remove them from the game. Each one grew more tense by the minute as they waited for the other shoe to drop. Team cohesion started to suffer almost immediately.
They were all tied up in the gym before an hour passed.
"Okay, not bad actually," Dawn said to her captive audience.
"Not bad? We lost!" Buffy complained.
"Yeah! I got stuck with these paranoid goofballs…!" Cordelia struggled briefly before subsiding.
"It's to be expected. We were all given secret orders. Of course we'd fail," Xander grumbled.
"What was this supposed to teach us?" Willow asked.
"Maybe it's to teach us that we can't always choose our teammates. Sometimes we just have to grin and bear it. Out in the real world we might have to work with people we don't know or trust," Jenny noted shrewdly.
"Bingo. Today's enemies could be tomorrow's allies. Sometimes they're enemies while being allies. You won't always know the score. The only thing you can do is your best and tighten your armor," Dawn shrugged.
"It was a stupid order anyway. I was told I didn't have a special order," Cordelia tried to shrug, but the glowing binds made it difficult. Dawn canceled the spell.
"Wait, that's what I was told…" Buffy blurted out.
"Me too!" Willow exclaimed.
"None of us had a special order…" Xander rubbed his forehead.
"This wasn't just about strategy, but about trust. You didn't trust each other. Xander tried to be a team player, but Buffy kept running off to scout. Willow couldn't stand talking to Cordelia, but kept her distance from the group. Cordelia snarked about how stupid this was and Jenny tried to be the adult. We'll have to work on that. There are ways to make yourself heard without undermining the team," Dawn shook her head.
The trainees, and trainer, fled the school with a sense of relief. Dawn needed to rethink her training strategy. She wasn't dealing with trained soldiers but more of a guerilla force. In some ways they needed more discipline, but not like this. Count Orlandeau's training was designed to turn even new conscripts into superb fighting machines. The problem is that some of the psychological tests were designed to sift the chaff from the wheat. Dawn wasn't trying to train a SEAL team. If they balked and refused to listen to her it would be a Bad Thing. She couldn't afford to lose their trust now. The only answer was to scale things back. They were fine with the physical training and scribing during lunch. There had to be an easier, or at least not as traumatizing, way to get their Int and Wisdom up. Hopefully she could talk to Giles for some input. He was a Watcher and primary trainer of Buffy after all.
When they got home the girls hit another snag. Their mom was still at the gallery and wouldn't be home until late. Buffy had to quickly grab Dawn before she ran out and grabbed their mother anyway. It was like the universe had it out for their mom. Why should it be this difficult to get her to stick around? Mom didn't used to go to the gallery this often. In fact she usually closed up for an hour to have dinner with them. Not so tonight. She called them to say they could eat without her. The group wanted to do some dungeon runs tonight for money. That left her with an unappealing choice. Did she cut their training short early today, and risk them running off to grind without her, or try to catch mom in the morning?
A Quest pop up appeared for that very question. If she called off training there was a real risk of losing at a minimum 50 points of approval. If she didn't then the disapproval would come from mom at a whopping 200 points. That stupid Drawback was really determined to screw with her. Regretfully, Dawn accepted the smaller reputation loss. She had to talk to their mom tonight. Buffy started to complain, but the youngest Summers was already at her wit's end.
"If you want to go so badly then go! Xander and Willow can set up Illusion Barriers too. I'll let them know what's going on…" Dawn slumped wearily. Buffy hesitated briefly before gathering the younger girl in her arms.
"I know you're strong enough to protect yourself. Mom…really isn't…" Buffy buried her face in Dawn's shoulder. "I know why you're worried. I'm worried too…I didn't want you to be a part of all this…"
The loss of reputation was offset by gaining more love from Buffy. Her sister finally let Dawn see the real source of her anxiety. She wasn't really against Mom finding out about this. What scared her the most was that she might try to get involved and end up hurt. They could train her up until she was as strong as a Slayer. Then they would go even further. By this time next time no one would be the same. The same things that terrorized them before would be a distant memory.
This was their resolve.
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 8
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 640/640
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 1350/1350
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 12 + 12 = 24
Vit: 18 + 11 = 29
Dex: 12 + 22 = 34
Int: 15 + 5 = 20
Wis: 18 + 6 = 24
Luck: 74
CP: 30
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Cordelia wanted answers and she wanted them yesterday. It was all Dawn could do to hold her off until they reached the others. She didn't want to go through the explanation more than once. The fact that she killed a man wouldn't go away. False memories of killing enemies on the battlefield didn't prepare her for the reality. Like she failed somehow by not taking them alive. Maybe it wasn't rational, but it felt that way all the same. They wanted to capture Cordelia for some dark ritual. The mages wouldn't worry about hurting them. Why should she care? Because she was better than that. No life was cheap.
"This is seriously creepy. Why are we doing this again?" Cordelia gestured at the empty ID. The silence was eerie.
"It's just until we meet up with the others. Unless you want half of Sunnydale to see your furrier side," Dawn remarked. Cordelia recoiled as if struck.
"As if! I don't want anyone seeing me like this!" Cordelia's ears laid flat. She grabbed the top of her head with a horrified expression.
"Okay okay…Let me see if there's something I can do…" Dawn hastened to calm her. The head cheerleader almost fell to her knees right there.
It took some finagling, but they found a solution in the Skills tab. Cordelia had a Skill called 'Beast Heart.' Just touching it reversed the changes. She needed to practice to avoid becoming Catwoman in public, but it helped her peace of mind. The rest of the gang was there by the time they arrived. Dawn checked for her mom but the Summers matriarch was nowhere to be seen. Buffy carefully avoided her sister's gaze. The only thing missing was the innocent whistling. Didn't they just agree to bring their mother into this? However, Cordelia refused to be denied.
"What the Hell is going on here? Angel's a vampire, guys with a fire fetish tried to kidnap me, Dawn's killing people and I think I'm shedding!" Cordelia blurted out vehemently. Her new ears and tail popped out as if to illustrate her point.
"That's not the animal I'd pick for her," Willow muttered. The Chase girl leveled a hot glare in her direction causing the redhead to duck her head.
"You're killing people?" Buffy demanded.
"Mages tried to capture Cordelia and barbecue your boyfriend. I made sure they couldn't. Can we focus on that please?" Dawn demanded. Buffy must have seen something in her expression, or heard the shakiness in her voice, as she enfolded the younger girl in her arms.
"Shhh…shhh…It's okay sis…You did good…" Buffy stroked her hair soothingly. Xander patted her on the shoulder.
"How did they know that Cordelia became a magical creature? I assume it happened on Halloween," Jenny speculated.
"Maybe we should try to buy up the files the Abyss has on us," Xander suggested.
"Hey lamers! Could someone explain all this? …Please?" Cordelia started off strong before gradually wilting under their combined stares.
"Yeah, sure…Why not, right? The more the merrier!" Xander spread his arms with a grin.
"We're bringing mom into this," Dawn whispered to Buffy.
"She didn't even listen. I tried to get her to come, but she wanted to go into the shop," Buffy whispered back.
"Okay, you're off the hook," Dawn gave her a squeeze.
Xander offered to make the Instant Dungeon, but Dawn's early morning casting spree yielded results. The younger girl was able to add special effects to her IDs now. The one she used was to suppress all passive buffs. Buffy wasn't sure how to feel about that. She could train with them, sure, but it meant someone could shut her powers down in other ways. The Slayer wanted to ask her Watcher if he knew of anything else that could steal her powers. Dawn mentally winced. That was going to open a really nasty can of worms if Giles didn't handle it carefully. Cordelia asked who died and left her in charge. Xander explained that she had the most knowledge of training super powered beings. The noise gradually died down while she decided how to go about this.
"A couple things before we begin," Dawn said. "We're going to train until it's time for dinner. After we eat we'll pop into a Zombie dungeon to earn some money and levels. We really need to know what the Abyss knows about us. Those guys were after Cordelia before she became a cat girl. That's the only thing that makes sense. The rest of us might be in danger too. Especially with all the changes we've gone through."
"How are we going to train exactly?" Willow asked.
"First thing is to search the gym, the locker rooms and the coaches' offices. Anything could be a Skill Book. If there's a Skill for training it's probably in one of those places. We really should've waited to see if Giles knew of some way to train Int and Wisdom. I have some ideas for that so it's not a total loss," Dawn shrugged.
A quick search of the school yielded a few books. One was for a technique that used sex appeal to stun the target. It wasn't a bad idea to learn it in case they needed a distraction. There was also a book about pole dancing. No one knew how that got there. Dawn figured it was some weird function of Instant Dungeons. Maybe 'empty' Instant Dungeons had some loot to find? None of this stuff was gamebreaking, but it was pretty decent. Still, the pole dancing book opened up a training method that worked Strength, Vitality and Dexterity at the same time. Even better, it gave them a general Dancing Skill. That's when she had a brilliant idea. Her father, Count Orlandeau, used to train on a bunch of wooden poles. It worked the mind and body. The body was obvious as it took perfect balance and muscle control. While it took coordination to locate the next pole without looking.
"So we're going to wear weighted training vests and 'dance' across poles?" Buffy inquired doubtfully.
"Where are we getting the poles?" Jenny asked.
"Right here!" Dawn gestured while discreetly using Garnet Edge. The gym floor buckled and rent asunder as earthen pillars burst from beneath. Each one was roughly a foot off the ground with a couple inches between them.
"Uhhh…They're kinda uneven…" Willow pointed out.
"I think that's kinda the point," Cordelia snarked.
"So we're going to dance across the pillars…" Xander mused.
"While practicing your swordplay and martial arts. Use Yunhon Soul Recovery to restore our Stamina until the MP runs out. Then we're going to work on meditation, debate and strategy," Dawn said.
"Debate?" Xander blinked in confusion.
"Yes, debate. It's not just knowledge that makes for a good debate. There's also being persuasive, knowing your audience and being able to read a room. I have a feeling we're all going to get a lot of points in Wisdom. The first couple times the debate will be on the fly, but eventually we'll start narrowing it down to actual topics. The research for your topic should improve Intelligence. We just need a Speed Reading book to make this easier," Dawn remarked almost to herself.
"And meditation helps with mana recovery and centering the mind. I know how, but I didn't know if it might be a Skill…" Jenny facepalmed.
"Exactly. We don't know what our powers will consider a Skill. So while we rest let's scribe everything we know that might be a Skill," Dawn said.
Dawn used Create Mana Tools to recreate the harnesses her father used. He used a system of adjustable ropes and straps to force the trainee to work harder. Xander used the same spell to put weighted vests, arm weights and wrist weights. The combination might have been too much if not for Troll's Regeneration and Yunhon Soul Recovery. He also had the idea to make blunt training swords out of wood. Willow tried to remind him that Dawn was the one in charge, but she didn't mind. Anything that would keep them alive was embraced. The first hour passed in a haze of pain and exhaustion. Buffy, even without the Slayer enhancement, was still experienced with many forms of violence. Dawn was as well thanks to her Halloween memories. The Summers girls kept their friends very busy. Except when Buff tried a maneuver her Slayer powers could handle, but her unaugmented self couldn't. Everyone took a turn on the floor. On the plus side it did wonders for their situational awareness, martial skill, physical stats and Wisdom. The teens and Miss Calendar even picked up points in Luck with last minute saves. No one wanted to fall two feet to the uneven floor.
When they broke for lunch, Dawn added Scribing and Copying. It wouldn't stop them from eating or relaxing. Jenny critically succeeded when she tried to scribe a basic meditation book. Breath of Life had several useful effects such as increasing Stamina regeneration, MP regeneration and HP regeneration. The most amazing thing was that eventually it could increase the user's MP total beyond the max without limit. Well, that wasn't quite true, as it consumed Soul Stones (a common Zombie drop) and time. Like a day of meditation for 10 MP. Breath of Life could also be sustained even while doing other things. At first level there was a 90% chance of being interrupted, but that would go down with time. Xander enthusiastically reported that it merged with Chunbu Breathing, increasing the effects a full 10%. Jenny made a permanent copy of the Skill. Unfortunately the extra MP was a reward for meditating at full MP for a full day. Willow had some ideas for how to make it viable. Like focusing on physical training or mental training without using their MP Skills.
The afternoon debates were sort of hit or miss. Xander and Cordelia took it as an opportunity to flirt/snark at each other in increasingly lurid ways. Buffy was trying to convince Willow to ask Xander out before Cordelia got her hooks into him. That left Jenny to try to convince Dawn to take it easy and not run them into the ground. The Will They/Won't They pair wandered off behind the stacks to 'research their points more thoroughly.' Dear Buffy utterly failed to help Desperate in Sunnydale with her boyfriend problem. The only one who succeeded was Jenny and only because Dawn gave it up as a lost cause. She really should have Scribed a book on debating. That just left Strategy. It took her a bit to wrangle her charges and to make them clean up (where appropriate).
"Uh, um, is chess really good for battlefield tactics?" Willow asked hesitantly.
"Like don't the really smart generals and stuff play chess?" Buffy pointed out.
"Yeah…no. Chess helps with critical thinking skills, but it's a poor substitute for war. In chess you can take your time and plan your moves. Of course that's important before the battle's actually started," Dawn held up a hand when it looked like Jenny was about to interrupt. "During the battle itself? Everything from your comrade to the weather can change at a moment's notice. Sometimes both at the same time if they have a Mediator or someone with a Frog spell."
"Frog spell?" Buffy whispered to Willow.
"Black Mages can turn their enemies into frogs…" The redhead shivered at the thought.
"What we're going to do is a war game. I will be taking each of you to one side and giving you an instruction. For this first game I'm warning you. In the future I won't tell you beforehand," Dawn grinned unsettlingly.
"Where will you be while we're making fools of ourselves?" Cordelia folded her arms irritably.
"I'll be somewhere in the school stalking you. If you find me then the game ends. If you're struck three times you're out. I will give you ten minutes to prepare. Oh and you're getting your boosts back," Dawn adjusted the barrier to restore their bonuses. Xander and Willow looked more worried even as Buffy smirked confidently.
No one liked Dawn's idea of war games. For one thing she didn't warn them that she released zombies in the hallway. Xander would have cried foul if the ID she made didn't have barricaded windows and doors. They had no way of knowing if it was dark outside. That neatly got around the restriction that said Zombies could only be called at night. Before the game began she led each one away to give them their 'special instructions.' Their initial plan was to stay together and scout the building room by room. No one knew what orders the others were given and it wore on them. Especially since one of Dawn's rules was to tell no one what their orders were. This wasn't a test for them to 'see beneath the beneath' or anything like that. If they broke the rule she was prepared to remove them from the game. Each one grew more tense by the minute as they waited for the other shoe to drop. Team cohesion started to suffer almost immediately.
They were all tied up in the gym before an hour passed.
"Okay, not bad actually," Dawn said to her captive audience.
"Not bad? We lost!" Buffy complained.
"Yeah! I got stuck with these paranoid goofballs…!" Cordelia struggled briefly before subsiding.
"It's to be expected. We were all given secret orders. Of course we'd fail," Xander grumbled.
"What was this supposed to teach us?" Willow asked.
"Maybe it's to teach us that we can't always choose our teammates. Sometimes we just have to grin and bear it. Out in the real world we might have to work with people we don't know or trust," Jenny noted shrewdly.
"Bingo. Today's enemies could be tomorrow's allies. Sometimes they're enemies while being allies. You won't always know the score. The only thing you can do is your best and tighten your armor," Dawn shrugged.
"It was a stupid order anyway. I was told I didn't have a special order," Cordelia tried to shrug, but the glowing binds made it difficult. Dawn canceled the spell.
"Wait, that's what I was told…" Buffy blurted out.
"Me too!" Willow exclaimed.
"None of us had a special order…" Xander rubbed his forehead.
"This wasn't just about strategy, but about trust. You didn't trust each other. Xander tried to be a team player, but Buffy kept running off to scout. Willow couldn't stand talking to Cordelia, but kept her distance from the group. Cordelia snarked about how stupid this was and Jenny tried to be the adult. We'll have to work on that. There are ways to make yourself heard without undermining the team," Dawn shook her head.
The trainees, and trainer, fled the school with a sense of relief. Dawn needed to rethink her training strategy. She wasn't dealing with trained soldiers but more of a guerilla force. In some ways they needed more discipline, but not like this. Count Orlandeau's training was designed to turn even new conscripts into superb fighting machines. The problem is that some of the psychological tests were designed to sift the chaff from the wheat. Dawn wasn't trying to train a SEAL team. If they balked and refused to listen to her it would be a Bad Thing. She couldn't afford to lose their trust now. The only answer was to scale things back. They were fine with the physical training and scribing during lunch. There had to be an easier, or at least not as traumatizing, way to get their Int and Wisdom up. Hopefully she could talk to Giles for some input. He was a Watcher and primary trainer of Buffy after all.
When they got home the girls hit another snag. Their mom was still at the gallery and wouldn't be home until late. Buffy had to quickly grab Dawn before she ran out and grabbed their mother anyway. It was like the universe had it out for their mom. Why should it be this difficult to get her to stick around? Mom didn't used to go to the gallery this often. In fact she usually closed up for an hour to have dinner with them. Not so tonight. She called them to say they could eat without her. The group wanted to do some dungeon runs tonight for money. That left her with an unappealing choice. Did she cut their training short early today, and risk them running off to grind without her, or try to catch mom in the morning?
A Quest pop up appeared for that very question. If she called off training there was a real risk of losing at a minimum 50 points of approval. If she didn't then the disapproval would come from mom at a whopping 200 points. That stupid Drawback was really determined to screw with her. Regretfully, Dawn accepted the smaller reputation loss. She had to talk to their mom tonight. Buffy started to complain, but the youngest Summers was already at her wit's end.
"If you want to go so badly then go! Xander and Willow can set up Illusion Barriers too. I'll let them know what's going on…" Dawn slumped wearily. Buffy hesitated briefly before gathering the younger girl in her arms.
"I know you're strong enough to protect yourself. Mom…really isn't…" Buffy buried her face in Dawn's shoulder. "I know why you're worried. I'm worried too…I didn't want you to be a part of all this…"
The loss of reputation was offset by gaining more love from Buffy. Her sister finally let Dawn see the real source of her anxiety. She wasn't really against Mom finding out about this. What scared her the most was that she might try to get involved and end up hurt. They could train her up until she was as strong as a Slayer. Then they would go even further. By this time next time no one would be the same. The same things that terrorized them before would be a distant memory.
This was their resolve.
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 8
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 640/640
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 1350/1350
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 12 + 12 = 24
Vit: 18 + 11 = 29
Dex: 12 + 22 = 34
Int: 15 + 5 = 20
Wis: 18 + 6 = 24
Luck: 74
CP: 30
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Last edited:
First Key 1.5
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.5
Explaining things to mom took surprisingly little time. Being able to demonstrate their claims helped. It actually took longer to convince her not to pack up and move. She wanted to know what her daughters were doing. Joyce insisted on training with them. That left Dawn in a bit of a quandary. The most efficient training method they had was dancing on poles and whacking each other with sticks. Dawn knew intellectually that they would have to hurt her in sparring to save her life later. That didn't make it any easier. Buffy balked a bit over doing that to their mother, but Joyce was insistent.
"While Buffy works with you on the poles I'm going to try something over here," Dawn gestured at the kitchen table.
"What are you working on?" Joyce asked.
"I want to find more Instant Dungeon patterns. Something other than zombies or whatever comes after that," Dawn shrugged.
"Are we going in without the others?" Buffy inquired.
"Just this once. I also have some cool costumes you can use. Both of them can give special abilities. We can test them out ourselves," Dawn smiled teasingly.
The Dawn she replaced was just as much a fan of RPGs as Xander. Whereas he had to scrounge for his stuff, Mom didn't mind buying her things. Of course she usually let him borrow whatever he needed. It always came back in immaculate condition. How he managed to give something back in better condition boggled the mind. He really was good with his hands. Dawn mentally filed that tidbit of information away.
She couldn't really tell the difference between her old memories and whatever was picked up here. The part where she was an incredible flirt wasn't entirely wrong. If she was closer in age to Xander before then nothing would have stopped her. What put an end to that now was her self appointed mission. She needed to become strong enough to take on the Beast, if she even existed here, and get home. Dawn glanced up to check on her mom and Buffy. The young Gamer winced as Mom took a nasty spill and needed healing.
"Hey…Try this!" Dawn tossed her mom and Buffy a pair of blunt crystal swords. Both glowed with a greenish/white light. She used her ability to imbue the constructs with Regen. A pop up appeared to announce the creation of a new Skill. Ruby Armory. It was an extension of what she did by combining Topaz Blade and Shell to create a shield. Why did it give her the Skill now and not then?
"These won't suddenly crack, right? Glass shards are incredibly sharp," Mom eyed the new sword dubiously.
"Yeah I don't want to get cut to ribbons," Buffy agreed.
"The tooltip says their durability is equal to the Level of Ruby Swordplay multiplied by 10%. If they do shatter…" Dawn conjured a thin knife and broke it on the table. It dissipated harmlessly in seconds, "...they turn to Ether."
"What are you working on anyway?" Buffy asked. "You've kinda been staring at your books."
"I think I can make more dungeons and ID improvements. The only limit on the Gamer is imagination and time. Thing is I'm trying to figure out how to convert a game to a Skill Book," Dawn pointed at the small stack of games besides the books.
"Maybe you could try writing what you know about them. There has to be something that stands out," Mom suggested.
"Let's work on Intelligence and Wisdom training. I think I remember how Dawn did it…" Buffy said. Mom didn't look too thrilled to keep training, but she was game to continue.
Dawn watched them go with a smile. The urge to say 'screw it' and just spend time with them was strong. Good/bad thing was that Gamer's Mind was stronger. This was something they needed to do to be safe. There were just so many threats it was hard to keep up. That didn't even take the Abyss Auction into account. It was with that cheery thought in mind, Dawn turned back to her work. Her mom had a point about trying to tackle the problem directly. She had to come at it from the side. What did she remember the most about Final Fantasy Tactics? The Story Battles. The strategy guide listed them all. Dawn copied the strategy guide all the while keeping her personal knowledge in mind. Not just from her own playthroughs, but from the costume's personal experience. Even with her high Luck it still took nearly ten minutes of constant work to get a success. It was an upgrade to her Instant Dungeons.
[The Zodiac Brave Story - A new challenge mode accessible through the Instant Dungeon. Take part in exciting battles from Final Fantasy Tactics! Story Battle enemies are level locked, but random encounters are averaged to the party. Earn rare and valuable prizes!]
To access it required either level 20 in Instant Dungeons or 'Memories of Ivalice.' Dawn looked it up on her character sheet. Memories of Ivalice was a unique Trait that let her bypass certain requirements. It didn't tell her what specific requirements, but it wasn't hard to guess. She could use stuff derived from Final Fantasy Tactics freely. The girl went through her stack of strategy guides for more Instant Dungeon patterns. Some worked while others didn't. Probably for the best since one of the guides was for Eternal Darkness. Deliberately going into a dungeon based on a Lovecraftian game was just stupid. Gamer's Mind would protect her, Xander and Willow but the others would be screwed. Valkyrie Profile and Parasite Eve might be safe enough. For a given value of 'safe.' Parasite Eve kept the mayhem contained to city level for much of the game. Valkyrie Profile dealt with a highly modified version of Ragnarok. Both offered their own challenges like The Zodiac Brave Story. The last guide was for Koudelka. A sort-of niche RPG done in a tactical grid style like Final Fantasy Tactics. It was a horror game with a central theme around alchemy.
Maybe save that one for when they were higher level or had an Iron Will Skill.
"Dawn? Is this what I think it is?" Joyce asked. Dawn looked up just in time to see the sheer black dress with low cleavage and a black wig. She used Observe before staring off into space at what the spell told her.
"It says 'Mistress of the Dark Outfit' and it's an enchanted outfit. Is that your Elvira costume from before you and Dad…?" Dawn almost said 'got divorced.' Even now it hurt thinking about. Dad didn't even fight for them. He just let them go. Sometimes he tried to be a good dad, but only when he was worried about looking like a jerk.
"Do you think it might be a good idea or a bad one? Buffy explained about the Hellmouth so I'm not sure," Mom shrugged.
"I think so since it's based on Elvira. She's spooky, but also fun and really nice. Dark doesn't mean someone's evil after all," she said. Black Mages could be incredibly nice while White Mages could be right bastards. It was all about the person.
"Can we try out the costumes now? I have to go on patrol soon. You guys can come with me," Buffy returned with the garments.
"Sure," Dawn said. Going vampire hunting with Buffy would be a lot safer now that they all had powers.
"...If you're sure about this…" Joyce eyed her offspring with poorly hidden concern.
The Swordsaint Outfit would be good for anyone on the front line. It conferred the Title 'Greatest Warrior in the Land.' The wearer had to kill over five hundred enemies in melee combat, learn twenty martial techniques and master ten of them. If it followed standard Game logic the Title should give incredible bonuses. The Archmage Out was the same, just replacing 'Warrior' with 'Mage' and martial with magical.
"Do we have a weapon for mom? Y'know, something that keeps her away from the vamps?" Buffy asked her sister.
"She can use the basic Fire spell. I won't let anything get past me. So you do your thing and I'll be a shield," Dawn promised.
"That works," Buffy shrugged.
"We need body armor before I let you go out again. I'll let it go tonight, but this has got to stop," Joyce put her foot down. She understood why Buffy did her patrols. That didn't mean she had to like it though.
"Armor does save lives," Dawn agreed. She used Ruby Armory to construct crystal armor. It was as light as Mage Armor while sacrificing none of their mobility. A stopgap measure to be sure, but a necessary one until they could make something better.
Crystal armor looked pretty, but it wasn't very stealthy. Vampires took one look at their shiny stalkers and took off running. They managed a few kills, and saved a couple people, but it wasn't much. Okay, saving lives was important. Dawn took several minutes to remind herself that every life saved was important. Yes, they missed out on XP from their fleeing enemies, but they were making a difference. If she wanted XP so badly there were Instant Dungeons for that. Good thing her family didn't notice the girl's sudden internal crisis. She didn't want them worrying about her becoming a murderhobo. They wrapped up early before heading home. Yunhon Soul Recovery wiped out their fatigue.
"Now I'm wide awake with nothing to do. What were planning on now?" Joyce stretched. The armor failed at that moment. It made a tinkling sound as the shards fell.
"Maybe we could do a zombie dungeon or see if the guys are still around?" Buffy suggested.
"We can try a special dungeon. It's a pretty easy one I think. Buffy and I are really overleveled, but you're not too bad either," Dawn addressed her mother.
"Okay," Joyce agreed readily. The Summers matriarch was in no hurry to end the night. She was just starting to learn what her daughters were involved with.
Dawn opened the ID Menu to make her choice. It offered a chance at the Prologue battle, but she wanted something easier than that. The one she wanted was marked Magick City of Gariland. Recommended Level: 1. The system told her that once it was cleared she could change the Level to Scaling. The reward for the battle was a Phoenix Down and 1000 dollars. Experiment later, fight now. She wasn't too worried about the loot. All they had were basic clothes and simple weapons. Stuff they could sell to buy better gear. Once the selection was made they were dropped in the back alley of a medieval city.
"Oh God…" Buffy gagged.
"Phew…" Joyce reeled from the rank stench.
"No kidding…" Dawn rubbed her nose vigorously.
"We're bringing Vaseline next time," Joyce decided. Vaseline under the nose should block out the stink.
The commotion drew the attention of two women dressed in plain but serviceable clothes. One jumped down from the rooftop and immediately threw a stone for Joyce's head. Buffy snatched it out of the air and returned it to sender. The blonde Squire let out a death scream as her skull was crushed. Her companion rushed at Dawn with a dagger held low yet fared no better than her companion. The youngest Summers gripped her wrist, twisted at the hip and threw the woman to the ground. She kept twisting until the Squire's own knife pierced her breast. Both corpses vanished in a brief flare of light leaving behind two chests. The one Dawn killed also left a Crystal.
"Oh my god…S-she screamed…" Joyce stood stock still in horror.
"They weren't real…right?" Buffy seemed a lot less sure of herself.
"They're just constructs created for the ID. Now who wants the Crystal? It has the Skill 'Dash' and 'Throw Stone.' Honestly, I think it should go to Mom. She needs a ranged option badly," Dawn said.
"Mom should get it," Buffy agreed quickly.
"We should let Dawn finish them off. She's the only one who can get Crystals from them," Joyce smiled shakily. Buffy and Dawn hugged her tight until the shaking stopped.
Dawn could curse herself later for forgetting that Units in FFT screamed. Their extremely lifelike appearance wasn't helping things. A horrible idea crossed her mind. Could she learn a Talk Skill? Could she cause one of the enemies to turn Traitor and join their party? Would that make them real or just a useful automaton? Dawn would have to test it later and alone. If it did work she didn't want her family to know that they were killing potential sentients. She could just leave the Unit behind and never tell them.
There was a lot she wasn't telling them.
With a heavy heart, and spiraling thoughts, she joined her family in clearing the Dungeon.
AN: Shortish chapter but I wanted to introduce a somewhat realistic take on IDs. I'm not changing the nature of them. Just how a character sees them. I'll put in the results of their solo training in the next chapter.
Explaining things to mom took surprisingly little time. Being able to demonstrate their claims helped. It actually took longer to convince her not to pack up and move. She wanted to know what her daughters were doing. Joyce insisted on training with them. That left Dawn in a bit of a quandary. The most efficient training method they had was dancing on poles and whacking each other with sticks. Dawn knew intellectually that they would have to hurt her in sparring to save her life later. That didn't make it any easier. Buffy balked a bit over doing that to their mother, but Joyce was insistent.
"While Buffy works with you on the poles I'm going to try something over here," Dawn gestured at the kitchen table.
"What are you working on?" Joyce asked.
"I want to find more Instant Dungeon patterns. Something other than zombies or whatever comes after that," Dawn shrugged.
"Are we going in without the others?" Buffy inquired.
"Just this once. I also have some cool costumes you can use. Both of them can give special abilities. We can test them out ourselves," Dawn smiled teasingly.
The Dawn she replaced was just as much a fan of RPGs as Xander. Whereas he had to scrounge for his stuff, Mom didn't mind buying her things. Of course she usually let him borrow whatever he needed. It always came back in immaculate condition. How he managed to give something back in better condition boggled the mind. He really was good with his hands. Dawn mentally filed that tidbit of information away.
She couldn't really tell the difference between her old memories and whatever was picked up here. The part where she was an incredible flirt wasn't entirely wrong. If she was closer in age to Xander before then nothing would have stopped her. What put an end to that now was her self appointed mission. She needed to become strong enough to take on the Beast, if she even existed here, and get home. Dawn glanced up to check on her mom and Buffy. The young Gamer winced as Mom took a nasty spill and needed healing.
"Hey…Try this!" Dawn tossed her mom and Buffy a pair of blunt crystal swords. Both glowed with a greenish/white light. She used her ability to imbue the constructs with Regen. A pop up appeared to announce the creation of a new Skill. Ruby Armory. It was an extension of what she did by combining Topaz Blade and Shell to create a shield. Why did it give her the Skill now and not then?
"These won't suddenly crack, right? Glass shards are incredibly sharp," Mom eyed the new sword dubiously.
"Yeah I don't want to get cut to ribbons," Buffy agreed.
"The tooltip says their durability is equal to the Level of Ruby Swordplay multiplied by 10%. If they do shatter…" Dawn conjured a thin knife and broke it on the table. It dissipated harmlessly in seconds, "...they turn to Ether."
"What are you working on anyway?" Buffy asked. "You've kinda been staring at your books."
"I think I can make more dungeons and ID improvements. The only limit on the Gamer is imagination and time. Thing is I'm trying to figure out how to convert a game to a Skill Book," Dawn pointed at the small stack of games besides the books.
"Maybe you could try writing what you know about them. There has to be something that stands out," Mom suggested.
"Let's work on Intelligence and Wisdom training. I think I remember how Dawn did it…" Buffy said. Mom didn't look too thrilled to keep training, but she was game to continue.
Dawn watched them go with a smile. The urge to say 'screw it' and just spend time with them was strong. Good/bad thing was that Gamer's Mind was stronger. This was something they needed to do to be safe. There were just so many threats it was hard to keep up. That didn't even take the Abyss Auction into account. It was with that cheery thought in mind, Dawn turned back to her work. Her mom had a point about trying to tackle the problem directly. She had to come at it from the side. What did she remember the most about Final Fantasy Tactics? The Story Battles. The strategy guide listed them all. Dawn copied the strategy guide all the while keeping her personal knowledge in mind. Not just from her own playthroughs, but from the costume's personal experience. Even with her high Luck it still took nearly ten minutes of constant work to get a success. It was an upgrade to her Instant Dungeons.
[The Zodiac Brave Story - A new challenge mode accessible through the Instant Dungeon. Take part in exciting battles from Final Fantasy Tactics! Story Battle enemies are level locked, but random encounters are averaged to the party. Earn rare and valuable prizes!]
To access it required either level 20 in Instant Dungeons or 'Memories of Ivalice.' Dawn looked it up on her character sheet. Memories of Ivalice was a unique Trait that let her bypass certain requirements. It didn't tell her what specific requirements, but it wasn't hard to guess. She could use stuff derived from Final Fantasy Tactics freely. The girl went through her stack of strategy guides for more Instant Dungeon patterns. Some worked while others didn't. Probably for the best since one of the guides was for Eternal Darkness. Deliberately going into a dungeon based on a Lovecraftian game was just stupid. Gamer's Mind would protect her, Xander and Willow but the others would be screwed. Valkyrie Profile and Parasite Eve might be safe enough. For a given value of 'safe.' Parasite Eve kept the mayhem contained to city level for much of the game. Valkyrie Profile dealt with a highly modified version of Ragnarok. Both offered their own challenges like The Zodiac Brave Story. The last guide was for Koudelka. A sort-of niche RPG done in a tactical grid style like Final Fantasy Tactics. It was a horror game with a central theme around alchemy.
Maybe save that one for when they were higher level or had an Iron Will Skill.
"Dawn? Is this what I think it is?" Joyce asked. Dawn looked up just in time to see the sheer black dress with low cleavage and a black wig. She used Observe before staring off into space at what the spell told her.
"It says 'Mistress of the Dark Outfit' and it's an enchanted outfit. Is that your Elvira costume from before you and Dad…?" Dawn almost said 'got divorced.' Even now it hurt thinking about. Dad didn't even fight for them. He just let them go. Sometimes he tried to be a good dad, but only when he was worried about looking like a jerk.
"Do you think it might be a good idea or a bad one? Buffy explained about the Hellmouth so I'm not sure," Mom shrugged.
"I think so since it's based on Elvira. She's spooky, but also fun and really nice. Dark doesn't mean someone's evil after all," she said. Black Mages could be incredibly nice while White Mages could be right bastards. It was all about the person.
"Can we try out the costumes now? I have to go on patrol soon. You guys can come with me," Buffy returned with the garments.
"Sure," Dawn said. Going vampire hunting with Buffy would be a lot safer now that they all had powers.
"...If you're sure about this…" Joyce eyed her offspring with poorly hidden concern.
The Swordsaint Outfit would be good for anyone on the front line. It conferred the Title 'Greatest Warrior in the Land.' The wearer had to kill over five hundred enemies in melee combat, learn twenty martial techniques and master ten of them. If it followed standard Game logic the Title should give incredible bonuses. The Archmage Out was the same, just replacing 'Warrior' with 'Mage' and martial with magical.
"Do we have a weapon for mom? Y'know, something that keeps her away from the vamps?" Buffy asked her sister.
"She can use the basic Fire spell. I won't let anything get past me. So you do your thing and I'll be a shield," Dawn promised.
"That works," Buffy shrugged.
"We need body armor before I let you go out again. I'll let it go tonight, but this has got to stop," Joyce put her foot down. She understood why Buffy did her patrols. That didn't mean she had to like it though.
"Armor does save lives," Dawn agreed. She used Ruby Armory to construct crystal armor. It was as light as Mage Armor while sacrificing none of their mobility. A stopgap measure to be sure, but a necessary one until they could make something better.
Crystal armor looked pretty, but it wasn't very stealthy. Vampires took one look at their shiny stalkers and took off running. They managed a few kills, and saved a couple people, but it wasn't much. Okay, saving lives was important. Dawn took several minutes to remind herself that every life saved was important. Yes, they missed out on XP from their fleeing enemies, but they were making a difference. If she wanted XP so badly there were Instant Dungeons for that. Good thing her family didn't notice the girl's sudden internal crisis. She didn't want them worrying about her becoming a murderhobo. They wrapped up early before heading home. Yunhon Soul Recovery wiped out their fatigue.
"Now I'm wide awake with nothing to do. What were planning on now?" Joyce stretched. The armor failed at that moment. It made a tinkling sound as the shards fell.
"Maybe we could do a zombie dungeon or see if the guys are still around?" Buffy suggested.
"We can try a special dungeon. It's a pretty easy one I think. Buffy and I are really overleveled, but you're not too bad either," Dawn addressed her mother.
"Okay," Joyce agreed readily. The Summers matriarch was in no hurry to end the night. She was just starting to learn what her daughters were involved with.
Dawn opened the ID Menu to make her choice. It offered a chance at the Prologue battle, but she wanted something easier than that. The one she wanted was marked Magick City of Gariland. Recommended Level: 1. The system told her that once it was cleared she could change the Level to Scaling. The reward for the battle was a Phoenix Down and 1000 dollars. Experiment later, fight now. She wasn't too worried about the loot. All they had were basic clothes and simple weapons. Stuff they could sell to buy better gear. Once the selection was made they were dropped in the back alley of a medieval city.
"Oh God…" Buffy gagged.
"Phew…" Joyce reeled from the rank stench.
"No kidding…" Dawn rubbed her nose vigorously.
"We're bringing Vaseline next time," Joyce decided. Vaseline under the nose should block out the stink.
The commotion drew the attention of two women dressed in plain but serviceable clothes. One jumped down from the rooftop and immediately threw a stone for Joyce's head. Buffy snatched it out of the air and returned it to sender. The blonde Squire let out a death scream as her skull was crushed. Her companion rushed at Dawn with a dagger held low yet fared no better than her companion. The youngest Summers gripped her wrist, twisted at the hip and threw the woman to the ground. She kept twisting until the Squire's own knife pierced her breast. Both corpses vanished in a brief flare of light leaving behind two chests. The one Dawn killed also left a Crystal.
"Oh my god…S-she screamed…" Joyce stood stock still in horror.
"They weren't real…right?" Buffy seemed a lot less sure of herself.
"They're just constructs created for the ID. Now who wants the Crystal? It has the Skill 'Dash' and 'Throw Stone.' Honestly, I think it should go to Mom. She needs a ranged option badly," Dawn said.
"Mom should get it," Buffy agreed quickly.
"We should let Dawn finish them off. She's the only one who can get Crystals from them," Joyce smiled shakily. Buffy and Dawn hugged her tight until the shaking stopped.
Dawn could curse herself later for forgetting that Units in FFT screamed. Their extremely lifelike appearance wasn't helping things. A horrible idea crossed her mind. Could she learn a Talk Skill? Could she cause one of the enemies to turn Traitor and join their party? Would that make them real or just a useful automaton? Dawn would have to test it later and alone. If it did work she didn't want her family to know that they were killing potential sentients. She could just leave the Unit behind and never tell them.
There was a lot she wasn't telling them.
With a heavy heart, and spiraling thoughts, she joined her family in clearing the Dungeon.
AN: Shortish chapter but I wanted to introduce a somewhat realistic take on IDs. I'm not changing the nature of them. Just how a character sees them. I'll put in the results of their solo training in the next chapter.
First Key 1.6
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.6
Picking on a bunch of Level 1's repeatedly got boring after a while. According to Mom it was too much like bullying for her peace of mind. Though she did approve of taking it slow and steady. The Crystals remained useful as each one gave unique abilities or XP bonuses to existing ones. Their Throw Stone Skill was level 15 and climbing. Ruby Swordplay was more powerful of course, but the conjured stones were cheap and didn't glow. Perfect for sniping from cover. The Chemist gave buffs on consumables. One of the enemy Chemists yielded Maintenance. A permanent increase to the durability of their gear was very nice. Dawn Scribed it until she gained a Mending Spell. Her Inventory was filling up with cheap daggers, broadswords and clothes. The Clothes functioned like in FFT by giving the wearer extra HP and MP. Dawn kind of forgot about the quirk of Instant Dungeons. They killed so many Squires and Chemists that a Boss appeared. Instead of a single foe it was a full party led by Ramza and Delita. That fight was a real wake up call. They decided to stop for the night and get some sleep. Mom wanted to come with them to meet the others and get more training.
"I know I shouldn't be complaining, but ugh! These clothes are hideous!" Buffy gestured at the Female Squire Outfit in disgust.
"I actually kind of like it," Mom twirled her skirts. The Female Chemist Outfit did look good on her.
"They were free and increased the XP gain for the associated skills. I'm not complaining," Dawn said.
"Yeah well…" Buffy plucked at the dress petulantly.
"You're just upset we didn't run into Angel," Dawn teased.
"Wait. Isn't he that older man? I thought he was in his twenties," Joyce arched an eyebrow. Dawn winced. She wasn't trying to get Buffy in trouble. Her sister gave the younger girl a stink eye while glancing nervously at their mother.
"Well…about that…" Buffy started to say.
Joyce wanted to meet Angel in person before she made up her mind. Honestly, it was a better result than either girl was expecting. She definitely wanted to have words with Giles, but at least not with sharp objects. Thanks to their run through Gariland they had a lot of pointy things. Also a bunch of Potions, Phoenix Downs, Antidotes and 6,000 dollars. Dawn really wanted to see what would happen if she combined the Primal Knowledge with the Crystals. Would she make Job Crystals? Until her Wisdom was 35 it would remain a curiosity. She had enough CP to do just that, but stat points were still plentiful. There just wasn't a need yet.
The Summers women got up early the next morning, ate breakfast and called Willow to check on their plans. According to the redhead they trained a ton last night. The fight against the Zombie Boss, the Legion Zombie, was a little touch and go but they managed. No wonder Dawn saw her approval rating drop with the others. She had Buffy with her. That cut their battle strength significantly. Dawn knew from first hand experience just how busted her sister could be. They did get a bunch of Skill Books and money though. Giles said that healing potions can sell for as much as 8 to 11k in the Abyss. Joyce nearly went catatonic. They agreed to meet up and consolidate resources. As soon as they arrived Mom dragged Giles off into the office for a little 'chat.' Jenny followed to prevent bloodshed. That left the teens to discuss things.
"We had to get Mom trained up to join us. If we didn't then Dawn wouldn't have made a medieval city dungeon! There were like so many 'squires' and 'chemists' running around. I almost felt bad kicking their butts," Buffy might have been more believable if she wasn't grinning.
"What kind of loot did you get?" Willow asked.
"You know the generic stuff the units drop? That stuff. 10 Potions, 5 Phoenix Downs, 3 Antidotes. The Clothes and Hats increase HP and MP. We also have daggers, broadswords and the Ramza Boss dropped Battle Boots. I know that in the game they gave a +1 to Move. I can't see what it does in real life," Dawn shrugged. Xander accepted the sturdily built boots and used Observe.
"+40% to movement speed? Wow…That's pretty good…" Xander nodded slowly.
"Tell them about the Outfits and Crystals," Buffy interrupted.
"Crystals!?" Willow and Xander yelped. They both knew what those were.
"Okay, judging by the loser duo's reactions I'm guessing they're not just New Age crap?" Cordelia noted shrewdly.
"The Crystals give a Skill based on the enemy killed. If you already have the Skill they give a temporary XP buff and restore HP/MP/Status. The Outfits increase the XP gains for associated Skills. Ramza and Delita had 'Wish.' It's probably more useful than the one in FFT, but Yunhon Soul Recovery is still better," Dawn said. Wish allowed the user to sacrifice some HP to heal another by twice the amount. If it was a case of Heal Kills Zombie she might learn it, but it was just healing. No attribute.
"How do we get the Crystal book?" Xander asked.
"Get your Wisdom to 35. I also have a book with Secrets of the Primal. It teaches a special Skill for gaining Spirit Gems from defeated creatures. I'm planning on combining the two when my Wisdom is high enough," Dawn said.
"Good idea. You really don't want to make a mess with a Primal Ritual," Jenny said with a shudder.
"No kidding," Xander muttered. Willow and Dawn quickly hugged him. Buffy opened her mouth before stopping herself. This wasn't the time to remind him that he claimed to forget the incident.
Mother and Watcher returned. Joyce looked pleased while Giles almost had grill marks. Willow explained the Skill Books they gained. Speed Reading, Cooking, Blacksmithing and Secrets of the Sacred Forge. The Sacred Forge Skill Book increased Fire Resistance, Strength and Vitality. Dawn's fingers itched to give it a try. Xander wasn't that far behind her. They sent Giles off with the Potions to sell while keeping the rest. A universal Antidote and limited resurrection were just too useful to sell. No matter how much they could get. That's when Willow laid the Enchanting Book on them. She really wanted to spend her CP to have a high enough Int for the Skill. He returned half an hour later.
"Now that we have Speed Reading it's time to read the library. I'll even cast Haste on you guys," Dawn winked, but it was clear she wasn't actually kidding.
"What if we find a Skill Book?" Willow asked.
"Copy it out first, please," Giles remarked dryly.
"Then Scribe it until you get a Critical Success. We should be doing that with all of our Skill Books," Dawn remarked.
They did get Giant's Strength, Skin of Bronze, Basic Elemental Spells, Imbuing Mana into Objects and Teleportation Sigils. Dawn's unique nature meant that the teleportation spell was much cheaper for her than the rest. Apparently the Summers Clan was behind in their physical training. Everyone else was almost twelve points higher than them in everything. Once more they were back to dancing across the uneven poles with weighted gear and all buffs active. Dawn made some of the surfaces slipperier than others just for variety. Thanks to her 'wonderful' contribution everyone earned a bunch of levels in Damage Resistance. Surprisingly no one thanked her for that. Weird.
While they ate the Scoobies started reading the library. They really thought Dawn was kidding? She made a useful discovery in the process. Apparently, reading the book was good enough to get the Skill. That didn't invalidate the Scribe/Copy Skill. It just meant that they could start their own library of techniques. Some of the books even gave Wisdom just for reading. Demonic Law gave both Intelligence and Wisdom. Despite her desire to make them follow through, she let them just practice Demonic Law. Being able to write a proper magical contract could save their lives. At least it should make it harder to catch them in an unfavorable agreement.
"Can we go smack around some zombies now?" Cordelia asked (read: whined).
"Might as well. Unless Dawn wants to take us through Gariland~," Xander singsonged playfully.
"Okay okay…You all did very well today. We'll finish getting to 35 tomorrow," Dawn relented.
"Let's just bring it up now. Why are we waiting?" Cordelia folded her arms.
"Because CP is a limited resource," Willow said miserably. She wanted the Enchanting Skill, Primal Skill and Crystal too. It looked like at least she regretted putting Dawn in charge of training.
"My Intelligence reached 50 and stopped increasing. Either it takes so much XP that it's not even worth it or there is a cap," Jenny reported.
Now that sucked. Most of them were close to 50 Int now. If there was a cap then it would actually be smarter to use their CP now. Dawn still wanted to get their Wisdom to 35 naturally. She was only a point away herself. The rest were sitting pretty at or just above thirty. Giles drew her to one side.
"You may have a mutiny on your hands soon. Your training regimen, while effective, was not designed with modern American teenagers in mind," he reminded her.
"I'll let Willow and Jenny take their Int up to 100. It just bugs me that they want to use limited resources when we're not even maxed out yet," Dawn frowned. Would her friends back home have enough patience? Wrong question. Would they have the luxury to wait? No, they wouldn't. She could remind them that they were using Time Dilated Dungeons, but it wouldn't do any good.
Thankfully it seemed that killing Zombies sufficed. Giles did use CP for his Int, but that was because he believed they needed an Enchanter now. He and Xander remained up in the bleachers working on magical wooden jewelry. Down below it was pandemonium. Dawn, Buffy and Joyce acted as the party tanks while Cordelia and Willow provided ranged support. The Zombies did drop Crystals, but just the standard healing variety. The enemy could blunder into them just like in the game. That added a whole new dimension to the battle. The most disgusting sight was the Legion Zombie. It was easily taller than houses and resembled a giant rotting corpse stripped of flesh. Buffy used a Chunbu empowered blow to take out its knee. That was the signal to quickly attack the boss before she finished it off.
One round of Zombie pounding became two. Then they wanted a tour of Gariland Magick City. Of course the teens felt invincible and wanted a real challenge. Instead of the Level 1 battle they wanted to try the scaling one. The adults were much more cautious. Dawn flat out hated the idea. Xander and Willow knew how Final Fantasy Tactics works. Even the easiest area, the Mandalia Plains, could be a nightmare with the wrong configuration. Higher levels just made it worse!
The enemies were Level 22. Now that doesn't sound so bad except for one thing. Some of the Squires were replaced by Archers and Knights. Which meant that there would be Black Mages and White Mages if the pattern held. A patrol walked by composed of a Knight, Chemist and Squire. Archers perched on the rooftops to provide fire support. Dawn was in the middle of trying to plan a strategy when Xander called out "Flame Wave!" and demolished a house. The screams of vanquished enemies reached their ears. That seemed to be the call to summon even more enemies to their location. The youngest Summers watched in bemusement as they eschewed conventional wisdom and proceeded to demolish everything. They summoned the Boss in record time. Ramza and Delita were still Squires, but using Ramza's second chapter commands. The rest of their troops were a Monk, Samurai, Ninja and a Dancer.
"Kill the Dancer!" Willow screamed in panic.
Dawn watched with a deadpan expression as more of Gariland vanished. Willow even created an entirely new spell out of sheer panic. 'Shiny' was basically Ultima but even more laughably broken. The backlash of its creation, and subsequent casting, knocked the redhead out cold. Good thing her overpowered spell destroyed everyone else in the process. What made it worse was they didn't get a single Crystal. The person who had the Skill didn't even get a chance to act.
"More Wisdom would've prevented this," Dawn deadpanned before suddenly grinning. It wasn't a nice one. "Next time we come here you're going to do this without leveling the place. After all, we didn't get a chance to search for loot. The biggest insult is that none of these guys had anything better than the basic stuff. We need to keep training."
Their looks of stunned horror warmed her heart. She would keep them alive no matter the cost.
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 790/790
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 2950/2950
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 49
Wis: 34
Luck: 77
CP: 45
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 8 + 3 = 11
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 790/790
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 1500/1500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 20
Wis: 24
Luck: 77
CP: 45
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 8 + 3 = 11
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 790/790
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 1500/1500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 20
Wis: 24
Luck: 77
CP: 45
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Picking on a bunch of Level 1's repeatedly got boring after a while. According to Mom it was too much like bullying for her peace of mind. Though she did approve of taking it slow and steady. The Crystals remained useful as each one gave unique abilities or XP bonuses to existing ones. Their Throw Stone Skill was level 15 and climbing. Ruby Swordplay was more powerful of course, but the conjured stones were cheap and didn't glow. Perfect for sniping from cover. The Chemist gave buffs on consumables. One of the enemy Chemists yielded Maintenance. A permanent increase to the durability of their gear was very nice. Dawn Scribed it until she gained a Mending Spell. Her Inventory was filling up with cheap daggers, broadswords and clothes. The Clothes functioned like in FFT by giving the wearer extra HP and MP. Dawn kind of forgot about the quirk of Instant Dungeons. They killed so many Squires and Chemists that a Boss appeared. Instead of a single foe it was a full party led by Ramza and Delita. That fight was a real wake up call. They decided to stop for the night and get some sleep. Mom wanted to come with them to meet the others and get more training.
"I know I shouldn't be complaining, but ugh! These clothes are hideous!" Buffy gestured at the Female Squire Outfit in disgust.
"I actually kind of like it," Mom twirled her skirts. The Female Chemist Outfit did look good on her.
"They were free and increased the XP gain for the associated skills. I'm not complaining," Dawn said.
"Yeah well…" Buffy plucked at the dress petulantly.
"You're just upset we didn't run into Angel," Dawn teased.
"Wait. Isn't he that older man? I thought he was in his twenties," Joyce arched an eyebrow. Dawn winced. She wasn't trying to get Buffy in trouble. Her sister gave the younger girl a stink eye while glancing nervously at their mother.
"Well…about that…" Buffy started to say.
Joyce wanted to meet Angel in person before she made up her mind. Honestly, it was a better result than either girl was expecting. She definitely wanted to have words with Giles, but at least not with sharp objects. Thanks to their run through Gariland they had a lot of pointy things. Also a bunch of Potions, Phoenix Downs, Antidotes and 6,000 dollars. Dawn really wanted to see what would happen if she combined the Primal Knowledge with the Crystals. Would she make Job Crystals? Until her Wisdom was 35 it would remain a curiosity. She had enough CP to do just that, but stat points were still plentiful. There just wasn't a need yet.
The Summers women got up early the next morning, ate breakfast and called Willow to check on their plans. According to the redhead they trained a ton last night. The fight against the Zombie Boss, the Legion Zombie, was a little touch and go but they managed. No wonder Dawn saw her approval rating drop with the others. She had Buffy with her. That cut their battle strength significantly. Dawn knew from first hand experience just how busted her sister could be. They did get a bunch of Skill Books and money though. Giles said that healing potions can sell for as much as 8 to 11k in the Abyss. Joyce nearly went catatonic. They agreed to meet up and consolidate resources. As soon as they arrived Mom dragged Giles off into the office for a little 'chat.' Jenny followed to prevent bloodshed. That left the teens to discuss things.
"We had to get Mom trained up to join us. If we didn't then Dawn wouldn't have made a medieval city dungeon! There were like so many 'squires' and 'chemists' running around. I almost felt bad kicking their butts," Buffy might have been more believable if she wasn't grinning.
"What kind of loot did you get?" Willow asked.
"You know the generic stuff the units drop? That stuff. 10 Potions, 5 Phoenix Downs, 3 Antidotes. The Clothes and Hats increase HP and MP. We also have daggers, broadswords and the Ramza Boss dropped Battle Boots. I know that in the game they gave a +1 to Move. I can't see what it does in real life," Dawn shrugged. Xander accepted the sturdily built boots and used Observe.
"+40% to movement speed? Wow…That's pretty good…" Xander nodded slowly.
"Tell them about the Outfits and Crystals," Buffy interrupted.
"Crystals!?" Willow and Xander yelped. They both knew what those were.
"Okay, judging by the loser duo's reactions I'm guessing they're not just New Age crap?" Cordelia noted shrewdly.
"The Crystals give a Skill based on the enemy killed. If you already have the Skill they give a temporary XP buff and restore HP/MP/Status. The Outfits increase the XP gains for associated Skills. Ramza and Delita had 'Wish.' It's probably more useful than the one in FFT, but Yunhon Soul Recovery is still better," Dawn said. Wish allowed the user to sacrifice some HP to heal another by twice the amount. If it was a case of Heal Kills Zombie she might learn it, but it was just healing. No attribute.
"How do we get the Crystal book?" Xander asked.
"Get your Wisdom to 35. I also have a book with Secrets of the Primal. It teaches a special Skill for gaining Spirit Gems from defeated creatures. I'm planning on combining the two when my Wisdom is high enough," Dawn said.
"Good idea. You really don't want to make a mess with a Primal Ritual," Jenny said with a shudder.
"No kidding," Xander muttered. Willow and Dawn quickly hugged him. Buffy opened her mouth before stopping herself. This wasn't the time to remind him that he claimed to forget the incident.
Mother and Watcher returned. Joyce looked pleased while Giles almost had grill marks. Willow explained the Skill Books they gained. Speed Reading, Cooking, Blacksmithing and Secrets of the Sacred Forge. The Sacred Forge Skill Book increased Fire Resistance, Strength and Vitality. Dawn's fingers itched to give it a try. Xander wasn't that far behind her. They sent Giles off with the Potions to sell while keeping the rest. A universal Antidote and limited resurrection were just too useful to sell. No matter how much they could get. That's when Willow laid the Enchanting Book on them. She really wanted to spend her CP to have a high enough Int for the Skill. He returned half an hour later.
"Now that we have Speed Reading it's time to read the library. I'll even cast Haste on you guys," Dawn winked, but it was clear she wasn't actually kidding.
"What if we find a Skill Book?" Willow asked.
"Copy it out first, please," Giles remarked dryly.
"Then Scribe it until you get a Critical Success. We should be doing that with all of our Skill Books," Dawn remarked.
They did get Giant's Strength, Skin of Bronze, Basic Elemental Spells, Imbuing Mana into Objects and Teleportation Sigils. Dawn's unique nature meant that the teleportation spell was much cheaper for her than the rest. Apparently the Summers Clan was behind in their physical training. Everyone else was almost twelve points higher than them in everything. Once more they were back to dancing across the uneven poles with weighted gear and all buffs active. Dawn made some of the surfaces slipperier than others just for variety. Thanks to her 'wonderful' contribution everyone earned a bunch of levels in Damage Resistance. Surprisingly no one thanked her for that. Weird.
While they ate the Scoobies started reading the library. They really thought Dawn was kidding? She made a useful discovery in the process. Apparently, reading the book was good enough to get the Skill. That didn't invalidate the Scribe/Copy Skill. It just meant that they could start their own library of techniques. Some of the books even gave Wisdom just for reading. Demonic Law gave both Intelligence and Wisdom. Despite her desire to make them follow through, she let them just practice Demonic Law. Being able to write a proper magical contract could save their lives. At least it should make it harder to catch them in an unfavorable agreement.
"Can we go smack around some zombies now?" Cordelia asked (read: whined).
"Might as well. Unless Dawn wants to take us through Gariland~," Xander singsonged playfully.
"Okay okay…You all did very well today. We'll finish getting to 35 tomorrow," Dawn relented.
"Let's just bring it up now. Why are we waiting?" Cordelia folded her arms.
"Because CP is a limited resource," Willow said miserably. She wanted the Enchanting Skill, Primal Skill and Crystal too. It looked like at least she regretted putting Dawn in charge of training.
"My Intelligence reached 50 and stopped increasing. Either it takes so much XP that it's not even worth it or there is a cap," Jenny reported.
Now that sucked. Most of them were close to 50 Int now. If there was a cap then it would actually be smarter to use their CP now. Dawn still wanted to get their Wisdom to 35 naturally. She was only a point away herself. The rest were sitting pretty at or just above thirty. Giles drew her to one side.
"You may have a mutiny on your hands soon. Your training regimen, while effective, was not designed with modern American teenagers in mind," he reminded her.
"I'll let Willow and Jenny take their Int up to 100. It just bugs me that they want to use limited resources when we're not even maxed out yet," Dawn frowned. Would her friends back home have enough patience? Wrong question. Would they have the luxury to wait? No, they wouldn't. She could remind them that they were using Time Dilated Dungeons, but it wouldn't do any good.
Thankfully it seemed that killing Zombies sufficed. Giles did use CP for his Int, but that was because he believed they needed an Enchanter now. He and Xander remained up in the bleachers working on magical wooden jewelry. Down below it was pandemonium. Dawn, Buffy and Joyce acted as the party tanks while Cordelia and Willow provided ranged support. The Zombies did drop Crystals, but just the standard healing variety. The enemy could blunder into them just like in the game. That added a whole new dimension to the battle. The most disgusting sight was the Legion Zombie. It was easily taller than houses and resembled a giant rotting corpse stripped of flesh. Buffy used a Chunbu empowered blow to take out its knee. That was the signal to quickly attack the boss before she finished it off.
One round of Zombie pounding became two. Then they wanted a tour of Gariland Magick City. Of course the teens felt invincible and wanted a real challenge. Instead of the Level 1 battle they wanted to try the scaling one. The adults were much more cautious. Dawn flat out hated the idea. Xander and Willow knew how Final Fantasy Tactics works. Even the easiest area, the Mandalia Plains, could be a nightmare with the wrong configuration. Higher levels just made it worse!
The enemies were Level 22. Now that doesn't sound so bad except for one thing. Some of the Squires were replaced by Archers and Knights. Which meant that there would be Black Mages and White Mages if the pattern held. A patrol walked by composed of a Knight, Chemist and Squire. Archers perched on the rooftops to provide fire support. Dawn was in the middle of trying to plan a strategy when Xander called out "Flame Wave!" and demolished a house. The screams of vanquished enemies reached their ears. That seemed to be the call to summon even more enemies to their location. The youngest Summers watched in bemusement as they eschewed conventional wisdom and proceeded to demolish everything. They summoned the Boss in record time. Ramza and Delita were still Squires, but using Ramza's second chapter commands. The rest of their troops were a Monk, Samurai, Ninja and a Dancer.
"Kill the Dancer!" Willow screamed in panic.
Dawn watched with a deadpan expression as more of Gariland vanished. Willow even created an entirely new spell out of sheer panic. 'Shiny' was basically Ultima but even more laughably broken. The backlash of its creation, and subsequent casting, knocked the redhead out cold. Good thing her overpowered spell destroyed everyone else in the process. What made it worse was they didn't get a single Crystal. The person who had the Skill didn't even get a chance to act.
"More Wisdom would've prevented this," Dawn deadpanned before suddenly grinning. It wasn't a nice one. "Next time we come here you're going to do this without leveling the place. After all, we didn't get a chance to search for loot. The biggest insult is that none of these guys had anything better than the basic stuff. We need to keep training."
Their looks of stunned horror warmed her heart. She would keep them alive no matter the cost.
[Status]
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 790/790
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 2950/2950
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 49
Wis: 34
Luck: 77
CP: 45
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
First Key 1.7
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.7
They did a few more runs through Gariland, but this time without leveling the place. The first time they accomplished it, Dawn gave them all copies of Ruby Swordplay. That made them happy. She remembered, belatedly, Count Orlandeau's maxim about keeping the troops happy. The trick was to find what they wanted and use it to improve their performance. Before they parted for the night the group earned several levels and a ton of gear. Oh and can't forget the Job Outfits. Squire, Chemist, Archer and a unique White Mage garment. The hood had kitty ears! Each one came with a unique title related to the Class.
"I'm headed over to Willow's. Her folks are out of town and she gets lonely," Xander mentioned to Dawn.
"Maybe I could come over?" Dawn turned to her mother.
"Of course dear. Just don't leave until morning," Joyce admonished. Xander, Willow and Dawn grinned.
"I have to do a patrol before it gets too late. Vampires usually go home after the prey's gone to bed," Buffy shrugged.
"I might join you," Joyce decided. Mother and eldest daughter smiled at one another. Dawn happily claimed hugs.
"That leaves me and Rupert. You really should just let me fix up your computer…" Jenny linked arms with the more staid librarian.
"Quite right…I almost was unable to purchase the Giant's Strength book…" He remarked as they walked away.
The trip back to Willow's was made in an empty ID. It would take a very stupid Vampire indeed to mess with them, but why take chances? Dawn relented when Willow said that she really wanted to work on Enchanting stuff. If they were going to make a habit of marathoning dungeons then enchanted gear was essential. The redhead squealed and kissed Dawn on the cheek before bringing her Intelligence up to 100. Dawn blinked in stupefaction while Xander chuckled.
"What is zis fascination with the fairer sex, eh?" Xander wiggled his eyebrows.
"It was just a cheek kiss," Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but you've been behaving yourself lately so someone has to make with the innuendo," Xander reminded her jokingly.
"Xander-" Dawn started to say before Willow's startled yelp interrupted.
"Guys! I got a Skill at Int 100 for Telepathy and my Medium Mana Capacity upgraded to Heavy," Willow blurted out in a rush.
"Wait. Are you saying that getting 100 in a Stat creates new Skills?" Dawn asked in disbelief.
"Oh yeah that's a thing. Huh…Maybe it would be better to wait for my Int and Wisdom to hit 50 normally," Xander realized.
"That's something we all would've been better off knowing," Dawn pointed out. The lone male in the group raised his hands.
"Sorry, sorry…I wasn't sure how much would remain accurate," Xander explained.
"So finish your studying buster…" Willow said sternly before finishing with a glum,"...While I work on my Wisdom…"
While Willow worked on Enchanting, Xander and Dawn busily worked on getting their Int to 50. The best Skill for training their mental stats was Demonic Law. Which made a certain amount of sense actually. One had to be intelligent to know the law and wise enough to avoid the common pitfalls. Even the uncommon pitfalls. It was entirely possible to write a magical contract wrong. With the cost being anything from a life to a soul no one wanted to screw this up. Dawn picked up the remaining point in Intelligence before quickly bringing it up to 100. Her Mage Trait evolved to include double MP. Like Willow she also gained a unique Skill: Ruby Arcanum. Essentially it allowed her to infuse Ruby Swordplay with other magic. Willow was able to learn it, but Xander still needed some work. That's when she noticed he wasn't paying attention. They had the movie The Craft for background noise. He seemed especially interested in the ritual board. Xander grinned manically as he set down a duplicate ritual board.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Here. Just touch this and pour some mana into it…" Xander suited action to words.
"Okay?" Willow seemed a little unsure, but did as she was told.
"Might as well," Dawn shrugged. They all had Yunhon Soul Recovery. If this did something really bad they could fix it in theory.
Suddenly she wasn't so sure about this. She trusted Xander, but then he would start acting in an alien manner. Spontaneously creating something and then expecting everyone to go along with his idea. Willow had a similar impulse control problem. Hers caused the redhead to create super lethal spells with no prep work or research. Dawn analyzed the board closely as the mana pooled in the center. So far so good. An exquisitely crafted wooden bracelet was placed in the center. Willow opened the Enchanting menu and added 5 points of Mana Regen. Their combined magic dipped a little resulting in a Bracelet of Mana Regen +5 MP per minute. The other result was they got a Skill for Ritual Magic.
"Ah ha!" Xander crowed with delight.
"Ritual Magic…Very nice," Dawn nodded approvingly. It pooled their MP and MP Regen together along with any modifiers. Quite an economical solution to the high cost of Enchanting.
"No, he got something else," Willow realized.
"Enchanting level 1," Xander said smugly.
"The universe forgot to check if you met the requirements. It gave you the Skill because you earned XP with us," Dawn deadpanned.
"Do you think it's possible to do that with other Skills?" Willow asked excitedly.
"Probably," Xander replied agreeably.
"Now I'm put in an awkward position. You're making me a killjoy. I really think it's not a good idea to do this too much. Some of these Skills have Stat Requirements for a reason. Like the Primal Spirit Skill. Wisdom governs things like basic reason and common sense. If we used a Ritual to all learn the Primal Spirit Skill it might drive us all insane. If the universe can forget to check if we have enough of a Stat in our favor, it can also screw us over," Dawn cautioned. The point of Wisdom she gained really made her sweat.
"Let's just keep Enchanting stuff with more Mana Regen. Then you need to work on your Summon Elemental Skill. Even Buffy and the Joyce mom put more work into theirs," Xander, in a dazzling display, deflected.
"Which one will you go for first?" Willow asked.
"I have an idea," Dawn gave up. They weren't going to listen to her. Instead of fighting harder she would have to be sneakier. She was going to tell Mom, Giles and Jenny on them. Just because they had all these cool powers didn't mean the adults' opinions meant nothing to them.
Summon Elemental did take MP, but not that much. With her high mana regen she just had to wait a couple minutes. Xander went back to writing contracts with Willow joining in after. Maybe they would realize she was right if their Wisdom was higher? Telling the grownups left a bad taste in her mouth. The part of her that was Dawn Orlandeau wanted to take them out to the lists for some 'corrective instruction.' She didn't know the comic book the Gamer was taken from so that left her with some leeway. How everyone else ended up with the exact same elementals confused her at first. Only later did she realize the answer was simple. Their friends saw Xander and Willow summon first so they had an example. Dawn went in a different direction by dipping back into Final Fantasy Lore. The first Esper she attempted to Call was also the one with which she had the greatest affinity. At least according to her Halloween Memories. She dove deep in her mind to see if the connection still existed, no matter how unlikely.
Down, down, down she went until her spirit emerged over a vast plain of tall green grass and white flowers. In the middle was a rabbit hole on a small raised patch of land. From within the depths a pair of dark green eyes peered out. Her feet touched the grass gingerly just as a well-loved fuzzy head popped up. Rabbit-like ears twitched as the childish Esper tilted his head from side to side. Dawn held her breath as he 'scented' the air. Dawn Orlandeau and Dawn Summers might be the same spiritually, but they weren't the same physically. She didn't have anything to worry about as Carbuncle let out a happy noise and leaped into her arms. The ruby gem on his forehead butted against her forehead. A ruby light burst like a soap bubble at the point of contact startling a giggle out of her.
"I'm so glad you still remember me…" Dawn whispered as she buried her face in his furry body. He rubbed her cheek with his head gently.
{Friend! Always friend! Friend-shaped!} Carbuncle cheered. Tears poured down her face. She was being given second chances and priceless gifts all around. Trying to keep it together was already taking a toll on her.
"Friend, always friend, friend-shaped…" Dawn kissed his ruby gently. The young girl felt as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Even if she was keeping secrets from her loved ones at least she could be honest here. She knelt down in the grass, noticing belatedly she was wearing a simple white dress. Similar to the one worn when she first Called Carbuncle in Ivalice. In fact he was the inspiration for her to be a Ruby Knight. Carbuncle's light acted to protect their friends from harm. She wanted to be the Ruby Light that shielded others from danger.
{You certainly kept us waiting, young one.}
{One must never keep royalty waiting.}
{Silly humans just don't understand the nature of Oaths.}
{Perhaps we were unclear when we instructed her?}
{Give her a break. Any mortal would be off balance when dumped in strange waters.}
Dawn stared in amazement as five vast beings approached. The smallest appeared to be a balding old man in brown robes with a long white beard and pointed ears. He walked with a staff even if it was clear he didn't need the help. The Esper of Lightning, Ramuh, favored her with a fond smile. Beside him was a statuesque beauty made of pure ice garbed in finest blue silk. Shiva's haughty demeanor nearly concealed the affectionate look in her eyes. A bestial creature hunched beside her, his muscular chest covered in brown fur with impressive dark horns emerging from a majestic mane. Ifrit gave her what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile even if the fangs were a bit off putting. She still appreciated the effort. Beside him was an equally large Esper with purple and pastel highlights that Dawn remembered from FFVIII. The girl summoned Pandemona by accident when she tried to Call the Wind. Her gaze landed on the largest of the five even though his largeness was due to length. The Water Dragon Leviathan managed to give her a wink.
"Looks like I got a lot to learn. True friends are never truly lost, are they?" Dawn smiled. Carbuncle hopped up on her head and nodded proudly.
Dawn didn't realize just how badly she needed this. She would have to tell her family about her journey eventually. Seeing the Espers reminded her that some bonds are eternal. If she truly believed that then this was the time. If her family was to be safe they needed to be armed with all the details.
Now she just had to find the right words…
No pressure, right?
AN: Okay I'm going to accelerate things a bit. Too much got crammed into a few short days in the original fic and I'm starting to fall into that trap. So Dawn renewed/made contracts with the Espers. Carbuncle was an obvious choice with a name like Ruby Knight. The rest in fact are tied into her different Ruby Swordplay abilities. When she creates a new Swordskill she'll need another Esper. I like bringing in obscure trivia from FF.
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11 + 5 = 16
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,500/11,500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 100
Wis: 34 + 1 =35
Luck: 82
CP: 20
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11 + 5 = 16
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 3200/3200
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 49
Wis: 34
Luck: 82
CP: 70
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11 + 5 = 16
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 3200/3200
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 49
Wis: 34
Luck: 82
CP: 70
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50.
They did a few more runs through Gariland, but this time without leveling the place. The first time they accomplished it, Dawn gave them all copies of Ruby Swordplay. That made them happy. She remembered, belatedly, Count Orlandeau's maxim about keeping the troops happy. The trick was to find what they wanted and use it to improve their performance. Before they parted for the night the group earned several levels and a ton of gear. Oh and can't forget the Job Outfits. Squire, Chemist, Archer and a unique White Mage garment. The hood had kitty ears! Each one came with a unique title related to the Class.
"I'm headed over to Willow's. Her folks are out of town and she gets lonely," Xander mentioned to Dawn.
"Maybe I could come over?" Dawn turned to her mother.
"Of course dear. Just don't leave until morning," Joyce admonished. Xander, Willow and Dawn grinned.
"I have to do a patrol before it gets too late. Vampires usually go home after the prey's gone to bed," Buffy shrugged.
"I might join you," Joyce decided. Mother and eldest daughter smiled at one another. Dawn happily claimed hugs.
"That leaves me and Rupert. You really should just let me fix up your computer…" Jenny linked arms with the more staid librarian.
"Quite right…I almost was unable to purchase the Giant's Strength book…" He remarked as they walked away.
The trip back to Willow's was made in an empty ID. It would take a very stupid Vampire indeed to mess with them, but why take chances? Dawn relented when Willow said that she really wanted to work on Enchanting stuff. If they were going to make a habit of marathoning dungeons then enchanted gear was essential. The redhead squealed and kissed Dawn on the cheek before bringing her Intelligence up to 100. Dawn blinked in stupefaction while Xander chuckled.
"What is zis fascination with the fairer sex, eh?" Xander wiggled his eyebrows.
"It was just a cheek kiss," Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but you've been behaving yourself lately so someone has to make with the innuendo," Xander reminded her jokingly.
"Xander-" Dawn started to say before Willow's startled yelp interrupted.
"Guys! I got a Skill at Int 100 for Telepathy and my Medium Mana Capacity upgraded to Heavy," Willow blurted out in a rush.
"Wait. Are you saying that getting 100 in a Stat creates new Skills?" Dawn asked in disbelief.
"Oh yeah that's a thing. Huh…Maybe it would be better to wait for my Int and Wisdom to hit 50 normally," Xander realized.
"That's something we all would've been better off knowing," Dawn pointed out. The lone male in the group raised his hands.
"Sorry, sorry…I wasn't sure how much would remain accurate," Xander explained.
"So finish your studying buster…" Willow said sternly before finishing with a glum,"...While I work on my Wisdom…"
While Willow worked on Enchanting, Xander and Dawn busily worked on getting their Int to 50. The best Skill for training their mental stats was Demonic Law. Which made a certain amount of sense actually. One had to be intelligent to know the law and wise enough to avoid the common pitfalls. Even the uncommon pitfalls. It was entirely possible to write a magical contract wrong. With the cost being anything from a life to a soul no one wanted to screw this up. Dawn picked up the remaining point in Intelligence before quickly bringing it up to 100. Her Mage Trait evolved to include double MP. Like Willow she also gained a unique Skill: Ruby Arcanum. Essentially it allowed her to infuse Ruby Swordplay with other magic. Willow was able to learn it, but Xander still needed some work. That's when she noticed he wasn't paying attention. They had the movie The Craft for background noise. He seemed especially interested in the ritual board. Xander grinned manically as he set down a duplicate ritual board.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Here. Just touch this and pour some mana into it…" Xander suited action to words.
"Okay?" Willow seemed a little unsure, but did as she was told.
"Might as well," Dawn shrugged. They all had Yunhon Soul Recovery. If this did something really bad they could fix it in theory.
Suddenly she wasn't so sure about this. She trusted Xander, but then he would start acting in an alien manner. Spontaneously creating something and then expecting everyone to go along with his idea. Willow had a similar impulse control problem. Hers caused the redhead to create super lethal spells with no prep work or research. Dawn analyzed the board closely as the mana pooled in the center. So far so good. An exquisitely crafted wooden bracelet was placed in the center. Willow opened the Enchanting menu and added 5 points of Mana Regen. Their combined magic dipped a little resulting in a Bracelet of Mana Regen +5 MP per minute. The other result was they got a Skill for Ritual Magic.
"Ah ha!" Xander crowed with delight.
"Ritual Magic…Very nice," Dawn nodded approvingly. It pooled their MP and MP Regen together along with any modifiers. Quite an economical solution to the high cost of Enchanting.
"No, he got something else," Willow realized.
"Enchanting level 1," Xander said smugly.
"The universe forgot to check if you met the requirements. It gave you the Skill because you earned XP with us," Dawn deadpanned.
"Do you think it's possible to do that with other Skills?" Willow asked excitedly.
"Probably," Xander replied agreeably.
"Now I'm put in an awkward position. You're making me a killjoy. I really think it's not a good idea to do this too much. Some of these Skills have Stat Requirements for a reason. Like the Primal Spirit Skill. Wisdom governs things like basic reason and common sense. If we used a Ritual to all learn the Primal Spirit Skill it might drive us all insane. If the universe can forget to check if we have enough of a Stat in our favor, it can also screw us over," Dawn cautioned. The point of Wisdom she gained really made her sweat.
"Let's just keep Enchanting stuff with more Mana Regen. Then you need to work on your Summon Elemental Skill. Even Buffy and the Joyce mom put more work into theirs," Xander, in a dazzling display, deflected.
"Which one will you go for first?" Willow asked.
"I have an idea," Dawn gave up. They weren't going to listen to her. Instead of fighting harder she would have to be sneakier. She was going to tell Mom, Giles and Jenny on them. Just because they had all these cool powers didn't mean the adults' opinions meant nothing to them.
Summon Elemental did take MP, but not that much. With her high mana regen she just had to wait a couple minutes. Xander went back to writing contracts with Willow joining in after. Maybe they would realize she was right if their Wisdom was higher? Telling the grownups left a bad taste in her mouth. The part of her that was Dawn Orlandeau wanted to take them out to the lists for some 'corrective instruction.' She didn't know the comic book the Gamer was taken from so that left her with some leeway. How everyone else ended up with the exact same elementals confused her at first. Only later did she realize the answer was simple. Their friends saw Xander and Willow summon first so they had an example. Dawn went in a different direction by dipping back into Final Fantasy Lore. The first Esper she attempted to Call was also the one with which she had the greatest affinity. At least according to her Halloween Memories. She dove deep in her mind to see if the connection still existed, no matter how unlikely.
Down, down, down she went until her spirit emerged over a vast plain of tall green grass and white flowers. In the middle was a rabbit hole on a small raised patch of land. From within the depths a pair of dark green eyes peered out. Her feet touched the grass gingerly just as a well-loved fuzzy head popped up. Rabbit-like ears twitched as the childish Esper tilted his head from side to side. Dawn held her breath as he 'scented' the air. Dawn Orlandeau and Dawn Summers might be the same spiritually, but they weren't the same physically. She didn't have anything to worry about as Carbuncle let out a happy noise and leaped into her arms. The ruby gem on his forehead butted against her forehead. A ruby light burst like a soap bubble at the point of contact startling a giggle out of her.
"I'm so glad you still remember me…" Dawn whispered as she buried her face in his furry body. He rubbed her cheek with his head gently.
{Friend! Always friend! Friend-shaped!} Carbuncle cheered. Tears poured down her face. She was being given second chances and priceless gifts all around. Trying to keep it together was already taking a toll on her.
"Friend, always friend, friend-shaped…" Dawn kissed his ruby gently. The young girl felt as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Even if she was keeping secrets from her loved ones at least she could be honest here. She knelt down in the grass, noticing belatedly she was wearing a simple white dress. Similar to the one worn when she first Called Carbuncle in Ivalice. In fact he was the inspiration for her to be a Ruby Knight. Carbuncle's light acted to protect their friends from harm. She wanted to be the Ruby Light that shielded others from danger.
{You certainly kept us waiting, young one.}
{One must never keep royalty waiting.}
{Silly humans just don't understand the nature of Oaths.}
{Perhaps we were unclear when we instructed her?}
{Give her a break. Any mortal would be off balance when dumped in strange waters.}
Dawn stared in amazement as five vast beings approached. The smallest appeared to be a balding old man in brown robes with a long white beard and pointed ears. He walked with a staff even if it was clear he didn't need the help. The Esper of Lightning, Ramuh, favored her with a fond smile. Beside him was a statuesque beauty made of pure ice garbed in finest blue silk. Shiva's haughty demeanor nearly concealed the affectionate look in her eyes. A bestial creature hunched beside her, his muscular chest covered in brown fur with impressive dark horns emerging from a majestic mane. Ifrit gave her what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile even if the fangs were a bit off putting. She still appreciated the effort. Beside him was an equally large Esper with purple and pastel highlights that Dawn remembered from FFVIII. The girl summoned Pandemona by accident when she tried to Call the Wind. Her gaze landed on the largest of the five even though his largeness was due to length. The Water Dragon Leviathan managed to give her a wink.
"Looks like I got a lot to learn. True friends are never truly lost, are they?" Dawn smiled. Carbuncle hopped up on her head and nodded proudly.
Dawn didn't realize just how badly she needed this. She would have to tell her family about her journey eventually. Seeing the Espers reminded her that some bonds are eternal. If she truly believed that then this was the time. If her family was to be safe they needed to be armed with all the details.
Now she just had to find the right words…
No pressure, right?
AN: Okay I'm going to accelerate things a bit. Too much got crammed into a few short days in the original fic and I'm starting to fall into that trap. So Dawn renewed/made contracts with the Espers. Carbuncle was an obvious choice with a name like Ruby Knight. The rest in fact are tied into her different Ruby Swordplay abilities. When she creates a new Swordskill she'll need another Esper. I like bringing in obscure trivia from FF.
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11 + 5 = 16
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,500/11,500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 100
Wis: 34 + 1 =35
Luck: 82
CP: 20
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Last edited:
First Key 1.8
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.8
The last skill she received was from Xander for ID Design. All the benefits of ID Create and Escape with none of the extra cost. Even better, she could add and subtract effects without paying a thing. Before Dawn stopped for the night she made a contract with Golem. It acted more like an automaton than the other Espers. All she had to do was pledge herself and it accepted. The benefit to her contracts was a marked increase in elemental force. Carbuncle served in the non-elemental slot. She had some ideas for a Holy and Shadow Swordskill, but that was for later. Dawn wanted to ask her Esper friends for their recommendations first.
"I'm kinda jealous. I didn't think of Espers when we used the Summoning Skill. Do you think it's too late?" Xander asked.
"We did make a contract with the elementals. What did Demonic Law say about breaking Oaths?" Willow reminded him.
"Well, we could just ask other Espers later," Xander backpedaled. Breaking an Oath was BAD.
"Hey the Elementals are cool and really do the trick. I just went with what I'm more comfortable with. One isn't better than the other," Dawn shrugged. The talk of breaking his Oath irked her, but she knew it wasn't done maliciously. She wasn't even sure if they could summon Espers now. Her contract with the Espers was kind of exclusive, but that was how she learned. Sorta.
"How did you have contracts like that if you weren't a Summoner Class?" Willow asked.
"I was born with a high affinity for Magic. More specifically otherworldly magic. One day I got lost in the forest near the estate and came across a weird rabbit. He led me back home and made me promise not to go back. I didn't listen and went back whenever I could get away. He always brought me home and always made me promise to never return. Turns out I was wandering into their realm. Carbuncle finally gave up and made a contract with me. He was the first and let me take one of his offspring for my personal Esper. In time I made other contracts, but I kept it a secret. That's how I could use elemental magic," Dawn said.
"No wonder you have so much trouble with keeping things straight. You don't have superficial memories. You really did get a whole new life!" Willow realized with a start.
"Thank God that didn't happen to Buffy. Her Ovelia memories aren't as pronounced," Dawn grimaced. She didn't want Buffy to have Ovelia's life stuck in her head. Xander and Willow hugged her as if sensing her mood.
The way Willow figured it out, they had 11 slots for magical items. Two rings, two bracelets, a necklace, two anklets and two earrings. That gave them roughly an extra MP Regen of 236 per minute. Xander even made them new clothes from the fabric in his Inventory. Their group was going to be the best dressed in school. Dawn took home a couple clothing boxes for Buffy and Mom. Why should they be left out of the fashion makeover? She had Pandemona ride the wind and deliver Giles' and Jenny's boxes to them with instructions inside.
School on Monday certainly caused a stir. It took every ounce of self control she possessed to not grimace with chagrin. They left school on Friday looking like typical teenagers, but now they were the hottest people in school. Dawn almost changed into a pair of coveralls if that wouldn't look even more suspicious. Higher Wisdom scores didn't automatically mean they would make common sense decisions. Then Cordelia came up with a brilliant idea and she didn't mean it sarcastically. She just convinced her clique that they always looked like this and were finally dressing right. Why did that work so well? The teachers didn't give her time to worry about that. Every single class gave her a new Quest. Every. Single. Class. If Dawn didn't do perfectly on every Quest it would result in a loss of reputation. The worst part was the rep loss with her Mom. She didn't get any reputation for succeeding just some XP. Okay, she gained a level's worth of XP, but that didn't justify the sheer annoyance.
She really really really hated that Drawback.
How did Dawn end up in the same computer class as everyone else? She wasn't complaining, far from it, but it was definitely weird. The Quest Pop Up was expected and dreaded. It wanted her to finish all of her computer assignments for the month. There were even bonus goals for further in the school year. Lastly, if she finished the whole year, the rewards were doubled. To be honest the reward wasn't that bad, just that the task was annoying. Since the assignments counted as crafting it only took ten seconds per task. Willow set up a telepathic chat network while they worked. Too bad most of Dawn's commentary was spent cursing out the Quest. It kept adding bonus goals and optional tasks. Why would she hack the jocks' computers and screw up their assignments? Why would she use illusion magic to mess with Buffy's computer? None of this made sense!
{The Quest wants me to act like a brat! No, worse than a brat, a mean bitch!} Dawn ranted.
{It's just harmless pranks…} Willow tried to reassure her.
{Harmless? Messing with their grades is harmless? I'd be making more work for Buffy and Jenny too.} Dawn complained.
{Thank you!} Buffy sent a heartfelt wave of relief. She had enough trouble with computers without getting her assignments screwed up.
{Sorry…} Willow trailed off uncomfortably.
{No no…I'm just pissed…I keep getting Quests to do weird and stupid things. Like I had one for pushing Larry down the stairs. Why would I do that? I'm getting stupid failure penalties too. Losing reputation with my friends, my family…} Dawn's fingers paused on the keyboard. She didn't notice the looks her friends exchanged, but she could feel their emotions. Dawn's Gamer system was messing with her badly. Their feelings of helplessness and confusion only made her feel worse.
{Don't worry about that. It's just numbers. I love ya no matter what, Butt Pain.} Buffy said sincerely.
{You're not getting rid of us that easily. Just be a good girl like we know you are.} Xander said.
{I like this side of you…} Willow's thoughts were tinged with embarrassment. Dawn blushed almost as red as the older girl's hair.
{Seriously? You're worrying about this crap?} Cordelia broke in snidely. The sudden shift of mood gave them all whiplash. {I think you're fine, Dawn. If you worried about it, and still did it, you would be some kind of psycho. Since you're not doing this stuff then who cares?}
{Blunt as a hammer, but accurate.} Xander agreed.
Gamer's Mind kept her from obsessing over the negative thoughts, but did nothing to stop the rest. The Dawn before Halloween flirted with both Xander and Willow with a slight preference for the hacker girl. This wasn't the right time to flirt with anyone! She still wanted to tell them about her circumstances. That's when a new pop up appeared and it didn't fill her with kind thoughts.
[You cannot tell anyone about this unless they want to go with you. I know it seems counterproductive. How will they decide to go with you if they don't know about your journey? You will have to convince someone to stay with you the old fashioned way.]
What would happen if she did tell someone anyway?
[You are prevented from telling through any means. This does have the benefit of protecting you from all forms of truth spells, true naming and other methods of scrying for information.]
On top of all that she even failed the Quest condition for finishing her assignments.
It was a very unhappy puppy that trudged towards the group training session after school. However her Esper friends weren't going to let her get away with moping. Leviathan suggested something that made her smile. A mischievous spark lit up in her eyes. She rushed off to get changed with an impish giggle. The idea Levi had? Summon him in the swimming pool. Now she knew he wouldn't fit the normal way, but that's where his watery nature came in handy. When the rest of the Scoobies found her she was bobbing in the middle of the pool in a blue-green inner tube. Carbuncle laid on his back on her chest with sunglasses matching her own.
"Uhhh…" Buffy trailed off eloquently.
"Nice…inner tube?" Joyce half asked.
That's when the 'inner tube's' head came up and chirruped at them.
"Tidal Wave!" Levi cried.
Dawn laughed merrily as her friends and family fled the pool…With the pool following after.
Xander set the ID to 3:1 to give everyone time to finish off their physical and mental stats. Well, Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Jenny and Cordelia needed a bit more time. Dawn relented and said it was fine if the other Gamers took over. She wasn't their commander no matter how she acted sometimes. Trying to behave like Lady Dawn Orlandeau was taking a major toll on her and the others. Dawn also turned over her ID enhancements. It wasn't fair to keep them all to herself. Giles really wanted them to do a Vampire dungeon. He had a good point that Buffy's primary job was slaying the fangy crowd.
"If we wrap up early can I try to find Angel?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"You still haven't found him yet?" Dawn was taken aback. Normally it was impossible for her to avoid him.
"No! I'm getting worried," Buffy pouted.
"He's a corpse older than America. I think he can take care of himself," Xander snarked only to flinch when Cordelia smacked his shoulder.
"He also protected me before Dawn got there," she reminded him. He grimaced with chagrin.
"Sorry sorry…" He held up his hands apologetically.
"We'll look for him together, okay?" Dawn offered. Buffy smiled brightly.
"Okay. Thanks sis," Buffy said warmly. Joyce nodded approvingly.
"H-Hey Dawn?" Willow sidled up to her while the others were busy.
"What's up?" Dawn asked with some trepidation.
"Wouldyougooutwithme?" Willow blurted out. The sudden rush of words almost knocked Dawn over. She was screaming with anxiety and excitement on the inside. There was a large part that wanted to say 'Yes.' There was an equally large part that wanted to run screaming into the night. A smaller part snarked that she needed to be more decisive.
"Yes…?" Dawn shrugged helplessly. Willow brightened up figuratively and literally. Her cheeks were so red they were luminescent.
She knew just why saying no was impossible. The Dawn she replaced loved Willow very much in a romantic way. Dawn also loved Willow in a kind-of-sort-of-big-sister way. It wasn't like she didn't like the idea on some level. The only thing she worried about was Tara. Eventually Willow went away to college and met a real sweetheart, Tara Maclay. Thinking about Tara, bizarrely enough, reminded her of Faith and Kendra. Her heart started to hammer, but not with desire. The emotion she felt didn't even have a proper name. It hadn't really hit her until now just how much she could change. While the others finished up, she borrowed Jenny's computer to check the Abyss Auction. She bought up every scrap of information they had on Kendra, Faith and Tara. The fact they had information on them at all was concerning.
{How am I supposed to explain a sudden interest in people I've never met before!?} Dawn wailed internally. She kept the communication strictly between her and the Espers. No need to risk Willow 'overhearing' her.
{Quite simple, child. Just tell them that you saw them in your Halloween memories. It was idle curiousity.} Ramuh casually suggested lying. Of course the excuse he used was utterly brilliant. By now her friends knew she had extensive memories of Ivalice. They even knew Buffy was Ovelia. She just had to tell them the others were in her 'dreams.'
{Sly old dog.} Ifrit remarked appreciatively.
{Oh the irony of you calling anyone a dog…} Shiva noted haughtily.
{I'm not the only dog around here!} Ifrit barked back.
{What did you call me!?} Shiva hollered back.
All activity ceased as a child-like Ifrit and a child Shiva suddenly appeared. Instead of her usual provocative wear she wore a one-piece bathing suit under an oversized t-shirt. Ifrit was in board shorts and a tank top. The Ice and Flame Siblings proceeded to roll around on the floor kicking up frost and ash. In a flash a boy with snow-white hair and oversized robes appeared. He lashed out swiftly with his staff and conked them both on the head. Then the end reshaped into a Vaudeville shepherd's crook and hooked around their waists.
"Many apologies for my companions' rude behavior. Excuse us," Ramuh bowed politely before disappearing back to the Esper Realm with the dazed siblings in tow.
Carbuncle put both paws over his eyes with a sigh.
"No, that didn't make sense to me either," Dawn remarked.
"What did you order from the Auction House?" Jenny asked. She wasn't the only one who wanted to know. The weird mini UFO that brought her order wasn't discreet.
So she spun a tale for them. Her Lying Skill increased by leaps and bounds as the tall tale unfolded. She claimed that each of them had a role in her costume's 'history.' They already knew Buffy was Ovelia, but they didn't know that Xander and Willow were a Knight and White Mage respectively. Joyce was the kind woman who treated Ovelia like a daughter and Dawn as well. She was the Princess' governess in fact. Giles was a Monk at Orbonne Monastery while Jenny was an Arithmancer. The Calculator Job Class. Cordelia was one of the high born ladies who could be friendly in private, but a cool customer in public. The roles fit so no one questioned her story. Now she had to make Faith, Kendra and Tara believable. Faith was strangely the easiest as a Dark Knight. She wasn't Evil just misguided and abused by the Church. Dawn associated the Church with the Watcher's Council. Which, come to think of it, fit quite well. Kendra was a Divine Knight raised since birth to be a slayer of evil. Tara was a Geomancer/White Mage.
Thank God her Luck was so high or they might have seen through the lie.
"Kendra Young is the new Slayer? Faith Lehane and Tara Maclay are Potential Slayers?" Giles examined the documents in disbelief. "The Abyss has truly frightening amounts of information on them. There must be a leak in the Watcher's Council." He concluded.
"What about the fact my daughter had a weird prophetic dream involving them?" Joyce asked.
"You're not a Slayer are you?" Buffy was only half joking as she poked her sister. She giggled when Dawn swatted her finger away.
"Or she's also a Potential Slayer…" Xander realized. Apparently no one bothered to look the rest of the dossiers over before now. They bought everything the Abyss had on the core group to avoid surprises.
All eyes landed on Dawn in shock.
Dawn facepalmed. That's when she realized something crucial. If the Abyss had such extensive resources then how did they miss her status as the Key? Unless she wasn't the Key here. She checked the folder herself. Aside from mentioning an affinity for spatial magic there was no mention of the Key. If she wasn't the Key then maybe there was no Glorificus either? A quick trip to Sunnydale General was in order just in case. Their dossiers also told them where to find the others and their current status. Kendra's mentioned that she was on her way to Sunnydale already. Faith was with her Watcher Diane Dormer in Boston. Tara, amazingly enough, had a great life here with her mother and brother. Her father was mysteriously missing, but not actually missed.
"We've gotta warn them!" Buffy fretted.
"Giles can contact their Watchers…" Xander quickly broke in.
"Tara doesn't have one!" Buffy panicked.
"I'll call her mother! Her number is right here…" Joyce paled as she realized that all their information was there. Every last scrap.
"We should make anti-scrying research a priority as well," Giles interjected.
"Give me some time in a Party and I can level up my Technopaganism enough to erase our information," Jenny promised grimly.
"We can use Ritual Magic with Technopaganism," Willow suggested with an evil grin. Jenny's answering grin would have frightened a demon.
When the Scoobies were properly motivated, wise people got out of the way. Too bad for this world there were so many stupid people. They would soon learn what it meant to cross them. Much to their eternal regret. Dawn felt a greater hope swell as a wicked smirk crossed her face. Time to cry havoc and let loose the Scoobs of War…
That sounded so much better in her head. Good thing she didn't say it out loud.
{...I heard that.} Willow said. The Espers replied that they heard it too.
[[CRINGE]]
That coming from Golem was especially damning.
Was it too late for the ground to swallow her up…?
AN: And the plot's finally moving forward! Yay!
Status:
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 16 + 1
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,500/11,500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24 + 26 = 50
Vit: 29 + 21 = 50
Dex: 34 + 16 = 50
Int: 100
Wis: 35 + 15 = 50
Luck: 82 + 1
CP: 20
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11 + 5 = 16
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,500/11,500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 100
Wis: 35
Luck: 82
CP: 20
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 11 + 5 = 16
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,500/11,500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24
Vit: 29
Dex: 34
Int: 100
Wis: 35
Luck: 82
CP: 20
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
The last skill she received was from Xander for ID Design. All the benefits of ID Create and Escape with none of the extra cost. Even better, she could add and subtract effects without paying a thing. Before Dawn stopped for the night she made a contract with Golem. It acted more like an automaton than the other Espers. All she had to do was pledge herself and it accepted. The benefit to her contracts was a marked increase in elemental force. Carbuncle served in the non-elemental slot. She had some ideas for a Holy and Shadow Swordskill, but that was for later. Dawn wanted to ask her Esper friends for their recommendations first.
"I'm kinda jealous. I didn't think of Espers when we used the Summoning Skill. Do you think it's too late?" Xander asked.
"We did make a contract with the elementals. What did Demonic Law say about breaking Oaths?" Willow reminded him.
"Well, we could just ask other Espers later," Xander backpedaled. Breaking an Oath was BAD.
"Hey the Elementals are cool and really do the trick. I just went with what I'm more comfortable with. One isn't better than the other," Dawn shrugged. The talk of breaking his Oath irked her, but she knew it wasn't done maliciously. She wasn't even sure if they could summon Espers now. Her contract with the Espers was kind of exclusive, but that was how she learned. Sorta.
"How did you have contracts like that if you weren't a Summoner Class?" Willow asked.
"I was born with a high affinity for Magic. More specifically otherworldly magic. One day I got lost in the forest near the estate and came across a weird rabbit. He led me back home and made me promise not to go back. I didn't listen and went back whenever I could get away. He always brought me home and always made me promise to never return. Turns out I was wandering into their realm. Carbuncle finally gave up and made a contract with me. He was the first and let me take one of his offspring for my personal Esper. In time I made other contracts, but I kept it a secret. That's how I could use elemental magic," Dawn said.
"No wonder you have so much trouble with keeping things straight. You don't have superficial memories. You really did get a whole new life!" Willow realized with a start.
"Thank God that didn't happen to Buffy. Her Ovelia memories aren't as pronounced," Dawn grimaced. She didn't want Buffy to have Ovelia's life stuck in her head. Xander and Willow hugged her as if sensing her mood.
The way Willow figured it out, they had 11 slots for magical items. Two rings, two bracelets, a necklace, two anklets and two earrings. That gave them roughly an extra MP Regen of 236 per minute. Xander even made them new clothes from the fabric in his Inventory. Their group was going to be the best dressed in school. Dawn took home a couple clothing boxes for Buffy and Mom. Why should they be left out of the fashion makeover? She had Pandemona ride the wind and deliver Giles' and Jenny's boxes to them with instructions inside.
School on Monday certainly caused a stir. It took every ounce of self control she possessed to not grimace with chagrin. They left school on Friday looking like typical teenagers, but now they were the hottest people in school. Dawn almost changed into a pair of coveralls if that wouldn't look even more suspicious. Higher Wisdom scores didn't automatically mean they would make common sense decisions. Then Cordelia came up with a brilliant idea and she didn't mean it sarcastically. She just convinced her clique that they always looked like this and were finally dressing right. Why did that work so well? The teachers didn't give her time to worry about that. Every single class gave her a new Quest. Every. Single. Class. If Dawn didn't do perfectly on every Quest it would result in a loss of reputation. The worst part was the rep loss with her Mom. She didn't get any reputation for succeeding just some XP. Okay, she gained a level's worth of XP, but that didn't justify the sheer annoyance.
She really really really hated that Drawback.
How did Dawn end up in the same computer class as everyone else? She wasn't complaining, far from it, but it was definitely weird. The Quest Pop Up was expected and dreaded. It wanted her to finish all of her computer assignments for the month. There were even bonus goals for further in the school year. Lastly, if she finished the whole year, the rewards were doubled. To be honest the reward wasn't that bad, just that the task was annoying. Since the assignments counted as crafting it only took ten seconds per task. Willow set up a telepathic chat network while they worked. Too bad most of Dawn's commentary was spent cursing out the Quest. It kept adding bonus goals and optional tasks. Why would she hack the jocks' computers and screw up their assignments? Why would she use illusion magic to mess with Buffy's computer? None of this made sense!
{The Quest wants me to act like a brat! No, worse than a brat, a mean bitch!} Dawn ranted.
{It's just harmless pranks…} Willow tried to reassure her.
{Harmless? Messing with their grades is harmless? I'd be making more work for Buffy and Jenny too.} Dawn complained.
{Thank you!} Buffy sent a heartfelt wave of relief. She had enough trouble with computers without getting her assignments screwed up.
{Sorry…} Willow trailed off uncomfortably.
{No no…I'm just pissed…I keep getting Quests to do weird and stupid things. Like I had one for pushing Larry down the stairs. Why would I do that? I'm getting stupid failure penalties too. Losing reputation with my friends, my family…} Dawn's fingers paused on the keyboard. She didn't notice the looks her friends exchanged, but she could feel their emotions. Dawn's Gamer system was messing with her badly. Their feelings of helplessness and confusion only made her feel worse.
{Don't worry about that. It's just numbers. I love ya no matter what, Butt Pain.} Buffy said sincerely.
{You're not getting rid of us that easily. Just be a good girl like we know you are.} Xander said.
{I like this side of you…} Willow's thoughts were tinged with embarrassment. Dawn blushed almost as red as the older girl's hair.
{Seriously? You're worrying about this crap?} Cordelia broke in snidely. The sudden shift of mood gave them all whiplash. {I think you're fine, Dawn. If you worried about it, and still did it, you would be some kind of psycho. Since you're not doing this stuff then who cares?}
{Blunt as a hammer, but accurate.} Xander agreed.
Gamer's Mind kept her from obsessing over the negative thoughts, but did nothing to stop the rest. The Dawn before Halloween flirted with both Xander and Willow with a slight preference for the hacker girl. This wasn't the right time to flirt with anyone! She still wanted to tell them about her circumstances. That's when a new pop up appeared and it didn't fill her with kind thoughts.
[You cannot tell anyone about this unless they want to go with you. I know it seems counterproductive. How will they decide to go with you if they don't know about your journey? You will have to convince someone to stay with you the old fashioned way.]
What would happen if she did tell someone anyway?
[You are prevented from telling through any means. This does have the benefit of protecting you from all forms of truth spells, true naming and other methods of scrying for information.]
On top of all that she even failed the Quest condition for finishing her assignments.
It was a very unhappy puppy that trudged towards the group training session after school. However her Esper friends weren't going to let her get away with moping. Leviathan suggested something that made her smile. A mischievous spark lit up in her eyes. She rushed off to get changed with an impish giggle. The idea Levi had? Summon him in the swimming pool. Now she knew he wouldn't fit the normal way, but that's where his watery nature came in handy. When the rest of the Scoobies found her she was bobbing in the middle of the pool in a blue-green inner tube. Carbuncle laid on his back on her chest with sunglasses matching her own.
"Uhhh…" Buffy trailed off eloquently.
"Nice…inner tube?" Joyce half asked.
That's when the 'inner tube's' head came up and chirruped at them.
"Tidal Wave!" Levi cried.
Dawn laughed merrily as her friends and family fled the pool…With the pool following after.
Xander set the ID to 3:1 to give everyone time to finish off their physical and mental stats. Well, Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Jenny and Cordelia needed a bit more time. Dawn relented and said it was fine if the other Gamers took over. She wasn't their commander no matter how she acted sometimes. Trying to behave like Lady Dawn Orlandeau was taking a major toll on her and the others. Dawn also turned over her ID enhancements. It wasn't fair to keep them all to herself. Giles really wanted them to do a Vampire dungeon. He had a good point that Buffy's primary job was slaying the fangy crowd.
"If we wrap up early can I try to find Angel?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"You still haven't found him yet?" Dawn was taken aback. Normally it was impossible for her to avoid him.
"No! I'm getting worried," Buffy pouted.
"He's a corpse older than America. I think he can take care of himself," Xander snarked only to flinch when Cordelia smacked his shoulder.
"He also protected me before Dawn got there," she reminded him. He grimaced with chagrin.
"Sorry sorry…" He held up his hands apologetically.
"We'll look for him together, okay?" Dawn offered. Buffy smiled brightly.
"Okay. Thanks sis," Buffy said warmly. Joyce nodded approvingly.
"H-Hey Dawn?" Willow sidled up to her while the others were busy.
"What's up?" Dawn asked with some trepidation.
"Wouldyougooutwithme?" Willow blurted out. The sudden rush of words almost knocked Dawn over. She was screaming with anxiety and excitement on the inside. There was a large part that wanted to say 'Yes.' There was an equally large part that wanted to run screaming into the night. A smaller part snarked that she needed to be more decisive.
"Yes…?" Dawn shrugged helplessly. Willow brightened up figuratively and literally. Her cheeks were so red they were luminescent.
She knew just why saying no was impossible. The Dawn she replaced loved Willow very much in a romantic way. Dawn also loved Willow in a kind-of-sort-of-big-sister way. It wasn't like she didn't like the idea on some level. The only thing she worried about was Tara. Eventually Willow went away to college and met a real sweetheart, Tara Maclay. Thinking about Tara, bizarrely enough, reminded her of Faith and Kendra. Her heart started to hammer, but not with desire. The emotion she felt didn't even have a proper name. It hadn't really hit her until now just how much she could change. While the others finished up, she borrowed Jenny's computer to check the Abyss Auction. She bought up every scrap of information they had on Kendra, Faith and Tara. The fact they had information on them at all was concerning.
{How am I supposed to explain a sudden interest in people I've never met before!?} Dawn wailed internally. She kept the communication strictly between her and the Espers. No need to risk Willow 'overhearing' her.
{Quite simple, child. Just tell them that you saw them in your Halloween memories. It was idle curiousity.} Ramuh casually suggested lying. Of course the excuse he used was utterly brilliant. By now her friends knew she had extensive memories of Ivalice. They even knew Buffy was Ovelia. She just had to tell them the others were in her 'dreams.'
{Sly old dog.} Ifrit remarked appreciatively.
{Oh the irony of you calling anyone a dog…} Shiva noted haughtily.
{I'm not the only dog around here!} Ifrit barked back.
{What did you call me!?} Shiva hollered back.
All activity ceased as a child-like Ifrit and a child Shiva suddenly appeared. Instead of her usual provocative wear she wore a one-piece bathing suit under an oversized t-shirt. Ifrit was in board shorts and a tank top. The Ice and Flame Siblings proceeded to roll around on the floor kicking up frost and ash. In a flash a boy with snow-white hair and oversized robes appeared. He lashed out swiftly with his staff and conked them both on the head. Then the end reshaped into a Vaudeville shepherd's crook and hooked around their waists.
"Many apologies for my companions' rude behavior. Excuse us," Ramuh bowed politely before disappearing back to the Esper Realm with the dazed siblings in tow.
Carbuncle put both paws over his eyes with a sigh.
"No, that didn't make sense to me either," Dawn remarked.
"What did you order from the Auction House?" Jenny asked. She wasn't the only one who wanted to know. The weird mini UFO that brought her order wasn't discreet.
So she spun a tale for them. Her Lying Skill increased by leaps and bounds as the tall tale unfolded. She claimed that each of them had a role in her costume's 'history.' They already knew Buffy was Ovelia, but they didn't know that Xander and Willow were a Knight and White Mage respectively. Joyce was the kind woman who treated Ovelia like a daughter and Dawn as well. She was the Princess' governess in fact. Giles was a Monk at Orbonne Monastery while Jenny was an Arithmancer. The Calculator Job Class. Cordelia was one of the high born ladies who could be friendly in private, but a cool customer in public. The roles fit so no one questioned her story. Now she had to make Faith, Kendra and Tara believable. Faith was strangely the easiest as a Dark Knight. She wasn't Evil just misguided and abused by the Church. Dawn associated the Church with the Watcher's Council. Which, come to think of it, fit quite well. Kendra was a Divine Knight raised since birth to be a slayer of evil. Tara was a Geomancer/White Mage.
Thank God her Luck was so high or they might have seen through the lie.
"Kendra Young is the new Slayer? Faith Lehane and Tara Maclay are Potential Slayers?" Giles examined the documents in disbelief. "The Abyss has truly frightening amounts of information on them. There must be a leak in the Watcher's Council." He concluded.
"What about the fact my daughter had a weird prophetic dream involving them?" Joyce asked.
"You're not a Slayer are you?" Buffy was only half joking as she poked her sister. She giggled when Dawn swatted her finger away.
"Or she's also a Potential Slayer…" Xander realized. Apparently no one bothered to look the rest of the dossiers over before now. They bought everything the Abyss had on the core group to avoid surprises.
All eyes landed on Dawn in shock.
Dawn facepalmed. That's when she realized something crucial. If the Abyss had such extensive resources then how did they miss her status as the Key? Unless she wasn't the Key here. She checked the folder herself. Aside from mentioning an affinity for spatial magic there was no mention of the Key. If she wasn't the Key then maybe there was no Glorificus either? A quick trip to Sunnydale General was in order just in case. Their dossiers also told them where to find the others and their current status. Kendra's mentioned that she was on her way to Sunnydale already. Faith was with her Watcher Diane Dormer in Boston. Tara, amazingly enough, had a great life here with her mother and brother. Her father was mysteriously missing, but not actually missed.
"We've gotta warn them!" Buffy fretted.
"Giles can contact their Watchers…" Xander quickly broke in.
"Tara doesn't have one!" Buffy panicked.
"I'll call her mother! Her number is right here…" Joyce paled as she realized that all their information was there. Every last scrap.
"We should make anti-scrying research a priority as well," Giles interjected.
"Give me some time in a Party and I can level up my Technopaganism enough to erase our information," Jenny promised grimly.
"We can use Ritual Magic with Technopaganism," Willow suggested with an evil grin. Jenny's answering grin would have frightened a demon.
When the Scoobies were properly motivated, wise people got out of the way. Too bad for this world there were so many stupid people. They would soon learn what it meant to cross them. Much to their eternal regret. Dawn felt a greater hope swell as a wicked smirk crossed her face. Time to cry havoc and let loose the Scoobs of War…
That sounded so much better in her head. Good thing she didn't say it out loud.
{...I heard that.} Willow said. The Espers replied that they heard it too.
[[CRINGE]]
That coming from Golem was especially damning.
Was it too late for the ground to swallow her up…?
AN: And the plot's finally moving forward! Yay!
Status:
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 16 + 1
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1040/1040
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,500/11,500
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 24 + 26 = 50
Vit: 29 + 21 = 50
Dex: 34 + 16 = 50
Int: 100
Wis: 35 + 15 = 50
Luck: 82 + 1
CP: 20
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
First Key 1.9
- Location
- PA
First Key 1.9
Trying to become a Technopagan like Willow and Jenny was very tempting. The Gamer power pretty much meant she could become an expert in anything with enough time. There was just one problem with that. They didn't have a lot of time. Even abusing time dilation couldn't avoid that simple fact. Dawn decided to prioritize the magic she knew now and become better at combat. Teleportation was something else she wanted to improve. She remembered how to use the Time Mage's Teleport with her 100 Int. The idea she had was to improve her teleportation magic in case something disastrous happened.
"Dawn? Do you have anything that could just find Angel for us?" Buffy asked.
"It's starting to get late…or early I guess…" Mom noticed the time with a bewildered expression.
"Okay, let me try to scry for him. Do you have anything I can use?" Dawn inquired. Buffy handed her a nice silver crucifix.
"He gave it to me. Well, it was still in the box, but I think of him when I wear it…" Buffy blushed bashfully.
"That's fine," Dawn assured her. Objects didn't have to belong to the person being sought. All that was required was a strong emotional connection. The thought occurred that he might not feel the same and the point was moot, but she kept that to herself.
She had the memory of scrying from Dawn Orlandaeu's memories. The Skill was understandably under-leveled because it wasn't part of her normal spell kit. Wasn't she just thinking about tightening her focus more? Dawn mentally sighed. Scrying was important for anti-scrying too. She could check on her hunches without exposing herself. More importantly, this was for Buffy. In the original timeline, her sister didn't ask for much. No more than the next person. She just wanted them to have a normal life and for their mother to come home. If her sister wanted Dawn to magically search for Angel then she would. The good news was that Angel did love Buffy. Using that she was able to narrow down his current location.
"He's at home?" Dawn blurted out.
"But we were just there!" Buffy complained.
"We knocked. Buffy said she didn't hear anyone inside. I couldn't sense anything either," Joyce said.
"He could have just stood very still. Vampires don't have a heartbeat or need to breathe," Dawn pointed out.
"Do you want to go back and check?" Joyce asked gently. Buffy seriously considered it before giving a defeated sigh.
"...No," Buffy whispered.
Dawn almost said "Fuck that" and went back to that apartment herself. She started to go back but Joyce grabbed her arm. The Summers matriarch slowly shook her head sadly. This was Buffy's decision. The younger girl's face set in a mulish frown but she relented. It pissed her off that he was hiding from someone who loved him. She knew how their relationship ended originally, but it didn't have to be that way. There were all sorts of new and exciting magics they could try. Stuff to bind his soul to the vessel and kick out the demon. Because of her mother's implied command, she was full of pent-up aggression with no outlet. Gamer's Mind kept her acting irrationally, but it didn't calm her down. She knew it was possible to get pissed off with what you see on the screen. No amount of disconnect could fix that. While Buffy and Joyce went to bed, Dawn stepped into an Instant Dungeon set for 10:1 dilation. Instead of jumping back into Ivalice or a zombie dungeon, she chose Parasite Eve. The requirements said she needed to find a theater to start.
[A Nightmare at the Opera]
Details: What should have been a night of artistic appreciation has turned into one of terror. A strange monster in the body of a young ingenue began burning everyone alive. You are the sole survivor in the wake of this tragedy.
Number of Party Members: 1
Rewards: Mitochondrial Power, 10,000 XP
Accept: Y/N?
Dropped right into the thick of things. The scent of burning flesh invaded her nose. She was vaguely aware of shapes moving in the smoke. People were screaming in panic and pain as they died. Dawn tapped in her magic to heal as many as she could reach. Pandemona briefly appeared to blow the smoke away so that she could target the fires directly. Leviathan in his smaller form made short work of them with pinpoint splashes. She could see the enemy up on stage. Her Level was 5 with the name 'Melissa Pearce/Eve.' The beautiful woman wore a red dress. Green eyes stared at her with malevolence and a hint of amusement. Since she wasn't approaching, Dawn took the chance to loot the area. Right by her starting position was a small chest with a M84F handgun. She didn't know guns that well, but it was free. There was also a bulletproof vest with a small amount of energy protection. It went on easily under her current outfit.
{Be careful. Being too confident is worse than not being confident enough.} Ramuh cautioned.
Dawn cast all of her protective spells including one derived from Ifrit: Barfire. She had Carbuncle use Shell just to be safe. All of that should have protected her from a fire elemental. There was just one problem. The game's lore basically shot down Mitochondrial Powers as being magic in origin. That was why she had the entirely unpleasant experience of spontaneously catching fire. Dawn's scream echoed in the empty theater as every cell superheated and combusted. Troll's Regeneration was instantly neutralized. The Regen spell still worked like it was supposed to which is why she didn't die in the first thirty seconds. She panicked and cast an overpowered Thundaga spell in her tormentor's direction. There was a sharp crack of actinic light before the fires stopped. Dawn wasn't even aware of falling to her knees.
[You have survived being turned into a charcoal briquette!]
"Fuck you…" Dawn moaned.
[You have awakened "Parasite Energy!"]
Parasite Energy ran off her Constitution much like another health bar. She didn't know how to classify it since it wasn't like Ki or Magic, but something else entirely. It was a purely biological power with mystical components and even tied to her soul. Somehow. The first Parasite Power she learned was Heal. Useful since it erased the traces of scarring that Regen didn't fix. Yunhon Soul Recovery or sleeping in a bed would have done the trick. At least she had something for people without Gamer's Body. The next chest she found backstage had medicine and 60 rounds of ammo.
"What the heck?" Dawn stared at the ammo in confusion. It was listed as 'untyped' with the effect of conforming to whatever gun it's loaded into. That did nearly sidestep the logical fallacy of one-size-fits-all bullets. The medicine acted like a healing potion.
The whole dungeon was like a recreation of the first stage of Parasite Eve. Down in the basement, she found the same enemies. Mutant rats and mutant parrots might not sound too bad, but they were incredibly fast and vicious. Good thing Dawn was at such a high level or it might have been more difficult. The real danger was the constant Mitochondrial Field Effect. Her Parasite Energy Skill was increasing rapidly at least. The other constant was the health drain. Even with her increasing resistance Eve's presence constantly sapped her HP. She had to maintain Regen the whole time. She found another gun as well as some armor. The rats dropped lots of ammo as well.
"I really need to work on my firearms skills…" Dawn lamented. It grated at her to have access to new resources and be unable to use them.
Challenging Eve the second time was easier than the first, but not by much. She kept trying to immolate Dawn directly. The Summers girl was torn. If she told her family and friends they'd yell at her. If she didn't then it could deny them a potential asset. Dawn really didn't want to get in trouble, but she wasn't that petty. Eve finally fell to a last Blizzard-enhanced sword slash. The mutated menace blew straight through the floor and fled into the sewers.
Fighting in the sewers sucked. The dungeon was incredibly realistic in that the sights and smells were authentic. Thankfully it didn't have realistic waste. Just the smell was bad enough. The freakishly huge frogs would have made Willow run screaming for the hills. They did the same for Dawn actually. Without all that training their whip-fast tongues would have made short work of her. There was one thing in this whole game she wanted. Even better, it was in the first section.
Items Found:
x 2 Revive - Restores Life when you die.
Dawn left the dungeon and went back in to farm Revives. Her mother caught her on the fourth attempt and promptly grounded the girl.
"You went into a new dungeon, alone, without telling anyone! I thought you had more sense than that!" Joyce waved her hands agitatedly.
"But I found Revives…!" Dawn tried to say only to get shouted down.
"We might have gone along with your plan if you'd said something! Asking forgiveness is not easier than getting permission!" Joyce jammed a finger at her.
"You don't want to know what a Revive is, do you?" Dawn asked.
"I do…" Buffy raised a hand before retracting sheepishly at her mother's glare.
"They can bring the holder back to life!" Dawn took the opening and dived in fast. Joyce and Buffy whipped around in shock.
"WHAT!?" They exclaimed.
Now that was the reaction she was hoping for!
"You're still grounded young lady!" Joyce quickly reiterated.
Dawn sulked. She really hoped her mother wasn't serious about that. One more run was all she needed to give a Revive to each of them. The safer option would be to wait until Angel Rings showed up in the Tactics dungeon. Didn't she almost die because Eve's powers ignored her defenses? Being grounded also meant the date with Willow was canceled. She had no one to blame but herself for that. Hopefully, Willow understood. Oh Hell, she would probably be as pissed off as her mother. Next time she had the brilliant idea to challenge a new dungeon alone she wouldn't. It just wasn't worth the headache. At least the Espers weren't upset with her which was a plus.
"How about this? I never go back to the dungeon again. The party limit is just one person. You're right to be mad at me. It's a really dangerous place," Dawn gave up. She did feel a sense of relief given just how dangerous it was. No doubt it would've grown even worse as the story battles progressed. Just because she had Parasite Energy didn't make her immune to Eve's power. All it did was make her resistant.
"Why don't we ask her how the Revives work?" Buffy asked their mom.
"Do you have to actually do something to activate it?" Joyce sighed.
"No. Just hold onto it and it activates instantly. There's no cooldown either. In the game, the only restriction was Inventory space, but my Inventory stacks items," Dawn explained.
"Damn it…" Joyce bit her knuckle thoughtfully. It was abundantly clear she didn't like this. "Fine. You're still grounded, but you can go on your date with Willow. I can't be too angry with everything you're doing to keep us safe. How much longer would you need to pick up more Revives?"
"The encounter only spawns once a trip. Each time I go in it starts me back at the beginning. Maybe an hour to collect enough so each of us would have three apiece?" Dawn shrugged.
"Just be careful, okay? I'm too old to be an only child now," Buffy teased even if her eyes were filled with worry.
The times they survived by the skin of their teeth back home were too many to count. Dawn was serious in that she wasn't going to return to the Parasite Eve dungeons again. The Revives were just too tempting to ignore. She even had her mother's blessing to grab enough for everyone. Of course, the temptation was there to go further than that, but she wasn't suicidal. Once she finished claiming her prizes it was time for bed. They needed to be up bright and early for school the next day after all. Dawn cheated by using another time-dilated ID to get more sleep and practice with her Parasite Energy. Parasite Energy wasn't limited to what was available in the game. With it, she could control the body in a myriad of ways. Biokinesis. All that was left to do was find time to experiment before trying it out on anyone. So while the PE dungeon caused a lot of drama it did have some fantastic benefits. Which unsurprisingly didn't tempt Dawn to explore it any further. Being turned into a charcoal briquette or undergoing horrific body horror didn't appeal to her. Funny thing that.
The gang got together after school to share their experiences. As it turns out, Dawn didn't have a monopoly on truly stupid ideas. While the Summers girls were at home the rest of the Scoobies decided to challenge some dungeons as well. They went into a vampire dungeon and almost got killed off by Darla. The vampire Boss was even more terrifying than the original with preternatural speed and a nasty gun. No one was killed, or even maimed, but it was closer than anyone would've liked.
"We should make an agreement. No more solo dungeons. Either we all go together or not at all. Allowances can be made, but only for dungeons we've explored before. This has been quite the wake-up call," Giles said once the stories were told.
"Definitely," Dawn agreed quickly.
"That it has," Joyce nodded.
"Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Even with Dawn bringing us Revives, and the Phoenix Downs, it's too dangerous to keep jumping in like that," Xander concluded ruefully.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. The only saving grace was they learned their lesson and no one had to die first. Their training for the day was going to be something a lot safer. Finishing their Intelligence and Wisdom training for the ones who weren't there yet. There was still the matter of Faith, Kendra, and Tara. Giles' contacts within the Watcher's Council reacted with surprise and dismay over what the Abyss knew about them. At least not everyone on the Council had their head up their ass. Joyce called Tara's mom to warn her of what was coming. Luckily the woman believed her. She planned on packing up her family and heading to Sunnydale as soon as possible. Jenny and Willow worked some magic to mislead anyone trying to find the family, but it wouldn't last long. The Abyss could chew through their best efforts with ease, but only if they knew to look. Kendra's Watcher didn't reply to Giles' call at all which was worrying. As for Faith's Watcher, Donna, she also swore to come straight to Sunnydale immediately.
Scribing Skills until they critically succeeded and generally taking it easy. They did have the needed Wisdom to learn the Secrets of the Primal and the Crystal Skill Book. Now all enemies they defeated would drop Primal Spirit Gems and Crystals. Of course, Dawn still wanted to take that a step further. Good thing her Luck was so high, but it still took a beastly long time to combine the two Skills. The only problem she saw was that the Job Crystals used the Primal Spirit Gem slot. That meant they could equip a Primal Spirit or a Job Crystal but not both. Her slot had Ruby Knight already equipped.
[Job Crystal: Ruby Knight]
Str + 10
Vit + 10
Dex + 20
Int + 30
Wis + 30
Soul of the Red Mage: +20% Physical and Magical Damage
Why did this stuff only appear now and not earlier?
"Hey Dawn! We got a Quest for the Abyss Auction!" Willow bounced over excitedly. Dawn almost jumped out of her skin but managed to avoid screaming.
"Uh, what?" Dawn blinked bemusedly. Willow showed her the pop-up.
Quest: Buy something from every section of the Abyss Auction.
Spellbooks - Complete
Ingredients - Incomplete
Weapons & Armor - Incomplete
Accessories - Incomplete
Information - Complete
Slaves - Incomplete
Sell something through the Abyss Auction - Complete
"Slaves!?" Dawn yelped.
"I know, right? Can we just go smash them up?" Buffy demanded.
"Not unless you want every magic user on the planet, and from multiple dimensions, hunting us down," Giles remarked bitterly. The tone wasn't for Buffy, but because it sucked. They were still little fish in a very big ocean.
Xander looked over at Jenny and Giles worriedly, "I don't think we can afford to pass this up… you can release people you buy on the Abyss Auction right?"
Giles thought about how he had used the soul recovery to break the Mark of Eyghon. "It depends on how the seller set things up, I'm willing to wager that you can break most any enchantment given time with Yunhon Soul Recovery."
Jenny asked, "Iron Will?"
Willow said, "In various games, Iron Will gives you a bonus against mind control or makes you immune depending on the system, either of which would be very useful…. and this is a quest for the whole group - it gives these rewards for everyone."
Buffy frowned, "Buying people, that's just…"
Xander shrugged, "Wrong? Illegal? Bad? Sure, but they're going to be sold to someone or someTHING anyway, and at least we can give them a few thousand dollars and break the slavery enchantment so they can start over, and we definitely won't chop them up for parts, put them in a mana farm or eat them."
Willow said, "Or we give them some training first to make sure it never happens again."
"I thought that part was implied?" Xander shrugged.
Jenny said, "It won't hurt to look…"
"And with Willow and Xander's Gamer abilities as long as the person is trustworthy we have a fairly unique opportunity to help whoever we wind up choosing prevent this from ever happening again." Joyce sighed helplessly.
Dawn bit her lip thoughtfully. Someone else joining the group would be a big help even if it was only temporary. A group this large had the advantage of numbers, but it was also a weakness. Smaller groups fared better against larger organizations because it was easier to remain hidden. There was a whole risk/reward in that it was possible to grow so powerful no one screwed with you. They weren't at that point yet. By general consensus, they agreed to start with the slaves. The temptation was strong to buy a bunch of them, but their resources would be spread way too thin. Whoever they took in would need therapy at a minimum. Of course, that was when the universe threw Dawn another curveball. One of the slaves was Winnifred Burkle. The same woman Angel rescued from Pylea in the original world. What was she doing here? Admittedly it was probably for the best that she was here. How would they have rescued her otherwise? If Angel didn't go to LA then a lot of the good he did wouldn't get done. Good thing she couldn't have a panic attack!
The group moved on to purchasing ingredients. Thanks to all the sharp and pointy things from Ivalice, plus the healing potions, they were flush with cash. They bought more sharkskin, spider silk, and various metal ingots than were strictly necessary. At least until Xander pointed out they could make their own gear. The stuff they were using now was serviceable, but it would be better if they could customize their stuff. There were also magic cell phones and laptops. Jenny got enough for all of them plus a few extra just in case. The armor consisted of stuff like Boots of Skull Stomping and armored blue jeans. One of them stood out and not in a good way.
"T-shirt of wife-beating? Helps convince the cops you didn't do it?" Jenny read off incredulously.
"Real misogynist bastard of an enchanter no doubt… Some woman did a major number on him at some point." Xander murmured, only to receive glares from every female in the room. "Hey, I didn't say he was right to name his stuff that way, just that for him to have so much hatred for women some woman had to do a real number on that guy." He raised his hands in surrender.
"He might just be a bastard without a reason too," Dawn pointed out tartly.
Giles scowled, "I think we'll skip that item."
Jenny looked over the other options, "Okay, a pair of boxing gloves that increases the chance to knock someone out, initials 'MT' on the cuffs."
"Guess that explains some things," Xander continued his commentary.
Buffy frowned, "I'm not wearing boxing gloves."
Dawn asked, "What about armored shirts?"
Jenny frowned, "Here's a 100 dollar item, boots of water walking... it's from the bayou and includes jungle rot free of charge."
"Pass, jungle rot is nasty." Cordelia snorted.
Xander snorted, "We'll take it."
The girls turned to look at him dubiously.
"What?! We could use it to figure out the enchantment, and as long as no one puts them on the fungus doesn't matter. Plus, it fulfills our quest requirement for something out of this section cheaply and we aren't paying the misogynist bastard."
Joyce frowned, "I'll get a plastic bag…"
Thankfully the Quest was fulfilled without any mishaps. The Orb of Iron Will would prove invaluable in the future as it bolstered Mental Resistance by 50% right away with a +1% per level. Even more importantly they could remove the slave brand from Winnifred "Fred" Burkle. She wanted to be trained so badly that it was almost painful. As much as she wanted to go home, her old life was pretty much over. Now all she could do was train so no one could take her again. At least she could talk to her parents on the phone and even visit them eventually. Rehabilitation would take some time. Dawn hated how these things kept blindsiding her. She knew this world wouldn't follow her own beat by beat, but it seemed hellbent on being dark. They say the only easy day is yesterday. Truer words were never spoken.
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 19
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1600/1600
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 13,800/13,800
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
PE: 1600/1600
Starting PE: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
Str: 50 + 10
Vit: 50 + 10
Dex: 50 + 20
Int: 100 + 30
Wis: 50 + 30
Luck: 86
CP: 30
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Job Crystal: Ruby Knight
Str + 10
Vit + 10
Dex + 20
Int + 30
Wis + 30
Soul of the Red Mage: +20% Physical and Magical Damage
AN: Phwee…Sorry for the delays in my posts. I'm pretty much working almost constantly. Please help me lighten the load by donating to my Patreon. Otherwise I just won't have time to produce quality content. Thanks!
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 17
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1300/1300
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,600/11,600
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 50
Vit: 50
Dex: 50
Int: 100
Wis: 50
Luck: 83
CP: 25
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 17
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1300/1300
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 11,600/11,600
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
Str: 50
Vit: 50
Dex: 50
Int: 100
Wis: 50
Luck: 83
CP: 25
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Trying to become a Technopagan like Willow and Jenny was very tempting. The Gamer power pretty much meant she could become an expert in anything with enough time. There was just one problem with that. They didn't have a lot of time. Even abusing time dilation couldn't avoid that simple fact. Dawn decided to prioritize the magic she knew now and become better at combat. Teleportation was something else she wanted to improve. She remembered how to use the Time Mage's Teleport with her 100 Int. The idea she had was to improve her teleportation magic in case something disastrous happened.
"Dawn? Do you have anything that could just find Angel for us?" Buffy asked.
"It's starting to get late…or early I guess…" Mom noticed the time with a bewildered expression.
"Okay, let me try to scry for him. Do you have anything I can use?" Dawn inquired. Buffy handed her a nice silver crucifix.
"He gave it to me. Well, it was still in the box, but I think of him when I wear it…" Buffy blushed bashfully.
"That's fine," Dawn assured her. Objects didn't have to belong to the person being sought. All that was required was a strong emotional connection. The thought occurred that he might not feel the same and the point was moot, but she kept that to herself.
She had the memory of scrying from Dawn Orlandaeu's memories. The Skill was understandably under-leveled because it wasn't part of her normal spell kit. Wasn't she just thinking about tightening her focus more? Dawn mentally sighed. Scrying was important for anti-scrying too. She could check on her hunches without exposing herself. More importantly, this was for Buffy. In the original timeline, her sister didn't ask for much. No more than the next person. She just wanted them to have a normal life and for their mother to come home. If her sister wanted Dawn to magically search for Angel then she would. The good news was that Angel did love Buffy. Using that she was able to narrow down his current location.
"He's at home?" Dawn blurted out.
"But we were just there!" Buffy complained.
"We knocked. Buffy said she didn't hear anyone inside. I couldn't sense anything either," Joyce said.
"He could have just stood very still. Vampires don't have a heartbeat or need to breathe," Dawn pointed out.
"Do you want to go back and check?" Joyce asked gently. Buffy seriously considered it before giving a defeated sigh.
"...No," Buffy whispered.
Dawn almost said "Fuck that" and went back to that apartment herself. She started to go back but Joyce grabbed her arm. The Summers matriarch slowly shook her head sadly. This was Buffy's decision. The younger girl's face set in a mulish frown but she relented. It pissed her off that he was hiding from someone who loved him. She knew how their relationship ended originally, but it didn't have to be that way. There were all sorts of new and exciting magics they could try. Stuff to bind his soul to the vessel and kick out the demon. Because of her mother's implied command, she was full of pent-up aggression with no outlet. Gamer's Mind kept her acting irrationally, but it didn't calm her down. She knew it was possible to get pissed off with what you see on the screen. No amount of disconnect could fix that. While Buffy and Joyce went to bed, Dawn stepped into an Instant Dungeon set for 10:1 dilation. Instead of jumping back into Ivalice or a zombie dungeon, she chose Parasite Eve. The requirements said she needed to find a theater to start.
[A Nightmare at the Opera]
Details: What should have been a night of artistic appreciation has turned into one of terror. A strange monster in the body of a young ingenue began burning everyone alive. You are the sole survivor in the wake of this tragedy.
Number of Party Members: 1
Rewards: Mitochondrial Power, 10,000 XP
Accept: Y/N?
Dropped right into the thick of things. The scent of burning flesh invaded her nose. She was vaguely aware of shapes moving in the smoke. People were screaming in panic and pain as they died. Dawn tapped in her magic to heal as many as she could reach. Pandemona briefly appeared to blow the smoke away so that she could target the fires directly. Leviathan in his smaller form made short work of them with pinpoint splashes. She could see the enemy up on stage. Her Level was 5 with the name 'Melissa Pearce/Eve.' The beautiful woman wore a red dress. Green eyes stared at her with malevolence and a hint of amusement. Since she wasn't approaching, Dawn took the chance to loot the area. Right by her starting position was a small chest with a M84F handgun. She didn't know guns that well, but it was free. There was also a bulletproof vest with a small amount of energy protection. It went on easily under her current outfit.
{Be careful. Being too confident is worse than not being confident enough.} Ramuh cautioned.
Dawn cast all of her protective spells including one derived from Ifrit: Barfire. She had Carbuncle use Shell just to be safe. All of that should have protected her from a fire elemental. There was just one problem. The game's lore basically shot down Mitochondrial Powers as being magic in origin. That was why she had the entirely unpleasant experience of spontaneously catching fire. Dawn's scream echoed in the empty theater as every cell superheated and combusted. Troll's Regeneration was instantly neutralized. The Regen spell still worked like it was supposed to which is why she didn't die in the first thirty seconds. She panicked and cast an overpowered Thundaga spell in her tormentor's direction. There was a sharp crack of actinic light before the fires stopped. Dawn wasn't even aware of falling to her knees.
[You have survived being turned into a charcoal briquette!]
"Fuck you…" Dawn moaned.
[You have awakened "Parasite Energy!"]
Parasite Energy ran off her Constitution much like another health bar. She didn't know how to classify it since it wasn't like Ki or Magic, but something else entirely. It was a purely biological power with mystical components and even tied to her soul. Somehow. The first Parasite Power she learned was Heal. Useful since it erased the traces of scarring that Regen didn't fix. Yunhon Soul Recovery or sleeping in a bed would have done the trick. At least she had something for people without Gamer's Body. The next chest she found backstage had medicine and 60 rounds of ammo.
"What the heck?" Dawn stared at the ammo in confusion. It was listed as 'untyped' with the effect of conforming to whatever gun it's loaded into. That did nearly sidestep the logical fallacy of one-size-fits-all bullets. The medicine acted like a healing potion.
The whole dungeon was like a recreation of the first stage of Parasite Eve. Down in the basement, she found the same enemies. Mutant rats and mutant parrots might not sound too bad, but they were incredibly fast and vicious. Good thing Dawn was at such a high level or it might have been more difficult. The real danger was the constant Mitochondrial Field Effect. Her Parasite Energy Skill was increasing rapidly at least. The other constant was the health drain. Even with her increasing resistance Eve's presence constantly sapped her HP. She had to maintain Regen the whole time. She found another gun as well as some armor. The rats dropped lots of ammo as well.
"I really need to work on my firearms skills…" Dawn lamented. It grated at her to have access to new resources and be unable to use them.
Challenging Eve the second time was easier than the first, but not by much. She kept trying to immolate Dawn directly. The Summers girl was torn. If she told her family and friends they'd yell at her. If she didn't then it could deny them a potential asset. Dawn really didn't want to get in trouble, but she wasn't that petty. Eve finally fell to a last Blizzard-enhanced sword slash. The mutated menace blew straight through the floor and fled into the sewers.
Fighting in the sewers sucked. The dungeon was incredibly realistic in that the sights and smells were authentic. Thankfully it didn't have realistic waste. Just the smell was bad enough. The freakishly huge frogs would have made Willow run screaming for the hills. They did the same for Dawn actually. Without all that training their whip-fast tongues would have made short work of her. There was one thing in this whole game she wanted. Even better, it was in the first section.
Items Found:
x 2 Revive - Restores Life when you die.
Dawn left the dungeon and went back in to farm Revives. Her mother caught her on the fourth attempt and promptly grounded the girl.
"You went into a new dungeon, alone, without telling anyone! I thought you had more sense than that!" Joyce waved her hands agitatedly.
"But I found Revives…!" Dawn tried to say only to get shouted down.
"We might have gone along with your plan if you'd said something! Asking forgiveness is not easier than getting permission!" Joyce jammed a finger at her.
"You don't want to know what a Revive is, do you?" Dawn asked.
"I do…" Buffy raised a hand before retracting sheepishly at her mother's glare.
"They can bring the holder back to life!" Dawn took the opening and dived in fast. Joyce and Buffy whipped around in shock.
"WHAT!?" They exclaimed.
Now that was the reaction she was hoping for!
"You're still grounded young lady!" Joyce quickly reiterated.
Dawn sulked. She really hoped her mother wasn't serious about that. One more run was all she needed to give a Revive to each of them. The safer option would be to wait until Angel Rings showed up in the Tactics dungeon. Didn't she almost die because Eve's powers ignored her defenses? Being grounded also meant the date with Willow was canceled. She had no one to blame but herself for that. Hopefully, Willow understood. Oh Hell, she would probably be as pissed off as her mother. Next time she had the brilliant idea to challenge a new dungeon alone she wouldn't. It just wasn't worth the headache. At least the Espers weren't upset with her which was a plus.
"How about this? I never go back to the dungeon again. The party limit is just one person. You're right to be mad at me. It's a really dangerous place," Dawn gave up. She did feel a sense of relief given just how dangerous it was. No doubt it would've grown even worse as the story battles progressed. Just because she had Parasite Energy didn't make her immune to Eve's power. All it did was make her resistant.
"Why don't we ask her how the Revives work?" Buffy asked their mom.
"Do you have to actually do something to activate it?" Joyce sighed.
"No. Just hold onto it and it activates instantly. There's no cooldown either. In the game, the only restriction was Inventory space, but my Inventory stacks items," Dawn explained.
"Damn it…" Joyce bit her knuckle thoughtfully. It was abundantly clear she didn't like this. "Fine. You're still grounded, but you can go on your date with Willow. I can't be too angry with everything you're doing to keep us safe. How much longer would you need to pick up more Revives?"
"The encounter only spawns once a trip. Each time I go in it starts me back at the beginning. Maybe an hour to collect enough so each of us would have three apiece?" Dawn shrugged.
"Just be careful, okay? I'm too old to be an only child now," Buffy teased even if her eyes were filled with worry.
The times they survived by the skin of their teeth back home were too many to count. Dawn was serious in that she wasn't going to return to the Parasite Eve dungeons again. The Revives were just too tempting to ignore. She even had her mother's blessing to grab enough for everyone. Of course, the temptation was there to go further than that, but she wasn't suicidal. Once she finished claiming her prizes it was time for bed. They needed to be up bright and early for school the next day after all. Dawn cheated by using another time-dilated ID to get more sleep and practice with her Parasite Energy. Parasite Energy wasn't limited to what was available in the game. With it, she could control the body in a myriad of ways. Biokinesis. All that was left to do was find time to experiment before trying it out on anyone. So while the PE dungeon caused a lot of drama it did have some fantastic benefits. Which unsurprisingly didn't tempt Dawn to explore it any further. Being turned into a charcoal briquette or undergoing horrific body horror didn't appeal to her. Funny thing that.
The gang got together after school to share their experiences. As it turns out, Dawn didn't have a monopoly on truly stupid ideas. While the Summers girls were at home the rest of the Scoobies decided to challenge some dungeons as well. They went into a vampire dungeon and almost got killed off by Darla. The vampire Boss was even more terrifying than the original with preternatural speed and a nasty gun. No one was killed, or even maimed, but it was closer than anyone would've liked.
"We should make an agreement. No more solo dungeons. Either we all go together or not at all. Allowances can be made, but only for dungeons we've explored before. This has been quite the wake-up call," Giles said once the stories were told.
"Definitely," Dawn agreed quickly.
"That it has," Joyce nodded.
"Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Even with Dawn bringing us Revives, and the Phoenix Downs, it's too dangerous to keep jumping in like that," Xander concluded ruefully.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. The only saving grace was they learned their lesson and no one had to die first. Their training for the day was going to be something a lot safer. Finishing their Intelligence and Wisdom training for the ones who weren't there yet. There was still the matter of Faith, Kendra, and Tara. Giles' contacts within the Watcher's Council reacted with surprise and dismay over what the Abyss knew about them. At least not everyone on the Council had their head up their ass. Joyce called Tara's mom to warn her of what was coming. Luckily the woman believed her. She planned on packing up her family and heading to Sunnydale as soon as possible. Jenny and Willow worked some magic to mislead anyone trying to find the family, but it wouldn't last long. The Abyss could chew through their best efforts with ease, but only if they knew to look. Kendra's Watcher didn't reply to Giles' call at all which was worrying. As for Faith's Watcher, Donna, she also swore to come straight to Sunnydale immediately.
Scribing Skills until they critically succeeded and generally taking it easy. They did have the needed Wisdom to learn the Secrets of the Primal and the Crystal Skill Book. Now all enemies they defeated would drop Primal Spirit Gems and Crystals. Of course, Dawn still wanted to take that a step further. Good thing her Luck was so high, but it still took a beastly long time to combine the two Skills. The only problem she saw was that the Job Crystals used the Primal Spirit Gem slot. That meant they could equip a Primal Spirit or a Job Crystal but not both. Her slot had Ruby Knight already equipped.
[Job Crystal: Ruby Knight]
Str + 10
Vit + 10
Dex + 20
Int + 30
Wis + 30
Soul of the Red Mage: +20% Physical and Magical Damage
Why did this stuff only appear now and not earlier?
"Hey Dawn! We got a Quest for the Abyss Auction!" Willow bounced over excitedly. Dawn almost jumped out of her skin but managed to avoid screaming.
"Uh, what?" Dawn blinked bemusedly. Willow showed her the pop-up.
Quest: Buy something from every section of the Abyss Auction.
Spellbooks - Complete
Ingredients - Incomplete
Weapons & Armor - Incomplete
Accessories - Incomplete
Information - Complete
Slaves - Incomplete
Sell something through the Abyss Auction - Complete
"Slaves!?" Dawn yelped.
"I know, right? Can we just go smash them up?" Buffy demanded.
"Not unless you want every magic user on the planet, and from multiple dimensions, hunting us down," Giles remarked bitterly. The tone wasn't for Buffy, but because it sucked. They were still little fish in a very big ocean.
Xander looked over at Jenny and Giles worriedly, "I don't think we can afford to pass this up… you can release people you buy on the Abyss Auction right?"
Giles thought about how he had used the soul recovery to break the Mark of Eyghon. "It depends on how the seller set things up, I'm willing to wager that you can break most any enchantment given time with Yunhon Soul Recovery."
Jenny asked, "Iron Will?"
Willow said, "In various games, Iron Will gives you a bonus against mind control or makes you immune depending on the system, either of which would be very useful…. and this is a quest for the whole group - it gives these rewards for everyone."
Buffy frowned, "Buying people, that's just…"
Xander shrugged, "Wrong? Illegal? Bad? Sure, but they're going to be sold to someone or someTHING anyway, and at least we can give them a few thousand dollars and break the slavery enchantment so they can start over, and we definitely won't chop them up for parts, put them in a mana farm or eat them."
Willow said, "Or we give them some training first to make sure it never happens again."
"I thought that part was implied?" Xander shrugged.
Jenny said, "It won't hurt to look…"
"And with Willow and Xander's Gamer abilities as long as the person is trustworthy we have a fairly unique opportunity to help whoever we wind up choosing prevent this from ever happening again." Joyce sighed helplessly.
Dawn bit her lip thoughtfully. Someone else joining the group would be a big help even if it was only temporary. A group this large had the advantage of numbers, but it was also a weakness. Smaller groups fared better against larger organizations because it was easier to remain hidden. There was a whole risk/reward in that it was possible to grow so powerful no one screwed with you. They weren't at that point yet. By general consensus, they agreed to start with the slaves. The temptation was strong to buy a bunch of them, but their resources would be spread way too thin. Whoever they took in would need therapy at a minimum. Of course, that was when the universe threw Dawn another curveball. One of the slaves was Winnifred Burkle. The same woman Angel rescued from Pylea in the original world. What was she doing here? Admittedly it was probably for the best that she was here. How would they have rescued her otherwise? If Angel didn't go to LA then a lot of the good he did wouldn't get done. Good thing she couldn't have a panic attack!
The group moved on to purchasing ingredients. Thanks to all the sharp and pointy things from Ivalice, plus the healing potions, they were flush with cash. They bought more sharkskin, spider silk, and various metal ingots than were strictly necessary. At least until Xander pointed out they could make their own gear. The stuff they were using now was serviceable, but it would be better if they could customize their stuff. There were also magic cell phones and laptops. Jenny got enough for all of them plus a few extra just in case. The armor consisted of stuff like Boots of Skull Stomping and armored blue jeans. One of them stood out and not in a good way.
"T-shirt of wife-beating? Helps convince the cops you didn't do it?" Jenny read off incredulously.
"Real misogynist bastard of an enchanter no doubt… Some woman did a major number on him at some point." Xander murmured, only to receive glares from every female in the room. "Hey, I didn't say he was right to name his stuff that way, just that for him to have so much hatred for women some woman had to do a real number on that guy." He raised his hands in surrender.
"He might just be a bastard without a reason too," Dawn pointed out tartly.
Giles scowled, "I think we'll skip that item."
Jenny looked over the other options, "Okay, a pair of boxing gloves that increases the chance to knock someone out, initials 'MT' on the cuffs."
"Guess that explains some things," Xander continued his commentary.
Buffy frowned, "I'm not wearing boxing gloves."
Dawn asked, "What about armored shirts?"
Jenny frowned, "Here's a 100 dollar item, boots of water walking... it's from the bayou and includes jungle rot free of charge."
"Pass, jungle rot is nasty." Cordelia snorted.
Xander snorted, "We'll take it."
The girls turned to look at him dubiously.
"What?! We could use it to figure out the enchantment, and as long as no one puts them on the fungus doesn't matter. Plus, it fulfills our quest requirement for something out of this section cheaply and we aren't paying the misogynist bastard."
Joyce frowned, "I'll get a plastic bag…"
Thankfully the Quest was fulfilled without any mishaps. The Orb of Iron Will would prove invaluable in the future as it bolstered Mental Resistance by 50% right away with a +1% per level. Even more importantly they could remove the slave brand from Winnifred "Fred" Burkle. She wanted to be trained so badly that it was almost painful. As much as she wanted to go home, her old life was pretty much over. Now all she could do was train so no one could take her again. At least she could talk to her parents on the phone and even visit them eventually. Rehabilitation would take some time. Dawn hated how these things kept blindsiding her. She knew this world wouldn't follow her own beat by beat, but it seemed hellbent on being dark. They say the only easy day is yesterday. Truer words were never spoken.
Name: Dawn Summers
Age: 15
Job: The Gamer
Level: 19
Title: Ruby Knight of the Order of the Southern Sky
HP: 1600/1600
Starting HP: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
MP: 13,800/13,800
Starting MP: (Int x 50) + 50 per level
PE: 1600/1600
Starting PE: (Vit x 10) + 50 per level
Str: 50 + 10
Vit: 50 + 10
Dex: 50 + 20
Int: 100 + 30
Wis: 50 + 30
Luck: 86
CP: 30
Traits:
Lucky Bitch: + 50 to Luck + 1 Luck per level and +50% to Luck Training
Magic Practitioner - Utility: + 50% to Training/Effect of Utility Spells
Mage: Increase spell effectiveness by 30% and reduce cost by 30%. Starting MP increases to Int x 50. ((Int x 50) + 50 per level) x 2
Job Crystal: Ruby Knight
Str + 10
Vit + 10
Dex + 20
Int + 30
Wis + 30
Soul of the Red Mage: +20% Physical and Magical Damage
AN: Phwee…Sorry for the delays in my posts. I'm pretty much working almost constantly. Please help me lighten the load by donating to my Patreon. Otherwise I just won't have time to produce quality content. Thanks!