[X] [BonL] Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And the potential Perks were too good to pass up.
[X] [CP] I selected 'Yes'.
[X] [ES] {Bone Magic} was a thing, and there were a lot of bones around…
[X] [TsmYisyM] Slippy had been nothing but a friend and support. She was naively innocent and genuine. If there was anyone in the world that I could actually trust with the truth, then it was her.
[X] [AC] Meditate on your life, and your Life. Remember what you were thinking of when {Green-Pixie} leveled up, and the significance of what form Green takes for you and Slippy. She isn't dead, and she seems totally fine. There are things you know about without having any idea of why or what they mean. The room, the voice, the portal, the alarm, your body and knowledge, this building and this cave system. Something's going on here.
[/SPOILER]
Chapter 0.5 - - Two feet on the Ground.
Foraging +1 (4)
Athletics +1 (15)
In one of the last rooms we searched, we came across what must have been the last of those who came before to perish in this place. The door had been barricaded by tables and chairs jammed into the frame such that at one point in the past it would have been very difficult to force our way in from the outside.
Time rolls on however. The years since had rotted the formerly firm wood rather thoroughly and it did not take long for me to simply bash at the weaker segments until they dislodged and fell free.
Inside what looked like a lower-end shoe store, there were the typical huddles of bodies. Two stood out to me. One had a hole in their skull.
Woman. Was wife of a trained marshal. Shot in the middle of the night to end her constant coughing and seizures.
The other had a jaw that seemed smashed apart.
Attempted suicide after killing wife. Improper aim due to wracking cough. Bled to death from jaw wound.
Blue-Deadthink +1 (7)
Investigation +1 (9)
Anatomy +1 (4)
What a way to go.
'
Hmmm?' Slippy asked, '
You figured out what happened?'
I pondered answering her as I bent down to claim the old weapon beside the skeletal corpse. A pistol, empty.
Foraging +1 (5)
I could evade Slippy's question, deflect. But… I didn't want to. I could admit the fact that she was the only person I could remember ever meeting right now was affecting my judgement, but I really did want someone I could talk to. The fact it would make it so much easier to pool our resources together more effectively was a not insignificant push too.
'
Slippy?' I stood and looked directly at my gooey skinned acquaintance.
'
Uh… yes?' She replied, shifting somewhat nervously at my formal inflection.
Do you want to join my party?
At that, I beamed my full unreserved understanding of what I was at Slippy. What Skills were, Attributes, the 'System', Caps, the 'Add to Party Y/N' situation, everything.
Psionics +1 (10)
Psionics +1 (11)
She staggered backward, almost knocked off balance by the weight of ideas. I couldn't send thoughts unaided like Slippy could, but I was learning quickly and was no longer limited to letting her only hear words.
…
…
…
So… like I said. Do you want to join my party?
Slippy seemed at a loss for nearly a full minute before she responded. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle to convince her to believe I was telling the truth and not some elaborate lie, but I was willing to take the time to-
-Yes.
…
Yes? That's it, no more questions?
Slippy's mouth-hole made a cute flapping noise as she breathed in and sighed.
You don't have any answers Splitter. But your tough and strong and smart and… anyway, the point is I want to be a part of whatever it is that is going on.
That was… both easier and more decisive than I was expecting. But, I'd already been leaning toward selecting Yes, Slippy being on board was all the confirmation I needed.
Slippy: Add to Party [Yes]!
Other than the subtlest sensation of some space inside me becoming a little bit used up, there was almost nothing different. Something had changed, but what? It was too soon to know.
'
I feel… the same.' She seemed disappointed.
Only time will tell.
It felt a little like cognitive whiplash, I'd built up this idea in my head that telling Slippy about the system and convincing her would be this big
thing. But she believed me immediately, not needing convincing, and didn't have any questions, because she knew everything I did.
With that anti-climax past us, all that remained was to finish our search.
- - -
Foraging +1 (6)
Foraging +1 (7)
The only thing of note the two of us found while looking around was a series of improvised weapons in the back of the shoe shop. Someone had somehow sharpened down some steel table legs into points rather than stubs, there was dried residue that looked like it was once blood on their ends, showing they had been used at some point before being abandoned.
Investigation +1 (10)
I considered trying to work upon {Improvised Weapons}, maybe swinging around two or more at once to have a go at {Dual Wield}. But the fact I had to choose between that and my current unarmed Skills made that a secondary priority. I certainly intended to level them when I had the time, but only after getting the level 20 Perks I suspected were waiting just a few Skill levels away.
Logic +1 (9)
The idea of luring monsters to me to essentially grind up my actual Levels remained a tantalizing possibility. But first, I wanted to aim for a lower hanging fruit.
I walked back toward one of the rooms we'd found where large amounts of bones were interred, one of the early makeshift cemeteries set aside before the inhabitants had simply starting leaving the bodies where they expired.
{Bone Magic}. Was what I was trying to do irreverent? I told myself that this is what these people would have wanted, for their deaths to mean something. The only other person here with me didn't argue, though Slippy seemed as uneasy as I was myself.
Kneeling down and laying my hands upon the stacked pile of bones thick enough to nearly obscure my view of the tiled floor, I tried to reach out and access the locked magic.
First, I tried to move them; to sense the bones themselves and perhaps work them to my will. Nothing.
Second, I tried to push energy into them; to make them into more than they were before. Nothing.
Third, I tried to think of who these people had been in life; to restore some semblance of what they once were. Nothing.
Fourth, Getting exasperated, I tried to feel and pull upon what bones represented; the core and foundation of a person. Finally, a tingle.
Bone Magic +1 (1)
It was hard, unfamiliar. Liking guiding myself through a dance I had read the steps to, but never practiced.
Bone Magic +1 (2)
I pulled upon the bones I was touching, sapping something primordial and alive somehow stored within them. I lacked the sense of what to do with it, and after half a minute felt one of bones I'd been touching disintegrate into powder; its potential wasted.
Bone Magic +1 (3)
I redoubled my efforts. I was taking something from these bones, something that could be redirected elsewhere. But what? I tried to feel it out, the energy, the sense of potential thrumming at my fingertips unharnessed.
Bone Magic +1 (4)
Bone Magic +1 (5)
It was several minutes and half a ribcage of powered bone later that I started to gain a sense of direction. If pulling from the foundation of a person was what had activated {Bone Magic}, then that was where the answer lay. What was I pulling this potential
toward? What was my foundation? What represented the core of my Strengths?
…Attributes!
Bone Magic +3 (8)
The epiphany hit me as a whole femur broke apart from my suddenly increased ability to siphon its essence. Attributes, Stats. I could see the path through the jungle now. For a moment, I could borrow the strength, the wit, the grace that people had had in life.
Power. {POW}. Taking another rib in one of my hands, I siphoned it while focusing on the literal strength they had possessed in life. For the briefest moment I felt raw undiluted force fill me. The full {POW} this individual had once had added atop my own. This wasn't just a guess, my intuitive understanding of my System Interface showed my {POW} stat temporarily raise from eight to
fourteen.
Bone Magic +1 (9)
The rib disintegrated into dust a moment later, merely possessing the added strength was enough to powder it in seconds. Had I used it, I knew it would have given only a single punch or kick. I was so not done with this though. I clutched a whole femur between my hands, and pulled on {SPD}.
Bone Magic +1 (10)
Bone Magic +1 (11)
If anything this was even more potent than the last time. In my desperate pulling I had guzzled down on the bone's power, I realized that I could temper or accelerate the process, either savouring or ravishing a bone of its potential. This time I had pulled fast and pulled
hard, my {SPD} shot up to nineteen for less than one second. It felt like more than a second though, in that lingering space of stretched time, it almost felt like I could pluck a bullet out of the air. With no reason to stop and a plethora of resources before me, I dove into my practice, spending the next half of an hour extending my new magic as far as it could go.
Bone Magic +1 (12)
Bone Magic +1 (13)
Bone Magic +1 (14)
Bone Magic +1 (15)
Bone Magic +1 (16)
Bone Magic +1 (17)
Bone Magic +1 (18)
Bone Magic +1 (19)
I learned a lot in that heady time of unnatural highs and disappointing lows. {END} felt like I could either briefly extend my overall durability, or have a bone tank part of a hit in my place. It also took longer to dissolve a bone being held on standby than the others. My {MEN} stats didn't feel quite so profound, though do smart people feel smarter? That said, it was during a period of repeatedly hiking up {CUN} that I realized I should take the time to try and push Life energy into Slippy given that I knew she was developing an illness. And use {Deadthink} on myself for that matter.
Life +1 (14)
Life +1 (15)
First Aid +1 (9)
Life +1 (16)
Life +1 (17)
First Aid +1 (10)
Life +1 (18)
First Aid +1 (11)
'
Oh wow, that feels so much better,' She'd said after I finished.
Psionics +1 (12)
I'd felt a little foolish for needing to use Bone Magic to come up with that idea. In the end it hadn't even used up my reserve. Slippy had a reserve of her own she was unable to tap without having {Life Magic}, but it was essentially exactly the same as using my own. Deadthink had dropped its lines about infection when I checked again. Then, turning in on myself…
Has died. Central chest cavity highly vulnerable.
Blue-Deadthink +1 (8)
Blue-Deadthink +1 (9)
Blue-Deadthink +1 (10)
Analysis +1 (13)
Anatomy +1 (5)
Anatomy +1 (6)
I looked at myself, and the red opening in the centre of my chest that revealed my innards to the world. Saying I felt vulnerable (and daft for not recognizing such a glaring weakness about myself until now) would be a pretty big understatement. I'd thought being stabbed through my abdomen was bad, but now I had the sense that if that Mutt's bladed leg had gone in just a bit higher I may have outright died without even a gasp.
Anatomy +1 (7)
As far as Bone Magic was concerned, I felt I was getting to the point where I could holistically draw out more broad effects beyond just raw Attributes. Things like health and perhaps one day even
lifespan did not seem unreachable. I also had an intuitive sense of the potential within each bone I now held before I starting pulling from it, which was kind of trippy considering I could feel the potential in my own bones too. That didn't seem like a bridge that would be wise to cross though. I hadn't managed to put anything that I took from a bone back even with other bones to drawn from, I didn't want to imagine what draining my own might cause. The only Attribute I hadn't temporarily been able to ramp up was {LUK}, simply because I hadn't found a single bone that had any. In terms of limits, it seemed that even if I ratcheted up my siphoning to its maximum strength, I could not go further than doubling my own attributes or pulling double of the base stats a bone had held in life; the limit was always whichever of those two were lower and at maximum pull a bone lasted less than half a second unless it was something massive like a femur.
The process of leveling had gotten slower and slower the closer I got to {Bone Magic} 20. Though Slippy insisted that it was '
stupidly crazy cool' how quickly I'd been able to pick it up, I still found myself getting frustrated.
When it seemed to stall at 19, I actually resorted to making light cuts in my skin and figuring out how to slowly close them by pulling from bones instead of using Life energy. It was a different process entirely. Whereas Life energy seemed to accelerate the natural healing process orders of magnitude faster, Bone Magic seemed to directly degrade the bone it pulled from to spontaneously manifest undamaged tissue. It was less all encompassing, Life energy for example would easily clear out an infection as part of its healing, whereas with what I pulled from bones it was almost easier to hack out a piece of flesh and regrow it than try and remove any foreign bacteria within.
First Aid +1 (12)
First Aid +1 (13)
Musing aside, my slightly more extreme grinding had the desired result.
Bone Magic +1 (20) CAP
Bone Magic (20) Perk! "Calcium on Tap"
[You may save up to one normal charge of Bone Potential to be released automatically or on command.]
[The exchange rate for replenishing this perk is BONEMAGICLVL% of your normal efficiency.]
[At level 40, you no longer need to pre-specify the type of use prior to reserving Bone Potential.]
[At level 50, you may now save up to two normal charges.]
[At level 100 you may save up to the total equivalent of your body's bone-mass in charges.]
I let the sweet sublime pleasure flow through me. '
Ahhhhhhhhhhh.'
That hit the spot.
With that done, it was time to bring Slippy around on my 'Gaining Levels' plan.
Oh, and go foraging for the best bones I could find.
- - - - -
Foraging +1 (8)
Foraging +1 (9)
Foraging +1 (10)
Investigation +1 (11)
Foraging +1 (11)
Foraging +1 (12)
Foraging +1 (13)
Foraging +1 (14)
Anatomy +1 (8)
Analysis +1 (14)
'
Are you absolutely sure about this?' Slippy questioned cautiously as the lone Mutt stepped in through the broken front doors of the food court.
I clenched, ready. We were as prepared as we were ever going to be.
After capping {Bone Magic}, I had sought out and found a large hard-leather backpack that seemed to have weathered the passage of time intact. It was filled to the brim with bones holding the highest stats I could find across all the bone piles we had come across. More specifically, the highest {PHY} stats. It had been hard to find one that fit my back given that I was somewhere in the ballpark of eight feet tall. I had a small bandolier at my waist with some high grade {MEN} and {SOC} bones if I needed them. One of my hands was dedicated to just holding a collection of about 22 ribs entwined beneath my fingers split out into sixteen sub-tendrils to hold them all.
I'd fully charged up {Calcium on Tap} with {END}, focused on tanking a single moderate hit. At {Bone Magic} 20, it still took quite a bit of concentration to pull from a bone at any given moment, but the perk only required active attention during the prep time, making it into a potentially literal life saver. Thanks to the confidence {Unarmed Combat} 19 gave me and the extra thinking space Mentalism's {Plate Juggler} provided, I was just at the point where it was feasible to pull something like {POW} from a bone when I wound up for a punch. I definitely felt like that was my limit right now though. If I'd only had Bone Magic by itself, it wouldn't have been enough. Pulling {SPD} or {END} in the moment was likely not workable, I just didn't have the reaction speed and timing to do it quick enough; focusing on just using {Dodge} with my full attention was still the better bet there.
Feisty was standing by too, ready to play distraction if for whatever reason Slippy could not handle that.
Logic +1 (10)
I'm ready Slippy. Stick to the plan.
The 'Plan' was for Slippy to first lure a single Mutt to us with mental sensations of 'easy dinner' and 'females'. Then when it saw me and became aggressive, she would slam it with as much pain as she could right as I went in for a solid Bone Magic empowered strike.
Honestly, Bone Magic felt like cheating. It was admittedly punching above its weight right now because of the easy access I had to a plethora of the necessary resources, but having the ability to become temporarily superhuman at-will was a heady rush. Comparing my skills in general, at first glance it would seem my more fantastical powers like the Magics or the Colours were far more valuable than regular ones like {Perception} or even {Unarmoured}.
That said, earlier today I had engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an invisible predator and
won. It didn't seem that significant at the time, but looking back on that moment, could any other unarmed combatant have even a slim chance of winning an encounter like that? I'd moved and struck with unnatural grace, I'd beat a monster to death with my bare hands.
They were less flashy, but my more 'mundane' Skills had a quality of their own that I shouldn't dismiss.
Analysis +1 (15)
As the Mutt smelled at the air before noticing and then locking its eyes on me, I couldn't help but wonder what pulling from its bones was going to feel like. What a crazy day it had been, that I could feel so confident standing against something that had represented mortal peril hours ago. Speaking of which, I did feel {Plate Juggler} sapping just a bit of my working memory to negate a post-traumatic fear response. I was thankful for the lack of distraction.
The Mutt snarled in my direction, digging the razor sharp points of its feet into the ground ready to propel itself forward and close the twenty or so metres between us. There was an open gap with no tables or chairs between us. I was an equal reflection of the Mutt, flexing and bracing my body and mind for what was coming.
In the best-case scenario, this wouldn't even be a fight. Crippled by Slippy's projected pain, the Mutt should shortly find itself utterly unable to resist in any way. But my desire for Perks and Levels didn't overshadow how dangerous this could be, nor the value of expecting the unexpected. So as four legs pushed and propelled the animal towards me, I was ready for a fight.
The best-case scenario was… entirely accurate. Right at the critical juncture of the Mutt's final bounding leap that would bring it to me, Slippy hit it with everything she had. Its coordinated gait fell apart into a scrambling insensate tumble, leaving the animal completely unprepared. I brought two fists down on its head while it was oblivious, the full force of a {POW} enhanced strike disintegrating two of my reserve ribs in exchange for the strength to create an audible crunch as I impacted its skull. It's bone-plates still dug into my skin as I drove my hands into its head, but not as much as I'd expected. In a single moment, the Mutt was dead.
Unarmed Combat +1 (20)
Unarmoured +1 (18)
Sharia Shard 'XDP9i1' Defeated
Unarmed Combat (20) Perk! "Distributed Load"
[All of your limbs automatically supply UNARMEDLVL% of their Attributes to any other limb (when unoccupied) that requires it. Efficiency of transfer from legs to arms or vice versa is halved until Lvl 50.]
[At Level 40, Armed Limbs can receive this bonus from Unarmed Limbs at half efficiency. Efficiency Malus is removed at Level 80]
[Maximum bonus cannot exceed UNARMEDLVL%x2 on any square inch of flesh.]
I basked in the warm glow of contentment that filled me as the Perk slotted into place. I could feel {Distributed Load} at work already. The Perk neglected to mention something I considered quite important, transferred strength didn't tire the limb that it was transferred from. It was effectively free energy. Even with a 50% malus to transfer between arms and legs, my three unoccupied arms were able to provide a cumulative 15% to my two legs. More than enough to stand up literally forever without tiring. Any time I punched anything while having at least one other empty hand, that was a free 20% harder strike for nothing. If I had to reach quickly to catch something, one of my arms could easily move faster than normally possible to get it in time. These were simple improvements, but collectively I wouldn't have been surprised if they made me twice the fighter I'd been just a single Skill Level ago.
'…Slippy' I beamed hungrily.
…Yes?
More.
- - - - -
-Crunch- … -Splat- … -Splinter- … -Crack- … Squish-
Unarmed Combat +1 (21)
Unarmed Combat +1 (22)
Unarmed Combat +1 (23)
Unarmed Combat +1 (24)
Unarmed Combat +1 (25)
Unarmed Combat +1 (26)
Unarmoured +1 (19)
Unarmoured +1 (20)
Green-Pixie +1 (7)
Green-Pixie +1 (8)
Green-Pixie +1 (9)
Green-Pixie +1 (10)
Anatomy +1 (9)
Anatomy +1 (10)
Anatomy +1 (11)
Anatomy +1 (12)
Blue-Deadthink +1 (11)
Blue-Deadthink +1 (12)
Blue-Deadthink +1 (13)
Sharia Shard '41OuoG' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'iQ9Yld' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'I96oHU' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'itzJ66' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'skhkTc' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'A5002m' Defeated
Sharia Shard '3sA65u' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'b4Pv9T' Defeated
Sharia Shard '4v2ApT' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'xvdEvF' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'r59lmx' Defeated
Sharia Shard 'ICE4fn' Defeated
Sharia Shard '46HXBn' Defeated
Level Up! +2 Attribute Points
Level Up! +2 Attribute Points
Fiat Mutation Available!
Respec-Five Available!
Unarmoured (20) Perk: She's got Gruff
[You no longer suffer the doubled hit penalty from weapon -> flesh strikes and possess dermal layers that are a further UNARMOUREDLVL% tougher overall.]
[Your skin is UNARMOUREDLVL%*5 times more resistant to environmental effects and applied toxins.]
[You are immune to all damage that inflicts less than UNARMOUREDLVL%/10 of your total health pool per second.]
Crushing the last Mutt's foreleg beneath my foot before side-kicking its head in, I reflected on what had brought me to this moment.
It felt too easy. We'd made our plan, we'd executed it, but I'd kept expecting the rug to be pulled out from under me at some point.
It just kept working though. Mutt after Mutt, blow after blow. Just Skills and Perks and Levels, the sweet serenity of what I was collectively naming 'Numbers go Up'.
The 2
nd to last Mutt had felt like it gave less than the others before it in contribution to leveling up, and the one I had just finished off gave nothing. Evidently, they were too low level for me now. My System seemed like that would be the kind of arbitrary logic it would work off.
Analysis +1 (16)
{Distributed Load} had made what was an already well-working plan into something almost effortless. After the first few Mutts I gave up on the pretense that there was any danger, they never even had a chance to take down my {Calcium on Tap} {END} reserve let alone actually hurt me. {Unarmed Combat} 26 made me feel palpably better prepared. It had taken significantly more effort after 20 to raise each level, but I had the feeling I was stepping into something truly profound.
I'd let Feisty get in on the action herself to try and raise {Green-Pixie} up a bit. Though it stalled at 10, I had the distinct sensation that the lack of any risk or true need for her help was what was capping her there, rather than any innate limit.
From examining the bodies, I had learned a bit from Deadthink on ways to hurt living Mutts easier in the future, pushing both it and {Anatomy} up in the process.
And then there was of course the Perk. {She's Got Gruff} was a tremendous icing on the cake. The best part was that I could feel it perfectly synergize with Bone Magic's {END} boosting, applying its bonuses to my temporary total rather than only my base. I had the distinct sense that {UNARMOURED} made me more resistant to damage as a passive effect anyway, {She's Got Gruff} just had an explicit additional bonus on top of that to my outer layers.
I felt powerful. Like I could take on the world. And this was only the beginning of what I could be capable of.
I'm not saying I was okay with being dumped in this place, but I could appreciate one hell of a silver lining when I found one.
Slippy was handling things decidedly less well. We hadn't taken many breaks, but I could tell she was less eager each time we resumed. To hear here describe it, she got a sense of the Mutts' panic the moment she mentally hit them. She kept saying she was fine when I pried, but I could tell she was building up to a breakdown. So we were taking a 'break' right now, but it was probably time to stop at least for the day.
Perception +1 (19)
Right now she was playing with Feisty, who had sensed by desire to cheer Slippy up. It really was easy to forget the little Fairy was an unconscious reflection.
I sighed, 'Numbers go Up' felt great, but we'd hit almost all the low hanging fruit anyway, at this point I'd need some real risk for most of the rest.
I'd put off allocating my four attribute points. The ease with which our plan had played out meant I'd had time to think rather than having to immediately dump them into what would keep me alive a few minutes longer, now I had decisions to make. There was also the 'Fiat Mutation' and 'Respec' prodding at the back of my mind. Unlike 'Add to Party', these did not feel like they would let me wait forever.
The oddness of my circumstances continued to occasionally strike me. For all I had discovered, for everything Slippy and I had shared, we both knew nothing. I found myself searching back through my memories for something to unearth, the feelings and sensations as each of my Skills had each revealed themselves for the first time. {Deadthink} said Slippy and I had both died, but knowing that fact didn't trigger any other memory in me. On the face of it, it just made no sense. If it meant we'd both been resuscitated from near-death experiences, that seemed like a deliberately obscure way to phrase it. Something more was going on… but I had no idea what that was. I was missing pieces, I was probably missing the pieces needed to even start to find the other pieces. Frustrated, I came to the same conclusion as always, it was a mystery.
Analysis +1 (17)
Investigation +1 (12)
Logic +1 (11)
My ruminations were cut short by a very familiar sound in the distance.
"Eiiiieeeeee!"
I looked over at Slippy who had previously been examining Feisty's wing, she had stopped with the noise, taking a defensive posture.
I hear it too.
Walking toward the frames that once held windows on the exterior wall of the food court, I looked out into the surrounding swamp. The night was nearly here, perhaps an hour more of proper daylight before it fell below the horizon. I waited, and I listened.
"Eiiiieeeeee!"
'
That's definitely the drone that attracts creatures.' It was closer the second time too.
There is nothing coming. I would feel it by now.
The perpetually sickly wet tangles and knots that the various trees grew into seemed to draw closer and crowd in from the outside as my nerves grew tight. The shadows of the approaching twilight that had begun darkening the woods as the day grew late didn't help at all.
"Eiiiieeeeee!"
That one was significantly closer, only just beyond where we could see.
'
There is definitely nothing there!' Slippy insisted frantically, gesticulating with her hands. I think we both knew the truth.
No, Slippy. Something is coming…
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Skillsheet for 0.5
Choice Time:
Approval Voting is allowed.
'Allocate Attribute Points', 'Respec-Five' and 'Fiat-Mutation' must be presented as a Plan together. Other options may be voted on singularly.
Voting will open tomorrow morning GMT+10
Allocate Attribute Points: 4 to Allocate.
[ ] [AAP] Write In.
Respec-Five: You may drop 1-5 Skills, replacing them with an equal number. Dropped Skills are completely removed and reduced to 0, all benefits including Perks are lost. Added Skills start at 0.
[ ] [R5] I decided to leave things as they were, for now
[ ] [R5] Write In. (I.e. Drop: Unarmed, Unarmoured Add: Two-Handed Weapons, Heavy Armour)
Fiat-Mutation: Before investigating this option, I was a little curious. But when I looked into what it actually meant, my eyes boggled at the possabilities. Some of these had the incredible potential.
Robust Carapace: Prereq {PHY} ≥ 10
Your skin grows a thick rubbery scaled exterior carapace. You count as simultaneously unarmoured and lightly armoured (either or both, whichever is more beneficial) for the purposes of Skill use and Perk benefits. You gain an exterior armoured hp-pool that can count as either/both 'you' or 'armour' (whichever is more beneficial).
Superior Wings: Prereq {PHY} ≥ 10
Your wings reinforce and grow the necessary enhanced mass and lift to carry you into the skies.
Claws: Prereq {PHY} ≥ 5
The ends of your tendrils become able to taper off into sharpened tips. You may make piercing, slashing or blunt attacks with your limbs.
Large: Prereq {PHY} ≥ 5
You increase in natural size, adding between 50% to 75% additional mass, gaining all relevant maluses and boons.
Translucent: Prereq {PHY} ≥ 5
Your entire body can become a mostly obscured blurry form. It is easy for others to lose track of exactly how your limbs are moving and be blindsided by unexpected shifts. You have a large bonus to Stealth and other related DCs when sight is the primary detection factor used by an opponent.
Mind like Fire: Prereq: {MEN} ≥ 5
Your mind is innately incompatible with most mortal creatures. Even if your thoughts are successfully read or predicted, it will be a deeply painful experience for the one looking upon them.
Decentralized Consciousness: Prereq: {MEN} ≥ 5
Your mind is no longer housed within a primary organ but as several redundant sub-nodes. Hostile Mind-Altering effects that require direct interface with a brain will likely auto-fail.
Manifest Will: Prereq: {MEN} ≥ 5
Your concentration and focus become discrete forces akin to stamina, allowing you to 'sprint' with your mind for associated bonuses and penalties. Likewise, you can forgo things like sleep/etc indefinitely if you do not over-exert your mind.
Resonant Cadence: Prereq: {SOC} ≥ 5
Your voice sticks in their ear, a worm that cannot be dug out. They'll try to fight it, but no matter how much they resist, your suggestion can never be fully forgotten.
Pheromone Glands: Prereq: {SOC} ≥ 5
You can synthesise and disperse a broad cocktail of scents to encourage certain dispositions and emotions.
Changer: Prereq: {SOC} ≥ 5
You can take the face/form/voice of a person or thing for 24 hours after you eat them. Eating dozens of the same species allows you to mimic a generic example of one (plus any previously eaten forms) with no time limit. Mass must be
roughly similar.
Eyes of Fortune: Prereq: {LUK} > 0
You can sense the force of Luck and its flavour as it acts upon the world.
Chaos Factor: Prereq: {LUK} > 0
The force of Luck turns capricious in your presence. Casting both superior and inferior shadows over events according to its fickle whim. (Those with twice your Luck or greater are immune to this effect.)
[ ] [FM] Robust Carapace (Requires {PHY}+2)
[ ] [FM] Superior Wings (Requires {PHY}+2)
[ ] [FM] Claws
[ ] [FM] Large
[ ] [FM] Translucent
[ ] [FM] Mind like Fire
[ ] [FM] Decentralized Consciousness
[ ] [FM] Manifest Will
[ ] [FM] Resonant Cadence
[ ] [FM] Pheromone Glands
[ ] [FM] Changer
[ ] [FM] Eyes of Fortune (Requires {LUK}+1)
[ ] [FM] Chaos Factor (Requires {LUK}+1)
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\/ Plan not Required \/
How to use "Calcium on Tap":
[ ] [CoT] I figured I already had the right idea, being able to negate an unlucky hit was the best use for it.
[ ] [CoT] Actually, I could do better. (Write In.)
They Approach: Whatever was coming, the same thing that had endangered my life twice had chosen this as the third. It would be foolish to think this would be an easy affair. But what would we do?
[ ] [TA] We would stand together
- [ ] [TA-Stand] Trying to head them off at the entrance to the food court from the swamp.
- [ ] [TA-Stand] By retreating to and holding at one of the many stairwells up the highest level.
- [ ] [TA-Stand] Write in.
[ ] [TA] I ran.
- [ ] [TA-Flee] And I left Slippy in the dust. I only had to outrun her…
- [ ] [TA-Flee] And we tried to lose them in the vast complex of rooms and corridors we had explored today.
- [ ] [TA-Flee] Write in.
[ ] [TA] Write In.
Additional Considerations (Optional): Other things the MC should focus on doing or spend time on. Is only enacted if a sufficient proportion of total voters support it.
[ ] [AC] Write in.
