i mean theres also a ritual that not only frees the soul (and lets them stay and chat for a bit), but removes any and all power that the swallower gained.
Figuring out how to mass produce that could be handy?
Not really. It's a lot of effort to go to, when just killing them gets more or less the same results. And in most cases to use the ritual you'll need to beat the vampire first anyway.
There is such a thing as too much information at once.
If Mia started dumping exactly how fucked normal people are, then yeah, it probably would break someones spirit from the get go.
How would you feel if you found out that a freak storm that destroyed most of Bangladesh was actually an ancient Vampire that was just hungry and the aftermath were the Kuei-Jin and Technocracy trying to put it down.
I feel like blood bond is an important safety tip, though. Otherwise, Vitae just sounds awesome. Do unto the vampire as it intended to do unto us, and get power? Sounds like a great way to use their own strengths against them, if you don't know the downside.
So, I love the premise, but it seems like some of the most annoying tropes of the "Gamer fic" are starting to creep in.
First, we have the very chatty System. This made sense in The Gamer webcomic since it was literally Gaia leaving the messages, but a lot of Gamer/System fics just copy it without much reason. If there isn't a foundational worldbuilding reason to include it, then for the most part it just amounts to an OC for the MC to talk to, but here it seems to serve neither purpose leaving me wondering why bother?
Second is the Shop which serves a functionally identical purpose to the "Abyss Auction", only lacks the in-universe explanation of the Auction. Since the Auction is part of The Gamer's world the trend when copy/pasting things is to just give the MC the same utility, but ignore all the worldbuilding and narrative consequences of the Auction. This always comes off as cheap and, without any of the setting justifications that The Gamer uses, seems like just more out of context power handed to the MC which is almost always unsatisfying.
Thirdly we have the "Patch/Update" to the System. Granted, this normally happens much later as the writer realizes that they are quickly writing themselves into a corner with their existing setup and I am not sure that happened here, but the appearance is just as annoying. If the goal was to show how overworked and stressed the organization that hired the MC is, then we already have that info from the first chapter. If the System was an issue so quickly, then it might be easier and cleaner to just adjust the scale of abilities. The measure of value for actual stat points is still very abstract so making a 20 have the effect of a 15 wouldn't mean anything to the reader. Honestly, we could remove attribute points entirely and have no narrative difference in the story thus far.
Most recently we now have Instant Quests which are just "Instant Dungeons" with extra text. Once again inspired by The Gamer webcomic, but again lacking the worldbuilding and nuance that made it work. In the webcomic isolating an area from the world for supernatural reasons was very common. Han Jihan's ability to level the skill and eventually generate loot dropping enemies was, again, explicitly Gaia giving him a boost. Here it is tied to unlocking things in the shop, which is a vast improvement over most uses, but the opens up the other issue with the ID (or IQ in this case), the Grind. So often Game inspired fics just become a process of watching numbers go up in-between text explanations for why the numbers are going up. This can be partially satisfying if we have a good understanding of what the numbers mean and so can appreciate how increasing them works for progress, but here where the numbers are without context and all but meaningless? This feels like a diversion which will eat wordcount and produce apathy.
Again, the premise is a huge draw and I really want to see the MC try to change the oWoD, but I am concerned that the story is becoming more about the System and less about the characters and setting.
Vampires do not eat souls normally, even when killing victims by draining, otherwise every other vampire would have the tell of it in their auspex aura, vampires themselves would have no soul because of the kiss (they do) and the camarilla would have a problem. That's specific to the secret of how to do diablerie 'correctly' and has often undesirable side effects that don't occur after normal feeding (personality changes, dissociative identity disorder, all those tropes).
Sure, you can probably make the WoD more grimdark by saying that or kitbash a headcanon that the beast hunger for blood is because blood has easy accessible 'soul energy's or whatever, but there isn't a need to make the WoD more grimdark, and this idea just cuts off possibilities. Sounds like something that would appear in the hunter splat because they only have to worry about vampires as enemy npcs there.
Of course, singular vampires being as unwise and monstrous as they can be is fair game. Several vampires turned themselves into literal devils, or made deals with extra dimensional creatures beyond mortal keen and fucked themselves over - including several antediluvians, (or ...). So a soul drinker only would be a midboss.
So I read werewolf 20th edition for a game i plan on running and werewolfs are way more versatile than i expected. Like they have all the tools of victory that should allow them to turn the tide.
For example, 7/8 of the werewolfs have can start gift that turns of technology in in like 80 yards around them for like minute. Like if your roll well you can prevent knifes from cutting thats how potent it is, and they have stronger versions of this that can permanently destroy machinery in hearing range,and as were wolfs their how can be heard for miles, a single moderately strong werewolf can shut down entire pentex divisions with that gift. They can intercept your calls from mid air with magic and can evesdrop on their entire tech infrastructure fairly trivially by summoning weaver spirits.
And thats just their instant turn based powers. Their ritual magic is busted as well, as in a level 4 ritual, out of 6 but 5 is the normal limit, can protect a forest from all non supernatural humans intervention. They have a ritual that can cleanse entire cities by summoning purifying rain. They have rituals to curse entire corporations and bless city blocks. They literally have a ritual that can create new caerns whoes disappearance is one of the causes of death of gaia and all it cost is a stat point that can be bought back with like 18 exp, which is like 6 month of adventuring.
They have the spirits of the economy, of communication and money and modern wars as patrons they can use to get gifts from.
If the garou got their shit together and stopped being regressive fuckwards they can win the war against pentex and the wyrm.
Thats such a fucking tragedy. They can win if only they weren't terrible people.
That's true for most splats in WoD. Vampires could feed on donated blood or even animals. Technocracy could stop trying to rebuild 1984 and Brave New World at the same time especially since Consensus is not all encompassing and there are ways to exploit it in their favor without suppressing more traditional magic. And so on. If only all of them weren't such horrible people the world would be a much better place. But they are. And everything is shit.
That's true for most splats in WoD. Vampires could feed on donated blood or even animals. Technocracy could stop trying to rebuild 1984 and Brave New World at the same time especially since Consensus is not all encompassing and there are ways to exploit it in their favor without suppressing more traditional magic. And so on. If only all of them weren't such horrible people the world would be a much better place. But they are. And everything is shit.
No i get that. But those guys aren't fighting against people that can be defeated on the battlefield. Consensus is all about peoples preception and thats a major issue that will take time. Meanwhile their biggest problem is black spiral dancers and pentex. The garaou can absolutely destroy them, infrastructure wise.
Its really easy, just summon spirits of the flood and destroy every building owned by pentex, the weakest rank os spirits can fill a small building to a block with water. And they can know all of the subsidiary because can bind spirts with supernatural control of tech to trace all of them down.
Like give me a sept of 20 werewolfs and i could save a city from pentex. Give me 200 and i can save a country. I in this case means someone that knows strategy like alexander or something, not literally me.
But those guys aren't fighting against people that can be defeated on the battlefield. Consensus is all about peoples preception and thats a major issue that will take time.
The problem with Technocracy is that their whole premise is built on a false foundation. Consensus works only for humans. There are a horrifying amount of creatures, spirits and monsters that don't give a fuck that you don't believe in them or their powers. They are going to find you and they are going to eat you. Trying to pretend that they do not exist? It's silly and dangerous. But Technocracy is not willing to acknowledge that they made such a fundamental mistake and uses a lot of its power on suppressing that knowledge.
The problem with Technocracy is that their whole premise is built on a false foundation. Consensus works only for humans. There are a horrifying amount of creatures, spirits and monsters that don't give a fuck that you don't believe in them or their powers. They are going to find you and they are going to eat you. Trying to pretend that they do not exist? It's silly and dangerous. But Technocracy is not willing to acknowledge that they made such a fundamental mistake and uses a lot of its power on suppressing that knowledge.
The smell here sucked, sure, but the monsters in this fucking place were the worst.
"JUST. FUCKING. BURN. ALREADY!" I shouted as I threw another fireball into the Malboro Overking, the tentacled mouthed spinach head screaming as it threw more of its putrid breath my way.
Fuck, I knew that I should have bought those gas masks I saw at those garage sales!
Barely able to hold my breath, I moved forward, my body moving faster than any humans should be capable of and swept its tentacled feet out from under it as the flames finally started to do some damage.
It screamed trying to get more of its disease ridden breath onto me and missing as I reached into my Inventory and brought out a nice heavy shotgun, loaded with some of those Incendiary Rounds from the shop.
Without a second thought, I shoved the damn thing into its mouth and unloaded every shell into its skull. I coudln't quite help the grin on my mouth as the plant monster flopped to the ground. I think it was a plant at least. Who knows!
That had been the fifth damn thing I'd killed along with plenty of the weaker bats and rats that were scurrying around here in the sewers. Before I could mess with the damned controls on the water level, I had to find the damned key that controlled the flow of these damned sluices and gates.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE LEVELED UP!
LEVEL 10
+5 ATTRIBUTE POINTS
+1 Perk Point
CONGRATULATIONS! FOR REACHING LEVEL 10 YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN ACCESS TO THE CLASS SYSTEM!
A NEW ADDITION WITH THIS ITERATION, EACH 100 LEVELS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE A CLASS WHICH GIVES YOU ACCESS TO NEW ABILITIES AND MILESTONES, ALONG WITH STAT INCREASES PER LEVEL ALONGSIDE YOUR NORMAL STAT POINTS DUE TO YOUR RACE!
ALSO, NEW CLASSES WILL BE ADDED TO YOUR CHOICES AFTER YOU COMPLETELY LEVEL A CLASS TO 100, SO THERE IS NO REAL BAD OPTION HERE! UNLIKE MOST OF YOUR LIFE CHOICES!
WHO KNOWS!? MAYBE THIS WAY YOU WON'T WIND UP AS JUST ANOTHER DUMPED CORPSE FLOATING ALONGSIDE SHIT AND SEWAGE LIKE YOU BELONG!
Huh. Well, that was new.
A new screen popped up after that, and I found quite a few classes waiting for me. Most of them were the typical stuff that you would expect. Fighter, Berserker, Mage, Sorcerer, Thief, but there were also the occasional weird choices like Engineer, Lab Rat, Street Peddler and other stuff that just left me wondering.
But, right now, I had to pick something that wasn't too… bombastic. Something that could be subtler, or at least be explained away so that I didn't have people coming after me once I got back to that monster ridden hellhole.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE MONK CLASS
+2 TO DEX
+2 TO STR
+2 TO AGI
+50HP per level
+20MP per level
GAINED ABILITY:
UNARMED MOVEMENT: +5 TO YOUR AGILITY STAT WHEN NOT USING A WEAPON
STUDIOUS MIND: INCREASED SKILL LEARNING OF MARTIAL ARTS
GIVEN THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED STATS FROM A PREVIOUS GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM, YOU WILL NOT BE AWARDED THE STATS YOU WOULD HAVE.
TOO BAD.
Holy shit.
Well, first off, fuck you again stupid piece of shit system.
Those stats though… were going to be a fucking amazing boon. My dreams of doing the Kamehameha were closer than I ever thought they would ever be. Not bad for an old lady.
No, I never outgrew my weeb phase, fuck you.
There were also a bunch of new options that opened up in the shop thanks to my class, so I guess there were some boons that the system didn't bother to mention. Which, all in all, nice.
Trudging back to the big blue crystal, I sighed in relief as the healing energies washed over me, my mana coming back in mere seconds when I heard something.
Voices.
Or rather, one voice.
Following up towards the north of the sewers, I was surprised to find someone down here with me.
It was a kid, one that looked like he was barely eighteen, with blond hair, wearing only a necklace and vest on his chest, with baggy cotton pants with a red sash as a belt. The kid was currently trying to catch one of the larger mutant rats that reminded me of the ones in New York. He almost managed to corner it, knife coming down onto its back, when the little creature actually jumped over him and landed on his back, mouth opening ready to bite down into him.
I just reacted, dashing down the sewer walkway, feeling that energy that had been building up more and more pushing my body past its limits and punt the thing up with an uppercut.
A loud wailing screech echoed through the cavernous chambers, Vaan turning around in bewilderment, dagger poised to strike at me as the rat plummeted between the two of us on the floor with a 'crack'.
Huh, it managed to land on its head.
"If you wanna rob me kid, then you're going to need a bigger knife than that." I told Vaan with a smile on my face as the teen fumbled when he realized he still had the knife pointed at me. "It landed on your back and almost took a bite of you."
Instead of answering me, he just stared at me in confusion, like he had no idea what the fuck I was saying.
When he opened his mouth, I realized why.
Well, no wonder I couldn't make heads or tails of whatever the hell those gates were saying, because I didn't speak the language.
Wonderful. As if being stuck in the sewers and not being allowed "Out of Bounds" wasn't bad enough already.
Honestly, probably for the best. Knowing that people could come in here was already one big problem, but being able to influence shit outside of here?
Yeah, I'm wise enough to know that I want nothing to do with the magical political feces storm that was brewing upstairs.
Now that I look at Vaan, he looks younger than I thought he would have. Maybe this is before he decides that sneaking into the Royal Palace while the Empire Consul was visiting was a wonderful idea.
He was also a lot skinnier than he would one day be, lacking the muscles that being a hunter and sorta mercenary would bring. Not gaunt, not quite, but it was only a few more days without food away.
With a sigh, I reach into my Inventory, ignoring the way that his eyes widened and he took a step back, knife clattering to the ground, and toss him an Overking Fruit that he barely managed to catch.
He recognized the fruit, because instead of sniffing the disgusting waste of nutrients, he held it as far away as he could, but he didn't toss it away. Because he knew that thing was worth quite a bit of gil. I think.
It's a bit of a hazy dream at this point. The last time I played FF12 was back before the arthritis got my hands.
Though, that didn't mean that I stopped playing video games.
If I let a little hand pain keep me from going back to some of my most cherished memories, then I really was just a little bitch with a big mouth.
Eh, I didn't need all these damned poison treats anyway, not like I wasn't going to get more in a little bit anyways, so I just dump all them out onto the floor. The antidotes and various healing items are staying with me though.
I gesture towards the pile of disease and poisonous Malboro ball sacks, point at the staring teen, and then turn around and walk back towards my little campsite. Sure, hunting down some of those bats and rats would be easier, but I made a lot more progress hunting down the Malboros.
Even if the mere smell of them made me want to burn my nostrils out with a heated razor blade.
The entrance towards the sewers from what I think was called Lowtown, was the only place where I could get away from the fucking smell, and I had made a little hovel underneath some stairwells for some rest.
Because even if I wanted to just blow this entire place sky high, it was the sewers for the city of Rabanastre, home to millions of people. I think. The game never really went into detail on just how many people lived there. I think.
While the kid was light footed, I could hear Vaan following close behind me even as I started a little fire with some matches, the orphan staring at me as he held the bag filled with fruit while looking over towards the entrance to Lowtown.
He gestured up, as if inviting me, while glancing back to the bag in his hands and making little eating motions with his hands.
Aw. He was inviting me to a bite to eat for thanks. I knew he was a sweet kid, but that touched my old heart just a little bit. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave the sewers. It was 'out of bounds' for the 'scenario', so the sewers were the only place that I could go to and from.
Shaking my head, I shooed him away, giving him the best smile that I could while I started to roast a little microwaveable meal in a pot.
Eventually he left, bowing up and down a few times before he scampered off.
Good kid. I hope that those fruits got him a good penny. There were plenty of places up top that were probably going to love getting their hands on those, especially because since the Empire took over, I doubt that any of the city guard were coming down here to deal with the little monster population that had popped over here.
Well, that was better for me at least in the short term.
Leveling up was just a means to an end for now. If I could, I would just make myself a nice coffee machine, fuck off somewhere in the middle of nowhere and be a hermit for a few years. Probably adopt a few kids and run a little home while occasionally making some magical peculiarities.
The quiet life was what I lived in my old life, and I loved it.
But I didn't have that choice here. Not when a vampire could come and drink my entire family, or a Nephandi would bring about the end just because they could.
For now though, some sleep, and tomorrow I would continue on.
Vaan
Sure, there was better money to be made stealing from the rich and Imperial that started to make their way into the city instead of being in the sewers, but he felt bad just leaving that nice lady here.
She wasn't too old, probably only a couple of years older than he was, but there was something about the way that she had looked at him a few days ago that reminded him of the way that Migelo and Old Dalan would sometimes. Like he was too young to be down here, and should be out doing something else.
But he and the rest of his little group had to eat. Sure, dire rats didn't have that much meat on them, and you had to really cook them, but pickers couldn't be choosers. And at least some people wanted the pelts for leather or whatever else they needed them for. As long as they gave him the coin, he didn't really care what someone did with rat pelts.
With those Overking fruits though, he'd actually managed to get a lot of coin for Penelo and the others, Migelo even giving them a discount on some clothes and medicine that they needed.
It was… nice to see the little ones smile with full bellies and Penelo lose some of the bags from under her eyes. Best part, he didn't steal any money this time, so she didn't ring his ear again.
Even with the Empire starting to move in and take over, for the first time in years he could relax.
It's why he was coming back down here with some bowls of food. She might have a bounty on her head from the Empire, or maybe got into some trouble up top, but he didn't judge. She had given him enough of those fruits to earn more gil than he had seen his entire life.
When he got to the foot of the stairs, he found the same little camp that he had seen her in the other day, though this time it was a bit bigger than before. There was a strange looking tent at the back, with a bigger fire pit and a nicer pot hanging over the flame than he had seen the other day.
Only, she was nowhere to be seen, the flame already low and beginning to die down.
Not knowing where to put them, he opened the tent flap and put the bowls inside, leaving the main entrance and beginning to make his way south.
Sure, he was no match for the Malboros or giant Lizards that hung around on this side of the sewers, but given the occasional craters and dead creatures that littered the passageways, he didn't think that he needed to worry much about it.
A few more platforms further in he finally heard the sounds of Lizard croaks, Malboro grunts, and a lady screaming something in a language that he didn't recognize.
Wait… was one of those screams getting closer?
Looking up, he barely manages to dodge out of the way as a Lizard, its red and blue skin tumbling down the passageway, the creature's head smashing into the floor causing one of its horns to come tumbling near him.
"Chinga tu madre you fucking sludge eating cunts!" Alright, he might not understand what any of that means, but he was willing to bet that most of it were some form of curse words.
The entire passageway was nothing but a war zone. Dead Lizards on the ground, long tongues hanging out of their mouths, while the Malboro Overkings were little more than burnt vines and tangles.
There was a whole horde of the creatures swarming around a single person in the middle, and she was winning.
Worse, she was doing it completely unarmed, using only her fists and feet to beat the creatures to death while occasionally shooting out a fire spell at a downed Marlboro.
Each kick and punch was a fluid movement, flowing into each other faster than most soldiers around the city could with their blade, the monsters rocketing back in place with each blow landed. Then she started doing… weird stuff.
When a bunch of Lizards dove at her, mouths wide open with their fangs ready to chomp down, she actually jumped in the air, right leg extended in a kick and spun in place three times, hitting a Marlboro so hard that it sent the Lizard behind it barreling back. One Malboro even tried to chomp on her outstretched foot, and it received a downward kick to the face, the jeweled crown bouncing off the floor and landing on her head.
The lady then chucked it at a Lizard, cracking its skull open as she crouched and cupped her hands together close to her chest as light crackled to life along her arms, gathering and pulsing into an orb in her hands.
"HADOUKEN!" She shouted as she thrust her arms forward, shooting a spell of blue energy at the last Malboro, the plant creature in the middle of a jump as it tried to chomp onto her hand.
It exploded as the blue orb of energy went into its mouth, Vaan barely dodging out of the way so that he wasn't covered in gore.
Just like all those nights he tried to sneak out of the house without Penelo noticing, he wasn't very successful at it. Ah! Some of it got into his mouth!
At some point between him throwing up and her laughing at him, they found themselves back at her camp. He didn't even remember when she noticed him, he was too busy downing all the water that she was giving him, trying to get that disgusting taste out of his mouth while she passed him an Antidote.
Even with bile on his tongue and water sloshing in his mouth, he managed to get the words out. "Teach me!"
I always manage to get the strays to follow me, don't I?
Even if I couldn't understand the kid, given the way he was badly copying the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, I knew he wanted me to teach him how to fight.
Which… yeah I honestly needed the company.
A few days down here, alone, without the sun or other people to talk to was… driving me a bit crazy.
I can't remember when was the last time I took a bath, and I had been so obsessed with trying to find that damned scroll that I lost count of how many of those giant toads and gaudy Malboro's I'd killed along the way.
Probably not the best for my mental health, but at this point I couldn't bring myself to care.
At least I got a few nice perks from running around and killing these things.
FOR SURVIVING CONSTANT BOMBARDMENTS OF BAD BREATHS FROM MALBORO'S, YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A NEW PERK!
REINFORCED IMMUNE SYSTEM
YOU AREN'T JUST ANY OLD KID THAT DIED IN THEIR FIRST MONTH FROM PNEUMONIA, NO YOU ARE A TROOPER! LIKE A COCKROACH, YOU PRESS ON EVEN WITH YOUR BODY CONSTANTLY BATTLING AGAINST DISEASES AND POISONS!
YOUR POISON RESISTANCE IS INCREASED BY 12%
YOUR DISEASE RESISTANCE INCREASED BY 20%
Reaching level 15 had been cause to celebrate, especially because I wasn't having to come back and rest near the crystal every couple of fights anymore.
I was just counting myself lucky that none of those damned Malboro's managed to get a bite out of me. Don't think that Cure would have been able to fix that particular issue. Same goes for teeth.
At least Vaan had brought down some nice hot meals, a sort of meat stew with vegetables that I didn't recognize. Probably something grown from the Giza plains… south of here?
I was going to have to look in the Shop later to see if there were copies of games and stuff in there.
Don't know who supplied all that inventory, might be Gaia and her brood, or it might be other Gamers who do the supply, but I didn't care. I just wanted to listen to some damn good music instead of whatever weird shit that pervaded the World of Darkness.
There were some other differences there too.
Like Mr. Rodgers had never existed in that world. I know, I looked him up for whatever reason.
And, it explained a lot.
I wish it didn't, but it did.
Well, that was something for me to deal with when I got back.
For now, I was dealing with showing Vaan the scroll that I had received when I bought the Ansastuken fighting style.
He didn't understand the language any more than I did, but that's what the pictures were for.
I had gotten a prompt to learn the skill, which just provided a basic understanding of the style. Actually mastering it, perfecting it, was something that needed actual work put into it before I could make any true progress.
For Vaan, since he didn't have access to the System and I wasn't going to, he was learning it the hard way, with some guidance from me.
Practicing the various katas and movements with precise slowness and deliberation.
The language barrier was a problem, yeah, but he still came by every day since he'd followed me into the sewers, demanding I teach him.
So, a week later, a lot dirtier and hardier, here we were.
Every now and then I would adjust the minor misplaced limb, his feet a few more centimeters apart, straightening up his elbow with each strike, that sorta thing.
Even with the language barrier, I found his company to be a balm on my soul. At least, down here in this hellhole, I wasn't alone. I think I would have gone full feral if I was honestly. Isolation, true isolation, was never a problem when you were out on the streets.
Sure, people would pretend you weren't there, and the loneliness born from that was its own brand of hell. For people to just… pretend you didn't exist was a pain that I never wanted to experience ever again.
But at least there were people to ignore me in the first place.
And, well, he taught me a few things too.
STEAL HAS REACHED LEVEL 4
An exchange of skills was something that the orphan was more than happy to appease, and he had taught me the right way to grab something out of someone's pockets. Now it was a little game that we would sometimes play with each other.
He'd steal something that I intentionally kept in my pockets, and I would steal his Gil coin. Right before he left, we;'d return whatever it was that we stole, the blond boy moving with just a bit more cheer in his step.
There was a part of me that wanted to warn him about what was to come, tell him not to go into that Royal Armory, because what kind of person would I be if I let that kid get involved with a literal fucking war?
No matter how much I wanted to though, I knew that I couldn't. If I left him a note, and someone managed to find it and decipher it somehow, then that was information that no one should know about.
Those invisible assholes would tear everything apart like they wanted, and Vayne would probably fight all the harder for his rebellion against destiny and gods.
Now that was another conundrum.
I agreed with him, at least in part, Screw the gods and anything that tried to dictate how we should live our lives, this System only made that feeling… reinforced, as if it wasn't already given the little torment that my early years had been.
But the war he waged, the kingdoms razed in his progress, and the countless corpses that were only being further piled on as the war continued on.
Well, I didn't want a part in that, but wasn't that a possibility in what might happen back in my new 'home'? When Gehenna, the Apocalypse, or Ascension took place, it would all be a storm of destruction that would claim countless lives.
I should see being here in Ivalice as a fucking vacation, but that was kinda hard when I couldn't even go out and see the fucking sun!
Finding that fucking White Mousse had been a pain in the ass, the damned white Flan monster probably being the worse opponent that a martial artist could fight against when its body was resistant to physical damage.
Well, there was a reason why my Fireball was at level twenty now. And it had included a lot of running.
It dropped a lot of healing items, XP, GP, along with a Burning Bow that dealt a lot of fire damage, but was useless in my hands. I could use a gun, but I couldn't use a bow at all. Didn't even get the skill when I finally did manage to shoot an arrow straight, guess that I needed to actually deal some damage with it or something.
Either way, that Bow was probably just going to collect dust for a while. Moment corpses and vampires start popping up with arrows through them, is when I start getting even more eyes looking for me.
So I just gave it to Vaan to sell or do whatever the boy wanted to with it, the kid practically skipping out of here with a bounce in his step that made my little smile widen up just a bit. He was a good kid. Naive, with some strange ideas on how he could achieve his freedom, but he had a good heart.
His form was still a little sloppy, and he was going to need a lot of practice, but the Malboro fruits and various other spoils that I had been giving him had already shown their worth. He wasn't just skin and bones anymore, already forming some of the muscles that I was more familiar with, and I had no doubt that the rest of the kids in his little group were having better lives now than a few weeks ago. The flames of war were still hot and angry, with a lot of orphans lost with nowhere to go.
If my help could ease their suffering, just a little bit, then the trip here would have been worth it even without the rewards that I was aiming for.
I wished that I could have met those kids, and Penelo as well, lord knows the girl was dealing with enough stress keeping Vaan's sticky fingers from getting him put in an Empire prison, but I couldn't drop her name without Vaan becoming very suspicious.
It was going to be soon time for me to leave though.
The monsters here were becoming less and less of a problem, but most of that is because I was cheating with a bunch of abilities that I really shouldn't have.
Ki Manipulation, Mana Manipulation, along with a few other tricks I had picked up more than made things easier.
Turning a simple Firebolt spell into more of a… shotgun blast had been fun. Compressing the fireball before scattering it into dozens of tiny flame bolts, while more costly than a normal one, dealt way more damage to those fucking vine bags of shit.
After countless hours of going back and forth from the main control station of the sewer gates, reaching level 17 and a lot more levels in skills, I finally found the fucking scrolls.
They were at the center of a large circular opening that was usually underwater.
An area that I recognized and made me want to crawl into a little ball.
It was the same area where an Esper was waiting.
Cúchulainn. Not the Son of Light from Irish legend, but a giant monster that had once been a healer and force of compassion. Taking in disease and blight into himself had twisted the once proud creature into a monster of pestilence and death.
And the giant green bastard was there, waiting, hiding beneath water eager to come and kill whatever might come.
I knew that if I tried to sneak past him he was going to find me. There was no hiding from him, no running away.
The only option I had was going through him, and that meant a lot of HP draining attacks while fighting off his fucking monsters.
Going back to camp and stowing everything away, I knew that Vaan would come back and find me gone. Probably worried and scared that I just up and disappeared one day.
I wonder if I would make my way to this world again?
Most of me wanted nothing to do with the storm that was coming for this world, the political intrigue that would determine the future of this world… but I wanted to see how those kids were doing. See how Vaan would grow up just from the brief time I spent with him.
For now, though, all I could do was drop every broken horn, Lizard corpse, antidote and Malboro fruit that I had gathered since coming here.
Monsters tended to stay away from here, and no one really came into the sewers lately, so I knew that he would find it intact. I wanted to leave a letter, but he wouldn't exactly be able to read it anymore than I could read his language.
Adding in a language skill or spell to my arsenal was definitely now part of my big to do list.
Stuffing all my crap into the Inventory screen didn't take too long after that, and making it to the arena was just a small jog with the occasional punch or fireball.
It didn't take long for Cuchulainn to appear, his two armored arms pulling himself out of the almost black sewer water, his giant round body stomping as he caught his footing, smiling big and wide from his frog like mouth, letting me see the point of what might have been a trident that was shoved down his skull, the other two red points framing his face.
I took in a deep breath and cast Haste on myself, feeling the world slow down around me as I tore through the distance between us, launching two more modified Fireball spells, both of them larger and more volatile than normal, one, moving in slow motion behind me as I cupped my hands together.
The Hadoken took out a chunk of his HP, the smile on his face widening and becoming… was he enjoying the pain?
Nope, not thinking about it.
Those black and red Flans appeared around him after the first few punches and kicks tore out another chunk of his health, the monsters manifesting large fluctuating fists to try and grab me, but I just danced out of their way, throwing some Fireball spells their way and watching them burn. The giant green monster didn't roar so much as he giggled when his HP lowered past the halfway point when I reached the fifteenth hit, each blow dealing more damage than the last as one of the newest perks I'd bought did its thing.
Unfortunately for me, Cuchulainn still managed to poison me along with hit me with Immobilize, my feet suddenly decided to go against my wishes and freeze on the floor, his body moving in slow motion as he turned around.
I cast Esuna on myself while I kept punching him on his flabby back, his green tattooed skin jiggling and bruising with each blow, keeping the count going, while my other hand reached into my inventory and brought out something near and dear to me.
My beautiful shotgun, unloaded its payload into his skull, my dexterity helping boost the damage to the weapon even as my health continued to decline when he managed to hit me with Bio again.
He tried to cast Slow on me, but I guess my Haste spell was too advanced for it to have more of an effect than making him move a little faster. Nothing that reapplying the spell didn't fix.
And yet, that didn't mean a damn thing when I jumped into the air, fist cocked back and Shoryukening that trident of his head and blasting the last bit of my MP into his face.
Cuchulain fell then, giggling and giving me a wide terrifying smile as he disappeared into motes of light, a crystal shattering, allowing the large strange flowing emblem to break free and embed itself into my skin.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SLAIN THE ESPER CUCHULAINN
YOU HAVE GAINED THE ESPER CUCHULAINN AS A SUMMON
+150,00 EXP POINTS
+200,000 GP
YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 20!
Thank god I didn't give him time to hit me with a Disablega, otherwise I might have been fucked. If my Haste wasn't at the level it was at, then this place really would have been my grave.
Note to self, next time I go out on an Instant Quest, go somewhere that doesn't have something that could kill me with their equivalent of a backhand. Hell, I was down to barely 10 of my HP, while my MP was bottomed out, and I finally had to cough up some blood while my insides felt like they were on fire.
Eating helped bring some HP back, and the Potions I had been finding here helped, but moving around… hurt.
I had to crawl over towards the center of the chamber, snatching the scrolls and shoving them into my inventory, disappearing from this world and reappearing back in my old apartment with a 'thud'.
I just passed out as Isabelle rushed towards me, the question of 'what happened' ignored along with the notifications. So, given the recent comments, I thought that it would be best to address it like this, with proof. I'm not going to focus that much on what's going on in Instant Quest, at least, not if I don't have future plans for it, or if it doesn't affect the characters that we will primarily see. Some future Instant Quests might take longer if it's more than just Mia going into them, but, like you, I want to instead focus on what's going on in WoD, and all this is merely icing on the cake that I'm trying to make.
If its Mia going in alone, expect the adventure to be one chapter or less.
If more than one character goes its going to be longer, but I am going to have certain Instant Dungeons happen off screen. Mia needing a new computer and stealing a focus from Horizon for example doesn't need a chapter to detail.
NAME: MIA ITZEL/REGINA REED AGE:93(68+23)
LV:20
HP:1050/1050HP MP:1000/1000
ATTRIBUTE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE:
FUNDS:$4000
GP:258,562GP
PERK POINTS:3
STR:45
DEX:45
AGI:43
VIT:45
INT:43
WIS:40
Skills:
Guns:14
Driving:8
Melee Weapons:8
Investigation:22
Ansastuken:25
Acrobatics:12
Finances:2
First Aid:2
Sneak:13
Ki Manipulation: 5
Mana Manipulation:8
Spells:
Libra:10
Telekinesis:12
Fireball:20
Cure:15
Esuna:20
Haste:18
Scry:4
Mind Blank:8
PERKS: FORCEFUL MIND:
APPLY YOUR STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE TO KINETIC MAGIC AND ABILITIES DAMAGE MULTIPLIER.
THOUGHTFUL MIND: INCREASE MP REGENERATION BY 50%
HARDY LUNGS: INCREASE OVERALL ENDURANCE AND STAMINA.
DAY HUNTER:YOU DEAL INCREASED DAMAGE TO VAMPIRES DURING THE DAYTIME.
ARSONIST:YOU GAIN AN INCREASED EXPERIENCE GAIN FOR FIRE BASED ABILITIES
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY: REGENERATE YOUR HP BY 5% PER HOUR INSTEAD OF 1%.
REINFORCED IMMUNE SYSTEM:YOUR POISON RESISTANCE IS INCREASED BY 12%. YOUR DISEASE RESISTANCE INCREASED BY 20%
HARDY BODY: DOUBLE HP GAINS THROUGH VITALITY STAT.
PIERCING BLOWS: UNARMORED ATTACKS IGNORE 5% OF ARMOR OR DEFENSE.
AKASHIC RYTHM: STRENGTH AND DEXTERITY INCREASE BY 10% WHEN PERFORMING A COMBINATION OF PHYSICAL BLOWS.
POISON RESISTANCE: GAIN 25% RESISTANCE TO POISON AND POISON DAMAGE
The best bit about the 'suplex a train' thing is that it was originally an accident, but the developers thought it was so damn cool that they had to keep it in.
(or at least that's what I remember reading somewhere)
Nice. Project Gamer ver 2 does something similar where it cuts down more on the contents of instant dungeons if they aren't super plot relevant but maintains it as more of a change in scenery for character development.
Yeah, its part of why I'm writing it, because I haven't really found a single WoD fanfic or story out there, and finding people to play with is hard. I almost went with Chronicles of Darkness, but I know less about the splats in that one that I'm unfamiliar with, wheras in oWoD its easier to remember due to metaplot being such a big cornerstone of it.
The only long WoD fanfic I know is a Worm one and I want nothing to do with Worm.
I have a soft spot for Demon the Descent, and Changeling the Lost.
Heirs to Hell is probably one of my favorite source books.
Project Gamer ver 2 does something similar where it cuts down more on the contents of instant dungeons if they aren't super plot relevant but maintains it as more of a change in scenery for character development.
Don't know anything about FF12 but I do hope the gifts and new martial arts moves will end up helping Vaan and his group.
Btw, where there any note worthy souvenirs from the trip? The potions would probably be useful but were there anything else that would have been of use in the WoD?
