I put Kate through the berserker basic training over the next ten minutes or so, helping her adjust to her new body. With a few practice slashes against a practice dummy and some footwork training I ease her into her six-foot-three frame, and then it’s time to discuss skills.
“So the Berserker class is all about managing Rage,” I say, “The angrier you get, the more powerful you get; it’s all about the thrill of battle and the fierceness of the fight. Fun, but not my style; I’ve always preferred casters.”
Kate nods along. “I’ve got a talent point to invest,” she says. “Where should I put it?”
“Bursting Thews is a good first ability pick,” I say. “It lets you temporarily boost your strength, speed and pain endurance to superhuman levels when you land a crushing blow. The more you hit things, the better you get at hitting things. Great for grinding against low-level stuff for fast EXP.”
Kate crosses her bulging arms over her breasts and inclines her head. “Makes sense. Helps you take more blows, too, if you’re in over your head.”
“Just so.” I reach up and pat her head, despite the fact that she’s two inches taller than me in this body. “Skill points are very important in this game, though, so you should take a moment to consider your options. Even a basic resistance can mean a lot in Skål. Take for example fire resistance…”
I walk over to the forge near where we’re training, and grab a red-hot poker out of the fire where the blacksmith’s left it - then slap it into my right hand and give Kate a dangerous grin. Despite the glow coming off the metal, I go entirely unburned.
Kate’s eyebrows shoot up. “Damn,” she says. “That’s impressive. And hot. Literally.”
I laugh, and put the poker back into the fire. “Kiss of Flame is a White Witch ability. We just don’t burn. Put us to the fire and we pass the test.” I stretch. “Kind of insensitive to all the people who got burned alive in the real Middle Ages, but I kind of doubt the designers were thinking hard about the Spanish Inquisition when they made the ability.”
“Yeah,” Kate says with a little smile. “And you have to admit, it has a kind of mythic aura to it that’s damn attractive.”
“Indeed.” I pick up my staff again from where it’s leaning against the fence. “So to answer your implicit question - I’m a healing build, not a barrier build, but Holy comes with some heavy artillery where Protection is more defense focused, so I can blast but only if I have time to get a long cast off. Real Black Witches can throw hexes like snapping their fingers; I’m kind of half a DPS that way. Hence the need for you.” I give her a sweeping bow.
“Great,” Kate says. “It’s more fun when you get knocked around a little.” She picks up her greatsword and swings a couple practice strikes with it. “So when’s Viv getting back?”
“Pretty soon,” I say. “Shouldn’t take too long to pick up some basic gear. But I’ve got to trance to regain mana anyway, so we’ve got some time to kill regardless.”
“You have to trance even after that long walk back and the meeting?” Kate asks, her eyebrows rising.
“Mana takes forever to regen naturally in this game,” I say. “I think it’s like four hours for me to get a full regeneration without trancing. My trance skills speed it up a lot, but I’m vulnerable during it, so it’s best if I only do it when we’re in town.”
“I see.” Kate leans against the fence. “I guess that’s how they balance the casters, huh?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” I say. And I sit down on the grass cross-legged, the long tails of my mage robes spreading out across the ground. “I’ve got to close my eyes for this bit, and I can’t hear so well when I’m in trance, so just tap me on the shoulder when Viv gets back, alright?”
“Alright,” Kate says with a bemused look. She goes back to the training dummy and starts practicing her strikes again. Sure, that works. Anything to keep her from getting bored and wandering off.
I close my eyes, and fall into trance.
Skål is designed to involve skills thought to be involved in magic on Earth in its magic system, so my long years of listening to hypnotic audios and practicing falling into trance make me a lot faster at regaining mana this way than most witches. There are other methods too - making sacrifices, doing rituals to propitiate the spirits, keeping ritual purity - but at my core I’m about light and flame, and focusing on the fire of my own breath is so, so much more my style than any of the other methods.
I breathe in, and out. The flame of my soul wavers, then blooms, pulling in mana from the surroundings, gathering the lingering essence of the first poet, Kvasir, shed from his scattered blood.
A timeless time passes as inner strength and the power of poetry fills me up to bursting - and then, at last, the tap on my shoulder calls me to rouse myself.
I fold my flame away, settling it in the heart of my chest again. I exhale hard, and open my eyes.
Kate’s looking at me with a quizzical eyebrow, her body shrouded in a new set of chainmail. “You glow,” she says.
“Yeah,” I say. “Calling up the flame of poetry in me does that.” I plant the staff that I’d laid across my lap in the ground, and lever myself to standing. Looking around, I spot Viv speaking with the blacksmith and gesturing to another sword on the wall. She hands over a few crowns, then comes out of the smithy and passes Kate the sword.
“All ready?”, I ask.
“Yeah,” Viv says, patting a new round-shield slung across her back. “Ready when you are.”
“Alright,” I say, and start off towards the bounty board. “Let’s rock.”
~*~
Thirty minutes later, I’m up to my neck in giant spiders. God, I hate these things. Every single RPG has a giant spider in it, and they always make my skin crawl. At least they’re fun to kill. Most of these ones are about the size of a large dog, but there’s one or two of them that are almost the size of us.
Viv and Kate stand to either side of me, keeping a cordon for me to cast freely; the spiders are smart enough not to approach, but they keep feinting at us and making me have to adjust my footwork, and it’s enough that I can’t keep the chant for Holy Artillery steady.
“Kate?” I say. “Go kick some ass, I’ve got your back. Viv will cover me and make sure I can heal you.”
Kate grins, and sets her sword firmly. “Gotcha!”
She runs forwards, chain shirt jingling, and makes a wide strike at the biggest two spiders. The closer ducks it, but the second is too slow and takes the blade right in the middle of its beady little eyes. Serves it right.
The one that ducked Kate’s sword darts in, and manages to chomp her leg, needle-pointed fangs going through the lighter leather that she wears beneath the long chain shirt. Kate swears, and brings her sword down in a two-handed blow, her sword cutting deeply into its head.
“Heal me!” she calls, and punches the big spider in the eye for good measure, making it rear back and scuttle backward, its fangs dripping venom.
“Anlei vermos cura!” The flash heal washes over her, repairing the gash in her leg - but I can’t deal with the poison while we’re still fighting, that’s delicate work. “Kill as many of them as you can before the poison takes hold!”
“Got it!” Kate swipes at the big ones again, her motions slowing a little but still plenty of fight left in her. A cat-size spider tries to leap on Kate’s back, but Viv knocks it out of the air with a vicious false-edge cut.
“I got you!” Viv calls. “Put down the big ones and the small ones will flee!”
I move, taking the space behind Viv and clubbing another cat-size spider aside with my staff. “I’ll barrier!” I wave my staff, and the instant barrier spell forms around Kate, not enough to block a blow but enough to slow it down enough for Kate to control the space.
Kate takes my buff, and races at the biggest spider, cutting down at its face in a feint before going sideways for its leg joint. It falls for the feint, and its leg is hacked off. It tries to scuttle away, but Kate is there, and smashes her sword down in a two-handed blow that ends the thing’s wretched life. Bug goo soaks the ground, and Kate’s legs. God I hate fighting these things.
Without Viv backing her up closely, though, Kate’s set upon by the second human-size spider, lunging at her in vengeance for its missing eye. The barrier flickers, and holds for just long enough for Kate to interpose the chain shirt before breaking. The spider’s teeth scrape off the interlinked rings, and then Viv backhands it with all the strength she’s gained from Bursting Thews for killing the first one. It staggers, and Kate’s sword flashes - and the thing slumps to the ground, dead.
The spawnlings scatter after that, and Viv burns the eggs while I get down and see to Kate’s wound.
“The venom’s still spreading,” I say to her tensely.
She nods and grimaces. “Feels cold and prickly,” she says. “I can barely feel my foot anymore.”
I press in a hand glowing with the light of poetry. “I’ll fix you right up. Poison’s tricky, but this one I know all too well.”
I hate spiders because the only way to heal the victims of their bites is to denature all the poison in their bloodstream so it’s harmless, which is a tall order when it’s spread through their whole body. I’ve gotten to this wound relatively quickly, but Kate’s been leaping around and fighting so no doubt it’s spread.
The next ten minutes are complicated detail work, as I sweep the magic through Kate’s whole body, seeking any trace of toxin to purify. I know from bitter experience that even a small leftover amount of these bastards’ venom can numb the body enough to be dangerous in a fight. Viv stands guard over us, making sure any remaining spawnlings don’t treat us as an easy target.
“There,” I pronounce after sweeping every inch of Kate’s body with golden light. “That’s all of it.”
“Healing in this game’s not trivial, huh?” Kate eases herself to her feet, and tests her bitten foot. It holds her weight fine, of course. My work is the best.
“No,” I say tersely. “Now let’s get out of here before something else takes up residence.”
~*~
The next half-dozen quests don’t give us half as much trouble as the spiders; Viv and Kate make a great team, and the other corrupted wildlife is much easier to deal with. There’s a close thing with a corrupted bear, but Viv and Kate are able to bait it after them for long enough that I’m able to bring the thunder down on it. It stops moving once I’ve blasted a big hole through its guts, fortunately.
After several hours of quests, it’s getting late in real life, and I’m forced to bring up the subject.
“I don’t know about you two,” I say, “But after that bear I think I’m done for the night. For questing, anyway. Kate, you want to come cuddle in our room and celebrate a good day’s fighting?”
Kate pulls me close, and hugs me hard, then hugs Viv in turn. “It’s been a great session,” she says. “And yeah, I’d love to.”
And without much more ado, we all log out in favour of heartsake.room.
