Forsaken

by Cebelius

  Another window appeared.

  Primary Statistics:

  Strength (Str): 3/20 1:1

  Dexterity (Dex): 6/20 1:3

  Constitution (Con): 10/20 1:2

  Soul (Su): 20/20 -

  Presence (Pre): 3/20 1:1

  Comeliness (Com): 3/20 2:1

  Secondary Statistics:

  Health (HP): 6/11 3:1

  (Con+(1/2Str))

  Stamina (SP): 20/20 5:1

  (2xCon)

  Mana (MP): 100/100 5:1

  (10x(1/2Su))

  Regeneration (HP): .0023/minute at rest .01:1

  ((1/3Con)/1440)

  Respite (SP): 2/minute at rest 1:1

  (1 + 1/10Con)

  Renewal (MP): .2/minute*

  *conditional

  Affinities:

  Primary:

  None 1:5

  Secondary:

  None (variable)

  Abilities:

  Template's Gift

  Iron Stomach

  Disease Resistance

  Poison Resistance

  Dark Sight (120 feet)

  Spells:

  None

  Points Available: 20

  Abram mused for a while then mentally asked, So secondary statistics can either be bought directly or altered by manipulating primary stats, and the maximums for primaries are all 20?

  'Correct.'

  Why are there maximums? I don't see any levels.

  'Your avatar is still composed of flesh, blood, and bone, Abram. Such materials have limits.'

  How come my soul is maxed out?

  'You are a template. The power in your soul is why you were brought here.'

  And my constitution?

  'Your survival under adverse conditions wrought certain changes in you. Normative scores for an adult male of your race are five to seven. Your constitution and resistances were earned the hard way. Are we agreed the less said about that, the better?'

  Abram didn't answer. He didn't have to. The wave of revulsion that swept through him was enough.

  Worst. Game. Intro.

  EVER.

  Instead, he poured his mental energy into the information provided.

  What are affinities?

  'The efficacy of magic on Celestine depends on both the execution of spell work and one's natural affinity for the spell being cast. Primary affinities are broad categories, and very rarely found in mortals. Secondary affinities are a combination of primary affinities and are generally less applicable, but can have specific utility. An affinity makes the spells to which it applies more efficient and more powerful.'

  Do secondary and primary affinities stack?

  'Yes.'

  Are there discounts for secondary affinities if one or more of its constituent primary affinities is already purchased?

  'Yes. I can see this is going to take a while.'

  You have NO idea.

  Abram loved making characters and min-maxing. Some of his favorite games had the most complex base character creation requirements. He'd spent days creating so-called 'pen and paper' characters to play on online tabletop gaming sites and chat rooms.

  As he examined his stats, something occurred to him and he asked, Why are there no mental stats?

  'Those cannot be altered, nor truly quantified. You are you. Things like intelligence and wisdom, perception and will are discernible only through application.'

  Abram scowled. The idea that he couldn't make himself smarter wasn't one he liked. His initial plan had been to dump a few points in wisdom and intellect and save the rest for whatever better ideas that might bring. Now he was stuck with whatever he could figure out as he was.

  Oh well, same as it ever was. I also suppose I can't just spend points to get rid of my agoraphobia?

  'Would that it were so easy. Again, aspects of you that are fundamental to who you are can only be changed the hard way. For instance, you might purchase something like perfect pitch, but that doesn't mean you'd suddenly know how, or even what, to sing. I'm sorry, Abram, but you can't simply 'point-click' away your flaws.'

  Abram winced, but accepted what he was being told.

  He spent the next hour running numbers before it occurred to him to ask, What kind of spells can I actually cast?

  'Most folk on Celestine learn their spells from mentors, or books that have been passed down. You have a different method available. You may craft your own spells. They have no cost in and of themselves, but for each spell you want me to remember so that you can cast it without recourse to proper spellwork, you will need to pay me for spell slots.'

  One point per slot?

  'Not quite so expensive. One point will afford you three slots. Spells can be reassigned during downtime, so the slots are flexible.'

  Well, the biggest bang for my buck is obviously Regeneration. Right now the math works out to three hit points a day. A single point in Regeneration drives that up to seventeen hit points per day, which is more than I have, so that's a no-brainer.

  He actually seriously considered dumping a lot MORE in Regeneration to turn himself into a legit superhero, but given how dark this game was, doing that might lock him into an endless torture loop at some point. No thanks. Dying was not the worst thing that could happen to him here, and he needed broader utility.

  'Noted. What else?'

  Three points in strength. I couldn't even lift a sword when I was escaping. You said human norms are five to seven, and six points give me an extra two health as well. Given the cost, it would be silly not to at least get myself to human normal.

  'Sixteen points left.'

  Abram frowned a moment, then asked, I know what comeliness is, but tell me about presence.

  'Presence describes the importance of your feelings and discernible intentions to those around you. You — having no presence to speak of — could be angry or happy and it won't really matter to anyone else. Those with high presence can change the mood of an entire crowd just by stepping into the room. Their words are given more weight, and their actions have more impact on the psyches of others.'

  That sounds like a classic sleeper stat if there ever was one. Without some real power to back it up though, it just lets me bluff. Maybe later.

  Putting the issue of presence aside, Abram allocated two points to give himself six spell slots, and then began designing spells.

  The first spell I need is one that will sap health from my opponent and give it to me.

  Hantu Raya showed him a formula.

  1mpps = 3hp drained and 1hp gained per second

  Applicable Primary Affinities:

  Evil, Chaos, Death

  Frowning, Abram asked, What else can you tell me about how this spell works?

  'The spell may be cast continuously. It will have visible power effects and be both obvious and painful to the target.'

  Let's say, just for example, that I had all three of those affinities. What would the formula be?

  1mpps = 12hp drained and 4hp gained per second

  Damn. You weren't kidding. Affinities put this on a whole other level. If I want to be efficient about this I need to build a spell list around these.

  Hantu Raya didn't answer. He didn't need to.

  Abram paused as he considered that. He?

  Are you male or female?

  'It's best if you just consider me to be an interface. The concept of gender gets ... complicated, with one such as I.'

  Abram hesitated a moment, then said, Give me one of those points back, leaving me only three spell slots.

  'None of your points are permanently spent yet, but as you wish. Fifteen points remaining. Are you satisfied with this spell or do you want to enhance it?'

  Enhance it?

  'Spell penetration, additional effects, additional targets, invisible effects, super-charging ... think about all the various ways your previous game characters could change the nature of their weapons. Simply bear in mind that spells become more expensive the more complicated they are, an
d they may take longer to cast. As is, this simple spell will essentially look like Emperor Palpatine's lightning, and cast as quickly.'

  Nice mental image there.

  'Relax. You aren't THAT ugly. CLOSE, but not quite. He also had a significantly higher presence.'

  Abram chuckled, but didn't stop thinking. The points in strength now seemed wasted at first blush, but it was something he wanted. Being able to melt face wouldn't help him schlep a dead dude's swag. Having at least a normal strength was too important to life in general to neglect. As hyper-realistic as this game was, if he didn't at least try to balance things he was sure it would fuck him down the road. Dump stats only worked in games where certain aspects of reality could be ignored, and this was about as far from that kind of game as it got.

  The problem here is I don't have enough points. How do I get more points?

  'You can advance in one of two ways. You can put in the effort and train, thus developing strength, dexterity, etcetera. You will only gain additional points to spend, however, by having sex.'

  Come again?

  'Yes.'

  Smartass. I mean ... what do you mean? Like, more sex with Angrboda?

  'No. Only sex with strange gets you more points to spend. That is the nature of a template on Celestine. Angrboda told you as much already. They gain benefits from you as well, though theirs will not be so ... quantifiable.'

  And Angrboda wants to stick around because she thinks I'll become more powerful ... her meal ticket essentially. I can presume others would feel the same. So ... If I REALLY want to get strong, I need to get myself a harem.

  'Now you're really starting to catch on. Presuming this were actually a game, if you really want to level up here, you need to get laid.'

  Abram blinked, then chuckled under his breath. What a twisted ... awesome premise.

  'As I said: Welcome to Celestine.'

  6

  Dungeon Afterparty

  ... In the end I took all three affinities — chaos, evil, and death — and designed three spells. I left the drain as it was following the KISS method. I figured it's worth testing before I try being TOO clever with the spell I know is going to be my bread and butter.

  In order to keep it as idiot-proof as possible, I also changed the activation from a spoken spell to a simple gesture. Hantu Raya mentioned Palpatine while we were talking, so I used that gesture, pointer and pinkie toward the target, middle two fingers pressed together and dropped. As long as I make the gesture with intent, that suffices for the spell.

  The second spell I made is essentially a rune I can place that will activate on my command or whenever something gets within range, summoning Cthulian tentacles that do ... well, bad things. Principally, they hold any targets they can't immediately kill in place. I'm not fighting fair if I can help it. Mana used to place the runes is unavailable to me until I either dispel them or they trigger, so I can place more than one at a time, but they reduce my max mana pool by their cost as long as they're out. Once triggered, the runes last around a minute, which is forever in a fight, so they should be pretty useful for battlefield control.

  The third spell turned out to be a waste. I had to burn it on creating a proper HUD. Can you believe that? A game without a HUD? I mean come ON, I know they want realism but I need some context.

  It claims ten points of my mana pool that are permanently unavailable while the HUD is up, but in return I finally have my health/stamina/mana bars visible in my upper left, and a mini-map in my upper right. The mini-map is the typical fog of war style, filling in as I go, but I can rotate it for three dimensions if I need to figure out what floor I'm on, etc. It's thought controlled, which is pretty cool, and I have a legend for distance. I can also drop colored memory pins, but if I want to make notes on them I have to write them by hand in this journal. The HUD also has a stopwatch function, but no actual clock, which I thought was weird. Hantu Raya said if I can find accurate time somewhere I can SET a clock, but without a reference I'm screwed.

  Beyond the basic information about me and my location relative to where I've been, my HUD doesn't do much else. In order to add functionality, I'll have to sink more mana into it permanently, or buy affinities (Air, Fire, and a secondary called Divination.) I wanted to get enemy ID and bars, but Hantu Raya told me I would need a separate divination spell to make that work, which would be massively inefficient with no relevant affinities.

  This fucking game is beyond hardcore. No respawn, no HUD, no log, full pain sensitivity ... it's ridiculous.

  Which reminds me: this game doesn't have an actual log, nor would Hantu Raya keep one for me. So here I am, in 2013, IN A VIDEO GAME, writing in a virtual book with a virtual quill. Ain't that some shit?

  Angrboda says she can get us back up to where I fell, so when we get going I'll be essentially reentering the dungeon I started the game in.

  She wanted to wait, but I can't just sit. This game has no time dilation, and there's no way I'm just going to hang around and suck my thumb in-game for days in real time.

  I'm actually pumped for this. I am going back to where it started, but this time is going to be juuust a little different.

  I got a little somethin' for those ugly bitches, and I cannot WAIT to deliver.

  Abram set aside the quill and blew softly on the ink. The words were uneven and if he hadn't concentrated so hard on forming each letter they'd have been illegible. As he waited for the ink to dry, he wondered why he was bothering.

  He could just have left the game and typed up the same thing in less than half the time, but he wouldn't have access to those notes in-game. There was no browser function, no way at all to interact with the outside world.

  Besides, adventurers keep journals.

  He grinned at that. It was a gaming trope, but instead of being fed lore piecemeal through journal entries he found, he was having to write them himself.

  No school like the old school.

  As he read the last few lines he'd written, he wished he could erase them. They revealed a bit too much about who he really was. Not some sword-slinger out to right the world's wrongs ... just a man-child with a bone to pick with a bunch of virtual reality goblins.

  And maybe a few adventurers while I'm at it. How could they just LEAVE me like that?

  His lips peeled back from his teeth as he thought about that. About the fact that the people slaughtering their way through the dungeon had been more interested in treasure than lives. Specifically, his life. That the one who had found him just unlocked a shackle and fucking left him there boggled his mind. Like rescuing him was just some kind of sick joke, or a side quest not worth seeing through.

  Buncha fucking murder hobos. No credit. Just because the dragon shows up and HAPPENS to keep me from getting my head cut off by wrecking up the place doesn't mean I won't fuck him up later on down the line.

  "Abram?"

  He glanced up at the sound of his name and shook himself, then stood.

  "Sorry. I just got a little lost. Thanks for the book ... and the clothes."

  Angrboda smiled. Given his own height of five foot ten, he estimated her to be about six-one, maybe six-two. She had dressed her proxy in a metal cuirass, bracers, and greaves. Her legs were protected by a skirt of leather straps reinforced with metal plates, and she had a short-handled but heavy-looking battle ax strapped to her hip and an old school metal-rimmed round shield on her back along with a much larger long-hafted bearded ax: the kind warriors used to use to pull down enemy shield walls.

  For him, she had found a voluminous black robe with a hood and a leather belt that had straps for the book. The belt also had a few pouches for odds and ends. He secured the book, sliding the quill in under the spine, then stowed the inkpot.

  She watched him, then asked, "Are you sure you want to go right away? It's only been a little over a day since you arrived. Restoring your body will take time."

  "I'm sure. I'm as healthy as I'm going to get, thanks to my regeneration. My spells are set. I'm
ready to rumble. Waiting wouldn't do either of us any good. You want to get up there and see the world, don't you?"

  "Will I be able to?" she asked. "Your ag... your fear of open spaces will keep you below ground."

  "What's your range?"

  "Now? I have no true idea, but several times what it was, with you or my true body as my tether."

  "Does Sub-Cel go everywhere?"

  She shrugged. "Very nearly."

  He offered a wan smile. "It'll be fine then. I'll just get near where you want to be, and you'll be free to explore."

  She didn't return his smile as she said, "But you won't be with me."

  "Maybe someday. For now though, I've got a score to settle."

  "If you kill her, you'll lose your dark sight."

  Abram thought about that a moment, then looked keenly at her and decided to test the limits of the system again. He knew that she was just giving him information he needed to play the game, but what was the in-game reason for her knowledge?

  "How do you know that?" he asked.

  She looked uncomfortable, and glanced away before sighing. "You aren't the first template I've fostered. The first did not last very long, even with me protecting him. I did learn several things about how their powers work though, and while the women who lay with you will keep their gifts regardless of your death, the reverse is not true."

  Abram blinked. He hadn't expected so rational an explanation ... but now having it, it begged another question.

  "Did you say you loved him too?" he asked. He tried to keep the resentment out of his voice, but couldn't quite manage it.

  "Abram. You are young, and have little experience — by your own admission — with love. It is a rare broken heart that does not mend given time. His memory no longer pains me ... I hope knowing of him does not pain you. I have had many loves. It is even reasonable to say that you will not be my last."