“Ramsey Havalia?”
Ramsey, perforce, didn’t answer, and the demon looked more closely at him.
“What? What do you think you’re doing?” The demon reached out and grabbed his wrist, sending searing burns like lightning down his veins. “Oh no you don’t! Ramsey Havalia, of Beach Bay,” the demon grunted, grabbing his other hand now, and pulling. “You are hereby under arrest for violation of your parole,” the demon grunted some more, and Ramsey felt the fire sear all the way down his arms. “And I order you to surrender immediately...” more heaving, and the fire reached his feet. “Ahh, damn it all, why do I always get these weird ones? I should have known better than to buy a second hand contract off that sleazy pawnbroker...”
All of a sudden Ramsey’s feet popped free of the earth, and he and the demon and the rolled up scroll tumbled over in a heap of flames and paper and halfling. In a kind of wonder, Ramsey checked his hands, his feet, and they were hands and feet. The process didn’t complete!
“Alright, then.” The demon stood up and brushed itself off, then patted its pockets, and looked around on the ground. “Now, where was I... where’s that contract... where are.... Hey! You!” The demon looked up. “Where do you think you’re going? Get back here, you!” The demon started running. “I said get back here, don’t you run from me you little imp...!”
Also by A. J. Galelyn
Sam’s Song One: A Fist Full of Sand
A Book of Cerulea
I really, really hate falling. Falling is stupid. Gravity is stupid. Orks are stupid.
Maybe if the Voice hadn’t dumped Sam’s Strength she wouldn’t have ended up chained to a post, waiting to be two orks’ lunch. Maybe if the Voice hadn’t dumped Charisma, she could have talked her way out. Maybe if the Voice had maxed Dexterity completely, she could have escaped without hurting herself. At least, as a halfling, Sam was able to hide easily. Sam wasn’t sure how big people managed in life. They couldn’t fit in to half the places they wanted.
Not that Sam was where she wanted. The Desert where she’d grown up no longer welcomed her, so she made her way to the city-state of Triport. She’d never seen a city before. Once there, she uncovers a danger lurking in the ancient ruins beneath the city, and it will take all of Sam’s Wisdom, Skills, and pint-sized audacity to save Triport from utter ruin.
Contains RPG mechanics. If this does not interest you, then this is not the book for you!
About the Author
A. J. Galelyn is a starving artist the soon to be bestselling author of the Cerulean novels featuring the impetuous halfling Samiel. She is an American expat currently living in Central America, where she divides her time between attempting to surf and keeping her laptops alive long enough to feed her videogaming addictions. Her qualifications for RPG.lit authorship include having read very nearly every book in her local library, and having played and DM’d tabletop and computer roleplaying games since she first owned a computer at age 20, when she learned that pretend isn’t just for kids.
For updates on further adventures in Cerulea, join AJ’s newsletter:
Tell me when the next book is out!
Notes
Chapter 1
1 Hit Points
Hit Points are a representation of your current level of health. Hit Points can be lost by taking damage or loosing Constitution. At 0 Hit Points, you fall unconscious. At -5 Hit Points, you begin bleeding to death. When your negative Hit Points go below your current Constitution score, you die.
Hit Points will replenish over time as you rest and heal. Certain effects such as divine magic restore Hit Points more quickly than is natural.
2 Buffs / Debuffs
Buffs are ongoing spells that you cast on yourself or your friends because they are beneficial. Debuffs are ongoing spells cast on your enemies because they suck. Polymorph: Chicken is NOT a buff, even that one time when you were all drunk and your buddy passed out in the wishing well still wearing the feathered lampshade.
3 Enervation
Enervation sucks away at the very life force of who you are, replacing it with negative energy that depresses you stats, hit points, skills, mana and everything else. This energy drain is in the form of negative levels. Weak creatures are slain instantly by an Enervation, but strong creatures may live if they have more levels than Enervation drains away. A creature killed by an energy drain effect cannot be resurrected.
Enervation counters and opposes Restoration.
4 Negative Levels
Negative levels represent a repression of or an unlearning of what you already know. They are usually acquired only by powerful magic or necromantic energy, and my be temporary or permanent, depending on the cause. Negative levels depress stat checks, skills, attack bonus and mana.
5 Your level represents your adventuring experience. The longer you have been adventuring and the more challenges you have overcome, the more levels you will have. Each level must be taken in one of the available classes.
6 Cure Light Wounds
Cure Light Wounds heals a small number of Hit Points. The effects of most Cure spells are not fixed in advance, and the magic may be absorbed unevenly, resulting in a different amount of Hit Points restored each time the spell is cast. More powerful divines will have more consistent results.
Cure Light Wounds potions (sometimes called CLW Pots) will restore a number of Hit Points equal to 5 plus a random number between 1 and 8, for a total anywhere between 6 and 13. This is written as 1d8+5.
7 Damage type: Bludgeoning
Bludgeoning damage takes the form of bruises and broken bones. Blunt weapons deal Bludgeoning damage. Bludgeoning is one of three physical damage types, the other two are Piercing and Slashing.
Chapter 2
1 Skill: Sleight of Hand
Idle hands may be the devils workshop, but light fingers are his Amazon Prime account.
Slight of Hand allows you to palm small objects and perform feats of deception, such as picking a pocket or pulling a coin from thin air.
Base: Dexterity
2 Skill: Escape Artist
Help! Help! I’m being repressed!
Escape Artist allows you to pull free of things that bind and entrap you. Ropes, chains, quicksand, corsets… you just don’t take “I’m stuck” for an answer.
Base: Dexterity
3 Damage type: Piercing
Piercing damage takes the form of stabs, pinches, stings and impalement. Pointy weapons deal Piercing damage. Piercing is one of the three physical damage types, the other two are Bludgeoning and Slashing.
4 Dexterity
Dexterity is a measure of how quick, nimble and agile you are. It determines your coordination, fine muscle control, speed and reflexes. Your Dexterity also measures how easily you hit a target in ranged combat.
If your Dexterity falls to a score of 0 for any reason, your muscles lack the coordination to stand, move, or engage in any activity.
High: You win cartwheel races on tightropes.
Low: You can trip over your own two feet while sitting down.
5 Cure Serious Wounds
Cure Serious Wounds heals a larger number of Hit Points. The effects of most Cure spells are not fixed in advance, and the magic may be absorbed unevenly, resulting in a different amount of Hit Points restored each time the spell is cast. More powerful divines will have more consistent results.
Cure Serious Wounds potions (sometimes called CSW Pots) will restore a number of Hit Points equal to 15 plus a random number between 3 and 24, for a total anywhere between 18 and 39. This is written as 3d8+15.
6 XP
XP stands for Experience Points and represents the personal growth achieved by surviving challenges and overcoming obstacles. You need Experience Points to acquire levels, purchase stat increases, and unlock feats. Experience Points can be gained by completing quests and optional objectives within the quest.
7 Skill: Improvise Magic Device
What's the magic word again? Klaatu Barada Nik*co
ugh*tomumblemumblemumble…
Improvise Magic Device allows you to activate, trigger, set off or use a magical artifact. From “abracadabra” to an inexplicable desire to polish old lamps with genies inside, this is the skill with which even manaless mundanes can cause more trouble than a rogue kitten in a nuclear launch facility.
Base: Charisma
(Not, obviously, Wisdom. Definitely not Wisdom)
8 Granted Ability: Sneak Attack
No one has their guard up all the time, and you know where and how to hit them just where it hurts. Your attacks do extra damage when your opponent doesn’t see them coming.
9 Stats are your fundamental characteristics. There are three physical stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution) and three mental, or internal, stats (Intelligents, Wisdom, Charisma). Your stats will determine what feats are available to you and how much natural talent you have with your skills. In any stat a score of 10 is considered average, and will naturally range from a 6 (very low) to an 18 (extraordinarily high). Some races have advantages or penalties that modify these extremes, although someone with a stat below a 6 is considered disabled and are unlikely to be functional without special provisions. Stats can be temporarily modified by unusual conditions and magic, or permanently modified by very powerful magic or adventuring experience.
10 Strength
Strength is a measure of how strong you are. It will determine how much you can lift, how much you can carry, and how easy it is for you score a wounding blow on an opponent in melee combat.
If your Strength falls to a score of 0 for any reason, you are too weak to move and collapse immobile on the ground.
High: You can bench press a gorilla.
Low: You loose arm wrestling contests to rubber bands.
11 Wisdom
Wisdom is a measure of your innate resonance with the world around you, your common sense, and your associative reasoning. It determines how in tune you are with yourself, others, and your environment.
If your Wisdom falls to a score of 0 for any reason, you are no longer mentally present and are unconscious.
High: When your girlfriend is angry with you, you push cookies under the door until it’s safe to open it.
Low: “I didn’t say the dress made you look fat, I said you’re probably bloated from PMSing!”
12 Cause Wounds
Cause Wounds may refer to any of the Cause Wounds spectrum of negative energy magic, such as Cause Light Wounds, Cause Moderate Wounds, Cause Serious Wounds, or Cause Critical Wounds. Cause Wounds spells and potions remove Hit Points from living creatures or restore them to undead.
13 Negative energy / Positive energy
All divine magic either works with or against the forces of life. Positive energy is that which repairs, heals, and promotes growth, while negative energy is that which sickens, kills or promotes death. Arcane mages have some access to negative energy, but only divines can channel both positive and negative energy.
14 Skill: Perception
Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it won’t see you.
Perception is a measure of your ability to notice things in your local environment, such as a footprint concealed in the mud or a tiny sound that wakes you in the night.
Base: Wisdom
Chapter 3
1 Skill: Spellcraft
It’s still magic if you know how it’s done. In fact, it’s better magic...
The Spellcraft skill measures your ability to understand the fundamental workings of magic and how to manipulate them. It is the relevant skill for creating new spells, recognizing incantations, and deciphering ancient runes before you set them off.
Base: Intelligence
2 Granted Ability: Evasion
Evasion allows you to twist and move in such a way that you have a chance to dodge through the safe spaces in otherwise impenetrably dangerous areas.
3 Quests are adventures that allow you to gain levels. Sometimes a single quest will be so challenging that you will gain a level, but usually you must complete several quests in order to gain the experience, insight, and personal growth necessary for a level. The higher level you already are, the more quests it takes to achieve the next one. Levels are usually only granted after you have overcome the challenge and successfully achieved your objective.
Not every quest has only one outcome. Some quests have optional objectives that modify your experience and restrict or open up possibilities for your adventuring career.
4 Constitution
Constitution is a measure of your overall health and hardiness. It determines how many hit points you have, how tough you are, and how often you get sick.
If your Constitution falls to a score of 0 for any reason, you are dead. It is possible die from Hit Point damage even if your Constitution score is unaffected.
High: So what if the steak is green? That’s just extra protein!
Low: You are allergic to oxygen.
Chapter 4
1 Charisma
Charisma is a measure of your ability to express yourself and communicate on an emotional level. It determines how attractive people find you, how believable you are, and your ability to evoke a desired result.
If your Charisma falls to a score of 0 for any reason, you are unable to exert yourself in any way and are comatose.
High: People just give you things, like compliments, and pictures of you for you to autograph, and sometimes large amounts of money.
Low: Everyone takes everything you say the wrong way, always.
Chapter 5
1 Skill: Focus
Some people might call you stubborn, but you know what you want.
The Focus skill allows you to concentrate your entire mind on what you are doing, in spite of distractions around you such as deadly projectiles whizzing past your head, the volcano exploding nearby, interdimensional interference, or that one last mosquito trying to fly into your ear.
Base: Depends on what you’re doing.
2 Cure Disease
Cure Disease removes all ongoing diseases from someone. Cure Disease does not fix any health issues or damage already taken from being sick, from which the person may or may not recover naturally.
3 Feat: Unarmed Combat
You do not need a weapon… you are a weapon.
Your fists are now considered deadly weapons, as are your feet, knees, elbows, head, etc... You are never unarmed and do not suffer an attack penalty or provoke an Attack of Opportunity when attacking without a weapon.
Note: This feat is a Granted Ability at first level monk.
4 Attack of Opportunity
Sometimes you leave yourself wide open in combat and provoke an Attack of Opportunity. If your enemy chooses to exploit this, they receive a free attack against you. Examples of things that take your mind off your defenses include drawing your arms back to shoot a bow and most other ranged weapons, punching or kicking someone without training, resolving complicated long division by hand, casting a spell, or trying to take a selfie with the three headed demon beast of the abyss.
5 Attack Bonus
Your Attack Bonus represents your ability to land a damaging blow against an opponent. Your combat experience (as represented by your class combinations) as well as your innate ability (as represented by your stats) determine this. Without special training, it takes a good Strength to hit someone hard enough to hurt.
6 Daily Mana
Your Daily Mana number represents how much magic you have access to. Mana is refreshed by capturing dreams while you sleep. This can be an automatic OR conscious process, depending on what kind of caster you are.
Daily Mana can also be instantly refreshed by drinking a certain kind of rare elixir called Sparq. Sparq is also colloquially called “bottled dreams”, and can have strong side effects, especially in non-casters.
7 Light
Light causes a touched object to glow.
8 Resurrection
Resurrection is a powerful divine spell that b
rings someone back from the dead. In order for a Resurrection to work, the soul of the person to be Resurrected must be free and available to return, and their body must be present and relatively intact. Resurrection does not work on creatures killed by negative energy or who have been turned into an undead.
9 Restoration
Restoration restores any stat, skill or ability damage that someone is suffering from, including negative energy effects. It does not remove the cause of the damage, and someone suffering from an ongoing effect must deal with that separately.
Restoration counters and opposes Enervation.
Chapter 7
1 Feats are special, discrete, talents that you can train to assist you in adventuring. Everyone can earn feats, but some can only be taken by people who have met the prerequisites. Feats are acquired during gameplay by attempting and succeeding at something exceptional.
2 Feat: Master of Katas
The strength of the sea, the speed of the wind, the fury of the fire, the endurance of the mountain; you may now channel the energy of the elements into your fighting style. The benefits of Master of Katas only applies to Category 0 weapons and may only be channeled while you are unencumbered by armor.
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