Dubstep Succubus

by Aaron Siverling

  Infrared Sight: (Buff) (Active) The ability to see heat may be used with or without normal sight and is unaffected by illusion.

  Stone Skin: (Buff) (Active) Encases the body in a layer of stone. When encased they are unable to move but health, magic and endurance recovers quicker. The ability also absorbs sunlight to supplement food intake.

  Gargoyles can fly. That right there is reason enough to pick the race. It had been my first choice and I had actually been one in the beginning.

  Unfortunately, I had to use my one character reroll to switch. It was because of the wings. They kept getting in the way and making it difficult to fight or, well... do everything really.

  Others had the same problem at first but they had gotten used to it. I never could, so I went with my second choice. A choice I never regretted afterward.

  Giant: Taken from Dwarven stock, bred, altered and made to be the biggest and strongest of all the races. They were mainly used as manual labor or shock troops. Their innate magic is the only thing keeping their massive bodies from collapsing in on themselves. For that reason they cannot use magic unless they are willing to hurt themselves. When the other races rebelled, they were the only ones who refused to fight. Instead they choose to leave, never attacking but willing, and able, to defend themselves.

  Racial Abilities:

  Brutus Hyde: (Buff) (Passive) Giants have naturally thick skin that is resistant to most damage.

  Enhancement: (Buff) (Active) Increases speed, strength, endurance, physical resistance. Decreases agility and dexterity.

  Sacrifice: (Ability) (Active) This ability allows Giants to cast spells at the expense of Health.

  Giants were pretty much what you expected, living weapons of mass destruction, who are constantly forced to wait outside.

  Not only are they about eight to nine feet tall but they also have great big horns that come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

  Their size, horns and unwieldy claws meant the were limited to basic labor or as killing machines.

  They are not all that popular but there are a few of them around.

  After looking over the other races I was sure that staying a Savage Kin was the right call. Despite the Gargoyles temptation of flight.

  At first I thought the character creation came preloaded with my avatar from Midian. Then I realized that Icarus just used the same system of merging a pre Grey Hell appearance with Midian racial features.

  The difference was that Icarus had the option of modifying my physical appearance or getting extra starting experience.

  And of course, I chose the extra experience. I was going to use all that experience to upgrade all my spells. I was going to be so OP.

  Then Four sent, "We should look at the races from the other worlds."

  "Why?" I sent back. "Midian is the best of all the worlds when it comes to… everything."

  He sent back a negation, "Not everything."

  "BLASPHEMY!" I sent back, "That is sheer unmitigated BLASPHEMY! It's in all caps therefore it must be true! Midian is the best. We are the best. You cannot disprove this with logic! I've built up an immunity."

  "To logic?" Two queried.

  I sent her a confirmation signal with, "The power of logic no longer holds any sway over me!"

  "One?" sent Five.

  "Yes?" I sent back.

  "Focus."

  I wrangled my thoughts before they could wander any farther and sent back a simple confirmation.

  "Four? Why do you want us to consider races from other worlds?" Five asked.

  Four didn't answer at first but then confirmed, "Only that certain types of personalities have been grouped into four separate worlds. That can't be a coincidence. It has to have been planned this way for a reason."

  Three sent a confirmation, "Agreed. However, while the reason is currently irrelevant, it does seem that these worlds and these races are geared towards specific personality types."

  "So you're saying we shouldn't race change outside our home world?" Two asked.

  "I am saying," Four sent back, "that we should think about whether we should stay in the box they put us in. Even if its a box we want to be want in."

  We were all silent for a long moment before Five sent, "So if the differences between the four worlds, between the varying sets of races, is designed as a counterbalance."

  She stopped short, not sending the rest of her thoughts while we all thought over the implications.

  After we read through the information about the other worlds races (well, I skimmed it at least) we discussed it and decided that we didn't have enough information to make a decision one way or another.

  So we ended up sticking with what we were familiar with, with what we knew best.

  When that was done I looked through the combat classes. Because unlike other game worlds, on Icarus you can multiclass to your heart's content.

  Or to the detriment of your character build.

  You can only start with one but I wanted to know what my options were.

  The mirror in the Character Creation was an information interface and I used it to check the combat classes. They had the usual Tank, Melee, DPS and Stealth along with Hand to Hand. All with their own subclasses.

  COMBAT CLASSES:

  Tank:

  Sentinel: Priority stats to lesser stats: Health, Endurance, Strength, Magic, Speed, Agility, Dexterity.

  Traditional Weapons: Sword, Mace, Axe, Hammer, Club.

  Guardian: Priority stats to lesser stats: Health, Strength, Endurance, Magic, Agility, Speed, Dexterity.

  Traditional Weapons: Sword, Mace, Axe, Hammer, Heavy Shield.

  Knight: Priority stats to lesser stats: Strength, Endurance, Health, Magic, Speed, Agility, Dexterity.

  Traditional Weapons: Sword, Mace, Axe, Hammer, Heavy Shield.

  Okay. So. I've tried to be a tank before and just like when I played a healer, it did not end well. You know, for all the dead people I was supposed to keep alive.

  Melee:

  Warrior: Priority stats to lesser stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Health, Agility, Dexterity, Magic.

  Traditional Weapons: Swords, Maces, Polearms, Medium Shields.

  Samurai/Swordsman: Priority stats to lesser stats: Speed, Dexterity, Strength, Agility, Endurance, Health, Magic.

  Traditional Weapons: Swords, Wakizashi, Naginata, Bow.

  I could totally see myself as a Samurai. Except for the whole "honor" thing. Also robes. I do not do robes.

  Fighting in robes is like fighting in a trench coat. And fighting in a trench coat is… well, it may look cool, but stabbing yourself in the foot with a katana during a retro-cyberpunk festival does not.

  As, you know, an example that is totally unrelated to me.

  DPS:

  Berserker: Priority stats to lesser stats: Strength, Health, Speed, Endurance, Magic, Agility, Dexterity.

  Traditional Weapons: Sword, Mace, Axe, Hammer, Club.

  Rogue: Priority stats to lesser stats: Speed, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Magic, Health, Dexterity.

  Traditional Weapons: Sword, Mace, Axe, Small Blades, Hand Weapon.

  Fencer: Priority stats to lesser stats: Dexterity, Speed, Agility, Magic, Strength, Endurance, Health.

  Traditional Weapons: Sword, Dagger.

  Each Class gave a short description of what it entailed.

  The Tank types were just different degrees of defensive tankiness.

  Warriors were mostly the standard soldiers you found in every other game and Samurai were, well, Samurai.

  Berserkers are like reverse Tanks, bent on big destruction and little defense. Rogues are the traditional sneaky, backstabby melee fighters bent on bleeding you dry. And Fencers are swift, precise and bent on one shoting your vital organs while you're standing there, laughing at their deceptively dangerous little sword.

  I'm not precise, I'm not sneaky and even I can see that being a Berserker, would be a recipe for disaster.

  Stealth:

  Ninja: Pri
ority stats to lesser stats: Speed, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Strength, Magic, Health.

  Traditional Weapons: Tanto, Bow, Chigiriki, Sai, Nunchaku, Staff, Three Section Staff, Chain Whips, Kusarigama, Kusari-fundo, Kama, kyoketsu-shoge, Caltrops, Fukiya, Naginata, Nekote, Kunai, Smoke Bombs, etc.

  "Ninja! I want to be a ninja! I will be a Ninja! It makes perfect sense! I mean, I'm not really sneaky, but who needs to be sneaky when you're a freaking Ninja!"

  "Noooo Ruin! Noooo!" Five sent to me.

  The rest of my Chain started sending me frantic messages but I ignored them.

  Then I remembered that they were my best friends and I should reassure them.

  "Don't worry! I'm so sure I'm right about this, I don't even need to look at the other Classes. I know what I want to be. And it's perfect. Ninja Force Mage! Yep. It sounds perfect."

  "Ruin! Stop! And! Think!" Five sent.

  "NEVER!"

  Then I looked at the description and logic had to rear its ugly, yet symmetrical, head.

  Ninja stats have magic as the second to last on its priority list. Obviously that wouldn't work with a Mage Class.

  "Okay. Fine. You win. But each of you owes me a personal favor for not letting me sabotage myself!"

  I reluctantly passed it over and read the rest of the Stealth Classes.

  Thief: Priority stats to lesser stats: Dexterity, Speed, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Health, Magic.

  Traditional Weapons: Small Blades, Short Swords, Thrown Blades.

  Hunter: Priority stats to lesser stats: Speed, Dexterity, Agility, Endurance, Strength, Magic, Health.

  Traditional Weapons: Bow, Crossbow, Short Swords, Small Blades, Thrown Blades, Traps.

  Assassin: Priority stats to lesser stats: Speed, Agility, Dexterity, Magic, Strength, Health, Endurance.

  Traditional Weapons: Short Swords, Small Blades, Crossbows, Thrown Blades, garrots.

  A Thief was basically like a Rogue with less combat skills and more sneaky skills. Useful for dungeons but it really wasn't for me.

  A Hunter was about as sneaky as a Thief, ran fast and focused on ranged attacks or traps rather than anything close up. Too bad I have terrible aim.

  An Assassin looked like something I could do. The Class had all you expected it to, without the extra awesome factor of being a Ninja, but what I read next changed my mind.

  Hand To Hand:

  Monk: Priority stats to lesser stats: Strength, Speed, Agility, Endurance, Dexterity, Health, Magic.

  Traditional Weapons: Martial Arts.

  Ravager: Priority stats to lesser stats: Magic, Speed, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Health, Dexterity.

  Traditional Weapons: Fist Weapons.

  Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Ravager it was! I had the magic! I had the claws! I had the magic claws!

  I went over the Class information to make sure I didn't miss anything and told everyone I that was definitely going to stay the same race. And what my class choice was.

  When I confirmed my Class the mirror offered up a few starting spells.

  "You're going to choose Ravager as a second Class? Not a Ninja?" Five queried.

  "Yes. I promise. And I’ll even let you, and Three, badger me about being practical with other class choices." I confirmed back.

  Before I could ask the others what they chose the line started moving forward.

  This turned the conversation to what we needed to do when we got in the game.

  I quickly skimmed through the starting spells and picked one before finalizing my character.

  “Priority one is to get stronger,” Five confirmed.

  Four sent a negation, “Priority one is to get together and then get stronger.”

  “We need a way to make money,” confirmed Two. "You can't do much without gear and weapons.”

  Three sent a confirmation. “Priority one is to get stronger so we may protect each other. Priority two is finding each other while engaging in priority one. Priority three is acquiring profit and the ability to create more profit while engaging in priority one and priority two.”

  I sent a confirm to Three and the others quickly followed suit. After that, our conversation turned to other topics.

  As the line continued to move forward there was some disturbance rolling down each Chain.

  We heard that anyone passing through the thick metal door at the end of the line was cut off from further communication. We thought, and hoped, it was just part of the new intake process.

  “Maybe they're taking the collars off?” queried Four.

  “If they are going to kill us, I'm taking as many Punishers I can with me,” confirmed Five.

  “The collars are not expensive tech but we won't need them in the pods,” confirmed Three.

  “Everyone relax and we will deal with whatever happens,“ Two sent.

  “Agreed. Expect the best and eye gouge the rest,” yes, that was Five again.

  We came closer and closer to the end of the line as we talked until I was next.

  The steel door opened to reveal a room just big enough for one Subadult, two Punishers, a functionary and a bad joke in the making.

  There was also a nine foot tall tower of streamlined computer equipment attached to a large upright glasslike cylinder.

  The two Punishers outside the door grabbed me, one pulling the zip tie tighter around my wrists before the other shoved me through.

  "Don't worry. If anything happens I'll scream like a little girl,” I told them reassuringly, ''unless I'm in a space where you can't hear me. Love you guys!”

  The door slammed shut behind me, sealing me into a room that gave me a deeply unsettled feeling. I wasn't sure why, maybe it was the people who occupied it.

  I tried sending a signal to the others that said, "This doesn't bode well. It bodes badly. Super bad boding."

  But I didn't receive a response. I was cut off.

  Two Punishers stood on either side of the door, just like on the other side and they had that air of, “Yes! We will break your legs for fun if given the slightest excuse”.

  A third guy looked like he had been genetically engineered to be a judgmental priest or a preachy judge with a side order of mortician.

  He stood with an electronic tablet, of all things, in one hand and a stylus in the other. I wondered if he was a Born Again Natural, people who were against any form of AR device due to religious or cultural reasons. They were rare but they existed.

  My random thoughts were interrupted when the judgy priest guy started preaching. It was the same stuff about our place in society and how we must all do our part and other hypocritical dribblings.

  My attention span, never been the most expansive, had already wandered off to find something more interesting.

  I was daydreaming about running through a field where mini cheeseburgers grew like flowers when he finally started getting to the good stuff. My crimes.

  Arson, assault, theft, trespass, resisting arrest, escaping police custody, theft of police property, arson of police property, public indecency, defacing public property, destruction of public property, arson of public property and that's about when I stopped listening because… wow.

  I think I finally understand why that psychiatrist said I was obsessed with fire. I mean I am not obsessed with fire. He just thought I was because I knew that fire, was super cool.

  I used it in my fifth grade science project.

  And no. My science project was not fire. That would be crazy.

  It was a homemade flamethrower.

  It worked perfectly and it was awesome. I got an A plus and a three week suspension for bringing a weapon into the school. It was a win win.

  Though, I was sad when they confiscated it. I never did get that Ninja Turtle backpack I used to hold the fuel and propellent returned.

  Hmm, I thought. I may, possibly, owe Doctor Mengle an apology. Maybe I should send him a fruit basket or something. I'd have to find out where he ended up after I burned down his facility. Ah
well…

  “Do you acknowledge your crimes?” The raised voice of the guy I was supposed to be listening to broke through my complete disregard for whatever it was he’d been saying.

  I said nothing but sent a negation signal at him and he glanced down at the tablet with a frown. Well, a frownier frown.

  He looked back up at me and said, “Your acknowledgment is unnecessary.”

  I sent a query tagged with a, “Then why ask?”

  He met my gaze with a glare. Well, a glareier glare (Jeez this guy had an unfriendly face) and said, “Procedure.” Then he continued. “Gray Hall Enterprises has charitably agreed to contribute to your relocation via the company ‘Soul Eternity’ as per the agreement with the United Nations in exchange for specified future tax cuts.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes sooo baaad!

  “Gray Hall Enterprises will contribute a percentage of what would have been your wages to government funding. This payment will be considered you repaying your debt to society. As of today all crimes excepting murder and sexual assault, will be sealed off as a juvenile record.”

  Yeah, because people who commit homicide and sex crimes go straight to the real prison anyway, regardless of age or genetic status.

  Then he named the percentage of my never to been seen paycheck. After doing some quick math I felt myself go cold, then hot with anger. I never actually calculated how much each of us would of earned before.

  Even if we were paid minimum wage, we worked about fifteen hours a day, seven days a week. With legally mandated overtime that's at least two thousand five hundred American dollars. A week.

  I didn't know how many of us there were, but even with only a hundred thousand of us working for a year that was at least thirteen billion dollars. All off which was back pay we were never going to see a dime of.

  However, the guys next words disrupted my growing anger.

  “... that being said. Gray Hall Enterprises will act with the full and complete intention of retrieving any and all individuals from the world known as ‘Icarus’ when or if such technology is developed .”

  Wait… what?

  I shot a query to his tablet saying, “Request clarification for ‘when or if such technology is developed’.”