Last night my university appeared on the news.
As I watched the broadcast, listening to my old television set sputter and cough like a used car engine, I swore the temperature plummeted several degrees. The newscaster was still droning on in the background but it could’ve just been static. Meaningless.
It is always the same with this news broadcast. Burned and charred stone and concrete lying around in a pentagon in a way that could make any abstract artist proud. I try, whenever it comes up, to ignore everything scrolling on the screen. Or at the very least, skim through the programme. The less details I remember, the better.
But every time, my eyes are drawn to one tiny thing on the screen. It stands out screaming, a splash of red in an ocean of black. I can’t forget it no matter how hard I try, and it slips into my nightmares and I wake up screaming.
A rune of a blood-stained sword, inked in red and carved neatly in the stone.
“This is our pride and joy,” he nodded, gesturing to a rune of a blood-stained sword. His sunflower name badge read James and he was cute. Tousled hair, playful freckles–the works.
I swear girls swooned when they saw him.
The year was 2004 and I wished fighting over James was the least of our problems. Even now, during orientation week, a great hush fell over our little tour group. Everyone shifted their feet nervously and tied their fingers into knots.
James laughed.
“The stories about Helena Sword? That’s just it. Stories.”
“All the stuff you heard about her before you came here, they’re simply not true. Just something stupid to scare the freshies, that’s all.”
He trailed off in the middle of his speech, staring off into the distance.
“It’s been a thousand years after all…”
He laughed again, but it was as empty as the wind blowing down the halls. He cracked a smile, but his face was pale like the rest of us.
“Anyway,” he said, “the library is just down this hallway too. When our founder, Sir Gallus, founded this place, he sought out books from all over the world…”
As the rest of the tour moved on, I couldn’t help but stay behind. I was no archeologist, but there was something about this rune that would not let me go. I stroked the rune, fascinated by how my fingers crossed tall ridges and tiny valleys. It was very simply carved, almost like a child’s drawing of a sword brought to life, but as I turned to catch up with everyone else, I realised I wasn’t alone.
She was pretty, a girl around my height and build, with striking red curls and a rather long neck, almost like a giraffe. A tattoo poked out behind long blue sleeves, dressed in red ink. The girl turned to me and grinned sheepishly.
“Are you lost?”
I frowned. “Sorry?”
“The tour group moved on without you,” she stated, pointing ahead. Indeed I could hear James’ voice in the distance, rambling on about the portraits in the halls. I looked back at her and she nodded grimly.
“My name is Ginny,” she said, extending her hand. I shook it. It was as cold as ice. In fact, when I looked at her, it was like gazing at an ice sculpture, with frosty eyes and dainty lips.
“It’s my first day here too. Except well…my parents brought me here yesterday. So I know this school inside out. Do you want me to show you around? You don’t need that tour group. Especially since they well…abandoned you.”
My head was suddenly foggy. “Yes, please,” I mumbled.
In spite of her offer, Ginny didn’t say much as we walked through the campus. Didn’t point out anything interesting landmarks or anything like that; didn’t talk much about herself either. Instead we wandered through the grounds, enjoying each other’s company. It was the beginning of autumn, and golden leaves were falling down and the trees looked like they were on fire. Overhead we could hear migrating birds singing. It was lovely.
Eventually we reached my dorm.
And hers.
Ginny was my roommate. I found it strange, since I didn’t recall having a roommate or asking for one; and even if I did, wouldn’t I be informed of it months ago? Someone that I would share my life with for the next three years? But then she looked at me and smiled and all my questions flew out of my head. I mumbled a yes to her offer of assistance and we spent the rest of the afternoon making our dorm look like home.
Then we went down for dinner and were joined in the mess hall by two other girls, Ivy and Cleo, who told us their room would be next door to us. We sat down with our mashed potatoes and roast chicken and they immediately drummed up conversation, talking about their lives before they came to university, what they hoped to achieve during their time here, and everything in between.
“So what are you guys studying?” Ivy asked.
“Psychology,” I said. Helping people has always been a lifelong dream.
“Computer Science,” Ivy and Cleo said at the same time.
We all looked at Ginny. She stared back, completely taken aback by the question.
“Um,” she said, “Computer Science too, I suppose. That’s getting popular, right?”
“Yup,” Ivy mumbled, her head bowed over her mashed potatoes like a broken flower. “Everyone is fighting to get their slice of the Internet these days…”
We continued our meal in silence, the conversation suddenly over. We walked up together, too, and it felt strangely uncomfortable. A dark cloth had fallen over our little group, leaving behind an itch we could never scratch.
Finally we reached our dorms and we looked at each other.
“Well, good night then,” Ivy said. Cleo was already inside and I could hear her brushing her teeth.
“See you at breakfast.”
“Good night,” I said. Ivy nodded and closed the door.
Ginny was already in her bunk, her nose in a book. There was already a stack next to her, as tall as a mountain, and by the glare in her eyes, passionate and intense as fire, it looked like she was going to be reading all night.
“Don't classes start next week?” I asked with a frown.
“Yeah,” Ginny said distractedly. Her eyes were glued to the pages and she was flipping through them so fast her hands were a blur. “Just wanted to get started so I’ll be well-prepared, that’s all.”
She peered down at me, her icy blue eyes fixated on my muddy brown ones. “Go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I mumbled, and soon I slipped away from the real world for a world of restless dreams.
For some reason, I woke up in the middle of the night.
I got my torch from under the bed and checked the time on my alarm clock. 4am.
Great.
I lay down on my pillow with my eyes open. I strained my ears, listening out for the sounds of nature. Back home there were birds that sang no matter what time it was, porcupines and rats scavenging around our trash, and crickets that performed symphonies that lulled me into slumber.
But out here there was nothing.
Great.
I couldn’t even hear my roomie. I didn’t really peg Ginny as the type who snored, but her bunk felt…empty. I peered upwards and couldn’t make out her shapeless form huddled beneath her blankets. Books were strewn all over her bunk, their pages wide open like the wings of lost paper birds.
I yawned and squeezed my eyes shut. It was too early to do anything and as Ginny said, we had a lot of things to do tomorrow.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehh!!
It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Or rather, that of a clawed hand scraping down someone’s flesh, their hooked nails peeling off their skin in strips.
I groaned and smashed my pillow against my ears, but even my fluffy shield did nothing to muffle the loud screeches that rattled from my ears down my spine and to my toes.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehh!!
I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I wobbled out of bed, clutching the bed frame as the world spun in front of my eyes. I breathed deep as another eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhh screamed in my eardrums, making my hair stand on end.
Then I heard someone scream.
Was that Ginny? An image tore through my mind of my roommate in the corner, slowly strangled by rusty iron chains that curled around her body like venomous snakes. I know I shouldn’t open the door–it is a critical mistake made by so many horror movie heroines–but the thought of Ginny, alone, made my heart shiver.
So I yanked open the door.
There was Ginny, frozen like a popsicle stick. The shadows gathered and morphed into a hooded figure that blanketed her bodice.
Something—someone—slithered towards her, dragging behind a long blade. Eeeeeeeeeeeh
Ginny opened her mouth. Was she screaming?
But no, the silhouette brushed up against her skin and whooshed right past her, disappearing into the dorms. Ginny looked over, saw me screaming, then ran over and knocked me back in the room, locking the door shut.
“Are you okay?” she asked urgently.
I nodded a yes. Everything I felt at that moment couldn’t be put into words. It was dammed somewhere in the back of my throat, fighting to get out.
But I just couldn’t.
“What did you see?”
Nothing. Just nothing. My mind was blank. Everything was a hazy mess zooming around through my neural pathways. I sat down and rubbed my head. The room was spinning out of focus.
I needed to sleep.
“Yeah, sleep tight,” Ginny said kindly, pushing my blanket up to my neck. I curled up like a cooked prawn and breathed in deep. It smelled like home.
“Good night, Ginny,” I mumbled.
“Good night.”
We woke up to a sea of noisy chatter. It sounded like a thousand parrots squawking at the same time.
Eyes closed, mine still hazy, I stretched—and immediately bumped my head against the wooden frame.
Ow.
People were talking—no, shouting. It rang in my ears like a bloodcurdling scream. I groaned and attempted to muffle it with my pillow above my ears. Why do people have to be so goddamn loud?
Finally I gave up and sat up straight, forcing my crusty eyes open. Ginny was already gone, and her nightgown was draped across the top bunk like a country flag. The door was creaking in the wind. It slammed against the wall and came back strong.
Ow
Ginny came back. Without a word she took me by the arm and dragged me out of the room. There was a crowd mulling outside Ivy and Cleo’s dorm and as we passed I could hear snippets of their conversation:
“Dead…”
Ginny marched past them and took me down the stairs and to the mess hall, her eyes staring straight ahead like the world had vanished around her. Then she sat me down on one of the benches, took a sip of water and stared at me, her face white and shaking.
“WHAT?”
Even in the foggy haze of sleep, the bizarreness of the morning and the crowds outside the dorms were getting to me. All I had was questions, and I hated having so many questions.
For the first time since I met her, Ginny’s eyes didn’t meet mine. “So uh, you know the guy leading you around yesterday? When we first met?”
The description scratched my memory, and then I remembered. Tall and lanky, with tousled brown hair, freckles and a charming smile. He had a sunflower lanyard pinned on a checkered shirt–and that badge contained a name.
“James?”
“He…”. Ginny took a deep breath.
“He is dead. They found his body this morning.”
Ginny was still talking but I was barely listening. I only met this boy yesterday but it felt like I knew him forever. I felt like I was being pulled under, my reality torn asunder, everything that I know just…shattering around me.
Dead?
My throat was dry. Closing up. I sounded like a strangled cat.
“Yes,” Ginny confirmed dryly.
I looked at the two empty seats opposite me and that momental wave of dizziness turned into nausea.
“Bathroom,” I said.
Ginny watched me go, unblinking.
I rushed to the first unlocked toilet I found, ignoring the glares of girls already in queue. I gagged and watched my dinner and what little of my breakfast I had eaten swirl down the bowl. Then I flushed and staggered out. Everything was lit up way too bright; the chattering of students heading to their classes was way too loud; and I sat down in the corridor and closed my eyes.
I wasn’t sure how long I was out, because the next thing I knew someone was shaking me awake and helping me on my feet
“Come on,” Ivy said.
Her voice was brittle, her face pale. She was as fragile as stained glass, and she could barely walk herself. We limped together, nearly tripping over each other as we went up the stairs, until we collapsed, tangled between each other in a rope of legs.
That was when I felt something sharp brush across my cheek, drawing blood.
I looked up to see a hooded figure standing above us, wearing black gloves and a cloak made out of human skin. Her eyes were glowing crimson as she raised the sword. Rust gleamed at its sides like dew.
The sword slammed down, nearly missing Ivy’s leg.
We looked at each other, barely breathing, barely a word said between us. Then as if on command we got up and hightailed it back to our dorms. Through the shadows as we ran I could see a girl my age watching.
Her red curls shone in the dark like fire.
Ivy slammed the door behind us and shoved chairs up the edge to boot. I wasn’t sure it could hold a sword slicing through a wooden door but it would have to do.
Ivy sat on the bed and closed her eyes, whispering prayers in her native language. I didn’t feel like talking either
Author's Notes
If I remember correctly, this one is about a student who haunts the university 300ish years after her death. She is a witch, immortal and summoned by touching ruins. Her main weapon is the titular sword and instead of wielding it herself she hypnotises other students to kill for her.
The next scene is Cleo framed for killing James, the first sinister look at her powers of hypnosis.
The ending reveals that Ginny (taken from Ginerva, a romanized version of Queen Guinevre, yes me and JK Rowling had the same line of thinking) and Helena Sword is the same person and hypnotising all the other students. She dies when the narrator burns the school to the ground accidentally while trying to get away, ending the curse and resulting in the ruins at the start of the flashback.

I know this covered in multiple places, just wanted to share a thought I’ve had regarding this.
There really should be a catch up mechanic to get all the phase 1 and phase 2 runes by either doing a short quest, running gnomer, or a small gold buy in. The runes are truly big barrier to entry for playing alts and makes it unappealing invest time in side characters.
Obviously we’ve all covered all the other issues with phase 3 (st loot, challenge and time of st, weekly lockout, etc). But phase 1 had a lot of oomph because most people had 2-3 characters to play.
It feels like blizz keeps bumping the xp rate for toons, but that’s only one barrier to entry now, and it’s honestly not much of a problem at all at this point. Reducing some of the time spent on that would help (to a point).

Good Day All,
Thinking of multiclass options for an Archer (Longbow) HW Ranger. Obviously, because of the Bonus action need around Planar Warrior, looking into options that compliment outside of that. I play an Astral Elf Horizon Walker that has been smooth with Archer related feats.
Given that it is a Martial, Dex, Wis, based subclass those that would compliment best would be Fighters (Arcane Archer, Rune Knight, & Champion), Cleric (Moon Domain, Twilight, Knowledge, & Life), Druid (Shepard), and Rogue (Phantom, Assassin, Arcane Trickster, Scout, & Swashbuckler). Many of these either add spell slots and spells for added utility, add to the thematic feel of Planar Energies and can be re-flavored, add to crit potential, mobility (outside of teleporting in combat) or simply more damage.
This would be only a 5 Level Dip. Why? Because all the benefits of being in this class are gained by level 15. 5 Level Grace to add a little bump of versatility, damage, and RPG along the way.
Not looking for an haterrade towards the subclass, I have loved playing and will continue, just curious if anyone else has and what combination of the above was experienced?

The master of ceremonies glanced at the paper in his hand, and a glimpse of confusion showed on his face.
Something was wrong.
“And the third and last team representing Farcrest. Lowell’s Orphanage!”
Elincia clung to my arm, fear and impotence reflected in her expression. We were supposed to be called Rosebud Fencing Academy during the tournament. I clenched my jaw and glanced across the pavilion, giving [Awareness] free rein. Lord Osgiria gave me a mocking look.
I cursed. Among the nobility, everything was appearances. The fact that Farcrest had to resort to a poor orphanage for representation spoke badly about the state of affairs in the territory. The nobles around us exchanged funny looks.
“Keep your heads up. That’s our call,” I said, loud enough for the whole pavilion to hear us. If nobles thought this would weigh upon our shoulders, they were wrong.
Ilya took position by my right as the team captain, and we entered the crescent-shaped arena. The cheering died. Our magnificent uniforms didn’t fool the crowd anymore. I reached the Marquis's side and saluted the VIP box. Only after Prince Adrien started applauding did the rest of the nobles acknowledge our presence.
The commoners in the stands hesitated to cheer for us. This wasn’t a gentle world. They didn’t care about the kid’s feelings. I glanced over my shoulder. Wolf was unfazed, and Zaon moved his lips, repeating, ‘Nervous is good’ repeatedly. Firana, on the other hand, was furious.
“Tough crowd, uh?” I muttered.
“It’s only expected. Orphans don’t get good classes. There is no reason to cheer for us,” Ilya replied with a grin. “Yet.”
Did she look so mature back at the carriage?
The crowd’s attention lingered on us for an instant before the next team entered the arena. To my surprise, a single team represented the royal family: a group of cadets from the Imperial Academy. Five young cadets dressed in plain black, guided by Holst, entered the arena. The crowd came back to life. Considering the opulence of the other teams, the uniforms of the Imperial Academy cadets were disappointing. Even my group was better suited to the occasion.
Holst stood by my left, saluting the stands with a dull gesture.
“Robert Clarke, good to see you still among the living,” he greeted me with a bored tone.
His words, however, sent a shiver down my spine. Did he know assassins had tried to kill me a few days before? Captain Kiln had sworn to keep it a secret. The coincidences piled up. Holst knew about the attack and asked Lyra Jorn’s help with the library when Luzian Abei had a small army of Scholars and Scribes at his disposal. I couldn’t help but think Holst was still in contact with the culprit.
“Preceptor Holst,” I coldly greeted, my brain too busy to formulate a more wordy sentence.
“I didn’t expect to meet my former students,” he added, looking past me at Ilya and the kids. “Certainly not in these circumstances.”
I swallowed my anger. This was a golden opportunity for the orphanage. Watching the skill of the imperial cadets could help me understand why Sir Janus had been the only commoner in Farcrest to assist the Imperial Academy. Even if we lost the tournament, we could improve our chances of getting them accepted into the Imperial Academy, putting them in the same echelon as nobles.
“Do you trust the ability of your current students to win the tournament?” I asked, examining the cadet’s faces. Three humans, a half-elf, and a harpy. They didn’t seem thrilled to be part of the tournament.
Holst laughed.
“These idiots aren’t my students. These five failed their first year. If they don’t win the tournament, they will be kicked out of the Academy,” he replied, shrugging. “For failures like them, I’d say they are the favorites to win the tournament.”
A glance at the Imperial Academy team revealed their strong shoulders and steady feet. Despite the lack of fashion, they looked like trained warriors instead of pampered noble kids. Their faces had lost the roundness of childhood, and their calm demeanor and sharp eyes revealed an intense training regime. I hoped not to bump into them until the later rounds of the tournament.
Our conversation was cut short because the Osgirian teams entered the arena. First, Lord Osgiria, then Lord Nara, and finally, a man dressed as a knight, followed by a group of kids in mismatched uniforms—each one with the colors of their respective houses. Lord Osgiria stood by Holst's side and greeted the VIP box.
If Captain Kiln were right, our team would fight Lord Nara in the first round. I expected the man to be a merchant with a comically large belly. Instead, he looked like a cunning gray fox. I had to remind myself that buying a way into nobility required a skillful negotiator.
“Three teams, Lord Osgiria? You don’t seem too confident in your chances,” Holst casually said.
The Imperial Academy had to be a powerhouse within the kingdom because Lord Osgiria swallowed any snarky remark.
Lord Herran, a tall and muscular redhead dressed in full warrior attire, entered next. I remembered him from the feast—boisterous, talkative, determined. The black mana-repelling axe hung from his belt, causing my stomach to feel sick if I looked for too long. House Herran only had two teams, one led by Lord Herran himself and the other by a man who could be his twin. Only half of the team members were human; the other half were different flavors of beast folk.
More than half of the kids had bright red hair like their lord. I wondered if red hair was a dominant gene in the Herran Dukedom because the kids looked healthy. There was not a trace of the infamous Habsburg chin. They were tall and robust like their lord.
I tried to glance at the axe’s runes, but Lord Herran was too far away.
“That’s lord Herran and his army of copperhead bastards,” Holst pointed out, laughing at his joke.
I doubted that having a dozen children the same age was normal, even more so for a noble, considering how difficult succession could be. Lord Herran must’ve loved to spread his genes.
“It’s okay for him to present his… illegitimate kids in an official event like this?” I asked.
“Do you like gossip, Robert Clarke?” Holst raised an eyebrow.
“I like to be informed,” I replied.
Holst seemed satisfied with my answer.
“Lord Herran is one of the few Combat Prestige Classes in the kingdom. He has the [Conqueror] Class,” Holst replied. “It’s only natural that he can do whatever he wants. Not even the king has enough power over Lord Herran to stop his… reproductive impulses.”
I nodded. The relationship between the royal house and the great three dukedoms was more complex than I initially thought. According to the stories, Combat Prestige Classes were, in essence, one-man armies that could create whole countries around their power. I wondered what kind of monsters the royal army found in the Deep Farlands to be obliged to retreat.
After Lord Herra, Lord Gairon entered the arena. The Gairon House was arguably the second most powerful family after the royal house, and their uniforms reflected their status. The blue was rich and deep, and the gold shone under the winter sun, seemingly casting the few clouds away. The crowd yelled and cheered. It wasn’t surprising. Lord Gairon was a tall, tanned man with hair the color of ripe wheat—the perfect poster boy and leader of the anti-war faction.
“He has to go down if we want the royal faction to have a chance,” Holst said.
It suddenly hit me. Holst and I technically supported the same faction.
“Lord Gairon is also a Prestige Class?” I asked.
“A [Sacred Knight], yes. Rumor says he reached the mythic level sixty,” Holst replied. “Let’s hope their teams are more… farming inclined.”
The crowd became more tame after the three big houses made their entrance. Lord Vedras received less than half of House Gairon’s support, probably because of the tax disputes between Farcrest and the Vedras dukedom. He had brought three teams.
Duke Jorn’s presence almost caused the arena to become completely silent—Holst told me he was also a high-level Prestige Class, a Shadow Stalker.
“That sounds dangerous,” I pointed out.
“Sellen Jorn is one of the most dangerous men in the kingdom. His mere existence was enough for the king to create a whole new duchy,” Holst said. “Take an Assassin and a Shadow Fencer, mix them, double their powers, and then double them again. That’s a Shadow Stalker in a nutshell.”
I tried to imagine it. The Assassin who attacked the orphanage would have had a hard time with any class without a skill like my mana blades. I had been lucky to have a favorable matchup against him; otherwise, I might have been dead. His capacity to disable my movement was scarily effective. A man with the skills of an Assassin and a Shadow Fencer had dangerous implications.
“Prince Adrien wanted Sellen Jorn as his Master of Assassins, but he didn’t want to leave his people in the north,” Holst said. “Walls, doors, bars, locks, nothing can stop a Shadow Stalker. Only the woven barrier of several high-level Fortifiers can stop him. Or so it’s said.”
Gears turned inside my skull. I wondered if Duke Jorn was involved in the disappearance of the evidence of Raudhan’s poisoning. He certainly had the skill to move unnoticed through the Great Hall. Stealing a box with shards of glass would be a walk in the park for him.
The rest of the teams passed in a blur as my mind reviewed the party's events. Sellen Jorn was undoubtedly suspicious. His lack of presence was as unnerving as it was useful for an infiltration mission. Could he be involved in Raudhan’s poisoning? Lord Vedras had denied the existence of any co-conspirators, and we were almost entirely sure that Raudhan hadn’t been poisoned by Ashroot.
Duke Jorn's political positioning was hard to determine. The northern dukedoms were poor, and just like Farcrest, they served as a bulwark against the Monster Surges. Four families controlled most of the kingdom’s economy and politics. House Gairon, House Herran, House Osgiria, and the Royal Family. The northern dukedoms didn’t benefit from the current trade routes and wouldn’t directly benefit from a new trade route into the Kingdom of Tagabiria.
However, they would benefit from a closer relationship with the royal family.
Duke Jorn had no reason to poison Captain Kiln.
Ilya tugged the sleeve of my jacket, bringing me back to the present. The master of ceremonies was finishing a long speech about the legacy of Stephaniss of Farcrest, the previous lord of the city and the Marquis's grandfather. Even the Marquis seemed bored.
“Prince Adrien will draw the matches for the first round!” The master of ceremonies announced.
Prince Adrien came forward, and an assistant brought a glass bowl filled with small wooden rods. He put his hand in the bowl, picked one randomly, and passed it to his companion. The woman dressed in purple read it out loud, her voice magically amplified. Her pleasant contralto voice made me think she was a singer.
“House Nara versus…” she received the second wooden rod. “Lowell’s Orphanage!”
Just like Captain Kiln had warned me.
I didn’t expect us to be the opening fight. The other teams returned to the pavilion, and a group of Scribes carried the System Shrine Shard embedded in its copper nest to the center of the arena. I assumed it was there to ensure all participants met the requirements for the tournament.
“Let’s go, team,” I said.
We formed next to the Shrine Shard and in front of Lord Nara’s team. The master of ceremonies activated the blue orb, and the kids' names, classes, and levels appeared before us. Luckily, Lord Nara and I were exempt from the crystal ability. Being outed as a Runeweaver wasn’t part of my plans.
Belya Nara, Geomancer Lv.3
Arel Nara, Warrior Lv.5
Lino, Soldier Lv.9
Jan, Archer Lv.3
Aiwin, Courier Lv.7
Firana Aias, Wind Fencer Lv.1
Ilya, Hunter Lv.2
Zaon, Classless Lv.1
Wolf, Classless Lv.1
The System prompts might have been big enough for the crowd to read because a murmur rose from the stands. I didn’t need [Awareness] to understand the commotion. Half of my team was classless in a world where Classes were everything. Lord Nara also seemed to notice the discrepancy between our teams.
“I’m feeling generous today, Mister Caretaker. I will gladly accept your surrender and spare you the embarrassment if you apologize for wasting our time,” Lord Nara said with a mellow, totally fake voice. “You can save the kids the shame of losing in front of their countrymen.”
The master of ceremonies looked at me.
“What do you think, Ilya?” I asked.
“The team is ready, Mister Clarke. We fight,” she replied without any hint of doubt.
Despite Lord Nara’s clever expression, he was underestimating us. I couldn’t blame him. He had lived all his life in a world where value was determined by class and level. Developing an eye for people wasn’t as helpful as on Earth, where it could mean the difference between life and death.
“We fight,” I said.
“Don’t say I didn’t extend the courtesy of an honorable withdrawal,” Lord Nara grinned, his fox-like eyes turned into thin lines.
The master of ceremonies nodded.
“The Rules are simple. The team that loses the coin toss has to choose its first fighter, and then the winning team chooses its opponent. Then, the roles change. Every team has two picks and two counter picks, for a total of four fighters,” the master of ceremonies explained, pulling a gold coin from the pocket.
I nodded. There was a level of strategy involved in the pairing phase. I could pair Firana against their weakest member to ensure a vast point difference. Or I could choose Zaon to keep things equalized. If I were Lord Nara, I would leave the Lv.7 Courier outside the selection. As fast as they were, they weren’t a combatant Class, but on the other hand, even non-combatants could develop useful masteries.
Zaon had a good matchup against the Soldier and the Warrior, as their combat skills were on the ‘basic’ side of the spectrum. However, the Archer, the Geomancer, and the Courier could present a problem to him. Wolf also had a bad matchup against the Archer and the Geomancer because he relied on solid and static positioning to use his muscles. Ilya and Firana had good matchups against the enemy team, but the enemy Geomancer worried me the most. She wasn’t just an Advanced Class, but a relative of Lord Nara.
“Here goes the coin,” the master of ceremonies said. He threw it high and caught it mid-flight.
Lord Nara kindly offered me the call.
“Heads,” I replied with a grin.
“Heads,” the master of ceremonies said, revealing the coin.
[Awareness] didn’t disappoint, but I made a mental note to keep it hidden from Ilya. She wouldn’t be on board with blatant cheating, even if we had the disadvantage. As cunning as Ilya was, strategy and cheats were completely different.
Lord Nara huffed. “Lino, you go first.”
The Soldier kid stepped forward. He was tall, probably a year older than my kids, but [Awareness] told me he was nervous. Soldier Class was painfully close to no class at all.
“Zaon, you go first. Is that okay with you?” I said, hoping the combination of Light-Footed and Lv.2 Longsword Mastery would match a Lv.9 Soldier with a couple of skills under his sleeve.
Zaon nodded.
It was my turn to choose and Lord Nara’s turn to counter-pick. “Ilya, you go second,” I said.
Ilya came forward, prompting a laugh from the rival Fighter.
“Do you want to fight the gnome, Arel?” Lord Nara asked.
“Yes, my lord. I’m confident I can get a ten-point lead over a Gnome Hunter,” Arel Nara replied.
A vein popped on Ilya’s forehead.
“Good. I chose my cousin Arel Nara for the second fight,” Lord Nara said.
Then, Lord Nara selected the Archer boy for the third fight, which put me in a tough spot. The Archer and the Geomancer were hard matchups for Wolf, and I lacked a fifth or sixth member to play around it. Nonetheless, the Archers weren’t known for their vast arsenal of skills.
“Wolf, you go against him,” I said.
Wolf nodded.
“Which leaves us with the last pair,” Lord Nara said with a mocking smile.
“Firana, you go last,” I said.
“Belya, my daughter, will be my last pick,” Lord Nara replied.
The dueling pairs were ready.
“So be it. The tournament's first match will be between Lino the Soldier and Zaon the Elf,” the master of ceremonies said, his voice suddenly amplified again as the Scribes took the System Shrine orb away. “Contestants, please go get your equipment. May the System bless you all.”
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Hi all, this is my very first post in the 2-3 years I've had reddit. Title says it all, I want to flex my build but also want to know what you think are the strongest mono or multiclass builds, without accounting for any powerful magic items. If you can provide numbers too that would be dope because I certainly will in my following build.
So my build is Rune Knight fighter (5)/Giant Soul Sorcerer (5). My character has great weapon master and uses a maul. I rolled pretty great for them, but to make it even across builds let's assume everyone uses standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8). I'll put 15 in str, 14 in cha, 13 in con, 12 in dex, 10 in Wis and 8 in int. Bumping str to 17 and Con to 14 with race asi (my character is a Harengon). At fighter 4 I took great weapon master, at sorcerer 4 Id take an asi to bump my strength to 19.
Base damage is 4d6+8 (+20 more if I do gwm on both attacks). With giants might that's another 1d6, for 5d6+28 (assuming I gwm all my attacks).
With action surge that's 9d6+56 Plus 2d6 for fire rune for 11d6+56 Plus a bonus action, quickened attack (booming blade, fireball, etc). Let's assume I booming blade, 13d6+1d8(+2d8 more if they move after)+70.
Pretty crazy if I can manage all my abilities on a NOVA round, but even consistently 4-5d6+28 is pretty great.
Please share your most op or busted builds with me! They don't even need to be damage dealing builds, I'll take movement builds, AC builds, etc into account!

Hello everyone, I just got to level 8 in my campaign which means my build has fully "come online" and I wanted to get some tips and see if there are any spells or feats I should consider in the future:
Race: Earth Genasi
Background: Guild Artisan (blacksmith)
Skill Proficiency: Perception, Intimidation
Class: Forge Cleric (5) x Rune Knight (3)
Ability Scores: STR: 14 DEX: 10 CON: 16 INT: 8 WIS: 18 CHA: 10
Feats: Telekinetic (+1 Wisdom is accounted for above)
From Fighter (levels 1,7,8)
Saves: CON, STR
Skill Proficiency: Athletics, Survival
Second Wind
Action Surge
Giants Might
Runes: Fire + Cloud
From Cleric (levels 2,3,4,5,6)
Skill Proficiency: Insight, Medicine
Channel Divinity: Turn Undead, Harness Divine Power, Destroy Undead, Artisans Blessing
Blessing of the Forge (will be on my shield)
Spells
Earth Genasi: Blade Ward (as a bonus action PBTPD), Pass Without Trace
4 Cantrips: Guidance, Toll the Dead, Mending, Thaumaturgy
1st Level: Bless, Healing Word, Guiding Bolt, Identify (Forge), Searing Smite (Forge)
2nd Level: Silence, Spiritual Weapon, Lesser Restoration, Heat Metal (Forge), Magic Weapon (Forge)
3rd Level: Spirit Guardians, Dispel Magic, Revivify, Elemental Weapon (Forge), Protection from Energy (Forge)
AC: 23 (19 for forged plate, +2 carrying a shield, +1 Blessing of the Forge, +1 Defense Fighting Style)
My DM and I agreed that Artisan's Blessing can be used to create parts for armor and magical items. I've so far made some +1 plate armor and a bag of holding over the course of my campaign.
My main schtick now is going to be increasing my size with Giants Might and telekinetically pulling folks and wrapping people in fiery chains inside my larger spirit guardians. Considering whether I should stick cleric the rest of the way to get more spells (I NEED animate objects for the flavor alone on this character) or do another level in fighter for the ASI/feat. Would love any tips or tweaks while I continue to play this character!
Edit: as suggested by a few people I'm going to bump my strength to at least 15 at my next ASI. Let me know if you have any good experience with strength based half feats!

Hi all, this is my very first post in the 2-3 years I've had reddit. Title says it all, I want to flex my build but also want to know what you think are the strongest mono or multiclass builds, without accounting for any powerful magic items. If you can provide numbers too that would be dope because I certainly will in my following build.
So my build is Rune Knight fighter (5)/Giant Soul Sorcerer (5). My character has great weapon master and uses a maul. I rolled pretty great for them, but to make it even across builds let's assume everyone uses standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8). I'll put 15 in str, 14 in cha, 13 in con, 12 in dex, 10 in Wis and 8 in int. Bumping str to 17 and Con to 14 with race asi (my character is a Harengon). At fighter 4 I took great weapon master, at sorcerer 4 Id take an asi to bump my strength to 19.
Base damage is 4d6+8 (+20 more if I do gwm on both attacks). With giants might that's another 1d6, for 5d6+28 (assuming I gwm all my attacks).
With action surge that's 9d6+56 Plus 2d6 for fire rune for 11d6+56 Plus a bonus action, quickened attack (booming blade, fireball, etc). Let's assume I booming blade, 13d6+1d8(+2d8 more if they move after)+70.
Pretty crazy if I can manage all my abilities on a NOVA round, but even consistently 4-5d6+28 is pretty great.
Please share your most op or busted builds with me! They don't even need to be damage dealing builds, I'll take movement builds, AC builds, etc into account!

"But newcomers won't need to learn all those things — it'll just be in a section of the docs titled 'old stuff'."
I was re-reading the original runes blog, hoping that I misunderstood it the first time I read it back in September.
https://svelte.dev/blog/runes
But, it made me just as sad as it did last time.
I've gone from (over many years):
jQuery -> Angular -> React -> Vue -> Svelte
Always in search of the easiest framework to write in that gets out of my way and requires the least amount of code for the same outcome. So far, Svelte 4 has been the best, by a large margin, and React has been the worst.
It saddens me that Svelte 5 is going a React direction, and worse, is going to be "hiding" everything that made Svelte the best option in some dusty docs section called old stuff.
It moves developer experience to secondary, in the same way react does, and puts granular ability to control reactivity in its place.
A few examples:
export let is superior to $props. In typescript each prop is definable inline making it cleaner to read and less boilerplate to write as you don't have to write the types and then wrap it in a type to specify on the props import. Instead devs are going to inline it in the $props definition and make the code this long and superfluous type definition, as they do in react. I also believe export is closer to JavaScript itself, meaning you're not introducing new concepts, but teaching the language.
$effect is just useEffect without the dependency array, and is a source of constant confusion, questions, and pain for react developers. I know there are problems with the $: syntax, but it's rare I bump up against them, or can't fix them easily. For most everyone it'll require writing 13 more characters for every effect you write, bloat surrounding it, and separates derived and effects into two distinct things to learn for newcomers instead of one as it was before. (I've never liked the $: syntax tbh, it's weird, but it is def better than $effect and $derived imo)
$state is just useState and although I'm happy to have better support for arrays and objects, that could have been done without the unnecessary function that bloats the code. One of the reasons that React is so hard to maintain as it grows is that it grows not only with logical code, but boilerplate. And all of the hooks are the biggest culprit.
So, my biggest gripe is that it's requiring writing more code, to do the same thing, for the majority of developers. It feels like runes were created for the minority who needed that control, which is great that they have a solution, but then thrusted down the throats of every new and existing developer by hiding the "old" stuff that made Svelte, in my opinion, the best framework choice for going lightning fast.
It feels like a design choice intended to help migrate react devs to svelte, instead of make good choices for the developer experience of svelte, which is what svelte really excels at. I came to svelte because it was the closest to pure html, css, and JavaScript that I could find which also supported modern concepts.
I don't know why I wrote this. I guess I'm just hurt, because I love Svelte, and I'm sad to see it mimic frameworks that I've been trying to run from for poor DX, and I needed to tell people who might actually understand, cause my wife wouldn't 😅
Edit: Okay wow this got lots of comments. Loving the discussion, thanks all (on both sides, really enjoying it). Gonna have to take a break for a while to get some things done, will be back later.

In the annals of gaming history, few titles command the reverence and adoration as the legendary Doom franchise. Born from the minds of John Romero, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, and Tom Hall, Doom would go on to lay the foundations for just about every modern video game that exists. It was a true tour de force, a success story few could scarce ever imagine.
Released in 1993, Doom was an immediate smash hit, thanks in no small part to its shareware format, which allowed users to experience the first few levels of Knee Deep In the Dead, and then order the full game via the phone number included. Players could then share the floppy disk with their friends, and so on, and so on. It was a truly revolutionary system, and within a single year, Doom had sold over 2 million copies.
The history of the Doom franchise is one of innovation, ultra violence, and controversy (1999's Columbine High School Massacre), and that reputation is one that continued with 2016's DOOM. DOOM was officially revealed at Quakecon 2014, ten years after Doom 3. Players had long resigned to Doom being considered a dead franchise. A reboot had been in the works for a number of years prior, but never got released, having been quietly cancelled by id in 2010. The future was bleak, but the 30 second long teaser ignited a spark that had been burning dimmer every passing year.
Then came E3 2015.
The hype was unreal. The trailer had everything that fans could possibly want. Gore, intense violence, insane run n gun gameplay, a rip-roaring soundtrack and the MFING CHAINSAW. But fans had been let down before. Would it really hold up its promises?
Yes. Yes, it would.
PART I: Presentation
When DOOM burst onto the scene in 2016, it did so with a visual and auditory spectacle that left players awestruck. From the moment the game boots up, players are made aware that this is not your average shooter. You are greeted with a deep, commanding voice. "Rip and tear, until it is DONE."
Immediately, players are greeted with a scene of carnage and the Doom Slayer chained to a table, which, of course, he instantly breaks free from. A zombie attempts to relieve the Slayer of his life but is beaten to the punch with a prompt skull smashing. After putting the other zombies to rest, he interacts with the panel in the corner, is greeted by one Dr. Samuel Hayden, who attempts to justify the outbreak, and decides he would rather kill shit than listen to excuses and destroys the monitor.
That is the introduction to this game. It never wastes the player's time. We aren't here to listen to long droning monologues or watch MGS style cutscenes. id Software knew their audience, and knew what that audience wanted, and they deliver in spades. This introduction sets the tone for the entire experience: relentless action, unapologetic violence, and a protagonist who is as unstoppable as he is uncompromising. The Doom Slayer's disdain for exposition and his single-minded focus on annihilating demons resonate with players who crave a pure, unadulterated gaming experience.
By eschewing lengthy cutscenes and exposition-heavy dialogue in favor of fast-paced gameplay and visceral action, id Software delivers a game that respects the player's time and delivers exactly what they came for: non-stop demon-slaying action. In an era where many games are criticized for padding their runtime with unnecessary filler, DOOM stands out as a shining example of how to create a focused and engaging experience that keeps players coming back for more.
Rather than bombarding players with lengthy exposition or intrusive cutscenes, DOOM opts for a more environmental storytelling approach. Throughout the game, players can discover audio logs, read text-based terminals, and observe environmental details that provide context and background to the events unfolding around them.
The story of DOOM revolves around the Doom Slayer's mission to stop a demonic invasion unleashed by the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) on their Martian facility. As players progress through the game, they uncover details about the UAC's experiments with Hell energy, the origins of the demonic invasion, and the Doom Slayer's own mysterious past.
While the story may not be front and center in DOOM, it nonetheless adds depth and richness to the game world, enhancing the overall experience for players who choose to engage with it. And for those who prefer to focus solely on the action, the story remains secondary, allowing them to enjoy the game on their own terms.
That's all well and good, but what about the actual gameplay? Simply put, it is exhilarating. From the moment you are given control of the Slayer, players are thrust into a frenzy of blood and violence, and it never lets up. At its core, DOOM is a first-person shooter that harkens back to the genre's roots while injecting it with a healthy dose of modern flair. The gameplay is fast-paced, frenetic, and utterly unapologetic in its brutality. You're not just a player – you're the Doom Slayer, a force of nature hell-bent on eradicating every last demon in your path.
Central to the gameplay experience is the game's combat loop, which revolves around a delicate balance of aggression and strategy. In DOOM, there's no hiding behind cover or waiting for your health to regenerate – you're constantly on the move, strafing, dodging, and leaping across the battlefield as you unleash a torrent of bullets, rockets, and plasma upon your enemies.
Weapons include the iconic shotgun, heavy assault rifle, plasma rifle, rocket launcher, and the devastating BFG 9000, among others. Each weapon offers different firing modes, such as single shot, burst fire, and continuous beam, providing players with tactical options in combat. A key aspect of combat is the Glory Kill system, which allows players to perform brutal finishing moves on staggered enemies. Glory Kills not only provide health and ammo but also contribute to the flow of combat by encouraging aggressive play. It is incredibly satisfying to watch the Slayer rip an imp in half or stomp their head into the pavement, and doing so rewards you with a large return of health.
The Chainsaw mechanic is another integral part of combat, allowing players to instantly kill most enemies and gain a large amount of ammo in return. However, Chainsaw fuel is limited and must be managed carefully. Like Glory Kills, watching the chainsaw tear demons apart is incredibly satisfying. Certain demons require more fuel but provide the player with more ammo in return. Balancing which demons you chainsaw and which ones you choose to Glory Kill is an important part of combat.
Exploration is key to progression and is rewarding to those players who choose to do. Hidden throughout the levels of the game are Argent Cells, Praetor Tokens, and Rune Trials. Each of these provide upgrades to your health/shield/ammo, suit, and passive abilities respectively. Also hidden throughout the game are levers that lead you to classic levels from Doom 1 and Doom 2, which then unlock the full level of its respective game, playable from the main menu. You can also find toy models of the Doom Slayer, which unlock various character models to view. On some of these models, the Doom Slayer will perform a unique action when picking it up, such as fist bumping the classic Doomguy. It's a nice and cute little touch added by the developers that does a little to add character to the Slayer, who is a silent protagonist.
id Software masterfully blends modern game design with a deep reverence for the classics, paying homage to the series' storied history while introducing new elements that propel the franchise forward. Central to this approach is the game's character design, which strikes a delicate balance between nostalgia and innovation. At its core is the iconic protagonist, the Doom Slayer, whose design pays homage to the original Doom Marine while incorporating modern updates that make him feel both familiar and fresh. With his battle-worn armor, imposing stature, and silent demeanor, the Doom Slayer is the embodiment of raw power and unrelenting rage.
The game's roster of enemies is a veritable who's who of classic Doom foes, reimagined for the modern era. From the lowly possessed soldiers to the hulking Cyberdemon, each enemy is lovingly crafted to capture the essence of its 1990s counterpart while introducing new mechanics and behaviors that keep players on their toes. Whether you're facing off against the agile Revenants, the relentless Hell Knights, or the grotesque Cacodemons, every encounter is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, punctuated by the satisfying sound of demon flesh being torn asunder.
But the main story is not where it ends. DOOM has an arcade mode, where players can run through the levels again, this time trying for high scores and medals while collecting 1 Ups. It's important to move fast and have accurate aim; the more kills you chain together, the bigger your score is. Getting hit reduces your score. At the end of the level, your score is tallied against others on a leaderboard. It's a great way to incentivize players to keep playing, in order to get a better and better score.
There is also multiplayer, where players compete in various game modes such as classic deathmatch, warpath and free for all. Players can become demons by collecting runes on the battlefield and this gives them a distinct advantage; demons are larger, stronger and more resilient. Players are bizarrely restricted to only two weapons and a loadout in multiplayer, which blew my mind. Loadouts. In a DOOM game. The demons are also massively unbalanced and if one team manages to get a particularly powerful demon such as a baron of hell, then it's a guaranteed win. All in all, the multiplayer just isn't great. You are better off replaying the story or arcade mode, or even SnapMap.
SnapMap is id Software's proprietary level editor, and it puts every other editor on the market to shame. SnapMap is an incredible, intuitive, easy to learn system allowing players to create their own multiplayer, co-op and single player maps. There is an extensive tutorial system that teaches users the basics, and goes up in depth, covering how to use AI triggers, switches, combinations, object layering, actions, recalls, audio cues, etc. Never have I ever seen such an in-depth interface on a console game before. While it is only surface level in the grand scheme of things, SnapMap is a great introduction to teaching users how game development works, and I urge everyone to try it out at least once.
Part II: The Music
In DOOM, the music isn't just a background accompaniment – it's a driving force that propels players forward, electrifying every moment of the gameplay experience. Composed by the incredibly talented Mick Gordon, the soundtrack of DOOM is a relentless onslaught of metal and electronica that perfectly complements the game's fast-paced action and visceral combat. From the moment you boot up the game, you're greeted by the iconic strains of the main theme, a haunting melody that sets the tone for the epic journey that lies ahead. As you traverse the game's environments, the music shifts seamlessly between atmospheric ambience and pulse-pounding metal.
But it's not just the composition of the music that makes it so memorable – it's also the way it's integrated into the gameplay itself. Mick Gordon's dynamic scoring system ensures that the music evolves in real-time based on the player's actions, ramping up in intensity during combat encounters and dialing back during quieter moments of exploration. This creates a sense of momentum and flow that enhances the overall pacing of the game
One of the standout features of the soundtrack is its use of unconventional instrumentation and sound design. Mick Gordon's signature sound combines distorted guitars, pounding drums, and industrial noise to create a sonic palette that is as brutal and unforgiving as the game itself. From the deep, guttural growls of the synth bass to the ear-shredding shrieks of the guitar solos, every element of the music is designed to evoke a sense of chaos and destruction, mirroring the relentless carnage unfolding onscreen.
Of course, no discussion of the music in DOOM would be complete without mentioning the iconic tracks that have become synonymous with the game. From the adrenaline-fueled "Rip & Tear" to the bone-crushing "BFG Division," each track is a masterpiece of composition and production, perfectly capturing the essence of the DOOM experience and elevating it to new heights. Mick Gordon's composition for the DOOM soundtrack is a tour de force in heavy metal and industrial electronica, meticulously crafted to evoke the essence of the game's frenetic gameplay.
The backbone of the soundtrack is the distorted guitar, which provides the driving force behind many of the tracks. Gordon's use of extended-range guitars and custom-tuned instruments gives the music its signature low-end punch, while his aggressive playing style adds a raw, visceral energy to the sound. In addition to guitars, Gordon incorporates a wide range of electronic and synthetic elements into his compositions, including synthesizers, drum machines, and sampled sounds. These elements are used to create atmospheric textures, rhythmic patterns, and dynamic effects.
One of the most innovative aspects of Gordon's sound design is his use of audio manipulation techniques, such as granular synthesis and spectral processing. These techniques allow him to deconstruct and manipulate audio in real-time, creating complex textures and effects.
Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Mick Gordon's composition for DOOM is his dynamic scoring system, which adjusts the music in real-time based on the player's actions. This system, known as "MIDI-controlled dynamic music," allows the music to seamlessly transition between different layers and variations depending on the intensity of the gameplay. Gordon achieves this dynamic effect by dividing each track into multiple stems or layers, each representing a different element of the music (e.g., drums, guitars, synths). These stems are then triggered and mixed in real-time using MIDI data generated by the game engine, allowing the music to adapt and evolve dynamically as the player progresses through the game.
Part III: Building a Legacy
All too often in this industry, legacy franchises are either left in the dust to be forgotten, or brought back to a limp fanfare, only to be thrust back into the shadows of the past. This happens for a myriad of reasons, and I believe the biggest one is that they don't respect their legacy, and they don't respect the players who engage with them.
At its core, DOOM is a game that understands what players want: fast-paced action, engaging gameplay, and a sense of empowerment. By focusing on these core principles, id Software created an experience that resonated with players old and new, capturing the spirit of the original games while pushing the series forward. Central to this approach is the game's unwavering commitment to respecting the player. From its minimalist storytelling and streamlined level design to its intuitive controls and dynamic difficulty system, DOOM prioritizes the player's experience above all else, ensuring that every moment of the game is engaging, immersive, and satisfying.
One of the most notable ways that DOOM respects the player is through its approach to difficulty. Rather than imposing artificial barriers or punishing players for their mistakes, the game encourages experimentation and mastery through its responsive gameplay mechanics and adaptive enemy AI. Players are given the freedom to approach encounters in their own way, whether it's through brute force, cunning strategy, or a combination of both.
Another key aspect of DOOM's player-centric design is its emphasis on accessibility. From its difficulty settings and intuitive user interface to its robust accessibility features, such as colorblind modes and customizable controls, the game ensures that players of all skill levels and abilities can enjoy the experience without feeling excluded or overwhelmed.
But perhaps the most important way that DOOM respects the player is through its commitment to fun. At its core, DOOM is a game that prioritizes the player's enjoyment above all else, delivering a seamless and exhilarating experience that keeps players coming back for more. Whether you're blasting demons with a shotgun, exploring hidden secrets, or rocking out to Mick Gordon's pulse-pounding soundtrack, DOOM is a game that never stops prioritizing YOU.
DOOM's legacy is one of respect – respect for the player, respect for the franchise, and respect for the medium of video games as a whole. By prioritizing fun, accessibility, and player agency, id Software created an experience that not only honors the legacy of the original games but also sets a new standard for what a modern first-person shooter can be. And for that, we owe them a debt of gratitude.

A thousand years have passed since humanity escaped their judgment day. An amount of blood, sweat, and tears that rivaled mount Olympus hadn’t been for not, as humanity lived on. Not to forget the lives of the valkyrie’s who had betrayed and perished during the fights bonded to their human. Göll was one of the lucky valkyries to see the end of Ragnarok. The same couldn’t be said about the same about her sisters, including her eldest sister, Brunhilde. Having given their lives fighting the gods… And yet today it may be undone. The Valhalla Council had gathered once again to decide humanity’s fate.
Göll wasn’t concerned about this… At first. The opinion of humanity had been raised in general since the end of Ragnarok thanks to their showing in said event. The problem then? Well, there was always a contingent of gods who still looked down upon humanity. Doubling down after the loss of certain gods during the first Ragnarok, further fueling the disdain of those gods. Even so, Zeus, the chairman of the council, wouldn’t let this happen, right? If nearly losing to Adan taught him anything, it was humanity could stand on equal footing to the gods. Yeah, it would be alright! Ragnarok wouldn’t come to pass–
“Move it, Valkyrie!” Göll was nearly knocked over by someone from her blindspot. Not a strike or a physical attack, just being shoulder bumped, hard. Göll catches herself before she ends up in a makeout session with the ground. Her eyes catch the culprit behind this, a tall man with a lean but muscular build along with red skin. With five taiko drums hovering behind his back. “Oh, it’s you… Quite the nerve you have showing up.”
Göll grits her teeth, her hands balling up into fists. The taller god, Raijin, smirks, “Oh come on, every god in the council room knows you’re too scared to do what your older sister did. And what a disappointment too, I was looking forward to finally getting my turn.” “H-Hey! Shut it!” Göll barks at him, she had grown from that young, naive valkyrie she was years ago, both physically and mentally. “Besides, the gods aren’t voting to eliminate humanity again.”
“...Pfffftttt,” Raijin begins to laugh, barely holding back the tide of laughter. “You seriously think it ain’t happening again? With Lord Izanagi’s plan, it’s going down whenever you like it or not.”
“You annoying god!” Göll curses. “Why I oughta–”
“Ooooh! Someone’s getting feisty! Come on, I’ll let you take the first swing.” Raijin taunts, moving his head into Göll’s personal space. Allowing the valkyrie to see the large horns jutting out of his head and sharp teeth.
“Enough. Both of you,” Came a third voice, patrolling down the hallway would be a blonde man, wearing silver armor with gold lining on it. A golden cross embroidered onto his chest plate and a sword holstered on his back. “The meeting is starting shortly, so hurry along Raijin, I doubt Lord Izanagi wants to hear someone from his pantheon causing a delay.”
Raijin scoffs, “Screw off you damn Arcangel, acting all high and mighty–I hate that crap… But fine, this little twerp ain’t worth my time. See ya never!” He adds, before making his way down the hallway. Michael merely spares a glance at Göll, before following down the hall. Göll stood, jaw slack, having to recollect herself quickly. Did that just happen? Did she really just threaten a god? And was saved by another one?
“...Wow, I’m getting farther than I thought,” Göll remarks. “Still, humanity needs me, I can’t let them down!”
Raijin slips his way into the council room, a tall room with rows and rows of gods chatting amongst each other. All surrounding one central desk where the chairperson sat and spoke about issues facing heaven and–Damn, he was boring himself already and the meeting hadn’t even begun yet. This was going to suck–
“You’re late,” Hachiman, the Shinto God of war comments as Raijin plops down into the seat next to him.
“We begin in three minutes and thirteen seconds.”
“You kept an account of the seconds? You’re really as uptight as they come,” Raijin mocks. “Now, where’s Fujin? He’s going to make this bearable if things go bland.”
“He’s doing the job you shrugged off,” Hachiman points out. “The important one, you know?”
“...Right,” Raijin signs. “Well, at least this should be good.”
A wave of silence comes over the hall of gods as the god position at the desk at the head of the room stands. A dark-haired man with a short beard of similar color wearing a traditional navy haori with gold trimmings. Flanking his desk would be two of his own children, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. Amaterasu would stand to Izanagi’s right, wearing a bright yellow and red kimono with a sun embroidered onto her obi belt. While Tsukuyomi wore a pale blue hanten with their obi holding their katana, the name of which escaped Raijin. But the Shinto god of thunder and lightning did recognize these were the heads of his pantheon, more or less.
“Very well, let us begin,” Izanagi says, folding his arms. “I won’t keep you all long, as preparations have already begun. But I will make my intention clear: Humanity will come to an end.”
Murmurs break out among the collected gods before Izanagi raises his hand, silencing the room once again. “I know the opinion of humanity has been raised since the previous Ragnarok. But I believe the murderous filth has been raised to a degree higher than they deserve. May I remind this very room that they’re are empty seats which once were filled thanks to humanity. My own son, Susano-o, lost his life against a so-called ‘manslayer’. Do I need to go on?”
The room was somehow even quieter than it was before, with eyes lingering on the empty seats, mostly around the Greek section, belonging to Hercules, Poseidon, and Hades. Two of which were considered head gods in their own rights, and Hercules being universally beloved by most. By the avoidant eyes of most of the Greek gods and goddesses, the losses were still felt to this day. However, one goddess would stand up, adored with a spartan-like helmet, a cape, and golden armor similar in spartan nature akin to her helmet.
“Lord Izanagi, if I may,” Athena calls out. “On behalf of the twelve olympians, we do agree the loss of our fellow gods has taken a toll on our pantheons. However, humanity had also lost their own champions in Ragnarok, and this additional bloodshed isn’t going to fix anything.”
“Ah, wise words from the mind of Olympus,” Izanagi nods. “But truthfully, this goes beyond petty blood feuds. Humanity’s existence hasn’t improved much since the last one, they’ve become stagnant.”
“And while some have returned to their ways,” Athena argues. “A vast majority have taken the previous Ragnarok as a wake up call, and have changed.”
“Bah! You think the bastards that killed my Dad and brother can change?” Spoke Baldr, a shirtless blonde god with various rune-like tattoos on his body.
“...Forgive me for not holding my tongue, but hasn’t your relationship with both forementioned parties been… tumultuous?” Athena asks.
“Pffft, I hated both, but my point still stands,” Baldr remarks, kicking his feet up. “I’m not the one who’s going to be fighting if Ragnarok happens.”
“Who says Ragnarok should happen?” Came the voice of Ra, the Monarch of the Sun himself, standing tall the bird-like god makes his thoughts known. “I say we kill humanity out alright, those warmongers don’t deserve to escape again.”
“Now hold on,” Shiva interjects, the head Hindu god resting on in his seat yet holding a finger up. “Some of us didn’t risk our lives to go the coward’s way. Besides Ra, didn’t your guy win his round?”
“Anubis simply did his job,” Ra shook his head. “We’ve risked the lives of our fellow gods too many times. Just because you’re a battle hungry idiot doesn’t mean we all are.”
“Why you over grown chicken–”
And like that, things had broken down in the meeting, as bickerings and arguments broke out all around. Izanagi signs, “And here I thought this would’ve been simple. I see why Zeus retired last year, that rotten bastard.”
“Please Father, just let them get their childish squabbles out of their systems,” Amaterasu says. “Thought it may be a few minutes before–”
CLINK
Silence again. With everyone’s eyes focusing upon one god, having dropped a glass chess plate of a king. Reaching a clawed hand to grab it, Chernobog looks around, his yellow eye being the only visible thing from his black cloak, which covered most of him. He sits back in his chair, placing the cracked glass king on the middle of the board. “If I may.”
Izanagi gives a caution nod, “Go on.”
“Humanity is strong. No one here will debate that if they aren’t delusional,” Chernobog explains. “And killing them outright would be the safe route. Engaging in a second Ragnarok would give us the chance to inflict the kind of damage you can’t repair easily.”
Izanagi is silent for a moment, before grinning, “Not bad, so then, all in favor of eliminating the scum who plague the earth?”
Göll twitches with every ‘I’ she hears from the council room. Every hope that it wouldn’t happen was fleeing her body like a burning building. She lifts a shaky hand to the door of the council room, feeling the intricate carvings of the brass door knob against her hand. It felt it was cutting into her as her sweaty palms fails to find any grip to grasp the door. She was going to let it happen. She was going to let this slip through her fingers. She was going to let humanity down. She was going to let her sister down.
“Excuse me, young one, but you’re blocking the doorway and I have business to attend to… Göll?” A voice comes from behind her, peering over her shoulder, her eyes becoming wide upon seeing who was looming over her.
“You’re… You’re…” She stutters, normally the presentence of this person wouldn’t be so overwhelming, but the crushing weight of her emotions wasn’t helping.
“...Oh, they’re going for it I presume?” The figure asks, the shadow from their wings shrinks as said wings fold behind their back. “Perfect, it seems I was not a moment too late. Well then, please move, I have an objection to make.”
“One hundred one, one hundred two, one hundred three, one hundred four…,” Izanagi counts, turning his glance towards Tsukuyomi. “Well?”
“One hundred four to ninety six in favor of destroying humanity,” Tsukuyomi replies. “Seems all that grandstanding didn’t matter.” They snicker.
Izanagi nods, before announcing into the council, “With a vote of one hundred four to ninety six, humanity shall be erased! I thank you all for voting–and I do apologize if your vote didn’t make it, but this is the council’s rule. So without further ado, unless there’s a future ado…”
A beat passes as anticipacion-filled eyes meet and lock among the gods.
“Then humanity is–”
“OBJECTION!”
The room goes silent as the sound of the door slamming against the hinges, as one figure stands tall on top of the stairs. Adorned in a robe with prismatic colors with a hexagon symbol near his chest area. As his white, feathery wings sit neatly on his back, he stares down at Izanagi. The head of the Shinto pantheon doesn’t take their eyes off of the newcomer, his mouth forces itself into a smile.
“Seraphim Metatron, how may I help you?” Izanagi asks.
“You may help me indeed, I’ve heard the fate of humanity wasn’t looking too bright,” Metatron replies. “And it seems I could pardon a guess why.”
“The vote has gone through,” Izanagi explains. “And even if I graciously allow you to vote, it wouldn’t change the outcome. Can I help you with anything else–”
“As the Seraphim of Heaven, I’d disagree with that judgment,” Metatron retorts, crossing his arms. “It is my responsibility to watch over humanity, and I can’t let them die.”
“The vote happened already, I’d suggest you get out of father’s way,” Amaterasu remarks, side-eyeing the angel. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“Oh? Nothing?” Metatron asks, with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
“...And what are you getting at?” Tsukuyomi asks, their hand fiddling with their katana at their side.
“Ragnarok,” Metaron raises his hand. “Thirteen gods, thirteen humans. If humanity wins, they live, if humanity loses… Well, I’ll accept their fate.”
“...Do you really believe father would be so childish to give into threats?” Amaterasu snarks. “Shame on you for daring to joke about such a thing.”
“Bold to assume I would kid about such a thing,” Metatron counters. “I take my duty seriously.”
“Yet not your role, which you should know,” Tsukuyomi interjects. “Back down, angel.”
“And why should I?” Metatron asks. “Are the almighty gods… Scared?”
Whatever remaining sound within the council quickly dies down as the gods stare at Metatron. Hachiman grips his bow in contempt as Raijin cocks an eyebrow. Ra clenches his fist, a scowl paints itself on his avian face. Baldr leans back in his seat, seemingly unimpressed by Metatron’s challenge. The same couldn’t be said for the other Shinto gods, the collective glare from Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi was enough to make a minor shake in their boots. Izanagi on the other hand… Well.
CRACK
In a single, swift motion, Izanagi had brought down his hand on the desk so hard he had broken it in half. The look he gives the head angel was enough to intimidate even his own children, if Tsukuyomi’s shuddering was anything to go by.
“...A god’s pride is not a thing to toy with, angel,” Izanagi retorts. “But if you’re so pompous to question it… Then fine, I’ll bring humanity to its knees myself.”
Metatron just smirks in relaliation, “Very well, I’ll do what humanity has already done: expose you gods for once and for all.”
Well, that was the hardest part of Metatron’s job done, with Ragnarok declared, he just needs to assemble his roster and everything will go smoothly. Nothing was going to get into his way now… Or, at least that’s what he thought.
“How did you do that? Why did you do that? How could you do it? Where do you get it from? Where do your clothes come from?” Göll bombarts him with questions.
“Young one, please, there is no need for an interrogation,” Metatron chuckles. “I’m simply doing my duty as Seraphim.”
“Y-Yeah, I know,” Göll replies. “But still, you risked a lot going against a chief god…”
“What good of a protector would I be if I didn’t risk my very being to do my job?” Metaron asks. Göll stares at him, a shine in her eyes, “..Wow, you’re really amazing! I wish I could be like you…. Could I at least help you in Ragnarok?”
Metatron chuckles again, “Thank you, young one, and of course! I’d argue there’s no one better suit to in heaven to do so.”
Göll smiles before asking, “...So, who are we going to choose to fight in the first round then?”
“Wonderful question,” Metatron nods. “Truth be told… I have a few picks in mind, but without direct access to the Cherubim Archive I can’t say for sure.”
“Cherubim archive?” Göll questions.
“Well, it’s a device that allows one to–”
“STAY PUT!” A shout comes from down the hallway, from the Heavenly Record room. Metatron’s eyes go wide.
“Michael…!” Metatron whispers, making his way towards the room, Göll legging it behind him. The ornate doors of the Heavenly Record room were nearly blown wide open by Metatron’s entrance. His eyes move to see Michael, sword pointed firmly at another figure within the room. One that both Metatron and Göll recognized, even if the latter took a moment to recognize him. He… he had been so young only a thousand years ago, such lifely and youthful eyes, if they only looked like that now.“...Y-You!?” Göll stutters. “What happened?”
“Stay back valkyrie! He is a very dangerous individual,” Michael interjects. “I was coming in here to make sure nothing had been tampered with, only to find him!”
Metatron blinks, looking between his cohorts… Before turning to the blonde man with a dash of red in his hair.
“...I don’t care what your plan is, or was. I’m going to fight in Ragnarok, and I’m going first.”

Disclaimer before I go anywhere: I am new to LOTRO and my Warden is my first class. This is NOT a "how to play the class" guide nor do I have any experience with any other classes, so I won't be comparing the Warden to anything as I am without know on not-Warden. I just wanted to write up something for anyone out there who's new like me, is thinking of Warden, and is curious or possibly intimidated by what others have said on the class and get a first-hand view from someone like themselves; completely virgin to the game and class with no bias or other class recommendations, just focusing on possibly playing a Warden.
First off, why am I playing LOTRO? I felt like playing LOTRO as I played FFXIV for way too long and stopped after EW as I thought the game had reached what I felt like was a natural end point, and I have been debating whether or not to play another MMO for a while. Long story short, saw LOTRO for the first time in I think 10 years and thought "what the hell".
Why did I picked Warden? I admit I did not do a lot of looking up of the "which class should I play?" articles, but what ones I did find sort-of by accident all said some combo of Hunter and Champion. Personally, I don't really like hunter-type classes unless it'd be a game like EQ where I am always in a group for one simple reason: you have to play usually as a min-maxed glass cannon with 100% offense because, if something started to hit you up close and personal, it's usually a terminally bad thing. Thus, I find Hunter-types have no defense at all, and/or have lots of "speed bumps" like pets (see WoW) or maybe things like smoke or caltrops or whatever, but something to keep the distance between you and them. As for the Champion, I would usually like to play this style of class but I admit I wanted to try a Burglar at some point down the line and I thought the two might be somewhat related, so if I had to choose between the two I'd probably pick Burglar right now (again note: I have not played either class, this is just surface thoughts here).
OK, but that doesn't explain why I picked Warden. One thing I want to specifically state here is I didn't pick Warden because it was rare, or hard, or that others said not to take it; I took it because I thought it looked neat. That's honestly about it. There wasn't some "Come to Jesus" moment or anything; I just saw the class, noticed they used a spear and realized that I don't think I've ever played a char that focused on using a spear before and thought "what the hell". I suppose I could also make the same argument with classes like RK as I've never used rune stones before either, but I thought of the spear first. Also, there might not be a huge difference between a rune stone, crystal ball, arcane book, etc. So, I decided on Warden, looked up some classes and went with High Elf; I debated Man and maybe Hobbit (I thought dwarf wouldn't look right) but HE won out mostly for aesthetic purposes; I thought HE would look nice as a lithe, fast, mobile fighter. I did read that race isn't a huge deal by the end so I was happy about that.
So this is about the time where I looked up the Warden more online and I see lots of "oh, don't like them" or "they are my least favourite class by far" or "they're too hard for newbies" or some other not-positive thoughts on them. However, since I have no bias as I have zero experience, I did not let that deter me, BUT I did realize from what they said that I'd have to learn their gambits quickly. So, first piece of advice: LEARN THE BASICS OF THE GAMBITS! It's not rocket science but it's something that most people are going to have to learn and/or study to figure it out; the information is out there if you look for it. Thankfully, you only start off with two gambit slots, so even just trial and error will show you some of the things you can do as there's only so many different combinations (9 with two slots: red-red, red-green, red-yellow, green-red, green-green, green-yellow, yellow-red, yellow-green, yellow-yellow). This is important! Red - Yellow is NOT the same as Yellow - Red! They are completely different (see below)! Also, I noticed at low level that, two colours back to back seem to be weak e.g. red-red is a weak attack, green-green is a weak shield, yellow-yellow is a weak taunt, but red-green and red-yellow are 'better' attacks, so mix it up.
With Gambits, generally speaking (but not always), they tend to follow certain paths; shielding, multi-strike, physical DoT, light DoT, AoE, and some others. I can't tell you the "best" way forward (yet *thumb's up*) but I can say to be aware of these 'paths', both at lower and higher levels. Also note: while like I said above that there are 9 different combinations at 2 gambit slots, as you get higher level the gambits tend to follow these paths and don't tend to do into random combinations just to mess with you. For example, yellow-red (y-r) starts the Light DoT line, which then goes y-r-y, y-r-y-r, and lastly y-r-y-r-y. Thus, if you can remember that y-r starts the Light DoT line, you should be able to remember the sequence to do Light DoT's if you just go back and forth. Not all paths do this, but some of the major ones do and it's a good starting point. There's also spear vs. shield vs. fist for what type of damage the source is coming from which I think stays universally true through the line e.g. the Light DoT I mentioned above is always fist I believe. The gambits tend to (but I don't think always) tend to stay together e.g. Light damage starts with yellow and is fist; physical damage is red and is spear; green is defensive and is shield. Worse case Ontario it's a good starting point.
My thoughts on Virtues: I read, talked, and asked about virtues (including here) because, in most games, a class that is labeled as DPS usually min-max on DPS-related traits, tanks usually min-max on damage-mitigation related traits, etc, to the exclusion of all else to max their efficiency (e.g. if you're not getting hit, why have defenses?). Generally speaking, I found two things to be argued; maxing out DPS, and survivability, and where you wanted to go along that scale (which I really like LOTRO for as it gives you this option; most games don't). Personally, I figured I wanted at least 3 DPS virtues (I will likely tank later but I figured I'd use DPS for now), now the question for me was do I use 0, 1, or 2 defensive virtues? Again, not rocket science; more offensive virtues = more damage = less survivability and vice versa. Where you want to go will virtues be up to you but personally and for now (things might change if I hit later levels) I went with two defensive virtues, Fidelity and Compassion, as they focus on mitigation; if I wanted to tank I might look at Vitality more, but that's for later. I figured that, with F&C, I might not be the top parser on damage but I also probably won't die, and that's certainly been the case. Warden is rock-solid for survivability and seems OK for DPS, which is exactly what I was looking for while I am soloing; grouping will likely be a different kettle of fish though. Plus, when I start grouping more I'll probably get more and better ideas and advice on my DPS/tanking.
There's a bunch of other stuff which will come up later, for example after you get to 35 points spent into the blue or red line (yellow doesn't have a specialization at this moment) and where to go from there, but I figure by then you'll have either read or got some ideas of what you want to do. This is just meant to be a snapshot at low levels.
TL:DR I like Warden and I enjoy playing it, and I think it's fine as a newbie class and even first class BUT it might take a little work to figure out how to make the gambits work. It will depend on your ability and desire to memorize, see patterns, and apply them quickly. I would say if you don't mind putting in a little extra work to figure the class out that you will be rewarded.
Take from this what you will and I am just a newbie too so if I screwed anything up, I apologize in advance. Thanks for reading.

TLDR: I'm a DM and I hate the crafting system and its messing with the way I want to run my game as it gets into higher levels. Am I misunderstanding it or is there a better way to do this?
Wall of text incoming, apologies in advance:
Okay so my game takes place on a home brew continent and in an effort to flesh things out, I've added settlement levels and realistic concerns over materials and economics to the world. The players haven't really bumped into this stuff yet since they're spending all their time in one major city and they're still low level but soon they plan to leave and getting resources will be harder. Of course the solution is simple, engage with the crafting mechanics. Except...I don't really 'get' them.
I'm going to use the example of a level 19 item that I know my players will want at some point, a major striking rune. A distant dream right now, but something that will definitely come up if the campaign reaches a conclusion.
Let's assume the player making this is doing so at equal level and must craft it themselves since I've haven't placed a smith or shop or loot nearby where they can get it from. Lets also assume they are legendary in crafting and have +5 intelligence. Basically we're starting with the most favorable scenario and so I'm also using the complex crafting rules.
They take the time to set up and decide to try for the rushed time which would take only 3 days, so 39+15 DC for the crafting check. Their bonus is +32 at this level...wait, what? They have legendary in crafting and are required to roll a nat 20 for a regular success. And it would still take 3 times as long as if they just knew the formula and did a regular set up time using original rules? Okay so maybe the complex crafting rules aren't a strict buff like I though and maybe you shouldn't rush a difficult crafting job but this still seems extreme to me. Also, I understand that using the alternate rules will help with speed later in the process but players are mostly gonna be using things at a similar level to their own right, so when would you ever rush a crafting job with these rules? It seems like a strict nerf from the regular rules for this part of the process...
Anyway after doing the math the player decides to take the long way and take the full 6 day set up time. The DC is just a regular 39 and we'll say the player rolls a critical success. Now they get to spend the remaining half of the materials or they can work through downtime. At 19 with legendary crafting and a critical success the amount of progress they get each day is 200 GP towards the total cost of the item. Nice! This should be quick, the total cost of a major striking rune is only... 31065 GP. Oh... so it takes 156 days to finish. What about trying to rush this part, we'll see if the DC is more reasonable. The DC is based on a flat check this time so you can't really cheese it but we have high crafting so lets see if it goes better. The flat check will be (19 (item level) + 10) - (our crafting bonus of +32). Wait... that's a guaranteed success. So rushing the set up was nearly impossible but rushing the finish is literally a sure thing. See this is why I feel like I must be doing the math wrong. Obviously its possible that the player will have low int and the flat check will be possible to fail but you would need to be legendary to craft this item anyway and therefore it will pretty much always be a ridiculously easy check, especially when you factor in things like hero points.
Alright, so the rushed crafting check is successful, and therefore the result is...2 times the value on earned income crafting reduction. When I fist read this I thought it meant you reduce the remaining crafting time to two days and I actually though that sounded pretty balanced but no, it will still take 78 days to complete.
So then here are my questions. First, is this math right? Second, it seems to me that the choices for a player are to not invest in crafting and trust the GM will step in to get appropriate loot (because I have to do this if I want my players to have a fighting chance against end game enemies) or to invest all the way to legendary for crafting to gain almost no value (and yes I know the crafting skill does other stuff too)? Even with the alternative crafting rules the best way still seems to be paying full price for the item after knowing the formula and getting it in 1 day?
What about a player who likes using potions, but isn't playing alchemist, and wants to use some of high level without spending literally all of their money? True elixir's of life still cost 8000 to make. Major ones are 1300. That's still a lot of downtime if they're trying to make more than one. The alchemist archetype doesn't even really help because at level 20 you'll never get past level 15 advanced alchemy so anything level 15 or below is completely trivial to make and anything level 16 or above is an insane headache?
And for me as a GM what do I do? I can enforce settlement levels to give the world a little more realism and then I'm asking at least one player to functionally waste most of their skill increases just so they have access to high level items. I can just ignore it and give them what they need for loot and say there are always shop keepers who have what they need on hand, but I really hate this option. Honestly the crafting rules just seem so half baked. Do I just need way more downtime in my game?
I also don't really understand why balance is so tight here, it costs 50% of the materials to start crafting anyway and often requires a quest to get more if they aren't in a major population center and on top of that PCs can only sell items for 50% of the total price by default. There is basically no scenario in which the PCs use crafting to break the economics of the game unless the GM specifically allows/encourages it. Finally, and this is just a pet peeve of mine, why do you get almost no benefit from higher proficiency in crafting until you reach really high levels. At level 10 the difference between being trained and being a master is only 2 gold per day... what?
What do you all do for your games? How do you handle crafting and items at higher levels? If you've read this whole post, thanks for sticking with it. Any house rule alternatives you think would work better? Am I fundamentally misunderstanding something?

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 2,166,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
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...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
An hour after the conclusion of the Great Debate, Jason and Phoebe sneak back to their room to finally enjoy some private time together.
For Phoebe, a little over three weeks have passed since her husband went to Chrona.
But for Jason, he has not seen his beautiful wife in a substantially longer period of time...
The two lovers kiss one another. They allow their hands and legs to roam as they twine their bodies, each one making their partner feel waves of pleasure and ecstasy. Having felt a little pent-up from weeks of hard work and lonely nights in bed, Phoebe is quite excited to be back together with her husband, but after thirty minutes together, even she finds her passion doesn't come close to what Jason can muster!
"Okay! Okay, let's... let's pause for a moment!" Phoebe gasps, pulling herself away from Jason as she flops onto her back. "Gods, you're like an animal today, love. If you keep chewing on them like that, I'm afraid you're going to bite them off!"
Jason licks his lips and grins cheekily. "Sorry, babe. It's just been- you know? It's been years for me. Years! Me and Fiona kept our distance, and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about when I'd get to come back and see you. In the last few months, it REALLY gave me the drive to finish solving my time dilation problem!"
Phoebe remains silent for a few seconds. She swallows gulps of air while massaging her breasts, wincing slightly as she touches the naughty teeth marks Jason left...
"I won't lie, I was a little worried that you and Fiona might... but I knew you were faithful. I just wish you'd go a little easier on me! Don't you think Timothy is going to need these when he arrives?"
"Hah! I can heal them later." Jason smirks, before pouncing on her and pressing his lips against hers. "But for now, you and me need to make up for lost time!"
"Ah! This- ahh! Alright, then!" Phoebe exclaims, before her moans drown out any other words.
...
Another two hours pass.
Jason uses Words of Power several times, easily restoring himself and Phoebe's stamina multiple times. They twist like pretzels, trying out all manner of different lewd positions, before finally they both decide they've had their fill.
Eventually, they conclude their unbelievably intense rounds of lovemaking, then they snuggle together, finally satisfied.
"Lord... marrying a Wordsmith is a life goal every woman should aspire to." Phoebe mutters to herself, as Jason wraps himself around her from behind. "I love you so much, Jason."
"I love you too, honey." Jason replies, nibbling on her ear playfully. "And it's because I love you that I did what I did today. I hope you're not mad at me."
Phoebe chuckles. "I just wish you'd given me a heads up. I thought the entire point of the debate was to focus on keeping humanity united. Why would you change your mind all of a sudden?"
"Well... it wasn't really 'all of a sudden' for me. After all, an hour for the debate was 250 hours for me. That's almost ten and a half days, honey. I talked to Fiona, Rebecca, Kar, even Blinker and the Psions throughout the whole affair. My... views started evolving as a result."
Phoebe simply shrugs, not caring one way or the other. "I always thought splitting up humanity was smarter anyway, so I'm glad you came around."
"Thanks for supporting my original idea, even if it was dumb. That's why you're the best wife." Jason says, kissing her neck.
A minute passes as the two lay there, falling silent. Eventually, Phoebe rolls around to face Jason, then wraps her arms around his back and pulls her face close to his.
"So. What now?" She asks quietly. "You had an entire week to ruminate on your new plan. Any thoughts you want to share?"
Jason lightly bumps his forehead against hers. "I came up with a magically empowered device capable of synchronizing the internal dilations of people in higher realms so they can travel back to lower realms. It will almost entirely mitigate the effects of time dilation at any ratio below 25-to-1, but it's less effective the higher one climbs. In any case, that means I can look into expanding the usage of alternate dimensions, especially those inside the Cube. We can rapidly grow humanity's population, and its power, by using this method."
"That sounds incredible." Phoebe says, though her tone betrays a lack of enthusiasm. "But... are you sure there won't be any after-effects? And what about you? If this device you made is less effective at higher dilations, then you shouldn't be okay... right?"
"I... I do have to return to Chrona within a few days." Jason admits. "The technical details aren't too important, but essentially, with Blinker's help, I created a device that can output consumable magic glyphs. These glyphs bind to the body and prevent it from destabilizing when traveling into different time dilation zones. Unfortunately, their magic wears out faster the more extreme of a dilation one travels to and from."
"So your glyph or whatever, it's only going to last you a few days?" Phoebe asks, her pupils suddenly trembling in fright. "Isn't that terrible?? Will you die if you don't return in time?!"
"I will die, yes, but it won't be immediate." Jason explains, only to see a look of alarm spark in her eyes. He hurriedly clarifies: "No no, it's not what you think! When the glyph wears off, my body will start to desynchronize with realspace. As long as I quickly return to Chrona, I'll only end up a little fatigued, but if I drag my feet, then I could suffer... irreparable damage."
"Jason!" Phoebe cries. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?! Now I'm only going to be thinking of the danger you're putting yourself in just to come back here and deal with a bunch of mundane nonsense!"
"It's not nonsense." Jason says firmly. "I solved the dilemma with Neil and Hope, and I got to come back home and bang my hot wife. That's a win in my book any day of the week."
"Oh, you!" Phoebe laughs, releasing some tension in spite of her nerves. "You always try to hit me with a cute line. But don't think I'm letting you stay here long! You need to get your butt back to Chrona ASAP or I won't be able to sleep at night."
"Hehe, you won't be able to sleep anyway." Jason says, grinning evilly. "I'm gonna be bending you into every conceivable shape each night until I return!"
"You perverted, naughty scoundrel!"
...................................
Later, as the night draws near, Jason finally exits his abode with some pep in his step. He steps out into the darkness and looks up at the starry sky with a look of deep satisfaction.
Somehow, it just feels to him like things are going to be alright.
Hardly has that thought occurred when a voice speaks from the side. "All done having fun?"
Jason jumps in surprise. He turns to see Hope Hiro glowering at him as he leans back against a tree outside Bahamut's former manor.
"The hell?" Jason asks. "Have you been waiting for me out here?"
"I set a proximity alarm to alert me when you left. Then I teleported here." Hope answers. "Now, shut the fuck up about nonsense. I want to know what you're playing at. Why did you change your mind?"
Jason turns to face Hope directly. He crosses his arms and assumes an aloof posture.
"You're telling me you can't figure it out? I listened to what you and Neil had to say. I listened to what our fellow humans had to say. I decided the unification plan was a non-starter, and adjusted accordingly."
He leans forward slightly. "You're welcome, by the way. Now you can go build your death cult or whatever, Neil can fuck off to his planet of xenophobes, and I can focus on building humanity up, proper."
"That's what I hate the most about you." Hope snaps back. "You've messed up a thousand times, but you always have this smug, self-assured air of superiority about you. You were handed the powers of a god on a platter, but all you ever do is screw up and waste your gifts."
"I've definitely failed a few times." Jason admits. "But you're blowing those instances way out of proportion. I already feel bad enough about my failures. I already beat myself up over Daisy's death. Do you have to act like such a piece of shit toward me? We're both still cut from the same cloth, Hope!"
Slightly taken aback, Hope pauses his verbal barrage. A look of guilt flashes over his face, and he forces himself to calm down.
Five seconds of silence follow.
"I'm sorry." Hope says quietly. "You're right. I went too far. If it was my daughter, I'd probably never stop torturing myself."
He looks away and chews his lower lip.
"I just don't get it, Jason. Why change your mind?"
"You've never really understood the way I think." Jason answers. "Which is weird. Of all the people in the universe, I should be the one you understand best. And yet sometimes your thoughts are as alien to me as mine are to you. We've diverged into entirely different people."
He continues. "It's like I said at the Debate. You and Neil have the right idea, but the wrong reasons. Humanity does need to split up. We're vulnerable to a single attack, like Neil said. I just think splitting from the demons because of mere bigotry is not the right reason to do so. In this coming new era of empowered humans, it may become evident that demons are humanity's greatest ally."
Hope shuffles his feet. "I don't agree with Neil on everything. We're not a uni-mind. I think he goes too far with his hatred of the demons. Especially, as Phoebe mentioned, since he didn't really lose anyone to the demons. He lost them to Bahamut. In that regard, his hatred of demons is almost nonsensical."
But..." Hope says, directing a withering gaze toward Jason, "just because he hasn't suffered to the demons doesn't mean humanity as a whole hasn't. Come on, Jason. Surely you can acknowledge the harms they've caused us."
"Of course I can." Jason says. "But I'm not about to rehash this debate with you. Let's just let bygones be bygones and move on. We both have the same goal, Hope. We want to see humanity prosper."
"I'd like to think so." Hope responds. "But you still haven't answered my question. What are your plans for the humans who side with you? People are going to be casting their votes soon. Are you really going to allow demons to mingle with humans, unchecked, in perpetuity?"
"Unchecked is... an interesting word choice." Jason says calmly. "Hope, you know how I feel about politics. I say we treat our different factions as experiments. We need to see which one will lead to the most prosperous future. Maybe a xenophobic civilization will make humanity stronger, but maybe an open-minded one will be better still."
"Hmm..."
Hope rumbles in his throat, then looks at the ground, falling into thought.
"That's... not the worst idea."
"Right?" Jason says, before continuing, "I can't pretend to be any sort of expert on what to do next, Hope, but even you can see there's a lot of future paths opening up now that the Human Flaw is gone. I truly pray at least one of our splinter civilizations can explode in population and power. Humanity is practically extinct in terms of galactic population."
For a moment, Hope remains silent.
"I should also mention, Jason. It seems you haven't permanently solved your time dilation issue."
Jason frowns. "I haven't. You?"
"I seem to be a bit luckier than you." Hope replies. "My acceleration is only 100-to-1. Based on the quantum particles you're emanating, it seems you've been playing a riskier game."
Jason evenly gazes at his clone. "250-to-1."
"That's what I thought. Take this as a bit of friendly advice," Hope says, "I have a few prominent Technopaths inside my funhouse. They've told me that higher and higher TDR's pose orders of magnitude more danger to biological bodies. You're putting everyone inside your hidden dimension in danger. Don't play around with their lives."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Jason replies.
"You'd better." Hope counters. "Kar and Blinker are my friends too, Jason. If your stupidity causes them harm, I'll come for your head."
The two men continue to look at one another for a few seconds, then Hope turns to the side.
"Return."
He vanishes from the spot, disappearing into the ether while leaving his original body behind.
Jason remains standing in place for a while, his former good mood now entirely gone. A faint sense of unease wells up in his chest.
"I've improved a lot." Jason says to himself. "But Hope has, too. I'll need to work harder to stay ahead of him..."
Jason turns and walks away, heading deeper into town.
...................................
Later, Jason sits down inside the Horned Maître while Kelkin's moonlight radiates down upon its mother planet, illuminating the nighttime even more than Luna once did for Earth.
As the moonlight spills in through a window, the First Wordsmith sits at the head of a table with a handful of his friends.
Emperors Belial and Kiari sit next to each other, with Kiari's fiance Saul positioned on her right and Belial on her left. Across the table, Brunhilda sits, as well as Benjamin Brown and Samuel Baker.
"Congratulations, Kiari, Saul." Benjamin Brown says. "I've never heard of a demoness becoming pregnant before. We're about to enter some interesting times."
"Thank you!" Kiari says, her cheeks flushing happily as she beams at her fiance. "I can't believe it! I was so scared at first because I thought I was poisoned, but then it turns out it was just morning sickness! Now me and Saul are going to have a baby and... I don't know what to expect!"
"I couldn't be happier." Saul says mildly, smiling back at Kiari. He turns to look at Jason. "She's not in any danger though, is she? Can demons properly give birth...?"
"I can't say entirely for certain." Jason answers. "We did run some tests. The corrected human genome is... extremely potent. It can allow organisms incapable of replication to become capable. There are probably other effects, but we just don't know yet. I left the technical details to Fiona and Rebecca."
A moment of silence follows.
"This is going to change everything, you know." Belial says to Jason. "Fixing the Flaw, I mean. A horde of unexpected pregnancies is hardly the most shocking aftermath. What about humans gaining magic en-masse? Doesn't that strike you as dangerous?"
Samuel frowns. "Hey. What is your implication? That humans can't control ourselves? You demons have had magic for a hundred thousand years, but now it's a problem if your lessers get access too?"
"That's not what I meant." Belial hurriedly explains. "I'm just saying- Neil's side wants to kill all the demons. Now the humans will have the tools to do so. Don't you think this is only going to lead to more violence in the long run?"
"Honestly? I can't stand you demons." Samuel snarls, his words causing Belial and Kiari to both flinch in unison. "Demons have killed countless people I loved. This war might not be personal for Commander Neil, but it's personal for me."
"W-why are you even here, then?" Belial asks, outraged by his provocation. "We met to congratulate Kiari on the baby!"
"I came because I needed to speak to Jason. Not because I give a damn about some bloodskins." Samuel snaps back. He quickly turns his head to look at Jason. "Here, take this."
Samuel reaches into his pocket, pulls out a glowing purple pentagon infused with magical energy, then tosses it to Jason. The Wordsmith reflexively snaps his hand up to catch the palm-sized object, only to look at Samuel in confusion as the man stands up and starts to walk away.
"It's from Princess Melia." Samuel says, throwing his hand in the air flippantly. "She said you'd know what to do with it. I'm outta here."
The man storms off, leaving the others behind more than a little confused.
All except for Benjamin Brown. He sips some beer and chuckles. "If I told you that son of a bitch had a chip on his shoulder, I'd be lying by omission."
"Way more than a chip. More like a whole mountain." Brunhilda grumbles. "Kiari, I want you to know that the Felorians do not consider the demons to be our blood-enemies. I am certainly happy the Wind Mother has graced you with the gift of a child. And I apologize for that fool's undeserved anger."
"There's no need to apologize." Kiari says bitterly, lowering her eyes. "I'm used to it."
Jason's gaze momentarily turns dismal. Sensing the awkward atmosphere, he stands up and lifts the magical pentagon Samuel gave him. "Well. I've gotta be going. Phoebe will drop by to offer her congratulations tomorrow, Kiari. She's pretty tired after the debate and had to turn in early."
"I understand." Kiari says, smiling cutely at the Wordsmith. "Thank you so much for stepping in at the end. I was worried Neil was going to hurt Phoebe's feelings or say something really mean. Too bad I missed the broadcast, on account of this random baby dumped in my lap."
"I'm sure you'll be able to catch a re-run." Jason says, pointing to a monitor in the corner of the bar, which silently plays back the speech with closed captions. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."
...
He makes his way outside, and eventually wanders over to a secluded area where he erects a privacy field around himself, scanning it to make sure no errant Psions are watching.
Then, Jason lifts up the purple pentagon and looks at it more closely.
"Identify." He says.
Hundreds of intricate runes glisten with magical power across the item's surface. Jason's Word of Power identifies it as a Fairy Transmission Crystal, something Blinker has mentioned to him in passing, though admittedly he wouldn't have recognized it without his magic's assistance.
When Jason looks at the item deeper, he becomes fascinated by the incredibly tiny and precise carvings etched into the crystal's surface. Not mere abstract runes, many of them faintly depict strange beasts and creatures the Wordsmith has never seen in his life. It's only when he really squints that he's even able to make out the face of a woman he's never seen before.
"Melia? No, not her. Someone older. Hmm, now how did Blinker say to activate one of these...?"
Jason infuses his mana into the Transmission Crystal, but it doesn't activate. He tries doing what Blinker told him to do, but for some reason, he just can't seem to make it work.
"Fuck it." Jason mutters under his breath. "Activate."
Immediately, the crystal's faint glow turns as bright as a lightbulb. It leaps out of his palm and levitates into the air, while a magical hologram materializes from the core and bubbles into reality.
A beautiful but noticeably elderly fairy woman springs into existence, her lightly baggy eyes giving her the air of an ancient woman who has seen more than most can comprehend. Her beautiful white hair complements her purple dress, making it obvious to anyone with eyeballs that she is no commoner among her people. She looks around the privacy bubble and nods to herself, as if confirming something.
Then she directs her gaze toward Jason.
"Good day to you, First Wordsmith. I am the Fairy Matriarch, Lady Calanthra. I am pleased to see that you took the proper precautions before activating my crystal."
Jason blinks in surprise. He squints his eyes, then suddenly realizes something. "Wait, this isn't a recording?"
"Indeed, it is not." Calanthra says simply. "I prefer not to leave my world unless absolutely necessary, so I send my daughters out to deliver these crystals when I need to speak to someone distant."
A twinkle sparks in her eyes. She smiles playfully. "Funnily, I tampered with this crystal. I made it non-functional as a test. Only a Fairy Queen should be able to fix the flaws I introduced, yet you also seem to be capable of doing so. That is good. It tells me your magical capabilities are just as impressive as my children claim."
Jason coughs, feeling a little embarrassed that he passed her test without meaning to. "I see! Uh, so, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"I watched that debate between your wife and the commander of humanity's armies. I found your statement at the end to be quite interesting. You said that humanity could go to the world of Pixiv to join my people..."
Jason blinks. "I... I'm sorry. I spoke to Blinker before the debate, and she told me it was worth putting on the table. I guess I should have asked you first."
"There is no need for apologies." Calanthra says, waving her hand dismissively. "As the former Monster Queen, a bearer of the Sphinx's cursed magic, she possesses authority equal to mine. In matters of Pixiv's prosperity, I come before her, but for any external matters, she ranks above me. That is what my people decided when we heard her husband had passed his power to her."
Calanthra waves her hand, conjuring a comfortable and luxurious chair to sit in. She plops down in it and sighs. "Ahh, these weary old bones hate to stay standing for long periods..."
Jason looks behind himself. "Chair."
He also takes a seat, making Calanthra nod with approval. "A Word of Power, is it? What an ability. Impressive, if I may be so bold in my choice of words."
"Not to be rude," Jason says, "and compliments are always nice, but can we get to the point? Is there a reason you wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes, many." Calanthra responds. "But before I tell you why I've come, I have a question for the First Wordsmith."
"Okay." Jason says uncertainly. "And that would be...?"
"What do you know about the fairies?" She asks.
"About your people? In general?" Jason asks. "Uhh. I've spoken to Blinker a bunch. I know, uh... fairies are magical. You have wings. You can shrink and grow. You live on Pixiv. You... have a hard time reproducing. You have almost no male fairies among your population..."
He pauses while scrunching up his forehead to think. "You're also good at formations... I don't know a lot, now that I think about it."
"That is to be expected." Calanthra says. "After all, my people are reclusive by nature. We don't like to draw attention to ourselves. Not good for long-term survival prospects."
"Huh? You don't??" Jason asks, appearing totally confused. "But fairies have to, you know, procreate with the males of other species. You get around if you know what I mean. Doesn't really allow you to be 'reclusive'."
"Just because our daughters need to frolic with the males of other species, that does not mean we allow them to flap their lips at will." Calanthra answers. "There are rules we set. Strict rules. There are certain... Truths... we do not wish to get out into the greater galactic community."
"Truths." Jason repeats, eyeing her with more suspicion than before. "I've been hearing that word a lot, lately."
"I'd imagine you are. As Akasha's Game reaches its boiling point, the Rulers of the cosmos are beginning to disseminate those Truths in preparation for the Unending War."
Calanthra's eyes take on a more ominous glint as she gazes at the Wordsmith, not as a pretty and demure queen of the Fairies, but a strangely ancient being, one who has seen things he cannot fathom.
"Tell me, Jason Hiro of the Human species. How old are your people? How far back does your history date?"
"Not far enough." Jason admits. "I think before the Energy Wars, the most ancient records were barely 50,000 years old."
"Fifty thousand Sol Cycles." Calanthra says. "And what of the demons?"
"They're older than us..." Jason says. "I'm not sure how much older though."
"Add another hundred thousand years." Calanthra says. "That is when Archangel Uzziel formed the first Imps from cosmic dust. But what about before the demons, I wonder? Are there any species older than them?"
Jason nods slowly. "Well yeah. The angels were the first Sentients in the Milky Way, then they made the Dragons, then came the Titans."
"And what about the Volgrim?" Calanthra asks. "Do you know when they came on the scene?"
"I... not really." Jason admits. "A million years ago?"
"Ten million." Calanthra replies. "That is when the first Volgrim evolved from the primitives of their world and rose up to become the rulers of Old Volgarius."
For a long moment, Jason looks at Calanthra. A strange thought bubbles up in his mind.
"So... how old are the fairies, then?" Jason asks slowly. "Since the Volgrim were the first Sentients to colonize the galaxy after the angels fell, you must have evolved after they did. Right...?"
Calanthra's smile turns ominous.
"That was the right question to ask, Wordsmith."
She leans forward.
"The Volgrim were not the first Sentients in the Milky Way. It was my people. The Fairies. And we arrived here..."
"...fifty million years ago!"
Next Part

An hour after the conclusion of the Great Debate, Jason and Phoebe sneak back to their room to finally enjoy some private time together.
For Phoebe, a little over three weeks have passed since her husband went to Chrona.
But for Jason, he has not seen his beautiful wife in a substantially longer period of time...
The two lovers kiss one another. They allow their hands and legs to roam as they twine their bodies, each one making their partner feel waves of pleasure and ecstasy. Having felt a little pent-up from weeks of hard work and lonely nights in bed, Phoebe is quite excited to be back together with her husband, but after thirty minutes together, even she finds her passion doesn't come close to what Jason can muster!
"Okay! Okay, let's... let's pause for a moment!" Phoebe gasps, pulling herself away from Jason as she flops onto her back. "Gods, you're like an animal today, love. If you keep chewing on them like that, I'm afraid you're going to bite them off!"
Jason licks his lips and grins cheekily. "Sorry, babe. It's just been- you know? It's been years for me. Years! Me and Fiona kept our distance, and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about when I'd get to come back and see you. In the last few months, it REALLY gave me the drive to finish solving my time dilation problem!"
Phoebe remains silent for a few seconds. She swallows gulps of air while massaging her breasts, wincing slightly as she touches the naughty teeth marks Jason left...
"I won't lie, I was a little worried that you and Fiona might... but I knew you were faithful. I just wish you'd go a little easier on me! Don't you think Timothy is going to need these when he arrives?"
"Hah! I can heal them later." Jason smirks, before pouncing on her and pressing his lips against hers. "But for now, you and me need to make up for lost time!"
"Ah! This- ahh! Alright, then!" Phoebe exclaims, before her moans drown out any other words.
...
Another two hours pass.
Jason uses Words of Power several times, easily restoring himself and Phoebe's stamina multiple times. They twist like pretzels, trying out all manner of different lewd positions, before finally they both decide they've had their fill.
Eventually, they conclude their unbelievably intense rounds of lovemaking, then they snuggle together, finally satisfied.
"Lord... marrying a Wordsmith is a life goal every woman should aspire to." Phoebe mutters to herself, as Jason wraps himself around her from behind. "I love you so much, Jason."
"I love you too, honey." Jason replies, nibbling on her ear playfully. "And it's because I love you that I did what I did today. I hope you're not mad at me."
Phoebe chuckles. "I just wish you'd given me a heads up. I thought the entire point of the debate was to focus on keeping humanity united. Why would you change your mind all of a sudden?"
"Well... it wasn't really 'all of a sudden' for me. After all, an hour for the debate was 250 hours for me. That's almost ten and a half days, honey. I talked to Fiona, Rebecca, Kar, even Blinker and the Psions throughout the whole affair. My... views started evolving as a result."
Phoebe simply shrugs, not caring one way or the other. "I always thought splitting up humanity was smarter anyway, so I'm glad you came around."
"Thanks for supporting my original idea, even if it was dumb. That's why you're the best wife." Jason says, kissing her neck.
A minute passes as the two lay there, falling silent. Eventually, Phoebe rolls around to face Jason, then wraps her arms around his back and pulls her face close to his.
"So. What now?" She asks quietly. "You had an entire week to ruminate on your new plan. Any thoughts you want to share?"
Jason lightly bumps his forehead against hers. "I came up with a magically empowered device capable of synchronizing the internal dilations of people in higher realms so they can travel back to lower realms. It will almost entirely mitigate the effects of time dilation at any ratio below 25-to-1, but it's less effective the higher one climbs. In any case, that means I can look into expanding the usage of alternate dimensions, especially those inside the Cube. We can rapidly grow humanity's population, and its power, by using this method."
"That sounds incredible." Phoebe says, though her tone betrays a lack of enthusiasm. "But... are you sure there won't be any after-effects? And what about you? If this device you made is less effective at higher dilations, then you shouldn't be okay... right?"
"I... I do have to return to Chrona within a few days." Jason admits. "The technical details aren't too important, but essentially, with Blinker's help, I created a device that can output consumable magic glyphs. These glyphs bind to the body and prevent it from destabilizing when traveling into different time dilation zones. Unfortunately, their magic wears out faster the more extreme of a dilation one travels to and from."
"So your glyph or whatever, it's only going to last you a few days?" Phoebe asks, her pupils suddenly trembling in fright. "Isn't that terrible?? Will you die if you don't return in time?!"
"I will die, yes, but it won't be immediate." Jason explains, only to see a look of alarm spark in her eyes. He hurriedly clarifies: "No no, it's not what you think! When the glyph wears off, my body will start to desynchronize with realspace. As long as I quickly return to Chrona, I'll only end up a little fatigued, but if I drag my feet, then I could suffer... irreparable damage."
"Jason!" Phoebe cries. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?! Now I'm only going to be thinking of the danger you're putting yourself in just to come back here and deal with a bunch of mundane nonsense!"
"It's not nonsense." Jason says firmly. "I solved the dilemma with Neil and Hope, and I got to come back home and bang my hot wife. That's a win in my book any day of the week."
"Oh, you!" Phoebe laughs, releasing some tension in spite of her nerves. "You always try to hit me with a cute line. But don't think I'm letting you stay here long! You need to get your butt back to Chrona ASAP or I won't be able to sleep at night."
"Hehe, you won't be able to sleep anyway." Jason says, grinning evilly. "I'm gonna be bending you into every conceivable shape each night until I return!"
"You perverted, naughty scoundrel!"
...................................
Later, as the night draws near, Jason finally exits his abode with some pep in his step. He steps out into the darkness and looks up at the starry sky with a look of deep satisfaction.
Somehow, it just feels to him like things are going to be alright.
Hardly has that thought occurred when a voice speaks from the side. "All done having fun?"
Jason jumps in surprise. He turns to see Hope Hiro glowering at him as he leans back against a tree outside Bahamut's former manor.
"The hell?" Jason asks. "Have you been waiting for me out here?"
"I set a proximity alarm to alert me when you left. Then I teleported here." Hope answers. "Now, shut the fuck up about nonsense. I want to know what you're playing at. Why did you change your mind?"
Jason turns to face Hope directly. He crosses his arms and assumes an aloof posture.
"You're telling me you can't figure it out? I listened to what you and Neil had to say. I listened to what our fellow humans had to say. I decided the unification plan was a non-starter, and adjusted accordingly."
He leans forward slightly. "You're welcome, by the way. Now you can go build your death cult or whatever, Neil can fuck off to his planet of xenophobes, and I can focus on building humanity up, proper."
"That's what I hate the most about you." Hope snaps back. "You've messed up a thousand times, but you always have this smug, self-assured air of superiority about you. You were handed the powers of a god on a platter, but all you ever do is screw up and waste your gifts."
"I've definitely failed a few times." Jason admits. "But you're blowing those instances way out of proportion. I already feel bad enough about my failures. I already beat myself up over Daisy's death. Do you have to act like such a piece of shit toward me? We're both still cut from the same cloth, Hope!"
Slightly taken aback, Hope pauses his verbal barrage. A look of guilt flashes over his face, and he forces himself to calm down.
Five seconds of silence follow.
"I'm sorry." Hope says quietly. "You're right. I went too far. If it was my daughter, I'd probably never stop torturing myself."
He looks away and chews his lower lip.
"I just don't get it, Jason. Why change your mind?"
"You've never really understood the way I think." Jason answers. "Which is weird. Of all the people in the universe, I should be the one you understand best. And yet sometimes your thoughts are as alien to me as mine are to you. We've diverged into entirely different people."
He continues. "It's like I said at the Debate. You and Neil have the right idea, but the wrong reasons. Humanity does need to split up. We're vulnerable to a single attack, like Neil said. I just think splitting from the demons because of mere bigotry is not the right reason to do so. In this coming new era of empowered humans, it may become evident that demons are humanity's greatest ally."
Hope shuffles his feet. "I don't agree with Neil on everything. We're not a uni-mind. I think he goes too far with his hatred of the demons. Especially, as Phoebe mentioned, since he didn't really lose anyone to the demons. He lost them to Bahamut. In that regard, his hatred of demons is almost nonsensical."
But..." Hope says, directing a withering gaze toward Jason, "just because he hasn't suffered to the demons doesn't mean humanity as a whole hasn't. Come on, Jason. Surely you can acknowledge the harms they've caused us."
"Of course I can." Jason says. "But I'm not about to rehash this debate with you. Let's just let bygones be bygones and move on. We both have the same goal, Hope. We want to see humanity prosper."
"I'd like to think so." Hope responds. "But you still haven't answered my question. What are your plans for the humans who side with you? People are going to be casting their votes soon. Are you really going to allow demons to mingle with humans, unchecked, in perpetuity?"
"Unchecked is... an interesting word choice." Jason says calmly. "Hope, you know how I feel about politics. I say we treat our different factions as experiments. We need to see which one will lead to the most prosperous future. Maybe a xenophobic civilization will make humanity stronger, but maybe an open-minded one will be better still."
"Hmm..."
Hope rumbles in his throat, then looks at the ground, falling into thought.
"That's... not the worst idea."
"Right?" Jason says, before continuing, "I can't pretend to be any sort of expert on what to do next, Hope, but even you can see there's a lot of future paths opening up now that the Human Flaw is gone. I truly pray at least one of our splinter civilizations can explode in population and power. Humanity is practically extinct in terms of galactic population."
For a moment, Hope remains silent.
"I should also mention, Jason. It seems you haven't permanently solved your time dilation issue."
Jason frowns. "I haven't. You?"
"I seem to be a bit luckier than you." Hope replies. "My acceleration is only 100-to-1. Based on the quantum particles you're emanating, it seems you've been playing a riskier game."
Jason evenly gazes at his clone. "250-to-1."
"That's what I thought. Take this as a bit of friendly advice," Hope says, "I have a few prominent Technopaths inside my funhouse. They've told me that higher and higher TDR's pose orders of magnitude more danger to biological bodies. You're putting everyone inside your hidden dimension in danger. Don't play around with their lives."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Jason replies.
"You'd better." Hope counters. "Kar and Blinker are my friends too, Jason. If your stupidity causes them harm, I'll come for your head."
The two men continue to look at one another for a few seconds, then Hope turns to the side.
"Return."
He vanishes from the spot, disappearing into the ether while leaving his original body behind.
Jason remains standing in place for a while, his former good mood now entirely gone. A faint sense of unease wells up in his chest.
"I've improved a lot." Jason says to himself. "But Hope has, too. I'll need to work harder to stay ahead of him..."
Jason turns and walks away, heading deeper into town.
...................................
Later, Jason sits down inside the Horned Maître while Kelkin's moonlight radiates down upon its mother planet, illuminating the nighttime even more than Luna once did for Earth.
As the moonlight spills in through a window, the First Wordsmith sits at the head of a table with a handful of his friends.
Emperors Belial and Kiari sit next to each other, with Kiari's fiance Saul positioned on her right and Belial on her left. Across the table, Brunhilda sits, as well as Benjamin Brown and Samuel Baker.
"Congratulations, Kiari, Saul." Benjamin Brown says. "I've never heard of a demoness becoming pregnant before. We're about to enter some interesting times."
"Thank you!" Kiari says, her cheeks flushing happily as she beams at her fiance. "I can't believe it! I was so scared at first because I thought I was poisoned, but then it turns out it was just morning sickness! Now me and Saul are going to have a baby and... I don't know what to expect!"
"I couldn't be happier." Saul says mildly, smiling back at Kiari. He turns to look at Jason. "She's not in any danger though, is she? Can demons properly give birth...?"
"I can't say entirely for certain." Jason answers. "We did run some tests. The corrected human genome is... extremely potent. It can allow organisms incapable of replication to become capable. There are probably other effects, but we just don't know yet. I left the technical details to Fiona and Rebecca."
A moment of silence follows.
"This is going to change everything, you know." Belial says to Jason. "Fixing the Flaw, I mean. A horde of unexpected pregnancies is hardly the most shocking aftermath. What about humans gaining magic en-masse? Doesn't that strike you as dangerous?"
Samuel frowns. "Hey. What is your implication? That humans can't control ourselves? You demons have had magic for a hundred thousand years, but now it's a problem if your lessers get access too?"
"That's not what I meant." Belial hurriedly explains. "I'm just saying- Neil's side wants to kill all the demons. Now the humans will have the tools to do so. Don't you think this is only going to lead to more violence in the long run?"
"Honestly? I can't stand you demons." Samuel snarls, his words causing Belial and Kiari to both flinch in unison. "Demons have killed countless people I loved. This war might not be personal for Commander Neil, but it's personal for me."
"W-why are you even here, then?" Belial asks, outraged by his provocation. "We met to congratulate Kiari on the baby!"
"I came because I needed to speak to Jason. Not because I give a damn about some bloodskins." Samuel snaps back. He quickly turns his head to look at Jason. "Here, take this."
Samuel reaches into his pocket, pulls out a glowing purple pentagon infused with magical energy, then tosses it to Jason. The Wordsmith reflexively snaps his hand up to catch the palm-sized object, only to look at Samuel in confusion as the man stands up and starts to walk away.
"It's from Princess Melia." Samuel says, throwing his hand in the air flippantly. "She said you'd know what to do with it. I'm outta here."
The man storms off, leaving the others behind more than a little confused.
All except for Benjamin Brown. He sips some beer and chuckles. "If I told you that son of a bitch had a chip on his shoulder, I'd be lying by omission."
"Way more than a chip. More like a whole mountain." Brunhilda grumbles. "Kiari, I want you to know that the Felorians do not consider the demons to be our blood-enemies. I am certainly happy the Wind Mother has graced you with the gift of a child. And I apologize for that fool's undeserved anger."
"There's no need to apologize." Kiari says bitterly, lowering her eyes. "I'm used to it."
Jason's gaze momentarily turns dismal. Sensing the awkward atmosphere, he stands up and lifts the magical pentagon Samuel gave him. "Well. I've gotta be going. Phoebe will drop by to offer her congratulations tomorrow, Kiari. She's pretty tired after the debate and had to turn in early."
"I understand." Kiari says, smiling cutely at the Wordsmith. "Thank you so much for stepping in at the end. I was worried Neil was going to hurt Phoebe's feelings or say something really mean. Too bad I missed the broadcast, on account of this random baby dumped in my lap."
"I'm sure you'll be able to catch a re-run." Jason says, pointing to a monitor in the corner of the bar, which silently plays back the speech with closed captions. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."
...
He makes his way outside, and eventually wanders over to a secluded area where he erects a privacy field around himself, scanning it to make sure no errant Psions are watching.
Then, Jason lifts up the purple pentagon and looks at it more closely.
"Identify." He says.
Hundreds of intricate runes glisten with magical power across the item's surface. Jason's Word of Power identifies it as a Fairy Transmission Crystal, something Blinker has mentioned to him in passing, though admittedly he wouldn't have recognized it without his magic's assistance.
When Jason looks at the item deeper, he becomes fascinated by the incredibly tiny and precise carvings etched into the crystal's surface. Not mere abstract runes, many of them faintly depict strange beasts and creatures the Wordsmith has never seen in his life. It's only when he really squints that he's even able to make out the face of a woman he's never seen before.
"Melia? No, not her. Someone older. Hmm, now how did Blinker say to activate one of these...?"
Jason infuses his mana into the Transmission Crystal, but it doesn't activate. He tries doing what Blinker told him to do, but for some reason, he just can't seem to make it work.
"Fuck it." Jason mutters under his breath. "Activate."
Immediately, the crystal's faint glow turns as bright as a lightbulb. It leaps out of his palm and levitates into the air, while a magical hologram materializes from the core and bubbles into reality.
A beautiful but noticeably elderly fairy woman springs into existence, her lightly baggy eyes giving her the air of an ancient woman who has seen more than most can comprehend. Her beautiful white hair complements her purple dress, making it obvious to anyone with eyeballs that she is no commoner among her people. She looks around the privacy bubble and nods to herself, as if confirming something.
Then she directs her gaze toward Jason.
"Good day to you, First Wordsmith. I am the Fairy Matriarch, Lady Calanthra. I am pleased to see that you took the proper precautions before activating my crystal."
Jason blinks in surprise. He squints his eyes, then suddenly realizes something. "Wait, this isn't a recording?"
"Indeed, it is not." Calanthra says simply. "I prefer not to leave my world unless absolutely necessary, so I send my daughters out to deliver these crystals when I need to speak to someone distant."
A twinkle sparks in her eyes. She smiles playfully. "Funnily, I tampered with this crystal. I made it non-functional as a test. Only a Fairy Queen should be able to fix the flaws I introduced, yet you also seem to be capable of doing so. That is good. It tells me your magical capabilities are just as impressive as my children claim."
Jason coughs, feeling a little embarrassed that he passed her test without meaning to. "I see! Uh, so, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"I watched that debate between your wife and the commander of humanity's armies. I found your statement at the end to be quite interesting. You said that humanity could go to the world of Pixiv to join my people..."
Jason blinks. "I... I'm sorry. I spoke to Blinker before the debate, and she told me it was worth putting on the table. I guess I should have asked you first."
"There is no need for apologies." Calanthra says, waving her hand dismissively. "As the former Monster Queen, a bearer of the Sphinx's cursed magic, she possesses authority equal to mine. In matters of Pixiv's prosperity, I come before her, but for any external matters, she ranks above me. That is what my people decided when we heard her husband had passed his power to her."
Calanthra waves her hand, conjuring a comfortable and luxurious chair to sit in. She plops down in it and sighs. "Ahh, these weary old bones hate to stay standing for long periods..."
Jason looks behind himself. "Chair."
He also takes a seat, making Calanthra nod with approval. "A Word of Power, is it? What an ability. Impressive, if I may be so bold in my choice of words."
"Not to be rude," Jason says, "and compliments are always nice, but can we get to the point? Is there a reason you wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes, many." Calanthra responds. "But before I tell you why I've come, I have a question for the First Wordsmith."
"Okay." Jason says uncertainly. "And that would be...?"
"What do you know about the fairies?" She asks.
"About your people? In general?" Jason asks. "Uhh. I've spoken to Blinker a bunch. I know, uh... fairies are magical. You have wings. You can shrink and grow. You live on Pixiv. You... have a hard time reproducing. You have almost no male fairies among your population..."
He pauses while scrunching up his forehead to think. "You're also good at formations... I don't know a lot, now that I think about it."
"That is to be expected." Calanthra says. "After all, my people are reclusive by nature. We don't like to draw attention to ourselves. Not good for long-term survival prospects."
"Huh? You don't??" Jason asks, appearing totally confused. "But fairies have to, you know, procreate with the males of other species. You get around if you know what I mean. Doesn't really allow you to be 'reclusive'."
"Just because our daughters need to frolic with the males of other species, that does not mean we allow them to flap their lips at will." Calanthra answers. "There are rules we set. Strict rules. There are certain... Truths... we do not wish to get out into the greater galactic community."
"Truths." Jason repeats, eyeing her with more suspicion than before. "I've been hearing that word a lot, lately."
"I'd imagine you are. As Akasha's Game reaches its boiling point, the Rulers of the cosmos are beginning to disseminate those Truths in preparation for the Unending War."
Calanthra's eyes take on a more ominous glint as she gazes at the Wordsmith, not as a pretty and demure queen of the Fairies, but a strangely ancient being, one who has seen things he cannot fathom.
"Tell me, Jason Hiro of the Human species. How old are your people? How far back does your history date?"
"Not far enough." Jason admits. "I think before the Energy Wars, the most ancient records were barely 50,000 years old."
"Fifty thousand Sol Cycles." Calanthra says. "And what of the demons?"
"They're older than us..." Jason says. "I'm not sure how much older though."
"Add another hundred thousand years." Calanthra says. "That is when Archangel Uzziel formed the first Imps from cosmic dust. But what about before the demons, I wonder? Are there any species older than them?"
Jason nods slowly. "Well yeah. The angels were the first Sentients in the Milky Way, then they made the Dragons, then came the Titans."
"And what about the Volgrim?" Calanthra asks. "Do you know when they came on the scene?"
"I... not really." Jason admits. "A million years ago?"
"Ten million." Calanthra replies. "That is when the first Volgrim evolved from the primitives of their world and rose up to become the rulers of Old Volgarius."
For a long moment, Jason looks at Calanthra. A strange thought bubbles up in his mind.
"So... how old are the fairies, then?" Jason asks slowly. "Since the Volgrim were the first Sentients to colonize the galaxy after the angels fell, you must have evolved after they did. Right...?"
Calanthra's smile turns ominous.
"That was the right question to ask, Wordsmith."
She leans forward.
"The Volgrim were not the first Sentients in the Milky Way. It was my people. The Fairies. And we arrived here..."
"...fifty million years ago!"

I’m considering blowing through all of my mid runes to cube up to get the second Vex I need to finally make a Phoenix shield, but I’m curious about the weapon slot on a fire sorc after I equip Phoenix and drop my 35 fcr spirit.
I see that most build guides recommend something like HOTO or Eschuta’s for the 40 fcr, but I’m wondering if anyone has tried keeping the 3-piece Tal’s equipped and using Vipermagi and two fcr rings to hit the 105 breakpoint instead.
Eschuta’s and HOTO would both give 2 more skills to fireball and fire mastery (4 more if you consider that my current setup has 2 SoJs), but wouldn’t I get a lot more damage output from the -20 on the Tal’s orb (15 for the 3-piece plus a facet)?
I was under the impression that in a post-sunder world adding onto your minus enemy resistance is more of a damage increase than bumping up the raw number with + to skills. But I don’t have a laptop I can access build planners on so I really can’t figure it out for myself without taking the plunge.
Input from anyone would be greatly appreciated!
Edit: I am dumb and totally forgot that Vipermagi only has 30 fcr not 35 so I couldn’t actually maintain the 105 breakpoint with what I was thinking.
But I guess the question is should I just use 4 piece Tal’s for the MF and just settle for the 63 breakpoint? With so much minus enemy res I feel like most stuff is going to drop instantly anyway

Howdy,
I'm trying to make a low-magic fantasy campaign based off the 1100s-1200s Holy Roman Empire. Following a similar generational system as Pendragon, I want my players to play as minor nobles in subinfeudation of a duke, prince, or other Prince equivalent of the HRE.
In this respect, I want my players to be able to manage their noble house and estate, and be able to eventually get imperial immediacy/become major nobles, owning more than just a manor.
I've been trying to find a ruleset that'll allow for that, and I've come across three options: (1) Mythras Factions, (2) Worlds Without NumbeEcho Resounding, and (3) RuneQuest 2 Empires 2nd edition.
Mythras Factions mentions noble houses directly in the material, however it seems rather abstract and I'm not sure how to it translate into a noble house. I know that resources is wealth and scope is influence, however how does that factor into income coming into the player's hand, and does scope factor the size of one's land or is it resources since it's primarily agricultural based? And then how do these factionplay off vassals & liege lords? If there is a rebellion, does the liege lord's faction lose stats? How would I best do a generational noble game under this rules etc?
For WWN, it is more indepth with assets one can buy and move around the map, fortifications to build, etc. However, it isn't in a d100 system. To make it work with Mythras, what would need to be done?
For RQ2 Empire, it has domains, factions, and building estates. Though, I am confused by how the building of the estate interacts with the domain proper (what does building a cathedral do for the religiousness of a domain? What do the extra priests from it do? How does going indepth with castle construction affect things? I know there is noble standing which gets bumped up, but is there anything else?) Also, how does renown and noble standing differ? Is noble standing just local community stuff? If so, then how does it effect other lords? Is it just a 'divine right'/legitimacy mechanic where your subjects and other lords support your rule?
For an HRE style "Barbarossa to Great interegnum" campaign, which what you suggest?

Hey yall, was hoping somebody could gelp ke fill up my ash of war library, possibly help with some runes if possible. I can bump Karma, and feel free to ask about anything youre interested in and ill let ya know if ive got it. Im also available pretty much anytime to mule, just send me a dm.

Previously I’ve utilized a Markov Chain text generator to make faux patch notes, please see some new notes while we await the Ringmaster patch.

GENERAL CHANGES:
Added rosh pit to secret shops - Roshan now moves between the four, randomly, constantly
Added new time of day: Dawn - at Dawn all Spell Amp is increased by 30%
Added 3 new trees to Radiant and River
Melee hero block reworked: now 20% chance to block all 40% of damage.
New Damage type: Mystical. Reduced innately by 30, with an added 5% reduction for every 10% evasion the target has. If target is intelligence hero, reduced by 25 more. If Strength hero, increased by 33%.
New Status Debuff: Hungry.
Occurs after 45mins and affects all units. Improves movement speed, attack speed by 5%.
After 1.5 hours becomes Famished. (5% -> 20%)
After 3 hours becomes Starving (20% -> 700%)
If a hero is considered a carry, they have -40gpm. If they are considered a support, they have a free ward slot.
Twin Gates now have a 10% chance to fail, wasting the mana and channel time. It also has a 3% chance to teleport to a random location in the map.
New Mud locations added to map, slowing units that walk through. Mud is increased near river. After 30 minutes mud becomes quicksand which roots units for 6 seconds unless freed by ally (channel: 2s)
Jungle locations (Well, Mines etc) are now enterable and have jungle camps inside that can be farmed. Aura Benefits are amplified doubly when inside. Each location has a boss monster that spawns at the 40 minute mark. Does not respawn.
Mines: Skeleton Foreman: drops Ancient Pickaxe (Active: dig for a neutral item. Chances of a higher tier item are lower. These neutral items can be equipped in regular item slots. CD: 70)
Graveyard: Gravekeeper: Drops Malevolent Mace. (Passive: when hitting a target 3 times consecutively, curse a random item slot disabling it for 5 seconds (both active and passive)
Well: Mr. serendipity: Drops Lucky Coin (Active: 50% chance for invulnerability for 5s, 50% chance for -1/2 max HP. CD: 13)
Statue: Stoic Fighter: drops Stone Fist Wrecker (Passive: every 17 seconds your next attack stuns for 2 seconds and reduces HP by 17% of max)
Maximum hero level increased to 45. XP per level reduced by 75%
Flag bearer Creep now deals 60-300 damage. It also gains an Aura that reduces enemy Flagbearer creeps damage by 400.
Destroying barracks now instantly spawns one ally creep at the barrack location for every other barrack destroyed.
All staircases are wider by 200%. Moving up stairs slows movement speed by 24%, moving down stairs has a 7% chance to trip and fall.
Ward vision on hills now increased by 1700
Tier 1 towers model size reduced by 20%
Tier 2 towers now lose true sight
Tier 3 towers now have 3 attacks by default (Glyph adds 30)
Tier 4 towers now are combined, having 4x range, damage, and health.
Random Weather Effects now added (at 25 minute mark applies one, lasts rest of game)
Rain:
increase river to cover 1/3 of map.
Movement in river for fish units decreased.
Can fish in river by purchasing Rod (1000g). Channel for 7 seconds to obtain fish. (40% +50g, 30% gain random rune effect, 20% gain full HP+Mana, 10% gain fish unit (4700 hp, 200 dmg.)
Tornado:
Random 700 AOE stuns occur around map. Stun duration: 4
1/4 of trees are permanently destroyed
Flying units now move faster but potentially randomly.
Sun:
Improved regen by 5%
Vision increased by 600
Fire type attacks empowered by 200 damage or 30% effectiveness, whichever is better.
Flurry:
Snowmen appear constantly. If damaged either gain 30gold or lose 50 hp.
At 50 mins. Christmas visitor arrives. All heroes get a random item depending on their damage (less = better gift. The hero with most gains coal (does nothing, takes up item slot). In visitors area there is no combat allowed or the visitor attacks and insta-kills.
Small snowflakes appear on the screen. Have to be rubbed away with the mouse to remove.

Added new area to map, Sanctum. Located Between Ancient and fountain, provides flat -150 damage block to enemy units within sanctum.
When all tier 3 towers are destroyed on the map, instantly a unit is summoned in the center of the map. If destroyed, applies a corrosion effect to all buildings of enemy team, reducing armor to 0.
New roshan drops:
4 kills: omega rune (all rune effects, non dispellable)
5 kills: airdrop (after 3 second delay, teleports all allies around the user to any spot on map)
6 kills: instant death (kills a unit instantly, disables buyback)
7 kills: shopkeeper’s lease (disables using shops from enemy team)
8 kills: Game End. The team who killed roshan now apply an effect to any units/buildings they attack permanently reducing regen by 101%. Stops roshan from spawning.
New Base Structure. Defense Tower. Replacing the 5 statues in the base, these towers each apply a -12% damage reduction to the ancient while alive. These are only now destroyable after the t4 tower is destroyed.
Jungle Changes:
New Neutral Creep Camp (Medium): Merfolk Raider. Ability: Teleport enemy to river (CD: 15). Merfolk Minor x3 Ability: Reduce mana by 65 per attack
New Neutral Creep Camp (Ancient): Cyclops (1 unit). Has 5000 hp. Ability: Eye Beam - Deals 1000 to targeted area (AOE: 500) on ground after 4 second delay. CD: 7
New Neutral Camp (Easy): Squirrel Squad (x7). HP: 10. Ability: Nut - Deal 40 damage to nearby Creep unit. CD: 2
New Neutral Camp (Hard): Reapers (x2) HP 890. Ability: Reaper (CD:7 slice all enemies in AOE, increasing item cooldowns by 8 and applying hp regen to instead be negative for 3 seconds)
Neutral Camps now respawn double if there is a ward in the camp box instead of spawn being blocked.
Neutral Camp box size reduced by 55%
Neutral Creeps have a 10%. Chance to drop Shared Tango. Chance increases by .1% after every minute. These tangoes do not expire and stack infinitely. Upon obtaining 100, can build tango tree in base that applies 7hp/s to all allied units. Tree can be cut.
Pulling camps now bannable offense
Wards reworked.
Observer: 2 max. Vision 3000
Sentry: 400 max. Vision 12
There must be a hero of each attribute in a given team comp. If not abided by, enemy base gains trebuchet which can be manned to lob boulders. Can damage building. Cooldown on attack: 45s. Deals 25% max hp to building. Ignores backdoor protection, but still must damage buildings sequentially.
There is a hidden flag for each team, randomly placed at the start of the match. If a team finds their flag and returns to their fountain, all of their lanes now spawn a new unit, Bombardier, which attacks in AOE and deals increased damage to buildings.
Side Shops readded, now next to Tormentor. Can buy Tormentor shard for 5000g. After obtaining 10, gives hero the tormentor passive.
Items:
Tome of Knowledge brought back and renamed to Tomb of Knowledge. Now targets enemy unit and banishes them for 20 seconds. They gain XP equal to the current minute per second while banished.
Blink Dagger cost increased to 4000 Range increased to 2000 Cooldown decreased to 11.5
Eul’s Scepter now can be used while disabled. After landing, movement speed is decreased by 20% for 3 seconds and then increased by 40% for 3 seconds.
Vanguard now builds from Ring of Protection, Heart of Tarrasque, and Recipe
Magic Wand max charges increased by 39
Kaya can only be used by women
Solar Crest effects now increased by 30% during day.
Maelstrom damage increased by 15 per jump
New item: Leash (Active: CD 23, attach to an enemy unit. They are unable to get away for 2.3 seconds)
New item: Smite Scimitar (Active: CD 65. Destroy an enemy unit. If they are a hero, instead they become silenced, rooted, and disarmed for 4 seconds. If targeting a hero, the CD is increased to 120)
New item: Plate of Divinity: (Passive: damage block 90, regen 50, evasion 15, magic resist 10. Damage of your spells and attacks reduced by 50%)
New item: Dagger Thorn (Active: 8 seconds. Shoot a projective (skill shot) forward from your hero. If unit is hit, it is poisoned for 8 seconds, slowing by 10% increasing by 10 each second. After poison wears off, unit receives 100 damage)
New item: apron of the smith (PASSIVE: all items you make gain a +1 modifier, increasing their stats and effects by 1%. Allies can buy items from your location for 1% more cost.)
Gem of true sight now applies true sight to both teams when dropped. Every minute on the floor it increases this AOE by 200.
Ironwood Branch now has a 10% chance to be Mango Tree and a 5% chance to be an Ironwood Branch Tree (spawns respective items every 40s)
Dagon now gains effects per level: 2: bouncing shot (1 bounce) 3: aoe around each target 4: bounces twice 5: bounces 5x and aoe increased
Divine Rapier now has a third toggle that applies the other two toggles simultaneously.
Daedalus critical damage reduced to 130%
New item: Hoof of Defiance: spawns horse unit which can be ridden improving movement speed by 120. Has chance to disobey orders.
Chainmail now increased to +8 armor but has chance to act as if it is +0 armor
Tangos can no longer eat trees
TP scrolls channel time is now reduced for every hero that has teleported to the building. (3, 2, 1, 0, if a fifth unit TPs it is instant and also reduces all CDs to 0)
New Item: Magistrate of Magic: Increases spell CDs by 2 BUT casts a lesser version of the spell 2 seconds after your cast. Magistrate follows hero around and is unforgettable.
Urn of Shadows can now be cast on creeps, making the damage over time effect hurt all enemy units in a 600 aoe from the unit
Radiance now can be upgraded. Frost Fire. Additional slows enemies by 2% for every second they are affected by burn. If it reaches 100% slow, the unit is instantly killed.
Healing Salves can now be used on undead units, apply damage instead of healing.
Buckler now has an active. Gain +130 armor for .25 seconds (CD:200)
Vladamir’s Offering has an active. Destroy item, but gain permanent aura around self, at 25% efficiency. However, the unit has a -20% hp penalty as well.
New Universal Blink, builds from blink, all +10 stat items and ultimate orb. Every use swaps between the other three effects from the stat blink daggers, at 75% effect.
Assault Cuirass now upgrades all siege units around it to siege towers. Weaker damage vs towers, but upon destruction spawns 3 special agent creeps that solely target buildings with immense power.
Scythe of Vyse now turns unit into Boar at nighttime. They are uncontrollable and automatically attempt to gore the nearest ally. Duration increased to 3.5 seconds. Gore deals 75 damage and can occur every .5 seconds.
Hand of Midas can target enemy heroes, turning them into gold statue. They can be picked up by enemy units and brought back to fountain. If so, they are restored and the enemy team gains 500g. Only one gold statue per team allowed at a time.
Glove of haste: Removed
HEROES:
New hero: Ringmaster
Q: three ring circus: spawn one of three different animals, randomly.
Elephant: stuns enemies around in AOE Monkey: throws at enemy, slowing and poisoning Seal: disarms and repositions enemies.
Units last long enough to have 3 spawned at once. (CD: 12, duration: 38)
W: cannon shot: shoot self out of cannon, moving large distance and sucking all enemies at location towards Ringmaster. They also gain the debuff, showstopper. For every command they perform, they have a 20% chance to not do the action. If this occurs, they receive 200 damage and cannot attempt that action for .5 seconds.
CD: 20
E: juggler: PASSIVE. Has 7 colorful balls he juggles which can be seen in his hud, rotating every .8 seconds. Every attack he throws the current ball.
RED: 110% crit BLUE: slow .6s YELLOW: disarm and silence .8s GREEN: poison for 2s, 40 dot PURPLE: -150 mana burn WHITE: heal self 100 BLACK: -7% max hp to target
R: bring in Clown. Summons Clown to help. Lasts 60s, CD, 180
Clown has abilities.
Q: Banana. Puts banana on floor. Enemy can trip and slid if stepped on (CD3, duration 30)
W: Pizzaz PASSIVE. Moves through units. If doing so, swaps two of their items locations and attacks for 100/200/300 (can occur every 1s) Cannot conventionally attack.
E: Honk nose. Aoe 500. Lowers cooldowns by 2 for allies and increases by 2 for enemies. Cooldown 3. When honk occurs, it deafens enemy hearing.
R: Circus Tent. Puts down tent. Enemies in 1000 AOE run to tent to see show. They can leave but must pay 300g x X0:00 minute for ticket to do so. Tent lasts 12s

ABADDON: Silenced heroes in a 300 Aoe are forced to attack you.
Alchemist: when attacking a unit with Chemical Rage, steal 3 gold per attack.
AA: if any enemy stunned by Cold Feet is attacked by Chilling Touch, it extends the duration by 5 seconds.
AM: new Aghanim. When using ultimate, all affected lose one random spell for 30s. Each time they are affected by this the duration increases by 45s.
Arc Warden: Clone can now clone, but for each instance all units lose 5% max HP.
Axe: each culling blade stack increases call and helix AOE by 10
Bane: enemies affected by any of banes abilites can spawn hallucinations around hero. Enemy has a 25% chance to get attacked by hallucination, and a 25% for their attack/ability to instead target hallucination.
Batrider: Bat ages as game goes on. Starts as child -> adolescent-> adult -> middle aged -> elder -> imminent -> dead. 10 minutes per stage.
Child: -70% stats Adolescent: +20% Adult: + 40% Middle Ages: 0% Elder: -50% Imminent: -99% Dead: batrider now walks, is renamed Walker, and cannot use Firefly.
Beastmaster: Roar now applies 2 stacks of axes for every ally unit in a 400 aoe from the target.
Bloodseeker: applying Blood Rite now spawns 6 candles in a circle around the area. If not destroyed within 9 seconds (1 attack), it summons a blood demon unit for 10 seconds. This demon in uncontrollable and attacks the nearest unit quickly, dealing .7% max HP per attack, attacking 6 times a second.
Bounty Hunter: New Aghanim Shard. Bounty Poster. Can post poster on cliffs. Enemy units that pass by the poster automatically reveal that unit for 45 seconds. Additionally they amplify all gold Bounty Hunter receives by 150%. 3 posters can be present at one time.
Brewmaster: units all have a drunkenness gauge if Brewmaster is in the game. All of his abilities (including primal split) cause a certain level of drunkenness. As that meter increases, a % modified applies to: ability cooldowns, movement speed, and vision (screen gets slightly blurry)
Bristleback: ultimate ability now is an active. Brawl. Pressing causes all units in a 600 AOE (allies included) to uncontrollably attack each other for 7 seconds. No item passives will apply. If someone is killed, they pay their death gold loss to their killer, they also spawn with a movement speed penalty of 80% for 10 seconds and cannot TP during that duration.
Broodmother: when enemy trips the Aghanim’s snare, 10 mega spiders instantly come upon the enemy and begin attacking them. They are equal in strength to 1.5 spiderlings each.
Centaur Warrunner: now has innate passive with his ultimate. Routing Flank. When ulting, if coming from enemies backside, they are feared for 3 seconds and weakened, applying -40% all damage for 5 seconds. If coming to the enemies side, only the weakened effect occurs (for 3 seconds).
Chaos Knight: upon using ultimate, each of his illusions have a chance to be one of the four horsemen, applying a new effect.
War: +100% damage Famine: reduce enemy regen by 70% Death: applies 8% max hp per attack Disease: attacks lower armor and magic resistance by 20% for 2 seconds
Chen: can now control any hero that is an animal for 5 seconds. Able to use any non-ultimate ability.
Clinkz: Skeletons when destroyed spawn Flame Bones. If enemies touch flame bone they receive 65 damage per second until they enter the river.
Clockwork: can purchase a unique item from the shop, battery pack. This amplifies his power by 30% but wears over time. Only going to fountain recharges.
Crystal Maiden: when in game randomly adds snow effects to the map. This makes it so that when snowing her abilities apply additional effects. (3 novas in a line, frostbite is AOE of 300, mana aura provides max mana (permanant),when ulting, two smaller ultimates move around the map at fast speeds). If the random weather effect is Flurry, these are increased further.
Dark Seer: when casting his ultimate, it spawns a wall at the casted location and at every location casted previously. Can duplicate creeps and neutrals now.
Dark Willow: can cast cursed crown on a tree to apply the effects around it. This curses the tree disabling it from being destroyed. Any abilities cast within 300 from the tree are improved. (Brambles spawn around cursed trees, cursed crown deals +80 dmg per cursed tree, shadow realm increased by .05 duration, fear applies in 200 aoe from cursed trees, and each cursed tree spawn a weaker bedlam)
Dawnbreaker: has innate passive. Map is always sunny weather. Applying 3% blind to all enemy units.
Dazzle: changed Aghanim’s shard. Now puts hexes enemy units affected by poison touch. When attacked, applies a random increase to the cooldown of each enemy ability currently on cooldown. Range: .25 - 4s
Death Prophet: new AGHANIM: when killed, spawns a crypt while she is dead. This can cast crypt swarm in the four cardinal directions, has a permanent silence aura around it, and has 3, 7, 11 ghosts circling it. It can only be destroyed by being attacked once by 3 different enemy heroes. When attacked it soul siphons the hero.
Disruptor: new Shard: spawns a tornado that moves randomly around disruptor. It banished the enemy hero affected for 10 seconds. All Cooldowns dont tick down while affected and any effects from disruptors abilities are delayed until being unbanished.
Doom: while doomed, disables voice and text chat. Additionally disables any purges of other detrimental effects affecting the doomed unit.
Dragon Knight: new SHARD: Dragon Nest. Plant nest on a hill. It spawns whelps every 60s that push the nearest wave by casting fireball. Egg can be destroyed and can be seen from low ground.
Drow Ranger: Marksmanship reworked. Now when you attack an enemy unit. Debuffs them. For every subsequent ranged Unit that attacks them, they lose (2 -> 4 -> 8 -> 16 etc) % max hp. Each unit can only apply once per 60s.
Earth Spirit: new Aghanim: terraform. Turns remnant into a mountain. This is 2 regular ward cliffs with a taller higher cliff between them. Enemies on the cliff have 80% miss chance from being in the clouds, and lose 20% mana every second. If they get down from the cliff in any way, they lose 60% max hp from fall damage. Allies on the cliff gain: 400 attack range, 100% accuracy, and become “one with earth” a buff that gives them an automatic burrow for 2 seconds upon reaching 10% hp. They can move while burrowed at 3x speed. Buff lasts 20s
Earthshaker: can activate aftershock to create a small ripple. This get bigger every time he casts a spell. Expires if a spell doesn’t get cast within 7 seconds. Ripple slows enemies by 10%, increases by 200 aoe each cast. It also does 20 damage + 30 per subsequent cast.
Elder Titan: Astral Sprit can now attack and cast spells, including astral spirit. This can continually reoccur but they get weaker by 25% each time.
Ember Spirit: Burns trees he passes by. Trees take 200% longer to return once burned. Ashes from burned trees can be ran over to absorb. Doing so increases ember spirits health by 3, and his regen by .25
Enchantress: Impetus now pushes the enemy unit forwards upon being hit. If they collide with enchantress, they receive a debuff amplifying pure damage by 200% and then are knocked away by 2000 range. Enchantress can target anyone she kicks away for 10 seconds unconditionally.
Enigma: new SCEPTER: omniverse. Creates a realm on the map on the enemy secret shop. One use per game. When enigma enters, he can select one aspect from either an enemy or ally hero. He gets a choice modify that negatively or positively (example: ally Torrent AOE +80 / enemy hand of god -300 heal / +500 ally Warlock HP) He then returns to reality. This has a 300s cooldown, and he must enter the omniverse to do so again.
Faceless Void: each time faceless void bashes an enemy he gains 1 stack of “times up” upon having 100 stacks, the enemy respawn timer and buyback cost is increased by 50%.
Grimstroke: new SHARD. When active, grimstroke can draw on the map, three strokes. Each stroke replicates on the real map, damaging enemies (100 , 500 , 1000). If they are hit with two strokes, they gain +2s to their TP channels. If they are hit with 3 strokes, they gain +5s instead. Debuff PERMANENT. CD: 120
Gyrocopter: At nighttime ultimate is different. shoot a firework off. This dazzles all enemies for 5 seconds as they gaze towards it. Similar to Ignuus Fatus.
Hoodwink: added palm trees in the map. If next to a palm tree increases damage by 300.
Huskar: inner fire AOE increased the lower huskar’s HP is. If enemy is affected by inner fire and they are ult’d, they become taunted. New Scepter: minimalize. Become 1 HP and miniature model size (Weaver Beetle). Immune to damage for 2 seconds.
Invoker: swap E and R. E now invokes. R is exort. If invoker ever casts the same combination he already has, he gains a stack of inferiority. This does nothing but at 10 stacks he loses one orb.
IO: can no longer tether to allies on IOs team’s side of the map. Can tether to enemies applying negative benefits.
Jakiro: aghanim’s scepter: head. Gains a new head. Choose between Poison, Electricity, or Air. Gives new “liquid” attack and applies effect to ultimate.
Liquid poison: -20% mana, movement speed, and cooldowns
Liquid Electricity: make the target hop around uncontrollably for 3 seconds
Liquid air: blow an enemy item away to be grounded. The item will be closest to that hero so they are more inclined to pick back up.
Poison Macro: add -max hp loss (5%) per second while in area. Returns overtime after 12 seconds
Electric Macro: if enemy casts spells or attacks in area, they are stunned 1.5 seconds
Air Macro: Jakiro can move AOE around using new hotkey. Can be moved every 2 seconds. Increases girth and length by 150%
Juggernaut: Removed
Keeper of the Light: all AOEs increased by 100% during day and reduced by 50% at night. For each subsequent day increase all AOEs by 10%
Kunkka: if casting torrent storm in river, uplifts the entire river.
Legion Commander: when dueling all units spectate forcibly. If so, all heroes gain +10 duel damage. If any interrupt, they will taunt all other heroes to attack them for 3 seconds.
Leshrac: new Innate: has damage reduction based on the # of 7s in the timer. 25% per 7.
Lich: casting Frost blast applies a -1% slow that is only dispelled by death. Getting a kill with chainfrost makes all current stacks permanent.
Lifestealer: rage is now a passive that occurs when attacked. Cooldown: 8 seconds, duration: 2.
Lina: light strike array applies a debuff to units in the dead center. This enables all spells to crit for 175%
Lion: hexing enemy units can turn them into:
50% Fish: normal
20% Squid: inks all nearby allied units, making them slowed by 25% and causes them to have a 2 second delay to all item actives. Movement is propulsion every 1 second.
20% Shrimp: shrinks unit to 3% model size. If an enemy unit runs over this shrimp, they have a chance to consume, killing the shrimp.
10% Whale: increases unit size by 1000%. Bumps all units away. Cannot move. As this unit is damaged, blubber falls off and after a 2 second fall delay can crush allies to the Whaled unit, dealing 30% max hp.
Lone Druid: Spirit Bear can no longer carry items, but has attributes per level increased by 6x.
Luna: Has a chance when ulting to have the moon crash into the area around Luna. This deals damage equal to all Lunar Beams all at once. Once this happens, all of Luna’s abilities are permanently weaker. (Chance: 4%)
Lycan: Lycan’s courier is a wolf. The courier can attack units and has 4x the hp (4 melee attacks, 8 ranged). Courier wolf applies wolf disease on attack, increasing enemy fury, giving them a chance of 7% for their auto attacks to target a nearby ally. (Duration: 4, stacks)
Magnus: Reverse Polarity interrupts all enemy actions upon cast, globally. The unit then must do three different actions before being able to do any action twice. Afterwards, they are recovered from the disability.
Marci: new scepter: scoot. Whistles, having one ally sped up to sprint to Marci’s side, regardless of their location. Then they both gain unleash simultaneously. For each barrage, they both gain +20 damage and +5 armor. 6 total barrages.
Mars: Mars gains a quest to find the missing children. They are scattered around the map captured by enemy creeps. For each found, the creeps at the other children get stronger. Each child becomes a Follower of Mars that follows him, being untargetable. They sing his theme song, giving him improved status resistance (up to 80% with all 8 children)
Medusa: gains a new innate toggle: snake shot. Turns arrows into snakes. These deal less damage (30%) but they bite onto enemy heroes. Once bitten they slow down the enemy base attack time by .01 for each snake. Only through death or an antidote obtained by 3 materials from cut down trees can they be removed.
Meepo: has 4 unique Meepo Mounds at the cardinal directions of the map. Meepo can go to and travel between, after channeling for 7 seconds. He has a chance to find gold (50) or diamonds (500) when traveling.
Mirana: when in moonlight shadow, the first ability cast by all ally units does not reveal their location.
Monkey King: when using Tree Leap, places a banana in the inventory of the enemy, overwriting an item randomly. The unit will need to press the hotkey for that item to eat the banana to reveal the item, so that it can further be usable. Eating the banana takes .5s
Morphing: can now morph into Roshan.
Muerta: new SCEPTER: guitar. Plays music on guitar. Replaces all ability hot keys with strings on guitar. Playing notes damages all enemies in 800 aoe. Missing a note ends the song. If all notes are correctly played, deals added damage to all enemies and deafens them for 5 seconds.
Naga Siren: when singing, slowly sucks all enemies towards the middle of the song aoe. Any enemies at middle upon song end receive 3 second stun
Natures Prophet: now must teleport adjacent to a tree.
Necrophos: can pray at the dead bodies of heroes, gaining a chance being blessed by the dead god. If blessed, gains 0s Q cooldown. Lasts until death.
Nightstalker: when in aghanim’s aoe, makes night time timer and ultimate duration not tick down.
Nyx Assassin: can buy a unique Dagon Nyx. Recipe costs 5000 gold. Increases damage to 1200.
Ogre Magi: can now multicast non targeted items. Shiva guard, multiple blasts. Glimmer: targets multiple allies. Phase Boots: longer duration.
Omni knight: when killing dire heroes, gains +1 faith. Increasing armor by 2, and hp by 50. When killing radiant heroes, the reverse occurs.
Oracle: new innate: can activate an ability to see the movement of enemy cursors for 5 seconds.
OD: steals 2% maximum mana whenever killing an enemy. If enemy has below 500 mana past 45 mins, they are permanently killed.
Pangolier: when enemies attack him, his muscles can bounce attacks off of him. This causes enemy to be confused, reversing their mouse movements for 4 seconds. Chance to proc: 10%
PA: has a 15% chance to dodge all attacks, immune to true strike. Buildings can no longer miss attacks. When an attack is missed, can riposte by swiftly pressing the R key. Doing so leaps to enemy and instantly crits.
Phantom Lancer: can no longer burn enemy mana via diffusal blade. Now illusions can bash and cleave however.
Phoenix: if egg is destroyed or explodes, temporarily increases all vision by 3000. After 5 seconds, reduces all vision TO 200 for 5 seconds due to immense sun exposure.
Primal Beast: when throwing rocks, rips from ground creating a hole permanently. This causes creeps to have to construct a bridge to pass over; taking 60s to do so uninterrupted. Heroes can carefully tread over but have a chance to stumble.
Puck: whenever casting phase shift, purges all effects. Can be cast while disabled or silenced. Cooldown increased to 45s.
Pudge: flesh heap stacks now only occur from kills, but apply +10 strength. Creep kills provide .01 strength.
Pugna: enemies zapped by nether ward have the corresponding spell mana cost increased by 2 permanently.
Queen of Pain: enemies damaged by poison dagger scream every time damage procs, revealing their location through fog. If they are damaged by scream of Pain, they scream louder, silencing themselves for 4 seconds. If during the silence they are hit by Sonic Wave they scream again, even louder. This increases the silence to 12 seconds and is undispellable.
Razor: now is melee and ranged. simultaneously able to buy dragon lance and skull basher.
Riki: immune to gem of true sight.
Rubick: when stealing spell, if you kill an enemy with the spell 3 times, they lose that spell permanently. All stolen spells enter a spell book that will need to be clicked through to swap between spells (CD: 3)
Sand King: can erect pyramid. If near pyramid, sand king loses the ability to be damaged by magic. Pyramid lasts 20 seconds. Cooldown: 45. Erect length: 4
Shadow Demon: disruption becomes AOE banishing multiple heroes at once creating 2 illusions of each. 1 illusions will always been a shadow terror, attacking Shadow Demon himself vigorously.
Shadow Fiend: kills with passive apply permanent -1 armor to unit. Every 10 attacks against a building apply -1 armor as well to all enemies around it. If an enemy is at 0 armor or lower, shadow fiend deals 50 extra damage per negative armor.
Shadow Shaman: ether shock has a 10% chance to summon a serpent ward. Serpent wards can now slither towards enemy buildings. If a serpent ward is denied, it summons 2 new serpent wards in its place.
Silencer: Global Silence increases in duration by .5 every time it is cast.
Skywrath Mage: when killed, summons a son. Son can cast spells at 5% efficiency. If son is killed, skywrath mage acts at 50% efficiency until his next death.
Slardar: Bashing enemies have a chance to deal brain damage. Making them lose 3 intelligence. Chance: 4%
Slark: dark pact now applies debuff to enemies. When they debuff slark they lose 5 vision.
Snapfire: scattershot now shoots 8 projectiles that scatter in a much more vigorous pattern. These deal 12% max however. Range reduced to 150
Sniper: assassinating an enemy hero increases sniper attack and cast ranges by 50. After 10 stacks, stops increasing but makes assassinate unavoidable even via banishment.
SPECTRE: desolate damage increased by 400 if enemy is 4000 or more greater away from an ally hero.
Spirit Breaker: nether strike now can be cast while charging increasing damage and knockback by 300%
Storm Spirit: static remnant poses now change effects:
Laying down: +200 aoe T Pose: +150 damage Waving: root .6s Squatting: stun .2s Laughing: silence 3s
Sven: great cleave now cuts enemy Hp in half. Can only affect each unity once every 300s.
Techies: all abilities have a chance to be a dud or to be empowered. (10% and 10% respectively).
Templar Assassin: psi blades now deal magical damage, and can crit.
Terrorblade: there is a permanent terrorblade illusion in the enemy fountain. Unkillable. It will attack all enemies in the fountain, hindering their regen speed.
Tidehunter: at 60:00, a new golden anchor spawns in the rivers if picked up, replaced his current anchor and improves damage by 200, giving +25g each time he attacks. If enemy picks up, they deny from Tidehunter and gain +2000 gold.
Timbersaw: can pay 2000g for trip to psychiatrist. After session, for 120s gains immunity to all disables.
Tinker: can rearm buyback. Additionally, can now teleport to a special workshop, inaccessible to anyone else. In workshops can improve items by different aspects for differing costs. (Cast Range, Damage, mana cost, disable duration)
Tiny: can toss buildings, trees, cliffs, and stairs. Moving their location until tossed again.
Treant Protector: enchanted trees now vine whip enemies that come near. Having a 5% chance of stealing the items: Quelling Blade, and a 1% chance of stealing Gem of True Sight.
Troll Warlord: allies getting kills adjacent to troll gain battle XP. After 7 kills they become Warlord. Example: Warlord Warlock. Gives ally fervor, with max stacks of 4.
Tusk: Walrus Punch has an increase critical strike against enemies units that are above 50% hp but below 85% hp. Damage increase +80%. For enemy units under 5% hp, if they are killed, a walrus spawns for 15 seconds that attacks enemy units.
Underlord: Firestorm is now blue and deals mana damage instead of HP
Undying: now always respawns from his current location instead of the fountain. Upon respawning, automatically casts all 4 abilities to the closest unit.
Ursa: fury swipes cause 1% max hp loss per stack instead of added damage.
Vengeful Spirit: wave of spirit fears enemies for 3 seconds. If they are damaged by magic missile, increases duration by 3.
Venomancer: poison sting increases in damage every second. Even if reapplied. +4 damage per second. Duration increased to 40 at level 25.
Viper: viper strike now stuns. If the enemy does not die from the effect, they gain a debuff increasing the duration of subsequent viper strikes by 30%. Loses all stacks upon death.
Visage: armor randomly changes, constantly. From a range of -30 and +55 of the true value.
Void spirit: astral step distance increased to 3000. If void spirit kills an enemy this is increased by 200.
Warlock: Grimoire is now a targetable unit that follows Warlock around. If destroyed, warlock can no longer cast abilities for 30s until it respawns. If it is destroyed 4-6 times (random amount). It summons the eternal dread demon. Unkillable monster that deals immense damage.
Weaver: geminate attack has a chance to shoot an extra projectile. +.25% chance per geminate attack used in the game.
Windranger: gale force is now a passive that always follows wind ranger around. AOE decreased by 50.
Winter Wyvern: winter’s curse applies a disease to the affected units. They slowly lose willpower after attacking their allies and grow in insanity. Their abilities will randomly swap locations, items will fail to work, and casting spells loses health in addition to mana. The disease is only healed by all 5 heroes moving at least 2000 range away from each other.
Witch Doctor: maledict has a chance to affect allies. Voodoo restoration has a chance to heal enemies. Death Ward is now basic ability but attacks 10% slower. Paralyzing Cask is now ultimate, and bounces 30 times. Stunning for 1 second each.
Wraith King: mortal strike remove aegis of the immortal from enemy units. Cooldown increased by 20, damage increased to 600%. However, any accuracy the target has is multiplied by 2; this attack cannot have accuracy applied to it.
Zeus: All abilities have a chance of targeting a nearby tree instead. Chance: 15%.

From the beginning...
Previously...
Cast (recently updated)

Part 2, Chapter 6

Morning dawns in other parts of the realm, but in Ironspur the sun must be nearly overhead to peek down into the steep valley. The dwarves seem to like it better that way. Dim lamps, frequently of luminescent lichens and permanently enchanted stones light the ways for those that need only little light, but the Trade District and the Terrace house non-dwarves who prefer more light, so the lamps are brighter. Shadows jump around as people come and go about their business. The innkeep comes round to each door and raps gently to call the guests to their breakfast, a hearty dwarven porridge with a small beer which, Novos finds out, does not mean that the tankards are small [1]. Felicity begs illness and remains in her room. The rest of the party cleans up a bit, and as they are ready to go, a dwarf appears to escort them to the Ambassadors Hall. This is a stone and timber structure just inside the main gates of Ironspur, where visitors (which are typically anyone not a dwarf) are generally not permitted to just wander around by themselves.
As they enter the hall, the gruff dwarf guards require that all weapons are left outside. Zander, Arthur, Atticus, and Mar leave swords, daggers, and shields behind, while Dillium leaves her staff and everyone waits patiently for Novos to divest himself of what seems like way too many knives and daggers. Arthur briefly considers shaking him upside down to see if anything else drops out, but figures that would reflect poorly upon the party. They are brought into a waiting room with bare stone benches and… nothing else. Two guards stand watch over huge bronze doors with a relief picture of the (probably mythical) founding of the city many centuries before. The party hangs out. Then they hang out boredly. Novos, still working on his puzzle box [2], and out of way more curiosity than he should have, Zander asks what is inside the puzzle box? Novos doesn’t know, but it doesn’t rattle around, so obviously it’s something good. Or another of those explosive runes [3].
Zander is pretty sure it’s lunch time based on the state of his rumbling stomach when the huge bronze doors open and the group is ushered into the hall. The hall itself is vaguely amphitheater-like, with raised rows of benches around the periphery, but the floor contains a round table with the middle hollowed out. It is into this center that the party is led. The table seats half a dozen or so dwarfs, many of them with grey beards, all of them luxuriously coifed. Arthur somewhat self-consciously strokes his own beard which now has grown down to his belt.
"The Thanes o' Ironspur recognize ye, Arthur Corinthus, an' ye, Zander Roaringhorn. Tae whit dae we owe th' honor o' yer presence?" [4]
Arthur steps forward. “We do come at the bidding of the Duke of Soravia, Edmund Emmerask. He has sent us to tell of the happenings these weeks past in Bloodstone Pass. The Warlock Knights grow ever more bold, and have been seen to bring forward mighty siege engines, presumably against the Damaran Gate. The duke would seek allies in this time of preparation, as he believes war is inevitable.”
One of the older dwarfs [5] speaks up. "Aye, we hae heard these tidings, an' they dae bode ill. It wis ma ain faither who led th' Stane Shields tae push th' Witch King's army back frae th' gates o' Ironspur, an' tae free th' human toon o' Helmsdale."
Another dwarf speaks up. "Though we dae nae bow tae th' human queen, we dae recognize that we are neighbors, an' we often share th' same tribulations. Whit wid ye hae this council dae wi' this information?"
Arthur responds, “I ask nothing in particular now, but there may come a time.” Several of the dwarfs chatter amongst themselves in their own tongue. Seeing that he is losing the initiative, he says in Dwarven, “Is there anything that we can do for you, particularly in the surrounding countryside, as we intend to continue looking for allies for the duke?”
The elder dwarves signal that they wish to converse, and the party is led out.
***
The group is led back into the chamber. One of the youngest dwarves in the room starts off. “"Is there naethin' that th' queen asks o' us at this time tae prepare fur th' comin' storm?"
“Nothing specific at this time.” Arthur responds.
"Aye, I see. An' are ye intent tae roam these lands searchin' fur allies? I wid ask that ye dae us a boon. An auld forge that wis laid cauld some time ago appears tae be in use again. I wid ask that ye check in on th' forge, an' shut it doon again."
Arthur agrees that they can do that, but only require a map. "Aye, certainly – wait, ye want a map abuin grun', dinnae ye? I'll see whit I can dae."
Dismissed, the party returns to their inn for a late luncheon. As they are sitting down, an elder dwarf and an attendant shows up. He introduces himself as Borl Hedelstone of Clan Hedelstone, and asks if the group would be willing to do a favor for the clan. The Hedelstones have fallen on bad luck over the past several decades, [6] and put much of that to the loss of a major family heirloom. "Ma uncle Boran wis ... a bit indescreet an' bore a son tae his third mistress." [7] He goes on to tell (in few words), a tale of sorrow and misfortune. Boran’s wife died giving birth to his only (legitimate) son, who then died in an accident in the mining tunnels. Likewise, Boran’s bastard died young, along with the mistress. How they died was not mentioned. It is tradition to lay a hammer on the tomb of the dead. Borl believes that an important family heirloom was laid on the tomb of the illegitimate son, and wants it returned.
A moment of conversation amongst the team does not in any way ask important questions like, “why can’t the dwarves do this,” or “what are the long-term political and socio-economic effects of taking this on.” Instead, they briefly discuss whether the money might be worth it. They decide it is. They are advised to dress darkly so as to cause fewer questions. Borl agrees to return to collect them late after dinner. Novos comes up with the brilliant suggestion that they should all be disguised as dwarves. He spends all afternoon with his disguise kit, and the results are astounding. Nearly anyone who looks at them would wonder at the extremely tall (and one extremely thin) dwarfs, rather than the humans and elf they are. Borl comes to collect them as promised, giving them a startled look before nodding. Telling them to be quiet, he leads them through the main gates into Ironspur, through the main hall, and back to a smaller side hall. The group goes first up, then down, further and further into the mountain. Eventually, they reach a side tunnel that nobody knew was there until Borl showed it to them. "In through there. An' mind that ye bring back th' proper hammer." Borl hands them a replacement hammer to lay on the tomb.
Dillium soon grows tired of Novos bumping in to her, and Zander is making enough noise to raise the dead as he trips in the dark. She Lights her staff. The group comes to a room with five statues. Boran and his father are both there, as are three other dwarfs that look enough like Boran that they could be his brothers. Novos notes that there are faint scratch marks on the floor that appear to be from one of the statues being moved. Arthur puts his shoulder into it, and shoves the statue back, revealing a hole in the floor. Dillium goes first (because she has the light). The party finds themselves in a tunnel. One direction has frescoes of a dwarf doing various dwarf things, along with a woman dwarf. (I mean, in the fresco she is quite obviously a female dwarf, even though—or even because—her beard is even more luxurious and well kept than the male dwarf’s.) The other direction contains frescoes of a young dwarven boy doing … well, young dwarven boy things with his mining hammer and some tunnels. The group follows that hall down to a trio of doors. Novos asks which one is larger, and Arthur, knowing they are all about the same size, points to one. Novos checks for traps and then pushes the door open. Inside is an oddly shaped room. The wall behind the sarcophagus depicts father (with beard), mother (with beard) and son (no beard). Other frescoes that reflect a happy family are painted on the walls around the room. Arthur is about to make the switch when Dillium asks, “why are you messing around with that one? This looks like the legitimate son. We want the other one.” Realizing their mistake, they move on to another room.
The next room has a long and elaborate family tree. A few minutes’ hunting leads Arthur to find both Boran and his son, but also Borl, his nephew. The searching also reveals (to Novos), a secret door. Checking for traps and finding none, he confidently opens the secret door. “DO NOT DISTURB MY SON!” booms out a booming voice. Unfortunately, because it’s in dwarven and only Arthur understands dwarven, the effect is largely lost. What isn’t lost is the two stone statues that emerge from the room and attempt to kill the party. The group is in fine form though, and destroys the statues, crumbling them to gravel. The rather plain sarcophagus (it has etchings on it that only Arthur can read) in the room has a hammer atop it, and Arthur makes the switch. Novos scoops the gravel and dust back into the secret room, and closes the door. Figuring they got what they came for, they ignore the entire rest of the tomb and return down the hall, climb back up into the room with the statues, replace the statue over the hole and make their way out. Borl anxiously awaits them in the tunnel, and eagerly takes back the hammer from Arthur. He leads them back to their inn, where his attendant gives them a chest with eight trade bars of bloodstone. "Speak o' this tae naebody," Borl reminds them unnecessarily.
The next morning, after their hearty breakfast of dwarven porridge, the group is met by yet another dwarf. This one bears a crude map of the surrounding mountains with a rough x where the abandoned forge is. He apologizes for the drawing, but dwarves don’t normally travel above ground, so this one was made hastily by some of the Stone Shields who had been in the are a decade before.
The group heads out, and while they spend several hours more or less aimlessly wandering round, they finally find a stone entry worthy of having been built by dwarven hands. They approach the entry, but are stopped by a young man.
“What are you doing here? Go away. This is my cave now.” He says. The man, hardly more than a boy, has shocking red hair, a ruddy complexion, and misshapen features.
The group try to persuade, argue, and even run past, but they find him to be quite intimidating. Novos, for instance, darts past him to get into the cave—or at least he tries, but the lad shoots out one very strong arm and stops him in his tracks.
“Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry,” he says. [8]
“Maybe we should offer him money. He looks poor, and poor people usually like money.” Zander opines.
End of Chapter 6
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_beer
[2] Purchased so many months ago in Chapter 24
[3] one of the “treasures” the party recovered in Chapter 23 was so trapped.
[4] Poorly translated language courtesy of ChatGPT.
[5] Much of the background for the dwarves of Ironspur comes from https://talesofthebloodstonelands.obsidianportal.com/wikis/ironspur
[6] See in particular https://talesofthebloodstonelands.obsidianportal.com/wikis/council-of-thanes
[7] Hornhold Crypts by Roving Band of Misfits Press
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXlH5iR0Zmw

The grove fell into silence.
Elincia stepped back with a bewildered expression, the shotgun still smoking in her hands. She must have used one of the shells crafted by Ginz. The Assassin's body lay at my feet. The slug tore through his chest. I gave a quick look at my surroundings. The Flame Mage lay a few meters away, half-hidden behind a tree.
“Are you alright, Eli?” I asked, snapping out and stumbling toward her. My legs were jelly, and my mouth tasted like blood despite not being punched in the face. Not that I remembered, at least. The last seconds of the fight were chaotic.
“I’m okay,” Elincia muttered, massaging her shoulder. “I didn’t expect the shotgun to be so effective. That’s all.”
Although Flame Mages and Assassins weren’t highly defensive classes, the Assassin was Lv.31, and the Flame Mage’s level was probably even higher. They were leagues faster, sturdier, and stronger than normal humans, but not enough to endure a high-speed metal slug.
The shotgun had to be kept hidden from the public's eyes. No noble, merchant or crime lord would look past a weapon that could nullify the boons of the System. And those were the kind of people I wanted to keep away from the orphanage.
I looked around. The fight was over. A tree had caught fire, and half of the gravestones had been destroyed or damaged, but the four of us were alive—not in perfect condition, but we had survived. The adrenaline rush passed, and the pain assaulted my burned skin. I suddenly understood why potion toxicity was such a big deal among Alchemists. A potion at the right moment was a free cheat death card, but high toxicity nullified that option.
I was about to ask Elincia for some poultice or herbal balm when Astrid emerged from behind a tree and approached us in a rush. She bumped into me but grabbed my jacket to prevent me from falling. Ignoring Elincia, she grabbed my wounded arm and placed her hand a few centimeters over it. Out of nowhere, a green light washed over my burned skin, driving the pain away.
I thanked the System for giving her a set of skills; otherwise, we would have been dead. Elincia looked at us with a mixture of relief and disgust, which only deepened when Risha emerged from the grove.
“Aren’t you ashamed your girl had to save your ass?” Risha approached with a smile from ear to ear and wrapped my neck with his overgrown biceps.
“Get lost, Risha. Your massive body is obstructing my work,” Astrid growled before I could answer.
“That’s no way of talking to your older brother after almost a decade away,” Risha said, extending his arm to encompass both of us.
The green healing light flickered.
“Brother? The last time I saw my reflection in the mirror, I wasn’t an overgrown olive like you,” Astrid replied, annoyed. “Now let go of Rob before I claw your face off. You are interfering with my Quest.”
I slipped away from Risha’s grasp and got away from Astrid’s healing magic. My arm wasn’t completely healed, but it looked a lot less disgusting. Risha had a knife buried in his shoulder blade not a minute ago, and Astrid’s face was still covered in blood. I wasn’t the one who needed medical attention the most.
I was about to complain about Astrid’s triage, but before I could say anything, a prompt surprised me.
Enemies slain!
Level up!
New skill acquired: [Runeweaver’s Encyclopedia]
Level up!
Level up!
New Skill acquired: [Rune Debugger]
My new skills would have to wait.
The implication of gaining experience by killing other humans was disturbing, even more so considering the amount of experience distributed. The Matriarch Boar had given me a single level, and the experience had only been spread between three. We were four now, and I had gained thrice as many levels. I looked around. Everyone seemed to have received a prompt similar to mine.
A second later, Astrid and Risha were howling to the moon. I had to admit I was tempted to join. The pain of the burns was replaced with a blissful sensation as the levels piled up. The System knew perfectly well how to promote leveling up. With time, I had come to accept the fact that the System could modify my brain, but a part of me still felt a bit of panic about it.
“Come on, Rob, Eli. Join us!” Risha said.
“You better explain why you showed up before I did,” Elincia cut him before he could utter another howl.
I had the same question. Risha’s appearance had been a bit too convenient.
“I’m renting across the street. There is no way I wouldn’t be watching the orphanage with the Odrac-Aias goons running around like the rats they are,” Risha replied. “I didn’t want to intrude, but I didn’t want to leave the orphanage unsupervised.”
“I don’t believe you,” Elincia cut him off again. Despite the levels we had gained, she wasn’t as excited as the others.
“Come on, Eli. Cut me some slack,” Risha sighed. Suddenly, he seemed to shrink. “I’m sorry for the difficulties you lived. I’m really sorry. I’m sorry about the money not reaching you, but you are not the only one struggling. I have been sitting at the tip of the spear of the royal army for most of the last eight years, fighting horrors you can’t even imagine! Mister Lowell taught us the world isn’t a nice place. He told us it will never be easy, but you are making things harder for yourself. You are just being obstinate for the sake of it.”
Elincia recoiled, surprised. She opened her mouth but was at a loss for words. I agreed with Risha. Even if hatred had pushed Elincia through all these years, she had to let go. Now that she had the whole picture, she had to give them a chance or cut the ties forever.
“It’s over, Elincia. Look around you. You are not alone anymore,” Risha said.
“No thanks to you, you infected pustule,” Elincia said.
“Better a pustule than a knife-ears,” Risha replied.
Despite Elincia’s harsh words, she had a smug grin on her lips. Risha smiled back.
“Welcome home, idiots. I hope you two have money. We don’t like freeloaders in this place,” she said.
Her sudden change of heart surprised me. Elincia’s mood was volatile under stress, but I didn’t expect her to suddenly open her arms to Risha and Astrid. Not that I wasn’t happy with her resolution, but I gave her a half-quizzical, half-worried look nonetheless.
“What? I only forgive them because they are helping around for a change and because you seem fond of those two,” Elincia said, playfully bumping me with her hip. “...and because I gained a couple of juicy levels.”
I sighed. This was the weirdest school reunion I had attended in a while. The corpses and the burning tree didn’t make the scene more welcoming, but at least Elincia was open to starting a new chapter in her life. Elincia was right. I was getting fond of Risha and Astrid.
The manor's backdoor slammed open, and Ginz emerged from the shadows. He was dressed in his silk yellow sleeping robe and fluffy slippers, hoisting a light stone in his left hand and a strange, cylindrical bronze object in his right hand. He stumbled across the backyard until the stone's light reached us and let out a small scream. Then I remembered Ginz couldn’t see in the darkness like Elincia and me. When he came closer, I could notice a certain glint of insanity in his eyes.
“Where are the bad guys?!” He yelled, raising the bronze cylinder.
“Is that Ginz?” Astrid asked
“No way, Ginz would’ve cowered inside the manor,” Risha replied.
“Hide? I have nothing to fear. I have dominated the power of explosions, and nothing will stand in my way!” Ginz replied, offended.
Then, my brain made sense of the object he had in his hand.
“Is that a makeshift explosive?” I interrupted Ginz before he could continue his tirade about crafting classes' superiority. The object in his hand looked very much like a pipe bomb.
He turned to face me, and his eyes gleamed with madness.
“Makeshift? Please! This explosive was crafted with the finest materials available,” Ginz retorted.
A small detachment of Guardsmen entered the backyard, interrupting the reunion. They had taken longer than I expected. For the next hour, their Healers took care of us while two Mages used water from the well to extinguish the burning tree. Explaining the six bodies wasn’t as easy as I expected.
To make things worse, a squad of royal soldiers appeared a few minutes later. Luckily, the sergeant was friends with Risha, so the situation went much smoother. We had to answer many questions, but the invaders' matching uniforms were enough for the Guardsmen to believe our story. In the end, they seemed to accept the theory of a bunch of criminals wanting to raid the reserves of a high-level Alchemist.
Almost an hour after the first Guardsmen appeared, Captain Kiln and Sir Janus arrived at the scene. At that point in the night, I had no energy left to entertain the new guests, so I quietly asked Captain Kiln to discreetly deal with the corpses. I didn’t want people investigating gunshot wounds. After promising her a new game, the five of us returned to the kitchen.
Ginz's makeshift explosive was left in a trunk inside the old shed, sealed with a padlock. I considered disarming it, but Elincia was curious about the device. I didn't have the energy to argue.
Risha noisily rummaged through the kitchen drawers until he had a kettle whistling on the stove. For some reason, he didn’t seem tired after the fight. Not even the bandages around his shoulder and back seemed to hinder him. In comparison, I felt like I had put my arm inside a yellowjacket nest, only to be trampled by a herd of bison immediately afterward.
Elincia sat by my side and happily rested her chin on my shoulder. None of the group seemed to be particularly affected by the fact we had killed six people. I looked inside me. I expected to feel more disgusted, but I only found a wave of relief and the leftovers of the pleasant sensation of leveling up.
I reminded myself that, despite the levels, this wasn’t a game. This was the real world. It didn't work, and I only felt more relieved. The orphanage was safe, and that was all that mattered. Sure, deep inside, I wished for things to be different, but the outcome wasn’t within my control. The invaders decided to attack the orphanage. They started the hostilities, not me. I just responded to an external threat.
Not feeling bad made me feel bad about myself, but I decided to deal with those feelings later.
“I didn’t expect to see the pup here,” Risha said, pointing at Astrid with an empty cup. “What have you been up to? I heard you abandoned the orphanage when I left for the army.”
Astrid pouted. “Screw you, Risha, I’m level thirty-one now. Zealot. My class is better than yours, and I didn’t go away because I wanted to. The System needed me in the capital.”
Risha raised his hands, surrendering, and gave Astrid a reassuring smile. He was the old brother who loved messing around with the youngest, but he loved them nonetheless.
“Not a Brawler anymore. Your big bro is a Defender. Leven forty as of tonight,” Risha replied with a smug grin.
It was no wonder he was so happy. Lv. 40 was a huge milestone in this world. Although level progression was significantly slowed, the gains with each subsequent level increased significantly. The difference between Lv.1 and Lv.20 was negligible compared to the difference between Lv.20 and Lv.40. Risha had entered the domain of the ‘high levels’.
“It took you an eight-year tour through the Farlands to reach level forty? Pathetic,” Elincia said with a mischievous smile, clinging to my side. “I did it while taking care of a bunch of orphans. Check this out.”
Name: Elincia Rosebud, Half-Elf (Light-Footed, Night Vision).
Class: Alchemist Lv.40 Titles: Governess, Wild Child, Bad Reputation, Better Half, Wild West Hero, Silver Alchemist, Favorite Teacher (5).
Passive: Archery Lv.3, Tracking Lv.5, Farsight Lv.2, Foraging Lv.5, Shooting Lv.1.
Skills: Potion Crafting, True Shot, Piercing Shot, Purify Water, Quick Aim.
The wooden cup slipped through Risha’s fingers and rolled to Ginz's feet while Astrid threw daggers at Elincia with her eyes. It seemed Astrid hadn’t let go of all her envy for Elincia. Not yet.
“I’ll be level forty by the end of the year,” Ginz shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
“If Ginz gets to level forty, then I don’t want to,” Astrid retorted.
“I was about to offer you help, you know?” Ginz raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t want it, I will have to focus on getting Elincia into level fifty. I’m sketching a machine to process ingredients so an Alchemist can work directly with the essences. It’s five times faster than normal brewing.”
Astrid threw herself on the table, begging Ginz to help her instead.
“Ginz has changed. He can joke for once,” Risha pointed out in amazement.
“Blame Rob’s obsession with picking up strays and domesticating them. Ginz is almost a man now. You should learn one or two things from him,” Elincia replied.
“Like trusting my friends instead of making plans on their backs?” Risha said as he poured the tea.
“Exactly,” Elincia replied.
I didn’t need [Awareness] to know he was genuinely sorry.
“I’m working with Captain Kiln and Captain Garibal to expose the culprits and make things right,” Risha said. “I don’t think we will ever get our money back, but justice is something.”
“Do you think I care about your money? I make more in a day than you make in a year,” Elincia replied.
“Well, Then I will not have to worry about working anymore,” Risha said with an affected voice as he politely served Elincia a cup of tea. “Sugar, milady? Honey, perhaps? Or would you like a boar roast and a beer?”
Elincia cracked.
I was an only son, and I never knew why my father never had a child of his own with my mother, but I knew this was what a healthy sibling relationship looked like. Boastful, sassy, loving. I almost felt like a stranger—a guest in a foreign household. I smiled, glad that Elincia could’ve recovered this.
“So, Astrid,” Elincia said, and the room soon fell silent. “You are a Zealot now. What is your Quest? If you don’t mind telling.”
We all looked at Astrid, waiting for her response. The System's designs were a mystery for most of this world's inhabitants—not for me, though. I smiled. It was nice to see Elincia wanting to get along with her.
“My Quest? Oh, nothing spectacular. I just have to marry Rob,” Astrid said, dead serious.
Suddenly, even the fire from the stove seemed to hush.
“Shame,” Elincia replied, levering the shotgun open.
Risha threw himself on the table, trying to stop Elincia. “Astrid is joking! She’s trying to get under your skin because she’s jealous about your level!”
Elincia laughed.
As the atmosphere eased, the kitchen door opened slowly. We all froze. Then, Zaon peeked inside.
“Firana broke into my room, saying there were a lot of guards outside. She won’t let me sleep unless I promise to find out what you were up to,” he yawned as he rubbed his eyes. “She said Mister Clarke would be mad at her if she snuck outside again, so she sent me.”
I sighed. Firana was in so much trouble.
“Who’s Firana? Your girlfriend?” Astrid asked.
“N-no! She’s a girl, and she is my friend, but she is not my…” Zaon replied, rubbing his eyes once more. “Astrid? Risha? I need to tell Ilya.”
Zaon bumped against the door and disappeared down the corridor.
“He hasn’t changed a bit,” Astrid mentioned.
“You’ll be surprised,” Elincia replied, winking at me.
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