Chapter 9: Creating a Balanced Party
Laying on the carriage roof under a blanket, I’m supposed to be asleep while Aarax is on watch beside me. My mind, however, is too busy. There are choices to be made, delicious, wonderful choices. Firstly, how to spend my five new skill points, and, secondly, which skill to make my afk levelling priority.
Wisdom from the streets says that it is better to maximise one skill and then another than spread your points. But the wiseacres of the streets did not have afk levelling and it is obvious to me that I should unlock five new skills, each of which will become maximised in due course. The new options available to me are: Shadowing (min. requirement, Stealth 5. Allows for following targets without being noticed); Blending (using crowds or urban environment to gain effective invisibility); Disguise; Camouflage (min. requirement Stealth 5. Effective invisibility in natural environments); Pickpocket; Forgery; Appraise Value (recognise fakes from truly valuable items); Tumbling (move near enemies while avoiding their strikes); Jump; Escape Artist; Fashion Rogue Device (such as lock picks or rope); Backstab; Short Sword; Two-Weapon Fighting; Use Magic Device; Create Poison; Knowledge (Underworld); Cryptography.
All of them are attractive. My inner crow wants to stay safe. My recent fight, which I know I would have lost had I been alone (a dead Crow on the stoney ground), teaches me that I have to improve my combat skills. For a start, I select Short Sword. With a sword in hand, not dagger, the inferni could never have blocked
twistpainblocked my attack. And for extra effectiveness with the longer blade, I select Backstab. Backstab allows a rogue to deliver significant extra damage to a surprised opponent. The skill would be wasted if I could not strike my enemies unexpectedly, but with my high Stealth, I was hopeful it would prove very worthwhile.
If I were to go all in as a fighting rogue, I would also take Tumbling and Two-Weapon Fighting. They might be the right choices but first I considered the others.
Disguise. Oh, I like the idea. And, after all, to compete my quest I will have to travel the world through many hostile towns and cities. I can’t restrain myself and I select it. Disguise suits my nature and surely there’s a lot to be said for following one’s instincts. None of the other skills have quite the same appeal, except perhaps Use Magic Device. Magic. I do delight in the thought of performing magic
magicalcrow would astound friend and foe alike. My heart says “take it!”, my calculating mind says, “this is a waste”. I do not need the skill to use magical rogue items like weapons and armour and rings. The skill allows me to use items like wands and scrolls that are normally only available to sorcerers and mages. And, of course, so long as Lisandra is with me, she can utilise these. Yet I listen to my heart and take the skill.
crowmagic!
That’s four new skills from five. Several more minutes of happy contemplation and I have narrowed my final choice to Two-Weapon Fighting, Knowledge (Underworld), and Blending. I am curious about the Underworld, the home of the inferni, and check the system information on the skill once more.
A character with Knowledge (Underworld) can effectively canvas the taverns, markets, and back alleys of Underworld to hear the latest gossip, rumours, and news from beyond official channels.
Knowledge (Underworld) also helps with the finding of shortcuts within the city; recognising particularly dangerous areas; discovering Underworld connections; and obtaining black market goods and services.
Skill checks can be obtained up to Level 5 by talking with citizens of the Underworld, after which the skill can only be raised by living in the city.
I would like this, of course, but I opt for Two-Weapon Fighting. The latter could save my life; I feel that the benefits of the former can be addressed in other ways.
With these new skills chosen and my gaining of Level 1 in each, the skill tab of my character sheet fills me with considerable pride and a sense of progress.
Name: Crow
Class: Rogue
Level: 2 (Knave)
Exp: 1,096/2,000
Stealth 5
Cooking 1
Two-Weapon Fighting 1
Pick Lock 2
Climb 1
Wield Dagger 1
Find Traps 1
Swim 1
Wield Short Sword 1
Set Traps 1
Read Magic Runes 1
Listen 1
Knowledge (Streets) 1
Spot Hidden 3
Knowledge (Religion) 1
Disguise 1
Use Magic Device 1
Backstab 1
Animal Friend 1
My mind turns to the question of the order in which I should raise them via my afk levelling. Now that I am a second-level rogue, a knave, the cap on all my skills is 10. So surely I should return to Stealth, that most crow-like and invaluable of skills?
I make that my choice and then do some planning for the future. My experiences over the previous few hours has taught me to value Spot Hidden. Once Stealth has capped at 10, I shall switch to Spot Hidden and then, when that is maxed, to my fighting skills
stabslashskills. First, do my best to avoid a fight; second, prepare to be as lethal as I can be when fighting is unavoidable.
My mind at rest at last, I’m suddenly very tired. In my dream I am in the temple talking with Mistress Aria, who for once is being kind to me. Do you dance, Crow? She asks. I laugh and explain that in the list of the skills needed to survive and flourish on the streets of Nekis, dancing comes low down, lower even than Cooking. While her face shows disagreement – an expression that seems natural to her – Mistress Aria says nothing, only picks up a toppled statue of Lord Scrithax in snake form and places it respectfully in its alcove. And yet it can save your life. The voice is that of my god, booming from the statue. I wake, feeling that I might have not made the best choices.
In the morning, after I have cooked pancakes for us all – wide, wholesome pancakes, which will leave me feeling full for hours – I listen as Lisandra leads a discussion about the classes she believes our comrades should adopt now they have all levelled up.
‘Without question, we need a healer. Now I know it’s not the most glamorous of classes,’ she laughs at her next thought, ‘as a cleric you can’t go setting inferni on fire. But there’s probably a satisfaction to be gained from keeping people alive, especially your fellow party members. I wouldn’t know, my satisfaction comes from blowing things up. I can imagine…’
‘Unless someone else would like to do it, I think I’d like to be a cleric,’ offers Aarax.
Mouth open in surprise, Lisandra blinks twice and then says, ‘well, that was easily settled. Thank you Aarax, I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful cleric.’
‘Druid,’ I say, ‘for like fluid poured from a broken flask, our lord’s mana pool is drained to the last.’
‘What do you mean Crow?’ asks Belle gently.
‘All of Lord Scrithax’s mana has gone; he used it to make me his champion.’
Lisandra nods her heavy head. ‘I’d forgotten that. The clerics of Nekis are no longer getting spells and won’t be able to until we make our lord stronger again. Crow is right,’ she turns to youthful coachman, ‘how do you feel about being a druid? At least you’ll be able to use healing spells. Your mana will come from nature.’
‘I like the idea. Shall I go ahead?’
‘Go ahead,’ said the sorceress.
With blank expression and distant eyes, Aarax seemed to become taller (and he was already some twenty centimetres taller than me) though it was just that his shoulders had straightened as he sat up, infused by the system providing him with new power.
‘Seven hit points!’ he announced with pride. Then he rubbed at his nose thoughtfully, eyes still not with us but with the system messages that must have been bombarding him.
The look of absorption on his face caused me to remember all the messages I’d been sent by the system the day I became a rogue.
I had recently celebrated my fifteenth ‘birthday’ and had gotten involved in a feud between the tailors’ guild and the barbers’ guild. At the urging of a friend in the barbers’ guild I broke into the tailors’ hall one night and carefully snipped at back of their new tapestry. This had resulted in consternation when the sewing was unfurled as a banner in the spring parade: the figure of the Necromancer stitched on to the canvas had flopped over and eventually it had been blown away altogether. Not only was my reward a lifetime of free haircuts
tidyhaired Crow, but the system had awarded me EXP and a choice of class. A thrilling moment.
I can understand why Aarax is smiling so much as he examines all of his new options.
‘Any useful spells?’ asks Gerard, with a note of scepticism, one suggesting he did not value the druid class.
‘At dawn each day I can mediate and learn two from Goodberry, a bunch of ten healing berries, each cures one point; Speak With Animals; Cure Light Wounds, cures six hit points instantly; Detect Magic; Create Fresh Water; Pass Without Trace, outdoors only; and Message on the Wind, range five kilometres.’
‘Excellent,’ Lisandra rubbed her fleshy hands together. ‘Next, we should have a proper fighter. No offense Crow.’
I shrug my shoulders and wave my hands outwards, ‘Fighting face-to-face is not for me; let me use Stealth, and then we’ll see.’
‘Gerard?’
‘I suppose so. Though I’d like my class to be more interesting than a pure fighter, do you know what I mean?’
‘A ranger?’ suggests Belle, but Gerard’s lip pulls up in a sneer.
‘Shadowknight?’ says Lisandra and the bearded man nods.
Lisandra looks down for a moment and then says, ‘We might have trouble with some of the good realms, but go ahead, it’s an effective class and you’ll make the Necromancer happy if you get some levels in Shadowknight.’
‘All right then.’ A pause. Then a triumphant tone. ‘Twelve hit points. And a spell: Siphon Life. I can cast it twice a day. To cast other Shadowknight spells I have to find the relevant arcane symbols. Like you sorceress, I must meditate on the symbol in the morning to store the spell in my mind.’
‘More importantly, we need you to get a sword or axe and put some points into fighting skills. It’s all very well casting dots but you need to be able to stand and hold off an enemy.
‘Now,’ Lisandra turns to Belle and smiles, ‘you can more or less choose any class, since we are already a balanced party.’
‘Shadow dancer,’ says Belle at once and I remember her saying this back in Nekis. She is lithe and quick. A shadow dancer is an assassin, nimble and evasive, hard to pin down. It will suit her.
‘If you are a shadow dancer, your skills will overlap with those of Crow, are you sure you wouldn’t rather be a bard? The social skills of a bard are going to be needed.’
‘There’s no harm having two stealthy party members. Nor in having two to remove traps and open locks. But in any case, I was thinking of concentrating on the skills that would let me move swiftly rather than cautiously, as Crow does.’
‘All right, be a shadow dancer. I’ve never actually grouped with one before. This will be interesting.’
As Belle makes her choices, we finish the pancakes.
‘I have six hit points and was given these class skills: Dance, Pick Lock, Find Traps, Set Traps, Listen, Spot Hidden, Wield Dagger and Stealth. In addition I’ve taken Tumbling, and I put two points into Backstab.’
‘Wonderful. Congratulations all.’ Lisandra rolls to her side and pushes herself up. ‘I suggest we go to Biddlecove and see what they can sell us by way of weapons and armour.’
It is a cheerful carriage that is soon rolling southwards towards the sea and even the two black horses – Valiant and Lamrial – seem to understand that our party is a merry one, for they prance and snort with liveliness. Belle has chosen to sit on the roof of the carriage with me and I wonder have I ever been happier.
‘I’m so excited Crow,’ says Belle. ‘I can’t wait to get to Level Two and get more skill points. And I’m going to practice my skills every chance we get. I just wish they would increase faster.’
‘Let me help you raise Spot Hidden; point out my challenges as you are bidden.’
My advantage in the skill allows me to observe rare flowers, trees, birds, and even a distant black bear that she has not noticed. I hope that each time Belle does meet my challenge, the system will award her a skill success. But that proves not to be the case.
‘Never mind Crow; I think it’s necessary to use the skill in a genuinely important situation to get a chance of an increase.’
This disappointment does little to spoil the morning. I feel free; Belle is beside me and seems as happy as I, with no Mistress Aria to drive us apart; our party has completed the first part of the epic dragon quest; and as a party we are much stronger now that we all have classes. And then there is my secret
afksecret. I have five new skills which I will be able to raise to Level 10 in the coming weeks. I am growing in ability and probably doing so faster than anyone else in the twenty-five kingdoms.