Chapter 252
It was a relief to find that my previous evaluation of the attack was correct. Wed taken light casualties, nothing particularly unexpected. There were perhaps twenty or so people injured, and only three people had died.
I spent the afternoon visiting the families and loved ones of the fallen, making sure they were cared for, offering words of comfort that felt alien on my lips but seemed accepted and appreciated. The first two were more or less taken care of, with close ties to the Adventurers guild or other friends or family members positioned to look after them. Only one family had lost their primary Usera father with a defender class, and I spent perhaps more time than I should have ensuring they were settled and connected with other parties who could help them.
Now, I was situated in Iriss dark room adjacent to my mothers flat, running my hands through her hair as I reviewed my character sheet. Iris herself was non responsive, laying on her side and facing the wall, either asleep or pretending to be. Id been tempted to tell her about the potion, but given what shed just been through she wasnt remotely ready for that discussion.
And to be honest, neither was I.
Instead, I tried to take comfort in the silence. Let my mind wander as I reviewed my character screen.
Matt
Level 24 Ordinator
Identity: Myrddin, Level 24 ???
Strength: 6
Toughness: 12
Agility: 33+
Intelligence: 20+
Perception: 14
Will: 21
Nevertheless, in terms of stealth-build I was almost set. All I was really lacking for my use case was a practical way to disappear when stealth failed me, which I was using a mix of items to compensate for.
In terms of direct combat eh. That was a little more meager. I could scrap moderately well, and the combined psychological warfare I could reign down and bullshit I could throw out with my Ordinator abilities made me hell to deal with in a one-on-one fight with no interference, but that was in ideal circumstances. If I was outnumbered and surrounded, things were likely to get dire.
There was an ongoing attempt to rectify that weakness. was a Page Feat that gave me several basic combat skills Id be desperately lacking, starting with which was effectively a counter. Counter-attacks were already a priority for me before Id received the skill, now they just hit harder. And once the skill hit 25, would bestow another. Id continued to train the fighting-style Nychta gifted me, whenever I could. It wasnt flashy, but it was efficient and brutal. The problem was, it required me to be in some degree of flow-state. If pressed or surprised, I still had a recurring habit of falling back on That was still working for now. The style was exotic and relatively unknown, but eventually I was going to need to branch out more. It just wasnt hitting the same way it used to, especially against monsters and Users with high defense.
Last time I was caught skulking around a hostile region by a tough-as-nails bruiser with uncommonly high perception, Id spent nearly half-an-hour trying to bring him down before I caved and used my most recent acquisition, He politely did as I asked and jumped off the roof, only the fall hadnt killed him, and considering the racket he was making at the bottom his buddies had gotten to him before I could.
Yeah. I needed something else. Sooner, rather than later.
Though was endlessly useful, it was definitely situational. Id picked the ability at level twenty, assuming that after I had it, would take a back seat as a method of mental communication and subtle nudging. At first, second, and third glance, they seemed more or less linked. Suggestion allowed me to put thoughts in the minds of others, hopefully resulting in action. Command skipped the hope and forced that action.
There were quite a few differences in practice.
To use an extreme example, if I painstakingly convinced someone they could fly with the thought would probably persist. Theyd keep thinking they could fly even after they were proven wrong. Depending on personality and frankly, how stupid they were, they might even climb to the top of something high and try again. didnt persist the same way. Nor did it fill in the blanks and try to justify the action to the target like The target simply felt a compulsion to do as asked, and after they carried the command out, the compulsion faded.
Which meant Perceptive Bruiser spent the next few days screaming about how the mystery intruder forced him to jump before I could get to him and edit his memories with My only saving grace was that they hadnt connected me to Myrddin. In his mind, I was just a random stranger.
The longer I could keep people from realizing that Myrddin had powers of compulsion, the better.
And of course, the only recent addition to my boons was I knew precious little about it, beyond that it was a gift from Hastur. It had no dropdown text, which made me think it fell in the unregulated, system category.
Beyond my existing build, I didnt really have a plan for twenty-five. I think, on some level, I was hoping thered be a skill evolution, something to help me even the playing field. But if there wasnt, I needed to come up with an alternative.
After a few hours spent scrolling through feats and not coming up with anything definitive, I received a message that filled me with dread.
