Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Taking it to Another Level

Silence reigned for the first few moments of this “Talk,” with both Gracie and Jace thinking the other should apologize.  As a forensic accountant, he had been in many hostile negotiations and figured he should get things started.

“Can you explain to me what I am doing that you don’t like?  I feel I am playing this game exactly how I played Conor’s RPG which won me the right for this opportunity.  Which part of that style is not working for you?  From everything I have experienced, it seems to be working.  I’ve had a few close calls, but I feel I can take on just about any challenge.”

Gracie soaked in this defense and understood most of it was correct but very naïve.  {You still see the realm in black and white, good and evil.  It isn’t.  Your insistence on playing that way has jeopardized this mission on multiple occasions.  That your skill as a player has allowed you to overcome these difficult situations does not excuse you for getting into them.  You could be so much more powerful if you embraced the gray morals of this realm and left your righteous virtues for the real world.}

Jace accepted this critique and saw that many of the close calls he had were because he refused to bend on his virtues.  However, he also saw that by placing himself in those difficult situations, the boons he received from getting out of them were often more significant than the standard rewards they usually produced.  Was there a trade-off achievable?  Could he mitigate the risks, bend his rules, yet still work an increased benefit?  He was about to commit to trying this, but Gracie wasn’t done.

{For those of us who have embraced the relativistic morals of this game, your rejection of them comes as a critique of everything we have done.  And then, when you succeed beyond anything I have ever seen, it makes the criticism that much starker.  I guess that is something I should be working on.  There is more than one way to see the world, and just because you disagree with my position doesn’t mean you are critiquing me.  The whole concept of the realm is that there is no right and wrong, so for me to label your actions as wrong is a bit hypocritical.  I apologize for that.}

Jace was about to add his apology, but Gracie was still not finished.  {There is something else you need to know.  Much of my dislike for your play style is a bit of transference.  There is another paladin in the game played by an Afghani Terrorist named Ahbid, who has the exact alignment as you and the same rigid interpretation of the world.  He killed my husband.}

Jace reacted viscerally at the statement but tempered his reaction by understanding that she meant they had fought in the game.  He was wondering how her husband fit into her unique job, and if his character was dead, that might explain why he wasn’t helping with this mission.  Then Gracie shattered that interpretation.

{And I don’t mean in the game.  Ahbid sent a hit squad against us, and Stephen, my husband, Conor’s brother, was killed.  They found our home address, and I barely escaped.  Conor and I went underground after that.  The government helped and set up several safe houses to access the game.  Ahbid isn’t on the US hitlist, as his targets are all in the Middle East.  By not targeting Western cities, he has flown under the radar.  Conor and I didn’t listen and went after him.  Stephen had always been my operator, but Conor stepped in.  Ahbid killed my character, and I haven’t logged in since.}

Jace heard the cracks in her voice and let her compose herself before he even thought about speaking up.  {When I see the way you play, it . . . it reminds me of him.  It reminds me of the man who killed my husband.  I know that isn’t you, but when you judge others and Convict them of their ‘sins,’ I can’t help but see how Ahbid judged Stephen and me.  Yes, he reached out to us in the real world because we were disrupting his operations, but he made it clear to me, as he killed my character, that he had paid particular attention to us because we were infidels.  We were Western idolaters, and Allah charged him to kill us.  So, understand that when you invent a god in this game and then use that god to cast Righteous Judgement or Convict, or you assume that characters are dishonest or progressive just because they live differently than you, I see the man who killed my husband.}

She was done now, and Jace took a while to let it soak in.  How was he supposed to respond to that?  “I am sorry for your loss,” he started but regretted it immediately.  She wasn’t looking for sympathy.  “I think you know my intentions in this game are not to judge you or your lifestyle.  I assumed Esther’s alignment because she was an undead hooker, but that doesn’t mean everyone with that alignment sells their body to others.  In the same way, I understand how an Islamist Fundamentalist would have the same alignment as me, but that doesn’t make me someone likely to set off car bombs to kill my enemies.”

{I know all this, Jace.  And I know that it is something that I need to work on.  I just need you to do the same thing.  I will try not to judge you against the unfair standard your alignment and play style bring to mind, and you need to do the same.}

He nodded.  “I think Esther is going to help in that regard.  I had the opportunity to change her alignment, but that is not what I felt I was Convicting her of.  My goal was not to free her from a wayward lifestyle but to remove the demonic and oppressive influences on her.  I did that, and now she is free.  I know that her sticky fingers and minimalist fashion sense will be challenging, but I will work to accept them.”

Gracie took a moment to collect herself before responding.  {I haven’t looked at Esther’s character sheet, but I am eager to do so.  I appreciate that you left her to be who she is.  That is something Ahbid would never have done.  He would have just killed her.  I will focus on what makes you different from him as long as you promise not to judge someone before understanding their motivations.}

“Agreed,” Jace said.

{Good, let’s deal with your level up quickly because I really want to check out your new sidekick.  You get three points to spend in Strength, which we will spend on Melee, Damage, and Athletic.  We can add another point to your Hit Points, which brings your max to 225.  And your two points in Spirit can go to Mana Pool and Magic Defense.}

“I agree with all of that.”

{Good, now for the fun stuff.  You have access to two divine spells, one at level 0 and one from passing level 5.  In another thousand experience, you will get a third.  Your Righteous Judgement is one of them; what should the other be?}

“What are my choices?”

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{Too long to list.  It is easier if you tell me what you are looking for.  The divine spells available to a player are based on their god.  Those with chaotic or pragmatic gods have spells that do damage.  Guile gods give access to illusions.  Dexmachi gives you access to defensive spells and boons.  You can cast a spell to increase your attack or armor class or provide yourself with protection against fire or charm spells.}

“What about critical defense?  A lot of people I attack have a defense against crits.  Because I’ve been able to get free 20s which come with an additional crit, I usually get three per attack, but I understand most attackers usually only get one.  Having protection against that would be a good idea.”

{Yes, you can learn the crit protection spell.  Also, whenever you level up, you can change the spells you know, so this isn’t a permanent choice.  If this spell doesn’t work for you, you can swap it out.}

“Good; now explain how it works.”

{You already know that you need five mana to change a skill by one.  This is a universal system that applies to everything.  You need five mana to do one damage.  You need five mana to increase your stealth by one.  A crit is when you exceed someone’s AC by ten.  To protect against a critical, you must improve your AC by ten.  So, the base cost is 50 mana.  This doesn’t actually increase your AC; it just protects you against a crit.  There are other spells to increase your AC where you aren’t locked into having to raise it by ten.  If you spent 50 mana and cast it on yourself, it will last for one round.  This is called a burst spell.

{If you want this protection to last more than one round, you need to pay the cost twice and then pay for the time.  Each round costs five mana.  So, if you wanted the protection to last ten rounds, which is standard, it would cost 150 mana.  You generate 200 mana in ten rounds, allowing you to keep this active all the time if you wanted, but you wouldn’t have any mana left for anything else.  The third option is to enchant this spell into an item like a ring or a piece of armor.  This allows you to make it permanent, meaning it will last as long as it needs to until you get hit by your next critical.  To make something permanent, it is the same as above, only now you must also pay twice the ten-round cost.  This would bring the cost to 200 mana.  You only have a pool of 216, but since you can cast this at night before you go to sleep, you have plenty of time to regenerate it.}

“Is there a way to make it permanent so it never goes away?”

{Technically, yes, but not in practice.  You need a +5 item that can hold 200 mana.  Every +1 that an item has allows it to lock in +2 points to a skill or +1 points to an ability.  Your belt gives you +4 to resist and is a +2 item.  You need at least a level nine item to hold 200 mana, and crafting a level nine item at +5 means you need at least five critical successes plus another one to put a spell in.  That would be a crafting roll of about 120.  You would have to pump up your crafting skill to 100 before you rolled to have a chance.  Your highest skill right now is your Mana Pool at 24.  I think you can appreciate how hard it would be to have a crafting skill above 100. Most high-level NPC crafters have a crafting skill of 40 or 50.  We can get into specific crafting abilities later.}

“Okay, so it sounds like putting the spell into an item is the best.”

{Yes, and no.  You need an item that can hold that much mana or already has the spell designed into it, so you don’t have to pay the total cost.  That ring you picked up from the dead elf mage is a level 10 and has a capacity for 250 mana, so it would work, but then you would only have room for 50 more mana to absorb damage.  It is more efficient to use the ring for its designed purpose.  A better option is your new necklace.  The illusion spell is powerful and requires a level 12 item to hold.  Level 12 items can hold over 300 mana, so there is plenty of room to put a 200 mana spell in there and still have room for over two hours of illusion.  Either way, this makes the choice for your next feat more obvious.  You are at an odd level, so you get to pick a Spirit or Shaman feat.  I recommend Enchant Item.  You can always dump mana into an item designed for a specific spell, but if you want to put your own spell in an item, you need this feat.}

“Okay, let’s go with that.”  Jace paused as he ran some numbers through his head.  “About that ring, though.  The mage I attacked absorbed 100 damage from me.  If the ring blocks one damage per five mana, and the ring can only hold 250 mana, shouldn’t it have only been able to block 50 damage?”

{The spell infused into the ring provides damage protection from slashing weapons.  When you specify a specific type of damage, you only pay half-cost, so five mana will block two slashing damage, it will block piercing damage as normal, and do nothing for blunt and crushing damage.  It’s kind of like your healing ring.  You get double the benefit when healing Ordered characters, the regular benefit for Balanced characters, and you get nothing for Chaotic.}

“So, I can’t ever heal Esther, can I?”

{Not unless you memorize a regular healing spell.}

Jace looked over at the sleeping woman, half her body leaning against his massive wolf, who now looked slightly bigger at level 9.  Esther’s Hit Points had been at 50 after her fight with the witch and the rumble on the first floor of the Gilded Swan, but now she was fully healed.  “How does health regeneration work?”

{When you are at rest, you gain Hit Points equal to your Vitality, which is your Resist skill plus your Spirit base.  For this to work, you must be genuinely at rest: no walking, no talking, nothing.  You can sit on the back of a horse or ride in a carriage, but any physical activity will not allow you to heal.  If you eat a substantial meal, that rate is doubled for the next ten rounds, and if you do any activity during that time, you still get a single benefit.  If you sleep, the rate is also doubled.  So, if you eat a meal and then go to bed, you get four times the healing.  You don’t need to eat to survive, but NPCs will complain about hunger, especially if injured.}

“Understood.  Let’s take a look at Esther.”

{Gladly.}

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