Chapter 260: A Paragon’s Pick

“Your skills are absolute bullshit,” Bren cursed, finally shaking himself from his stupor and snapping his jaw shut. “Paragon? Five choices from six levels? What kind of insane favouritism is this?”

“Hey, maybe you’ll get some soon?” Ann shrugged. “I mean, the Title is what’s giving me this, and none of you has that yet. If we’re doing all of what it sounds like we’ll be doing, that’s an eventuality, not a question. Also, if your Gods don’t give you something kickass, I’m going to complain.”

“Uh… uh-huh,” Kat mumbled. She looked lost in thought.

“Paragon choice a bit hard on you?” Ann asked, leaning up against her shoulder.

“Yup. At least she knows it’s a hard thing tae ask fer me. Appreciate the consideration instead o’ ‘er pushin’ that on ye.”

Rosalyn nodded, tapping one of her horns thoughtfully. “Yeah. Still, that Love one has to be objectively better, right? You get a crazy amount of Faith just from having people love you, plus the people we bring on board to our group are helping you even more. Like, you obviously are going to want to be sleeping around a lot. Kat kinda does too, if she’ll be honest with herself, but I don’t think that matches up on a numbers level, right Bren? Like, you’re getting the same amount right now, and you’ve got just Wendyl, this town, and some people in Korvas who might actually not like you right now? That’s nuts!”

“She’s right,” Kat nodded, breaking out of her funk. “Even if we were fine wit’ fuckin’ every blazin’ lady we run intae, don’t think we can measure up tae the wide scale o’ that second one. Also gives ye benefits o’ makin’ yerself a strong support network.”

“From a logistics point of view, it seems the most powerful as well. You are openly not attracted to men, so unless your network of people includes only women, that would be a limiting factor on the other one. If you have a leatherworker you want to include who happens to be male, or someone for Lucia’s rifle, the list goes on, that will also benefit you more.”

“Would be nice. Pyle do guns?” Lucia asked from the bed.

“No clue. She picked out my revolver, so I’d be shocked if she didn’t,” Ann said. It’d been a while since they’d run into the strange smith. “Alright, I’ll take Paragon of Love. As much fun as Lust would be, you all are right. Hopefully I get something super slutty later for you, Kat.”

Kat rolled her eye. “Aw, ye spoil me.”

“Ok, next couple. I like Shadowmeld, and it being something Waheela requested makes me want to take it even more. She knows what I’m good at, so it makes sense to trust that judgment. Also kinda don’t like the idea of another skill that makes people pay attention to me. Seems like something I can just do without the skill.”

Bren nodded. “Agreed.”

“Keep hands to yours,” Lucia grumbled.

“Not feeling up your man,” Ann laughed. “I think the next one is going to be Shot Through the Heart.”

“Now hold on, let us discuss that one,” Bren cut in. “A flat ten percent of health is an incredible amount of damage that scales no matter what enemy we are fighting. For twenty desire, that is a ridiculously cheap poison skill.”

“Yeah, but my pistol,” Ann pouted.

“Ye barely use the damn thing anyway,” Kat shrugged.

“She used it in the last fight! It helps to have a little versatility when it comes to ranged damage, and she’s not punching things that far away,” Rosalyn pointed out.

“It’s also something else that costs Desire,” Ann muttered, reading it over again. “Orenous is starting to stack those up. Makes sense. I haven’t really needed to worry about that in a while.”

“It’s also a pretty cheap damage buff tae the thing.” Kat reached over and pulled the revolver out of Ann’s pile of gear. She thumbed the cylinder open and spun it, inspecting everything. “Another thing that scales wit’ yer Faith, which is gonna be increasin’ more an’ more wit’ the Paragon skill.”

“She makes a good point, Bren,” Ann said, throwing the conversation back to him.

“She does. I can only offer my opinion. If you do go for the firearm skill, I hope that Toxic Love comes back at some point. It is uniquely powerful.”

“I’ll see if Orenous can put that on a later choice. Doubt She’ll tell me, or if She even consciously gives me these skills. I should ask Her about that.” Ann tossed the question into her chat.

[Bestest Goddess]: “Unclear.”

“Cryptic messages say I’ve got no idea, so I’m guessing with the not consciously given things, even though She can check in on skills,” Ann sighed. It was frustrating. Being able to optimise herself with Orenous’s help would be crazy.

“Wait, how’d ye know that?”

Ann blinked. “Know what?”

“What Orenous said about that?”

“Oh… OH! Shit, right! Orenous gave me a messaging system. Uh, think of it like instant letters? I can just send her questions and she can answer, or this cryptic bullshit part of her can talk back giving me awful answers.”

Rosalyn cocked her head to the side. “Wait, you don’t have to pray for that?”

“I actually asked her about that when I opened my sheet and found it just now. She knows I need some more contact with Her than I’ve gotten, so she set that up. That way, She can still be busy but also get updates more frequently. Also says that she’s sorry about the privacy thing, that she can’t help it, and will make a proper apology next time she can pop in.”

“We get a warning this time?!” Bren sputtered. “This is ridiculous! An open dialogue with a Goddess! Bullshit bullshit BULLSHIT!” he ranted, scribbling so furiously that Ann worried for the paper in his journal. “Even High Priests rarely get that level of clarity. Insanity!”

Ann laughed, a little nervousness creeping into her voice. “Hey, it helps all of us. Calm down, man.”

“I will calm down when you become normal,” Bren levelled the quill accusingly at her.

“Your blood pressure’s gonna hate you. Anyway, yeah, taking the gun thing. It’s felt like a leftover since I got Fistful of Love, and I’d love to change that. Maybe get some gun-kata bullshit. That’d be neat.”

She ignored the confused stares. “So, last one is Wolf’s Howl or Affability Aura. I like both.”

“Have we heard her sing yet?” Rosalyn asked Kat.

“Nope! Well, wait, yes, the other day fer Abigail’s birthday. I don’t think me makin’ ‘er sing in bed counts.”

“It should. She’s got such lovely moans,” Rosalyn sighed, looking longingly at Ann. “Even when she’s railing you into a puddle of cu…”

Kat cut her off with a hand over her mouth. Lucia had her hands over her ears, and Bren’s forehead had a vein pulsing in it.

“So she has a good voice, even if she doesn’t use it!” Bren’s voice was an octave higher than normal. “I think the howl will be more useful for our current situation. Rather than Ann using that soul enflaming she described, this is vocal, and can have a limited range.”

Howls pierce meager trees.

“Waheela says you’d be surprised how far a howl goes, but yeah, I agree. Am I a bard or am I some beastial rogue lady? I like the latter. Never liked performing.”

“Except in bed.”

Bren glared at Kat.

“Sorry! Sorry! It just flopped out. Ye know. Shite, I’m makin’ it worse. Uh, couldn’t keep it… I’m gonna shut me gob.”

“Do so,” Bren huffed. “So, that about wraps us up, correct?”

“Not gonna talk about Waheela having input on my skills?” Ann asked. She’d expected some curiosity on that point, but hadn’t gotten any questions at all. It made her wonder if this was really Bren sitting there.

The man sighed. “Your other revelations make that seem mundane. Increasing your trust and allowing her more leeway is going to allow her more influence. I’m frankly not surprised.”

“Yeah, but this also means your Warped could potentially have the same effect on your Paths.”

Bren paused in his writing, but picked it up with a small shrug. “I doubt it will be exactly as yours is. Kat’s relationship is antagonistic at best, Rosalyn’s suspicious and wary, Lucia actively hunts hers, and I barely know mine. It is too early to tell.”

“Is it, though?” Ann pushed forward. “Kat’s just gotten two draconic skills. One was an eye based one. Isn’t that too coincidental?”

“I’ll let ye know the next time I’ve got one-on-one time wit’ Dearc,” Kat growled. “I’ll bleed the answers outta it.”

Rosalyn stopped combing through her woolly hair and started petting Kat’s scaly shoulder. “You teach that meanie who’s boss, yeah? Stab it a few more times. I can give pointers!”

That helped a bit, Kat smiling. “I’ll take ye up on tha’.”

“Alright, so that’s skills, now the thing that I’ve been ignoring because I’m scared of it!” Ann announced. She reached into her pack and pulled out the book. It was still like it had been, the nondescript leather cover giving no indication that this was a messaging system for a mad Goddess. Ann hadn’t wanted to open it for a while. She’d been worrying that doing so would give her premonitions or something about near-future bad stuff.

She cracked it open to the first page and found several new lines. It was all in that strange swirling text that she could inexplicably understand. Bren wanted to make it a cypher and use it for encoding their stat sheets, but Ann didn’t know how to write it, so that was a moot point. Being able to read, but not write was a strange and uniquely frustrating feeling.

“First line,” Ann said, taking a deep breath.

Oh warrior of love so false/indifferent/true, breaking hearts is what you are called to do. Be it blood or tears, you spread only fears.

“Well, not a huge fan o’ ye,” Kat muttered.

Ann continued.

A child, one of Mine. He draws close and remains unknown/present/obvious. His goal to hunt/seek/murder is all-consuming. You will suffer/endure/overcome as I have.

“Weird warped. He?” Lucia asked. “Confirms hunt. First attack?”

“Has to be,” Rosalyn nodded.

A conclave of the spurned/ignored/blessed? Failures/exceptions/fortunate ones. My children grow hungry.

Another line.

He pursues you unrecognised. An endless malice towards the ones that abandoned/fled/escaped. Wary, yet of power he sees. The time is not yet ripe/ready/looming.

Another.

Infuriating/solid/strong have become the ramparts of man. Tear them down by your own hand. Let My children seek their purpose. They bring upon you salvation/alteration/doom.

“She seems very focused on this creature following us,” Bren mused. “That last message did not even seem to be directed at Annita. Even if it was, perhaps it was a warning of some kind? She knows this village exists, now. We are to blame for that, even should She not know the direct location. I fear this is why we had such a difficult battle the other day. Perhaps preparations were underway.”

“Doesn’t have a reaction to the battle yet,” Ann said, turning the page. The first had filled up, but there was nothing on the back of the sheet. “Unless She doesn’t want me to know what She’s doing next.”

“Ye notice ‘ow She’s callin’ our Pursuer a he? Didn’t think the gruesome thing’d have a gender. Figured it’d just be an it.”

“We calling it the Pursuer?” Ann asked.

“Makes sense in a really literal sense but what else would we call, the skull chaser? Maybe some kind of Collector or… I’m in so much trouble if I have to officially name any Warped,” Rosalyn groaned.

Ann actually took a minute to dwell on the creature. Names should be succinct, for the most part. Well, maybe not all of them. Could be like Watcher in the Dark or some of those older Tolkien names. Big grandiose titles like Haunter of Progress, Waiter in the Wings, Peruser of Skulls. Most of it was stupid crap, and she knew her brain was just sticking words together in random orders. Skullo came to mind, but that was taken.

“Fleshcrafter,” Lucia said randomly.

Wait, no, that one made sense, actually. It had started taking other bits and pieces, adding to its body like an absurdist sculpture. Fantasy stuff that used similar names generally portrayed people with that title as monsters who made monsters out of all sorts of people and creatures. She couldn’t very well just call it Frankenstein. She reflexively started the argument with herself that it was really The Monster, and not the Doctor, but in this case, it’d be the same creature doing both. Fuck it.

“Fleshcrafter,” Ann nodded. “I like it, honestly. Well, no, I hate it, but it fits. The thing is crafting its own flesh, right?”

“As macabre as the term is, I agree,” Bren said absently, still catching up with notes from before.

Rosalyn nodded along too. “Yup. That definitely works. Kinda on the nose, but also isn’t that kinda the point of titling and labelling things? To accurately describe them? Good job, Lucia!”

Lucia gave Rosalyn a confused look. “Thanks?”

“You’re welcome!” the Druid chirped back. She only confused Lucia more as she patted her shoulder happily.

“Way better than The Pursuer. Played a game with an enemy called that, and it’s pretty fitting, but I really don’t want this thing to gain curse powers, even if it might start flying. Uuuugh. Alright, so the Fleshcrafter’s obviously after us. The mad Goddess knows about it, and isn’t doing anything about it, and might actively be encouraging it.”

“Might? Bettin’ she set the bastard on us,” Kat grumbled.

“What interests me more is her use of triptychs when describing things. You have all noticed the pattern to them, right?”

Kat and Lucia shook their heads no, but Ann and Rosalyn agreed.

“I wasn’t sure since we had so few points of reference, but it’s definitely a pattern. One’s positive, one’s negative, and one’s neutral,” Ann explained to the lost women.

Bren waggled the quill at her approvingly. “Exactly. Why, though? I am of the belief that this is a hint. A clue as to her nature.”

“Or her bleedin’ insanity,” Kat chuckled. “We all know she’s a loon what got abandoned or left behind by the Gods, right? At least, she thinks that’s what happened.”

“Hm. Possibly,” Bren muttered.

“A split personality?” Ann suggested. “You all know what that is?”

“I can infer from the name,” Bren shrugged.

“Two or more personalities developed within a person. Usually, it’s due to trauma or extreme psychological events that force someone to cope via framing and experiencing their lives through set up personalities. Makes interactions more predictable and less stressful. Sometimes it’s problematic, sometimes it’s benign. If a Goddess has something like that? Holy shit that could be a problem.”

“This is why more people need tae punch their problems,” Kat groaned. “Makes everythin’ easier.”

Rosalyn smacked her shoulder. “Kinda insensitive, Kat.”

“Ugh, I guess. Just feels like way too much. If it works for people, then fine? I just don’t get it.”

“Me neither,” Lucia grunted. “Not practical.”

“Well, that’s why the muscleheads have the emotionally intelligent people to filter the ways of the world,” Ann teased. “But yeah, insensitive is right.”

“Fine,” Kat said, relenting. “Sorry. So our mad Goddess went so mad that She’s got multiple Hers in ‘er dome? That what we’re goin’ wit’?”

“Or that Her nature just makes Her speak or write like that,” Bren shrugged. “This is all conjecture. We can not know until we get more experience with Her and Her messages.”

“Any of your soul-friends talking about Her at all?” Ann asked the group.

Only Dearc and Xirali were strong enough to talk outside of their souls, so that was a flat no. Waheela refused to give up anything as well.

“Alright, then fuck it,” Ann sighed, leaning back on her hands. “We’ve got a name for our monster stalker. We’ve got a lot more new levels, and are stronger for it, and now we’ve got a little bit more for our big quest. I’m looking forward to this side quest with the Bultrite stuff. Think they’re ready?”

“It ‘as been about a week,” Kat mumbled. “We said two, but dinnae if Minnie’s figured ‘er shite out yet.”

Bren finally closed his journal. “Very well. I suggest we spend a couple of days helping people get back to relative normality, then strike out for Godrin’s Cliff. We can take Tarnu, Alruna, and Eyes, then leave them to deal with the return trip while we gallivant elsewhere to fulfill a promise. Sound amicable to everyone?”

Ann noted that Bren was starting to drop some words in his speech. Lucia was rubbing off on him, but she’d never let him know she noticed. “Sounds great to me.”

“Aye.”

“Sure.”

*Grunt*

With that agreed to, everyone got dressed to go help the town out.