Chapter 199: Frustration

Chapter 199: Frustration

Bridget of Clan Warsong

Race: Orc

Primary Class: Lantern Light Landsknecht (19)

Secondary Class: None

Tertiary Class: None

Combined Level Rating: 19

Health: 200/200

Magic: 50/50

Attributes

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 7

Agility: 10

Vitality: 20

Fortitude: 10

Endurance: 13

Arcane: 14

Divine: 0

Eldritch: 0

Focus: 5

Resilience: 10

Will: 6

Aila’s expression didn’t change much as she wrote down Bridget’s status sheet but Jadis knew her well enough to recognize when she was hiding her disapproval. Clearly the orc’s stats weren’t impressive, but were they really all that bad? Thinking them over and comparing her companions’ classes in her head, Jadis could see an obvious difference between Bridget and Sabina even though they were only one level apart. The smith’s stats, when added up all together, equaled one hundred and thirty-nine total points. Bridget’s stats added up came out to be one hundred and fifteen. That was a twenty-four-point difference. Even taking into account that Sabina had gotten a five-point boost at level twenty, Bridget still lagged behind, and she had a combat class, one that ostensibly relied more on stats to succeed. Her attributes were also spread out more, with fourteen of them being put into Arcane.

Remembering their earlier conversation during Bridget’s interview, Jadis now had to agree with what Aila had said. A joint mage and melee class had some obvious downsides, primarily where stat spread was concerned, but they were made especially apparent looking at Bridget’s status sheet. Jadis had lucked out with her massive stats being able to support having both a melee and a ritual class, and even then, she hadn’t gotten her first active combat spell until a much higher level. It didn’t look like Bridget had been anywhere near as lucky as her.

“Your lantern spell relies on Arcane magic?” Aila asked, keeping her tone neutral and nonjudgemental.

“Yeah, it does,” Bridget answered gruffly. She had rolled over onto her side, one hand supporting her head while the other played with a bit of string she’d pulled off a blanket. “I’ll be honest. It’s been rough trying to get the points I need for it. I’ve had to ignore skills that would have been helpful for the warrior side of my class just to increase my Arcane, Focus, and Will. I’ve been really banking on the hope that my secondary class will make up the difference.”

“What skills do you have?” Jay asked, leaning forward and putting her chin on her fist. “I mean, you don’t need a lot of skills if the few skills you do have are good ones.”

Bridget sighed heavily, her expression growing dourer by the second.

“I mean, my primary skill isn’t bad. It’s just, not as useful as I’d like. Not yet, anyway.”

Light the Lantern

Active Spell. Create a magical flame on the end of your weapon that deals fire damage when used to strike your target. The flame can only be summoned on lantern-shaped weapons. Flame bonus damage is increased equal to 0.25 of the Arcane attribute. Cost – 5 magic per minute. Duration – Channeled.

“That sounds like a cool skill to me,” Syd said with one eyebrow raised. “Magical fire that burns your enemies when you hit them and it does bonus magic damage? What’s not to like?”

Kerr had a point. While Bridget had told them her status sheet and her newest skill, she hadn’t really gotten into any details about the other skills her class had. She certainly didn’t have to, since she hadn’t heard anything detailed from the rest of them, but Jadis was also curious. What else had the orc gained from her class?

“Most of my skills are attribute boosting,” Bridget said as her mouth flattened out into a line. “Seriously, I really did take them almost exclusively. I’ll list them out, if you want.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Syd told her, but stopped as Bridget shook her head.

“No, it’s fine, really. I’m better off just telling you all at this point. I think I’ve officially thrown my lot in with you all. I mean, shit. I owe at least two of you my life. If I can’t trust you lot at this point, then I guess I’m super bloody fucked.”

“Then you deserve to know our skills as well,” Jay said, making a sincere promise. “At least I’ll share mine. What everyone else does is their choice, but you’re right. You’re with us now. A full member of the team. And you’ll be treated as such. All it took was one measly little death.”

With a laugh at Jadis’ comment, Bridget listed out all of her stat enhancement skills first.

Landsknecht’s Resolve

Passive Skill. Increases the Endurance and Vitality attributes by 3 points.

Landsknecht’s Furor

Passive Skill. Increases the Strength and Arcane attributes by 3 points.

Minor Arcane Improvement II

Passive Skill. Increases Arcane by 6 points.

Minor Focus Improvement I

Passive Skill. Increases Focus by 3 points.

Landsknecht’s Spellwork

Passive Skill. Increases the Arcane and Will attributes by 3 points.

“That’s a lot of them,” Dys grunted out as Bridget finished listing them all.

“Like I said, I had some trouble getting enough attributes to make this class work,” Bridget said, but this time with less self-loathing in her voice. “Other than my first skill and my last skill that you already know about, I have two other skills that don’t have anything to do with attributes.”

Flail Mastery I

Passive Skill. Provides a minor boost to the offensive value of flail-type weapons.

Burn Bright

Active Skill. Physical melee attacks made with a burning weapon deal increased damage. Damage increase applies to fire-based spells so long as they are also melee. Cost – 10 stamina per second.

The flail skill Jadis half expected and showed no surprise at being there. She really was the only person who hadn’t taken a weapon mastery skill, wasn’t she? She was starting to think she needed to get one of those. Weapon skills aside, Bridget’s other skill, Burn Bright, looked like a great skill. When she pointed that out, the orc warrior shrugged.

“It definitely helps,” Bridget said, “but it has a high stamina cost, at least for me, so I can’t use it all the time or I’ll exhaust myself mid-fight. I see it as more of an emergency use kind of skill. I used it on that drake’s head, actually.”

“Like I told you earlier,” Jay grinned knowingly. “It’s not the quantity of the skills, it’s the quality of them. If we can work on getting your Arcane and Endurance attributes higher, you’ll be crushing enemies with that lantern of yours.”

“I can think of one way to work on getting at least one higher stat right now,” Kerr said innocently as she snuggled in more tightly against Dys’ side.

Kerr’s quip got some blushing out of the orc and some laughter from everyone else. With Bridget’s class and skills revealed and all other recent level ups discussed, the conversation relaxed and quieted as the group settled down for sleep after what had been a long and strenuous day. They’d already stayed up later than they should have and Jadis was starting to regret agreeing to take the undesirable second and third shifts standing watch. But at least she could have one of her selves sleep while the other two kept vigilant. No one else in the whole camp could claim that convenience but her.

As voices quieted and bodies stilled, Jadis released a sigh of contentment as her friends and lovers around her drew in close to her selves, warming her with their presence. It had been a rough fight earlier, but they’d made it through together. Hopefully, the frost drakes had been the worst encounter of the expedition and not a sign of things to come. But whatever the case would be, Jadis was glad to have all her friends here with her.

“Fuck! I completely forget to tell you all about those bandit tracks I saw in the woods!”

Even if some of them could be a bit frustrating on occasion.