Hearth Fire

The smell of breakfast woke Stronric. He rubbed his eyes, and sat up. Rugiel’s back was turned to him and he could see she was stirring something. He let out a sigh and started to get up.

“Not so fast, stay in bed longer, breakfast will be done shortly. Bauru has gone ahead to let out the goats and tend to Indomitable. No need to rush, just relax.” Rugiel said with pep in her voice.

Stronric stomach sank. I knew telling the others I wasn’t from this world would have some kind of repercussion, I just didn’t expect this one. How do I get out of this? Stronric continued to climb to his feet. He walked over to the keg to pour himself a drink.

“Oh no Stronric, I have prepared a special drink for you this morning. Here try this.” She said as she handed him a small tin mug.

The mug was crafted of tin, its handle was soldered on. It was as simple looking as it was practical. Stronric gave it an approving nod and smelled the beverage. It was a warmish brown liquid, a nutty and smoky aroma rose up from the drink. The steaming liquid reminded him of the mountain’s peaks he had lived his whole life.

“What is this? Are you trying to poison me? Is that how you going to take advantage of me?” Stronric said with a small smile as he looked at Rugiel.

Rugiel giggled and waved a playful hand at him. “No its called coffee, go ahead and try it. It’s quite popular with the other races, we were saving it for an occasion and I figured why not.”

Stronric eyes lit up in delight as he tested the drink, it was bitter like beer but had a warm and soft after taste.

“Is there milk in this? Oh sugar?” he asked, as he quickly took another swing, squishing the drink in his mouth.

Rugiel smiled and with her hand zipped her lips, locked it, and pretended to throw away the key. Stronric continued to sip the drink as Rugiel delivered a large serving of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and a couple slices of ham. While he ate, he couldn’t help but notice how intently Rugiel was watching him. He tried to ignore her and eat, but he felt her eyes digging a hole in the side of his head. It almost reminded him of the intense looks he received from the town folk of Millstone. He hated being treated different for something he didn’t do. Sure, he loved praise but this felt undeserved.

“Look Rugiel, yer freakin me out. I understand yer excited about all of this, but yer coming off… strange.” Stronric tried to say nicely. Being tact was never one of his strongest traits, probably why his charisma was so low compared to the others.

Rugiel looked a little abashed, “ I don’t mean to “freak you out””, she made quote motions with her fingers as she said it. “I am just merely excited to learn and to teach. There is much you do not know of this world and yet it seems there is much you can impart on us of Dwarves and Gods. Our kind has lived godless for centuries. This is truly a miracle. I would like to repay your honesty last night and share that I am approaching my twenty-fifth level. This means my path forward is narrowed to a mere trickle. I was groomed from a young age for a specific role, to be a Governess. I now have a chance to break that mold and chose for myself to become new, something different, something free. We are trying to hide our desperation to take charge of our own lives with kindness.”

Stronric pondered what she had said. His home world did not have classes or levels. To him this was all completely new, interesting and challenging for sure, but it changed very little for him. No system or “class” would prevent him from becoming who he wanted to be. Rugiel’s words made him reconsider. Maybe these rules and classes was more important that he thought. If so, how would he use this for dwarves in this land. How could he spread this new opportunity, information, and gods to the other dwarves? Rugiel had told him the other races actively tried to prevent the dwarves from regaining their glory. His thought process was wrong, it seemed this was a world of changing deal.

“No forgive me Rugiel, I didn’t think of it that way. I appreciate ye giving me some perspective. It’s all a bit much, and I think I just need time to process it all.” Stronric said as he finished the last of his food and got up.

“Where is Beatrice?” Stronric asked as he looked around.

“She went with Bauru to tend the goats. Those two were as thick as thieves leaving this morning.” Rugiel said over her shoulder as she made a plate for herself.

“Well, what now? How do you want to do this?” Stronric asked.

“I believe it would suffice to start with lessons with breakfast and dinner.” She replied.

“Aye, I can agree to that, but I am not making room for lesson at the expense of drills.” Stronric shot back in a serious tone.

Rugiel nodded excitedly before catching herself. She quickly flattened her shirt, raised her chin and replaced the look of giddy glee with the stoic mask she wore at court. With a curt clearing of her throat she sternly said, “Now to begin. First you will focus to pull up your sheet, just as you did last night.” She paused watching Stronric’s face go flat as he followed her commands. She continued, “Now you will focus on your “conditions”. Then start with your first title. I want you to focus on that title, it should expand and give you more information if you correctly focus.”

Stronric followed her instructions and turned his attention inward as his stat sheet flared before his eyes.

Slayer of the Beast.

You have slain a beast more than fifty levels higher than you. Rarely does one accomplish such a feat. Your careless regard for your own health and sanity will yield rewards out of reach for most.

Ability unlocked: Unbound glory

Stronric read this out loud to Rugiel. She coaxed him to continue, “Now focus on the new unlocked ability to learn what that entails.”

There was a small rune next to the line explaining the ability. “What is this glowing rune next to the description?” Stronric said slowly as he looked at the rune.

“Oh, you have a rune?” Rugiel said as she wrote down the difference between their stat sheets. “Normally a new ability has a marking to notify you that something has changed.”

Experience gained from fighting enemies of higher level increased. Abilities also increased when fighting stronger enemies.

As Stronric read the descriptions to Rugiel he could hear scratching. He returned his gaze to her and saw she had a piece of paper and charcoal stock and was copying what he said on to it. She asked for clarification on phrasing and wording a couple times. This forced Stronric to practice her instructions and repeat the process of accessing this information. Rugiel had finished copying down his words she allowed him to move to the next Condition on his list.

Seeker of Gods.

The Dwarven Ancestors have been lost, you have been tasked with uncovering them and returning them to the dwarfs.

Ability unlocked: Seeker

This passive ability allows you to sense the ancestors.

Uncovering an Ancestor will reward you with permanent benefits. Each benefit will depend on which Ancestor you have uncovered. Uncovering an ancestor will allow dwarfs to tread a similar path of the Ancestor.

Stronric paused before continuing until Rugiel finished her writing.

World walker.

You have walked on more than one world. Haven seen so many cultures and people, you have an insight into their cultures and languages.

Ability unlocked: Speech of the land

This passive ability allows you to understand, speak and write in most common languages.

That was fairly simple for Stronric to understand. Once Rugiel had it written down, they moved onto the fourth.

Student of the Gods.

You have been chosen by the Ancestors. You are their student and the student of their people. Those that are blessed to instruct a Disciple of the Ancestors also benefit from the Ancestors’ knowledge. Go forth and learn.

Ability unlocked: Enlighten Disciple

This passive ability allows you to learn at a faster rate and gain experience from scholarly studies at an increased rate. Those that teach an Enlighten Disciple also receive a boost to experience.

“I knew it! I can’t wait to tell Bauru I am not crazy. It’s not unusual to get a level from teaching, but normally it’s gained from teaching classrooms full of students, not a single student.” Rugiel said with triumph in her face. “Now that is taken care of, think of overall status.”

Stronric did as he was told.

Stronric Wraith-Thane

Age:73

Race: Dwarf (E)

Class: N/A

Level: 9

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 13

Agility: 15

Vitality: 17

Endurance: 17

Wisdom: 10

Intelligence: 10

Charisma: 10

Allocatable points: 27

Conditions:

Blessing of the Hearth (Minor)

Dwarven Resistance (race)

Grudge Bearer (clan)

Titles:

Slayer of the Beast.

Seeker of the Gods.

World walker.

Student of the Gods.

Rugiel seemed overwhelmed with everything Stronric told her.

“I have never heard of someone with such high statistic points. Normally, when one reaches adulthood, they have one statistic point, if they are lucky, at nine. It’s unheard with someone having starting stats like yours. Don’t get me started on the on the race, normal people races are F, and your clan, I have never heard of someone have a clan condition. Much of your statistics are foreign, even to me. It will be hard to find this information though, the world outside of this mountain destroyed almost all of dwarven history. Maybe there is a library here! It could hold text specific to dwarves, their statistic, clans and classes.” Rugiel began to pace as she thought.

Stronric grunted thinking of any rune for library he might have passed. His grunt brought Rugiel back to the present.

“Back to your lesson. We will move onto what is truly important now. Classes. What class do you want? Your stats can help you decide your class but your class will also dictate which individual stats would best serve your class. For example, as a Governess would have little use of brute strength but a dire need for intelligence. I think you should invest your points into strength, agility, endurance, and occasionally into your wisdom.”

Stronric scrunched his face as he thought of what she said. Rugiel took a deep breath and continued, “Strength is obvious, dexterity is your hand eye coordination. While agility is similar to dexterity, it’s more based on speed and the flow of your body and movements. Endurance and vitality are similar as well. Endurance is how hardy your body is against poisons or how hard your skin is naturally to things like elements or weapons. Vitality is connected to you life force. The more vitality, the longer you can be poisoned before you die. Wisdom is your ability to resist spells and mind altering attacks. While Intelligence usually governs magic and your ability to counter magic and control your magic. Charisma is a weird one, some say it’s the two faced stats. One face is your ability to charm a person, the other ability to disarm with only your words. Some also say with a high enough charisma, your psychical appearance will improve. There is a lot of debate about luck being a stat as well. Though there is no stat for it.”

Rugiel turned to Stronric, “Do you understand thus far?”

Stronric took a moment then simply reiterated what she taught. He then asked, “When you say invest my points, you mean the wee number listed in Allocatable points?”

Rugiel nodded, “Thats the number you have to distribute among each type of stat. Each point invest to an individual stat grants you a 0.1 gain. It would take ten points to increase each stat by one whole number. The reward for a new whole number is earning a considerable advantage. We are taught that as you gain a new whole number you are roughly five percent better in that stat then those one whole number below you. As I stated before it isn’t always so easy to compare and those with three whole numbers above another can be overcome by someone with lesser stats. Dwarves are naturally resistant to magic, so while it might seem mute to place points into your wisdom. The powerful covet magic beyond all other treasures, giving themselves more ways to overcome our natural resistance. Unless you plan to change how you fight, which I don’t recommend you do, I would recommend slowly increasing your wisdom. It would benefit you down the line when facing high leveled magicians.” She finished.

“How do you know all of this if you're just a governess?” Stronric asked.

She flushed. “I intended to specialize in the caregiving of bastards. Lords and nobles would normally send their bastards away to a smaller region outside of main cities to be properly educated and trained. The titles fall to the first born, but the elites of this land wanted to always be prepared. One could never tell when a bastard might be needed later as an heir. My training consisted of the broad strokes. Nothing too deep as to be able to debate the theories behind the stats, but enough to teach the basics and benefits. Why strength does what is does is not my concern. I simply impart that more strength will equal a harder hit.” She stiffened as she finished.

Well, these points aren't going to do me no good just sitting here time to spend them! I know I am going to get stronger and faster, but what else should I improve? Stronric spent ten of his points on strength bringing his strength up to a total of 20. Then he spent his another ten points on his agility. Spending the remaining 7 on vitality.

Stronric Wraith-Thane

Age:73

Race: Dwarf (E)

Class: N/A

Level: 9

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 13

Agility: 16

Vitality: 17.7

Endurance: 17

Wisdom: 10

Intelligence: 10

Charisma: 10

Allocatable points: 0

Stronric nodded his head and explained where he spent his points and looked at her expectantly.

“Yes, I received another level from teaching you! Thank you Stronric! Now that you have invested your points, let’s get started with our daily…” The staircase door swung open stopping Rugiel mid-sentence.

Bauru stomped in with a big grin on his face and Beatrice at his side. They looked at each other and winked. Beatrice walking over to Stronric to receive her pets and Bauru went to eat some breakfast.

“What have you two been up to?” Stronric asked as Beatrice sat down and leaned her head against his thigh.

The two looked at each other and winked again.

“Nothin Stronric, was wondering if I could go huntin? Saw some tracks over ner ye pass. Mountain boar, whole pack must’a passed through not too long ago.” Bauru said between fork-fulls of food and sips of coffee.

Stronric looked at Rugiel. She shrugged, collected the dishes and dropped them into a bucket for washing.

Stronric nodded approvingly and said, “Don’t see why not, we are getting low on meat, also keep an eye out for a gnome and a wagon. If he read my note and agreed, he should be by here in the next day or two to deliver the rest of our goods.