According to Penny, our Blessings will grow as we do. For example, our Skill Sets will eventually display lists of Skills which we have developed. It’s also possible for new things to show up when they become active. That’s why some of us have a “Hidden Boon” and others of us don’t and why some things are still listed as [Unknown].
So here we are. In all of our current glory. The Accursed according to our Blessings:
Acolyte of Azazel, Lord of Chaos
Curse [Unbreakable]: Child of Carmilla
Magic Energy Type: Spirit, Mana
Affinities: Holistic, Vampire {Blood, Mind, Soul, Dark, Body Enhancement (Conditional)}
Skill Sets: Mind Control (Legacy), Apathy (Curse Sacrifice), Blood Binder (Curse Boon)
Roles: [Unknown] (Acolyte Boon), Shadow Mage (Summon Boon)
Acolyte of The Fates (Ljouyhfoiwe, Vnueiweh, and Emily)
Curse [Unbreakable]: Chains of Anima
Magic Energy Types: Primal, Spirit
Affinities: Oracle {Fate (Primal), Holistic (Spirit)}, Gravity (Primal), Body Enhancement (Constitution)
Skill Sets: Mnemonist (Legacy), Cold Heart (Curse Sacrifice), Lover (Curse Boon)
Roles: Clairvoyant (Acolyte Boon), Mage [Unknown type] (Summon Boon)
Acolyte of Chen Lhun, the Great Beast
Curse [Unbreakable]: Gulliver’s Legacy
Magic Energy Types: Primal, Spirit
Affinities: Time Lord {Space, Time}, Seeker {Light, Dark, Holistic}, Body Enhancement (Strength, Speed, Endurance, Constitution)
Skill Sets: Collector (Legacy), Big Brass Ones (Curse Sacrifice), Tiny Giant (Curse Boon)
Roles: Huntress (Acolyte Boon), Mage [Unknown type] (Summon Boon)
Acolyte of Fardenes, the Great Spirit
Curse [Unbreakable]: Blind Io’s Protegé
Magic Energy Type: Spirit
Affinities: Spiritwalker {Spirit Energy Manipulation, Soul, Life, Death}, All-Healer {Life, Death, Mind, Heart, Holistic}, Body Enhancement (unknown type)
Skill Sets: Origamian (Legacy), Pure Instinct (Curse Sacrifice), Spirit Sight (Curse Boon)
Roles: Summoner (Acolyte Boon), Healer (Summon Boon), Love Crush (Hidden Boon)
Acolyte of Manalea, Lady of Order
Curse [Unbreakable]: Daughter of Dan
Magic Energy Type: Mana
Affinities: Enchantress {Mana Energy Manipulation, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Electromagnetic, Kinetic, Light/Dark}
Skill Sets: Scholar (Legacy), Pure Reason (Curse Sacrifice), Seal Artist (Curse Boon)
Roles: [Unknown] (Acolyte Boon), Mage [Unknown type], Tater Tots (Hidden Boon)
Week 3
Before dawn, I walk the halls alone. Most of the people who live in this part of the castle are still asleep; I'm out testing my ESP powers.
From what I can tell, my ESP is actually multiple different sensory systems operating independently. It takes practice to get them to integrate with each other and with my other senses. So that’s what I’m doing.
I cautiously make my way to the main dining hall. This is one of my favorite places to practice because of all the tables and chairs I need to sense and move around. At this time of day there are usually only a few servers prepping for breakfast. Today, however, there are also five people sitting at one of the tables in the corner.
Their auras aren’t threatening, so I just ignore them. I spend about 15 minutes weaving in and out of the tables and playing with the chairs. Fine-tuning. Finally, I sit down at a table to think. The exercises I’m doing have gotten me some good results, but I think I've reached their limits. I need to think of something new.
While I'm contemplating, two of the people who'd been sitting in the corner come over to my table. "May we join you?" I hear a soft female voice ask. I start to rise but hear another voice, male, low and rough - like he's used to shouting. "Please stay seated."
I hear two chairs pull out and they sit down.
"My name is Faiella," says the woman. "And I'm Keldon," says the man.
I bow my head briefly and say, "My name is Nixon. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," they reply in a ragged duet.
"May I help you with something,"
"We noticed you moving around down here and got curious," says the woman. "Are you blind?"
"It's a curse," I say. No elaboration.
"A new one?" She asks. "You’re learning how to move without sight?"
"An old one. It's just that since coming here my senses are different."
"Coming here? You must be one of the Heroes then," says the man.
I laugh. "No, I'm afraid not. I'm with the not-Heroes party."
"Because of the Curse," she says. "I’d heard there are five Cursed Heroes. Five Acolytes of the Lord of Chaos."
"Five that I know of," I say, not correcting their misconception about our patron Gods.
"How short-sighted," says Faiella. "Er, no offense."
I shrug. "There were rather a lot of us that showed up all at the same time. I don't think they were ready for it."
The man laughs, "I dare say."
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"Do you meet the others?" Asks Faiella, "The ones with Curses, I mean."
"They keep us together, separate from the real Heroes."
"Then I have something for you to give them. One of them, anyway."
"Which one?" I ask.
She slides a thin package across the table to where it touches my fingers. "When you get back to your group, have them look at it," she says. "The person it belongs to will know."
I take it in my hands and give a nod. "Thank you," she says, stands up, and walks away.
The man stays with me. "I can help you," he says. "I'm a trainer for the Adventurers' Guild, although right now I'm acting as a bodyguard. If you'd like, I can work with you early in the morning."
"What would you teach me?" I ask, confused by the sudden offer.
"I think I know what your new senses must be," he says. "If I'm right I can help train you to use them. And how to defend yourself against what you cannot see."
He must have sensed that I was wary. "Just think about it," he says. "Meet me here at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow and we can give it a trial run." And then he walks away.
Breakfast came. I was still a little tired. I’d been up late reading a book that Saki found for me: Tactics and strategy. Kind of a hobby for me when I was back home. I spent a lot of time playing various strategy games. Especially war games. I find the topic fascinating. In this world with magic, enchantments, and a variety of species and races all with unique abilities, it makes for near-infinite possibilities and unique problems to solve. Fascinating.
The fatigue gets washed out of my system by Nix. He shows up to breakfast with a package someone gave him for someone in our group. Didn't know who, just that it should be obvious once we opened it. The package had been given to him by a woman named Faiella.
I untie the string and remove the rough paper. Both Saki and Nix make a grab for the wrapping. Saki ends up giving it to Nix. Maybe she judges it better for folding than for writing or drawing on?
"Curse of Blood, an Autobiography," I read out the title. "I guess I know who this is for."
"Yep, fer sure," smirks Kari. "I guess you have something to read this morning. Saki's getting ready to go to the library, we should all give her a list of what we want to read."
Everybody gives their two cents to Saki, and then wanders away. I start reading.
I pick up a tea pot and truly look at it for the first time. It looks ordinary to me.
So I throw it at the wall.
It bounces back, and I dodge. A narrow miss to the
I walk over and pick it up again. Not a single scratch on it. “Is it some sort of magic?” I ask.
“Not really,” says Jane.
“Or maybe, kinda,” adds Tara. “It’s Crafted.”
“Crafted?” I can hear the capital letter when she says it. I look the pot over again. “I’m thinking that means something different for you than it does for me.”
“When we say something is Crafted, we mean that Mana or Spirit-rich materials were used in the making of it,” says Jane. “Some of the power or strength or whatever from the material is transferred into the item.”
Tara is nodding along. “That’s right. So, for example, if you want something extra tough and unbreakable, you might Craft it using the shell of a Spirit tortoise found in the Brownlands Hex far to the north.”
“Or if you want an extra sharp knife, you would include a Scythe Panther’s claws or teeth in the Crafting.”
“If you want a teapot that always stays warm, you might include mana dust with the fire affinity in its Crafting.”
I ponder that for a moment. “How do you forge a tooth into a knife?”
“Well … I guess I don’t know,” says Tara with a frown.
“I don’t think they physically include it. The craftspeople somehow take the idea of sharpness from the tooth and put it into the knife. Somehow.”
“That’s weird,” I say.
“That’s Crafting.”
I decide to pursue a different angle. “So all of the materials come from Hexes?”
“Or Dungeons. Or both.”
“Who controls access to the Hexes and Dungeons? Who goes in to collect the materials?”
“I don’t think you can control access to a Hex. They’re huge. Maybe to a Dungeon because they have a single entrance.”
“But there’s Dungeons everywhere. If a Diver couldn’t get into one, they’d just go to another.”
“Is that what they call the people who go in? Divers?”
“For Dungeons. Adventurers who go into Hexes are called Harvesters.”
“And there’s no government control?”
“Well, there’s taxes,” says Jane.
“We hate taxes,” adds Tara.
“Everybody everywhere always hates taxes,” I laugh.
“But taxes are collected later. On finished goods as they’re brought into the cities.”
“Or on products after they’re Crafted.”
“Or as Guild fees. Depends on the city you’re in, I guess.”
“Interesting.” I scratch my chin, thinking about the possibilities.
“Can we have the teapot back now?”
Addie's new book isn't very long. After she finished reading it, she went for a walk and left it with me. I was able to read it in just a couple hours.
It's very dry and factual, almost boring. Reading between the lines, you can tell that there's no way this person led a boring life. They sure tried to make it sound boring, though.
The book was written by a vampire. An actual true-to-life vampire! And according to the book, vampires have amazing powers. Though there are some drawbacks.
I mean, eewww! Drinking blood? But still, vampire! Seriously, vampire! It's hard to be cooler than vampire!
And Addie is a vampire. No doubt about it. She has all the signs according to the book. Which I suppose is why she's off doing some soul searching in the gardens right now. I'll go find her later to make sure she's okay.
The book is a step-by-step guide to being a vampire: Blood Binding - both beasts and humans, creating a Blood Family, hypnosis, traveling in shadows, and all kinds of other cool stuff. Honestly, if (When!) Addie truly embraces this heritage, she'll be unstoppable. I'm jealous!
I stuff the book under my arm. Go look for her.
It was a long and grueling training session. Mornings are for individual and small group exercises. Today I’d been put through strength training, Sigil training which used up almost all of my Spirit Energy, a two hour team tactics session, and a sparring session. I’m exhausted.
So I’m on my way to the garden to sit down for a while and eat my snack when I find her in a hallway. Just sitting in her chair staring at the wall.
“Good morning, Addie,” I say as I approach. She gives a little start before returning my greeting. I’d known her for a long time, of course, although we rarely interacted. “Are you lost?” I ask.
“No, not really. I’m just looking for a quiet place to sit and think. How are you doing?”
“I’m all right. Just tired. I was heading to the garden to rest for a bit. Want me to take you there?”
“Sure,” she says and reaches down to spin her wheels.
“I can drive if you want,” I say, taking hold of the push handles. “It’s a bit far.” She smiles at me in acknowledgement and lets me take control.
“I hear you’re a Great Saint, now,” she states. One thing I like about Addie is that she never pressures you. She’ll make a statement and let you decide if you want to expand on it.
I give a little grunt of acknowledgement but let it be for now. I want to ask her what she’s been up to since we came here but don’t want to pressure her either. I ask something noncommittal. “So how’ve you been?”
“I’m doing well.” She smiles up at me. “Apparently I’m Cursed but it doesn’t mean anything more than having a disability did back home. Except we get a cooler nickname now. Instead of the Broken Ones, we’re the Accursed.”
“That does sound cooler,” I respond. By this time, we’ve made it into the garden and I steer her toward a quiet corner I’d found before. “Does this look like a good spot?”
“This is wonderful, thanks. Would you like to sit with me for a bit?”
Addie is probably the best person to talk to when you’re tired. She can destress anybody with just a few words. “That would be nice. Would you like some tea?”
She looks surprised for a moment. I signal to my maid and she approaches us. “Could I get some tea and my morning snack?” I ask her. “And something for my friend?”
I smile because I managed to surprise the normally unflappable Addie. She recovers quickly, though. “Just tea and some cookies for me,” she says. Then gives me the fish eye as the maid bustles away.
I laugh. “One of the few benefits of being a Great Saint,” I say. “That poor maid has to follow me everywhere I go.”
She laughs with me, “I’m sure it’s not so bad for her. The maids have a hierarchy, you know. Being your personal maid probably puts her near the top.”
“I never thought about that.” We sit in silence for a few moments.
“So do they expect amazing feats from you, Oh Great Saint?”
I give a grunt of acknowledgement. “From all of us I think. Me more than most.”
“Responsibilities and expectations can be cruel masters. Especially at our age. None of us expected to be under this kind of pressure so soon.”
“You’re right about that.” My maid comes back with our refreshments. We eat and drink in silence. Eventually I finish up and have to head off for a meeting. I leave her there under the trees, deep in thought.
I find Addie in a garden underneath some trees. Thank the Gods that vampires here aren't allergic to sunlight. We have a good long chat about the book and her feelings. I think the idea of being a vampire is growing on her! So cool.
We do have some concerns however. The book might be a trap. Who is Faiella really? How did she know to bring the book here when we hadn't even been Summoned yet? What is her agenda?
I have a small worry. Addie no longer has empathy. And Addie does have a dark side. Hidden but real. How can we keep her grounded? Specifically, how can I keep her fangs out of my neck?
Just kiiiiiddiiiing! Good questions. But we have some resources available to try to answer them. I take Addie back to our room and throw her into bed because she's feeling tired. I find the maid and convince her to bring a rare steak for Addie to eat. Closest we can get to blood right now. Might as well kickstart the new diet while it's fresh on our minds!