“Are you sure about this?” Tenebres asked. Allana was pretty sure it was the sixth or seventh time he had asked her that day. At his insistence, she had at least taken the day’s walk to continue thinking it over, but her mind was still made up.
“I need to do it,” Allana told him yet again. “I’ve already hit Initiate with my gift of poison, and my gift of stealth is nothing but a handicap now. I’ll be lucky to even meet an artisan capable of making me the right sort of ensouled item anytime soon, and even if I did, I couldn’t afford it. I need to do this.”
Tenebres nodded, his eyes downcast. They had repeated this conversation plenty of times throughout the day, and Allana knew he understood, but he was having a hard time accepting it. She had made a pretty good case against it not too long ago, after all. Her fighting style was entirely based around her gift of stealth, with both its veils and special attack being irreplaceable parts of how she fought. But even with that being the case…
It was hard to put into words. Yes, the gift had been a trap, a gilded prison Telik had bought for her, yet another way to make her dependent on the late crimelord. But more than that… the gift of stealth didn’t fit her anymore. It was the gift of an assassin, the gift of a solitary girl who didn’t know how to care for others, who preferred to hide and avoid contact rather than make any connections with the people around her.
That wasn’t who Allana was anymore. She couldn’t pretend that girl wasn’t still part of her, but she had grown up, become someone more, someone new. Someone she didn’t know very well yet, but someone who didn’t need to skulk and creep.
“Well… I think this is as good a place as any to camp for the day,” Tenebres told her. The sun was sinking towards the horizon already, and their route had taken them by a small camp dug into the side of the road by some past travelers. It offered little shelter, but it was, at the very least, a flat area with a clearly marked fire pit.
Allana tried not to wince at the sight of the simple clearing. It gave them a good place to lay out their blankets, and the firepit had an old iron spit straddling it, so it was the best they were likely to get. She still just wasn’t used to this whole “camping” thing.
“I’ll go set some snares,” Tenebres suggested, “and you spread out the blankets. Then I guess we’ll do this, if you’re really sure.”
“I am, Seo.”
#
The setting sun had painted the sky in a blazing mixture of orange and purple hues, the brighter of the two colors fading with each passing moment as night approached. Allana had always enjoyed dusk, and reveled in the sensation of day fading to night. It seemed an appropriately auspicious time to her, and for the last time, she allowed the Rogue’s prompt to appear in her soul sight.
In defeating a superior foe through cunning and guile, you have accomplished a feat of the Rogue. In recognition, the Rogue has offered you the [Gift of the Trickster].
You cannot accept a third gift at this time. Reach Initiate with both of your gifts to open up the third gift slot.
Ensouled [Gift of Stealth] is compatible with the [Gift of the Trickster].
The Rogue has offered gift transmutation.
Do you accept?
Yes/No
Once accepted, gifts can never be relinquished.
The Rogue, and the gift he had offered, didn’t need her verbal consent. Allana had made up her mind. She blew out a breath–and the prompt seemed to sense her agreement to its terms.
Gift transmutation accepted.
You have lost access to the [Gift of Stealth] and all related benefits, including the abilities [Obscuring Veil] and [Sneak Attack], the boon [Unseen Form], and all conjurations.
It was an odd feeling, like a shudder that ran through Allana’s soul as much as her body. Acting on instinct, she conjured her daggers one last time. One long and slender and copper, one short and thick and iron. She looked down at the conjured daggers, and watched as they began to dissolve into motes of dim light.
Part of her mourned the loss of those precious tools, the weapons she had carried in her soul, ensuring that she was never without them. But she didn’t need to be that person anymore. She didn’t need to keep her soul honed to a keen dagger’s edge.
Much more uncomfortable was the loss of her boon ability. The coordination boon conflicted with that granted by the gift of poison already, so she didn’t even feel its loss, but the loss of focus seemed to make her head foggy, like a fatigue headache.
It’s okay, she reminded herself. I don’t need focus anymore–I used it for my veils, not my poisons.
“Are you okay?” Tenebres asked softly.
“Yeah,” Allana tried to reassure him, but she knew her voice was too tight to be very reassuring. “Wait… yeah, here it comes. More is happening.”
She could feel it, like anxious butterflies fluttering and twisting inside of her soul itself, leaving her with a sickening sense of exhilaration and disorientation at the same time.
The [Gift of the Trickster] has been granted by the Rogue archetype
[Gift of the Trickster]
Level: Novice
Experience: 0%
Use cunning and guile to gain experience
[Trick Step] - Active, Movement - Instantly teleport to any point within a minor range. Line of sight required to trigger. Lesser focus cost.
[Distracting Pattern] - Active, Illusion - Produce a noticeable display of colorful lights in a flowing pattern. Moderate focus cost.
[Trickster’s Mastery] - Boon - Moderate boost to your speed and charm.
New Augment Unlocked!
[Poison Cloud] - Poison, Trickster - Active, Manifestation - Manifest a low potency awareness poison in an airborn cloud. Lesser quintessence cost.
Allana huffed a helpless little laugh as she read the gift description that appeared before her.
“What is it?” Tenebres asked.
“It’s… like, the opposite of my old gift,” she told him. What was even the point of that pattern ability?
The messages weren’t done yet, however. Allana could feel a lingering warmth spreading through her, like melted metal filled a mold.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Only then did she notice that the motes of dull light that had once been her weapons hadn’t faded–they hung in the air around her, and now they were returning to her, falling like flakes of searing snow.
Gift transmutation has made use of the lingering power of your gift of stealth.
[Gift of the Trickster] has received additional experience to represent your lost gift’s level.
[Gift of the Trickster]
Level: Novice
Experience: 100%
[Gift of the Trickster] has leveled up!
[Gift of the Trickster]
Level: Apprentice
Experience: 0%
Ability Progression: [Trick Step] - Active, Movement - Instantly teleport to any point within a minor range. Line of sight required to trigger. Lesser stamina or focus cost.
Ability Evolution: [Compelling Pattern] - Active, Illusion, Psychic - Produce a display of colorful lights that compels viewers to examine it further. As a psychic effect, the pattern only compels attention from intelligent beings, and may be resisted by those with sufficient will.
She heard a soft sound from Tenebres. “What is it?”
“Your brand,” he told her. “It’s… changing.”
That made sense. The dagger and teardrop design of her previous brand was carved over her shoulder blade, so she couldn’t see it, but now that she was paying attention to it, she could feel a vague itch as the marking moved.
“Does it look cool?”
“Uhm…”
“Seo?”
“It’s weird, okay? I’ve never seen a brand move like that?”
“Move?”
“It’s like… one second it’s that same poison droplet design, then its an open hand, then it’s a half-closed eye.”
Well. That was, at least, fairly tricky.
Allana Dalamis
Level: Initiate
Gifts:
[Gift of Poison]: +5 to coordination and resilience
[Gift of the Trickster]: +3 to speed and charm
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Resilience: 11 (6 + 5)
Stamina: 5
Coordination: 12 (7 + 5)
Speed: 10 (7 + 3)
Will: 8
Knowledge: 5
Focus: 5
Awareness: 7
Charm: 9 (7 + 3)
Quintessence Pool: 15
“How are you feeling?”
Allana watched her hand as she waved it through the air in front of her. It moved just a little more quickly than it should’ve. “I think I’m gonna need to test it out.”
#
“Okay, now are you really sure about this?”
Allana smirked at the trepidation in Tenebres’s tone.
“Where are all these nerves coming from?” Allana asked, her tone teasing.
Tenebres probably wasn’t aware of the way his lower lip jutted out, of how cute his little pout looked. “I think I’m completely right to be nervous about siccing a demon on you!”
Allana shrugged. “I’ve seen your imps fight, Seo. I can take them.”
“Even without your gift of stealth?”
“I’ve gotta train somehow! So unless you wanna pick up a dagger and practice with me, do the thing.”
The boy pursed his lips, still, indecisive. Around them, the last vestiges of sunlight were rapidly fading spears of orange in the violet velvet of nighttime. The only light left was the campfire, and they had moved a small distance away from that, so that it wouldn’t get in the way.
Allana was insistent. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until she got the chance to practice with her new gift.
“Fine!” Tenebres finally relented. “Just don’t come crying to me when it hurts you.”
Allana grinned, taking the boy’s words as a challenge. She flicked one hand–and nothing happened.
Right. Gotta get used to that.
It felt awkward to reach for her sheathed daggers, but she did it anyway. The blades were much more simple and utilitarian compared to her old conjured blades, but they were still sharp. They’d do the job.
She settled into a crouch as Tenebres closed her eyes–and then the shadows around him began fluttering, as if they had suddenly become scraps of pitch-black fabric. The fluttering became increasingly frantic as they flew towards each other, coalescing into a thick knot that soon faded to reveal one of Tenebres’s imps.
It was the green one that appeared. Though only a bit over three feet tall, the ugly fiend was practically deformed with the massive muscles of its arms, each of which ended in a fistful of thick, rigid claws. As always, the thing was ugly to behold, spotted with massive warts, its warped features disturbingly close to being human, but warped.
“Here it comes,” Tenebres warned her–not that it was very necessary, given the horrible shriek the little fiend immediately made before promptly dashing at Allana.
Both warnings were more than enough. With her new speed boon, her mind seemed to move as quickly as her body. Her eyes slid to a point behind the imp, and she activated Trick Step for the first time.
It was disorienting. One moment, she was facing Tenebres and the charging imp, the next, she was somewhere else, her arms moving in a pair of blind swings that cut through… empty air.
Allana lost her balance as her attacks failed to meet any of the expected resistance, a brief moment of vertigo leaving her disoriented. She fell to one knee, the confusion fading quickly but leaving her vulnerable.
Where did the little bastard go? Allana wondered.
“Behind you!” Tenebres called in alarm–from in front of her!
Wait, what? Nothing was where it was supposed to be. She awkwardly tried to turn, still on the ground, and saw the malicious grin on the green imp’s ugly face as it leaped at her–and then it froze in midair, falling impotently to the ground.
“Do something!” Tenebres told her, his voice coming through gritted teeth. “I can’t… hold it… for long!”
Do something, right! Allana silently scolded herself, but tried another new ability, Compelling Pattern.
She felt the familiar tug in her head of a focus cost, and then the pattern manifested in midair before her. It was like a sparkling mesh of light, different colors blending and waving through the air, as distracting as had been described.
The psychic effect seemed to work as well–with a gasp from Tenebres, the imp began to move again, the boy’s will no longer shackling it. But before it could move, its hateful eyes glanced at the pattern, and it paused, staring at the display of lights as if fascinated.
At least that worked, Allana thought. Now let’s try that again.
Once more, she focused on a place behind the imp and once more, she used Trick Step. There was the sudden moment of disorientation, but this time, she had the spare attention to figure out what had happened, without a sudden attack breaking her concentration.
The ability had indeed teleported her, but it had done so while keeping her in the exact same position–and critically, in the exact same facing. That was what had happened the first time. The ability had teleported her behind the imp, but she was still facing forward, so the imp had ended up behind her, with Tenebres still in front of her.
The same thing happened this time, but once she knew what had happened, it was easy enough to turn and attack the beguiled imp. The little fiend didn’t have a chance to attack again–distracted as it was, Allana’s dagger sank into its neck from behind and it instantly dissolved back into shadows. With a thought, she dismissed her pattern, and it fell to similar, if more colorful, tatters.
“What in the Mage’s name was that!?” Tenebre shouted, storming towards her. “You almost died!”
“Yeah,” Allana admitted. “Yeah… thanks for the save.”
“‘Thanks for the save!?’ That’s all you have to say?”
Allana sighed. “I guess so. Can we go again?”
Tenebres stared at her for a long moment–then huffed and rolled his eyes, clearly letting it go. “No. We need to eat dinner before it gets any later.”
“Right…” Allana abruptly became aware of just how hungry she was, the need for food put off by her interest in her new blessings. “Yeah, let’s eat. We can try again tomorrow.”
impatiently waiting for! I have such a weakness for rapid teleports as a combat style.
very exciting!
