“Golem Animus,” said the teddy bear.

And then there was life.

In that round stone chamber, bare of features but for a trough in the center of the room, something stirred in response to the spell.

Liquid gurgled in the trough, formed together, and a silvery figure sat up from its mold, staring straight at its creator.

Its creator stared back, button eyes meeting roiling orbs of liquid metal. Neither blinked. The teddy bear saw himself reflected in its mirror-like face, and could only wonder at what his new creation saw.

But eventually the teddy bear spoke. “Eye for Detail,” he said, examining the newly-made golem from head to toe, and back up again. It took some time. The teddy bear was only a foot tall... well, a foot and four inches, with the top hat crowning its head and lending it just that much extra height. His name was Threadbare, and he was a golemist.

“You have a luck of ten,” the bear said, his muzzle moving to pull in air, and run it through the waxed thread vocal cords that it had built for its soundbox. “That's very hopeful. Please write that down, Mister Graves.”

“Noted,” came a muffled voice. Mister Graves was standing behind a glass window, wearing a very thick mask that had been enchanted to filter vapors. It made his voice rather difficult to hear, but the bear had a good perception rating so they made do.

“Now, sir?” the Mousewife squeaked.

The teddy bear looked over to her. The Mousewife stood about three times his size, wearing a bonnet and a patchwork dress full of pockets. Her button eyes gleamed in the light, and a leather tail painted pink twitched behind her as she rubbed her long-fingered hands together.

This was her first time in the chamber, and he could tell that she wanted to impress him. She didn't need to, for the bear had read her reports and knew that she was perfectly capable, but he could understand that she was nervous. Golems built to resemble rodents were... twitchy. It was definitely the Mouse job, and even without actual glands to give her adrenaline she'd still be nervous more often than not.

“Not just yet,” said the teddy bear. “Let's record the rest of his status screen. Are you ready, Mister Graves?”

“And waiting,” came the muffled reply.

Dutifully the teddy bear read the numbers off, then followed them with the special abilities. At this stage the golem before him had only two:

“Liquid Metal Legionnaire seems somewhat self-explanatory,” the teddy bear mused, rubbing its snoot as it considered the newly-made golem. “Toxic Touch, though. That's... mmm... worrisome.”

“It is mercury,” came the muffled reply from Mister Graves. “At the end of the day it's made of poison. Not much you can do to change that.”

“True. But it does raise the question of whether or not sapience would be good, here.” The teddy bear took off its hat and paced for a bit, thinking. “We'd be creating a person who could only safely hug people who were immune to its touch. Unless they could reign it in, somewhat?”

“The problem is,” Graves said, “that your guess is as good as mine. We can see the name of the skill, but there's no way to determine just how good or bad the skill is from the name of it alone.”

“Should we turn it over to the god squad, then?” Threadbare asked.

“I'm thinking that's the prudent move,” Graves replied. “Right now it's an unthinking golem. It won't get bored or suffer any from having to wait for sapience.”

The teddy bear nodded to the Mousewife. “I think we're done here, then. I'm sorry to call you out for nothing.”

“Oh it's no hardship, sir!” The Mousewife's wire whiskers twitched, and she rubbed her hands together so hard that he feared her fur would rip off. “This was exciting, this was!”

“We definitely learned something today,” Graves said. “Come on, let's get to the tailors. We need to make sure no trace of the metal remains on us.”

Graves joined them and they left that simple chamber behind. The lanky human and the two stuffed toy golems walked through three long corridors and two vault doors, passing by grilled checkpoints where wizards examined them for magic, alchemists tested them for poison, and tailors chanted “Clean and Press,” until they were guaranteed that no poison remained.

It was all very repetitive, but necessary. After all, the teddy bear had just created a golem made mostly out of mercury.

That stuff was lethal even before you added magical animation in.

There were more reasons to to be careful than that, but they hadn't come into play this time around. They might not ever, with this particular golem.

“I'm sorry it didn't work out better, mister Threadbare sir,” the Mousewife squeaked.

“Better? We learned a lot, I think,” the teddy bear, whose name was Threadbare, glanced over to her. “Nothing bad happened. I would call that a good day.”

The Mousewife took off her bonnet and twisted it in her hands. She had a puff of blonde hair under it, just a tuft that poked from her head like a dandelion's crown. Threadbare found it adorable.

“Thank you,” she squeaked. “But... I mean... I was hoping to bless a new child today. Put another one of us into the world.”

That was literally her job. She was a midwife, and thus had a skill called “Newborn's Mercy.” With a gentle touch and a few whispered words, she could put a buff on a baby that boosted its luck, and thus the infant's odds of survival.

Threadbare knew just how much newborn golems had it rough. Having a midwife on-hand was pretty much necessary not only for the safety of any newly-made greater golem, but those around it. And the countryside for a few miles around. And quite possibly the fate of the geopolitical area that happened to be the site of the golem's creation.

So it paid to keep your midwives happy, healthy, and employed. And with that in mind, Threadbare only paused for a moment before glancing up to Graves. “I don't suppose you got a look at the docket today?”

The tall man tugged on his goatee as he recalled. “I did see the schedule. We have three more animations later in the afternoon. All toy golems. I'm on schedule for two of them, and Werther's got the third.”

“Why don't I handle the second of yours, and the Mousewife can be the one to bless the newborn?”

“Oh, you don't have to do that for me, sir!” said the Mousewife, but her whiskers had noticeably perked up, and there was a new shine in her button eyes.

“It's no trouble,” Threadbare reassured her. “I had plans to play with the newborns anyway. Would you like to come help with that, too?”

She very much did, and after they got out of the hazardous testing laboratories, Threadbare and his friends found their way to the heart of the Rumpus Room.

It was a pretty enough chamber, with three stories and multiple balconies around the circular room. Corridors led off like the spokes of a wagon wheel, but they were secured with heavy doors that required special keys to open. The floor was padded with bean-filled mats, and thick enough to withstand a falling golem from the topmost balcony (it had been thoroughly tested, both seriously at first, and as a fun way to practice jumping later,) and comfy enough to lounge on. Various pillows and pieces of furniture both whole and broken made up the outskirts of the place, safely under the balconies so that gleefully plummeting golems were unlikely to cause too much damage.

In the center of the room, four toy golems and one smallish armor golem were gleefully chasing each other around with pieces of chalk. The game was called draw tag, and judging by the multitude of flower pictures on the armor golem he was currently losing.

Beyond them, at the edge of the room, two living people and a wood golem were sitting, keeping an eye on the juvenile constructs. The wood golem was unfamiliar to Threadbare, but he knew the other two. The stout, middle-aged woman in spectacles who had her hair tied back into a frizzy poof was Mrs. Beemer, a teacher who had been hired on especially to ensure that the young golems in this facility would get a good education at an early age.

The man opposite her was Sir Tane.

Once he'd been a Knight of the Realm. But he had left that behind, along with his allegiance to a tyrant... if a bit grudgingly. Threadbare had lost sight of him for a time after that, in the hurry and business of setting up something so that the country wouldn't collapse after the tyrant's fall.

When finally his attention had come back to Sir Miles Tane, he'd found a broken man, addicted to strong drink and with very little to live for. He hadn't quite known what to do.

Fortunately for both of them, Threadbare's little girl had known what to do. And she'd taken the Knight Trainer that had taught her everything she knew about armored combat, and put him to work.

“Guard your flank!” Tane shouted to the Armor Golem. “Stand Firm!”

The Armor golem straightend up. It was of dwarf make, Threadbare thought. Short and as broad as a doorway, with multiple plates over a reinforced frame, and a helmet topped by a triangular spike. Its arms blurred with sudden speed, thanks to the skill that Tane had suddenly granted it, and it shoved two of its attackers back before lunging forward and swiping its chalk across a wooden snail with wheels... a bit too hard, though.

The little group of golems had to stop the game to retrieve the upside-down snail from the balcony it had been launched up to, and Threadbare took the opportunity to lead his group over to the minders.

“I'd hoped we would see four of you come out of there,” said the wood golem. He was cleanly carved, full-human size with friendly features. He wore a simple shirt and tunic that weren't part of his body, and his hair was likewise non-wooden. It was this attention to detail that told Threadbare that this man probably wasn't a golem after all.

“We have a few questions to answer before we pass on the gift of sapience,” Graves said before Threadbare could answer. Then he glanced down to Threadbare, and caught the silent request in the bear's gaze. “Ah, I'm sorry. You two haven't met, have you? Threadbare, meet Daffodil Copperfield.”

“My card!” said Daffodil, and snapped his fingers. A square of wood appeared in his hands, and the Mousewife gasped.

“You're a Conjuror then?” she said, reaching up to take it. “But I didn't hear you call it out...”

Threadbare noticed that he actually flicked it from his sleeve, but kept silent about it. Instead he hopped up onto the table they were at, and offered his paw. “I am very pleased to meet you. May I assume that you were transferred into your new body?”

“You may,” Daffodil said, spreading his hands. “I had a long and rewarding career entertaining audiences of all ages around Cylvania, before I started to succumb to illness. Fortunately I was able to afford a new body, and recuperation in this unique little getaway that you've built. It's been a pleasant stay, and I've enjoyed learning the quirks of this new life, but I'll be out of your hair in a week or two.”

“I hope you don't mind us letting him in with the youngsters,” Mrs. Beemer said, all of her chins drawing into a friendly-but-nervous smile. “He does get along so well with them.”

“And some of my talents are well-suited to it,” Copperfield said, glancing over at the juvenile golems who had left off draw tag and were now edging closer, curiously studying the newcomers. “They do like a good... Phantasm!”

And with the word, a long, eastern style-dragon the size of a cat raced in through one of the grills high up in the doors, circled the room, and farted a trail of green smoke behind it. With gleeful yells the young golems chased it, coming close to catching the creature but never quite managing to get their hands on what Threadbare knew to be an illusion.

“Ah, you're a Sensate then?” Graves said, pulling up a chair. “That comes in handy.”

“It's given me a profitable career, I can't complain.”

“It's a bit strange I never heard of you before now,” Graves remarked. “I thought I had tabs on most magicians in our little land.”

Daffodil coughed, and shot a glance at Tane. “Ah... well, I didn't exactly want to employ my talents for the war. So I had to keep quiet for a long time, and stick to... other jobs, for very rich nobles. Which I'd rather not go into, if that's all the same.”

“You're hardly the first,” said Sir Tane, lifting a glass of something that was hopefully water, and drinking it. The man's bloodshot eyes were on Threadbare, had been since the teddy bear had entered the room. His hairline was receding, but fluffy and around his skull in a way that somewhat resembled a lion's mane. His nose was broad as well, but the overall feline look was a bit spoiled by the fact that nose was red and bulbous in a way that only heavy drink could produce.

He'd put on a good-sized gut since the last time Threadbare had seen him, too. Which was good that the man was eating right, and staying healthy, but Threadbare had learned the hard way not to compliment humans when they gained weight. People got all funny about it.

The Mouse Wife scooted a chair over, and said “Won't you take a seat, sir?”

“I will if you pull one up for yourself,” Threadbare offered. “You're part of us too, after all.”

“Oh my! No, I'm just a servant, I couldn't possibly...”

Graves pulled one over for her. “We're all working down here, it seems. You're one of us at least for now, m'dear.”

Tane laughed, and refilled his glass from a hip flask pulled out of his waistcoat. “Can't argue with that. So are you here to make sure we're not shirking, or to check on our profits?”

“This is the second time that someone's brought up money,” Threadbare said, as he folded his arms on the table. “Are we charging money for this now?”

The humans at the table, and Copperfield, shared uncomfortable looks.

“We sort of have to,” Graves finally said. “The price of magical components has risen in the last few months.”

“It's the trade east,” Mrs. Beemer said. “It gave everyone hope when we discovered Belltollia, and heaven knows that the trade with them has been good, but they've been buying a lot of the materials that we use to make golem bodies. Far more than we thought they would. And you know how the dwarves get.”

“Kind? Loyal? Forgiving? Short?” Threadbare guessed.

“Greedy,” Tane said sharply, his thick eyebrows furrowed. He'd fought quite a long time against the dwarves, and wasn't inclined to assign positive words to them.

But while harsh, he wasn't quite wrong. Dwarves believed in industry, and reaping the best possible benefits of hard work. So while they were loyal and steadfast allies, they also weren't going to let a friendship stop them from making a profit, so long as it was all above board.

“Are they trading all their magical crystals east, now?” Threadbare asked.

“All? No. Enough of them that we're feeling the pinch,” Tane said, waving a hand at the four golems in the chamber who were still relentlessly chasing the dragon. “This is the smallest class that we'll ever graduate. In some ways it's a blessing, small-but-elite groups ensure better quality warriors—”

“Students,” Mrs. Beemer said with iron in her voice, and Threadbare saw Tane visibly flinch.

“—students,” he corrected, and kept on going. “But the demand for workers hasn't changed. Cylvania still needs hard workers... AND warriors,” he shot a hard look back at Mrs. Beemer, “to keep the kingdom going.”

Threadbare thought about correcting him. The land was no longer a kingdom, and he had done quite a lot to make sure it was that way... but he decided to let it pass. The man had just been harshly corrected. He didn't want to make Sir Tane feel like everyone was ganging up on him. That would have been cruel.

CHA+1

And it seemed the universe agreed with his personal assessment!

It had been a long time since his actions had caused one of his stats to rise up. That got more and more difficult the more powerful one got, and Threadbare was quite powerful, after the events of his formative years. So a random charisma boost was a nice and unexpected bonus to the day's events.

He came back out of his thoughts just in time to catch part of Graves' statement.

“...experimenting with charging people money for doll haunter transition,” Graves said, nodding toward Copperfield. “I know we were simply going with a volunteer list before, but now that people have gotten over their fear of the process, there's too many people on the list and too few components to give everyone a new body. We've waived most of the fee for people who supply their own components.”

“Like me,” Copperfield grinned. His teeth were a lighter shade of wood, Threadbare noticed, and his tongue was fully leather. He really had a good body made for himself. Abstractly Threadbare wondered if he'd duplicated his prior features, or gone with a younger version of himself, or chosen his idealized looks. Most doll haunters fell somewhere between the three points of the spectrum, and the Rumpus Room staff had learned to humor them.

The dark and stark fact of the matter was that doll haunters often had major issues adjusting to their new bodies and states of being. Anything that the staff could do to ease the transition vastly increased their odds of survival.

“Point of order sir,” the Mousewife squeaked, and the humans turned to her with a little start. She'd been so silent and withdrawn, that they'd overlooked her. “I wouldn't say people ain't afraid of the process. The women back where I work, they still think it's unnatural, mostly. They think any undead's bad. Sorry Mister Copperfield sir. That's their words, not mine.”

“That's the other business we're struggling with,” Graves sighed. “A lot of the dwarves follow Aeterna, and we're pretty sure they've been discouraging selling crystals to us because some of the end results are technically undead.”

“The golems aren't,” said Tane. “And we have the Yorgumites' full support on those. But it doesn't matter to the Aeternites. Even one undead is too many for their hard-liners.”

“For now charging the doll haunters for the transition is keeping us afloat,” Mrs. Beemer sighed. “But if this keeps up, then we'll have to look at other measures. And I just don't know what the Council will let us do, there.”

Threadbare opened his mouth to lay out his thoughts on the socio-economic and political state of affairs with the intrigue-filled and very complex governmental business of the Free Cylvanian Council—

—and was interrupted by a tug on his coat-tails.

He looked down to find one of the juvenile toy golems, a plush frog, staring up at him. Wordlessly the little golem showed him a stick of chalk.

And to his surprise, Threadbare realized that the little nipper had drawn a flower on the seat of his trousers.

With a croaking giggle the frog scampered off, and Threadbare realized that he had been challenged.

“Excuse me a minute,” he said, grabbing a stick of chalk from a nearby cup, and hopping off his chair. “Mousewife? You're with me. We have serious business to attend to!”

Threadbare's Character Sheet

Age: 8

Guild: Reclaimers Association of Generica

Jobs:

Greater Toy Golem Level 20

Cave Bear Level 14

Ruler Level 22

Tailor Level 12

Model Level 19

Necromancer Level 13

Duelist Level 15

Animator Level 19

Enchanter Level 18

Golemist Level 30

Scout Level 11

Smith Level 14

Sculptor Level 14

Jobs stored in Guild Registry

Shaman 7

Attributes Pools Defenses

Strength: 174 Constitution: 184 Hit Points: 548 Armor: 68

Intelligence: 367 Wisdom: 294 Sanity: 851 Mental Fortitude: 58

Dexterity: 238 Agility: 206 Stamina: 634 Endurance: 78

Charisma: 190 Willpower:353 Moxie: 733 Cool: 26 (41)

Perception: 180 Luck: 134 Fortune: 504 Fate: 30

Generic Skills

Brawling - Level 68 (+15)

Climb - Level 19

Clubs and Maces - Level 23

Dagger - Level 10

Dodge - Level 25

Fishing - Level 1

Magic Items - Resist Fire

Ride - Level 16

Stealth - Level 25

Swim - Level 5

Greater Toy Golem Skills

Adorable - Level 55

Bodyguard - Level 14

Gift of Sapience - Level NA

Golem Body - Level 55

Innocent Embrace - Level 19

Magic Resistance - Level 17

Cave Bear Skills

Animalistic Interface - NA

Claw Swipes - 58

Darkspawn - NA

Forage - 21

Growl - 2

Hibernate - 37

Scents and Sensibility - 24

Stubborn - 12

Toughness - 25

Ruler Skills

Appoint Official - Level NA

Complex Decree – Level NA

Emboldening Speech - Level 25

Identify Subject - Level 30

It’s Good to be King - NA

King’s Quest - Level 25

Kingsguard - Level 7

Noblesse Oblige - Level 78

Organize Minions - Level NA

Proclaim Treaty - Level NA

Royal Audience - Level 25

Royal Quest – Level NA

Simple Decree - Level 22

Swear Fealty - Level NA

Tailor Skills

Adjust Outfit - Level 6

Clean and Press - Level 31

Recycle Cloth - Level 7

Tailoring - Level 57

Model Skills

Adjust Weight - Level 21

Call Outfit - Level 26

Dietary Restriction - Level 95 (+190 to all pools)

Fascination - Level 16

Flex - Level 27

Flexible Pose - Level 5

Makeup - Level 12

Scornful Laugh – Level 1

Self-Esteem - Level 27

Sexy Pose - Level 2

Strong Pose - Level 19

Work it Baby - Level 60 (+60% to raw item bonuses)

Necromancer Skills

Assess Corpse - Level 12

Command the Dead - Level 28

Deathsight - Level 9

Drain Life - Level 8

Invite Undead - Level 19

Mana Focus - Level NA (+13% to sanity)

Skeletons - Level 20

Soulstone - Level 47

Speak With Dead - Level 28

Zombies - Level 3

Duelist Skills

Challenge - Level 12

Dazzling Entrance - Level 17

Disarm - Level 2

Fancy Flourish - Level 13

Guard Stance - Level 24

Offensive Stance – Level 4

Parry - Level 27

Pommel Strike – Level 1

Riposte - Level 1

Swashbuckler’s Spirit - NA (+15 to cool)

Swinger - Level 8

Weapon Specialist - Level 50 (Brawling +25)

Animator Skills

Animus - Level 48

Animus Blade - Level 15

Animus Shield - Level 6

Arm Creation - Level 10

Command Animus - Level 28

Creator’s Guardians - Level 74

Deanimate - Level 6

Distant Animus - Level 4

Dollseye - Level 25

Eye for Detail - Level 21

Magic Mouth - Level 18

Mend - Level 74

Enchanter Skills

Appraise - Level 36

Boost+5 - Level 25

Boost +10 - Level 5

Disenchant - Level 24

Elemental Protection - Level 18

Glowgleam - Level 26

Harden - Level 36

Soften - Level 31

Spell Protection – Level 2

Spellstore I - Level 40

Spellstore V - Level 18

Spellstore X - Level 8

Spellstore XV – Level 1

Wards - Level 3

Golemist Skills

Armor Golem - Level 7

Bone Golem - Level 2

Call Golem - Level 12

Clay Golem - Level 13

Command Golem - Level 33

Flesh Golem - Level 1

Golem Animus - Level 70

Golem Guardians - NA

Greater Golem Upgrade - Level 36

Invite Golem - Level 21

Mend Golem - Level 72

Mercury Golem – Level 2

Program Golem - Level 47

Toy Golem - Level 101

Wood Golem - Level 22

Scout Skills

Alertness - Level 3

Best Route - Level 3

Camouflage - Level 17

Firestarter - Level 12

Keen Eye - Level 12

Sturdy Back - Level 13

Wind's Whisper - Level 26

Smith Skills

Adjust Arms and Armor - Level 20

Refine Ore - Level 15

Smelt Down - Level 7

Smithing - Level 52

Sculptor Skills

Detect Clay - Level 8

Mend Ceramic - Level 6

Refine Clay - Level 18

Sculpting - Level 61

Equipment

Golden Laurels (Enables the REST skill, usable every two hours.)

Inventory

Quests

Unlocked Jobs

Air Elementalist, Berserker, Burglar, Cleric, Cook, Cultist, Grifter, Merchant, Spirit Medium, Tamer, Wizard