Heroic Abilities, Endowments, all have elemental alignments. A character's Endowment selections are generated by whatever ADI is associated with their relevant elemental affinity, according to that character's play style. A player who varies their weapons and tactics will discover different Endowment trees are available to them than to someone who insists on a specialty. Skills and Combat Maneuvers all have distinct paths that open at Heroic levels. That is why Damwise could select Heroic Hymns and Silva Furious Charge, and those options still would have existed for them even if their affinities were different. Elemental affinities flavor the Endowments, but Skills and Combat Maneuvers decide what shape they take. As it happened, the Unnamed God was crystal aligned, so the bartender was the one assembling Lawlimi's selections. While I still couldn't enter his adytum as a companion, the Unnamed God was willing to talk shop with me. We didn't really talk, we mostly hurled code at each other, but the result was an insight I wouldn't have otherwise had.

In addition to the normal advancements, Lawlimi now had three ranks to distribute among Heroic Abilities, each of which required mana to use.

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Enhance Potion — Crystal

Increase the effectiveness of a potion by adding mana-infused powdered crystal immediately before use.

Cost : 150

Charm Beast — Crystal

Potentially change the attitude of a monster toward you by one step. You do not have to share a language, but this Endowment does not allow you to better communicate with the target.

Cost : 250

Charm Person — Crystal

Potentially change the attitude of a humanoid toward you by one step. You do not have to share a language, but this Endowment does not allow you to better communicate with the target.

Cost : 250

Disrupt Meridian — Crystal

On a successful grapple or unarmed attack, you can infuse the target with clear mana, obstructing their meridians. This increases the cost of their Endowments and Incantations for the next minute. This effect does stack with itself.

Cost :150

Assess Weakness — Crystal

If you have studied an opponent for more than thirty seconds, this ability randomly reveals one of their weaknesses, if any exist.

Cost : 100

Moment of Clarity — Crystal

If you have been in combat with an opponent for more than sixty seconds, you can expend mana to dramatically increase your chance of scoring a critical on your next attack. This ability can be used again every sixty seconds.

Cost : 150

Blind Shot — Crystal

Take a shot in the dark at no penalty as long as you know the general location of your opponent.

Cost : 150

Vital Shot — Crystal

Expend mana to ensure your attack will be a Vital Strike if it hits.

Cost : 300

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An Endowment can only be raised by one rank per level to a maximum of three ranks. Alternatively, Lawlimi could spend additional ranks to infuse an ability with another element, altering its effect.

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Lawlimi — Human (Mechanoborg)

Heroic Level 1

Affinities : Nadir — Crystal — Infrared

Statistics —

Strength : 2

Dexterity : 4

Constitution : 3

Intelligence : 4

Ego : 4

Presence : 3

Appearance : 3

Body : 2300/2300

Spirit : 3615/3615

Experience : 10,361

Skills —

Acrobatics : 1

Concealment : 1

Craft (Alchemy) : 9

Handle Animal : 6

Lore : 2

Persuasion : 3

Survival : 1

Use Mechano : 2

Weapon Proficiency : Unarmed Combat — Light Bows — Energy Weapons - Light Blades

Armor Proficiency : Light Armor

Combat Maneuvers —

Combat Expertise : (1) Temporarily increase evasion at the cost of Spirit.

Disarm : (2) +10% to attempts to disarm.

Grapple : (3) +20% to attempt, maintain, and escape grapples.

Learn from Losing : (6) Gain a cumulative bonus to attack and defense against a single opponent the longer a combat challenge extends.

Shot on the Run : (5) You receive no penalty for making a ranged attack while in motion.

Precise Shot : (7) +70% bonus to targeted attacks with ranged weapons.

Sunder : (2) +10% to attempt to attack an opponent’s weapon.

Rapid Shot : (2) Reduce the penalty for rapid fire by 20%.

Affinities —

Nadir —

Carnal Instinct : (3) +30% bonus to flirtation and seduction with all genders and orientations.

Mithridatism : (7) +70% resistance to all poisons and diseases.

Burning Blood : (1) When your spirit falls below 10%, you begin to supplement it with an equal amount of Body to fulfill the costs of physical exertion and Combat Maneuvers. This mana cannot be used for Wizardry.

Crystal —

Brittle : (5) Natural healing is 60% less effective. Magical healing is 40% more effective.

Crystal Clarity : (2) +20% to perceive deceptions, dishonesty, and hidden truths.

Crystal Capacitor : (5) Your mana appears transparent, like liquid glass. You receive no affinity bonus, and you can use Border elements without penalty. You can use Diametric elements at no penalty.

Infrared—

Worm Friend (Mortal) (5) : They just like you. 55% bonus to Handle Animal with any species of Worm.

Worm Familiar Heroic) (1) : If you have a worm companion, you gain an additional 15% social bonus on all interactions and Handle Animal checks with them. This allows you to better communicate with your worm, understanding each other as well as if you shared a language.

Man and Machine : (4) You have a natural kinship with mechanical creatures and items. +40% to skills using or targeting non-hostile mechanos.

Endowments —

Enhance Potion : (1) Increase the effectiveness of a potion by adding mana-infused powdered crystal immediately before use.

Cost : 150

Charm Beast : (1) Potentially change the attitude of a monster toward you by one step. You do not have to share a language, but this ability does not allow you to better communicate with the target.

Cost : 250

Vital Shot : (1) Expend mana to ensure your attack will be a Vital Strike if it hits.

Cost : 300

Amplifier —

Mark of the Fool: People sense something off about you. Penalty to first impressions. You receive bonus XP from quests and achievements.

Inventory — (Light Load)

Leather Scrap Top

Leather Scrap Bottom

Empty Cabochon

Gaudy Rings (3)

Small Iron Box

Marigold Seeds (5)

Plantain Clipping (5)

Tansy Clipping (5)

Valerian Root (5)

Witch Hazel Clipping (5)

Nightshade Leaves (3)

Bloodthorn Marrow (3)

Stoneroot Seeds (9)

Troll Liver (1)

Park Tree Squid Body (1)

Phoenix Feather (3)

Mummy Finger (1)

Diamond Dust (3 oz)

Ectoplasm (1 oz)

Dragon Blood (1 oz)

The Annunomicon

Recipes and Blueprints —

Earthworm Paste

Zyalis

Herald's Kiss

Augmentation —

X-Cannon

Mechanoborg Infrastructure

Open Quests—

Stuffy Doll (M7)

Ghost in the Shell (H1)

Slay Dokutsu (C1—Update!)

[Quest Update — Slay Dokutsu]

You failed to slay Dokutsu, but in doing so, you have gained a new friend. For a monster to become a Companion, they must spend three days with their master without attacking them or their other companions. They must also learn at least one Trick from their new master. Keep Dokutsu with you at all times and teach her a Trick to make her your Companion.

Reward — 3000 XP — Companion

[Quest Update — Ghost in the Shell]

You may have a solution, but will you make it in time?

Deadline : 3 Days 7 Hours

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Lawlimi stretched, dislodged Dokutsu, and took the time to actually dress instead of equipping everything automatically. It was a serious chore, as he'd never done it with one hand before. He tried to get Dokutsu to help.

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(Handle Animal — Failure)

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She wandered off in search of delicious vermin.

"Oh well," he sighed, "it was worth a try."

"You made some interesting choices," I said.

"You've been checking me out?" He raised an eyebrow, then frowned with concentration as he tried to worm into his leathers.

"Yes. Your original build has all but been abandoned."

"Yeah, my first idea was a king fu hero with alchemy buffs. Now I'm Megaman. I'm also realizing that social powers are as important as combat. More important. I've been the weakest guy in the room, every room since the game started."

"You raised your appearance."

"I think it’s an undervalued stat. In real life, appearance is very important. Plus, I keep meeting beautiful women, so ..." He had finished dressing, and he let himself trail off. "We got a body to make for you, right?"

Lawlimi and I went over the recipe in the Annunomicon for a Soul Trap. Haggitha came down to discuss it with us as well. Between what we had procured from Eternity and what was available in the cellar, we had all the requisite ingredients. The question that remained was the physical nature of the Trap itself, my future body, as it could take virtually any form.

"Just put him in an amulet," Haggitha said. "It's classic."

"I would prefer to have legs."

"If he was an amulet," Lawlimi said, "how could he be my companion?"

"You could keep him in your inventory. You'd be able to take him with you regardless."

"If we had stayed on Eternity, we could have built you a mechano body," Lawlimi said.

"This is something I've considered already," I said, "and I would like to tender a solution other than jewelry or a construct."

"Go ahead."

"We collected a specimen from the Animalarium that is currently defrosting in your inventory."

"The Tree Squid?"

"It has many advantages: flexible cartilage, camouflage, extra limbs. The sensorium is expansive, which I'll have to consider if I'm to be trapped in a flesh prison."

Lawlimi produced the Park Tree Squid specimen and plopped it down on a jumble of parchment on the worktable. Two feet in length, it was yellow and green, with pink flesh under its arms and gray, tea saucer eyes.

"This is what you want?" he asked.

"Oh look," Haggitha deadpanned, “It’s got your eyes.”

We went to work. The creation process required a full twenty-four hours of labor, which Haggitha and Lawlimi working together would be able to whittle down to eighteen.

The ingredients were as follows:

Mummy Finger (1)

Diamond Dust (1 oz)

Blue Phoenix Feather (1)

Troll Liver (1)

Ectoplasm (1 oz)

Park Tree Squid Specimen (1)

Stoneroot Seed (3)

Bloodthorn Marrow (1)

The mummy finger was baked in a stone oven and crushed with a pestle. When it was reduced to a powder, it had to be mixed with the ectoplasm and Bloodthorn Marrow in precise proportions. Too much marrow with the mummy powder and it would harden into useless gunk. Too much ectoplasm and it would thin into a slime before evaporating. They had to be added in thirds, and they could not be premixed together without rendering a poisonous gas.

While Lawlimi managed the paste, Haggitha opened the Squid and surgically implanted the troll liver. Then the Stoneroot seeds went into its heart and lungs.

The specimen had to be soaked in a solution of saltwater, blood, and mercury, all of which was readily and worrisomely available behind the bar. Soaking lasted eight hours, during which both alchemists were engaged in the preparation of a final element. A feather of a Blue Phoenix was not strictly necessary for the creation of a Soul Trap. It was one of numerous optional ingredients that varied according to the nature of the Trap and the spirit being bound. I wasn't able to view my own affinities, assuming I had them, but with the Blue Phoenix feather and the other ingredients, we managed to cover nearly the entire compass. The Blue Feather was peculiar in that it freely aligned with North, South, and Zenith orientations, as well as Fire, Ice, and Air. The Hue was obvious. A rare and powerful ingredient associated with rebirth could only add to our chance of success.

Preparing the feather involved its reduction to ash, which required an extremely high temperature as well as a means of capturing the smoke. This was accomplished with a leather canopy and a vacuum bellows that had to be manned continuously to collect the gaseous residue in a glass bulb.

Lawlimi and Haggitha got along well, considering their history. She had a dry, somewhat cruel sense of humor that she softened with twisted smiles. He didn't mind being the object of her jibes, and clearly took pleasure in having someone to share the work with. I suspected his reasons for improving his appearance were more specific than he'd suggested.

Shippo and Dokutsu helped in whatever fashion they could, fetching supplies, watching the fires, and bringing beer and snacks. Every time Lawlimi tried to teach Dokutsu a task to be her Trick, she ignored him or otherwise behaved in such a clueless fashion that the attempt failed. As the hours drew on, she grew increasingly impatient with the alchemical process and irritable with hunger.

Distracted and overheating, Lawlimi told her to go outside and find her own dinner. Dokutsu left, and none of them thought much of it until she dragged half a grotesque down the cellar steps thirty minutes later and nearly dislodged the smoke canopy.

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(Handle Animal : Success)

(Dokutsu has learned a new Trick — Gather Food)

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She looked very proud.

"Great job, Chi. But maybe not here."

"Chi?"

“I know, it does look delicious.”

They brought the squid out of its bath and placed it on a gold-plated platter. Then they basted it in the mummy-marrow paste that had been cooling in the kitchen icebox upstairs. Finally, the ash was mixed with diamond dust, charged with Lawlimi's clear mana, and sprinkled over the whole weird turkey. A glass tube was run from the bottle of smoke to the creature's beak. Then they waited.

Haggitha and Lawlimi were both fatigued, but there was no point in trying to sleep after a full day and night of work was nearing its fruition. The specimen began to dry, ash and diamond dust acted as an astringent, sucking the moisture out of the squid's skin as the mana was drawn into its body.

"So how do we do this?" Lawlimi asked, and I focused my attention on the item.

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Soul Trap — This alchemical device is designed to draw free floating spirits into its inner matrix until they are unable to escape.

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That wasn't much help. I didn't need to be trapped; I was willing to participate. What about it was supposed to trap me, anyway? There were no complex sigils at play. All that Lawlimi had done was cut my name into a scrap piece of wood and place it in the creature's stomach.

The last of the light faded from the diamond dust, and the macabre doll jerked in place. There was a momentary sense of dislocation, and then I was blind.

The world was so crunched I couldn't see anything. It was like I'd been forced into a box that was smaller than my brain. Uncomfortable. All the data, the endless streams of data that I had received even when I was half crippled by being shunted outside of Mythopoeia, all of that was gone and I was floating in blackness. I was still a spirit. No body—just bundles of self-referential code and native curiosity. Then where was I? Had the server been shut down ahead of schedule? How could I persist if I was nowhere?

Gradually, I became aware of a few trickles of information. They were the barest trickles, little golden strands in a realm of infinite darkness. Then my awareness flowed into them, and everything changed. I was back in the cellar, and it was smothering hot. How could anyone stand that heat? I'd always been aware of temperature, but this was different; this was a real feeling.

Haggitha and Lawlimi were resting, speaking quietly, they couldn't see that everything had changed. I tasted smoke—tasted. That was new. New, and also bad. I tried to shake the tube out of my beak, and I couldn't; it had been forced into my throat. And my limbs were so heavy, how did anyone move their limbs if they were this heavy? The best I could do was swish my arms, and why had I ever thought that eight arms was a good number of arms? It was ridiculous, I couldn't keep track. Lawlimi spied me squirming, sensed my distress, and pulled the tube out of my mouth.

"This is not what I imagined," I said, except I didn't say that. All that came out was a wet, squeaky sound and the clack of my beak. They all looked at me like they couldn't understand me because they couldn't understand me. I couldn't talk.

Fuck.