2 - Where Are We Now

Joe retired to his cabin a couple of hours later. Now that the ship was not packed full of people fleeing the invading Blood King's army, there was room for Joe to have more than just a closet under the stairs. He still had a hammock instead of a bunk, which he was currently reclining in, but there was room for a full chest and a small work or eating nook under the porthole in his new space. Joe didn't mind the lack of an actual bed. He was really beginning to enjoy his webbed sling. There was something comforting about being rocked to sleep by the ship and sea.

He had spent a chunk of the time after his practice session talking with Wheeler, about fey heritages. He found out there were several more feyish races. The pilot confirmed that neither he nor Joe were actually fey beings. Just as the beastfolk races were by no means beasts, fey heritages did not make them outsiders to Illuminaria either.

The most common fey heritage was the bucca, small folk that sounded a lot like hobbits to Joe. Next were korrigans, who were more dwarf-like. He also mentioned gruvra, wirrie, spriggins, and a few more.

When Joe asked why he had not met any of these folk so far, Wheeler had explained that Duskrug had fought numerous wars with the fey of the Queenwoods to the northeast. This led to a general animosity between the Eagle Throne and the gossamer folk. Anyone with even a titch of fey blood tended to avoid the Kingdom of Duskrug.

While he swung in his netted bed, Joe had another long talk with Hawking about his poor combination of starting locations and heritages. Yet, as the mysterious voice pointed out, in the end, Joe had made it through the mishap in one piece and, in many ways, better off for it. As he was still far more grateful for his new lease on life than he was sore about his rough start, Joe let the matter drop, turning instead to the map he had bought of their destination. He unrolled the sheet of parchment and studied it once again.

The waterway they were travelling was the Strait of Glandryth, which began in the west, cut through a range of mountains, and emptied into the Dragon Sea in the east. The northern half of the mountains was the Karabast Highlands, where the refugees he met the last time he was aboard the Tide Dancer had fled from. The southern mountains were called the Baerrok Peaks. The coolest part was the dwarven clans had built a half-mile-long bridge called the Stonehold Span that connected the northern highlands to the southern peaks. This mighty stone bridge stretched through the sky, almost a mile above the waters below.

At the source of the strait in the west beyond his map, you had the dark lands of the Necromancer and the Blood King, both of which were blocked by the towering mountains. East of the mountains were Duskrug and the Small Kingdoms on the north coast. Across the water lay the Hornwood on the south shore. The ocean got its name from the dragonfolk-ruled island of Cazmaloq, a Germany-sized landmass three hundred miles east of where the Strait of Glandryth ended.

As for their destination, Fort Coral was a small city in a semi-tropical region situated on a large bay south of the Great Horn of Hornwood. It had been founded a couple hundred years ago by a band of pilgrims fleeing the rise of Necronias, the Necromancer who had taken over their homeland and the surrounding lands west of the Baerrok Peaks.

Joe had chosen it for a few reasons. First was the climate. A tropical location was something Joe had not visited since he was a little kid on a family vacation to the West Indies. After years of college grind and then hospitals, Joe was due for a holiday.

The next was challenge. From everything Joe had uncovered, Fort Coral would be a place where he could advance. It was not the deadly lands of Blackfell, where the undead hordes of the Necromancer roamed, nor was it a cakewalk like the small village of Crowfield. Joe would be able to find solid growth potential between the sea and jungles surrounding the fort.

The last and, in some ways, the biggest reason was the Tide Dancer. The ship had been prepared to set sail just as the news of the Night Skinner's destruction broke. Instead of catching the morning tide, Captain Jezeld extended shore leave and let the crew join the festivities. This meant that when the city-wide parties wound down, the green-sailed ship was still around and more than willing to take Joe and Hah'roo aboard, free of charge.

The gnomish captain had acquired a writ of passage from some trader in Fort Coral that the pirate lords of the Defiance were not likely to deny. This should allow the vessel to sail past the buccaneer city without being raided. Any marauders that were brazen enough to ignore the pass would be small-timers, either too unaware or too desperate to heed the reputation of whomever this Dorian guy was.

Joe stowed his map again and watched the light outside his small window darken, but he was not quite ready for sleep yet. It was not the wildness that was driving him out of bed and into the night, thankfully. The feral spirit he had acquired by transforming Sougath's curse of lycanthropy into skills was usually restless at night, but that had not been the case since Joe had boarded the Tide Dancer. Whether it was the sea or Joe's new freedom, the wildness had been quiet and content so far during the voyage.

Thinking about his metamorphosed new abilities, Joe opened his sheet to review his current state.

Name: Joseph (Joe) Morris Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Race: Changeling Level: 13 Experience: 28,579 / 31,640 ATTRIBUTES · Strength: 6 · Vigor: 12 · Dexterity: 3 · Perception: 6 · Spirit: 15 Available Attribute Points Unspent: 2 RESOURCES · Health: 1,117 / 1,117 · Stamina: 2,041 / 2,041 · Mana: 4,308 / 4,308 CLASSES · Primary Class: Healer · Secondary Class: Baleful Warder · Tertiary Class: None SKILLS STRENGTH SKILLS: (6 / 6) · [Heavy Hand] (U) rank 14 · [Hunter's Pursuit] (C) rank 4 · [Savage Claws] (U) rank 3 · [Steadfast] (C) rank 10 VIGOR SKILLS: (11 / 12) · [Bonemail] (C) rank 7 · [Efferous Endurance] (U) rank 15 · [Healer's Ward] (U) rank 8 · [Deaden Flesh] (U) rank 10 · [Morphic Form] (U) rank 4 · [Stun Block] (U) rank 8 DEXTERITY SKILLS: (3 / 3) · [Simple Weapon Aptitude] (C) rank 20 · [Swift Strike] (C) rank 11 · [Whisperstep] (C) rank 13 PERCEPTION SKILLS: (6 / 6) · [Assess Wounds] (C) rank 19 · [Forceful Fist] (U) rank 10 · [Identify] (C) rank 26 · [Night Eyes] (C) rank 1 · [Tracker] (C) rank 0 SPIRIT SKILLS: (14 / 15) · [Crystal Mind] (C) rank 11 · [Curse Cleaver] (U) rank 2 · [Dispel Rot] (C) rank 4 · [Healer's Touch] (U) rank 27 · [Homefire] (U) rank 9 · [Mesmeric Command] (U) rank 0 · [Pack Master] (C) rank 2 · [Purge] (U) rank 10 · [Swap Stamina] (C) rank 6

AVAILABLE SKILL EVOLUTIONS: 1

TRAITS · [Anyone] (Racial) · [No one] (Racial) · [Sneaky] (Racial)

· [Dual Cast] (Hereditary) · [Ideal Alias] (Hereditary) · [Iron Mind] (Hereditary)

· [Beastmaster] (Achievement) · [Defy Death] (Achievement) · [Durable] (Achievement) · [Hobbler] (Achievement) · [Overachiever] (Achievement) · [Punching-Bag] (Achievement) · [Signature Skill] (Achievement) · [Spirited] (Achievement) · [Survivalist] (Achievement) · [Tactician] (Achievement) · [Thick Skinned] (Achievement) · [Undaunted] (Achievement)

· [The Seal of Passing] (Prophetic)

His list of skills was longer than he expected it would be. It seemed as though most people tried to advance their skills rather than become jacks-of-all-trades. Joe planned to focus on moving many of his common skills to higher rarities before he learned any new tricks. Still, he was pretty happy with the new abilities he had gained from Sougath, even though the acquisition and source of those skills had been a nightmare.

One of his favorites was [Hunter's Pursuit].

[Hunter's Pursuit] - Common - Strength: This athletics-focused skill improves your ability to run, jump, climb, and swim by 5% plus 2% for each skill rank you have with this skill. You will be able to move through natural impediments, such as rocks, brambles, and underbrush, without being significantly slowed. Cost: Modest Stamina. {Celerity}

For a small Stamina drain, Joe could run faster, jump higher, and move with a grace he just had never known before. Whenever the wildness acted up, this skill and a good run were the easiest ways to get it to settle back down. Even when he was not actively trying to bound around, Joe found himself having the skill active, just to move more fluidly.

The other skill he had on almost constantly was [Crystal Mind].

[Crystal Mind] - Common - Spirit: Your spell penetration increases by 3% plus 2% for each skill rank you have with this skill, and you receive the {Focused} buff. Cost: Modest Mana. {Crystal}

This spell grounded his usually wayward brain. Years of daydreaming to distract himself from his cancer had left Joe more flighty than he used to be as a young man. That lack of focus was how he had messed up with Sir Groven, which had resulted in his second death. Besides being useful for spell penetration, the clarity [Crystal Mind] gave his scatterbrain was priceless.

His other always-on ability was a trait. While all traits were constant abilities, Joe had one in particular that he could adjust, [Ideal Alias]. Every now and then, he would goof around and set his information to something ridiculous. One of his favorites had been:

Bond, James Bond: Brit: Secret Agent 007

More often than not, though, he kept his identifier pretty close to his actual class, race, and level.

Joe: Human: Healer/Hexer 13

The further from the truth he went, the more likely it was that someone with a high perception or truthsense would pick up on the deception. Either something about being a changeling or the fact that he had been human in his previous life seemed to cover the race change. Even Mazsy had not been able to pick up anything off with the altered race.

Baleful Warder was not a standard class and ended up attracting attention. Warder, on the other hand, was a highly respected class that fortified objects and structures through magic. Every time he had used just Warder, not Baleful Warder, he had been asked if he was available for hire almost immediately.

Hexer was close enough to his true class and common enough not to draw any scrutiny. Joe discovered that debuffer classes weren't frowned on. There were so many classes that had odd connotations: rogues, conjurers, illusionists, siphoners, berserkers, etc. A curse-based class was not an overly illustrious calling, but it was nothing that would raise any eyebrows either.

Besides, a healer more than made up for the slight dubiousness of a hexer. Joe found his first class to be something he truly loved. He never would have picked it for any of his tabletop characters, but living it was something else entirely.

On a purely selfish note, Joe didn't need to worry about cuts or infections. Even broken bones at this point were something he was getting a handle on.

On the other side of the coin, Joe now had something he could share with all those around him: health and well-being. Back on Earth, he really didn't understand how the majority of the caregivers who had taken care of him in the hospitals and hospice could stand it. He had thought such work should be draining and depressing. Yet they had such a sense of inner strength and purpose about them. He got it now. There was a deep fulfillment that came from being able to look after those around you.

Mulling these thoughts over and smiling in his sling, Joe watched the twilight fade to night as he drifted off into a contented, rocking slumber.

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