“Where is she putting it all? She’s nothing but skin and bones.” In a random lull in the room, one of the guy’s comments at the nearby table caught her attention, and she realized that at least half the people in the room were staring at her in a sort of horrified fascination.
Making eye contact, she grinned creepily and quipped into the now silent room, “Oh, this is nothing compared to when I drink the blood of my enemies.” The guy blanched and someone let out a muffled shriek until Raphael cuffed her lightly on the back of her head, ruining the moment. “What was that for?” She asked indignantly. He just gave her a look that spoke volumes, like ‘really?’ Shrugging, she went back to eating pancakes. She’d establish dominance another time.
She had just finished off her second plate when Kaylee brought out a new plate for Raphael and a full mug of what looked like orange juice for her. She glanced at it suspiciously, asking quietly, “It’s just juice this time, right?” At Raphael’s nod, she glared at him, then turned sweetly to Kaylee. “He’s going to need another plate.”
Raphael waved her off. “No, I should be good with this, ignore her.”
Jade shrugged. “Your loss.” Before he realized what she meant, she had grabbed the plate and stacked it on top of the others, already starting to gobble down the food. Raphael and Kaylee stared at her blankly, as did most of the other people who were now watching their table surreptitiously.
“I’ll just go get you another plate…” Kaylee murmured and walked away.
“Is your stomach a black hole? Seriously?”
She paused long enough to take a swig of orange juice before she responded nonchalantly, “Nope, it’s my soul, not my stomach.” He just stared at her somewhat helplessly, which was rather funny. She had reduced a grown man to speechlessness.
Also, apparently they knew about black holes here. Weird.
Chapter Ten – Magic
Seeing as he, as well as most of the rest of the room, were completely shut up and silent right now, she took the opportunity to study her stats. After all, all that eating and passing out and pain had to have done something, right? It was obvious enough that even Raphael had noticed a difference. She’d have to look in the mirror when she got back upstairs and see if she could tell what all had changed. For now, she mentally clicked on her profile and skills screens, bringing them up in front of her.
Name: Jade Winward
Age: 18
Strength: 8.80
Dexterity: 9.03
Constitution: 8.52
Intelligence: 16.09
Magic: 11.72
Charisma: 9.68
Luck: 14.07
Special Abilities: Siphon
Skills: Acrobatics, Appraisal, Archery, Athletics, Blood Magic, Bluff, Deception, Diplomacy, Dodge, Eating, Haggle, Healing Magic, Information Gathering, Insight, Intimidate, Light Armor, Light Magic, Mathematics, Navigation, Perception, Running, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Small Blades, Stealth, Unarmed Combat, Walking, Wind Magic
Acrobatics
Beginner 2
80%
Appraisal
Beginner 2
35%
Archery
Beginner 2
5%
Athletics
Beginner 4
38%
Blood Magic
Beginner 2
90%
Bluff
Beginner 3
26%
Deception
Beginner 1
80%
Diplomacy
Beginner 4
35%
Dodge
Beginner 1
80%
Eating
Beginner 4
48%
Haggle
Beginner 1
20%
Healing Magic
Beginner 9
72%
Information Gathering
Beginner 5
12%
Insight
Beginner 4
20%
Intimidate
Beginner 2
60%
Light Armor
Beginner 1
80%
Light Magic
Beginner 2
25%
Mathematics
Beginner 4
10%
Navigation
Beginner 2
80%
Perception
Beginner 4
33%
Running
Beginner 3
0%
Sense Motive
Beginner 3
16%
Sleight of Hand
Beginner 3
50%
Small Blades
Beginner 2
5%
Stealth
Beginner 3
0%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 2
5%
Walking
Beginner 3
85%
Wind Magic
Beginner 2
82%
Okay, she might have been a little overzealous in trying to grab new skills. Her page was slightly overwhelmingly ridiculous now. She had tried to grab a few of the skills she figured she would need eventually though. She needed to be able to defend herself and maybe use a weapon without hurting herself, so she’d given herself a few options.
At the same time, woot! She was getting closer to being a real girl! Er…a normal human, that is. Raphael was probably onto something when he said she looked more human. She was slowly, or actually rather quickly, stepping her way from living skeleton to zombie to human. She kinda had to laugh that she’d gotten eating as a skill though.
She wondered what the deal was with overlap. When was she bluffing versus deceiving someone? Was she doing both at the same time? If they were practically the same thing, what was the point of having them as separate categories? She mentally shrugged. Oh, the whims of the capricious god who made this system. They could have made it nice and easy, but no…No wonder DnD limits character sheets to the basics.
“Are you done eating?” Raphael finally seemed to notice that she’d been spacing out after having cleaned her third plate. She shrugged and nodded, feeling a little lethargic now that she’d stopped moving. “Then why don’t you go get dressed and I’ll take you to the examinations.”
Jade pushed aside her plates, sticking her elbow on the table as she rested her chin on her fist, “Tell me about the examinations.”
He sighed. “Can I explain on the way?”
“No, but you can explain now. I’m not going anywhere until I know what I’m getting into.” She stubbornly dug her heels in. She watched him run his hands through his hair and wondered if this was what it was like to cause hair loss from stress.
“It’s simple. They’ll ask you about your profile, then have you demonstrate your physical abilities and any skills you’ve claimed.”
She pondered for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. “Are they expecting me?” He nodded warily. It seemed like he had realized that if he said the wrong thing she was going to throw a hissy fit. “What exactly did you tell them about me?”
He sighed. “Not much. They had already heard about the zombie healer and asked all staff to try and find her. I sent a message saying I’d found her and would bring her by today. And that you were a dual magic user.”