Tunnel Rat

Chapter 92: The Rune-Boned Scout

After an eternity of boredom and pounding his head on the wall, he heard a small sound and a bit of light came through a crack. He thrust his claws into the crack and pulled, but the hard material defeated him. An idea slowly formed in his mind as runes aligned and were discarded.

Milo-Osculum-Infantum cast his first spell: Sunder Shell.

His egg was ripped in half, scattering pieces of shell into the dark waters. From far, far above he saw the light. His clutch-mates had waited for him, even though they knew from the shape of his egg that he was malformed. One of his hind legs was too short and his head too big. They didn’t care. He was theirs. Family. They would swim upwards together.

Iritas-Venetor wished to use speed to swim past the eels but Magna-Stultas was more cautious, and advised stealth.

“Let the least of us lead. He is hard to see and quiet. If all stay behind him, we will advance slowly.”

Iritas-Venetor agreed, but added, “And if the eels see him, it gives a nice diversion.”

They moved as a pack, up through the slow-water, and into the live-water. Now was the time of great danger. The cheating eels had found their spawning waters and sent half-grown eels to patrol the live water. As expected, they were seen!

A sharp-eyed eel saw them and let out a low keening to alert others. They prepared to flee. Milo-Osculum-Infantum knew he was dead. He was too slow! He would have to return to dark and go through the cycle again.

He remembered other runes: “Swift-Swimming”. His skin shimmered and he leaped forward. Far faster than he had been. Faster than an eel! He shot past the stupid eel, his stunted rear-claw raking its eye and infuriating it. It followed.

More eels came at the wounded one’s cry. Milo-Osculum-Infantum didn’t stop to taunt them. He swam through the life water for the light. He made it to the live-stone, but on eel was on his tail. Literally. Its jaws were cramped cruelly on his lovely tail, and it was pulling him back into the live-water!

From above on the cliff, a predator leaped onto the eel. Volat-Repax had smaller claws, but many, and a long, glorious tail. He wrapped around the eel, wounding it. From the water emerged Magna-Stultas, his jaws chomped down on the body of the eel, and in its pain, it released Milo-Osculum-Infantum. Alta-Viator joined the fight, his strong claws sundering the eel’s head.

“Feed quickly brothers. We need strength to run.”

The eel was tasty, and they ran fast, finding an opening in the live-rock that took them deep. Milo-Osculum-Infantum, but was not happy. The others gathered round. “What bothers you, little brother? Life is sweet with the taste of eel on your tongue!”

Milo-Osculum-Infantum hung his head. I was useless in the fight. I am too small.

Volax-Repat laughed. “Useless? You knew the runes of Swift Swimming and gave them us. The speed was delicious.”

Magna-Stultas agreed. “As delicious as eel. You were brave little brother. You attacked and drew first blood and drew off the eels.”

Altar-Viator wagged his tail in agreement with his brothers. “And you set the trap. That was clever. We were weak along. Strong together. For four hatchlings to kill an eel of that stage is grand. The story will remain for ages.”

He looked at the others. “And we owe you a debt. You shared your runes with us. Runes none of us remembered how to cast. We must return the favor.”

Altar-Viator placed his paw upon Milo-Osculum-Infantum’s head. “You have my claws”

“And you have my tail!” Volax-Repat shouted eagerly.

“And my bones!” Finished Magn-Stultas.

The Ancient Bone-Runes swirled through their bodies before being shared with the little one who had saved them, binding him to them forever.

Welcome to Tier 2

Congratulations! You have evolved your last class: WereRat Scout into the new class, Rune-Boned Scout. This is a unique class based on decisions you have made along your path, and your accomplishments. In additon to stealth and scouting abilities you add the ability to cast spells constructed from your knowledge of the Ancient Runes. You will also gain options to enhance your own physical form.

Rune-Boned Scout

Evolve your scout class to be something more. Delve deeper into the earth and seek out its secrets. You have discovered the ancient creatures that vied with the Eels for dominion of the world when it was young and unformed. More, you have gained the favor of three such creatures. Bonemancy is but a pale shadow of what you could do as a master of the ancient runes used by these creatures. Focus in on Ancient Runic lore, Rune carving, Spell Construction, finding more of these creatures or their runes, and enhancing your own form.

You have gained: +4 Perception, +4 Intelligence, and +4 Toughness.

Foundation: 120 base points, +10 Evasion, +10 Magic, +10 Mining, +10 Crafting

You may add +2 points to your stats as you choose.

You have gained the WIS Skill: Ancient Rune Lore.

You have gained the INT Skill: Spell Construction.

Skill Changes:

You have lost the skill: Bonecasting. You retain some of the knowledge of those spells, but they are now powered by the Old Magic of the Ancient Runes. The experience from this skill is transferred to your new magical skills.

Skulk, Unnoticed, Silent steps and Hide now combine to create the new skill: Stealthy Skulking. This skill reduces a creature's perception by 2+2 per rank. This reduced number is what will be used to see if they notice you doing something. If that number is 0 or less, they will only notice you if you are quite obvious in what you are doing, such as attacking, casting a spell, or swimming in a soup tureen. Otherwise you will move through the shadows, hide, and tip-toe across rooftops with others unaware of you. Obviously, creatures with high perception, or with skills designed to notice people like you will be harder to hide from.

Spells:

Exploding Skull has become Runed-Skull. By carving one or more Runes of Destruction upon a skull and binding your mana into it, you create a weapon that may thrown at an enemy to cause an explosion. It may also be triggered remotely as a bomb. Damage is an AOE with a radius of twenty-feet. Base damage is 100 per rune, modified by your skill.

Bone Spike has become Harpoon of the Winds. By carving a Rune of Destruction, and a Rune of Velocity into a small bone harpoon, you create a powerful ranged weapon. Base damage of 200, modified by your skill. This weapon must be thrown at an opponent.

You retain the spells: Extra Rib, Mend Bones, Brittle Bones, and the skill: Manipulate Bone.

You know the following Ancient Runes: Destruction, Velocity, Hard-Bones, Swift-Swimming, Sunder Earth, Sharp-Talons

You have the meta-magic skills: Claws of Alta-Viator and Spine of Volax-Repat

-Tailfighting, Mace Tail, Sharp Tail, and their benefits are now included in Spine of Volax-Repat

-Strong Claws and its benefits are included in Claws of Alta-Viator

-You have regained the perks: Sharp-Runed Talons and Hard-Runed Bones

Special Benefits for Maximizing your Stats: DEX, AGI, PER, INT

Congratulations on raising both DEX and AGI to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Acrobat

You are skilled at tumbling, walking a tightrope, or swinging from a trapeze. If you have an evasive defense skill it gains a 10% bonus.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and PER to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Juggling.

You are adept at juggling items in the air. You may also catch items thrown at you, and return them to their owner. You are also skilled at sleight of hand, and gain small bonuses to skills such as Pickpocket, or Gambling.

You have a +20% chance to hit with physical ranged attacks.

Congratulations on raising both DEX and INT to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Fast Casting

When you cast an attack spell at a single target, you may immediately repeat the spell for twice the mana.

Congratulations on raising both PER and AGI to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Uncanny Dodge. Any avoidance skill that you use to dodge incoming damage from a source you are aware of will gain +20% to your chance. You must know the direction the damage is coming from.

Congratulations on raising both INT and AGI to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the benefit: Alert

Others might pause at the start of trouble, but not you. A spell or weapon is immediately at hand and you gain a bonus to acting ahead of your enemies.

Congratulations on raising both PER and INT to 10 in Tier one. You have gained the Perk: Fast Hands, Faster Brain! Any task that involves assembly, disassembly, sorting, or manipulating multiple objects is trivial for you. You don't have to think which part goes where, you just know!

Tri-fecta! Raising two stats to 10 is difficult, but raising three is simply amazing!

Add +50 to Health, Mana, and Stamina.

Quadratic! You just don't know when to quit climbing the mountain.

For raising 4 stats to 10 or higher recieve one of the following of your choice:

- A simple aspect of magic such as fire, cold, darkness, storm, etc.

- Minor resistance to any one element such as fire, cold, acid, darkness. This is a primary skill.

- 100 Gold Coins

- +150 to either Health, Mana, or Stamina. Please choose.

Oh My! Aren't we the clever little rat? You earned a Heroic Ability!

Only 12 players have accomplished this feat so far. You're the lucky 13th! to do so.

Because you have raised both INT and DEX to 15 in Tier one, you have gained the ability: Counter Attack

You recognize when someone else is about to cast a spell. Hand motions, shouting magic words, the smell of ozone, and that stupid smirk on their face gives it away. You may counter their spell with an attack of you own. After all, it's hard to cast a spell if someone just cut off your fingers or put a knife in your throat. If you did not use Fast Casting immediately prior to this attack, you may also cast a single spell instead of attacking.

If your counter attack does at least 25 points x the Creature's Tier, the spell is countered. Elite Bosses count as one tier higher, and Monstrous bosses count as 2 tiers higher.

General Changes now that you are in the second Tier:

-It is easier for higher tier creatures to attack and injure lower tier creatures. In general, you will have a bonus of +20% to hit, and to damage, when fighting Tier 1 creatures. Your evasion is higher against their attacks, and you will resist Tier 1 spells easier.

-Because it is trivial to fight Tier 1 creatures, you will no longer gain experience from killing them. Tier 1 Bosses will still give Core Skill Points, but at a much reduced level. (An exception to this rule would be a special event. If you singlehandedly stop the thousands of warrior-weevils in the onrushing hordes of Queen Squirmicide from devastating Plum Village you will certainly be rewarded.

-Points of INT, CHR, or WIS added in Tier 2 will add 30 mana.

-Points of STR will add 30 stamina and 15 health.

-Points of CON will add 30 health and 15 stamina.

-Points of TOU will add 50 health and +2% to all resistances.

-The cost of T1 Core Skills you did not take are increased to reflect the increased amount of CSP you will receive in Tier 2.

Milo awoke to many notifications and strange dreams swirling in his head. He felt much, much better. He felt fixed, and connected to his abilities once again. Raising his hand, he saw that his claws were sharp and hard. They were a creamy white and he was able to retract them nearly all the way, or extend them to a length of two-inches. He experimented and carved furrows in the stone of the cave floor with little effort.

Reading through his sheet, he saw that he still had some choices to make. He should do that before he ran off to experiment with spells.

His foundation was easy. He had read about this on the forums, having missed much of the explanation that would normally have come to a new player logging in for the first time. At the start of Tier 3 a player would begin to get benefits from their foundation. In Tier 4 he would get the last chance to increase foundation skills that would further shape his character. It seemed straight forward, although there were thousands of pages of discussion. Points in mitigation increased how well your armor protected you. Points in Magic made your spells hit harder. Crafting gave additional skills and a chance at legendary creations. And points to Harvesting would yield more raw materials of higher quality. He assigned the bonus points from his class, then filled in the other 120. He'd get 120 more at the start of Tiers 3 and 4. He'd worry about that later.

Of more importance were his free points. He could put +2 points to a skill. DEX and INT came to mind, as his highest. But TOU would give him more health. Or perception to avoid traps. He'd have to think on this.

Or you can vote in the poll below!

The next choice would take some research. He didn't think he wanted a magical aspect, but he should research it. It wasn't the same as learning spells. Gold, he had. More health, mana, or stamina would be nice. And gaining a third resistance skill could save his life. Acid? Fire? He did cause a lot of explosions.

One poll per chapter. I'll do this one next.

Decisions made, or put off for later, he was ready to go. Georgie licked his face and disappeared to where ever he went when Milo didn't have a camp. Arcane Home for Watch-Lizards? Who knew?

He jumped into the deep crack in the rock, one claw slowing his fall to the tunnel. Then he ran back up to see if he could find a trace of Harry, or catch up to the Engineers.

Base

Per Level

From Stats

From CSP

Total

Health

100

100

710

+50

1460+(100)

Stamina

600

100

360

+50

1610

Mana

100

100

810

+200+50

1760

Cheese

Level2: Partial Control

+1 STR, +100 Health

Stat:

Tier 1 Value

Rank

Cap

experience

Bonus

Total

STR

8

0

5

8 (+1)

DEX

15

0

5

15

AGI

12

0

5

12

CON

8

0

5

8

INT

15

0

5

+4

19

WIS

8

0

5

8

CHR

0

0

5

0

PER

11

0

5

+4

15

TOU

3

0

5

+4

7

Skills

Stat

Level

experienceT1

experienceT2

P/S/T

Claws of Alta-Viator

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Spine of Volax-Repat

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Rune Crafting

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Ancient Rune Lore

WIS

5

2000

Lore

Rune Lore

INT

5

2000

Lore

Spell Construction

INT

0

0

Primary

Bone Carving

DEX

5

2000

Crafting

Manipulate Bone

WIS

0

0

Primary

Poison Resistance

CON

5

2000

Primary

Disease Resistance

CON

2

500

Primary

Stealthy Skulking

WIS

5

2000

Primary

Climbing

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Dodge

AGI

5

2000

Primary

Small Blades

DEX

5

2000

Primary

Mining

STR

5

2000

Primary

Acrobatics

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Throw Sharp Thing

DEX

0

0

Secondary

Fleet of Foot

AGI

5

2000

Secondary

Sense Danger

PER

5

2000

Secondary

Forage

PER

2

500

Secondary

Skinning

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Manipulate Locks and Traps

DEX

5

2000

Tertiary

Identify

PER

5

2000

Tertiary

Mycology

INT

1

100

Tertiary

Combat Block

DEX

0

0

Tertiary

Scrimshaw

DEX

0

0

Crafting

Cheesemaking

WIS

1

150

Crafting

Black Smithing

STR

2

500

Crafting

Trap Making

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Mechanic

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Hydraulics

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Engineering

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Ore Processingocessing

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Pulley-Systems

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Chemistry

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Physics

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Fluid Systems

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Metallurgy

INT

5

2000

Crafting

Core Skills

Skill

Next Upgrade

Upgrade Cost

Description

Smugglers Stash (3)

54 cubic feet

20

27 Square Feet

Bounding Leap (1)

Heroic Leap. 3x distance

5

2x Leap Distance

Claws of Alta-Viator (2)

+40 Damage

10

Spine of Volax-Repat (3)

+40 Damage

20

Invisible Tail (1)

Totally Normal Person

10

Appear as a human, in normal circumstances.

Never Lost (1)

No upgrade

Unlimited Dark Vision (1)

No upgrade

Pretty Good Regeneration

Strong Regeneration

20

Mutant Regeneration

10

Weak Poison Resistance

Skill: Strong Poison Resistance

10

Mitigate 5+5xRank Poison Damage per Round

Weak Disease Resistance

Skill: Strong Disease Resistance

10

Mitigate 5+5xRank Disease Damage per Round. You are immune to minor mundane diseases.

Abundance (2)

Abundance 3

3

Breathless (1)

Breathless 2 (10 minutes)

2

Skilled Provider (3)

Skill Provider 4

5

Extra Clever Traps (2)

Fiendish Traps

10

Cheese Making

Skill: Cheese Crafting

5

Perks

WereRat Scout Bonus

+2 PER, AGI, DEX Foundation: +15 to Evasion, +10 to Forage, +10 to Mine

Rune-Boned Scout Bonus

+4 PER, TOU, INT, +2 Foundation: +10 Evasion, +10 Magic, +10 Craft, +10 Resist

+100 mana per Tier

Extra Rib of Magna-Stultas

+2 INT when bonded to Cowl

You receive the blessing of Regulus Tyborian. While bound to the Bone-Runed Cowl you gain +2 Int.

+100 Mana

You gain +100 mana from the blessing of the Oracle of Oblivion

Acrobat

You are skilled at tumbling, walking a tightrope, or swinging from a trapeze. If you have an evasive defense skill it gains a 10% bonus.

Juggling

You are adept at juggling items in the air. You may also catch items thrown at you, and return them to their owner. You are also skilled at sleight of hand, and gain small bonuses to skills such as Pickpocket, or Gambling.

You have a +20% chance to hit with physical ranged attacks.

Fast Casting

When you cast an attack spell at a single target, you may immediately repeat the spell for twice the mana.

Uncanny Dodge

Any avoidance skill that you use to dodge incoming damage from a source you are aware of will gain +20% to your chance. You must know the direction the damage is coming from.

Alert

A spell or weapon is immediately at hand and you gain a bonus to acting ahead of your enemies.

Fast Hands, Faster Brain

Any task that involves assembly, disassembly, sorting, or manipulating multiple objects is trivial for you. You don't have to think which part goes where; you just know!

Trifecta!

+50 Mana, Health, Stamina

Quadratic

Resistance to Acid or another Resistance or aspect, +150 to H or S or M, gold ??

Counter Attack

You recognize when someone else is about to cast a spell. Hand motions, shouting magic words, the smell of ozone, and that stupid smirk on their face gives it away. You may counter their spell with an attack of you own. After all, it's hard to cast a spell if someone just cut off your fingers or put a knife in your throat. If you did not use Fast Casting immediately prior to this attack, you may also cast a single spell instead of attacking.

Swift Swimming

For the cost of 100 stamina, you increase your swimming speed to twice that of your land speed. Duration 30 minutes, you leave the water, or you lose your skin.

Hard-Runed Bones

Your bones are hard. Falls and blunt trauma do far less damage to you. 50% of force damage, and blunt weapon damage is mitigated. Mana will power the rune, costing you one mana for each 10-damage negated.

Sharp-Runed Talons

Your Talons are extensions of your bones. Use your sharp talons to hunt the eels wherever they are. Claw attacks will do +20 damage per Tier.

Stone Sense

Even in complete darkness you can feel the shape of natural stone and earth to a distance of 50' and up to 10' past the surface of the stone. This allows movement through caves and similar terrain even in complete darkness at a normal pace.

-You know when creatures move around you if they are treading on stone or packed earth by the vibrations they make. Some stealth abilities may partially negate this, as will a very light tread.

Foundation Max 120 points for Tier 1 (Class Bonus of +15 Evasion, +10 to Forage, Mine)

Combat

T1 Base

T2

Defense

T1Base

T2

Melee

25

25

Mitigate

0

Ranged

15

20

Evasion

25

15+10

Magic

25

15+10

Resistance

25

15

Crafting

25

15+10

Harvest

Skill 1:

Skill 2:

Mechanic

Trap Making

Ancient Rune Crafting

Skill 2:

Reaping

Animal products, skinning, Butchering,

10

Skill 3:

Skill 4:

Tool Making

Smithing

Skill 3:

Skill 4:

Foraging

Herbs, flowers, bark, fungus, fruit. timber

25

Skill 5:

Skill 6: Locked

Rune crafting

Locked

Skill 5:

Skill 6: Locked

Mining

minerals, gems, stone

25

15+10

Combat Calculations

Weapon Block: 20%+DEXx5+Rankx5 =95%. You will take Weapon Damage -100.

Claws of Alta Viator:

Chance to Hit:60%+5%xRank to hit = 85%

Damage: 60+5xSTR+5xRank +20(CSP) + 40(20 per tier) = 185

Spine of Volat-Repax:

Chance to hit: 30%+5%xDEX+5%xRank = 130%

Damage: 30+5xDEX+5xRank+40(CSP) = 170

Shadowblight:

Small Blades:

Chance to hit: 30%+5%xDEX+5%xRank = 130%

Damage: 30+rankx5 = 55

Throw Sharp Things:

Chance to hit: 20%+5%xDEX+5%xRank = 95%

Damage: 20+rankx5 = 20