Callie's Heroes

PART IV - CURIOUS NEW SKILLS

Shortly, Callie and Pixyl left the bathhouse, Lena saying she wanted to be alone to wash up for a little bit, and then was going to go to medical and talk with Tasi, making sure to wear the hat. They ducked into Jesca’s cabin, each picking up one of three bundles with some fruit and nuts in them that would serve as a simple morning snack. Without much to do, Pixyl decided to return to the training field, saying she wanted to do more Flashstep practice so that she wouldn’t crack her head open again next time.

After Pixyl left, Callie sat down in the garden, nibbling on the ad hoc breakfast and leaning back against a tree to enjoy a few minutes to actually think a bit. Her head was still swirling with everything that had happened since she had gone to sleep the night before, and the conversation with her Symbiote. Curious, she unlocked one of her new powers.

TELL ME ABOUT SIGIL OF AMPLIFICATION

SKILL: SIGIL OF AMPLIFICATION (IRON TIER)

MANA USAGE: LOW + CHANNEL

CASTING TIME: SPECIAL

RECHARGE TIME: NONE

CHARGES: NONE

DESCRIPTION: This skill allows you to etch a glowing sigil in the air. You can then push the sigil onto a person or object and it significantly increases the volume of the target's voice or any other purposely emitted sound. Tapping the Sigil once activates the amplification, while a second time deactivates it, effectively muting the Sigil’s power. The Sigil remains active as long as it is fueled by mana. Mana to power the Sigil can come from the caster or another source, and it will remain active for approximately 10 minutes once the mana source is removed, or until dismissed. At Iron Tier, you are only able to channel 1 Sigil of Amplification at a time. As you improve your mastery of this skill, the number of actively channeled Sigils permitted will increase and their overall amplification effects will improve.

Like all the times before, the knowledge of the new spell came flooding into Callie’s head. This time it was oddly strange. There was something utterly different about this ‘Sigil’ magic than she was used to with her Ranger skills and racial traits. Unlike her other spells, with a Sigil, you almost seemed to ‘weave’ it into existence, whereas with the rest of her spells you simply focused mana to create the result. It was a subtle distinction, but at the same time, quite apparent, requiring a much-more artistic touch than the almost-brutish way Callie had used magic up until now.

What was missing however, was any mental information about what she was actually supposed to draw or weave into the air. The designs that she’d seen Kyra and the Sergeant Major use had been different from each other, obviously mastered over many castings. How had they known what design to weave when they were learning? Or maybe they mimicked the ones they learned from someone else? Callie would need to talk to one of them about the spell to find out more. Maybe Kyra … she wasn’t as intimidating.

Callie was about to unlock the next new power, but the sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention. “What’s up?” she asked the approaching Vanis.

“How is she?”

“Better. She smiled at least. It will be an adjustment, though.”

With a bit of a groan, Vanis sat. “Smiling is good.”

“Where are the others?” Callie asked.

“After breakfast, they didn’t really have anything else to do, so they all went to training. I didn’t want to crowd you and Pixyl with Lena, but I needed to see how she was doing before I did the same. We’re her people, just as you said. She’s … family.”

Callie smiled at that. Family was important, whether biological, adoptive or found. “I’m a little worried about people teasing her,” Callie mumbled with a sigh. “She likes to play all tough, but she’s a bit of a softy, too. Underneath, that is.”

“She is, isn’t she,” Vanis smirked. “I may advise her to stay away from others today. Her scalp really is a bit of a mess. It may be best if she makes her first appearance with that smoothed out.”

“She has Jesca’s hat for today, at least. She called it a Ranger hat, though, and didn’t like the idea of wearing it. She needs to get a design of her own, I guess.”

“Any more interesting hat fashions from your Earth?”

“Maybe …” Callie said, trailing off. She tried to picture a few different hat types from back home. Baseball caps were pretty straight forward, but didn’t really have the right style to them. It needed to be something that would look cool on a badass bald elf. Then, she remembered one of the girls she’d sort-of dated for a couple months back in college. She was in the Army Reserves, had super-short hair, and was even built a bit like Lena, with long legs and lots of lean muscles. Really, really long legs in fact.

“I see that look,” Vanis said, a smile coming to his face. “An idea?”

“I think so. Want to go talk to Fullo together?”

“Why not.”

They both stood, Vanis waiting for a moment while Callie peeked into the bathhouse to check on Lena, seeing the shadow of her friend in one of the steamy shower stalls where she was humming to herself. Together, they set off towards the Tannery building. “She’s singing in the shower, at least,” Callie said.

“That is good to hear,” Vanis replied. They walked for a bit, and then Vanis said, “It struck me how well we all came together this morning. The five of us, I mean. Six, if you include Jesca. I think if this had happened at the beginning, there would have been a lot more confusion.”

“We made a good team,” Callie agreed. “Well, I wasn’t of much help, because I had no idea what was going on. Plus, in the end I just ended up almost flashing my chest to everyone.”

“You took over for Pixyl, getting the blanket inside without thinking about it. You then returned to tend to her, calling for Xin once you had assessed her injury. You even directed Jesca to the kitchen. You played your part, Little One. Everyone did. And you made sure we were there for Lena when she woke. That was important. The fact you didn’t realize your clothing state, or Pixyl for that matter, shows your focus and how much you cared.”

“I didn’t think about it like that,” Callie mumbled appreciatively. They really had worked well together, as she mulled it over with the observations from Vanis. Then she laughed. “I can’t believe Xin spiked Lena’s ass.”

Vanis tilted his head back and laughed as well. “I know! I was utterly shocked by that. Still, it was good thinking on Xin’s part in the chaos of the moment.”

“But still absolutely funny as hell.” Callie made a whiplike motion with her hands, mimicking what Xin had done and adding a sound for effect. “Just like that! No warning or anything!”

The two enjoyed another hearty belly laugh, their conversation drifting a bit as to what may have happened if Xin hadn’t knocked Lena out. Everything could have been a lot worse.

“Hey, a question for you,” Callie said, changing the subject.

“What’s that?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but I received Inspiring Melody with my rank up to Silver this morning, as well as a perk for playing your lute. I haven’t unlocked either yet, but what can you tell me about it?”

Vanis stopped short. “A perk for the lute?

“Yeah. Although it’s called ‘Musician - Hand-Held Chordophones’. If I remember from music classes, that would include guitars and banjos and the like, I guess.”

“Interesting, that's the same perk I have for my own lute-playing talent.”

“Don’t ask me why I got it,” Callie said with a shrug. “I don’t think I'm that good at playing that lute thing of yours, but I guess I could have learned enough.”

Vanis hummed, rubbing his chin as he considered. “That must be it, once combined with the knowledge you had before coming here. Congratulations, all the same.”

“Thanks.”

“You received Inspiring Melody, too? Tell me, is it also the same Bard skill that I have?”

“Maybe? ”

“Go ahead and unlock it and tell me what the description says.”

“Uh, sure.”

TELL ME ABOUT INSPIRING MELODY

SKILL: INSPIRING MELODY (IRON TIER)

MANA USAGE: LOW (CHANNELED)

CASTING TIME: NONE (CHANNELED)

RECHARGE TIME: NONE

CHARGES: NONE

DESCRIPTION: This skill grants the capability to manipulate emotions via music or rhythmic spoken word. Effectiveness requires the willing attention of the audience, with environmental and mental distractions mitigating impact. This is a suggestive charm and thus bypasses most passive charm defenses. Will not affect those with charm immunity. It can only affect sentience capable of emotion. Further mastery increases projection strength, overall emotional intensity, range, and distraction resistance. In addition, the skill can be made increasingly effective against unwilling targets.

Callie rattled off the description to Vanis, and she could tell by the brief fluttering of his eyes that he was looking inwards towards his own. “Are they the same?”

“Exactly the same,” Vanis said, rubbing his chin. The Warlock brightened his face. “You know, now that I think about it, you receiving that skill may actually make sense.”

“Why’s that?”

“Remember when you played and sang for everyone the evening after the Bogwump mission? You had quite the emotional impact on many people, including myself. Even the Commandant seemed affected. Looking back, it’s possible you may have used this skill at that time.”

“Really? Why didn’t you say anything?” Callie asked, lightly smacking her friend’s arm.

“Honestly, I had been drinking at the time and was enraptured by the uniqueness of your music, so that evening was a little fuzzy, and I haven't thought much about it since. But, now knowing you have unlocked it, I feel quite sure you cast this spell without knowing it. At least partially.”

“Strange that it says it was ‘learned’ though, just like that Culinar Season spell Pama taught us,” Callie pointed out, explaining the similar wording of the two skills when they were first revealed. “Where the hell did I learn it? That was the first time I played in front of anyone besides Pixyl. Wouldn’t it have shown up when I was scryed at intake?”

“I would have thought so. Perhaps you didn’t know it well enough to be detected?” Vanis suggested, an obvious guess in his tone as the two resumed walking. “Were you a performer back on Earth?”

“Not really,” Callie said, shaking her head. “I hadn’t really played much for the last couple years after my dad died. Before that, I just sang with my family or with my ex-girlfriend. The only actual performing I did was karaoke or joining my dad occasionally when his band had a gig after I was old enough, if I was home.” She quickly clarified what karaoke was when Vanis made a confused face.

“So that was essentially the first time you had performed on your own in front of any large group?”

“I guess, unless you count high-school talent shows or bar crowds or something.”

“That night must have been enough for the skill to fully come to you, perhaps coupled with the song’s deep meaning for you,” Vanis suggested thoughtfully, seeming to mull it over in his head. Finally he surrendered with a shrug, adding, “Honestly, who can really understand how magic works?”

‘How magic works’. Those words echoed in Callie’s head as she went back to the previous night’s conversation with her Symbiote about exactly that topic. As a thought experiment, she tried to put the pieces together in that context.

When she arrived from Earth, her knowledge of archery and construction was translated into various perks. She also had knowledge of performing in front of crowds from time spent with her father on stage over the years, but apparently not enough to trigger a perk or skill coming from it, thus the Scryers didn’t see it. At that point either her Symbiote completed the pathway for the skill sometime during that second week here, after getting Bronze, or she had been able to cast a partial version of Inspiring Melody that night. Watered down, but still strong enough to have an effect on the crowd. That was then either enough to push the skill into registering in her next batch of reveals today, or the Symbiote finished it off.

So … that … sort of made sense … right?

Maybe she’d need to talk to the Symbiote about it to be clear about what really happened. She now definitely understood Cheena’s point about how it’s easier to sometimes really not worry too much about how the whole damn magic thing worked.

Then something occurred to Callie and she frowned. “I’m not sure I like the idea of manipulating the emotions of people. It feels a bit invasive. A lot invasive, actually.”

“Ahh, you missed an important part, then,” Vanis pointed out. “It requires someone giving willing attention to be affected, at least at Iron Tier.”

“Well, yeah. But still, I’m using magic to do it.”

“The person has to let you do it in order for it to work, Callie. They have to want you to.”

Callie mulled that over for a bit as they walked. In a way, if you thought about it, the skill sort of was what the big musicians did on Earth without magic, instead using amplifiers and lights and the like to enhance the experience. Okay, that wasn’t a great analogy, but as she pondered through it more, the new skill was even more voluntary than her Childlike Charm, which would affect those with a nurturing instinct whether they wanted it to or not. With Inspiring Melody, the recipient had to be a willing listener, at least at Iron.

“Will you teach me how to use it; maybe how to control it?” Callie finally asked. “All I have is the description to work with.”

“Certainly, Calllie. I’d be happy to.”

Callie nodded in appreciation, still feeling a little introspective about the new skill and the ethical implications. She knew that this was a world with charms and such, and Lena had explained a person’s underlying intent was as important as anything when determining whether one was ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But the concept was still foreign, and Callie hadn’t gotten used to this world’s thinking yet.

Vanis was polite enough to give Callie the space to mull over her own thoughts, and eventually the pair arrived at the Tannery building. They entered through the office door, Callie stepping up on the booster by the counter, to find Fullo standing at a table. The Tigerkin was talking to one of the Brownies, a female, using their native language of pops and whistles, and both looked up with a start at their new company. Immediately, the little Brownie bolted from the room with a squeal and almost a look of fear on her face, her head popping back around the corner just once, as if to check if people were really there.

Fullo, for her part, threw out her hands in exasperation towards the retreating Brownie. “We’re not done here!” she added in annoyance before turning towards the counter. “Of course, it’s you again. Both of you, for that matter. What do you want this time?”

Callie swallowed, her throat feeling suddenly dry. “I … um … we … yes we …”

“Spit it out, Little One!” Fullo demanded, making a ‘get on with it’ motion with her paw as she walked across the work area. She preemptively picked up a few pieces of loose parchment and a charcoal pencil.

“We’d … uh … like you to make a hat.”

“Another hat,” Fullo growled dryly, slapping the paper and pencil down.

“A special hat,” Callie confirmed with a nod, before quickly adding, “This one is for a really good cause, though!”

“Sexyful hat?” another voice asked curiously.