Part 49

Chapter the Forty Eighth: Avoidance

I tried to will myself towards Frederick's house, a house I called home for many years, but I just couldn't do it. Even just thinking about it filled me with dread, and when I inevitably gave in to that feeling I felt like a fool. What in blazes am I so afraid of? I noticed a small supply shed on the side of the road, belonging to the Caladonian Guard. For old time's sake I picked the lock on it and snuck inside.

It wasn't even as though I really needed the money, I mostly did it out of nostalgia, which seemed like an awful reason to steal from anybody, even the guard. As a compromise I only took half of the valuables in the shed. I can't avoid him forever. I don't want to avoid him forever, I just... what will he say? It's been over three years... I sighed, at last heading for Dragon's Turnabout.

So many memories flooded over me as I walked through the well-decorated streets. I passed by the Museum of Caladon, where Frederick and I had spent many nights chatting about various pieces of history. I still remembered the look on his face when he came home one evening and spotted the old Queen's necklace sitting out on the desk in his study. He couldn't believe I'd actually had the nerve to steal it. When he got over the shock we both laughed, and he put it in his glass case.

"Tyron?" Virgil's voice snapped me out of my reverie. "Samantha, look, the name on this building is A. Tyron. Aren't we looking for him?"

I glanced over at it: 22 Dragon's Turnabout, A. Tyron. "Right you are, Virgil! Good eye!" I was secretly thankful for yet another distraction.

I knocked on the door and waited several moments for an answer. A younger man with shabby, wrinkled clothes and a week's worth of stubble answered the door. He took one look at the axe on my belt and jumped back suddenly, "What do you want? What are you doing here? You're working for THEM, aren't you?"

Yes, I've definitely found the right man. "Working for who?"

His eyes darted back and forth nervously as though he were trying to decide which window would be best to dive out of. "You know who. The day has finally come, is that it? Arthur Tyron has become too dangerous to be allowed to stay alive?"

Calm down, good fellow. I'm not here to kill you. "Look, Arthur... Cesare sent me. I've brought the skulls." I pulled them out of my purse and held them out to him.

I grew increasingly annoyed that nobody seemed to want to explain a damn thing to me even after I'd somehow managed to track Tyron down against all odds. "What is?"

His voice was hysterical, "I have uncovered a plot the ramifications of which could bring down the government of Tarant! But I will need your help to finish my work..."

I very nearly rolled my eyes. "Is that so?"

Actually... yes, I have. I spoke with Ogdin about that very subject when I visited the Isle of Despair. "Yes, that is rather strange."

He leaned in closely to me and I could smell the stench of sweat on his skin and clothing. I shied away just in time to avoid a droplet of it. "They are breeding them! They've enslaved women and are forcing them to mate with Ogres, I tell you!"

It did make a paranoid sort of sense, but I didn't put much stock in an enigmatic 'they'. "Who is? Who's doing this?"

Actually... I've noticed that, too... most of them are bloody useless, but he's right, the gnomes do tend to employ a lot of half-ogres. Could it really be true? This isn't just some figment of Tyron's imagination? "How did you find out about all of this?"

He shook his head dismissively. "Oh, I've been on the trail a long time, I have. And now that you have brought me the skulls, I'm ready to close in and grab the proof I need to expose them. It's just that... well, I'm not much in the way of physical prowess. I need someone I can trust to collect the evidence for me, as I don't think I would survive. It is sure to be a treacherous endeavor!"

I sighed heavily, knowing that it would come down to me, as usual. I'm really quite surprised at the number of capable men that would defer any dangerous jobs to a woman. Chivalry is truly dead. "What does all this have to do with the skulls?"

He grabbed onto my shoulders, trembling excitedly as he spoke, "The Siamese twins were the result of their first twisted breeding experiments! They tried to breed elves with orcs to produce a breed of extremely strong, resilient mages that they could then control. This was before it was obvious that technology would one day rule Arcanum, of course. The twins were the only viable offspring to come from those experiments. They were scheduled to be put to death, but they disappeared from the laboratory before their termination could take place. They appeared in high society some 20 years later. We believe they must have been under the protection of a powerful ally of ours on the council for them to have survived that long."

There was definitely a certain doubt beginning to form in my mind as to where the truth ended and this madman's warped imagination began. I didn't doubt that there was at least some truth to it, however. "Who is this ally of yours on the council?"

Ugh, got it... there is no such ally, and the Siamese twins are doubtlessly unrelated as well. "I could possibly help you. What would I need to do?" I couldn't ignore the possibility of breeding experiments. That seemed all too realistic.

He picked up a tattered and worn journal full of unreadable scribblings and flipped through it impatiently. "Through my research, I've discovered the most likely location for this breeding facility is a small island I've dubbed 'Half Ogre Island', near Thanatos. You would need to find a way into their laboratories and bring me some sort of evidence I can use to expose them to the world!"

I nodded at him affirmatively, "You've piqued my interest. I will do it."

"Excellent!" His shout echoed throughout the mostly barren room and he grabbed my map from my hands almost before I could even finish taking it out of my purse. "Here... here is the location of the island." He marked my map with a dot. "And don't speak with anyone about this, it could be... unhealthy, for both you and me."

Perhaps not in the same way you think, but I'd definitely like to avoid the strange looks that follow. "Agreed. I shall return with your proof." On my way out of the building I spied a guard standing watch across the street with an incredibly bored look on his face. I was trying to work back up the nerve to see how Frederick was doing, so in the meantime I decided to see what the guard was up to.

I wouldn't be turned away nearly so easily. "What is happening here?"

He sighed, obviously disinterested, but seemed willing enough to accept the distraction I offered him from an otherwise dreary job. "Have you not been reading the newspapers? There's a murderer on the loose. This is where one of his grisly murders occurred."

I gritted my teeth. How careless of me! I've been so worried about Frederick that I nearly forgot... I cannot let this stand. "Perhaps I can help find the murderer."

"Where can I find this chap?" No amount of taunting was going to put me off of it. It was something that I simply had to do.

The guard's armor clanked noisily as he pointed in a vaguely easterly direction. "At the police station, of course. 5 Saints Ave, off Temple Road."

I don't need directions. I know right where that is. "Thanks." I went straight there. I fully expected Virgil to start complaining, but instead he was simply silent. He'd been quite silent ever since we'd arrived in town, actually. I didn't think he would be quite that upset over my hesitance in searching out Victor, as it certainly wasn't the first time I got sidetracked by seemingly less important tasks. What is bothering you, Virgil...? ...and why won't you talk about it?

I entered the police station willingly for perhaps the first time in my life. The inspector was a gnomish fellow that I eyed suspiciously, thinking back to the job I'd just accepted from Tyron. I shrugged it off, however. Just because he's a gnome doesn't mean he's in on the conspiracy... if there's a conspiracy. It's ludicrous to buy into everything Tyron said. Why, there's not even a half- ugh, almost didn't notice him standing there. For heaven's sake, I really doubt a member of the gnomish industrial council would be working as a police inspector for Caladon!

The inspector noticed me approaching and glanced up from his desk, "Yes, can I help you, madam?"

"Good day, inspector. I've heard of the horrible murders going on about town, and I wanted to offer whatever assistance I could. Perhaps I can be of some help to you." I tried to sound polite, fighting back the irrational thoughts stuffed into my head by Tyron. The memory of the guard's face when he directed me to the inspector wasn't helping, either. I really want to help put an end to these murders badly, don't I? Since when did I get so damned noble? The inspector looked me over carefully before cracking a smile.

After the amount of crime I got away with in this damned town years ago, I'd be inclined to agree with you. "Thank you. I think. What can you tell me of the murders?"

He seemed rather tired and open to letting me do as I pleased. "Well, the journalists have taken to calling this maniac the Whytechurch killer, after his favorite section of town. Here's a list of the murder sites. If you're interested in helping, you could go look these places over."

Poor girls... you were lured out into some rich bastard's home, then brutally murdered... I will track this bastard down, I assure you. "Are there any clues you know of that could help me out?"

The inspector seemed at a loss for words, apparently lacking in most information of a useful sort. "Well, this bloke likes his prostitutes, he does. We got one in a cell back there. She actually caught a glimpse of the degenerate while he was cutting up a friend of hers. She demanded we lock her up for protection it spooked her so bad. You can go speak with her, if you care to."

"I see, that sounds like a capital idea. I'll go do that. Good day." I turned towards the back room, wanting more and more to catch the guilty bastard the more I heard about the foul murders. I approached the woman in the back room. She seemed a terrible nervous wreck.

She turned as I approached, looking me up and down uneasily. "A woman constable? What are you doing to find that terrible man?" Her hands were shaking horribly and they simply wouldn't stop. Her eyes kept darting all around the room as though she expected the killer to somehow track her down here.

I brushed off her rudeness, wanting instead to help her as best as I could. There were few that could garner such sympathy from me, but she was certainly one of them. "I'm no constable, madam, just an interested citizen."

I assure you, I'm not playing. I'd rather not leave these incompetents to look towards your safety when I stand a much better chance of helping you myself. "I am simply offering my help to put an end to these murders."

She stared at me and her face softened a bit. She could see the sympathy in my eyes. "I can tell you what I've seen. It was the most horrible vision I ever hope to behold. That pale skinned, slight shadow of a man, kneeling over Emily... and the blood! It was a sight I shall never forget."

I frowned, not liking the sound of what was going on in the slightest. It seemed the killings were cruel and methodical. "Start from the beginning, if you would." I was just glad I recognized neither the woman, nor the Emily she spoke of. I felt dreadful enough without hearing about the death of one of my old acquaintances, or seeing one in such a state. That was one good thing about having been gone for so long.

Now that's a tad strange. "You didn't see him go into the house?"

She thought about it for a moment, noticing just how strange it was. "No, and there is really no way to enter the house that I couldn't see from where I was standing."

The man was either a mage of some sort, or the master of prowling. "What did the man look like?"

Definitely a mage, then. One that can either teleport, or turn invisible. I'll have to show him exactly what it's like to go up against a true technologist! "Is there anything else?"

She shuddered uncontrollably and looked at me with hope in her eyes. "Please kill the bastard that cut up Emily. He deserves to suffer as she did!"

"Justice will be served, madam. Good day." Hmph. Justice... who am I to speak of justice?

I left the police station and returned to the house where the guard turned me away earlier. I showed him the note from the investigator and he merely nodded at me, stepping aside so that I could enter the house. The grisly scene I found upon entering was every bit as horrible as I'd expected it to be. The poor woman was lying on the ground cut in several places, with various appendages or chunks of flesh having been completely severed. It looked as though all of the blood in her body had long since drained out onto the floor and stained the wood. It was utterly macabre, and my emotional detachment was the only thing that made it even remotely bearable.

On a hunch I looked around the room for any other entrances, trying to get any evidence that I could. Much to my surprise, the prostitude had been wrong and there was actually an alternate entrance. It was a trap door off in the corner of the room. I walked over to it and tried to open it to no avail.

Try as I might, and I was no weakling, it simply wouldn't move. Sebastian gave me a hand in trying to move it as well, but even the two of us combined could not even budge it in the slightest. I suppose it's not terribly likely he came in this way after all. I left that house and walked around to the Whytechurch district to look at the next most recent murder on the list. The guard at the entrance greeted me as I approached, "The inspector had word sent we should be expecting you. I don't know how you did it, but I'd tip my hat to you were I wearing one. Go on in, if you've the stomach for it."

I'm sure this sight will be every bit as gruesome as the last, but I'll live. If it brings me closer to finding the killer, I must endure. I walked inside. The condition of the poor girl's body in this house was the same as the last one, although decidedly less fresh. There was blood splattered in places not even all that close to the body, which made an unfortunate amount of sense when I looked at the state of the corpse. He will pay... he will pay dearly for this.

I noticed a similar trap door over in the corner of the room. Now I was all but certain that it had some kind of connection, but still I could not manage to move it even the slightest little bit. I decided to return to the investigator and report my findings to him. "Pardon me, Inspector Henderson.... could you tell me anything about the trap doors in the homes of the two most recent murders? I can't seem to open them, but since they are present in both homes and the only witness we have says she never saw the killer enter I suspect they are related."

That doesn't make any sense... "The man Renee described was slight of build, though."

He shrugged, scowling at me as though I were an idiot. "What is your point? It would not have mattered if he was the strongest Ogre on Arcanum. It would take several to live one of those old covers without machinery."

Fine, ignore it then. "It seems strange, is all. Well, where did this new murder occur?"

He handed me another small note, "It's at 23 King's Way, The Mushroom Inn, in one of the rooms there."

"Thank you, inspector. I shall return." I took the note he offered and strolled back down King's Way towards the inn. My eyes darted around the street, staring intently at anybody and everybody that I passed. If the murder was so recent I was almost sure I could spot the killer trying to make his escape and I could get my vengeance. Alas, I spotted nobody like that.

There was a guard already at the scene of the crime, waiting for me when I arrived. He directed me into the proper room and stood guard outside while I investigated.

By the gods, what happened here?! The new murder scene was unlike either of the previous two. I couldn't determine what was more noticeable, the gigantic green letters on the ground or the nigh unrecognizable corpse strewn about the room. I wanted to vomit at the mere sight of it. The woman's legs had been cut off at the knees, and her arms at the elbows. She'd been disemboweled quite messily, her insides having been viscerally splattered all over the floor and walls. There was, sadly, nothing left of her face. Her teeth had been cracked and broken, and the front of her skull was smashed in completely. Whoever did this was incredibly strong, violent, and unstable.

Virgil turned and simply waited outside, unwilling to tolerate such a sight. I couldn't blame him in the slightest, I didn't want to tolerate it either. Sebastian darted out of the room as well, though much more quickly. I heard sounds of him retching in the grass outside. Vollinger and Terry stayed with me, although the latter whined while the former held a thick cloth up to his nose. This is horrible... I've got to focus on what's important so I can get out of here. I stared at the letters on the ground, L'anamelach, pondering on their significance.

There was difficulty determining if they were actually painted or if they were made with some sort of ink, or even green blood, but there was no doubt that the letters spelled out a word I didn't recognize. I wasn't even sure why the inspector had sent me to look, for surely he had to have been aware of them... unless he was the worst inspector ever to have gotten the title, which I somehow didn't doubt.

I rushed away from the scene in a hurry, lest I also lose the contents of my own stomach. Sebastian looked at me with pleading eyes as we walked back towards the police station, "I-I'm sorry... I just... dammit, we're gonna get the guy that did that, right? We're gonna give this sicko some Boil justice?"

"You're damn right we will," I didn't even think before answering. "...and you don't have to apologize... I was seconds away from joining you." He laughed uncertainly, stopping abruptly and putting his hand to his stomach with a pained look on his face. I burst into the police station and glared at the gnome, "Inspector Henderson... are you aware that the name L'anamelach was scrawled in the room of the most recent murder, seemingly written in green blood?" I stared at him intently, trying to gauge his response.

So you didn't know. All right, you are officially useless. "But the prostitute said it was a man of slight build, possibly an elf." I stressed my earlier point once again.

He shrugged, "That is extremely peculiar. I do not understand much about this whole demon business, myself. Just know I hate them, is all."

I supposed that he hated them enough to simply avoid the whole investigation, as long as it was only prostitutes being killed. "What do I do now?" At least one of us wasn't going to let it rest.

The look he gave me then was a combination of disgust, at what I couldn't tell, and also one of hope. He rather liked the idea of me doing his job for him, I could tell. "You need to find a demonologist to talk to. I'd send you to talk to the demonologist who helped me out, but he had a, uh, rather unfortunate run in with the demon I was hunting. Demons don't like those demonologists giving away their secrets, eh?"

I sighed. I'm fairly certain that the university at Tarant has a demonology department... it looks like a trip may be in order, and I've only just arrived. "Anything else?"

The man scowled, imagining the pains that the murder case would now involve, then looked back at me again and smirked. I really hate that you simply expect me to do all this... and even worse that I still want to do it despite that. "You'd best be prepared to go fight some heinous creature in some dank dungeon. Bleedin' demons! When do I get the case where I have to go to some nice tropical island to solve it? I'm too old for this balderdash. And hurry it up, if the king's advisors get wind of the murderer being a demon, they'll try to call in Payne."

Naturally, if the case did involve a tropical island the inspector would be only too happy to do it instead of sending me off. Payne? Franklin Payne? "Who's Payne?"

I snickered at him, "You handle it? Don't you mean me?" I'd bet I could share more than a few stories with that Payne fellow. I'd bet he didn't kill the Stillwater Giant, now did he? Regardless of what the late H.T. Parnell claimed.

The investigator threw up his hands in disgust, scowling at me, "Am I going to have to begin dealing with your preposterous arrogance now? If you want to do the job, great, if not, leave me be."

You need my help and you know it. You're bloody useless. "You never mentioned what the pay was, incidentally."

That's right. You not only need me but you know you need me. You could stand to be a bit nicer about it. "Sounds fair. Good day."

I stepped out of the police station, trying to plan exactly when I would take my trip to Tarant. It wasn't going to be a short trip for certain, and I wanted to take care of another few things locally before leaving, not the least of which would be at least seeing Frederick for a moment. Moreso than worrying about how he would react to my return, I had to start worrying about how he would react to my departure afterwards. A part of me was hoping he would come along... I knew he would enjoy our investigation of the lost Iron Clan. Whatever happened, I certainly couldn't stick around at home for too long when I had assassins on my trail.

Perhaps it would make a nice gift if I brought him a book from his rival's study when I arrived. Yes, I think that would go a long way to smoothing things over. Hello, Frederick, have you ever heard of a gem called T'sen-Ang: Horror Among the Dark Elves? Oh yes you have... I couldn't let him keep it, for his own sake, but the look on his face would be priceless.

Bonus Content

There are some shorties arguing on a random corner in Caladon, not too far from the guard shack I broke into at the beginning of today's update. Obviously, there is a quest involving them. I could've fit it in (with a slightly different ending), but that would've just been that much more content to get through before confronting Frederick so I passed on it. Here it is, though! I went to talk to the halfling.

Help! I do not think you can help the fact that my partner is an imbecile! ...make that ex-partner!
You two are partners... What happened?
What happened? I'll tell you what happened! I chose the wrong business partner, that's what! Everyone warned me... Don't go into business with a halfling they said... You're only asking for trouble they said...
It didn't work out?

We decided to retire. So we put our equipment up for sale. It wasn't long before we found an interested party, but I had to go to Tarant on business... I left Tarry with "explicit" instructions on what was and wasn't an acceptable price!
So what did he get for them?

If I were doing this quest in the main story, here's where I would've said option 2 and then pickpocketed the beans off of him. The top option continues the quest, though.
Checked? Are you insane? Who ever heard of Magick "Beans"? You should have heard the lies they told him! ...been in the family for generations ...had great powers ...created by some ancient wizard! What a crock!
What if I bought them off of you? Would you accept 1000 coin?
[looking shocked] You want to "buy" them? [suddenly convulsing with laughter] Tarry! I've found a bigger idiot than you! I didn't think it was possible... You can't be serious, madam...
I'm perfectly serious. I will pay you 1,000 coin for the 3 beans.
[still laughing] Oh! You're too much! Well! You've got yourself a deal! Here! Take them. [gives you the beans and takes the coin from you]
I will be leaving now.

The gnome and halfling walk off together.
Come on Tarry... We've a bit of coin after all... let's go celebrate!

Naturally, you then go and identify the beans.

They're pretty much useless to a tech character, but they're amusing at least. Pretty cheap for a full rez, too, but I can't use them.

Requested by Tsathoggua

I'd be happy to post what I can regarding equipment. There will be a lot of images, though, so I'll condense/crop them to keep the page loading fast. I'll start with Samantha.

1:

I don't know where I picked these up, but I think it might've been in the wheel clan. I hadn't worn gloves for pretty much the whole game and decided to accept the free AC boost (5) and damage reduction (7) in exchange for the added weight and having to take them off if I want to pick pockets. I also do 15 more damage when punching, but I'd never do that because of...

2:

I've posted it before, but it warrants posting again. Good lord do I ever love this thing. The fatigue damage won't ever matter since nothing will live long enough to be knocked out. 31-62 total damage (plus my melee bonus!) on enemies that aren't strong against fire (which is most of them). Then you add the backstab damage. Tough enemies last 3 hits.

3:

I picked this up from the Liam Cameron quest (the one with the dark portal in the woods that I abused to level up). 20 damage reduction is actually a whole hell of a lot, though I'm not sure what it means by "Requires Charges". I've been carrying the same stack of charges with me since I got it and it doesn't seem to consume them. It's either bugged, or I can't figure out how to actually charge it up and it hasn't been working since I got it

4:

This should look awfully familiar since I bought it in the shop you have access to when you first create your character. The AC and DR are abysmal for body armor, but it only weighs 40 stones and it's classy. Since I've never raised beauty above 8 and I tend to do despicable things, the reaction bonus really helps to make NPCs not hate me. 80% of the time I'm actually fighting I forget to replace this with my real armor.

5:

When I got to Tarant I noticed I wasn't wearing any boots, so I rummaged around in a rubbish bin until I found these.

6:

These are the greatest tech items in existence, save perhaps for the pyro axe. It doesn't say what they do on the description, but they give you 2 free dex for as long as you wear them. Given that there are no other tech rings in the game (to my knowledge, anyway), that basically means every one of my party members is wearing 4 free levels. Not bad!

7:

I made a bunch of these when I got Magnus, though I don't remember if I actually needed his help to make them (I don't think I did). There aren't a whole lot of tech shields in the game, and these things look pretty snazzy. 30 AC is fucking awesome, and 30MR in addition to the technical aptitude of everybody except Virgil means we pretty much don't fear magic, ever. Not a lot of enemies use it anyway, but it's still nice.

Not pictured:

This is my real armor that I pretty much never wear. It's weak on the defensive front, providing a fairly light amount of AC and Damage Reduction. The Fire Resistance is pathetically minor, but I remove my armor when fighting fiery beasties anyway (they damage your armor, it sucks). Speaking of which, I need to repair this thing. The only reason it hasn't broken yet is because I keep forgetting to wear it.

8:

From this you can infer I have a melee damage bonus of 5, meaning my strength is at 15 right now. Samantha is very much the group's powerhouse, especially considering the only other member with any training is Terry. Training means I ignore lighting penalties, and with a base 125% chance to hit I don't particularly tend to miss much. Sometimes enemies dodge, though

9:

Despite wearing a dress, Samantha is actually really fucking hard to hit. Seriously, that's an insane amount of AC and DR for not wearing armor. Add Master Dodge onto that and I don't really have any problems running into the middle of a group so I can backstab the leader.

So that covers most of the equipment, but the others still have a few interesting and unique things on them. Let's take a look at Virgil next.

That amulet is a Molochean Hand amulet

1:

As the only character with any amount of magick affinity, no matter how pathetic, Virgil decided he liked these. I didn't really offer them to him, I just asked him to hold them when I was identifying a massive load of equipment (probably from the Tarant sewers) and he put them on. More power to him, I guess. They're not too bad for gloves, and I'm too lazy to buy him anything better.

2:

I'm pretty sure I got this as a quest reward in the Wheel Clan. It's not particularly special, it just has 15 AC. I like to give Virgil my highest AC items to keep him good and living, especially since he's the healer (even if he only really heals himself and Terry, those two take the worst of it anyway).

3:

This is the bad ass armor I made for Virgil when I picked up Magnus. I didn't need Magnus to make this, either, I just bought the plate armor component from a shop. It's heavy as hell, but it's probably the most protective armor in the game. 45 DR is very 18 AC isn't bad, either, and if I ever come up against any enemies that deal electrical damage (hint: I won't) Virgil will be able to absorb most of their damage. NP is noise penalty, and that means Virgil is a gigantically loud oaf.

4:

I don't know where I found these, but it might've been looted off of Garrick Stout. Additional DR certainly can't hurt, and Virgil is about as loud as it gets already anyway.

5:

Virgil is the only character that beats Samantha for defense, and he beats her by a mile. 53% DR? It's rare to see Virgil get seriously hurt.

Now it's Vollinger's turn. I haven't futzed with his equipment much since I first got him.

1:

I think Samantha was using these for a long while, until I found the machined gauntlets. I took the better gauntlets for the character that might actually ever get hit, then shoved these off onto Vollinger. He stays out of harm's way most of the time anyway. Well, that's not quite true... anything harmful is usually dead by the time he can run his stupid ass up and try to shoot it at point blank range

2:

For being such a low level / easy to acquire gun, this thing is pretty bad ass. It's got a longer range than most guns (pistols have a RNG of 20), +20 to hit (which is good, because Vollinger isn't), and deals some very nice damage. The speed sucks, but that's actually a good thing in my book. The worse the speed, the fewer bullets Vollinger wastes!

3:

I don't remember where I got this, but I'm pretty sure I didn't pay for it. Much like the charged ring, it's a straight stat boost. 2 free levels is always good! Perception is a nice stat to have on a gunner.

4:

He came with this, and I've never bothered to give him anything better. I prefer him to keep it on since it more easily distinguishes him from other party members. He also has such a low strength that I don't want him wearing anything heavy, anyway (although if I encumbered the shit out of him he'd attack even less... hmmm). It's nothing special, doesn't even grant a reaction bonus (though it wouldn't matter if it did since the main character is the only one who talks to people).

5:

I... don't even know. There's not really a good reason for him to be wearing that instead of Samantha, other than I had no idea his boots were better than hers.

The only one left is Sebastian (Terry doesn't even have an inventory).

1:

For all I know, he came with those. I'm not really going to argue. They're cheap and kinda crappy, but better than nothing.

2:

This is the gun I got the schematic for on the Isle of Despair. Making it required the Ancient Gun Chassis and Mithril, as well as a boatload of technical manuals. Speed 6 is still pretty slow (and RNG 15 is pretty short), but I like it because it uses fuel instead of bullets. When I got Sebastian I had a ridiculous surplus of wine and brewer's yeast, so I combined the two and had more than enough fuel to keep Sebastian firing for a long time to come. Coming in with a damage range of 6-30 it's not too bad of a gun, either. More importantly, Sebastian actually hits things with it so he does decent damage. He also fires more frequently than Vollinger. I wouldn't say he's more useful, but he's definitely not less useful.

3:

This is something he came with, and since nobody had the same visual look as Sebastian I let him keep it. I don't really care what anybody is wearing as long as they don't look like each other. It's not a bad piece of armor, really, though I don't know exactly how "accelerated" the healing rate is. I don't think it really matters.

Requested by MuShRoOmFaCe

Character sheets! Samantha still has not aged.

I'm pretty sure the beauty bonus is from some kind of blessing... same goes for perception, willpower, and con actually. I've been focusing Samantha's points on Strength, aiming for 20. I keep that one point around in case I need it for something else. Technically, next level is the "cap", but I'm not playing with any such thing. If I were, I wouldn't have spent those 3 points in repair and I'd have just enough points to cap out strength at 20.

Virgil here hasn't really changed much. Like most followers, he likes to waste his points. Thankfully he doesn't waste them as badly as most. Note his incredible magickal aptitude of 3. Best in the party!

...melee the latter being the only one he isn't close to maxing. Yet he won't raise his dex those last two points... It's a wonder Samantha does all the fucking work.

Still a little hellion.

I don't think I've ever gone in-depth with Sebastian's skills before. They're not great, but they could be worse. At least his melee isn't 5

Residue posted: "Edit: Also, how the hell do you keep enough charges for the hat to stay active? I liked the thing, but between that, the healing armor, I just had to give it up for something else (I don't think I've ever found a lemon and a potato). And if you add in the Tesla gun (which rocks) then forget it."

That's pretty much Vollinger's entire reason for existing. Magnus had smithy and mechanical, and I got everything I wanted from him right quick. Vollinger gets chemistry and firearms, Sebastian gets explosives and electrical, Jayna gets herbology (it would make sense for her to get therapeutics as well, but I don't know for sure if she does or doesn't). Whenever I need charges, I just run down to the general store and pick up a metal plate and some electrolyte solution. If I'm feeling cheap I'll rummage the metal plate out of a rubbish bin.

That being said... er... I can't find a way to use my charges I've got several hundred, but can't make any of the guns that use them and they don't seem to get consumed by the hat or the jacket.