MTL NOVEL Chapter 23: Checking the readouts
About an hour later, Gil struggled to a seated position and regaled Snow and Ireena with an explanation. As he spoke, Rose flickered in the corner of his eye, never present when he turned his gaze directly upon her. She was sitting and observing the discussion from atop an overturned cabinet.
"So, naturally, I delivered Thorn to Father Donavich." Gil finished, "at best he can help the poor kid move on, at worst thorn will have someone to talk to sometimes and I trust Donavich to do what he can."
"Adequate." He heard Rose whisper in his ear. "Should you return there I'll expect you to check on him."
"Rose, by the way, why aren't you manifested fully?" Gil asked, "I could see and hear you easily in the house."
"I'm exhausted, and quite battered." She explained as the other two girls looked on in confusion, "being pulled through the house and into the street was extremely painful, and making myself visible requires active effort. Please don't make me answer more questions; I need rest."
Rose did not appear to be an exceptionally powerful ghost, but it was also possible she'd improve with practice. Being locked in a room isn't very good for one's personal development, alive or dead.
Gil was going to be laid out for a few days, but just because he didn't want to move, that didn't mean he couldn't get bored. Luckily, he had quite a few new things to consider.
He had a slightly larger, slightly more dangerous party now. Ireena wasn't special forces by any stretch, but she was probably about as combat-ready as Ixis would have been. Less training, more first hand experience. Rose was a big question mark as far as her capabilities, but she was also the highest tier person in his retinue at an impressive T4. The Company didn't tier people based purely on their combat abilities, but it was still fairly rare that a tier 4+ was entirely useless in a fight.
He was very happy to see that both Rose and the wolf were fully captured now. He was somewhat less pleased to see that Rose had an extra tab in her profile, one which informed him that The Company was continuing to be cheap with him.
Rosevalda Durst:
(1 credit) Additional Anchor: allows Rosevalda to be anchored to an additional item that is of substantial emotional significance to her. She may teleport between her anchors at will, and all anchors will be tracked as retinue members by the compass. Current anchor: Her corpse
(5 credits) Internalize Magic: The Weave- Allows Rosevalda to use the magic of her homeland without the universal magical interface, known as the Weave, provided by the Goddess Mystra or replicated by the Dark Powers.
(50 Credits) Integrate The Weave- Allows all members of the retinue to access a company-sponsored copy of The Weave which includes all variants, such as the Shadow Weave. This allows for the study and use of all variants of Toril-style magic in any world, assuming that the user is trained in such. All credits spent on Jailbreak (The Weave) discount this purchase by an equal amount.
Sell Price: 5 Credits, Soul Talent
So, the goth ghost girl came free, but there was an upcharge for the magic powers. She was essentially free in terms of food, so Gil still came out ahead on this one. Normally he would jump at Soul Talent, but the restriction on cross-planar magic made him pause
He knew, based on the healing leaves and Door of Light, that at least some magic would cross planes without trouble. Based on the focus upon The Weave, he suspected that the problem was that Rose's magic was tied to an outside source. In other words, if magic was explained in the original source material, it might require additional steps to carry it to another world. In all likelihood, disciples of gods would face a similar hurdle.
Rose was still a ghost, so it was likely she'd earn her keep even without magic. Even in the worst case scenario, where she had absolutely no ghostly powers to speak of, couldn't fly, and couldn't pass through walls, she would be extremely good at sneaking around unseen. Scouting meant information, and information saved lives.
Gil examined the wolf's profile. Wolves were interesting; some of them were far more intelligent than others, depending on the setting. He could vaguely remember at least one world where all wolves had the ability to travel into an alternate dimension of dreams, despite still just being wild canines that lived in the woods in small family units. He doubted that this wolf was like that; the super intelligent kind tended to have names, even if they were sometimes abstract ones.
From Snow's story, it had been unusually aggressive. Having a lethal attack dog was likely to pay off eventually. If it didn't, it would not be the first time Gil ate wolf meat. After all, it's disrespectful to waste resources.
The wolf's capture had opened up the Beastmaster Sphere Shop, and revealed something interesting: Now that he'd used the Beastmaster Sphere Binding, he could purchase another sphere for only 5 normal credits. He'd unlocked the binding for general, if expensive, use. If that was the case for all bindings, it may change quite a lot. It also made the more expensive perks in the shop even less attractive, which he did not hesitate to note in his weekly feedback report.
The only thing in the Sphere Shop was called Wonder Trade, and it seemed somewhat more usable than Open Hands in the Stamp Shop.
Wonder Trade (5 Sphere Credits): When you sell a retinue member who was originally captured in a Beastmaster Sphere, you will receive a valid creature from the world you were most recently in as a replacement in addition to the normal sell value. This will typically be a weaker creature, but could be of equal value or even stronger! Note: the new creature will be newly captured in a generic Beastmaster Sphere and likely untrained. Its sale price will be drastically reduced.
The wolf was only worth a Gacha pull, but Gil wasn't particularly attached to it. A free Gacha pull and another animal, captured for free? Not a terrible trade. Then again, maybe it would be better to make that trade when in a world with more intrinsically magical wildlife. He'd probably get something like a big bat, or a deer, if he bought Wonder Trade and sold the wolf while still keyed to Barovia. He decided to see how well the creature took to training once Ireena was captured. That could make the choice for him. Then again, it was just a wolf, and a highly aggressive one at that. It would probably get itself killed eventually.
••••••••••
Ireena was pleasant enough company, if a bit quiet. She and Snow struck up a cordial friendship, telling one another about their respective worlds. Ireena had been raised by a single father and her big brother, so she leaned pretty far into tomboy territory. She certainly liked looking pretty enough to own some dresses, but she was quick to take the axe and start breaking down the furniture deemed useless upon inspection. Half-rotted furniture didn't make for the best firewood, but it did it's job well enough.
Gil deliberately kept his distance, which was easy given that he was in so much pain. He still wasn't certain he'd keep her; she seemed like a very nice girl, but he needed resources and at the moment she might turn out to be worth more to him as a pay day than an ally. When the stamp binding finished its work, he checked the listing.
Ireena Kolyana: main character, 2 credits, Reincarnation Ticket
Reincarnation Ticket: This generic Character Ticket allows the tester to reincarnate one retinue member as a new character, even after death. They must spend credits equal to the purchase cost of the desired tier of character (1 for tier 1, 5 for tier 3, 25 for tier 5, etc) and will be assigned a random character of that tier, including internalized abilities and signature equipment (up to the size of a suit of armor or motorcycle), as normal for a character card. Complementary gender flip included, if desired, and the subject's psyche will remain largely unchanged outside of minor personality bleed. This item may be used like a normal character card on a retinue member you choose to sell, or it may be used on a dead one. It may even be used reflexively on the tester, if in the retinue's possession at the moment of death.
(For readers: it's random to Gil but would be subject to a poll, choosing one from a small selection of options)
Gil stared at it. It was a 1-up. A get out of death free card. He only had two questions.
First, was there any way to get this thing without selling Ireena?
Second, what the fuck was a character ticket?