The party approached what looked like a large camping area with tents, possibly the bandit camp. Racknar simply couldn't move on and go to Bramble knowing these bandits were causing problems so the party was going to solve it quickly before making their way to Bramble. As the party got closer several people with armor and weapons of inconsistent quality and material stepped out of the tents. Their outfits ranged from shabby cloth and leather to nicer sets of half plate armor.
Racknar cracked his knuckles. “Remember, non-lethal attacks only.” A number of bandits rushed at the party, clearly not their full number as more bandits were working their way out of the tents. Marionette is the first to meet a bandit in combat. Going for the one in the lowest end and most worn out outfit among the bandits she slugs him in the face then deals out two body shots. Krys'tal is second to get within melee range, not exactly being used to it. They try their best regardless and land three body shots as well.
When Ariagoria makes contact with an opponent she doesn't go for hand-to-hand combat despite being the only one besides Racknar who would be proficient at it. Instead she goes for the knee with her mace and shatters it leaving the bandit on the floor screaming. “Don't worry, I'm a healer.” She tells the bandit. Racknar slams one of his fists into the first person he reaches, knocks them out, moves over to a second to do the same, then takes out two more bandits who were standing close to one another in quick succession.
The bandits don't hold back and the ones in close combat try attacking with swords and axes. Marionette and Krys'tal are easily able to dodge. Ariagoria barely dodges some arrows, catching a few glancing blows with one solid hit to her arm. Any hits Racknar takes from ranged attacks seem to do little to nothing. A large bandit in full plate finally exits his tent, likely the leader. Davy fires a magic missile at one of the bandits shooting arrows at Krys'tal and knocks them out. Six bandits down.
Marionette punches the same bandit as before, three more good attacks. The bandit looks a bit ragged but is still standing. Krys'tal managed to knock out their target with their third punch landing solidly in the bandits face. Ariagoria makes her way to a new target only to shatter his lower leg, bringing him to the floor, and rendering him unable to fight. Racknar works his way towards the large man in full plate, punching four more bandits and easily knocking them out.
All the archers start to try and focus fire on Racknar with Marionette and Krys'tal dodging melee attacks. Ariagoria and Davy are left unengaged in combat for now. Davy takes out two more archers by casting two magic missile spells in rapid succession. Fourteen bandits down. The bandit leader rushes his way to Racknar with a large two-handed greatsword and makes a big mighty swing only for the weapon to bounce back when hitting the solid torsos of Racknar's carapace.
Marionette continued her assault on her target, finally knocking him out. Krys'tal points to Marionette and she glows faintly. “This should make things a bit easier for you.” Ariagoria continues being a menace to the bandits by finding yet a third victim who's leg ends up broken. This time arrows are sent at Marionette, Krys'tal, Ariagoria, and Davy. Each one taking at least one non critical hit with Ariagoria and Krys'tal taking two. Davy once again uses two castings of magic missile to knock out two archers. Sixteen bandits down.
Racknar goes in full boar, his arms envelope in flames as he growls and sends four punches at the large man in full plate. He gets six hits on the man's side with some attempts made to block, only resulting in the man taking hits to his arms as well. He's still standing however and moves to make a downward strike at Racknar who dodges to avoid getting his shoulder sliced. “(This bandit is still standing? Assuming average that's one hundred and eight damage. Even if I adjust for damage reduction from the armor, that's seventy six. Maybe he has resistance as well? Thirty eight. That's still enough to K.O most bandits in the books.)”
The man laughed. “You really think the power of the Nine Hells can fell me?! I'm still a paladin of Longinus since technically I've yet to break my oath. Your hellfire does nothing to me.” Racknar realizes where he went wrong. This bandit leader had character levels. Marionette shadow teleports to an archer and punches the back of his head knocking him out, Ariagoria breaks another leg, Krys'tal managed to knock out a bandit after three well placed punches, and Davy takes out two more bandits with magic missiles. Twenty one bandits down. It seems everyone is out of the tents now. Counting the leader there are nineteen bandits still standing.
Racknar makes another set of punches, only landing three of the six as the bandit is able to deflect some using his arm. He then makes a mighty swing at Racknar’s side once more. This time the blade sinks in, but stops before it can rack Racknar’s spine. “Consider yourself in a grapple.” He says as he puts his right hand on the weapon to keep it in. Arrows fly at the others with them taking glancing blows. Everyone looks kinda rough on the heroes’ side. Meanwhile, Ivory stayed in the cart to safeguard it. She looks up at the camp and sees it's not exactly going well and makes a run for the carnage.
Ariagoria shouts “maximize magic, mass healing word!” The members of the party all glow faintly as wounds mend slightly. Marionette, Krys'tal, and Davy continued their routine taking out four more bandits, leaving sixteen counting the leader. “(Did Charity just use meta magic? Clerics don't get meta magics unless they multiclass.)” Racknar tries not to get distracted however as he is still engaged in combat. He decides to stop attacking recklessly and start making precision strikes. He holds onto the greatsword of the bandit leader and makes three big swings at the man's helmet with his left arms.
Racknar practically rings the man's belly all three times. He rocks back and forth a bit before collapsing, leaving the sword in Racknar's side. With fifteen bandits left, Ivory comes in and runs up to Racknar and hands him a healing potion. Racknar removes the sword before chugging the potion. Ariagoria, Krys'tal, and Marionette each take out a bandit with Davy taking out two while avoiding the bulk of attacks sent their way. Ten bandits left. Racknar leaps back into action taking out six of them. Four left. Ivory, seeing the party is going for knockouts and not kills, tosses a bottle at a bandit. Gass emanates from it and puts the bandit to sleep.
The three remaining bandits try to run, but Marionette catches one with her shadow teleport, Krys'tal uses her shard movement to cut off the second, and Ariagoria simply shoots the third in the back of the knee with a crossbow bolts. “You used to be a bandit, but then you took an arrow to the knee.” The bandit crystal out in pain. “You demon bitch! That saying is normally a metaphor for being married.” he continues to groan while gripping at the wound. “Oh quit your complaining, I'm a healer so I'll patch you all up good as new.”
The party then removes all their equipment such as armor and weapons before tying the near naked bandits up and putting them and their equipment in the cart. Racknar does a heroic pose. “Not bad if I do say so myself. Time to turn them over to the authorities. How much gold did they have on them all together?” Davy opened a chest he grabbed to place all the small stuff in. “If you count up all the argentum coins they have… like six aurum coins worth. So yeah, six hundred argentum. With the bounty and the equipment sales we might get just enough for a decanter of endless water. You can just weave her new robes for defense for now.”
Racknar grumbles. “Fine.” The party then goes back to town to turn in the bandits, sell all their stuff, and get a decanter of endless water for Ivory. Once that is done the party starts heading to the harbor to take the boat to Bramble. On the way there Racknar weaved a new robe for Ivory. When they finally reached Bramble it was back in the cart before taking the gate to Londinium.
Marionette looks around in awe. “It looks so much like home. It's amazing how many buildings have the same architecture as the ones I remember.” Racknar nods. “It is a bit odd however. These buildings look Victorian but that wasn't until the eighteen hundreds. Then again many of those buildings were still built pre industrial revolution. So technologically it's feasible. Just anachronistic to the timeline back home.” Ivory looks around the city. “To think the world you came from looked so much like this… I wonder just how much has bled into this world from others due to reborns like yourselves.”
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Racknar sighed. “Just about everything in every culture in the empire owes its existence to culture bleed. Even the bad stuff. The Church of Longinus is an intentional twisting of religious teachings from my world that takes the ideas of human supremacy and religious righteousness and turns it up to eleven. The crusades, the genocides. These are all just elevated versions of historical events of the past in our worlds.” Ivory continued to look around in awe. “To think such beings are capable of both beauty and terror in equal measure. It is, at the very least, an interesting thing to study. I wish Illithids were more open to learning from the differences of others rather than eliminating them.”
Racknar chuckles. “You know it's kind of funny, with stories of the Illithids existing in my world people always assumed they were an allegory for early colonization in our world. But now I know for a fact such behaviors aren't exclusive to humans.” Marionette claps to get everyone’s attention. “Let's try and focus on our goal of finding the guy with the swords of Arachne and figuring out how to get them from him. We can talk casually afterwards.” Racknar clears his throat. “Right, the mission. One that unfortunately won't get us any money. I hate being broke all the time but getting good gear is expensive.”
Ariagoria nods. “And now that Lisa isn't giving us stuff for basically free anymore it's a lot harder to upgrade.” Racknar nods. “I wonder if she'll trade in exchange for a different kind of knowledge. Like the secret to why the Gallian rifleman corp is so much more accurate then the rifleman of any other military in the Empire.” Ariagoria groans. “Right, I forgot this world had muskets and flintlocks but only the military are supposed to have them. So outside the military and outlaws you won't see guns. However, the last thing I watched to do is increase the level of technology of the Empire.”
Racknar nods. “We'll get Lisa to agree not to sell the new tech to other people. I'm sure she's just as unwilling to give the Empire the boost as we are. Anyway, I'm just going to roll up on the local stadium or whatever this place calls their coliseum and hope our target is fighting there. Then we simply challenge him to a duel with items on the table. Bing, bang, boom. We get the item without killing anyone.” Davy rubs his chin. “Sounds simple enough, and since you are in part a martial artist you could take them unarmed if it came down to that.” Racknar sighs. “Unfortunately I can't do a zero item duel because of my ring of illusion. This armor doesn't come off, remember?”
Racknar pulls up to the local stadium and parks the cart. “Well figure something out, for now let's see if our target is even here.” The group pays for seats and tries to make themselves comfortable in the stands as they wait and watch the various events in hopes the man with the swords of Arachne shows up. While they watch everything from fights to chariot races the group has time to talk. Marionette started the conversation. “So Racknar, earlier you said something about a sudden suspicion that all of us reborn were effectively what is known as a gestalt character in that Creatures and Catacombs game. What did you mean by that?”
Racknar clears his throat. “Well you see under the normal rules there are two ways to get abilities from two classes. One is to cross class or multiclass. Basically taking levels in more than one class. So at level eight you take four levels in something like ranger then four in rouge. Then there are hybrid classes that gain some abilities from both classes they are inspired by. There is, however, a third way that this can be done that's less official and more of a homebrew thing that became so common that it was recognized by the writers. Gestalt has you picking a primary and secondary class. You get the health dice and stat saves of the first but all the class abilities of both at whatever level you are at.”
Davy nods, confirming his familiarity with the concept. Racknar continued. “Basically gives a character the full versatility of having both classes as long as you have the stats to run them. This would mean I'm not actually a proper Berserker but actually a Barbarian Martial Artist gestalt. This would also give me a subclass for the secondary class if we went full gestalt. So I'd have Path of the Nine Hells Barbarian and an as of yet unclear Martial Artist subclass.”
Marinette groans. “I understand maybe… half of that. So basically you have abilities you normally wouldn't be able to under the normal circumstances. Same with all of us. So maybe just explain what kinds of extra abilities we should have in a way a normal person can understand.” Racknar nods. “Well I haven't figured out everyone's full builds yet, but I've got Davy and Charity locked down. Davy is easy with his sorcerer warlock build. His sorcerer bloodline is eldritch and his warlock patron is a great old one.”
Davy nods. “Really easy to figure out, though before we thought I was a cross class or hybrid class.” Racknar nods. “Basically this gives him a number of spooky otherworldly abilities involving tentacles and dark unknowable secrets as well as psionic abilities. Ariagoria is clearly a life domain cleric, the subclass most focused on healing. However, in our last fight she used meta magic. Clerics don't get those. After thinking through the caster classes and subclasses the one that makes the most sense is Infernal Bloodline sorcerer. This would give her damage spells, mostly fire ones. More notably and more useful for her however is the ability to access meta magic as well as regain sorcerer points in a short rest. In other words she can restore mana quicker.”
Ariagoria grumbles. “As unfortunate as it is to have to carry a bit of my father with me at all times, at least there are benefits to it mechanically.” Racknar nods. “As for Mari and Krys, I've yet to figure out the secondary class. Mari is clearly a shadow assassin rogue and Krys a Psionic Warden. Originally its own thing it was rolled in as a psionic Ranger subclass. In the lore of the game they help fight otherworldly invaders. It's a fitting subclass lore wise for her race.” Krys'tal tilts her head. “Is it?” Racknar nods. “Shatterkin are not originally from the mortal plain. They come from the great barrier between the plains and the outer realms. Basically, your ancestors helped prevent things like Illithids from even getting here “
Marionette then asks. “Okay, what about you then?” Racknar hummed. “Well a Berserker is a hybrid class but now I'm thinking I'm a gestalt between the two root classes of it. Barbarian and Martial Artist. It makes sense because in the books Infernal Wrath Berserker isn't actually a thing. There is a Path of the Nine Hells Barbarian however. That just leaves figuring out my Martial Artist subclass. I can eliminate Fist of the Drunken Master and Fist of the Weapons Master. Because of the fact the unique abilities would have popped up and I heard the one major ability that sets weapon master apart was getting rolled into the class in the next addition.”
Racknar thought for a moment. “I think I can also eliminate Fist of the Shadows since I'm not exactly sneaky. Although I can be when I walk on walls, that's a race thing. There's also Fist of the Adept, a psionic subclass. Fist of the Heavens, a celestial subclass. And then we have Fist of the Hecatoncheires. It has this thing involving astral fists. They act like a combination of mage's hand and something like the spell elemental weapon where a summoned floating weapon attacks with you. However, since I lean into the Barbarian abilities I haven't figured it out yet. I could meditate on it and there are probably other subclasses I haven't mentioned. Since it's possible there's a book that came out after I died.”
Marionette thinks on what Racknar said. “Well since you said that these things were based on how we act and things in our background like our bloodline… I don't think Fist of the Heavens is the one you have. Besides, Charity already has a celestial infernal combo. I'd say the one with the hands is the most likely one.” Racknar hums. “I'd have to meditate to be sure. As for you and Krys, it's a lot harder. I'm thinking Krys would have her secondary class be a fighter variant since it's the one that has the most in common. In fact I'm older editions of the game, a Ranger was just a ranged build for a Fighter. Ranged fighter and melee ranger are things you can build.”
Racknar paused for a moment. “The biggest benefit to this would be action surge. It would give Krys a number of extra attacks per day. As for Mari… it's possible she has a secondary of a Ranger or Fighter variant since she uses thrown weapons a lot and both classes have ways to reward that. Rangers are better at perception and usually have one type of terrain they are good in over others.”
Marionette tilts her head. “Can one's preferred terrain be cities?” Racknar nods. “The urban biome is a valid option. You'd gain perception bonuses while in cities that would help you with tracking and if you pick the option a bonus to stealth. But that's part of the build, not the subclass. Out of the options the best one would probably be the base subclass. Besides the BeastMaster everyone treats as the stereotype for the class. At third level you'd get to pick from three options. One gives you straight extra damage. Another gives you attacks of opportunity when a creature bigger than you missed. The third lets you make extra attacks when dealing with large crowds.”
Racknar paused for a bit. “Then at seventh level you can choose between an ability that increases your ability to dodge in groups, one that increases your ability to dodge multiple attacks from a single target, or one that simply helps to keep you from getting scared.” Marionette thinks for a moment. “Since I tend to focus on one target at a time it's likely the ones for dealing with bigger threats. Considering our fight with the orc in the tower.”
Racknar nods as he makes a mental note of this. He then looked to Krys'tal. “Unfortunately a Ranger Fighter build would have some redundancies; it's possible to avoid these. It honestly probably doesn't matter much what subclass you have unless it's something like the Rune Knight that gains extra magic.” Krys'tal hummed. “I do have access to spells, I'm something of an Arcane Archer.” Racknar's head props up a bit. “Oh shit, I didn't even consider that. If your subclass is the right one, you'd already have access to a prestige class. Since rangers are treated like half casters and the rune knight gains spell-like abilities you'd probably qualify and gain access to even more magic.”
Davy groans. “Aaaand you lost everyone again. No one but us knows what a Prestige class is.” Racknar grumbles. “A special extra thing you can get if you fit the prerequisites. Normally you can't get one till at least level ten if you build right. However, as a gestalt, we can easily gain access sooner. Now I have to think of what prestige classes we might have.” Ivory makes a few clicking sounds. “I know I'm probably more lost than the rest of you but I understand nothing he's saying.” Davy waves his hand around. “Don't worry too much, beautiful, this is just Racknar being a massive nerd and keeping track of everything we are capable of in his own nerdy way.”
Ivory nods. “I see. Wait, what did you just call me?” the arena announcer then announces the next duel between an old champion and a new contender. The older champion is in hooded robes and looks like a rogue, in their hands the two swords of Arachne. Racknar further interrupts Ivory. “That's our target."
