16 Chapter Sixteen - Melee Three (1/2)
My hand closed around the hilt of Tremble, melted steel now shaped to my hand, as I opened my eyes.
I had now died ten times. It wasn't any more pleasant then before. Without Dauntless, I would have had some serious PTSD issues right about now.
Damn, a swarm. I had literally no way to fight a swarm of size at this point… or multiple swarms, if that was what they were. Swarm damage was impressive and continuous, and half damage meant there was no way I could kill them before they ate through everything I had left. All the dodge and wisdom bonuses to AC in the world didn't help you when a bunch of rats were crawling all over you.
So… getting out of that room was going to be even harder than I thought.
The main way of dealing with swarms was AoE effects, because they took double damage from them. My solutions there would be in the neighborhood of alchemical fire and frost and the like, but I would have needed a bunch to deal with a swarm that size, or the multiple swarms. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a boss rat behind it all, either…
Or rat-men. Mmm. Hoping for rat-men. Rat-men might carry gear…
The other alternative was getting Swarmbane on my Sword, or making a Swarmbane Amulet, which allowed normal damage against swarms.
The one option meant building the Name of my Sword, and somehow improving the QL of it to 26 so I could open the Zvei Slot and start building an Arsenal of alternative Runes on it. The other meant finding something I could use as an Amulet, and then precious materials I could burn to Invest in it. Precious materials I was somehow going to have to take with me, or somehow find the time to Invest.
The former was definitely easier. The latter meant I would have it up at all times, so when the roach swarm hit, I was already ready for it… or whatever.
Still, today was a Big Day.
Melee/3!!!
I had died ten times. I was five points closer to maximum Soak, which should be around 57. Taking a Melee level was an instant +4 Soak over an Expert, plus FC bonus, so I should be sitting at my new max of 62. Dying toughened a girl up, after all.
No change to saves. Armor Mastery +1 kicked in. My Dodge bonus in light or no armor increased by 1, yay, AC increase. MAB to +3, yuzzzz!
Combat Technique, Skill Technique, bonus Feat of either type, Mastery Advance. Another +2 to Maneuver resist pool, now at +6. 9 Skill Points to allocate, still limited to 3 ranks, grrr.
General Feat for Level 3. Bonus General Forsaken Feat!
Weaponsmith +1 to 3, Climb +3, Acrobatics +2, Lumberman +3. Damn, all I wanted right now was +5, couldn't they at least give that to me?
Anyhoos…
Advance: Sword Mastery/1, giving +1 to hit and damage. Weapon Spec doubled that, to +2/+2! Huge, huge increase.
With MAB +3 and Ocean and Crystal Mastery, I could now get the first half of the Profound Weapon Styles of Ocean and Crystal Mastery, Flowing Waters giving +1/+1 and Crystal Splitter giving +0/+2. Naturally I went with Flowing Waters for a +1 to hit for now. I'd also need Way Mastery to learn Frozen Tears, the Glacier School, which allowed both styles to stack. I could switch between them, but doubted I'd need to. I'd just use Flowing Waters to fuel Deadly Precision if I needed a damage bonus.
And given the situation I was in, I might be taking a very different route with my swordplay this time. I'd have to see…
Combat Technique: Profound Primary Weapons. This technique treated all my Primary Weapons as monastic, meaning they could advance with damage over time like my UA damage, and more importantly, any Feats with UA could be used with the weapons, if applicable.
Like, oh, Fist and Soul's +2 damage bonus. A d8/d12 longsword right now would have two advances, to 2-12/3-18.
Yes, I was much, much more dangerous with a sword in hand, vs. my d8 damage flesh and bone.
Skill Technique, Lightning Reflexes. +2 to Reflex Save, +4 at 10th. Increased by Armor Mastery, so +3. As a Technique, also gave +2 AoO's and +2 to Initiative, which meant I could potentially skip an Inspired Combat Reflexes if I was satisfied with +3. Now maybe I could dodge that damn dog's hellfire breath a little better…