Roland stared at Raven. The black-feathered bird looked almost insultingly normal, maybe a little bigger than average, but the only weird thing about it – him – was his behavior.
Raven calmly looked at him from his new perch, the top of one of Bob’s many bookcases in the living room. The bird sat next to a HeroClix Sentinel figurine that was almost as tall as he was. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, apparently expecting Roland to speak first.
“Fine, I’ll bite.” Roland mockingly displayed an amazed expression. “Did you say ‘Bloodline? Holy crap, please tell me more about it!’”
You should be more respectful toward your elders, Raven said, but the amused caws that accompanied the mental message belied his words.
Very well, Roland, let’s talk about your Bloodline.
I trust you to keep him safe, especially after we fix his current condition. Therefore, you should know as much as he will. Unless he’d rather renounce you as a Guide. That is an option the System does not advertise, but it exists.
Roland hadn’t known that, and from Trixie’s mortified expression, she’d hoped he would never know it.
“Going to stick with the Fae I know,” he said out loud.
He suspected that there were worse options out there, and having someone who knew about the System and the upcoming apocalyptic Integration was too useful to just give up. If Raven turned out to be a better or at least more reliable source, then all bets were off, but figuring that out would take some time.
Your Bloodline has many names, but they can be boiled down to one: They Who Bring Death.
“Deathdealer has a nicer ring to it, but I think the Frazetta estate would sue me,” Roland said. “How did I get it? Does it run in my family?”
Does that mean that Mandy has it, too? He kept that last question to himself, not wanting to hear the answer until he knew more.
Bloodlines can follow family lines, but they are not something contained in your genes, not exactly. They are contained in souls, and some souls stick to certain lineages as they reincarnate.
Reincarnation is real, then.
Yes, but not all souls choose to be reborn and even when they do, they often move on after a few rebirths. The fate of those who leave is unknown. At least by me, or the System. They may go to the Christian Heaven or Buddhist Nirvana, join minds with the Universe’s Creator, simply cease to exist, or anything in between. We do not know.
Roland hoped the knowledge would not spark religious wars, but he suspected it would. Suspected that it had, in many other worlds.
He’d been raised Catholic, but he wasn’t devout. Maybe theologians could make Christian dogma fit in with whatever the System was bringing. Might be a good idea to see if Father Takeda could speak to the Pope or somebody along those lines.
Roland planned to stay far away from the topic. Religion was right up there with politics when it came to stuff that would break up friendships and families.
“What does it mean? Having a Bloodline.”
As you have seen, it bestows some abilities. In low-Mana worlds like this one, their effects are small.
He had been able to freeze people at a glance, although he normally had to be keyed up emotionally to do so. Still, it had come in handy a few times, including helping him subdue a mugger the Saturday when all this mess started.
Your particular Bloodline is old. Ancient even from the viewpoint of beings like me and your Fae guide. And age means power.
Both, most certainly.
What else? Ravens are scavengers. For long and long, we have followed the holders of this line. Wherever they walk, Death follows. There will be much feasting in Roland’s wake.
“Regular ravens eat carrion. What about you? What do you eat?” Roland asked.
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Endings.
For some reason, the answer sent a chill down his spine.
He recalled those impossibly huge wings beating down mountains, as the god-bird bore down on him. Dahlia had called it. ‘The Raven.’ Whatever Raven was, it was closer to the Native American deity than some ordinary spirit that had been stalking his Bloodline for who knew how long.
All that could wait, though. He had to get down to business. He only had a few hours before they went into the Dungeon. He needed actionable intelligence. Answers that he could use.
“Can my Bloodline help repair my Dantian?”
Possibly. Likely, even. We will have to search through thousands of years’ worth of ancestral memories and try to find something useful. If nothing else, an Evolution or even a Mutation could reset the state of your body, restoring your Dantian.
It should. It’s a matter of remembering where everything went – a high Intelligence will take care of that part – and then of rewiring the Pattern. The bird turned to Roland. If we restore your Dantian, you can do it again. It won’t be easy or painless, though.
“Pain I can handle. But what if we can’t fix the Dantian?”
Then we’ll have to figure out a new Pattern. Seal off the broken Dantian and go with a three-Core model. Or find a substitute.
“All of that will take time,” Roland said. “And that’s the one thing we’re never going to have enough of, are we?”
Raven and Trixie exchanged a look before the bird answered.
No, time is always going to be in short supply. If we can’t fix the Dantian, your progress will be slower. You will fall behind. Your potential will be diminished.
“Then we fix it. Whatever it takes. I’m not going to fall behind.”
Raven bowed its head. I hear you. Whatever it takes. Some things will have prices you may not enjoy paying, though.
“Yeah, I get that. I’ll have to make the best deal I can and keep going.”
We might be able to find a solution for your Dantian while inside the Dungeon, Raven said. But that will depend on what you find there.
“Is Salisbury far enough?”
Maybe a fight now will save you from a bigger fight in the future, Raven told him.
“I’ll figure it out. I think an area relatively far from big cities is a good place to start. Later we can decide what to do about Connecticut. And the tri-state area.”
Sensible. Very well, you should check your notifications and trigger your first vision. It probably won’t be anything that can help your Dantian problem, but you might as well get it out of the way so I can steer the next one in the right direction.
Roland nodded and finally turned his mind to the blinking icons he’d been ignoring all through lunch and the conversation with the spirit and the fairy guide.
You have successfully summoned a Familiar: Raven (Greater Spirit, ????).
Your Familiar can assist in the performance of Rituals (adding 25% to the odds of succeeding and any resulting effects or benefits). It can let you use its senses to perceive anything it does, and it can fight on your behalf, although if it is destroyed, you will lose access to it for seventy-two hours, after which a two-hour ritual and 200 Mana points will bring it back to the world.
You have learned a new Skill: Advanced Ritual Magic (Rare, Beginner 1). You have learned two Rituals: Empower Summoning Circle, and Glance into the Spirit World.
Your Bloodline (Bringer of Death) has been identified and can be integrated into the System. Bringer of Death also serves as a Dao (Spirit and Death Affinities). As Integration advances, new Skills and Techniques will become available. Current Integration: 9%. Your Death and Spirit Affinities have increased by 3% (Current Affinity Rating: Death 96%, Spirit 93%.
You have gained a new Bloodline Skill: Ancestral Visions (Epic, Active, Beginner).
Roland opened the new Skill’s entry:
Ancestral Visions (Epic, Active, Beginner 1): The lives of your Bloodline Ancestors span multiple worlds and tens of thousands of years. Some Ancestors walked on worlds touched by the System; others obeyed the rules of other Systems or lived under the sway of no System at all. Their deeds and memories can be examined through visions, and through them you can gain much knowledge, both about your common Bloodlines and anything else they show you, including Skills, Daos, and Techniques; they may even alter or improve your Affinities or give you access to new Concepts.
Activating Ancestral Visions costs 100 Mana and Endurance and requires between 10 and 30 minutes of meditation, modified by your Meditation Skill.
Visualizing a particular subject or idea while activating the Skill may bring about a related memory, depending on your Willpower and the relationship of the subject and the experiences of your ancestors.
The vision invoked will last anywhere between a few minutes and several hours in real time but may last far longer from your viewpoint. Once the vision is over, the Skill cannot be activated for at least 24 hours.
The Skill description was vaguer than Roland had gotten used to. Maybe because his Bloodline abilities were not created by the System and were just being adapted into it.
“It says a vision can take up several hours,” Roland said. “I don’t want to keep people waiting for too long.”
For one, the longer his recruits thought about the situation, the more likely they would either bail out, which he didn’t mind too much, or that they would go to the authorities. He was especially concerned about Josh and Barton. Bob and the ladies seemed pretty committed.
I can come along and make sure it doesn’t take up too much time, Raven said.
Raven croaked-chuckled. Don’t worry your pretty little head, Fae. I’m only here to help.
Roland suspected there was more to the bird than just being a good Samaritan-slash-scavenger of endings, but he decided to chance it.
“Let’s do it,” he said. “Just wake me up when it’s been half an hour. I still have some gear to tend to.”