Tunnel Rat

Chapter 182: Thank you for Contribution

You have maximized your contribution points to Limburger Hollow and fulfilled several quests before they were offered to you.

The following rules apply:

-You will no longer be charged contribution points for meals. This includes up to two cheesy snacks a day or more if approved by Gendifur or Smiley.

-You have earned tenure in the Tower of Strife. You will be addressed as Professor Tallsqueak by all students.

-As a current member of the Conclave, you may use contribution points to pay for raising the cap on your characteristics. Frankly, you had so many we just went ahead and paid for it. Your Current Caps for Tier 2 have been raised to 10.

Your available Core Skills have been revised based on circumstances. Of great importance, we would like to point out that Pudding Based Regeneration is no longer available, and you will have to keep your bones. You have a total of 150 Core Skill points to spend. You may not earn more Core Skill points in Tier 2

Generic Core Skills: Any player has access to these Core Skills. Many more skills can be learned by finding teachers, reading books, completing quests, or doing mighty deeds. The cost of Generic Core skills will increase with each Tier. Choose wisely. Putting off a skill today may cost you more tomorrow. Name Description Cost Increase Health 1 +50 points to health score 3 Increase Health 2 +100 points to health score (Must have level 1 first.) 7 Increase Health 3 +150 points to health score (Must have level 2 first.) 12 Increase Health 4 +250 points to Mana score (Must have level 3 first.) 15 Increase Health 5 +450 points to Mana score (Must have level 4 first.) 20 Increase Mana 1 +50 points to Mana score 3 Increase Mana 2 +100 points to Mana score (Must have level 1 first.) 7 Increase Mana 3 +150 points to Mana score (Must have level 2 first.) 12 Increase Mana 4 +250 points to Mana score (Must have level 3 first.) 15 Increase Mana 5 +450 points to Mana score (Must have level 4 first.) 20 Increase Stamina 1 +50 points to Stamina score 3 Increase Stamina 2 +100 points to Stamina score (Must have level 1 first.) 7 Increase Stamina 3 +150 points to Stamina score (Must have level 2 first.) 12 Increase Stamina 4 +250 points to Stamina score (Must have level 3first.) 15 Increase Stamina 5 +450 points to Stamina score (Must have level 4 first.) 20 Second Wind 1 Once per day, regain 20 Health/Mana/Stamina. 2 Second Wind 2 Once per day, regain 50 Health/Mana/Stamina. 5 Second Wind 3 Once per day, regain 100 Health/Mana/Stamina. 7 Breathless 2 You may hold your breath 10x as long. (10 minutes.) 2 Tier 2 Stats Cap Increase. Increase the cap on a statistic. You may buy this ability up to 5 times to raise the cap on a stat to a max of rank 10 in Tier 2. Rank 10 is a Hard Cap for all stats in Tier 2. 2 Purchase Bonus Points:

These abilities add to your stats. Gaining bonuses does not affect stats gained by ranks. Spirit of the Ox 2 +1 Bonus to STR. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Bear 2 +1 Bonus to CON. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Monkey 2 +1 Bonus to DEX. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Owl 2 +1 Bonus to INT. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Cheetah 2 +1 Bonus to AGI. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Pig 2 +1 Bonus to WIS. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Hawk 2 +1 Bonus to PER. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4 Spirit of the Swan 2 +1 Bonus to CHA. A maximum of 3 points may be bought this way 4

Rune-Boned Scout Core Skills Name Description Cost Gain knowledge of the mundane Rune: Lux The Rune of Light and Radiance 10 Gain knowledge of the mundane Rune: Tenebrae The Rune of Darkness, Corruption, and the Hidden 10 Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Draconis The Rune of Eels and Betrayal 10 Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Nihil The Rune of nothing and the void 10 Gain knowledge of the advanced Rune: Formation The Rune of making and creation 10 Smugglers Stash 4 Storage Skill. Summons/Dispels a magical chest. Size increases with rank. Fifty-four cubic feet. 20 Smugglers Summoning 1 Transfer a spell component, food, or potion to your hand from your stash. Time: 3 seconds Cost: 100 stamina. (Time to summon items and stamina cost goes down with Levels.) 10 Skilled Provider Your gathering skills have an increased chance of finding better quality items 1/2/3

Heroic Leap

3x Leap Distance

5

Claws of Alta-Viator (2)

+40 Damage

10

Spine of Volax-Repat (3)

+40 Damage

20

Grunt and Throw Hands You have a talent for primitive charades, and ways to make yourself known when you don't know the native language. 1 Under-Linguist Given a few days, and enough people talking, you can learn enough of new language to understand 90% of what you hear, and you can carry on a basic conversation, with only small mistakes showing this is not your native language. Within a month, you'll speak like a native. Time may vary depending on the creatures involved. Humanoids with lips are easier. Telepathic rocks take longer. 7 Shadow Skulking 1 Reduce the Perception of anyone trying to detect your presence, see through your human/rat illusion, or use an identify skill upon you. You may purchase three levels in Tier 2. 3/3/3

Were-Rat Core Skills Tier 2 NameDescriptionCost Totally Normal HumanImproved Disguise/Illusion in Were form. You may openly walk as a human, even in were-form, and pass for one of them. Creatures much above your level, or with a good sense of smell, or who can see through illusions may not be affected.10 Many small eyesMake friends with local rats who will (maybe) do some scouting for you.

Not Available in hollows due to a lack of normal rats. Perhaps moles?5 See through small eyesIncreased control of your small scouts, and you can use their eyes instead of your own.10 Skill Upgrade: Cheese MasteryExpands Cheesemaking beyond easy recipes. 5 Strong Disease ResistanceGain the CON skill Strong Disease Resistance. It gives benefits to resist Strong Diseases from nature or spells. You are immune to most common diseases.7 Extra Stabby!All of your attacks have an increased chance of a critical hit. 3/7/12/15/17 Fiendishly Clever TrapsYour traps and machinery almost always work, and in fiendish ways, no one (sometimes even you!) suspected. Everyone gets a surprise. This core skill affects Mechanic, Trap-Maker, and other such skills.

3/6/9

Strong RegenerationGrants increased, (x8), health recovery. Regenerate scar tissue and missing body parts in 1 to 3 days. A steady diet of cheese speeds the process.

20

Magical Aspects open up options to learn more mage skills. Each additional aspect has an increased cost. Gaining an aspect does not automatically give you spells . Chill of the Grave You have a high Death aspect. Training will let you learn Death magic—increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. It opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells. 5/10/25 Deeds in the Dark You have a high darkness aspect. Training will let you learn dark magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. Increase your Corruption by +1. It opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells. 5/10/25 Storm Born You have a high Storm aspect. Training will let you learn Storm magics. Increasing cost with additional aspects. It opens more options for mage abilities. Increased ranks decrease mana costs of casting spells. 5/10/25 Individual Abilities: You have earned these through quests or adventuring. Spirit of Durgi Forefather +1 Bonus to TOU (Dwarves only.) It may be taken three times per tier. 4 Blessing of Hekate: Canine Speech You can almost understand dogs, and they understand you. 2 Guardian Pet 1 Who's the Big Dog? Your pet increases in both size and intelligence. 2 Guardian Pet 2 Your pet gains attack skills and double health and mitigation 5 Make things go BOOM! You may purchase the Primary skill: Demolitions (DEX or INT) 5 Poisoner You may purchase the Primary skill: Poisoner (INT) 5 Smile and Lie like a Professional You may purchase the Primary skill: Diplomacy (INT or CHA) 5

Milo sat and rested while digesting the new information. Many of the things he had accomplished had given him contribution points. He assumed this worked for all the people in Limburger Hollow. Contribution points could be spent on many things to improve life, like food, or to gain training and favors from others. It was like quests that you didn't know about but could guess at. If it was good for the Hollow, you would be rewarded for your work and could take the rewards as needed. Many things about the Hollow clicked into place. While individuals were free to do as they liked, there was a benefit to helping others and contributing to the big picture.

Blackwhisker and the other players treated the Hollow like a place to do some quests and gain some skills, but it was so much more. An idea was forming, one he wanted to explore. He tucked it away in a part of his head where it wouldn't get lost. He needed to do some thinking and to think he had to be doing something. Not doing anything made Milo uneasy. Luckily, he had some jobs that required little to no thinking. One of those was mining. He wandered through the Hollow and back to the mines. The cathedral was mostly empty now, the refugees had returned to their homes, and Gendifur cared for the wounded. A group of miners were clustered around the dwarves, discussing mining, of course.

Milo pulled up a seat and sat down to listen. He noted that every miner from the Hollow now had a Dark Steel pick in their hands or back, and they all showed use. Milo remembered the old pick he'd found and how much faster and easier it had cut through rock. He shared a love of good tools with his fellow engineers, and it seemed that love was also shared by miners everywhere. He listened to the talk of opening up new shafts and bringing in the parts to assemble a subrogator to process Deep Copper and a Blast Furnace to make Dark Iron ore into Dark Steel. Limburger Hollow would get an upgrade in technology in the next few months. Master Clawhammer and Sledgemonkey seemed to have become instant friends and were discussing a multitude of new projects that the Engineers and the Hollow could work on together.

After a bit, Milo excused himself and wandered off into the mines. Finding a large vein of Deep Copper, he started to chip away at it, slowly breaking up the ore and creating a large pile. Back in the cathedral cavern, the dwarves just nodded to each other and chuckled. Two Screws filled in Clawhammer on the joke. "He can't quit. After we let him join up, you should have seen him running around repairing old machinery. He didn't stop, and he got all of us running behind him and working just as hard. Sometimes we built things, and sometimes we blew things up." He snorted and took a deep pull on his stein of beer. "Remind me to tell you about how we blew up the entire base trying to kill a snake. Good times. That was what endeared him to us the most. All engineers like to keep working. But for him, it's like a compulsion. He feels better working and fixing things."

Sledgemonkey chuckled. "Or breaking things. We started with a dozen old subrogators, most needing to be repaired. He blew two of them up trying to fix them, then used the parts we scavenged from the wreckage to fix most of the others. You have to keep an eye on him at all times."

There was a rumble from the mines and the crash of rock. The engineer, known to some as Milo and others as Tallsqueak, came sprinting back into the cavern, pursued by a large beetle with a golden shell and sharp mandibles. Clawhammer got to his feet and yelled. "That's a Gold Borer Beetle; try not to damage the shell; lots of good metal plating on those." Milo nodded and dodged the beetle, then got his pick under the edge of the carapace and flipped it over. Three blows to the underside killed the four-foot-long beetle.

Sledgemonkey walked over and examined the beetle. "Nice. That shell is 90% Auric and 10% tin. Good for a lot of magitech components." Then he looked at Milo and scowled. "Weren't you supposed to be taking it easy? At least you only picked a fight with a little one."

Milo pointed back the way he came. "I broke into another cavern. Dozens of little ones, and uh...some bigger ones. Much bigger ones. I think they may be following me."

Sledgemonkey snapped down his armor's visor and pulled out his heavy spanner as the other dwarves and miners came over and waited for the beetles to show up. Milo noticed a lot of laughing but didn't know what was so funny.