Chapter 3
Discovery
The door shut behind the Necrologist and he looked down at Tarzan. The fluffy, black, oversized house cat looked right back up at him and sat with her tail wrapped around her body.
"Awesome. I've been making eyes at Sarah for months," he said to the feline brushing affectionately against his leg, "...and now she's in my apartment and I'm like," he raised the pitch of his voice mockingly, "I'm going to my room!"
When he made eye contact with the cat, he quickly realized that something had changed. Her typically lazy demeanor was gone, replaced with an intensity of some kind that he didn't understand. As they held each other’s gaze, Garath felt an odd sensation at the back of his mind, a kind of click as the dots connected in his subconscious mind. A new prompt appeared in his mind's eye.
Congratulations Garath! You have unlocked your first BeastScape form - House Cat.
He focused to open his MENU, below the option for Profile, he found the line reading BeastScape. He focused on the option and it expanded to fill the left panel, encompassing a third of his visual range.
BeastScape - Shape Shifting
The ability to take the form of a beast. When in beast form, your skills and abilities may vary.
BeastScape Forms
House Cat
+150% sense of smell
+250% sense of hearing
+300% dark vision
-95% sense of taste
Form Size: Tiny (+150% to all damage received in this form)
Note: You have unlocked a BeastScape form that is synergistic with your chosen Class. House cats have been used by witches for centuries as a familiar to channel spells. All Mana costs are reduced by 20% while in House Cat form.
‘Didn't see that coming. I kind of wish I had a pet bear or something,’ he thought with a laugh as he sank into his bed.
He focused on the House Cat icon to see if any additional information would present itself - but none did.
‘I'll get to that later. Shape shifting into a house cat is probably not going to help me much against monsters…’ Tarzan meowed haughtily at him. ’Did you hear me thinking that?’
He dismissed that thought with another laugh and willed the BeastScape panel closed, then focused on the Skills icon listed on the center MENU panel. An elaborate Skill tree took the place that the BeastScape partition had occupied on the left panel.
The Skill Tree was split into three sub-panels, one for each school of magic he would have access to as a Necrologist. From left to right they read Death, Blood, and Demonology. At the bottom of each section a glowing circle shined brightly. Each school offered one starting spell and, as Garath's eyes panned over each of the illuminated Skills, more information presented itself.
Death Bolt
Active
Cost: 10 Mana (.09x Base Mana)
30 Meter Range
1 Second Cast
Effect: Send a bolt of entropic energy at your target, dealing 3-4 (Death) damage (.4 X Wisdom Attribute).
Summon Flayer
Summoned Creature - Demon
Cost: 36 Mana (.4x Base Mana)
3 Second Cast
1 Minute Cooldown
*Additional Cost: Tainted Soul*
Effect: Summon a Flayer (maximum: 1) from the outskirts of Hell itself. The Flayer will aid you in battle for up to one hour before returning to Hell.
Note: By summoning this demon, you have plucked it from its home. The magic of this spell will force it to follow your commands but Flayers are opportunistic and will betray you if given the chance. To reduce the chance of mutiny, anchor summoned Flayer to Earth by casting Blood Ties in its presence. For additional information see the Summoned Creatures partition of your MENU.
*Tainted Soul: the form containing your soul is soiled.
Blood Ties
Active
Cost: 77 Mana (.85x Base Mana)
1 Meter Range
10 Second Cast
10 Minute Cooldown
*Additional Cost: Tainted Soul*
Effect: Binds targeted Summoned Creature to your realm, and to you personally.
Note: When binding a Demonic creature to this realm, the lifeblood of the caster and that of the Summoned Creature are also bound - slightly altering the characteristics of each.
*Tainted Soul: the form containing your soul is soiled.
It seemed like a pretty standard - albeit a little ominous - set of starting spells to Garath and he internally debated which to try first. He looked around the room and decided it probably wasn't the best place to start hurling magic around or summoning demons that may or may not attack him. He willed the MENU panels to close and they vanished, leaving him staring at the ceiling in his bedroom.
"Hey, you wanna head up to the roof?" he asked the black ball of fluff dozing beside him on the bed. Tarzan looked up, cocking her head to one side thoughtfully. Though the large black cat had always seemed to listen when he spoke, the comprehension and intensity in her eyes was new - and a bit startling. He stood and, just before opening the door to the rest of his shoddy little apartment, remembered that he had company. He looked again at Tarzan and considered the shape shifting aspect, 20% reduced Mana cost was nothing to sneeze at - taking 150% increased damage wasn't ideal, but Garath figured it would probably be easier to avoid attacks with the nimble, athletic form of a cat and decided to give it a go.
"BeastScape," he said aloud, rolling the word around in his mouth. "Well... this should be safe enough to try in here."
He focused and opened his MENU panels once again, taking note that a new icon had appeared below BeastScape that read Summoned Creatures. Maybe after I turn myself into a house cat, he thought.
Garath re-read what he had seen
