NABC Chapter 419: Progenitor
Chapter 419: Progenitor
chapter 419: progenitor
jadis ahlstrom
race: nephilim
primary class: mirror knight (34)
secondary class: perverted ritualist of d (27)
tertiary class: progenitor of the succubi (1)
combined level rating: 62
health: 2640/2640
magic: 410/410
attributes
strength: 482
dexterity: 184
agility: 435
vitality: 234
fortitude: 269
endurance: 196
arcane: 0
divine: 0
eldritch: 435
focus: 11
resilience: 115
will: 15
“so, how does it feel to have your tertiary class unlocked?”
“exciting,” jay grinned at kerr from across the kitchen table.
“and a little disappointing,” dys grimaced as she held her hand out before her and waggled it back and forth.
“but, like, in an okay kind of way?” syd added as she made a face that was halfway between her other two selves’ expressions. “it’s kind of what i expected, but kind of not? you know?”
“no,” kerr glanced between the three conflicted nephilim before her. “i have no idea what you’re talking about. are you saying you don’t like the progenitor class now that you have it? after all this wait and all the trouble and the fact that you told valtar himself he could suck a hard one, you’re picking what you want. and now you’re getting buyer’s remorse?”
“merde, you’re right...”
“right about what?”
bridget stomped her boots as she entered the kitchen, letting in a gust of the cold night air behind her. her question was accompanied by another from sabina who forced her way through the door and past the orc while carrying a load of what looked like tools and pieces of wood and metal in her arms.
“where are we eating?”
“kerr forgot that she has to deal with baby diapers too,” syd told bridget as she got to her feet and helped the cold orc out of her heavy winter coat.
“we’re eating right here,” jay answered sabina as she reached out to the smith, taking some of the items to lessen her burden. “in the kitchen. what are you doing with all this?”
“i have an idea for that motor thing you told me about and i’m this close to a solution i think will work to make the eleria connections stable enough to keep the main shaft running without causing a break or a feedback explosion! it might work i think but it’s also possible it might just cause it to fly off the main assembly but i don’t think it will but i’m not sure but anyway, i need to pair these bits together and draw out the lines and i don’t want to lose the inspiration so i brought the work in with me.”
“she wouldn’t leave without it,” bridget said defensively when syd gave her a look. “you know how she gets when she’s all excited about mo-tors or whatever that enchantment stuff is.”
“no experiments on the kitchen table,” aila threatened sabina with her wooden spoon before she could set her armload down. “that’s for food only.”
“aw, but i—”
“don’t worry,” jay cut off the smith before she could get worked up. “i’ll get a table from the other room and you can set it all down there and work on it until dinner is ready. we’ve still got maybe twenty or thirty minutes before everything is done.”
“in the meantime,” syd told both sabina and bridget, “let’s catch you two up on my class info conversation.”
while her syd and dys selves explained her first spell in her new tertiary class, progenitor of the succubi, her jay self left the kitchen and walked out into the large open space of the main floor of their new guild hall. jay couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the three nearly twenty-foot-tall trees that tegwyn had found and put into the large space. he was far from finished, having sworn that he would have the place properly festooned with living greenery by the end of the month, but it was a nice start.
that was how jadis felt as she looked around the transforming building. they were off to a good start. they still had a long way to go, as a mercenary company, as heroes meant to end a destructive cycle, and as a family, but jadis felt pride in her heart at the progress they had made so far. it was all a good start. she just had to make sure that the momentum kept going. with the help of her loved ones, jadis was certain that she would succeed in that effort.
“now where did we put those extra tables?”
jay took a moment to think before remembering that gunnar had moved the extra furniture to one of the finished bedrooms on the second floor. with a small flex of her immense strength, jay easily leapt up to the second-floor balcony from the open area of the main hall. entering through one of the doors, she quickly searched through the half-dozen rooms they had completed to find the pile of new furniture.
gunnar had told jadis that if they kept up the current pace, they would likely have all the living space in the company building completed by the end of the following week. that included all the fancy upgrades to the indoor plumbing jadis wanted done, as well as the magically enhanced heating system. that was good news, since after the demonic attack on the city, more and more people had started showing up at their doorstep to see about joining fortune’s favored. recruitment for both the army and mercenary companies in general was up in response to the attack orchestrated by the cultists, but it seemed that a great many rumors of jadis and her companion’s deeds had spread throughout the city. coupled with the official pardoning from emperor somerulf, jadis’ popularity had grown significantly. she didn’t think she was going to have trouble finding recruits for her secondary squad or her support teams. in fact, it was going to be a bigger problem just sorting through all the applicants to make sure none were spies for the princes or any of the major noble families.
jadis knew that she still had a lot to do in the city. she had a mercenary company to build, enchantments and technology to work on with sabina, and all kinds of preparations to make for the big trip out to demon-infested lands they would be making once the winter season ended. she also needed to work things out with aila and eir’s parents to make sure they were in positions of safety, as well as do the same of the rest of her in-laws that she hadn’t met yet. then there was her promise to villthyrial to say hello to his dragon, the grub the same god had given her, and all kinds of promises she had made to the various temples and high priests. to make sure all of her plans worked out, jadis couldn’t just run off into the wilderness and ignore all the responsibilities and duties that came with the role of leadership she was assuming. that said, she was looking forward to finally getting out into the field again. even if she didn’t range too far for the moment, she planned on getting out of the city for a while, maybe running around the countryside and just seeing what there was to see. she had people working for her now, after all. gunnar could run things for a day or two while she and her lovers enjoyed a break from life in eldingholt.
as she contemplated both her immediate and future plans, jay carried the small table out into the main hall. dropping down to the first floor with a light thump, she turned to reenter the kitchen when she heard a loud knock come from the front door of the company hall.
jay sighed heavily before putting the table down. gunnar had gone home for the night, as had everyone else in the company who wasn’t one of jadis’ lovers. that meant she had to deal with whoever was calling on them so late herself. it was probably another hopeful applicant who wanted to join the company. not that jadis was unwilling to talk with those who wanted to embark on a life of mercenary adventure; she had a lot in common with people who loved the idea of being a fighter for hire. the problem was that far too many of those sorts of people had a bad habit of showing up at entirely inconvenient times. no such thing as business hours to would-be adventurers, she supposed.
walking over to the door, jadis prayed that the visitor was either someone she knew who had just stopped by for an unexpected visit or would at least be an applicant who would leave when she told them to bugger off until tomorrow. maybe it was jocelyn? the oracle had left a little over an hour ago, so it was still possible she was in the city. wilhelm might have had something to discuss with her and the others before leaving the city.
“hello?” jay called out as she pulled the door’s security bar to the side and opened the door to a blast of cold night air. “who is it?”
“good evening, jadis,” a familiar voice greeted her. “may i come in?”
standing just outside the open door was a one-winged angel in a fur-trimmed cloak. while her sword was belted at her waist, the seraphim was unarmored and alone, looking no more martial than most any other well-dressed passerby on the street. the hood shielding her blonde hair from the harsh wind fell away as she tilted her head back to meet jay’s eyes with her own.
“hey there,” jay grinned down at severina. “you here for those dance lessons?”
“i am not, no,” the paladin shook her head slightly, her cheeks pink from the chill. or from what she said in the next moment. “i came here to talk about making more nephilim.”