You have Class Modifications to Review

"Well, that hard I guess," Tony grumbled. The broken Dreadblade in his inventory and his class specific pieces that he no longer "met the requirements" to equip left a rock in his gut. Part of him wanted to ignore the notification and hope that whatever he had to review would just right itself, but, considering the current situation he needed to know what was going on with his character sheet and make sure that he had manual oversight of any changes.

Through grit teeth Tony said "Character Sheet"

His sheet sprang to life but immediately were greyed out a series of notification windows popped up in front of it.

The Archon has Revoked your access to the Dread Knight Class

Due to your Level and Standing in the Ascendant Program, the Dread Knight has been changed to Dread Knight (Fallen)

Tony groaned. The next time he saw that collection of rings, wings, and eyeballs he'd be sure to give it more than just a piece of his mind.

The Following Talents have been Revoked

Summon Dreadblade

Oath Sacred Vow

Fatal Resolve Runeforging

Adamant Slash Adamant Slash+

Bloody Haste Asphyxiate

As the talents were stripped from him, Tony felt lessened in every conceivable way. He had a feeling that something like this was coming, but he didn't think that some of his Core talents would be taken or that the loss of Oath and Sacred Vow would strip the bonuses that he gained from them.

Talents have been Added in place of Revoked Talents

Channel Dreadblade

Adamant Grit

Rancor Pact of Spite

Cicatrize Imbue Cicatrix

Tony accepted the changes and again, a sense of displacement overwhelmed him. He felt... out of sync with himself, like his body was lagging behind the movements of his mind. Teeth grit, Tony said "Character Sheet," again. Pop-up windows cleared and the updated sheet hovering in his vision, Tony's heart sank at how the changes had affected him overall.

Name: Antonious King Title: The Fallen Race: Human (Ascendant)

Level: Squire (5) | Knight (5) | Dread Knight (Fallen Blademaster) 6 Essence: 4

Attributes

Strength: 25 Charisma: 15 Intelligence: 15

Dexterity: 17 Wisdom: 16 Wits: 16

Endurance: 25 Spirit: 25 Luck: 15

Skills

Melee: 20 Awareness: 10 Occult: 10 Survival: 10*

Fortitude: 21* Athletics: 10 (Freerunning) Tandem Tactics: 5

Resolve: 10* Empathy: 5 Socialize: 5 Martial Arts: 12*

Talents

Knight's Charge Battle Rush

Summon Blade (Life Biting Essence) Channel Dreadblade*

Berserker's Stance Frenzied Blood Rapture

Pommel Strike Punishing Parry

Invincible Will+ Indomitable Self

Cicratize* Imbue Cicatrix*

Adamant Grit*

Rancor* Pact of Spite*

Artifacts

Pauldron of Vengeance(!) Covenant

Dreadblade Shards* Essence Slave Collar*

Familiar

Maximus Level 11 Dog of War

Active Sagas

Enslaved

The War Against Heaven

Every...single...attribute had fallen by five points, but, almost as if it were supposed to be some sort of compensation, his Resolve, Fortitude, and Survival had gotten a bump and the Martial Arts skill had shown up in the skills tab at level twelve. As expected, the Doomed King's Helm and Gjoll Stone Amulet no longer appeared on his sheet and had been replaced by the Essence Slave Collar and Dreadblade Shards. Before Tony could start to examine the replacement talents he had been granted, he noticed that his Lore Bar was emptied, cracked, and withered. He focused on the bar.

Fallen Lore:

Fallen Dreadknights lose access to the Lore resource as The Archon has found them wanting. Dreadknights cannot regain the Mana Resource and as such, all activated Talents require that HP be sacrificed to utilize them. HP expenditure will not be prevented if the Fallen does not possess enough HP to fuel the talent. It is advised that Fallen Dreadknights change their HP Display to numeric values in place of the default percentage view.

Tony wanted to scream, needed to scream, to let it all out; so he did. He cut loose all of the rage, all of the frustration, all of his sorrow into one throat shredding roar. The echoes of his vocal catharsis rebounded off of the walls and rang in his ears, compelling him to push out more of his angst.

He stopped when his voice cracked and he tasted copper in his mouth.

It wasn't enough.

Everything that he had been through, everything that he had overcome since putting on that damned headset was being thrown back in his face. Tony had only come back to Arach to try and patch things up with Jorogu and now some other Celestial Douchebag was set on making things as difficult as it could for him while he was alone and trapped behind enemy lines... enslaved behind enemy lines. With no evident target for his rage, Tony expressed it into his surroundings.

Walls and pillars decorated with an eclectic smattering of blood, cracks, and dents in the shape of his fists, Tony slumped against the wood platform that the straw mat he was expected to sleep on laid on. His Stamina bar flashed an angry red as Tony drew ragged breaths and reviewed his "new" talents.

Channel Dreadblade

Cost: 15% HP Duration: Until Released

HP Refunded: Up to 10% Max HP

Effect: Though the Archon has shunned the Dread Knight, the spirit of their Dreadblade remains, forever bound to The Fallen. Upon activation of this Talent, The Fallen selects one of the following modes:

Shroud - The Fallen is shrouded in a cloak of the Dreadblade's Essence, increasing their combat effectiveness. The shroud is subject to the Fallen's will and can assume myriad forms to inflict damage upon his foes. +20% Damage and Attack Rating, +10% Evasion, +10% Damage Mitigation.

Empower Blade - The Dreadblade's spirit is what remains with The Fallen. Until such time as they may once again wield a true Dreadblade, the spirit may inhabit another weapon wielded by The Fallen. For a +5% HP surcharge, The Fallen may empower a bladed weapon with the former glory of his Dreadblade. Doing so consumes (1) Dreadblade Shard.

Tony had mixed feelings about Channel Dreadblade. The idea of HP costs for all of his combat talents was not giving him the warm and fuzzies, but he would be able to wield the power granted to him by Legion at the most seven times, according to the number of Dreadblade Shards in his inventory.

The shroud effect seemed almost like Auren's Battle Aura, but worse due to the HP cost. Tony saw a lot of points going into Endurance in the near future.

Adamant Grit

Cost: 20% HP* Duration: Instant

Effect: Unable to channel Lore to refuse death, The Fallen does the next best thing. Focusing on the pain wracking his body, The Fallen consolidates his all wounds and status effects to one "Dire Wound" by comitting up to 20% of his total HP. This HP cannot be recovered until the Dire Wound has been treated with Magic or otherwise Expert medical skill. It is ill-advised, but not impossible to carry more than one Dire Wound.

As much as he wished it was Fatal Resolve, Tony kind of liked Adamant Grit. Fatal Resolve's drawback was that it left him with a sense of near invincibility when he was using it, but effects like Bleed or Poison that were present on activation continued to affect him. Adamant Grit seemed to take any damage he was suffering and put a hard cap of twenty percent in place. Worst case scenario, that talent would let him cheat death up to four times.

Rancor

Cost: None Duration: Indefinite

No matter how composed the exterior, hatred resides in the heart of The Fallen. Any Wrath, Rage, or Berserk effects have their effects increased by 50%.

Note: Any of the aforementioned states cannot be terminated prematurely.

Tony's eyebrow shot into his hairline and his heart slammed against his ribs. The glitched buff he'd experienced when he was trying to save Maximus from the coyotes had taken control of his body from him and a tremendous boost in both damage and resilience. Even when the Pauldron of Vengeance had activated in his fight against Tolik, he'd retained control for only lesser benefits, but it also wasn't a "rage state" like the glitch had been.

From what he saw in the talent's description, it was always active with no way to shut it off. Was that why he'd felt so violent just minutes before?

Pact of Spite

Prerequisite Talent(s): Rancor

Cost: None Duration: 3 minutes

Condition: Falling below 10% total HP with Active Dire Wounds

Effect: To be Fallen is to be Anathema. Wounded, alone, and near death, The Fallen enters a Berserk State, gaining bonus Damage, Haste, and Defense Rating equal to 5 x Dire Wounds HP Comitted (to a maximum bonus of 100%)

Note: Only extreme bludgeoning force or death can resolve the duration of this Talent before its duration expires.

Talent Synergy (Rancor): If the Fallen is already in a Wrath, Rage, or Berserk State when Fervent Contempt activates, bonuses gained are tripled and its duration is reduced to 1 minute.

Great, more forced berserking, Tony thought.

He was either going to have to figure out how to get back in The Archon's good graces or find a way back to that winged, ringed, bundle of eyeballs and force the issue. For a moment, Tony wondered how The Archon became the final arbiter in who got to keep their powers and who didn't. What would have happened if Tony had killed The Archon when they'd fought in the "loading sequence?" Would he have become the new Archon, or would the position have just remained empty?

Cicatrize

Cost: 2% Permanent HP Duration: Permanent

Sacrifice Bonus: 1:1 Rite: Varies

Effect: So marred as The Fallen's soul, so is his flesh. For every 2% of The Fallen's permanent HP sacrificed, he gains 2% Natural Defense Rating and 1% Natural Damage Reduction. The Fallen may also activate this talent to negate or resolve one negative condition, such as broken bones or ruptured organs*. For every activation of this Talent, The Fallen must scar himself as a part of the Rite.

*Cicatrize cannot be activated to repair damage dealt to critical organs without suffering permanent damage.

Imbue Cicatrix

Cost: 5% Permanent HP Duration: Permanent

Sacrifice Bonus: 1:4

Prerequisite Talent(s): Adamant Grit, Cicatrize

Effect: Though The Fallen's Lore be broken, traces of it yet remain. At the resolution of a Dire Wound or activation of Cicatrize, The Fallen may elect to sacrifice 5% of their Permanent HP Pool, so long as there is a Cicatrix present from the prerequisite talent, upon activation of this talent, The Fallen gains a Tainted Lore pool equal to four times the HP sacrificed.

"Well, I guess I'm not totally fucked." Tony said begrudgingly.

If all of these changes to his talents were decisions made by The Archon, that pretentious prick, they were very focused on both making his life miserable, and ensuring that if he was going to die it would be very slow, very painful, and would be quite the show.

As Tony looked back over the Talents and their basic descriptions, something clicked. The reason why he hadn't been able to just calm down and felt the need to thrash the room in a fit of rage, had been due to Rancor's effect. On the surface, it looked like Rancor would only trigger on an activated ragelike state, but in actuality, it ramped up his negative emotions and made it easier for him to lose control.

Truly alone for the first time since putting on the VR Headset, Tony's mind wandered. If he made it back to the Hagh T'nak, Vasna was going to have a couple more knuckle sandwiches ready for him if Rancor was still an active talent and he'd likely deck Auren for refusing to help him in the first place.

That's it!

Tony opened his Social Tab, and scrolled to "Recent Players" to see Vasna's name lit up. She was Active and able to receive messages.

Tony: Hey, I'm in a little bit of a bind, like, literally. Think you can get Auren to send the cavalry?

Your message has not been sent.

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