Rando doesn’t appoint oracles, but RNG does. Oddly enough, she usually notifies them through the mail or equivalent, sending them notices to let them know they’ve just won something. Many such notices get thrown away, but the ones that get opened that ARE from RNG, bestow oracular powers and more complicated lives.

  As stated above, the changeover broke Rando, but RNG’s dealing with it well. So she doesn’t control everything like Rando used to, but whatever. Prayers are still coming in, luck’s still running hot and cold, and life goes on.

  Rando and RNG have a long-running rivalry with Nebs, trying to keep heroes and other lucky sorts alive even when they should be rightfully dead many times over.

  RITAXIS

  Ritaxis, goddess of war, loves her job. It strengthens her, strengthens her people, it’s good for the economy, and ensures plenty of future business down the road.

  Hm? The dead? Eh, that’s just how it goes. Not her problem. Talk to Nebs.

  Ritaxis is all about killing, but unlike Gank, she’s about killing for a purpose, and doing it to accomplish a wider-scale goal. Whether this means following Nurph’s rules or letting Gank out to play depends on what accomplishes the job faster and more efficiently. Her clerics are always in demand, and often form military orders, which coincidentally sometimes unlock second tier options like Knight Templar and Warmaster, so that’s all well and good anyway. It does mean that her priests are often more disciplined than other clerics, and far better at fighting. A fact she loves to brag about and see justified, mind you.

  Prayers to Ritaxis are best kept short. She’s busy, private. On the upside, her replies are fast and straightforward.

  Ritaxis’ Godspell is Weapon Specialization, which technically is a godskill and not normally allowed, but she pulled rank on Nurph and argued her case with admirable strategy, tactics, and even alliances until he caved. But it does advance a little more slowly than the duellist’s version of it, so her clerics have to do more fighting to get as good at it as duellists do. Which is fine with her.

  She’s neutral with the switchover. Not a thing she can do about it, so she doesn’t care. Besides, it was good for business when it first hit.

  Her oracles are always born on the battlefield, to no one’s surprise.

  Ritaxis has a rivalry with Weeky, who despite her nerdiness, has proven that even the best fighters can be outsmarted time and again. It is so, so very aggravating. After all, Weeky doesn’t even lift!

  WEEKY

  Weeky lifts plenty! Weeky lifts books! And scrolls, and anything else with words that she can get in front of her glasses.

  Weeky is a nerd’s nerd, complete with snorting laugh, messy hygiene, and a love of anything she hasn’t read yet. Her clerics follow her lead, founding libraries and schools and universities, and sharing knowledge freely. Many of them dabble in harder careers that require study and experimentation, such as alchemist and enchanter and wizard.

  Prayers to Weeky are really fruitful, but the trick is keeping her on topic. You learn a lot, but sometimes it’s not really anything useful right now. You can make Weeky really happy by telling her something she didn’t know, and she might use her massive smarts to slip you a more specific answer than she’s normally allowed to give, by means of a coded answer or a riddle that makes the whole thing clear if you’re smart enough to decipher it.

  Weeky’s Godspell is Knack for Languages, so you can learn new things regardless of what language they come in. Of course to honor her properly you really should learn the language on your own, but in case you don’t have the time, it’s a good shortcut. And this can help you learn it, so yay!

  Weeky’s Oracles come from scientists, conspiracy theorists, and occultists alike. Anyone who explores odd knowledge and shares it enough is eligible for her favor.

  Weeky initially loved the switchover. So much new stuff to read! Although the more she reads, and the more she thinks of the bigger implications, the more worried she is. The more she learns the more her fear grows, and unless things stabilize soon, she may turn her people and her massive mind to finding a way to undo it, even if it means breaking some big rules. She estimates there’s currently a 16% chance that won’t go horribly wrong, so she’s holding off. For now.

  Weeky has a rivalry with Ritaxis, who both hates her and needs her. Ritaxis thinks she’s weak as hell, but she has all the good military strategy books. Weeky, for her part, is frightened of Ritaxis, because so much knowledge and experience gets wiped out in the fires of war. My goodness! Sometimes armies even burn LIBRARIES!

  YORGUM

  Yorgum the Builder is never satisfied.

  He crafts, and he crafts, and he crafts, but nothing’s ever quite good enough for him. There’s always a way to improve it. And so his clerics go spread the faith, and learn to craft, and find ways to constantly improve on their work and others. And for a time, that’s good enough. Occasionally it all becomes too much for him, and old Burntbeard retires to his heavenly forge, and disappears for a few years, returning with a new artifact or schematic that makes the other gods blanch. That’s the point they shove Nurph forward to get him to tell Yorgum why it wouldn’t work for the balance, or mollify him by letting Yorgum put it into the world, just in a really deep dungeon guarded by dragons and titans and other horrific threats.

  Prayers to Yorgum are answered directly, Yorgum doesn’t hold with that prophecy and riddles shit. It does mean he usually can’t guide his clerics as much as other gods could, but most mortals appreciate the lack of pussyfooting around. And the ones who don’t don’t worship him or do good crafting anyway, so fuck’em.

  Yorgum’s Godspell is Mend. Good for fixing broken things so you can get back to improving them, instead of wasting time on repairs.

  Yorgum has a few Oracles, usually folks who make an amazing crafting breakthrough. His standards are really high though, so it’s both a blessing and a curse.

  The burned beard god loves the changeover. Now that crafting is much easier, it’s let him guide mortals to push the boundaries of crafting farther and faster than he’d ever hoped. The other gods have been trying to reign him in, but whatever. Why just two decades ago, Aeterna and Nebs teamed up to deny him a solid and reliable means of giving mortals immortality through body-hopping! He was so angry about that! But little do they know he already laid the seeds for its revelation. Just a matter of a few nudges here or there, and sitting back, waiting for the right circumstances to come along. Boy, will they be surprised when they see it! Heh, heh…

  Yorgum has a rivalry with Aeterna, who is entirely unreasonable and refuses to let him make something that will truly last forever. After all, Konol did it! Why can’t he?

  Bonus Content 2-1: Old Friends, New Sheets

  GARON’S CHARACTER SHEET

  Name: Garon Age: 20

  Jobs: Toy Golem Level 4 High Dragon Hatchling Level 1 Mercenary Level 5 Cook 4

  Attributes: Strength: 105 Constitution: 90 Hit Points: 225 Armor: 40 Intelligence: 52 Wisdom: 46 Sanity: 98 Mental Fortitude: 30 Dexterity: 32 Agility: 44 Stamina: 86 Endurance: 20 Charisma: 45 Willpower: 100 Moxie: 145 Cool: 50 Perception: 106 Luck: 46 Fortune: 152 Fate: 5

  Generic Skills Archery - Level 10 Axes and Choppas - Level 50 Brawling - Level 13 Climb - Level 6 Clubs and Maces - Level 5 Dagger - Level 5 Dodge - Level 17 Fishing - Level 21

  Shields - Level 50 Spears and Polearms - Level 3 Stealth - Level 7 Swim - Level 7 Swords - Level 16 Thrown Weapons - Level 10

  Toy Golem Skills Adorable - Level 1 Golem Body - Level 3 Magic Resistance - Level 1

  High Dragon Hatchling Skills Burninate - Level 3 Chomp - Level 2 Draconic Tongue - Level 1 Dragonseye - NA Limited Equipment - NA No Thumbs - NA Scaly Wings - Level 1

  Mercenary Skills Blood is Gold - Level 25 Do the Job - Level 25 Fight the Battles - Level 25 Follow the Dotted Line - Level 25 Forced March - Level 25 Get Paid - Level 6 Secure the Perimeter - Level 25 Take the Hits - Level 25

  Cook Skills Cooking - 17 Freshen - 8

  Garon’s probably the most practiced combatant of the group. He lived his life expecting to fight often and well, and trained in a variety of weapons before settling upon the axe. Now he’s stuck with brawling, which… well, he’ll get more practice with it, he’s sure. Pretty much every part of his new plush body is a weapon, with some parts of it squishier weapons than others.

  Garon was a pretty well-trained mercenary before he died, who used his skills often, at least the ones he COULD practice without causing problems. Now he’s adjusting to life in a High Dragon’s body… well, kinda. It’s got some pretty amazing stats, at least in the High Dragon Hatchling’s focus upon Strength, Willpower, and Perception, and average stats besides. (Except for dexterity, which thankfully his toy golem and mercenary levels and a lot of practice are helping with. To a point.)

  High Dragons have two “skills” that are disadvantages. Limited Equipment means that he can’t use most magical items that are meant to be worn, and No Thumbs means he has trouble handling things with his claws and doing fine manipulation in general, and makes it impossible to utilize most weapons.

  Of the other four skills, Dragonseye is always on, and it lets him see in darkness and see magic auras around items and people with active spells and effects on them. It’s also got some pretty good telescopic capability, but he’ll need to grind up his perception to get the most out of it. Draconic Tongue lets him speak draconic, and activate his skills by roaring their names in draconic. Their names in that language are pretty much a lot of roars. Garon has two basic attacks… Chomp, which increases the damage of his bite for one, well, chomp, and Burninate, which is a moderately-good fire attack, that costs a bunch of moxie to invoke. It also has the problem of bringing intensely hot flames right in the middle of his mouth, which isn’t a problem for normal high dragons, but… well, he’s flammable. Very flammable.

  Scaly Wings are the Last Skill, and they let the dragon fly. They cost stamina to use, but also require practice to use properly, which is why Garon didn’t bust them out during the Ogre fight. The Flight skill is a thing, and he’d rather practice that someplace where he won’t get him or his friends killed, thank you very much.

  Fortunately, all else aside, Garon is a practiced mercenary. Mercenaries are soldiers of fortune, literally. Many of their weirder abilities use fortune, except for the ones that use stamina. Do the Job gives him bonuses while on quests, while Fight The Battles is a small, cheap party buff. Take the Hits buffs his defenses for a short time, and Blood is Gold sacrifices fortune and coins to heal himself instantly. Forced March is another party buff that increases his group’s ground speed, Follow the Dotted line gives him a magical tracker that shows him how best to get to a goal, and Secure the Perimeter lets him determine the presence of living things within a certain radius, and their rough distance from him.

  Get Paid is a weird one, and the only one he hasn’t practiced much. It lets him curse someone who refuses to follow through on their end of a quest reward. It hits them right in the luck, and lasts until dispelled or payment is delivered. This is the only one he couldn’t practice on his brothers, for obvious reasons.

  Overall, Garon’s happy with his change, even if the bulk of his generic skills are no longer useful. He’s got great power and great potential, but he’s already planning out some possible class combos to shore up his weaknesses and allow him to focus his strengths. He’s not as much of a minmaxer as Madeline, but he has his moments, and having friends around to support and save is bringing out the serious side of him. He works best in a group, and though the siutation is weird, to say the least, he’s pretty happy with his new party.

  MADELINE’S CHARACTER SHEET

  Name: Madeline Age: 31

  Jobs: Toy Golem Level 4 Vampire Level 3 Fire Elementalist Level 5

  Attributes: Strength: 60 Constitution: 45 Hit Points: 135 Armor: 23 Intelligence: 44 Wisdom: 38 Sanity: 82(90) Mental Fortitude: 9 Dexterity: 35 Agility: 37 Stamina: 82 Endurance: 26 Charisma: 60 Willpower: 53 Moxie: 113 Cool: 29 Perception: 53 Luck: 35 Fortune: 88 Fate: 5

  Generic Skills Brawling - Level 50 Climb - Level 50 Dodge - Level 35

  Flight - Level 22 Ride - Level 4 Stealth - Level 50

  Toy Golem Skills Adorable - Level 1 Golem Body - Level 1 Magic Resistance -Level 1

  Vampire Skills Bloodsucker - Level 15 Command - Level 15 Darkspawn - NA Greater Undead - Level 15 Light Allergies - NA

  Fire Elementalist Skills Call Fire - Level 5 Destroy fire - Level 1 Endure Fire - Level 5 Fire Affinity - NA Least Fire Elemental - Level 2 Mana Focus - NA Manipulate Fire - Level 5 Shape Fire - Level 1

  Madeline is making the best of a bad situation. Fortunately, she doesn’t hold grudges, and why would she? Monsters never have happy endings, but for the minute, at least, she’s got a lot of new options to play with that she never even considered before.

  The problem she keeps running into is that it’s been a long time since she’s been this weak, and she lost a LOT of stats she’d gained from grinding with her new body. Toy Golems are weak overall, her vampire levels aren’t up there yet, and her fire elementalist career doesn’t play into her species strengths. It’s all sanity based, and… well, she’s not.

  On the plus side, a whole lot of her old weaknesses are out the window now. She’s pretty happy about that. Now if only she can find a way to feed that old familiar bloodthirst that keeps gnawing in her gut…

  Vampires have one weakness, in the Light Allergies skill. But since she has no flesh to burn in daylight, and only suffers a minor debuff otherwise, it’s no longer a big deal. On the downside, her Bloodsucker skill is only half as effective. Sure, it’ll actually deal a bit of extra damage, but she can’t drink the blood to heal. That’s a problem. Greater Undead, much like Golem Body, lets her ignore a few things and shrug off other effects. The two were never meant to be combined, at all, and it’s going to help her immensely, she reckons. Darkspawn is a familiar trait by now, no surprises there… Command is her ace in the hole. It lets her cloud a target’s mind temporarily, bending their will to hers-to a point. Now if only her will was greater…

  Fire Elementalists are fairly sturdy mage types. They’re animators by dint of being able to call up elementals. And by elementals, I mean one elemental of each type they can summon. That’s their limitation. Their key skill is Fire Affinity, which gives them 75% resistance to flames, and lets them breathe fire without boiling their lungs.

  Call Fire produces flame, Destroy Fire extinguishes it (The better the skill the more put out,) Manipulate fire lets her pull, push, and throw it around with limited telekinesis, Endure Fire is a buff that gives whoever it’s on minor resistance to fire… stacked with Fire Affinity it shields the elementalist completely. Others get benefits too, but not as much, obviously. Shape Fire lets her create walls and pictures with flames, and similar structures. Least Fire Elemental summons an Emberling, that mostly floats around and sprays fire at things.

  Mana Focus is a booster that we’ve seen before on Threadbare. It buffs the elementalist’s sanity pool by a percentage equal to their level.

  All in all, Madeline’s happy with what she’s got. But what she hasn’t realized yet is that being made out of wood, unlike her colleagues, has upsides and downsides. Her armor value is higher than her plushie pals, but she’s not as resistant to bashing type damage, being more brittle. If that ogre had hit her during the fight, that would have been that.

  Madeline is a min/maxer and natural munchkin, and is frustrated at not having the stats to back up all her awesome ideas. Still, she figures that if worst comes to worst she’ll just die, and so long as there’s a soulstone around she’ll get a second chance. And hey, maybe Threadbare will be good enough at the Golem thing to make her an even more uber body!

  She IS a little weirded out about being in a group that she’s not in charge of. It’s been a while since she wasn’t calling the shots. This is taking some adjustment.

  ZUULA’S CHARACTER SHEET

  Name: Zuula Age: 40

  Jobs: Toy Golem Level 4 Half-Orc Level 5 Shaman Level 5 Midwife Level 5

  Attributes: Strength: 72 Constitution: 73 Hit Points: 175 Armor: 31 Intelligence: 33 Wisdom: 54 Sanity: 87 Mental Fortitude: 5 Dexterity: 57 Agility: 70 Stamina: 137 Endurance: 35 Charisma: 41 Willpower: 38 Moxie: 79 Cool: 30 Perception: 50 Luck: 49 Fortune: 99 Fate: 5(10)

  Generic Skills Brawling - Level 31 Climb - Level 32 Clubs and Maces - Level 44 Dagger - Level 12 Dodge - Level 26

  Flight - Level 50 Ride - Level 16 Spears and Polearms - Level 38 Stealth - Level 20 Throwing - Level 14

  Toy Golem Skills Adorable - Level 1 Golem Body - Level 5 Magic Resistance -Level 1

  Half-Orc Skills Darkspawn - NA Human Flexibility - NA

  Shaman Skills Beastly Skill Borrow - Level 25 Call Vines - Level 25 Dreamquest - Level 25 Fated Preserver - NA Poison Resistance - Level 25 Secret Herbs and Spices - Level 25 Slow Regeneration - Level 25 Speak With Nature - Level 25

  Midwife Skills Birthing - Level 25 Check Infant - Level 25 Newborn’s Mercy - Level 25

  Zuula never planned for any of this. But it’s all temporary. Sooner or later her job will be done, and then it’s back to nature and the cycle.

  Zuula was a master shaman before her death, and brings that to the table with fierce focus. Which is ironic, considering that her human trait allows experience-penalty-free multiclassing, but then she’s been denying her human side for so long that she barely thinks about it anymore. In fact, “barely thinks” is a good summary, because she mostly runs on instinct until she comes up against something she can’t orc at, then tries to figure out a cunning and brutal way to get around it, relying on wisdom and dirty tricks as much as possible.

  Shamans are a weird class. Most of their stuff runs on sanity, but a lot of it is best used before the fight, and there’s a ton of utility stuff in there.