The Gembound: The Price of Keeping Chapter 95: Bonus Stats for Gayle and The Army Beasts

Read chapter 95 of The Gembound: The Price of Keeping by Taliorn on NovelPedia.

Bonus Stats for Gayle and The Army Beasts GAYLE — The Renewed Voice Tier 3 Enhanced. Bond: Threaded (Voluntary). Combat Medic and Battle-Singer. Elderly cleric whose temple emptied when gods went silent. Eighty years old, limping, wheezing, resolved. Volunteered at Aramore—surrendered two ancient healing draughts (stronger than modern standardized versions) and his temple's last songbook. Weather-soft pages holding every hymn he'd sung for decades. Marcus sent him north because Yara needed healing. Got youth instead. ATTRIBUTES: MIGHT 13 — Young strength returned, decades of weakness burned away GRACE 14 — Fluid movement, no longer stiff FORCE 15 — Strong magical output through healing and song WILL 16 — Eighty years of experience in twenty-year-old body HUNGER 10 — Standard Enhanced dependency, increases when healing extensively PRESENCE 15 — Commanding voice, inspiring authority Traits: Ancient Restoration : The two older potions were stronger than modern healing. Now that strength lives in him permanently. Can heal wounds that would require multiple modern clerics, set bones instantly, purge infections, restore blood loss. Not unlimited—but potent. Hands glow faint silver-white when healing. Hymn-Carved Bones : The songbook melted into ink, raced through veins as black lightning. Every hymn he ever sang burst against his sternum in white-blue flashes, carving runes of intention into bones. Now his songs carry supernatural weight—morale boosts that prevent panic, battle hymns that steady formations, dirges that unsettle enemies. Voice of Intention : The runes in his bones activate when he sings. Different hymns produce different effects: courage, endurance, fear, clarity. Not subtle—when Gayle sings in battle, everyone hears it, feels it, remembers it. Ink-Veined Sight : Faded to silver now, but visible under skin. Can see injuries through flesh—knows what's broken, what's bleeding, what needs immediate attention. Triage becomes instinct. Renewed Youth : Physically twenty with eighty years of decisions rattling around inside. Has all the appetites of youth but wisdom to temper them. Incredible stamina, doesn't tire easily, moves like someone who forgot what pain was. Unsettling to him—doesn't trust knees that don't hurt. Small Warm Presence : Something answered when transformation happened. Not his old god, but something. Lives in him "small as a candle, warm." He feels it when healing, when singing. Makes him reverent despite sarcasm. Physical Form: Physically twenty years old Straight-backed, bright-eyed Hair darkened during transformation Silver ink-veins faintly visible under skin Hands glow silver-white when healing Voice carries supernatural resonance when singing Old robes now hang differently on young frame Bears eighty years of sarcasm in young face Bond Notes: His temple emptied—everyone left, died, or became boring. Gods went silent. He kept the last songbook, kept the oldest healing potions, kept singing to empty halls. Marcus said Yara needed healing. Gayle said he was already useful but not useful enough. Brought both potions and the songbook as sacrifice. The Gem consumed them brutally—pages curled inward exhaling last sermons, ink bled upward in black threads, book spine snapped wet, words liquefied and climbed his arm. Potions hissed and glowed captured dawn. When Yara's hand touched his chest, years peeled off in sheets. Ribs bowed, cartilage reformed, spine arched, muscles twisted. Book-ink raced through veins as black lightning. Hymns burst white-blue against sternum, carved runes into bones. Age sloughed like molted bark. Emerged physically twenty with all his memories intact. "My god left. But something answered anyway." Uses: Primary combat medic for northern campaign. Heals battle wounds that would kill soldiers, sets bones mid-fight, purges infections, restores blood loss. Battle-singer who steadies formations through hymns—courage when panic spreads, endurance during forced marches, clarity in chaos