The Power of Ten

Chapter 1-21: Going Wide, Going Deep

“Pick Morphing, and give your Weapon her share,” I said calmly.

He was staring at the Shotgun in some astonishment, but he concentrated, and more Light seemed to thread its way around and through the Weapon. He blinked in astonishment.

“<What did that just do?>” he asked.

“Morphing allows a magical Weapon to take the form of a Weapon of similar type, and the same or smaller size.”

He looked at me, then back at Lady Florentine, and concentrated.

Steel and wood flowed like water. Several shotgun shells ejected into his hand, and he caught them automatically, as suddenly he was holding an equally finely crafted.45 semi-automatic pistol.

“Wow. That... is really convenient.” Helix looked at his Staff. “Can I-?”

“It’s a fighting thing, not a wizard thing. Warriors have to trust in their weapons, where we trust in our spells. It could be done on your Staff, but you’d have to gain some Levels in a Melee combat Class, and use your Staff to beat on things.”

“You mean, like a Staff Magus?” he asked brightly.

That was a new one to me. “I confess to not being familiar with that description?”

“They are warrior-mages, who like to channel spells through their weapons, and fight in close.” He kind of shuddered at the thought.

“What’s the Primary Stat?” I had to ask.

“Uh... Intelligence...” he replied after a moment. I lifted an eyebrow at him. He rocked an 8 in that. “There’s supposed to be an order based on Charisma, like Sorcerers!” he added brightly.

“Do you have anything here you can engage in melee combat with?” I inquired.

His mouth opened, closed, and he stared at the incorporeal undead, who had basically stopped moving and were staring at the coming sun, faces warping in fear, horror, resignation, and maybe longing. “I’d have to go fight them close up?...”

“Maybe something to pursue after you get a Level or two back.” I reached out to pat him on the shoulder. “Remember, let it go.”

He swallowed, nodded, and faced the sun, as did just about everyone still on the wall.

Sir Pellier nudged me, I put my thumb to my ear again. “<What’s that about, Miss?>” he asked quietly.

“Someone gave him fucking bad advice that was going to trap him as a Four for fifteen years,” I answered quietly, and the Paladin’s eyes narrowed. That was literally screwing with someone’s future. “We lured a wraith in earlier tonight, and it cut away the Level he gained. He’s going to let it go instead of forcing the energy out, so he can make a new choice on what to do, and where to go.”

The Paladin was impressed. “”

“He’s got enough Karma to get it all back, but he’s finding that there’s a whole lot of other things he could be doing to shore himself up... and buying them while he’s a Three is a lot cheaper than doing so as a Four.”

“Huh.” The Paladin looked at his Shotgun. “<How does this work with my Lady?>” he asked.

“Every day that you fight with her, you can give her a share of the Karma. If you’re familiar with enchanting, it’s the exact same amount of power a Mage could Infuse into Her.” He blinked in shock. “But, you have to know what you’re trying to do and grow, and you have to do it within a day of earning the Karma. So, you declare what you are trying to do, and you work towards it, day by day. If you suddenly change your mind, you lose all the Karma... so don’t change your mind.”

He nodded slowly. “<Any advice?>” he asked.

“Zen Weapon.” He furrowed his brow. “+3 to hit in the hands of a Zen Gunner.”

“Ah.” That he got, nodding.

“Alternatively, go for versatility with Martial Weapon. It combines with Morphing... all the Feats and skills you have with a Shotgun, Rifle, or Pistol will carry over to any form you choose to use her in, rifle, pistol, or shotgun, and you’ll get a bonus out of it. Probably the better choice, if you want to really build up your gunmanship.”

His brown eyes flickered. “Yes, that does sound better...”

“If you want to help me lay more of these spirits to permanent rest, draw some extra ammunition this coming night.” My voice dropped lower. “And I shouldn’t have to tell you not to mention anything about perma-death, or that is going to stir up all kinds of very unwelcome attention from many, many quarters...”

He nodded slowly, and then there was a swelling rush as the light swept across us. I turned back to look as the countless numbers of spirits, not even bothering to hide in the shadow of the wall, moaned and groaned as one, and the sun burned them away like leaves in an inferno, scattering them momentarily across the sky.

Down on the ground, it looked like a firestorm had gone off, as millions of undead burned away and blew apart, scattering in burning motes of light before the dim rays of the morning, and the sun nobody could actually see. Hundreds of acres of waiting undead, who couldn’t pass this Wall, or do anything but moan at the defenders as they burned away...

There were relieved shouts on the Wall and down below, and a Heartsinger somewhere began to blow the Salute to Aru, carrying a very long distance along the Wall as he did so.

I considered all those acres and acres of undead, and how I would be able to burn them down, soon enough...

I wasn’t in a hurry, but I was. There was a little baby out there in the hands of Sinbound, and technically I was now his mother. I was going to get that kid back, and the Sinbound were going to pay.

I had a massive Karmic feast laid out in front of me. There was no way I wasn’t going to indulge, I simply had to get to the Level I could do so...

I flicked up my dual Darts, stared at them, then let them lapse. Nice, useful, but in the end, a stopgap measure. They would have to work until I got to the place I needed to go...

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The nightwatch cycled down, the inspection crews cycled up, and I had to figure out what to do with myself for the next twelve hours.

In optimal circumstances, I would now go off and Craft me some Gear, getting myself started on forming a decent wizard’s kit of enchanted Stuff that would help me out and save me a lot of Valences in the long run.

Unfortunately, I had neither the crafted items to Infuse, nor the Feats to do so, at the moment. The amount of gold I had wasn’t much, either.

As Helix was joining the crowd to head down, I followed him and asked, “Helix, I’m in need of a proper Staff, sturdy enough to be enchanted eventually, and used as a Weapon. I have some money, although not an excessive amount. Could you be of help here?”

Helix was still looking a little pale. The sunlight had come in, wiped out the negative energy, and a chunk of his soul in so doing. He hadn’t ‘lost’ his Human/2, but without being a Four, it was effectively inert and non-active. It would be a time before he regained it... but that was a Good thing, as it meant he could really start growing in ways he’d never thought about before.

He talked over his shoulder as he carefully made his way down the stairs to the ground. Not long ago, he probably would have just jumped off the side of the Wall, so he was getting curious looks right now as he went down on foot.

“I have to go Meditate and get my Valences back,” he said, and given his focus on himself, that was going to happen unless I really wheedled. Since I could do the same, I didn’t much care. “We could drive into town at Riverhead; they have some places that sell magic aids.”

Well, I suppose I needed to branch out from a military camp. It was a step up from undead-infested ruined cities...

“Do you need to go home and check up on stuff? Call anyone?” he managed to ask.

I had some interesting thoughts about that. I really didn’t want to insert myself into this girl’s life, and Baltimore wasn’t exactly nearby. I hoped she didn’t have a cat that was starving to death or something...

“Credit card,” I replied, as if that explained everything. Given his personality type...

He grinned despite himself. “Ah, the wonders of a good credit limit! I understand perfectly.”

“Take your Soak point.”

“Oh! Oh, right.” I sighed to myself as he answered. “Put three Skill Points into Spellcraft and Arcane Lore each. For your Mastery, take Extra Sorcerer Spell Known/1, Detect I.” He had naturally taken his Bard/2 Level as soon as Renewal came up. “For your Flexible Performer Skill, pick Dance. It qualifies as Acrobatics... and Flight.”

He stiffened in surprise and delight, stopping to look back at me. I raised an eyebrow as he burst into gleeful laughter. He was going to get all his Flight Ranks back... for nothing! And be a better dancer out of it!

“What about tomorrow?” he pressed, clearly going to be obsessing over all the stuff he might be able to do.

“Take Minstrel/1. Take your Soak Point, take three each Ranks in Natural Lore and Diplomacy. Take Ghost-Scarred for your natural Feat, and Banespell for your Purchased Feat. For your Mastery, take Extra Sorcerer Slot/1.”

“Yeah...” he agreed thoughtfully. “Uh, what’s Ghost-Scarred do?”

“Lets you hit incorps better, resist the effects of undead magic and stuff. You only qualify to take it if you’ve been hit by an incorporeal undead.”

“Oh, good for killing them faster!” he agreed eagerly...

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Nobody bothered me as I returned to the mostly empty medical tent. The soldiers there yesterday had all been discharged back to their own tents, so it was empty, except for the nurses on duty. Father Bower had probably retired to Meditate after staying up all night just in case.

No reason for me not to do the same.

Since I had the spare Valences unused, I inquired of the nurse there if she had containers for holy water available for donation. She was happy to get a couple for me, and I Created the water with a Cantrip, then charged up both of them, using my Ring Bond to regain the spell.

This being a One was so irritating. The III version of the spell let you create one vial per Caster Level...