The Power of Ten

Chapter 5-126 - Implementing Plans

“Briggs is up next, and when we get done with him, we also invite The Mick, if he’s available.” I’d be a Five, and be able to lay out the Blood Wizard specialization school advancement for him by then. Even with his ruinous Karmic requirements, there was no doubt that things would be happening.

YOU’RE AWARE THAT SAMA RANTHA SHOWED UP AT THE FIRST LIGHT OF DAWN, RIGHT?, he asked me, proceeding to dial.

“I would be extremely surprised if she hadn’t. I’m also assuming The Mick has told her about my moves into lesser gemstones, and she’s quietly brought a lot of people she knows into buying up supplies or suppliers of them in different directions to take advantage of the coming boom.” She was reputed to be on good terms with some powerful dwarven clans here and there, and the Church of Tiirith loved her. Those people had money and influence, and were fully capable of moving together without intending to stab one another in the back.

I didn’t mind. Making conjoined gemstones wasn’t THAT easy, and the possible glut of coming Nines wasn’t going to be lacking for things to do in other areas.

And in any case, first movers had the advantage.

Literally, this had to happen. Nines could Raise the Dead. Doing so required a Life Diamond worth a colossal ten goldweight, 5000 gp! There were probably less than ten existing diamonds on the whole planet that would qualify for that level of value once Energized, and their owners wouldn’t want them burned up on anyone but themselves, as an insurance policy.

Agglomerating lesser stones and blending them into one another was going to be the only way to create enough high-value diamonds to make the spell even usable. Of course, once people found out what it could do, demand for the stones would shoot through the roof... what was a couple million dollars to return someone from the dead? There was literally nobody on the planet who could do so at this time... unless you counted making them undead, which nobody did.

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Briggs sounded preoccupied with something, which I didn’t doubt at all, but was also very enthusiastic about the idea of a Karmic Rampage, and Yellowstone was a nice secluded area to get the ball rolling on this.

The Mick told me he’d be able to get me a truckload of stones to work on in a week or two, just give him the word. I’d be making a bunch of the stones before I took off for Yellowstone, so that was fine.

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Today’s language would be Ancient Sumerian.

I brought up all the online resources the Hall could arrange for me... or rather, Fred did, as usual, and I began to peruse them.

With the rise of my Intelligence past 25, and knowing ten languages already, I’d qualified for Polyglot.

You can learn any language you are exposed to for an hour.josei

That included spoken, visual, and written forms, among other things. I’d already learned Braille, four different forms of sign language, and despite some rather weird interactions with my technophagery, twelve different computer languages, including base machine code.

That still didn’t let me take Computer Programming skills, but I could read code like I could read a book. Among other things, it allowed my Disable Device skills to now include Software; I could wreck computer programs pretty easily if I could see the code!

Rapidly becoming absolutely fluent in all the native languages of Earth wasn’t that much of a stretch, as Aelryinth had done the same thing, digging up all the old languages he could from their survivors and making records of them. Languages were essentially ways of thinking and modes of thought, and could be immensely helpful in certain ways. A language that had no words for ‘left and right’ from the person, only absolute north and the other directions, for instance, was a fine way to cultivate an incredible internal compass and mapping ability. Group-centered languages had very different modes of thought than individual-centered ones...

And, of course, it meant that even if a twat started speaking his original tongue in front of me, rather than the Human language that was devouring the world, I could understand what he was saying. There was still plenty of literature and writing out there in original languages, and I preferred to read such things in their original tongues, especially the most famous stories, tales, and songs of any specific language or group of people.

Naturally, that meant my Lore of Song, History, and the like Skills were all being swept up into this international rampage of learning. Using Bibliophile to read very, very quickly was a thing, too...

There would be people stopping to watch me read a book hovering in front of me, while I was Writing something underneath it, just copy/pasting from my Visual File as I did so. Two thoughtstreams, mmm-mmm. Productivity increasing!

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I think I gave Solicitor-Prime Theodore Bernstein a twitch in his eye when I walked through the Order of the Testamant’s legal library, touching all the books with Bibliophile active, and promptly asked to take the bar exam. The Law/Death Harsite Order held its most capable and nit-picky lawyers, especially for dealing with business issues, money, and inheritances, and made for amazing tax lawyers, among other things.

He administered the bar exam for the Church of Harse, and I passed with a perfect score, much to his amazement, dismay, and chagrin. I didn’t have any special investment in it, above and beyond the six Ranks I put into it, but the brief I wrote about interactions with secular and church law, and relationships between the Divine and mortal hierarchies, had their lawyers and theologians scrambling for a look at it. It set off a quiet firestorm behind the scenes, raging about exactly how involved the Divine were going to be in mortal affairs, and showing a level of profound thought and awareness of the capabilities and thinking of Divine powers that had many of them shaking as they had to suddenly understand their place and role in the shape of the greater cosmos that they just couldn’t see at this time.

The Angelos read it, and called it ‘remarkably apt’, which set off some more waves...

The Harsites weren’t always the most intellectually gifted of lawyers, or the most eloquent at arguing points, but being Clerics, they naturally had a deeper understanding of the purposes and goals of the law, and their exams for practicing law were at least as stringent as those of any of the State Bar Exams. Denying the Harsites the right to talk about Law was totally stupid, as any with the Law Domain got a free Rank of it with every Level... and it updated depending on the legal system they were in!

The lawsuits that they had threatened at what was basically a monopolistic private corporation had been impressive, and the Bar Association’s formerly lax policing of its own, and revocation of licenses for improper practice of law, had dramatically risen under incredible pressure from the Harsites, and their complete willingness to expose corrupt lawyers abusing their licenses as a holy duty.

Of course, registering my new Esquire appellation meant my bar exam briefs and results were opened to other curious parties wondering what else I was good at, and that set off more waves...

I made sure to note where the hysteria about rights of sentients and views of the gods on racism and the like actually came from, as did the Church of Tiirith...

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Clavus and Einz were fat and happy with power.

Clavus had finished eight hours of Infusing, which completed his Enmity to Evil. +2/+2 against Evil satisfied the default of who I wanted to use magic against. Of course, just like I’d told Sir Pellier, such things could be adjusted, depending on the foe. One use of Greater Magic Weapon, and Enmity to Evil could instead be to Law, Chaos, Mortals, the Unnatural, the Supernatural, or many other variations.

It might not be as convenient as a Primos with Arsenal, but Powered had flexibility, too.

My Stave was now working on his fifth Slot, which would be Blooding. It meant the raw Weapon damage of the Shards I sent out couldn’t be healed by unnatural means, exactly like putting Blooding on a gun or bow. Sure, all the extra damage could be mended, magic healing what magic inflicted, but it meant that I could grind down anything, given time, regardless of how fast it could heal, as the pool of Health and Soak and whatnot was forced down, down, down...

I had been Boneshaping him to the best of my ability, but my bonus was only +26, so a 36 was as high as I could take him. Still, that was eight Slots, and after some refinement as I leveled, I should be able to get him to 40, at which time I could make him Indestructible or something similar.

His Cap was noquar... and weren’t all the alchemists and artificers in a tizzy when I revealed that I knew what the pale green metal from Energized meteors actually was, could do, and how to refine it for various uses.

The use I wanted was the Capping. Certain substances, if you capped a Wand or Stave with them, added a small bonus to the spells used through them. For instance, an Energized Ruby would add +1d6 to the damage of fire spells used with it in hand, as long as the ruby was Energized up to equal the Valence.

That was also my intention, but not yet.

Noquar’s ability was adding +1d6 to the damage of Force spells focused through the instrument it was Capping, as long as it was Energized to the right Level, yada yada. More damage on the buff stack for me...

And, ah, yes, Wand Holders.

Clever people had been trying to put Wands inside Weapons for a long time, and eventually figured out the method, so they could Compress a Wand of Curing Light Wounds inside a sword, or maybe Energy Grasp instead, allowing them to use the Wand without having to drop their weapon. That was a Wand Chamber, and I’d actually molded one into Clavus, stuffing it with extra Wands of Shards, cheap and easy to make.

Implements came in four varieties, although generally only three were used. There were Staffs, Wands, Orbs, and Tomes. All did slightly different things.

Staffs were also Staves, and so Weapons. Their enhancement bonus applied strictly to hit and damage effects, adding raw brute force and power into the spell. If your spell didn’t do either of those, a Staff had no real effect.

Wands were subtler, focusing instruments. The bonus of a Wand applied to it punching Spell Resistance, and increasing the Save required against the spell (i.e Spell Potency). If you weren’t casting a damaging spell, and instead, say, Slow or Charm Person, they were the thing to have in hand.

Orbs gathered energy in smoothly from an area, and sent it streaming out just as smoothly. The enhancement bonus applied to spells that grew over an area with Caster Level, or to the range of the spells, adding the bonus to the effective Caster Level. So, someone using an Orb sent spells further and over a broader area.

A Tome aided mental strength and foundational power. Its bonus applied to any Concentration checks needed to cast the spell, to the spell’s Girding against being Dispelled, and most importantly, to the duration of the spell. A Tome was thus the ideal tool to use when Buffing up, or laying down long-lasting Wards, Barriers, Walls, or similar things.

There were variations on all these themes, but things like Scrolls, ever-blooming flowers, runestones, gemstones, Wizard Weapons, vials of sacred waters, prisms, and similar things all fell into one of the four categories. Different aesthetics, similar effects.

Naturally, you could combine all four effects. Wand Chamber a Wand into a Staff, top the Staff with an Orb, and hold a Tome in your other hand. Bingo, all four effects at once, while you’re screaming the fact to everyone that you’re a spellcaster with a LOT of bling.

Still, every Caster wanted a full set of Implements, just like weapon experts wanted their own sweet toys...

On the down side of things, who was going to Enhance up a Wand they were going to take into combat, where it was likely to be broken, or when it expended its last charge, it would crumble away?

Enter the Wand Holder, or Holding Wand, basically just a Baton you Enchanted and stuck a Wand into; a charged Wand within an uncharged, Enchanted Wand, such as it was. You could club people over the head with it, block a sword, use and abuse it, and when the Wand inside ran out, just swap it for another!