What's a wizard to do when a Knight of the Coin stabs her to death to get back at her father for thwarting one too many of his schemes? Well, if you ask Molly Carpenter, it's probably something along the lines of "get dragged back in time by a force of phenomenal cosmic power to make things better", not that she signed up for this.
Glorious Interdiction
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So, uh, you know how I said I wasn't gonna write any more CF fics?
I wasn't lying but I was wrong. Whoops?
I didn't quite expect this to be a Peggy Sue when I had the idea originally, but hey, it works, and I get to experiment with writing someone with a metaknowledge roadmap, kinda, in a way I haven't really done since I finished AHF in 2021.
No angelic choirs, no stench of brimstone, prophecies had not been issued regarding the changing of the world and even the most attuned of supernal creatures had no warning.
No, one minute, fourteen-year-old Molly Carpenter was asleep in her bed, and then, she was sitting bolt upright, half-formed motes of dazzling light playing around her fingers, ready to lance out in the kind of lasers that Saturday morning cartoons tossed around like candy, as well over three decades worth of memories flooded her mind.
Klaus Schneider, the most renowned enchanter known to the White Council, had spend a decade and a half expanding on what skill at carpentry her father had imbued her with and accompanying it with every other form of craft from tinsmithing to clockwork to origami, and though she hadn't been able to live with her family nearly as much as she'd wished, she took heart in being able to craft more and more advanced foci and talismans to bring them warmth and succor in her absence. Father Forthill, too, got his fair share for recommending the Toymaker as her teacher, the two having met while coordinating Vatican aid for victims of vampire attacks back in the 1980s.
Two more decades in one war after another honed her crafting skills even further, with Anastasia Luccio considering her as a replacement armorer and swordsmith for the Wardens had she another fifty years to practice, but-
Well, it made a certain amount of sense that Nicodemus Archleone had been the one to take her life. After all, over the decades, Michael Carpenter had laid many of the Knights of the Coin to rest, including the man's own daughter, so Nicodemus' vengeful spirit would naturally turn to his own children, those that remained, at least. Stealing into her workshop in the dead of night, he hadn't managed to catch her unawares, forced to fight his way through an array of mystical traps and clockwork defenders, but in the end he did provoke out her death curse, condemning the man to "never be enough" so long as he bore Anduriel, turning a fraction of the Fallen Angel's loyal power against his wielder and planting the seed of his undoing at the hands of Carlos Ramirez some two months hence.
And then she woke up, shooting upright in a too-small body with raw, teeth-grindingly intense power crackling through her veins.
More than just her magic, even- for a moment, she almost thought she saw the silhouette of a winged man on her bedroom wall, and as something within her soul opened up into a grand workshop filled with empty pedestals, she felt the blaze of Creation's power in a way she never could have imagined before.
Two pedestals filled themselves- one with a facsimile of the wand she'd carved herself as a primary focus, under the Toymaker's guidance, and one adjacent to it did not so much fill as begin glowing with silvery-white light, the kind that she'd always associated with the Swords. If someone were to look at it for long enough, they could maybe see something more solid in the heart of the not-quite-fire, a glimpse of a wing or a ring perhaps, but they couldn't be sure.
Of course, seeing as how the workshop existed solely within her soul, it was incredibly unlikely for anyone aside from Molly to be able to look at it at all, let alone come close enough to find a shape buried in the flames, but for the sake of description it is worth at least mentioning.
Unfortunately, the impact of thirty years worth of memories being crammed into an adolescent's head is nothing to sneeze at, even for one with a wizardly constitution. With how the memories accompany a reshaping of the mystical energies within her, as well as her very soul, it is not entirely unexpected that it rings her like a bell, sending her collapsing bonelessly back onto her pillow as the past collides with the future.
As it stood, I was too busy nursing a headache to offer anything other than the kind of noise that had more u's and h's than your average dictionary, and then a yelp when the alarm on my bedside table going off drove icepicks through my temples.
Eventually, the pain receded, and I grounded myself in the here and now enough to actually feel time pass instead of the sensation of someone trying to dig their way out of my skull with spoons.
After that, I took the risk of cracking my eyes, and when the dim light on my bedroom ceiling didn't send me into more paroxysms of agony, I dragged myself upright, rubbing the crust away from the corners of my eyes with fingers that wanted nothing more than to drag the covers back up to my chin.
My alarm clock let out another ring, and I mustered up the will to send the specific design of magic that I'd crafted as a key to shut down the noisy enchantments. When the alarm failed to quiet itself, I sent out a second, and then a third iteration of that particular cantrip, none of which had any more success.
To borrow a line, something's not right- I could feel it.
Before reaching out with my senses, I reached into my own head, feeling the headache rise up for a moment before the habitual healing spell I tended to throw at any head I get invited into crushed it.
My memories aren't quite photographic, but if you spend enough time making tweaks in your own head, you can get pretty close, to the point where with a little magic I can more or less pull off the Pensive bullshit in Harry Potter, at least in my own mind. Pulling up the most recent memories I have was a little bit harder than I remember, but nothing that wasn't doable, and I projected them in the mental screen I-
You Will Fail.
I flinched back, both from the glow of the pedestals in my soul as well as the memory of pronouncing my death curse upon Nicodemus, watching him sneer down at me as my lifeblood spilled all over my bed.
Wait. Pedestals in my soul? My own death curse???
Okay, so, inventory of myself, got it. My magic was a-okay, just as sensitive to my will as it ever had been, and with the headache gone I was feeling totally fine.
Better than fine, actually- all of the aches and pains I'd been cycling through from so much woodworking were completely gone, and the stubborn stiffness in my knee after I'd had a Fomor servitor shatter the bone a year or two before Ethniu had made her move felt almost as if it had never existed.
There was a big ol' room in my soul, too, full of who knew how many pedestals of all sizes, mostly empty. One, with a wooden box sitting right next to its base, had a wand- an identical copy of the one I'd carved back when Klaus had still been teaching me, all black except for two white tips, and right next to it was a blaze of flame that felt… comforting, almost. Like looking into a mirror and being proud of how you look.
I knew, somehow, that the wand was emblematic of my magic, my status as a fully grown, card-carrying Wizard of the White Council, and that the flame was Soulfire- the power that the Archangels wielded, the one that their Father'd used to create the world from nothing in seven days.
The fuck.
I sighed, then shoved my hand through my hair, breathing in and then breathing out, visualizing frustration and confusion exiting my body with every exhale until I could actually think worth a damn.
Wait, wait, wait. My hair feels too short.
I shot upright, casting around for my mirror, before recognizing the room that I was in.
Somehow, I'd ended up back in my childhood bedroom, complete with- I stumbled over to the dresser and the mirror mounted over it, and confirmed that yes, unless I was hallucinating, I was also an early teenager again- something in the neighborhood of fourteen, maybe.
I ran my fingers through my hair again, the pageboy haircut that I had vague memories of fighting with Mom over for a couple of months before she started really harping on me for not giving up my magic, and just… sat there. Somehow, I'd ended up thirty years back in time, or with thirty years of future memories, and I couldn't tell which felt more likely.
Then, a worse thought occurred to me, and I tested my will more than I'd prefer by keeping from cursing loud enough to wake all the Jawas.
By being back in time, I'd broken the Sixth Law of Magic, and even if it hadn't been me who did it… well, if I had my timeline right, we were pretty early on in the war with the Red Court, and I didn't think I could talk Morgan or Luccio into hearing me out, and I couldn't be sure that Carlos had made Regional Commander yet so there was no reason for him to stick his neck out for me.
Harry would, of course, but he had more of a martyr complex than Dad ever had and would have done just about anything for my father even if it was a dumb idea. Trying to get himself appointed as parole officer for me wouldn't go over well, and might actually get Morgan to snap and put him down if he even had the capacity- I wasn't sure if non-Wardens were even allowed to take on Warlocks like that, and I didn't remember when exactly he'd earned the Gray Cloak.
"Great," I said, "so I'm alone thirty years in the past with just about no resources and de facto on my own. I guess I just have to hope that I don't somehow catch attention from the Reds or-" my voice broke, here- "-or the Denarians before I can actually put together some real fucking tools."
A stopgap focus wasn't particularly hard to get my hands on. I'd gotten a magic kit a couple of years ago, probably out of some desire to impress Harry back before I'd gotten over my crush on him, and even if it wasn't the custom-carved focus that I'd made after Klaus and I had figured out what would best work with my own specialties, it looked close enough that I could make it work until I could sneak into Dad's workshop and make something more purpose built.
"Well," I said, feeding a hint of will into the wand, just enough to see it glowing with a gentle blue-white light, "not like Harry hasn't survived worse."
Letting the light fade out, I leaned down to check my alarm clock, moving a rectangular, foot-tall wooden box off of my bedside table, where it was blocking the round shape of the clock to the floor before clicking on the backlight to better pick the date out on the display, and-
Wait. What the fuck? I was pretty sure I'd thrown enough magic at the thing to burn it out half a dozen times over, what with it being a digital model, but it was still working just fine despite the techbane…
Hmmm. Maybe it was related to how I came back in time?
Well, either way, it was a Saturday, so I can actually maybe get a jump start on actually putting together a proper focus, one way or another, after breakfast.
"Good, Molly," said Mom, once I'd made my way downstairs, wand tucked in my waistband and hidden under the Star Wars graphic tee and baggy hoodie I'd thrown on with some sweats. "I was just about to send Daniel up to wake you up. Once you're done with breakfast, I need you to help air out the guest room for Shiro and Sanya."
"Will do," I said, sitting down heavily at the table. I hadn't had one of Mom's breakfasts in… I wasn't sure how long it had been, actually, but it had sure as shit been a long time, even before she'd been caught up in the Fomor attack on Chicago.
My enjoyment of breakfast was abruptly interrupted as the pedestals in the workshop flared with light, like they had earlier. This time, though, one of them shimmered for a moment longer before a wooden sword, sized for maybe Amanda's hand, materialized. With it came an understanding of swordplay which…
Okay, so, I've seen Shiro fight with a sword, both training with my dad and in earnest, and he's the best fighter that I can imagine even after seeing some of the older Wardens who have been practicing with their swords for longer than Shiro's been alive. Somehow, whatever this is just plopped the knowledge of how to use a sword into my head, to the point where if I thought my muscles could keep up long enough, I could give him a real run for his money, all else being equal.
If this was mortal magic, that would have been a fairly cut and dried violation of the Third Law, but it… it didn't feel like mortal magic, and as someone who's experimented with psychomancy on themselves, I'd know.
So… if it was at all related to why I'm back here, it might not actually have been a violation of the Sixth Law, not that the Wardens would be willing to cut me any slack at this point given half of what I've heard about the old guard. Great.
Right, no time for wallowing now, Molly. We've got shit to do, and, God willing, Shiro might just get to walk away today.
Perks Earned:
Wizard (Dresden Files, 200CP): You're a full-fledged member of the White Council, with all the rights, privileges, and obligations that entails. A lot of times that's more hassle than it's worth, especially with a war on, but there's a lot of resources you can call on when you need to, as long as you're prepared to repay the favor when need be. What this background really gets you is the full training a wizarding background offers, which has left you able to call on the entire array of everything magic is capable of. And, with enough time and preparation, there's very little which doesn't fit within that category. One quick word of warning before taking this background. Once you go Practitioner, you're bound by the Laws of Magic. There's only seven of them, set out by the White Council to prevent the worst corruptions magic poses, and they're there for a good reason. Violating one of the laws isn't just an awful thing to do, it's true black magic - the kind that stains your soul, permanently changing you into the sort of person who does break that law. It's addictive, and the more you break the law the easier it'll be, until you wind up in "When all you have is a hammer" scenario. Because of that, there's generally only one sentence for violation: death by decapitation.
Now, these rules only apply to mortal practitioners, which means if you're something else you don't really have to worry about it. Of course, that cuts both ways; technically, none of the laws (except Law Seven) apply to anything which isn't human. Burn one of the Black Court to ash with a fireball, raise a zombie T-Rex, and you're still on the right side of the laws, although the Warden who investigates might disagree.
They also only apply to magic as the White Council knows it, which means anything you drag in from elsewhere technically isn't a violation of the first six laws, and won't stain your soul the same way. Of course, they're not going to know the difference, and if they did, it's a violation of the Seventh, so don't go arguing about it.
Soul Source (Dresden Files, 600CP): Somehow, you've gained the power of Soulfire; the ability to use the energies of your soul to enhance your magic. By infusing a spell with notjust your will, but all your being, it'll be infused with a sort of "mystic rebar," granting it a lot of strength and giving it significantly more structure. Since your self is part of the spell now, it also functions more along the lines of your intentions, rather than just providing you with a raw boost. Of course, this comes at a cost: you're literally burning away part of your soul for power. Souls do heal up, especially when engaged in "soul-affirming" activities, but overuse might be worse than fatal.
Best Ale in Chicago (Dresden Files, Free): For the connoisseur in all of us, this is a six-pack of McAnally's Ale, a microbrewed miracle known to make even people who can't stand beer stop, take note, and go "Ah" with perfect understanding. The day after you drink one, the empty bottle will be gone, and a new one will be in its place, unopened and waiting for you. You can also trade this in for a single bottle from Mac's private stash, but you might want to be careful with this one, since it's the sort of thing that can ruin a man for other beers. Yeah, you'll also get a replacement every day. Try not to brag too hard.
Discipline (Fire Emblem: Awakening, 100CP): To be a knight requires more than just knowing how to swing a sword, but honestly that's probably the simplest and arguably most useful thing they know. As a result, you have a single weapon of your choice - Sword, lance, axe, or bow, to which you possess a superb level of mastery over. On top of that, your experience with your weapon allows you to use some of the heroic weapons, the ones that have magic inherent to them, or have a unique trick to how they are meant to be used, preventing oddities in a new weapon from severely impacting your fighting style. (Weapon chosen: sword)
Don't worry, I have no intention of having Molly take up one of the Swords.
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That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
I wasn't lying but I was wrong. Whoops?
I didn't quite expect this to be a Peggy Sue when I had the idea originally, but hey, it works, and I get to experiment with writing someone with a metaknowledge roadmap, kinda, in a way I haven't really done since I finished AHF in 2021.
-----
Sometimes the only way out is to flip the board and start over.-----
Beta'd by Sesparra-----
There were no indications (or at least none in the historical record) that the day that Molly Carpenter grew into her magic was going to be particularly auspicious (or inauspicious).No angelic choirs, no stench of brimstone, prophecies had not been issued regarding the changing of the world and even the most attuned of supernal creatures had no warning.
No, one minute, fourteen-year-old Molly Carpenter was asleep in her bed, and then, she was sitting bolt upright, half-formed motes of dazzling light playing around her fingers, ready to lance out in the kind of lasers that Saturday morning cartoons tossed around like candy, as well over three decades worth of memories flooded her mind.
Klaus Schneider, the most renowned enchanter known to the White Council, had spend a decade and a half expanding on what skill at carpentry her father had imbued her with and accompanying it with every other form of craft from tinsmithing to clockwork to origami, and though she hadn't been able to live with her family nearly as much as she'd wished, she took heart in being able to craft more and more advanced foci and talismans to bring them warmth and succor in her absence. Father Forthill, too, got his fair share for recommending the Toymaker as her teacher, the two having met while coordinating Vatican aid for victims of vampire attacks back in the 1980s.
Two more decades in one war after another honed her crafting skills even further, with Anastasia Luccio considering her as a replacement armorer and swordsmith for the Wardens had she another fifty years to practice, but-
Well, it made a certain amount of sense that Nicodemus Archleone had been the one to take her life. After all, over the decades, Michael Carpenter had laid many of the Knights of the Coin to rest, including the man's own daughter, so Nicodemus' vengeful spirit would naturally turn to his own children, those that remained, at least. Stealing into her workshop in the dead of night, he hadn't managed to catch her unawares, forced to fight his way through an array of mystical traps and clockwork defenders, but in the end he did provoke out her death curse, condemning the man to "never be enough" so long as he bore Anduriel, turning a fraction of the Fallen Angel's loyal power against his wielder and planting the seed of his undoing at the hands of Carlos Ramirez some two months hence.
And then she woke up, shooting upright in a too-small body with raw, teeth-grindingly intense power crackling through her veins.
More than just her magic, even- for a moment, she almost thought she saw the silhouette of a winged man on her bedroom wall, and as something within her soul opened up into a grand workshop filled with empty pedestals, she felt the blaze of Creation's power in a way she never could have imagined before.
Two pedestals filled themselves- one with a facsimile of the wand she'd carved herself as a primary focus, under the Toymaker's guidance, and one adjacent to it did not so much fill as begin glowing with silvery-white light, the kind that she'd always associated with the Swords. If someone were to look at it for long enough, they could maybe see something more solid in the heart of the not-quite-fire, a glimpse of a wing or a ring perhaps, but they couldn't be sure.
Of course, seeing as how the workshop existed solely within her soul, it was incredibly unlikely for anyone aside from Molly to be able to look at it at all, let alone come close enough to find a shape buried in the flames, but for the sake of description it is worth at least mentioning.
Unfortunately, the impact of thirty years worth of memories being crammed into an adolescent's head is nothing to sneeze at, even for one with a wizardly constitution. With how the memories accompany a reshaping of the mystical energies within her, as well as her very soul, it is not entirely unexpected that it rings her like a bell, sending her collapsing bonelessly back onto her pillow as the past collides with the future.
-----
If I wasn't in so much pain, I would have made some crack about someone running the plates on the bus that hit me.As it stood, I was too busy nursing a headache to offer anything other than the kind of noise that had more u's and h's than your average dictionary, and then a yelp when the alarm on my bedside table going off drove icepicks through my temples.
Eventually, the pain receded, and I grounded myself in the here and now enough to actually feel time pass instead of the sensation of someone trying to dig their way out of my skull with spoons.
After that, I took the risk of cracking my eyes, and when the dim light on my bedroom ceiling didn't send me into more paroxysms of agony, I dragged myself upright, rubbing the crust away from the corners of my eyes with fingers that wanted nothing more than to drag the covers back up to my chin.
My alarm clock let out another ring, and I mustered up the will to send the specific design of magic that I'd crafted as a key to shut down the noisy enchantments. When the alarm failed to quiet itself, I sent out a second, and then a third iteration of that particular cantrip, none of which had any more success.
To borrow a line, something's not right- I could feel it.
Before reaching out with my senses, I reached into my own head, feeling the headache rise up for a moment before the habitual healing spell I tended to throw at any head I get invited into crushed it.
My memories aren't quite photographic, but if you spend enough time making tweaks in your own head, you can get pretty close, to the point where with a little magic I can more or less pull off the Pensive bullshit in Harry Potter, at least in my own mind. Pulling up the most recent memories I have was a little bit harder than I remember, but nothing that wasn't doable, and I projected them in the mental screen I-
You Will Fail.
I flinched back, both from the glow of the pedestals in my soul as well as the memory of pronouncing my death curse upon Nicodemus, watching him sneer down at me as my lifeblood spilled all over my bed.
Wait. Pedestals in my soul? My own death curse???
Okay, so, inventory of myself, got it. My magic was a-okay, just as sensitive to my will as it ever had been, and with the headache gone I was feeling totally fine.
Better than fine, actually- all of the aches and pains I'd been cycling through from so much woodworking were completely gone, and the stubborn stiffness in my knee after I'd had a Fomor servitor shatter the bone a year or two before Ethniu had made her move felt almost as if it had never existed.
There was a big ol' room in my soul, too, full of who knew how many pedestals of all sizes, mostly empty. One, with a wooden box sitting right next to its base, had a wand- an identical copy of the one I'd carved back when Klaus had still been teaching me, all black except for two white tips, and right next to it was a blaze of flame that felt… comforting, almost. Like looking into a mirror and being proud of how you look.
I knew, somehow, that the wand was emblematic of my magic, my status as a fully grown, card-carrying Wizard of the White Council, and that the flame was Soulfire- the power that the Archangels wielded, the one that their Father'd used to create the world from nothing in seven days.
The fuck.
I sighed, then shoved my hand through my hair, breathing in and then breathing out, visualizing frustration and confusion exiting my body with every exhale until I could actually think worth a damn.
Wait, wait, wait. My hair feels too short.
I shot upright, casting around for my mirror, before recognizing the room that I was in.
Somehow, I'd ended up back in my childhood bedroom, complete with- I stumbled over to the dresser and the mirror mounted over it, and confirmed that yes, unless I was hallucinating, I was also an early teenager again- something in the neighborhood of fourteen, maybe.
I ran my fingers through my hair again, the pageboy haircut that I had vague memories of fighting with Mom over for a couple of months before she started really harping on me for not giving up my magic, and just… sat there. Somehow, I'd ended up thirty years back in time, or with thirty years of future memories, and I couldn't tell which felt more likely.
Then, a worse thought occurred to me, and I tested my will more than I'd prefer by keeping from cursing loud enough to wake all the Jawas.
By being back in time, I'd broken the Sixth Law of Magic, and even if it hadn't been me who did it… well, if I had my timeline right, we were pretty early on in the war with the Red Court, and I didn't think I could talk Morgan or Luccio into hearing me out, and I couldn't be sure that Carlos had made Regional Commander yet so there was no reason for him to stick his neck out for me.
Harry would, of course, but he had more of a martyr complex than Dad ever had and would have done just about anything for my father even if it was a dumb idea. Trying to get himself appointed as parole officer for me wouldn't go over well, and might actually get Morgan to snap and put him down if he even had the capacity- I wasn't sure if non-Wardens were even allowed to take on Warlocks like that, and I didn't remember when exactly he'd earned the Gray Cloak.
"Great," I said, "so I'm alone thirty years in the past with just about no resources and de facto on my own. I guess I just have to hope that I don't somehow catch attention from the Reds or-" my voice broke, here- "-or the Denarians before I can actually put together some real fucking tools."
A stopgap focus wasn't particularly hard to get my hands on. I'd gotten a magic kit a couple of years ago, probably out of some desire to impress Harry back before I'd gotten over my crush on him, and even if it wasn't the custom-carved focus that I'd made after Klaus and I had figured out what would best work with my own specialties, it looked close enough that I could make it work until I could sneak into Dad's workshop and make something more purpose built.
"Well," I said, feeding a hint of will into the wand, just enough to see it glowing with a gentle blue-white light, "not like Harry hasn't survived worse."
Letting the light fade out, I leaned down to check my alarm clock, moving a rectangular, foot-tall wooden box off of my bedside table, where it was blocking the round shape of the clock to the floor before clicking on the backlight to better pick the date out on the display, and-
Wait. What the fuck? I was pretty sure I'd thrown enough magic at the thing to burn it out half a dozen times over, what with it being a digital model, but it was still working just fine despite the techbane…
Hmmm. Maybe it was related to how I came back in time?
Well, either way, it was a Saturday, so I can actually maybe get a jump start on actually putting together a proper focus, one way or another, after breakfast.
"Good, Molly," said Mom, once I'd made my way downstairs, wand tucked in my waistband and hidden under the Star Wars graphic tee and baggy hoodie I'd thrown on with some sweats. "I was just about to send Daniel up to wake you up. Once you're done with breakfast, I need you to help air out the guest room for Shiro and Sanya."
"Will do," I said, sitting down heavily at the table. I hadn't had one of Mom's breakfasts in… I wasn't sure how long it had been, actually, but it had sure as shit been a long time, even before she'd been caught up in the Fomor attack on Chicago.
My enjoyment of breakfast was abruptly interrupted as the pedestals in the workshop flared with light, like they had earlier. This time, though, one of them shimmered for a moment longer before a wooden sword, sized for maybe Amanda's hand, materialized. With it came an understanding of swordplay which…
Okay, so, I've seen Shiro fight with a sword, both training with my dad and in earnest, and he's the best fighter that I can imagine even after seeing some of the older Wardens who have been practicing with their swords for longer than Shiro's been alive. Somehow, whatever this is just plopped the knowledge of how to use a sword into my head, to the point where if I thought my muscles could keep up long enough, I could give him a real run for his money, all else being equal.
If this was mortal magic, that would have been a fairly cut and dried violation of the Third Law, but it… it didn't feel like mortal magic, and as someone who's experimented with psychomancy on themselves, I'd know.
So… if it was at all related to why I'm back here, it might not actually have been a violation of the Sixth Law, not that the Wardens would be willing to cut me any slack at this point given half of what I've heard about the old guard. Great.
Right, no time for wallowing now, Molly. We've got shit to do, and, God willing, Shiro might just get to walk away today.
-----
And that's that!Perks Earned:
Wizard (Dresden Files, 200CP): You're a full-fledged member of the White Council, with all the rights, privileges, and obligations that entails. A lot of times that's more hassle than it's worth, especially with a war on, but there's a lot of resources you can call on when you need to, as long as you're prepared to repay the favor when need be. What this background really gets you is the full training a wizarding background offers, which has left you able to call on the entire array of everything magic is capable of. And, with enough time and preparation, there's very little which doesn't fit within that category. One quick word of warning before taking this background. Once you go Practitioner, you're bound by the Laws of Magic. There's only seven of them, set out by the White Council to prevent the worst corruptions magic poses, and they're there for a good reason. Violating one of the laws isn't just an awful thing to do, it's true black magic - the kind that stains your soul, permanently changing you into the sort of person who does break that law. It's addictive, and the more you break the law the easier it'll be, until you wind up in "When all you have is a hammer" scenario. Because of that, there's generally only one sentence for violation: death by decapitation.
Now, these rules only apply to mortal practitioners, which means if you're something else you don't really have to worry about it. Of course, that cuts both ways; technically, none of the laws (except Law Seven) apply to anything which isn't human. Burn one of the Black Court to ash with a fireball, raise a zombie T-Rex, and you're still on the right side of the laws, although the Warden who investigates might disagree.
They also only apply to magic as the White Council knows it, which means anything you drag in from elsewhere technically isn't a violation of the first six laws, and won't stain your soul the same way. Of course, they're not going to know the difference, and if they did, it's a violation of the Seventh, so don't go arguing about it.
Soul Source (Dresden Files, 600CP): Somehow, you've gained the power of Soulfire; the ability to use the energies of your soul to enhance your magic. By infusing a spell with notjust your will, but all your being, it'll be infused with a sort of "mystic rebar," granting it a lot of strength and giving it significantly more structure. Since your self is part of the spell now, it also functions more along the lines of your intentions, rather than just providing you with a raw boost. Of course, this comes at a cost: you're literally burning away part of your soul for power. Souls do heal up, especially when engaged in "soul-affirming" activities, but overuse might be worse than fatal.
Best Ale in Chicago (Dresden Files, Free): For the connoisseur in all of us, this is a six-pack of McAnally's Ale, a microbrewed miracle known to make even people who can't stand beer stop, take note, and go "Ah" with perfect understanding. The day after you drink one, the empty bottle will be gone, and a new one will be in its place, unopened and waiting for you. You can also trade this in for a single bottle from Mac's private stash, but you might want to be careful with this one, since it's the sort of thing that can ruin a man for other beers. Yeah, you'll also get a replacement every day. Try not to brag too hard.
Discipline (Fire Emblem: Awakening, 100CP): To be a knight requires more than just knowing how to swing a sword, but honestly that's probably the simplest and arguably most useful thing they know. As a result, you have a single weapon of your choice - Sword, lance, axe, or bow, to which you possess a superb level of mastery over. On top of that, your experience with your weapon allows you to use some of the heroic weapons, the ones that have magic inherent to them, or have a unique trick to how they are meant to be used, preventing oddities in a new weapon from severely impacting your fighting style. (Weapon chosen: sword)
Don't worry, I have no intention of having Molly take up one of the Swords.
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Interesting... watched.
Perk List
- Pronouns
- She/They
Right I should do this before I forget huh
Perks Earned:
Chapter 1:
Wizard (Dresden Files, 200CP): You're a full-fledged member of the White Council, with all the rights, privileges, and obligations that entails. A lot of times that's more hassle than it's worth, especially with a war on, but there's a lot of resources you can call on when you need to, as long as you're prepared to repay the favor when need be. What this background really gets you is the full training a wizarding background offers, which has left you able to call on the entire array of everything magic is capable of. And, with enough time and preparation, there's very little which doesn't fit within that category. One quick word of warning before taking this background. Once you go Practitioner, you're bound by the Laws of Magic. There's only seven of them, set out by the White Council to prevent the worst corruptions magic poses, and they're there for a good reason. Violating one of the laws isn't just an awful thing to do, it's true black magic - the kind that stains your soul, permanently changing you into the sort of person who does break that law. It's addictive, and the more you break the law the easier it'll be, until you wind up in "When all you have is a hammer" scenario. Because of that, there's generally only one sentence for violation: death by decapitation.
1 Thou Shalt Not Kill. Or, at least, not with magic. There's a reason Wardens run around with silver swords, and wizards like to carry handguns as backup. There's a couple of exceptions, mainly centered around clear self defense, but if your magic ends up taking someone out permanently, even completely by accident, you've broken this law.
2 Thou Shalt Not Change Another. In other words, no turning people into newts. There's a bit of a gray area when it comes to transforming yourself, though if you're not a natural talent at it I'd strongly recommend against it, because unless you're Senior Counsel material this sort of magic always ends badly for the target.
3 Thou Shalt Not Invade the Mind of Another. Pretty simple - other people's heads are inviolate, so stay out. The Soulgaze is an exception here, since it's not about looking into the mind but the soul, which is a vastly different experience.
4 Thou Shalt Not Enthrall Another. This one can be a bit tricky; technically, this only refers to uses of magic to directly alter someone's natural inclinations, choices, and behaviors. Threatening to set someone on fire doesn't count, nor does locking them in a magic circle until they agree to your demands, nor catching someone in a Faerie contract. But any time you're stepping into their head and making changes to your liking, you're running afoul of this one.
5 Thou Shalt Not Reach Beyond the Borders of Life. This covers anything related to the subject of necromancy - raising the dead, animating corpses, or even keeping someone from dying when they've suffered a mortal wound. Of course, potential Ectomancers shouldn't be deterred by this; ghosts are just echoes, and magic dealing with them falls well on the right side of the line.
6 Thou Shalt Not Swim Against the Currents of Time. There's not a lot to go on here, because if someone was violating this law, how would we even know about it? It might not even be possible, and this might just be a warning that bad things happen if you try. Still, best to be safe and just leave the time travel to the guys with screwdrivers instead of wands.
7 Thou Shalt Not Open the Outer Gates. You might want to take note of this one, because it's a doozy. This is the only one of the laws that deals with mere knowledge rather than action; you do not research the Outsiders, you do not contact them, you do not ask them for power, you do not go on multiversal road trips for their amusement. Yeah, you're already way afoul of this one, but I won't tell if you won't. Just don't do it here, because the "local" Outsiders are Bad News with capital letters.
Now, these rules only apply to mortal practitioners, which means if you're something else you don't really have to worry about it. Of course, that cuts both ways; technically, none of the laws (except Law Seven) apply to anything which isn't human. Burn one of the Black Court to ash with a fireball, raise a zombie T-Rex, and you're still on the right side of the laws, although the Warden who investigates might disagree.
They also only apply to magic as the White Council knows it, which means anything you drag in from elsewhere technically isn't a violation of the first six laws, and won't stain your soul the same way. Of course, they're not going to know the difference, and if they did, it's a violation of the Seventh, so don't go arguing about it.
Soul Source (Dresden Files, 600CP): Somehow, you've gained the power of Soulfire; the ability to use the energies of your soul to enhance your magic. By infusing a spell with notjust your will, but all your being, it'll be infused with a sort of "mystic rebar," granting it a lot of strength and giving it significantly more structure. Since your self is part of the spell now, it also functions more along the lines of your intentions, rather than just providing you with a raw boost. Of course, this comes at a cost: you're literally burning away part of your soul for power. Souls do heal up, especially when engaged in "soul-affirming" activities, but overuse might be worse than fatal.
Best Ale in Chicago (Dresden Files, Free): For the connoisseur in all of us, this is a six-pack of McAnally's Ale, a microbrewed miracle known to make even people who can't stand beer stop, take note, and go "Ah" with perfect understanding. The day after you drink one, the empty bottle will be gone, and a new one will be in its place, unopened and waiting for you. You can also trade this in for a single bottle from Mac's private stash, but you might want to be careful with this one, since it's the sort of thing that can ruin a man for other beers. Yeah, you'll also get a replacement every day. Try not to brag too hard.
Discipline (Fire Emblem: Awakening, 100CP): To be a knight requires more than just knowing how to swing a sword, but honestly that's probably the simplest and arguably most useful thing they know. As a result, you have a single weapon of your choice - Sword, lance, axe, or bow, to which you possess a superb level of mastery over. On top of that, your experience with your weapon allows you to use some of the heroic weapons, the ones that have magic inherent to them, or have a unique trick to how they are meant to be used, preventing oddities in a new weapon from severely impacting your fighting style. (Weapon chosen: sword)
Perks Earned:
Chapter 1:
Wizard (Dresden Files, 200CP): You're a full-fledged member of the White Council, with all the rights, privileges, and obligations that entails. A lot of times that's more hassle than it's worth, especially with a war on, but there's a lot of resources you can call on when you need to, as long as you're prepared to repay the favor when need be. What this background really gets you is the full training a wizarding background offers, which has left you able to call on the entire array of everything magic is capable of. And, with enough time and preparation, there's very little which doesn't fit within that category. One quick word of warning before taking this background. Once you go Practitioner, you're bound by the Laws of Magic. There's only seven of them, set out by the White Council to prevent the worst corruptions magic poses, and they're there for a good reason. Violating one of the laws isn't just an awful thing to do, it's true black magic - the kind that stains your soul, permanently changing you into the sort of person who does break that law. It's addictive, and the more you break the law the easier it'll be, until you wind up in "When all you have is a hammer" scenario. Because of that, there's generally only one sentence for violation: death by decapitation.
1 Thou Shalt Not Kill. Or, at least, not with magic. There's a reason Wardens run around with silver swords, and wizards like to carry handguns as backup. There's a couple of exceptions, mainly centered around clear self defense, but if your magic ends up taking someone out permanently, even completely by accident, you've broken this law.
2 Thou Shalt Not Change Another. In other words, no turning people into newts. There's a bit of a gray area when it comes to transforming yourself, though if you're not a natural talent at it I'd strongly recommend against it, because unless you're Senior Counsel material this sort of magic always ends badly for the target.
3 Thou Shalt Not Invade the Mind of Another. Pretty simple - other people's heads are inviolate, so stay out. The Soulgaze is an exception here, since it's not about looking into the mind but the soul, which is a vastly different experience.
4 Thou Shalt Not Enthrall Another. This one can be a bit tricky; technically, this only refers to uses of magic to directly alter someone's natural inclinations, choices, and behaviors. Threatening to set someone on fire doesn't count, nor does locking them in a magic circle until they agree to your demands, nor catching someone in a Faerie contract. But any time you're stepping into their head and making changes to your liking, you're running afoul of this one.
5 Thou Shalt Not Reach Beyond the Borders of Life. This covers anything related to the subject of necromancy - raising the dead, animating corpses, or even keeping someone from dying when they've suffered a mortal wound. Of course, potential Ectomancers shouldn't be deterred by this; ghosts are just echoes, and magic dealing with them falls well on the right side of the line.
6 Thou Shalt Not Swim Against the Currents of Time. There's not a lot to go on here, because if someone was violating this law, how would we even know about it? It might not even be possible, and this might just be a warning that bad things happen if you try. Still, best to be safe and just leave the time travel to the guys with screwdrivers instead of wands.
7 Thou Shalt Not Open the Outer Gates. You might want to take note of this one, because it's a doozy. This is the only one of the laws that deals with mere knowledge rather than action; you do not research the Outsiders, you do not contact them, you do not ask them for power, you do not go on multiversal road trips for their amusement. Yeah, you're already way afoul of this one, but I won't tell if you won't. Just don't do it here, because the "local" Outsiders are Bad News with capital letters.
Now, these rules only apply to mortal practitioners, which means if you're something else you don't really have to worry about it. Of course, that cuts both ways; technically, none of the laws (except Law Seven) apply to anything which isn't human. Burn one of the Black Court to ash with a fireball, raise a zombie T-Rex, and you're still on the right side of the laws, although the Warden who investigates might disagree.
They also only apply to magic as the White Council knows it, which means anything you drag in from elsewhere technically isn't a violation of the first six laws, and won't stain your soul the same way. Of course, they're not going to know the difference, and if they did, it's a violation of the Seventh, so don't go arguing about it.
Soul Source (Dresden Files, 600CP): Somehow, you've gained the power of Soulfire; the ability to use the energies of your soul to enhance your magic. By infusing a spell with notjust your will, but all your being, it'll be infused with a sort of "mystic rebar," granting it a lot of strength and giving it significantly more structure. Since your self is part of the spell now, it also functions more along the lines of your intentions, rather than just providing you with a raw boost. Of course, this comes at a cost: you're literally burning away part of your soul for power. Souls do heal up, especially when engaged in "soul-affirming" activities, but overuse might be worse than fatal.
Best Ale in Chicago (Dresden Files, Free): For the connoisseur in all of us, this is a six-pack of McAnally's Ale, a microbrewed miracle known to make even people who can't stand beer stop, take note, and go "Ah" with perfect understanding. The day after you drink one, the empty bottle will be gone, and a new one will be in its place, unopened and waiting for you. You can also trade this in for a single bottle from Mac's private stash, but you might want to be careful with this one, since it's the sort of thing that can ruin a man for other beers. Yeah, you'll also get a replacement every day. Try not to brag too hard.
Discipline (Fire Emblem: Awakening, 100CP): To be a knight requires more than just knowing how to swing a sword, but honestly that's probably the simplest and arguably most useful thing they know. As a result, you have a single weapon of your choice - Sword, lance, axe, or bow, to which you possess a superb level of mastery over. On top of that, your experience with your weapon allows you to use some of the heroic weapons, the ones that have magic inherent to them, or have a unique trick to how they are meant to be used, preventing oddities in a new weapon from severely impacting your fighting style. (Weapon chosen: sword)
None
Starsphere (Fire Emblem: Archanea, 400CP): A dark blue orb on which the twelve zodiac constellations are etched upon. This is a copy of the Starsphere, one of the orbs on the Fire Emblem. The Starsphere is remarkable for significantly boosting the growth of the one who has it--they grow much stronger in a short amount of time if they carry this sphere close. Experience sticks around longer inside their head and they develop in power and skill, magical, physical, or otherwise, at a faster rate than usual. It also gives a minor boost to the owner in general. It's not much, but it could mean the difference between an enemy barely alive or completely dead on the battlefield.
None
Computers (Star Wars KOTOR, 200CP): Droids, networks, and personal computers are your playthings. You're an expert at manipulating and improving digital devices, and you can cut through most security systems like a lightsaber through butter.
Basic Equipment (Star Wars KOTOR, Free): These two helpful gadgets that'll make your adventures a little easier. The first is a personal computer tablet known as a Datapad that can wirelessly connect to any nearby computer network and comes equipped with a journal, map, digital storage drive, holoprojector, calculator, and sketchpad. The second is a Portable Communicator about the same size and weight as a cellphone. It has a 50 kilometer signal range, a frequency scanner that detects nearby comm devices, a satellite link for planet wide range, and a security system that prevents unauthorized use. Both devices are powered by long lasting rechargeable batteries.
Archive (Artemis Fowl, 400CP): Whoa, access to the Council's black archives! Well, not exactly, but close. This is a digital archive in your possession, and what it holds is technology. That is, all of it. Every single piece of technology, from the wheel onwards to the most advanced stuff under the earth, has it's schematics, developer's notes and blueprints stored here, explained clearly and obviously enough that simply following the instructions would let someone built it all up.
There is everything here, from the People's works to Humanity's designs. Every program ever written, every microchip ever designed, the whole sum total of human and fairy technical knowledge. In future worlds too, it updates to hold the same level of detail on the local technology, everything ever crafted in the world.
Basic Equipment (Star Wars KOTOR, Free): These two helpful gadgets that'll make your adventures a little easier. The first is a personal computer tablet known as a Datapad that can wirelessly connect to any nearby computer network and comes equipped with a journal, map, digital storage drive, holoprojector, calculator, and sketchpad. The second is a Portable Communicator about the same size and weight as a cellphone. It has a 50 kilometer signal range, a frequency scanner that detects nearby comm devices, a satellite link for planet wide range, and a security system that prevents unauthorized use. Both devices are powered by long lasting rechargeable batteries.
Archive (Artemis Fowl, 400CP): Whoa, access to the Council's black archives! Well, not exactly, but close. This is a digital archive in your possession, and what it holds is technology. That is, all of it. Every single piece of technology, from the wheel onwards to the most advanced stuff under the earth, has it's schematics, developer's notes and blueprints stored here, explained clearly and obviously enough that simply following the instructions would let someone built it all up.
There is everything here, from the People's works to Humanity's designs. Every program ever written, every microchip ever designed, the whole sum total of human and fairy technical knowledge. In future worlds too, it updates to hold the same level of detail on the local technology, everything ever crafted in the world.
Eight-Fold Geomantic Mastery (Generic Exalted, 200CP): You possess the inherent understanding and skill with geomancy and the manipulation of natural energies such that you may now create manses in any area where such a thing could conceivably be created. The stronger the mystic or magical significance of a given place the more powerful the manse that can be built there, but even in the barest and most mystically barren areas you will still be capable of producing, given some time, a manse of the least(1-dot)power. The process of creating a Manse is tremendously faster for you than it would be for others, the necessary geomantic arrays and arrangements seeming to simply leap to your mind with a clarity of insight few if any could match. The Eight-Fold part of it is that you understand the methods for creating manses aspected towards all five of the elemental essences of fire, earth, wind, water, and wood as well as manses aspected towards solar, lunar, and stellar(sidereal)energies. Given time and effort you may discern methods for creating other types of manse, twisted mockeries of what nature intended, but such insights will take considerable effort, time, and resources to bear fruit. Taking this perk explicitly allows you to create manses even outside of Creation and, indeed, is the only way to create manses outside of Creation.
Stunt Master (Generic Exalted, Free): You are a master of stunting. Any time you try to do something amazing the world will conspire to make your attempted stunt just that little bit more dramatic and incredible. Maybe there just happens to be a rope to let you swing across the ballroom dramatically as you make off with the nobles treasure, or maybe there's just the right amount of handholds and footholds on two opposing walls, at just the right distance from each other, that would allow you to dramatically wall jump your way up. So long as you strive to do things in an amazing and/or over the top fashion you will be slightly rewarded for doing so, Fate conspiring to make you that little bit better at whatever you're doing because apparently Fate is really fond of over-the-top action sequences. You can still fail when you're doing over the top stuff though, so don't get too out of hand, this just represents a slight-to-moderate increase when you're purposely trying to be amazing.
A Simple Amulet (Generic Exalted, Free): A hearthstone amulet, your choice of magical material to be made out of. It has a single socket which can have a single hearthstone placed into it. Hearthstones provide all sorts of different magical benefits as well as increasing regeneration of Essence when a heartstone is placed within. These hearthstone amulets you purchase here do not require Essence to attune them. Your first hearthstone amulet is free, and additional amulets can be purchased for 50cp each. Does not actually come with a hearthstone.
A Storied Blade (Generic Exalted, Free): You receive an average Daiklave, roughly a '2 dot' artifact weapon, for free. It comes in the magical material of your choice. Daiklaves are swords that are really huge because screw you physics huge swords are cool. For an extra 50cp you can upgrade it to a Grand Daiklave which is basically a super-huge greatsword. If you're thinking of a massive eight foot long slab of metal heavier than two fully grown men then you're on the right track. Unlike regular artifact weapons that you would normally find ones purchased here have no Essence requirement. You can attune to them, and keep them attuned, for absolutely free. Additionally, also unlike normal magical weapons (of this low a level at least) these Daiklaves are completely indestructible. Comes with 1 hearthstone socket, just because.
Stunt Master (Generic Exalted, Free): You are a master of stunting. Any time you try to do something amazing the world will conspire to make your attempted stunt just that little bit more dramatic and incredible. Maybe there just happens to be a rope to let you swing across the ballroom dramatically as you make off with the nobles treasure, or maybe there's just the right amount of handholds and footholds on two opposing walls, at just the right distance from each other, that would allow you to dramatically wall jump your way up. So long as you strive to do things in an amazing and/or over the top fashion you will be slightly rewarded for doing so, Fate conspiring to make you that little bit better at whatever you're doing because apparently Fate is really fond of over-the-top action sequences. You can still fail when you're doing over the top stuff though, so don't get too out of hand, this just represents a slight-to-moderate increase when you're purposely trying to be amazing.
A Simple Amulet (Generic Exalted, Free): A hearthstone amulet, your choice of magical material to be made out of. It has a single socket which can have a single hearthstone placed into it. Hearthstones provide all sorts of different magical benefits as well as increasing regeneration of Essence when a heartstone is placed within. These hearthstone amulets you purchase here do not require Essence to attune them. Your first hearthstone amulet is free, and additional amulets can be purchased for 50cp each. Does not actually come with a hearthstone.
A Storied Blade (Generic Exalted, Free): You receive an average Daiklave, roughly a '2 dot' artifact weapon, for free. It comes in the magical material of your choice. Daiklaves are swords that are really huge because screw you physics huge swords are cool. For an extra 50cp you can upgrade it to a Grand Daiklave which is basically a super-huge greatsword. If you're thinking of a massive eight foot long slab of metal heavier than two fully grown men then you're on the right track. Unlike regular artifact weapons that you would normally find ones purchased here have no Essence requirement. You can attune to them, and keep them attuned, for absolutely free. Additionally, also unlike normal magical weapons (of this low a level at least) these Daiklaves are completely indestructible. Comes with 1 hearthstone socket, just because.
Cult of the Gun (Enter the Gungeon, 100CP): What makes The Gungeon work? Magic. Duh. But, it's a specific type of magic: Gun magic, magic that makes objects more gun-like, or that accentuates the gun-like traits of non-gun objects. Unrestrained, it can turn a gun-like non-gun object, like a mailbox, into a gun, granting it a projectile and a firing method. The Gungeon does this passively, but you know how to direct this ability and use it to your advantage, taking any kind of object, and making it into a "gun," complete with the same perks that any gun-like object might gain. It's still fairly uncontrolled, with little if any say on your part as to what kind of weapon you get. How else do you explain, "guns," like a mailbox that fires letters and packages; a banana that fires explosive bananas; a bee hive that fires bees (duh) ; a camera that deals room-wide damage, knockback, and slowing; a guzheng that fires arrows when played; a pillow that fires zippers and stuns nearby enemies when reloaded; a crate that fires anvils; or a compressed air tank that fires homing sharks?
Ammonomicon (Enter the Gungeon, Free): An ancient book supplied to all those who enter The Gungeon. It provides you with a cryptic hint as to the special effect of any weapon you pick up, and some measure of lore on it, if such should apply. Also collects information on any enemies, bosses included, guns, and items you've seen in the past, and see in the future, though this is often cryptic, and/or heavily summarized.
Ammonomicon (Enter the Gungeon, Free): An ancient book supplied to all those who enter The Gungeon. It provides you with a cryptic hint as to the special effect of any weapon you pick up, and some measure of lore on it, if such should apply. Also collects information on any enemies, bosses included, guns, and items you've seen in the past, and see in the future, though this is often cryptic, and/or heavily summarized.
Mental Resistance III (Essential Body Mod Supplement, 200CP): "Your mind and will are strong.
I: You are very difficult to intimidate and have a high resistance to mental fatigue (such as from extended warfare or study) and can generally delay dealing with mental trauma until any immediate crisis is dealt with. Also, you do not get bored with tasks easily and can study or practice abilities for extended periods without penalty or need for a break.
II: Immunity to the items in tier I plus a high degree of resistance to memetic hazards, insanity, mind control, and other factors that would impact how your mind works.
III: Complete immunity to the items in tiers I and II.
I: You are very difficult to intimidate and have a high resistance to mental fatigue (such as from extended warfare or study) and can generally delay dealing with mental trauma until any immediate crisis is dealt with. Also, you do not get bored with tasks easily and can study or practice abilities for extended periods without penalty or need for a break.
II: Immunity to the items in tier I plus a high degree of resistance to memetic hazards, insanity, mind control, and other factors that would impact how your mind works.
III: Complete immunity to the items in tiers I and II.
None
Erudition (Halo - UNSC, 600CP): Ever since the rise of Dr. Catherine Halsey, many were on the lookout for who might become the next intellectual prodigy. Someone who was able to perform as well as she could, someone who could help turn the tide of the war. With this, that someone is now you. Your cognitive capabilities are on par with the good doctor now, making you exceptionally well-versed in nearly all modern human sciences while holding specialties in at least a few fields. Of course, thanks to that you are also rather exceptional at reverse-engineering technology, which allows you to do such things like obtain working knowledge of the mechanics behind Covenant technology and even begin to understand the 'hows' behind some of the mundane pieces of Forerunner technology currently littering the galaxy. Perhaps you could eventually reclaim them.
Soundtrack of the Stars (Halo - UNSC, Free): It is one thing to be told that you have to fight a war that appears outright impossible, but to do so with little in the way of morale or confidence boosters is effectively asking you to die. You really need something to help you out on that last part if you want to make it through this whole thing, which is why you have this freebie that allows you to have the entire Halo soundtrack at your disposal. Have appropriate themes playing in your head depending on the situation, or cue something up to feel amazing. This option is able to be toggled.
Standard Neural Interface (Halo - UNSC, Free): As the requirements of war and militarized technology moved forward, the requirements it puts upon its soldiers was likewise changed. This is one such example, being a brain implant that all members of the UNSC obtain upon entering service. It carries a multitude of functions, integrating with armor worn to provide a heads-up display directly into one's optic nerve instead of on the helmet screen while providing an IFF tag for allied soldiers. Such implants are small enough that there is no visible signs outside the body, and sometimes people have forgotten they even had it until its functions come up.
M6C Magnum (Halo - UNSC, Free): Something of a standard issue to the UNSC Marine forces, the M6C is a semi- automatic, recoil-operated, magazine-fed handgun that fires 12.7×40mm (.50 caliber) Semi-Armor- Piercing, High-Penetration rounds. While it does considerable amounts of damage towards flesh-based infantry, Covenant energy shielding might pose a problem and so this weapon is often relegated to a defensive role. If you wish, you may instead trade this for an M6C/SOCOM variant which integrates a sound suppressor, muzzle brake, and a VnSLS/V 6E smart linked 4× scope.
M9 Fragmentation Grenade (Halo - UNSC, Free): When you can't shoot them, blow them up. Coming with a hard metal casing that's meant to break apart upon the explosion, this grenade has a safety feature in that it must hit a hard surface after it has been primed before it can detonate, ensuring that it does not explode in the user's hand. It can also come with a 'spoon' so that it must leave the user's hand before it explodes as well. Either way, a small button on the 'handle' is the method of priming these grenades.
UNSC Marine Corps Battle Dress Uniform (Halo - UNSC, Free): The kind of armor you will generally see on the rank-and-file troopers, this model has seen a great deal of use and has been spotted since the early days of the Insurrection. It comes with a CH252 Helmet that has a basic heads-up display to keep track of ammunition and your targeting reticle along with a flashlight and radio system, strong boots and fatigues to keep one protected from the elements while having quite a few pockets to keep things in, and ballistics armor over the torso, shoulder and shin. Ballistic armor may optionally include thighs, groin, and forearms as well for the cautious types. This armor provides good resistance against ballistic ammunition but does little against Covenant plasma rounds. Perhaps you could become skilled at dodging oncoming fire. This armor comes in any camouflage color scheme of your choice.
Gladius-class Heavy Corvette (Halo - UNSC, Free): While this ship is more meant for patrols and security roles rather than an actual ship of war, the Gladius-class serves its function well. Its armaments are somewhat smaller than most ships as a result, carrying only one small Magnetic Accelerator Cannon and two Archer missile pods with six Rampart point-defense cannons, but it does come with an extensive sensor suite to scan for anomalies and actively track targets for other ships to find and utterly obliterate. Seeing as it's two hundred and forty-three meters in length however, it would be wise to simply retreat from any Covenant space presence. If you wish to purchase this ship a second time, it will cost 100CP.
Soundtrack of the Stars (Halo - UNSC, Free): It is one thing to be told that you have to fight a war that appears outright impossible, but to do so with little in the way of morale or confidence boosters is effectively asking you to die. You really need something to help you out on that last part if you want to make it through this whole thing, which is why you have this freebie that allows you to have the entire Halo soundtrack at your disposal. Have appropriate themes playing in your head depending on the situation, or cue something up to feel amazing. This option is able to be toggled.
Standard Neural Interface (Halo - UNSC, Free): As the requirements of war and militarized technology moved forward, the requirements it puts upon its soldiers was likewise changed. This is one such example, being a brain implant that all members of the UNSC obtain upon entering service. It carries a multitude of functions, integrating with armor worn to provide a heads-up display directly into one's optic nerve instead of on the helmet screen while providing an IFF tag for allied soldiers. Such implants are small enough that there is no visible signs outside the body, and sometimes people have forgotten they even had it until its functions come up.
M6C Magnum (Halo - UNSC, Free): Something of a standard issue to the UNSC Marine forces, the M6C is a semi- automatic, recoil-operated, magazine-fed handgun that fires 12.7×40mm (.50 caliber) Semi-Armor- Piercing, High-Penetration rounds. While it does considerable amounts of damage towards flesh-based infantry, Covenant energy shielding might pose a problem and so this weapon is often relegated to a defensive role. If you wish, you may instead trade this for an M6C/SOCOM variant which integrates a sound suppressor, muzzle brake, and a VnSLS/V 6E smart linked 4× scope.
M9 Fragmentation Grenade (Halo - UNSC, Free): When you can't shoot them, blow them up. Coming with a hard metal casing that's meant to break apart upon the explosion, this grenade has a safety feature in that it must hit a hard surface after it has been primed before it can detonate, ensuring that it does not explode in the user's hand. It can also come with a 'spoon' so that it must leave the user's hand before it explodes as well. Either way, a small button on the 'handle' is the method of priming these grenades.
UNSC Marine Corps Battle Dress Uniform (Halo - UNSC, Free): The kind of armor you will generally see on the rank-and-file troopers, this model has seen a great deal of use and has been spotted since the early days of the Insurrection. It comes with a CH252 Helmet that has a basic heads-up display to keep track of ammunition and your targeting reticle along with a flashlight and radio system, strong boots and fatigues to keep one protected from the elements while having quite a few pockets to keep things in, and ballistics armor over the torso, shoulder and shin. Ballistic armor may optionally include thighs, groin, and forearms as well for the cautious types. This armor provides good resistance against ballistic ammunition but does little against Covenant plasma rounds. Perhaps you could become skilled at dodging oncoming fire. This armor comes in any camouflage color scheme of your choice.
Gladius-class Heavy Corvette (Halo - UNSC, Free): While this ship is more meant for patrols and security roles rather than an actual ship of war, the Gladius-class serves its function well. Its armaments are somewhat smaller than most ships as a result, carrying only one small Magnetic Accelerator Cannon and two Archer missile pods with six Rampart point-defense cannons, but it does come with an extensive sensor suite to scan for anomalies and actively track targets for other ships to find and utterly obliterate. Seeing as it's two hundred and forty-three meters in length however, it would be wise to simply retreat from any Covenant space presence. If you wish to purchase this ship a second time, it will cost 100CP.
Utility Webbing: Better to have than to not need, rather than need and not have. It's probably why the UNSC sees its soldiers with an inexplicable amount of pockets on them with all manners of gear and items inside. Maybe they're just worried about being caught unprepared. Maybe they're hoping to raid some nice stuff. Who's to say? You can say, for you have a slew of pockets on your pants and around your belt that increases your carrying ability.
Flashlight: Night Vision is all fine and dandy, but sometimes you just need to get back to basics when the Covenant are shelling your position with all sorts of electronic-destroying plasma bombs. A flashlight attached to your armor to light the way is pretty useful for those times, and it can even charge itself up as you walk around due to the piezoelectric battery inside. Light the way!
VZG7 Armored Boots: There comes a time where you either need to land on something rough or just stomp the living hell out of a weakened enemy. You know, like any good engineer will tell you to do in the face of alien corpses on the floor. Protecting those feet are important, hence these thick and fully armored boots that could take a grenade and the soldier would break before the armor would. It does make for heavy walking however, so it might be for the juggernauts out there... or if you really like stomping alien corpses.
Heads-Up Display: When data is being presented it's to make sure that you can see it without it obstructing your view from anything that's too important. You know, things like that wave of suicide Unggoy running at you with plasma grenades lit up screaming about their holy ways. That's why the data needs to be presented in adequate terms while keeping your vision clear for you to eye up what's in front of you, and that's where this software comes in. Automatically organizing relevant data like general health, energy levels, and ammunition stores while linking into other databases you may have access to, it also ensures that the data won't block your view so you can turn that suicide charge into a fireworks show. On them, of course.
Sensor Enhancements (200): It's no secret that the Covenant have technology far greater than the kind Humanity possesses. It's one of the major reasons the UNSC is losing this war even with the arrival of the SPARTAN-IIs stemming the tide. How fortunate that selective looting of specialist Sangheili corpses can yield curious findings. This advanced technology not only increases the amount of data your equipment can take in, but it also increases the variety of scanning tools that you have available to find more information. Different forms of radiation or material composition, biology detections, even approximating the age of someone based on the data from their skin composition... such things and more are available to you.
Stealth Upgrade (300): With the advances in technology, the need for ensuring stealth was maintained was always high on the priority list. When the Covenant arrived and began to systematically glass worlds, that need catapulted to an absolute requirement in order to do one's duty to Humanity. Thus, advances were made in short order. The first version gives your armor a special coat of paint to reduce your infra-red signature in order to fool enemy radar to get closer. A second purchase of +100AP places photoreactive paneling on your suit in order to effectively mimic the environment around you akin to a chameleon changing its colors. Finally, a third purchase of yet another +100AP grants you stolen Covenant Active Camouflage to actually bend light around you to grant you true invisiblity, making you an absolute terror on the field... just don't get hit. The field tends to have trouble keeping up if someone shoots you.
VISR (200): Oh. Well, here's one such database connection you can use. A popular addition to the ODST armor, this system provides tactical data in real-time as its broadcast due to being connected to multiple databases as needed to provide navigational data and maps of the local area along with intelligence data regarding mission objectives and relevant data to completesaid objectives. It also has a low-light mode that allows the firmware to highlight points of interest along with highlighting enemies, with these functions syncing to one's Neural Interface. For an additional +100AP, Rex Firmware is also installed that allows for the detection and flagging of units that may be hiding themselves with optic camouflage so that they cannot stay hidden for long.
Nanotechnology Self-Repair (300): Sometimes you simply do not have the tools to conduct proper self- repairs on your armor. This can be worse if you're going on a long flight through space or you have enough time to yourself through one method or another. How fortunate then that breakthroughs by UNSC scientists have lead to the development and utilization of nanotechnology. While normally utilized in the conversion of fuel for warships and nanotubes for various purposes, this version carries blueprints of one's suit and can slowly self-repair the armor given time and an ample power source in order to save on resources and other issues. In the hands of a Smart A.I., the nanotech could even be used to improve and overhaul a suit over a long period of time. Time that is now your ally.
Flashlight: Night Vision is all fine and dandy, but sometimes you just need to get back to basics when the Covenant are shelling your position with all sorts of electronic-destroying plasma bombs. A flashlight attached to your armor to light the way is pretty useful for those times, and it can even charge itself up as you walk around due to the piezoelectric battery inside. Light the way!
VZG7 Armored Boots: There comes a time where you either need to land on something rough or just stomp the living hell out of a weakened enemy. You know, like any good engineer will tell you to do in the face of alien corpses on the floor. Protecting those feet are important, hence these thick and fully armored boots that could take a grenade and the soldier would break before the armor would. It does make for heavy walking however, so it might be for the juggernauts out there... or if you really like stomping alien corpses.
Heads-Up Display: When data is being presented it's to make sure that you can see it without it obstructing your view from anything that's too important. You know, things like that wave of suicide Unggoy running at you with plasma grenades lit up screaming about their holy ways. That's why the data needs to be presented in adequate terms while keeping your vision clear for you to eye up what's in front of you, and that's where this software comes in. Automatically organizing relevant data like general health, energy levels, and ammunition stores while linking into other databases you may have access to, it also ensures that the data won't block your view so you can turn that suicide charge into a fireworks show. On them, of course.
Sensor Enhancements (200): It's no secret that the Covenant have technology far greater than the kind Humanity possesses. It's one of the major reasons the UNSC is losing this war even with the arrival of the SPARTAN-IIs stemming the tide. How fortunate that selective looting of specialist Sangheili corpses can yield curious findings. This advanced technology not only increases the amount of data your equipment can take in, but it also increases the variety of scanning tools that you have available to find more information. Different forms of radiation or material composition, biology detections, even approximating the age of someone based on the data from their skin composition... such things and more are available to you.
Stealth Upgrade (300): With the advances in technology, the need for ensuring stealth was maintained was always high on the priority list. When the Covenant arrived and began to systematically glass worlds, that need catapulted to an absolute requirement in order to do one's duty to Humanity. Thus, advances were made in short order. The first version gives your armor a special coat of paint to reduce your infra-red signature in order to fool enemy radar to get closer. A second purchase of +100AP places photoreactive paneling on your suit in order to effectively mimic the environment around you akin to a chameleon changing its colors. Finally, a third purchase of yet another +100AP grants you stolen Covenant Active Camouflage to actually bend light around you to grant you true invisiblity, making you an absolute terror on the field... just don't get hit. The field tends to have trouble keeping up if someone shoots you.
VISR (200): Oh. Well, here's one such database connection you can use. A popular addition to the ODST armor, this system provides tactical data in real-time as its broadcast due to being connected to multiple databases as needed to provide navigational data and maps of the local area along with intelligence data regarding mission objectives and relevant data to completesaid objectives. It also has a low-light mode that allows the firmware to highlight points of interest along with highlighting enemies, with these functions syncing to one's Neural Interface. For an additional +100AP, Rex Firmware is also installed that allows for the detection and flagging of units that may be hiding themselves with optic camouflage so that they cannot stay hidden for long.
Nanotechnology Self-Repair (300): Sometimes you simply do not have the tools to conduct proper self- repairs on your armor. This can be worse if you're going on a long flight through space or you have enough time to yourself through one method or another. How fortunate then that breakthroughs by UNSC scientists have lead to the development and utilization of nanotechnology. While normally utilized in the conversion of fuel for warships and nanotubes for various purposes, this version carries blueprints of one's suit and can slowly self-repair the armor given time and an ample power source in order to save on resources and other issues. In the hands of a Smart A.I., the nanotech could even be used to improve and overhaul a suit over a long period of time. Time that is now your ally.
Slipspace Drive: The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine finally allowed Humanity access to faster- than-light travel in the form of Slipstream Space, and thus opened their path to the stars themselves. This device works by creating ruptures in between normal space and Slipspace while surrounding the ship in a quantum field to protect them from the dangers of the alternate dimension. The engine itself does not propel the vessel through Slipspace however; it relies on the engines to do so. The more powerful the traditional propulsion of the ship, the faster it goes. However, normal models tend to be erratic and jumps can take from several weeks to months of travel time depending on the distance, with exit destinations becoming off by a matter of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. A dangerous gambit, but it's better than nothing.
Self-Destruct Function: When it was clear that the Covenant were engaging in a war of extermination rather than one of conquest, the Cole Protocol was initiated. One of those requirements was that in the event of capture, a UNSC ship is to self-destruct to prevent the alien menace from collecting vital data such as navigation coordinates. It's a drastic measure, but ultimately necessary to prevent them from finding the most important of Human worlds like Reach or Earth.
Escape Pods/Life Boats: While going down with the ship is often seen as an honorable act so that the Covenant do not gleam anything useful from your mind, that doesn't always have to be the case with everyone else. What if you're transporting some VIPs or you want the rest of your crew to survive? Don't make the same mistake as the ships of old. This gives your ship a slew of escape pods and lifeboats dotted all along the vessel, allowing the whole crew to evacuate on a moment's notice if something goes wrong. It could be a lifesaver.
Life Support System: People need air to breathe. There's just no way of getting around this, as even the mighty SPARTAN soldiers have an air requirement. That's why every ship has air scrubbers and environmental control so that not only can you keep a stable atmosphere going but also to stay comfortable while on these long journeys as well.
M910 Rampart Point Defense Network: Or you could go bigger. After all, bigger can be better as far as weapons go, right? Granted that seems to apply with a lot of things Humanity enjoys... anyway. This defense network is much more effective at shooting down fighters, but it can also be used to destroy oncoming missiles as well with their upgrade to 105mm rounds for armaments. Show them that you mean business.
Archer Missile Pods: They say that space is like an ocean. Obviously they are wrong in so many ways it doesn't even merit credit as a joke, but some parts of the analogy do still apply. A good example would be these ship-to-ship missiles, being able to cause quite a bit of damage to an unshielded Covenant vessel and even being capable of being repurposed as a ship-to-surface weapon for quite the explosive impression. Each missile pod carries two dozen missiles per pod, and it should go without saying that the more missiles you fire the more effective they become.
Magnetic Acceleration Cannon: The inevitable result of what happens when you increase the size of a coilgun while ramping up its power, this weapon has become a mainstay against Covenant vessels in space in the constant war to survive. The system works the same as a regular coilgun, consisting of a linear motor which hold a series of magnetic coils which accelerate a projectile through a barrel up to high velocity. A shipboard MAC cannon does draw power from the reactor of the ship it's installed on however, and requires a charging up of the coils before the cannon can be fired. As a result, the ship's reactor and its size are direct factors in how large the cannon itself can be. The size of the ship along with its classification is also responsible for how many cannons a ship can carry, so keep that in mind.
Augmented Sensor Array (100 for upgrade):All the power and defenses in the world won't matter for squat if you can't even so much as see the enemy. They have all manners of technology that keeps them hidden until the last moment, and so you need to remove that edge they possess. Purchasing this grants you a much stronger suite of sensors and detection scanners that not only expands your range of scannable frequencies and energies but also increases the detailing distance your ship can scan so that you won't be caught with your pants down. So to speak, anyway. For an additional +100SP you can also install a reverse- engineered Covenant variant of a Forerunner Luminary which can scan and detect for various alien technologies that may be giving off unique signatures. Let nothing escape your sight.
AI Data Network: While a human crew is capable of operating and maintaining a UNSC vessel on their own, it can become so much more easier to slot in an A.I. and have them overseeing everything while looking for ways to optimize the vessel. That's generally why a good majority of UNSC vessels will have some kind of datacore in their ship, but this purchase places a Tier III datacore in the ship instead which allows for a powerful A.I. such as a Smart A.I. to fit inside and control almost every facet of the ship itself. This can reduce the amount of crew required for the vessel along with granting greater control and efficiency.
Stealth Augmentations: The importance of superior firepower and maneuverability cannot be overstated when it comes to measuring up to the Covenant homogeny. However, not all victories are won with head-on conflicts. Sometimes it is those who slink through the darkness and keep hidden that can win battle on account of knowing when to slide in the knife. This upgrade aid you in that sense, giving your ship stealth ablative coating to hide it from infrared scans, along with heat sinks and systems like ablative baffles and engine dampers to mask the temperature of the engines as well. So long as you use astronomical objects and carefully maintain your systems you'll stay invisible, but a word of warning: The bigger the ship, the more you will need to maintain these functions. It gets rather hard to hide a giant ship after all. For an additional +200SP, this package also includes active camouflage similar to the kind the Sangheili use to significantly augment your stealth capabilities and literally become invisible. Just keep in mind you'll give yourself away if you fire your weapons.
Food Supply (50): Even the mighty SPARTAN soldiers need to eat. Humans are not machines, nor are they A.I. that can go entire years without anything beyond the electricity needed to function. Food is required. Most vessels will come with a mess hall or a few packages of food for the crew to obtain sustenance with, but it's primarily just to ensure the crew gets all of their required nutrients and calorie intake so that they can keep doing what they need to do. Simple, yet effective.
Repair Bay (300): Sending soldiers and vehicles out to complete objectives and stop the enemy from completing theirs is just common sense. You win the war by denying the enemy their win. But the constant battles and struggles will cause some wear and tear on your equipment, to say nothing of the damages that can be accrued by your ship. You need to keep it in order. This installation into your vessel gives a rather substantial repair center so that you can repair and salvage various parts of both vehicle and personal equipment, while having a supply of spare parts for the ship on hand if you needed to lick your wounds after a battle with the Covenant. For an additional +200SP your ship is also equipped with fabrication modules to essentially 3D-print pieces and parts to make repairs and adjustments to gear relatively easy. If your ship is large enough you could even print out vehicles... provided you had the resources and the power to feed into it.
Holographic Imaging Suite (50): Screens are more or less commonplace among UNSC ships. You need them to display data and imaging that your ship can detect along with making sure you have a way to see what's going on in the differing parts of your ship. Yet screens only give one side of the story, so to speak. You need something better. Implementing this holographic display technology along your ship can let you display images and data in three-dimensional imaging along with presenting a lot more details so that you get the bigger picture of what's going on. Also, it just looks cool while letting any ship A.I. appear in front of you.
Medical Bay (100): Did someone call for a doctor? It's a long way from home, and depending on the type of ship you're on you could be really out of luck with needing a limb re-attached or fixing up half your organs after suffering burns from Covenant plasma rifles. You sometimes don't have the luxury of being put in a cryo tank or waiting to get home, and that's when you need a dedicated medical bay on the ship. Full surgery suite, stocked pharmaceutical section and even a rehabilitation section all comes with this purchase so that anyone who's got problems can be relatively handled provided the ship isn't going up in flames.
Expanded Crew Quarters (50): On a ship, you have barracks. It's not anything against the crew members, it's for the purpose of saving precious space while making room for the weapons systems and other functions on the ship. However, morale of the ship can also be important. While much of the UNSC top brass will disapprove, this option can expand the crew quarters to allow the crew to split into groups of four while sharing a living space, which can give them some much needed breathing room.
Self-Destruct Function: When it was clear that the Covenant were engaging in a war of extermination rather than one of conquest, the Cole Protocol was initiated. One of those requirements was that in the event of capture, a UNSC ship is to self-destruct to prevent the alien menace from collecting vital data such as navigation coordinates. It's a drastic measure, but ultimately necessary to prevent them from finding the most important of Human worlds like Reach or Earth.
Escape Pods/Life Boats: While going down with the ship is often seen as an honorable act so that the Covenant do not gleam anything useful from your mind, that doesn't always have to be the case with everyone else. What if you're transporting some VIPs or you want the rest of your crew to survive? Don't make the same mistake as the ships of old. This gives your ship a slew of escape pods and lifeboats dotted all along the vessel, allowing the whole crew to evacuate on a moment's notice if something goes wrong. It could be a lifesaver.
Life Support System: People need air to breathe. There's just no way of getting around this, as even the mighty SPARTAN soldiers have an air requirement. That's why every ship has air scrubbers and environmental control so that not only can you keep a stable atmosphere going but also to stay comfortable while on these long journeys as well.
M910 Rampart Point Defense Network: Or you could go bigger. After all, bigger can be better as far as weapons go, right? Granted that seems to apply with a lot of things Humanity enjoys... anyway. This defense network is much more effective at shooting down fighters, but it can also be used to destroy oncoming missiles as well with their upgrade to 105mm rounds for armaments. Show them that you mean business.
Archer Missile Pods: They say that space is like an ocean. Obviously they are wrong in so many ways it doesn't even merit credit as a joke, but some parts of the analogy do still apply. A good example would be these ship-to-ship missiles, being able to cause quite a bit of damage to an unshielded Covenant vessel and even being capable of being repurposed as a ship-to-surface weapon for quite the explosive impression. Each missile pod carries two dozen missiles per pod, and it should go without saying that the more missiles you fire the more effective they become.
Magnetic Acceleration Cannon: The inevitable result of what happens when you increase the size of a coilgun while ramping up its power, this weapon has become a mainstay against Covenant vessels in space in the constant war to survive. The system works the same as a regular coilgun, consisting of a linear motor which hold a series of magnetic coils which accelerate a projectile through a barrel up to high velocity. A shipboard MAC cannon does draw power from the reactor of the ship it's installed on however, and requires a charging up of the coils before the cannon can be fired. As a result, the ship's reactor and its size are direct factors in how large the cannon itself can be. The size of the ship along with its classification is also responsible for how many cannons a ship can carry, so keep that in mind.
Augmented Sensor Array (100 for upgrade):All the power and defenses in the world won't matter for squat if you can't even so much as see the enemy. They have all manners of technology that keeps them hidden until the last moment, and so you need to remove that edge they possess. Purchasing this grants you a much stronger suite of sensors and detection scanners that not only expands your range of scannable frequencies and energies but also increases the detailing distance your ship can scan so that you won't be caught with your pants down. So to speak, anyway. For an additional +100SP you can also install a reverse- engineered Covenant variant of a Forerunner Luminary which can scan and detect for various alien technologies that may be giving off unique signatures. Let nothing escape your sight.
AI Data Network: While a human crew is capable of operating and maintaining a UNSC vessel on their own, it can become so much more easier to slot in an A.I. and have them overseeing everything while looking for ways to optimize the vessel. That's generally why a good majority of UNSC vessels will have some kind of datacore in their ship, but this purchase places a Tier III datacore in the ship instead which allows for a powerful A.I. such as a Smart A.I. to fit inside and control almost every facet of the ship itself. This can reduce the amount of crew required for the vessel along with granting greater control and efficiency.
Stealth Augmentations: The importance of superior firepower and maneuverability cannot be overstated when it comes to measuring up to the Covenant homogeny. However, not all victories are won with head-on conflicts. Sometimes it is those who slink through the darkness and keep hidden that can win battle on account of knowing when to slide in the knife. This upgrade aid you in that sense, giving your ship stealth ablative coating to hide it from infrared scans, along with heat sinks and systems like ablative baffles and engine dampers to mask the temperature of the engines as well. So long as you use astronomical objects and carefully maintain your systems you'll stay invisible, but a word of warning: The bigger the ship, the more you will need to maintain these functions. It gets rather hard to hide a giant ship after all. For an additional +200SP, this package also includes active camouflage similar to the kind the Sangheili use to significantly augment your stealth capabilities and literally become invisible. Just keep in mind you'll give yourself away if you fire your weapons.
Food Supply (50): Even the mighty SPARTAN soldiers need to eat. Humans are not machines, nor are they A.I. that can go entire years without anything beyond the electricity needed to function. Food is required. Most vessels will come with a mess hall or a few packages of food for the crew to obtain sustenance with, but it's primarily just to ensure the crew gets all of their required nutrients and calorie intake so that they can keep doing what they need to do. Simple, yet effective.
Repair Bay (300): Sending soldiers and vehicles out to complete objectives and stop the enemy from completing theirs is just common sense. You win the war by denying the enemy their win. But the constant battles and struggles will cause some wear and tear on your equipment, to say nothing of the damages that can be accrued by your ship. You need to keep it in order. This installation into your vessel gives a rather substantial repair center so that you can repair and salvage various parts of both vehicle and personal equipment, while having a supply of spare parts for the ship on hand if you needed to lick your wounds after a battle with the Covenant. For an additional +200SP your ship is also equipped with fabrication modules to essentially 3D-print pieces and parts to make repairs and adjustments to gear relatively easy. If your ship is large enough you could even print out vehicles... provided you had the resources and the power to feed into it.
Holographic Imaging Suite (50): Screens are more or less commonplace among UNSC ships. You need them to display data and imaging that your ship can detect along with making sure you have a way to see what's going on in the differing parts of your ship. Yet screens only give one side of the story, so to speak. You need something better. Implementing this holographic display technology along your ship can let you display images and data in three-dimensional imaging along with presenting a lot more details so that you get the bigger picture of what's going on. Also, it just looks cool while letting any ship A.I. appear in front of you.
Medical Bay (100): Did someone call for a doctor? It's a long way from home, and depending on the type of ship you're on you could be really out of luck with needing a limb re-attached or fixing up half your organs after suffering burns from Covenant plasma rifles. You sometimes don't have the luxury of being put in a cryo tank or waiting to get home, and that's when you need a dedicated medical bay on the ship. Full surgery suite, stocked pharmaceutical section and even a rehabilitation section all comes with this purchase so that anyone who's got problems can be relatively handled provided the ship isn't going up in flames.
Expanded Crew Quarters (50): On a ship, you have barracks. It's not anything against the crew members, it's for the purpose of saving precious space while making room for the weapons systems and other functions on the ship. However, morale of the ship can also be important. While much of the UNSC top brass will disapprove, this option can expand the crew quarters to allow the crew to split into groups of four while sharing a living space, which can give them some much needed breathing room.
Smart AI (Halo - UNSC, 200CP): The creation of an A.I. like this is as amazing as it is terrifying. Unlike 'Dumb A.I.' which are created using regular programming methods, this one was made by scanning and replicating the neural pathways of a human brain in order to generate them in a superconducting nano-assemblage and create a virtual network which destroys the donor brain and creates the A.I.'s personality. This process is quirky and may end up causing varying degrees of residual memories, thoughts, or feelings from the seed brain that influences the A.I., but in turn it creates a powerful personality that is not only incredibly intelligent but effectively have no limits in what it can learn and comprehend while being able to draw conclusions from an incomplete dataset like a human could. Yet this comes at a price, and as they approach seven years of service they begin to develop so many neural connections that they either overload and fail, or begin to devolve into a rage of uncontrolled emotions thanks to the connections overlapping. Because of their knowledge and limited lifespan, existential philosophy to a Smart A.I. is like teeth-rotting candy to a child.
While you are free to choose the personality and appearance of the Smart A.I., for some reason this particular one won't undergo the seven year flaw known as Rampancy. All attempts to find out why only bring up strange access logs of some kind of computer system you've never seen before. If you wish, you may remove this boon and obtain a Smart A.I. for half-price.
While you are free to choose the personality and appearance of the Smart A.I., for some reason this particular one won't undergo the seven year flaw known as Rampancy. All attempts to find out why only bring up strange access logs of some kind of computer system you've never seen before. If you wish, you may remove this boon and obtain a Smart A.I. for half-price.
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Goibnu (Irish Mythology, 600CP): The greatest of the Tuatha smiths, Goibnu could create a spearhead with three strikes of his hammer, and it would be so sharp the man it cut would surely bleed to death. Like this legendary smith, you can forge or assemble anything you've the materials for, no matter how complex or intricate, in moments and whatever you forge shall be of mythic quality, whether armor lighter than cloth and harder than a mountain or plows that can turn over ten acres with one pass. Truly you are worthy to be called the smith of the gods.
Basic Tools (Irish Mythology, Free): You have the mundane tools of your profession. A warrior will have a shield, arms and armor. A noble slightly better versions of the same. A Smith will have tools and materials for metalworking. A druid gets the badges of their office and a pouch of herbs. A Bard, a musical instrument.
Basic Tools (Irish Mythology, Free): You have the mundane tools of your profession. A warrior will have a shield, arms and armor. A noble slightly better versions of the same. A Smith will have tools and materials for metalworking. A druid gets the badges of their office and a pouch of herbs. A Bard, a musical instrument.
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UNSC Lark
- Pronouns
- She/They
Why else do things other than a lark?
That said, it didn't make him particularly happy to be waking up after only a couple hours of sleep to his phone ringing off the hook after he'd burned a whole bunch of magic putting down a Red Court strike on a Fellowship base in Yuma.
"Go for Ramirez," he grumped, grateful his phone cord was long enough for him to reach the kitchenette in his cramped apartment and start prepping the moka pot for some actual coffee and not the kind of motor oil that they served in the Warden breakroom.
"Warden Ramirez," came a voice from the other end, a voice that sounded vaguely feminine but was otherwise obscured by static, and Carlos figuratively perked his ears up. It wasn't that no one who had his phone number knew that he was a Warden, per se, but that out of the whole group, the only one who would call his phone and call him a Warden was Yuki, and that sure as hell wasn't her voice. "I need a favor."
"Who is this?" Carlos asked, pressing the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he tossed a container of pre-ground beans into the basket, then filled the bottom and screwed the pot together.
There was an awkward pause, then, just as he set the pot on the burner, the voice spoke again. "You can call me Raggedy Ann."
"Nice to meet you, miss Ann," Ramirez said, turning up the charm as best he could manage before coffee. "What can I do ya for?"
"I know the White Council coordinates with the Vatican on some things," the voice said, as he was pulling his mug out of the cabinet.
"Sometimes," Ramirez responded. "Why?"
"I need to know if you have a list of the Blackened Denarii currently in circulation."
Ramirez' mug shattered on the floor. "Say that again."
"I need a list of every known member of the Knights of the Coin in circulation."
Ramirez ran his hand through his hair. "Right, damn, that's what I thought you said."
"So, you don't have one?"
"Call back in two hours," Ramirez said, turning off the burner and scooping up his silver Warden's sword on his way to the door. "I have to go get it."
"Understood." The line went dead, and Ramirez wasted no time, stuffing his feet into his boots and grabbing the gray cloak of his office to settle about his shoulders before sprinting out of the building and into the desert.
"Aparturum!" he shouted, tearing a rift into the Never-Never and leaping through.
Hopefully he'd be able to get to Captain Luccio quick- anyone who called the Council about the Knights of the Coin either didn't know about their opposite numbers or couldn't rely on them, and he couldn't afford to roll those dice, not with the kind of lives that were on the line if the Knights were involved. He'd been a wet-behind-the-ears apprentice for the last time they'd surfaced, but Luccio had insisted that he see the aftermath, and… well. It hadn't been pretty, but he needed to see it. If nothing else, he'd been set on being a Warden even then, and they regularly were confronted with uglier in pursuit of warlocks, but it had also helped him keep his head whenever he ran into one of the Red Court "rituals".
If he could stop that from happening again, he damn well would.
I'd barely managed to sneak out of the house after clearing out the guest room and helping Daniel straighten up the shed that Mom liked to keep the armor and spare weapons in, and I knew that if I went back home I'd get sucked down into the Chore Vortex that Saturdays had a tendency to turn into, so I wouldn't be able to sneak back out to get my hands on a payphone to call Ramirez back.
I didn't want to drag Harry into this, although knowing his luck he'd end up involved anyways, so bugging him was out of the question even if I wanted to, and I didn't think anyone would take well to me going down to a pub in the middle of the day, so Mac's was out too.
The best option, at this point, was hitting up a library, seeing if I couldn't squeeze some information out of somewhere, and I stopped by an OfficeDepot on my way to grab a notebook and a pencil (one of the good ones, the solid steel mechanical ones that I'd stabbed a couple of Fomor servitors to death with over the years) to actually get my thoughts in order once I got there.
The pedestals shimmered again, just as I was handing over the cash to pay for my new pencil and notebook, but thankfully I didn't have to deal with another knowledge download this time, and I got out of the store without more than a little bit of a side-eye from an almost gaunt-looking brunette browsing an aisle of paper cutters.
I made it to the library without running into any Red Court vampires or something like that- I knew they'd be in the city sooner or later to fight Harry for something or other, but I wasn't sure when exactly, so all I could do was hope that I was fast enough to get my crucifix out to drive it off before it managed to get its fangs into me. Fortunately, that wasn't a worry that was vindicated this time, and I sat down at one of the boxy computers.
I was… very out of practice, but I'd had enough typing classes in school that I could muddle through there, and while I didn't quite remember everything about researching on the internet, I could at least go through newspapers and census reports a lot more easily now than it had been when I'd had to hunt them down in person.
From what little I could find, the Red Court was still spooling up to war footing, with disappearances in both the world in general and Latin America specifically slowly ramping up as the vamps started turning and feeding more.
I didn't really have the memories of what else was supposed to be going on around this point to know what else to look for, since I'd been, you know, fourteen the first time around, but that was fine, since I'd hopefully have a line on the Denarians in circulation once Carlos got back to me, and anything else I could… well, I could probably do something for Ivy or one of the Council Members I'd remembered being receptive once I had the chance, so that was a concern for another day.
What wasn't a concern for another day was getting my hands on some proper focuses, so I spent the next hour or so sitting down on an armchair and sketching out different rune sets that I could use to properly attune a focus to be more reliable with my own casting.
Immediately, anything too big was axed- I hadn't worked with much bigger than a wand in the past, not unless I wanted to count enchanted items like the bag of holding I'd been refining or the wholly magical toy Jeep that I'd made for little Maggie, so as I was now I couldn't use too many runes or else I wouldn't be able to properly fit them on the thing. I also wanted to put the newfound knowledge of how to use a sword to proper use, so I put together a couple of arrays to forge into the blade of a weapon.
For a moment, I wished I could have gotten some of those lessons from Captain Luccio that she'd talked about every so often- while the Silver Swords that the Wardens used weren't nearly as hefty, metaphysically speaking, as the Swords of the Cross, they'd been a big enough deal that I wished I could have cribbed her notes. As it was, I was just going to have to muddle through from first principles, assuming that whatever it was that was feeding me knowledge wouldn't just drop the key to making, say, Coinspinner out of nowhere.
I paused, but apparently feeding the universe a straight line like that wasn't good enough to turn me into Vulcan, so I'd have to figure things out the old-fashioned way.
Before sketching out another potential sword idea, I checked the dinky little plastic watch on my wrist.
"Right, okay, it's about that time anyways," I said, closing my notebook around my pencil as I stood up.
By the time I made it outside and to a payphone, it had been just a hair under two hours, but I figured that Carlos wouldn't have too much of an issue with me calling a couple of minutes early.
He picked up much quicker this time around, and he sounded… well, like I hadn't just called him in the middle of a sleep cycle. "Go for Ramirez," he said, the weight of exhaustion he'd had earlier replaced with the tension that you'd expect out of a hunter in the wild: not quite combative, but very clear that he was ready for it if push came to shove.
Belatedly, I hissed out "kakusu" to provide the static effect that would prevent him from recognizing my voice in the future. "Warden Ramirez. This is Raggedy Ann, I believe we spoke earlier today."
"That we did," he said, slightly less tense. "Gimme a sec, gotta put you on speaker."
I heard the sound of motion, then a muttered phrase from Ramirez that I couldn't make out, before someone else spoke.
"Miss Ann," the voice said, and while I didn't recognize the voice, I could tell whoever it was was used to being in charge. "This is Warden Captain Anastasia Luccio. I take it you know who I am?"
I swallowed. This was more or less exactly what I was hoping to avoid by calling Carlos- if Luccio knew what was going on and where, she'd bring down the hammer on the Denarians, which would only spook them off. "I do."
"Then I take it you know why I can't afford to disseminate this kind of sensitive information recklessly," she said, every inch the towering Italian matriarch even across the country.
I had to push down the urge to quail under her attentions, even over the phone, as well as the distraction that was the pedestals glimmering. "I feel confident in saying that I do. I have no intention of going out and executing some form of vigilante justice against them, nor of breaking any of the Laws of Magic. I don't even need to act directly- all three of the Knights of the Sword are involved in the situation at hand, I don't have to do more than put my thumb on my scales. That would be… I would appreciate it if you were willing to share information about the matter, but I understand why you wouldn't, and I will find some way to stand in the way of the Denarians even without your aid. Your information would just… make it easier."
There's a moment where I'm sure that Luccio's gonna insist that I not get involved, but then I can hear a sigh from Ramirez in the background. "That's about what I expected, Captain."
"Young lady," said Luccio, and I bristled at the condescension in her tone but managed to hold my tongue, "you must promise me that you will be careful with this information. Not just who you speak of it to, or how you act upon it, but how you think it- some of the Fallen currently at large can pluck the information from your head, and they lack the scruples and fear of the Laws to prevent them from doing so. The White Council's relationship with the Vatican is already strained enough without them hearing that we are sharing confidential information with outsiders, and we cannot afford to lose their support during this war. Am I understood?"
As much as being talked down to rankled, I understood the situation she'd been put into. "I will do my utmost to maintain information security, Captain."
"Very well, then," she said, and there was a note of melancholy in her voice that I couldn't quite explain. "As of this moment, aside from Anduriel and Imariel…"
Perks earned:
None
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Allen Baker, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
-----
Beta'd by Sesparra-----
Carlos Ramirez wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper, even before he'd signed on for the White Council's Warden Rapid Response Force (thankfully not the proper Brute Squad, since they'd been destroyed when Simon Pietrovitch died, but sometimes the Council needed swords and needed them pronto, and that he could do).That said, it didn't make him particularly happy to be waking up after only a couple hours of sleep to his phone ringing off the hook after he'd burned a whole bunch of magic putting down a Red Court strike on a Fellowship base in Yuma.
"Go for Ramirez," he grumped, grateful his phone cord was long enough for him to reach the kitchenette in his cramped apartment and start prepping the moka pot for some actual coffee and not the kind of motor oil that they served in the Warden breakroom.
"Warden Ramirez," came a voice from the other end, a voice that sounded vaguely feminine but was otherwise obscured by static, and Carlos figuratively perked his ears up. It wasn't that no one who had his phone number knew that he was a Warden, per se, but that out of the whole group, the only one who would call his phone and call him a Warden was Yuki, and that sure as hell wasn't her voice. "I need a favor."
"Who is this?" Carlos asked, pressing the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he tossed a container of pre-ground beans into the basket, then filled the bottom and screwed the pot together.
There was an awkward pause, then, just as he set the pot on the burner, the voice spoke again. "You can call me Raggedy Ann."
"Nice to meet you, miss Ann," Ramirez said, turning up the charm as best he could manage before coffee. "What can I do ya for?"
"I know the White Council coordinates with the Vatican on some things," the voice said, as he was pulling his mug out of the cabinet.
"Sometimes," Ramirez responded. "Why?"
"I need to know if you have a list of the Blackened Denarii currently in circulation."
Ramirez' mug shattered on the floor. "Say that again."
"I need a list of every known member of the Knights of the Coin in circulation."
Ramirez ran his hand through his hair. "Right, damn, that's what I thought you said."
"So, you don't have one?"
"Call back in two hours," Ramirez said, turning off the burner and scooping up his silver Warden's sword on his way to the door. "I have to go get it."
"Understood." The line went dead, and Ramirez wasted no time, stuffing his feet into his boots and grabbing the gray cloak of his office to settle about his shoulders before sprinting out of the building and into the desert.
"Aparturum!" he shouted, tearing a rift into the Never-Never and leaping through.
Hopefully he'd be able to get to Captain Luccio quick- anyone who called the Council about the Knights of the Coin either didn't know about their opposite numbers or couldn't rely on them, and he couldn't afford to roll those dice, not with the kind of lives that were on the line if the Knights were involved. He'd been a wet-behind-the-ears apprentice for the last time they'd surfaced, but Luccio had insisted that he see the aftermath, and… well. It hadn't been pretty, but he needed to see it. If nothing else, he'd been set on being a Warden even then, and they regularly were confronted with uglier in pursuit of warlocks, but it had also helped him keep his head whenever he ran into one of the Red Court "rituals".
If he could stop that from happening again, he damn well would.
-----
Great. What was I supposed to do for the next few hours?I'd barely managed to sneak out of the house after clearing out the guest room and helping Daniel straighten up the shed that Mom liked to keep the armor and spare weapons in, and I knew that if I went back home I'd get sucked down into the Chore Vortex that Saturdays had a tendency to turn into, so I wouldn't be able to sneak back out to get my hands on a payphone to call Ramirez back.
I didn't want to drag Harry into this, although knowing his luck he'd end up involved anyways, so bugging him was out of the question even if I wanted to, and I didn't think anyone would take well to me going down to a pub in the middle of the day, so Mac's was out too.
The best option, at this point, was hitting up a library, seeing if I couldn't squeeze some information out of somewhere, and I stopped by an OfficeDepot on my way to grab a notebook and a pencil (one of the good ones, the solid steel mechanical ones that I'd stabbed a couple of Fomor servitors to death with over the years) to actually get my thoughts in order once I got there.
The pedestals shimmered again, just as I was handing over the cash to pay for my new pencil and notebook, but thankfully I didn't have to deal with another knowledge download this time, and I got out of the store without more than a little bit of a side-eye from an almost gaunt-looking brunette browsing an aisle of paper cutters.
I made it to the library without running into any Red Court vampires or something like that- I knew they'd be in the city sooner or later to fight Harry for something or other, but I wasn't sure when exactly, so all I could do was hope that I was fast enough to get my crucifix out to drive it off before it managed to get its fangs into me. Fortunately, that wasn't a worry that was vindicated this time, and I sat down at one of the boxy computers.
I was… very out of practice, but I'd had enough typing classes in school that I could muddle through there, and while I didn't quite remember everything about researching on the internet, I could at least go through newspapers and census reports a lot more easily now than it had been when I'd had to hunt them down in person.
From what little I could find, the Red Court was still spooling up to war footing, with disappearances in both the world in general and Latin America specifically slowly ramping up as the vamps started turning and feeding more.
I didn't really have the memories of what else was supposed to be going on around this point to know what else to look for, since I'd been, you know, fourteen the first time around, but that was fine, since I'd hopefully have a line on the Denarians in circulation once Carlos got back to me, and anything else I could… well, I could probably do something for Ivy or one of the Council Members I'd remembered being receptive once I had the chance, so that was a concern for another day.
What wasn't a concern for another day was getting my hands on some proper focuses, so I spent the next hour or so sitting down on an armchair and sketching out different rune sets that I could use to properly attune a focus to be more reliable with my own casting.
Immediately, anything too big was axed- I hadn't worked with much bigger than a wand in the past, not unless I wanted to count enchanted items like the bag of holding I'd been refining or the wholly magical toy Jeep that I'd made for little Maggie, so as I was now I couldn't use too many runes or else I wouldn't be able to properly fit them on the thing. I also wanted to put the newfound knowledge of how to use a sword to proper use, so I put together a couple of arrays to forge into the blade of a weapon.
For a moment, I wished I could have gotten some of those lessons from Captain Luccio that she'd talked about every so often- while the Silver Swords that the Wardens used weren't nearly as hefty, metaphysically speaking, as the Swords of the Cross, they'd been a big enough deal that I wished I could have cribbed her notes. As it was, I was just going to have to muddle through from first principles, assuming that whatever it was that was feeding me knowledge wouldn't just drop the key to making, say, Coinspinner out of nowhere.
I paused, but apparently feeding the universe a straight line like that wasn't good enough to turn me into Vulcan, so I'd have to figure things out the old-fashioned way.
Before sketching out another potential sword idea, I checked the dinky little plastic watch on my wrist.
"Right, okay, it's about that time anyways," I said, closing my notebook around my pencil as I stood up.
By the time I made it outside and to a payphone, it had been just a hair under two hours, but I figured that Carlos wouldn't have too much of an issue with me calling a couple of minutes early.
He picked up much quicker this time around, and he sounded… well, like I hadn't just called him in the middle of a sleep cycle. "Go for Ramirez," he said, the weight of exhaustion he'd had earlier replaced with the tension that you'd expect out of a hunter in the wild: not quite combative, but very clear that he was ready for it if push came to shove.
Belatedly, I hissed out "kakusu" to provide the static effect that would prevent him from recognizing my voice in the future. "Warden Ramirez. This is Raggedy Ann, I believe we spoke earlier today."
"That we did," he said, slightly less tense. "Gimme a sec, gotta put you on speaker."
I heard the sound of motion, then a muttered phrase from Ramirez that I couldn't make out, before someone else spoke.
"Miss Ann," the voice said, and while I didn't recognize the voice, I could tell whoever it was was used to being in charge. "This is Warden Captain Anastasia Luccio. I take it you know who I am?"
I swallowed. This was more or less exactly what I was hoping to avoid by calling Carlos- if Luccio knew what was going on and where, she'd bring down the hammer on the Denarians, which would only spook them off. "I do."
"Then I take it you know why I can't afford to disseminate this kind of sensitive information recklessly," she said, every inch the towering Italian matriarch even across the country.
I had to push down the urge to quail under her attentions, even over the phone, as well as the distraction that was the pedestals glimmering. "I feel confident in saying that I do. I have no intention of going out and executing some form of vigilante justice against them, nor of breaking any of the Laws of Magic. I don't even need to act directly- all three of the Knights of the Sword are involved in the situation at hand, I don't have to do more than put my thumb on my scales. That would be… I would appreciate it if you were willing to share information about the matter, but I understand why you wouldn't, and I will find some way to stand in the way of the Denarians even without your aid. Your information would just… make it easier."
There's a moment where I'm sure that Luccio's gonna insist that I not get involved, but then I can hear a sigh from Ramirez in the background. "That's about what I expected, Captain."
"Young lady," said Luccio, and I bristled at the condescension in her tone but managed to hold my tongue, "you must promise me that you will be careful with this information. Not just who you speak of it to, or how you act upon it, but how you think it- some of the Fallen currently at large can pluck the information from your head, and they lack the scruples and fear of the Laws to prevent them from doing so. The White Council's relationship with the Vatican is already strained enough without them hearing that we are sharing confidential information with outsiders, and we cannot afford to lose their support during this war. Am I understood?"
As much as being talked down to rankled, I understood the situation she'd been put into. "I will do my utmost to maintain information security, Captain."
"Very well, then," she said, and there was a note of melancholy in her voice that I couldn't quite explain. "As of this moment, aside from Anduriel and Imariel…"
-----
And that's that!Perks earned:
None
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Allen Baker, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
The books storie is nu fullie dereilt
I'm a bit behind on DF, but isn't Molly Winter Lady, or is this an alternate timeline?
- Location
- Victoria, BC
Definitely an alternate timeline. Molly never worked with the White Council because she was a warlock. She broke one of the laws and was on probation. And yes, she is currently the Winter Lady.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Alternate timeline where Michael twigged to Molly being a Wizard before the situation with Rosie and Nelson got going, so they could afford to get someone other than Harry as a mentor (because, for all that he's great when the chips are down, given his track record, I'd trust someone like Klaus over him with teaching a kid especially with the recommendation from someone I trusted like Michael trusts Forthill).
UNSC Ghost Star
- Pronouns
- She/They
Not quite Kamino, but not something you can go out and look up.
With that said, I didn't really get as much as I was hoping for out of Luccio. I knew that Nicodemus and Dierdre were in play, since the two were damn near inseparable, and that Tessa and her little band of merry men were out there causing chaos. I was pretty sure that last time around she hadn't been a relevant factor here, but that only took Imariel, whoever Rosanna's coin was, and Thorned Namshiel off of the list since neither of us were sure which other Denarians Tessa had managed to drag into her orbit. Otherwise, there was a list of coins, and while some of them had wielders (or skinsuits, as the case may be), there wasn't a guarantee that the ones that hadn't had a host in a while hadn't found one recently.
Aside from Nicodemus, the biggest worry I had was that he'd somehow found himself someone capable of actually synergizing with Lasciel.
He'd found a couple of hosts for her in the future-that-wasn't, and they'd always been absolute nightmares to dislodge. Dad had been able to handle one of them (a man named Johnstone, I think), barely, and if Harry hadn't been there to run interference, I didn't think he would have been able to stop him. The host had only been a minor practitioner, too. Between the Wardens being stretched thin with the Red Court and the Fomor not being around to pick off everyone they could get, especially warlocks, it would be very easy to find a sorcerer who could make use of Lasciel's delicate touch and vast repertoire of arcane knowledge to go from a middling threat to the kind of problem that Kemmler would be proud of.
More relevantly, Lasciel would be the most likely Fallen to catch any kind of subtle manipulations that I'd try to tip the scales against Nicodemus, with the possible exception of Anduriel being a cheating cheater who cheats, on top of being the Fallen whose magic was the most dangerous to other spellcasters, with the possible exception of Thorned Namshiel, just out of sheer versatility.
As far as I was concerned, the more versatile a practitioner was, the less predictable and thus more dangerous they were, and with how long Lasciel had been in the field, any of her hosts would be very versatile.
Still, there was no point in borrowing trouble, and I had some things I'd like to at least try out before I just took my ball and left in the face of Denarians being Denarians.
I managed to slip back into the house relatively unmolested, not even having to weave a veil around me to avoid notice thanks to Hobbit and Amanda being loud at each other about some animated show or another.
I took just a moment to bask in the chaos of the house, leaning up against the wall as I took it all in. After… after, I'd missed both the house and the people in it, once the Fomor had destroyed them, and even before then I hadn't been in the habit of coming home for too long. Dad had changed, after he found the ruin of the house, and Daniel hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, but I couldn't help but mourn for it, even now that I'd gotten it back.
I was shocked out of my musing not by the glimmering of the pedestals, nor by the toy shield with a blue circle painted near one corner materializing near the pedestal with the wooden sword, but by a weight materializing in my hoodie pocket.
The damn thing set my teeth on edge, it was throwing off that much power. Touching it only made it worse, and I flinched back almost on reflex when it sent what felt like a static shock halfway up my bicep when my fingers made contact. I could feel it latching on to me, swaddling me in a cloak of power that tasted like moonlight and smelled like a constellation, before settling down to just a background sensation, and when I touched it again, ready to pull back, it only brought the sensation to the forefront of my senses briefly.
"Everything okay, Molly?" asked Dad, and I jolted, not having sensed him coming through having a divine relic dropped in my pocket.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's just…" I sighed, putting on a little bit of a show for him. "I've been doing some thinking, and… I realized that this can't last, so I got kind of caught up in that."
He gave me an askance look, but to be fair, that was the truth, even if the arrival of one hell of a magical item had interrupted that thought a little bit.
"That is…" Dad smiled. "I am glad that you've managed to come to understand the impermanence of life as we know it," he said.
Abruptly, I was reminded of the fact that Dad had been much more affected by Shiro's death than I had, in the future-that-wasn't, even if he had been dealing with some sort of health issue- he was the one who taught Dad how to work with his sword, how to comport himself as a knight, and he'd even babysat, once or twice, years ago, whereas to me all he'd been was Shiro (or "Unca Shiwo!", the first time we'd met), and I wondered if he was thinking about how much more time he'd have with the old man.
I nudged him with my shoulder, and he dragged me into a hug. "Treasure these moments," he said, seeming almost wistful, "when you're just living with the people you love. These are the ones that you can't get back, after they're gone."
Okay, apparently he wasn't thinking about Shiro.
"I will, Dad," I said, leaning into his solid bulk. It had been a long time since he'd hugged me like this, too long if I had anything to say about it, and I'd be sad when I grew up enough that Dad couldn't hug me like everything was going to be okay.
We stood there for a moment longer, quietly taking in the moment of mundane life in the time before Dad was called away again. Then, almost as one, we separated, and he smiled down at me with that "all will be well" smile that he always made a point of plastering all over his face whenever he told the story of how he fought Siriothrax to save Mom.
"No matter what comes," he said, "you will always be my daughter," and I felt the tears start to run down my cheeks before I buried my face in his shoulder.
"Thanks, Dad," I managed, muffled by his shoulder. "Love you."
"I love you too, Molly," he rumbled, one broad hand landing on my head to ruffle my hair as the vibrations of his voice reverberated through his chest and into my entire body in the way that I've only half-jokingly said comes from wielding the Sword of Love, in the past.
I stayed there for a little longer, basking in the sense of security that always came when Dad was around, before pulling back and smiling up at him. "Hey, do you mind if I, ah, monopolize your workshop for a little bit? I had an idea and I want to get it at least started while I still have the chance.
"I suppose I could be persuaded," he said, gently and with a hint of a smile playing about his lips.
"It's for the family," I said, and it was even true, partially- I'd made a couple of coasters carved with Star Wars characters, and I could repurpose those carvings and one of the drafting spells I'd learned from Klaus to put the sketches and the start of a carving together for us while I got started on carving foci worth the name.
"If you promise to be careful," he said, ruffling my hair again from where he hadn't moved his car tire of a hand.
"Dad, I'll be fine," I whined, dislodging him gently. "I'll make sure to use goggles and gloves and everything, at least once I break out the tools properly."
He gave a put-upon sigh. "I suppose this is how Shiro felt." Then, to me: "If you promise to be safe, and you come back inside in time for dinner, you can go out and work with my tools."
"You're the best, Dad. Love you!" I dragged his hand down and pressed a kiss to it, leaving just an echo of soulfire on his palm, before I turned and strode out of the house and across the backyard to the shed that Dad keeps as an at-home carpentry workshop.
It only took a moment for me to pull a sheet of drafting paper from the folder of loose leaf that Dad kept on hand and set a pencil dancing across it, marking out enough designs for a full dozen coasters, and with that done I sat down at his table with my notebook open to one of the rune sequences that I'd settled on for a secondary focus. Being stuck with mostly wood, paint, and maybe metal if I could sneak over to Mom's forge for a little bit, I couldn't do something like the jewler's loupe that I'd preferred for light-based magic in the past, or a proper defensive talisman like Yoshimo's, but I could get away with a little medallion of a rainbow covering an eye to run a veil or some less intensive photomancy off of and maybe a more refined wand focus than the literal toy I'd resigned myself to using for the next while.
I felt the pedestals start to glow, and sucked in a breath to try and wait out whatever was coming for me, then released it slowly as nothing came of it. Then, I pulled the spherical relic out of the pocket of my hoodie, having been reminded of the thing by the process that had dumped it in my lap to begin with.
It was a sphere the size of my fist, roughly, the kind of dark blue that you'd expect out of Homer's wine-dark sea. There were faint etchings in the crystal, but I couldn't tell what they were just from touch and they were too shallow to be able to tell what they looked like. The magic within, though… It was powerful, primal, and ancient, but limited, most of the power dissipating out into the universe through links that felt like they were supposed to be hooked into something else. Some of the energy was latching onto me, but I wasn't sure what it was doing, aside from something generally positive.
"The Starsphere," I said, with the absolute certainty that would come out of Dad declaring that the Lord was his shepherd and that he would not want.
Then, I shivered, stuffing the orb back into my pocket. Dad might be able to handle being the servant of a higher power and being steered around by the power of an archangel or three, but that wasn't something I'd been comfortable with ever since the first time I'd soulgazed a Denarian. Magog wasn't nearly as bad as Ursiel to his hosts, according to what Sanya and Harry had told me about their experiences with the respective Fallen, but he was still one of the thirty Fallen, and they all shared an interest in eroding the will of their host to act upon their own agendas, and I couldn't help but compare the sensation of whatever power had imbued the Starsphere with its power dropping its Name into my mouth to my memories of Magog's chained host.
Benevolent as it may be, I didn't want to think about it, so with an effort of will, I banished it from my thoughts and turned to the wood pile, selecting a long, straight dowel to trim down into a wand and a cast-off section of two-by-four to carve into the amulet. Ideally they'd be actually important wood, but I wasn't in a position to complain about a freebie.
The amulet didn't take very much of my personal attention, and after carving out the rough shape I managed to scrounge up enough brushes to set to painting on their own. I'd probably need to find some time after the Denarians left town to refine it into a focus worthy of Klaus' exacting standards, but for now, beggars couldn't be choosers, especially since I wasn't sure how long I'd have before shit hit the fan and/or I'd have an opportunity to… intervene.
With that handled, I turned a couple of pages in my notebook to the rune schemas I had sketched out, before reaching for the little knife I'd used for the medallion once the chisel work was done.
For a while, I allowed myself to drift, taking pleasure in the act of simple creation. It had been too long since I had just sat down and made something for myself, even if it was a new primary focus, and though I was trying to impress some Soulfire into the process the spiritually soothing aspects of how I was doing it would probably help me make up for whatever little I spent on my first foray into crafting with the literal power of creation.
"Young Carpenter, dinner is-" The voice stopped, and I looked up to see Sanya standing in the doorway, eyes darting first to the pencils drafting the coasters on their own and then to the brushes painting the amulet without a human hand directing them. "Hm. Interesting."
Fuck.
Perks earned:
Starsphere (Fire Emblem: Archanea, 400CP): A dark blue orb on which the twelve zodiac constellations are etched upon. This is a copy of the Starsphere, one of the orbs on the Fire Emblem. The Starsphere is remarkable for significantly boosting the growth of the one who has it--they grow much stronger in a short amount of time if they carry this sphere close. Experience sticks around longer inside their head and they develop in power and skill, magical, physical, or otherwise, at a faster rate than usual. It also gives a minor boost to the owner in general. It's not much, but it could mean the difference between an enemy barely alive or completely dead on the battlefield.
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Allen Baker, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
-----
Beta'd by Sesparra-----
"Thank you very much, Captain. Swift winds to you," I said, before hanging up the payphone, passing my wand over it with a muttered word and an effort of will to wipe any sort of mystical traces of my presence and the conversation away. It was probably overkill, but I'd heard more than enough from Harry, Carlos, Yuki, and even Klaus over the years to know that I'd rather have gone to too much effort than to have gotten sloppy and get bitten in the ass over it.With that said, I didn't really get as much as I was hoping for out of Luccio. I knew that Nicodemus and Dierdre were in play, since the two were damn near inseparable, and that Tessa and her little band of merry men were out there causing chaos. I was pretty sure that last time around she hadn't been a relevant factor here, but that only took Imariel, whoever Rosanna's coin was, and Thorned Namshiel off of the list since neither of us were sure which other Denarians Tessa had managed to drag into her orbit. Otherwise, there was a list of coins, and while some of them had wielders (or skinsuits, as the case may be), there wasn't a guarantee that the ones that hadn't had a host in a while hadn't found one recently.
Aside from Nicodemus, the biggest worry I had was that he'd somehow found himself someone capable of actually synergizing with Lasciel.
He'd found a couple of hosts for her in the future-that-wasn't, and they'd always been absolute nightmares to dislodge. Dad had been able to handle one of them (a man named Johnstone, I think), barely, and if Harry hadn't been there to run interference, I didn't think he would have been able to stop him. The host had only been a minor practitioner, too. Between the Wardens being stretched thin with the Red Court and the Fomor not being around to pick off everyone they could get, especially warlocks, it would be very easy to find a sorcerer who could make use of Lasciel's delicate touch and vast repertoire of arcane knowledge to go from a middling threat to the kind of problem that Kemmler would be proud of.
More relevantly, Lasciel would be the most likely Fallen to catch any kind of subtle manipulations that I'd try to tip the scales against Nicodemus, with the possible exception of Anduriel being a cheating cheater who cheats, on top of being the Fallen whose magic was the most dangerous to other spellcasters, with the possible exception of Thorned Namshiel, just out of sheer versatility.
As far as I was concerned, the more versatile a practitioner was, the less predictable and thus more dangerous they were, and with how long Lasciel had been in the field, any of her hosts would be very versatile.
Still, there was no point in borrowing trouble, and I had some things I'd like to at least try out before I just took my ball and left in the face of Denarians being Denarians.
I managed to slip back into the house relatively unmolested, not even having to weave a veil around me to avoid notice thanks to Hobbit and Amanda being loud at each other about some animated show or another.
I took just a moment to bask in the chaos of the house, leaning up against the wall as I took it all in. After… after, I'd missed both the house and the people in it, once the Fomor had destroyed them, and even before then I hadn't been in the habit of coming home for too long. Dad had changed, after he found the ruin of the house, and Daniel hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, but I couldn't help but mourn for it, even now that I'd gotten it back.
I was shocked out of my musing not by the glimmering of the pedestals, nor by the toy shield with a blue circle painted near one corner materializing near the pedestal with the wooden sword, but by a weight materializing in my hoodie pocket.
The damn thing set my teeth on edge, it was throwing off that much power. Touching it only made it worse, and I flinched back almost on reflex when it sent what felt like a static shock halfway up my bicep when my fingers made contact. I could feel it latching on to me, swaddling me in a cloak of power that tasted like moonlight and smelled like a constellation, before settling down to just a background sensation, and when I touched it again, ready to pull back, it only brought the sensation to the forefront of my senses briefly.
"Everything okay, Molly?" asked Dad, and I jolted, not having sensed him coming through having a divine relic dropped in my pocket.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's just…" I sighed, putting on a little bit of a show for him. "I've been doing some thinking, and… I realized that this can't last, so I got kind of caught up in that."
He gave me an askance look, but to be fair, that was the truth, even if the arrival of one hell of a magical item had interrupted that thought a little bit.
"That is…" Dad smiled. "I am glad that you've managed to come to understand the impermanence of life as we know it," he said.
Abruptly, I was reminded of the fact that Dad had been much more affected by Shiro's death than I had, in the future-that-wasn't, even if he had been dealing with some sort of health issue- he was the one who taught Dad how to work with his sword, how to comport himself as a knight, and he'd even babysat, once or twice, years ago, whereas to me all he'd been was Shiro (or "Unca Shiwo!", the first time we'd met), and I wondered if he was thinking about how much more time he'd have with the old man.
I nudged him with my shoulder, and he dragged me into a hug. "Treasure these moments," he said, seeming almost wistful, "when you're just living with the people you love. These are the ones that you can't get back, after they're gone."
Okay, apparently he wasn't thinking about Shiro.
"I will, Dad," I said, leaning into his solid bulk. It had been a long time since he'd hugged me like this, too long if I had anything to say about it, and I'd be sad when I grew up enough that Dad couldn't hug me like everything was going to be okay.
We stood there for a moment longer, quietly taking in the moment of mundane life in the time before Dad was called away again. Then, almost as one, we separated, and he smiled down at me with that "all will be well" smile that he always made a point of plastering all over his face whenever he told the story of how he fought Siriothrax to save Mom.
"No matter what comes," he said, "you will always be my daughter," and I felt the tears start to run down my cheeks before I buried my face in his shoulder.
"Thanks, Dad," I managed, muffled by his shoulder. "Love you."
"I love you too, Molly," he rumbled, one broad hand landing on my head to ruffle my hair as the vibrations of his voice reverberated through his chest and into my entire body in the way that I've only half-jokingly said comes from wielding the Sword of Love, in the past.
I stayed there for a little longer, basking in the sense of security that always came when Dad was around, before pulling back and smiling up at him. "Hey, do you mind if I, ah, monopolize your workshop for a little bit? I had an idea and I want to get it at least started while I still have the chance.
"I suppose I could be persuaded," he said, gently and with a hint of a smile playing about his lips.
"It's for the family," I said, and it was even true, partially- I'd made a couple of coasters carved with Star Wars characters, and I could repurpose those carvings and one of the drafting spells I'd learned from Klaus to put the sketches and the start of a carving together for us while I got started on carving foci worth the name.
"If you promise to be careful," he said, ruffling my hair again from where he hadn't moved his car tire of a hand.
"Dad, I'll be fine," I whined, dislodging him gently. "I'll make sure to use goggles and gloves and everything, at least once I break out the tools properly."
He gave a put-upon sigh. "I suppose this is how Shiro felt." Then, to me: "If you promise to be safe, and you come back inside in time for dinner, you can go out and work with my tools."
"You're the best, Dad. Love you!" I dragged his hand down and pressed a kiss to it, leaving just an echo of soulfire on his palm, before I turned and strode out of the house and across the backyard to the shed that Dad keeps as an at-home carpentry workshop.
It only took a moment for me to pull a sheet of drafting paper from the folder of loose leaf that Dad kept on hand and set a pencil dancing across it, marking out enough designs for a full dozen coasters, and with that done I sat down at his table with my notebook open to one of the rune sequences that I'd settled on for a secondary focus. Being stuck with mostly wood, paint, and maybe metal if I could sneak over to Mom's forge for a little bit, I couldn't do something like the jewler's loupe that I'd preferred for light-based magic in the past, or a proper defensive talisman like Yoshimo's, but I could get away with a little medallion of a rainbow covering an eye to run a veil or some less intensive photomancy off of and maybe a more refined wand focus than the literal toy I'd resigned myself to using for the next while.
I felt the pedestals start to glow, and sucked in a breath to try and wait out whatever was coming for me, then released it slowly as nothing came of it. Then, I pulled the spherical relic out of the pocket of my hoodie, having been reminded of the thing by the process that had dumped it in my lap to begin with.
It was a sphere the size of my fist, roughly, the kind of dark blue that you'd expect out of Homer's wine-dark sea. There were faint etchings in the crystal, but I couldn't tell what they were just from touch and they were too shallow to be able to tell what they looked like. The magic within, though… It was powerful, primal, and ancient, but limited, most of the power dissipating out into the universe through links that felt like they were supposed to be hooked into something else. Some of the energy was latching onto me, but I wasn't sure what it was doing, aside from something generally positive.
"The Starsphere," I said, with the absolute certainty that would come out of Dad declaring that the Lord was his shepherd and that he would not want.
Then, I shivered, stuffing the orb back into my pocket. Dad might be able to handle being the servant of a higher power and being steered around by the power of an archangel or three, but that wasn't something I'd been comfortable with ever since the first time I'd soulgazed a Denarian. Magog wasn't nearly as bad as Ursiel to his hosts, according to what Sanya and Harry had told me about their experiences with the respective Fallen, but he was still one of the thirty Fallen, and they all shared an interest in eroding the will of their host to act upon their own agendas, and I couldn't help but compare the sensation of whatever power had imbued the Starsphere with its power dropping its Name into my mouth to my memories of Magog's chained host.
Benevolent as it may be, I didn't want to think about it, so with an effort of will, I banished it from my thoughts and turned to the wood pile, selecting a long, straight dowel to trim down into a wand and a cast-off section of two-by-four to carve into the amulet. Ideally they'd be actually important wood, but I wasn't in a position to complain about a freebie.
The amulet didn't take very much of my personal attention, and after carving out the rough shape I managed to scrounge up enough brushes to set to painting on their own. I'd probably need to find some time after the Denarians left town to refine it into a focus worthy of Klaus' exacting standards, but for now, beggars couldn't be choosers, especially since I wasn't sure how long I'd have before shit hit the fan and/or I'd have an opportunity to… intervene.
With that handled, I turned a couple of pages in my notebook to the rune schemas I had sketched out, before reaching for the little knife I'd used for the medallion once the chisel work was done.
For a while, I allowed myself to drift, taking pleasure in the act of simple creation. It had been too long since I had just sat down and made something for myself, even if it was a new primary focus, and though I was trying to impress some Soulfire into the process the spiritually soothing aspects of how I was doing it would probably help me make up for whatever little I spent on my first foray into crafting with the literal power of creation.
"Young Carpenter, dinner is-" The voice stopped, and I looked up to see Sanya standing in the doorway, eyes darting first to the pencils drafting the coasters on their own and then to the brushes painting the amulet without a human hand directing them. "Hm. Interesting."
Fuck.
-----
And that's that!Perks earned:
Starsphere (Fire Emblem: Archanea, 400CP): A dark blue orb on which the twelve zodiac constellations are etched upon. This is a copy of the Starsphere, one of the orbs on the Fire Emblem. The Starsphere is remarkable for significantly boosting the growth of the one who has it--they grow much stronger in a short amount of time if they carry this sphere close. Experience sticks around longer inside their head and they develop in power and skill, magical, physical, or otherwise, at a faster rate than usual. It also gives a minor boost to the owner in general. It's not much, but it could mean the difference between an enemy barely alive or completely dead on the battlefield.
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Allen Baker, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
I wouldn't worry about it. Sanya will just guilt Maggie into telling her father by looking slightly disappointed in her.
'It's Super-effective!'
- Pronouns
- She/They
I think he probably would if her secret lasted through the end of the situation with Nicodemus, but one way or another I intend to, ah, force the issue before he gets the chance to leave town.
UNSC Welcome to the Snipehunt
- Pronouns
- She/They
First person to learn about time travel say what?
"Huh?" The orange eye-lights glowing in the sockets of the rune-carved skull on the shelf gave the impression of lolling about for a moment. "Oh, right, Harry. Huh. I didn't know you'd be able to feel that."
"Feel what, Bob?"
"That!" Harry got the impression that, if Bob had had hands, he would have gestured wildly around at the universe as a whole. "Not a whole lot of people are powerful enough to actually feel it when something rewrites the laws of reality, even when they're this close to the focal point. Most of the time it's because they're either tied in closely enough to a fundamental aspect of reality to feel it through that, they're a god, their birth was particularly auspicious like a Starborn, or they're Senior Council material."
Harry's jaw decided it was about time it got better acquainted with his collarbone. Once he managed to recover control over his voice, he managed to squeak out "What do you mean, rewrite the laws of reality?"
"Oh, don't worry, Harry, it's not nearly as bad as it seems. Something like this happens… what, every fifty years, or something like that, and it's not like it's gonna kill anyone. You just had the bad luck of being really closely attuned to whatever it is that shifted." Bob's voice was nonchalant, like he wasn't talking about someone shattering the foundations of reality and forging them anew. "We're actually overdue for some big reality alterations, I think- last one was almost a century ago, someone killed a Dragon, big D, and made it stick. This feels like a foreshock, nothing really major, but a sign to batten down the hatches, you know."
"Hell's bells, Bob," Harry repeated, running a hand through his unkempt hair. "Should I even ask what it was this time?"
Bob made a noise that resembled someone sucking in air through their teeth. "You can, but I couldn't tell you what it is exactly. Best guess, someone discovered or rediscovered an ancient magical secret of some sort, but this kind of thing can be from so many different causes that you'd have to find something like an angel or maybe one of the greater Sidhe lords to have any hope of figuring out what without being able to lay eyes on the source. Er, so to speak. But no, it's benign, mostly, you just haven't had the chance to learn about it yet. From what DuMorne told me, the Council still likes to make their wizards ask about it."
Harry sighed. "Well, at least there's that. I'm gonna go ahead and head out now. I need a beer, and a sandwich at Mac's wouldn't do me amiss."
"Good luck, boss!" Bob called, before turning to the romance novels on his shelf.
In the five minutes that it took Harry to grab his coat and all the foci he kept on him when he went out, he resolved to go and do a little snooping to see if he couldn't figure out what it was that had rung his bell. He could almost still feel it, humming against his back teeth, and he might be able to pinpoint a source if "close" meant within Chicago.
He opened his door to leave just to find three figures in gray cloaks standing in the stairwell to his apartment. The one in front, a stern, gray-haired matriarch type, had her fist raised to knock on the heavy steel of his security door, and the two behind her (a rangy Hispanic man with a cocky smirk and a sweet-faced East Asian woman with a similar build to Murphy) both tensed and reached for their swords before deliberately relaxing.
His teeth clacked shut, managing to restrain a truly inspired (at least, in his mind) zinger about Morgan outsourcing his stalking. "Can I help you, Warden…"
"Captain Anastasia Luccio, and these are Wardens Yoshimo and Ramirez. We have, ah, actionable intelligence that the Order of the Blackened Denarius is operating in this city."
Perfect. It never rained when it could pour.
I will admit, though, the idea of having someone who understood my situation, in the here and now, is… nice.
Okay, so, right, Soulgaze. Everyone sees them differently, and I've even heard people talking about how you'd see people differently depending on where you are in your journey even if they were the same, although I can't say I know of anyone who's been able to actually confirm that. You only get one soul gaze, and if you look into someone's eyes after Soulgazing them and get another Soulgaze, you've either got a case of mistaken identity or someone's broken the Third Law of Magic.
To me, a Soulgaze shows… things. They're incredibly symbolic, the kind of critical collection of items that shaped a person's experiences and their life, and they're framed relative to the importance and general feel of their impacts, but ultimately it's on me to really interpret them.
Right out of the gate, the first thing I saw was Esperacchius. It was in a place of pride, yes, but it was also heavily used, the grip of the sword sweat-stained, flecks of ectoplasm and blood dotting the blade. It looked like he was using it as an anchor, almost, with how the blade seemed to almost bend from where it was embedded in the ground, but… no, not in the ground, in a coin.
No, a Coin.
I'd known, in the abstract, that Sanya had borne one of the Blackened Denarii, but seeing it, seeping soot everywhere and covered in bloodstains that the light radiating from Esperacchius had dried, made it clear that even though he'd managed to give up the Coin, he was still very much shaped by the experience.
The rest of the items were relatively minor- a scarf that had been gifted to him while he had wielded the Coin, ugly even without the bloodstains clashing with the pastel colors, grimy and discarded, a bandanna tied as a face mask, well-worn, that while not in a place of pride was still close at hand, and other trinkets that defined Sanya far less than the struggle between the Coin and his own choices as it continued.
I closed my eyes as soon as I was able, offering up a brief moment of mourning for the time that Magog had stolen from him.
I heard him staggering back as the Soulgaze released him from its grasp, breathing heavily and almost slamming his hand into the doorjamb. When I opened my eyes again, his eyes were wide with shock at… whatever he'd seen in me, and his shoulders were puffed up as if to make himself too big for a predator to take a bite out of, like a cat facing down a bear.
"Bozhe moi," he said, one hand twitching down as if to draw the sword that wasn't there before stilling. "What… what happened to you?"
"Someone broke the Sixth Law of Magic," I said, putting down the half-carved wand with forced calm. One of the things that always happened whenever I endured a Soulgaze was my hands went all jittery, but this wasn't one of the bad ones, so I managed to put down the knife and dowel without nicking myself before the jitters really showed through.
"Sixth Law?" Sanya asked.
"Time travel is verboten, for a number of reasons including but not limited to paradox and the possibility of tipping off some of the Bigger Fish of things they really shouldn't know. Of course, since I was in the middle of bleeding out after anti-saint Nick got to me… well. I have no room to complain about someone sending my memories back in time." The paintbrushes made one last stroke before laying them down, and I had to resist the urge to pick up the medallion and get my hand all full of wet paint. "I'd rather things go better now than they did in the future."
The shine of the pedestals wasn't as much of a distraction as the arrival of the Starsphere, so I was more than able to track the confusion, panic, and then resolve as they cycled through their turn upon his face.
"I will see him dead for this," rumbled Sanya, fist clenching. "How did he do it?"
"He caught me in my bed in thirty years, after… well. I don't particularly want to relive it, but we, as in humanity, ceased to be the most dominant species on the planet. I survived this particular encounter just fine."
He snorted. "Of course it would be like that. What can you tell me about the situation at hand?"
"Not as much as I'd like," I said, taking a deep breath, then another, and feeling as the shakes were dying down. "He's after the Shroud, global plague, and he's afraid of Harry getting involved."
"Harry?" asked Sanya, raising an eyebrow. "Little Harry, the tyke?" He pried his fist open and flattened it at about hip height to indicate how tall my littlest brother was.
"No, Harry Dresden. He's a Wizard of the White Council, and Nicky knew his mom before she ran away from a White Court vampire nest with her new husband." I shook my head. "I don't remember the exact details, but there's a partial prophecy situation going on. He's the best bet at finding the Shroud before Nicodemus, I think it's in one of the old warehouse districts."
Sanya's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?"
"No, but I'd dare you to perfectly remember something that happened to you thirty years ago." I shrugged before pushing myself up once I was pretty sure that the jitters wouldn't show by the time I washed my hands. "C'mon, if we don't go in and wash up for dinner, Mom's gonna get mad, and I really don't think we want that.
Sanya shuddered. "No, your mother is… not to be trifled with. Come, then, ah…"
I rolled my eyes at him, jabbing my elbow into his ribs good-naturedly. "I'm Molly, old man, don't go getting all senile on me yet."
"I think you are older than me, if you count those thirty years," Sanya grumbled, before following me into the house.
I was tempted to respond with an upraised finger, but the fact that we were in range of Mom's mom-radar kept the bird unshot, so I just spun around to stick my tongue out at him before pulling open the back door for Sanya in a mockery of Harry's usual chivalry.
"My thanks, Lady Carpenter," he said, inclining his head gravely as he put entirely too much pomp into the statement.
"Of course, Sir Knight," I said, regretting it as soon as I'd said it. Inasmuch as Mab was on our side, defining "our side" as "generally opposed to the Outsiders, at least in theory", the way she'd treated her Knights after someone finally put Slate out of his misery had always rankled, and those two words were a key part of it.
Sanya slanted me a sideways look, and I hurriedly un-scrunched my face before anyone else could see. "Sorry," I said. "Bad associations, didn't realize they'd be an issue until I opened my fat mouth."
He just chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Happens to everyone. You are teenager, so expect more to come."
I rankled under his hand, but managed to bite back the annoyance over having a baby face thanks to the fact that I was, in fact, a teenager again, much to my neurochemistry's chagrin. "Careful," I said, casting just enough of an illusion to make my teeth look sharper. "I bite."
"Duly noted, young one," he said, still chuckling. "Now, come, your mother is waiting."
The thought of Mom waiting, one foot tapping as she cast ever more irritated glances at the clock, got me moving, and I beat Sanya to the table handily.
Perks Earned:
None
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Journeyman_Mike, Josef Haerle, Freddie Capps, Allen Baker, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
-----
Beta'd by Sesparra-----
"Hell's bells, Bob," said Harry, rubbing at the side of his head from where he'd smacked it solidly into the wall. "You have any idea what the hell that was?""Huh?" The orange eye-lights glowing in the sockets of the rune-carved skull on the shelf gave the impression of lolling about for a moment. "Oh, right, Harry. Huh. I didn't know you'd be able to feel that."
"Feel what, Bob?"
"That!" Harry got the impression that, if Bob had had hands, he would have gestured wildly around at the universe as a whole. "Not a whole lot of people are powerful enough to actually feel it when something rewrites the laws of reality, even when they're this close to the focal point. Most of the time it's because they're either tied in closely enough to a fundamental aspect of reality to feel it through that, they're a god, their birth was particularly auspicious like a Starborn, or they're Senior Council material."
Harry's jaw decided it was about time it got better acquainted with his collarbone. Once he managed to recover control over his voice, he managed to squeak out "What do you mean, rewrite the laws of reality?"
"Oh, don't worry, Harry, it's not nearly as bad as it seems. Something like this happens… what, every fifty years, or something like that, and it's not like it's gonna kill anyone. You just had the bad luck of being really closely attuned to whatever it is that shifted." Bob's voice was nonchalant, like he wasn't talking about someone shattering the foundations of reality and forging them anew. "We're actually overdue for some big reality alterations, I think- last one was almost a century ago, someone killed a Dragon, big D, and made it stick. This feels like a foreshock, nothing really major, but a sign to batten down the hatches, you know."
"Hell's bells, Bob," Harry repeated, running a hand through his unkempt hair. "Should I even ask what it was this time?"
Bob made a noise that resembled someone sucking in air through their teeth. "You can, but I couldn't tell you what it is exactly. Best guess, someone discovered or rediscovered an ancient magical secret of some sort, but this kind of thing can be from so many different causes that you'd have to find something like an angel or maybe one of the greater Sidhe lords to have any hope of figuring out what without being able to lay eyes on the source. Er, so to speak. But no, it's benign, mostly, you just haven't had the chance to learn about it yet. From what DuMorne told me, the Council still likes to make their wizards ask about it."
Harry sighed. "Well, at least there's that. I'm gonna go ahead and head out now. I need a beer, and a sandwich at Mac's wouldn't do me amiss."
"Good luck, boss!" Bob called, before turning to the romance novels on his shelf.
In the five minutes that it took Harry to grab his coat and all the foci he kept on him when he went out, he resolved to go and do a little snooping to see if he couldn't figure out what it was that had rung his bell. He could almost still feel it, humming against his back teeth, and he might be able to pinpoint a source if "close" meant within Chicago.
He opened his door to leave just to find three figures in gray cloaks standing in the stairwell to his apartment. The one in front, a stern, gray-haired matriarch type, had her fist raised to knock on the heavy steel of his security door, and the two behind her (a rangy Hispanic man with a cocky smirk and a sweet-faced East Asian woman with a similar build to Murphy) both tensed and reached for their swords before deliberately relaxing.
His teeth clacked shut, managing to restrain a truly inspired (at least, in his mind) zinger about Morgan outsourcing his stalking. "Can I help you, Warden…"
"Captain Anastasia Luccio, and these are Wardens Yoshimo and Ramirez. We have, ah, actionable intelligence that the Order of the Blackened Denarius is operating in this city."
Perfect. It never rained when it could pour.
-----
I'm going to chalk up the fact that Sanya and I maintained enough eye contact to kick off a proper Soulgaze to the fact that he caught me off guard as well as the fact that I was still working on wrapping my head around, you know, being back in time as a teenager.I will admit, though, the idea of having someone who understood my situation, in the here and now, is… nice.
Okay, so, right, Soulgaze. Everyone sees them differently, and I've even heard people talking about how you'd see people differently depending on where you are in your journey even if they were the same, although I can't say I know of anyone who's been able to actually confirm that. You only get one soul gaze, and if you look into someone's eyes after Soulgazing them and get another Soulgaze, you've either got a case of mistaken identity or someone's broken the Third Law of Magic.
To me, a Soulgaze shows… things. They're incredibly symbolic, the kind of critical collection of items that shaped a person's experiences and their life, and they're framed relative to the importance and general feel of their impacts, but ultimately it's on me to really interpret them.
Right out of the gate, the first thing I saw was Esperacchius. It was in a place of pride, yes, but it was also heavily used, the grip of the sword sweat-stained, flecks of ectoplasm and blood dotting the blade. It looked like he was using it as an anchor, almost, with how the blade seemed to almost bend from where it was embedded in the ground, but… no, not in the ground, in a coin.
No, a Coin.
I'd known, in the abstract, that Sanya had borne one of the Blackened Denarii, but seeing it, seeping soot everywhere and covered in bloodstains that the light radiating from Esperacchius had dried, made it clear that even though he'd managed to give up the Coin, he was still very much shaped by the experience.
The rest of the items were relatively minor- a scarf that had been gifted to him while he had wielded the Coin, ugly even without the bloodstains clashing with the pastel colors, grimy and discarded, a bandanna tied as a face mask, well-worn, that while not in a place of pride was still close at hand, and other trinkets that defined Sanya far less than the struggle between the Coin and his own choices as it continued.
I closed my eyes as soon as I was able, offering up a brief moment of mourning for the time that Magog had stolen from him.
I heard him staggering back as the Soulgaze released him from its grasp, breathing heavily and almost slamming his hand into the doorjamb. When I opened my eyes again, his eyes were wide with shock at… whatever he'd seen in me, and his shoulders were puffed up as if to make himself too big for a predator to take a bite out of, like a cat facing down a bear.
"Bozhe moi," he said, one hand twitching down as if to draw the sword that wasn't there before stilling. "What… what happened to you?"
"Someone broke the Sixth Law of Magic," I said, putting down the half-carved wand with forced calm. One of the things that always happened whenever I endured a Soulgaze was my hands went all jittery, but this wasn't one of the bad ones, so I managed to put down the knife and dowel without nicking myself before the jitters really showed through.
"Sixth Law?" Sanya asked.
"Time travel is verboten, for a number of reasons including but not limited to paradox and the possibility of tipping off some of the Bigger Fish of things they really shouldn't know. Of course, since I was in the middle of bleeding out after anti-saint Nick got to me… well. I have no room to complain about someone sending my memories back in time." The paintbrushes made one last stroke before laying them down, and I had to resist the urge to pick up the medallion and get my hand all full of wet paint. "I'd rather things go better now than they did in the future."
The shine of the pedestals wasn't as much of a distraction as the arrival of the Starsphere, so I was more than able to track the confusion, panic, and then resolve as they cycled through their turn upon his face.
"I will see him dead for this," rumbled Sanya, fist clenching. "How did he do it?"
"He caught me in my bed in thirty years, after… well. I don't particularly want to relive it, but we, as in humanity, ceased to be the most dominant species on the planet. I survived this particular encounter just fine."
He snorted. "Of course it would be like that. What can you tell me about the situation at hand?"
"Not as much as I'd like," I said, taking a deep breath, then another, and feeling as the shakes were dying down. "He's after the Shroud, global plague, and he's afraid of Harry getting involved."
"Harry?" asked Sanya, raising an eyebrow. "Little Harry, the tyke?" He pried his fist open and flattened it at about hip height to indicate how tall my littlest brother was.
"No, Harry Dresden. He's a Wizard of the White Council, and Nicky knew his mom before she ran away from a White Court vampire nest with her new husband." I shook my head. "I don't remember the exact details, but there's a partial prophecy situation going on. He's the best bet at finding the Shroud before Nicodemus, I think it's in one of the old warehouse districts."
Sanya's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?"
"No, but I'd dare you to perfectly remember something that happened to you thirty years ago." I shrugged before pushing myself up once I was pretty sure that the jitters wouldn't show by the time I washed my hands. "C'mon, if we don't go in and wash up for dinner, Mom's gonna get mad, and I really don't think we want that.
Sanya shuddered. "No, your mother is… not to be trifled with. Come, then, ah…"
I rolled my eyes at him, jabbing my elbow into his ribs good-naturedly. "I'm Molly, old man, don't go getting all senile on me yet."
"I think you are older than me, if you count those thirty years," Sanya grumbled, before following me into the house.
I was tempted to respond with an upraised finger, but the fact that we were in range of Mom's mom-radar kept the bird unshot, so I just spun around to stick my tongue out at him before pulling open the back door for Sanya in a mockery of Harry's usual chivalry.
"My thanks, Lady Carpenter," he said, inclining his head gravely as he put entirely too much pomp into the statement.
"Of course, Sir Knight," I said, regretting it as soon as I'd said it. Inasmuch as Mab was on our side, defining "our side" as "generally opposed to the Outsiders, at least in theory", the way she'd treated her Knights after someone finally put Slate out of his misery had always rankled, and those two words were a key part of it.
Sanya slanted me a sideways look, and I hurriedly un-scrunched my face before anyone else could see. "Sorry," I said. "Bad associations, didn't realize they'd be an issue until I opened my fat mouth."
He just chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Happens to everyone. You are teenager, so expect more to come."
I rankled under his hand, but managed to bite back the annoyance over having a baby face thanks to the fact that I was, in fact, a teenager again, much to my neurochemistry's chagrin. "Careful," I said, casting just enough of an illusion to make my teeth look sharper. "I bite."
"Duly noted, young one," he said, still chuckling. "Now, come, your mother is waiting."
The thought of Mom waiting, one foot tapping as she cast ever more irritated glances at the clock, got me moving, and I beat Sanya to the table handily.
-----
And that's that!Perks Earned:
None
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Journeyman_Mike, Josef Haerle, Freddie Capps, Allen Baker, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
I bet bob may get more nervous about the reality adjusts that may come if they don't stop. As I am assuming that every perk the celestial forge gives molly adjusts reality.
Nitronorm5688
The Armchair Reader
- Location
- Oakdale, CT
I want more. I've read the books when they first came out and I actually like this.
Normally I can't get into a Dresden fanfic, there's too much knowledge and interconnected details to pick over, it always feel like I have absolutely no idea what's going on and I can't get invested in it. But this is doing very, very well.
Normally I can't get into a Dresden fanfic, there's too much knowledge and interconnected details to pick over, it always feel like I have absolutely no idea what's going on and I can't get invested in it. But this is doing very, very well.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Not every perk, per se, but some of the farther-reaching ones. For example, Eightfold Geomantic Mastery, while technically introducing Exalted stuff (technical term, that is) to the setting, isn't really a huge deal outside of letting Molly interact with locations of power and the magical landscape (think ley lines) differently plus a changed perspective on energy flows, so it's not something that would get a universal reaction like getting a fragment of a divine artifact (which the Starsphere is based on the lore of the series it comes from) or, I dunno, someone hooking the universe up to the Weave would, but that's never going to come up, she said, lying through her fucking teeth.
Last edited:
UNSC Mortal Reverie
- Pronouns
- She/They
Dining with family is always worth doing.
"Wizard Peabody," the Merlin replied, inclining his head in return. "What is it that you have for me?"
"Well," said Peabody, maintaining the restrained, almost timid façade that his role required him to maintain. "I was doing the annual audit of the membership rolls of the White Council and found this." The audit was a complete lie- no, it was He Who Walks Beside who had alerted Peabody to the discrepancy displayed on the vellum sheet he slid over to the Merlin.
He took a moment to scrutinize the parchment, before returning his attention to Peabody. "I do not see the problem."
"For one," said Peabody, "I have made… let us call them discreet inquiries, and there are significant discrepancies between verifiable facts and what is on that sheet. For one, Wizard Schneider hasn't had an apprentice for almost a century, and for another, the woman on that parchment isn't even two decades of age, not nearly old enough to have developed magic and learned enough of our ways to have earned membership in the White Council."
The Merlin's brows nearly met as he frowned. "Infiltration, then… but for what purpose? Such a flimsy identity would never pass muster, even in the best of circumstances, and we are not so desperate as to accept strange Wizards without so much as scrutinizing them."
"It is worse than that, I fear," said Peabody. "There is evidence that in doing this, someone has broken the Sixth Law of Magic. This was at least begun using my own proprietary authentication system, but… the proper codes are ones that I don't have in my ledger for another two years. Upon discovering that, I took the risk of using my Sight upon the sheet of parchment, and it has led me to believe that this record is from the future, although to what purpose I cannot say."
This had the benefit of being true- once the Walker had alerted him to the discrepancy, he had seen fit to investigate the matter personally before bringing it to the Merlin. One thing he didn't mention, though, was the traces of Soulfire on the parchment. It wasn't something that the Merlin could truly test for, even if he had the wherewithal to suspect it, but Peabody hadn't survived this long in the service of He Who Walks Beside without being thorough.
Soulfire meant that, somehow, an Archangel was involved, and not in the sense of the sanctuary and Warden base Peabody had sold out to the Red Court not long ago. There wasn't a particularly good interpretation for this turn of events, but in the worst case, the involvement of the Watchman could make things very unfortunate, so Peabody would have to be on his guard.
"A violation of the Laws and an infiltration of the Hidden Halls, and the so-called beneficiary is a denizen of Chicago." The Merlin was clearly puzzling something out, which was likely to be in Peabody's favor given his feelings on the Wizard who had made his home in Chicago.
"Dresden is likely to be under watch by Captain Luccio, and I trust her to ferret out any hint of his involvement. To catch the actual Warlock, though… that one will be tricky." The Merlin's bushy eyebrows had drawn together, providing a thunderous cloud over his frowning visage.
"If I may, honored Merlin… Warden Morgan is nearly finished with his assignment in the Congo, is he not? He has both the skills and the will to investigate this situation, without being… biased on the matter of Dresden." Morgan was, in fact, biased, thanks to his friendship with Justin DuMorne as well as his contentious relationship with Dresden's mother, but that bias was agreeable to the Merlin, so he was unlikely to register it.
"Just so," said the Merlin. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Wizard Peabody. I will ensure Warden Morgan gets your file on this…" he sniffed. "Margaret Carpenter."
"I take it that you lost track of time?" His voice was filled with gentle reproof.
"Don't worry," I replied, "I'm gonna go out and clean up after di-" I cut a look at Mom, and saw the tension in her face that denoted frustration. "-ishes."
I'd be able to grab the little amulet to help with veils, too, since even with the dinky little plastic wand up my sleeve, I almost felt naked, what with not having a half dozen foci or enchanted items on hand like I'd gotten used to over the course of a couple of different wars. In an ideal world, I'd be able to put at least something together before shit really hit the fan, but without a proper workshop and with Nicodemus already halfway through one of his plots, I'd be lucky if I could finish a purpose-made wand before shit really hit the fan, let alone the kind of arsenal that had wowed the Wardens whenever we'd had cause to fight in the same place.
Oddly enough, Mom only got tenser, but she didn't say anything, just turning her focus to where little Harry was doing his level best to smear food all over his tray.
"Nice to meet you again, Miss Carpenter," said Shiro, inclining his head over his plate of pot roast.
"Nice to see you too, uh…" Frantically, I dug through the memories of my childhood, then came up with a vague memory of the man practicing swordplay in the backyard and called it good enough. "Uncle Shiro?"
His face split into a smile. "Ah, you do remember. I wasn't sure you would."
I shrugged once, casually. "Kids like swordplay. I'm not exactly an exception, even today, and it was… impressive."
Shiro smiled, a gentle expression. "You live in the right house for that, I think."
I could see Daniel's eyes shining, and let him word vomit all over Shiro like the excitable twelve-year-old he was. Shiro handled it indulgently, with all the aplomb of a grandfather being asked about the woodworking projects in his barn (that is to say, with amused indulgence).
From there, the family devolved back into the usual chaos that you'd expect when you put seven kids under the age of fifteen into one room and put both food and unfamiliar adults in front of them. There were questions, and the scraping of forks and knives on plates, and answers, and elbows on the table, and it was everything I'd missed after they died. I let myself bask in the environment, good food and good company leaving me warm inside in a way that you only really get either out of going back home after a long time away or at a really good hole in the wall diner with friends.
Too little time passed before the food was all gone, and I got up and started moving around the table, taking the veritable display room's worth of plates to the kitchen.
I paused as the pedestals flashed with bright light, and one of the ones near the sword transformed into a tall console, the kind that I'd almost expect to come out of the Death Star scene where Luke and Han figured out that Leia was on the station. Plugged into it were a tablet that absolutely looked like it would have been right at home on some Senator's desk, as well as a three-pronged circular holoprojector, glowing blue hologram of me rotating slowly over it.
I paused briefly, a deep understanding of technical procedures and data transfer shoving their way into my skull, then shuddered as a headache decided to introduce itself to the inside of my skull as they unfolded into a bone-deep grasp of how to use and abuse a computer as I saw fit.
At the same time, I saw both the datapad and the holoprojector commlink appear on top of the pile of plates in my hands with a quiet pop of displaced air.
Fortunately, the hoodie I was wearing had a big ol' pouch for a pocket that the datapad fit in, even with the Starsphere sitting there like it hadn't already given me a headache today, and the holoprojector was small enough to slip into my pants pocket. In any other case I'd try and drop them off somewhere, but the datapad was ruggedized enough to take whatever suds I might end up getting on myself with when elbow deep in dishwater and the projector was unlikely to get splashed where it was.
That done, I continued clearing the table, fistfuls of silverware joining the plates and smaller serving dishes in the dishwasher before I kicked the door up to start the machine.
From there, I plugged up one side of the sink, poured in a good drizzle of dish soap, and then opened the tap, letting it start to fill up with nearly scalding water as I turned to the cooking dishes. I took the brown scraper out of the drawer and started attacking the crusted-on gunk in the pots and pans.
One quick spell, coupled to an effort of will and a gesture with the hand that had the wand up its sleeve, shut the water off once the sink was full, and another couple of minutes got all that I could out of dry scraping the dishes, so after taking a washcloth to the counters, I got the pleasure of having to halfway scald my hands off with the dishwater that I'd set too hot.
Let's just say that I was glad that Mom was out of earshot, because if she wasn't I would have been tasting soap for a solid week.
"So," said an accented voice, and I barely managed to restrain my response to Sanya sneaking up on me from sending me a foot off the ground. "You said that you're… from the future? Mentally, that is?"
"Jesus wept, Sanya," I hissed, glad that I hadn't managed to splash myself too badly when I flinched. "I ought to put a bell on you, if this keeps up!"
"Sorry," he said, shrugging as he reached one broad hand out and pulled the faucet over to his half of the sink. "Force of habit."
"Sure," I said, giving in to my inner (well, external, now) teenager and rolling my eyes. "But yeah, that's the best way to describe my situation. There's… something else, though."
"Beyond being back in time." Sanya's voice wasn't quite skeptical, but it was drier than an elder of the Black Court.
"Yes, beyond that. I've been getting… things. A powerful divine relic, a holoprojector straight out of Star Wars, a weird advanced tablet… That and weird knowledge. It's all unpredictable. Like, one minute I'm getting the kind of knowledge that I'd need to stand up to Shiro in a sword fight, then the next I'm the world's greatest expert in computer software." I had to remind myself that I didn't want to get soap in my eye to prevent myself from rubbing at my face with my hands. "I'm worried about things getting… more. More dangerous, more disruptive… more of a target."
Sanya grimaced. "That is… very much a valid concern. I suspect I have more questions about the situation at hand than you, but… something to keep in mind about your situation. I may not be…" He gestured with one dripping hand at her. "Magic witch guru librarian, or whatever you want to call it, but I feel, ah, what is word… creation fire around you, like the Swords, or like Michael."
"Creation… oh, you mean Soulfire? I didn't know Dad exhibited signs of that," I said, frowning as I attacked a pot with perhaps more ferocity than strictly necessary.
Sanya shook his head. "Not your Michael. That Michael."
I followed his pointing finger up, and it took me longer than it probably should have to realize who he was referring to. "The archangel?"
"Just so. But the point isn't to make comparisons, no. I… my assumption is that someone like you or me, we cannot have access to Soulfire without an external source getting involved, is that so?"
"To the best of my knowledge, why?"
"One more question," said Sanya, restraining a flinch as he turned on the too-hot water. "Who gave you your access to Soulfire?"
"Uriel," I said, no uncertainty in my mind whatsoever. Then, I froze. How the hell had I known that?
Sanya broke into a broad grin. "Hah! That is good news indeed, you know why? It is because the Watchman would not give you a burden you cannot withstand the weight of, or contribute to it if he was not involved in your duty to begin with. I may not have met him myself, but Shiro speaks well of the man and that's enough for me."
I… hadn't considered that, but it was actually a decent argument.
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could speak, the pedestals in the workshop within my soul flowed. One of them expanded in a shower of greenish sparks before resolving into a set of holographic screens that blinked and displayed various sets of schematics. At the same time, the datapad in my pocket chirped out a sound that I somehow knew was the "download completed" chime.
Sanya raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"
I wiped my hands off on my pants before reaching into my pocket and fishing out my datapad. "This is a datapad, and…" I navigated to the download repository where the recent data dump had ended up and opened it, then clicked through to the document at the top labeled "Read Me".
I frowned, reading through the document, before sighing and letting my head fall. "It's a big technical database, which I really would have appreciated after Nicky and the Nickelheads left town since that's just another thing that I have to work through before-"
Sanya snorted, then clapped his hands. "No, stop. Prioritize. Clean dishes first, then what do you need to do to contribute to the situation? Database can wait until you have the time to go over things without the sword of Nickycles over your head."
I breathed deeply once, then twice, and let the urgency of the database drop in favor of rational thought. Thinking through the situation, he was right- the database would be here after the Denarians were gone, but depending on how much work I put into preparing for them, I might not be. "You're right." I plunged my hands back into the sink.
"That's the spirit!"
We finished the dishes without really discussing the situation, but that was fine- we'd probably be able to sneak away after Mass and compare notes, and this was more important.
Once the sink was drained and cleaned, Sanya put one hand on my shoulder. "Do not spend too long cleaning up the workshop," he said. "It is not a good idea to be sleep deprived when Nicodemus is in town, and you are a growing child who needs her rest."
I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling as I did it. "Fine, twist my arm."
"I would rather not, especially if your mother is in a position to notice."
We both chuckled, and then I sighed. "We'll talk about this tomorrow, I guess."
"Good night," he said, before trudging off to Mom's sewing room to collapse into bed, probably.
I, on the other hand, headed out to finish the cleanup in Dad's workshop. Once the tools were put away, I grabbed the half-carved wand and medallion, which had thankfully dried out, before hurrying through my bedtime routine.
For a moment, I almost pulled up the database to start looking through it, but quashed the idea in favor of the embrace of bed. As much as I wanted to learn about the technological database I could take advantage of, I wouldn't have either the time or the resources to actually do anything worthwhile with it.
Even if I had, it wasn't like I'd be able to stop time to read through it all, right?
Perks Earned:
Computers (Star Wars KOTOR, 200CP): Droids, networks, and personal computers are your playthings. You're an expert at manipulating and improving digital devices, and you can cut through most security systems like a lightsaber through butter.
Basic Equipment (Star Wars KOTOR, Free): These two helpful gadgets that'll make your adventures a little easier. The first is a personal computer tablet known as a Datapad that can wirelessly connect to any nearby computer network and comes equipped with a journal, map, digital storage drive, holoprojector, calculator, and sketchpad. The second is a Portable Communicator about the same size and weight as a cellphone. It has a 50 kilometer signal range, a frequency scanner that detects nearby comm devices, a satellite link for planet wide range, and a security system that prevents unauthorized use. Both devices are powered by long lasting rechargeable batteries.
Archive (Artemis Fowl, 400CP): Whoa, access to the Council's black archives! Well, not exactly, but close. This is a digital archive in your possession, and what it holds is technology. That is, all of it. Every single piece of technology, from the wheel onwards to the most advanced stuff under the earth, has it's schematics, developer's notes and blueprints stored here, explained clearly and obviously enough that simply following the instructions would let someone built it all up.
There is everything here, from the People's works to Humanity's designs. Every program ever written, every microchip ever designed, the whole sum total of human and fairy technical knowledge. In future worlds too, it updates to hold the same level of detail on the local technology, everything ever crafted in the world.
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Journeyman_Mike, Josef Haerle, Freddie Capps, Allen Baker, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
-----
Beta'd by Sesparra-----
"Honored Merlin," said Samuel Peabody, inclining his head to the Merlin of the White Council. Not out of respect, mind you, He Who Walks Beside had thoroughly disabused him of that notion towards Arthur Langtry and his willingness to let Dresden, McCoy, and their ilk walk free. No, he inclined his head to the Merlin out of habit, one of the strongest tools of any infiltrator."Wizard Peabody," the Merlin replied, inclining his head in return. "What is it that you have for me?"
"Well," said Peabody, maintaining the restrained, almost timid façade that his role required him to maintain. "I was doing the annual audit of the membership rolls of the White Council and found this." The audit was a complete lie- no, it was He Who Walks Beside who had alerted Peabody to the discrepancy displayed on the vellum sheet he slid over to the Merlin.
He took a moment to scrutinize the parchment, before returning his attention to Peabody. "I do not see the problem."
"For one," said Peabody, "I have made… let us call them discreet inquiries, and there are significant discrepancies between verifiable facts and what is on that sheet. For one, Wizard Schneider hasn't had an apprentice for almost a century, and for another, the woman on that parchment isn't even two decades of age, not nearly old enough to have developed magic and learned enough of our ways to have earned membership in the White Council."
The Merlin's brows nearly met as he frowned. "Infiltration, then… but for what purpose? Such a flimsy identity would never pass muster, even in the best of circumstances, and we are not so desperate as to accept strange Wizards without so much as scrutinizing them."
"It is worse than that, I fear," said Peabody. "There is evidence that in doing this, someone has broken the Sixth Law of Magic. This was at least begun using my own proprietary authentication system, but… the proper codes are ones that I don't have in my ledger for another two years. Upon discovering that, I took the risk of using my Sight upon the sheet of parchment, and it has led me to believe that this record is from the future, although to what purpose I cannot say."
This had the benefit of being true- once the Walker had alerted him to the discrepancy, he had seen fit to investigate the matter personally before bringing it to the Merlin. One thing he didn't mention, though, was the traces of Soulfire on the parchment. It wasn't something that the Merlin could truly test for, even if he had the wherewithal to suspect it, but Peabody hadn't survived this long in the service of He Who Walks Beside without being thorough.
Soulfire meant that, somehow, an Archangel was involved, and not in the sense of the sanctuary and Warden base Peabody had sold out to the Red Court not long ago. There wasn't a particularly good interpretation for this turn of events, but in the worst case, the involvement of the Watchman could make things very unfortunate, so Peabody would have to be on his guard.
"A violation of the Laws and an infiltration of the Hidden Halls, and the so-called beneficiary is a denizen of Chicago." The Merlin was clearly puzzling something out, which was likely to be in Peabody's favor given his feelings on the Wizard who had made his home in Chicago.
"Dresden is likely to be under watch by Captain Luccio, and I trust her to ferret out any hint of his involvement. To catch the actual Warlock, though… that one will be tricky." The Merlin's bushy eyebrows had drawn together, providing a thunderous cloud over his frowning visage.
"If I may, honored Merlin… Warden Morgan is nearly finished with his assignment in the Congo, is he not? He has both the skills and the will to investigate this situation, without being… biased on the matter of Dresden." Morgan was, in fact, biased, thanks to his friendship with Justin DuMorne as well as his contentious relationship with Dresden's mother, but that bias was agreeable to the Merlin, so he was unlikely to register it.
"Just so," said the Merlin. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Wizard Peabody. I will ensure Warden Morgan gets your file on this…" he sniffed. "Margaret Carpenter."
-----
Dad gave me a level look, then raised one eyebrow as I sat down, and I flicked a glance down self-consciously to make sure I didn't have any sawdust or wood shavings stuck in my hoodie. Seeing that I didn't, I mouthed "sorry" to him and dragged my chair back into the table."I take it that you lost track of time?" His voice was filled with gentle reproof.
"Don't worry," I replied, "I'm gonna go out and clean up after di-" I cut a look at Mom, and saw the tension in her face that denoted frustration. "-ishes."
I'd be able to grab the little amulet to help with veils, too, since even with the dinky little plastic wand up my sleeve, I almost felt naked, what with not having a half dozen foci or enchanted items on hand like I'd gotten used to over the course of a couple of different wars. In an ideal world, I'd be able to put at least something together before shit really hit the fan, but without a proper workshop and with Nicodemus already halfway through one of his plots, I'd be lucky if I could finish a purpose-made wand before shit really hit the fan, let alone the kind of arsenal that had wowed the Wardens whenever we'd had cause to fight in the same place.
Oddly enough, Mom only got tenser, but she didn't say anything, just turning her focus to where little Harry was doing his level best to smear food all over his tray.
"Nice to meet you again, Miss Carpenter," said Shiro, inclining his head over his plate of pot roast.
"Nice to see you too, uh…" Frantically, I dug through the memories of my childhood, then came up with a vague memory of the man practicing swordplay in the backyard and called it good enough. "Uncle Shiro?"
His face split into a smile. "Ah, you do remember. I wasn't sure you would."
I shrugged once, casually. "Kids like swordplay. I'm not exactly an exception, even today, and it was… impressive."
Shiro smiled, a gentle expression. "You live in the right house for that, I think."
I could see Daniel's eyes shining, and let him word vomit all over Shiro like the excitable twelve-year-old he was. Shiro handled it indulgently, with all the aplomb of a grandfather being asked about the woodworking projects in his barn (that is to say, with amused indulgence).
From there, the family devolved back into the usual chaos that you'd expect when you put seven kids under the age of fifteen into one room and put both food and unfamiliar adults in front of them. There were questions, and the scraping of forks and knives on plates, and answers, and elbows on the table, and it was everything I'd missed after they died. I let myself bask in the environment, good food and good company leaving me warm inside in a way that you only really get either out of going back home after a long time away or at a really good hole in the wall diner with friends.
Too little time passed before the food was all gone, and I got up and started moving around the table, taking the veritable display room's worth of plates to the kitchen.
I paused as the pedestals flashed with bright light, and one of the ones near the sword transformed into a tall console, the kind that I'd almost expect to come out of the Death Star scene where Luke and Han figured out that Leia was on the station. Plugged into it were a tablet that absolutely looked like it would have been right at home on some Senator's desk, as well as a three-pronged circular holoprojector, glowing blue hologram of me rotating slowly over it.
I paused briefly, a deep understanding of technical procedures and data transfer shoving their way into my skull, then shuddered as a headache decided to introduce itself to the inside of my skull as they unfolded into a bone-deep grasp of how to use and abuse a computer as I saw fit.
At the same time, I saw both the datapad and the holoprojector commlink appear on top of the pile of plates in my hands with a quiet pop of displaced air.
Fortunately, the hoodie I was wearing had a big ol' pouch for a pocket that the datapad fit in, even with the Starsphere sitting there like it hadn't already given me a headache today, and the holoprojector was small enough to slip into my pants pocket. In any other case I'd try and drop them off somewhere, but the datapad was ruggedized enough to take whatever suds I might end up getting on myself with when elbow deep in dishwater and the projector was unlikely to get splashed where it was.
That done, I continued clearing the table, fistfuls of silverware joining the plates and smaller serving dishes in the dishwasher before I kicked the door up to start the machine.
From there, I plugged up one side of the sink, poured in a good drizzle of dish soap, and then opened the tap, letting it start to fill up with nearly scalding water as I turned to the cooking dishes. I took the brown scraper out of the drawer and started attacking the crusted-on gunk in the pots and pans.
One quick spell, coupled to an effort of will and a gesture with the hand that had the wand up its sleeve, shut the water off once the sink was full, and another couple of minutes got all that I could out of dry scraping the dishes, so after taking a washcloth to the counters, I got the pleasure of having to halfway scald my hands off with the dishwater that I'd set too hot.
Let's just say that I was glad that Mom was out of earshot, because if she wasn't I would have been tasting soap for a solid week.
"So," said an accented voice, and I barely managed to restrain my response to Sanya sneaking up on me from sending me a foot off the ground. "You said that you're… from the future? Mentally, that is?"
"Jesus wept, Sanya," I hissed, glad that I hadn't managed to splash myself too badly when I flinched. "I ought to put a bell on you, if this keeps up!"
"Sorry," he said, shrugging as he reached one broad hand out and pulled the faucet over to his half of the sink. "Force of habit."
"Sure," I said, giving in to my inner (well, external, now) teenager and rolling my eyes. "But yeah, that's the best way to describe my situation. There's… something else, though."
"Beyond being back in time." Sanya's voice wasn't quite skeptical, but it was drier than an elder of the Black Court.
"Yes, beyond that. I've been getting… things. A powerful divine relic, a holoprojector straight out of Star Wars, a weird advanced tablet… That and weird knowledge. It's all unpredictable. Like, one minute I'm getting the kind of knowledge that I'd need to stand up to Shiro in a sword fight, then the next I'm the world's greatest expert in computer software." I had to remind myself that I didn't want to get soap in my eye to prevent myself from rubbing at my face with my hands. "I'm worried about things getting… more. More dangerous, more disruptive… more of a target."
Sanya grimaced. "That is… very much a valid concern. I suspect I have more questions about the situation at hand than you, but… something to keep in mind about your situation. I may not be…" He gestured with one dripping hand at her. "Magic witch guru librarian, or whatever you want to call it, but I feel, ah, what is word… creation fire around you, like the Swords, or like Michael."
"Creation… oh, you mean Soulfire? I didn't know Dad exhibited signs of that," I said, frowning as I attacked a pot with perhaps more ferocity than strictly necessary.
Sanya shook his head. "Not your Michael. That Michael."
I followed his pointing finger up, and it took me longer than it probably should have to realize who he was referring to. "The archangel?"
"Just so. But the point isn't to make comparisons, no. I… my assumption is that someone like you or me, we cannot have access to Soulfire without an external source getting involved, is that so?"
"To the best of my knowledge, why?"
"One more question," said Sanya, restraining a flinch as he turned on the too-hot water. "Who gave you your access to Soulfire?"
"Uriel," I said, no uncertainty in my mind whatsoever. Then, I froze. How the hell had I known that?
Sanya broke into a broad grin. "Hah! That is good news indeed, you know why? It is because the Watchman would not give you a burden you cannot withstand the weight of, or contribute to it if he was not involved in your duty to begin with. I may not have met him myself, but Shiro speaks well of the man and that's enough for me."
I… hadn't considered that, but it was actually a decent argument.
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could speak, the pedestals in the workshop within my soul flowed. One of them expanded in a shower of greenish sparks before resolving into a set of holographic screens that blinked and displayed various sets of schematics. At the same time, the datapad in my pocket chirped out a sound that I somehow knew was the "download completed" chime.
Sanya raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"
I wiped my hands off on my pants before reaching into my pocket and fishing out my datapad. "This is a datapad, and…" I navigated to the download repository where the recent data dump had ended up and opened it, then clicked through to the document at the top labeled "Read Me".
I frowned, reading through the document, before sighing and letting my head fall. "It's a big technical database, which I really would have appreciated after Nicky and the Nickelheads left town since that's just another thing that I have to work through before-"
Sanya snorted, then clapped his hands. "No, stop. Prioritize. Clean dishes first, then what do you need to do to contribute to the situation? Database can wait until you have the time to go over things without the sword of Nickycles over your head."
I breathed deeply once, then twice, and let the urgency of the database drop in favor of rational thought. Thinking through the situation, he was right- the database would be here after the Denarians were gone, but depending on how much work I put into preparing for them, I might not be. "You're right." I plunged my hands back into the sink.
"That's the spirit!"
We finished the dishes without really discussing the situation, but that was fine- we'd probably be able to sneak away after Mass and compare notes, and this was more important.
Once the sink was drained and cleaned, Sanya put one hand on my shoulder. "Do not spend too long cleaning up the workshop," he said. "It is not a good idea to be sleep deprived when Nicodemus is in town, and you are a growing child who needs her rest."
I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling as I did it. "Fine, twist my arm."
"I would rather not, especially if your mother is in a position to notice."
We both chuckled, and then I sighed. "We'll talk about this tomorrow, I guess."
"Good night," he said, before trudging off to Mom's sewing room to collapse into bed, probably.
I, on the other hand, headed out to finish the cleanup in Dad's workshop. Once the tools were put away, I grabbed the half-carved wand and medallion, which had thankfully dried out, before hurrying through my bedtime routine.
For a moment, I almost pulled up the database to start looking through it, but quashed the idea in favor of the embrace of bed. As much as I wanted to learn about the technological database I could take advantage of, I wouldn't have either the time or the resources to actually do anything worthwhile with it.
Even if I had, it wasn't like I'd be able to stop time to read through it all, right?
-----
And that's that!Perks Earned:
Computers (Star Wars KOTOR, 200CP): Droids, networks, and personal computers are your playthings. You're an expert at manipulating and improving digital devices, and you can cut through most security systems like a lightsaber through butter.
Basic Equipment (Star Wars KOTOR, Free): These two helpful gadgets that'll make your adventures a little easier. The first is a personal computer tablet known as a Datapad that can wirelessly connect to any nearby computer network and comes equipped with a journal, map, digital storage drive, holoprojector, calculator, and sketchpad. The second is a Portable Communicator about the same size and weight as a cellphone. It has a 50 kilometer signal range, a frequency scanner that detects nearby comm devices, a satellite link for planet wide range, and a security system that prevents unauthorized use. Both devices are powered by long lasting rechargeable batteries.
Archive (Artemis Fowl, 400CP): Whoa, access to the Council's black archives! Well, not exactly, but close. This is a digital archive in your possession, and what it holds is technology. That is, all of it. Every single piece of technology, from the wheel onwards to the most advanced stuff under the earth, has it's schematics, developer's notes and blueprints stored here, explained clearly and obviously enough that simply following the instructions would let someone built it all up.
There is everything here, from the People's works to Humanity's designs. Every program ever written, every microchip ever designed, the whole sum total of human and fairy technical knowledge. In future worlds too, it updates to hold the same level of detail on the local technology, everything ever crafted in the world.
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That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
- Pronouns
- Doof
Hello I love Dresdon files and I'm really looking forward to this story.
Imagine if Molly had access to the Book.
The combined sum total of all magical knowledge in the world, both worlds.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Honestly, that's actually pretty small-scale compared to some of the shit that she already has on hand. Just offhand, the Starsphere is part of a divine relic that can stand up to a dragon god the size of a country, and- well. The perks she gets in chapter 6 speak for themselves.
- Pronouns
- SL
I like the story so far.
UNSC Bad Moon Rising
- Pronouns
- She/They
There's always something.
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Beta'd by Sesparra
-----
I was more than a little bit curious how much leeway the Church gave Father Forthill with regards to the masquerade as I walked out of Mass, sandwiched solidly between Dad and Sanya.
On one hand, there was the way that, as far as I was aware, he hadn't really started explicitly talking about the supernatural in his homilies until after the Fomor had made their big run at Chicago in a decade and change, but on the other hand… well, even if it was on the liturgical calendar and that had been set in stone before Mom had been more than a twinkle in Grandma and Grandpa's eyes, he sure made a big deal about the way that a lot of the situations that one could get themselves into could be solved by standing up, picking up their mat, and going home, which certainly sounded like it could be a stand-in for setting aside one of the Coins.
All that aside, it was nice to be back at Saint Mary of the Angels. I'd been to mass since the Fomor had destroyed the building, granted, but there was something about the grand old building that had been lacking in every other church I'd ever heard someone serving mass in, and it wasn't just Father Forthill, since I'd had the fortune to attend mass he'd been giving in the refugee camps.
Sanya gave me a questioning look as he, Dad, and Shiro split off, as if inviting me to come with them, but I shook my head. Mom was likely to go off and talk to Mrs. Capelli or someone else in that crowd, so I needed to be on hand so I could watch the rest of the kids, plus the fact that I wasn't quite ready to talk to Dad about getting involved with the situation at hand.
He shrugged, then waved, and as he walked off, the pedestals glimmered.
When nothing came of it, I sighed, more than a little grateful that I wasn't having to deal with another complication at the moment, then turned back to Mom and the rest of the Jawas. True to form, she was heading off to the corner of the parking lot that Mrs. Capelli had taken over years ago with little Harry on her hip like he hadn't been getting a bit old for that, so I was left to herd the cats into something resembling an ordered charge towards the Sandcrawler and the stuff that Mom always kept in the back before they started invading other cars in search of mischief.
Thankfully, I managed to get them all to the Sandcrawler with a minimum of distractions, the most egregious instance being Hobbit picking up a chunk of asphalt off the ground and trying to chew on it.
I'd managed to pry the thing out of her grubby little hands before she started slobbering on it with the help of her favorite teddy bear and a pocket bottle of hand sanitizer (thankfully- the last time that she'd gotten Captain Paws dirty, she'd spend half an hour giving her lungs a real workout, and it was only the fact that Mom had managed to scrub it clean with the wipes she kept in the Sandcrawler at all times that kept it from going on longer), so once Amanda and Alicia had managed to occupy each other with whatever schoolyard games were in nowadays and Matthew and Daniel had gotten their books out, I was relatively safe to grab my datapad and start perusing the database I'd gotten yesterday.
It was really impressive, too. Wherever it was from, they'd done a good job of integrating magical energies into their technologies, being able to use them as alternative power sources or, in some cases, being able to directly store magical energy in batteries, which… how the fuck?
Just from looking at the batteries, it was obvious that the stuff called magic in the files was a far cry from what passed for proper magic in the real world, but if I had enough time, I could probably adapt the principles into something that could work with the White Council's style of magic, and then I would really start cooking with gas.
I put the datapad down for a moment, rubbing at my eyes frustratedly before turning to the rest of the Jawas.
If all went well, I'd be making their lives a lot safer, but at the same time, before I really got established, I could very well be bringing down all kinds of heat on their heads. Pretty much every supernatural faction short of the White Council, the Fellowship, and maybe Odin and his PMC, preferred humanity docile, fat, and happy, defenseless sheep for the slaughter, and the minute that they got wind of someone trying to change that by adding magic to technology was the minute that my head would be sought after by everyone from Drakul to Kukulkan, and even living under the same roof as a Knight of the Cross with all the protections that that brought with it wouldn't be enough to cover my ass.
So, before I really started experimenting, I needed both somewhere safe to hole up and, more importantly, a sponsor who was willing to go to the mattresses for me.
The White Council was out. Even if I didn't know that they were currently compromised by everyone from the Unseelie to the Adversary, they wouldn't understand enough of what I could do for them thanks to their inability to really grok technology. When combined to the fact that I wasn't at least eighty, I wouldn't be able to get anyone this side of maybe some of the younger Wardens to listen to me, and they wouldn't be able to arrange the kind of protection that I'd need even if the Council was willing to break their dumbass turtling shtick that they'd tried to use to just wait out the Red Court.
Speaking of the war with the Red Court, I couldn't afford to rely on the Fellowship or any of the other smaller organizations thanks to all their effort being devoted to standing against the vampires, if they would even have access to enough resources to prevent me from getting assassinated in my sleep if they weren't all tied up in the war.
I could, maybe, count on someone like Vadderung, if I was willing to submit myself to his authority, but-
Something about the way that Hope was moving drew my attention, and I looked down at her toddling towards the street. After a moment to open my senses, I heard a sussurus that seemed almost hypnotic, and had to bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to not immediately start following where it beckoned.
Following the meandering path that Hope was taking with my eyes even as I jogged over to catch up with her, I saw a big black SUV idling on top of the speed bump just outside the parking lot like a jackass, the kind that they always used in the movies for government agencies. One of the back windows was rolled down, and in it…
In the window, I could see the head of a snake about the size of a human's, dull gray scales flecked with what looked unnervingly like blood, tongue flickering and the stench of hellfire all but radiating off of him, with four baleful eyes following Hope toddling her way towards him and a baleful sigil glowing a sickly green above both sets.
"Fuck," I said, speeding up to try and get out in front of Hope. I pulled the amulet I'd managed to pull together out of my pocket with one hand, then wheezed to a stop ten feet in front of her. Two of my fingers rose, making the classic "I'm watching you" gesture towards the lower set of eyes, and I spat out "mabushii" accompanied with an effort of will and an image.
Immediately, the snake-headed man flinched back, screwing all four of his eyes shut as I turned all the psychedelic fury of my one-woman rave spell on him, and the spell faded out as he found himself very distracted. After a moment, the driver gunned the engine, screeching out of the crosswalk like I was going to try and kill the whole car… which, in retrospect, it could have seemed that way, what with the snake-headed Denarian writhing in pain and sensory overload.
I raised my hand to cast another spell, but before I could, the workshop's pedestals glimmered. One of them glowed more intensely before, as if in fast-forward, a model of a house resembling a dollhouse that seemed to be made out of solid silver, glowing in the moonlight, was assembled. On lower pedestals nearby, a silver statue of someone who vaguely resembled me, a sword raised over her head in a dramatic moment, poured itself into reality, and a small silver amulet inscribed with a cross (which I could feel materializing around my neck, hidden beneath my blouse) and, on the other side, a hole for a jewel of some sort ready to slot in appeared in a shower of moonlight. Leaned up against the taller pedestal with the house was an outline of a sword in silver, one that I could feel my magic flowing through somehow.
I shoved both the workshop and the knowledge of geomantic energy manipulation into the back of my mind- I couldn't afford to spend time on them in the middle of a crisis, facing down at least one Denarian.
While I'd been distracted, the passenger window had been cycled down, and without the tinted glass in the way, I could recognize Nicodemus' sneering face looking out at us as his arm fell. "Best of luck with the child," he said, ugly sneer twisting up into a smirk, and my heart rose into my throat.
I turned around to see Hope, eyes unfocused, stumbling forward with her hand out, and, closer to her than to me, a tarnished silver coin lying on the sidewalk with all the innocence of a schoolyard bully pretending that no, ma'am, I didn't just push her over, she's doing it to get me in trouble, would I ever lie to you ma'am?
There was no time to cast a spell even if I wasn't sure it would interfere with whatever had enchanted Hope, and I wasn't nearly fast enough to get to her before she got to the coin, so there was only one thing that I could do that had even a chance to save her from the coin.
I pushed off into the best standing jump I could with no warning, all but throwing my torso forwards to try and get to the coin before Hope. I flopped forwards, flat on my stomach, but I managed to cup my left hand and slap it down, covering the coin without touching it, and I gave thanks to whoever was watching out for me that I didn't end up marking up my face.
Hope tripped forwards, the dazed shamble she'd been doing finally betraying her, and she landed squarely on top of my hand, flattening it out and forcing my skin in contact with the coin.
I could feel something reaching out from the coin, something that made the Soulfire inside me roil uncomfortably, but I couldn't pay attention to that since Hope had snapped out of whatever trance she was in and was now starting to cry.
I closed my now-sore left hand around the coin, then lifted Hope up, setting her back on her feet so I could slip the coin into my pocket without touching it to her. "Hope, are you okay? What happened?"
"B-big snake man!" she sniffled, one hand clenching on thin air. "No Captain Paws!"
Thankfully, the teddy bear wasn't too far away, and with a muttered "fukukaze" I managed to call up enough of a gust to toss it into the air, landing neatly in my hand. "Yes Captain Paws," I said, pulling it back around her to show the scruffy little plush to her. "See? He's A-okay!"
That was enough to get Hope to stop crying- she'd scraped up her knee a little bit, but thankfully, the sidewalk wasn't rough enough to draw blood, so the only issue that came of us both eating dirt was my blouse and pants got a little bit dusty, which wasn't something that Mom would make a big deal about. It was hardly the dirtiest I'd gotten wrangling the Jawas, and it didn't require dry cleaning, so she would probably let things slide.
"Yeah, now, come on, let's go back over to the Sandcrawler and go wait for Mom with the rest of the Jawas, okay?" I pushed myself up, flexing my left arm to try and get it to stop stinging from the contact with the sidewalk, and then offered Hope my hand.
"Okay!" She took my hand and allowed me to lead her back to the rest, thankfully just ahead of Mom.
"Perfect timing, Molly," she said. "Your father, Shiro, and Sanya are going to be coming home after they have a conversation with Father Forthill, but we'll be going now."
"Sounds like a plan, Stan," I said, reaching down for Hope.
She obligingly raised her arms, and even if she was heavier than I thought she would be, I managed to hold her up long enough for Daniel to open the side door of the Sandcrawler so I could let her flop into her car seat like a cat, all languid limbs and frustrating inability to sit still when I needed her to. Still, I managed to secure her, and once I'd gotten into the front seat, I could zone out to actually handle the implications of everything that had happened since mass had let out.
Okay, the less pressing issue was the new knowledge of energy flows. It was a lot more like what I remembered of the interactions of ley lines from back when I was still learning under Klaus, combined with the nebulous discussion of areas of power and prepared ground, although I wanted to call them manses for some reason. On the whole, it was probably going to be helpful for fortifying locations once I could afford to pony up for the materials it would take to make one manifest itself, which was nice since I'd already been thinking about that, although my spellwork would probably be a bit more efficient once I properly internalized all the arcane knowledge.
The more pressing issue was that I had, intentionally or otherwise, opened myself up to one of the Fallen.
-----
And that's that!
Perks Earned:
Eight-Fold Geomantic Mastery (Generic Exalted, 200CP): You possess the inherent understanding and skill with geomancy and the manipulation of natural energies such that you may now create manses in any area where such a thing could conceivably be created. The stronger the mystic or magical significance of a given place the more powerful the manse that can be built there, but even in the barest and most mystically barren areas you will still be capable of producing, given some time, a manse of the least(1-dot)power. The process of creating a Manse is tremendously faster for you than it would be for others, the necessary geomantic arrays and arrangements seeming to simply leap to your mind with a clarity of insight few if any could match. The Eight-Fold part of it is that you understand the methods for creating manses aspected towards all five of the elemental essences of fire, earth, wind, water, and wood as well as manses aspected towards solar, lunar, and stellar(sidereal)energies. Given time and effort you may discern methods for creating other types of manse, twisted mockeries of what nature intended, but such insights will take considerable effort, time, and resources to bear fruit. Taking this perk explicitly allows you to create manses even outside of Creation and, indeed, is the only way to create manses outside of Creation.
Stunt Master (Generic Exalted, Free): You are a master of stunting. Any time you try to do something amazing the world will conspire to make your attempted stunt just that little bit more dramatic and incredible. Maybe there just happens to be a rope to let you swing across the ballroom dramatically as you make off with the nobles treasure, or maybe there's just the right amount of handholds and footholds on two opposing walls, at just the right distance from each other, that would allow you to dramatically wall jump your way up. So long as you strive to do things in an amazing and/or over the top fashion you will be slightly rewarded for doing so, Fate conspiring to make you that little bit better at whatever you're doing because apparently Fate is really fond of over-the-top action sequences. You can still fail when you're doing over the top stuff though, so don't get too out of hand, this just represents a slight-to-moderate increase when you're purposely trying to be amazing.
A Simple Amulet (Generic Exalted, Free): A hearthstone amulet, your choice of magical material to be made out of. It has a single socket which can have a single hearthstone placed into it. Hearthstones provide all sorts of different magical benefits as well as increasing regeneration of Essence when a heartstone is placed within. These hearthstone amulets you purchase here do not require Essence to attune them. Your first hearthstone amulet is free, and additional amulets can be purchased for 50cp each. Does not actually come with a hearthstone.
A Storied Blade (Generic Exalted, Free): You receive an average Daiklave, roughly a '2 dot' artifact weapon, for free. It comes in the magical material of your choice. Daiklaves are swords that are really huge because screw you physics huge swords are cool. For an extra 50cp you can upgrade it to a Grand Daiklave which is basically a super-huge greatsword. If you're thinking of a massive eight foot long slab of metal heavier than two fully grown men then you're on the right track. Unlike regular artifact weapons that you would normally find ones purchased here have no Essence requirement. You can attune to them, and keep them attuned, for absolutely free. Additionally, also unlike normal magical weapons (of this low a level at least) these Daiklaves are completely indestructible. Comes with 1 hearthstone socket, just because.
I have Plans for the Daiklave, so no immediate Sword Shenaniganry.
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Journeyman_Mike, Josef Haerle, Freddie Capps, Allen Baker, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
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Beta'd by Sesparra
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I was more than a little bit curious how much leeway the Church gave Father Forthill with regards to the masquerade as I walked out of Mass, sandwiched solidly between Dad and Sanya.
On one hand, there was the way that, as far as I was aware, he hadn't really started explicitly talking about the supernatural in his homilies until after the Fomor had made their big run at Chicago in a decade and change, but on the other hand… well, even if it was on the liturgical calendar and that had been set in stone before Mom had been more than a twinkle in Grandma and Grandpa's eyes, he sure made a big deal about the way that a lot of the situations that one could get themselves into could be solved by standing up, picking up their mat, and going home, which certainly sounded like it could be a stand-in for setting aside one of the Coins.
All that aside, it was nice to be back at Saint Mary of the Angels. I'd been to mass since the Fomor had destroyed the building, granted, but there was something about the grand old building that had been lacking in every other church I'd ever heard someone serving mass in, and it wasn't just Father Forthill, since I'd had the fortune to attend mass he'd been giving in the refugee camps.
Sanya gave me a questioning look as he, Dad, and Shiro split off, as if inviting me to come with them, but I shook my head. Mom was likely to go off and talk to Mrs. Capelli or someone else in that crowd, so I needed to be on hand so I could watch the rest of the kids, plus the fact that I wasn't quite ready to talk to Dad about getting involved with the situation at hand.
He shrugged, then waved, and as he walked off, the pedestals glimmered.
When nothing came of it, I sighed, more than a little grateful that I wasn't having to deal with another complication at the moment, then turned back to Mom and the rest of the Jawas. True to form, she was heading off to the corner of the parking lot that Mrs. Capelli had taken over years ago with little Harry on her hip like he hadn't been getting a bit old for that, so I was left to herd the cats into something resembling an ordered charge towards the Sandcrawler and the stuff that Mom always kept in the back before they started invading other cars in search of mischief.
Thankfully, I managed to get them all to the Sandcrawler with a minimum of distractions, the most egregious instance being Hobbit picking up a chunk of asphalt off the ground and trying to chew on it.
I'd managed to pry the thing out of her grubby little hands before she started slobbering on it with the help of her favorite teddy bear and a pocket bottle of hand sanitizer (thankfully- the last time that she'd gotten Captain Paws dirty, she'd spend half an hour giving her lungs a real workout, and it was only the fact that Mom had managed to scrub it clean with the wipes she kept in the Sandcrawler at all times that kept it from going on longer), so once Amanda and Alicia had managed to occupy each other with whatever schoolyard games were in nowadays and Matthew and Daniel had gotten their books out, I was relatively safe to grab my datapad and start perusing the database I'd gotten yesterday.
It was really impressive, too. Wherever it was from, they'd done a good job of integrating magical energies into their technologies, being able to use them as alternative power sources or, in some cases, being able to directly store magical energy in batteries, which… how the fuck?
Just from looking at the batteries, it was obvious that the stuff called magic in the files was a far cry from what passed for proper magic in the real world, but if I had enough time, I could probably adapt the principles into something that could work with the White Council's style of magic, and then I would really start cooking with gas.
I put the datapad down for a moment, rubbing at my eyes frustratedly before turning to the rest of the Jawas.
If all went well, I'd be making their lives a lot safer, but at the same time, before I really got established, I could very well be bringing down all kinds of heat on their heads. Pretty much every supernatural faction short of the White Council, the Fellowship, and maybe Odin and his PMC, preferred humanity docile, fat, and happy, defenseless sheep for the slaughter, and the minute that they got wind of someone trying to change that by adding magic to technology was the minute that my head would be sought after by everyone from Drakul to Kukulkan, and even living under the same roof as a Knight of the Cross with all the protections that that brought with it wouldn't be enough to cover my ass.
So, before I really started experimenting, I needed both somewhere safe to hole up and, more importantly, a sponsor who was willing to go to the mattresses for me.
The White Council was out. Even if I didn't know that they were currently compromised by everyone from the Unseelie to the Adversary, they wouldn't understand enough of what I could do for them thanks to their inability to really grok technology. When combined to the fact that I wasn't at least eighty, I wouldn't be able to get anyone this side of maybe some of the younger Wardens to listen to me, and they wouldn't be able to arrange the kind of protection that I'd need even if the Council was willing to break their dumbass turtling shtick that they'd tried to use to just wait out the Red Court.
Speaking of the war with the Red Court, I couldn't afford to rely on the Fellowship or any of the other smaller organizations thanks to all their effort being devoted to standing against the vampires, if they would even have access to enough resources to prevent me from getting assassinated in my sleep if they weren't all tied up in the war.
I could, maybe, count on someone like Vadderung, if I was willing to submit myself to his authority, but-
Something about the way that Hope was moving drew my attention, and I looked down at her toddling towards the street. After a moment to open my senses, I heard a sussurus that seemed almost hypnotic, and had to bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to not immediately start following where it beckoned.
Following the meandering path that Hope was taking with my eyes even as I jogged over to catch up with her, I saw a big black SUV idling on top of the speed bump just outside the parking lot like a jackass, the kind that they always used in the movies for government agencies. One of the back windows was rolled down, and in it…
In the window, I could see the head of a snake about the size of a human's, dull gray scales flecked with what looked unnervingly like blood, tongue flickering and the stench of hellfire all but radiating off of him, with four baleful eyes following Hope toddling her way towards him and a baleful sigil glowing a sickly green above both sets.
"Fuck," I said, speeding up to try and get out in front of Hope. I pulled the amulet I'd managed to pull together out of my pocket with one hand, then wheezed to a stop ten feet in front of her. Two of my fingers rose, making the classic "I'm watching you" gesture towards the lower set of eyes, and I spat out "mabushii" accompanied with an effort of will and an image.
Immediately, the snake-headed man flinched back, screwing all four of his eyes shut as I turned all the psychedelic fury of my one-woman rave spell on him, and the spell faded out as he found himself very distracted. After a moment, the driver gunned the engine, screeching out of the crosswalk like I was going to try and kill the whole car… which, in retrospect, it could have seemed that way, what with the snake-headed Denarian writhing in pain and sensory overload.
I raised my hand to cast another spell, but before I could, the workshop's pedestals glimmered. One of them glowed more intensely before, as if in fast-forward, a model of a house resembling a dollhouse that seemed to be made out of solid silver, glowing in the moonlight, was assembled. On lower pedestals nearby, a silver statue of someone who vaguely resembled me, a sword raised over her head in a dramatic moment, poured itself into reality, and a small silver amulet inscribed with a cross (which I could feel materializing around my neck, hidden beneath my blouse) and, on the other side, a hole for a jewel of some sort ready to slot in appeared in a shower of moonlight. Leaned up against the taller pedestal with the house was an outline of a sword in silver, one that I could feel my magic flowing through somehow.
I shoved both the workshop and the knowledge of geomantic energy manipulation into the back of my mind- I couldn't afford to spend time on them in the middle of a crisis, facing down at least one Denarian.
While I'd been distracted, the passenger window had been cycled down, and without the tinted glass in the way, I could recognize Nicodemus' sneering face looking out at us as his arm fell. "Best of luck with the child," he said, ugly sneer twisting up into a smirk, and my heart rose into my throat.
I turned around to see Hope, eyes unfocused, stumbling forward with her hand out, and, closer to her than to me, a tarnished silver coin lying on the sidewalk with all the innocence of a schoolyard bully pretending that no, ma'am, I didn't just push her over, she's doing it to get me in trouble, would I ever lie to you ma'am?
There was no time to cast a spell even if I wasn't sure it would interfere with whatever had enchanted Hope, and I wasn't nearly fast enough to get to her before she got to the coin, so there was only one thing that I could do that had even a chance to save her from the coin.
I pushed off into the best standing jump I could with no warning, all but throwing my torso forwards to try and get to the coin before Hope. I flopped forwards, flat on my stomach, but I managed to cup my left hand and slap it down, covering the coin without touching it, and I gave thanks to whoever was watching out for me that I didn't end up marking up my face.
Hope tripped forwards, the dazed shamble she'd been doing finally betraying her, and she landed squarely on top of my hand, flattening it out and forcing my skin in contact with the coin.
I could feel something reaching out from the coin, something that made the Soulfire inside me roil uncomfortably, but I couldn't pay attention to that since Hope had snapped out of whatever trance she was in and was now starting to cry.
I closed my now-sore left hand around the coin, then lifted Hope up, setting her back on her feet so I could slip the coin into my pocket without touching it to her. "Hope, are you okay? What happened?"
"B-big snake man!" she sniffled, one hand clenching on thin air. "No Captain Paws!"
Thankfully, the teddy bear wasn't too far away, and with a muttered "fukukaze" I managed to call up enough of a gust to toss it into the air, landing neatly in my hand. "Yes Captain Paws," I said, pulling it back around her to show the scruffy little plush to her. "See? He's A-okay!"
That was enough to get Hope to stop crying- she'd scraped up her knee a little bit, but thankfully, the sidewalk wasn't rough enough to draw blood, so the only issue that came of us both eating dirt was my blouse and pants got a little bit dusty, which wasn't something that Mom would make a big deal about. It was hardly the dirtiest I'd gotten wrangling the Jawas, and it didn't require dry cleaning, so she would probably let things slide.
"Yeah, now, come on, let's go back over to the Sandcrawler and go wait for Mom with the rest of the Jawas, okay?" I pushed myself up, flexing my left arm to try and get it to stop stinging from the contact with the sidewalk, and then offered Hope my hand.
"Okay!" She took my hand and allowed me to lead her back to the rest, thankfully just ahead of Mom.
"Perfect timing, Molly," she said. "Your father, Shiro, and Sanya are going to be coming home after they have a conversation with Father Forthill, but we'll be going now."
"Sounds like a plan, Stan," I said, reaching down for Hope.
She obligingly raised her arms, and even if she was heavier than I thought she would be, I managed to hold her up long enough for Daniel to open the side door of the Sandcrawler so I could let her flop into her car seat like a cat, all languid limbs and frustrating inability to sit still when I needed her to. Still, I managed to secure her, and once I'd gotten into the front seat, I could zone out to actually handle the implications of everything that had happened since mass had let out.
Okay, the less pressing issue was the new knowledge of energy flows. It was a lot more like what I remembered of the interactions of ley lines from back when I was still learning under Klaus, combined with the nebulous discussion of areas of power and prepared ground, although I wanted to call them manses for some reason. On the whole, it was probably going to be helpful for fortifying locations once I could afford to pony up for the materials it would take to make one manifest itself, which was nice since I'd already been thinking about that, although my spellwork would probably be a bit more efficient once I properly internalized all the arcane knowledge.
The more pressing issue was that I had, intentionally or otherwise, opened myself up to one of the Fallen.
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And that's that!
Perks Earned:
Eight-Fold Geomantic Mastery (Generic Exalted, 200CP): You possess the inherent understanding and skill with geomancy and the manipulation of natural energies such that you may now create manses in any area where such a thing could conceivably be created. The stronger the mystic or magical significance of a given place the more powerful the manse that can be built there, but even in the barest and most mystically barren areas you will still be capable of producing, given some time, a manse of the least(1-dot)power. The process of creating a Manse is tremendously faster for you than it would be for others, the necessary geomantic arrays and arrangements seeming to simply leap to your mind with a clarity of insight few if any could match. The Eight-Fold part of it is that you understand the methods for creating manses aspected towards all five of the elemental essences of fire, earth, wind, water, and wood as well as manses aspected towards solar, lunar, and stellar(sidereal)energies. Given time and effort you may discern methods for creating other types of manse, twisted mockeries of what nature intended, but such insights will take considerable effort, time, and resources to bear fruit. Taking this perk explicitly allows you to create manses even outside of Creation and, indeed, is the only way to create manses outside of Creation.
Stunt Master (Generic Exalted, Free): You are a master of stunting. Any time you try to do something amazing the world will conspire to make your attempted stunt just that little bit more dramatic and incredible. Maybe there just happens to be a rope to let you swing across the ballroom dramatically as you make off with the nobles treasure, or maybe there's just the right amount of handholds and footholds on two opposing walls, at just the right distance from each other, that would allow you to dramatically wall jump your way up. So long as you strive to do things in an amazing and/or over the top fashion you will be slightly rewarded for doing so, Fate conspiring to make you that little bit better at whatever you're doing because apparently Fate is really fond of over-the-top action sequences. You can still fail when you're doing over the top stuff though, so don't get too out of hand, this just represents a slight-to-moderate increase when you're purposely trying to be amazing.
A Simple Amulet (Generic Exalted, Free): A hearthstone amulet, your choice of magical material to be made out of. It has a single socket which can have a single hearthstone placed into it. Hearthstones provide all sorts of different magical benefits as well as increasing regeneration of Essence when a heartstone is placed within. These hearthstone amulets you purchase here do not require Essence to attune them. Your first hearthstone amulet is free, and additional amulets can be purchased for 50cp each. Does not actually come with a hearthstone.
A Storied Blade (Generic Exalted, Free): You receive an average Daiklave, roughly a '2 dot' artifact weapon, for free. It comes in the magical material of your choice. Daiklaves are swords that are really huge because screw you physics huge swords are cool. For an extra 50cp you can upgrade it to a Grand Daiklave which is basically a super-huge greatsword. If you're thinking of a massive eight foot long slab of metal heavier than two fully grown men then you're on the right track. Unlike regular artifact weapons that you would normally find ones purchased here have no Essence requirement. You can attune to them, and keep them attuned, for absolutely free. Additionally, also unlike normal magical weapons (of this low a level at least) these Daiklaves are completely indestructible. Comes with 1 hearthstone socket, just because.
I have Plans for the Daiklave, so no immediate Sword Shenaniganry.
If you want to support me as a writer, I've got me a Ko-fi (Buy Lucifra a Coffee. ko-fi.com/lucifra) and a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Lucifra), and if you become a patron, you can see my chapters a week early, plus for this fic see two chapters not available on other platforms yet.
Speaking of which, my thanks to NotableRonin, Mtron, AntaeusTheGiant, Starfall20, Danielle, Ultama Omega, Asuran Fun, KOOLAID, Journeyman_Mike, Josef Haerle, Freddie Capps, Allen Baker, Bailey Matutine, Mr Phantom, Thomas Vernet, Conor Cooney and Ember for being patrons!
I also have a discord sir ver for author stuff- if you have questions or comments that you'd like a more direct line to ask me, or if you want to see me chatting about my writing process, that's another option: Join the The Lucifralorn Forest Discord Server!
That's about it, so read, review, enjoy, and have a nice day!
