Chapter 22 - Punch the Bunch
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Punch the Bunch
Zane switched his Knight Arm to its Flower Form, causing a surge of petals to whirl around him in a hurricane of red-gold colors, like an ephemeral, floral flame. He mentally directed them to stay at his back, out of sight, but within reach, so as to not alert the entering foes.
After discussing the plan and readying themselves for the men's approach, Zane moved over right next to the entryway. At the same time, Brick and Johnny slid a flaming table into place for the former to launch.
As the first of the armored mercenaries peeked in, rifle held high, Brick revealed himself and thrust his palm with a moment's charge up.
With a loud bang, the round, wooden dining table was flung across the room and into the mercenary, knocking him over and causing him to discharge his rifle in a moment of shock. He attempted to escape, crawl back, and untangle himself from where the table had trapped his leg and was exposing him to the flame, but Johnny Buddha dashed forward, clocked him twice in the helmet, kicked him in the stomach and the arms until he released the rifle, and then picked up the table and spun around, tossing it haphazardly at the other mercenaries, who'd already opened fire on him, causing geysers of blood to sprout from Buddha's back and sides.
And the fight started in earnest, then.
Johnny and Zane led the charge outside, while Spike provided fire support by flinging javelins and using his Shield to draw attention. Altogether, the fight didn't last terribly long - Spike took down half of the enemy, while Zane and Buddha took on the other half together. A half-minute later, the street was clear, aside from the group of armored men lying on the floor, moaning in pain, and turning, clutching broken limbs. It was exhilarating to learn that now Zane had an inherent capacity to beat down grown men, outfitted with modern high-caliber firearms and decked out in full armor suits. He probably would've had significantly less luck if he was on his own.
"Alright," Spike commanded from within the restaurant, his Terror Armor doffed. "We have the Cards for the Firestarter and the bronze armor guy. It's Surtr and Kronos. Let's get into the van, I parked right down the street. Do we have the noodles on us?"
"Yeah. I left them at the back. I wasn't expecting Kronos," Zane commented.
"Me neither."
A few seconds later, Brick and Shen joined them; the latter in the former's arms, held in a princess carry. It was slightly impressive, a credit to Brick's strength. While Shen wasn't heavy by any means, he wasn't the lightest of men either.
After retrieving the twenty-pack of instant ramen noodles, all of them got into Spike's van, Buddha included. Brick was riding shotgun and on watch for any more enemies, with Zane, Shen, and Buddha sitting clumped together in the back of the small, ratty van. As Spike started up the engine with a slow clicking of the motors, followed by a roar as the ancient gears and mechanisms finally ignited, and drove down the street, Zane picked up a cup of ramen noodles from the Noodle Man and started preparing them for his uncle. And that's when Zane thought of something.
"How did you know that... er, that dick was about to attack us?" he asked Buddha.
"Oh. I have a bit of a... lucky charm, I suppose," the man coyly admitted. And then he grinned, coyness replaced by daring. "I sorta appear where I'm needed like that."
Zane stared at him, but decided not to question it. He observed the bloody smears on Buddha's torso and arms, a few on his legs. Back when they fought the mercenaries, he hadn't been impeded by the gunshots delivered to his body, and right now, it seemed like the wounds had mostly sealed up.
"Are you actually Buddha?" Brick asked, a tinge of curiosity in his voice. "I mean, as in, your Godcard?"
"Nah. I use the name Johnny Buddha to throw people off. I don't actually have a Godcard."
There was a brief dip as Spike swerved minimally to the left, as if flinching at the words.
"What?!"
"Yeah," Johnny continued with a grin that displayed reckless bravado. "I was a badass since birth, pretty much."
"No seriously, how?" Spike asked, glancing at the man, then looking back at the road. The streets of Manhattan were surprisingly unclogged, empty. Maybe the people in the nearby blocks heard the distant rattle of gunshots and decided to run? If Zane were a normal person, he sure was fuck would have.
"I, eh... listen, no offense, but I don't trust you guys, yet." Zane blinked. "Not enough to tell you my epic backstory. I'm not gonna lie about what I can do, though."
The portable water heater they'd bought finally pinged with readiness. Zane poured the water into the ramen cup, followed by a cheap but deep plastic spoon. He mixed the steaming concoction of noodles and flavored water for a couple of seconds, and then, gingerly, helped his uncle open his mouth and fed him.
A couple of seconds after the first mouthful, there was a double crack, and an audible grunt from Shen as his wrists set themselves. His eyes fluttered.
"Holy shit. Instant ramen is no joke," Zane said.
"Yeah. It really is instant," Buddha added, observing the transformation with something like grim appreciation.
After several more spoonfuls of ramen, Shen stirred to consciousness and held out his hand. After a moment of warily observing his fingers, Zane relented and handed over the ramen cup. His uncle blew some air on the surface of the cup, and then started to eat himself, groggy and silent.
"Where are we going?" Zane asked.
"The Wardens," Spike replied casually, eyes on the road. "I think... I mean, they'll probably know what to do. And we were supposed to meet anyway. It's clear we aren't safe in any place that's publically known as, well, a place we usually go to."
"No more school?" Brick asked, almost excitedly.
"Is that seriously your takeaway from this?" Zane asked, feeling like he should smack the idiot as a matter of obligation. "No more school? A bunch of fucking gangmen came into my uncle's restaurant and tried to make us into Swiss cheese. A rich fuck in a trenchcoat and devil mask almost strangled me."
"And then you unlocked superpowers," Spike added. "New superpowers. What's that about?"
"Ah... I'll tell you the full story after we arrive, but, basically, when I was on the brink of consciousness, I had this weird vision where I was drinking from a lotus. And then I stood up and I could summon this. It's a Knight Arm," Zane explained, manifesting his Arm in Tekko Form in order to display it. A pair of wreathed iron stirrups appeared, shaped like metal crescents with straight handholds of ebony wood. As a result of those materials, they both looked elegant and grim, favoring darkness over light. And in contrast to that, Zane shifted it to Flower Form, manifesting a brightly-colored lotus.
"I don't know how to use it, yet. I'm pretty sure I can use it to develop new powers, though, mostly through training."
"Maybe it'll prove useful against that devil dick," Spike said.
"Maybe."
And they drove, past the sirens of the police and ambulances.
---
As of right now, you have 12.2 Ambrosia.
After claiming sanctuary from the Wardens (Father Nicholas is willing to let you stay in the basement of his church; it's rather spacious and already has several beds prepared for sleeping, on top of other basic facilities,) and learning from Yukari that a counter-attack isn't advisable for the rest of the week, you have the next three days off.
Here's the Godcards you claimed from both the Firestarter and Kronos and their effects for the team members.
Zane's Card Powers
Surtr - V. low compatibility (<10%). A power that lets its user breathe a thick, dark vapor which rapidly fills up an area - even an invisible amount can make people choke.
Kronos - V. low compatibility (<10%). A power which manifests a scythe-like sword; when preparing to swing, the user's perspective of time is slowed down around 50%.
Spike's Card Powers
Surtr - Low compatibility (<25%). A power that lets its user form a ball of fiery magma and shoot it, with the rough velocity and accuracy of a bullet. It doesn't explode.
Kronos - Medium compatibility (<40%). Derive tenfold benefits from consumption of any food and confer a slight paranormal effect associated, particularly regarding its nutrient contents; eating a lemon can heal a cold almost instantly. Untested on Noodle Man's instant healing ramen.
Brick's Card Powers
Surtr - Incompatible.
Kronos - Medium compatibility (<40%). Identical to Zane's power from this Godcard.
Shen's Card Powers
Surtr - Incompatible.
Kronos - V. high compatibility (90%+). A 7-Ambrosia power equivalent. The Cardbearer is capable of cooking meals to a standard of supernatural excellence; he can use a sword to dice vegetables, or a potato masher to juice lemons, and the meal he creates will still end up tasting as if it were prepared by a gourmet chef in a five-star restaurant. Furthermore, any food prepared by the Cardbearer has similar benefits to the power which Spike receives from this Godcard.
Johnny Buddha's Card Powers
Surtr - Incompatible.
Kronos - Barely compatible (<5%). A simple agility boost, doesn't even reach peak-human levels.
As usual, vote by plan. Make sure to draft a separate activity plan for each day; no more than five actions per day, as per the usual limited-effectiveness rules.
As a result of your newfound status as Knight-Aspirant, a few special actions have been unlocked. You can find them at the bottom of the list. However, make sure to apply them cleverly - only a single special action may be taken per day.
[ ] Custom Action (write-in)
[ ] Training
-[ ] Martial Arts
-[ ] Weapons Training (what kind of weapons?)
-[ ] Group Training (with whom? what kind?)
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Master Invocation (which one?)
-[ ] Invent Invocation (what kind? describe in broad terms only, its purpose and its core idea)
-[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] Social - All Social actions count as half-actions (as in, you can take two for the price of one, but you can't take more than six per day.) It's possible to take multiple for one person in order to focus on them more.
-[ ] Speak With: Spike
-[ ] Speak With: Brick
-[ ] Speak With: Johnny Buddha
-[ ] Group Activity (what kind?)
-[ ] Attend to Shen - Although the instant ramen of the Noodle Man healed most of his wounds, Uncle Shen still isn't in top physical form, and likely won't be for a while. It's also impossible to fail to notice that he's shaken up after having his restaurant destroyed.
-[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] Resources - All Resources actions count as half-actions, however, only two in total can be taken per day.
-[ ] Procure Armaments (what sort? from whom?)
-[ ] Procure Items (what sort? from whom?)
-[ ] Contact Hephaestus - Maybe she finished your armor? If she hasn't, it's possible to offer her extra payment for better quality or faster work.
-[ ] Contact Baron Samedi - Although you aren't sure you have need of his services, he did leave a business card behind.
-[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] Special - Can be taken once per day only.
-[ ] Essential Meditations - Generate a free 0.5 Ambrosia.
-[ ] Enlightened Meditations - Has a 40% chance to generate a free 1 Ambrosia.
-[ ] Exalted Meditations - Has a 50% chance to generate a free 3 Ambrosia, a 25% chance to do nothing, and a 25% chance to lose 5 Ambrosia.
-[ ] Personal Meditations - Has a 25% chance to restore a use of Brawler of Midwood (currently: 2/3)
-[ ] Awakened Meditations - Has a 50% chance to restore a use of Brawler of Midwood. Has a 50% chance to lose a use of Brawler of Midwood (currently: 2/3)
-[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation - Make free progress towards the next Rank of your Knight Arm. Also has a 10% bonus chance to unlock a new Invocation which is useful to your present situation, and a 10% chance to improve your skill with one of your Invocations.
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation - 50% chance to gain + to physical statistics, as a fully paranormal/supernatural but permanent improvement.
-[ ] Hopeless and Tireless Maiden Prayer - A 1% chance to instantly unlock the equivalent of a 25-Ambrosia power. If the prayer fails, the odds of the next prayer succeeding increase by 0.5%, accumulating the odds.
Zane switched his Knight Arm to its Flower Form, causing a surge of petals to whirl around him in a hurricane of red-gold colors, like an ephemeral, floral flame. He mentally directed them to stay at his back, out of sight, but within reach, so as to not alert the entering foes.
After discussing the plan and readying themselves for the men's approach, Zane moved over right next to the entryway. At the same time, Brick and Johnny slid a flaming table into place for the former to launch.
As the first of the armored mercenaries peeked in, rifle held high, Brick revealed himself and thrust his palm with a moment's charge up.
With a loud bang, the round, wooden dining table was flung across the room and into the mercenary, knocking him over and causing him to discharge his rifle in a moment of shock. He attempted to escape, crawl back, and untangle himself from where the table had trapped his leg and was exposing him to the flame, but Johnny Buddha dashed forward, clocked him twice in the helmet, kicked him in the stomach and the arms until he released the rifle, and then picked up the table and spun around, tossing it haphazardly at the other mercenaries, who'd already opened fire on him, causing geysers of blood to sprout from Buddha's back and sides.
And the fight started in earnest, then.
Johnny and Zane led the charge outside, while Spike provided fire support by flinging javelins and using his Shield to draw attention. Altogether, the fight didn't last terribly long - Spike took down half of the enemy, while Zane and Buddha took on the other half together. A half-minute later, the street was clear, aside from the group of armored men lying on the floor, moaning in pain, and turning, clutching broken limbs. It was exhilarating to learn that now Zane had an inherent capacity to beat down grown men, outfitted with modern high-caliber firearms and decked out in full armor suits. He probably would've had significantly less luck if he was on his own.
"Alright," Spike commanded from within the restaurant, his Terror Armor doffed. "We have the Cards for the Firestarter and the bronze armor guy. It's Surtr and Kronos. Let's get into the van, I parked right down the street. Do we have the noodles on us?"
"Yeah. I left them at the back. I wasn't expecting Kronos," Zane commented.
"Me neither."
A few seconds later, Brick and Shen joined them; the latter in the former's arms, held in a princess carry. It was slightly impressive, a credit to Brick's strength. While Shen wasn't heavy by any means, he wasn't the lightest of men either.
After retrieving the twenty-pack of instant ramen noodles, all of them got into Spike's van, Buddha included. Brick was riding shotgun and on watch for any more enemies, with Zane, Shen, and Buddha sitting clumped together in the back of the small, ratty van. As Spike started up the engine with a slow clicking of the motors, followed by a roar as the ancient gears and mechanisms finally ignited, and drove down the street, Zane picked up a cup of ramen noodles from the Noodle Man and started preparing them for his uncle. And that's when Zane thought of something.
"How did you know that... er, that dick was about to attack us?" he asked Buddha.
"Oh. I have a bit of a... lucky charm, I suppose," the man coyly admitted. And then he grinned, coyness replaced by daring. "I sorta appear where I'm needed like that."
Zane stared at him, but decided not to question it. He observed the bloody smears on Buddha's torso and arms, a few on his legs. Back when they fought the mercenaries, he hadn't been impeded by the gunshots delivered to his body, and right now, it seemed like the wounds had mostly sealed up.
"Are you actually Buddha?" Brick asked, a tinge of curiosity in his voice. "I mean, as in, your Godcard?"
"Nah. I use the name Johnny Buddha to throw people off. I don't actually have a Godcard."
There was a brief dip as Spike swerved minimally to the left, as if flinching at the words.
"What?!"
"Yeah," Johnny continued with a grin that displayed reckless bravado. "I was a badass since birth, pretty much."
"No seriously, how?" Spike asked, glancing at the man, then looking back at the road. The streets of Manhattan were surprisingly unclogged, empty. Maybe the people in the nearby blocks heard the distant rattle of gunshots and decided to run? If Zane were a normal person, he sure was fuck would have.
"I, eh... listen, no offense, but I don't trust you guys, yet." Zane blinked. "Not enough to tell you my epic backstory. I'm not gonna lie about what I can do, though."
The portable water heater they'd bought finally pinged with readiness. Zane poured the water into the ramen cup, followed by a cheap but deep plastic spoon. He mixed the steaming concoction of noodles and flavored water for a couple of seconds, and then, gingerly, helped his uncle open his mouth and fed him.
A couple of seconds after the first mouthful, there was a double crack, and an audible grunt from Shen as his wrists set themselves. His eyes fluttered.
"Holy shit. Instant ramen is no joke," Zane said.
"Yeah. It really is instant," Buddha added, observing the transformation with something like grim appreciation.
After several more spoonfuls of ramen, Shen stirred to consciousness and held out his hand. After a moment of warily observing his fingers, Zane relented and handed over the ramen cup. His uncle blew some air on the surface of the cup, and then started to eat himself, groggy and silent.
"Where are we going?" Zane asked.
"The Wardens," Spike replied casually, eyes on the road. "I think... I mean, they'll probably know what to do. And we were supposed to meet anyway. It's clear we aren't safe in any place that's publically known as, well, a place we usually go to."
"No more school?" Brick asked, almost excitedly.
"Is that seriously your takeaway from this?" Zane asked, feeling like he should smack the idiot as a matter of obligation. "No more school? A bunch of fucking gangmen came into my uncle's restaurant and tried to make us into Swiss cheese. A rich fuck in a trenchcoat and devil mask almost strangled me."
"And then you unlocked superpowers," Spike added. "New superpowers. What's that about?"
"Ah... I'll tell you the full story after we arrive, but, basically, when I was on the brink of consciousness, I had this weird vision where I was drinking from a lotus. And then I stood up and I could summon this. It's a Knight Arm," Zane explained, manifesting his Arm in Tekko Form in order to display it. A pair of wreathed iron stirrups appeared, shaped like metal crescents with straight handholds of ebony wood. As a result of those materials, they both looked elegant and grim, favoring darkness over light. And in contrast to that, Zane shifted it to Flower Form, manifesting a brightly-colored lotus.
"I don't know how to use it, yet. I'm pretty sure I can use it to develop new powers, though, mostly through training."
"Maybe it'll prove useful against that devil dick," Spike said.
"Maybe."
And they drove, past the sirens of the police and ambulances.
---
As of right now, you have 12.2 Ambrosia.
After claiming sanctuary from the Wardens (Father Nicholas is willing to let you stay in the basement of his church; it's rather spacious and already has several beds prepared for sleeping, on top of other basic facilities,) and learning from Yukari that a counter-attack isn't advisable for the rest of the week, you have the next three days off.
Here's the Godcards you claimed from both the Firestarter and Kronos and their effects for the team members.
Zane's Card Powers
Surtr - V. low compatibility (<10%). A power that lets its user breathe a thick, dark vapor which rapidly fills up an area - even an invisible amount can make people choke.
Kronos - V. low compatibility (<10%). A power which manifests a scythe-like sword; when preparing to swing, the user's perspective of time is slowed down around 50%.
Spike's Card Powers
Surtr - Low compatibility (<25%). A power that lets its user form a ball of fiery magma and shoot it, with the rough velocity and accuracy of a bullet. It doesn't explode.
Kronos - Medium compatibility (<40%). Derive tenfold benefits from consumption of any food and confer a slight paranormal effect associated, particularly regarding its nutrient contents; eating a lemon can heal a cold almost instantly. Untested on Noodle Man's instant healing ramen.
Brick's Card Powers
Surtr - Incompatible.
Kronos - Medium compatibility (<40%). Identical to Zane's power from this Godcard.
Shen's Card Powers
Surtr - Incompatible.
Kronos - V. high compatibility (90%+). A 7-Ambrosia power equivalent. The Cardbearer is capable of cooking meals to a standard of supernatural excellence; he can use a sword to dice vegetables, or a potato masher to juice lemons, and the meal he creates will still end up tasting as if it were prepared by a gourmet chef in a five-star restaurant. Furthermore, any food prepared by the Cardbearer has similar benefits to the power which Spike receives from this Godcard.
Johnny Buddha's Card Powers
Surtr - Incompatible.
Kronos - Barely compatible (<5%). A simple agility boost, doesn't even reach peak-human levels.
As usual, vote by plan. Make sure to draft a separate activity plan for each day; no more than five actions per day, as per the usual limited-effectiveness rules.
As a result of your newfound status as Knight-Aspirant, a few special actions have been unlocked. You can find them at the bottom of the list. However, make sure to apply them cleverly - only a single special action may be taken per day.
[ ] Custom Action (write-in)
[ ] Training
-[ ] Martial Arts
-[ ] Weapons Training (what kind of weapons?)
-[ ] Group Training (with whom? what kind?)
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Master Invocation (which one?)
-[ ] Invent Invocation (what kind? describe in broad terms only, its purpose and its core idea)
-[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] Social - All Social actions count as half-actions (as in, you can take two for the price of one, but you can't take more than six per day.) It's possible to take multiple for one person in order to focus on them more.
-[ ] Speak With: Spike
-[ ] Speak With: Brick
-[ ] Speak With: Johnny Buddha
-[ ] Group Activity (what kind?)
-[ ] Attend to Shen - Although the instant ramen of the Noodle Man healed most of his wounds, Uncle Shen still isn't in top physical form, and likely won't be for a while. It's also impossible to fail to notice that he's shaken up after having his restaurant destroyed.
-[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] Resources - All Resources actions count as half-actions, however, only two in total can be taken per day.
-[ ] Procure Armaments (what sort? from whom?)
-[ ] Procure Items (what sort? from whom?)
-[ ] Contact Hephaestus - Maybe she finished your armor? If she hasn't, it's possible to offer her extra payment for better quality or faster work.
-[ ] Contact Baron Samedi - Although you aren't sure you have need of his services, he did leave a business card behind.
-[ ] Other (write-in)
[ ] Special - Can be taken once per day only.
-[ ] Essential Meditations - Generate a free 0.5 Ambrosia.
-[ ] Enlightened Meditations - Has a 40% chance to generate a free 1 Ambrosia.
-[ ] Exalted Meditations - Has a 50% chance to generate a free 3 Ambrosia, a 25% chance to do nothing, and a 25% chance to lose 5 Ambrosia.
-[ ] Personal Meditations - Has a 25% chance to restore a use of Brawler of Midwood (currently: 2/3)
-[ ] Awakened Meditations - Has a 50% chance to restore a use of Brawler of Midwood. Has a 50% chance to lose a use of Brawler of Midwood (currently: 2/3)
-[ ] Aspiring Knight Meditation - Make free progress towards the next Rank of your Knight Arm. Also has a 10% bonus chance to unlock a new Invocation which is useful to your present situation, and a 10% chance to improve your skill with one of your Invocations.
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation - 50% chance to gain + to physical statistics, as a fully paranormal/supernatural but permanent improvement.
-[ ] Hopeless and Tireless Maiden Prayer - A 1% chance to instantly unlock the equivalent of a 25-Ambrosia power. If the prayer fails, the odds of the next prayer succeeding increase by 0.5%, accumulating the odds.
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Powers Available
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Here will be the descriptions for the Invocations that you have available to you. If you choose to utilize a Godcard, it'll also be here.
A Flower Is A Fist
Above you stands the vestibule of every heart - the dream made of ignited hope.
An active Invocation with passive effects. Can only be used two times a day (increasing with experience/training.) Its effects normally last ten minutes but can be extended further past that, indefinitely, at the price of accumulating exhaustion.
This Invocation gives its user +++Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Wits, as well as a further ++++Willpower on top of that, during its activation. At this level of enhancement, defeating peak-human opponents unarmed shouldn't present more than a minor issue for the Knight.
A further bonus which depends on the Form of the Knight Arm applies.
Tekko-Form: The Knight Arm shines through with an outer light of soft red aura. Attacks made with the Knight Arm gain a +200% armor-piercing bonus for every blow, equally ignoring and sundering physical defenses. Nothing can stand in the way of your hopes and dreams!
Flower-Form: The Knight Arm's petals are detached and fly around the user in a storm of red husks, while its stem rests in his hand like a wand. Reflexively, the petals shall protect the user from harm, ablating away both ranged and melee damage. Mentally directed, they can be made to fly off in the form of a weak ranged attack.
Above you stands the vestibule of every heart - the dream made of ignited hope.
An active Invocation with passive effects. Can only be used two times a day (increasing with experience/training.) Its effects normally last ten minutes but can be extended further past that, indefinitely, at the price of accumulating exhaustion.
This Invocation gives its user +++Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Wits, as well as a further ++++Willpower on top of that, during its activation. At this level of enhancement, defeating peak-human opponents unarmed shouldn't present more than a minor issue for the Knight.
A further bonus which depends on the Form of the Knight Arm applies.
Tekko-Form: The Knight Arm shines through with an outer light of soft red aura. Attacks made with the Knight Arm gain a +200% armor-piercing bonus for every blow, equally ignoring and sundering physical defenses. Nothing can stand in the way of your hopes and dreams!
Flower-Form: The Knight Arm's petals are detached and fly around the user in a storm of red husks, while its stem rests in his hand like a wand. Reflexively, the petals shall protect the user from harm, ablating away both ranged and melee damage. Mentally directed, they can be made to fly off in the form of a weak ranged attack.
Unhesitating Martial Advance
It's the martial artist's nature to be hesitant to strike the first blow, and there's no shame in it. Neither does a flower respond when a herbivore wishes to feast on its petals. However, every martial artist must be prepared to strike - and every flower has the ability to grow deadly thorns.
Active technique, it triggers automatically when entering combat, even if the Knight isn't aware he's entering combat, even if his Knight Arm is stored away (which causes it to immediately appear in whichever Form is preferable.) It boosts the Knight's reflexes, strength, and speed to superhuman levels (+500% to all values,) for however long it takes him to make his first proper 'action,' in a fight (including defense or analyzing the battlefield.) In most situations, it will likely allow the user to end the fight instantly.
It's the martial artist's nature to be hesitant to strike the first blow, and there's no shame in it. Neither does a flower respond when a herbivore wishes to feast on its petals. However, every martial artist must be prepared to strike - and every flower has the ability to grow deadly thorns.
Active technique, it triggers automatically when entering combat, even if the Knight isn't aware he's entering combat, even if his Knight Arm is stored away (which causes it to immediately appear in whichever Form is preferable.) It boosts the Knight's reflexes, strength, and speed to superhuman levels (+500% to all values,) for however long it takes him to make his first proper 'action,' in a fight (including defense or analyzing the battlefield.) In most situations, it will likely allow the user to end the fight instantly.
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If we used all of our 6 special actions on this, we'd have a total ~4.4% chance of unlocking the power, as well as a 2% chance on our next try.
Which is awful, btw, unless we somehow math out the value of n tries of getting a 25-ambrosia power vs. 0.5 ambrosia picks every time.
50 x 0.5 Ambrosia picks vs. 50 x Maiden prayer
At 50 tries, Maiden prayer has a (total) 99.99% chance of success. So not a bad conversion, but 0.5 Ambrosia is something you have in your "pocket", which can't be said to raw chance of a Maiden Prayer proc.
But, after "just" 15 tries, the total chance of getting a Maiden Prayer is a 50% (though at this point we'd have only 8% on a given try).
And after "mere" 29 tries, the total chance is a staggering +90%! (but again, just 15% of winning this one)
So is it worth it?
... No. Demons are going to try and mindrape and replace everyone we know in far shorter time period.
We'd have to be in some truly hopeless situation to try and get that.
Which fits the name. Hopeless towards other, more reliable forms of power... yet tireless in rolling the die in the cosmic casino, trying to get a jackpot.
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
This plan is meant to lay groundwork for Shen Directing the Cubes to get our group enough money to contest the Macnessas economically. This plan involves learning about High Frequency Trading in Character, getting Hephaestus to make a High frequency trading bot for the Cubes. Getting the cubes a suitable stock exchange connection, then letting Shen direct the cubes. It also involves a lot of social linking and Culinary Experimentation, along with trying to get as much progress towards a Royal Knight arm as possible. This has had some degree of tuning by discussion with Sara and Lealope in Discord, special thanks to them.
Total Actions:
Training
1 on Mastering A Flower is a Fist
Socials
3 for Shen
3 for Brick
2 On Discussing/Investigating the Cubes as a Group and how to make money off them
2 for Johnny Buddha
2 for Constantine
2 For Persphone
2 For Spike
1 on testing the non Constantine Wardens Compatibility with Surtur
Resources
3 Actions on Culinary Experimentation/Food Testing
1 Action on Buying a Safe for peoples Godcards
1 on Contacting Hephaestus
Meditations
3 Aspiring Knight Meditation
[x]Plan Financial Panther
Day 1(5 Social = 2.5 Action, 1 Special, 1 Training, 1 Resources = .5 Action, 5 Total Actions):
-[x]Attend to Shen
-[x]Group Activity: Investigate the Cubes/Discuss how to make money off them, with the hit Mephistopheles has taken we need enough power, supernatural and economic to challenge the Macnessas.
-[x]Group Activity: Investigate the Cubes/Discuss how to make money off them, with the hit Mephistopheles has taken we need enough power, supernatural and economic to challenge the Macnessas.
-[x]Social: Persephone
-[x]Social: Spike
-[x]Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[x]Master Invocation: A Flower is a Fist
-[x]Resources: Buy a Safe for people to put Godcards in if the Wardens haven't already done something like this. Also Test tubes or other tiny containers for tiny pieces of Godcard if somebody wants to go that route.
Day 2(1 Special, 2 Resources = 1 Action, 6 social = 3 actions, 5 total actions):
-[x]Resources: Culinary Experimentation. Between the Spoon and Shen's power with Kronos we should be able to get some interesting things foodwise. Test up to 3 packs of Noodle Guy's Ramen, along with mundane foods. See what happens if you double dip, having Spike with Kronos eat food prepared by Shen with Kronos. Maybe make a feast of it. Invite the Wardens, invite Johnny Buddha, etc.
-[x]Contact Hephaestus: If she finished the armor and we learned about High Frequency Trading, Inquire with her about writing a High Frequency Trading Bot for the Cubes. If she hasn't, see if some money can accelerate the process. If we did not learn about High Frequency trading and the armor's unfinished, try spending money on upgrading the armor instead.
-[x]Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[x]Social: Johnny Buddha
-[x]Social: Johnny Buddha
-[x]Social: Constantine
-[x]Social: Constantine
-[x]Group Activity: Test Non-Constantine Wardens Compatibility with Surtur
-[x]Social: Brick
Day 3(1 Special, 6 Social = 3 Actions, 2 Resources = 1 Action on Culinary Research):
-[x]Attend to Shen
-[x]Attend to Shen
-[x]Social: Persephone
-[x]Social: Spike
-[x]Social: Brick
-[x]Social: Brick
-[x]Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[x]Resources: Extend on the Culinary Experimentation/Possible Feast Prep of the Previous Day. Confirm with Voters before using more Noodle Guy Noodles
-[x]Resources: Extend on the Culinary Experimentation of the Previous Day/Possibly Have the Feast. Confirm with Voters before using more Noodle Guy Noodles.
Total Actions:
Training
1 on Mastering A Flower is a Fist
Socials
3 for Shen
3 for Brick
2 On Discussing/Investigating the Cubes as a Group and how to make money off them
2 for Johnny Buddha
2 for Constantine
2 For Persphone
2 For Spike
1 on testing the non Constantine Wardens Compatibility with Surtur
Resources
3 Actions on Culinary Experimentation/Food Testing
1 Action on Buying a Safe for peoples Godcards
1 on Contacting Hephaestus
Meditations
3 Aspiring Knight Meditation
[x]Plan Financial Panther
Day 1(5 Social = 2.5 Action, 1 Special, 1 Training, 1 Resources = .5 Action, 5 Total Actions):
-[x]Attend to Shen
-[x]Group Activity: Investigate the Cubes/Discuss how to make money off them, with the hit Mephistopheles has taken we need enough power, supernatural and economic to challenge the Macnessas.
-[x]Group Activity: Investigate the Cubes/Discuss how to make money off them, with the hit Mephistopheles has taken we need enough power, supernatural and economic to challenge the Macnessas.
-[x]Social: Persephone
-[x]Social: Spike
-[x]Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[x]Master Invocation: A Flower is a Fist
-[x]Resources: Buy a Safe for people to put Godcards in if the Wardens haven't already done something like this. Also Test tubes or other tiny containers for tiny pieces of Godcard if somebody wants to go that route.
Day 2(1 Special, 2 Resources = 1 Action, 6 social = 3 actions, 5 total actions):
-[x]Resources: Culinary Experimentation. Between the Spoon and Shen's power with Kronos we should be able to get some interesting things foodwise. Test up to 3 packs of Noodle Guy's Ramen, along with mundane foods. See what happens if you double dip, having Spike with Kronos eat food prepared by Shen with Kronos. Maybe make a feast of it. Invite the Wardens, invite Johnny Buddha, etc.
-[x]Contact Hephaestus: If she finished the armor and we learned about High Frequency Trading, Inquire with her about writing a High Frequency Trading Bot for the Cubes. If she hasn't, see if some money can accelerate the process. If we did not learn about High Frequency trading and the armor's unfinished, try spending money on upgrading the armor instead.
-[x]Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[x]Social: Johnny Buddha
-[x]Social: Johnny Buddha
-[x]Social: Constantine
-[x]Social: Constantine
-[x]Group Activity: Test Non-Constantine Wardens Compatibility with Surtur
-[x]Social: Brick
Day 3(1 Special, 6 Social = 3 Actions, 2 Resources = 1 Action on Culinary Research):
-[x]Attend to Shen
-[x]Attend to Shen
-[x]Social: Persephone
-[x]Social: Spike
-[x]Social: Brick
-[x]Social: Brick
-[x]Aspiring Knight Meditation
-[x]Resources: Extend on the Culinary Experimentation/Possible Feast Prep of the Previous Day. Confirm with Voters before using more Noodle Guy Noodles
-[x]Resources: Extend on the Culinary Experimentation of the Previous Day/Possibly Have the Feast. Confirm with Voters before using more Noodle Guy Noodles.
Last edited:
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x]Plan Financial Panther
Money is important, especially in a demon-tainted world.
Money is important, especially in a demon-tainted world.
- Location
- 1
the Hopeless and tireless Maiden Prayer can be taken once a day; Wish Fulfillment may start quick, but the Demonic Essence only affects 4% of people after two months. Thus, you'd get a deal better than 4 50%-chances of HaTMP successes in the time until demonic essence reaches 4% of people- and it only affects them in moments of great stress. The corrupt-and-replace option is Devilcraft and was not chosen.
My main question is how much progress Aspiring Knight Meditation grants- Hopefully, it takes fewer than 30 repetitions to reach the next rank, though it might still be worth it at 30 owing to the 10%s of mastery and invocation gain.
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Before that comes, we'd have dozen other problems trying to actively murder us though. Like the assassins from the Corporation.
Yes, it's a good deal in raw value.
Problem is that in before that "investment"'s payoff you'd have none of that value to spend.
0.5 Ambrosia is 0.5 Ambrosia. You can spend it next update, and it can stop a massive train wreck from occurring.
Progress in the Arm mastery is something of a in-between - it will pay-off later, but you still get that progress in-between (and that's ignoring the chances for extra goodies).
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
I'd like to propose an experiment. We can contact the Wardens and request use of the Spoon, and if they agree, we can tear a corner off of the Surtr card, place it in the Spoon and have it become edible, then give the foodified card-piece to Shen attuned to Kronos to cook into a dish, and then have Spike ttune to Kronos and eat the dish.
- Location
- 1
...yes and no.
Ambrosia costs(unlike Ambrosia gains) mostly come at certain threshold numbers- 7, 12, 25, and 'no'. we're at 12 already, so the next meaningful threshold, 14(being 7x2), requires 1.8 Ambrosia. but that requires us to spend Ambrosia twice on 7-Ambrosia benefits, probably over the course of two votes-an amount of time in which we're reasonably likely to gain 1.8 ambrosia regardless. we're Also probably not going to spend 7 Ambrosia twice in a row, so it's even more likely we'll be at 14 by the time it would be relevant. after that, there's meaningful thresholds at 19 and 21, but they depend on us spending repeatedly several updates in a row and in specific amounts. Basically, +0.5 ambrosia doesn't actually pay off until such a time as we 1) have enough ambrosia for something because of it and 2) wouldn't've had enough ambrosia otherwise, at an uncertain future point.
Besides which, the point I was responding to, quite clearly in the part of my post you quoted, was the specific claim that demons would ruin everything before Hopeless and Tireless Maiden Prayer could pay off, which is false barring bad rolls.
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Okay, fair point. That does make small amounts of Ambrosia less useful.
I'd have to pose another argument against Maiden Prayers- it's a rihaku-style quest. Powerups are frequent, opportunity cost is real.
If we powerup soon (talking about the Knight Meditations), we can take on bigger foes and reap better rewards from them (and/or avoid penalties).
Cumulatively, nearly two months of a slower buildup into a better fighter could be better than holding off for however long until we get a single massive powerup.
... Though 25-Ambrosia power is literally worth another Rank in our Arm, and jumping from street-level to nation-level power.
So honestly not sure. We are expected to die, I just don't know how soon.
If next update we'll face super-powered assasins, then immediate payoff is life (literally).
If it's a slower numbers game of converted humanity building an Altar to Sin within a fiscal year, then Maiden Prayer is the way to go.
I'd have to pose another argument against Maiden Prayers- it's a rihaku-style quest. Powerups are frequent, opportunity cost is real.
If we powerup soon (talking about the Knight Meditations), we can take on bigger foes and reap better rewards from them (and/or avoid penalties).
Cumulatively, nearly two months of a slower buildup into a better fighter could be better than holding off for however long until we get a single massive powerup.
... Though 25-Ambrosia power is literally worth another Rank in our Arm, and jumping from street-level to nation-level power.
So honestly not sure. We are expected to die, I just don't know how soon.
If next update we'll face super-powered assasins, then immediate payoff is life (literally).
If it's a slower numbers game of converted humanity building an Altar to Sin within a fiscal year, then Maiden Prayer is the way to go.
- Location
- 1
he can refuse a summoning. Even if he couldn't, we wouldn't be able to time our summons perfectly so he would just sequentially teleport to each of them. he's also enhanced physically, and was capable of teleporting out of danger last time when he got chain-choked, so he would probably be fine even if he accepted a summon from us skydiving.
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[ ] Plan Do Not Die
So, we got the Olympus Corporation about to be up our ass. Given that we proved we could take out a full SWAT team of goons even after an extremely tough fight, we can expect them to send something substantially worse next time. With that in mind, my immediate priority is to maximise our immediate and medium-term survivability through the power of S T A T S.
Day 1
-[ ] Invent Invocation (+Progression for Physical Stats, Cultivation themed)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Above)
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Attend to Shen
-[ ] Speak With: Johnny Buddha
Day 2
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Speak With: Spike
-[ ] Speak With: Brick
-[ ] Contact Hephaestus
-[ ] Contact Baron Samedi
Day 3
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Group Training (with everyone, combat tactics and general strategising)
-[ ] Group Activity (Group Training Hangout)
-[ ] Group Activity (Cooking and feasting on Shen's superfood)
So, we got the Olympus Corporation about to be up our ass. Given that we proved we could take out a full SWAT team of goons even after an extremely tough fight, we can expect them to send something substantially worse next time. With that in mind, my immediate priority is to maximise our immediate and medium-term survivability through the power of S T A T S.
Day 1
-[ ] Invent Invocation (+Progression for Physical Stats, Cultivation themed)
-[ ] Master Invocation (Above)
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Attend to Shen
-[ ] Speak With: Johnny Buddha
Day 2
-[ ] Master Invocation (Unhesitating Martial Advance)
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Speak With: Spike
-[ ] Speak With: Brick
-[ ] Contact Hephaestus
-[ ] Contact Baron Samedi
Day 3
-[ ] Master Invocation (A Flower is a Fist)
-[ ] Aspiring Warrior Meditation
-[ ] Train Knight Arm Use
-[ ] Group Training (with everyone, combat tactics and general strategising)
-[ ] Group Activity (Group Training Hangout)
-[ ] Group Activity (Cooking and feasting on Shen's superfood)
Last edited:
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
@Lealope A Challenger, Nice! Might I suggest seeing if Persephone is on board with using Life essence Zones to enable people to train more intensely without hurting themselves? Also do you have a plan for Baron Samedi?
Benchmarking your plan in terms of total actions below for the rest of the thread. Probabilities for Stat boosts for Zane meditationwise are 50% for 1 + worth, 25% for 2 pluses worth, and 12.5% for 3 Pluses worth, with a 12.5% Chance of no stat gains.
Lealope's Plan Organized by Action Types:
Training(8 Actions):
2 On inventing and Mastering a progression booster
3 On training the Knight Arm Usage
1 On mastering Unhesitating Martial Advance
1 On Mastering A Flower is a Fist
1 On General Group Tactics with all the Wardens
Social(6 Half actions or 3 full actions):
1 On Shen
1 On Johnny Buddha
1 On Spike
1 On Brick
1 On general Socialization at the Group tactics study session with the Wardens
1 On Shen's Superfood/Feasting/General Culinary Experimenation(Not sure if this falls under resources or social)
Resources(2 Half Actions or 1 Full Action):
1 on Contacting Hephaestus
1 on Contacting Baron Samedi
Specials(3 Actions):
3 Aspiring Warrior Meditations
---------------------
For Comparison when it comes to 3 Aspiring Knight Meditations(What my plan is doing), we get whatever 3 of those gives to rank progress to Royal, with a 10 percent chance of a new evocation and a 10 percent chance of a training proc to an existing Evocation per meditation. Assuming they are rolled Separately, our prospects look something like this. So my plan has 1 Training action with a 46.86% Chance of at least 1 more in effect from the meditations.
53.14% Chance of getting just 3 meditations worth of progression to Royal vs 46.86 % Chance of getting the Royal progression with at least 1 bonus
17.7% Chance of 1 New Evocation
17.7% Chance of 1 Training Proc
35.4% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to Royal with either an Evocation or a Training Proc
5.9049% Chance of 1 Evocation and 1 Training Proc
1.9683% Chance of 2 Evocations
1.9683% Chance of 2 Training Procs
9.8415% Chance of Getting 3 Meditations worth of Progression to Royal with a total of 2 Additional Benefits
.6561% Chance of 2 Evocations 1 Training Proc
.6561% Chance of 1 Evocation 2 Training Procs
.0729% Chance of 3 Evocations
.0729% Chance of 3 Training Procs
1.458% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to Royal with a total of 3 Additional Benefits
.0243% Chance of 3 Evocations 1 Training Proc
.0243% Chance of 1 Evocation 3 Training Procs
.0729% Chance of 2 Evocations 2 Training Procs
.1215% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to royal with a total of 4 Additional Benefits
.0027% Chance of 3 Evocations 2 Training Procs
.0027% Chance of 2 Evocations 3 Training Procs
.0054% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to Royal with a total of 5 Additional Benefits
.0001% Chance of getting 3 meditations worth of progression to royal with 3 Evocations and 3 Training Procs
Benchmarking your plan in terms of total actions below for the rest of the thread. Probabilities for Stat boosts for Zane meditationwise are 50% for 1 + worth, 25% for 2 pluses worth, and 12.5% for 3 Pluses worth, with a 12.5% Chance of no stat gains.
Lealope's Plan Organized by Action Types:
Training(8 Actions):
2 On inventing and Mastering a progression booster
3 On training the Knight Arm Usage
1 On mastering Unhesitating Martial Advance
1 On Mastering A Flower is a Fist
1 On General Group Tactics with all the Wardens
Social(6 Half actions or 3 full actions):
1 On Shen
1 On Johnny Buddha
1 On Spike
1 On Brick
1 On general Socialization at the Group tactics study session with the Wardens
1 On Shen's Superfood/Feasting/General Culinary Experimenation(Not sure if this falls under resources or social)
Resources(2 Half Actions or 1 Full Action):
1 on Contacting Hephaestus
1 on Contacting Baron Samedi
Specials(3 Actions):
3 Aspiring Warrior Meditations
---------------------
For Comparison when it comes to 3 Aspiring Knight Meditations(What my plan is doing), we get whatever 3 of those gives to rank progress to Royal, with a 10 percent chance of a new evocation and a 10 percent chance of a training proc to an existing Evocation per meditation. Assuming they are rolled Separately, our prospects look something like this. So my plan has 1 Training action with a 46.86% Chance of at least 1 more in effect from the meditations.
53.14% Chance of getting just 3 meditations worth of progression to Royal vs 46.86 % Chance of getting the Royal progression with at least 1 bonus
17.7% Chance of 1 New Evocation
17.7% Chance of 1 Training Proc
35.4% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to Royal with either an Evocation or a Training Proc
5.9049% Chance of 1 Evocation and 1 Training Proc
1.9683% Chance of 2 Evocations
1.9683% Chance of 2 Training Procs
9.8415% Chance of Getting 3 Meditations worth of Progression to Royal with a total of 2 Additional Benefits
.6561% Chance of 2 Evocations 1 Training Proc
.6561% Chance of 1 Evocation 2 Training Procs
.0729% Chance of 3 Evocations
.0729% Chance of 3 Training Procs
1.458% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to Royal with a total of 3 Additional Benefits
.0243% Chance of 3 Evocations 1 Training Proc
.0243% Chance of 1 Evocation 3 Training Procs
.0729% Chance of 2 Evocations 2 Training Procs
.1215% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to royal with a total of 4 Additional Benefits
.0027% Chance of 3 Evocations 2 Training Procs
.0027% Chance of 2 Evocations 3 Training Procs
.0054% Chance of getting 3 Meditations worth of progression to Royal with a total of 5 Additional Benefits
.0001% Chance of getting 3 meditations worth of progression to royal with 3 Evocations and 3 Training Procs
[x]Plan Financial Panther
Good name. I trust it.
Good name. I trust it.
[x]Plan Financial Panther
It has flower girl 'nough said.
It has flower girl 'nough said.
Aabcehmu
Confusion as a Natural State of Being
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Pronouns
- Any/All
Here's a bit of writing set on Melicau, centered on a couple of characters created using Birdsie's Melicau and Raven's Arcana CYOAs over in the AST thread.
Fanwork#9800 words
Adam Forester and the Saint-Eater
Games in Silver CYOA: Melicau Edition
安倍青山 (Abe Seizan)
[E] Mokushu
[E] Shura Demon Armor
[E] Nomenclature (True Name: Saint-Eater)
[E] Dragon's Blood (Vacuum, Gluttony)
[E] Drugs and Alcohol
[E] Memento
[E] Indebted
[E] A Grand Design
Saint-Eater: Heaven-Swallowing Jaws (Generates a spatial distortion which naturally combines with Seizan's breath-weapon to allow for quickly and easily devouring great quantities of food or large prey.)
Saint-Eater: Monument of the Pit (Allows Seizan to call upon the powers of the Pit to emulate the divine abilities and miracles of her prey.)
---
An Unkindness Untolerated
Adam Forester
[H] Forced Awakening (True Name: Hunter of the Red Forest)
[H] Idealized Shell
[H] Quintessential Spirit
[H] Blatant Cheating x3
[H] Aura Greatness
[H] Reinforcement
[H] Cloak of the Balanced King (Rebalance: True Battle Name Aura)
[H] The Creator's Blessing (10k I hope, lol)
Hunter of the Red Forest: Orchard of Eyes (See through the eyes all of creatures within a large range, living or dead, with accompanying Wits to process.)
Hunter of the Red Forest: Student of Death (Receive a steady stream of insights and enlightenment regarding the tracking and slaying of a quarry, magnitude exponentially rising the longer a quarry is pursued.)
Hunter of the Red Forest: Rangeless (Ignore all negative environmental effects which cannot be said to originate from a hostile source.)
安倍青山 (Abe Seizan)
[E] Mokushu
[E] Shura Demon Armor
[E] Nomenclature (True Name: Saint-Eater)
[E] Dragon's Blood (Vacuum, Gluttony)
[E] Drugs and Alcohol
[E] Memento
[E] Indebted
[E] A Grand Design
Saint-Eater: Heaven-Swallowing Jaws (Generates a spatial distortion which naturally combines with Seizan's breath-weapon to allow for quickly and easily devouring great quantities of food or large prey.)
Saint-Eater: Monument of the Pit (Allows Seizan to call upon the powers of the Pit to emulate the divine abilities and miracles of her prey.)
---
An Unkindness Untolerated
Adam Forester
[H] Forced Awakening (True Name: Hunter of the Red Forest)
[H] Idealized Shell
[H] Quintessential Spirit
[H] Blatant Cheating x3
[H] Aura Greatness
[H] Reinforcement
[H] Cloak of the Balanced King (Rebalance: True Battle Name Aura)
[H] The Creator's Blessing (10k I hope, lol)
Hunter of the Red Forest: Orchard of Eyes (See through the eyes all of creatures within a large range, living or dead, with accompanying Wits to process.)
Hunter of the Red Forest: Student of Death (Receive a steady stream of insights and enlightenment regarding the tracking and slaying of a quarry, magnitude exponentially rising the longer a quarry is pursued.)
Hunter of the Red Forest: Rangeless (Ignore all negative environmental effects which cannot be said to originate from a hostile source.)
Fanwork#9800 words
Adam Forester and the Saint-Eater
The second thing Adam does after stepping out into the cold Fairfax air is review his new Idealized Shell. He'd gone over it inside the Raven's Arcana after he'd bought it, but there was something ephemeral or impermanent to it while he was still within the magical emporium's compass. Now that he was outside, in the world (if not the world he was familiar with), things felt more solid, more final.
He's quite pleased with his body, naturally given it was designed to his specifications. Durable, unblemished skin, that is red like rose petals for reasons supposedly tied to his choice of Quintessential Spirit and the exact nature of his True Name. The frame is taller than he once was, by a couple feet, but is not ungainly. Quite the opposite in fact, particularly combined with the uncanny awareness and speed of thought his activated True Name provides, he feels he has greater control over himself than ever before. He's stronger, too, and his mind is unclouded by aches and pains, or even by the invisible fog of depressive malaise. A brisk jog around the city is nearly effortless, physically and mentally, which is reason enough for a brief rejoicing!
Naturally, a strange rose-skinned man wearing only short trousers and a cloak leaping down streets and occasionally firing aura-blasts harmlessly into the sky quickly draws attention. A few moments later he's standing next to a couple of Fairfax guardsmen, a dumb smile on his face as he attempts explain his circumstances to the unbelieving jackboots. He marshals his will to quash the indignation that rises from his gut when the guards demand he follow them to the city keep and answer for his disrupting the peace.
That is how he ends up in the keep's dungeon, politely pretending that he cannot break out the sigiled manacles they've clapped around his wrists, waiting for his interrogator to arrive. He's initially surprised to see Musketeer Commander Évelyne arrive in person, though on second thought, his sheer existential weight might be pulling on the social hierarchy of the city just as much as it's pulling on its physical form, which would naturally demand her attention.
The Commander is rather incredulous of his story. Not the interdimensional traveler part, which seems like really the only reasonable explanation for 'an entity of such intense existential gravity' as she put it, but rather that he was formerly an ordinary (or even sub-par) human who simply stumbled into a magic shop, was freely given an inordinate amount of power including two coins of exalted gold, and then kicked out to the middle of Fairfax. No, he must be lying about his origins, and that means he must have something to hide.
Eventually, though, after several days of attempted interrogation (and many destroyed implements of torture), the Commander decides that, if they can't extract any information from this dangerous anomaly, they might as well get it as far away from the city, and the Overlord's domain as whole, as they can. This is when they surprise Adam again. They manage to actually teleport him, against his will. At least, that is what he assumes, given that one moment he's in a torture chamber, and the next he's standing atop a sand dune, with nothing but more sand as far as his considerably augmented sight can see.
It's nothing he can't handle, but it's certainly annoying. He'll need to figure out just how they managed that trick, too. It wouldn't do to let himself get blindsided when the possibility of real harm was on the table.
Seizan feels strange. She can clearly remember reclining in her personal chamber only a moment ago, and she still is now, but her memories of the intervening time are gone, replaced with strange scenes, a month of intense training to utilize abilities which she's never had before and yet are oddly intuitive. The sheer volume of memories, packed into what should have been only a short time, almost gives her a head. Such a strange dream...
She raises a hand to her temple in discomfort, and can't help but gasp when she sees her skin with unnatural grey pallor and her beautiful irezumi marred by a crude red scrawl. Without thinking, she immediately reaches for her long hair, releasing a true scream of terror when she finds her glorious black locks are now the white of death, with only sparse silver strands to diminish the awful omen. Is she dying? Is she cursed? Then, a thought occurs to her. She can remember herself bearing these terrible marks in the dream-month, so maybe the powers are real as well?
Seizan rises onto her feet, and her body feels almost weightless despite her considerable bulk. That is a good sign, though it could simply be a trick of the mind. What cannot be a simple trick of the mind, however, is the way that, after opening her mouth and exerting the barest flicker of intent, a powerful and sudden force flings the pile of ohagi a servant had brought her earlier that evening into her mouth, down her throat, and into her stomach, nearly followed by the bowl in which they'd sat, which she manages to catch mid-air.
It must be a terribly strange sight for her servants, she thinks, as they rush to answer her scream, only to find her transformed and grinning like a demon. She is quick to explain that she simply was awoken by a night terror, but despite her frightening new appearance, she has been blessed.
Aside from her dream, there is something else Seizan remembers inexplicably. After having the servants fetch her proper outdoor clothes, she allows the strange memory to guide her footsteps, taking her out of the family compound and on a short journey to their nearby casino on the beach, the Plenty of Fish. The guards let her in without question, and she strides through the mostly-empty game rooms and gambling dens, stopping briefly to devour a meal at the casino's buffet, before continuing inwards and downwards. The memory takes her to the depths of the building, where the family has not yet removed the religious artifacts and relics it houses and the building's original nature as a temple to Ebisu is still apparent. Seizan has traveled through the guts of the temple before, more than once, scouring it for anything valuable or dangerous. This time, though, this mysterious memory brings her foot down just right, on an innocuous floorboard, which produces a distinctly different squeak from what she expects. That is the squeak of a board with space under it, and a hinge.
After prying up the board, and removing several beams from underneath it, a much larger section of the floor becomes loose, and when she lifts it up, sure enough, a staircase even further down is revealed.
Beneath, where before she and the family had assumed there was only earth and stone, there is instead a massive cavern, filled with the broken wrecks of at least a dozen ships. Seizan descends with all the speed her new superhuman body affords her, all but flying downwards. Just as the memory promised, each of the wreckages' hulls are nearly overflowing with liquors, spirits, tonics, potions and more, with varieties from across Mokushuu and even beyond. Seizan can't help but grin even wider than before as she grabs a bottle, ripping out the cork and downing the whole thing in a single breath. She will think about how she can put this windfall to work for the family tomorrow. Tonight, she indulges.
Adam is initially rather frustrated with having been teleported into the middle of nowhere. He's never been a fan of sand when it isn't part of a nice summery beach. However, that was before he realized he was the Hunter of the Red Forest. With the sand as sturdy as stone beneath his feet and the heat of the desert sun nothing more than the warmth of life, traversing the desert is fine. Maybe it's a bit boring, but not nearly as troublesome as he may have expected.
Indeed, nor is his trek boring for very long. After wandering around for a day looking for something to hunt, he finds a stunningly beautiful giant beetle of white jade pushing around an enormous boulder of gold that glows like the sun. He studies its death for another day, following it as it rolls its treasure across the desert at absurd speeds. Knowledge of the beetle's strengths, its weaknesses, its fears, and its desires steadily flows through him, mounting like a river fed by the spring thaw. In the end, though, it is largely unnecessary. Perhaps if the Cloak didn't augment his true name the information may have been needed, but as things are, he is able to dispatch the beetle quickly and easily using only basic maneuvers.
First he separates the beetle from its gold ball by flinging himself at the latter vigorously, carefully Reinforcing the treasure as he collides with it, preventing the impact from obliterating it and instead safely launching the sphere over the horizon. Before the beetle can chase after its treasure, he exhales a gale-breath into the sky, rocketing himself downwards from the height he'd bounced to off the sphere and spearing into the beetle's back, crushing its elytra and wings, disabling its flight and slamming it into the dune with a shower of sand. The creature recovers quickly, and even begins to scurry towards where its treasure had landed, but can't shake Adam off, who proceeds to lay into it with one projected palm-slice after another. He cuts through the exalted jade-chitin armor inch by inch, inflicting a telling blow with the fourth slice, the beetle's sun-bright ichor spraying out from its split abdomen. The creature struggles on for another moment, before it gives up the ghost, tumbling across the sand as it loses control of its legs. It's a rather rocky ride as the carcass slows from several hundred miles per hour to a dead stop, but not rocky enough to really endanger him.
The loot from that first battle is mediocre, but still appreciated. The beetle's flesh and ichor make for a passable meal, Adam's satisfaction with having hunted his own food overcoming the offputting flavor and lack of seasoning. The sun-kissed gold of the beetle's treasure is also useful, cut into ribbons and wrapped around his ankles, waist, and wrists to glorify his might with solar emanations.
Only a moment later, a giant sandworm breaches through the dunes to swallow the beetle carcass, emitting a petrichorous stench as it did that was so strong it likely would have made Adam violently ill if he hadn't been shielded at once by his aura and existential weight. He was satisfied with his first hunt, though, and a brief study of the sandworm's death confirmed what his instincts told him. Even with the power of True Battle Name Aura at his disposal, Adam wasn't ready to take on a fully grown sandworm yet. Instead, he begins to search for a new quarry: somewhere safe to sleep.
Seizan is so excited to share the wonderful news with her father that she fights through the skull-cracking hangover she's given herself. Eating a mighty and vast breakfast at the buffet helps fill her belly and clear her head, after which she pounds down the road towards the compound, enjoying the superhuman pace her blessed body allows.
The air in the compound is quiet, quiet enough that Seizan can just about hear the birds chirping. She supposes that it is rather early, and she is used to waking near noon if not later. Still, she almost feels like she's disturbing the morning peace with the groans her steps evoke from the floorboards. She approaches Shinsou's personal chamber with care and respect, things she reserves only for the man who adopted her, father and forger of the Abe Ikka.
"Father?" She asks, as demurely as her excitement allows, peeking through the door.
Shinsou is sitting at the table, drinking something, probably tea, as he looks towards her. "Ah, Nomu-chan. I've heard that you have quite some...news." His reply is calm and steady, though Seizan knows her father well enough that he's schooling his expression, hiding just a hint of ice under his paternal warmth.
She steps into the room, excited energy causing her to barge through the door, pulling her arms from her sleeves and letting her yukata drop from her shoulders and hang from her belt, exposing the strange red scrawl which mars her irezumi. She watches his reaction closely, observing an instant of widened eyes and subtle trembling which he quickly quashes, replacing them with a quiet chuckle and eyeless smile.
"You look like you're painted up for a dance, Nomu-chan. Even your hair! And, what happened to your bunshin? It's almost like something's written over it, but whatever horishi did this must have horrible hand-writing!"
Seizan can't help but smile. Her father had the most jovial spirit of anyone she knew. Even the strange transformation she'd undergone doesn't seem to faze him. "Truly, I don't know how I've become changed, or why, but I do know that it's far more than just this morbid mask. I am so much stronger than before, and I can do this—" Her excitement all but forces the words out of her mouth, only interrupted as she decides on a target before opening her mouth and inhaling, the plate of sushi sitting beside Shinsou's tea shoots towards her. She grimaces briefly at the fermented fish's odious flavor as the sushi, partially disassembled mid-flight, is sucked down her gullet, gracefully catching the silver platter which it once was laid before it can fold itself into her maw as well. She smiles toothily as she sets the platter back down on the table, looking into the contemplative expression Shinsou wears. "On a different note, I also discovered something...remarkable, under the Plenty of Fish yesterday. A nigh-draconic hoard of alcohol and narcotics, most of it from outside Mokushuu, perhaps even this world entirely. It's too brazenly illegal for us to sell in the casinos, not even the favor of the Fortunes and our friends among the kizoku could protect us if word got to the wrong person. But, I think that our contacts among the tekiya might be able to move the product, if we can get it to them quietly. Maybe during the eve of the Garden of Peace festival..."
Seizan continues to explain the plan which she'd put together last night (a feat which surprised even her considering just how drunk she got, perhaps another benefit of her superhuman body), and rather than laugh or joke, Shinsou considers her with all seriousness, even commenting on her plans, sharing information regarding the family's own plans and situation that he would normally keep close to his chest. He is trusting her to help, including her in his decision making process. It's the proudest in herself she'd been in a long while. She holds on to this feeling, and this memory of her father, tightly.
Months pass, and the harshness of the desert only increases as the dry season fully takes hold. In truth, this is to Adam's advantage, as the mindless severity of the sun is no match for the strength of his True Name. Instead, the scorching rays serve only to hamper his prey.
So far, few of his prey have not been seemingly unique creatures disgorged by the great desert in which he's found himself. The beetle was his first, but he's since encountered several other beasts of similar grandeur. Some of his most notable quarries were: a winged camel which was able to fly with the speed of lightning and strike with scouring sand-blasts, an enormous two-headed blue elephant that could spit endless torrents of healing water from its trunks, a swarm of giant steel wasps whose stingers shot bullets of crystallized venom, a living castle of sandstone that housed a horde of screeching ghoulish warriors, a phoenix so bright it outshone the sun and turned the sand beneath it to glass, a juvenile sandworm which he was able to take out due its relatively underdeveloped precognition and ghost-symbiotes, and a living patch of night-sky which summoned zodiacal beasts by rearranging the stars within itself.
He'd managed to acquire some interesting loot from the prey, aside from hunger-sating flesh and thirst-quenching blood. There was a simple backpack which he made from the hide of the camel, as much of the healing water as he could carry in more hide sacks, a pistol constructed from a wasp's' abdomens (as well as a good stache of venom-crystals), a sort of long billhook carved from one of the phoenix's talons, armor taken from the ghoul-soldiers, a good deal of wormspice which he'd promptly consumed, and 18 little stars taken from the night-creature that he pressed into his gold belt. He'd also grown somewhat stronger, not only in terms of his battle aura but also his true name spells. Orchard of Eyes in particular grew by leaps and bounds, now extending his hearing as well as his sight to all creatures within a truly enormous range, while Student of Death had only slightly improved the speed at which it granted him insight into his target, and Rangeless had not changed enough for him to notice if it indeed did at all.
In the present he is stalking a pack of strange shadow-beasts. They've caught his interest because they seem to be entirely immune to Student of Death, and thus are liable to be quite powerful. Their eyes and ears are still his, but he knows that if he wasn't the Student of Death he wouldn't be able to understand what he was seeing and hearing. The world the shadow-beasts saw was dark and murky, except for when they spotted the glow of something living (Possibly other than themselves? Adam wasn't sure whether these creatures were alive, undead, or something in between, as they seemed to see each other as neither). Their eyes saw all the ways to kill whatever befell their gaze, and their ears heard the heart-beats of everything within a considerable range (albeit still smaller than his own).
Through the eyes of their prey, the shadow-beasts seemed to take on the forms of other predators, dark and shiftingly chimeric, possessing the appearance of everything the prey might fear in another animal, whether that's the jaws of a crocodile, the talons of an eagle, the sting of a scorpion, the tusks of a hippopotamus, or the claws of a lion. Certainly, the shadow-beasts seem to embody death, and in particular the idea of a predator.
The beasts operated as a pack with remarkable coordination and efficiency, despite being utterly silent and never turning to look at one another. There was some deeper level they are communicating on, one that Adam can't access, not yet at least. He sets Student of Death to continue working on one of the shadow-beasts, just in case it could crack through whatever defense they had with enough time to ramp up, before turning his mind to finding somewhere to sleep again, as it has been a few days since the last time he got some rest. The shadow-beasts didn't seem to sleep, but they did become torpid around noon every day, so he's confident he won't lose their trail as long as he doesn't rest for too long.
Maybe Seizan should have known it was too good to be true, should have known that an ill omen is an ill omen, even if it does not mean what you think it means. She had felt so good, in the days after her transformation. She had gained more than just a powerful body and a cache of treasure. She had gained the opportunity to show Shinsou her real worth, to prove to her father that she wasn't just a fat wench who he doted on to soothe his conscience, that she had earned her shisei just as much as any member of the family. He trusted her, finally.
Maybe that was why he did it. Maybe that was why he killed himself. She'd proven she was ready to lead the family in his stead, so...he cut open his belly, like some kind of disgraced samurai. Fuck! Just remembering the morning when she'd found his dead body, reeking of blood and shit, makes her want to destroy something. Instead, she downs another bottle of foreign shurui.
It's been nearly three months since then. Her plan to pass the product on to tekiya to sell for the summer matsuri had worked like a charm, but despite the tekiya peddling the drinks and drugs to unsuspecting festival-goers as fast they can, it has barely made a dent in the hoard. Nor has the ravenous substance abuse which Seizan's cultivated, following instincts she developed in that ever-mysterious dream month that set her down this course. She can feel the power it brings to her soul, even as these accursed red letters sear it whenever she attempts to tap into its magic.
Despite the pain and the fatigue the bloody scrawl causes whenever she tries to use it, she has worked to develop her magical abilities further. Her ryuujutsu have been the easiest to improve, provoking the markings the least, though each new mutation to elevate her strength elevates her appetite to match. Alternatively, her majutsu has been agonizing to work on, but has been equally necessary. Spells to stretch her stomach and gut, to even further heighten her resistance to poisons, to hasten the circulation of her blood, all to better synergize with her ryuujutsu and to let her consume ever more and ever faster.
She misses getting properly drunk, drunk enough to forget. Drink still unleashes her passions and loosens her inhibitions, she doesn't think it would give her power if it didn't, but now it no longer frees her of the burden of unpleasant memories. Even if she drinks until she passes out, she remembers every moment of it.
She downs another bottle, and considers the stache itself. She's had a few of her closest sisters search through the wreckages beneath the Plenty of Fish for anything especially valuable. Most of it is so foreign that the only way they can judge it is to partake, which Seizan is always happy to oblige. That's how they discovered that not all of the product is purely for leisure. A tiny fraction of the drugs, albeit still an objectively enormous amount, have effects beyond simply ecstasy or dreams or numbness. Some briefly induce the user to enter a berserk rage, or to enter a magical meditative state, or even briefly become invisible, among many other effects. Seizan hasn't given any of these special products to the tekiya, not yet at least. She's saving them for clients who have special needs, and for herself of course. There's one in particular that makes her absolutely voracious, so hungry she genuinely can't stop herself from eating anything nearby that is even vaguely edible. She'd gotten quite sick after taking it the first time, having torn apart and eaten some of her own clothing, on top of gulping down enough booze to make her look severely pregnant. She's careful to always be near the larder when she takes it, now.
Finally, she hasn't completely neglected her shinjutsu. She's been very fond of using the Heaven-Swallowing Jaws to minimize the time she spends eating without actually being any less gluttonous (even if she does also occasionally indulge in time devoted solely to gorging herself). Monument of the Pit, however, has been harder for her to explore. She's felt the hunger a handful of times over the summer, not a hunger for food, but for something more, something deeper, something more meaningful. It hollows her out inside, and it always appears when she sees a miko or saishi or other priest passing by. She knows what she wants, of course, but, part of her still balks at the notion. What finally pushed her over the edge was realizing that, perhaps by replicating the longevity of a shinja of Juroujin, she could counteract the doom which the red letters spelled for her.
So, now she reclines in her personal chambers, the same chambers her father used, sipping on one of the more delicious drinks she's found amidst the wreckages, a little sister sitting on either side of her, faces contorted into masks of fear and disgust as they massage her grotesquely, monstrously distended belly. One of them fails to suppress a shiver as her touch causes a part of the priestly corpse melting away in Seizan's stomach to break apart. She can't resist a demonic grin, as some dark part of her takes pleasure in the discomfort her new depravity causes.
Adam doesn't like being surprised, and yet it keeps happening to him. He might just have to learn to live with it.
Student of Death behaved strangely with the shadow-beasts. After letting it build continuously for nearly a week, it had broken through whatever was letting the shadow-beasts resist it, but the knowledge he gained was still...different. Rather than a simple and clinical understanding of the beasts' traits, abilities, and behaviors, it was almost conversational, more focused on what the shadow-beast seemed to be thinking about at that moment. It did let him finally grasp how the beasts were communicating, via some sort of telepathy, as well as conveniently let him eavesdrop on their network.
The shadow-beasts are aware of him, vaguely, though that isn't the surprise which is presently souring Adam's mood. What's upset him today is that he's learned through his connection that the shadow-beasts have apparently bitten off more than they can metaphorically chew.
Over the past week, the pack has been moving southwest, and Adam has been following it. The terrain transitioned from sandy desert to savannah, which didn't seem to faze the shadow-beasts. They seemed to be moving with a purpose, following the 'scent' of prey perhaps. Eventually, he was able to see through the eyes and hear through the ears of a caravan of humans, which he guessed were what the shadow-beasts were tracking down. The humans often turned their eyes to the sky, looking for a glint in the sky near the sun. He didn't know what to make of it.
That glint in the sky turns out to be quite important. The surprise is that the shadow-beast he's been tracking has used the telepathic network he'd eavesdropped on to cry for help. It was crying to him, even. Maybe they had been more aware of him than he'd first thought.
The pack had attacked the caravan just a moment ago, and in the brief intervening time have been nearly slaughtered, as an enormous clock-brass dragon dives from the sky and attacks them with an invisible exhalation that disperses the shadow-beasts like so much black soot on the wind. The particular shadow-beast he'd been studying has hung back away from the others, and going from how quickly this dragon was wiping out the pack, it'll soon be the last. Maybe he's grown a little sympathetic to the beasts, or perhaps his curiosity regarding their nature is not yet satisfied, but whatever the reasoning, he runs to the shadow-beast's side with all the speed he can muster, flashing across the grass in an eye-blink.
The dragon changes tack the instant Adam interdicts its dive towards the now-last shadow-beast. They twist and turn, smoothly landing and curling around him and the beast, encircling the pair with their body before turning their mechanical face towards him. "Why do you protect this enetshimot, stranger? They are enemies of life, benighted wolves of chaos."
Adam's voice rises from his throat with unnatural readiness, unfamiliar even to his own ears after months of wordless hunting. "I have kinship with any creature of the hunt, even one so estranged from the light of life. All life burns, whether brightly or darkly."
The dragon's posture relaxes somewhat, though not entirely. "As true as that may be, the enetshimot presents a danger to the people in my charge. As long as it is a threat, I am duty-bound to destroy it."
Adam considers his response for a moment, observing himself from outside via Orchard of Eyes. The dragon's eyes and ears are piercing and true, and he finds he is unable to hide the subtle indications of his thoughts and emotions from the dragon as the physical echoes of the mind reverberate through his body, even with the aid of his existential weight damping their volume. From the beast's perspective, he is a strange mix of packmate and prey, which it is glad has come to save it, but also unsure of how to trust even so. Adam does his best to tap into the telepathic ability the shadow-beast displayed earlier, to broadcast a specific mixture of ideas to it as he responds to the dragon. "I will tame the enetshimot. Any hunter worth his salt has a hound, and I believe it is fit for me."
The dragon stares down Adam for another moment, and he can see it scrutinize him intensely, picking him apart in its mind, though their intellect is too great for him to even guess at their thoughts before they reply. "Very well. You will be responsible for the deathly thing. I would encourage you to take it far from the caravan, but I will not demand it, and you are free to follow us if you wish for an end to your wandering. We are headed for the city of Captecris, and from there down the river Cris to the southern sea."
Adam nods, but he is largely unconcerned with the specifics. He's happy to head back towards civilization, he was getting a little lonely, but his attention has turned towards the enetshimot. It seems to have successfully received the conceptual package he'd sent, though it was still processing its contents. He reaches a hand out over the beast's head. He watches it consider him, the confused mixture of shapes overlaying his presence steadily changing, simplifying, resolving into the form of its master, Death. It lowers its head, its chimerically shifting form approaching something like a dog's, and Adam places his hand between its ears and gives it a scratch. "I name you...Caido."
By the end of the week, nothing remains of the shinja except maybe five pounds of fat on Choushi-san's figure, and a dim spark of heavenly fire settling into the Pit. Seizan can immediately feel the holy man's blessing settle on her like a mantle, dulling the searing pain of the red scrawl, though not extinguishing it entirely. She can still feel it burning away under her skin. She'll have to see about finding more victims, as unsustainable as it is. It will suffice as a stopgap measure at least.
Now that her stomach no longer betrays her monstrosity, she is able to meet with the family's head horishi, Kinarabukku-sama. The old man mostly oversees the younger tattooists in the family's employ, but he's still terribly sharp, both in body and wit. He's horrified to see the state of Choushi-san's irezumi, and doesn't even wait for her to explain before commanding her to sit down and let him examine the runes. She bristles slightly at being treated so brusquely, but acquiesces to the horishi.
It takes time, and the old man becomes steadily more grim as he pieces together the letters carved into Seizan's flesh. Eventually, he takes a step away from her and lets out a frustrated harrumph.
"I don't know who you crossed to be marked with these, sister, but you must have fucked them bad. I could cover these up, but they'd bleed right back through, and it wouldn't do shit to stop the curse they've put on you."
Seizan curses up a storm resisting the urge to swallow the old man here and now. Once she's done, she orders a nearby little brother to bring her some snacks before digging for more information. "Is there anything else you can tell me about them?"
"Not much. They've got the look of Redstar fuckers, who are a special kind of bad news. I didn't even know that tattoo mages of this caliber still existed, aside from maybe my teacher..."
That could be a lead. "Could your teacher remove them?"
The horishi strokes his goatee. "Maybe? I wasn't able to complete my training before I left to join my family here in the Eye, so I can't say for sure. Plus, the man was older than I am now when I left. Tattoos can keep a man going for a while but he may well be dead."
That had to be good enough. "Where can I find him? If he's still alive."
From there, the conversation descends into a lengthy interrogation of Kinarabukku's journey from the Desolation to Mokushuu, told in reverse. The description is spotty at best, even if the old man swears up and down that he's remembered every detail correctly. There is the uncertainty of whether his master is still alive, whether he's still in the same old grotto where he taught Kinarabukku, whether he even has the ability to break the curse, but, it's all that Seizan has to go on.
Seizan is not happy about this situation. She downs the rice cakes the little brother has brought her, orders him to get another two brothers and bring her more, before stomping off to her personal chambers to get high and try to relax. As she opens the door, however, she's stunned to find a figure of darkness sitting at the table, preparing tea. "Ah, hello Nomu-chan. It's good to see you again."
The journey to Captecris, and from there down to the southern coast, lasts for another month or so. It's been a month of learning and growth, if not one of great action. Adam and Caido regularly hunt, but for the sake of not attracting attention to the caravan, they are limited to prey of much less profound nature than before. Instead, his efforts are focused more on developing a stronger bond with Caido, and on learning everything he can from the caravaners.
The enetshimot proves to be quite compliant, quickly adapting to what Adam can only assume is an entirely different lifestyle to what it had in its former pack. Caido's form continues to solidify, though it remains chimeric, dominated by elements of hound and falcon, though it never completely abandons its metamorphic nature, and still returns to a shadowy sort of formlessness when it rests or relaxes. Adam, for his part, continues to study the creature, improving his ability to communicate with it. He still lacks the ability to utilize the same telepathic channel that he observed it use with its pack without the aid of Student of Death, but he's developed a rudimentary aura technique to sharpen his awareness of Caido's stance and gait as well as superior control over his own heartbeat, which combine to allow him a rudimentary non-telepathic means of communicating with the beast.
Learning from the caravan, and having people to talk to again in general, has been a great delight for the man. He is still a stranger to them, and quite an intimidating one at that, so they naturally do not share their magic or treasures with him and he does not ask them to, but he is still their guest, and so he learns of their history.
Long ago, the progenitor of this itinerant clan, a man named Limnut, learned from God how to make clocks. In return for this, Limnut traveled the world, finding things which were broken and setting them right. He made a clockwork womb for a barren woman, who became his wife. He made a clockwork soul for a dragon whose spirit was broken, who became the defender of his children. He made a clockwork king for a land in the throws of anarchy, which became his home. As Limnut grew old and his body weak, God said to him that his work was done, and that a perfect world where all things were whole and good and true awaited him as his reward. Before Limnut left this world behind, though, he taught each of his children his secret of clockmaking, so that the world would not be deprived of it with his departure. Most of his children remained in the clockwork kingdom, but a few set out in search of broken things to repair, and it is those children who these caravaners, the Almantim, are descended from. The clock-brass dragon, Umbetrigor, is the very same dragon who Limnut once rebuilt, and confirms the broad strokes of the story to Adam.
Frankly, he's not sure what to do with that information, but he files it away in his memory nonetheless. What was more immediately useful are the uses for the various monster-parts he's collected from his prey which he learns from the people of the Cris. Many small magics of various sorts, with one of the better ones being how to use the star-gems to summon things in a similar manner as the night-creature he harvested them from. He has a good amount of fun summoning various little creatures.
By the time he parts ways with the Almantim in the coastal city of Shells (so named because it's buildings are constructed from the enormous seashells which periodically wash up on the nearby sandy beaches), he's feeling pretty good about things. Stronger, too, though he's not sure how or why.
The past month has been one of preparation for Seizan, and for the Abe Ikka as a whole. Ever since the Knower had revealed himself to her, things have become more clear than ever before. She had always known that the family could be cruel. Her position as Shinsou's adopted daughter had ironically made her the ideal target for many of the sibling's ire. They'd called her a wastrel, a faker, a pig that Shinsou fed just to prove the wealth of the family.
She's already proven them thoroughly wrong, with the family flourishing under her guidance as Choushi. However, that success had not endeared her to Shinsou's own peers, the other elder siblings of the family, particularly those who felt her indulgences (which, of course, she's only increased over time, as they were a valuable source of power for her burgeoning repertoire of majutsu) were a detriment to the family. Even beyond their personal issues with Seizan, the family is disappointingly fractious and disunited, with many of the elder siblings seemingly more loyal to whichever kizoku they'd attached themselves to like a limpet than to each other, to the family, to her.
Of course, the burning of the red scrawl did not abate either. The blessing of Juroujin had been a balm, for a time, but it too had burned away eventually. She's found and eaten another of the shinja, but devotees to the Fortune of Longevity were not incredibly common, and if she continues preying on them with this regularity the chances of her incurring heavenly retribution will skyrocket.
The Knower had been incredibly helpful with the former issue, and to a lesser degree with the latter as well. She has had several conversations with the demon, mostly about how he and her father met, and about the early days of the family, when Shinsou was still pulling it together from the various solo or small-scale operations across the eastern islands. She can recognize some of the events from stories that father told her when she was younger, but Knower isn't afraid to go into some of the more gruesome details about how the family got started. He's also quite liberal with facts that are relevant to Seizan's running of operations in the present day.
Over the past month, Seizan has been steadily destroying the positions of the other elder siblings, gaining control of their assets, and consolidating power in the family under herself and her most trusted sisters. In terms of structural organization, she'd learned a great deal from the tekiya, and was implementing a system of fealty similar to theirs, steadily ensuring that every establishment under the Abe name was controlled by one of her lieutenants, or by someone who her lieutenants had the loyalty of. Already, the rest of the family is beginning to fold under the weight of her faction's dominance, and she expects that even with no further effort on her part, she will be the true mother of the family before the end of the year.
In the meantime, she will also be arranging for her departure to the Desolation, along with Kinarabukku-sama, one of the less experienced horishi named Daiyuu, an expert tracker codenamed Wolf-Spider, and a foreign spirit-talker known as Pearl-Diver who would help ensure that the journey would not be hassled by uncalm seas or stormy skies. It would be the first time that Seizan had left Mokushuu, and despite all the power she had now, the prospect of leaving behind her home to search for this supposed master of tattoo magic made her stomach uneasy.
Traveling west down the southern coast of the Desolation, now with only Caido and the zodiac summons as companions, was an interesting experience for Adam. The interior desert that he traveled through for several months had been incredibly barren, with only the monsters of wonder and the occasional rocky outcropping to break up the monotony of golden dunes as far as Adam's many, many eyes could see. The coast, meanwhile, was incredibly varied and much more well-populated, both in terms of grand beasts and of people (and occasionally, grand beasts who were also people).
Over the past six months or so, he'd visited a floating ship-city that was collectively sailing east, a city built into the seaside cliffs, a castle literally made from sand that was apparently held together with magic, a town populated by giants, a city whose advanced technology and lack of magic reminded Adam of his old world, before he arrived on Melicau, and a city built into the coastal rainforest and inhabited primarily by frog-people. That was just the places that were reasonably urban, too. He'd passed by all sorts of strange and magical land formations, experienced weird phenomena, and of course slain many great beasts, more than will be recounted here.
He'd accumulated a small number of notable trinkets over his journey as well. From a pod of dolphins he and Caido saved from a terrible sea-serpent he received a conch-horn that he can blow to open the way to Star Ocean and travel to other worlds. Not useful for intra-world travel unfortunately. He purchased something between a smartphone and palmtop computer from the city of Iloy, mostly out of sheer nostalgia for his homeworld. Unfortunately, while Ilojans do have an internet of sorts, it doesn't extend far beyond the walls of their city, and so its online functionality disappeared as he continued his journey to the west. Still, he was able to download a trove of games, movies, music, and books before he departed. His third and most recent souvenir was a neat rock that he found half-buried on a sandy beach. The exposed half was pleasingly smooth and had an almost mirror-finish to it, while the buried half was a little bumpy and almost looked like a smiling face. It didn't seem to be magic, not yet at least, it was just a nice rock.
Adam's powers had grown over the past half-year, more than his panoply had. His existential weight had climbed ever so slightly higher, as had the strength of his battle aura, and he had even developed a couple specialized techniques for his venomous pistol and phoenix-talon billhook. His skill with the zodiac star-gems had advanced considerably, being able to summon stronger, more solid zodiacal apparitions, and being able to summon two at once now. His teamwork with Caido had improved, as well as the beast's own power, seemingly fed both by the duo's death-dealing and by the refracted glory of Adam's own true name. Notably, while the beast had once been utterly black, its eyes now shimmered like crimson rubies. Among the hunter's true name abilities, Orchard of Eyes had seemingly slowed in its growth, and Rangeless had remained largely unchanged, but Student of Death had gained a new expansion of its remit. Before, he had only been able to set his study upon a living target, and his name would steadily enlighten him of how best to hunt them. Now, he could also study the dead, to become enlightened of their past, especially the circumstances of their death.
That new faculty turns out to be particularly relevant, when he encounters a strange entourage of Mokushuujin in the city of Halinos on the island of Nanonisy.
It has been six months since Seizan set sail for the homeland of Kinarabukku's teacher far to the east. The journey to the island of dwarves where the old horishi once was trained had been easy, uneventful, boring even, and thankfully quick, only lasting a fortnight. Unfortunately, the search for the master tattoo mage only grew more troublesome from there.
The issues began almost as soon as they stepped off the ship and into the port city of Megadendrow. According to the dwarf guide they'd hired, there was a major task they'd need to complete before they could continue their quest. First, they had to travel to the eponymous Great Tree and circle it forty nine times to receive the blessing of the ancestors (and a badge that will let them do business in the city). Of course, there was a massive line to pass through the entrance gate of the wall surrounding the Great Tree, since every single guest of the city or young adult who no longer lived under the roof of their parents and in need of their own badge was being funneled through it.
That ordeal lasted for the entire day, and well into the next. There was a small industry of local megadendrians serving refreshments to those in waiting, which made it bearable, but it was certainly a close thing. As soon as they had gotten out the exit gate with their badges, however, it seemed that word of their arrival had spread, and they were escorted by a maniple of dwarven guardsmen directly to the palace of the city's lady mayoress. The she-dwarf was nearly as massive as Seizan herself, nigh-spherically rotund given her short stature, and greeted them with a massive three-day feast. Over that time, it became clear that stories of Seizan's take-over of the Abe Ikka had somehow made their way here, but had become warped into something about her inheriting some kind of high noble title from Shinsou and expelling many traitorous courtiers from his lands. Apparently, the particulars of this version of the story had attracted the attention of the Lady Megadendrow, and this feast was partly to woo Seizan into making some trade deals. Some small part of Seizan wanted to clear up the confusion, but it was easily quashed, since having more markets to offload product into could only be a good thing. Once Seizan shared the reason for coming to Nanonisy, the mayoress was sympathetic and offered to help fund their preparations, as the Petradrumos of the interior were a treacherous karstland. Plus, on the final day of the feast an eating competition was held, which Seizan won handily, earning the respect of the lady's court and a content stomach, if only for an evening.
By the time that Seizan's group had hired all the experts they expected to need while traversing the island and into the Petradrumos, as well as all the provisions those experts recommended, and sent messengers to the court of each lady who ruled a province which the search would take them through, and requisitioned carts and beasts of burden to carry the equipment, and heard back from those other ladies' courts, and reworked the route to circumnavigate the areas where their message had not been met well, and recounted all the supplies to make sure they had enough for the new route, over a month had passed, nearing a total of two months since their departure from Mokushuu. Seizan's patience was thoroughly tested, though she managed to avoid doing anything too rash, such as eating one of the numerous irritating courtly sycophants that had found their way into her presence during this long period of waiting, even if she was sorely tempted. She was happy to finally be on the move, and hopeful for a solution to the accursed red scrawl which clung to her.
By the end of the third month spent wandering the seemingly endless caves and crevices of the Petradrumos, she wished she could have stayed in Megadendrow. One of the various experts said that the karst dwarves, the island's earliest inhabitants, utilized the metamorphic nature of the island's heart to allow their cave-cities to shift and shapechange in accordance with their whims, and that since they'd been abandoned, they had become chaotic and misbehaved. Supposedly, those ancient karst dwarves had also been fond of using that metamorphic magic to create terrible war-beasts, mostly for bloodsport, or at least that is the explanation the guides provide when Seizan asks them where all the violent monsters she keeps having to defend the group from originated. They said that it's rare for the karst to release them from their underground prisons, something must have been provoking it to release them. Some of the guides had made some unwise remarks to each other about what might be provoking the Petradrumos where they thought she couldn't hear. Seizan didn't manage to save those guides the next time a monster attacked, which was unfortunate, but they'd have to make do.
All of the unexpected combat, and all the magic she had to use to put the beasts down, was burning through Seizan's years faster than she had anticipated. She wasn't in immediate danger, but she could still feel the end getting closer, day by day, and she didn't like it. At the least monsters were proving to be reasonably edible, and glutting herself on their flesh helped calm her nerves. Her magic was advancing quickly as well, expanding under the strain of all this fighting, especially her ryuujutsu. Her strength, agility, and endurance all grew by leaps and bounds, as did the power of her void-breath. Against a particularly nasty creature she'd even spontaneously undergone a partial draconic transformation, briefly developing claws, fangs, horns, and patches of shimmering black scales. These improvements didn't do much to alleviate the worry of her steadily draining longevity, but they did make defending herself and her party from monsters progressively easier, which was a nice consolation.
Finally, at the beginning of her quest's six month, they found the older master tattooist's secret grotto. They also found the master himself. Dead, though the magic of his tattoo-covered body still lingered, unnaturally preserving the corpse, held in a meditative pose. Seizan nearly broke down, when the tracker Wolf-Spider gave her one last hope. The area of the caves that the old master once dwelled in had the signs of two inhabitants, not one. Even if the master was gone, there might be another apprentice, who alongside Kinarabukku might be able to devise some cure for his Choushi's ailment. The tracker could detect a path leading deeper into the caves, but the group only manages to descend through a single passage before the stone begins to shift under their feet and the caves lose all semblance of order or traversability. The party was quickly separated, and Seizan lost sight of the way back to the surface. Only Daiyuu, a couple of servants, and one of the local guides remained with her, and as it became clear that the earth intended to entomb them here, she unleashed her most secret power, the Shura Demon Armor. She could feel days burn like seconds, so she acted quickly, gathering her followers in her arms, then began to blast her way out, back to the surface. It took longer than it should have, far longer than it had taken to descend to that point from the surface, but she successfully escaped with a fraction of her crew. She burst from the ground in a shower of stone and earth, and from there, sprinted for the nearest edge of the karstland, to get away from the clearly malevolent magic of the caves. As soon as she passed into the relative safety of the jungle, she released her people, returned to her ordinary form, and promptly collapsed unconscious.
She awoke two days after, surrounded by those she'd saved as well as a handful more servants and another guide who had managed to escape under their own power. After spending another day recuperating and reorganizing, she directed the group to the nearest city, the eastern port of Halinos, where she hoped they might be able to find a new tracker, and perhaps some mages powerful enough to tame the underground long enough for them to find her last remaining hope.
"Sure, I'll help." Adam says. To be honest, the situation almost seems too good to be true. A group of wealthy strangers needed help with a task that he was almost perfectly suited for, where success would save the life of this very powerful and also very attractive woman? He suspected that his existential weight somehow played a part in arranging this, though he's not sure how.
Regardless, after working out the details of the deal (which doesn't take long, given that he's doing the work basically for free), the group returns to their lodgings for the day, Adam following along, using most of the scant handful of coinage he'd picked up on his wandering to pay for a night at the same inn as the others. Early the next day, they set out for the Petradrumos. Initially, Adam has to slow his pace considerably, to not leave the slower members of the group behind, but he soon figures out that he can have two zodiac summons carry the others, which lets them pick up the pace considerably.
As they near the edge of the Petradrumos, Adam could feel many new eyes and ears enter the domain of his Orchard. Nanonisy was a land lush and densely populated, so that on its own wasn't strange, but these new senses all seem to be ensconced in darkness and silence, and he gets a vague sense that they're all deep underground, and that they're waiting, though he doesn't know what for.
As they enter the karst proper, approaching the cave that Seizan had pointed him towards, those that were buried start to stir, and soon the chambers they are waiting in open to the sky. Adam now realizes these are probably the monsters that Seizan mentioned, but according to her, she'd previously only been attacked by at most two monsters at once. Adam can see at least a hundred coming for them right this moment, and more are being released by the minute.
The seemingly endless deluge of monsters slows the party's progress. The creatures, while individually much less threatening than the wondrous beasts of the Desolation proper, were much more numerous, and are well-capable of cooperating with one another. Nonetheless, their progress is only slowed, not halted. Carving a bloody swath through the tide of foes, Adam and Caido lead the party to the location where the cave entrance once stood, and finding only solid stone in their path, begin to dig.
Battle Aura might not be the first tool someone would choose when attempting to tunnel through bedrock, but it is a surprisingly effective one. Caido holds the rear guard well as the group descends deeper, soon encountering the master's cave that Seizan's group had found earlier. Adam studies the master tattoo mage's still-preserved corpse, diving into its past. There is indeed an apprentice, a young prodigy in tattoo magic, who had sought out the master to complete his education. Just over a month ago, he had learned all he could, and had killed the master and headed deeper into the island, seeking its heart. In the present, Adam can hear the island's heartbeat through Caido's heart-seeking ears, and immediately begins tunneling towards it, disregarding Seizan and her attendants clearly worrying about heading even deeper.
It takes a great deal of effort to reach the heart's chamber. The stone seems to flow and regenerate aggressively in response to Adam's digging, and he suspects that the prodigy, Aristarchos, has managed to gain control of the heart and is trying to push Adam out. Soon, he has gotten close enough for the strength of his Orchard of Eyes to overcome whatever resistance Aristarchos has to it, and confirms through the boy's own eyes that he is trying to wrangle the heart into expelling him and Seizan. Unfortunately for Aristarchos, even the whole might of the island's heart is insufficient to stop Adam's advance.
A moment later, Adam's billhook rips through the wall of the heart's chamber, releasing a blast of hot air. The room is cast in stark light and shadow by the powerful radiance of the heart.
"Please, spare me!" The dwarf boy cries shamelessly as Adam, Caido, and then the rest of the group step into the chamber. "I'll do whatever you want, j-just don't kill me!" He is only just barely audible over the pounding of the heart's beat.
Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Seizan steps forward. "If you can fulfill one task for me, we will spare you."
Aristarchos's expression brightens immediately, despair transformed into hope. "Anything my lady!"
She throws her yukata off her shoulders, revealing some of the red symbols that Adam knew she spent a great deal of time worrying over. "Remove these damnable red runes from my body, and your life will be yours."
What follows is a long and rather tense period of examination, Aristarchos studying Seizan's tattoos with growing desperation. Through the tattooist's eyes, Adam occasionally spots an ominous shadowy figure gesturing to the boy, and through his ears, hears quiet whispers pushing his attention to one part of the red letters or another. Eventually, Aristarchos speaks again. "I...I cannot remove this tattoo, my lady." Seizan's temper begins to flare immediately, and the boy quickly continues. "But! But, I believe that I can...complete it. In its current form, it simply attracts nether energy into your soul, passively inducing corruption whenever you exert it. I believe that, with the power of the heart, I will be able to augment it such that, rather than simply drenching your soul in nether energy, the tattoos will integrate the energy into your soul, strengthening it."
The prodigy waits with bated breath for Seizan's response, and with a sigh, she replies. "Very well. Do it."
He's quite pleased with his body, naturally given it was designed to his specifications. Durable, unblemished skin, that is red like rose petals for reasons supposedly tied to his choice of Quintessential Spirit and the exact nature of his True Name. The frame is taller than he once was, by a couple feet, but is not ungainly. Quite the opposite in fact, particularly combined with the uncanny awareness and speed of thought his activated True Name provides, he feels he has greater control over himself than ever before. He's stronger, too, and his mind is unclouded by aches and pains, or even by the invisible fog of depressive malaise. A brisk jog around the city is nearly effortless, physically and mentally, which is reason enough for a brief rejoicing!
Naturally, a strange rose-skinned man wearing only short trousers and a cloak leaping down streets and occasionally firing aura-blasts harmlessly into the sky quickly draws attention. A few moments later he's standing next to a couple of Fairfax guardsmen, a dumb smile on his face as he attempts explain his circumstances to the unbelieving jackboots. He marshals his will to quash the indignation that rises from his gut when the guards demand he follow them to the city keep and answer for his disrupting the peace.
That is how he ends up in the keep's dungeon, politely pretending that he cannot break out the sigiled manacles they've clapped around his wrists, waiting for his interrogator to arrive. He's initially surprised to see Musketeer Commander Évelyne arrive in person, though on second thought, his sheer existential weight might be pulling on the social hierarchy of the city just as much as it's pulling on its physical form, which would naturally demand her attention.
The Commander is rather incredulous of his story. Not the interdimensional traveler part, which seems like really the only reasonable explanation for 'an entity of such intense existential gravity' as she put it, but rather that he was formerly an ordinary (or even sub-par) human who simply stumbled into a magic shop, was freely given an inordinate amount of power including two coins of exalted gold, and then kicked out to the middle of Fairfax. No, he must be lying about his origins, and that means he must have something to hide.
Eventually, though, after several days of attempted interrogation (and many destroyed implements of torture), the Commander decides that, if they can't extract any information from this dangerous anomaly, they might as well get it as far away from the city, and the Overlord's domain as whole, as they can. This is when they surprise Adam again. They manage to actually teleport him, against his will. At least, that is what he assumes, given that one moment he's in a torture chamber, and the next he's standing atop a sand dune, with nothing but more sand as far as his considerably augmented sight can see.
It's nothing he can't handle, but it's certainly annoying. He'll need to figure out just how they managed that trick, too. It wouldn't do to let himself get blindsided when the possibility of real harm was on the table.
⁂
Seizan feels strange. She can clearly remember reclining in her personal chamber only a moment ago, and she still is now, but her memories of the intervening time are gone, replaced with strange scenes, a month of intense training to utilize abilities which she's never had before and yet are oddly intuitive. The sheer volume of memories, packed into what should have been only a short time, almost gives her a head. Such a strange dream...
She raises a hand to her temple in discomfort, and can't help but gasp when she sees her skin with unnatural grey pallor and her beautiful irezumi marred by a crude red scrawl. Without thinking, she immediately reaches for her long hair, releasing a true scream of terror when she finds her glorious black locks are now the white of death, with only sparse silver strands to diminish the awful omen. Is she dying? Is she cursed? Then, a thought occurs to her. She can remember herself bearing these terrible marks in the dream-month, so maybe the powers are real as well?
Seizan rises onto her feet, and her body feels almost weightless despite her considerable bulk. That is a good sign, though it could simply be a trick of the mind. What cannot be a simple trick of the mind, however, is the way that, after opening her mouth and exerting the barest flicker of intent, a powerful and sudden force flings the pile of ohagi a servant had brought her earlier that evening into her mouth, down her throat, and into her stomach, nearly followed by the bowl in which they'd sat, which she manages to catch mid-air.
It must be a terribly strange sight for her servants, she thinks, as they rush to answer her scream, only to find her transformed and grinning like a demon. She is quick to explain that she simply was awoken by a night terror, but despite her frightening new appearance, she has been blessed.
Aside from her dream, there is something else Seizan remembers inexplicably. After having the servants fetch her proper outdoor clothes, she allows the strange memory to guide her footsteps, taking her out of the family compound and on a short journey to their nearby casino on the beach, the Plenty of Fish. The guards let her in without question, and she strides through the mostly-empty game rooms and gambling dens, stopping briefly to devour a meal at the casino's buffet, before continuing inwards and downwards. The memory takes her to the depths of the building, where the family has not yet removed the religious artifacts and relics it houses and the building's original nature as a temple to Ebisu is still apparent. Seizan has traveled through the guts of the temple before, more than once, scouring it for anything valuable or dangerous. This time, though, this mysterious memory brings her foot down just right, on an innocuous floorboard, which produces a distinctly different squeak from what she expects. That is the squeak of a board with space under it, and a hinge.
After prying up the board, and removing several beams from underneath it, a much larger section of the floor becomes loose, and when she lifts it up, sure enough, a staircase even further down is revealed.
Beneath, where before she and the family had assumed there was only earth and stone, there is instead a massive cavern, filled with the broken wrecks of at least a dozen ships. Seizan descends with all the speed her new superhuman body affords her, all but flying downwards. Just as the memory promised, each of the wreckages' hulls are nearly overflowing with liquors, spirits, tonics, potions and more, with varieties from across Mokushuu and even beyond. Seizan can't help but grin even wider than before as she grabs a bottle, ripping out the cork and downing the whole thing in a single breath. She will think about how she can put this windfall to work for the family tomorrow. Tonight, she indulges.
⁂
Adam is initially rather frustrated with having been teleported into the middle of nowhere. He's never been a fan of sand when it isn't part of a nice summery beach. However, that was before he realized he was the Hunter of the Red Forest. With the sand as sturdy as stone beneath his feet and the heat of the desert sun nothing more than the warmth of life, traversing the desert is fine. Maybe it's a bit boring, but not nearly as troublesome as he may have expected.
Indeed, nor is his trek boring for very long. After wandering around for a day looking for something to hunt, he finds a stunningly beautiful giant beetle of white jade pushing around an enormous boulder of gold that glows like the sun. He studies its death for another day, following it as it rolls its treasure across the desert at absurd speeds. Knowledge of the beetle's strengths, its weaknesses, its fears, and its desires steadily flows through him, mounting like a river fed by the spring thaw. In the end, though, it is largely unnecessary. Perhaps if the Cloak didn't augment his true name the information may have been needed, but as things are, he is able to dispatch the beetle quickly and easily using only basic maneuvers.
First he separates the beetle from its gold ball by flinging himself at the latter vigorously, carefully Reinforcing the treasure as he collides with it, preventing the impact from obliterating it and instead safely launching the sphere over the horizon. Before the beetle can chase after its treasure, he exhales a gale-breath into the sky, rocketing himself downwards from the height he'd bounced to off the sphere and spearing into the beetle's back, crushing its elytra and wings, disabling its flight and slamming it into the dune with a shower of sand. The creature recovers quickly, and even begins to scurry towards where its treasure had landed, but can't shake Adam off, who proceeds to lay into it with one projected palm-slice after another. He cuts through the exalted jade-chitin armor inch by inch, inflicting a telling blow with the fourth slice, the beetle's sun-bright ichor spraying out from its split abdomen. The creature struggles on for another moment, before it gives up the ghost, tumbling across the sand as it loses control of its legs. It's a rather rocky ride as the carcass slows from several hundred miles per hour to a dead stop, but not rocky enough to really endanger him.
The loot from that first battle is mediocre, but still appreciated. The beetle's flesh and ichor make for a passable meal, Adam's satisfaction with having hunted his own food overcoming the offputting flavor and lack of seasoning. The sun-kissed gold of the beetle's treasure is also useful, cut into ribbons and wrapped around his ankles, waist, and wrists to glorify his might with solar emanations.
Only a moment later, a giant sandworm breaches through the dunes to swallow the beetle carcass, emitting a petrichorous stench as it did that was so strong it likely would have made Adam violently ill if he hadn't been shielded at once by his aura and existential weight. He was satisfied with his first hunt, though, and a brief study of the sandworm's death confirmed what his instincts told him. Even with the power of True Battle Name Aura at his disposal, Adam wasn't ready to take on a fully grown sandworm yet. Instead, he begins to search for a new quarry: somewhere safe to sleep.
⁂
Seizan is so excited to share the wonderful news with her father that she fights through the skull-cracking hangover she's given herself. Eating a mighty and vast breakfast at the buffet helps fill her belly and clear her head, after which she pounds down the road towards the compound, enjoying the superhuman pace her blessed body allows.
The air in the compound is quiet, quiet enough that Seizan can just about hear the birds chirping. She supposes that it is rather early, and she is used to waking near noon if not later. Still, she almost feels like she's disturbing the morning peace with the groans her steps evoke from the floorboards. She approaches Shinsou's personal chamber with care and respect, things she reserves only for the man who adopted her, father and forger of the Abe Ikka.
"Father?" She asks, as demurely as her excitement allows, peeking through the door.
Shinsou is sitting at the table, drinking something, probably tea, as he looks towards her. "Ah, Nomu-chan. I've heard that you have quite some...news." His reply is calm and steady, though Seizan knows her father well enough that he's schooling his expression, hiding just a hint of ice under his paternal warmth.
She steps into the room, excited energy causing her to barge through the door, pulling her arms from her sleeves and letting her yukata drop from her shoulders and hang from her belt, exposing the strange red scrawl which mars her irezumi. She watches his reaction closely, observing an instant of widened eyes and subtle trembling which he quickly quashes, replacing them with a quiet chuckle and eyeless smile.
"You look like you're painted up for a dance, Nomu-chan. Even your hair! And, what happened to your bunshin? It's almost like something's written over it, but whatever horishi did this must have horrible hand-writing!"
Seizan can't help but smile. Her father had the most jovial spirit of anyone she knew. Even the strange transformation she'd undergone doesn't seem to faze him. "Truly, I don't know how I've become changed, or why, but I do know that it's far more than just this morbid mask. I am so much stronger than before, and I can do this—" Her excitement all but forces the words out of her mouth, only interrupted as she decides on a target before opening her mouth and inhaling, the plate of sushi sitting beside Shinsou's tea shoots towards her. She grimaces briefly at the fermented fish's odious flavor as the sushi, partially disassembled mid-flight, is sucked down her gullet, gracefully catching the silver platter which it once was laid before it can fold itself into her maw as well. She smiles toothily as she sets the platter back down on the table, looking into the contemplative expression Shinsou wears. "On a different note, I also discovered something...remarkable, under the Plenty of Fish yesterday. A nigh-draconic hoard of alcohol and narcotics, most of it from outside Mokushuu, perhaps even this world entirely. It's too brazenly illegal for us to sell in the casinos, not even the favor of the Fortunes and our friends among the kizoku could protect us if word got to the wrong person. But, I think that our contacts among the tekiya might be able to move the product, if we can get it to them quietly. Maybe during the eve of the Garden of Peace festival..."
Seizan continues to explain the plan which she'd put together last night (a feat which surprised even her considering just how drunk she got, perhaps another benefit of her superhuman body), and rather than laugh or joke, Shinsou considers her with all seriousness, even commenting on her plans, sharing information regarding the family's own plans and situation that he would normally keep close to his chest. He is trusting her to help, including her in his decision making process. It's the proudest in herself she'd been in a long while. She holds on to this feeling, and this memory of her father, tightly.
⁂
Months pass, and the harshness of the desert only increases as the dry season fully takes hold. In truth, this is to Adam's advantage, as the mindless severity of the sun is no match for the strength of his True Name. Instead, the scorching rays serve only to hamper his prey.
So far, few of his prey have not been seemingly unique creatures disgorged by the great desert in which he's found himself. The beetle was his first, but he's since encountered several other beasts of similar grandeur. Some of his most notable quarries were: a winged camel which was able to fly with the speed of lightning and strike with scouring sand-blasts, an enormous two-headed blue elephant that could spit endless torrents of healing water from its trunks, a swarm of giant steel wasps whose stingers shot bullets of crystallized venom, a living castle of sandstone that housed a horde of screeching ghoulish warriors, a phoenix so bright it outshone the sun and turned the sand beneath it to glass, a juvenile sandworm which he was able to take out due its relatively underdeveloped precognition and ghost-symbiotes, and a living patch of night-sky which summoned zodiacal beasts by rearranging the stars within itself.
He'd managed to acquire some interesting loot from the prey, aside from hunger-sating flesh and thirst-quenching blood. There was a simple backpack which he made from the hide of the camel, as much of the healing water as he could carry in more hide sacks, a pistol constructed from a wasp's' abdomens (as well as a good stache of venom-crystals), a sort of long billhook carved from one of the phoenix's talons, armor taken from the ghoul-soldiers, a good deal of wormspice which he'd promptly consumed, and 18 little stars taken from the night-creature that he pressed into his gold belt. He'd also grown somewhat stronger, not only in terms of his battle aura but also his true name spells. Orchard of Eyes in particular grew by leaps and bounds, now extending his hearing as well as his sight to all creatures within a truly enormous range, while Student of Death had only slightly improved the speed at which it granted him insight into his target, and Rangeless had not changed enough for him to notice if it indeed did at all.
In the present he is stalking a pack of strange shadow-beasts. They've caught his interest because they seem to be entirely immune to Student of Death, and thus are liable to be quite powerful. Their eyes and ears are still his, but he knows that if he wasn't the Student of Death he wouldn't be able to understand what he was seeing and hearing. The world the shadow-beasts saw was dark and murky, except for when they spotted the glow of something living (Possibly other than themselves? Adam wasn't sure whether these creatures were alive, undead, or something in between, as they seemed to see each other as neither). Their eyes saw all the ways to kill whatever befell their gaze, and their ears heard the heart-beats of everything within a considerable range (albeit still smaller than his own).
Through the eyes of their prey, the shadow-beasts seemed to take on the forms of other predators, dark and shiftingly chimeric, possessing the appearance of everything the prey might fear in another animal, whether that's the jaws of a crocodile, the talons of an eagle, the sting of a scorpion, the tusks of a hippopotamus, or the claws of a lion. Certainly, the shadow-beasts seem to embody death, and in particular the idea of a predator.
The beasts operated as a pack with remarkable coordination and efficiency, despite being utterly silent and never turning to look at one another. There was some deeper level they are communicating on, one that Adam can't access, not yet at least. He sets Student of Death to continue working on one of the shadow-beasts, just in case it could crack through whatever defense they had with enough time to ramp up, before turning his mind to finding somewhere to sleep again, as it has been a few days since the last time he got some rest. The shadow-beasts didn't seem to sleep, but they did become torpid around noon every day, so he's confident he won't lose their trail as long as he doesn't rest for too long.
⁂
Maybe Seizan should have known it was too good to be true, should have known that an ill omen is an ill omen, even if it does not mean what you think it means. She had felt so good, in the days after her transformation. She had gained more than just a powerful body and a cache of treasure. She had gained the opportunity to show Shinsou her real worth, to prove to her father that she wasn't just a fat wench who he doted on to soothe his conscience, that she had earned her shisei just as much as any member of the family. He trusted her, finally.
Maybe that was why he did it. Maybe that was why he killed himself. She'd proven she was ready to lead the family in his stead, so...he cut open his belly, like some kind of disgraced samurai. Fuck! Just remembering the morning when she'd found his dead body, reeking of blood and shit, makes her want to destroy something. Instead, she downs another bottle of foreign shurui.
It's been nearly three months since then. Her plan to pass the product on to tekiya to sell for the summer matsuri had worked like a charm, but despite the tekiya peddling the drinks and drugs to unsuspecting festival-goers as fast they can, it has barely made a dent in the hoard. Nor has the ravenous substance abuse which Seizan's cultivated, following instincts she developed in that ever-mysterious dream month that set her down this course. She can feel the power it brings to her soul, even as these accursed red letters sear it whenever she attempts to tap into its magic.
Despite the pain and the fatigue the bloody scrawl causes whenever she tries to use it, she has worked to develop her magical abilities further. Her ryuujutsu have been the easiest to improve, provoking the markings the least, though each new mutation to elevate her strength elevates her appetite to match. Alternatively, her majutsu has been agonizing to work on, but has been equally necessary. Spells to stretch her stomach and gut, to even further heighten her resistance to poisons, to hasten the circulation of her blood, all to better synergize with her ryuujutsu and to let her consume ever more and ever faster.
She misses getting properly drunk, drunk enough to forget. Drink still unleashes her passions and loosens her inhibitions, she doesn't think it would give her power if it didn't, but now it no longer frees her of the burden of unpleasant memories. Even if she drinks until she passes out, she remembers every moment of it.
She downs another bottle, and considers the stache itself. She's had a few of her closest sisters search through the wreckages beneath the Plenty of Fish for anything especially valuable. Most of it is so foreign that the only way they can judge it is to partake, which Seizan is always happy to oblige. That's how they discovered that not all of the product is purely for leisure. A tiny fraction of the drugs, albeit still an objectively enormous amount, have effects beyond simply ecstasy or dreams or numbness. Some briefly induce the user to enter a berserk rage, or to enter a magical meditative state, or even briefly become invisible, among many other effects. Seizan hasn't given any of these special products to the tekiya, not yet at least. She's saving them for clients who have special needs, and for herself of course. There's one in particular that makes her absolutely voracious, so hungry she genuinely can't stop herself from eating anything nearby that is even vaguely edible. She'd gotten quite sick after taking it the first time, having torn apart and eaten some of her own clothing, on top of gulping down enough booze to make her look severely pregnant. She's careful to always be near the larder when she takes it, now.
Finally, she hasn't completely neglected her shinjutsu. She's been very fond of using the Heaven-Swallowing Jaws to minimize the time she spends eating without actually being any less gluttonous (even if she does also occasionally indulge in time devoted solely to gorging herself). Monument of the Pit, however, has been harder for her to explore. She's felt the hunger a handful of times over the summer, not a hunger for food, but for something more, something deeper, something more meaningful. It hollows her out inside, and it always appears when she sees a miko or saishi or other priest passing by. She knows what she wants, of course, but, part of her still balks at the notion. What finally pushed her over the edge was realizing that, perhaps by replicating the longevity of a shinja of Juroujin, she could counteract the doom which the red letters spelled for her.
So, now she reclines in her personal chambers, the same chambers her father used, sipping on one of the more delicious drinks she's found amidst the wreckages, a little sister sitting on either side of her, faces contorted into masks of fear and disgust as they massage her grotesquely, monstrously distended belly. One of them fails to suppress a shiver as her touch causes a part of the priestly corpse melting away in Seizan's stomach to break apart. She can't resist a demonic grin, as some dark part of her takes pleasure in the discomfort her new depravity causes.
⁂
Adam doesn't like being surprised, and yet it keeps happening to him. He might just have to learn to live with it.
Student of Death behaved strangely with the shadow-beasts. After letting it build continuously for nearly a week, it had broken through whatever was letting the shadow-beasts resist it, but the knowledge he gained was still...different. Rather than a simple and clinical understanding of the beasts' traits, abilities, and behaviors, it was almost conversational, more focused on what the shadow-beast seemed to be thinking about at that moment. It did let him finally grasp how the beasts were communicating, via some sort of telepathy, as well as conveniently let him eavesdrop on their network.
The shadow-beasts are aware of him, vaguely, though that isn't the surprise which is presently souring Adam's mood. What's upset him today is that he's learned through his connection that the shadow-beasts have apparently bitten off more than they can metaphorically chew.
Over the past week, the pack has been moving southwest, and Adam has been following it. The terrain transitioned from sandy desert to savannah, which didn't seem to faze the shadow-beasts. They seemed to be moving with a purpose, following the 'scent' of prey perhaps. Eventually, he was able to see through the eyes and hear through the ears of a caravan of humans, which he guessed were what the shadow-beasts were tracking down. The humans often turned their eyes to the sky, looking for a glint in the sky near the sun. He didn't know what to make of it.
That glint in the sky turns out to be quite important. The surprise is that the shadow-beast he's been tracking has used the telepathic network he'd eavesdropped on to cry for help. It was crying to him, even. Maybe they had been more aware of him than he'd first thought.
The pack had attacked the caravan just a moment ago, and in the brief intervening time have been nearly slaughtered, as an enormous clock-brass dragon dives from the sky and attacks them with an invisible exhalation that disperses the shadow-beasts like so much black soot on the wind. The particular shadow-beast he'd been studying has hung back away from the others, and going from how quickly this dragon was wiping out the pack, it'll soon be the last. Maybe he's grown a little sympathetic to the beasts, or perhaps his curiosity regarding their nature is not yet satisfied, but whatever the reasoning, he runs to the shadow-beast's side with all the speed he can muster, flashing across the grass in an eye-blink.
The dragon changes tack the instant Adam interdicts its dive towards the now-last shadow-beast. They twist and turn, smoothly landing and curling around him and the beast, encircling the pair with their body before turning their mechanical face towards him. "Why do you protect this enetshimot, stranger? They are enemies of life, benighted wolves of chaos."
Adam's voice rises from his throat with unnatural readiness, unfamiliar even to his own ears after months of wordless hunting. "I have kinship with any creature of the hunt, even one so estranged from the light of life. All life burns, whether brightly or darkly."
The dragon's posture relaxes somewhat, though not entirely. "As true as that may be, the enetshimot presents a danger to the people in my charge. As long as it is a threat, I am duty-bound to destroy it."
Adam considers his response for a moment, observing himself from outside via Orchard of Eyes. The dragon's eyes and ears are piercing and true, and he finds he is unable to hide the subtle indications of his thoughts and emotions from the dragon as the physical echoes of the mind reverberate through his body, even with the aid of his existential weight damping their volume. From the beast's perspective, he is a strange mix of packmate and prey, which it is glad has come to save it, but also unsure of how to trust even so. Adam does his best to tap into the telepathic ability the shadow-beast displayed earlier, to broadcast a specific mixture of ideas to it as he responds to the dragon. "I will tame the enetshimot. Any hunter worth his salt has a hound, and I believe it is fit for me."
The dragon stares down Adam for another moment, and he can see it scrutinize him intensely, picking him apart in its mind, though their intellect is too great for him to even guess at their thoughts before they reply. "Very well. You will be responsible for the deathly thing. I would encourage you to take it far from the caravan, but I will not demand it, and you are free to follow us if you wish for an end to your wandering. We are headed for the city of Captecris, and from there down the river Cris to the southern sea."
Adam nods, but he is largely unconcerned with the specifics. He's happy to head back towards civilization, he was getting a little lonely, but his attention has turned towards the enetshimot. It seems to have successfully received the conceptual package he'd sent, though it was still processing its contents. He reaches a hand out over the beast's head. He watches it consider him, the confused mixture of shapes overlaying his presence steadily changing, simplifying, resolving into the form of its master, Death. It lowers its head, its chimerically shifting form approaching something like a dog's, and Adam places his hand between its ears and gives it a scratch. "I name you...Caido."
⁂
By the end of the week, nothing remains of the shinja except maybe five pounds of fat on Choushi-san's figure, and a dim spark of heavenly fire settling into the Pit. Seizan can immediately feel the holy man's blessing settle on her like a mantle, dulling the searing pain of the red scrawl, though not extinguishing it entirely. She can still feel it burning away under her skin. She'll have to see about finding more victims, as unsustainable as it is. It will suffice as a stopgap measure at least.
Now that her stomach no longer betrays her monstrosity, she is able to meet with the family's head horishi, Kinarabukku-sama. The old man mostly oversees the younger tattooists in the family's employ, but he's still terribly sharp, both in body and wit. He's horrified to see the state of Choushi-san's irezumi, and doesn't even wait for her to explain before commanding her to sit down and let him examine the runes. She bristles slightly at being treated so brusquely, but acquiesces to the horishi.
It takes time, and the old man becomes steadily more grim as he pieces together the letters carved into Seizan's flesh. Eventually, he takes a step away from her and lets out a frustrated harrumph.
"I don't know who you crossed to be marked with these, sister, but you must have fucked them bad. I could cover these up, but they'd bleed right back through, and it wouldn't do shit to stop the curse they've put on you."
Seizan curses up a storm resisting the urge to swallow the old man here and now. Once she's done, she orders a nearby little brother to bring her some snacks before digging for more information. "Is there anything else you can tell me about them?"
"Not much. They've got the look of Redstar fuckers, who are a special kind of bad news. I didn't even know that tattoo mages of this caliber still existed, aside from maybe my teacher..."
That could be a lead. "Could your teacher remove them?"
The horishi strokes his goatee. "Maybe? I wasn't able to complete my training before I left to join my family here in the Eye, so I can't say for sure. Plus, the man was older than I am now when I left. Tattoos can keep a man going for a while but he may well be dead."
That had to be good enough. "Where can I find him? If he's still alive."
From there, the conversation descends into a lengthy interrogation of Kinarabukku's journey from the Desolation to Mokushuu, told in reverse. The description is spotty at best, even if the old man swears up and down that he's remembered every detail correctly. There is the uncertainty of whether his master is still alive, whether he's still in the same old grotto where he taught Kinarabukku, whether he even has the ability to break the curse, but, it's all that Seizan has to go on.
Seizan is not happy about this situation. She downs the rice cakes the little brother has brought her, orders him to get another two brothers and bring her more, before stomping off to her personal chambers to get high and try to relax. As she opens the door, however, she's stunned to find a figure of darkness sitting at the table, preparing tea. "Ah, hello Nomu-chan. It's good to see you again."
⁂
The journey to Captecris, and from there down to the southern coast, lasts for another month or so. It's been a month of learning and growth, if not one of great action. Adam and Caido regularly hunt, but for the sake of not attracting attention to the caravan, they are limited to prey of much less profound nature than before. Instead, his efforts are focused more on developing a stronger bond with Caido, and on learning everything he can from the caravaners.
The enetshimot proves to be quite compliant, quickly adapting to what Adam can only assume is an entirely different lifestyle to what it had in its former pack. Caido's form continues to solidify, though it remains chimeric, dominated by elements of hound and falcon, though it never completely abandons its metamorphic nature, and still returns to a shadowy sort of formlessness when it rests or relaxes. Adam, for his part, continues to study the creature, improving his ability to communicate with it. He still lacks the ability to utilize the same telepathic channel that he observed it use with its pack without the aid of Student of Death, but he's developed a rudimentary aura technique to sharpen his awareness of Caido's stance and gait as well as superior control over his own heartbeat, which combine to allow him a rudimentary non-telepathic means of communicating with the beast.
Learning from the caravan, and having people to talk to again in general, has been a great delight for the man. He is still a stranger to them, and quite an intimidating one at that, so they naturally do not share their magic or treasures with him and he does not ask them to, but he is still their guest, and so he learns of their history.
Long ago, the progenitor of this itinerant clan, a man named Limnut, learned from God how to make clocks. In return for this, Limnut traveled the world, finding things which were broken and setting them right. He made a clockwork womb for a barren woman, who became his wife. He made a clockwork soul for a dragon whose spirit was broken, who became the defender of his children. He made a clockwork king for a land in the throws of anarchy, which became his home. As Limnut grew old and his body weak, God said to him that his work was done, and that a perfect world where all things were whole and good and true awaited him as his reward. Before Limnut left this world behind, though, he taught each of his children his secret of clockmaking, so that the world would not be deprived of it with his departure. Most of his children remained in the clockwork kingdom, but a few set out in search of broken things to repair, and it is those children who these caravaners, the Almantim, are descended from. The clock-brass dragon, Umbetrigor, is the very same dragon who Limnut once rebuilt, and confirms the broad strokes of the story to Adam.
Frankly, he's not sure what to do with that information, but he files it away in his memory nonetheless. What was more immediately useful are the uses for the various monster-parts he's collected from his prey which he learns from the people of the Cris. Many small magics of various sorts, with one of the better ones being how to use the star-gems to summon things in a similar manner as the night-creature he harvested them from. He has a good amount of fun summoning various little creatures.
By the time he parts ways with the Almantim in the coastal city of Shells (so named because it's buildings are constructed from the enormous seashells which periodically wash up on the nearby sandy beaches), he's feeling pretty good about things. Stronger, too, though he's not sure how or why.
⁂
The past month has been one of preparation for Seizan, and for the Abe Ikka as a whole. Ever since the Knower had revealed himself to her, things have become more clear than ever before. She had always known that the family could be cruel. Her position as Shinsou's adopted daughter had ironically made her the ideal target for many of the sibling's ire. They'd called her a wastrel, a faker, a pig that Shinsou fed just to prove the wealth of the family.
She's already proven them thoroughly wrong, with the family flourishing under her guidance as Choushi. However, that success had not endeared her to Shinsou's own peers, the other elder siblings of the family, particularly those who felt her indulgences (which, of course, she's only increased over time, as they were a valuable source of power for her burgeoning repertoire of majutsu) were a detriment to the family. Even beyond their personal issues with Seizan, the family is disappointingly fractious and disunited, with many of the elder siblings seemingly more loyal to whichever kizoku they'd attached themselves to like a limpet than to each other, to the family, to her.
Of course, the burning of the red scrawl did not abate either. The blessing of Juroujin had been a balm, for a time, but it too had burned away eventually. She's found and eaten another of the shinja, but devotees to the Fortune of Longevity were not incredibly common, and if she continues preying on them with this regularity the chances of her incurring heavenly retribution will skyrocket.
The Knower had been incredibly helpful with the former issue, and to a lesser degree with the latter as well. She has had several conversations with the demon, mostly about how he and her father met, and about the early days of the family, when Shinsou was still pulling it together from the various solo or small-scale operations across the eastern islands. She can recognize some of the events from stories that father told her when she was younger, but Knower isn't afraid to go into some of the more gruesome details about how the family got started. He's also quite liberal with facts that are relevant to Seizan's running of operations in the present day.
Over the past month, Seizan has been steadily destroying the positions of the other elder siblings, gaining control of their assets, and consolidating power in the family under herself and her most trusted sisters. In terms of structural organization, she'd learned a great deal from the tekiya, and was implementing a system of fealty similar to theirs, steadily ensuring that every establishment under the Abe name was controlled by one of her lieutenants, or by someone who her lieutenants had the loyalty of. Already, the rest of the family is beginning to fold under the weight of her faction's dominance, and she expects that even with no further effort on her part, she will be the true mother of the family before the end of the year.
In the meantime, she will also be arranging for her departure to the Desolation, along with Kinarabukku-sama, one of the less experienced horishi named Daiyuu, an expert tracker codenamed Wolf-Spider, and a foreign spirit-talker known as Pearl-Diver who would help ensure that the journey would not be hassled by uncalm seas or stormy skies. It would be the first time that Seizan had left Mokushuu, and despite all the power she had now, the prospect of leaving behind her home to search for this supposed master of tattoo magic made her stomach uneasy.
⁂
Traveling west down the southern coast of the Desolation, now with only Caido and the zodiac summons as companions, was an interesting experience for Adam. The interior desert that he traveled through for several months had been incredibly barren, with only the monsters of wonder and the occasional rocky outcropping to break up the monotony of golden dunes as far as Adam's many, many eyes could see. The coast, meanwhile, was incredibly varied and much more well-populated, both in terms of grand beasts and of people (and occasionally, grand beasts who were also people).
Over the past six months or so, he'd visited a floating ship-city that was collectively sailing east, a city built into the seaside cliffs, a castle literally made from sand that was apparently held together with magic, a town populated by giants, a city whose advanced technology and lack of magic reminded Adam of his old world, before he arrived on Melicau, and a city built into the coastal rainforest and inhabited primarily by frog-people. That was just the places that were reasonably urban, too. He'd passed by all sorts of strange and magical land formations, experienced weird phenomena, and of course slain many great beasts, more than will be recounted here.
He'd accumulated a small number of notable trinkets over his journey as well. From a pod of dolphins he and Caido saved from a terrible sea-serpent he received a conch-horn that he can blow to open the way to Star Ocean and travel to other worlds. Not useful for intra-world travel unfortunately. He purchased something between a smartphone and palmtop computer from the city of Iloy, mostly out of sheer nostalgia for his homeworld. Unfortunately, while Ilojans do have an internet of sorts, it doesn't extend far beyond the walls of their city, and so its online functionality disappeared as he continued his journey to the west. Still, he was able to download a trove of games, movies, music, and books before he departed. His third and most recent souvenir was a neat rock that he found half-buried on a sandy beach. The exposed half was pleasingly smooth and had an almost mirror-finish to it, while the buried half was a little bumpy and almost looked like a smiling face. It didn't seem to be magic, not yet at least, it was just a nice rock.
Adam's powers had grown over the past half-year, more than his panoply had. His existential weight had climbed ever so slightly higher, as had the strength of his battle aura, and he had even developed a couple specialized techniques for his venomous pistol and phoenix-talon billhook. His skill with the zodiac star-gems had advanced considerably, being able to summon stronger, more solid zodiacal apparitions, and being able to summon two at once now. His teamwork with Caido had improved, as well as the beast's own power, seemingly fed both by the duo's death-dealing and by the refracted glory of Adam's own true name. Notably, while the beast had once been utterly black, its eyes now shimmered like crimson rubies. Among the hunter's true name abilities, Orchard of Eyes had seemingly slowed in its growth, and Rangeless had remained largely unchanged, but Student of Death had gained a new expansion of its remit. Before, he had only been able to set his study upon a living target, and his name would steadily enlighten him of how best to hunt them. Now, he could also study the dead, to become enlightened of their past, especially the circumstances of their death.
That new faculty turns out to be particularly relevant, when he encounters a strange entourage of Mokushuujin in the city of Halinos on the island of Nanonisy.
⁂
It has been six months since Seizan set sail for the homeland of Kinarabukku's teacher far to the east. The journey to the island of dwarves where the old horishi once was trained had been easy, uneventful, boring even, and thankfully quick, only lasting a fortnight. Unfortunately, the search for the master tattoo mage only grew more troublesome from there.
The issues began almost as soon as they stepped off the ship and into the port city of Megadendrow. According to the dwarf guide they'd hired, there was a major task they'd need to complete before they could continue their quest. First, they had to travel to the eponymous Great Tree and circle it forty nine times to receive the blessing of the ancestors (and a badge that will let them do business in the city). Of course, there was a massive line to pass through the entrance gate of the wall surrounding the Great Tree, since every single guest of the city or young adult who no longer lived under the roof of their parents and in need of their own badge was being funneled through it.
That ordeal lasted for the entire day, and well into the next. There was a small industry of local megadendrians serving refreshments to those in waiting, which made it bearable, but it was certainly a close thing. As soon as they had gotten out the exit gate with their badges, however, it seemed that word of their arrival had spread, and they were escorted by a maniple of dwarven guardsmen directly to the palace of the city's lady mayoress. The she-dwarf was nearly as massive as Seizan herself, nigh-spherically rotund given her short stature, and greeted them with a massive three-day feast. Over that time, it became clear that stories of Seizan's take-over of the Abe Ikka had somehow made their way here, but had become warped into something about her inheriting some kind of high noble title from Shinsou and expelling many traitorous courtiers from his lands. Apparently, the particulars of this version of the story had attracted the attention of the Lady Megadendrow, and this feast was partly to woo Seizan into making some trade deals. Some small part of Seizan wanted to clear up the confusion, but it was easily quashed, since having more markets to offload product into could only be a good thing. Once Seizan shared the reason for coming to Nanonisy, the mayoress was sympathetic and offered to help fund their preparations, as the Petradrumos of the interior were a treacherous karstland. Plus, on the final day of the feast an eating competition was held, which Seizan won handily, earning the respect of the lady's court and a content stomach, if only for an evening.
By the time that Seizan's group had hired all the experts they expected to need while traversing the island and into the Petradrumos, as well as all the provisions those experts recommended, and sent messengers to the court of each lady who ruled a province which the search would take them through, and requisitioned carts and beasts of burden to carry the equipment, and heard back from those other ladies' courts, and reworked the route to circumnavigate the areas where their message had not been met well, and recounted all the supplies to make sure they had enough for the new route, over a month had passed, nearing a total of two months since their departure from Mokushuu. Seizan's patience was thoroughly tested, though she managed to avoid doing anything too rash, such as eating one of the numerous irritating courtly sycophants that had found their way into her presence during this long period of waiting, even if she was sorely tempted. She was happy to finally be on the move, and hopeful for a solution to the accursed red scrawl which clung to her.
By the end of the third month spent wandering the seemingly endless caves and crevices of the Petradrumos, she wished she could have stayed in Megadendrow. One of the various experts said that the karst dwarves, the island's earliest inhabitants, utilized the metamorphic nature of the island's heart to allow their cave-cities to shift and shapechange in accordance with their whims, and that since they'd been abandoned, they had become chaotic and misbehaved. Supposedly, those ancient karst dwarves had also been fond of using that metamorphic magic to create terrible war-beasts, mostly for bloodsport, or at least that is the explanation the guides provide when Seizan asks them where all the violent monsters she keeps having to defend the group from originated. They said that it's rare for the karst to release them from their underground prisons, something must have been provoking it to release them. Some of the guides had made some unwise remarks to each other about what might be provoking the Petradrumos where they thought she couldn't hear. Seizan didn't manage to save those guides the next time a monster attacked, which was unfortunate, but they'd have to make do.
All of the unexpected combat, and all the magic she had to use to put the beasts down, was burning through Seizan's years faster than she had anticipated. She wasn't in immediate danger, but she could still feel the end getting closer, day by day, and she didn't like it. At the least monsters were proving to be reasonably edible, and glutting herself on their flesh helped calm her nerves. Her magic was advancing quickly as well, expanding under the strain of all this fighting, especially her ryuujutsu. Her strength, agility, and endurance all grew by leaps and bounds, as did the power of her void-breath. Against a particularly nasty creature she'd even spontaneously undergone a partial draconic transformation, briefly developing claws, fangs, horns, and patches of shimmering black scales. These improvements didn't do much to alleviate the worry of her steadily draining longevity, but they did make defending herself and her party from monsters progressively easier, which was a nice consolation.
Finally, at the beginning of her quest's six month, they found the older master tattooist's secret grotto. They also found the master himself. Dead, though the magic of his tattoo-covered body still lingered, unnaturally preserving the corpse, held in a meditative pose. Seizan nearly broke down, when the tracker Wolf-Spider gave her one last hope. The area of the caves that the old master once dwelled in had the signs of two inhabitants, not one. Even if the master was gone, there might be another apprentice, who alongside Kinarabukku might be able to devise some cure for his Choushi's ailment. The tracker could detect a path leading deeper into the caves, but the group only manages to descend through a single passage before the stone begins to shift under their feet and the caves lose all semblance of order or traversability. The party was quickly separated, and Seizan lost sight of the way back to the surface. Only Daiyuu, a couple of servants, and one of the local guides remained with her, and as it became clear that the earth intended to entomb them here, she unleashed her most secret power, the Shura Demon Armor. She could feel days burn like seconds, so she acted quickly, gathering her followers in her arms, then began to blast her way out, back to the surface. It took longer than it should have, far longer than it had taken to descend to that point from the surface, but she successfully escaped with a fraction of her crew. She burst from the ground in a shower of stone and earth, and from there, sprinted for the nearest edge of the karstland, to get away from the clearly malevolent magic of the caves. As soon as she passed into the relative safety of the jungle, she released her people, returned to her ordinary form, and promptly collapsed unconscious.
She awoke two days after, surrounded by those she'd saved as well as a handful more servants and another guide who had managed to escape under their own power. After spending another day recuperating and reorganizing, she directed the group to the nearest city, the eastern port of Halinos, where she hoped they might be able to find a new tracker, and perhaps some mages powerful enough to tame the underground long enough for them to find her last remaining hope.
⁂
"Sure, I'll help." Adam says. To be honest, the situation almost seems too good to be true. A group of wealthy strangers needed help with a task that he was almost perfectly suited for, where success would save the life of this very powerful and also very attractive woman? He suspected that his existential weight somehow played a part in arranging this, though he's not sure how.
Regardless, after working out the details of the deal (which doesn't take long, given that he's doing the work basically for free), the group returns to their lodgings for the day, Adam following along, using most of the scant handful of coinage he'd picked up on his wandering to pay for a night at the same inn as the others. Early the next day, they set out for the Petradrumos. Initially, Adam has to slow his pace considerably, to not leave the slower members of the group behind, but he soon figures out that he can have two zodiac summons carry the others, which lets them pick up the pace considerably.
As they near the edge of the Petradrumos, Adam could feel many new eyes and ears enter the domain of his Orchard. Nanonisy was a land lush and densely populated, so that on its own wasn't strange, but these new senses all seem to be ensconced in darkness and silence, and he gets a vague sense that they're all deep underground, and that they're waiting, though he doesn't know what for.
As they enter the karst proper, approaching the cave that Seizan had pointed him towards, those that were buried start to stir, and soon the chambers they are waiting in open to the sky. Adam now realizes these are probably the monsters that Seizan mentioned, but according to her, she'd previously only been attacked by at most two monsters at once. Adam can see at least a hundred coming for them right this moment, and more are being released by the minute.
The seemingly endless deluge of monsters slows the party's progress. The creatures, while individually much less threatening than the wondrous beasts of the Desolation proper, were much more numerous, and are well-capable of cooperating with one another. Nonetheless, their progress is only slowed, not halted. Carving a bloody swath through the tide of foes, Adam and Caido lead the party to the location where the cave entrance once stood, and finding only solid stone in their path, begin to dig.
Battle Aura might not be the first tool someone would choose when attempting to tunnel through bedrock, but it is a surprisingly effective one. Caido holds the rear guard well as the group descends deeper, soon encountering the master's cave that Seizan's group had found earlier. Adam studies the master tattoo mage's still-preserved corpse, diving into its past. There is indeed an apprentice, a young prodigy in tattoo magic, who had sought out the master to complete his education. Just over a month ago, he had learned all he could, and had killed the master and headed deeper into the island, seeking its heart. In the present, Adam can hear the island's heartbeat through Caido's heart-seeking ears, and immediately begins tunneling towards it, disregarding Seizan and her attendants clearly worrying about heading even deeper.
It takes a great deal of effort to reach the heart's chamber. The stone seems to flow and regenerate aggressively in response to Adam's digging, and he suspects that the prodigy, Aristarchos, has managed to gain control of the heart and is trying to push Adam out. Soon, he has gotten close enough for the strength of his Orchard of Eyes to overcome whatever resistance Aristarchos has to it, and confirms through the boy's own eyes that he is trying to wrangle the heart into expelling him and Seizan. Unfortunately for Aristarchos, even the whole might of the island's heart is insufficient to stop Adam's advance.
A moment later, Adam's billhook rips through the wall of the heart's chamber, releasing a blast of hot air. The room is cast in stark light and shadow by the powerful radiance of the heart.
"Please, spare me!" The dwarf boy cries shamelessly as Adam, Caido, and then the rest of the group step into the chamber. "I'll do whatever you want, j-just don't kill me!" He is only just barely audible over the pounding of the heart's beat.
Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Seizan steps forward. "If you can fulfill one task for me, we will spare you."
Aristarchos's expression brightens immediately, despair transformed into hope. "Anything my lady!"
She throws her yukata off her shoulders, revealing some of the red symbols that Adam knew she spent a great deal of time worrying over. "Remove these damnable red runes from my body, and your life will be yours."
What follows is a long and rather tense period of examination, Aristarchos studying Seizan's tattoos with growing desperation. Through the tattooist's eyes, Adam occasionally spots an ominous shadowy figure gesturing to the boy, and through his ears, hears quiet whispers pushing his attention to one part of the red letters or another. Eventually, Aristarchos speaks again. "I...I cannot remove this tattoo, my lady." Seizan's temper begins to flare immediately, and the boy quickly continues. "But! But, I believe that I can...complete it. In its current form, it simply attracts nether energy into your soul, passively inducing corruption whenever you exert it. I believe that, with the power of the heart, I will be able to augment it such that, rather than simply drenching your soul in nether energy, the tattoos will integrate the energy into your soul, strengthening it."
The prodigy waits with bated breath for Seizan's response, and with a sigh, she replies. "Very well. Do it."
Chapter 23 - Sunflower
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Day 1 Action Summary (November 17th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 3 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 89 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 9 (Negative)
Attend to Shen
*Cheer Up Uncle Shen? 1d100 + 35 = 68 (Mild Success)
*Uncle Shen Recovery Check: 1d100 + 30 + 20 + 10 + 10 = 153 (Extreme Success)!
Group Activity: Investigate the Cubes (x2)
*Brainstorming Check: 1d100 + 60 + 50 + 20 = 181 (Considerable Success)
*Brainstorming Check: 1d100 + 60 + 50 + 20 = 221 (Extreme Success)!
*Implementation Check: 1d100 + 22 + 18 = 53 (Mild Success)
Final Result: A trading operation has been set up, utilizing the computational power of the osteotronic computers. Altogether, they now earn $35k per month per cube or $70k in total per month - almost a million dollars annually isn't bad. As adjustments are made over time (automatically, no actions on your part are necessary), this value will increase in the future, increasing by 15k per stage of success. It's reasonable to expect maximum logical income ($130k for both cubes monthly) within two years, perhaps less. This can drop and rise as the market fluctuates, but will rarely fall down to levels that can be considered as 'failing to make money.'
*The legality of this venture is doubtful, as no one has bothered to research it too much. Although certainly Good, the Manhattan Wardens are (ironically, and perhaps arrogantly,) not necessarily Lawful.
*Before you cite an obscure book about financial ethics at me, keep in mind this is a world that, while bearing a superficial similarity to Earth, diverges historically quite a while ago, so I reserve the right to not give a shit.
Social: Persephone
*Conversation: 1d100 = Natural 100 (Super-Extreme Success)!
*Relationship Advanced: Acquainted -> Friendship
Social: Spike
*Conversation: 1d100 = 94 (Extreme Success)!
*Relationship Advanced: Bonds of Loyalty -> Close-Knit Bonds of Broyalty
Master Invocation: A Flower Is A Fist
Current Mastery Level: 1
Every Mastery Level implies a further level of control over a given Invocation. The upper hard limit for the Mastery Level of a given Invocation is its [Arm Rank] x 3, so, in your case, it's Mastery Level: 6. Each Level of Mastery Progress requires a number of points equal to its [Current Level] x 3, in order to progress up.
*Mastery Progress: 1d6 = 4
*New Mastery Level 2
Resources: Purchase Stuff
*Bought an ordinary storage safe, portable, for dirt-cheap given how loaded you currently are.
*Ordered a bunch of laboratory equipment from the Internet as a part of a larger package, including test tubes. I'm not sure why you need this.
---
Day 2 Action Summary (November 18th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 5 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 19 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 52 (Negative)
*Shit luck when it comes to this option confirmed.
Resources: Culinary Experimentation
Experimentation Results:
*A pack of Noodle Man's instant healing ramen prepared by Uncle Shen is now a confirmed cure for Stage IV metastatic cancer.
*Also for completely amputated limbs that had been lost for at least a decade.
*It feels almost sinful to eat it as a part of a feast.
*Other foods have plenty of interesting effects, but most of them aren't particularly notable. It seems like watermelons and beetroot can improve healing as well.
*Shen is now considering opening a kitchen for the homeless and destitute, given how much good his powers could do. Everyone approves of his consideration.
Contact Hephaestus
*She doesn't know how to write AI.
*She gleefully accepts a donation of $10k and promises to make you the bestest-estest armor you've ever donned.
Social: Johnny Buddha (x2)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 9 (Failure)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 41 (Failure)
*"I don't quite hate you, Zane, but you gotta admit, you've got a pretty punchable face. No offense."
Social: Constantine (x2) "he has a name, you know"
*Conversation: 1d100 = 81 (Considerable Success)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 80 (Considerable Success)
*Relationship Advanced: Friendly Acquaintances -> Respectful Allies
Group Activity: Surtur Tests
*Almost no one is compatible. Most of the other results tend to produce some variation of pyromancy, pyromantic fields, fire-lava constructs, pyrovoyance, and in one case, the ability to transform into a sentient pool of lava that can flow like an animate river.
Social: Brick
*Conversation: 1d100 = 14 (Failure)
---
Day 3 Action Summary (November 19th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 6 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 14 (Failure)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 40 (Failure)
No more attending to Shen is necessary. Instead, you spend a morning hanging out with your Uncle and learning how to chop vegetables properly under his watchful guidance. Your relationship has improved slightly.
Social: Persephone
*Conversation: 1d100 = 89 (Extreme Success)!
*Relationship Advanced: Friendship -> Special Rapport
Social: Spike
*Conversation: 1d100 = 80 (Considerable Success)
*Relationship Advanced: Close-Knit Bonds of Broyalty -> Iron Bonds of Unshakable Brotherhood
Social: Brick (x2)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 73 (Considerable Success)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 80 (Considerable Success)
*Relationship Advanced: Bonds of Loyalty -> Close-Knit Bonds of Broyalty
And then a feast.
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 3 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 89 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 9 (Negative)
Attend to Shen
*Cheer Up Uncle Shen? 1d100 + 35 = 68 (Mild Success)
*Uncle Shen Recovery Check: 1d100 + 30 + 20 + 10 + 10 = 153 (Extreme Success)!
Group Activity: Investigate the Cubes (x2)
*Brainstorming Check: 1d100 + 60 + 50 + 20 = 181 (Considerable Success)
*Brainstorming Check: 1d100 + 60 + 50 + 20 = 221 (Extreme Success)!
*Implementation Check: 1d100 + 22 + 18 = 53 (Mild Success)
Final Result: A trading operation has been set up, utilizing the computational power of the osteotronic computers. Altogether, they now earn $35k per month per cube or $70k in total per month - almost a million dollars annually isn't bad. As adjustments are made over time (automatically, no actions on your part are necessary), this value will increase in the future, increasing by 15k per stage of success. It's reasonable to expect maximum logical income ($130k for both cubes monthly) within two years, perhaps less. This can drop and rise as the market fluctuates, but will rarely fall down to levels that can be considered as 'failing to make money.'
*The legality of this venture is doubtful, as no one has bothered to research it too much. Although certainly Good, the Manhattan Wardens are (ironically, and perhaps arrogantly,) not necessarily Lawful.
*Before you cite an obscure book about financial ethics at me, keep in mind this is a world that, while bearing a superficial similarity to Earth, diverges historically quite a while ago, so I reserve the right to not give a shit.
Social: Persephone
*Conversation: 1d100 = Natural 100 (Super-Extreme Success)!
*Relationship Advanced: Acquainted -> Friendship
Social: Spike
*Conversation: 1d100 = 94 (Extreme Success)!
*Relationship Advanced: Bonds of Loyalty -> Close-Knit Bonds of Broyalty
Master Invocation: A Flower Is A Fist
Current Mastery Level: 1
Every Mastery Level implies a further level of control over a given Invocation. The upper hard limit for the Mastery Level of a given Invocation is its [Arm Rank] x 3, so, in your case, it's Mastery Level: 6. Each Level of Mastery Progress requires a number of points equal to its [Current Level] x 3, in order to progress up.
*Mastery Progress: 1d6 = 4
*New Mastery Level 2
Resources: Purchase Stuff
*Bought an ordinary storage safe, portable, for dirt-cheap given how loaded you currently are.
*Ordered a bunch of laboratory equipment from the Internet as a part of a larger package, including test tubes. I'm not sure why you need this.
---
Day 2 Action Summary (November 18th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 5 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 19 (Negative)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 52 (Negative)
*Shit luck when it comes to this option confirmed.
Resources: Culinary Experimentation
Experimentation Results:
*A pack of Noodle Man's instant healing ramen prepared by Uncle Shen is now a confirmed cure for Stage IV metastatic cancer.
*Also for completely amputated limbs that had been lost for at least a decade.
*It feels almost sinful to eat it as a part of a feast.
*Other foods have plenty of interesting effects, but most of them aren't particularly notable. It seems like watermelons and beetroot can improve healing as well.
*Shen is now considering opening a kitchen for the homeless and destitute, given how much good his powers could do. Everyone approves of his consideration.
Contact Hephaestus
*She doesn't know how to write AI.
*She gleefully accepts a donation of $10k and promises to make you the bestest-estest armor you've ever donned.
Social: Johnny Buddha (x2)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 9 (Failure)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 41 (Failure)
*"I don't quite hate you, Zane, but you gotta admit, you've got a pretty punchable face. No offense."
Social: Constantine (x2) "he has a name, you know"
*Conversation: 1d100 = 81 (Considerable Success)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 80 (Considerable Success)
*Relationship Advanced: Friendly Acquaintances -> Respectful Allies
Group Activity: Surtur Tests
*Almost no one is compatible. Most of the other results tend to produce some variation of pyromancy, pyromantic fields, fire-lava constructs, pyrovoyance, and in one case, the ability to transform into a sentient pool of lava that can flow like an animate river.
Social: Brick
*Conversation: 1d100 = 14 (Failure)
---
Day 3 Action Summary (November 19th)
Special Action: Aspiring Knight Meditation
*Arm Progression (to Royal Rank): 1d4 = 6 out of 30
*New Invocation? 1d100 = 14 (Failure)
*Improve Invocation? 1d100 = 40 (Failure)
No more attending to Shen is necessary. Instead, you spend a morning hanging out with your Uncle and learning how to chop vegetables properly under his watchful guidance. Your relationship has improved slightly.
Social: Persephone
*Conversation: 1d100 = 89 (Extreme Success)!
*Relationship Advanced: Friendship -> Special Rapport
Social: Spike
*Conversation: 1d100 = 80 (Considerable Success)
*Relationship Advanced: Close-Knit Bonds of Broyalty -> Iron Bonds of Unshakable Brotherhood
Social: Brick (x2)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 73 (Considerable Success)
*Conversation: 1d100 = 80 (Considerable Success)
*Relationship Advanced: Bonds of Loyalty -> Close-Knit Bonds of Broyalty
And then a feast.
Downloadable phone applications were squarely in the top ten of Zane's favorite human inventions. It was exactly thanks to one such application that he could observe as the damn cubes made short work of the local stock market and economy, raking in around forty-five bucks an hour for pretty much free. A similar phone application would let him transfer the money they'd made in this manner onto a joint bank account, one shared between himself, Brick, and Spike, which they'd agreed to utilize only for serious expenses and otherwise, not at all, without the permission of the others.
It was honestly something of a paradigm shift, powerful enough to induce loopy mental vertigo that made thinking of the past difficult, as if every one of his former self's actions were suddenly no more than a transparent, blurry stain on the cards of history - a few weeks ago, he'd have probably been glad to live with a budget of a hundred bucks per week, but in a few months, that'd seem like child's play. At its current rate, they'd easily make a thousand dollars every day, maybe even squeeze out a little extra. And that wasn't counting their other stuff.
"I don't think you ever told me about your dad," Zane remarked, lounging back as he put his phone down. There wasn't much to do in their small cellar studio apartment, other than wait. At least there was free and decently fast wi-fi - a blessing, ironically, in the basement of a church. "And he's come up a few times in recent conversation."
"You too," Spike remarked. Zane glanced at him, and Spike was impassive, lying on his bed, hands resting on his stomach; eyes closed. "Your father, I mean."
"My dad was..." Zane's mouth twisted itself involuntarily into a kind of twisted line. He sighed. "I don't know what to tell you. Nothing much about him. After mom died, he pretty much left me behind for Uncle Shen to take care of."
Spike dodged the question from earlier, changing the topic. Zane noticed but chose not to care. "How long have we known each other for?"
Zane shrugged, not putting in the effort. He was a bit tired from the constant training - a rarity for himself, but the Knight Arm hath no mercy. "A few years."
"And we've never really talked, huh? Not about this kind of private stuff, at least," Spike remarked thoughtfully. "It was always right down to business, and somehow, fighting the same people meant we'd never had to say anything more to each other than that."
"Yeah. I suppose now that we're fighting for the greater good - and against our former boss, no less - our motivations come into question. So, now, suddenly, there is a whole damn lot of conversation to exchange," Zane remarked. It was kind of incredible, though, it really was - he'd known Spike for years now, and even before this, would have likely pointed to him if asked about his closest friend, but recently they both seemed to have a kind of mutual, silent epiphany that they'd never really been close friends, before. Partners in crime? Sure. Fellow warriors, fighting the same fight, working together to survive? Of course. And there was respect because of that, a thin boundary of understanding and a good amount of mutual support, when needed, whether psychological or physical.
However, even so, they hadn't been friends. Until recently.
"Speaking of motivations, what's yours?" Spike pointed out, shifting in his bed a little and turning to look at him. "You already know what drives me - I want to do something more, but what about you, Zane?"
"You'll laugh," Zane said, chuckling himself already, shaking his head. He felt kind of like a dumbass because he already knew Spike would say that he won't laugh, and Zane would tell him, and it'd make him feel even more idiotic.
"Maybe," Spike admitted instead. "But it doesn't hurt to find out."
"Right. Basically, after this is over, I want to never have to put up with people's shit again. If someone tells me to do their dirty work, I will put their fingers into a vice and then squeeze until they pop." He paused, feeling hesitant. Zane sighed deeply, tore out that hesitation, and fed it to a crocodile. "Also, I want to open a flower shop."
Spike looked as if he wasn't sure how to respond to that information. "Huh. What do you know."
"When's Brick getting back with the damn food?" Zane checked his phone. It had already been nearly thirty minutes since the dumpy asshole went outside to get some fast food for all three of them. Constantine was out doing Cardbearer stuff and couldn't be arsed to cook for them, and Shen was out convincing the police that he was fine and didn't know anything, and calling up his insurance provider for money. And though Zane had built up a good rapport with Persephone over their meetings and feasting these last few days, it'd be multiple, separate breeds of awkward to ask her to please come over to this shitty church and cook for them, and bring her own ingredients because they didn't have any because they ate it all when Shen was cooking for the feastperimentation.
And he didn't want to do that to her. He was starting to like her - not as in like-like, but simply tolerating her presence enough to not feel low-key ambient irritation from the fact that she was in the same room as him and breathing his precious oxygen. He'd found, to his rather pleasant surprise, that he had a lot in common with the girl. Both of them liked gardening of all sorts but enjoyed physical combat and exercise as well, and most importantly - they both had a wise older mentor figure. It was Uncle Shen for Zane, and Helene's grandmother, Muriel - also known as Baba Yaga - for her.
She even let him check out her Godcard, bonding with it briefly. His compatibility clocked in at an even number of sixty percent. Zane had an inkling of a suspicion that if he'd never acquired a Knight Arm it might've been higher than that. His power wasn't terribly fascinating though, simply letting him necrotize any living tissue he touched at a slow rate. It was enough to wilt a potted fern in a second and a half - a very disturbing process to observe, by the way - but they hadn't dared test it on humans or animals.
"Starving already, fat-ass?" Spike laughed, bouncing him out of his mental sidetrack.
"Funny. I don't see you getting thinner," Zane replied, applying his most wintry, caustic voice.
"Yeouwch. It's like that?"
"Joking, fucko." Zane stood from his chair and stretched a little, letting out multiple groans as his bones clicked in all the right ways. "I think you're right though. I'm itching to test out my new and improved Invocation on any asshole who tries to get near."
"Which reminds me that, aside from vague and brusque generalities, you never explained how you gained that shit," Spike reminded him with a frown, sitting up on the edge of his bed and glaring at Zane. "I mean, what even is 'drinking from a lotus' supposed to mean?"
"Listen, I don't know." As if to demonstrate, Zane haphazardly manifested one of the iron-wrought knuckles into his fist. It shined with a kind of rusty greatness; even dark and rugged, it had an indescribable air of genial nobility. If the weapon had a human form, it'd be a shaggy hobo in a goth outfit who just wants to give you a hug. "All I know is, I had this vision, and I spoke to some guy and then a woman. And the woman was a lotus, and I drank her water, whatever that means - it sounds creepy, in retrospect. The vision was pretty awesome, too - I was in a mystical kung fu land and everything was delightful and colorful as shit. Anyway, the end result is that I can do this, now."
He shifted the Knight Arm from its Tekko Form to Flower Form. As if becoming malleable putty, in a fraction of a second, the horseshoe knuckle became a simple lotus flower, with long-reaching petals in a display of soft yet saturated colors, an off-white hue lying at the center, with a sublime ephemeral glow of pure gold.
Its petals then further mutated, dividing and dividing into finer and smaller red petals, like those of a rose, or maybe something even smaller. At the end of the process, each one was minute, and the flower's stem had become firmer, almost wooden in his grasp, and much straighter with a fine calyx and a round, tough stamen in the tip. All of the petals then split off, flowing into the air around him like a sentient swarm of bats. Some of his training from before yesterday had allowed him to reach a much finer understanding of the Invocation in question, improving most of its parameters in useful ways.
He deactivated the Invocation, before properly using it up. All of the petals snapped back into the Flower, which snapped back into a lotus.
"See?" Zane said. "Magic shit. It's whack."
"Alright, I believe you," Spike said, waving a hand. "Although we should probably go look for Brick. Damn fool's lost again."
---
At the moment you have 13.7 Ambrosia. A substantial increase from last time.
Among the Wardens, Zane found a particular trust in both Helene (Persephone) and Father Nicholas (Constantine). How does he treat each of them, respectively?
Persephone
[ ] We're Co-Workers, Pure and Simple - An efficient and mature perspective; simply because you share a lot of interests and have similar goals doesn't mean you have to get overly attached. Besides, there are dangers to such things - especially in the kind of game you're playing. Zane and Persephone are co-workers.
[ ] There's Nothing Between Us, Except The Bond Between Friends - Maybe there's something more to it? It's hard to speak with someone who's more-than-conversational in a topic you love, but capable of providing their own insights, and not feel at least a mote of admiration for them. Zane and Helene are friends.
[ ] Zane Might Have A Crush - Don't you have better shit to do than falling in love with the Queen of the Underworld? Well, I suppose it's a case of the heart picking for the brain, but that doesn't really excuse your shoddy behavior! Zane is smitten with her.
Constantine
[ ] He Tells Me Cool Bible Proverbs, I Tell Him About Gardening - Blunt and to the point. Also professional. What more do you need? It'd be disrespectful to waste his time with anything more when he's probably one of the most powerful Cardbearers in New York.
[ ] He's Like A Father To Me - Or, maybe, you can develop a closer bond. Although isn't Uncle Shen already your father, sort of?
There is another matter, now. According to Yukari, it'll be good for the Wardens to start performing counter-operations on McNessa territory within a couple of days. However, if you choose to do so, you'll also be exposing yourself to the Demons and other unsavory elements. It can't be hidden that you have a lot of enemies who'd like you dead or worse, so maybe it'd be smarter to hide for now and gather strength before fighting in some kind of a sorcerous guerilla shadow war in the middle of Queens?
[ ] Fighting Results In Success - Participate in the conflict. Instead of doing anything else, Zane will spend the next few days on hardcore preparations alongside his friends, using a diet supplemented with Shen-made food in order to make sure their condition is at its peak when the fighting happens. It'll, at the very least, minimize the risks that something goes wrong in Yukari's plan - however, you won't really be doing much to boost the victory otherwise.
[ ] But Patience Grants Victory - Instead of that, sit out the war. Grants you at least a single, full week of time off. And the Wardens can surely handle themselves without you. They've got a few powerhouses of their own, no?
In other news (literally):
Recent Newspaper Articles
*Famous Restaurant Burns Down? - A terrorist attack of surprising proportion took place, which seemingly targeted the local Chinese food restaurant known as Shen's Famous Foods. Its owner has refused to comment.
*CEO David Corrigan To Step Down - Chief Executive Officer of Arioch Enterprises, the famous steel manufacturer and transport company is allegedly stepping down from his post temporarily, in order to, "pursue family matters."
*Daring "BMX Bandits" Rob Bank! - A group of men in masks and biking costumes robbed a bank in Manhattan recently. As one of their demands, they wanted the police to chase them using nothing but the BMX bikes the robbers had provided for them. And for some reason, the police officers accepted and then actually went through with their idiotic decision. Most people are debating between outright magic, corruption, or retardation, citing various arguments for all sides.
*Long Winter - Is this winter going to last for three consecutive years? The answer may surprise you!
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[X] But Patience Grants Victory
[X] He Tells Me Cool Bible Proverbs, I Tell Him About Gardening
[X] There's Nothing Between Us, Except The Bond Between Friends
[X] He Tells Me Cool Bible Proverbs, I Tell Him About Gardening
[X] There's Nothing Between Us, Except The Bond Between Friends
Lealope
Not yet invincible
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] But Patience Grants Victory
The most important option in my eyes. A full week of Aspiring Knight Meditation 3ight now would pay massive dividends in the future. Also, seeing just how powerful an Invocation becomes with even one additional level of Mastery makes it clear we should be buying as many as possible and picking all the low hanging fruit we can in this area.
The most important option in my eyes. A full week of Aspiring Knight Meditation 3ight now would pay massive dividends in the future. Also, seeing just how powerful an Invocation becomes with even one additional level of Mastery makes it clear we should be buying as many as possible and picking all the low hanging fruit we can in this area.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
@Birdsie The Point of the Test tubes I had in mind was to let members of the Wardens carry around just a flake of their godcard for emergencies while storing their actual godcard in the safe. The problem is keeping track of a tiny flake of paper. Hence the test-tubes or other tiny containers. If the flake is taken they can ensure ownership of the card is contested with the contents of the safe. A test tube is less fragile then a playing card, and if somehow the safe is raided, people can contest ownership of the godcards with the flake in their possession, assuming the adversary doesn't destroy the cards.
Not sure of my current tactical/social opinions at the moment.