75 Chapter Seventy-Five – Converting an NPC (1/2)
”That sounds like Druids at work,” Sama agreed. ”By position, I assume they are between the Fey and the Empire?”
”Aye, and the Fey were known to pitch into the fight in the past. Their Erlking in particular has a nasty reputation.” He caught her smirk. ”Something funny?” he asked alertly.
”Noir Rabe?” she asked, chuckling to herself.
”That's him. Never met him, but a couple of the elders have. He's got no problems with Ancients, but he's wiped out whole towns and villages of imperials, peasants and all.”
”I beat him up!” Sama laughed, and Briggs blinked in amazement.
”No way! An Erlking?” he challenged her, rather awed.
”Eff him. His Stats suck, he's a freaking Fey so his BAB is half his Level, and he totally leans on Favored Enemy bonuses to stack up against humans. Intimidate him, split his stupid wooden sword, keep him out of the sky and unable to Summon, Blooding to stop any healing, and he's a total wuss, worse then a Ten Melee with no Gear,” she sniffed, making a poo-poo gesture.
Briggs could only smile. ”There are so many sighs of regret in the Empire that you didn't off the bastard.”
”He will serve his purpose. Do you really think he's going to take human Warp marauders tromping all over the forest out here? This is like a dream come true for him. Slaughter all day, and more to kill on the morrow!”
”Easy to corrupt?...” Briggs trailed off significantly, and she frowned, looking away.
”Yeah, but nothing we can do about that. He didn't come across as totally bloodthirsty to me, but I'm a Hagchild, so I was definitely not just a human to him. Also, I think he rather admired how much I want to kill my Hagmom, who seems to have a rep even worse then his, if I read his reaction right.”
”Name?” Briggs asked, eyebrows quivering like caterpillars.
”Tusk Annie.”
Briggs blinked. ”No shit?”
”Had it confirmed by my own Hagspawn half-brother. No denying it,” she confirmed firmly.
”Hah.” Briggs regarded her calmly, shaking his thick head. ”Damn, I didn't think she was real. I thought it was like saying 'Baba Yaga' back on Earth, just a general filler of a name.” He took a deep breath. ”Basically every annis story I've heard ends up being attributed to her, if you don't know the name of the Hag responsible. She's a Big Thing, Sama.”
”Mmm. Well, I killed her over fifty times in Nightmare. Olympian Legendary Template.”
He blinked. ”Damn.” He regarded her again. ”And you soloed her fifty times?”
”She never beat me, even once. I made very sure of it.”
Briggs looked at the forest around them, at the silently praying young Paladin, and then back at her.
”Those poor Warp guys.”
She gave him that beaming smile again, with those nasty cute canines. ”I know, right? Totally different advancement system here. They are in for such a world of hurt, and they don't even know it.”
”How are you for Mass Combat?” He almost dreaded the answer, even as he was expectant.
”Supreme Cleave, Sidestep; Opportunity and Reflexes Masteries at Five.”
Briggs looked up, did the math in his head, looked back down at her. ”Base move at 110?” She smiled even wider.
Justified. If he was doing the math right, she could kill a thousand men in under a minute! This whole warband thing was nothing but a farce to a Deep Ten…
”Can you max out your Reflexes?” Getting that many Attacks of Opportunity was nigh impossible…
”Hold the Line, Steadfast.”
Hold the Line, get an AoO if a foe entered your reach and you were set against a charge. Steadfast, always considered set against a charge if you were wielding a thrusting weapon.
”Of course, that's ignoring Karmic Strike.”
A muscle in his cheek twitched. They swung at her, she swung at them. No Dex or dodge to avoid… or Wis or Int either, as it were. But what was her DR? 18/-? Could they really even hurt her? With Expertise she could juice it to 28/-. Only their strongest champions had a chance of doing injury to her. The rest… would just die.
She was doing 80 or 90 points on average a swing, even if her full Sage of Swords wasn't in effect. Mostly likely, anything under Seven was just going to get ripped apart in passing.