99 Chapter Ninety-Nine – Filling a Void (1/2)
”The fastest way to change this situation is through slaughter, and gearing up.” Briggs waved his hand at the now-silent battlefield. All the elves and rangers in good health had already left, fanning out to find more of the enemy with their animal companions… or waiting around patiently to be Tatted, after hearing what it could do, and seeing the performance of the two scouts who'd been benefiting from Sama's Marshal Aura way over there, fighting far above their weight level.
”You are both stealth killers, maybe decent duelists, I don't know. But now you need to be monster killers and battlefield butchers. You need Karma, great heaping gobs of Karma… and you need to Feed the unnatural creatures you kill to the Land, so you get all Karma, and not a tithe of it, while poking the entities behind it all in the eye at the same time.”
Despite their quiet, bone-deep arrogance, he could tell he was interesting them. ”Go on,” said Brother Windarrow.
”Sama wants to set you up on new Gear made for you, for Voids, that you can pour Karma into, give you avenues of growth that are faster and truer then your own. In short, she wants you to have all the toys, kitted out like some emperor's favorite stealther, only it's all for Voids.”
Both Brothers blinked. ”Can you give us an example?” Windarrow asked.
-Sama, can you send over Tremble for a moment?- Briggs /asked. A second later, the Sword was zipping over to hover next to him.
”Hi, how can I help?” she asked cheerfully.
”Need some help and a holo. Brother Windarrow here wields a mithral shadowslaked +3 Ashfire longsword, can you Stat that up?”
A diamond on her guard glowed and a two-dimensional stat line of the longsword, five Slots used, damage d8/d12, what ashfire did, shadowslake did, mithral did, was printed out in very plain, blocky script, quite easy to read, on the hologram. Both Void Brothers blinked at it.
”And now, your Stats, Tremble.”
Tremble slowly turned to him. ”Are you sure?” she asked doubtfully. ”I'll need to clear that with Sama…”
”Please do.” He waited patiently, and a few seconds later, the holo blinked up, shifting lower so outsiders couldn't see it.
The two Brothers gawked as the Zeks-Slotted Sword in front of them reeled off her specifics. The layers of Arsenal and Slaughter effects alone had them gasping.
”Tremble isn't very strong,” Briggs said, and their eyes almost popped. ”She's versatile enough, but she's only at QL 33 because she's inhabiting a poor shell.” He reached out and pinged her blade, listening to the steel. ”Steel can only reach 35, 33 if it's pre-forged improperly, so she's as good as she's going to get for now.
”When Sama gets her hands on some proper adamantine and a few reagents, ahh…” he trailed off, and then lifted Endure.
”Soulbound Arsenal Heavy Greathammer. Straight steel, QL 35, potentially Zeben, but I've only got Zvei open. Triple advance Profound Weapon via Ki for damage. Name, Endure. Arsenal Vivic, Blooding. Bane to Human, Magical Beasts. Slotless, Throwing.” He paused for emphasis. ”Endure is four days old.”
Their breaths hissed out.
”A Named Weapon can advance the equivalent of two goldweight a day if Karma from being used is fed into it. You two have been doing the work for years. Your Weapons should be putting Tremble to shame.”
They looked at the list of Tremble's capabilities, and despite iron control, he saw their fingers twitching.
”Yes, you should both have full adamant Weapons at post-40 QL, full Zehn Slots, and be taking heads coolly and thoroughly. When a Greater Demon shows up, your Weapons should be saying FEED ME, eagerly, not 'Oh, go pop off like proper zits, will you?'” he mimed in a hoitie-toitie British accent in his deep voice.
The two Voids shuffled together, clearly imagining things a little bit differently.
”So, what do you need of us?” Shadowknife asked coolly.
”Sama's in your head, so you know she'd make the base weapon for you if you asked, and as far as Leveling advice, that's free. But… I'm going to personally presume you have tons of funds stashed away, and nothing to spend them on, since Powered can't really make Gear for you. In order to prevent you from owing us a debt… Sama and I need metals. Adamantine, mithral, scarletite, others. In quantity.” He flipped out a folded list, and held it out.
Brother Windarrow took it without hesitation, flipping it open to scan it over silently, then handed it off to Shadowknife.
”You get that stuff for us, and we'll make you the Tats and Gear you should have, Void-Tuned Gear, that you can grow in power and turn you into the total and utter badasses that everyone thinks you are… and that Sama already is.”
Their heads turned together, looking at Sama there, Tatting up willing elves and rangers, setting up a silent kingdom in her head. A kingdom they were already a part of.
”Will she do this for all of the Brotherhood?” Shadowknife whispered, unseen eyes dark with thought.
”If they can make it here, gladly.”
And then Sama's /voice broke in smoothly, impossibly sincere. -What others think of you means nothing to us. We KNOW. The sun rises another day. Brothers, thank you for your service.-