(Vol 2) Chapter 31: How Very Generous

Sammy went ahead and cast Identify on the short staff, using MP this time around, but intent on saving the rest.

Wand of Wasting (Cursed)

(Arcane — Necromancy; Enchantment, Charged) Effective Caster Level: 4. Upon contact of the sphere head with any living thing/creature and the mental command of the owner/wielder, a wound of Lethality Grade 4 is dealt upon the subject, doubled if completely unaware and striking any vitals (heart, head, etcetera).

This ignores any armor, even Magical, but can be blocked or parried as normal. In combat, the wand counts as a simple club or staff to use, and has a +1 Effective Levels circumstantial accuracy bonus if taking advantage of the necessity of only needing to tap a foe with it. Otherwise, the blunt force is a normal attack in addition.

This item has [7/15] charges, expended only upon application of harm. It may be recharged 1 for 1 by a level 4 or greater Necromantic Harm Touch type spell.

This item is [Cursed]. It cannot be simply left unattended or will return to the last wielder’s possession in 1 minute, but can be given to another, in which case they become [Cursed] instead.  It causes the subject to appear to physically age at twice the rate while in possession. This is permanent but purely cosmetic and does not affect health.

Wha-?! Did that bastard Janius know this was cursed?!

She shook her head, unsure if he did or not. In any case, it couldn’t do anything to her, being immortal and ageless. Her initial appearance was eternally cemented in stone.

Checking her spells, she didn’t see a Remove Curse type effect. Almost certainly she’d get it at some higher level. She assumed that even with the curse, it was worth… something. She could arrange to sell it or just dump it in a vault.

Ha, I guess Merril might actually find the aging thing a benefit! In any case, I don’t particularly like it, and it’s not exactly overpowered. I’d rather pick something else if something decent exists. It just figures I end up with this shit from Janius.

Sammy stowed the stupid thing on her belt, then spent a little time meditating to recharge her PFE after all the expenditures of earlier. 8 FE became 40 more PFE ready to go.

She sighed for what she needed to do next. Interrogate the prisoner she had. A dead man she was stuck with. One she had to consider actually just releasing when she was through. She didn’t exactly feel like handing him paradise, but not hell either.

How do you really find out if someone can and wants to change? Are there just bad seeds? Right now, he’ll say anything out of fear, so it won’t be conclusive any time soon. Maybe never.

Going back inside, she considered doing her floor-by-the-bed number and fully dematerializing… but she hesitated when she looked at the comfy bed. Removing her boots, cloak, and the light armor she wore, she climbed into bed to lie down. It felt especially nice to do so in the real world.

She closed her eyes and sent her mind to the Maze realm. She made herself appear as a dark, foreboding shadow with glowing eyes and a general baleful aura, as she approached the iron bars of the cell room. She’d included a bunk bed, and so the Brother was lying in it right then, unaware.

Recalling his name from the identification of his lazy eye and his pot helm with flaps and a spike on top (which he’d take off right then), Samantha prepared a masculine villainous voice channeling her many hours spent watching animated children’s movies. “Taserius! Get up, you wretch.”

The man veritably flew up out of the bed on his feet, but when he saw the shadow he screamed and backed up to the other side of the bars. “No! Please! Please not the dogs again!”

“I have worse things in mind if you do not… cooperate.” The shadowy figure flashed a suggestive sway of a hand with nasty, glittering long talons.

Taserius eyed the claws in terror and then fell to his knees, hands in a begging position. “Anything! I’ll do anything! Just tell me!”

“I’m sure you would. And that’s the problem with you, isn’t it? But right now, you simply need to answer me. Speak the truth only… lie and suffer the consequences. Do you understand me?”

“Yes! Yes, I’ll tell you whatever you want, no lies at all! Never!”

“Why did you kidnap those two farmers? Full detail. Every motive.”

The man swallowed and his hands dropped. He was sweating and panting. “Only for coin, my lord. That’s all! We didn’t even… Well, most of the boys didn’t want ‘em dead. Baga wanted the chubby one gutted. Because the dumbfuck got a little mouthy. He almost took a knife to him, but the rest of us stopped him. Baga gave over, just said he better not say another word if wanted to live.”

“Why did you stop him? The truth.”

Taserius stared, then looked down at the floor. “Easier not to add crimes, vendettas, if it’s all the same. It’s just about coin, you see? We robbed ‘em and were gonna get a hot ransom, even gave our word about safe return…”

“And you would have?”

“When we’d get word of the money given, we’d cut ‘em loose and get going to the meeting point.”

“Just cut them loose? They might fall prey to wolves on the way back.”

“Ain’t that far, my lord. That would be unlucky. Those woods ain’t that dangerous and the road ain’t that far, neither.”

“And what about why you were even here? There’s more to the motive, isn’t there?”

Eyeing the shadow, swallowing again, Taserius nodded stiffly. “Baga made a deal with Mr. Smile.”

Uh… what?

“Mr… Smile.”

“Yes, my lord. Some alias. He wears a full mask with a hideous ceramic smiling demon face like from your worst nightmare and speaks with a garbled voice. That’s who sent us. Paid some upfront, per head. And that’s it. The ransom was the rest of the reward.”

“No proof needed, even?”

“No… nobody crosses Mr. Smile. At best he’ll never offer jobs again. At worst he has you killed. I bet he had some other way of verifying, though.”

Probably not hard to see the results just from the pain to the business, but far more likely to be a spy. No surprise there.

“What do you know of the man called Devero?”

Taserius shrugged. “Some fancy thief, I hear. Rumor goes he’s too good to be new. Some say he’s actually Phinaclon. Ole Skippin’ Phin. Some say he died, though. Who knows. But Devero is a skilled rogue. Heard he broke into the Keskiri Vault, but if that were true, he wouldn’t still be working. Just a rumor, though…”

An alias? I should probably ask Janius if he thinks the man has other aliases. There is surely nothing Janius likes more than suspicion and talking shit about Devero.

“And what about Phinaclon? This man is a legend?”

For a moment, the prisoner gazed at his shadowy warden like he was wondering just who he was dealing with. But he licked his lips and shrugged at the question. “Everybody knows about Skippin’ Phin. Stole the Heart of Negation, got chased to the edge of the ocean, then chased back, where he planted it again right back where he found it. Robbed the estate of Glibbon — the Lord of Sapphires. Robbed the Isle of Gold and took the fairest concubine with him, too. Broke into the Keskiri Vault and retired on a fat pile of riches.”

“Wait, Phinaclon broke into the Keskiri, then Devero did too? Twice?”

“Huh? Oh, I dunno, my lord. You know how stories are. Probably just a rumor about Devero. It is a bit far-fetched.”

If a shadow being could give a deadpan gaze, it did right then. The crap about Skippin’ Phin isn’t far-fetched, dude?!

Samantha was frowning inwardly. Was Devero really that good? Why was he hanging out in some podunk village, then? Regardless, all of the information was completely suspect.

The shadowy figure gestured out with a flat hand. “You’ve been cooperative. I’ll leave you here for now. Do you know how to play cards? With suits? Solo?”

He was slightly confused but nodded. “Uh… sure. M-my lord.”

The figure gestured, and a table and chair spawned up out of the floor, with a deck of cards on the top. And then a tarot deck too. She figured: why not? She also created a sink with a running water effect and added a wooden cup. He didn’t need water, but he might think he did.

“There, scum. Benefits for your cooperation. Generous, hmm?”

“Y-yes, my lord! Very generous.” Slowly, hesitantly, Taserius rose and walked over to the chair to sit in it. Tentatively took the cards to look at them. He tried a tight smile to direct over at the shadowy figure, like ‘Nice shadow, I’m a good boy, see, shadow, please don’t hurt me?’

Well. He doesn’t actually want to do it right now. But he will when he gets bored enough.

“I will return eventually.”

Back in her body, she stretched a bit on the bed. Black cat Dart was lying stretched out on her stomach, in typical cat behavior. Azure was still bathing it seemed, which wasn’t surprising. Sammy would take her time too. By the sense of her through the bond, she was very happy with the soak.

Samantha put her hands behind her head and pondered her next moves. Lots of little things. The loot. Prying about Devero and the Phinaclon character. Her potential new enemy, Mr. Smile. Consulting with Orswyth about her moves — particularly in regard to Geirkos and Brackenhome.

She also considered how she’d deal with the ‘contest’ reveal. She really wanted to make a thing out of it. It wasn’t exactly interesting if just dumped on them mentally. And it recalled to mind how she wanted to have the gathering of everyone via the dreams. Perhaps the reveal could be then.

But did she really need dreams to summon her closest Followers to her presence?

She caaaarefully tried to move cat-Dart off of her without waking him… failed to a degree — Because Cat — but the feline merely opened its eyes slightly, then re-stretched out on the bed, eventually forming a cute pose with one paw on his face.

Aww.

That concluded, she dropped back onto the floor to do her disappearing act and return to her throne realm fully.

Once there, she queried, “Sys, what do I need for Followers to be brought into one of my realms for a visit?”

Fully interactable perceptual visitation to your demiplane by a Follower requires a total Familiarity/Relationship grade of 6 or more, referring primarily to the bond developed via mental connection, but also through other metrics.

This typically requires Devout or Priestly Investiture as high personal relationship grades (usually) develop slower with each gain.

This is not true psyche transmission but effectively multi-user, real-time shared hallucinatory ‘visions’ easily disrupted by any serious disturbance in-body or terminated by the user.

“Hmm. Can you show me the relationship grades of my first 10 Followers, then?”

Yes.

Dame Estara Nightsong — 6

Lord Bast (Sebastion Falshaen) — 6

Dame Dax (Daxerris Stoneboro) — 4

Lord Orswyth Maglion — 6

Madame Azure — 7

Sir Merril Stoneboro/Asthyre — 4

Sir Galynth — 3

Canmore — 2

Lord Carlisle — 3

Tashome — 6

“Well, shit. Wait. The relics! The relics totally trump this, right? I can bring anyone through them?!”

Yes. Any target(s) wielding the relic and receptive may be brought. Note that standing targets may fall and lose contact. Sitting subjects will remain in contact and unmoving as a trance-like effect.

“Okay-okay-okay — multiple people can wield it, right?”

Yes, to the limitations of the chosen object.

“Awesome!” She squealed with excitement. She could grant audiences! And have meetings! Promote Synergy!

Wait, now what the hell am I supposed to do as a first meeting? Who wants some lame, formal thing? Lame meetings are for later. Advanced organizational ennui.

She gasped as she began to construct thoughts. Many thoughts. “System,” she whispered like a secret, “can I make a modern city block? A bakery? And then bring people there?!”

Yes, User Sammy. If you would like to create the illusion of people as a mass, without the substance of autonomy or direct interactivity, this is possible for 1 FE as a separate, populating construct.

“Make it so! I want a city block, downtown style, and bustling, with a bakery — called Sweethearts, with a big red heart as a symbol. Fill it with modern folk.”

This has been created as a separate mindscape realm. 2 FE have been deducted for the realm, 1 FE for the population construct. Cosmetic changes (i.e. alterations within the original scope of the design) are freely permitted at will.

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« (Vol 2) Chapter 30 | Table of Contents | (Vol 2) Chapter 32: A Long-Awaited Gathering »

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Note: Prepare for meeting time good feels! This has been a little while in foreshadowing in some form or another. ^_^