Chapter 27: Is This Guy for Real?

Sir Galynth’s face only beamed more under the effects of her REX buff’s peaceful and blissful feelings. “It is like the tale of the Maiden on the Lost Waters,” he said breathlessly, “who blessed Sir Aun Azhur in his quest against the three Dragonkings. But there is a staff instead of a sword…”

Right. Sure, dude. Exactly like that. Let’s go get Smaug or whatever. Still, she smiled at him for his adventurous spirit. If he wanted to face long odds heroically, he’d surely get his chance. “Your soul for heroics is true, oh knight. May the reflection of yourself that you desire to be shine forth upon the world.”

Orswyth chuckled. “I even have a magic sword of sorts. As it happens.”

Galynth surged to his feet. “Truly?! Where?! Ah, that is… I’d like to lay my eyes upon such a wonder, my lord, if I may.”

“In a moment. But I should tell you it was the execution blade of the King of Murder, Danomeir. It is obviously a powerful enchanted item of great potential, despite the ill ends it was put to.”

The young knight’s heart and body sank. “I see.”

“A sword is neutral to good and evil,” Samantha proclaimed. “It is the cause that it is put to that matters, Sir Galynth. I would bless this sword if you would take it up. Not like the staff, of course, but I will cleanse and sanctify it.”

Complete bullshit she was pretty sure, but it sounded good, and she guessed it would mean something to him.

By the way he lit up, she was right. “That would be most agreeable, G- Your Majesty! I’ll take up what was once the sword of death for the cause of Good and Righteousness! For the Maiden Pure, Samantha!” His eyes were afar off looking upward, seeing visions of glory.

Sammy’s face had a little twitch. Is this guy for real?! I mean, more or less, sure, but simmer down on the paladin angle. Maybe I shouldn’t bullshit him so much? Or am I going to slay evil? Fuck if I know. And pure. Pfft. A pure fucking maiden, fucking goddamn this shit, I swear I’m going to-

“Sir Galynth,” Samantha began in sober tones, “I should caution you that my enemies are not those so easily faced directly and slain. You must know by now that the Dominion seeks to eradicate all spirits and deities. You are a target just to be my Follower. But the path to deal with them would be a long one and not yet even close to feasible.”

He was not deterred, his face stolid and determined. “It shamed me to even be tangentially allied to their ilk, Your Majesty. I despise them and their avarice, their lust for power for power’s sake. I hardly felt a knight at all when I meditated upon what I was here for in the grand scheme. Now, my destiny is clear and my cause is noble. It does not matter how long the road will be, I’m just glad to be walking it, finally. It is my dream, Your Majesty.”

“So be it,” Samantha muttered softly. “I trust you will be obedient to us in the short-term matters, even when distasteful — if necessary — in light of this path to a brighter future.”

He nodded firmly. “I will sully my hands so that yours remain unstained and untouched, Your Majesty.”

Sammy almost still-imaged him so that she could facepalm. But she didn’t. That’s not how anything works, dude! “Not so, young knight. What my followers do, I have done. I will not shed the responsibility for anything done in my name, so consider carefully what you do, and listen absolutely to your superiors.”

Galynth thrust a hand over his chest and bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty! Your heart is just as well as pure!”

Sammy couldn’t help but give a deadpan gaze for a moment at that, but fortunately, he wasn’t looking. She turned her gaze to include Orswyth. “I want you both to pray toward the ends I have instructed, today, in further aid of the cause. Another hour I think, Lord Orswyth, as you’ve spent some extra time in this regard already. Before you set out from this point, please.”

I need the Illusion FE — his Devout extra and Galynth’s new boost — before the daily reset tonight…

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

“I will hide my presence now, but I remain. Do as you will. We’ll deal with the sword later.” Sammy banished her image from the staff crystal, finding she could alter the outer layer of crystal as well as the inner, making it opaque and quite one-way. From the outside, it appeared to just be a crystal.

I wish I could identify that sword… target number one when I level in Wizard.

“Come, my boy,” Orswyth said, patting Galynth’s shoulder good-naturedly and starting back, though he chose to go around the hill rather than over. The young knight was smiling mildly and certainly had an extra spring in his step.

Really not sure yet where his mind is. Well, at least any infatuation on his part won’t be like Bast’s ceaseless flirting. Can’t do that with a ‘holy virgin.’ Then again, I suppose chivalry is just an ancient form of it. Talk about playing the long game, though.

They came around the hill to see around a dozen still waiting and watching, while the remainder were headed down the road, one large force one way, then possibly just scouts racing the other. Orswyth looked shocked for some reason, so Sammy queried him.

“They’re headed back the way I came… Lowbarrow. Only runners are headed back to the Count’s forces. And then these…” He just trailed off.

Hagrin and another soldier approached, bringing along the extra collected horses. As soon as he neared, Hagrin said, “Word is being sent to the remaining forces, my lord, and the bulk of the men are headed to Lowbarrow to see to families and such, and make sure the… raiders… aren’t lingering anywhere in the territory.”

Orswyth was frowning mightily, but he sighed and said, “It’s their right. The lands will have to be brought back into order sooner or later, after all.” After a pause, he glanced at the other man to approach, who had been eying the staff with interest. “And what of these others? Sergeant Canmore?”

The breastplated soldier, a clean-shaven man in his prime with close cut, blonde hair, shook himself from staring at the staff to step forward and salute while bowing his head. “Yes, my lord. All but two of us have been with Captain Hagrin since the mercenary days, and we’d just as soon stay under him. And you, my lord. It’s just as the Cap said — ya paid us for the season and we’d like to see it out. We didn’t settle in these lands like some of the other men. Maybe we’re just too rough and tumble, my lord. If you pardon.”

The former baron snorted mildly at that. “Soldiers of fortune no longer, yet you still cling to the same principles. Loyalty and debt to a client and their pay.” After a moment of studying both of the men, he squinted and continued, “And yet I sense there is more under the surface. Isn’t there?”

He looked expectantly at the blonde man, asking in a way like, ‘I already know, I’m letting you admit it.’

Hagrin and Canmore glanced at each other, then Canmore shrugged and nodded to Orswyth. “Yes, my lord, I admit it. Everything that happened on that hill up there is more than passing strange. Some say it was a miracle. Tashome of Yonpur says the spirits spoke to the world through ya, screaming of a debt paid in cursing ya…”

Well, shit, that’s close…

“And what else did he say?”

“He took his little bag o’ seven dice and rolled it in the middle of all the chaos, to divine. ‘Said it came up one pip each, seven times in a row. Something about fate. Ah… alignment? Alignment of fate, he said. And that’s when some magic spinning rectangle flashed over your head and ya fell out.”

Very interesting… a side-effect of the System Deck jerking around with reality? I hope this guy is one that stuck around.

Canmore scratched at a bit of stubble on his chin and got a conspiratorial look. “Then some say they caught a beam of light shining down from the heavens on ya. Some say the staff came down, too. Another said it grew out of the ground when ya threw down a magic acorn. That really started going around, though it don’t sound right to me.

“Anyway, I didn’t see any of it ‘cause I was takin’ a piss. Heard all kinds of noise, but it was still coming out, ya know? ‘Don’t dam your own river’, they say. Your pardon, my lord.”

“Sadly,” Hagrin added, “I was struck dumb the whole time by the powers at hand, and don’t remember anything specific.”

Holy fuck, this will spread as twenty different rumors!

Quickly, Sammy sent to both of her Followers, “Don’t correct him or deny anything! Keep this ambiguous.”

“Yes,” Galynth said a bit sullenly, “me too. It’s all such a blur.”

Orswyth maintained quite mysterious airs as he brushed his mustache with his fingers, then leaned on his staff. “Some things that men think they perceive, they fail to have the capacity to understand without greater knowledge. What occurred was a mystery in truth and fullness. That is enough for you lot, for now.”

After a moment he studied Canmore and queried, “Why does this attract instead of sending you running?”

“I guess we want to see what happens next with such magic n’ luck. Maybe you’ll take us into a new kind of fortune, my lord. Some of us wonder at what it could mean.”

“And if it leads you to your deaths?”

Canmore shrugged, then grinned a chip-toothed smile. “That’s just the gamble we always made, my lord. ‘Sides, Hagrin denied it, but a few of us read between the lines. Those weren’t raiders, were they?”

Once more, Orswyth was appraising the man judiciously. Finally, he said simply, “No. I was betrayed by my liege lord, thanks to my covetous neighbor. They were mercenaries.”

Shaking his head in displeasure, Canmore crossed his arms. “We ain’t mercs no more, but even when we were, we’d never do such low dog dirty shit — your pardon, my lord. It just ain’t right for reputation and honor’s sake.”

“It was the King of Murder’s band, Canmore!” Galynth burst out excitedly, as if news he couldn’t wait to tell a friend. “Lord Orswyth slew him!”

Canmore’s eyes were as wide as they could go as his hands dropped, stunned gaze shifting from Galynth to Orswyth, and it was as one would look at a living legend. “You fought and bested the Black Knight Danomeir?”

Orswyth was merely frowning and looking down at the grass. Sammy sensed he was torn about taking the credit. She didn’t push it — it was far too late for him to dodge the reputation, anyway. Which he deserved. He’d paid the price, after all.

“Know only that it was a miracle,” Orswyth muttered, then jerked his head over to the clutch of soldiers. “Go tell them to take an hour’s break and break with them, both of you. I must speak at length with Galynth, in seclusion. We’ll take our horses.”

The men complied, handing over the reins, though Canmore was still in a stunned state. Pleased, too, as if given the news a monster in the woods had been dealt with.

Sammy smirked to herself. Gee, I wonder if that’ll end up spreading around, too? Come to think, it will in some form from the other mercs, too, though I guess they have reason to suppress it because they were supposed to be raiders.

Her two Followers were simply going off to pray and seek mysteries in their goddess, so Sammy disconnected for the time being.

She mentally drew up her new Special Skill:

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Priestly Ordination (25 FE)

Grants the level 0 [Priest] class to a Devout or higher Follower and unlocks quests for advancement. A priest may only obtain a level up to the level of the deity. Priests obtain their own FE equal to [10 + 10 x level] for each FE provided by prayer/worship to their deity. Maximum FE is at a minimum of twice this value and is otherwise increased by quest rewards. A priest that goes 24 hours without providing FE to their deity will be reduced to 0 personal FE.

Priests select divine spells from a list based on their deity (with some flexibility) during prayer, placing them into slots determined by level, taking a minimum of 30 minutes to set up. Priests also have access to special spells based on a deity’s powers that are always available.

A deity cannot ordain a new priest if priests make up a third or more of all Followers. 80% of FE invested in a priest is returned if ordination is revoked.

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“Sys, do Priests even have level 0 spells? I don’t remember hearing anything about level 0 wizard spells?”

Cantrips exist, and Priests have an equivalent. Wizards require a sponsored apprenticeship quest to a veteran wizard to begin learning cantrips and gradually obtaining experience. Acquiring Wizard 1 by other means does not immediately unlock the use of cantrips.

Sammy had to snicker. “So runebooks were invented to skip a tedious grind with a weak payoff? Sounds very wizardly. So is there no other way of getting arcane cantrip access?”

While hypothetically feasible, the System cannot provide any conclusive answer to this question.

“Right, whatever, I can ask others. Anyway, who cares?! I can slap this sucker here on Orswyth and he can do shit! Even if kinda shitty level shit!”

She made a fist in front of her with a grin. “Then we’ll fast-track him to level 1, baby!”

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