Chapter 47 - The quiet before the storm

As they left the room I considered my options.  I was going to have to fight the Dark Overlord, but despite all of my gear and equipment I’d made nothing I had was going to put a dent in Charles.  I still had a great number of magical components from Jersey, but nothing I’d found so far was magically sturdy enough to manage the kind of energy I’d need to kill the bastard.  

“I wish I could have made another one of the weapons I made for Julia,” I said idly.  

“The sex toy,” said Shart.  

“No, the powerful magical weapon,” I growled, unsure of what he meant.  

“I mean, I call ‘em like I see' em,’ said Shart with a chuckle.  “But that was mainly you having significantly increased your crafting skill and having access to powerful materials.  You’ll need something really powerful to defeat the Dark Overlord.”

“I know that, but where do you get that kind of material,” I asked, genuinely curious.  

“I never checked, I suppose all the really powerful magical weapons have a unique method of creation,” said Shart.  

“How did Mojinir get made?” I asked.  

“Dead god had all of his power transferred into a hammer, which was then further enchanted until it became the unpronounceable hammer,” said Shart casually, because gods were so unimportant to him.  

“How much power?” I asked.

“Lots?  When he got defeated there were around a million experience points absorbed by that hammer,” said the demon.

“Wait, anything that defeats a powerful creature can absorb power so it can be enchanted?” I asked.

“Sure, why?” replied the demon.

***

“More power,” thought Grebthar as they marched on the long road towards Windfall.  Technically the road should have lead to Narwal, but that wasn’t ever going to happen again.  Getting those two idiots to fight in the city had been hilarious.  

“Sire,” said TriBlade uncomfortably.  “The men seem morose, perhaps if you gave them an inspirational speech they might pick up their steps somewhat."

Grebthar watched his slow, incompetent zombie army march fecklessly over the landscape like a dim witted dark tide.  He knew enough that just an army of zombies would never work, but he needed some bulk of soldiers.  TriBlade might start wondering why none of his grunts actually said anything, so Grebhtar held up his hands.

“You who are about to die, we march this day towards Windfall to slay Jim, the False Mayor,” said Grebthar, while pouring additional mana into them.  Without his finger, creating that much Shadow Mana was a chore, and his new companion grew hot to the touch while the power was shunted through him.  In the end the army started marching faster, and would do so for the rest of the day.  

That left him with time for another mission.  “I’m going to need to find some additional firepower to make this whole thing work.”

TriBlade looked up, about to congratulate the Mayor about his great speech. At least it seemed great, but as he looked around he noticed something…

***

“He left,” asked Julia, absolutely gobsmacked.  “Where did the Mayor go this time?”

They were in the office across the hall from the Mayor’s office, where Julia the First used to work.  When Julia mentioned she needed a space, Ashe stepped up and cleared it out diligently and efficiently.  That was part of the reason that she was still with Julia, even now.  

“We were asking you, niece,” said her cousin, the Duke.  The fact that he was calling her a niece indicated that he didn’t believe she still had enough power to equal him.  

The Duchess examined her coldly, not quite disdaining Julia’s new magical weapon.  It was not one of the Treasures of Rule so her cousin was contemptuous of the item’s power even if the Mayor made it for her specifically.  

Worse, the Duchess was upset.  When Jim reformed the companions, he sent out a general pulse to all the adventures in Windfall.  However, while the Duchess might be a companion, she wasn’t with Jim when the companions were reformed so in certain social circles her importance had dropped microscopically.  She hated even a perceived slight to her importance, and this was a earth shattering in her opinion.    

Of course, Julia was the only person here to have been with Jim when he declared himself King and reformed the Companions which meant that they were both slightly pissed at her.  

“Thank you, cousin,” said Julia cooly.  “I will seek to discover where he went.”

“See that you do, niece,” replied the Duchess, not quite sneering at her.  With the reintroduction of that Jarra woman, Julia’s position was tenuous.  The family was about to try a different Julia to win Jim’s affection, which would not do at all.  Not only did the family not understand Jim well enough to realize how terrible he would react to the replacement, they were still considering politics instead of fully supporting the Mayor.

He needed bold help.  The kind of help Julia the First would have given.  WWJD?  What would Julia do?  No one would be stupid enough to challenge her.  This was not a conventional WWJD situation, this was a What Would Jim Do scenario.      

“The pool is open,” the Princess said finally, eyeing the both of them.  

“You can’t be serious with that toy,” asked the Duchess.  “We understand your Mayor made it just for you, but he upgraded our Treasures of Rule.”

“Mine’s ribbed with power,” replied Julia darkly.  

The Duke snorted, gripping the Rod of Rulership tightly before the runes running down the edge suddenly glowed.  A blast of power slammed into her as her barrier struggled against it.  He pressed harder, driving her back pace by pace.  

Then Julia laughed.  The rod was a weapon, a powerful one at that, but it simply amplified the power of the wielder.  Meanwhile Julia had been out adventuring, fighting the Dark Overlord, and being the recipient of a Great General Talent called XP share.  It took her several dungeon runs and some time at the Adventurer’s guild under the obnoxious and painful tutelage of Glorious Robert to fully capitalize on that, but now she was almost level 54.  Her Path was clear.

• Julia

• Path of the End

Julia’s path was all about defeating the Dark Overlord, and one did that by helping the Mayor.  She might have screwed up initially, but Julia was willing to claw and dig her way back into the Mayor’s good graces.  She learned what he needed wasn’t a yes woman who blindly follows orders but a capable lieutenant like Fenris who could handle any bottle he gave her.  

No matter the proof.  

While her cousin, hitting her with every bit of his power through the Rod of Rulership was enough to challenge her mighty barriers while she was unarmed.  Unarmed, he would have broken through soon enough.  But she wasn’t unarmed.  The orbs on her weapon started glowing blue and her barrier reinforced.  Then it glowed brighter and the pressure forced both of her cousins back.

The Duchess focused and the Staff of Power glowed, pressing into her even harder than the rod.  Julia smiled, realizing the Duke had been holding back.  He was just trying to put her in her place, the Duchess realized there was a problem and was taking steps to rectify it.  

A single golden orb appeared at the tip of the staff as the Duchess began focusing her power, “You can apologize now, niece, and I will forgive this.”

There was a concerning amount of power in that orb.  It was the kind of grape you generated, but didn’t actually want to squash in the press.  If that orb hit anyone’s barrier, the result would probably destroy the building.  

Julia flicked a small razor-like saw blade into it, causing the orb to destabilize.  

Her long access to Jim had demonstrated how important spell integrity was.  Julia’s barriers were tightly woven, and incredibly hard to pick apart.  The Duchess had not ever really fought someone in PVP at this level before, and her orb was not nearly as tightly woven.  

Dutchess Julia’s eyes went wide as she lost control of the orb and it flew right into her formerly favorite niece’s barrier with enough power to vaporize the building.  The orb struck the barrier, glowed golden briefly, and vanished.

Her former aunt and uncle came to the shattering realization at the same moment.  

Julia watched both of their horrified expressions for another moment then dropped her barrier, “Alright niece, nephew.  I trust that this situation has been resolved to your satisfaction or shall I have to treat you like the little girl in the Mayor’s favorite book?”

“But cousin,” began the Duke, causing Julia’s eyes to flare golden, as did both orbs at the base of her weapon.  They stared at each other and the orbs began glowing blue as the power in them began to purify.     

“Aunt Julia,” ground out the Duchess as she stared at the staff.  Both of them might have been able to do something, but Julia doubted it.  Now they were both holding magical weapons that were second tier to hers.  

“Good that we see eye to eye, you are dismissed,” said Julia and they just left.  The two most powerful people in Falcon left because she dismissed them from her presence.  She dreamed of that day since she was a child, and now the only person who was more powerful than her was the Mayor himself.  

“I am amazed that it worked,” said Ashe, stepping out from the shadows.  She was really good at hiding.

“The Mayor gave me this,” said Julia, tapping the magical implement on her chin, “I really need to come up with a name for it.”

“JohnThomas,” said Ashe.

“What?”

“Ask JohnThomas, he’s good at naming things like that,” said Ashe.  

“I’ll summon him,” said Julia, clipping the weapon back to her belt, “I can’t keep calling it by the acronym the Mayor assigned it.”

“Yup, that is way too long,” said Ashe.

Julia smiled, according to her cousin Queen, you couldn’t really have one that was way too long.  

***

“Grebthar,” growled an ancient voice as it sniffed cautiously.  “Where is your friend?”

“Gone, and he’ll not be coming back,” said Grebtar.  “I call upon the favor you granted me.”

The cave shook, “And you denied the favor, because of what I am.  I am surprised you let me live.”

“I was younger and more foolish back then,” said Grebthar.  “Now I need your assistance in one final battle.”

Air blasted out of the cave as Grebthar spotted a pair of eyes so dark that they were visible in the shadow of the cave.  “Even my favors come with a great price.”

“The world will pay for it, I give my word that I shall not stop you,” said Grebthar, striding further into the cave.  The locks bore the symbols of the Walker of Siers, because they needed to.  Nothing had ever managed to kill this creature.

Badgelor said he could.

“Badgelor is an idiot,” said Charles as he touched the runes in the special pattern and the first chain snapped.  The massive claw jerked back instantly, he was committed now.  It would only be a matter of time before the creature got loose.  

Grebthar hastened to unbind the second most dangerous creature on Ordinal, unclasping the final lock and the creature brought his massive maw up right to Grebthar.  The exhale was enough to push him back.  

“I could eat you,” offered the dragon.

“We both know you won’t, MegaDevestator,” said Charles.  

“I’ve been infected with Shadow Mana for nearly 1000 years, you don’t know what I am capable of,” said the old dragon.

“There is plenty of Shadow Mana in Windfall,” said Charles.  “Enough to end the world.”

 “Well, then,” said the dragon, stepping out of his cave for the first time since Grebthar locked him in there.  “Then …”   

***

“Let’s get to it!” yelled Fenris.  

He circled carefully, trying to avoid giving either one an opening before his charge reset.  Lorrain realized this and moved in quickly for a series of strikes against his shield.  Well, her intention hadn’t been against his shield, but Fenris didn’t like getting poked even if it was a training sword.  

Nick used that opportunity to get into his flank and was nearly prepared to strike when the counter spun down.  Lorrain realized the problem instantly and attempted to move back.

“For the Forest!” yelled the cyber warden as he slammed into her bodily.  It wouldn’t have been a lethal blow, but it did knock her spinning across the ground and over the line.  Lorraine swore even as Nick came in swinging.  

Fenris blocked only to feel the strike of a sword against his shoulder.  

“Eh tu?” asked the Warden as Zorlando grinned.  

“It looks like such a fun sport,” said the commander of the Dashing Dandies.  

Frankly, Fenris would have preferred Lorraine and Nick.  Zorloando’s path made his coordination far too tight with any partner he chose to fight with.  This was going to hurt.

Nick’s blade glowed golden and he slashed at Fenris, catching him in the shield.  Unfortunately, that was what Nick was aiming at and the whole mass drove into Fenris while Zorlando cut to the side and struck at his legs.  

As soon as Fenris had that pattern figured out Nick struck him again, knocking him out of position for Zorlando’s follow ups.  The quicker ex-mercenary was usually able to drill him several times before Fenris could position himself against the next attack, and even afterward Fenris still had to watch for Nick.

The third time in a row, Fenris had a plan.  He activated his Deflection talent, redirected Nick’s attack towards Zorlando.  Zorlando, in his Golden armor, leapt over the strike and landed before Fenris, blade ready.  

• Fenris activated Swallow’s Flight, striking 11 times

• Zorlando activated Hack and Slash, striking 10 times

The air between them was a shower of sparks from training blades giving their all.  Zorlando stumbled back, Fenris landed a solid blow against his friend but before he could follow up Fenris felt something thud into his helmet.

“A dagger,” asked Fenris.

“Ashe says I should broaden my horizons,” said Zorlando getting back to his feet as Nick prepared another strike.

“Time,” yelled a yawning Battista.

Fenris glanced over at her, Battista was another one of Dalton’s daughters who just kind of blended into the background.  Probably because she was more interested in sleeping than pretty much anything else.  Of course, most of the army would sneak in a catnap or two when possible, she just took it too extreme lengths.  

Still, she was the best medic he had.

Fenris stepped out of the ring, removing his helmet as Sir Dalton walked past him.  It was the big knight's turn now.

***

“It's not enough,” thought Grebthar as he waited.  The dragon was feasting on the souls of creatures far to the west, devouring his first meal in centuries.  He kicked a stone, causing it to fall off of the city wall and onto the ground outside of Narwal.

Charles looked at Windfall using a spell to enhance his eyesight.  It would not have been possible except that the entire forest east of Narwal had been burned for some reason.  Forests on Ordinal regrew quickly, and yet this one had been burned recently enough that none of the trees were tall enough to block his line of sight. 

Strangely, not all of the forest was regrowing.  There was a section that the local residents had burnt repeatedly and then salted for some reason.  

“Oh, that’s interesting,” smiled Grebthar.  “I wonder…”

***

“What’s over here,” said Shart.

“This is a very special forest,” I said, looking around.  “This is the first place my map skill worked.”  Unfortunately, my map skill did not activate right away.  Surveying the land, I considered where the ridge was, then walked off into the woods.  It wouldn’t have been hard to find except…

“All the damn trees are back,” I growled, slipping between several large ones.  Everything grew faster on Ordinal to an insane degree and of course trees were no exception.  It didn’t take more than a week or two for a tree to grow up to full size in this mana rich area.  

“I’m looking,” said Badgelor as he brought his nose to the ground and started sniffing.  When I’d explained to him what I was planning he left the army of war badgers in the hands of his capable lieutenant and came right over.  “Been a bit.”

“Yup,” I said looking around.  The trees were thick and new, and I had no idea exactly where I was looking for.  Badgelor vanished into the woods for a moment and made a grunting noise.  

“This place smells like a demon,” said Badgelor. 

“Can we be sure this is where it happened,” I asked Shart but his eyes were glowing red.

“My nemesis!”

I was worried he was mad at me, but he was looking at a rock with eyes full of pure hatred.  I’d seen him around the Dark Overlord, and this was a degree of hatred that far eclipsed even that.  It was a special kind of hatred which meant that it was…

“Here,” I said, picking up what I’d been looking for.

“What the feck is that,” asked Badgelor.

“The most powerful weapon on Ordinal,” I replied, holding up the stick.  “Or it will be when I’m done with it.”

“That,” growled the demon, his eyes darting to the stick and back to his most hated foe in an eyeblink.  

Badgelor chuckled, “Well, I’m no use to you crafting.  I’ll go figure out something useful to do, assuming the red zit is staying with you?”

“Why would it matter where I stay, but yes, I want to see what happens when Dum Dum tries to forge this,” said Shart as I popped out Tony’s anvil.