Firstly, I reunite Whisper with the Cosmic Roundsheath, both seem to simultaneously rejoice, and rebel at the action. There’s newfound power, in some sort of link, but it exists just outside of both of their grasps. One has to be permanently cut from the link in order to allow the other to access that power. I know the rune for psi-energy. Elemental or energy runes empowered with my total will, without a spelliform are incredibly-powerful, potent multipliers of energies and forces, or even just explosive in their own right.
Drawing Whisper once more, I set down the Elemental Bandolier. I can overwrite or add one dagger onto this, making it a psionic energy instead of a normal element. To top it off, it’ll have Whisper’s transportation benefits, and have a pre-empowered energy rune to multiply psi-effects. Not that I have any of those other than Whisper personally, but I could pick some up at some point.
The problem is, I have to suffer psionic rune empowerment backlash to set that up. I’m currently immune to psychic damage. Will that prevent the backlash? Will it just delay it until the next time I take off the circlet? Let’s run some calculations. Hm, hm, mhm. Diving into the non, into the absence of the flow of time, the absence of time itself, I begin to work, drawing out what I know, and letting retrocognition fill in the rest.
Okay, retrocognition says something like eighty five to eighty nine percent chance that the psionic backlash is pushed off and stretched out for as long as I continue to be immune to psionic. If I wear the enchantment long enough, it’ll be stretched out for an equivalent amount of time, and spread out over that time. So, say it was going to do a million damage to me in ten seconds, but I wear the helmet’s psionic-immunity circlet for a million seconds, then over the next million seconds after doffing it, it’d only do a single damage per second. This has the added benefit as counting as prolonged, or reoccurring sources of psionic damage, which will increase my base psi-resist. I like that. I like that a lot.
There are drawbacks though. It’ll put a strain on my SP recovery, if I don’t finish taking all the psi damage before my next rest. I might not recover *any* SP at all, if I let it take too long. Even if I keep the immunity up during my sleep, it will pause my SP recovery entirely. Essentially, any time I spend resting, that I haven’t finished taking all of the psi damage, I won’t be benefiting from, at least not in terms of SP recovery. Speaking of SP, being at five-hundred eighty today already is a bit scary.
Having only twenty to a hundred twenty SP that I might be able to spend before my muscles start resenting responding to me, means that any more tussles we get into would be basically without my most versatile powers. I didn’t see any subterranean levels, or hints of any, but that doesn’t mean there were none. Still, we succeeded at routing the leadership core here, securing a swath of surrenders slash prisoners. We also ended up destroying most of the fortress’s defenses, and defenders. I’ve got a massive stack of enchanted crossbows, ballistae, and other silly nonsense in my inventory now as well.
Speaking of enchanted crossbows, one thing I did forget to both count, and try out, is the crossbow bolts from this mini quiver that the Cosmic Roundsheath is attached to. I’ll get to that later though. Alright, let’s do it, let’s enchant Whisper as a new psi-knife attachment to my Elemental Bandolier. It’ll only be usable once per day, as opposed to seemingly almost endlessly the way the assassin was using it against me, but it’ll be ridiculously leagues more powerful. The other benefit will be that separating it from the Cosmic Roundsheath gives the sheath access to this weird paired power, that Whisper will no longer be tugging away from the sheath. I’m curious to see what that is. As is, the thing is just a badly-weighted frisbee. Anyway, drop from the non, back to reality. Let’s dig around and get this set up while checking in on Te and the rest.
Blurgh, checking in on Te is making me sick. She’s leaping all over at super speeds. I’m getting motion sickness trying to see what she’s up to. If she doesn’t have some sort of super hyperactive reactionary perception senses, I have no idea how she’s even able to function that fast. I know that occasionally time seems to slow for me, so that I can perceive, orient, and react more quickly, but for Te, that must be on, like, at all times when she’s moving around. As far as I can tell, everyone seems okay. No one’s holding up any signs in any of the locations indicating losses or anything.
Alright, so with enough of this dust, and this binding agent I can—. Wow, myconid-me really thought of everything. Well, I mean, hivemind-everyone, thought of everything. We filled dozens and dozens of vials with reagents, and binding agents, and pre-mixed solutions, potions, and partial potions and so much more, all while crafting, enchanting, learning, and just—. Just wow. Phew, okay, anyway. Let’s see what we can do about this.
Woah. Okay, this thing is already rippling with psi energy as I attempt to transfix it and allocate this recovery enchantment. I’m scooting away from my friends in case this gets a bit hairy. That, huh, that part looks wrong. Are we sure we calculated correctly? Hm, it’s hard accounting for that weird binding link between Whisper and the Cosmic Roundsheath. We do want to break the binding though, and that part does indicate breakage. Gnawing on my lip, I’m just hoping that it indicates breakage of the correct linkage.
Huff, phew, okay, everything is prepped. Just—, gulp, just have to empower the psi-rune now, and finish the last detachment slash attachment bit. Come on, come on, please don’t blow up my brain, or the brains of my loved ones. Please. We’ve got this. We’ve got this. We can do this. Please. Trust, faith, strength in unity—. Wait! That’s it! Whew, holy crap holy crap holy crap.
Okay, there has to be a feedback loop here, and here, that mimics their respective partners, and it safely closes the circuit on both sides. Holy crap that was almost bad. Wow. Just, just wow. Phew. Final touches, and huzzah! We’re golden! Woohoo! New, additional power in my literal toolbelt of elemental throwing knives, as well as in my figurative toolbelt by way of separating whisper from this weird mini quiver’s Cosmic Roundsheathe. Ah, I needed to do that anyway before I messed with the “elemental” crossbow bolts. I’m kind of glad I forgot about it accidentally then. That could have been disastrous. Let’s see what you do, shall we?
Huh, the Cosmic Roundsheath’s runes read almost like a story. Something something creation or fabrication at the dawn of time, but like, creation and fabrication are basically separately highlighted, or underlined, as if they were activatable. I’m almost positive they’re spells. Further when the stars spread, one such celestial body would endure a Starlight Crash. Similarly, those two words are activatable, each different effects. Let’s see, the rest of it is saying something about closing the distance between self and star, the pairing enabling a Wormhole-Warpstrike. That’s a single ability by the looks of it. It seems that there are maybe five to seven uses worth of SP for these abilities in this Cosmic Roundsheath per day. Each of those abilities or spells takes up one use’s worth, though the Starlight can have more pumped into it. Based on the rate of return, it doesn’t seem worth it to pump more energy into it for a tiny bit more damage.
Still, if I was lamenting not being able to warp to where I toss Whisper as often as that assassin, it seems like I’ll be able to warp to where I toss the Cosmic Roundsheath a few times per day. Whisper actually needs a new name, because its current enchantment is anything but a whisper. It’s more like a fiery brain explosion, a mind-fire. Mindfire. That works. Welcome to your new home Mindfire. You’ll seemingly disappear to warp back to it once per day. I have no idea where you exist in the meantime though. Speaking of warping, what the hell did Lucky do earlier? Replay that in retrocognition.
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Hm, mhm, okay. Oh, it was one of the things he looted from Adkre. Lucky can sort of dimensionally shunt himself, and allies within fifteen feet, to anywhere else within that fifteen feet, like shuffling us around on a chessboard, and where we land, there’s a slightly radioactive blinding explosion on our foes. It’s kind of like the limitations of Lil’s fritzing warping ability. Actually stronger than Lil’s, since Lil seemed to have to focus for a while to engage it.
Lucky’s warp seems likely a once per day ability though. Oh, wait, no, similar to the CRS, it has about seven uses worth of SP that can be stored in it. It was just low on charges due to Adkre. How interesting. It also has another ability that deals with freedom of movement, clearing off the effects of restraints, or paralysis, on either Lucky himself, or an ally that he can touch. Too bad paralysis and petrification aren’t the same things.
Huh. Being who he is, I imagine Lucky might someday see someone paralyzed, in trouble, and rush towards them. On his way, he’d teleport partway while teleporting them partway onto his back, then engage the paralysis curing ability. That’s a hell of a nice item for Lucky to be in possession of. Our son is fairly heroic, and kind-hearted. I know he treated the wounded with respect at my request. Oh, crap, stop being distracted Reggie! We have wounded! Back to reality buddy!
Fricklefrack, crapsnack. Shnibbshnobble dingdanggobble. Friggin’ hell. Oh Triorgraiz please be okay. Opening the portable hole to check on my captives, Everyone appears to be breathing, though Shlend looks a bit annoyed. In mere moments though, Shlendtikuar’s expression adopts a more fearful tone, when the stench of gore and ash reaches his nose. Triorgraiz looks incredibly pale though. She’s not going to last much longer, maybe not even long enough to get back to Mount Solace. No no no no. I—, I should ask for advice, or help, from someone back at Solace, with our new communications system.
What’s, wait, what’s that note? Trouble? What kind of trouble!? I gulp back my panic as I read a note that leaves me no information back at the security center. Okay, okay, someone’s returning. It seems they rushed off to handle the trouble. Holding up a note for the scrying sensor, I ask what kind of trouble, and Aktixas patches me through for an auditory connection.
While I’m trying not to hyperventilate, Aktixas, in his usual accent with hard ah sounds replacing several vowels, explains, “Schism, Sponge was assaulted while out hunting. The culprit wasn’t caught, but we only found Kagired in time because Radiant Spellknight Ahliyui swiftly reported it to a nearby scout who got word back to Solace. He’s in a bad way, and may not recover, or even wake for quite some time, if ever. It seems he gave as good as he got, like a true warrior, but though he drove off his attacker, was still bested, and succumbed to his wounds on his way home. With all the abilities you granted him, granted us, I fear what could have put him in such a state.”
My heart plummets into the pit of my stomach. The one chance we might have had to save Triorgraiz is now bloody, in recovery himself, quite possibly comatose. My world begins to spin. One of my friends, my new family in the Onyx Dawn might never recover. I *knew* there was a hostile, dragonforce-filled presence in the surrounding area, I was warned, but I didn’t do anything about it! I—. Sniffling, and gulping back a sob, I can’t waste time berating myself. I asked for a favor to help pinpointing the presence, and it didn’t pan out in time to prevent this. I need to look for solutions. Teuila seems to still be embroiled in battle, a lot longer than I’d have expected her to be.
Mumbling, I respond, “I—, I’m grateful for you filling me in Aktix. You can resume normal security center operations, putting me back to soundproof, unless there’s anything else you wanted to share. Um, our sitrep is our mission was successful. We’ve captured a lot of Draconiacs, many wounded. Two of the leaders are dead, one leader petrified, one leader badly wounded. I’m doing what I can about that last bit, since I can’t ask Sponge for help. Will reach out again at some point. Schism over and out.”
Crap, I need to buy time. Shoving my goggles to perch up between my horns—. Wow, that will take some getting used to. My hair almost feels finer than I recall where it sprouts from around my horns, but still as much of a wild mass as usual though. I hold my forehead with my left palm as I try to come up with ideas. I, I think we’re nearer to Jeegoobotstan than we are to Solace, or at least closer than I’ve been since I first made it to Solace. Maybe we should visit after all, to see if the refugees have made it, and started setting up? It has been almost a month and a half, or something like that.
It was probably going to take two to four weeks to get most of the refugees through the swamp, utilizing the burrows and dugouts. Then, after that, it would be a two to four week land journey to the ruins of Alta Vista, if they continued to travel at the slow foot-pace of a caravan. Huff, I’m not even sure if—, glp, if they’re alive, let alone if they’ve had enough time to make it to their new home.
Focus Reggie, focus in the moment for the moment! Right, right. Triorgraiz needs blood. I doubt anyone here even knows what a blood-type is, much less what hers is. Good thing myconid hivemind prepared so much random chemical and alchemical crap. Sampling Triorgraiz’s blood, since there’s absolutely plenty of it in the portable hole, I get to testing it to see if there are any Rh factors, or anything that might potentially cause complications from a donation or transfusion. Seems negative on that front, okay, good. What about my own blood? Can I—? Hm, yes. I can shapechange even on a biomolecular level in some sense, with RS2’s enhanced shapeshifting.
Does this—? No. What about—? No. Argh, hurry! Don’t rush me! If I screw up, I could kill her! She’ll die soon if you don’t do something! I know! Shut up for a second and let me think! I just—, ugh, I’m arguing with myself, cracking up out of the fear of losing more family, friends, and even just people I’m supposed to protect, people that I agreed or promised to protect. Huff, okay, calm down. Try again. Keep trying, until your blood returns negative to all the same tests hers did. Okay, one down. Three to go.
Nope. Nope. Not that. Nice, close try, but not quite. Okay, better, almost. Okay, okay, nope. Huff, huff, this is exhausting. How the hell do shapechangers do this all the time? Snrk. I doubt most shapechangers are trying to change the blood-type in their entire body all the time Reggie. Oh, true, hah. Anyway, phew, one more down, two to go.
Crap, I’m going cross-eyed again. My vision blurring is not helping me focus on the transformation. I’m not exactly uninjured myself here. Triorgraiz though, she’s lost so much blood, and if I weren’t so sensitive to vibrations, I’d think she wasn’t even breathing. No, no, focus, don’t get caught up in that. I shoved most of a dragon corpse, Deviltail’s, I think, into my inventory, could that help? Would that blood be okay? You don’t have the time to transform back into Backpotter to even check, and don’t you dare go trying to scrape blood out of the acid-pocked muddy ground. Alright alright alright already. Third test is getting closer to returning all negative.
Oh, crap, I’m still injured. This is putting a strain on my recovery and regeneration. Hurp. Urph. Can I—? I think so. Yes. I’m pretty sure. Heh. Lil’s going to be so pissed.
Begging my best pal, I request, “Lil, can you hit me with a sun-powered flame, purifyingly hot?”
Grumpily, Lil looks at me like I asked him to swallow a moose. Well, as if I’d asked him to swallow a moose while he was still in his tiny spheriform evolutionary stage. Lil rolls his eyes as he comments, “Awe man.”
I love my best Lil buddy so much. He hates breathing fire on me, and I’m touched that both he cares, not wanting to do it, and that he does it anyway. He’s the best friend an insane changeling Fae could ask for. Standing aside, I wait as Lil ramps up his heat, and begins to bestow his flames with his Latent. Now that they’re white-hot, I walk into his flames as I continue to work on neutralizing all possible factors in my blood that would keep it from being universally compatible. I choke on my own dry, sizzling throat, unable to even cough as my skin blisters from the intense heat. Falling to my knees, I can’t even signal for Lil to stop. I forgot how injured I was, how weak I’d gotten over the course of the day. I’ve got my circlet on, I can’t even telepathically reach out. If I knocked it off, I’d suffer the psi-explosion from empowering the psi-rune for the Whisper-to-bandolier Mindfire enchantment.
Falling to one side, thankfully Lil spies me toppling, and cuts out his flames. He looks so pissed, sad, scared, and upset. I just flash him a thumbs up, weakly. Third test now comes back negative for discrepant blood-factors. Okay, huff, let’s, huff, get some fluids, and share some blood, shall we?