Chapter 5
Blending In
“So I take it you two wouldn’t know a mechanical union rep?” I ask.
Hector pauses as he looks at me for a moment, then seems to come to a conclusion, “you trying to cover up your eyes?”
“Yeah.” I admit.
He nods to himself. It is a well-known fact that the way each guild identifies its members is by their swag, meaning you want pristine gloves, join the pistoleers. You want a wand or a walking staff, join the Magical academy. If you want the cool Steampunk polarized lenses you join the Mechanics guild. For me such glasses would be perfect, as they would help me cover up my eyes in a meaningful way.
“I think Joe might still be a rep.” Golum adds helpfully.
“Joe?”
“Yeah, he’s our lead mechanic.”
“Any particular reason on why he might still be a rep?”
“Yeah, well he has been having troubles recently.” Hector said, as he scratched the back of his head.
“That bad?” I ask.
“That bad. He claims it is sabotage, but he is often pretty lazy, so it is hard to tell.” Hector admitted.
“Oh come on man, you know he isn’t that lazy.” Golum says defensively of this person.
“He a regressor?” I ask.
“Surprisingly no, but I think he is one of the few people here who will not give you a hard time based on your race.” Hector admitted.
“Can we see him?” I ask a little excitedly.
At that the two pause.
“Dude, we’ve got to man. Those eyes are a dead giveaway of her being shade touched.” Golum admits in his surfer brogue.
I pause at that. As I am a player, I can’t actually see a profile picture of myself, so I don’t exactly know what my eyes look like. I figured they would just be cold dead sacs, but apparently I might have been wrong.
“What do my eyes look like?” I ask.
At that the two paused, but then their body language seems to understand the question.
“Your irises are glowing purple, surrounded by black. They are kind of cool, it is like staring into the void itself.” Golum answers and I shake my head at the remark.
“Actually, you can see through walls and the like, right?” Hector asks.
I nod, as this must be common knowledge for Regressors by now, especially with how popular Mickael’s exploits were.
“Yeah, you might be the perfect person to help. I for one do not want to get blown out of the sky before we even make it back to the capital.” Hector said.
“Oh wait, she can’t just go around in that potato sac.” Golum said, as he began staring off into space. “Oh there we go. Perfect.” He said, rummaging through a backpack before pulling out a well-used shirt that has a bunch of wrinkles in it.
“Your old rags?” Hector asked incredulously.
“Of course. These are hand-me-downs, my favorite black shirt with only a bit of wear and tear left, but it is black and most importantly will get me positive karma points.” Golum said, as he handed over the oversized shirt.
I of course put it on, and feels more like an old, crumpled dress than anything as it hangs down to my knees.
Seeing that, Hector just shakes his head. “Well, if you are giving her that, then I can give her these old wraps.” He said, as he took out two cloth bundles, and then did something to them as they instantly fit my feet the next moment.
Putting them on, I had something that was something similar to cloth slippers.
“What color are they?” I ask.
“White.”
I nod, I had been hoping for the super-secret ninja look, but this is probably for the best.
“Oh look at that, two points of Karma.” Hector mused.
“Two points, not fair. How did you do that?”
“Simple, rather than just giving her something I took a moment to try to make the item in question better first, before giving it to her.” Hector said.
Karma was a higher end attribute, one that was sort of hidden as to how it truly worked. There were no obvious effects, but it was found that people who had higher karma tended to win more draws than not. The best part is, is that only regressors could see times when their Karma increases. I haven’t seen it, mainly because I haven’t really interacted with people up until this point. Karma was a very personal act and really only came into effect when regressors met with regressors.
“Yeah, come on. Let’s see if we can get you a Mechanical guild invite as well.” Golum said.
With that Hector just gave the elf a look.
“Oh, come on man, you know it will only be good for her as it will mean she is not tied to just the mages guild if things go sideways. I believe a wise person once said, ‘having options and knowing what they are is never a bad thing.’”
At that Hector just shook his head at the comment.
“Fine, come on then. We will both take you as we both get credit for the turn in.” Hector admitted.
With that, we began walking. Well, I spent my time following Hector, while Golum took up the rear.
As we get closer to what has to be the main boiler room, this is a Mark II and despite all the upgrades there is a boiler room for some odd reason. I guess they need to make sure there truly is steam in these ships, but as we get closer, I can see that things are off.
In the walls, I can see parts where the pipes are rocking back and forth from excessive pressure one second, then too little the next.
Seeing the pipes moving in this way caused me some manner of concern as it looked like there was a problem somewhere.
Clang! Clang!
“Gods blasted system. Always causing problems.” An angry human swore as he struck at the pipes with a large metal wench of some kind. It wasn’t a standard wrench in what I was used to from Earth, rather it was a multi headed wrench that looked like it could change out the top piece, depending on what needed to be worked on.
“Master Joe. I have for you a budding apprentice in the making.” Hector began.
“What is this… ahhh!” The man said as he turned to first look at Hector, then follow Hector’s gesture towards me.
I just stood there, I had been expecting a reaction, but that was not the reaction I had been prepared for. Honestly, it sort of hurt. I know my appearance is only a six, but still.
“Sorry, lass. I don’t have time for this.” Joe said, as he gestured to the boiler, then down at a set of papers that were on the ground.
Looking at the form, I analyze it for a second, before I realize something, those are blueprints. Not just any blueprints, but the blueprints for the boiler chamber for the Mark II.
I almost shake in giddy excitement at the thought.
Looking at it, I can see a lot of math and angles of crystallization are noted. The entire force behind what keeps this ship upright is easy to identify on the large sheet of papers that are displayed out throughout the whole room. Apparently, something is going wrong, and the mechanic is working rapidly to fix it.
“What seems to be the problem?” Hector asks.
Joe looks like he wants to shout, but then calms himself and gestures with his hand holding the wrench like it is a magic wand and states, “what isn’t going wrong. The whole blasted thing is losing power and I can’t tell why.”
“Might it have something to do with your pipes being gunked up?” I ask.
“What?” Everyone asked in unison.
“The pipes, they are shaking rapidly. I didn’t know if that was how they were supposed to react, but they looked like pretty violent tremors.” I said, pointing back towards the direction we came. I can still see the pipes jerking about wildly even from this distance.
“You expect me to believe that you can see through walls?” Joe asked, but then paused as he looked at me. “Can you even see at all?”
“Not with my eyes, no.” I admit.
Joe looks like he wants to dismiss me out of hand, but then looks to Hector and Golum, both of whom give him a shake of their heads.
“Actually, I think we need to hurry, as I think the pipe is breaking.” I say, realizing that one of the pipes are twisting from the constant force. I move back and point to the wall panel in question.
Joe bolts over, and then pulls up the wall panel. “See, nothin…” He trailed off, as she could now see what I could, that his pipes were being twisted and bent.
“Shit!” Joe exclaimed as he jumped up and pulled a random cord hanging from the ceiling.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
WAHWOOOHH!
A steam whistle sounded, as the ship immediately started to slow down. Fortunately, this was a steam ship so we could hover in the air. Unfortunately, the excess pressure is still going through the pipes, only at a much slower clip.
Immediately Joe takes his wrench, has a different head on it, and begins manually twisting the bent pipes back into place.
While he is busy fixing the immediate problem, I begin looking for the spot where the damage could have happened. It takes a few minutes, but after a point, I find a spot at the lower end where it looks like the pipes aren’t sealed correctly.
“Phew. That takes care of the pipe, but now I need to know what caused it.” Joe said, wiping away a few beads of sweat from his head.
At that, I point to the part of the wall that houses the loosely fitting pipes.
Joe looks at me for a second, then reluctantly goes to the spot I indicated, and he sees.
“What!” It is more of a statement than a question, but he states it so emphatically that we all know something happened. “I know I fixed this.” Joe says pausing for a second, before his shoulders slump and he begins working on the pipes.
Looking at the area, I see that a few items have fallen to the ground. The first one looks to be a lug nut, like the one that is clearly missing. The second is an odd item that I can’t quite make out.
“The screw is there just under the pipe. But there is also something there.” I say, first pointing to the screw. Then I point off to the side where the other random item is.
“Wha?” Hector and Golum both say at once.
I pause to look at the two of them. “We just got a quest.” Hector answers my unspoken question.
“Yeah, find the saboteur.” Golum adds.
Within a few seconds Joe has the missing screw and is putting it in place. Then after that, he begins moving his hand around trying to find the odd item I am able to see with my mind.
“To the right, up a little bit, there.” I guide him and he managed to find the item and pull it out. The item is black and means nothing to me, but as soon as he pulls out the item everyone lets out an “oh.”
“Is it bad?” I ask.
“We need to tell the Captain about this.” Joe says, holding up the item. Then he looks around at the boiler room that is only now back in somewhat of a working order.
“Hector, can you stay here and guard the room?” Joe asked, as he quickly pulled down the two wall panels that he had worked at. Then moving over to put away the blueprint designs, he makes to leave, but then turns to me.
“You should come with me.” Joe says.
I pause for a second at the statement, but then realize he might need me to confirm his story.
“I’ll go with you.” Golum adds.
With that, we begin to go out of the long twisting sets of tunnels from the boiler room, to the Captain’s quarters. Surprisingly there aren’t as many steps as I would expect, mainly because there is a back staircase that almost leads directly to the Captain’s quarters. In hindsight the use of a back staircase makes sense, as there might be important things like someone trying to sabotage your ship that needs to be noted rather quickly.
I am panting fairly heavily at having to go up so many steps, but I somehow manage to keep up, despite my tiny legs.
Knock knock.
Joe wraps twice on the door before barging in, without waiting for a reply.
“Captain, we have a saboteur…” Joe trails off as he realizes there is someone already in the room with the Captain.
“Yes, Joseph Flintlock, we were just discussing you.” The man said, as he rose from his seat and turned to face the three of us. “We were discussing your recent malfeasance.”
At that, I wonder who aside from Bond villains, uses the word malfeasance in regular conversation. Just listening to the person before us, I don’t trust him, no clue why, I just don’t.
Still there is something odd about the man, as he appears to be covered in some sort of blue light. Then I realize something, the voice I just heard was distinctly male, while the form under the blue light is decidedly feminine.
“He’s wearing an illusion of some kind.” I state.
There is a pause, as everyone turns to me first. I am just standing there pointing towards the would be infiltrator.
“Shade touched?” Is all the person before us states, a tone of reverence in her voice.
At that, I know what she is.
“Dark elf assassin.” I shout as I begin to back away. I can still see everything in the room, so all I am really doing is making it, so I now have two males and a wall as protection between me and the infiltrator.
Dark elves are some of the most notorious assassins and killers. If you are on their list of targets, you can find that your life will be extremely dangerous and dark for a time, before you die.
The elf pauses, holding still, as if she can still pull off this performance of hers. That of course is when Captain Redgrave pushes something.
Whoosh.
Instantly a wave of energy passes through the room, and I see the thin blue film of energy that had been surrounding the dark elf suddenly disappear.
That is the point when everything breaks down into chaos. Instantly the assassin flings something at the Captain who is already rising to her feet. With that a ball of some kind hurdles out of her hand and slams into the captain’s chest.
Poof.
I can hear the hiss of smoke being released. At that I take in a deep breath and pull my oversized shirt over my head and begin moving further down the hallway and into a nearby maintenance closet.
I know, I took down a level 500+ Behemoth and my second form of combat is to hide in a closet. But I have an excuse for this, mainly I didn’t want to have to use my Traits, if at all possible. While I could use them, they were to be a last resort. I had no training in defense, not that such training would be all that useful against a trained assassin. I also didn’t have a dagger, which meant my only real option was to use Telekinesis and my Personal Teleportation both of which were powers that I didn’t want others knowing that I had, particularly as a Shade Touched dark elf. It also didn’t help that I was currently in the body of a seven-year-old, and while my Attributes were improving that meant next to nothing compared to the physics engines that were constantly running and calculating speed to impact of mass. So to summarize, I was screwed if I did anything, and also likely screwed if I did something other than run away.
I am already moving by the time the Assassin crashes into the mechanic.
Shink.
I hear the sound of a dagger entering a person and almost feel my whole-body shutter at the act. Especially as I can see the damage without having to turn around. With that, I realize part of the problem with this Merit, is that you can’t turn away. You have to see everything all the time.
Seeing the wound to Joe the mechanic, Golum begins reacting instantly.
I feel a jolt of yellow golden energy surge out past him and surround everyone in the area.
Light Magic check automatically passed due to being blind.
Oh hey, look there was a benefit to this flaw after all. I think, as I use the last few seconds to enter the broom closet.
Ping.
I do not want to find out what if anything the Assassin will do if she catches me. Probably kill me out of hand for working with the humans. I don’t know. I also don’t quite know for certain if the dark elf is coming for me. She might just be trying to get off the ship at this point. I don’t know where she would go, nor how she would get down from here, but logically she had a way getting down from a Mark II that was presumably meant to detonate in the air.
I also don’t know if she is going to target me directly, or if it is just a coincidence that she is turning my way. That was the way that Joe and Golum had both been, as adults they likely posed the greatest risk to hitting her in the back.
Slam.
The door slams behind me, as I see Golum try to do something else that involves light magic, but is ultimately unsuccessful. I know it is unsuccessful as I can safely count on zero fingers the number of times a task was considered successful, when the end result was having a knife stabbed into your kidney.
Golum is crumpling to the ground, and I see the assassin coming for me. Well not me, but the closet I am in, so I panic.
Poof.
I disappear and reappear in a cramped wall opening a few feet away.
Wham!
The door to the closet slams open and I can see the assassin pause for a moment as she stares at the empty room where I should be.
“Princess, come with me. I will take you to safety.” The Assassin says.
At this, I know I have two options before me. Either go with the dark elf and likely lose all reputation I have gained thus far with the Maltese Empire and with Captain Redgrave herself. Also, ultimately ruining the quest chains for Hector and Golum, while having my first somewhat easy step in life being to follow this Dark Elf assassin. Honestly, I don’t even know how I knew she was a dark elf assassin at the very beginning. The entire thing just seemed so odd. Sure, I could see the ears under the illusionary effects, and it made the most sense for a Dark Elf to be the saboteur and to use illusionary magic on the ship, but still. There was something there, I was certain. Could I sense her in some way? Furthermore, and more importantly could she sense me in some way?
There was a slight tensing of her muscles, as she looked like she was about to do something, but then said. “Don’t worry princess. I … we will come back for you.” The Assassin said, as she slammed the door shut and began running away.
VRRT. VRRT. VRRT.
Alarm whistles and odd sounds began pouring out of the entire ship. I don’t know if it was a delayed reaction on part of the Captain, as in she was paralyzed by whatever she was hit with. Or if the alarms had been going on the entire time and I was just so focused on getting away from the assassin that I failed to notice. In either case, waited for a full ten count before Teleporting back into the supply closet. Then in a few seconds, I found myself running over to Golum and trying to staunch the bleeding on him.
The dagger, a black and twisted thing seemed to glow with a sick for of malevolent magic. I instantly started to pull it, but Golum stopped me.
“Stop, you will only cause me to bleed out faster.”
“This is a magic dagger, if I don’t pull it out, you will die faster.” I cautioned, then seeing that he relaxed his posture I pulled the dagger out, needing to use both hands to do so gently. Then a spray of blood covered my new shirt. Seeing that my shirt was already soaked I reached into my shirt and held a cloth covered hand across the wound, then slid the entire shirt off as I tried to use the shirt to staunch the bleeding.
“Medic!” I yelled.
“I’ve got…” Golum said, at that I realized he was a regressor and likely had something of a healing salve. Since I was small and needed to keep weight on the wound, I decided to do something I never thought possible, or at least something I never thought would be practical. Placing my knee over the wound I rose up, placing my entire weight on the wound, while grabbing for his satchel and trying to look for a healing salve of some kind.
GAAHHHH!
He cried out in pain.
“Oh come on.” I said, not taking my attention away from the various items in the bag. As it was all black inside, I relied on my fingers to tell me what everything was. Fortunately healing salves have a very light magical coloring to it, meaning that I could with effort direct my hand to the vial.
Taking the vial, I hold it up for a second and as it gets exposed to the air, I see the shorthand runes for Light Healing Potion on the bottle. Nodding to myself, I uncork the bottle and pour it down the elf’s throat.
“No, wait, I…” He managed, but then ended up drinking the potion.
At this point, I see black lines of energy coursing through his body, while the light blue lines of healing energy begin to combat the lines.
Though I can tell from a glance that the amount of dark magic in the elf’s body is far less than the healing salve offered.
“You are poisoned, at least I think it is poisoned, some type of dark black magic.” I state, more or less just feeling the course of energy and the way the energy seems to be familiar to me. It is odd, as if finding a new skill and realizing you are instantly good at it, or at least you know that with hours of practice you can be good at it.
Just recognizing the magic causes an intense understanding to well up inside me, and I wonder what I could do with commanding such magic. Right now, the magic is wild and untamed, undirected. Glancing at the magic and then the dagger, I can see that it wasn’t a spell used by the assassin, rather it was an effect caused by the blade.
“Death magic?” the Elf says questioningly, then holding his hand over the wound begins to channel a stream of golden light into the wound. It is an odd sensation seeing the way light energy first circulates through Golum’s body, then manifests outside his hand, which forms into a beam that begins burning away parts of the darkness inside him.
“Yes, that is working. Keep doing that.” I coach.
Scoff.
“Fuck. I really liked this life too.” Golum said.
“No. No.” I say, slapping the man. “You can’t die, not yet.”
“It’s okay, I have a spare.”
“No, forget that. That is a crutch. Live for this one.” I insist.
“Oh, come on. You know you had one in reserves.”
I shake my head, “no one shot.”
“You truly are crazy. Don’t worry, now Hector can get credit for two of us.” Golum said, as a trickle of blood began to pour from his mouth. I could tell it was blood as it had that odd mixture of light and death magic battling within.
“Not on my watch soldier.” The commanding voice of Captain Redgrave blurted out, as we were both covered in an intense wall of white light.
Woosh!
For a second the light was too bright, but then it slowly faded away as I realized I was kneeling over top of Golum. My knee still digging in deeply to his kidney.
I looked at his body to see that the dark magic that had been wreaking havoc on his insides was gone. There was of course the wound that was still there, but that was minor in comparison to what he had been dealing with.
“Ahh!” Golum said, as he visibly relaxed. I am about to get off of him, when the Captain stops me.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. He has lost a lot of blood and I am not a Paladin. I am afraid that purify is about the best I can offer.” She said, with an apologetic gesture towards Golum.
“No, this is good.” Golum said, then turning back to me. “I take it back.”
“Take what back?”
“All that cursing I did to you for using my healing potion on me.” Golum said.
At that I tilt my head at him in confusion. “You never cursed at me.”
“Oh trust me, I did, but it was mainly in my head.” He said with a smile and a gesture to his head.
“That’s fine. If it makes you still feel better, I can’t think of you as anything other than Golum.” I admit.
Heh.
At his laugh, I feel my entire body rise up and down. It takes me a second to regain my balance while on top of him.
“Oh, stop that, laughing hurts, especially with your knee in my kidney.”
“It is the only way to stop the bleeding.” I admit.
“Oh, I know. Which is why I ask you to stop. That bony knee of yours is terrible.” Golum said, then I could feel the moment his consciousness began to fade.
“No, no.” I began.
“Don’t worry, he will be fine. So long as you keep up that pressure.” The Captain said with a reassuring tone.
I was about to protest that if she was going to do something, then she needed to do it now. But before that happened, I realized more people were coming this way.
“What happened?” A person asked the captain.
“Two injured. Both were poisoned. One in critical condition.” The captain said the last part while pointing towards Golum.
“Roger.”
With that, the person who I assumed was a medic of some kind came over and began casting a light spell over him.
“He’s already had a healing tonic.” He stated rather than asked. “Looks like a minor one.” With that the medic paused.
“Is that bad?”
“It’s not good, I can’t administer another one without having toxicity build up, which could end up being just as bad as letting his body recuperate on his own.”
“Well can we do anything?” I asked.
“Calm down, calm down little lady. Your dad will be just fine.” He said condescendingly.
I was about to blow up at the man. Rule of thumb, never and I repeat NEVER tell someone to calm down, it will never work as intended. Second to assume that I was his daughter because we were both elves, well that was a bit, no very racist. I mean aside from the ears we didn’t even look alike, or did we? I never got to see what type of elf Golum was, I know he had chosen the elven word for light as his name, but I just assumed that meant he was not a dark elf like me.
Fortunately, before I can make any of these points a second medical examiner comes.
“Oh, yes. This one is very bad.” The magic caller says, before slumping down to Golums side, and instantly infusing a cooling green mana into Golum.
I am fascinated by the way magic works, especially with my Angel’s Sight I can see there are many different aspects to watch and observe.
Finally after a few moments of intense focus, I feel the pulse of Golum begin to increase, then I slowly feel the color of life energy flow back into his body. Then finally a minute after that, he lets out a long breath.
“Are you still on me?”
“Yes.” Is all I say, as I let out a long slow chuckle at his words.
“Gods, I don’t know whether to feed your, or put you on a diet. Your knee is so skinny that it is all bones jabbing into my side. But you are also super heavy to be placing all your weight on my kidney and crotch.” He says.
With that, I instantly flinch and move back. I am not quite certain when my knee slid forward, but I assumed it was sometime after his laughing fit.
“Sorry.”
“S’okay, I had kids before, invariably you find a way to strike all dads there eventually.”
“Well, I think your daughter did an admirable job of saving your life.” The medical examiner said.
With that both Golum and I turn our attention to the examiner. Then we both shake our head in unison, realizing that stating anything would likely be counterproductive at this point.
“There, now you should be good to get up.” The Examiner said.
Shhuck.
There is a sickening sound that can only be heard as dried blood is pulled away from two different sets of flesh. I shiver at the sound as I get up.
“I have to commend you. What you did today likely saved his life.” The Examiner said, before continuing, “if you’d like, I could put in a recommendation at the Healer’s school for you.”
At that, my face lights up as I realize this is exactly what I had been hoping for. “Really?” I ask.
“Of course. I can tell you are going to be very strong with whatever school of magic you choose.” He admitted, “but you must excuse me, as I have to go.” The examiner said going over to look over Joe’s injury.
By comparison, the injury Joe suffered was far less lethal, especially considering the Assassin missed his kidney entirely, and then proceeded to leave her dagger within Golum. Something about that whole exchange seemed off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
The magical healer placed his glowing fingers on Mechanic Joe’s shoulders and began healing him. Then after a few seconds, the energy within the medic ran dry, causing the man to nod and have to leave for a bit.
“I will look for other people to heal.” The healer swore, but the way he was wobbling about the hallways indicated that if he did find someone else to heal, he would likely pass out from over taxing of his mana channels. This was a dangerous practice that had a one in ten chance of increasing your mana capacity, while also having a one in ten chance of crippling your mana channels. Ultimately it was a give and take. The other eighty percent would mostly be considered similar to a terrible hangover and move on after a full day’s rest. Most of the time, this was where one’s karma points factored in to play, as to where you would fall on that spectrum.
Finally the four of us were all up and ready to talk. Joe, Golum and I, along with the Captain.
“So you had something to say about a saboteur?” The Captain asked.