Ch: 156 Smilin’ Faces
Emma shrieked in horror as she fell, plunging the gleaming, wooden, leaf shaped blade through her friend’s heart.
Lakshmi stared in silent, paralyzed shock at the gilt and jeweled hilt between her breasts. Poor Leticia fainted away with a silent gasp.
“I said, be careful with that.” The man with the soft, lyric accent spoke calmly, as he helped Emma back to her feet. I need you to pull that sword out of your friend… I can’t touch it… right now.”
Emma stood, trembling her eyes wide and rolling about wildly. She gasped for breath as though finishing a marathon in lead shoes. “Ohh… You fainted too… sorry.” He said sadly.
Lakshmi looked at herself, clearly run through the heart, she took a single step and fainted as well. She tumbled bonelessly to the lawn, with the gleaming bronze hilt still jutting from her bodice.
“Shai… can you help me with something, sweety?” He called.
‘“Fie Gary I hae work tae do in the… Sweet merciful Godesses… what hae ye done?!” She yelled in stunned horror at the scene.
There were noblewomen sprawled all over the floor, one with that damned sword jammed in her gullet to the quillons.
“Gary, I would see that sword scrapped fer bronze ere summat do actually get hurt wi it.” She grumbled while drawing the brutal thing from the fallen countess. The bronze plated, wooden blade sang a liquid chime, as she drew it out, clean and shiny as ever.
Basil’s Wraithbane, enchanted wooden sword, spiritual enchantment. Rank, iron. Quality, unique. Elemental affinities: Earth, Death, Spirit, Life, Light, Dimension.
Effect, Ghost Whomper: Undead and spiritual entities may be struck with this weapon, regardless of tangibility.
Effect, Lifeguard: any part of blade which attempts to penetrate a living aura will displace into a nondimensional storage space.
Effect, Thespian’s Strike: when thrust into a living aura, blade will remain in fixed relative position to ‘victim’ effectively but harmlessly simulating murder.
*warning* Undead wielder or target will reverse all effects.
“We’ll be needing tae soak them in the baths boy, Tawny will be needed as well.” Shai complained. “At least the poor maid be still packing up at the..”
A high wailing scream rang out from the doorway. To be fair, Shai was holding a sword over a pile of slumped bodies… She failed to appreciate it when he pointed that out, as he dragged the collapsed girl into the room with her mistress.
#
“Boy, I might just try stabbing thee with this sword… ohh, tis fine work in all…” She muttered as the polished brass embellishments caught the fading afternoon sunlight. “Fie! Go fetch Tawny, bring Annie wi thee as minder, she hae sense at least.”
Tawny rode Annie on the way back as he and Liam trotted alongside. Gary did his best to explain on the way, it went less than perfectly…
“...Emma stabbed Lakshmi through the heart, but it was a ghost sword…? Gary, why do you have a ghost sword, why did she stab the countess? What even is a ghost sword anyway?” Tawny was lost at sea with no compass on this one.
“Ok, long story short, everyone is ok, the sword can’t hurt living people… unless I hold it. They just frightened themselves into fainting…” Gary was making about as much sense as usual.
“Ghost sword… interesting concept…” Liam muttered.
“It was a mistake, I wanted a sword that could be safely… used for… stuff…” He trailed off when Liam and Tawny both shot him suspicious looks.
“It was supposed to be a theater prop, the ghost stabbing utility sorta happened accidentally.” He finished unhappily.
“Prop?” Liam asked. “Like for a play?”
“Yeah, I walked in on a rehearsal… don’t let on that I know… I was pretty sneaky at the time.” He mumbled in embarrassment.
“It’s supposed to be a surprise. The orphans have been working on it with Becky and the dryads. That’s what gave me the idea for the props and a few custom jobs as well.”
“Gary, why have you been sneaking about?” Tawny demanded.
“I don’t like having guards… makes me feel like I’m back in juvie.” He took on an obstinate posture and fumed at them. “I don’t care, no more guards. I’m iron rank now, I don’t need a minder.” He griped loudly as they ran.
Annie gave a snuffling huff and swung her head, swatting the mouthy boy off into the shrubbery, in an ungainly flailing tumble.
“Well that settles that.” Tawny remarked icily. “I have a group of traumatized noble ladies to soothe and aid… Please contain your juvenile antics until a more suitable time.” Only Annie was spared her withering ‘Glare of Authority’ gift.
“I shudder to think what we will find…”
Tawny’s gentle scolding sputtered and dried up when they rode through the garden gate and found the three women busily slaughtering each other in the garden.
Leticia had a horn hilted, golden dagger jabbed into Emma’s back, while Lakshmi gutted the poor girl savagely with that same wooden shortsword.
Emma’s rapier was currently not doing much, since she had managed to plunge it through her own thigh.
“My Adventurers make this look so easy…” She complained bitterly. “Why has no one ever told me how difficult these things are to use… I tore a nail!”
She brandished the ragged fingernail and received gasps of distress from the women with yards of sharp stuff stabbed through their bodies.
“Gary… sometimes I regret that Healer’s strictures prevent me from drawing blood in anger.” Tawny muttered.
“Countess, baroness, lady Emma… please stop butchering yourselves with my mad friend’s creations…”
The three ladies were dressed in common clothes, a practice Emma and Lakshmi had adopted with glee when they moved in. The countess seemed to have joined them in the casual world of comfy clothes.
“Don’t be such a ninny, Tawny. We don’t get to run about with our Adventurers having… adventures… ugh, what a terrible turn of phrase… I’m sorry about that…”
“How about, ‘we don’t get to run about with our Adventurers, performing feats of daring-do’? That seems to flow much more naturally.” Emma helped, helpfully, like a good friend.
“Oh, yes, I like that too!” The baroness sang, still brandishing her wooden dagger about.
“Leticia, practice weapons be safer than real, but should be handled wi the same care, lest ye learn bad habits.” Shai called from her bench by the rose arbor.
“It seems that Gary is not the only one who needs to master discretion and the bounds of propriety.” Tawny remarked to her big friend.
“Dueling with his mad enchanted weapons under your supervision… Does that sound like clear thinking, Shai?”
The golden girl’s frown moderated, as she watched her friend come around.
“You are freshly into iron rank… a little giddy bad judgment is not unusual…”
“Nae…” Shai muttered in sudden confusion. “I dinnae ken this, tis summat odd feeling, like I kinnae put a foot wrong this day, it did blind me tae the foolishness of the thought…” She mused, her eyes downcast. “Nae, Leticia, dinnae carry on so…” She called to the baroness.
“I feel quite the rake, stabbing people without a care…” Baroness Leticia giggled and plunged her dagger into the tall brown man standing nearby, chatting with a horse. “Have at thee!” She sang, while stabbing him cheerfully in the kidney.
#
“I didn’t mean you Annie, I know you are always looking out for all of us… you can be my minder whenever you…” Gary said softly, to the big horsie, as he scratched her jaw
The strange, familiar sensation of spreading, wet warmth was his first clue, followed by wracking, shattering pain that sent him spiraling into darkness.
“Aw, dang…” He gasped softly as he fell.
#
When Leticia’s hand came away covered with dark, thick, sticky blood, she was puzzled for a moment.
“Shai… did I do it wrong?” She asked mildly, while fainting beside her victim.
“Liam, get my kit… Shai, stay right where you are… better yet, go find a dryad or Axio… Emma, fetch Ivy from the carriage house.” Tawny fired her orders off like a drill sergeant on parade day, supremely confident she would be obeyed.
From the slowly spreading bloodstain on the lawn, tendrils of serpentine shadow began to twitch and move; crawling in fits and starts in the direction of the people. The slim threads were barely visible, touching the shadows of each as they squirmed all around.
The fallen man thrashed and spasmed lurching dangerously as Tawny tried to corral him and get a look at his wound.
With care, she reached out and took the blood slick hilt and tried to pull it out, only to have it slip in deeper, without resistance, as though his flesh were mist.
Golden sparks and flashes of glimmering starlight began to spread from the wound, fizzing and popping in his spreading shadow. That drew a slow, groaning wail from him, as his shadow began to dissolve from the fizzing edges inward.
Naturally, that was when Becky, Levin and all three kids came strolling back into the yard, with Khan and Luna in tow.
Both veterans drew concealed weapons at their first sight or scent of blood on the air, scanning for foes, while the children ran to Shai… except Rio.
He ran in his childishly clumsy way, over to Tawny and the wreckage of Gary.
“Rio, stay with the other…”
He slid around Tawny with an easy grace, revealing the almost supernatural agility the kids displayed from time to time.
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In a moment, his tiny hand flashed out and snatched the bloody dagger from the stricken man’s back.
“The curse of Santa Muerte, your light will burn him.” He said, before dropping the dagger and running off to join the others.
Only the presence of the children kept Shai from dashing to him. That and the stabbing, shearing agony that had paralyzed her, from the moment that horrible thing pierced her boy.
She gasped and sagged when the blade was removed, feeling whatever Tawny’s touch had unleashed, start to fade.
Shai took a moment of relief to concentrate and summon what his insane ‘Interface’ gift was doing at the moment.
*warning* You have been struck with a weapon inimical to your being.
*warning* You are currently impaled by a weapon inimical to your being.
*warning* You have been afflicted with condition: Healing Radiance. Healing Radiance is inimical to your being, you have been cursed with Healing Radiance.
*WARNING* Curse: Healing Radiance is decaying your Ka. Shadow depletion, twelve percent and rising.
*WARNING* Curse: Healing Radiance is damaging your physical form. Your undying nature is vulnerable to Healing Radiance, damage over time effect has been extended and enhanced.
The storm of flashing messages subsided, as she batted them away with her mind. She closed her own eyes and reached out with her Will to open his.
With a little practice she had found the trick of seeing his ‘status bars’ for health, stamina, and his mana pools, both etheric and spiritual. Now she peeked in and spotted his health bar, dangerously low, but not falling.
The red bar was nearly half gone, with another quarter shaded out, showing where the lingering effects were nibbling away at him.
The yellow bar was at half and stopped, neither rising nor falling. The two mana pool icons were at full, but grayed out and unavailable.
Satisfied he would live, she started sifting through those messages more carefully. Near the bottom she found what she was looking for.
Curse: Healing Radiance has ended, damage over time effect counting down. Your undying nature is vulnerable to this holy boon. Curse: Healing Radiance has been replaced by Curse: Sacred Stricture.
Curse: Sacred Stricture is inimical to your being, duration extended. Duration: one day. Under the effect of Sacred Stricture, you may not offer/be offered violence to/by any living being without suffering retributive Curse: Healing Radiance.
“Gods above an below, what hae he wrought?” Shai whispered raggedly.
Tawny was finished sewing her boy back together, tidying her gear up as Liam smeared some of his own pink snot on the wound. She wrapped up her tools and turned to the fallen Leticia, now gently stirring.
“Liam, Emma, countess, please haul the baroness away from the scene of the crime before she wakes… There has been enough screaming and fainting today.”
Tawny collected the dagger, since her hands were already bloody. “Now, Shai… He will be fine, he doesn’t have any organs to stab, but he lost some blood. What can you tell me about this… thing, why did it affect him so?”
“I dinnae ken, save that he were nearly undone by it… He did say he made it fer thee, fer some purpose of his own.” Shai said softly, with her children on her lap.
She reached out and touched the bloody thing with a finger and got its information.
Bitter Mercy, enchanted dagger, spiritual, etheric enchantment. Rank, copper plus. Quality, Legendary. Elemental affinities, Light, Life, Healing, Dimension, Death, Entropy.
Effect, Ghost Whomper: Undead and spiritual entities may be struck with this weapon, regardless of tangibility.
Effect, Lifeguard: any part of blade which attempts to penetrate a living aura will displace into a nondimensional storage space.
Effect, Thespian’s Strike: when thrust into a living aura, blade will remain in fixed relative position to ‘victim’ effectively but harmlessly simulating murder. *warning* Undead targets will suffer all deleterious effects.
*Warning* Undead struck by Bitter Mercy will be afflicted with Boon/Curse: Healing Radiance.
‘The gift of mercy, sweet release from pain. You will know when, Tawny.’
Shai blanched at that last sentence, shuddering with dread and premonition.
“Aye, he made this fer thee…, I’ll hae the keeping of it.. Fer now.” She growled, as the thing vanished into her storage gift.
#
“No, baroness, He will not blame you for what happened, it was a pure accident. You may visit him as soon as his family have finished…”
The lady was in a terrible state, fussing and pacing constantly, when she was not washing her hands reflexively at any water source she saw.
Lady Emma and the countess were seated by the fire, wrapped in blankets and sipping tea. The strange little family had just gone into the sickroom by the private bath, but they emerged shortly, happy and chattering, despite the circumstances.
“At least they are taking this well… I shan’t be able to sleep for a week…” Lakshmi whispered.
“They are an Adventurer’s family, countess. They have stood watch over him thus, many times… and will again, I fear.” Tawny said softly as she joined the group by the fire.
“Baroness Leticia will be out shortly, once she has satisfied her honor and her conscience.”
“He truly will not press charges? He could extract a huge judgment from her estates, perhaps enough to become a landed knight in one of these new territories.” The countess whispered.
“You will have few worries on that score… Gary finds wealth strangely repugnant. He sees great wealth as a symptom of a societal illness, one he aims to cure.”
Tawny smiled warmly at her three new friends.
“Jaspreet will be by soon, she heard there was trouble and wishes to see that all is well, let us not trouble the bride with tales of enchanted weapons and bloodshed.”
#
“...I cannot beg your forgiveness…” She choked and struggled desperately to restrain her vomit, while kneeling at the curb of the wounded man’s sunken bed of plants and swirling water.
“Really, I forgive you, it’s fine… my own fault really.” His voice was clear, if weak; carrying to her on the lyric notes of his musical accent.
She continued on for a while until he slowly dragged himself to the edge and pulled her into the pool. Her clothing dissolved into nothing in moments as he wrapped her in a warm, comforting hug.
“Shhh… You weren’t trying to hurt anyone.” He rocked her back and forth for a minute or two, before slipping away and carefully climbing from the pool. He donned a robe and left her floating there, tangled in the water plants and flowers, smiling and snoring softly.
#
Jaspreet walked into the strangely familiar strange house, gazing around in wonder, as Gary hobbled by in a robe, propping himself up on a gray stick with a bronze handle.
“Jazz! Hi!” His happy greeting sapped a lot of his strength, he wobbled a bit before steadying.
“The girls are all in by the fireplace, except Leticia, she’s tuckered out.”
“You look unwell yourself… are you… bleeding?” She asked gently, as thick red droplets hit the floor behind him.
“Ohh, dang… Tawny is gonna be pissed.” He pulled a cube of violet colored wax from nowhere and began kneading it between his fingers briskly.
“Scuse’ me, my lady…” He said, as he ducked out of sight behind a screen that had not been there a moment before. When he emerged, most of the violet wax was gone from his fingers and he was dressed in simple, commoner’s clothing.
“You are a very strange boy, Gary… I’m only just beginning to suspect how strange. Have you read a book called ‘Kim’?” She asked, staring at him intently.
“Never heard of it…” He answered quickly. “Why would a commoner have read a book?”
“That is the very first lie you have told me, Gary. How interesting. For now, I would visit with my sister and friends.” She said primly, taking him by the arm. “Guide me to them please. We will continue our discussion later.”
Gary ‘escorted’ her over to the fireplace, where her friends were seated… In that she helped steady him as he staggered along.
“Ladies,” He said with feeble, tottering bow. “...Be welcome in my home, there is no debt between us…” He looked to Tawny, seeming worried.
“Did I say that right? Your customs are weird.”
‘Yes, Gary. sit down before you fall down. Auntie, push him into that chair please.” Tawny gave her auntie a knowing smirk.
“What chair…?” While she was asking, a plush chair with brown tapestry cushions seemed to appear behind him. Or perhaps it had been there all along… In any case, he collapsed into it, with a sigh and a wince.
“Leticia is having a nap. She needed rest and it would be indelicate to share such intimate proximity with her ladyship…” He paused for a moment of thoughtful contemplation.
“I told miss Grunkle: ‘nothing I could learn from Ivanhoe would ever be useful’... She got me there. I’m like six zero in that matchup… I should look up everything else she told me.”
“Gary!” Tawny clapped her hands sharply, bringing him back around. “He gets a little confused when he’s low on blood, it’s a regular occurance.”
“Tawny, I would not criticize your skills, but why is your support monkey getting stabbed so often…” Emma remarked, her brow furrowed in concern.
“I saw his scars while you were working on him… I can help you work on your tactical formations and logistics if you wish.”
“My support team stays well back from combat, not to boast, but I haven't lost a warrior in six months!”
Gary’s bleary eyes rounded to slim, pretty Emma. “You Adventure?” He croaked, as exhaustion slowly crept up on him.
“I manage my family Adventure teams… I don’t go out in the field of course.” She smiled at Tawny with genuine warmth and a little awe.
“I could never do what Lady Tawny does. I manage contracts, logistics, personnel, all the day to day matters of keeping a team of warriors in the field and active.” She sighed softly.
“I don’t know how you do it, Tawny. Your team is so young too, my orphans will hardly bestir themselves for chores, never mind start their careers early!”
The young man was twitching slightly and his face looked oddly flushed, so no one was surprised when Tawny reached out, touched his hand and whispered a spell that sent him to sleep.
“You are so sure and gentle with them Tawny… how do you manage them with such a light hand?” Emma asked as a red haired giant carried the wounded man away.
“I don’t manage them, they are my comrades and friends. And my beloved.” She skewered the countess with one golden eyebrow, fixing her in place.
“Silly girl, I will pretend to be scandalized if it comes out, but really… Your guardian boy is delicious. Anyone who does not suspect is blind or a fool.” She wielded an eyebrow of her own in reply.
“I’ve heard rumors of certain sketches of a remarkable bottom.”
“On that note, let us view these paintings and look at these strange weapons that have created such a strange event.” Jaspreet sang happily. “I’m the bride, what I say goes!”
#
Ivy and Shai were in the taproom, going over the weapons on the wall with care. It was looking pretty grim.
“This one is half flute, half blowgun, all undead slaying truncheon… it literally adds up to one hundred and fifty percent.”
Whistling Past The Graveyard, enchanted flute, club, blowpipe. Rarity, legendary…
There were a dozen weapons, from mundane staves to exotic polearms, all designed to be largely harmless to living beings; while also devastating the undead, spiritual and immaterial.
“Whae kin this mean? Why so many an why this one do be so different?” Shai muttered and grumbled as she packed away the arsenal of undeadly weapons. The wooden dagger she kept behind the bar, on a high shelf.
“I do mislike every bit of this, save that the undead be a terrible bane which do often hae only poor answers.”
“That’s actually it, Shai.” Becky said from the door, where she entered with the noble ladies. “We’ll discuss that later, Tallum has Gary in the private bath, if you wish to join them.”
Leticia arrived, looking much refreshed and freshly dressed moments after the giant hauled the slightly smaller giant away. When sweet little Becky had joined the group of older women, they had smiled tolerantly, while Jaspreet and Tawny decided to have a little fun.
With a little subtle deference and a few broad hints, Becky swiftly was in charge of the small party, leading them back to the taproom.
Just a slight bow from the lady Tawny and a deeper obeisance from lady Jaspreet, soon the others were treating the smiling girl as a peer and listening to her with interest.
“We operate in a largely independent manner, remaining in the field for extended periods. Survivability in the field is a key hallmark of the Ginger Dreadnought Company methodology.”
“Survivability is always a goal. Sadly we fall short too often.” Lakshmi mused sadly. “I lost a whole team last summer, to a man… though they preserved three villages and allowed the people from a fourth to escape.”
“Again, survivability is our goal, for our group and all our brothers and sisters… everywhere.” Becky said firmly.
“Lady Becky… What is your house?” The countess asked firmly, as suspicion bloomed in her eyes.
“I am Becky, of house Ward. Orphan, Adventurer and high priestess of Knowledge, first reader of the god Marduk, the moon.”
Lakshmi sighed deeply at Jaspreet, while smiling tolerantly.
“An orphan…? Really child, run along. Jaspreet, is this some prank of yours? The ominous robes add that special touch that your little jests often lack…” The countess grumbled and shooed at the stubborn child.
“What, exactly do my ‘jests’ lack, cousin Lakshmi?” The duchess to be had no power, compared to the awesome forces wielded by the bride on her wedding party.
“It’s just that you…” The countess stammered, until Becky cleared her throat, from deep within her cowl of crawling chaos.
“I said, I am Becky, high priestess of the god Knowledge. Lord Marduk, the moon, light of man’s wisdom and learning, eternal candle against the darkness. Watcher over the shadows and keeper of dreams, Marduk the god who bears the light in man’s darkest hour and offers the truth in his hand… Will you take it? Or remain in darkness?”
She turned her hood of deepest shadow on Tawny and Jaspreet. “I’ve been working on my breath control.”
“That was very good, Gary will be pleased.” Tawny said with a gentle smile.
“My little sister is a warrior and scholar, cleric and orphan… and so much more. As is my Liam and all the rest. My brothers and sisters.” She told the gathered ladies, smiling gently at the commoners in the common room.
Tawny addressed them all firmly. “Gary will make his case when the time is right. The case I make to you tonight, to all of you, is this: We ask too much of our orphans and give far too little.”
“What does that mean? And what does that have to do with the art collection?” Jaspreet demanded, feeling upstaged and slightly trapped.
Smiling brightly, Becky reappeared from her hood. “That, lady Jaspreet, is called a bait and switch. We promise you a scandalous and much rumored art viewing, but we also show you what you need to see.”
The lights came up and illuminated the entire room. Revealing an assortment of objects, tools, weapons and armor.
“Gary was supposed to give this presentation, but someone stabbed him in the back…” Leticia tried to look small, but Tawny wrapped her in a comforting hug.
“Gary has forgiven her, Becky. It was an accident.” Tawny gave her friend a squeeze.
“Anyway, welcome to the Wardco labs, Adventureworks.”
She struck a pose and spoke clearly, enunciating each word carefully.
“Wardco Enchanted armor and tools will keep your warriors alive, while offering potent enhancements. We have charms to repel vermin or evade noxious fumes, as well as a full line of potions, lotions, and rations.”
She strolled the showroom, among the paintings and items.
“You will be more interested in our line of camp life improvement items to start, I’m sure. This is the Wardco Travel Stove. Any warrior with a Contract with Light, Fire or Earth, can power this efficient and compact camp stove. Use it to cook meals, warm a dwelling, whatever you need a stable heat source for, the Wardco Travel Stove has you covered, weighing in at just two pounds.”
She waved their attention from the squat sheet metal contraption, to a strand of bronze bells on individual clips.
“Or perhaps a few of our Wardco BugBells, guaranteed to banish blood sucking insects and other parasites from the radius of the bell’s sound.” She carried on, indicating a display of rings and ear cuffs.
“We are best known for our stink ring enchantments… err, Aroma Bands™, but the crown jewel of our line is the communications system…”
She held up a glass topped tray bearing a few silver ear cuffs and buttons. “The Wardco TeamChat system, the first word in squad level, medium range voice communications.”
She smiled once again, spreading her arms in her mysterious springtime forest robes, encompassing the displays.
“We have the lot, enspelled for durability, reliability and most importantly, survivability.”
“What is this? A sales pitch? Enchanted weapons, my sweet aunt Fannie’s plump arse!” Emma snapped.
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