We were pulling a classic Moses and wandering in the desert when I discovered a mongolian death worm/ human hybrid approaching us from beneath the sands. Gotta love the sixth and only sense.
_
Sherman Jefferson AKA His Holy Worminess
“Half Human, Half Worm, All ugly”
Grade C
_
One quick conversation and a Roshambo later, it was decided that I would take this one.
While I continued walking forward, Olivia hung back to keep an eye out for any other approaching hostiles.
In the couple of seconds I had before the fight truly started, I thought about my approach. Matthew’s Water was out as this creature was not dark inclined which excluded faith and was sand aligned which weakened water.
That left Orpheus’ Melody and something I have been working on since day one.
Orpheus’ Melody emitted an eldritch green glow that soaked into the ground and then all the bones buried in it.
Said bones speared towards the worm man that was about to exit the ground and were promptly evaded with ease. This resulted in the hybrid being able to fly out of the ground, take a chunk from my bicep, and quickly reenter the sands.
This played out a few more times with me losing a few more chunks of White Immaterial. This was not a problem though in the short term as the hybrid lacked the power to damage my bones and thus disable me. now don’t get me wrong I wasn’t made of White Immaterial, well I was literally but I meant the expression, but I could afford to lose some to achieve an objective.
Fortunately, the hybrid did not realize what my objective was. It just thought I was getting better at aiming the bones and that was why I kept getting closer to piercing it. I did not notice all the rings of distorted lights intersecting through its body.
I must say I was proud of those rings as they were the culmination of months of effort. I could now weave essences in battle. As long as I had a lot of time and opportunity. It was still a niche skill.
These threads of space essence stitched my wormy opponent to the fabric of space and thus slowed it down. Seven stitches later and the first bone pierced its arm. The rest of the body was pierced shortly afterward, and I was left with a worm pin cushion.
The cushion was turned into a new ring, Moses’ Trek. It was a typical authority ring ruling over sand this time. The ring had a tan triangular gem with a band broken up into ten sections with indents.
_
Moses’ Trek
“Let the scorching sands be your bed”
Tier Three
A ring containing a sand authority
_
With my newest piece of the bling bling, it was back to wandering the desert.
***
Two pairs of individuals were staring at each other across a short distance.
The first pair were modeled after salt and pepper with one being raven haired and the other being canary haired.
Yes, I made that up for my hair, but I think that it really worked. In my defense it was the first yellow bird I could think of.
Anywho… lets get back on topic.
The second was made up of two scaled and feathered humanoids. One was covered in green scales and russet feathers with a red comb and wattle. The other had dark brown fur and feathers with claws on his hands and feet.
_
Eli Popov AKA The Cocky Cockatrice
“Kinda a d*ck”
Grade C
_
_
Johnathan Smith AKA The Shifty Sphinx
“Riddle me this, What’s black and blue and red all over? You.”
Grade C
_
Looking at their opponents, the woman reached up and rubbed a finger across her necklace.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
On her neck laid an orange gem necklace with a silver border containing carvings of various types of weapons and armor. This magical artifact was created by her partner using a sliver of his material shaping ability.
_
Armament Amulet
“A good warrior should never be without a good weapon”
Tier One
Creates weapons and armor made from surrounding materials and empowers the creations using chi
_
Sand started swirling around the woman covering the woman’s figure in a tan armor featuring the same carvings on her necklace. The sands then swirled into a broadsword and kite shield. All the armaments had an orange aura swirling around them.
They had a plan for who they would take if possible. The man would take the jinn and the cockatrice, as he had a weapon that countered the first and due to being blind had a defense against the second. The petrifying gaze of the cockatrice only worked on eye contact or if it released a beam of energy, being blind made him immune to the first. The woman would take the basilisk and the sphinx. As she had armor that prevented the poison touch from working and the sphinx was the only one left.
In addition, due to her partner’s nature, the basilisk’s poison is a severe risk to him. It either would be completely ineffective as it’s swallowed by the rot or strengthen said rot out of his control leading to it rampaging through his body which would in turn affect his mind and soul. Death would follow soon after. The man had no idea which one it would be.
She then moved to engage the sphinx human hybrid as her partner sunk into the ground. While the woman and her opponent approached one another, her partner proceeded reached his hand above the surface and grabbed the cockatrice hybrid’s ankle. He then dragged his opponent away from their partners.
She readied herself for the incoming battle.
The hybrid opened the battle by rushing her claws outstretched and mouth snarling.
The hybrid was on her almost immediately scratching and biting like a rabid animal. It was barely doing anything to its opponent except pushing her back and in return was receiving large gashes.
The woman wondered what happened to her opponent. While the transformation should have reduced impulse control, increased aggression, and some higher thinking, it should not have made someone truly rabid.
When she tripped over the rock and saw the smirk on her opponent’s face, she knew the reason. Only it was too late as a set of dagger like claws was already in the face gap of her armor.
Fortunately, her partner was great at his job and created a sub feature that reinforced the air around gaps in the user’s armor. While nowhere near the defense provided by the reinforced solid armor, it turned a killing blow into a nasty gash that barely reached her teeth.
The hybrid committed to what it perceived as the killing blow. When it wasn’t, the hybrid was open to counterattack. The woman’s sand broadsword turned into a spear that pierced the hybrid’s side, through its lungs and heart.
She then started off towards her partner.
***
By the time that the cockatrice hybrid reacted and prepared to launch a beam of petrifying energy from its eyes, its opponent’s hand slipped back beneath the surface.
The man copied the strategy of a previous enemy of his, by keeping below the sands and taking potshots. The main difference is that his new enemy could not see or have any effect below the sands.
Eventually the hybrid legs were nothing but bones with a few muscle strands hanging off them. It finally fell to the ground and when it did the sand pulled it under. The hybrid never saw the light of day again.
***
I fed Olivia’s trophy to Mena’s Book empowering it to the first rank and enhancing my ability to quickly access information.
The second corpse was turned into a ring that featured a caustic orange eye with a slit pupil and a bone housing with feather and scale carvings.
_
Petrifying Ring
“Like a beautiful woman, my gaze makes men hard”
Tier One
A ring that releases a beam of petrifying energy
_
After another several minute walk we arrived at our next set of matches.
Brogan prepped her armor and weapons while staring at the basilisk in the eye. I held up Matthew’s Water while siking myself up for a fight against the jinn.
_
Barbara Perez AKA Basilisk Barbie
“Accessories not included”
Grade C
_
_
Trevor Long AKA Jinn Ken
“Accessories not included”
Grade C
_
Just when the party was just getting started, a large demon-like figure came from the shadows and tore out our opponent’s hearts. The figure was nine feet tall and had muscles on its muscles. Its frame was wrapped in bluish gray skin and on its head were two huge grayish blue curved horns.
_
Gordon AKA The Jinn General
“Accessories not included”
Grade B
_
In a gravelly voice the figure spoke, “The shame that has been put upon the great jinn king Robin shall be washed away with the blood of all those who have witnessed it.”
I turned to my partner, “It seems like the jinn king is displeased with the ingestion of his child’s blood. Who could have ever guessed.”
“yeeeeeaaaah… It seems like a pretty easy guess, but I’m pretty sure they did not know that the blood was royal and would thus create an alpha screech. Or that said screech would turn everyone into monsters and alert the corpse’s parents of how they desecrated their child’s corpse.” my partner responded.
“Well let’s clean up a mess made by idiots” I told my partner after sighing.
With a sigh of her own, “That seems to be a large portion of my job, my job title might as well be janitor.”
“Not the best joke, but we’ll workshop it later.”
Current Equipment:
Head:
[The Black Wasp Jackal’s Face]
Earrings:
[]
Necklace:
[The Energy Baron’s Stomach]
Clothes:
[]
Rings:
[The Mentalism Ring]
[Succubus’ Kiss]
[Mena’s Book]
[Matthew’s Water]
[Orpheus’ Melody]
[Moses’ Trek]
[Petrifying Ring]
Bracelets:
[]
Shoes:
[]
Armaments:
[Sacrificial Scarf]
[Beastly Heart]
Storage:
[Various Essences]
[Chi Organ]
[Spirit Shards]
[Various Murder Weapons]
[Green Thumb]
[Glass Eye]