The Taiwanese were both understanding and envious that we were celebrating a holiday... but quiet words that we would be bringing back some help were very appreciated. Just bringing in some new cell phones and computers would be a big help, let alone something like, oh, new ammunition, and maybe some volunteers and experts in infrastructure development from Heavenbound Hall.
Bard/5 had dinged over last night, carrying with it Resist Nature’s Lure, as well as Voice of the Mage for a Feat (distinctive Voice, carries up to a mile with no Casting or expenditure, +1 to all Skills that use the voice) and Bardic Lore/2, +2 to all Lore checks. I did get the option of picking a General Feat, and selected Dazing Spell, a powerful +3 Meta that dazed people a number of rounds equal to the Valence Level if they failed their saves... and they weren’t going to be making the save. That was a minimum of three rounds, and possibly much longer, of having their head reeling from mental and spiritual shock, which was naturally an eternity in a fight. Being unable to actually do anything but defend yourself was basically a death sentence.
Given we were twelve hours ahead, I Teleported us off hours before dusk, so that we would get there early in the morning, ‘going back’ on the clock, first Waterjumping to Baja, then on to a certain ghoul-run eatery south of Chicago.
I dropped Shvaughn off in that parking lot near Chicago, where The Mick, Sir Pellier, Father Bower, and Helix had all gathered to meet us. They were a bit trepidatious about fitting in to a big dwarven clan dinner, but Sama just laughed and said they’d fit right in without any problem.
I shrank their van down, as I had Sleipner, and when the Seal lit up in the distance after Sama fed me the configuration, we hopped across the miles and appeared in the corner of a large back yard, in the middle of a Teleport Seal of fine dwarven make that literally had never been used before that moment.
A very large cheer went up all around, as those who had not been Teleported before reeled a bit from the spatial distortion, difference in relative velocities and air pressure, realignment of magnetic fields, and all the other little things you had to acclimate yourself to, despite the spell taking care of a lot of it.
Everyone blinked at the absolute horde of people there, and only some of them were dwarves.
Even I blinked at the numbers of urukhar, halvyr, hyn, ogryn, a couple gnomes, humans, dhatun, and dwarves all cheering at our arrival, adults and children alike, eyes bright with awe on seeing the magic literally deposit us here from hundreds of miles away.
Hank Blakhamar, his eyes beaming with pride over his dark beard, stepped forward with his big hand extended to me, and I took it promptly. “Welcome to my home, Lady Traveler!” he declared in excellent Human. He glanced sideways, including everyone else. “You all are probably going to have a very busy day. It is not often we have heroes of such caliber on our grounds!”
The Mick wanted to cover a cough, looking over everyone, and was astonished to find his eyes sliding over to meet those of a slender Blooded woman in black, feeling her presence as surely as she did his.
-That would be Amaretta Blakhamar, one of his first adopted daughters,- Sama /informed him dryly. -She’s free-Blooded, or, more precisely, this is her Family. You might want to talk to her.- His expression said he was already well past the want stage and barreling forward.
“I think all of you know who this is!” Sama exclaimed aloud, reaching out to drag Helix forward, definitely standing out in that bowler.
“Helix the Fool!” everyone cheered him, and he doffed his bowler with a bow and an abashed smile, now perfectly happy at playing the role, and the groans of sympathy that arose on the heels of that statement.
“Please tell me none of you need to be Wraith-drained!” he called back earnestly, sighing, and the groans grew even louder. Dozens of arms lifted up, and he winced for all of them. “Oh, Tiirith. You are going to remember that for the rest of your life!”
“We can take it!” declared a stout young dwarf, a proclamation that was taken up by the whole clan, and then everyone was coming forwards to grab a member of the company and start the talking and yakking, the children were racing around in excitement, and the animals were dancing about excitedly.
Quiffio the Citybound was here, having a standing invitation to the Blakhamar festivities. He almost blended into the fence over there, but Master Fred naturally spotted him instantly, and caught my eye. I inclined my head, and he went over to the talk to St. Paul’s Senior Citybound, who was naturally quite nervous after feeling the power of a Grandmaster Warlock.
Sama slid into the embrace of her Hagsisters; Lily, Rose, and Tulip were all here, and somehow two or three halvyri got suckered into the group embrace, including the stern-faced and cold-eyed Shivaelli.
There were half-a-dozen Priests of various Faiths among the Blakhamars, who naturally attracted the attention of Father Bower, while there was no end of soldiers with long service who were eager to chat with Sir Pellier, the man driving the New York Cleansing.
Helix naturally had no end of fans here, and his embracing of the image of the guy who made all the mistakes only made him that much more approachable. He could alternate between wild enthusiasm, total groaning idiocy, and grim sighs with practiced ease, and soon had a crowd hanging onto his every word as he laid out a story of haplessness for every occasion. “Y’know, everyone said to do it this way, but I thought, what if I tried this? Wouldn’t that be cool?” And everyone groaned, able to tell what was coming...
Of course, he hadn’t actually done all that, but Minstrels had to perform, so he was. He collected ‘I’m an idiot’ stories like a living encyclopedia now.
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Briggs found himself surrounded by starry-eyed brutes who were amazed they had to look up at him... and the only one who didn’t, a big purple-skinned ogryn with overlong arms and horns on his head, was outmassed by at least twenty kilos. He was the only Ancient in attendance, which seemed to excite the beefy brutes even more, and with his Source Charisma, he had no problem utterly dominating them.
That he could wrestle around Sama, who, by the careful looks they shot after her, these beefy lads were very respectful of, also got their admiration.
Briggs, of course, was very laid back in person, but the elemental strength he exuded was just not something these guys could miss. The air was full of Crystal-style ki and chi, and the way his footsteps reverberated through the others had them all kind of starry-eyed at the subtle and absolute dominance of his lower-end heavyfoot.
I could see a lot of arm-wrestling and hammer-tossing matches in his immediate future, as well as a lot of potent beer.
There were over twoscore spellcasters here, of multiple races, and they all wanted to talk with me. Hank Blakhamar didn’t even need to say a word, as all his kids held back, opened up a path for us, and closed it behind us without saying anything.
“Sama told you that a lot of clan heads wanted to meet with you, Lady Traveler,” he said without preamble. I could feel his presence in the Markspace, as he was wearing one of her Marks, just like me, although he kept a careful distance there and limited his contacts through Sama prudently, not out of fear.
“Well, there’s money to be made,” I sighed calmly. “Dwarves are drawn to personal business connections, not just pieces of paper, and they are leery about being drawn into other people’s problems, given what so many of you elders have gone through in the past.”
“Yes.” He led me down some wide steps towards the basement levels of his sprawling home. I noticed the tall ceilings and extremely well-done carvings and supports, nodding to myself at the QL.
Despite being human once, dwarves all exhibited a powerful call to the earth, and they preferred to live below ground, not above it. Joined by gnomes, goblins, orcs, and not a few magical creatures, there were whole sub-cities under the surface most of those living on the surface knew nothing about.
While they didn’t have the endless years of toil behind them that dwarven nations in stories did, the combination of magic and tech meant that room underground had been excavated swiftly and cleanly. Among other things, almost any developed city had some form of a subway system now, not just a major metropolis, and there were devoted loading stations to move things to the shops and places that existed underground.
For similar reasons, dwarves dominated the heating and ventilation professions, too...
The doorless lift he brought me to in a side room took me down several floors, two of which were occupied by older women of several races, all hurrying about and getting today’s meal ready for everyone. They waved at us as we passed, but were intent on their tasks, and I knew Sama would be coming down here to pitch in soon.
That, of course, meant that this was probably going to be the best Thanksgiving Dinner that anyone here had had. I was 99% sure she was already talking to all of them, and they were all Marked, given how quietly everything was happening here.
There was a sub-basement here, leading off into an underground porch and a walkway with plates moving smoothly and calmly in each direction.
The underground ways did not need to reflect at all the importance of streets upstairs, and tended not to. Wealthier and more powerful clans built up the tunnels around their holdings, and buried halls extended off to one another, forming rings of passageways from area to area. This also allowed those pathways to be sealed quickly, just in case, by those who knew how.
Hank Blakhamar gave me a mental heads-up on everyone who was here as we headed for a conference hall used for meetings just like this about a quarter-mile away. All those who wanted to meet me were gathered there, and despite his having a very non-standard dwarven clan, they had bowed to his influence and were meeting him in his own territory.
These were dwarves and gnomes here from all over the country, who had dropped everything for a chance to meet me. They controlled wealth and labor that might well have discomfited a lot of humans who thought they held power and influence. Possibly more than any other people, the dwarves understood that their true wealth was their people and their families, and the skill they could bring to Crafting and making things of stone and metal better than anyone else alive.
The guards to the doors to this place were a dwarven smith whose shop Sama had once crafted in, as well as his apprentices, all looking very unsmithly and tingling dangerous with Crystal-pattern chi, some redoubtable suits of armor, and gleaming high-QL Weapons.
They all saluted when they saw the pair of us, Hammers and Axes clanging on their breastplates. “Lady Traveler is here!” the grim elder called out in a harsh voice, as the double doors were opened. “All rise!”
Perhaps they weren’t expecting to have to honor me that way, but those within got to their feet readily enough. Dark eyes fixed on me, trying to betray nothing... but they weren’t dealing with a Six.
Elder Blakhamar and I stepped inside, and the doors were closed solemnly behind us. A whisper of connecting magic assured me the room was Warded, and would be silent and invisible to those outside this chamber.
I slowly scanned the elders gathered here, perusing each of them for a full ten seconds before moving on to the next. There were eighteen of them gathered there, so my survey of them took a full three minutes, which left them all acutely uncomfortable.
At last I spoke, pulling a crystalline bulb-shaped thing that looked like a Hershey’s Kiss from my Masspack, and Casting into it as I said, “Greetings to all the elders here,” I said in very fluent Dwarven, startling all of them. “In the interests of fairness, let there be some parity in you knowing how I see you.”
The Light flared in my little fixture, and I sent it spinning through the air gently, floating below the magical Eternal Lights in the ceiling.
The place didn’t brighten up significantly, but it definitely gained some colors.
Hues of silver, gold, emerald, and blue rose over the elders there. Some looked startled, others grimaced at the sight; every display was different and unique. The blue and the emerald were rather unsettled when they saw me in electrum and Elder Hank in unbending silver.
“I shall forewarn you that you cannot lie to me successfully. I may not know the truth, but I will know you are lying. I suggest the items that three of you are wearing in order to conceal any lack of veracity be removed, and as you can see, the Aural Wards of the others among you are not strong enough to resist me.
“I am not going to be reading your minds, but I doubt I will have to. You are late to the party, you want a piece of the pie, and you are willing to make concessions to take part.
“I, however, have different needs and plans, and in the end, so do you.” I swept my eyes through them all calmly, and they flinched despite themselves. “You will be held under a Lesser Geas to reveal nothing that is spoken of in this room before it is time, said time of which will be approximately a month off.
“My concession to you, at the encouragement of Hank Blakhamar alone, is that you are getting roughly a month of extra time to prepare yourselves. If you waste that time, well, we probably don’t want to do business with you anyways.”
A Holoscreen shimmered up to my right as Hank Blakhamar stepped over to his chair at the far end of the table. “Shall we begin?” I asked, gesturing them to sit. They did so in silence...