“His health stopped regening! His health stopped regening!” two of the soldiers yelled. They sounded far away. No, the white noise was just drowning out sound.
“Thank Christ!” another soldier said. “Get ‘em, Sarge!”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
We were so close to the edge of the domain.
Why wasn’t the Sergeant hurting me? No sooner had that thought crossed my mind, when I was lifted into the air and flung bodily into a snow drift. While that didn’t inflict any damage, it certainly didn’t tickle. Some of the ice ended up going down the back of my coat. I hate that.
I got to my feet slowly and found that the Sergeant and his mech suit had kept their distance. He was clearly preparing to hit me with more missiles, or rockets. Whatever. I am not a rocket scientist.
He was twenty yards from the icewall and the edge of the domain.
“Just surrender,” he said, not quite pleading, “I don’t want to kill you. We have no real reason to fight. Just let us handle this piece of Technacoast business.”
I stooped, and gathered a massive fist full of snow. I began to compress it into a ball. I slowly shuffled a little closer to the wall. I could sense the wall creeping into the range of my sphere of influence.
I made it about seven paces before the Sergeant said, “What the hell are you doing?”
“Plan C,” I embraced that I was about to get pummeled with missiles. I saw the prompts about successful Destruction checks flash in my perceptions.
“What the hell does that… No. Surrender. You have five seconds.” the Sergeant said.
I turned and lobbed the snow ball at the not so solid chunk of wall snow is really cool, both literally and metaphorically. One of the really neat bits is the shape. They are hexagon based in their geometry. That isn’t too important until you realize each snowflake, no matter how unique it may be, has a fuckton of surface area compared to its total volume. That means the fifty mile per hour wind tossed all of the newly minted flakes through the air. Forming a light and festive white out.
Honestly this worked way better than it should have. There wasn’t even a second of lag. The micro layer of ice holding the wall of snow back, basically exploded outward toward us. Hell of a trick considering the snowball was going the other direction.
It did look dramatic though.
What am I bitching about? This directly benefited me, the titan spawn. The giant magic man with super kung fu.
Another really nifty thing about snow is when tons of it are in the air, missiles don’t fly so straight. Sure no one flake significantly impacted the direction of a missile…rocket, but the weight of a white out blizzard knocked them off course. So rather than getting wrecked by missiles, I was lightly peppers with shrapnel.
Attack From Sargent Majors Successful
You take 2 points of damage
HP: 415/420
This next bit was a bit of a gamble. I switched to Path of the Snow Lion.
Blend In Check… Failed.
Well that is a problem. Oh well. Commit to the bit. A Sprint check and I decked the mech. Still no damage. Before I could make a second attack a metal leg nearly kicked me in the dick. I managed to dodge but only just. This martial art was not as geared toward reaction as Unrelenting Glacier. It was hard to put into words. Think of the difference between squatting and sitting. The difference in effort adds up quickly.
I tried to circle around again. Another failed Blend In check. I feel like I should be succeeding.
“Quit fucking around. I got infra-red. I can see your body heat,” the Sergeant said. He then hit me point blank with a missile.
Attack From Sargent Majors Successful
You take 4 points of damage
HP: 411/420
As I soared through the air, I had two realizations. The Sergeant was one baby step from Monologuing and I had a way out of this.
You have stopped ignoring the Frozen Condition.
You are immune to the effects of this condition
Blend In Check… Successful.
And back to that strange suffering. The cold rose up from my core and bones. I realized the issue with ignoring a condition. It was still there, probably progressing, waiting for you to stop ignoring it. Then it hit you all at once. Frost stuck to my now frigid skin. I wanted to shiver, but my body only moved as normal. The burning cold screamed through my nerves but it wasn’t debilitating. It was just thunderously unpleasant.
Amazing. All I had to do was stop being stupid. I circled around the Sergeant and hit him from the side. Two ineffectual claw-like swipes did no damage, but led into a grapple. I then heaved with all my might and lobbed the Sergeant in his upsettingly heavy mech about two yards toward the edge of the domain.
This turned our fight from a clumsy brawl to a game of cat and Mech pilot. He was the better fighter with more experience. He could predict where I was going to try and hit him with better than average consistency. Too bad for him, I was geared up to be a literal apex predator in this environment and I had better stats then him. Big numbers do things. That translated to me slowly but surely hurling the Sergeant’s not so happy ass out of the domain. Yeah it took me three minutes of doing but I still saw the prompt.
Throw Attack… Successful
Sargent Majors takes 19 damage
My grin of triumph quickly turned into a grimace. I had forgotten to keep concentrating on Dampen. Angelica was right. If I kept going like this someone was going to die.
… It couldn’t be that easy.
Obviously it couldn’t. I had to deal with the mech before my plan of ‘talk to someone reasonable’ could succeed.
A quick Analyze check confirmed the Sergeants HP hadn’t dropped. The damage I did was to the mech suit.
Analyze check… Successful
Wolverine Class Mech Suit
Power armor (Epic Scale)
Wolverine Class Mech Suit is the premier middle-class power armor suit of the Technacoast. Balancing middle of the road maneuverability, strength and payload, the variant’s selling point is its extreme toughness and survivability. It is also one of the easiest to maintain variants of Mech Suits available
While powered, increase the user’s Might by 5 (minimum 30), decrease user’s Mobility by 5 (Minimum 15), and set Defense to 55.
SP: 281/300
I switched back to Unrelenting Glacier.
I went on the offensive. My fist collided with the glass window. It cracked but didn’t break. I sidestepped the Sergeants snap kick. I punched the mech’s hip on the counter-attack and then I kicked the view port again. A lot of spiderwebs there anymore. I felt the first layer of ablative shell manifest.
I blocked the haymaker with my right. I managed to pin the arm a split second before I hit the mech’s elbow with a vicious uppercut. The mech with the sergeant in it went up on their tippy-toes and the joint hyperextended. I took this opportunity to put the boots in and kicked the damaged hip again
That was looking more than a little fucked. It certainly made a metal on metal scream as the Sergeant swiveled the mech. This lifted me off my feet. That was a massive metal fist coming my way.
Deflection Check… Successful
No damage taken
The impact bounced off my head like a foam hammer, and I took the chance to counter, because fighting is all about the ABCs, Always Be Countering. I gave the window a massive headbutt. It was basically opaque now.
I dodged a blind kick. Even before the system, I could have dodged that… probably… as far as you know.
I kept my distance and only put in a token effort to harass the Sergeant. Until I got the second layer of Ablative Shell.
Craft check… Successful
One layer of Ablative shell removed.
You now have an Ablative Sword
Time to end this. I hope. The Narrators may have fucked me.
I ducked a punch and struck with the sword.
Attack Successful!
Sargent Majors takes 118 damage
Wolverine Class Mech Suit… Destroyed.
Ablative Sword destroyed
The sword cleaved through the fridge-like front of the mech. It was like watching a rock split. It happened so fast, and was strangely controlled. The sword glimmered momentarily after the cut, and then disintegrated into a burst of snow flakes.
The Sergeant was not expecting his powered armor getting opened like canned spam. I wasn’t either, but I seized the moment. Grabbing the front of his shirt,I ripped him from the harness. It was odd that the restraint designed to hold the pilot in place gave before the cloth of a jacket. Again, it benefited me so no bitching.
I hefted the guy with one arm before slamming him into the ground.
Attack Successful!
Sargent Majors takes 25 damage
A quick Craft check and he had a loop of ice around his neck.
“Surrender!” I growled.
“Nah, I’m good,” he pulled out the laser gun and fired.
Dodging a projectile moving at the speed of light was absolutely beyond me. Moving out of the trajectory the concentrated energy would travel along in the fraction of a second it took him to pull the trigger was manageable. Pucker inducing, but manageable.
I slapped the gun out his hand…
Attack Successful!
Sargent Majors takes 31 damage
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The gun went flying and his wrist shattered. Fuck, Dampen. Need to use that.
“Just give up.” I sighed, doing a better job than I would have guessed to hiding the momentary panic of almost killing him. I think.
“Never,” the Sergeant scoffed. He kept trying to break the ring of ice around his neck with his good hand.
I manifested another layer of Ablative Shell and turned it into another sword.“Give up or I stab you.” The point of the sword was about an inch from his face.
Intimidation check… Failed
“Fucking do it, coward!” he roared back.
To hell with it was not convincing him. This guy was beyond reason. Most of them probably were, if I was being honest. Trouble was the Sergeant was also beyond being intimidated. Hell, some part of him probably even wanted me to kill him in front of everyone. Become a martyr maybe.
That really only left one other option.
I scanned the crowd. One of them had a big heavy backpack.
“You, get the radio going.” I instructed, pointing the sword at him.
“The what?” he asked, completely confused
“The radio… isn’t that what you got on your back?”
“This is a comm,” he said pointing with his thumb. He looked at me like I had two heads. How was that the bridge too far?
“Okay, use the comm. Get your boss on it.” I kept my voice calm but insistent.
He blinked at me before he said, “The Lieutenant is right there and fuck you.”
Rachel waved a look of false politeness on her face., “Why are we talking about the Comm? I am right here. What do you want?”
Channeling my inner Karen I said, “I would like to speak to your Commander.”
“Why would I let you do that?” Rachel asked. This was a valid question
“If you don’t I will kill the Sergeant,” I said, resting the point of the sword to his chest.
“I don’t think you will,” Rachel said. She met my gaze and waited for me to flinch.
“He won’t!” the Sergeant bellowed.
That didn’t exactly help my street cred.
Rachel gestured for me to continue, “Go on.”
“God Dammit,” I took the sword away. “Sunit does this count as a win?”
“He hasn’t surrendered and you haven’t killed him or forced him to quit. the duel is still in progress,” Sunit said, stepping out of the crowd. He shrugged, “Sorry.”
That’s unfortunate.
I turned to Rachel, “Would you please contact your commander?”
“Why?” Rachel asked,
“I would like to ask them to change your orders,” I explained.
Everyone had a good chuckle at that.
“Unless you are god, no way. “ Rachel managed through a laugh.
When I saw the prompt I knew what I had to do.
You have activated Voice of the Titan.
When I spoke my voice had the force of the Cosmos behind it. “You will have to settle for the Left Hand of the Titan. Make the call, Rachel.”
It was odd to hear the voice of the Titan speak my words. Had I made him speak? Somehow the impact of my words washed over the area. Everyone fell silent. For a moment that lingered just long enough to register the storm and wind stopped.
Then everything started again.
Voice of the Titan deactivated.
That took a lot out of me. It was worse than the strain from clearing the dungeon. I almost fell to my knees. I pulled the mug of Titanic Brew out of my inventory. A swig of that and I had the Energized condition. Nothing quite like being exhausted and jittery. Normally that works better...
Oh. My Godskin cloak had gone back to being a window into cosmic shapes. It fluttered in the wind rather heroically, revealing celestial bodies and cosmic shapes. lt wasn't flailing like a windsock the way it would if physics was working right. The World Breaker Bangle had slid down my arm and now burned with a menacing red light around my wrist. My tools on my belt also shone with energy, though it was a warmer, almost pink hue. My Ablative Shell and Sword had darkened to an impossible degree. Not quite Vanta black. Probably black 2.0. I always preferred that anyways. I side with Semple in that drama.
I turned my gaze back on the Comm guy.
He visibly flinched, “Okay! Okay! Just don’t hurt me.”
“He can’t hurt you,” Rachel said. She seemed to be handling the reveal that I was Titan spawn better than most. The soldiers that had been scanning me were all losing their shit in various ways. One girl was just standing there shaking like a chihuahua. Another guy vomited and passed out. A third girl was screaming. The last just stood there staring into the middle distance.
“Point of order, the duel protects the participants from outside intervention. Damage can spill over just fine.” I pointed out.The Sergeant was still trying to get out of that loop around his neck. A quiet effort of will triggered a Craft check and the loop was whole and undamaged. “Don’t go anywhere just yet.”
I didn’t like doing this sort of thing. I wasn’t the kind of guy to inflict my will on others. I didn’t want to be feared. Yet I was still doing it. Was this necessity the first step on my road to becoming a tyrant? I believed I was in the right. These folks had been fed propaganda so long they couldn’t recognize the truth. Countermanding their will to murder someone was… righteous. Even if the reality of it was violent and messy.
I didn’t worry about today. I worried about the day I stopped worrying about this. If you spend too long knowing you’re right, that is how you end up doing something truly wrong.
I glared at the Comm guy, “Don’t make me, make you, make the call.”
To Rachel’s credit she stepped between me and one of her men. Sure, she would put one of them up against me, but if it wasn’t part of the plan she wasn’t afraid to have her skin in the game. “Cut the shit. You have been trying to avoid violence this whole time. You aren’t going to kill, or maim just to chat with someone.”
“Am I going to get what I want?” I pressed, still glaring at the comm guy. I was being a heel. Rachel had my number but a lot of the others with the exception of the Sergeant seemed to buy into me kayfabe just enough that kept in the role.
“Yes. Stein, get Command on the horn.” Rachel sighed. “Is it so much to ask for just one mission to be simple?”
Before I could speak the Sergeant called, “Lieutenant! Please stop handing the universe lines.”
Now in the movies it cuts to the RADIO operator- they can call it a comm all the want- dramatically flipping switches and maybe tuning some knobs there would be some static, someone will inevitably say: Read me, over, and Niner. That’s the movies. This was not.
Stein spent a good ten minutes setting the so-called comm up. The inside of the bag held… electronic stuff. There was a key board, and a screen, and arguably too many wires. A strange wedge bit folded out to be a little satellite dish. Stein powered it on and muttered as he typed and hooked up the various components.
Growing more open to the possibility that this was not a radio I watched Stein adjust the small screen, speaker and microphone. “Come on work.” he said as he continued to do… stuff. Comm stuff.
It wasn’t working.
“Would adjusting the disk help? Is it pointing in the right direction?” I asked after about twenty minutes of his tinkering.
“Yes!” Stein shouted back. He was becoming frustrated. Anyone who has dealt with IT issues can relate.
“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” I asked, looming over Stein.
Stein paused, and took a breath, “I have rebooted multiple components and checked everything three times. The Comm is working fine.”
“So is it the weather then?” I asked, looking at the not quite white out condition. I was pretty sure it wasn’t snowing, but there was a lot of ice in the air.
Stein was beginning to lose patience with me, “This uses long wave signals, not laser communication. It has multiple frequencies from 10 kHz to 100 gHz.
I repaired the ring around the Sergeant’s neck, “There is a term for that…”
“Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t you bring that archaic bullshit to me,” Stein warned.
“Radio waves,” I said. I was right. Let history remember that. This was a radio.
Stein had to take a break after that. Fair enough.
“Doug, what are you doing?” Angelica asked.
Shit! I was still loopy from the pain. I pressed my hand on the plate over my chest. The increase in pressure caused the burn to sting. This pulled my mind’s focus back to the real injury. While it didn’t tickle and wasn’t pleasant it dulled all the noise from the injuries that were gone.
Perception check… Successful
The Chimera Soldiers, specifically Rachel, were still watching me. They spotted my actions. They could tell the pain was weighing on me. So much for looking invincible. They also spotted the shift in my behavior. Outing myself as a Titan Spawn probably had the obvious consequence of them figuring out my bane as well.
That certainly wasn’t good for me, but I was running down the clock on Baneridden better than I ever thought I would.
“I am going to bargain with whoever is in command of these people,” I said quietly.
“Doug, revealing yourself to the Technacoast to bail out Seth, is the equivalent of burning your house down because there is a spider in the bathroom.” she warned.
“What were the other options?” I asked.
“That’s not my point. I didn’t want you killing them, and it’s not like we can just run with the Mob Rush coming.” Angelica made me meet her eyes. When she saw she had my full attention she continued, “Whoever you are going to talk to is going to use whatever you give them to hurt the Fantasy Coast and the people who live there. Be careful.”
I did not think of that. Like the prompts kept telling me, this action will have consequences.
Stein was back at trying to get the radio working. “I don’t understand. There is nothing wrong with the equipment, and there is nothing in the background that could cause this type of interference. It should be working.”
I had my suspicions on why it wasn’t working, asshole Narrators wanting me to fight and eventually kill someone. My guess is Rachel was their main target. It didn’t take a genius to spot the disturbing trend they had with setting me up to be involved in the death of women.
Did I want to trigger ‘Empowered Critical’? No, Narrator intervention could be a two edged sword. They clearly didn’t want me and mine dying any time soon. Removing Narrators from the equations was taking away their protection.
What the hell was I thinking? Protection?
That’s how they get you. They make you consent to their abuse.
Activate “Empowered Critical”?
Yes/No
I hit ‘yes’.
Today if I was to be damned. It wasn’t going to be because of what I didn't do.
Suddenly the screen flashed and a woman’s face appeared, “..you read me. Snow Lion something seems to be wrong with your… Oh. Never mind. Hello Snow Lion. What is your status?”
Called it!
“Yeah, Zoo Keeper, we are at the site… but there is a… complication.” Stein said, glancing my way.
“Uh… Snow Lion are you still mission capable?” she asked.
Rachel leaned in, “Zoo Keeper, we are mission capable. We have encountered an unforeseen wild animal. We are requesting updated instructions.”
“Roger that,” She said typing and looking at a screen to her side, “Which wild animal?”
Rachel sucked air in through her teeth, “That is the tricky bit.”
“Snow Lion there are only four wild animals you have to worry about. Don’t tell me you forgot the code names.” Zoo Keeper chided.
“Zoo Keeper, there is a new wild animal in play,” Rachel’s fist may have clenched but her voice was surprisingly calm.
I leaned into view of the camera. “Hello… Zoo Keeper. I am Doug, Left Hand of the Titan. How are you today?”
Zoo Keeper burst out laughing. “Holy… Snow Lion! You think I would fall for that? Pull the other one. it has bell…”
The screen changed from the jovial woman to a card with the Letter T and C over the backdrop of a mountain.
“Sorry to cut in,” A sonorous male voice sounded out of the speakers. “I simply felt it best to handle this myself.”
“And you are?” I asked. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rachel, and Stein both stared shocked at the screen. That didn’t exactly bode well.
“There are so many names: The Wise Warrior from the Mountain, The Great Sage, The Hero of the Technacoast. For the purpose of this conversation though, think of me as Authority.” He explained.
“Well that escalated quickly,” I observed.
“My hope is to slow things down a bit,” Authority continued, “So, Doug, May I call you Doug?”
“By all means, please,” I said, still trying to get a feel for if this was good or bad. May as well pay some respect. It did cost nothing, and it could save several lives.
Authority chuckled good naturedly. Despite myself I found this voice personable. Everything I knew about the Technacoast implied their leadership to be mustache twirling -provided it wasn’t a Chaplin Stache- Villains.I didn’t expect to find one of them oddly likable.
Can Face skills carry over a radio? I wasn’t feeling the odd sensation of Mental Resistance shutting the effects down.
“Thank you. How may I help you, Doug?” Authority asked, sounding earnestly curious.
“This is about Seth Cohen,” I began. I paused to consider.
“I am familiar with James Smith’s killer,” Authority prompted. His tone gave away nothing of his feelings on the matter.
“I would like you to call off the hit or mission to kill him.” I managed. Wow. I sounded uncertain. Note to self: in the future have a plan.
“Why?” Authority asked. Again his tone gave away nothing of his thoughts or feelings.
“What?” I asked on reflex.
“Why do you want me to call off his death?” Authority elaborated.
“You see, he is my teacher,” I explained. This sounded a lot dumber now that I was saying it.
“I see. I take it, If I don’t call this off, that would put you in direct conflict with my soldiers.” Authority observed.
We all looked to the Sergeant still trying to break free from the ice. He was nearly out.
“Yeah, I am trying to avoid that,” I said. I paused for a beat and added, “Seth can just stay here and you could say you killed him.”
“Done,” Authority said.
“Just like that?” I blinked. I expected moral flexibility not actual reasonable behavior. I also expected demands. Maybe threats.
“I will ask you to remember this the next time we meet. Take a moment and talk to me peacefully should we have some misunderstanding.” Authority explained.
Where was the trap?
When I didn’t see one, a bad sign, I said, “Fair enough. I will try.”
“Wonderful!” Authority said happily. “Snow Lion, I will be transferring you back to Zoo Keeper. She will give you updated orders.”
Holy shit. That worked?
I just had time to think that, but not enough to relax, when Rachel shot the Radio.
“Oh no, it broke. I guess we will have to keep to current orders,” Rachel all but growled.