The Power of Ten: Book One: Sama Rantha, and Book Two: The Far Future

In Reality, your Weapons suck...

“The fastest way to change this situation is through slaughter, and Gearing up.” Briggs waved his hand at the now-silent battlefield. All the elves and Rangers in good health had already left, fanning out to find more of the enemy with their Animal Companions… or were waiting around patiently to be Tatted, after hearing what it could do, and seeing the performance of the two scouts who’d been benefiting from Sama’s Marshal Aura way over there, fighting far above their weight level.

“You are both stealth killers, maybe decent duelists, I don’t know. But now you need to be monster killers and battlefield butchers. You need Karma, great heaping gobs of Karma… and you need to Feed the unnatural creatures you kill to the Land, so you get all Karma, and not a tithe of it, while poking the Entities behind it all in the eye at the same time.”

Despite their quiet, bone-deep arrogance, he could tell he was interesting them. “Go on,” prompted Brother Windarrow.

“Sama wants to set you up on new Gear made for you, for Voids, that you can pour Karma into, give you avenues of growth that are faster and truer than your old paths. In short, she wants you to have all the toys, kitted out like some emperor’s favorite stealther, only it’s all for Voids.”

Both Brothers blinked. “Can you give us an example?” Windarrow asked cautiously.

-Sama, can you send over Tremble for a moment?- Briggs /asked. A second later, the Sword was zipping over to hover next to him.

“Hi, how can I help?” she asked cheerfully.

“Need some help and a holo. Brother Windarrow here wields a mithral shadowslaked +3 Ashfire longsword, can you Stat that up?”

A diamond on her guard glowed and a two-dimensional stat line of the longsword, five Slots used, damage d8/d12, what ashfire did, shadowslake did, and mithral did was printed out in very plain, blocky script, quite easy to read, on the hologram. Both Void Brothers blinked at it.

“And now, your Stats, Tremble.”

Tremble slowly turned to him. “Are you sure?” she asked doubtfully. “I’ll need to clear that with Sama…”

“Please do.” He waited patiently, and a few seconds later, the holo blinked up, shifting lower so outsiders couldn’t see it.

The two Brothers gawked as the Zeks-Slotted Sword in front of them reeled off her specifics. The layers of Arsenal and Slaughter effects alone had them gasping.

“Tremble isn’t very strong,” Briggs said, and their eyes almost popped at his straight face. “She’s versatile enough, but she’s only at QL 33 because she’s inhabiting a poor shell.” He reached out and pinged her blade, listening to the steel. “Steel can only reach 35, 33 if it’s pre-forged improperly, so she’s as good as she’s going to get for now.

“When Sama gets her hands on some proper adamantine and a few reagents, ahh…” he trailed off, and then lifted Endure.

“Soulbound Arsenal Heavy Greathammer. Straight steel, QL 35, potentially Zeben, but I’ve only got Zvei open. Triple advance Profound Weapon via ki for more damage. Name, Endure. Arsenal Vivic, Blooding. Bane to Human, Magical Beasts. Slotless, Throwing.” He paused for emphasis. “Endure is four days old.”

Their breaths hissed out.

“A Named Weapon can advance the equivalent of two goldweight a day if Karma from being used is fed into it. You two have been doing the work for years. Your Weapons should be putting Tremble to utter shame.”

They looked at the list of Tremble’s capabilities, and despite their iron control, he saw their fingers twitching.

“Yes, you should both have full adamant Weapons at post-40 QL, full Zehn Slots, and be taking heads coolly and thoroughly. When a Greater Demon shows up, your Weapons should be saying FEED ME, and eagerly, not ‘Oh, go pop off like proper zits, will you?’” he mimed in a hoitie-toitie British accent in his deep voice.

The two Voids shuffled together, clearly imagining things going a little bit differently.

“So, what do you need of us?” Shadowknife asked coolly.

“Sama’s in your head, so you know she’d make the base weapon for you if you asked, and as far as Leveling advice, that’s free. But… I’m going to personally presume you have tons of funds stashed away, and nothing to spend them on, since Powered can’t really make Gear for you. In order to prevent you from owing us a debt… Sama and I need metals. Adamantine, mithral, scarletite, others. In quantity.” He flipped out a folded list, and held it out.

Brother Windarrow took it without hesitation, flipping it open to scan it over silently, then handed it off to Shadowknife.

“You get that stuff for us, and we’ll make you the Tats and Gear you should have, Void-Tuned Gear, that you can grow in power and turn you into the total and utter badasses that everyone thinks you are… and that Sama already is.”

Their heads turned together, looking at Sama over there, Tatting up willing elves and Rangers, setting up a silent kingdom in her head... A kingdom they were already a part of.

“Will she do this for all of the Brotherhood?” Shadowknife whispered, unseen eyes dark with thought.

“If they can make it here, gladly.”

And then Sama’s /voice broke in smoothly, impossibly sincere. -What others think of you means nothing to us. We KNOW. The sun rises another day. Brothers, thank you for your service.-

Their eyes turned back to her, where she was bowing over the Ranger she was Tatting up. They looked back at Briggs, who was also bowing.

They had probably never been thanked for what they did in their entire lives.

Brother Windarrow looked shocked, and was silent for a noteworthy few seconds. Even the Shadowknife looked moved.

“We have caches, built up over the generations, wealth taken from the slain, which we have had little use for ourselves. We have what you need… and, it seems, what we need.” His dark eyes glittered.

Briggs nodded to acknowledge the point. “We do not need you to get them right now. What you need to do is get your Weapons, Name them, and immediately get started on your Naming Karma. To wit, straight to battle.” He pointed at the Sword on the Windarrow’s back, and the long knives at Shadowknife’s side. “We can give you Starter Weapons, similar to what Estemar has. They will suffice to gather Karma and improve your Arsenal and Slaughter until proper Weapons can be formed. Additionally, we can move the Names of your current Weapons to them, to start the process, so that you do not suffer a loss in strength.”

The eagerness in the eyes of the two Brothers was only increasing. “Where have you been all my life, young Master Briggs?” the Windarrow finally sighed.

Briggs just waved it away. “I am going to stop this push by the Dark Gods, and you are going to help me do it. It is my decision.”

They both felt Fate twitch at his words, and could only nod. “When can we begin?” Windarrow asked quickly.

“I have to make up a mess of Ink for Sama to keep doing her thing. You probably are decent with poisons, but how is your Alchemy?” Briggs inquired.

“Passable,” Windarrow admitted. “Basic alchemy is inordinately useful when it comes time to infiltrate areas sensitive to the presence of magic.”

“Excellent.” Briggs walked over to the Alchemy Cabinet, opened it up, and began to take things out. “Let’s make use of your downtime and mine, shall we? You can use Potions as readily as the next man, and Forsaken Alchemists, unlike Powered, can work on more than one Potion without stirring up resonance feedback.

“When Sama’s done with Tats, we’ll take two hours of Meditation, and then start on your Weapons.”

“What of my Bow?” Brother Windarrow asked with a shrug of his shoulder.

Briggs glanced at the composite longbow. “We can’t make a proper Bow for you out of wood without more time. There’s Soaks and treatments the wood has to go through first. If we had the requisite materials made up ahead of time, no trouble. So, if you want a Bow, you’ll have to use a Dwarven Bow, not sure if you want to make that switch.

“But, you know, an Archer can Name his Bow and fill it with Karma at the same time as his Weapon. So, every day it’s not set up, is another day lost on the Investment paradigm.”

“A… dwarven bow?” Windarrow asked, confused.

“The Rockborn have great muscle strength, Might, but their Power is no greater than that of Men. In addition, they lack stature and length of arm to take advantage of long draws to convey more power to their missiles. So, if they use a bow, it must be short in length, and with a powerful draw strength to cater to them.

“Normally they do this with crossbows, but there are mechanically-aided bows that can make a shorter bow the equal of a longbow. Since they are normally made of metal and glass, we can make them. However, they are heavier than wooden bows, even composites.”

“If I could find a bow of elven make of sufficient quality, would that suffice?” Brother Windarrow asked.

“No. Your Bow has to be made by a Forsaken. If a Powered makes it, you’ll only end up with something equal to what you already have. No Arsenal, no Slaughter. Their Powered status means they have a very strong magical Aura. I’m sure you can sense the Aura of whoever made your current Weapon, clear as a fingerprint. A proper Void Weapon has no signature Aura whatsoever.”

They both blinked. Brother Windarrow glanced at Tremble.

The air about him shimmered, and his Helix materialized.

It looked like two whorls of mist, spinning slowly around him, one almost white, one a darker grey. One strand licked out like a whip, washing through Tremble and Endure like a living stream, passing through both with only a slight flaring of the Helix betraying any contact.

“Damn.” He looked down at Shadowknife, whose Helix gloamed into existence, one like drops of clear white liquid, the other black drops of ink. The black lash whipped out, passing through both Weapons in a heartbeat, and the Shadowknife pursed his lips.

“No magical signature at all,” the hyn acknowledged. “All this time, and the answer so simple…”

“I am gathering that you’ve not met a significant population of Nulls and Sources anywhere,” Briggs guessed, looking between them.

“There is supposed to be a great nation of clear magic across the sea to the west, but not in the lands I have wandered,” Windarrow acknowledged.

“Someplace to visit in the future,” Briggs murmured, rubbing his chin.