The Power of Ten, Book Three : The Human Race

Getting close to dawn...

“Good morning, Sir Pellier!” I called out to the Paladin standing at his watchpost. He couldn’t have missed me shooting stuff, as everything I shot out tended to be black limned in silver.

“,” he answered calmly, not letting up on his alertness, despite less than half an hour remaining before sunrise.

“I was wondering if you used the last few minutes of the day to get in some shooting. I would be happy to pull for you, if you like.”

He gave me an assessing eye. “”

“Luck!” I replied, as that was exactly what it was, although it flabbergasted the Archers that I could do so. Couldn’t quite kill the wraiths that way, if they had flames up... and they did. The Wraiths also knew they’d die if I critted and they came into the warded area, so basically they tried to flee, and didn’t get too far.

“If you are ready to spend your Smites, we’d like to kill off a couple spectres, if we can.”

That got his attention. He harrumphed and said, “”

I leaned into him. “Paladin, if you kill an undead still burning with vivic fire, it doesn’t come back,” I said softly.

He blinked. “”

“Undead serious. And I shouldn’t need to tell you that the Karmic gain for killing one of them permanently is much higher than just using them as target practice.”

“” He was definitely thoughtful, and at the same time realized he didn’t have a lot of time. He glanced at Helix. “” he asked, somewhat louder.

“Yes,” Helix nodded quickly.

The Paladin studied the undead out there circling around thoughtfully, ignoring their cries and the distorted faces of the people they were negative reflections of. “”

“It would take all three of us to bring one down, and that’s if we all hit. We’d need more backup to be sure. I’d rather not risk it yet.”

He nodded to that. “”

“Will do!” Helix replied cheerfully. He still had no idea he was speaking Human now, even after chatting with me all night.

He had some big dreams now that all this Karma was rolling in, and he could Do Stuff...

---

The Paladin signaled to another of his crew, who waved back acknowledgement, lifting a rifle in reply.

The Paladin was actually using a pump-action Shotgun, of all things, whose barrel could shorten drastically down to the size of a sawed-off, allowing him to use it at devastating close range. It was perfectly useful for popping off incorporeals with the area spread, although the range wasn’t that great with shot. He could always swap in slugs if he wanted to shoot things at range.

He made sure he had a full load of ammunition, cast his Endless Ammunition so he wouldn’t run out and have to reload, and with gun to shoulder, followed my pointing finger as Helix held his staff out, watching alertly.

The undead weren’t dumb, and knew what we were trying to do, so they swooped around, trying to make the shot more difficult. Unfortunately for the shadows, they weren’t that fast, and I could peg one without much problem.

Zap! POOM, POOM! The shadow got a hole in it, and then exploded as two rounds blasted into it accurately, Sir Pellier pumping smoothly as he acquired instantly and blew it away in a burning fireball.

Nice, he’d definitely invested in his shotgun skills. Without missing a beat, I picked another shadow, shot, and he followed up.

The incorporeals had no armor, so the Ghost Touch ammunition really ripped into them. Not realizing much was wrong, the incorps just jeered at us, crossing in front of one another to see if we’d hit the wrong one. Pulling a spectre in could get lethal fast, after all.

Still, we polished off ten shadows smoothly, and he grunted, impressed. “Wraith,” I told him, he barely nodded, and I shot another Ray.

The wraith wasn’t expecting those shotgun rounds to hit it so hard. They looked to be doing 15-20 a hit, and were hitting even if the incorp tried to swoop and dodge. Knowing they didn’t have much time, the wraiths were charging the instant they were hit, bringing them past the Barrier and cutting off their Shroud and Darkflame Buffs. Sir Pellier’s second shot had no difficulty popping them off.

He nodded slightly as we progressed, time counting down to the final minute. “” he said softly.

“Helix, follow up what I hit,” I said, and this time, five Shards, obsidian wrapped in four colors of fire, snapped in around my hand.

This was going to be an overwhelming attack, designed to kill it out there, with its full Buffs.

A surge of Holy light came from Sir Pellier, his Shotgun glowed with The Light as I launched.

That spectre wasn’t expecting to be targeted, and my Weaponized Shards drove into it for bunches of damage, only one missing. That was roughly 8d6+45 damage, and a Buffed spectre should be clocking around 100 Health, maybe more.

POOM POOM KRAK!

A Lightning Ray and two glowing shots thundered into it, and with a hollow shriek, it was blown out of existence.

We all felt the faint rush of Karma... yeah, that was definitely worth it.

“Next!” My second flight of Shards cycled up as the incorps swirled around, and as the spell went out, Sir Pellier’s Shotgun flared again.

The second spectre didn’t fare any better than the first. It might have been able to flee, if not attack us, if not for a minor fact. To wit, on the first round of a Smite, the Smite deals double normal damage. So, the +1/Level damage from Sir Pellier, a Six, was +12 per shot instead of +6, and just that little bit was enough to send it to the point of no return, combined with Helix’s 4d6+11 Lightning Ray coming in.

Two spectres were worth ten wraiths, and were a kind of boast, showing that we could hit hard enough to take one out.

We cycled down to pick off six more wraiths, then shadows, until Sir Pellier’s Ammunition spell ran out and he’d have to consume real ammo.

I spent one more Shards, as I had a spare Slot, and they watched me blow apart a Wraith with it solo, although Sir Pellier was scoped on it, just in case.

“Damn. I didn’t really think you could do that,” Helix admitted. “Those have to be the nastiest Shards I’ve ever seen!”

“Thanks! I’m trying to improve them.” Wussy things that they were. I couldn’t even pop a spectre alone! I felt useless...

“” Sir Pellier agreed, after waiting for me to stick my glowing thumb by my ear. “”

“And I had a whole four shots to spend.” I rolled my eyes.

“” Sir Pellier seemed shocked.

“What my Bloodline has planned, and this tie to the Shroud, is advancing me sideways, not up. It’s annoying, but I can’t do anything about it.” I glanced at Sir Pellier. “You need to take a Level in Monk.”

“” He looked down at his flak armor. Monks didn’t wear armor.

“To be precise, Zen Archer Monk, or Gun-Fu Monk, if you prefer. Increases your damage with firearms, and more importantly gives you better dodging, and applies your Wisdom bonus to your shooting.”

His eyes widened slightly, and he thought about that. “,” he admitted. Wisdom was often not high on Paladins, who got by on faith and zeal more than introspection.

“Buy the Ascetic Monk Feat. Changes the Primary attribute for Monk Class abilities from Wisdom to Charisma.”

Both of them looked interested in that. Helix piped up eagerly, “Can I do that?”

I glanced at him, and shook my head. “You don’t have the Faith to do Enlightened Monk, and going Drunken Monk would mess up your spellcasting. It’s a natural fit for a shooting Paladin. Get your Wisdom up to a decent level, and it becomes a nice complement for hitting things. Before then, the increased damage, better foot speed, and dodging ability will be much more effective than some GI flak armor.”

He considered that. “” He thought about it, concentrating and there was a flicker in his eyes, and a strange shifting. I could feel a sudden realignment in his life energy as his ki flickered and came to the fore.

“Swap Stunning Fist for Heart of Zen/I,” I said promptly, and he blinked. “For your Bonus Feat, take Zen Archery. Buy the Ascetic Monk Feat, take off your armor, and buy Zen Mastery/1.” I turned to look at the sun, only a few minutes from rising. “After Renewal, buy the Dodge Feat, and Zen Mastery/2. That will increase the damage of your firearms two stages, and you’ll basically be as hard to hit as if you were wearing all that stuff.”

“,” he reminded me.

“And your next Level, you will take Dodge Missile as a bonus Feat,” I replied calmly. “Then you’re going to buy Dodge Ray, so you can avoid the magical ranged attacks of the ghosts and stuff.”

He hesitated. “,” he admitted.

My eyes flicked to his Shotgun. “Nice toy. Did you Name it yet?”

“” he asked, reading something in my expression.

“Do so now, before the sun rises, and give it its share of the Karma.”

He looked at me, and at the ornately carved, finely-made Shotgun in his hands. “,” he said, without having to think about it.

“Blood her, bind her, Name her,” I repeated, flicking out my jackknife, taking his hand and firmly cutting his palm, which he accepted with only a wince. I ran his palm up all over, up and down the Shotgun, smearing crimson all over it. “Offer her to Aru, and Name her.”

He turned to Salute the Morning, and formally held out the Shotgun. “”

There was a hiss of Light, wrapping around the Shotgun and his hand, making Helix jump in surprise.