Chapter 1-43: Second Times Around (2/2)
The holo came up... with a bounty poster.
Sama Rantha, Wanted Dead. Ten million dollar reward.
Sponsored by the Church of Imprus!
I got up slowly, staring at that. “The fuck?” I asked slowly.
SHE’S GOT SOMETHING OF A REPUTATION, Master Fred went on, tapping quickly, sparks on his fingers.
News items came up, and Briggs and I read them quickly.
She was the sole survivor of four different magical events that had wiped out whole towns or communities. She had also attacked five different churches of Imprus and butchered every cleric, templar, and defender of them that got within range of her Sword. The Church of Imprus was blaming her for the events, painting her as an evil mastermind sacrificing innocent souls for some foul purpose. The way she was killing them in return meant she wasn’t happy with them...
“That does not sound anything like the Sama Rantha I remember,” Briggs rumbled darkly. “And the Church of Imprus caters to big fatcat wealthy elitist bastards who love gaining and abusing political and corporate power. There’s a lot of old money associated with Imprus.”
“Powered money?” I asked softly. Both men looked at me.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Briggs agreed. “Imprusar like to preach that Imprus is the Patron of the Powered, that they are the elite, meant to lead all others.” I glanced at Master Fred for confirmation, who just nodded.
“They found out she’s Forsaken.” Both men blinked. “Sama’s THE Null bitch back home. She manhandles Powered all the time. What Imprusar popped up generally always looked down on the Primos as a matter of course, but they loathed the Forsaken, who couldn’t use the greater powers, but were still great threats to them. They really didn’t like it when we started getting as many people to Forsaken status as possible.
“They must have realized what she was and don’t want her spreading the knowledge to others.” I glanced at Briggs. “Have you spread knowledge of being Forsaken?”
He frowned like a carven stone. “Yes... but only to people who were Ones. I haven’t seen a Primos hit Seven yet to take Human/3 and get their shot at it.”
I gestured at Master Fred. “He can take Seven anytime. He’s just been going Deep, since he’s so self-reliant most of the time.”
“Is that true? Congratulations. It’s good to see it’s possible, although requiring a Warlock Pact isn’t exactly encouraging...” Briggs mused, nodding at Fred, who returned it silently.
There was a knock at the door, and Briggs boomed out casual permission that fluttered clothes. The door opened, admitting a lean man in his thirties, wearing a roughly woven brown and gold tunic ubiquitous to all Aruans, a common thing worn over armor or practical clothing.
He was pushing in a Disk of stuff... stuff for me! “Table this,” I said softly, and the holo went down, as Briggs rose and called out greetings to cover for me.
“Luminous Porthier, I had no idea you had connections in Heavenbound Hall,” Briggs said affably, coming forward to shake the Cleric’s hand.
“Just a contact man for the Church, Commander,” the Cleric said respectfully, looking up at the huge Ancient, who could dominate the whole room without even trying. “And, well, I get to meet Traveler!” he had to smile over at me.
I rolled my eyes, but was graceful enough to smile back.
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He came over to gush on me, telling me how my video was making differences among the immigrant community already, helping communication among the far-flung churches of Aru and the other Good religions... and the Church had invested heavily in publication resources, as there was going to be a whole lot of books being reprinted in the new language.
Yes, I had definitely earned some Karmic credits. That was wonderful. I could only take one Level a day...
He brought out the stuff I’d asked for. It turns out some Seabound did come through here and get training after initial training in Detroit, and so they were familiar with the kind of equipment needed.
I snapped my fingers several times, and the clothes I’d taken off a dead Sinbound nearly a week ago were dropped on the table, I was dressed properly for a combat mage, and I told the Luminous to say a prayer over them and burn them to ash, which he agreed to do.
He accepted the jug of tiger-blood, and was pleased when I told him that it would be double value when used in Potions of Invisibility or Camouflage. He also took the roll of tiger-skin, noting there was a bidding war going on for it among some of the stylish and too-wealthy Powered, and departed the room without protest.
I was placing things in my new bandolier and belt purses, noting that I would have to truly make my own custom rig in the future, but this would do for now. The two men watched with interest at the casual way I seemed to know where to put everything, and it all had a place.
“You need proper Gear,” Briggs said, and blinked as I lifted out the skull of the raksasha-tiger, and then dumped my small pouch of gravegold next to it.
“I can’t make magic items yet, and my Leveling is progressing sideways, not up. Can you make a Baneskull to Magical Beasts out of this?”
“Ho, starting your collection, are you?” Every Powered worth the name had a Baneskull collection. He picked it up to examine with interest. “I can carve it up for you, and have one of the lay folk Infuse it up, sure.” His eyes flicked to me. “How are you intending to go about Leveling?”
“Yellowstone.” His bushy eyebrows rose. “I want to Level away from undead. When I come back, the slaughter is going to start non-stop.”