Chapter 5-132: On Our Way (2/2)
Allegiances defined the world back on Luna-Terra, and they would eventually do so here. No traditional government could survive the influence of Allegiances, when it came down to it, and Loyalty and Duty inside an Allegiance trumped any lip service to king, country, and land of birth.
You were in an Allegiance because you believed. If your belief in king or country trumped that, you couldn’t swear in. It was that simple.
That didn’t mean you couldn’t be faithful and loyal to other, lesser causes. My new Vassals were mostly Americans and Canadians, and still considered themselves citizens. But they knew, deep down in their guts, that if I called them to go elsewhere, or their countries turned against me, they’d follow me.
Allegiances had power, it was as simple as that.
I was about to go do something incredibly violent, right in a Shroudzone, in the teeth of millions of undead.
It was going to shake the world. My Allegiance was going to watch it all, and realize that they could do that, too...
We rolled out the gates, Sleipner beeping them to let them know we were coming, and into the sparse morning traffic.
It was dark, but neither of us really had problems seeing... and Sleipner could naturally flow through a city and its streets like it was his back yard.
I brought up Detect Location and my Visual File, and began to track my location and extend my lived-line on this new course.
I noticed we were heading west instead of south-west. “New course?”
THE MICK IS MEETING US OUTSIDE CHICAGO, ALONG WITH A FOURTH PERSON WHO WILL PROVE VERY USEFUL.
I raised an eyebrow. “A mystery person?” Not like him to spring a surprise.
YOU KNOW HER AS SHVAUGHN.
“The Fire Empress of Chicago?” I’d heard the name mentioned in tandem with his fast raid a couple weeks ago against the Black Tongue Warlocks that had suddenly proliferated there, in classic gang fashion trying to carve out a territory for themselves in the city that was no longer dominated by human ethnic groups. Stupid bastards... the local powers hadn’t had to lift a finger before the Hall and the Heavenbound had come in to free up those Pacts once again, and the demonic entity that could grant them laughed and collected their bounty of souls...
Shvaughn was a high-end Fire Warlock, by all accounts, and the pictures showed she deserved the title. She was a smoldering, bronzed, auburn-haired beauty with an Amazonian build, and there were a whole lot of reports about just how damn good she was. She did mostly merc work, with the occasional gigs for charity, rep, and giggles, by all accounts. Nobody called her a good person, but she was definitely someone useful to know... and obviously Fred did.
I eyed the words that took a good two seconds longer to disappear than normal.
I knew her as Shvaughn?... That was clearly hinting that Shvaughn was far more than what she looked like.
Huh... it looked like I was going to have to take a good hard look at this Shvaughn...
ANYTHING UNUSUAL ON MAKING FIVE?, he asked, having mostly left me alone for last-minute preparations on everyone’s parts. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people who would have jumped at the chance to come along, but the only people from the Hall that would be fighting there were the ones that had left almost a month ago, dribbling out in ones and twos so that no major force could be seen here.
“The only thing that was unusual was that it chose my first spell for me. Exemplar Surge,” I replied. He just flicked up a ? in reply. “I didn’t know the spell either.” ?!? “It’s a halvyr-only spell. Ostensibly, it brings a halvyr closer to actualization, granting a bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence for a short period of time... and a bonus Feat.”
??? I had to smile. “It took me a minute to realize, but it literally meant any Feat I could qualify for... and probably the most dangerous of those is Extra Spell Learned... which allows a Wizard to acquire an extra spell for their spellbook of the highest Level they can cast, or two of any lower level.”
He turned his head back to me slightly. I CAN SEE WHERE THAT COULD BE VERY IMPORTANT. THE THEURGIC METHOD DOESN’T ACTUALLY GIVE YOU ANY WIZARD SPELLS WHEN YOU GAIN NEW LEVELS, DOES IT?
“No, it only grants Engram Slots for them. Only true Wizard Class Levels catalyze understanding into new spells. Without it, the only spells I could use would be those I took from the Libraims and Tomes of the Hall... which are very, very sparse on IV’s, and have only three V’s, purchased directly from you-know-who and basically worthless, as there is nobody else who can use them.”
WHICH IS GOING TO CHANGE SHORTLY?, he inquired again, rather looking forwards to it.
“If there is no interference from my Bloodline, I should be a Faux Ten Caster in five more Renewals.”
I distinctly heard him sigh. YOU BEING MADE OF SO MUCH KARMA IS SUCH A DAMN CHEAT, his words rippled at me, like they were all wagging fingers at me.
“If it was a proper cheat, I should have incarnated as a full Ten and started the process off from Day One,” I snarked back, and he just gave that slight smile, which was as far as he could go with it...