Chapter 6-166: Genius Loci (2/2)

The werewolves had probably freed it, it had probably enslaved the strongest of them, and was using the Mazed werewolves as more servants, probably infected by the same kind of demonic madness that drove them.

Infectious stuff, Taint was...

Whatever, it had still been trapped for a few hundred years, and was definitely not at its full power. Could she even fight such a thing?

Her eyes gleamed at the thought of it, and all seven of Tremble’s active Rune Slots lit up.

Greater Ki-Bound. Blooding. Enmity/Supernatural. Bane to the Fey. Bane of Legends. Courageous. For the moment, Valorous.

Vivic could wait for the final blow, so this thing didn’t know what was coming for it. Tremble’s Song began to swell with power and glory against this animate thing that was racing through the town like a tidal wave of destruction.

Sama was also very sure to max out her own Fast Healing and Regeneration to a full 4 points a combat round each, because she knew she was about to take one HELL of a hammering. Her Bracers were aligned to Defiant/Fey, just that much more Damage Reduction on the stack, and she was going to need it all. She abandoned any thoughts of real defense, knowing it was going to hit her just given how big and how fast those tentacles were moving, shifting the alignment of her internal powers to shoring up ever more damage reduction.

This would have been a great time to have a suit of skinplate on for even more DR, she mused, eyes flashing. Expertise of +4 turned to DR +8. Three Tiers of Way of Stone Mastery for DR 3/- that stacked with anything; Way of Crystal II for another +4; her Rantha Hag 1/Level DR /Holy Silver for another +6, and +2 from Defiant stacking onto her Crystal Shield set.

DR 23/Holy Silver, which it couldn't bypass. She was still going to feel like she was getting hit by a tree... a lot of trees, actually. Multi-ton woodstone tentacles moving that fast were not gentle. She watched one whip through a house sideways, tearing through the entire front of the building without slowing down.

Her only way to beat it straight off was to surpass its own Damage Reduction, be able to carve into it, do a lot of damage with every attack, and have more attacks than it did.

Technically, it shouldn’t even be able to see her with her using the Darkstalker Feat, regardless of its blindsight. It was a pure unintelligent spirit, tied to the land, lacking coherent thought and memory. It was simply reacting in the most brutal and overpowering way against the intrusion on its body, and wouldn’t even have the sense to run away, because how could you run from your own skin?

She could kill it!

That thought firmly in mind, she charged it, Valorous flaring.

It blew through the stoutly built ranch house of the Gunneriengs like a groundwave of earth and roots, hurling the whole house twenty feet in the air, where a dozen whipping tentacles as thick as tree trunks promptly smashed it apart like slicing tissue paper, sending debris flying for hundreds of feet as the basement caved in all around and the ground opened up to eat the shredded remains. As six tentacles slammed into the cement of the driveway and reduced it to pebbles and shards instantly, she threaded between them all, and hit it with her first blow.

Her Sword was her spear, double damage on charge. Spirited Charge, triple damage on charge with a spear. Valorous, quadruple damage on charge. One Strike, hextuple damage on charge.

Tremble had been reforged with adamantine during the past three years, a full QL 40 Weapon, able to sink oh so much gold now... She only had seven Slots open; opening the final three would take as much gold and Naming Karma as the first seven had. Still, it was a base 2-12 Heavy arming Sword, a Profound Weapon and Soulsword, with three damage increases. 3-15, 3-18, 3-21.

Currently, Tremble was sitting at +XII, a stupefyingly powerful level of Enhancement, with +4d6 of Banefire add-ons. This thing’s natural DR might as well have been cheese for all that it slowed her Sword down.

She was Singing a Bladesong, a Wardance only for herself, doubling the Morale Bonuses from it. It was only +1, but Song of the Heart increased that to +2, Bladesong doubled that to +4, and Courageous dumped +6 on top of that. Morale bonuses at +9 total reassured her that yes, she most certainly could do this!

Her Strength was a full 28, as strong as ten men, for +9 to hit and damage, moving with the speed and power that was the definition of superhuman.

It couldn’t tell where she was. She had a Stealth check in the +30 range, and it had no Ranks in Perception at all, relying on its absolute blindsight awareness of the elements around itself, which the Darkstalker Feat slid right through. That meant with every attack, +6d6+12 Sneak Attack damage was going on the stack, too.

She wasn’t supposed to be a Grandmaster yet, but it and her Sagedom were a part of her, and it had kicked in. She had ten appropriate weapon-oriented Skills at the required five Ranks, Profound Artisan to get the synergy bonus to damage, and her Sagedom to collect all of them, rather than just one.

+20 fixed bonus to damage. +6 Melee Attack Bonus to hit...

Weapon Mastery, Combat Genius, Weapon Master’s Gauntlets: +4/+4. Sword Specialist, +1/+2. Extraordinary Weapon Proficiency, change threat and crit to 19-20/x3. Improved Threat and Improved Critical, 17-20/x4.

Greater Sun Striking as she could, for +4-24 at a time, releasing Mystic Focus each time, 3 attacks per cycle. Improved Power Attacking for -3/+12, no penalty on the first attack, Deep Impact cushioning the next 3 and making them touch attacks with the Sun Strikes, combined with Finesse Attack and Improved Precise Attack for another +9 damage on those attacks.

-4 to its Natural Armor, Dexterity, and Deflection Aura, for Way of Fire, Storm, and Ocean II, effectively +12 to hit... except it was blind and effectively couldn’t see her to dodge her, so it wasn’t getting a Dexterity bonus, anyways...

+2 charging, +2 for Way of the Sun II, +4 on that first attack.

The math said she was hitting at a base of +43, and Beyond Law and Chaos said she couldn’t miss.