Chapter 29 #2
“My 8th Level Active is Kindred Edge.” She smiled at Harald.
“It allows me to be coordinated by those fighting alongside me. If Grand Orchestration coordinates the group, this one lets the group coordinate me. It’s a…
well. Like a form of complete trust. The more companions fighting alongside me, the more threads I can read, and the more devastating my attacks become.
By myself, it does nothing. With you all and our Servitors?
I’ll become exponentially more dangerous. ”
“Very nice,” said Harald, and he couldn’t resist a warm smile. “And your Passive?”
“Unbroken Thread. I can no longer be isolated on a battlefield. Attempts to separate me from you all via fear, or illusions, or spatial displacement, or anything else are resisted in proportion to the depths of my bond to you all. So, Vic obviously brings nothing to the table here, but the rest of you?” She smiled.
“Also, it’ll alert me when one of you is in real danger.
Like an intuitive sixth sense running at all times. ”
“Very good,” agreed Kársek, with a sharp nod.
“Excellent,” agreed Harald. “Well done.”
Nessa inclined her head with a subtle smile.
“Whereas I am still dragging the party down at Level 6,” said Sam with a dramatic sigh.
“Still. It’s not all bad. My latest Active finally gives me a ranged attack: Light of Censure lets me hit foes with a concentrated beam of holy light.
Exceptionally bad for demons. And my Warden’s Discernment allows me to notice at all times whatever demonic corruption or presence is nearby. ”
“Can you sense me?” asked Vic, spreading his arms wide. “Just doing a quick test here—you notice my taint?”
“Hmm.” Sam peered at him. “Barely? I think it’s because you’re just so weak. Are you sure Eclavistra actually gave you a real Demon Seed? You’d think it would have had a more dramatic effect on you by now.”
Vic sniffed in disdain. “I’ll have you know I’m now a Level 6 Rapier Regent and ascending fast. Soon I’ll be Level 23.
But for now, well. Eclavistra’s influence has been rather pointed.
And—do note this—I’ve not used them against you all, tempting as it may have been.
You’ll thank me once I reveal their dread powers. ”
“Uh-huh,” said Nessa.
Harald smirked. “Probably not the best way to phrase them, but all right. What you got?”
“My fanciest ability is my 5th Level Velvet Riposte. Allows me to redirect an attack, not just deflecting but returning it through my counter-thrust. Eclavistra’s touch is that I gain insight into my foe while doing so—which will no doubt be utterly fascinating, given the fact that we fight dullards and monsters.
My 5th Level Passive? Silver-Tongue Embodied.
Yes, yes, I know, how can you improve upon perfection?
By making ol’ Vic’s persuasive Abilities supernaturally potent.
People find themselves just agreeing with me, and not just because I’m charming.
The longer people talk to me, the more reasonable I sound. ”
“Great,” said Harald, tone flat.
Vic held up both hands. “I can’t turn it off, Harry-boy, or I would.
I’m stuck with it. But! It’s possibly why I wasn’t skewered the moment they dragged me out of the closet, bound hand and foot and gagged, back in the cathedral.
Was touch and go there for a bit. But it’s also possibly why the Handmaidens kept me around.
I was destined—or doomed—to be a frightfully effective king. ”
Harald leaned back and crossed his arms.
Vic coughed into his fist. “To wrap up. My 6th Level Active is Sovereign’s Demand—not my choice of title—which allows me to issue one-word or short-sentence commands backed by my Ego, the Demon Seed, and Eclavistra’s authority.
And my 6th Level Passive is Court of Whispers.
Grants me a persistent awareness of emotional states and hidden intentions around me.
So. Awkward, but I can kind of sense now when you’re lying, or afraid, or hiding something.
Also, it might let me know how to twist what you desire to my own ends, but honestly, I have no intention of doing so. ”
“Great,” said Harald again. “So that’s how you avoided being hung by Lady Hammerfell.”
“That and my intervention,” sighed Sam. “I find myself strangely loyal to Vic as a member of our Throne Hunters. His Abilities might now explain why.”
“Thank you, my lady.” Vic bowed his head in gratitude.
“But it also tells me that you are actually really fucking distraught right now. I’m picking up a flavor of…
barely held back fear and despair?” He closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers together under his nose.
“With an aroma of… lust? And guilt? Combined with fear, and—”
“Be quiet,” said Sam with such intensity that Vic’s eyes snapped open in surprise and then shock.
Harald’s heart began to pound. Had Sam actually agreed with him before, or had he simply argued her into surrender? Did she believe him, or was she simply hoping he was right?
“My own development is of interest,” said Kársek, his grim voice cutting through the aching silence. Everybody turned to stare at the young dwarf with varying measures of gratitude. “I have passed beyond Khazadrok and gained my second Rune. Thurak.”
“A second Rune?” Harald leaned forward. “What does it do?”
“Thurak is the Rune of Severance. While Khazadrok destroys, Thurak severs connections. Magical bonds. Enchantments. Power conduits. Summoning tethers. Possession links. The channels through which beings draw power. Thurak cuts them.” Kársek’s expression was forbidding.
“Where Khazadrok destroys the physical, Thurak destroys the intangible. The very architecture of power. The only limitation is my own understanding: I can’t sever what I don’t perceive or understand.
I cannot detonate it blindly. But in time, if I come to understand anything with sufficient depth, I can destroy the bonds that tie objects, people, monsters, and demons together. ”
They all stared at Kársek.
“Damn, Karsy-baby,” said Vic. “That’s wickedly thematical. Given that you’re bound to Harald by honor, can you dissolve that bond with Thurak?”