Lament of the Fallen

As the two exited the grandmaster’s office, Razark felt compelled to ask. “So what are your thoughts on what just happened? It seemed like you figured out more than I did and more than you said.”

Dee thought for a moment before sighting Noyala sitting in a meditative position on the floor down the hall. “I have some theories, but I’d like to check something first.”

The two walked up to Noyala, who got up as they approached. “All done?” She asked with a smile.

“Sort of yes. Once we’re done with my errands, we can return to the great forest to deal with your problem.” Dee considered how to phrase her next words for the best effect. “An interesting thing happened. We received a mission to fulfill in the forest, but our grandmaster was somehow prevented from sharing too many details. It was as if he was held back by some sort of a bond, stopping him from saying the words. Any idea what that might be about?”

Razark looked at her in shock, which was understandable. According to what Dee had told him earlier, Noyala was a fairly recent acquaintance and it should be a bit too early for the kind of trust to form that allowed sharing details like this. Dee had just revealed sensitive details about the grandmaster of the order to Noyala, and while Dee and Razark were not fond of the order, or actually even members at this point, it was still a bit much to throw such information around. Additionally, Dee had just revealed they had a mission in the great forest, and a Sidhe like Noyala might not see that in a very positive light, depending on the mission of course. However, Dee wasn’t just blindly trusting Noyala, she had a hunch. A hunch that might pay off in spades if correct, so she was taking a gamble.

Noyala was clearly ruffled and tried to mask her surprise with a fake coughing fit. It was however obvious to the other two people that it wasn’t the shock from the new information she was trying to mask, instead, it was something else. And Noyala knew she had failed in her attempt to mask that. Dee’s directness had surprised her as well. “Well, let’s just say I have an educated guess.”

“Care to share?” Razark asked, while making it obvious he wasn’t really asking, but telling her to spill all she knew.

“Well…the problem is I can’t tell you.” Noyala hedged a bit.

“Can’t tell us, or you’re unable to tell us?” Dee asked, with a small smile. Her gamble had paid off. It was something about the four courts or the forest itself that was stopping the grandmaster from talking. It wasn’t just a lucky guess on Dee’s part, as their mission was to deal with the seasonal courts and the grandmaster had been unable to talk about those the details pertaining to it. Thus it had to be something to do with the area or the beings within the forest.

“I can see why you asked, but I’m not prevented from talking in the same way your grandmaster might be. However, I still can’t tell you. It has to do with certain things that should not be told to any outsiders, no matter how trustworthy those outsiders might be.” Noyala looked genuinely apologetic. Secrets had a way of getting out once too many people were in the loop. She remembered the old saying about ‘the only way for two people to keep a secret is if one of them is dead’.

“That’s fine, your words already told me a lot. I do have two questions though, and I hope you can answer them, but I won’t hold it against you if you won’t. Is the thing stopping the grandmaster from speaking a possible danger to the order? And secondly, is it likely there are more people under similar bonds?” Dee decided to amend her question a bit. “Outside elven members of the order I mean.”

Noyala had to think carefully how much she could reveal without giving too much away. “It is very unlikely any non-elves have such bonds, though not impossible. Any Sidhe members might also have similar problems if your order had any. Also, not all of the elves have that limitation, just the ones that actually know enough to tell you something. And while it should not be a direct threat to the order, it might affect the grandmaster’s decisions, so in that way, it could be a danger.”

Razark and Dee were both quick on the uptake and realized this was some sort of internal matter of the courts and anyone with enough knowledge was silenced. One way or another. Most likely only those in very high positions or with high amount of power had enough knowledge, and any elven members would likely be unable to speak on the subject. A high ranking Sidhe on the other hand…

“Well, well. This is getting interesting.” Razark stated now much more invested in the whole thing. This additional information had also calmed him down.  Suddenly something occurred to him and he turned to Dee. “Ah, my apologies for pulling you into the internal politics between the scouts and the order. I wanted to cut my ties with the order, but I’m not sure this is exactly the way I imagined it.”

Dee frowned. “What are you talking about? Isn’t this pretty much the best way things could go? You wanted to pull the scouts with you, and this way anyone that wants to follow you can do so. Naturally, the order will try to entice some to stay and will succeed in certain cases, but I don’t see a better way this could’ve gone really. The order is still important for many scouts who are holy men first and scouts second.”

“Ah, that’s not what I was talking about.” Razark chuckled with a small shake of his head. “I meant the reason he was planning on using as a pretext for kicking us out. You know the bit about us supposedly having inappropriate sexual relations? I would imagine that’s not a rumor you wanted spread around.”

“Oh this sounds interesting.” Noyala muttered half to herself.

Dee looked at Razark like he had suddenly gone stupid. “Why on Pantheon would I care about a rumor like that? Why would a dragon care about the opinions of sheep? I know it’s not true, you know it’s not true, and it really isn’t anyone else’s business. Besides, it’s not like it would do that much damage to my reputation really. Some of the women among the order consider you something of a catch. If you ignore the obviously fallacious ‘relations with a minor’ portion of the whole thing, it might actually improve my reputation. Again, not that I care, but there it is. I’d be more worried about your reputation honestly. You’re the one blamed for messing with a charge of yours.”

“Oh.” Razark said a little flustered. “What about that little fan of yours, Shunkaha? The wolf-boy.” He asked, directing the attention back at Dee.

“Again, why exactly would I care? I’ve discouraged his interest several times now. If this is enough to drive him away, then so be it. Actually it might be a little entertaining if he comes and tries something stupid like challenging you for my sake. As if I was some kind of trophy to be won. But from what I’ve heard, you guys seem to hold strange views like that on occasion.” The look Dee used on Razark had moved from ‘have you suddenly gone stupid?’ to ‘you really are an idiot’ in chilliness.

“Ooh, Dee you didn’t mention you had an admirer. Do tell me more.” Noyala suddenly hooked her arm with Dee’s and started pulling her towards the exit of the building. “Is he handsome? What’s this wolf-boy thing he mentioned? A wolf taking a fancy in a fox sounds naughty somehow.”

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The trio decided that they should deal with any unfinished business and do proper preparations before starting their mission in the great forest. The whole thing seemed like it would be a complex mission, so they should be at their best to deal with it. First order of business was to fetch Dee’s new weapons from the Saurian craftsman Zazk. The volcano workshop was just as impressive as last time, and even Noyala was throwing admiring glances at all the items scattered around the workshop. Some were simple swords, if a sword crafted from the most precious materials and with heavy enchantments could be called simple, while others were complex contraptions that none of the trio could identify.

“Zazk, you in here?” Razark yelled with a loud voice. The whole workshop echoed with the sound.

“Ah, Razark and Dee. You’re here.” The large red scaled Saurian came from one of the side rooms. He looked tired, or at least as much as a scaled humanoid lizard could look tired. “Your timing is perfect as usual. We finished the last item yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Razark asked with surprise. “Aren’t you a bit late from your initial estimate?”

“Yes, well, as it turns out the materials little Dee here provided were much more interesting to work with than we anticipated. We managed to create something even better than I imagined, once we combined them the correct way that is, but it took a while to find the correct combination.”

“Less excuses, more showing what you got.” Razark dismissed Zazk’s words with a wave of his hand. Honestly he was just getting curious about what the Saurian craftsman had managed to create.

“Come with me.” Zazk said with a feral grin splitting his face. He was truly proud of their accomplishments.

Zazk led them through several corridors and workshops to a large cleared out area behind the whole complex. There were several targets lined up on the other side of the clearing, making it clear this was a testing ground of sorts. Many of the targets were in a state best described as ‘total annihilation’. “Let’s deal with the simple things first. I had a friend of mine create and enchant a standard guandao and claymore for you, seeing as you didn’t specify which you wanted. They’re good work, and I can vouch for his skills.”

“Your friend.” Razark asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, well we were a bit busy with the main items. My friend is almost as good as me in creating enchanted weapons. Like I said, I can vouch for him. That’s not really why you came to me anyway. Here.” Zazk pulled a polearm and a large sword from his spatial storage.

Both were done with excellent craftsmanship, and Dee took several practice swings with both. She’d have to familiarize herself with them properly later. She noted the enchantments for durability, penetrative power and self-repair. There were other minor ones, but the big ones were those three. Not very fancy, but she didn’t need fancy. Instead those enchantments were extra powerful. Her strength and powers were better than any half-assed enchantment anyway, and these did the job well enough until she found something truly excellent. These were simply tools that should handle her strength well enough, as they were really just a delivery mechanism for the extraordinary physical strength she had, combined with the dark aura she clad the weapons in. Complex enchantments would only get in the way. The two weapons disappeared into her shadows.

“Alright, on to the main course then. After trying a lot of things, we figured the best way to help your psionics in your other forms was to create a halo for them as well.” Zazk explained.

“What?” Dee asked with slight confusion.

“Well, it’s not really your halo in your angel form that gives the power to your psionics, but it does help make your powers easier to wield. We figured that was also the best way to help your other two forms. Here.” Suddenly a large metallic halo appeared from his storage.

The metal ring seemed flexible, but immediately proved not to be so. The halo had a diameter of about half a mel, and was uniformly gray metal on the inside, and mostly on the outside except for a thin purple line of power running around the thing at the very center of the ring. It also had a gem at the front, and two small diamond shaped prongs radiating out from the gem on the top and bottom of the metal halo. The whole thing was very thin towards the center, but long and about ten centimel wide up and down from the purple core. The purple line seemed almost liquid.

“Let this float behind your head please, held aloft by your telekinetic power.” Zazk said quietly.

Dee did as ordered, and when it floated behind her head, the halo seemed to snap into place, no longer needing her power to hold it in the air. Suddenly she felt her own powers much more clearly, just like when she was in her angel form. Well not quite like that, but closer to that at least. The power was no longer struggling against her will, and while it didn’t seem to have the same eagerness to do her every bidding as it seemed to have in her angel form, at the very least the power was cooperative.

“Well…that is…” Dee muttered, almost numbly.

“Neat isn’t it. The main portion of the halo is the core made from Tears of Darkness, one of the liquids you provided to us. It’s perfect for conducting psionic power. Obviously you don’t need that boost in your angel form, so instead it will default to amplifying your power instead. The more you train with it, the more you will gain from it. Uh, the metal is a combination of several materials and should regenerate automatically if damaged. The core is harder to fix, so try to avoid getting that busted.” Zazk said with obvious pride in his voice.

“The downside being that it’s pretty darn eye-catching. Also, unlike normally, I can feel your presence clearly now. Something about the item makes you easier to detect.” Noyala suddenly interjected.

“She’s right. I think it somehow suppresses the aura that normally messes with anyone trying to detect you.” Razark agreed.

Zazk gave a small sigh. “Yes, everything comes with a price. I would advise against using it unless you were planning on making a scene. We tried to come up with something stealthy, but unfortunately that was the best we could do.”

Dee smiled. “That’s alright. I have other means, and this at least makes my psionics useful when I don’t want to reveal my angel form.”

“Which we’ll speak about later on by the way.” Noyala said with a rather cunning smile. This was the first time she got any information on any angel form Dee might have.

Zazk coughed, and decided to move on. “That halo will settle around your natural one in your angel form, but it will obviously be very eye-catching to have two halos. You’ll have to decide when the benefits outweigh the downsides. Anyway. Now to the main thing.” He pulled out a small box that looked to be made of some very expensive wood. The whole thing seemed to be extremely heavy as the Saurian was holding it with both hands and still seemed to be struggling. The container wasn’t that large, about the length of Dee’s arm, and just a bit thicker. Not really what one would expect from a weapon.

As Zazk laid the container on the ground with a grunt, they all noticed that the stone beneath the box seemed to be cracking under the weight. Zazk was a powerful warrior-mage after all, so anything he struggled to lift was obviously extremely heavy. “Would you mind sending your psionic power into the box before it goes through the floor and drops inside the volcano. The items inside would not be damaged by the lava in the slightest, but it would suck to have to try and fish them back up. The contents imprint to the first psion that touches them with her power, so we couldn’t do that yet.”

Dee did as she was told and felt her mind connect with thirty six objects inside the box, and the box itself. As soon as she did, the strain on the stone ground stopped completely. “What in the world?” Dee asked half to herself.

Zazk now easily picked the box up, turned it towards Dee and lifted the lid revealing the contents within. Inside the box were several small black objects. At first glance they looked to be made of something like diamond or volcanic glass. Dee quickly realized that this is where most of the Obsidium she had provided had gone. The objects were not uniform in size, and they were arranged from the largest to the smallest. The six big ones were cut to look like gemstones, and the biggest was roughly the size of three of her thumbs. The thirty smaller ones were perfectly round, and looked a bit like a string of black pearls, with the smallest being the size of a small child’s pinky nail.

“What are those?” Razark asked from the side.

“Dee’s new weapon.” Zazk replied clearly proud of his work. “The basic principle is to move them with your telekinetic power like I said the last time we met. You launch them at the enemy and their mass combined with the speed will make clear work of anything you hit. Although they seem light now, their mass has not gone anywhere. You can infuse your psionic power into them, and the more power you put inside them, the more mass they have. The container is also enchanted so that if you lose one, they will return into the container. If you want a bigger hole in your enemy, then use a bigger one, and if you want the target somewhat intact, use one of the smaller ones.”

Dee lifted one of the smaller pearls with her fingers. She looked at it for a while, and then casually tossed it at the wall of the workshop. Zazk screamed “No wait, don’t!” but was too late. The tiny pearl went straight through the stone wall with stupendous ease, and instead of making a small hole it took half of the wall with it. Zazk cursed. “Be careful with those!” Luckily there was nothing important on the other side of the wall, besides couple of stupefied apprentices waving away the floating dust.

Dee withdrew her power from the small pearl and it suddenly appeared back at the empty slot of the container, once again connected to her. “Well that’s neat. Not the whole extent of it I assume. Your proud voice hinted there’s more.”

Zazk cried non-existent tears due to the broken wall, but couldn’t stop his pride once he returned to speak of his creation. “Of course not. You can make them change shape freely, with the idea that you can form the bigger ones into shields. Now I know what you’re thinking, to make a shield big enough to be useful you’d need to make it too thin to stop anything, but...”

Dee interjected. “I think I got it, if I infuse them with power, the extra mass comes in the form of density. A paper thin strip of mithril is much sturdier than…well a stack of paper for instance. The more power I put in, the sturdier the shield.”

Zazk had a knowing grin. “That’s half of it, yes. However, you’re not taking the material used into consideration. Obsidium, when treated correctly, becomes almost immune to magical effects. The more magic it is subjected to the sturdier it becomes, absorbing part of the attack to reinforce the defense. Combined with Thorium that does similar things to ki, and voila! The material is not impervious to damage by any means, partly thanks to the fact that we had to combine the two materials and dilute the effect a bit, but put enough power in to turn it denser and you’ve got the next best thing.”

Dee chucked one of the large gems into the air where it hovered in place thanks to her powers. She squinted at the gem a bit and it formed into a simple round paper-thin shield that would cover most of her in a pinch. “Noyala, if you wouldn’t mind testing it a bit.”

“With pleasure.” Noyala said with a grin.

Noyala started small and started casting increasingly powerful spells at the hovering target. At the lower levels Dee didn’t need to put any extra power to strengthen the shield, as the strength of the material was quite sufficient. Once Noyala started putting enough power into the spells to match a rank seven mage, Dee had to start supporting the shield with her own power. Once Noyala packed most of her power behind the spells, Dee had to seriously support the shield. Not because the shield would break, but because it would be thrown aside by the power of the spells otherwise.

“That’s enough. I get the picture.” Dee lifted all the small beads with her powers, and focused on them for a short moment. A tiny hole suddenly ran through all of them, and the shadowy power she could control ran through the holes as if it was a string connecting them. The newly formed string of pearls looked like prayer beads and they wound themselves around her left lower arm, not looking out of place at all. “An easy weapon to conceal as well. Nice.” She also hadn’t missed the fact that it wouldn’t take much power to use the weapon to great effect if a simple toss could destroy a stone wall. So a stealthy weapon as well.

The bigger gems were a bit more of a problem, until she remembered that she could freely change their form, and they formed into small thin and flexible needles and hid those around her body in various places, among her clothes. She played with one of the gems in her hand before asking. “So how dense can they get exactly?”

Zazk shook his head. “I can’t say really. We compressed all the material you provided into those little things, but we can’t tell how it reacts with psionic power without testing. And testing would’ve bound them to the tester. I honestly can’t tell.”

“Well, only one way to find out.” Dee declared with a grin, and tossed the gem to hover in the middle of the large open yard. The other three wisely sought shelter behind something while Dee started pushing more and more power inside the gem.

At first the others didn’t notice anything different as how could they tell any change in mass of the small object while it was hovering in the air like that. Then they started to feel the change. The gravity around the gem started distorting. At first it was something on the level of slightly affecting the trajectory of a small falling object. Then it got to the point of actually starting to draw in things on the sides. As Dee pumped in more and more power, the gravity of the small gem started to draw in any loose objects on the ground which all got drawn to the gem like a magnet. Then the gravity started to tear away items that were not loose, the pull finally becoming stronger locally than the draw of the planet below them, making items levitate off the ground.

”Dee, stop!” Zazk screamed as it the pulls started to tear chunks off the walls and ground, though luckily the affected area was fairly small. “Don’t start wrecking my workshop any more than you already have!”

Dee conceded the point with a small smile and withdrew her power. Interestingly she got back everything she had just pumped into the little gem, without any waste. All the previously floating debris suddenly crashed on the ground.

“I think that’s a fairly successful experiment. Good job Zazk! I think I can make this work.” Dee said, knowing that she could still put in a lot more power into the gem if necessary. She needed to work on the speed though. She had been slowly putting in power just now, but even at best the process wasn’t instant.