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From the Diary of the Cleric: Silver Mount Session 23

Game log of a ToEE adventure that somehow turned into an Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  You can find the original google doc here.


Rogues Gallery – The Hommlet Raiders

The Hommlet Raiders
The Hommlet Raiders
  • The Rogue – Giselle der Gauner the Soulknife due to a mutation granting her telekinetic powers (character #2, previous character was Mirka the Rogue – Deceased)
  • The Monk – Augusta “Tof” Bamberger and her henchmen Elmo the Ranger and pet pug General Puggins.
  • The Druid – Lilie the Elf and her henchmen Wolfram and animal companion Fuyuko the white wolf.
  • The Knight – Lintelfaden Toshcobble, squire of Rufus the Bold.
  • The Fighter – Fencil the G-Noll (Reincarnation) (Character #2, previous character was a cleric – Deceased) and his (henchmen Zof the Jarhead Wizard – Deceased).
  • The Ranger – Bustov Daman and his animal companion The Mou-Mou Bird (bloodthirsty sparrow).
  • The Wizard – Boris the Jaws-Dodger.
  • The Cleric – Lorenz Brandt (character #2), the scribe.

Session 23 Recap

Bustov scratched the back of his head, still annoyed even after the technology items were distributed between the party. “I still don’t have a special bow that is deserving of me, Bustov Daman.”

“You can just use a gun,” Lorenz suggested.

“A gun? A weapon of someone with no skill, that’s what a gun is. You just pull the trigger and the weapon does the rest. No, I need a real weapon of pure skill and unrivalled power.”

Gisella shrugged, sliding a pencil behind her ear. “Well, I’m not sure if you’ll find one, considering we’re in a space station, it’s either grenades or lasers in here.”

“Once we get to the Autoforge I’m going to make the cleanest bow that will shame even the best of guns. And Pencil.”

Fensal didn’t even understand how he was caught in the crossfire, considering it made no sense but had come to accept it. He responded to Pencil just as well to Fensal and, if it weren’t for a few people in the party calling him his real name, it would have changed to Pencil a while ago.

With no further delays, the party returned to the elevator and listened to the calming jingle playing on repeat. Eventually, all of them were humming to the addictive beat as the lights began to flash in tune, a few even tapping their feet to the rhythm.

“I don’t think that’s normal,” Boris muttered, observing the flashing lights.

They flickered for a moment before blacking out completely, even the elevator suddenly halted its descent as power completely went out. As steel ground against steel, an ear-piercing screech rang out and echoed through the shaft as the elevator began to slowly drop. Uncontrolled, it was getting faster and faster, the noise growing louder and deafening. The darkness seemed to congeal and gather at one point, materializing just as the mimics did in a burst of heavy, frigid, smoke. Only its eyes glowed an eerie blue as it stared through Bustov.

Without warning, it vanished.

Rematerializing beneath his feet, it passed through him but its claws were real, cutting like razors, freezing the blood, so cold to the point it burned. In utter darkness, it was untrackable in the dropping elevator, sliding between or through the party as it wished.

The cramped quarters were meant to prevent accurate ranged attacks but it didn’t hinder Bustov in the slightest, still easily able to make precise shots within the fray. Aki couldn’t get a clear shot and even Fensal unsheathed a blade to strike up close; for all his talk the ranger could definitely back himself up in combat. But his arrows passed through the shade as if it was smoke.

“I really need a magic bow,” he sighed.

Augusta and Lintelfaden had no trouble harming the shade, cutting through it as if it was solid. Their attack didn’t pass through, glowing faintly with magic and nullifying its misty nature. Of course, the ones that could hurt it became the targets as it leapt straight for the monk, ignoring the one in space marine armour. Its frigid claws tore through again and its momentum shot him out of the elevator, passing through the walls to disengage.

Lorenz took this brief moment to heal the wounds, melting the ice with golden magic and closing them. Slowly but surely, his magic was getting stronger as his connection and favour with UNITY deepened, granting him his holy power. Bustov’s wounds closed painlessly and completely, but sometimes his magic was lacking and barely anything happened.

“Oh, whoops,” he chuckled as Augusta’s wounds were hardly healed. “Ah well, you win some, you lose some.”

“It’s something,” Augusta thanked. “That thing is still alive, careful.”

Gisella didn’t even care about the battle, she was trying to figure out how to halt the dropping elevator. She thought of using telekinesis, hoping it would be strong enough or at least enough to slow it down, but the shade also worried her and it could interrupt her mind powers.

The shade phased through from below her, ready for another hit-and-run, but completely missed. She easily sidestepped out of the way, floating a little with her telekinesis, and the daggers unsheathed themselves from her belt. They hovered momentarily before darting out, slicing the wraith into dozens of pieces and letting the smoke evaporate.

Without a sound, it burst into freezing smoke, sending chills up their spines but it evaporated through the roof before disappearing. The elevator came to a jarring halt, grinding against the shaft and barely stopping it from crashing. A faint humming sound gradually built up as the power turned back on, and the first thing that restarted was the elevator music. Even before the lights.

The jingle continued and the ride only lasted a few more moments before reaching the bottom, realising they dropped almost the entirety of the shaft. Sadly, the music ended as the doors opened and let them back out to the hall.

“Keep your eyes out for any cassette tapes or silver tubes,” Fensal warned.

“Careful of the Reapers as well,” Lorenz reminded. “Me and Pencil have one after us.”

Gisella reiterated the plan for dealing with the terrifying terminators. “Whoever they are after needs to stay back and we can play to its programming. As long as we don’t get in its way, it shouldn’t attack us and only target Fensal.”

“We’ll worry about them when the time comes,” Lintelfaden dismissed. She had stayed with Kwalish for repairs and an update on the space marine armour, she had never faced a reaper. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Hahaha, worst that could happen is if we fought one now, there isn’t much room to run in this hallway-”

Pieces of steel scattered along the floor began to rattle as if magnetised together. They rolled and dragged across the floor, damaging even the skymetal plating. Blades, arms, and legs, slammed into each other until they began to swirl around a single, glowing core, rapidly building itself at the end of the hallway. Its single eye scanned the party before stopping on Fensal and it locked its blade and rifle into place, warning him in a grating metallic voice.

“Your reaper has arrived.”

He’s after me, Fensal realised. And his lightning discharges could hurt the whole party. If he’s after me and I fight him in melee, his lightning will only hit me!

Such was the flawless reasoning of Pencil.

“What are you doing?!” Lorenz snapped.

Maybe he lost his head with reincarnation but he leapt towards the terminator, wielding a blade, almost asking to die again by heedlessly facing a lethal foe. It went as well as expected, instantly getting shocked before he could get a swing off, caught in midair with the claw, and slammed into the ground, knocking him out against the sky metal. As expected, it completely ignored everyone except Fensal, trying to brutally crush his neck.

Bustov shook his head and tried to cover for his comrade but his arrows pinged off the steel plating; basic arrows could never break through skymetal armour, it would be shameful if any reaper fell to such a primitive weapon.

“Tch, fine!” Lintelfaden unsheathed his katana and raised it to the sky, emitting a golden light that inspired the party and drowning the fear of the reaper. “I’ll cut it down with my Katana of the Lich Shogun’s Eternal Shogunate!”

It dealt damage, the razor-edge cutting into the plating, but it didn’t cut through. It got stuck and he couldn’t pull it out as the reaper began to self-repair over it, trying to trap him in place.

“Do not interfere,” it commanded.

He got his first taste of the reaper’s lethal and merciless nature. Even preoccupied with the execution, its crude blade pierced straight through the space marine armour, cutting Lintelfaden inside, and grinded its way out. A little cut was flooded with crippling poison and he felt it rushing through his body, threatening to kill him. Turning its attention back to the foolish gnoll, its rifle loaded itself and he shoved it up Fensal’s mouth.

Augusta kicked off Elmo’s shield, wielding her pinions, and knocked the rifle out of the way as it realised a single, powerful shot into the wall. She shivered as it stared into her eyes, adding another interference to the list. It didn’t even bother unsheathing its blade out of Lintelfaden’s suit, it swung for her with the side of the rifle, barely missing but forcing her back.

“Why did you have to run in, Pencil?!” she complained.

Lorenz breathed into his palm golden mist and hardened it into a bullet. Loading it into his gun, he fired straight at Fensal, aiming square for the head and, surprisingly, healing the wounds just enough for him to regain consciousness. Commanding him to pull away was pointless now, the reaper had already added more targets to its database.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Fensal admitted. “Sticking to range is what I do best.”

“Die,” the reaper commanded and, still holding Fensal’s neck, lifted him up and slammed him against the ground, knocking him out again.

As Gisella’s daggers came flying in, its core discharged, more powerful than before. It forced Lintelfaden back, threatening to short circuit the suit, Augusta couldn’t dodge it and protected it from most of the damage from the daggers. Again, it prepared to end Fensal, ignoring the rest of the party for its target.

“Sorry, Pencil!” Lilie apologised and her hands began to spark. Siphoning it into one point, she fired an instant bolt of lightning through the reaper. The deafening peal echoed throughout the hall and down the hundreds of rooms, reverberating through the walls and floor.

The reaper froze for a moment, stunned as electricity began to pulse through its systems; despite constantly emitting it, that didn’t mean it was any less vulnerable than other machines. Taking advantage of the situation, Lintelfaden leapt back into the fray and stopped the poisoned blade from beheading Fensal. Even in its weakened state, it was pushing and winning against him, ready to cut through the katana if it had to.

“It seems I need to save you all again!” Bustov laughed. Ignoring the gravity of the situation, he nocked a pure black arrow into his bow, the head akin to a raven, and took aim. “Bustov Daman has to-”

“Just shoot!” Lintelfaden ordered.

Without looking, the arrow ran straight through the electrical core and shot a hole through it, letting the energy break out uncontrolled. He didn’t look at the explosion, only flicking back his hair, Moi Moi bird resting on his shoulder… somehow flicking back its feathers with its wing.

“You need to look like this, Aki,” he tutored. “Never look at explosions, always take the last hit, and save the day!”

“Amazing!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands. “You’re the best and strongest one here!”

“Hahahaha, you don’t need to tell me!”

Lorenz and Lilie rushed over to heal Fensal, who had barely survived another encounter after just being reincarnated. They explained the plan over and over only for it to get immediately ignored; Lilie even left the cleric and turned to heal Lintelfaden.

“All’s well that ends well,” Fensal chuckled, wincing in pain as the wounds closed.

As he said, they didn’t dwell on it, just glad that nobody was killed this time. Avoid breaking any security, and ignore talking flashy lights on pedestals, they were extremely wary about triggering another one. Every fight with one had been lethal and there was still one more hunting Lorenz.

Retracing their steps, they headed back to the second knowledge pedestal that was hacked and they walked past it, not wanting to risk another security breach. Except for Bustov. He broke away from the party and entered the room, searching it top to bottom, overturning everything that looked out of place.

“What are you doing?” Lilie inquired.

“A magic bow could be anywhere,” Bustov explained, sifting through the pieces of the knowledge altar. “I’ve got to search every nook and cranny. Everywhere…”

Lintelfaden opened the door to the next room, trying to remember the directions from the Orangoilion. “Wow, this is a big room.”

It was big but it was rather empty. A desk on the side with mundane stationery, complete with pencils, pens, a notebook, and even a mug on a cup holder. On the far end of the room, four taps were fitted into the wall, one leaking blue liquid, one silver, while the other two were completely dry. A few xeno corpses warned them of a previous battle, perhaps killed by shades, mimics, or reapers. The aliens seemed like octopi encased in armour, protecting their large heads and fitted around the tentacles with claws attached. They seemed reminiscent of the dismantlers in a way but these were completely organic beneath the steel.

“Before you start searching, Bustov, be careful of mimics,” Gisella warned. “Anything out of the ordinary or valuable could be fake.”

“Like that mug,” Fensal pointed out.

In the middle of the neat and organised desk was a blue mug with a ribbon design and ‘Best Dad’ written into the ceramic. In pristine condition, it stood out among the messy room despite there being a battle and was almost begging someone to grab it. If anything, it was definitely worth some value to an antique collector and some spare change never hurt anyone.

Fensal quickly tapped the handle and pulled away, expecting it to burst into smoke, but nothing happened. He confidently picked it up and inspected it inside and out, a little surprised it was exactly what it looked like: A Best Dad mug.

“Huh, let’s fill this up with whatever’s in the taps,” he suggested.

Lintelfaden was one step ahead and, hopping out of the space marine suit, he placed his mouth over one of the taps and turned the handle, drinking it straight from the source. Without even bothering to check what could be inside, he chugged it until nothing was left and the tap was dry.

He sighed, content with the quick drink. “That wasn’t too bad. Rather tasty and I feel a lot better.”

Bustov rushed over to the taps, blue, silver, and yellow, and decided the last one was more appetising than the others. He tried to drink straight from the tap but nothing flowed out, leaving him waiting in anticipation. Suddenly, something was shot straight into the back of his throat, forcing him to cough it back up; a mutant bee hit the floor, twitching a little before dying.

A painful buzzing sound echoed in the wall and an entire swarm shot out of the tap, swirling around Bustov who just tried to ‘drink’ them. Their stingers were massive compared to the size of their bodies, piercing like daggers, not needles, dozens upon dozens creating a buzzing yellow cloud. They completely cut off their line of sight and blinded him with sheer numbers alone.

One strike to hit them all would be best but they were hesitant about throwing a grenade right where Bustov was. The swarm was a dime in a dozen, killing a single bee with an arrow or bullet did nothing, and they couldn’t even see their comrade inside, making even melee attacks dangerous. Gisella tried to use her telekinesis but, not only were there too many, it was impossible to pinpoint specific bugs to freeze.

Lilie felt a shiver crawl up her spine. “That’s creepy, I like animals, not bugs.”

Without any heed for Bustov, her arms crackled with electricity and she fired another lightning bolt straight at the swarm. It worked like a charm as the lightning chained from bee to bee… to Bustov to another bee. A single shot was all it took and the entire swarm was killed instantly, smoking from the heat and dropping like flies, melting into goop as they hit the floor.

“Sorry!” Lilie panicked, rushing over to heal the ranger she just attacked. “I thought it was best if we killed them all and then healed you.”

“I’m totally fine,” Bustov lied, but he was filled with such confidence it made the other believe he was perfect. “Lightning doesn’t mean anything, I’ll walk it off.”

He created a handful of berries and began to snack on them, feeding a few to Moi Moi as well. Filled with healing properties, his burns began to heal and they made a tasty treat inside the desolate space station.

Lintelfaden re-entered the suit and held his hand out to the silver tap; a little bit of protection considering what just happened. A gooey substance like steel leaked out, slowly snaking towards his hand and defying gravity. It attached to the suit and began to expand over it, filling in the cracks and damage and coating it with an extra layer of protection. A part of it dripped off and Fensal caught it in the Best Dad mug, giving it a suitable area to expand and harden.

The final tap was, without a doubt, deadly acid. A few drops were all it took to realise it was melting a layer of the skymetal before failing to break through completely. Gisella wanted to utilise the acid but, without any proper way to transport it, they would have to leave it untouched. Any vial they used was melted straight through.

“Oh, we can use the Best Dad mug,” Fensal suggested. “It’s coated in that steel inside.”

Liking the idea, Gisella used her telekinesis to lift up the acid and gently pour it into the Best Dad mug. Luckily, it did fizzle and steam began to rise but it couldn’t eat away at the silver coating. It now served as a way to transport the acid… it just didn’t have a lid.

Unfortunately, they had to leave behind their precious Best Dad mug with the acid until they could find a way to cover it. Fensal gently left it on the desk, offered a prayer to the Best Dad of the Best Dad mug, and rejoined his party as they headed off to another hallway, remembering the directions given.

“Why is it always a hallway?” Lorenz muttered. “It’s always a long, dark, hallway with broken lights and a scary guy at the end.”

“It’s where we have to go,” Augusta shrugged. “If I remember correctly, the Orangoilion said right, straight, right, left, left, straight, right, left?”

“I don’t think so.” Gisella closed her eyes and tried to recount the directions. “Wasn’t it right, right, straight, right, left, straight, left, right, right?”

“I swear there was another left in there,” Fensal said.

The echo of a robot’s heavy steps interrupted their train of thought, the grind of steel more so. What else would it be but another reaper sharpening its blades as it slowly approached them, scanning for its target? Right on point, it honed it on Lorenz at the back and began to hover slightly off the ground, core crackling with electricity.

Lorenz readied his rifle and charged it up. “It’s always a hallway!”

Playing to its weakness, he fired a shot and controlled the light, weaving it between the party and striking the reaper in the temple. As expected, it was hardly fazed by the shot but its sights were set and it dashed straight for him. It didn’t care about the tight hallway or the people in it, it shoved through them, not even bothering to attack anyone except the cleric.

It loaded its rifle and fired a burst round, barely missing as Lorenz turned the corner into the previous room. Open to the rest of the party, they did everything they could to destroy it while it wasn’t focused on them. It shrugged off their attacks but it was definitely slowing down and its armour was failing against the magical attacks. A quick core discharge forced them back and repowered its systems; it continued to charge for Lorenz, heedless of anyone else.

Until it was suddenly frozen in place, encased in a layer of pink energy. Gisella held him back with her telekinesis, buying time for Lorenz to pull farther away and opening the reaper up to even more attacks. The last thing they needed was to let it target who it wanted, they needed to fight smart and safe.

Resisting the telekinesis, its head turned 180 and it scanned her. “Interference will not be tolerated.”

In the blink of an eye, it broke out of the hold with sheer strength and grinded its blade against the ground. Dashing right up to Gisella, one swift slash was all it took, flooding her body with lethal poison through the deep and jagged wound.

“Wait, what?” Fensal muttered, trying to understand what just happened.

“Lilie, heal Gisella now!” Bustov ordered.

But the druid was shaking, hands covered in blood after trying to close the wound. “I can’t… Healing won’t do anything now. The poison-”

Augusta grabbed the air and channelled it into a single blow, blasting the entire corridor with a wave of wind and knocking the reaper into the wall. Before it could recover, Lintelfaden was close behind the Katana of the Lich Shogun’s Eternal Shogunate, following-up and delivering a decisive blow. Right across the core, he split the whole machine in half and it crumbled into pieces.

As soon as the reaper was destroyed, Lorenz sprinted towards Gisella, tripping over himself and shoving past his comrades. Crushing a small gem, he was flooded with divine magic and a golden light shone from his hands. He knelt down beside her and began to mutter a prayer that the others couldn’t understand; the light grew brighter and gear began to form around her heart. Rotating backwards, it siphoned the light and magic into it, rapidly spinning until it suddenly vanished, dissipating into thousands of golden specks. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lorenz fell back and opened his eyes, taking deep breaths after the powerful spell.

“Huh? What was that?” Bustov asked.

“Ouch…” Gisella moaned and pulled herself off the ground, clutching her stomach. “That really hurt…”

Lilie glanced at her, to Lorenz, and then back again before giving her a tight hug. “Thank goodness you’re alright!”

“I said I wouldn’t let anyone else die to the reapers,” Lorenz chuckled. “Well… I guess you did die but you know what I mean.”

“Thank you-” Gisella began but was cut short as Lilie squeezed even tighter. “Hey, ow, ow, Lilie!”

Although not in perfect condition, Bustov and Lilie were able to assist with healing, giving Lorenz a chance to rest for a moment. Being revived was taxing on the target but Gisella was able to stand on her own after a little assistance from the rest. Before long, she could properly control her telekinesis and spun the daggers in midair.

“I’m good to go,” she informed. “Everyone else alright? I know we used a lot of magic.”

Lilie nodded. “I can push on longer, I still have some left.”

Bustov thoroughly searched the hallway for a magic bow, without any luck but found a side door in the middle of the corridor. The party readied themselves for whatever could be on the other side and he tapped his platinum disc against the pass, revealing the room; a very dreadful room.

Without a doubt, the hundred upon hundreds of cassette tapes layering every surface was a mimic, it wasn’t even debatable. Two adventurers lay dead in the room, their bodies black and the life siphoned out of them by the detestable aliens. Going inside was a death sentence, one alone could be handled, even two or three but over a hundred was out of the question. But, by purpose they guessed, the magic weapons of the adventurers were shining, just out of arms reach from the edge of the door, begging them to come in. A shield, armour, sword, and most importantly a mechanical bow.

“Ah hah!” Bustov exclaimed. “My magic bow! Yep, we’re grabbing it if it’s the last thing we do!”

“The last thing you do,” Fensal corrected. “Go in but I won’t follow.”

“Team effort, you need to understand what’s good for me is great for everyone else.”

Aki cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t Bustov the strongest one here? Why not make the strongest one stronger?”

“He brainwashed you that fast…?” Lorenz sighed. “Either way, she’s right, it would be useful to get Bustov an upgrade from his longbow.”

GIsella was the first to volunteer to get it out, standing away from the door while Lorenz stood by to shut it at a moment’s notice. She targeted the bow, the only weapon any of them wanted, and slowly lifted it up, pulling it away from the adventurer’s grip. Just as she raised it up the room shuddered and the cassette tapes began to rattle, falling off the walls and ceilings. Hastily, she pulled it out of the room and the door was slammed shut as the tapes began to burst into mimics.

“Here you go.” Gisella tossed the bow to Bustov. “Wield it well.”

“Haha, thanks!” He slid his hand across the bow, examining his new prize.

It’s limbs were folded against the grip to be more compact, circuitry lining it and leading to the most intriguing part of it all. The grip was surrounded by a claw with a dull beam where an arrow would usually be nocked, dormant as if waiting for a power source; they weren’t quite sure what was needed to activate it.

Suddenly, the cassette room began to shake as multiple things seemed to flail around inside, bashing into each other within the tight room. It was getting louder and louder, fiercer and violent until it all went quiet. Black smoke began to seep out from the edges of the door, the slightest touch sent chills throughout their body. A massive shade walked right through the wall, glowing pale blue eyes scanning its enemies. It turned from a gas to a solid, claws the size of blades, a mouth of darkness smiling as it found its next meal.

For its size, it was swift, constantly countering even as Wolfram swung his monstrous greatsword. As he slashed through its arms, inflicting a deep wound, smoke poured out and something inside seemed to crawl and fill the wound and the shade swung back. It held out its hand and caught a fire bolt, snuffing it out with the frigid temperature of its body, immediately phasing through and behind the party to reach the spellcasters.

Elmo and Augusta were quick to protect and leapt for the shade. The latter was finally able to kick off her knight’s shield and deliver a powerful bow to its neck with her pinion blades as the follow-up came from below. Just as before the wounds were closed as a mimic seemed to move from within and fill up the damaged areas, allowing it to slam Elmo into the wall while it fired a magnetic orb toward the monk.

“We’re definitely hurting it,” Fensal realised. “It’s made up of the mimics, we just need to keep killing the beings inside it.” He reached out his hand and a red thread tied itself at the tip of Lintelfaden’s katana. “Give it your best strike!”

The string extended straight to the shade’s shoulder, almost pulling his blade towards that point. The Katana of the Lich Shogun’s Eternal Shogunate began to glow with magic and his strike was true, leaping into the air and severing the limb in a single motion, a trail of silver splitting thread in half. The shade screeched and reeled away, freeing Elmo from being crushed against the wall and giving the party space to breathe. But just as before, mimics crawled out and formed another arm in seconds, though it did seem to shrink a little as its severed limb melted into liquid, then evaporated into the frigid black mist.

Lorenz fired another laser and pulled away, healing Elmo as he did. “We’ve got this, it isn’t nearly as bad as the reapers.” He glanced at the ranger still examining his new bow. “Uh, hello? You know we’re fighting here?”

“Heh, I, uh, don’t know how to turn this on,” Bustov chuckled.

“What? Then don’t use it, use your longbow!”

“No, no, trust me, I’ll get it working!”

The mimic shade screamed again and four wraiths flew out of the walls identical to the one they met in the elevator. They had to kill the shade before it called more and overwhelmed them, but its movements were erratic and always ready to react to anything the party did.

“The longbow!” Lorenz reminded.

“Oh, here, this is it!” Bustov exclaimed triumphantly.

The grip was like a lever and, as he pulled it, the timbs flipped out and azure light began to flow throughout the bow. The dull beam flashed as it flowed with energy, ready to be released as soon as the string of light was pulled, powered between the tips of the limbs. Excited and ready, he pulled it back and was shocked by how heavy the light was, siphoning power into the beam; this bow had no room for basic ammunition. Fully charged, he shot an arrow of frigid energy into one of the wraiths, blowing its ghastly head off and killing it instantly.

“Ohohoho!” He was giddy to fire another beam, excited like a kid with a new toy. “Let’s shoot another one!”

As the team continued to fight, a digital visor formed around his eyes, allowing him to see his targets clearly and lock onto even the fastest of enemies. It was a lot easier to aim through the fray but that wasn’t what surprised him. A synthetic voice in his head was almost coaxing him to do what it said, playing to his personality.

It’ll be more powerful than the rest: Light it up.

Not really understanding or paying attention, he charged another shot and the energy was siphoned into the beam. He was about to release it when the voice interrupted him again and the visor began to show the blueprint of the bow.

The Lenz, it explained, telling him the name of the bow. This isn’t enough, give it more power.

Listening, the string began to crackle and frost formed on his hand and arm, though he did not notice. The beam of light flashed at full power and he released the pent-up energy, the power of the shot pushing him back. The arrow embedded itself in the centre of the mimic shade and released an aura of cold air enough to form frost against the walls and slowing everything in its radius.

Light it up.

The arrow imploded as its power collapsed on itself, destroying everything in the area, annihilating the mimic shade and wraiths, and even catching a few of the party. White smoke filled the corridor and the ice covering the walls melted away by the stray energy. Augusta was able to dodge out of the way and Lintelfaden took the blast, protected by his suit reinforced by the silver ooze. Frozen, he broke out of the ice and dusted himself off, sheathing his katana.

“Bustov is the best out of everyone,” Aki pointed out. “Was the best before and now even better with the new big bow.”

“Why can’t you guys be like my daughter?” Bustov laughed. “Always there to praise me for my stunning and flawless work!”

“I can’t even lie, nice job,” Fensal admitted.

Lorenz brushed the ice out of his silver hair. “Just don’t hit us with that blast, alright? However, you did it.”

The visor vanished and the Lenz’s power level dimmed, no longer able to release blast arrows like that anymore. Although the ice melted off of everyone else, the frost still remained on Bustov’s right hand and forearm. He seemed resistant to the cold settling in the hallway, not even noticing it while the rest shivered a bit.

Proud of himself and his new bow, Moi Moi bird hopped onto his shoulder and they both flicked back their hair or feathers respectively. He was already an extremely reliable party member and he just got a massive upgrade and they haven’t even arrived at the Autoforge yet.

 

 

 

Posted in 5e, Dungeons & Dragons, Game Log

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