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Gunther Beck is very rich, in his early seventies, and prone to shouting about the rising cost of cheese, followed by smacking his lips in thought about how much he would like to eat a good Munster, and finally dozing off quite suddenly with a whistling snore.
He is a fixture at events like this though and always brings a date to them. Not a reasonable age appropriate date, oh no. Always a young pretty vapid little thing that is doe eyed at the majesty of the super rich, and often ends up in the arms of another as soon as the whistling and drooling begins.
Tonight's date is a small rather pretty young woman in an off the shoulder crimson dress that puffs out so outrageously one might think Beck bought out the fabric store. The dark haired dark eyed lady is truly Lora hidden by her hat of disguise.
Luckily, the shieldmarshals don't suspect a thing! They wave you on board, and you take the lift down to the Gearsmoke. The crew ushers you to your quarters, a cozy sleeping cabin appointed with a twin bed along one wall, plus two bunk beds along the other wall. A small closet and nightstand are the room’s only other furnishings.
Once all of the passengers are on board, the Gearsmoke blares its horn. Smoke rises from the ship's stack as the clockwork paddlewheels churn the river water, and the cruise departs!
Over the course of the next few hours, you spend time either playing cards with passengers, schmoozing the crew members, or spying on the shieldmarshals aboard the ship, picking up rumors about the goings-on:
• Cargo hold #3 is closed for the remainder of the voyage. Strange noises and a hideous stench are wafting up through the vents above this area.
• The ship’s owner, Ibrium, has suites in the Nexian quarters of the boat, where he’s currently staying with a host of glass clockwork servants and his medusa lover.
• Alethsia, Ibrium’s medusa companion, was seen carrying a strange clockwork key around her neck.
• Loveless and her crew of corrupt shieldmarshals have permanently rented out the bar and suites on the top floor of the boat.
• The shieldmarshals brought a lot of cargo with them when they boarded, including three massive crates and two astonishing metal contraptions.
While walking around the place to know the layout of the ship, Eva discreetly knees by the vents and tris to identify the source of the stench coming from hold #3.
Meanwhile, she watches the medusa and tries to discover if she'd be interested in some fun on the sidelines. Eva takes her time provoking the monstrous woman...
Bleach eyes the comfortable-looking twin bed and then shifts his gaze towards the less comfy bunk beds. Hadi stirs on his shoulder and nudges its master towards the big bed, but Bleach can't make up his mind. Besides, he's used to sleeping on stone slabs. The Ebon Mausoleum is many things, but comfortable it is not.
"So, what's the plan? There are a lot of moving parts and I suggest that we figure out what the individual pieces are before we act. Like, what did the shieldmarshals bring with them? What the hell is the key for that the Medusa rocks around her neck? And what's that god-awful smell?!"
Royken growls, "Or we just go to the Nexian quarters, kick in the door, get the key from the f*!%ing snakes-for-hair, go unlock whatever it's locking, get the bomb, get Loveless, and get the f#&* out of here!"
"Three crates, with a bomb each? Probably. We have one key, so we need the other two, but even if we manage, That s$!& has a remote detonator. Of course she'd go boom too." Lora doesn't seem to mind that part "So we need to go after the keys, and make it so we can get to the bombs. A battle will alert the other key holder, though. Maybe Ibrium could be talked sense into after Loveless is toast. But he also might rush to her aid if we are too loud."
"Ibrium is here with the illusion that this ought to be a good time. Perhaps that's our way in? It would be nice to at least get some parts of our mission done without violent escalation. I say we start with Ibrium and his Medusa mistress."
Lora rises in a puff of red silks and crinoline. Her disguise was only her face, the dress was just too lovely not to wear. The plethora of folds allow her a discrete opening to her hip where her pistol is resting nicely.
"Okay, lets find out if there is a way into Ibrium's cabin without a brawl. I can use veil to mask us and our weapons, to make us look like servants... though there are a bit of us." four servants seems excessive. Or invisibility for all of us?[/b]"
"Or we can just go there, see if there are guards, charm them with our assets" she bumps Eva with her shoulder "or pick the lock if there are none, and see if we can convince Ibrium and his companion that the powers that be know the plot, so profit is highly unlikely."
"We already f%&#ing look like we belong here," Royken says. "Let's just f@%@ing act like it."
You head up to the Gearsmoke's entertainment deck. Round tables surround the outer rim of this open-air deck. A dance floor in the center abuts a mechanical elevator. Near the ship’s stern, a small balcony juts out over the paddle wheel, providing a view of the churning wake of the boat. Large canopies hang over the top of the deck in many places, providing shade for guests.
You make your way through the crowd and into the Nexian suite. The cabins are locked, and nobody seems to be home at the moment. At the end of the hall, a door opens into a private dining room. A large wooden dining table stands in the middle of this hall beneath a crystal chandelier. Glass statues, life-sized and eerily lifelike, are scattered throughout the area. Most depict humanoids with an unmistakable look of terror on their faces.
You find the medusa Alethsia here alone, admiring the statues. She turns towards you as you enter and narrows her eyes. "I'm sorry, are you lost? This is a private area. I suggest you leave at once, lest I summon the shieldmarshals," she says, the snakes in her hair hissing a warning.
"We're not looking to fight, just talk," Royken grouses. Which is lucky for you, snakehead...
He lets Lora do that, however.
Lora slips around her dwarven friend, in her yards of fabric, but with a warm iron in her eyes that screams strong confident but still lovely woman. She does hope this will resonate with the intriguing medusa.
But just in case it doesn't and they are in a hurry "We are in a hurry, I apologize for that, but we simply must converse with your companion, Ibrium. It is both financially and life threatening if we do not. You simply must take us to him."
The medusa starts to relax a bit as Lora quickly makes a good impression on her. "Ibrium has requested privacy at this time," Alethsia begins, but then the magic of the suggestion spell infiltrates her mind. "But I suppose I should make an exception in your case," she murmurs. "Ibrium is speaking with Deputy Loveless. I will take you there if you follow me..."
The wizard's eyes bulge in reaction to the medusa's words. They'll need more magic than this to prepare for such a showdown! He comes up with the worst possible excuse to cast a spell and offers the excuse to the Medusa to check her response before actually casting it. "I hope you don't mind if I make us look somewhat representable. Some minor magic will be involved, but don't you worry."
The gleam of eager vengeance dance in the bard's pretty eyes and she answers the medusa "We will, and thank you"
She does delay long enough for any and all to prepare, though there is an aura of impatience as she does so.
Eva leans over to Lora. "When we are introduced, please ask the lady to go to the kitchen or wherever, ok?"
She then overdrives her arm in anticipation for the tough showdown.
Royken tries not to scowl. Finally, they're going to deal with Loveless, and then he can hopefully get out from under Foebe's thumb. Though that prospect isn't quite as appealing as it may have been when they first met.
Alethsia leads you up to highest open-air deck on the ship. The aft end of the deck is defined by a carved wooden railing that looks out over the larger entertainment deck below. The forward end of the deck ends with a wall of cabins lined with arched glass windows.
This deck has a number of gambling tables around the outer edge, with a small clearing in the middle for dancing or entertainment. The door leading into the cabin area is locked. A sign hanging from the door reads “Private Party: Bar Closed.”
Alethsia knocks on an adjacent window, and the curtain pulls aside as a shieldmarshal looks out. He draws the curtain again, then several seconds later, you hear the door unlock. Alethsia leads you down the hallway beyond and into a larger room.
A large bar fills the center of this room, surrounded by cushioned red stools and several small tables. Sleeping cots, clearly set up for temporary use, are scattered throughout the large cabin.
Two shieldmarshals stand guard at either end of the bar. Seated at the bar are the Nexian wizard Ibrium and Deputy Anjelique Loveless herself! They look somewhat perplexed by your arrival. "Alethsia, what is the meaning of this interruption? Who are these people?" Ibrium asks.
"I had to take them to you," Alethsia says in a slightly wooden tone.
"I got a bad feeling about this," Loveless says quietly, her hands moving to the guns at her hips...
Eva puts a hand on Alethsia's shoulder and gently turns her towards the door. "Don't worry... could you get something warm kitchen for us, sweetheart?"
As she is turned around, Eva's deftly fingers work on the necklace around her neck, trying to steal the key without anyone noticing.
"Keep your hands off your guns!" Royken growls at Loveless. He thinks about saying they don't want to fight, but that's not particularly true. Sure, he wants to ruin her, but killing her would get the job done too.
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"And tea please, Alethsia. Don't forget something devilishly yummy for your dear Ibrium." the bard calls, as she moves toward the uttering f*!#ing HATED Loveless. Walking with a pronounced sway, looking pretty as a red tart in her insanely luscious dress and no visible weapons.
But she ignores the s$@+-faced rancid ground-up gutter vomit of a deputy and instead smiles warmly at the Nexian wizard. "Ibrium of Nex. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. We have heard Sooo much about you from a colleague. You may remember him. Parsus." she pauses for a moment then continues "I believe when last we saw him he was spilling beans about plans with who and all the whys. Generally ruining any benefit this loveless plan has for anyone." she leans her elbows on the bar, grinning like a cat, still ignoring the canker sore next to the wizard.
In a light pardoning tone, she continues "Ibrium, no one here cares about you or your part in it all, just like we gave not a single tiny poo about Parsus's. He will go about his life as soon as he is done testifying, free to pursue all his unnatural hobbies."
"Wouldn't you like to do the same? Vitrumancy, was it?" She looks back at the door she hopes Alethsia has left from already. "All you have to do is follow her."
Eva turns to the pair, her eyes sending daggers at Loveless. "We've also made your plan public. The people of Alkenstar is aware that this boat is loaded with explosives and that Loveless is aboard. The region around the falls are being evacuated as we speak." She shares, supporting Lora.
"Even if you succeed in exploding the falls, Loveless will be seen as someone who failed to protect Alkenstar... And she'll need to pin the blame into someone. Who do you believe will be chosen, Ibrium?"
Eva nicks the key from Alethsia as the enchanted medusa saunters out of the room.
Despite Lora and Eva's best efforts to sway Ibrium, the Nexian wizard shakes his head. "No. I have come too far, committed too much to this plan, to abandon it now. I will just have to hasten things to their inevitable conclusion!"
Loveless sneers at you as she narrows her eyes. "It's you. You have been a persistent thorn in my side for far too long. I'll not let you do to me what you did to Mugland. This ends here and now. Draw!"
The two other shieldmarshals in the room reach for their guns as well!
Before you can react, Loveless draws her rifle, an arquebus composed of warped and twisted wood engraved with eerie runes. She fires at Eva, the blast sounding like the cackling of a diabolical witch. The bullet strikes the inventor square in the chest!
The other shieldmarshals draw their rifles and shoot at Eva as well.
Meanwhile, Ibrium protects himself with a stoneskin spell that manifests by transmuting his skin into hardened glass. He raises a magical shield for further protection.
Success: The creature is frightened 1. It also takes 1d6 persistent mental damage.
Failure: The creature is frightened 2. It also takes 2d6 persistent mental damage.
Critical Failure: The creature is frightened 2 and slowed 1 for 1 minute. It also takes 4d6 persistent mental damage and is cursed with a hex of impending doom. If the target falls unconscious from damage dealt by this Strike or the persistent mental damage, it remains unconscious for 1 day or until this curse is removed. After 1 day, if the creature is still unconscious, it must succeed at a DC 28 Fortitude save or die; this effect has the death and incapacitation traits.
"Killing us will change anything! You've already lost no matter what!"
With that, Eva moves for Loveless, retributing her with a punch.
HP 160/160
AC 28
Fort +21 (juggernaut), Ref +19, Will +17 (bravery)
Hero points: 3
Ammo: 42 rounds
Effects:
"F~!!! You're a dead man!" Royken curses, but rushes into battle, charging toward Ibrium!
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Hate blooms, red and hot, in Lora's otherwise pretty face. "You made these thorns, you ugly sack of filth." she hisses at the deputy. "And you probably don't even Remember HIM!"
In quieter times, Lora will admit she has trouble remembering him anymore. His face or smell or the touch... simple things like that... gone. But she does remember feeling little around him, because he was SO good, honorable, and... she wasn't. And that had given her hope, oddly.
But it wasn't Lora Drowne the extortionist that had been killed. No, it had been the one Good person she had ever met.
By this B@!+$.
Ignoring the wizard, the guards, and everyone else, she focuses her magic on Loveless. "May you be as ugly on the outside as you are in..." she cocked her head and looked the gunslinger up and down, then ticks her tongue in dismissal "Won't be much difference I'm afraid." then she casts blister on the woman.
You point at a target in range, and its skin grows searing blisters filled with caustic fluid. The target must attempt a Fortitude save.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target grows one blister. You can spend a single action, which has the concentrate trait, to pop a blister. The target and each creature in a 15-foot cone originating from the target takes 7d6 acid damage (basic Fortitude save). You choose the direction of the cone, which can’t include the target. When no blisters are left, the spell ends.
Failure As success, but the target grows two blisters.
Critical Failure As success, but the target grows four blisters.
Bleach summons a veritable carpet of animated hands and directs them to strike at Ibrium. The wizard takes more joy in summoning these multi-digit menaces than he'd care to admit.
Loveless grits her teeth as Lora's spell causes a painful blister to sprout on the elf's skin. The bard pops the blister, showering Loveless and Ibrium with caustic acid!
Royken charges at Ibrium, scoring a critical hit! Ibrium cries out in pain, but the blow causes glass shards to burst out from his hardened skin to stab at Royken.
Bleach conjures a swarm of crawling hands. Ibrium avoids some of their attacks while his stoneskin protects him from the rest.
Eva moves in to hit Loveless with her electrified fist!
Loveless grunts with the impact of Eva's blow. She reloads her rifle and fires again at point-blank range, then swings her gun's stock at the inventor, scoring a critical hit!
The other shieldmarshals move to take cover behind the bar before shooting at Eva again.
Ibrium casts a spell, opening himself up to an attack of opportunity from Royken.
The wizard grunts as he takes the hit but completes the spell, conjuring a huge spike of glass beneath Royken to try to impale him. Ibrium then attacks with hardened glass around his fists.
Eva heals herself with her searing herbs before continuing her assault against Loveless. Each time, she aims at a different part of her, focusing on pockets and hoping that the electricity being released could somehow rend useless the hidden remote detonator.
After each hit, she smiles, more happy to bring pain to the woman than worried about her own wounds.
HP 126/160
AC 28
Fort +21 (juggernaut), Ref +19, Will +17 (bravery)
Hero points: 2
Ammo: 42 rounds
Effects: Stoneskin 16 mins.
"F~$#!" Royken growls. "You're a dead man!" He starts battering the wizard, not worrying about the cuts he's suffering from the glassskin. He shoves him back but refuses to relent, staying on him as he clubs away.
Loveless's flesh swelling and exploding in pussy gore makes the bard smile in bloodthirsty vengeance. "You die today" she promises, letting her eyes travel around the room "All of you if you stand with her." the bard lets magical dread creep into her words, hoping to make the deputy and her minions suffer from a bit of terror.
Bleach tries to bind Loveless with constricting strands of temporal residue. Meanwhile, the carpet of hands continues to assault Ibrium.
Lora's fear spell proves quite effective. While Ibrium is only slightly shaken, Loveless and one of her shieldmarshals are frightened, while the last one is in a full panic!
Royken pummels Ibrium and pushes up back against the bar, heedless of the painful shards of glass coming off the wizard's skin.
Bleach's spell proves effective against Loveless, the elf's stubborn resolve allowing her to fight off some of its debilitating effects. Ibrium takes some damage from the swarm.
Eva heals herself before pummeling Loveless twice more, leaving her battered and bruised.
Loveless slowly reloads and fires on Eva again.
The frightened shieldmarshal shoots at Eva while the panicked one flees out of the room!
Ibrium stabs at Royken again with his glass spikes! He misses at first, but then comes back with a hit and a critical hit, puncturing several vital organs!
HP 47/160
AC 28
Fort +21 (juggernaut), Ref +19, Will +17 (bravery)
Hero points: 2
Ammo: 42 rounds
Effects: Stoneskin 12 mins.
Royken snarls, ignoring the glass shards. "Didn't you hear her? You've got about 12 f*!#ing seconds left to live. At most!"
He then proceeds to beat the s#&$ out of the wizard.
Despite being very hurt, Eva doesn't stop, punching over and over again. "A*+@@%+... how many times have I dreamed of fisting you!"
Bleach strides forward and tells the hands to go for the wizard's throat! He quickly injects Royken with an alchemical solution to, hopefully, see him through this fight.
Lora wants more than anything to keep throwing magic at her hated enemy, to shift her rage into a monstrous spiteful abomination bent on gutting the slug nosed deputy.
But the blood covering the floor is coming too much from her friends. With a snarl she directs some of her healing magic into Eva, her snarl also helping to inspire.
Lora heals Eva as Royken batters Ibrium! With three crushing blows, the dwarf takes down the glass-encased vitrumancer! He crumples in a bloody heap at Royken's feet.
Bleach moves to heal Royken further as he sends his swarm over to Loveless, where the hands grab and punch at her. Eva rains blow after blow upon the elven deputy, leaving Loveless severely bloodied and battered.
"I've come too far... to yield now!" Loveless spits. She reloads and fires at Eva again, scoring a critical hit!
The other shieldmarshal shoots the inventor as well.
Lora's desire to keep Eva alive eclipses both the s*@~ bag's desire to kill the inventor and Lora's own to rips apart the greasy ugly smelly dumb useless... itchy? no, cantankerous?... well bad person. "Yield?" she laughs loud "You are NOT being given the chance to Yield, puss bucket." the yellow gunk leaking out of her face finally lets Lora think of something else to call her.
Bleach directs the hands to keep clawing away at Loveless' ankles as he bombards the elf with necrotic energy.
Eva breathes with some difficulty, her limbs trembling already. She knows she'll not be able to keep up for much more, even with Lora's sweet magic boosting her. She punches twice before raising her shield.
"You are still alive... it is not too far."
HP 82/160
AC 28
Fort +21 (juggernaut), Ref +19, Will +17 (bravery)
Hero points: 1
Ammo: 42 rounds
Effects: Stoneskin 12 mins.
Royken gives a nod of appreciation to Bleach for the help as he looks over the crumpled and shattered wizard. "Told you," he growls.
Then he turns a bloody grin of menace toward Loveless, and charges into the battle, battering her with his gun.
Royken charges to attack Loveless, battering her from behind. Bleach’s ray sickens her an the hands rake and claw. Eva delivers the coup de grace, her metal arm clanking and whirring as it connects with bone crunching force.
Loveless falls, but even as she does, her hands seem to move of their own accord. She reloads her gun, aims shakily, and fires one last parting shot.
Then the deputy goes limp, the gun falling from her fingers. The remaining shield marshal wisely drops his gun and surrenders!
Eva coughs some blood, before shoving Loveless off the closest booth and sitting down. "An a!!@&&* to the very end."
Once she catches her breath, she kneels besides Loveless to look for her clockwork key and the remote detonator. "That lovely medusa might return at any moment, so it would be within our best interest if Ibrium is alive and awake, right?"
Whoever said vengeance helped nothing, never knew Lora Drowne. Cause that red head is grinning like the cat that just got all the mice. She quickly sings a small song at Eva, closing some more of her wounds.
"That is between her and him for all I care." she said about the wizard and medusa, all this having nothing to do with those two in her mind. Hurrying over to a ostentatious statuem Gaudy is an understatement for the granite monstrosity that is very clearly as phallic as could be.
Pressing her back to it, and her feet to the wall, she heaves with all her might, slowly tilting it until it topples. Crashing its heavy bulbous tip into the prone body of Loveless, its head smashing her head into a messy pulp.
Lora brushes off her skirts as she looks over her handiwork. "That's better." she says simply with a bright and satisfied laugh.
"Okay, let's get you all healed up, turn off these bombs, and then get Very drunk."
With the threats on-board the Gearsmoke neutralized, you enlist the captain and crew's help in tracking down the three clockwork bombs and disabling them. It doesn't take long for word to spread about Deputy Loveless's nefarious plot and your role as heroes in stopping the scheme and saving Alkenstar from disaster! Over the coming weeks, a large statue of the four of you is erected on a rocky outcropping on the edge of Alken Falls, commemorating your deeds.
For saving the day, Grand Duchess Trietta Ricia rewards you with thousands of gold pieces and ensures that the crimes for which you were wrongly accused are expunged from the city records. The Grand Duchess promotes Foebe Dunsmith to the position of temporary inquisitor, allowing her to lead a thorough investigation of the entire shieldmarshal force and purge any remaining Loveless supporters from their ranks. With this last task accomplished, Dunsmith then elects to retire to a small ranch outside the city to raise and breed mutant cattle.
However, the formula for pyronite is no longer a secret. The necromancer Parsus brought the secret back with them to Geb, and from there it quickly begins to spread. The first two powers to adopt the pyronite for military use are Nex, which develops units of flying apes capable of bombarding enemies with pyronite from the sky; and Geb, which create legions of quickened zombie sappers strapped with pyronite to devastate enemy fortifications. Luckily, as the Grand Duchess predicted, the relatively even disbursement of the formula means that the nations maintain an uneasy stalemate, since no one side is eager to provoke the others into an all‑out war. Soon, the secret of pyronite spreads farther afield to Qadira, Osirion, and Absalom, changing the world forever.
The new demand for pyronite creates a sudden rush to the Spellscar Desert, which contains deposits of the special white salt required to stabilize the potent explosive, a salt found nowhere else in Golarion. Overnight, a horde of adventurers and prospectors flock to the region to harvest the salt and sell it to alchemists in distant lands for a massive profit. Bidding wars erupt over guides and gunslingers from Alkenstar who know how to navigate the strange wasteland and find salt deposits. The greatest beneficiaries of this sudden salt rush are the mutant denizens of the Spellscar Desert, who intimately know its terrain and ultimately decide who may enter and who may leave their unpredictable home territory. The incredible wealth flocking to the region allows formerly small mutant war bands to purchase powerful weaponry, expand their ranks, and unify into powerful forces. In time, as mutant leaders battle for supremacy, a new nation might be born within the Spellscar Desert, its coffers filled by ever growing demand for pyronite salt.
But that is a story for another time...
“And that is when the entire left side of her face exploded in thick green puss, spraying all over her allies, making them all look at the rather pathetic woman in disgust.” the lovely blonde woman told the throng of listeners around her. “Honestly I didn’t know why, since we all know Loveless’s face was just as disgusting to begin with.”
Lora Drowne finishes her recounting of that final singular fight, for the third time this evening. A vast hall celebrating the career of Dame Dunsmith but also to rub shoulders with the heroes dubbed the Alken Fall’s Four. Crappy name, but it had taken hold. Lora would work on it later.
Freed for the moment from performing, which she never minded, Lora swished her succulent silks to the seat of honor, where the woman that pressed the Four into service sat with some bored weariness. The dwarf looked at her blonde's bouncy curls and stated “You know you looked better as a ginger, don’t you?” but with a smile.
“And you looked happier as a bartender” the blonde retorted, smiling as well. The two had worked closely together these last few months. Lora’s hate of the deputy had bleed to all those that supported her, and her skill with finding out secrets remained sharp and subtle.
They stay quiet for a little while, the retiring inquisitor sitting with a glass of something amber in her hand, and the hero in her ball gown standing with a glass of wine. Foebe repeats, hopefully for the last time, a complaint “You shouldn’t have downplayed your part in the Four. They giggle about the disgraced bit of fluff running around with the true heroes, making jokes and serving as the group's ‘nighttime entertainment’” the blister part was the only achievement in her stories.
Lora just smiled, having had this discussion many times and with each of her companions. “And if I am that in their minds, little more than an entitled slut tagging along, they let their guard down, want to prove themselves better than a ‘hero’ and spill their precious secrets so much easier” a small sip and a savor, looking out at the eyes checking out her fit of her gown along her graceful curves “Which has proven very good for the city, has it not?”
Lora has never been a good person. Vindictive and greedy being her worst vices (besides drinking, sex, and puns), but this adventure has taught her one really really good lesson. She loved destroying the wicked. Not because it was good, but because she reveled in their suffering, and that moment of surprise where they lose everything.
Foebe didn’t respond, which Lora took as a final dismissal, she leaned down and kissed the woman on her cheek, whispering with a smile “Enjoy your cows” she then swayed away.
The city has gained a protector, not the kind most would expect, but the kind they need.
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"We've finished the most recent tests." Eva informs the Duchess, frowning as the woman keeps looking outside her window, as if Eva wasn't there. "Formula 27 is not only cheaper to produce but it also doesn't rely on the usual salts. The process is a little more complex and requires specialized machinery with stasian technology, but soon enough they will be ready for production in scale and ready."
"Excellent." The duchess replies, smiling slightly before looking back outside her window. From behind her, Eva could see her own statue on the other side of the falls. "The mutants won't be happy at all, but they've brought it to themselves. No more salt, no more power, no more war." From this angle, the cleavage of her statue was remarkably pronounced.
"Great. I'll continue with my actual researches then. I've not studied and worked as much as I did to work on weapons." She informs, annoyed and relieved.
"Of course, Miss Braeton." The duchess replies. "Your researches are surely more important than the welfare of..." There is a light buzzing sound, cutting the rest of the duchess's words and a gasp of surprise from her mouth.
"Oh, don't 'Miss Braeton' me, Trietta..." Eva says, twisting her vibrating middle finger, her hand disappeared beneath the countess's dress and between her legs, her voice a mix between annoyance and excitement. She twitches her fingers and, pressing them and feeling the duchess's legs trembling. "... you do this on purpose, don't you?"
Trietta smiles much more broadly and honestly now. "I don't..." She lies.
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Bly'gha eyes the rather insipid-looking figure in the mirror and shakes his head. This won't do, this won't do at all. The drab Geb garb conveys nothing, let alone convey who Bly'gha has become, and part of him wants to burn the robes to a crisp right here, right now. There is, however, someone who can help him with his problem. Someone who he knows he need only ask for help. But it is the asking that's the hardest part.
Scarred and mutilated, Bly'gha's tormented skin has helped him become somewhat immune to the eyes and judgment of those who look upon him, but it's the parts about him that he gets to choose that now make him feel weak. His clothes, the accessories, his choice of boots. Going downstairs to ask Lora makes him feel vulnerable. Hadi purrs and Bly'gha recognizes it for what it is: laughter. The phantom knows him better than it ought to, but it being a twisted projection of his own ego but in cat form, Bly'gha has only himself to blame for the cat's demeanor. "Fine. I'll go and ask. When I return home and meet mother, who no doubt wants to hear how her son played a crucial part in Geb acquiring pyronite, I need to look presentable. Not only that, I need to look like the man I am today. Not of Geb, but from Geb nonetheless."
He eyes himself in the mirror one more time and then sighs. Involuntarily he shakes his head at the sight and then makes the long trek down the creaky stairs. There he finds Lora speaking with Dunsmith and so he waits until what seems to be a moment between the two, is over.
And as soon as it's over, Bly'gha claims the seat next to her. "I need your help." The words fall out of his mouth before he can conjure a rational approach, and an enormous weight falls off his shoulders. "You see, the problem with magic is that it speaks to the imagination. I, however, do not. With me returning home, albeit briefly and only to see mother dearest, I wish for me to look like me. I mean, what I mean, is that right now, I don't feel like I look like me. I look like the man who came here but not like the man who is about to leave."
He takes a moment to sort out his thoughts and to get a grip on his emotions. Like wild stallions, the two are racing through his head. "Now you, Lora, you know how to make someone be able to converse with the imagination of those who gaze upon them. That is, forgive my verbosity, me saying you know how to dress to impress. And I need some of that. I'm going back home, to Geb, and Mother dearest might present me to the lifeless and powerful of Geb society. I want them to see me."
And so it hit him. A realization so genuine that to utter it would be to destroy it. A vision of Lora's arm entwined with his, their hands sending warmth into the other, standing in front of the worst Geb has to offer. Their vibrancy would be unlike anything the Gebites know and cherish, and it would spell out exactly who and what Bly'gha has become. No, the thought and truth of it alone will see him through what's to come. He need not subject Lora to the horrors and depravities of home.
A sly smile finds its way to the previously confused and pained face of the wizard. "But, me saying all this out loud while sitting next to you has already brought me so many answers. Now, will you please help me find some suitable clothes for my journey back home, dear?"