Interlude 1.6B - Armed to the Teeth (Part 2)

Story so far:
The Whales are almost done with their preparations for the journey to Teth-Odin. Little Cecil is delivered to Arek and Star Tulip keeps her mouth shut. The Whales discuss feasibility of inviting people into their town and grow a farm. Iohann learns the group's story. Zefir is permanently benched. The head of the mousefia, Don Ingrid, lays the law on anyone threatening any member of the Whales. Gwen hints that Philia has grown biological WMD's.

Interlude 1.6B - Armed to the Teeth (Part 2)
___

While Gwen was test-flying her drone. Ingrid, Kinu, Kvaris, and Sammy took a walk inside the pocket dimension of Autumnhollow so they could show Ingrid their new weapons.

“I heard you got some weapons at Dain’s?” Ingrid asked as they reached the sun-lit grasslands.

“Yes, and so we don’t tear up the ground, it’s best we do it here.” Kvaris grinned.

“These are weapons from the mad Wizard Deregor, they require a condition to be met in order to be summoned, the plus side is that you don’t have to worry about storing them like the Apport Ring weapons.” Sammy added.

The quartet glanced at each other as they stood before a flat expanse of grass, the newly-christened ATV “Sleipnir” and it’s barrels of gasoline stood a good hundred feet away to the right. Behind them hovered the magic circle that delineated the rear of the portal leading back to the primary dimension of Autumnhollow.

Kvaris pointed for Ingrid to stand some distance away, perpendicular to the girls and as she reached her spot, the ex-Starchaser saw why.
“Let’s go girls! Tempest Lancer!” Kvaris, Kinu, and Sammy simultaneously charged forward in the grass. Ingrid’s position allowed her to see that they suddenly summoned long jousting lances, their shafts wreathed in a violent, localized maelstrom of wind that she imagined would have drilled and torn their way through a crowd of monsters. In addition, the spell that the lances had also caused the girls to accelerate really fast.

“Awesome!” Ingrid called out, the girls had easily cleared a hundred feet or so very quickly.

Turning around, Kvaris quickly address the other two then each in their own way kicked forward a metal ball. Ingrid saw that it was a smooth metal ball but as soon as it took to the air it turned to heavy-looking spiked ball.

Sammy’s ball broke up into caltrops in mid-flight, while Kinu’s detonated into caltrops a few seconds after hitting the ground while Kvaris’ remained unchanged.

The girls then walked back to Ingrid, with Kinu speaking up first.

“Don’t worry! The caltrops have been dispelled.”

“What you saw first was Tempest Lancer, it requires us to charge at the enemy, the magical maelstrom however requires some time to muster itself.” Sammy explained “That said, we could just put our own mana and use it again if we want.”

“Those spike-balls are what Deregor called Grand Caltrop.” Kvaris said next. “What you saw are the three possible effects, each with their own merits. What Kinu demonstrated ends up hitting twice as the detonation strikes with the same amount of force the impact makes, but there are merits to scattering the caltrops in mid-flight, or simply not scattering any caltrops at all.” as she finished the trio had reached Ingrid.

“How come your feet aren’t hurting? That ball looks heavy!” Ingrid said, yet none of them looked like they hurt their feet.

“It’s very light and hollow while it’s a smooth ball.” Kvaris replied.

“Like kicking a wicker ball, actually.” Sammy said.

Ingrid ruffled the Garm girl’s hair “Bring it in, Sammy!”

“Bring what?”

“Hug me!”

“Oh” Sammy said, she was taller than Ingrid and the human curiously made animal noises as she received affection. Ingrid was quite a contradiction, she was as sapient as the Elion-Nosco princess and seemed to possess and sharp tactical mind yet she relished simple shows of love like any other human she had seen.

“There’s more though.” Sammy said as she rubbed Ingrid’s cheeks, but the human’s eyes were closed and she was smiling as she basked in the warmth of the orcs’s hands.

“Mhmmmm.” Ingrid replied.

Everyone stood back as Kinu demonstrated the next set of weapons from the Mad Wizard. She brought her arm up and swung downwards, as she did so a tall pole axe with a big chopping blad swung down, biting deep into the ground. She let go of the weapon, allowing her unencumbered hand to quickly back into position and repeat the swing again.

“Amazing.” Ingrid said again “...so the condition is that you must perform a strike from above?”

“Yup, that’s how the Meteor Axe works.” Kvaris said. “Our corsecas by themselves make excellent weapons for mid-range combat, but as Sammy can tell you there are advantages of a long-reaching chopping weapon.”

“There definitely are.” Ingrid nodded. “Especially if you don’t see a pole-axe or halberd being raised in the first place, it could be anything, like your flails.”

“Or this…” Kinu said as she unsummoned her shield. She now held in both hands a pair of sickle like blades and performed a series of hooking attacks that Ingrid imagined what she would do if she wanted to disarm an opponent. “Thri-Kreen Claws. Named after the hooks of their warrior caste.”

Kinu then summoned a scimitar and began forming a series of flowing, artful, yet deadly drawcuts.

“That’s Blood Reaver, it draws from the enemy’s lifeforce to enhance your body, making you move faster and your senses enhanced to make meaningful use of the speed.” Sammy told Ingrid. “That one I also have.”

“I can picture it now, Tempest Lancer to charge into the crowd and Blood Reaver to push further inside.” Ingrid said. The three of them considered it but shrugged.

“We’re not that well trained with it so it’s best to leave it for situations where we can manage it.” Sammy said.

“It’s quite a novel weapon.” Kinu said, she drew her arm back in a way that made Ingrid think she was going to perform a downward stab and true enough a broad cinqueda-like dagger appeared in the garm girl’s hands as she performed her stab.

“Heartpiercer, now that’s a little more practical” she added, even performing as series of reverse-grip slashes.

“You have those too, Sammy?” Sammy shook her head, she raised one hand and flexed her wrist, reminding Ingrid of her retractable arm-blades from her Duregar-forged war gauntlets.

“But I do have two things the Enthanas don’t have.” She told Ingrid as she stepped back for room. The first unique Deregor weapon she demonstrated was a staff-like weapon that made Ingrid think of bo-staff. It’s ends were generously sheathed in fancy, gold-plated metal depicting swirling flames.

Actually, now that Ingrid thought of it, all of the new weapons the girls showed all looked like expensive “premium” weapon skins she would see in an MMO; fancy-looking, pay-walled and powerful. The irony of seeing them obtained not only in real life but obtained through sheer merit made Ingrid smile.

Ingrid watched as Sammy performed a series of rapid strikes, always keeping both hands on the staff and always alternating strikes between one end of the staff to the other.

“That’s Talon Pillar. You can’t see it but when it strikes something, the gilded end lets out a nasty shock of lightning while summoning a fiery claw to strike from the opposite direction.” Kvaris said.

“With Iohann joining us, I want to give this to her.” Sammy remarked. “Adherents of Saint Ygris are taught to defend themselves.”

“That’s weird, aren’t priests supposed to be peaceful?” Ingrid asked. Though she had seen her share of warrior-priests from the Vatican’s New Templars.

“As a priest of Saint Ygris, you have a duty to heal bodies and souls and bring forth the teachings of their scripture, as task you can only do while alive.” Sammy said.

“Now this, I can keep for myself!” she then swung a great hammer downward. It was big, and heavy and…

“Definitely fit for the Red Banner of the Nightmane Tribe.” Kinu said, as if reading Ingrid’s thoughts.

“Red banner?” Ingrid repeated, not knowing what she meant.

“She’s the daughter of Tom Foster, chieftain of the Nightmane. She rides ahead of the tribe to drive away anything or anyone that tries to get in their way, hence red banner.” Kinu said, “because she wears red and carried a red banner, I imagine.”

“True.” Sammy said, smashing her hammer on the ground. As she did so a series of pillars of light appeared in series, moving forward.

“I see, you can also use this to smash through multiple enemies.” Ingrid said, noting how the pillars of light didn’t spring from the ground but rather shot downwards. On impact it let out a small halo of light that pushed the grass back, indicating that it had a small area of effect that probably broke ankles and staggered others back.

“It’s quite ironic though that you’ll be our rearguard, would that be a problem?” Ingrid asked Sammy, but she shook her head.

“My father, he has considered me a successor of the Tribe, that’s why I must go through this journey and learn what it means to be a leader. I saw my purpose in protecting Viel. For better or worse I see she has great potential and I wish to see it through.”

Ingrid nodded. “A great leader brings out the best in her crew, am I right?”

“Yes, and… as chief, I cannot afford to ride ahead all the time, now can I?”

“I’m a bad example.” Ingrid laughed “But then again, we’re not a tribe of two-thousand strong.”

“Exactly.” Sammy told her. “In a small group like this, a warrior does well leading from the front, but in time, I will be chief of many orcs, I must learn what it’s like leading from what is relayed to me.”

“Glad to help you on your internship.” Ingrid clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Now if there’s any other weapons you girls need to show me…”

___

Philia called over to Neith, she had laid over on the table a set of small tactical cameras. Like the earpieces, they were clippable to the heads, allowing Mission Control to see what the wearer is looking at. These models weren’t available from the civilian market and Arek as usual had procured these without too much trouble.

“Neith, begin pairing these devices to your systems as well as to Mission Control” she said. The big, rugged case it was in carried more than enough for the entire team on the ground, including the Tixi Mice Sully and Arthur.

“This is King Fish, everyone in the expeditionary party please head to the patio, we will be fitting your tac-cams. Over.” She said over the mic.

“Belay that, everyone get dressed like we’re out adventuring.” Ingrid called “Let’s get everyone outfitted with these new devices.” she laid down on the table another large box.

Twenty minutes later, everyone ended up coming over, with Zefir to help his teammates put their tac-cams on their heads. They came with thin, horseshoe-shaped bands that went around their heads which they call tucked under their hair for maximum concealment. These also came with a flashlight for added convenience.

“Next, I want to standardize our Travelers’ Valise bags.” Philia said, she only needed to spend a miniscule amount of mana and the decorative little belt of braided gold around her waist briefly glowed and summoned her Traveler’s Valise back to her waist. It was in the form of a belt pouch with the bag itself strapped to her right side.

“You made a belt version of the Apport Ring?” Ingrid asked. Philia shook her head.

“I didn’t make this Gilded Girdle.” Philia replied “I socially engineered this up-and-coming wizard to make me a belt that brings in other belts. When you’re an inventor-wizard like me, you need your tools nearby at all times.”

Philia took off this belt so she could lay it on the table.

“As you know, this Traveler’s valise thanks to Qhetar’s blessing has given us twenty iterations of the same bag. Ten of them with the bag’s natural capacity, and the other half having at least double the amount.” Philia began, opening one of the deep-pocket iterations of her bag and taking out the full-sized first-aid kit and survival kit stored within.

“I’ve already had all of you store these first-aid kits and survival kits, to increase all of your chances of survival… everyone please take out your bags and confirm they’re still there.” Everyone took out their Traveler Valises and laid them on the table.

Seeing that everyone had them, Philia quickly gave everyone a refresher in what was in these two kits. That refresher however lasted a good twenty minutes in its own right.

“Iohann, as the healer of the team, I’m giving you an additional more comprehensive first-aid kit as well. We’ll go through it later.” Philia handed it over to Iohann, who then placed it into one of the deep-pocket iterations of her valise.

“Good, next let’s confirm you all have your U-boxes.” She said, referring to the boxy-like device that served as their earpiece’s charger, powerbank, signal extended, and container for spare earpieces. Upon seeing that everyone’s U-boxes were in order, Philia then inspected everyone to make sure their microphone switch boxes were all in order.

“Good, now again, about these tac-cams. That’s short for tactical cameras. These will be eyes for Mission Control; that’s Zefir, Gwen, Neith and Arek. There will be situations where one of us will need to go ahead or be separated from the group, having these cameras providing visual information will definitely be helpful in those situations.”

Seeing everyone’s Tac-Cams were fitted properly Philia then asked “Neith?”

The spider bot spoke up “All camera feeds working. Proceed with power banks.”

“Right, now these…” Philia handed out everyone the rectangular cellphone-like power banks to everyone along with the power cords. “...will be used to keep those camera devices powered. These cameras can keep running for quite a while on their own and these powerbanks can be used to replenish their power. Store these alongside the U-boxes.” she added. “If you’ve been away from the group, you can place these under the sun to recharge some of the energy, just make sure this black plate is facing the sunlight.”

Philia then handed out to everyone hand-held transceivers, or as Ingrid and Zefir knew them; walkie-talkies as well as spare batteries.

“Store these in a separate deep-pocket iteration of your valises, along with the U-boxes and power banks…” Philia waited for everyone to reshuffle their things before continuing. “ These work just like our earpieces, but these can reach much farther away, in addition, if multiple people need to talk or hear from us, then this would be the preferred tool for long-distance communications.”

Philia then handed out noisemakers. First passed around were compressed airhorns. These were reusable, with a hand-pump at the base allowing the user to refill the canister with air.

“Place these in the same compartment too. These are air horns, or noisemakers. These can be used to scare away animals or signal for help when all other measures don’t work. The best part is that it’s a simple machine.” Philia explained before pointing it up so as to minimize the scare. Ingrid still snickered however as some, like Viel and the mice jumped as Philia let out the comical sounding “toot!” from the airhorn.

“Not a real horn, no, but it’s still loud enough to be heard from far away. ” Philia said. After everyone packed them in, she then handed out to each a small bag of electronic noisemakers, or as they were normally called, Personal Security Alarms.

Philia held up the egg-shaped object, which had a lanyard. “You pull this away and it makes an annoyin- AAAGH!!!” Philia cried as the egg-shaped device let out a piercing whistle, revealing that the lanyard could be pulled off to activate the device. Quickly she stuck the pin back in and the device was silenced.

“There was a whistle in our survival kit by the way.” Ingrid said, rubbing her ears.

“You can also throw this to serve as a distraction.” Philia added. After everyone had stashed them away. Philia handed out a small round device with a blinking red light.

“Transponders, these will help us locate each other…”

___

Three hours later, the team was collectively stretching and yawning as they finally concluded the standardization of each other’s EDC (EveryDay Carry) spaces for some of their DPI (Deep Pocket Instances).

This also included the mice’s bags which all carried identical Traveler Valises in backpack format. Uniquely for them, they also carried extra submachine guns and pistols in one of the DPI’s and extra ammunition in the other.

Philia also fitted all the mice with a tactical harness worn over their lamellar armor, from which were a pair glock pistols, a heavy Desert Eagle at the back, a combat knife, and a telescoping baton.

“That goes for the Iroquois mice as well.” Ingrid said firmly “Even if you’ll be sitting in Cecil’s room all of you need to be wearing that just in case you need to jump out.” The mice squeaked and nodded.

Over all, the orientation was far from boring for the team as Philia, Ingrid and Zefir introduced them to various devices from Earth. As Gwen was already familiar with most of them, she had excused herself early to make the team supper. She kept her earpiece on so she heard everything. Occasionally she would ask a question, so it still felt like she was still part of the discussion. It also didn’t help that Neith was holding up a monitor, showing what Gwen was cooking.

Ingrid giggled “G-gwen! Y-you’re Terragalia’s first RL streamer!”

“A what, miss Ingrid?”

“We have entertainers who derive their material from just carrying on their daily lives… and they get paid lots.” Zefir answered.

“It’s just a shame we can’t really derive money out of this.” Arek said “The minute they see Ingrid or Philia and we’ll start attracting unwanted attention.”

“Oh well…” Ingrid sighed “...guess we can’t have everything.”

After dinner, Sammy had given Talon Pillar to Iohann for her to use, while Philia had given her one of the Apport Rings and wands of duality for her to use, Iohann’s church in New Gorpisal had presented her with a Blessed Thurible as recognition of her deeds in healing the sick. It was a long staff that dangled a large censer which would constantly emitted a sweet-smelling incense.

“Won’t that be dangerous?” Ingrid asked “With the smell of incense attracting creatures as well as the possibility of scattering embers everywhere?”

“Not at all.” Kinu said. “The scent doesn’t travel far if Iohann wills it, and it doesn’t use regular flame to burn that incense. It can scatter sacred flames but only as the user wills it.”

“Furthermore…” Iohann added, laying down the thurible and opening it up. It was filled with a single large red ball. Iohann made a short prayer and the red ball of compressed incense began smoldering with sacred flames. She held it in her bare hands showing that at the very least, she was immune to its effects. “Its heat only applies to enemies and this blessed incense.”

“How long will it last?” Ingrid asked, wondering if she’ll need to make frequent stops at a church or an apothecary to fill it up.

“Assuming I let it burn all the time, about a week.” Iohann replied, placing the ball back into the thurible and closing it up. She gently swung the smoking censer in the direction of Autumnhollow in benediction.

“Iohann can simply deactivate the sacred flame when not needed.” Kvaris said, “so it will last a lot longer than that.”

“What about the about smoke?” Cecil asked “won’t that obscure our vision?”

In response, Iohann uttered a prayer and began swinging the censer more vigorously, the smoke should’ve been enough to obscure her figure yet…

“Whoa… not only can we see through it but, it’s not even irritating our noses!” Ingrid said. She turned to the Enthana sister, guessing that with their enhanced noses they should be at least be overwhelmed but they seemed unaffected. She wasn’t sure if they were simply toughing it out until Kinu spoke up.

“Nothing, to our noses, she might as well have just been letting it burn mildly.”

Satisfied that everyone found her weapon having no drawbacks, Iohann touched the Wand of Duality to her sacred mace and blessed thurible. In a flash of light, only the mace remained. Iohann then registered her mace to the Apport Ring, letting it rest in the magic circle that Viel built in Cecil’s room.

“Now let’s see you demonstrate your skill with the staff, Iohann!” Sammy called. Iohan approached one of the training dummies and began quickly performing a series of strikes, starting with the “butt” of the Talon Pillar staff before striking with the other end.

Compared to Sammy’s Iohann was far more proficient and struck much faster. Although Talon Pillar featured spectral claws that swung in the opposite direction, Iohann seemed to pay no mind, possibly not attributing it’s magical nature to her order’s restrictions.

Jumping back, Iohan dismissed Talon Pillar and swung her thurible. The training dummy’s torso was obliterated in a single strike.

“Looks like your flails have competition, Enthanas.” Sammy quipped.