Planeswalker Gothic 2
Part 1
Wilderness. Witcher Verse.
For a while now, I hadn't bothered to keep track of how long, I'd just been wondering the realms, not really doing much of anything, other than to enjoy the freedom that came with being a Planeswalker. There were so many worlds open to me, more than I count and I wanted to see them all.
Most of the time my visits were fun. I saw some sights, met some locals, and then I moved on without getting into trouble. This time things were different, this plane of existence was rich in mana, I'd come here hoping to gather some of the power, but before I could even began trying to claim a single bit of land I came under attack.
Standing around 25 feet behind me was an enormous something, I'd never seen anything like it. It was covered in patchy, mangy fur, and the visible bits of skin looked like old leather. Also it had antlers that would make any deer feel inadequate. Far more freaky than any of that was a third eye set in the centre of the thing's head, that was not normal.
Since I'd just Planeswalked into this reality, I was tired and therefore a little slow to react. Slow enough that the creature would have been able to impale me on its horns, and it would have if not for white haired man who put himself between myself and the threat.
His right hand held a silver sword while left hand performed some type of gesture, then a fireball was flying through the air, this stopped the creature in its tracks, but only for a moment as it was soon charging this magic user.
After dodging an attack by the creature's antlers. The man's left hand made another gesture and a burst of something that rippled the air was hurled into the monster. This caused it to stumble back, and when it did the magic user with the sword went in for the kill.
Blood spurted into the air and the creature let out an eerie scream as it died. Then the magic user pulled the blade from its neck. Just like that it was all over.
"Uh" was all I could say on the matter.
After cleaning his weapon the man then slid his blade into a sheath that hung on his back beside another sheathed sword. Next he whistled and a horse trotted up from somewhere to the left of him.
"So what are you doing out here?" the man asked "That Fiend could have killed you".
I walked over to where he stood.
"Well I'm a little lost" I admitted "My name is Gothic".
As I gave him my hand to shake I saw his eyes which were yellow and slitted, like a cats
"Name's Geralt" he told me.
That was when it all clicked into place. This was the plane of the Witcher games, it had to be.
"There's a contract on the fiend, and Witchers have to eat, too" he said as he reached into a saddlebag and withdrew a large, serrated knife.
Bending over, he took the knife and started sawing on the neck of the creature I now knew to be called a fiend. As he did that I saw the back of the Witcher's neck, he had a mess of scars all over his body if I was any judge.
"I have something that could help with those scars" I told the Witcher as I took out a jar of Healing Salve.
It was a little something I'd made from a card. It was pretty much a healing spell that had to be applied to body.
"A mage, huh?" the Witcher said as finished cutting the head off the monster.
He then got up, and tied the dripping head to the back of his saddle. The sight was unappealing to say the least.
"Simple enough to use" I told the Witcher "Just apply to anywhere you have scars or bruises and you'll feel stronger than ever".
I knew it worked that way as I'd used it.
"Thanks" he said with a snort.
Well I owed him.
"Least I could do" I replied "Do you mind if I tag along to wherever it is you're going?"
While these days I could Planeswalk far more often than I used to I was at my limited right now, and as such needed to rest. A night at an inn would do me some good.
"I don't mind" he said "But you'll have to walk".
While I could just summon up a steed, as I did have some mana in my Mox Diamonds I decided that it would unwise to show off how powerful I was to someone who didn't know me. Besides the walk couldn't be that far.
(Line Break)
Town. Witcher Verse.
Shows what I knew, that had been one heck of a walk, but we were here now. Some town in a typical medieval setting. I'd seen enough of them in Westeros that the sight was pretty much mundane for me.
"I'm going to go collect on this contract before it gets dark" the Witcher told me as he dismounted his horse "I think he tavern has some beds, if you have the coin".
While I had plenty of coin I didn't have any local money. Still in more primitive worlds this wasn't often an issue as a gold coin was a gold coin because it was gold, not because of who minted it. And even if there was a local custom that made people distrust unknown coins I could always use some mana to make a Mox Gem. People like jewels, and there normally some trader around who'd take them off my hands.
"Alright. I could use some food anyway" I replied "Going to grab a drink after you get paid?. I'll buy you a pint".
I really could use something to eat. Planeswalking without days of rest between Walks really takes a lot out of you, and I hadn't eaten all day
"Yeah, I think I could use one" he said I'll see you later."
And with that, he walked off.
(Line Break)
Eventually I managed to find the tavern and after seeing someone else drop a few copper coins on the counter at the bar and walk away with a drink in a brown bottle and some kind of meat, I reached into my pocket and put down some silver. They were silver stags from Westeros, I still had a few of them on my person even after all this time.
The man examined the coins, bit one, and then very politely asked me what I wanted. I ordered the whole chicken I saw roasting and a tankard of something that I hoped was some kind of beer.
I took my chicken and whatever the drink was to a table and started my meal. The chicken tasted tasted pretty damn good, it had been seasoned with some local herb that didn't taste quite like anything I'd eaten before. Kinda like mint only it the flavour wasn't as strong and went better with the chicken.
That was when I realised that I must look like a very strange person, sitting in this inn, wearing my Darksteel Plate armour and devouring an entire chicken.
The Witcher soon entered
"Let's have that drink" he said by way of greeting.
I didn't have to get up the innkeeper came right over and took my order.
(Line Break)
"So," Geralt began to say as he took a sip of whatever it was he was drinking "You said something about being lost".
I nodded as I finished off the last of the chicken. Once the Witcher had arrived I had ordered more food and I'd been impressed by how much he could eat.
"Where were you headed?" he was now asking.
I could sense suspicion growing in him, he didn't quite trust me, and he had no reason to even though I'd brought him dinner.
"Well I have my own way of teleporting, that's different from you might have seen" I admitted to the Witcher "I can travel great distances, but I haven't perfected using it yet so I sometimes end up in places I don't mean to go".
The Witcher snorted in amusement, and I hoped that meant he believed me. He should I hadn't exactly lied.
"I've always hated teleporting" he commented.
Quickly I changed the subject.
"So, how about you? Just roaming around, killing monsters, and other witcherly things? Or do you have anything else going on?" I asked.
Hopefully I would be able figure out exactly where I was in this man's time line. It had been a long time since I'd played either of the first two Witcher games, and I'd never gotten around to playing Witcher 3, which was something I was regretting right now.
"Foltest, the King of Temeria has called for me" I was told "He's having some trouble with his barons. Its not normal Witcher work, but I need the coin for something more important".
So this was before the start of Witcher 2. That was good to know.
"I'm going to get some sleep" Geralt then informed me "Nice meeting you, Gothic, stay away from monsters".
That was sound advice.
"Good night" I replied.
He walked off and paid for a bed for the night. I downed the rest of my drink and soon did the same.
(Line Break)
I wasn't normally a morning person but the mattress I'd slept wasn't very comfortable so I hadn't slept much. In fact, I think it may have just been a burlap sack filled with hay, I hadn't wanted to check. But it had served it's purpose, and besides, I'd slept in worse places, and I knew a wand spell that got rid of all the nasty little things that could share a person's bed, such as fleas. That came in handy very often.
As I ate breakfast, which was a sort of oatmeal with honey, I wondered what I would do next. Should I follow Geralt on this journey? That would likely fuck up the plot, but I could probably guide it back into place if things went wrong. However getting involved in local affairs wasn't really my thing.
Maybe I should just wander off and explore. If I found some land to claim and gathered enough mana it should be safe enough even with the monsters. Plus if things got too rough Planeswalking away was an option.
My trail of thought came to an end when someone screamed and I followed the Witcher outside to where a crowd was gathered around a simple shop. Geralt had no trouble moving through the crowd and I followed him inside the store.
The details of the shop escaped as I was now totally focused on the dead body that was on the floor. It looked as if someone had opened up the store and found this poor fellow on the ground. Also he looked as if he been rapidly aged and he had an odd chest wound.
I then saw Geralt pick up and examine some white hairs that had been left on the ground.
"Looks like he struggled" the Witcher commented "And something drained the life out of this man. I've never seen anything like this".
I saw the hairs, they were white, pure white. Humans never had hair that was this white. Then I looked at he old man corpse and the wound on the chest. It all seemed very familiar.
It couldn't be? Could it?
A Wraith.
(Line Break)
The Pan-Dimensional Marketplace.
After Planeswalking once more I now found myself standing within the strangest settlement I had ever witnessed, a place beyond anything ever portrayed in a fictional series. This city, for lack of a better term, was quite large, there were hundreds of buildings that I could make out and more in the distance, also I could see thousands of people, if they could be called that, bustling through the many streets.
The city itself seems to be a mix of fantasy and Sci-fi, the buildings and most of the people looked like they were right out of the middle ages, yet at the same time I could see different devices that were far more advanced than anything found on my world if I was any judge.
There are also the inhabitants of this place to take into account; I could clearly see creatures and beings straight out of fictional works, and many more that I didn't recognise at all. All sorts of aliens, demons, cyborgs and much, much stranger things passed me by, each focused on their own individual tasks as they visited the multitude of stores around us.
"Excuse me" I said to a half-naked cat girl who was just now passing me by "Where am I?".
Ever since I'd left Westeros, after watching Miss Stormborn use her army to slaughter most of a city, I'd simply been wandering. With no goals in mind, never staying long in one place for very long and never, ever getting involved with local affairs. Not because I supported some sort of Planeswalker Prime Directive, simply because I didn't want to get involved.
However things were different now. A killer that might indeed be a Wraith, one of those life sucking aliens from the Pegasus galaxy and he also was a Planeswalker or some other kind of dimension hopper.
Upon figuring that out I'd decided to get involved. Local affairs were one thing, a dimension hopping space vampire was another. I'd tracked him to this place, the same way I'd tracked Twilight Sparkle when she'd gone to Carealot.
"The Pan-Dimensional Marketplace" the cat girl told me "It is a place where people who can traverse the multiverse can do a bit shopping. You can pretty much get anything you want here".
This was when I decided to buy myself an advanced weapon. I had great armour and an awesome magical sword, but my ranged attacks were limited to magical spells and it wasn't always possible to cast a spell. Also if I was facing another Planeswalker I might need the fire power.
"Do you barter here or do you have a local means of exchange?" was my next question.
They did both as it turned out and the cat girl guided me to what seemed to be a bank of some kind, run by creatures that I could only assume were Goblins, based on the fact that they look very similar to the Goblins from the Harry Potter movies.
Quickly I made my way to one of the empty tellers, who looked at me with a respectable sneer.
"A human, a magic user" the Goblin teller remarked while glaring down at me from his high seat. "Most humans that pass through here tend to be of the magical nature".
Well I was magical, although I was hardly a normal mage, then again given that this big ass marketplace could only be accessed by those who could traverse the multi-verse perhaps Planeswalkers weren't anything special here. Not that I'd sensed any so far.
"I want to trade for some of your money" I told the short humanoid "I have gold and some jewels".
All of which were inside my pouch of holding.
"Gold has been devalued" the Goblin told me "Some of your fellow humans got into their heads to loot a place called Fort Knox in different zombie worlds".
Now why hadn't I thought of that.
"We still take gemstones, silver and other rare materials" I was now being informed "But not gold, we've got more than enough to supply our needs".
I handed over some of the treasures I'd picked up on my travels. Silver coins, bits of jewellery. Mox gems. All of which were scanned by a metal wand.
"Sign your name here in order to make an account" the Goblin said with a grumble, while passing me a sheet of paper and a pen.
At least they're more advanced than the Harry Potter Goblins, I'd always had to use my TK powers when writing with a quill and it wasn't that easy for me to move things with my mind when I didn't have a unicorn horn.
"Gothic" the Goblin read out, while glancing at the form I'd filled out "Another one".
I was surprised upon hearing that. Sure I'd always known that it was a big multiverse out there, but I had thought that my chosen name was somewhat original.
"Sorry?" I said.
At this point I didn't know what else to say.
"I'm sure you are" the creature said in a bland tone before getting on with our business "Now we don't actually convert your valuables into a local currency like a regular bank. What we do here is set up a vault for you that contains whatever you want to store that has value. The worth of what is in your vault is then shown by these tokens".
I was then handed some different colour pieces of metal, each was larger than a coin and they had numbers on them.
"So there sort of like a cross between a poker chip and check book?" I asked.
The goblin nodded.
"Should you sell anything and receive more tokens they can be traded here for material wealth in the form of gold bars, we have a lot of those" it was explained "We don't trade in souls here or slaves, be warned".
With that the created dropped out of his seat and walked away, without a goodbye or anything, how rude.
Now that my business here was complete, I head for the exit and leave the bank, eyes darting around the marketplace before me.
Time for a shopping spree.
(Line Break)
Soon I discovered that shopping in the pan-dimensional marketplace was, in a word, tiring. It was also amazing and that was what kept me moving. There were so many stores, so many vendors, all just screaming for my attention, far too many in my opinion. Perhaps that was why there weren't many humans here, it was more than a bit overwhelming.
While a large majority of this place seemed to be composed of the homes and apartments for the inhabitants of this realm, the people who ran all these business, not to mention the odd pub and entertainments, the rest of the buildings were shops selling many different wares.
Much to my disgust, a large majority of the business I passed by sold nothing but slaves, slaves of different ages, genders, and races; heck, there was even a store where you can create your ideal slave and have them cloned by the hundreds. Not surprising as the ruler here happened to be a demon lord, a demon named 'Simon' of all things. Perhaps this was also why few humans came here, they could end being sold as slaves they weren't careful.
I really hoped that if these other Gothics were alternate versions of myself, which was something that had struck me after leaving the bank, were in no way involved with slavery.
However I didn't dwell on such things for long as what I needed to do now was get myself a weapon, a good one as Wraith weren't each to kill. I was not a big fan of guns, and they weren't a common sight in the UK, so I wasn't that knowledgeable on the subject of firearms, but I'd seen enough sci fi shows to know that I wanted a space gun.
Entering the first weapons store I found was like a dream come true for my inner nerd, and right away I saw several weapons attached to the walls that were known to me from playing video games and watching TV. I saw an Elite plasma weapon from the HALO game series next to a Phaser from the Star Trek universe, one that Captain Picard might use. Then I saw a Particle Magnum one of which used by Ronon Dex from Stargate Atlantis, the best energy pistol in the entire Stargate universe. That was tempting, a Traveler-class Particle Magnum that could deal with a Wraith. I seen that.
"What you after buddy?" a voice asked.
I turned to see a human, what was odd about that was how normal he looked. He wouldn't have seemed out of place in a sporting goods store in my world.
"Yes I'm looking for a gun" I said "I need a pistol, something that doesn't need recharging too often, but still has a kick to it. I don't want to keep having to come to buy more ammo. I move around a lot".
The man reached behind his counter and placed a small black pistol before me.
"If your not going after something too tough I suggest the Pulse pistol, the standard issue Peacekeeper sidearm, its 7 inches in length, 6 inches in height so its easy to hide. It fires small but deadly bolts of plasma, with it you can kill most mortals, but its not much good against the bigger critters out there".
The weapon favoured by John Crichton, that could work.
"This pistol can be set to stun, or kill but the standard setting used by most is kill. For ammunition, it uses these chakan oil cartridges that are loaded into the grip" I was now being told as the seller loaded the weapon "The maximum number of shots per cartridge is about 500. The pistol can be set to overload, causing an explosion proportional to the amount of chakan oil remaining".
Since I wasn't planning to go around shooting people five hundred kill shots should last me a long time.
"I'll throw in extra three cartridges giving you about two thousand shots and I'll given you a holster".
The price then mentioned was high, but it wasn't like I had much trouble getting my hands on more money.
"I'll take it" I said.
(Line Break)
Wraith Lab. Unknown Planet.
The fight was over a moment after it started, using the tracking spell I'd gotten while in a MLP verse as well as some hair from the murder scene, I'd followed the Wraith through the Blinding Eternities once more and had found him a lab on a world that seemed to be uninhabited. Not doubt the vampire like creature had visited the Marketplace thinking that it would throw me of his trail.
It hadn't at all. I'd Planeswalked into the lab and had just shot the space vampire with my new gun, it had taken five shots to kill the creature. Then I'd used my magical sword Winter's Bane to remove the alien's head. A little gruesome for me, but after Azkaban killing people and other things didn't bother me much anymore. I figured I'd left at least some of humanity behind in that dump. Bloody Dumbledore.
Upon seeing the Wraith, which had been one the kind that didn't wear masks, I'd known he he was a Planeswalker. Which was a bit of surprise, although it should have been as I knew that any race with a soul could produce one of my kind. Apparently Wraith did have souls, who knew.
The entrance to the lab was hidden behind a hologram, I was able to disable the hologram and take a look outside. There was nothing special out there, just trees, trees, and more trees. Typical for Stargate.
What was inside the lab was far more interesting, I didn't know how long the Wraith had been travelling the Planes, but his computer told me what he'd been up to. The alien had kept detailed logs, apparently he'd been researching Ascension of all things, while the log didn't say why it did tell me exactly how he'd gone about it.
Oddly this Wraith had looked into the the myths and legends of humanity, thinking that the supernatural stories were misunderstandings of Ascended Ancients and their actions. While doing this he'd discovered magic and found that he could use it.
Unlike mine ascension this Wraith's ascension had not been due to death, rather he had triggered his Sparkle while attempting Ascension as in what the Ancients had done, I didn't think he could have gotten far along that path, but he'd found himself in another plane of existence, and since then he'd been exploring different places.
He had a long list of more primitive worlds that he could visit when he needed to feed, and he'd also been to more advanced worlds. One of which the living computer had info on.
Illium: A garden world, Illium is an Asari corporate haven, free of a number of Council laws and regulations, which allow Illium to legalise things such as recreational drugs, certain scientific research, and even indentured servitude. On the border with the Terminus systems, Illium is sort of a 'gateway' to the frontier worlds, and acts as a place where free trade prospers.
So the now dead and headless Wraith had been to the Mass Effect galaxy, according to his log he'd gathered some tech from that world and had even had made contact with some crooks enabling to get some ID. He'd been passing as human with the aid of make-up.
Illuim sounded like fun I could do with an omni-tool, and the planet was full of hot blue alien babes. While I was there I could find out if my fellow Planeswalker had been up to anything interesting.
(Line Break)
Housing Complex. Illuim.
I looked up from the bed I had dropped onto, and realised that I had Planeswalked into someone's house, I knew this mostly because the person who lived here was currently staring at me. She was naked, she was an asari and she was looking at me in an uncomfortable way. I wasn't sure if she hostile or not.
"Oh…I'm sorry, I…" was what I struggled to say.
She did not have trouble finding words. Perhaps because she wasn't distracted by being in the same room as a naked asari.
"I didn't order a human courtesan, what are you doing in my bedroom?" the Asari woman demanded to know.
Human courtesan, she did think I was whore?
"I... I don't have a good explanation" was my reply "The short answer is I'm sort of lost. I know I'm on the right planet but that's about it".
The alien woman looked up me and down as I got up off her bed.
"You're lost on Illium, and you're dressed very strangely" she remarked.
Well I was wearing Darksteel plate as armour, pretty good stuff as nothing damaged it so I had little to fear from direct attack. Well none to the body anyway I kept taking the helmet off as it made my head all sweaty.
"I'm a wizard from another universe" I admitted, knowing that no lie would be good enough here "Don't worry I'm just passing through".
She didn't take that seriously.
"Uh huh. Did my boss put you up to this, to get me to take a day off?" the hot naked alien babe was now saying "She did say I needed to relax and this role play is kind of kinky. Maybe I do need a gigolo".
At this point I sighed.
"I'm not some whore" I replied, perhaps a bit too harshly "Not that I have anything against the profession, I'm more of a traveller. I'm really just here to get an omni-tool".
And to see what a Wraith Planeswalker had been getting up to, but mentioning that would have been counterproductive.
"Hey don't that tone of voice with me, you're the one in my apartment!" she yelled
The Asari was starting to get short with me. I needed to get moving.
"I'm so sorry for the intrusion, this was all a mistake" I told the alien lady "Let me compensate you for your trouble".
As I reached to get some golden dragons (coins used in Westeros) I found my arms being held in place by a blue aura. Biotic power.
"Nu, uh. If you're going to intrude in my house you're going to give me an explanation as to why you're here" the alien said.
Well perhaps more of the truth would better, just not all of it, and if that didn't work I'd have to use magic.
"Okay honestly I'm on this planet because of the actions of a murder who I brought to justice. I accidentally... teleported into your bedroom" I explained, choosing my words carefully "A rather nasty alien called Wraith, that's the murderer I killed, came to this world and met with some crooks. I want to know what was up to. It might be something that harms your people".
Well I didn't care that much, but it might be amusing and this was all a nice change from yet another medieval fantasy realm. The multi-verse seemed to have no end of them.
"Right" the said Asari as she stared at me "So your a human agent looking for a crook who's called Wraith, and you can teleport, some old Prothen tech I'll bet, explains the weird armour".
Apparently the ability to rationalise away the supernatural was not just a human one. Sunnydale Syndrome also effected aliens.
"What's your name?" the Asari asked.
I rubbed my wrists once she had stopped holding me in place.
"You can call me Gothic" I said.
The name got no reaction.
"I'm Alesa" she told me "Now I'll call a friend of mine, and you can have a chat with her about whoever it is you're looking for. She might be able to help".
Well I had to start somewhere.
"Before go met her you should get a new outfit" Alesa advised "I've never seen anyone dressed like you".
Oh right the suit of Darksteel plate I was wearing. Yeah that would stand out a bit. In most magical worlds it just looked like fancy armour.
"You're one to talk" I replied "You're not even dressed".
Which was another reason to be glad I was wearing armour.
"Do you want me to get dressed?" Alesa teased.
All I could do was shake my head as the view was really nice.