Author Notes
After this its back to Sunnydale for a few chapters.
Slayer Gothic 2
Silverymoon 2
Shops. Silverymoon
The next day my girls and I hit the town, finally getting around to the shopping I'd promised. However while the girls wanted shiny things I'd taken us to where adventures spent their gold. After all there was no reason they couldn't get jewelry that was both stylish and enchanted.
Right now we were looking at swords as I needed something to replace my lost katana, not just any blade would do I wanted something that work well against vampires.
"Taragarth, nicknamed the Bloodbrand, is a magic bastard sword or short sword, depending on the what the wielder wants" I read out from the book the gnome weapons dealer, who owned this store, had lent me "the blade of Taragarth appears as if it had been tarnished by fire, save for along its edges, which gleam. Just above the cross-guard, a rune is etched into the metal of the blade, this is thought to be maker's mark, although no ones knew made the weapon".
Silverymoon kept good records, every magical item in the shops had been studied and its history recorded before going on sale. Which in my view had been a very smart thing to do.
"That's a nasty thing to call a sword" Willow commented "and how can it be born out of wed-lock, anyway".
I tried to explain.
"A bastard sword is a two-handed sword that can be held one hand, so they're not quite single or two-handed weapons" I told the red head "They don't belong in either category, hence the term".
I then got back to talking about the sword.
"Even if the blade is sheathed, the bearer of Taragarth will be protected from extrasensory perception and all detection spells, that could be handy" I was now saying "Once drawn, the bearer will also be protected from flames as if they are wearing a ring of fire resistance and if they fall more than ten feet, they will be affected by a feather fall spell. This sword has a knack for cutting through foes, allowing a wide swing to affect multiple surrounding opponents".
That sounded super sweet.
"I kinda want it for me" Buffy said "if it can turn into a short sword it'd be easy to hide".
That was also a good reason for me to carry the sword as it meant I could go out causally and still have a potent weapon on my person.
"Why don't you just use Khazid'hea?" Amy wondered
Khazid'hea, was a finely crafted longsword that could cut through flesh, bone, armour, and even rock. The edge of its blade glowed with a barely-perceptible line of red light. Also it was able to change its pommel to appeal to a prospective wielder.
The sword itself was sentient, and could project its "thoughts" into the user's head and even affect his or her reasoning. Which was why while Drizzit had offered me the weapon and I wasn't willing to use it.
Distance was the only true way to escape from Khazid'hea's influence, although if the wielder and sword had spent many years together, a kind of vague telepathic connection remained between them. Which if nothing else could be really annoying.
Khazid'hea was always hungry for blood and battle, and it was never sated. Khazid'hea had one desire: to be held by the greatest warrior. Granted as the Slayer, who had talent for killing people with swords it was possible that Khazid'hea, which meant Cutter in drow, might accept me as its wielder.
"Maybe there's spell that make the sword behave" Willow suggested.
There was a slight problem with that.
"The sword is sentient" I said "that kinds of makes it a person, sort of. I don't fancy mind controlling someone. If nothing else it the spell could wear off during a battle, that would be bad".
I could try to master the sword, with sheer willpower, and perhaps by threatening it with one way trip in a lake of lava, but I wasn't sure I could control the weapon.
"Maybe we could purify it" Tara said.
A Wicca cleansing ritual might work. If the mind inside the weapon was demonic it would be banished, and if was just evil because it had been in drow hands for centuries then a purifying might make the sword more trustworthy.
"It's a worth a try" I replied.
I had other options too. The dwarves of Clan Battlehammer had promised a reward of enchanted weapons for the whole group, but that was going to take a while as they had a lot of cleaning up to after the battle. They knew I wanted a new sword, however they might know how to make a katana so I wasn't going to hold my breath.
Just when I'd decided to try a different store another messenger found me and handed me a letter.
"How do you keep finding me?" I asked the guy.
Since I was warded against scrying he couldn't be using magic.
"I can find anyone, my lord, as long I have a letter for them" the young man told me "That's my job".
It had to be some kind of magic that got past my wards using some kind of loop hole that didn't involve seeing me with arcane power. Perhaps I should look into spells of non-detection.
"Giles wants to see us at the library" I told my girls "We'll have to finish our shopping later".
No one was happy about that, but all got moving as the Watcher wouldn't have summoned us if it wasn't important.
(Line Break)
Library. Silverymoon.
"Trust Giles to set up a meeting in a library" I heard Buffy say as we entered the room we'd been directed towards "Its like he has some kind of in built book detector".
The Watcher and Miss Calender had been in Silverymoon for longer than the rest of us so it made sense that they knew more about his place than we did. And I could understand why they'd spend so much time here. The city's library was a large as any I'd seen, and it didn't just contained book. There was everything from scrolls, to clay tablets, old manuscripts as well that weren't just ink on paper.
Also this wasn't a quiet library, although I'd hardly call it noisy, I could hear animated discussions between scholars, as well as what looked to be tutors giving lectures to groups of students.
"Thank you all for coming" Giles said as he sat at the head of the wooden table we were using for this meeting "Now I know we intended to return to Sunnydale soon as the absence of both Slayers on the Hellmouth could led to trouble, however I feel we can risk spending a little more time here and by doing so we can play a part in something rather grand".
The Watcher wasn't given to naked displays of emotion, but I could see he was excited.
"Jenny and I have been taking with Lady Alustriel Silverhand, and some of her more intelligent advisers" Giles was now saying "her ladyship is very interested in the portals that Winifred has discovered".
She hadn't discovered them at all. We'd learned to use them because of other people's work, she was just the only person around who had a proper understanding of them because she'd been able to build on that work. Mostly because I'd killed the one guy who had known more and taken all his research.
"Lady Alustriel has for sometime now been trying to unify the Silver Marches into a confederation of sorts" the Watcher went on to say "Now you children have seen some of the great dangers in this part of the world, yet despite this the different towns and cities are barely willing to work together. Alustriel believes that the portals maybe the key to her city becoming the capitol of a new nation".
As far as I was concerned the portals were for the use of my group and my group only. There were other ways to travel across dimensions, some even better than ours, but very people had access to any sort of inter-dimensional travel even unreliable ones. This in my view was for the best.
"I've spoke to the lady a few times now and she wishes to advance her city to the point were it becomes not just the Gem of the North, but the Gem of the World. She thinks that this can be done by using some of the technologies of our world. Such as building greenhouses for growing food all year round, employing pipes for getting rid of waste, and a railroad".
This was not something I was happy about.
"We talked about this" I said to Giles "Starting an industrial revolution will not improve things, it might make them worse. What about pollution? What happens when everyone starts crowding the city. They'll have disease and the people that don't get sick can look forward to a life of earning minim wage in factory!".
I'd studied the industrial revolution while in school, it had been an important stage in the history of my country.
"It is my hope that we can advance Silverymoon and it allies without causing undue suffering" Giles said to me "For example we can introduce them to recycling and as for pollution well we can limit that by not giving them the internal combustion engine. A race called the gnomes already have the steam engine what they lack is a cheap way to produce steel which is needed for the railroads, which is something we can help then with".
The Watcher then stood up and unfolded a large map onto the table.
"Now the railroad will take years to build" Giles told us "However once Mithral Hall and Silverymoon are link by a railroad other cities will want their own. This will allow trade between the towns and cities to run far more smoothly than it does now".
I could see were this was going, but not everyone else did.
"Why does she want a railroad so bad?" Marice wondered.
She soon got an answer.
"Lady Alustriel wants to turn Silverymoon into the economic superpower of the continent" Giles explained "Right now, goods travel mostly by caravan and by ship. But this city is in some respects in a particularly poor position. There are tribes of giants, goblins and orcs all over the Silver Marches, who attack the caravans. However with a railroad Silverymoon can control trade through the north. By ensuring that they own the tracks and the trains they can charge what they want for the movement of goods. Soon, rail travel will be more favourable to merchants than risking life and limb by travelling on the roads. This desire will increase as other merchants notice the wealth of those who choose the rail. Soon almost everything will go through rail lines, rather than on foot."
Laying all those rails would be expensive, even with cheaper steel, I wondered how Lady Alustriel would pay for it.
"The first trains will be wood fired, like the early Western rails in the US. Eventually they will switch to coal, so the trains become faster, more reliable".
He wasn't done yet.
"If the plan goes slowly enough, people won't even notice until it's too late" Giles said with a smile.
I could see the evil side of this as could Jenny.
"By controlling trade, Silverymoon will hold sway over uncooperative towns and cities" the computer teacher told us "If they don't agree to join the confederation, then Silverymoon can just threaten to withhold the trains. When everyone is dependant on the rail system for trade and movement, you can destroy a town just by not stopping the trains there. Its happened in the USA, some towns faded away because the trains went a different route and those towns that got a rail going through turned into cities".
It was kind of evil, and clever, in a few years Silverymoon would have its confederation, and it would grow into a nation until the north was country and then a super power. Assuming nothing went wrong that is.
"What prevents other people from making their own trains?" Amy wondered.
Giles smiled upon hearing the question.
"Nothing at all" he replied "Its just by the time they realise they need trains Silverymoon will already have its railway network up and running".
There was more to discuss.
"What about monsters?" Amy enquired "Won't they attack the trains".
Giles had a reply ready.
"These won't be the trains we have today, which are built with passenger comfort in mind" he said "These will be more old fashioned, slower but heavily armoured. Each train will also a number of guards to protect the goods and people being transported, perhaps even a mage or two will around to help. Anyone trying to raid these trains will have a fight on their hands, and while they will be tempting targets the same holds true for the trade caravans".
I now had a question.
"Who is going to fund this railroad network?" I asked Giles "Even with the steel smelting methods of our world making the rails cheaper to make, and I assume the dwarves will handle that, its still going to cost a fortune to pay the workers to lay the rails, protect them while they do, and then there's the actual trains. Building and maintaining them will be very pricey until people start paying to use them".
Giles smiled again.
"Damien, I am glad you asked that" he said "Textiles are the key to the railroads".
I didn't see the connection.
"Why textiles?" asked Willow.
Buffy looked confused so I leaned in and whispered something.
"Textiles means the stuff clothes are made from" I told her.
Giles was by now explaining more.
"Many of the people here, unless they are rich, have maybe one or two pairs of clothing for everyday us" he said "and might have one set of good clothes that they only wear on special occasions. Those clothes are passed down from older sibling to younger or even from parents, when damaged they are repaired rather than replaced Washing the clothes might happen once every two weeks in the summer and almost never in the winter".
Hence my concern about sickness if everyone started leaving their villages and went to live in the cities. If a sickies spread across the country right now it wouldn't effect everyone as villages could be isolated from each other, but in a city things were different.
"Silverymoon has the land, the animals and the crops" Giles was now saying "They have the raw materials to start the industry. With the mass production methods of our world they could produce large amounts of clothing without resorting to sweat shops as golems will be used for most of the hard work. This will remove the need for people to perform mind numbing and repetitive tasks in an assembly line".
I liked that idea.
"So that how you're going to avoid turning everyone into factory workers" I realised "golems are good at performing repetitive tasks, they don't need rest and they don't get bored. They'll just keep going as long as they have materials to work with and they won't produce pollution because they won't be burning coal to fuel machines".
Giles nodded yet again.
"That along with renewable sources of energy like water and wind mills" he said "This should remove the need for factories that pollute the air".
Fred saw a problem I could see in on her face.
"Wait a sec if Silverymoon floods the market with cheap clothes that's going to make a lot of people mad" she pointed "what about all the tailors going out of business?".
Giles didn't look worried.
"Let me clear this up" Miss Calender said "Back around the civil war the northern states would import raw materials from the southern states and transform them into other goods before exporting them south. In the case of cotton, they would import the raw cotton and then produce clothes and sell it right back to the South for a much higher price. The South didn't have the industry so they could only supply the raw materials".
I now had something to say.
"Aside form slavery wasn't that a cause of the American civil war?" I asked "If Silverymoon goes with your plan in the long term it would cause their neighbours to the south to rise up against them. And that's never a good thing".
It would start a war.
"By that point the North will be organised in such a way that it will be a super power" Giles said "If it does come to war the North would win and this would result in the unification of both lands".
The Watcher was planning decades, if not centuries, of this world's future, and in a way that worried me.
"Not to go all Star Trek on everyone" I said "but you are talking about interfering with the development of an alien civilisations".
To my surprise Buffy agreed with me.
"That prime directive thing can be stupid sometimes, but Captain Picard would not think this is a good idea" she said.
Everyone looked at her funny.
"I like Star Trek" she stated, very firmly.
Looking around I saw that Faith was cleaning her nails, showing no interest. Willow was looking at Giles like he was a total genius, Amy looked confused. Tara even more so. Marcie was mildly amused. Only Buffy and I seemed upset, and I didn't think she understood why, at least not totally, she was just being supportive.
"It could led to war" Giles stated "It also might not, and this world has plenty of conflict already, what I want to do is make it safer for people to trade and travel. Also with some of modern understanding we can really improve people's lives. I think that's worth taking a few risks".
When put that way it didn't sound so evil after all.
"This what is Lady Alustriel wants, and I trust her wisdom" the Watcher told us "but we can't do it without your portals. To start with I need to gather research materials for her, and bring them back here. Also I want you children to return to Mareth so you can acquire more more gem stones. I was hoping we could fund these projects, at least partly to start with".
Mareth gems could do that, they were worth enough, although they would be de-valued over time as more were brought in.
"Alustriel is offering something in return" Miss Calender informed the group.
Giles cleaned his glasses before speaking further.
"A large house is being prepared for us for when ever we wish to stay here" the Watcher told us "however that all pales in comparison to your new spelljammer ship".
It took me a moment to process that.
"Sorry, what?" I replied.
Giles stood up, then took another large piece of folded paper out of the pocket of his tweed jacket and he spread it out over the table. It was a picture of one of those old iron clad ships, that had been used back when the people of my world had switched from wooden ship with sails to metal ships with steam engines. Only this ship was flying in the air.
"From what I've found out in this very library, Spelljammer ships are not like the ships you see in Star Trek, some are living creatures or so alien as to defy our understanding. Others are simply navy vessels capable of flying into outer space, as odd as that may sound" Giles told us.
I'd heard of them of course as I was a total nerd before becoming a bad ass warrior.
"Such craft have visited this world before" Giles said "and now thanks to your portals Silverymoon maybe able to make their own version of a spelljammer, but instead of travelling through the stars they will cross dimensions".
And I'd thought the railroad to be ambitious.
"These ships will not only sail on water they will also fly" the watcher was now saying "the prototype, which will use both the magic of this world and the technology of ours to move from this world to the lake in Mareth. The prototype 'Portal Ship' will be small and be crewed by volunteers. Should it prove successful more will be built, including a vessel for us, and they will fly through the portals like your ship did, only more successfully I hope".
I wondered how.
"What's to stop them from crashing?" I asked.
Giles had an answer ready I was sure, only he was delayed from giving it.
"Is it just me or is it the only the men doing the talking" Amy pointed out "I think this is sexist".
Well she wasn't exactly wrong. It was the menfolk who were debating the issues.
"I was under the impress that Damien led your group" Giles said "and I am doing this on behalf of Lady Alustriel, who is a woman".
It wasn't me he needed to convince, not really.
"Fred would be one doing most of the work" I said to Amy "She's the brains of this operation I just shoot things and boss people about".
Which made me very happy.
"I'm just saying that we womenfolk should have more say" Amy replied.
Giles cleaned his glasses again.
"Nothing has been decided as of yet" he said "None of these projects can go ahead with our support, and of course we must all agree with the course of action that we as a group decide to take".
Well at least he hadn't committed us to anything.
"Now back to the matter of crashing ships" Giles was currently saying "From the talk Jenny had with Winifred last night it seems as if you did nothing wrong per say, however while you prepared for the physical I think you may have forgotten to prepare for the mystical forces that could become involved in portal travel. If higher beings are interfering with your attempts to travel to different dimensions then we will need to protect the ships mystical with spells as well as physically by making them out of metal".
That was when Faith's head hit the table. I was worried for a moment until I realised she'd fallen asleep.
"Maybe we can discuss this later, Giles" I said the Watcher "I think I'll take the girls back out into the city for some exploring and shopping".
That earned me lots of smiles.
"Yes, very well" Giles said "I'll need a sliding device as you call them so I can return to Sunnydale in order to pick up a few things, and of course to get back again".
I turned to Fred.
"Can you help them with that" I requested of her "I'll pick you up something nice up at the market".
Winifred nodded, and soon I was leading the rest of my harem out of the library and into the city. Sooner or later we'd get our shopping done.
(Line Break)
Palace District. Silverymoon.
The audience chamber at the Silverymoon palace was crowded with nobles and other important persons as well as swarms of servants and bureaucrats. They were all looking at me so I felt like an idiot, giving my report to Alustriel's court. As such I kept it short and to the point, finishing as soon as I was able.
"Your sword, Damien" Lady Alustriel once I was done.
The blade I carried now was a normal katana, that I'd gotten in Mareth mere hours ago. It wasn't magical, although for the price it should have been. It was at least a proper sword no some piece of steel to put on a display and I planned to have it enchanted later on.
"For your many deeds in my service, I dub thee Sir Damien, knight of Silverymoon" the lady said as she gently touched each of my shoulders using the sword "and I grant you the lands to go with the title"
I was rather taken aback by this as all I'd done for Silverymoon, aside from spending a lot of money, was set up alliance between this city and the small town that the camp outside Salazar's Lair was becoming.
"Rise Sir Damien" the ruler of the city went on to say "may you always serve Silverymoon well"
She returned my weapon to me, which I'd name Gothic II, and then the lady presented me to the crowd as a knight. There was some applause as I walked over to where Giles was standing. The Watcher was grinning in a way that let me deduce that he'd known about the knighthood in advance.
"You knew about this," I accused.
Giles nodded.
"Isn't it cool being a knight?" Buffy asked.
It was, still I would have liked some warning.
"You should have seen the look on your face" Amy said.
It wasn't all good news,
"I'm not sure about the land thing" I told the group "I'm not going to be around to manage them".
Giles put a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't concern yourself with that" he said "I'm sure her ladyship has already sorted it so that someone in her court will take care of matters for you. She knows you have work to do else where".
Aside from the whole Lethice thing there was Sunnydale to look after. Angel might still be good but someone else could dig up that world sucking stone demon.
I was distracted by such worrying thoughts when some musicians began playing and the court seemed to move into a party atmosphere. Apparently this new trade agreement was cause for celebration. Giles went off to dance with his girlfriend leaving my girls and I to talk.
"So what exactly did you do?" Amy wondered.
She hadn't been there as everyone other than Fred, Faith and I had gone back to school, although not today as it was now Saturday back on Earth. Also it was December. I couldn't believe how much had happened in less than four months.
"I went with Lady Alustriel, King Battlehammer and a few escorts to see Salazar the Jade Serpent" I explained "There was a lot of talking, and to put it simply he's going to move the army we put together down to the lake. There he'll set up a town and a harbour so that the portal ships they're going to build here will have somewhere to dock".
There was much more to it than that however I was trying not to make it sound too complex.
"The plan is for portal ships to leave this world and dock at what they're going to call Salazar City, which is a name to appeal to Salazar's pride" I was now saying.
Dragons, even hybrid ones were prideful creatures so appealing to their egos was a good way to get them to agree to do things. The hardest part of the talks had been about people being free to worship. The people in Mareth had their nature goddess, and some other less important gods, they didn't want clerics from this world trying to convert people. That issue would always exisit and I could only hope that no holy wars started.
"So the ship goes to the harbour does a little trading, and then a portal is opened to somewhere else on this world where the ship can sell all its cargo" I went on to say "Even though takes a few days for hot spots to recharge the portal ships will still be the fastest and safest way to move lots of trade goods around. There's no risk of losing a ship to pirates and a journey of weeks becomes one of days".
Of course we weren't going to hand out Sliding Devices, as that would take away my groups big advantage as there was always a chance some bad guys could seize a portal ship. So the ships would have to open portals verbally and they would only know the hot spots my group put on maps. Which would limit where these vessels could go and prevent any D&D pirates from coming to Earth.
"The profit Silverymoon makes from this trading is what they will use to fund the railroads" I told the girls "the portal ships won't be able to land just anywhere, but they can sail on water so they'll still need the trains for inland trips".
It wouldn't just be this world that benefited. Mareth needed metals, and it needed people to bred with in order to restore the populations that had been ravaged by the demons. Having ships from Silverymoon dock at Salazar City would provide what the people of Mareth needed.
"So how do we make money off this?" Faith asked.
She knew I wouldn't go to this much trouble unless there was profit in for me.
"Well we can bring Earth made goods to Mareth and sell them to traders who will sell them on to merchants from this world" I told the group "Not too much stuff of course, small things that rich people will pay for just for the sake of owning something from another world".
I wouldn't sell weapons or anything too modern, but stuff like sunglasses would sell well. We didn't need to make too much money I was already a millionaire and I had other ways of making cash if I needed it. Mostly I was doing this so we get a portal ship of our own, exploring new dimensions would be a lot safer it a heavily armed ship that could made invisible using magic.
"Are we ever just going to spend time at home?" Buffy wondered.
I planned to stay in Sunnydale for a while. With all the Mass Effect tech we now had I figured I'd be able to clean up Sunnydale in a way no other demon hunter could. And Fred had already shown me how while preparing for the attack on Mithral Hall.
"Well you can" I said to my fellow Slayer "I'll be busy charting hot spots for the portal ships to use".
Opening a portal into Mareth was pretty simple and safe as most of the lands we'd explored there were flat, the deserts, the plains, and the area around the lake were places you could easily drive a jeep across even after driving it through a portal. But this world was rougher, it had monsters and terrain was different so I needed to go out there and find hot spots that portal ships could use safely. That included out on the sea near busy ports.
"I should be done before Xmas" I was now saying "So we can celebrate that peacefully, then after new years we can think about where we want to go next".
Fred would sooner or later find another world for us to explore, and even if she didn't this realm had a lot to see, and I doubted we covered more than a small fraction of the surface of Mareth, assuming it was a planet. With the VI drones it would be possible for us to find out what else was in that realm.
Also I needed to help set the ant princess up in Pleya. It would be a while before that colony was up and running, and once it was I planned to add to the trade routes for the portal ships. That dimension was barley inhabited so I knew it had lots of untapped resources that could be harvested by the ants and sold to other worlds. Sure there were a few monsters in that world, but the same held true everywhere else.
"I've got some good plans" I said to the girls "lots of groups in different worlds all trading together it could become something grand, it could turn out bad, but if it works we'll have loads of allies and resources to call upon".
If I played my cards right I could become a very powerful person, as well as amazingly wealthy, even more so than I was now. If I were evil I'd be thinking about making an army, conquering a lot of places and setting up an multi-world empire, oh and a massive harem too, like hundreds of girls. But I was more neutral than evil so I'd get the power I craved by working with allies. It might end up being less work for an equal reward.