If you roll the dice enough, they'll turn up snake eyes. I'd survived so far, but eventually I knew how this would end. I would get in over my head, get in some place where I was out of my depth. I'd die, hit the penalty, and be a physically and mentally broken mess. This wasn't helped by the fact that my system liked to fuck with me continually. Summer, or whatever it was called, was an asshole.
That's why I was looking for a new patron. Someone nicer and friendlier who would keep me safer in times of danger. A big magic turtle.
"See the TURTLE of Enormous Girth"
"On his shell he holds the Earth."
"His thought is slow, but always kind."
"He holds us all within his mind."
"On his back all vows are made;"
"He sees the truth but mayn't aid."
"He loves the land and loves the sea,"
"And even loves a childe like me."
He had created the world, vomiting it out, and I was hoping I could persuade him to give me a little divine boost. I hadn't been able to think about it before because the system had been shutting that down and people were mind reading me left and right, so I'd had it as a subconscious idea and plan. And while it had been perfectly function, the fragment of power meant to censor my mind hadn't been restarted with the rest of my power.
As I inhaled the burnt magnesium, firework smell of the smoke bomb, I dived to the floor. Above my head gunfire rippled. I heard a scream from both sides, as bullets thudded into his thugs.
Sure, it looked all dramatic having all his paid mooks walk out of the cinema and his new mooks form a circle around me. But a circle was terrible as a firing line. If you miss your shot, you might hit a companion. Amateurs.
I had a host of notifications. I dismissed them all. No time.
I pulled up my interface. Luck perks from buying it up to 10. Thank you Snakebite Andi for the free exp.
Ka-tet. One from many. You and a group of people are tied together by fate, shielded by the will of fate. Duty and destiny, where you must go. Once per day, gain +10 luck for the entire ka-tet for the sake of a single act of fate. 25 perk points. Off limits. Need at least three party members.
Deadlight acoylte. You are a creature of terror and horror. You have forsaken your humanity to gain a hint of the divine. Terrify others, and guide their fates to death. You can gain a constant bonus of up to ten luck by increasing the terror of others.
I quickly pulled up the party interface, and added Cure and Georgie to my party. We we currently hiding under the chairs, buried in cheap popcorn and sticky soda as gunshots fired above us and they started to make some order.
"You're my family now. I'll keep you both safe."
"Does that mean Bill wasn't part of my Ka-tek?" Asked Georgie, sounding offended.
"Probably. Fate is an asshole. Fuck Gan." Cure barked in the party interface at that.
As well as the evil and good luck perks, I had a few of the cheapo ones.
Hint of fate. You are closely connected to the currents of fate. Once a day, you can ask for one common sense fate question to a current situation. The advice will advance your destiny and never lead directly to death.
There were others, but they could wait.
I bought the perk and sent a question out to the universe. "How do I get Maturin to notice me?" I felt a rumbling around me, but got no response. Oh well. I connected that perk, connected to a memory of me winning a game of Yahtzee with my family, and one of IT, a memory of my hand being slammed in a toilet seat at school, and fed the perk into IT's fragments.
I took my rifle, and listened. I had boosted wisdom, I had an advanced apprentice level rare survival skill, my hearing was pretty solid. There. Bang! A gunshot. I rolled out of the seat, aimed, and fired off three shots. I dismissed the wisdom check succeeded popup as I heard a scream and the drop of a body. Solid shots.
"There he is!" Came John's voice. "Get him!" I pulled my gun off and fired a shot. I felt a rush off air, as Pennywise's massive hand slammed down, shielding John Wayne, and a wet thud, and dived to the floor as John's thugs opened fire on my last position.
One shot? Not quite enough. I couldn't rely on Cure except for ambushes and my health wasn't great. 100 HP, enough to die from a single shot. I needed an edge.
I took a motolov from my bag, lit the rag with a lighter, and tossed it at one of the twelve remaining thugs. 13 at the start, one down, two injured.
It hit with an explosive thrum, and the man screamed and screamed in terror as he burnt. I prepped a second one, and then felt a sudden pulse of fear. On instinct, I dived forward as a white painted hand as large as a car slammed down, cracking seats and ripping through the floor. Above, I saw glowing orange eyes, and then Pennywise's face rush down through the smoke at me, white paint cracking, red hair waving, yellow teeth hungry for my flesh. He shouted, his voice loud enough to hurt my eyes.
"I see you I see you I see-" I tossed the motolov up, aiming for his nostril. It slammed into him, burning away, and he reared back, head slamming into the ceiling of the cinema. I burnt another perk, and asked another question.
"Maturin, Maturin, why do you ignore me? I am hurting your enemy and slew two agents of the red."
The burning man was still screaming, and was close. As he came by I swept my foot past his, knocking him over to painfully become crispy on the floor, and picked up his machine gun. I glanced back. I could see him in the smoke. His flesh was burnt, black and cracked. He wouldn't be the last.
I pointed the sub machine gun, and did a series of controlled bursts at the other side of the theatre, the left side. I heard several screams. Two more bodies hit the floor.
"Fuck, stop firing at us!" Called one of the people on the other side. I opened fire at the voice, taking one more down. They didn't know I had their gun. They might guess now. I dived to the ground, and yanked out my flamethrower, igniting it, tossing down my bag.
I triggered the perk once more. I couldn't normally reactivate perks, but normally I couldn't destroy them by feeding them to Pennywise.
"I stopped Snakebite Andi before she joined the True Knot. That has to count for something." No response.
"He took our guns!" Said John. "Blow up his last location!" That was a mission. I instructed Cure to sneak around back, and try to ambush John Wayne Gacy.
I could hear there was a group of two, and a group of four on the right. If I stayed where I was… did they have a rocket launcher? A grenade? Something bad I was sure. I needed to get out.
I shifted down to Georgie size, small and light, and triggered inhuman strength. I then sprinted and leapt as fast as I could, smashing my way out of the smoke over the heads of the group of four, spraying them with my flamethrower, shooting wet flames at them. One died instantly, burnt to crisps. The other three were singed, but the flame didn't catch on their thick clothing.
I was a shitty shot.
One rushed me, gun wavering in his hand. Still flush on my inhuman strength, I morphed back to full size me, slammed into him, feeling him burn as I used my strength to manhandle.
"Ooowww" Said Georgie. I quickly shunted the agony of burning to me. As the other two raised their guns on me, I held the man up. The bullets thud thud thudded into him, ripping bloody holes, but his own flesh and clothing proved enough to resist their shots. I ducked behind some seats, using them as a barrier along with the corpse.
Almost there…
The grenade went off, just where I had been, hitting my bag. Inside that, the pipe bomb I had built went off. Super heated nails ripped out, slamming through the cinema, thouroughly wrecking the already damaged and despoiled cinema.
15 damage done! Weakened shoulder debuff negated by gamer's body.
"Fuck!" Said one on the other side.
"Argh! Said another on my side.
I burnt another perk, the old one dissolved into Pennywise's fragments.
"Notice me senpai!"I asked of the perk. "Speak to me Maturin-Sensei! I slay the enemy's minions in your name." I sensed a rumble of annoyance from the universe. It was working!
I heard a massive sound, like a vacuum on overdrive. The smoke started to vanish, Pennywise sucking it up into him. For now he was surrounded by a cloud of smoke, but that wouldn't last.
The cinema looked bad. Everyone except one person on the left side had been pulped, and were lying down screaming a the nails sticking out of their bloody bodies. John had survived, behind Pennywise's now burnt and nail filled hand, along with one of his soldiers who had only got a partial blast, most caught on his armour.
Still, those two were raising guns. They had pretty fanatical loyalty. Mind magic, I assumed. John Wayne Gacy pointed. "F"
Acid sprayed at him from behind, catching his face. Cure then leapt out, biting into John's neck. He cried out and fell down, his two guards turning to look at him as he cried out and screamed as his flesh bubbled and melted, and Cure bit and tore into him.
I used the perk again. "John Wayne Gacy is dead. Answer me, Maturin. I need your help. Let's finish Pennywise." An idea struck me, as the luck perk started to fade. He didn't like weebiness. "Maybe I can make a harem anime about Maturin-sensei! Going across America, collecting all the cute turtles!"
I sensed an amused chuckle from the universe, but no reply.
It wasn't anime then…
The two last people stood across from me, looking at their fallen master, guns pointed at me.
I was pretty spent. They had a clear angle on me, I had no strength perk left to burn. Maybe their injuries would slow them down, but I would probably get shot and die if I moved. I had another idea. My interface was back.
John Murphy. Dockworker. 20/55 hitpoint, conditions bleeding. 15 str, 12 dex, 8 con, 3 wisdom, 8 int, 6 cha 1 luck. Current emotion. Terrified for himself.
Chris McCarthy. Dockworker overseer. 10/70 hitpoints, conditions bleeding. 11 str, 10 dex, 11 con, 9 wisdom, 10 int, 14 cha 1 luck. Current emotion. Afraid for his family.
"Chris, go home to your family. John, get yourself to a hospital. Or I'll show you another of my surprises." I said, with a menacing grin. I did not have another surprise. Smoke bombs had been it. I hadn't had time to make a sophisticated radio trigger.
They didn't know it. They were terrified, shocked, and broken. They turned tail and ran for the exit.
I triggered the luck perk a sixth time.
"I saved those men, Maturin. Don't I deserve an audience? They're free from an evil clown."
The universe felt pensive.
That left just me and Pennywise. He wasn't looking great. He had metal nails sticking out of his skin, was burnt, paint dripping off, red scars dripping with blood. But still massive, he smiled at me.
"I've been looking forward to your taste.
"Good luck."
"Surrender your passenger." Said Pennywise, to Georgie. "And I'll let you go. I'll return you to Bill. I'll leave you alone." He said, laughing at himself. "You'll be safe."
I felt a pulse of fear, and Pennywise smiled all the brighter.
"He lied to me. He made me fear for my brother. He took my body."
Pennywise spoke. "I can punish him for all of that."
"But-" Said Georgie. "We're family now. And you don't drop family." Cure came back to me, shielded from the blast, happy and bloody. He stood behind me. "Me, Cure, and Peter."
That felt good. Warm. Not in a magic way. A friendly way.
"Thank you..." I said to Georgie. "It means a lot."
And, suddenly, I knew how to get Maturin's attention.
I triggered the luck perk, giving me +10 luck, and asked a question.
"Why wasn't Georgie part of Bill's Ka-tek? Why did he deserve to die?"
I heard a mystical sigh, and a voice. "You have my attention." Maturin, the World Turtle.
Finally.
I should be back onto a daily schedule now, with weekends off to build up a buffer. Yay for updates. Now he gets to chat with the world creator. Should be fun. See you next time.
Artekha. Preparation is the best weapon.
Dragonbornthesam. Yeah, but he'd need magic to fuel it and the magic perk.
Next time, Pennywise vs Maturin vs Macgyver.