Rise of The Runelords - David Drake's Saga

by Raulfur

This is the Rise of the Runelords series as told by of David Drake, an American pagan who got tricked into the adventure. This series shows how he comes to understand the world and his journeys through it. The first three posts detail his companions, Faunra: a time displaced elven Magus, Dame Rebekah: a child of crusaders, and Jonathan: a skinwalker monk/kineticist. Still ongoing.

154. Day 150 or Take me where?

Day 150: Fireday the 15th, Calistril, 4708

I woke up to Faunra looking quite bedraggled. She was hasty in her getting me up, yelling at me that we were going to be ambushed, and that the horde would be attacking the plane. I snapped myself awake at the words "horde attacking the plane" and jumped out of bed. Faunra rushed off, I guess to go warn the others. Just as she was about to leave the room, she told me that she would not be able to cast any spells for this conflict, so Dame Rebekah, Jonathan, and I would have to deal with the brunt of the situation. She claimed that she would explain everything later, but that I had to get dressed and get ready now.

That confused me, but I acknowledged it and she continued her egress. I quickly got suited up in all of my gear before summoning my armor onto me. My unseen crafters had gone over the armor while I rested, and it was back in tip-top shape. Dame Rebekah, Jonathan, and I having to handle all of the spell workload meant that I needed to figure out exactly what we were fighting quickly.

After the minute that it took me to get dressed and equipped, I rushed out of the pilot's chamber to cockpit and then back to the passenger compartment. Jonathan was there, and Dame Rebekah was apparently getting dressed out as quickly as she could. I shook my head and made my way back to her quarters. I opened up the door without announcement to see Dame Rebekah barely clothed and Faunra attempting to help her. I sighed, looked away, and summoned Dame Rebekah's armor onto her. Dame Rebekah had been about to yell, but then sheepishly thanked me.

I told her that it was nothing, and that we needed every second to plan since Faunra wouldn't be able to cast spells for some reason. I left from the quarters that Dame Rebekah had been utilizing and went back to the area where Jonathan had been waiting. By the time that I had gotten there, Ayruzi had shown up. The emerald angel nodded to me and asked if there was anything that I was specifically thinking would be of a great benefit to us. I told them that we could always utilize more allies to assist in harrying the enemies, if the battle was going to be as big as I expected.

Ayruzi asked if there was any prediction that I could have made for this. I sighed and told her that I was only figuring out that Faunra must have Scott Bakula'd herself because things went absurdly pear-shaped. Just as I said that Dame Rebekah and Faunra were both rushing into the room. Faunra cleared her throat and declared that she had no idea what being Scott Bakula'd meant, but that she had indeed managed to jump back in time, ten minutes to her formerly sleeping form, to the time where we had been woken up too late by the barrage of dozens of giants, at least eight score, as they demolished the stone and steel enclosure that the plane is underneath, and we fought a valiant but tragically ill-fated last stand. Faunra added that she and I were the last two to be standing, as she was protected by her spells and defenses, and I had activated something that would prevent me from dying until the spell ran out, but that I had no way to heal myself.

Dame Rebekah asked what had happened to her, and Faunra said that it wasn't important, as we needed to be ready to go before the barrage starts, as that would be our best bet. Take the fight to them before they can form up ranks and strike as one. I chimed in that it made sense, and that we should do whatever we could to get ready for the fight of our lives. I thought for a few seconds and asked her how we would go about preparing for something such as this, if we were not available to take them out with her at full strength. Faunra told us that her bow would do more for us than her spells would, as each time we tried to disrupt the enchantments that the Rune Giants had held over their ensorcelled minions, we would free a few but then a few of the Rune Giants would just go ahead and focus on getting them back under their control.

Jonathan asked her if there was anything that we had done that had gone right. Faunra thought for a second and said that we needed to split up after making contact, so that the storm giants couldn't target us with their chain lightning, as it caused massive amounts of damage and even shorted out the servos in our armor after a few hits. I sighed and realized that I wouldn't be able to do much about any of my normal tricks, but apparently, I had access to the normal capacity of arcane energy that I would usually have after refreshing myself. At least I could get those things accomplished.

The giants were planning their daring predawn raid to make sure that neither Ayruzi, nor Dame Rebekah, had access to the divine miracles that they could call down from their respective deities. With Faunra not being able to cast spells either, this means that Jonathan and I will have to do the brunt of the heavy lifting spellcasting/effects wise.

Then Faunra indicated that we can break into our bountiful sack of potions, scrolls, and wands. She flippantly added that we still had the Anathema Archive, so she might be able to access a specifically needed spell if it helps. I asked how long we had until the barrage starts. Faunra immediately told us that we had three minutes before the first rock strikes. She looked to me and reminded me that neither cold, nor fire, nor lightning would do anything to the Rune Giants. I started focusing on what I could do while the others dove headfirst into the pile of consumable magical items that we had accrued over our time.

I enhanced all of my firearms, as that was a no-brainer. I got another group of Unseen Craftsmen and tasked them specifically with keeping each weapon in tip top shape and holding the spare magazines for each. I had figured that if this thing was going to last over five minutes, then I was going to put forth every effort to maximize my contribution. I realized that I would also be needing whatever I could get in the way of further skill with my weapons, so I summoned up the spell that gives me a bit more tactical knowledge, in the hopes that I can utilize it to the fullest extent. I also knew that Mobility was key, so I brought forth the arcane gift that I had only recently been able to accomplish, that of flight.

I had two effects that I would perform just before we took off, one of invisibility and one of hastening the entire group. The two effects did not last long, so I wanted to wait until just before we were heading out into the fray. That and my mirror image effect, which Faunra had warned would not work against the Rune Giants but would against the rest of the giants. I thought I was as focused as I could be, but then Faunra handed me the Archive and recommended I look for a specific spell, as she had already done so. I opened it up, with her assistance, and found a spell that she called Psychic Asylum. She recommended that I cast it as many times as I felt I could safely.

I did so and found myself transported into a mental landscape of the woods during a pleasant thunderstorm. I realized from the effect that I had time to study some of the tricks that I had not had time to replicate via spells. I immediately studied that deathless effect that Faunra had indicated. I don't care if it didn't work, I needed it. I popped out of the mindscape and Faunra asked if it worked. I nodded and she told me that when I utilize this, I can still immediately afterwards cast a spell. I invoked my Mirror Image effect, as this would last a long time and last throughout the fight, at least until it expires. Immediately, I attempted to use the scrolls again. I succeeded but felt a bit of dread from the fell artifact. I guess I didn't even notice it the first time. I was back in my forest and immediately focused on an ability to keep fighting even while dying. It was the pair to the deathless ability that Faunra had referenced. I could keep fighting for minutes after death now.

I resumed my status in the waking world to find that again, only a few scant seconds had passed. I reflexively invoked the blessings of Elysium, something I had been preparing to do even before the delve into the fell scrolls. I really need to find a way to be able to do this myself. Fifteen minutes to contemplate in scant seconds is too important of an ability to not get to use, now that I know that it exists. Maybe some wish or arcane ritual to gain this as a spell I can invoke. Faunra asked if I was prepared to attempt it a third time. I had so far only focused on things I could do to help myself, and Faunra recommended that if I was to utilize it any further, I should attempt to make it get something that could help keep me healed, and then after that, maybe something to improve the combat effectiveness of everyone. I asked her if I had done this last time, and she nodded her head, saying that we had judged that it was a vital use of the time while the boulders were dropping. We had foolishly thought that the structure would hold.

I had dived back into the fell artifact to feel more of the sliminess over wash over me. It didn't matter. I wasn't doing this for myself, I was doing it for the group. I delved back into my storm swept forest, it being a little more turbulent this time. I don't know that this is something that is intended to be utilized as frequently as I am. I reached out into my bag of tricks and found what I needed. A drop of the celestial essence that Ayruzi was radiating, and my natural healing would accelerate for at least a minute or two. I snapped back to reality and summoned up the defensive aura that surrounded my armor. It wouldn't do anything against boulders or smashing attacks, but swords, arrows, and spears would get hampered a little.

Faunra looked at me with a sly grin and asked if I was dipping back in. I nodded immediately and performed the scroll again. The terribleness washed over me, and I was realizing that there was now an actual chance that I could be actually affected by this. I studied up on grounding us, as we would need to deal with all of the electrical damage that would be ensuing. When I had the pattern in my mind, I leapt out of the torrential downpour of my mind, with a flash of lightning. I again cast a different effect than what I had been studying. I focused on the arm guard that had held my collapsed shield. For a period of around three hours, hostile targeted spells would have to get past a second layer of defense.

Faunra asked if I would be utilizing it again, and I shook my head, and asked her how long we had until the first boulders struck. Faunra told me that it would only be two minutes, so we should get done whatever preparations that are needed and then rush out at the one-minute mark. At least then we can jump their ambush. I nodded and she took the scroll for herself. I reviewed what I might be able to do for the next sixty seconds. I knew that the last few seconds would have to be encompassed by the hastening effects and the invisibility. Before that, I'd have to activate the deathless and the companion, overstimulate effects.

Thinking about it, I decided that I wanted to spend the last few moments I might have sending a message to Savah. I was about to key up the radio when I realized that it was before dawn. I doubted that Savah would even be awake. I recorded a message to be scheduled to be sent to her after sunrise, so that she might hear a few words from me, if the worst happens. I figured that at least she could hear a bit from me. Not much, but a bit. While I was doing this, I noticed that Faunra had utilized the scroll to summon up a familiar face. The Dapsara who had acted as the officiant for the Crystalhue ceremony.

They were having a discussion while I was recording the message, so I didn't hear what they were agreeing to. I just spent my time focusing up on my main two goals, getting the message sent to Savah, and then refocusing my mind to drop the flame aspect of what I now realized was a representation of the magic around me imposing itself upon my guns. It wasn't so much of a reaction of the world to fast moving projectiles, or something in the oil that was used. None of that mattered, it was all the supernatural imposing itself upon my weapons.

Then Faunra smiled and provided a spell that effected my ammunition. Or at least fifty rounds of my bolter ammo. All in magazines. They'd be dripping acid when they get shot, but thankfully not before then. Acid being one of the few things that we could use against the Rune Giants. I thanked her and focused my own energy aura to be a much more vitriolic version of burning than is usual. Faunra smiled and said that she had one trick left, one that she had never used, for fear that it would upset the balance of the world. I asked her what this was, and she told me that I just needed to wait until the very end to utilize my haste effect until after we all rushed outside while invisible. I shrugged and said that I would.

Faunra did recommend that it wouldn't hurt to go ahead with what I had planned, with the exception of Haste, of course. I took her up on her offer and utilized one of the abilities that I had recalled from my time in my mental forest. I invoked a resistance to electrical attacks upon everyone. As I went to touch everyone to provide them with the benefit, the Dapsara pointed to my cellphone. I handed it over to them, as I figured that they knew what they were doing, and a devotee to the goddess of arts would not be the worst to have access to my song library. Everyone else was doing whatever they could to get ready. Faunra was a bit annoyed that the best magical arrows that we had were of the Shocking Burst variety, but she took them anyway, in the hopes that if she has to fire on any of the other giants, she could squeeze out a bit of extra damage.

I decided that it was time, and I invoked the condition that I had only once invoked before, the ability to keep living long past I should have rightfully passed. I utilized one of the magical rods to lengthen the span of time that the spell would last, increasing my time of effective invulnerability to over four minutes. Something that I had realized was that this was really just a mirror to what Karzoug had done. It was a very useful combination, and I couldn't help but think that it was something that would end up getting me screwed in the long run. Something like if I get a reputation for this, that the things that try to kill me will try some other method of assassinating me. Faunra was still utilizing the archive, using it to enchant more and more of her arrows to do the additional acid damage. She went through ammunition much quicker than I did.

I followed up the deathless effect with overstimulating my mind, again with the extending effect of the rod. This would mean that I could continue to fight even when I should be unconscious. This would pair well with the deathless effect, so that I could continue to fight no matter what for at least a few minutes. Few will fight for all until the bullets are gone indeed. Faunra utilized her additional archive usage to generate even more acid enhanced arrows. I hoped that she would have enough for the whole fight by the time that this was done. I could see the effects of the darkness in that artifact getting worse for her. I have to admit that I had not been paying too much attention to Ayruzi, Dame Rebekah, or Jonathan. What I did notice is that there were now three lantern archons among us now.

Going back to what I needed to do, I "borrowed" a bit of Ayruzi's cast off essence, I invoked the healing powers of those positive planes. I could feel the positive energy flowing through me. I utilized the last effect of the rod for the day and dropped it. Without even noticing it, Dame Rebekah had put hers in my hand. She told me that she had known that I would have to use it for the haste spell, and that she would really not be able to. Besides, it only had two uses left for today.

An invisible Faunra yelled at everyone to go as invisible as they could. Jonathan activated his telekinetic invisibility and shimmered out of view. Ayruzi went completely invisible while the three lantern archons flickered down into about as much light as a candle. Dame Rebekah downed a potion. I invoked the invisibility that I possess that will continue to allow me to attack. Faunra then yelled at us that we needed to get out of the plane. We did so sneakily, and then when we were out of the plane, Faunra enacted the first part of her plan.

She used the archive to perform one final spell. She summoned horses for each of us. Including Cytheria, the three lantern archons, Ayruzi, everyone. There was now a dozen confused horses around us. I guessed that having a bit of meat shields around us couldn't hurt, but I wasn't about to really use this animal as a mount. The herd gathered around Faunra, who was still invisible. If we were noticed, the alarm had yet to go off. That left the last spell that everyone was waiting for from me. I used the rod and summoned up the time dilation effect, causing all of us to operate even faster than normal. Including the horses.

The Jonathan performed the second part of Faunra's trick, at her behest. All of the horses became human sized spiders. Or at least large dog sized spiders. They each were a deep indigo with gold hourglasses on their abdomens. Celestial Widows. They had the power of faith on their side, I guess. Faunra said something in the language of the celestials and the spiders all rushed out in different directions from the plane. Operating on double time. Now that was a scary thought. Husky sized spiders running at something like twenty-four miles an hour. Almost as fast as Usain Bolt. Fuck.

We rushed out after them, from what I could tell anyway. Faunra used our message system to tell me to go straight ahead, that there was a force of Stone Giants and a few Rune Giants that needed to be dealt with, as they were the ones who would start the bombardment. Before I could get two steps, I felt Jonathan press the Glaive into my hand, telling me that I would have to take care of this during the fight. Into my left hand it went.

I had not gotten sixty feet outside of the hangar when I saw that the Stone Giants were all finishing up hauling their final boulders to begin the assault. From the looks, they group was massive. It looked like there were at least one hundred and seventy Stone Giants, all of them had been enhanced by the same fell magics that the Cloud and Storm Giants were. There was also at least a score of Rune Giants. Each one looked to be in control of nine Stone Giants, as each Rune Giant had nine Stone Giants around them.

That meant that I had needed to find a way to deal with close to two hundred massive slabs of muscle. Maybe if I can get the Rune Giants, I can minimize the conflict. Honestly, I hope that Jonathan and the others each had their own groups picked out, but that there were other groups that were going to be attacking the hangar as well. I got myself in between two different groups, hoping that if there was crossfire, there might be some friendly fire. There was a bright point, in that I noticed that the group of spiders were sneaking up on another group of giants.

I heard a voice come over the coms and said that they were going to be assisting us in whatever way they could. Then the music started. Repetitive Guitar music. I knew who it was immediately: Sabaton, Resist and Bite. I focused up and keyed over the mic quietly that we should start when the lyrics start. There were silent ascents from everyone. I told them that this would really help us get amped up.

The drums joined in with the guitar. Seconds passed as I focused up and unleashed everything in my arsenal, to get ready for the assault. I cautioned everyone that this quiet was offending and that things will get loud now. Everyone chimed back that they would start when the chaos started. I ordered the guns to begin shooting as soon as I gave the command, revved up the Chainsword, and cut into the first Rune Giant.

I snuck up on the Rune Giant I selected and managed to get behind it without obviously being detected. All of the guns were ready to fire and would start on their own target when my chainsword ripped into the Rune Giant. I knew that I might never have the chance to do something like this again. With the background music playing in my ear, I figured that some inspirational words would be best. I quietly keyed up my microphone to broadcast to everyone through their own mics.

"Against all of the evil that Xin-Shalast has arrayed against us. Against all of the cruelty that Karzoug has wrought. We are the ones to stem this tide.", I said quietly in time with the music into our radios, timing it such that my upcoming shouted last phrase would be done just as the lyrics of the song start. "RIP AND TEAR", I said softly as my chainsword roared to life, mid-swing as I ripped into the back of the Rune Giant's calf, tearing deep into the muscle. "RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!", I shouted as my swing continued into his other calf, spraying blood out all over the area. Then the lyrics started, and instantly the music changed. Drastically.

"I was lying on the grass on Sunday morning of last week, Indulging in my self-defeat." I jerked my chainsword at the vast change in tempo, almost ruining the end of my swing. I still managed to bite deep into the Rune Giant's thigh on the return swing, but my aim had been thrown off enough that I missed the gap in the armor and the adamantine teeth of my chainsword produced sparks and shrieks as it glanced away from the giant.

My armor's speaker had been at full volume. My shouting voice had originated from nowhere for what most of the giants were witnessing, with bloody gashes opening up from an invisible chainsword that was revving like crazy. Some of the blood even splattered onto the Stone Giants that were in front of both me and the Rune Giant that I had targeted. I caught a distinct look of terror in their eyes. I think the Rune Giant should definitely have been a little scared. Then fire erupted around the Stone Giants in front of us as the glaive took the opportunity to issue forth a fireball of its own accord. I mentally asked it why and it sent back to me that even if I wasn't taking up the mantle of the Ruler of Xin-Shalast, that I had fulfilled all of the requirements, and that it would take its own actions to ensure that I survived until a proper replacement could be found.

All around the battlefield, my firearms, having already had taken up superior positions, started their own individual bombardments. Carnage was let slip as four Rune Giants were taken out in a barrage of acid and lead. Honestly, it really shouldn't have been all that hard to hit them, considering that they were actually larger than some barns. The only possible impediment around them doesn't really reach higher than their waists. Two further branches of the forces arrayed against us were just set upon by the spiders. Six spiders to each squad anyway. Each of the spiders launched a web against two of the Stone Giants, acting with the same supernatural speed that I had endowed upon them. The Rune Giant of each group got three webs launched at them. Those three webs were not doing much, but it was distracting the Rune Giant a bit. The Stone Giants were actually capable of being in some kind of trouble with the webs.

Then, I started noticing that the others of the group had started up on their actions. Dame Rebekah, as I discovered after the attack, had invisibly charged forward with her swords and bow following her. She cut down the Rune Giant that she had targeted, but there was not much more that she could do. Faunra had gotten to her little sniper point and dropped another Rune Giant with her barrage of arrows. Her telekinetic militia of weapons went forth against yet another Rune Giant and did some damage to it, not dropping it, but certainly doing enough to say so.

Jonathan was the one who was really on his game, as always. His invisible charge dove right into attacking the first Rune Giant that he had in his line of sight, pummeling it with his telekinetically enhanced cestus. He had already sent his other four cesti off – each one flew off to flurry another Rune Giant. He dropped all five of them by his command and even managed to launch another telekinetic strike at the one that had Faunra's own telekinetic weapons had attacked, not dropping it, but getting it close enough to be within spitting distance of death. For those keeping track at home, we have defeated eleven of these Rune Giants before they even knew that we were not still in the compound.

Ayruzi tried to put in a good effort, they really did. It's just that they weren't set up for this kind of battle. They tried to utilize some spell, one that I honestly had not seen them, or anyone use before. The spell was dark, really dark. It was a massive cone of negative energy that seemed to just drain the vitality from the giants in the path of the of the spell, causing lethargy in them. It was mostly targeting a group of Cloud Giants, but at least their attacks would be blunted somewhat. Somewhere in this massive field of battle the little Lantern Archons were doing their thing, attacking another Rune Giant. I didn't know where they were, so I didn't see their lasers go pew-pew. But I knew that they were at least doing their part.

"My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged, all twisted round and beat. Uncomfortable three feet deep." The music blared out from the integrated speakers in my armor. They might be able to hear roughly where I am, but I was still invisible. What the hell is this song about anyway. I'm guessing depression, if it's not about a woman, a man, or something you want, it is usually about depression. I honestly didn't think that I had even had this song on my phone. I realized that I'm going to have to check it out more thoroughly.

I shifted my stance a little and focused more into the Rip and Tear of the Way of the (Chain)Sword. I brought the Rune Giant that I had previously targeted, who had helpfully taken the opportunity of the past few seconds to drop to his knees, to the abyss with strikes targeting more vital areas. I was glad I wouldn't have to gnaw his ankles to death. My Bolter, Rifle, and Grenade Launchers all reloaded themselves as they converged on one of the Cloud Giants. My LMG just let loose. All of the Storm Giants were looking to be having crises of conscious with their Dominating rulers being dropped into unconsciousness or death.

Some of the Cloud Giants were similarly looking around confused. I yelled out over my speakers to tell any who want to surrender to drop to the ground. I remembered to at least speak in Jotun for it. The Glaive took the opportunity to firebomb the Cloud Giants Ayruzi had weakened. All got at least some damage, some took a fair amount.

The celestial spiders were still hamming it up with throwing ever more webs at the Stone Giants. The Rune Giants were still not likely to even be worried about the webbing that was continuing to be thrown their way, even though they had gotten six webs launched on each. Still, it could be a focus that the Rune Giants would have to deal with, even though they were just minor annoyances. Still, a minor annoyance right in front of you can distract from the other enemies far away.

Enemies like Jonathan. Jonathan immediately had had his cesti go off to their secondary targets after the first ones were dropped, more Rune Giants, while he went off after another one, ignoring the Stone Giants that were behind him before they could even react. Without even looking, he launched a second extra attack against the one he had launched an attack against before. I was hoping that his fury was being sated by the amounts of conflict. There certainly was a large amount of violence that he was dishing out, even more than normal.

Dame Rebekah started ripping into the Cloud Giants that had been around the Rune Giant that she had targeted. She had dropped two by the time that the rest of that group had even started to react. I don't know if I have ever seen her move that fast, but this was the time to do it, I guess. Her swords and bow were going to town on yet another pair of Cloud Giants. I hoped that we'd be able to get rid of a lot of the possible opposition before they could possibly strike back.

Ayruzi chimed in with her own abilities, by casting a spell to cause a rain of fire to fall on a bunch of Cloud Giants. It didn't kill the giants, but it did soften up them up for our further attacks. During this time, the Lantern Archons finished off the Rune Giant that they had attacked before, finishing it off. With the amount of Chaos going on, I think I can be forgiven for losing track of them actually dispatching their target. At least that's my excuse, anyway.

I was more focused on the fact that Faunra was launching a bevy of arrows at another Rune Giant, dropping it. That was the last Rune Giant, from what I could tell. Her swarm of weapons then went to work on attacking Cloud Giants that had been close to the Rune Giant that had been dropped by Jonathan's second spare blast. Those attacks did not kill any of the giants, but the weapons would distract them at the very least.

With all of the Rune Giants dead or dying, the Wardens of Thunder all dropped to the ground, likely seeing that surrender would be the wise thing to do. The Wardens of Earth, as I later learned the Rune Giant enhanced Stone Giants were called, seemed somewhat hesitant on the matter. The ones closest to where I was dropping to the ground immediately, and the ones further away looking to the Wardens of Wind, maybe to see what they would be deciding to do. These two events instantly decreased our chances of failure greatly. However, we still had yet to deal with a counterattack from anyone, at this point.

Of the remaining Wardens of Wind, more than half of them chose to launch barrages of boulders at the people who had reappeared, their invisibility being much less fragile than my own current version. The first to fall had been one of the Lantern Archons. As brave as the little balls of light were, they couldn't really stand up to a boulder that was many, many times their size and mass. So that little candle in the wind was extinguished on this plane. I didn't notice it at the time because one of the giants had tried to throw a boulder my way. It didn't even get close, but it was enough to realize that I was still in this fight.

Alternating, different Cloud Giants tried to smash the telekinetic weapons out of the air, but mainly only succeeded in driving them back, without scuffing them much at all. Then I think the other two Lantern Archons fell. It was a shame, but they had done their jobs to the best of their ability. Then a boulder went towards Ayruzi, striking them for some amount of damage, spilling some of their holy blood on the field of battle. I think that the anger level shot up just a little bit then. Then they tried to smash Faunra with a boulder, but one of her Mirror Images took the hit and she was none the worse for wear.

Ultimately, all they had succeeded in was eliminating our summoned Lantern Archon allies, pushing a few of the weapons that had minds of their own back, and damaging what might have possibly been our only measure of restraint in the who circumstance. To say that they were tactically failing was a bit of an understatement. They had generated an actual, visceral reason for Ayruzi to judge them all as morally wanting, even if Ayruzi had struck first by unleashing waves of exhaustion upon them and then dousing them in holy fire.

The Wardens of Earth finally seemed to make their decisions, at least the ones that were not as close to me did. I guess that they had hauled up all of the rocks to do this fight, they were damn well going to use them. All of the boulders almost blotted out the sun with all of the launched attacks. Each one was much better at throwing these stones than the Cloud Giants, even though the Wardens of the Wind threw much larger rocks. The stone rain went in almost every direction, as about half of the remaining Wardens of the Earth chose to attack rather than surrender smartly.

Almost all of the spiders were squished as in the first salvo, they were attacked sometimes multiple boulders coming their way. Only one remained unscratched, as none of the boulders even got close enough to threaten its existence. As the spiders were dispatched, the webs on those giants that they had webbed up disappeared. The boulders flew at other things and people as well. Many hit the enchanted floating weapons to no great effect. One even ended up heading my way, missing me but getting close.

That was when the second barrage ended up getting let loose. Surprisingly, the final spider survived the second barrage. A few more boulders were launched at either me or the others. We didn't get hit by any of these secondary boulders, except for the various weapons who were only just readjusted in their positions. I got missed again and eventually the rock storm ceased.

My speakers blared out, "Now the fussy star from not being there on a confusing morning week. Impaired my tribal lunar-speak." I yelled out, "Fuck it. No mercy for those who are still standing." None of the Stone Giants who had been in blood droplet range were standing at that point, and even the ones who had been webbed up were laying prone the ground. I'm fairly certain that another thirty or so of the remaining ones that had launched boulders dropped prone as well. I revved the chainsword and let it rush invisibly towards the closest Stone Giant that didn't have the common sense to drop to the ground. I flew towards a separate one, focusing on using my enhanced exo-glove.

When I got to the Stone Giant, I leapt and grabbed at the assailant's neck. My gauntlet latched on as my weight started to drag the quickly collapsing body down with me. The remaining celestial spider took its chance and jumped on the giant from behind, having been following me when I charged. The burning from my gloves enchantment with everything else that had been done to it brought the Stone Giant down. My Chainsword was doing similar work with the one that it was targeting. All of my guns were targeting whatever was needed. The glaive launched a fireball at a large group of standing Stone Giants. I barely noticed it, it was in the opposite direction of where my focus was, and the glaive didn't say anything about doing it. It just did it.

Jonathan, for his part, really decided to let loose. He burned through his resources, seeping aetheric blood, and launched almost four dozen of those boulders at different Stone Giants. He targeted those stone giants which were already weakened by the fireball and other effects. When he was done, and his cesti had taken their toll on the Cloud Giants that they had targeted, the battle was looking to be a lot more in our favor and it was likely that almost fifty enemy combatants had shuffled loose the mortal coil.

Dame Rebekah and her swords were chewing through the Cloud Giants that she was next to. She didn't have the benefit of her own deity's miracles, it being before dawn and her having expended all of Iomedae's granted grace the previous day. She was still holding her own in this fight, amazing person that she was. I imagine that she would have been even more impressive if she had been on her winged steed and charging into them with her lance.

Faunra had invoked the ability of her Blackbow and her own abilities to enhance her weapon and started raining death upon the various Cloud Giants, dropping another two of them with her telekinetic weapons' aid. She had dropped the four Cloud Giants that her weapons had been harassing. The whole of the field was clearing up nicely now. The Storm Giants and half of the Cloud Giants had already dropped to the ground after the complete destruction of the Rune Giants, in addition to over fifty of the Stone Giants.

Ayruzi was off doing their own thing and managed to drop the last one of the Cloud Giants that were still standing all on their own. I briefly thought some slightly disparaging thoughts about the combat performance of a literal Angel but snapped back to the real. The sum composition of standing enemy combatants were all Stone Giants now. Some of those Stone Giants looked around at the carnage that had been placed around them and dropped to the ground without launching another volley. There were still at least two score belligerents about the field remaining standing. Those who remained combative launched their boulder barrages.

The last celestial spider fell to this barrage. About three times over. Maybe they didn't like being confronted with holy spiders that would have been to me the equivalent size of a husky either. I'm fairly certain that some of the Stone Giants that I had seen webbed up had developed some kind of rash or some other minor damage. Maybe it was a reaction to the holy energies? Most of the other boulders seemed to target the weapons, leading to a lot of them not being damaged, but being knocked out of alignment.

Not a single one of the first barrage were directed at me, oddly enough. Maybe it was because the Chainsword went off in one direction, while I had flown off at one of the other groups. Ayruzi seemed to be targeted by four different giants, one of which had actually knocked a different one's boulder off of target. Not a one of them actually really got close enough to her to hit them. Another four went towards Faunra, and a couple even bounced off of her armor, luckily not causing any actual damage to her.

The second barrage was even less damaging to everyone, if that was possible, again with the exception of dislodging the mobile weapons from their locations. The Stone Giants were smart enough to not make ranged attacks right next to the weapons that could attack them back. With their attempts spent, with nothing but a bit of dismissed celestial spider bits and displaced armaments I could tell that this would be the end of this fight.

"And of course, you can't become, if you only say, what you would have done." Yep, I knew that I was going to have words with that Dapsara. Unfortunately, there were no enemy combatants nearby, so I flew off after the closest Stone Giant that was still standing. The field was getting thinner every second. I knew that it was honestly going to be over after Jonathan and the rest did their actions.

I realized that the closest enemy that was still standing was to far for me to reach even with a full out and out flying charge, so I focused on improving my firearms capabilities. I focused up on the burning nature that my weapons normally had, since the Rune Giants who were formerly immune to that damage were gone. Between my Bolter, LMG, the Rifle specially enchanted to be a big F-U to Giants (and dragons) and the grenade launcher, another four were removed from the field of battle. The Glaive continued to rain down fireballs on those still standing. My Chainsword attacked another near by Stone Giant, but there wasn't much to its attacks, without a charge or a focus to back it up, that is.

Jonathan, however, took out another two dozen of the still standing. There wasn't another convenient batch to do second attack, so he just let his Cesti do their attacks. Without his focus on the telekinetic enhancement, they were just working together to pummel the giants into unconsciousness. By ganging up on the giants, and attacking from opposite sides, the four Cesti managed to down another two giants. Then he flippantly launched yet another blast, destroying yet another Stone Giant.

Dame Rebekah, for her part, wouldn't let it just sit with her not assisting, and rushed over to yet another enemy. With a mighty swing of her blade, and her other blades acting in accordance with her, she dropped her Stone Giant foe. Her bow still wasn't doing much to the conflict, but it didn't exactly hurt anything to still fire off as quickly possible. Still, every Stone Giant dropped was another one that couldn't hit the rest of us. The Stone Giants were yelling to each other that they could still defeat us, if they all stood.

Faunra launched another set of arrows at two different Stone Giants and dropped them both. Her militia of telekinetic defensive weapons were slowly chipping away at the ones that were in any way close to her. They had had to reposition themselves, so they couldn't get in at all of the opportunities that had been present. Lost opportunities and chances mean that we won't get all of them before we can take them all out, even assuming Ayruzi drops one like before.

Ayruzi did do their thing, attacking one of the remaining handful of standing Stone Giants. Their swordplay was immaculate, just like it should be for a literal representation of the higher planes. Its just that the level of conflict that we are dealing with now is not what Ayruzi is likely used to. This dropped us down to only having about four Stone Giants still standing. Those four seemed to realize that they had next to know chance. Or at least three of them did. They dropped to the ground immediately. The final one looked around and followed everyone else's lead, slowly going to their knees before dropping to the ground fully.

"So, I missed a million miles of fun." With not one of the enemies who had assailed us still standing, I yelled out to everyone that they should remain on the ground for at least another minute while we dealt with any of the stragglers. Surprisingly, they all did. I quietly messaged the Dapsara to stop the music. Ayruzi and Dame Rebekah went around and checked that all of the downed Rune Giants were down for the count. Then when that grisly business was completed, they stationed themselves in a specific part of the ravine.

Dame Rebekah messaged me quietly that we should send the surviving giants to them so that they could interview them and send them to the proper location. I shrugged and announced to the giants that they should stand in a line and get interviewed by Dame Rebekah and Ayruzi to get treatment for their previous ensorcellment. Jonathan and Faunra took the opportunity to remove the Rune (and other) Giants from the field where they fell and find means of burying them. That left me to basically act as an overwatch for the group being herded through the inspection process. I summoned back my weaponry and reloaded everything. I just wanted to be ready in case something else happened.

While this was going on, Faunra flew up to where I was hovering, over the top of the hangar. While I was still watching the slowly diminishing crowd, Faunra asked me if I had any questions for her. I thought for a minute and asked her what the combat was really like the first time. Faunra sighed and noted that she had told the truth. I told her that I didn't distrust her, but that I was just curious.

Faunra started a tale while we both watched the passing crowd. She reiterated that the attack had happened indeed before daylight. She noted that the first notification of the attack for us was the booming of several dozen boulders crashing into the iron covering over the dome. We managed to get everything ready, and I did the whole summon armor onto all of us. From there, we didn't have time to summon other creatures, or get the abilities studied for myself that I did this time.

Faunra continued with saying that the five of us rushed out as the plane fell to pieces around us. Dame Rebekah had been the first one to fall. She had rushed out to confront some Rune Giant and gotten taken out in less than twelve seconds from concerted effort from a group of Storm Giants' arrows. I nodded and noted that she had fallen in pursuit of keeping us safe. Faunra agreed and said that she really would have been proud with her end, even with it being not the triumphant ending.

Faunra offered up that Jonathan had gone down in a blaze of glory, putting forth massive amounts of damage. He had even managed to take out all of the Cloud Giants by himself, before he got smashed to a bloody pulp by the mass of boulders being launched by the Stone Giants. I noted that I had expected him to last a long time. Faunra noted that he had, in fact, and that it had been almost a minute of constant fighting until he fell, and he was absolutely flooding the area with raw aether by the end of it.

I asked what had happened with our erstwhile ally, Ayruzi. Faunra sighed and told me that Ayruzi and herself had tried to work together in trying to dispel the enchantments that the Rune Giants had over the other Giants. It seemed like each time they would get a giant to be free, a few Rune Giants would work together to get the giant(s) back under their control, so their attempts at freeing the Giants were ultimately worthless. Ayruzi died to a Rune Giant's sword, shortly after Dame Rebekah was smashed.

I nodded and asked how I stayed alive so long. Faunra sighed and told me that while I was slowly chipping away at the Rune Giants, there was nothing that would save me. They were actively smashing my armor with their boulder attacks. My guns ran dry of bullets after the Jonathan fell to their thrown stones when they ended his short-lived reign of terror. After that, I succumbed to the Glaive's temptations and let it act on its own, freeing me up to utilize both hands. Shortly thereafter, I apparently activated my last-ditch plan, my ability to maintain the fight long after I should have died.

Even with the Glaive healing me every chance it could, and my golem assistant healing me every chance it could, but my boulder ridden body would not survive past the end of the spell. Faunra continued with telling me that I told her to go back in time and escape, and to pass along word to Savah that I had fallen. I had used the entirety of my body to shield her while she took the chance to send herself back in time, to restart the day. I reiterated that I guessed that I was noble to the end and told her that this was a comfort. Faunra asked me why, and I told her that I had hoped that it would be the case, but that you never know until you are exactly in that circumstance.

Faunra and I watched the slow procession of Giants of assorted types and sizes travel past Dame Rebekah and Ayruzi, who were performing their tasks of dispelling any lingering enchantments, and determining if the Giant in question would be given the options of going to continue to live in the city, under the new provisional government, or going out to wherever they were recruited from, to go home without fear of reprisal or being hunted down, save for if they attacked some other community without proper reason and we discovered this.

Honestly, even most of the "somewhat negatively" aligned giants chose to remain in the new city of Jotunburg. Especially after it was discovered that there would be voted on representation and rules. Maybe they were planning on trying to game the system. All of them were rather irate at what Rune Giants had done to them, with the domination and charming, some of them even wanted to do something about it.

Dame Rebekah cautioned them that it was unlikely that they could resist it if another Rune Giant tried to dominate them again. She added that we would continue to do a sweep for a few days to ensure that there are no more Rune Giants in the area. Most of the Giants seemed mollified by this. The giants that had decided to stay joined up together into groups, mostly separated into their individual types of giants. They each seemed to be determining what their individual groupings would be looking to have represented.

After a brief discussion between themselves, the Cloud Giants that had set themselves aside appointed one among their number to represent them. This Cloud Giant approached me and asked if they would be permitted to stay if they integrated into my rule. I sighed and told them that I was not to be the ruler, as I had no time, that a council would be the ones leading the town. This seemed to perplex the Cloud Giant. The Cloud Giant then requested a chance to integrate, and then leave with the same conditions. I looked to Dame Rebekah, and she said that this would be up to the council that was formed.

I cautioned them again to stay away from any Rune Giants, like at least two hundred and fifty feet away, otherwise they might be in range to fall underneath their control again. The Cloud Giants all nodded and looked at each other. I repeated the same thing to the groups of Storm and Stone Giants as well. This was something that they all needed to keep in mind. It was obvious that no one wanted to be under another person's control again.

The group of Cloud Giants (a Souffle? A Brigade? A Wing?) nodded in acceptance of the advice and made their way back towards the middle of Jotunburg. The remaining batches of Stone and Storm Giants all gathered around us. Dame Rebekah took the initiative and further explained to them what was going on with the representative government that we were creating. It was half Thing and half Town Council, especially for how small the current populations were. The Storm Giants went towards Jotunburg proper, to where we had told them to go meet up with their other brethren.

The Stone Giants, now Wardens of the Earth after the Rune Giant alteration, were milling about a bit before one of their members stepped forward. It announced that it was known as Dessog and that they were willing to talk with us for the same deal that the Cloud Giants who left were given. I pointed out a pair of large rocks for us to sit and talk. We went over to them and took our seats. I told them that we could talk at length, but that their people were free to leave if they desired. I cautioned them that there were tribes on the Storval Plateau that were reconciling their natures to be less predatory towards those of a lesser stature, and that I had been willing to previously act as a go-between for civilizations and giants to reach an accord that helps all parties. Dessog nodded at my statements and offered up that his giants held no loyalty towards Karzoug or the Rune Giants, and that they had been enchanted and pressed into service.

I listened as Dessog told me details of how they were grabbed off of the streets of Jotunburg and changed into what they are now. They added that they had been ordered to forget where the Rune Giants had met them, and definitely didn't know where any might be hiding at. I waited until they were finished and told them that telling us where the Rune Giants currently were, if there were any left, was not a prerequisite of gaining citizenship in the city, or for being permitted to leave unmolested. I told them that I was immensely hopeful that this city would become a beacon to the rest of the world for various reasons, and that Giants and other races would be safe here.

Dessog nodded and asked us if we could put in a good word for them. I told them that I would let the others know that the Stone Giants did not willingly participate in this action, and that it was likely that they could get caught by the Rune Giants and ensorcelled. Dessog thanked me for this and noted that their people might not want to stay when all things are said and done, especially based on how they were abused. I told them that I could understand that, but that they could try to flip it around and convert their bad history into something powerful.

Dessog seemed to take my words to (their stone cold?) heart before standing and gathering the rest. I yelled out a warning before they left, saying that the Stone Giant known as Gyukak wasn't what he presented himself as. Dessog was contemplative at that before they gathered up their compatriots and went off a different direction into Jotunburg. As I watched the uplifted Stone Giants made their way from the ambush point back to the city, Faunra came over from where we had been standing and sat beside me. As the Giants disappeared into their camouflaged backgrounds, she asked me if I thought it would just be easier to be a ruler.

I looked at her like she was crazy and said that if anyone should be the new Ruler of Xin-Shalast, if should be her. Faunra shook her head, saying that she had a definitive animosity towards this city. I noted that by her taking custody of this city, she would have definitive ownership over the time portal, and thus be able to ensure that it would be fully secured. Faunra shook her head before saying that she still could not parse being the ruler of the nation that had attacked all of her people. I nodded, and she continued by noting that she had her own battles to deal with, but that she would definitely want to have the time portal set up sooner rather than later.

I told her that I would certainly work on it as much as I could, especially since we would need to teleport in and back, and also have breathing taken care of. Faunra smiled and produced two Iridescent Spindle Ioun Stones, saying that they can eliminate the need to breath for those utilizing them. Faunra said that she would rest and get her teleports prepared, and that we could check it out for a few hours, if I was willing. I told her that I'd be glad to, but I wanted to ensure that Jonathan was available to hold the Glaive. Faunra noted that the Glaive had had an Overland Flight spell cast on it yesterday, and the spell has since been gone away. I nodded but noted that it could cast fireballs and cause damage to people and places without a stern hand.

Faunra noted that it had cast multiple fireballs during the battle, and that they were all directed at the best location for being targeted. Huh, I nodded and noted that it didn't even ask me where it should target to affirm the most effective area of attack. She must have noticed the confusion in my eyes because she added that if it wasn't talking to me, it must mean that the glaive was accepting that its former master was gone, and that it was still trying to figure out who its new master was. I was a bit contemplative at that but took it in stride. I mean, I didn't want to be the Master of Xin Shalast. There was a tiny urging that implied to me that all of this would just go easier if I did accept the mantle, as I could just delegate it back to the council and work on what I needed to. I didn't notice it at the time, but Faunra had left me to think on these thoughts.

My thoughts went that way for a little while until I realized that I wasn't the one directing them that way. It was the Glaive. I knew I was still holding it, but it had been silent in my mind, no telepathic communication at all. It was falling back on… weaker but more subtle forms of communication. That indicated that it was at least intelligent and wise enough to attempt a different venue of attack. It is pretty dastardly that it was that devious, and still desiring to do such a thing. It REALLY hated non-spellcasters for some reason, and this was completely at odds with what I was doing with the school, so this was a non-starter for me.

The Glaive's urges stopped, and it was fully silent again. I decided that since it did not have the potential to move around by itself, I could find a way to lock this away so that Jonathan and I could be free to deal with other things. Maybe we could just get Faunra to put this in her temporal stasis field when we get back. I'll get it in a box that will hold the possible carnage that it could unleash on its own. Boron Carbide would probably be able to hold it, thinking about it. That won't be until we get home, however, as I don't have the raw materials to make the Boron Carbide right now anyway, let alone the chemical process tanks in which to perform the reaction.

Jonathan had promised that he and I would take turns holding the Glaive, to ensure that it didn't try to do shit on its own anyway, but that he needed a few hours to focus his chi or something. I would have thrown that for a bullshit excuse, but since he can literally lift a car with his mind, I figure that he is on to something there. I got to get some time in working on figuring out just what it was I was capable of doing now, that I didn't fully know before. I decided that the best use of my time would be to start improving a bit of the ship's engines, so I got up from my contemplating stone, and walked to the hangar and then into the plane's engine area. I summoned up the Unseen Craftsmen and instructed them to go over everything in the engine compartment and the rest of the ship as a whole and get everything in the best shape they could. After a few hours of this, the ship would be ready to travel for a few hours at least.

Faunra dropped back by a while after I had gotten done setting everything in motion. I had been currently inspecting and modifying a steam turbine's inner intake channels, to adjust the flow characteristics. She waited until I stopped working on that one component before she asked if I had a few minutes to talk. I had to maintain physical contact on the glaive the whole time, so working one handed had been getting kind of annoying, so I acquiesced to her request for a conversation. Granted, I wanted to go find Jonathan to pawn the Glaive off on him as well.

After we found him, in charge of cooking a huge meal for the meeting that was currently undergoing with the representatives of the factions, I gave him the Glaive. He looked at me and asked him what I expected him to do with it. I laughed and said that Gordon Ramsey would love to have that kind of power in the kitchen. Jonathan looked reflective for a minute, and then nodded solemnly. Faunra and I went off to talk.

She told me that after she had determined that she would not be able to study spells today, as all of her arcane energy had been spent by the time travel, she had utilized a scroll to teleport into the time portal room, utilizing one of those Ioun Stones that eliminate the necessity to breathe to not have any problems. I asked her if she had checked to ensure that the room was really dangerous to be in. She told me that while stale and smelling of the fire that had been left, there was still enough air in there to breathe. I told her that I had hoped that the magical natures of fires would decrease the oxygen content in the room. She sighed and agreed that we needed to do something further. I told her that I would set up a rig to extract Argon from the atmosphere and fill the room with it.

Faunra asked if that was the same gas that I had used for making the armor, that I had warned them all about. I nodded, saying that I could set up the rig and pipe it in overtime, unless I could figure out a way to make it and transport the gas in somehow. Faunra said that she would try to look into the situation and see what she could figure out. I asked if she had noticed anything else. That was when Faunra told me that she expected the system to take decades to recharge. I gulped but she smiled, saying that there were ways to increase one's lifespan and that she would do what she could to make sure I had those methods available.

I told her that I wasn't about to try to become a lich like Foxglove's ancestor had tried, and that Savah would kill me if I tried or even thought about it. Faunra laughed and said that while she had been wandering around in Magnimar a weeks ago, she had heard of an auction that occurred yearly for an elixir that could return someone back to their prime. I told her that I would not even consider it without Savah. Faunra nodded and noted that she would listen in to the rumor mill, to see when the next auction was. She told me that I should be prepared to pay a lot, as it was likely over fifty thousand gold pieces each one and repeated that they were only sold once each year.

Faunra changed the subject and asked if I had noticed any changes in myself since the fight with the Runelord. I shook my head, saying that I didn't really have any time to reflect on any real changes since it happened. Faunra winked at me and said that I should take some time to do so. I shrugged and said that I could do that when the time permits, after we ensured that we had hunted down the remaining Rune Giants and free the enslaved masses of Xin Shalast. She shook her head and said that I was being ordered to do so now, if that helped, because we needed to know that what I could possibly before another fight. I looked at her oddly and sighed, before agreeing and heading back to my pilot's cabin.

Apparently, my time in the Runeforge must have rubbed off on me a little, as I can now focus and manipulate material into changing into whatever I want it to be of the same components. I didn't get the ability to have the material constantly shifting, and it offset my ability to either fly or create massive stone walls, but when I did change something, it stayed that way. That's a definitive positive, being that now I can do what I was doing before, albeit slower, and get done what I need to. This is a definite advantage for me for the school and what not.

There was also the fact that I gained the ability to generate an increase in the hardness of materials, just like the spell that Faunra had used on my armor. This would help me make things much stronger, and I could start work immediately on reinforcing the armor that I had been making, in addition to just about anything that I wanted. My tires would never go flat again! At least without adamantine caltrops anyway.

Thirdly, I could now just focus and recharge the batteries in my armor and other gear. This frees me up to utilize more of the armor's potential on a longer-term basis and even make the equipment even stronger. I won't have to worry about having a way to replace batteries nearly as frequently. This will be a boon for all, and the ship's rail gun can get another two, and we can keep up a decent rate of fire. At least now we can work on an actual air force for the town of Sandpoint, and their related villages, maybe even Magnimar.

Fourthly, even my ability to shape things is not enough. I can actually touch something and cause it to change into something else. I have a limited number of things that I can change something in to, namely Iron, Paper, Wood, and Lead. I can even create a limited amount of gold, silver, copper, or platinum. Most people would think about using this to get rich, Nope, not me.

Now I have all of the easy copper wiring that I could ever want. I might even get seven hundred some odd feet of copper wiring from each activation of this ability. Unfortunately, I can only do it once or twice a day right now. Even still, over seven hundred feet of copper wiring is fantastic. Between that and my ability to fabricate items now out of raw materials means that I am now my own manufacturing facility. At least on a minor scale. With the kids, I'll be able to get the plane for the Lord-Mayor's request done REALLY quickly.

I'm also able to generate the spell to Disintegrate, much like Mokmurian had done against Faunra. I'm limited in what I can fully do, as I can only make a limited amounts of Walls worth of Iron, Hardening, or Disintegration each day, but this will move up my timetable a LOT. Iron would not be a problem anymore. Through the Fabrication, I can whip up whatever is needed for school materials. We can have a school and access to whatever we need one way or another.

I realized that I'd have to do a full out and out study of what all I could do when I have the time, but right now, I figured that I needed to get out and talk to everyone. The first person I found was Dame Rebekah, who was absolutely giddy with the abilities that she had gained after this long crusade. She was over the moon how she was now entrusted with the ability to call down Planar Allies of her own deity. She smiled and noted that she'd be talking to her deity to see if she could summon up what Faunra had declared was a Noble Genie to get assistance for us.

Dame Rebekah was solidly stoked with everything that she had been entrusted with from her goddess. Ayruzi was talking with her about everything, even though they were dedicated to different deities. Ayruzi was an Angel of Erastil, rather than Iomedae. Still, there was some decent overlap in philosophical terms. At least in the fight against evil.

I left them to discuss whatever things that they needed to discuss. It was obvious that they had a lot to discuss about their future plans, including their siege on the Worldwound. I wonder if I'm going to get roped into providing armor for the Heavenly Host. I went on to go talk to Jonathan, figuring that he was probably done with at least the meal preparation. As I got close, I could hear him yelling at that someone was a Donkey.

I smiled as I walked into the preparation area and noticed that he had somehow gotten ahold of chef's jackets in the size of the different Giants. Even the Storm Giant was in a humongous chef's jacket. They were all working on different aspects of the meal. Jonathan didn't have the glaive with him and noticed that I noticed that. He came over immediately and yelled that I could show any one of them what a proper dish tastes like and I wasn't even a chef!

Jonathan slapped me on the back and asked me to walk outside with him. I did so and he asked me what's new. I sputtered but asked him where the Glaive was. Jonathan shrugged, saying that some guy in a black robe walked up and said that he was sent by me to get the Glaive, so that he just handed it to them. I looked at him silently in shock for a good minute before Jonathan cracked up laughing. After he recovered, Jonathan told me that Faunra had dropped by, and they had put the Glaive into Stasis again.

I sighed and thanked him for getting it put back into Stasis while I figure out a good solution to this permanently. Jonathan nodded and asked if there was anything else. I remembered why else I had come to visit him and I asked him if there was anything new that he had learned that he could actually do, now that we had defeated Special K. Jonathan thought about it and noted that he had a lot more variety with his telekinetic blasts now, that he could focus his telekinesis to draw out any of the base elements to create a blast, at a little cost to him. Oh yeah, and that he now never needed to worry about the effects of some undead touching him, as he had moved beyond that.

I opened my eyes wide with that. He was immune to the draining effect of Vampires? Wow, that is very decent. I told him as such and he noted that he was glad to have these capabilities if he was going to research further into his background, and what he needed to do for vengeance. I offered up that I would continue to help him as much as I could. Jonathan nodded and asked me what I had developed.

I looked at him, and he said that I wouldn't have asked if I hadn't had something else happen myself, and it was fairly obvious. I laughed and told him that I had developed a few new abilities. I offered up that I learned the ability to change things like the area of the Runeforge to change things into finished materials. I added that I developed other abilities related to, I paused when the realization hit me. Changing or transmuting materials. All of it. The hardening made things tougher, changing their properties. The changing of base materials, even the ability to generate the Disintegration Ray. It was all Transmutation.

I told Jonathan all of this, and he asked me if I really did not want to be the new Ruler of Xin-Shalast. I told him to stop, that I had to deal with all of this from the glaive and even from Faunra. Jonathan stopped me and said that he could understand why I might be hesitant, and that it wasn't like he was really that comfy with the idea of rulers as a whole. He stopped for a second with that, as if he was trying to right two thoughts that were diametrically opposed to each other, and hastily added that he was certain that I'd be the best kind of ruler, if what he had heard me espouse from listening to me in the past came true.

I was shellshocked. The last person in the world whom I would have thought would have suggested I become a ruler was making that very proposal. I told him that I really had no business being a ruler, and that this fact notwithstanding, Savah had a very important business, and I wouldn't take that from her without serious reflection from her. Jonathan nodded sagely and noted that I wasn't exactly making my case better, denying the rulership that had been granted right of by combat. I looked at him and told him that it was the group as a whole that had defeated Karzoug, and that he had as much right to the position as I did at this point.

Jonathan shook his head and said that the only people who could be rulers of Xin-Shalast, as per the old rules that he had been told, were those who could invoke arcane magic. That struck him out entirely. He hastily added Dame Rebekah to that list. I told him that if anyone had a claim to it, it was Faunra, not me. Jonathan thought for a few seconds before he noted that Faunra could have been a possibility, but that she had a rightful reason to have a special hatred against Xin-Shalast.

I offered up that I was morally opposed to the policy of Xin-Shalast regarding slavery and the practice thereof, and that I was further against the restriction of knowledge to only the elites. Jonathan smiled and said that this was great news, that Xin-Shalast would be in even better hands with me than many others. I stuttered and stammered while I tried to think of anything else. I told him that I had the school to get started and the contracts to fulfill. Jonathan pondered and said that while the Lord Mayor might be disappointed that a school that he was browbeat to endorse wasn't opened, a newly allied city might make him forget such, and that I could always start the school up here.

I blurted out that it would be much more difficult to get the students up here from where they were. Jonathan nodded for a second, before offering up that they could always be teleported up here or even fly in my own jet! I was scrambling and told him that I didn't have the means to have all of the students treated for exposure to living at great elevations, such as this, and that we'd only managed it ourselves when Jonathan had provided that assistance. Jonathan retorted that he could always provide the newly arriving students with that benefit for the trip.

I thought about it and told Jonathan that he'd have to be available for a month for the students to acclimatize themselves. Jonathan kind of blanched at that. I told him that there was no reliable way to get the supplies that I needed up here, and that it would stifle my ability to defend Sandpoint. I offered up that I would possibly be okay to take some kind of position in the new city in name only, but that there needed to be no ruler of Xin-Shalast, as that there needed to be no ruler of Xin-Shalast at all ever again. Jonathan nodded and said that it was probably for the best, that we present this as it is going forward, as it might only confuse others later.

I nodded at those remarks and offered up that we should all take some kind of honorific titles here, just to cement our influence in the area, if only to be a buffer to the evil creatures who might want to take control. Jonathan agreed, and we left it at that. He did circle back and note that it was pretty cool that I had developed those abilities to make things easier at the school, excepting of course, the disintegration. I noted that I could use it to easily get rid of dangerous objects, and he sagely nodded at that. Jonathan said that it did seem to be the best use of such an ability.

There was some kind of calamity in the makeshift prep area that Jonathan had assembled, and he turned back, yelling at the giants that he couldn't trust theme to run a bathroom, let alone a kitchen. I left after hearing that, realizing that my presence was no longer needed there. I wandered around for a bit more, with Morgiv dropping by to chat a bit. It wasn't anything about anything in-depth or specific, just some bits here and there about what my thoughts were about what would be a good focus for his people. I shrugged and offered up that I could figure out a vocational battery test for his people if he wanted. After I explained exactly what that was, a few times and in a few different ways, Morgiv thought that it was a possibly a good idea.

I told him to give me a few days, and I'd try to get something worked up. Morgiv thanked me and said that he'd try to get his people ready to take the test. I told him to relax a bit, that it would take me a while to figure out the best things to put into the test and determine how to score it, but that I'd work on it as best I could. Morgiv thanked me and rushed off anyway. I sighed and figured that I'd look through my documents to see if I had anything close.

I started making my way back to the plane, where my tablet and its contents were. When I got back to the hangar, Faunra was there, apparently waiting for me. I asked her what was up, and she looked around, looking at the mountain and replied, a bit of bad sculpture. I laughed and replied that she was right. She smiled and asked me if I was going to ask her the same thing that I had tried to ask everyone else.

I shrugged and asked her what changes she had noticed about her since the defeat of Karzoug. Faunra smiled and noted that her bow had gained a few new abilities that she had not noticed yet. Chief among them was apparently an ability to regain some of her ability to fuel back to itself through the defeat of its enemies. She noted that it could also envelope her in an aura of spell resistance as well. She added that she learned that she could also teleport between planets once a day.

I looked at her in shock. Faunra nodded and said that yes, we did have the ability to travel back to my own world. I told her to stop right there. I added that I had a great idea for how we could use that, if she was okay with it. Faunra looked at me oddly and asked why I didn't wany to head back right now. I told her that I had to make sure that we would be safe enough, but that I had a great idea about when the best time to go would be. Faunra nodded and said that she would keep it in mind. I nodded and said that it would be several months away.

Faunra asked me what all I had found that I could do now. I went over the list with her. When I was done, she told me that she was worried that I had taken on a LOT of the transmutation-based abilities that Karzoug would have had, being the Runelord of that sphere of magic. I agreed with her and asked her what she thought might have been the catalyst. Faunra looked at me like I was stupid, before asking me if I had actually forgotten using the CEREMONIAL ARTIFACT of STATION of the RUNELORD to not only kill but BEHEAD the PREVIOUS RUNELORD. I slumped down a bit, and sheepishly asked her if she thought that would do it.

Faunra cleared her throat before continuing, that this was after I had shown some tendency to absorb magical energy when I slay spellcasters of an arcane nature, and after I had spent all of my spare time in the section of the Runeforge dedicated to the study of Transmutation magic. Faunra looked at me incredulously still, and mentioned that while I was in the Runeforge, I had managed to utilize the abilities that were present in that very realm, where you couldn't create anything permanent, to craft permanent things. Faunra looked at me and told me that if she wasn't so certain of my attitudes, she would have thought that I was setting myself up for the position. As if making the discoveries in the damn Runeforge were not enough, killing someone usually is a clear path of succession, even without using the man's own damn weapon to do it.

I sheepishly asked her if we could take the haranguing back inside the plane. Faunra sighed and bowed deeply, before loudly saying, "As you wish, Milord." I hope that the look that I gave her was solid ice. We walked back inside, and she told me that she was honestly hoping to lay it on a little thick out there so that there would be less issues with any other negative residents of the former city. I asked her if she thought that this was a real problem and said that though it was never my goal to do this, if there wasn't a Runelord, the power vacuum would be terrible.

Faunra sighed and said that she knew this, and that she knew that none of us was ever going to WANT to be the Runelord of Greed. She added that she also knew that we would have to be careful to not leave the title available for others to take, knowing that the Glaive would work to get someone, anyone to take the position. I asked her if I should allow myself to slowly be worked over by the glaive, as long as we knew that I would have assistance in keeping the goal. Faunra thought for a minute before she nodded slightly. Faunra added that she would keep the temporal stasis up on the glaive as much as possible, as the passage of time outside of it occur in a blink, so that I would be there to get it. I asked her how long we had, and she told me that it was a little over a year and a half.

I blinked. A year and a half? I exclaimed that I've been here less than half a year. Faunra smiled and nodded. I told her that we have done so much in a year and a half that I didn't know how much we could get done in a year. Faunra smiled but noted that we might end up hitting a blockade, since we have dealt with the problems that had presented themselves to us. I asked her if there were not other problems that might need to be dealt with. Faunra said that we each have other things in our life to do.

I thought about it and said that all of us probably had other focuses outside of this that might lead to further adventures. Faunra said that this was true, but that we still wouldn't like to be away from our loved ones for as long as we had been recently. I nodded, but noted that with her ability to teleport, and our plane, we can get places a LOT quicker, and even bring them with us. Faunra nodded solemnly and asked where we should go next. I shrugged and said that I was certain that we could all use a bit of a vacation, at least for a bit.

Faunra laughed and asked what we should all do for a vacation. I shrugged and asked if there was anything going on in the next few weeks. Faunra's eyes lit up before she told me that in about two weeks, the Golemwalk parade would occur in Magnimar. I asked her if it was what it sounded like. Faunra smiled and said that, yes, it was exactly that, and that she HAD to participate. I asked if she would like my assistance in any of that. Faunra smiled and asked if I might have any ideas. I proceeded to tell her long stories about how as a child we had these mystical things that would hide what they were vehicles until otherwise needed, and when the need was great, they would become walking, talking, automatons.

Yes, I told her about transformers. I added that some were even dinosaurs or other things when they were not fighting robots. Faunra's eyes blazed with expectations. She asked how long it would take to make one. I told her that it might take a long time, but that I was quite willing to make the vehicle portion, if she was going to enchant it for us. Faunra smiled and readily agreed. I told her that I had needed to make a better vehicle for the town to transport criminals to Thornkeep and whatnot, for Sheriff Hemlock, so we can tie the two together. She got even happier at that notion.

For the rest of the day, we worked out some preliminary ideas. A fairly large SUV with a section in the back for separated cells. Four of them, two on each side, with layered protections between each. All of the wheels that were independently powered but controlled by the same pedal. I'd work on the torque control later.

There were other things that would need to be worked out, of course, but the majority of it wouldn't be that difficult in the long run. The main interesting thing would be that the frame would have two parallel sections in the back. Now, granted, we wouldn't have a combined axle to worry about, since this was effectively an independent AWD vehicle, so having a split back could have positive results for traction. Still, it is something to work out.

I set to work on some preliminary plans and only escaped from my task when Jonathan noted that it was getting close to sunset and that there was another layer of stone and steel to be added to the outside of the hangar. Since the giants had planned to attack so ruthlessly when we were all unaware and unready, it was decided that we would continue to do what we could with the spells, and make this a much more defensible area, and that before we leave, we could convert this place over to a building for the new city of Jotunburg to control.

To start things off, I made another layer of stone on the exterior of the Wall of Iron. I don't know what it was, but it seems like I have access to even more magic resources than before. I easily went through two of the metamagic rods that widen the area of effect of the spells. I even took a chance to change the from of the building to a massive set of doors on stone hinges, with a bit more effort. With Jonathan's assistance, him telekinetically lifting our conveyance, I also placed several Walls of Iron in such a way so as to make the entire ground covered. I didn't want something just burrowing up underneath us.

With the security for the night mostly dealt with, Ayruzi offering to take up the night watch position, if only to allow everyone to get rest at the same time, we decided to all grab some decent food via Jonathan's preparing us from our own reserves and take some time to go over our plans. We had some definitive reasons to get back to Sandpoint, but it wasn't in any danger that we knew of.

Jonathan had made a decent meal, and we realized that our stores were running a bit low. We were going to have to head back sooner rather than later, or else we would have to rely on blessings from Iomedae and Erastil to fill our bellies. Or deities forbid, the sacks of rations that we had squirreled away in the plane. You know, for emergency use only. Thinking on that, we might be able to get Faunra to do something where she puts them into temporal stasis like the Glaive, and they could last for YEARS that way.

We said our goodnights and split up. I went to the engine areas and checked in on the Unseen Crafters Toiling away in the engines. I was fairly certain that we would be good to go for a direct flight back to Sandpoint, if the circumstances warranted it. I had them go over any last-minute details and do some checks for any fatigue points that would need to be gone over again, midflight, or when we reach a lower altitude. They did so, and I set up another set of them to go over all of our equipment to ensure that it was all ready for any further surprises.

I ended my day with some back-and-forth communication with Savah. She had to tell me about what was going on in Sandpoint, which wasn't all that much, thankfully. I had never sent her the message that I had had prerecorded, since the battle ended even before sunrise. I, in turn, had told her all about the big fight, and everything that had gone on. I also added that we were likely going to be heading back to Sandpoint soon, as Faunra had a new goal, and it was going to take some work in the lab.

Savah didn't seem to like that at first, but I told her that it would be that we would also be getting the work done for the vehicle that the town was requesting as well, so it was two birds with one stone. Savah could at least agree to that and asked if there were any other plans. I told her that we would all be looking to take some vacation time here when we were done with this last project, and I wondered if she had any preferences. After a bit of back and forth, Savah offered up her vote that we could all use a visit to Andoran, since we all had a contact there and could spend some time there, as requested.

I told her that I would definitely pass this along to everyone else, and that it would obviously be my vote too. Savah told me that she appreciated that, and that we would need to calm things down and get to working on all of the contracts that she had arranged. I laughed and she noted that the two people from where I was from were similarly getting themselves situated into daily life. I told Savah that we would have a lot to discuss when we all got back, and then I wished her good night. She sent me back the same and I set myself down to write down all of this.

I mean, today proved that temporal causality isn't exactly a thing, because Faunra initially used spells, and that she didn't have them for the second go around, right? I mean I didn't exactly come close to dying either, so that was a positive. I think I'll just keep it at that for now.