Planeswalker Gothic 3
Part 2
Motel. Kansas.
While I could teleport with ease I was only able to pop up in places that I could clearly picture in my mind. Since I'd never been to this town before, and I'd already forgotten its name, I'd had to get here the old fashioned way.
Thankfully I also had the ability to transform magical energy into useful objects or summoned creatures, the motorbike I'd just parked was kind of both, which was as freaky as it sounded.
I'd summoned it using a type of mana not known to many Planeswalkers, which I called industrial mana, or steel mana, it could only be gathered via massive centres of industry, and cities. I'd learned how to use Steel mana, and to shape it into a few different kinds of made man transports.
Because this bike was sort of a summoned creature I didn't need to know how to ride the bike, it drove itself where ever I willed it to. I just had to sit on and look like I knew what I was doing. It didn't even use up any fuel.
Once inside the motel room, that I'd rented for a couple of days. I draped my new leather jacket over the back of a chair before sitting down on the bed and kicking off my boots. It had been a long trip, I'd forgotten just how big the USA was. You could be on the road for hours and never leave the state.
After grabbing a few things from my pouch of holding, which could contain hundreds of items, I headed into the bathroom and once I was done in there I went back to my pouch so I could take out of it some clean clothes.
I was here in the town because of some odd deaths that suggested some monster was on the prowl. This was not something I normally cared about, but I was curious about hunting, and there was always profit to be made. Some spells and potions required monster parts. for example.
Now that I was dressed in nice looking suit I ran a comb through my wet hair, while knowing full well how pointless this was. No amount of combing or brushing would make my hair behave for long. Still I had to make an effort if I was going to pretend to be an investigator from Interpol.
If things worked out in reality as they did in the show I should just be able to go around asking people questions while pretending to be an agent of some kind.
A little while ago I'd enchanted something that functioned much like the Doctor's psychic paper, there was a compulsion charm on the paper that would make people believe it was whatever I told them it was. I doubted it would fool anyone who wasn't human, or very strong willed, but that hardly mattered as other ways of getting information from a living mind.
But first it would be wise to gather some data via the Internet, the strange deaths in these parts might not have made he news stations take notice, even if it made the papers, but perhaps local sources might clue me into what was going on around here.
Plus there was nifty little spell I'd been meaning to try that let a spell caster do some computer hacking with their minds. Could be fun.
(Line Break)
Motel. Kansas.
Dean glanced at the EMF and wondered if the low level reading was worth checking out, the device wasn't registering much, and it was risky to go about checking odd readings by himself.
After snagging a room, Sam had headed out in search of provisions, the brothers were low on salt and lighter fluid. Thankfully there was a Wal-Mart on the other side of town, and there wasn't much of a town so Dean figured Sam would be back in an hour at most. Hopefully less; he really didn't like having his brother out of his sight. More so than normal since there might be a monster around these parts.
"Just our luck to pick the haunted motel" Dean muttered to himself as he scanned around again with the EMF.
Once he was more or less sure that there was something odd happening here Dean hurried over to the duffel bag that contained some of his favourite weapons and retrieved one of them along with a handful of shotgun shells.
Dean tucked the shells for the shotgun into his jeans pocket and retrieved his lock pick from his jacket. Carrying the EMF and the lock pick in one hand, and the shotgun in the other, he went out into the cool night air.
Using the EMF he found which room exactly the readings were coming from. The curtains for that room were closed, but so were the curtains for all the other rooms, as such Dean couldn't tell if anyone was in there or not. Still that wasn't going to stop him, he started picking the lock.
(Line Break)
Motel. Kansas
The nearly inaudible click of the lock was all the warning I was given. Reacting purely on instinct, I grabbed my wand, which was the same one I'd gotten years from a version of Harry Potter's world.
As I prepared to fire I watched as the door slowly opened and a tall man, carrying a shotgun and what looked like a Walkman, stepped inside.
"Stupefy!"
Once he was down and out I looked over the man who had so rudely interrupted my research.
"Fuck!" I swore.
This was not I'd intended to met the Winchesters, they weren't as bad as some hunters being more into the 'saving people thing' than simply wanting to kill everything that wasn't a run of the mill human, but I'd stunned Dean, so they might simply see me as a threat rather than a potential ally. To make matters worse the brothers were the only humans in this reality that did actually concern me, they had a habit of taking down people that outclassed them.
Moving quickly I gathered the shotgun, lock pick, and freaky-looking Walkman, EMF reader I guessed, from where they had landed and sat them on the bed.
"Let's just make sure you who you are, shall we?" I said to the knocked out Winchester.
First of all I retrieved the man's wallet. He had four different IDs on him and more than a dozen credit cards, no two of which had the same name. All used rock stars as the fake names.
I reached out with my planeswalker senses and detected nothing odd, aside from what I knew to be a marker on his soul, but that didn't mean that this wasn't anything other than a good copy, it might even be shape shifter of some sort. I had no idea how well they could mimic someone. Best to be careful. And a magic user might be able to confuse my mystical senses.
Holy water, which was just normal water with some white mana infused into it, produced no effect, neither did speaking an exorcism. No demon powerful enough to ignore those effects would have been taken down by a simple stunner.
Still I had other ways of making sure. I quickly went back into my pouch of holding and took out a box with contained dozens of vials of various potions. I grabbed the small bottle of clear potion. Next I made sure that three drops hit the man's tongue. After putting away the vial, I aimed my wand at the Winchester and ennervated him.
Dean's eyes opened and he shook his head a little. I didn't allow the intruder time to orient himself as the truth potion I'd given him wouldn't last long.
"Who are you?" I demanded to known.
"Dean Winchester" he answered.
He blinked and shook his head. No doubt he'd been intending to lie.
"Why did you break into my room?" was my next question.
"My EMF went off" he told me "I figured something strange was happening I wanted to investigate it".
I more to ask.
"Why are you and your brother in this town?" I wished to know.
"We're here because of all the strange deaths" he answered "Sam thinks its some monster".
That all made sense. Our meeting seemed to be rather random, although I was surprised to hear that my spell casting could be so easily detected. The chances of the Winchesters coming here on a hunt weren't so high, but nor it was impossible since they could have seen the newspaper articles online. Still best not to assume this was all random.
"If I let you go and agree to answer your questions, will you promise not to shoot me?" I asked with a wry grin.
The potion wore off faster the stronger willed the person you used on, and this guy had come out of years in hell while still sane. Granted that had not happened yet, but still he was made of stern stuff.
"I don't promise anything," Dean replied.
Well that was what kinetic barriers were for.
"Fair enough" I said as I ended the spell that held the Winchester in place.
He didn't attack me the moment he was free, so far so good.
"Who the hell are you?" he Hunter demanded to know.
Before answering I put my wand away. I didn't need it to defend myself.
"I just go by Gothic" I told him "I deal in supernatural oddities, artifacts, weapons, information, pretty much anything you want as long as you have something worth trading. I'm an explorer mostly, oh and I also battle evil sometimes".
Sure I had other names, and many titles, but they hardly mattered. They were of the past
"What are you?" was Dean's next question.
This would take some explaining.
"To put it simply" I answered "I am a wizard who can move between worlds".
That didn't clear things up for him.
"Come again?" the Winchester "Wizard?, is that like a witch".
I shook my head.
"Witches, those that aren't harmless new age types, tend to either be from families of magic users or they borrow power from demons. I'm a wizard I don't need Antone's help I have the ability to control and direct magic to do with it pretty much whatever I want it to" I explained "Does that clear things up?".
He needed a moment.
"I think so," Dean said.
That made me smirk
"You know, you're taking this a bit better than the last Hunter I ran into" I informed the young man "That ass hole tried to kill me".
Dean shrugged as he stood up.
"No sense disbelieving what I see" he said "You say you're a wizard then I believe you, and if you wanted me dead you'd have killed me already".
Perhaps he trying to lure me into a false sense of security, or he might actually just be curious.
"So you've not heard of me?" I asked Dean.
He shook his head.
"Word about me might get to you soon" I said while taking out one of my business cards "I set up a store in your home town, if ever need info or a special weapon I'll hook you up".
Well that turned out to be simpler than expected. He didn't even comment on my choice of where to set up or that I knew where he was from. If he any brains he'd discuss it with brother at least.
"Dean!" someone then shouted.
I knew that voice.
"That's my brother. I sent him off for provisions," Dean needlessly explained, while opening the door. "Sammy! Over here!".
This was when I got to met Winchester jumbo size, I'd been to so many fictional verses by now that I didn't get star struck, but damn if he wasn't tall.
(Line Break)
Morgue. Kansas
"I can't believe your brother made me take a drink of holy water," I grumbled to Dean.
He'd even made me to do the silver knife thing, which proved nothing in my view because any sharp enough knife would cut me.
"I can't believe you messed with my car without asking first," Dean retorted, his voice displaying signs of being annoyed.
He was worrying over nothing, and do be fair Sam had wanted me to prove I could magic. So I'd turned the impala blue.
"I'll lift the spell when we're done here and it will go back no normal" I assured Dean as we headed into the morgue.
The older Winchester was no so easily soothed. Although he hadn't hit me or anything, that was something.
"God, are all Brits as evil as you?" Dean asked as he followed me.
Well yes and no.
"If you ever run into a Brit who says he belongs to the Men of Letters then shoot to kill" I suggested "Some of us are evil".
Rather than listen to the brothers discuss what I'd just told them I turned my attention to a bored-looking woman. She looked to be in her mid-twenties with bottle-Blondie hair and overly pink lips. Basically she was a Secretary.
She looked up from filing her nails and I smiled. Taking a moment to check out her cleavage and her name tag.
"Good afternoon" I then said.
What I did next was to use a little blue mana to make her do what I wanted. Within reasons I couldn't have made do anything she wasn't somewhat willing to do. What I did was more encouragement rather than mind control.
"So, Jenny, do you mind showing us to the bodies are kept so we can get to work? I said
It worked like a charm.
"I'm not supposed to leave the desk" she said "But the office is just through that door and the morgue is next to the office. There won't be anyone in there until this afternoon. The door's unlocked".
Wow this was even easier than it looked on TV.
(Line Break)
Graveyard. Kansas.
"Someone help!" I yelled out while trying to push the ghoul off me.
Okay so this hunting thing wasn't as easy as it looked on TV. I should have easily been able to handle one minor undead monster, only it had somehow gotten the drop on me. Now it was taking all my energy just to stop it from biting me, an action which might turn me into a ghoul, and we couldn't have that.
"Hey, fugly," Dean said as I heard him him run into the room.
When the ghoul looked over at him he fired, unloading both barrels of his shotgun. The buckshot exploded the ghoul's head sending flesh, bone and brain matter everywhere. Mostly over me.
"Bloody hell!" I yelled "you could of at least kicked it off of me first".
I had to shove the now headless ghoul off of me and as soon as I was on my feet I was wiping off bits of the monster's exploded head off my face with the sleeve of my shirt.
"You're welcome," Dean said sarcastically.
Despite his tone he was grinning at the site of me dripping with blood and gore. No doubt he was enjoying this due to what I'd done to his car.
"I heard you yelling, you o.k.?" Sam said coming into the room gun in hand.
No I was not okay.
"Look at this shirt, I like this shirt" I complained.
I was focusing on that because it meant I didn't have to think about what was currently in my hair.
"Oh, boohoo, I'll buy you another one, spoiled brat," Dean said while walking away.
Guess that was that then. I was going to teleport back to the motel, shower again and then get the hell out of here.
(Line Break)
Graveyard. Kansas.
"Where's Merlin?" Dean asked "He was suppose to fix my car".
Sam ignored that second part since the Impala wasn't actually broken in any way.
"He vanished" the younger brother told the older "I think he teleported".
Dean was annoyed.
"Oh well that's just great now baby's stuck being blue" the senior Winchester complained "I knew he was evil!".
Again Sam didn't worry about the car, after all they could always paint it.
"Merlin?" he asked.
Dean shrugged.
"Well he's a good wizard, kinda" he said "So it was either that or Gandalf".
Sam looked concerned as he and his brother got into the car.
"I made a few calls" he informed Dean "Gothic is know to a few hunters, half of which think he's a witch that needs to be shot, the other half can't stop talking about the magical weapons he's been trading for information. Oh and I heard that Bela's not his biggest fan".
To Dean that was a glowing character reference.
"He has magic weapons" the older brother mused "Now I feel less upset about the car, we can find him, he'll fix baby and we'll buy something cool".
The taller of the two men had larger concerns.
"Maybe he can even help with your demon deal, Dean" Sam suggested.
The older brother didn't reply to that, he just started the car and started driving to the motel.
By the time they got there Gothic was already gone.
(Line Break)
King's Landing. Westeros.
Since I clearly wasn't ready for a career as a hunter I'd decided to focus on something I did very well. Which was to supply the real warriors with awesome weapons so they could fight evil. I was an ascended being after all, no need to get my hands dirty.
That was how I'd changed worlds in the past. I'd used people like they were only pieces on a chess board, and rarely did I do any fighting myself. Of course I did this to unsure better outcomes for those realms. I did not do it to grab political or military power for myself, although I sometimes did end with that sort of influence.
Most of the time I simply did not care much about the planes I visited. Westeros was different I'd invested a lot of energy and resources into this world, and I was pleased to see that spring had arrived here. The cycle was going on as it should.
There were no weirwood trees here in King's Landing so I couldn't just connect to one and get an update of what was going on around here via some visions, and frankly I had no desire to get involved in what ever madness the current Three-Eyed Raven was up to.
Although sometimes soon I would have to as I wanted some weirwood, it was a holy material, and therefore might make for good stakes.
I assumed Brandon Stark was the Greenseer now, and perhaps I would venture North to see how the Starks were doing, but first things first. I had come here to check up on Daenerys Targaryen.
Given that I hadn't visited this world for years I'd assumed she'd have conquered King's Landing by now, and my scrying did tell me that she was within the city, however she wasn't in the direction of the Red Keep. My point me spell was leading me towards the Sept of Balor, which in this time line hadn't gotten blown up.
As I headed in that direction I began to notice that there were a lot of people with seven pointed stars that had been carved into their foreheads, some had scars while others had a fresher brand.
From what I remembered from the show The Faith Militant was the military order of the Faith of the Seven, which was the dominant religion in the Seven Kingdoms, although that might not be the case in this version of Westeros.
They served the will of the High Septon and enforced the word of the Seven-Pointed Star by force of arms. They were disbanded centuries ago during the reign of King Maegor Targaryen, known as Maegor the Cruel, after a bloody civil war between them and the crown.
In the show they were revived during later stages of the War of the Five Kings when a fanatical faction of the Faith of the Seven, commonly known as "Sparrows" and their leader the "High Sparrow", became aligned with Dowager-Queen Cersei Lannister. Cersei manipulated her son, King Tommen Baratheon, getting him yo name the High Sparrow as the High Septon and to reinstate the Faith Militant in return for using them as allies against the Tyrells.
After being reinstated, the Faith Militant began enforcing their strict religious values on the nobility and smallfolk alike. They harassed inhabitants of King's Landing who engaged in acts they deemed as sinful, such as street vendors selling idols from other religions or nobles visiting local brothels.
They later grew bolder and arrested Ser Loras Tyrell and Queen Margaery Tyrell. On the High Sparrow's orders, they eventually even turned on Cersei herself by arresting her for several crimes including regicide, incest, and adultery. Cersei eventually admitted to adultery with her cousin Lancel Lannister, who had joined the Faith Militant, which resulted in her making a walk of atonement.
Eventually, Cersei was put on the trial for crimes she had actually commited, but instead of going to the Great Sept of Baelor to face them, she eliminated the Sparrows, their leader and the recently created Faith Militant when she destroyed the Great Sept of Baelor using wildfire on the day of her trial.
Members of the Faith Militant typically garbed themselves in rough-spun robes of dyed wool, which they fasten around their waists with chains. They armed themselves with clubs and cudgels. I could see that, they had no knives, swords or axes. Perhaps they had some rule that forbade them from using edged weapons.
Knowing that these guys were for sure a 'suffer not the witch to live' group of people I used magic to make myself invisible. I'd forgotten from whom I'd learned this spell from, but the details were written within my grimoire.
A grimoire was at its most simple a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform stuff like, magical spells, charms and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons.
In many cases, the books themselves are believed to be imbued with magical powers, mine was it, the book was protected my spells I'd cast upon it, which were so strong that the book could defend itself. It was a lot like the Book of Shadows used by the Charmed Ones, only my version was rather personalised.
Should a newbie Planeswalker get their hands on my grimoire they'd vapidly become a threat to the whole multiverse. Which was why I always kept it on my person.
The Book of Gothic, to give my grimoire its name, was different than the 'Planswalkers Guide to the Multi-verse' that was not personal, it acted as the name suggested, as a guide, it contained a wealth of information about different planes, as well advice on where and why I thought it was a good idea for some who could travel the multi-verse to go to those places.
My Grimore on the other had was not a guide, it contained very dangerous knowledge meant for my eyes alone. For example within its pages were the instructions needed to create a power stripping potion, which could work on even someone like me.
I stopped mentally reflecting on my writing career when I entered the Sept, I was now a bit lost. The invisibility that shielded me would be broken if I used another spell, so I had to stop and think about where Daenerys Targaryen could be. Clearly she wasn't here praying, and while she might consult with the High Sparrow, I suspected that something wicked was happening to her.
The High Sparrow could have turned on Daenerys like he had on Cersi in the show, perhaps she had restarted the militant for some reason, if some adviser of hers had suggested it I'd have to give them the slap. I would have told her not do something so stupid. You shouldn't give fanatics any real power.
Which wasn't to say that organised faith didn't have its place, some people needed the idea of kindly higher powers watching over them, however as a higher power, more or less, I would tell them not to bother. We don't care about a single person's desires, we concern ourselves with civilisations.
Knowing what had happened to Cersi, I headed down into the dungeons, and in my view a church or temple really shouldn't have a dungeon. Judging by the guards and lit torches something or someone important was done here.
When I found Daenerys Targaryen's cell I dropped my invisibity and stunned the guards, then I opened the cell, using black mana to make the locks rust away in seconds. I could have opened with a wand spell, but I needed to practice using black mana.
Once inside I did my best to ignore the smell, sanitation was not a word they understood here, and then I got the attention of Daenerys Targaryen
"Hello your Grace" I greeted.
I'd actually come all this way to get some of her blood, so I could make more swords like Winter's Bane, my sword. According to legend, Valyrian steel was forged with spells and dragonfire, but that was a misunderstanding, dragonglass and the blood of the dragon were what was really required. There was some spellwork involved in forging a new Valyrian steel sword, but mostly the real effort in forging such a sword came from the blacksmith.
"Gothic?" a small voice asked.
Even when dressed in rags and filfty, Daenerys Targaryen was an exotic beauty what with her purple eyes and silvery hair.
"Yes its me, your Grace" I replied "How did you end up...".
Before I could ask the question I was tackled by the mother of dragons, the only reason I didn't fall on the ground was because she weighed so little compared to me.
"I wished that you would return" she told me.
Daenerys had always been fond of me, but she'd never been like this. Then again I had no idea how long she'd been down here, no doubt she'd be glad to see any friendly face.
"I didn't know you needed my help" I told the Targaryen "What happened to you?".
She quickly informed me that it was much as I suspected. She'd restored the Faith Militant believing that the High Sparrow when he'd promised to support her rule. I remembered from the show how that man could seem like a good ally to start with.
"Well I can take you away from here" I offered "But I suppose you'll want my help taking back your throne".
To my surprise she shook her head.
"All I want is the High Sparrow dead" she said "He and his followers killed my dragons".
At first that seemed unlikely, but then I recalled an event from the history of this world: The Dance of the Dragons.
That had been a civil war during Targaryen rule of the Seven Kingdoms. A war of succession between Aegon II and his half-sister Rhaenyra over that stupid iron throne. It saw the deaths of both rival monarchs, and the crowning of Rhaenyra's son, Aegon III.
During those times an event known as The Storming of the Dragonpit took place. A bunch of people stormed the dragonpit and killed some of the dragons because they were upset about the civil war ruining the country.
I could well imagine the High Sparrow whipping a massive crowd into a frenzy and setting them on the dragons, tough as they were a large crowd of fanatics were hard to beat.
"Well I could kill him for you, but then what?" I asked "Can you retake your throne?".
She shook her head again.
"I want to leave" she told me "Take me with you please. You can do whatever you want with me, just get away from this city".
This was another surprise to me. Getting her cute butt onto that stupid chair and keeping it there was what had motivaed Daenerys for as long as I'd known. Mind you I suppose it could have lost its charm. Perhaps she'd realised how pointless it was to play the game of thrones if it led to bad endings like this.
"Fine" I agreed "Follow me".
I simply stunned anyone who got between me and the High Sparrow, their only crime was being moronic enough to listen to man who thought locking people and torturing them was the will of the gods. I doubted the Seven approved, if they existed, they certainly hadn't interrfered with what I was doing.
Finding the High Sparrow proved simple enough, by now even these savages were starting to understand that things weren't going well for them. The so called holy warriors of he Seven were gathered around their leader, as if he could somehow led them to victory.
"Stay behind me" I instructed Daenerys
To their credit a few of them did try to kill with crossbows, while taking cover, so they weren't all stupid. Sadly for them kintic barriers are very effective against crossbows. Not that I needed them as I could shield myself with magic.
"Do not worry!" the High Sparrow called out "The gods will protect us!".
That seemed unlikely.
"The gods will not protect any of you" I told the crowd "That man is leading you astray. And I'll prove it, if the gods truly love him then they will strike me down before I kill him".
I shot the guy in full view of everyone with my trusty pulse pistol and of course nothing bad happened to me.
"The gods do not...".
I'd wanted to make some sort of speech telling them to behave and to actually be holy, but they all started running away.
"Errr okay then" was all I could say.
I then turned to Daenerys.
"Come on let's get of here" I said to her.
I'd prepared the card Planar Gate so I had a quicky way out of here. Once we were within the world of Supernatural I'd close down the gate, and take Daenerys to the Men of Letters Bunker, there she would have time to adapt to a very alien world.